[Westheim]

Four days of grieving and a couple o’ days’ salaries worth of frustration game purchases later – Forza Horizon 4 is obnoxiously expensive for a game that came out in 2018, but it sure lets you air out your boiling anger – the saga limps to its conclusion for the year…

I mean, I knew they weren’t gonna make it. But there’s not making it per se, and HOW the flying **** you’re not making it… Four days feels like a good spread if you don’t want to punch the “release all” button should they end up in a meaningless game in Indianapolis in which they leave the go-ahead run on third base in the 12th, 14th, and 16th innings…

+++

Raccoons (87-68) @ Indians (72-83) – September 25-28, 2034

The Raccoons crawled into the final week of the season, beaten and suffocated, and had nothing left to play for, and this time for real. It was four more with the Indians, who had won only three of 14 games against the Critters this year, were the worst team in scoring in the league (but hey, you wouldn’t suspect that after the Boston ****show that just flushed over us!), and were giving up the fourth-fewest runs. Their rotation was excellent with a 3.22 ERA, but their pen was a burning poultry farm.

Projected matchups:
Gilberto Rendon (9-6, 4.37 ERA) vs. Jim Kretzmann (7-17, 4.25 ERA)
Darren Brown (2-1, 2.28 ERA) vs. Jose Lerma (15-11, 2.54 ERA)
Pat Okrasinski (13-8, 4.33 ERA) vs. Arnie Terwilliger (3-4, 3.55 ERA)
Bernie Chavez (15-5, 2.64 ERA) vs. Sal Bedoya (10-12, 3.09 ERA)

Two right-handers on each end, two southpaws in the middle. The latter might get flipped or replaced, or maybe not; both had pitched in a double header on Friday. Two regulars were on the DL in Juan Benito and John Baron.

I was not at the ballpark for the opener, preferring to roll into a ball under the sheets in my hotel room. The TV was on, but I didn’t want to see them anymore…

Game 1
POR: SS Ramos – 3B Zeltser – CF M. Fernandez – LF Wallace – RF Jennings – 2B Sibley – 1B Maruyama – C Scheffer – P Rendon
IND: RF Witte – 2B Schneller – C J. Herrera – LF Acor – 1B Barber – CF Reyna – 3B Hansen – SS DiGiacomo – P Kretzmann

Dan Schneller and Juan Herrera singled to left, Matt Barber doubled them home, and just like that Rendon was on the receiving end once again, down 2-0 in the first inning. Wallace, Jennings, and Sibley all singled to load the bags with nobody out in the second inning, and one run scored on Maruyama’s double play grounder. Scheffer was walked intentionally and Rendon grounded out, leaving runners on the corners. Rendon grounded out again to keep Jennings and Scheffer stranded on the corners in the fourth inning, with a similar trajectory overall. Jennings hit a leadoff double, Sibley walked, and Chiyosaku Maruyama, which I was sure meant “****ing muppet” in Japanese, hit into another double play. Kretzmann left the game with an injury in the same inning, so, hey, we had their starter gone in the fourth … nope, nope, it was just … it was really just all sad.

Bob Zeltser hit a shot off Juan Melendrez to tie the game at two in the fifth inning and the score remained true through six, with Rendon being really pedestrian, but at least without getting lit up like a Christmas tree as usual. Bad Luck Travis hit for him when his spot was up in the top of the seventh and crashed another homer to right off Melendrez, giving the Raccoons a 3-2 lead. Billy Jennings hit the third solo homer of the day for Portland, taking Lance Legleiter and his near-six ERA deep to right in the eighth, but at least Legleiter rung up the ****ing muppet, so there was still a whiff of balance in the fabric of the baseball universe… The 4-2 lead was not something the Coons would get over the finish line seamlessly; Nick Bates had retired Schneller to end the bottom 7th, but loaded the bags in the eighth with a Herrera single, a walk to Dustin Acor, and by plunking Mike Plunkett. Chris Wise inherited three on and one out, yielded a single to right facing John Hansen, Herrera scored, but Acor was thrown out at home by Jennings for the second out. Wise then struck out Morgan Kuhlmann, PH’ing for Joe DiGiacomo. Ed Blair retired the Indians in order in the ninth. 4-3 Coons. Ramos 2-5; Zeltser 3-5, HR, RBI; Jennings 3-4, HR, 2B, RBI; Zitzner (PH) 1-1, HR, RBI;

Berto singled and stole his 49th base in the ninth inning. If he gets another one it would be his first season with 50 since 2031.

