[Westheim]

Raccoons (58-47) @ Thunder (62-43) – July 30-August 1, 2068

The Thunder were allowing the fewest runs in the league and were riding the #4 offense to a +81 run differential and a nominally cushy 8 1/2 game lead in the CL South, if I wasn’t for some defensive woes and several regulars being stowed away on the DL, including pitchers Jeff Kozloski, Danny Baca, and Jake Frensley; and position players Jose Palominos and Matt Ewig. They had a 4-2 edge in the season series and needed just one more win to take the season series against the Critters for the fifth straight year.

Projected matchups:
Nick Walla (8-8, 2.32 ERA) vs. Ken Nielsen (11-5, 2.76 ERA)
Alex Dominguez (14-2, 2.98 ERA) vs. Willie Campos (0-0)
Vinny Morales (7-3, 2.62 ERA) vs. Jose Ortega (7-7, 4.40 ERA)

The 32-year-old left-hander Campos had been a quad-A regular with the Thunder for the entire decade. This would be his season debut though after going 12-6 with a 3.69 ERA for AAA Anaheim. The other two pitchers were right-handers.

Game 1
POR: SS Duhe – CF Wilson – 1B Starr – LF Early – RF Corral – 2B Archuleta – C Flowe – 3B Novelo – P Walla
OCT: RF Almanza – 1B I. Stone – LF Dowsey – 3B B. Robinson – CF Thore – C Bohannon – 2B C. Gutierrez – SS Curiel – P Nielsen

Justin Dowsey had already hit two homers in five games with the Thunder, after six homers in 70 games with the Raccoons, which was part 178 of my autobiography “Why is it always the Coons?”, out soon wherever you buy your tissues. The Raccoons scored first, though with a Wilson double and Early’s RBI single in the first inning. Nick Walla pitched around a pair of leadoff singles in the first and third innings, and then Ian Stone hit another leadoff single in the fourth. Dowsey added another single, Brian Robinson got brushed by a pitch, and suddenly the bags were full with nobody out. Coby Thore then hit a single to right that Corral threw away, allowing two rather than one run to score, but then Martin Bohannon popped out, Carlos Gutierrez struck out, Ernesto Curiel was haphazardly walked, and then another K punched out Nielsen with the bases loaded. Dowsey doubled in the fifth off his recently-divorced teammate, but was left on base in another long inning with two full counts that rocketed up Walla’s pitch count. Coby Thore flew out in another full count in the bottom 6th, and the Coons just tried to get Walla through the inning… which they did… but not without him giving up a homer to another ex-Coon, Carlos Gutierrez, to leave the game trailing 3-1.

Meanwhile, the Raccoons were sitting on just four base hits. A 1-out double by Corral made it five in the top 7th, and Jake Flowe’s RBI single with two down brought in a second run for the team. Novelo struck out, and then McMahan and Kehoe exploded for four runs in the bottom 7th to put the game and the season series away for Oklahoma. Nielsen pitched into the ninth, but gave up a leadoff single to Starr before being removed for Jon McGinley, who put the Raccoons away for the night. 7-2 Thunder. Early 2-4, RBI; Corral 2-3, 2B;

Game 2
POR: SS Duhe – CF Wilson – 1B Starr – LF Early – RF Corral – 2B Archuleta – 3B Gates – C D’Alessandro – P Dominguez
OCT: RF Almanza – 1B I. Stone – LF Dowsey – 3B B. Robinson – CF Thore – C Bohannon – 2B C. Gutierrez – SS Curiel – P W. Campos

D’Alessandro, hardly playing to begin with, put the Thunder’s first batter on base with a 2-base throwing error on Tuesday, and Roberto Almanza was easily brought around on Ian Stone’s groundout and a Dowsey sac fly to give them an unearned 1-0 lead on Alex Dominguez. But Dominguez always won, so the Raccoons would probably take a lead soon – and indeed did that on Archuleta’s 2-run homer with Early on base in the second inning. However, the baseball gods giveth, and they also taketh away: Archuleta threw away a grounder by Ian Stone in the bottom 3rd, also for two bases, and Robinson’s 2-out single tied the game back up.

