[Westheim]

Raccoons (59-77) @ Indians (71-66) – September 9-11, 2031

The Coons were 6-6 against Indy this year, one season after winning only six games over the entire season series with their division rivals. The Indians were nowhere near challenging for the postseason and at 17 games out could be eliminated even this week. That would however require the (un)kind support of the Critters… For Indy it was all about their strong pitching that ranked mostly in the upper categories in the CL, except for a disturbingly brittle bullpen, while their offense was rather crummy and scored only the ninth-most runs in the league.

Projected matchups:
Ed Hague (8-10, 4.13 ERA) vs. Andy Bressner (14-11, 3.07 ERA)
Tom Shumway (2-5, 3.91 ERA) vs. John McInerney (11-7, 3.00 ERA)
Rico Gutierrez (7-12, 5.44 ERA) vs. David Saccoccio (10-9, 3.63 ERA)

Right, left, right for this series. Both teams had started the week with an off day, which for the Critters was their penultimate day without a contest this season.

Game 1
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Stalker – RF Wallace – LF Jamieson – 3B Hereford – 1B Howden – C Tovias – CF Allan – P Hague
IND: SS Pizano – 1B Regan – RF Plunkett – C J. Herrera – 2B Schneller – CF Baron – LF Zanches – 3B Conner – P Bressner

The first inning was already a pretty good point to start your baseball withdrawal program. While the Coons calmly stranded Stalker after a 1-out double, Ed Hague endeavored to throw right down the middle, which yielded unsurprising results. Greg Regan cracked a single to left, and Mike Plunkett hit a hard fly to center. Ryan Allan was fooled on that ball and ran in when he should have run out, and Plunkett wound up with an RBI double. Juan Herrera walked when Hague tried to not throw right down Broadway for a change, which included throwing a wild pitch to move Plunkett to third, and Dan Schneller ran a full count before hitting a liner to left, but right at Jamieson. Plunkett went from third base, stumbled, and was thrown out at home plate to end the inning. That was only the beginning; Rich Hereford tied the game with his 21st jack leading off the second inning, but the bottom 2nd saw more pasted liners off Hague, who didn’t fool anybody, nor did he get ahead of anybody. John Baron and Josh Conner went to the corners with singles, Bressner rapped a single through the right side for the go-ahead run, and Mario Pizano clocked a single through the right side that saw Conner sent from second base against Jimmy Wallace, who prevailed with a precise throw to home plate, leading to the second Arrowhead axed down at the plate in as many innings. Hague allowed another three hits in the third inning, starting with a Plunkett single. Herrera hit into a double play, but the joyride kept on honking for the Indians, with a Dan Schneller single to left and then finally a big one, John Baron homering to left for his 22nd dinger of the year while batting a strong .210 … Alex Zanches doubled to center, at which point Hague was yanked after 2.2 innings and 10 base hits allowed on 62 pitches. Not that it stopped the bleeding; Bryan Rabbitt allowed a fifth run in the bottom 4th on Pizano and Plunkett base hits, which at that point gave Indy a full dozen base knocks against the hapless Critters. While Bressner held the Raccoons on as short a leash as was legal in the state of Indiana, the Coons’ pen at least slowed down the bleeding, although we did get into an atrocious seventh, started by Fleischer walking leadoff man Baron. Fernandez replaced him, got a comebacker from Zanches that he threw away, and somehow the Indians only played that two on, no outs situation into only a single unearned run in the inning. Another run fell out of Boles in the eighth, owed to a leadoff double over Wallace’s glove by Greg Regan, then a Herrera RBI single. The Critters batted bravely to the end, although their resilience was futile. Bressner pitched a complete-game 5-hitter, only being almost undone at the very end when Schneller bumbled a 2-out grounder in the ninth. Jarod Howden however expertly grounded out to third baseman Elias Sosa in a 3-1 count to end the game. The dumb pig. 7-1 Indians. Stalker 2-4, 2B;

The Indians went on to move McInerney out of the middle game. We’d get Saccoccio right away.

