[Westheim]

In good news, Cookie Carmona was diagnosed with an ankle sprain of the milder sort. He would play again in 2015, although probably not before the final ten days of the season. We did not pack him on the DL, because it was September, and might cost him a couple of extra days.

Now what were those damn eggs for??

Raccoons (69-73) vs. Crusaders (91-51) – September 14-17, 2015

The Crusaders were showing the North the finger, storming away with the division once more. They had won their last eight straight games as they came in, they were first in offense, and second in runs allowed, with even their crummy rotation coming around recently. The Raccoons were one win away of taking the season series and really rub it in on them, I hope.

Projected matchups:
Nick Brown (16-7, 2.76 ERA) vs. Fernando Cruz (13-7, 4.61 ERA)
Jonathan Toner (15-5, 2.16 ERA) vs. Colin Sabatino (9-7, 4.89 ERA)
Francisquo Bocanegra (0-2, 6.10 ERA) vs. Pancho Trevino (10-8, 4.40 ERA)
Hector Santos (8-9, 2.93 ERA) vs. A.J. Bartels (8-10, 4.57 ERA)

We will miss Jaylen “Midnight” Martin (16-5, 3.12 ERA) yet again. The Crusaders will open the set with a left-hander, which the Raccoons will do, too, with the difference being that our guy is going for his 200th big league win. Brownie had also faced the Crusaders four times this year, and had beaten them … four times!

Also missing from the opener: Stanton Martin, who got a 2-game suspension on Saturday.

Game 1
NYC: 2B Caraballo – 3B J. Ortega – LF M. Ortíz – RF P. Brown – SS Paull – C Durango – 1B Roche – CF A. Ruiz – P F. Cruz
POR: CF Sambrano – SS Hudman – 3B Nunley – 1B Murphy – LF Richards – RF Bednarski – 2B Bergquist – C Margolis – P N. Brown

Brownie retired the first eight before Fernando Cruz hit a bloop single. Francisco Caraballo was quick to mash his 16th home run of the season, and the Crusaders held the edge. While the Coons stranded pairs on the bases in the second inning (when Brown moved Margolis to third with a single, but Sandy failed) and also in the fourth (when Brown failed himself), and were generally not a pleasure to watch as the fans were keen to point out. The Crusaders went up 3-0 in the sixth inning on Phil Brown’s RBI triple, but the Raccoons brought up the tying runs in the bottom of the inning after singles by Bednarski and Margolis that sandwiched a walk that Bergquist had drawn. Of course this, with one out, brought up Brownie’s spot. And we sent him to bat with the best option on the bench right now being Walt Canning. **** Canning, take a stick, Brownie! He rolled one over to Frederic Roche at first base, one run scored, and that was all once Sambrano was done flying out softly to Martin Ortíz. In the seventh the Critters had Hudman on with a leadoff single, then tumbled into a strike-em-out-throw-em-out with Nunley, and Murphy grounded out to short, which would have ended the inning one way or another. Hissing from the ranks, by the way. While Brownie worked his way into and out of trouble in the eighth inning, loading the bases after drumming Ortíz and walking Eric Paull with two outs before getting a nice exit grounder to Bergquist from Eduardo Durango, the Raccoons got one last chance to make him a winner in the bottom 8th. Richards flew out to deep right to start the inning, but Bednarski singled to center. Bergquist rolled a really poor one up the third base line, but it was so poor that neither purple-hatted guy on the field had a play. The go-ahead run appeared in Margolis, whom Cruz so far had not retired in the game, rendering him 3-for-3. A shot to center, in there, 4-for-4, and the bases are loaded! With Helio Maggessi, a right-hander, making an appearance on the mound now, the Raccoons called on Luis Reya to put things right. Or to roll another one over to short, for a run to score, but a precious out to waste. McKnight hit for an 0-4 Sambrano, and grounded out. Roche then tripled off Bruno in the ninth and scored on a balk. Fans were unhappy. 4-2 Crusaders. Bednarski 3-4; Margolis 4-4, 2B;

The ****ing Raccoons out-hit the Crusaders 12-6, but stranded 11, while the Crusaders hit four of their hits for extra bases, meaning they actually out-TB’ed the Raccoons 14-13, which is a pattern that I have seen before somewhere.

