[Westheim]

Raccoons (85-71) @ Indians (79-77) – September 26-28, 2011

The Indians had a 5-game winning streak going, and they had smashed the Raccoons over the course of the season, having already grabbed the season series at 10-5. They were fourth in runs scored, and sixth in runs allowed.

Projected matchups:
Hector Santos (4-2, 4.21 ERA) vs. Curtis Tobitt (10-5, 2.61 ERA)
Nick Brown (16-7, 2.64 ERA) vs. Bob King (17-11, 3.44 ERA)
Colin Baldwin (14-9, 3.00 ERA) vs. Tom Weise (14-11, 3.42 ERA)

Three right-handers we know quite well; I have settled on skipping Umberger. Baldwin will thus start on short rest, but he can pitch five innings and then we’ll find some warm body.

Game 1
POR: 2B Nomura – SS Palmer – LF Pruitt – 1B Quebell – RF Fucito – C Bowen – CF White – 3B M. Gutierrez – P Santos
IND: 3B Luján – 2B Butler – C Paraz – RF J. Ortíz – LF D. Graham – 1B S. Guerra – CF Luxton – SS R. Miller – P Tobitt

Unexpectedly, the Raccoons quickly threw up a 2-spot against Tobitt, who had walked 28 batters in 124.1 innings, but issued two walks in the first inning, loaded the bases, and a Fucito sac fly and a Bowen single drove in the two runs. Tobitt got the hang of things soon after, so Santos would be well advised to not fudge up the 2-0 lead, but a solo homer by Santiago Guerra cut the gap in half as soon as the second inning. Things lingered for a while, with Quebell turning a crucial double play to bail Santos out of a jam in the fourth inning. Santos struck out only a pair in five innings, while Tobitt whiffed seven Furballs, but in the sixth inning he became iffy again. Bowen slapped a single to right to start the inning before Pat White drew a walk. Tobitt failed to find the corners, threw a fat pitch to Hector Santos, and that one actually ended up in the rightfield corner on a tremendous hard liner. Both runners scored, the Coons were up 4-1. Tobitt didn’t make it out of the inning while Santos went six and two thirds, leaving with a left-hander in Robbie Luxton at the plate, and another left-hander (Dave Graham) already on base after a walk. Luxton hit a really hard grounder off George Youngblood, but Quebell had that one covered. Bottom 8th, Rockburn was in and allowed a leadoff double to ex-Coon Ryan Miller, threw a wild pitch, but struck out Antonio Luján and Bob Butler to escape that mess. The Raccoons placed runners on the corners, but Quebell and Sanez couldn’t get them in. It didn’t matter after all: Angel Casas put the Indians’ heart of the order away on seven pitches. 4-1 Critters. Nomura 2-4, BB; Bowen 2-4, RBI; Santos 6.2 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, W (5-2) and 1-2, 2B, 2 RBI;

Yeah, Santos’ double was the team’s only extra-base hit.

… and ever and always I have to tell myself, next year all the injured boys will be back, and the malaise will be a little less unbearable.

And then all plans to have Brownie start two more games went down the river – literally. Tuesday brought heavy rains, and with that, the game was washed out. In addition to that, the Crusaders clinched the division on Tuesday. Well, at least it wasn’t us doing something wrong again.

Game 2
POR: 2B Nomura – SS Palmer – LF Saenz – 1B Pruitt – RF Fucito – C Bowen – CF White – 3B M. Gutierrez – P Brown
IND: CF L. Martinez – 2B Butler – LF D. Graham – RF J. Ortíz – 1B S. Guerra – C R. Speed – 3B J. Phillips – SS R. Miller – P King

Nick Brown tied Doug Morrow and Alfonso Velasco for 26th place in career strikeouts only in the fourth inning with his third K of the day, Juan Ortíz going down. At that point it was a 1-1 game, with Brownie chipping in an RBI double himself in the third inning, but the Indians tied it up in the fourth after a leadoff triple hit by Bob Butler. Graham’s sac fly brought him in. Butler was also another sore on the hairy buttocks in the bottom of the sixth, lining a single to left to start that inning. Graham then doubled, and those runners weren’t staying on base either, and Butler and Graham indeed completely owned him, combining to go 6-for-8 against Brown and in the progress hit for the cycle. When Graham homered with two outs in the seventh, that ended Brown’s season on a pretty sad note. Apart from his double, the offense was entirely tooth- and clueless, and only got on the board for an unearned run in the ninth inning, down to their last out, which cost Bob King a complete game. Salvadaro Soure struck out Pat White to put this one away. 5-2 Indians. McNeela (PH) 1-1, RBI;

Richard Speed went down on strikes in that malicious sixth inning to move Brownie into sole possession of 26th place on the strikeout board. He ends the year with 2,297 K, which leaves him 25 off Kisho Saito’s franchise mark.

