[Westheim]

Boy, has the service been sub-standard here recently. Somehow the days zoom by with me having achieved little to nothing. My courses to upgrade my accounting level are gonna start tomorrow, thankfully, because I think I need some kind of structure.

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Raccoons (84-71) vs. Indians (73-82) – September 28-October 1, 2020

Only 7-7 against Indy in 2020, and struggling to find any kind of roll against them for years and years, the Raccoons needed to pounce on the Arrowheads in this series. Trailing 3 1/2 games in the division, the Raccoons could still force at least a tie with the Loggers by winning all their games this week; they needed help against the Titans, 1 1/2 games ahead of them in the division, but the Titans and Loggers would go head-to-head with another while the Raccoons faced the Indians, who were on a 4-game winning streak and overall were not much of a scoring team. They ranked ninth in runs plated in the CL, with a sixth place in runs conceded.

Projected matchups:
Bobby Guerrero (9-9, 4.38 ERA) vs. Dan Lambert (12-14, 4.41 ERA)
Travis Garrett (3-10, 4.71 ERA) vs. Shane Baker (4-5, 2.71 ERA)
Jonathan Toner (20-7, 2.43 ERA) vs. Tristan Broun (14-11, 3.86 ERA)
Tadasu Abe (11-10, 3.60 ERA) vs. Jared D’Attilo (2-0, 2.18 ERA)

D’Attilo would make only his fifth start of the season after missing most of the year after tearing a back muscle on April 8. Baker had replaced the ineffective Zach Weaver in the rotation. All were right-handers, along with the hard-nosed veteran Lambert; only Tristan Broun was a left-handed pitcher for this series, while we would miss their second southpaw, Tom Shumway (10-11, 3.78 ERA).

The Indians had numerous players on the DL at this point, including outfielders Lowell Genge, Danny Young, and Danny Morales, and their primary catcher Jayden Jolley. But the Raccoons had to make do with Petracek replacing Matt Nunley at third, so we all had our headaches.

Game 1
IND: CF J. Gonzales – RF Faulk – LF C. Martinez – 1B M. Rucker – SS Matias – 2B Kym – 3B Georges – C Mancuso – P Lambert
POR: RF Carmona – 2B Nomura – SS McKnight – 1B Mendoza – C Margolis – LF DeWeese – CF Metts – 3B Petracek – P Guerrero

Strikeouts to both Ryan Georges and Dan Lambert bailed Guerrero out of a tight spot with runners on the corners in the first inning. The consistently coonskinning middle infielders had set up camp on said corners, with Raul Matias doubling and Jong-beom Kym singling with one out, both to no avail. The Raccoons wouldn’t reach base until the third inning, Dwayne Metts singling through on the right side of the infield. Petracek struck out, Guerrero did the same in a string of failed bunts, leaving things to an ice-cold Cookie Carmona, who had gingerly grounded out to Mike Rucker at first base in the first inning. This time, he hit a ball hard to left, and past the reach of Cesar Martinez. It fell for a double, the quick Metts scored easily with two down, and the Raccoons – while leaving Cookie on second base when Yoshi Nomura, also struggling colossally, flew out to center – got another 2-out RBI double the following inning, DeWeese finding the gap to chase home Margolis. Metts walked, Petracek singled, and DeWeese scored as well. When Guerrero struck out swinging, he still held a 3-0 lead through four.

That soon changed; Guerrero had struck out five against only three base hits in the first four innings, but the Indians got a break when DeWeese dropped a Mancuso flyer in the fifth inning. Lambert bunted Mancuso to second, and Juan Gonzales’ single to right scored even the slow Mancuso from second base, reducing the gap to two runs. Bottom 5th, Cookie and Yoshi opened with a pair of singles up the middle. Ronnie McKnight steadfastly grounded into a double play, but the Coons still scratched out a comeback run when Hugo Mendoza found the gap in left center for an RBI triple, 4-1, before Margolis struck out. The Indians answered swiftly, plating a return run in the sixth inning with two singles off Guerrero, aided by a wild pitch that moved up the lead runner, Cesar Martinez. With one out, Guerrero nicked Matias, Kym singled (the second hit in the inning) to score Martinez, and then luckily Ryan Georges hit to short for a double play. Guerrero would live through seven, however, before he was hit for at the start of the bottom 7th. Bareford batted for him and whacked an Allen Reed pitch over the fence in right center, the leadoff jack extending the lead to 5-2. Eddie Jackson would strand a pair as a pinch-hitter in the bottom 8th with a strikeout after a clean eighth from Seung-mo Chun, and of course that would come back to bite the Critters, for whom Chris Mathis blatantly failed to retire the 6-7-8 batters in the ninth. Georges singled, pinch-hitter Silvestro Roncero singled with two outs, and when Kaiser replaced Mathis to face the left-handed Gonzales, pinch-hitter Pedro Cruz instead battled out a 7-pitch walk to load the bases. Ron Thrasher was tasked with that ****ty situation and A.J. Faulk, a right-handed batter who had the tying runs aboard to be drive in. Thrasher secured a pop to second baseman Tim Prince on two pitches, ending the game before drama could turn into tears. 5-2 Critters. Carmona 2-4, 2B, RBI; Metts 1-2, 2 BB; Bareford (PH) 1-1, HR, RBI; Guerrero 7.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, W (10-9);

