[Westheim]

Raccoons (81-68) vs. Thunder (78-71) – September 22-24, 2059

The Thunder were tied for the lead in the CL South with a paltry +24 run differential and without raking in the top three in either runs scored or runs allowed. Their pen was the second-worst in the league, and the South as a whole was a giant muck of .500 ball, with even the last-place Aces entertaining mathematical playoff chances with just two weeks left on the calendar. The season series between these two teams was even at three.

Projected matchups:
J.J. Sensabaugh (2-0, 1.37 ERA) vs. Alfredo Llamas (14-7, 3.13 ERA)
Duarte Damasceno (6-7, 3.88 ERA) vs. Juan Juarez (10-9, 4.45 ERA)
Chance Fox (13-4, 3.63 ERA) vs. Tan Brink (5-11, 6.59 ERA)

Three right-handers to close up shop at home for the year.

Game 1
OCT: CF Martaranha – 1B C. Santiago – 3B Soberanes – 2B O. Lira – SS N. Kelly – RF J. Mendoza – C T. Alvarez – LF Weant – P Llamas
POR: LF Morris – 2B Labonte – CF Caswell – RF Brassfield – 1B Starr – 3B Benitez – SS Bean – C C. Chavez – P Sensabaugh

Bernaldin Martaranha walloped a pitch over the fence when I was still settling into my spot on the couch, giving the Thunder a quick 1-0 lead, but the Raccoons answered with a Ben Morris double to begin the bottom 1st, then three singles by Caswell, Starr, and Benitez; the centerfielder and third sacker each got an RBI as the score was flipped around before Jon Bean struck out to strand a pair. The Thunder then had somebody on base every inning through the fourth, and Cesar Santiago nearly hit a 2-out, 2-run homer in the third inning, but couldn’t get over the hump against a wobbling Sensabaugh, who instead – after bunting into a double play his first time at the plate – hit a 1-out single to left in the bottom 4th, then scored a run to up the score to 3-1 on Morris and Labonte singles before Cas crashed into a double play, 4-6-3. Sensabaugh then walked Tony Alvarez on straight balls leading off the top 5th, but Tim Weant hit a ball so hard at Joel Starr that the Coons could turn a 3-6-3 double play. Next thing anybody heard was a thundercrack, but not for weather issues (the skies were dark, though), but for the pitcher Llamas socking a homer to left-center. Sensabaugh, never shy to create “excitement”, then issued yet another leadoff walk to Santiago in the sixth, but this time Ed Soberanes spanked a ball hard into a 5-4-3 double play.

In between, the Raccoons had tacked on a run with Brass and Starr singles and a well-placed RBI groundout by Bean in the bottom 5th, but all that went down the river when Tony Alvarez singled and Tim Weant socked a game-tying homer off Sensabaugh, who was then yanked from the game in the top of the seventh. Brass was on base again with a leadoff single in the bottom 7th, but was largely ignored. After a 20-minute rain delay (like I said, the skies were dark), the Raccoons got a 1-out walk from Ben Morris in the bottom 8th. Right-hander Jordan Juarez then allowed a single to Labonte, with Morris rushing for third base. Getting a 2-1 fastball, Caswell bashed well, but narrowly missed a home run in rightfield, having to settle for an RBI double and a pair in scoring position for Brassfield, who got better hold of another lazy fastball and thumped it over the wall for a 3-piece…! Elijah LaBat would protect the 4-run lead in the resulting ninth inning. 8-4 Raccoons. Ben Morris 2-3, 2 BB, 2B; Labonte 2-4, BB, RBI; Caswell 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Brassfield 2-4, BB, HR, 3 RBI; Starr 2-4; Benitez 3-5, RBI;

This clinched a winning record for the year, not that I felt we had been a particularly good team…

Joey Christopher came off the DL on Tuesday.

