[Westheim]

Sorry there. Played other things on Monday, wasn’t in the mood on Tuesday, and fell asleep while lying down “just five minutes” yesterday. I still love the Coonie Coons, and I hope you haven’t gnawed the claws off all four of your paws while waiting for the resolution to the (regular) season.

+++

Raccoons (90-66) @ Crusaders (81-74) – September 28-30, 2054

The Coons took a 1 1/2 game lead into the final week of the regular season, and over the stinky Elks to boot. No collapse á la 2053 was permitted, even though the Crusaders chose to somehow get involved in this 3-game set starting on Monday. The season series here was still up for grabs, with New York 8-7 ahead, although they had eventually fallen away with the second-worst rotation in the CL. They gave up the eighth-most runs overall, while scoring the fifth-most, with a +36 run differential (Coons: +54).

Projected matchups:
He Shui (17-8, 2.52 ERA) vs. Jeff Johnson (11-11, 3.96 ERA)
Kyle Brobeck (7-5, 3.82 ERA) vs. Edwin Sopena (9-13, 4.39 ERA)
Seisaku Taki (9-10, 3.44 ERA) vs. Dave Washington (7-7, 4.67 ERA)

Right, right, left. Also, a spectacular pile of injuries that left the Crusaders without Thompson, Gates, Caballero, Seidman, Russ (hiss!), White, and a few fringe pitchers. The Coons would not get Pickett or Waters back this year, but would probably activate Ed Crispin during this series.

What boost.

Game 1
POR: LF Crum – SS Lavorano – 1B Ramsay – C Gowin – RF Brassfield – 3B Venegas – CF Puckeridge – 2B Knight – P Shui
NYC: 2B C. Navarro – CF G. Cabrera – SS O. Sanchez – RF D. Rivera – 1B Sevilla – C Kissler – LF Foss – 3B D. Wagner – P J. Johnson

Pucks gave the Coons a lead in the second inning, grounding out to second base when Brassfield (walk) and Venegas (double) were waiting in scoring position with one out. Knight left Anton Venegas on base, but would prove more useful the next time he came up, then with Venegas and Pucks on the corners in the fifth inning and nobody out. Knight singled to center past a reaching Chris Navarro, upping the score to 2-0 behind Shui, who was on five strikeouts against three singles after four innings. The inning ground to a screeching halt after the Knight RBI single; Knight was caught stealing, Shui struck out, and Crum flew out to Danny Rivera, who would finally get to Shui in the sixth inning, hitting his 25th homer to left and narrowed the score to 2-1.

That was all that Shui gave up in his bid for win #18, while Johnson kept pitching in the eighth inning, but nicked Matt Knight to start it and after a K to Coxie gave up a single to Ken Crum. Lonzo struck out, but Rams PUNCHED a 3-run homer to right, and that looked like some welcome breathing room indeed! Lillis followed Shui and struck out Omar Sanchez and Rivera in a scoreless eighth, even though Raul Sevilla hit a 2-out single. Aaron Foss hit a double off Hyun-soo Bak to begin the bottom 9th, but the next three Crusaders all made meek outs to end the game. 5-1 Coons. Knight 1-2, BB; Shui 7.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, W (18-8);

Even better, the Elks lost at home to the Indians, enlarging our lead to 2 1/2 games.

Game 2
POR: LF Crum – SS Lavorano – 1B Ramsay – C Gowin – CF Puckeridge – 3B Venegas – RF Cox – 2B Knight – P Brobeck
NYC: 2B C. Navarro – CF G. Cabrera – SS O. Sanchez – RF D. Rivera – 1B Sevilla – C Kissler – LF Bednarz – 3B D. Wagner – P Sopena

After two quick and fruitless innings, Coxie and Knight opened the top 3rd with a double-whammy, hitting back-to-back homers off Sopena, who went on to walk Brobeck and surrender that run on a Lonzo single with one out to find a quick 3-0 hole for himself. Not that we weren’t wary of Brobeck’s pitching – he was tip-toeing his way around disaster, f.e. in the third inning where he nicked Darrell Wagner and walked Chris Navarro, and then somehow got two outs from Gil Cabrera and Sanchez without giving up any runs, but even though he was occasionally wild and needed 75 pitches through five innings, the Crusaders got only two hits off him during that time and no runs whatsoever.