Boston lost to the damn Elks, 3-1, so we had yet to be mathematically eliminated.

Game 2
POR: RF Salgado – 3B Hawkins – SS Stalker – LF Wallace – 1B Zitzner – CF Reichardt – C Wall – 2B Vickers – P Brown
IND: RF Witte – 2B Schneller – C J. Herrera – LF Acor – 1B Barber – 3B Barlow – CF Strand – SS DiGiacomo – P Lerma

Three on, nobody out in the second inning was credited to Joe DiGiacomo, whose dismal 2-base throwing error on Zitzner’s leadoff grounder only got the Coons started. Reichardt walked, Wall singled, and Rich Vickers came up with a fine selection of runners to score. He bagged one with an RBI single to center, and that was the ice breaker in this game. Brown whiffed, Salgado hit a sac fly, and Hawkins rolled over to Schneller, so we only got to 2-0 in the inning. Indy got a run back in the bottom 3rd. Brown walked DiGiacomo on four pitches to begin the inning, the runner stole second when Vickers dropped Wall’s good throw, and Oliver Witte also walked after a successful bunt. I was groaning loudly under the blanket. Dan Schneller hit an RBI double to right, but Herrera whiffed and Acor flew out easily to Salgado, so the tying and go-ahead runs were stranded in scoring position.

Three on, nobody out in the fifth inning was entirely due to a string of singles, notably laced by the 9-1-2 hitters for the Critters. Tim Stalker was then up with the slam chance, but was held to a sac fly by Roger Strand, who made a catch in deep center. Wallace and Zitzner both hit RBI singles, and Adrian Reichardt singled to restock the bags for Kurt Wall, who at least hit a grounder that couldn’t be turned for two. Wallace scored on that, 6-1, Vickers got put on intentionally, and righty Matt Beckstrom got a pop from Brown to end the inning. Darren Brown then did a quick bottom 5th to qualify for his third major league win.

Three on, nobody out in the sixth inning was again assisted by the Indians. Hugo Salgado singled, but Schneller threw away a potential 4-6-3 poked by Hawkins. The runners pulled off a double steal with Beckstrom and Herrera not remotely on the same page, and Stalker ended up getting nicked with an 0-2 pitch, bringing up Wallace as the slam candidate. He grounded an 0-2 at Schneller, who forked that one as well, and a run scored. Zitzner whiffed, but Reichardt walked, forcing home Hawkins, 8-1, and that got Beckstrom removed for righty Mitch Brothers, who swiftly walked Kurt Wall with the bags still full. Vickers dropped an RBI single in front of Strand, and Brown rolled a single through between the middle infielders for another run. The Coons had batted through the order making only one out (although if Schneller hadn’t left his hands at home, the Indians would have been batting a long time ago…), and as I poked my nose over the blanket and around the bed post I wondered where the **** *this* offense had been all year long. Salgado hit into an actual out, a fielder’s choice that scored a run, Hawkins hit an RBI single, and new arrival Oscar Semchez walked Stalker to fill the bags once more, then allowed a 2-run single to Wallace. Zitzner hit an RBI single, and then Reichardt grounded out to short, ending a 10-run sixth inning that saw the team up 16-1. Consecutive 2-out RBI doubles by Matt Barber and Tom Schorsch in the bottom 6th narrowed the gap to 13, but the Coons also beat another two runs out of Semchez and Ray Myers in the top 7th. That was it for the Coons; Indy got another run off Carlos Contreras in the ninth, but by then the park was empty. 18-4 Critters. Salgado 2-4, 2 RBI; Thompson (PH) 1-1, RBI; Hawkins 3-7, 2 RBI; Stalker 1-2, BB, RBI; Wallace 3-6, 4 RBI; Zitzner 2-6, 2 RBI; Reichardt 2-4, 2 BB, RBI; Vickers 3-5, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Houston (PH) 1-2; de la Cruz 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

The damn Elks beat the Titans again, 4-3, so it was still not over mathematically.

