Portland Raccoons (ABL)

[ayaghmour2]

Originally Posted by Westheim

The Raccoons turn 11 years old today, having been inaugurated on May 20, 2012. To celebrate the occasion, the Chinese government has named them one of the Five Books and Six Classics now. To further support the franchise, a hotline has been set up where you can donate your car, house, kidneys, as well as all your other worldly belongings to the improvement of the fortunes of the team; visit www.kars4koons.con or dial 555-KOON for details.

In case you are still not convinced, maybe Pucks trying to fit a whole pizza in his snout can give you that last little nudge…:

Happy birthday to the Raccoons! Thanks for years of enjoyable OOTP content!

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by ayaghmour2

Happy birthday to the Raccoons! Thanks for years of enjoyable OOTP content!

Thanks for enduring my pointless dribble without reporting me to the appropriate authorities.

+++

Raccoons (55-44) vs. Condors (42-55) – July 28-30, 2054

The Condors had the fewest runs scored in the Continental League, and were barely average in runs allowed, and that with a very porous bullpen that had a 4.49 ERA. They were bottoms in home runs, but their defense was decent. The Raccoons would hope to repeat the result of the first meeting this year, when we swept all three games from them.

Projected matchups:
Jason Wheatley (8-7, 3.85 ERA) vs. Larry Colwell (7-8, 4.24 ERA)
Rafael de la Cruz (1-3, 5.18 ERA) vs. Victor Scott (7-9, 4.52 ERA)
He Shui (9-7, 2.39 ERA) vs. Aaron Erwin (6-5, 2.91 ERA)

Vic Scott was pitching left-handed.

Game 1
TIJ: 2B D. Mercado – 3B Chapa – C Mittleider – LF T. Duncan – 1B E. Rodriguez – RF I. Jaramillo – CF Briggs – SS Medlock – P Colwell
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – 1B Ramsay – C Gowin – CF Puckeridge – LF Brassfield – RF Cox – 2B Allred – P Wheatley

Lonzo forced out Venegas with a grounder, but scored on Gowin’s 2-out single for an early 1-0 lead. At that point, Wheats had rung up every batter he faced (all of three), but had to settle for three non-K outs in the second inning. In the bottom of that, the Coons began with a Brassfield single, and the rookie stole second base before being doubled home by Matt Cox. Ryan Allred slapped an RBI single, and after being bunted to second by Wheats, scored on Venegas’ single for a 4-0 lead. Wheatley would wave off the first nine Condors, but then gave up a Domingo Mercado single to center in the fourth. A wild pitch moved the runner to second base, but from there he tried to score on a Jon Mittleider single to center – Pucks said no, and threw him out at the plate, keeping Wheats’ ledger clean… for one more inning. Stephen Medlock singled home Ismael Jaramillo with a run in the fifth inning, but the lead remained slam-sized, thanks to a Matt Cox homer in the bottom 4th. The Medlock-sponsored run was the only one the Condors got off Wheats for eight innings, as he held them to four base hits. The Coons had a few silent innings, but in the bottom 8th got going against left-hander Gabe Hill, at least with two outs, when Trent Brassfield coaxed a walk and Matt Cox banged a double to right. Matt Knight batted for Allred, the Condors stuck to Hill, and paid with two runs, clipped home on the first pitch with a single over the head of Luis Chapa at third base. The ninth went to Antonio Alfaro; he walked Chapa, plonked Mittleider, and while Tim Duncan’s fly to left was picked by Brassfield, Elias Rodriguez found the gap for a 2-run triple. The Raccoons begrudgingly moved on to Hyun-soo Bak, who surrendered the third run on a sac fly, but ended the game eventually… 7-4 Raccoons. Lavorano 2-4, 2B; Brassfield 1-2, 2 BB; Cox 3-4, HR, 2 2B, 2 RBI; Knight (PH) 1-1, 2 RBI; Wheatley 8.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 8 K, W (9-7);

The Condors swung a deal with the Crusaders between games, trading reliever Ramon Montes de Oca (2-5, 7.26 ERA, 3 SV) to New York for a prospect.

And when where the Coons gonna swing a deal? …?

(blows)

Game 2
TIJ: 2B D. Mercado – 3B Chapa – C Mittleider – LF T. Duncan – 1B E. Rodriguez – CF Briggs – RF Groom – SS Medlock – P V. Scott
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – C Gowin – 1B Ramsay – LF Brassfield – RF Cox – CF Tenazes – 2B Knight – P de la Cruz

The struggles continued; Raffy threw 33 pitches in the first inning, and while he struck out three, there was a pile of noise in between, including a walk to Luis Chapa, and singles for Mittleider and Rodriguez, the latter plating Chapa with the game’s first run. After a fruitless bottom 1st, in which Lonzo was on and caught stealing, the Raccoons got singles from Rams and Brassfield, then a walk issued to Cox to fill the bases with nobody out. Only one run scored on Tenazes’ grounder to short, which was taken to second for a fielder’s choice. Knight popped out, and Raffy grounded out to keep the game tied at one. Back-to-back doubles by Lonzo and Gowin made it a 2-1 lead in the third inning, but after Rams walked, Brassfield blundered into a double play that ended the inning.

The lead didn’t last, because Raffy just couldn’t put it all together. Medlock and Scott (!) hit leadoff singles in the fifth, and Luis Chapa drove home a run with a double to right. Tim Duncan walked. Three on, two outs in the top 5th, and with Elias Rodriguez, a lefty hitting .233 up, there was a real question about whether to send a lefty reliever to clean up the mess – but Honeypaws said no, and after a pep talk on the hill Raffy struck out the batter to bail out of the mess. And then Chris Briggs homered to right to begin the sixth anyway. Micah Groom walked, Scott reached on an error by Matt Knight, and that was the end for poor Raffy… Bak came into this mess, too, got a fly to right from Mercado, and after a walk to Chapa struck out Mittleider to have the Condors strand another full set. Bak and Lillis retired Tijuana in order in the seventh, and after the stretch Scott was met rudely with a triple into the corner smashed by Prospero Tenazes. Would they get that run home? Knight popped out, which didn’t help, and Pucks – who had entered with Lillis in a double switch over Cox – walked, which was neat, but not helping right now. Venegas came through, however, dropping a single between Medlock and Tim Duncan to tie the game at three. After a double steal, Lonzo zinged a single to left-center for the two go-ahead runs, stole second off reliever Jeff Crowley, and then scored himself on Ramsay’s whistling liner to center for an RBI single. Brassfield grounded out to short to end the inning, but the Condors were done for; Lillis and Daley each logged three outs to complete the game. 6-3 Raccoons. Lavorano 3-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Ramsay 2-3, BB, RBI;

…and that’s a season series taken in just five games!

Meanwhile it was Juan Juarez (7-8, 2.74 ERA), a different right-hander, for the Thursday game.

Game 3
TIJ: 2B D. Mercado – 3B Chapa – C Mittleider – LF T. Duncan – 1B E. Rodriguez – RF I. Jaramillo – CF Briggs – SS Medlock – P J. Juarez
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – 1B Ramsay – C Gowin – LF Puckeridge – RF Cox – CF Suzuki – 2B Allred – P Shui

Mercado drew a game-commencing walk and stole two bases, but was left on third because the three guys behind him couldn’t find a single productive out between them. The Raccoons answered with two stolen bases as well, but did it in one scoop after Juarez walked Venegas by almost hitting him, and then actually hit Lonzo; it was the 40th bag of the year for the latter. Rams’ sac fly was the only run the Coons got, even when Chris Gowin was *also* nicked by Juarez. Pucks and Cox both flew out easily. Suzuki and Allred singles in the bottom 2nd also led to only one run on Venegas’ groundout, while Mercado singled in the third inning and was lusting for more, but this time was caught stealing by Gowin. Pucks’ homer in the third inning made it three straight innings with a score, but the Condors now answered with a leadoff double for Luis Chapa and RBI single hit by Duncan.

Bottom 5th, and the Raccoons put their two slowest runners, Ramsay and Gowin, in scoring position with a pair of 1-out hits, a single and double. Pucks brought in a run with a grounder to Mercado, which drew polite applause, but was not comparable to the raucous cheers when Cox mashed a 2-run homer to right-center right afterwards, 6-1. Another 2-out run was tacked on the next inning when Lonzo singled, stole second again, and was singled home to left-center by Ramsay.

With cruising distance definitely established for the Raccoons and He Shui, it then started to rain in the seventh inning. Shui was still on course to finish the game on his own, with 87 pitches through seven, but there was a 35-minute rain delay before the eighth inning and he didn’t get the chance after that. The ball went to Brobeck after that, expecting him to pitch two innings without giving up a 6-spot. He didn’t even pitch one inning, giving up a homer to Briggs right away. A Venegas error put on Medlock, the bases filled with walks, and Duncan singled home a run… Elias Rodriguez was the tying run at the plate with two outs, and the Coons sent Eloy Sencion, along with Knight in a double switch (the #9 spot was leading off the bottom 8th): Rodriguez rolled a dead grounder for an RBI infield single but Jaramillo went out to Ramsay to end the ******* inning. That was all Sencion did; with no runs scored in the bottom 8th, the Raccoons went back to Daley, who got through the ninth inning on four pitches for three weak outs. 7-4 Raccoons. Ramsay 2-3, 2 RBI; Puckeridge 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Suzuki 3-3, BB; Knight 1-1; Shui 7.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, W (10-7);

Sweep!

With this win, the Raccoons squeezed past the damn Elks into second place, one game behind the Loggers. The Crusaders could not be written off either, back seven games, which was, fun fact, fewer than what they rallied from later in the year last season. (sour look)

Raccoons (58-44) vs. Knights (55-48) – July 31-August 2, 2054

The last day for a regular trade was also the beginning of the final set with the Knights this year… maybe. They were third in the South, only 2 1/2 games behind both the Thunder and Falcons (who we’d see next week). Fourth in runs scored, sixth in runs allowed, they had a +30 run differential, which wasn’t a whole lot, not that the Critters (+59) were running away in that category. Carlos Malla was the most notable player on the DL for them, while starter Matt Weber and infielder Leo Villacorta were both day-to-day with minor ailments. The season series was flat, 3-3.

Projected matchups:
Arthur Pickett (7-7, 4.36 ERA) vs. Dave Hils (5-7, 2.23 ERA)
Seisaku Taki (7-7, 3.42 ERA) vs. Jeremy Baker (9-5, 3.52 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (9-7, 3.68 ERA) vs. Esteban Duran (4-10, 3.56 ERA)

A few weird ERA and record combos here, the only normal one, Baker, was also the only left-hander we expected to see.

Game 1
ATL: SS Gaxiola – C Almaguer – 2B W. Acosta – 1B J. Rogers – CF Alade – LF Kirkwood – RF Worden – 3B VIllacorta – P Hils
POR: CF Puckeridge – SS Lavorano – 1B Ramsay – RF Cox – LF Brassfield – 3B Crispin – C Philipps – 2B Knight – P Pickett

Jon Alade’s single stood alone as Pickett struck out four otherwise the first time through while getting a second-inning run out of Cox drawing a walk, a Crispin single sending him to third base, and then a sac fly for Tyler Philipps. Second time through, Jay Rogers hit a double in the fourth, Matt Worden singled in the fifth, and the Knights didn’t score either. The Raccoons had the bases loaded with two outs in the fifth after a Knight single and walks to Pickett (!) and Pucks, but Lonzo flew out to Worden in shallow right and nobody scored.

It was a bit of a dull game until the sixth inning; Willie Acosta drew a 2-out walk for Atlanta, and then Rogers hit a deep drive to left, right up the line and near the sidewall. Brassfield hustled over, went into a slide, made the catch!! …but didn’t have enough anchors to throw before he crushed both his knees into the sidewall. The inning was over, but Brassfield couldn’t get up, and I sighed, then got up to dial 999. With Brassfield out of the game, Pucks went to left and Suzuki went into centerfield and batted third in the bottom 6th, but the Coons went in order. The Knights very much didn’t in the seventh, putting Kirkwood and Worden on the corners, and then Villacorta hit a fly to deep left that Pucks caught, but that was good enough for Kirkwood to score for a game-tying sac fly. The Raccoons would not counter in the home half of the seventh, and Pickett and the Knights had to settle on the status quo ante bellum in the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle.

Lillis opened the eighth, but put two on, and Hitchcock, who hadn’t appeared in the Condors series at all, walked Jon Alade with two outs to fill the bags. It was Pucks who drove in the dustcart, hauling in Kirkwood’s fly to left to keep the bases loaded. Pucks reached base to begin the bottom 8th, but remained littered at second base after stealing his way there. Hitchcock held the tie in the top 9th, while righty Leonardo Ramos got the bottom 9th. Crispin would hit a single, but that was all the Raccoons got before the game went to extras. Alfaro would go two scoreless for the Critters after being notably less successful in his other outings since being recalled. Against David Hardaway in the bottom 11th, Crispin hit a 2-out single, then moved to second base when Philipps walked. Knight popped out, however, and the inning ended, while the game threatened to reach the duration of Queen Victoria’s reign. Bak had a scoreless 12th, then was right away batted for with Venegas in the bottom of the inning, but Venegas flew out to left. Pucks drew a walk off Hardaway, and Lonzo ended an 0-for-5 day with a single to center. Ramsay struck out, reaching 0-5 himself, and Cox grounded out to Jushiro Wada at first base to fritter the chance away. Sencion’s scoreless 13th was followed by right-hander Bill Quinn giving up a leadoff walk to Suzuki, then a 1-out single to Philipps, with Suzuki to third base with the winning run. The Coons couldn’t hit for Knight, because they’d need their last bench bat – Gowin – to hit for Sencion in the next spot. While Brobeck was still around, we’d not have enough infielders other than first-sackers left if we batted for Knight, who fell to 0-2, and then beat the reach of Dan Meyer in right for a walkoff base hit. 2-1 Blighters. Brassfield 1-2; Crispin 3-6; Knight 3-6, 2B, RBI; Pickett 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K; Hitchcock 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K; Alfaro 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K;

The Loggers lost, many hours before the Coons won, and the Raccoons thus entered a virtual tie for first place with them, although I was too tired to dance around by then.

The Coons also never managed to make a trade that would have made sense without adding years of 8-figure commitments, and thus stayed put at the deadline…

Oh boy.

Well, one roster move was made on Saturday. Trent Brassfield was off to the DL after starting his career 6-for-15, having suffered contusions in both knees. He was young though, and Dr. Padilla assured me that amputations were not required, and that he could potentially be back in two weeks even.

Yes, Dr. Padilla, but what until then…!? … That was not his business, of course. The Raccoons had to cope as best as possible, and called up … well, Geoff Sather, a 24-year-old left-hander in AAA, who had missed some time with an injury and had pitched only 16.2 innings for a 3.24 ERA in St. Pete, and who probably would have been a September callup. He would likely only be around for a few days, and then we’d summon an outfielder from… somewhere.

Game 2
ATL: SS Gaxiola – C Almaguer – 2B W. Acosta – 1B J. Rogers – CF Alade – LF Kirkwood – RF Worden – 3B VIllacorta – P J. Baker
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – C Gowin – RF Cox – 1B Philipps – LF Puckeridge – CF Tenazes – 2B Knight – P Taki

The lineup was getting thinner, and while the Knights took a 1-0 lead in the third inning on little more than a walk drawn by Villacorta and then a 2-out RBI single for Robby Gaxiola, Seisaku Taki whacked a 1-out double in the bottom 3rd and was stranded on second base.

Taki then took a few in the snout in the fourth inning. Pedro Almaguer singled sharply, then scored on a Jay Rogers double. Jon Alade bested that, too, with a 2-run homer to left, 4-0. It didn’t get better after that; Baker singled in the fifth, was driven home on Willie Acosta’s 2-out double, and then Rogers singled home a sixth run – that was the end for Taki. Lillis got out of the inning and also pitched the sixth, but the Raccoons remained shut out and on just three hits off Baker through six innings and with that, the freshest call-up got to make his debut in a garbage situation. He struck out his first big league batter, although that was Baker, but also got out his first big league *batter*, Gaxiola. Pedro Almaguer doubled, but was stranded on Acosta’s fly to right. That was it; Pucks was at third base with two outs in the bottom 7th, so Ramsay batted for Sather, but rolled out. After that, we asked Brobeck for two inning again. This time he obliged… but it also didn’t matter. The Raccoons scored a token run off Jeff Frank in the bottom of the ninth as Cox opened the inning with a double and came home on two productive outs, but that was that. 6-1 Knights. Brobeck 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

…and just like that, we were out of a tie for first again…!

Game 3
ATL: SS Gaxiola – C Almaguer – 2B W. Acosta – 1B J. Rogers – CF Alade – LF Kirkwood – RF Worden – 3B VIllacorta – P E. Duran
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – 1B Ramsay – C Gowin – LF Puckeridge – RF Cox – CF Suzuki – 2B Allred – P Wheatley

Almaguer and Acosta hit singles in the first, but Rogers found a double play to get Wheats out of there. The Coons scored first on Ryan Allred’s 2-out single to left, which came with Gowin and Cox on the corners, before Wheatley grounded out to Acosta to strand two. The lead didn’t last; Duran and Gaxiola hit singles off Wheats, who then with two outs lost Acosta on balls… and also Rogers to force in the tying run before Alade grounded out to Lonzo to strand a full set.

A new lead was attained with doubles whacked either side past Matt Worden by Venegas and Ramsay in the bottom 3rd, and that was before Worden’s awful rout on a Gowin liner led to the ball bouncing through between his legs, he fell down, and that allowed Gowin to race it out for a 1-out RBI triple, but was stranded with Pucks lining out and Cox striking out…

It just wasn’t Wheatley’s day, though. He had the defense drag him through the fourth, but after a walk to Villacorta in the fifth, Suzuki couldn’t catch up with an Almaguer drive and the Knights narrowed the score to 3-2 on the double. Acosta struck out and Rogers grounded out to get Wheats through five, but even that took 88 pitches. He returned for the sixth, then up 4-2 after Pucks had doubled home Gowin in between, and in 12 pitches managed to walk Alade and get a double play grounder from Kirkwood. That was all then – Sencion got the third out from Worden. He was intended to be batted for in the bottom 6th, but was sent to bunt when Suzuki and Allred reached against Duran to begin the inning. He moved the runners over successfully, but Venegas and Lonzo grounded out in order, and the Raccoons got only one run on a groundout. Villacorta shot a double to left off Sencion to begin the seventh, but he got two outs before Hitchcock came in to face Almaguer, getting a groundout to strand another runner, then also did a 1-2-3 eighth.

…and then, the ninth. Up 5-2, the ball went to Daley, and the disaster began immediately to unravel. Dan Meyer was nicked with a 1-2 pitch, and Worden legged out an infield single. Villacorta walked, putting the tying runs on base. Dylan Wright, for positives, flew out to Cox, but Cox tried to throw out Meyer at the plate, and fired the ball halfway to Salem in the attempt. One run scored, and the tying runs were in scoring position with one out. Pat Stipp pinch-hit for Gaxiola, and hit a screamer to center. It fell in front of Suzuki, Worden scored, and Villacorta tried to follow, but was thrown out at home plate after all…! That kept the tying run at second base with Almaguer batting… and five pitches in, he struck out. 5-4 Raccoons. Gowin 3-4, 3B, RBI;

In other news

July 27 – VAN SP Jesse Bulas (7-5, 4.25 ERA) could be done for the year after being diagnosed with shoulder inflammation.
July 28 – The Loggers trade SP Jamie Kempf (7-7, 3.87 ERA) to the Falcons for… an unranked prospect?
July 28 – In a separate deal, the Loggers trade MR Noel Groh (2-3, 4.09 ERA) to the Titans for outfielder Eric Cobb (.238, 5 HR, 31 RBI).
July 29 – Thunder 3B/SS/RF Ed Soberanes (.295, 13 HR, 42 RBI) will miss at least two weeks with a knee contusion.
July 30 – The Thunder send OF Mike Allen (.247, 5 HR, 18 RBI) to the Buffaloes for MR Josh Rella (1-1, 4.34 ERA) and a prospect.
August 2 – A broken kneecap ends the season of NYC 3B/2B Ronnie Thompson (.261, 0 HR, 26 RBI).

FL Player of the Week: WAS INF Alejandro Silva (.254, 5 HR, 47 RBI), poking .438 (14-32) with 1 HR, 10 RBI
CL Player of the Week: OCT 1B David Worthington (.271, 18 HR, 81 RBI), mashing .462 (12-26) with 3 HR, 5 RBI

FL Hitter of the Month: SAC 1B Steve Wyatt (.327, 17 HR, 53 RBI), batting .355 with 9 HR, 18 RBI
CL Hitter of the Month: OCT 1B David Worthington (.268, 18 HR, 81 RBI), bashing .347 with 7 HR, 20 RBI
FL Pitcher of the Month: PIT CL Ross Mitchell (9-1, 2.21 ERA, 28 SV), going 2-0 with a 1.26 ERA, 10 SV, 21 K
CL Pitcher of the Month: MIL CL Dave Lister (5-4, 3.51 ERA, 32 SV), posting a 4-1 record with 1.80 ERA, 5 SV, 11 K
FL Rookie of the Month: RIC 1B Mario Delgadillo (.294, 19 HR, 62 RBI), hitting .323 with 7 HR, 22 RBI
CL Rookie of the Month: VAN C Tristan Waker (.322, 9 HR, 62 RBI), clipping .333 with 3 HR, 20 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Never gets boring with Kevin Daley, does it?

Three-way tie for the division lead, with the Crusaders creeping ever closer, too, now five games behind. The Raccoons didn’t make any trade at the deadline, and I will just brush complaints aside by proclaiming that our reinforcements will come off the DL instead. Like, uh, f.e. first up… Dave de Lemos.

I didn’t say we’d necessarily get *better* with said reinforcements.

Ten more games without a day off, and all on the road. We’ll be in Charlotte and Indy next week.

Fun Fact: Jason Wheatley has won ten straight decisions after starting the season a rotten 0-7.

Doesn’t quite come close to Scott Wade’s *start* to the season in 1989 a staggering 15-0 (in 16 games!) with a 3.23 ERA. Okay, Scotty also only went 6-6 from there to end the season, but it’s the thought that counts.

What is it, Mr. Pickett? – Yes, where you come from they’re called earls. – Wait, what?

[Westheim]

Raccoons (60-45) @ Falcons (56-47) – August 3-5, 2054

The Falcons led the South, but had lost five straight, while the Raccoons led the North, but had to share the spot in the sun with the Loggers and the damn Elks, and I sure minded one of them more than the other. Charlotte’s offense ranked third, same as their offense-killing, for a +62 run differential. They tied for last in home runs in the CL, and had only an average rotation, all right-handed, in front of a sharp bullpen. The Coons were up 4-2 on them for the year.

Projected matchups:
Rafael de la Cruz (1-3, 5.17 ERA) vs. Felix Castano (5-7, 4.74 ERA)
He Shui (10-7, 2.34 ERA) vs. Jamie Kempf (7-8, 3.99 ERA)
Arthur Pickett (7-7, 4.19 ERA) vs. Art Schaeffer (11-8, 3.94 ERA)

Chris Gowin’s little brother Joe was day-to-day with back spasms, so it was uncertain whether he’d appear in the series.

Game 1
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – 1B Ramsay – C C. Gowin – LF Puckeridge – RF Cox – CF Suzuki – 2B Allred – P de la Cruz
CHA: CF Kulak – 1B Tinoco – RF D. Ceballos – LF Hester – SS Woodrome – C L. Miranda – 3B A. Lopez – 2B de Castro – P Castano

The ******* hopeless case of Raffy had another sad chapter added on Monday. He gave up a double to the first batter he saw, but William Kulak didn’t stop at second base and was thrown out at third. Didn’t matter – the Falcons lit Raffy up in the second, with a leadoff walk to Billy Hester, and before long three hits. Luis Miranda doubled, and Alex Lopez and Castano (…) each singled home a run for a 2-0 lead, the latter with two outs. Raffy plain sucked. He couldn’t get strikes past batters, and with Lopez on second and Alex de Castro on first base in the bottom 4th, gave up another ******* 2-out RBI single to the ******* opposing pitcher. Kulak walked to fill the bases, but Adrian Tinoco hacked himself out to strand three runners in the 3-0 game.

For five innings, the Coons weren’t much of a factor offensively, then suddenly burst out against Castano in the sixth. Pucks singled, Matt Cox whooped a home run to left, and after Ryan Allred failed his way on base, Raffy cracked a 2-out RBI double in the right-center gap to tie the game. Venegas grounded out to end the inning, while the Falcons made three outs on four pitches in the bottom 6th against Raffy, still not a sign of dominant pitching. For his efforts, he got a 4-3 lead in the top 7th – after he had already received his get-outta-here pat on the bum in the dugout – when Lonzo singled, stole second base, and then was singled home by Chris Gowin. The Raccoons, with the pen still depleted, turned to Geoff Sather, which was a bold proposition to begin with, and didn’t look very smart once Esteban Sanches, Ethan Whitehead, and Adrian Tinoco loaded the bases with three straight singles and nobody out. Danny Ceballos’ fly to left was caught by Pucks, the catcher Sanches went for home – and was thrown out! Billy Hester struck out looking, and the Falcons pulled a Coon by stranding everybody and their mother from three on and nobody out. Kyle Brobeck pinch-hit in the top 8th, drew a walk, but was stranded along with Matt Knight, who singled in Allred’s spot, then went back out and repeated half of Sather’s feat by loading the bases while retiring nobody. This time we wouldn’t allow the pitcher to blame to try another Houdini, and Kevin Hitchcock came in. He popped out Fernando Perez, struck out Sanches, and then gave up a bases-clearing double to Whitehead. ******* *********. 6-4 Falcons. Venegas 3-5, 2B; Puckeridge 3-5; Cox 2-5, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Knight (PH) 1-1;

Sometimes…

Game 2
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – 1B Ramsay – RF Cox – LF Puckeridge – CF Suzuki – C Philipps – 2B Knight – P Shui
CHA: CF Kulak – 1B Tinoco – RF D. Ceballos – LF Hester – SS Woodrome – C L. Miranda – 3B A. Lopez – 2B de Castro – P Kempf

Ramsay homered for a 1-0 lead in the first inning, and the Falcons answered with three: Tinoco walked, Ceballos and Hester hit singles, and Ian Woodrome shot a triple into right-center. Hester drove in the tying run, Woodrome a pair to go ahead, 3-1. The third inning for Shui was just as bad, giving up another walk to Tinoco, hits to Hester and Woodrome to fill the bases, and then a bases-loaded walk to Miranda before Lopez lined out and de Castro grounded out to Venegas to strand a full set this time.

Neither pitcher was long for this game. Shui had sucked plenty enough after five innings, offering six hits and four walks and plenty of runs, while Charlotte’s Kempf was out in the fourth inning with an injury in his second start since being acquired from the Loggers. Right-hander Joe Thomlinson had already gotten four outs when he began the sixth inning with a leadoff walk to PH Ed Crispin, then gave up a single to Venegas and another walk (!) to Lonzo. Ramsay ended Thomlinson’s day with a bases-clearing double rammed through Tinoco and up the rightfield line, leveling the score at four, and the Raccoons would scratch out a 5-4 lead when Suzuki singled against Kyle Doering to get Ramsay home from third base.

With the lead, the Raccoons got Alfaro to retire the bottom of the order in the sixth, then scratched two innings with Lillis, who gave up a single to Ceballos in the eighth, but got a double play from the pinch-hitting Esteban Sanches. No insurance run was ever cobbled together, with the best the team did in the last three innings being a runner on second base. When Daley then gave up a leadoff double to Miranda in the bottom 9th, I was naturally miffed. But Mike Allegood struck out. De Castro popped out. And ex-Coon Mitch Sivertson, batting in the #9 hole, ran a full count, and then … struck out…! 5-4 Raccoons. Ramsay 2-4, HR, 2B, 4 RBI; Lillis 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

Game 3
POR: LF Venegas – CF Puckeridge – 1B Ramsay – C C. Gowin – RF Cox – 3B Crispin – 2B Allred – SS Knight – P Pickett
CHA: CF Kulak – 3B A. Lopez – RF D. Ceballos – LF Hester – SS Woodrome – C L. Miranda – 1B Allegood – 2B de Castro – P Schaeffer

Before the rubber game, the visitors’ clubhouse was sought out by a royal herald sent by King Archie, who sought to extend his congratulations on his lifetime achievements as a fast bowler and further offer his well wishes to Arthur Pickett. The herald in his fancy dress was nice and all, but the two guys accompanying him by blowing the trumpets VERY LOUDLY in the confined clubhouse caused everybody’s fuzzy ears to ring the rest of the day.

It also looked like we’d have very English weather, with dark clouds looking heavy with moisture overhead from the start. Venegas still opened the game with a triple and scored on Pucks’ sac fly right away, but Pickett had to contend with seven left-handed batters and it didn’t go so well. Kulak singled, Hester doubled, and Woodrome singled in the bottom 1st, which was already enough to flip the score to 2-1 Falcons, before Miranda grounded back to the pitcher for the third out. There was then no offense for three innings, but and when offense resumed in the fifth inning it was back-to-back 2-out doubles for the Falcons’ pitcher and centerfielder, driving home another run before Alex Lopez grounded out. Top 6th, Venegas led off with a single, then was immediately doubled off by Pucks. Ramsay socked a double, but Gowin whiffed. That was not a way to get *anywhere* nice, nor was Pickett giving up singles to Ceballos and Hester, and a run on Woodrome’s groundout, 4-1. It was drizzling already at this point, and once the Raccoons went in order in the seventh, the skies *really* opened. The game did not emerge from the seventh-inning stretch … ever. After 90 minutes of waiting out the rain, it still didn’t let up, and the game was called, especially with no regular season games left between these teams. 4-1 Falcons. Venegas 2-3, 3B;

The rain not only gave the Coons an L, but also ended Lonzo’s perfect attendance record for the season.

Raccoons (61-47) @ Indians (45-63) – August 6-9, 2054

Up next were four games with the bottom-dwelling Indians, 17 games off the pace. The second-place Coons – one game behind the ******* Elks – would face the #10 offense and #7 pitching in the Continental League. We were up 5-2 on Indy this year.

Projected matchups:
Seisaku Taki (7-8, 3.69 ERA) vs. Michael McLaughlin (2-6, 3.09 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (10-7, 3.66 ERA) vs. Jimmy Charles (6-6, 3.54 ERA)
Rafael de la Cruz (1-3, 5.08 ERA) vs. Matt Green (1-2, 5.21 ERA)
He Shui (11-7, 2.51 ERA) vs. Enrique Ortiz (11-5, 3.36 ERA)

McLaughlin would be the only southpaw the Raccoons came up against this week.

Game 1
POR: LF Venegas – SS Lavorano – 1B Ramsay – C Gowin – RF Cox – 3B Brobeck – CF Tenazes – 2B Knight – P Taki
IND: CF M. Ceballos – 2B A. Rios – RF B. Quinteros – 3B B. Anderson – 1B Yamamoto – C Poindexter – LF J. Garza – SS Ed. Ortiz – P McLaughlin

While the Raccoons managed to hit into two double plays by the third inning, the Indians were up 2-0. Mario Ceballos hit a leadoff jack in the first, and the Indians singled Taki to death in the third inning, but only get one more run with Shuta Yamamoto (sneers) thrown out trying to go first-to-third on Manny Poindexter’s RBI single to end the inning. Top 5th, Brobeck, who had hit into a double play earlier, opened with a single to center. Knight added a single with one out, and Taki clanked a bunt back to the pitcher, who started a 1-5-3 double play to drop my whiskers by about 20 degrees. Venegas hit a leadoff single in the sixth inning, then was caught stealing. Lonzo and Rams got on, and Gowin grounded to short for another inning-ending double play.

WELL I GUESS THAT’S ONE OF THE 54 YOU LOSE ANYWAY THEN.

The misery continued unabated. In the seventh we got 1-out singles from Brobeck and Tenazes, then hapless groundouts by Knight and Pucks to strand those rather than double, triple, quadruple them up. In the eighth, Ramsay and Gowin hit 2-out singles to right. Too late for a double play, but Cox still found the shortstop Edwin Ortiz for an inning-ending groundout. The Raccoons didn’t reach base in the ninth, but still managed to score NOTHING from 11 base hits. 2-0 Indians. Venegas 2-3; Ramsay 2-4; Brobeck 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K and 2-4; Tenazes 2-4;

11 singles, no walks, four double plays, one caught stealing.

Game 2
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – 1B Ramsay – C Gowin – RF Cox – LF Puckeridge – CF Tenazes – 2B Allred – P Wheatley
IND: CF M. Ceballos – 2B A. Rios – RF B. Quinteros – 3B B. Anderson – 1B Yamamoto – C Poindexter – LF J. Garza – SS Ed. Ortiz – P Charles

The Coons got two quick runs with Venegas and Lonzo getting on base and Ramsay and Gowin scoring them with a groundout and a sac fly. The lead didn’t last, because the Indians beat Wheatley for three hits and two runs in the bottom 1st; Bobby Anderson singled home Antonio Rios, and Shuta Yamamoto drove in Anderson, who reached second base on Pucks’ throw to home plate. Scoring stopped there for quite a while, but Wheats kept putting runners on base, allowing seven hits and nicking a guy while getting only a pair of strikeouts through six innings – again not his finest outing. The Raccoons had four hits in six innings, and no runner in scoring position after the first.

The Coons had nothing in the seventh either, but the Indians had another hit for their ******* pitcher, and then another single for Antonio Rios, putting runners on first and second. With Bill Quinteros up and two outs, the Raccoons sent Eloy Sencion. Full count – swung on and missed, inning over, and Wheats’ unbeaten streak continued with another no-decision.

One out more and Wheats might have gotten a lead… or actually not, because Ed Crispin singled in his spot with one out in the eighth, and then scored on a Lonzo double to left-center to get the Coons up 3-2. Ramsay flew out, but Hitchcock held up the skinny lead in the bottom of the inning. Charles was still pitching in the ninth inning… but got no outs. Gowin doubled, Cox was dinked, and Pucks hit an RBI single. Defensive kerfuffles gave everybody an extra base, and Caleb Martin replaced Charles in a 4-2 game with a pair in scoring position and nobody out. Mikio Suzuki pinch-hit for Tenazes, hit a sac fly, but the rest of the scrubs left Pucks on base. Still, that was a 3-run lead for Daley, so how wrong could it go? Edwin Ortiz led off with a single, which wasn’t great. Sharp grounders by Mike Gilmore and Mario Ceballos went for outs, though, but Antonio Rios slashed an RBI single to center, bringing up Quinteros, batting .327 with 17 homers, as the tying run … but he struck out. 5-3 Raccoons. Venegas 2-3, BB; Lavorano 2-4, 2B, RBI; Puckeridge 2-4, RBI; Crispin (PH) 1-2;

With the Raccoons suddenly out of steam, the division remained very close; the three teams at the top were just a game apart on Saturday morning.

