[Westheim]

And here come the final two weeks of the season. The Raccoons need to play 7-6 over the last 13 games to turn a winning record. Gonna be hard with the CL South leading Condors and the Coons-bashing Titans in there.

Raccoons (75-74) @ Condors (88-61)

Vicente Ruíz suffered from bad control and even worse pitch selection in the first game of the Condors series and was branded for four runs before pinch hit for in the top 4th. The Raccoons trailed 4-2 and things looked damp already, but became worse with the first four Condors facing Carlos Moran all reaching base. Moran did not retire anybody and Bentley entered, then lucked into a double play with “only” two across. Bentley ended up going 4.1 innings on 42 pitches without further damage, making him something like the least-bad Furball that day. The score remained 6-2 Condors ‘til the end.

What to think of a guy with a 2-0 record but a 5.47 ERA? Obviously he’s gotten some run support, but a 15/6 BB/K ratio may indicate chances. These numbers had been put up by game 2’s home team starter Mike Moore so far this season. He started out with a K to Winston Thompson, then a K to Ricardo Gonzalez, before Dawson flew out to left on an 0-2 count, and all that seemed to signal that the Raccoons were in for another long and ultimately futile day. The Raccoons indeed were no-hit into the fifth inning of the scoreless affair. Both Moore and Logan Evans pitched ace-like, yielding a total of five hits through seven innings. The 0-0 was broken up in the eighth – by the Condors. Mark Dawson threw away a grounder with two down and the runner from third scored. That was it. Moore spun a 3-hitter against the Raccoons, who lost 1-0. Evans 7.2 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 0 K, L (17-6);

Game 3 was never in doubt once the Coons ended a 1-run top 1st. Powell got a clear sign that his days were over, being assaulted for nine runs in one inning and a nasty start to a second. I hid my face in my hands from there, which became wet fairly quick. Tetsu Osanai reached 100 RBI’s with a 3-run homer in the fifth, which was entirely meaningless in the context of this sweep-completing blowout and was not celebrated by the players, either. 10-5 Condors. Thompson 2-4, BB; Osanai 2-5, HR, 2B, 4 RBI;

Kiss goodbye to that winning season.

Raccoons (75-77) @ Titans (76-77)

Scott Wade allowed himself to use every tool available to get the Titans up in the bottom 1st, with a hit by pitch, a fielding error, and then a wild pitch. Kinji Kan 3-hit the miserable assortment of overweight rodents into the eighth inning. Top 9th. Osanai led off with a single, but Hall quickly thwarted hopes with a lazy popout. Lantán pinch hit for the ineffective Sanchez, but was equally ineffective, advancing Osanai to second. That left Carlos Miranda, who singled up the middle – just between the infielders. Runners on the corners, two out, 1-0 behind, and Sam Dadswell up, who had experienced a nightmarish second half of the season. He homered to right center. Grant West pitched his first post-extension save, 3-1 Raccoons. Miranda 2-4; Dadswell 2-4, HR, 3 RBI; Wally Gaston took the W with a scoreless eighth;

Centerfielder hit not one, but two triples off Kisho Saito in his first two AB’s. He scored once, in the first inning, but the Coons squeezed past that deficit to lead 2-1 after four. They put two on with nobody out in the seventh. When Castillo lined out hard in that situation, Saito was pinch hit for with Flores, who grounded out and they didn’t score in the inning. Two 2-out walks by Bentley and Jones to the speedy Ryan Dickerson and Hjalmar Flygt put the fragile 2-1 lead in danger, but Cunningham got Wen Zhan and the inning was over. Cunningham and West added strong innings to hold on to the lead. 2-1 Coons on only four hits. Green 2-4, HR, RBI;

The Raccoons led 6-1 after four innings in the final game of the 3-set due to an unrecognizable flurry of base hits. A home run to Jose Valentin was everything that got away from Vicente Ruíz, although he scattered a (for his standards) high nine hits over seven innings. Moran closed out the game with two decent innings after his recent blowup, and the Coons won 9-1. R. Gonzalez 2-4, BB, 3B, 2B; Dawson 3-5, 2 RBI; Hall 2-5, HR, RBI; Green 3-5, HR, 3 RBI; Ruíz 7.0 IP, 9 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, W (9-9) and 1-2, RBI;

We’re gonna have a winning season!

Raccoons (78-77) vs. Indians (72-83)

Carlos Miranda was making a few starts over ice cold Steve Walker. Since Cam Green was fairly warm, too, there was no other place to put Walker in the lineup. I also preferred Dawson at third at the moment with nice contribution by Ricardo Gonzalez, who was ace in right.

