[Westheim]

Raccoons (72-64) vs. Crusaders (75-63) – September 3-5, 2063

There was all to play for in this series against the Crusaders, who had won four in a row and had stormed to the top of the division with their #1 offense and middling pitching, while the Raccoons hadn’t turned a winning month since June and didn’t look like getting there anytime soon again. New York was dominating the season series, too, up 8-4 with six to play.

Projected matchups:
Chance Fox (8-7, 3.53 ERA) vs. Erik Lee (8-12, 4.09 ERA)
Tyler Riddle (10-3, 3.21 ERA) vs. Jeff Kozloski (6-5, 3.46 ERA)
Josh Elling (9-10, 3.74 ERA) vs. Ryan Musgrave (11-6, 3.71 ERA)

Ben Seiter (13-9, 3.65 ERA) would have been pitching on Sunday, but had been scratched because of a sore wrist. We did not expect him to show up at all in this series, but he was not on the DL, unlike outfielder Sean Zeiher and infielder Vic Velez. The three Crusaders starters above were all right-handers in any case, and the same for Seiter.

In the event, the question of to Seiter or not to Seiter didn’t come up for the Crusaders on Monday thanks to persistent rain in Portland. A double header was scheduled for Tuesday while the Titans took the first game of their series from the Indians.

Although – by Tuesday we were able to grab Todd Oley from the DL! Yaay! (buries face in a bowl of peanuts)

Game 1
NYC: SS O. Sanchez – RF Je. Alvarez – 1B Austin – C McLaren – 2B Onelas – CF Menchaca – LF Jo. Alvarez – 3B Henriquez – P E. Lee
POR: CF Morris – LF Kozak – 2B Monck – RF Corral – 1B Starr – 3B Morales – SS Lavorano – C Arellano – P Fox

Fox started the week, a day late and none the wiser, with a walk to Omar Sanchez, who with the aid of two grounders, a 2-out walk to Matt McLaren, and Marcos Onelas’ single was able to come around and give the Crusaders the early 1-0 lead. Lee retired the Raccoons in order the first time through, but Ben Morris singled to begin the bottom 4th, only to get immediately doubled up by Jack Kozak. Fox had to stalk another leadoff walk to Jorge Henriquez in the fifth inning, but actually only gave up two hits in the first five frames before the Raccoons took the lead in the bottom 5th on Jose Corral’s leadoff single to right and then Joel Starr’s score-flipping homer to left…!

Kozak and Monck had hits in the sixth, but were stranded by Corral and Starr, while Fox continued into the seventh inning, hitting Eddie Menchaca and offering a 1-out walk to Jake Cline before Lee being retained to bunt backfired for the Crusaders to the tune of a strikeout on a foul bunt for a third strike, and then Omar Sanchez struck out swinging to leave two Crusaders on base. That was also the last batter Fox faced, holding New York to two hits. He received nothing for his bothers, as Pohlmann blew the 2-1 lead on an 0-2 leadoff homer by Jesus Alvarez in the eighth inning. Him and Walters also fooled McLaren and Alex Romero on base before – of all people – the Dingerman restored order with an inning-ending groundout from Tom Crist.

The Raccoons answered against Lee in the eighth inning, clipping three straight 2-out singles with their 3-4-5 hitters, all to center. Starr drove in Monck with the go-ahead run … and, it turned out, the winning run, since after Morales’ groundout the lead was nursed through the ninth successfully by Josh Carlisle. 3-2 Raccoons! Monck 2-4, 2B; Corral 2-4; Starr 2-4, HR, 3 RBI; Fox 7.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 5 K;

Game 2
NYC: SS O. Sanchez – CF A. Romero – 1B Austin – LF Cline – 2B Onelas – RF Je. Alvarez – C P. Gonzales – 3B Henriquez – P Kozloski
POR: RF Corral – LF Kozak – 2B Monck – 1B Starr – 3B Morales – CF Oley – SS Fowler – C C. Chavez – P Riddle

Riddle also returned with a leadoff walk to Omar Sanchez in the second game of the double header, but at least got a double play grounder in due time. Instead, Kozak homered the Coons a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the inning, and Monck just narrowly missed his 30th of the year, flying out to Cline at the fence. However, the Crusaders snuffed out Riddle quite efficiently in the second inning once he offered another one of those ******* four-pitch walks to Jesus Alvarez. Four straight hits followed by Pedro Gonzales (single), Henriquez (RBI double), Kozloski (2-run double……), and Sanchez (single) before Alex Romero flew out to Kozak in left, Kozloski went for home, and was thrown out by a good margin for an inning-ending double play, albeit with the Crusaders now up 4-1.

