Portland Raccoons (ABL)

[Questdog]

Isn't Jimmy E still only 19? If so, you can't complain about him not being up to AA pitching quite yet.....is Whitebread souring on him?

[CatKnight]

Honestly you should be flying high. The Furballs are the best team in the ABL.

Granted the Crusaders are RIGHT on your tail...but still, 32 games left. Even with average (.500) play that's 99 wins for the year, and 100 isn't a stretch.

This definitely goes down as a successful season no matter what New York does.

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by Lafayette53

How much is a Tomas Castro jersey?

Let's see. That's six letters and two numbers. (scrawls with pencil on his notepad) Sir, that's $82.50! Do you need a cap with that? Oh, and I can make you a special deal ... Castro jersey, Raccoons cap, Raccoons beach towel, two Raccoons mugs and an original Daniel Hall Bobblehead for just - you won't believe it - $179.95!

Don't look at me. We'll have free agents come fall, and the cartel still hasn't thrown Carlosito into an active volcano.

Originally Posted by Questdog

Isn't Jimmy E still only 19? If so, you can't complain about him not being up to AA pitching quite yet.....is Whitebread souring on him?

Oakweeds is 19 indeed, and Whitebread has slashed his power potential to 16 so far. He isn't homering in A-ball, either. One dinger in 240+ AB.

Originally Posted by CatKnight

Honestly you should be flying high. The Furballs are the best team in the ABL.

Granted the Crusaders are RIGHT on your tail...but still, 32 games left. Even with average (.500) play that's 99 wins for the year, and 100 isn't a stretch.

This definitely goes down as a successful season no matter what New York does.

After a time you get greedy. And ... well, 10 1/2 games ahead on June 26! Since then it's been a bumpy road, aggravating starting pitching (I heard that we have Brown and Yates and a few open dates; you could just easily say we have Yates and Brown and three reasons to frown; although Boda hasn't done that badly...), an on-and-off offense, and this uncanny ability to crack up in tight spots.

10 1/2 games ahead on June 26. After you're 10+ games ahead, you want those playoffs. If it had been close all along I wouldn't be panicking right now. If they had started out just a bit over .500 and were trailing by ten games right now, I wouldn't be panicking, either.

It's the ... hnngggrh, so close!

[pgjocki]

[pgjocki]

Win the division or the kitten gets it...

[TheMaus2]

Shoulda been a crusader holding a raccoon..

[Westheim]

As you're watching Ghost Susurrater on your local BSC-affiliated channel, they will have a short newsflash at the end of the final block of commercials. It's Marcia with muggings and murder. The true question would be whether you're not watching the Raccoons game that's on, but Marcia will give you an update.

This Friday, there's a clip of just a few seconds, Kel Yates winding up, a Logger running after a fly in vain, a home run and the Portland home crowd jumping up and down, while Marcia just says "... and history has been made at Raccoons Ballpark tonight, with the Raccoons clobbering the Loggers. More at 11."

[Westheim]

We go into the week facing the Thunder and Loggers. The Crusaders will have the Aces and Canadiens on their plate.

Raccoons (83-47) @ Thunder (67-62) – August 27-29, 2007

The Thunder were right about average in both offense and pitching, with a -3 run differential. The Raccoons came in with 555 runs scored (9th) and 444 runs allowed (1st), which was kinda wicked. We are 4-2 against them on the year.

Projected matchups:
Cássio Boda (5-3, 3.74 ERA) vs. Aaron Anderson (11-5, 3.99 ERA)
Raúl Fuentes (9-9, 4.25 ERA) vs. Manny Guzmán (9-9, 4.77 ERA)
Nick Brown (14-7, 2.47 ERA) vs. Luis Martinez (8-12, 3.62 ERA)

I said before that the open slot in the rotation would fall on Thursday. Well, I can’t even count to five correctly, which might be one reason the team has blown its huge late-June lead. Brownie will go on short rest regardless, despite throwing 110 pitches in his last start. I just don’t really feel like jumbling roster spots in the final days of August.

Game 1
POR: SS Flores – 1B Quebell – CF Castro – LF Pruitt – RF Black – C Bowen – 3B Sharp – 2B Nomura – P Boda
OCT: LF V. Sanchez – 1B T. Cardenas – RF Takizawa – CF W. McCormick – SS M. Garza – 2B Michel – 3B S. Walker – C L. Paredes – P A. Anderson

The Coons got singles from their first three men up, loading the bases, before letting the old veteran Anderson, who had recently overtaken Woody Roberts for most wins in ABL history with 281, largely off the hook. One run scored on Pruitt grounding to second for a fielder’s choice before Hack blacked out. Craig Bowen sent a drive to deep left center that Victorino Sanchez - … well, I don’t know how he got it. Guy must have a jet pack hidden under the uniform. There was no such advantage for Luke Black, who could not get to Sanchez’s soft floater in the third inning, giving Sanchez an RBI double to tie the game and also an 18-game hitting streak.

Anderson then cracked in the top of the fourth. After Pruitt made the first out, Black walked, setting off a chain of lucky events. Bowen had a blooper drop between Michel and McCormick in shallow center for a single, and Sharp walked on a close ball four. Yoshi and Boda both sent soft singles into center to score single runs before Vic Flores’ 2-run double into right really broke the score open. After a while, Anderson logged another out on Quebell’s sac fly, but that was it for him, leaving down 6-1. The Coons made it 7-1 on Castro’s single and 11 Critters came to the plate in total. Boda coldn’t quite slam the door on the Thunder in that situation. They got him for a run in the bottom 4th, then left two on base when Pruitt shagged two hard drives in the fifth, and stranded another pair in the sixth when Steven Walker and Luis Paredes drew a pair of 2-out walks, but were left on by Alberto Rangel grounding out to Flores. Reliever Kevin Cummings allowed an add-on run in the seventh. After the Oklahoma bullpen had retired nine straight, the Duke rediscovered his stroke and bashed Cummings for his 26th home run of the year, a solo job that gave the Critters an 8-2 lead.

But even a 6-run lead could be an adventure. Sergio Vega was expected to give us the bottom 8th, but very didn’t. Marcos Garza and Samy Michel singled, and then he walked … well, Walker. No outs, three on. Marcos Bruno replaced him, struck out Paredes and PH Kurt Metting, before Victorino Sanchez, who might well be the best batter in the CL (.360/.466/.524) battled out a walk to shove home the Thunder’s third run. Sharp caught a foul pop by Cardenas to end the frame. The relief didn’t get better in the bottom 9th, though. Kaz Kichida was in, and allowed three singles for a run, logging only two outs. Enough with the fudging! Angel Casas whiffed Paredes to put this one in the books for good. 8-4 Coons. Flores 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Castro 2-5, RBI; Bowen 2-3, BB, 2B; Boda 6.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 4 K, W (6-3) and 1-3, RBI;

The shallow end of our bullpen is very shallow. Elsewhere it was NYC 10, LVA 5, so our lead remained at one game.

Santiago Trevino rejoined us off the DL, replacing Jose Cruz on the roster. Cruz got only into two games, with one at-bat (a single), and fielding one inning in this game here after a double switch that took out Matt Pruitt late.

Game 2
POR: SS Flores – 1B Quebell – CF Castro – LF Pruitt – RF Black – C Bowen – 3B Sharp – 2B Nomura – P Fuentes
OCT: LF V. Sanchez – 2B Metting – CF J. Gonzales – 1B T. Cardenas – SS S. Walker – C L. Paredes – RF Rangel – 3B Arreola – P M. Guzmán

After stranding a pair in the first, the Raccoons took a 1-0 lead in a wicked third inning, which started with a Fuentes single escaping Walker before Vic Flores got pitched in a little bit too tight. Quebell erased him right away with a double play, but that left Fuentes had third, who scampered home on a wild pitch before Castro could single. Both teams killed a promising start to their halves of the fourth with a double play before a 2-out triple by Rangel in the bottom 5th got the tying run to within 90 feet. Since Ignacio Arreola batted left-handed, Fuentes went after him, got him to 1-2, then surrendered a fly to deep center, but Castro was on his horse in due time to catch it. We then added our second run in the sixth on singles by Quebell, Pruitt (which was actually touched by Cardenas, but was hit too hard to be contained), and Black (just past the reach of Arreola), only for a so far 0-for-2 Sanchez to extend his streak to 19 games in the bottom 6th with a hard line drive single to right, and Kurt Metting to tie the game with a home run to left center. The next inning, Fuentes was again pitching to Arreola with two outs and a man on third, got to 0-2, then allowed an RBI single. Garza and Sanchez also reached base safely to load them up, with Law Rockburn appearing to face Metting, but the Thunder countered with lefty Wes McCormick. It was the Thunder’s time to erupt. McCormick and Jorge Gonzales both drove in pairs with hard hits to sink the Raccoons and send their GM into another bout of depression, which could not be reversed even by a pinch-hit 2-run homer by J.C. Crespo in the ninth. 7-4 Thunder. Crespo (PH) 1-1, HR, 2 RBI; Black 2-3, BB, RBI; Trevino (PH) 1-1;

The infinitely less **** Crusaders romped the Aces 11-6, tying up the division.

Game 3
POR: 3B Flores – CF Castro – 1B Pruitt – RF Black – C Bowen – LF Crespo – 2B J. Gutierrez – SS Sato – P Brown
OCT: LF V. Sanchez – 2B Metting – CF J. Gonzales – 1B T. Cardenas – SS S. Walker – RF Takizawa – C L. Paredes – 3B Arreola – P L. Martinez

Brownie struck out the side (around a Metting single) in the first, reaching and passing 200 K for the season for the fifth consecutive year (excluding injury-shortened campaigns). While Brown was mostly successful in his battles with Thunder batters, they were excellent in running up his pitch count, and combined with him going on short rest had him out of the game after five innings without tagging him for an earned run. The rest of the team’s efforts were a parade of futility, starting with Sato hitting into the perfect double play to end the second inning with Bowen waiting on third base, through the team finally grinding out a run in the fourth, straight to giving it right back when Tomas Castro made a grave error in the bottom of the same inning.

Most notably, the ND’ed Brown held Sanchez dry in three at-bats, and the left-hander vying for a 20-game hitting streak faced Ed Bryan with nobody on and two outs in a 1-1 tie in the bottom 7th. At 2-0, Sanchez unleashed a tremendous line drive to left, where Crespo sold out quite a bit to make a successful catch. Haruyoshi Takizawa tried to imitate J.C. on Sato’s liner that started the top 8th, got it too, but hurt himself and had to be scraped off the field. Rangel took over. A slowish Raccoons offense got a chance donated in the ninth against closer Sancho Rivera when Tomas Cardenas bobbled Castro’s quick bouncer into an error. A hit-and-run was a risky play with Paredes’ arm being one of the strongest in the game, but we called one anyway with Pruitt batting. It worked, Pruitt singling to left, and the quick start allowed Castro to reach third base with no outs. Rivera now uncharacteristically lost control, walked Black, and allowed an RBI single to Bowen in a 2-0 count. Crespo struck out, and Nomura’s grounder to third allowed Arreola to strike down Pruitt at home. Kuni Sato made himself useful after all then, singling up the middle into center for two extra runs before Quebell ended the inning with a fly to Gonzales. Angel Casas reached both 40 saves and 70 strikeouts in a rather quick bottom of the inning to grab the series. 4-1 Critters! Pruitt 2-4; Bowen 2-3, BB, 2B, RBI; Sato 2-4, 2 RBI;

We had only one extra base hit in both of the last two games, contributing to those lots-of-guys-on, few-runs scenarios. We actually out-hit the Thunder soundly on Tuesday (12-9), but couldn’t get men in.

The Crusaders’ Greg Connor was shelled for four runs early in Vegas, and they never recovered, going down 5-4, giving the Coons’ their precious 1-game lead back.

