Portland Raccoons (ABL)

[Westheim]

And here is Week II of what the evil internet wouldn't let me post yesterday!

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The new week started with expanded rosters, with the Raccoon calling up a bushel of players from St. Petersburg for increased depth / agony. Well, at least one gem was presumed to be hidden among the dross, but then remember that two years ago we thought Nelson Moreno was a gem, and now…

Additional garbage time relief coverage was achieved by adding Jake White and Travis Sims (…), while the gem was of course #24 prospect Jason Wheatley, the #31 pick in the 2038 draft, and reaped (with Matt Waters) in a big trade with the Knights in July of 2040. Jason Wheatley was called up and handed #22 at the age of 22 years and 22 days.

On the batting side the Raccoons brought in veteran third-string catcher Chris Lancaster and outfielder Jordan Gonzalez, who had a combined zero base hits in the majors this year.

Raccoons (63-67) @ Thunder (71-59) – September 1-3, 2042

The Thunder were second in the South, now 1 1/2 games out after losing four straight. They needed to get on the horse *now*, but the season series was tied at one. Their rotation was their main issue, sitting third from the bottom in ERA, ruining everything before the best bullpen in the league could get a hand on the ball. Overall they gave up the fourth-most runs and scored the second-most. How much playoff glitter was to that roster with a +22 run differential was probably in the eye of the beholder.

Projected matchups:
Corey Mathers (3-10, 4.14 ERA) vs. Raymond Pearce (3-6, 5.02 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (0-0) vs. Alan Fleming (11-5, 3.72 ERA)
Nelson Moreno (10-11, 4.98 ERA) vs. Bruce Dickinson (4-2, 3.02 ERA)

Dickinson, a 25-year-old sophomore swingman, was the only left-hander we saw coming up here.

Game 1
POR: 2B Trevino – SS Gutierrez – 3B Maldonado – LF Fernandez – 1B Yamamoto – RF Waltz – CF Anderson – C Kilmer – P Mathers
OCT: 2B C. Vega – 3B M. Lopez – C Adames – CF Kinder – LF E. Moore – SS O’Keefe – 1B Stedham – RF Heskett – P Pearce

Manny Fernandez hit his second 3-run homer in as many days, going deep in the first inning, collecting Gutierrez and Maldonado. The latter would add a fourth run with a sac fly in the third, bringing in Cosmo, who had hit a leadoff double to extend his hitting streak to 21 games. Not doing much hitting at all were the Thunder, who were sat down in order by Mathers for a dozen batters before Matt Kinder opened the bottom 5th with a single to right. To be fair, the writing was on the wall – Mathers struck out absolutely nobody in the four perfect innings, and at some point the defense had to miss one. Then Mathers missed a bunch, walking Ethan Moore, advancing the runners with a wild pitch, and walking Chris O’Keefe, too. All of a sudden, the tying run was at the plate with nobody out, and it was ex-Coon Jesse Stedham, who muscled a ball to deep center, but couldn’t beat Van Anderson and had to settle for a sac fly. Brian Heskett and Pearce struck out for a deflating end to the inning if you were a Thunder fan hoping for some rally.

Mathers held out into the seventh, when Ethan Moore tagged him with a solo homer to left. O’Keefe made an out, but Stedham singled and was run for by Angelo Zurita, signalling it was time for a pitching change. Chuck Jones concededthe Zurita run with two singles while getting only one out, and it took Tim Hale and everybody to survive a slight bobble by Yamamoto on the throw from Maldonado, fielding PH Adrian Wade’s grounder, but the Critters remained on top through seven, 4-3. Not that it made for comfortable watching… The top 8th saw them scratch out a run on singles by Gutierrez and Yamamoto, which was *something*, but it got better in the ninth, when lefty Roland Warner loaded the bases on a single here and a single there, then fell to a 2-out, bases-clearing double by Maldonado in the right-center gap. That blew the door out of its hinges, increasing the lead to five runs.

Enter Travis Sims. O’Keefe single, walk to Sansao Tormenta (you don’t say), walk to Brian Heskett. Exit Travis Sims. Brent Clark got a sac fly out of Al Martell, which was at least *an* out, then whiffed Jimmy Kuhn for the second out. Anderson caught a Wade fly in center to end the game after all… 8-4 Raccoons. Trevino 2-5, 2B; Gutierrez 2-5; Fernandez 2-5, HR, 3 RBI; Yamamoto 3-4, RBI;

Never again a player named Travis. Never again!!

What do you mean, Jason, your middle name is Travis??

Game 2
POR: 2B Trevino – SS Gutierrez – 3B Maldonado – LF Fernandez – 1B Yamamoto – RF Nettles – C Sieber – CF Gonzalez – P Wheatley
OCT: 2B C. Vega – 3B M. Lopez – C Adames – CF Kinder – LF E. Moore – SS O’Keefe – 1B Stedham – RF Wade – P Fleming

The Raccoons were up 1-0 when Cosmo tripled and Gutierrez singled him home… and Jason Travis Wheatley was nowhere to be found all of a sudden. When Fernandez made the third out, he suddenly staggered back into the dugout, white as a ghost in the face and slightly shivering, announcing he had just quickly been barfing, and no no, it was nothing physical, just a slight case of the jitters. Great…! Carlos Vega hit a ball almost to the fence – but had it caught by Manny – to begin Wheatley’s major league career, and he retired the side in order, somehow, despite a couple of weird stains on his uniform shirt, which was changed before the next inning. Matt Kinder opened the bottom 2nd with a single, but was caught stealing, and Wheatley continued to face the minimum, at least until Fleming and Vega hit back-to-back 2-out singles in the third inning. Miguel Lopez grounded out, stranding them, but Wheatley had yet to strike out anybody. He walked Moore in the fourth, but no K, and before anything else positive could happen, Omar Gutierrez was broken in half in an on-base collision with Stedham in the fifth inning, requiring replacement with David Harroun. One camera caught Wheatley dry-heaving as Gutierrez was carried off the field, but he finished five scoreless anyway.

While nothing good happened to the Raccoons on offense either – Fleming held them to four hits and that first-inning run through seven – at least nothing adverse occurred to Wheatley himself, neither. While that first big-league whiff remained elusive, he found his way through seven shutout innings, scattering four hits, two walks, and a welt on Kinder’s elbow when he nailed him with that 96mph heater. The Raccoons stranded Harroun and Maldonado in the eighth inning when neither Manny nor Yamamoto could get a ball to fall in, and then the question was how much further we should push Wheatley, who entered the eighth on 90 pitches, facing the top of the order. Vega hit a leadoff single and advanced on a Lopez groundout, and it looked like Wheatley was getting dizzy now, so we quickly made a pitching change before he could barf on the mound. Derek Barker replaced him, immediately blew the lead when he conceded a single to Jesus Adames, and Wheatley had to settle for a no-decision and a cold towel on his striped face. The Raccoons insisted on continuing to not score in the ninth, while Chuck Jones put leadoff man O’Keefe on base in the bottom 9th. Stedham struck out, Hale replaced Jones against PH “Mastodon” Allen and nailed him, then surrendered a walkoff single to Al Martell… 2-1 Thunder. Gutierrez 1-2, RBI; Wheatley 7.1 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 0 K;

Yes, Jason, that is how it always goes for promising talent. – No-no-no! Keep that bucket in front of your snout!

Game 3
POR: 2B Trevino – 3B de Wit – CF Maldonado – LF Fernandez – 1B Yamamoto – RF Waltz – C Kilmer – SS Harroun – P Moreno
OCT: 2B C. Vega – 3B M. Lopez – CF Kinder – LF E. Moore – SS O’Keefe – 1B Stedham – C Whitley – RF Zurita – P Dickinson

The rubber game saw no offense to speak of in the early going. The Thunder had two hits in the first inning, but Moreno surprisingly wiggled out of there, then came up with three on and two outs in the top 2nd and struck out. Dickinson did not put a Critter on base the second time through the order, while the Raccoons at least had Moreno not yield another base hit – give or take a gross miss by Yamamoto for a 2-base error at first base in the meantime – until Dickinson singled in the fifth. None of those shenanigans led to a run and the game was scoreless through five.

Cosmo opened the sixth with an infield single, good enough to extend that hitting streak to 23 games, and also stole another base with Maldonado when the latter also singled, on the first pitch to Manny Fernandez. Manny singled on the second pitch, plating both runners from scoring position for the first markers on the scoreboard. Yamamoto also singled, but the inning fizzled out with Waltz and Kilmer. Moreno held out through six, then conceded leadoff singles to O’Keefe and Stedham in the bottom 7th. Dan Whitley grounded to short for two …… or for none, as Harroun threw the ball away. That put three Thunder aboard with nobody out. Moreno got one last out on the fielder’s choice that Zurita hit into, then left in a 2-1 game with runners on the corners for Zack Kelly to face PH Adrian Ringel, who struck out, and the inning ended with a grounder to Yamamoto that for once wasn’t bobbled. Yamamoto also cashed de Wit’s leadoff double with a single off Brian McAllister in the eighth inning, restoring the 2-run gap. Waltz then grounded out to end the inning, and the Thunder scratched out a run against Alexis Cortes in the bottom of the inning on a hit batter, a walk, and a single, before Chuck Jones dug him out. The leftover lead of a single skinny run was protected by Josh Rella in the ninth as he got groundouts from Josh Kalinowski, Adrian Wade, and Al Martell. 3-2 Critters. Maldonado 1-2, 2 BB; Fernandez 2-4, 2 RBI; Yamamoto 3-4, RBI; Moreno 6.1 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, W (11-11);

As we returned to Portland, Dr. Padilla reported that 27-year-old boy wonder Omar Gutierrez (.340, 4 HR, 22 RBI) had his season end with a herniated disc and that he would not be back for baseball in ’42… unless the Raccoons rallied to reach the playoffs.

Good one, Dr. Padilla. Good one.

Raccoons (65-68) vs. Crusaders (70-62) – September 5-7, 2042

We led the season series, 6-5, against the New Yorkers, who still harbored slightly wild playoff dreams at seven games out. They had to start *winning* now, and not just a little bit – they had to win big. Whether their roster, sixth in runs scored behind the scroogiest pitching and defense in the league, was good enough for that remained to be seen.

Projected matchups:
Cory Lambert (3-5, 3.78 ERA) vs. Tony Galligher (7-14, 2.88 ERA)
Jake Jackson (9-11, 3.81 ERA) vs. Dave Hils (12-11, 4.16 ERA)
Brent Clark (5-3, 2.41 ERA) vs. Jeff Johnson (11-10, 3.89 ERA)

Clark took the rotation spot of Corey Mathers (4-10, 4.15 ERA) for at least this turn through the rotation. He had already pitched two fine starts, and maybe there was something to it that many scouts thought he could be a starter. (Not that our scout was so fond of him…)

Galligher was the only left-hander we expected to see here.

With Omar Gutierrez off to the DL, the Raccoons made another roster move, bringing up super utility Phil Haley, the 2038 fifth-rounder, who batted righty and like a one-armed shortstop, but was actually a very decent middle infielder. We preferred his 23-year-old bum to more of Steve Nickas…

Game 1
NYC: SS Adame – C Alba – 2B Briones – RF Melendez – CF Salek – LF Zimmerman – 1B Rudd – 3B Nash – P Galligher
POR: 2B Trevino – SS Harroun – 3B Maldonado – 1B Yamamoto – RF Waltz – C Kilmer – CF Gonzalez – LF Casaus – P Lambert

The Crusaders drew a walk off Lambert in each of the first three innings, added a pair of base hits, too, yet couldn’t break through to score. Lambert allowed only one more runner through the completion of five, and would have been admirably applauded, if there hadn’t been Galligher, casually no-hitting the Critters through five innings. David Harroun broke into the H column with a 1-out single in the bottom 6th, but then was promptly stranded at first base.

Lambert completed seven shutout innings on just over 100 pitches – four walks and some erratic wayward pitching in general accelerated his pitch count – and looked ready to settle for a no-decision until Jordan Gonzalez broke an 0-for-20 spell this season with a 2-out single in the bottom 7th and was doubled home with a gapper slapped by otherwise invisible Sandy Casaus. Manny Fernandez batted for Lambert, but grounded out. The eighth inning saw Tim Hale retire the top of the order before Cosmo hit a leadoff single off Galligher in the bottom of the inning, extending his hitting streak to 24 games just before the shutters came down. Harroun singled, Maldo grounded out to advance them both, and the Crusaders elected to walk Yamamoto intentionally to bring up a slumping Justin Waltz. The Coons countered with Jay de Wit, who at least sent a sac fly to left, 2-0. Kilmer, also hopeless, flew out to end the inning. Rella struck out Bill Melendez and Rich Salek before Jason Zimmerman flew out to Nettles in rightfield. 2-0 Coons. Harroun 2-4; Casaus 1-2, 2B, RBI; Lambert 7.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 5 K, W (4-5);

Jake White had yet to get into a game since being called up no September 1, now was out with the flu. I called it a lack of motivation and put him on quarter rations.

Game 2
NYC: SS Adame – C Alba – 2B Briones – CF Salek – 1B D. Phillips – LF Zimmerman – RF Levy – 3B Nash – P Hils
POR: 2B Trevino – C Sieber – 3B Maldonado – LF Fernandez – 1B Yamamoto – CF Anderson – SS Harroun – RF Nettles – P Jackson

Cosmo, bidding for 25, was on base both of his first times up, but never with a hit, or even a walk. He reached on Hils’ error in the first, then forced out Jackson in the third inning. This also adequately expressed the standard of hitting on either side – NOBODY had a hit through three innings, or had reached scoring position.

That changed in the fourth inning, with New York getting a 1-out single from Fernando Alba through the left side. Mario Briones was retired, but Rich Salek’s grounder was misfielded between Yamamoto and Jackson for an error. Devin Phillips though struck out to end the inning. Maldonado then opened the bottom 4th with a double to left. Manny’s grounder and Yamamoto’s sac fly scored him for the first run of the game. The score remained 1-0 into the sixth when Sieber was nicked by Hils and Maldo and Manny joined him on base to present Yamamoto with three on and nobody out. He hit the first pitch high and deep to left and there was no reaching that one – GRAAAAAAAAAND SLAAAAAAAAAMMMM!!!

The only guy not partaking in the offense was Cosmo, who was 0-for-4 through seven and faced the end of the hitting streak. Jackson meanwhile was almost automatic through the middle innings and looked shutout-bound – until the Crusaders waffled him for four hard base hits and two runs and knocked him out of the game in the eighth inning. Alba and Briones were on board and Salek was the tying run at the plate for Chuck Jones, who secured a groundout to escape the inning. Rella got the ball again for the ninth and this time retired the 5-6-7 hitters in order to put the game away. 5-2 Raccoons. Maldonado 2-4, 2B; Yamamoto 1-3, HR, 5 RBI; Nettles 2-3; Jackson 7.2 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, W (10-11);

In a change of plan, the Crusaders presented us with Paul Paris on Sunday. The 24-year-old righty would make his season debut after a 12-3 campaign with a 2.45 ERA in AAA Lexington. Paris was no longer a rookie, having pitched 96 innings in 24 games (11 starts) for New York last season, going 5-5 with a 3.74 ERA.

Game 3
NYC: SS Adame – 2B Briones – RF Melendez – CF Levy – 1B D. Phillips – 3B Nash – LF Rico – C Alba – P Paris
POR: RF Nettles – C Sieber – 3B Maldonado – LF Fernandez – 1B Yamamoto – 2B de Wit – CF Anderson – SS Haley – P Clark

Portland took a 2-0 lead in the first mainly on the Crusaders’ stupidity. All we had were singles by Sieber and Maldonado, but Maldo’s single being overrun for an error by Danny Rico and not one, but TWO wild pitches by Paris allowed both runners to score. Not that Brent Clark was flawless – he hit Devin Phillips in the second and Danny Rico in the third inning. Alba and Paris loaded the bases with singles in the latter case, with one run scoring on Alex Adame’s 6-4-3 grounder before Briones grounded out to leave the tying run on third base. The Crusaders also had two runners being caught stealing by Sean Sieber by the fourth inning… while Stephon Nettles poked and grounded out on a 3-0 pitch in the fifth… in short, neither of those two teams should be allowed in October baseball…!

Clark whiffed six and allowed five hits while maintaining the questionable 2-1 lead through five innings. He retired the 1-2-3 in order in the sixth while the Raccoons put Sieber and Yamamoto on the corners, where they remained when de Wit de Whiffed. A Randolph Nash double with two outs in the seventh then ended Clark’s day. With the tying run in scoring position, Derek Barker came on and blew the second tight lead of the week with a pinch-hit single conceded to Sergio Pena. In retrospect, not a midseason acquisition that had paid off… By this point, the Raccoons just could not get on base anymore, while the Crusaders got Rich Salek on against Craig in the ninth. He was caught stealing, just before Joe Graf smashed a homer to center to break the 2-2 tie. The Raccoons thus ran into Andy Hyden in the bottom 9th, trailing by one. Yamamoto, de Wit, and Anderson struck out in order to end the game. 3-2 Crusaders. Sieber 2-3, BB; Clark 6.2 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 7 K;

In other news

September 1 – The Knights’ and Loggers’ 15-inning game is decided by ATL OF Nelson Velez (.258, 0 HR, 8 RBI) legging out a leadoff triple and scoring on a wild pitch by MIL MR Marvin Verduzco (0-1, 3.09 ERA, 1 SV) for a 6-5 Knights win.
September 1 – The Federal League also has a 15-inning game on Monday, which ends with a 10-9 walkoff win for the Pacifics against the Rebels when RIC RF/CF Joe Ritchey (.242, 21 HR, 59 RBI) throws away a single hit by LAP OF Juan Benavides (.342, 27 HR, 103 RBI).
September 3 – RIC RF/CF Joe Ritchey (.254, 21 HR, 59 RBI) will miss at least two weeks with a concussion.
September 4 – MIL C Felipe Gomez (.219, 8 HR, 29 RBI) caps off a spirited 6-run comeback in the ninth inning with a walkoff grand slam off VAN CL Josh Boles (3-5, 4.42 ERA, 31 SV), giving the Loggers an 8-4 walkoff win in the opener of a 4-game set.
September 4 – Buffaloes utility player Felix Marquez (.287, 14 HR, 59 RBI) could be out for almost the remainder of the season with a calf strain.
September 6 – Riding high: tender 22-year-old DAL SS Leo Villacorta (.302, 11 HR, 68 RBI) hits for the cycle in a 14-5 win over the Scorpions. Villacorta goes 4-for-5, getting one of every hit, and drives in four runs in the rout. It is the second cycle of the season, both occurring in Dallas (PIT Rusty Dirks on May 23).
September 6 – Hanging low: it’s season over for DAL OF/1B Mario Sedillo (.255, 9 HR, 56 RBI), who has gone down with a strained hamstring.
September 7 – The first run in the Knights-Falcons game immediately ends it, with 3B/2B/OF Jose Farfan (.258, 12 HR, 59 RBI) hitting a walkoff single for a 12-inning, 1-0 Falcons win.

