[Westheim]

Raccoons (72-78) vs. Thunder (83-66) – September 19-21, 2056

Despite their good record, the Thunder were done for the year, and there was only the season series left to squabble over. That was tied at three entering play, and the Raccoons had to contend with the #5 offense and #4 pitching in the Continental League. Bubba Wolinsky and Jonathan Ban were on the DL for Oklahoma.

Projected matchups:
He Shui (13-10, 3.95 ERA) vs. Chris Kaye (3-3, 4.26 ERA)
Ryan Wade (1-0, 0.87 ERA) vs. Victor Marquez (7-10, 5.49 ERA)
Craig Kniep (9-11, 3.44 ERA) vs. Mike Zeigler (10-8, 3.64 ERA)

What was going on – not one, but TWO left-handers in one series?? That would be Marquez and Zeigler on Wednesday and Thursday.

Game 1
OCT: SS Almadanim – 3B Soberanes – LF D. Guzman – RF M. Harmon – 1B Worthington – CF Weant – C Korfhage – 2B Amburn – P Kaye
POR: RF Callaia – SS Lavorano – LF Kirkwood – CF Caballero – 1B Puckeridge – 3B Venegas – C Fiore – 2B Anderson – P Shui

Neither team got a base hit the first time through, and Shui was perfect through three innings altogether. He found Richard Anderson on first base in the bottom 3rd, the youngster having drawn a leadoff walk, and bunted him to second, just where he needed to be to score on Gaudencio Callaia’s gap double in right-center, which marked the first run of the game. The Coons left Callaia with two easy fly outs, though, while Hélder Almadanim’s leadoff double to left put the tying run in scoring position in the fourth inning. Ed Soberanes’ grounder and Danny Guzman’s sac fly tied the game, and Mike Harmon hit another double, but Caballero caught a David Worthington drive in deep center to end the inning. But Tim Weant socked another leadoff double in the fifth inning, and he, too, scored on a groundout by Mitch Korfhage and then a sac fly by rookie Daniel Amburn. The Thunder kept scoring with a Danny Guzman single and a Worthington homer in the sixth inning, running the score to 4-1, while the Coons were still limited to Callaia’s RBI double for hits. Callaia also got the second hit for Portland, a leadoff triple in the bottom 6th, but the RBI (sorta) went to Korfhage with a passed ball, before the Raccoons could fail three times to get the runner home from third base.

Shui was pinch-hit for with Matt Waters in the bottom 7th when a 2-out Anderson single meant that Shui came to the plate as the tying run, but Waters popped out. A struggling Mike Lane put runners on the corners in the eighth inning before Brett Lillis jr. came on with two outs to face Weant, was met with righty pinch-hitter Felix Martinez, and struck him out anyway. Lonzo singled off lefty Juan Valencia in the bottom 8th, which let the Thunder change pitchers for righty David Williams, which in turn gave Lonzo ideas and he scooped second base on the first offering to Kirkwood. It was his 50th steal of the season. Kirkwood’s subsequent infield single put the tying runs on the corners with one down, but Caballero popped one up to Ed Soberanes, who managed to drop the ball and kick it into foul ground, allowing Lonzo to dash home and shorten the score to 4-3. New pitcher Eric Barnes restored order, flying Pucks out to center and ringing up Venegas. Reynaldo Bravo whiffed two Thunder in a 1-2-3 ninth, so there was a chance for a comeback in the bottom 9th against Kevin Daley. Royer batted for Fiore, but grounded out. Allred batted for Anderson, but struck out. Ramsay batted for Bravo, but popped out. 4-3 Thunder. Callaia 2-4, 3B, 2B, RBI; Kirkwood 2-4; Anderson 1-2, BB;

I’d be hissing now if the games still mattered and if Maud hadn’t spiked my Capt’n Coma with a seasoning of soothing herbs from the forest.

Wednesday then brought incessant rain, and no game was played or playable. This gave us a double-header on Thursday, and with that came a pitching change from the Thunder, who now sent right-hander Aaron Harris (17-6, 3.11 ERA) into the opener. The Raccoons had enough chaff on the roster – 16 primetime position players plus Kyle Brobeck – to fill two lineups while using only one player twice. That was scheduled to be Oscar Caballero. We also swapped pitchers, with Kniep getting the opener.

