[Westheim]

Raccoons (61-75) vs. Titans (91-47) – September 5-7, 2022

On one hand the Coons were 29 games behind the Titans, on the other hand they had lost four straight games before coming to Portland. Not that the Critters were on a hot streak of any kind… Second in runs scored and first in runs allowed with a meaty +144 run differential, the Titans were basically ready for the playoffs and just hoped not to gobble up injuries down the stretch. Against the Raccoons in 2022 they had already sealed the season series with two 3-game sets to spare, leading them with a rope through a nose ring at 10-2.

Projected matchups:
Matt Huf (2-5, 4.95 ERA) vs. Julio San Pedro (6-2, 2.94 ERA)
Rico Gutierrez (8-6, 2.44 ERA) vs. Brian Cope (17-2, 2.62 ERA)
Jesus Chavez (2-4, 4.05 ERA) vs. Alan Farrell (10-15, 3.46 ERA)

Three right-handers from the Titans here; awaiting you in the middle game on Tuesday is a pretty stark illustration of how these two games have fared in general, with Cope having a slightly worse ERA than Rico Gutierrez, but being 13 additional games over .500 anyway…

Game 1
BOS: CF Reichardt – 2B Casillas – 1B Cornejo – SS Kane – RF Braun – C McPherson – LF W. Ramos – 3B Corder – P San Pedro
POR: 2B Stalker – LF Spencer – 3B Nunley – 1B Rockwell – RF Graves – C Tovias – SS Bullock – CF Romero – P Huf

The top of the order was a spot of bother for Huf right from the start. Adrian Reichardt hit leadoff singles in the first and third innings, the Titans would add a second guy in both frames, but Huf would strike out Adam Braun twice to avoid being scored upon early. In the fourth, Huf spilled two walks to the bottom of the order, putting Willie Ramos and Adam Corder on base, but with them in scoring position Reichardt ended the inning grounding out to Bullock at short. Bullock had the Critters’ only base hit in the first three innings, but had been caught stealing after his leadoff single in the bottom 3rd.

Reichardt was up again with two outs and two on in a scoreless game in the sixth inning. Corder had singled again, but San Pedro had reached on an error by Gil Rockwell to extend the inning. Unnerved, Huf lost Reichardt on straight balls, yet with the bases loaded struck out Tony Casillas to keep the Titans off the board. Through six, Huf had eight strikeouts against five hits and three walks, then struck out Gil Cornejo to begin the seventh. Mike Kane grounded out, and the Titans sent Roberto Amador to bat for Adam Braun, who was a K away from a golden sombrero. Amador hit an 0-1 to Stalker for the third out in the inning and the last for Huf in this game as he reached 104 pitches in the course of the seventh inning and was bum-patted for a job well done in the dugout. A win was not in the cards, sadly, because the Raccoons just couldn’t bother to score him a run. They had TWO hits through seven innings, and the second hit came about only in the bottom 7th. Jarod Spencer singled, stole second (#15), but was left on base anyway. Top 8th, Joe Moore issued walks to Ramos and San Pedro (…!!) before yielding to Brett Lillis against Reichardt, who was up with two on and two outs for the third time, and again couldn’t get through, grounding out to Nunley to strand another pair. The Titans would break through in the ninth inning, which began with a Nunley throwing error over the head of Russ Greenwald at first base. Casillas reached second base, then scored on Chris Almanza’s pinch-hit single right away. That lone run the Titans judged good enough to get them over the hump, but Greenwald dropped a single into shallow left leading off the bottom 9th, which led to San Pedro’s removal. Ron Thrasher inherited the tying run, allowed a single to Spencer, and with two outs a pinch-hit RBI double to Danny Rice. Unfortunately, Graves grounded out, sending the game to extra innings with the winning run (Spencer) stranded at third base.