Raccoons (85-48) vs. Loggers (63-70) – August 31-September 2, 2007

Having taken eight of eleven from the Loggers on the year, we were hoping on some add-on wins in this weekend three-set. Worst in offense in the CL, they were average in runs allowed, with a -44 differential in runs, with a team that was mostly unremarkable.

Projected matchups:
Kelvin Yates (17-2, 2.34 ERA) vs. William Lloyd (11-10, 3.66 ERA)
Cássio Boda (6-3, 3.68 ERA) vs. Fernando Cruz (10-5, 4.35 ERA)
Raúl Fuentes (9-10, 4.41 ERA) vs. Martin Garcia (15-4, 2.74 ERA)

Garcia is laboring on a sore shoulder. Should he not be able to start, Junior Diaz (6-13, 5.16 ERA) would move into the series, which would be very much welcome by us. If Garcia started, we’d face three southpaws for four straight in total after Luis Martinez on Wednesday.

Game 1
MIL: 2B B. Hernandez – 3B Tolwith – RF Hiwalani – CF T. Austin – C J. Reyes – 1B T. Powell – LF J. Garcia – SS M. Clark – P Lloyd
POR: 3B Flores – CF Castro – 1B Pruitt – RF Black – C Bowen – LF Crespo – 2B J. Gutierrez – SS Sato – P Yates

Batting just .205 with 12 homers we didn’t expect much hurt from Bakile Hiwalani, yet he hit a 2-bomb off Yates in the first inning. The Critters mounted a forceful comeback immediately, starting innocently enough with a Flores single, but then Pruitt and Black hit back-to-back RBI doubles before Craig Bowen came up with a 2-run home run that escaped over the leftfield fence on its last breath. Amazingly, Bowen hit another one like that the next inning, even shorter, but also further to the left. The pair of 2-run homers escaped the park by probably a combined 15 feet, but the Raccoons now held a 6-2 lead in the third. They would expand on that soon enough. The fourth started with a Sato single that got Lloyd out of the game, before Sato stole second and advanced to third on an error. Kel walked, Castro brought home a run, Black doubled in a run, and Bowen this time hit a shot to center, but fell short of the wall. It was still a 2-run double, giving him six ribbies in a 10-2 game. He scored on Crespo’s single, 11-2, four runs charged to unlucky Steve Galloway. Still 11-2 in the seventh, Bowen led off against lefty Leonardo Gonzalez in long relief. Bowen ripped at the 0-1, drove it to left, and – that – was – GONE!!! Three home runs for Craig Bowen!!! While the Loggers tried to ride Gonzalez to the end of the game, Castro led off the eighth with a single, got caught up in Pruitt’s double play, but then the Duke singled. That brought up Bowen once more. Was there more damage to be done? Gonzalez’ first pitch was wide. The second one was even wider, and escaped Reyes, allowing the Duke to take second base. Eventually, Bowen took a few hacks and the count ran full. In that full count, Bowen finally made contact. That ball is CRUSHED! It’s high! It’s going! IT IS GONE!!!!! 14-2 Furballs!!!! Flores 2-5; Castro 2-5, RBI; Black 3-5, 2 2B, 2 RBI; Bowen 5-5, 4 HR, 2B, 9 RBI; Crespo 3-5, RBI; Yates 9.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 8 K, W (18-2) and 1-3;

Kelvin Yates threw the most underappreciated 94-pitch, complete-game 3-hitter in history as Craig Bowen became the FIRST ABL PLAYER with four home runs in a game! Craig Bowen!!

CRAIG. ****ING. BOWEN!!

That is the same guy that didn’t manage more than 188 AB or an 88 OPS+ in four years as the neglected Indians’ backup backstop. The guy we traded him for, Roberto Pacheco, is doing quite well in AAA for the Indians, and might hit a few dingers of his own off Brownie maybe as early as September, but holy smokes, Craig Bowen!! 17th 3+ HR game in ABL history, second for the Coons (Ben Simon, 1977), and first ever with four dingers! And a double! And if he hadn’t slapped that to center, it might have gone out as well.

Oh, we beat the Loggers by a dozen? The Crusaders out-did us! They smothered the Elks, 15-1, to maintain a 1-game deficit.

Rosters expanded for Saturday. We added a few guys in SP Tim Webster (7-11, 4.40 ERA in AAA), who was called up very reluctantly, MR Ward Jackson and MR Matt Cash, C Bob Wood, SS Ryan Miller, and INF Yoshi Yamada.

And guess what, we got Martin Garcia on Saturday!

Game 2
MIL: 2B B. Hernandez – SS Tolwith – RF Hiwalani – CF T. Austin – LF C. Parker – C J. Reyes – 1B M. Clark – 3B Wright – P M. Garcia
POR: CF Castro – SS R. Miller – LF Pruitt – RF Black – C Bowen – 3B Sharp – 1B Quebell – 2B J. Gutierrez – P Boda

The day after Craig Bowen and the supporting cast beat the living hell out of the Loggers, the game rushed through the innings without much offense to drool over. Boda was doing quite well and seemed to be cruising, converting a not too shabby bunt by Garcia in the fifth into a force on Ken Wright on second base for the second out of the inning. A Hernandez single and a Tolwith double later, he trailed 2-0. In the bottom 5th, Garcia, vying for career win #267, allowed singles to Quebell and Gutierrez before the Loggers hauled him in after noticing him grimacing after every pitch. He was in SOME kind of pain. Dave Walk relieved him and surrendered the runs on a Boda bunt, Castro single, and Miller sac fly, getting the game tied at two. Boda completed seven without getting a decision, before we used three relievers in a tight top 8th in which Chris Delaney doubled off Bryan. The Coons could have scored unearned runs in the bottom 8th after a Pruitt bloop fell in and Bowen reached on an error, but Sharp struck out to waste the chance. The game was still tied in the bottom 9th as we faced Gabriel Garcia with the bottom of the order up. When Quebell walked, Yamada ran for him, and in the #8 hole was Vic Flores, lying in ambush after pinch-hitting the previous go-through. When he grounded to short, Yoshi-Y’s speed was all that kept the Coons out of the two-for-one. Aaron Tolwith went for the out at first. Next was Yoshi-N, also pinch-hitting the last time through. And here was a slap single to left, Yoshi-Y turning third, a mad dash home, and – safe!! 3-2 Furballs! Pruitt 2-4; Nomura (PH) 2-2, RBI; Boda 7.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 9 K and 1-1; Bennett 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K, W (4-1);

The Crusaders had their own walkoff win over the Elks, a Marc Williams sac fly that scored Roberto Pena and gave them a 5-4 win. Bowen posted an oh-fer in this game, with one strikeout, but he was also outright robbed by Hiwalani on a line drive in his final at-bat.

Matt Pruitt however has a 12-game hitting streak going, but will get Sunday off as we keep rotating our left-handed batters in this string of lefty starters. We might get as much as FIVE southpaws in a row, with Jason O’Halloran lining up for the start of our next series with the Titans.

Game 3
MIL: LF J.R. Richardson – SS Tolwith – RF Hiwalani – CF T. Austin – 2B B. Hernandez – C J. Reyes – 1B C. Parker – 3B Gallagher – P F. Cruz
POR: SS Flores – LF Castro – 1B Quebell – RF Black – CF Crespo – 3B Sharp – C Esquivel – 2B J. Gutierrez – P Fuentes

While Tim Austin drove in Tolwith in the top 1st, the Raccoons had Flores reach on a leadoff single in the bottom 1st. Castro reached on J.R. Richardson’s error in left, and Quebell singled to load them up with no outs, but they only got the tying run on a Crespo single, on which Castro was thrown out by Hiwalani when he tried to score as well. Jesus Reyes took Fuentes deep in the second, 2-1 Loggers. After that, Fuentes had hits in his next two at-bats, reached scoring position with two outs and Castro batting twice, was left on the first time, but the latter instance, in the fourth, with Flores trailing Fuentes, Castro doubled off the wall in right center to flip the score to 3-2 Coons. Fuentes however was fueling both offenses. Rookie Bill Gallagher homered to tie the score leading off the Loggers’ half of the fifth, then walked a pair to bring up Hiwalani, and walked him as well. Bases loaded, one out, he was yanked. Two runs scored off Rockburn on a Tim Austin single and a Bartolo Hernandez sac fly to set the Coons back 5-3.

On the east coast, the Crusaders had already lost by the same score, so our division lead was safe, but we’d love to kick it up to two games. When Ryan Miller hit a pinch-hit home run off Cruz in the bottom 6th, the score was cut to 5-4, and Flores doubling and Castro singling moved the tying run to third with one out. “Double Play” Quebell was batting, and I considered hitting for him, but then didn’t. Cruz struck him out, but walked Black, which ended his day. Dave Walk came in to face Crespo, drilled a 2-1 pitch to right that eluded Hiwalani (just like Flores’ double had eluded him) and fell in for a 2-run double with Black held on third since the score had already been re-flipped. Sharp grounded out to ex-Coon Chris Parker.

Ward Jackson was tasked with one left-handed batter to start the seventh, Richardson, who was batting .154, and walked him on four straight balls. Alright, bring Bruno. Tolwith bunted the runner over, Richardson stole third, but Bruno prevailed, striking out Hiwalani before Austin grounded out to Miller, who had taken over at short (Sharp was out of the game). Bruno was almost through the eighth when Parker singled and Jaime Garcia walked. With Alonso Baca coming out to bat, we desired our other left-hander, the home-run-prone one, but Bryan got Baca to ground out to Gutierrez. Angel struck out Delaney and Tolwith in the ninth before Hiwalani came up as the potential final out, but scuffling as he was, he still had oomph, and he was not a wild hacker. In fact, his .205 average was more bad luck than anything, and LOTS of that. Here, he went ahead on Angel, was up 3-1 before thinking he’d get one to hit (with Austin and his 104 RBI following), but didn’t get it squared and fouled out to Quebell. 6-5 Raccoons!! Flores 3-5, 2B; Castro 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Crespo 2-3, BB, 2B, 3 RBI; Miller (PH) 1-2, HR, RBI;

Bakile Hiwalani is getting older, too. I’m loving that.

Sergio Vega claimed victory in this one, pitching a scoreless sixth for the Coons to complete a sweep of the Loggers.

In other news

September 1 – SAL SP Raúl Chavez (11-11, 3.18 ERA) 3-hits the Scorpions in a 2-0 shutout.

Complaints and stuff

Let’s just throw this one in. I unlocked a metric crap ton of Steam achievements this week.

5-1 with a 2.21 ERA and 41 K, Kel Yates was named Pitcher of the Month for August, while Matt Pruitt cashed in the Rookie of the Month award, batting .342 with 4 HR and 27 RBI.

With sets against the Bayhawks and Falcons remaining, the Raccoons are one win over Charlotte away from claiming all interdivision series this season. That has happened only once previously, in 1996 of course, when the Coons went 6-3 or better against all six CL South teams on the way to a 108-54 regular season effort, the only triple-digit wins campaign in franchise history. Then and now, they went a best 8-1 against the Knights (and also 8-1 against the Aces this year).

The only year the Furballs won all interleague series? 1989. This year we dropped two to the Gold Sox, the only matchup we didn’t win.

1989, a.k.a. “Quick Turnaround”, kicking off eight golden seasons.

Next week: Titans and Elks. Crusaders will have Indians and Titans. In total these two teams have the following games remaining – strength of schedule:
POR: BOS 6, CHA 3, IND 3, MIL 4, NYC 4, SFB 3, VAN 3 - .527
NYC: ATL 3, BOS 3, IND 6, MIL 3, OCT 3, POR 4, VAN 4 - .530

[Westheim]

Raccoons (88-48) vs. Titans (69-69) – September 3-5, 2007

There wasn’t much scoring going on in Titans games as they ranked near the bottom in fewest runs scored and fewest runs allowed. Their pitching staff was a solid top 3, a blend of veterans and youngsters that was somehow working. They had dropped seven of twelve to the Raccoons this season.

