[Westheim]

Raccoons (75-68) vs. Crusaders (87-57) – September 16-18, 2059

The Crusaders were all but through with the division, even mathematically. This series was more about saving stripey face for the Raccoons, who had no hope to come back from their 11 1/2 games deficit anymore. The Crusaders had taken the lead in the season series by sweeping the Critters in New York two weeks ago, now being up 8-7. They ranked fifth in runs scored and second in runs allowed.

Projected matchups:
Bobby Herrera (10-12, 3.12 ERA) vs. Ben Seiter (17-7, 3.22 ERA)
J.J. Sensabaugh (2-0, 0.64 ERA) vs. Jose Ortega (9-11, 4.34 ERA)
Duarte Damasceno (5-7, 4.11 ERA) vs. Joel Luera (10-6, 2.26 ERA)

The Crusaders were still only bringing right-handed starters.

Game 1
NYC: CF Branch – LF Rodriquez – 2B O. Sanchez – RF Zeiher – 1B Sevilla – C Seidman – 3B V. Velez – SS N. Fowler – P Seiter
POR: LF Morris – 2B Labonte – CF Caswell – RF Brassfield – 1B Starr – C Perez – SS Bean – 3B Ojeda – P B. Herrera

The left-handed batters in the 2-3-4 spots all slapped hits off Bobby Herrera in the first inning to allow the Crusaders to take a 1-0 lead when Sean Zeiher doubled home Tony Rodriquez, and that was after Omar Sanchez was caught stealing by Angel Perez. The Raccoons crowded Seiter in the bottom 1st, though. Morris walked, Labonte was nicked, and while Cas flew out easily, Brass singled in the tying run, after which Starr drew a walk to fill the bags. Perez’ groundout to short brought in the go-ahead run, but Jon Bean also grounded out to end the inning. Herrera continued to struggle, though, whether it was with Starr making an error to put Mike Seidman on base to begin the second inning, or another visit on base by the 2-3 batters in the third inning. The ship finally sunk in the fourth, when he walked Nick Fowler with two outs, then allowed a single to the ******* opposing pitcher. Tommy Branch singled home the tying run, and Tony Rodriquez bashed a 3-run homer. Herrera gave up another run on a Victor Velez hit that drove in Zeiher in the fifth inning, then was dismissed.

In the meantime, after the rough opening frame, Seiter hardly missed a beat until he arrived in the bottom of the sixth, where he offered a leadoff walk to Trent Brassfield, then immediately was taken well deep to left by Joel Starr for a 2-run homer, 6-4. Adam Harris then gave up a run in the top 7th, but the Raccoons loaded the bases with nobody out (oh-oh) in the bottom of the same inning. Morris walked, Labonte singled, and Cas reached on an error by Fowler, which filled the sacks, but Seiter was not taken out of the game despite the tying runs being all assembled and Trent Brassfield coming up. Brass promptly proved them right by grounding into a run-scoring 6-4-3 double play, 7-5, but Seiter was now removed anyway. Starr hit an RBI double off Jason Rhodes, but Perez grounded out to end the inning. New York then used three relievers against three batters for three outs in the bottom 8th before sending Zachariah Alldred into the bottom 9th with the top of the order up and no insurance. Morris grounded out to second, but Labonte reached on an infield hit, allowing the big bats to appear as the winning run. Noah Caswell promptly ended the game, but not with the usual double play grounder to short – nope, he thumped a 2-run homer to right-center, and that was a walkoff…! 8-7 Raccoons! Labonte 2-4; Caswell 2-5, HR, 2 RBI; Starr 2-3, BB, HR, 2B, 3 RBI; Ojeda 3-4, 2 2B;

Alex Rios bettered his record to 3-0 with a scoreless ninth inning, while Caswell, who had slumped a bit in the last weeks, reached 100 RBI with the walkoff blast.

The Crusaders went straight to Luera on Wednesday.

