[Westheim]

Raccoons (61-88) vs. Thunder (85-63) – September 16-18, 2052

The Thunder had looked on with interest while the Knights had stumbled over the Coons on the weekend, which got Oklahoma to within a game of the CL South lead – and that with the Raccoons out of the playoff picture. For once, the pennant was possible for them! They were up 4-2 on the Critters this year, and had the #1 offense and the fifth-fewest runs allowed in the CL.

Projected matchups:
Seisaku Taki (14-7, 2.62 ERA) vs. Mike Zeigler (10-9, 3.72 ERA)
Phil Baker (3-1, 4.40 ERA) vs. Ben Lehman (7-2, 4.59 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (5-9, 4.11 ERA) vs. Zach Boyer (12-5, 4.01 ERA)

Zeigler was the only left-handed starter for the Thunder.

Game 1
OCT: LF R. Cox – 2B Ban – SS Soberanes – 1B Worthington – C S. Suggs – 3B R. Sifuentes – CF M. Allen – RF Benavides – P Zeigler
POR: SS Lavorano – 3B Sivertson – 2B Waters – LF Crum – RF Glodowski – C Brewer – 1B Maldonado – CF Thomason – P Taki

Sean Suggs was hitting .301 since leaving Portland, because why wouldn’t he, but killed the first inning with a double play grounder when the Thunder already had a run on the board through Jonathan Ban’s double and a single by Ed Soberanes, after which Taki had walked David Worthington. That was a popular recipe to get lit up by the Thunder – but guys on base rather indiscriminately… Suggs made up for the early failure with a go-ahead home run in the fourth inning, which sugged, and put the Thunder ahead 2-1. The Coons had made up the deficit in the second inning on a walk drawn by Crum, a Glodowski hit, and ultimately a run-scoring wild pitch… Crum and Glodowski found a way on base again in the bottom 4th, then with Crum getting nicked and Glodowski finding another hit with a single into left. Aaron Brewer added another single, loading the bases, all with two outs, before Zeigler walked in the tying run against Maldo. Worse (for him) yet, Nick Thomason bashed a bases-clearing triple over the head of Mike Allen to mark a 5-2 lead for the Critters.

…which the Thunder almost made up in the sixth inning, whacking four hits for two runs off Taki. Ramon Sifuentes and Juan Benavides drove in Soberanes and Worthington to get back to within a run of the home team. Johns, Snyder, and Reese collected six outs from there without accident to get through eight, but at the same time Felix Alvarez pitched three innings of shutdown long relief for the Thunder, so the Raccoons weren’t getting away with the game, either. Hitchcock appeared for the fourth time in five days, and looked off from the start. He walked Jesus Adames, pinch-hitting in the #8 spot, to get going. Luke Burnham popped out, Ryan Cox whiffed, but Jonathan Ban reached on an infield single with two outs. Oh, why, just why… Soberanes was up, batting .300 with 25 homers, and he hit a scorcher – right at Lonzo, who snatched the ball for the final out. 5-4 Raccoons. Glodowski 2-3, 2B;

We were not only out-hit in this game, we were out-hit by more than 2:1, with 11 hits for Oklahoma and just a pawful for the Coons. No idea how that amounted for a win…

Game 2
OCT: LF R. Cox – 2B Ban – SS Soberanes – 1B Worthington – C S. Suggs – 3B R. Sifuentes – CF M. Allen – RF Benavides – P Lehman
POR: 2B Waters – SS Lavorano – LF Perez – 1B Crum – RF Rivera – CF Suzuki – 3B Crispin – C Raczka – P Baker

Baker faced seven in the first two innings, retired six on poor grounders or infield pops, and looked like he might go a while in this game. No idea what happened between innings then, but he must have been exchanged for lookalike impostor Doofus Mc********* after that, because the third inning was beyond belief. Juan Benavides opened with a single to center. Baker then misfielded Lehman’s bunt to second base, late, and everybody was safe. Cox grounded into a fielder’s choice, but Jonathan Ban singled home a run, and when Soberanes hit a comebacker, Baker tried his luck at second base again, but this time through the ball behind Lonzo’s back for an error and another run for Oklahoma, 2-0. Worthington and Suggs mercifully grounded out when I fully expected at least one of them to hit a 7-run homer. Baker only lasted five innings, the last three of them messy, although the Thunder failed to score any more runs on him, or on Dave Saldivar, who loaded the bags in the sixth with a walk, a single, and hitting Cox’ thumb with a hammer, although Ban then grounded out to strand a full set, while Cox was replaced with Fernando Bonilla. The Raccoons tried to get three innings from Saldivar, but got only two and two thirds and a homer by Mike Allen. Snyder and Medrano finished the game out after that. 3-0 Thunder. Crum 2-3, BB, 2B;

