[Westheim]

Raccoons (77-54) vs. Condors (53-78) – August 28-30, 2017

While the Condors graced the bottom of the South, suffering from an epidemic of no runs and no help to get some, the season series between these two teams was even at three, and the Coons hadn’t won the season series since 2013. The Condors were 11th in runs scored, but at least fifth in runs allowed. They had some power – mainly sourced through Jimmy Oatmeal’s 25 home runs – but were quite weak in all other major offensive categories. The Condors had a few injuries, most notably SP Troy McCaskill ((6-8, 4.27 ERA) and the first, second, and third shortstop on their depth chart: Craig Dasher, Tom Dahlke, and Jeremiah Irvin (in no particular order).

Projected matchups:
Jonathan Toner (15-7, 1.89 ERA) vs. Luis Flores (7-8, 3.04 ERA)
Nick Brown (5-2, 3.93 ERA) vs. Kevin Woodworth (7-17, 4.55 ERA)
Tadasu Abe (16-9, 2.93 ERA) vs. Zach Hughes (9-10, 3.50 ERA)

We would start the series facing a southpaw in Luis Flores, but this can no longer be a reason to lose games and then be pulled up as the apology. No more apologies! We want to get to the ****ing playoffs and can’t continue to play middling ball against the worst teams! What do you say, boys? Can we sweep these ****ers!? Do I hear passionate chants of victory!?

I SAID DO I HEAR PASSIONATE CHANTS OF VICTORY??

Game 1
TIJ: RF Abraham – SS Koka – LF Eichelkraut – CF M. Herrera – 1B Quebell – 3B J. Soto – C Gonzales – 2B Best – P L. Flores
POR: LF Carmona – CF Petracek – SS Walter – 1B Mendoza – 3B Nunley – C Denny – RF Waggoner – 2B Bergquist – P Toner

Six pitches in, Craig Abraham put the Condors up 1-0 with a monstrous homer to left, so something was definitely off with Jonny Toner now in the most critical part of the season. Joey Koka and Mike Herrera hit soft singles to center, but Adrian Quebell was thankfully still a douche to his own team and hit right to Bergquist for an inning-ending double play. The Coons would put their first three batters in the bottom 1st on base via single, error, and walk, then immediately spit on Jonny’s shoes when the best they could hit for was a sac fly by Mendoza. Nope, Jonny had to help out with the bat himself. He hit a 2-out double to right in the bottom 4th and scored on Cookie’s single, giving himself a 2-1 lead that he blew immediately. Steve Best rolled a slow grounder between the lunging Bergquist and Mendoza for a single, and when Abraham came up with two outs, he homered yet AGAIN.

After a 2-out single in the bottom 6th, Jonny stole second base, but even that didn’t help him to get a run. Cookie walked, but Petracek grounded out to end the inning. Toner made it through the seventh inning, ending with eight strikeouts and six hits, but still hung on the hook against Flores, who was removed in the bottom 7th after a leadoff single by Shane Walter. Zack Entwistle came in, allowed a single to Mendoza, but Nunley hit into a double play. Denny walked, Waggoner struck out, and this was just not working out… John Korb allowed a triple to the ****head Abraham in the eighth that ended up with another run for the Condors. After a sad an unsuccessful bottom 8th, the Coons were still 4-2 behind in the ninth, facing Manuel Reyes. Shane Walter opened with a double into the leftfield corner, but Mendoza and Nunley, while bringing Walter around with groundouts to the right side, were entirely not helpful to the greater cause. DeWeese batted for Denny and popped out to first to end the game. 4-3 Condors. Carmona 3-4, BB, RBI; Walter 3-4, BB, 2B;

The Indians split their double header with the Knights, placing us half a game behind now.

