[Westheim]

Raccoons (86-64) vs. Knights (65-84) – September 20-22, 2027

The Knights were probably not going to make the playoffs in the South, but who knew anything by now? The Coons were up 4-2 on the season against a team that struggled to score like almost no other. Spearheaded by the demise of Ruben Luna, the Knights had the worst batting average in the league and had scored the third-fewest runs. Their pitching was mediocre, giving up the fifth-most runs in the CL.

Projected matchups:
Dan Delgadillo (9-10, 3.51 ERA) vs. Jim Shannon (0-0)
Rin Nomura (16-8, 2.77 ERA) vs. Leon Hernandez (10-11, 4.09 ERA)
George James (5-4, 3.81 ERA) vs. Mario Rosas (14-12, 4.18 ERA)

Two righties, then a lefty, probably. Shannon, 27, was making his season debut after spending the first four months of the season rehabbing from Tommy John surgery, then had made five starts in AAA.

Game 1
ATL: CF N. Hall – SS R. Miller – RF M. Walker – LF Pincus – 1B Kym – C Wright – 2B T. Jimenez – 3B B. Marshall – P Shannon
POR: SS Stalker – 2B Spencer – RF Gomez – 1B Harenberg – LF Hereford – CF Mora – C Rocha – 3B Nunley – P Delgadillo

The first run in the game was the Coons' on a Tim Stalker homer in the fourth inning after they had not gotten anybody on base the first time through the order, and until that point Dan Delgadillo had managed to camouflage a complete lack of stuff. The Knights would find ways to single him to death in the fifth inning, though. The crucial at-bat was Shannon's with Matt Wright and Bobby Marshall on the corners and one out. Shannon had already singled his first time up, and would do so again here, right on the first pitch. The tying run scored, and it got much worse for Delgadillo, who got Nate Hall on a fly to center, but then surrendered a bases-loading single to Rich Miller, then a 2-run single to Mark Walker to fall behind 3-1. Roy Pincus grounded out to short. Delgadillo had no strikeouts through five, and didn't get a guy in the sixth, either. His spot was up to begin the bottom 6th and St. Germaine hit for him, but struck out. The hopeless Raccoons wouldn't amount to any sort of threat when down two runs, then were down three runs by the eighth inning, where Nate Hall singled off Jeff Kearney, stole second and reached third on Rocha's throwing error, then came home when Walker singled off Nick Derks, 4-1. By the bottom of the ninth, the Raccoons reached four hits when Jarod Spencer dumped in a 1-out double, but Gomez' tame fly out and Harenberg bouncing one back to closer Adrian McQuinn ended the game rather quickly without any sort of rally. 4-1 Knights.

Game 2
ATL: CF M. Walker – LF N. Hall – C Luna – 2B J. Johnson – 1B Kym – 3B T. Jimenez – RF G. Ramirez – SS R. Miller – P L. Hernandez
POR: SS Stalker – 2B Spencer – RF Gomez – 1B Harenberg – LF Hereford – C Tovias – CF Magallanes – 3B Nunley – P Nomura

Bottom 1st, Stalker walked, robbed second, went to third on Spencer's single, and then both runners scored on a succession of singles by Harenberg and Hereford dropped into the shallow outfield, giving Nomura a 2-0 edge early on. Nomura had already struggled in the first, hitting Ruben Luna and putting Josh Johnson on base, too, with a single up the middle, but then Nomura got rid of Chun-yeong Kym with a pop and the Knights didn't exactly run him over in the following innings. Mark Walker hit a bunt single in the third, Kym walked in the fourth, but no loud sound was heard off Knights bats until the fifth when Walker hit a 2-out double into left-center. Nate Hall struck out after that, ending the fifth, and what had the Raccoons done lately? Absolutely nothing! At least Nomura kept motoring – he would last eight innings of shutout, 4-hit ball, sprinkling one more single to Kym before he was done with 107 pitches. The Raccoons would send the top of the order to the plate in the bottom 8th and would at least get a chance for insurance when Tim Stalker led off the inning with a double up the leftfield line. Spencer popped out to left, Rafael Gomez walked on four pitches, Kevin Harenberg grounded out rather weakly, and then Rich Hereford flew out to Walker in deep left. Oh well, at least Josh Boles retired the Knights in order in the ninth… 2-0 Blighters. Spencer 2-4; Nomura 8.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 7 K, W (17-8);