Game 2
OCT: CF Martaranha – 1B C. Santiago – 3B Soberanes – RF M. Harmon – C Almaguer – 2B Gaxiola – SS McNeal – LF Weant – P Ju. Juarez
POR: RF Christopher – C Perez – CF Caswell – LF Brassfield – 3B Ojeda – 1B Kozak – SS Gonzales – 2B Ortega – P Damasceno

DD was battered around in the first inning as the Thunder again scored without making an out, this time on doubles by Martaranha and Santiago, then added Mike Harmon and Pedro Almaguer singles for a second run in the inning. Damasceno would never find his groove in the game, and both sides put on a steady supply of base runners, but usually made poor outs once somebody reached scoring position. The Thunder added a run on a throwing error by Kozak in the third, which Portland made up in the bottom of the inning on hits by DD, Perez, and Brassfield, but Juan Ojeda then struck out.

The Raccoons didn’t hit for Damasceno in the bottom 4th, which began with hits for Jack Kozak and David Gonzales, and then frittered out with three standard outs that didn’t advance the runners one iota. The return for that was a leadoff walk to Soberanes and a no-doubt-about-it homer by Mike Harmon in the fifth inning, and Damasceno was excused further beatings at that point. Bobby Sneeze and Ivan Ornelas each pitches two scoreless innings from here, while the Raccoons found two … double plays to hit into, Brass in the fifth and Bernie Ortega in the sixth.

The Raccoons looked pretty dead going into the bottom 9th, trailing by a slam. David Gonzales grounded out against Jerry Washington, before Kelly Konecny batted for Eloy Sencion in the #8 hole and doubled to left-center. Labonte then rushed an RBI triple into the right-center gap and scored on Joe-Chris’ single to center. Suddenly the tying run was at the plate and the Thunder sent right-hander Cody Lovett to replace Washington. Angel Perez lined out to Alvarez at first and this almost doubled up Christopher, but he dove back into the bag. Cas then drew a walk, bringing up Brass as the winning run. Ending the game he did – but with a groundout to Soberanes. 5-3 Thunder. Perez 2-3, BB; Caswell 2-4, BB; Gonzales 2-4; Konecny (PH) 1-1; Sneeze 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K; Ornelas 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

The Crusaders were rained out on Monday, but swept the Knights in a double-header on Tuesday, which also gave the Thunder sole possession of first place in the South. New York had their magic number down to three, cut from six on this Tuesday.

Game 3
OCT: LF J. Mendoza – 3B Soberanes – 1B F. Martinez – RF Whitlow – CF Gillum – 2B O. Lira – C Dye – SS N. Kelly – P Brink
POR: RF Christopher – CF Morris – LF Brassfield – 1B Starr – C Perez – 2B Labonte – SS Bean – 3B Benitez – P Fox

For oddities, Joel Starr singled and Paul Labonte slugged a home run, just his second of the year, for a 2-0 lead in the bottom 2nd, but just when I wanted to say to Honeypaws how Chance Fox looked much less punchable today, he walked the opposing pitcher, gave up a bloop double to Jose Mendoza, and then a run on Soberanes’ groundout in the top of the third inning. At least that tying run remained on base in that inning… but not in the fourth, when an error by Fox put Brian Gillum on base after Eric Whitlow had already walked, and Omar Lira’s grounder and Jonathan Dye’s sac fly got the two teams even at two. Felix Martinez’ single and a Gillum homer then put the Thunder 4-2 ahead in the sixth. It was the second career bomb of the 27-year-old cup-of-coffee hustler Gillum.

Joel Starr got the Coons even in the same inning. Christopher and Morris had groundouts to begin the bottom 6th, but then Brass singled to left. Starr did him one or two better and chucked a 2-out homer over the fence, now knotting the score at four. Angel Perez then launched another deep fly, but this one was picked by Jose Mendoza at the fence. Fox pitched up to the stretch, but had to settle for a no-decision, while Bravo and Loveless handled the eighth inning against an army of left-handed pinch-hitters, none of whom reached base. The bottom 8th then saw Jack Kozak drop a single into shallow right batting leadoff in the #9 hole as pinch-hitter for Brad Loveless. He rushed to third base on Joe-Chris’ single, and now the Coons were on the corners. Needing something other than a strikeout, we sent Cas to bat for Morris, for which we got a first-pitch pop behind third base… that Soberanes dropped for an error, then chased up the line, and that allowed the go-ahead run to come home. Whatever works! Brass and Starr didn’t, hitting into a double play and whiffing to end the inning. Matt Walters got around a 2-out single by Steven Spalding to finish out the game and the home half of the season in the ninth inning. 5-4 Raccoons. Starr 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Kozak (PH) 1-1;

Raccoons (83-69) @ Loggers (57-95) – September 26-28, 2059

In Milwaukee, the Loggers were bidding for 100 losses with the worst offense *and* the worst pitching in the league. By now, they had racked up a scary -206 run differential, but at the same time the Coons struggled mightily to play against them and were only up a skinny 8-7 in the season series.

