[Westheim]

Raccoons (91-58) vs. Thunder (93-56) – September 22-24, 2053

Final regular season home series! The Thunder could easily clinch their division in our park, but the Raccoons’ chance of clinching their own in the same were zilch. Anyway, the Thunder were first in runs scored and runs allowed, with a staggering +214 run differential. It was hard to make out weaknesses aside from a genuine lack of speed, with the team having only stolen 48 bases all year, second-lowest total in the Continental League. But if you’re heading for 800+ runs scored anyway, you’re probably doing *something* right. The season series stood in Oklahoma City’s favor, 4-2.

Projected matchups:
Seisaku Taki (14-10, 2.78 ERA) vs. Alfredo Llamas (12-11, 4.26 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (11-5, 2.89 ERA) vs. Mike Zeigler (13-11, 3.60 ERA)
Kyle Brobeck (10-4, 4.29 ERA) vs. David Barel (21-7, 1.99 ERA)

Right, left, left, and don’t you think Barel was leading that team in wins. Zach Boyer was 23-4 with a 2.70 ERA, but had pitched on Sunday and was not on the menu.

The Coons would give out a few select days off this week despite the off day on Thursday. Trying to keep everyone fresh – the important games would probably be the last three on the calendar.

Game 1
OCT: LF R. Cox – 2B Ban – SS Soberanes – 1B Worthington – RF Harmon – CF M. Allen – C Adames – 3B Sowards – P Llamas
POR: 3B Malkus – 2B Waters – LF Puckeridge – 1B Ramsay – C Gowin – CF Marroguin – SS Knight – RF Rivera – P Taki

Taki would in the future probably pitch from the second inning on in his starts, offering a leadoff walk to Ryan Cox and singles to Jonathan Ban and David Worthington for a quick 1-0 deficit before the Thunder stranded runners on the corners. Not that it got much better after that inning this time. He walked a pair in the third inning, and in the fourth allowed singles to Chris Sowards and Alfredo Llamas with two outs. Cox hit a belter to right – foul past the pole! All back to their marks, please. Nevermind, Cox hit another belter, this time the fair side of the right foul pole, 4-0. All this was against a Raccoons teams with no hits until Ramsay chipped a single in the bottom 4th. Matt Knight offered a single in the fifth. Neither hit led to much glory. Taki went back out for the sixth, gave up another hit to Llamas in loading the bases, then an RBI single to Jonathan Ban, then got yanked. Raul Cornejo replaced him, had nothing better to do than to give up another RBI single to Soberanes, and then was dumb/lucky enough that Ban ran himself and the rest of the Thunder out of the inning by getting caught in a rundown. The game was in the bin of course; the Coons’ third hit was not to occur until the eighth inning when Lonzo pinch-hit for Ryan Harmer, doubled, reached third on a wild pitch… and was stranded. Llamas threw another wild pitch after walking Ramsay with one out in the ninth, which ended up wrecking his shutout bid. Chris Gowin doubled to center, and Ramsay scored from second base. Knight singled home another run with two outs against Alex Mancilla, but that was it for rally qualities. 6-2 Thunder. Knight 2-4, RBI; Lavorano (PH) 1-1, 2B;

This putrid loss reduced our lead to five games, the Crusader knocking off the Condors in the meantime, 7-2.

Game 2
OCT: LF R. Cox – 2B Ban – SS Soberanes – 1B Worthington – RF Harmon – C Burnham – CF M. Allen – 3B Sowards – P Zeigler
POR: 3B Malkus – SS Lavorano – 2B Waters – LF Crum – 1B Ramsay – RF Lopez – C Philipps – CF Thomason – P Wheatley

While the Raccoons didn’t have a hit through three innings once more, Wheats retired the first seven batters in a row before Chris Sowards dinked in a single in the top 3rd. That was it, though, two pops getting him out of the inning. The sky only fell in the fourth inning, but when it fell, it *fell*. Leadoff walk to Ban, doubles smacked by Soberanes and Mike Harmon, and singles for Mike Allen and Sowards – three runs scored before Zeigler struck out to end the miserable inning. For Portland, Lonzo opened the bottom 4th with a single to right, stole second… and was stranded.