But I also didn’t leave the hotel room on Wednesday. At this point there was a iota of superstition involved…

Game 3
POR: SS Ramos – RF Salgado – 2B Stalker – LF M. Fernandez – 1B Zitzner – CF Reichardt – C Wall – 3B Marsingill – P Okrasinski
IND: RF Witte – 2B Schneller – C J. Herrera – LF Acor – 1B Barber – 3B Barlow – CF Reyna – SS DiGiacomo – P Terwilliger

Three on, nobody out in the bottom 1st was due to Okrasinski appearing to be drunk and throwing hardly anything but balls. …and then a wild pitch at 0-2 to Dustin Acor, who grounded out poorly on the next pitch, Barber fanned, and then… Jake Barlow walked on four pitches. Jonathan Reyna grounded out, stranding three, and I rolled in tighter under the blanket. After DiGiacomo’s homer in the bottom 2nd, a walk to Witte, and three straight singles it was 4-0 Indians. He wouldn’t last another inning, allowing a double to Reyna and walking Witte with two outs in the bottom 3rd to get yanked, and that would be it for his Coons career… Schneller hit a fly to center off Prieto to end the inning, with the Coons down 4-1; in the top 3rd Berto had reached, stolen his 50th base, and had scored on a Fernandez groundout.

Top 4th, Reichardt reached on a leadoff single, Wall doubled him home, and Marsingill singled. Prieto bunted the trailing runner and tying run into scoring position, but Berto and Salgado both flew out to the shallow outfield to strand the runners. That was where the rally more or less ended; the Indians moved back out to a 4-run lead in the sixth with Witte’s homer off Anaya, who also walked Schneller and conceded that run on a Barber single, and added another run also charged to Anaya in the seventh, although Witte singled home DiGiacomo against Carlos Contreras. The Raccoons never got close to another rally, or even another run. 7-2 Indians. Ramos 2-5; Wall 2-4, 2B, RBI; Marsingill 2-3;

That was of course mathematical elimination confirmed, but even another win wouldn’t have saved the Critters, with Rich Willett and the Boston offense slapping off the Elks, 8-1.

Game 4
POR: SS Ramos – 3B Zeltser – CF M. Fernandez – LF Wallace – RF Jennings – 1B Zitzner – 2B Sibley – C Thompson – P Chavez
IND: RF Witte – 2B Schneller – C J. Herrera – LF Acor – 1B Barber – 3B Barlow – CF Reyna – SS DiGiacomo – P Bedoya

Matt Barber’s homer on an 0-2 pitch in the bottom 2nd was overturned in the following half-inning with the Coons getting Thompson on via leadoff walk. He was bunted over, Berto singled and stole second, and then Manny Fernandez’ 2-out single to center scored them both. And that was already all the offense (not only the runs) through five, with the notable quirk that Bernie also didn’t strike out anybody. Jake Barlow hit a real drive to right on an 0-2 pitch in the bottom 5th, but Jennings made a breakneck catch on that rocket.

It was already the seventh when Bad Luck Travis and Ross Sibley hit back-to-back doubles to score another run. Sibley reached second base with nobody out, but was left on as between Thompson, Chavez, and Ramos nobody could get a ball to drop in. Bernie fanned Herrera and Barber in a 1-2-3 bottom 7th, his first strikeouts in the game. Manny singled and stole second base with one down in the eighth. Wallace was walked with intent, Jennings walked without intent on the Indians’ side, and that brought up Zitzner with the bags full. He hit a sac fly to center, Sibley grounded out, and it was 4-1 with six outs to collect for Bernie. Leadoff single Barlow, but Jonathan Reyna hit a comebacker for a 1-6-3 double play. Zitzner then dropped Berto’s throw on DiGiacomo’s grounder to short, Plunkett batted for Bedoya and drilled an 0-2 to deep center, but Fernandez made the catch on the warning track. Bernie and Berto both hit singles off Melendrez in the ninth, but that led nowhere; with Bernie on 87 pitches, he got to take a stab at a complete game to finish his season, especially since there was nothing but individual glory to play for. Witte grounded out on the first pitch to begin the bottom 9th, but Schneller singled. Herrera flew out to Jennings. Dustin Acor fell to 1-2, but put the next pitch in play. He grounded out to Sibley, ending the game. 4-1 Coons. Ramos 2-4, BB; M. Fernandez 2-5, 2 RBI; Chavez 9.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, W (16-5) and 1-3;

