[Westheim]

Raccoons (61-69) vs. Thunder (73-57) – August 29-31, 2067

I wasn’t keen on playing the team that had just bombed the Loggers, but here they were, entering the arena tied at three for the season series with the miserly Raccoons, who were mid-rush for a losing record after all. Oklahoma City ranked third in runs scored and runs allowed. They had the best pen in the league, and the second-highest OBP as a team. For injuries they had just shed starter Jeff Kozloski, and outfielder Vince Goll was also on the DL.

Projected matchups:
Gabriel Rios (9-11, 4.51 ERA) vs. Jose Ortega (10-4, 5.29 ERA)
Ryan Musgrave (9-10, 4.55 ERA) vs. Josh Elling (9-4, 3.67 ERA)
Shoma Nakayama (11-8, 3.58 ERA) vs. Danny Baca (14-7, 2.95 ERA)

We spotted a southpaw on getaway day here.

Game 1
OCT: RF Almanza – C Bohannon – CF Thore – SS Palominos – 2B Archuleta – 3B D. Richardson – 1B I. Stone – LF Franks – P J. Ortega
POR: CF Wilson – C Lopez – 1B Starr – 3B Monck – LF Dowsey – RF Corral – SS Novelo – 2B Bonner – P Rios

The Raccoons scored first on Monday night, as Rich Monck brought in Jaden Wilson with a sac fly to left. Starr, Dowsey, and Corral all hit singles in the inning, but Novelo lined out to Scott Franks in leftfield to leave those three stranded on base. Rios then got rid of the lead right away, giving up singles to Ramon Archuleta and Daniel Richardson in the top 2nd, with the tying run coming in on Franks’ fielder’s choice grounder; and in the third inning the Thunder got free runners with a walk to Martin Bohannon, Coby Thore got nicked, and Jose Palominos and Richardson brought in a run each with singles before Ian Stone hit into an inning-ending double play. Dowsey also hit into a double play after Starr and Monck began the bottom 3rd with singles to right. Corral’s 2-out double then plated only Starr, 3-2, and Novelo grounded out again to leave him in scoring position.

Rios kept being useless, walking Franks to lead off the fourth inning. The runner stole second, was bunted to third, and scored when Roberto Almanza hit a sac fly to right-center, and then Bohannon drew another walk. He was left on, but Palominos and Stone hits eventually led to Rios’ removal after just 4.2 innings and over 100 pitches. Alvey got a fly out from Franks to Wilson to end the inning. While Alvey then made a run at efficient long relief, the Raccoons were not a big factor on the bases until Bonner got on to begin the bottom 7th. Alvey bunted him to second base and after Wilson grounded out and Lopez walked, he would score on Starr’s 2-out double to narrow the score to 4-3 again, but Starr was then left stranded in scoring position – along with Ramon Lopez. Stone singled off Alvey in the top 8th; the left-hander got two outs in the inning for three full innings on the ledger, and Jesse Dover entered when the lineup flipped over again, was met with lefty pinch-hitter J.D. Johnson instead of Almanza, but struck him out anyway to strand Stone at second base. Dover also put the Thunder away in order in the ninth inning after Ortega had done the same to the Brownshirts in the bottom 8th, and Erik Swain then appeared for the save chance. Aguilar, Matas, and Wilson went down in order all the same. 4-3 Thunder. Starr 3-4, 2B RBI; Corral 2-4, 2B, RBI; Alvey 3.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

Game 2
OCT: CF Thore – C Bohannon – SS Palominos – 1B I. Stone – 2B D. Richardson – RF Almanza – LF J.D. Johnson – 3B N. Fowler – P Elling
POR: CF Wilson – C Lopez – 1B Starr – 3B Monck – LF Dowsey – RF Corral – SS Novelo – 2B Gates – P Musgrave

