[Westheim]

Raccoons (82-60) vs. Titans (78-65) – September 15-17, 2026

Future games with the Crusaders and Elks notwithstanding, this was probably the Raccoons' biggest call of all in the remaining 20 games. Their struggles with the Titans of recent years were profound and lasting, and they had not even come close to winning a season series for five years. They also would not win this one, having already lost nine games to the Titans in '26. The thing was to not lose any more than that now that every ****ing game counted. For the Titans, who ranked fourth, 4 1/2 games out, in the North and were also fourth in both runs scored and runs allowed, this series was their prime chance to get back into the thick of it, while at the same time the Crusaders and Elks were playing each other, and by the time this series started on Tuesday had already been in a bench-clearing brawl on Monday that led do ejections and suspensions.

Projected matchups:
Dan Delgadillo (10-5, 2.67 ERA) vs. Morgan Shepherd (9-8, 3.79 ERA)
Rin Nomura (7-4, 2.82 ERA) vs. Matt Rosenthal (8-9, 4.51 ERA)
Rico Gutierrez (15-5, 3.45 ERA) vs. Alberto Molina (3-8, 3.92 ERA)

The Titans had lost Dustin Wingo and Jeremy Waite to injury, weakening their rotation. There was skip potential as far as Rosenthal was concerned, which would bring Guillermo Regalado (12-10, 3.02 ERA) into the series. Regardless of that potential move, all their starters on deck were right-handers.

Game 1
BOS: CF W. Vega – C Leonard – LF Kuramoto – RF Braun – 1B Elder – SS Spataro – 2B Jam. Wilson – 3B Corder – P Shepherd
POR: 2B Spencer – SS Stalker – CF Mora – 1B Harenberg – LF Gerace – RF Kopp – 3B Nunley – C Tovias – P Delgadillo

The Raccoons scored first, right in the opening inning in which Shepherd walked Tim Stalker, who advanced on Mora's groundout to Jay Elder, then was driven in by Kevin Harenberg's single up the middle. Gerace also singled after that, but Terry Kopp, who looked more than just lost this month, struck out. Harenberg would add on with a solo homer in the third inning, his first in two weeks, and the Coons were eager for more of that. All in all, Harenberg now had 30 home runs this season. Meanwhile, neither pitcher was very sharp from a command standpoint. While Delgadillo held himself to merely throwing lots of balls and needing 40 pitches for one run through the order, Shepherd actively walked people, including Delgadillo on four pitches with two outs in the bottom 4th. Nobody had been on base at that point, but Jarod Spencer singled, and Stalker drew another walk, Shepherd's fifth in the game, to load them up for Abel Mora, who grounded out to Elder on the first pitch he got…

Well, bright sides; Delgadillo had a 2-hitter through five, fanning four, and didn't issue a walk until he lost Willie Vega in a full count with one out in the sixth. Vega, who had 29 steals, did not get a good jump and was stranded on groundouts by Keith Leonard and Yasuhiro Kuramoto. But the Raccoons showed no offense, either, and the 2-0 lead was quickly put to the test by the Titans, whom you could never, ever count out, not down by two, and not down by four-and-a-half. Adam Braun hit a leadoff double past Gerace in the seventh inning, and then Keith Spataro's terrible bloop fell for a single in front of Abel Mora to place the tying runs on the corners with one down. At this point the Portland pen got involved against left-handed batter Jamie Wilson. Brotman came out rather than Kearney because we knew a pinch-hitter was coming, and it was none less than Adrian Reichardt, but loading the bags was prohibitive with Adam Corder looming behind. Billy Brotman got Reichardt on a run-scoring groundout, then walked Corder and threw a wild pitch to Gus Gasso, who ended up grounding out to Spencer at 3-1, stranding runners in scoring position. Brotman got the left-handed bats in the 1-2 spot to begin the eighth, however, and after that the Coons went straight to Snyder in the hopes of a 4-out save. The effort began well with a K to Kuramoto. The Coons failed to tack on, so Snyder remained without a cushion in the ninth, which Adam Braun began with a deep drive to right, but Terry Kopp was watchful and made the catch just short of the track. Elder struck out, but Snyder walked Rhett West before left-hander Giovanni James pinch-hit in the #7 hole, only to ground out on the first pitch by Snyder. 2-1 Critters! Harenberg 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Delgadillo 6.1 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, W (11-5);