FL Player of the Week: LAP INF Brian Bowman (.288, 15 HR, 56 RBI), hitting .444 (12-27) with 2 HR, 6 RBI
CL Player of the Week: MIL 1B/RF/LF Aaron Brayboy (.333, 16 HR, 51 RBI), batting .344 (11-32) with 2 HR, 7 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Yes, the Crusaders killed Cosmo’s hitting streak (leading swiftly to a day off on Sunday), but on the other paw we won the series. The team now seems hellbent to finish with a winning record out of spite, just so I won’t get a juicy single-digit pick next June…

Jason Wheatley came, saw, barfed, and got a no-decision. It wasn’t all bad and maybe his second start he’ll do without the barfing part. He won’t pitch to the home crowd for a while, though, since we go back on the road immediately… well, the team does. After an off day on Monday, they’ll be in Elk City, and I’ll join them again in Milwaukee and New York. We have two more homestands of two opponents each, and a weekend trip to Indy in between those.

For giggles, the only season series against the CL North that we’re not currently leading is the one against the damn Elks (2-10). Even a .500 clip against that ghastly outfit would have gone a long way to making this team competitive…..

Fun Fact: Villacorta landed the 10th cycle in Stars history.

This makes them the first team to have ten of anything – cycles, no-hitters, 3-homer games… all the fun stuff basically. They have only one no-hitter to their name, but that’s from playing in that silly shoebox.

The Raccoons have eight no-hitters and six cycles and can’t really complain all that hard.

[progen]

Impressive!!

[Westheim]

Played this 10 hours ago, and now my internet will actually let me post it.

The internet provider service shack in town is actually going to open tomorrow due to 'rona numbers being this and that, and I will hike there and commit some assault. Definitely verbal, maybe even with a baseball bat. I'll take Kilmer's. It's not like he needs one for his job.

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Raccoons (67-69) @ Canadiens (80-57) – September 9-11, 2042

There was nothing to win in Elk City for this team, and they hadn’t won much at all from them all year long. The season series stood a depressing 10-2 in the damn Elks’ favor, they were first in runs scored and fifth in runs allowed, and I feared for the well-being of my most precious, treasured, tender rookie.

Projected matchups:
Jason Wheatley (0-0, 1.23 ERA) vs. Mike Mihalik (15-9, 3.35 ERA)
Nelson Moreno (11-11, 4.84 ERA) vs. Paul Medvec (10-6, 4.47 ERA)
Cory Lambert (4-5, 3.50 ERA) vs. David Arias (10-14, 4.48 ERA)

The Coons would get three right-handers, while I was watching from afar, being rolled into a ball on the trusty brown couch in the office with Honeypaws in one paw, the other one in a glass of peanut butter, occasionally licking the latter, and my head on a pillow on Slappy’s thigh.

Game 1
POR: 2B Trevino – RF Nettles – 3B Maldonado – LF Fernandez – 1B Yamamoto – C Kilmer – CF Anderson – SS Harroun – P Wheatley
VAN: RF van der Zanden – 1B J. Lopez – CF Outram – 2B Schneller – C Clemente – 3B G. Ortiz – SS R. Johnston – LF J. Simmons – P Mihalik

The Raccoons scratched out a quick run in the first inning on singles by Cosmo and Nettles, who went to the corners, and then a run-scoring groundout by Maldonado to Dan Schneller. Slappy and Cristiano I could hear nodding and making approving comments over my own noisy paw-licking, but I was unconcerned that the team wasn’t headed for disaster. Jason Wheatley had notably not struck out anybody in his major league debut, but got that burden off his back when he whiffed both rookie Arnout van der Zanden and Johnny Lopez (decidedly not a rookie) in full counts to begin his outing. Wheatley picked up his first major league hit in the top 2nd, singling to add to David Harroun on the bases – both scored on Cosmo’s right-center gap triple to extend the lead to 3-0. Wheatley then drilled Timóteo Clemente in the hip in the bottom 2nd, leading to the backstop’s replacement with Derek James, but Greg Ortiz whiffed and Ryan Johnston hit into a double play to end the inning. Wheatley would continue to control the damn Elks in the next innings, and actually didn’t allow a base hit until Johnston singled off him in the fifth inning.

And while Slappy and Cristiano and even Maud – who I requested another jar of peanut butter from because this one was half empty and no longer comfy to slide my paw into – agreed that Wheatley looked like a winner, I had seen things and also remembered them. A thousand games of horror against the damn Elks had to count for something! The horror broke free in the sixth inning with a leadoff single by the opposing pitcher, whom the Raccoons had failed to dislodge despite putting three on him early and none after that, another single by van der Zanden, and an RBI single by Lopez, and only now – with the tying runs aboard – did the big guns turn up… unexpectedly, Jerry Outram popped out and Dan Schneller hit into a fielder’s choice, allowing Wheatley to escape obliteration with a K to James. He would get through seven innings in total before being replaced on grounds of his pitch count being roughly 100 and the top of the order coming up in the eighth. Chuck Jones struck out the 1-2-3 batters in order in the bottom 8th, preserving a 3-1 lead for increasingly anemic appearing Raccoons, and didn’t do anything of lasting value in the ninth, either. Josh Rella got the bottom 9th with the 2-run lead, and wasted no time in making me feel nauseous – or maybe it was the 15 ounces of peanut butter? – when he walked Schneller and nailed PH Julio Diaz. Ortiz hit a grounder to short that Phil Haley started to turn into a 6-4-3 double play, pushing the tying run off the bases and the winning run back to the on-deck circle. Ryan Johnston was up with two outs and Schneller on third base, grounded to second, and Cosmo converted the ball into the last out without much fuzz. 3-1 Raccoons! Trevino 2-5, 3B, 2 RBI; Wheatley 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, W (1-0) and 1-3;

First career win of … (waves with all paws) … 300! At least! Per season!!

Alberto Ramos rejoined the team from his rehab assignment by Wednesday. He had batted 1-for-18 with the Alley Cats, but had also drawn six walks.

Game 2
POR: 1B Ramos – 2B Trevino – 3B Maldonado – LF Fernandez – RF Waltz – C Sieber – SS Harroun – CF Gonzalez – P Moreno
VAN: RF van der Zanden – 1B J. Lopez – CF Outram – 2B Schneller – C Clemente – 3B G. Ortiz – SS R. Johnston – LF Mann – P Medvec

No good feelings on Wednesday. Nelson Moreno walked three Elks in the first inning and was touched for as many runs thanks to singles by Outram (one RBI) and Greg Ortiz (two) in strategically valuable spots. He gave up a solo homer to Schneller the second time through, and that was all the damn Elks would see of him, yanked after four innings in a 4-1 deficit when his spot conveniently opened the fifth inning at the plate. Jay de Wit walked in that spot, Maldonado found a single with two outs, but Manny Fernandez, who had singled home Cosmo in the third inning, popped out to Ortiz to end the inning. The Coons turned to Jake White to pitch in the bottom 5th – he had been on the roster since September 1 without making an appearance – just in time for somebody to give up an overdue homer to Jerry Outram, 5-1. Corey Mathers, who had yielded his spot in the rotation to Wheatley at the start of the month, but MIGHT SOON GET SOMEONE ELSE’S SPOT – sorry, Maud, I was using my angry voice. – Yes, Maud. – Oh, I would love another jar of peanut butter…! ……anyway, Mathers pitched three scoreless innings (with a little luck in form of two timely double plays turned behind him) in garbage relief while the offensive corps did absolutely nothing. 5-1 Canadiens. Trevino 2-4; Harroun 2-3; Mathers 3.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K;

Slump report: Kilmer is 6-for-62, Nettles 6-for-41, and Justin Waltz, who looked like the future two weeks ago… 0-for-*******-20.

Game 3
POR: 1B Ramos – 2B Trevino – 3B Maldonado – LF Fernandez – RF Waltz – CF Anderson – SS Haley – C Kilmer – P Lambert
VAN: RF van der Zanden – 1B J. Lopez – CF Outram – 2B Schneller – C Clemente – 3B G. Ortiz – SS Agosto – LF Mann – P D. Arias

The Coons had a Cosmo single and nothing else after three innings, while Lambert got whacked around so hard that I dropped my peanut butter jar at least twice, once without noticing, leading me to lick Honeypaws’ belly instead. Lambert allowed eight hits through three innings, four of those in a 3-run third inning. Johnny Lopez hit a homer and Lambert allowed three singles after that, balking in Ortiz for the third and final run of the inning before striking out Jeremy Mann.

Cosmo led off the fourth with another single, while Maldonado reached on an error by Jose Agosto. Manny flew out to right, but Justin Waltz ended his 0-for-21 spill with an RBI single in shallow center, getting the Raccoons on the board. Van Anderson got a liner past van der Zanden for an RBI double, and Haley tied the game with his first career RBI, a sac fly to Mann. Despite being in a tailspin, Kilmer was walked intentionally with the go-ahead run on second base, and Lambert grounded out to Lopez to end the inning. He then swiftly surrendered another three hits to the 2-3-4 batters, as well as another run in the bottom 4th, which was an RBI single that got Schneller to 113 RBI – leading the CL by miles and miles. Manny Fernandez was actually competing for second place in the category, and tied the game when he drove in his 88th in the top 5th, singling across Maldonado with two outs. He stole second base, his 16th of the season, but was stranded when Waltz grounded out.

The damn Elks got their third lead of the game just when I dug into my third jar of peanut butter, Johnny Lopez taking deep Zack Kelly to make it 5-4 in the sixth. The Raccoons put Berto and Cosmo on base in the seventh, but got nowhere with Maldo and Manny, and Derek Barker came apart for two hits, two walks, and three runs in the bottom of that inning to put the game and the series away even before another three singles scored a run against Jon Craig in the eighth. 9-4 Canadiens. Trevino 3-4;

Raccoons (68-71) @ Loggers (76-64) – September 12-14, 2042

The Loggers were six games out and needed the win, but the Raccoons had taken an 8-7 lead in the season series. One more W would be required to avoid losing the series to the Loggers for the fourth straight year, which had happened before (in the Decade of Darkness), but at least this much vigor I can ask for right? Milwaukee sat second in runs scored and sixth in runs allowed in the league.

Projected matchups:
Jake Jackson (10-11, 3.75 ERA) vs. Sergio Piedra (13-6, 3.99 ERA)
Brent Clark (5-3, 2.44 ERA) vs. Bobby Freels (12-8, 4.07 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (1-0, 1.26 ERA) vs. Joe Hicks (8-12, 3.77 ERA)

The Loggers had not played baseball three of the last four days – once as scheduled, and twice because of rain. The sole exception had been a double-header they split brotherly with the Titans on Tuesday. There was thus a lot of flux in that rotation. Piedra went on regular rest, while the other two had yet to appear this week. Sal Chavez (18-8, 3.63 ERA) and sole southpaw Chris Lulay (12-11, 4.58 ERA) had pitched in that double header.

Game 1
POR: 2B Trevino – RF Nettles – 3B Maldonado – LF Fernandez – 1B Yamamoto – CF Anderson – SS Haley – C Lancaster – P Jackson
MIL: RF Cannizzard – SS Del Vecchio – 1B Brayboy – CF Reeves – 3B Paul – LF Hertenstein – C F. Gomez – 2B V. Acosta – P Piedra

******* Aaron Brayboy doubled in Tim Cannizzard for the first run of the game, with the latter having reached on four straight balls handed out by Jackson to begin his day. You couldn’t see it at first glance, but Jackson was supposed to be the grownup in the rotation… He offered another leadoff walk to Daniel Hertenstein in the bottom 2nd, and that run came around to score as well, on two singles, the big one by Cannizzard with two outs. At least the resentworthy Ted Del Vecchio flew out to center…

Three innings into the game we got a lengthy rain delay, which served to axe Jackson early after 59 pitches, four hits, three walks, and lots of teeth gnashing by his GM. Travis Sims would pitch 2.1 innings in relief after that, but combined with Chuck Jones for the bases being loaded in the bottom 6th, with Brayboy grounding out to Cosmo to strand all runners in what was then a 2-1 game – the Raccoons had only four hits, but had somehow squeezed out a run on Maldo being hit by his 20th pitch of the year, Manny singling him to third base, and a groundout by Van Anderson to get on the board at all in the sixth. Jake White also chewed noisily in two innings of relief after Brayboy stranded a full set, putting four runners on base but escaping damage by the end of the eighth inning when Brayboy again grounded out to strand a full set. Unfortunately we were still a run behind at that point and would bring up the joking bottom of the order in the ninth, starting with Van Anderson against Kurt Crater. Anderson singled to left on 0-2. Waltz batted for Haley – straight into a double play. Lancaster walked, and Kilmer batted for White … and straight to short with a grounder again, this one ending the game. 2-1 Loggers. Maldonado 1-2, BB; Fernandez 2-4; Lancaster 2-2, 2 BB; Sims 2.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 0 K; White 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 1 K;

Game 2
POR: 1B Ramos – 2B Trevino – 3B Maldonado – LF Fernandez – RF Waltz – SS Harroun – CF Anderson – C Kilmer – P Clark
MIL: CF Reeves – RF Cannizzard – 3B Paul – 1B Brayboy – LF Hertenstein – SS Del Vecchio – C F. Gomez – 2B V. Acosta – P Freels

Cosmo tripled in the first, which did not lead to a run because the rest of the team had yet to get up from the second breakfast table. At least they were still physically present for the second inning, which Tim Cannizzard wasn’t, having been ejected for slamming his bat on the ground when he was called out for looking at a borderline 3-2 pitch. Adam Borchard replaced him. The Coons took a 1-0 lead in the second inning when Kilmer doubled home Harroun, which made for a nice H blip in Kilmer’s hitting register. Borchard flew out to strand Loggers on the corners in the bottom 3rd, and both pitchers issued a pair of walks that did not lead to a single run in the fourth inning. Manny and Harroun reached base for the Raccoons, but were left stranded.

The 1-0 lead stood into the sixth, when Brent Clark was suddenly and rudely unhorsed by straight singles slapped by Jared Paul, Aaron Brayboy, Daniel Hertenstein, and of course ******* Ted Del Vecchio – and all with nobody out. The lead was blown up, Milwaukee took a 2-1 lead, and had two more runners in scoring position when Clark dug himself a trench, struck out Gomez and Acosta, and a got a pop from PH Valentino Sicco to end the inning without allowing another run. He hung on the hook now, though, and the team would not do anything to remove him any time soon. Berto reached on an error in the seventh and was doubled up by Cosmo, and that was the extent of their comeback ambitions in the seventh. Instead Tim Hale allowed singles to Borchard and ******** Brayboy in the bottom 7th, and then plated an insurance run with a wild pitch.

The tying runs were on base with nobody out in the eighth when Manny hit a double that knocked out Freels, and righty Cesar Perez waltzed Walk. Nettles was sent to bat for Harroun, prompting a pitching change for lefty Marvin Verduzco and a fielder’s choice that kept the tying run at first base through an Anderson pop. Kilmer faced righty Ron Purcell, but jabbed an RBI single when nobody expected it, shortening the score to 3-2. Yamamoto pinch-hit and struck out to end the inning. To make the misery complete, Derek Barker then got under the wheels AGAIN, facing five Loggers, and conceding four sharp base hits for three runs, including back-to-back RBI doubles to PH Tony Lira and Bill Reeves. The fourth run on his ledger was waved in by Alexis Cortes on a Borchard single. The irony of it all was that the Raccoons then scored a run in the ninth out of spite… 7-3 Loggers. Trevino 2-5, 3B; Maldonado 2-5, 2B, RBI; Harroun 1-2, BB; Kilmer 2-3, BB, 2B, 2 RBI;

Cannizzard was suspended for three games for hurting the umpire’s feelings, but that wouldn’t be enough to gift a W to the Raccoons in the Sunday game.

Game 3
POR: 2B Trevino – CF Nettles – SS Maldonado – LF Fernandez – 1B Yamamoto – 3B de Wit – C Sieber – RF Casaus – P Wheatley
MIL: RF Fleming – SS Del Vecchio – 1B Brayboy – CF Reeves – 3B Paul – LF Hertenstein – C F. Gomez – 2B V. Acosta – P S. Chavez

Playing with reckless abandon as his time in Portland came to an end, Cosmo legged out a triple to open the game, then scored on a Nettles single. Nettles stole second, then was stranded on a grounder and two strikeouts. That was the Raccoons’ offense for the day, presumably, so it was on Wheatley to protect the 1-0 lead, which worked through seven outs, but then he walked Acosta and misfielded Chavez’ bunt for an out at second base that could not be gotten – all Loggers were safe, and ******* ****** ******** Ted Del Vecchio tied the game with a 2-out single in the same inning. Sandy Casaus overran that ball, putting runners in scoring position, but Brayboy somehow popped out to end the inning with a 1-1 tie on the board.