The middle game went off the rails immediately when Musgrave allowed a leadoff single to Coby Thore, then kept shaking out his arm and was collected by Luis Silva without much further ado. The Coons then went to Holzmeister, who was immediately run over, also supported kindly by Novelo misfielding Bohannon’s grounder for an error. Palominos and Almanza knocked base hits and three runs scored in the inning in total. After this, the Raccoons – having used Alvey in garbage relief the day before – had to go to Chance Fox and pretty much abandon the idea of winning the season series against the Thunder for the first time in four years. Fox immediately gave up a run in the second inning, but at least ticked the box of covering innings – he would pitch the Raccoons all the way through the sixth inning, albeit for the cost of another 3-spot in the fifth inning, all runs scoring on a mighty Ian Stone homer. On the “plus” side, the Raccoons’ offense was entirely dead against former Critter Josh Elling and was putting up just three weak hits through five innings anyway, so what was the difference between trailing 4-0 and 7-0?

David Milian batted for Fox to begin the bottom 6th and reached on an infield single. Wilson also singled, Lopez flew out, and Starr walked to fill the bases. Elling also lost Monck on balls, forcing in the Coons’ first run of the game, but Dowsey whiffed and Corral grounded out to Richardson to leave the bags stacked. Palominos and Richardson doubles off Josh C then pulled that run back right away in the seventh inning, and McMahan allowed another run in the eighth with a leadoff walk to Nick Fowler, and Elling’s bunt dying under a pile of Critters without anybody making a play, which gave them two on and nobody out. Fowler would then score on two productive outs, while Elling was stranded. McMahan would retire Stone to begin the ninth, then turned the ball over to Novelo, who walked Richardson, allowed a 2-out single to J.D. Johnson, but then struck out Fowler for an end to the inning and eternal shame on Fowler. Ramon Lopez hit a sac fly in the dying moments of the Coons flailing away, not that it made a noticeable dent in the final score. 9-2 Thunder. Wilson 3-4; Dowsey 2-3, 2B; Milian (PH) 1-1;

The Raccoons placed Ryan Musgrave on the DL with shoulder soreness, although he was expected to return for some more action in September. Juan Soriano was recalled from AAA a day early.

Game 3
OCT: CF Thore – C Bohannon – SS Palominos – 1B I. Stone – 2B D. Richardson – LF J. Parker – RF Almanza – 3B R. Vargas – P D. Baca
POR: CF Wilson – C Lopez – SS Novelo – 1B Starr – RF Corral – LF Tallent – 2B Bonner – 3B Gates – P Nakayama

It only got worse on Wednesday, when rain entered the equation and messed up Nakayama right in the second inning with an hourlong delay. When play resumed, the Thunder swiftly rounded him up for three runs in the same inning, and the top 3rd saw a walk to Stone, Richardson doubling to right-center, but Corral throwing out Stone at the plate, and then Johnny Parker’s RBI single still got a run home with two outs to extend the score to 4-0.

While the Raccoons had great issues getting Nakayama pressed through even five innings, the Thunder’s Danny Baca seemed unfazed by any of this and was no-hitting the Raccoons until Coby Thore dove for, but only trapped a Gary Gates floater to shallow center with two outs in the bottom 5th. Milian batted for Nakayama and singled, putting a second Critter on base, but Wilson then grounded out easily. Gates then threw away Richardson’s grounder to begin the sixth inning for a 2-base error, pulling out the rug right from under Manabu Yamauchi, who went on to allow hits to Almanza and Baca (…) and two unearned runs to extend the Thunder lead to 6-0. For comparison, Ricardo Vargas also threw away Lopez’ grounder to lead off the bottom 6th for two bases, after which the Raccoons made two pitiful outs before Corral socked an RBI double to right and tore out his leg somewhere between first and second base… He left the game for Matas to pinch-run and then play leftfield, and Tallent went to right after whiffing to end the inning.