The middle innings saw zero hits for the Raccoons, and Dominguez increasingly getting into longer counts, and being behind in counts. The Raccoons would literally press him through six innings after Robinson and Thore reached base to begin the bottom 6th, after which Bohannon and Gutierrez grounded out poorly. With a pair in scoring position, four wide ones were given to Curiel, and Dominguez struck out Campos on his 108th pitch (!) to complete six innings and depart in an unearned 2-2 tie. He would have to settle for a no-decision, as Corral (forced out by Archuleta) and Gates hit singles off Campos in the seventh, but fly outs by D’Alessandro and Novelo left them stranded on the corners.

Rios and Josh C kept the game tied through the end of eight, when the Thunder sent closer Erik Swain against the 4-5-6 batters in the ninth inning. The Raccoons achieved a pinch-hit walk with Jaden Wilson and leaving that runner on first base, while Gutierrez and Curiel hit Dover around for leadoff singles in the bottom 9th. Bryan Johnston’s grounder advanced them into scoring position before Grant Anker lined out to Manny Arredondo at second base, and Travis Anderson struck out. Extras began with a D’Alessandro single, after which Dover was asked to bunt, doing so successfully, if you were keen on seeing a 5-4-3 double play. Duhe then walked – and was caught stealing.

Dover pitched two innings, and Gutierrez came close to a walkoff bomb against Danny Nava in the 11th inning, but Corral caught the ball at the fence. Jon McGinley was pitching in his second inning in the 12th when he allowed a leadoff single to Wilson, whom Arredondo then forced out. However, Ernesto Curiel hurt himself on the force play and had to leave the game, but the Thunder had no bench players left, and ended up with Ken Nielsen playing the infield. Arredondo then stole second, advanced further on a wild pitch, and then scored on a D’Alessandro single to center to break the ancient tie. Benito Otal then batted for Nava and raked an RBI triple off Javier Arocho – but was then left on with poor groundouts by Duhe and Ramirez. Pedro Valentin retired the Thunder in order in the bottom 12th to end the game. 4-2 Coons. Early 2-4, BB, 2B; Wilson (PH) 1-1, BB; D’Alessandro 2-4, BB, RBI; Otal (PH) 1-1, 3B, RBI; Dominguez 6.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 4 K; Dover 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

The trade deadline passed without the Raccoons getting another player. We just didn’t feel like we had anything to offer, and trading away prospects in a 5-way race sounded stupid.

Jared Duhe was 0-for-27 in his last six games (with four walks) and got the rubber game off.

Game 3
POR: CF Wilson – 2B Archuleta – 1B Starr – RF Corral – C Flowe – 3B Gates – LF Otal – SS Arredondo – P Morales
OCT: RF Almanza – 1B I. Stone – LF Dowsey – 3B B. Robinson – CF Thore – C Bohannon – 2B C. Gutierrez – SS Yin – P Jo. Ortega

Singles by Archuleta and Starr and an error by Gutierrez gave the Raccoons an unearned run in the first inning of the rubber game, but the Thunder answered with four singles from Almanza, Dowsey, Robinson, and Bohannon, who drove in two 2-out runs on a 1-2 pitch to take a 2-1 lead for the Thunder in the bottom 1st. Gutierrez then grounded out to Archuleta. The Thunder would scatter another four hits for no runs in the next three innings, persistently whacking Morales around as he fooled nobody.

They also made three errors in the first five innings, the third of which also almost led to an unearned run for the Critters when Jake Flowe led off the top 4th with a single and Coby Thore overran the ball for an extra base. Gates’ groundout advanced the runner, but Otal hit into a 9-2 double play with a fly to Almanza. Arredondo then singled again to begin the fifth, stole second, and reached third on Morales’ groundout. Wilson now hit a game-tying sac fly. Archuleta and Starr hit 2-out singles, but were stranded by a foundering Corral.