Meanwhile, the Indians opted for a spot start by left-hander Jon Netherland (0-0, 3.60 ERA) on Saturday. 24 years old, and a #26 pick in 2049, he had recently been called up and had made two appearances in the majors, both in relief. He’d make his first career start on seven days of rest.

Game 3
POR: LF Venegas – SS Lavorano – 1B Ramsay – RF Puckeridge – 3B Brobeck – CF Tenazes – C Philipps – 2B Knight – P de la Cruz
IND: CF M. Ceballos – 2B A. Rios – RF B. Quinteros – 3B B. Anderson – C Poindexter – 1B Yamamoto – LF J. Garza – SS Ed. Ortiz – P Netherland

This one started a bit better for Raffy, despite a Jose Garza triple with two outs in the bottom 2nd. Edwin Ortiz popped out to strand the runner before Matt Knight opened the next half-inning with a double to left and scored on a Venegas single. Bill Quinteros bobbled that ball for an error and an extra base, but Lonzo drew a full-count walk anyway. The runners swiped a pair, and Venegas scored on a scratch single by Ramsay, whose grounder to right was knocked down by Rios, but he couldn’t scurry quick enough for the rolling ball to beat even Ramsay to first base. Pucks added another infield single, that one contained by Edwin Ortiz behind second base, and again too late to get Ramsay forced out. Brobeck hit a clean single to left to fill the bases, after which Prospero Tenazes struck out and Tyler Philipps squeezed out a 2-out bases-loaded walk to push home the fourth run of the inning. Knight, who had started the inning with a double, ended it with a pop to Rios. In the fourth, Lonzo was on again, stole another base, and Pucks got another RBI single, 5-0.

Raffy wasn’t scored on for five innings, scattering five hits while striking out three, although long counts were still a problem. He needed 70 pitches through five, then got two outs on six pitches in the bottom 6th before losing Bobby Anderson in a full count, and Manny Poindexter to a single on the very next pitch. He had Yamamoto at 0-2 and nicked him, and then had Jose Garza at 0-2 and gave up a 2-run single up the middle. Oh for ***** sake. Hyun-soo Bak came in, got a first-pitch groundout from Edwin Ortiz, but I was decidedly unhappy, even when he retired another three batters without fuss in the seventh. Brobeck switched to the hill in the eighth inning, but retired none between Quinteros and Anderson and was yanked with a run across. Lillis sorted out his mess with a grounder and a fly to Mikio Suzuki, now in centerfield, when Anderson went for home for a sac fly – but he was thrown out to end the inning. While the Raccoons’ offense was entirely absent in those late innings, the Indians were invited back to having the winning run at the plate by delightful Kevin Daley again, who retired the first two batters in the bottom 9th before walking both Jerry Cordova and Mario Ceballos. For crying out loud … or just crying… get that third out, you bum! Antonio Rios flew to left on the first pitch, where Tenazes made an easy catch to end the game. 5-3 Raccoons. Lavorano 2-4, BB; Ramsay 2-4, BB, RBI; Puckeridge 2-5, 2 RBI; Tenazes 2-4; Knight 2-4, 2B;

Raffy… well, a win is a win… but… sheesh…

(scratches himself behind the ear with a hindpaw)

Game 4
POR: SS Lavorano – 1B Ramsay – C Gowin – RF Cox – LF Puckeridge – 3B Crispin – CF Suzuki – 2B Knight – P Shui
IND: CF M. Ceballos – 2B A. Rios – RF B. Quinteros – 3B B. Anderson – 1B Yamamoto – LF J. Garza – C M. Gilmore – SS Ed. Ortiz – P En. Ortiz

We had the bags full without the benefit of base hit in the top 1st as Enrique Ortiz nicked Gowin and walked Cox and Pucks, and got no run(s) for our bothers once Ed Crispin struck out, while the Indians started with two hits in the bottom 1st, got three in total and a run, but also had Rios thrown out at the plate in a mixed bag of an inning. The Raccoons tied the score at one in the top 2nd, still without the benefit of a base hit. Suzuki and Knight drew walks, were bunted onwards by Shui, but we couldn’t get past Lonzo’s RBI groundout. Bottom 2nd, Shui got whacked around for three singles to begin that inning, making it six out of eight batters to get a hit off him, and with one run already home got a double play bouncer from Enrique Ortiz, while Ceballos stranded Mike Gilmore at third base with a fly to Suzuki.

While Shui had neither a walk nor a strikeout in two innings, through three his counterpart Ortiz walked five and whiffed four. When Shui walked Antonio Rios to begin the bottom 3rd, the Coons’ pen got active. He got two outs, then gave up an RBI single to Yamamoto (yay…), who was nevertheless blundering into another rundown on Garza’s single to end the inning. But that was EIGHT hits in three innings. Coons? Zilch. It was also all the Indians got off Shui, but Shui was also put into wraps after just five *lousy* innings. The rest of the *lousy* team still didn’t have a base hit; Ortiz walked Cox to begin the sixth, and then Pucks grounded to second base, and somehow Rios and Ortiz there got into each other’s craws and neither managed to tag out Cox. It was an infield single on rather technical grounds. Pucks was removed from the bases on Crispin’s grounder to second, so that great injustice was remedied at least, but Rios fumbled Suzuki’s grounder for an error, allowing Cox to score and narrow the game to 3-2, which sounded gravely unjustified. Knight and Tenazes made meek outs to end the inning.

The Raccoons’ pen – Alfaro and Sather and Hitchcock – put up three nearly spotless innings through the eighth, but then again the Raccoons had yet to get a base hit to the outfield and still didn’t feel anywhere near being just one run behind. Righty Mario Godinez would get the ninth inning. Venegas grounded out. Allred grounded out. Lonzo grounded through Bobby Anderson for a 2-out double – yaay, a proper base hit!! And one pitch later, another one, as Ramsay singled to right, Lonzo flung those hindpaws and dashed for home, scoring comfortably ahead of Bill Quinteros’ throw, tying the damn game at last. But it got more spectacular yet. Chris Gowin pounded a 2-1 pitch into left-center. Jose Garza missed it, and the ball went to the warning track before it was cut off by Ceballos. Gowin would have a double, but what would Ramsay have? A rocket heading for the back of his head as he rounded third and made for home plate! Ramsay slid into home plate while the ball, on a bounce, actually hit him in the shoulder, and that prevented Gilmore from tagging him out, and the Coons took a 4-3 lead…! Rich Knowles replaced Godinez, got Cox to ground out, and then the Raccoons had to get the save from… somebody. Hitchcock had been used and Daley was not available, so the Raccoons put in Lillis. He struck out Gilmore and Edwin Ortiz, while Nick Fernandez popped out, completing the Raccoons’ upsetting comeback. 4-3 Furballs!

In other news

August 3 – The Loggers score two in the top of the 10th inning, but are defeated, 5-4, by the Knights’ RF/LF Matt Worden (.253, 3 HR, 29 RBI) answering with a 3-run home run.
August 3 – The lone run in the Aces’ 1-0 win over the Indians is a home run by LVA RF/LF Ken Hummel (.277, 8 HR, 38 RBI).
August 7 – SAL SP/MR Roger Pritchard (4-4, 3.84 ERA) could be out for a full year after suffering a torn labrum.

FL Player of the Week: CIN LF/CF Juan del Toro (.343, 10 HR, 69 RBI), batting .625 (15-24) with 1 HR, 6 RBI
CL Player of the Week: MIL 1B/RF/LF Gaudencio Callaia (.274, 5 HR, 52 RBI), slapping .609 (14-23) with 2 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Sunday’s comeback gave the Critters sole possession of first place for the first time all year, thanks to the Titans beating the damn Elks three out of four on the weekend. But we’ll also have to play the Titans starting on Monday, and nothing good has ever happened in Boston. We’ll also see the Warriors on the way home from this looooong road trip.

Angelo Flores signed with the Capitals this week for $1.84M. Since they signed other players for a total of $430k as well, they also got slapped with a $1.57M tax bill on top of the actual contract value, so Flores cost them a total of $3.41M.

Dave de Lemos started a rehab assignment on Saturday.

Fun Fact: No no, the rest of the royal family is fine.

But three years ago King William V abdicated the throne for himself and his children so that they could all open a sports betting place on Mayfair instead. There’s apparently more dosh in that these days than in owning half the forests in England, but what the naff do I know?

[Westheim]

Raccoons (64-48) @ Titans (49-63) – August 10-12, 2054

The Titans were still in the bottom three in both runs made and runs made on them, although the run differential was not too horrendous yet at -88, with a third of a season to go. Infielder Adriano Chavez was on the DL, and would perhaps be for the rest of the year, while the Critters were up 9-3 on Boston for the year.

Projected matchups:
Arthur Pickett (7-8, 4.27 ERA) vs. Jordan Ramos (2-5, 4.55 ERA)
Seisaku Taki (7-9, 3.66 ERA) vs. Kenneth Spencer (5-2, 3.01 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (10-7, 3.62 ERA) vs. Jose Arias (6-8, 4.83 ERA)

Ramos was the only *right*-handed starter in the Titans’ rotation at this point!

Game 1
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – 1B Ramsay – RF Cox – LF Puckeridge – C Philipps – CF Suzuki – 2B Allred – P Pickett
BOS: 2B Roura – LF M. Gilmore – CF Whitlow – 1B L. Rodriguez – RF McIntyre – C R. Gonzalez – SS J. Lopez – 3B Ro. Jimenez – P Jo. Ramos

Pickett marched into Concord and towards North Bridge and at once was beaten back with salvoes. Five of the first six Titans reached base on three singles and two walks, and they were held to two runs in the first inning mainly because with the bags stacked Larry Rodriguez bounced into a double play. That brought a run home, as did Will McIntyre’s single. Jon Lopez struck out to leave runners on the corners after former Raccoons backstop Ruben Gonzalez also singled. There were two more hits off Pickett in the second, then a leadoff double by Rodriguez in the third inning. He went on to score before Jon Lopez reached base on a throwing error by Venegas with two outs. A passed ball at 1-0 to Rocky Jimenez showed me that Tyler Philipps was despairing of Pickett just the same, and although the Titans failed to tack on anything, Pickett retreated to the relative safety of the harbor after five innings and would hold a grudge on the dastardly mutineers from there.

The Raccoons had scored one run on a passed ball in the second inning after Cox and Pucks had gone to the corners in the second inning, but after that had largely stalled out. Geoff Sather pitched in the bottom 6th, allowed Jon Lopez on with a leadoff single, then walked Jimenez. Great. Ramos bunted the runners onwards, Dave Roura struck out, but Matt Gilmore singled to center to get two more Boston runs across. Philipps reached base in the seventh and scored on Ryan Allred’s triple, but was then left at third base by both third basemen, Ed Crispin and Anton Venegas… Kyle Brobeck scattered two hits and two runs in two innings after the Sather disaster, which kept the Titans’ lead to three runs, but the Raccoons went in order against Walt Wright in the ninth inning. 5-2 Titans. Puckeridge 2-4; Allred 2-3, 3B, RBI; Brobeck 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 4 K;

Game 2
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – 1B Ramsay – C Gowin – RF Cox – LF Puckeridge – CF Tenazes – 2B Knight – P Taki
BOS: 2B Roura – LF M. Gilmore – 1B L. Rodriguez – RF McIntyre – C R. Gonzalez – SS J. Lopez – CF Weir – 3B Ro. Jimenez – P K. Spencer

If that was possible, Seisaku Taki had an even worse first inning than Pickett on Tuesday. He walked the first two batters he faced, but then got a grounder and a sac fly from the 3-4 batters. And then the Titans punched him four times for four 2-out singles, plating four runs in total in the inning before Kenneth Spencer grounded out. Half the tally was rallied away in the top 2nd; Spencer nicked Chris Gowin and was taken deep by Matt Cox right away. Taki remained crap in the following innings, too, constantly pitching behind in the count and being generally annoying… and annoyed by himself, too.

Even annoyed, he at least held the 4-2 score through four innings, then hit a 1-out double to left in the fifth inning. Venegas’ double right after that put the tying runs in scoring position for Lonzo, who grounded out to Roura, scoring Taki and moving Venegas to third base. Hector Weir picked Rams’ fly to center, though, and the Titans remained ahead. Offense kept coming from weird spots, though; after Pucks hit a soft single in the sixth, and with two outs, Prospero Tenazes batted. He hit his second career homer in his 118th big-league at-bat, and the Raccoons flipped the score and took a 5-4 lead, but Taki allowed two leadoff singles in the bottom 6th before getting sent to his room to think about what he’d done, and Eloy Sencion couldn’t keep the tying run on base, surrendering the lead on Roura’s sac fly.

A new Coons lead came together quickly; Lonzo hit a 2-out single off Jim Peterson in the seventh, then stole second. He needn’t have – Ramsay slashed a triple into the rightfield corner to chase him home anyway, but was left on third base when Chris Gowin grounded out to Rodriguez, although that 6-5 lead also brittled away in the eighth inning when Lillis and Hitchcock each gave up a soft single through the gaps on the infield, with Bruce Burkart chasing home Hector Weir to tie the score at six. Right-hander David Williams got in for the Titans in the ninth inning, but was greated rudely by Matt Knight’s double up the leftfield line. Suzuki, Venegas, and Lonzo then made meek outs in order to strand the runner at third base… Williams would pitch a second inning in the 10th, same for Hyun-soo Bak – but only Williams finished his. Bak walked three overall, including Weir and Jimenez with one out in the 10th. Eric Whitlow’s groundout moved the winning run to third base, and Jordan Marroguin’s bold single to center on a 3-1 pitch ended the ******* ballgame. 7-6 Titans. Venegas 2-5, 2B; Knight 2-4, 2B;

Game 3
POR: LF Venegas – SS Lavorano – 1B Ramsay – C Gowin – RF Cox – 3B Brobeck – CF Tenazes – 2B Knight – P Wheatley
BOS: 2B Roura – LF M. Gilmore – CF Whitlow – 1B L. Rodriguez – C R. Gonzalez – SS J. Lopez – RF D. Gonzalez – 3B Ro. Jimenez – P J. Arias

Former batterymate Ruben Gonzalez hit a solo shot off Wheats in the second inning, but the Raccoons were able to get Venegas and Lonzo on base in the third inning, then had Chris Gowin flip the score with a 2-out, 2-run single to left-center. But the Titans just wouldn’t stay the **** down, and Dave Gonzalez hit a solo shot to right against Wheatley in the fourth inning. It was otherwise a decent outing for him, allowing only two singles and a walk otherwise through five innings, but the Raccoons were just as lackluster offensively, two runs on four hits, same as Boston.

Chris Gowin then gave the Titans some of their own medicine with a solo jack off Arias in the sixth inning, giving Portland a 3-2 lead. After that, Brobeck and Tenazes hit singles to go to the corners with two outs, but Knight lined out to Rocky Jimenez to end the inning. Wheatley had a quick sixth as it began to rain, and got around Jimenez’ 2-out single in the seventh to stay ahead by that skinny run. The Raccoons failed to tack on, and the Raccoons played it by fuzzy ear in the bottom of the inning as the top of the order returned against Wheatley. He lost Dave Roura in a full count before the rain got too heavy and the grounds crew was called out to cover the diamond. Thus, Wheats’ unbeaten streak continued, because while he had walked the tying run on base, he wouldn’t return after a 45-minute rain delay, already on 94 pitches. Eloy Sencion came out, but Burkart batted for Gilmore and walked. Again, more rain, and Eric Whitlow being a nuisance in the box – but then grounded out to Crispin, advancing the runners. Rodriguez popped out, and the Raccoons then went to Kevin Daley, hoping for a 4-out save. Ruben Gonzalez struck out, which at least ended this inning. After the Raccoons again didn’t put up any more offense – or even a runner – in the ninth against Alex Diaz, Daley struck out Lopez before Dave Gonzalez reached when Harry Ramsay slipped on a wet spot and bumbled his grounder for an error. Jimenez floated out to center, but McIntyre singled to center to move the tying run into scoring position. Dave Roura ended the game – popping out to Knight at second base. 3-2 Raccoons. Lavorano 2-4; Gowin 2-4, HR, 3 RBI; Tenazes 2-2, BB; Wheatley 7.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, W (11-7); Daley 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, SV (30);

The damn Elks beat the Loggers three out of four while we were fooling around in Boston, which gave Elk City a half-game lead by the end of Thursday – our off day – while the Loggers slipped to three games back of them. We were up against the best team in baseball next, though, so I did not expect a quick recovery.

Raccoons (65-50) @ Warriors (71-42) – August 14-16, 2054

This team ranked third in runs scored in the FL, and was giving up the fewest, not even four runs per game. They had the best rotation, the best defense, but lacked in the power department, sitting tenth in home runs in the Federal League. No injuries, though, and even in the middle of August they had four 10-game winners in the rotation. This was the danger zone. Last time the Coons lost a series to the Warriors, Jason Wheatley and Matt Waters were still Knights prospects in 2039. There had been only four series between the teams in the meantime, though, the most recent in 2051, when Portland took two of three.

Projected matchups:
Rafael de la Cruz (2-3, 4.86 ERA) vs. Ricardo Montoya (11-6, 3.16 ERA)
He Shui (11-7, 2.60 ERA) vs. Shane Knox (10-5, 3.42 ERA)
Seisaku Taki (7-9, 3.83 ERA) vs. Hiroyuki Takagi (11-4, 2.70 ERA)

Knox was a left-hander and would most likely pitch on Saturday – both teams came in on a day off.

The Raccoons would skip Pickett, who looked like more and more trouble. (looks at Raffy) The criteria were not the same for all our pitchers, though.

Game 1
POR: LF Venegas – SS Lavorano – 1B Ramsay – C Gowin – RF Cox – CF Puckeridge – 3B Crispin – 2B Allred – P de la Cruz
SFW: CF Marroquin – SS Moriel – LF M. Villa – C Samuel – 1B Schaack – RF Rodriquez – 2B DeFusco – 3B DeMarco – P R. Montoya

The Raccoons took a 1-0 lead on Ramsay and Gowin doubles in the first inning, and Raffy got three groundouts to begin his day, and that was about as good as it got. Nick Samuel walked and Mike DeFusco powered a score-flipping homer in the bottom 2nd, and a third-inning rain delay surely wasn’t gonna help Raffy much at all either. His control was a complete mess after the delay, which took almost an hour – but he had thrown only 24 pitches in the first two innings. He would pitch another four innings on 58 more pitches, occasionally missing badly and walking a total of four batters, and nicking Samuel in the sixth. The Raccoons made no rallying efforts whatsoever. Montoya was done after seven innings, striking out as many, and when Ramsay reached on a single at one point, Gowin was then quick to double him up. Alfaro and Sather pitched neat relief in the seventh and eighth, but that wouldn’t make up the 2-run deficit either. It was already the ninth when the tying run appeared as far up as the dish again, Lonzo hitting a 1-out single to left against Ben Lussier. And now Ramsay found a double play to rumble into. 3-1 Warriors. Lavorano 2-4; Ramsay 2-4, 2B; Gowin 2-3, 2B, RBI;

Those six hits by the 2-3-4 batters? All we got in this game.

Roster moves. Prospero Tenazes (.317, 1 HR, 4 RBI) and Geoff Sather (0-0, 3.38 ERA) returned to AAA as the Raccoons added both Trent Brassfield (off the DL) and Dave de Lemos (from his rehab assignment).

Game 2
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – C Gowin – RF Puckeridge – LF Brassfield – 1B Philipps – 2B Knight – CF de Lemos – P Shui
SFW: CF Marroquin – SS Moriel – LF M. Villa – C Samuel – 1B Schaack – RF Rodriquez – 2B R. Harris – 3B DeMarco – P Knox

The Raccoons scored first again, but this time in the second inning. Brassfield opened with a single – he had hit .400 in his first five games – and Knox added Philipps with four balls to the bases. Matt Knight found a spot in left-center for an RBI single to drop into. When de Lemos walked, the bags were full and still nobody out, but Shui struck out, Venegas was held to a sac fly in center by Jose Marroquin, and Lonzo grounded out; the third inning had another great scoring opportunity, though, as Gowin drew a leadoff walk and Pucks doubled to right-center, putting both of them in scoring position. Trent Brassfield pounced on a lazy 3-2 pitch and shot it up the middle for a 2-run single – his first career RBI’s – and extended the lead to 4-0, but would end up stranded on third base.

Shui allowed only one single in three innings before conceding three singles in one inning, giving up a fourth-inning run, or a quarter of his lead, although the Raccoons got the run back in the fifth. Pucks and Brassfield dropped singles again, with Knight scoring a run with a groundout. He then stole second base, the Warriors walked de Lemos intentionally, and got the K from Shui to end the inning. On the mound Shui, remained very decent; while Julio Moriel singled in the sixth, the runner got himself caught stealing, and when Jason Schaack hit a single in the seventh, he was doubled up by Ryan Harris. The Warriors went in order in the eighth, but Shui reached 105 pitches, and it was almost a little much to send him back out, since stamina wasn’t exactly at the top of pluses on his scouting report… although on Eric Hartwig’s scouting reports, pluses were generally hard to find. When the Raccoons offered no tack-on runs in the ninth, the Raccoons probably should have sent Lillis right away against the 2-3 batters, Moriel and Mario Villa, hitting .341 and .389 from the left side respectively. But Shui was out there to begin the inning. Moriel walked, but Villa shot a grounder at Ryan Allred at second base, and the Raccoons turned two. Dandy! …but then Nick Samuel rocked a double off the wall in left, and that was deemed enough. Lillis got the last out … but not before he was taken deep by Jason Schaack, getting Tony Rodriquez to ground out. 5-3 Raccoons. Brassfield 3-4, 2 RBI; Shui 8.2 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, W (12-7) and 1-4;

For the rubber game it would be Taki and Takagi, as if we needed more confusion.

Game 3
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – 1B Ramsay – C Gowin – RF Cox – CF Puckeridge – LF Brassfield – 2B Allred – P Taki
SFW: CF Marroquin – SS Moriel – LF M. Villa – C Samuel – 1B Schaack – RF Rodriquez – 2B DeFusco – 3B DeMarco – P H. Takagi

Trent Brassfield continued to rake, doubling home Matt Cox in the second inning after Coxie had opened the inning with a double of his own. Rookie mistake then, however, as he didn’t go right away when Taki hit a 2-out ball to shallow center that happened to drop in. Brassfield now had to stop at third base, and there he was left on Venegas’ groundout. Two Warriors singles by Samuel and Rodriquez coupled with a clumsy error by Cox in the bottom of the inning then tied the game again right away, but at least Taki managed to pop up Nick DeMarco and get a cozy grounder from Takagi to keep two men in scoring position.

Neither lineup managed to amount to much else inside five innings, with three hits for the Warriors and four for the Critters. In the sixth, the Raccoons loaded the bases at snail pace, as Ramsay reached on a Schaack error, Gowin walked, and Pucks hit a shy single to fill the bases with one out for Brassfield, who popped out at a very inopportune moment. The go-ahead run would score on a wild pitch by Takagi, who was lifted before the inning was over after an intentional walk to Allred. Taki then struck out against righty Ivan Ornelas. Ramsay and Gowin hit singles off Ornelas in the seventh, but were stranded by Cox, and when Pucks began the eighth with a double off Jeremy Ray, the Warriors were scared enough of Brassfield to walk him intentionally. The Coons tried a double steal, but Pucks was thrown out, and then Allred walked, only for Taki to hit into a double play. Yikes…

Venegas was on base to begin the ninth, then was caught stealing, and while Taki had pitched well through eight, he would not get the ninth in a 2-1 game after 103 pitches. Kevin Daley got groundouts from Schaack and Rodriquez, then rung up DeFusco to clinch the series. 2-1 Critters. Gowin 2-4; Brassfield 1-2, 2 BB, 2B, RBI; Taki 8.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, W (8-9) and 1-4;

In other news

August 10 – Aces 1B/RF/LF Aubrey Austin (.302, 14 HR, 50 RBI) drops five hits, a homer, a double, and two RBI in a 17-11 loss to the Falcons.
August 10 – The Falcons’ C Luis Miranda (.271, 8 HR, 52 RBI) is expected to be out until late September with a strained posterior cruciate ligament.
August 11 – The Stars blow a 6-run lead over the Gold Sox in the ninth inning, but then get two walks, an error, and a hit batter off DEN CL Mike Lynn (5-6, 2.55 ERA, 26 SV) to win in a 9-8 walkoff. DAL 3B/SS/RF Leo Arguello (.238, 0 HR, 17 RBI) takes one for the team to end the game.
August 11 – OCT C Kevin Weese (.250, 3 HR, 46 RBI) has three hits and six RBI in an 18-3 rout of the Knights.

FL Player of the Week: LAP RF Matt Diskin (.355, 18 HR, 75 RBI), hitting .556 (10-18) with 1 HR, 9 RBI
CL Player of the Week: LVA 1B/RF/LF Aubrey Austin (.305, 15 HR, 55 RBI), socking .452 (14-31) with 2 HR, 7 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Nobody knows what Trent Brassfield will amount to one day, but for a 21-year-old he’s making quite the stir right now. Scouting reports wildly disagree. Hartwig gives him 11/12/18 as potential. Pat Degenhardt thought him a 13/15/12 potential. OSA right now says 13/12/13. And to be perfectly honest, any of those would be great!

The one piece that’s still no the DL now is Ken Crum. He might start a rehab assignment next weekend, and then rejoin the team the week after that.

Just a quick home series against the Rebels in Portland, and then we’ll be off to New York again. Not the nicest August schedule here, but it’s actually an even number of home and road series from here to the end of the season.

Fun Fact: Lonzo reached the top 50 in career stolen bases this week.

Tied for 50th with Miguel Martinez, who is with Cincy these days, with 306 swipes, to be precise. Of course, Martinez is 31, and Lonzo is 27 and juicy.

While Lonzo looks like he can steal 60 a year for quite a while, whether he ever reaches the top spot in career steals will also depend on Alex Vasquez of the Miners. The 28-year-old has won the steals title in the Federal League for seven straight years, scooping 60+ six times, and 66 on average in that span, but this year he sits at only 30 at this point. That would be early to get old, but regardless, he has 504 career steals, which already puts him SIXTH all time:

1st – Pablo Sanchez – 721 – HOF
2nd – Enrique “Cosmo” Trevino – 708 – HOF
3rd – Guillermo Obando – 686 – HOF
4th – Alberto “Berto” Ramos – 677 – HOF
5th – Rich de Luna – 567 – not technically retired, but not in the majors
6th – Alex Vasquez – 504 – active
7th – Oscar Mendoza – 494
8th – Moromao Hino – 485
9th – Hugo Acosta – 476 – active
t-10th – Jesus Banuelas – 474
t-10th – Jon Ramos – 474

And what’s ahead of Lonzo?

45th – Felix Rojas – 322 – active
46th – Raúl Herrera – 321
47th – Roberto Rodriguez – 317
48th – Ross Holland – 314
49th – Adrian Reichardt – 309
t-50th – Lorenzo Lavorano – 306 – active
t-50th – Miguel Martinez – 306 – active
t-52nd – Willie Vega – 303
t-52nd – Mark Vermillion – 303
54th – Tony Romero – 300

Martinez isn’t gonna drop him back out of the top 50th, at least not in the long run; he last stole a base on July 8, had only three for the entire season, and he was currently only pinch-hitting a lot for the Cyclones. Ahead, Reichardt used to be a Titans pest, Holland was an Elks pest, and Herrera was one of those grand additions that lasted half a season in Portland in 1984.

Dallas’ Felix Rojas included, there are a total of 12 active players ahead of Lonzo, including de Luna, current Crusaders pest Andrew Russ (390), and former Raccoons shortstop Alex Adame (427), who we basically got rid off after 2049 to allow Lonzo to become the starting shortstop from then on. Adame was traded to the Thunder in a 6-player deal, the only lasting return of which, ironically, has been Prospero Tenazes.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (67-51) vs. Rebels (60-59) – August 17-19, 2054

The Rebels ranked fourth in both runs scored and runs allowed in their league, with a +47 run differential. The bullpen was a problem with a 4.41 ERA, almost a full run higher than a sturdy rotation that continuously had their good work undone. The offense was kinda one-sided: bottoms in OBP and stolen bases, but tops of the league in round trippers. The last meeting between these two teams had resulted in the Raccoons sweeping Richmond in 2052.

Projected matchups:
Jason Wheatley (11-7, 3.57 ERA) vs. Austin Wilcox (9-10, 3.25 ERA)
Arthur Pickett (7-9, 4.31 ERA) vs. Eric Braley (7-8, 3.71 ERA)
Rafael de la Cruz (2-4, 4.82 ERA) vs. Brian Jackson (11-8, 4.07 ERA)

Jackson was another southpaw to contend with. The Rebs had no injuries at all right now.

Game 1
RIC: 2B Henriquez – 3B Espinosa – 1B Delgadillo – RF W. Sanchez – LF Leal – CF Cooke – SS A. Murillo – C S. Acosta – P Wilcox
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – 1B Ramsay – C Gowin – RF Cox – CF Puckeridge – LF Brassfield – 2B Allred – P Wheatley

Wheatley gave up leadoff doubles in the first inning to Jorge Henriquez, and again in the third inning to Steven Acosta, but neither of them got around to score; Acosta was even thrown out at third base when Wilcox knocked his bunt attempt quite hard back to Wheatley, who had time to make the toss to third base. The Raccoons took a 1-0 lead in the bottom 3rd, which started with a Wheatley single. Venegas forced him out with a grounder to short, but then stole second base to make amends. Harry Ramsay’s 2-out double to right brought him home with the game’s first run, but Chris Gowin grounded out to end the inning. Two Raccoons reached base the same way their first two times up in the game: Brassfield and Wheats; the former reached on errors twice, and the latter knocked two singles – the second time through the stars aligned, and Wheats plated Brassfield’s unearned run for a 2-0 lead in the fourth. Venegas left Allred, who had walked, and Wheats on base with the third out, but the Rebels opened the fifth inning with three straight hits off Wheatley, plating a run and putting the tying run in scoring position once Acosta doubled in Manny Cooke. From there, poor outs by Wilcox, Henriquez, and Danny Espinosa, who whiffed, kept the remaining runners stranded and Wheats kept a 2-1 lead by the middle of the fifth. Maud took the bottle of booze away from me, as if I didn’t have more hidden around the office.

The Rebs made their third error of the game in the bottom 5th, when Henriquez flubbed Matt Cox’ 2-out grounder that could have ended the inning and stranded Rams and his 1-out single on base. This allowed Pucks to come up and crank a 3-run homer to right, which put the score at 5-1 and Pucks merely 21 homers behind his 2053 output. The next two innings were calm, and Wheats was still going in the eighth inning, getting a K on Jose Ortiz to begin the inning, but then surrendered a triple to Henriquez in right-center. He hung around to get Danny Espinosa on a comebacker, but then made way for Eloy Sencion and Dave de Lemos by a double switch, as the Rebs brought their 3-4-5 batters to the plate, all hitting .277+, all with 14+ homers, including 21 for Mario Delgadillo, which was more than anyone in the Continental League had, and certainly more than any Critter. Delgadillo grounded out to strand Wheats’ runner, and while Sencion offered a leadoff walk to Willie Sanchez in the ninth, he retired the next three to finish the game. 5-1 Raccoons. Ramsay 3-4, 2B, RBI; Wheatley 7.2 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, W (12-7) and 2-3, RBI;

Wheatley was now unbeaten for more than three months, winning 12 straight decisions, with six ho-hums mixed in. I was giddy and invaded the clubhouse after the game, giggling and tickling and pinching him in the fuzzy cheeks. It probably bewildered him enough to do his utmost to finally lose one to get me off his fur.

Game 2
RIC: 2B Henriquez – 3B Espinosa – 1B Delgadillo – CF J. Gutierrez – LF Leal – SS Dau – RF Cooke – C S. Acosta – P Braley
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – 1B Ramsay – RF Cox – LF Brassfield – CF Puckeridge – C Philipps – 2B Knight – P Pickett

Delgadillo gave the Rebs the lead with a sac fly in the third inning after Braley and Henriquez had gone to the corners against Pickett. The inning ended with Jose Gutierrez popping out, and then the Raccoons drew leadoff walks off Braley with Knight and Pickett in the bottom 3rd. Venegas tied the game with a double to right, and Lonzo put Portland up 2-1 with a single to left. He then stole second, and Braley lost Ramsay on balls, which got us to the dreaded three on, no outs stage. Cox and Brassfield both hit sac flies, 4-1, after which Braley offered another quadruple of balls to Pucks, then got burned on an RBI double zinged to left by Philipps. Knight grounded out, ending the 5-run onslaught. Braley had five walks and no strikeouts on his ledger at that point.

Pickett would dismiss outright eight batters in 6.2 innings, but once he hit 100 pitches, his offerings went squidgey and he gave up singles to Jason Noble and Henriquez to put runners on the corners. The Raccoons went to Hyun-soo Bak, and he tipped the Rebels’ inning with an easy flyout by Danny Espinosa. The score was still 5-1, with no tally outside the third inning… at least until Lonzo got on base with a single in the bottom 7th, stole second, made up another seventh of a furlong on a wild pitch, and scored on Ramsay’s groundout.

Bak threw for four outs, getting the Coons’ 6-1 lead through eight, but what was smooth sailing right there turned into a nasty shipwreck on the Western Rocks in the ninth. Alfaro got the ball, and got Manny Cooke out before Acosta homered, 6-2. Jose Ortiz singled, and a walk to Henriquez brought in Hitchcock. Espinosa whacked a 3-run homer immediately. While I accepted my fate and death by drowning, groundouts by Delgadillo and Gutierrez made the Raccoons get away with a skinny win after all… 6-5 Critters. Lavorano 2-4, RBI; Brassfield 1-2, BB, RBI; Pickett 6.2 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 8 K, W (8-9) and 1-2, BB;

The Coons took back first place in the division on Tuesday. Suck it, Elks!!

Antonio Alfaro (0-2, 6.00 ERA) was axed again after this disaster, and the Raccoons would have another look at Jim Larson, who held a 2.66 ERA in St. Petersburg.