Can it be over soon, PLEASE??

Game 2
NYC: 2B Caraballo – 3B Walter – LF M. Ortíz – RF S. Martin – 1B Manfull – SS Paull – C Durango – CF Hedglin – P Sabatino
POR: 2B Hudman – 3B Nunley – SS McKnight – RF Richards – 1B Murphy – LF Ochoa – C Alexander – CF Johnson – P Toner

Ron Richards missed a homer to left on Sabatino’s 2-0 pitch by mere inches as it curved foul past the pole out there. The Coons had two on in the bottom 1st of a scoreless game, and Richards had to reload. He clobbered the 2-1 a bunch as well, this one right, and this one indeed outta here, putting the Raccoons 3-0 on top. Things hardly got better for Sabatino afterwards. The Coons would have the bases loaded with nobody out in the second inning after which McKnight and Richards didn’t come up with more than sacrifice flies, and he was hit for after four innings of 11-hit, 5-run ball. By then, Hudman had cost Jonny Toner an unearned run, allowing Nick Hedglin to score from third after a leadoff single when he mishandled Shane Walter’s grounder for an error. Hedglin’s hit was the Crusaders’ only base knock through five against eight strikeouts, and knocked onto ten strikeouts in the game before they got another base runner. Stanton Martin whiffed to start the top 7th. By then the Raccoons had already put three runs on Kevin Wanless in the bottom 6th, starting with a Nunley double and some aggressive running on McKnight’s and Seeley’s (who hit for Murphy) singles. Richards walked in between and they ran the score to 8-1 while Brownie was probably compiling a death list by now. Meanwhile Jonny had the Crusaders in his paw, until he didn’t, which came very sudden and mildly shocking. The eighth opened with another Hedglin single, but was quickly built on with an RBI double by Roche that beat Johnson in center, and an RBI single by Caraballo to left past Canning, who had replaced Nunley to give the regular a spell. A somewhat disturbed Jonny was hauled in, Sugano replaced him, got Shane Walter on an easy fly, then surrendered a single to Martin Ortíz. That brought up Stanton Martin, who was a right-hander, and Sugano sucked against right-handers, but behind him was still B.J. Manfull… Martin grounded to short for a surprisingly pain-free resolution of the inning, 6-4-3, and the Crusaders accepted defeat after that. 8-3 Raccoons. Hudman 2-5; Nunley 3-4, 2 2B; McKnight 2-4, 2 RBI; Richards 2-2, BB, HR, 4 RBI; Bednarski 1-1; Seeley (PH) 1-1, RBI; Toner 7.0 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 11 K, W (16-5) and 1-4; Sugano 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

If the tying run is closer than in the hole in that eighth inning, does Sugano still pitch to Martin? Hell no!

Despite the loss, the Crusaders eliminated the Indians after their own loss, which left only the Elks in nominal contention for the division. They were 15 games out after all. The Crusaders can still take the division on our lawn if the Elks just fail hard enough against the Loggers, and I don’t want that to happen. So, boys, keep up the Tuesday spirit.

Game 3
NYC: 2B Caraballo – 3B J. Ortega – LF M. Ortíz – RF S. Martin – 1B Manfull – SS Paull – C Durango – CF A. Ruiz – P Trevino
POR: 2B Hudman – 3B Nunley – SS McKnight – RF Richards – 1B Murphy – LF Ochoa – C Alexander – CF Johnson – P Bocanegra

