[Westheim]

Raccoons (69-61) @ Aces (54-74) – August 27-29, 2063

Here was another team in the gutter, and for the August Raccoons thus another trip wire. We were 4-2 against the Aces, who were bottoms in the South, and allowed the most runs in the CL. They had the worst rotation, too, which was running up a 5.09 ERA, while the pen had just shed closer Curt Carter.

Projected matchups:
Jeff Applegate (2-3, 2.65 ERA) vs. Justin Reif (9-9, 5.04 ERA)
Angel Alba (11-9, 3.83 ERA) vs. Chris Monahan (3-13, 7.53 ERA)
Chance Fox (8-6, 3.22 ERA) vs. Dan Graham (7-13, 4.70 ERA)

Right, right, left, lots of high ERA’s, and we couldn’t pull runs out of our tush for our tails’ sake…

Joel Starr was still day-to-day to begin the series.

Game 1
POR: CF Morris – LF Crumble – SS Monck – 1B Kozak – RF Corral – 2B White – C Arellano – 3B Fowler – P Applegate
LVA: C Wheat – SS Veguilla – RF K. Hummel – CF Jad. Wilson – 2B M. Roberts – LF Marazzo – 1B A. Alfaro – 3B Karch – P Reif

Tom Wheat tried to take Applegate deep to lead off the bottom 1st, but Corral picked the drive off the top of the fence. Instead the first run on Monday scored on a Kozak homer to left, leading off the second inning. Corral hit a single, but was forced out by Jim White, who was then doubled up by Arellano. In the third inning the Coons not only blew the lead – mostly Applegate himself with his own throwing error on Reif’s bunt after Sean Karch hit a leadoff single. Wheat tied the game on a sac fly, but Reif was left on base by the Aces; but Malik Crumble at that point had already been ejected for arguing strike three to end the top 3rd, and had been replaced my Marco Campos.

No, these remained trying times for the Raccoons, who scattered a total of five hits in the first seven innings and never got close to a run again, while Applegate held the Aces to four hits through six-and-a-third, but also offered four walks again with a parade of bad counts and was yanked after a 1-out walk to Wheat in the bottom 7th. The Dingerman got a double play grounder from Miguel Veguilla to clean up. Carrillo however gave up a leadoff gapper for a double to Ken Hummel in the bottom 8th, and conceded that run on Dustin Williams’ pinch-hit, 2-out single. Ubaldo Piteira then erased the 2-3-4 batters in 11 pitches in the ninth. 2-1 Aces. Morris 2-4, 2B;

Still no Starr on Tuesday, but to be fair, aside from a battery of 6-inch howitzers going off, I didn’t see how the offense could still catch fire in the last five weeks…

Game 2
POR: CF Morris – LF Crumble – 3B Monck – 1B Kozak – RF Corral – SS Lavorano – C Arellano – 2B White – P Alba
LVA: LF Lorenzo – SS Veguilla – CF Jad. Wilson – RF K. Hummel – 3B A. Alfaro – 1B D. Williams – 2B M. Roberts – C Wheat – P Monahan

Monahan was a woefully underdone 23-year-old rookie that was offering more walks than strikeouts this season, and it wasn’t particularly close. The Raccoons got a single, a walk, and an RBI single from Rich Monck to begin the game, then struck out twice and had Lonzo line out to Hummel to leave two on base. Another pair was frittered away in the second inning before Alex Alfaro tied the game with a homer in the bottom 2nd, however, Jose Corral answered with a 2-run homer after Monck’s leadoff single in the top 3rd. But don’t you get too giddy – Alba was looking just as *****. The 3-1 lead was scrubbed down to 3-2 in the bottom 3rd with leadoff doubles by Monahan (…) to left and Victor Lorenzo to right, and he walked the bags full with Hummel and Alex Alfaro before Williams flew out to Ben Morris to keep everybody stranded.

