[Westheim]

Raccoons (57-61) vs. Capitals (54-64) – August 16-18, 2067

Two fifth-place teams with little to play for in the middle of August would play three games in the final interleague competition of the season. Washington was third in runs scored, but second-worst when it came to pitching in the FL, and their rotation and pen were both in the bottom three in ERA over there. Defense was predictably bad, and offensively they didn’t excel in any particular category. His was the first meeting between these two teams since 2063, when the Raccoons won two of three games from the Capitals.

Projected matchups:
Nick Walla (7-7, 2.95 ERA) vs. Joe Hoke (6-10, 5.20 ERA)
Tony Gaytan (7-12, 3.63 ERA) vs. Bobby MacDonald (4-11, 4.20 ERA)
Gabriel Rios (9-9, 4.43 ERA) vs. Danny Ortiz (6-8, 4.15 ERA)

The dearth of southpaws continued – unless the Caps would skip Tom Kies (9-7, 2.92 ERA) into this series, which was possible with the Monday off day.

Rios, who had made a pointless relief outing on Sunday, was skipped to the end of this series, but not for a full run through the rotation.

Game 1
WAS: LF Jose Alvarez – 1B A. Curiel – C Willhite – 2B Ang. Flores – RF A. Romero – CF D. Lewis – 3B A. Mendez – SS Gilliam – P Hoke
POR: CF Wilson – C Lopez – 1B Starr – 3B Monck – LF Dowsey – SS Novelo – RF Corral – 2B Tallent – P Walla

Hoke pitched for only five outs before he was forced to leave the game with an injury, bringing that icky Capitals pen into play; however, at the time they were up 1-0 thanks to Angelo Flores singling on an 0-2 pitch to begin the top 2nd, Walla walking Alex Romero, and Alex Mendez finding an RBI double in center. Romero tried to score on that play as well, but was thrown out by Jaden Wilson at the plate, and Mendez was left stranded. The Coons were poking indifferently in the early going until Ramon Lopez struck a leadoff homer to tie the game in the bottom of the fourth, which was the only run reliever Kevin Butte allowed in 2.1 innings.

The Coons would strand runners on the corners then in the fifth, when Tallent and Walla lobbed 2-out singles for nothing, and the sixth, when Lopez got on and stole a base, got to third base somehow, Dowsey drew a walk, but Novelo flew out and the runners remained on, so Walla – who had won only TWO of his last *15* starts, and not for a lack of trying – remained stuck in a 1-1 tie. He would pitch eight innings of 4-hit ball on 101 pitches, and then got his hopes up when Jaden Wilson hit a ball off the wall in centerfield for a leadoff triple in the bottom 8th. Ramon Lopez dropped in a single to get the go-ahead run across and make Walla eligible for the win, stole second again, Starr walked, and then two long fly ball outs by Monck and Dowsey were enough to get Lopez around to score for an extra run. Novelo grounded out, and now the Coons just had to get three outs without blowing a 2-run lead. McMahan got the ball due to the opposition on paw, but allowed 2-out singles to Angelo Flores and PH Danny Miller before walking another pinch-hitter, Jonathan Gutierrez, and was yanked. Josh C was brought in against Alex Mendez, a switch-hitter that was eating lefties especially, and got a fly to center that Wilson pulled down. 3-1 Blighters. Wilson 2-3, BB, 3B; Lopez 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Walla 8.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, W (8-7) and 1-3;

Why Josh Carrington rather than Jesse Dover in a situation where the pot is about to boil over?

Vibes. Josh C *felt* more steady recently.

Hey, it worked, stop yelling at your TV!

