[Westheim]

As rosters expanded, the Raccoons added a few more players. The pen was added to as we recalled Josh Gibson (who had pitched in ghastly fashion in AAA) and George Youngblood (more walks than strikeouts). Third-string (soon to be the fourth-string) catcher Tom McNeela was also added, batting a paltry .206 in St. Pete. Finally, Walt Canning and Jimmy Fucito were added to the roster.

Prospects listed: zero.

Raccoons (76-53) @ Bayhawks (72-57) – September 1-3, 2014

The Bayhawks looked seriously playoff-bound thanks to a productive offense (second only to the Crusaders’ in the CL) and … well, decent enough pitching, and a weak South helps as well. They were seventh in runs scored, but never mind crummy pitching, they had already taken the season series against the Raccoons, who had won only one game against them in the six previous contests.

Projected matchups:
Hector Santos (13-7, 2.77 ERA) vs. Jared D’Attilo (5-9, 3.85 ERA)
Jonathan Toner (14-6, 2.59 ERA) vs. G.G. Williams (4-4, 3.92 ERA)
Bill Conway (9-4, 2.30 ERA) vs. Reynaldo Rendon (11-5, 3.63 ERA)

G.G. Williams, a former Coons farmhand, is a left-handed pitcher, the only such starter they have. They also have another Coons farmhand to close games (Salvadaro Soure) and two big-league relievers for the Coons in the pen (Law Rockburn, Adam Riddle). And never forget Ron Alston, whose power was unimpressing this year (20 HR).

The lone win had been a Nick Brown start, but he had pitched badly and hadn’t gotten out of the fifth inning. Pat Slayton (anyone remember that guy?) picked up the win in relief then, his last for the Raccoons. Slayton by now has pitched in 40 games for the Pacifics, seeing employment as a part-time closer. NOW I know why they suck so hard!

Game 1
POR: CF Carmona – 2B Sambrano – 3B Nunley – 1B Murphy – LF Richards – RF Bednarski – C Alexander – SS Taylor – P H. Santos
SFB: 1B A. Young – 3B J. Rodriguez – LF Alston – CF Almanza – SS Ingraham – 2B A. Martinez – RF Mattera – C Lefebure – P D’Attilo

Batting cleanup for the Bayhawks was September call-up Chris Almanza, who had batted .258/.354/.463 in AAA this year, hitting a modest 13 home runs. He also was not a centerfielder. And in his call-up in 2013, he had batted .037; 1-for-27.

As far as Bayhawks outfielders were concerned, Ron Alston was out of the game quickly after an errant Hector Santos pitch struck him in the shin in the third inning. That was probably going to leave a bruise, but everybody saw that it was unintentional. Santos had opened the inning by walking the pitcher… The Raccoons’ offense performed at similar levels, missing the mark far and wide. They had a chance in the second inning when Taylor came up with runners in scoring position after D-Alex’ 1-out double, but popped out to third and Santos was soon reduced a rubble by D’Attilo. In the fifth, Cookie had a 2-out single through Adam Young, stole second base (#100!), advanced on a wild pitch, and then was still left on base by Sandy Sambrano. Young in turn paired up with Javy Rodriguez to hit back-to-back doubles to right in the bottom of the fifth, plating the game’s first run off Santos. The best a wildly ineffective Santos deserved for six messy innings was D-Alex’ game-tying solo homer in the seventh inning that took him off the hook. Top 8th, 1-out singles to Nunley and Murphy were surrendered by Tommy Wooldridge, with the real question being why the heck a potential beast of a closer (90 K this year) was out there in the eighth inning. Canning ran for Nunley at this point, but Wooldridge struck out Richards and Merritt (batting for Bednarski), and nobody scored. The Birds also had two on against Chris Mathis in the bottom 8th, but Armando Martinez hit into an inning-ending double play. The game went to extras, with the Coons having nobody on with two outs in the top 10th. Soure was in his second inning for the Bayhawks. Heck, send McNeela to bat for Constantino. Lo and behold, McNeela whammied a 1-2 pitch to deep right and outta here to break the tie! Angel Casas had the bottom 10th. Leadoff single by Dan Hoover, whoever the **** that was. Almanza grounded to third base with one out, where Jon Merritt bungled the ball. Zach Ingraham struck out. Armando Martinez took a full count walk, loading the bases, and Gabriel Ortíz, that Raccoons-hurting-happy ex-Crusader, singled into center softly enough to plate two and walk off the Birds. 3-2 Bayhawks. Carmona 2-5; McNeela (PH) 1-1, HR, RBI; Murphy 3-5, 2B; Alexander 2-4, HR, RBI;

The runs were unearned, which didn’t make Casas’ pitching any better. I don’t think there’s a new contract in the books for him…

By the way, the Crusaders won, because of course they did.