Starting in the tenth, the Coons would get scoreless innings from Brotman, then Sloan, then even Adam Cowen against a Titans team that had removed a lot of regulars for right-handed pinch-hitters without breaking Lillis completely in the ninth inning and was now slightly weakened. The Coons, genetically weak, hoped for the Titans to hit one of them and then commit two errors to get a chance to walk off, which didn’t really happen. Reichardt was still around for the Titans, hit a 1-out double off Cowen in the 13th, but Sugano came to the rescue and retired Ryan Burgbacher (who’s she?) and Jonathan Stephens in the 2-3 spots. The Titans finally broke through in the 14th. Will West allowed singles to Javy Cisneros and Tristen Baptiste, balked, and finally fell to a Willie Ramos homer; three runs scored. The Coons failed to answer. 4-1 Titans. Spencer 2-6; Rice (PH) 1-1, 2B, RBI; Armetta (PH) 1-1; Greenwald 1-2, BB; Huf 7.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 9 K;

King of the Rut in this case was Tim Stalker, batting 0-for-6 from the leadoff spot. His OBP is .279. Maybe I can find a better leadoff hitter? Somewhere? Please?

Game 2
BOS: 3B Corder – CF Reichardt – LF Almanza – RF Braun – 1B Cisneros – C Leonard – 2B Baptiste – SS Kane – P Cope
POR: 1B Greenwald – 2B Spencer – 3B Nunley – C Rice – LF Graves – RF Alfaro – SS Bullock – CF Romero – P Gutierrez

There were reasons why a general Ricomania hadn’t broken out in Portland or even in my office so far, because there was always the suspicion that he was basically just lucky that he didn’t get set alight as soon as he entered the ballpark. That however sure happened on Tuesday, as the Titans rapped him for 11 total bases right in the first inning. Adam Corder tripled and scored on Reichardt’s sac fly, and then Almanza and Braun hit back-to-back bombs for a quick 3-0 deficit that the Raccoons would never overcome. New leadoff man Russ Greenwald (oh if you had told me of this in March…) hit a single in the bottom 1st, but got doubled up on Nunley’s grounder to Baptiste, who singled, stole, and scored on Kane’s single in the second inning to run the score to 4-0 in a hurry.

Three double plays helped to pull Gutierrez’ body through six innings in the game without the Titans piling any more runs on him despite tacking him with nine base hits, most of them hard-hit. During Gutierrez’ lifetime, the Raccoons failed to reach base again. Perakis hit for him with two outs in the bottom 6th and flew out to center, meaning Cope was still facing the minimum through six innings and had retired 17 in a row for 18 outs. Meanwhile the Titans would exploit the soft end of the Critters’ pen in the seventh inning. David Kipple walked Corder, and Adam Cowen allowed 2-out base hits to Reichardt, an RBI triple, and Almanza, an RBI single. Boo you, Titans, for running up the score here! Down 6-0, the Coons would actually find another base runner somewhere. Zach Graves followed Greenwald’s first-inning single with an EIGHTH-inning single. Then the Age of Omar struck … a ball into a double play, Baptiste starting it again. There was one more base hit in the bag for the Critters, a pinch-hit double for Tovias in the ninth, but overall they went under against Cope, who pitched a 3-hit shutout for his 18th win of the season. 6-0 Titans. Tovias (PH) 1-1, 2B;

We are … we have scored four runs in the last four games. Across 41 innings. Wheee….!!

Game 3
BOS: CF Reichardt – C Leonard – LF Amador – 1B Cornejo – SS Kane – RF Braun – 2B Casillas – 3B Corder – P Farrell
POR: 1B Greenwald – 2B Spencer – SS Stalker – C Rice – LF Graves – RF Alfaro – 3B Bullock – CF Santos – P Chavez

Greenwald hit a leadoff double in the first inning this time around, but still wouldn’t score. Spencer grounded out to third, Stalker popped out, and Rice struck out. When two singles and a walk loaded the bases in the bottom 2nd, Chavez struck out for the second out, and Greenwald grounded out to Gil Cornejo. Nobody scored, still. Chavez would be taken apart in the third inning, starting with an encounter with the opposing hurler; Alan Farrell singled to left, and so did Reichardt. After Keith Leonard flew out, Roberto Amador flew one out of the park for a 3-run homer. After entering the “scored run” column, Farrell almost made it into the RBI column his next time up. Finding runners on the corners and two outs, he lined hard to left, but Zach Graves somehow got in the way of that blistered ball and logged the third out of the fourth inning.