Game 2
WAS: LF Jose Alvarez – 1B A. Curiel – C Willhite – 2B Ang. Flores – RF A. Romero – CF D. Lewis – 3B A. Mendez – SS Gilliam – P MacDonald
POR: CF Wilson – C Lopez – 1B Starr – 3B Monck – LF Dowsey – SS Novelo – RF Corral – 2B C. Gutierrez – P Gaytan

Gaytan walked Chris Willhite and apart from that struck out three and fed lots of grounders to Carlos Gutierrez the first time through the order. Neither team had a base hit the first time through, with Novelo reaching on an error by Tyler Gilliam for the only Brownshirt on base. Wilson then singled with two outs in the bottom 3rd, but was left on by Lopez. Long counts were an issue for Gaytan; although the Caps remained hitless through five and had no other base runners, he needed 73 pitches to get through five innings, which was genuinely hard to reason with. Jose Alvarez, former Crusader, drew a 2-out walk in the sixth, which didn’t help with that pitch count, either. Monck narrowly missed a homer, flying out to Alvarez right on the warning track after a 2-out walk to Starr in the bottom 6th, in a game that was otherwise rather starved for offense.

Angelo Flores broke up the no-hitter after 6.1 innings – or 97 pitches – with a single over the second base bag that Novelo dove for and contained, but had no play on anymore. Gaytan got the next two outs, but with the bid gone and his pitch count at a staggering 107 by the end of the inning, he was not brought back for the eighth inning, and had to settle for a no-decision, since the Coons were not getting anything done this time. The Raccoons then got two outs from Yamauchi before Jonathan Gutierrez left-handedly pinch-hit for MacDonald. Evan Alvey got the ball, but gave up a single, and then Danny Miller drove a pinch-hit RBI double to break the scoreless tie. Armando Curel grounded out to short to end the inning. Alvey completed nine innings, while the Raccoons got a Milian single in the bottom 8th, but Wilson forced him out and then was caught stealing as his 30th stolen base remained a theory, and Jason Rhodes got outs from Lopez and Starr in the bottom 9th before Monck singled. Dowsey grounded to Flores, who threw a skipper to first that Bryan Johnston couldn’t contain, and the two-base error put the tying and winning runs in scoring position. Bonner batted for the foundering Novelo, but flew out to left on the second pitch. 1-0 Capitals. Milian 1-1; Gaytan 7.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 4 K;

Welp. And now the Raccoons did actually come up against the left-hander Kies in the rubber game on Thursday.

Game 3
WAS: CF D. Lewis – 3B D. Miller – 2B Ang. Flores – SS Gilliam – C Willhite – RF B. Campbell – 1B A. Mendez – LF A. Romero – P Kies
POR: CF Wilson – 2B Bonner – RF Milian – 1B Starr – 3B Monck – SS Novelo – C Aguilar – LF Tallent – P Rios

Scoring remained much of a chore for the Raccoons on Thursday. They had nothing major going on in the first two innings, then got a leadoff double in the third from Tallent and another one in the fourth from Milian – and couldn’t score either one in a sea of pathetic outs. Rios was holding up at least that far, but then brain-farted out of the game in the fifth inning, allowing leadoff hits to the Alexes in the 7-8 spots, then mishandled Kies’ bunt to fill the bases with nobody out. He walked in a run against Don Lewis, the first run of the game, then surrendered another run on Miller’s double play grounder. Angelo Flores then lined out to Bonner to end the miserable inning. Brent Campbell’s single and Alex Mendez’ homer with two outs in the sixth doubled the score to 4-0 Capitals, and that was all for Rios in the game.

Danny Miller homered off Holzmeister with two outs in the seventh, which tacked on another run, while the Raccoons remained off the board until the Caps foolishly hit for Kies with three on and two outs in the top 8th after Holzmeister and Chance Fox had conspired to fool the bags full. Jonathan Gutierrez grounded out in Kies’ spot, stranding three, and then Carlos Gutierrez socked a leadoff homer off right-hander Jose Salazar in the bottom 8th. Wilson singled and Bonner reached on an error by Flores to create more of a mess before Willie Mendoza came on and got outs from Milian and Starr, but then allowed a 2-out RBI single to Monck, 5-2. Ramon Lopez then batted for Fox in the #6 spot deserted by Novelo earlier, drew a walk, but Aguilar grounded out against yet another reliever, Josh Johnson, to strand the tying runs. Josh “Vibes” Carrington then surrendered a run in the ninth on a pair of hits… 6-2 Capitals. Milian 2-4, 2B;

