[Westheim]

Raccoons (52-78) @ Falcons (68-61) – August 26-28, 2052

Road trip! The Coons would take their sucking elsewhere, and would probably punch their sub-.500 season somewhere between Charlotte and Milwaukee. First up were the third-place Falcons, 13 games out and done in the CL South, who were third in runs scored and sixth in runs allowed, as well as 5-1 in games against hapless Critters this season.

Projected matchups:
Seisaku Taki (13-7, 2.76 ERA) vs. Andy Overy (11-6, 3.70 ERA)
Cameron Argenziano (0-5, 4.70 ERA) vs. Hiroyuki Takagi (7-11, 4.59 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (4-6, 4.14 ERA) vs. Chris Jones (5-9, 3.81 ERA)

Overy was the left-hander in residence in Charlotte, while a number of regulars there were on the DL, including Ian Woodrome and Mike Allegood.

Game 1
POR: SS Lavorano – 2B Waters – CF Puckeridge – LF Crum – RF Glodowski – 3B Sivertson – C Brewer – 1B Maldonado – P Taki
CHA: SS Arreola – 1B Tinoco – RF D. Ceballos – CF Caballero – 2B E. Stevens – C Gowin – LF Kinoshiita – 3B J. Frazier – P Overy

Thanks to a Juan Arreola triple and Adrian Tinoco’s single, the Falcons took the lead and won the game without making an out in the first inning. Actually, no, the Coons got a 2-run homer from Aaron Brewer following a Sivertson single in the second, and took a 2-1 lead, but then again, the Falcons got ANOTHER leadoff triple from Chris Gowin in the bottom 2nd and easily retied the game. Those triples fell to either side of Matt Glodowski and his useless pelt. The Falcons then added three stolen bases – two by Danny Ceballos and one by Oscar Caballero in his wake – in the bottom 3rd, but no runs once Sivertson made a nifty bare-pawed play on a Gowin grounder to close out the inning. Ceballos stole a third base, his 45th of the year in his chase of Lonzo, in the bottom 5th, and that after singling home Arreola for a 3-2 Falcons lead, and I didn’t know which part there annoyed me more.

The Coons then shed Pucks to injury yet again in the sixth inning. Him and Waters were on base to begin the inning, but when Crum crummily grounded to Erik Stevens, Pucks crashed violently with Arreola at second base to break up the double play, and perhaps a leg or two. He was also ruled out, adding insult to injury. Suzuki replaced him in the bottom 6th, while the Coons tied the score at three with a run-scoring groundout by Glodowski. Taki held the score through seven innings, throwing 113 pitches, but Overy struck out the side still in the eighth inning, and Taki had to settle for a no-decision. Justin Johns retired the 4-5-6 batters in order in the bottom 8th, and got in line for the win when the Coons began the ninth with singles against right-hander Ben Arner. Crum got on, stole second base on what was supposed to be a hit-and-run, but Glodowski fell asleep, and then scored from there when Glodowski actually put his useless pelt into action and singled to left-center. Sivertson and Brewer both singled to fill the bases with nobody out for Maldo, who popped out to Tinoco. Ed Crispin struck out. Lonzo grounded out to short. (sigh!) At least Hitchcock put the Falcons away in order in the bottom of the ninth… 4-3 Raccoons. Sivertson 2-4; Brewer 3-4, HR, 2 RBI;

Pucks was unavailable and still getting checked out at the local hospital on Tuesday.

Game 2
POR: SS Lavorano – LF Sivertson – 1B Crum – 2B Waters – RF Rivera – C Raczka – CF Suzuki – 3B Crispin – P Argenziano
CHA: RF D. Ceballos – 2B E. Stevens – LF Caballero – CF Whitehead – 3B J. Frazier – C Gowin – 1B Rogers – SS Arreola – P Takagi

Lonzo drew a leadoff walk (!), but couldn’t get a steal off (…) in the first inning; he did however get singled home by Ken Crum after a groundout by Sivertson moved him to second base. Ed Crispin doubled home Suzuki in the second inning, then scored himself on a throwing error by Takagi, who tossed away a 2-out roller by Lonzo, who ended up on second base, stole third for #49, but was left there by Sivertson. Lonzo then fumbled a ball himself in the bottom of the same inning, letting Chris Gowin on base in addition to Ethan Whitehead and his leadoff single. Phil Rogers looped an RBI single to center, 3-1, but Arreola hit into a 6-4-3 double play to end the inning. Lonzo had *another* error in the third inning, but then the Falcons had no other base runners in that frame. He was then caught stealing in the fifth by Gowin, continuing a very much mixed evening for him.