Adam Braun’s 3-piece in the sixth inning knocked out Chavez after bleeding ten hits in 5+ innings, while the Critters were still being shut out and didn’t look like much of a threat even to the varsity team of the Willamette Institute for the Limbless and the Blind. The bottom fell out of the bullpen the following inning, with David Kipple and Joe Moore being battered for four runs in the seventh inning. The double-digit deficit didn’t last, though. Rejoice, as Daniel Bullock hit a leadoff single in the bottom 7th, moved to third, and then scored on a passed ball! With two outs, Greenwald walked, then came in on Spencer’s triple to center, where Reichardt was too greedy and conceded three bases rather than one. Farrell fell apart by the eighth inning and conceded four base hits to the Coons, including an RBI single to Bullock and a pinch-hit 3-run homer by Gil Rockwell. Oh if only we hadn’t trailed by ten! 10-6 Titans. Graves 2-4, 2B; Bullock 2-3, BB, RBI; Santos 2-4; Rockwell (PH) 1-1, HR, 3 RBI;

After this rush of failure, the Coons had Thursday off and activated Noah Bricker from the DL for the weekend.

Raccoons (61-78) @ Loggers (68-71) – September 9-11, 2022

Nothing left to play for here, really. The Loggers were 6-9 versus the Raccoons in 2022, so maybe we could at least grab that season series, if nothing else, please? They had ceased being defending champions a few days ago after being eliminated from playoff contention the mathematical way. They had been eliminated from actual contention roughly around Opening Day. Seventh in runs scored, but 11th in runs allowed, the mix had tasted like poison for their fans all year long, who cynically were improving their lifestyle so they could still witness the next Loggers playoff team in 30 to 40 years from now.

Projected matchups:
Bobby Guerrero (5-14, 4.41 ERA) vs. Michael Foreman (12-8, 3.86 ERA)
Ryan Nielson (5-7, 3.50 ERA) vs. Morgan Shepherd (3-10, 4.85 ERA)
Matt Huf (2-5, 4.43 ERA) vs. TBD

Two right-handers from them. Victor Arevalo (10-12, 4.85 ERA) was also a right-hander and up after that potentially, but had left his Tuesday start with an injury and there were still no news on him.

Game 1
POR: 1B Greenwald – 2B Spencer – 3B Nunley – C Rice – LF Graves – RF Alfaro – SS Armetta – CF Romero – P Guerrero
MIL: 2B March – C Wool – RF Gore – 1B Gasso – LF Munn – 3B A. Velez – CF Berntson – SS Prince – P Foreman

The Loggers were on the board before Bobby Guerrero could retire anybody, with Dan March and Brad Gore hitting singles, while Josh Wool got hit by Guerrero. Gore’s base knock was an RBI single, and the Loggers would add a second run in the bottom 1st on Danny Munn’s sac fly. While the Raccoons could not do anything with a Zach Graves double in the second inning, while errors by Nunley and Rice eroded Bobby Guerrero in the bottom 2nd. Allowing three hard hits didn’t help either, and the Loggers added three unearned runs for an early 5-0 lead that could probably last them the entire weekend. Greenwald caught a line drive by Josh Wool to end the third inning with the bases loaded with Alberto Velez (double), horrendous ex-Coon Tim Prince (single), and Dan March (walk), as this game rapidly spiraled out of control.

An hour-long rain delay released Bobby Guerrero from his pains after four innings, with the Critters down 5-1 at that point; Danny Rice had hit an RBI single in the third inning in an otherwise traumatizing game. Weren’t all our games traumatizing at this point? Between Cowen and Brotman, the Coons allowed two hits, a walk, and a run in the bottom 5th, but token offense at least continued for the visiting team as well. Rice hit a leadoff single in the sixth inning and scored on Sam Armetta’s double that escaped under a diving Velez’ glove, though that run was surrendered again by Brotman allowing a single to Brad Gore and a walk to Velez, then Jon Berntson’s 2-out RBI single off Joe Moore in the bottom of the inning. In what was now a 7-2 charade, Moore put on the leadoff man Kevin Jaeger in the bottom 7th. Sugano replaced him, but got bombed by left-hander Josh Wool to stretch the tally for the Loggers to nine, their lead to seven, and the Coons would not challenge them in the last few innings… 9-2 Loggers. Spencer 2-4; Rice 2-4, RBI; Prieto (PH) 1-1;

Oh well, at some point another 5-game losing streak doesn’t exactly matter…

22 more games until this ordeal is over! That’s something to keep in mind. 22 more games.