Riddle struck out for himself in the bottom 2nd, but the Coons should not have bothered. He gave up singles to two of the first three batters in the third inning and was yanked, but Carrillo proved little relief, giving up three more runs on Alvarez and Gonzales hits, then a Henriquez sac fly, 7-1. Rich Monck then did hit #30 in the bottom 3rd. Too bad that it only made it a 7-2 beating…

The Raccoons lined up Castillo and Sensabaugh for garbage relief, since there was no reasonable expectation to shorten the score in a meaningful way any time soon, and there’d be a rubber game tomorrow. Before Freddy Castillo retired anybody, the Crusaders reached double digits, though, as he allowed singles to Sanchez and Romero and was taken deep to dead center by Aubrey Austin to begin the fourth inning. The top of the order and a Fowler error would lead him to give up another (unearned) run in the sixth inning, while the Raccoons did ******** nothing in between homers in consecutive at-bats by Rich Monck, the second one coming in the bottom 6th. Starr made it back-to-back bombs against Kozloski, but the Crusaders shrugged and just **** another four runs onto J.J. Sensabaugh in the top 7th. It started with a walk to Jesus Alvarez, and it continued with a balk, a wild pitch, and then a barrage of base hits, at the end of which the score was 15-4, and the Raccoons replaced most regulars in the stretch, but not Monck, who had a chance for a 3-homer game, but grounded out to end the bottom 7th after singles by Campos and Crumble in the 1-2 spots. Morales tripled and scored on a Fowler single in the bottom 8th, but that still left the Raccoons smothered by double digits. 15-5 Crusaders. Monck 2-4, 2 HR, 2 RBI;

(oils blunderbuss)

Game 3
NYC: LF Menchaca – SS O. Sanchez – C McLaren – 2B Onelas – RF A. Romero – CF Je. Alvarez – 1B Cline – 3B Crist – P Musgrave
POR: CF Morris – LF Crumble – 3B Monck – 1B Starr – 2B White – RF Corral – SS Lavorano – C Arellano – P Elling

Elling started the game with a ******* walk, because what else, to Menchaca, and melted from there, as Sanchez singled, Romero drew a 2-out walk, and Alvarez singled in a pair. A walk to Cline (…) reloaded the bases, but Crist lined out to Lonzo at short. That was already the penultimate out that Elling logged in the game before going completely bizzarro style in the second inning, issuing another FOUR walks, walking a run and giving up a bases-clearing double to Romero before being yanked down 6-0 with the bags full on five hits and seven walks on his ******* ledger. The Dingerman replaced him and got Crist out on a liner to White and Musgrave on a grounder to end THAT ******* INNING. The Crusaders had a 6-0 lead, and I had enough of this team.

Portland scored a run in the bottom 2nd as Lonzo doubled in Starr, which was omitting the factoid that Starr and Jim White had actually drawn two leadoff walks from Musgrave before Corral had jabbed into a double play. Lonzo was stranded by Arellano, but at least the Dingerman gave the Raccoons 11 outs without giving up a dinger. Hachiro Yokoyama made up for that when he was taken deep by Alvarez for an extra run in the sixth inning. Onelas and Alvarez teamed up to score a run on Jesse Dover in the eighth inning, hitting him for a single and RBI double, respectively. The Raccoons amounted to four total hits in the second slapping in a row. 8-1 Crusaders. Dingman 3.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K;

Dingerman – best tosser on staff!

Besides Jon Bean of course.

While the Raccoons could take time to lick their many wounds on Thursday, the Titans were still playing the Indians on that day. Basically Boston won whenever the Crusaders won in terms of games in order, then eeked out another win on Thursday, closing to within a game of New York with a 13th-inning walkoff by Eddie Marcotte (.275, 37 HR, 95 RBI) deciding the contest. The best news for the Raccoons here were that Jason Brenize (16-6, 1.92 ERA) had pitched in this game and was thus off the table for the weekend.

Raccoons (73-66) @ Titans (75-64) – September 7-9, 2063

Unlike the Crusaders, the Titans were behind in the season series against the Critters, 8-7, with this being the last series played between these teams for the year. They ranked third in both runs scored and runs allowed, and held a +80 run differential, more than a hundred runs better than the fly-beset Critters.