Waters and Rivera began the sixth with singles before the next three batters made three increasingly pathetic outs, and nobody scored or even reached third base. Winless Argenziano got through six with semi-decent success, but then walked Arreola and gave up a single to the pinch-hitting Eiji Kinoshiita in the seventh inning, getting yanked with one out. The bullpen then failed him greatly; Reese and Larson entered in succession, and between them logged zero outs and waved four runs across before Paul Crisler found a way out of the meltdown, even when Raczka insisted on putting another batter on base via catcher’s interference. Danny Ceballos doubled home a run, and Erik Stevens singled to tie the game. Oscar Caballero made it 5-3 with another double. The Raccoons failed – to answer, as well as in general; and the Falcons even the series with two more quick innings out of Marcos Nabo and Ben Arner. 5-3 Falcons. Lavorano 2-4, BB; Rivera 2-4; Raczka 2-4;

By Wednesday, Alan Puckeridge sported a brace on his throwing paw and was sent to the DL. A tear had been found in a ligament in his thumb, and it looked like he might miss the rest of the season.

(groans)

The Raccoons turned to the second player they had received from the Warriors in the David Barel trade, #37 prospect OF Nick Thomason, who was batting .301 with a homer in 35 games with the Alley Cats and who would have been a September call-up anyway. The first player from that deal was of course Fernando Perez, but he’d only return on Sunday, sticking in AAA on a rehab assignment til then.

Game 3
POR: SS Lavorano – LF Sivertson – 1B Crum – 2B Waters – CF Suzuki – C Raczka – 3B Crispin – RF Maldonado – P Wheatley
CHA: SS Arreola – 1B Tinoco – RF D. Ceballos – CF Caballero – 2B E. Stevens – LF D. Diaz – C Gowin – 3B J. Frazier – P A. Velasquez

Right-hander Angel Velasquez (7-7, 4.26 ERA) made the start in the rubber game for Charlotte, and allowed only Matt Waters on base with a leadoff walk that led nowhere the first time through, but in the fourth inning ran into having the bags loaded with Sivertson and Waters singles, then a 1-out walk to Suzuki. Jeff Raczka flew out poorly on a 3-2 pitch, keeping all the runners pinned, and Crispin grounded to Stevens for … a 2-base throwing error, giving the Coons a 2-0 lead. Maldo didn’t get a chance to bat, and Wheatley flew out to Ceballos to strand a full set. Which was fine as long as he kept the Falcons off the bags, which he also didn’t in the bottom 4th. Ceballos, Caballero and Diaz all hit singles, and they tied the game at two with them…

A leadoff walk to Josh Frazier in the bottom 5th brought about more trouble. Velasquez failed to bunt until he jabbed a single past Waters, and Adrian Tinoco gave the team a 3-2 lead with a sac fly. Ceballos reached on an infield single, but Caballero struck out to leave runners on the corners. The Coons answered with getting Crispin on first base in the sixth, then having Maldo double into left-center after him. Crispin was sent around third base on the play, thrown out at home, and Maldo was stranded at second base in another inning worthy of biting into a clenched fist.