Game 2
TIJ: RF Abraham – SS Koka – 1B Jaeger – LF Eichelkraut – CF M. Herrera – 3B J. Soto – C Gonzales – 2B Best – P Woodworth
POR: CF Carmona – 3B Nunley – RF Mendoza – LF DeWeese – SS McKnight – 1B Young – C Denny – 2B Petracek – P Brown

Joey Koka’s triple cost Brownie a run in the first; while Nunley contained Kevin Jaeger’s bouncer to the hot corner, he couldn’t get Koka who was dashing for home. But the bottom 1st saw lots of Coons on the bases again. Cookie and Nunley led off with singles and went to the corners before Mendoza tied the game with a double to the leftfield corner. DeWeese walked to fill the bases, and McKnight took care of a 2-1 lead with a single to center. Woodworth had yet to retire anybody, ran full counts against Young and Denny, and lost both of them to run-scoring walks. Petracek hit an RBI single before Brownie grounded into a 4-6-3 double play, which still scored the sixth run. Koka’s sliding catch going outwards to leftfield on Cookie’s looper ended the inning. Woodworth allowed base hits to the first three Critters in the bottom 2nd, which amounted to another run, and didn’t live to see the third inning.

Brown made it through five innings without too many issues, allowing three hits and two walks despite allowing some harder contact, but in the sixth the Condors raided him for three runs on four hits, including a bitter 2-run double past the lunging Nunley hit by Herrera. Left-handers Steve Best and Josh Rawlings both hit singles off Brown to start the seventh inning, which pulled up the tying run in Abraham (…) after the Raccoons had hardly ever reached base in the middle innings. Alex Ramirez replaced Brown, which was potentially a bad decision, but he struck out Abraham, got Koka on a soft fly to center, but then still allowed a run on Jaeger’s 2-out single. Jimmy Oatmeal flew out to deep right. Thrasher had a nervous eighth as well, before the Coons got Bergquist on base with a 1-out walk in the bottom 8th, but Cookie hit into a super-rare double play. Everything was setting up for a colossal blown save for Chris Mathis, who got the 7-5 lead for the ninth inning, starting with pinch-hitter Simon Morbidelli, a righty, in the #9 slot. Morbidelli perplexingly reached on a McKnight error, bringing up Abraham with the tying run – and the Condors hit for him with Robert Mascorro, who grounded out. Mathis went on to drill Koka and allowed an RBI single to Jaeger. I was loading the blunderbuss while Jimmy Oatmeal grounded out, bringing the tying and go-ahead runs into scoring position for the switch-hitting Herrera with two outs. Herrera romped a 1-0 pitch to deep center. I saw #31 making a dash to the deeper regions for the lawn, making a desperate reach – and he got it! 7-6 Brownies. Nunley 2-4, 2B; Mendoza 2-4, 2B, RBI; Young 0-1, 3 BB, RBI;

Nightmare game. Just another nightmare game.

Game 3
TIJ: RF Abraham – C J. Vargas – LF Eichelkraut – 1B Quebell – 3B J. Soto – SS Koka – CF Rawlings – 2B Best – P Hughes
POR: CF Carmona – SS McKnight – 3B Walter – LF DeWeese – RF Waggoner – C Denny – 1B Young – 2B Bergquist – P Abe

Through five innings of something like a pitching duel, both teams had three hits and a run apiece, and both runs were solo shots, one by Jimmy Oatmeal in the fourth, and then Mike Denny’s in the bottom 5th. Jesus Soto opened the sixth with a double to left, which was bad enough for Abe, who struggled with control and issued his fourth walk of the day to Koka afterwards. He didn’t get out of the mess, conceding Soto’s run on groundouts before whiffing Hughes to strand Koka on third. But the Condors were up 2-1, and the Raccoons were soul-searching, which was tremendous with the Indians on their way in. They didn’t hold it for long, though. Cookie split Eichelkraut and Rawlings with a 1-out gapper in the bottom 6th and had a double, then scored on McKnight’s single to center. McKnight stole second base, but was stranded.