It only got worse from there. Reeves opened the fourth with a triple to right, where Casaus again looked like three blind mice. Wheatley walked Paul, then got bombed by a no-doubt, 3-run homer by Hertenstein that gave the Loggers a 4-1 lead. The Raccoons then loaded the bases in the sixth inning after about an hour of absolutely nothing on their part. Cosmo, Maldo, Manny were all aboard for Yamamoto with one out. But the Raccoons only got a sac fly out of the situation before de Wit flew out to Jonathan Fleming. Wheatley was hit for in the seventh to no great effect, but the tying run was at the plate with nobody out in the eighth after Nettles singled off Sal Chavez. Maldo flew out to left before Chavez unleashed not one, but two wild pitches, then walked Manny to put runners on the corners for Yamamoto, who struck out. Chavez walked Jay de Wit, which led to Berto batting for Sieber with the bases loaded and two outs. He grounded out to Brayboy, manning first base like a ******* ************* **** *****. (angrily kicks over a trash can on the concourse, spilling litter all over the place)

We saw Kurt Crater with a 4-2 lead in the ninth, with Van Anderson pinch-hitting in the #8 hole to begin the inning. He struck out, while Waltz reached on a throwing error by Acosta. Cosmo grounded out. Nettles grounded out. The security guard made me clean up the concourse with a broom even after the Raccoons were done getting swept into oblivion. 4-2 Loggers. Trevino 2-5, 3B; Nettles 2-5, RBI;

In other news

September 10 – TOP SP Alvaro Molina (1-4, 6.37 ERA) could face an entire 2043 season on the shelf – the rookie right-hander is out with a torn UCL and will have to undergo Tommy John surgery.
September 11 – ATL LF/RF/1B Marc DeVita (.310, 2 HR, 11 RBI) is headed for knee surgery with a torn medial collateral ligament and might miss the start of the 2043 season.
September 12 – Warriors 2B/SS Mario Colon (.233, 9 HR, 29 RBI) is out for the year with a knee sprain.
September 12 – Also out with a knee sprain is TOP RF Troy Greenway (.279, 14 HR, 61 RBI).
September 13 – With runners in scoring position and two outs in the bottom 9th, RIC MR Alex Banderas (7-5, 4.52 ERA, 3 SV) throws away a pickoff attempt, allowing TOP C Manny Terrones (2-for-2, 0 HR, RBI) to scamper home from third base for a 6-5 walkoff win for the Buffos.

FL Player of the Week: RIC OF/1B Alex Marquez (.298, 23 HR, 90 RBI), hitting .333 (10-30) with 4 HR, 10 RBI
CL Player of the Week: CHA 1B Mark Cahill (.283, 11 HR, 71 RBI), batting .478 (11-23) with 1 HR, 3 RBI

Complaints and stuff

The main boons of this week were Jason Wheatley getting his first decisions (one of each…), and the Raccoons rigorously improving their draft position through a string of terribly played ballgames where pitching and offense really worked together to ensure the least amount of wins possible.

I don’t even know what else to say anymore – our inability to play those two teams is ghastly.

Next week: Crusaders, Aces.

Fun Fact: The previous time the Raccoons lost the season series four years running against the Loggers was from 1997 through 2000.

Not that we won much else back then.

And not that I have much hope for 2043 at this stage.

[Westheim]

Yesterday's Coons baseball. No, there are no words.

+++

Raccoons (68-74) @ Crusaders (75-67) – September 15-18, 2042

As the season crawled towards its conclusion, the Raccoons would play their last four games with the Crusaders in New York. They had conceded the fewest runs in the CL, but the offense had not kept up, sitting fifth in runs plated – losing eight out of 14 games to the Raccoons so far also had not exactly helped their cause for a better position. They were 7 1/2 games out and for practical purposes barely counted as alive in the division race… although a 4-game sweep could work wonders sometimes…!

Projected matchups:
Corey Mathers (4-10, 4.05 ERA) vs. Tony Galligher (7-16, 2.84 ERA)
Cory Lambert (4-5, 3.69 ERA) vs. Dave Hils (12-13, 4.19 ERA)
Jake Jackson (10-12, 3.79 ERA) vs. Paul Paris (0-0, 2.77 ERA)
Brent Clark (5-4, 2.49 ERA) vs. Jeff Johnson (13-10, 4.00 ERA)

Whatever Tony Galligher had done to the baseball gods, I sure hoped I would fall foul of the same heinous crimes. He was also the only southpaw we expected in this series.

Game 1
POR: 2B Trevino – SS Harroun – 3B Maldonado – 1B Yamamoto – RF Waltz – C Kilmer – CF Gonzalez – LF Casaus – P Mathers
NYC: RF Melendez – C Alba – LF Platero – 2B Briones – 1B D. Phillips – SS Austin – CF Levy – P Galligher – 3B Nash

The Raccoons loaded the bases without the benefit of a base hit in the first inning – Galligher drilled Harroun and walked Yamamoto and Waltz – but also refused to empty them with a base hit after that, as Jeff Kilmer struck out and everybody trudged back to the dugout. Mario Briones’ sac fly then gave New York the lead in the bottom 1st after Bill Melendez and Fernando Alba had reached the corners with leadoff singles. Portland came back to tie the game in the third inning with a leadoff single by Cosmo, who reached second when Galligher threw a wild pitch, and then an RBI single by Harroun, both through the left side. Mathers would maintain the stalemate through six innings, with both teams landing only three base hits and no further runs. Tim Hale struck out the side in the seventh, and the Raccoons got a pair of hits off Galligher in the eighth, singles by Harroun to left and Maldo to right, but Yamamoto found a 6-4-3 inning-killer. The tie was only broken in the bottom of the inning when Jake White faced two left-handed batters, Sergio Pena, who doubled, and Fernando Alba, whom he walked, and Derek Barker was no more useful as replacement, conceding the runs on a 2-out knock by Devin Phillips. The Raccoons restrained themselves to merely going through the motions in the ninth inning, putting nobody on base against Andy Hyden. 3-1 Crusaders. Harroun 2-3, RBI; Mathers 6.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K;

Good old stinker to open the week… also our sixth straight loss after coming within one game of .500 the week prior.

Game 2
POR: 2B Trevino – CF Nettles – SS Maldonado – LF Fernandez – 1B Yamamoto – RF Reyna – C Sieber – 3B de Wit – P Lambert
NYC: SS Adame – C Alba – LF Platero – 2B Briones – 1B D. Phillips – CF Graf – RF Levy – P Hils – 3B Nash

This time the Raccoons got the two base hits and the sac fly, Manny bringing in Cosmo for a 1-0 lead in the first. The Crusaders first got on base with Phillips in the bottom 2nd, Joe Graf forced him out, then was caught stealing. Reyna in the top 2nd and Nettles in the top 3rd stole bases for Portland, the latter even being chased across home plate when Maldonado whacked a double to right on the next pitch, 2-0. Lambert then reminded me why I consider him elementarily useless despite his sub-4 ERA; he allowed a single to Chris Levy to begin the bottom 3rd, and then put a ball on a stick that even the ******* pitcher Dave Hils could hit out of the park. That one tied the game…

The middle innings were uneventful bordering on boring, except for Yamamoto getting my heart rate up when he grounded out on a 3-0 pitch in the sixth. Lambert batted for himself in the seventh, then promptly got singles to death in the same inning. Briones led off with a single, stole second, and reached third on Phillips’ single – with pinch-runner Arnauld Caccianemici taking over for Phillips – and scored on Graf’s single to center. Lambert walked Levy in a full count, then got a run-scoring double play grounder from Hils, 6-4-3 on the field and 4-2 on the board. Lambert was then lifted for Travis Sims, who got an easy fly to left from Randolph Nash, deemed so useless that he had to bat behind the pitcher. Maldonado cut the gap in half with a solo homer in the eighth inning, but Manny only reached the warning track in right for a 2-out double after him and was stranded by another Yamamoto grounder to short. The Crusaders didn’t tack on, and the Raccoons got more of Andy Hyden in the ninth. Reyna grounded out. Berto batted for Sieber and singled to right, but then was forced out by de Wit. Justin Waltz batted for the pitcher, ran a 3-1 count, then rolled over with a grounder to second base… 4-3 Crusaders. Trevino 2-4; Maldonado 3-4, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Ramos (PH) 1-1;

Seven in a row, and almost near the Indians for fifth place again…

Game 3
POR: 1B Ramos – 2B Trevino – 3B Maldonado – LF Fernandez – RF Reyna – CF Anderson – C Kilmer – SS Haley – P Jackson
NYC: SS Adame – C Alba – LF Platero – 2B Briones – CF Salek – RF Melendez – 1B Rudd – P Paris – 3B Graf

For the third time in the series, the opening run scored on a sac fly, and for the second time it was the Coons to go up right away. Berto opened with a double in right-center, arriving at second base panting already, then reached third on a Cosmo single. Maldo hit the sac fly to right, while Miguel Reyna hit an RBI double with two outs to tack on a run. The Crusaders also opened with a pair of singles, but Jose Platero found a double play, and while Briones drew a 2-out walk, Rich Salek flew out easily to Van Anderson to end the bottom 1st. Portland followed on in the third, getting Maldo on base with two outs. He stole second, then scored on Manny’s double to left. Reyna popped out to end the inning. The Crusaders would get a walk drawn by somebody and then hit into a double play in both the third and fourth innings.

The defense navigated a ho-hum Jackson safely for five innings, then gave up in the sixth, melting the 3-0 lead down to a single run with Van Anderson first missing Alba’s fly to deep center for a double, then Platero’s bloop in shallow center for a single. To make it worse, he threw home to try and nip the opportunistically running Alba, but the throw was rushed and poor, and instead allowed Platero to second base, from where the Crusaders would easily score him. The Raccoons didn’t tack on, while Jackson lasted a seventh inning without hiccups, and Tim Hale was competent in the eighth. Josh Rella got the ball for the bottom of the ninth, facing left-handed pinch-hitter Sergio Pena first up. His first pitch became a single to right. Tom Rudd bunted the runner over, but Pena had to hold on Chris Levy’s comebacker that was the second out. Joe Graf grounded out to Cosmo on the first pitch to end the game and the Coons’ losing spill. 3-2 Raccoons. Trevino 3-4; Reyna 2-4, RBI;

The Indians were mathematically eliminated on Wednesday (the Titans had already been wiped out even in the fantasy land of addition and subtraction last week), which meant the Raccoons were soon to follow, since we were only 2 1/2 games ahead of them.

But at least we had secured a split in the season series and had an option to bag it with a W behind Brent Clark on Thursday.

Game 4
POR: 1B Ramos – 2B Trevino – 3B Maldonado – LF Fernandez – RF Waltz – CF Nettles – C Sieber – SS Harroun – P Clark
NYC: SS Adame – 2B Briones – RF Platero – CF Melendez – 1B D. Phillips – 3B Nash – LF Levy – C Duguay – P J. Johnson

Third day in a row with a first-inning lead for Portland, this time Cosmo finding the gap for a triple and Maldonado plating him with a grounder up the middle. Clark was faced with an entirely right-handed lineup, and it didn’t take the Crusaders long to trip him, as Alex Adame homered to left on his very first pitch of the game. That was all the offense then – nobody landed another hit until Melendez singled in the fourth, and he was left on base. While the Coons seemed to have gone home early, the Crusaders landed singles in the sixth with Platero and Melendez, then had Phillips hit into a double play to end the inning and keep the game a 1-1 tie.

Cosmo singled through the right side to begin the seventh inning, which finally broke the Raccoons’ hitting drought. Maldonado then sent a fly over Melendez’ head for an RBI triple, taking a 2-1 lead over New York in the process. Manny was walked with intent, and Waltz struck out, continuing a devastating tailspin. Nettles grounded to short, but beat out the second throw at first base, allowing Maldo to score the tack-on run, 3-1. Nettles then took off and was caught stealing to end the inning. New York countered with Nash’s leadoff double in the bottom 7th. The runner scored on a groundout and a Harroun error that put Roger Duguay on base. Johnson bunted the tying run into scoring position, while Clark was lifted for Jon Craig in a double switch at that point. The Crusaders countered with Salek batting for Adame, sending up a lefty bat. The ploy worked – Salek slapped a single to right on the first pitch, Duguay scored, and the game was tied at three…

The eighth was uneventful, and the Raccoons still saw no land against Hyden in the ninth. Derek Barker surprisingly kept a firm guard in the bottom 9th when he was deployed so we would get out of town early, but foiled the plans with a 1-2-3 inning that meant extra baseball for the crowd. Hyden hung around for the occasion, shedding a pinch-hit single to Reyna and a 2-out walk to Harroun, but getting out of the 10th unharmed. Zack Kelly put Tom Rudd on base with a leadoff single in the bottom 10th, but then retired three right-handed batters instead, Danny Rico, Jose Platero, and Adam Lovett all sitting down and stranding the winning run on third base. Berto opened the 11th with a double to right off ex-Coon Josh Livingston (and more panting). He advanced on a grounder, then saw Maldo walked with intent for Manny this time around. A well-placed grounder beat the defense as far as the double play was concerned; Berto scored, while Maldo was out at second base, but Manny was soon thrown out trying to reach third base on Reyna’s single. Josh Rella worked around a leadoff single by Phillips in the bottom 11th then, getting three outs without blowing the lead. 4-3 Critters. Trevino 2-3, 2 BB, 3B; Reyna (PH) 2-2;

Raccoons (70-76) vs. Aces (66-80) – September 19-21, 2042

The Aces were both in last place in their division and had not lost a ballgame to the finicky Raccoons this year, which was sort of depressing. On the other paw, their record was selling them way under their talent level. They were roughly mid-pack in both runs scored and runs allowed, and were more games under .500 (14) than they were runs under .500 (10). Let’s just not get into the Coons’ +26 run differential and where it all went wrong with that…

Projected matchups:
Nelson Moreno (11-12, 4.94 ERA) vs. Oscar Valdes (11-9, 2.76 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (1-1, 2.66 ERA) vs. Ricardo Sanchez (10-11, 4.69 ERA)
Corey Mathers (4-10, 3.93 ERA) vs. Steve Huffman (3-9, 4.46 ERA)

No southpaw, and also no former Raccoon, with neither Rich Willett (12-13, 3.51 ERA) and Josh Brown (15-9, 3.21 ERA) falling into this series.

Saturday would mark the first home start for Jason Wheatley, who had so far appeared in front of hostile crowds in every nook (Milwaukee) and cranny (Oklahoma City), even in frozen hell (Elk City), but not in front of the hardy 15,000 or so that still bothered coming to Raccoons games at this time of year.

He was not even the main attraction on Saturday – that would be the number retirement ceremony for Cookie Carmona, with most of the widespread Carmona family coming to Portland to be a part of it. They almost filled the half of the ballpark that we were tempted to cordon off to save three bucks on ushers.

Game 1
LVA: LF Beaudoin – 2B Sprague – 1B S. Ayala – RF Gurney – C Prow – CF T. Romero – 3B D. Richardson – SS J. Byrd – P O. Valdes
POR: 2B Trevino – SS Harroun – RF Reyna – LF Fernandez – 1B Yamamoto – CF Nettles – 3B de Wit – C Kilmer – P Moreno

But before we could have all the fun, the baseball gods demanded we play a game on Friday. This included suffering through a few innings of Nelson Moreno being his signature flavor of ****, conceding two runs in the second and two more in the third. The first pair came on a Doug Richardson homer and was unearned since Kevin Prow had reached base on an error by de Wit, but the damn baseball almost tore down the scoreboard and that should count for something, too… the latter two runs were of the depressing sequence leadoff single, double, balk, sac fly that was almost another homer. Portland had nothing cooking through three innings, then had Reyna open the bottom 4th with a double to right. Manny walked, Yamamoto whiffed, and Nettles got Portland on the still-functioning board with an RBI single to left. De Wit added an RBI double, eager to make up his earlier mistake, which had led to a spike in calls to Aruba’s emotional distress hotline. Kilmer was walked intentionally despite hitting .178, and Moreno, hitting with three on and one out, hit a sac fly to right to narrow the gap to 4-3. Cosmo then overcame it – and Oscar Valdes – altogether with a 3-run homer over the fence in right, giving the Coons a 6-4 lead. At that point, both teams had fewer hits than runs, which was not the most common sight.

Sal Ayala and Kevin Prow hit singles off Moreno in the sixth inning. Ayala tried to score from second base on Prow’s 2-out hit, but was thrown out by Stephon Nettles to end the inning. Moreno gave up another two singles in the seventh inning to be knocked from the game, those being slapped to center by Tony Romero and John Byrd. Tim Hale came in, struck out Jonathan Dustal, then faced another pinch-hitter in Kevin Hale, a distant cousin. The first family reunion of the weekend turned quickly sour for Portland, with Hale taking Hale into the gap in left-center for a game-tying 2-out triple… Glenn Sprague flew out to Nettles to reach the seventh-inning stretch, one batter too late.

Chuck Jones and Derek Barker provided scoreless relief to cover the remainder of regulation, while the offense clipped a bunch of singles in the seventh and eighth, but wound up stranding two pairs of runners on fly outs by Yamamoto and Cosmo. The Aces sent left-hander Logan Bessey into the bottom 9th, with Harroun leading off and whiffing. Bessey also retired Waltz and Fernandez, sending the game to extras, where Jake White wasted no time to give up a home run to left-handed Sal Ayala to break the 6-6 tie. Left-hander Chris Myers got the bottom 10th and sat the Coons down 1-2-3 to maintain the Aces’ unbeaten reign over the lowly Critters in 2042… 7-6 Aces. De Wit 2-5, 2B, RBI;

Game 2
LVA: LF Beaudoin – 2B Sprague – 1B S. Ayala – RF Gurney – CF T. Romero – 3B D. Richardson – C Lunde – SS J. Byrd – P R. Sanchez
POR: 1B Ramos – 2B Trevino – 3B Maldonado – LF Fernandez – RF Reyna – SS Harroun – CF Anderson – C Lancaster – P Wheatley

While Nick Valdes excused himself from taking part in the ceremonies – there were some precious Hephthalite ruins in Transoxiana that needed blasting so one of his numerous planet-plundering companies could commence bauxite mining whilst exploiting child labor in the area, most everybody else we knew and even liked was in attendance for the big day. A bunch of players from the 2010s teams that Cookie was on – Brownie, Jonny Toner, Ron Richards, Ronnie McKnight and even ******* Damani Knight, and those were only those that I bumped into while trying to eat a sandwich – also including Matt Nunley, who was supervising in person the roasting by four attendees each of three bulls on his new 7XL line of BBQ grill, and even Gustaf, Cristiano Carmona’s roommate found his way into the bowels of the ballpark. He wore his very best bowtie – still no shirt though – and was at his oiliest yet.