Projected matchups:
Jeff Applegate (3-3, 2.35 ERA) vs. Mike Bell (5-11, 3.93 ERA)
Angel Alba (11-10, 4.01 ERA) vs. Jayden Craddock (16-7, 2.81 ERA)
Chance Fox (8-7, 3.43 ERA) vs. Matt Taylor (0-1, 6.43 ERA)

Only right-handers were up here, with Taylor getting a trial over Grant MacKinnon (9-10, 4.06 ERA) in his second September call-up, although the 25-year-old had only been used in relief last September. He had taken the L in his first career start against Indy on Tuesday.

Did I ever mention that nothing good ever happens in Boston?

Game 1
POR: CF Morris – SS Lavorano – 3B Monck – 1B Starr – 2B White – RF Corral – LF Campos – C Arellano – P Applegate
BOS: LF S. Humphries – C Arviso – 2B Nye – CF Marcotte – 1B M. Rubin – 3B D. Mendoza – RF A. Lee – SS J. Watson – P M. Bell

Applegate DID NOT WALK THE FIRST GUY HE FACED. What was going on??? Relax, though, he still walked Nick Nye in the first inning, but then struck out Marcotte to get out of the inning. And while the Coons went down in order in the first three innings, Applegate still managed to walk Steve Humphries in the third inning, then gave up a 2-out, 2-run homer to Nye. He then still put Marcotte on base, and gave up another 2-run homer to Manny Rubin. So much for that then.

Bell was perfect for 4.2 innings before walking Corral, but Marco Campos popped out to quickly end the inning. Same frame, Applegate managed to fill the bases before getting yanked with one out in the inning. Pohlmann replaced him, struck out Diego Mendoza, and then … gave up a bases-clearing double to Andy Lee. Jonathan Watson’s 2-run homer extended the rout to 9-0.

The Raccoons broke into the H column with Lonzo, who also stole his 20th base, with a sixth-inning single, not that this marked any sort of threat to the tire fire in the visitors’ dugout. Rich Read managed to pitch five outs without being treated like just another clay pigeon, but Yokoyama and Dover were rather depressingly exploded for another three runs by the Titans in the eighth inning. Bell finished a 3-hit shutout. 12-0 Titans. Corral 1-2, BB;

Nothing good ever happens in Boston.

Or with this rancid collection of dimwits sharing a single brain cell.

Game 2
POR: CF Morris – SS Lavorano – 2B Monck – 1B Starr – LF Kozak – 3B Morales – C Arellano – RF Oley – P Alba
BOS: LF S. Humphries – SS J. Watson – 2B Nye – CF Marcotte – C Arviso – RF A. Lee – 1B Dorey – 3B D. Mendoza – P Craddock

Saturday’s game began with three scoreless innings, Alba holding up for two hits and no drama, while Craddock had yet to give up a base knock to the inept Critters. He then gave up three at once to Monck, Starr, and Kozak, the bushel of singles loading the bases with nobody out in the fourth inning. Vic Morales popped out on the infield, Arellano struck out, and Oley grounded out to Watson, and I hammered my head harder against the nearest steel girder that tried its best to still hold up the roof over the ballpark’s grandstand.

Alba offered a leadoff walk to Jorge Arviso in the bottom 5th, but Andy Lee hit into a double play at once, and the game remained scoreless through five. A walk to Starr in the sixth led absolutely nowhere, and instead Alba went up in flames in the seventh after Watson struck a leadoff triple to center. Nye popped poorly in shallow left to hold the runner, but Alba nailed Marcotte, surrendered two runs on a wallbanger double by Arviso, and then that runner as well on Bill Dorey’s 2-out RBI single. Both starters went eight full innings before the Titans handed the ball to lefty Tyler Gleason in the ninth. Starr struck a leadoff double on his first pitch, putting a guy in scoring position for a team that hadn’t scored a run since Wednesday and hadn’t looked like ABL material since Tuesday afternoon. Kozak singled to center, which brought the tying run to the plate. Morales ******* popped out again, while Malik Crumble batted for Arellano. The ploy worked well enough for a 2-run double to left-center, and now the tying run was in scoring position, for Jim White, who whiffed in place of Oley, and Campos, who grounded out to lose the game for good. 3-2 Titans. Starr 2-3, BB, 2B; Kozak 2-4; Crumble (PH) 1-1, 2B, 2 RBI; Alba 8.0 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, L (11-11);

(facepaws)

Game 3
POR: CF Morris – LF Kozak – 2B Monck – 1B Starr – RF Corral – 3B Morales – SS Fowler – C C. Chavez – P Fox
BOS: LF S. Humphries – C Arviso – 2B Nye – CF Marcotte – 1B M. Rubin – 3B D. Mendoza – RF A. Lee – SS J. Watson – P M. Taylor

