[Westheim]

Raccoons (75-75) vs. Aces (80-69) – September 18-20, 2062

The Aces were five games out in the South and running out of time to make a run. It was not easy to make a run, though, with a team that was just barely to the good side of league average in both runs scored and runs allowed, with a +41 run differential (Portland: +15). They also had a rather explosive bullpen that kept ruining games. The season series was tied at three.

Projected matchups:
John Bollinger (7-3, 3.38 ERA) vs. Ubaldo Piteira (8-7, 4.26 ERA)
Angel Alba (10-11, 2.91 ERA) vs. Will Glaude (12-8, 3.63 ERA)
Chance Fox (9-10, 3.44 ERA) vs. Steve Hunter (17-9, 2.83 ERA)

The Aces like the Critters had a majority left-handed rotation, bringing up two southpaws in Piteira and Hunter. The former was a 23-year-old Sophomore swingman with two and a half good pitches that had just 4.5 K/9.

Game 1
LVA: CF Jad. Wilson – SS Fusselman – LF K. Hummel – RF J. Evans – 3B A. Alfaro – 1B D. Williams – 2B M. Roberts – C Feldbusch – P Piteira
POR: CF Kozak – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – 2B White – 3B N. Fox – LF Campos – RF Moreno – C Arellano – P Bollinger

Jaden Wilson whacked a homer to begin the week and that wasn’t all, as Jake Evans got on base and Alex Alfaro slapped another home run to give the Aces a rather rapid 3-0 lead. Kozak hit a leadoff single in the bottom 1st and was on base until he was picked off by Piteira, who then loaded the bases in the bottom 2nd with a walk to Jim White, a Nick Fox single, and nailing young Marco Campos. Actual damage was limited to Jorge Moreno’s sac fly as the bottom of the order fizzled out. The Aces loaded the bases in the top 3rd with 1-out singles by Jim Fusselman and Ken Hummel, a walk to Jake Evans, but then Alfaro struck out and Dustin Williams grounded out to keep everybody stranded.

Bottom 4th, Moreno and Arellano reached for Portland to begin the inning. A Bollinger bunt put them into scoring position before Piteira walked Kozak. This was the fifth walk against one strikeout for the Aces’ starter. Lonzo lined out to shallow left before Starr drew another walk, forcing in a run, 3-2. White tied the game with a single, but Jaden Wilson went back and caught a fly to center by Nick Fox and the bags remained full in a 3-3 game.

This changed in the fifth. After Bollinger ached through the top of the inning with his pitch count well up there, Piteira allowed a leadoff single to Campos, who then stole his first ever base and was doubled home with a streak to left by Moreno, who then came home on a pair of productive outs by the Coons’ battery, which gave Bollinger his first career RBI. Always a lot of career-firsts on a team of nobodies! Bollinger added one more inning, but was done after six and 94 pitches in a 5-3 game. That lead went bust immediately when Rich Read got his first serious career beating (…) and gave up three runs on homers by Matt Schrock and Ken Hummel in the top 7th, which gave the lead back to Vegas, 6-5. Kevin Feldbusch added to the pain with a homer off Corey Barrett in the eighth inning, and then allowed a single to Fusselman and a homer to Hummel in the ninth inning before being kicked off the mound. 9-5 Aces. Kozak 2-3, BB; Morris (PH) 1-1; N. Fox 2-5, 2B; Moreno 2-3, 2B, 2 RBI;

The Aces hit six homers in this game. The Coons hit two doubles. Which the Aces also did. In other words, this was a real battering. The score doesn’t do it justice.

Game 2
LVA: CF Jad. Wilson – SS Fusselman – LF K. Hummel – RF J. Evans – 3B A. Alfaro – 1B D. Williams – 2B M. Roberts – C Burgio – P Glaude
POR: CF Morris – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – 2B White – LF Gonzalez – RF Corral – 3B N. Fox – C Guinea – P Alba

Wilson doubling, Hummel getting nicked, and an error by Fox loaded the bases for Vegas in the first inning on Tuesday, but Alfaro whiffed and Williams flew out to right and they did not get a run across. Vegas then got Mike Roberts and Casey Burgio on to begin the second inning, but Will Glaude bunted into a double play and they would be denied again. The Raccoons also scattered a few stranded runners in the first two innings, but a leadoff triple by Ben Morris and Lonzo getting brushed on the sleeve by a pitch put a pair on the corners to begin the bottom 3rd. Starr rolled a single through the left side to get Morris home with the game’s first run. Lonzo scored on a pair of groundouts by White and Gonzalez that also moved Starr to third base, from where he scored on Corral’s double to right with two outs. Nick Fox added an RBI single for the fourth and last run of the inning; Guinea grounded out.

