[Westheim]

Raccoons (72-58) @ Falcons (58-71) – August 27-29, 2068

Honors were even in this season series so far with both teams having taken three games, and with three more on the plate. The Falcons were 18 1/2 games out in the South, and thus for all purposes eliminated. Just gimme those wins!! They were tenth in offense and seventh in pitching. Starting pitcher Edgar Mauricio was the only notable DL occupant, and he was eligible to return on Wednesday.

Projected matchups:
Tony Gaytan (7-8, 4.21 ERA) vs. Carlos Gomez (6-12, 4.58 ERA)
Alex Dominguez (16-4, 2.86 ERA) vs. Evan Alvey (5-8, 6.50 ERA)
Vinny Morales (7-4, 2.96 ERA) vs. TBD

Ex-Coon Alvey was a left-hander of course. For Wednesday the options were manifold for the Falcons. Jason Morea (8-6, 3.35 ERA) and Kao-Kan Ngui (8-9, 4.45 ERA) had both pitched in a double-header against the Titans on Saturday (which they helped sweep), and Mauricio (8-7, 3.52 ERA) was eligible to bounce off the DL and right onto the mound as well. All were right-handed.

Game 1
POR: SS Duhe – CF Wilson – 1B Starr – RF Corral – LF Early – C Flowe – 2B Archuleta – 3B Mendoza – P Gaytan
CHA: 2B Schmidt – CF S. Gil – C O. Matos – 1B Savalli – SS Tr. Taylor – RF T. Lopez – LF Pritchard – 3B Fountain – P C. Gomez

It started to rain quite early on in the game, and then the Falcons started to score stupid runs as Gaytan walked Elijah Fountain and John Schmidt in the third inning and then gave up three runs on Sal Gil’s single and a double to right-center by Oscar Matos. Justin Savalli ended the inning, but Trent Taylor’s leadoff double and a lack of stuff on Gaytan’s part allowed the Falcons to score another run in the fourth with productive outs by Tony Lopez and Tommy Pritchard to extend their lead to 4-0. The Raccoons didn’t get any free passes shoved up their thick tushes and through four innings had only three hits, two of them from Joel Starr, and no runs. When Ramon Archuleta led off the fifth with a double to center, Mendoza and Gaytan barely got him home to score, but Gaytan immediately asked for more of a slapping and gave the run right back in the bottom of the inning, departing after five with a 5-1 loss looming.

On-and-off rain was intensifying in the sixth inning when Starr legged out an infield single, and with two outs Early hit another single and Flowe reached on an error by Savalli, bringing the tying run to the plate in the staunchly .223 hitting Archuleta. The Raccoons sent Benito Otal to pinch-hit, but he flew out to Gil in center. Gary Gates hit a pinch-hit single in the seventh, but was doubled up by Duhe, and wholly listless poking against Gomez continued for the rest of the game, even when relief by Kehoe, McMahan, and Carrington prevented any further Falcons runs. 5-1 Falcons. Starr 4-4, 2B; Flowe 2-4; Gates (PH) 1-1;

The Raccoons fell to third place with this sordid performance, behind the damn Elks, and two games outta first place.

Game 2
POR: SS Duhe – CF Ramirez – 1B Starr – LF Early – RF Corral – 3B Mendoza – 2B Archuleta – C D’Alessandro – P Dominguez
CHA: 2B Schmidt – CF S. Gil – C O. Matos – 1B Savalli – SS Tr. Taylor – RF T. Lopez – LF Pritchard – 3B Fountain – P Alvey

The Falcons took a blitz lead in the bottom 1st on Tuesday with a 1-2 single by John Schmidt, who stole his 49th base, and a home run to right by Oscar Matos. The Raccoons kept drawing useless walks; useless because they never did anything with them. Starr walked in the first and was stranded, and Corral and Archuleta walked in the second inning and then D’Alessandro wobbled into an inning-ending double play.