Raccoons (58-63) vs. Loggers (79-43) – August 19-21, 2067

The Loggers, huh? They came in leading the division by three games over Boston and everybody else pretty much beaten and done for the year. Milwaukee led the season series, 8-4, and they needed more wins from the Raccoons to keep staying ahead. This team still led the CL in runs scored with a mind-numbing six runs per game (rounded DOWN), and that was enough to survive rather middling pitching with a +189 run differential. They were at or near the top in every major offensive category, except for stolen bases, and they were also pretty bad on defense, ranking 11th with the gloves in the CL. Pitcher “Pizza” Pizzichini was still on the DL and not expected to be back before October, but everybody else was available and ready for mischief, as the Coons’ pitching would surely soon find out.

Projected matchups:
Ryan Musgrave (9-8, 4.07 ERA) vs. Matt Crist (11-7, 3.73 ERA)
Shoma Nakayama (9-8, 3.76 ERA) vs. Tony Espinosa (8-3, 4.07 ERA)
Nick Walla (8-7, 2.86 ERA) vs. Ryan Ward (2-0, 4.07 ERA)

Espinosa was the only southpaw they had in the rotation, while Ward was a 26-year-old rookie having the time of his life, and 8.1 walks per nine innings pitched.

Game 1
MIL: 2B Goss – CF Merrill – RF C. Dominguez – 1B C. Ramirez – SS F. Carrera – 3B Reber – LF M. Alaniz – C Guitreau – P Crist
POR: CF Wilson – C Lopez – 1B Starr – 3B Monck – LF Dowsey – SS Novelo – RF Corral – 2B C. Gutierrez – P Musgrave

There was a threat of rain, so the Loggers were not wasting any time and when Jonathan Merrill got brushed by a pitch, Carlos Dominguez singled and Cesar Ramirez knelled a 2-run double for a quick first-inning lead right away. Fidel Carrera grounded out and Kyle Reber whiffed, keeping at least Ramirez on base. The first five batters in that lineup were all left-handed, but it sure didn’t help that Musgrave was ******* up each and every chance he got in this game. Mario Alaniz singled and Tommy Guitreau walked to begin the top 2nd, and then Musgrave threw away Crist’s bunt for two bases and a run. Tim Goss and Merrill got the other runners home to extend the score to 5-0. Musgrave then allowed nothing but singles to the four RIGHT-handed batters in the third inning and was removed – not that Evan Alvey could get ******* anybody out. I closed my eyes when the score was at 10-0 with a 5-run third inning.

Alvey was gonna be in the game until his stupid arm would come off, hit a double in the bottom 3rd, but of course that wasn’t gonna help the Coons score a run. It took a Wilson triple in the fifth and a sac fly hit by Lopez to get a run across at all. Starr and Monck then hit 2-out singles, but Dowsey struck out and that was that. Alvey’s stupid arm then came off after 64 pitches and just 3.2 innings. Tim Goss hurt himself on a 2-run double that extended the score to 12-1, and Chance Fox would be fed to the guns next. Merrill lined out to Starr to end the inning, after which Novelo and Gutierrez went to the corners in the bottom 6th for Fox to hit an RBI single, 12-2. Wilson hit another RBI single, and that knocked out Crist, but Jose Soto then got rid of Lopez and Starr quickly to end the inning. Fox then walked four and gave up as many runs in the seventh, and Carlos Dominguez then hit a solo homer off Fox in the eighth. The Capt’n Coma wasn’t nearly strong enough for this ****……..

Novelo pitched in the ninth, which was that, and at least kept the Loggers under thrice their runs/game for the entire season (bitter look), while the Raccoons in the last few innings just lied down and took it. 17-3 Loggers. Wilson 2-4, 3B, RBI;

The Coons were now bottoms in runs scored again.

And at this rate would soon be bottoms in runs allowed, too.

And it was Nakayama next….