Uh-oh.

Ban’s double and Worthington’s single added another run in the fifth inning and the Thunder had Wheats chewed up by the sixth, although he finished the inning, despite a Sowards single and a walk to Zeigler (…), running three full counts but getting Cox to fly out to right to end the inning. Phil Baker then pitched two scoreless innings afterwards, because the baseball gods clearly had a wicked sense of humor. But Zeigler, too, would not finish the shutout, of which he had the 2-hit variant going into the ninth inning. Waters flew out to left to begin the inning, but Ken Crum snuck a single through the infielders to reach base. Ramsay then cranked a homer to right, cutting the 4-0 deficit in half. Gone was Zeigler – left-hander Gustavo Chapa replaced him. Tony Lopez’ groundout to third base and Pucks’ K ended the game anyway. 4-2 Thunder. Ramsay 1-2, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Baker 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K;

Phil Baker as Game 1 starter! At least the Thunder would be in the CLCS – they clinched their division with this victory.

The good news? The Condors won against New York, 5-4. Lead still five, magic number down to seven.

Game 3
OCT: LF R. Cox – CF M. Allen – SS Soberanes – 1B Worthington – RF Harmon – C Burnham – 2B E. Martin – 3B Sowards – P Barel
POR: 3B Malkus – SS Lavorano – 2B Waters – 1B Crum – LF Puckeridge – C Gowin – CF Marroguin – RF Rivera – P Brobeck

By Wednesday, the Raccoons were much closer to the Thunder’s offensive prowess! This time, NEITHER team got a base hit in the first three innings, which passed scorelessly as a consequence. It wasn’t until Soberanes hit a leadoff single in the fourth that somebody entered the H column, although Worthington, still day-to-day, but refusing to sit down, grounded into a double play to clean up the bases. Brobeck was less lucky, or should we say, more **** in the fifth inning, giving up a howling double to Sowards, which was one thing, and then an RBI single to Barel, which was entirely another. The Coons still had no hits, getting their first base knock only when Pucks singled to right to begin the bottom 5th, putting the tying run on base. Barel nicked Gowin with an 0-2 pitch, then hung a 2-0 to Marroguin that got taken into the gap for an RBI double. Pulled a bit harder, it would have been a 3-piece. The Thunder gave Oscar Rivera, the old .115 menace, directions to first base, preferring to pitch to Brobeck (.348, 0 HR, 6 RBI) with the bases loaded and nobody out. Brobeck promptly rapped a zinger over Sowards’ glove and into leftfield for a single. Gowin scored and Marroguin pressed on right behind him, giving the Coons a 3-1 lead before Malkus popped out and Lonzo cracked a sharp ball into a double play.

The Thunder pulled back a run right away in the sixth. Brobeck put Soberanes and Allen on the corners, then gave up a 2-out RBI single to Luke Burnham, a 3-2 pitch crammed through the left side to get the score to 3-2 as well, but Eric Martin whiffed to park a pair. The rest of the lead was blown with two outs in the seventh. Cox doubled off Brobeck to end his day. Vic Flores came on for Allen, was instead met by Jesus Adames, offered a walk, and then was replaced with Hitchcock in a double switch, but Hitchcock blew the lead anyway when Soberanes whacked an RBI single to left. Worthington grounded out to enter stretch time, all even at three. The Coons had a Waters single and a walk drawn by Naughty Joe, pinch-hitting in the spot vacated by Crum on the earlier double switch, but Pucks and Gowin couldn’t get the ball to fall in and the runners were stranded. Kevin Daley held the fort in the ninth inning, while Mancilla pitched for the Thunder in the home half of the inning. Run or extras! Marroguin struck out, but Crispin and Ramsay went to the corners with singles! Knight batted for a listless Malkus (0-for-4), but popped out, and Lonzo’s fly to deep right was snared by Mike Harmon, the nasty…!