Projected matchups:
Justin DeRose (8-11, 3.45 ERA) vs. Adam Foley (4-18, 5.71 ERA)
Bobby Herrera (11-12, 3.24 ERA) vs. Sam Webb (7-10, 6.10 ERA)
J.J. Sensabaugh (2-0, 2.39 ERA) vs. Jesus Aquino (1-7, 5.78 ERA)

The Loggers would offer one left-hander for this series, Webb on Saturday.

Game 1
POR: RF Christopher – LF Morris – CF Caswell – 1B Starr – C Perez – 2B Labonte – 3B Ojeda – SS Gonzales – P DeRose
MIL: 2B Carmon – RF Pigman – 1B D. Robles – C Maresh – 3B Sostre – CF Valenzano – LF Arcos – SS D. Miller – P Foley

Single, walk, single, and the bases were loaded before an out was made in the Friday opener. The Raccoons took the lead on Joel Starr’s sac fly to Steve Valenzano, but Angel Perez popped out for the second out. Foley walked Labonte to fill the bases again, and Juan Ojeda dished a sharp grass cutter through the hole on the right side and all the way to the wall and the corner for a bases-clearing double, 4-0. Gonzales flew out to Roberto Arcos in left on the next pitch to close out the inning. The worst offense in the league then answered in the bottom 2nd against the worst waste of oxygen on our roster. Bill Sostre’s leadoff double, Valenzano’s single, and a walk to Arcos loaded the bases with nobody out for Milwaukee, and Danny Miller’s groundout got a run home. Foley then hit an RBI single, and Corey Garmon drew a walk that filled up the bases again. Perry Pigman brought in a run with a sac fly, Dave Robles drew *another* bases-filling walk, and when he had Chris Maresh at 1-2, DeRose first threw a game-tying wild pitch, then gave up a 3-run homer.

While I was breathing into a paper bag, DeRose bumbled along for another inning, down 7-4, before being pinch-hit for in the top of the fourth. Foley maintained control of the Coons’ lineup in these innings, however, while the Coons sent out Colby Bowen for two innings, in which he allowed another run amid numerous hard-hit balls. Foley clicked until there were two outs in the sixth, then gave up a walk to Labonte and a double to Ojeda, followed by a 2-run single to David Gonzales that put the tying run in the box, that being Trent Brassfield against left-handed reliever Sansao Tyson. Brass socked a drive to deep left, but it didn’t get over the fence, instead clonking off the wall for an RBI triple. Christopher then struck out, leaving the tying run in scoring position, now down 8-7.

Alex Rios did two scoreless innings to keep the Loggers close, but the Raccoons didn’t get any more out of Tyson in the seventh inning. Starr drew a 2-out walk, but was left on by Perez. Labonte then drew a leadoff walk from right-hander Danny Zepeda in the eighth, but Ojeda, Gonzales, and Konecny made nothing but meek outs. Curt Rosato retired another three in a row in the top 9th as the Raccoons couldn’t put anything together between Joe-Chris, Bernie Ortega, and Caswell. 8-7 Loggers. Caswell 2-5; Labonte 1-2, 2 BB; Ojeda 2-4, 2 2B, 3 RBI; Brassfield (PH) 1-1, 3B, RBI; Rios 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

The Crusaders had swept the Knights on Wednesday, then had been off on Thursday along with us. They lost to the Titans on this Friday, when a win would have sealed the division for good for them. In other words, the magic number was now one.

The Loggers moved Jesus Aquino up to the middle game then, so no southpaw for the time being.