Game 2
NYC: CF Branch – LF Rodriquez – 2B O. Sanchez – RF Zeiher – 1B Sevilla – C Seidman – 3B V. Velez – SS Zucal – P Luera
POR: LF Morris – 2B Labonte – CF Caswell – RF Brassfield – 1B Starr – C Perez – SS Bean – 3B Gonzales – P Sensabaugh

No score in the early innings in the middle game, although the Crusaders had them on the corners right in the first inning against their former prospect Sensabaugh, who finally stumbled over the top of the order in the fourth inning, offering a walk to Rodriquez, a double to Sanchez, and then surrendered the two runs on productive outs by Zeiher and Raul Sevilla. Cas hit a deep fly to right in the bottom 4th, but it was caught at the fence by Zeiher.

Sensabaugh’s pitch count went up quickly and he was lifted in the sixth inning for Bobby Sneeze (gesundheit!), who immediately gave up a solo homer to Sevilla, 3-0. The Raccoons gained little to no ground against Luera until the sixth, with 1-out hits by Morris and Labonte. Cas hit into a fielder’s choice, but Brassfield found an RBI single in left. Starr hit a grounder to the right side that both Sanchez and Sevilla went after, but Luera didn’t cover first base, and the Raccoons somehow loaded the bases on that “infield single” (should have been scored a collective brainfart, but eh!). Angel Perez then swiftly emptied the bases with a 3-run double into the right-center gap, turning the score around to 4-3 Critters out of the literal blue nothing. Ornelas held the score in the seventh, while Morris singled and scored on a Labonte double with two outs and Jason Rhodes pitching in the bottom of that inning, bringing in an insurance run. Ricky Herrera walked Omar Sanchez, but held him at first while getting outs from Rodriqueh, Zeiher, and Sevilla in the eighth, and Roger Zucal’s 2-out single off Matt Walters in the ninth came too late to save New York before Mark Seeley struck out to end the game. 5-3 Raccoons. Morris 2-4; Starr 2-4; Perez 1-4, 2B, 3 RBI;

Game 3
NYC: CF Branch – 3B V. Velez – 2B O. Sanchez – RF Zeiher – 1B Sevilla – LF Deeley – C Reese – SS N. Fowler – P J. Ortega
POR: CF Morris – 2B Labonte – 1B Starr – RF Brassfield – LF Kozak – SS Bean – 3B Ojeda – C Monaghan – P Damasceno

Joel Starr rushed a solo jack to right for a 1-0 lead in the first inning, which remained the score in the game for a while. DD flubbed a few walks early on, but settled into a groove; prior to back-to-back 2-out singles by Sevilla and Chris Deeley in the sixth inning the Crusaders had landed only one base hit, and those two runners were stranded on Justin Reese’s grounder to Ojeda. The Raccoons, too, hadn’t exactly beaten Ortega senseless, sitting on four hits and two walks, but no additional runs through five innings. That changed in the bottom 6th, which Brass began with a single to left. He stole second base, then advanced on a balk by Ortega. Jack Kozak brought him in with a sac fly to right-center, 2-0.

Fowler and Branch found another pair of singles against Damasceno in the seventh inning, but they were held on the corners when Mark Seeley struck out and Omar Sanchez flew out to Morris in center. That last out came on DD’s 107th pitch, courtesy of the early-inning wobbles with poor control, and was his last action in the game.

Kozak wasn’t done though; he got his seond RBI in as many innings in the bottom 7th, coming up with Labonte on second, Starr on first, two outs, and singled right into that no man’s land in shallow right-center that allowed Labonte to score rather easily with two gone. Zeiher’s throw was to third base, where Starr was safe, and Kozak rallied onwards to second base, and Jon Bean then doubled home the pair of them with a liner into the rightfield corner. Ojeda extended the score to 6-0 with an RBI single to right, then ended the inning with being caught stealing. The last six outs were then brought in by Eloy Sencion and Colby Bowen (!) to complete a 3-game sweep of the Crusaders, that unfortunately no longer mattered. 6-0 Critters. Starr 1-2, 2 BB, HR, RBI; Bean 2-4, 2 2B, 2 RBI; Ojeda 2-4, RBI; Damasceno 7.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 8 K, W (6-7) and 1-3;

Raccoons (78-68) vs. Falcons (72-74) – September 19-21, 2059

Despite their nothing record, the Falcons still had a chance in the cruddy CL South, being five games out with two-and-a-half weeks to play. They were ninth in runs scored and sixth in runs allowed, none of which radiated excellence. They were up 4-2 on the Coons this year, but they also had a myriad of injuries, especially to pitchers: Art Schaeffer, Mario de Anda, Matt Malone, and a few more relievers were all out, as were stick star Danny Ceballos and sidekicks Cory Oldfield and Jorge Caballero.

