[Westheim]

Raccoons (67-56) @ Indians (66-58) – August 23-25, 2016

The Raccoons’ 6-game winning streak would next be tested by the Indians, who so far had had pretty good success against Portland in 2016, beating them seven out of a dozen games, following a 13-5 thrashing handed to the Critters in 2015. The Coons had passed the Indians for 10th place in runs scored on the weekend. Their pitching allowed the third-fewest runs, with a stellar bullpen that had a 2.64 ERA going.

Projected matchups:
Nick Brown (13-6, 2.10 ERA) vs. Kyle Lamb (4-4, 3.25 ERA)
Hector Santos (11-5, 2.49 ERA) vs. Josh Riley (12-10, 4.28 ERA)
Jonathan Toner (7-6, 2.72 ERA) vs. Alejandro Mendez (12-10, 3.38 ERA)

Handedness would match for all pairings of starters in this series.

While the Raccoons had Monday off, the Indians played a makeup game on Monday, with Tom Weise (13-10, 3.56 ERA) beating the Buffaloes 1-0 with a 6-hit shutout.

Game 1
POR: CF Carmona – RF Sambrano – 3B Walter – LF DeWeese – SS Jones – 1B A. Young – C Margolis – 2B Bergquist – P Brown
IND: LF Baker – CF J. Wilson – SS Matias – 1B S. Guerra – RF Gilmor – C Denny – 3B Tolwith – 2B Preto – P Lamb

Scoring didn’t start until the fourth inning, and then for the wrong team as Nick Brown had a 1-out meltdown and allowed singles to Nick Gilmor and Mike Denny before also walking Aaron Tolwith. While Sambrano gave his very best on Silvestre Preto’s pop to right, he couldn’t get Gilmor, who tagged and scored on the play. The same area of the batting order gave Brown more trouble the next time in the sixth inning. After Raul Matias drew a walk to start the inning, Gilmor and Denny hit back-to-back 1-out singles, but this time Cookie’s throw on Denny’s single to center was in time to kill off Matias with the second run at home. Unfortunately the relief was temporary. Old foe Tolwith hit a gapper in left center for an RBI double, putting the Indians 2-0 ahead. The Raccoons meanwhile were entirely dead in the water and had only three hits off Lamb in six innings. Howard Jones opened the seventh with a double, but also hurt himself and had to be replaced by McKnight. Between Young, Margolis, and Bergquist, the Raccoons would then get zero balls out of the infield, and McKnight was stranded on third base. That was the Coons’ last runner in scoring position. They got another man on against Lamb in the eighth, stranded him, and went down against Jarrod Morrison in the ninth without objecting. 2-0 Indians. Nunley 1-1; Brown 6.2 IP, 9 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 5 K and 1-2;

Oh look, our offense is back.

Howard Jones hurt his hand sliding into second base, and will be day-to-day for the rest of the week.

Game 2
POR: CF Carmona – 2B Walter – 3B Nunley – LF DeWeese – 1B A. Young – SS McKnight – RF Richards – C Baca – P Santos
IND: LF Baker – CF J. Wilson – 1B S. Guerra – RF Gilmor – SS Matias – C Denny – 3B Tolwith – 2B Preto – P Riley

The Critters burst out for the 4-spot in the first inning; after a Walter single and a Nunley double, DeWeese put the first run on the board with a hard single to right. Young struck out, but McKnight came through with a huge 3-run homer to rightfield. Another run scored in the second inning on a throwing error by Denny as Cookie – in slightly mental fashion – took off to steal third base with two outs and Walter behind him. Denny’s wild throw allowed Cookie to come home, while Nunley’s fly to center was caught to end the inning. The Indians were fed up with Riley as early as the fourth inning, pinch-hitting for him with Apasyu Britton with the bases loaded and one out, the left-hander also countering Santos, who had allowed two singles and a walk in the inning. Santos conceded a run on a groundout, then whiffed Josh Baker to keep a 5-1 lead, but things soon took a turn for the worse, when Silvestre Preto fell onto Cookie Carmona as the latter tried to break up a double play in the top 5th. Cookie had to leave the game, Sambrano replacing him, and Santos just barely made it through the fifth inning, allowing another three hits for a second Indians run, 5-2.

