[Westheim]

Raccoons (90-65) @ Canadiens (79-76) – September 24-27, 2018

The season series with the Elks was still up for grabs, being tied at 7-7 heading into this 4-game series. While the Elks were still trying to finish in the upper half of the North, the Raccoons’ goal was to a) make the horrible weekend a thing of the past and just forget it and wash it away, and b) don’t lose any key personnel to injury. The Elks were fifth in runs scored, ninth in runs allowed, with a negative run differential – but come on, who gives a **** now? Let’s just … let’s just try to avoid any broken wrists, legs, and necks for another seven days…

Please.

Projected matchups:
Damani Knight (5-10, 4.75 ERA) vs. A.J. Bartels (15-11, 3.89 ERA)
Jonathan Toner (22-6, 2.31 ERA) vs. Juan Ortega (11-12, 5.48 ERA)
Bobby Guerrero (15-12, 3.46 ERA) vs. C.J. Fishel (11-12, 4.65 ERA)
Hector Santos (12-10, 2.72 ERA) vs. Scott Spears (4-6, 4.41 ERA)

Fishel will be the sole left-hander in the series. The Elks had some weather issues on the weekend and had played a double header on Sunday, throwing some things outta whack for them. Thursday’s starter might be Spears (on short rest) or they might find somebody else. They have three starters with an 11-12 record, R.J. Lloyd and his 5.17 ERA also joining the party.

All of our guys make their last start of the season, except if Ricky Mendoza can’t go on the weekend (but we think he will be able to go), then Damani Knight gets another trash can game with the Titans, because it doesn’t matter if he loses another game, or two, or twenty. He’s not in our plans, and never will be. He might not make the postseason roster, for what it’s worth.

Game 1
POR: RF Carmona – SS Walter – 3B Nunley – 1B H. Mendoza – C Denny – LF DeWeese – CF Duarte – 2B Mathews – P Knight
VAN: SS Otis – 3B D. Jones – RF Branch – CF Rocha – C Padilla – 1B J. Ramirez – 2B J. Gutierrez – LF Cameron – P Bartels

I could not help but call Damani Knight in the hotel after the Monday game and just yell into the phone that he sucked unbelievable amounts. I did this 17 times, well into the night. If I can’t sleep and can’t forget the Monday game, why should he be able to? The sucker handed the Raccoons their fourth consecutive loss in no time, conceding a run on two hits in the first, a homer to Jesus Ramirez, his 27th, in the second, and a 3-piece to Dave Padilla in the third. In the fifth inning he loaded the bases by walking leadoff man Matt Otis for the second time in the game, putting Ezra Branch on with his own stupid error, and then drilling Mario Rocha. One out, the Coons down 5-1 anyway, Wade Davis inherited the mess, got Padilla to pop out on the first pitch for the second out, but then surrendered a bases-clearing double to Jesus Ramirez, a left-hander after all, to put this game into rout territory at 8-1. Jose Gutierrez popped out to end the inning, but I couldn’t help but feel despaired. The baseball gods were at least kind enough to strangle the team before Game 3 this time.

The Coons loaded the bases with nobody out in the sixth, getting singles from Bareford, Cookie, and Walter, who extended a hitting streak to 11 games, but never forgot their old ways. Nunley barely stayed out of the double play on his grounder to second, which scored Bareford, and Mendoza at 0-2 managed to lob a ball to center for a sac fly, but that still left the team down 8-3, and Denny struck out to end the inning. Bareford would hit an RBI single in the seventh, but that only made up for the run that Matt Schroeder had allowed in the bottom of the sixth, and Bareford would strike out to end a terrible game. 9-4 Canadiens. H. Mendoza 1-2, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Bareford (PH) 2-3, RBI;

Knight was charged with eight runs, five of those earned, although for dropping a perfectly good feed from Joey Mathews at first base he should not only be charged with all eight runs being earned, but with three surcharge runs for being a terrible baseball player, and a terrible human being.

I also told him that on the phone.

Side note: I am in terrible panic that Cookie will get hurt in the final week. With the game rightfully presumed lost, I removed him after five and left Bareford in center, with Duarte moving over to right, just so he couldn’t break his leg chasing after a homer. I am in terrible panic. I am in terrible panic.