Game 3
POR: 2B Nomura – SS Palmer – LF Pruitt – 1B Quebell – C McNeela – RF Gentry – 3B Canning – CF Trevino – P McDonald
IND: CF L. Martinez – 3B Luján – C Paraz – RF J. Ortíz – LF D. Graham – 2B Butler – 1B S. Guerra – SS R. Miller – P Weise

McDonald hadn’t pitched in a while, which initially didn’t show, as he sat down the first five batters without much fuss. Then came Butler, the human eye sore, once again, and things started rolling. Butler singled, Guerra homered, 2-0. Miller singled, Weise doubled, 3-0. Leon Martinez singled, 4-0. They added another run on a Butler sac fly in the third inning, putting the Raccoons in a 5-0 hole. And the Raccoons were making slow. Slow, slow. The continents were drifting faster than the Raccoons’ offense was on the move to maybe a run, maybe even to get on base. Tom Weise sat down the first 13 Coons that came to the plate until a Tom McNeela single up the middle ended the bid. And then a grounder to short by Brett Gentry ended McNeela’s presence on base and the inning, too.

McDonald was removed after Antonio Luján’s leadoff single in the bottom of the fifth inning. Ward was tasked with the largely left-handed middle of the order, which resulted in a walk to Jose Paraz and an Ortíz single to load the bases. Graham grounded into a force at home, after which Slayton replaced Ward and allowed a slam to Bob Butler. Down by nine runs, Jerry Saenz’ pinch-hit 3-run homer in the top 6th was about meaningless, or so it seemed. Gibson surrendered another run in the bottom 8th, Ryan Miller shining in the wrong spot with a leadoff triple, before the team not only knocked out another Indians starter with one out left in the game, but also put up a 4-spot to ruin Weise’s line completely. Yet, while that chain of singles, a walk by Weise, and a wild pitch by Soure in itself was a fine thing, the hole was just too damn big. 10-7 Indians. White (PH) 1-1; McNeela 2-4, 3B; Gutierrez 1-2, 2B, 2 RBI; Trevino 2-4; Saenz (PH) 1-3, HR, 3 RBI; Vega 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K;

Raccoons (86-73) @ Crusaders (94-65) – September 30-October 2, 2011

The Crusaders had won their division on Tuesday. This series was wholly unnecessary. We were 8-7 against them this season, and it hadn’t gotten us anything, perhaps because of our wholly ****ty performance against the Loggers and Indians. They had churned out 820 runs so far, by far the most in the Continental League, and their 650 runs allowed had them in the top 3.

Projected matchups:
Colin Baldwin (14-9, 3.00 ERA) vs. Pancho Trevino (12-9, 3.35 ERA)
Bill Conway (14-11, 3.38 ERA) vs. Ken Maddox (11-10, 4.28 ERA)
Hector Santos (5-2, 3.86 ERA) vs. Ed Winn (2-5, 4.50 ERA)

And we finish a season in which we saw only 34 left-handed starters with another full slate of righties, missing left-hander Takeru Sato by a day.

Let’s keep the heads up high, don’t get swept, although 9-9 stinks and all, and head into the offseason without anybody getting stuck in the fence with their claws.

Game 1
POR: 2B Nomura – RF Fucito – LF Pruitt – 1B Quebell – C Bowen – CF White – 3B M. Gutierrez – SS Roudabush – P Baldwin
NYC: CF R. Pena – 2B Caraballo – LF M. Ortíz – RF S. Martin – 1B Manfull – SS J. Ortega – C D. Anderson – 3B Petersen – P P. Trevino