Projected matchups:
Tim Webster (0-0) vs. Jeremy Peterson (7-12, 4.13 ERA)
Nick Brown (14-7, 2.45 ERA) vs. Jason O’Halloran (14-9, 3.54 ERA)
Kelvin Yates (18-2, 2.32 ERA) vs. Bryce Hildred (6-15, 3.81 ERA)

With O’Halloran, almost 36, going only on Tuesday, we would not face five straight southpaws after all.

Game 1
BOS: CF Ja. Gusmán – SS Hutchinson – 1B A. Munoz – C Suda – RF Brulhart – LF Garrison – 2B B. Boyle – 3B Ju. Gusmán – P J. Peterson
POR: SS Flores – CF Castro – LF Pruitt – RF Black – C Bowen – 1B Quebell – 3B Sharp – 2B Nomura – P Webster

Dumpster Boy made his presence felt immediately. After a 4-pitch walk to Javier Gusmán to start the game, he also surrendered a pair of ringing doubles in the first inning to fall behind 2-0. In the third, he drilled Gusmán, then walked Hutchinson and Munoz. Singles by “Quasimodo” Suda and Jim Brulhart plated single runs, and Webster was yanked without logging an out in the third inning. Rudy Garrison flew out to Black, who nailed Munoz at home, but Ward Jackson then surrendered a 2-run single to left-handed Bruce Boyle anyway. The Raccoons were behind by six runs and had not even gotten a hit off Peterson just yet. It looked like a lost game, it smelled like a lost game, and it was a lost game. ******ed starting pitching aside, the Raccoons didn’t make themselves look any better by engaging themselves in a comedy of errors, while hitting for precious little. Matt Cash logged two scoreless innings, but Kaz Kichida was pummeled for four runs (three earned) in 2 2/3 frames. The crowning event of the game was an at-bat with two outs in the top 9th, when it was already a full-blown blowout. Freddy Rosa batted against Adam Riddle with two men on, fired a rocket to center, that Tomas Castro caught on the warning track before adding his face to the wall at full speed – and dropped the ball. While it initially looked like Castro might have beheaded himself on the play, it was just a bloody nose, but two more runs scored. 12-2 Titans. Sato (PH) 1-1; Cash 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K;

Well, that was … that was … wow. The idle Crusaders certainly had a good chuckle watching this one on TV. The only positive from this slaughter was Matt Pruitt extending his hitting streak to 13 games with a solo home run.

Game 2
BOS: CF Ja. Gusmán – SS Hutchinson – 1B A. Munoz – C Suda – RF Brulhart – LF Garrison – 2B B. Boyle – 3B M. Austin – P O’Halloran
POR: 3B Flores – CF Castro – 1B Pruitt – RF Black – C Bowen – LF Crespo – SS R. Miller – 2B J. Gutierrez – P Brown

The game was tied at one after three innings. The Raccoons had needed half a dozen hits to score a run, the Titans had been content with a Hutchinson double and Suda RBI single right in the first inning. Suda was involved again in the fourth, singling and scored on Jim Brulhart’s triple to put Brownie down once again. In the fifth a soft single by Mark Austin got the leadoff man on. O’Halloran struck out not knowing how to handle the fireballs coming at him, but Javier Gusmán reached on an infield single between Gutierrez and Pruitt. Dave Hutchinson had already brushed Brown in this one and had homered in Monday’s nightmare, and now lined a rocket to right that probably would have blazed his way right through Matt Pruitt’s chest if he hadn’t gotten the glove up in an unconscious blitz move. Instead of a 2-run double, Hutchinson lined into a double play to end the inning. Brownie pitched into the eighth, was chased by a 1-out single by Hutchinson (who seemingly replaced Daniel Silva as the Titan’s main pest), and John Bennett had nothing better to do than serving up a cookie for Anastasio Munoz to sent into the left center gap, and the run scored, 3-1. Pruitt was on starting the bottom 8th but was double played away by Black. In the ninth against Manuel Martinez we had the leadoff man on base again when Crespo walked. Ryan Miller whacked a single, putting the tying runs on base. Quebell and Nomura came up to pinch-hit, with Quebell’s drive to center caught by Gusmán, but Yoshi singled to bring home a run and represented the winning run on first base for Vic Flores, and then … double play. 3-2 Titans. Flores 3-5, 3B; Pruitt 2-4; Miller 2-4; Nomura (PH) 1-1, RBI; Brown 7.1 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 8 K, L (14-8);

Thankfully, the Crusaders pen blew a 4-2 lead against the Indians, who rode two homers from Simon Stevens to a 5-4 win and kept our lead at one and a half games.

In a roster move we demoted Dumpster Boy back to AAA to never see him again. 24-year old César Lopez was promoted to make his major league debut despite going 8-15 with a 5.02 ERA in AAA… September is not the time to make experiments with starters that got blown up in the minors, but everything’s gotta be better than Dumpster Boy.

César Lopez was originally signed by the Knights out of Puerto Rico in 1999. We acquired him in January of 2001 in a trade that sent over Marvin Ingall and Manuel Reyes in exchange for Lopez, Jesus Palacios, Manny Gabriel and the impossible Butch Kaustrop.

Game 3
BOS: CF Ja. Gusmán – SS Hutchinson – 1B A. Munoz – C Suda – LF Garrison – RF Brulhart – 2B B. Boyle – 3B M. Austin – P Hildred
POR: SS Flores – CF Castro – LF Pruitt – RF Black – C Bowen – 1B Quebell – 3B Sharp – 2B Nomura – P Yates

Kel had no problems getting to two strikes on batters, but that third strike remained largely elusive in this contest. Mostly poor contact still didn’t give the Titans any glorious scoring chances, and the Raccoons actually took their first lead of the series in the bottom 3rd when Flores singled home Nomura before Castro’s double play grounder quickly ended the inning. The Titans put two on in the fifth when Yates drilled Bruce Boyle and Mark Austin’s grounder eluded Yoshi up the middle for a single, but in this critical spot Yates managed to escape with a pair of strikeouts. He had to hold onto that run – the Raccoons were historically challenged against Bryce Hildred. Aggressive base running cost the Raccoons a run when Castro was eliminated on a strike-em-out-throw-em-out with Pruitt, and after that Black has brushed by a pitch, Bowen walked, and Quebell hit a single to score Black from second base, but a third run scored in the seventh when Yoshi-N walked and was maneuvered around to score. Yoshi-Y also got an appearance as pinch-runner in the eighth for Luke Black after he had hit a leadoff single to chase Hildred. Yamada stole second and eventually came in to score on Yoshi-N’s 2-out single. That brought up Kel’s spot after eight shutout innings. It was tempting to have him bat and pitch the ninth, but he was already a bit over 100 pitches, and we had Marcos Bruno picking his nose in the pen. Ryan Miller took a bat and struck out. Bruno faced only one batter in the ninth and was taken deep by “Quasimodo”. Angel took over immediately and quickly brought the contest to a satisfying conclusion. 4-1 Coons. Flores 2-4, RBI; Quebell 1-2, 2 BB, RBI; Nomura 1-1, 3 BB, RBI; Yates 8.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 7 K, W (19-2);

Matt Pruitt had his hitting streak killed off.

Whit Reeves got his 15th win in the Crusaders’ 3-2 victory over the Indians on Wednesday, followed up by Angel Javier’s 17th W on Thursday, our off day, as they beat the Indians 4-1. That means that they made up a game midweek, and now we had to face the Elks and trouble was right around the corner…

Raccoons (89-50) @ Canadiens (83-56) – September 7-9, 2007

We were an outrageous 4-11 against the stinkin’ Elks this season, having already been swept twice in Vancouver and once at home. They had a 5-game winning streak active and ranked fourth in runs scored and fifth in runs allowed. And well, if they’d hand a fourth sweep to us, I would not be able to continue living…

Projected matchups:
Cássio Boda (6-3, 3.59 ERA) vs. David Peterson (7-10, 4.86 ERA)
Raúl Fuentes (9-10, 4.56 ERA) vs. Juichi Fujita (15-8, 3.19 ERA)
César Lopez (0-0) vs. Rod Taylor (17-5, 2.77 ERA)

Three right-handers, and well, the most important game was the first one. If Boda couldn’t hold out against the Elks in the opener, dark times were ahead…

Game 1
POR: SS Flores – CF Castro – LF Pruitt – RF Black – C Bowen – 1B Quebell – 3B Sharp – 2B Nomura – P Boda
VAN: 2B Dobson – C G. Ortíz – LF J. Gonzalez – 1B T. Ramos – 3B Suzuki – RF D. Richardson – CF Holland – SS Rodgers – P D. Peterson

The Raccoons left a runner on second base in both of the first two innings. The Elks got a leadoff double from the living pile of poo Daniel Richardson in the second. And although Boda threw a wild one to move the runner to third, he struck out Ken Rodgers to bring up the pitcher with two outs. Yet the Elks still scored three runs in the inning on hard hits by Peterson, Dobson, Ortíz, and Gonzalez. The Raccoons had the bases loaded with one out in the third, but Black struck out and Bowen’s ****ty fly to right was easily caught by Richardson, and right at that point it dawned on me. They weren’t going to win any game this weekend. They’d get swept, washed out of first place, and go down the drain like the dirt on the streets.

Boda balked in a run in the third and was removed with the bases loaded and no outs in the fourth. With four of the next five batters left-handers, Ed Bryan was brought in, but managed to allow four runs to score on a Tony Ramos single, a 4-pitch walk to Suzuki, a wild pitch, and finally a single by Russ Holland. Four innings, eight runs, all in the bottom half of the line score. After seven, they were 9-1 behind, their only run unearned. And although they chained hits together like crazy in an eighth inning in which they burned through four red-clad pitchers, and plated five runs, it never made a difference. That’s what blowing up early gives you: a sure loss, and depressions. 9-6 Canadiens. Flores 4-5, 2B, RBI; Castro 3-5, 2B, 3 RBI; Quebell 2-5; Sharp 3-5, 2 2B; Trevino (PH) 1-1;

Even for a rookie that was a ****ty performance. If we had any more junk to call up from AAA… well, technically we still have Brandon Teasdale, who has triple-digit walks, and I just don’t want to even think about it.

The inevitable was delayed for one day when the Titans walked off on a Freddy Rosa single scoring Jimmy Bayle to beat the Crusaders, 8-7.

Game 2
POR: 3B Flores – LF Crespo – CF Castro – RF Black – 1B Quebell – C Esquivel – 2B Nomura – SS R. Miller – P Fuentes
VAN: 2B Dobson – RF E. Garcia – LF J. Gonzalez – 1B T. Ramos – 3B Suzuki – CF Fletcher – C F. Diéguez – SS Palmer – P Fujita

And for the fourth time this week, the Raccoons had their starter jumped on and kicked and headbutted right in the first inning. With line drive galore all over the place, the Elks hit safely four times to score three runs off a ****ed up Fuentes. Fujita was merely perfect the first time through the order and struck out six. When Vic Flores converted Fujita’s poor bunt to get the lead runner Michael Palmer at second base for the second out in the fourth, Fuentes’ simple reply was to walk the next three batters and give the opposition a 4-run lead. The Raccoons still hadn’t had a base runner, and wouldn’t get a hit until Kuni Sato hit a single in Fuentes’ place in the sixth. Crespo also singled, but Castro grounded out and Black whiffed to strand the runners in scoring position. A run scored off Riddle in the bottom of the inning. There were two men on in the top 7th with two out when he was hit for with Pruitt, whose grounder was just far enough up the middle for an infield single and to score Esquivel from third base. That was it again, however, as Vic Flores struck out to strand two more precious runners. The bottom of that inning started with a bobble by Vic Flores at third base, like, seriously, then we could play Sharp right away… Another run scored after a few singles eluded the infielders. Top 8th, singles by Crespo and Castro opened the inning. All dukeness had escaped Luke Black, however, he hit into a double play, and it was all **** in Canada. 6-2 Canadiens. Crespo 2-4; Sato (PH) 1-1; Pruitt (PH) 1-1, RBI;

George Kirk (that guy…) got three runs early and held on to beat the Titans, 3-2. The Raccoons’ lead – gone. And with the pitching matchup in Sunday’s game… There was no way on earth, in heaven, or hell, for the Raccoons to win this game.