Game 2
MIL: 2B C. Brantly – CF Merrill – RF C. Dominguez – 1B C. Ramirez – SS F. Carrera – 3B Reber – LF M. Alaniz – C Guitreau – P T. Espinosa
POR: CF Wilson – 2B Bonner – C Lopez – 1B Dowsey – RF Millian – SS Novelo – LF Matas – 3B Tallent – P Nakayama

The good news was that only four fifths of the top-of-the-order death squad were in the lineup on Saturday, although Nakayama’s first pitch to Chance Brantly sent Matas racing back to the wall to make a leaping catch at the fence. The Coons had the bases loaded in the bottom 1st as the 2-3-4 batters reached on a walk to Bonner, Lopez getting nicked, and a shy Dowsey single. Milian popped out against his longtime team, but Pablo Novelo cranked a bases-clearing double to right-center for a 3-0 lead! And then Matas popped out, because why would you want to keep going??

Of course there was no trusting Nakayama, even when he was reasonably competent the first time through. Merrill led off the fourth inning, though, and the 2-3-4 effortlessly snapped three singles off Nakayama. Ramirez drove in a run, and Carrera hit a sac fly to narrow the score to 3-2 before Reber and Mario Alaniz made the last two outs and kept the tying run on base.

Tallent’s leadoff double and a pair of fly outs by Nakayama and Bonner – around a walk drawn by Wilson – secured a tack-on run on the sac fly in the bottom 5th, 4-2, and conveniently Dominguez hit a leadoff single for Milwaukee in the sixth, but then the Loggers made three quick outs to keep him on base. The bags were full in the bottom 6th with a 1-out single by Milian and then a pair of walks to Novelo and Matas, bringing up Tallent with the dishes laden. I was begging the super utility for some tack-on runs with my big black googly eyes, but it didn’t get better than a sac fly, and Nakayama made the third out against reliever Jordan Verner as Espinosa was chased.

Nakayama held out for seven, allowing eight hits, before McMahan came on for the 3-4-5 batters in the eighth. Ramirez singled and Dover replaced him with two outs, along with Starr, who replaced Dowsey at first base in a double switch, then struck out Dave Wright to end the eighth inning. The Coons didn’t tack on, and Dover got two outs in the ninth before Rafael Murcia took him deep to right-center; however, Brantly then struck out to end the game. 5-3 Coons. Tallent 1-2, 2B, RBI; Nakayama 7.0 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, W (10-8);

We decided to try that thing with the five left-handed batters atop the lineup on Sunday, even though I thought it was phony and bad style. Goss was still missing on Sunday, so the Loggers had the saner lineup with just four left-handed bats in order.

Game 3
MIL: 2B C. Brantly – CF Merrill – RF C. Dominguez – 1B C. Ramirez – SS F. Carrera – 3B Reber – LF M. Alaniz – C Guitreau – P R. Ward
POR: CF Wilson – RF Corral – 1B Starr – 3B Monck – LF Dowsey – 2B Gutierrez – SS Novelo – C Aguilar – P Walla

Dowsey drummed a 3-run homer in the first inning after Wilson and Starr reached base and Monck didn’t quite manage to hit into a double play with a sharp spanker at Kyle Reber, who could only take it for a 5-U on the lead runner Wilson. Gutierrez doubled, but was left on base by Novelo, and Guitreau pulled two runs back in the second with a homer of his own after Walla began the inning by walking Carrera, falling 3-0 behind Reber, Reber hitting into a double play, and then Alaniz slashed a single. It didn’t get any better from here, as Brantly and Merrill opened the third inning with singles and then Cesar Ramirez raked a 3-run homer to flip the score, and Walla kept getting whacked for another three hits and a run driven in by Guitreau with two outs before Ward struck out to end the ******* inning, 6-3.

Battered, Walla dragged himself through the middle innings until he was finally yanked with a walk to Brantly with two outs in the sixth; the score was still 6-3 at that time. McMahan came on in a double switch, ****** the bags full by walking Merrill and hitting Dominguez, got yelled at on the mound, and then Ramirez popped out to strand three runners. McMahan also walked Carrera to begin the seventh before being stuffed into the nearest garbage bin.