Leaving the heads high was made a tall task from the very beginning of the series, as Colin Baldwin was torn to shreds by the Crusaders in the first inning already. Roberto Pena, Martin Ortíz, and Stanton Martin loaded the bases, and a 2-run single by Jorge Ortega and a 2-run double by Daryl Anderson put the Critters into a 4-0 hole. That hole’s depth was reduced by half over the next two innings – Quebell hitting a leadoff single in the second inning and was smuggled around to score, and Jimmy Fucito hit his maiden majors bomb in the third – but Baldwin continued to get battered and conceded two more runs to Ortega and rookie Tommie Petersen in the bottom of the third and was yanked after just three innings. That didn’t mean that the creaming was over. Not by far. Huerta and Ward were both charged with single runs in relief, and in the eighth inning Josh Gibson was socked for three runs including a 2-shot by Stanton Martin. That was Martin’s 29th on the season. You had to add the output of the top 3 Raccoons together to just barely outpower him, and Martin wasn’t even the most prolific home run hitter on his own team – that was Martin Ortíz with 33. 11-2 Crusaders. Nomura 2-5, 2B; Trevino 1-1, BB;

Well, dignity is a fickle thing…

Game 2
POR: 2B Nomura – SS Palmer – LF Pruitt – 1B Quebell – C Bowen – RF Gentry – CF White – 3B M. Gutierrez – P Conway
NYC: CF R. Pena – 2B Caraballo – RF S. Martin – 1B Manfull – C G. Ortíz – 3B Bond – LF B. Speed – SS J. Ortega – P Maddox

Pruitt, Quebell, and Bowen all drew 2-out walks in the first inning, only for Gentry to strike out. Yoshi would single in Gutierrez with two outs in the top 2nd to actually take a lead, and the Crusaders didn’t get a hit off Conway through three innings. They had gotten eight in the same amount of innings off Baldwin on Friday. But just before we could wipe the tears from our black-and-white faces, Francisco Caraballo opened the bottom 4th with a single to left and Stanton Martin jerked another home run, #30, a score-flipper, and that broke a tie with B.J. Manfull for second place on their team. Pena homered the following inning, 3-1. The Crusaders had five runners in five innings, and scored three. The Raccoons had ten runners, including six who walked, and hit into a double play and stranded eight.

Maddox would be gone after his seventh walk issued, which opened the seventh inning and was drawn by Yoshi. Jose Ramos came in and was no big help with a single to Pruitt and a walk to Quebell, loading the bases with the go-ahead run on first base and one out for Bowen, who lined out to Manfull, and PH Jerry Saenz went the same way on this team’s way into irrelevancy, unless the bottom of the order could stir it a bit in the eighth inning. Pat White singled, stole second base, then scored on a gapper by Gutierrez that became an RBI double, and Gutierrez was the tying run in scoring position with nobody out. Conway had held the fort more or less through seven innings and was now hit for by Jimmy Fucito, facing right-hander Dave Shannon. That count ran full, and then Fucito hit a hard shot to center that kept growing and went over the fence! Score-flipping home run for the rookie nobody knows anyway! After hat entirely unexpected turnaround, Law Rockburn and Angel Casas extinguished the Crusaders in just six batters and 15 pitches. 4-3 Furballs. Pruitt 2-3, 2 BB; Gutierrez 2-4, 2B, RBI; Fucito (PH) 1-1, HR, 2 RBI; Conway 7.0 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 4 K, W (15-11);

Top Crusaders in homers: 33 – 30 – 29
Top Raccoons in homers: 12 – 12 – 9

I just want to cry.

Game 3
POR: 2B Nomura – SS Palmer – LF Pruitt – 1B Quebell – RF Fucito – C Owens – 3B Canning – CF S. Trevino – P Santos
NYC: CF R. Pena – 2B Caraballo – LF M. Ortíz – RF S. Martin – 1B Manfull – C G. Ortíz – 3B Bond – SS J. Ortega – P Winn