Corral was back at the plate in the seventh inning of the 2-2 game after Morales and Archuleta had hit singles and Ortega had just departed after a 2-out walk to Starr to fill the bases. He faced the right-handed Arocho, fell behind 0-2, and then despair-lunged for a ball nominally outside the zone, but somehow lunked it over the head of Gutierrez for an RBI single to break the tie. Flowe flew out to Thore to leave the bases loaded. Up 3-2, Morales got one more out from Travis Anderson in the #9 hole, then allowed a triple to Almanza and was yanked for McMahan, who would face the left-handed 2-3-4 bunch and was getting his snout beaten in for the second time in the ******* series. Stone singled to tie the game, Dowsey popped out, and Robinson ranked a 2-run homer. Thore singled, Grant Anker reached on an error by Wilson for good measure, and Gutierrez singled in two unearned runs. Josh C then came in, allowed a single to Wu-ti Yin to right, which double switch replacement Eddy Ramirez then threw away for another error and that one allowed Gutierrez to score. Carrington then was made to wear it as he allowed another single to Almanza, walked Stone *and* Dowsey to fill the bases, and then somehow got Robinson to ground out… Of course the game was well out of paw after this 8-run ************.

The Raccoons scored a superficially pointless run on Arredondo’s sac fly against Bronson Vanderven in the eighth, 10-4, then began the ninth with a Wilson single off Danny Zepeda. Archuleta forced him out, but Starr singled, and then Duhe walked in the pitcher’s spot. Bases loaded, Flowe whiffed in a full count for the second out, but Early batted for Gates and drew a bases-loaded walk that forced in a run and brought in Swain to face Otal, who raked his first major league dinger. GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAND SLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMMMMM!!!

And then Arredondo popped out to short to end the game. 10-9 Thunder. Archuleta 3-5; Starr 3-4, BB; Otal 2-5, HR, 4 RBI; Arredondo 2-4, RBI;

How are we having a bullpen with an ERA that is A RUN AND A HALF worse than the rotation’s??

Raccoons (59-49) vs. Canadiens (59-47) – August 2-5, 2068

There was never a good time to play the damn Elks, with the olfactory molestation and all, but right now both teams were reaching for the lead in the CL North, which seemed to change hands daily, but never fell into the Coons’ lap. These teams were two and one game out of first, respectively, to begin the series. The dumb, damn Elks also had a 5-2 lead in the season series with their stench and their #5 offense and #2 pitching.

Projected matchups:
Girolamo Pizzichini (3-5, 3.88 ERA) vs. Ray Rath (7-8, 4.15 ERA)
Tony Gaytan (7-7, 4.50 ERA) vs. Ernesto Culver (8-7, 4.44 ERA)
Nick Walla (8-9, 2.40 ERA) vs. Nate Freeman (7-6, 2.45 ERA)
Alex Dominguez (14-2, 2.85 ERA) vs. Ian Lowry (6-8, 4.02 ERA)

The Elks only brought up right-handed pitchers. Saturday would see a faceoff between the two leading pitchers by ERA in the CL … at least by Thursday morning realities.

Game 1
VAN: 3B C. Castro – 2B Kilday – RF Lozada – 1B A. Metz – C Varner – LF Chenette – CF D. Moore – SS Barraza – P Rath
POR: CF Wilson – 2B Archuleta – 1B Starr – RF Corral – C Flowe – SS Duhe– LF Otal – 3B Gates – P Pizzichini

The Raccoons were upended rather rapidly for our strangely stupid runs in the second inning. Andy Metz drew a leadoff walk before Steve Varner flew out, but then Tyler Chenette singled, Dan Moore tripled, and Roberto Barraza again singled, which was already three runs. Pizza then balked, Barraza stole third, and Carlos Castro and Matt Kilday hit more singles to get to 4-0 before Roberto Lozada made the final out. It only got stupider with Pizza from there, as he nailed Moore in the third inning on an 0-2 pitch, bunted into a double play in the same inning, and in the fifth nailed Metz *and* Varner, back-to-back, and conceded those runs on a 2-out single by Moore, which at that point was probably to be considered justice.