With no movement offensively for several innings, the Raccoons had to patch four innings with their pen. They got the sixth from Sugano, but Beaver walked two left-handers in the seventh and had to be bailed out first by Nunley starting a double play and then by John Korb. When the Coons finally did score another run in the top 8th on two bloops and a shy roller that escaped Santiago Guerra, Korb immediately made a mess in the bottom 8th. Throwing a wild pitch after a leadoff single by Denny, Korb allowed another single to right to Tolwith. Ron Richards’ throw home was abysmal and he was charged an error as not only Denny scored unimpeded, but Tolwith went to second base. Preto grounded out, but with Danny Young pinch-hitting, there would be three left-handers in a row, so Ron Thrasher was called on, but allowed singles to all three of them. That put the Indians back only by a single run, with runners on first and second and with only one out, with the middle of the order next. With Thrasher quickly binned, Chris Mathis got the ball, struck out Guerra, and got out of the mess when Gilmor grounded out to him. That only ended the eighth, though. After Joel Davis dispatched the Coons in the top 9th, there were another three outs to get for Mathis, and Raul Matias singled right away. Denny and Tolwith struck out before ex-Crusader Kevin Bond grounded to first – and Young blew the ball, which quivered out beneath his tail – the winning run was on. Left-hander Vinny Sarmiento would pinch-hit for Davis in the #9 hole, his first big league plate appearance at age 26. He floated Mathis’ first pitch to right, it fell in front of Richards, and pinch-runner Jeremie Ventura scored from second base to tie the game. Mathis didn’t get it done; Baker’s single loaded the bases, and John Wilson’s single to right walked off the Indians. 7-6 Indians. Carmona 2-3; Walter 3-5; Nunley 2-5, 2B; McKnight 2-4, HR, 3 RBI; Richards 2-4, RBI;

There are no words.

The Druid quickly diagnosed what was wrong with Cookie, too. There were subtle clues, like the two eyes glaring in different directions and him repeatedly asking whether anybody had gotten the number of the milk truck that had hit him. Cookie had a concussion and was lost for the season.

There are … no words.

2011 eighth-rounder Alex Duarte was promoted from AAA. We had nobody to promote to bat leadoff, though.

Game 3
POR: 2B Walter – 3B Nunley – SS McKnight – LF DeWeese – RF Richards – 1B Sambrano – CF Duarte – C Baca – P Toner
IND: LF Baker – CF J. Wilson – 2B Kym – 1B S. Guerra – RF Gilmor – SS Matias – C Sarmiento – 3B Mathews – P A. Mendez