Logan Evans was nowhere near stellar, but somehow only surrendered one run over six innings. Mark Dawson provided some major oomph with a 3-shot in the fourth and another key RBI single in the fifth, as the Coons led 5-1. Both teams continued to let chances slip away in the next innings, leaving the lead intact into the ninth. With a 4-run lead I didn’t want to use my stud relievers (and Cunningham had already been used in a jam in the eighth) and turned to Gilberto Soto. His 6.88 ERA meant that the guys in the pen weren’t packing up yet, but he surrendered only a 2-out single to 2B Bill Taggart and ended the game after that, 5-1 Raccoons. R. Gonzalez 2-3, BB, 2B; Dawson 2-4, HR, 2B, 4 RBI; Miranda 2-3, BB;

This made for four consecutive wins, each time with exactly one run across. The next start was Powell’s.

The Indians left the bases loaded in the top 2nd, leading to the Raccoons to put three on base with nobody out in the bottom 2nd in game 2. Miranda grounded for one run in, before Lantán walked and the bases were loaded again with Powell up. He singled for the second run! After Thompson popped out, Ricardo Gonzalez homered to center for a GRAND SLAM! 6-0 Coons after two, how would Powell cope with that?

Badly. The Indians scored one run in the third, and Angelo Duarte was thrown out at the plate in what could have been a bigger inning with some more patience. Miranda made a HUGE grab for an inning ending double play in the fourth. After that, Powell settled in and ended up going seven innings with a 7-1 lead. Daniel Hall led off the bottom 8th with a double, tumbling awkwardly into second base, then remained lying there in pain and in what looked like an end to his terrible season. The Raccoons won, still, 8-2. Ironically, Hall was the only Coon with multiple hits in the game. Hall 2-3, BB, 2B; Green (PH) 1-1, 2B, RBI;

Five in a row, we need two more.

Starter Robert Vazquez had the Coons nailed down hard in game 3, K’ing six the first time through the lineup (which took 3.0 innings). The second time through, he showed some human signs and the Coons started to hit. Scott Wade was 1-0 behind after five, but Ricardo Gonzalez turned the score with a 2-shot in the bottom 6th. That was what little they got off Vazquez. Wade pitched the seventh, Gaston the eighth, and West the ninth, 2-1 Coons!! Wade 7.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, W (4-3);

Ricardo Gonzalez has quietly slapped 20 homers this season despite being not a regular. That will have to change for next year.

Six in a row, we need one more!!

After three perfect innings, Saito had his no-hit bid broken up in the fourth with a bunt base hit by Colin Irwin. Irwin stole second, then scored on a single by Guillermo Gonzalez to get the Indians ahead. Dawson tied the game again in the fifth with a sac fly. Saito chased after that Coons record for K’s in a game again. He had eight after six frames, two shy of Gary Simmons’ mark. He also got the lead in that inning with a 2-out, 2-run single by Winston Thompson (about whom has not been written all too much recently) that chased Indians pitcher Joe Brown. Gonzalez took Ramiro Quintero deep to make it 5-1. But while Saito was now ahead with a cushion, his K’s didn’t rise. Greg Brown in the eighth with one down then finally was victim #9. He got Orlando Torres to 1-2, but Torres then sent a harmless flyer to center to end the inning. The Coons entered the ninth leading 5-1 and Saito (after 94 pitches) faced the top of the lineup. Colin Irwin tried to bunt his way on again, but was thrown out this time. Gonzalez grounded to short, and this brought up Engjell Vulaj. He homered to right. Saito got one more chance, Bill Taggart. He also grounded to Castillo at short and the Coons swept the Indians over four! 5-2 Coons. Thompson 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Saito 9.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 9 K, W (13-15);

WE HAVE A WINNING RECORD, HURRAY!!! We were also only one win away from clinching second place.

On a darker note, Daniel Hall’s season was indeed over thanks to an oblique strain. He would have to watch the playoffs from the sofa.

Just like all the other Furballs.