Game 3
RIC: 2B Henriquez – 3B Espinosa – 1B Delgadillo – CF J. Gutierrez – RF W. Sanchez – SS Dau – LF Cooke – C S. Acosta – P B. Jackson
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – 1B Ramsay – C Gowin – LF Brassfield – RF Cox – 2B Knight – CF de Lemos – P de la Cruz

Raffy remained a mess, allowing a leadoff single to Henriquez, a walk to Espinosa, and a run to score on Gutierrez’ groundout in the first inning, then Brian Jackson to single home Manny Cooke with two outs in the second. While the Raccoons made up the deficit in the bottom 2nd as Cox doubled and the 8-9-1 batters hit straight singles, RBI’s to de Lemos and Venegas, Lonzo then killed the inning with a 6-4-3 double play grounder when Raffy looked like he could definitely use more runs.

Delgadillo drew a leadoff walk in the top 3rd and was singled home by Willie Sanchez, 3-2 Rebs, and de la Cruz also lost Todd Dau on yet more missed throws. Cooke popped out, Acosta struck out, but it was painful to watch. He needed *71* through three innings. Jackson hit a leadoff single off Raffy in the fourth, but was doubled up on a Henriquez grounder. Raffy would limp through five ****** innings, and was taken off the hook when the Raccoons scratched out a run in the bottom 5th, putting up four singles, but stranding three runners when Matt Knight grounded out to short to leave Rams, Brassfield, and Coxie on base.

From there, Brobeck pitched three innings, but not without giving up a run in the seventh, walking Pedro Leal, pinch-hitting in the #1 spot, and giving up a the run on Delgadillo’s single. The Coons had the tying run on third base on Brassfield’s 2-out triple, but stranded him just the same as Matt Knight and his leadoff single in the eighth. It only got worse in the ninth, where Jim Larson faced five batters and retired but one of them. Espinosa and Delgadillo hit singles, while Jose Ortiz and Jose Gutierrez both reached on Lonzo errors. Lillis replaced Larson and got two strikeouts to get out of the damn inning, while Lonzo opened the bottom 9th with a single off longtime-Critter Nelson Moreno, who put the tying run on base with a walk to Ramsay. Gowin grounded out another one in a full count – ah **** it, three on and no outs. (calmly gets up and packs booze and Honeypaws for the upcoming road trip) Brassfield struck out, which shocked nobody, but Cox hit a clean RBI single to center. At that point, Pucks batted for Knight, while Allred ran for Gowin, who was the winning run on second base. When Pucks knocked a grounder hard to a drawn-in Delgadillo, who threw out Ramsay at home, Allred carried the tying run on third base… Two outs, Ed Crispin batted for de Lemos and ended the game – with a single to right! Allred in to score, and Cox was right behind him, having taken a liberal lead at second base. Willie Sanchez’ throw was well late, and the Critters walked off to complete the sweep…! 6-5 Raccoons. Venegas 3-4, RBI; Lavorano 2-5; Brassfield 3-5, 3B; Cox 3-5, 2B, RBI; de Lemos 2-4, RBI; Crispin (PH) 1-1, 2 RBI;

Sweep!

Raccoons (70-51) @ Crusaders (62-59) – August 21-23, 2054

Weekend set in New York, where the Crusaders had yet to give up hope, and indeed they had been further behind the first-place-again Raccoons last year than they were this Friday morning, although this time there were another two teams in between. Plenty of games between all contenders left, though – the Raccoons in particular had another 16 games left with contenders after this three-game set. New York had only a +8 run differential, though, sitting second in runs scored, but second from the bottom in runs allowed. Their rotation was the main problem, having the worst ERA in the CL at 4.56, and the pen could not contain all the damage. The season series was even at six.

Projected matchups:
He Shui (12-7, 2.57 ERA) vs. Jeff Johnson (9-8, 4.02 ERA)
Seisaku Taki (8-9, 3.64 ERA) vs. Alex Murillo (6-7, 5.10 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (12-7, 3.46 ERA) vs. Edwin Sopena (6-11, 4.96 ERA)

The Raccoons would not see a left-hander, nor 15-7 Ben Seiter, who had pitched on Wednesday. Seiter’s 3.96 ERA led the staff.

Game 1
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – 1B Ramsay – C Gowin – LF Brassfield – RF Cox – CF Puckeridge – 2B Allred – P Shui
NYC: CF G. Cabrera – 2B Russ – SS O. Sanchez – RF D. Rivera – 1B Sevilla – 3B Gates – C Seidman – LF Caballero – P J. Johnson

Johnson struck out the first three Critters, but balked home Chris Gowin in the second inning to tie the game after Gil Cabrera had hustled out a run with a leadoff double, third base taken by force, and a sac fly for Omar Sanchez in the bottom 1st. Raul Sevilla and Prince Gates went to the corners with nobody out, getting a walk and single, respectively, in the bottom 2nd, but Mike Seidman’s infield pop and two strikeouts bailed Shui out of that inning. Portland went up 4-1 in the third inning instead. Shui’s leadoff single and Lonzo’s single with one out set up Ramsay, who cranked a 3-piece over the fence in right, although the Crusaders answered with a 2-run homer mashed by Danny Rivera in the bottom of the same inning, Shui having walked both Cabrera and Sanchez, although Cabrera had been thrown out trying to nip second base. Gates hit a leadoff single in the fourth, but was also caught stealing. Oscar Caballero plonked a homer off the left foul pole to knot the score at four after all, however.

Johnson was already pinch-hit for after the Caballero homer, while Shui continued in the bottom 5th… but didn’t finish it, failing the bases full with a hit and two walks before being dug out by Hitchcock, who got a groundout from Gates to end the inning on his only pitch of the inning. Ramon Montes de Oca had already gone the fifth for New York, but his first pitch in the sixth was hit over the wall by Chris Gowin, 5-4. From there, Hitchcock pitched a scoreless sixth, same for Sencion’s seventh, but Sencion hung around to give up a leadoff single to switch-hitter Raul Sevilla in the bottom 8th, and when Bak replaced him, Gates hit another single. Seidman’s groundout advanced the runners, and Caballero’s sac fly to center tied the game anew. Aaron Kissler grounded out to end the inning.

From there, extras; the Coons had Suzuki reach on an error and steal second in the ninth, but Willie Cruz struck out everybody else that dared step up, and Bak and Lillis held the Crusaders away in the bottom of the inning. Only Prince Gates reached with an infield single in the tenth inning, and the Coons still couldn’t reach against Ryan Sullivan in the 11th. The Coons put in Larson for the bottom 11th. Caballero grounded out, but Ken Mills, another former Critter, crashed a homer to right to end the game. 6-5 Crusaders. Gowin 2-4, BB, HR, RBI;

Game 2
POR: 2B Venegas – SS Lavorano – 1B Ramsay – C Gowin – LF Brassfield – RF Puckeridge – 3B Crispin – CF Suzuki – P Taki
NYC: CF G. Cabrera – 2B Russ – SS O. Sanchez – RF D. Rivera – 1B Sevilla – 3B Gates – C Seidman – LF Caballero – P A. Murillo

Brassfield narrowly missed his first career homer when he clanked a leadoff triple high off the wall in left-center, but was at least driven home by Crispin with a 1-out single. Suzuki also reached, but Taki struck out and Venegas grounded out to keep those aboard.

Taki didn’t allow a hit the first time through, but Andrew Russ, the miserable shadow on humankind’s collective soul, hit a leadoff single in the bottom 4th to dismiss any notions. He also stole second and reached third when Gowin’s throw got away from Lonzo, but when Omar Sanchez flew out to Brassfield and Russ went for home, the rookie threw him out at the plate! Hah! Stick it, Russ!! Hah!! – And yes, I’d definitely pay for that, and probably soon. Apart from that, Taki was sawing off the Crusaders like it was the easiest thing ever. The Coons’ offense didn’t amount to much besides the second-inning run, but the Crusaders had only four shy singles off him, but also only two strikeouts. Five broken bats though, and incessant weak contact. Taki was breezing through the innings so fast, he completed eight innings in an economical 81 pitches. A tack-on run would have been nice, but the Raccoons couldn’t find another run. Taki thus entered the bottom 9th with no cushion, facing the top of the lineup. Gil Cabrera grounded out to Lonzo. Andrew Russ grounded out to Crispin. And Omar Sanchez – … walked. Danny Rivera singled, and with two on and the switch-hitter Raul Sevilla up, the Raccoons sent Eloy Sencion to exploit his weak side. The Crusaders answered with Chris Navarro to pinch-hit to exploit Sencion’s left-handedness. Navarro hit the 2-1 pitch to deep left. Brassfield back, on the track – and he had it! 1-0 Blighters! Suzuki 2-2, BB; Taki 8.2 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K, W (9-9);

Rubber game, and back to the UNDEFEATABLE Wheatley!

Game 3
POR: LF Brassfield – SS Lavorano – 1B Ramsay – C Gowin – RF Puckeridge – 3B Crispin – CF Suzuki – 2B Allred – P Wheatley
NYC: CF G. Cabrera – 2B Russ – SS O. Sanchez – RF D. Rivera – 1B Sevilla – 3B Gates – C Seidman – LF Caballero – P Sopena

The Coons scored first when Gowin scored from second base on a 2-out single by Suzuki. When Allred doubled to right, Suzuki tried to do the same, but was thrown out convincingly by Rivera. Wheats in the third and Ramsay in the fourth then both hit leadoff singles, but both were doubled up by the next batter in line, respectively. Wheats allowed two hits the first time through, but struck out nobody and seemed to rely too much on the defense for comfort, especially the outfielders. He was also talking to Dr. Padilla between innings there, and then retired Russ to begin the bottom 4th, but then waved for Dr. Padilla again. I fainted immediately, even before Dr. Padilla took him out of the game. Brobeck replaced him, gave up a single to Omar Sanchez, but then struck out two to get out of the inning.

The Coons went to 2-0 in the fifth on Crispin’s leadoff double and two productive outs. Brobeck singled with two gone, but was left on by Brassfield, but that lead went bust when Brobeck allowed a walk to Sanchez and a homer to Rivera in the bottom 6th, but he continued to pitch through the seventh, at least keeping the game tied while I sobbed for Wheats’ untimely demise.

Top 8th, Allred drew a leadoff walk from Sopena, then stole second. Brobeck still batted, grounding out to second to move the go-ahead run and a potential W to third base. Brassfield bashed a ball all the way to the fence in left … but had that one caught by Caballero. Allred scored, however, and the Raccoons were up 3-2. Hitchcock held the New Yorkers away in the eighth, while the ninth went to Daley. Rivera struck out. Sevilla flew out to left. Gates grounded out to Lonzo. 3-2 Coons! Allred 1-2, BB, RBI; Wheatley 3.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K and 1-1; Brobeck 3.2 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, W (5-4) and 1-2;

In other news

August 18 – SAC OF/1B Omar Gonzalez (.323, 0 HR, 27 RBI) hits his 2,000th career hit in a 4-3 loss to the Falcons. Gonzalez, 31, played exclusively for FL West teams in his 12-year career, winning a batting title and four Gold Gloves while hitting .309 with 54 HR and 669 RBI.
August 18 – VAN CF Damian Moreno (.297, 9 HR, 57 RBI) hits a second-inning single in a 5-4 defeat to the Cyclones, extending a hitting streak to 20 games.
August 18 – WAS SP Kyle Turay (14-8, 3.99 ERA) is out for the year, undergoing surgery to remove bone chips from his elbow.
August 22 – Vegas UT Jim White (.294, 8 HR, 68 RBI) ends a 15-inning game against the Thunder with a walkoff home run for a 4-2 Aces win.
August 23 – The hitting streak of VAN CF Damian Moreno (.303, 9 HR, 59 RBI) stretches to 25 games with a single in a 5-1 win over the Indians.

FL Player of the Week: SAC SS/3B Alex Adame (.334, 3 HR, 45 RBI), tapping .652 (15-23) with 7 RBI
CL Player of the Week: CHA OF William Kulak (.249, 4 HR, 22 RBI), hitting .375 (9-24) with 3 HR, 5 RBI

Complaints and stuff

(wipes tears away) Apparently, Wheats is suffering from nothing worse than forearm tendinitis. He will go to the DL, but should be as good as new after 15 days away. Brobeck might take the spot start(s) till then, because the AAA starters are all… not really making a convincing application.

Wheats’ unbeaten streak is now 19 games, even though he left Sunday’s game with the injury. I talked to him between starts this week and he thinks of an extension in the 5-yr, $23M neighborhood. Both Eric Hartwig and Cristiano Carmona were telling me no in unison. Both saw him coming apart quite early at age 34, and neither wanted him to be committed to forever.

Normally we would have returned Brassfield to AAA to preserve his rookie status for next year, but right now he’s quite indespensible to keep the lineup cycling. And we’re juuuust in first place.

Tough scratching next week: the Raccoons have to play the best team in either division that’s not them, first the damn Elks in Frostville, and then the Thunder at home. This could easily break our first-place run.

Fun Fact: 65 years ago today, Salvador Vargas knocked out six hits in a 5-3 Titans win over the Canadiens.

Vargas was a right-handed outfielder that played from 1985 to 1998, mostly with Boston. He was an All Star once in 1994 with the Wolves, but never led the league in any category. He batted .300 seven times, but never packed much power, with a career-high of 14 home runs in 1993 and 1995, and didn’t steal more than 11 bases in a single season, either.

For his career he batted .298/.347/.420 with 100 HR, 803 RBI, 1,663 hits, and stole 67 bags.

[Westheim]

The Raccoons shifted Wheats to the DL on Monday, with Kyle Brobeck to do the necessary spot starts for him. Matt Walters was called up.

Raccoons (72-52) @ Canadiens (70-53) – August 25-27, 2054

The pinnacle of the CL North met in Elk City for three games starting on Tuesday, and I couldn’t really cope with the Raccoons going up there to try and hold on to their 7-5 lead in the season series. The dam Elks led the CL in runs scored and ranked fourth in runs allowed. Their +97 run differential bested the Coons’ +60 mark. They were without Tony Aparicio and Jesse Bulas, and had no speed, but had a league-leading .359 team OBP, choosing the Anaconda Plan for their offense.

Projected matchups:
Arthur Pickett (8-9, 4.17 ERA) vs. Andy Overy (15-6, 3.35 ERA)
Rafael de la Cruz (2-4, 4.87 ERA) vs. Adam Middleton (5-8, 4.05 ERA)
He Shui (12-7, 2.72 ERA) vs. Anton Jesus (8-5, 3.76 ERA)

Overy was the only Elks southpaw. Damian Moreno (.303, 9 HR, 59 RBI) entered the game with a 25-game hitting streak.

I couldn’t stand being alone at home for this 3-game set, and nobody volunteered to stay with me and Honeypaws, but Cristiano Carmona gave me a number where lonely guys could find company for an evening. I booked a fellow named Philippe, who came me $500, which I found a bit much for three hours of baseball, but I prepared snacks for two plus Honeypaws anyway. Once he showed up, to my great surprise, he seemed to have nothing better to do then to try and lose his pants. – Philippe, first, can I call you Phil? And second, while that is a nice leopard-patterned thong, I would prefer it if you kept your pants on.

Yes, Phil, holding my paw would be something I would enjoy a lot.

Game 1
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – 1B Ramsay – C Gowin – LF Brassfield – RF Puckeridge – 2B Knight – CF de Lemos – P Pickett
VAN: CF D. Moreno – SS Mullen – LF Magnussen – C Waker – RF A. Walker – 1B Wheeler – 3B F. Marquez – 2B Uranga – P Overy

The Raccoons enjoyed stranding pairs of runners in the first, second, and fourth innings without ever scoring, while Tristan Waker put up the Elks with a solo shot in the bottom 2nd for a 1-0 lead off Pickett. Waker singled his second time up with one out in the bottom 4th, but was forced out by Aaron Walker. Jeff Wheeler and Felix Marquez hit two more singles, getting the score to 2-0, before Jorge Uranga grounded out to Lonzo. Pickett would not return for the fifth inning, having disappeared in the bowels of the ballpark with Dr. Padilla, causing me to groan loudly and Phil complaining that he wasn’t even doing anything.

The Coons stranded a fourth pair of runners in the sixth as Knight reached on an error and de Lemos walked. Matt Cox batted for Matt Walters, but whiffed. Overy wouldn’t allow a run, pitching six and two thirds scoreless before he was lifted with Lonzo on third base after offering him a walk, and failing to hold back when Lonzo swiped his 50th bag of the year by force. Ramsay’s groundout advanced him, but Gowin then flew out against Dan Lawrence. – What do you mean, Phil, what we’re gonna do after the game? It will be 10pm, of course I’ll go to bed? – Why would we go out? And what’s a molly house…?

The Coons pen offered four scoreless innings; one by Walters, one by Bak, and two by Sencion with the Elks carrying a rather left-handed lineup. The only thing that didn’t click was the offense. The team was still shut out as the ninth inning broke, with righty Ruben Mendez up against the 8-9-1 part of the lineup. Pinch-hitters Ed Crispin and Mikio Suzuki amounted to zilch, but Venegas singled with two outs. Lonzo grounded out to Dan Mullen, though. 2-0 Canadiens. De Lemos 1-1, 2 BB; Sencion 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

On the plus side, the Raccoons killed Moreno’s hitting streak as he went 0-4 with two strikeouts. In the problem column was Pickett being diagnosed with elbow inflammation and going to the DL, maybe also for just two weeks. Maybe. The Raccoons had to bring up Phil Baker to make up the numbers now. The 26-year-old had a 4.82 ERA in St. Pete, and had gone for a 5.43 ERA with the Critters last year.

Well, Phil, sorry that the team lost. But it was a nice evening, I guess. But you hardly touched your snacks, except for the cashews. – So you like nuts?

I don’t know, something was weird about that guy, and even weirder was that Cristiano called on Wednesday morning and wanted to know how the evening had gone, and I could tell that he was suppressing a snicker.

Honeypaws, it’s just gonna be us two for the rest of the series.

Game 2
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – 1B Ramsay – C Gowin – LF Brassfield – RF Cox – CF Puckeridge – 2B Allred – P de la Cruz
VAN: CF D. Moreno – SS Mullen – LF Magnussen – C Waker – RF A. Walker – 1B Wheeler – 3B F. Marquez – 2B Uranga – P Middleton

Venegas singled, Lonzo singled, Gowin got knocked down with a fastball, but the Raccoons had three on with one out in the first inning, and then choked yet again. Brassfield whiffed, Cox grounded out, and nobody scored AGAIN. The Elks also left the bags full in the first, but scored leadoff man Damian Moreno, who drew a walk and was shoved around with Adam Magnussen and Aaron Walker singles, while Jeff Wheeler drew a 2-out walk before Felix Marquez grounded out. The 9-1-2 hitters then snapped straight singles off Raffy in the bottom 2nd, and Magnussen grounded up the middle with the bases loaded. Ryan Allred cut off the ball, but had no grip and no play, and a run scored. Waker then grounded into an inning-ending double play, but at that point Raffy was 51 pitches into a really **** outing.

The Coons finally scored in the third; Venegas hit a leadoff double and scored on Gowin’s 2-out single. Brassfield walked, but Cox grounded out harmlessly again. The fourth was uneventful, and in the fifth the Coons put runners on the corners with nobody out as Middleton nicked Lonzo and allowed a single to Rams. Gowin tied the game in the worst way, grounding into a 6-4-3 double play. Waker also hit into another double play to erase Magnussen’s leadoff single in the bottom 5th, but Wheeler and Marquez began the sixth with yet more singles off a hapless Raffy. The go-ahead run scored on Uranga’s sac fly, 3-2, and Raffy was gone after that inning, having been plonked to within an inch of his life on 11 base hits.

More of the same in the top 7th: Gowin tied the game, although this time by doubling home Lonzo from second base, and Cox croaked another inning with two+ runners on base, grounding out to Marquez. Hitchcock held the 3-3 tie by getting three grounders to Allred in the bottom 7th, but Lillis was less lucky in the eighth inning. Wheeler singled to center on a 1-2 pitch with one out, and with two outs and a 3-0 count to Uranga, Lillis just lost a pitch and drilled the batter in the knee. Uranga limped off the field; Tim Turner ran for Wheeler as the go-ahead run at second base, and Tim Burkhart ran for the fallen Uranga, while Julio Diaz pinch-hit for the pitcher, but that was a left-hander hitting .171 on the year. The pitching coach tried to calm Lillis down, and it worked well enough for a groundout to short that ended the inning. After Ruben Mendez killed the Raccoons in the ninth again, Lillis returned for the bottom of the inning. Moreno doubled to begin the inning, and Waker doubled with two outs to end it all. 4-3 Canadiens. Venegas 2-5, 2B; Lavorano 2-4; Gowin 2-3, 2B, 2 RBI;

****.

Game 3
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – 1B Ramsay – C Gowin – LF Brassfield – RF Cox – CF Puckeridge – 2B Allred – P Shui
VAN: CF D. Moreno – SS Mullen – LF Magnussen – C Waker – RF A. Walker – 1B Wheeler – 3B F. Marquez – 2B Uranga – P A. Jesus

Quick start on Thursday as the team tried to regain first place; Venegas and Lonzo singled, and both scored on Rams’ groundout and a Gowin single, and it was 4-0 once Trent Brassfield rocked his first major league home run to left-center! Cox also landed a base hit, but he would be left on base before the 4-0 lead went to He Shui. He went on to retire the first 11 Elks before walking Magnussen in the fourth, with Waker flying out to Pucks in center to end that inning. It wasn’t the first sorta-long fly, but so far the Elks still had to make them drop in and/or fly out. That came in the fifth, with a leadoff walk to Tristan Waker, an Aaron Walker single, and after Wheeler grounded out, a 2-run single for Marquez and an RBI single for Uranga, abruptly axing a comfy 4-0 lead down to 4-3 by the end of the inning. The sixth began with two outs before Walker and Wheeler hit more singles and Marquez left the game with a cranky back after sliding into second base on a score-flipping 2-run double.

Gone was Shui, and Walters struck out Uranga to end the inning. Pucks opened the seventh with a single, then was picked off first base. Lonzo was on base as the tying run with one gone in the eighth, then was doubled up by Ramsay. Bak pitched the bottom 8th, but didn’t look right. He got slapped around for three hits, then was collected by Dr. Padilla with a run already across. Eloy Sencion got two outs to strand two runners, with the Raccoons down by two as they faced Dan Lawrence in the ninth inning. Gowin was drilled and Brassfield walked, which put the tying runs on for Ed Crispin, who was batting sixth as a result of multiple double switches and couldn’t be removed anymore, really. He struck out. Pucks grounded out. And Suzuki also grounded out. 6-4 Canadiens. Lavorano 2-4; Brassfield 2-3, BB, HR, 2 RBI;

…

Hyun-soo Bak was diagnosed with a mild shoulder strain and would be unavailable for at least the weekend, but not placed on the DL, so we were now a guy short on top of everything else.

Raccoons (72-55) vs. Thunder (74-53) – August 28-30, 2054

Well, it was nice while it lasted. The Coons were even, 3-3, with the Thunder, but they seemed to have found their groove, and the Raccoons only found injuries anymore at this stage. The Thunder were fifth in runs scored and second in runs allowed in the CL. They were all about power, with the second-most homers, and had negligible speed, bottoms in the league in the category. Their defense was rated tops in the Continental League.

Projected matchups:
Seisaku Taki (9-9, 3.45 ERA) vs. Alfredo Llamas (13-7, 3.36 ERA)
Kyle Brobeck (5-4, 3.77 ERA) vs. Victor Marquez (10-9, 3.40 ERA)
Phil Baker (0-0) vs. David Barel (7-0, 3.50 ERA)

Right, left, left. Barel had missed three months almost with a herniated disc, had also battled a sore shoulder, and was yet still undefeated in 2054 in his 11 starts.

Game 1
OCT: LF R. Cox – 2B Ban – 3B Soberanes – 1B Worthington – RF M. Harmon – C Weese – SS Spehar – CF Ward – P Llamas
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – 1B Ramsay – LF Brassfield – RF M. Cox – C Philipps – CF Suzuki – 2B Allred – P Taki

After three scoreless, and for the Raccoons hitless innings, Lonzo misfield a David Worthington grounder in the fourth inning and Mike Harmon immediately stuck an RBI double into the rightfield corner to put the Raccoons in a 1-0 hole. He also seemed to mess up an ankle or leg sliding into second base and was stretchered off the field, so maybe that would teach him. Kevin Weese singled home pinch-runner Mike Roberts, 2-0, while Llamas retired 11 in a row before stumbling over a Ramsay single. He walked Brassfield, and Matt Cox belted a 3-run homer to flip the score.

That lead wouldn’t hold either, because why would it. Worthington whacked a double to center in the sixth, and with one out, Taki allowed straight singles to the 6-7-8 batters to fall 4-3 behind. Llamas struck out, after which Lillis replaced Taki, but failed just like everybody else, giving up a 2-run single to Ryan Cox. Ramsay and Brassfield would answer with leadoff singles in the bottom 6th, but Cox popped out and Philipps hit into a double play. I remained calm, adding a splash of motor oil to my Capt’n Coma.

The Raccoons needed at least outs from Jim Larson, and they got … horse ****. Larson was supposed to get two innings done with, and was beaten to ******* death for just two outs. Two walks, three hits, three runs across and two runners on base by the time he was yanked. Another three runs were beaten out of Eloy Sencion’s useless pelt in the eighth inning. Worthington homered, and they just kept battering him for ever more hits and two more runs. In between the Coons had wasted another pair of singles, and in the eighth had Pucks on with a single (and immediately forced out by Cox’ grounder) and Philipps when he was drilled by right-hander Hyeok Kim, and left those two as well when Suzuki grounded out. Crispin hit a single in the ninth, and was doubled off by de Lemos. 12-3 Thunder. Venegas 2-4; Ramsay 2-4; Brassfield 1-2, BB; Puckeridge (PH) 1-1;

Jim Larson (8.31 ERA) ended up on waivers. Ryan Allred (.185, 0 HR, 5 RBI) was demoted. The Raccoons called up a fresh arm – Alfaro (shrugs!) – and Naughty Joe in a display of a white flag.

Game 2
OCT: LF R. Cox – SS Ban – 3B Soberanes – 1B Worthington – C Weese – CF Ward – RF M. Roberts – 2B Spehar – P V. Marquez
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – C Gowin – LF Brassfield – RF M. Cox – 1B Philipps – 2B Knight – CF de Lemos – P Brobeck

Ryan Cox drew a walk to begin the game and then scored on Soberanes and Weese singles to put the Raccoons in a 1-0 hole right away. Jayden Ward popped out to Lonzo to strand a pair, but Brobeck was a bit of a mess and ran endless long counts, needing over 60 pitches through four innings while not even giving up any more runs. The Raccoons had nothing cooking early on, scattering two singles the first time through, but then had Chris Gowin open the bottom 4th with a single to right. Brassfield rolled a ball past a falling Marquez and Ban couldn’t hustle in to play it in time, putting the rookie on with an infield single. For once, then, someone came through. Matt Cox was down 1-2, but then flung a ball over the head of Ed Soberanes and into the leftfield corner, from where it caromed awkwardly past Ryan Cox – no relation, nor love lost – for a triple, putting the Coons up 2-1. Philipps’ groundout got Coxie home for a 3-run inning. Ryan Cox answered with a 2-out RBI double off Brobeck in the top 5th right away. There were Cox all over the places in the box score! – Cristiano, what’s there to giggle about?

Tied game by the sixth then; Brobeck nicked Worthington with an 0-2 pitch, and then Weese doubled and Jayden Ward bopped a sac fly to Brassfield to get the teams even. Brobeck held on to that, but Hitchcock didn’t taking over in the eighth inning and giving up singles to Ed Soberanes and Kevin Weese, and, importantly, also a stolen base to Soberanes in between, which allowed him to score from second on Weese’s single, and so the Raccoons were trailing yet again. The Coons got a leadoff double from Venegas in the bottom 8th, then three ***** outs from the 2-3-4 batters that didn’t even get Venegas to THIRD base, let alone home. No such problem for Ryan Cox in the top of the ninth inning. He outcoxed Matt Cox with a 3-run homer of his own off Brett Lillis jr., who officially went on the useless pile again. He put Jonathan Ban on as well with a walk before being replaced with ******* useless Antonio Alfaro, who gave up two more singles and Ban’s run. 8-3 Thunder. Gowin 2-4; Puckeridge (PH) 1-1;

(sits motionless on the couch until Slappy is the last one to go home and kill the lights)

(still sits motionless)

Game 3
OCT: LF R. Cox – SS Ban – 3B Soberanes – 1B Worthington – C Weese – RF S. King – CF M. Roberts – 2B Gould – P Barel
POR: LF Venegas – SS Lavorano – C Gowin – 1B Brassfield – RF M. Cox – CF de Lemos – 3B Crispin – 2B Knight – P Baker

Nobody expected the Raccoons to hit much against David Barel, and they didn’t scattering four hits in rather inefficient manner through five innings, but the real surprise was that Phil Baker somehow kept puttering along, giving up three hits, two walks, and striking out only one Thunder through five innings of a scoreless ballgame. He was yanked when the game was still scoreless after giving up a 2-out walk to Weese and a single to Scott King that sent Weese to third base. Sencion faced Roberts, who hit a drive to left-center that somehow Venegas tracked down, so Baker’s ledger remained clean, although he was saddled with a no-decision. Both teams had seen a runner caught stealing so far, with de Lemos being thrown out for Portland, but Lonzo scooped a base after reaching on a soft single in the bottom 6th. Gowin grounded out to short for the first out, and the Thunder walked Brassfield intentionally, which was a peculiar choice… at least until Matt Cox sent a grounder to short for tw- an error by Ban, and Lonzo scored on it. De Lemos and Crispin made quick and pathetic outs as a public apology to end the inning.

Sencion walked Thomas Gould to begin the seventh, but then got three straight outs. Bottom 7th, Venegas and Lonzo went to the corners on 2-out singles, but Soberanes remained on top of Gowin’s grounder and threw to first base in time to end the inning. Worthington went on to take Hitchcock deep in the eighth, tying the score at one, and making me increasingly unhappy. Yes, I’d go as far as to say I was kinda miffed and began to pet Honeypaws more aggressively. Brassfield hit a leadoff single in the bottom 8th, stole second, and was stranded on third base, with Ramsay whiffing when he batted for Crispin with two outs. Kevin Daley got three groundouts in the ninth, so there was still the chance for a walkoff against right-hander Ryan Moore and his 3.45 ERA. Knight popped out, but Pucks doubled to left when he hit for Daley. Venegas popped out, Lonzo struck out, and I let out a bit of a primal scream. We ended up with Alfaro in the 10th inning, and the Thunder ended up with a Cox single, a Soberanes double, and a 2-1 lead. Alex Mancilla got the save opportunity against the middle of the order then. The Coons went in order. 2-1 Thunder. Venegas 2-5; Lavorano 3-5; Puckeridge (PH) 1-1, 2B; Baker 5.2 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 1 K;

In other news

August 24 – Wolves outfielder John Fink (.270, 6 HR, 47 RBI) is done for the year for sure with a broken kneecap.
August 26 – The Thunder rally for a 7-6 walkoff in the ninth inning after entering the inning down 6-0 to the Falcons.
August 26 – The season of SAC OF/1B Omar Gonzalez (.330, 0 HR, 27 RBI) was perhaps over with a broken finger.
August 26 – Pacifics OF/1B Noah Caswell (.285, 2 HR, 39 RBI) was also done with the 2054 season after suffering a bruised kneecap.
August 26 – Gold Sox OF Bill Ramires (.290, 11 HR, 57 RBI) should be out for three weeks with a back strain.
August 27 – Topeka 1B/LF/RF Eddie Moreno (.309, 23 HR, 96 RBI) hits a 2-run home run in a 6-5 loss to the Capitals. It’s the 400th home run of his career, the sixth ABL hitter to reach that milestone. The three-time home run champion in the FL has 1,420 RBI with a .278/.349/.475 slash line for his career 15-year career.
August 28 – DEN SP Adam Foley (7-8, 4.12 ERA) shuts out the Buffaloes on two hits in a 9-0 game.

FL Player of the Week: DEN 1B Bill Joyner (.317, 11 HR, 58 RBI), batting .480 (12-25) with 11 RBI
CL Player of the Week: OCT SS/1B/LF Ryan Cox (.242, 7 HR, 25 RBI), hitting .385 (10-26) with 4 HR, 11 RBI

Complaints and stuff

The Elks had a 6-0 week, while the Raccoons had an 0-6 week. Ryan Cox also clearly outcoxed Matt Cox, who drove in six runs against the Thunder (and none against the Elks), but didn’t have a multi-hit game all week.

Ken Crum had struggled in his first four games of the rehab assignment, and only now gotten into the swing again. There’s now no point to send somebody else down for one more game until rosters expand on Tuesday. And won’t that be a happy day – the Coons will be able to call up more suckers and bedwetters to make a real effort to crash back to .500! Huzzah!

6-0. 0-6.

And to be honest, the less said about it, the better. Now excuse me, I still have drinking to do. Maybe I’ll run into a player on the way home that I can bludgeon to death with a bottle.

Aces, Indians to come in next week for free wins.

Fun Fact: Fun is for losers.

Wait. I’m not having fun.

Is fun for winners??

[Westheim]

Did you know that Pentecost Monday is a nationwide holiday in Germany? Which is a long-winded way of saying, here are the Coons.

+++

Raccoons (72-58) vs. Aces (64-67) – August 31-September 2, 2054

The bright red puddle in the middle of I-205 that had been the Raccoons until about a week ago hosted the Aces to begin the new week, the Vegas team ranking third in runs scored, but also giving up the third-most runs in the Continental League, with a +6 run differential. The Raccoons had already taken the season series, 5-1, so I didn’t see any issues with us energetically continuing that 6-game losing spill.

Projected matchups:
Rafael de la Cruz (2-4, 4.84 ERA) vs. Bill Lawrence (3-1, 3.84 ERA)
He Shui (12-8, 2.90 ERA) vs. Chris Cornelius (6-14, 5.15 ERA)
Seisaku Taki (9-10, 3.60 ERA) vs. Medardo Regueir (10-7, 3.92 ERA)

The vehemently unpronounceable Medardo Regueir was the only left-hander we saw drawing up against us in this series – but mind that rosters expanded on Tuesday. Though Ken Crum was ready to return from his rehab assignment, he’d only do so on Tuesday as well, since there was no point in burning another $900 in flying Naughty Joe hither and thither between here and St. Pete for 24 hours. Also, by keeping Crum officially disabled, the Raccoons would gain one more spot of wiggle room for their playoff roster!

