[Westheim]

The Raccoons reached their penultimate homestand of the season – six games this week, and another three against Boston at the end of the year. With 13 to play and an 8-game lead, the magic number was six with respect to the Crusaders and the damn Elks, the latter having to play one additional game still. Derek Baskins was still not expected back this week, and the only other idea to jump-start the offense that I still had was sticking big metal poles into the boys’ underpants and pray for lightning.

Raccoons (86-63) vs. Thunder (86-63) – September 18-20, 2045

The final regular season set of games against the CLCS featured the first-place Thunder, who might or might not be back in town in two weeks then. The teams were even on record, and also against each other this year, 3-3 after six games. The Thunder ranked second in runs scored (Coons: 7th) and sixth in runs allowed (Coons: 1st), with a +60 run differential (Coons: +119). They had a variety of pitching injuries, causing them further problems, and the Bayhawks and Falcons were only 2 1/2 and 3 games back, respectively. The only major category in which they made the top 3 was on-base percentage, second with a .349 mark.

Projected matchups:
Jason Wheatley (15-8, 2.34 ERA) vs. Matt Peterson (6-9, 4.51 ERA)
Corey Mathers (15-8, 4.27 ERA) vs. Juan Ramos (18-8, 4.27 ERA)
Adam Capone (3-4, 2.91 ERA) vs. Victor Marquez (12-13, 4.63 ERA)

Marquez was the only left-hander coming up in this set.

Game 1
OCT: RF Zurita – 1B S. Henderson – SS R. Cox – C Adames – 2B Cedillo – CF Tortora – 3B Simon – LF E. Moore – P M. Peterson
POR: 1B Gurney – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – RF Toohey – LF Fernandez – SS Waters – 2B Carreno – C Gonzalez – P Wheatley

I hung my fuzzy ears, tail, and the whiskers, when Wheats walked Angelo Zurita to begin the game, and the runner stole second and scored on two groundouts to put the Coons in another 1-0 hole to get stuck in. The Raccoons promptly did nothing, getting only Carreno on the first time through, and he didn’t get further than second base in the bottom 3rd after a bunt by Wheatley, who did not overpower anybody, and had no strikeouts the first time through. Peterson though allowed a single to Armando Herrera to begin the bottom 4th, then hung one to Maldonado that was just simply gone, blasted to Kingdom Come, flipping the score to 2-1 Portland. To Wheats’ credit, he tried to run with it – the pitching duel stretched through six with a pair of 3-hitters, but when Ryan Cox and Jesus Adames reached base on a walk and a single to begin the seventh inning, and a barrage of left-handed hitters drew up, the Raccoons pulled the plug on Wheatley and sent Chuck Jones. It didn’t go so well – Alfonso Cedillo and PH Jonathan Ban hit singles to flip the score, and with two outs and Peterson at the plate, Jones hurled a wild pitch to plate Cedillo for a 4-2 deficit.

Wheatley avoided the sticky loss thanks to Al Martell in the bottom 7th; the lefty swinger batted for the hopeless Ruben Gonzalez with Manny (walk) and Waters (single) in scoring position and two outs, and got the ball past Ban into rightfield to tie the score at four. Van Anderson batted for Jones and singled, a defensive misplay putting a pair in scoring position again, and then Pat Gurney cracked a 2-run single to right, giving the lead back to the Coons…! That did it for Peterson – the Thunder’s Jon Craig, the black one, while we had the white Jon Craig, struck out Herrera to end the inning eventually. The white Jon Craig, ours, entered the game in the top 8th, in which the Thunder gradually accumulated runners before, with two outs and the tying runners on the corners, half the responsibility of Craig and Brent Clark, Zack Kelly came in to face Cedillo, and got a groundout to short to bail out. Then came Josh Rella. He walked Ban to begin the ninth, then advanced him on a wild pitch. Mal Phinazee’s grounder moved Ban to third, but PH Jose Aviles struck out. Another ex-Coon, Sal Ayala, was up with two outs, and he walked after Rella first twitched to balk in Ban’s run. Somehow, nobody knew quite how, Zurita struck out before the heavens could come down entirely. 6-5 Raccoons. Martell (PH) 1-1, 2 RBI; Anderson (PH) 1-1;

That game was an all-out ********. But it got the magic number down to five. The Crusaders were off, while the damn Elks won, tying those two teams.