Game 3
POR: SS Flores – CF Castro – LF Pruitt – RF Black – C Bowen – 1B Quebell – 2B Nomura – 3B Sharp – P C. Lopez
VAN: 2B Dobson – RF E. Garcia – LF J. Gonzalez – 1B T. Ramos – 3B Suzuki – CF Fletcher – C G. Ortíz – SS Rodgers – P R. Taylor

In good news, by the time our game in the Northwest started, the Crusaders were far behind in Boston, and it looked like we might have a chance to retake sole possession of the division – assuming César Lopez would be able to outlast Rod Taylor, a 17-game winner, in his major league debut.

Of course he couldn’t. The Elks had three straight 2-out singles in the bottom of the first inning to take a 1-0 lead, before Jerry Dobson walloped a 3-run homer over the wall in the second. Just like that, it was 4-0. The Raccoons trailed 5-0 in the fifth. Taylor had sat down the first 13 Raccoons before Bowen walked, Quebell doubled, and Nomura and Sharp just failed. In the eighth inning, the Raccoons would get the wackiest of opportunities. Sharp was about to strike out when Ortíz was called out for catcher’s interference and Sharp sent to first. Crespo hit for Cash and drew a walk. Okay, down by six, just four more to go. The bases were loaded when Dobson intercepted Flores’ grounder to right, but couldn’t get up quick enough to make a play. Bases loaded, no outs, Castro struck out, Pruitt popped out to shallow left, and all the Inepticoons got was a bases-loaded walk to Black before Bowen struck out. 6-1 Canadiens. Quebell 2-3, 2B;

The Crusaders lost 8-5 in Boston. But does it really matter how many more they lose? They really only need to win one more game…

In other news

The Agitator was raging this week.

Complaints and stuff

The ****nadiens single-handedly ruined our season.

**** the ****nadiens.

[TheMaus2]

I feel like Drake is the best artist to listen to while reading this thread.

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by TheMaus2

I feel like Drake is the best artist to listen to while reading this thread.

I like to come up with a stupid reply, but I have no clue what you could be alluding to.

---

Kenichi Watanabe starts a rehab assignment, which will be a short affair, since the minor league season is almost over and he won’t get more than one start.

Raccoons (89-53) @ Loggers (64-79) – September 10-13, 2007

The Loggers had only managed three wins against the Raccoons this year, but the Raccoons were … calling them to be scuffling would put it overly mildly. The Loggers in any case had the least runs scored in the Continental League and had allowed average runs.

Projected matchups:
Nick Brown (14-8, 2.50 ERA) vs. William Lloyd (11-12, 4.17 ERA)
Kelvin Yates (19-2, 2.23 ERA) vs. Martin Garcia (15-5, 2.83 ERA)
Cássio Boda (6-4, 4.17 ERA) vs. Fernando Cruz (10-6, 4.65 ERA)
Raúl Fuentes (9-11, 4.64 ERA) vs. Roy Thomas (7-13, 5.11 ERA)

Game 1
POR: 3B Flores – CF Castro – 1B Pruitt – RF Black – C Bowen – LF Crespo – SS R. Miller – 2B J. Gutierrez – P Brown
MIL: 2B B. Hernandez – LF C. Parker – RF Hiwalani – CF T. Austin – C J. Reyes – 1B T. Powell – SS M. Clark – 3B Wright – P Lloyd

Offense was at an absolute premium despite Brownie being wild and throwing two wild pitches in the first four innings (three walks aside…), until Ken Wright’s 2-run triple got the Loggers 2-0 ahead in the bottom 4th. The Raccoons countered immediately, loaded the bases in the top 5th and had a bloop single by Flores for one run, and a Castro sac fly for the second to tie it. The joy was short-lived: Tim Austin’s 2-out RBI single plated ex-Coon Chris Parker to make it 3-2 Loggers in the bottom of the inning. Brownie struck out eight, but had a wholly unsatisfying outing that ended in the top 7th when he was hit for by Danny Sharp with Gutierrez on second base and one out. Sharp lofted a soft fly to shallow right that dropped right in front of Hiwalani, who misplayed it for an error and the tying run to score. Sharp took second, but was left on base, and Brownie was no-decisioned. Neither team did much against the opposing bullpen into the ninth. Jose Gutierrez was hit by a Gabriel Garcia pitch with one out in the ninth, was run for by Yoshi Yamada, pinch-runner deluxe, who got himself thrown out, and the Raccoons didn’t score. Ed Bryan struck out Francisco Garza and had two foul pops registered for outs to get into extra innings. While the Furballs continued to not get anything done offensively, the Loggers got to third base in the bottom 11th, but Bill Gallagher struck out against Law Rockburn to keep the game going. They had two on against Kaz Kichida in the 12th only for Bakile Hiwalani to hit a skipper right to Ryan Miller for a double play to end the frame. The top 13th saw some faint tail twitching from the Coons, when a Pruitt grounder eluded Gallagher at third for a 1-out single, their first hit since the eighth inning. That brought up Duke Smack nursing an 0-for-5 day against righty Eric Fontenot, run-of-the-mill quality. The Duke was due for on, and got it despite falling 0-2 behind, then fired a laser to left center that was never not going to go out – home run!! Bottom 13th, we had saved Angel – and Angel got rocked with a Jaime Garcia double, and singles by Tyrone Powell and Francisco Garza, then recovered to strike out Gallagher and escape on a pop out by Antonio Clemente. 5-4 Coons…! Pruitt 2-6; Miller 2-5; Gutierrez 2-3; Sharp (PH) 1-1, RBI; Bruno 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K; Rockburn 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

Kaz picked up the win, and Angel had his 43rd save. By the way, our franchise single season record is 49, held – of course! – by Grant West.

The Crusaders and Canadiens were playing against another. Round 1 went to the Crusaders, 7-5, on the road. Division remains tied.

Next, Kel, who leads the league in wins and ERA, but trails significantly with 19 K to Curtis Tobitt.

Game 2
POR: SS Flores – 1B Quebell – CF Castro – RF Black – C Bowen – 3B Sharp – LF Crespo – 2B J. Gutierrez – P Yates
MIL: 2B B. Hernandez – LF C. Parker – RF Hiwalani – CF T. Austin – SS Tolwith – 1B T. Powell – C Baca – 3B Wright – P M. Garcia

The game had the potential to start with a catastrophic first inning, when Bartolo Hernandez reached on Sharp’s kazillionth error, and Parker on an infield single to Gutierrez. Kel mowed down the next three batters to escape the jam. The more depressing was Martin Garcia’s go-ahead, 2-out RBI single in the next inning… Another home run by the Duke would tie the game in the fourth inning, 1-1, but other than that there wasn’t much excitement coming off the bats. The next runner in scoring position would appear there due to a third baseman’s error, but Sharp was the guy actually appearing on base: Tolwith had thrown away his grounder, but Crespo grounded out to Ken Wright. In the top 8th, Gutierrez hit a leadoff single against Martin Garcia before Yates popped up a bunt for a casual out logged by Alonso Baca. Vic Flores came through, however, singling through Powell into right. Gutierrez turned second aggressively, and Hiwalani’s throw was late and both runners appeared in scoring position. Sato hit for an 0-3 Quebell, but both him and Castro depressingly popped out. The Loggers were handed a scoring chance on a Gutierrez error in the bottom of the inning, but Yates remained dominant and held him at second base, ending with a strikeout to Parker. Dominance ended in the bottom 9th, when with one out, Yates drilled Austin and walked Tolwith. Marcos Bruno replaced Kel, but a bloop single by Powell loaded them up for Alonso Baca, who only had to chop a floater to medium-depth center to allow the Loggers to walk off on Castro’s poor arm. 2-1 Loggers. Flores 2-4; Yates 8.1 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 9 K, L (19-3);

The Crusaders won 3-2 and we dropped to second for good.

Game 3
POR: SS Flores – CF Castro – 1B Pruitt – RF Black – C Bowen – 3B Sharp – LF Crespo – 2B J. Gutierrez – P Boda
MIL: 2B B. Hernandez – 1B T. Powell – RF Hiwalani – CF T. Austin – C J. Reyes – SS Tolwith – LF J. Garcia – 3B Wright – P F. Cruz

The third game of the set was entirely about missed chances. The Raccoons would out-hit the Loggers at a 2:1 ratio. Cássio Boda would carry a 2-hit, 1-run game through five, with support from a Gutierrez RBI single and a Black sac fly for a 2-1 lead. Then came the Loggers to bat in the bottom 6th, Tyrone Powell singled, Hiwalani walked, Tim Austin singled, Jesus Reyes singled… the Loggers put up three runs in the inning to take a 4-2 lead and knock out Boda. Bennett got the final out when Bartolo Hernandez lobbed out to Castro in center. The top 7th saw the Raccoons put the tying runs in Flores and Castro into scoring position before the middle of the order failed completely and thoroughly. Pruitt popped out to shallow left. Black popped out to shallow center. Bowen bounced a poor grounder to Ken Wright, who had made two errors earlier in the game, but now came through. Ashamed of themselves, they didn’t even try to get on base and into the spotlight again… 4-2 Loggers. Flores 2-5, 2B; Castro 2-5, 2B; Sharp 2-3, BB, 2B;

The Crusaders bowled over the Canadiens, routing them 13-4, to open a 2-game lead in the division. It’s all over, folks. It’s all over.

Game 4
POR: SS Flores – CF Castro – LF Pruitt – RF Black – 1B Quebell – 2B Nomura – 3B Sharp – C Esquivel – P Fuentes
MIL: 1B T. Powell – SS Tolwith – CF T. Austin – C J. Reyes – LF Wheaton – 2B M. Clark – RF C. Parker – 3B Wright – P R. Thomas

The first hit of the game was a Vic Flores grounder in the top 4th that eluded Tyrone Powell for a single. Flores appeared on third base soon after that, stealing second base and advancing another base on Reyes’ errant throw. Tomas Castro scored him with a single, stole second, but was stranded on base. The bottom 4th saw the Loggers put two men in scoring position before a fantastic defensive play by Quebell, who had already dug out two bouncing throws by Sharp and Flores to avoid damage in the early innings, ended the frame with the go-ahead runs stranded. The fifth inning developed the game further into the Raccoons’ favor. With runners on the corners and one out, Fuentes popped out, but then Vic Flores came up with a 3-run homer. A hit batter and a walk gave the Loggers two runners of their own in the bottom of the inning before Ken Wright’s AB ended with a strike-em-out-throw-em-out when Mark Clark tried to snag third base. Fuentes went seven awesomely decent innings, allowing only one run on four hits. Seven innings meant that we handed the game right to the teeth of our bullpen. Bruno and Angel good-nighted the Loggers without allowing a base runner to salvage a split in a series, in which a split just had not been enough. 4-1 Coons. Flores 2-4, HR, 3 RBI; Fuentes 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, W (10-11);

In good news, the Elks shut out the Crusaders in the final game of their 4-set, 2-0, with Juichi Fujita winning his 17th game, bringing the gap back to one game with 16 to play.

Raccoons (91-55) @ Bayhawks (64-82) – September 14-16, 2007

I don’t have to go into this being must-win games, right? With a -93 run differential, egregiously bad starting pitching with an ERA over five, and an offense that just couldn’t cope, the Bayhawks were certainly beatable, but the Coons, who had taken five out of six from them so far this year, were stuck in offensive rut, scoring 3.16 R/G in September.

Projected matchups:
César Lopez (0-1, 9.64 ERA) vs. Iván Cordero (7-13, 5.28 ERA)
Nick Brown (14-8, 2.56 ERA) vs. Tyler Sullivan (10-15, 4.97 ERA)
Kelvin Yates (19-3, 2.23 ERA) vs. Harry Wentz (7-13, 4.76 ERA)

We open this series facing two more southpaws, for five total this week.

