[Westheim]

I’ve been quite a bit ill the last few days (and still am), so that’s where the Critters went. I’ll now try to get my crap together, but I’ll miss Game 1 tonight… I am in no condition to beat the night around my fuzzy ears at this point… At least I can watch up on the World Series tomorrow. Nobody’s gonna play the Raccoons for me, though.

Oh yeah, my mouse is also broken and won’t scroll up anymore, at least not when *I* want it to…

And did I mention that the laptop’s keyboard is giving up? Maybe you found missing D’s recently…

IT’S HARD.

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Raccoons (80-56) vs. Titans (58-79) – September 4-6, 2045

The Titans had the lowest batting average in the CL and the third-fewest runs scored, while giving up the eighth-most markers. Their run differential was not too horrendous at -48, but they were also not in the top third of the league in any meaningful category. They were just crummy throughout, and the Raccoons had whooped them so far this year, having already bagged the season series with six games to spare, 10-2.

Projected matchups:
Adam Capone (3-2, 2.21 ERA) vs. Ricky Contreras (7-10, 3.58 ERA)
Sadaharu Okuda (10-9, 4.06 ERA) vs. Hisami Furuya (3-5, 4.43 ERA)
Victor Merino (10-4, 2.98 ERA) vs. David Barel (9-8, 2.96 ERA)

Left, right, left. Also, a number of injuries to regulars, including pitchers Lachlan Clarke, Danny Tirado, and Todd Lush, plus batters Joe Ritchey and Danny Liceaga.

But we knew a thing about that, too. The Raccoons added 22-year-old RF/LF Brian Shedd from AAA. The righty hitter was the #60 pick from the 2041 draft and had raked for an .862 OPS in Ham Lake and a .955 OPS (in 22 games) in St. Pete this year. Granted, there was flash in the pan potential here, but we needed a warm body… Gene Pellicano was moved to the 60-man DL to make room on the 40-man roster (but Shedd would have been rule 5-eligible this winter anyway).

Game 1
BOS: RF J. Miranda – LF Watt – 3B I. Lugo – 1B C. Jimenez – 2B J. Rodriguez – SS Castaneda – C Templeton – CF T. Lopez – P R. Contreras
POR: SS Waters – CF Herrera – RF Maldonado – 1B Gurney – LF Dustal – 3B R. Jimenez – 2B Carreno – C Gonzalez – P Capone

Capone was all over the place, walking five batters in the first three innings, some of which would inevitably score; Juan Rodriguez drove in two with two outs in the first inning, dropping a single behind a desperately reaching Matt Waters, and Javier Miranda hit a good old bomb to left in the second inning for a quick 3-0 lead for Boston. The Coons were turned away for the minimum the first time through, Ruben Gonzalez hitting into a double play to erase Arturo Carreno’s lone single. In turn, Capone walked Tony Lopez in the fourth, and conceded the run on a 2-out Miranda single.

That was it for Capone, who hurled 86 pitches in four innings, most of them pathetic, but the Raccoons actually rallied for three runs in the bottom 4th, starting with back-to-back jacks by Waters and Herrera, and then adding a run when Ricky Jimenez scored Maldonado with a groundout. And just like that, they then returned to crass ineffectiveness. The game hung at a 4-3 score for the next four innings, neither Contreras nor the parade of Raccoons relievers bending, at least until Miranda took Jon Craig deep in the ninth inning for an insurance run. It didn’t matter – lefty Justin Kaiser sawed them off in the bottom 9th anyway. 5-3 Titans. Kilmer (PH) 1-1;

Game 2
BOS: 2B Encinia – CF T. Lopez – C Whitley – 3B I. Lugo – RF D. Meyer – 1B Greeley – SS J. Rodriguez – LF J. Miranda – P Furuya
POR: SS Waters – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – LF Fernandez – 1B Gurney – 2B Martell – RF Anderson – C Kilmer – P Okuda