At the same time the Raccoons were doing NOTHING, sitting on one base hit through five innings, the Gary Gates single that then led to the bunt double play in the third inning, so the game was already well lost. The Raccoons scored a run in the bottom 7th with a leadoff walk to Archuleta, who advanced on a wild pitch and then scored on productive outs by Starr and Corral. At the same time, Gabriel Rios was pitching long relief, putting up a few zeroes, and then hit a leadoff single in the bottom 8th, only to get doubled off by Otal… Rath pitched into the bottom 9th, when Novelo led off with a grounder to short that Barraza bungled for an error. A walk to Wilson moved the damn Elks to send in left-hander Martyn Polaco, who gave up a run on Starr’s sac fly, but otherwise retired Archuleta and Eddy Ramirez and ended the game. 6-2 Canadiens. Rios 3.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K and 1-1;

Game 2
VAN: 3B C. Castro – 2B Kilday – 1B A. Metz – LF Chenette – CF D. Moore – RF Atkins – C Herr – SS Barraza – P E. Culver
POR: CF Wilson – 2B Archuleta – 1B Starr – LF Early – RF Corral – SS Duhe – 3B Arredondo – C D’Alessandro – P Gaytan

Another day, another stupid second inning, this time with a 2-0 lead for the damn Elks that stunk out of every body opening. Gaytan allowed a leadoff single to Rick Atkins, walked Barraza, and D’Alessandro threw the ball away on a double steal attempt, allowing one run to score. Carlos Castro plated another run with a single. The Raccoons loaded the bases in the bottom 2nd with a Corral single and walks to Duhe and Arredondo, and one out. Strikeouts to the battery meant no runs scored.

The game remained stupid and annoying, just as stupid and annoying as the Elks. Gaytan nicked Andy Metz with a pitch to begin the third inning, Chenette singled the runner to third, and Moore hit a sac fly from there. Chenette then advanced on a wild pitch and stole third base, but Atkins whiffed and Kevin Herr flew out to center, keeping the score at 3-0.

The Coons showed up on the board in the bottom 5th with Starr’s 2-out, 2-run homer that collected Jaden Wilson and narrowed the score to 3-2. At that point Gaytan was ticking off Elks batters, and the Raccoons just let him swing the stick in the bottom 7th with one out and nobody on – and he singled. Wilson and Archuleta hit more soft singles, and the bases were loaded for Starr in the 3-2 game. He hit a 1-0 pitch to left-center, but Chenette tracked it down; but Gaytan came home on the sac fly to tie the game. Early grounded out to first to keep two runners on base; and then the damn Elks began the eighth with an infield single by Metz, before Chenette and Moore rolled soft singles to make it three on, nobody out. Dover replaced him, offered little in relief by allowing runs on a sac fly by Atkins and Herr’s RBI single, and then McMahan had to come in and somehow struck out Castro with three on and two outs. The bottom 8th then was an orgy of relievers – FOUR for the Elks – and pinch-hitters. The Coons got Corral on base with a leadoff walk, but Duhe and Ramirez made outs. Otal hit an RBI single with two outs, 5-4, and then Flowe pinch-hit for McMahan against the right-hander Justin Wittman, singled to center, and Wilson hit another single to right against Wittman. Otal went around third base and for home – and was thrown out by John Bustillos from rightfield. Valentin held the line in the top 9th before the Elks sent right-hander Matt Nelson for the bottom of the inning. He got three groundouts from the 2-3-4 batters. 5-4 Canadiens. Wilson 3-5; Corral 2-3, BB; Otal (PH) 1-1, RBI; Flowe (PH) 1-1;

Game 3
VAN: 3B C. Castro – 2B Kilday – RF Lozada – 1B A. Metz – C Varner – LF Chenette – CF Atkins – SS Rutecki – P N. Freeman
POR: CF Wilson – 2B Archuleta – 1B Starr – LF Early – RF Corral – SS Duhe – C Flowe – 3B Novelo – P Gaytan

I had a terrible feeling that the duel between the two CL ERA leaders would end something like 8-0 Elks, but the Raccoons drew first blood, cobbling a run together in the second inning from singles by Corral, Duhe, and Novelo, the latter with two outs and of the infield variety. Walla allowed only one hit, but also got only one strikeout (on Freeman) the first time through. Freeman whiffed nobody, so it wasn’t quite a duel of aces yet. Especially with Walla, it was grounders galore in the early innings, while the Raccoons scattered some more runners. Walla had left two on with a groundout in the second, and Novelo found a pair on the corners in the fourth and grounded out to leave them there. Starr and Corral both hit long fly balls for outs.

