[Westheim]

Raccoons (78-59) vs. Loggers (52-84) – September 6-8, 2061

The most dangerous animal in the CL North, the Loggers entered Raccoons Ballpark to feast on the Raccoons again and build on their dominating 7-5 lead in the sason series. They were a real threat with their fewest runs scored and second-most runs allowed in the CL, and we didn’t know how to possibly tame them.

Projected matchups:
Chance Fox (10-7, 2.75 ERA) vs. Bob Ruggiero (9-9, 4.31 ERA)
Angel Alba (3-3, 6.52 ERA) vs. Roger Pritchard (6-9, 3.61 ERA)
Tyler Riddle (11-4, 2.39 ERA) vs. Oliver Graham (2-8, 4.91 ERA)

Look at these monsters! – and Pritchard was a left-hander.

Game 1
MIL: RF D. Wright – LF Garmon – 1B D. Robles – SS F. Carrera – 3B D. Miller – C M. Chavez – CF Reder – 2B Loftis – P Ruggiero
POR: LF Morris – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – C Perez – 1B Starr – RF Christopher – 3B Fowler – 2B Bean – P C. Fox

The Loggers didn’t wait around and battered Chance Fox almost as soon as he poked his knobbly black nose out of his den. Dave Robles doubled, Fidel Carrera singled, and Danny Miller homered for a 3-run first inning, and that was probably gonna be that. They were closer to adding on before the Raccoons got somebody in scoring position when Corey Garmon opened the third inning with a triple to right-center. Fox, though, got a K on Robles, a pop to short from Carrera, and a grounder to second from Miller to stall the extra run at third base. After those heroics, Fox insisted on laying another egg in the fourth inning, offering walks to Phil Reder and Dave Wright, while for good measure also nicking Bob Ruggerio with two outs, loading the bases before perhaps undeservedly getting an easy groundout to Joel Starr from Garmon to strand everybody on base. He got less lucky in the fifth, with a hit for Miller and a 2-run homer by ex-Coon Marcos Chavez. Fox would linger into the sixth inning, but left on a 5-0 hook when the lineup turned over once more. At that point, the Coons had put one runner into scoring position, and then had immediately seen Fowler hit into a double play.

Bottom 6th, Ruggiero offered a leadoff walk to Caswell, while an error by Danny Miller put Perez on base. Starr flew out to deep left and Christopher legged out an infield single near the third base line to fill the bases. Fowler popped out to short, and Brassfield batted for Jon Bean, but struck out to leave the bases loaded. So it was *that* level of being forsaken, huh? (looks skywards to the baseball gods)

DeRose in garbage relief and Abrams held the Loggers to 5-0 after Fox ingloriously departed and the Raccoons got a new sniff at the Loggers once Ruggiero departed after seven innings. Cas and Starr got on base in the bottom 8th before Joey Christopher socked a 3-run homer to right off once-upon-a-time Raccoons reliever Raul Medrano. Bryan Erickson’s scoreless ninth kept the Loggers within reach before they took to the box against Randy Birnbaum in the bottom 9th, starting with Nick Fox pinch-hitting in the #9 spot. He drew a walk in a full count and Ben Morris singled two pitches later, putting the tying runs on base in a 5-3 game. Lonzo struck out in a full count… and then Cas hit into a game-ending double play. 5-3 Loggers. Morris 2-4, BB; Starr 2-4; Christopher 2-3, BB, HR, 3 RBI;

Cursed.

Game 2
MIL: RF Lock – 2B Garmon – SS F. Carrera – 1B D. Robles – LF Milian – CF Reder – 3B D. Miller – C M. Reed – P Ro. Pritchard
POR: 2B Ortega – SS Lavorano – RF Brassfield – C Fuller – 1B Tomlin – 3B N. Fox – CF Ayala – LF Kozak – P Alba

Rain was expected at some point on Wednesday, so Fidel Carrera wasted no precious time and took Alba deep to center for a 1-0 lead in the top 1st, to which Phil Reder added his own solo homer for a 2-0 score in the second. It started to rain lightly as early as the third inning, while the Raccoons needed help from Carrera to make an error and put Tim Fuller on second base with a terrible throw in the bottom 4th to get anywhere with the scoreboard, as Nick Fox found the left-center gap with two outs for an RBI double. Ayala’s grounder to Miller ended the inning though, leaving Fox on second as the tying run.