Top 6th, the Coons had the 3-4-5 batters on base after Sopena hit Ramsay, Gowin doubled, and Pucks drew a walk – all with nobody out. Crispin batted for Venegas and lined out to the pitcher, Cox whiffed, and Knight found a hole on the left side to hit a 2-run single through, 5-0 – phew. Brobeck, who had walked twice in the game, flew out to Rivera to end the inning. Three singles by Lonzo, Rams, and Gowin added another run in the seventh inning, that one coming off Neal Hamann. Brobeck would pitch 7.1 innings on 105 pitches without giving up a run, and Matt Walters collected the last five outs for a combined 3-hit shutout of the Crusaders. 6-0 Raccoons! Lavorano 3-5, RBI; Gowin 2-5, 2B, RBI; Knight 2-4, HR, 3 RBI; Brobeck 7.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 4 K, W (8-5) and 0-2, 2 BB; Walters 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K;

The Elks took eight runs again, and failed to score nine themselves, losing 8-3 to the Indians.

Coons thus up by 3 1/2, and now the magic number was two, meaning the division could be decided as early as Wednesday…!

Game 3
POR: 1B Crum – SS Lavorano – 3B Venegas – LF Brassfield – RF Cox – C Philipps – CF Tenazes – 2B Knight – P Taki
NYC: 2B C. Navarro – CF G. Cabrera – SS O. Sanchez – RF D. Rivera – 1B Sevilla – C Seidman – LF Buss – 3B D. Wagner – P Washington

There was ugly weather on the way, so we wouldn’t mind leading after five, but after Ken Crum opened the game by drawing a walk, Lonzo struck out and Venegas found a double play. Instead, Gil Cabrera’s triple and a Sanchez sac fly gave the Crusaders a lead in the bottom 1st. While no Coons offense came early, the rain sure did and we had a rain delay as early as the third inning, and it took well over an hour. At that point, Knight was on first with a single and there was one out. The Coons had Taki bunt and eventually didn’t score – but he had thrown only 24 pitches so far and maybe was still good. Not bloody quite – he walked two and gave up a run on a Cabrera single in the bottom 3rd, and was not back after that.

Washington was also gone soon after giving up a triple to Lonzo and plating him with a wild pitch for a Coons run in the fourth inning. Alfaro pitched the fourth, then was hit for with Ed Crispin with two outs in the top 5th. Crispin doubled to right, but him and the tying run were stranded on Crum’s fly out. Luke Ostler pitched two scoreless innings for Portland after that, then was hit for in the top 7th after Knight was nicked by Tim Abraham with two outs. Gowin walked in his spot, but Crum now struck out to defuse any sort of offense. Ryan Harmer pitched a 1-2-3 bottom 7th… and then there was a second rain delay, taking another hour of our precious time. Since the game had playoff implications, the umps chose to sit it out, and were proven right when the rain subsided sooner this time and we went back to playing after some 50 minutes. We just still weren’t winning, and didn’t get any closer to winning in the bottom 8th when Eloy Sencion gave up a run on a leadoff walk to Sanchez, a Mike Bednarz double, and a single by Raul Sevilla, with Bednarz caught in a rundown on the play. So the Coons had to make up two runs against Willie Cruz in the ninth inning – Cox lined out to Cabrera, but Tyler Philipps singled to left. Tenazes socked a double up the leftfield line, and now the tying runs were in scoring position with one out. Pucks batted for Knight and struck out, and Ramsay batted for the pitcher and grounded out to Navarro… 3-1 Crusaders. Crispin (PH) 1-1, 2B; Ostler 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

The Elks kept having Opposite Week and beat the Indians, 8-3, which meant that a decision was delayed until Friday, since the Coons were off on Thursday.

Not the Elks, though – they still had another playdate with the Arrowheads and lost that, 6-1. The magic number was thus down to one. Any Coons win against the Loggers would do.

Raccoons (92-67) @ Loggers (84-74) – October 2-4, 2054

One to go, one to go – that was also the Loggers’ mantra, if only for the season series, which they led 9-6 against the Coons, who appeared to have won games against *somebody* but nobody in the CL North in particular… Milwaukee had the #7 offense and #4 pitching, with a +15 run differential.