Over in Milwaukee, Boston’s Rick Ling cancelled out all the Loggers, minus Kyle Burns, who had three hits, more than the rest of the team combined in the Loggers’ 7-1 loss, which leads us to: MIL 88-69 … BOS 1 GB … POR 2 1/2 GB;

Game 2
IND: CF J. Gonzales – 3B P. Cruz – LF C. Martinez – 1B M. Rucker – SS Matias – 2B Kym – RF Faulk – C Mancuso – P Baker
POR: RF Carmona – 2B Nomura – SS McKnight – 1B Mendoza – C Margolis – LF DeWeese – CF Metts – 3B Petracek – P Garrett

Terrible Travis put a fork into the Raccoons’ playoff bid, single-pawedly blowing the game within a single inning, the first. After retiring Gonzales and Cruz on grounders, Garrett never retired another batter, allowing seven straight Indians to reach base, six on hits, including home runs by Martinez and Kym, and one with a walk. Baker’s RBI single was WELL enough, and Blake Kelly replaced Garrett, which was somewhat akin to a white flag. Gonzales popped out to short to end the inning and strand two runners, and the Raccoons, who had been through a hard time scoring runs to begin with now faced a steep 5-0 climb against a swingman. While the Coons started promising enough with a run scored in the bottom 1st on doubles by Cookie and McKnight, Kelly would soon add to the Indians’ ledger. Raul Matias’ 2-run homer in the second, and singles by Faulk and Mancuso followed by a Gonzales sac fly in the third grew the gap to 8-1 before the Raccoons burned Baker for five singles and three runs in the bottom of the fourth, which still saw them short by four, and the Indians soon added on. Matt Schroeder continued to raise his ghastly ERA with a walk to Faulk in the fifth, followed by singles hit up the middle by Mancuso and pinch-hitter Bob Reyes, the latter both scoring one run, 9-4, and denying Baker a decision in this game. Nick Lester replaced the utterly useless Schroeder and added a walk to Gonzales to the charade, loading the bases before striking out Cruz and getting Martinez to ground to short.

The Raccoons’ efforts in the fifth and sixth were not successful, and neither were they in the seventh. McKnight hit a 2-out double off Brandon Smith, who allowed another hard drive to Hugo Mendoza right afterwards, but that one ended up caught near the fence by A.J. Faulk, ending the seventh. The Indians tried to leave Smith in for the long haul, but he issued walks to pinch-hitter Tim Prince and Dwayne Metts at the start of the eighth inning. Petracek flew out, which was better than the double play he had hit into in his last attempt, before Zach Graves’ second at-bat of the day resulted in a hard single hammered past Kym into right center, scoring a run. With runners on the corners in a 9-5 game, the Indians went back to more proven personnel, sending Tony Lino and his 2.67 ERA to quell the uprising. Cookie’s RBI single to right center, brought up the tying run, though, and another pitching change to left-hander Kyle Lamb, the former starter, who had as many walks as strikeouts on the season, 75 each in 134.2 innings. A walk to Yoshi filled the bases, but McKnight hit into a double play to let the air out of this one. The Indians got a run back on two singles off Chun in the ninth, 10-6, and Mendoza’s leadoff jack against Lamb in the bottom 9th mainly served to get closer Jarrod Morrison into the game. He allowed a single to Margolis, walked Prince, and the tying run was up again, although with Metts, Petracek, and Graves to follow up. The fans in attendance were on their feet, chanting and clapping for the Coons, although the chants and claps grew fewer as Metts struck out and pinch-hitter Olivares grounded out to third. The last hope was the rookie outfielder Graves, who hit a 2-0 pitch into the right-center gap. Nobody got there, Margolis scored, Prince scored, Graves turning second and going to third and arriving there safely! It was a 10-9 game now, with the tying run on third and two outs for Cookie Carmona! And Cookie struck out. 10-9 Indians. Carmona 3-6, 2B, 2 RBI; Nomura 2-4, BB, 2B, RBI; McKnight 2-5, 2 2B, RBI; Prince (PH) 0-0, 2 BB; Graves 2-3, 3B, 3 RBI; Boynton 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K;

**** Garrett (3-11, 5.15 ERA). As easy as that. **** that ****er.

The Loggers eeked out a 5-4 win over the Titans behind Ian Prevost’s seven strong innings that the pen almost blew into the stratosphere, and Alberto Velez’ three base hits. With that it’s MIL 89-69 … BOS 2 GB … POR 3 1/2 GB … so back to square one from Monday morning, with the exception that the Raccoons can’t play a perfect week anymore.