Raccoons (82-77) vs. Loggers (79-80)

There were some indications that the Raccoons would sweep the Loggers, too. Well, one: that would give them 85 wins. The Raccoons have finished *every* season with a win total ending in either 5, 7, or 9 so far. They obviously could not make it to 87 or 89 anymore, so …

One more chance for Ruíz to grab a winning record. Or a losing one, he was 9-9 going into the game. The Loggers scored one run in the third to take the lead, while the Raccoons couldn’t get their bats up against John Douglas. Walker and Ruíz then had 1-out singles in the bottom 5th to go to the corners. Thompson grounded out, but scored Walker to tie the game, at least. That didn’t help Ruíz, and equally unhelpful was the fact that the Coons left the bags full in the sixth. Ruíz left in the tie and settled on the sub-par 9-9 record for the season. Carlos Miranda, having come on in a double switch just before, led off the bottom 7th with a triple. This was one of the situation where the team loved to torture me, but Thompson singled to left for the go-ahead run. The Coons then deconstructed Douglas rapidly. They scored five on only one out, bringing up Cunningham already, whom I had wanted to use again in the eighth, but I always preferred more oomph to extended workouts for my setup men. But the Loggers rolled out Mark Warburton, who struck out PH Lantán and Miranda, who had started the barrage, to end the pains. Jones and Soto ended the game, 6-1 Coons! Osanai 3-4, RBI; Sanchez (PH) 1-1, 2B, 2 RBI; Miranda 1-2, 3B;

WE ARE THE SECOND BEST TEAM IN A TERRIBLE DIVISION, HURRAY!!!!

One more chance also for Logan Evans – to set a new franchise record for wins in one season. Currently he shared the record (18) with Christopher Powell, who won 18 in 1982. Evans had already done so in 1983.

Evans struck out David Rivera to start the game, but then put three on, and THEN struck out two more. Whew. Osanai and Green drove in two in the bottom 1st to get the Coons going. Evans meanwhile struck out seven – in the first three innings! Was there a second franchise record about to tumble? He struck out LF Matthew Beck in the fourth for #8, but didn’t fan anybody in the fifth and was already at 95 pitches. Alejandro Maez made the second out in the sixth with K #9, bringing up Beck again, but he grounded out. The first batter up in the seventh for Evans was former Coon Ben Cox. The 1-2 pitch – STIIIIIRR-RIKE THREE!! That tied the franchise record, only the second time a Coon had put up double-digit K’s EVER. With weak-hitting catcher Chris McClinton up, we gave Evans one more batter, he grounded to short. The Loggers left in their pitcher, Gary Simmons (the *other* Gary Simmons), so we left in Evans, who was tiring. HE STRUCK HIM OUT!!!

A roar went up from the crowd after Evans’ hunt for the single game K record had been flashing up on the scoreboard since the fourth inning. Now, if he could also get that W record …!

Big Wally sat down the Loggers in the eighth with the score still 2-0 Raccoons. The bottom 8th was equally uneventful and Grant West entered in the top 9th to get the Coons a 19-game winner and himself back-to-back seasons of 40 SV. Let’s go to the radio and R.A. Koontz!

The crowd is getting a bit antsy here with one out in the top of the ninth. Grant West in danger of walking the second batter of the inning. Beck at first, and now the full count to Julio Gonzales. West goes – outside! The tying run goes to second base!

Logan Evans in the dugout. He doesn’t look worried, yet.

Chris McClinton steps into the batter’s box. He is oh for three today. West is getting the signals from Flores. Pitch to McClinton and – a zipper to short, right into Castillo’s glove! Miranda, out at second, OUT AT FIRST!!!

(Noisy crowd)

The Portland Raccoons beat the Milwaukee Loggers two to nothing, they have won nine in a row, and they have a nineteen game winner for the first time in franchise history in Logan “Crazylegs” Evans, who has also set a franchise record with eleven strikeouts today!

And now they take him on their shoulders! That is Mark Dawson and Rodrigo Lucero, carrying Evans around on their shoulders! And we have a party now at the ballpark.

I was obviously not approving of such potentially dangerous stunts. But hey, we had a 19-game winner, and if they dropped him, he had six months to heal.

The Coons took that 2-0 win on just four hits, oh my. Evans 7.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 11 K*, W (19*-6); *franchise records

That left one more game, normally meaningless, if it weren’t for our 9-game roll. Powell was the pitcher for the finale. He got behind with an unearned run in the second inning, when Osanai dropped a ball for an error. The Loggers added a Ken Winters home run in the third. That was all Powell surrendered through six, but the Coons had zero offense against Milwaukee’s starter Terry Reynolds. Entering the eighth 2-hit and 3-0 down, the Raccoons saw the end of the winning streak coming at rapid speed. Cunningham pitched the ninth, striking out Alvin Sutphen to end it and do all he could to give the team another chance, but with closer Raffaele Antuofermo coming in, chances were less than slim. Miranda lined right into Antuofermo’s glove. Thompson rolled to first, and then Antuofermo struck out Gonzalez to end the game, 3-0 Loggers. The Raccoons were 2-hit to end their streak with a bang.

