[Westheim]

Raccoons (89-60) vs. Aces (75-73) – September 22-24, 2014

The season series between these two teams was still up for grabs, with the Raccoons holding a 4-2 advantage. The Aces had survived longer than usual in the South, but now, for all intents and purposes, they were out of the running. Turns out, a bottom 3 pitching staff is just as playoff-unworthy as a bottom 3 lineup, which the Raccoons infamously had groomed in 2014. The Aces were fourth in runs scored.

Projected matchups:
Hector Santos (16-7, 2.85 ERA) vs. William Hinkley (8-10, 3.43 ERA)
Jonathan Toner (15-6, 2.48 ERA) vs. Jimmy Young (5-8, 4.55 ERA)
Graham Wasserman (0-0) vs. Jaquan Wagoner (9-11, 3.79 ERA)

These are three right-handers. We decided to give Graham Wasserman two starts as the season was winding down, despite a very mixed AAA campaign with a 4.49 ERA and lots and lots of walks for a 24-year old, taking what would be Dickerson’s spot in this series. Dickerson’s not shelved, but I think that we are in no hustle to give him three more starts this season, which is what he would have gotten in his current slot.

Turns out we sold high on Raúl Hernandez mid-season, who has dropped only 10 points of average in Las Vegas, but resorted to hitting all-singles and hardly ever walking.

Game 1
LVA: LF J. Garcia – RF Zackery – SS B. Burke – 1B Bovane – 2B H. Jones – 3B Marrero – CF McCullough – C R. Hernandez – P Hinkley
POR: CF Carmona – 3B Nunley – LF Richards – 1B Murphy – C Alexander – RF Bednarski – 2B Bergquist – SS Hudman – P Santos

Things went south quickly for Santos, who had Kevin McCullough reach on an infield single, his first hit of the season, before Hernandez reached on Nunley’s wild throw to first. Hinkley batted with two outs, but snipped a ball into rightfield for a 2-run single. But after that early setback, Santos got to return the favor with a 2-run single of his own in the bottom of the second inning. The difference was that Santos was batting with the bases loaded and nobody out, and the four previous Raccoons had all singled as well. Santos’ 2-run single flipped the score to 3-2 and left two in scoring position, but the Coons got only one more run on Carmona’s groundout. That was not the last bases-loaded situation the Coons created with nobody out. Hinkley didn’t have much at all, and Santos opened the fourth with a single that was soon imitated by Cookie and Nunley to fill the sacks. Hinkley’s day was over after he lost Richards to a run-scoring walk and Murphy pushed home another run with a groundout. Ramón Martinez allowed another run on Alexander’s groundout, 7-2, but Santos was almost toppled in the top 5th. He issued a walk, then fell to a homer, Brent Burke’s ninth this season. The Aces put two more on, and Ricardo Marrero was pretty much his final batter unless he ended the inning with runners on second and third, and Marrero popped out. It had also started to rain in the inning, but soon stopped. Santos got through the sixth, but that was it for a rather not pretty start. Also not pretty: Ron Sakellaris’ outing in the eighth. Raúl Bovane hit a leadoff jack to get the Aces to 7-5, and he also allowed a single and a walk with two outs to bring in pinch-hitter Geoff Struck, who struck out against Sugano, who was brought in specifically for him. The Coons rallied decisively against right-hander Michael Sieben in the bottom of the eighth. Canning led off with a single, Cookie also singled, both pulled off a double steal, and then Nunley and Richards hit consecutive doubles to throw three runs onto the board and reach double digits. Gary Dupes got the assignment for the ninth inning with a 10-5 lead and to something to prettify that ghastly 8.40 ERA, but it was not meant to be. After Jaime Garcia grounded out, Rusty Zackery walked, Brent Burke flew out to deep left, and where Raúl Bovane hit Dupes’ 19th pitch, nobody would ever catch it. His second homer (and 25th this year) knocked out Dupes, Josh Gibson came in and allowed two singles, and we ACTUALLY had to bother Angel Casas, who came in to quickly strike out PH Brent Woods to end the game – FINALLY. 10-7 Raccoons. Carmona 2-5, RBI; Nunley 3-3, 2 BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Bergquist 3-4, 3B; Canning 1-1;

Kevin Wanless and the rest of the Crusaders scratched past the Condors in a 4-3 win this Monday, thus formally ending the Raccoons’ season – the Crusaders have clinched the North.

Cookie stole two bases in this game, reaching 52 on the year, which puts him two off the franchise record by otherwise dismal Yoshi Yamada from 2005. Martin Ortíz remains two points ahead in the batting race.