The Falcons broke open Dominguez in the bottom 3rd then, in which they just kept hitting and hitting and hitting. Dominguez was yanked once four runs were in after a 2-out Alvey RBI single, and two runners still on base. Kehoe struck out Schmidt to end the ******* inning, but the Raccoons were hitless and looked like the loss was already in the pocket schedule. Oh, look. It’s actually in there. Must have been me. (looks confused at the marker he holds in his other paw)

The Coons only got a hit with Starr’s leadoff single in the fourth – he was still unretired for the series – and Early drew a walk. Corral and Mendoza flew out before Archuleta got a double to fall into leftfield. Starr scored, but Early was thrown out at the plate to end the inning. A Gates triple and Ramirez single added a run in the fifth inning, 6-2, but Ramirez was then caught stealing to end that inning. Starr finally made an out in a 1-2-3 sixth, but Jaden Wilson batted for Gabriel Rios in the #6 slot to begin the seventh, and struck a triple to center. The Raccoons then tried really hard to NOT score that run as Archuleta popped out, D’Alessandro walked, and then Gates *tried* the double play trick, but the Falcons were too slow to turn it and only got the catcher at second while Wilson scored, 6-3. Gates stole a base, but Duhe popped out to keep him stranded in scoring position. That was also the last run the Falcons got. Alvey pitched eight innings, and the Raccoons got Benito Otal on with a 1-out walk in the ninth before Archuleta ended the game by smacking a ball into a 5-4-3 double play. 6-3 Falcons. Wilson (PH) 1-1, 3B; Rios 2.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K; Nava 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K;

Ack.

Game 3
POR: SS Duhe – CF Wilson – 1B Starr – RF Corral – LF Otal – 3B Mendoza – C Flowe – 2B Novelo – P Morales
CHA: 2B Schmidt – CF S. Gil – C O. Matos – 1B Savalli – SS Tr. Taylor – RF T. Lopez – LF Asencio – 3B Dutcher – P E. Mauricio

Mauricio went right to the hill and was rudely greeted with a Duhe single to right, Wilson walking, and Starr hitting a single to center. Three on and nobody out, Corral laid off the garbage and drew a walk to force in a run, Otal and Mendoza both hit clean RBI singles, and Flowe finally made the first out with a fielder’s choice grounder to Savalli, who got an out at second base while Corral scored. Mauricio then bungled Novelo’s grounder for an error and another run, 5-0, Vinny Morales batted before he threw a pitch and singled the bags full again, Duhe hit another RBI single, Wilson hit a sac fly to center for the second out of the inning, and then Joel Starr cranked a 3-run homer to right…!! TEN RUNS IN THE INNING!! Corral then grounded out and the Falcons fans looked *stunned*. And so did I.

Morales then right away annoyed me with walking a pair in the bottom 1st, but the Falcons didn’t score. Mauricio, who had finished the first inning, was replaced with David Gooding for the second inning onwards. Gooding gave up two more runs in the third inning on a Morales single, and with two outs then a Starr RBI double and Corral’s RBI single over a leaping John Schmidt.

Things were only dandy through three innings, though, because Morales came apart quite violently in the fourth inning, and actually didn’t get through the inning. Savalli even grounded out to begin the inning before Trent Taylor singled, Tony Lopez singled, Mario Asencio singled, and Jeff Dutcher doubled in a pair and Elijah Fountain socked a 3-run homer in Gooding’s place. Duhe’s error then put Schmidt on base, Gil singled, Matos doubled in a run, and Savalli singled, and then Morales was yanked. Carrington appeared, walked the bags full, and then finally got a ******* groundout to escape with half of a 12-run lead…… after which he raked a leadoff jack off John Robinson in the fifth inning. WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON??

In total, Carrington got four outs, and then McMahan suddenly got six outs on just 21 pitches without allowing a run to cover some much needed distance. Due to the starting pitchers’ excesses in this and the previous game, the Raccoons then lined up Dover and Valentin for the final innings, even with a huge lead. Dover pitched a quick eighth, but Valentin ran into some trouble with a Savalli single, a walk to Taylor, and a wild pitch in the ninth inning, but ultimately didn’t allow a run with Asencio grounding out to Starr to end the ballgame. 13-6 Furballs! Duhe 2-5, RBI; Wilson 1-2, BB, RBI; Starr 3-3, BB, HR, 2B, 4 RBI; Mendoza 2-4, 2B, RBI; Early (PH) 1-1; Carrington 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 K, W (5-3) and 1-1, HR, RBI; McMahan 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

Josh C …!

Not gonna lie though, I was plenty annoyed with Morales after that non-performance…

The division reverted to the situation from Monday morning since the Titans and Elks ultimately also both lost two games of their series by Wednesday night, so Portland was second, and a game out. However, while the Coons and Elks were off on Thursday, the Titans played another game against the Crusaders, lost that in 11 innings, and thus the top three in the division were separated by just one game on Thursday night. The Loggers and Crusaders were both still there and within five, too, for a hot September.