Projected matchups:
Chance Fox (13-4, 3.70 ERA) vs. Neil Mongillo (6-8, 4.31 ERA)
Justin DeRose (7-11, 3.58 ERA) vs. Aaron Sciuto (2-2, 2.33 ERA)
Bobby Herrera (10-12, 3.31 ERA) vs. Josh Doyle (5-11, 6.60 ERA)

Two southpaws up front in this set for the Raccoons to deal with, which would shake up the lineup some more, before we’d get the struggling righty Doyle on Sunday.

Last time the Raccoons played the Falcons was also the last time Bobby Herrera won a game. He was 0-4 with 3.92 ERA in his last nine outings, not getting into the W column since beating the Falcons 8-2 on July 30. This was with a paltry 3.3 runs per game of support. Of the five no-decisions he had, the Coons had eventually won four of the games, which was one way the baseball gods sometimes just plainly told you no.

Game 1
CHA: 1B Wheeler – 2B Woodrome – LF K. Fisher – C L. Miranda – 3B Carbajal – CF Girod – SS Knight – RF M. Burr – P Mongillo
POR: 2B Ortega – 3B Ojeda – CF Caswell – RF Brassfield – 1B Starr – C Perez – LF Kozak – SS Benitez – P Fox

Fox struggled with control, as usual, and issued a leadoff walk in three of the first five innings, but none of those guys came around to score; instead the Falcons scored their run in the fourth inning on clean singles by Kyle Fisher – who was yet another leadoff runner on base – and Gerard Girod, who got the 2-out RBI. That was the only run in the game at that point, with the Raccoons struggling to size up Neil Mongillo, amounting to two hits, one walk, and zero threats in five innings.

Fox went six, with Girod first hitting a 2-out single, then being caught stealing to end the top 6th after all. Ojeda and Cas then took the corners with 1-out singles in the bottom 6th. Brass then hit a high looper to left-center, and both Kyle Fisher and Girod closed in, but neither could quite get there. It dinked in for a single, Ojeda scored the tying run, but with the close play Cas barely made it to second base. Mongillo walked Starr to fill the bases, but Perez popped out to short and Kozak whiffed to end the inning.

Ornelas then gave up a new 2-1 lead to the Falcons in the seventh, giving up hits to ex-Coon Matt Knight and Jeff Wheeler to fall behind. Tony Benitez then began the bottom 7th with a single to left. Manny Cooke, still lingering on the roster awaiting release at the end of the year, pinch-hit for Ornelas and hit a pop behind first base that Wheeler inexplicably dropped, putting a second runner on base. Ortega popped out, Ojeda hit into a fielder’s choice, and Noah Caswell finally got the tying run home with a sharp RBI single past Wheeler. Brass added another 2-out RBI single to take the lead, but the inning then dissolved slowly but surely. The top 8th took almost forever; the Raccoons used Bravo, Loveless, and Rios, and the Falcons put Ricky Carbajal and PH Braden McCarver on base, but eventually Joe Hullander pinch-hit and popped out to end the inning with the Raccoons still leading by a run. Manny Cooke, who had remained in the game in leftfield, was then the last guy besides maybe R.J. DeWeese to have guessed to give the Coons an insurance run with a homer to left against Yoshinari Kuroiwa. Not that Matt Walters needed it! 4-2 Critters. Caswell 2-3, BB, RBI; Brassfield 2-4, 2 RBI; Benitez 2-4; Cooke (PH) 1-2, HR, RBI;

Ivan Ornelas got the W in relief, and was now also at 7-2. Not quite Ricky Herrera territory, but ahead of Damasceno and tied with DeRose…