Game 2
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Stalker – RF Wallace – LF Jamieson – 3B Hereford – 1B Howden – C Tovias – CF Magallanes – P Shumway
IND: SS Pizano – C J. Herrera – RF Plunkett – CF Baron – 2B Schneller – 1B I. Pena – LF Aleman – 3B Conner – P Saccoccio

Saccoccio faced the minimum the first time through, allowing only a single to Tovias that was erased on Magallanes grounding to the bag where Schneller made an agile flip to Pizano to start the 4-6-3. They would better their output in the second inning, when Jarod Howden hit a single… and was not doubled up… although that was only because there were already two out. For the second time in this series, the Coons were completely hopeless. On the other side of the box score, Shumway was not nearly as proficient in keeping Indians off base, but once they were on base they displayed little luck. Both Baron and Alex Aleman were caught stealing by Tovias, and while Tovias also threw away a ball on a Pizano steal attempt, Herrera stranded him at third base in the bottom 3rd. The game was scoreless through six, but the Indians were still out-hitting the Furballs, 5-2.

Jamieson’s gapper for a 2-out double in the seventh was the most impressive offensive act that the Critters had managed in the game, but he too was strandd when Rich Hereford flailed over enough pitches in a vain attempt to hit something where it would count. Shumway then began the bottom 7th by allowing walks to both Baron and Schneller, then got lifted for what we’d hope would be relief. Ricky Ohl struck out PH Mike Cowan, who had been announced to counter Schumway in Ivan Pena’s place, then got a grounder from Regan, a lefty bat, at Stalker, who turned two to extend the scorelessness. But that ended in the eighth; Tovias hit a single with one out, Magallanes forced him out, but that put speed on first base for when Wilson Rodriguez pinch-hit for Ohl and laced a ball into the leftfield corner. Magallanes had been running all along and scored handily, the first marker on the scoreboard. Indy walked Ramos intentionally, then got Stalker to ground out. Garavito dealt a quick eighth, bringing on Chris Wise for a ninth inning that was not exactly quick, except that the sewer was bubbling within three pitches, which was enough for both Herrera and Plunkett to reach base with a pair of singles. Baron grounded the very next pitch to Stalker, leading to a 4-6-3 double play, so four pitches in there were two outs and the tying run was on third base, which was also when the inning flipped from quick and frightening to slow and even more frightening. Overly cautious, Wise walked Schneller in a full count, then fell 3-1 to PH Alex Zanches, who eventually grounded up the middle. Ramos got there, Ramos handled it, and the Coons squeaked out a winner. 1-0 Blighters. Tovias 2-3; Rodriguez (PH) 1-1, 2B, RBI; Shumway 6.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 4 K;

John McInerney would make it into the Thursday game. Since the Critters were not playing for much of anything, especially with Rico Gutierrez on the mound, they’d sit their left-handed regulars.

Game 3
POR: CF Magallanes – SS Stalker – LF Jamieson – 3B Hereford – RF Rodriguez – C Ross – 1B Baldwin – 2B Cass – P Gutierrez
IND: SS Pizano – C J. Herrera – RF Plunkett – CF Baron – 2B Schneller – LF M. Cowan – 1B Aleman – 3B Conner – P McInerney

Herrera single, Plunkett homer – within three batters Rico Gutierrez found himself in familiar territory, trailing 2-0. The Coons would get leadoff singles from Hereford and Rodriguez in the top 2nd before Ross grounded out, advancing the runners, Baldwin popped one over to Aleman, Cass was walked intentionally, and Rico made a soft out to Aleman, too, stranding a full set. Not that I was blaming him for not slugging in some runs. I was blaming him for pitching like liquid ass for $2.09M a year, though. I did blame the rest of the team for more or less folding offensively after the second inning. At least Rico lined up a few zeroes on the board getting through the next few innings despite a disturbing amount of line drives, but the score was held at 2-0 until it neatly exploded in the most definitive fashion in the fifth inning. Two outs on the board, Juan Herrera hit a 420-footer to center to make it 3-0. Well, **** happens. Plunkett plunked one 440 feet, also to center, 4-0. Well… Baron doubled to left… okay, maybe we should get someone up. Schneller’s RBI single closed Rico’s day at 4.2 innings and eight hits for five runs, with Cowan grounding out to short against Dave Martinez, the other half of the “used to be good but briefly” tandem.