Thus, extras. Daley was good for a second scoreless inning, and the Thunder went back to Mancilla in the bottom 10th as well. Waters whiffed, but Raczka singled for the pitcher. Pucks scratched out a walk, moving the winning run to second base, but there was no speed left on the bench and Raczka remained the winning run out there. Instead Tony Lopez batted for Gowin in the vain hope to stay out of the double play. And he did – he popped out instead! …as did Marroguin, extending the game further. Lillis pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the 11th, with righty Ryan Moore taking over for Mancilla for the Thunder. He threw just four pitches to Ed Crispin, the last of which was pounded out of the park to get the Thunder outta town. 4-3 Coons. Waters 2-5; Raczka (PH) 1-1; Marroguin 2-5, 2B, RBI; Crispin (PH) 2-2, HR, RBI; Daley 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K;

The Crusaders also won by one, holding off the Condors’ late charge for a 5-4 win. The magic number went down to six.

For funsies: the Elks were mathematically eliminated on this day.

On the way to Indy, Mikio Suzuki joined us from the DL for an extra left-handed outfield option.

Raccoons (92-60) @ Indians (77-75) – September 26-28, 2053

Road trip! Three cities to go to, four if we played our cards right in these last ten games. The Arrowheads were sixth in both runs scored and runs allowed, with a +2 run differential. The Coons led the season series, 9-6.

Projected matchups:
Victor Salcido (11-8, 4.05 ERA) vs. Larry Broad (12-8, 3.91 ERA)
Victor Scott (11-7, 3.94 ERA) vs. Carlos Malla (13-10, 2.99 ERA)
Seisaku Taki (14-11, 2.96 ERA) vs. James Powell (13-10, 3.53 ERA)

Another southpaw in this set, which would be Malla in the middle game.

Game 1
POR: SS Lavorano – 2B Waters – LF Puckeridge – 1B Ramsay – 3B Crispin – CF Suzuki – RF Lopez – C Raczka – P Salcido
IND: LF R. White – SS A. Rios – RF B. Quinteros – C Poindexter – 3B B. Anderson – CF C. Morris – 2B de Castro – 1B Alex Ramos – P Broad

For the fourth time in four games this week, the Raccoons had no base knock the first time through, and no run in the first three innings, either, but at least Salcido held his post against the Indians similarly. Ed Crispin popped a jack to right for the game’s first run in the fourth inning, which gave Crispin two go-ahead homers in his last three at-bats. Suzuki and Lopez went to the corners afterwards, only for Raczka to wrap up the inning with a double play grounder. That was about it, while Salcido blew the skinny lead in the bottom 6th, giving up a double to Alex Ramos before conceding the run on Broad’s groundout and a passed ball charged to Raczka. It remained 1-1 through eight innings, all offered up by the starters, with both sides only putting up five hits each, and making the very least of them. Righty David Williams got the ninth inning, with Crispin leading off, but the Coons went in order. Vic Flores came out for the bottom 9th – and much the opposite didn’t record an out. Antonio Rios doubled, advanced on a wild pitch, and scored on Bill Quinteros’ single up the middle. 2-1 Indians. Lopez 2-4; Salcido 8.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 K;

New York? Smothered the Loggers, 12-5. Four games now, that lead…

Game 2
POR: 3B Malkus – SS Lavorano – 2B Waters – 1B Crum – LF Puckeridge – C Gowin – CF Marroguin – RF Thomason – P Scott
IND: CF C. Morris – SS Llampallas – RF B. Quinteros – 3B B. Anderson – C Poindexter – 2B A. Rios – LF Ragen – 1B de Castro – P Malla

Rain messed with the game from the start, with a brief delay as early as the second inning, while the Raccoons for once even managed a damn base hit the first time through, a Gowin single, but couldn’t get close to sniffing a run. Everything else was just as annoying, like Scott giving up hits to the 8-9 batters the first time through without allowing a run, then Malkus throwing away Bobby Anderson’s 2-out grounder in the third inning for two bases, which Manny Poindexter immediately pounced on and slapped an RBI single to center.