The Crusaders battered Bocanegra in the first inning, much like they had had their guy battered early on in the previous game. Jorge Ortega singled, stole second, Martin Ortíz drove him with a single, scored himself on Stanton Martin’s double, and Eric Paull hit another RBI single. Nunley doubled in Hudman in the bottom of the inning, but the Crusaders just kept ploughing away at Bocanegra, who appeared more than just hapless and was beaten for another 3-run inning in the second. Ironically, Bocanegra hit an RBI double in the bottom of the inning… His suffering would end after Manfull’s leadoff single in the fifth, the tenth hit off Bocanegra on this day. Then, the Coons were down 6-3 – D-Alex had hit an RBI single in the fourth. When the Crusaders in this inning were done with Bill Conway, who followed Bocanegra, they were up 7-3, and Nunley had saved at least one run with a heroic flying grab. Conway also bunted into a force in the bottom of the sixth, generally not helping a comeback effort at all. The Raccoons would not get anything done anymore in the game. They would have two more leadoff singles. They would waste both. 8-3 Crusaders. Murphy 2-4, 2B; Alexander 2-4, RBI; Entwistle 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Game 4
NYC: 2B Caraballo – C Lowe – LF M. Ortíz – RF S. Martin – 1B Manfull – SS Paull – 3B Walter – CF Hedglin – P Bartels
POR: CF Sambrano – 3B Nunley – SS McKnight – LF Richards – 1B Murphy – RF Reya – C Alexander – 2B Hudman – P Santos

The Crusaders also got to Santos in the first inning, with the Martin Brothers hitting a double and single to give the Crusaders a 1-0 lead. The Coons came back in the bottom 2nd, however, when Richards and Murphy pulled the same stunt to get the Critters even, and then ahead when D-Alex plated Murphy from second base with a single. The game was tight for a while, with Santos hanging onto the 2-1 lead with his bare claws. The Crusaders always seemed to have somebody on base, and if it was a Bartels single that almost unwound him in the fifth inning. Santos himself struck out to start the bottom 5th, after which Sambrano was plunked and went to first base. He took off on the first pitch to Nunley, the Crusaders had kind of waited for that, but Drew Lowe’s throw to second was way too high and went into centerfield, moving Sandy to third with one out. Nunley then grounded out poorly to second base, which left Sandy stuck on third base, and McKnight also grounded over to Caraballo, but this one was deeper to the right side and Caraballo couldn’t get it out of his glove the first time, missing the throw over – McKnight was safe, Sambrano scored, 3-1. Richards and Murphy extended the inning with singles, the latter scoring McKnight, and then Reya ended Bartels’ outing with a massive 3-run homer to right, 7-1. While Richards would expand the lead with a solo homer in the seventh inning, Santos did a wonderful job of tending to the looming W here, going seven and two thirds on 101 pitches. The bottom 8th saw Randy McMullen pitch for the Crusaders. He walked the bases full before Richards appeared with two outs, but grounded out to the mound. The Crusaders managed to put a dent into our pen in the ninth, however. Thrasher allowed a leadoff single to Manfull in the ninth, Bruno conceded a double to Paull, and then both runs on productive outs, before this was the third straight 8-3 game in the series. 8-3 Coons. Richards 3-5, HR, 2B, RBI; Murphy 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Reya 2-4, HR, 3 RBI; Alexander 2-4, RBI; Santos 7.2 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 8 K, W (9-9);

Raccoons (71-75) @ Bayhawks (72-74) – September 18-20, 2015

The Birds saw it slipping away in the South, five games out in fourth place. They ranked about average in both runs scored and runs allowed, with a +10 run differential. We were 3-3 against them in 2015, which was already an upgrade over 2014’s shabby 2-7 campaign.

Projected matchups:
Kenichi Watanabe (6-12, 4.61 ERA) vs. Gabriel Caro (12-5, 4.28 ERA)
Nick Brown (16-8, 2.78 ERA) vs. Milt Beauchamp (7-8, 3.64 ERA)
Jonathan Toner (16-5, 2.17 ERA) vs. Randy Farley (6-5, 3.69 ERA)

Three right-handers in this set. Brownie will have to go for his 200th win in the Birds’ nest.