The Coons had worked Glaude hard enough in three innings that the Aces removed him in the fourth inning when Alba walked a pair. This was very much to our detriment, as Matt Sock schrocked a pinch-hit 3-run homer to very much axe the Raccoons’ lead to bits and pieces, now 4-3. Alba responded with a leadoff single in the bottom of the inning before lefty Alex Gomez hit Ben Morris in the knee with a pitch and Morris went down in the batter’s box. It took head trainer Luis Silva very helpfully holding a towel to his knee and lots of good words to finally get him up and limp off the field. Moreno replaced him, including getting doubled up to end the inning when Lonzo popped out and Starr grounded to short for a 6-4-3.

Alba then blew the rest of the lead and then some, hitting Fusselman to begin the fifth inning. Hummel singled, Jake Evans grounded out, and a balk and Alfaro’s sac fly flipped the score to 5-4 Aces. Williams then drew another walk, but Roberts flew out to center, ending the fifth and final awful inning for Alba in this game. Bottom 5th, White drew a leadoff walk from Gomez and Tony Gonzalez doubled to left to put the tying and go-ahead runs in the sugar spots for Portland. A walk to Corral made it three on, nobody out, though, and would derail EVERYTHING. (pets Honeypaws, angrily) Nick Fox hit into a game-tying double play, and pinch-hitters Jack Kozak and Marcos Arellano walked and struck out, respectively, and it was five-all after five.

Both teams now bobbled innings together with their pens, with Loveless, Pohlmann, and Rocco offering scoreless relief while scattering three hits against the Aces to get to the middle of the eighth inning. Lefty David Figueroa was brought in by Vegas then, and leadoff singles by Fox and Campos put runners on the corners in the tied game. Arellano struck out. Moreno popped out. Lonzo grounded out. – Maaaaauuuud! Make it eeeeeeend!!

Murdock held the Aces away in the ninth inning, but Figueroa retired the Coons in order as well to send the game to extras. Ricky H. pitched a scoreless inning, getting around a pinch-hit double Gustavo Lerrea (who?) in the tenth inning. When Corral hit a leadoff single off dismembered former starter Josh Clem and his 6.88 ERA in the bottom 10th, Nick Fox was used to bunt him and the winning run to second base. Campos fanned, Arellano grounded out to third, and the exercise proved pointless. On we went to the major league debut for John Nesbitt, who gave up a Fusselman single on the first pitch he threw in the majors, then walked the ever-buzzing Hummel before settling in and getting three high, but shallow flies and pops to keep them stranded. The Raccoons then gifted him a win for the occasion, clipping straight singles off Clem with Moreno, Lonzo, and Starr for a walkoff in the bottom 11th. 6-5 Critters. Morris 1-2; Starr 3-6, 2 RBI; Corral 2-4, BB, 2B, RBI; N. Fox 2-3, RBI;

Ten more games, hopefully all of them a bit quicker than this drag of an overtime W.

Ben Morris had a thick knee on Wednesday, continuing his injury-addled season. He would probably miss the rest of the week.

Game 3
LVA: 2B M. Roberts – CF Lorenzo – LF K. Hummel – RF J. Evans – 3B A. Alfaro – 1B D. Williams – SS Freese – C Burgio – P S. Hunter
POR: CF Kozak – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – 2B White – 3B N. Fox – LF Campos – RF Moreno – C Arellano – P C. Fox

The rubber game saw the Coons go up 2-0 on four singles in the bottom 2nd, with Campos, Moreno, Arellano, and Kozak partaking; the former two scored, the latter two got RBI’s. Lonzo drew a 2-out walk, but Starr grounded out and left the bags full. While Foxie Brown was quietly plodding along, the Raccoons got another 2-spot on the board in the fifth with White and Nick Fox singles with one out, then a throwing error as White tried to steal third base, which allowed him to score, and Nick Fox to third, from where he got in on Campos’ groundout. Moreno singled, there was a wild pitch and an intentional walk to Arellano with two outs, but Chance Fox then grounded out to keep two guys on base in the 4-0 game. The Aces continued to be a mess in the sixth; right-hander David Gaither allowed a leadoff single to Kozak, and Ryan Freese botched a grounder by Lonzo for an error. A wild pitch to Starr advanced the runners, and Starr dipped an RBI single into shallow right on the next pitch. White’s sac fly made it another 2-spot and saw Gaither replaced with lefty Jose Cintora, who got the last two outs from Nick Fox and Campos.