Oh, yeah, a ballgame was also played. The Coons took a 2-0 lead in the first, opening with three straight singles and getting their runs from Maldo driving home Berto, and Cosmo scoring on a wild pitch by Sanchez. Van Anderson hurt his ankle on a bad landing to spoil John Lunde’s fly to deep center in the second inning and was replaced by Justin Waltz in the #7 hole and Reyna sliding into centerfield. There was no catching John Lunde’s next flyball, which went to left and over the fence in the fourth inning. It also came with the bases loaded, giving Wheatley his first grand slam surrendered in his career after Sal Ayal had singled and Romero and Richardson had both reached on 2-out walks, which tainted the mood even more than the discovery that the big-*** cream cake we had ordered in Cookie’s honor had multiple paw prints in it and all the corners had already been nibbled off. The Aces tacked on a run in the fifth on singles by their pitcher (…) and Glenn Sprague. That made it 5-2, with Portland at least faking it in the bottom 5th with doubles by Berto and Manny and one run off the deficit.

Pat Gurney continued to pop the balloons, though, hitting a solo homer in the sixth to load Wheatley with another run. The rookie was not seen again after that inning, leaving in a 6-3 deficit that only grew when Travis Sims became involved in the seventh inning and was whacked from gap to gap for four hits and another two runs. The score was 8-3 in the bottom 9th when the Raccoons unexpectedly loaded the bases with one out. Kilmer walked, Berto singled, and Cosmo was brushed by a pitch to bring the tying run to the on-deck circle with one out, which was such a tease again. Former Raccoon Francisco Pena came into the save situation. He got an out from Maldo on a sac fly, struck out Manny, and the Raccoons kept being entirely hopeless against the Aces. 8-4 Aces. Ramos 4-5, 2B; Trevino 2-4; Maldonado 2-4, 2 RBI; Fernandez 2-5, 2B, RBI;

This was also the mathematical death knell on the season – not that it hadn’t already been over in May.

Van Anderson would miss a week with a sprained ankle, but there were no leftovers of the cream cake.

Game 3
LVA: LF Beaudoin – 2B Sprague – 1B S. Ayala – RF Gurney – C Prow – CF T. Romero – 3B D. Richardson – SS J. Byrd – P Huffman
POR: 2B Trevino – CF Reyna – 3B Maldonado – LF Fernandez – 1B Yamamoto – SS Harroun – RF Waltz – C Kilmer – P Mathers

At least the ceremonies had beaten the rain looming on Sunday, and another early deficit, Justin Beaudoin singling to open the game, taking two bases by force and speed, and then scoring on Ayala’s single up the middle. Gurney hit a 2-run homer in the third inning, and then the rain hit and forced a delay of about 40 minutes. Down 3-0, wet, and sad, I wondered whether we should just forfeit the game and take our 0-9 against a last-place team that we so thoroughly deserved. Kilmer drew a leadoff walk in the bottom 3rd, but the Raccoons remained utter dog **** and got Mathers to bunt into a force at second base, then Cosmo to hit into a double play. That was about the extent of our offense here; Tony Romero doubled in the next run, but he no longer played for the soggy team that made its summer quarters here, and that was already in the sixth inning, extending the Aces’ lead to 4-0.

When the Coons loaded the bases in the bottom 6th, they did so only with two outs, and by dubious means. Kilmer opened with a single, but was forced out by Nettles. Cosmo was hit by pitch, and Maldonado reached with an infield single when Huffman fielded his roller as inefficiently as humanely possible. Batting as the tying run, Manny easily flew out to Beaudoin. Huffman encountered nary an inconvenience in the next two innings, and reached the ninth still up by four and with 96 pitches, but facing the alleged meat of the order. He immediately set out to create fake suspense by hitting Maldonado, moving the tying run in the dugout from the ice cream truck to the dugout steps. Manny hit into a force out at second, but the Aces went to the pen anyway, sending righty Aaron Duval. Yamamoto flew out. De Wit grounded out. 4-0 Aces. Kilmer 2-2, BB;

In other news

September 18 – The Loggers lose 1B/LF/RF Aaron Brayboy (.324, 16 HR, 53 RBI) for the season after he suffers a concussion in a collision with a teammate on defense.
September 18 – The Blue Sox score ten runs in the bottom 6th of their 15-6 win over the Buffaloes. Rightfielder Cory Cronk (.206, 2 HR, 14 RBI) leads the team effort with four hits, a triple shy of the cycle, and four RBI.
September 20 – A single by 3B/2B Jared Paul (.309, 2 HR, 52 RBI) is the only Loggers hit in a 2-0 loss to the Falcons. CHA SP Jose de Lucio (10-10, 3.88 ERA) and CL Marcus Goode (6-11, 4.24 ERA, 35 SV) combine for the 1-hitter.
September 20 – The Titans are torn up by the Condors, 17-3. Tijuana’s Willie Ojeda (.333, 18 HR, 73 RBI) drives in four runs while missing the cycle by the double.
September 20 – DAL RF/LF Sean Calais (.271, 7 HR, 31 RBI) fumbles a long foul fly ball by Richmond’s LF/RF Grady Phelps in the bottom 10th of a 3-3 game. The error gives Phelps another shot in the batter’s box and he ends the game with a walkoff homer, 4-3, on the very next pitch.

FL Player of the Week: DEN C Drew LaCasse (.208, 2 HR, 20 RBI), digging himself out at .545 (12-22) with 1 HR, 4 RBI
CL Player of the Week: ATL OF Justin Kristoff (.269, 7 HR, 38 RBI), hitting .500 (12-24) with 2 HR, 4 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Bayhawks 1977. Knights 1985. Aces 2042.

The Bayhawks won a pennant. The Knights at least finished third with 89 wins and a +146 run differential. The Aces might conceivably finish last in the South, and ignoring the lousy Coons, they play .429 ball. And yet, the Raccoons managed to lose all nine games against them this year. Five games were lost by one run, and prior to the pair of 4-run losses on Saturday and Sunday, none by more than three runs. One was in extras, two were walkoffs. We scored only two and a half runs per game against a so-so pitching staff. I have no logical explanation beyond this.

Here is to Cookie Carmona, who had #31 retired for his faithful services on the field and on the DL alike. (digs into slice of cream cake he’s had hidden away under Honeypaws’ bum)

Several more numbers have not been in circulation recently, but also not officially retired (the retired numbers are the ones in my signature, in case you weren’t sure). These are #21 (Tim Stalker), #42 (Matt Nunley), and #75 (Mark Roberts) along with Cookie’s #31. We have now, after many, many years, made up our mind about three of them. #21 and #75 will be re-issued starting next season, while we’re still on the fence with #42. The more numbers are retired, the less each individual retired number is worth… but Cookie deserves it, and we will also retire #7 once Berto has gotten his fat bum out the door eventually. It will be a double retirement for both Berto and Yoshi Nomura, who wore it before him, but was still active when Berto came up from the minors, and might have worn it for a third tour of duty.

(Damani Knight’s nose pokes up over the brown couch’s armrest) What are you still doing here, Damani? – Don’t… Don’t you twitch your whiskers for the cake! It’s mine! – No! – Paws away! – Maud! Help! Assault!!

Next week: Falcons, Indians. Probably more sad losses. Maybe more hapless cameos by some of our more prominent flailers. Nettles is 5-for-33. Yamamoto is 3-for-24. Waltz is a shocking 3-for-50 after starting his career 18-for-67. They probably all need some therapy in the offseason, and so do I.

Fun Fact: Cosmo landed his ninth triple of the season on Thursday, the most he has hit in a season nwith the Raccoons.

His career high was 16 in 2035 with the Capitals. For his career he has 120 triples, which is a substantial share of his 603 extra-base hits amongst 2,947 hits total.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (70-79) vs. Falcons (78-71) – September 22-24, 2042

Last games against the CL South for the year, with the Raccoons holding a 4-2 edge in the season series, and the Falcons still harboring playoff hopes, three games out and in third place after a 6-game winning streak. They were this close solely thanks to their pitching and defense, which surrendered the fewest runs in the CL, while their offense was second from the bottom in runs scored. Their run differential (+27) barely beat the Coons’ (+17).

Projected matchups:
Cory Lambert (4-6, 3.80 ERA) vs. Jerry Felix (5-8, 4.92 ERA)
Jake Jackson (11-12, 3.74 ERA) vs. Nick Wright (3-2, 2.58 ERA)
Brent Clark (5-4, 2.51 ERA) vs. Adam Messer (7-2, 2.17 ERA)

Three right-handers – all of which were career relievers having been turned into starters rather recently. Felix and Messer were relatively young. Wright was pushing 38. Somehow it all worked out for the Falcons and their league-best defense.

Game 1
CHA: CF M. Martinez – 3B Farfan – LF Besaw – SS Aparicio – 1B Cahill – RF Quesada – C Templeton – 2B B. Nelson – P Felix
POR: 1B Ramos – 2B Trevino – CF Reyna – 3B Maldonado – SS Harroun – RF Waltz – LF Casaus – C Sieber – P Lambert

Cory Lambert started the game by registering six flyball outs on 13 pitches, which was the sort of “yes, but…” scenario that made you expect a shellacking being due. Nevertheless, the Raccoons scored first, with a single from David Harroun, a Justin Waltz double (!), and a sac fly by Sandy Casaus in the bottom 2nd. Sieber singled, but Lambert grounded out to strand runners on the corners. Two more runs were tacked on in the third inning; Cosmo and Reyna hit back-to-back doubles, 2-0, and Maldonado singled to reach a 12-game hitting streak. Harroun then scored another run with a groundout. Waltz singled, but Casaus whiffed to strand another pair. Lambert retired the first 11 on frighteningly few pitches, then walked Jose Besaw in the fourth. Tony Aparicio grounded out, though, ending the inning. Antonio Quesada singled to center in the fifth to take off the no-hitter, but was doubled up by Kyle Templeton to get Lambert through five.

By the sixth, the Falcons had the bases loaded. Bob Nelson led off with a single, was bunted over, and Lambert also fumbled the bunt to put Felix on, too. Jose Farfan’s single made it three on with one out for Joe Besaw, hitting .320 with 18 homers ahead of Aparicio with 20 homers on a .304 clip. The former popped out, the latter rolled over to Harroun, and all the little Falcons runners walked back to their dugout, somehow. But Lambert created more chaos in the seventh; he yielded a leadoff single to Mark Cahill, then nailed Quesada. When Templeton singled to center, Cahill went around to score, but Quesada was trapped in a rundown between second and third and slapped out. That was enough from Lambert, though, who was yanked for Jon Craig on only 76 pitches. Craig secured two strikeouts and a 3-1 lead at the stretch. With the Coons’ offense bumbling about for no greater gains, the Raccoons employed rookie Alexis Cortes in the eighth, quickly leading to a blown lead. Miguel Martinez singled, Joe Besaw homered to left, and we were even at three. Singles by PH Mitch Cook and Bob Nelson would give the Falcons a lead against Zack Kelly in the ninth inning. Portland needed one to get even and prolong everybody’s suffering, and two to win against right-hander Marcus Goode in the bottom of the ninth. It took two outs before somebody got on, Berto whacking a double to right. Manny Fernandez then came off the bench to pinch-hit for Kelly in the #2 spot, which Cosmo had vacated in a double switch earlier. Manny ended the game – by striking out. 4-3 Falcons. Trevino 2-4, 2B; Waltz 3-4, 2B; Haley (PH) 1-2;

Game 2
CHA: CF M. Martinez – RF C. Robinson – LF Besaw – SS Aparicio – 1B Cahill – C M. Cook – 3B Farfan – 2B Shay – P N. Wright
POR: 1B Ramos – 2B Trevino – 3B Maldonado – LF Fernandez – RF Waltz – CF Nettles – C Kilmer – SS Haley – P Jackson

This was the 38th start in 646 career appearances for Wright, all having come in the last three seasons with the Falcons. He was spotted a quick lead, with singles by Chris Robinson and Aparicio plating a run in the first, and a leadoff walk to Mitch Cook and Adam Shay’s single creating another run in the second inning. Jackson continued to look all too hittable, giving up a homer to Cook for a 3-0 gap in the fourth inning, while the Raccoons hit nothing at all until Cosmo hit a gapper to right-center for a double in the bottom of that inning; Wright had only issued two walks the first time through the order. He walked Manny and Waltz after Maldo flew out to center, loading the bases with one out for the slumping Stephon Nettles, who grounded a 2-2 pitch to the right side. Shay tried to get two, but was held to a fielder’s choice, with Cosmo scoring to shorten the gap to 3-1. Kilmer, who had missed a homer to left narrowly the first time through, weakly flew out to right to end the inning and strand the tying runs on the corners. Cosmo found another single in the sixth, but it took until the seventh for a second Raccoons batter to land a base hit, Kilmer singling to right to open the bottom 7th. That got rid of Wright, with right-hander Kyle Conner replacing him. Jay de Wit batted for Haley – and grounded straight into a double play. Maldonado found a hit in the eighth to extend his hitting streak, but the Raccoons arrived in the ninth staring at Goode again, this time down by two. Waltz whiffed. Nettles walked. And Kilmer jabbed a bouncer to short for a double play. 3-1 Falcons. Trevino 2-4, 2B;

Is the season gonna be over soon, Maud? – Soon? – You promise?

Game 3
CHA: CF M. Martinez – LF Watt – RF Besaw – SS Aparicio – 1B Cahill – C M. Cook – 2B B. Nelson – 3B Farfan – P Messer
POR: 2B Trevino – RF Reyna – 3B Maldonado – LF Fernandez – 1B Yamamoto – SS Harroun – C Kilmer – CF Gonzalez – P Clark

While Messer retired every Raccoon in order the first time through the lineup on Wednesday, Brent Clark wasn’t far behind, walking Tony Aparicio, but whiffing five while allowing no base hits in his first three innings. In the fourth, he walked Matt Watt to get the inning underway, Aparicio found a single, but Mark Cahill found the shortstop and a 6-4-3 inning-ender. Maldonado ended Messer’s 11-strong retirement run with a hitting streak-extending double (14 games now) in the bottom 4th, but Manny popped out to leave him on base.

The game remained scoreless through six with only scant hints of offense, although Clark was up to two singles and three walks allowed after six innings, whiffing eight. He retired the 5-6-7 hitters in the seventh, whiffing Bob Nelson for a ninth strikeout. And why exactly did we never use him as a starter before? This was his 213th major league appearance, and only his sixth start. So far he was holding a sub-2 ERA as a starting pitcher.

Manny hit a double to the base of the fence in right to begin the bottom 7th, maybe giving the Coons a scoring chance with a runners on second and nobody out. The Falcons walked Yamamoto with intent, but Harroun grinded out another walk, making it three aboard with nobody out. Rats! We’d never score again!! Actually, Kilmer got a grounder through Aparicio for an RBI single, the first marker on the board. Berto hit for Jordan Gonzalez and managed to make it 2-0 with a sac fly. Clark was supposed to bunt the runners over, failed twice, and then was hit by the 0-2 pitch to restock the bases, only to get involved in Cosmo’s inning-ending double play. Clark went back to the mound, retired the Falcons in order in the eighth, then saw Reyna reach base to begin the bottom 8th, followed by a Maldonado jack to center, 4-0…! A string of singles loaded the bases after that for Nettles in the #8 hole, with his grounder to second scoring another run. Clark struck out to end the inning, then retook the mound on 96 pitches. He needed eight to get Matt Watt to fly out to left. Besaw grounded out to Maldo, and Aparicio flew out to Nettles. 5-0 Critters. Maldonado 2-4, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Fernandez 2-4, 2B; de Wit (PH) 1-1; Kilmer 3-4, RBI; Clark 9.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 10 K, W (6-4) and 1-3;

Seriously. Why did we never move Brent Clark into the rotation before??

After an off day spent asking questions nobody had a good answer to, repeatedly, the team headed out for the final road series of the year, meeting the Arrowheads at their place.

Raccoons (71-81) vs. Falcons (68-85) – September 26-28, 2042

The Indians still had a chance to get into fourth place, and a sweep would be a good starting point for them. We had however already snatched the season series, 10-5. They had the worst offense in the league (but the Coons had just lost a pair to the second-worst, so…) and were eighth in runs allowed for a -90 run differential.

Projected matchups:
Nelson Moreno (11-12, 4.97 ERA) vs. Drew Johnson (10-9, 2.82 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (1-2, 4.10 ERA) vs. Luke Moses (4-2, 3.72 ERA)
Corey Mathers (4-11, 4.02 ERA) vs. Orlando Altreche (10-14, 4.28 ERA)

More right-handers exclusively in this set.

Game 1
POR: 2B Trevino – CF Reyna – 3B Maldonado – LF Fernandez – 1B Yamamoto – RF Waltz – SS Harroun – C Sieber – P Moreno
IND: CF Crocker – RF M. Ochoa – LF D. Gonzales – 3B Hutson – 2B Sanderfer – SS E. Vargas – 1B J. Diaz – C Custello – P D. Johnson

Offense was slow for the umpteenth game in a row as far as the Coons were concerned, who stranded a few early runners, including Cosmo and Reyna, who reached base on a walk and a hit batsman to begin the third inning. The 3-4-5 hitters then produced three pop outs, two to the right side of the infield and one to shallow center to strand them on base. Indy took the lead in the bottom 3rd in wicked ways; Roger Custello narrowly got a 1-out single past Cosmo before ex-Coon Johnson’s bunt was thrown away for a 2-base error by Maldonado. Nick Crocker brought in a run legging out an infield roller that four Raccoons converged on, but nobody covered first base. Somehow – especially given the easily toppleable pitcher on the mound – this didn’t spiral into a 7-run inning, as Mario Ochoa and David Gonzales then made outs that were just as poor as the Coons’ from the top of the inning. The run was unearned, but the two runs Moreno was whacked around for on three hits in the bottom 4th were not. Moreno opened the fifth with a single, then scored on Maldo’s 2-out homer to left-center, cutting the gap back to that lone run from earlier, 3-2. Well… at least until David Gonzales rammed another 2-piece off Moreno in the bottom of the inning. Moreno finished the inning, then was pinch-hit for. The Raccoons had no rally in them in the sixth or seventh inning. Or the eighth. Or the ninth. They lost as meekly as possible. 5-2 Indians. Maldonado 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Barker 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

For the first time since 2039, the Raccoons will post a losing record – this was our 82nd loss of the season.