Game 1
POR: CF Sambrano – 3B Nunley – SS McKnight – LF Richards – 1B Murphy – RF Reya – C Alexander – 2B Bergquist – P Watanabe
SFB: LF J. Gusmán – 2B A. Martinez – 1B A. Young – RF Almanza – CF D. Garcia – 3B J. Rodriguez – SS Ingraham – C Lefebure – P Caro

Sandy opened the game with a single, and then Nunley hit a real hard home run to put the Coons up 2-0 instantly. Watanabe went about the early lead as responsibly as he could, issuing a 4-pitch walk to Javier Gusmán before Armando Martinez shot a really hard single to left, moving Gusmán to third. The Birds were eventually held to just one run, but the Raccoons might want to reconsider their starting rotation for 2016. Watanabe proved useful in many ways when it came to blow a lead, bunting so badly in the second inning that he got Dylan Alexander forced out at third base, then in the bottom 3rd allowed three 2-out base hits to the Baybirds’ 2-3-4 batters to get the game tied.

The Bayhawks had two on in the bottom 4th, then hit into a double play on Zach Ingraham’s very sharp bouncer that left a burn mark in Matt Nunley’s glove. Nunley barely managed to swipe that one. The top 5th saw the Coons have two on, and Murphy hit into a double play. Reya and Bergquist had singles in the top of the sixth before Watanabe’s spot came up with one out. Oh the **** yes were we going to hit for him. Ochoa hit for him, sharply to short, double play. Top 7th, next chance to somehow **** up. Sandy drew a leadoff walk, but couldn’t get a jump to steal second. He did make it to third base on McKnight’s 1-out single. Up came Richards, and he was perhaps the one of our assumed sluggers that had not hit into double plays year-round. He had also hit two bombs already this week – and hit a third one, a very relieving 3-run homer to right, no doubt about that one, and the Coons were up 5-2. The bullpen tended to this one nicely; Mathis, Sugano, and Entwistle got the 5-2 advantage to the ninth inning, which was to be Angel Casas’. Angel had not appeared at all in the Crusaders series, and now made a right mess. After getting Javy Rodriguez, he allowed a single to Zach Ingraham, walked Michael Lefebure, and allowed an RBI single to Will McIntyre. Reya’s throw to home allowed the tying runs to reach scoring position. He fell behind Gusmán 2-0 before Gusmán hit a blooper to right, nobody was going to get it, and the Bayhawks tied the score. Armando Martinez whiffed, Adam Young fouled out, and somehow we had managed to convert a 5-2 lead into extra innings.

Amazingly, after Casas had failed with flying colors, Gibson and Conway pitched scoreless innings, while Bednarski hit into another grinding double play in the 12th inning. The fail continued until the 15th. Bednarski and Alexander hit singles to put two on for Bergquist with one out. Ian Johnson, southpaw, was pitching, the 1-1 was pretty fat, and Bergquist lined it pretty hard to the right side. Adam Young jumped and swiped, but missed it, and the Coons took the lead on an RBI single. On the throw home the runners moved into scoring position, but they were left there when Canning popped out and Sambrano grounded out. Ron Thrasher was still left over and was now tasked with protection of a 6-5 lead. He struck out Rusty Zackery before Armando Martinez doubled to right. Oh come on. Ryan Miller (yeah, that one) pinch-hit and grounded out to third, leaving things to Chris Almanza. Thrasher had him at 2-2, threw a wild pitch, and moved the tying run to third base. Almanza struck out on the next pitch. 6-5 Blighters. McKnight 4-5, 2 BB; Richards 3-5, HR, 3 RBI; Bergquist 3-7, 2B, RBI; Mathis 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K; Conway 3.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Mathis would have had the W if Angel hadn’t ****ed up.

The Crusaders clinched the North on this day. Shall they have a painful exit in the CLCS.