Foxie Brown went seven, giving up a late run in his final inning on an Alfaro double, but that was only the second base hit the Aces got off him in an outing where he mostly served up weak contact. And then the bullpen. Bryan Erickson came on for the eighth, faced four batters, retired nobody, and got the hook after a Bobby Colford single, a walk to Roberts, Victor Lorenzo’s 2-run triple, and another walk to Hummel. Murdock came, struck out Evans before giving up a run to Alfaro’s single, and then Rocco got out of the inning, but not without nailing PH Julio Plancarte to fill the bases. Burgio popped out to leave the bases loaded in a game that was suddenly 6-4. Lonzo and White found base hits in the bottom 8th, but that was all and they were left on base. Roberts hit a 1-out single in the ninth against Rocco, but a pop and a grounder to short ended the game before it could get *really* ugly. 6-4 Raccoons. Kozak 3-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Lavorano 2-4, BB, 2B; White 2-4, RBI; N. Fox 2-5; Moreno 2-4; Arellano 2-3, BB, RBI; C. Fox 7.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 6 K, W (10-10); Rocco 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K, SV (15);

Raccoons (77-76) vs. Canadiens (80-72) – September 22-24, 2062

Final home series of the year! Only a sweep could prevent the Raccoons losing the season series to the Elks for the first time since 2053, with Elk City up 9-6 with these three left to play. Elk City was ninth in runs scored and sixth in runs allowed this year.

Projected matchups:
Tyler Riddle (4-4, 1.87 ERA) vs. Ken Nielsen (13-13, 3.06 ERA)
Freddy Castillo (3-5, 4.41 ERA) vs. Shane Fitzgibbon (9-12, 4.67 ERA)
John Bollinger (7-3, 3.44 ERA) vs. Carson Miller (3-2, 4.32 ERA)

One more left-hander winding up in Raccoons Ballpark here, which would be Fitzgibbon.

Game 1
VAN: 2B A. Castillo – LF Tallent – 1B J. Campos – CF B. Campbell – RF C. Cardenas – SS Spalding – C E. Salazar – 3B Corpus – P Nielsen
POR: LF Kozak – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – 2B White – CF Gonzalez – RF Corral – 3B N. Fox – C Guinea – P Riddle

Lonzo reached and was caught stealing in the first, and White reached and was doubled up by Gonzalez in the second, which was the extent of early offense for the Coons, while Riddle was not *bad*, but struggled with high pitch counts and walked a pair in the second inning before pulling through. Enrique Salazar drew another leadoff walk in the fifth from Riddle, but was forced out and the Elks didn’t reach third base either. The Coons then took a lead rather suddenly; with both teams at one base hit through four-and-a-half, Tony Gonzalez plinked a shy single with one out in the bottom 5th before Jose Corral plonked a double to the base of the wall and Gonzalez raced around to score from first. Another scratch single by Fox put runners on the corners, where they remained while the battery made unhelpful outs. The lead was doubled in the sixth with singles by Kozak, who stole second, and, with two outs, White.

Riddle finished seven shutout innings; like Fox on Wednesday, he allowed just two hits but four walks. Pohlmann did not allow a run in the eighth, although Jose Campos hit a 2-out single. The real bugger was who to go after that for the ninth inning, once the Coons left Lonzo and White on base in the eighth – Lonzo stealing his 50th base of the year in that inning. Ultimately, we just hung with Pohlmann, at least until the Elks, who had a mostly righty lineup, would send pinch-hitters. Matt Walters, who had yet to pitch this week, was up for that occasion, and I had my paws ready to cover my eyes, also for that occasion. The occasion occurred after a 1-out double by Steven Spalding. Damian Moreno batted in the #7 hole, and Walters came in. Three straight sharp, loud hits by Moreno, Alex Corpus, and Rafael Valencia not only tied the game, they also gave the Elks a 3-2 lead they would not surrender. 3-2 Canadiens. White 2-3, BB, RBI;

(hangs head)

(sobs)

Game 2
VAN: 2B A. Castillo – LF Tallent – 1B J. Campos – CF B. Campbell – RF C. Cardenas – C A. Maldonado – SS Spalding – 3B Corpus – P Fitzgibbon
POR: CF Kozak – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – 2B White – 3B N. Fox – LF M. Campos – RF J. Moreno – C Arellano – P F. Castillo

Castillo allowed one hit in three innings, and the Coons had a Campos single in the second before they loaded the bases in the third; Arellano singled, Castillo had his bunt misfielded by Fitzgibbon for an error, and Lonzo legged out a 1-out infield single. Starr hit an RBI single through the left side for the game’s first run, and Jim White hit an RBI single to right, but Fox lined out to second and Campos flew out to center to leave the bases loaded.

So far so good, but it then derailed at once. Lonzo committed a throwing error at the start of the fourth, which was bad enough, but nothing compared to Castillo, who allowed FIVE walks in the inning, up to and until he walked in the go-ahead run facing Alex Castillo, for which he was yanked. Rich Read got a groundout from Randy Tallent to end the inning, the Elks up 3-2.