Give or take three or six or nine years.

Game 2
POR: SS Stalker – 2B Spencer – 3B Nunley – 1B Rockwell – C Tovias – RF Alfaro – CF Romero – LF Perakis – P Nielson
MIL: 2B March – SS Prince – 1B Gasso – RF Gore – LF Berntson – 3B A. Velez – C Denny – CF W. Trevino – P Shepherd

Tim Stalker drew a leadoff walk, which I considered progress in so many ways, but was nevertheless stranded on first base on two strikeouts and Rockwell rolling one over to Prince at short, which was not so much progress as more of the same, more of the same. The Raccoons would get another chance in the second inning, which saw Omar Alfaro double with one out in an attempt to revive his .172 batting average. Shepherd lost Romero to a walk, and then Jon Berntson lost Brian Perakis’ (batting .100!) easy fly to left for an error. That loaded the bases for … errr…. Nielson. Fear the Niels, though, because Ryan dropped a floater near the leftfield line, plating two with a single, and another run scored on Tim Stalker’s groundout for an early 3-0 advantage. On the mound, Nielson faced the minimum for three innings, allowing a single to Berntson, who got double-played off the bases again by Velez. The Loggers got a leadoff single in the bottom 4th that Dan March dropped into shallow center, but Gus Gasso would hit into a double play.

Elias Tovias netted his first mantelpiece trophy in the fifth inning, throwing out Brad Gore in a steal attempt after another leadoff single, thus entitling him to keep Gore’s head in a jar. However, Nielson would issue a 2-out walk to Velez, then got doubled off by Mike Denny. The former Raccoon hit a ball into the corner in leftfield, and with Velez on the run to begin with, he easily scored the Loggers’ first run in the game, cutting the Coons’ lead to 3-1. Nielson’s day came rapidly to an end in the following inning. Prince doubled, Gasso hit an RBI single and moved up on the throw to home plate. A wild pitch moved Gasso, the tying run, to third base before Gore grounded back to the mound and was out at first for the second out. Cory Dew replaced Nielson to face Berntson, whom he got to ground out to short to maintain a 3-2 lead. With the Raccoons’ offense wholly inept and unable to even occasionally reach the vicinity of scoring position at this point, it was all down to the pen locking down the bases for the Loggers. Dew got four outs in total, and MacCarthy retired Dan March to begin the eighth on a grounder to second. He then handed the ball to Noah Bricker, who got a pop from Prince and whiffed Gasso to set up Lillis. Top 9th, the Coons sent three left-handed pinch-hitters against righty Justin Guerin. Greenwald and Graves failed, but Rice would hit a double in the #9 spot. Tim Stalker grounded out to March on the very next pitch, so no insurance run, and Brett Lillis drilled leadoff man Brad Gore to put the tying run on base in the bottom of the ninth. BRILLANT! More of that, please! Not right now, though. The Coons got the lead runner on Berntson’s grounder, and then Velez hit into a double play outright. 3-2 Furballs! Rice (PH) 1-1, 2B; Dew 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

A WIN! A WIN! A WIN!

I must cry now. Tears of joy.

Game 3
POR: 2B Stalker – LF Spencer – 3B Nunley – 1B Rockwell – C Tovias – RF Graves – SS Bullock – CF Santos – P Huf
MIL: SS Tadlock – LF Berntson – RF Gore – C Wool – 3B A. Velez – 1B Jaeger – 2B Prince – CF W. Trevino – P Prevost

Opposing Ian Prevost (11-10, 3.35 ERA), the Coons had one hit the first time through, a Santos single, and also got Spencer on base on an error by Ron Tadlock in the first inning, but Spencer was caught stealing. Santos was stranded by Stalker after Huf’s bunt, and nobody scored. Except for the one the Loggers scored in the bottom 3rd. Willie Trevino hit a leadoff single and advanced on Huf’s wild pitch to Prevost (…). Berntson drove in the run with two outs.

