[Westheim]

Raccoons (73-83) @ Indians (72-83) – September 29-October 1, 2070

Was anybody still in the mood for these games? League HQ, probably. FINE. Here were the Indians, who were up 9-6 in the season series against the Coons, and who ranked sixth in runs scored and eighth in runs allowed in the CL.

Projected matchups:
Gabriel Rios (8-2, 2.91 ERA) vs. Jorge Flores (13-10, 3.42 ERA)
Vinny Morales (9-11, 3.64 ERA) vs. Pablo Apodaca (8-8, 4.33 ERA)
Harrison Hunt (0-0, 1.20 ERA) vs. Victor Perez (12-11, 3.93 ERA)

Apodaca on Tuesday was probably our last left-handed starter this year.

Game 1
POR: 2B Yocum – SS Mireles – RF Corral – CF T. Wharton – RF van Otterdijk – 3B Gallo – 1B D. Gomez – C Flowe – P Rios
IND: CF Hilario – LF W. Griffith – 1B M. Rogers – RF T. Torres – 3B Ma. Martin – SS Valadez – C Sciutto – 2B R. Cabrera – P Jo. Flores

To begin the game, Adam Yocum walked, stole second, and was stranded at second; but Rios got whacked around with a walk to Wade Grifith, Matt Rogers singling, and then with two outs three runs conceded on Matt Martin’s RBI single and Fernando Valadez’ 2-run double. He allowed another 3-spot in the second inning, which began really well with a leadoff walk to Rich Cabrera, then his own mishandling of Jorge Flores’ bunt, thinking he could get a double play, which he very much didn’t, or any out at all, and then a couple more screamers and also two wild pitches. He was not seen again after that.

Valadez took Schmieder deep to extend the score to 7-0 in the third inning, and Schmieder walked two batters after that, but those were stranded. Schmieder pitched another inning, then was hit for in the Coons’ fifth, by which time they tallied all of two base hits. Steve George replaced him afterwards, and immediately allowed a hit to Andy Sciutto and a homer to Rich Cabrera. Top 6th, and Yocum was on base again with a single and stole second base. Mireles flew out to Tony Torres, but Corral found an RBI single. Wharton made the second out, but van Otterdijk walked, and Gallo raked a 3-run homer to right. Unfortunately all of this barely made a dent in the Indians’ now 5-run lead … and George gave up another 2-run dinger to Valadez in the same inning.

Ramirez and Holzmeister pitched scoreless innings towards the end, while the Raccoons also managed to scatter four base runners and not plating any of them in the final two frames. 11-4 Indians. Yocum 1-2, BB; van Otterdijk 1-2, BB;

The Coons then carted up an all-right-handed lineup for Tuesday and Apodaca, although it seemed to lack a certain vim.

Game 2
POR: 2B Yocum – SS Mireles – RF van Otterdijk – CF T. Wharton – 3B Murcia – LF Guerrero – 1B Spink – C Jalomo – P Morales
IND: CF Hilario – LF Spicer – 3B Ma. Martin – 1B M. Rogers – RF T. Torres – C A. Gomez – SS Valadez – 2B G. Lujan – P Apodaca

The Indians answered with seven left-handed sticks against Morales, and took a 1-0 lead in the first inning as Jose Hilario singled, stole his 53rd base, and was maneuvered around easily enough to score. Guillermo Lujan, Hilario, and Malcolm Spicer piled up three hits for two runs in the second inning, while the Coons would get a leadoff single from Morales and a double from Yocum in the third inning, and with runners on second and third and nobody out barely scored one run on a 2-out single by Wharton after two ****** *** groundouts in front of the plate by the 2-3 batters that shall remain unnamed.

Morales’ outing ended in the bottom 3rd when he uselessly allowed a single to Torres, walked the bags full with the 7-8 batters, two outs, and not a single strike in sight, and then gave up a bases-clearing double to Apodaca that put the score at 6-1. Sullivan replaced him, but gave up his own stupid, can’t-get-anybody-out run in the fourth inning. Tyler Wharton batted with Mireles (single) and van Otterdijk (plunked) on base and hit a 3-run homer in the fifth, but that only served to cut the deficit in half at this point…

Despite all the tomfoolery and terrible tossing, the Raccoons at one point got the tying run to the plate in the seventh inning against right-hander Willie Castellanos when van Otterdijk double and Wharton singled, and Gallo batted for Murcia. He hit a fly to deep right, but it was caught by Torres, and the Raccoons then gave up and threw Val Centeno to the lions. Alex Gomez and Valadez reached against him with one gone in the bottom 7th, but he then struck out both Lujan and PH Eddie Menchaca.