Abe struck out two in the seventh, which was going to be his last inning, then got a chance at the W in the bottom of the inning when Denny and Young hit 1-out singles off Hughes. “Tiger” pinch-hit for Bergquist, but grounded back to Hughes, who nipped Young at second base, leaving them on the corners for Nunley, who hit for Abe with two down. Before Nunley got a chance at doing damage, Hughes unleashed a wild pitch that eluded Jose Vargas, and the Coons went up 3-2. He ended up walking, but Cookie grounded out to strand the runners. And then we rolled the dice. The Condors would have left-handed bats up, starting with Quebell, in the eighth, but Thrasher had been used the previous game and the Indians were coming in, and those games would count double, and so it was Nielson, the unheralded rookie in to protect a 3-2 game in the eighth, and how could it ever go anything but wrong? Quebell grounded out, but Nielson walked Soto. Koka grounded out, moving the tying run to second, with Alfonso Gonzales pinch-hitting for Rawlings. This knocked out Nielson, with Jayden Reed inheriting the runner, who ended up stranded when Gonzales grounded out to McKnight. The Coons made three outs at blistering pace in the bottom 8th, with Reed remaining in the game for the ninth inning. Best struck out, Morbidelli flew out to Waggoner, and then Reed walked Mascorro and Vargas, bringing up Jimmy Oatmeal, against whom he ran another 3-ball count. Oh for the love of striped tails, does it have to be?? No, it didn’t. Oatmeal struck out, and the Coons coughed up a series win. 3-2 Critters. Denny 2-3, HR, RBI; Young 2-3; Abe 7.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 6 K, W (17-9);

Now the big news. The Indians lost their game with the Knights on a Steve Madison error, 5-4 in ten innings, and that put the Raccoons into the lead in the North – all by themselves! And by a whopping half game.

Raccoons (79-55) vs. Indians (78-55) – August 31-September 3, 2017

Alright, suckers, here it comes! The Indians were seventh in runs scored and third in runs allowed, compared to fourth in runs scored and first in runs allowed for the Raccoons, who had a +141 run differential, vastly outpacing the Indians’ +82. While the Raccoons had one injury to left-hander Kevin Beaver, the Indians were down three starters from their lineup in John Wilson, Jong-beom Kym, and Dave Padilla. And when it came to the previous 11 games between the teams so far in 2017, the Raccoons had finely combed the Indians and had taken almost everything from them they had, all the horses, all the guns, and all the land for sure. The Coons had won nine of those 11 games, and were eager to continue their dominant run.

Projected matchups:
Bruce Morrison (8-13, 4.43 ERA) vs. Alejandro Mendez (17-9, 2.48 ERA)
Hector Santos (11-4, 2.71 ERA) vs. Dan Lambert (11-14, 3.65 ERA)
Jonathan Toner (15-8, 1.96 ERA) vs. Kyle Lamb (5-2, 3.35 ERA)
Nick Brown (6-2, 4.28 ERA) vs. Josh Riley (14-7, 3.69 ERA)

It should be noted that the Indians had played that double header and were thus a bit out of rhythm. “Ant” Mendez would start on short rest, as would the guy to go on Friday against Santos. Both Lamb and Lambert started in the double header, and they could easily flick those two. Lamb should be the only left-handed pitcher we’d see, with Tristan Broun (13-9, 3.48 ERA) having pitched on Wednesday in Atlanta.

It should be noted that rosters will expand on Friday. The Raccoons will add a few players, but we have neither promising sterling prospects that could make an impact, nor even an option for a serviceable fifth starter to replace Morrison, who flatout had his fur on fire. That opening matchup certainly looked like trouble….

Game 1
IND: CF Baker – 1B R. Flores – LF Genge – RF Gilmor – 2B Mathews – 3B S. Madison – SS Beard – C Malone – P A. Mendez
POR: CF Carmona – 2B Walter – 1B Mendoza – LF DeWeese – 3B Nunley – SS McKnight – C Denny – RF Waggoner – P Morrison

Morrison hadn’t had a good outing since June (no hyperbole) and had won only one of his last ten starts. He was certainly not the favorite in this game, but this one was the crowning of all the sucking he had done. He allowed HARD singles to each of the first four batters in the game, and then Joey Mathews reached on an infield single. Two productive outs after that helped the Arrowheads chase home four runs in the first inning, which pretty much won them the game, looking at Mendez. While the Raccoons had three hits in the bottom of the first, that only netted them one run. They added single runs in the second inning (when Morrison hit a double and scored on Cookie’s single), and the third, creeping back to 4-3, but Morrison, who hardly ever avoided hard contact in this start, conceded three more hard hits in the fourth inning, which allowed the Indians to push another run across, and with two outs and runners on the corners, Morrison was yanked for John Korb. Roberto Flores flew out to center on the first pitch, staving off at least more runs for the moment, but the Coons were down 5-3. They got nothing in the fourth, but Cookie opened the bottom 5th with a single to right. Nick Gilmor held him honest rather than trying for second base. Walter sent a drive to left, but Lowell Genge made the catch against the wall. The Tiger stepped in, and here was another hard drive, this one to right center and this one was gonna go!! Home run, game tied at five in the fifth!