Game 2
POR: RF Christopher – 2B Labonte – CF Caswell – LF Brassfield – 1B Starr – SS Bean – 3B Benitez – C Monaghan – P B. Herrera
MIL: 2B Carmon – RF Pigman – 1B D. Robles – C Maresh – 3B Sostre – CF Valenzano – LF Monson – SS D. Miller – P Aquino

The meat of the order all reached base and Starr singled home Cas for a 1-0 lead in the first inning, but Bobby Herrera continued to founder, allowed three hits in the bottom 1st along with a double steal by Garmon and Pigman and the tying run. After that trying first inning, Herrera then broke out the stuff and racked up seven strikeouts through the end of five, but then of course without the benefit of accompanying offense by his own team, and we were still in a 1-1 tie at the end of five innings. Starr hit a double in the sixth that saw him stranded in scoring position, while Tipsy Bobby walked Chris Maresh, who was doubled up by Sostre, to begin the bottom 6th, then allowed a single to Valenzano, who in turn was caught stealing. Kyle Kohlman drew another walk off Herrera, who did finish that seventh inning with a strikeout to Garmon, though, and remained in the 1-1 tie.

Danny Zepeda walked Starr with one out in the eighth, and Bean hit a soft single to right to move the go-ahead run to second base once again. Tony Benitez and Kelly Konecny both were rung up, and that ended another semi-threat. LaBat then walked the leadoff man in the bottom 8th, but had his furry tush rescued by Ornelas. But the Raccoons still couldn’t bloody score, so to avoid extra innings for no greater gains, the Loggers did off Ornelas in the ninth. Scott Franks drew a 1-out walk in a full count, Marcos Chavez singled, another double steal was done, now on Cortez Chavez behind the dish for Portland, and Roberto Arcos ended the game with a groundout. Bean tried to throw out Franks at home, but was simply late. 2-1 Loggers. Labonte 2-5; Starr 2-3, BB, 2B, RBI; B. Herrera 7.0 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 8 K;

The Loggers thus eliminated the Raccoons from the postseason race for good, because New York and Boston were rained out and the Crusaders probably watched the Coons poke and flail and huff and puff while giggling merrily for three hours straight.

The Loggers…!!

Also, no southpaw from the Loggers at all. They found righties to be working too well against us. Cory Ellis (7-9, 4.48 ERA) got the Sunday assignment, in which the Raccoons would have to win to at least scratch out a dead heat in the season series against a team that was playing .372 ball against everybody else.

Game 3
POR: LF Morris – C Perez – CF Caswell – RF Brassfield – 1B Starr – 3B Ojeda – SS Bean – 2B Ortega – P Sensabaugh
MIL: LF Franks – RF Pigman – 1B D. Robles – C Maresh – 3B Sostre – CF Valenzano – 2B Garmon – SS D. Miller – P Ellis

The Coons had another huge first inning, and just like on Friday Juan Ojeda cleared the bases with an extra-base knock, this time a 1-out, 3-run triple to run the score to 4-0. Brass had already singled home Morris with a run, and only Cas had been retired so far. Ojeda was stranded as Bean lined out and Ortega whiffed, but Perry Pigman hit a solo homer off Sensabaugh right in the bottom half of the inning. Sensabaugh answered with a leadoff single before a Perez walk and Cas getting nicked filled the bases; Ellis had already hit Perez with a pitch in the first inning. Brass then whiffed and Starr grounded out to plate absolutely nobody. In turn, Ellis singled against Sensabaugh in the bottom 3rd, but of course he was brought around to score on yet more hits by Scott Franks and Dave Robles… Those two were stranded by Maresh whiffing and Sostre flying out to center, keeping it a 4-2 game.

The Coons then tried again in the fourth with *another* leadoff single from Sensabaugh, and the bases were loaded with nobody out as Morris walked and Perez singled. Cas struck out. Brass struck out. Brass … walked! Huzzah! And then Ojeda flew out to center and we were held to that one miserable run, and Sensabaugh hit his third single of the game through the left side in the fifth inning, but that was with two out, nobody on, and I couldn’t make myself get excited anymore. Bottom 5th, Franks and Pigman hits, a wild pitch, and two productive outs got the Loggers back to 5-4, and that remained the score through seven innings as Sensabaugh failed his way through six, and then Sencion and Bravo barely held the lead together in the seventh after Pigman hit a double.

