[Westheim]

I will forward your suggestions to Maud who's looking into promotions for next year already. So far we ain't got much aside from Rich Hood Hoodie Night, which... kinda requires that he makes the '13 Coons, right?

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Raccoons (88-62) vs. Knights (66-82) – September 17-19, 2012

The Knights weren’t really scoring much, ranking 10th in offense, and they also weren’t pitching very well, sitting in 9th in runs allowed. Well, they had two good starters, but the remainder of their staff was mostly meh and disregardable. Nevertheless, the season series was tied at three and our 6-year streak of handling them for a season series win was in danger.

Projected matchups:
Nick Brown (14-8, 2.50 ERA) vs. Jim Baker (3-4, 5.24 ERA)
Scott Spears (10-4, 3.00 ERA) vs. Ted McKenzie (9-10, 2.97 ERA)
Rich Hood (7-6, 3.60 ERA) vs. Dave Butler (12-13, 3.38 ERA)

Butler is their only southpaw, and we’re drawing him. He made a start before this season against the Coons and tossed a 5-hit shutout. Uh-oh.

Game 1
ATL: LF M. Reyes – RF McIntyre – 3B C. Martinez – 1B Rockwell – SS Hibbard – CF Arnette – 2B Hilderbrand – C C. Delgado – P Baker
POR: 2B Nomura – SS Palmer – LF Sambrano – 1B Quebell – C D. Alexander – RF J. Alexander – CF Carmona – 3B Merritt – P Brown

A terrible team-wide explosion ripped through the Raccoons in the second inning, which started with Gil Rockwell grounding out, but then Brown walked Devin Hibbard, and things got in motion. Pat Arnette sent a bouncer up the middle that should have been had by Nomura, but wasn’t, and then T.J. Hilderbrand grounded behind first base. Brown hustled over, but Quebell threw behind him, and the ball went onto a fun carom tour around the area behind home plate, putting the first run in and placing runners in scoring position. A wild pitch by Brown and a groundout by Carlos Delgado ran the score to 3-0. What a way to start a homestand, the final of the year, with the Elks just 1.5 games behind!

The damage was not permanent, however. The Alexanders combined for two runs in the bottom 2nd when D-Alex walked and J-Alex homered, and in the fourth Sambrano led off with a single, stole second base, and scored on Quebell’s single. Dylan Alexander then killed the inning with a double play, and in the fifth Brownie hit a double with two outs, but was left on by Yoshi. Top 6th, Rockwell doubled, the Knights’ first hit since the second inning, and was promptly brought in by Hibbard single that eluded Palmer on his right side. Nick Brown was hit for in the bottom 7th still trailing 4-3, with Ricardo Carmona on second base and two outs. Pruitt hit for him, rolled a slow ball past Jim Baker, and Devin Hibbard had no play – infield single. Yoshi had another big chance here, and this time beat Rockwell’s range with a hard shot to right, a game-tying RBI single! Could Palmer come up with – nah. After leaving the go-ahead run on second base in that inning, the Coons did the same in the eighth (then with Sambrano, who swiped another bag), and when Bill Conway didn’t explode on contact in the top of the ninth, they still had the chance to walk off. Ricardo Carmona hit a leadoff single, and that was it, and so we went to extras. Sandy Sambrano was hit by Patrick Mercier in the bottom 10th, putting the winning run on first again with one out. Would we get him to steal another base? Heck, run him. Sambrano came THIS close to being doubled off when Quebell hit a liner to Rockwell, but it didn’t matter, since Keith Ayers pinch-hit and grounded out. Merritt was left on second in the 11th, and the Knights finally shrugged and said “okay, if you don’t want to, we’ll win this one”. Thrasher put the first three men on in the 13th, including a single, a walk, and a hit batter, and when John Alexander bobbled Carlos Martinez’ soft fly to right, the go-ahead run scored. It was also the winning run, with Tomas Castro being stranded with the tying run in the bottom of the inning. 5-4 Knights. Sambrano 2-5; Castro (PH) 1-1; Pruitt (PH) 1-1; Brown 7.0 IP, 3 H, 4 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 10 K and 1-2, 2B; Conway 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K; Mathis 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

The Raccoons out-hit the Knights 11-5 in this game, and still managed to lose. Ron Thrasher is just a piece of ****. LUCKILY, the Elks got romped by the Falcons, 9-2, and the Titans were squeezed out by the horrendous Condors, 4-3.