The first of 37 games constituting the string that the Raccoons had to play out with everything lost and forsaken pitted Jonny Toner against “Ant” Mendez, who came up with the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom 2nd and promptly dumped a 2-run single into shallow left, the fourth hit allowed by Toner in the inning. That Jonny struck out ten in the first five innings merely served to explode his pitch count while the Raccoons got exactly one hit off Mendez in the same time frame. Toner then crapped out to start the bottom 6th, allowing a leadoff single to Guerra, a double to Gilmor, then struck Matias with a pitch. Bases loaded, no outs, for the ****ing rookie hero of Wednesday night. Toner whiffed him, but would throw a wild pitch to Mathews, scoring Guerra, before getting out of the inning, which was also his last, over 110 pitches for six innings of 3-run, 12-K ball. Mendez also hit a rough patch in the top 7th. DeWeese walked to get going, and Richards hit a single, the Coons’ second in the game. Sandy flew out, but Alex Duarte got his first big league hit with a single to left that loaded the bases. Baca grounded behind first base, but Mendez dropped Guerra’s feed for a run-scoring error, 3-1, and now Young was hitting for Toner. While he tied the game with a double to center, the Coons stranded runners in scoring position with Walter striking out and Nunley grounding out to Jong-beom Kym, the latter against reliever Fernando Hernandez jr… Thrasher immediately tried to blow another game, walking two in the bottom 7th before McKnight started a relieving double play, but Gilmor homered off Chun in the bottom of the eighth to give the Indians the lead back. Still stashed away in the #9 slot, Adam Young would hit ANOTHER game-tying RBI double in the ninth, this one off Jarrod Morrison and plating Duarte, who had singled again. Shane Walter, entirely useless for the entire series, walked onto the open base before Margolis struck out hitting for Chun. Extra innings, in which the Coons had McKnight in the 10th and Sambrano in the 11th caught stealing. Will West pitched two innings in relief before choking in his third, the bottom 11th, walking Mathews and Tolwith while allowing a single in between to Denny. Kevin Beaver came in to face John Wilson, but allowed a walkoff single. 5-4 Indians. Sambrano 2-5; Duarte 2-4, BB; Young (PH) 2-2, 2 2B, 3 RBI;

Raccoons (67-59) @ Condors (72-56) – August 26-28, 2016

The Condors were in the thick of the playoff race, half a game behind the Bayhawks in the South. They were fourth in runs scored and fifth in runs allowed. The season series stood at 3-3, with the Raccoons last having beaten them in 2013.

Projected matchups:
Chris Munroe (5-9, 3.45 ERA) vs. Kevin Woodworth (9-10, 3.41 ERA)
Tadasu Abe (9-7, 3.55 ERA) vs. Troy McCaskill (16-6, 2.28 ERA)
Nick Brown (13-7, 2.13 ERA) vs. Manuel Rojas (6-13, 3.89 ERA)

They only have right-handed starters. And we could run up with an entire lineup of double arm amputees and it wouldn’t matter.

Game 1
POR: 2B Walter – 3B Nunley – SS McKnight – LF DeWeese – 1B Young – CF Duarte – C Baca – RF Stubbs – P Munroe
TIJ: 3B Dasher – SS Nelson – LF Eichelkraut – CF M. Herrera – 1B Gershkovich – C J. Vargas – 2B Lafon – RF Abraham – P Woodworth

Duarte made his first error in the second inning, a wild throw 20 feet off home plate that allowed Jose Vargas, who had previously doubled, to score unimpeded on Roland Lafon’s single to center, the first run in the game. With all the misery in the lineup, it was on Munroe himself to help him out of his deficit. The Condors had a man on in each of the next two innings, but didn’t score. Matt Stubbs singled to lead off the top 5th, then stole the first base of his career. With Munroe not required to bunt anymore, he swung away and lined to left, and Jimmy Oatmeal was far from getting to it. Stubbs sped around third and scored, game tied. The Coons would further get a single from Walter, but DeWeese struck out to strand runners on the corners. Craig Abraham hit a leadoff single in the bottom 5th, but was eventually caught stealing third base by Baca.

Both pitchers ended up going eight innings in this one. Woodworth retired the last dozen Coons he faced in order, while Munroe had a few more struggles, but denied the Condors in all their attempts and kept the 1-1 tie in place. In the ninth it was time to face Zack Entwistle and I would like it quite a lot if the Raccoons would tear him to pieces, but no luck was to be had here. Instead, the Condors walked off against Seung-mo Chun, who walked Mike Herrera to start the inning, and allowed a single to Lafon that sent the runner to third base with two outs. Matt Keeler was in the #8 slot, hitting .190, and grounded rather slowly up the third base line. Nunley did all he could, which wasn’t enough, Keeler collapsed past first base and Herrera scored. 2-1 Condors. Munroe 8.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 7 K and 1-3, RBI;

Keeler seems to have suffered a leg injury.