Rodolfo Zea, Felix Morales, and Kao-kan Ngui then each put one between Willie Jalomo, Jose Corral, and Andy Yocum on base with two outs in the top 8th, and those represented the tying runs. Mireles lined out to Rogers to ensure the struggle session could continue. Centeno then put Spicer on with an infield single, walked Matt Martin, gave up the double steal, and then the 3-run homer to Rogers. 10-4 Indians. Van Otterdijk 2-3, 2 2B; T. Wharton 3-5, HR, 4 RBI; Corral 1-1;

Centeno now had a 7.10 ERA in 52 innings. Just as a reminder that we spent $450k on that useless creature.

Gah.

Game 3
POR: 2B Yocum – LF Otal – RF Corral – CF T. Wharton – 3B Gallo – SS Murcia – 1B D. Gomez – C Flowe – P Hunt
IND: CF Hilario – LF W. Griffith – 1B M. Rogers – C A. Gomez – RF T. Torres – 3B Ma. Martin – SS Valadez – 2B R. Cabrera – P V. Perez

Yocum singled, advanced on a grounder and scored on Corral’s double to begin the game. Wharton walked and Murcia hit another RBI single, but the Coons left the bases loaded after another walk to Gomez when Flowe lifted a ball out to the leftfielder. Hunt immediately gave a run back, wrapped and with stickers on it, by allowing a single to Griffith, walking the bags full, and then nicking Martin WITH THE BAGS FULL, before Valadez grounded out to strand a full set of runners in the bottom 1st as well. Hunt then drew a 4-pitch walk from Perez, so maybe it would be another long day, but not for Yocum, who legged out an infield single, and apparently also his leg, and left the game for Arredondo to take over. Otal hit another infield single, three on and nobody out, and Corral hit a sac fly. Wharton flew out uselessly, Gallo was nicked to refill the bags, and Murcia slapped a 2-run single to left-center against Perez, 5-1. Gomez whiffed, but Perez was not coming back for the third inning.

Gallo hit a solo jack off Luis Pulido in the fourth and Griffith got Hunt for a 2-out solo home run in the fifth, 6-2, with a 30-minute rain delay in between. Hunt allowed three full-count batters to reach after the Griffith homer, Torres singling home Rogers, before a K to Matt Martin ended the inning… while Hunt’s day didn’t end until he gave up a leadoff single to Valadez in the bottom 6th. Holzmeister was just as useless, giving up an RBI double to Josh Shields (who?) and another one to Hilario to reduce the score to 6-5 in the inning. The writing was on the wall by then. McMahan allowed two singles, but no runs in the bottom 7th, however, Danny Nava was less fortunate with his skillless tossery and conceded a hit to Hilario and a score-flipping 2-out, 2-run homer to Matt Rogers in the bottom 8th. It was Rogers’ 30th homer of the year, and his 36th against the Coons this season. Wharton, Gallo, and Murcia then went in order against Ryan Croft to complete the sweep. 7-6 Indians. Yocum 2-2; Arredondo 2-3; Murcia 2-5, 3 RBI;

Yocum was found to have a sore hamstring and was day-to-day into the last series in Elk City, while we managed to get Katz off the DL for those last couple of games.

Raccoons (73-86) @ Canadiens (82-77) – October 3-5, 2070

I don’t even want to talk about it. They were fourth in runs scored and ninth in runs allowed with a +23 run differential that was obviously not enough to win the division. They were also up 8-7 on the Coons for the season series, which I would absolutely hate losing yet again. The Coons still had a chance to finish tied for last with the Crusaders in the event of a hostile sweep, and the Crusaders sweeping the Titans, which wasn’t extremely likely to begin with. Why even bother going to this place, forsaken by nature and the gods, and all that’s holy…!?

Projected matchups:
Nick Walla (12-10, 3.56 ERA) vs. Mario Rivera (3-3, 4.32 ERA)
Tony Gaytan (10-14, 3.91 ERA) vs. Nate Freeman (11-15, 3.61 ERA)
Jimmy Wharton (10-11, 4.26 ERA) vs. Ricardo Montoya (10-6, 2.84 ERA)

As expected, only right-handers left here.