Game 2
ATL: CF Arnette – SS Hibbard – LF M. Reyes – 1B Rockwell – 3B C. Martinez – RF McIntyre – C Ledesma – 2B K. Rodgers – P McKenzie
POR: 2B Nomura – SS Palmer – RF Sambrano – 1B Quebell – LF Pruitt – C D. Alexander – CF Carmona – 3B Merritt – P Spears

Spears continued to plainly suck, had no control whatsoever, and when the Knights hit a ball, it usually travelled a bit. Hibbard homered in the first, 1-0, and in the second inning Spears had a runner on first with two outs and the pitcher Ted McKenzie batting. After a ringing double to right and a 2-run single by Pat Arnette the Coons sat in a 3-0 hole yet again and took their time to admire the well-crafted masonry of the walls down there. Too long. Carlos Martinez hit a 3-run homer in the fifth inning, with Marty Reyes and Gil Rockwell having drawn 2-out walks just previously from the awful Spears, whose day not only ended in disgrace, but also, obviously, defeat.

McKenzie, whose record indicated that he never got any run support, was fabulous all the while and maintained a 1-hitter into the late innings. That lone hit had been Sambrano in the first, a single, and he had been thrown out at second base when Quebell slept during the hit part of a hit-and-run. The home crowd, in an understandably miserable mood, not only had to endure a serious case of Canadiens Comeback Anxiety, but also a brief rain delay in the eighth inning. By then, McKenzie had already run out of breath, and when play resumed left-hander Jim Turner – lo and behold – conceded the Raccoons’ second single of the day, Carmona snipping one into rightfield. Carmona would score after moving to third on an error by Devin Hibbard and a wild pitch charged to Turner, coming home on Yoshi Nomura’s sac fly, but that was not only too late, but also too little. 6-1 Knights. Williams 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K;

When all you can say about a game is that your third-rate long reliever was not charged a run …

Fascinatingly, nobody wants to win the North at all. The Titans dropped another one to Tijuana, 5-2, and the Elks rallied from three down in the seventh, only to fall to a terrible error by rookie Kurt Evans that plated two more for the Falcons in the eighth, and Charlotte won 6-4.

And NOW comes the left-hander. We are a completely dismal .357 against left-handers this year…

Game 3
ATL: LF M. Reyes – RF McIntyre – 3B C. Martinez – 1B Rockwell – SS Hibbard – CF Arnette – 2B Hilderbrand – C C. Delgado – P D. Butler
POR: 2B Nomura – SS Palmer – CF Sambrano – 1B Quebell – 3B Merritt – C D. Alexander – LF Pruitt – RF Gentry – P Hood

Rich. You know where you’ll be sent to if you lose this game, right? You’re damn right. You’re gonna go back to da hood!

Rich Hood had 2-strike counts going against the first three batters, who all would go on to smash hard base hits. A wild pitch and two walks later, the Knights were up 2-0 and the sweep was ripe for their taking when they somehow popped out twice and T.J. Hilderbrand lost his helmet shoveling after a 3-2 pitch in the dirt. Yep, it was to be another one of those ****ing no-fun games. The Raccoons left two on in the first, Pruitt homered in the second, a solo shot of course (his sixth of the year and his first in over THREE MONTHS), before somehow Gentry and Hood reached base with one out, too, and our prized single flickers at the top of the order flicked back-to-back foul pops instead. Gil Rockwell, who had struck out often enough for a Golden Sombrero on Monday, homered off Hood in the fifth, 3-1, and Hood did not reappear after the inning. Yoshi Nomura scored in the bottom 5th after a leadoff triple, albeit just barely, 3-2.