Hah!!

Game 1
LVA: 1B E. Miller – RF Austin – SS Welter – LF Kaniewski – C DeFrank – 2B J. White – CF Ransford – 3B Tauzin – P B. Lawrence
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – C Gowin – 1B Ramsay – LF Brassfield – RF Cox – CF Puckeridge – 2B Knight – P de la Cruz

Raffy retired the Aces in order the first time through, striking out five batters including the 1-2-3 batters in the first inning. It wasn’t like the Coons had a base hit, either, with Chris Gowin drawing a walk in the first inning and that was about that against the spot starter Lawrence. The game’s first hit was a leadoff double in the bottom 4th that Lonzo strung past John Kaniewski in left. Gowin whiffed, Ramsay flew out to center, but Trent Brassfield came through with a single to center to send the Coons up 1-0. The rookie stole second, but then was stranded when Matt Cox whiffed.

Jim White singled with two outs in the fifth inning after Raffy had retired 14 straight to start the game, including eight strikeouts. He then walked Dustin Ransford on four pitches right away, but Mark Tauzin popped out to fellow third-sacker Anton Venegas to leave the runners on base. There was no defending Aubrey Austin’s 2-out blast to left in the sixth inning, though; that one tied the score. Critters filled the bases in the bottom 6th, though, as Lawrence nicked Lonzo, Gowin singled on the next pitch, and Ramsay worked out a walk. Three on, one out for Brassfield, who ran a full count against Lawrence, then laid off a pitch a foot outside for ball four and for his second go-ahead RBI in the 2-1 game. Cox then killed the inning with a double play grounder to Jim White.

Raffy blew that lead as well on White and Ransford singles in the seventh inning, the tying run scampering home on Tauzin’s sac fly to Cox. That was it for him, being on 97 pitches anyway and coming to bat in the bottom 7th with Pucks on second base and one out. Ed Crispin whiffed, Venegas flew out to Austin, and that was a no-decision in probably Raffy’s best start since returning from the depths of DL hell. The pen held up to complete nine – Bak struck out the side in the eighth and Daley worked around a Lonzo error with two more strikeouts in the ninth – but the Raccoons still had to score a run. The good news was that Brassfield lined a double to right to begin the bottom 9th. The bad news? He missed first base and was called out. (noisily facepalms in unison with Slappy, Cristiano, Steve from Accounting, and Maud, and down in the stands even Chad in the mascot stops dancing and stares struck with disbelief) It got better yet, with Cox being called out strikes and taking out his frustration on the ump with some choice words, which got him tossed. Dave de Lemos was to replace him in extras, but Pucks was still stirring with a 2-out walk, then stole second base. Nobody expected anything from Matt Knight, but Matt Knight dealt a double in the left-center gap to walk off the hapless Critterfolk. 3-2 Coons. De la Cruz 7.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 9 K;

And now, roster expansion – the Raccoons mostly added warm bodies besides Ken Crum, who returned from his rehab assignment. Prospero Tenazes was added for the end of the bench, and well-worn Jeff Raczka returned on no merit at all, batting .195 in AAA this year, because why not have three catchers? Warm bodies was also the mood for additional pitchers, with Ryan Harmer and Raul Medrano called up again (prospects listed here: zero) besides Geoff Sather and Reynaldo Bravo.

Game 2
LVA: CF Blair – RF Austin – SS Welter – C DeFrank – 2B J. White – 1B E. Miller – LF Bishop – 3B Howington – P Cornelius
POR: LF Crum – SS Lavorano – C Gowin – 1B Ramsay – RF Brassfield – CF Puckeridge – 3B Venegas – 2B Knight – P Shui

As on Monday, the Coons didn’t get a base hit until Lonzo scratched out a leadoff knock in the fourth, this time by an infield single, but unlike Monday, they were down 2-0 at that point. The 3-4-5 batters had reached for Vegas in the first, with Jim White singling home Jeremy Welter, and Steve Bishop came in to score after a leadoff double in the second inning against Shui. Rams and Brassfield hit more singles, which led to no runs because Gowin had already doubled up Lonzo ahead of them, and Pucks popped out to strand the other two mucks. Bottom 5th, one out, Knight, Shui, and Crum loaded the bases against Cornelius, after which Lonzo popped out to Brian Howington. Great. Gowin came through, though, tying the score with a 2-out, 2-run single to left-center, giving him the team RBI lead with a spiffy *59* …! Cornelius walked Rams to reload the bases, then gave up a 3-2 lead to the Coons on Brassfield’s scratch single behind reaching Jim White. Pucks grounded out, stranding three. Venegas and Knight hit singles in the bottom 6th and were bunted into scoring position by Shui, which led to an intentional walk to Ken Crum and Lonzo batting again with three on and one out. Facing righty reliever Mike Alden, he slapped a sharp grounder to the left side, which Jeremy Welter dove for and stopped – but he had no play. Infield single, 4-2… and then Gowin found a double play to hit into.

Shui went into the seventh, but not out of it. He walked Howington, who advanced on Jonathan Harris’ grounder, and then scored on Dave Blair’s single, 4-3. Alden was in the #2 spot and hit for with Dustin Ransford, prompting a move to a left-handed reliever. Matt Walters got a grounder to Knight, Knight fudged the ball, and two Aces were now on base. John Kaniewski hit for Welter, so the Coons changed to a matching pitcher again. Hitchcock got a pop on the first pitch, and that ended the inning. Brassfield and Pucks reached in the bottom 7th, and when Cox batted for Venegas against another righty in Julio Nunez, he also found a double play to rumble into. But the Coons still led, Hitchcock and Lillis putting together the eighth inning, and in the ninth Kevin Daley struck out the side to put the game away. 4-3 Raccoons. Lavorano 2-5, RBI; Ramsay 1-2, 2 BB; Brassfield 3-4, RBI; Knight 3-4;

We thought of giving Venegas and Lonzo a day off, but not right now against a left-handed starter. It looked like right-handers all through the 4-game set against the Arrowheads that was coming up, so that would be delayed til Thursday.

Game 3
LVA: 1B E. Miller – RF Austin – SS Welter – LF Kaniewski – 2B J. White – CF Ransford – C Lytle – 3B Tauzin – P Regueir
POR: LF Crum – SS Lavorano – C Gowin – RF Brassfield – 3B Venegas – 1B Philipps – 2B Knight – CF de Lemos – P Taki

For a change, the Raccoons scored inside the first three innings when de Lemos zinged a triple and scored on Ken Crum’s 2-out single in the bottom 3rd for the first run of the game. But Taki struggled and continued to give up loud contact; it was just that so far the Aces managed to find fielders to defuse those rockets just in time. There wasn’t defending any walks, though, and after Regueir hit a leadoff single (…) in the fifth, Taki filled the bases with free passes to Austin and Welter. Kaniewski tied the game with an RBI single, but Jim White found Venegas for a double play to get Taki out of the damn inning. Somehow Taki got around a Ransford double to begin the sixth inning, but was done after the inning, having needed more than 100 pitches to make it even that far. Gowin and Brassfield tried to give him a W with 1-out singles, but we always found a muppet, didn’t we? This time, Venegas spanked into a double play to destroy the inning and my soul.

Philipps and Rams hit singles in the seventh, but were stranded. Venegas hit into another ******* double play in the eighth, although that was after Brassfield had singled home Lonzo to finally break the ******* tie. The 2-1 lead – with Daley having been out four of five days, and Hitchcock didn’t look much better – went to Hyun-soo Bak in the ninth inning, but after a walk to Eric Miller and an Austin single, Matt Walters was sent after Welter with one out, but the Aces brought righty PH George Rickey, who struck out anyway. Kaniewski was a right-hander as well, but Walters looked convincing. Another strikeout ended the game and completed the sweep. 2-1 Blighters. Brassfield 3-4, RBI; Philipps 1-2, BB; Ramsay (PH) 1-1;

Reynaldo Bravo (0-0, 47.25 ERA) got the final out in the eighth inning, but was tended to by Dr. Padilla after the game, which boded well for sure. He went in the shredder by Thursday, when Dr. Padilla found a torn rotator cuff. He was done for the year quite obviously and might miss the entirety of the 2055 season. He ended up on the 60-day DL to clear the spot on the 40-man roster.

Raccoons (75-58) vs. Indians (55-78) – September 3-6, 2054

We led the season series against Indy, 8-3, and had four more at home over the long weekend. The Arrowheads ranked tenth in runs scored and seventh in runs allowed, with a -58 run differential. Tan Brink and Mario Ceballos were notable DL cases for them.

Projected matchups:
Kyle Brobeck (5-4, 3.77 ERA) vs. Jimmy Charles (7-9, 4.05 ERA)
Phil Baker (0-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. Jason Jacobs (0-2, 7.59 ERA)
Rafael de la Cruz (2-4, 4.62 ERA) vs. Enrique Ortiz (13-6, 3.12 ERA)
He Shui (13-8, 2.94 ERA) vs. Pete Becker (4-5, 3.16 ERA)

As expected, no southpaw for the Indians here. The Raccoons would thus rotate all the regular right-handed batters for a day off in the first two games of the series starting with Lonzo, Venegas, and Gowin on Thursday.

Game 1
IND: 2B A. Rios – SS Ed. Ortiz – RF B. Quinteros – 3B B. Anderson – C Poindexter – 1B Yamamoto – LF R. White – CF French – P Charles
POR: LF Crum – RF Brassfield – 1B Ramsay – CF Puckeridge – C Philipps – 3B Crispin – SS Knight – 2B Boese – P Brobeck

Brobeck was a lot better with the stick, hitting a double his first time up in the bottom 2nd before getting stranded in scoring position along with Naughty Joe when Crum flew out, because the Indians were hitting loud knocks all over the place, and after Antonio Rios hit a sharp single in the third inning, Brobeck filled the bases with 2-out walks to Edwin Ortiz and Bill Quinteros – but Bobby Anderson struck out to leave the bases loaded and the game scoreless. It took the Indians five innings, but they finally gave Brobeck a few in the snout in the top 5th, funnily starting with a Charles single. Brobeck walked Ortiz, then gave up hard hits to Quinteros and Bobby Anderson for three runs before he had outfielders chase down Manny Poindexter and Shuta Yamamoto drives to get out of the inning at all. To my astonishment, the Raccoons made up one run right away on three straight 2-out hits by their 2-3-4 batters – wasn’t Trent Brassfield a delight!? – but Philipps grounded out to strand the tying runs on the corners. Brobeck returned for the sixth, but gave up a leadoff single to Rusty White and was yanked, after six hits and five walks in 5+ innings. Geoff Sather and a Philipps error worked together to wave that fourth run for Indy around, and Lillis also gave up three hits and a run, driven in by Yamamoto, of all former ex-Coons, in the seventh inning. The Coons? Pucks hit a solo homer in the eighth, when it was almost a little late, but nice to see him occasionally developing a pulse. In the ninth, Raul Medrano managed to fill the bases by walking two and battering one Arrowhead, then gave up a 2-run single to Poindexter before Yamamoto got doubled up. With one out to collect, Matt Walters walked Rusty White, then threw a wild pitch to bring home a run. Bobby French singled home a run. Danny Diaz dastardly doubled. So did Mike Gilmore, plating two. Exit Walters, enter Harmer, who insisted on walking Ortiz before Quinteros grounded out to first base. When Crum singled and was doubled up by Brassfield before Ramsay rammed a homer off Rich Knowles in the bottom 9th, I giggled uncontrollably. 11-3 Indians. Brassfield 2-5; Ramsay 2-3, BB, HR, RBI; Puckeridge 2-5, HR, 2 RBI; Crispin 2-4;

I can’t possibly murder all the muppets on this roster that urgently need murdering.

But … (draws dagger) … that doesn’t mean I can’t try. (runs after a bickering Pucks)

Brassfield, batting .385, had a day off on Friday, and the same for Matt Knight.

Game 2
IND: 2B A. Rios – LF J. Garza – RF B. Quinteros – 3B B. Anderson – C Poindexter – 1B Yamamoto – SS Ed. Ortiz – CF Oldfield – P Jacobs
POR: LF Crum – SS Lavorano – C Gowin – 1B Ramsay – RF Cox – 3B Venegas – CF Suzuki – 2B Boese – P Baker

Indy went up 2-0 on sharp hits by Anderson, Yamamoto (who tripled, the miserable *******), and Edwin Ortiz in the second inning, although Matt Cox answered with a leadoff jack to right in the bottom of the same inning. Lonzo got on and stole his 54th base in the bottom 3rd, but was stranded by the rest of the buggers. A home run by Manny Poindexter off a scuffling Baker in the fourth extended the Indians’ lead to 3-1, and five innings of Baker were deemed plenty in this game. He struck out absolutely nobody, and the outfielders looked tired by the fifth inning.

Somehow he left in line for the W – Brassfield batted for him to begin the bottom 5th and drew a walk, then stole second. Crum also walked, but Lonzo whiffed. Chris Gowin however pumped a 3-run homer to dead central, flipping the score to 4-3 Coons! From there, both Alfaro in the sixth and Lillis in the seventh put pairs of Indians on base, but Yamamoto hit into a double play in the sixth (tee-hee!) and Lillis saved himself with strikeouts, lastly against Bill Quinteros.

Bottom 7th, Lonzo doubled with one gone off Caleb Martin, then seemed to surprise the Indians by stealing *third* base for #55. Chris Gowin chased him by means of a sac fly to right, but with the bags now empty and two outs, Martin kept getting torched. Ramsay doubled, Cox singled, and Crispin batted for Venegas and dropped an RBI single behind Antonio Rios, 6-3. When the Indians went to lefty Bubba Poss, Tenazes batted for Suzuki, but grounded out. Sencion and Medrano then failed the bases full with the tying runs in the eighth inning. Hitchcock came on and blew the lead with RBI singles for Dan Sandoval and Danny Diaz, plus Rios’ groundout. Jose Garza flew out to Cox to end the ******* top 8th. – Slappy, this would be a good time to open a One-Eyed Jack’s, don’t you think? … That, and walking off the end of an open drawbridge.

Bottom 8th, Naughty Joe grounded out against Knowles, but de Lemos singled to center. He stole second, advanced on Crum’s groundout, and Lonzo got nicked. Chris Gowin came through for the umpteenth time by singling to center, chasing de Lemos home with the go-ahead run. Ramsay grounded out, stranding a pair, but Kevin Daley retired Quinteros, retired Anderson, and Poindexter … doubled off the fence. Yamamoto grounded out to Crispin, though. 7-6 Raccoons. Lavorano 2-4, 2B; Gowin 2-4, HR, 5 RBI; Cox 2-4, HR, RBI; Crispin (PH) 1-1, RBI; Boese 2-4; de Lemos 1-1;

(gnashes teeth)

Game 3
IND: SS Llampallas – LF J. Garza – RF B. Quinteros – 3B B. Anderson – C Poindexter – 2B N. Fernandez – 1B R. White – CF Oldfield – P En. Ortiz
POR: LF Crum – SS Lavorano – C Gowin – 1B Ramsay – RF Brassfield – 3B Venegas – CF Puckeridge – 2B Knight – P de la Cruz

The Lonzo-Gowin combo continued to work; Lonzo walked (!) in the bottom 1st, stole second, and then was singled in by Gowin, but Ramsay still found another double play after that. Brassfield and Pucks landed hits and the former scored on Knight’s groundout in the second, while Raffy struck out only two the first time through the order this time, but got around two hits and a Knight error to at least keep the Indians off the board. Bottom 3rd, Lonzo and Gowin hit singles within two pitches of another, and Rams grinded out a full-count walk to fill the bases with one out for .392 wonder Trent Brassfield, who settled for a sac fly to Garza. Venegas walked to fill the bases again, but Pucks grounded out to strand three runners in the 3-0 game.

Quinteros opened the fourth with a single off Raffy, but then was doubled up on Poindexter’s roller to Lonzo before Raffy posted two 1-2-3 innings to get through six. Meanwhile, Lonzo was on base again in the fifth, but was caught stealing. Quinteros then had another leadoff single in the seventh, and Anderson popped out. Poindexter was prepared to hit into another double play, but Knight tossed the ball over Lonzo’s head, and instead of two out on the play there’d be two on. Nick Fernandez flew out to Pucks, while Rusty White sent Ken Crum to the warning track, but there the catch was made to end the inning. Knight and Crum drew walks in the bottom 7th, but hits were hard to find at that point. Raffy returned for the eighth and sat down the Indians in order, with two strikeouts, but ended up on exactly 100 pitches at that point and would not return for the ninth inning. When Brassfield and Pucks tucked on a run in the bottom 8th with a double and RBI single, respectively, going up 4-0, the Raccoons sent Geoff Sather for the ninth inning. Once Garza and Quinteros singled, runners on the corners and nobody out, he was replaced by Hitchcock. He got two outs for the cost of the lead run before giving up a 2-out RBI single to Nick Fernandez. And another single to Rusty White. And another RBI single to Dan Sandoval. OH FOR ***** SAKE!! Danny Diaz grounded out while I was banging against the clearglass windows with both fists, screaming, ending the ******* ballgame. 4-3 Raccoons. Lavorano 2-3, BB; Gowin 2-4, RBI; Brassfield 2-3, 2B, RBI; Puckeridge 2-4, 2B, RBI; de la Cruz 8.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 9 K, W (3-4);

They are just not very likeable, are they!?

Game 4
IND: SS Llampallas – 2B A. Rios – RF B. Quinteros – C Poindexter – 1B Yamamoto – LF J. Garza – 3B D. Sandoval – CF Oldfield – P Becker
POR: LF Crum – SS Lavorano – RF Brassfield – 1B Ramsay – CF Puckeridge – C Philipps – 3B Crispin – 2B Knight – P Shui

Brassfield jumped over the .400 mark with an RBI double in the first inning, driving home Ken Crum and his leadoff single for a 1-0 lead while sending Lonzo, who reached on an error, to third base. Rams and Pucks both hit sac flies to Cory Oldfield to extend the lead to 3-0, but slowly whittled the inning away while doing so. Ed Crispin hit a leadoff single in the second, then stole second base. Knight grounded out, but Shui shot a triple into the gap, then scored on another single by Ken Crum, 5-0. That remained the score for a long while. Besides raking an RBI triple, Shui also low-key dominated the Indians, who besides a Quinteros single had nothing but five strikeouts through six innings. Antonio Rios opened the seventh with a single through the left side, then was caught stealing, which was a weird decision to make in the first place. Poindexter also singled, but the inning ended with a K on Yamamoto. Oldfield singled with two outs in the eighth, but Shui ended another inning with a K on Danny Diaz. The Raccoons could never score again either after the quick fiver, but the good news was that Shui entered the ninth inning on 95 pitches and we didn’t expect to use any relievers. Juan Llampallas flew out to Mikio Suzuki in center. Rios grounded out to Lonzo. Shui completed the shutout with a K on Quinteros. 5-0 Furballs! Crum 3-4, RBI; Brassfield 2-4, 2B, RBI; Crispin 2-4, 2B; Shui 9.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 8 K, W (14-8) and 1-3, 3B, RBI;

In other news

August 31 – DEN 1B Bill Joyner (.315, 11 HR, 58 RBI) has hit in 20 straight games with a first-inning single in a 6-5 loss to the Miners.
September 1 – Denver SP Jon Craig (9-11, 4.86 ERA) can still do it; the 38-year-old shuts out the Miners no three base hits in a 9-0 Gold Sox win.
September 1 – Canadiens and Falcons play 11 innings to be tied at two before the Canadiens burst through with a 7-run 12th inning for a 9-2 win.
September 1 – DAL RF/1B/LF Dario Martinez (.335, 14 HR, 42 RBI) retires after a botched hand surgery leaves him struggling to grip a bat. The 31-year-old batted .299 with 205 HR, 723 RBI for his career, taking four Platinum Sticks.
September 5 – The hitting streak of DEN 1B Bill Joyner (.313, 11 HR, 61 RBI) ends at 24 games with an 0-for-4 in a 5-4 win over the Scorpions.
September 6 – The Cyclones trade SP Mike Chartrand (10-7, 4.46 ERA) to the Blue Sox for #16 prospect SP Cameron Parks.
September 6 – The Capitals drown the Blue Sox, 17-2, with Aruban WAS OF Neville van de Wouw (.270, 17 HR, 55 RBI) leading the charge with four hits and three RBI.
September 6 – Bayhawks September call-up 3B Adam Hoogendorn (.579, 2 HR, 9 RBI) slaps three hits with two home runs and five RBI in a 10-7 loss to the Thunder.

FL Player of the Week: PIT INF Victor Corrales (.308, 28 HR, 116 RBI), batting .500 (11-22) with 2 HR, 7 RBI
CL Player of the Week: SFB 3B Adam Hoogendorn (.579, 2 HR, 9 RBI), in his first week in the majors!

FL Hitter of the Month: PIT INF Victor Corrales (.302, 26 HR, 111 RBI), hitting .358 with 8 HR, 29 RBI
CL Hitter of the Month: ATL 2B/SS Willie Acosta (.319, 1 HR, 54 RBI), batting .376 with 19 RBI
FL Pitcher of the Month: SAC SP Mike McCaffrey (14-5, 2.67 ERA), going a perfect 6-0 with 1.42 ERA, 51 K in August
CL Pitcher of the Month: ATL CL David Hardaway (6-2, 2.58 ERA, 35 SV), going 2-0 with 2.70 ERA, 10 SV, 11 K
FL Rookie of the Month: RIC 1B Mario Delgadillo (.301, 21 HR, 79 RBI), batting .324 with 2 HR, 17 RBI
CL Rookie of the Month: ATL INF Robby Gaxiola (.324, 1 HR, 16 RBI), slapping .373 with 10 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Turns out, if we don’t play actually good teams, we occasionally win one or six. We thus remain in the thick of things, while the Loggers are slowly falling away from the race. The Crusaders have won five in a row, but they didn’t rally in time, I guess. Two-horse race? For the time, four teams are given at least mathematical chances with four weeks of games left (with playoff% and strength of schedule):

VAN (79-56) – NYC (7), BOS (4), IND (4), ATL (3), LVA (3), MIL (3), POR (3) – .502 – 69.1%
POR (78-59) – MIL (7), BOS (3), IND (3), NYC (3), SFB (3), TIJ (3), VAN (3) – .485 – 29.8%
MIL (72-63) – POR (7), BOS (4), NYC (4), CHA (3), IND (3), OCT (3), VAN (3) – .524 – 1.0%
NYC (70-66) – VAN (7), MIL (4), ATL (3), BOS (3), IND (3), LVA (3), POR (3) – .528 – 0.1%

Just win seven of seven against the Elks, Crusaders, and you’re only 2 1/2 back anymore. Because I am sure the Raccoons will find ways to get stuffed into a trash can again somewhere. They might even like that.

We have the Loggers for four and the Titans for three games up next week, but with an off day on Thursday. We make up a rainout from earlier in the season on Monday, although that was a home game, while the upcoming series is in Milwaukee, so we’ll bat second for one of the games on Monday. Wheats is scheduled to start one of the games straight off the DL. Pickett should also come off the DL by the middle of the week, but will probably only pitch against the Titans.

Also, it’s been a few weeks since we looked at Lonzo’s chase up the stolen base table, and that’s something we’ll look at like once a month from now on, like the good old days when Brownie and Jonny Toner made their bids into the upper echelons of the career strikeouts table:

t-43rd – Felix Marquez – 325 – active
t-43rd – Lorenzo Rivera – 325
45th – Felix Rojas – 322 – active
46th – Raúl Herrera – 321
47th – Roberto Rodriguez – 317
48th – Lorenzo Lavorano – 315 – active
49th – Ross Holland – 314
50th – Adrian Reichardt – 309
51st – Miguel Martinez – 306 – active

Felix Marquez, 41, is with the Elks this year, and has actually taken five bases this season even at his advanced age, compared to 13 for Rojas and just three for Martinez, who is 31, and was such a great talent when he came up with the Falcons, but it looks like his body is done with baseball already.

Fun Fact: The Raccoons’ margin of victory for nine straight wins was precisely one.

It is true.

August 18 – 6-5 vs. Rebs
August 19 – 6-5 vs. Rebs
August 22 – 1-0 @ Crusaders
August 23 – 3-2 @ Crusaders
August 31 – 3-2 vs. Aces
September 1 – 4-3 vs. Aces
September 2 – 2-1 vs. Aces
September 4 – 7-6 vs. Indians
September 5 – 4-3 vs. Indians

That is in addition to another four 1-run wins in August, in addition to four other games we won by more than the bare minimum. Two runs thrice, and one rousing 5-1 rout of the Rebs.

That run also obviously entered with Shui’s 5-0 shutout on Sunday. But while a 5-0 is fine and dandy (and I would not spit at a 9-4 game at any point), that 5-0 also ties our biggest margin of victory since the All Star Game. There was an 11-6 win at the Aces’ cactus-riddled place on July 24. And that is it. Two 5-run wins in eight weeks. Woof.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (78-59) vs. Loggers (72-63) – September 7-9, 2054

Four games in three days with the Loggers, who needed the wins to stay relevant in the division they had led for a few months. We knew the feeling. Milwaukee had lost four straight, hwoever, and ranked only seventh in runs scored and fifth in runs allowed. The Raccoons were trailing in the season series, 7-4 Loggers with seven to play.

Projected matchups:
Seisaku Taki (9-10, 3.53 ERA) vs. Angelo Munoz (14-8, 3.49 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (12-7, 3.39 ERA) vs. Jeff Fox (9-6, 4.55 ERA)
Kyle Brobeck (5-5, 3.85 ERA) vs. Tyler Riddle (5-6, 2.90 ERA)
Phil Baker (0-0, 2.53 ERA) vs. Chris Kaye (3-2, 3.25 ERA)

Fox and Riddle were left-handed, while outfielders Joe Gragg, Perry Pigman, and Ryan Bishton were all on the DL. Administratively, the first game of the double header on Monday was a make-up for a rainout in Portland and a Raccoons home game, so the Loggers would bat first in their own ballpark.

Game 1
MIL: 3B T. Edwards – LF E. Cobb – C C. Thomas – SS Z. Suggs – 1B Callaia – 2B R. Lopez – CF Starnes – RF Law – P A. Munoz
POR: LF Crum – SS Lavorano – 1B Ramsay – C Gowin – CF Puckeridge – RF Cox – 3B Crispin – 2B Knight – P Taki

For the first three innings, whenever any team got somebody on base, they also found their way into a double play. The minimum was all the Coons managed to cobble together against Munoz, while Taki faced one over the minimum. Eric Cobb, coming in on a 15-game hitting streak, and Chris Thomas opened the fourth with singles and went to the corners, though, and while Zach Suggs struck out, Gaudencio Callaia’s grounder to the right side brought in Cobb with the first run of the game. A K on Ricky Lopez stranded Thomas at least. The Coons remained stuck on one base hit for a while longer, while the Loggers got Travis Edwards on base to begin the sixth with a single off Taki, but then Cobb hit into another double play, 6-4-3. Ed Crispin knocked a leadoff single in the “home” half of the inning, but then Knight grounded to short. Crispin’s hard slide broke up the double play, but then Taki’s bad bunt got Knight forced out at second base.

106 pitches got Taki to the seventh-inning stretch, but no further, and at the last minute also into a tie when Chris Gowin pumped a 2-out solo jack off Munoz in the bottom 7th. Getting taking off the hook was as good as it got for Taki, though, and in the eighth Eloy Sencion *drilled* Bryant Law, who was also forced out on a bad bunt, and walked Edwards before being relieved by Hyun-soo Bak, who secured a comfy grounder to short from Cobb, ending the inning. Bak also retired the 3-4-5 batters in order in the ninth inning, then was hit for with Anton Venegas to begin the bottom 9th. Venegas singled, stole second, and moved to third base on Crum’s fly to Law. The Loggers elected to walk Lonzo with intent, but the Raccoons answered with red-hot Trent Brassfield to face Munoz over the 0-for-3 Harry Ramsay. Yes, that took away the platoon advantage. But did I mention “red-hot”? The rook didn’t mess around, clipped a single to center, and the Raccoons buggered off walkoff winners. In Milwaukee, of all places. 2-1 Coons! Brassfield (PH) 1-1, RBI; Venegas (PH) 1-1; Taki 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 8 K; Bak 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K, W (7-3);

Game 2
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – RF Brassfield – 1B Puckeridge – C Philipps – LF Tenazes – CF de Lemos – 2B Boese – P Wheatley
MIL: 3B T. Edwards – LF E. Cobb – SS Z. Suggs – 1B Callaia – 2B R. Lopez – CF Starnes – C Cadena – RF Law – P J. Fox

Straight off the DL, Wheats was greeted by Suggs with a 2-out single and Callaia with an RBI double in the bottom 1st, giving the Loggers another 1-0 lead. That was as good as it got as Wheats’ unbeaten streak ended violently in the second inning. Straight singles by Dennis Starnes, Jose Cadena, and Bryant Law loaded the bases. When Fox flew out to right, Brassfield threw the ball away, allowing a runner to score and the remaining runners to move up, not that it mattered. After a K to Edwards, Eric Cobb singled in a pair, Zach Suggs singled some more, and Callaia romped a 3-run homer. Ricky Lopez hit another single on the very next pitch, and that was already it for Wheatley, slouching off in a 7-0 game. The Coons sent Raul Medrano, who walked the bases full before Law struck himself out to end the ******* inning.

Medrano was a mess, walking four Loggers in just 2.1 innings, which was abysmal even for garbage innings. The Raccoons were on one base hit through four innings against Fox, with Ed Crispin pinch-hitting for Medrano to begin the fifth inning. Fox struck him in the wrist, and a minute after entering the game, Crispin left it alongside Dr. Padilla. Matt Cox ran for him, but was stranded on base as the team continued to croak with the sticks. The Raccoons didn’t have a pair of runners on base in the same inning until the seventh, when Fox walked de Lemos and Naughty Boe hit a single to center to begin the inning. When Ramsay batted for Ryan Harmer, he bobbled right into a 6-4-3 double play. Venegas flew out, stranding de Lemos on third base. The Loggers also didn’t score for a while, but Zach Suggs would bash a 2-run homer off Antonio Alfaro in the eighth inning to tack on some, which sugged. The Raccoons never amounted to anything and drowned completely. 9-0 Loggers.

Welp.

Ed Crispin hit the DL with a bruised wrist, but should be able to return before the end of the month. The Coons reached down and brought up Dave Blackshire for an extra infielder. Blackshire had batted .209 early in the season before getting sent to AAA again.

Game 3
POR: LF Crum – SS Lavorano – RF Brassfield – C Gowin – 1B Ramsay – 3B Venegas – CF de Lemos – 2B Knight – P Brobeck
MIL: 3B T. Edwards – LF E. Cobb – SS Z. Suggs – 1B Callaia – C C. Thomas – 2B R. Lopez – CF Starnes – RF Hildebrand – P Riddle

The Loggers led near-instantly again thanks to an Edwards single off Brobeck and then a 2-run homer bombed by Gaudencio Callaia in the first inning while the Critters had four singles in the first three innings, and managed to scatter those for no runs scored. In the fourth, Gowin drew a leadoff walk and scored after back-to-back 1-out singles from Venegas and de Lemos, but then Matt Knight was the bum that would always hit into a double play just as things got rolling…

Chris Thomas’ homer to right re-established a 2-run lead for the Loggers in the bottom 4th, but the Raccoons got Crum on base with a 1-out single in the fifth, and then Lonzo buried a ball in the gap in left-center for an RBI triple, placing the tying run just 90 feet away. Brassfield walked, Gowin whiffed, and Ramsay rolled over to Ricky Lopez to end the inning…

After eight hits and two walks, Riddle was gone after six innings, but right-hander Tony Torres offered 1-out walks to Crum and Lonzo in the seventh to create another tight spot. Brassfield flew out to center, Gowin struck out, and suddenly the spot wasn’t so ******* tight anymore. Brobeck gave up an extra run in the bottom 7th, giving up singles to Suggs, who was doubled up by Thomas, and then Lopez, who advanced on a wild pitch and was then singled home by Dale Haracz, 4-2. Top 8th, Tony Torres offered another pair of walks to Ramsay and de Lemos, and Matt Knight ***** his way into another double play to Suggs, which sugged.

The Loggers kept scoring; in the bottom 8th, Brobeck walked Edwards with one out, and the runner stole second base before scoring on a throwing error by Lonzo. Geoff Sather came on in relief, got a Callaia grounder to Venegas, and that ball was also thrown away to put runners on the corners. Exit Sather, enter Bak, and also exit Callaia, who was caught stealing. Zach Suggs appeared to strike out, but was sent to first base then when Gowin was charged with catcher’s interference, which was one of those chain of events that just made you want to drown the whole ******* bunch of them. And that was before Gowin lost a 1-0 pitch to Jose Cadena, which became a run-scoring passed ball. Cadena eventually struck out to end the ******* inning.

Top 9th, right-hander John Norris allowed a leadoff single to Pucks in the #9 hole, then was taken well deep to left by Ken Crum to cut the gap in half, 6-4. Dave Lister replaced Norris and got Lonzo to line out to Callaia, From there, Brassfield walked and Gowin singled, putting the tying runs on the corners. Lister lost Rams on four straight balls to fill the bases, but while Venegas got in a run, he did so with a fielder’s choice grounder to second base. Matt Cox batted for de Lemos with the tying run on third base, and sent one through to center – tied game!!?? That was the end for Lister, who was replaced with right-hander Al Munoz, who made his fourth career appearance. Tyler Philipps batted for Matt Knight, but grounded out to short to end the inning.

Kevin Hitchcock held the Loggers to a single in the bottom 9th, sending the game to extras, where he allowed another single to Travis Edwards. Cobb forced out Edwards, but Lillis then replaced Hitchcock, retired Callaia, but then filled the sacks with a Suggs single and just plain pounding Cadena with a pitch. Ricky Lopez just had to take another one on the bum, but flew out to Pucks in center rather easily to keep the game going. Someone named Sansao Tyson held the Coons away in the 11th and 12th innings, but the Loggers couldn’t get through Ryan Harmer even in the bottom 12th, so maybe we’d be hear for a while yet… Chris Gowin hit a single in the 13th inning, but was thrown out trying to stretch it into a double, while Harmer walked leadoff man Kelton Archer and nailed PH Josh Poupard in the bottom 13th. The Loggers forced the issue by doing a double steal, and Harmer then obliged and threw a VERY wild pitch to walk them off… 7-6 Loggers. Crum 3-6, HR, 2 RBI; Lavorano 2-6, BB, 3B, RBI; Gowin 3-6, BB; Venegas 3-6, RBI; Cox (PH) 1-1, RBI; Puckeridge (PH) 2-3;

(looks frustrated)

The good news were that the Crusaders were doing their best to grasp what little chance they had and had so far won two games from the damn Elks, so our gap was right now 1 1/2 games.