Game 2
POR: 1B Ramos – 2B Trevino – SS Maldonado – LF Fernandez – 3B de Wit – CF Nettles – C Lancaster – RF Casaus – P Wheatley
IND: CF Crocker – RF M. Ochoa – LF D. Rivera – 3B Hutson – 1B Balaski – 2B Sanderfer – SS E. Vargas – C Custello – P Moses

The silly baseball gods thought they could annoy me, but as soon as I saw Raccoons cast-off Bill Balaski (.271, 2 HR, 9 RBI) in the lineup on Saturday, I knew he was gonna take Jason Wheatley disturbingly deep, which happened in the second inning. At least it was a solo shot… His other problems were ill control and rotten luck, as when Sandy Casaus played a soft leadoff single by Luke Moses into a double in the bottom 3rd. The bases filled up with a single and a hit batter, and there was nobody out. Wheatley rung up Danny Rivera, but Dan Hutson rammed a ball to deep left – Manny caught it at the fence and held him to a sac fly! Oh ****, Balaski’s back at the plate. Another disturbingly deep fly, but this time to center and into Nettles’ mitten, and Wheatley eloped with only a 2-0 deficit. It didn’t get much better for him as far as the optics were concerned. Alex Sanderfer and Enrique Vargas opened the fourth with clean singles before Custello found a double play and Maldo contained Moses’ bouncer to strand the surviving runner at third base. When Wheatley nailed Rivera in the fifth – his second drilled Indian in the game – there was some barking by the home team and Rivera in particular, but no brawl broke out between the two utterly lost and frustrated teams… yet.

Wheatley hard-scrabbled his way through six and a bit, walking Custello to begin the bottom 7th and moving the runner to third base with a wild pitch and a groundout by PH David Gonzales. Chuck Jones conceded the run on Crocker’s groundout, burying the Raccoons three runs deep. While the Indians’ Luke Moses was out of the game by then, the Portlanders had amounted to all of two base hits through seven innings. Sieber and Cosmo hit singles off Eric Peck in the eighth, bringing on a right-hander in Aaron Iten for Maldonado, who had yet to land a base hit for his streak, but popped out in foul territory to end the inning. Instead, the Indians cobbled together another run against Jon Craig and Zack Kelly in the bottom of the inning. Manny, de Wit, and Nettles went down in order against Willie Gonzales in the ninth. 4-0 Indians. Trevino 1-2, 2 BB; Sieber 1-1;

Oh boy.

Game 3
POR: 2B Trevino – CF Nettles – 3B Maldonado – LF Fernandez – 1B Yamamoto – C Kilmer – RF Waltz – SS Haley – P Mathers
IND: CF Crocker – RF M. Ochoa – LF D. Rivera – 1B Balaski – 2B Sanderfer – SS E. Vargas – 3B A. Avila – C Custello – P Altreche

The Raccoons scored (tah!) in the first inning, plating three runs after Cosmo (walk) and Nettles (single) went to the corners to begin the game. Maldo got home Cosmo with a groundout, and Manny got a ball out of the ballpark with a homer to right. Corey Mathers then got dismembered… and on his birthday…! – Danny Rivera hit home runs in his first two plate appearances, getting him to 27 bombs and 75 RBI for the season. The first was a 2-out solo job in the bottom 1st. The second was a grand slam in the third that flipped the score to the Indians, 5-3. Altreche (…) and Crocker singled, Ochoa reached on a Yamamoto error, and then … well, then it rumbled in the stands in right-center. Balaski singled and Vargas walked after that, but Mathers got out of the inning, somehow. In the fourth he walked Custello leading off, and after Crocker’s bunt was lifted for Jake White for the heavily left-handed top half of the order. Two groundouts stranded Custello before White bunted in a force to kill Phil Haley when the fifth-string shortstop actually reached base for once in the top 5th. Altreche’s walk to Cosmo and a Maldo single loaded the bases with two outs for Manny, who was robbed of a slam when Altreche balked in White, 5-4, then went down looking at a 3-2 pitch in silent protest.

While Jake White pitched some neat long relief, his bunting performance left him with not more than a D- grade for the game. Haley hit *another* leadoff single in the seventh inning, this time as the tying run. White bunted into a force at second base … *again*! This time Cosmo grounded into a 6-4-3 to make the pain go by quicker, but White continued to finish the seventh inning on the mound, too, conceding no runs to the Indians in 3.2 innings, while at the same time sabotaging every Coons comeback attempt he could get his sticky paws on… Even Travis Sims found a scoreless bottom 8th at the bottom of his heart, which put the Raccoons up against right-hander Vincenzo Battaglia with a 1-run deficit in the ninth, trying to stave off a humiliating sweep. Kilmer flew to the fence in right, but was caught by Juan Salinas. Van Anderson, who had not appeared all week due to the sprained ankle, hit for Waltz and grounded out. Miguel Reyna batted for Haley, two singles be damned against the platoon advantage – and struck out. 5-4 Indians. Maldonado 2-3, RBI; Haley 2-3; White 3.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 K;

In other news

September 22 – SFB 3B/1B Ramon Sifuentes (.287, 11 HR, 57 RBI) is out for the season with a torn meniscus.
September 23 – NAS 3B/SS Brad Critzer (.268, 10 HR, 53 RBI) is headed for Tommy John surgery with a partially torn UCL. He is questionable for Opening Day in 2043.
September 24 – The Stars erase a 3-run deficit in the ninth and beat the Cyclones, 10-9 in 12 innings. Both teams score a run in each inning of overtime, except for the Stars scoring twice in the top of the 12th.
September 26 – ATL SP David Farris (13-12, 3.43 ERA) and CL Rico Sanchez (4-1, 2.21 ERA, 43 SV) combine for a 1-hit shutout of the Aces in a 3-0 Knights win. A second-inning single by LVA 3B/2B Doug Richardson (.239, 13 HR, 64 RBI) is all the offensive output the Aces can muster in the game.
September 28 – The Cyclones are the first team to clinch their division with a 6-5 win over the Blue Sox, which will make it back-to-back playoff appearances after a 15-year drought for them.

FL Player of the Week: DAL 2B Hugo Acosta (.324, 4 HR, 79 RBI), batting .467 (14-30) with 1 HR, 7 RBI
CL Player of the Week: VAN OF Jerry Outram (.366, 25 HR, 94 RBI), hitting .500 (13-26) with 2 HR, 6 RBI

Complaints and stuff

I really mean it. Why has Brent Clark not been a starter before there were so many holes in the rotation that efficient relief became meaningless and why the **** not try it as the team’s in freefall?

Conversely, the Raccoons give up on Nelson Moreno as a starter. 85 starts (and one relief appearance) into his career, he’s 30-31 with a 4.44 ERA, but the ERA is getting worse every season (3.52, 4.57, 5.04 ERA) and it’s impossible to ignore that he’s useless in the rotation. He’ll be worked into the bullpen arrangements in the final week of the year to see whether he can be of any goddamn use there, and apart from that I’ll be reduced to sobbing for thinking we’d actually get somewhere with him.

The losing record has been clinched with another dismal 1-5 week. The last two Raccoons wins were both games started by Brent Clark, with eight losses in between and since. Going back a bit further, we won the opener against the damn Elks on the 9th. Since then, we’re 3-15, and have already clinched our worst season since 2032, the infamous year where we had no pitching whatsoever. That year the team ERA was 4.68 – worst in franchise history (narrowly beating out 2000-01). This year has been dreary, meaningless, pathetic, yes, even hopeless (and started fittingly enough with a 1-5 warning shot in opening week), but we STILL have a +11 run differential…! It was not all entirely rancid – other than 2032 and 2000-01. Although the bright spots on the team have been the old farts. Maldo, Manny doing alright. (Manny might be the only guy with 1,000 career hits on the team next year, assuming we still don’t get a deal for him) That’s about it. Omar Gutierrez was a surprise (but didn’t even get 200 at-bats). There’s some solid pitching assembled. Corey Mathers is the surprisingly steady starter nobody is even talking about. Clark might actually work out long term. But the holes are tremendous, especially in terms of position players, and remember that most of our highly ranked prospects are pitchers, and those highly ranked position player prospects? Well, that’s Sandy Casaus for you.

The minor league seasons saw some promise; the Alley Cats finished 78-66, third in their division, and came top 3 in both runs scored and runs allowed despite being regularly fleeced for players by the Raccoons. The Panthers and Beagles both had losing records, but at least individually promising talent. Whether that still included this year’s second-rounder Sean Belisle was up for an open and spirited debate after he went 1-14 with a 6.57 ERA in his professional debut.

There would have been opportunity to bring up a few more players in the second half of September, but the question was whether it made sense – we didn’t want to add anybody to the 40-man roster that didn’t have to be on it for reasons of protection by December 1. Besides experienced eater of garbage innings Angelo Montano, who had cleared waivers a while back, but would surely be an attractive rule 5 flyer for a similarly disorganized team with no ambitions as the Coons were, and genuine prospect Victor Merino, there were no such pitchers in AAA, but Merino, age 21, had walked more than he had struck out in his AAA campaign and needed more seasoning. There was no point in feeding him to the sharks now in late September. The only pitcher actually on the 40-man with the Alley Cats was Ryan van Campenhout, and we’d pass. However – that was before Cory Lambert came down with the flu on the weekend. He would not be able to take his start on Monday, so we would bring up Angelo Montano after all for a spot start… since the 40-man roster was actually full, AAA 1B Damian Salazar was placed on waivers and designated for assignment.

There were lots of position players on the 40-man in AAA: Goetz, Salazar, Carreno, Lando, Cox, and Ben Southall, the only one in the group that had no major league experience and also the only non-infielder. There were no eligible position players worthy of protection, either. We’d not bring back Carreno to preserve his rookie status for ’43, when the second base job pretty much defaulted on him with the end of Cosmo’s contract. He had batted an uninspired .232/.323/.280 with no homers and six runs batted in and four stolen bases for Portland in a June/July gig (when Maldo was on the DL and Cosmo held down third base), but a more steady .297/.376/.382 with no homers and 40 RBI plus 22 bags taken in 91 games with the Alley Cats. He was the second baseman come Opening Day 2043, and I wasn’t even having a discussion about it.

What about the assumed other half of that stellar up-the-middle combo, the other half of the Jason Wheatley trade, and the Raccoons farm’s unluckiest bastard? Matt Waters stayed in Ham Lake all year and batted .185/.289/.307 with 8 homers and 36 RBI. He stole 10 bases. His final BABIP was .239. At this point we had to promote him to AAA for the start of 2043 just to get him out of a toxic environment – not that the AA coaches were stuffing him in a locker or something to deal him emotional trauma, but there have always been rumors that the Panthers’ ballpark was built on an old Native American burial ground, and some people are more sensitive to the tortured voices of the dead than others, right? – (Chad eagerly nods, standing in the corner in the full mascot gear)

Fun Fact: Even after the dreadful depths of 2000-01, the sun rose again in Portland.

Not quite bloody soon, though.

[Westheim]

Yesterday's Coons. This internet crap is getting old.

+++

Raccoons (71-84) vs. Titans (64-90) – September 29-October 2, 2042

I would *really* like a split in this series, for once to stop the losing – oh, there’s so much losing… – and also to finally take a season series from the Titans. We had taken the season series TWICE in TWENTY YEARS …!! Come on, boys – a split! I’m not even asking for three, just two…! The Bostonians were eighth in runs scored, bottoms in runs allowed, and I had no real hope of getting that split…

Projected matchups:
Angelo Montano (1-5, 4.65 ERA) vs. Michael Donovan (9-11, 4.60 ERA)
Jake Jackson (11-13, 3.75 ERA) vs. Matt Peterson (8-12, 4.30 ERA)
Brent Clark (6-4, 2.24 ERA) vs. Philip Wise (9-15, 5.76 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (1-3, 4.13 ERA) vs. Jamal Barrow (9-12, 4.50 ERA)

We’d get the only southpaw on the horizon right in the opener on Monday. The other left-hander, 38-year-old Boston inventory Mario Gonzalez (9-10, 4.23 ERA) had just torn his rotator cuff and was out (like Antonio Gil and a few sidekicks), and would also miss all of the 2043 season.

Game 1
BOS: SS O. Aguirre – 1B A. Zacarias – LF J. Nelson – RF M. Avila – 3B I. Lugo – CF Vermillion – C Kuehn – 2B Arnett – P Donovan
POR: 2B Trevino – CF Reyna – SS Maldonado – 1B Yamamoto – RF Waltz – C Kilmer – 3B de Wit – LF Casaus – P Montano

The Titans scored two runs in the second inning against replacement punching bag Montano, which, you know – quelle surprise. They would only have gotten one, but after allowing three hits and a run and having runners on first and second with one out, Montano decided he wanted the fancy out on Donovan’s bunt, going to third base, and not the out he could actually get at first base, then ran into Oscar Aguirre’s sac fly.

Rain ended Montano’s outing before the completion of five innings. He lasted 4.1 innings, throwing 85 pitches, and was still 2-0 behind when the tarp stayed on the field for an hour. The Raccoons had a Justin Waltz single and literally nothing else against Donovan, who came back after the delay, got through the fifth and around Jay de Wit’s double, but then was also pinch-hit for in the top of the sixth… but was at least in line for a W. The Raccoons were facing 22-year-old debutee right-hander Guillermo Vinales in the bottom 7th when they actually twitched. Yamamoto drew a leadoff walk and Waltz doubled, putting the tying runs in scoring position with nobody out. Kilmer flew out, getting Yamamoto home on a sac fly … although Moises Avila was also charged an error on a wild throw that allowed Waltz to third base, and that run scored on de Wit’s sac fly to tie the game. Vinales was still around for the start of the eighth inning, issuing a leadoff walk to Berto in the #9 hole, then two singles to load the bases to Cosmo and Reyna. His debut ended when he notched a potential loss, walking Maldonado with the bags stacked. Jesus Rodarte gave up a run on Yamamoto’s sac fly, then walked Waltz to fill the bases again. Kilmer’s grounder to Ivan Lugo was good enough for another run, but de Wit flew out to Justin Nelson to end the inning. Josh Rella blitzed through three Titans batters in the ninth to nail down the save. 5-2 Critters. Waltz 2-3, BB, 2B; Barker 2.1 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Barker pitched the bulk of the game post-rain delay, but the W went to Chuck Jones (5-2, 3.55 ERA) with two outs collected from Mark Vermillion and Paul Kuehn in the top 8th.

Game 2
BOS: SS O. Aguirre – 1B A. Zacarias – RF M. Avila – CF Vermillion – LF Tortora – C Kuehn – 3B Castaneda – 2B Kilgallen – P Peterson
POR: 2B Trevino – C Sieber – LF Fernandez – 1B Yamamoto – CF Reyna – RF Waltz – 3B de Wit – SS Harroun – P Jackson

Jackson couldn’t find the strike zone, walked two in the first inning, but somehow eloped on a few poor grounders hit by Vermillion and Cullen Tortora. By contrast, Matt Peterson issued a leadoff walk to Cosmo Trevino, then gave up the first career bomb of Sean Sieber to right. Jackson actually gradually settled down after the wild first inning, and would only allow one more walk in seven innings of 2-hit ball that he delivered on this Tuesday. One of the hits was a solo homer to left by Moises Avila in the fourth, but the Raccoons countered with a Cosmo single to left, an error by Tortora, and an RBI double up the line by Sieber to make it 3-1 in the fifth. Apart from Sieber, there was precious little hitting going on – the Raccoons had only five base hits through seven innings, including Van Anderson’s pinch-hit double in the bottom 7th in place of Jackson. Tim Hale held the Titans at bay in the eighth, while the Raccoons loaded the bags with Sieber (leadoff walk), Reyna (walk), and Waltz (single), but then de Wit whiffed against Justin Johns to end the bottom 8th with no runs scored and three runners left on base. Josh Rella, though, retired the 3-4-5 batters in order, clinching back-to-back saves AND the season series! 3-1 Furballs! Sieber 3-3, BB, HR, 2B, 3 RBI; Anderson (PH) 1-1, 2B; Jackson 7.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 5 K, W (12-13);

It was a lousy brand of winning baseball, though. At least the mutual non-aggression pact took only 2:28 to complete …

And yet, the league demanded these two teams would semi-angrily hiss at each other even in October…

Game 3
BOS: SS O. Aguirre – 1B A. Zacarias – LF J. Nelson – RF M. Avila – 3B I. Lugo – CF Vermillion – C Kuehn – 2B Kilgallen – P P. Wise
POR: 1B Ramos – CF Reyna – 3B Maldonado – LF Fernandez – RF Waltz – C Kilmer – 2B Harroun – SS Haley – P Clark

While Fernandez singled home Berto in the first inning for a 1-0 lead, it was safe to say that the Raccoons’ battery was not on the same page in this game. The Titans hit three singles in the second inning and made three runs out of them thanks to a throwing error by Kilmer, a passed ball charged to Kilmer, and a wild pitch on Clark continually moving on the runners. Somehow all the runs were earned, and also somehow Clark wound up with a lead only two innings later, despite clumsiness reigning supreme even after the top 2nd for Portland. Harroun and Haley reached scoring position on a Kilmer walk (and forceout by Harroun) and Haley double in the bottom 2nd. Clark hit a single to left, Harroun scored, and Haley was thrown out at home plate trying, holding the Raccoons to a 3-2 deficit. In the fourth, the weird pair at the bottom of the order got into the H column again – Harroun hit a single, and Haley became the second Coon in the series to hit his first career homer, flipping the score to 4-3 Portland.