Sometimes it’s the guy you don’t trust with anything to surprise you. The guy who can’t hold his own fork without having it rubberbanded to his paw. The Keith Ayers type of player. Those that are out at home at the most terrible of moments. The Coons had Brett Gentry on with a 2-out single in the bottom 6th and needed someone to hit for Josh Gibson, who had pitched a scoreless top of the inning. Oh well, can as well send Ayers, at least he’s a right-hander. And he PEPPERED a 1-2 pitch, high fly to left AND GONE!! Flipped the score, Ayers, with his sixth homer of the year (while failing as much as Pruitt in much fewer at-bats), and the Raccoons immediately tacked one on when Yoshi doubled (ending a homer short of the cycle) and scored on a Palmer single. Ohmygod-ohmygod-ohmygod – we need a competent pitcher now! Why is Micah Steele on the mound, holding a ball? Will McIntyre hit a rocket that bounced once off the dirt and almost killed Yoshi, who had it glance off his glove (still better than his face) and was charged a heartless error. Then Martinez singled. Oh, here we go. Suddenly, Rockwell hit into a double play, and once Gentry risked life and body with a lunging grab close to the wall in deep right to retire Devin Hibbard, the evil spirits were banished for another inning. Sugano and Angel Casas, who struck out McIntyre and Martinez to end the game, salvaged at least one W in this depressing set. 5-3 Raccoons. Nomura 3-5, 3B, 2B; Quebell 2-4, 2B; Gentry 2-3, BB; Ayers (PH) 1-1, HR, 2 RBI;

Our competition also avoided sweeps, with the Elks beating the Falcons 5-3, and the Titans riding Alex Lindsey for a well-pitched 3-1 win over the Condors. Thusly, as the Titans make their way out west, we still lead them by 3 1/2, with the dangerous Elks back 1 1/2. And as a reminder, it’s them with the game in hand, not us.

Raccoons (89-64) vs. Titans (85-67) – September 21-23, 2012

Sixth in offense and fourth in defense, the Titans didn’t have the most convincing arguments for extended play this season, with a rather pedestrian run differential at +50. They had an excellent bullpen, but the rotation was still below average even after the midseason addition of Curtis Tobitt. The Raccoons had handled them 8-7 this season, and needed to win this series really hard. NOBODY wants to go to Vancouver a win from now and face the Smelling Feet on equal terms. We have a Nick Brown start aligned for that set and I don’t trust anybody right now other than His Epicness.

Projected matchups:
Hector Santos (12-10, 3.42 ERA) vs. Curtis Tobitt (14-10, 2.80 ERA)
Colin Baldwin (4-4, 4.40 ERA) vs. Chester Graham (18-8, 3.88 ERA)
Nick Brown (14-8, 2.47 ERA) vs. Melvin Andrade (15-11, 4.68 ERA)

Now, that’s a rather tentative schedule for starters. If I’m the Titans, and look at what the Raccoons are doing against left-handers (usually nothing), then I’m skipping Andrade and send Tony Hamlyn (17-12, 3.01 ERA) into the Sunday game. They should send Hamlyn anyway, handedness aside, but it’s the perfect storm – for THEM. The Raccoons, who have hit meagerly the entire month (4.4 R/G), would then have to deal with absolute beasts on either end of the series, with another left-hander in the middle.

Game 1
BOS: SS M. Rivera – 1B Legendre – 2B J. Ramirez – C Suda – RF J. Gusmán – LF Hayashi – 3B N. Chavez – CF Baez – P Tobitt
POR: 2B Nomura – SS Palmer – RF Sambrano – 1B Quebell – LF Pruitt – C D. Alexander – CF Carmona – 3B Merritt – P Santos

Alexis Legendre walloped a very early Hector Santos pitch for a very early home run and the Raccoons were shoved right back into the gutter. The Elks were playing at the same time at home against Indy, so wins were likely to be accumulated up there in the Land of Frost, so the Raccoons had to come up with SOME GODDAMN THING.