I started holding my breath in the sixth. I am now slightly blue in the fa- (falls off the couch)

Game 2
BOS: LF W. Vega – SS Spataro – RF Braun – CF Reichardt – 2B R. West – 3B Corder – 1B Gasso – C A. Arias – P Rosenthal
POR: 2B Spencer – SS Stalker – CF Mora – 1B Harenberg – LF Gerace – C O'Dell – 3B Nunley – RF Alfaro – P Nomura

Nunley started double plays in both of the first two innings, a basic 5-4-3 in the first inning that wrapped up Vega and Spataro, then a 5-3 special in the second that saw him shagging a Rhett West line drive to find Adrian Reichardt 50 feet off the base and with no chance to get back. Matt Nunley turned a total of four plays for six outs in the first three innings, everything hit his way being sucked up mercilessly, but Rosenthal singled to centerfield with two outs in the third before Nomura lost Vega to another walk, which was weird given that Vega was the only left-handed batter in the lineup. Spataro struck out, though, ending the inning without anybody bothering Nunley again, who in turn ended up the first batter scoring a run in the game. He opened the bottom 3rd with an infield single. Alfaro struck out, but Nunley was bunted over by Nomura, then came home on a single to left-center by Jarod Spencer. Unfortunately the Matt Nunley Show was not enough to keep Nomura afloat, as he issued yet another leadoff walk in the fourth (to Braun), then got bombed with an impressive shot by Rhett West, who put Boston 2-1 on top. Nomura lost Corder to another walk before wiggling out against Gasso and Arias, and even this early, there were right-handed relievers stretching in the Coons pen.

Before any rash decisions could be made, the bottom 4th saw Abel Mora homer off Rosenthal to tie the game at two, and the Coons also saw Harenberg and Nunley drive the ball hard, but without success. Adrian Reichardt was hurt on a play to retire Brett O'Dell. It looked like a shoulder injury, and maybe season over for the annoyingly brilliant centerfielder. Fernando Rodriguez replaced him. Bottom 5th, Omar Alfaro hit a leadoff single and was bunted over by Nomura, not yet knocked out by the Titans. Spencer singled to center, but Alfaro was held for fears of Rodriguez' arm, parking him at third base. It was probably the right move; while Tim Stalker fell to 0-2 against Rosenthal, he then flicked a soft single into shallow left to break the 2-2 tie. That run was all the Coons got in the inning despite a walk to Mora that loaded the bases. Harenberg struck out looking in a 3-2 count, and Gerace bounced out to Gus Gasso to strand a full set. Terry Kopp batted for Nomura with two down in the bottom 6th, hitting the second consecutive single of the inning, joining Alfaro on the bases, and bringing up Spencer, who hit a looper to shallow center. Rodriguez rushed in, then pulled up, and still was undone by the the ball that bounced once, then went under his glove and deeper into the outfield. The error allowed Alfaro to score, 4-2, before Stalker popped out to Gasso to end the inning. But at this point, the Titans didn't know it yet, but they were dead. The Raccoons pen was on fire in a good way right now, and they were going to go to work on Boston. Kevin Surginer allowed a single in the seventh inning, but struck out two to keep the Titans at bay, and that Corder single was the Titans' final base runner of the game. Josh Boles, Ricky Ohl, and Jonathan Snyder were perfect down the line to claim the second game of the series. 4-2 Coons! Spencer 3-5, 2 RBI; Carmona (PH) 1-1; Alfaro 3-4; Kopp (PH) 1-1; Nomura 6.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 4 K, W (8-4);

…and then the baseball gods threw a wrench into the Coons' well-churning gears. Rico Gutierrez came down with the flu before his start on Thursday and was a scratch. Mark Roberts was brought on and would pitch on regular rest thanks to the off day on Monday.