You may have noticed that no specifics about the Raccoons’ offensive attempts were dissected in the above recapitulation of the game. But I had to promise my priest to speak less ill of imbeciles.

Game 3
OCT: LF R. Cox – 2B Ban – SS Soberanes – 1B Worthington – C S. Suggs – 3B R. Sifuentes – CF M. Allen – RF Benavides – P Boyer
POR: 2B Waters – SS Lavorano – LF Perez – 1B Crum – RF Rivera – C Brewer – CF Suzuki – 3B Blackshire – P Wheatley

There were still three starts left for Wheatley, who was 17.1 innings short of reaching 162 for the year thanks to the injury start. Not that he was gonna finish highly on any rate list – but just getting there after all was something like damage control for everybody involved at this point.

The first hit Wheatley was involved with was a single of his own in the bottom 3rd, which sent Mikio Suzuki to third base with one out and opened the door for Matt Waters to plough through and straight into a 4-6-3 double play, keeping the game scoreless. The Coons scored in the fourth, though, when with two outs Crum singled, Rivera walked, and Aaron Brewer grounded lazily to the right side. Boyer intercepted the ball ahead of Suggs, and threw it wildly past Worthington for a run-scoring, 2-base error before angrily striking out Suzuki. Mike Allen broke up Wheatley’s no-hitter with a 2-out single in the fifth before it could become a real thing, then threw away a pickoff attempt with Ban on second and two outs the inning after, but still got out Soberanes on the next pitch, maintaining the 1-0 lead.

Boyer walked the first three batters in the bottom 6th, which made for two on, one out, since Lonzo was caught stealing before Perez and Crum arrived, and then Rivera rumbled into a double play. Back-to-back hits by Soberanes and Worthington took the lead away in the seventh after all, but Wheats clawed and scratched his way through eight innings, trying to regain it – in vain, so far. His spot led off the bottom 8th, with Crispin bravely grounding out in his spot. Waters singled through the right side with two Gold Glovers, though, and then got an early start on Perez’ 2-out hit up the leftfield line. Perez went for the double, while Waters went for home, and a bobble on the relay meant he arrived safely to give Wheatley a posthumous 2-1 lead…. which the Coons then gave to Brett ******* Lillis jr. with a lefty-leaning bottom of the order and Hitchcock being overworked. The Thunder responded with righty pinch-hitters, but Luke Burnham came closest leading off the inning with a long fly to right that was caught by Rivera. The Thunder went down in order. 2-1 Raccoons. Wheatley 8.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 5 K, W (6-9) and 1-2;

100 losses? Avoided!

Tah!

Raccoons (63-89) @ Indians (83-69) – September 20-22, 2052

Off to the road then for the last ten games, three of which would be at the North’s second-place team. The Indians were still within reach of the postseason, and had the Coons in a 12-3 chokehold for the year. They needed the wins, and they wanted the wins…! They were sixth in runs scored, and third in runs allowed. They were also still without Chaz Kokel and Chase Clover.

Projected matchups:
Cameron Argenziano (0-6, 4.48 ERA) vs. Steve Miles (10-5, 3.44 ERA)
Rafael de la Cruz (10-11, 3.13 ERA) vs. Bill Nichol (7-5, 3.93 ERA)
Seisaku Taki (15-7, 2.72 ERA) vs. Enrique Ortiz (16-8, 2.54 ERA)

Only right-handed pitchers coming up here for the Arrowheads.