But for starters, they had Michael Palmer thrown out at home on Quebell’s double to end the first inning. Santos, who usually walked a man every fortnight, issued leadoff walks coupled with 1-out single in both the second and fourth innings. He got out the first time, but was grasped by the cold grey claw of the Curse of Former Raccoons when Nelson Chavez hit a bouncer that gigglingly made its way away from Yoshi Nomura and into rightfield for a single that loaded the bases. Marcos Baez, batting a crisp .116, grounded to Quebell for the second run to come home, before Santos struck out Tobitt – who came in batting .288!! – for the second time with two men on in the game.

Bottom 4th, Palmer hit a leadoff single, and Sandy Sambrano struck out. Quebell doubled again, but this time it wasn’t even close to sending Palmer. The runners remained in scoring position with one out as Pruitt came up and bounced the ball back to Tobit, with Palmer coming a few steps down the line, Tobitt motioned to shoo him back, and then looked to second where Quebell scrambled back AND NOW PRUITT WAS SAFE AT FIRST!! Bases loaded!! C’MON, D-ALEX, ****ING SHOW ME HOW IT’S DONE!! Nope, a sac fly was all the Coons got in this inning, and they remained behind, 2-1. “Quasimodo” Suda however handily hit a 2-run bomb off Santos in the fifth to send the youngster to the showers. Bottom 5th, Castro walked in his place, but was rounded up in Nomura’s double play. Then Palmer singled, and Sandy drew another walk. Quebell flew to center, the ball dinked in front of the rushing Baez, hit his upper arm and bounced into the gap, Palmer in to score, tying runs in scoring position with two outs for Pruitt, a situation I had tried to avoid and/or had been disappointed by a few times already this evening. Pruitt promptly grounded out to Jesus Ramirez on the first pitch. That was about it. Pat Slayton allowed a run to an evil 2-out concoction of Chavez (who went 4-4) and Marcos Baez in the eighth, but the Raccoons never motioned again. Well, technically they had the tying run at the plate with two outs in the bottom 8th after D-Alex had singled off “Dodo” Iwase, Gentry had singled off Dan Parker, and then Dusty Balzer threw a wild pitch, but John Alexander popped out anyway. The game ended with Iemitsu Rin picking Michael Palmer off first base. 5-2 Titans. Palmer 4-5; Quebell 3-4, 2 2B, RBI; Gentry (PH) 1-1;

The Elks scored a run in six consecutive innings to make up an early 5-spot by the Indians and then some, winning 6-5 and moving to within half a game of the crappy Coons.

Maybe an appeal for decency will help? Nah, I’m not begging them. I have some self-respect left and I need to preserve that for an important oppor-

PLEASE WIN THE LAST TWO GAMES OF THE SET! PLEASE!!

Game 2
BOS: SS Rentz – 1B Legendre – C Suda – CF K. Williams – LF Hayashi – 3B E. Salazar – 2B M. Rivera – RF Thurman – P C. Graham
POR: 2B Nomura – SS Palmer – CF Sambrano – 1B Quebell – 3B Merritt – LF Gentry – C D. Alexander – RF Ayers – P Baldwin

Through three innings, a Sandy Sambrano single was the sole output – offensively – by either team, while the Elks in Vancouver had thrown up (literally) a 4-spot in the first inning. Alexis Legendre hit a fly to the warning track in the fourth that Ayers didn’t get and that took a high bounce off the wall, and when Legendre saw that halfway to second base he put the head down and dashed on to third base, where Jon Merritt awaited him and tagged him out after a murder throw by Keith Ayers. Sandy then hit an ACTUAL triple in the bottom of the inning and scored on Quebell’s sac fly, bringing home the first run of the game, but Legendre would hit another double his next time up with two outs in the sixth, and that one scored Tommy Rentz to tie the game. Bottom of the inning, Yoshi led off with a hard line to right that was nevertheless caught by Zachary Thurman. Palmer then singled to center, and for a moment we were tempted to send him stealing, but then Sambrano already rammed another ball up some unassuming gap, this time in left center. Palmer with a big lead scored, 2-1 Coons, and Sandy was in with a 1-out double, and HE was now a homer short of the cycle (Career homers: 3 in almost 1,000 AB, and all with Vegas).