Jack Kozak began the bottom 5th by drawing a walk, and Alba celebrated by bunting foul until he had finally struck out, and Kozak ended up stranded on first base in the inning. By that time the rain was picking up, and Alba put Carrera (double) and David Milian (walk) on base in the top 6th before it became too heavy and a rain delay was called. After almost an hour, play resumed, though with LaBat pitching for the Raccoons and getting an inning-ending double play from Phil Reder to keep the score at 2-1.

Bottom 6th, Brass opened with a double against Pritchard, who was then replaced with righty Ricky Pippin. Tim Fuller walked, but Tomlin and Fox made meek outs, only managing to advance the runners into scoring position by the time there were two outs. Felix Ayala came through this time, though, hit a single to right-center off Pippin, and flipped the score to 3-2 Coons. Kozak grounded out to end the inning, while LaBat and Barton kept the Loggers at bay in the seventh. Rocco nursed the eighth, in which the Coons also saw Medrano again. Brass hit a leadoff single in the bottom 8th, but Fuller fanned. Joel Starr batted for an 0-for-3 Tomlin against the right-hander and smacked a double to center, parking two insurance runs in scoring position with one out, but both Nick Fox and Ben Morris hit poor grounders and Fox couldn’t even get the lead runner home. Walters got the 3-2 lead in the ninth and retired the Loggers on eight pitches to get the game over the line. 3-2 Raccoons. Brassfield 2-4, 2B; Starr (PH) 1-1, 2B;

This game eliminated the Loggers from mathematical playoff contention.

That’ll teach ‘em!

Game 3
MIL: CF Reder – LF Garmon – 1B D. Robles – SS F. Carrera – C M. Chavez – RF Milian – 3B Lange – 2B Loftis – P Houghton
POR: LF Morris – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – RF Brassfield – 1B Starr – C Perez – 3B Fowler – 2B Bean – P Riddle

The Loggers sent swingman Danny Houghton (1-3, 2.41 ERA) into the rubber game, which didn’t mean that the Raccoons were finally getting to take some swings – they were just as inept offensively as they had been in the first two games of the set. Riddle meanwhile struggled, with Milwaukee loading the bases with nobody out and their 5-6-7 batters in the top 2nd on a walk and two infield singles, but also didn’t score since Jeremy Loftis popped out, Houghton whiffed, and Phil Reder grounded out. Riddle got to feel the revenge of Houghton in the fourth, however, as Houghton then came up with Milian and Ralph Lange on base and hit a 2-out RBI single to right to drive in the first run of the game as well as his first this season.

The Coons knotted the score in the bottom 4th with a leadoff single by Brassfield, who was running when Starr grounded out to second, which was what kept the Coons out of the double play. Brass also ran aggressively when Perez singled to center and scored ahead of Reder’s throw home. Perez was left on base, and the Coons wasted a single by Riddle the inning after. Riddle pitched six innings, but needed 101 pitches to get that far, with a lot of full counts along the way, and four full counts in the last two frames alone. Angel Perez socked a 2-out solo jack in the bottom 6th for a last-ditch effort to give Riddle a W, as it put the Coons 2-1 ahead.

Ricky H. held the Loggers in check with a 1-2-3 seventh inning before the Raccoons found soft singles from Bean’s and Tomlin’s sticks to put two on against Houghton to begin the bottom 7th. Morris popped out, but Lonzo ended the right-hander’s outing with a gapper in left-center that he legged out for a 2-run triple. This was the decider – while Lonzo was left on base, the Raccoons now had a 3-run lead, and this was never in danger as neither Ruben Mendez nor Matt Walters allowed a runner on base in the last two innings to take an unexpected series win. 4-1 Critters! Lavorano 2-4, 3B, 2 RBI; Perez 3-4, HR, 2 RBI; Tomlin (PH) 1-1;

So it’s not going well with the stolen bases for Lonzo right now, but he’s whacking triples instead. No homers since April though!