Game 2
POR: RF Carmona – SS Walter – 3B Nunley – 1B H. Mendoza – C Denny – LF DeWeese – 2B Dahlke – CF Bareford – P Toner
VAN: SS Otis – 3B D. Jones – RF Branch – CF Rocha – C Padilla – 1B J. Ramirez – 2B J. Gutierrez – LF Cameron – P J. Ortega

When Jonny took the mound for the game, I hardly recognized him on TV. He had shaved off the goatee after arriving in Vancouver, and now sported only a thin mustache. I couldn’t tell whether that made him any more or less attractive, since he had never been a male model to begin with, but enough with the blabber, we’re here for some baseball!

Jonny struck out Otis and Branch in a 1-2-3 first inning, this put him at 281 K for the season and made him the only pitcher with two entries among the top 5 single seasons in strikeouts, but we had the eyes set on a bigger prize. The Elks certainly didn’t stand a chance against him in this start. He mowed them down with no mercy shown, striking out TEN in five innings, and allowed only two soft singles. Unfortunately, the Raccoons’ offense was no less pitiful and the game was scoreless through five. The closest they had come to scoring had been early on, putting two guys on with singles before Denny struck out in the first inning, and then in the second inning, when DeWeese had drawn a leadoff walk and they ran into a strike-em-out-throw-em-out with Dahlke, BEFORE Andy Bareford hit a double to left. Toner flew out to right to end that inning, but hit a single in the fifth, only to be rolled up in Cookie’s double play grounder to Gutierrez.

There was finally scoring in the sixth; Nunley drew a 4-pitch walk with one out, and Mendoza clobbered a mistake to left center for a homer, his 22nd on the year, and the fourth in a week. Warming up? Nah, I was hesitant to give him credit for anything by now, and I had long learned to give up the stupid hoping for miracles, or even basic offensive decency. Initially it seemed like the sudden lead was unbecoming for Jonny’s utmost efforts, as he issued a walk and a wild pitch in the bottom of the sixth, but he soon recovered from that and kept shutting out the Elks. The Coons had Cookie and Walter on base with leadoff singles in the top of the eighth. Cookie took off and stole third base, #43 this year, and Walter moved up when Padilla released the throw, giving the Coons runners on second and third and no outs. Nunley lined hard to center, but into the hustling Rocha’s glove, and Cookie retreated the bag, and Mendoza was walked intentionally. Denny was 0-3 with 3 strikeouts, and was not going to get a chance to fool around here. Jackson ran a full count in his place and walked, pushing home Cookie, and after that DeWeese missed a slam by less than three feet beneath the top of the rightfield fence, having to settle for a 2-run double that at least knocked out Ortega. Bareford would hit a sac fly to run the score to 6-0, and Jonny was back on the mound for the bottom 8th, making the final out in the top half of the inning. The Elks went down 1-2-3 and he was on 100 pitches with 13 K after eight, and would not yield the ball for the ninth. When Dan Jones and Ezra Branch hit 1-out singles in the inning, and Danny Margolis, who had replaced Denny behind the dish, walked out for a stroll, Toner already growled at him, and when the pitching coach approached from the dugout, Toner hissed him back to where he came from. Then he struck out Rocha. Dave Padilla was batting with the Elks down to their final out, knocked the first pitch hard to the left side and past Walter into leftfield for a single. DeWeese came hustling in and picked the ball on a convenient bounce while Dan Jones was turning third base and made for home. A laser beam of a throw to home plate, perfectly placed, Margolis threw himself into Jones, and JONES – WAS – OUT!!! 6-0 Raccoons!!! H. Mendoza 3-3, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Jackson (PH) 0-0, BB, RBI; Toner 9.0 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 14 K, W (23-6) and 1-4;

AWESOME! AWESOME! AWESOME!

Unless ‘Midnight’ Martin pitches 22 shutout innings in his final start, the triple crown is Jonny’s!

For the third game, opposing Fishel, the Raccoons would rest as many of their left-handed regulars as they could possibly remove from the lineup. It can’t hurt sitting the guys once in ten days, and it’s a left-hander, so it makes sense in my head and here we go.

Drowned out in the ecstasy were the news that Tim Prince was put on the DL with a strained hamstring and was done for the year.