Gary Dupes (9.19 ERA) was removed from the roster. There’s no point on flying him cross country with the way he is stinking it up.

Game 2
LVA: 3B R. Avila – RF Zackery – SS B. Burke – 1B Bovane – 2B H. Jones – LF J. Garcia – CF Flack – C R. Hernandez – P J. Young
POR: CF Carmona – SS Sambrano – RF Richards – 1B Murphy – 3B Nunley – LF Fucito – C McNeela – 2B Bergquist – P Toner

After a silent start to the game, the Raccoons hammered Jimmy Young for four extra-base hits in the third inning. Cookie opened with a double, Ron Richards homered, and Murphy and Nunley also hit doubles for a 3-0 lead for Jonny Toner. Not much happened until the sixth inning, with Toner putting on four of six leadoff batters for the Aces, but not allowing any of them to score. Bergquist hit a leadoff single in the bottom 6th, stole second base, and was then doubled in by Carmona – but Cookie was in obvious discomfort at second base and waved for the trainer. He came out of the game, replaced by Seeley. Jason Seeley would whack a 2-run homer in the eighth inning, and by then we already were pretty certain that Cookie’s season was over. The Aces scored two unearned runs off Constantion, and mainly a throwing error by McNeela, in the ninth inning, but at least Constantino pulled through and kept the top studs in the stall. 6-2 Coons. Carmona 3-4, 2 2B, RBI; Seeley 1-1, HR, 2 RBI; Richards 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Nunley 2-4, 2B, RBI; Bergquist 3-4; Toner 7.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 8 K, W (16-6);

Cookie has a lat strain – no way he’s coming back this year. He has the stolen base crown, but the batting title is now for Martin Ortíz to contest against a .345 mark rather than a player that can fight back. Ortíz is a point ahead right now.

In the ERA race, Curtis Tobitt one-upped Jonny Toner’s seven shutout innings with eight shutout innings of the Loggers. The difference between them is 12 points of ERA.

Game 3
LVA: 3B R. Avila – RF Zackery – 1B Bovane – CF Kelsey – 2B H. Jones – LF J. Garcia – SS Marrero – C R. Hernandez – P Wagoner
POR: CF Sambrano – 3B Nunley – LF Richards – 1B Murphy – C Alexander – RF Bednarski – SS Taylor – 2B Bergquist – P Wasserman

Raúl Bovane left the game with an injury in the first inning, also after hitting a double, but Wasserman got around John Kelsey for a clean maiden inning, in which he struck out Rusty Zackery. The Coons in the bottom 1st required zero hits to load the bases, if you were willing to ignore the hit that Stan Murphy took by a fastball. That came after walks to Nunley and Richards and before D-Alex poked at a 3-1 pitch, but at least he managed to have it fall into left for an RBI single. Wasserman came to bat in the inning and made the final out after a Bednarski walk, Taylor single, and Bergquist sac fly had run the score to 4-0. But the Aces got to Wasserman quickly than anybody liked to see (except maybe the Aces). They scored a run in the second, and in the third inning they just ripped him. He allowed five hits, two walks, and was walloped for four runs and just couldn’t get the final out. He was removed without completing the inning, with Raúl Hernandez retired for the third out by Entwistle. Two and two thirds, five earned runs. What a debut! Is Dupes on holidays yet?

The Coons loaded the bases in the bottom 4th. Taylor hit a leadoff single, and Merritt and Sambrano drew walks off the consistently erratic Wagoner. Nunley singled to right on a 2-2 pitch to spare Wasserman at least the loss, as the single tied the score at five. Ron Richards hit something that looked like a slam off the bat, but fell down on the track – and there into Jaime Garcia’s glove. It was a sac fly, though, giving the Coons a slim 6-5 lead before Murphy failed them out of the inning. The Coons then scored a 3-spot in the fifth off Garret Purifoy. D-Alex led off with a tremendous moonshot to right center, 7-5, and then Taylor and Bergquist got on. Merritt had stayed in the game at first base and found the gap with a double, plating both, 9-5.

Merritt had been left in the game mainly to get two innings from Chris Mathis – which worked well – in the slot that had just been passed to end the fourth inning, but also because I hated Murphy’s face. It worked less well for Ricardo Marrero, who was beaned by Mathis and had to leave the game, but that was the only runner the right-hander allowed. Behind him, Josh Gibson got four outs, Thrasher got two, Sakellaris got three, and only Gibson allowed another runner on a single. 9-5 Coons. Alexander 3-4, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Taylor 2-3, BB, RBI; Merritt (PH) 2-2, BB, 2 2B, 2 RBI; Entwistle 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, W (3-2); Mathis 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Raccoons (92-60) vs. Crusaders (105-47) – September 26-28, 2014

First in runs scored, second in runs allowed. Can we please make this quick and painless? There’s at best the season series to quabble over, which so far is trending to the Coons, 8-7.