Another Stevens error put Lonzo on base in the seventh inning, and he reached third as the tying run on a quick Sivertson single. Crum grounded out crummily, moving Sivertson to second, but nothing else, but Matt Waters came through with a singed single over Stevens’ glove and right-center, allowing both the tying and go-ahead runners to score, 4-3…! Wheats got rid of the 1-2-3 in that fashion in the home half of the inning, then was hit for with Oscar Rivera after Maldo had singled to right with one out against Marcos Nabo. Rivera singled to center in his spot, and Nabo nicked Lonzo with the next pitch, loading them up for Sivertson, who hit a looper to Ceballos’ feet for an RBI single, but Crum with a comebacker for a force out at home, and Waters with a grounder to short, then left three runners stranded in the inning… Justin Johns worked around a leadoff infield single for Ceballos to protect the 2-run lead in the bottom 8th, and then we sent in Hitchcock to shoo all the birds away. 5-3 Coons. Sivertson 3-4, BB, RBI; Waters 2-4, BB, 2 RBI; Malconado 2-3, BB, 2B; Rivera (PH) 1-1;

Raccoons (54-79) @ Loggers (62-72) – August 29-September 1, 2052

We had seven more games with the Loggers, including four in Milwaukee to finish out the month of August. The season series, which the Raccoons had won for eight straight years, was still tightly fought over, with the Coons narrowly ahead, 6-5, to begin the series. They were fourth in runs scored, but were giving up the very most runs in the CL, which had yet to help the Coons a lot this year. They had a -30 run differential, marginally worse than the Critters (-23).

Projected matchups:
Dave Saldivar (4-6, 2.85 ERA) vs. Dave Serio (7-14, 4.85 ERA)
Rafael de la Cruz (8-10, 3.22 ERA) vs. Angelo Munoz (13-8, 2.95 ERA)
Seisaku Taki (13-7, 2.80 ERA) vs. Noah Hollis (10-11, 3.96 ERA)
Cameron Argenziano (0-5, 4.65 ERA) vs. Josh Costello (9-11, 4.48 ERA)

All right-handers from the Loggers; but no Zach Suggs and Gaudencio Callaia, both on the DL, removing the most significant threats from that lineup.

Game 1
POR: SS Lavorano – 3B Crispin – 1B Crum – 2B Waters – LF Rivera – CF Suzuki – C Brewer – RF Thomason – P Saldivar
MIL: 2B R. Lopez – 3B Barrington – CF Steinbacher – 1B Yamamoto – LF C. Lowe – SS K. Leon – RF Sayre – C J. Jimenez – P Serio

The Loggers went up early, and by a bunch. Jack Barrington and Phil Steinbacher hit singles off Saldivar in the first, and Shuta Yamamoto, of all people, hit a sac fly for a 1-0 lead. Saldivar nailed Kenny Leon in the bottom 2nd, walked Craig Sayre, there was a wild pitch, a Serio sac fly, and an RBI double over Suzuki’s head by Ricky Lopez, 3-0. Somehow Barrington flew out to Nick Thomason without driving in another 26 runs. The Coons scored in the third inning, however, with Thomason in his debut featuring quite bigly. First he forced out Aaron Brewer, but then stole second base and scored on a Saldivar single, 3-1.

The Loggers kept getting on base against Saldivar, although both Sayre in the third and Lopez in the fourth were caught stealing by Aaron Brewer, who however didn’t make it out of the fifth inning; on a double to left to move Suzuki from first to third base he pulled up lame and left the ballgame, to be replaced by Raczka. Thomason was added to the bases intentionally, bringing up Saldivar with three on and two gone. The Coons opted for Maldonado, who opted to strike out, and stranded the full set.

The Raccoons then had another bullpen explosion in the bottom of the sixth inning. Ryan Harmer walked two and allowed a single before getting yanked, but Brett Lillis failed to contain the flood. He gave up a bases-clearing double to Sayre, then a single to Juan Jimenez that was overrun by Rivera for an error, which in turn allowed Sayre to score. Jim Larson restored order after that by getting four outs without cocking up another four runs, while the Raccoons did … little in response, although Nick Thomason got his first career hit with an eighth-inning single off Serio.