Game 3
POR: CF Duarte – 1B Mathews – RF Jackson – C Margolis – SS Dahlke – 2B Hudman – LF Bareford – 3B Petracek – P Guerrero
VAN: SS Otis – 3B D. Jones – RF Branch – CF Rocha – C Padilla – 1B J. Ramirez – 2B J. Gutierrez – LF K. Evans – P Fishel

The superficially toothless Raccoons lineup not only saved Guerrero from an early deficit when Petracek nunleyed competently in his spot start and started a double play on Dave Padilla with the bases loaded in the bottom of the first, nope, they also took a 2-0 lead in the second when Margolis, the old cleanup veteran, drew a leadoff walk and Tom Dahlke homered to left. The lead didn’t last, since Guerrero got scorched yet again in the bottom 2nd, allowing four hits for two runs to tie the score. After a 1-2-3 third from Guerrero, the Raccoons loaded the bases with nobody out in the fourth; Dahlke had led off with a double to right, Hudman had singled, and Bareford had drawn a walk, bringing up Petracek, who hit an RBI single to left against his former team to not only give the Critters a 3-2 lead, but also to temporarily defeat his personal, mortal enemy, the .200 Mendoza line. Guerrero struck out, but the Coons got another run on Duarte’s groundout before Mathews flew out to Branch in right, leaving the score at 4-2. Again, Guerrero proved insufficient to hold the lead, but this time he exploded for four runs in the bottom 4th. Jose Gutierrez’ leadoff single was followed by Kurt Evans drawing a walk. While PH Don Cameron struck out, and Matt Otis grounded out, Guerrero then surrendered an RBI single to Chris Grooms, who had replaced an injured Dan Jones, and a 3-piece to Ezra Branch that bent around the inside of the left foul pole. Guerrero wasn’t done until after Padilla’s leadoff jack in the fifth ran the score to 7-4 for the disgusting Elks, after which the Raccoons had to rummage through their bullpen again, trying to find a dozen outs in a losing cause. Nick Lester was booked for three more runs, allowing three hits and two walks in 1+ innings of work, with Seung-mo Chun having to pick up the slack in the sixth, only to get murdered in the seventh. Kurt Evans walked, Mike Fellows singled, Matt Otis doubled, and then Brock Hudman threw away Grooms’ grounder for a 2-run, 2-base throwing error, which deepened the chasm to 13-4, with another man on second and no outs. Chet Cummings surrendered that run, too, as the Raccoons tumbled towards their worst loss of the season. 14-4 Canadiens. Duarte 3-5, 3B, RBI; Dahlke 2-3, BB, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Cummings 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

This was the second game all year in which Matt Nunley didn’t appear.

If Chet Cummings is the best player in any given game… also, one week ago we hadn’t even allowed ten runs in a game this year. Things are now falling COMPLETELY apart. Whoever wins the South, and at this point there were still four teams with a mathematical – or in the Knights’ case academical – chance to make it, I heartily congratulate them to the pennant!

Game 4
POR: RF Carmona – SS Walter – 3B Nunley – 1B H. Mendoza – C Denny – LF DeWeese – 2B Dahlke – CF Bareford – P Santos
VAN: SS Otis – 3B C. Alexander – RF Branch – CF Rocha – C Padilla – 2B J. Gutierrez – 1B Fellows – LF Cameron – P Spears

The Coons had to win this game to avoid a fourth straight defeat to the Elks in their season series, though it seemed like nobody had gotten the memo except Santos, who held the Elks to one hit the first time through their order, and also drove in the Raccoons’ only run with a 2-out RBI double past Fellows in the second inning. Bareford scored from first base on the ball rolling all the way into the corner. In the third, Mendoza hit a single that moved Walter to third and gave the Coons runners on the corners with one out, but then got caught snoozing and was picked off first.

Both teams scored one run in the fifth inning; Cookie opened with a double and scored on Walter’s single, but Mike Fellows homered off Santos in the bottom of the inning, moving the score to 2-1. The top 6th saw the Coons encroach on Spears in force, however, with straight 1-out singles by DeWeese, Dahlke, and Bareford, which plated a run and gave Cookie runners in scoring position with two outs once Santos bunted Dahlke and Bareford over. Cookie at 1-2 hit a terrible bloop to shallow center that saw three outfielders converge onto it, but neither reached there. The ball gigglingly fell in between them, plating two runs for a 5-1 score. Santos made it around a leadoff walk to Otis in the sixth inning and finished with seven very strong innings, allowing only three hits to the stinkin’ Elks. Kaiser and Mathis took care of the eighth and the 5-1 lead was handed to Wade Davis in the bottom 9th, with Thrasher and Ramirez both on yellow alert. Two singles to start the inning by Branch and Rocha moved us to red alert, and Ramirez came into the game, with right-handed bats coming up. The tying run was shoved back from the on-deck circle into the dugout when Dave Padilla hit into a run-scoring double play, and Gutierrez grounded out to end the game. 5-2 Critters. Carmona 3-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Walter 2-4, BB, RBI; Santos 7.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, W (13-10) and 1-2, 2B, RBI;

That leaves us 9-9 over the season against the Stinkheads, which is barely bearable.