Game 4
POR: LF Crum – SS Lavorano – 1B Ramsay – C Gowin – CF Puckeridge – 3B Venegas – RF Cox – 2B Knight – P Baker
MIL: 3B T. Edwards – LF E. Cobb – 1B Callaia – SS Z. Suggs – C C. Thomas – 2B R. Lopez – CF Starnes – RF Catton – P Kaye

Ken Crum would drive in the first two runs in the final game of the set, singling home Matt Knight in the third inning and doubling in Ryan Cox in the fifth. That latter inning continued, though, as Lonzo whacked an RBI triple, Ramsay walked, and Gowin brought home Lonzo with a single. Pucks would also reach base, but Venegas grounded out to Ricky Lopez to leave the score at 4-0 with three Critters stranded. At that point, Baker had allowed four hits and two walks in four innings, no runs, but there had been two double play grounders with spice on them and Zach Suggs had been caught stealing. Mike Catton hit a leadoff single in the bottom 5th – and was also caught stealing. Baker somehow struck out the side in the sixth, but gave up a single to Chris Thomas and a triple to Lopez in the seventh and was yanked without recording another out. What was more amazing then – that Baker had held up *that* long, or that Antonio Alfaro came in with a runner on third base and nobody out, and kept that runner where the heck he was? A grounder near the third base line, a strikeout, and a manageable fly to Crum ended the inning for Milwaukee. Chris Gowin pulled the run back with his team-leading 18th homer of the season leading off the eighth against John Norris, who was also taken deep by Pucks three pitches later and was then quietly disposed of. After that, Venegas tripled off Roberto Alvarado, who walked the bases full, but gave up only one actual run on Dave Blackshire’s pinch-hit double play grounder before Crum whiffed. Raul Medrano gave up a run on three hits in the bottom 8th, which was a bold choice for a reliever with a 6-run lead to begin with, while Geoff Sather retired the Loggers three up, three down in the ninth. 7-2 Raccoons. Crum 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Lavorano 2-5, 3B, RBI; Gowin 2-5, HR, 2 RBI;

The Elks won in 10 against the Crusaders on Wednesday, but those two teams also played one more game on Thursday, and then the Crusaders took another narrow win, in essence taking three of four from the Elks and helping the Raccoons to get back to one game back.

Raccoons (80-61) vs. Titans (63-76) – September 11-13, 2054

More gains could perhaps be made against the fifth-place Titans, who sported the second-fewest runs scored, and fifth-most runs allowed in the National League. They had the lowest batting average and on-base percentage in the league, and also the worst defense. The Raccoons had a 10-5 edge against them for the season.

Projected matchups:
Rafael de la Cruz (3-4, 4.17 ERA) vs. Kenneth Spencer (6-3, 2.78 ERA)
He Shui (14-8, 2.80 ERA) vs. Mario de Anda (6-10, 3.32 ERA)
Arthur Pickett (8-10, 4.18 ERA) vs. Jordan Ramos (4-5, 4.10 ERA)

Ramos was the only right-hander we expected, and he’d oppose Arthur Pickett, who also came off the DL to rejoin the rotation.

Game 1
BOS: 2B Roura – 3B J. Lopez – CF Whitlow – 1B L. Rodriguez – RF McIntyre – C Burkart – LF Weir – SS M. Navarro – P Spencer
POR: LF Crum – SS Lavorano – RF Brassfield – C Gowin – 1B Ramsay – 3B Venegas – 2B Knight – CF Tenazes – P de la Cruz

The Raccoons scattered hits by Lonzo, Venegas, and Knight the first time through without getting any of them across, then in the third inning were joined by Mario Navarro actively working against the blue team, making not one, but TWO errors to help the Critters load the bases with one out in the bottom 3rd. For once, the Critters pounced on the helpless pitcher as if he was a bag of cookies – Harry Ramsay belted a ball into the right-center gap for a bases-clearing double, and Raffy was up 3-0. Raffy had thrown 36 pitches the first time through, retiring all the Titans and whiffing three of them. He got another K on Dave Roura, but then Jon Lopez hit a clean single through the right side to break up any bid before you’d usually get antsy about it.

Navarro and Lopez both hit soft singles to scratch a run together for the Titans in the sixth, while the Coons, who had wasted a leadoff double from Tenazes in the fourth, got a leadoff walk from Venegas and a Knight single in the bottom 6th, then four more balls to Tenazes. Which made you wonder whether a .129 hitting pitcher should come to bat with three on and nobody out and the game still close at 3-1. The Coons chose Pucks, and Pucks popped out to shallow center. Crum singled home one run, but Lonzo and Brassfield also popped out and three were stranded. With a steady Raffy yanked, the Raccoons nevertheless also found steady relief from Bak in the seventh and Walters in the eighth. Daley struck out two in a perfect ninth to put the game away for good. 4-1 Coons. Knight 3-4; de la Cruz 6.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 6 K, W (4-4);

This W tied the Coons with the damn Elks again, virtually at least (we had played two more games), thanks to the Loggers dumping 11 runs on Elk City.

Oh, the tension – I need to nibble more cookies quickerer! (stuffs his cheeks until he looks like a hamster)

Game 2
BOS: 2B Roura – LF M. Gilmore – CF Whitlow – 1B L. Rodriguez – RF McIntyre – SS M. Navarro – C Oden – 3B Tamargo – P de Anda
POR: LF Crum – 3B Venegas – RF Brassfield – C Gowin – 1B Puckeridge – CF de Lemos – SS Knight – 2B Boese – P Shui

Navarro made his third error of the series, putting Venegas on base by dropping a first-frame pop after de Anda had already invided Crum onto the base paths by drilling him. Trent Brassfield actually reached under his own power, knocking an RBI double to left. Additional runs scored on Gowin’s groundout and Pucks’ single to center, giving the Critters a quick 3-0 lead.

Shui started solid, and also didn’t allow a base hit in the first three innings. For more curiosity, the Titans’ first base hit in the game also ended the fourth inning. Shui had nicked Eric Whitlow, who was on second base with two outs, and when Larry Rodriguez singled to center made his way for home plate, but was thrown out by de Lemos. The Titans didn’t get another base hit until Matt Gilmore singled with two gone in the sixth, but while he stole second base, Whitlow flew out to Crum to leave him aboard. Not that the Raccoons were raking – they were still on four base hits through five innings, having done most of their getting-on-base in the first inning. Bottom 6th, however, a Pucks single and a de Lemos double to left put a pair in scoring position with one out. The Knights walked Matt Titan intentionally, which sounded wrong to me. Naughty Joe hit a sac fly to Gilmore, but that was the only run, with Shui flying out to Whitlow.

Shui went into the eighth and got Nate Oden on a groundout, but Oscar Tamargo reached when Venegas misfired on his 3-2 grounder, giving the Titans a 1-out base runner. Sencion got one out from PH Dave Gonzalez, but then surrendered a run on a walk to Roura and a Gilmore single before being chased for Hitchcock, who got Whitlow to whiff and strand two runners. Hitchcock remained in the 4-1 game in the ninth, but quickly gave up two singles to Rodriguez and Will McIntyre. Hector Weir hit into a fielder’s choice, with runners then on the corners. Oden brought in a run with a groundout, which was not exactly advancing Boston’s cause, and Bruce Burkart struck out altogether to end the game. 4-2 Critters. Suzuki (PH) 1-1; Puckeridge 2-4, RBI; Lavorano (PH) 1-1; Shui 7.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K, W (15-8);

Loggers 3, Elks a shovel full of moss – the Raccoons had first place to themselves overnight!

Game 3
BOS: 2B Roura – SS M. Navarro – CF Whitlow – 1B L. Rodriguez – C Burkart – LF Weir – RF D. Gonzalez – 3B Tamargo – P Jo. Ramos
POR: LF Crum – SS Lavorano – 1B Ramsay – CF Puckeridge – 3B Venegas – RF Cox – C Philipps – 2B Blackshire – P Pickett

The question on Pickett’s return to action was whether he’d swim or whether he’d go down like the Vengeur du Peuple? Worse actually, before much damage to sails and rigging could be done, the captain staggered out his cabin, stone cold drunk, and went overboard. Pickett retired four Titans out of five he faced, but then left the game again with Dr. Padilla. Matt Walters would jump into the breach and retired the two left-handed batters Weir and Gonzalez, while Kyle Brobeck readied himself for long relief duty, but pitched only one inning before an hourlong rain delay doused the combatants. When the battle resumed, Brobeck still batted for himself and hit a leadoff single off Ramos, but after a Crum single the Coons made three unhelpful outs and didn’t even get to third base, let alone a safe harbor.

Brobeck resumed sailing, but not necessarily cruising, nor doing it smoothly, in the fourth, issuing two walks, but keeping the runners on base. He also walked Tamargo in the fifth inning, and that was the last one he pitched in deference to the rain delay. Alfaro got the sixth, had Navarro single and Rodriguez walk, but the Titans still couldn’t get a base hit with somebody in scoring position and the game remained scoreless.

Jordan Ramos had his mizenmast blown off in the bottom 6th then, offering a single to Rams to start the inning, then a walk to Pucks. Anton Venegas fired a cannon shot over the head of Whitlow for a 2-run double, and the Raccoons sailed ahead. Coxie walked, Philipps hit ball hard, but flew out to Weir, and then Dave Blackshire filled the bases with a soft single. Brassfield batted for Alfaro, but sunk with all paws with a grounder to short, 6-4-3 to end the inning. Lillis steered clear of trouble in the seventh, but Hitchcock found rocks in the water and got stuck in the eighth, conceding a 2-out, 2-run double to Burkart, who drove home Roura and Navarro to get the game even. Eloy Sencion would get out of the tussle with a K on PH Angel Gonzales.

The whole effort began to take on water in the ninth inning, when Oden singled off Sencion, and pinch-runner Ethan Torrence stole a base before scoring on Roura’s 2-out single off Ryan Harmer. The crew tried to pump out the water in the bottom 9th against David Williams, who got Suzuki out on a grounder to begin the inning. Chris Gowin drew a 1-out walk in the #9 spot, then was run for with de Lemos, who boldly cut across the bay when Ken Crum singled to right, reaching third base. Lonzo batted with the tying runs on the corners, but his fly to left was caught by Gilmore – albeit deep enough to get de Lemos home and keep the battle even. Ramsay grounded out to send the contest into the setting sun of extra innings. Daley produced two strikeouts and a lineout to Matt Knight, now at second base, in the top 10th, but two walks issued by Williams in the bottom 10th weren’t enough for the Critters to set sail towards victory, instead dropping anchor for an 11th inning. Daley was still on his post, even with all the sails tattered and bits of bow missing, and dead bodies all over the upper as well as the lower deck, and logged three more outs. Righty Alex Diaz got the bottom 11th. Prospero Tenazes dropped a single, as did Ken Crum. Lonzo was hitless on the day – though with that sac fly – and stumbled to 0-2, briefly hanging over the railing before righting himself, and downing the enemy vessel with a 424-foot, 3-run, walkoff BLAST to left-center…! 6-3 Furballs! Crum 5-6; Lavorano 1-5, HR, 4 RBI; Tenazes (PH) 1-1; Brobeck 3.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 1 K and 1-2; Daley 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, W (4-2);

In other news

September 9 – PIT INF Victor Corrales (.307, 28 HR, 118 RBI) has a 20-game hitting streak thanks to a 12th-inning single in an 11-7 win over the Buffaloes. That 12th inning was also the final inning of the game, ending on a walkoff grand slam by PIT 3B/1B Doug Triplett (.280, 5 HR, 30 RBI).
September 10 – The Blue Sox beat the Cyclones, 1-0 in 11 innings, with a walkoff single for NAS 3B Tyler Lundberg (.243, 11 HR, 51 RBI) plating 2B/SS/RF Jake Groff (.337, 1 HR, 14 RBI).
September 11 – MIL LF/RF Eric Cobb (.356, 5 HR, 24 RBI) also has a 20-game hitting streak, going 4-for-4 and a triple shy of the cycle as the Loggers flush the Canadiens, 11-4.
September 11 – Nine scoreless innings in New York are followed by a mild offensive breakout of the Indians in the 10th inning, enough to win 2-0. IND 1B Shuta Yamamoto (.287, 6 HR, 45 RBI) drives home the winning run.
September 12 – New York’s SP Jeff Johnson (11-10, 3.83 ERA) throws a 2-hit shutout against the Indians, taking a 3-0 win.
September 12 – The Buffos beat the Blue Sox, 4-3 in 17 innings. Nashville’s Tyler Lundberg (.247, 11 HR, 52 RBI) has five hits and one RBI, but is on the losing side.

FL Player of the Week: RIC C Steven Acosta (.285, 14 HR, 59 RBI), batting .500 (9-18) with 1 HR, 3 RBI
CL Player of the Week: MIL 1B/RF/LF Gaudencio Callaia (.283, 10 HR, 74 RBI), hitting .387 (12-31) with 3 HR, 10 RBI

Complaints and stuff

From a no-decision on May 16 against the damn Elks until another no-decision when he left with an injury in the fourth inning against the Crusaders on August 23 – 19 straight starts! – Jason Wheatley went unbeaten and took 12 straight decisions with a 2.55 ERA. That did not include a win against the Loggers, who we had now faced three times this year, going 0-2 with an unsightly 7.98 ERA.

I’m not crying, you’re crying!!

Not quite sure yet what’s wrong with Pickett *now*, but when I pushed down on his chest earlier, he squirted out a gallon of sea water… Dr. Padillaaaa…! (begging noise)

The Loggers completed the demolition of the Elks on Sunday, sweeping the series to give the Raccoons a 2-game edge at the top of the division. And while the Coons had posted a 5-2 week, the Crusaders in fourth place were really hanging in there. The Loggers and Crusaders both also went 5-2, while the Elks drowned 1-6.

POR (83-61) – IND (3), MIL (3), NYC (3), SFB (3), TIJ (3), VAN (3) – .481 – 77.8% (+48.0%)
VAN (80-62) – BOS (4), IND (4), ATL (3), LVA (3), NYC (3), POR (3) – .494 – 18.6% (-50.5%)
MIL (77-65) – BOS (4), NYC (4), CHA (3), IND (3), OCT (3), POR (3) – .507 – 3.4% (+2.4%)
NYC (75-68) – MIL (4), ATL (3), BOS (3), LVA (3), POR (3), VAN (3) – .530 – 0.3% (+0.2%)

For us, it’s a day off on Monday, and then a road trip to Indy and Tijuana next week.

Fun Fact: 54 years ago today, Nashville’s Felix Hernandez hit for the cycle in a 6-5 loss to the Miners.

Hernandez wasn’t normally known as a slugger; he was more of a defensive catcher, winning three Gold Gloves and a ring with the 2010 Cyclones, which was his last season as a starting catcher in the majors. Only three times in his career would Hernandez post an OPS+ over 100, including in 2000, when he was 25 years old. For his career, he was .247/.331/.368 with 1,516 hits, 87 homers, and 744 RBI. Never stole a base, but threw out 201 runners that tried, with a 44.0 CS%.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (83-61) @ Indians (59-84) – September 15-17, 2054

Three weeks to go, and after an Elks loss on Monday, 2 1/2 games ahead in the division. This week’s road trip started with three games in Indy on Tuesday. The Arrowheads ranked tenth in runs scored and seventh in runs allowed. We were up 11-4 against them this year after sweeping them in Portland two weeks ago.

Projected matchups:
Seisaku Taki (9-10, 3.44 ERA) vs. Jimmy Charles (9-9, 3.89 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (12-8, 3.73 ERA) vs. Enrique Ortiz (13-8, 3.11 ERA)
Rafael de la Cruz (4-4, 3.99 ERA) vs. Pete Becker (4-6, 3.05 ERA)

Only right-handed pitchers drawing up for this set.

Game 1
POR: LF Crum – SS Lavorano – 1B Ramsay – C Gowin – CF Puckeridge – RF Brassfield – 3B Venegas – 2B Knight – P Taki
IND: SS Llampallas – 2B A. Rios – RF B. Quinteros – 3B B. Anderson – C Poindexter – 1B Yamamoto – LF J. Garza – CF Oldfield – P Charles

The Coons had a hit in each of the first three innings, but only in the third made it count when Rams rammed a 2-run homer to right, collecting Taki, who had reached on an error. Slight problem – the Indians had three hits in the bottom 3rd through Juan Llampallas, who singled and stole second, but was thrown out at the plate on Antonio Rios’ single to right. Brassfield and the other outfielders had no means to defend Bobby Anderson’s 2-run homer into the 15th row in the stands, though, and the score was level again.

The fourth then saw four Coons singles from their first five batters. Pucks, Brassfield, and Venegas produced one run and a pair on the corners, with Matt Knight grounding out but bringing home Brassfield to go up 4-2. Taki singled to reposition runners on the corners, then was held at third base on Ken Crum’s RBI double to left-center. That was the end for Jimmy Charles, who had a sixth and final run surrendered onto his ledger when Lonzo plated Taki with a groundout off right-hander Armando Cisneros, a 28-year-old Nicaraguan right-hander making his major league debut.

Taki didn’t get the win, however. After a quick fourth, he got stuck in the fifth. Llampallas singled, Bill Quinteros doubled, Manny Poindexter singled, Shuta Yamamoto singled, and then Knight ****** Jose Garza’s grounder for an error instead of using it to end the inning. 6-4 game, three aboard, two outs, and Cory Oldfield would be faced by Lillis, who threw two pitches to get a fly over to Ken Crum to end the miserable inning; the Indians had packed Taki for four runs on ten hits. Raccoons pitching remained spotty; Ryan Harmer got the sixth, at least until he had failed another three Indians on base. One run had scored when Quinteros had singled home Llampallas, who entered hitting barely over .100 and by then had three singles, a walk, and three stolen bases off the ******ed Critters staff. Matt Walters inherited the tying and go-ahead runs on base and two outs, and popped out Poindexter to end the misery. Bak managed to strike out Llampallas in his 1-2-3 eighth inning, which was *a start*, and nursed the 6-5 lead to the ninth. Kevin Daley’s useless pelt made an appearance in the bottom 9th, and he put Bobby Anderson and Manny Poindexter on the corners with leadoff hits. Great. Yamamoto tied the game with a groundout, although Garza and Dan Sandoval made meek outs to send the game to extras. Brilliant. *******.

Alfaro pitched a scoreless 10th, but the Raccoons couldn’t hit anything at all. Ever since Matt Knight had hit a double in the sixth inning, only to get stranded, the Critters hadn’t landed another base hit. Phil Baker was put into the 11th for long relief, if need be. It didn’t need be; he walked Quinteros to begin the inning, and Anderson smacked a double, but the winning run was stopped at third base. There was a pop by Poindexter, but then there was a grounder to Dave Blackshire at third base by Yamamoto, and the throw to home plate was not in time to get Anderson. 7-6 Indians. Crum 2-6, 2B, RBI;

The stinking Elks won, 8-5 against Boston, reducing the gap to 1 1/2.

Dr. Padilla reported on Arthur Pickett finally on Wednesday – he was out for the season with a case of elbow tendinitis. I was tempted to throw myself off the nearest white chalk cliffs, but was advised that no such thing existed within six time zones.

Game 2
POR: LF Crum – SS Lavorano – 1B Ramsay – C Gowin – CF Puckeridge – RF Brassfield – 3B Venegas – 2B Knight – P Wheatley
IND: SS Llampallas – 2B A. Rios – RF B. Quinteros – 3B B. Anderson – C Poindexter – 1B Yamamoto – LF J. Garza – CF Oldfield – P En. Ortiz

The Raccoons went up 1-0 in the first, which sounded better than it was given that they had Crum and Lonzo in scoring position with nobody out, but couldn’t get past Rams’ RBI groundout. Gowin popped out, Pucks flew out. It didn’t last long, since Shuta Yamamoto got a hit off Wheats in the bottom 2nd, and left-hander Cory Oldfield was up with two out and first base open. The Coons passed, trying to get the last out from the pitcher after Wheats’ not-so-splendid last start. So he fell to 3-1 behind Ortiz, then gave up a gap double that flipped the score to 2-1 Indians. Great move. ******* Llampallas hit another RBI double, and it was 3-1 Arrowheads. Poindexter’s homer made it 4-1 in the third, and ******* Llampallas doubled home Garza in the fourth for yet another run.

A great rally in the fifth put the Raccoons all the way back to 5-2 after Venegas and Knight went to the corners with nobody out, and all the sucky team did was get Crum to hit a sac fly. Was there any hope at all…!? Trent Brassfield said yes, plonking his second career homer to dead-center in the sixth inning, and with Pucks on first base, 5-4. Wheats was already out of the game at that point, but there was still time to pick him off that ghastly hook. Sencion and Alfaro pitched scoreless innings, but the Raccoons couldn’t find any offense through eight, and while Alfaro and Geoff Sather retired the first two batters in the bottom 8th, Sather then allowed singles to Yamamoto and Garza, then was taken deep by PH Mike Gilmore. Raul Medrano came on, gave up two singles, and then somehow had Rios pop out. 8-4 Indians.

Since I could ill send Wheats away I had to take out my anger on Raul Medrano (12.46 ERA), who was sent back to AAA, where the season was over, and replaced with 2048 fourth-rounder Luke Ostler, who was nothing to get excited about, but much the same was true for most of that pitching staff…

The Elks won again, and had a game on Thursday as well, with a chance to grab first place back from the very erratic Raccoons.

Game 3
POR: LF Crum – SS Lavorano – 1B Ramsay – RF Brassfield – 3B Venegas – CF Suzuki – C Philipps – 2B Boese – P de la Cruz
IND: SS Llampallas – 2B A. Rios – RF B. Quinteros – 3B B. Anderson – C Poindexter – 1B Yamamoto – LF French – CF Oldfield – P Becker

To say that the Critters were irritating would be an understatement. From the start, Raffy had another wonky start, walking two in the first and allowing two singles in the second, somehow without conceding runs. The Coons also stranded Lonzo after a single and stolen base in the first, Venegas after a leadoff double in the second, and threatened hard to strand after *Raffy* socked a leadoff double in the third inning. Crum and Lonzo failed to get him home, but Ramsay snuck an RBI single past Rios with two outs to finally get on the damn board. Brassfield also singled, but Venegas whiffed to strand a pair, and we stranded another pair in Philipps and Naughty Joe in the fourth, and that was after Suzuki reached base and was caught stealing.

It was 2-0 in the fifth after a 2-out walk drawn by Brassfield, and the rookie stealing second base. Venegas came through this time, plating him with a single to right-center. Suzuki flew out, and the score remained 2-0 to the end of Raffy’s tenure, which was six innings. He didn’t allow a run, three hits and three walks against six strikeouts, but again with many long counts. He had a string of decent outings, but few of them had seen any sort of efficiency. Lillis wasn’t impressive, either, putting Oldfield on to begin the bottom 7th. He stole second base, and scored on outs by Edwin Ortiz and Llampallas, the latter hitting a sac fly against Hitchcock. Rios doubled, putting the tying run in scoring position, but Brassfield chased down Quinteros’ fly to end the inning. Could anybody get a big knock here?? Boys!? No, but the Coons’ pen managed to walk the bags full in the bottom 8th. Hitchcock walked Anderson. Sencion walked Gilmore. Bak walked Alex Ramos. Edwin Ortiz somehow flew out to Mikio Suzuki to strand the whole lot of them and keep the Raccoons up by a skinny run.

…and then came Pucks. Not in the lineup for this game, he would bat for Bak in the ninth inning against Mario Godinez, and after Philipps and Matt Cox had already hit singles off the right-hander. Pucks did then one better, jacking a 3-run homer to right to create some much needed breathing space. Lonzo would reach base and steal second afterwards, but was left on base, and the 4-run lead went to Ryan Harmer in the bottom 9th, because I loved living on the edge. Llampallas singled, Quinteros walked. Out with the **********, in with the **********: Kevin Daley got Anderson to ground to third base, and Blackshire fired the ball over the head of Ramsay for a run-scoring, 2-base error, so the tying run appeared in the box. Daley DRILLED Poindexter to put the tying run on base, but struck out Danny Diaz. Jose Garza’s grounder to short was handled competently by Lonzo to end the game. 5-2 Raccoons. Lavorano 2-5; Venegas 2-4, 2B, RBI; Philipps 2-4; Cox (PH) 1-1; Puckeridge (PH) 1-1, HR, 3 RBI; de la Cruz 6.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 6 K;

Pucks’ blast saved the lead in the division, since the damn Elks took a third game from the Titans, who were by now eliminated mathematically, although the top four remained within six games with 15-ish to play.

The Loggers and Crusaders had their last game of the season rained out, and with no common off day left, would have to make it up on Monday after the nominal end of the regular season.

Raccoons (84-63) @ Condors (56-90) – September 18-20, 2054

Here was another terrible team; the Condors had yet to take a single win from the Raccoons, who had never before gone 9-0 on a CL South team for the season. Tijuana was bottoms in runs scored, third-worst in runs allowed, and had a -123 run differential. Their rotation was decent, but their pen was taking and leaking water at the same time, with the worst ERA in the league. No injuries to fret about for them either, they were just that bad.

Projected matchups:
He Shui (15-8, 2.69 ERA) vs. Larry Colwell (11-13, 4.37 ERA)
Kyle Brobeck (5-5, 3.82 ERA) vs. Bill McDermott (1-8, 3.26 ERA)
Seisaku Taki (9-10, 3.55 ERA) vs. Victor Scott (8-14, 4.41 ERA)

Southpaw Sunday. The other two were righties, though.

Game 1
POR: LF Crum – SS Lavorano – 1B Brassfield – C Gowin – CF Puckeridge – 3B Venegas – RF Cox – 2B Knight – P Shui
TIJ: 2B D. Mercado – 3B Chapa – C Mittleider – LF T. Duncan – 1B E. Rodriguez – CF Hildebrand – RF I. Jaramillo – SS Barrento – P Colwell

Crum single, Lonzo triple, Gowin single – the Coons led 2-0 before He Shui touched a baseball. He allowed a single to Luis Chapa in the bottom 1st, but also knocked a double to bring in Matt Cox with an unearned run in the second inning; a throwing error by Carmem Barrento had put Coxie on base. The offense died down from here, with just three more hits in total through the end of six. Shui struck out six while scattering runners for minimum effect, while the Coons did get Gowin and Pucks on base with leadoff walks in the sixth, but Venegas popped out and Cox hit into a double play to kill their most impressive chance to score since the first few innings.

The Condors had another 2-base throwing error in the eighth inning, then by Chapa catapulting away a Brassfield grounder. The Raccoons capitalized again when Pucks hit a 2-out, 2-run home run to right-center, his ninth of the year. Shui pitched eight shutout innings for 108 pitches, but didn’t have enough breath left to try and go the distance. Phil Baker got it done, though, completing a combined 2-hitter. 5-0 Coons. Puckeridge 1-2, 2 BB, HR, 2 RBI; Shui 8.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 7 K, W (16-8) and 1-3, 2B, RBI;

The best news? The entire host of chasers lost their games on Friday. The Loggers got pipped by the Thunder, 7-6, the Crusaders lost early to the Aces, 5-3, while the Knights stuffed the Elks with six in the fifth inning and won 8-3. The Thunder and Knights were of course also neck and neck for the CL South title, so it wasn’t like they had anything to give away.

Game 2
POR: LF Crum – SS Lavorano – 1B Ramsay – C Gowin – CF Puckeridge – RF Cox – 3B Blackshire – 2B Knight – P Brobeck
TIJ: 2B D. Mercado – 3B Chapa – C Mittleider – LF T. Duncan – 1B E. Rodriguez – CF Hildebrand – RF I. Jaramillo – SS Medlock – P McDermott

Brobeck drove in his own lead with the team’s fourth hit, an RBI double to get home Pucks in the second inning with two outs on the board, after the Raccoons had already wasted a leadoff walk by Crum, who had been forced out by Lonzo, who then was caught stealing trying to get #60 for the year, AND a Ramsay double after that in the first inning. Crum flew out to Tim Duncan after the Brobeck double, stranding Brobeck and Blackshire in scoring position. The Condors got leadoff singles in the bottom 2nd by Tim Duncan and Elias Rodriguez, but a pop, a K, and a groundout ended the inning without them even reaching third base, but they made up the deficit the next frame when Tim Duncan hit a 2-out RBI double to left, bringing home McDermott, who had hit a single to begin the inning. Tijuana, too, left a pair in scoring position there, however, as chances kept getting wasted by both teams.

Stephen Medlock’s error opened a hole in the fifth inning, putting Lonzo on base and bringing up Ramsay, and for the third time in this series the Raccoons cashed in an unearned run when Rams bopped a baseball over the fence in right for a 3-1 lead. Brobeck tried to give the lead right back, giving up two hits, a sac fly, and two walks in the bottom 5th before Danny Hildebrand struck out and Ismael Jaramillo flew out to Cox to strand three in a 3-2 game. Cox then drew a leadoff walk in the sixth and was in motion on the 3-2 to Blackshire, on which the third-sacker hit a ball into the left-center gap for an RBI double, 4-2. Knight grounded out, which gave us no gains, but Kyle Brobeck POUNDED a 2-run homer to right, which sure did! Medlock answered with a home run to left off Brobeck in the bottom 6th, but that was to lead off the inning, and it was still 6-3 when Brobeck’s day ended along with the sixth inning.

The bags filled up in the seventh with Gowin, Tenazes, and Blackshire, including an error by lefty Gabe Hill on the hill that allowed Tenazes on. Would the Raccoons again cash an unearned run? Yes – with two outs Tyler Philipps batted for Knight, ran a full count, and drew a bases-loaded walk. Brobeck batted for himself, fell to 0-2, and still managed to scratch out an RBI single before Crum struck out to end the inning. Up 8-3, Luke Ostler made his major league debut in the bottom 7th, gave up three hits and a run, and seemed to seamlessly get in line with all the other aw-shucks right-handers we had behind the three or four that were at least remotely trustworthy. Harmer, who was NOT in that group, struck out Medlock, Mike Crenshaw, and Domingo Mercado in the bottom 8th to advance the game. Jon Mittleider would single off Matt Walters with one out in the ninth, but he got a double play grounder to Naughty Joe from Tim Duncan to end the game. 8-4 Coons. Ramsay 2-4, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Boese 1-1; Cox 1-2, BB; Blackshire 3-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Philipps (PH) 1-1, BB, 2B, RBI; Brobeck 6.0 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 4 BB, 4 K, W (6-5) and 3-4, HR, 2B, 4 RBI;

Brobeck’s pitching wasn’t exactly a three-course meal at Chez Louis, but being a triple shy of the cycle still counts for something around here.

The competition turned things around except for the Loggers, who were shut out. The Elks smothered the Knights for 15 runs to stay 1 1/2 back.

But the Coons now had the rare chance to go 9-0 on a CL South team for the first time ever, and the ball would be Seisaku Taki’s:

Game 3
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – RF Brassfield – C Gowin – 1B Ramsay – CF de Lemos – LF Tenazes – 2B Knight – P Taki
TIJ: 2B D. Mercado – 3B Chapa – C Mittleider – LF T. Duncan – 1B E. Rodriguez – CF Hildebrand – RF I. Jaramillo – SS Medlock – P V. Scott

Both teams hit into a double play in the first inning, while the Condors went up 1-0 in the second inning when Ismael Jaramillo singled home Elias Rodriguez, who had drawn a walk off Taki, who was disturbingly mediocre on the hill recently, but hit a single with Matt Knight on second after a leadoff double to left in the third inning to but Coons on the corners in the top 3rd. Venegas’ sac fly tied the score, but that was all the Coons got. Trent Brassfield drew a 2-out walk, but Gowin flew out.

Tim Duncan hit a leadoff single past a diving Knight in the fourth inning, then got tangled up with Lonzo at second base on Rodriguez’ grounder to Knight. He was called out, and had to limp off supported by the team trainer. Dave Castaneda would replace him, and the Condors also lost Vic Scott to injury after five innings. He got a no-decision for his pains. Right-hander Jim Woods walked both Brassfield and Ramsay in the sixth inning, but the Raccoons couldn’t get a base knock and didn’t score. Taki got stuck in the seventh after walks to Tyrese Sheilds and Domingo Mercado, with Sencion coming on to face Chapa… except that right-hander Nathan Whitehurst, batting .346, was sent against him with two outs… except that Sencion struck him out anyway to end the inning and hand Taki a no-decision as well.

When Trent Brassfield hit a 1-out single to left in the eighth, that was only the third Coons knock in this game. He was left on first base, and it didn’t get any better in the ninth inning, either. Three hits through nine for Portland, and five for Condors, none of them coming off Sencion, who logged five outs between three different innings, and Hitchcock late, giving us extra time to not get any hits. Crum and Venegas made outs against Dale Mrazek to begin the 10th, but Lonzo found the grass in left for a single, then stole his 60th base, but was stranded by Brassfield. Bak kept the game going with a scoreless 10th, and Chris Gowin hit a leadoff single off Jayden Durant in the 11th. Ramsay grounded to the right side. Carmem Barrento bobbled the ball, dropped it when picking it back up, and then threw the ball past Jon Mittleider at first base, allowing two Critters that might just as well be legless, rated 1 for speed, into scoring position with nobody out. Suzuki, who *had* legs, took over as the winning run for Gowin at third base. Pucks was walked with intent to set up a deadly three on, nobody out, but Tenazes got the absolutely needed go-ahead run with a sac fly to right. Knight slashed an RBI single to left, and Jeff Raczka singled in Bak’s spot to reload the bases. Venegas found another hole for an RBI single, which ended Durant and brought on Jaylin King. Lonzo hit another sac fly, and Brassfield popped out – that ended the inning, and now the Coons had to get three outs before blowing four runs to go 9-0 on a South team for the first time ever. Walters got the ball. He struck out Mittleider. He struck out Castaneda. Eric Thomas flew out to center. It was done! 5-1 Furballs! Knight 2-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Raczka (PH) 1-1; Taki 6.2 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 6 K and 1-2; Sencion 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

In other news

September 14 – The Titans score two runs in the 10th inning for a win over the Canadiens after neither team managed to score inside nine innings.
September 15 – PIT INF Victor Corrales (.309, 30 HR, 124 RBI) extends his hitting streak to 25 games with a game-winning 3-run homer in the ninth inning off CIN MR Willie Santiago (2-6, 5.68 ERA, 2 SV). The Miners win 6-3.
September 15 – Vegas utility Jim White (.290, 8 HR, 72 RBI) is done for the year after breaking his hand.
September 16 – NYC INF Prince Gates (.333, 5 HR, 58 RBI) was also out for the season with an oblique strain.
September 16 – Also on vacation now, albeit with a cast, was SAL RF/LF/1B Salvador Montecino (.270, 23 HR, 89 RBI), breaking his elbow.
September 16 – Loggers outfielder Eric Cobb (.282, 10 HR, 55 RBI) sees his hitting streak end at 24 games, being held blank while the Crusaders torch the Loggers, 15-0.
September 17 – The hitting streak of PIT INF Victor Corrales (.306, 30 HR, 125 RBI) ends with an 0-for-4 appearance in a 4-3 loss to the Cyclones, after he had gotten a knock in 28 straight games.
September 17 – Thunder 2B/SS Ryan Spehar (.302, 0 HR, 17 RBI) has his season end thanks to a sports hernia.
September 17 – Further done for 2054: ATL OF/1B Jon Alade (.279, 25 HR, 75 RBI) thanks to a strained oblique.
September 19 – The Warriors clinch the FL West despite a 1-0 loss to the Miners, because the last team standing, the Gold Sox, lose 9-5 to the Cyclones to eliminate themselves.
September 19 – The Thunder swing a waiver deal for the Scorpions’ SP Bubba Wolinsky (12-9, 2.97 ERA), parting with C Kevin Weese (.255, 7 HR, 67 RBI).