Game 3
BOS: CF W. Vega – 1B Elder – LF Kuramoto – RF Braun – 2B R. West – 3B Corder – SS Spataro – C Leonard – P A. Molina
POR: 2B Spencer – SS Stalker – CF Mora – 1B Harenberg – LF Gerace – C O'Dell – 3B Nunley – RF Alfaro – P Gutierrez

Mark Roberts was on regular rest, but not on regular routine, which included three each of lines of coke and Vietnamese hookers the night before every start of his, and was thus understandably wonky in the early going. He scattered four hits in the first three innings, but the Titans didn't get onto the key part of the scoreboard, and Roberts seemed to find his groove as innings went on, whiffing six by the end of the fourth inning. The Coons were doing even less against Molina. Spencer had reached on a leadoff single in the first, but had been left on with three unproductive groundouts, and Harenberg hit a 2-out single in the fourth. In between, they had nothing. Thus there was no lead that could be blown when Roberts crapped out in the sixth. Kuramoto hit a leadoff jack to give Boston a 1-0 lead, but between West, Corder, and Spataro they got another three hard base hits, two of them for extra bases, and scored another two runs to supply Molina, who was their last line of defense. If they were to fall back 7 1/2 with only 16 games to play, even the four-time champions would be dead, and even if they could only claw their way back to 5 1/2, it was still a near-impossible task.

The Coons got a third base hit, not in the same inning, but in the game, on a Spencer double in the bottom 6th, but again no clutch bat would come up anytime soon, leaving Molina 3-0 on top. If anybody thought that this was not enough of a lead, Molina had an answer that was not related to suffocating the Raccoons. Steve Costilow loaded the bases in the eighth before he arrived at Molina with two outs. The Titans did not send a pinch-hitter, but why would they. Molina killed the Coons with a bases-clearing double into the leftfield corner, his first three RBI of the season, and then Willie Vega singled home another run against a murdered Costilow, just when he had built the slightest bit of credit. Nick Derks ended that inning as we had arrived at garbage time on this Thursday, retiring Jay Elder. Was that it? Down 7-0, the Coons saw Nunley ground out to begin the bottom 8th, after which Alfaro singled and Terry Kopp – having entered with Derks in a double switch at Gerace's expense – homered to right. At this point, it was a rather academical homer, leaving the Coons down by as many runs as they still had outs to waste – five. Then Spencer singled. Stalker walked. Mora hit an RBI single. What was up with Molina? Just as the tardy Titans got their pen stirring, Harenberg flew out to left, and Jamieson grounded out in the #5 hole, ending the inning down by a slam still. Molina was not back for the bottom 9th, but the Coons were. O'Dell singled off Harry Merwin. Nunley singled off Harry Merwin. Runners on the corners with nobody out, and power coming … errr… yeah, Omar Alfaro had no homers on the season, but maybe in the future, who knows? Here, Alfaro walked in a full count, and now the tying run was up with nobody out for Terry Kopp! Teetering Terry hit a ball in the gap in left-center and was blatantly ROBBED by Kuramoto, holding him to a sac fly, which was damaging Merwin's stats, but not advancing our cause. Spencer hit into a double play to end the game. 7-4 Titans. Spencer 3-5, 2B; Kopp 1-1, HR, 3 RBI;

Well, that was dispiriting! More of that, please…

Okay, quick overview; the Elks took three of four from the Crusaders and were the new leaders in the North, half a game over the Coons. We both now had struggling South customers to deal with on the weekend while the Crusaders suddenly were rather distant, three games out. The Titans trailed by six with a magic number of 11. Both East Coast teams now had to deal with the Thunder in the next two sets, so that could work against them…

Raccoons (84-61) vs. Falcons (61-83) – September 18-20, 2026

This was a 4-game set starting with a double-header on Friday, the opener of which was a makeup game that had been rained out in Charlotte earlier and for which the Falcons would officially be the home team. They had the absolute worst pitching in the league, ranking last in starters' ERA, bullpen ERA, and runs allowed. They were sixth in runs scored, with a -149 run differential. They were also eliminated from mathematical contention and had only personal honor to fend for anymore. The Coons were 4-1 against them this season.