And yet, the ninth inning. Lefty David Fox pitched and gave up a leadoff single to Lonzo, who stole his 50th bag. Crispin was out, but Crum singled home Lonzo before Waters and Rivera packed the bases full, which put the tying run somewhere you could see it, the on-deck circle. Willie Gonzales replaced Fox, while Glodowski batted for Reese in Suzuki’s deserted spot. He lined out to Ricky Lopez. Raczka, who could not be hit for, grounded out to Ricky Lopez. And that was the game. 7-2 Loggers. Lavorano 2-5; Crum 2-5, RBI; Brewer 2-3, 2B; Raczka 1-2;

Brewer was day-to-day with a bruised knee. He was technically available to catch. Since roster expansion was only two days away, the Raccoons didn’t get cute there; Raczka was going to start the next two games, and we’d get a third catcher anyway on Sunday. Brewer was probably going to be affected for up to a week.

Game 2
POR: SS Lavorano – 3B Crispin – 1B Crum – 2B Waters – LF Rivera – C Raczka – CF Thomason – RF Maldonado – P de la Cruz
MIL: LF Sayre – 2B R. Lopez – C C. Thomas – CF Steinbacher – RF C. Lowe – 1B Yamamoto – SS K. Leon – 3B Barrington – P A. Munoz

After Steinbacher’s leadoff single in the bottom 2nd, Raffy walked the bags full and gave up a sac fly to Kenny Leon. Considering he then struck out the 8-9 batters to escape and gave up only one run, he probably got off easy, not including his pitch count, which was already at 40 tosses. The Coons tied the game right away; Maldo hit a leadoff single to right, was bunted to second, and then scored on a Lonzo single in the third inning, only for straight hits by the 2-3-4 batters to give a new 2-1 lead to Milwaukee in the bottom of the same frame. Nope, it once more wasn’t Raffy’s day, and he was gone after six very mixed innings, and not without giving up a solo homer to Chris Thomas in the fifth to trail 3-1. Asking the Coons to rally was like asking the lion not to eat the lambs, and then Craig Sayre added an insurance run with a homer off Eric Reese in the seventh. For the second day in a row the Raccoons did nothing spectacular against the worst pitching in the CL – until loading the bags in the ninth inning with Suzuki, Lonzo, and Crispin. By then, there were already two outs, but at least Ken Crum was up with the tying runs laid out in front of him. Willie Gonzales had him at 1-2, then threw one into Crum’s chest for a run-by-statute. Crum crawled to first base, sputtering concering amounts of blood, and then was stranded anyway when Matt Waters easily flew out to Chris Lowe in rightfield. 4-2 Loggers. Lavorano 3-5, RBI; Thomason 2-4; Maldonado 3-4;

Game 3
POR: 2B Waters – SS Sivertson – 1B Crum – RF Rivera – 3B Crispin – CF Suzuki – RF Glodowski – C Raczka – P Taki
MIL: LF Sayre – 2B R. Lopez – C C. Thomas – CF Steinbacher – RF C. Lowe – 1B Yamamoto – SS K. Leon – 3B Barrington – P Hollis

Once back in the leadoff spot, Waters opened the Saturday game with a homer to right, which he somehow couldn’t get done when batting cleanup… Chris Lowe countered with a leadoff jack of his own in the bottom 2nd, with Taki having a bit of a struggle, uncharacteristically being behind in the count a lot in the early innings. Oscar Rivera countered that one with a solo jack in the fourth for a 2-1 lead, which was the score Taki still held after five innings, although it was far from pretty. He had walked five batters (four unintentionally), against only two strikeouts, and with 81 pitches on the odometer. His sixth was not any better. He walked Leon, Barrington singled, and somehow at least Noah Hollis struck out to keep the Loggers behind. That would be all for Taki, in perhaps his most unsatisfying start all year.

Lonzo batted for Taki, unsuccessfully, in the top of the seventh to keep his perfect attendance record in order, while the bullpen was dismantled in the bottom of the eighth once again. Lillis had pitched a clean seventh, but hung around for a 1-out walk to Lowe in the eighth inning. Johns replaced him, nailed Yamamoto, walked Leon, and then gave up three runs on knocks by Barrington and ex-Coon Juan Jimenez. Crisler walked three and gave up a sac fly to Lopez in between, and Lowe singled in a run off Reese, the only batter whom the left-hander faced. Yamamoto grounded out against Harmer, but by then six runs had scored and I was a bit numb. 7-2 Loggers. Crum 2-4; Rivera 2-4, HR, RBI; Maldonado (PH) 1-1;

And now, September – and even more clowns on the roster…! Huzzah…!!