The Indians took three of four games from the Titans in the meantime, which got Indy to 7 1/2 games out, but the Titans slipped into double digits, as did the Crusaders, who were swept in three close games in Elk City.

With in-division play and four teams vaguely in contention for the division, there always had to be (at least) one direct matchup, and it would be the Critters and Titans on the weekend.

Raccoons (80-60) @ Titans (69-71) – September 9-11, 2061

The Titans were not keen to see the Coons again, who had already taken 11 games from them this year compared to four wins for Boston. They ranked seventh in runs scored and fifth in runs allowed, and had a -7 run differential.

Projected matchups:
Nick Robinson (12-7, 3.01 ERA) vs. Grant MacKinnon (11-6, 4.12 ERA)
Bobby Herrera (11-7, 3.38 ERA) vs. Mike Bell (11-10, 2.87 ERA)
Chance Fox (10-8, 2.92 ERA) vs. Jason Brenize (8-7, 2.84 ERA)

All right-handers in this one!

Game 1
POR: LF Morris – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – RF Brassfield – 1B Starr – C Perez – 3B Fowler – 2B Ortega – P Robinson
BOS: CF Marcotte – 2B Woodrome – 1B M. Rubin – 3B D. Mendoza – LF Ramires – RF Lloyd – C S. Moreno – SS Mena – P MacKinnon

Robinson allowed one hit the first time through the order amidst four strikeouts, but it was a solo homer by Ted Lloyd that gave Boston the lead. Eddie Marcotte and Ian Woodrome hit 2-out singles to go to the corners in the bottom 3rd, but Cas snatched Manny Rubin’s looper to shallow center to keep them on base, while the Raccoons had another snoozy start to a ballgame. Fowler hit a double to begin the top 3rd and was stranded, but Lonzo reached on an error by Juan Mena in the fourth and then stole his first base in 15 days (!) before scored on Cas’ single to left-center. The bags would fill up with a walk to Brass and a soft Perez single with one out. Fowler hit a solid RBI single to center, claiming a 2-1 lead for the Coons as everybody advanced one station. Bernie Ortega’s sac fly extended the score to 3-1 before Robinson flew out, then gave up leadoff singles to Diego Mendoza and Bill Ramires to begin the home half of the inning – which also made for four singles inside five batters against him – but Lloyd flew out to left and Sandy Moreno, who played in his first game of the year, hit into a double play to end the inning.

Nothing else that would ooh and awe somebody occurred in the following three innings, as both pitchers worked very well to maintain the status quo in the 3-1 game, but neither of them would work in the eighth inning. The Coons still did nothing against Kyle Zanni in the eighth, while Paul Barton put Marcotte and Mendoza on base before the Titans sent Andy Lee to pinch-hit for Bill Ramires with two outs, drawing Justin Rocco out of the pen to face the left-hander … and erase him on three pitches with a strikeout that kept the tying runs stranded. Rocco then remained in the game in the ninth inning since Walters had been out two straight days, and Rocco was already here. Mendez was actually behind him in the pen with right-handers at the bottom of the order up. Lloyd and Moreno grounded out before Mena hit a soft single, but then the Titans sent a lefty batter in the pitcher’s spot, and Alex Abecassis grounded out easily to Ortega. 3-1 Coons. Fowler 3-4, 2B, RBI; Robinson 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 8 K, W (13-7) and 1-3; Rocco 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, SV (18);

Fowler had half our hits in this game.

18th save on the year for Rocco, but the first as a Critter.

Game 2
POR: LF Morris – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – C Perez – 1B Tomlin – RF Christopher – 3B N. Fox – 2B Bean – P B. Herrera
BOS: CF Marcotte – LF Ramires – C Arviso – 1B M. Rubin – RF A. Lee – SS Lloyd – 2B D. Mendoza – 3B Bratlien – P M. Bell

Lonzo singled and was caught stealing in an attempt to take second base, and Eddie Marcotte doubled and was caught stealing in an attempt to third base, and nobody scored in the first inning. The Raccoons couldn’t score after Jon Bean hit a leadoff double in the third inning, while Bobby H. made it the first time through without allowing another base runner and whiffing five, including the 6-through-9 batters in order. Marcotte then drew a leadoff walk off Tipsy Bobby in the bottom 4th, but this time remained on base all the way to the end of the inning.