Projected matchups:
Kyle Anderson (9-6, 3.88 ERA) vs. Rafael Cuenca (1-1, 3.71 ERA)
George James (1-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. Doug Moffatt (7-18, 4.72 ERA)
Dan Delgadillo (11-5, 2.62 ERA) vs. Jesus Chavez (11-6, 3.84 ERA)
Rin Nomura (8-4, 2.83 ERA) vs. Jim Bryant (5-12, 4.76 ERA)

More right-handed opposition!

Here, Gutierrez' runny nose undid our plan for the double-header, which would have seen Roberts going ahead of Anderson. Instead we now had to pair Anderson with the rookie James, who had been recalled after the end of the minor league season (Coons' affiliated had not won nothing at all), because Delgadillo couldn't go on two days' rest. In fact, Delgadillo and Nomura would still be on short rest where they were right now, and the Raccoons might have to insert Alvin Smith (2-3, 3.15 ERA) instead.

To stretch the pen, the Raccoons also called up 23-year-old Jonathan Fleischer, a right-hander that had been a garbage pile pickup three years ago and had since risen to AAA, although he had pitched to a 7.71 ERA with ill control. He had already been on the 40-man roster, though. One final callup was Juan Magallanes, who had ended the AAA season with a .400 OBP and there had to be some value in that. His big league slash in '26 read .122/.178/.122 though…

Game 1
POR: 2B Spencer – SS Stalker – CF Mora – 1B Harenberg – LF Gerace – RF Kopp – 3B Nunley – C Tovias – P Anderson
CHA: 3B Czachor – SS Bowman – RF Kok – LF Banfi – C A. Gonzales – 1B Greenwald – CF Camps – 2B Pelles – P Cuenca

The Raccoons got a quicker start than usual in their own park thanks to being the "road" team in this series opener. Spencer hit his 200th base knock of the year, a leadoff single, and Mora drew a walk to put two on for Harenberg, who popped out, but Justin Gerace split Barend Kok and Juan Camps for a 2-run triple to put Anderson ahead, only for the starter to almost blow it right away. He walked Ryan Czachor to begin his outing, then allowed an RBI double to Sean Bowman. Strong plays by Nunley and Mora retired Kok and Luigi Banfi and allowed Anderson to escape from a messy first inning. Maybe this would be one of those high.scoring games… Nunley hit a leadoff single in the second, Tovias walked, and they were bunted over well by Anderson. Spencer grounded to the right side, pulling Russ Greenwald fairly deep, and his throw to Cuenca was late, giving Spencer an RBI infield single. And Cuenca continued to get nobody out. Stalker hit an RBI single, 4-1, and Mora walked. Harenberg missed a slam by not-much-at-all, hitting a 2-run double off the top of the wall in leftfield, 6-1, and then Gerace walked onto the open base before Kopp lined to Bowman for a double play, Harenberg being tagged out on a false start. Cuenca was batted for in the bottom 2nd, and Anderson appeared not far behind him; ex-Coons Russ Greenwald and Ruben Pelles had base hits in the inning, and Danny Munn crashed a pinch-hit homer to get the Falcons back to 6-4. He made it through another four outs before Greenwald got the score to 6-5 with a 2-out RBI single, scoring Alfonso Gonzales, in the bottom 3rd, then was yanked.

Oh the royal goodness of getting six early in the first heat of a twin-bill, with uncertainty in the rotation and probably your long man getting a spot start, and then your starter lasts two and two thirds while bleeding a handful. Jonathan Fleischer made his major league debut right here, allowed a single to Juan Camps, but Greenwald was of the slow sort and had to park at third. Pelles grounded out, keeping the Coons afloat for the moment, 6-5. They added to the lead in the fourth, which Spencer began with another single. He was on third base with two outs, at which point Harenberg was walked intentionally so the Falcons could stick to right-hander Joel O'Brien against the switch-hitting Gerace, who rapped a ball up the middle and into centerfield for an RBI single. Kopp struck out to end the top 4th. The bottom 4th saw one reliever (Fleischer) issue a leadoff walk to another (O'Brien), but Czachor hit into a double play. It was a mad sort of excitement that got only better once RAIN got involved in this makeup game in the wrong place.