Projected matchups:
Nick Brown (14-7, 2.68 ERA) vs. Colin Sabatino (15-9, 4.88 ERA)
Daniel Dickerson (8-7, 4.43 ERA) vs. Paul Miller (13-8, 3.62 ERA)
Bill Conway (11-6, 2.76 ERA) vs. Kevin Wanless (14-6, 3.85 ERA)

Right-right-right. Nick Brown Bobbleheads on Saturday, which is I guess all that everybody’s after at this stage.

It would be nice to shut down Martin Ortíz, who’s batting .348 now, three points ahead of the frozen Cookie.

Game 1
NYC: CF Brissett – SS J. Ortega – LF M. Ortíz – RF S. Martin – 1B Manfull – 2B Caraballo – 3B Tolwith – C Durango – P Sabatino
POR: CF Sambrano – 3B Nunley – RF Richards – 1B Murphy – C Alexander – LF Seeley – 2B Bergquist – SS Canning – P Brown

In a fine display of why the Raccoons were more than a dozen games out in the North, Colin Sabatino, a rather meager pitcher for a team bidding to win 110+ games, cruised through the Coons’ lineup on just 22 pitches to start the game, facing the minimum nine batters in three innings. It wasn’t until the bottom of the fourth that Nunley found a hole between Francisco Caraballo and B.J. Manfull to sneak a ball through for a single, but then Murphy found a hole on the left side, and D-Alex found a hole in Caraballo’s glove for the third single, this one scoring Nunley for the first run of the game. Jason Seeley found shallow center with a liner for another RBI single, putting the Coons up 2-0 before Bergquist struck out.

Brownie had managed to stave off damage through four innings despite three walks and a hit, but Aaron Tolwith started the top 5th with a single to center. From there, the inning deteriorated into carnage. Ron Richards was hurt on a tumbling grab on Eduardo Durango’s drive to right center, and the Crusaders would pick apart the Coons’ infield with consecutive 2-out infield singles by Amari Brissett and Jorge Ortega, but Ortega pulled something legging out his single and was replaced by Miguel Salinas (Fucito filled in for Richards). One run scored before Brown struck out Martin Ortíz, who had yet to reach base. Brownie made it through seven innings on 111 pitches, striking out both Durango and Sabatino in exhausting full count battles before getting Brissett to ground out to Canning in his last frame, as he maintained a 2-1 lead. The Critters stranded pairs of runners in the sixth (partially unearned after a Manfull error) and seventh in gross neglect when it came to securing an insurance run. Promptly the bullpen ****ed it up. Thrasher came in, sucked, allowed a single to Salinas and walked Ortíz before Entwistle got Stanton Martin, but walked Manfull. PH Drew Lowe prompted an appearance by Sugano, who surrendered a sac fly to right, tying the score. The Crusaders put Brissett on with a 2-out single in the ninth against Angel Casas, but Brissett was caught stealing and as the offensive failures continued, Angel struck out the side (including the Martin Brothers) in the 10th. Like that would be enough to get a win… Instead, Youngblood was run over in the top 11th, allowing the first two batters to reach base on a hard single by Manfull and a walk to Nick Hedglin, who had replaced Caraballo at second base earlier. Those two scored on a Durango single to left, and the Raccoons faced Alex Ramirez in the bottom 11th, a finesse right-hander that was hardly hittable, allowing 38 hits in 58.2 innings while also whiffing a bit over nine per nine. D-Alex led off with a bloop single before Merritt hit for the miserable Youngblood and struck out. Bergquist somehow walked, and Brock Hudman’s ****ty grounder was at least not good enough for two. That left Bednarski in the #9 hole with the runners in scoring position and two outs. A strike, a ball, another strike, a chop and a bouncer to left – THROUGH BETWEEN … and here comes Bergquist around third giving his all coming to home plate and sliding in SAFE!! SAFE!! JASON BERGQUIST SAFE AT HOME!!