Game 1
POR: LF Otal – RF Corral – SS Katzman – CF T. Wharton – 3B Gallo – C Flowe – 1B D. Gomez – 2B Arredondo – P Walla
VAN: SS Barraza – LF J. Hawkins – RF Lozada – 1B H. Moreno – CF D. Moore – 3B C. Castro – C J. Sandoval – 2B Eggert – P M. Rivera

Three on and nobody out occurred right to begin the game as Otal singled and stole second, Corral singled, and Katz walked. Wharton’s sac fly was as good as it got before sad fly outs by Gallo and Flowe. The Elks tied it with a 2-out walk to Roberto Lozada, who scored on September CL Rookie of the Month Hector Moreno’s double to right, but was left on when Dan Moore popped out. They then took a 4-1 lead on a 3-run homer by Roberto Barraza in the second inning, which came after a 2-out walk to Dan Eggert and a single by their ******* pitcher. Lozada’s 2-run homer in the bottom 3rd made sure the season ended on a brown note for Walla.

Nothing got better after that. The Raccoons had just one hit in the five innings following their taking of a 1-0 lead, but were down 9-1 after Lozada raked another 3-run homer off Steve George in the sixth inning. The Coons didn’t get on base again until the eighth, when Corral doubled, scored on a Katz hit, who scored on a Wharton hit, and then Gallo chucked a 2-run homer to knock out Rivera after 7.1 innings. Of course, this time, too, we were still down by a slam after that rally because of all the brown-hatted tossers that had already been turned inside-out. The Elks came back with two incredibly stupid and unearned runs in the bottom 8th, where Victor Ramirez nailed and injured Hector Moreno with one out, then allowed a single to Dan Moore than Wharton fumbled for extra bases. Carlos Castro walked, Jerry Sandoval’s fly to left was dropped by Guerrero for an error and a run, and allowed Eggert to hit a sac fly on a 3-0 pitch. Ben Craig grounded out to end the inning. 11-5 Canadiens. Otal 1-2, BB; Corral 2-4, 2B; T. Wharton 2-3, 2 RBI;

The Crusaders lost, which ensured the Raccoons would finish fifth.

Elk City brought Juan Rosado (6-9, 4.48 ERA) to start the middle game, but that was also a right-hander.

Game 2
POR: 2B Yocum – LF Otal – SS Katzman – CF T. Wharton – RF Corral – 3B Murcia – 1B D. Gomez – C Brown – P Gaytan
VAN: SS Barraza – C J. Contreras – RF Lozada – 1B H. Moreno – CF D. Moore – 3B C. Castro – LF Bustillos – 2B Terrazas – P J. Rosado

Wharton hit an RBI single after Otal and Katz reached with one gone in the top 1st, but Corral flew out to right and Murcia whiffed. Gaytan gave the lead away after two clean innings, allowing straight singles to Juan Terrazas, the pitcher (…), and Barraza before Jonathan Contreras found a double play. The Coons didn’t answer, but answering was hard to do when Wharton’s RBI single from the first was your only hit through six innings. Lozada homered to lead off the bottom 6th, which was the Elks’ seventh hit off Gaytan. Wharton walked and Gomez singled in the seventh, and a 2-out walk drawn by Sam Brown filled the bases, at which point van Otterdijk batted for Gaytan … but grounded out to Castro.

Gabriel Rios came back in relief in the bottom 7th and got around a Terrazas single to hold the Elks to their 2-1 lead. The Coons put Otal on third base in the eighth inning, but also left him there after Wharton got nicked with two outs and Corral fanned. Nava had a scoreless eighth, and ex-Coon Elijah LaBat got Murcia and Guerrero out to begin the ninth, but gave up a double to right-center to Sam Brown, putting the tying run in scoring position one more time. Mireles grounded out to Terrazas. 2-1 Canadiens. T. Wharton 1-2, BB, RBI;

Seven losses in a row, not that I was counting while being small and under the pillows on the trusty brown couch in Portland.

Running outta claws.

Game 3
POR: 2B Yocum – RF Corral – SS Katzman – CF T. Wharton – 3B Gallo – C Flowe – LF Guerrero – 1B Colter – P J. Wharton
VAN: SS Barraza – LF J. Hawkins – CF D. Moore – RF Lozada – 1B H. Moreno – 3B Forrest – C J. Contreras – 2B C. Castro – P N. Freeman

Big Wharton doubled and Gallo hit a homer to right to begin the second inning, so the Coons were first on the horse again on Closing Day. It got better with a solo homer by Jesus Guerrero to left, the first of his career, but Carlos Castro also tripled home two runs, Moreno and Adam Forrest, with two outs in the bottom of the inning.