Down 1-0, the Coons got a leadoff single from Lonzo in the fourth inning, soon followed by Waters doubling to right. Lonzo had to hold with Quinteros getting close to the ball, but there was a pair in scoring position to begin the inning. Crum crummily popped out, but Pucks, who had yet to get an RBI or much of a hit this week, singled to center to flip the score to 2-1 Coons. He scored with two outs following singles for Marroguin to left and Thomason to right; the inning ended with Scott grounding out to Bobby Anderson. He then twiddled the fourth together, but in the fifth walked the ******* bases full and gave up four runs in a space of four pitches on Poindexter and Rios drives for a 2-run single and a 2-run double, respectively. Ryan Harmer replaced him, but gave up an RBI triple to de Castro before the inning was over, putting the Coons in a 6-3 hole.

Somehow, the game wasn’t quite in the bin yet – the tying run would be on base with nobody out in the seventh, for example. Marroguin and Thomason reached base to begin the inning, and Tony Lopez hit an RBI single in the pitcher’s spot. Malkus dropped another one of those in between Quinteros and Morris, 6-5, and then Bill McMichael struck out Lonzo and got a double play grounder from Waters. (groans!) The Raccoons went to Hitchcock with the game tight. He also didn’t retire any of the first four batters, which was such a thrill. Single, single, single, walk… and after a Morris sac fly, eventually, a 3-run homer by Quinteros. It was the second 5-spot for the Indians in the ******* game, while somehow Bobby Anderson managed to get ejected after striking out against Medrano afterwards. Medrano, too, didn’t retire any of the first four batters in the eighth inning. He was yanked for Cornejo, who kept ******* around, and gave up a grand slam to Juan Llampallas (who?) after two runs were already home. Eric Reese finished the ******* game. 17-5 Indians. Marroguin 2-4; Thomason 2-3, BB, RBI; Lopez (PH) 1-1, RBI;

Bit of a **** show.

The Loggers offered up a 9-5 win over the Crusaders, so the Coons remained up by four. The magic number was five.

Maybe the Loggers could win one more on Sunday. We could really use that.

Game 3
POR: 3B Crispin – SS Lavorano – RF Puckeridge – 1B Ramsay – LF Crum – C Gowin – CF Suzuki – 2B Boese – P Taki
IND: LF R. White – SS Clover – RF B. Quinteros – C Poindexter – 3B B. Anderson – 2B N. Fernandez – CF Ragen – 1B Alex Ramos – P J. Powell

Naughty Joe’s leadoff single in the third inning narrowly avoided not getting a hit the first time through FIVE times in a week. A bunt and a pop followed, but Lonzo beat Allen Ragen’s reach for a triple in the deepest part of centerfield for the game’s first run. Pucks singled him home, too, but then was caught stealing to end the inning. It was the Arrowheads that didn’t get a base knock for a while. Quinteros hit a single off Taki, who otherwise had only a walk against him, in the bottom 4th, but was doubled up by the catcher Poindexter to kill the inning. It was a single per inning for the Indians in those middle innings; Ragen singled in the fifth and stole second, but was left on, and when Rusty White singled in the sixth, he was also doubled up by Chase Clover. The Coons were mostly silent in the middle innings, although Ramsay had a deep fly out, being retired by Quinteros right against the fence, and Quinteros opened the seventh with a deep fly to left, but that one was also snatched on the track by Ken Crum. Taki retired the next two in order as well, and needed only 69 pitches through seven innings.