Raccoons (92-67) vs. Titans (71-88) – September 28-30, 2018

The Titans were nailed into last place and had hopefully nothing to play for anymore and wouldn’t aim for Shane Walter’s face with their spikes on any force play at second base. Their package had yielded the third-fewest runs in the CL, with semi-decent pitching, mainly from the pen, putting them sixth in runs allowed. The Coons were 9-6 against them for the year.

Projected matchups:
Tadasu Abe (2-3, 2.21 ERA) vs. Zach Boyer (9-14, 3.61 ERA)
Ricky Mendoza (13-9, 4.59 ERA) vs. Chris Klein (19-7, 2.63 ERA)
Nick Brown (2-5, 4.47 ERA) vs. Rick Ling (11-15, 3.72 ERA)

Looks like handedness will match for all games in the series, with a lefty-lefty duel on Sunday. Not that anybody in Portland does particularly care for Rick Ling. This is going to be Brownie’s 492nd and we sure hope final major league start.

We don’t want to forget two more Raccoons fighting for titles. Shane Walter still has a paw in the batting title fight, but trailed SFB Dave Garcia by three points, and Cookie is even with Alex Mata with 43 steals for the year.

Game 1
BOS: CF Mata – 3B T. Thomas – 1B S. Butler – RF Almanza – LF J. Roberts – SS M. Rivera – C Galan – 2B Lawson – P Boyer
POR: RF Carmona – SS Walter – 3B Nunley – 1B H. Mendoza – CF Duarte – LF DeWeese – C Margolis – 2B Mathews – P Abe

Abe walked two and allowed a 2-out RBI single to David Lawson to concede a run in the top 2nd, but the Coons flipped the score in the bottom of the inning, getting Duarte on with a single before with two outs Margolis tied the game with a double, then scored on Mathews’ single. The lead was short-lived with Abe continuing to struggle. He allowed singles to Tom Thomas and Steve Butler with one out in the third, walked Chris Almanza, then surrendered a hard base knock to Jimmy Roberts, who plated two with his single to left and put the Titans back in front, 3-2.

Abe went six, walked six, and whiffed six, but when he was done after 109 pitches, he was still on the hook for the loss, despite the Raccoons having tied the game in the fourth after Mendoza’s leadoff double and too deep flies that advanced the runner and Mendoza scoring on DeWeese’s sac fly, but Almanza had homered the Titans back in front in the fifth, 4-3. He would wind up in line for the W by the oddest events in the bottom 6th, as Margolis and Mathews remained unretired the third time through the lineup. Margolis singled to center with two outs, and then Mathews launched a homer to right center to flip the score once again, now 5-4 in Portland’s favor. This gave Joey Mathews two homers within a week after not having hit one since June. This lead also didn’t make it. Jason Kaiser – in his 80th appearance of the season – retired the top of the order in the seventh, but the vaunted setup men pooped out Abe’s third W of the year. Mathis walked Almanza, the only batter he faced, and when Thrasher came out to see after Roberts, Tim Robinson hit for him and homered to left, flipping the score for the umpteenth time. The Coons would bring up the top of the order against Harry Merwin, the unseeming right-hander, in the bottom of the ninth, still trailing by a run. The leadoff men Mata and Cookie were a combined 0-for-9 in the game and had never been on base, but maybe … Cookie would – and that’s a single to center on the first pitch! And now EVERYBODY knew that he was going to steal, or at least try to. Shane Walter came up, a grim 0-for-4 with his 13-game hitting streak about to go extinct, and on 199 hits for the season. Never a better chance than this one, Shane! Merwin however couldn’t find the zone and ended up walking Walter on four pitches, which made him the winning run, and if Matt Nunley weren’t such a ****ty bunter… Nunley swung and lined a 2-0 pitch to left for a single, but Cookie had to hold halfway because Chaz Newman came damn close to making a catch, and so the Coons did not tie it, but had the bags full with nobody out and Hugo Mendoza coming up. This was gonna hurt! Mendoza went fishing, missed once, missed twice, then didn’t miss and chipped a floater to left that fell in front of Newman for a single, but Walter was held at third base – tied ballgame, Alex Duarte coming up, and he also hit a drive to left, but Newman caught that. Walter was sent, the throw came home, but just too late – Walter was safe and the Coons walked off winners! 7-6 Raccoons. Nunley 3-5; H. Mendoza 2-5, 2B, RBI; Margolis 2-3, BB, 2B, RBI; Mathews 2-2, 2 BB, HR, 3 RBI;

That is six blown leads in one game. You don’t see that every day. Thank god.

