[Westheim]

Raccoons (73-69) @ Indians (73-70) – September 10-13, 2063

The Portland Plungers had lost five straight and had been outscored 4-to-1 the previous week, and the Indians, 5 1/2 games out of the division lead, wanted themselves some of that. They needed the sweep, and they might just as well get it! Indy ranked only sixth in runs scored and fourth in runs allowed in their attempted title defense season. The season series was even at seven. Outfielder Chris Lovins was the only notable DL occupant.

Projected matchups:
Tyler Riddle (10-4, 3.51 ERA) vs. Jarod Morris (3-9, 5.70 ERA)
Josh Elling (9-11, 4.02 ERA) vs. Antonio Pichardo (7-8, 3.88 ERA)
Jeff Applegate (3-4, 2.92 ERA) vs. Mike DeWitt (18-7, 1.73 ERA)
Angel Alba (11-11, 3.98 ERA) vs. Kelly Whitney (9-14, 3.92 ERA)

The only southpaw here was DeWitt, and the only guy we were missing was ex-Coon Ramon Carreno (13-6, 3.27 ERA).

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

Ben Morris opened the game with a double to right against Jarod Morris – no relationship – and scored on Kozak’s grounder and Monck’s sac fly, which put Monck at 95 RBI for the year. Riddle however gave up a 2-strike single to Matt Kilday and nailed Bryan Johnston with an 0-2 pitch in the bottom 1st, and while the Indians then made three unproductive outs starting with Danny Starwalt striking out, things could still very much go either way – or: the other way – here. In fact, Eddy Ramirez drew a leadoff walk in the second inning, Dave Blackshire singled, and Jarod Morris then torched Riddle with a gapper in right-center that flipped the score around as he drove in both runners. He then scored on two more singles with two outs by Johnston and Starwalt before Alex Gomez flew out to end the miserable inning.

That was not the game, though, because the Raccoons got their own 3-spot in the fifth inning after two frames of nothing-nothing, and it was wholly unearned on a massive throwing error by Blackshire that put Lonzo on second base to begin the inning. Vic Morales doubled him home at once, 3-2, before two outs were made. Kozak and Monck, however, both bashed RBI hits to right, and first tied the score, then put the Coons on top, 4-3. Briefly. Riddle leaked another single to Gomez in the bottom 5th, then was taken *deep* by good old Brass, and the Indians had their lead back, 5-4. Also, Riddle out of the game. Lonzo reached on another error in the seventh inning, then also committed an error in the bottom of the same frame to put a free runner (Starwalt) on base for the Indians against Mike Pohlmann, who folded at once. Brass singled, Mike Weber walked, and while Matt Martin struck out for the second out, Blackshire continued to take his anger out on his old team and swatted in two runs with a single to left. Steve Thompson flew out to end the inning.

Four different Indians relievers then conspired to score Marcos Arellano on a wild pitch in an equally wild inning to make up a run in the top 8th, 7-5, but the Raccoons opined that closer Josh Carlisle needed work and put him into the bottom 8th because what other options were there? It couldn’t have gone more wrong for him, as he allowed a leadoff double to Kilday, who then stole third base, then walked the bags full before giving up a 2-out, 2-run double to Orlando Ramos … and then walked Martin to fill the bases again. 33 ***** pitches later, the inning wasn’t even over yet. Jesse Dover replaced him, got a groundout to third base from Blackshire, and that finally did it… 9-5 Indians. Monck 2-3, 2 RBI; Arellano 2-4;

The gutter.

Game 2
POR: CF B. Morris – C Arellano – 2B Monck – 1B Starr – RF Corral – LF Campos – SS Lavorano – 3B Fowler – P Elling
IND: 2B Kilday – LF B. Johnston – 1B Starwalt – C Atencio – RF Brassfield – CF E. Ramirez – 3B Ma. Martin – SS G. Lujan – P Pichardo

Ben Morris drew a leadoff walk and was caught stealing to start off Tuesday’s impending beating, although before any runs were scored or even any base hits were dropped onto the greenery, Indy’s Eddy Ramirez was ejected for getting into a fight with the home plate umpire over balls and strikes in the bottom 2nd. Ben Moran replaced him. Not to worry for the Indians, though: they took the lead in the same inning with a single by Guillermo Lujan and then a 2-out, 2-run homer by … Antonio Pichardo…… and to dead center!!