Game 2
CHA: CF T. Stone – LF K. Fisher – 2B Woodrome – C L. Miranda – 3B Carbajal – SS Hullander – 1B Naranjo – RF Holder – P Sciuto
POR: 2B Ortega – 3B Ojeda – CF Caswell – RF Brassfield – C Perez – 1B Kozak – SS Gonzales – LF Morris – P DeRose

The Raccoons disappeared in order the first time through, but the Falcons also didn’t get any runs from two base hits off DeRose in those three innings. Both pitchers struck out three in the early going. In exchange for their nothing burger early on, the Raccoons then got pairs of singles to start both the fourth and fifth innings. This amounted still to almost nothing, but they at least scored a run on Brass’ sac fly after Ortega and Ojeda got on base in the fourth. Kozak and Gonzales singling led to nothing at all in the bottom 5th. Ojeda drew a leadoff walk in the sixth, and Brass obliged, shooting an RBI double to center, 2-0. This was all with DeRose constantly wobbling in the middle innings, but never falling, although the Falcons put a runner on third base in the fourth and sixth innings without scoring. DeRose offered another leadoff walk to Joe Hullander in the seventh, but the bottom of the order produced nothing whatsoever for the Falcons before the stretch came along.

David Gonzales hit a leadoff single in the bottom 7th, then advanced on a groundout and a wild pitch before coming in on a pinch-hit sac fly by Eric Monaghan. It was not a great show, but at least it nibbled together one run at a time… Sencion and Walters then got six rather unmolested outs from there. 3-0 Blighters. Gonzales 1-2, BB; DeRose 7.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 4 K, W (8-11);

Game 3
CHA: CF T. Stone – 1B Wheeler – C L. Miranda – 3B Carbajal – SS Hullander – LF Naranjo – 2B K. Cox – RF Holder – P Doyle
POR: LF Morris – 2B Labonte – CF Caswell – 1B Starr – C Perez – RF Konecny – 3B Ojeda – SS Bean – P B. Herrera

Tipsy Bobby had another slow start and saw Jeff Wheeler reach on a single and Luis Miranda on balls, but worked through it for a scoreless first inning. The bottom 1st saw the bags full with nobody out as Doyle walked Morris and Caswell while also giving up a single to Labonte. All three runners scored, but no more after that, as Starr drew a bases-loaded walk in a full count, Perez hit an RBI single, and Kelly Konecny blundered into a run-scoring double play. Ojeda grounded out to short then.

Kevin Cox and Rex Holder hit more singles off Herrera in the second inning, but he also struck out three to keep them on base. The Falcons had two more runners in the third without scoring, but at least Herrera got through the 7-8-9 in the fourth without giving me any more headaches… Jeff Wheeler hit a solo homer in the fifth inning, though… Doyle took the opportunity and allow another leadoff walk to Ben Morris in the bottom 5th then, and the quick Morris swiftly scored on Labonte’s following gap double, 4-1. After that, the 4-5-6 failed to get that runner home from second inning with three pathetic grounders. Two innings later, Tony Benitez hit a leadoff double in Herrera’s spot and was stranded on third base… Alex Rios walked Luis Miranda and struck out three other righty bats in the eighth inning to maintain the 4-1 lead, and Rios remained in the game to begin the ninth inning after the Raccoons scratched out another run in the bottom of the eighth. Kozak hit a leadoff single in Starr’s place and scored on a 2-out knock by Bernie Ortega, another pinch-hitter. Rios got a fly to left from Kyle Fisher, but that was the last right-handed bat in line, and the Raccoons moved on to Brad Loveless, who struck out Kevin Cox and got a fly to center that Cas caught from Rex Holder. 5-1 Raccoons. Labonte 2-4, 2B, RBI; Kozak (PH) 1-1; Perez 2-4, RBI; Ortega (PH) 1-1, RBI; Benitez (PH) 1-1, 2B; B. Herrera 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, W (11-12);