Cookie and Mata remained even since nobody ever attempted a steal, but Walter dropped to five points behind Garcia in the batting race. I am afraid only a major 4-for-4 day can save him now, and I am not sure whether we will not put up the right-handed bogus lineup again on Sunday.

With two to play, the Aces and Baybirds are even in the South after both claimed wins over the Knights and Condors, respectively, on Friday. The Condors are two back, and the Knights are eliminated. The Aces made the playoffs only once, in 1996. That was the year the Coons won 108 and didn’t stop winning in the CLCS.

Game 2
BOS: CF Mata – 3B T. Thomas – 1B S. Butler – RF Almanza – C T. Robinson – SS M. Rivera – LF X. Williams – 2B F. Reyes – P Klein
POR: RF Carmona – SS Walter – 3B Nunley – 1B H. Mendoza – CF Duarte – LF DeWeese – C Denny – 2B Hudman – P R. Mendoza

Cookie drew a leadoff walk in the first but never got a chance to steal with Walter singling right away. The single sent Cookie to third, where he was left to rot while Nunley lined out to Frank Reyes, Mendoza struck out (…) and Duarte grounded out. But – Cookie came up with Denny and Hudman in scoring position in the second inning, two outs, and lined a double to right to plate both and give Ricky Mendoza a 2-0 lead! Still no opportunity to steal, Walter grounded out right away. After Mendoza made it around a leadoff walk to Reyes in the third, Duarte hustling in to catch Thomas’ floater in shallow center to end the inning with Reyes on third base, Duarte also romped up the score in the bottom of the inning. Nunley had singled, Mendoza had singled, and Duarte banged a 3-run homer to left center that started a spontaneous party in the stands at 5-0 in the bottom 3rd, but we actually made it to 6-0 before the inning was over, Mike Denny hitting a 1-out triple and scoring on Hudman’s grounder to short. The middle innings however were chaotic for Ricky Mendoza, to say the least, although the defense did their part. Walter made an error in the fourth, and DeWeese made an error in the fifth, both giving the Titans two on with two outs. Mike Rivera popped out to bail out Mendoza in the fourth, and in the fifth Cookie made a hustling play in deep right to retire Steve Butler to get the inning over with. A pinch-hit homer by Jose Durán was all that Mendoza allowed in the middle innings, despite drilling Mike Rivera in the sixth to put another base stealer on base.

Speaking of base stealers, Mata still hadn’t made it to first safely or otherwise in the series. Cookie got another opportunity if Walter could hold still for a second when his grounder to Reyes forced out Eddie Jackson, who had pinch-hit for Mendoza and singled, in the bottom 6th. Cookie went, Robinson juggled the ball, and Cookie was safe with #44! He would score on Nunley’s sac fly after Walter singled to right, 7-1. After that, Jackson remained in right, and Cookie showered and hoped that Nick Lester wouldn’t allow the lefty Mata in the top 7th. Nope, Mata struck out in a perfect seventh for the beleaguered Lester. The Coons piled five hits and three runs onto reliever Jeff Lyon in the bottom 7th to put this one into rout territory, at least until the Titans plated three runs off Chet Cummings in the top 8th. All runs were unearned since they scored with two outs and after the Titans had started to roll on a Nunley error, but I was still blaming Cummings for Xavier Williams’ colossal homer to right center that plated two with two outs. The Coons found an answer to that when Andy Bareford fired a pinch-hit homer in the bottom of the inning, and Wade Davis retired the side in order in the ninth, including Mata, who dumped to 0-for-10 in the series. 11-4 Critters! Walter 3-5, 2 RBI; H. Mendoza 2-4, BB, 2B; Bareford (PH) 1-1, HR, RBI; Denny 3-5, 3B; Jackson (PH) 2-2, RBI; R. Mendoza 6.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, W (14-9) and 1-2, 2B;