Game 2
OCT: RF Zurita – 1B S. Henderson – SS R. Cox – C Adames – 2B Cedillo – CF Tortora – 3B Simon – LF C. Vega – P J. Ramos
POR: 2B Gurney – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – LF Fernandez – SS Waters – C Kilmer – RF Shedd – P Mathers

Another day, another game to be played from behind, it seemed. Cedillo homered and the Thunder got another run out of two singles from the following lefties against Mathers, going up 2-0 in the top 2nd, although the Raccoons answered the same inning. Manny singled, Waters walked, and Kilmer hit a 1-out RBI single. Brian Shedd grounded to the right side, where Sterling Henderson cut the ball off, but had no play, and the bags were full for the .153 hitter Mathers, who struck out fast, but Ramos still had to grind through Pat Gurney. Running a full count, he eventually missed with the 3-2, walking in Matt Waters to tie the game. Herrera then flew out to Carlos Vega, and then nothing happened for almost an hour.

Bottom 5th, Gurney hit a leadoff single. He stole second, moved to third on a grounder by Herrera, and Maldonado walked on four pitches, and then… two strikeouts. Cristiano, tell me – what’s the odds that Bryce Toohey never not strikes out with a runner in scoring position again? … Thought so.

The Thunder had the bags full with Henderson, Jesus Adames, and Cedillo and one out in the sixth against Mathers, but Cullen Tortora popped out to third, and Brad Simon grounded out to Gurney. The Raccoons stuck with Mathers here because they had used all three of their lefty relievers on Monday, and none of them had helped them much. The Thunder bombarded Mathers with more lefty hitters in the seventh, but were sat down 1-2-3, and the Thunder got just as far in the eighth. That would be it for Mathers, gritting it out in a 2-2 game for eight innings. And the Coons had nobody on base either – it was not a great application for a potential CLCS matchup right now, was it? Brent Clark, in any case, made a mess on the field, putting Cedillo and Tortora on the corners with one out, and then left for Nelson Moreno, but Moreno threw a wild pitch at 2-2 to PH Steve Humphreys. I reached for the lacquer-laced bottle of Capt’n Coma I had prepared as the Thunder went up. Humphreys struck out, Ban grounded out, but the Coons were behind, and brought up the bottom of the order in the bottom 9th (not that the top had done ANYTHING useful). Kilmer popped out. Martell grounded out. Jimenez popped out. 3-2 Thunder. Mathers 8.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 K;

New York beat the Condors, 7-2, so they kept their magic number at five. The Elks lost to the Aces, 6-5, dropping theirs to four.

Yes, Maud, call the local artisanal blacksmith. We need those bum poles direly.

Game 3
OCT: RF Zurita – 3B Simon – SS R. Cox – 2B Cedillo – CF Tortora – 1B Phinazee – C Weese – LF E. Moore – P V. Marquez
POR: C Kilmer – CF Herrera – 1B Maldonado – RF Toohey – LF Fernandez – SS Waters – 2B Carreno – 3B Coen – P Capone

Capone allowed one hit in the first inning, in which he threw 36 pitches. The hit was a 2-run homer by Ryan Cox, and he walked three batters, all in full counts, lacking any stuff and drowning in a deluge of lefty batters. Like Tuesday, the Raccoons came back right away; Kilmer doubled, Herrera singled him in, and after Toohey reached on an error, Manny Fernandez hit an RBI single to right to tie the score. Then came Waters, taking a 1-1 pitch over the centerfield fence for a 5-2 lead. The Thunder scored two runs in 36 pitches? The Coons scored five runs in 15 pitches!

This remained the score through five. The Thunder got Ethan Moore on to begin the second inning, but Marquez bunted badly and got him doubled up. Capone then walked Zurita, who was caught stealing. The Thunder laid down after that, and the Coons had no intention to interrupt their snoozes again after the first inning, it seemed. Capone remained in long counts and barely made it through five innings. Mal Phinazee clanked one over the fence in right off Sean Marucci in the sixth, narrowing the score to 5-3, while Ben Coen, who didn’t get to play a lot, and probably didn’t know what he was doing, hit a 2-out double in the bottom of the inning, but was duly stranded by PH Jonathan Dustal. PH Jose Aviles then shoved a ball into the gap off Zack Kelly in the top 7th, legging out a leadoff triple. Kelly growled, got a short out from Zurita, 2-3, then struck out Simon and Cox to strand the runner.