Manny hit his 147th career bomb an inning later to extend the lead to 5-3, while Waltz was content with a walk – and still had no career home run in 138 at-bats, which made him a less and less appealing option for a traditional power position … or any position, considering his Landonian OPS. Kilmer forced him out, Haley drew another walk from Wise with two outs, and Clark was hit for after an abundance of early troubles, a high pitch count, and two runners aboard. Yamamoto grounded out to short. The 5-3 lead went to Nelson Moreno, who pitched two scoreless innings – consecutively! – which was an entirely new development with him. Jon Craig got around a leadoff walk to Juan Rodriguez in the eighth inning, still maintaining the 5-3 lead. The bottom 8th saw the small crowd cheer in delight when Berto reached first base against Jerry Hodges, then took second base by force – only his second bag taken this year, and probably the last. Rella was not available after saving the last two (why break him intentionally?) and instead Tim Hale got the ball in the ninth. He allowed a 1-out single up the middle to Ivan Lugo, then got a double play grounder from Jacob Kolbe. 5-3 Coons. Ramos 2-4, BB; Fernandez 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Haley 3-3, BB, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Moreno 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

Game 4
BOS: SS O. Aguirre – 1B A. Zacarias – RF M. Avila – CF Vermillion – 3B I. Lugo – LF Tortora – C Kuehn – 2B J. Rodriguez – P Barrow
POR: 2B Trevino – CF Reyna – 3B Maldonado – LF Fernandez – 1B Yamamoto – C Sieber – SS Haley – RF Casaus – P Wheatley

While Maldonado gave the Raccoons a 2-0 lead with a first-inning homer, Jason Wheatley lasted all of 1.2 innings in this game. He gave up an RBI double to Paul Kuehn in the top 2nd, then waved for the trainer. Dr. Padilla immediately left the mound with him and I fell crashing through the glass table in front of the good old brown couch as I fainted. Jake White got the ball, whiffed Rodriguez to end the inning, but there were no words for this calamity.

Boston took the lead on Avila’s 2-out, 2-run homer in the top 3rd after White had allowed a leadoff single to the opposing pitcher. The Coons loaded the bags on Cosmo and Maldo singles and an error permitting Manny to reach base, only for Yamamoto to fly out to left for the third out. White would pitch the Coons through the fifth inning, then was replaced with Travis Sims, who lasted only one inning, but gave up three hits, all loud, for two runs, to drop into a 5-2 hole. Alexis Cortes walked two batters and gave up an RBI double to Vermillion in the seventh. More inept relief by Kelly and Barker added another two runs in the eighth inning. The Raccoons were ostensibly still in shock over the Wheatley departure, because they didn’t piece anything together that even remotely looked like baseball, all the way to the bitter end. 8-2 Titans. Trevino 3-4; Maldonado 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Nettles (PH) 2-2;

Raccoons (74-85) vs. Canadiens (91-68) – October 3-5, 2042

The damn dumb Elks had already clinched the division on Wednesday, so at least there would not be any damn dumb celebrations on our field again. Unless they did it out of spite. They were first in runs scored, eighth in runs allowed, and I really didn’t have any nerves for this game, instead pacing up and down in front of Dr. Padilla’s office. The grim truth about this bedeviled season series? 3-12.

Projected matchups:
Cory Lambert (4-6, 3.66 ERA) vs. Matt Sealock (15-8, 4.01 ERA)
Corey Mathers (4-12, 4.18 ERA) vs. David Arias (12-16, 5.06 ERA)
Jake Jackson (12-13, 3.67 ERA) vs. John Roeder (6-6, 3.50 ERA)

Southpaw Sunday. Yay.

(knocks on Dr. Padilla’s door)

(no answer)

Game 1
VAN: RF van der Zanden – C Clemente – CF Outram – 2B Schneller – 1B J. Lopez – 3B G. Ortiz – LF J. Simmons – SS R. Johnston – P Sealock
POR: 2B Trevino – CF Anderson – 3B Maldonado – LF Fernandez – 1B Yamamoto – RF Waltz – C Kilmer – SS Harroun – P Lambert

Lambert simply was no match for that lineup, getting lit up for six hits and a walk in the first three innings… and only one run, because the damn Elks made two outs on the basepaths, including Timóteo Clemente being thrown out at home by Manny Fernandez to end the 3-hit first inning. That didn’t make Lambert any less of a punching bag. He allowed another hit in the fourth, and two in the fifth to allow Arnout van der Zanden and Clemente onto the corners with nobody out. Jerry Outram hit a sac fly, 2-0, while Dan Schneller popped out. Johnny Lopez singled to right, and ten base hits into the game, the Raccoons went and got a new pitcher, with Lambert used up. Greg Ortiz flew out to center against Derek Barker to end the inning. And by the way, no, the Raccoons were not doing anything of note – they had ONE base hit at that point…

Injury befell the Elks in the seventh inning, when Clemente clobbered into Phil Haley at second base in an attempt to break up a double play, but he mainly busted his knee in the process. The damn Elks still doubled their lead to 4-0 in the inning, Clemente having singled off Chuck Jones, and Nelson Moreno fanning the flames with being no help whatsoever. The Coons scored a run mostly by accident in the bottom of the inning, van der Zanden meandering after a Waltz fly to play it into a double, with Kilmer hitting an RBI single right after that, 4-1. The run was given back by Angelo Montano in the eighth. He walked two, nailed Jerry Outram with a 2-out fastball so hard the handful of stupidly grinning Elks fans in section 38 forgot to waggle the antlers on their stupidly cute hats for a few seconds, and then conceded only one run … on a wild pitch.

Then Sealock crumbled. Haley and Cosmo reached base to begin the bottom 8th, advanced on a grounder by Anderson, and held when Maldo flew out to right. But Outram and reliever Ryan McConnell were beaten on a Manny Fernandez fly to center which eluded the sterling slugger and fell for a 2-out, 2-run double, putting the tying run in the box. Granted, that tying run was Yamamoto, who had 2 RBI in his last 51 at-bats. The Elks still went for a right-hander, Mario Godinez, who secured an easier fly and the third out in centerfield… and then Jon Craig was lit up like a ******* Christmas tree in the ninth inning. A walk and five hits for five runs, including a 2-out, 2-run triple by Outram, and having to be rescued by Zack Kelly on top of that. 10-3 Canadiens. Fernandez 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI;

(knocks knocks knocks) Dr. Padilla. (knocks knocks knocks) Dr. Padilla. (knocks knocks knocks) Dr. Padilla. (knocks knocks knocks) Dr. Padilla. (knocks knocks knocks) Dr. Pa- oh, there you are. – Yeah, about Jason Wheatley… – Uh-huh. – So, so. – I see.

(exhales as Dr. Padilla closes his door) Only a mild hamstring strain …!

Game 2
VAN: RF van der Zanden – 1B J. Lopez – CF Outram – 2B Schneller – LF V. Vazquez – SS R. Johnson – 3B R. Ashley – C James – P D. Arias
POR: 1B Ramos – 2B Trevino – 3B Maldonado – LF Fernandez – RF Reyna – CF Nettles – C Kilmer – SS Haley – P Mathers

While Friday’s story had one Cory being the gift that kept on giving to the damn Elks, Saturday was a different Corey and a different storey. The declemented Elks had only two soft singles off him, both in the third inning by Ray Ashley and van der Zanden, and didn’t score through five innings. The Raccoons were also not getting on the board on three hits in four innings against Arias, but then broke out in the bottom of the fifth, with Mathers (!), Berto, Cosmo, and Maldo landing base hits in order with two outs. Three were singles, while Cosmo hit an RBI double, and Maldo’s single plated two runs before Manny grounded out to keep it 3-0. Van der Zanden hit a 1-out double in the sixth, but Lopez grounded out and Outram did the same, stranding that run on third base.

Of course, there are no good outcomes against the damn Elks. Come the seventh, Mathers retired nobody but himself but only after Dan Schneller and Victor Vazquez had singled and Ryan Johnston had drawn a walk. Tim Hale was brought in against PH Justin Simmons, who hit into a fielder’s choice to plate a run, then was nipped by Kilmer as he tried to steal second base on 2-2 to Derek James, who ended up striking out, getting the Coons to the stretch with a 3-1 lead. The eighth saw Justin LeClerc go down against Cortes before Chuck Jones got the top of the order. Van der Zanden – rapidly becoming a new furious pest – singled, but Jones struck out both Lopez and Outram to get out of the inning! With no tack-on offense materializing for Portland, Josh Rella got the ninth. Schneller singled. Vazquez walked. Tying runs aboard, no outs. Julio Diaz, left-handed batter, pinch-hit in the #7 hole after Ryan Johnston whiffed. He also struck out. James, hitting .191, flew to left … and to Manny Fernandez to end the game…! 3-1 Raccoons! Ramos 3-4; Trevino 3-4, 2B, RBI; Mathers 6.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, W (5-12) and 1-2;

If the Cyclones had won their game against the Rebels on this day (they did not) they would have claimed home field advantage for the World Series even against the damn Elks. As things were, everybody still had to wait for the Sunday games.

Game 3
VAN: RF van der Zanden – 1B J. Lopez – CF Outram – 2B Schneller – 3B G. Ortiz – SS R. Johnston – LF J. Simmons – C J. Diaz – P Roeder
POR: 1B Ramos – 2B Trevino – SS Maldonado – LF Fernandez – RF Waltz – C Kilmer – 3B de Wit – CF Gonzalez – P Jackson

Jackson had another first inning entirely off the hooks, loading the bases with two walked batters and a brushed uniform sleeve without getting an out, and falling 1-0 behind on a groundout by Dan Schneller. He walked Greg Ortiz to fill the bags again, then gave up two runs on a Johnston single. It was a bit of a nightmare… This time he also didn’t get noticeably better after the ****** opening frame, merely managing to hang on to a 3-0 hook. Roeder walked Maldo and Manny in the bottom 1st, allowed a hit to de Wit in the second, but didn’t get charged with any runs. Maldo reached on an error in the third and Manny doubled, putting them both in scoring position… but with two outs, and Justin Waltz was out on a comebacker.

The Raccoons did not score off Roeder as long as Jackson was in the game, which turned out to be 5.1 innings of constant traffic. He was lifted for Kelly after K’ing Simmons to begin the sixth. The southpaw would get the Raccoons clean through seven, still with no run support, then yielded for Nelson Moreno in the eighth. He pitched the last two innings, allowing an RBI double to van der Zanden (grumble, grumble) in the ninth inning for four total Elks runs. The Raccoons? Out-hitting them (6-4 anyway), but not out-witting them. In the ninth they reached base when Sebastien Parham threw away Reyna’s grounder for a 2-base error – Reyna had pinch-hit for his apparently final Coons at-bat, with his contract also out at season’s end, which could be mere minutes away now. Berto got to the plate one more time, the last time for the second time, and while the applause for Reyna had been timid, Berto got a standing ovation despite an 0-for-4 in this game. With a hit he would go out with a .300 career average for the Critters – but any other outcome would leave him at .299; he grounded out to Lopez, because we can’t have nice things here. Cosmo, also 0-for-4, got a think applause as well, which didn’t really die down after he popped out to end the game, probably because the fans were happy that they could go home now and needn’t bother for the next six months… 4-0 Canadiens. Fernandez 1-2, 2 BB, 2B; Gonzalez 2-3;

In other news

October 1 – The Canadiens clinch the CL North by virtue of being rained out against the Crusaders while the Loggers lose to the Indians, 4-2, dropping their magic number to zero.
October 1 – The Wolves receive bad news, with SP Eric Weitz (16-7, 2.92 ERA) out for the season with an oblique strain.
October 1 – TOP SP Josh Bourgeois (15-5, 3.27 ERA) 3-hits the Cyclones, whiffing nine in a 7-0 shutout.
October 2 – CIN 1B Danny Santillano (.331, 19 HR, 73 RBI) goes yard three times in a 16-7 whooping of the Buffaloes, driving in three RBI on his triplet of solo shots. He adds a single and two walks to his tally.
October 2 – OCT SP Raymond Pearce (7-8, 4.35 ERA) throws a 2-hit shutout against the Aces, taking a 6-0 win.
October 3 – The Wolves take the FL West with a 3-2 win over the Gold Sox. It is their sixth straight playoff appearance.
October 4 – “Too many moving parts” – Boston 3B/SS Antonio Gil (.233, 0 HR, 12 RBI) announces his retirement due to repeated failed surgeries for a badly broken ankle. The 32-year-old career Titan won four Gold Gloves and was the 2036 World Series MVP. He hit only .229 but led the league in walks three times and had a .360 career OBP. He hit 29 home runs and drove in 456 runs, and stole 193 bases.
October 5 – The Thunder beat the Knights, 13-1, to retake first place in the CL South. OCT SS Chris O’Keefe (.272, 13 HR, 82 RBI) drives in five runs with two homers.
October 6 – The Thunder win a squeaker from the Knights on Sunday, 2-1, clinching the CL South despite a game in hand against the Falcons, which the league had already ruled would be made up on Monday no matter what.
October 6 – The Condors score 11 runs in the third inning against the Falcons in a 15-4 rout on Closing Day.

FL Hitter of the Month: CIN 1B Danny Santillano (.327, 16 HR, 69 RBI), batting .343 with 3 HR, 16 RBI
CL Hitter of the Month: VAN OF Jerry Outram (.364, 26 HR, 96 RBI), swatting .386 with 6 HR, 19 RBI
FL Pitcher of the Month: DAL SP Orlando Leos (18-8, 3.58 ERA), tossing 5-0 ball with 2.76 ERA, 48 K
CL Pitcher of the Month: OCT SP Alan Fleming (16-5, 3.44 ERA), pitching at a 5-0 rate with 2.25 ERA, 31 K
FL Rookie of the Month: SFW LF/RF Mario Villa (.276, 5 HR, 27 RBI), hitting .311 with 2 HR, 9 RBI
CL Rookie of the Month: VAN OF/1B Arnout van der Zanden (.292, 2 HR, 20 RBI), hitting .353 with 1 HR, 9 RBI

Complaints and stuff

All that’s left now is rooting for the Thunder and whoever comes out of the Federal League, heck even the Wolves, to not concede another damn ring to the damn Elks. So far the Raccoons still hold a 4-3 edge in championships against their most bitter rivals!

Picking apart the roster detritus can wait until after the playoffs… for the time being we have clinched the #7 pick for next year’s draft.

Fun Fact: Danny Santillano is the first Cyclones hitter ever to push three home runs out of the park.

The funny part is that he did it against the only other team that does not have a 3-homer game, the Buffaloes.

[Westheim]

2042 ABL PLAYOFFS

Once more, the ABL’s teams had spent an entire summer doing nothing else but playing baseball game after baseball game only to find out four amongst them that would now bid to win a pair of seven-game series to take home the championship. This is their story.

With a 94-68 record, the Cyclones had won the FL East with the largest margin of any playoff team, beating out the Rebels by eight games and clinching Home Field advantage for as far as it could carry them. Scoring the most runs in the FL and surrendering the third-fewest left them with a healthy +152 run differential. They were well rounded, offering no substantial weakness – except that injuries had taken their pitching staff apart. Besides starting catcher Ricky Rodriguez, they were without starting pitchers Chris “Tuba” Turner (13-2, 3.18 ERA) and a couple of relievers, which left the rotation to Chris Sulkey (11-12, 3.12 ERA), Willie Gallardo (20-8, 3.40 ERA) and … and then it got thinner. The hope was for the big three in the lineup, Danny Santillano (.328, 20 HR, 74 RBI), Dan Mathes (.326, 23 HR, 103 RBI), and Jayden Lockwood (.304, 16 HR, 72 RBI) to out-hit whatever deficiencies injuries had left them with staff-wise.

Opposite them, the 91-71 Wolves had beaten out the Stars by two games, and had only one significant injury… unfortunately their co-ace Eric Weitz (16-7, 2.92 ERA). Ryan Bedrosian (16-7, 2.57 ERA) still had support from Justin Roberts (16-10, 3.13 ERA) and John Gano (7-7, 3.23 ERA), though. Theirs had been the best rotation in front of the best defense in the league, but after that, the problems began. Their bullpen had pitched to a 4.43 ERA and had never been straightened out, and their offense was persistently average or even below average. They had scored only the eighth-most runs in the FL, and only had a +51 run differential. They ranked seventh in batting average, seventh in home runs, seventh in stolen bases… they were almost offensively average offensively. Armando Herrera (.342, 2 HR, 68 RBI) was their only above-.300 hitter, while what power there was was spread throughout the lineup, with Morgan Kuhlmann (.213, 20 HR, 62 RBI) leading the team in home runs.

Home field advantage in the Continental League rested with the 93-69 Canadiens, who had beaten out the defending world champions Loggers by six games. They had scored the most runs in the CL, also taking first place in average, home runs, and a few other categories, but notably they were near the bottom in stolen bases, speed being absolutely not their forte. Their pitchers had allowed the fifth-fewest runs, but were occasionally betrayed by a bottom three defense. Mike Mihalik (16-12, 3.30 ERA) led the team by ERA, although Matt Sealock (16-8, 3.93 ERA) was not far removed from a pair of Pitcher of the Year belts. On offense, there was no way past the pair in the middle of the lineup, which split a batting triple crown between them, Jerry Outram (.363, 27 HR, 101 RBI), who won the batting title, and Dan Schneller (.319, 29 HR, 126 RBI), who clinched the home run crown and RBI leadership. Injuries had however taken out some of the supporting cast, with Melvin Hernandez and Justin Becker as well as catcher Timóteo Clemente (.223, 10 HR, 40 RBI), who had gone down with a knee injury just days from the playoffs. They were trusting in rookie breakout Arnout van der Zanden (.306, 2 HR, 22 RBI) just as much as in 39-year-old legionnaire Greg Ortiz (.280, 9 HR, 49 RBI) to carry the team to another title.