Those were the only runs and also the only hits through five innings, although free passes were issued. Three of them by Pichardo in the top of the fifth inning, first to Starr and Corral, then an intentional one to Nick Fowler with first base open, but the third out was reliably collected from Elling. Only mooks give up 2-out homers to pitchers……

Morris’ single up the middle to begin the sixth gave the Raccoons their first hit of the day. A 2-out infield single by Starr would follow, but Corral’s groundout kept the tying runs on base. Instead Elling allowed a walk to Atencio, a double to Brass, and a run on Moran’s sac fly in the bottom 6th, then departed by getting pinch-hit for in the following half-inning, not that anything came out of that.

Pichardo had a shutout through 7.1 innings before he gave up a single to Jon Bean in Arellano’s spot and then also drew attention from the dugout and was removed from the game with some sort of core complaint. The left-hander Roberto Ponce de Leon replaced him, gave up a 2-run homer, #32, to Rich Monck, and then departed for Justin DeRose, because that would surely guarantee an improvement. DeRose walked Corral with two outs, gave up a single to Campos, but Lonzo then popped out to short to keep the team one run behind. The Coons held the Indians to three base hits through eight innings with Castillo (!) and Carrillo, then had to face Cody Kleidon in the ninth. The southpaw dispatched right-handed pinch-hitters Kozak and Crumble, then also Morris to nail the game down. 3-2 Indians. Bean (PH) 1-1; Campos 2-4;

Whenever people say, that, oh, in baseball you never know what’s gonna happen next – sometimes you do.

Sometimes you do.

Game 3
POR: RF Campos – SS Lavorano – 1B Kozak – LF Crumble – 3B Morales – 2B White – CF Ayala – C Lawson – P Applegate
IND: 3B Ma. Martin – LF B. Johnston – 1B Starwalt – C A. Gomez – CF E. Ramirez – 2B M. Weber – RF Abel – SS Cirelli – P DeWitt

Against better judgment, the Portland Punching Bags showed up on Wednesday, and did so with an all right-handed lineup against DeWitt. The managed to hit into three double plays inside of the first four innings, but also found a pair of runs in the fourth inning on a Kozak homer to left, a Crumble triple to right, and then a Morales dinker single behind the shortstop Eric Cirelli after DeWitt first struck out five batters against two singles in the first three innings. Kindly enough, Jeff Applegate at least pretended to try and run with a 2-0 lead, but after five shutout innings walked Johnston and was taken deep by Alex Gomez for some 390 feet in the bottom 6th, which tied the game right back up. By then DeWitt was out-whiffing Applegate, 9-2, but both were actually out of the game after six innings, with both of them throwing over 100 pitches. Joel Starr hit a double in Applegate’s place in the top 7th, but found no support around him in the lineup and was left on base. The score survived an inning by the Dingerman, but not Yokoyama and Pohlmann in the eighth. Funnily enough, the Indians scored two runs the same way they scored the first two; Yokoyama walked Johnston, and Gomez peppered one outta sight against Pohlmann. The Raccoons then even had a chance in the ninth inning with pinch-hit knocks by Arellano and Corral with two outs against Kleidon, who gave up another rocket to Campos – but that one was right at Kevin Abel and ended the game. 4-2 Indians. Lavorano 2-4; White 1-2, BB; Arellano (PH) 1-1; Starr (PH) 1-1, 2B; Corral (PH) 1-1, 2B;

Jesus H. Christ, wearing a raincoat…!