Aces and Bayhawks both lost, which technically opened up the possibility for a 3-way tie in the South, if both would do so again. Meanwhile the Baybirds received SHOCKING news in that their 23-year old star outfielder Dave Garcia (.342, 35 HR, 101 RBI) would be out for the season with a sprained thumb. At the same time, this locked up the batting title for the hardly consolable Garcia, *unless* Shane Walter could power past him on the final day of the season. He only needs to make up three points of batting average for that. Garcia’s exact batting average is .34195; Walter could reach .34223 if he went 3-for-3. He was one of only three regulars in the lineup for Brownie’s (whispers) hopefully(!) last career start.

Game 3
BOS: LF Roberts – 3B T. Thomas – RF Almanza – 1B S. Butler – C T. Robinson – SS Lawson – CF C. Newman – 2B F. Reyes – P Ling
POR: RF Duarte – 3B Walter – LF Jackson – C Denny – SS Dahlke – CF Bareford – 2B Hudman – 1B Petracek – P Brown

Neither base stealing champion wannabe was in the lineup as the Titans kept it light on lefties against Brownie, who was three months from turning 41. The park was stuffed to capacity* and grown men wept, not few of them in their 20s and 30s and having grown up with Brownie as staff ace, even before Brownie drilled Jimmy Roberts to start the game. Oh, quit your whining, Roberts! That was only 72! Roberts was caught stealing, but Tom Thomas’ single and Chris Almanza’s triple scored the first run of the game before Butler grounded out to first and Robinson flew out to center.

In a dramatic sight, Nick Brown struggled to hit 80 on the radar gun, which gave the Titans their share of issues, but their biggest problem was making outs on the base paths, and they made the third out at third base in the second inning, Newman getting thrown out by Duarte. But the crowd soon burst into cheers; while Roberts led off the third with a single to left, Tom Thomas popped out and then Almanza ran a full count before cutting through a 72mph curve – that’s a strikeout!! Hoorah!! After Butler grounded out, Brownie struck out Robinson to start the fourth, sending the crowd almost into delirium. There was however the slight issue of the Critters only nipping one hit off Rick Ling through three innings (and it wasn’t Walter’s, who was 0-for-2). Brown remained decent through five, and then was put in line for the W when Ling crumbled in the bottom 5th. Brock Hudman hit a leadoff double, the first real threat by the home team in the game. Petracek and Brown both flew out to center, but Alex Duarte singled to plate Hudman and tie the game. Walter singled (though his ship had sailed), and Eddie Jackson’s double to left put the Coons up 2-1. Denny grounded out, leaving runners on second and third. Brownie issued a leadoff walk to Thomas in the sixth, Almanza flew out to center, and then Butler hit into a double play, Hudman to Walter to Petracek. Take that, you fat pig! Hah!! Nobody’s gonna touch Brownie no more!!

Indeed, nobody would, because he had almost thrown 100 pitches through six innings and looked like he was gonna die any second now. He had prevailed, but the was going to be denied the win, because the bullpen collapsed instantly in the seventh inning. Wade Davis allowed a single to Lawson, then an infield single to PH Armando Galan. Thrasher appeared, but was no help in general. Rick Ling(!) hit a single(!) with two outs to load the bases, and Thrasher surrendered the tying run on a single to Durán, then walked Thomas to fall behind, 3-2. The general moaning and sobbing in the park was unbearable. I had to go down to the storage in the cellar and find that 1993 team photo to press against my chest, weeping.

Ling pitched six and two thirds before leaving with an injury, but the Coons couldn’t get a paw on base anymore in the inning. Chun pitched the eighth, holding the Titans a run away, before the Coons put Thomson (double) and Denny (plunked) on base against Desi Bowles with one out in the eighth. Hugo Mendoza hit for Dahlke, because if not now when ever, and was walked by new pitcher Eric Rasmussen, who didn’t face another batter. Another righty came out in Kanichiro Miura, who had walked 26 in 57.1 innings and who was a bold choice, but we also weren’t going to hit for Bareford now; we’d hit for Chun, who was in the #7 hole, with Cookie swinging in the on-deck circle. Bareford looked at a strike, looked at a ball, then lined a pitch hard up the leftfield line, over the leaping Tom Thomas and past Xavier Williams to the corner for a score-flipping 2-run double!! When Cookie batted for Chun, he was put onto the open base, but the Titans were now with the back to the wall and got burned by Petracek, who had again fallen below .200, but jumped over the mark again with a 2-run double to right, hit in a 3-1 count off Miura. Two more scored; Nunley hit a pinch-hit sac fly, and Duarte an RBI single to put SIX on the Titans in the bottom 8th, sending the park into ecstasy after all! 8-3 Raccoons!! Duarte 3-5, 2 RBI; Thomson (PH) 1-1, 2B; Dahlke 1-2, BB; Brown 6.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 2 K;