Game 3
IND: CF J. Gonzales – 3B P. Cruz – LF C. Martinez – 1B M. Rucker – SS Matias – 2B Kym – RF Faulk – C Mancuso – P Broun
POR: LF Carmona – CF Bareford – RF Jackson – 1B Mendoza – SS McKnight – C Olivares – 2B Prince – 3B Petracek – P Toner

I needed a drink right away when Jonny Toner drilled the very first batter of the game. Pedro Cruz would hit into a double play and Toner K’ed Martinez after that, but the pressure… THE PRESSURE. It was the first of five consecutive strikeouts for vintage Jonny before Mancuso dared to put the ball in play, lining out to Prince. Broun went down looking, giving Toner six strikeouts and no hits allowed the first time through, and he was called to bunt in the bottom 3rd with Prince on second after a leadoff double and Petracek on first with an unintentional, full count walk. The Coons had already hit into two double plays in this game, the maximum amount humanly possible at that point, and I would prefer Jonny to move the runners somewhere useful. He did the job, giving him six bunts against 20 base hits on the season. Cookie floated a ball up the leftfield line; Martinez came over, got the glove on it, but stumbled and fell, dropping the ball in the process. One run scored, the first of the game. Another run scored on Bareford’s groundout before Broun struck out Eddie Jackson to end the inning.

The score and general situation remained the same through five innings, with Toner having whiffed eight and still facing the minimum; no Indian had reached since he had drilled Gonzales in the first. The Indians went down on six pitches in the sixth, including two pops over the infield, but the pesky Gonzales would break up the no-hitter with a leadoff single to right in the seventh inning. Worse yet, Gonzales stole second base and scored on Cesar Martinez’ single to center, cutting a flimsy 2-0 lead in half. The Raccoons just could not find a way on base against Broun anymore, and Jong-beom Kym, the thorn of thorns in this lineup, hit a leadoff double to right in the eighth inning. Roncero hit for Faulk, but struck out, and after that Petracek took care of consecutive grounders to keep the Indians from tying the score. We were tempted to hit for him leading off the bottom of the eighth, then didn’t. Broun was gone, Tony Lino pitching the inning, and Petracek broke a long on-base drought for the team with a leadoff double to right. DeWeese batted for Toner and walked, then was quickly forced on Cookie’s grounder to short. Runners on the corners… bring the rookie! Graves batted for Bareford thus, grounded to second, Kym with the shuffle to Matias, relay to first – NOT IN TIME. Petracek scored as Graves was called safe on the bang-bang play, and an insurance run was on the board! (Mind that Jonny better gets a W for triple crown purposes) Metts batted for Jackson, but struck out, sending the game to the ninth, where Ron Thrasher was tasked with securing #21 for Jonny. He faced the top of the order, with Gonzales grounding out to Prince, Cruz going down on strikes, and Martinez grounding up the middle. McKnight’s wide range paid off, as he not only intercepted the ball, but also fired to first to beat Martinez by less than a foot, but more than a whisker – BALLGAME. 3-1 Raccoons! Petracek 1-2, BB, 2B; Toner 8.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 10 K, W (21-7);

Unless Mark Roberts strikes out 42 in his final start of the season (unlikely), Jonny Toner should have secured his second triple crown after 2018. And while there was a landmine hidden in the CL ERA stats, which officially saw Jonny Toner (2.38 ERA) lead Chris Klein (2.77 ERA) by A LOT, that landmine had no chance of gaining sufficient innings to qualify. The guy in question was Vancouver’s Josh Riley, who had a 2.67 ERA, but had been swinging back and forth between rotation and pen all year and had only 145 innings to his credit. There were two pitchers with at least 100 innings that had a better ERA than Toner, both on the DL now, New York’s Mike Rutkowski (2.35 ERA) and – of course? – Hector Santos (2.16 ERA).

In Milwaukee, Alan Farrell and the Titans were blown out, 11-5, with Farrell reaching the Garrettesque record of 3-11, although he had the decency to last to the fifth inning in that game.