Top 6th, McInerney ran 3-0 counts against both Stalker and Jamieson to begin the inning. Both poked, neither reached base under their own power. Well, Tim Stalker reached second on an egregious throwing error by Josh Conner, but Jamieson popped out, Hereford popped out, and Rodriguez rolled over to Schneller. And that was basically the game. In fact, there were only two more base runners afterwards. Stalker hit a double in the eighth for which he was ignored just the same, and Martinez walked Plunkett, which hands down beat getting pummeled for a third time, but didn’t make a difference either as the Coons lost this one, meekly and listlessly. 5-0 Indians. Martinez 3.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K;

Raccoons (60-79) @ Loggers (83-58) – September 12-14, 2031

The Loggers’ bid for the postseason had collapsed midweek, when they were swept (and shut out twice) in a 3-game set in Boston and now found themselves eight games out. With only 21 games left and the Titans hot and steaming, the North was likely decided. Meanwhile the Critters asked for little more than no direct harm to life and limb after having already dropped 11 of 15 games to the Loggers this year. Milwaukee sat seventh in runs scored (with a paltry homer total of 69, last in the CL), third in runs allowed, and had to sweep the Coons once more if they wanted to have any shot at all down the road.

Projected matchups:
Jason Gurney (9-7, 3.33 ERA) vs. Morgan Shepherd (8-8, 2.54 ERA)
Mark Roberts (6-8, 4.19 ERA) vs. Mike Hodge (12-8, 2.78 ERA)
Bernie Chavez (0-1, 4.26 ERA) vs. Josh Weeks (11-8, 3.19 ERA)

Weeks was the only southpaw we expected to meet, but they had an off day on Thursday, so only the baseball gods new what the Loggers had in store…

Game 1
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Stalker – LF Wallace – 3B Hereford – 1B Howden – RF Rodriguez – C Ross – CF Magallanes – P Gurney
MIL: 3B Lockert – LF Cambra – SS W. Morris – RF J. Stephenson – CF Creech – 1B M. Monroe – C J. Young – 2B Holder – P Shepherd

Ramos and Stalker reached to begin the game… on consecutive errors. So, that was maybe one reason why the Loggers weren’t going to be playing in October. Miles Monroe and Matt Lockert, in that order, got hit with the E hammer. Hereford would drive in the runs with a single to right and one out, the only actual hitting the Critters did in the first inning. Gurney gave a run back in the second, nailing Gabe Creech and putting them on the corners with one out by allowing a single to Monroe. Jim Young hit a sac fly, 2-1, but the Coons would hit two sac flies after loading the bags with nobody out in the fourth inning. Rodriguez singled, Ross doubled, Magallanes walked, and Gurney got the first of the sac flies, flying out to Josh Stephenson. Ramos walked to reload the sacks, and then Stalker hit a fly to deep left that chased Firmino Cambra back to the track where he swiped at the ball and somehow found it in his glove *and* managed to slow down before he would have broken through the fence head-first. Toby Roos boogied home on that one, extending the score to 4-1 before Wallace grounded out. The Loggers pulled a run back on two hits and a wild pitch in the bottom of the inning as Gurney tried to give the lead back any way he could…

But the Coons were still up 4-2 into the seventh inning where Jimmy Wallace’s 1-out single knocked out Shepherd. Julio Palomo replaced him and allowed another single to right to Hereford, which put them on the corners for Howden, who struck out, the dumb pig. Wilson Rodriguez also fell to 0-2, but then shoved a ball through the left side for an RBI single, 5-2! Toby Ross however popped out on the first pitch, stranding a pair… Milwaukee still came near having the tying run at the plate in the bottom of the inning. Kaleb Holder hit a 2-out single, and then D.J. Mendez ticked an 0-2 pitch to center when he hit for Palomo. Holder turned for third base, but Magallanes was on the ball swiftly and Holder was tracked down between second and third and killed off on the old 8-5-4-6 play to end the inning. Gurney got two outs on two pitches in the eighth, then surrendered a Wayne Morris triple on the very next offering. Surely just a blip! Let him face Steph- ah ****! Single to left, the run scored, and the tying run came to the plate. The Raccoons sent for Wise, who retired Creech, the Loggers’ unlikely home run leader with 11 dingers, on a grounder to short.