Game 1
POR: 2B Flores – 1B Quebell – CF Castro – RF Black – C Bowen – 3B Sharp – LF Crespo – SS R. Miller – P C. Lopez
SFB: CF Hudson – 2B J. Perez – 3B D. Lopez – 1B Batlle – C Cicalina – LF O. Thompson – RF Durán – SS Irvin – P Cordero

Iván Cordero entered the game with 117 walks in 168.1 innings, and promptly walked three in the first inning. The Raccoons scored two runs with the help of a Castro single and a Durán error, but left the bases loaded. Cordero was outright awful. He would walk seven in three-plus innings, with his night ending on a fat pitch that Tomas Castro walloped over the centerfield fence for a 3-run home run, doubling the Coons lead to 6-0. Reliever Shawn White would cough up two more runs in the inning before a so far strong César Lopez crumbled in the bottom of the inning. The Birds put their first two batters on, and Lopez made a throwing error on Omarion Thompson’s grounder to make it all worse. Then Jorge Durán hit an RBI double. Another run scored on Jeremiah Irvin’s grounder. Lopez had entered the inning with an 8-run lead and was whacked from the game without completing it. Once John Hudson’s 3-run home run cut the lead to 8-6, he was all gone. The Birds didn’t stop there. Adam Riddle was completely rolled over in the fifth for three runs, which already added up to a lead. While making only four outs, the Bayhawks scored nine runs on a team of ****bags.

That team of ****bags loaded the bases in the top 7th. Sato and Flores squeezed singles past David Lopez, and another single off Quebell’s bat eluded Paco Batlle. There was one out as Rémy Lucas came in to face Tomas Castro. In a full count, Castro hit the ball hard to the right side, past Perez, and into right for a score-flipping single, it was now 10-9 Raccoons. Lucas remained in the game with the Duke coming up. Black took the rip of the century and hit a ball that easily cleared Mount Hood for a 3-run homer, 13-9!

And here we were, cobbling outs together with the bullpen. Ward Jackson got two, then put a man on. Sergio Vega got two, then it got dicey, and Ed Bryan took over. Bryan put runners in scoring position with one out in the ninth, so we had to bother Angel with a 4-run lead. After he erased Irvin, PH Cristián Gonzales singled home the runners to bring John Hudson up with the tying run, but Hudson grounded out to Sato at short – which was not necessarily the ending I saw coming. 13-11 Raccoons. Flores 2-5, BB; Castro 3-6, HR, 5 RBI; Black 2-5, BB, HR, 3 RBI; Bowen 2-5, BB, 2B, RBI; Sharp 2-3, 2 BB, 2B, RBI; Sato 1-1, BB;

We haven’t had much offense this month, for which this game was a welcome change, but the pitching is no candy either. I think we do not want to see Lopez near another game this year… We can’t go without a fifth starter, however, so maybe creativity is needed. Well, we can always call up Brandon Teasdale.

Oh wait, there’s still Watanabe! He got whacked for five runs in 6 1/3 innings in his rehab start. Might still be better than another out-of-control rookie. In fact, the AAA season ended on this Friday, so there was no use in not bringing him up. We also added Jose Cruz, that outfielder that barely got half a sniff of major league air in late August.

The Crusaders squeezed past the Knights, 3-2, to keep the distance at one game. But to be perfectly honest, a team that blows an 8-run lead in less than two innings deserves no October baseball anyway.

Game 2
POR: 2B Flores – 1B Quebell – CF Castro – RF Black – C Bowen – 3B Sharp – LF Crespo – SS R. Miller – P Brown
SFB: CF Hudson – C P. Fernandez – 3B D. Lopez – RF Keshishian – SS J. Perez – 1B Batlle – LF M. Smith – 2B Da Silva – P T. Sullivan

While the Duke was suddenly blazing hot and put the Raccoons 1-0 on top in the second inning with his 30th home run of the season, Nick Brown had lost control completely here in September. He had a walk in the first to John Hudson, got out on a double play, but started the bottom 3rd with another walk to Mark Smith. Hudson was nicked with two outs and then he walked even the lowly Pablo Fernandez before the Bayhawks’ first hit of the night counted for three, a bases-clearing double by David Lopez that defeated Black in right center. A Flores error would cost another run in the fourth inning as the Raccoons fell behind 4-1. The offense, so lively in Friday’s game, was nowhere to be seen. Tyler Sullivan 2-hit them through five, and while the same was true for Brown, he had given out enough freebies to be soundly defeated in this one. The Bayhawks would only get two more hits, the latter of those a booming homer by Paco Batlle to run the score to 6-1 in the eighth, and surrendered by Matt Cash. The Raccoons had a few hits in the top 9th off a tiring Sullivan, but once Salvadaro Soure entered the game, he slammed the door shut on the Coons. 6-3 Bayhawks. Black 3-4, HR, 2B, RBI; Bowen 2-4; Miller 1-2, BB; Nomura (PH) 1-1, 2B, RBI;

The Crusaders were rained out, but we fell behind anyway.

Game 3
POR: SS Flores – CF Castro – LF Pruitt – RF Black – 1B Quebell – 2B Nomura – 3B Sharp – C Esquivel – P Yates
SFB: LF G. Morán – 2B J. Perez – 3B D. Lopez – 1B Batlle – C Cicalina – CF Hudson – RF O. Thompson – SS Guerin – P Wentz

Nick Brown had won 20 games in 2004, the last Raccoon to do that, and here Kel had another chance. The offense had to chuck some to get him there, however, and a big spot came up early in the second inning, when Quebell walked, Nomura singled, and Sharp reached on Jose Perez’ error, bringing up Esquivel with one out. He flew out to John Hudson in shallow center, and with the pitcher up next, Quebell was sent. Hudson’s throw easily beat him, but Urbano Cicalina bit the dust when Quebell romped over him and lost the ball, which led to the run scoring. Yates made the final out. Quebell was on the other end of the production chain in the next inning when he singled home Flores and Pruitt with two outs to give Kel a 3-0 lead. No Bird reached base the first time through the order, but David Lopez dumped a ball into shallow right well short of the Duke’s range to end that in the bottom 4th. The Coons added on to their lead, Flores tripling in a pair in the sixth, and before that Yates had already brought in a run with a productive groundout. That was a 6-0 lead, while he was 2-hitting the Bayhawks through six. Of course, there were no such things as easy wins for the Raccoons. In the bottom 7th the Bayhawks hit three doubles, two to left and one to right, to break him up and score three runs. Omarion Thompson was left on third when Ed Bryan struck out the pinch-hitter Durán to FINALLY end the inning at 6-3. Completing seven with a lead, however, was exactly what the Raccoons were looking for, no matter how big the lead. Bruno had a perfect eighth, while Angel allowed a soft 2-out single to Hudson before getting Thompson to ground out to first. 6-3 Raccoons. Flores 3-5, 3B, 2 RBI; Nomura 2-3; Cruz (PH) 1-1; Yates 6.2 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 6 K, W (20-3);

Scott Wade, 1989 – Jason Turner, 1995 – Nick Brown, 2004 – Kelvin Yates, 2007

The Crusaders had quick leads in both of their games in the makeup doubleheader, but blew the first game with a 5-run eighth by the Knights, losing 5-4. They took the latter game, though, 7-1, and as thus remain one game ahead of the Raccoons.

In other news

September 13 – VAN SP Simon Pegler (8-4, 4.11 ERA) is out for the next eight months after being diagnosed with shoulder inflammation.

Complaints and stuff

Duke Smack is the first Raccoon to hit 30 home runs and driven in 100 runs (or either one of those) since Al Martin hit 30 bombs and plated 117 in 2003.

Also, Kel will have two more starts. One more win will tie Scott Wade’s franchise record for wins, and two will set a new one with 22 wins. There will be no Triple Crown, however. While he has wins and ERA (most likely) locked up, he won’t catch Curtis Tobitt, who is 11 K ahead of him.

Remaining games (strength of schedule):
NYC: IND 3, MIL 3, POR 4, OCT 3 (.537)
POR: BOS 3, CHA 3, IND 3, NYC 4 (.560)

I don’t know how we’re supposed to win this. BNN gives the Raccoons 23% for the playoffs. That’s not a whole lot. And that IS a beef schedule. The most important games of course come in the final week, that 4-game set with the Crusaders themselves. Winning that series would do A LOT for our playoff cause, and we’re 9-5 against them this year. But by then, they will have Stanton Martin back. Cássio Boda didn’t break his wrist well enough.

[pgjocki]

You can pull this off!

[TheMaus2]

Embarassing, but here Hotline Bling

another one:

yet another one:How Bout Now

last but not least: Take Care

All of these songs are from a canadian rapper... who also does breakup songs... they're so sad that i think it's kinda the same with the 'Coons.

[TheMaus2]

But, seriously, This is the song we need right now. Other than that, GO COONS!!

[Westheim]

Raccoons (93-56) vs. Falcons (84-65) – September 17-19, 2007

The Falcons were 2-4 this season against the Raccoons, but the Raccoons were out of luck, and the Falcons had a 5-game winning streak. Their second-best offense was most eager to smash the Raccoons, who had clearly the better pitching on paper, into the ground, despite allowing the fifth-most runs themselves.

Projected matchups:
Cássio Boda (6-5, 4.30 ERA) vs. Tommy Wilson (11-11, 4.78 ERA)
Raúl Fuentes (10-11, 4.51 ERA) vs. Larry Cutts (12-6, 3.83 ERA)
Kenichi Watanabe (4-3, 2.51 ERA) vs. Pancho Trevino (14-10, 4.21 ERA)

That’s their three best starters, arranged right-left-right, just like them Furballs. However, we don’t QUITE send our three best guys…

Game 1
CHA: 1B Tsung – 3B S. Moore – C F. Chavez – 2B J. Lopez – RF Reya – LF J. Flores – CF P. Estrada – SS D. Perez – P T. Wilson
POR: SS V. Flores – 1B Quebell – LF Castro – RF Black – C Bowen – 3B Sharp – 2B Nomura – CF S. Trevino – P Boda

The Falcons’ lineup was loaded with lefties, and from the start they gave the brown-clad outfielders a good workout as Boda was giving up fly balls galore. Nothing fell in for two innings, but the third became another one of those instances where a bodybuilder swings a sledgehammer right into your private parts. The Raccoons had taken a 1-0 lead on Quebell and Black doubles in the first, but in the third the Falcons got a leadoff single by Mun-wah Tsung on a 1-2 pitch before Boda walked Moore and Chavez. The meltdown ultimately amounted to five runs. A mild rally was underway in the bottom 4th. With two outs, Trevino had Sharp and Nomura on the corners and rammed a double to right, cutting the deficit to 5-2. Boda was taken out for his well-deserved flogging with Matt Pruitt hitting for him. Pruitt defeated Jose Lopez’ range for a 2-run single as the Raccoons came back to within a run before Flores grounded out to first.

But while the Coons fell silent after that, the Falcons kept pushing. Otherwise unremarkable Steve Moore homered off John Bennett in the sixth to get the score to 6-4, and they were on the verge of squishing the bullpen in the next two innings, but left pairs of runners on in both innings. The honors of extinguishing the Raccoons’ candle were on Dave Hamilton, a 24-year old shortstop with no major league hits, and not a single day spent in AAA. He bolted a 2-run home run off Law Rockburn in the ninth to bring the contest to a definite conclusion. 8-4 Falcons. Quebell 2-5, 2B; Pruitt (PH) 1-1, 2 RBI;

Old Man Anderson squeezed through the Crusaders in a 4-3 Thunder win, so we did not drop further behind, despite deserving it.

The Dallas Stars had double celebrations on Monday, locking up the FL West, and - … ah, see below.