Projected matchups:
Jason Wheatley (13-10, 3.82 ERA) vs. Chris Kaye (4-5, 3.47 ERA)
Rafael de la Cruz (5-5, 3.87 ERA) vs. Josh Costello (13-7, 3.28 ERA)
He Shui (18-8, 2.48 ERA) vs. Jeff Fox (11-8, 4.37 ERA)

Southpaw Sunday! Also, a couple more of words on Sunday: Shui would start if either A) the game mattered in the standings, or B) he still had a chance to take the ERA title from Atlanta’s Dave Hils. Shui currently trailed Hils by 10 points, but Hils would likely start on Saturday. The Knights were tied with the Thunder for the CL South crown on Friday morning and had no room for vanity. They needed wins. If Hils blew up and dropped behind Shui, and the game didn’t matter, then we had numerous Brobecks and Bakers available to take the start instead.

Also, playoffs were perhaps coming, but was Friday’s 383th regular season start for Wheats the last one as a Coon?

Game 1
POR: LF Crum – SS Lavorano – 1B Ramsay – C Gowin – CF Puckeridge – 3B Venegas – RF Cox – 2B Boese – P Wheatley
MIL: 3B T. Edwards – LF E. Cobb – 1B Callaia – SS Z. Suggs – C C. Thomas – 2B R. Lopez – CF Starnes – RF Law – P Kaye

All other things aside, Wheats got a 4-0 lead spotted in the third inning. Cox and Naughty Joe got on base ahead of him, he bunted them over, and Crum doubled home two before Ramsay cranked a 2-out, 2-run homer to right. The Loggers got Dennis Starnes and Bryant Law on base to begin their half of the third inning just the same, but Kaye bunted quite terribly, and Wheats pounced and started a 1-5-3 double play. After hitting Travis Edwards with the very next pitch, he got another comebacker from Eric Cobb yet another pitch later and ended the inning with a lob to first base. Wheats got another double play started in the fourth inning, then bunted Naughty Joe to second base for the second time in the top 5th. This time Ken Crum went yard with a 2-piece, extending the score to 6-0.

Gowin singled and Pucks doubled to begin the sixth against righty Dan Bell, who made his first appearance for the Loggers and walked Venegas to fill the bases with nobody out. Coxie grounded to Ricky Lopez, who desired two to be turned, but Zach Suggs dropped his feed and all paws were safe and a run scored, 7-0. Strikeouts to Boese and Wheats, and Crum’s pop to short then stranded the three runners. Wheats was still going on the hill, but without a strikeout through six innings. In the bottom 6th the Loggers put a pair in scoring position, but then Chris Thomas flew out to Coxie in right. Wheats then struck out Ricky Lopez in a full count in the bottom 7th to FINALLY nip *somebody*. In the meantime, the Coons kept socking ‘em – Pucks singled off Alan Marshall and then Venegas went deep for only the second time this year in the eighth, 9-0. Wheats retired the Loggers in order in the bottom 8th and would get a chance for the shutout, his pitch count just under 100 through eight. It would be the 3-4-5 batters in the bottom 9th, however. Gaudencio Callaia flew out to Crum, who didn’t have to move a lot. The count on Zach Suggs ran full before he singled, and that was not good. Wheats had to get Thomas, or we’d have to get a reliever. His first pitch to Thomas was his 111th of the game – and Thomas bounced it right back to him. Wheats to Knight, to Ramsay – ballgame!! 9-0 Furballs!! Crum 3-5, HR, 4 RBI; Puckeridge 2-4, 2B; Boese 2-4; Wheatley 9.0 IP, 7 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K, W (14-10);

11th career shutout (regular season) for Wheats! …and the Elks lost anyway!

Playoffs! Right now with the Knights, who won on Friday while the Thunder lost a close one to the Condors. Hils was the starter for the Knights on Saturday, opposite ex-Coon Juan Mercado. The Coons would give some of the regulars one of the remaining two games off.

Game 2
POR: LF Brassfield – SS Lavorano – 1B Ramsay – RF Puckeridge – 3B Crispin – CF Suzuki – 2B Knight – C Raczka – P de la Cruz
MIL: 3B T. Edwards – LF E. Cobb – 1B Callaia – SS Z. Suggs – C C. Thomas – 2B R. Lopez – CF Starnes – RF Law – P Costello

We couldn’t rest everybody at once, though, and that soon became a problem. The Loggers took a 1-0 lead in the bottom 1st on a Callaia triple and Suggs single, but the Raccoons answered in the third inning. Brassfield reached base with a 2-out walk, and then scored when Lonzo slung a gapper in left-center for an RBI triple to tie the score. Rams belted an RBI double to go ahead… and pulled up lame at second base. Dave de Lemos ran for him and would play rightfield after Pucks, who moved to first, grounded out to end the inning.