And then the black Jon Craig broke. Herrera walked, stole second, and Maldo doubled him home in the bottom 7th, 6-3. Toohey got on, Manny hit an RBI single, and Waters hit a soft single to load the bases. The Thunder cycled through relievers, with the second out collected from Omar Gutierrez before Xavier Gomez walked in a run against Coen, then allowed two more runs to score on a single by Ruben Gonzalez (!). The Coons had reached double digits, Shedd grounded out for Kilmer, and now we longed to get the last two outs from the skinny end of the pen, Bowman and Barnes, without blowing a 7-run lead. The 4-5-6 went single, single, homer on Bowman, ending that plan. Bob Ibold worked out of the inning instead, while Herrera’s leadoff triple, a walk to Maldo, and a Jimenez single re-added to the lead in the bottom 8th against right-hander Brian Lacy. Ibold then put the game away for good. 11-6 Raccoons. Herrera 3-5, 3B, RBI; Jimenez 1-1, RBI; Fernandez 2-5, 2 RBI; Waters 2-5, HR, 3 RBI; Coen 1-2, 2 BB, 2B, RBI; Gonzalez (PH) 1-1, 2 RBI; Ibold 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

Whatever ******* works.

The opposition won their games on Wednesday; we were off on Thursday, but Crusaders played, then losing 8-7 to the Condors. By Thursday night, the magic number was three in relation to both the Crusaders and Canadiens.

Raccoons (88-64) vs. Indians (57-95) – September 22-24, 2045

…and we’d play three with the Indians! Just sayin’, boys. Just sayin’. We were up 11-4 this year against the #12 offense and #9 pitching in the CL. They had a -144 run differential and were bidding to become one of three, maybe even four 100-loss teams in the league this season. Bill Quinteros (back) was the only notable injury for them.

Projected matchups:
Sadaharu Okuda (10-10, 4.08 ERA) vs. Luis Anzaldo (5-5, 4.32 ERA)
Victor Merino (11-5, 3.11 ERA) vs. Ayden Cobb (12-9, 4.14 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (15-8, 2.40 ERA) vs. Chris Volk (8-14, 4.68 ERA)

They only had righty starters on hand.

Game 1
IND: SS Russ – CF N. Galvan – LF D. Rivera – 3B Walley – C Julian Diaz – 2B E. Vargas – 1B Huber – RF A. Aguilar – P Anzaldo
POR: 2B Gurney – CF Herrera – 1B Maldonado – RF Toohey – LF Fernandez – SS Waters – C Zarate – 3B Jimenez – P Okuda

As normal, the Raccoons were scored on early, with Danny Rivera doubling home Nelson Galvan in the first inning by beating Herrera in center with a long drive. But the Coons would be done with Anzaldo before three innings were over; Manny tied the game with a homer to right in the bottom 2nd before starting with Jimenez and including Okuda, the Coons fired off four straight 2-out singles, driving in two runs to go up 3-1. In the third then, Toohey grounded out to begin the inning, but Manny walked, Waters singled to right, and Zarate grounded out to advance them. The Indians put Jimenez on intentionally, but got burned by Okuda with a 2-run single to right-center… and then Gurney’s 3-run homer to right, exploding the score to 8-1. Reliever Tony Correa then walked three straight before Manny’s grounder was botched by Adam Huber for a run-scoring error. Waters flew out to Rivera, ending the 6-run third.

With Okuda solid, the Raccoons started to remove regulars in the sixth inning, hitting Martell for Waters, and Toohey and Herrera left after the inning. Okuda allowed one runner in the middle innings, but then gave up a run in the seventh, giving up a double to Julian Diaz and an RBI single to Huber, 9-2. Pat Gurney did not come out of the game, being unretired on nothing but hits. He singled off Joel Macy to begin the bottom 7th, with a 6-hit day still a possibility, although Dustal struck out and Maldo hit into a double play. Van Anderson singled home Brian Shedd, who had smacked a leadoff double in the bottom 8th, hitting for Zarate. Omar Gutierrez struck out, killing Gurney’s 6-hit bid, unless the Coons could explode for eight runs in the ninth inning. Sam Bowman allowed nothing instead. 10-2 Furballs! Gurney 5-5, HR, 4 RBI; Shedd 1-1, 2B; Anderson (PH) 1-1, RBI; Jimenez 2-2, BB; Okuda 8.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, W (11-10) and 2-3, 2 RBI;

While that riot was going on, the Crusaders and damn Elks played a double-header in New York. The Crusaders swept it, which eliminated the damn Elks from mathematical contention. Our magic number towards New York was now two.