Game 2
OCT: C Korfhage – 3B Soberanes – SS London – RF Bagoim – CF Weant – 1B F. Martinez – 2B Almadanim – LF H. Thomas – P A. Harris
POR: RF Callaia – 2B Allred – LF Caballero – 1B Puckeridge – 3B Brobeck – CF Solorzano – SS Espinoza – C Stanton – P Kniep

Don’t adjust your television set – this is still a major league game, even when the Thunder sent no fewer than four functional rookies, all 26 years old. Unsurprisingly, the game was scoreless early on, with Kniep whiffing three and Harris ringing up four batters, respectively, in each pitcher’s first go through the lineup, even though a few singles were scattered.

In the bottom 4th, the Raccoons took to the corners with 1-out singles to center by Pucks and Brobeck, which was the thickest scoring opportunity yet for either team. Solorzano grounded to Mike London at short, but at least legged out Almadanim’s throw to first base, breaking up the double play and allowing Pucks to score the game’s first run. Espinoza singled, but Matt Stanton struck out to end the inning.

Kniep pitched a nice, steady game. The Thunder got only two singles and a leadoff walk drawn by Harley Thomas through six innings, but struck out seven times, and the defense didn’t have to run back to the fences much at all before Felix Martinez sent Solorzano running back to the warning track in the seventh inning. The catch was made, marking the second out of the inning. Almadanim grounded out to complete the inning. Eddie de la Roca batted for Harris in the eighth inning, hit a 1-out single to center, but was then doubled up by Korfhage, 6-4-3. The Coons loaded the bases in the bottom 8th with David Williams walking Caballero, Puckeridge reaching on an error by Almadanim, and then Solorzano singled to center. Lonzo and Kirkwood pinch-hit in the 7-8 spots, but both made meek outs and nobody scored. The Coons stuck to Kniep in the ninth inning. It was a 1-0 game, the 2-3-4 batters were up, and Kniep was 96 pitches. Soberanes flew out to center. Worthington flew out to Caballero. Raimundo Bagoim singled through the right side. Raimundo who? Kniep was STILL in the game, tried to pick off Bagoim twice, then got Tim Weant to 1-2… and then hung one and had it blotched over the fence in right. Maud. Maud? I don’t feel my left arm anymore. Is that … reason for concern? Bravo struck out Martinez to end the inning, but the Raccoons remained no match for Kevin Daley in the bottom of the ninth. 2-1 Thunder. Callaia 3-5; Brobeck 3-4; Kniep 8.2 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 8 K, L (9-12);

(between games, finds Kniep sobbing into a towel in the clubhouse)

Well, kid. If that helps you anything, you made me feel even worse than you do now! (pats pitcher on head and waggles onwards)

Game 3
OCT: SS Almadanim – 3B Soberanes – LF D. Guzman – RF M. Harmon – 1B Worthington – CF Weant – C M. Castillo – 2B Amburn – P V. Marquez
POR: CF Royer – SS Lavorano – LF Kirkwood – RF Caballero – 2B Waters – 3B Venegas – C M. Chavez – 1B Ramsay – P Wade

Almadanim’s leadoff double, a balk, and Soberanes’ groundout gave the Thunder a really quick 1-0 lead, but the Raccoons flipped the tables on them in the bottom of the second, where Waters reached on an error, Venegas walked, and then Marcos Chavez uncorked one of those long homers that briefly made him a darling during the Elks games in July when he smashed a 3-run homer to left-center. Rams, Royer, and Lonzo would also all reach base to put a fourth run together before Kirkwood popped out to Soberanes; the RBI went to Lonzo with a single. After Wade walked Marquez to begin the third inning and managed to not have this blossom into a whole thing, the Coons had Caballero, Waters, and Chavez filling the bases with one down in the bottom 3rd. Rams hit a sac fly to left, Danny Guzman hurt himself on the throw to the plate, and Harley Thomas took his plays afterwards. Wade grounded out, then allowed a single to Thomas, a homer to Harmon, and two more singles to Manny Castillo and Daniel Amburn to put the tying runs on the corners in the fourth inning. PH Eddie de la Roca grounded out to Lonzo to finally end that inning…