Suggs singled in the tying run in the bottom 3rd, again with two outs, which sugged, after Raffy had retired the first two, but then had walked Eric Cobb and given up a single to Callaia. Chris Thomas flew out to Trent Brassfield to end the inning, and an inning later Bryant Law whacked a homer for a 3-2 Loggers lead.

Singles by Pucks and Crispin made a bit of a stir with one out in the sixth. Mikio Suzuki poked at a 3-1 pitch, grounding it back to the mound, but at least away from where Costello was falling to, and the Coons legged it out collectively to fill the bags on the infield single. Knight grounded out, but that brought in the tying run. The Loggers walked Raczka intentionally, while Raffy grounded out to end the inning, then fell right behind again on a walk to Ricky Lopez, a Starnes single, and Law’s sac fly, 4-3. He retired Costello, but that was it for him.

He got a no-decision, because when Lonzo singled in the seventh and took off, Thomas threw the ball into his legs rather than Lopez’ mitten and the ball bounced away into rightfield, with Lonzo scampering to third base, from where de Lemos brought him home with a sac fly, 4-all! Crispin singled to open the eighth, which chased Costello, then was caught stealing. John Norris, who replaced him, wasn’t very good at keeping the Coons off the bases, though. Suzuki singled, Knight singled, and Jeff Raczka singled through the right side, chasing Suzuki home with the go-ahead run from second base…! Ken Crum and Brassfield flew out, stranding two, and a Lopez single and Dale Haracz double off Hitchcock tied the game again in the bottom 8th. Hitchcock also walked Jose Cadena to begin the bottom 9th. Walters got the ball after that and got two outs, but then gave up a walkoff double to Gaudencio Callaia… 6-5 Loggers. Lavorano 2-5, 3B, RBI; Ramsay 1-2, 2B, RBI; Crispin 2-5; Suzuki 2-3, BB;

Losing Ramsay in game #161 was NOT in the battle plan…

Dr. Padillaaaa? (whiny voice) Dr. Padillaaaaaaaa…!

That aside, Dave Hils was clubbed for five runs in 3.2 innings in a loss to the Aces (but the Thunder lost, too, probably disheartened by the Coons looming in the CLCS yet again for them). This dropped him well behind He Shui in the ERA race – and that removed Shui from the last start of the year. Phil Baker (1-1, 2.42 ERA) got the ball. Losing Rams was bad enough…!

Game 3
POR: C Philipps – 1B Crum – LF Brassfield – RF Cox – 3B Brobeck – CF Tenazes – SS Knight – 2B Boese – P Baker
MIL: 3B T. Edwards – LF E. Cobb – 1B Callaia – SS Z. Suggs – C C. Thomas – 2B R. Lopez – CF Starnes – RF Law – P J. Fox

Edwards singled, Cobb and Suggs walked, but Thomas found a double play to let Baker off the hook in a challenging first inning. Instead a Brobeck single and a Knight homer gave the Coons a 2-0 lead in the second inning. Baker continued to struggle. He struck out nobody in the early innings, and instead the bases were loaded again in the third inning on a Cobb walk, Callaia single, and an error by Brobeck. Thomas killed the effort again – hitting .295 with 23 homers nevertheless – when he flew out to Brassfield on a 1-0 pitch to end that inning. The Coons loaded the bags themselves in the fourth against Jeff Fox, who walked Brassfield, then gave up 1-out singles to Brobeck and Tenazes to load the sacks. Matt Knight raked a 2-run double to left, Naughty Joe was walked intentionally, and Baker struck out for the second out. That brought up Philipps, who ran into a fat pitch and heaved it to left, deep, deeper, gone! GRAAAAAAAAAND SLAAAAAAAAAMMMM!!!!