Game 2
POR: CF Carmona – SS Howell – RF Bednarski – 1B Murphy – 3B Merritt – LF Fucito – 2B Bergquist – C Torruellas – P Toner
SFB: 1B A. Young – 3B J. Rodriguez – LF Alston – CF Almanza – SS Ingraham – 2B A. Martinez – RF D. Garcia – C Lefebure – P G.G. Williams

The Coons got a headstart in the first inning on Rob Howell’s double and the following 2-run homer by Stan Murphy, his 19th on the year. While Martinez homered off Toner, who opened his day with a 4-pitch walk to Young and outside that also liked to pitch in Santos’ tracks, in the second inning, the Coons remained ahead 2-1 for the moment, but failed to tack on. Howell had hits his next two times up, and Bednarski drew walks both times, in the third and fifth innings. Murphy whiffed to end the third, and hit into a double play to end the fifth.

Power for the Coons continued to come from unlikely sources, too, with Jimmy Fucito homering in solo fashion in the top of the sixth. The extended lead didn’t live long, as a home run by Javy Rodriguez cut Toner back to one run right away in the bottom of the inning, and that was only one of three deep drives off him in the inning. Howell had his fourth hit and his third double in the top 7th, but was again left in scoring position. Of course this was all just a setup for things to go wrong in real ****ty fashion the bottom 7th, in which Martinez, Omarion Thompson, and Michael Lefebure all hit soft singles to right, left, and center, respectively, to tie the game. It didn’t stay tied for long, as Sugano and Sakellaris each issued a walk in the bottom 8th before Sakellaris also surrendered an RBI single to Ingraham that put the Birds over the top. Ron Richards came close to a pinch-hit homer in the top 9th, but remember, this was the park that hadn’t allowed Luke Black to homer like ever, and he fell about 12 feet short. 4-3 Bayhawks. Howell 4-4, 3 2B; Murphy 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Fucito 2-4, HR, RBI;

Game 3
POR: CF Carmona – 2B Sambrano – 3B Nunley – 1B Murphy – LF Richards – RF Bednarski – C Alexander – SS Canning – P Conway
SFB: 1B A. Young – RF Blanc – LF Alston – CF Almanza – SS Ingraham – 2B A. Martinez – 3B J. Rodriguez – C Lefebure – P Rendon

The Coons had three hits in the first inning and didn’t score because the first guy with a hit (Carmona) was caught stealing. While we took the lead in the third when Carmona tripled with one out and scored on Sambrano’s grounder to second base, the Raccoons’ offensive failures became more and more appalling. In the fourth, Richards walked, Bednarski doubled, but then Alexander popped out, Canning was walked intentionally, and the third out was grabbed from Conway, whom Rendon easily fooled three times. Conway would get minor revenge in the fifth, striking out Rendon with Martinez on second base. Armando Martinez had hit a leadoff double, the first Bird to reach scoring position.

Rendon did not make it past six innings and Law Rockburn faced Conway to start the seventh inning in what still was a 1-0 game. Conway, a salty 2-for-54 on the year, lined a double to left to slightly stun the Bayhawks. Cookie grounded to the side of the mound, but legged out Rockburn’s throw, and we had runners on the corners through Sandy Sambrano’s at-bat ending with a foul pop, but then came Nunley and found the gap for a 2-run double. Conway however turned sour as soon as he had enjoyed that hitting success and was raked for a leadoff triple by Ingraham in the bottom 7th and an RBI single by Martinez before getting two more outs. When Omarion Thompson pinch-hit in the #9 hole, Ron Thrasher took care of that. The Coons clawed back in the top 8th with two outs. Seeley hit a single to left, stole second base, and scored on Bergquist’s double to left, where Ron Alston’s range was not what it was years ago. The Bayhawks didn’t rise again against Thrasher and Casas, as the Raccoons’ salvaged at least one game in a depressing set. 4-1 Critters. Carmona 3-5, 3B; Nunley 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Murphy 2-5; Bednarski 2-4, 2B; Seeley (PH) 1-1; Bergquist 1-1, 2B, RBI; Conway 6.2 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, W (10-4) and 1-3;

That Almanza thing might be something the Baybirds want to mull over again. He went 1-for-12 in this series.