Ward never had a strikeout in six wonky innings, walking four, but that was enough to hold the 6-3 lead. Joel Starr hit a home run off Nick Walters with one out in the seventh to narrow the score to 6-4, while Holzmeister – of all people – somehow pitched six outs for the Coons in the seventh and eighth. The bottom 8th began with Gutierrez and Novelo singles to put the tying runs on the corners, although Gutierrez hurt himself contorting himself around a tag attempt by Rafael Murcia at third base and left the game with an injury. Bonner would run for him, while Angelo Ramirez filled the bases by drilling Justin Aguilar. Then Matas struck out. And Wilson struck out. Oh come on!!! Corral fell behind against Ramirez, but then hit a ball to deep center. Merrill wasn’t going to get there, and the Raccoons would tie the game on a double!! Aguilar fell down rounding third base and had to crawl back to the base, and the inning ended when Starr popped out to Ramirez.

Carrington was then sent out against the armed-to-the-teeth part of the lineup starting with Merrill. I wouldn’t say he fooled them, as the 2-3-4 all whacked away at the first pitch, but Merrill flew out to left and the other two grounded out to Bonner at second base to sort themselves out as fast as possible. However, Monck and Milian, and Bonner went down in order in the bottom 9th, and the game went to extras. Yamauchi had one scoreless inning in him, but not two, and Guitreau’s single and another Murcia homer – he had only four on the season now… – gave the Loggers an 8-6 lead in the 11th inning. Steve Slye then made short work of the Raccoons in the bottom 11th to take the series for Milwaukee. 8-6 Loggers. Starr 2-5, BB, HR, 2B, RBI; Gutierrez 2-3, BB, 2B; Holzmeister 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

In other news

August 17 – There are no fewer than three 1-0 games played on Wednesday. The Capitals beat the Raccoons in Portland by this score, as do the Canadiens, claiming a 1-0 win at home against the Buffaloes. The Falcons have to play ten innings before they put a 1-0 walkoff together against the Scorpions.
August 19 – Nashville SP Ken McDonald (13-8, 4.26 ERA) 3-hits the Cyclones to squeeze out a 1-0 shutout.
August 19 – WAS SP Joe Hoke (6-10, 5.12 ERA) was expected to be out for a full year with a torn flexor tendon in his elbow.

FL Player of the Week: LAP 1B Alejandro Olivares (.277, 6 HR, 61 RBI), batting .355 (11-31) with 1 HR, 4 RBI
CL Player of the Week: MIL 1B/RF/LF Cesar Ramirez (.368, 20 HR, 103 RBI), raking .462 (12-26) with 1 HR, 8 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Even though it felt like Cesar Ramirez had 12 hits against the Coons alone, he actually had only five – but drove in seven runs with a homer, a double, and three singles. He went 7-for-13 against the Miners, but had only one RBI. Baseball is a wicked thing and makes no sense, and we’re foolish for wasting so much time and effort on it.

Just when it looked like Carlos Gutierrez might sneak regular playing time at second base for the rest of the year he suffered an abdominal strain and would hit the DL for the next 15 days. He should be able to return soon after that minimum assignment to the DL, but the Raccoons were back to fudging around with Bonners and Tallents, and none of them were particularly bonne, or had tallent.

After this tremendous waffling by the Loggers (28 runs in three games…) we would get to go to Boston right away to get even more on the snout up there, and probably not score any runs at the same time. The remaining games for the month would then be against the Baybirds and Thunder.

Fun Fact: The Loggers won the season series from the Coons for three straight years with their W on Sunday.

It was the first time they had done so since taking the series for four straight years from 2039 through 2042, which was the most they had ever managed, tied with 1997 through 2000.

Now, granted, the Raccoons didn’t WIN the season series from the Loggers – who were on the up for most the period – during the entire Decade of Darkness, but snuck in 9-9 years in ’01 and ’04 and that was enough to prevent a longer streak of losing against the Loggers.