Even after this win I didn’t feel like getting out of bed or touching my food bowl on the plane back out west. I flew separately from the team, since they went to Elk City to finish the year and I wasn’t allowed in the frozen wastes of the North.

Dr. Chung saw with concern that I hadn’t eaten in a while – for a Raccoon, even going without food for only 12 hours can mean death. He arranged for somebody to pick me up at the airport in Portland, which turned out to be Cristiano Carmona and Gustaf. In anticipation of October baseball all non-essential staff for ballpark maintenance had been given the last week of the road trip off, and most of them had left town, with Maud at a flower show in Idaho, pasty white guy Steve from Accounting getting burned on the beach of Hawaii, and Chad … well, nobody quite knew where Chad was when he wasn’t in the costume, but we assumed he was behind most of the mysterious sightings of giant raccoons in the dark of night that were reported to Portland Police from time to time.

Cristiano and Gustaf would host me for the weekend with instructions to keep me fed and entertained. And since I refused to move, Gustaf had to push me in Cristiano’s spare wheelchair…

Fun times.

Raccoons (90-69) @ Canadiens (59-100) – September 29-October 1, 2034

In the bottom three in runs scored and runs allowed and with the #1 pick next June well confirmed for them, the Elks had little to play for anymore. They had also not played very good spoilers to the Raccoons this year, losing ten games already with a potential for 13. Even against the Titans they had gone a respectable 8-10, so it wasn’t even them that had ruined our season. Great – where’s your token scapegoat when you need him…!?

Projected matchups:
Raffaello Sabre (11-9, 3.68 ERA) vs. Ed Miller (6-10, 5.30 ERA)
Ignacio del Rio (12-9, 3.86 ERA) vs. Steve Corcoran (11-16, 3.87 ERA)
Gilberto Rendon (10-6, 4.32 ERA) vs. Sean LaRue (3-3, 3.06 ERA)

Miller was the final right-handed starter for the season. The other two were southpaws.

If anything, the ivory tower in which Cristiano occupied the penthouse that overlooked most of the less ugly parts of Portland was shining even grander as we checked in. Gustaf, whose body looked even better trained and was even oilier than last time around, mostly undressed as soon as the elevator door closed behind us, then, wearing only gold shorts and a white tie, for reasons I didn’t understand or care much about, pushed me into the kitchen where he parked me up next to the table. I politely asked him to push me a bit closer, and he obliged. Ah, that’s a good position. (rests head on the table with a thump)

Since it was late, they ordered Chinese, and a lot of it, but I wasn’t touching any. I liked Chinese. But maybe my time had come. Even Cristiano’s non-too-subtle thread that we couldn’t watch cartoons if we didn’t finish our meal couldn’t make me touch any food. I joylessly nipped on a glass of water, and that was that, and it was only Thursday night.

Friday’s game was an early start in Elktown, which was fine by me since it precluded Cristiano and Gustaf from dragging me to any “fun” activities during the day. But I did enjoy that Gustaf brushed my old gray fur that hadn’t been brushed in a while… he had a hand for that…!