The All-Japan Tryouts began with consecutive Raccoons errors, Maldonado and Van Anderson throwing balls away, conceding an easy quick run to Juan Encinia in the first, which didn’t make me comfy at all and reaching for the Capt’n Coma. In the second, Okuda kicked himself in the chin, conceding the bases loaded with a variety of singles and walks, then gave up a ****** 3-2 floater for a 2-run single to Lopez. Again, it was 3-0, and the Raccoons were just… not… hitting… They didn’t get a measly base hit until Maldo led off the bottom 4th with one to center. Manny added one snuck by Encinia, sending them to the corners, bringing up Pat Gurney as the tying run. He hit a sac fly, and that was it, the inning ending on Martell’s fly to left and Anderson’s groundout to Encinia, who then opened the fifth with a double to left, but was stranded on three consecutive groundouts to Maldonado.

Once again, this appeared to be the extent of the Portland hitting to be expected in this game. They went nowhere the next four innings, while Okuda pitched six and a third, and the relievers kept the Titans off the board, too, Marucci, Moreno, and Kelly doing blameless duty. The lefty Kaiser was back out for the bottom 9th again. Manny and the pinch-hitting Carreno made outs. Ben Coen hit for Martell and singled, bringing up the tying run after all. That would be Dustal, batting for Anderson. He lined out to Ivan Lugo. 3-1 Titans. Fernandez 2-4; Coen (PH) 1-1;

Game 3
BOS: 2B Encinia – RF C. Jimenez – 1B Lindstrom – 3B I. Lugo – CF T. Lopez – C Cadena – SS Greeley – LF J. Miranda – P Barel
POR: C Kilmer – CF Herrera – SS Waters – 1B Maldonado – LF Dustal – 3B R. Jimenez – RF Shedd – 2B Carreno – P Merino

With desperation written into the lineup, the Raccoons saw Merino retire the first eight Titans in order before ******* David Barel hit a single to right, and consecutive full counts to Encinia and Chris Jimenez resulted in a walk and an RBI single, respectively. Matt Lindstrom flew out to center, ending the damn inning, down 1-0. A Jose Cadena homer in the fourth made it 3-0 thanks to Lopez on base and the sweep was basically fix. And the Coons? Dismal. They scattered three hits in the first four innings, twice leaving brown-hatted personnel in scoring position. It all looked pathetic. In the fifth inning, Carreno got on to begin the frame, stole second, and Kilmer walked with one out behind him. Herrera flew out in a full count, but Waters dinked in a 2-out RBI single to at least get the team on the ******* board. They got a second run when Maldo’s chopper in front of home plate was thrown away by Cadena for two bases, shortening the score to 3-2 and putting the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position – and then they actually got them ******* home! Dustal singled up the middle with two outs and ahead 2-0, bringing in both Waters and Maldonado to flip the score, 4-3…! Barel would also walk Ricky Jimenez, but Shedd struck out to stand the runners.

Bottom 6th, Merino was hit for and the Raccoons put two catchers in scoring position with one out as Gonzalez walked in the #9 hole and Kilmer then hit a double to left. Two groundouts to Lugo threw that scoring opportunity away, Herrera and Waters being the batters at fault. A tack-on run came on the board in unearned fashion in the seventh, not that I was complaining too hard about that, when Jimenez was on second base with two outs and Lugo, who had handled the two sharp bouncers the prior inning well, threw away Shedd’s slow roller for a 2-base error. Lugo and Cadena then hit that extra run out of Moreno again with sharp liners in the eighth inning, narrowing the tally to 5-4. The Coons couldn’t find anything else in their sticks, then braced as Josh Rella entered the ninth and gave away a leadoff single to Matt Watt, which, granted, didn’t leave the infield, and was right in the sweet spot between Waters and Jimenez so that neither could do anything with it. Jimenez did something with a Kyle Templeton grounder, though, turning a 5-4-3 double play. Encinia grounded out to second, letting the Raccoons escape with one win from this set. 5-4 Coons. Kilmer 2-3, 2 BB, 2B; Herrera 2-5; Dustal 2-4, 2 RBI; Jimenez 1-2, 2 BB;

Raccoons (81-58) @ Loggers (62-77) – September 8-10, 2045

Here was another team in the bottom half of both runs scored and runs allowed, but … eh … (looks at the Coons) … (blows). They were ninth in plating and tenth in getting plated on, with a -79 run differential. They had the worst pen in the CL, and unhelpfully to our cause had just lost three of four to the Crusaders. We were up 9-6 on the year.