Game 2
IND: SS Russ – CF N. Galvan – LF D. Rivera – 3B Walley – C Julian Diaz – 1B Lutch – 2B A. Avila – RF A. Aguilar – P A. Cobb
POR: 2B Gurney – CF Herrera – 1B Maldonado – RF Toohey – LF Fernandez – SS Waters – 3B Martell – C Kilmer – P Merino

For a novel idea, the Raccoons scored first, Manny driving home Maldo in the first inning on Saturday to take a 1-0 lead. I didn’t know baseball could work like that! That was it, though, nothing being added to it until Vince Lutch took it all away with an RBI single in the fourth inning after Merino had issued two leadoff walks. Arturo Aguilar reached on an infield single with one out, and somehow Merino bowed out with a strikeout to Cobb and a Russ grounder to short. Toohey, entirely silent since coming off the DL, hit a leadoff single in the bottom 4th, with Manny grounding to short, but Russ filed the ball away for an error. Waters grounded hard to first, the ball hit Lutch in the neck, and he was charged another error for that. Bases loaded, no outs … ack. Al Martell flew out to left in unhelpful fashion with not much pace on third in Toohey, but Jeff Kilmer hit a rocket through the right side for a 2-run double, taking a 3-1 lead…! Merino added an RBI single himself at 1-1, finding the hole between Russ and Chris Walley, before the inning ended with two weak groundouts.

So apart from shoddy weather – it started to rain in the fourth – the Coons seemed fine off. Up 4-1, Merino doing reasonably well, and maybe some help from the damn Elks to seal the deal right now. Galvan reached base to begin the fifth, but was doubled up by Rivera. Walley then reached on a 2-out walk before Merino ran a full count to Diaz… and walked him, too… and then didn’t stop rotating his shoulder, grimacing. I tried to faint, but couldn’t, being too shocked. Dr. Padilla removed Merino, with Bob Ibold taking over and sneaking into a possible W with a one-pitch groundout coaxed from Vince Lutch, but also added a 1-2-3 sixth before Enrique Vargas and Galvan hit singles off him in the seventh. Chuck Jones came in for Rivera, but allowed an RBI single. Preston Porter had to dig out of the inning with two grounders. Gurney countered with a sac fly after a leadoff triple by Van Anderson against righty Justin Johns in the bottom 7th, 5-2. From there, Jon Craig and Josh Rella tended to the lead and put the game away. 5-2 Coons. Anderson (PH) 1-1, 3B; Merino 4.2 IP, 8 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 2 K and 1-2, RBI;

The Crusaders eeked out a 5-4 win over the damn Elks, thus continuing to hope to Sunday. They only got that far in the last swing of the game, a come-from-behind walkoff homer by Willie Ojeda.

There was however no hope for Merino – Dr. Padilla reported a partial tear in the labrum on Sunday, and he was toast for ’45. And the Raccoons were running out of starting pitchers now. Tony Negrete, 1-1 with a 6.10 ERA in two games with the Coons, was rather urgently called to Portland. Sunday’s starter remained Wheats, though.

Game 3
IND: 1B S. Jennings – SS Russ – LF D. Rivera – CF N. Galvan – 2B D. Diaz – RF Crocker – C J. Rose – 3B J. Ramos – P Nichol
POR: 2B Gurney – SS Waters – 1B Maldonado – LF Fernandez – C Kilmer – CF Dustal – 3B Martell – RF Shedd – P Wheatley

Bill Nichol (14-14, 4.56 ERA) was entered into the Sunday game ultimately and got a 1-0 lead spotted in the first when Russ doubled home Steven Jennings right away against the prospective CL ERA king. Gurney reached base for Portland, with the team then hitting into two fielder’s choices before Manny found the wall in left for a 2-out double. Jeff Kilmer singled up the middle to plate both Maldo and Manny, flipping the score. Dustal also hit a single, but the inning ended with Martell. Not so in the fourth, when Dustal hit a 1-out single with nobody on, but was then chased around by a Martell double down the rightfield line to make it 3-1. That was 3-1 despite Wheats being wonky, allowing four hits and three walks in four messy innings. He walked Russ in the fifth, which quickly degenerated into Russ’ 41st stolen base, and Rivera’s grounder moved the runner to third with two outs. Manny caught a high fly from Galvan without panic, though, and the inning ended.