The 89-73 Thunder had scraped to first place over the Knights by a single game. Second in runs scored (by a safe distance to the Canadiens) and sixth in runs allowed, they had a +61 run differential (Canadiens: +136), with a team that was very much the opposite of their CLCS opponents. They had the best bullpen in the CL, but their rotation had struggled with the exception of Alan Fleming (17-5, 3.35 ERA), who was the only hurler with an ERA better than 4.30 they could field for the CLCS, while the back end of the pen was stacked ten feet tall even after last year’s closer Robbie Peel had gone down to injury only two games into the season. The lineup was anchored by catcher Jesus Adames (.331, 25 HR, 85 RBI) and outfielder Matt Kinder (.343, 17 HR, 53 RBI), a 27-year-old breakout that had been acquired from the Rebels’ AAA team in mid-July and had then whacked 39 extra-base hits in 70 games, good enough for a 4.9 WAR. The team had finished third in home runs, with six hitters with 12+ bombs in the lineup.

In terms of playoff appearances, the Thunder led the field with their 15th overall, but their first since 2026, ending a 15-year drought, the longest in team history. The Cyclones were in October for the 12th time (and second year in a row), the Canadiens for the 10th time (fourth appearance in five years), and the Wolves for the ninth time (and six straight). All the teams had multiple championships – two each, except for the Canadiens, who had three.

The Wolves were the most-recent champs (2040), followed by the Canadiens (2038), Cyclones (2010…), and Thunder (2000).

Thunder and Canadiens had met in the CLCS once before in 2012, Oklahoma prevailing in seven games. The only FLCS meeting between the Cyclones and Wolves had taken place last season, Cincinnati moving on in five games. The only World Series between combatants available this year had been the 2038 edition, in which Vancouver had outlasted Salem in seven games.

+++

2042 LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES

OCT @ VAN … 1-5 … (Canadiens lead 1-0) … OCT Ethan Moore 1-1, 2 BB; VAN Victor Vazquez 2-4, 2B, 4 RBI; VAN Matt Sealock 8.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 4 K, W (1-0);

The Thunder amount to all of two base hits in the CLCS opener.

SAL @ CIN … 4-10 … (Cyclones lead 1-0) … CIN Dan Mathes 1-2, BB, HR, 2 RBI; CIN Mike Gray (PH) 1-1, 3B, 2 RBI; CIN Dan Rollin 1-2, BB, HR, 2 RBI;
OCT @ VAN … 6-3 … (series tied 1-1) … VAN David Arias 5.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K;

The Thunder ride a 5-run first inning to victory in Game 2, basically not hitting anything after chasing starter Mike Mihalik early.

SAL @ CIN … 15-2 … (series tied 1-1) … SAL Bill Jenkins 3-5, BB, RBI; SAL Morgan Kuhlmann 3-6, 2B, RBI; SAL Sergio Barcia 3-6, 2 2B, 4 RBI; SAL Dave Trahan 3-4, 4 RBI; CIN Danny Santillano 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; CIN Dan Mathes 3-4, 2B;

VAN @ OCT … 5-6 … (Thunder lead 2-1) … OCT Jesus Adames 2-4, BB, 2 HR, 2 RBI; OCT Jesse Stedham 1-1, 3 BB;

One of Adames’ two home runs comes off closer Josh Boles, ending the game with a leadoff walkoff shot in the bottom of the ninth.

CIN @ SAL … 9-4 … (Cyclones lead 2-1) … CIN Danny Santillano 1-2, 3 BB; CIN Dan Mathes 2-5, 2B, 3 RBI; SAL Dave Trahan 3-4, RBI;
VAN @ OCT … 7-0 … (series tied 2-2) … VAN Arnout van der Zanden 3-5, 2 3B, 2B, 2 RBI; VAN Ryan Johnston 2-3, BB; VAN John Roeder 8.1 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 10 K, W (1-0);

CIN @ SAL … 7-8 … (series tied 2-2) … CIN Jesus Burgos 3-5; CIN Danny Santillano 3-3, 2 BB, 2B, 2 RBI; SAL Bob Mancini 3-4, HR, 2B, RBI; SAL Sergio Barcia 2-3, HR, 2B, 2 RBI;
VAN @ OCT … 3-6 … (Thunder lead 3-2) … OCT Jesus Adames 3-4, 2B, RBI; OCT Raymond Pearce 8.0 IP, 10 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, W (1-1) and 2-2, RBI;

CIN @ SAL … 1-2 … (Wolves lead 3-2) … SAL Bill Jenkins 1-2, BB, HR, 2 RBI; SAL Julian Ponce 8.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 6 K, W (1-0);

Ponce and Victor Acevedo make Jenkins’ 2-run homer stand up from the first inning all the way to the end.

OCT @ VAN … 2-4 … (series tied 3-3) … OCT Ethan Moore 2-3, BB; OCT Chris O’Keefe 2-2, BB, 2B; OCT Adrian Wade 2-3, 2 RBI; OCT Alan Fleming 7.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 2 K;

The Thunder hold a 2-1 lead in the eighth inning before three relievers combine to throw away their World Series ticket on one hit, three walks, and a hit batter.

SAL @ CIN … 11-6 … (Wolves win 4-2) … SAL Bill Jenkins 3-4, RBI; SAL Morgan Kuhlmann 1-2, 3 BB, 2 RBI; CIN Dan Mathes 2-4, BB, HR, 2B, 3 RBI;
OCT @ VAN … 6-0 … (Thunder win 4-3) … OCT Jim Allen 2-5, HR, RBI; OCT Adrian Wade 2-4, HR, RBI; OCT Juan Ramos 7.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 K, W (1-0); OCT Brian McAllister 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

On nothing more than a fourth-inning single by storming rookie van der Zanden, the Canadiens are eliminated in a rather lop-sided Game 7, while the Wolves pour out two 5-spots early in a rush of the Cyclones.

+++

2042 WORLD SERIES

In a brand new World Series matchup, the Wolves would have home field advantage over the Thunder, but given how World Series advantage had meant about as much as having an above-+100 run differential in the two LCS…

Ironically, the Wolves had basically out-slugged the Cyclones despite being a barely-average offensive team during the regular season, while their top notch rotation had taken a beating or two. They also had lost outfielder Luis Inoa to a shoulder strain, although he remained on the roster and might return to the lineup as early as Game 3.

The Thunder had barely outscored the Canadiens in the CLCS, but had also lost Matt Kinder to an undisclosed injuy – although he had been hitting only .167 with a lone RBI in the series. He remained on the roster as the World Series began.

It was hard to make out a favorite with two teams that were mostly right-handed pitching and mostly right-handed hitting, too. If in doubt, the experts said, go with the better pitching corps, and thus selected the Wolves to win in five or six.

+++

OCT @ SAL … 4-5 … (Wolves lead 1-0) … OCT Jim Allen 2-2, 2B, RBI; SAL Bob Mancini 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; SAL Dave Trahan 2-2, BB, 3B;

Both Bryce Sparkes (0-2, 11.37 ERA) and Ryan Bedrosian (1-1, 4.26 ERA), the Game 1 starters, go down with injury. Sparkes retires nobody but is charged a run on two hits and the loss, while Bedrosian amounts to the win before suffering a hamstring strain in the seventh inning, ending his series. – A hamstring strain also axes Matt Kinder for the rest of the series.

OCT @ SAL … 4-9 … (Wolves lead 2-0) … SAL Jose Rivera 3-5, RBI; SAL Armando Herrera 3-4, BB, 2B; SAL Sergio Barcia 2-3, HR, 3 RBI;

Salem’s John Gano (1-1, 7.11 ERA) ties a league record with eight walks issued in a playoff game, yet somehow winds up with the win in Game 2.

SAL @ OCT … 6-3 … (Wolves lead 3-0) … SAL Armando Herrera 4-5, 3B, 2 RBI; SAL Bob Mancini 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI; OCT Jim Allen 2-5, HR, 2 RBI; OCT Jesus Adames 4-5;

SAL @ OCT … 8-6 … (Wolves win 4-0) … SAL Sergio Barcia 2-2, BB, RBI; SAL Dave Trahan 2-4, 2 RBI; SAL John Peck (PH) 1-1, 2B, RBI; SAL Benito Mendoza (PH) 1-1, RBI; OCT Jonathan Moore 1-2, HR, 3B, 2 RBI;

Julian Ponce (2-0, 3.00 ERA) concedes four runs in seven innings before the Wolves barely patch the eighth inning together with four relievers for the cost of two runs. 27-year-old Jake Bonnie (0-0, 0.00 ERA, 5 SV) slams the door on the Thunder to complete the sweep.

The last team to sweep the World Series – also the Wolves, in 2040 over the Knights.

+++

2042 WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS
Salem Wolves
(3rd title)

[Westheim]

The Raccoons turn(ed) nine years old today! (But I worked all day and then had no internet...)

In raccoons terms they're starting to get old, slow, and blind, but say, Jason Wheatley, what's this year's pie flavored like?

Peperoni-Garbage, it seems.

[Westheim]

(has a hissing contest at the desk with Nick Valdes until Maud brings a plate with muffins, which Jason Wheatley is dangling from, and manages to replace the blunt aggression with noisy munching)

Nick Valdes basically kept the Raccoons poor by only granting a marginal increase for the budget from $39M to $39.5M for the 2043 season, but then again the Coons also started out with remarkably few financial commitments and a big budget space, but we’d get to that in time.

Only one team had a budget over $50M for the new season, which was the Wolves, freshly re-ringed, with a $52M allowance from their own scroogey owner. They were followed by the Canadiens ($49M), and Blue Sox, Condors, Capitals (all $46.5M) to complete the top 5. There was a whole host of teams in the $45M range, and the Raccoons dropped from a tie for 15th place to a tie for 18th place with the Warriors (last year: the Buffos), just inches above the red zone. Said red zone with the five poorest teams contained the Loggers ($38M), Gold Sox ($37.5M), Aces ($36M), Rebels ($35M), and Indians ($27M). Thus the gap between the Raccoons and the richest team was just the same as the drop from the Raccoons to the poorest team.

The average budget for a team in the league rose to $41.79M, rising $560k compared to 2042. For the very first time, the 24 teams would have a combined $1B to blow on playing baseball. The median budget was $41.75M, up a hefty $1.5M from last season.

Those muffins are great, Maud! You should do more baking! – What do you mean, Nick, they are barely league average?? – YOU are barely league average!! – (hissing contest restarts, now with bits of muffins being ejected from snouts and all over the room)

+++

It would be an unusual offseason – the Raccoons would have money, and probably no real opportunity to spend it in a way that would make any sense. And then there was the need to make hard decisions, and make them better than last time, which got us to the free agency and arbitration board right away. [Board in original form below.]

The Raccoons had five upcoming free agents (having traded a few expiring contracts in July already), and would only make a token effort for one of them, and it was neither Berto nor Cosmo. Both were listed as type B free agents, and while we loved ourselves a good draft pick compensation around here, Berto had already used that door to sneak back in once before. And everybody loves Berto, but let’s be honest – he’s washed up. He has no position, he lost his speed, he’s got a huge bum, and the Raccoons had to look towards the future and not – (black googly eyes start to take on water)

Would Cosmo accept an offer of arbitration? That was a tough one. He was 35, and knowing the league, could probably still squeeze out another 4-year deal this time, although his defense was starting to sag and his speed was already diminished. The Raccoons again had to look towards the future – the position was already assigned to Arturo Carreno going forwards, and this time we had to be sure to not take on another not-so-well-aged veteran for another year.

And thus, neither Cosmo nor Berto would be offered arbitration…!

And it broke my little fuzzy heart.

Derek Barker, filler right-hander and 38 years old, and Miguel Reyna, fourth outfielder with a muddled 2-year stint with the team, would not be back, either. The only player we talked to was Tim Hale, but Tim Hale, who had two and a half pitches and had never excelled as a starter, had it in his head that he should be in the rotation and should make starter’s money. While the Raccoons had money to blow it on white elephants and a ******* parade, they also had a farm full of starting pitching prospects, and expected to add from that farm to the big league club at regular intervals in the next year or two or three.

Nope, the money would go towards a fine free agent position player or two (or three).

On the arbitration side there were starters Brent Clark (that still sounded weird) and Jake Jackson, as well as relievers Jon Craig (a special brand of crummy), Chuck Jones (fine specialist), Alex Ramirez (who missed almost all of ’42 on the DL), and Travis Sims (hack!). For position players, only red flag replacement Steve Nickas and the highly erratic and irritating Stephon Nettles were eligible. They would all get offers – while in a year where the Raccoons would try to compete and lack the dosh to do so we’d readily non-tender the last three players here just to save that million bucks and turn it into something actually more useful than a door knob on a cat’s back. We could still try to lose them on waivers later on.

Before October was out, the Raccoons signed 1-year extensions with Jones ($640k), Craig ($365k), Ramirez ($815k), Nettles ($400k), and Nickas ($300k). The exception was Brent Clark, on whom the Raccoons would take a reasonable gamble that the starting pitcher thing would actually work out, and offered him a 4-year deal (buying out one year of free agency) for a flat $4M. Clark accepted – probably reasoning that if the starting pitcher thing actually work out, he’d only be 31 at the end of the deal and could still get a big deal, and if it didn’t, he was one of the better-paid seventh/eighth inning relievers in the league. Even with that modest deal, Clark stood to be the fifth-biggest earner on the roster at the end of October, behind Manny Fernandez ($2.5M), Jesus Maldonado ($2.2M), Jeff Kilmer ($2M), and whatever Jake Jackson would make, which would be just over $1M (his 2042 salary).

+++

October 27 – The Raccoons acquire 33-yr old right-hander MR Seth Green (12-13, 4.64 ERA, 1 SV) from the Titans in exchange for former top 10 prospect LF/RF Sandy Casaus (.149, 0 HR, 8 RBI).
November 7 – The Crusaders get 30-yr old LF/RF John Davis (.267, 6 HR, 122 RBI) from the Pacifics for 25-yr old 2B Sergio Pena (.286, 3 HR, 62 RBI).
November 12 – The Pacifics add SP Justin Kaiser (38-53, 4.31 ERA) from the Rebels in exchange for five prospects, none of them ranked higher than #133 1B/LF/RF Raul Ramirez.

+++

Not sure what soured me most on Sandy Casaus. He never hit in AAA, so I never expected him to hit in the majors, either. Was it that he was the return for Troy Greenway, when Greenway had a half-season of The Sucks, then started hitting again as soon as he was outta town? Or was it – most likely – that Casaus told the Agitator that the Coons would better find him a starting spot for next year, because he was totally worth it?

Probably the latter one.

Green was a Raccoon once before, getting rushed for a 9.53 ERA in 2037 after three years in the minors following a highly unsuccessful rookie stint with the Falcons in 2032-33. We dumped him on the Titans after that, funnily enough for Derek Barker. Green was utterly unremarkable, but had a broad arsenal and the stamina to fill in as starting pitcher for a team with no ambitions until our prospects (like Victor Merino, who was probably nearest after the Wheatley promotion) ripened. He was a fantastic return for a busted **** that couldn’t hit anything but the headlines.

Early in November we added 1-year deals with Travis Sims ($355k) and new arrival Seth Green ($425k) to the books – yes, arbitration-eligible 33-year-old right-handers are always such a great delight – before also settling with Jake Jackson.

The Raccoons and Jackson agreed to a 6-yr, $11M contract on November 4. Jackson wanted seven years and around $14M, but the Raccoons shaved some off, but won him over with a wicked hook – while normally contracts were backloaded, Jackson’s contract was frontloaded, making him $2.5M for the next two years, then $1.5M for the remaining four years of the deal. The last year was a team option. Everybody was a winner – Jackson secured comfortable retirement, and the Raccoons where winners in three way: they secured a *fine* #2/#3 starter to play ace for them until Jason Wheatley would totally seize that role with more seasoning (just like Nelson Moreno was going to), they made smart use of their budget space for the lean year(s) to come, and if all their pitching prospects would make an impact (other than fly-on-windshield impact), they would have a trade chip on a very reasonable contract a few years down the road.

+++

2042 ABL AWARDS

Players of the Year: LAP OF Juan Benavides (.337, 30 HR, 117 RBI) and VAN OF Jerry Outram (.363, 27 HR, 101 RBI)
Pitchers of the Year: SAL SP Ryan Bedrosian (16-7, 2.57 ERA) and CHA SP Oscar Flores (15-7, 3.17 ERA)
Rookies of the Year: RIC C Kyle Duncan (.245, 12 HR, 45 RBI and LVA C Kevin Prow (.290, 9 HR, 65 RBI)
Relievers of the Year: RIC CL Jesse Beggs (8-4, 1.93 ERA, 38 SV) and TIJ CL Phil Harrington (5-4, 1.43 ERA, 44 SV)
Platinum Sticks (FL): P SAL Ryan Bedrosian – C DAL Pacio Torreo – 1B TOP Chris Delagrange – 2B DAL Hugo Acosta – 3B RIC Josh Frazier – SS TOP Felix Marquez – LF WAS Doug Levis – CF CIN Dan Mathes – RF LAP Juan Benavides
Platinum Sticks (CL): P LVA Oscar Valdes – C OCT Jesus Adames – 1B TIJ Willie Ojeda – 2B VAN Dan Schneller – 3B IND Dan Hutson – SS CHA Tony Aparicio – LF CHA Joe Besaw – CF VAN Jerry Outram – RF TIJ Bryce Toohey
Gold Gloves (FL): P WAS Jerry Banda – C PIT Giampaolo Petroni – 1B RIC Manny Liberos – 2B CIN Thomas Gould – 3B NAS Brad Critzer – SS DAL Leo Villacorta – LF TOP Derek Baskins – CF SAL Armando Herrera – RF LAP Juan Benavides
Gold Gloves (CL): P VAN Mike Mihalik – C OCT Jesus Adames – 1B MIL Aaron Brayboy – 2B MIL Victor Acosta – 3B ATL Kyle Lusk – SS OCT Chris O’Keefe – LF POR Manny Fernandez – CF ATL Brian Oliver – RF BOS Moises Avila

[Questdog]

Happy Birthday!