Obviously, numbers lie. All the time. Beaches.

In other news

September 16 – A last minute single in a 6-3 loss to Cincinnati extends DAL 2B Pete Ross’ hitting streak to 20 games. Ross is hitting .288 on the season.
September 16 – Another hitting streak reaches 20 games: Pacifics outfielder Zeusef Affra (.266, 11 HR, 77 RBI) only gets his hit against the Miners in the bottom of the 10th, driving in the winning run in walkoff fashion, 5-4 L.A.
September 17 – Milwaukee’s John Douglas (12-13, 4.10 ERA) 2-hits the Bayhawks in a 4-0 shutout.
September 17 – Affra’s hitting streak ends at 20 with an 0-4 day in a 6-1 loss to the Miners.
September 18 – NYC Gary Nixon (12-18, 4.49 ERA) 2-hits the Thunder in a 2-0 win for the Crusaders.
September 20 – Pete Ross goes 0-4 in Sacramento, ending the Stars’ infielders’ hitting streak at 22 games. The Stars still win 5-0, but are eliminated from postseason contention, as the Gold Sox win 2-1 in Salem thanks to a Jimmy Hunter home run and clinch for back-to-back years.
September 23 – Salem’s infielder Luis Miguel Vargas (.238, 2 HR, 40 RBI) has somehow pieced together a 20-game hitting streak.
September 25 – Miners ace David Burke coughs up two runs early, but the Miners come from behind to beat Cincinnati 7-2, clinching the FL East for the second time after 1982. Burke wins his 21st game of the year.
September 28 – The Condors trump the Bayhawks 9-2 on the second-to-last day of the regular season to clinch the CL South for the second time, thus setting the postseason field.
September 28 – Nobody likes hitting streaks spanning two seasons, and so the Warriors took care of Vargas’ at 24 games.

Complaints and stuff

After spinning a scoreless inning in the day 3 blowout in Tijuana, Grant West signed his 4-yr, $1.5M extension on the following off day. The fans were pleased, management was pleased, and in some way that was the best news for Coon City that week. Of course that was before the winning streak began.

How many pitchers have ever spun MORE than Logan Evans’ 11 K in a game? The answer could be surprising: eight! The record is only *13*, shared by Kiyohira Sasaki (this season) and somewhat more obscurely Franklin Palmer, back in 1977, which was his only full season as a starter in ABL baseball. He has not pitched in the majors in three years. Sasaki also owns a 12 K game, with the other pitchers being sometimes well known (Juan Correa, Buddy Hamilton, Arnold McCray, Leland Lewis) and sometimes rather not, like Luciano Pizzonia, who was now retired, and Joaquin Perez, who spent his career in the FL West and had retired in 1980.

It was a partly consoling end to a strenuous season that saw me sobbing more than once. As usual they had several offensive droughts (and even during that 9-game winning streak, they only scored 4.66 R/G, with the pitchers doing their best to make that suffice), but in the end we got our second winning season and our second season in the first division of the CL North. It took them NINE GRUELING YEARS …!! (shivers)

Tetsu Osanai was the batting champion, 5th in OBP, 2nd in SLG and OPS (with ATL Michael Root taking the last three categories). Osanai was also home run champion, with Dawson 4th, Gonzalez 5th, and Dadswell 7th. His 106 RBI ranked 3rd. No other Coons featured on the CL Top 8 charts for offense.

But the pitchers: Evans and Ruíz came in 4th and 5th in ERA, Evans was t-2nd in wins behind 20-game winner “Mauler” Correa. He was also t-3rd in HR/9 with 0.13, something that has not been talked much about yet. His erraticness make it hard to make proper contact with the ball, obviously. Saito and Ruíz featured prominently in H/9 (7th and 4th), BB/9 (3rd and 6th), and WHIP (3rd and 4th). Powell was once again 2nd behind Correa in BB/9, but the rest of his performance was prohibitive in regards to leaderboards other than in relation to home runs. Kisho Saito narrowly took both the K crown as well as the K/9 crown, and by “narrowly” I mean it. He beat ATL Carlos Asquabal in K’s, 193-192. His 7.48 K/9 were 0.01 ahead of ATL Xavier Mayes. Grant West, finally, finished t-5th in saves.

Next: playoffs, then: lotsa GMish work.