Game 2
POR: 2B Walter – 3B Nunley – SS McKnight – LF DeWeese – 1B Young – CF Duarte – RF Richards – C Margolis – P Abe
TIJ: SS Lafon – CF Arnold – LF Eichelkraut – 2B M. Herrera – 1B Gershkovich – C J. Vargas – 3B D. Jones – RF Abraham – P McCaskill

The Condors took a 1-0 lead in the second inning again, Herrera leading off with a single, stealing second base, and coming home on Vargas’ groundout, and two innings later Vargas would come up with a single to right that scored Herrera and Gershkovich to put Abe in a 3-0 hole. The Raccoons by definition weren’t doing anything except munching their lunch packs in the dugout. Through five innings they would have as many hits, and two of those by Abe. Nunley had hit a single in the first, but when he came up in that fifth inning with two outs and Abe and Walter (who had doubled) in scoring position, he rolled one over to Herrera to end the inning. Abe lasted seven okay innings before Howard Jones (with a specifically padded glove on the sore paw) took a bat to hit for him leading off the eighth. It was the Raccoons’ best hit yet, a double into the leftfield corner, and the tying run at least appeared on the field for once… Not for long, though. Walter grounded out, and McCaskill whiffed Nunley and McKnight to end the inning. By contrast, Will West in the bottom 8th retired the first two batters, then walked Gershkovich and Vargas and allowed an RBI single to Dan Jones. McCaskill nursed his shutout into the ninth, but allowed another leadoff double to DeWeese, who moved up on Young’s groundout. Sambrano hit for Duarte and drove a ball to fairly deep center – of course into an out, but it was deep enough for DeWeese to score an honorary run. McCaskill was removed immediately, and after a pinch-hit single by Baca Zack Entwistle collected the last out from Danny Margolis. 4-1 Condors. Baca (PH) 1-1; Jones (PH) 1-1, 2B;

4-0, 4-1 … I don’t give a **** about ****ing participation ribbons…

Game 3
POR: 2B Walter – 3B Nunley – SS McKnight – LF DeWeese – 1B Young – CF Sambrano – RF Richards – C Margolis – P Brown
TIJ: SS Dasher – C J. Vargas – LF Eichelkraut – CF M. Herrera – 1B Gershkovich – 3B D. Jones – 2B Lafon – RF Abraham – P M. Rojas

Two singles that escaped on the left side of the infield and a Mike Gershkovich double put Brownie in a 2-0 hole right in the first inning, so all hopes for at least one win in this week from hell could rightfully be consigned to the land of illusions. More damage occurred in the third inning as Vargas singled, Brown walked Jimmy Oatmeal, who had hit one of the two singles in the first, his first base hit in the series, and then Gershkovich came through again with a 2-run triple to the rightfield corner. Gershkovich came in to score when Richards dropped Dan Jones’ pop fly to right. The Coons had already left a runner on third base in the game, but the fourth saw a 1-out double by McKnight. Rojas then struck out DeWeese, although Vargas lost the ball and the Coons made it to the corners on the uncaught third strike. The best that Adam Young managed to do was a run-scoring groundout, and so this mild chance to climb back into the game went to hell as well.

Frustration was mounting, not only with me. The score was still 5-1 in the sixth inning, and the Coons had runners on the corners with one out again. Sambrano batted and flew out to right. McKnight tagged from third base against Craig Abraham’s murder arm, who had him beat easily. McKnight’s only chance was to knock out Jose Vargas – and he actually destroyed him with a dirty slide, ramming his (spiked…) foot right into Vargas’ stomach, and Vargas got another knock in the shoulder. While Vargas lay in the dirt, coughing blood, and McKnight retreated to the dugout, the broken catcher slowly raised his glove, ball still firmly grasped, before being carried off on a stretcher. This had no great effect on the game, which the Coons had already firmly lost. Brown went seven without allowing another run, striking out Herrera with runners on the corners to end the seventh. “Doom” Rojas pitched a complete game 5-hitter. 5-1 Condors. McKnight 2-4, 2B;

Brownie is now at 3,099 strikeouts for his career. And this is the first time he’s lost consecutive games since April 29 and May 4. Back then, the Coons scored TWO runs combined in the two starts for him rather than just one.