And that wasn’t all. Mendez allowed another hard drive right away, which gave DeWeese a double. Nunley moved him up when he grounded out, and he scored on McKnight’s single to center, which handed the Coons a 6-5 lead and Mendez his papers, with Jason Clements replacing him and retired Denny to get out of the inning. John Korb was still on it in the sixth, but struggled. After Josh Malone singled with one out, Clements bunted him over. Korb lost Baker to a walk, then allowed a hard liner to right to Roberto Flores on a 3-1 pitch. It fell in front of Waggoner, but he got a good bounce, and Malone was everything but a fast runner. The Indians were desperate and sent him, and Waggoner killed him by a country mile – end of the inning. Thrasher walked Genge to start the seventh, but Nunley wasn’t only turning double plays for Brownie, he turned one for Thrasher against pinch-hitter Raul Matias, and Thrasher whiffed Joey Mathews to end the seventh. After the Coons stranded two in the bottom 7th when Nunley and McKnight struck out back-to-back, Jayden Reed held the Indians away in the eighth, despite putting two on with two out. Josh Baker’s K ended the inning. Margolis hit into an inning-ending double play in the bottom 8th, end we had Mathis up for the top of the ninth inning with no cushion and two left-handers guaranteed in the first three batters. Flores, who was not included in the lefty count, led off with a single to right, Genge also singled to right, Flores went to third, and we wouldn’t salvage this one. Mathis sucked, the Indians tied the game on Bartolo Román’s groundout, and were tied at six. Jarrod Morrison held the Coons to a Shane Walter single in the bottom 9th, and the 10th saw a leadoff single once more by Rusty Beard. Josh Malone romped a Chun pitch to center for a home run, and after Nunley hit a leadoff jack off Morrison in the bottom 10th, the Coons went down without making any more trouble. 8-7 Indians. Carmona 3-5, RBI; Walter 3-5; Mendoza 2-5, HR, 3B, 2 RBI; Nunley 2-5, HR, 2 RBI;

If we just had anybody able to close… ANYBODY.

Interlude: Roster expansion

Rosters expanded for the Friday game. The Raccoons were hard pressed to find any meaningful additions among their crummy minor league teams, with the Alley Cats dumpling around at 60-70 and lacking any impact players.

Nevertheless, we found a few warm bodies to add to the staff. Chris Munroe was called up once more and would replace Morrison, who had been horrible since the All Star game, in the rotation. We also added right-hander Will West, who was closing for the Alley Cats, and Nick Lester. That last one was only with a grumbling, since the 40-man roster was full and I was squeezed hard trying to find room for a different left-hander, David Mendoza. Tom McNeela was – as usual – added as third catcher, despite not having hit a lick in AAA all year long, and a few more bats in Alex Duarte, Danny Ochoa, and Ricky Moya, who was once listed under the prospect category, but was now 27 and would only now make his major league debut. A versatile defensive infielder, Moya had been uncovered by Vince Guerra way back then, but had merely hit for a .256/.296/.300 for the Alley Cats. He was a right-hander, he might find himself taking Bergquist’s starts in September.

Raccoons (79-55) vs. Indians (78-55) – August 31-September 3, 2017

Game 2
IND: CF Baker – 1B R. Flores – LF Genge – RF Gilmor – SS Matias – 2B Mathews – 3B Georges – C Malone – P Lambert
POR: CF Carmona – 2B Walter – 1B Mendoza – LF DeWeese – 3B Nunley – SS McKnight – C Denny – RF Waggoner – P Santos