Game 4
POR: CF B. Morris – C Arellano – 3B Monck – 1B Starr – RF Corral – LF Crumble – SS Fowler – 2B Bean – P Alba
IND: 2B Kilday – LF B. Johnston – 1B Starwalt – C Atencio – RF Brassfield – CF E. Ramirez – 3B Blackshire – SS G. Lujan – P Whitney

Alba both nicked Johnston onto base and picked him off first base to end the bottom 1st, which was at least somewhat tidy, unlike the second, which was a train wreck waiting to happen after a soft leadoff single by Atencio and then three deep fly outs by the next three batters. The Raccoons stranded pairs in the second and fourth innings, did precious little otherwise, and by the time you were on your fourth hot dog, six innings had passed and both sides had three hits and no runs to their name. Starwalt nearly hit a homer to right to begin the bottom 7th, but the ball came down in Corral’s glove, however there was no catching Atencio’s 430-footer to center that put the Indians up 1-0. Both starters had another 1-2-3 eighth inning, and then the Indians handed it off to Melvin Guerra, which was a peculiar choice, against the 4-5-6 batters in the Portland Pushover’s order. Starr popped out on the infield. Corral flew out to deep right. Morales batted for Crumble and singled to center. But a K to Fowler ended the game… 1-0 Indians. Morales (PH) 1-1; Alba 8.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 6 K, L (11-12);

(pulls fur behind his fuzzy ears) We’ll never win a game again!!

Raccoons (73-73) @ Bayhawks (62-84) – September 14-16, 2063

The Portland Pedestrians trudged into San Francisco to fumble a 3-3 season series tie to the fifth-place team in the South. The Bayhawks were seventh in runs scored and second-worst in runs allowed, with a -98 run differential that was almost twice as bad as the Raccoons’ (-52), but there was no team anybody could have LESS momentum than the Raccoons right now. Somehow, the Bayhawks even led the CL in batting average, but had nothing else going for them in terms of walks, power, or speed.

Projected matchups:
Chance Fox (8-8, 3.42 ERA) vs. Larry Colwell (0-1, 6.46 ERA)
Tyler Riddle (10-5, 3.70 ERA) vs. Trevor Justesen (13-11, 4.04 ERA)
Josh Elling (9-12, 4.03 ERA) vs. Joe Chalmers (14-11, 4.64 ERA)

Only right-handers coming up in this series. And probably more beatings.

Game 1
POR: CF B. Morris – C Arellano – 2B Monck – 1B Starr – RF Corral – 3B Morales – SS Lavorano – LF Oley – P Fox
SFB: RF J. Paez – SS D. Cox – LF Anker – 2B A. Montoya – CF Navarre – C Bogdan – 3B D. Sandoval – 1B Escalera – P Colwell

Fox gave up a run in the first again, which by now was to be expected, giving up hits to Dustin Cox and Armando Montoya, who drove in Cox, around of also knocking Grant Anker with a fastball, which made the Baybirds none too happy. Grant Anker was probably least happy about it, but he got Fox back in the third inning, crushing a MASSIVE homer – and with Juan Paez on base, which made it even 3-0.

Colwell retired the Coons in order the first time through (…), but walked Arellano and gave up a double to Starr in the fourth inning – but Corral grounded out easily and the runners were squandered in scoring position. Fox was out of the game after five frames, with the last one seeing Cox and Montoya on the corners with one down, and Nate Navarre’s grounder not being turned for two by the Raccoons, allowing Cox to score and extend the score to 4-0, and that was before the Baybirds romped over Walters and Carrillo for another three runs in the bottom 6th…

Only *then* did the deadbeat Raccoons wake up, poking Colwell with two outs in the top 7th. Lonzo singled, Oley ripped an RBI triple down the line, and then scored on another single by the pinch-hitting Kozak, but by then this hardly made a dent in the Baybirds’ 7-run lead. As the innings petered out in the game, Josh Carlisle was dinged for another run in a lost-cause outing in the bottom 8th, and Juan Paez left the game with a tweaked ankle. 8-2 Bayhawks. Crumble (PH) 1-1; Lavorano 2-4; Kozak (PH) 1-1, RBI;

(facepaws while rocking back and forth)

Game 2
POR: CF B. Morris – C Arellano – 3B Monck – 1B Starr – RF Corral – LF Crumble – SS Lavorano – 2B White – P Riddle
SFB: RF J. Paez – SS D. Cox – LF Anker – 2B A. Montoya – CF Navarre – 3B D. Sandoval – C Mathews – 1B Echols – P Justesen