In a 3-2 game, the Raccoons then fudged Morris and Monck singles in the fourth inning, a Lonzo double in the fifth, and another Morris single in the sixth when he was Crumbled up, 4-6-3. And despite allowing TEN hits in six innings, Monahan managed to battle Alba to a draw when the Critters’ starter densely walked two Aces in the bottom 6th, then gave up a 2-out RBI single to the ******* Two of Spades: MONAHAN. The crushable rookie even added another 1-2-3 inning in the seventh and secured himself a no-decision before David Gaither allowed leadoff singles to the 7-8 batters in the eighth inning. Joel Starr was well enough to bat for Pohlmann in the #9 spot, but hit into a fielder’s choice for an out at second base, and then Campos ran for him and stole second. The Aces answered with an intentional walk to Morris, but Crumble beat Gaither for a 2-run single to right before Monck and Kozak made meek outs. McDaniel and Carlisle would get the W over the line from there, although both issued a walk to the Aces. 5-3 Raccoons. Morris 1-2, 3 BB; Crumble 3-5, 2 RBI; Monck 2-5, RBI; Arellano 2-5, 2B; White 2-3, BB;

Still no Starr on Wednesday!

Game 3
POR: RF Campos – 1B Kozak – 3B Monck – LF Crumble – 2B White – SS Lavorano – CF Morris – C Lawson – P Fox
LVA: LF Lorenzo – SS Veguilla – RF K. Hummel – 1B D. Williams – CF Jad. Wilson – 2B M. Roberts – C Wheat – 3B Karch – P D. Graham

Kozak homered for a 1-0 lead in the first inning, but for the second time in the series, but the Aces flipped the score on Fox quite quickly. He already offered a walk to Veguilla in the first inning, but then handled Hummel’s comebacker for a 1-6-3 double play, however, a leadoff walk to Williams, Jaden Wilson’s RBI triple to center, and Mike Roberts’ sac fly to right made it 2-1 for the home team. The Raccoons then bungled another three runners across two innings before Tom Wheat’s 2-out, 3-run homer extended the Aces’ lead to 5-1 in the bottom 4th; Williams and Roberts had reached base with singles ahead of him.

It didn’t get any better after that, either. Lonzo doubled home Jim White in the sixth, but in the same inning Fox got on the snout even harder when he nicked Hummel and gave up hits to Williams and Wilson. Hummel was in to score, it was 6-2 with runners on the corners and nobody out, and the Dingerman replaced Fox. Wilson was caught stealing while Roberts singled home Williams to go up 7-2. That score held up into the ninth inning when Jesus Aquino stumbled in his second inning of work after seven strong by Graham. Lonzo grounded out, but Morris doubled to right and scored on a Fowler single. Joel Starr struck out, but Corral hit another single in Campos’ spot and brought in Piteira with one out to collect. Kozak fell down to 0-2, but he wasn’t gonna be it and instead smashed a 3-run homer just barely inside the right foul pole – however, that only got the Raccoons to within one run, and Rich Monck grounded out calmly. 7-6 Aces. Kozak 3-5, 2 HR, 4 RBI; Lavorano 2-4, 2B, RBI; Fowler (PH) 1-1, RBI;

Rotten.

Raccoons (70-63) vs. Indians (69-64) – August 31-September 2, 2063

The Coons were by now a game and a half behind the Titans in the division, with the Crusaders in between and the Indians just behind and also gaining. They were sixth in runs scored and fifth in runs allowed in the Continental League, but even a +29 run differential was good enough to make these Critters blush… Indy was ahead in the season series, 6-5.

Projected matchups:
Josh Elling (9-10, 3.68 ERA) vs. Jarod Morris (3-8, 5.54 ERA)
Jeff Applegate (2-3, 2.44 ERA) vs. Antonio Pichardo (7-7, 3.68 ERA)
Angel Alba (11-9, 3.86 ERA) vs. Mike DeWitt (16-7, 1.76 ERA)

Southpaw Sunday, and also the only contender for Boston’s Jason Brenize for Pitcher of the Year. Also, Alba – no whining! You couldn’t even beat that animated mop that the Aces sent out to pitch!!