A certain Ricardo Carmona out-ran Ryan Georges’ attempts at getting him at first base to start the bottom 1st, and the infield single gave Cookie a 12-game hitting streak. He went to third on Walter’s single, scored on Mendoza’s single, and then DeWeese struck out and Nunley rolled into a 6-4-3. Santos didn’t give the Indians a hit until the fourth, when Gilmor hit a 2-out single, but at the same time whiffed five and ran a couple of full counts and was at 70 pitches through four. Georges hit a single in the fifth, and in the sixth Santos came apart. Baker hit a leadoff single, and when Flores bunted, Santos tried to get the lead runner, but his throw was ****, and the Indians had two on with nobody out. Gilmor and Matias hit singles to tie the game, and Walter couldn’t turn the double play on Mathews’ grounder, with the go-ahead run scoring. Georges struck out, but the Coons now trailed, 2-1, and since the 3-hit first inning they had amassed the grand total of one hit that wasn’t hit by Cookie, who had two more to be perfect on the day and chasing .350. Lambert was solidly ticking them off through the middle innings, and also McKnight and Denny in the seventh until one got away, and Waggoner whacked it and wrapped it around the inside of the right foul pole – a game-tying homer, 2-2. Danny Ochoa batted for Alex Ramirez in the #9 hole, mainly because I didn’t want to use Adam Young (the best of the bunch? Scary thought.) until there was a runner on base. Lambert had him at 1-2, then surrendered another thump to center, long, hard, deep, GONE!! Cookie wrung a walk from Lambert, which ended the Arrowhead’s day, and Clements replaced him, but right away allowed an RBI triple, a corner-cuddler, to Shane Walter, 4-2.

Clements never retired anybody. Mendoza singled, DeWeese doubled, and Nunley singled, which ran the score to 7-2, before Clements was removed to be shot. Ex-Coon Ed Bryan arrived, getting McKnight to fly out, which ended a 6-run nightmare for the Indians, who had gotten the first two batters in the inning out. The Indians would get a run off Will West in the ninth inning, but didn’t get back to pose a serious threat, and hopefully they would remain shell-shocked until tomorrow. 7-3 Coons. Carmona 3-4, BB; Walter 2-4, 3B, RBI; Mendoza 2-4, 2 RBI; Ochoa (PH) 1-2, HR, RBI; Santos 6.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 7 K;

What a pleasant change, to be not on the receiving end of such a 2-out upset. Back to half a game in front now.

Game 3
IND: CF Baker – 1B R. Flores – RF Gilmor – SS Matias – 2B Mathews – 3B S. Madison – LF D. Morales – C Malone – P Lamb
POR: 3B Nunley – SS McKnight – 1B Mendoza – C Denny – LF DeWeese – CF Duarte – RF Petracek – 2B Moya – P Toner

Jonny had lost his last four games and hadn’t looked sharp in three of them, but in the first three innings of this game, while allowing two singles, he struck out seven, so perhaps he had resharpified himself? Toner ended up with ten strikeouts and five hits in five shutout innings, but there was a slight problem with the offense. They had only one hit and two walks against the left-hander Lamb, and this one looked pretty dire again. Petracek opened the bottom 5th with a single, but got forced by Moya, and while Nunley singled with two down, the Coons stranded two when McKnight flew out to right. Jonny struck out two more in the sixth, getting Gilmor to reach 250 K for the year, which put him four short of his own franchise record for a single season, and “Tiger” Mendoza opened the bottom 6th with a double to center. Come on, boys! Score him! Denny was walked intentionally despite not hitting for much right now, and then Lamb struck out DeWeese and Duarte. Petracek snipped a ball to the left side at 1-0, and it escaped between Madison and Matias. Mendoza got an early start with two outs and scored, the first run of the game. Moya then fouled out to strand two more.