Game 2
POR: 2B Sambrano – 3B Nunley – SS McKnight – RF Richards – 1B Murphy – LF Ochoa – C Margolis – CF Seeley – P N. Brown
SFB: 2B A. Martinez – LF J. Gusmán – CF D. Garcia – RF Almanza – 1B A. Young – 3B J. Rodriguez – SS R. Miller – C A. Ramirez – P Beauchamp

Brownie drilled Martinez with his first pitch of the game, so that was a great start. The Critters would take a 1-0 lead in the third inning when Margolis hit a leadoff homer to left. The lead was not to last. Martinez and Gusmán hit back-to-back doubles with one out, and Dave Garcia would have hit another one if Ochoa hadn’t made a flying grab near the track. Almanza grounded out to strand Gusmán at third base. After a quiet fourth, Ochoa and Margolis opened the fifth with soft singles that just barely made it past infielders. In contrast to that, Seeley unleashed a rocket to deep right, Almanza hustled after it reaching, yet missed it – and then he fell down. The ball went to the corner, and by the time Almanza had dug it out, Seeley was safe with a 2-run triple. That run, however, was not to score. Brownie struck out, and when Sambrano flew out to Almanza, he gunned down Seeley at home. Brownie ran into more trouble against the 1-2 guys, who both hit singles with two outs in the bottom 5th – Martinez a hard one, Gusmán one of the infield sort – but Garcia with his 21 homers this year grounded out to Sambrano. And the Birds were not sitting down just like that, especially when getting help from Stan Murphy, who fed a poor throw to Brown on Javy Rodriguez’ grounder in the bottom of the sixth, Brownie didn’t come up with it, and Rodriguez was safe on the error, then stole second base. Miller, however, popped out to short, keeping the Birds behind 3-1.

Top 7th, Murphy drew a leadoff walk. When Beauchamp threw a wild one to Ochoa, the Birds walked him intentionally to get to Margolis, who promptly fouled out. Seeley however came through again, hitting a soft looper that fell uncatchable into shallow right center. Murphy read it well – so at least the eyes were working – and scored handily, 4-1. Brownie was kept around to bunt, missed twice, then swung and bounced to Beauchamp, who got Seeley at second and left runners on the corners for a struggling Sandy Sambrano, for whom Luis Reya batted and hit the first pitch hard to right. In a similar play to Seeley’s 2-run triple, Almanza barely missed the liner, this time stayed on the feet, but still couldn’t help but concede the 2-out, 2-run double. Brown got two quick outs from Antonio Ramirez and Will McIntyre before the top of the order was up again. Martinez singled hard to left, but Gusmán was a left-hander, so Brownie stayed in to see Gusmán as his last batter. He was 1-2 ahead before Gusmán knocked the ball into play, but grounded out to Brock Hudman, who had replaced Sambrano at second base.

Well, now. Can you little ****s go through two innings without blowing a 5-run lead? Entwistle got Garcia and Almanza on grounders before we flipped to Sugano, who would face Young and Rodriguez. The former singled, the latter grounded out, the eighth was over with. The Coons even added on to their lead in the top 9th, tearing up Ricardo Munoz. At first, they only had Ochoa on to start the inning. He was at second with Seeley at the plate and one out, but moved up on a wild pitch. When Seeley flew out to left, that allowed him to score for a sac fly. But that was not all: Bednarski and Reya then hit back-to-back homers to further expand the lead! Marcos Bruno came into the game, threw only two pitches, the last of which Ryan Miller used to homer on, then left with some ailment. That put Josh Gibson into the contest. Oh, it’s fine, we’re up by seven! He got one out from Ramirez, then conceded a hit to Jasper Holt, walked Martinez, and surrendered a 3-run homer to Gusmán. FOR ****’S SAKE!!! Mathis was thrown into the fray. Dave Garcia made an out on the warning track, Reya catching a drive right at the fence, before Almanza flew to shallow right, and Bednarski made a sliding catch to end the game. 9-5 Brownies!!!!! Reya (PH) 2-2, HR, 2B, 3 RBI; Nunley 2-5; Ochoa 1-2, 2 BB; Margolis 2-4, HR, RBI; Seeley 2-3, 3B, 4 RBI; Bednarski 1-1, HR, RBI; Brown 7.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, W (17-8);

Let’s not get into how we needed five relievers for six outs… Today is National Brownie Celebration Day!! Wheeeee!!