Triple, walk, single, single went the Titans against Fox to begin the bottom 1st, plating Humphries and filling the bases for Rubin, who popped out, and Mendoza, who found a double play to make the nightmare end … for the time being, but hits by Watson and Humphries quickly gave them another run in the second inning. The Coons had no hits in three innings against the rookie Taylor, then got a leadoff double smashed to left by Kozak in the fourth inning … and couldn’t even get that ******* runner home…

Fox never found a footing in the game and was done after six mucky innings. He allowed no more runs, but was constantly behind, walked four batters, and needed almost 100 pitches to make it even that far. Meanwhile, Taylor reached the stretch for just two hits and two walks, and got two more outs in the eighth. Morris doubled off him with one out, but he struck out Kozak before being replaced with Nick Leigh, who rung up Monck. The Coons had gotten one scoreless inning from Walters and sent Carrillo into the bottom 8th, but saw him get burned for a leadoff triple by Nye, a Marcotte RBI double, and Rubin’s RBI single before Mendoza hit into a double play, but by then the Titans had doubled their lead. Leigh retired the Raccoons in order in the ninth to claim a save. 4-0 Titans.

In other news

September 4 – NAS RF Austin Gordon (.349, 35 HR, 98 RBI) could miss three weeks with a strained rib cage muscle, but the Blue Sox are relieved that he is expected to be fine for the playoffs. The Sox lead the Capitals by seven games at this point.
September 5 – The Blue Sox are less lucky with OF/3B/1B Fernando Aracena (.311, 0 HR, 40 RBI), who is expected to miss the rest of the year with a strained oblique.
September 7 – Capitals OF Isaiah Birth (.252, 7 HR, 55 RBI) was done for the year with a broken finger.
September 7 – The Miners have a 5-run rally in the bottom of the ninth inning to beat the Capitals, 7-6.
September 7 – LAP 3B/LF/RF/1B Steve Dilly (.252, 20 HR, 82 RBI) hits a 3-run walkoff homer for the only tally in the Pacifics’ 11-inning, 3-0 win against the Wolves. Up to that point, both teams only tallied three hits apiece.
September 8 – The Bayhawks get not only routed by the Knights, 14-0, but are also shut out on just two hits by ATL SP Jose Rosa (11-10, 4.31 ERA). Half the Knights’ runs are driven in by third baseman in the #8 spot, five by Brad Feldman (.250, 1 HR, 5 RBI) and two by Jeff Baxley (.209, 0 HR, 4 RBI). For Feldman, these are the first RBI’s of his major league career.

FL Player of the Week: DEN 1B Bill Joyner (.322, 18 HR, 79 RBI), batting .500 (14-28) with 2 HR, 4 RBI;
CL Player of the Week: VAN 1B Jose Campos (.293, 25 HR, 92 RBI), hitting .538 (14-26) with 4 HR, 11 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Well. (holds onto almost empty bottle) That was rough.

Seems like run differential remains a pretty good indicator as to where a team is gonna end up. The Coons’ is at -44 after this week of ravaging, and I am even more convinced that we’re not gonna stop at the .500 mark. Who knew that giving up seven runs a game is bad for your record…!?

One of the finest collapses from 15 games over .500 for sure! Since July 27, the Raccoons have gone a steep 14-27.

BOS (78-64) – MIL (4), VAN (4), ATL (3), IND (3), NYC (3), OCT (3) – .518 – 53.7% (+25.6%)
NYC (79-65) – BOS (3), IND (3), LVA (3), POR (3), TIJ (3), VAN (3) – .507 – 45.6% (-8.7%)
POR (73-69) – IND (4), MIL (4), CHA (3), NYC (3), SFB (3), VAN (3) – .476 – 0.3% (-10.6%)
IND (73-70) – POR (4), ATL (3), BOS (3), MIL (3), NYC (3), OCT (3) – .540 – 0.4% (-5.4%)
MIL (70-72) – BOS (4), POR (4), IND (3), LVA (3), TIJ (3), VAN (3) – .512 – 0.1% (-0.8%)

Ben Seiter didn’t return to the hill until Sunday, and then got blasted for six runs (five earned) by the Loggers, who took the last game in that series to stay pretend-relevant, like three of the five teams listed here. It’s really down to the Northeasterners now.

The Coons, on a whole new 5-game losing streak, will get smothered by the Indians and Baybirds on the road this coming week.

Fun Fact: The sun will rise tomorrow.

Although with the September weather in Portland, you can never know that for sure.