Top 9th, the Critters were stirring against Alfredo Casique. Stalker struck out continuing a weeklong slump for the 1-2 pair, but Wallace singled to left, Hereford double to right, and Howden was walked intentionally for whatever reason since he surely would have no trouble to hit into a double play with runners in scoring position and first base open… Rodriguez hit an RBI single to right, 6-3, but Jamieson popped out when sent to the plate for Toby Ross. Magallanes knocked out Casique, however, hitting a ball into the shallow left-center gap for a 2-run single. The Raccoons declared at that point that they had enough runs and let Chris Wise bat for the second time this season. He grounded out to Lockert, then loaded the bases with one out in the bottom 9th. Young singled, Holder walked, Wilson Aquino singled, and the top of the order was due up. Lockert’s single up the middle plated two, and got Wise yanked from the game. With a left-hander up in Cambra, Josh Boles was called in from the pen, walked the batter, then got booted down the tunnel to the clubhouse. Ohl inherited three on, one out, and the winning run at the plate. Morris flew out to shallow right on the first pitch. Taylor Canody took the 0-1 to left. Matt Jamieson made the catch there. 8-5 Coons. Wallace 2-5; Hereford 3-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Rodriguez 3-5, 2 RBI;

Not sure whether I should be happy or angry right now… the Titans were surely happy, because their lead extended to nine games now after they beat the Crusaders, 4-3.

Matt Nunley came off the DL by Saturday. Maybe he would last longer than 32 outs this time!

Game 2
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Stalker – RF Wallace – LF Jamieson – 1B Howden – 3B Nunley – C Tovias – CF Catella – P Roberts
MIL: 3B Lockert – C J. Young – SS W. Morris – RF J. Stephenson – CF Creech – 1B M. Monroe – LF Valenzuela – 2B Holder – P Hodge

Ramos opened with a double and scored on a Jamieson single, putting Roberts up 1-0 before the first ball the Loggers’ Lockert put in play found Matt Nunley. The proven veteran swiped and threw to first… wildly. Lockert reached second on the leadoff error, but was stranded when the Loggers could not get another ball to fall in. While the Coons offense slumped thereafter once more, the Loggers didn’t get a runner in their own right until the fourth inning when Morris singled to left, giving him a 25-game hitting streak. Stephenson singled past Nunley, and Creech hit one to left, too, although that one wasn’t coming back; his 12th dinger gave the Loggers a 3-1 lead over Roberts.

But in the fifth, trouble found Hodge again. Catella, Ramos, and Stalker filtered on the bases on two hits and a walk, and Jimmy Wallace came to bat with the bags packed and one out. He beat Monroe with a bouncer spanked over the first base bag that was called fair (which the Loggers disputed in vain) and tied the game as a 2-run single. Jamieson hit into a double play to end the inning, though. Roberts avoided damage in the fifth in which Hodge spiked a line drive single on an 0-2 pitch and reached third base on a Jim Young single before Morris flew out, but not in the sixth, with Stephenson lacing a leadoff double and Creech lacing #13. That one put Milwaukee up, 5-3, and they added a run in the seventh on Bates walking Lockert, and Fernandez allowing a single to Young, a walk to Morris, and a Stephenson sac fly, and another one in the eighth when Fernandez again put everything on base that had legs. The Critters’ striped tails never flicked again as they lost this one by a slam. 7-3 Loggers. Nunley 2-4;

Game 3
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Stalker – LF Jamieson – 3B Hereford – RF Rodriguez – 1B Howden – CF Magallanes - C Rocha – P Chavez
MIL: 3B Lockert – C Canody – SS W. Morris – CF Creech – 1B M. Monroe – LF D.J. Mendez – RF Valenzuela – 2B Holder – P Weeks

The Critters hoped to help Bernie Chavez by pairing him with a familiar catcher in his second career start, but he still managed to hit Morris and throw a wild pitch right in the first inning. That was with a 1-0 lead; Stalker had walked and scored on Jamieson and Rodriguez singles in the opening frame. The lead went into the drain in the second, which Monroe opened with a 430-footer to left, but Chavez would restore it himself with a 2-out RBI single in the fourth inning, driving home Magallanes. That wasn’t even his first 2-out single in the game; he had already knocked one in the second inning, his first career hit, but both times Ramos ended the inning in his deepening slump. The rest of the team continued to do just as much, and Bernie was more or less on his own, which worked through five, but not through six. Canody opened with a double to right-center, and soon enough scored on a Morris single, which also extended the hitting streak to 26. Morris reached second on Jamieson’s throw home, third on Creech’s single, and scored the go-ahead run on Monroe’s sac fly to Rodriguez. Mendez knocked out Chavez with a 3-2 single, sending Creech to third base. Boles replaced the yanked starter and got out of the mess with a K to Danny Valenzuela and a fly to center off Holder’s bat.