Game 2
CHA: LF J. Flores – RF Theobald – 1B Tsung – 2B J. Lopez – CF Walls – 3B S. Moore – C Ishikawa – SS Starks – P Cutts
POR: 3B V. Flores – CF Castro – C Bowen – RF Black – 1B Sharp – LF Crespo – SS R. Miller – 2B J. Gutierrez – P Fuentes

In this game the Raccoons trailed by the third batter, Mun-wah Tsung singling past Vic Flores to score Jesus Flores from second base. It got worse quickly (how else should it be?) with another Steve Moore homer in the second, and three more hits for another run in the second, 3-0, before Tsung, a former Coons farmhand, thankfully striking out to strand a pair in scoring position. By the third, it was 4-0, and in the fourth Cutts hit a leadoff single and was doubled in by Jesus Flores. Fuentes was not retiring left-handed batters, nor pitchers, nor left-handed batting pitchers. Bowen added a passed ball to the box score, helping Flores to score as well in the inning, 6-0, and 8-0 through five, before Kaz Kichida – whoah! – pitched A PERFECT SIXTH. He got the game all through the eighth without being charged a run, before Matt Cash was bludgeoned in the ninth. The Raccoons were swiftly blown out, while Cutts delivered a complete game 8-hitter and Jesus Flores had five hits. 10-2 Falcons. Black 2-4, HR, RBI; Sharp 2-3; Esquivel (PH) 1-1, HR, RBI; Sato (PH) 1-1; Kichida 3.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K;

Leave me alone, I’m bitter.

Well, to put it simply, our pitching has completely hit the dirt. Same as offense and defense. The Crusaders outslugged the Thunder in an 11-7 win, increasing the lead to two games.

Game 3
OCT: 1B Tsung – CF Theobald – C F. Chavez – 2B J. Lopez – LF J. Flores – 3B S. Moore – RF Walls – SS Starks – P P. Trevino
POR: SS V. Flores – 1B Quebell – LF Pruitt – RF Black – C Bowen – 3B Sharp – 2B Nomura – CF S. Trevino – P Watanabe

Matt Pruitt’s 10th home run of the year put the Raccoons 2-0 on top in the first, but the question was what we’d get from Watanabe after missing four months to injury. When the Falcons got Flores and Moore on to start the second, and then had them pull off a double steal, things looked bleak, but Watanabe struck out Walls and Starks before Pancho Trevino flew out harmlessly to center. Tom Walls got to Watanabe in the fourth with a solo homer, and Watanabe had too much traffic and missed too often in general. He didn’t get through six, leaving with two on and one out and Walls up yet again. The score was still 2-1, with the Raccoons having only one hit other than Pruitt’s homer, the Falcons outfielders sucking up EVERYTHING hit past the infield. The Falcons pulled off another double steal, but Law struck out Walls and got Starks to pop out. The first Coon to be a helping hand for the good cause since Pruitt in the first became Luke Black in the top 7th. Ed Bryan had just allowed a base hit to right to Paul Theobald that was heading to the corner. Theobald turned second, but Black got behind the ball and unleashed a horrific liner that went right into Sharp’s glove at third to tag out Theobald.

Between Pruitt’s home run and Vic Flores’ 1-out double in the eighth there were seven innings of futility (and a Sharp single), but there was another scoring chance. The Falcons stuck to Trevino despite the left-handers that were coming up. And why wouldn’t they? Quebell grounded out, Pruitt flew out to center. Angel did his job, handing Pancho Trevino a really awful loss after eight innings of 3-hit ball. 2-1 Critters. Pruitt 1-4, HR, 2 RBI;

Crusaders 6, Thunder 2, no change in the division.

Raccoons (94-58) vs. Indians (81-71) – September 21-23, 2007

So far this year the Raccoons had done a horrendous botch job against the Indians, going 5-10, despite never facing slugger Ron Alston. Well, Alston was back in the lineup, finally, and was eager to leave marks on the Raccoons (tire marks, presumably), and to get that worst-hitting (.251) offense in the CL going. They were t-3rd in runs allowed.

Projected matchups:
Nick Brown (14-9, 2.62 ERA) vs. Bob King (7-13, 3.91 ERA)
Kelvin Yates (20-3, 2.28 ERA) vs. Ramiro Gonzalez (10-13, 3.79 ERA)
Cássio Boda (6-6, 4.57 ERA) vs. Ramón Jimenez (11-10, 4.39 ERA)

Right-left-right again. Also, we have no more off days through the end of the season. Well, you would want to play our best eight every day, but we had a bit of a problem to find out who those least horrendous eight were after all.

Game 1
IND: 1B S. Stevens – RF Pacheco – LF Alston – CF Luxton – C Paraz – 3B Fugosi – 2B Kilters – SS J. Lopez – P King
POR: SS Flores – CF Castro – LF Pruitt – RF Black – 1B Quebell – C Bowen – 3B Sharp – 2B Nomura – P Brown

This rain-affected game started with a Simon Stevens single to center that Castro overran for extra bases, and the Raccoons burst into flames right away. Stevens would score to set them behind, 1-0, and the Raccoons didn’t necessarily seem intent on fighting them overly hard. They had nothing going for four innings, including a 1-hour rain delay. Nomura hit a 1-out single in the bottom 5th, and Brown’s bunt was taken to second by Stevens, but his throw was high, Lopez had to jump to grab it, and everybody was safe. Flores made the second out before Castro singled to center to score Nomura from third, tying the score. Pruitt grounded to second, where Chris Kilters misplayed the ball into an error that loaded the bases for the Duke, but the Duke blacked out. Brownie went seven sizzling innings – rain and errors or not – but was not looking like he’d get rewarded. J.C. Crespo batted for him in the bottom 7th and hit a 1-out double over Robbie Luxton. The sorry hopper that Vic Flores sent to third was not going to get things done, unless Filippo Fugosi would throw it - … and he threw it away! Going past the reach of Stevens and into the stands, the errant throw awarded Crespo home and Brownie the lead. That didn’t mean they’d score Flores from second now, of course…

And a 2-1 lead was a fragile lead. Marcos Bruno promptly exploded in the top 8th, Lopez singled, Cesar Aguilar doubled, Simon Stevens doubled. Plainly and simply it was the end. There was not even a faint attempt of a comeback on the home team’s part against Dane Sanders and Manuel Reyes in the last two innings. 3-2 Indians. Nomura 2-4; Crespo (PH) 1-2, 2B; Brown 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 8 K;

In Milwaukee, Whit Reeves out-dueled Martin Garcia to claim a 3-1 victory, and you can do that math with games back and forth yourself, I trust. Talking about it depresses me too much.

Game 2
IND: RF A. Solís – 1B S. Stevens – LF Alston – CF Luxton – C Paraz – 2B J. Miller – 3B J. Lopez – SS Kilters – P R. Gonzalez
POR: 3B Flores – CF Castro – LF Pruitt – RF Black – 1B Sharp – SS R. Miller – C Esquivel – 2B J. Gutierrez – P Yates

Kel was eager to tie Scott Wade’s 18-year old mark for wins in a season by a Raccoons starter, For that high and noble goal, he pitched like crap. Spotted with a 1-0 lead in the bottom 1st, Flores scoring on Pruitt’s groundout, he loaded the bases in the top 2nd, then allowed a 1-out, 2-run single to … Ramiro Gonzalez. When another run scored in the third inning to give the Indians a 3-1 lead, everything seemed to be over yet again, but the Furry Forsaken rose one more time with a 3-run homer by Castro that put them up 4-3 in the bottom 3rd. Another run scored when Yates batted with the bases loaded and one out and he was able to leg out Kilters’ relay to first to stay out of a double play. That didn’t make his pitching any better. He was hittable, and he issued three walks, getting yanked after six messy innings, but at least he finished his messy six. Gonzalez didn’t. With two on and two out in the bottom 6th, Jose Cruz batted for Yates and sent a grounder up the middle that vanished in center for Cruz’ first career RBI. Dane Sanders replaced Gonzalez, but allowed another run to score with an RBI single to Flores.

A 7-3 lead still didn’t get the Raccoons out of the woods. John Bennett, a huge disappointment after the trade that brought him in mid-season, allowed a home run to Stevens in the top 7th to get the Indians back within three. While the Raccoons left two more runners in scoring position, Jackson, Law, and Angel took care of getting the game into the right column in the standings. 7-4 Critters. Flores 3-4, 2B, RBI; Gutierrez 1-2, BB; Nomura (PH) 1-1, 2B; Cruz (PH) 1-2, RBI;

A stumble by Angel Javier, who allowed seven runs, allows the Raccoons to draw back within two of the Crusaders, as the Loggers win 8-5 at home.

And bad start or not, Kelvin Yates is now just two back of Nick Brown’s single season strikeout mark for the franchise. Brownie obliterated 240 batters in 2004, and Kel has 238 now. Brownie has 235, though, so this is a free-for-all. And Brownie might have an advantage, because out of sheer desperation we will skip Fuentes’ turn in the rotation. That will put everybody on short rest in the middle of next week (but it’s not like regular rest is working too well), and will give Brownie one more start in the season finale against the Titans.

But if we want to have another shot at the playoffs, we need more starts from the top 2 and less from the dumb****s. We can’t get two more starts from Kel, but we can squeeze two more out of Brownie, and we’re going for it.

Game 3
IND: 2B J. Miller – 1B S. Stevens – LF Alston – CF Luxton – C Paraz – 3B Fugosi – RF P. Javier – SS Kilters – P Jimenez
POR: SS Flores – CF Castro – LF Pruitt – RF Black – 1B Quebell – C Bowen – 3B Sharp – 2B Nomura – P Boda

Cássio Boda, who had been romped regularly recently (11.37 ERA in his last three starts), and faced potential deportation back to Venezuela, was sabotaged early with a Quebell error putting Stevens on, then walked Alston. Luxton’s groundout and Paraz hacking himself out over-eagerly got Boda out of the inning, and he would not allow a hit through four innings. When Fugosi got a single in to start the fifth inning, Javier would hit into a double play to keep the Indians off the board. Bad thing was, the Coons weren’t on, either, despite a hit here and there. Bottom 5th, Sharp walked up first, Nomura hit into a double play. Boda singled, Flores’ liner was intercepted by Javier in right. Bottom 6th, Castro with a leadoff single, stole second, Pruitt walked intentionally, and Black hit into a 2-job. The Indians had two on base on their own in the seventh, but failed to score, either, despite removing Ron Alston for pinch-runner Felix Martines. The Raccoons couldn’t even score after Bowen’s bloop double past Luxton to start the bottom 7th. Jimenez struck out Sharp, Nomura, and Crespo in order. Another double in the bottom 8th, this time by Castro with one out. Pruitt was walked intentionally for the second time to get the Duke up. Could the Duke be the Duke, or would he be a Fluke? It was the latter. He struck out, Quebell grounded out to short. No score, no score, no score. Black carefully climbed off the guillotine in the top 9th when Bruno, in his second inning, allowed a leadoff single to Simon Stevens, which the Indian tried to stretch. Black fired another perfect rocket to strike down Stevens at second. Jimenez was still going in the bottom 9th, allowing a leadoff single to Bowen, who turned right away to the dugout with Yoshi Yamada coming out to run. Yoshi-Y was able to stay out of the double play on Sharp’s grounder, was running when Yoshi-N put the ball in play, high to right, had to get back to tag, but Avery Johnson didn’t get it! And it was in! And the Yoshis paraded off the Coons! 1-0 Furry Yoshis. Castro 2-4, 2B; Bowen 2-4, 2B; Nomura 2-4, 2B, RBI; Boda 7.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 6 K; Bruno 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K, W (7-1);

Fernando Cruz gagged the Crusaders as the Loggers had a 4-0 shutout on Sunday, which makes this whole horrible week moot. The Coons are one game back again, and on Monday it will be on in New York.