Paez’ leg was still on come Saturday, and he hit a 2-strike single and stole second base in the bottom 1st, but then was stranded by his teammates. Funnily enough, he was at it again in the third inning, hitting another single – the third hit off Riddle – and stole another base, but again was stranded by Cox and Anker. The Raccoons had one hit, two walks, and no runs, but a double play through three frames against Justesen. However, a Cox error opened the door in the fourth inning, putting Starr on base with one out, and then Crumble found a 2-out knock to get him around to score. Hurray, a lead! Of course, Riddle then fudged a play at first base on Montoya’s leadoff grounder in the bottom 4th for an error himself; and Navarre’s and Kyle Mathews’ singles got him around to score to get the teams right back even again on unearned runs. Riddle then also couldn’t get a ******* bunt down in the fifth frame after Jim White reached base to begin that. Morris forced our White, but got an early start on Arellano’s 2-out double and scored from first base for a new 2-1 lead. Monck smacked another RBI knock, Starr walked, and Corral reached on an error by Jonathan Echols, which loaded them up for Malik Crumble, who sent a 2-out, 2-run single to center – 5-1!! – before Lonzo grounded out strand a pair on base.

So. How would we go about blowing that!? Surprisingly Riddle didn’t fall apart right away in response, and instead singled when White reached with a leadoff single against reliever Roberto Mendez, and gained an extra base on Paez’ fumble in rightfield, the fourth Baybirds error in the game. Morris brought in White with a fielder’s choice grounder, then stole second, with that ball thrown away by Mathews for error #5, and Arellano’s single brought home another run, 7-1. Mendez was out and Jorge Solis replaced him, but gave up another single to Monck before Starr rumbled into an inning-ending double play.

Riddle didn’t allow another runner before hitting 100 pitches at the end of seven innings. Singles by White (forced out by Kozak), Morris, and Arellano loaded the bases against another right-hander, Pat Kristen, in the top 8th, but when a sac fly would have been enough to give Rich Monck his 100th RBI of the year, he popped out to short. Not so Starr – he rocked a ball up the rightfield line, where it hit off the sidewall and then ran circles around Paez for a 2-out, bases-clearing triple…! Corral added an RBI single against the next pitcher, Steve Smith. Most regulars were removed at that point, but not Lonzo, who struck a leadoff triple against lefty Amari Walker to begin the ninth inning, then scored on a wild pitch. Sensabaugh pitched two scoreless at the tail end to end the spill. 12-1 Furballs! Arellano 3-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Monck 2-5, RBI; Crumble 3-5, 2B, 3 RBI; White 3-4, BB; Riddle 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, W (11-5) and 1-3; Sensabaugh 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

A WIN!!!! A WIN!!!! A WIN!!!! (runs through the street screaming)

Game 3
POR: CF Kozak – SS Lavorano – 3B Monck – 1B Starr – RF Corral – LF Crumble – 2B Bean – C C. Chavez – P Elling
SFB: RF J. Paez – CF Laws – LF Anker – 2B A. Montoya – SS D. Cox – 1B P. Fowler – 3B Navarre – C L. Marquez – P Chalmers

Chalmers was whacked around for four hits and two runs in the top 1st, starting with a Kozak double, a wild pitch, and Lonzo sac fly. Three more singles by Starr, Corral, and Crumble followed. Starr scored on the Crumble hit, but Corral was caught in a rundown and the inning ended. Elling offered two walks in the second, but the Raccoons got Lonzo on base with a Navarre error in the third inning, and Monck doubled him in for his 100th RBI and a 3-0 lead. Corral slapped another RBI double to right to tack on another run in the same inning.

Then Elling pissed all of it away in just 16 pitches in the bottom 3rd. Lorenzo Marquez singled, and Chalmers even bunted into a force at second, but a Paez double, Scott Laws’ RBI single, Anker’s sac fly, and a 2-run homer by the heretofore treacherously silent Armando Montoya tied the game… Gah! Why do I always have the urge to be YELLING AT ELLING!!

After that excitement, everybody took the next two innings off before Malik Crumble struck a leadoff double off the wall in leftfield and then rushed around to score from second base on Jon Bean’s single – but also tweaked a hammy in the process and was not back afterwards, replaced by Campos. Bean would go on to score on Chavez’ grounder and eventually Kozak’s sac fly. In between, Chalmers also hit Elling with a pitch, a bit of a precursor to what I was gonna do the Destroyer of 4-run Leads.