Phil Baker, Victor Salcido, and Mike Snyder were added for the pitching side of things. Salcido however had just started an AAA game on Saturday, so would not be available until Thursday. Tyler Philipps returned as third catcher. Fernando Perez returned from his rehab assignment. The only other hitter brought up was Dave Blackshire, a third baseman, age 24, who had been batting .255 with four homers in his third AAA season after a quick rise from being taken at #23 in the ’48 draft, but had worryingly plateaued hitting for a .720-ish OPS in AAA.

Game 4
POR: SS Lavorano – CF Perez – 1B Crum – 2B Waters – LF Rivera – 3B Crispin – RF Maldonado – C Raczka – P Argenziano
MIL: SS K. Leon – 3B Barrington – C C. Thomas – 1B Yamamoto – RF Pigman – CF Shepard – LF Sayre – 2B N. Carr – P Costello

Lonzo singled and stole his 52nd base, with Perez walking behind him in his return from Injuryland. Crum and Waters then in succession hit into fielders’ choices at second base, which got Lonzo home for an early run, before the bags filled with a walk drawn by Rivera and a soft single by Crispin, but Maldo grounded out to strand the whole lot of them. The lead disappeared when Winless Argenziano failed the bags full with the 2-3-4 batters in the bottom 1st, then gave up a game-tying infield single to debutee Perry Pigman in his first major league at-bat. Marquis Shepard and Craig Sayre nevertheless made poor outs to strand a full set. Nick Carr, the second debutee on the home team, drew a leadoff walk in the bottom 2nd, but Costello bunted into a double play. Failure accelerated quickly, though, with Leon singling his way on base, advancing on a passed ball, and scoring on a Barrington single that bounced off Rivera’s chest in left for an extra base to concede the run.

The Loggers continued to put runners on base against Argenziano, but found double plays to kill crowded situations in both of the next two innings. By the fifth, Raczka reached base, but was forced out on a bad bunt by Argenziano, who was trying his best to make himself redundant. Lonzo and Perez reached to bring up Ken Crum with the bags full and one out, but he struck out. Waters worked a full count for a game-tying walk, but Rivera floated out to Marquis Shepard to end the inning with three left stranded. Two pitches into the bottom 5th, Shuta Yamamoto went yard to left-center to give the Loggers a new lead. It was exasperating.

Their tosser gone after five ****** innings, the Raccoons turned to some new arrivals and gave the ball to Snyder for the sixth. The right-hander quickly showed why he had gotten the boot after 26 appearances to begin the season, piling up Costello (who forced out Nick Carr), Leon, and Barrington with one out before being yanked for Lillis, who waved home all the runners with Chris Thomas’ run-scoring groundout and a 2-run double for Yamamoto. Matt Waters drove in Fernando Perez in the seventh, which wasn’t nearly enough to rally, and Shepard and Sayre doubles off Harmer in the bottom 7th nixed that lone run anyway.

After Mitch Sivertson and Tyler Philipps opened the eighth with pinch-hit singles, three different Loggers relievers got pathetic outs from the next three Coons hitters, and nobody scored. Top 9th, Crispin singled home Waters and his leadoff double against Ryan Clements, who was then replaced with Willie Gonzales. Glodowski batted for an 0-for-4 Maldo, grounded into a double play, and that completed the sweep. 7-4 Loggers. Lavorano 2-5; Perez 2-4, BB; Waters 2-4, BB, 2B, 3 RBI; Crispin 4-5, RBI; Raczka 1-2, BB; Sivertson (PH) 1-1; Philipps (PH) 1-1;