(sits cowered into a corner in the basement, clutching the 1993 team photo) WHERE HAVE ALL MY DREAMS GONE TO??? BAAAAH-HA-HA-HA-HAAAAAH….!!!

In other news

September 25 – The season of Pittsburgh star SS Tom McWhorter (.259, 20 HR, 75 RBI) ends early; the 30-year old has been diagnosed with a partially torn labrum.
September 25 – The Aces get smothered by the Bayhawks, 17-4. SFB OF Dave Garcia (.342, 35 HR, 100 RBI) has two homers in his three hits and drives in six.
September 30 – Bayhawks and Aces lose to the Condors and Knights for the second straight day, ending the CL South in a three-way tie and setting off tie-breakers between the Bayhawks, Aces, and Condors.
October 1 – In endless drama and 12 innings, the Bayhawks walk off with a 2-1 victory in the first tie-breaker game over the Condors with a home run by Ryan Miller (.260, 4 HR, 16 RBI) putting them over the hump. This gives the Bayhawks the right to play the #1 tie-breaker seed, the Las Vegas Aces.
October 2 – The Aces clinch the CL South with a 5-4 victory over the Bayhawks. Vegas’ Juan Valdevez (19-8, 2.80 ERA) pitches seven shutout innings before getting ruffled for four in the eighth inning, but the Aces prevail and hold on.
October 3 – The Warriors trade INF Raul Maldonado (.281, 2 HR, 64 RBI) to the Stars for RF Stephen St. George (.263, 9 HR, 68 RBI).

Complaints and stuff

The amount of triple crowns in ABL history is not exactly going to overwhelm you. There have only been three before Jonny’s. Tony Hamlyn won the only pitching triple crown in 2010, going 23-5 with a 2.00 ERA and 270 K. Both hitting triple crowns – ironically! – were achieved by Raccoons, although only one of those did so WHILE being a Raccoon: Tetsu Osanai’s .341, 31 HR, 121 RBI season in 1986 was the first ever ABL triple crown, and in 2016 a certain Hugo Mendoza hit .350 with 37 HR and 134 RBI to win the most recent triple crown. Yeah, I am sure not seeing much of that right now!!

Striking out 14 in that last start also allowed Jonny to match his 2017 output of 293 strikeouts. He now has 1,316 for his career, which fits nicely to this 27-year old’s 93-38 career record and 2.32 career ERA.

Here is one more fine stat. Jonny Toner claimed 23 of 53 wins of our Opening Day rotation. That’s almost half! What happened?? Oh yeah, Abe and Brownie got hurt. And Abe never got any help. Santos has never gotten any help in any season. His last ten starts in ’18, he has a 2.11 ERA with 65 K in 68 1/3 innings, and he went 3-4. That is sad.

Tom McWhorter is the Daniel Hall of shortstops. Guy can’t stay healthy! .855 OPS (though Hall finished with significantly less, but let’s wait for McWhorter to get old and **** before judging) and he has hardly ever played in more than about 120 games in a season.

Ron Thrasher has stopped being lights out at the ****tiest of times. Like I said, the CLCS will be brief, but it will not be painless.

*It actually wasn’t because OOTP is cold machine that knows no love.

+++

Now to the tie-breaker games in the South. I had no clue how to do things manually and the forums hold all kinds of different stuff how to do it, but the game only scheduled one game between Bayhawks and Condors for Monday, which I thought was awesome because the Aces had the worst combined head-to-head record (16-20) between the three teams and that would be an actual logical reason to pull from the ABL rulebook that doesn’t exist. But after Ryan Miller homered the Baybirds into first place and the game fired the news articles, the Baybirds had to play the Aces anyway. When the Aces won, it was just over, despite nothing having changed from the day before, as there was still a team up by half a game.

I don’t get it, but I think it’s still better than the teams spending October trading wins and losses…