Baca was replaced after six innings with right-hander Bill Hernandez, who walked Gates and the pinch-hitting Monck in the Coons’ half of the seventh, not that anything came of that. Alvey was tossed into the eighth and was beaten around for another run, and Joel Starr’s 2-run homer after Novelo reached on an error in the bottom 8th looked a bit like window dressing; however, against new pitcher Tetsu Kurihara, Dowsey then batted for Tallent and singled, Bonner slashed an RBI triple, and then scored on Gates’ groundout, and suddenly the score was just 7-5. McMahan held the Thunder right there in the ninth after Aguilar flew out to center, but then we were looking at Swain again… Wilson singled to right to begin the bottom 9th, only to be swiftly doubled off by Ramon Lopez grounding to Vargas. Novelo’s groundout completed the sweep. 7-5 Thunder. Milian (PH) 1-1;

After this experience, September arrived and rosters expanded. The Raccoons felt obligated to pad out the roster a bit, even though I didn’t dare expect heroics from any Alley Cats at this point.

First off, Jake Flowe was not brought up with the roster expansion since we preferred him to finish the AAA season, then take the lion’s share of the at-bats here in the last two weeks or so of the year – unless the Alley Cats actually made the playoffs – four teams in that division were under a blanket just three games wide, and the Alley Cats were part of that.

We added three pitchers, all right-handers. Cody Childress and Matt Schmieder had been up in Portland last year already, but right-hander and 2063 sixth-rounder Cameron Bridges would make his ABL debut. Childress would spot Musgrave in the rotation for the moment. In the absence of Flowe, Tony Spink would be the third catcher / warm body. Marquise Early and Leon Arantes were recalled as additional bats off the bench.

Jose Corral remained undiagnosed on the roster by Friday.

Raccoons (61-72) @ Crusaders (67-66) – September 2-4, 2067

The Crusaders owned our pelts this year (again), winning nine of eleven games played against the Critters. They were seventh in runs scored, fifth in runs allowed, and barely at the .500 mark. Well, it was enough for *us*…! Regulars Bryant Box and Eric Frasher were on the DL for them.

Projected matchups:
Nick Walla (8-8, 3.35 ERA) vs. Erik Lee (10-12, 4.22 ERA)
Tony Gaytan (8-13, 3.62 ERA) vs. Ramon Carreno (8-5, 3.89 ERA)
Gabriel Rios (9-12, 4.63 ERA) vs. Jarod Nesbit (6-6, 3.62 ERA)

Both teams had been off on Thursday, so changes were possible for New York. In any case, we did not expect a southpaw starter here.

Game 1
POR: CF Wilson – C Lopez – 1B Starr – 3B Monck – RF Dowsey – SS Novelo – LF Early – 2B Bonner – P Walla
NYC: 3B Aoki – LF Ambriz – 1B Starwalt – C D. Johnson – RF Takeuchi – CF Duhon – 2B T. Cummings – SS Masterson – P E. Lee

Ex-Coon Yukio Aoki, Chris Duhon, and Terry Cummings were all September call-ups age 26+ and none of them would tick any box of the description of a hot prospect. That didn’t mean that Aoki, age 30, couldn’t hit a single off Walla, steal second, and score on Jose Ambriz’ double in the third inning, followed by an RBI single for Danny Starwalt. It was the third inning of three in which Walla allowed a double, but these were the first runs of the game, while Lee held the Raccoons away from any bases the first time through the order. Jaden Wilson hit a single in the fourth inning, which, y’know, yaaay, but that was about it, and instead Starwalt socked a solo homer off Walla in the fifth, and Scott Masterson bashed a 2-run homer in the sixth, sending Walla packing with a 5-0 hole in his head.

The real surprise was perhaps that the Raccoons *did* get the tying run to the plate in the seventh inning on the strength of Starr walking, then scoring on Monck and Early singles. Ryan Bonner reached on an error by Masterson, but Matas batted with three on and two outs and struck out. Yamauchi pitched in the bottom 7th, was betrayed by Novelo, who put Starwalt on base with a 1-out error, and then was taken very deep to center by David Johnson, who knocked his 24th home run of the year as he chased Rich Monck for the CL lead. Cameron Bridges’ major league debut in the eighth inning came against the bottom of the lineup and resulted in New York going down 1-2-3 for the first time in the ******* game. 7-1 Crusaders. Starr 1-2, 2 BB; Arantes (PH) 1-1, 2B;