Game 3
ATL: CF N. Hall – SS R. Miller – RF M. Walker – C Luna – LF Pincus – 1B Kym – 2B J. Johnson – 3B B. Marshall – P Rosas
POR: SS Stalker – 2B Spencer – RF Gomez – 1B Harenberg – LF Hereford – C Tovias – CF Borg – 3B Gerster – P James

Portland loaded the bases in the second inning with a leadoff walk having been issued to Harenberg ahead of soft singles by Hereford and Tovias. Oh dear, three on, nobody out for Greg Borg. He used the 1-0 pitch from Rosas to ground softly to third base. Bobby Marshall, once with the Thunder, had to come in and then looked towards home plate first, but then decided to go to first, but seemed to lose grip of the ball as he threw it. It bounced in the dirt, off Kym's leg, and all paws were safe on the throwing error as Harenberg scored the game's first run. Butch Gerster opened a vein with a 2-run double to right-center, and Tim Stalker would single to chip in a fourth run before the inning was over. With a healthy lead on the board, attention then shifted to George James, who was perfect into the fifth inning with four strikeouts to his credit until Chun-yeong Kym hit a long solo homer with two outs in the inning to end any sort of bid and cut the Coons' lead to 4-1.

In a hurry, the tying run was at the plate in the fifth. Bobby Marshall turned on an 0-2 pitch to single, after which James fumbled a Rosas bunt for an error. Nate Hall grounded into a force at third base, Rich Miller flew out to Gomez, and Mark Walker grounded out to Gerster to end the inning. On to the seventh, the Knights had two on with nobody out yet again; Luna led off with a single, then Pincus coaxed a walk in a full count. Again, the Knights failed and made three straight outs on a grounder to Spencer for a fielder's choice by Kym, then Johnson popping out and Marshall flying out to Greg Borg. That was the last frame for George James, who was hit for by Magallanes in the bottom 7th as his spot was up first; Magallanes singled, moved up on a Stalker groundout, to third on Spencer's single, and eventually scored on Gomez' groundout for an insurance run, 5-1. This was also Gomez' 96th RBI of the year as he was crawling towards 100 at snail pace. Portland pulled out another run in the eighth on a Tovias single, a pinch-hit double by Matt Nunley, then a wild pitch issued by Jon Ozier. Steve Costilow finished the game for the Critters then. The league was big enough that he remained in the game to finish it even after Roy Pincus hit a 2-run homer off him… 6-3 Coons. Stalker 2-5, RBI; Spencer 2-4; Harenberg 1-2, 2 BB; Tovias 2-3, BB; Nunley (PH) 1-1, 2B; Magallanes (PH) 1-1; James 7.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, W (6-4);

Raccoons (88-65) vs. Titans (96-56) – September 24-26, 2027

No, there was no hope left. There was probably not even a chance for not wrapping up the division on our turf. The Raccoons would have to sweep the Titans to delay their celebration into the season's final week. Sad prospects. Boston was third in runs scored, first in runs allowed, and needed to sweep the Coons themselves to win the season series, which Portland led 8-7. If we could scratch out two wins, that would be our first season series win over Boston since the Tea Party there in 1773…

Projected matchups:
Jason Butler (0-2, 6.43 ERA) vs. Jeremy Waite (15-8, 3.39 ERA)
Rico Gutierrez (12-11, 3.69 ERA) vs. Dustin Wingo (16-6, 2.00 ERA)
Dan Delgadillo (9-11, 3.54 ERA) vs. Greg Gannon (16-6, 3.34 ERA)

Wingo would be their sole left-handed starter around.