Raccoons (77-55) vs. Indians (60-73) – September 5-7, 2014

The Indians were ninth in runs scored, but third in runs allowed in the league. While they were really not productive offensively, the Raccoons were still another 20 runs below them in offense. Also, they had handled the Critters well this season, holding a 6-5 advantage. They had a number of valuable offensive players like Juan Ortíz, Jong-beom Kym, and Clint Phillip either on the DL or ailing, so they could have an even harder time to score, though.

Projected matchups:
Nick Brown (12-6, 2.85 ERA) vs. Tom Weise (9-9, 4.10 ERA)
Hector Santos (13-7, 2.72 ERA) vs. Dan Lambert (6-12, 5.08 ERA)
Jonathan Toner (14-6, 2.64 ERA) vs. Alejandro Mendez (9-11, 3.01 ERA)

We get three right-handers, missing their lefty Chester Graham (9-8, 3.30 ERA) by one day, while the other southpaw Tristan Broun (9-9, 4.00 ERA) had left his last start with elbow inflammation and was unavailable as this series started, but was not on the DL and there was no real word on him that he was indeed NOT going to pitch on the weekend.

I’m up to shenanigans. Daniel Dickerson gets skipped on the off day and moves behind these three into the next game on Monday. We need somebody to pick up the slack on Tuesday (Gary Dupes lines up nicely with the date), and Brown will pitch Wednesday. What about Bill Conway? Did his hand get caught in a wood chipper? Not quite. But we’ll have a double header on the 12th with the Loggers, where Conway has a no-hit bid through six innings to pick up. I already hate the lineup for this game, however. It was one of those games where Cookie was missing, just before the All Star Game. Quebell’s in that lineup, but sneaking Cookie in for him won’t work out.

Game 1
IND: CF J. Wilson – RF A. Chavez – 2B Kym – 1B S. Guerra – C Padilla – 3B Dawson – SS Mathews – LF Tanner – P Weise
POR: CF Carmona – SS Sambrano – 3B Nunley – 1B Murphy – LF Richards – RF Bednarski – C Alexander – 2B Bergquist – P Brown

Off a shutout, Brownie got instant support when Carmona hit a leadoff jack in the first inning. I was really wondering where those power outbursts were coming from – not that I was minding them. The Coons had another scoring opportunity in the bottom 2nd, with Ron Richards hitting a soft leadoff single to left, followed by a hard Bednarski double to left. Two in scoring position, D-Alex up with nobody out, he ripped an RBI single to center, and Bednarski scored on Bergquist’s unfortunate double play. Still, up 3-0 after two! Not for long, though. John Wilson hit a 1-out triple in the third and scored on a wild pitch before Brown walked both Armando Chavez and Jong-beom Kym, who was nursing a mild back strain. The pitching coach hustled out to get him readjusted and Brown came back with a K to Santiago Guerra and an easy enough grounder to third from Dave Padilla. Phew.

Bottom 3rd, Cookie led off with an infield single and Sandy doubled over Chavez to deep right, but the ball came HARD off the fence and the third base coach threw Carmona an anchor at third base. Unbelievably enough, the Coons failed themselves to only one run as Nunley lined softly to Guerra, Murphy grounded out to short (that scored Cookie), and Richards grounded out to first. Too bad that Brownie just wasn’t right, either. Bednarski couldn’t get to a long fly by Chavez in the fifth and played it into an RBI triple, and Chavez also scored to get the Indians back to just a 4-3 deficit. The sixth saw three quick grounders off Brown and he somehow made it through the seventh despite another hit by John Wilson, but this had really not been a good start, and certainly not a follow-up on the shutout that was to be deemed worthy. He still was ahead, though, but insurance would certainly be welcome. Instead, Murphy stranded Cookie and Nunley in scoring position in the bottom 7th, and Sakellaris ****ed up colossally with Guerra and Padilla hitting hard singles off him to go onto the corners with nobody out in the eighth inning. Thrasher replaced him, ran a 1-2 pitch on Matt Pruitt, who then singled past a barely reacting Bergquist into rightfield to tie the game, and Joey Mathews’ double play grounder gave the Indians the lead. The bottom 8th saw Joel Davis walk Ron Richards leading off before serving up a real bean that Bednarski yanked for 410 feet to left, flipping the score back in the Coons’ favor, but that didn’t help Nick Brown’s W-L record, nor his mood, as he had already headed to the clubhouse to fill the pair of not-so-relieving Rons’ lockers with bees. 6-5 Raccoons. Carmona 2-5, HR, RBI; Sambrano 2-4, 2B; Bednarski 2-4, HR, 2B, 2 RBI;

Nick Brown could have passed Kel Yates for 12th in career strikeouts, but he fell three whiffs short with this very sub-par outing.

