[Westheim]

Raccoons (53-80) vs. Loggers (59-74)

Don’t even think I was still considering catching the Loggers or any other team for fifth place. For this to happen the team would have to stop playing crapball, and that was not going to happen.

Christopher Powell surrendered single runs in each of the first three innings, twice by way of a home run. A big rip by Cameron Green in the bottom 6th tied the game up at 3-3. Powell created a mess on the bases in the top 7th, but Gaston struck out Jose Martinez (who had homered earlier) to end the threat. Angel Costa was injured hustling after a throw by Cameron Green and had to be removed for Edgardo Gonzalez. When Matt Workman walked to lead off the bottom 8th, I made the rare move and brought a pinch runner in Ben Cox. Aided by two(!) throwing errors by the Loggers, the Raccoons coughed Cox and Sherwood Henderson, who pinch hit for an 0-4 Ken Clark, around to score. West struck out two in a perfect ninth to nail down the 5-3 win.

Angel Costa had a sprained wrist and was out for two weeks or so. Gonzalez permanently returned to play short, and Ben Simon came back over to second.

Logan Evans continued his trend to go awful. The first four Loggers reached base against him, and a cheap error by Matt Workman helped to plate five (two earned) in the first inning, putting that game well out of the Raccoons’ tiny reach. Evans went on to whiff the side in the top 3rd, on the way to six K’s in five innings of work. The game was lost, why not play the call-ups? Díaz and Kelley both turned scoreless frames, before the Raccoons finally put up a run in the bottom 7th, when Mark Dawson doubled over CF Marvin Mills’ head to score Ben Cox. Hall moved to third on the play, and Simon walked, which brought up Matt Workman with the bags full and one out. Workman drew a walk, 5-2. Green grounded to the mound and Dawson was thrown out at home. Johnston pinch hit for Gonzalez and grounded to short and the inning was ov- NO! Joe Helms’ throw pulled Mike Gamble off the bag and everybody was safe! 5-3, but now it was over, when Troy Scott pinch hit for Kelley and grounded out to Helms, who this time made a good throw to force Johnston at second. I used four pitchers in the top 8th only to have Grant West balk in a run. Raccoons lost 6-3.

The Raccoons took a 2-0 lead early in game 3, but Romero could not hold on. Daniel Hall socked a homer in the bottom 6th to make it 3-2 and get Romero back in line for the win. The top 7th was massively scary with a runner on third and nobody out. Cunningham and Hughes pitched around it somehow and Wally Gaston came in the eighth. West was unavailable after the save in game 1 and the botched rescue effort in game 2 and so Gaston steamed through the last two innings, collecting three punchouts to save the 3-2 win.

Raccoons (55-81) vs. Titans (66-72)

Game 1 was again all about clean bases. With the Raccoons’ continuing inability to keep the Titans’ Francisco Dominguez off the bases, this was troublesome. Dominguez scored the lone Titans run after a triple in this game. Hall and Simon homered for a 2-1 Raccoons win to Paul Cooper. Rain had chased Carlos Moran after five frames. Matt Workman was 3-3.

Game 2 pitted 18-game loser Gary Simmons against 22 year old youngster Roberto Sanchez, who managed 7 BB/9. Needless to say, that the Raccoons couldn’t hurt him and his 5.79 ERA a lot. Bocci tripled and scored in the first, but the Titans tied the game, until the Raccoons scored two in the bottom 5th. Johnston scored one on a pinch hit sac fly, with Simmons already out of the game now. The pen cost Simmons a possible win in the game, with the Titans tying the game in the ninth. Neither Gaston nor West were available and the rest of the pen put up a mess. The Raccoons lost 6-5 with Cunningham on the mound after leading 5-2 after eight frames. Juan Valentin homered off Cunningham to start the top 10th.

Powell was no-hitting the Titans until John Flower dropped a ball between Simon and Dawson in short right which neither could pick up. Simon was giving the error and now, with two out, the inning derailed massively and four runs scored off Powell. Down 4-1, the Raccoons didn’t just lay there like dead. Hall had homered in the first, Dawson homered in the fourth, and Bocci and Hall scored two more runs in the fifth and the Raccoons were now 5-4 down. But the bullpen did a good job to ensure that the game would go to Boston. Awful pitching helped the Titans to win 8-4 and take the series.

Ralph Nixon returned from the DL after the Titans series. This enabled us to sit down the lightly hitting Gonzalez and move Simon to short once more. Nixon slotted back in the cleanup spot populated by Mark Dawson in his absence.

Raccoons (56-83) @ Canadiens (74-65)

Matt Workman had a big 2-run double in the top 1st, where the Raccoons took an early 3-0 lead. Logan Evans was not great, but good enough to get the 5-1 win. Nixon went 0-5 in his first game back.

Jorge Romero faced phenom Robbie Campbell in game 2. With two out, Ralph Nixon had an RBI infield single and scored on a Dawson triple in the top 1st. Campbell struck out seven, but the Raccoons chewed him up and he left in the sixth after yielding five runs. That already was it, the Raccoons won 5-0. Romero pitched seven scoreless and I really hadn’t speculated on such a result, since the Canadiens weren’t exactly slow to score runs. Normally.

Matt Workman was batting .344 and we would try to play him #2 in the lineup now, behind Ken Clark. These were the only two lefties in the lineup, so I was not too fond of the change, but who knows, maybe …? Workman was not a runner, so it made not much sense to have him play leadoff. He would stall Ken Clark if the latter were behind him.

The Raccoons tried for a sweep, but although they out-hit the Canadiens 9-6 in the last game of the series, they were beaten 2-1. No clutch hits, once again. Several runners were stranded on third, including in the top 9th, when Workman flew out to right to end the game.

In other news:
September 5 – Canadiens SS Eddy Bailey (.325, 5 HR, 32 RBI) is out for a few weeks with a bruised wrist.
September 8 – David Burke pitches a 3-hitter in a 7-0 win of his Pacifics against the Wolves.
September 8 – The Thunder will miss 3B Alfonso Aranda (.317, 11 HR, 70 RBI) for the rest of the regular season after the infielder suffered a broken hand.
September 11 – The Pacifics sink the Warriors, 10-2, and take advantage of the Scorpions’ 6-5 loss to Dallas to claim the FL West lead. The Los Angeles team has never finished higher than 3rd before.

Loggers and Bayhawks remain on the road, after that it will be the final week at home, against the Falcons and Indians. The Loggers series is over four games, and we are 3.5 out of 5th place.