Game 1
BOS: CF Reichardt – LF W. Vega – C Gi. James – RF Braun – 1B Leonard – 2B R. West – 3B Corder – SS Spataro – P Waite
POR: SS Stalker – 2B Spencer – RF Gomez – 1B Harenberg – LF Hereford – C Tovias – CF Magallanes – 3B Nunley – P Butler

Jason Butler got another chance and blew it into the night sky right in the first inning. Willie Vega walked, stole second, scored on a Giovanni James single, and then Adam Braun hit a rocket to the moon and back to put Boston up 3-0. Adrian Reichardt was thrown out at home plate in the second inning after Butler nailed him to get him on board. Vega then singled, as did James, but Rafael Gomez ended the inning with a laser throw to home plate. Reichardt also made the final out on the bases in the fourth inning when Vega was at the plate and runners on the corners, and Reichardt was caught stealing by Elias Tovias. Butler, getting nothing but pummeled, ended up lasting 4.2 innings of 4-run ball. Giovanni James hit him for a solo shot in the fifth, after which he walked Keith Leonard with two outs. Jonathan Fleischer would retire Rhett West to end the inning, keeping the score at 4-0, with the Raccoons so far having been held to a Stalker single. What a surprise this was…

For an actual surprise, the Coons made two runs out of a Nunley walk and another Stalker single in the bottom of the sixth. Granted, it was not all them – Jeremy Waite threw two wild pitches to advance Nunley a crucial base, then plate Stalker to cut his own lead to 4-2. But you were not likely to beat these Titans on a pair of singles from your shortstop… Adam Corder homered off Costilow in the eighth to add a run, 5-2, and the Raccoons were still looking for a base hit from somebody, anybody other than Tim Stalker. They had to wait until the bottom of the ninth inning – Rafael Gomez laced a double up the rightfield line leading it off against lefty Ben Marx, he of Capitals playoffs infamy. Harenberg struck out, but Rich Hereford singled in Gomez when he rammed a ball past Keith Spataro to get the Coons' tying run to the plate in Elias Tovias, who could go deep off anybody. Here, Marx fell to 2-0 before surrendering a liner to right that fell for a double before Braun could contain it. Now the tying runs were in scoring position and Juan Magallanes was the man at the plate. Aaaand he popped out. Abel Mora batted for Nunley with two outs, grounded up the middle, Spataro lunged and missed it and the Coons ACTUALLY tied the game after being down three all game long! Easily forgotten Steve Hollingsworth batted against new pitcher Matt Rosenthal, struck out, and the game went to extras. Once there, Dan McLin walked both Corder and Fernando Rodriguez in the top of the 10th, but Reichardt spanked into an inning-ending double play to continue a rather bleak day by not only his standards. Bottom 10th, Rosenthal remained in the game and had Stalker at 1-2 before serving a hanger that Tim buried in the gap for a leadoff triple! Ooooh, exciting! How were they going to strand him…? Jarod Spencer ACTUALLY failed, grounding out so poorly as to keep him pinned, and Rafael Gomez was walked intentionally to set up a double play, but Harenberg spanked a grounder through Matt Good at first base to walk off Portland anyway. 6-5 Coons! Stalker 2-4, BB, 3B, RBI; Hereford 2-3, BB, RBI; Nunley 0-1, 2 BB; Mora (PH) 1-1, 2 RBI;

The Raccoons got reinforcements prior to the Saturday game – Alberto Ramos came off the DL (once more) and was looking forward to causing some more trouble in the final eight games of the year.

Game 2
BOS: CF W. Vega – 1B Gasso – RF Braun – 3B Corder – 2B R. West – SS Spataro – LF Reichardt – C A. Arias – P Wingo
POR: 2B Stalker – SS Ramos – RF Gomez – 1B Harenberg – LF Hereford – CF Mora – C Rocha – 3B Nunley – P Gutierrez

The Titans kept making outs on the bases, having Gus Gasso thrown out at home plate in the opening inning. That was the second out of the inning, occurring after Gasso doubled into the leftfield corner and then Adam Braun dropped a single in front of Hereford. They thus left it to the Coons to score first; Stalker and Ramos dropped singles to go to the corners in the bottom 1st, and Harenberg got at least Stalker in with a groundout. Ramos was stranded, but there was some 2-out stirring in the bottom 2nd. Nunley hit a single up the middle, which made the poorly hitting Rico Gutierrez a good pick for the third out, but he rolled a ball past Gasso for another single. Tim Stalker rocked a ball to left in a full count, which allowed Nunley to start early and score from second base on the single, 2-0. Ramos then grounded out to Spataro at short.