Raccoons (73-60) vs. Canadiens (72-60) – August 31-September 2, 2068

I was filled with much foreboding. The last season series win against the ******* Elks was already in primary school, and this year we were a loathful 3-8 against them. We could NOT afford to drop more games against them, so as a first step we skipped Tony Gaytan in this series, which was framed by off days and which would also see roster expansion on Saturday. Apart from that I had no sound plan on how to beat the league’s #4 offense and #3 pitching. Carlos Castro was on the DL, and Dan Moore was day-to-day with wrist soreness. – No, Cristiano, I don’t think his wrist is sore from too much swinging the stick. – Why are you snickering??

Projected matchups:
Girolamo Pizzichini (6-7, 3.64 ERA) vs. Nate Freeman (7-8, 2.68 ERA)
Nick Walla (11-10, 2.53 ERA) vs. Ernesto Culver (11-9, 4.45 ERA)
Alex Dominguez (16-5, 3.14 ERA) vs. Ian Lowry (8-9, 4.15 ERA)

Only right-handed starters on offer here.

Game 1
VAN: SS Barraza – 2B Kilday – RF Lozada – 1B A. Metz – C Varner – CF D. Moore – LF Atkins – 3B Terrazas – P N. Freeman
POR: SS Duhe – CF Wilson – 1B Starr – RF Corral – LF Early – 3B Mendoza – C Flowe – 2B Archuleta – P Pizzichini

Pizza struck out the first three batters he faced in the opener, not that that ended the first inning, since Roberto Barraza reached base on an uncaught third strike. Andy Metz and Steve Varner then drew 2-out walks, and only then did Dan Moore fly out to Early to leave the bases loaded. The Raccoons also only fooled around the first time through, and thus a leadoff triple by Barraza in the third inning quickly gave the Elks a lead when Matt Kilday brought him in with a sac fly to center. Barraza was on again in the fifth inning and Kilday legged out an infield single before Roberto Lozada hit into a double play. Metz walked, and Steve Varner hit an RBI single to extend the Elks’ lead to 2-0. Moore ground out to Duhe, but the Elks had seven hits off Pizza in five innings, while the Raccoons were sitting on an Early single and nothing else. Freeman was fairly dominant and struck out six while allowing just that one hit through five innings, which was also doubly annoying given the ERA race situation. Starr hit a double with two outs and nobody on base in the bottom 6th, but was left on base by Corral.

Barraza was on base AGAIN with a single off Kehoe in the seventh, and scored AGAIN when singled home by Metz, 3-0. Rios gave up another run in the ninth inning, while the stupid Coons let Freeman get away for eight shutout innings of 2-hit ball, and I was trying to crawl into a bottle of Capt’n Coma. Bottom 9th, and right-hander Matt Nelson walked Starr before Kilday bobbled Corral’s grounder for an error. Early struck out, but Eddy Ramirez walked in place of Mendoza to bring the tying run to the dish with two outs. Flowe uselessly grounded out. 4-0 Canadiens.

(fumes)

Rosters expanded for Saturday, allowing me to be just as mad at even more people. The Raccoons brought up some pitching (help?) with right-handed relievers Cam Bridges, Jason Holzmeister, and Matt Schmieder; useless left-hander Sean Thomas; equally useless third catcher Tony Spink; just as useless infielder Manny Arredondo; and, for his ABL debut, right-handed batting outfielder George van Otterdijk.

Game 2
VAN: SS Barraza – 2B Kilday – RF Lozada – 1B A. Metz – C Varner – LF Chenette – CF D. Moore – 3B R. Cordero – P E. Culver
POR: SS Duhe – CF Wilson – 1B Starr – RF Corral – LF Early – 2B Archuleta – C Flowe – 3B Gates – P Walla

Andy Metz yanked a 2-run homer off Walla right in the first inning, in case you had any illusions how this series was gonna go. Starr and Corral made up a run with back-to-back doubles in the bottom 1st, but Early’s fly to right-center was then tracked down and taken by Lozada. Walla continued to struggle and had long counts, and nailed Barraza to begin the third inning, because that was the guy we *really* needed to be on base at all times…. Barraza was held on that time, while the Raccoons got even in the bottom 3rd with Corral singling home Duhe with two outs. We could have had more here, though, because Wilson had also singled his way on base before Starr had hit into a double play. Early hit another single, the fourth of the inning, but Archuleta flew out to Tyler Chenette and that was that.

The fourth was calm, and in the fifth the Raccoons left another pair on base after a leadoff double by Duhe and Corral drawing a 2-out walk. Early grounded out to short to make it (not) happen, and the score remained even at two, with Walla already over 80 pitches. Varner flew out to deep left in the sixth, but otherwise Walla didn’t face any more trouble – except that the tank was empty with 105 pitches just to get to the stretch in the 2-2 tie.