In other news

September 17 – Dallas utility man Jorge Vera (.289, 4 HR, 25 RBI) has the biggest day of his career, hitting for a CYCLE in the Stars’ 8-2 win over the Capitals, in which he logged the hard parts early with a second-inning triple, and a fourth-inning home run off Carlos Sackett. All in all, he’s 4-for-4 with 3 RBI in the ABL’s 41st cycle, and the third this year (POR Victor Flores, IND Angel Solís). The Stars now lead the ABL with the most cycles overall with five (Samuel Serra, 1977; Gustavo Infante, 2000; Vitantonio Cavalleri, 2003; Artie Barnes, 2004). It is also the second cycle on September 17, following that by SFW Rafael Lopez in 1986, then against the Stars.
September 17 – Universally beloved BOS INF Daniel Silva (.279, 3 HR, 23 RBI) logs his 2,000th career base hit in style with a first-inning home run off the Knights’ Ralph Ford. Atlanta would prevail to win 9-5, though.
September 21 – SFW SP Dave Crawford (16-11, 3.40 ERA) 3-hits the Gold Sox in a 4-0 shutout.

Complaints and stuff

Emotional rollercoasters are a children’s carrousel against this season going down the stretch.

We have that big 4-game set in New York coming up. After that, we have the Titans at home. The Crusaders will have the Indians at home on the final weekend. And nobody is saying much about the Elks right now, but they are still in this, three games behind! They will play the Indians and Loggers at home. Those teams in September? VAN 16-6, NYC 12-9, POR 10-11…

Whoever gets out of that mess with the (pointy black?) nose held up high, that team will play the Falcons, who clinched the CL South on Sunday with a 3-2 win over the Bayhawks behind their worst starter, Greg Grams.

For our part, we're gonna roll the dice. Brown, Yates, Boda will all go on short rest in the Crusaders series to lock out Fuentes, who's just a hot mess now. Watanabe opens the set. Fuentes pitching is an auto-loss, and we can't afford auto-losses anymore, especially not against the Crusaders. We have to pitch Fuentes in the opener against the Titans.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (96-59) @ Crusaders (97-58) – September 24-27, 2007

Allright, boys. Crunch time! Who’s got anything left? We gotta take three out of four from the Crusaders to take the lead in the division, then hold it over the weekend. So far, we’ve beaten the #1 offense and #2 defense in the league nine out of 14. By the way, the Raccoons are merely seventh in runs scored, but have allowed the least runs (although the Crusaders’ offense, which had regained Stanton Martin by now, could easily slash their way through the Coons to gain first place in both tables).

Projected matchups:
Kenichi Watanabe (5-3, 2.44 ERA) vs. Greg Connor (13-6, 3.17 ERA)
Nick Brown (14-9, 2.57 ERA) vs. Whit Reeves (17-11, 3.98 ERA)
Kelvin Yates (21-3, 2.34 ERA) vs. Angel Javier (19-6, 3.14 ERA)
Cássio Boda (6-6, 4.28 ERA) vs. Jim Baker (13-10, 3.72 ERA)

As mentioned, our co-aces will start the games on short rest, as will Boda. We have to keep Fuentes out of this series, because his start will be an auto-loss. We might be able to hide him in the Titans series on the weekend, but he can’t start in this series, because it would be the end of us. We’ve been slightly protective of Brown and Yates over the season, but now the game is on. No more babysitting.

Besides, the Crusaders seemed to have the same thoughts, as it appeared they skipped George Kirk (3-5, 4.76 ERA), to get all worthy arms into this series. All their starters are righties, which might help us, or might not (our LHP/RHP splits are fairly even).

Game 1
POR: SS Flores – CF Castro – LF Pruitt – RF Black – 1B Quebell – C Bowen – 3B Sharp – 2B Nomura – P Watanabe
NYC: CF R. Pena – 2B J. Hernandez – LF M. Ortíz – RF S. Martin – SS Caraballo – 1B T. Mullins – 3B M. Williams – C D. Anderson – P Connor

The Martin Brothers produced a run in the first inning when Ortíz doubled and Stanton singled him in with two outs to take a 1-0 lead. Through four innings, the Raccoons’ half of the box scored showed a Quebell walk and Bowen hitting into a double play and really nothing else. The Crusaders got Martin and Caraballo on with singles to start the bottom 4th, but Mullins grounded into a fielder’s choice (and then was almost picked off), Marc Williams struck out, and Anderson grounded out to Flores. Still 1-0, Coons still hitless, but Luke Black led off the fifth with a single, only to be starved out at first base.

The Crusaders worked their way through the Coons’ battery in the bottom of the inning. Roberto Pena drew a leadoff walk, then stole two bases off a shamefully challenged Craig Bowen. Hits by Hernandez and Ortíz plated two runs for a 3-0 lead. Ted Mullins’ leadoff jack in the bottom 6th put the game to rest at 4-0. The Raccoons still had not enjoyed a RISP situation the entire game. The Crusaders’ Greg Connor carried a 3-hit shutout into the ninth inning until Castro singled his way on there, and Pruitt homered out of the blue to cut the Crusaders’ lead in half. No outs, Scott Hood appeared to close this one, 97 strikeouts in 73 innings. He walked the Duke to bring the tying run to the plate, but those tying run batters were then chainsawed into fine grain, as Quebell, Bowen, and Crespo went down in order. 4-2 Crusaders.

Well, that… That was a team not getting the bats up. We’ve seen enough of this recently. Alright, boys, that was your free loss. You gotta win three now!

Elks lost, too, falling four behind.

And how about cockiness? The Crusaders now felt comfortable enough to bring George Kirk into the second game against Brownie!

Game 2
POR: SS Flores – CF Castro – LF Pruitt – RF Black – 1B Quebell – C Bowen – 3B Sharp – 2B Nomura – P Brown
NYC: CF R. Pena – 2B J. Hernandez – RF S. Martin – LF M. Ortíz – SS Caraballo – C J. Lopez – 1B T. Mullins – 3B M. Williams – P Kirk

While Kirk’s otherwise spotty resume showed “mild” success against the Raccoons in years prior, he had been lit up by them this year already. But the first guy to get lit up in this game, unfortunately, was co-ace Brown. Hernandez and Martin chipped singles, Ortíz battled out a walk, and while Caraballo lined out softly to Sharp, Jorge Lopez fired a grand slam to explode the Raccoons into a million splinters. After that four-piece Brown always came up in big spots in the top of innings. He was up with the bases loaded in both the second and third innings, resulting in an RBI groundout once, and with the score 4-3 after a 2-run double by Sharp in the top 3rd made the final out on a line drive to Ortíz in left. On the mound, he struggled mightily, and didn’t retire anybody in the fifth inning. Martin doubled, Ortíz walked again, and Brown was gone. Marcos Bruno was placed in the tight spot, figuring that if he could get out of this without the runners scoring, the Raccoons were still trailing by only one run and could still climb back into this game. Bruno struck out Caraballo (who actually led this team in RBI with 108), and Lopez hit into a double play.

The top 6th started with Kirk’s sixth walk of the day, handed to Sharp. Nomura and Crespo both made outs to Ortíz before Vic Flores also walked. Castro game up, pulled a grounder through the hole on the right side and Sharp was sent to score from second – tied game! Unfortunately, Pruitt’s grounder was intercepted by Caraballo to end the inning, and Pruitt was removed in a double switch as Law Rockburn entered and Crespo stayed in left – which came mighty close to being the move that ended the Coons’ season.

The Coons had runners in scoring position against Kirk, who had now walked eight, in the top 7th, only for Nomura to swing over a bouncer for the third strike and third out. In the eighth, the #3 spot came up with Flores on base and two outs. Ryan Miller hit for Ed Bryan, but was taught a lesson by Robbie Wills and handed a no-doubt K. Facing Scott Hood again, the Coons didn’t do anything in the ninth, but once John Bennett held the Crusaders down for two innings got another chance in the top 10th, where Sharp hit a leadoff single, which was Yoshi Yamada’s call. However, the Crusaders had by now replaced Jorge Lopez and his mediocre arm with Daryl Anderson and his strong arm. Yamada didn’t find a spot to steal and was ultimately stranded on second.

In the bottom 10th we faced the heart of the order, right-left-right. I was unwilling to use Angel in a tied game on the road, but Bennett had already pitched two innings, Bruno, Bryan, Rockburn had all been used already, and the next-best pick was Adam Riddle, which was no good pick at all. Bennett stayed in the game, retired Stanton Martin to short, and then we rolled the dice by putting Martin Ortíz (.297, 23 HR, 100 RBI) on base intentionally so Bennett could face a right-hander. It was gutsy, ballsy, and it worked. Caraballo popped out, PH Hector Cardenas grounded out, the game continued. Jose Cruz hit a pinch-hit single in Bennett’s place in the 11th, only for Luke Black to go to 0-6 on the day with a double play. By the 12th, Angel Casas was pitching.

Ricardo Chavez made his major league debut in 1997, at the age of 20, for the Wolves. He had 106 AB that year, batting .255, the most AB he would ever have for one team in one season. Since 2003 he had totaled 41 AB, batting .317, for three different teams. He batted with no outs in the bottom 13th, grounded to Nomura, and Nomura blew the play. The winning run was on, was bunted to second, and then Chavez stole third against the still unchallenging Bowen. Angel needed a strikeout against Marc Williams really hard, the count ran full, close call on the edge of the zone – and he got the call, Williams was out. Anderson then flew out softly to right, and we continued playing.

After that close call, the Coons had Castro draw a walk off Rodrigo Garcia to start the 14th. Kuni Sato had been inserted in the #3 slot, playing short, earlier when Angel had entered, and hit a ball into the gap for an RBI double, and the first run since the sixth inning! Black was walked intentionally, Quebell struck out, and Bowen singled to load the bases, which brought up Angel Casas. We needed him to pitch another inning really badly, so he batted with the sacks full and one out. His only PA this year had resulted in him being hit by a pitch. Here, he popped out. When Gutierrez hit for Nomura, he popped out. Three more stranded.

And then Ian Burns hit a leadoff single in the bottom 14th. Jorge Ortega bunted him into scoring position for the Martin Brothers. Casas battled down Stanton to strike him out in a full count. With a base open, Ortíz was walked intentionally again, pulling up Caraballo, who sent an 0-1 pitch to left, Crespo moved over, and had it. 5-4 Raccoons. Castro 3-6, BB, RBI; Cruz (PH) 1-1; Sato 1-1, 2B, RBI; Bowen 2-5, 2 BB; Sharp 2-4, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Bruno 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K; Rockburn 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K; Bennett 3.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K; Casas 3.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 3 K, W (5-1);

WHOAH.

Nick Brown’s poor outing saw him strike out four, which was not enough to even match his own franchise record for strikeouts, falling short at 239. The record was 240, and 238-K-Kelvin was up next.

The Elks pounded the Indians, 11-5, to reset the division to the same position we had started the week in. Crusaders leading the Coons by one, Elks by three.

It was a costly win. Angel is probably rendered out for the next two games, but definitely for game 3. Bruno will assume closing duties, which means our middle relief is getting thin. If Kel doesn’t go at least six, better seven, we’re in a boatload of trouble.

Game 3
POR: SS Flores – CF Castro – LF Pruitt – RF Black – 1B Quebell – 3B Sharp – C Esquivel – 2B J. Gutierrez – P Yates
NYC: CF R. Pena – 2B J. Hernandez – LF M. Ortíz – RF S. Martin – SS Caraballo – 1B T. Mullins – 3B M. Williams – C D. Anderson – P Reeves

Wednesday’s first inning was WAY more pleasant that Tuesday’s. After Vic Flores got nicked by a pitch, Castro singled, and Pruitt drove them in with a liner into right. 2-0 Coons, and Kel maintained that in the bottom half, and he tied Brownie’s single season strikeout mark in the second when he sat down Williams, and when Julio Hernandez went down looking to end the bottom 3rd, we had a new record holder (but mind that Brownie will start the season finale).