Come the seventh, Chavez would be taken off the hook. Baldwin batted for Boles to begin the inning for the sake of his righty bat and to the surprise of anybody hit a double to right. Ramos finally came through with a hit, also to right, and all the way into the corner, a game-tying RBI triple! And nobody out! Stalker’s single past Morris restored the Critters to the lead, 4-3, and then Jamieson hit a gapper for an RBI triple! WHOAH, OFFENSE!! Hereford would drive in another run off Weeks, the final move of the inning which the Raccoons finished up by three, 6-3. Baldwin (single), Ramos (double), Stalker (RBI single), and Jamieson (sac fly) would take Palomo apart for two tack-on runs in the eighth inning. That still wasn’t enough to not create a save opportunity in the ninth between Fernandez, who allowed Valenzuela on base on a leadoff infield single, and Rabbitt, who got whacked all over the place and was yanked with two outs, Fernandez’ run across, and Andy Sears and Taylor Canody in scoring position. Ohl came on to face Morris, the .315 batter. In other circumstances, an intentional walk would be an option, but here it would bring up Creech as the tying run and he already had two dingers in the series. Morris flew out to left on the 1-1 pitch, and the Raccoons took the series from dissolving Loggers. 8-4 Raccoons. Ramos 2-5, 3B, 2B, RBI; Stalker 3-4, BB, 2 RBI; Jamieson 2-4, 3B, 2 RBI; Baldwin (PH) 2-2, 2B; Fleischer 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

In other news

September 8 – NAS INF Billy Bouldin (.298, 1 HR, 54 RBI) will miss three weeks with an oblique strain.
September 10 – It’s season over for Falcons slugger LF/RF Graciano Salto (.280, 16 HR, 69 RBI) who has broken his wrist.
September 11 – The Condors run circles around the Bayhawks, with four Condors each landing three RBI or three runs scored. TIJ INF Omar Camacho (.268, 11 HR, 51 RBI) does it both while also drawing three walks and landing two base hits.
September 12 – PIT C Pat Sanford (.222, 13 HR, 48 RBI) dishes our four hits and as many RBI in the Miners’ 12-3 rout of the Cyclones.

Complaints and stuff

There was not much fuss about it, but Wednesday’s 1-0 win over Indianapolis was our 8,888th regular season game. At that point we were 4,572 – 4,316 … or a .514 team.

Season winding down, but we will see rule 5 pick John Hennessy winding up at some point down the road; he is going to come off the DL and rejoin the team just like Joe Vanatti next week.

And we’re going to bring up Raffaello Sabre and Ignacio del Rio with the minor league seasons over. We’ll find starts for them *somewhere*. By the way, all our minor league teams finished with mediocre records. The Alley Cats were the bets of the bunch, ending 74-70 and 13 games out at the AAA level. Sabre, Chavez, and del Rio led them in ERA. Sabre, del Rio, and Chavez led them in wins. And Chavez, Sabre, and del Rio led them in strikeouts. Not much happiness on the batting front. Craig Hollenbeck led the team with a .289 clip and 55 RBI. Winning the team triple crown would have required a modest SIX homers, the total put up by Bobby Houston, our 2026 sixth-rounder in 102 games, but Hollenbeck, the 2025 second-rounder and first baseman, couldn’t even do that. He hit four homers in 140 games and zero in the three games he filled in for Howden earlier this season.

Fun Fact: Our 6-12 final against the Loggers is our worst season against them since 2003, when we also won only six games from them.

That actually happened regularly at that point; it was almost right in the middle of the Decade of Darkness for the Coons, which was actually the Loggers’ greatest decade. They finished in the first division of the North 11 straight times from 1994 through 2004, with two division titles (1994, 2000) and three seasons where they were beat by one game, and usually by the Titans. They won 99 in ’03. Those were the Loggers teams of Cristo Ramirez, Bakile Hiwalani, Jorge Cruz, Bartolo Hernandez, Jerry Fletcher (all but Hernandez over 30 in ’03) at the plate, and foremost Martin Garcia and Ramiro Gonzalez on the mound. Garcia was also 31 already and it is no wonder why they disappeared into the abyss soon after that 2003 season. In their case the abyss would entail not only 14 straight seasons finishing in the second division, but also 13 seasons of coming up fifth or sixth, with 12 losing records and also the unenviable ABL record of nine consecutive last-place finishes from 2006 through 2014. No other team has come even close to that. The Raccoons’ record of last-place honors is four in a row, achieved right away from 1978 through 1981.