In other news

August 26 – Colombian rookie LAP OF Bill Cardoza (.252, 4 HR, 18 RBI) goes yard in the top of the 14th inning to provide for a 7-5 win over the Capitals.
August 27 – CIN SS/3B Juan Ojeda (.309, 4 HR, 60 RBI) should be out for three weeks with a case of shoulder tendinitis.
August 28 – The Canadiens’ 3B/SS Dan Mullen (.322, 3 HR, 57 RBI) has hit in 20 straight games after a pair of doubles in an 11-3 beating of the Knights.
August 28 – The Aces get wobbled by the Titans, 15-2, with six runs driven in by BOS OF Tony Lopez (.246, 15 HR, 44 RBI) on three base hits, including two homers.
August 29 – It’s a no-hitter! SFB SP Jesse Bulas (7-8, 4.10 ERA) issues three walks and seven strikeouts, but no base hits in a 3-0 complete-game win over the Condors, for the first no-hitter of the season and the first Bayhawks no-hitter since Ben Lipsky’s in 2029.
August 29 – SAC 2B Hugo Acosta (.400, 0 HR, 16 RBI) aches over the 3,000 career hits line with a 4-for-5 day in an 8-0 shutout of the Wolves. The 38-year-old Acosta, who had only 52 hits in limited action on the year prior to the game, jumps all the way to 3,001 career hits in his 18-year career. Batting .336 with 30 HR and 1,112 RBI, the FL veteran won four batting titles in his 20s and made five All Star teams, but never won a World Series ring.
August 30 – After Bulas’ no-hitter on Thursday, Tijuana’s 21-year-old rookie Luis Chapa (.223, 7 HR, 36 RBI) answers with a cycle on Friday. The youngster gets all the hits possible exactly once and drives in three runs in an 11-2 Condors win.
August 31 – It takes 17 innings and mutual runs scored in the 15th along the way for the Canadiens to beat the Titans, 8-6.
September 1 – The Thunder and Falcons both score single runs in the 13th and 14th innings before the Thunder move ahead in the 16th inning for good for a 9-7 victory.

FL Player of the Week: CIN OF Chad Williams (.276, 12 HR, 63 RBI), batting .545 (12-22) with 2 HR, 6 RBI
CL Player of the Week: IND LF/RF/1B Bill Quinteros (.309, 14 HR, 72 RBI), swatting .450 (9-20) with 3 HR, 8 RBI

FL Hitter of the Month: NAS 1B Alejandro Ramos (.319, 30 HR, 88 RBI), swatting .402 with 7 HR, 23 RBI
CL Hitter of the Month: IND LF/RF/1B Bill Quinteros (.309, 13 HR, 70 RBI), hitting .321 with 7 HR, 25 RBI
FL Pitcher of the Month: CIN SP Austin Wilcox (13-11, 3.75 ERA), going 4-1 with a 1.05 ERA, 27 K in six starts
CL Pitcher of the Month: IND SP Tan Brink (14-8, 2.78 ERA), tossing for a 5-0 mark with 1.42 ERA, 40 K in six games
FL Rookie of the Month: SAL INF/RF Joe Humphries (.287, 5 HR, 37 RBI), batting .337 with 3 HR, 19 RBI
CL Rookie of the Month: IND 1B Toushi Imai (.265, 12 HR, 32 RBI), spanking .317 with 10 HR, 21 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Swept by the Loggers in a four-game set. That’s about as bottom as waking up in a back alley with no pants on and broken bottles strewn all around you. (picks little shards out of his fur)

The Raccoons successfully achieved a losing season, and at their current pace I still have faith in a 100-losses campaign. I also see no reason why we can’t print our first first-to-last remembrance tokens. Every single reliever and most batters on this godforsaken roster will get one of those punched into their snout, and if they ask why, they’ll get another one punched up their ******* useless *********.

(deep sigh)

Last year the Coons played 37-20 (.649) in one-run games and ended up 26 games over .500; this year? 11-33 (.250) and right now 29 games under .500. One game is about two and a half inches, I’ve heard this week.

Titans, Crusaders next week. We have the next two Mondays off, and also the Thursday in the third week of the month, but we’ll finish the home season early, on the 18th. The last ten games will all be on the road.

Fun Fact: There were four cycles in 2050 and four more in 2052, but none in 2051.

Scorpions players partook in both quadruplets of cycles in those two years, with Mike Crenshaw doing the honors in 2050 and Nate Culp this season. The Miners were on the receiving end in both 2050 and 2052, but there’s no overlap there. Landon Guillory and Blake Mickle got them, respectively.