Bottom 7th, and Duhe reached base on a 2-base throwing error by Barraza leading off. C’mon boys – do it! They did do it … well, Corral did, driving in another run with an RBI single after Wilson popped out and Starr was walked intentionally. Early and the pinch-hitting Otal both flew out to Lozada in right to prevent any further gains. For a minor triumph, McMahan came in for the 2-3-4 batters, consisting of the lefty Kilday and the switch-hitters Lozada and Metz in the eighth inning – and retired all of them in order on meek contact to protect the 3-2 lead. There was no tack-on offense in the bottom 8th, and Varner hit another fly to deep left in the ninth, but this was also taken by Early. Chenette grounded out to Starr, but Dan Moore singled up the middle to keep the Elks alive. Rico Cordero, however, struck out. 3-2 Blighters. Duhe 2-5, 2B; Corral 3-3, BB, 2B, 3 RBI; Gates 2-4, 2B; Walla 7.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, W (12-10);

By now the Titans had also lost one and won one, so the top of the division was back to what it had been on Friday morning.

Can we pleeeeease win the rubber game?

PLEEEEEASE.

Game 3
VAN: SS Barraza – 2B Kilday – RF Lozada – 1B A. Metz – C Varner – LF Chenette – CF D. Moore – 3B R. Cordero – P Ellison
POR: SS Duhe – CF Wilson – 1B Starr – RF Corral – LF Otal – 2B Archuleta – C Flowe – 3B Mendoza – P Dominguez

The Elks went with Vince Ellison (12-7, 3.64 ERA) in the rubber game, who walked Starr and Corral in the first inning, but then got Otal to pop out harmlessly. Dominguez allowed two hits and struck out four the first time through the Elks’ lineup, then led off the bottom 3rd with an infield single. Duhe singled to center, then was forced out on a Wilson grounder, moving Dominguez to third base. Starr popped out to Cordero in foul territory, but Corral belted a drive into the right-center gap with two outs and scored both runners! Otal flew out to left and Corral remained on base, though.

Things looked nice for Dominguez, who allowed a double to Moore in the fifth, but that runner was stranded. However, the Raccoons insisted on inventing new stupid ways to **** Barraza and his 32 stolen bags on base, and did so in the sixth with an error by Duhe leading off the ******* inning. Barraza upped his counter to 34 bags, then scored on a Lozada single, 2-1, but Lozada was stranded by Dominguez with a Metz pop and a K to Varner. Corral hit a leadoff double in the bottom 6th, but now there was nobody here to drive him in and he was stranded; Archuleta was nicked, and the rest of the bunch made wicked outs.

Rank stupidity continued in the seventh, where Dominguez retired a pair before walking Cordero and allowing a single to the ******* opposing pitcher. He was relieved by Dover, who entered with Gary Gates in a double switch so he could also pitch in the eighth, although that required getting out of the seventh in the first place. He allowed an infield single to Rick Atkins, walked in the tying run against Kilday, and then conceded a 2-run double to Lozada. Metz walked again, and then Varner struck out. (suckles on the bottle of booze in his paw)

The Raccoons wasted a Duhe double in the seventh, then got a leadoff single from Corral in the eighth. Otal grounded out, and Archuleta hit a scratch single. The Elks were emptying their expanded pen, with Martyn Polaco entering to face Flowe from the left side, but the Raccoons sent Marquise Early instead, who hit a sac fly, which wasn’t all that helpful, since the tying run was still on first base. Eddy Ramirez batted for Holzmeister and lined out to Kilday to end the inning. The Raccoons wobbled through the ninth, where Rios put Kilday on base, Josh C put Lozada on base, and Dave Robles batted for Metz when McMahan came in, but flew out to Otal in deep left to leave the tack-on runners on base. Matt Nelson had the ball for the bottom 9th, with Gates leading off in the #9 spot and grounding out. Duhe singled, which put the tying run on base. Wilson hit a comebacker, and Duhe was forced out at second base, but Wilson was safe at first, giving the stick to Joel Starr with a chance to end it. Starr did NOT end the game, ending up walking in a full count to keep the line moving. Carrying the winning run, Arredondo ran for him. Jose Corral then ended the game, hitting a screaming liner … PAST first baseman Dave Nickel, and up the rightfield line! Wilson was scoring easily, the ball got past Lozada, and Arredondo scored the winning run!!! It’s a walkoff!!! 5-4 Furballs!! Duhe 3-5, 2B; Corral 4-4, BB, 3 2B, 4 RBI; Archuleta 2-3; Dominguez 6.2 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 8 K and 1-2;