Game 1
POR: SS Lavorano – LF Perez – 1B Crum – RF Rivera – C Brewer – 3B Crispin – CF Thomason – 2B Blackshire – P Argenziano
IND: CF A. Mendez – SS de Castro – RF B. Quinteros – 3B B. Anderson – C Poindexter – LF S. King – 1B Lovell – 2B A. Rios – P S. Miles

Lonzo was caught stealing again in the first, but put the first run on the board in the third inning when he hit a sac fly to left to bring in Dave Blackshire, who had opened the inning with a double to left. Fernando Perez’ homer then immediately extended the lead to 2-0, but of course there wasn’t a lead on Earth that Cameron Argenziano couldn’t get rid off. Winless Boy offered leadoff walks in the bottom 3rd and 4th innings, conceding the former runner on his own throwing error, and then gave up a leadoff single to Alex de Castro in the fifth, with that tying run doubled home with a sharp howler to left off the bat of Bobby Anderson.

A Crum triple and Rivera single gave the Coons a new lead in the sixth inning, 3-2, and somehow Argenziano didn’t blow that one in his final inning, despite another leadoff hit for Pat Lovell and a Lonzo error. De Castro flew out to end the inning. The Coons then actually tacked on a pair; Thomason and Blackshire reached to begin the seventh as Miles faltered for good. Suzuki’s sac fly and Perez’ single each brought home one of the runners, 5-2, and it looked like the maiden win for Winless Boy might actually materialize this time.

And then came Paul Crisler and cluelessly loaded the bases in the bottom 8th. Scott King singled. Antonio Rios singled sharply. Josh Hare drew a walk in the #9 hole. One out and the top of the order, with left-hander Dan Allen pinch-hitting and getting matched with – since Lillis had done the seventh – Reese. Allen promptly hit a duck snort to Rivera’s feet, Rivera bobbled it briefly, and two runs scored, 5-4. De Castro grounded into a fielder’s choice and Bill Quinteros struck out to strand runners on the corners, though. AND we’d have Hitchcock, AND we had Dave Blackshire peppering his first career homer off Heath Turner in the ninth inning…! The bottom 9th was quick and efficient, and Argenziano actually got his first big league win in his 2584384th attempt. 6-4 Coons. Lavorano 3-4, RBI; Perez 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Blackshire 3-4, HR, 2 2B, RBI;

Yes, we’re pointlessly dawdling away the #1 pick AND helping the damn Elks to the division.

Game 2
POR: 2B Waters – CF Perez – 1B Crum – LF Rivera – SS Sivertson – C Philipps – 3B Crispin – RF Maldonado – P de la Cruz
IND: LF R. White – CF A. Mendez – 1B B. Quinteros – 3B B. Anderson – C Poindexter – RF S. King – 2B A. Rios – SS de Castro – P En. Ortiz

The first three Coons reached (Waters on an error), and the next three made outs, plating one (Waters on a groundout) for an early 1-0 lead. The first three were on *again* in the second inning for Portland with Crispin walking, Maldo singling, and de la Cruz reaching when Ortiz took his bunt to third base – late. Waters plated one run – on a de Castro error. Perez singled home two, and Crum singled home another run … but Perez was thrown out at home plate. Everything was a bit of a mess. Rivera grounded out, but then Ortiz walked the bags full and gave up a 397-footer to Ed Crispin – GRAAAAAAAAND SLAAAAAAAAAMMMM!!!

Maldo then doubled off Wook-jin Kym replacing the fallen Ortiz – who had been second in ERA in the CL – but also finally had his old man body give out and limped off the field with Dr. Padilla in short order. Glodowski replaced him and was stranded by Raffy, but it was 9-0, with six runs on Ortiz being unearned. Raffy meanwhile turned a 9-run lead into a masterclass in inefficiency, throwing almost 80 pitches through five innings while bleeding four runs, including a pair on a Quinteros homer in the fifth. The Coons in between tacked on a pair on back-to-back RBI doubles for Rivera and Sivertson, so through five we were at a wonky 11-4 score. Raffy got five more outs, then walked Rusty White in the bottom 7th and was yanked. Harmer and Salcido pitched the game to conclusion. 11-4 Raccoons. Perez 2-4, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Crum 2-5, RBI; Rivera 2-5, 2 2B, RBI; Crispin 1-3, 2 BB, HR, 4 RBI; Maldonado 2-2, 2B; Glodowski 2-3, 2B; Samples (PH) 1-1;