In other news

September 15 – The season of Cincy OF Tony Volker (.209, 11 HR, 39 RBI) ends with a torn labrum.
September 16 – Cyclones OF Sebastiao Bloomingdale (0-for-1, 0 HR, 0 RBI) as a pinch-runner scores the only run in a 10-inning, 1-0 win on a throwing error by the Buffaloes. It is the fourth career game of the 26-year-old Brazilian.
September 19 – NYC SP Milt Cantrell (13-8, 2.76 ERA) 3-hits the Condors with eight strikeouts in a 5-0 shutout.
September 20 – A day later, fortunes are reversed in Tijuana, where the Condors now get a 3-hit shutout of the Crusaders from SP Marco Clemente (10-10, 2.75 ERA) while claiming a 6-0 win.
September 20 – VAN 3B/2B Thomas Whittington (.276, 10 HR, 65 RBI) has a lone single in a 4-0 loss to the Bayhawks’ SP Jesse Connors (11-8, 3.78 ERA) and MR Travis Davis (2-5, 4.80 ERA, 4 SV), who split duties for the combined 1-hitter.
September 21 – VAN SP Jeff Kozloski (10-12, 3.53 ERA) shines in a 2-hitter pitched against the Bayhawks that ends up a 3-0 shutout.
September 21 – The Indians score in every inning but the sixth in their 15-0 home rout of the Knights.

FL Player of the Week: SAC INF Victor Corrales (.306, 16 HR, 85 RBI), batting .419 (13-31) with 3 HR, 9 RBI
CL Player of the Week: OCT RF/LF/1B Cesar Santiago (.283, 11 HR, 38 RBI), slamming .450 (9-20) with 4 HR, 8 RBI

Complaints and stuff

No, Bobby, I don’t think the league will let us play against the Falcons every week from now on.

The Raccoons posted a 6-0 week including a sweep of New York, but BNN still says, nah, the Crusaders’ playoff odds are supposed to be 100%. And I agree. We have yet to follow up a 6-0 or 5-1 week with something other than despair. Also, the Crusaders’ magic number was six. They’d probably win the division even if they did nothing but twiddling thumbs from here on out.

Joey Christopher was a couple more days away from returning from the DL, which would end the miserable Ben Morris experiment in the leadoff spot.

None of our minor league teams made the playoffs, but the Alley Cats finished second in their division, five games out.

We had just three more home games with the Thunder before finishing the season with a 3-city road trip to Milwaukee, Boston, and Indy. Also, unless we managed to go 0-13 from here to the end of the season we’d end that string of seasons without a winning record before it grow into an actual topic.

Fun Fact: Sebastiao Bloomingdale is the 10th Brazilian to play in the ABL.

He made his first appearance last season during a brief cup of coffee, getting his first two career hits then. Originally a free agent signing by the Wolves he was released and resigned a few times before winding up in the Cyclones organization in 2057.

The most prominent Brazilian player was current Wolves 1B Belchior Fresco. The 29-year-old had a career .265/.397/.405 slash with 569 hits, 63 homers, and 308 RBI between the Caps and Wolves. Funnily enough he had been a scouting discovery by the Critters, but had been wrapped up in a trade for Juan Mercado, a lefty starters, who didn’t last at the Willamette, and was now journeymanning his way through the Federal League.

Other notable Brazilians include righty relievers Hipólito Sendim, a journeyman for seven different teams from 1988 to 2004, posting a career 3.43 ERA in 648 games, and Pedro Cruz, who pitched mostly for the Scorpions, Wolves, and Loggers from 1985 to 1997, putting together a 3.74 ERA in 628 games. 1B Gastao Rosado was a regular for the Rebs and Gold Sox in the 2030s, but only got some bench assignments amid AAA stints in his 30s, batting .279 with 40 homers in 635 career games.

But the only Brazilian major leaguer the Raccoons ever featured was shortstop Daniel Bullock, a longtime bench piece in the 2020s that took home a ring in ’26, but batted an excessively lightly .234 with four homers across 538 games. He had a brief stint with the Aces in 2029, but that was really it for his career.

I know, Cristiano, you remember Daniel Bullock fondly. You still have his yearbook picture on your desktop background for some reason I can’t figure out.