The top 5th suddenly saw things go pear-shaped with an error by Duhe that put the leadoff man Varner on base. Walla then immediately walked Chenette and Atkins in full counts, and the bags were full with nobody out. After a crisis meeting on the mound, Walla got a comebacker from John Rutecki that he took home for an easy force on Varner, and then Freeman hit another grounder right at Duhe for an inning-ending double play. (sits on the couch, dripping sweat)

Bottom 5th, and the Coons got a leadoff Walla-banger for a double. Wilson singled softly to shallow right, and they were on the corners. Archuleta popped out, Starr struck out, and Early… struck out. Walla then grounded out with Duhe and Novelo on the corners to end the sixth inning…….

But Walla kept besting the damn Elks on the hill – through eight innings, he only struck out three, but the poor outs were relentless, especially on the ground – the Elks made 15 outs against him on the ground! He maintained a 2-hitter through eight, but threw 102 pitches and was not likely to return, except in case of a major offensive outburst in the bottom 8th, which Early led off against Juan Rosado, right-hander. He struck out, but Corral walked, and Duhe singled. Flowe then lined out to Matt Kilday, Corral was caught off second base and doubled off… The ball then went to Valentin, who got a grounder from Kilday to Novelo, then a fly from Lozada to Corral. A blazing strikeout on Andy Metz ended the game! 1-0 Blighters! Wilson 2-4; Duhe 2-2, 2 BB; Novelo 2-3, RBI; Walla 8.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 3 K, W (9-9) and 1-3, 2B;

Nick Walla for Pitcher of the Year!!

Since the Raccoons insisted on letting Freeman get off easy with six innings of 1-run ball, his ERA went down, too. Walla’s lead grew, however, from five points to twelve.

Alex Dominguez had a chance to get to third place in the race if he could get his 2.85 ERA down at least one point on Sunday.

Game 4
VAN: 3B C. Castro – 2B Kilday – RF Lozada – 1B A. Metz – C Varner – LF Chenette – CF Atkins – SS Barraza – P Lowry
POR: CF Wilson – 2B Archuleta – 1B Starr – RF Corral – LF Otal – SS Novelo – C Flowe – 3B Arredondo – P Dominguez

Both teams got a leadoff walk in the first inning, and while Castro was stranded at third base, Wilson was caught stealing before getting there. Neither team scored the first time through, but Dominguez’ ERA designs burst like a bubble in the third inning with leadoff knocks by Castro and Kilday, Metz’ sac fly, and a 2-run homer by Varner, 3-0.

The Elks then looked content, and the Coons had yet to get a hit, which they did in the fifth with a Novelo triple. Flowe’s sac fly got Portland on the board, but Arredondo then reached base and was picked off to end the inning as a sign that hope was pointless and you should better get a bottle of Capt’n Coma ready. A Dan Moore homer made it 4-1 in the sixth and knocked out Dominguez. Nava got the remaining outs in the inning and Eddy Ramirez walked in that spot to lead off the bottom 6th, followed by a Wilson double, thus putting a pair in scoring position with nobody out. Archuleta hit a terrible looper at 1-2 that fell in between Kilday and Lozada for an RBI single, but Starr flew out to shallow left. Corral walked, loading them up, and the rookie Otal ran a full count before hitting a sac fly to left, 4-3. Novelo fanned, leaving two on base.