Bottom 7th, Jonny led off. He was already over 100 pitches having whiffed 14, but what options did we even have other than squeezing a few more outs from him? He batted, and singled past Matias. Nunley hit into a double play before McKnight tripled, which was a terrible order of events, but Mendoza came through the left side for the team’s second 2-out RBI single of the game, plating McKnight at least. Up 2-0, Toner lost Jeremie Ventura to a leadoff single, then drilled Baker without getting an out in the eighth. And immediately, the fork in the back was back. With his pitch count now over 110 and the tying runs on base, we had to scramble for a change. Jayden Reed came in, got a groundout from Flores, but then allowed a drive to center to Gilmor. Duarte after that one, deep in center, and he had it! But, Ventura scored, and the Indians still had the tying run on second base, and that was when Reed allowed ANOTHER rocket, this time a 1-1 pitch Matias rocketed to deep right, and now Petracek was twisting and turning and dashing all at the same time, that ball was going pretty deep to the corner, and Petracek MADE IT THERE AND HAD IT CAUGHT!!! A phenomenal play!! Inning over!! Excitement!! Who the **** was gonna close? Heck I don’t know! The Critters got two on base with singles by Duarte and Waggoner in the bottom 8th, but Margolis struck out to end the inning without getting an insurance run across, and after that it was Thrasher time, because who else was there to tap? Danny Morales would walk with two out, but he came back to blast out Malone, and thus secured the division lead for the Raccoons through the end of this set. 2-1 Furballs. Mendoza 2-4, 2B, RBI; Petracek 2-3, BB, RBI; Waggoner (PH) 1-1; Toner 7.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 14 K, W (16-8) and 1-2, BB;

Wheeeeeze, another squeeeeeeze job. My nerves are wrecked.

Cookie did not appear in this game, but he was a little sore, and we wanted him to get off his legs for a day, although this was a terrible time for an off day.

So. Who’s next? Brownie? But my nerves are already wrecked!

Game 4
IND: CF Baker – 3B S. Madison – SS Matias – LF Genge – 1B R. Flores – 2B Mathews – RF Georges – C Malone – P Riley
POR: CF Carmona – 2B Walter – RF Mendoza – LF DeWeese – 3B Nunley – SS McKnight – 1B A. Young – C Margolis – P Brown

2017 Brownie allowed three hits on 2-strike counts in the first inning alone, but thanks to Madison being not so bright on the bases and getting thrown out at third base by Tiger on Matias’ single, the Indians stayed off the hot part of the scoreboard. The Furballs had better success, with Cookie walking and Walter doubling to start their first inning. While Mendoza fouled out with two men in scoring position, they were scored on DeWeese’s sac fly and Nunley’s single to right for a 2-0 advantage. The Indians kept finding the seams on the infield, but when they had runners on the corners in the third, Flores popped out to Mendoza in shallow right to end the inning, and Nunley continued to make all the plays for Brownie. Nunley also opened the bottom 4th with a double to right. Georges initially had the ball, dashing back at full speed, but got into a tumble and fell down, with the ball rolling off the end of the glove. He came around to score on McKnight’s grounder to Mathews and then a passed ball charged to Josh Malone, but the Indians pulled that run back in the top of the fifth, getting to the corners when Baker and Madison both singled with one out and Matias flew out to deep enough in leftfield that Baker could tag and score, 3-1.

Brownie opened the bottom 5th with a single, but Cookie – hitless – lined out to Mathews and Walter rolled into a double play to the same guy, who then got hit by Brownie in the top of the sixth. Ryan Georges whacked his first big league home run after that, tying the score with the shot to left. Nick Brown was not back for the seventh, having allowed seven hits and a walk against one strikeout. Ramirez took his place and allowed some pretty hard contact to the top of the order, but all of it was on the ground and right at someone. Walter and McKnight merely had to protect their lives to not get struck in the neck by a one-bounce rocket. While that went well enough in the seventh, Lowell Genge opened the eighth with a double, and Ramirez walked Flores before being chased. Starved for reliable relievers, the Raccoons had to hope for a double play grounder from John Korb, but Mathews bunted to move the runners over instead. Left-hander Bartolo Román hit for Georges, and the Raccoons rolled the dice and walked him intentionally to get their double play chance back. Malone never met a pitch, however, and struck out, and pinch-hitter Rusty Beard was retired after a mild dash by Cookie into shallow center, ending this tense inning. Waggoner had a leadoff single in the bottom 8th against Joel Davis, who retired the top of the order in order after that, and Mathis retired the top of the order (disfigured into Ventura, Danny Young, and Matias) on three grounders in the ninth. Walkoff chance now in the bottom 9th, which would put the Coons 2 1/2 games up in the North. Come on, DeWeese! What do you get all those millions for! He grounded out against Jarrod Morrison at the start of the bottom 9th, and while McKnight singled with two outs, Adam Young’s drive to center ended with Danny Young, so that was that, and we had extras again, which had not gone well on Thursday.