With this result, the Raccoons are dealt a clear hand: they *must* win all their remaining four games, which is their only chance to force a tie-breaker scenario. The same is true for the Titans (3 GB), who are in a worse spot even, since even if they win their three remaining games, they still have to get support from the Coons to sweep the Loggers on the weekend so they can get into a 3-way tie, or a 2-way tie if the Coons lose on Thursday, the Loggers’ and Titans’ common off day.

All eyes on Abe.

Game 4
IND: CF J. Gonzales – 3B P. Cruz – LF C. Martinez – 1B M. Rucker – SS Matias – 2B Kym – RF Georges – C Tanner – P Shumway
POR: LF Carmona – CF Bareford – RF Jackson – 1B Mendoza – SS McKnight – C Olivares – 2B Prince – 3B Petracek – P Abe *

Abe had completed seven innings only once in the last seven starts, and had allowed fewer than three runs only twice, going 2-3 with a 5.40 ERA, so he was the right man for a must-win scenario, while the Raccoons would face the southpaw Shumway on short rest.

The game was scoreless in the bottom of the third, which saw Abe draw a leadoff walk from Shumway, which was against everything we were used to with him. The baseball gods agreed and sent a quick shower that forced a 24-minute rain delay while sorting out their mess. After a reboot of their random bull**** generator, the rain subsided, play resumed, and Cookie Carmona hit into a double play. Order restored. Somehow.

The Indians would load the bases in the fourth inning thanks to a leadoff single of the infield variety by Martinez, who was forced on Rucker’s grounder, but Abe walked Matias and allowed a single to center to Kym to load the bags anyway. He would then balk, forcing in Rucker with the first run and putting the Raccoons onto the elimination clock, upon which I banged my head against the desk approximately 97 times until Georges flew out to Jackson in shallow right and C.J. Tanner went down swinging to leave two on. Jackson was the first Coon with a base knock, singling to left to start the bottom 4th. Shumway walked Mendoza right away before McKnight and Olivares both flew out to shallow center in non-threatening fashion. Prince sent a fly to left center… and that one was threatening. It vanished between Martinez and Gonzales in the gap, both runs scored, and Prince had a 2-out, 2-run double, standing up leisurely. Abe struck out on a pitch that almost hit his foot after the intentional walk to Petracek. Jackson hit a drive to left that had the distance, but went barely foul in the bottom of the fifth. He grounded out on the next pitch, a roller to Matias at short, and the Coons remained up 2-1 through five.

Abe was generating weak contact consistently at that point, and got through the sixth easily, while Shumway walked Olivares with two outs and was yanked. Allen Reed got Prince to hit a liner to second, Kym taking it to end the sixth. Abe batted in the bottom 7th (unsuccessfully) and wasn’t removed until the eighth started with Roncero pinch-hitting in the #9 hole. That put two left-handers next to another and clamored for a Jason Kaiser appearance. Appearing he did, getting Roncero and Gonzales on grounders before yielding to Jeff Boynton, who got a third grounder from Pedro Cruz to complete the inning. The Critters were still on two base hits for the game when they were to face former starter Zach Weaver in the bottom 8th. Yoshi batted for Bareford and singled up the middle. DeWeese batted for Jackson and lined into the rightfield corner. Yoshi went to third, DeWeese went to second, where he hit his knee on the bag and had to be run for with a nasty bruise and substantial pain. Metts did the running part, while everybody was anxious for Mendoza to come up with runners in scoring position and no outs. The Indians didn’t bite – four intentional balls loaded the bases for McKnight, who poked at a 3-1 pitch, grounded to first, Rucker pounced and fired home to kill Yoshi Nomura, and McKnight was doubled off on Tanner’s return throw. So, back to runners in scoring position, but now with two outs, lots of agony, and Zach Graves batting for Olivares in the hope for more of his stupid rookie magic. And the Coons ****ING GOT IT! Graves hit the 1-1 to left center, past Gonzales, into the gap, and two runs scored on the double!! ****ING ZACH GRAVES, WHERE’VE YOU BEEN ALL THOSE YEARS?? Margolis batted for Prince and walked before Petracek popped out. Boynton returned for the ninth, now up 4-1, and struck out two in a perfect inning to keep the dream alive. 4-1 Raccoons! Nomura (PH) 1-1; Jackson 1-2, BB; DeWeese (PH) 1-1, 2B; Graves (PH) 1-1, 2B, 2 RBI; Abe 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, W (12-10); Boynton 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, SV (6);

Raccoons (87-72) vs. Loggers (90-69) – October 2-4, 2020

Well, we’re here, and we’re alive. Everything else remains to be seen. The Loggers are sixth in runs scored in the Continental League and tied for third in runs allowed, both rankings seeing them a bit behind the Raccoons, who are fourth in runs scored and second in runs allowed. Do you think your puny numbers can beat us? Watch our new rightfielder, Zach Graves, murder you while you’re fast asleep! The Coons held a 9-6 edge in the season series.