A base was actually stolen by Joey Christopher right after his leadoff single in the fifth inning of a scoreless game. He advanced on Fox’ groundout and then scored on Bean’s light single to shallow right for the game’s first run. Bean was then caught stealing (…) before Bobby singled, Ben Morris walked, and Lonzo flew out to strand two.

By the sixth inning, Eddie Marcotte was on base for the third time against Herrera, drawing a 2-out walk this time. He was in fact the only Titan to reach base up to this point, although only for a minute until Ramires singled to right-center. He did become, however, the first player in recent memory to make a first and a third out at third base in the same game, trying to stretch it on the Ramires single and being told the **** off by Christopher, who threw him out. Andy Lee hit a 2-out double in the seventh, but was also left on base. Jacob Bratlien hit a single in the eighth against Bobby Herrera, was hit for with Hector Chavez, but Abecassis pinch-hit again and killed the inning with a 4-6-3 double play. That would be all for Herrera, not because of the skinny 1-0 lead, but because he was already on 105 pitches through eight. Marcotte struck out and the Titans went in order against Matt Walters to get the squeaker over the line. 1-0 Blighters. Bean 2-3, RBI; B. Herrera 8.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 7 K, W (12-7) and 1-3;

Game 3
POR: RF Christopher – 3B N. Fox – CF Caswell – LF Brassfield – 1B Starr – C Fuller – SS Bean – 2B Ortega – P C. Fox
BOS: CF Marcotte – RF Lloyd – 1B M. Rubin – C Arviso – 3B D. Mendoza – 2B Bratlien – LF A. Lee – SS Mena – P Brenize

The Coons went up 1-0 in the third inning when Brenize walked Christopher, who gained a base on Nick Fox’ groundout and then scored on Cas’ 2-out RBI single, while Chance Fox retired the Titans in order the first time through and struck out three of the Blueshirts. Christopher struck out, however, to leave the bases loaded with Starr (double), Ortega (intentional walk), and Chance Fox (walk) in the fourth. Marcotte singled to left to begin the bottom 4th, so that was that, but was left on base by the 2-3-4 batters as offense remained elusive on either side of the Critters’ box scores this week, although Nick Fox got on base to begin the top 5th and Cas reached on an error by Mena before being forced out by Brass’ grounder to short. Joel Starr then smashed his second double of the game, again to rightfield, which drove in Fox and sent Brass to third base. Portland got to 3-0 on Fuller’s sac fly to left, but Bean struck out to leave Starr on base again.

Andy Lee drew a walk in the bottom 5th with two outs, which didn’t look serious at the time, but Chance Fox then nicked Mena with an 0-2 pitch that should have ended the inning, then also hit the pinch-hitter Bill Dorey to load the bases and bring the raging hot Marcotte back to the dish. If there ever was a spot for a mound conference it was this one, but it failed to calm Fox down and he fell to 3-1 against Marcotte before giving up extra bases in left-center. Lee scored, Mena scored, and Dorey was thrown out at home as he tried to tie the game, which instead ended the inning with Portland still up 3-2, and Chance Fox bit into his glove as he walked off the field.