Santos tripled in his first at-bat in the game, which came with two outs in the third, so the Raccoons’ offense was not quite humming, and Yoshi didn’t get him in either. On the mound Santos faced the minimum the first time through the order, which included two leadoff singles and two double plays hit into by the Crusaders, and there was no score through three innings. The Coons took a lead in the fourth inning, though. Michael Palmer hit a leadoff double, moved up on Pruitt’s grounder to first and scored on Quebell’s fly to center. But a 1-0 lead was as good as no lead against the Crusaders. B.J. Manfull unleashed an absolute rocket in the bottom of the fifth, giving the Crusaders their third 30 HR smasher, and also a tied ballgame. It wouldn’t stay tied forever, and it was actually Ed Winn who was the biggest factor in the Raccoons’ efforts to cough up a run in the top 7th. Fucito singled, there were two wild pitches in the inning, and then finally a double by Walt Canning to take a 2-1 lead. Santos kept going, finished the seventh without too much hassle, and the Raccoons then got a pair of walks off Winn to start the top 8th. Pruitt hit a really crappy grounder that nevertheless wasn’t played by anybody for anything, and the bases were loaded with no outs, and Winn was gone for left-hander Francois Picard. COME ON NOW! SINK THEM!! Nope, of course not. Quebell grounded to first, where Manfull masterfully threw home to nip Nomura, and then Fucito hit into a double play. Santos also made it through the eighth, and was hit for with two outs in the ninth and Canning on first. Gentry grounded out to Kevin Bond, and hopefully that was the Coons’ last at-bat of this sad season. Angel Casas came into the game, and was going to face Caraballo and the Martin Brothers. Caraballo walked on four pitches, but Ortíz flew out softly to Pruitt. Stanton Martin came up and hit a ball hard to short, Palmer to Yoshi, to Quebell, screw you, Purple Poopers! 2-1 Raccoons! Canning 2-4, 2B, RBI; Santos 8.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, W (6-2) and 1-3, 3B;

In other news

September 28 – CIN RF/LF Will Bailey (.318, 21 HR, 103 RBI) is lost for the season with a sprained ankle.
September 29 – CIN SP Javier Cruz (14-11, 3.84 ERA) spins a 3-hit shutout of the Rebels. The Cyclones win 3-0.
September 30 – WAS RF/CF Victor Sarabia (.287, 9 HR, 60 RBI) will miss the rest of the season and the playoffs with a strained hamstring.
September 30 – Denver’s Curt Powell (1-5, 4.86 ERA), who missed almost the entire season with shoulder woes, spins a 3-hit shutout against the Wolves.
September 30 – Another 3-hitter is pitched by LAP SP Ernest Green (15-8, 3.66 ERA), who dominates the Scorpions for a shutout.
October 1 – MIL SP Roy Thomas (12-15, 4.29 ERA) needs surgery to remove bone chips in his elbow. He might miss the first month of the 2012 season.
October 2 – The Capitals drop a 10-5 decision to the Miners, but still make the playoffs when the Cyclones can’t break through the Buffaloes and drop their season finale as well, 4-1. The Capitals make the playoffs for the seventh time, and the first time in 14 years. They won the title in 1990, 1991, and 1997, and all six of their previous playoff appearances came in that time frame.

Complaints and stuff

The Raccoons finish with a number of wins starting with 8 for the first time since 1994, when they went 81-81! There was a 9 and a 10 after that, then a whole swarm of 7’s and 6’s, and since then the Raccoons finished with 9’s the last four seasons. Overall we are now 2,862-2,809 (.505) in the regular season. With the series win on the weekend, we ended up 10-8 against New York this year, our first series win against them since 2007.

Raccoons against other CL teams by winning percentage:

.524 – OCT, SFB
.521 – LVA
.508 – ATL
.506 – IND
.505 – MIL, TIJ, VAN
.495 – NYC
.486 – CHA
.477 – BOS

If Nick Brown had conceded one run or so in his last start, he would have even won the ERA title. On the other hand, Santos pitched to a 0.87 ERA over the last three starts and will start the 2012 season in the rotation for damn sure. The stuff hasn’t come alive for him just yet, but I think he’s good for 8 to 9 K/9.

And if the offense hadn’t shat their pants all year long, we’d now plan to take on the Thunder again.

A scouting update on October 1 also threw up a whole box of red flags regarding Jong-hoo Umberger. Sell! Sell! Sell now! Or at least tie him to the guardrails on I-5 and race off into the sunset.

Who else got a ratings slash? Ricardo Carmona. Of course he did. It’s that moldy atmosphere in Ham Lake.

Random stat: Yoshi Nomura completely owns the Elks’ Juichi Fujita. For his career, Yoshi has hit .347 with three homers in 72 AB off the only Elk that ever spun a no-hitter (not telling against whom!). There are three more pitchers with more than 30 AB against whom he’s batting at least .300, including Daniel Dickerson (.359), Bob King (.323) and Tommy Wilson (.303).