Projected matchups:
Ryan Nielson (1-0, 3.63 ERA) vs. Troy McCaskill (12-12, 4.27 ERA)
Bobby Guerrero (10-9, 4.26 ERA) vs. Chris Sinkhorn (11-12, 3.63 ERA)
Jonathan Toner (21-7, 2.38 ERA) vs. Ian Prevost (14-7, 2.80 ERA)

Toner will only pitch on Sunday (then on short rest) if it matters, meaning only if the Coons won the first two and are still in playoff contention. If we’re out (which is not unlikely with Nielson and Guerrero…), then Garrett can **** up another game for all I care.

The Raccoons face a southpaw on Saturday in Sinkhorn (great name, by the way), like things weren’t hard enough already. Also of note, DeWeese’s knee bruise is bad enough to render him out of contention for now, although I think this is hardly comparable to the Loggers being without Chris LeMoine, who probably would have hit 30 dingers again if he hadn’t missed 47 games this year, and who would not even be back in time for a potential World Series.

Entering, Yoshi Nomura still tries to win the batting title. Vegas’ Adam Flack currently leads with a .340 clip, followed by Oklahoma’s Bobby Marshall and Yoshi both at .339, but don’t count out San Francisco’s Dave Garcia (.337) and Pat Fowlkes (.335) on the Falcons!

Game 1
MIL: 2B Stewart – SS Burns – CF Coleman – RF Gore – C Denny – 3B Velez – LF Cooper – 1B Stickley – P McCaskill
POR: LF Carmona – 2B Nomura – SS McKnight – 1B Mendoza – RF Graves – C Margolis – CF Metts – 3B Petracek – P Nielson

The first scare of the game was on Nielson, or more precisely Tyler Stewart’s deep drive to center to start the game. Metts had that, and the Loggers didn’t reach base in the first inning. The Coons did, as Cookie singled, stole second, but after two groundouts was on third base only. Mendoza stepped in and crashed a 2-0 pitch from McCaskill, well gone outta leftfield for an early 2-0 Raccoons advantage! Graves let one fly right after that, in the other direction, although Brad Gore pulled it in right at the fence. Balls were flying all over the place early on, with Petracek and McKnight also close to homering in the next two innings. None of them got the ball out, however, and while Nielson allowed a few drives as well, the Loggers went down in order the first time through their lineup, but they got onto the board in the fourth when Kyle Burns launched a 437-footer to almost dead center to cut the lead in half, 2-1. Mendoza, Graves, and Petracek all hit more hard balls in the fourth and fifth innings – none falling in. In between, Nielson offered a leadoff walk to Mike Denny in the top of the fifth. Alberto Velez bunted, albeit badly, and Nielson played it to force Denny at second. The Loggers wouldn’t score in the inning, but got to the corners with one out in the sixth. Stewart walked, after which Burns hit a looper into right center that Graves cut off, but not quick enough to keep the tying run at second base. But – Nielson now faced two left-handers the Loggers didn’t bat for. Ian Coleman struck out, and Brad Gore flew out to Cookie in shallow left, ending the inning.

The Coons didn’t make anything out of a 2-out double by McKnight in the bottom 6th (Mendoza grounded out to Velez), and Velez’ 1-out walk in the seventh ended Nielson’s day. The Loggers sent a 5-for-16 Ricardo Martinez (yeah, that one) to pinch-hit, and he was a right-hander. Mathis came in to face him, threw one pitch, and Martinez knocked it over to Petracek for a double play. Margolis drew a 1-out walk in the bottom 7th and was run for by Bareford, who was promptly caught stealing by Mike Denny. Edwin Prieto replaced Margolis behind the dish after that rather than Olivares, due to his stronger arm and the Loggers being antsy runners. There was little defense to find for Mathis’ ****ty pitching, however. McCaskill(!) hit a 1-out single in the eighth, quickly followed by another single by pinch-hitter Javier Gonzalez. Burns lined out to Petracek in a major jump scare, and then Mathis vacated the mound for Ron Thrasher. This game needed shutting down right now, with runners on the corners and two outs in the eighth. Thrasher lost Coleman to a 5-pitch walk, loading the bases and sending me almost into madness before he struck out Gore. The skinny 2-1 lead had made it AGAIN through an inning. Petracek reached base with a leadoff single in the bottom 8th, but was doubled off when Eddie Jackson lined out to short on a hit-and-run call. Cookie grounded out, Thrasher wouldn’t have a cushion. ‘Who needs cushions?’ Thrasher probably wondered as he struck out Denny and Velez. Pinch-hitter Travis Griffen was at 1-2 when he knocked a liner into play – right at Thrasher, who swiped it in self-defense to end the game. 2-1 Coons!! Metts 1-2, BB; Nielson 6.1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 6 K, W (2-0); Thasher 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K, SV (23);