And after all the drama, the Condors announced late on Sunday that Jose Vargas would miss one week with a thumb sprain. What was with the coughed blood then??

In other news

August 23 – VAN 1B Ray Gilbert (.334, 27 HR, 95 RBI) solidifies his lead in the CL batting race with three hits in an 8-4 victory over the Titans, and on the side also knocks his 2,000th career hit, a 2-run single the bottom 7th off Matt Branch. The runs are charged to Harry Merwin. Gilbert is a career .314/.385/.498 batter with 259 homers and 1,062 RBI.
August 23 – Knights and Condors enter extra innings tied at three, but the Knights break out for eight runs in the tenth to claim an 11-3 victory.
August 24 – The Crusaders announce that they have lost their 14-year veteran INF Francisco Caraballo (.298, 7 HR, 42 RBI) for the season with a ruptured medial collateral ligament.
August 24 – The Condors beat the Knights, 8-7, in 17 innings, when Milwaukee’s Felix Colon issues a bases-loaded walk to Roland Lafon.
August 26 – ATL RF/LF Justin Dally (.295, 14 HR, 52 RBI) will miss up to four weeks with a calf strain.
August 27 – Denver’s Willis Sanguino (10-12, 4.40 ERA) hurls a 3-hitter at the Rebels, who lose 8-0 to the Gold Sox.
August 27 – The Pacifics beat the Buffaloes in a 13-1 rout, scoring all their runs just four innings of at least three runs each.
August 28 – LVA SP Adam Euteneuer (12-11, 3.73 ERA) spins a 1-hit shutout against the Indians. All that separates him from a no-hitter is Nick Gilmor’s single in the fifth inning. The Aces win 5-0.
August 28 – More injury worries about PIT SS Tom McWhorter (.299, 19 HR, 73 RBI) who could miss most if not all of the remaining regular season with a calf strain.
August 28 – DAL C Jamal White (.281, 15 HR, 75 RBI) has fought a sore back for a while, and he finally has to accept that he can’t push himself any further – this year. White is put on the DL by the Stars and will probably not return in 2016.
August 28 – Also to the shelf: CIN SP Brian Doumas (12-6, 2.95 ERA), who is dealing with a rotator cuff strain and could be out for the season.

Complaints and stuff

All is lost.

Maud planned playoff ticket promotions for about three days, and then all was lost. What a cruel world we have to exist in. If you have any mercy, please, take this sharpened rod covered in pesticides and drive it right into my eye. Here. (points) Right in here.

Ron Thrasher requested a trade. In his mind he is a closer (we saw how that worked out in April…) and other teams would see him as such, too. I hate to tell you this, Ron, but nobody wanted your ****ing bacon in July…

And that was on Tuesday, before he blew the Wednesday game. And before everything went to hell. We merely dropped 11 spots in the power rankings this week.

The Raccoons have lost the season series with the Condors for three straight years for the first time since 1999-2001.

Brownie had lost one of his last 14 starts before this week. Now he has a 2-game losing streak not *entirely* his fault. To really rub it in, though, the league named Mike Gershkovich Player of the Week…

It has also come to my attention that when the Coons had batting practice on the field in Tijuana on Saturday, R.J. DeWeese made rookie Alex Duarte serve him dinner near second base. Duarte had to wear a pink ballet costume and high heels, and well too much lipstick. Let’s see, DeWeese’s OPS has dropped under .800, so maybe lightning will strike sooner rather than later in leftfield.