Projected matchups:
Jason Wheatley (13-8, 2.49 ERA) vs. Marvin Verduzco (3-3, 4.21 ERA)
Corey Mathers (14-8, 4.42 ERA) vs. Sergio Piedra (10-6, 3.49 ERA)
Adam Capone (3-3, 2.88 ERA) vs. Ruben Guzman (5-11, 4.56 ERA)

Southpaw to start the series, while we’d catch them without 1B Aaron Brayboy, who was on the DL with a thumb injury.

Game 1
POR: C Kilmer – CF Herrera – SS Waters – 1B Maldonado – LF Fernandez – 3B Jimenez – RF Shedd – 2B Carreno – P Wheatley
MIL: CF Reeves – LF Pate – RF Hertenstein – SS R. Espinoza – C Payne – 1B Edsell – 3B C. Rose – 2B Davison – P Verduzco

The Raccoons hit four straight 2-out singles in the second inning to actually score first, going up 2-0 on RBI singles by Carreno and Wheats, plating Jimenez and Shedd, respectively, with the latter also getting his first major league hit in the process. Kilmer lined out to Kyle Edsell to end the inning. Jimenez (single) and Shedd (hit by pitch) were on again in the fourth, but this time neither Carreno nor Wheats could get anything countable done with the sticks. But Wheats lining up zeroes was good enough in this situation, him allowing a hit to John Pate in the first and then pretty much nothing for a long time after. A Kilmer leadoff jack extended the lead to 3-0 in the fifth inning, before Verduzco hit consecutive Critters, and a Maldonado single loaded the bases. I was grimly hoping for a big knell – but it was three on and nobody out, so … eh…! Actually, all runners scored – and none on the Coons hit. Verduzco plated Herrera with a wild pitch, then issued walks to Jimenez, Shedd, and Carreno, the latter two with the bases loaded, to extend the score to 6-0.

Wheats was on a REALLY low pitch count, too – 57 offerings through six innings of 2-hit ball, but then plunked Ricky Payne with a 2-2 pitch in the bottom 7th to add some unnecessary overtime. He struck out Edsell after that, but that had been an 18-pitch inning. In return, Herrera was hit again, now by right-hander Ray Harris, and the Raccoons bench was beginning to get a bit unruly with the Loggers tossers. The Herrera HBP loaded the bases with Wheats (single) and Kilmer (walk), and one out in the inning. Waters hit a sac fly, Maldo slapped an RBI single, and Manny struck out to get Wheats back to work. By the ninth, Jimenez homered to reach the .200 mark and Kilmer doubled in Shedd to reach double digits for Portland. With the game basically decided, the Raccoons sent Van Anderson to bat for a bruised Armando Herrera. Anderson promptly got nailed by righty Marcos Flores, he of a 10.38 ERA. Wheatley finally came into the bottom 9th on 88 pitches. He struck out Bill Reeves on five more. Another pawful got Jim Hill to ground out to Carreno. For the same feat, Daniel Hertenstein needed just three more pitches – ballgame! 10-0 Critters! Kilmer 3-5, BB, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Maldonado 2-4, BB, RBI; Jimenez 3-4, BB, HR, RBI; Shedd 2-3, BB, RBI; Wheatley 9.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 7 K, W (14-8) and 2-5, RBI;

Wheeeeeats!