Bottom 4th, Royer reached on an error by Mike Harmon before Lonzo singled off lefty Pedro Mendoza. The two pulled off a double steal, but only Royer scored on Kirkwood’s groundout while Lonzo was stranded at third base after three more long at-bats with the 4-5-6 batters – Waters walked, but the other two made sucky outs. Wade got through five innings, but took 95 pitches, and was thus batted for in the bottom 5th. Eloy Sencion had a trying sixth, but didn’t allow a run, and Alex Rios retired the Thunder in order in the seventh, then added a K on Harley Thomas to begin the eighth. Ricky Herrera got two more outs after a walk to Harmon, while the Coons were silent until they loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom 8th against Eric Barnes. Ramsay singled, but was forced out by Callaia. Royer singled. Kirkwood walked. Caballero batted with two outs, popped out, and that gave Matt Walters a save chance. He retired the Thunder in order. 6-3 Raccoons. Royer 2-5; Lavorano 2-5, RBI; Ramsay 3-3, RBI;

Raccoons (73-80) vs. Indians (61-91) – September 22-24, 2056

The string continued with three more against the Indians, who would be way closer to 100 losses if the Raccoons hadn’t flubbed eight of fifteen games so far played to them. Fewest runs scored, second-most runs allowed, -170 run differential, and yes, this team led the division for a substantial part of the 2055 season…!?

Projected matchups:
Seisaku Taki (11-15, 3.50 ERA) vs. Tan Brink (11-14, 4.42 ERA)
Kennedy Adkins (0-0) vs. Joe Bunch (3-11, 4.15 ERA)
Sean Sweeton (12-11, 3.23 ERA) vs. Shane Fitzgibbon (3-3, 2.93 ERA)

Southpaw Sunday! Maybe – they had been off on Thursday and had 78 pitchers on the roster. They had another 25 on the DL, including Juan Vasquez, Jeremy Fetta, and Enrique Ortiz, along with position players Will McIntyre and Juan Llampallas.

The Raccoons also revived Kennedy Adkins from the dead. Adkins, the 2055 CL Pitcher of the Year, had been on the shelf for just over 12 months after elbow ligament surgery, had returned to service too late to have an outing in AAA before that season ended, but maybe we could get five outta him here and once again next week. Kyle Brobeck would be in the lineup on Saturday and would potentially follow Adkins for multiple innings later on.

Game 1
IND: 2B Ewers – SS Bahena – 1B B. Quinteros – 3B A. Rios – CF Briggs – C Mi. Gilmore – LF Abel – RF Lovins – P Brink
POR: RF Callaia – SS Lavorano – LF Kirkwood – 2B Waters – 1B Puckeridge – 3B Venegas – CF Solorzano – C M. Chavez – P Taki

Singles by Waters and Pucks, then a walk to Venegas – the Coons had the bases loaded with nobody out in the bottom 2nd, and I was embracing the choke before it even happened. Solorzano lined out to Kevin Ewers, Marcos Chavez hit into a double play, and nobody scored, and they didn’t even clear the ******* pitcher’s spot. In the fourth, a Kirkwood single to left and a Pucks double to right put a pair in scoring position, then with one gone. Brink got to 1-2 on Venegas, but then gave up a clean RBI single through the right side, although Chris Lovins’ arm kept Pucks at third base. Solorzano doubled to center to get Pucks home, 2-0, and the Arrowheads walked Chavez with intent. The three runners would then score on Taki’s sac fly, a wild pitch, and Lonzo’s 2-out RBI single, respectively, Callaia drawing a walk in between, and that was all for Brink, who couldn’t get out of the 5-run inning. Matt Green got a groundout from Kirkwood to do so.

Taki started strong, but came apart even stronger. The Indians put a pair on base in the fifth, but stranded them, but the sixth was one big fireworks show and ended with Taki yanked after allowing four runs. Bill Quinteros, Antonio Rios, and Chris Briggs all hit singles; Briggs drove in a run, Taki plated Rios with a wild pitch, then walked Mike Gilmore. Kevin Abel’s groundout brought home Briggs, and then Chris Lovins doubled home Abel. Eloy Sencion came in for PH Cory Oldfield and struck him out to get out of the damn inning. Bill Quinteros then tied the game with a jack off Tanizaki in the seventh…