Game 2
POR: CF Wilson – C Lopez – 1B Starr – 3B Monck – LF Dowsey – RF Milian – SS Novelo – 2B Gates – P Gaytan
NYC: 2B O. Sanchez – LF Ambriz – 1B Starwalt – RF Takeuchi – CF Duhon – 3B Aoki – C Reyna – SS Masterson – P Nesbit

Wilson singled, stole second, and scored on a Lopez single to begin Saturday’s game, and Starr hit another single, but Monck then found a double play to rumble into and Dowsey also grounded out. Gaytan gave the lead back right away, nailing Jose Ambriz with his second pitch of the game; Starwalt then doubled and Takeuchi walked before the Raccoons couldn’t turn two on Chris Duhon’s grounder to short and the lead runner Ambriz scored. Aoki then grounded out to leave two on. Duhon also drove in Sanchez and Ambriz in the third inning against a young Coons right-hander that had seemingly run out of stuff in July and in luck even earlier. There was nobody here that coulda dug him out of any size of hole, and the Raccoons expertly managed to **** away the few runners that had with double plays; Novelo hit into one in the fourth, and Starr into another in the sixth. Novelo came back to the plate with Milian on base in the seventh and one out … and hit into ANOTHER double play – at which point the Raccoons had hit into more ******* double plays than the Crusaders had gotten base hits off Gaytan, at least until Victor Reyna lobbed a soft single in the seventh to tie the two tallies at four each.

Top 8th, and Gary Gates led off with a double to center. Tough to double that one up, but still possible! Marquise Early batted for Gaytan and singled to left-center, scoring Gates to narrow the score to 3-2. Wilson grounded to short for a fielder’s choice, and then Lopez doubled to right, putting a pair in scoring position for Starr, who flipped the score with a single up the middle, heyyy…!! Nesbit walked Monck, then was disposed of in favor of left-hander Adam Rinaudo. The Coons answered with Tallent batting for a hitless Dowsey and were rewarded with an RBI single to left-center. Milian got another RBI single off right-hander Aiden Shaw, 6-3, before Novelo and Gates made the last two outs of the inning. Josh C then got the ball for the bottom 8th, struggled, allowed three singles, one of whom – Starwalt’s – would disappear on a baserunning blunder, but was stuck with runners on the corners and two outs. McMahan replaced him and struck out Aoki to end the inning. Top 9th, Early singled to get going, then was doubled up by Wilson (…), and Jesse Dover had issues in the bottom of the ninth and walked two batters, but also got a 5-4-3 double play turned to end the losing streak. 6-3 Coons. Lopez 3-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Starr 2-5, 2 RBI; Tallent (PH) 1-1, RBI; Milian 3-3, BB, 2B, RBI; Early (PH) 2-2, RBI; Gaytan 7.0 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, W (9-13);

By Sunday we finally moved Jose Corral to the DL with a groin strain. It was apparently a pretty bad strain and Luis Silva opined that it was going to be season-ending.

Swell.

Game 3
POR: CF Wilson – LF Early – 1B Starr – 3B Monck – RF Milian – C Aguilar – 2B Gates – SS Arantes – P Rios
NYC: 2B O. Sanchez – LF Ambriz – 1B Starwalt – C D. Johnson – CF Takeuchi – SS Masterson – RF Villarreal – 3B Aoki – P Carreno

Few did much and many did little in this Sunday rubber game between teams that had no business playing anymore in September. Both teams would manage three soft hits and some assorted stupidity (like Wilson walking and being caught stealing right to begin the game) for zero runs through five innings, although both pitchers were behind in the count a lot and were visually begging for a beating. The Raccoons declined to score when Milian hit a 1-out double in the sixth inning, and the Crusaders would get Ambriz on base on balls, and then to third base on a stolen base attempt and Aguilar’s throwing error, but then still left him there in the following half-inning.