Game 2
POR: SS Waters – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – LF Fernandez – 1B Gurney – 2B Martell – RF Anderson – C Gonzalez – P Mathers
MIL: CF Reeves – 3B B. Johnson – RF Hertenstein – SS R. Espinoza – C Payne – 1B Edsell – LF Pate – 2B Davison – P Piedra

Pat Gurney singled home Maldonado with a first-inning run, which was probably not going to be enough given the Loggers’ five consecutive switch-hitters in the lineup in the 9-1-2-3-4 positions. Nevertheless, the Gurney RBI remained the only run on the board for a while, with the Raccoons hitting scantily again, and Mathers doing his best impression of a good pitcher, holding the Loggers to two hits and a walk (though, notably, no strikeouts) through 4.2 innings, at which point they batted for Piedra with Jim Hill, and the left-hander whacked a double to left. And then Reeves struck out. Baseball! (shrugs)

By the conclusion of inning number six, the sky began to leak water, so holding on the scant 1-0 lead became even more imperative. Or, you know, tack on! Ruben Gonzalez ended his 0-for-12 futility since being called up with a leadoff single in the top 7th, was bunted to second, but the tarp was brought out before we could decide on a pinch-runner. The delay was but brief, lasting hardly a quarter of an hour. When play resumed, Waters struck out and Herrera was robbed in the gap by Hertenstein. Mathers was hauled in after seven shutout innings, with Moreno and Jones combining for the bottom 8th, the latter facing a single batter, popping out PH Brian Fox after a week in mothballs – neither the Titans nor Loggers threw around many lefty hitters. The Coons didn’t tack on in the ninth, either, then defaulted to Rella. Hertenstein struck out. Espinoza walked. Payne grounded to Maldonado… who bobbled it for an error. Would not have been two, but one would have been pretty nice to have…! The Coons still got two – from PH Scott Bayless, grounding sharply at Waters for a no-problems 6-4-3 game-ender. 1-0 Critters. Fernandez 2-4; Mathers 7.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K, W (15-8);

That is one way – just don’t allow them to get on the board. Maybe Capone learned something compared to his outing on Monday…!

Game 3
POR: C Kilmer – CF Herrera – 1B Maldonado – LF Fernandez – 3B Jimenez – 2B Martell – RF Anderson – SS Coen – P Capone
MIL: CF Reeves – 3B B. Johnson – RF Hertenstein – SS R. Espinoza – 1B Edsell – LF Pate – C Bayless – 2B Davison – P Ru. Guzman

Reeves opened the bottom 1st with a single, but would be caught stealing third base in the inning, and instead the Raccoons went up 1-0 in the third on a little 2-out rally of a Maldo single, Manny walk, and Jimenez RBI single. Martell then popped out. Scott Davison drew a walk in the bottom of that inning, also was caught stealing, and that helped Capone to keep the Loggers to a minimum in three innings. Ben Coen added to the lead with a solo home run to left in the fourth, but the Loggers finally got through in the bottom of the frame. A walk to Brad Johnson, a Hertenstein single, and Espinoza’s sac fly gave them their first run of the series after 21 innings of trying but coming up short. Edsell grounded out to Coen to end the inning.

Neither team then reached base much until back-to-back singles by Edsell and Pate knocked out Capone to begin the bottom 7th. The Raccoons sought out Preston Porter against Bayless, who got a comebacker for a 1-6-3 double play on two pitches, before Fox pinch-hit in the #8 spot. Brent Clark, in his second relief outing after being recalled, secured a groundout to strand the tying run on third base. Sean Marucci seemed to have a less lucky paw in the bottom 8th, allowing a leadoff single to Brent Allen, who advanced on Reeves’ groundout, then another single to Johnson on a 2-1 pitch. Allen was sent for home, but thrown out by Van Anderson! Zack Kelly then was brought on for Hertenstein, but gave up the game-tying single on a 2-2 offering, which was then also the new score… at least until Ricky Espinoza hit an RBI double on 0-2. Bob Ibold replaced him, gave up ANOTHER 0-2 RBI single to Edsell, and finally Pate would strike out. Righty Tim Hale got the ball in the ninth inning, despite a 5.79 ERA. A walk to Kilmer and a Herrera single put the tying runs aboard with nobody out. Maldonado flew out to Reeves, and so did Manny Fernandez. Waters hit for Jimenez – but popped out to short. 4-2 Loggers. Maldonado 2-5; Martell 2-4; Capone 6.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K;