Game 3
POR: 2B Sambrano – 3B Nunley – SS McKnight – LF Richards – 1B Murphy – RF Reya – CF Johnson – C Alexander – P Toner
SFB: LF J. Gusmán – 2B A. Martinez – 1B A. Young – RF Almanza – CF D. Garcia – 3B J. Rodriguez – SS Ingraham – C A. Ramirez – P Farley

Farley, 41, 217 career wins – still having something going for him. And he had a 2-0 lead after the first. While he stranded two Coons aboard when Murphy grounded out to third base, Dave Garcia came through with a 2-out, 2-run single that Nunley couldn’t get to. McKnight hit into a double play in the third, Murphy hit into one in the fourth – a real hitting clinic was going on, while Toner struck out five in the first three innings and still trailed. Sometimes it takes a pitcher to get some offense. Admittedly, the fifth inning got underway for the Critters with D-Alex’ 1-out double, but Toner then split Gusmán and Garcia with a liner and made it rather comfortably to third base with an RBI triple! After Sandy walked, Nunley hit a crisp single to tie the game at two and put runners on first and second, but McKnight flew out to left. Richards walked the bases full, bringing up Mur- MERCY, a shot to right, RBI single!! Farley was melting by now and walked in a run facing Reya before Johnson eagerly popped out to shallow left, but Toner now had a 4-2 lead. Randy Farley made it through six with as many walks, while Toner didn’t walk anybody until Martinez drew one to start the bottom 6th. Young hit into a double play right away, not getting to add to his 107 RBI. Through the middle innings, Toner fed grounders to the infielders with high frequency, before striking out the side in the eighth. His pitch count was rather low around 90, and he batted for himself in the ninth, leading off – but how many .284/.385/.358 batters did we have exactly? Toner grounded out, Sandy got on, but Nunley hit into a double play. Bottom 9th, Jonny back out there with a 4-2 lead; on three pitches, Martinez and Young made two fast outs on easy flies to left. Almanza was up for lasts, grounded to third, Nunley to first – out. 4-2 Raccoons! Richards 1-2, 2 BB; Toner 9.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 10 K, W (17-5) and 2-3, BB, 3B, RBI;

Jonnyyyyy! I love this kid! Also, old man Farley lasted eight innings without imploding completely, which is also a very respectable result.

In other news

September 17 – Out with a broken kneecap, DEN CF Roberto Pena (.278, 6 HR, 69 RBI) is expected to miss next Opening Day and maybe up to two months of the 2016 season.
September 18 – A whopping three games in the Continental League end with 1-0 scores. The Knights hold off the Crusaders on Gil Rockwell’s 42nd homer of the year, the Falcons beat the Indians, and the Condors beat the Loggers in 13 innings on Ezra Branch’s bases-loaded single.
September 19 – NAS SP Alfredo Collazo (11-14, 4.61 ERA) is out with a partial tear in his UCL. He will not have Tommy John surgery, but should still miss Opening Day.
September 19 – The Stars will have to make do without OF/1B Hugo Mendoza (.333, 24 HR, 102 RBI) for the rest of the season. The 24-year old has torn a meniscus.
September 20 – The Warriors’ LF/RF Jose “Dingus” Morales (.324, 16 HR, 93 RBI) collects one hit in the Warriors’ 4-3 loss to the Cyclones to run a hitting streak to 20 games.

Complaints and stuff

Brooooooooow-(gasps)-niiiiiiiiieeee!!!!

Next, get those 39 K in for 3,000 total. Preferably before Jonny Toner overtakes him. Jonny jumped 500 this week and sits at 517 now. At 24, Brownie was still under 300.

So far, no medical news on Bruno, by the way, and I am scared to find out what the Druid will come with to diagnose him. We left Maud and Slappy in Portland to get rid of hundreds of chicks. So in fact we left MAUD alone in Portland to get rid of –

True fact: Brownie has always been a well-above-average batter, and was a base stealer in his younger years, but has only one career triple (Toner has two this year), and has never hit a home run (Toner hit one in ’14).

Odd note: since the start of the dynasty, I have just numbered screenshots in ascending order. The shot for Brownie’s news story is named Raccoons1977 – the ABL started play in 1977. Full circle, baby, full circle!!