Lonzo’s leadoff single against Tony Martinez in the bottom 7th led nowhere nice for a lack of support, while Gilmore and Abel singled off Ricky Herrera in the eighth inning. Again the Coons brought a new pitcher for a pinch-hitter in the #9 hole, and Lane struck out Mario Coto to move on. What we needed was a big homer – thankfully Marcos Chavez batted in the bottom 8th with two out and the bags empty against Bill Dewan. He smashed a homer to dead center to break the tie! It was just in time to get Walters in for another save chance, and the Indians sent up Kevin Price, Bernie Bahena, and Bill Quinteros, and Walters blasted all of them with three strikeouts …! 6-5 Raccoons. Lavorano 2-4, RBI; Puckeridge 2-4, 2B;

This Friday the Titans were eliminated mathematically from postseason contention, but the Coons could be done as soon as Saturday with their magic number down to one behind the Crusaders and Elks, who were tied for first place after Friday.

Game 2
IND: 2B Ewers – SS Bahena – 3B A. Rios – 1B B. Quinteros – RF Briggs – C Mi. Gilmore – CF Oldfield – LF J. Garza – P Bunch
POR: RF Callaia – SS Lavorano – LF Kirkwood – 2B Waters – 1B Puckeridge – 3B Brobeck – CF Royer – C M. Chavez – P Adkins

Ewers doubled to start the game and scored on Rios’ single. Briggs also singled, but Adkins struck out Mike Gilmore to end the shaky inning. Jose Garza shot a triple through Pucks and then scored on another Ewers double in the second inning and I started to make whining noises even while Adkins logged three strikeouts in the inning. The Indians would score a third run two innings later; Oldfield drew a leadoff walk, Adkins threw a wild pitch, and Bunch hit a sac fly on an 0-2 pitch… Adkins got through five innings, but it certainly wasn’t pretty to look at.

Worse: the Coons. Bunch had a 2-hitter going through five innings, and it didn’t get much better after that. Adam Harris and Alex Rios put up scoreless innings for the Coons in the sixth and seventh before we went to Kyle Brobeck, asking for the last two frames, but all that got us was more splinters in the snout when the Indians rapped him for three hits, including RBI doubles by the 7-8 batters in the eighth inning. Ewers added a leadoff triple in the ninth, and Bernie Bahena got the run in with a groundout. Rios then singled, and Brobeck was kicked off the hill. Lillis had to get the last two outs, while Bunch had run out of gas by the eighth. The Indians pen did complete a 4-hit shutout, though. 6-0 Indians. Waters 2-3, BB, 2B;

Yuck.

Also: eliminated, despite both Elks and Crusaders losing.

Game 3
IND: 2B Ewers – SS Bahena – 1B B. Quinteros – 3B A. Rios – LF J. Garza – CF Briggs – C Keels – RF Abel – P Fitzgibbon
POR: CF Royer – SS Lavorano – LF Kirkwood – RF Caballero – 2B Waters – 1B Callaia – 3B Venegas – C M. Chavez – P Sweeton

Steve Royer was the Coons’ first two base runners, drawing a walk in the bottom 1st before being caught stealing, and then singling in the fourth, after which Lonzo hit into a double play. The game was still scoreless, with Sweeton having scattered three hits and a walk while also getting a double play and a runner thrown out stealing by his own defense, but the Raccoons developed another scoring opportunity in the inning when Kirkwood singled to left and Caballero walked with two outs. Waters whiffed, and that was that.

The Indians went up 1-0 in the sixth. Bahena singled, Quinteros walked, and the two pulled off a double steal with one out before Rios’ fly to center was just deep enough to allow Bahena to dazzle home on the sac fly. Jose Garza grounded out to leave Quinteros stranded. That at least didn’t turn into an L on Sweeton, who was pitching nicely enough, although it took the Coons seven innings to get a run across. Fitzgibbon walked Kirkwood to begin the bottom 7th, and then Caballero drove a ball into the right-center gap, where it went all the way to the fence for an RBI triple…! Moreover, the Coons even took the lead! Waters was walked intentionally, Callaia struck out, but Anton Venegas singled through the left side for a 2-1 lead. Chavez added an RBI single to center. Sweeton, who was on 81 pitches, swung away despite hitting .095 for the year, and singled to left, narrowly missing a jumping Bahena’s glove. That filled the bags and led to Fitzgibbon’s removal. Royer hit a sac fly off Adam Haller, but Lonzo grounded out to end the inning.