Righty Alan Marshall had the bases loaded yet again in the fifth inning of an 8-0 rout, then with Cox, Brobeck, and Tenazes all reaching with nobody out on three singles. Knight whiffed this time, but Naughty Joe forced in a run with a walk in a full count. Baker found Lopez for a double play, ending the inning. Marshall remained around for a leadoff walk to Philipps and an RBI triple to Ken Crum in the sixth inning, then was lifted for lefty Sam Webb. Brassfield singled home Crum before the inning fizzled out after Cox hit into a double play, 11-0. The remaining key pieces were removed after the bottom 6th, as well as Baker who walked five Loggers and somehow avoided giving up a run. Antonio Alfaro was less lucky – he was spanked around for four hits and three runs while logging only one out in the bottom 7th. Geoff Sather dug him out. Another two runs were beaten out of Ryan Harmer in the bottom 8th. Brobeck did the ninth inning after clonking four singles off the Loggers pitchers during the previous eight. 11-5 Raccoons. Philipps 2-3, 2 BB, HR, 4 RBI; Crum 2-4, RBI; Brassfield 2-4, RBI; Knight 2-5, HR, 2B, 4 RBI; Lavorano (PH) 1-1; Brobeck 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K and 4-5;

In other news

September 28 – ATL SP Dave Hils (11-10, 2.38 ERA) 2-hits the Bayhawks in an 11-0 rout.
September 29 – WAS 3B Josh Frazier (.236, 15 HR, 63 RBI) whacks three home runs and drives in seven runs in a 15-5 rush of the Miners.
September 29 – 40-year-old Canadiens infielder Tony Aparicio (.288, 11 HR, 44 RBI) goes down to a hip strain and is out for the season.
September 30 – The Miners clinch the FL East with a 2-1 win over the Capitals.
October 1 – OCT SP Jay Gunderson (15-6, 2.64 ERA) 3-hits the Aces in a complete-game shutout, claiming a 5-0 win.
October 2 – The Indians fire off a 7-run rally in the top of the ninth inning to beat the Titans, 7-5.
October 3 – With 182 losses already assembled on the field, the Indians beat the Titans, 1-0 in no fewer than 18 innings. IND 1B Shuta Yamamoto (.290, 9 HR, 57 RBI) singles home Bobby Anderson (.287, 20 HR, 91 RBI) to end the drag.
October 4 – ATL 1B Jay Rogers (.273, 24 HR, 117 RBI) hits a walkoff sac fly to beat the Aces, 5-4 in regulation, and to clinch the CL South for the Knights on the final day of the season.

FL Hitter of the Month: SFW LF/RF Tony Rodriquez (.311, 10 HR, 70 RBI), hitting .402 with 2 HR, 18 RBI
CL Hitter of the Month: ATL 2B/SS Willie Acosta (.317, 4 HR, 75 RBI), batting .303 with 3 HR, 20 RBI
FL Pitcher of the Month: DEN CL Mike Lynn (9-6, 2.65 ERA, 38 SV), going 2-0 with a 3.97 ERA and 8 SV
CL Pitcher of the Month: POR SP He Shui (18-8, 2.48 ERA), throwing for a 6-0 record and 0.97 ERA, 38 K
FL Rookie of the Month: DEN 1B Bill Joyner (.331, 14 HR, 78 RBI), swatting .381 with 3 HR, 20 RBI
CL Rookie of the Month: POR SP He Shui (18-8, 2.48 ERA), throwing for a 6-0 record and 0.97 ERA, 38 K

Complaints and stuff

Playoffs! …with or without Ramsay. (looks at Dr. Padilla, but doesn’t dare to ask what the giant knife is for)

Lonzo won his fourth stolen base title at age 27, 64 being his third-best season total. He moved up into 46th place all time to finish the season, and will continue the assault up the leaderboard next year, although currently three of the five batters immediately ahead of him are themselves still active:

41st – Clement Clark – 331
42nd – Felix Rojas – 330 – active
43rd – Angel Montes de Oca – 328 – active
t-44rd – Felix Marquez – 325 – active
t-44rd – Lorenzo Rivera – 325
46th – Lorenzo Lavorano – 322 – active
47th – Raúl Herrera – 321
48th – Roberto Rodriguez – 317
49th – Ross Holland – 314

Rojas stole 21 this year, including eight in September, or as many as the 33-year-old Montes de Oca got all this season. Felix Marquez’ 41-year-old bones didn’t allow further advancing in September.

Also pictured: why Wheats must not get a 5-year deal. (sob)

Fun Fact: Clement Clark, like Rodriguez and Herrera, played his entire career in the previous millennium and mostly in the Federal League.

He won a stolen base title with the ’89 Caps and 42 bags taken that year. Apart from that he has a Gold Glove and three All Star buttons in his trophy cabinet. He batted .308/.359/.385 with 2,391 hits, 60 HR, and 789 RBI. His only ring came with the 1990 Caps, but he left them before they met the Coons in the World Series three years in a row.