At this point the Elks were just done with blowing the lead generated by their 4-spot from the first inning, and things looked not quite as drab and dreadful in Coon City for once. What we needed was some insurance, and Quebell CONQUERED Chester Graham’s 1-0 offering – NO DOUBT, that one’s OUTTA HERE!!! 22nd homer for Quebell on the season, and a 4-1 lead for Baldwin! Said Baldwin allowed a double to Ken Williams to start the top 7th (oh, the silent screams…), then walked Toki Hayashi. For fur’s sake – Eddie Salazar hit into a double play, oh thank the fluffy heavens! Mike Rivera popped out to end the inning. The eighth also started with a runner on second base when Jon Merritt committed his 21st error of the year (why did we ever let go of Ricardo Martinez again?), but Micah Steele miraculously enough pulled through before the Critters loaded “Dodo” Iwase and ex-Furball Adam Riddle for four runs in the bottom of the inning that started innocently enough with a Sambrano single and another stolen base – but no homer and no cycle. Chris Mathis conceded a run in the ninth (his first in the Bigs), but the Titans weren’t going to come back from this one. 8-2 Raccoons. Sambrano 4-4, 3B, 2B, RBI; Bowen (PH) 1-1, RBI; Castro (PH) 1-1; J. Alexander (PH) 1-1, 2B, RBI; Baldwin 7.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 4 K, W (5-4);

The Elks survived some late game madness to beat the Indians 9-7, which keeps them half a game behind, but the Titans are back 3 1/2 again. The Crusaders were – if already realistically – also mathematically eliminated by now.

C’mon, we need that rubber game!

There’s a problem, though, and it is left-handed, has six Pitcher of the Year awards, 3,494 career strikeouts, and listens to the name of Tony Hamlyn. No clue what happens next weekend, but this is the biggest regular season game the Raccoons have played since that ill-fated Monday after-season affair in which Keith Ayers was out at home and that sent the Coons home in the 16th instead to game 163 against the Crusaders.

Brownie – we need your ALL!!

Game 3
BOS: 2B J. Ramirez – 1B Legendre – C Suda – CF K. Williams – LF Hayashi – 3B E. Salazar – SS Rentz – RF M. Rivera – P Hamlyn
POR: 2B Nomura – SS Palmer – CF Sambrano – 1B Quebell – 3B Merritt – C Bowen – LF Gentry – RF Ayers – P Brown

“Quasimodo” Suda came too close for comfort to a homer in the first inning, but Sambrano made a leaping grab at the wall in left center, to nip that very high fly to prevent it from doing damage. Damage was instead done to Hamlyn in the first. Yoshi hit an infield single on which Tommy Rentz got carried far away by momentum and couldn’t get anything on his throw, after which Palmer grounded to short for what looked like two, but ended up only being the lead runner. Quebell, Merritt, and Bowen all hit 2-out singles to bring home two early runs! Brown, whose control had been iffy for a few weeks now, walked two in the top 2nd before Rentz hit into a double play to end the inning. He then had a quick third and struck out the side in the fourth*, but issued a leadoff walk to Hayashi in the fifth inning. With the Raccoons settling into a submissive role in their halves of innings, we could not need no runners on base, but before long Rentz singled, and the Titans had the tying runs on the corners with one out – and then Rentz took off to steal second base – THROWN OUT BY CRAIG BOWEN!! HOLY ****!! WHAT A MISTAKE!! Craig Bowen lasered down Tommy Rentz with grim determination then took off the mask to get a better look at the humiliated rookie that crawled back to his dugout, with the home crowd cheering – for once – for the impressively mustached, but severely overpaid backstop.