The Raccoons scored more in the seventh, an unearned run on Roberto Mendez on Corral and Campos singles and another error by San Francisco on Bean’s grounder. Chavez struck out to end the inning, up 7-4. Dover then pitched a scoreless inning against the 7-8-9 batters in the bottom 7th before being hit for with Ben Morris. Facing Mike Rocheford in the eighth, Morris singled, and so did Kozak, but a poor grounder by Lonzo, Monck’s infield pop, and Starr grounding out to short kept the runners in scoring position. Still up 7-4, the Raccoons got the eighth inning put together with Dingerman and McDaniel, then calmly put Carlisle back in and closed the eyes awaiting another escalation. He walked two batters, Lorenzo Marquez hit an RBI single with two outs, but before things could get completely out of shape, Dave Blackham grounded out in the #9 hole… 7-5 Raccoons. Kozak 2-4, 2B, RBI; Corral 5-5, 2B, RBI; Crumble 2-3, 2B, RBI; Chavez 2-4; Morris (PH) 1-1;

In other news

September 10 – Bayhawks SP Nick Robinson (2-2, 4.59 ERA) might miss the rest of the season with elbow inflammation. He already missed most of the season with being unsigned first, and then injured later.
September 10 – Sacramento catcher Nate Danis (.248, 14 HR, 53 RBI) has his season end with a sprained ankle.
September 10 – The Condors beat the Bayhawks, 3-0, with only a single by OF/1B/3B Nate Navarre (.288, 2 HR, 10 RBI) in the box score for San Francisco against TIJ SP Edgar Mauricio (16-5, 2.49 ERA) and MR Miguel Batista (2-6, 3.49 ERA, 6 SV).
September 12 – On the same day the Stars clinch the FL West with a 10-4 win against the Scorpions, they learn that DAL SP Ian Peters (14-6, 3.70 ERA) will miss the rest of the year after being diagnosed with ulnar nerve irritation.
September 12 – The Loggers’ SS/2B Fidel Carrera (.297, 28 HR, 109 RBI) is out for the year with another sprained ankle.
September 12 – NYC SP Ryan Musgrave (13-6, 3.43 ERA) pitches a 5-hit shutout for a 1-0 win against the Canadiens, the only offense supplied on a homer by C Matt McLaren (.261, 16 HR, 61 RBI).
September 13 – The Buffaloes beat the Cyclones, 11-6, with a full 10 runs crammed into their seventh inning rally from five runs down.
September 14 – Los Angeles edges out a 10-inning, 1-0 win against the Blue Sox.

FL Player of the Week: DAL CF Tyler Wharton (.342, 24 HR, 117 RBI), batting .500 (14-28) with 2 HR, 9 RBI
CL Player of the Week: ATL OF Johnny Parker (.307, 5 HR, 59 RBI), hitting .571 (12-21) with 1 HR, 5 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Consecutive weeks of five losses for the collapsed Critters, who at least kept the losing streak to ten games. Yay.

Malik Crumble would miss a few days to begin the new week with the barking hamstring. Not that it matters much anymore – by now our magic number was smaller than our number of games behind. That’s what an L10 does for you, I guess! BNN didn’t even consider the Raccoons and Loggers anymore at this point, although we were mathematically still alive, and the Indians had under 1% chance to make the playoffs.

The Raccoons had a home week coming up, hosting the Falcons and damn Elks.

Fun Fact: Jose Corral is trying to pack 200 points to his OPS from 2062.

Last year he appeared in 67 games and had 211 at-bats, batting .233/.289/.322 with two homers and 24 RBI.

While his power is still not really here, he jumped up to a .294/.379/.424 slash line in 138 games and 453 at-bats. He had eight homers and 45 RBI, but 41 extra-base hits in total.

In terms of nerd stats (tired look from Cristiano Carmona) he was up to a +2.8 WAR from -0.5 WAR last year, with his defense grading as average and not affecting his WAR much at all.

And kiddo’s only 22!