On the plus side, Rico took the 2-0 lead and ran with it. On the flip side, he was messy and needed 98 pitches through five innings. He started the sixth, struck out Adam Braun, but then allowed a single to Corder and was gone from the game. Kevin Surginer came in with the tying run at the plate, struck out Rhett West, but then conceded the run to Spataro on a double into the rightfield corner. Reichardt flew out to left to end the inning, now with a 2-1 score, but Surginer got obliterated in the seventh. The Titans started the rally with their pitcher (…), Wingo doubling to right, before Willie Vega tied the score with a single. With two outs, Adam Braun rocked a massive homer to centerfield to put the Titans up 4-2. Jonathan Fleischer came on, shuffled the bases full with awful pitching, allowing a hit and two walks, then somehow ended the inning by ringing up Reichardt. What did the Coons do? Not much. Their bullpen tried to blow up even more, but the Titans stranded a pair against Kearney in the eighth, then had another pair aboard in the ninth against Costilow, who ran a 3-0 count to Rhett West with one out in the inning when West poked and bounced to Ramos for an inning-ending double play. It was Marx against Mora to begin the bottom 9th, resulting in a strikeout. There would be a pinch-hit single by Magallanes with two outs, but that was all in terms of another rally. 4-2 Titans. Stalker 2-4, RBI; Magallanes (PH) 1-1;

This of course meant elimination for the Raccoons, but not clinching for the Titans. The damn Elks were still alive, but the magic number on them was now a mere 1. The Titans could clinch the division on our field even if they lost on Sunday.

The Titans made a realignment in their rotation, sending Morgan Shepherd (17-6, 3.07 ERA) into the rubber game as they made a bid to tie the season series.

Sunday would also see Cookie Carmona (in a 2-for-27 coma) in the lineup. I wonder whether that had anything to do with his expiring contract and this being our final home game of the year.

Game 3
BOS: CF Reichardt – LF W. Vega – C Gi. James – RF Braun – 2B R. West – 3B Corder – 1B Good – SS Spataro – P Shepherd
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Stalker – RF Gomez – 1B Harenberg – C Tovias – CF Mora – LF Carmona – 3B Nunley – P Delgadillo

Delgadillo was complete mess and got whacked around for three runs in the opening inning. Finally Reichardt was a factor in something other than a choke for Boston as he led off the game with a single. He scored on Braun's 1-out single, following a clueless walk to Giovanni James, and Adam Corder would hit a liner for a 2-run, 2-out single before the inning was over. The Coons' top of the order was offering themselves up in the bottom of the inning, as Ramos drew a leadoff walk, and then Stalker doubled to left. At this point, Rafael Gomez made it a hundred with a homer to right-center, knotting the score at three. Staggeringly, Morgan Shepherd then walked the bags full against the 4-5-6 batters without retiring anybody. This brought up Cookie with many a watery eye in the park because everybody knew that he was not likely to come back. He bounced a ball to Rhett West, who got the force on Mora, but nothing more while the go-ahead run scored in Harenberg. The Coons got no more, Nunley and Delgadillo flying out easily. Something was iffy with Shepherd, who walked another two Critters in the bottom 2nd, but Tovias hacked himself out to strand them. Meanwhile, Delgadillo remained a hot mess, with the Titans tying the score at four in the top 3rd, even though the run was unearned. Harenberg had dropped a feed to put Giovanni James on base to begin the inning, after which a Braun double set up runners on second and third and nobody out. Somehow, the Titans only got one as West struck out, Corder hit a sac fly to Mora, and Good flew out to Cookie.

Neither pitcher lived long, obviously, in this whacko game. Tim Stalker broke the tie with a homer in the bottom 4th off Lorenzo Viamontes after Shepherd had been lifted for a pinch-hitter in the top of the inning. Too bad that Ramos had been caught stealing beforehand, and also too bad that Delgadillo surrendered a 2-piece to James before he got yanked himself in the top 5th, with Portland now down 6-5. The crowd roared in the bottom 6th when Cookie led off with a single against Boston's Mike Stank, and a Nunley single put them on the corners. Spencer batted for Dan McLin, grounded out poorly, and so did Ramos. Cookie was STILL at third base, with Nunley 90 feet behind, when Stalker grounded to right. Rhett West contained it, but could not play it decisively, leaving Stalker with a run-scoring infield single to tie the score. Gomez stranded a pair with a fly to center.