Fleischer walked Bowman before the game went to a rain delay that lasted an hour. On the other end, Josh Boles picked up an 0-1 count against Barend Kok and got him to lift out carefully to Gerace to end the inning. Singles by Nunley and Alfaro (pinch-hitting for Boles) put runners on the corners, and Spencer hit a sac fly to bring home the Critters' eighth run, but even up 8-5 the Raccoons were in a terrible spot, running out of pitching fast, especially if they wanted Alvin Smith to start a game on the weekend. Delgadillo had tossed 100 pitches on Tuesday – how was short rest going to affect him? And Nomura? Was Rico good to go on Sunday? Woe us!

For the moment, the Raccoons committed to burning Kevin Surginer for the weekend. He was put into the bottom 5th to go as long as possible, but he was beaten up for two runs on four hits right in the bottom 5th, and the worst thing was that former Raccoons were at the forefront of doing the damage here, as Greenwald and Pelles just kept raking away at Coons hurlers. Kevin Harenberg got those runs back with a 2-run BLAST (estimated at 445 feet) as this madhouse continued, 10-7 in the sixth. His victim, right-hander Jason Sherman, also surrendered a solo homer to Terry Kopp in the same inning, and it was still not enough. Surginer kept getting butchered and put four more Falcons aboard in the bottom 6th. A run was in, the bags were teeming with the tying runs, and Billy Brotman had to come out to see after Greenwald with one out. There was a full count, there were anxiously closed eyes in my office as well as in the dugout where Kevin Surginer (1.1 IP for 6 H, 1 BB, and an as of yet undetermined amount of runs) covered his face with his cap. Then Greenwald smacked the 3-2 into play, right at Spencer, to short, to first – DOUBLE PLAY!!

By the seventh, the Raccoons had to remove Abel Mora from the game with a herniated disc in his back, which was not the sort of news we were hunting for right now. Magallanes took over in centerfield. Can we at least get this game over with, any which way? Probably not. Nunley hit into an inning-ending double play in the top 8th, then the Coons brought in Steve Costilow in the bottom 8th, which led nowhere nice. Czachor homered, 11-9, and then he walked Bowman. Ricky Ohl came on as the saloon door to the pen kept swinging back and forth. While Ricky kept the Falcons from scoring another run, there was still another inning to play and Greenwald and Pelles would be part of it. Greenwald grounded back to the pitcher Ohl for the first out, Camps grounded out to Bullock at third base (long story, longer than the one already compiled on this game…), but Pelles doubled past Jamieson in rightfield to bring up the tying run in PH Chris Mendoza, a left-hander, who singled, and now they were on the corners for Ryan Czachor. Ricky, there is nobody left in the pen except a sad sack o' baseballs. Would ya PLEASE? K to Czachor, game over. 11-9 Raccoons…! Spencer 4-5, 2 RBI; Harenberg 2-4, BB, HR, 2B, 4 RBI; Gerace 2-3, 2 BB, 3B, 3 RBI; Nunley 2-5, 2 RBI; Alfaro (PH) 1-1; Brotman 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K; Ohl 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, SV (8);

This game, including the rain delay, took 5:20 to complete. And guess what, boys! Put a new shirt on, and then we'll play another one under the lights and late in the night!

The Coons stuck to George James for the nightcap, and their pen was almost completely burned out. Only Snyder, Kearney, Derks, and the aforementioned Alvin Smith had not been used in the first game.

Game 2
CHA: 1B Greenwald – SS Bowman – RF Kok – LF Banfi – CF McClenon – 3B Burns – C Sigala – 2B Simko – P Moffatt
POR: 2B Spencer – CF Jamieson – LF Gerace – 1B Harenberg – RF Alfaro – SS Gerster – 3B Bullock – C Burrows – P James

Barend Kok's 20th homer of the year put the Falcons on top 1-0 in the first inning, which was not yet the worst that could happen. It did not *really* matter whether James gave up a run or three or four; foremost the Raccoons needed length to somehow keep the staff in shape. Even saying that, between games the Raccoons had ordered several pitchers not on the major league roster to end their post-AAA season holidays and get to the nearest airport immediately… And moving through the lineup quickly worked well for James until the fourth inning when he issued back-to-back 2-out walks to Joseph McClenon and Kyle Burns, which was just going to undo any and all strategies how we could pitch this game with only four arms. Jairo Sigala grounded out to Bullock, but the Coons were in trouble. This was true in more ways than one; Doug Moffatt retired the first ten Critters before walking Matt Jamieson in the bottom 4th, and still held them hitless through four.