The Raccoons could not get some tack-on offense mounted, but Taki retired Nick Fernandez, Allen Ragen, and Alex Ramos in order in the bottom 8th on just 13 more pitches mostly to Ragen, who struck out in a full count. Crum’s 1-out walk in the ninth was all that was going on there, and so the score remained 2-0 into the bottom 9th. (gleans at the scoreboard) And the Crusaders were leading in Milwaukee. But Taki had needed just *82* pitches on a 3-hitter…! SURELY he had that one! Josh Hare struck out. Rusty White popped out, though both fought for six pitches each. Clover for the gold! …full count, walk, and Quinteros up as the tying run, which was a situation where we wouldn’t necessarily want to throw in Daley either. But whom? Flores had already crapped on a game this week, and Sencion… I don’t know, Sencion was suspect to me now, despite a very decent season after being recalled from AAA early. Taki though also walked Quinteros, and now the Coons had to move. Daley came out to face Poindexter. Full count, single. Clover scored, Quinteros to second with the tying run. Bobby Anderson shot a spanker to the left side, Lonzo lunged, plunged, lobbed to second – and Matt Waters contained the ball for the third out. 2-1 Blighters. Taki 8.2 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 7 K, W (15-11);

In other news

September 23 – 60 (!) players are involved in the Titans’ 10-9 win over the Bayhawks that takes a whopping 16 innings to complete after the Titans secure a tie in the ninth, both teams score in the 13th, and INF Jose Alvarez (.278, 1 HR, 8 RBI), a 23-year-old rookie, secures the W with a walkoff single in the 16th inning.
September 24 – A concussion ends the season of Pacifics infielder Gustavo Miguel (.306, 9 HR, 44 RBI).
September 24 – Also done for 2053 is CHA LF/RF Danny Ceballos (.336, 4 HR, 52 RBI), who had suffered an oblique strain.
September 25 – The career of MIL OF/1B Phil Steinbacher (.252, 8 HR, 73 RBI) ends with a skull fracture after running into the outfield wall in a 6-3 loss to the Knights the day before. The 25-year-old would survive, but would surely be told to lay off the contact sports from here on out. Steinbacher batted .264 with 15 HR, 116 RBI, and 45 SB in a career spanning just 235 games.
September 26 – VAN SP Anton Jesus (11-9, 4.70 ERA) shines in a 1-hit shutout of the Titans, who only get a double from Angel Montes de Oca (.279, 1 HR, 12 RBI) and nothing else in a 5-0 loss.
September 26 – Condors rookie 1B John Rosenstiel (.327, 1 HR, 8 RBI) grabs his first major league homer in the most welcome spot – a walkoff blast to end a 15-inning affair against the Knights for a 8-7 win.
September 27 – Another September call-up delivers a late walkoff knock when WAS 2B Jake Ritter (.263, 0 HR, 4 RBI) walks off the Capitals against the Rebels, 2-1 in 16 innings.
September 27 – Dallas right-hander Preston Porter (3-3, 7.02 ERA) will undergo surgery to repair a tear in his rotator cuff, but should be ready for Opening Day.

FL Player of the Week: DEN LF/CF Sandy Castillo (.323, 12 HR, 66 RBI), batting .462 (12-26) with 2 HR, 7 RBI
CL Player of the Week: NYC RF/LF Danny Rivera (.297, 17 HR, 110 RBI), hitting .600 (12-20) with 2 HR, 6 RBI

Complaints and stuff

The Crusaders held on in Milwaukee on Sunday, winning 4-2, which left the gap at four games, which was just one more than the Crusaders had games left against the Coons, and all that AFTER a four-game set in Elk City.

POR (93-62) – VAN (4), NYC (3) – .548 – 95.1% (-1.9%)
NYC (89-66) – IND (4), POR (3) – .548 – 4.9% (+1.9%)

Also, perhaps unnoticed in the tumultuous final inning in Indy, Lonzo complained of pains after making that lunge and plunge for the final out, so that was something to be concerned about. We already scored negative six runs this week. With Lonzo out, we can just as well let the Crusaders mess around with the Thunder…..

I have to fly home to Portland now. I need to seek comfort from Honeypaws.

And Capt’n Coma.

Fun Fact: Victor Salcido’s 11-2 win over the Aces last week was the 6,500th regular season W for the franchise.

I guess that went under a bit in everything else.