FL Player of the Week: DEN 1B Bill Joyner (.317, 13 HR, 72 RBI), hitting .406 (13-32) with 2 HR, 9 RBI
CL Player of the Week: NYC UT Omar Sanchez (.332, 1 HR, 53 RBI), batting .600 (12-20) with 7 RBI

Complaints and stuff

The Knights outslugged the Elks on Sunday in the national network TV game, 12-9, with a Nielsen rating of 70 (seven of ten households with a TV were tuned in nationwide), so the Raccoons finished the week 2 1/2 games clear of their most bitter foes. The Loggers salvaged one game in Oklahoma on Sunday, but that was probably too little, too late, while the Crusaders lost their series with the Aces. So it was looking like a two-horse race now, but the other teams weren’t mathematically eliminated quite yet:

POR (87-63) – MIL (3), NYC (3), SFB (3), VAN (3) – .519 – 88.1% (+10.3%)
VAN (84-65) – IND (4), LVA (3), NYC (3), POR (3) – .496 – 11.7% (-6.9%)
NYC (79-70) – ATL (3), BOS (3), POR (3), VAN (3), MIL (1) – .538 – 0.2% (-0.1%)
MIL (78-70) – BOS (4), CHA (3), IND (3), POR (3), MIL (1) – .491 – 0.1% (-3.3%)

For his game-winning sac fly against the Condors on Sunday, which gave us the first-ever 9-0 run against a CL South team in franchise history, Prospero Tenazes – of all Critters! – got a smooch on one cheek and a pinch in the other, and an extra food bowl with the best chocolates and treats that we could find at the airport. Such a good boy!!

The Raccoons would have to make do without Pickett now, so Kyle Brobeck was in the rotation to finish the year. I’m sure it’s gonna go so-so for him, and at one point we’ll need to have a talk about whether he should be moved to a third baseman permanently, because the kid can hit and I think his talents are wasted as a mediocre starting pitcher. If he was a third-sacker, that wouldn’t mean he’d not still be an extra reliever for garbage innings or something like that.

He Shui leads the CL in ERA now after Jay Gunderson had three eh-to-oh-oh starts in a row. Ex-Coon Dave Hils is second, seven points behind Shui, with Gunderson 19 points behind in third place.

The final homestand of the season is coming up. The Coons face the Bayhawks and Elks.

Fun Fact: Barring major upheavals, PIT SP Victor Salcido (18-8, 2.91 ERA) will lead the CL in wins this season.

At least you can’t say we didn’t get nothing for him… Anton Venegas and Matt Cox have done *good*. Not great, but *good*.

I know, Cristiano, I know. The trades I do……

[Westheim]

Raccoons (87-63) vs. Bayhawks (68-81) – September 21-23, 2054

The Coons took a 2 1/2 game lead into their final homestand of the season, facing the Baybirds for three games starting on Monday. San Francisco had a 4-2 lead in the season series despite being rather rotten overall, merely ninth in runs scored and giving up the most runs overall in the Continental League for a -86 run differential. They had the third-worst rotation and the worst bullpen by ERA, despite being named the second-best defense in the league, which refused to make any sense.

Projected matchups:
Jason Wheatley (12-9, 3.89 ERA) vs. Josh Doyle (1-4, 5.77 ERA)
Rafael de la Cruz (5-4, 3.73 ERA) vs. Kodai Koga (13-10, 3.84 ERA)
He Shui (16-8, 2.58 ERA) vs. Tony Martinez (4-6, 2.88 ERA)

We were scheduled a left-hander on Wednesday in the 34-year-old Martinez.

Game 1
SFB: RF Felix – 3B Hoogendoorn – 2B A. Montoya – 1B W. Gutierrez – C J. Ortiz – SS Peltier – LF M. Brown – CF Caban – P Doyle
POR: LF Crum – SS Lavorano – 1B Ramsay – C Gowin – CF Puckeridge – 3B Venegas – RF Cox – 2B Knight – P Wheatley

Wheats bled hits, didn’t get a K the first time through, and instead gave up a run in the third inning on Jorge Felix’ triple and Adam Hoogendoorn’s single to center, and then a solo homer to Jorge Ortiz in the fourth inning. It didn’t get any better in the fifth inning with a leadoff walk to the opposing pitcher, and then an RBI triple in the left-center gap for Hoogendoorn. The Raccoons had absolutely nothing. Venegas’ single the first time through was the only hit through five innings, and they couldn’t score with walks issued to Venegas and Cox in the fifth inning, either. Lonzo hit a leadoff single in the bottom 6th, but was doubled off by Ramsay. Portland had another Venegas single in the seventh, and the Baybirds had two home runs in the eighth; solo shots by Ortiz off Sather, and Adam Peltier off Luke Ostler. 5-0 Bayhawks. Venegas 2-2;

The Elks beat the Aces, 3-2, reducing the gap to a game and a half. I remained calm and built a pillow fort to defend our first place with my life and Honeypaws’ if necessary.

Game 2
SFB: SS X. Reyes – 3B Hoogendoorn – LF Munn – 2B A. Montoya – C J. Ortiz – RF Felix – 1B Witherspoon – CF M. Brown – P Koga
POR: LF Crum – SS Lavorano – 1B Ramsay – RF Brassfield – 3B Venegas – CF Suzuki – C Philipps – 2B Boese – P de la Cruz

Raffy was taken deep by Jorge Felix and Sam Witherspoon, back-to-back, in the second inning for a quick 2-0 deficit, although the Raccoons made up a run by accident in the bottom of the inning when Hoogendoorn threw away a groundball by Venegas and Mikio Suzuki doubled him home… and then was stranded in scoring position on three miserable outs from the bottom of the order. Hoogendoorn made amends right away, singling in the third inning before stealing second, moving up on Danny Munn’s groundout, and then scored on a wild pitch, because nothing wanted to work anymore for these Raccoons.

Maybe the Baybirds could be unhorsed by their own errors. Ken Crum hit a single in the bottom 3rd, and Armando Montoya added Ramsay to the bases on a 1-out error. Those were the tying runs, and they moved into scoring position on Trent Brassfield’s single to left. Venegas was next, hit a sharp grounder at 1-1, but right at the six, and Xavier Reyes started an inning-ending double play. Not that the Bayhawks were sound – that with the #2 defense should be taken with a grain of salt, because when Suzuki erred his way to third base in the bottom 5th, Ortiz let him across home plate by losing a 2-out, 0-1 pitch to de la Cruz and was charged with a passed ball.

Raffy was then beaten out of the fifth inning. Leadoff single to Xavier Reyes, who scored on Danny Munn’s double, and then Montoya cranked a homer, 6-2. That was the end for de la Cruz, having been brutalized for nine hits and a walk in 4.1 innings. Harmer pitched in the sixth inning, retired the first two batters, then put Reyes and Hoogendoorn on the corners with more singles, and those runners were then chased home on Munn’s double past Brassfield. Bottom 6th, Philipps and Tenazes were on base with two outs when Lonzo grounded one over to Hoogendoorn, who committed another throwing error for two bases and one run. Koga walked Ramsay, and with the bases loaded, Trent Brassfield whacked … a pop to Montoya to end the inning. Tyler Philipps hit his first home run of the season in the seventh inning, a solo job, and a little too late, and a little too little. Pucks’ pinch-hit homer in the eighth inning inched the team back to three runs back, which they’d have to negotiate with righty Patrick Jones in the bottom 9th. Brassfield flew out to left. Venegas and Suzuki flew out to center. 8-5 Bayhawks. Crum 2-4; Puckeridge (PH) 1-1, HR, RBI; Tenazes (PH) 1-1; Baker 3.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

Half a game. The Elks rushed the Aces, 11-5, and things were getting more intense.

(shakes while trying to unscrew a bottle of Capt’n Coma)

Game 3
SFB: SS X. Reyes – 3B Hoogendoorn – LF Munn – 2B A. Montoya – 1B W. Gutierrez – C J. Ortiz – RF Felix – CF Caban – P T. Martinez
POR: LF Venegas – SS Lavorano – 1B Crum – C Gowin – RF Brassfield – 3B Brobeck – CF Tenazes – 2B Knight – P Shui

The Coons needed a gem from Shui; they got a Xavier Reyes double to left to open Wednesday’s series finale, but then three stingy outs and the runner being stranded on third base. The Coons scored first instead, putting Gowin (double) and Brassfield (walk) on base to begin the bottom 2nd before making two sucky outs again. Matt Knight filed a new application for another oxygen ration with an RBI single to right. Shui tried to pop out in foul ground to Willie Gutierrez once, but Gutierrez dropped the ball, but then flew out to Munn anyway to strand a pair. Venegas got on to start the bottom 3rd, and Ken Crum’s homer jumped the score to 3-0! While Shui did not allow runners to reach base at this stage of the game, Crum drove home Venegas again in the fifth inning, then with a 2-out double to left. Martinez was gone after that, while long man David Barnes became the first Baybird since Reyes at the start of the game to get a base knock off Shui, a 1-out single in the sixth, but he was stranded on base. Shui found Brassfield and Knight on the corners in the bottom of the sixth inning and hit a first-pitch RBI single off Barnes, 5-0, but Venegas then struck out to strand a pair.

Armando Caban hit a 2-out triple for the third Bayhawks hit, but a K to PH Sam Witherspoon ended that inning with San Francisco still shut out. He Shui returned for the ninth, but on 99 pitches, so time would be of the essence against the top of the order. Reyes and Munn hit singles, and that put Shui on 111 pitches with the end of the game not in sight. Hitchcock was brought on, but gave up an RBI single to Montoya that zinged over Lonzo into shallow left. Willie Gutierrez grounded to Naughty Joe at second base, and the Raccoons ended the game with a double play. 5-1 Critters. Venegas 2-4; Crum 2-4, HR, 2B, 3 RBI; Gowin 2-4, 2B; Knight 1-2, BB, RBI; Shui 8.1 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 8 K, W (17-8) and 1-4, RBI;

The Elks completed a sweep of the Aces, though, so the Raccoons remained up by only half a game. They needed to win the weekend series against the damn Elks to stay afloat. While the two perpetual enemies in the Northwest were half a game apart, both the Crusaders and Loggers were three games away from being eliminated now. They were both on 72 losses to the Coons’ 88 wins. In fact, with this constellation at the top, they were automatically no further than two games from being eliminated, since the worst the division leader could tally in wins on Sunday night was 89 W’s.

Raccoons (88-65) vs. Canadiens (87-65) – September 25-27, 2054

I was filled with much foreboding. The Elks were first in runs scored, first in batting, first in OBP, and third in starters’ ERA. After that it got spotty. Fifth-most runs allowed, in the bottom three even in defense, bullpen ERA, and stolen bases. No Adam Magnussen, no Damian Moreno, no Jesse Bulas (all no the DL), but they led the season series 8-7.

Projected matchups:
Seisaku Taki (9-10, 3.47 ERA) vs. Anton Jesus (8-6, 3.79 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (12-10, 3.90 ERA) vs. Andy Overy (16-6, 3.20 ERA)
Rafael de la Cruz (5-5, 4.12 ERA) vs. Adam Middleton (5-9, 4.44 ERA)

Overy was the sole left-hander available to Elk City.

And Capt’n Coma was the sole assistance available to me to not go insane during the inevitable meltdown here.

Game 1
VAN: 3B F. Marquez – SS Mullen – 2B Aparicio – C Waker – RF A. Walker – 1B Wheeler – LF T. Turner – CF Burkhart – P A. Jesus
POR: LF Crum – SS Lavorano – 1B Ramsay – C Gowin – RF Brassfield – 3B Venegas – CF Puckeridge – 2B Knight – P Taki

Taki gave up three singles in the first inning, but Dan Mullen’s grounder to Venegas erased Felix Marquez’ infield single in double play fashion and Tony Aparicio and Tristan Waker were stranded with a K to Aaron Walker. Taki was one of two Critters to reach base the first time through, singling to right in the third inning, but was also left on base. Not so for Trent Brassfield, who in the bottom 2nd made for the first score of the game with a solo jack to left…!

The Elks answered before long, getting three straight hits from Waker, Walker, and Jeff Wheeler, making me weep with a single, double, and 2-run single to take the lead in the fourth inning. Harry Ramsay answered with a leadoff jack in the bottom 4th, tying the game at two. That 2-2 lead would be held by Taki through seven innings, despite scattering eight hits overall. He also struck out nine and got two double plays to help clean up the perpetual mess on the basepaths.

Trent Brassfield was a double shy of the cycle after he zinged a 1-out triple into the leftfield corner in the bottom 7th, and by the way, this was the go-ahead run in scoring position with less than two outs. Venegas flew out to Tim Burkhart, but Brassfield made for home and narrowly slid around the tag by Waker to give the Coons a 3-2 lead. Kevin Hitchcock got two outs in the top 8th before Lillis was brought in to face the switch-hitting Waker – and was taken well deep to left on the first pitch he threw, tying the game again. Walker, well, walked after that, but Jeff Wheeler made the third out. The Coons needed to find another run, but could not get past a 2-out walk drawn by Crum in the bottom 8th. Kevin Daley had the ninth, allowed a leadoff single to PH Bill Sostre, but cobbled three outs together from the next three batters to allow for one run sufficing for a walkoff in the bottom 9th, but Ruben Mendez retired Ramsay, Gowin, and Brassfield in order to send the game to extras, where in the 10th Daley gave up a leadoff double to Dan Mullen before getting two weak outs from the Elks. Walker grounded to Knight, who fudged the ball, and runners were on the corners with the error. Jeff Wheeler struck out, and the Coons dodged one there. Pucks singled in the bottom 10th, but remained at first base. Matt Walters retired the 7-8-9 part of the lineup in the 11th to keep the game tied, while the Elks sent Bernardino Risso, southpaw, for the bottom 11th, and the 1-2-3 disappeared without much noise.

Top 12th, Hyun-soo Bak got the ball. He walked Felix Marquez. He walked Tony Aparicio. Tristan Waker singled. The bases were loaded with one out. And now what? All the good relievers had already been burned. The Coons tried it with a pep talk, and Aaron Walker tried to hit a hole into Lonzo’s chest, but his spanked bouncer was gloved and turned into a 6-4-3 double play to bugger the hell out of the inning. Risso nailed Gowin to begin the bottom 12th, but instead of doubling, completing the cycle, and allowing the team to walk off, Brassfield grounded to short for a double play of our own. Bak and Sencion stumbled through the 13th inning without giving up a run, stranding a pair, while the Coons put a pair on the corners themselves with a 1-out double by Knight and a single in front of leftfielder Juan Aragon by Suzuki. The winning run was 90 feet away for Ken Crum against right-hander Dan Lawrence, Crum went up 3-1, poked, flew out to shallow left, and … and Knight had to hold, because he had no hope of scoring. Lonzo grounded out to third base, and nobody had any hope of scoring anymore…

The Coons arrived at the part of their bullpen that was full of Harmers and Ostlers and Blowers and Botchers, and instead went to Kyle Brobeck. He allowed a single to Aparicio, a walk to Waker, and then a 1-out scorcher that Walker lined right into Knight’s mitten for the second out. Wheeler singled to right, pinch-runner Jose Uranga was sent around third base – and thrown out by Brassfield to end the top 14th. When neither Ramsay nor Gowin could get on base against Lawrence in the bottom 14th, that gave Brassfield a third chance to find that double required for the cycle, but he failed in the pursuit. He just hit the ball too hard – all the way over the ******* fence…!! 4-3 Blighters! Brassfield 4-6, 2 HR, 3B, 2 RBI; Suzuki (PH) 1-1; Taki 7.0 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 9 K and 1-2; Daley 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

(gasp!)

The Loggers beat the Indians, 7-4, which put their magic number at two, while the Crusaders lost to the Titans, 4-2, to go to one game from elimination.

Okay, careful, boys, they probably didn’t like that one, they’d be twice as nasty and stinky in the next game, if that was even possible.

Game 2
VAN: 3B F. Marquez – SS Mullen – 2B Aparicio – C Waker – RF A. Walker – 1B Wheeler – CF K. Hawkins – LF T. Turner – P Overy
POR: 1B Crum – SS Lavorano – RF Brassfield – C Gowin – 3B Brobeck – LF Venegas – CF de Lemos – 2B Knight – P Wheatley

Wheats’ first three pitches were all put in play for outs, but once the Elks took better aim, they started to get some hits… and the Raccoons’ defense fell apart to boot. Waker singled to right to begin the top 2nd, and Walker reached on Brobeck’s error. Wheeler flew out, but Kyle Hawkins hit a single to right, and Brassfield’s throw to home plate went over a leaping Gowin, then bounced hard off the backstop and into no man’s land, allowing both Elks runners to score. Two hits, two errors, two runs for the stinking hoof bearers. Chris Gowin drew a leadoff walk in the bottom 2nd, but was picked off to end the inning after two meek outs, then came back to the dish in the fourth inning with Crum and Brassfield on the corners and runs direly needed. He singled through the left side to get Crum in, 2-1, and Brobeck’s infield single that went off a diving Mullen’s glove filled the bases for Venegas. His groundout to Aparicio tied the game, and de Lemos’ pop to Aparicio left two in scoring position.

Matt Knight would long have been sold to the first caravan passing the ballpark if he wasn’t the least useless of our wholly useless replacement second-sackers, but he opened the fifth inning with a double over Hawkins to put the go-ahead run in scoring position. Wheats, who was not flashy at all, but managed to pitch to weak contact after the stuttering start, singled sharply up the middle, but Knight at first shied back thinking Mullen would make a play and might throw him out at third base, thus advancing no further than third when then ball went through. He scored on Crum’s firm single to center, 3-2, and Lonzo, who was 0-for-8 in the series, got drilled to fill the bases … with nobody out. Brassfield brought in a run with a groundout, which wasn’t the first of outcomes, but I preferred Chris Gowin walloping one over the fence in left for a 3-piece, and a 7-2 lead…!

If only we knew how to blow that most efficiently. Wheats had a 1-2-3 sixth, but Walker and Wheeler hit full-count singles to begin the seventh inning and that was it for him. Sencion replaced him, got the next three guys out, although Tim Turner’s sac fly plated the lead runner, 7-3. The Coons clawed the run back with Lonzo’s leadoff walk and a Gowin single off Leo Iniguez in the bottom 7th, although neither of those two figured in the actual run-scoring event, thanks to two fielder’s choices hit into by Brassfield and Brobeck, the latter getting the RBI. Three singles off Baker and Hitchcock had the Elks answer for a run in the top 8th, but it was still a slam between those two teams. Geoff Sather got the ball for the ninth against the left-handed Hawkins and Turner, with no particularly clever ideas for how to proceed after that, but after both of those two flew out to de Lemos, the Elks were kind enough to send another left-handed batter, Julio Diaz, to pinch-hit for Iniguez. He grounded over to Venegas at third base, and Venegas – botched the play. Sather would hang around for one more batter, and then we’d bother Daley after two innings on Friday – but it didn’t come that far. Marquez struck out in a full count, and the Coons took the second game of the series as well…! 8-4 Furballs! Crum 4-4, 2 2B, RBI; Gowin 3-3, BB, HR, 4 RBI; Wheatley 6.0 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, W (13-10) and 1-3;

Not stellar, but sometimes steady does it – and now the 2 1/2 game lead from Monday morning was restored in all its glory. Also, the Loggers and Crusaders were both eliminated with losses of their own, so it was even mathematically down to these two teams now. The Elks needed a win on Sunday, bitterly.

Game 3
VAN: 3B F. Marquez – SS Mullen – 2B Aparicio – C Waker – RF A. Walker – 1B Wheeler – CF K. Hawkins – LF T. Turner – P Middleton
POR: LF Crum – SS Lavorano – 1B Ramsay – C Gowin – RF Brassfield – 3B Venegas – CF Puckeridge – 2B Knight – P de la Cruz

Waker and Knight hit into inning-ending double plays with two aboard each the first time through the order as both teams frittered away scoring opportunities as if there was some silly concept by which the second-place team would also make the playoffs. Lonzo was also on base twice, took off for second base both times, but only made it there alive once. The Elks made two errors in the Coons’ first three innings, neither of which was punished, and lost Tony Aparicio to injury on a double to left in the third inning, but fumbled that noble sacrifice as well. Bill Sostre replaced him at the keystone.

The Raccoons burst through in the bottom 4th with three straight doubles to left or left-center by their 4-5-6 hitters. Pucks drew a walk off Middleton, and Knight popped out, but Raffy poked a 2-out RBI single through the right side to extend the just-begotten lead to 3-0 before Crum grounded out crummily to strand a pair.

Up 3-0, the question was how long Raffy would hold out, given his spotty start to the game, but the middle innings were rather spotless and the Elks were still being 3-hit through six innings. They got another hit in the seventh, in the worst way, when Raffy walked Wheeler to begin the inning, and with the pen scrambling, Hawkins technically singled to right, but in reality the ball hit Wheeler on a bounce and the lead runner was called out. Hawkins reached second base on an errant pickoff attempt, and the pen scrambled a little faster. Tim Turner’s walk ended Raffy’s day. Lillis faced PH Dan Riley, who grounded out, advancing Hawkins and Turner. Hitchcock was sent into the game for the third straight day but got a HUGE strikeout from Marquez, and that would be all he did in this game. Bottom 7th, right-hander Jesse Lausch gave up a leadoff single to Suzuki and a double to Cox, both pinch-hitting in the 8-9 spots. The runners were stranded on a K to Crum, a Lonzo pop, and Rams’ fly to left…

Where to find enough right-handed relief now? Bak was still there, so he got the eighth. Mullen flew out, after which Sostre doubled to center. Waker singled. Walker singled in a run. Oh for ***** sake. Jeff Wheeler punched a 3-run homer, but he might as well have punched me straight in the kisser. ******* *********. And that was before Walters and Daley melted down for another three runs in the ninth inning. 7-3 Canadiens. Brassfield 2-4, 2B, RBI; Venegas 2-4, 2B, RBI; Suzuki (PH) 1-1; Cox (PH) 1-2, 2B; de la Cruz 6.1 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 5 BB, 5 K and 1-2, RBI;

In other news

September 21 – CHA SP Art Schaeffer (14-11, 3.57 ERA) 2-hits the Loggers in an 8-0 shutout.
September 23 – Condors LF Tim Duncan (.244, 14 HR, 50 RBI) ends his season early with a strained hamstring.
September 23 – The Rebels tie their game with the Warriors with a run in the ninth inning, then beat the Warriors, 2-1 in 20 innings. There are 31 hits and 29 runners left on base in the game.
September 26 – 33-year-old NAS CL Tommy Gardner (8-8, 2.49 ERA, 35 SV) notches his 400th career save in a 4-3 win over the Miners. The two-time Reliever of the Year is the 31st pitcher to reach that milestone.
September 27 – The Thunder rout the Falcons, 18-7, with 3B/1B Ed Soberanes (.291, 16 HR, 61 RBI) knocking five hits and driving home four runs.

FL Player of the Week: DEN 1B Bill Joyner (.326, 14 HR, 76 RBI), cracking .481 (13-27) with 1 HR, 4 RBI
CL Player of the Week: MIL INF Zach Suggs (.296, 21 HR, 96 RBI), hitting .522 (12-23) with 4 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Shambolic. We were two innings from a 3 1/2 game lead as opposed to a 1 1/2 game lead, and then **** hit all the fans at once again. I could drown them all in the Willamette, playoffs or not…!

POR (90-66) – MIL (3), NYC (3) – .524 – 83.4% (-4.7%)
VAN (88-67) – IND (4), NYC (3) – .460 – 16.6% (+4.9%)

Probably not, given our very mediocre performance against the Loggers especially this year.

I am filled with much foreboding…

Fun Fact: Guys with 400 saves this league has had like candy, but only eight of them reached 500 saves for their career.

And half of them have a connection to the Raccoons:

1st – Andres Ramirez – 770 – HOF
2nd – Angel Casas – 641 – HOF
3rd – Pedro Alvarado – 624 – HOF
4th – Lawson Steward – 593 – HOF
5th – Andy Hyden – 538 – HOF
6th – Grant West – 522 – HOF
7th – Jim Durden – 519
8th – Josh Boles – 508

Grant West was a career Coon and never wound up for a different team, doing the baseball gods’ work for us from 1980 through 1995. He retired second to Ramirez in saves. Ramirez was the other guy that was on top of our hotlist for the very first amateur draft in 1977, but we ended up taking Daniel Hall instead, who didn’t make the Baseball Hall of Fame, but the Hall of Fame of our Hearts, and had his number retired just like West and Angel Casas, who spent his first 12 seasons in Portland and led the CL in saves four times in that stretch. The fourth Critter on the list is Josh Boles, who was been on the Hall of Fame ballot for a while. He began his career with the Coons as well, led the CL in saves twice, but departed for the Buffaloes in a terrible trade after just six seasons.

For what it’s worth, the #9 in career saves, Salvadaro Soure with 499 saves, was also a Raccoon … in the minors. He was traded to the Bayhawks to acquire Ramiro Cavazos, who lasted one season in Portland during the Decade of Darkness.

The trades I do.

[Westheim]

Sorry there. Played other things on Monday, wasn’t in the mood on Tuesday, and fell asleep while lying down “just five minutes” yesterday. I still love the Coonie Coons, and I hope you haven’t gnawed the claws off all four of your paws while waiting for the resolution to the (regular) season.

+++

Raccoons (90-66) @ Crusaders (81-74) – September 28-30, 2054

The Coons took a 1 1/2 game lead into the final week of the regular season, and over the stinky Elks to boot. No collapse á la 2053 was permitted, even though the Crusaders chose to somehow get involved in this 3-game set starting on Monday. The season series here was still up for grabs, with New York 8-7 ahead, although they had eventually fallen away with the second-worst rotation in the CL. They gave up the eighth-most runs overall, while scoring the fifth-most, with a +36 run differential (Coons: +54).

Projected matchups:
He Shui (17-8, 2.52 ERA) vs. Jeff Johnson (11-11, 3.96 ERA)
Kyle Brobeck (7-5, 3.82 ERA) vs. Edwin Sopena (9-13, 4.39 ERA)
Seisaku Taki (9-10, 3.44 ERA) vs. Dave Washington (7-7, 4.67 ERA)

Right, right, left. Also, a spectacular pile of injuries that left the Crusaders without Thompson, Gates, Caballero, Seidman, Russ (hiss!), White, and a few fringe pitchers. The Coons would not get Pickett or Waters back this year, but would probably activate Ed Crispin during this series.

What boost.

Game 1
POR: LF Crum – SS Lavorano – 1B Ramsay – C Gowin – RF Brassfield – 3B Venegas – CF Puckeridge – 2B Knight – P Shui
NYC: 2B C. Navarro – CF G. Cabrera – SS O. Sanchez – RF D. Rivera – 1B Sevilla – C Kissler – LF Foss – 3B D. Wagner – P J. Johnson

Pucks gave the Coons a lead in the second inning, grounding out to second base when Brassfield (walk) and Venegas (double) were waiting in scoring position with one out. Knight left Anton Venegas on base, but would prove more useful the next time he came up, then with Venegas and Pucks on the corners in the fifth inning and nobody out. Knight singled to center past a reaching Chris Navarro, upping the score to 2-0 behind Shui, who was on five strikeouts against three singles after four innings. The inning ground to a screeching halt after the Knight RBI single; Knight was caught stealing, Shui struck out, and Crum flew out to Danny Rivera, who would finally get to Shui in the sixth inning, hitting his 25th homer to left and narrowed the score to 2-1.

That was all that Shui gave up in his bid for win #18, while Johnson kept pitching in the eighth inning, but nicked Matt Knight to start it and after a K to Coxie gave up a single to Ken Crum. Lonzo struck out, but Rams PUNCHED a 3-run homer to right, and that looked like some welcome breathing room indeed! Lillis followed Shui and struck out Omar Sanchez and Rivera in a scoreless eighth, even though Raul Sevilla hit a 2-out single. Aaron Foss hit a double off Hyun-soo Bak to begin the bottom 9th, but the next three Crusaders all made meek outs to end the game. 5-1 Coons. Knight 1-2, BB; Shui 7.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, W (18-8);

Even better, the Elks lost at home to the Indians, enlarging our lead to 2 1/2 games.

Game 2
POR: LF Crum – SS Lavorano – 1B Ramsay – C Gowin – CF Puckeridge – 3B Venegas – RF Cox – 2B Knight – P Brobeck
NYC: 2B C. Navarro – CF G. Cabrera – SS O. Sanchez – RF D. Rivera – 1B Sevilla – C Kissler – LF Bednarz – 3B D. Wagner – P Sopena

After two quick and fruitless innings, Coxie and Knight opened the top 3rd with a double-whammy, hitting back-to-back homers off Sopena, who went on to walk Brobeck and surrender that run on a Lonzo single with one out to find a quick 3-0 hole for himself. Not that we weren’t wary of Brobeck’s pitching – he was tip-toeing his way around disaster, f.e. in the third inning where he nicked Darrell Wagner and walked Chris Navarro, and then somehow got two outs from Gil Cabrera and Sanchez without giving up any runs, but even though he was occasionally wild and needed 75 pitches through five innings, the Crusaders got only two hits off him during that time and no runs whatsoever.

Top 6th, the Coons had the 3-4-5 batters on base after Sopena hit Ramsay, Gowin doubled, and Pucks drew a walk – all with nobody out. Crispin batted for Venegas and lined out to the pitcher, Cox whiffed, and Knight found a hole on the left side to hit a 2-run single through, 5-0 – phew. Brobeck, who had walked twice in the game, flew out to Rivera to end the inning. Three singles by Lonzo, Rams, and Gowin added another run in the seventh inning, that one coming off Neal Hamann. Brobeck would pitch 7.1 innings on 105 pitches without giving up a run, and Matt Walters collected the last five outs for a combined 3-hit shutout of the Crusaders. 6-0 Raccoons! Lavorano 3-5, RBI; Gowin 2-5, 2B, RBI; Knight 2-4, HR, 3 RBI; Brobeck 7.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 4 K, W (8-5) and 0-2, 2 BB; Walters 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K;

The Elks took eight runs again, and failed to score nine themselves, losing 8-3 to the Indians.

Coons thus up by 3 1/2, and now the magic number was two, meaning the division could be decided as early as Wednesday…!

Game 3
POR: 1B Crum – SS Lavorano – 3B Venegas – LF Brassfield – RF Cox – C Philipps – CF Tenazes – 2B Knight – P Taki
NYC: 2B C. Navarro – CF G. Cabrera – SS O. Sanchez – RF D. Rivera – 1B Sevilla – C Seidman – LF Buss – 3B D. Wagner – P Washington

There was ugly weather on the way, so we wouldn’t mind leading after five, but after Ken Crum opened the game by drawing a walk, Lonzo struck out and Venegas found a double play. Instead, Gil Cabrera’s triple and a Sanchez sac fly gave the Crusaders a lead in the bottom 1st. While no Coons offense came early, the rain sure did and we had a rain delay as early as the third inning, and it took well over an hour. At that point, Knight was on first with a single and there was one out. The Coons had Taki bunt and eventually didn’t score – but he had thrown only 24 pitches so far and maybe was still good. Not bloody quite – he walked two and gave up a run on a Cabrera single in the bottom 3rd, and was not back after that.

Washington was also gone soon after giving up a triple to Lonzo and plating him with a wild pitch for a Coons run in the fourth inning. Alfaro pitched the fourth, then was hit for with Ed Crispin with two outs in the top 5th. Crispin doubled to right, but him and the tying run were stranded on Crum’s fly out. Luke Ostler pitched two scoreless innings for Portland after that, then was hit for in the top 7th after Knight was nicked by Tim Abraham with two outs. Gowin walked in his spot, but Crum now struck out to defuse any sort of offense. Ryan Harmer pitched a 1-2-3 bottom 7th… and then there was a second rain delay, taking another hour of our precious time. Since the game had playoff implications, the umps chose to sit it out, and were proven right when the rain subsided sooner this time and we went back to playing after some 50 minutes. We just still weren’t winning, and didn’t get any closer to winning in the bottom 8th when Eloy Sencion gave up a run on a leadoff walk to Sanchez, a Mike Bednarz double, and a single by Raul Sevilla, with Bednarz caught in a rundown on the play. So the Coons had to make up two runs against Willie Cruz in the ninth inning – Cox lined out to Cabrera, but Tyler Philipps singled to left. Tenazes socked a double up the leftfield line, and now the tying runs were in scoring position with one out. Pucks batted for Knight and struck out, and Ramsay batted for the pitcher and grounded out to Navarro… 3-1 Crusaders. Crispin (PH) 1-1, 2B; Ostler 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

The Elks kept having Opposite Week and beat the Indians, 8-3, which meant that a decision was delayed until Friday, since the Coons were off on Thursday.

Not the Elks, though – they still had another playdate with the Arrowheads and lost that, 6-1. The magic number was thus down to one. Any Coons win against the Loggers would do.