The top 8th began with Ortega flying out, but then Vernon Hudalla doubled in the #9 spot after entering with Bravo in a double switch. Morris was walked, and the Coons got a double steal down, then got a tack-on run from Angel Perez’ single through the right side, 6-4. It just wasn’t Noah Caswell’s day, as he struck out *again*, but Brass came through with an RBI single whizzed past Garmon. When the Loggers went to Sansao Tyson, Jack Kozak batted for Starr and drew a walk that filled the bases, but then Labonte fanned to end the inning. Bravo and Walters then put the game away to secure a .500 season against Milwaukee. Whee. 7-4 Coons. Perez 1-2, 3 BB, RBI; Brassfield 2-5, 2 RBI; Hudalla 1-2, 2B;

In other news

September 22 – The Buffaloes survive a scare when INF Zach Suggs (.278, 24 HR, 100 RBI) leaves a game against the Pacifics with a knee injury, but it turns out to be a knee contusion and he would be available for the playoffs, which the Buffos are inches from clinching.
September 22 – NAS OF Elmer Maldonado (.282, 9 HR, 50 RBI) drives in the only run in the Blue Sox’ 11-inning, 1-0 win against the Warriors. Maldonado has three of the Sox’ four hits in the game.
September 23 – The Thunder clinch the FL East with a 4-3 win against the Pacifics.
September 23 – The Bayhawks win a 10-inning, 5-4 walkoff against the Titans by means of an 2B/LF Armando Montoya (.278, 26 HR, 120 RBI) single, then two throwing errors by Boston’s MR Josh Carlisle (6-2, 2.64 ERA, 12 SV) and 3B Randy Wilken (.274, 31 HR, 99 RBI).
September 24 – Aces 1B/RF/LF Aubrey Austin (.294, 15 HR, 80 RBI) drives in five runs on two doubles as the Aces cream the Canadiens, 13-3.
September 25 – Wolves super utility Jeff Buss (.308, 18 HR, 87 RBI) will miss the rest of the season with a quad strain.
September 26 – SFB SP Jeff Crowley (8-15, 5.03 ERA) gets within two outs of a no-hitter before allowing a single to the Knights’ Josh Abercrombie (.316, 11 HR, 93 RBI), who comes around to score after Crowley loads the bases with walks and allows a sac fly to Juan del Toro (.266, 9 HR, 68 RBI). Crowley, with cushion aplenty, finishes the complete-game 1-hitter for a 12-1 win, though.
September 26 – Vegas SP Scott Evans (13-12, 3.58 ERA) pitches a 2-hit shutout against the Condors, striking out six in a 5-0 win.
September 28 – The Buffaloes beat the Rebels, 1-0 in 12 innings. INF Alejandro Silva (.188, 1 HR, 18 RBI) hits the walkoff single, a week shy of his 38th birthday.

FL Player of the Week: TOP C Matt McLaren (.275, 15 HR, 57 RBI), dealing .647 (11-17) with 2 HR, 5 RBI
CL Player of the Week: TIJ 1B Chris Thayer (.318, 4 HR, 18 RBI), batting .500 (7-14) with 3 HR, 6 RBI

Complaints and stuff

The string is stringy. At least the #13 pick is not a topic for next year, our record is already almost too good for that. While there is a mathematical chance for a protected pick with an 0-7 week at the end here, the odds would be long even with losing every game from here.

And why lose intentionally. We can lose perfectly well when we’re not trying to.

The Titans and Indy are left for the last week. No Raccoon is in contention for leading the CL in any meaningful category anymore, although Joel Starr has snuck up to second place in the OPS category with a .897 mark, 50 points behind Alex Alfaro in Vegas. The sole exception would be Matt Walters, two saves behind Zachariah Alldred.

Fun Fact: The Raccoons have not won the season series against the Loggers in six years.

Getting Decade of Darkness vibes.

The Loggers…!