The inning ended on Mike Rivera’s easy fly to left and the Titans remained off the board, and Brownie finished seven on just over 100 pitches before his spot came up with two outs and Brett Gentry on third base in the seventh inning. That was a spot to call a pinch-hitter, but all our right-handers were engaged (minus Roudabush and Canning, and come on…), so Matt Pruitt had the dubious honor to try and not be Hamlyn’s 3,500th career strikeout. One whiff. One glare. One chop, high to left, dropping – IN! Gentry scored, and Pruitt had a double when Hayashi took a bad route on the blooper, 3-0 Brownies! Yoshi Nomura ran a full count against Hamlyn before grounding the ball hard to the right side and past a diving Ramirez! Into right! Pruitt around third base and Rivera had no shot at him, another run scored!! Raccoons!! Raccoons!! Raccoons!!

And we were off to mix and match (after a wild pitch, intentional walk, and Sandy’s groundout to short that ended the inning), sending Josh Gibson in for two batters at most in the top 8th. WE NEED THIS GAME!! And the Elks were LOSING right now! COME ON COONS!! COME ON COONS!!

Gibson walked Salazar before Rentz flew out. Manobu Sugano now replaced him to face Mike Rivera, who singled up the middle, but the Titans then sent ****ing Freddy Rosa to hit for Hamlyn. I KNOW ROSA VERY WELL. He’s NOT GONNA GET A HIT – and he struck out. Ramirez grounded out to Yoshi, inning over, two left on. The Coons tacked on a run against Ricardo Rocha in the eighth with a Quebell double and a J-Alex sac fly the primary components. Slayton pitched the ninth in competent fashion. 5-0 Brownies!!! Nomura 2-4, RBI; Quebell 3-4, 2B; Carmona (PH) 1-1; Pruitt (PH) 1-1, 2B, RBI; Brown 7.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 9 K, W (15-8);

AWESOME!!! AWESOME!!! SO ****ING AWESOME!!!

BROW-NIE! BROW-NIE! BROW-NIIIIEEEE!!!

In other news

September 17 – SFW OF Jose Morales (.336, 21 HR, 65 RBI) might not play again this year with an elbow contusion.
September 19 – NYC 1B B.J. Manfull (.313, 19 HR, 99 RBI) has his campaign end early with a back strain.
September 19 – A torn labrum might be a blessing in disguise for BOS SP Tommy Wilson (5-18, 5.47 ERA) who will not have to be clobbered any more this year.

Complaints and stuff

Can I hear a triple “BROW-NIIIIEEE!!!”, please? That – was – some – game!!

The Elks came back once again on Sunday, but the Raccoons remain very much alive. The Titans, not so much.

Put your pants on, Loggers, we’re gonna have some dance right now!!

With Manfull (and before that, Stanton Martin) down and out, Adrian Quebell is the player with the most RBI still standing in the Continental League. Yep, nobody with 100 RBI in the CL. Over in the Federal League, SFW Gil Gross has driven in 130!

I do fear for Tommy Rentz’ well-being, though. He doubtlessly got the soaps-in-sock treatment by his team. And the coaches. And his girlfriend…

When was the last time the Raccoons and Canadiens finished 1-2 in the North in any order? - 1993. That was a good year. It actually happened five consecutive times from 1989 through 1993 (4-1 for Coon City!) and three times in the mid-80s (merely 1-2 there).

*Lost in all the madness is the fact that Nick Brown once more broke the Raccoons single season strikeouts mark held by himself plenty of times when he struck out Ken Williams to end the fourth inning. And no, Hamlyn did not get #3,500, stopping one short when Pruitt hit that fatal bloop double.