The opener on Friday was the last game ahead of the roster expansion. Joel Starr was back in the lineup; while the Raccoons so far had no starter lineup for Tuesday against the Crusaders, there was hope that Tyler Riddle would come off the DL in time to get in there.

Game 1
IND: 2B Kilday – LF B. Johnston – 1B Starwalt – C Atencio – RF Brassfield – CF E. Ramirez – 3B M. Martin – SS Cirelli – P Jar. Morris
POR: CF B. Morris – LF Kozak – 3B Monck – RF Corral – 1B Starr – C Arellano – SS Lavorano – 2B Bean – P Elling

Ben Morris drew a walk, a hot Kozak doubled to right, and Monck’s groundout and Corral’s single got the runners home for a quick 2-0 lead before Starr hit into a double play upon his return to the lineup. Whee. Indy grabbed a run back right away led by good ol’ Brass, who singled up the middle, and Elling walked Eddy Ramirez, threw a wild pitch, and conceded a run on a groundout by Matt Martin, but Eric Cirelli and Jarod Morris left Ramirez on base. Bottom 2nd, and the Raccoons started with singles by Arellano and Lonzo. Bean popped out, and Elling’s bunt was taken to third base by Jarod Morris, but even too late to get Arellano. Instead the bases were loaded for Ben Morris, who burned the other Morris with a 2-run double to right-center, and Kozak singled home Elling. Monck was nicked, and Corral’s groundout brought home Morris. Starr grounded out, keeping the score at 6-1 after two innings.

Jarod Morris was gone before the third inning was over, but Elling was on four walks in four frames and didn’t look that much better either. Cirelli drove in a run against him in the fourth, 6-2, before the Critters put the 1-2-3 batters on base with nobody out in the bottom 4th. They got all of one run after both Corral and Starr popped out on the infield and Arellano was walked with two down by Jeff Caldwell. Lonzo then flew out to center, stranding three, and Elling ****** up even harder with a walk, a wild pitch, another walk, and then a Brass RBI single that knocked him out one out short of qualifying for the W he tried so ******* hard to throw away. Pohlmann and Fowler entered in a double switch at Lonzo’s expense, and Ramirez’ fly to Kozak now stranded a pile of Indians.

The Coons went up to 8-3 in the sixth, but got no RBI when Corral hit into a double play with Kozak and Monck on the corners and nobody out. The Indians pulled an unearned run back against Matt Walters in the seventh; Matt Kilday hit a leadoff single, stole second, advanced on an error by Arellano, and eventually scored on a 2-out single by Vinny Atencio. The Critters then stranded another bushel of runners against Bob West and Josh Clem in the last two innings, but we also got two scoreless from Freddy Castillo to finish the game, so I limited my complaints to the usual annoying sighs that drove Maud to madness again this year. 8-4 Raccoons. Kozak 4-4, BB, 2 2B, RBI; Monck 2-4, RBI; Castillo 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

With that, rosters expanded for September baseball. The Raccoons added Cortez Chavez as third catcher, Vic Morales to have another go at third base, and against better judgment Felix Ayala as spare outfielder. For pitchers we went for Hachiro Yokoyama and Rich Read, neither of whom arrived rested, and we also decided that the time of Jesse Dover had arrived, 35 days before his 22nd birthday, and 442 days after he had been taken in the 2062 draft with the #19 pick. Time to show the people his slider! Little Jesse had gone for a 2.15 ERA in 58 AAA innings this year. If he had a weak spot, it was control, with 4.1 BB/9.

In that, he had jolly good company up here.

Between Cortez and Dover we had to create room for one on the 40-man roster, which was achieved by moving John Bollinger, out with shoulder inflammation for the season, from the minor league DL to the major league roster and then straight to the 60-day DL.