Game 1
POR: SS Ramos – 3B Zeltser – CF M. Fernandez – LF Wallace – 2B Stalker – 1B Zitzner – RF Houston – C Thompson – P Sabre
VAN: 3B D.J. Robinson – 2B Morrow – LF LeJeune – C Ross – RF Korecky – 1B P. Rivera – SS B. Gonzales – CF Massey – P E. Miller

Jimmy Wallace’s leadoff jack in the second was his 13th homer on the season and also the first marker on the scoreboard in this game. Cristiano threw up his arms and squealed, but Gustaf was busy doing his toenails, and I was slumped into a heap on the rosé couch between them and felt nothing. Will Korecky’s leadoff jack in the bottom 2nd also didn’t exactly faze me. I *did* manage to muster enough energy for an angry groan when Zitzner dropped a Stalker feed for an error with two outs in the inning, and that was after Micah Massey walked and it put Ed Miller on base. D.J. Robinson walked, but Eric Morrow grounded out to strand a full set. An utterly hittable Sabre allowed five base hits in the bottom 3rd, all singles, but the damn Elks made only one run from them with a double play in between and then Paz Rivera was thrown out at home by Bobby Houston when Massey dropped a 2-out single in shallow right, ending the inning. Sabre instead balked in a run with Robinson and Jesse LeJeune on the corners and two outs in the bottom 4th before ex-Coon Toby Ross grounded out to Zeltser. Eight hits, three walks through four innings, Sabre was just awful. Everything was awful.

When I sighed at the conclusion of the inning, Cristiano used the commercial break to transfer into his wheelchair and roll into the kitchen, returning with a bowl of chocolates in his lap that he put right in front of my black pointy nose. I sniffed once, tired of it all, but didn’t make an effort to extend a paw to the bowl. The same pretty much was true for the Raccoons on TV, who weren’t exactly overpowered by Miller, but made poor contact relentlessly. He almost made them rally in the seventh inning, walking Stalker and Zitzner to get the inning underway, which put the tying runs on base with nobody out. Houston singled to center on the first pitch, loading the bags for Elliott Thompson, who hit a soft line over the head of Bobby Gonzales at 2-2, and it fell in for an RBI single. Sabre was batted for here, but Jennings fouled out in his place, and Berto lined out hard. Zitzner was still on third base with the tying run and two outs. Zeltser fired a ball to deep center, Micah Massey raced back and reached, but didn’t make it back, and the ball was in for extra bases. Zitzner scored, Houston scored, Thompson scored, and Zeltser slid in with a bases-clearing triple! Cristiano howled, Gustaf briefly looked up from his nail job, and I registered the play, but didn’t make a noise. Manny struck an RBI single to knock out Miller, stole second, but was left on when Wallace grounded out against reliever Dave Peluso, who was walking 6.5 batters per nine innings, and striking out not nearly as many.

The damn Elks made up a run with two hits and a walk against a parade of relievers in the bottom 7th. Prieto was charged the run on a single Garavito conceded before Wise wiggled out of the inning with the tying runs aboard in a 6-4 game. Hennessy offered a leadoff walk to PH Tomas Caraballo in the eighth, but whiffed Robinson and got a double play roller from Morrow. Ed Blair had the ball in the ninth, fell behind every hitter he faced, but still retired LeJeune, Ross, and Korecky in order… 6-4 Raccoons. Zeltser 2-4, 3B, 3 RBI; Houston 2-4;

So the game ended with a win, and with Cristiano emptying the entire bowl of sweets, save for the one he unwrapped and put right in front of my nose. I smelled fudge.

But I didn’t touch it.

Game 2
POR: SS Ramos – 3B Hawkins – RF Salgado – LF Wallace – 2B Stalker – 1B Zitzner – C Wall – CF Reichardt – P del Rio
VAN: 3B D.J. Robinson – 2B Morrow – LF LeJeune – C Ross – RF Korecky – 1B P. Rivera – SS B. Gonzales – CF Creech – P Corcoran

Last dips for del Rio on the year, and he got off with a 1-0 lead provided by Hugo Salgado with a solo homer in the top 1st. Mind, the lead didn’t live past base hits by Morrow and that curse Toby Ross, but, eh… These games barely counted, just don’t break your necks out there. Or maybe do break your necks, not even that matters anymore…