Raccoons (92-67) @ Loggers (84-74) – October 2-4, 2054

One to go, one to go – that was also the Loggers’ mantra, if only for the season series, which they led 9-6 against the Coons, who appeared to have won games against *somebody* but nobody in the CL North in particular… Milwaukee had the #7 offense and #4 pitching, with a +15 run differential.

Projected matchups:
Jason Wheatley (13-10, 3.82 ERA) vs. Chris Kaye (4-5, 3.47 ERA)
Rafael de la Cruz (5-5, 3.87 ERA) vs. Josh Costello (13-7, 3.28 ERA)
He Shui (18-8, 2.48 ERA) vs. Jeff Fox (11-8, 4.37 ERA)

Southpaw Sunday! Also, a couple more of words on Sunday: Shui would start if either A) the game mattered in the standings, or B) he still had a chance to take the ERA title from Atlanta’s Dave Hils. Shui currently trailed Hils by 10 points, but Hils would likely start on Saturday. The Knights were tied with the Thunder for the CL South crown on Friday morning and had no room for vanity. They needed wins. If Hils blew up and dropped behind Shui, and the game didn’t matter, then we had numerous Brobecks and Bakers available to take the start instead.

Also, playoffs were perhaps coming, but was Friday’s 383th regular season start for Wheats the last one as a Coon?

Game 1
POR: LF Crum – SS Lavorano – 1B Ramsay – C Gowin – CF Puckeridge – 3B Venegas – RF Cox – 2B Boese – P Wheatley
MIL: 3B T. Edwards – LF E. Cobb – 1B Callaia – SS Z. Suggs – C C. Thomas – 2B R. Lopez – CF Starnes – RF Law – P Kaye

All other things aside, Wheats got a 4-0 lead spotted in the third inning. Cox and Naughty Joe got on base ahead of him, he bunted them over, and Crum doubled home two before Ramsay cranked a 2-out, 2-run homer to right. The Loggers got Dennis Starnes and Bryant Law on base to begin their half of the third inning just the same, but Kaye bunted quite terribly, and Wheats pounced and started a 1-5-3 double play. After hitting Travis Edwards with the very next pitch, he got another comebacker from Eric Cobb yet another pitch later and ended the inning with a lob to first base. Wheats got another double play started in the fourth inning, then bunted Naughty Joe to second base for the second time in the top 5th. This time Ken Crum went yard with a 2-piece, extending the score to 6-0.

Gowin singled and Pucks doubled to begin the sixth against righty Dan Bell, who made his first appearance for the Loggers and walked Venegas to fill the bases with nobody out. Coxie grounded to Ricky Lopez, who desired two to be turned, but Zach Suggs dropped his feed and all paws were safe and a run scored, 7-0. Strikeouts to Boese and Wheats, and Crum’s pop to short then stranded the three runners. Wheats was still going on the hill, but without a strikeout through six innings. In the bottom 6th the Loggers put a pair in scoring position, but then Chris Thomas flew out to Coxie in right. Wheats then struck out Ricky Lopez in a full count in the bottom 7th to FINALLY nip *somebody*. In the meantime, the Coons kept socking ‘em – Pucks singled off Alan Marshall and then Venegas went deep for only the second time this year in the eighth, 9-0. Wheats retired the Loggers in order in the bottom 8th and would get a chance for the shutout, his pitch count just under 100 through eight. It would be the 3-4-5 batters in the bottom 9th, however. Gaudencio Callaia flew out to Crum, who didn’t have to move a lot. The count on Zach Suggs ran full before he singled, and that was not good. Wheats had to get Thomas, or we’d have to get a reliever. His first pitch to Thomas was his 111th of the game – and Thomas bounced it right back to him. Wheats to Knight, to Ramsay – ballgame!! 9-0 Furballs!! Crum 3-5, HR, 4 RBI; Puckeridge 2-4, 2B; Boese 2-4; Wheatley 9.0 IP, 7 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K, W (14-10);

11th career shutout (regular season) for Wheats! …and the Elks lost anyway!

Playoffs! Right now with the Knights, who won on Friday while the Thunder lost a close one to the Condors. Hils was the starter for the Knights on Saturday, opposite ex-Coon Juan Mercado. The Coons would give some of the regulars one of the remaining two games off.

Game 2
POR: LF Brassfield – SS Lavorano – 1B Ramsay – RF Puckeridge – 3B Crispin – CF Suzuki – 2B Knight – C Raczka – P de la Cruz
MIL: 3B T. Edwards – LF E. Cobb – 1B Callaia – SS Z. Suggs – C C. Thomas – 2B R. Lopez – CF Starnes – RF Law – P Costello

We couldn’t rest everybody at once, though, and that soon became a problem. The Loggers took a 1-0 lead in the bottom 1st on a Callaia triple and Suggs single, but the Raccoons answered in the third inning. Brassfield reached base with a 2-out walk, and then scored when Lonzo slung a gapper in left-center for an RBI triple to tie the score. Rams belted an RBI double to go ahead… and pulled up lame at second base. Dave de Lemos ran for him and would play rightfield after Pucks, who moved to first, grounded out to end the inning.

Suggs singled in the tying run in the bottom 3rd, again with two outs, which sugged, after Raffy had retired the first two, but then had walked Eric Cobb and given up a single to Callaia. Chris Thomas flew out to Trent Brassfield to end the inning, and an inning later Bryant Law whacked a homer for a 3-2 Loggers lead.

Singles by Pucks and Crispin made a bit of a stir with one out in the sixth. Mikio Suzuki poked at a 3-1 pitch, grounding it back to the mound, but at least away from where Costello was falling to, and the Coons legged it out collectively to fill the bags on the infield single. Knight grounded out, but that brought in the tying run. The Loggers walked Raczka intentionally, while Raffy grounded out to end the inning, then fell right behind again on a walk to Ricky Lopez, a Starnes single, and Law’s sac fly, 4-3. He retired Costello, but that was it for him.

He got a no-decision, because when Lonzo singled in the seventh and took off, Thomas threw the ball into his legs rather than Lopez’ mitten and the ball bounced away into rightfield, with Lonzo scampering to third base, from where de Lemos brought him home with a sac fly, 4-all! Crispin singled to open the eighth, which chased Costello, then was caught stealing. John Norris, who replaced him, wasn’t very good at keeping the Coons off the bases, though. Suzuki singled, Knight singled, and Jeff Raczka singled through the right side, chasing Suzuki home with the go-ahead run from second base…! Ken Crum and Brassfield flew out, stranding two, and a Lopez single and Dale Haracz double off Hitchcock tied the game again in the bottom 8th. Hitchcock also walked Jose Cadena to begin the bottom 9th. Walters got the ball after that and got two outs, but then gave up a walkoff double to Gaudencio Callaia… 6-5 Loggers. Lavorano 2-5, 3B, RBI; Ramsay 1-2, 2B, RBI; Crispin 2-5; Suzuki 2-3, BB;

Losing Ramsay in game #161 was NOT in the battle plan…

Dr. Padillaaaa? (whiny voice) Dr. Padillaaaaaaaa…!

That aside, Dave Hils was clubbed for five runs in 3.2 innings in a loss to the Aces (but the Thunder lost, too, probably disheartened by the Coons looming in the CLCS yet again for them). This dropped him well behind He Shui in the ERA race – and that removed Shui from the last start of the year. Phil Baker (1-1, 2.42 ERA) got the ball. Losing Rams was bad enough…!

Game 3
POR: C Philipps – 1B Crum – LF Brassfield – RF Cox – 3B Brobeck – CF Tenazes – SS Knight – 2B Boese – P Baker
MIL: 3B T. Edwards – LF E. Cobb – 1B Callaia – SS Z. Suggs – C C. Thomas – 2B R. Lopez – CF Starnes – RF Law – P J. Fox

Edwards singled, Cobb and Suggs walked, but Thomas found a double play to let Baker off the hook in a challenging first inning. Instead a Brobeck single and a Knight homer gave the Coons a 2-0 lead in the second inning. Baker continued to struggle. He struck out nobody in the early innings, and instead the bases were loaded again in the third inning on a Cobb walk, Callaia single, and an error by Brobeck. Thomas killed the effort again – hitting .295 with 23 homers nevertheless – when he flew out to Brassfield on a 1-0 pitch to end that inning. The Coons loaded the bags themselves in the fourth against Jeff Fox, who walked Brassfield, then gave up 1-out singles to Brobeck and Tenazes to load the sacks. Matt Knight raked a 2-run double to left, Naughty Joe was walked intentionally, and Baker struck out for the second out. That brought up Philipps, who ran into a fat pitch and heaved it to left, deep, deeper, gone! GRAAAAAAAAAND SLAAAAAAAAAMMMM!!!!

Righty Alan Marshall had the bases loaded yet again in the fifth inning of an 8-0 rout, then with Cox, Brobeck, and Tenazes all reaching with nobody out on three singles. Knight whiffed this time, but Naughty Joe forced in a run with a walk in a full count. Baker found Lopez for a double play, ending the inning. Marshall remained around for a leadoff walk to Philipps and an RBI triple to Ken Crum in the sixth inning, then was lifted for lefty Sam Webb. Brassfield singled home Crum before the inning fizzled out after Cox hit into a double play, 11-0. The remaining key pieces were removed after the bottom 6th, as well as Baker who walked five Loggers and somehow avoided giving up a run. Antonio Alfaro was less lucky – he was spanked around for four hits and three runs while logging only one out in the bottom 7th. Geoff Sather dug him out. Another two runs were beaten out of Ryan Harmer in the bottom 8th. Brobeck did the ninth inning after clonking four singles off the Loggers pitchers during the previous eight. 11-5 Raccoons. Philipps 2-3, 2 BB, HR, 4 RBI; Crum 2-4, RBI; Brassfield 2-4, RBI; Knight 2-5, HR, 2B, 4 RBI; Lavorano (PH) 1-1; Brobeck 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K and 4-5;

In other news

September 28 – ATL SP Dave Hils (11-10, 2.38 ERA) 2-hits the Bayhawks in an 11-0 rout.
September 29 – WAS 3B Josh Frazier (.236, 15 HR, 63 RBI) whacks three home runs and drives in seven runs in a 15-5 rush of the Miners.
September 29 – 40-year-old Canadiens infielder Tony Aparicio (.288, 11 HR, 44 RBI) goes down to a hip strain and is out for the season.
September 30 – The Miners clinch the FL East with a 2-1 win over the Capitals.
October 1 – OCT SP Jay Gunderson (15-6, 2.64 ERA) 3-hits the Aces in a complete-game shutout, claiming a 5-0 win.
October 2 – The Indians fire off a 7-run rally in the top of the ninth inning to beat the Titans, 7-5.
October 3 – With 182 losses already assembled on the field, the Indians beat the Titans, 1-0 in no fewer than 18 innings. IND 1B Shuta Yamamoto (.290, 9 HR, 57 RBI) singles home Bobby Anderson (.287, 20 HR, 91 RBI) to end the drag.
October 4 – ATL 1B Jay Rogers (.273, 24 HR, 117 RBI) hits a walkoff sac fly to beat the Aces, 5-4 in regulation, and to clinch the CL South for the Knights on the final day of the season.

FL Hitter of the Month: SFW LF/RF Tony Rodriquez (.311, 10 HR, 70 RBI), hitting .402 with 2 HR, 18 RBI
CL Hitter of the Month: ATL 2B/SS Willie Acosta (.317, 4 HR, 75 RBI), batting .303 with 3 HR, 20 RBI
FL Pitcher of the Month: DEN CL Mike Lynn (9-6, 2.65 ERA, 38 SV), going 2-0 with a 3.97 ERA and 8 SV
CL Pitcher of the Month: POR SP He Shui (18-8, 2.48 ERA), throwing for a 6-0 record and 0.97 ERA, 38 K
FL Rookie of the Month: DEN 1B Bill Joyner (.331, 14 HR, 78 RBI), swatting .381 with 3 HR, 20 RBI
CL Rookie of the Month: POR SP He Shui (18-8, 2.48 ERA), throwing for a 6-0 record and 0.97 ERA, 38 K

Complaints and stuff

Playoffs! …with or without Ramsay. (looks at Dr. Padilla, but doesn’t dare to ask what the giant knife is for)

Lonzo won his fourth stolen base title at age 27, 64 being his third-best season total. He moved up into 46th place all time to finish the season, and will continue the assault up the leaderboard next year, although currently three of the five batters immediately ahead of him are themselves still active:

41st – Clement Clark – 331
42nd – Felix Rojas – 330 – active
43rd – Angel Montes de Oca – 328 – active
t-44rd – Felix Marquez – 325 – active
t-44rd – Lorenzo Rivera – 325
46th – Lorenzo Lavorano – 322 – active
47th – Raúl Herrera – 321
48th – Roberto Rodriguez – 317
49th – Ross Holland – 314

Rojas stole 21 this year, including eight in September, or as many as the 33-year-old Montes de Oca got all this season. Felix Marquez’ 41-year-old bones didn’t allow further advancing in September.

Also pictured: why Wheats must not get a 5-year deal. (sob)

Fun Fact: Clement Clark, like Rodriguez and Herrera, played his entire career in the previous millennium and mostly in the Federal League.

He won a stolen base title with the ’89 Caps and 42 bags taken that year. Apart from that he has a Gold Glove and three All Star buttons in his trophy cabinet. He batted .308/.359/.385 with 2,391 hits, 60 HR, and 789 RBI. His only ring came with the 1990 Caps, but he left them before they met the Coons in the World Series three years in a row.

[Westheim]

2054 CONTINENTAL LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES
Portland Raccoons (94-68) vs. Atlanta Knights (96-66)

The Raccoons finished 162 games with the same record as last year, but this time that was even enough for their first playoff appearance since 2051. Opposite them were the Knights, who had met with the Critters only once before in the CLCS – in 1989, when Portland won the series in seven games.

If the Raccoons made it through to the World Series, they’d be guaranteed to meet an FL foe they had never met in the World Series before, since both the Warriors and Miners had never wound up with the Coons in the finals – same for the Scorpions.

Before we talk about the Coons (because, oh boy…), let’s talk about the Knights. They edged out the Thunder by a single game to grab the playoff spot and home field advantage for the CLCS. They did so with the #3 offense, which hit the most homers, and the #1 rotation, although their bullpen, their defense, and their overall team speed were all cruddy. +122 run differential, way more than Portland, but there were quite a few injuries that whittled down their roster. Leo Villacorta, Jon Alade, and Matt Worden were all on the DL, with Alade probably the biggest loss, since he had knocked a team-high 25 homers. They still had three guys with 20+ homers (Coons: zilch), with Jay Rogers (.273, 24 HR, 117 RBI), who had clinched the division with a walkoff sac fly, Chris Kirkwood (.240, 21 HR, 71 RBI), and Pedro Almaguer (.262, 20 HR, 67 RBI), so I wasn’t feeling too sorry for them. The four starters they had lined up for the postseason included Matt Weber (13-8, 3.16 ERA) as having the WORST ERA among the four. The pen, though, besides closer David Hardaway was more likes Bombsaway. A couple of relievers were also on the DL, but nobody that would have significantly improved their standing there.

The Coons had won five out of nine games against Atlanta this year, outscoring them 44-32, so there was that.

Now it’s time to talk about what the Raccoons all didn’t have. The Coons arrived in the playoffs with Arthur Pickett and Matt Waters on the DL, and neither one of those would be available for the CLCS, although there was potential for them to return for the World Series. But then we still remember with wet eyes how Harry Ramsay left game #161 and he would also miss the postseason, and then some, with Dr. Padilla discovering a crack in his kneecap, which meant that he was even questionable for the start of next year. So, scratch that stick from the lineup.

And then scratch Jason Wheatley from the rotation, because after Wheats went home after the season finale on Sunday, he first yelled at this kid to clean up his **** from the front porch, then remembered to look into the roadside mailbox, turned around, and took a rather brisk ride down the steps to the porch on a skateboard, messing up his throwing arm in the process…..

So he was a scratch for the CLCS at least, and 9-year-old Wagstaff Wheatley was a scratch from my Christmas card list.

What remained, besides pain in Wheats’ badly bruised elbow and outside of it?

25 players were playoff eligible for the Critters after all the casualties had been moved to the DL, which included five starters, more or less, in He Shui, Seisaku Taki, Raffy de la Cruz, Kyle Brobeck, and Phil Baker. Only seven relievers: Daley, Hitchcock, Sencion, Lillis, Bak – the establishment – and fillers Matt Walters and Antonio Alfaro, the latter at least making a habit of getting anal-probed whenever he took the hill.

Two catchers, only five infielders, which included Lonzo, Venegas, Crispin, Knight, and Naughty Joe (good lord…), and then six outfielders in Crum, Pucks, Coxie, Brassfield, Suzuki, and de Lemos. Given that we were rudely bereft of our starting first baseman, Ken Crum would move in to play first base, and then the next three in that list distributed themselves more or less nicely around the outfield.

Due to injuries to Rams, Wheats, and Pickett in September/October, the Raccoons had three wild cards to add other players to the roster, but before enumerating who amongst those 25 I could live without and comfortably, let’s look at what’s even still available: Harmer, Ostler, Sather for relievers, Jeff Raczka as third catcher, and Dave Blackshire and Prospero Tenazes amongst fair-territory position players. I wanted no piece whatsoever of Antonio Alfaro (5.45 ERA), but Harmer had been even worse, Ostler had only made three appearances, and Sather was a fourth left-hander that nobody needed. We’d have to make do with Baker and Alfaro pitching only garbage innings, apparently…

I’ve sat on the trusty brown couch on the eve of playoff series with more confidence than right now…….

[Westheim]

2054 CONTINENTAL LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES
Portland Raccoons (94-68) @ Atlanta Knights (96-66)

Slight advantage to the Raccoons for the start of the series – since we clinched a couple of days early, we had He Shui available for the start of the CLCS, while the Knights could at best hope to get Dave Hils going in Game 2.

Game 1 – He Shui (18-8, 2.48 ERA) vs. Esteban Duran (11-11, 3.11 ERA)

Shui had been vacated from the season finale on Sunday to have him available for the start of the CLCS on Wednesday. He had won the ERA title as a 28-year-old “rookie” (he had a chance to turn 29 in the World Series) from Taiwan, and had faced the Knights twice for a win on 6.2 scoreless innings and a no-decision when rain chased him after four innings in April. Duran had faced the Coons just once, taking an L for 5.1 innings of 5-run ball in August. That was the last ballgame that Duran had lost to date – in his last 11 starts he had seven wins and four no-decisions.

The Coons expected only one southpaw starter from the Knights, Jeremy Baker (ex-Coon), and probably not before the series headed to Portland, but even then, why would Ed Crispin play over Anton Venegas…?

POR: 1B Crum – SS Lavorano – LF Brassfield – C Gowin – CF Puckeridge – 3B Venegas – RF Cox – 2B Knight – P Shui
ATL: 3B Gaxiola – C Almaguer – SS W. Acosta – 1B J. Rogers – LF Kirkwood – RF Stipp – CF D. Wright – 2B Visser – P E. Duran

The Coons went in order in the first, but Robby Gaxiola walked on four pitches and Pedro Almaguer singled him to third base in the bottom 1st. The Knights didn’t score for Willie Acosta popped out to Lonzo and Jay Rogers found Knight for a double play to end the inning.

Duran retired eight of nine Coons the first time through, striking out half of them, but hung a 1-2 to Pucks in the second inning that was bashed over the wall for a 1-0 Raccoons lead. Shui, though, offered another leadoff walk to Preston Visser in the bottom 3rd and after two groundout, Almaguer singled him home with a liner well over Lonzo’s head and into left-center. Willie Acosta then lined out to Matt Knight to keep the game tied for the moment. A similar inning came in the fifth, then with Visser hitting a leadoff single to right and advancing on a bunt and groundout. This time Almaguer popped out to Lonzo, however, and the game remained tied.

The Raccoons – safe for the Pucks homer – had only a Venegas walk to their credit through five innings, and he had been caught stealing before affecting much. Ironically it was Shui himself to get the offense going in the sixth with a double up the leftfield line, putting the go-ahead run in scoring position with one gone. Crum flew out rather easily, though, but Lonzo came through with a double to left-center, chasing home Shui with the go-ahead run, 2-1!

Neither pitcher made it out of the seventh. Pucks singled to knock out Duran after 6.1 innings, then scored on Venegas double into the leftfield corner off Joe Byrd, 3-1. Cox was walked intentionally, Knight flew out, and with Shui on 104 pitches through six, he was hit for with Mikio Suzuki, who popped out on the first pitch to bring about stretch time. After Bak delivered a scoreless bottom 7th, the Coons loaded the bases with nobody out in the eighth inning against Byrd. Crum singled, Lonzo was nailed, and Brassfield walked. Chris Gowin broke the game wide open with a bases-clearing double into the leftfield corner, 6-1, and scored himself after a Venegas single and Cox’ groundout to second base. Walters got two outs in the bottom 8th before allowing singles to Acosta and Rogers, and was lifted for Kyle Brobeck, who had yet three days to go until his only start in the series, and had time for a relief appearance. He struck out Chris Kirkwood and would get three more outs in the ninth inning, though in between Lonzo whacked a 2-run homer with Crum on base off right-hander Morgan Aben in the ninth inning.

Raccoons 9, Knights 1 – Raccoons lead series 1-0

Crum 2-5, 2B; Lavorano 2-4, HR, 2B, 3 RBI; Gowin 2-5, 2B, 3 RBI; Puckeridge 2-5, HR, RBI; Venegas 2-3, BB, 2B, RBI;

Game 2 – Seisaku Taki (9-11, 3.48 ERA) vs. Dave Hils (11-11, 2.58 ERA)

For Game 2, we had two right-handers that would really have deserved a better record. Taki had delivered perhaps his worst start of the year against the Knights in August, giving up six runs in 4.2 innings, so that was something to erase from your brain immediately, and also hadn’t claimed a W in any of his last seven starts. Hils had faced the Coons three times – but only once as a starter, having come from the bullpen at the start of the season. He had never given up an earned run to the Critters, surrendering one unearned marker in 9.2 innings, without earning a decision. His start had been the 13-inning game won on a Matt Knight double, 2-1, in which Trent Brassfield had hurt himself like five minutes after earning a promotion to the majors.

POR: 1B Crum – SS Lavorano – LF Brassfield – C Gowin – CF Puckeridge – 3B Venegas – RF Cox – 2B Knight – P Taki
ATL: 3B Gaxiola – C Almaguer – SS W. Acosta – 1B J. Rogers – LF Kirkwood – RF Stipp – CF D. Wright – 2B Visser – P Hils

Pucks again had the first hit for Portland, but just a single this time, and the first score was the Knights’ Pat Stipp hitting a solo jack to right-center in the second inning. Portland answered, however, getting Matt Knight on base with a single, and Ken Crum as well with a BOMB to centerfield that flipped the score to 2-1 Raccoons in the top of the third. Lonzo singled and stole second base afterwards, but was stranded by Brassfield and Gowin.

Coxie added a run with a solo homer in the fourth inning, 3-1, while the Knights put Rogers and Stipp on base with singles in the bottom 4th. Dylan Wright’s groundout moved both of them into scoring position with two outs, and the Raccoons bypassed Preston Visser to get a pop and a ticket out of the inning from Dave Hils instead. Cox next robbed Willie Acosta of extra bases with a rush and running grab into the right-center gap, although it would “only” have been a 2-out extra-base hit with nobody on base.

The Knights began to take better aim in these middle innings. Rogers and Kirkwood hit hard balls to the deep outfield in the sixth inning, but both ended up with outfielders, Cox and Pucks respectively. Anton Venegas found a space in the outfield behind Wright to drop a leadoff triple in the seventh inning, which begged for that tack-on run to be scored. Hils was made to walk Cox intentionally, but then gave up the run on Knight’s single. Taki bunted the runners over, and Crum killed Hils with a single to right, scoring both of them – 6-1! Morgan Aben replaced Hils, surrendered his last runner on singles by Lonzo and Brassfield, walked the bags full, threw a wild pitch, allowed Venegas to single home one more, and only then did Cox ground out to Rogers. Another 6-spot, another blowout loss for the Knights? Taki did seven on 109 pitches, then was followed by Eloy Sencion and a 1-2-3 eighth. Sencion hung around to allow a leadoff single to Rogers, the meanest left-handed hitter in that lineup, then was replaced by Baker, who struck out Kirkwood and got a double play grounder from Stipp.

Raccoons 9, Knights 1 – Raccoons lead series 2-0

Crum 2-5, HR, 4 RBI; Lavorano 2-5; Venegas 2-4, 3B, RBI; Knight 2-4, RBI; Taki 7.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, W (1-0);

Well, well, well! Treacherously great start to the series, and we’d now take that 2-0 lead back to Oregon!

Please bear in mind that these two starting pitchers were the only reliable ones we had left.

[Westheim]

2054 CONTINENTAL LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES
Portland Raccoons (94-68) vs. Atlanta Knights (96-66)

The Raccoons had smothered the Knights in Atlanta, 18-2 runs for two wins, but Raffy had been sketchy at best for the entire half-season after his return from the DL, and Brobeck was very much a mixed bag in the fourth game. Baker was not a real alternative. The Knights could still pour out more starters with better ERA’s than any Coon bar He Shui…

Game 3 – Rafael de la Cruz (5-5, 3.98 ERA) vs. Jeremy Baker (16-5, 2.86 ERA)

Jeremy Baker got Game 3, which put us up against their only lefty starter (we had no such thing at all this year – in fact, the Raccoons hadn’t had a game started by a southpaw all season). Baker had faced the Raccoons in three starts this regular season, going 2-1 with the two wins seeing him allow no runs whatsoever. Overall his ERA was a miniscule 0.90 – but we killed Hils, we could probably also kill him. Raffy had missed the Knights in the sole series played after his return in late June.

Nick Valdes did not come to visit, afraid that I would pester him for more dosh for next year in person.

The ceremonial first pitch was thrown out by … Cristiano? Why is Gustaf, oily and shirtless, down there and hurling a baseball to Chris Gowin…!?

Just one subtle change to the lineup to get an extra right-handed bat in.

ATL: 3B Gaxiola – C Almaguer – SS W. Acosta – 1B J. Rogers – LF Kirkwood – RF Wada – CF B. Allen – 2B Visser – P J. Baker
POR: 1B Crum – SS Lavorano – LF Brassfield – C Gowin – RF Puckeridge – 3B Venegas – CF de Lemos – 2B Knight – P de la Cruz

Baker gave himself the lead with a 2-out infield single when Kirkwood and Visser were on the corners in the second inning against Raffy, who wasn’t convincing with his pitching, and then also not with his defense, failing to make a proper throw in time to beat the opposite pitcher. Kirkwood scored, before Robby Gaxiola grounded out.

Raffy was no joy to watch. He was all over the place, counts ran long, and although the Knights had “only” four base runners in the first three innings, it took him 61 pitches to make it even that far. On top of everything else, he also bunted into a force out at second base that erased Matt Knight to begin the bottom 3rd. He struck out five in as many innings, but gave up another run in the fifth inning after Preston Visser doubled, Gaxiola walked in a full count, and Pedro Almaguer hit a sac fly to Pucks in right. He somehow made it through six innings with just two runs given up, then was hit for to begin the bottom half of the sixth against Baker, who was cruising on a 3-hitter, untouchable for the Raccoons as ever. Lonzo hit a 2-out single in the inning, but was left on base by Brassfield.

Bak’s scoreless seventh was followed by a leadoff single for Chris Gowin, who was forced out by Pucks, and then another single off Venegas’ bat. The tying runs were on base, and somehow Dave de Lemos got a single through the middle and into center on a 3-1 pitch. Pucks went for home – and was thrown out by Brent Allen. Shucks. The remaining runners reached scoring position, and the Knights reached their pen, bringing on Joe Byrd, a right-hander, while the Raccoons answered with Ed Crispin hitting for Knight – Cox had already been used to hit for Raffy. Crispin singled through the right side, Venegas came in to score, de Lemos came behind him - and was thrown out by Jushiro Wada to end the inning.

(dead stare)

Brett Lillis, Leonardo Ramos, and Kevin Hitchcock exchanged scoreless innings from there, and the Raccoons arrived in the bottom 9th against David Hardaway with their 3-4-5 batters coming up. Brassfield grounded out on the first pitch. Gowin flew out to Dylan Wright in right. Pucks popped out foul.

Knights 2, Raccoons 1 – Raccoons lead series 2-1

Crispin (PH) 1-1, RBI;

Dismal.

Game 4 – Kyle Brobeck (8-5, 3.59 ERA, 1 SV) vs. Matt Weber (13-8, 3.16 ERA)

Worst starter coming up for them – now it gets easy, boys! Why did I have the feeling that they had expended all their runs in Atlanta?

Weber had made two starts against the Coons, both no-decisions, but hadn’t logged an out in the sixth inning either time for a 2.79 ERA. Brobeck had only faced the Knights in relief, once, pitching two scoreless innings.

The Coons took the hint and returned to the Game 1/2 lineup. We also sent home Gustaf and discarded all the baseballs he had smeared his greasy paws all over and maybe Brobeck would have any sort of grip unlike Raffy the day before. The ceremonial first pitch was in turn thrown out by Mark Roberts (HOF), who won 209 games in general, and a triple crown and two rings with the Raccoons in the 20s in particular, and then won another two rings with the Warriors in 2033-34. We would have loved to save him up for the World Series, but so far neither of these two prior teams of his was very close to winning the pennant.

ATL: 3B Gaxiola – C Almaguer – SS W. Acosta – 1B J. Rogers – LF Kirkwood – RF Wada – CF B. Allen – 2B Visser – P Weber
POR: 1B Crum – SS Lavorano – LF Brassfield – C Gowin – CF Puckeridge – 3B Venegas – RF Cox – 2B Knight – P Brobeck

The weather was iffy, but there were no rain-shortened games in the postseason, only further inconveniences. Also iffy: Brobeck’s grip on an Almaguer grounder in the first inning, which slipped away for an error. Acosta singled, but Rogers found another double play to hit into. By the second inning, we had a drizzle, and by the third inning, we had rain, which intensified to a 77-minute rain delay in the bottom 3rd.

When play resumed, Brobeck hit a 1-out single off Weber, but was forced out by Crum’s grounder. Two gone, Lonzo hit a ball into the gap that might have been a double, but since Jushiro Wada slipped and fell as he picked up the ball just shy of the warning track, the Raccoons hustled on for an RBI triple and a 1-0 lead. Brassfield singled home Lonzo, 2-0, and the Knights yanked Weber for Amari Walker. The left-hander allowed a single to Gowin, but Pucks grounded out.

And Brobeck? He had thrown 35 pitches before the rain delay, 10 more than Weber before the latter had imploded in the bottom of the third inning. Brobeck was sent back out for the fourth after claiming to still have it, but gave up a walk to Acosta, a hard drive that Cox shagged on the run, and while he got through the fourth inning, we were not inclined to have him continue any further. Phil Baker was already warming up in the pen while the fourth inning was in progress. Brobeck still batted for himself in the bottom 4th, but flew out to center to strand Venegas on third base after a single and stolen base. Preston Visser singled off Baker in the fifth inning, but was then doubled up on a hard bunt by Amari Walker to end the inning.

Portland went up 3-0 in the bottom 5th against Walker, who gave up a wallbanger triple to Ken Crum to begin the frame, and then a sac fly to Lonzo. Almaguer answered with a 400-footer in the top 6th, but hit it to the 418’ part of the ballpark AND Pucks tracked it down thanks to sufficient hangtime, as Baker completed a second scoreless inning, and also his last one. His spot came up with three on and one out in the bottom 6th after Pucks and Venegas hit singles and Knight reached on a Gaxiola error. Tyler Philipps pinch-hit, making his first appearance of the series, and shot a hard grounder at Gaxiola that would easily be enough for two – but the only two that appeared in the box score was a second consecutive error for Gaxiola, who kicked the ball into foul ground, and all paws were safe, 4-0…! Slightly discombobulated, Amari Walker threw a wild pitch – ka-ching, a run – before walking Crum anyway, then was yanked for righty Jeff Frank. Lonzo lined an RBI single, but Brassfield struck out against him. Gowin hit a roller to third base, and this time Gaxiola made a good pick, but a terrible throw to first base, the ball skipped by Rogers, and this one counted for two bases and as many runs…! At this point, even the home fans felt a bit sorry for Gaxiola. Pucks singled home two more, the last runs in a 7-run inning, six of them unearned, and all on Gaxiola.

The Coons were now hellbent on finishing the game with Walters and Alfaro, which meant that even a 10-0 lead was not as big as it seemed. Walters had a scoreless seventh, and the Coons took Pucks and Lonzo off the field (Crum had already been replaced at first base by Philipps) at the conclusion of seven innings. Alfaro would pitch two scoreless to finish the game, the third utter demolishment of the Knights in the series.

Raccoons 10, Knights 0 – Raccoons lead series 3-1

Lavorano 2-5, 3B, 3 RBI; Brassfield 2-5, RBI; Puckeridge 2-3, BB, 2 RBI; Crispin 1-1; Brobeck 4.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K and 1-2; Baker 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, W (1-0); Alfaro 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K;

While Robby Gaxiola was on suicide watch that night, I lay away in bed and figured out precisely that the Raccoons could now still lose the series in seven games, while still outscoring the Knights by 22 runs in total.

Game 5 – He Shui (18-8, 2.48 ERA) vs. Esteban Duran (11-11, 3.11 ERA)

Back to the matchup from Game 1 then as the Raccoons hoped to finish out the series in Portland. The lineup (scoring 7.25 runs per game) remained the same, while the first pitch was thrown out in tandem by Bob Larker III and Ælle Ædwards, co-moderators of the popular variety show “Dance, Pranks, Happy Birthdays” on Channel 95.

Who is inviting these people, Maud…??? – What do you mean ‘Have you never seen “Dance, Pranks, Happy Birthdays”??’?? – I didn’t know that show existed until ten seconds ago!!

ATL: 3B Gaxiola – C Almaguer – SS W. Acosta – 1B J. Rogers – LF Kirkwood – RF Wada – CF B. Allen – 2B Visser – P E. Duran
POR: 1B Crum – SS Lavorano – LF Brassfield – C Gowin – CF Puckeridge – 3B Venegas – RF Cox – 2B Knight – P Shui

0-13 in the series with three errors, the Knight stuck with Gaxiola, which was not the sort of loyalty any of the ******* on my team could expect from me (looks at a 1-11 Coxie). He promptly opened Game 5 with a single to center, and just as promptly was doubled up by Almaguer. Shui went on to strike out five straight between the second and third innings, and while Duran was not quite as flashy, the Coons still didn’t amount to any amount of offense early on. Besides the Gaxiola single, there were just two hits for Portland the first time through either lineup, and nobody ever reached third base.