In other news

August 28 – The Aces romp the Crusaders by a score of 18-4. Rookie OF Josh Phelps (.333, 1 HR, 7 RBI) in his eighth major league game drives in a game-high four runs on two singles.
August 29 – TOP OF Wade Griffith (.266, 7 HR, 49 RBI) hits two home runs in a 7-5 win against the Stars, the last one a walkoff piece in the 14th inning. Griffith drives in four of his team’s runs in the game.
August 30 – L.A. tears down the place in Denver and beats the Gold Sox, 16-1. LAP 3B/2B David McFarlane (.235, 10 HR, 53 RBI) hits two doubles and drives in four runs to lead his team.
August 31 – Cincy OF Melvin Avila (.333, 15 HR, 75 RBI) could be out for two weeks after suffering a knee contusion.
September 1 – 38-year-old BOS SP Ricardo Montoya (10-7, 3.28 ERA) wins his 200th career game in a 10-2 beatdown on the Crusaders, going six innings of 5-hit, 2-run ball. Of his 200 wins, Montoya has won exactly 20 with both the Crusaders and Titans. The rest came with the Warriors.
September 1 – The season of Denver outfielder Chris Tuck (.329, 6 HR, 51 RBI) ends with the recurrence of back spasms, and he will be shut down by the Gold Sox.

FL Player of the Week: RIC SS/2B Casey Ramsey (.328, 5 HR, 32 RBI), batting .500 (9-18) with 3 HR, 5 RBI
CL Player of the Week: OCT 3B/SS Brian Robinson (.290, 8 HR, 66 RBI), clipping .423 (11-26) with 3 HR, 7 RBI

FL Hitter of the Month: DAL CF Tyler Wharton (.345, 34 HR, 135 RBI), raking .383 with 8 HR, 33 RBI
CL Hitter of the Month: MIL 1B/RF/LF Cesar Ramirez (.358, 23 HR, 122 RBI), clubbing .422 with 3 HR, 29 RBI
FL Pitcher of the Month: SFW SP Harry Poteat (10-13, 2.82 ERA), going 4-0 in six starts with a 1.51 ERA and 34 K
CL Pitcher of the Month: IND SP Mike DeWitt (14-6, 2.72 ERA), going 5-0 in six starts with a 3.62 ERA, 35 K
FL Rookie of the Month: LAP OF Mike Hulett (.273, 11 HR, 48 RBI), batting .306 with 3 HR, 18 RBI
CL Rookie of the Month: SFB 2B/SS Ryan Bruce (.284, 2 HR, 25 RBI), hitting .324 with 1 HR, 13 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Special smooches went out this week to a resisting Jose Corral, who drove in seven of the eight runs that took the last two games in the Elks series. A clearer case of “we couldn’t have done without you” had never been seen!

He did not do so much in the Falcons series, getting only one hit there, but the Elks games count double. For the week he was 8-for-22 with four doubles and nine RBI.

This also gave the Raccoons sole possession of first place all year, since the Titans dropped another game to the Crusaders, who lingered just four games out of first place, and the Loggers were far from dead.

Playoff picture in the North (with strength of schedule and the know-it-all chance to win the division):
POR (75-61) – BOS (6), IND (4), VAN (4), ATL (3), MIL (3), NYC (3), SFB (3) – .511 – 43.0%
BOS (75-62) – POR (6), VAN (4), IND (3), MIL (3), NYC (3), OCT (3), TIJ (3) – .526 – 33.2%
VAN (73-62) – MIL (7), BOS (4), POR (4), CHA (3), IND (3), LVA (3), NYC (3) – .502 – 19.8%
NYC (72-66) – IND (6), ATL (3), BOS (3), MIL (3), POR (3), SFB (3), VAN (3) – .505 – 2.4%
MIL (70-66) – VAN (7), IND (4), BOS (3), CHA (3), LVA (3), NYC (3), POR (3) – .504 – 1.7%

Things will certainly not be easy from here. For example, a grueling 10-game road trip is right up after a day off on Monday. We will have three games in Boston, three more in New York, and then four in Elk City. That sounds like it can break a season right in half…..

Fun Fact: Josh Carrington not only hit his first career home run on Wednesday, but landed his first career *hit*.

It’s not like he had gotten a lot of chances leading up to that despaired at-bat in the fifth inning. He entered the game 0-for-1 with the stick across 153 previous career games.