James threw 63 pitches through five, which was a controllable situation, then had a full count and a 2-2 count against Kok and Banfi to begin the sixth. Both reached. This was not a controllable situation. The Coons wiggled out with only one run across on Burns' run-scoring groundout, putting Charlotte up 2-0, and the Coons found no way to Moffatt. Gerster hit a single in the bottom 5th. James hit a leadoff single in the bottom 6th. Nothing led them anywhere. Bottom 7th, leadoff walk to Harenberg, which meant we had Alfaro on no home runs, and then three batters of .200 or worse to do dam- OH, ALFARO!! DEEP DRIVE TO RIGHT and OUTTA HERE!!!! OH, OMAR!!!

With the game tied and everybody in the park having gone nuts by now, Butch Gerster and Daniel Bullock hit singles off Moffatt. Still nobody out. Burrows was tasked with a bunt, dropping down a beauty that Geoff Simko then threw over the head of Greenwald. That was a 2-base error that gave Portland a 3-2 lead, two in scoring position, and STILL nobody out with the top of the order coming up behind James, who was now hit for with Matt Nunley against Moffatt who suddenly was careening towards his 19th loss of the year. Nunley grounded out to Greenwald, poorly, keeping the runners on, but Jarod Spencer was not going to be denied now and knocked an RBI single to centerfield. Jamieson plated a run with a groundout, with Spencer going to second, and from there he scored on Gerace's single. George Barnett replaced Moffatt at this point and got Harenberg to ground out, but look at the carnage! Born out of nothing, a 6-spot!! Now let's get the pen involved! And specifically, Nick Derks. The Falcons were going to come up right-left-right in the eighth, making a move to Kearney not much more advisable than using Derks here. Bowman flew out to center on a 3-1 pitch to begin the inning. Kok flew out to Gerace in the shallow gap. And Luigi Banfi struck out! Oh guess what, this has worked so well, let's put him in the ninth, too! Why was the image of Nick Lester flashing up in my head right now? Derks works – PERIOD. After a 4-pitch walk to McClenon and Burns' sharp single, the Coons were left scrambling for Jonathan Snyder with nobody out. A Harenberg error on Sigala's grounder loaded them up and carted up the tying run in Mendoza, who hit in the #8 hole now. Full count, grounder to short, 6-4-3, **** that runner scoring – ONE MORE. Danny Munn grounded out, ending a wild, wild night. 6-3 Furballs. Alfaro 2-3, HR, 2 RBI; Gerster 2-4; James 7.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 5 K, W (2-0);

The Elks lost their only game (what a lazy bunch), so the Coons turned a half-game deficit into a full-game lead on this busy Friday.

Saturday would see Alvin Smith, panically spared usage for the last few days after the Gutierrez nose developed, make his second spot start of the season.

Also, the Coons deposited Abel Mora on the DL. He was out for the season, depressingly. He was put on the 60-day DL to open a room on the 40-man for Juan Barzaga, a 30-year-old swingman that had gone 10-6 with a 3.26 ERA in St. Pete this season. He was added to further bolster our scorched bullpen. Barzaga was 1-2 with a 4.21 ERA in 28 major league appearances from 2023 to 2024.