Boston beat the Elks, 10-5, to stay relevant. A 3-way tie was still possible and would occur unless either the Coons or the Titans lost at least once between them in the final two games.

And now the surprise: Saturday did NOT see Chris Sinkhorn, but right-hander Ron Bartlatt (5-6, 3.97 ERA) on the mound. The Loggers were confident enough to waste one? Well, if anything, they would have Prevost in the tie-breaker against Abe, which sounded better than Bartlatt against Abe… And if they took at least one of the next two games, Prevost could lead off the CLCS. Lots to gain for the Loggers with this move. And the Coons first need another solid start from Guerrero and a wee bit of offense sprinkled on top of that.

Game 2
MIL: 2B Stewart – SS Burns – CF Coleman – RF Gore – 3B Velez – C Denny – LF Tesch – 1B Pagan – P Bartlatt
POR: LF Carmona – 2B Nomura – SS McKnight – 1B Mendoza – RF Graves – C Margolis – CF Metts – 3B Petracek – P Guerrero

Middle infielders came out with extra-base hits in the first inning. While Burns hit a double and was stranded, Yoshi hit a bomb and there was no way to strand him, with the Coons up 1-0. Mendoza would single, but was caught stealing by Denny, who was 3/3 against the Critters in this set. Velez reached with a leadoff single in the top 2nd, but Denny hit into a double play before Yoshi’s error put Brad Tesch on base. Pagan flew to right, where Graves raced in and made a sliding catch to end the inning to the ravenous joy of the home crowd. Bartlatt hit a leadoff single in the third, and Guerrero allowed three considerable flies after that, but all ended up with an outfielder to end the inning. The next chance was the Coons’. McKnight opened the bottom 4th with a soft single, then got forced on Mendoza’s grounder. Rookie to the rescue, Zach Graves doubled into the rightfield corner, putting men in scoring position for Margolis, who plated the Coons’ second run with a grounder to short. Metts singled to left, but shallow, denying Graves a chance to race home from second against Tesch, and Petracek struck out in a full count to leave them on the corners in a 2-0 game.

Guerrero got around a leadoff walk to Tesch in the fifth when Antonio Pagan rolled into a double play, and then almost stumbled over the Coleman/Gore combo that had saved Nielson the previous day, but both reached base (with the platoon advantage against the reverse-handed Guerrero) with two outs in the sixth before Velez grounded to Nomura to leave them on. The Critters also got a single (McKnight) and a walk (Graves) to work with in the bottom 6th, sending Margolis with one out, with Bartlatt getting out of shape and losing him to a walk as well. That set up a battle with Dwayne Metts that reached a full count, and ended on ball four near Metts’ shins to force home the team’s third run. When Petracek struck out, Guerrero got a slap on the shoulder, well done boy, but we need the runs. Jackson batted for him, but struck out, leaving a full set AND we had to go to the pen.

Adam Cowen sat down the 6-7-8 batters in order in the seventh, while Cookie opened the bottom of the inning with a single. Yoshi grounded to Velez, who had no chance for a double play, then threw wildly past Pagan for a gruesome error. The Coons now had two in scoring position and nobody out and HAD to put the game away. McKnight hit a sac fly, 4-0, and Mendoza was not bothered with, being put on intentionally. Left-hander Gary Ledford replaced Bartlatt to face Graves, who grounded to the right side. Pagan had it far behind first, and threw wildly past the hustling Ledford. Yoshi scored on the error when Denny had to vacate home plate to get the ball, and the runners were in scoring position in a 5-0 game. An RBI single by Margolis and Metts’ run-scoring groundout upped the score to seven, and this game was as good as in the books.