Game 2
IND: 2B Kilday – LF B. Johnston – 1B Starwalt – C A. Gomez – RF Brassfield – CF E. Ramirez – 3B M. Martin – SS Ellis – P Pichardo
POR: CF B. Morris – LF Kozak – 2B Monck – RF Corral – 1B Starr – 3B Morales – SS Lavorano – C Arellano – P Applegate

Saturday, the Raccoons scored first when Corral doubled home Morris in the first inning. Morris had drawn a walk to begin the bottom 1st, and Monck had singled with one out. Starr and Morales both popped out and left a pair in scoring position, then gained a pair on the corners to begin the bottom 2nd, although it was unearned, Lonzo reaching second base on a throwing error by Ben Ellis. Arellano’s scratch single then made it corners, and Pichardo going strikeout, pop out, strikeout on the 9-1-2 batters made all of it bupkus. In turn, Indy tied the game with hits from Ellis and Bryan Johnston in the top 3rd.

Bottom 4th, and Lonzo and Arellano were at it again; Lonzo singled and Arellano doubled with nobody out, and this time Applegate put the ball in play, flying out to center not all that deep, but good enough to send Lonzo for home and score the go-ahead run, 2-1. Morris was no help, but Kozak popped his fourth homer on the week for a 4-1 score. Rich Monck followed up with his 29th banger of the year, and at 5-1 Pichardo was gone. Roberto Ponce de Leon replaced him and gave up a run on Morales and Lonzo doubles in the following frame. The 6-7 pair then hit a pair of singles against Jeff Caldwell to start the bottom 7th, and Arellano added an RBI single. Applegate had thrown seven innings of 1-run ball on 101 pitches and was done and hit for with Crumble, who Crumbled into a 6-4-3 and the inning ran away from the Critters. The Dingerman then took the ball for a scoreless eighth, and Jesse Dover made his ABL debut in the ninth inning against the bottom of the order, striking out Matt Martin. Ellis grounded out and Mike Weber popped out, all being over in nine pitches. 7-1 Critters. Kozak 2-4, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Monck 2-4, BB, HR, RBI; Morales 2-4, 2B; Lavorano 3-5, 2B, RBI; Arellano 3-4, 2B, RBI; Applegate 7.0 IP, 8 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, W (3-3);

Game 3
IND: 2B Kilday – LF B. Johnston – 1B Starwalt – C Atencio – RF Brassfield – SS G. Lujan – CF M. Martin – 3B Blackshire – P DeWitt
POR: CF B. Morris – 1B Kozak – SS Monck – LF Crumble – 2B White – 3B Morales – RF Campos – C Lawson – P Alba

Kilday singled and Johnston homered off Alba for a 2-0 Indians score in the first on Sunday, and that – with DeWitt on the hill – was gonna be that. Thanks for tuning in, folks!

Umps said we gotta play nine, though, and so we soldiered on. Alba struck out four of the next seven Indians on his first way through the lineup, then got double-bombed by Kilday and Danny Starwalt to jump the score to 4-0 in the top 3rd. That wasn’t all the fireworks: Matt Martin also got a homer in the inning after, 5-0, and at that point the most astonishing thing was that the Raccoons – after six innings of total dormancy and just two base hits – actually put a dent into DeWitt’s ERA in the bottom 7th when DeWitt walked White, Morales hit a double, and with two outs, tender-looking Marco Campos slapped a 2-run single to left-center, narrowing the score to 5-2. That actually knocked out DeWitt, with Justin DeRose then striking out Lawson to end the inning. Morris hit a single off DeRose in the eighth, but Bob West killed the cute rally attempt.

After five Raccoons relievers pieced together four homerless innings against Indy after Alba’s departure after five frames of getting socked four times, Cody Kleidon faced the 4-5-6 batters in the bottom 9th. Crumble whiffed, White grounded out, but Morales singled. Campos dealt an 0-2 pitch up the middle where Cirelli made a play behind second base, but had no shot at the runners, and the tying run came to bat in place of Lawson. Starr had already been used in place of Kozak earlier, and we went with Arellano – who struck out. 5-2 Indians. Morales 2-4, 2B; Campos 2-4, 2 RBI;