Rios was done after six and two thirds innings, thanks to allowing a 1-out single to PH Oscar Rivera, then a 2-out walk to Omar Sanchez in the bottom 7th. Omar Vera pinch-ran for Rivera at that point, but he was left on base along with Sanchez when Ambriz flew out to right against Josh C, leaving the game scoreless. Former starter Ben Peterson had the ball in the eighth, walked Early, allowed a single to Starr, and walked Milian with one out after Monck grounded out. Novelo batted for Aguilar and struck out. And then Ramon Lopez batted for Gates … and struck out. (double facepaws!)

The Coons remained shut out through nine innings, the Crusaders daring to bother closer Dave Hyman in the ninth inning. Arantes drew a walk and stole second, but that go-ahead run was left to rot away on second base as well. Yamauchi then put two pinch-hitters on base in the bottom 9th before getting a comebacker for an inning-ending and misery-extending 1-6-3 double play from another, Reyna.

Ed Nadeau handled the tenth for New York and allowed a leadoff single to Starr, but Monck forced him out and the Coons never got that runner off first base. Yamauchi pitched a second inning to keep the game going. Nadeau then offered another leadoff walk to Lopez in the 11th inning. Lopez went on a 1-1 pitch to Arantes, which the batter shoved through the right side for a singled, and with Lopez running to third base, the Raccoons now had them on the corners with nobody out. Randy Tallent batted for Yamauchi and walked the bags full, and I hung my fuzzy ears as Wilson popped out, Early struck out, and Starr popped out and nobody ****** SCORED AGAIN!! By then there was no point in extending the game any further and Matt Schmieder got the ball for the bottom 11th but the Crusaders went in order.

Nadeau and Schmieder kept going through 13 innings. Rich Monck tried to break up the collective coma with a fly ball for 390 feet, but hit it to the 410’ part of the ballpark and had it caught by Kazuhide Takeuchi, and apart from that it was all very sad. Bonner batted for Schmieder to begin the 14th inning and singled, chasing Nadeau as well for Mike Hall, who then retired the next three Critters rather briskly. The ball then went to Chance Fox in a desperate attempt to break out from this sullen ballgame. Takeuchi promptly doubled to left and Terry Cummings legged out an infield single, putting the Crusaders on the corners with nobody out in the bottom 14th. Their fans got up, ready for a tired celebration, but Natsu Nakamura spanked a bouncer back to Fox, who turned a 1-6-3 double play, Takeuchi having to hold at third base. Jarod Nesbit – Saturday’s starter! – was now playing third base and batting eighth, and grounded out to short. The Crusaders fans went home instead.

Hall walked Ramon Lopez in the 15th, only for Arantes to poke into an inning-ending double play, while the Crusaders were out of sticks entirely and Hall struck out against Fox to begin the bottom 15th. Sanchez walked, but failed to deploy the speed, and Ambriz flew out to right before Fox struck out (!) Starwalt (!!). Fox walked Cummings with two outs in the bottom 16th, but the runner got himself stealing. Rich Monck fell to 0-for-8 in the 17th, reaching when Cummings dropped his 1-out pop to short. He, too, was then running when Milian hit a single to right, and runners were on the corners again. Hall struck out Novelo, and Lopez grounded out to Nesbit. Blech! Fox meanwhile walked Nesbit and plunked Sanchez to put two on with two outs in the bottom 17th, but then Ambriz grounded out to Arantes.

Top 18th, Arantes led off with a single against Manny Gutierrez. Tallent’s groundout advanced him, and then Wilson singled to right. Arantes was sent for home plate, arrived along with the throw of Nakamura and slid awkwardly into David Johnson’s knee. Johnson lost the ball, Arantes was called safe, and then had to be helped off the field with an apparent injury. Tony Spink pinch-hit and struck out and Starr grounded out before the 1-0 lead went to Jesse Dover. Matas took leftfield and Tallent went to second base, and our bench was now also empty. Dover walked Starwalt to begin the bottom 18th, while Johnson easily flew out to Milian in right. Takeuchi hit a comebacker, but Dover only got the lead runner at second base. He then struck out Cummings. 1-0 Blighters. Early 2-6, 2B; Bonner (PH) 1-1; Milian 2-6, 2 BB, 2B; Arantes 2-6, BB; Rios 6.2 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 4 K; Yamauchi 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K; Schmieder 3.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K; Fox 4.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 3 K, W (1-3);