Game 3
CHA: 1B Greenwald – SS Bowman – RF Kok – LF Banfi – CF McClenon – 3B Burns – C Sigala – 2B Simko – P J. Chavez
POR: 2B Spencer – SS Stalker – LF Gerace – 1B Harenberg – CF Jamieson – RF Alfaro – 3B Nunley – C O'Dell – P Smith

After Spencer – now with a 12-game hitting streak after a single – and Stalker reached, Gerace and Harenberg couldn't put anybody across, but after Jamieson walked, Omar Alfaro pulled through with a 2-run single up the middle for a quick lead. But the fans would not be treated to a quick'n'easy one here (and why start now?). Alvin Smith was neck-deep in trouble as early as the third inning after a Greenwald single, Bowman reaching on another Harenberg error (eh, as long as he keeps dingering…), and then a walk to Kok. One out, Banfi popped out on the infield, and then McClenon went down on strikes. PHEW. But the Falcons were on base all the time, stranded two more runners in the fourth, and we were anxiously eyeing that bullpen. Bowman hit a leadoff double in the fifth, was on third base after Kok grounded out, and then Smith reached back and whiffed both Banfi and McClenon. While that was one way to keep the Falcons off the scoreboard, it was sure exploding his pitch count. He reached 100 through six – and that was going to be it. The rest would have to be guesswork once more.

Meanwhile, Jesus Chavez had not conceded another base hit to his former team after the first-inning damage, so this was also a developing situation. The next base hits was Alfaro's, of all people, a 2-out single in the bottom 6th with Gerace and Harenberg on board after Chavez had issued a pair of 1-out walks. Gerace scooted around and scored, 3-0, with Nunley then popping out on a 3-2 pitch to end the inning. And now what? Kearney was in for the seventh, but walked two left-handers en route to loading the bases with two outs and Burns due up. Ricky Ohl appeared by default, threw a wild pitch, then allowed a 2-2 drive to deep, deep right and ohmy****inggodwillsomeonepleasegobackandmake-ALFARO HAS IT!! LEAPING AT THE WALL, he brings it in!! Inning over!! OH MY GOD. That was not the last amazing catch in the game. Magallanes had entered with Ohl in a double switch, but lasted longer than Ricky in the game. Ohl had walked Pelles with two outs in the eighth. With Greenwald up, we wanted a lefty, so brought in Billy Brotman, who had nothing better to do than to allow an absolute rocket to center, where Magallanes sold out with total disregard for life and limb and made an AMAZING catch! That was another inning ticked off in the usual Coons way, easy and steady, all the way. (coughs) Portland added a run in the bottom 8th, Nunley singling home Gerace with two outs, before Brotman returned to finish the game. The fewer pitchers used, the better, I decreed. A grounder to Harenberg and two to Nunley ended the game. 4-1 Furballs!! Alfaro 2-3, BB, 3 RBI; Smith 6.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 7 K, W (3-3); Brotman 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K, SV (6);

Where did Omar Alfaro come from, and can he please stay exactly where he is right now?

Game 4
CHA: 3B Czachor – SS Bowman – RF Kok – CF McClenon – C A. Gonzales – LF C. Mendoza – 1B Burns – 2B Simko – P Bryant
POR: 2B Spencer – SS Stalker – CF Jamieson – 1B Harenberg – RF Alfaro – 3B Nunley – LF Kopp – C Tovias – P Delgadillo

The Falcons did a good job of wearing Delgadillo quickly. McClenon and Mendoza both drew walks in long plate appearances in the second, and Kyle Burns chipped in a single. A run scored on Geoff Simko's groundout, and Bryant ended the inning lining out to Spencer, but that was 44 pitches, we still had a dozen tired relievers, and – worse – were now 1-0 behind, and 2-0 after the third and McClenon's 2-out RBI double to plate Czachor. The Coons had no hits until Matt Jamieson hit a double up the leftfield line with one down in the fourth inning, a situation in which Harenberg chopped a ball back at Bryant so hard the pitcher could not defend himself before it bounced into his leg, then away from every conceivable defender. Harenberg was given an infield single and the tying runs were on the corners for Alfaro, who walked, filling them up for Nunley, always a double play threat. Matt never put the ball in play, instead laying off a junk 3-2 fastball far outside for a bases-loaded walk. Barend Kok then failed to catch up with a Terry Kopp drive that fell for a 2-run double, and the score was flipped! The Falcons walked Elias Tovias intentionally to get to Delgadillo, who batted of course with three on and one out in the fourth. Bryant was clearly off the rolls now. He could not find the zone anymore, walked Delgadillo, and now it was 4-2 for Spencer, who was hitless in the game, poked at a 3-1, and managed to drop it in front of McClenon in centerfield for an RBI single and a 13-game hitting streak. Stalker's groundout brought across the sixth and final run as Spencer took out Simko at second base after Czachor had made a great play that would allow them to turn two, and with that it was 6-2 and Jack Sander and his 5.87 ERA replaced Bryant in time to strike out Jamieson to end a 6-run nightmare for the Falcons.