Prevost whiffed six in the first four innings, including Graves with two men on base to end the top 4th. Nunley had singled, while Tovias had reached on an error by Velez. That made two Coons hits, two Loggers errors, and still nothing countable on the board. These things mattered less and less as Huf proceeded to pitch to fat contact while missing completely intermittently. Wool singled, Velez walked, and Prince hit an RBI single with one out in the bottom 4th. Trevino’s infield single loaded the bases for the opposing pitcher, whom Huf could not remove either, but at least Nunley leapt and caught his line drive. Velez was too smart to get doubled off third base, bringing up Tadlock and his .284 clip and 48 RBI. Also six homers, and he did come reasonably close to #7, but Spencer made the catch on the warning track in leftfield.

Somehow Huf made it through 5.2 innings without allowing more runs. He left two men on in the sixth that Moore inherited. Tadlock flew out easily to Graves in rightfield to keep those aboard and the deficit at 2-0. They had not gotten anything cooked in the middle innings, but the seventh inning saw a pair of 1-out singles by Tovias and Graves, thus putting the tying runs on board for Bullock, a feared .291 slugger. Oh well, we have what we have. He grounded to Jaeger, who elected the out at second base, meaning they were on the corners for Greenwald, who batted for Santos with two outs… or at least tried to. Bullock was picked off first base and the inning ended before Greenwald could get the at-bat to any conclusion. The score would still be 2-0 in the ninth, and Prevost was still in the game, entering the inning with a 4-hit shutout on just 85 pitches. He faced the 2-3-4 batters. Spencer opened with an infield single that Prince had to put in his pocket, after which Nunley grounded out. That was the end for Prevost, who was replaced by Guerin. Rockwell grounded out to third base, as did Tovias. Ballgame, sadly. 2-0 Loggers.

In other news

September 5 – The Gold Sox relentlessly pound the Wolves in an 18-0 massacre, including a 6-run second inning. The Sox dish out five homers, including two by RF/LF Mario Rocha (.300, 12 HR, 78 RBI), who drives in four runs, as does INF/LF/RF Rich Hereford (.273, 11 HR, 37 RBI), who has one homer and a double among his three base hits.
September 6 – Oklahoma’s Bryan Hanson (14-11, 3.39 ERA) and Jeff Kearney combine for a 1-hit shutout in the Thunder’s 8-0 win over the Falcons, who are spared a combined no-hitter thanks to a single by C Tim Robinson (.258, 27 HR, 68 RBI).
September 7 – SAC SP Hwa-pyung Choe (12-8, 2.63 ERA) is slated for Tommy John surgery after tearing his UCL. The Scorpions picked him up from the Crusaders mid-season. The 32-year old went 4-2 with a 3.65 ERA for Sacramento.
September 7 – DAL SS Manny Ferrer (.232, 7 HR, 33 RBI) looks done for the year with a sprained ankle.
September 9 – Also out for the season: LAP SP Vincent Alfaro (6-12, 4.74 ERA). The 26-year old has suffered a torn meniscus.
September 9 – Washington’s Dave Menth (.255, 10 HR, 46 RBI) hits a home run for the only tally in the Capitals’ 1-0 win over the Buffaloes.
September 10 – The Bayhawks knock 12 hits, but fail to score in their 4-0 loss to the Knights, who have just six hits, but get three RBI doubles.
September 11 – The Pacifics lose another starter in C Matt Dehne (.232, 18 HR, 56 RBI), who has a herniated disc and will not be able to play again in 2022.

Complaints and stuff

In assorted ex-Coon news, Tadasu Abe (14-12, 3.18 ERA) pitched a 3-hit shutout on Sunday for the Capitals. Oh well, we might have just kept him and – … meanwhile, Brian Cope made it to 19-2 on the weekend and was Player of the Week in the CL. The FL’s Player of the Week was Dave Menth, who hit the sole-tally homer on Friday.

Jonny Toner started a rehab assignment with the (division-leading) Alley Cats at the end of the week! This is the kind of news that goes into the + column this week.

It’s not much of a column. We are now 2-13 against the Titans this season, which is mind-boggling in its own right.

Fun fact: The Raccoons have never lost 16 games in a season to a division opponent.

They did lose 15, once. To the Crusaders, in 1978.

We do not want to remember the 1978 team, generally. When you say anything about the Coons that they most recently did in 1978, you are already up to the neck in quagmire. There is no winning from there. Ever.

Nine more losing seasons by my estimate.

I can’t even look at Honeypaws anymore…!