‘As good as’ is not the same as ‘is’, though. Blake Kelly got the eighth, and sucked. Two on, one out, Jason Kaiser replaced him, but walked both Coleman and Gore to force in a run before striking out Velez. Boynton appeared to see as to Denny’s demise, getting him to ground out to short on an 0-2 pitch. Disaster avoided, for now. Boynton remained in the for the ninth, and things just developed as they do. Pagan walked, Javier Gonzalez hit an RBI double. Kyle Burns hit a deep drive to center that looked like a lot more trouble, but ended up ending the game when it came down into Metts’ glove at the edge of the warning track. 7-2 Critters. McKnight 2-3, RBI; Margolis 1-2, 2 BB, 2 RBI; Guerrero 6.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 K, W (11-9);

The Titans come back from a 3-0 deficit to beat the Elks, 4-3, which keeps the 3-way tie in play.

Yoshi had only two hits in the series so far, dropping out of the batting title race under normal conditions. He sits at .336 before game 162. Marshall and Flack are tied at .341. Nothing a 5-5 day can’t fix, but…

The Loggers would change their mind again, sending Ian Prevost on regular rest into the Sunday affair to out-duel Jonny Toner and win the division before things could get really messy.

It is now time. Man against Man. Here it comes.

Game 3
MIL: 2B Stewart – SS Burns – CF Coleman – RF Gore – C Denny – 3B Velez – LF Cooper – 1B Stickley – P Prevost
POR: LF Carmona – 2B Nomura – SS McKnight – 1B Mendoza – RF Graves – C Margolis – CF Metts – 3B Petracek – P Toner

The Loggers got Burns aboard with a drag bunt for a single in the first inning. Gore walked, and the park gasped in unison when Mike Denny drove a ball to deep center, but again the Loggers came up short and the ball dropped into Metts’ mitten near the track. Toner would drive home his own lead in the bottom of the second inning, finding Graves on second, Petracek on first, and gently shoved the innings’ third single through on the left side between Velez and Burns. Graves scored handily, the first tally of the game. Cookie grounded out, and then rain began to fall. Nooooooooo!! Toner had gone through three innings, whiffing four, before a delay of almost an hour interrupted the game and all well-meant plans. The Raccoons had an eventless bottom of the third before Toner went back out to the mound, with the long guys silently stirring in the bullpen for both teams.

Toner walked Coleman at the start of the fourth, but Coleman was thrown out stealing by Margolis. Which was great, since Gore drew the next walk right away. Velez grounded out and Denny struck out, but I had a hunch that we wouldn’t get more than maybe five innings from Jonny, if that. Graves reached base on a Velez error at the start of the bottom 4th. Metts added to the pile with an infield single, but Petracek grounded out and Toner struck out to leave the runners in scoring position. A Petracek error would then put Jack Stickley on base with one out in the fifth, but Toner turned Prevost’s bunt, which wasn’t that bad from the looks of it, around into a double play, now qualifying for the 1-0 win that was on the table. Make that 2-0; the Coons scored a run in the bottom 5th with a Yoshi double and McKnight’s single. Toner retired Stewart and Burns to start the sixth – and that was it! With the left-handers approaching, the Raccoons made the move to Jason Kaiser, who entered in a double switch with Jackson, removing Graves. Ian Coleman homered right away, and this game was now down to a 2-1 score. Gore flew out to center, ending the sixth, and luckily the Coons had power, too: Margolis socked a huge shot leading off the bottom 6th, 3-1. Metts singled, Petracek singled, Jackson hit into a double play. Cookie sat at 198 hits on the year and had a mighty important one here, cashing in Metts from third base with a single to right, 4-1. Yoshi singled as well, the fifth hit in the inning off Prevost, but McKnight grounded out, and the Loggers brought the tying run to the plate right away in the seventh.

That tying run was Stickley, who faced Boynton after the right-hander had just replaced Kaiser, whose 79th appearance of the season had ended with a single by Velez and a 1-out walk by Brad Tesch. Boynton’s 2-1 was put in play by the .222 batter Stickley, grounded to short, McKnight all over that one and he turned the double play! Jason Seeley hit a leadoff double off Boynton in the eighth, who hung in there to retire Stewart and Burns. Nick Lester (not Thrasher) inherited the runner at third and Ian Coleman at the plate and would have the actual ****ing save opportunity unless the tying run came to the plate, since Thrasher’s reservoir of energy was finite after all. Lester ****ING STRUCK OUT COLEMAN, and the Loggers had only one more inning to come back and take the division the ordinary way. But before that, the Coons were batting. Jackson hit a 2-out single in the bottom 8th, giving Cookie a chance for hit #200 before the ninth inning could go HORRIBLY wrong. He got the hit off Ivan Morales, a single to shallow right center that sent Jackson to third, and brought up Yoshi, who was 2-for-3 on the day, but well short of the batting title, and grounded out to Stewart. Here it comes, 4-1 lead, Nick Lester, and the cleanup man for the Loggers, Brad Gore leading off the ninth. Gore struck out fishing. Velez struck out looking. And Denny rolled out to short. We were goddamn ****ing even. 4-1 Furballs!! Carmona 2-5, RBI; Nomura 2-4, BB, 2B; Metts 2-4; Petracek 2-4; Toner 5.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 7 K, W (22-7) and 1-2, RBI; Lester 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K, SV (1);

It will be a 3-way tie, though. The Titans gutted out a 1-0 win against the useless Elks behind Jose Fuentes, who walked six without getting hurt. Kevin Clayton punched out ten for the Elks in a complete-game loss. There is no justice in the world.