In other news

August 30 – 39-year-old Topeka LF Juan del Toro (.254, 2 HR, 25 RBI) procures a 1-0 win against the Cyclones with a ninth-inning home run.
August 31 – The Thunder rush the Aces in an 18-2 blowout, with OCT OF J.D. Johnson (.274, 13 HR, 58 RBI) leading his team with five RBI from the leadoff spot, batting 4-for-5 with a homer.
August 31 – The Capitals score in every inning but the second in a 15-3 home win against the Rebels.
August 31 – Atlanta beats Charlotte, 1-0 in 11 innings, with 11 total hits in the game.
September 2 – Loggers SP Tony Espinosa (14-7, 3.39 ERA) 3-hits the Titans in a 3-0 shutout.
September 2 – TOP SP Bob Ruggiero (6-11, 5.87 ERA) was out for the year with a torn flexor tendon in his elbow, and questionable for Opening Day in 2064.

FL Player of the Week: DAL CF Tyler Wharton (.331, 19 HR, 99 RBI), shoving .500 (13-26) with 2 HR, 12 RBI
CL Player of the Week: OCT OF J.D. Johnson (.274, 13 HR, 59 RBI), bashing .517 (15-29) with 3 HR, 12 RBI

FL Hitter of the Month: NAS RF Austin Gordon (.349, 35 HR, 98 RBI), smashing .342 with 10 HR, 20 RBI
CL Hitter of the Month: OCT 1B Ian Stone (.312, 19 HR, 79 RBI), hitting .374 with 4 HR, 21 RBI
FL Pitcher of the Month: DAL SP Ray Walker (15-6, 2.83 ERA), going 5-1 with a 2.91 ERA, 41 K
CL Pitcher of the Month: OCT SP Phil Baker (16-5, 2.81 ERA), throwing for a 5-1 mark with 2.40 ERA, 16 K
FL Rookie of the Month: PIT 3B/SS Brian Robinson (.294, 5 HR, 35 RBI), hitting .300 with 2 HR, 9 RBI
CL Rookie of the Month: OCT OF J.D. Johnson (.274, 13 HR, 58 RBI), clipping .347 with 5 HR, 21 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Ho-hum week with little to fawn about but four homers by Kozak, twice what the rest of the team managed combined, and a fine Applegate start on Saturday. He even won it!

Shiny prospect Malcolm Spicer, a high-average singles slapper currently in AAA, and the #17 prospect in the league, has gone down for the year to a herniated disc in his back, which is exactly what I want to hear about a 19-year-old #17 prospect. He hit .291 with three homers in Ham Lake this year before just 19 games of .221 in St. Pete, where he will start next season. He doesn’t turn 20 until late May, but I don’t think we’ll see him in Portland as a teenager. Too much raw about him at this point.

It's make-or-break week next with six games against the Crusaders and Titans coming up.

It’s also September and BNN considers everybody but the fat, dumb Elks to be in contention for the North. How inclusive of them! Here are the five contenders with their chance to win the division, and their strength of schedule:

NYC (75-63) – POR (6), BOS (3), IND (3), LVA (3), MIL (3), TIJ (3), VAN (3) – .507 – 54.3%
BOS (72-63) – IND (7), MIL (4), VAN (4), ATL (3), NYC (3), OCT (3), POR (3) – .519 – 28.1%
POR (72-64) – NYC (6), IND (4), MIL (4), BOS (3), CHA (3), SFB (3), VAN (3) – .494 – 10.9%
IND (70-66) – BOS (7), POR (4), ATL (3), MIL (3), NYC (3), OCT (3), VAN (3) – .528 – 5.7%
MIL (68-68) – VAN (6), BOS (4), POR (4), IND (3), LVA (3), NYC (3), TIJ (3) – .504 – 0.9%

Fun Fact: Mike DeWitt and Jason Brenize could both claim the Pitching Triple Crown this year in the CL!

IF DeWitt can somehow make up 22 strikeouts. Meanwhile, in the CL, Dallas’ Alex Quevedo looks like a real shot at the FL Triple Crown, except that his own teammate “Crabman” Walker is trying to ruin it for him by winning too much! That fiend!