In other news

August 29 – The Thunder’s starter Jeff Kozloski (11-10, 4.12 ERA) was going to miss the rest of the season with a torn labrum.
August 31 – Thunder CL Erik Swain (1-4, 1.94 ERA, 32 SV) nails down his 300th career save in a 7-5 game against the Raccoons. Swain, 30, is a 2-time CL Reliever of the Year, who led the league in saves with the Canadiens in 2062. For his career, he is 45-44 with a 3.06 ERA and has struck out 678 batters in 617 innings across nine seasons.
August 31 – TOP SP Justin Kent (15-6, 2.92 ERA) 1-hits the Warriors for a 5-0 shutout. SFW OF Danny Perez (.291, 18 HR, 83 RBI) spoils Kent’s no-hit bid with an eighth-inning single.
September 4 – MIL SP Matt Crist (14-7, 3.67 ERA) 3-hits the Indians and strikes out eight batters in a 7-0 shutout.
September 4 – OCT C Martin Bohannon (.292, 12 HR, 60 RBI) has three hits, including two homers, and drives in seven runs in a 15-6 beating of the Knights.
September 4 – A ninth-inning walkoff home run by SFW 1B/RF/CF Jared Allen (.275, 10 HR, 47 RBI) is the only scoring in a 1-0 win against the Stars.

FL Player of the Week: SAC RF/1B Alex Gutierrez (.283, 1 HR, 20 RBI), batting .591 (13-22) with 2 RBI
CL Player of the Week: BOS LF/CF Eddie Marcotte (.261, 18 HR, 74 RBI); bashing .429 (12-28) with 2 HR, 5 RBI

FL Hitter of the Month: DAL CF Tyler Wharton (.306, 25 HR, 98 RBI), batting .333 with 5 HR, 24 RBI
CL Hitter of the Month: MIL RF/LF Carlos Dominguez (.377, 17 HR, 86 RBI), bashing .408 with 7 HR, 21 RBI
FL Pitcher of the Month: DAL SP Ray Walker (8-1, 2.44 ERA), going a perfect 6-0 with 1.77 ERA, 44 K
CL Pitcher of the Month: ATL SP Angel Alba (9-3, 4.11 ERA, 2 SV), going 6-0 on swingman duty, with a 2.68 ERA, 28 K, and 37 IP
FL Rookie of the Month: WAS C Chris Willhite (.239, 11 HR, 34 RBI), clipping .272 with 3 HR, 10 RBI
CL Rookie of the Month: MIL OF Mario Alaniz (.299, 9 HR, 67 RBI), batting .393 with 4 HR, 24 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Good on Angel Alba!

49 players competed in Sunday’s stupid game, only one of which scored and was harmed. Like Jose Corral, Leon Arantes suffered a likely season-ending groin strain in scoring that measly late run to get the Raccoons outta town in New York.

Those heroics notwithstanding, a Loggers win on Sunday served to eliminate us from mathematical contention for the playoffs. Bugger!

What else is there to complain about…? Oh yes, two trips to Elk City left on the schedule. The first one was NOW for four games starting on Monday. We’d then be home to host the Indians and Crusaders for a 7-game homestand.

Fun Fact: The Raccoons used just 33 players until August 31.

Last year the team (for the whole season) used 29 pitchers alone, along with 24 position players for 53 total players. The number of pitchers this season? Just *14*! The dozen that finished August on the roster, plus Bob West, who was released after 25 outings, and Juan Soriano, who made a singular appearance at the start of the season before being recalled this week.

No J.J. Sensabaugh either, although he sure kept brushing up his fur to look pretty in AAA…!