Through five, we were tied at three thanks to three singles by Starr, Fox, and Campos in the bottom 5th to get it knotted up. At this point Malik Padgitt pitched a scoreless inning of relief against the bottom of the Elks’ lineup. The game remained tied against Sensabaugh in the seventh despite left-handed pinch-hitters galore, until Chris Sullivan singled and Jorge Moreno dropped a fly by Alex Maldonado for an error in the eighth. Ricky Herrera replaced Sensabaugh, allowed a single to PH Danny Garcia, then allowed a 2-run double off the wall to Corpus. Valencia struck out, but Damian Moreno, who had pinch-hit in the seventh against Sensabaugh, drove in two more runs as the Raccoons’ pen imploded once more. The Raccoons never made another move on offense. 7-3 Canadiens. Starr 2-4, RBI; Campos 3-4;

Well, that was awful…!

Game 3
VAN: 2B A. Castillo – LF D. Garcia – 1B J. Campos – CF B. Campbell – 3B C. Sullivan – C A. Maldonado – RF Tallent – SS Spalding – P Kozloski
POR: LF Kozak – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – CF Gonzalez – RF Corral – 2B Bean – C Robertson – 3B Suriel – P Bollinger

Bollinger gave up a first-inning marker on singles by Garcia, Jose Campos, and Chris Sullivan, and after Maldonado grounded out to end that inning with two on base, Randy Tallent hit another single right away to begin the second, but was left on base, and the Elks got an error by Bean and two more singles to load the bases, but left them loaded with a groundout by Tallent in the third inning. In short, Bollinger was no help either. At least the Coons, who had only one hit through three innings, patched together the tying run in the fourth from an infield single for Starr and an RBI double for Tony Gonzalez, who was somehow batting cleanup now.

All for naught, given Brent Campbell’s leadoff jack off Bollinger in the fifth inning, which was Bollinger’s last, getting battered around for nine base hits and somehow just two runs. Barrett got the ball in the sixth, which as akin to askin’ for it, and the darkness answered. Alex Castillo drew a 1-out walk, Garcia flew out, and Jose Campos hit a comebacker to Barrett, who just had to throw it to first withou – … and he totally threw it away. Castillo scored on that play, and Campbell singled home Campos to tack another one on, 4-1, before Sullivan struck out. The Critters got a scoreless inning from Nesbitt after that, then even a 1-2-3 inning from the husk of what used to be Matt Walters. Loveless also chimed in with a scoreless ninth, but the offense was just sitting mute around the dugout. Kozloski went eight for the Elks, and Erik Swain had a 1-2-3 ninth to drive the nails into the coffin. 4-1 Canadiens.

In other news

September 18 – 21-year-old DAL INF Adam Yocum (.275, 0 HR, 60 RBI) goes 4-for-5 – all singles – from the leadoff spot and somehow drives in six runs in an 11-1 rout over the Buffaloes.
September 20 – IND INF Matt Kilday (.346, 1 HR, 78 RBI) will miss the rest of the season with a strained hammy. Kilday was tied for second with 48 stolen bases in the CL.
September 20 – Two home runs by LAP OF Matt McInnis (.279, 11 HR, 45 RBI) for five RBI, including a 3-run walkoff homer, give L.A. a 6-3, 10-inning win against the Cyclones.
September 21 – A single game is played in the ABL in which the Condors beat the Indians, 4-2. The other two scheduled games in Sioux Falls and Salem are both rained out.
September 23 – SAL INF Phil Huddleston (.233, 5 HR, 31 RBI) goes yard for the only run in a 1-0 win against the Pacifics.
September 24 – In a waiver trade, the Gold Sox send C Lorenzo Marquez (.300, 19 HR, 79 RBI) to the Bayhawks for two prospects.

FL Player of the Week: DAL OF/1B Tommy Pritchard (.347, 13 HR, 138 RBI), clipping .462 (12-26) with 2 HR, 11 RBI
CL Player of the Week: SFB OF Scott Laws (.333, 1 HR, 49 RBI), slapping .481 (13-27) with 3 RBI

Complaints and stuff

**** the ******* Elks.

Lonzo stole on base this year, Kilday is hurt and done, and Reyes got no steals, so Lonzo enters the final week with a 2-bag advantage over Reyes. That’s really all we have left to watch here, outside of the draft position. So far only five teams are assured of finishing ahead of the Critters in terms of record, but there’s an 83-win team in each division, and do you really think this crew will win six in a row from the Indians and Loggers…?

The Indians have a magic number of one and face the Raccoons on Monday to clinch the division.

Fun Fact: Jason Brenize looks like he has the triple crown in his bag.

At 21-5, with a 1.80 ERA, and 242 strikeouts, he is uncatchably ahead in wins and strikeouts, and he leads Jerry Washington of the Thunder by no fewer than .52 of a run in terms of ERA.

Assuming Brenize retired nobody in his final start, he would have to give up at least 13 runs to get up to the Oklahoman Washington’s ERA.

Sounds unlikely.