Between Rios and Josh C the Coons walked the bags full in the seventh, but Carrington rung up Varner to strand all the useless runners. Flowe hit a leadoff single and was stranded, and then Carrington blew up some more in the eighth. Moore grounded out, but he walked Atkins and drilled Chenette, then was replaced with McMahan, whose ****** up week continued unabated with a Bustillos double, a Castro single, and a Lozada single, and three runs scored in total, one per knock. With that, the Raccoons were beaten. 7-3 Canadiens.

In other news

July 30 – Dallas sends RF/LF/1B Tommy Pritchard (.313, 4 HR, 29 RBI) to the Falcons for considerably younger 2B/3B/RF Bill Mari (.267, 5 HR, 22 RBI) and a prospect.
July 30 – The Loggers deal OF/2B Tim Goss (.299, 6 HR, 46 RBI) to the Capitals for pitching help in SP Danny Ortiz (7-7, 2.63 ERA) and a prospect, #111 RF/3B/1B Pete McKenna.
July 30 – The Blue Sox beat the Gold Sox, 1-0, on a home run by NAS OF/1B Tony Roman (.265, 12 HR, 58 RBI).
August 5 – Boston ace SP Mike Bell (13-3, 2.88 ERA) is out for the year with a ruptured finger tendon.
August 5 – The Blue Sox beat the Buffaloes, 5-4 in 17 innings. Both teams scored a run in the tenth, and then nothing anymore until the Buffos’ run in the top of the 17th, answered by the Sox with two in the bottom 17th to walk off.

FL Player of the Week: WAS INF Angelo Flores (.280, 14 HR, 56 RBI), batting .476 (10-21) with 4 HR, 7 RBI
CL Player of the Week: ATL UT Carlos Fumero (.270, 2 HR, 37 RBI), hitting .522 (12-23) with 1 HR, 5 RBI

FL Hitter of the Month: NAS RF Austin Gordon (.325, 33 HR, 95 RBI), slashing .407 with 12 HR, 32 RBI
CL Hitter of the Month: POR 1B Joel Starr (.297, 23 HR, 79 RBI), raking .287 with 11 HR, 26 RBI
FL Pitcher of the Month: PIT CL Chad Brown (4-7, 3.46 ERA, 30 SV), going 1-1 with an 0.63 ERA, 10 SV, 11 K
CL Pitcher of the Month: POR SP Nick Walla (8-9, 2.40 ERA), pitching to a 4-2 mark with 2.06 ERA, 33 K
FL Rookie of the Month: LAP OF Mike Hulett (.260, 8 HR, 30 RBI), hitting .303 with 3 HR, 15 RBI
CL Rookie of the Month: BOS LF/1B/RF Manuel Garcia (.266, 13 HR, 69 RBI), batting .284 with 3 HR, 17 RBI

Complaints and stuff

I ******* hate the Canadiens.

That’s all. I ******* hate the Canadiens.

The Raccoons would host another three games against the Crusaders, then had days off around either end of a weekend trip to the Wolves. Three more home series coming after that.

Fun Fact: The Raccoons have not had an ERA leader since 2055 – already their longest drought on record.

In total, a Raccoon has led the CL in ERA 17 times. Only two pitchers did it multiple times, and franchise patron saints Kisho Saito and Nick Brown never did it even once…! Full list of ERA leaders in the brown shirt (*led all of ABL):

1983 – Kinji Kan – 2.02 *
1991 – Jason Turner – 2.55
1998 – Jose Rivera – 2.44
2007 – Kelvin Yates – 2.37 *
2008 – Jong-hoo Umberger – 2.20 *
2014 – Jonathan Toner – 2.36
2015 – Jonathan Toner – 2.16 *
2017 – Jonathan Toner – 1.94 *
2018 – Jonathan Toner – 2.21 *
2020 – Jonathan Toner – 2.32 *
2025 – Mark Roberts – 2.29 *
2028 – Rico Gutierrez – 2.56 *
2033 – Mario Rosas – 2.45
2045 – Jason Wheatley – 2.37 *
2051 – Jason Wheatley – 2.51
2054 – He Shui – 2.48 *
2055 – Kennedy Adkins – 1.64 *