Top 3rd, Yocum singled and stole second, then scored on Corral’s single to right-center, 4-2, but Barraza singled, Hawkins walked, and Moore singled to fill the bases against Jimmyboy with nobody out in the bottom 3rd. He struck out Lozada, but Moreno tied the game with a 2-run single and the remaining runners got a double steal off, but Forrest grounded out to third for the second out. Contreras’ 2-run single up the middle gave the Elks the upper hoof, 6-4. Shoot the entire ******* rotation. Shoot the entire ******* team.

The fourth was tranquil, and Yocum socked a leadoff jack to right to shorten the score to 6-5 in the fifth inning. In turn the Elks exploded for a 5-run inning in the bottom 6th, loading the bases against Schmieder with two outs. McMahan replaced him, but gave up a bases-clearing double to Lozada, threw a wild pitch, and gave up another run on Moreno’s single. Ramirez struck out Forrest to end the bloody inning. The Coons trundled towards the bitter end and a season-ending 8-game losing streak from there, but got more singles from Guerrero and Yocum in the ninth inning against Roberto Navarro. Otal pinch-hit with two outs, grounded out to short, and that ended the season. 11-5 Canadiens. Yocum 4-5, HR, 2B, RBI; T. Wharton 2-3, BB, 2B; Guerrero 2-4, HR, RBI;

In other news

September 29 – DEN SP Aaron O’Harra (13-10, 3.59 ERA) comes up with a 3-hit shutout of the Pacifics to win 7-0.
September 30 – The playoff field is completed with the Warriors’ 8-5 win against the Wolves, which clinches the FL West for them.
September 30 – The Titans beat the Loggers, 13-11, by scoring 11 runs in the eighth inning to erase an 8-run deficit.
October 2 – CIN SP Shoma Nakayama (12-8, 3.11 ERA) punches out seven Capitals in a 13-0, 3-hit shutout.

FL Hitter of the Month: WAS 1B Armando Curiel (.341, 11 HR, 26 RBI), batting .333 with 7 HR, 19 RBI
CL Hitter of the Month: MIL RF/LF Carlos Dominguez (.379, 22 HR, 108 RBI), hitting .394 with 4 HR, 14 RBI
FL Pitcher of the Month: SFW SP Alex Diez (19-3, 2.35 ERA), going 5-0 with a 2.80 ERA, 45 K
CL Pitcher of the Month: NYC SP Colt Long (12-6, 3.36 ERA), posting a 5-0 mark with a 1.76 ERA, 34 K
FL Rookie of the Month: SFW OF David Jankowski (.281, 7 HR, 45 RBI), batting .358 with 2 HR, 14 RBI
CL Rookie of the Month: VAN 1B Hector Moreno (.260, 19 HR, 74 RBI), crushing .277 with 9 HR, 25 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Thank goodness this season is over.

Dismal as ****.

Fun Fact: The Crusaders finished last in the North for the first time since 2039.

They had been fifth four times in total, including consecutively in 2048-49, but not bottoms. Their gap to first was also the biggest since 2049, when they had been 30 games behind.

In total, New York has finished last in the CL North 13 times, including eight times between 1982 and 1994, and they even managed to tuck in behind the Decade of Darkness Raccoons twice in 2001 and 2002.

Last place in the CL North rankings (and last last place):
Loggers – 27 (2062)
Canadiens – 17 (2069)
Indians – 16 (2068)
Crusaders – 14 (2070)
Raccoons – 11 (2066)
Titans – 9 (2055)

The Loggers managed to punch last place NINE years in a row from 2006 through 2014, and then again in 2016.

The damn Elks were last for four straight years from 2020 through 2023, but also had a 22-year stint without a red lantern from 2035 to 2056.

The Indians finished last only *twice* before the 2020s, when they brought up the rear three times in the decade. The majority of their last-place finishes have come in the last 21 years.

The Coons had four straight last-place finishes from 1978 to 1981 and three more in the Decade of Darkness, but then went shame-free until a pair of bottom rankings in 2030 and 2032 (the Year of No Pitching). After that we made it 20 years to 2052, when we plunged from first to last. Despite the misery of the 2060s, we only finished last once there, in 2066.

The Titans didn’t finish last in the North all the way until *2015*, but then finished bottoms four times in five years. They were last three times in the 2040s after that, and twice more in the 2050s.