The damn Elks were up 2-1 after two innings; Paz Rivera drew a leadoff walk, Gonzales singled, and after a K and a bunt, Kurt Wall bobbled a pitch to Robinson. Rivera scored on the passed ball to give the pink punks the lead. Korecky and Gonzales teamed up for two hits and a run in the fourth, 3-1 Elks. Cristiano insisted on putting a rally cap on my weary head when del Rio reached with an infield single to begin the fifth inning, but the 1-2-3 batters made 1-2-3 outs and never even moved del Rio off first base, and the rally cap fell off soon after. Instead LeJeune hit a 2-run homer off del Rio in the bottom of the inning. It was just one of those games…

Del Rio barely salvaged a sub-4 ERA by lasting six innings after getting waffled for five runs. Rich Vickers hit for him in the seventh and hit a solo homer to left, but that wasn’t going to stave off defeat in this one. The Raccoons only got one more base hit, a 2-out Ramos single in the ninth against Dusty Kulp, and that was it then, as they trundled to a listless and meaningless defeat. 5-2 Canadiens. Ramos 2-5; Salgado 2-4, HR, RBI; Wallace 2-4, 2B; Zitzner 2-4; Vickers (PH) 1-1, HR, RBI;

I slept most of the time until the last game of the season, which didn’t matter anymore, except if the Coons lost and the Knights won, which would create a tie for the #19/#20 picks next June. Not exactly the problem you would cancel a nap for. A 12-hour nap. Interrupted once when bench coach Erik Mango (sic!) called from Elktown whether they should play as many kits as possible. I nodded that off, then nodded back off.

When I watched the pre-game show with alone with Cristiano – Gustaf was one of the bathrooms adding accents to his flowing blond locks – I couldn’t help, but had to ask Cristiano, who had his limp legs elevated onto the seat of his wheelchair, because I really needed to know now.

Say, Cristiano… you were born disabled, right? – (Cristiano looks over with big eyes before nodding) – So you’ve never been able to walk and have always been in a wheelchair? – I know, your brother told me about the chair with the missing wheel. – Why, though, did you fight through all that and didn’t just … throw in the towel… because it’s all just too much, and it’s all just too hard. Why?

Cristiano’s answer, that there was only this one life for him and that it was about playing with the cards you were dealt with, and that he had made it pretty far for a disabled little boy from Costa Rica with ten older siblings and with three wheels to his wheelchair. Life was not about being gifted ****. Life was about clawing and scratching and fighting back against ****.

…although having a brother being signed by a major league baseball team and being paid millions and millions had certainly helped, he admitted.

Game 3
POR: CF Salgado – 3B Hawkins – SS Stalker – LF M. Fernandez – 2B Vickers – RF Houston – 1B Maruyama – C Thompson – P Rendon
VAN: 3B D.J. Robinson – 1B P. Rivera – C Ross – LF LeJeune – RF Korecky – 2B Morrow – SS B. Gonzales – CF Pohl – P LaRue

The Coons opened with three straight hits; Salgado singled, stole second, and came around on Hawkins’ double in a classic Ramos Special, while Stalker’s single and Fernandez’ groundout moved Hawkins around for a quick 2-0 lead. With Rendon holding up more or less well early on, allowing only one base hit the first time through, the Critters further went to work on LaRue in the fourth inning. The 5-6-7 batters opened with straight singles, with even the ****ing muppet singling home Rich Vickers. The runners advanced on the throw home, Thompson was walked intentionally, and Rendon hit a comebacker that got Houston forced out at home, but Salgado’s groundout and Hawkins’ RBI single both brought in one more run for a 5-0 lead in the top of the fourth before Stalker popped out. Rendon nailed Eric Morrow in the bottom 4th, but Morrow was caught stealing by Thompson(!), so the damn Elks were being kept as starved as possible. The damn Elks didn’t get on base until the sixth inning, and then only in unearned fashion. D.J. Robinson led off with a single to right, Houston overran the ball for an error and extra base, and that allowed them to score the run on two productive outs, reducing the Coons’ lead to slam range. Will Korecky hit a leadoff single in the bottom 7th, but following Morrow’s pop got picked off by Rendon. The Coons’ fallen Opening Day starter never allowed an earned run in the game and was hit for in the ninth when the Critters emptied the bench against ex-Critter Matt Stonecipher and his 6.55 ERA. Berto batted for Thompson, but grounded out. Zeltser hit for Rendon and singled. Wallace and Scheffer both walked in PH assignments, filling the bags. Zitzner batted for Tim Stalker and fanned (…), and Fernandez was left to his own devices, which allowed him to draw four balls from four pitches and force in a run. Vickers grounded out, ending the inning. David Fernandez and Prieto split the bottom 9th, and the season was in the books…! 6-1 Coons. Wallace (PH) 0-0, BB; Hawkins 3-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Scheffer (PH) 0-0, BB; Thompson 1-2, BB; Zeltser (PH) 1-1; Rendon 8.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, W (11-6);