And it damn sure didn’t go well on Sunday. Thrasher got Genge on a groundout before Flores singled, advanced on a wild pitch, and then Mathews walked. Santiago Guerra singled so hard to left that Flores had to hold at third base, but Josh Malone, batting with the bases loaded for the second time, this time made contact and flew to left. DeWeese had it, but couldn’t get Flores at home, as the Indians scored the go-ahead run. The Coons got Ochoa on with a 1-out walk against Morrison, but Cookie grounded to second to get him forced out, and when Walter lined to the right side, Mathews was in the way one final time to end the game. 4-3 Indians. Nunley 2-4, 2B, RBI; Young 2-4; Waggoner (PH) 1-1;

Cookie’s streak died along with my hopes for a bigger lead in the division.

In other news

August 28 – WAS C Jose Flores (.282, 16 HR, 78 RBI) could miss the rest of the season with a torn abdominal muscle. The Capitals also take a sad 2-0 loss to the Scorpions on Ray Meade’s (.268, 19 HR, 107 RBI) 11th-inning walkoff home run.
August 28 – The Stars can not find anything good about the 13-0 hammering they are handed by the Cyclones. CIN 2B/SS Pat Morrison (.269, 6 HR, 50 RBI) has four hits including a home run and drives in three runs.
August 30 – The Bayhawks will be without centerfield wonderkid Dave Garcia (.295, 34 HR, 91 RBI) for the month of September. The 22-year old is battling a herniated disc, but should be available for the playoffs.
September 3 – The Buffaloes crumple in a 15-4 defeat at the hands of the Cyclones. CIN Jason Seeley (.270, 14 HR, 65 RBI) drives in four.

Complaints and stuff

With Jonny Toner completely off the rolls in August, Tadasu Abe was Pitcher of the Month, going 5-0 in six starts, pitching to a 1.73 ERA with 35 K in 41 2/3 innings. Toner on the other hand is one whiff away from his own franchise record for a single season, and 17 away from reaching 1,000 for his career, which isn’t shabby for a 26-year old. Nick Brown struck out only 725 through his age 26 season, but remember that he came up a year later than intended after blowing out a UCL while with the Alley Cats in 2000.

And congrats to the surgeon from back then, who did A GOOD JOB. Can we agree on this one? That surgery – a JOB WELL DONE. Can we – Maud? Maud? – Can we send that surgeon that tucked up Brownie’s elbow in 2000 something? Some flowers, a bottle of wine? – Why not? – Oh. So can we send the flowers to the widow? – Well, can at least someone here name his dog after him? – Maud, what do you mean, ‘Schwartz’ is not a dog’s name?

Tensions are high in the clubhouse, I have heard, but the tensions are high anyway when you’re tooth to nail with another team for the playoffs. Much of this is down to DeWeese once more, who is simply a dick, but then again, the team is winning. And to be fair, I prefer a first place team where everybody’s murdering each other to a team where everybody goes to dinner together after the game, but they finish 27 games out.

As a side note, when Jayden Reed boogied out of his own mess against the Condors on Wednesday, the Condors were eliminated from playoff contention. Doing that to other teams feels oddly warm in the heart region.

How are the remaining games for the top two teams in the North lined up?
POR: VAN (6), ATL (3), BOS (3), IND (3), MIL (3), NYC (3), OCT (3)
IND: NYC (6), BOS (4), CHA (3), LVA (3), MIL (3), POR (3), VAN (3)
That last direct confrontation will take place in Indy and is just nine days away. We have more left with the Elks, which is a good thing by record, but they have been spoilers so often for us, it’s not even funny. The South teams are all more or less middling, but the Knights have the strongest offense, which could be a terrible test for our wobbling pitching. Overall, the strength of schedule is almost even. We face .474 opposition from here on out, and theirs will be .473 …

The other races are somewhat over according to mathematicians, who give the Rebels a 97% playoff chance due to the Cyclones’ crippling rest program, the Scorpions get 96% since the Pacifics have to play every good team there is in the FL, and the Bayhawks get a flat 100%. Our chance in numbers? 53%. Don’t take out a loan just to make a bet just yet.

Playing out this week took well over four hours and left me spiritually drained. Every game was a fight to the death. I will start a gofundme to get some therapy when this season is over.