I am so envious........

[DD Martin]

Originally Posted by Questdog

Happy Birthday!

I am so envious........

Yes a very Happy Birthday to a great band of um.....ballplayers. Great Expectations this season!

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by DD Martin

Yes a very Happy Birthday to a great band of um.....ballplayers. Great Expectations this season!

We expect to find our way to the field on Opening Day and we expect the field to still be there in September.

[DD Martin]

Originally Posted by Westheim

We expect to find our way to the field on Opening Day and we expect the field to still be there in September.

Nick should build you a new stadium

[Westheim]

With the good old boys Berto and Cosmo out the door (although Slappy said something was familiarly rummaging through one of the dumpsters, yet would hide when one looked over the edge), the Raccoons had to briefly take stock of what position players remained in the system at this point.

The catcher position was sufficiently stocked with Jeff Kilmer, who had batted .191 (.224 BABIP) with seven homers and who had a contract that precluded him from behind shifted anywhere, and Sean Sieber, who had done surprisingly little sucking in 28 games after being called up for backup duties. He had hit .320 with a .404 BABIP, neatly illustrating that baseball was a silly game that made no sense and was fundamentally unfair to everybody involved.

The other two costly commitments were Manny Fernandez and Jesus Maldonado. Manny had his lawn chair and sun screen out there in leftfield, and had just won his first Gold Glove at age 32. He was a former Player of the Year, as I am not tiring to point out again and again, and was almost bureaucratic in hitting for a 114-ish OPS+ every season. Maldonado played all sorts of positions and could fill any hole (and had done so in the past), although he was better suited for the corner positions than center and short – but adequate at both of them. Somehow he had never played at second base in the minors or majors.

And then there was the category of players that we had committed ourselves to by trading away cherished major league talent, or refusing to trade them for cherished major league talent repeatedly (hello, Nelson Moreno), and which kind of obligated us to play them every day now. That was the Arturo Carreno category, but Shuta Yamamoto also fit in well, and don’t forget Justin Waltz. At least the first two figured to be in the lineup on Opening Day. Never mind that they had batted .232, .222, and .188, respectively, in a total of 438 at-bats in ’42. Their BABIPs? .275, .215, .255, respectively. It was almost like the baseball gods didn’t really like the Critters.

Then there were the ho-hum players like Jay de Wit, and the true enigma that was Stephon Nettles, who had hit 1.250 for ten days and then hit more like .125 the rest of the year, was thoroughly annoying me, and might only make the roster for his left-handed bat. Similar story with Omar Gutierrez, who had gobbled up all that BABIP luck (.362) and had batted .340/.402/.467 in a fake breakout in his debut season at age 27. I was tempted to take that slash line with three ounces of salt.

What remained – on the extended roster at least – was the random detritus that had been washed ashore. Two outfielders that couldn’t hit a barn from the inside in Van Anderson and Jordan Gonzalez, a completely underdone fifth-rounder in 23-year-old Phil Haley, and his shortstop companion after everything else fell apart, waiver claim David Harroun, who hit for a steady .578 OPS in 28 games.

So, bottom line – the Raccoons had committed themselves at least for reasons of stubbornness to their catchers, a starting first and second baseman, probably Waltz, and definitely Manny on the outfield corners, and Maldo wherever there’d be a hole. Technically it was still possible to trade Manny for prospects, but I don’t feel like that will ever happen at this stage, because I’ll never be happy with the returns. Two of centerfield, shortstop, and third base were definitely open for free agent signings, our money pile was considerable and only dwarved by our pile of chocolates, and funnily enough this was where one of the freshly stranded international free agents from Cuba came in…

Ricky Jimenez was 25 years old and a right-handed slugger that had dominated the Cuban League, but had disappeared late in their season this year, having not returned from a fishing trip with his entire family. Through an unfortunate navigational error stranded his boat in Florida a few weeks back, and for bureaucratic reasons they had been unable to return to Cuba since then. Now, there was almost a bit of uncertainty with how sluggers in one league might fare in the other (or sluggers from anywhere on Portland’s poisoned landfill of a ballpark), but our scout and the OSA scouts and most everybody else seemed in agreement that he was not going to hit .300, but that the power was real, and that he was a tough battle at the plate too. Fortunately, the Raccoons had a hole – third base was his only position and he played it well by all accounts, and we had no serious third base prospect that was going to get blocked by the move* – and were flush with dosh to lure him to Portland, where there’s forever the rainy season.

And he wasn’t gonna be cheap.

*Our first-rounder from this year, #16 pick 3B Seth Lyon had turned 18 in September and had batted a desolate .200 in 72 games for the Beagles, so he was not really on the horizon for quite a while.

So while we chased after that diamond in the rough, we might want to consider going for a top notch defensive shortstops, considering how we had any number of groundballers on the staff, but Harroun was at best “alright” and Haley was wildly underdone and not even seriously considered. That would send Maldonado back to centerfield. Free agents of the sort there were two, 28-year-old ex-Thunder Chris O’Keefe and 32-year-old longtime Wolves shortstop Jose Castro. He had won the Gold Glove for shortstop work in the Federal League a stunning eight years in a row, lastly in 2039. Since then he had been through major hamstring, quad, shoulder, and achilles tendon injuries, the latter of which had cost him 119 games in 2042, his only year with the Scorpions.

There were upsides to Castro, f.e. him being cheap (I don’t sound like we have $10m to play with, do I?), and a switch-hitter to break up the likely parade of right-handers we might send out at the bottom of the order. And should he indeed become an annoyance, he had a 73% chance of his arm detaching from the shoulder socket on a household throw at some point during the season, so he wouldn’t go on my whiskers for very long at least…!

There was one other problem for the Raccoons – they had no leadoff hitter. Jimenez – if we got him – looked like somebody more suited to the #2 hole ahead of Manny and Maldo, or the #5 spot behind them… but likely the #2 spot. Carreno might end up in the leadoff spot, having drawn 161 walks in his 242 AAA games, and 11 walks in his 25 games in Portland last year for a .232/.323/.280 slash line. No, .323 was not negotiable for the leadoff spot, but then BABIP had hated him, and he had since had more time to mature in the minors (notably not coming back in September to protect his rookie status for 2043). And this was a variation of the old saying that somebody had to bat eighth on the team … not everybody could bat sixth and below ……. Kilmer had a knack for walks, too, not coming worse than .339 in terms of OBP in any season from 2038 to 2041. Of course, hitting .191 precluded him from OBP heroics this year, and he ended up with a .290 on-base rate. Kilmer was also pretty mobile for a catcher - while he only had five career stolen bases, he was not the obvious roadblock the average catcher was. It was *an* option.

+++

November 18 – The Thunder acquire SP Lachlan Clarke (40-25, 3.76 ERA) form the Scorpions, along with some cash, for two prospects.
November 19 – The Raccoons acquire left-handed SP/MR Leonhart Becker (42-48, 3.61 ERA, 1 SV) from the Aces, sending INF David Harroun (.247, 19 HR, 146 RBI) to Las Vegas.

+++

(sits across from Leonhart Becker, the German left-hander, and tips annoyingly with his claws on the desk)

So! Here we are … this is how we meet again! – (Becker looks confused at Maud, who nods to encourage him to play along) – Looks like I have outsmarted you this time, Sauerkraut! (points at Becker) Now you can not do any harm to the Raccoons anymore! – (Maud makes a rotating wrist movement to a bewildered Becker) – Now that I foiled your evil plans, what do you have to say for yourself, Sauerkraut!?

After Maud flushed a gallon of soothing tea with leaves, berries, and sleeping pills through me, we tried as a team to figure out what to actually do with Becker, who had won the CL ERA title in 2039 with Boston and since then had gone into a dramatic tailspin in his late 20s, being traded from Boston to Denver to Vegas to Portland, so from the big Boston club to increasingly remote and irrelevant province ballclubs until he reached the most remote and irrelevant of all – the Raccoons.

He had a nasty curve, and a 92mph heater with groundball tendency, but only a meh circle change as complement, and how he had won the ERA title with that we’ll never know. But for a team that was not going anywhere in ’43 and had lots of time to try out different things, Becker, who would be a free agent after the season, was not the most stupid investment. With Clark moved to the rotation, there was at least an option for him to be a third left-hander in the bullpen, with long man duties attached. Rella, Ramirez, Craig, Kelly, and Jones had their spots in the pen – but the last two were entirely available… or at least one of them, depending on where Nelson Moreno would end up. In general though we had enough pitchers now. We needed position players.

+++

November 21 – The Bayhawks trade 1B/LF/RF Ed Haertling (.253, 25 HR, 136 RBI) to the Falcons for INF Bob Nelson (.219, 16 HR, 111 RBI) and a prospect.
November 23 – Las Vegas sends SP Ricardo Sanchez (19-22, 4.28 ERA) to the Blue Sox for a prospect.
November 25 – It’s a homecoming! 36-year-old 1B Danny Santillano (.332, 430 HR, 1,624 RBI) returns to the Miners after two years in Cincinnati, signing a 3-yr, $12.36M contract.
November 25 – Super utility and former Buffalo Felix Marquez (.282, 96 HR, 428 RBI), inks a 4-yr, $15.96M contract with the Blue Sox.
November 25 – Ex-MIL CL Kurt Crater (39-38, 3.23 ERA, 145 SV) signs a 3-yr, $7.52M contract with the Warriors.
November 25 – The Titans snatch up ex-NYC C/1B Devin Phillips (.242, 59 HR, 308 RBI) for two years and $2.34M.
November 26 – Washington snatches ex-OCT SS/2B Chris O’Keefe (.244, 68 HR, 359 RBI) for a deal lasting seven years and worth $24.36M.
November 27 – Boston picks up ex-RIC RF/CF Joe Ritchey (.258, 132 HR, 489 RBI). The 30-year-old will make $28.72M over six years.
November 28 – The Wolves add closing power with former Knights CL Rico Sanchez (46-47, 3.41 ERA, 233 SV) on a 2-yr, $4.64M contract. Sanchez previously pitched for the Wolves from 2033 through 2039.
November 29 – The Raccoons announce a 5-yr, $15M deal with 25-year-old Cuban exile 3B Ricky Jimenez.
November 30 – Former career Warriors 2B/SS Mario Colon (.271, 207 HR, 877 RBI) signs a 3-yr, $7.32M contract with the Miners.
December 1 – Rule 5 Draft: 18 players are selected in two rounds. The Raccoons are not affected.

+++

We got a position player!

[Questdog]

Okay! Red Beans and Sauerkraut! I'm up for that!

Actually, I cannot stand sauerkraut......

[Bub13]

A German and a Cuban? [Insert joke about Ernst Thälmann Island here.]

[Westheim]

I got frozen by a trade offer we got at the winter meetings, so just a marginal post and to tie up all the loose threads here...

+++

Originally Posted by Questdog

Okay! Red Beans and Sauerkraut! I'm up for that!

Actually, I cannot stand sauerkraut......

Me neither! (preaches wisdom with a raised claw) But now that Sauerkraut is on the Raccoons, his pitching can no longer undo the Raccoons!

(keeps holding up one claw trying to process what he just actually said)

Originally Posted by Bub13

A German and a Cuban? [Insert joke about Ernst Thälmann Island here.]

Funny you mention it. I am almost sure that is the location of one of Nick Valdes' strategically positioned, globally distributed hideouts.

(looks over to Cristiano) I shouldn't have said that out loud, should I? - (Cristiano shakes head) - No, I shouldn't have...

+++

Three days into the winter meetings, the Scorpions GM pulled me to the side. He offered up Melvin Lucero, a now 25-year-old right-hander that the Raccoons had included in the deal for Troy Greenway five years back.

Lucero had made his debut in the pen in 2041, but had migrated to the rotation last season. He was a groundballer with a fine 3-pitch mix. Stamina was not his strong suit, so he had only lasted 5.9 innings per start, but had pitched to a 12-11 record and 3.25 ERA with 2.3 BB/9 and 6.6 K/9. Something was fishy here!

Well, the Scorpions basically wanted to multiply their fortunes, asking for two pitching prospects back, #14 Tony Negrete and #40 Generos de Leon. Both were very young – 21 for de Leon and Negrete would not even be that old until April – and had grinded their faces on AAA and AA, respectively, and Negrete had not been helped by undergoing surgery to remove bone chips from his elbow in June, which had ended his season. Lucero, the #16 pick in the 2036 draft, looked like a really, really good pitcher for many years to come – even with the stamina impediment considered.

+++

December 2 – After spending all of his 14 major league seasons with the Capitals, C Nate Evans (.309, 155 HR, 1,040 RBI) signs a 3-yr, $12.72M contract with the Stars.
December 3 – The Knights add ex-PIT CL Antonio Prieto (40-34, 3.38 ERA, 50 SV) on a 3-yr, $7.2M deal.
December 4 – The Cyclones snatch 38-year-old veteran CL Josh Boles (69-81, 2.97 ERA, 499 SV), who spent the last three years with the Canadiens, for 2-yr, $5.2M.
December 4 – CL Reliever of the Year, ex-TIJ CL Phil Harrington (221-74, 2.10 ERA, 131 SV), inks a 1-yr, $1.52M contract with the Stars. Harrington also won nine Pitcher of the Year titles in his younger years as the game’s foremost starting pitcher.
December 5 – After a year split between the Raccoons and Bayhawks, RF/1B/LF Carlos Cortes (.297, 155 HR, 753 RBI) hooks up with the Titans. The 32-year-old will make $9.76M over four years.
December 5 – Ex-POR/LVA SP Rich Willett (141-99, 3.05 ERA) inks a 2-yr, $8.08M deal with the Miners.
December 6 – The Raccoons sign 33-year-old SS/RF/3B Jose Castro (.277, 142 HR, 660 RBI), last with the Scorpions, to a $625k contract for the 2043 season.
December 7 – The Rebels acquire SP Chris Crowell (89-77, 3.49 ERA) from the Aces, who receive three prospects.
December 7 – San Francisco picks up OF/1B Scott Martin (.290, 71 HR, 403 RBI) from the Condors for C Mark Pasko (.279, 1 HR, 18 RBI) and a prospect.
December 9 – 30-year-old SS Rick Rowell (.263, 53 HR, 291 RBI) is traded from the Miners to the Thunder, along with a pile of cash, for MR Dan Minelli (17-20, 4.36 ERA, 2 SV) and a prospect.
December 10 – Denver acquires C/1B David Pinedo (.248, 11 HR, 72 RBI) from the Warriors for two prospects, including #36 SP Alfonso Velez.

+++

Of course you may buy me another drink, Scorpions GM!

You’re lovely, by the way. And kind.

And-

And…

And the drinks you buy make me feel kinda bssssssss….

[Westheim]

We're stuck here, by the way...

[Questdog]

Personally, I am not big on low stamina guys and De Leon looks, according to the scouting fellow, as if he will be just as good as Lucero eventually, but with the stamina to pitch deeper.......

Lucero is just a little boost in the wrong direction from definitely being relegated to the bullpen........

[Westheim]

After evading the overtures of the Scorpions for the rest of the winter meetings, the Raccoons also found themselves still in possession of both Manny Fernandez – who continued to elicit no offers – and Jesus Maldonado, the only two established and useful hitters on the roster. Maldonado roused at least some interest, although mostly in exchange for older starting pitchers on not so great deals. Atlanta’s offer of David Farris (33-36, 3.65 ERA) was probably the best, but he was used to walking 100+ per season and had a haughty attitude, and was not the sort of difference maker one would look for.

And, actually, it would be a terrible deal to plunk a 28-year-old righty that was already signed through 2048 in front of the horde of highly-ranked SP prospects we were cultivating, while reducing the lineup to basically nothing. So, Maldo remained trapped on a mediocre ballclub.

With the additions of Jimenez and Castro, he would also move back to centerfield for the 2043 season. At the end of the winter meetings, the Raccoons also assigned Phil Haley back to the Alley Cats, since there was no room for him on the roster going forwards. Behind the starting four of Yamamoto, Carreno, Castro, and Jimenez we’d have Gutierrez and de Wit as backups, and if all else failed, Maldonado was also known to be able to fill in on the infield.

The outfield arrangement was now pretty much Manny in left and Maldo in center, and probably sort of a platoon between Waltz and Nettles in right. Van Anderson was a likely fifth outfielder, although that might leave us without a righty pinch-hitter except for the bench catcher.

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December 12 – NYC SP Jeff Johnson (33-16, 3.49 ERA) takes out a deer and various shrubbery with his car, breaking his leg in the process. Johnson is expected to miss three months, but the Crusaders hope that he will be back by Opening Day.
December 17 – Former Raccoons 2B/3B Enrique “Cosmo” Trevino (.319, 44 HR, 906 RBI), who is 38 shy of the 3,000 hits mark, joins the Capitals on a $1.52M deal for 2043.
December 18 – The Rebels get 2B Logan Arnold (.280, 22 HR, 183 RBI) from the Capitals, parting with 1B Miguel Barrientos (.287, 0 HR, 12 RBI) and a prospect.
December 20 – The Bayhawks scoop up ex-VAN SP Mike Mihalik (86-53, 3.53 ERA) for $19.52M over four years.
December 25 – The Caps gift themselves a new catcher with former Scorpions backstop Manichiro Toki (.244, 58 HR, 275 RBI) for 3-yr, $4.62M.
December 26 – 32-year-old SP Ignacio del Rio (125-141, 4.15 ERA), most recently with the Gold Sox, signs a 2-yr, $5.04M contract with the Titans.

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Other Raccoons with new feeding places: Matt Kilgallen got $530k from the Condors;

…..and that was about it for December. The Raccoons didn’t do anything worth writing home about. And why sign new players? We already had 17 pitchers on the extended roster that could not reasonably accommodated come April, and even the attempts at sly moves led nowhere. For example, I tried to cash in on a surprisingly competent half-season by Cory Lambert (really, the scouting report is grim) for something, anything, but apparently the other 23 teams all had the same scouting report, too… There had been the odd overpaid veteran on offer, but we were not quite that desperate to blow away Nick Valdes’ money.