Game 3
POR: SS Lavorano – LF Perez – 2B Waters – RF Rivera – CF Thomason – 3B Blackshire – C Raczka – 1B Samples – P Taki
IND: 2B A. Rios – LF Hare – 1B B. Quinteros – 3B B. Anderson – C Poindexter – CF Locke – RF Lovell – SS Ed. Ortiz – P Brink

Tan Brink (16-10, 2.90 ERA) was supposed to stop the bleeding, but gave up a triple to Lonzo and an RBI single to Perez to begin the Sunday game as the Indians’ postseason bid continued to unravel. But the Coons soon strung up zeroes on the board – for the next three innings their only base runner was Perez with another single – and Taki took a tumble in the bottom of the fourth. Leadoff walks to Josh Hare and Bill Quinteros were bad enough, even though the Indians then made two weak outs, a groundout for Anderson and a pop for Manny Poindexter. But Philip Locke singled over Waters with two outs and Rivera completely bulldozed that play into not only the tying, but also the go-ahead run with a capital flub of the baseball.

Brink responded with two nicked Coons – Taki and Lonzo – and a walk to Perez, but Waters struck out and Rivera grounded out to keep all of them stranded in the top of the fifth. Instead, Edwin Ortiz hit a leadoff double, and Antonio Rios singled to center. Ortiz made for home, and here was another terrible throw from the outfield, this time Thomason, and the run scored. Oh hold on, I think Thomason’s arm just came off. (sigh!) He left the game with Dr. Padilla as well, and Suzuki took over his spot. Jim Larson and Dave Saldivar gave up another run in the seventh inning to fall 4-1 behind, but then Brink offered leadoff singles to the 2-3-4 batters in the eighth inning, packing the bags with Critters and zero outs. Suzuki floated out to Hare in shallow left. Ken Crum batted for Blackshire … and wobbled into a 6-4-3 inning-ending double play. Heath Turner retired Brewer, Samples, and Glodowski in order in the ninth inning to salvage one game for Indy. 4-1 Indians. Perez 3-4, RBI;

In other news

September 16 – The Gold Sox beat the Cyclones, 7-2, to clinch the FL West for the year.
September 19 – NYC OF Matt Ward (.182, 2 HR, 2 RBI) hits a home run for the only marker in a 1-0 win over the Aces.
September 19 – The Falcons win a rain-shortened game from the Thunder, 2-0 with only seven innings completed. CHA SP Tyler Weems (6-3, 3.39 ERA) gets credit for a 1-hit shutout. Only OCT C Jesus Adames (.299, 10 HR, 62 RBI) lands a single off him.
September 20 – Tijuana OF Dustin Ransford (.276, 3 HR, 37 RBI) is out for the year with a partially torn labrum.
September 21 – A homer, two doubles, two singles, and four RBI are the total damage Atlanta’s Chris Kirkwood (.285, 23 HR, 88 RBI) does to the Thunder in a pivotal 11-2 rout.
September 22 – The Falcons suffer a capital ninth-inning meltdown, giving up 10 runs to the Condors on their way to a 12-7 loss.

FL Player of the Week: DEN 1B Chris Rice (.385, 6 HR, 17 RBI), batting .615 (8-13) with 5 HR, 11 RBI
CL Player of the Week: LVA UT Jim White (.266, 4 HR, 86 RBI), hitting .458 (11-24) with 1 HR, 5 RBI

Complaints and stuff

While we tripped up the Indians, the Loggers took two of three from the damn Elks, so on the weekend the lead in the North didn’t budge. The damn Elks are still two games ahead of the Indians. Oh I wish the boys could win a few games in Elk City next week, but alas…

Maldo made it *almost* all the way to the finish line of his final season in Portland – I hope nobody was expecting an extension. (Maldo coughs in the background) Dr. Padilla hasn’t said anything yet, and it’s hard to find a specific injury in legs beaten up that bad, but I don’t expect him to take the field again.

Also out is Nick Thomason with a strained hamstring. The Coons will thus probably add another outfielder for the final week.

Fun Fact: Sunday was the 5,900th regular season defeat for the Raccoons, and it also clinched our first 90-loss season since 2032.

Against 6,407 wins.

Also, there is something with years ending in 2. The Coons lost 94 games in that wretched 2032 season. Before that, the prior 90-loss campaign is 2022, with 91 losses.

There’s something with years ending in 2 here…!