Fox held out for seven innings despite the odd speed bump along the way. The Titans went in order in the sixth, but Bratlien hit another single off him in the seventh and was run for by Hector Chavez again as the tying run. The inning ended again with a PH appearance by Abecassis, who struck out once more to kill what was supposed to be a rally. Kyle Zanni struck out Bean, Ortega, and Kozak in the eighth inning before there was a sudden rain shower and an hourlong delay in the middle of the eighth. Mendez and Ricky H. pieced the bottom 8th together eventually after Marcotte’s leadoff single off Mendez. He was left on base again. Rocco then got the ball again in the ninth as Matt Walters had been such a frequent flyer this week and retired the Titans in order to complete the sweep. 3-2 Critters. Caswell 2-4, RBI; Starr 2-4, 2 2B, RBI; C. Fox 7.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, W (11-8);

In other news

September 5 – The Stars beat the Scorpions, 4-3 in 15 innings.
September 6 – The Warriors’ 14-5 win over the Gold Sox is mostly engineered by three players that hog 14 of the team’s 17 base hits in the game: 3B/SS Ben Wilken (.306, 0 HR, 18 RBI) has five hits and two RBI, 1B Miguel Medina (.291, 28 HR, 110 RBI) has four hits with two homers and six RBI, and RF/LF/1B Josh Bursley (.283, 16 HR, 71 RBI) smacks five hits with two doubles and drives in two.
September 7 – SAC SP Mark Jacobs (7-14, 5.37 ERA) is out for the year with a tear in a back muscle.
September 10 – SAC SP Mike Chartrand (11-10, 3.34 ERA) throws a 2-hit shutout against the Wolves to claim a 9-0 win.
September 10 – The Aces rally for six runs in the ninth inning against the Bayhawks, but fall a run short and lose 8-7.
September 11 – Thunder SP Aaron Harris (12-10, 3.53 ERA) throws a 2-hit shutout against the Aces for a 6-0 victory.
September 11 – The Condors clobber the Falcons in a 20-0 rout. TIJ OF Alf Mendez (.337, 7 HR, 50 RBI) has a bases-clearing triple, a bases-clearing double, and seven total RBI in the game.

FL Player of the Week: SFW 1B Miguel Medina (.294, 29 HR, 115 RBI), bashing .500 (10-20) with 3 HR, 11 RBI
CL Player of the Week: OCT SP Aaron Harris (12-10, 3.53 ERA) for going 2-0 with a 1.13 ERA, 14 K

Complaints and stuff

Is it happening? After ending August with a 1-6 spill, the Raccoons are now 9-1 in September. The Titans exploded this week and the Crusaders also fell on their face and the .500 mark again, and BNN only barely bothered to even post playoff odds for the CL North anymore with the Indians now 9 1/2 games back of the Raccoons, and even then the Indians’ chances were rounded down to zilch.

POR (83-60) – IND (4), ATL (3), CHA (3), MIL (3), NYC (3), VAN (3) – .432 – 100.0% (+1.4%)
IND (73-69) – MIL (4), POR (4), BOS (3), NYC (3), SFB (3), TIJ (3) – .524 – 0.0% (-1.0%)

Not gonna cry winner yet, but I can’t deny it looks promising. Casual reminder though that we only have the fifth-best record in the league and that the rest of the division is just really, really cruddy. The Indians are currently in line for the #14 pick, f.e.;

The offense still needs to pick it up, though. We had a 5-1 week while failing to score even three runs per game on average, which says a thing or two about the roster.

The Raccoons will have their final homestand now, hosting the Crusaders, Knights, and Falcons for nine total games before the last three series will all be on the road with a 10-game road trip. We won’t see the Indians until the last week of the season. The magic number is 11, so it’s not inconceivable that the division will be decided while we’re still home. But if we don’t clinch before the final week, I see us actually losing it, giving we’re to play the Indians and the menacing Loggers then.

The Loggers…!

Fun Fact: 31 years ago today, Dave “Mad Dog” Garcia hit three home runs in the Thunder’s 12-2 win against the Falcons.

Garcia hit 29 homers that year, his age 35 season, which marked the only time he won the home run crown. It was also his final season with an OPS+ over 100. He led the CL in slugging, 12 years after having done so as a Bayhawk in a season in which he hit 35 dingers, but didn’t win the home run crown, but had to settle for the batting title with a .342 average.

So, yes, the gist is that Garcia was an offensive force for mostly his entire career. He hit .287/.353/.478 with 2,450 hits, 338 homers, 1,320 RBI, and 184 stolen bases in his career, taking two Player of the Year awards, five Platinum Sticks, and a Gold Glove as a 20-year-old centerfielder.