This loss meant mathematical elimination from the playoffs for Indy.

Game 2
IND: CF J. Wilson – RF Tanner – 2B Kym – 1B S. Guerra – C Padilla – 3B Mathews – SS Bowers – LF Baker – P Lambert
POR: CF Carmona – SS Sambrano – 3B Nunley – 1B Murphy – LF Richards – RF Seeley – 2B Bergquist – C McNeela – P Santos

The Coons’ leadoff batter had opened with a homer on Friday, but on Saturday it was John Wilson’s turn to shoot a rocket off Hector Santos’ second pitch of the game to put the Indians up 1-0 instantly. Wilson now had a 17-game hitting streak and 18 homers on the season. Dan Lambert would maintain a no-hitter through three innings, but not that 1-0 lead. McNeela walked in the bottom 3rd, was bunted to second by Santos, and when Carmona grounded to Kym (who had left the Friday game early in discomfort), the second baseman tossed it well past Guerra for a 2-base error that tied the score.

Let’s talk about cocky base running for a bit. Sandy walked after the Kym error, putting our two speed demons at first and second. They took off for a double steal, and Padilla’s throw actually went to second base and was not very good, either. The runners were safe, but Nunley couldn’t get through. The Coons actually got a hit via a Bergquist single in the fourth, so that bid was over, and in the fifth it was Carmona to reach with another soft single. He stole second base while Sandy made an out, and when Nunley walked those two took off again and this time Padilla even threw the ball away completely! Cookie scored on the error, giving the Coons a 2-1 lead, and Nunley was starved at third base after Murphy struck out. I’d bet that Carmona would have taken off again if a leaping Tom Bowers hadn’t spoiled his line drive to shallow center and retired him in the seventh inning.

All the base running in the world – and five stolen bases certainly weren’t shabby – was for naught however when the team only lands two hits. Santos wouldn’t stay near-perfect forever, either, and a leadoff double by Mathews in the eighth spoiled the lead rather quickly, as he came in to score on a sac fly. Santos finished eight, but was done, and so his last hope was the bottom 8th, which Sandy opened with a single off Joel Davis. Nunley flew out to right, but Murphy singled, moving the go-ahead run to second base for a pair of left-handed bats against the right-handed Davis. Ron Richards flew out to Rowan Tanner in really deep right before Seeley walked. D-Alex hit for Bergquist with the bases loaded and two outs, and Davis had trouble with the strike zone now after the Seeley walk. The count ran to 3-1 upon which D-Alex was signaled that if he moved as much as a whisker, he was a dead duck - … err, coon. He listened, looked, and took ball four to force in the go-ahead run. McNeela struck out. Angel got the assignment to protect a 3-2 lead, whiffed Tanner, whiffed Kym, and whiffed Guerra to end the game. 3-2 Raccoons! Alexander (PH) 0-0, BB, RBI; Santos 8.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 8 K;

Cookie is now one short of his early-career single-season best of 45 bags claimed. He’s also just short of 200 hits (a dozen short, actually), and also only four points short of Martin Ortíz in the batting title race.

It’s Sunday, and – surprise – here comes Tristan Broun. So we do get another left-hander this week after all.

Game 3
IND: CF J. Wilson – RF Tanner – 2B Kym – 1B S. Guerra – C Padilla – SS Bowers – 3B Preto – LF Baker – P Broun
POR: CF Carmona – 2B Sambrano – RF Bednarski – 1B Murphy – LF Fucito – 3B Merritt – SS Howell – C Torruellas – P Toner

A leadoff walk to Murphy came to bite Broun in the second inning. After Fucito doubled, Merritt plated Murphy with a grounder to short – which arguably was not the greatest way to go about runners on second and third and nobody out, but is usually all we can ever hope for, and all we got in that inning after Howell struck out and Torruellas rolled one over to Silvestre Preto.