Then came Billy Brotman and ****ed things up yet again. He walked Willie Vega on four pitches to begin the seventh inning, then allowed a single to James. Mind, those were left-handers… the Titans would score both on two groundouts and a Corder single, moving up 8-6 now. Bottom 7th, Stank continued to give hits to left-handed batters. Mora and Cookie (roar!) both singled with two outs, upon which Rich Hereford batted for Matt Nunley, but struck out. That was their last gasp. The Titans piled it on against Barzaga in the ninth, plating two more runs on three hits and another dumb walk, and after Javy Salomon allowed a leadoff single to Gomez in the bottom 9th, and Harenberg stupidly grounded into another double play, Magallanes hit for Tovias and drew a 2-out walk. Mora grounded out, and then the Coons crowd got to watch the Titans form a pile on their own damn mound. 10-6 Titans. Stalker 3-4, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Gomez 2-4, BB, HR, 3 RBI; Carmona 2-4, RBI;

In other news

September 20 – The Capitals lose southpaw SP Eric Williams (14-7, 2.88 ERA) for the season. The 30-year-old has suffered a broken leg.
September 20 – VAN OF Brian Wojnarowski (.327, 20 HR, 79 RBI) is out for the season with a strained hamstring.
September 22 – In the Warriors' 17-5 win over the Buffaloes, Warriors utility player Hiroaki Ryu (.277, 6 HR, 35 RBI) goes out for four base hits and as many RBI.
September 23 – Also out for the year is OCT RF/LF Luis Sagredo (.260, 14 HR, 63 RBI), who has broken a foot.
September 24 – Topeka's SP Joe Jones (13-11, 3.14 ERA) is a write-off for the year, suffering from radial nerve compression.
September 25 – The Los Angeles Pacifics will return to the postseason after a 1-0 clincher over the Warriors, with LAP SP Bryan Hanson (10-8, 4.15 ERA) pitching eight scoreless for the win while the lone run is plated by bit player OF/2B Dan Tugwell (.288, 2 HR, 8 RBI).
September 26 – TOP 1B/2B Chris Owen (.272, 11 HR, 56 RBI) hits a home run off PIT SP Josh Walsh (15-13, 3.66 ERA) for the only score in the Buffaloes' 1-0 win.

Complaints and stuff

If you wonder how I made it to Sunday night alive while the Titans soiled the visitors' clubhouse with champagne – we gave them a cheap brand – well, blame Maud. She hid the bleach, she hid the booze, she even hid the stapler. But rest assured knowing that I have internal bleeding right now.

Wasn't it a perfect final week, though? They could hardly touch the Knights to begin things, but somehow scratched out two wins in that series. Then the Titans came in and just about everything became unglued, including the wallpapers. A 3-day choke job to waste away a perfectly good chance to finally take a season series from the Titans. Nope, not in this decade, and not in this lifetime! The Titans clinched the division on Sunday, because the baseball gods knew it would hurt me more than if they clinched it on Monday. And the damn Elks even would have won their game over Indy … but the Raccoons couldn't even hold them off when Morgan Shepherd gave up free runs in the first inning.

Those dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb, terrible, and dumb Raccoons…

And remember the horrendously-under-.500 Knights? They were eliminated on Saturday, just like the Raccoons. The Continental League of 2027 is a joke…

Will Cookie Carmona and Matt Nunley be back? That is the main topic in Portland baseball circles these days. Well, will they? Where to they figure in another necessary wholesale teardown of the team's offensive personnel?

The Raccoons are finalists for BNN's Most Beloved Team award this year. Vote for them by … doing something on your phone thing.

Just kidding. Nothing matters. Life is a joke.

(draws the blinds)

Fun Fact: 11 years ago today, Dallas' Hugo Mendoza hit three home runs in a 6-1 win over the Pacifics.

That was the year before the midseason trade that sent him to Portland, and boy, did that ever work out… He is in the Cyclones system right now, and I say system for a reason. He batted 1-for-23 last season before being relegated to oblivion in the minors, and this year spent all season in the minors.