I would have preferred Keith Ayers safe at home five years earlier, but at least the Crusaders stupid champagne grins in the dugout froze. Tied game, and while Sandy singled, Nunley wouldn’t, and we played on. The Coons were out of left-handers, but they weren’t out of Constantinos, who allowed a single to Ortíz (ARGH!!) in the top 12th. When Kevin Bond hit a ball up the leftfield line, Ortíz was sent from first base with two outs, but found himself cut down at home by Fucito’s throw and Hudman’s relay to end the inning. Fucito led off the bottom of the inning with a single, but the stupid Murphy hit into a stupid double play. Constantino was exploded for good in the 13th inning, allowed two runs on four singles, including one with two outs by Ortíz. ****ING ****, CONSTANTINO!! You had ONE JOB!!

Bottom 13th. Merritt led off with a single to left before Bergquist grounded to Salinas – who failed to make a play. Tying runs aboard for Hudman, with lefty Ken McKenzie starting to sweat. Hudman bunted the runners into scoring position, but Bednarski resorted to his usual useless non-existence as an offensive factor and struck out against the southpaw. Sambrano flew out to right. 6-4 Crusaders. Murphy 3-6, 2B; Alexander 2-6, RBI; Taylor (PH) 1-1; Bednarski 1-2, BB, 2 RBI; Brown 7.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 7 K; Casas 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K;

… and there goes another chair. I threw it against the wall long enough to break it.

Game 2
NYC: CF Brissett – SS J. Ortega – LF M. Ortíz – RF S. Martin – 1B Manfull – 2B Caraballo – 3B Bond – C Durango – P P. Miller
POR: 3B Nunley – CF Sambrano – RF Bednarski – C Alexander – 1B Murphy – LF Seeley – SS Taylor – 2B Hudman – P Dickerson

Dickerson didn’t allow any hits the first time through the order, but boy did things change the second time through. Between the fourth and fifth innings, the Crusaders ripped him for seven hits and five runs. It started innocently enough with a B.J. Manfull homer in the fourth, but in the fifth they just didn’t stop whacking the empty shell someone had accidentally placed on the mound. The home team did not much at all, causing some patrons to bobble their little Nick Brown effigies rather aggressively.

Dickerson was excused from further proceedings after the fifth, with Youngblood taking over with the sole intention to make it much worse. The Crusaders got an unearned run on a Taylor error, but Youngblood absolutely refused to deny any Crusaders a success at the plate and was yanked with two down and the bases loaded and the left-hander Ortíz batting for the RIGHT-hander Mathis to come in – and he got the pop that ended the inning. Mathis’ relief was very temporary. Stanton Martin and Kevin Bond both raked him with homers in the seventh, with Bond’s counting for two, more than negating the two runs the Raccoons had scratched out in the bottom of the inning on Sandy walking, stealing, scoring on Bednarski’s double, and some not completely useless outs. Mathis left with a man on and two outs, and when Thrasher entered he insisted on loading the bases with two walks before striking out Ortíz. By the eighth inning and a 2-run homer off Caraballo’s bat that victimized Josh Gibson the Raccoons were being routed out of their own park so hard that even a 5-run outburst in the bottom 8th in which four runs were unearned after two grievous errors by Caraballo and Ortíz didn’t get the Raccoons even remotely close to a comeback. The Crusaders swatted a fifth home run in the ninth inning, Sakellaris serving one up to Brissett. 12-8 Crusaders. Alexander 2-5, 2B, 3 RBI; Taylor 2-3, BB; Margolis (PH) 1-1; Bergquist 1-2, RBI;

Not even in the same ballpark. The Raccoons had 11 hits, of which Alexander’s double was the only one for extra bases. The Crusaders homered five times and hit three doubles along with seven singles to really show who was boss in the North.

With Richards perhaps gone for the year, we sent a late callup to 24-year old Keith Chisholm, our 2010 fifth-rounder, who had performed in rather pedestrian fashion in AAA this year, batting .229 with eight homers. He had been significantly worse than in 2013. But with two starting outfielders down, there will be enough at-bats for him to make the plane ticket worthwhile.

Someone, please kill me, I can’t stand another game like this. Nope, here it comes. Aaackk!!

Game 3
NYC: CF Brissett – SS J. Ortega – LF M. Ortíz – RF S. Martin – 1B Manfull – 2B Caraballo – 3B Salinas – C Durango – P J. Martin
POR: 1B Merritt – CF Seeley – 3B Nunley – RF Bednarski – LF Fucito – C Margolis – 2B Bergquist – SS Hudman – P Conway

And it was Jaylen “Midnight” Martin (20-6, 2.71 ERA) who came rather than the average Kevin Wanless.