Next, the Coons lost Jonny Toner right on the first play in the third inning. Josh Baker bounced a pitch to the third base side of the mound, Merritt wasn’t going to make a play on that, but Toner threw himself onto it and slung it over to first awkwardly. It looked bad from the outside even in real time, and the slow motion replay on the video board looked even worse. He came out of the game with an arm ailment of some sort (probably broken in six places as I know our luck), and we had to declare a bullpen day, but at least the pen was rested. Youngblood got us out of the third inning before the ball went to Constantino, who – with Dupes already planned in for Tuesday – was perhaps the likeliest stand-in for Toner in the double header on Friday. Constantino didn’t make a horrible impression in this game for sure, protecting a flimsy 1-0 lead over three shutout innings.

After Mathis and Sugano teamed up on the seventh, the Coons had their first slight shade of offense in the bottom of that inning. Murphy reached on an error (yep, that still counts as offense, somehow) and Fucito singled, putting two on with nobody out. Merritt struck out, Howell rolled into a fielder’s choice for the out at second base, and that brought up a .150 batting Torruellas. Yeah, no, not with three catchers. Nunley hit for him … and struck out. Sugano got another three outs in the top 8th before being hit for with Seeley in the bottom 8th. Seeley flew out to center, but Cookie singled to right. Sandy missed wildly on a run-and-hit, but Cookie was safe at second base anyway. Sandy grounded out, moving Cookie to third base, and with right-hander Dave Walk on the mound, Ron Richards hit for Bednarski, who was oh-fer anyway. Richards walked, which was not **** and still ****, except if maybe Murphy - … haha, no, he flew out to Rowan Tanner. Still up 1-0, Angel had been out four times this week and would not get the ball. Zack Entwistle was selected for the save opportunity, facing the 3-4-5 batters, all right-handers (with lefties, Thrasher would have gotten the ball). Entwistle lost Kym to a walk, but Kym was slow, hurt, and wasn’t run for, before hanging a golden sombrero on Guerra. Padilla hit into a double play to seal the sweep for the Critters. 1-0 Coons! Carmona 2-4; Fucito 2-3, 2B; Toner 2.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K; Constantino 3.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K; Sugano 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

In other news

September 1 – The Warriors lead the Buffaloes 8-1 after seven innings only to lose 9-8, allowing two in the eighth and six in the ninth.
September 3 – The Pacifics end the 23-game hitting streak of Pittsburgh’s Dave McCormick (.330, 6 HR, 26 RBI).
September 3 – The Canadiens and Falcons play scoreless ball for 12 innings before the Canadiens take a 1-0 lead in the top 13th on Melvin Dunn’s 2-out RBI double, only for their closer Pedro Alvarado to load the bases in the bottom 13th, drill Chris Puckett to tie, and allow a single to Cristián Gonzales to lose; 2-1 Falcons.
September 5 – The Crusaders lose 2B Jesus Ramirez (.256, 13 HR, 67 RBI) for a month with a knee sprain. He could be back in time for the playoffs, however.

Complaints and stuff

I will add another player or two after the minor league seasons end. Brock Hudman will come up for another few at-bats.

Shunyo Yano tossed a 4-hit shutout for the Cyclones this week. I still like to think the Cyclones would want Jonny Toner back. (Yano went 16-6 with a 3.50 ERA in ’13, but Toner looks like the real deal!)

Oh yeah, Toner. Everybody exhale. Things looked bad, but he got away with a mild shoulder strain. He will miss one or two starts, but he will return this season. How do we handle things from here? Well, we have Dickerson – Dupes – Brown for our set with the Titans to start the next week, then a day off. In Milwaukee, Conway has to pick up his no-hit bid in the opening semi-double-header, and Santos will get the start. After that’t there’s a gaping hole where Toner was, but Dickerson could also go on regular rest, so why not? Then Dupes on Sunday again. Not optimal, but at best we’re playing to keep the Elks behind us.

As far as players that can play right now are concerned, Ricardo “Cookie” Carmona certainly can play and he’s now only two points behind Martin Ortíz in the batting race. TIJ Will Newman is 20 points behind. Conway still leads the ERA race, with CHA Jorge Silva zooming in fast. A 34-year old right-hander with a career 4.31 ERA and wildly more losses than wins (108-141), Silva has failed to go eight innings only ONCE since the All Star Game, and had allowed only four earned runs in his last SIX starts, and seven earned runs in his last eight starts. He is not dominant in ANY way. His highest strikeout total in a game this year is seven, and only six in his hot stretch, but things are all falling into place for him, all the time.