In other news

September 25 – CIN SP Josh Weeks (13-8, 3.29 ERA) throws a 2-hit shutout over the Miners, walking nobody and whiffing six.
September 25 – The Bayhawks win their game with the Condors after the contest goes scoreless in regulation. Outfielder Ben Suhay (.200, 21 HR, 58 RBI) lifts a sac fly to walk off the Bayhawks in the 10th inning, 1-0.
September 26 – SFW SP Tony Galligher (14-10, 4.10 ERA, 1 SV) throws a 6-hit shutout against the Gold Sox. The 5-0 Warriors in is enough to seal the FL West for the defending champs.
September 27 – The Condors tie up the CL South with a 4-1 win over the Bayhawks. It will be their sixth playoff appearance in seven years.
September 28 – CIN OF Ken Gibbs (.293, 7 HR, 29 RBI) is out for the year with a concussion.
September 30 – Terrible blow for the Condors, who lose superstar Shane Sanks (.288, 33 HR, 114 RBI) to a quad strain. He is not expected to return this year.
October 1 – TIJ C Jose Flores (.299, 13 HR, 76 RBI) goes on a romp in the Condors’ 16-4 mauling of the Aces. Flores lands four base hits, three of them home runs, and drives in *11* runs with a grand slam off LVA SP Chris Pyles (7-14, 6.37 ERA), a 3-run homer, a 2-run homer, and a 2-run triple.
October 1 – In Washington the season doesn’t end until the 15th inning when Cincy pitcher Norogumi Sakurai (0-1, 7.20 ERA) is fed up with it all and walks the Caps’ Andy Sears (.224, 1 HR, 11 RBI) with the bases loaded to give the Capitals an 8-7 walkoff win. This walkoff walk forfeits the FL East to the Blue Sox, who had earlier lost their game against the Miners; with a win, the Cyclones would have forced a tie-breaker game on Monday.

Complaints and stuff

Well, that’s over. Now it’s about wiping off the tears, and regrouping, and moving forward, and making it good next year. (stretches all four paws) Thanks, Cristiano, for life lessons, and everything else, and do you have another bowl of those sweets? – Fantastic! … And can you drive me home, because my car is at the ballpark? – Fantastic!

I probably shouldn’t cackle with glee about the skunk weasel’s demise just before the playoffs. But, well, he stole a Player of the Year belt from Rich Hereford, and I will hate him until the end of the universe…!

Not a good year for our minor league teams once more. The Alley Cats came 72-72. The Panthers (59-81) and Beagles (61-79) didn’t come close to .500 …

But, eh, who had a good year here?

Fun Fact: Jose Flores’ 11-RBI game on Sunday is the first such effort in ABL history.

The previous record for RBI in a game was 10, achieved twice. The Knights’ Tom McDonald did it in 1987, and the Titans’ Laurent Martin in 1996 – both pulling off the feat in June 16 of the respective season.

And neither of them did it against the Coons!

Four Raccoons have driven in as many as nine runs in a single game. There was the Daniel Hall Game in 1984, the only extra-inning effort on the list. Neil Reece (1990), Vern Kinnear (1993), and Craig Bowen (2007) also all had 9-RBI games. In Bowen’s case it’s his game with four homers, still the only one of its kind in ABL history.