Sweeton had a 1-2-3 eighth, while Kirkwood had his 20th homer of the year, a leadoff jack in the bottom 8th to extend the gap to four runs. Caballero then singled and was caught stealing, and Waters singled and was hit by Callaia’s grounder to the right side, so that was another out made on the base paths. Pucks’ pinch-hit single made it runners on the corners, but Ryan Allred flew out in Chavez’ spot, leaving the runners on. Sweeton returned for the ninth inning against the 3-4-5 batters, coming back on 92 pitches. Quinteros grounded out and Rios popped out, both to Lonzo and both on 0-2 pitches. If anything was bickerworthy about Sweeton’s outing, it was a distinct lack of strike threes, of which he only had a pair. But Garza grounded out to short at 0-1, and that was the ballgame. 5-1 Critters. Kirkwood 2-3, BB, HR, RBI; Caballero 2-3, BB, 3B, RBI; Puckeridge (PH) 1-1; Sweeton 9.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, W (13-11) and 1-3;

In other news

September 18 – The Buffaloes and Wolves go to extra innings tied at two before the Buffos somewhat break the game open with a 7-run tenth inning for a 9-2 win.
September 19 – The Warriors hand the Rebels one of the worst drubbings in league history, brutalizing them 28-8. The Warriors have three separate innings of seven or eight runs, and five different Rebels pitchers are each bludgeoned for four or more runs allowed after RIC SP Larry Broad (10-12, 4.75 ERA) doesn’t make it out of the first inning without giving up eight earned runs. SFW OF Jose Marroquin (.281, 14 HR, 56 RBI) drives in seven runs from the leadoff spot.
September 20 – The estimated recovery time for BOS OF/1B Hector Weir (.291, 8 HR, 62 RBI) is nine months after the 22-year-old tears several ligaments in his knee.
September 20 – BOS SP Kodai Koga (12-14, 3.08 ERA) throws a 3-hit shutout against his former team, the Knights, for a 1-0 win. The sole offense is a home run by BOS C Jorge Ortiz (.244, 12 HR, 48 RBI).
September 20 – The Loggers and Aces play 16 innings of a meaningless game before Milwaukee prevails, 6-5.
September 20 – The Cyclones and Stars do them one better, with Cincy beating Dallas 5-4 in 17 innings in an equally irrelevant contest.
September 22 – NAS INF Nick Nye (.357, 11 HR, 43 RBI) goes to a 25-game hitting streak with a first-inning single in the Sox’ 11-3 win over the Miners.
September 23 – BOS OF/1B Israel Santiago (.330, 2 HR, 16 RBI) misses the cycle by the single in his 3-hit, 5-RBI effort to beat the Crusaders, 12-2.

FL Player of the Week: DEN 2B/3B Ivan Villa (.285, 27 HR, 118 RBI), swatting .476 (10-21) with 2 HR, 10 RBI
CL Player of the Week: VAN CF Damian Moreno (.286, 14 HR, 75 RBI), clipping .348 (8-23) with 3 HR, 9 RBI

Complaints and stuff

I’d want to give Brobeck another start next week, but we only have six games, and so far I don’t see which of the six guys that went out this week would get dropped. Both Adkins and Wade should go back out there for a few more innings of mere data. Taki, Sweeton, and Kniep are all puttering along nice enough. If anything it would be He Shui to get dropped. But why drop Shui for Brobeck…?

Maud? – Maud? – Can you call the league office whether we can get another game against the Loggers or something? – Because I have my knickers in a twist and can’t make my mind up about something.

On the other paw, Taki and Sweeton made their 32 expected starts, and Taki already had piled up 15 losses, which I felt was enough…

Adriano Chavez will rejoin the team for the last week, coming off the DL on Monday.

Titans and Crusaders is all that’s left. So we might have a paw in deciding the division after all.

Fun Fact: The last time the Raccoons won only one season series against their division rivals was in 2040.

Back then we beat the Indians 12-6, and the rest was rather dismal, including going 3-15 against the DAMN ELKS.

This year we’re a skinny 10-8 against those damn Elks, and the rest is a pair of 9-9’s against the Indians and Loggers, who are bringing up the rear of the division, and while we have three games each left against the Crusaders and Titans, we’ve already lost both of those season series, 5-10 and 4-11, respectively.

And in 2040, we even had a winning season! 84-78, so nothing special, but the best the Coons can still put out this year is .500 …