A leadoff walk to Ortíz in the bottom 4th spelled trouble, and when Vic Flores bombled Stanton Martin’s grounder the Crusaders had the tying runs on with no outs. Sharp made a strong play on Caraballo’s grounder, and managed to turn it into a double play, bailing out Yates and Flores, who played Ted Mullins’ grounder to satisfaction to end the inning.

The sixth inning turned out to be pivotal, and not in a good way. Black hit a leadoff double, and the Crusaders put Quebell on intentionally only to have Sharp hit right into the teeth of the defense for a double play. The Coons didn’t score, and then Hernandez led off the bottom half with a single. Martin Ortíz hit his 24th bomb to tie the game, and then Martin singled, Caraballo singled, and all **** was going down. Law Rockburn entered and registered three outs, but the lead was gone (and so was Kel’s chance to bump Scott Wade out of the joint most-wins-in-a-season leadership). The Coons had runners on the corners with two outs and Pruitt batting in the seventh. With the count 3-0, Pruitt swung and popped out to short. After stranding two more in the eighth we were able to watch in awe as Francisco Caraballo took Kaz Kichida deep in the eighth, two more men were put on base by Kaz, and when Bryan appeared to face the left-handed Apasyu Britton, he allowed an RBI single in his typical uselessness. For all intents and purposes this should have been game over, but Tomas Castro reached base with two outs in the ninth against lefty Rodrigo Garcia. Pruitt batted and rammed a double off the wall (and not far beneath the top) in right center, scoring Castro and representing the tying run for the Duke, who grounded a full-count pitch to left and past Jorge Ortega for a single, and Pruitt scored, AND WE’RE STILL NOT DEAD YET!!

Jose Cruz batted for Quebell, was hit, and that brought up Sharp, who grounded out. In the bottom of the inning, Bryan got two outs before we put Stanton Martin on intentionally. Too bad Ortega singled, bringing up Ted Mullins. With defeat looming, Marcos Bruno was brought into the game, but it was too late. The Crusaders walked off on Mullins’ single, on a 2-2 pitch, to left. 5-4 Crusaders. Pruitt 2-5, 2B, 3 RBI; Black 3-5, 2B, RBI; Sharp 3-5; Rockburn 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Yeah, it’s over. Because look what’s left in our quiver. Cássio Boda, and a burnt out pen. And even if they somehow squeeze out a win, a split ain’t enough.

****ing Ed Bryan.

Game 4
POR: SS Flores – LF Castro – 1B Pruitt – RF Black – C Bowen – 3B Sharp – CF Trevino – 2B J. Gutierrez – P Boda
NYC: CF R. Pena – 2B J. Hernandez – LF M. Ortíz – RF S. Martin – SS Caraballo – 3B M. Williams – 1B O. Rios – C D. Anderson – P A. Javier

The Raccoons squeezed out a run in the top 1st before the Crusaders physically stomped Boda into the mound, ravaging him for eight hits and four runs in four innings. The Coons amounted to three hits in five innings before that burnt out bullpen came into play. Sergio Vega was tabbed, the only guy not used so far in this series (apart from Fuentes), and promptly gave up another run in the fifth, and another one in the sixth, which he didn’t even finish after 2-out walks to Pena and Hernandez. The Raccoons never even came close to scoring again versus Angel Javier, who pitched eight strong innings whiffing as many, as the Crusaders in a very controlled manner pretty much decided the CL North in their favor. The Raccoons had runners on the corners with two out in the ninth, but Bob Evans struck out Tomas Castro to turn a narrative that had started wonderfully in April into a French drama where everybody dies in the end. 6-1 Crusaders. Castro 2-4, BB; Bowen 1-2, 2 BB, 2B; Cash 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K;

TECHNICALLY, the magic number was one, but c’mon, whom are you gonna –

Raccoons (97-62) vs. Titans (78-81) – September 28-30, 2007

Do we really have to play this? I don’t feel like it.

Projected matchups:
Raúl Fuentes (10-12, 4.70 ERA) vs. Jason O’Halloran (15-10, 3.41 ERA)
Kenichi Watanabe (5-4, 2.78 ERA) vs. Bryce Hildred (7-16, 3.97 ERA)
Nick Brown (14-9, 2.69 ERA) vs. Jeremy Peterson (8-16, 4.33 ERA)

Game 1
BOS: 2B D. Silva – SS Hutchinson – 1B A. Munoz – C Suda – CF J. Gusmán – LF Bayle – RF Garrison – 3B B. Boyle – P O’Halloran
POR: 3B Flores – CF Castro – 1B Pruitt – RF Black – C Bowen – LF Cruz – 2B Sato – SS R. Miller – P Fuentes

Daniel Silva – leadoff double. Of course he scored, and the Titans didn’t back down afterwards. In the third they had two on when Rudy Garrison singled to right. Suda scored, Black’s throw home went into nowhere, and another run scored on the error to make it 3-0. The Raccoons were donated an unearned run in the fifth on a Hutchinson error, and scored a second run in the bottom 6th when Cruz had a triple to center and scored on a sac fly, but Fuentes’ date of expiration didn’t read “best before the seventh inning” for no reason. He drilled Bruce Boyle to start the seventh, then allowed a gigantic pinch-hit home run to Jim Brulhart. Kichida replaced Fuentes, had Silva pop to left, where Castro couldn’t contain the bloop and dropped it for a single(!?), and then Flores couldn’t play Hutchinson’s bunt and the Titans had another single. Anastasio Munoz doubled, 6-2, and Kichida then threw a wild one to make it 7-2. Then he walked two, and Rudy Garrison singled, 9-2. Riddle replaced Kichida, and walked Boyle before the Titans somehow made the required second and third outs. 10-3 Titans. Flores 3-5, 3B, 2B; Pruitt 2-4, BB, RBI; Bowen 2-4; Cruz 1-2, 2 BB, 3B;

The Crusaders fell 6-3 to the Indians, but since the Elks also lost against the Loggers, 7-5, after Juichi Fujita blew a 5-2 lead, the division was locked up in the Crusaders’ favor. It’s their first division title since *1979*! They had finished last TEN times in the meantime. The Cyclones also clinched the FL East to set the playoff field, with only home field advantage left to be decided between the 101-59 Stars and 100-60 Crusaders. Falcons will be #3, Cyclones #4.

Game 2
BOS: CF J. Gusmán – SS Hutchinson – 1B A. Munoz – C Suda – LF Garrison – 3B B. Boyle – RF Bayle – 2B D. Silva – P Conner
POR: 3B Flores – CF Crespo – LF Pruitt – RF Black – C Bowen – 1B Quebell – SS R. Miller – 2B J. Gutierrez – P Watanabe

A Black sac fly put the Raccoons ahead 1-0 in the bottom 1st, but Watanabe unraveled for a single to Suda and two subsequent walks to load the bases with no outs in the second. Jimmy Bayle’s infield single didn’t help, and Silva plated the go-ahead run with a groundout before Bruce Boyle was cut down at home by Black on Ray Conner’s (10-5, 4.33 ERA) fly out to right. Daniel Silva hit a 2-out RBI single to make it 3-1 on an ineffective Watanabe by the fourth. The Titans later got their fourth run on a Bowen throwing error. Miller drove in Quebell with two outs in the seventh to maintain a faint illusion of a close game, and when Daniel Sharp had a leadoff single as pinch-hitter in the bottom 8th, the tying run came to the plate. Crespo would single to put the tying run on base, but Pruitt whiffed and Black popped out to shallow left before Manuel Martinez shut up the Raccoons in the ninth. 4-2 Titans. Crespo 2-4; Sharp (PH) 1-1;

****ing Daniel Silva ought to be arrested for cruelty to small animals… ****head.

Game 3
BOS: 2B D. Silva – SS Hutchinson – 1B A. Munoz – C Suda – CF J. Gusmán – RF Brulhart – LF Bayle – 3B M. Austin – P Hildred
POR: CF Castro – 3B Sharp – LF Pruitt – RF Black – 1B Quebell – SS R. Miller – C Esquivel – 2B Nomura – P Brown

After Sharp doubled home Castro in the first, the Coons had runners on the corners with no outs for Nomura, who hit into a double play to Hildred, with Miller not twitching. Brown hardly met a 1-2 pitch from Hildred and chopped it into the ground five feet from home, but managed to outrun Suda’s clumsy play to be safe at first with an RBI infield single. At that point he had already matched his career high with strikeout #240 (Suda), the franchise record of 241 K set by Yates in New York (Gusmán), but then had to wait until the fourth when he fooled Suda again for the new franchise mark of 242 strikeouts. Not that he had a good start. His control was overly wonky and he walked three in the first four innings, but the Titans couldn’t get the ball to fall in for hits when they didn’t take ball four and were held to two hits through seven, scoring no runs.

The Raccoons left runners everywhere after the second inning before loading the bases on a Quebell single, Miller walk, and Esquivel single in the bottom 6th. Yoshi batted with one out, straight into a double play. Brownie hit a leadoff single in the bottom 7th and went to third on Castro’s double. Sharp popped out and Pruitt was walked intentionally to bring up the Duke, who sent a slow grounder up the middle that Silva couldn’t turn into two and not even one: infield single, third run in. The Coons scored one more on Quebell’s single.

The Titans broke the spell put on them by the Raccoons’ defense after that, with Mark Austin hitting a leadoff double in the eighth. Thomas Watts singled, and Silva’s groundout scored their first run and also chased Brown in the process. Bruno took over, walked Hutchinson, and surrendered the game-tying home run to Munoz. 13-5 hits, 4-4 runs.

Facing Risto Mäkelä in the ninth, Matt Pruitt led off with a double. Mäkelä struck out three to send the game to extras. They would eventually walk off on consecutive 2-out doubles off Manuel Martinez in the 11th, hit by Black and Quebell. The walkoff was rather uncelebratory. 5-4 Raccoons. Castro 2-5, BB, 2B; Black 3-6, 2B, RBI; Quebell 3-5, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Esquivel 2-3, BB; Brown 7.1 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 4 K and 2-3, RBI; Rockburn 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;


In other news

September 25 – TOP INF Jim Phillips (.241, 2 HR, 46 RBI) might miss 10 or more months with a torn labrum.
September 26 – The Rebels’ OF/1B Gerardo Rios (.281, 32 HR, 102 RBI) ends his season with a concussion.
September 29 – CIN INF Dennis Berman (.290, 20 HR, 85 RBI) is lost for the playoffs with a sprained ankle.
October 1 – It’s contagious: CIN 1B Ray Gilbert (.288, 8 HR, 55 RBI) will miss the playoffs with – a sprained ankle.

Complaints and stuff

Pitching everybody on short rest in New York was probably a mistake, but they botched the season well before that. Being up 10 1/2 games on June 27*, the Raccoons sat at 55-21. They played .500 ball from there to completely blow a wonderful picture being painted of a playoff fairytale. All that’s left now are some shards in a broken frame.

We haven’t won a season series against the Indians since ’99, and against the Titans since ’96.

Nick Brown’s last eight starts: 0-2, 3.51 ERA, 43 H, 22 BB, 56 K – make of that what you want.

The key questions are now on our free agents, of which we have a number. Flores, Sharp, Bennett, Sato, Bruno.

*I mentioned June 26 before, which isn’t quite true. They went to 55-21 on June 26, then had a rainout on June 27, with the Crusaders losing on the 27th to give them the 10 1/2 lead.

[Questdog]

Not a great finish, but a great season nonetheless!

[Orcin]

Originally Posted by Westheim

2007 PORTLAND RACCOONS
PREDICTION TIME:

It’s been ten years. Ten years of losing.

This year, it will end. The Raccoons will win. They will not compete for anything related to October (watch those Crusaders closely!), but they will get over the hump.

(snip)

This team has an 85-77 finish in it. I believe that. (I have to).

You did a fair bit better than even that bold prediction. Nice turnaround!

[Westheim]

I feel crushed regardless...

PS: Updated the final standings, the Cyclones actually made up their missing game on Monday for no reason.

[Texasborn]

Personally I blame Questdog with his Jinx shenanigans.Still, we had a good year.