…until Gowin and Pucks hit back-to-back 1-out singles in the fourth inning, that is. They set up camp on the corners with Venegas batting, and while Venegas’ fly to center was caught by Allen and none too deep, Gowin still went for home plate and narrowly scored the game’s first run when Allen’s throw was slightly off-line. Pucks was then caught stealing to end the inning. Kirkwood reached base in the fifth on a Venegas error, but was left stranded, and Shui had seven strikeouts against one hit through five. Knight hit a 1-out single in the bottom 5th and was stranded just the same as Preston Visser was with a leadoff single in the sixth – in the latter inning, Venegas made a nifty bare-pawed play on Almaguer’s 2-out roller to third base.

And then it all went very wrong, very fast. Acosta opened the seventh with a single, and Jay Rogers and Chris Kirkwood within three pitches crashed back-to-back homers to give the Knights a 3-1 lead. Shui finished the inning, piling up nine strikeouts in total, but was now liable to accompany the team back to Atlanta wearing the dunce cap. Joe Byrd retired the 5-6-7 batters in order in the home seventh, and Sencion struck out two in the top 8th while keeping the Knights within reach. He was batted for after Knight reached on a Kirkwood error in the bottom 8th. When the Knights sent Amari Walker to pitch, the Raccoons answered with Dave de Lemos as pinch-hitter, but he punched a grounder into a double play. Crum hit an infield single. The Knights grabbed Leonardo Ramos with two outs, but he drilled Lonzo with his first pitch. Brassfield grounded out to strand the runners…

…at which point there was confirmation that, yes, Kevin Daley was still alive, he just hadn’t been seen in over a week. He gave up two singles and only escaped the top 9th without allowing a run when Dylan Wright pulled a de Lemos with a pinch-hit double play grounder to kill the effort, but the Raccoons still trailed by a pair against Hardaway in the bottom 9th. He walked Gowin, who was forced out at second base on Pucks’ grounder to Acosta. Crispin batted for Venegas and whiffed, and Cox flew out to center.

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

Crum 2-4; Venegas 1-2, 2B, RBI; Shui 7.0 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 9 K, L (1-1);

Boys, we need to have a talk about run distribution…

[Westheim]

2054 CONTINENTAL LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES
Portland Raccoons (94-68) @ Atlanta Knights (96-66)

By the time we arrived in Atlanta two days later, the FL pennant had been decided, but I had other things on my mind now. This would be a rematch of Game 2, which was still in the Coons’ favor, I found. If we didn’t win this game, however, then I was rather concerned with Raffy in Game 7…

Game 6 – Seisaku Taki (9-11, 3.48 ERA) vs. Dave Hils (11-11, 2.58 ERA)

STILL the same lineup. I can be stubborn.

POR: 1B Crum – SS Lavorano – LF Brassfield – C Gowin – CF Puckeridge – 3B Venegas – RF Cox – 2B Knight – P Taki
ATL: 3B Gaxiola – C Almaguer – SS W. Acosta – 1B J. Rogers – LF Kirkwood – RF Wada – CF B. Allen – 2B Visser – P Hils

Lonzo singled and was caught stealing in the first inning, which was not ideal. Less ideal yet was Taki falling behind everybody, and the Knights as a whole, who batted through the order and then some in the first inning. Gaxiola singled and Acosta doubled, and both scored on Rogers’ single, all to leftfield. After Kirkwood flew out, they cranked the 2-out pain to 11, with singles by Wada and Allen, a walk to Visser, and then a Hils grounder that Crum misfiled for an error with the bases full, conceding a fourth run. Gaxiola popped out to Lonzo to end the miserable inning.

While I was slightly upset with the baseball gods for the time being, the Raccoons scratched up Hils’ legs in the second inning. Pucks and Venegas hit singles, and then Matt Cox raked a 3-piece over the fence in right! And Trent Brassfield hit a home run in the third inning that marked four runs total for the Coons….. but that came after Almaguer’s leadoff double and two productive outs added a fifth Atlanta run in the bottom 2nd.

Taki was inches from deportation, but in fact batted better than he pitched. He singled in the second, and he singled again in the fourth inning, becoming the tying run on base. Crum singled, moving him to second, and then Lonzo strung a 1-out double down the leftfield line for a tied ballgame…! That was the end for Hils, who was yanked for Amari Walker, who walked Brassfield, but poor outs by Gowin and Pucks kept the bases loaded in the 5-5 game. Taki’s day ended with a 2-out walk to Almaguer in the bottom 4th, and when Sencion gave up a triple to Acosta and a single to Rogers, he was spiked back onto a well-earned 7-5 hook…

Dave de Lemos’ infield single with two outs scored Venegas in the fifth inning, narrowing the gap to one run again, but he was left on base, and the inning after Brassfield and Pucks were left on the corners when Venegas grounded out to short. Bak had pitched a scoreless fifth, and Walters struck out the side in the sixth to keep the Knights close, while the Raccoons still trialed by one despite out-hitting the Knights, 14-9, which was a bit developing into a pattern for the series as a whole.

Why in the world the Knights thought it prudent to send Morgan Aben, who had been brutalized in the first two games of the series, to pitch in a 1-run game was best answered by them, but the Coons put Coxie and Crum on the corners in the seventh inning… albeit with two outs. Lonzo was next, swatted away the first pitch, up the middle, and through between the middle infielders…! Coxie scored, tied ballgame, and Crum and Lonzo wound up in scoring position on the single once Allen threw badly to home plate. And Brassfield struck ******* out…

The Coons used Phil Baker in the bottom 7th, which began with Rogers, who flew out to left and the Knights went quickly and in order in the inning. Venegas hit a single and stole second base in the eighth, and was stranded when Leonardo Ramos K’ed Kox. The Knights drew two 2-out walks off Baker in the bottom 8th, but then sent “Pinch-Hit” Stipp, who grounded out to Ken Crum as the missed opportunities piled up higher and higher.

David Hardaway had the ball in the ninth. Knight lined out to Jushiro Wada. Suzuki struck out. Ken Crum drove a ball to deep center, and it hit off the base of the wall. Allen was slow to make a throw back in, and Crum legged out a triple…! And yet, there were already two outs. Lonzo was at the plate, swung at the first pitch, and cracked it to left, THROUGH Gaxiola! Single! Crum scores! Coons lead!

Brassfield struck out, but all the Coons needed now was three outs from Kevin Daley and that would be it for the trip to Georgia. Suzuki took over centerfield for D, and Daley took over the 3-4-5 batters. He walked Willie Acosta on four pitches. The count ran full on Rogers, which was only a meager improvement, but Rogers then spanked a 3-2 pitch at Lonzo. To second, to first – two gone! …and then Daley put on Kirkwood with a sharp single. Wada was next – and hit a comebacker! Daley pawed it, lobbed it to first, Ken Crum tapped the base, and Wada was out by 45 feet!

Raccoons 8, Knights 7 – Raccoons win series, 4-2

Crum 4-6, 3B; Lavorano 4-6, 2B, 3 RBI; Brassfield 2-5, BB, HR, RBI; Puckeridge 2-5; Venegas 3-5; de Lemos (PH) 1-1, RBI; Baker 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 1 K, W (2-0);

Squeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!

The 2054 CLCS MVP? Lonzo, hitting .407/.448/.667 with 1 HR, 9 RBI, plus a stolen base!

[Westheim]

FLCS

Outside of the CLCS, the Warriors and Miners also had a best-of-seven contest to duel out for the Federal League pennant. The 97-65 Warriors had homefield advantage throughout the postseason with the best record in the league, having won the FL West by ten games, more than the other three divisions were won by combined this year. They did so mostly on pitching, allowing the fewest runs in the FL – and just 3.9 at that, which was a rarity in the more offense-happy league with teams in higher elevations. Their offense ranked them fourth with a +127 run differential. They didn’t really stand out in any offensive category, but were only ninth in home runs, although Jason Schaack led the team with 26. Past that, Nick Samuel hit 19, and then you were already down to 11 for Mario Villa, who batted .361, but due to injuries didn’t qualify for the batting title, which went to .344 hitter Alex Adame of the Scorpions. The back end of their pen was firm, although middle relief was a bit of an issue. Not so much an issue was the rotation, with miracles being done by Ricardo Montoya (15-6, 2.59 ERA) and Hiroyuki Takagi (15-6, 2.72 ERA). Those righties were supported by a pair of southpaws with ERA’s just over three, David Concha and Shane Knox.

The Miners finished 88-74, one game ahead of the Rebs, and did so with a -3 run differential. While they led the FL in runs scored, their pitching and defense were an endless mess that left fans despaired and the front office guessing. They ranked eighth in runs allowed, ninth in starters ERA, and 11th in defense. Victor Salcido (18-10, 3.11 ERA) was the only starter with an ERA under four, and the pen had maybe three guys you’d trust with lifting the World Series trophy. On offense, there was Victor Corrales (.303, 32 HR, 136 RBI) and a mostly left-handed lineup with a few more .300 hitters like f.e. Josh Abercrombie (.333, 10 HR, 104 RBI). They also ranked in the bottom half in homers, and were more like constant pressure and moving runners along nicely.

These teams had met three times in the FLCS before. The Warriors won two pairings (2014, 2033), and the Miners one (2015). Only the 2033 Warriors went on to win the World Series after that, then against the Titans, their second championship. They won another title in ’34, another division the year after that, and then disappeared in the doldrums for 18 years before winning the West again this season.

+++

PIT @ SFW … 2-3 … (Warriors lead 1-0) … SFW Mike DeFusco 1-3, HR, RBI;

DeFusco lifts a walkoff home run against Pittsburgh’s Ross Mitchell in the ninth inning, which can hardly console the Warriors for the loss of Ricardo Montoya, who leaves the game with elbow discomfort after just 2.2 scoreless innings and is lost for the postseason.

PIT @ SFW … 7-4 … (series tied 1-1) … PIT Mitch Lefebvre 2-4, HR, 3 RBI; SFW Julio Moriel 3-4, RBI; SFW Jason Schaack 2-4, HR, RBI;

SFW @ PIT … 6-4 … (Warriors lead 2-1) … SFW Mario Villa 2-5, HR, 2B, 3 RBI; SFW Nick Samuel 2-5, HR, 2B, RBI; PIT Alex Vasquez 3-3, 2 BB; PIT Victor Corrales 3-4, BB, 2B, RBI; PIT Alex Abecassis 2-3, 2B, 2 RBI;

SFW @ PIT … 10-1 … (Warriors lead 3-1) … SFW Julio Moriel 3-5, 2B, 3 RBI; SFW Mike DeFusco 4-5, HR, 2 RBI;

SFW @ PIT … 12-7 … (Warriors win 4-1) … SFW Julio Moriel 2-3, 2 BB, 2B; SFW Nick Samuel 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI; SFW Ryan Harris 2-4, 2B, 3 RBI;

The Warriors incinerate Pittsburgh’s Luke Moses for six runs in the first inning and then cruise into the latter stages of the game when their own pen tries very hard to blow leads of 8-0 and 12-2 before finally closing out the deal.

[Westheim]

2054 WORLD SERIES
Portland Raccoons (94-68) vs. Sioux Falls Warriors (97-65)

The Warriors entered the World Series with almost twice the Raccoons’ run differential, +147 to +76. The Raccoons had run circles around Knights pitching in the CLCS, so considering the Warriors ranked first in runs allowed in the Federal League we might have a bit of an unstoppable force vs. immovable object scenario going here. The Warriors were hard to score on, but they had also lost their best starter, Ricardo Montoya, in the FLCS. Power threats were limited with Jason Schaack (.301, 26 HR, 107 RBI) and Nick Samuel (.243, 19 HR, 88 RBI), but that tended to ignore another three .300 batters including unstoppable Mario Villa (.361, 11 HR, 68 RBI), who would surely have hit 20+ without injuries.

Speaking of injuries, the Raccoons got reinforcements. Jason Wheatley was back after overcoming a bum elbow, Arthur Pickett was back after two injuries late in the season, and Matt Waters was available after last playing on June 24. Wheats and Waters were the last two players that had taken part in all three of the Coons’ 2040s championships, and they tried to get a fourth one now.

The Raccoons cleaned out the roster accordingly. Naughty Joe was gone, Antonio Alfaro, that bum, was gone, and since the Warriors had quite the left-handed batting complement, the Raccoons retained Matt Walters, but instead removed Phil Baker from the playoff roster, the same Phil Baker that had pitched five scoreless innings and had gone 2-0 in the CLCS, because baseball wasn’t fair and loved nobody.

Wheats would get the ball for the series opener in Sioux Falls, with Shui on regular rest in Game 2, and Taki after that, also on regular rest. I had yet to make up my mind about the Game 4 starter – Raffy? Pickett? Brobeck? There was probably a different answer to that depending on whether the series stood at 3-0, or 0-3, or somewhere in between.

[Westheim]

2054 WORLD SERIES
Portland Raccoons (94-68) @ Sioux Falls Warriors (97-65)

These two teams had met in this town in August, when the Raccoons took two out of three games in a generally low-scoring series (hear, hear).

Game 1 – Jason Wheatley (14-10, 3.64 ERA) vs. David Concha (16-6, 3.28 ERA)

Neither of these two starters had appeared in that August series, but in any case the Warriors brought up the first of their two available left-handers. In fact, we could expect to face left-handers up to four times, since Montoya’s replacement, good old Jason Palladino, was not expected to appear more than once. So it was Concha twice, Shane Knox twice, and they had 30 wins between them, although Concha had been roughed up in the FLCS.

The Coons stuck to what had gotten them this far, except that Matt Waters replaced the valiant but mediocre Matt Knight at second base.

POR: 1B Crum – SS Lavorano – LF Brassfield – C Gowin – CF Puckeridge – 3B Venegas – 2B Waters – RF Cox – P Wheatley
SFW: CF Marroquin – 3B Moriel – LF M. Villa – C Samuel – 1B Schaack – RF Rodriquez – 2B DeFusco – SS R. Harris – P Concha

Lonzo and Brassfield reached base in the first inning, but were stranded with two groundouts by the 4-5 batters, and while Matt Cox hit a double to left in the second inning, he was left on base with a K to Wheatley. Lonzo and Brassfield were back on base in the third inning… but not together, as Lonzo reached on an infield single before being forced out by the rookie. Chris Gowin got drilled (as Lonzo had been in the first inning), and Pucks objected noisily, belting a 3-run homer to right-center that opened the scoring.

Meanwhile, I soon had my doubts as to whether Wheats was 100% or even 90%. He lacked stuff, and he occasionally missed the zone quite badly. He issued a walk in the second, third, and fourth innings, but the Warriors landed only one base hit and once hit into a double play, never gaining traction in the first half of the game. He didn’t strike out anybody, though, not even the pitcher Concha…

Jose Marroquin opened the bottom 6th with a single to center, which was only the second Warriors base knock off Wheatley and the sixth hit in the game. Julio Moriel and Mario Villa both grounded out, moving the runner to third base. Wheats was only on 59 pitches, but I *definitely* didn’t like how he looked on the hill. Nick Samuel was batting .154 in the playoffs, and was a right-hander, so Wheats would still see him, but if Samuel reached, it’d be curtains. It was curtains indeed – but for Samuel, who struck out, the first K for Wheats. He returned an inning later, gave up another leadoff single to the switch-blasting Schaack, but Tony Rodriquez, a really slow runner for an outfielder, hit into a fielder’s choice. Here we were, tip-clawing around an issue again. Mike DeFusco popped out, and Ryan Harris grounded out poorly in front of the plate, with a good zinger to first by Chris Gowin. Wheats retired Bobby Rivera to begin the eighth, but when Marroquin singled again, he was lifted for Lillis, who got Moriel, but not Villa, and on the 2-out single the Warriors occupied the corners. Kevin Hitchcock was called out, and got a grounder up the middle that Lonzo took to second base himself to end the inning.

The Raccoons never tacked on – or hit much of anything in the last four innings – and it was still 3-0 in the bottom 9th. The Raccoons stuck to Hitchcock for now, wary of left-handed pinch-hitter Matt Wartella (102 games, 97 at-bats) on the Warriors bench – but he would never appear in this game. Schaack grounded out, but Devin Tarver drew a walk off Hitchcock with one out. DeFusco grounded out. Harris, hitting .217 in the postseason, was up with two down, whiffed, and the Coons put the opener away.

Raccoons 3, Warriors 0 – Raccoons lead series 1-0

Puckeridge 1-4, HR, 3 RBI; Wheatley 7.1 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 1 K, W (1-0); Hitchcock 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K, SV (1);

That was one big wobble from start to finish, but a win is a win is a win, thanks to a 3-run homer by Zero Pucks Given!

Game 2 – He Shui (18-8, 2.48 ERA) vs. Shane Knox (14-11, 3.67 ERA)

Another game, another left-hander, as the Warriors would bring up Knox. Shui was going on regular rest and had been not stellar, but good in the CLCS, pitching to a 2.77 ERA. Knox, like Concha, had been roughed up in his sole start in the FLCS, but had won his game despite posting a 7.20 ERA.

These two pitchers had faced each other in the middle game of that August series, which the Raccoons won 5-3. Shui fell one out shy of a complete game, while Knox was knoxxed out in the fifth inning after having been dropped for five runs.

POR: 1B Crum – SS Lavorano – LF Brassfield – C Gowin – CF Puckeridge – 3B Venegas – 2B Waters – RF Cox – P Shui
SFW: CF Marroquin – 3B Moriel – LF M. Villa – C Samuel – 1B Schaack – RF Rodriquez – 2B DeFusco – SS R. Harris – P Knox

Shui stumbled out of the gate, conceding hits to Moriel and Villa, and a walk to Samuel, en route to having the bags full with one out in the bottom 1st. Schaack singled home a run, but Rodriquez rolled into a 4-6-3 double play to minimize the damage, and the Raccoons were on the corners to begin the top 2nd with hits by Pucks and Venegas. Matt Waters cleaned up the bases … by hitting into a double play, but at least he tied the ballgame…

Cox walked to clear the pitcher’s spot in the second inning, but Knox faced the minimum over the next three, walking Gowin before getting a double play grounder from Pucks. The Warriors took a 2-1 lead in the fourth, though, with Shui offering a 2-out walk to Rodriquez before surrendering a gapper in left-center to DeFusco for an RBI double, although the ball also sailed over the cut-off man there at some point, which allowed Rodriquez to score comfortably and DeFusco to reach third base, although Ryan Harris’ pop to second base ended the inning.

Ken Crum drew a leadoff walk in the sixth, but Lonzo flew out, and Brassfield missed on a hit-and-run call that saw Crum run, but not fast enough to not get thrown out at second base by Samuel. Brassfield doubled on the next pitch, but was then left stranded by Gowin. I gnashed my spiky teeth, which was something that really hurt the gums.

Seven at-bats removed from three-and-a-half months on the DL, Matt Waters CRUSHED a homer with two outs in the seventh inning to tie the score at two. The fiercest immediate answer to this was Knox doubling off Shui with two outs in the bottom 7th, but a K to Jose Marroquin ended the inning, and Shui’s day as well, given that his spot was leading off the eighth inning. Knight grounded out in his spot, but Crum dropped a single behind DeFusco to get the go-ahead run on base. Lonzo flew out. Brassfield grounded to short, but Harris threw the ball away, and the Raccoons got a pair into scoring position with two outs. Knox, slightly knocked up, remained on the hill. Gowin, going soft at .161 in October, wasn’t hit for either. The count ran full – and Gowin popped out to DeFusco.

Bottom 8th, and Sencion was brought out for the 2-3 hitters, but the Warriors batted Tarver for Moriel, only to pen a K into their scorecard. Instead, Villa singled to right, then was run for by Bobby Rivera. Still wary of a lefty answer if we went to a right-hander here, Sencion was left in the game and struck out Samuel. That brought up the .407 switch-rocketeer Schaack, and the Coons passed, preferring to draw up .125 Tony Rodriquez. The Warriors did NOT pinch-hit for him, and the Raccoons stuck to Sencion, but staged a mound conference. The count ran full – and Sencion missed badly on the 3-2 and walked the bags full. Now we needed somebody… Hitchcock was brought in to face DeFusco, fell behind, gave up a 2-run single, and the Raccoons lost the game. Ben Lussier retired the 5-6-7 in order in the ninth.

Warriors 4, Raccoons 2 – series tied 1-1

Too bad Matt Cox didn’t take the starter deep in this game, because I would loved – *loved* – to yell out “COX ROCKS KNOX!”

Also, you know, extra runs would have helped.

[Westheim]

2054 WORLD SERIES
Portland Raccoons (94-68) vs. Sioux Falls Warriors (97-65)

Off to Portland for the middle three games of the series… or at least three games. The Raccoons’ lineup appeared to have gone soft, and Chris Gowin especially looked like a bit of a problem in the #4 spot right now. What have you done for me lately…?

Game 3 – Seisaku Taki (9-11, 3.48 ERA) vs. Hiroyuki Takagi (15-6, 2.72 ERA)

This pairing of pitchers, too, had taken place in the August series, in the last game of the set. Taki had beaten Takagi with eight inning of 1-run ball for a 2-1 win. Takagi had not allowed an earned run in his FLCS outing, though, while Taki had been touched up quite a bit for six earned runs in 10.2 innings in two games against the Knights. I was told that Takagi meant “tall tree” in Japanese, while Taki was best translated as “falling water”. I would have preferred to not know.

For the first time in the series, the Coons chased a bit about their top five in the lineup, with Pucks moving into the cleanup spot.

The ceremonial first pitch was thrown out by Herb Williams, who had opened the first “FREE!” store in Portland in 2025. Remember, folks: if you’re short on cash, just shop at FREE! Just walk in and take what you need. It’s FREE!

SFW: CF Marroquin – 3B Moriel – LF M. Villa – C Samuel – 1B Schaack – RF Rodriquez – 2B DeFusco – SS R. Harris – P H. Takagi
POR: 1B Crum – SS Lavorano – LF Brassfield – CF Puckeridge – C Gowin – 3B Venegas – 2B Waters – RF Cox – P Taki

Taki retired the Warriors in order the first two innings, but DeFusco and Harris hit a single and double to begin the third inning, and reached scoring position. Both scored, one on Takagi’s groundout, and the other on a 2-out hit by Mario Villa much later, after a pop by Marroquin and a full-count walk to Moriel. Nick Samuel grounded out as both catchers continued to struggle. Schaack and Harris reached the corners with singles but were stranded with a K to Takagi in the fourth inning.

Takagi faced the minimum the first time through the Coons’ lineup. While Lonzo hit a single in the bottom 1st, Brassfield doubled him up, 6-4-3 style, and that was it for the early going. Ken Crum whacked a leadoff double in the bottom 4th, but was stranded with a Lonzo grounder, a K to Brassfield, and a fly out by Pucks. Taki got through six innings, but needed 90 pitches and was hit for in the bottom 6th after Cox hit a leadoff single to center. Ed Crispin, who had appeared in every game of the CLCS, but not at all in Sioux Falls, singled to right, and the tying runs were on base. When Ken Crum poked at a 3-0 pitch, I screamed, but he singled to right, and Slappy handed me a fresh bottle of booze to calm the nerves.

Here, the Coons had three on and nobody out. They needed runs. Lonzo was batting against Takagi, but there was action in the bullpen. Not quick enough, though. Takagi fell 2-0 behind Lonzo, and Lonzo raked a ball over the glove of Moriel for a game-tying 2-run double! Brassfield hit a sac fly to give the Critters a 3-2 lead, but Lonzo was left on base by Pucks and Gowin, who both flew out.

Of the nine outs that needed collecting, the Coons would get three from Hyun-soo Bak, who retired the 8-9-1 batters in order in the seventh inning. It was Lillis for the eighth, then with Suzuki in center after having pinch-hit for no gains against Fernando Salazar in the bottom 7th. Pucks was in right, the pitcher spot was now at #8 for the Coons. Mario Villa lined a 1-out single off Lillis, and was run for with Bobby Rivera. The Coons at this point very much ignored the cleanup man Samuel, who struck out to fall to .114 in October, but Schaack was a problem. Since he was even more dangerous against southpaws, the Raccoons brought Daley in the eighth inning, bidding on a 4-out save. Schaack still dished one up the middle, but LONZO! What a play! And the inning was over! No insurance run came about in the bottom of the eighth inning, and Daley would face 6-7-8 in the ninth inning. Tony Rodriquez flew out to Dave de Lemos, the Coons’ third rightfielder on the day. DeFusco grounded out to Venegas. Ryan Harris fanned – ballgame.

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

Crum 2-4, 2B; Lavorano 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Crispin (PH) 1-1; Taki 6.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, W (2-0);

Game 4 – Rafael de la Cruz (5-5, 3.98 ERA) vs. Jason Palladino (9-4, 4.48 ERA, 1 SV)

Game 4 arrived, and it was a bit of an “aw shucks” matchup. The Warriors would have loved to see Ricardo Montoya here, while the Raccoons were none too confident in having Raffy in this spot. The good news was that there was ample of long relief available if things went pear shaped early. Raffy had taken the L in the opener of the August series, giving up all runs in a 3-1 loss, runs driven in by DeFusco (2) and Montoya (1, …).

The ceremonial first pitch was delivered by Balú, Portland-born mime of world renown. He required no actual baseball to do so, instead going through some motions on the mound, and Tyler Philipps just pretended to catch the imaginary baseball when he was sufficiently tired of it all.

SFW: CF Marroquin – 3B Moriel – LF M. Villa – C Samuel – 1B Schaack – RF Rodriquez – 2B DeFusco – SS R. Harris – P Palladino
POR: 1B Crum – SS Lavorano – LF Brassfield – CF Puckeridge – C Gowin – 3B Venegas – 2B Waters – RF Cox – P de la Cruz

Nope. It wasn’t gonna work out. Raffy walked a guy in each of the first two innings, but in the second, the free pass to Rodriquez was followed by a DeFusco double off the wall in left, and the runners scored on Harris’ sac fly and a 2-out single by Palladino, who also ended the inning getting caught in a rundown.

The Critters had stranded a pair in the first inning, but had another pair on in the second inning… somehow. Waters hit a 1-out single, while Palladino then struck Matt Cox in the wrist, and he was in obvious pain. Dr. Padilla collected him, and Suzuki pinch-ran. A bunt advanced the runners, Palladino walked Crum, but Lonzo grounded out to Harris and the Raccoons already had five left on base and one ded after two innings. Suzuki took over centerfield, with Pucks to right.

Mario Villa doubled home Jose Marroquin in the third inning for a 3-0 lead, a run that was answered with Brassfield (forced out by Pucks) and Venegas hits and a third-inning run for the home team, but Raffy was yanked after giving up a 1-out triple to DeFusco in the fourth inning. Kyle Brobeck’s very first pitch was belted over the fence in left by Harris, and the gap was up to four runs. Brobeck tried to make up for that, and doubled in the bottom 4th after Suzuki had already hit a leadoff single. Crum walked onto the open base in a full count, which got us into ever-delightful three-on, no-out territory again. The Warriors might just as well have led by twenty… Lonzo was at 3-2 when he popped out behind home plate on a defensive swing. Brassfield struck out on three pitches, the first K for Palladino. Pucks also ran a full count, then raked one to center. Marroquin ran after it in vain, the ball fell onto the warning track for a bases-clearing double…! Gowin killed Palladino for good with a single to left, on an 0-2 pitch, and Pucks came around to score, and we were even at five…! That wasn’t all: left-hander John Taylor allowed a first-pitch single to Gowin, and a single on a 2-1 pitch to Waters. Gowin was waved around aggressively and scored just ahead of Marroquin’s throw for a 6-5 lead. The remaining runners advanced, and went for home plate when Suzuki dished another single on the very next pitch, but only Gowin scored – Mario Villa struck down Waters at the plate, and the inning ended after a 6-run onslaught.

Still five to go, by the way. Villa and Samuel singles scored a run off Brobeck in the fifth, 7-6, but after that things calmed down significantly. Ivan Ornelas pitched two scoreless for the Warriors, while Brobeck got the Coons through the seventh inning with 3.2 innings of not exactly great, but serviceable long relief. He was in line for the W on merit, too. Hitchcock got the eighth, allowed a leadoff hit to center to Samuel, but Schaack struck out and Rodriquez found Lonzo for a double play to bugger out of the inning. Juan Rivera would not allow an insurance run to the Critters. In the ninth it was Daley against DeFusco, Harris, and Nick DeMarco, ex-Coon with mixed track record. DeFusco grounded out to Lonzo. Harris whiffed. DeMarco – didn’t bat. After four games of waiting on him, Matt Wartella finally appeared as lefty pinch-hitter in this series. AND STRUCK OUT!

Raccoons 7, Warriors 6 – Raccoons lead series 3-1

Venegas 2-4, RBI; Waters 2-4, RBI; Suzuki 2-3, RBI;

Phew!

Game 5 – Jason Wheatley (14-10, 3.64 ERA) vs. David Concha (16-6, 3.28 ERA)

The Raccoons were back up against a left-hander, which made Matt Cox’ bruised wrist that left him day-to-day for the rest of the series hurt a little less… on my scorecard at least. I hear his actual wrist was still smarting pretty good on the morning of Game 5. It was back to the matchup from the opener, where Wheats had been no bueno in particular, but had survived, and Pucks had singled-pawedly down the Warriors with a 3-run blast.

Dave de Lemos would get the start in centerfield, with Pucks moving over to right.

The first pitch was thrown out by Alberto Ramos (HOF), 2026 and 2028 World Series champion with these Raccoons, who had by now taken on baseball shape himself after having started to fatten up gradually in his 30s. He was wheeled on and off the field with a forklift. Threw it precisely to the catcher, though!

SFW: CF Marroquin – 3B Moriel – LF M. Villa – C Samuel – 1B Schaack – RF Rodriquez – 2B DeFusco – SS R. Harris – P Concha
POR: 1B Crum – SS Lavorano – LF Brassfield – 2B Waters – RF Puckeridge – 3B Venegas – C Gowin – CF de Lemos – P Wheatley

Lonzo’s error put Julio Moriel on base in the first inning, but Wheats struck out Villa and Samuel, which was already more strikeouts than he had picked up in Game 1. He also picked up a lead in the bottom 1st on a leadoff walk to Ken Crum and a 2-out RBI triple by Matt Waters. Pucks grounded out sharply. Wheats allowed a hit to Schaack and walked Rodriquez in the second inning, but Water crucially speared a DeFusco liner to help him wobble out of the inning.

It didn’t get better any time soon for Wheats. Moriel singled in the third and this time Villa hit the RBI triple. A passed ball charged to Gowin plated the runner, and now the Warriors had the 1-run lead … briefly. The Raccoons got straight leadoff singles from Crum, Lonzo, and Brassfield in the bottom 3rd, and the rookie’s liner to left-center tied the game when it plated Crum from second base, two-all. Lonzo was caught stealing third base, but Waters singled home Brassfield for a 3-2 lead. Concha lost Pucks on balls, and the Coons loaded the bases with a 2-out single by Gowin, but de Lemos struck out.

At this point, it began to rain and Rodriquez opened the fourth with a double to right-center. Wheats would get through the inning, but that would be it. An hourlong rain delay ended his start, his season, and since we could not come to terms on a contract, his Raccoons career. When play resumed with the bottom 4th, the #9 spot led off, but it was Crispin pinch-hitting and singling to left. The Warriors were still going with Concha, but paid with three singles by the 9-1-2 batters, a Brassfield sac fly, and three runs to fall behind by a slam.

Moriel singled in the fifth off Matt Walters, who otherwise struck out every batter he faced in the inning *plus* Jason Schaack to begin the sixth. Rodriquez popped out, at which point the left-handed part of the lineup was over and the Raccoons double-switched in Bak and Suzuki. DeFusco socked a double, Harris walked, and Tarver somehow grounded out to Lonzo in Bak’s least impressive outing of the postseason. He got a groundout from Marroquin to begin the seventh, then yielded for Lillis, who also stumbled. Moriel legged out an infield single that Venegas stopped from going to the corner, but had to scurry after and had no play on. Villa hit a single to right, sending Moriel to third base. Samuel struck out to continue his rotten postseason, and Schaack sent a fly to center… but Suzuki was there and made the catch. Rodriquez drew a leadoff walk in the eighth, which meant Hitchcock came in with a body on base… at least until DeFusco hit into a double play. Harris flew out to center.

The Raccoons had the occasional hit against the Warriors pen, but didn’t score again through eight, even when Spencer Dalrymple nicked not one, but two batters – Philipps and Crum – in the bottom 8th. Philipps remained in the game for the ninth inning with Daley pitching with a 4-run lead. Wartella pinch-hit in the #9 hole, but grounded out to Crum. Marroquin put an 0-2 into play, but Venegas made a sure grab and threw him out at first base. One more! Julio Moriel, batting .412 in the postseason, upped that measure by 17 points with a single to right, bringing up Mario Villa, also hitting .400. He fell to 2-2, then socked a ball to left. Brassfield couldn’t get it, it was a double. Moriel was held at third base. Schaack appeared in the on-deck circle as the tying run… but that required Nick Samuel, .140 in October, to reach base. The Raccoons formed one last, hopefully, huddle on the hill. It started to rain again. Daley fired a 98mph fastball – and Samuel punked it away for a 3-run homer.

Okay. Splinters in the snout and all, this could be worse. We were still leading. We still had options. Daley was going to face Schaack, and then Sencion would face Rodriquez unless Schaack homered. Arthur Pickett was available for long relief if necessary. We still had options.

Who needs options, though? We had Brassfield. Schaack hit the 0-1 to left, and he knew it immediately, slamming down the bat and making a half-arsed attempt for first base. Brassfield came in six, seven steps, reached up, and pawed the ball. That was the end of the season.

Raccoons 6, Warriors 5 – Raccoons win series 4-1

Crum 2-3, BB; Lavorano 2-5, RBI; Waters 2-4, 3B, 2 RBI; Crispin (PH) 1-1; Walters 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K, W (1-0);

Mario Villa was named MVP while on the losing team, batting .500 (10-20) with four extra-base hits and 3 RBI. He looked like the only thing he wished to do with the trophy was to beat to death the league representative that handed it to him.

[ayaghmour2]

Originally Posted by Westheim

Raccoons 6, Warriors 5 – Raccoons win series 4-1

They did it! Those crazy critters actually did it! After last year's heartbreak, I had little hope, but they took out the top two teams in the league and came away champs. Sad this might be Wheats' last start as a Raccoon, but at lest it ended in a win!