The Crusaders’ middle of the order quite impressively visualized just how empty Bill Conway’s tank was. The first two times through the order, Ortíz both times reached with two outs, with a walk in the first and a single (grumble) in the third. Stanton Martin would then whack a 2-run homer, followed by a Manfull double, each time. The Coons had scratched out a run when Jaylen Martin had balked Jason Seeley from second to third to enable a Nunley sac fly in the first inning, then loaded the bases in the bottom 3rd with mostly nothing. Hudman reached with a soft single before Conway’s bunt was misplayed by Jaylen Martin to put him on base as well. Merritt then walked exploiting a tight strike zone. Nobody out and the tying runs on base, the Raccoons had their chance to shine and didn’t sell themselves short, calmly sticking a front paw into a bear trap when Seeley plated a run with a groundout, Nunley struck out, and Bednarski … struck out.

The Crusaders continued to hit Conway with their boots on, but the Raccoons’ defense also contributed fantastically well. The Crusaders had two infield singles and drew advantage from a Margolis error (just when I thought I might like that ugly brat) to knock Conway from the game. He had allowed ten hits and five runs, all earned, in 4.2 innings before Sugano relieved him to face Durango, and when Durango had cranked a 3-run homer to right, Conway’s line closed at seven runs and a 3+ season ERA. Sugano allowed a single to center to Jaylen Martin before Brissett hacked himself out. Top 6th, Ortega with the leadoff walk, stealing second base hardly contested by McNeela, and then Ortíz hit an RBI single to continue the Crusaders cruel ownership of the ragdoll Raccoons. Despite (or because of?) Entwistle relieving coming in, the Crusaders went on to have their NINTH multiple-run inning of the series, whacking hard singles until three more were on the board. Down 11-2, the Raccoons were hardly visible, so they hard had they been stomped into the ground. The attendance continued to boo them relentlessly and began to shower the field with paper cups. Someone even found a Nick Brown bobblehead left over in the stands the previous day and threw that at Jason Seeley. When Bednarski hit a completely meaningless home run in the bottom 8th, the booing intensified with obscenities sprinkled in (and not just from the GM’s office high over the first base line). 11-3 Crusaders. Taylor (PH) 1-1; Hudman 3-4, 2B;

In other news

September 23 – Los Angeles’ Dennis Berman (.282, 17 HR, 85 RBI), who just joined the 300 homer club last week, is out for the season after becoming entangled with an opponent on the bases. Berman suffers a hamstring strain in the altercation.
September 23 – NAS SP Kevin Clayton (12-15, 5.24 ERA) has damaged elbow ligaments and needs major reconstruction surgery. He could miss all of the 2015 season.
September 24 – The Gold Sox get crushed by the Miners in a 20-7 rout. PIT LF Lowell Genge (.239, 2 HR, 25 RBI) has four hits, scores four runs, and drives in five, missing the cycle by the triple. Steve Butler (.320, 32 HR, 109 RBI) plates six runs.
September 27 – TOP OF Bill Adams (.274, 23 HR, 87 RBI) has his season end early after breaking a rib.
September 28 – The Canadiens have an 11-run inning in a 13-3 creaming of the Indians,

Complaints and stuff

Less than 25,000 were at the park on Saturday, which means the couple hundred Daniel Hall bobbleheads left over from long ago now have … no, no, Chad! Chad! They won’t all fit in here. Tell Maud to rent a storage and leave a path to the booze cabinet for me. – That’s where Slappy is sleeping on the floor.

Curtis Tobitt was rolled up on the weekend, leaving Jonny Toner with a 31-point lead in the CL ERA race – over a non-Raccoon (goddamn “Midnight” Martin). Nick Brown is 25 points back in second place. Toner might get two more starts since I can’t stand any more of Bill Conway, Daniel Dickerson, OR Graham Wasserman. That means our rotation for next week goes Santos – Toner – Chad – Brownie – The Druid – Santos – Toner. Ample chance for Jonny to get pulverized.

The only support Cookie got against Martin Ortíz was also Brownie. He never won the ERA title or any “countable” competition, except leading the CL in WHIP twice (2004, 2009), and of course his most prized possession, that 2009 Pitcher of the Year award. Wouldn’t it be funny if he wound up with the ERA title after being reduced to memories?

Would he turn in the 2009 Pitcher of the Year award for Keith Ayers to be called safe at home?

Back then when we actually played on the same continent as the ****ing Crusaders.

Not much else to say, except that I hope that you made your October plans in due time and didn’t invest any hopes in this forsaken pack of losers. Now excuse me, I have some more booze to “investigate”.