In other news

September 4 – SFW LF Mario Villa (.382, 12 HR, 82 RBI) chops a triple, two doubles, two singles, and drives in four runs in a wacky 25-18 win over the Stars. SFW CF Clay Krabbe (.238, 11 HR, 50 RBI) drives in six runs on four hits. DAL 1B Doug Levis (.186, 4 HR, 19 RBI) settles for a pinch-hit grand slam.
September 4 – The Loggers beat the Crusaders, 4-3 in 17 innings, when INF Ricky Espinoza (.272, 16 HR, 74 RBI) hits a walkoff single for his fourth hit of the day.
September 4 – With a bruised wrist, SAC LF/RF Nate Culp (.253, 15 HR, 60 RBI) will miss three weeks.
September 6 – CHA 2B/OF Miguel Martinez (.293, 1 HR, 48 RBI) is out for the year, suffering an oblique strain while running the bases, dampening the Falcons’ joy over SP Evan Henshaw (10-10, 4.04 ERA) 2-hitting the Condors in a 3-0 win.
September 6 – SAC SP Al Scott (9-9, 4.29 ERA) 3-hits the Pacifics in a 4-0 shutout – the Pacifics being the team he started the season with.
September 6 – The Canadiens beat the Indians, 7-6, in 16 innings.
September 7 – Rebels SP Zach Tubbs (17-6, 3.36 ERA) will have to be shut down for the rest of the regular season due to a bout of elbow inflammation. The Rebels are up 7 1/2 games in the FL East and hope to preserve him for the playoffs.
September 7 – An ill-advised pickoff attempt for an error on PIT C Giampaolo Petroni (.298, 23 HR, 91 RBI) allows the Rebels to walk off, 8-7 in regulation, when Thomas Gould (.272, 5 HR, 34 RBI) scores from third base on the play.
September 9 – Capitals rookie 2B/SS Joe Tindle (.265, 1 HR, 1 RBI) strokes five hits, three singles and two doubles, in a 5-4 loss to the Rebels.
September 9 – CHA 1B/LF/RF Ed Haertling (.259, 12 HR, 62 RBI) is out for the year with a broken elbow.
September 10 – Vegas SP Steve Huffman (14-6, 2.92 ERA) nails down the Bayhawks with a 1-hitter, with cup-of-coffee INF Nelson Vega (.400, 0 HR, 1 RBI) finding a single for the lone San Francisco hit.
September 10 – The Gold Sox wipe the Warriors, 11-0, to clinch the FL West with three weeks to spare. It’s also their 100th win of the season.

FL Player of the Week: DAL OF Tylor Cecil (.375, 19 HR, 126 RBI), raking .483 (14-29) with 2 HR, 11 RBI
CL Player of the Week: IND OF Nelson Galvan (.288, 1 HR, 39 RBI), splashing .500 (14-28) with 1 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Jeff Kilmer in the leadoff spot? Suddenly hitting .500 with six walks. MAYBE there’s something to that…! We’re at a phase of the season where we have to play whatever paw appears lukewarm.

Especially with next week drawing up. It will be four against the Crusaders. A split puts the season away, in all likelihood. But it won’t be free…

The race for the division (with strength of schedule and playoff chance):
POR (83-59) – NYC (4), VAN (4), ATL (3), BOS (3), IND (3), OCT (3) – .498 – 98.2% (+1.0%)
NYC (76-66) – POR (4), VAN (4), BOS (3), CHA (3), MIL (3), TIJ (3) – .499 – 1.2% (-1.4%)
VAN (75-66) – MIL (4), NYC (4), POR (4), IND (3), LVA (3), SFB (3) - .503 – 0.5%

Who let those skunks back in??

Fun Fact: Jason Wheatley is storming to the CL ERA title, leading everybody by just over half a run, with his third shutout of the season.

Two of those against the Loggers! Maybe he’s a right-handed Rico Gutierrez?

Maybe with some more lasting success? Pleeease?

Five of Gutierrez’ nine career shutouts were against the Loggers, and he also had a strong age 25 season (Wheatley’s age now), leading the CL in wins with a 2.93 ERA as the Raccoons were ramping up to their late-20s run. Unfortunately, injuries took him apart after he won the CL ERA title in ’28 (along with his second ring) and he was a wreck for his last four seasons in the league, finishing his career 115-106 with a 3.74 ERA.