Wheatley held up, retiring another six in order before getting patted on the back during the seventh-inning stretch, allowing only the one run on four hits and walks each. The win got away, though – Nelson Moreno allowed a single to Galvan, then a game-tying homer to Danny Diaz in the eighth inning, getting everybody even at three. When Dustal hit a leadoff single in the bottom 8th, stole second, and was scored once again by Martell with another hit, it put Portland up 4-3, but no longer Wheatley… It actually went to Brent Clark, for now, who got the final out in the top 8th. Whether it would finally would stick with Clark, would depend on Josh Rella, facing 7-8-9 in a 4-3 game in the ninth inning. Jason Rose grounded out to Martell. Same for Jon Ramos. Julian Diaz singled to center. Jennings singled to left. PH Sergio Riquenes was hitting .139, and a switch-hitter. He would be Rella’s, but if the bags were full, Rivera would see Jones again. The bags didn’t fill up – Riquenes was down 0-1 before hitting a fly to right. Shedd came in a bit, posted himself, reached, and caught, and thus clinched the division for Portland…! 4-3 Critters. Kilmer 2-4, 2 RBI; Dustal 3-3, BB; Martell 2-3, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Wheatley 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 6 K;

In other news

September 18 – NAS 1B Alejandro Ramos (.309, 7 HR, 53 RBI) has five hits and is a triple shy of the cycle, driving in three runs in the Blue Sox’ 11-2 win over the Wolves.
September 22 – CIN INF/LF Chris Delgado (.321, 21 HR, 97 RBI) is out for the year with torn thumb ligaments.
September 24 – At age 40, DEN CL Yeom Soung (4-2, 1.67 ERA, 41 SV) nails down his 300th career save in a 1-0 win over the Pacifics. The sole run is courtesy of a home run by 3B Jeremy Hornig (.258, 8 HR, 44 RBI). Soung claimed his 300 saves in just ten seasons, joining the league from Korea at age 31. He was the Reliever of the Year twice and an All Star nine times! He has a 48-46 record and 2.62 career ERA.

FL Player of the Week: NAS 1B Alejandro Ramos (.310, 9 HR, 56 RBI), batting .444 (12-27) with 3 HR, 6 RBI
CL Player of the Week: NYC OF Danny Rico (.304, 15 HR, 97 RBI), poking .556 (15-27) with 1 HR, 5 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Well, they somehow shook the damn thing home! The Raccoons are entered into the CLCS with a sweep of the Arrowheads, and will now wait for whatever slithers out of the Thunder/Bayhawks/Falcons threesome in the South.

With Merino done, the Raccoons have to ask where they’ll find four starters in the playoffs. Wheats, Mathers, Okuda are all that are still standing while looking competent. Capone has some horrible stats – and so does Clark, who is completely outta whack.

Anyone remember Nelson Moreno was a starter? No, I don't want to either, but ...

Sunday was Wheats’ last go in the regular season – no point risking him in a meaningless game against Boston. We might use Sean Marucci as a spot starter, Negrete will slide in behind Wheats to start on Monday and Saturday to eat innings at least, but there’s no real other option amongst our relievers, and the seriousness of the situation demands we don’t dive down to bring up Bubba Wolinsky (9-7, 3.42 ERA in AAA) to make his major league debut in the CLCS.

Yes, Derek Baskins still exists and will totally come back next week.

Maud, I need a thicker paper bag to breathe into. This one doesn’t work. Or make it plastic.

Fun Fact: Christian Sarmasan is the only ABL player in history from Moldova.

That would be between Romania and Ukraine on your map of Not the Caribbean. His career was so brief it barely happened. He got into two games with the 2001 and 2002 Canadiens, and batted only once, striking out.

Born in rural Calarasi County in Romania in 1978, his family lived in Moldova when the entire region went through the hiccups in the early 90s, then made away to the US soon after, where Sarmasan was taken with the #59 pick by the Titans in the 1996 draft. An outfielder, he would spend 13 years in the minor leagues, drifting through five different organizations. In 255 games at the AAA level, he hit .241 with 22 homers, but it never translated into more extended spotlight time. He retired after the 2008 season.

Maud, is it true that Nick Valdes knows Sarmasan? – “Business partners in strategic waste disposal in Transnistria”? – No, I already know too much.