Delgadillo had thrown 71 pitches through four, then had run the bases, so the Coons were far from out of the woods (and thinking about it, weren't the woods very cozy and nice to live in?), but he got through the fifth in order, although this already required Jamieson absolutely robbing Czachor of extra bases in deep center. Bottom 5th, Tovias singled home Alfaro, who had doubled, for an extra run, making this a 7-2 game. The Coons managed to squeeze Delgadillo through seven before Harenberg opened the bottom 7th with a single off Barnett. Bullock ran for Harenberg to avoid an injury, which was a sudden panic we had. Alfaro hit into a double play, and right there I had a hunch that now we had gambled away the baseball gods' goodwill by chickening out of Harenberg running the bags in a 5-run game. Delgadillo was wrung out for 108 pitches and 7.2 innings in the end, a job VERY well done, after which Kearney took over and got Kok to ground out to end the eighth, and also retired the 4-5-6 batters, including the right-handed batting Gonzales, in the ninth. 7-2 Raccoons! Harenberg 2-3, BB; Carmona (PH) 1-1, 2B; Delgadillo 7.2 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 6 K, W (12-5) and 0-2, BB, RBI;

In other news

September 14 – The Canadiens are dealt a terrible blow as LF/RF Alex Torres (.293, 23 HR, 96 RBI) is rendered out for the remainder of the season thanks to a fractured shoulder blade.
September 15 – SFW SP Pat Okrasinski (10-13, 3.80 ERA) unwraps a 2-hit shutout of the Scorpions, claiming the W in a 5-0 Warriors victory.
September 20 – LVA OF Danny Serrano (.350, 9 HR, 71 RBI) has a new hitting streak, 20 games, after landing a single in the ninth inning in a 4-3 loss to the Canadiens. Serrano already had a 39-game hitting streak this year.

Complaints and stuff

I feel… (smacks his dry mouth) … somewhat drained after this week. It was… how do you say… ehm… "intense".*

Truth be told, while we won plenty this week, not a single win was easy. No 7-0 laughers. The one game where we put up six early, Kyle Anderson put up five early, and that was the worst game of all. A win is a win, but there can be easier ones… And I mean, look at the pen. We carry SEVENTEEN pitchers by now, and we still hardly made it through the week! However, Delgadillo's gem on Sunday actually puts us back in a good spot. Only Kearney pitched along with Yusneldan on Sunday, and thus we are well set up to receive the Baybirds starting on Monday.

Gonzalez, Gomez, Mora – all done for the year. That the team is still standing is a bit of a miracle. But it looks like Alberto Ramos WILL be back for the final week, so we gotta feast on that for now.

And while I do feel like the 4-team race is over and it is a 2-horse dash now, for completeness' sake, here are all the four teams left standing in the North:

Down the stretch – games remaining per team – strength of schedule – playoff chance as divined by BNN:
POR (88-61): VAN (4), IND (3), NYC (3), SFB (3) – .505 – 85.7% (+37.8%)
VAN (86-63): POR (4), BOS (3), MIL (3), TIJ (3) – .527 – 13.7% (-8.9%)
NYC (82-67): IND (4), MIL (3), OCT (3), POR (3) – .495 – 0.5% (-27.2%)
BOS (81-69): ATL (3), IND (3), MIL (3), VAN (3) – .456 – 0.1% (-1.7%)

85%?? I wonder what they are smoking at BNN. I want some. Regardless though of what next week brings, the real games are on in the final week. Elks and Crusaders, both on the road.

Fun Fact: There were nine games played in the Continental League alone on this busy Friday including three makeup games.

It sure felt like the Coons played all three of those makeup games!

*I actually sweat through a set of clothes while playing this week. God, I handle pressure so well!