In other news

September 28 – The Scorpions clinch their ninth overall and second consecutive playoff berth thanks to Denver’s 11-3 loss to the Warriors, which drops Sacramento’s magic number to zero. The Scorpions themselves lost on Monday as well, 6-1 to the Wolves. Sacramento has two World Series championships and has been celebrating the 25-year anniversary of their most recent championship all season long.
September 29 – LVA LF/RF Dan Brown (.255, 11 HR, 65 RBI) is out for the final week of the season with an elbow contusion. The team, with their magic number at one, hope to have him back for the playoffs.
September 29 – WAS SP Jose “Butch” Diaz (10-8, 2.69 ERA) 2-hits the Rebels in a 4-0 shutout.
September 30 – The Aces clinch the CL South with a 5-1 win over the Condors. Third baseman Izzy Alvarez (.261, 15 HR, 85 RBI) drives in three in the game, in which the Aces nail down their fourth playoff participation as well as the third consecutive. They are of course the twice-defending champions.
October 1 – SAC SP Ian Rutter (11-7, 3.07 ERA) strikes out 11 and holds the Wolves to two hits in the Scorpions’ 9-0 rout in Sacramento.
October 3 – Oklahoma’s SP Bryan Hanson (20-9, 2.82 ERA) not only takes his 20th win of the season in an 8-0 win over the Aces in Las Vegas, no, he also no-hits them. The 44th no-hitter in ABL history is the fourth for the Thunder franchise (all in the last 12 years), and the first October no-hitter since New York’s George Kirk no-hit the Raccoons on October 1, 2004.
October 3 – The Scorpions murder the Pacifics, 15-2, with #8 batter SAC 2B Ricky Luna (.285, 10 HR, 63 RBI) leading his team with four RBI on three base hits.
October 4 – The Aces come within a 2B/3B/CF Jeff Becker (.250, 5 HR, 69 RBI) single of returning no-hit favors to the Thunder in their 3-1 win in the season finale.
October 4 – The Wolves and Warriors go back and forth in a see-saw game that ends 13-12 in the Warriors’ favor in the 11th inning when they score three runs in the bottom of the inning to outdo the Wolves’ pair of runs from the top of the 11th.

Complaints and stuff

GASP.

Old foe (even when he wore the brown cap) Mike Bednarski won Hitter of the Month honors for September in the Federal League, batting .354 with 3 HR and 17 RBI. Traded mid-season from the Warriors to the Miners, Bednarski is having a .322 year with 20 HR and 88 RBI. He drove in 88 once as a Raccoon, but he never was remotely close to batting .322 …

The other Thunder no-hitter were authored by Alex Lindsey in 2008, and the two that Brian Furst threw in 2017 and 2018. Furst remains one of only two pitchers with two no-hitters, along with Henry Selph, and the only one to toss them for the same team.

Disturbing fact: with Thursday’s 4-1 win over the Indians, the Coons secured a 10-8 season series win. It’s the first time that the two teams have ended up with something other than a 13-5 or 11-7 split (in whoever’s favor) since 2013, when the season series ended up even, 9-9. The last time the teams won even numbers against another was 2012, a 12-6 Coons year.

ABL CAREER STRIKEOUT LEADERS
79th – Eduardo Jimenez – 1,830
80th – Dan Moriarty – 1,828
81st – Alfredo Collazo – 1,827
82nd – Dave Crawford – 1,816
83rd – Raimundo Beato – 1,791
84th – Jonathan Toner – 1,770 – active
85th – Ian Rutter – 1,769 – active
86th – Manuel Ortíz – 1,761 – active
87th – John Collins – 1,758

And now excuse me, I have to be near the phone when the ABL calls how the dice fell for the tie-breaker games.

* OOTP ****ed me here, showing D’Attilo on the main screen before switching to Shumway in the game. I had not replaced Olivares with Margolis because we were supposed to play a ****ing right-hander, so the lineup remained the same as in Wednesday’s game.