Portland Raccoons (ABL)

[DD Martin]

Can we just call the season over today and hang the flag?

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by DD Martin

Can we just call the season over today and hang the flag?

"Please no please no please no please no please no please no!" - the Thunder, probably

[Westheim]

Raccoons (75-61) @ Titans (75-62) – September 4-6, 2068

The Raccoons were off on a 3-city, 10-game road trip that would make or break a season, beginning in Boston. The Titans were third in runs scored and fourth in runs allowed, and had a +82 run differential. These were the two teams with the best rotations in the league, although Titans starter Mike Bell had since been ruled out for the season and they somehow had only one starter with a winning record left (Ricardo Montoya). The Raccoons were behind in the season series (5-7), as they were against any North team not named Indians or Crusaders.

Projected matchups:
Vinny Morales (7-4, 3.22 ERA) vs. Tyler Riddle (9-10, 3.57 ERA)
Tony Gaytan (7-9, 4.36 ERA) vs. Bryce Wallace (8-12, 3.68 ERA)
Nick Walla (12-10, 2.53 ERA) vs. Ricardo Montoya (10-7, 3.28 ERA)

The series opened with a left-hander and former Raccoon, followed by two right-handers. George van Otterdijk, who had only warmed the bench for the first few days of his September call-up, would make his ABL debut against Riddle.

Game 1
POR: SS Duhe – CF Ramirez – 1B Starr – LF Early – 3B Mendoza – RF van Otterdijk – 2B Archuleta – C D’Alessandro – P Morales
BOS: LF S. Humphries – C Arviso – CF Marcotte – RF M. Garcia – 2B Jer. White – 3B D. Miller – SS Robichaud – 1B Joe Washington – P Riddle

Van Otterdijk was initiated well by his teammates, hitting a single to left in his first at-bat and then being doubled off right away by Archuleta, but he also got his first outfield assist in the same second inning when Jeremy White was on first base and tagged up to advance on a deep fly out by Danny Miller, but as thrown out by van Otterdijk at second base. The Titans continued to make outs on the base paths in the third inning, which Jared Robichaud opened with a single and was caught stealing. Joe Washington then singled and did steal second, but was thrown out at the plate when he tried to score on a Riddle single to center, the assist going to Jaden Wilson. Archuleta was caught stealing in the fourth inning, and Mendoza hit into another double play in the sixth inning, and neither team got a run across through six despite nine total hits between the two teams due to excessive waste of the base runners.

Archuleta was on base again in the seventh inning and this time did steal second base, but was still only at second base with two outs in the scoreless ballgame. Gary Gates batted for Morales and walked, and Duhe also drew a walk that loaded the bases and ended Riddle’s involvement in the game. Left-hander Joe Cash threw a wild pitch to plate Archuleta before striking out Ramirez to end the inning. Dover then pitched in the bottom 7th, walking the leadoff man Eddie Marcotte, but then got a double play grounder from Manuel Garcia to Duhe and struck out White. The Coons then used FOUR relievers in the bottom 8th, always a good sign. Dover got the first out without issue, and McMahan got the last out from Jorge Arviso, but in between Rios and Josh C ****** up the tying run by allowing two hits and a walk to the Titans, with PH Sergio Leon dropping an RBI single behind Diego Mendoza to tie the game.

Cody Kleidon and Jason Holzmeister exchanged 1-2-3 innings to send the game to extras, where Duhe and Ramirez got on base in the tenth inning, but Starr and Early then struck out against the Boston closer and the runners were stranded. The Coons got two innings from Kehoe, but still couldn’t score against the Titans, and the 1-1 tie went to Matt Schmieder for the bottom 12th. He walked the leadoff man Garcia, but White hit into a double play to clean up again. Bryon Duncan grounded to short, but Duhe threw the ball away for a 2-base error, and then a single by Robichaud ended the game……. 2-1 Titans. Ramirez 2-6; Archuleta 2-5; Morales 6.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 6 K; Kehoe 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

And just like that we gave first place back again…

Game 2
POR: SS Duhe – CF Wilson – 1B Starr – RF Corral – LF Otal – 2B Archuleta – C Flowe – 3B Mendoza – P Gaytan
BOS: LF S. Humphries – C Arviso – CF Marcotte – RF M. Garcia – 2B Jer. White – 3B D. Miller – SS Robichaud – 1B Brassfield – P B. Wallace

The Raccoons scored in the first inning on Wednesday, getting a Duhe double and an RBI single from Joel Starr, who drove in his 98th run of the year, but that wasn’t gonna be enough with the way Tony Gaytan was pitching. While he faced the minimum the first time through (yay!) he did so allowing a single to Steve Humphries, who was erased on Arviso’s double play grounder, and then gave up no fewer than three fly balls to the warning track on his way through the order, all of which were caught.

The fifth inning was tense, for a lack of a better word. The Raccoons got Flowe and Mendoza on base with one out before Gaytan bunted too hard and got Flowe forced out at third base on a nifty play by Miller. Duhe then struck out, before Gaytan allowed a leadoff double to Manuel Garcia. Miller walked with one out, and Robichaud hit a single to load the bases before Trent Brassfield, batting .225 with five homers attempting to keep his career going, hit into a bad out in shallow right, Corral catching the ball on the run to shoo all the runners back to their bases. Gaytan then ran a full count with two outs on Wallace before getting him to strike out…

Wilson singled and stole second to begin the sixth, after which Starr was walked intentionally and then Corral hit into his second double play of the game. Otal wasn’t any help either, and then Gaytan finally let one fly after nicking Arviso in the bottom 6th, when Manuel Garcia took him well deep to right to flip the score to 2-1 Boston. The Raccoons then threatened in the eighth with Starr and Corral drawing walks off Tyler Gleason to create pressure. This was with two outs, and Marquise Early batted for Benito Otal, to which the Titans answered by sending in righty Victor Ramirez. Early grounded out meekly. Nava and Rios held the Titans close in the seventh and eighth, and then Kleidon was in for the ninth for Boston after pitching two innings the day before. Archuleta, Flowe, and Mendoza were axed without much fanfare as the Raccoons sank deeper into the pack. 2-1 Titans. Starr 1-2, 2 BB, RBI;

…

Game 3
POR: SS Duhe – CF Wilson – 1B Starr – RF Corral – LF Otal – 3B Gates – C Flowe – 2B Novelo – P Walla
BOS: LF S. Humphries – C Arviso – CF Marcotte – RF M. Garcia – 2B Jer. White – SS Robichaud – 3B C. Pena – 1B I. Berrios – P R. Montoya

It also appeared like Nick Walla was no longer any bueno, giving up a 3-run homer (two earned) to Garcia in the first inning. He had walked Humphries to begin his day, and Gary Gates had chipped in an error on Marcotte’s grounder. He was far from sharp after that, either, although he singled in the third inning, after which Duhe drew a 1-out walk, and then Wilson hit into a double play, because that was once again all the team could do. The Raccoons then did get a run in the fourth on 1-out extra base knocks by Corral (a double) and Otal (a triple!), but Gates and Flowe then sucked the air out of a wannabe-rally with really poor outs and left Otal on third base.

Top 5th, and Novelo rolled a dying wheezer near the third base line for an infield single. Walla then struggled to bunt, failing his way to 2-2 before we called a hit-and-run. Novelo ran, and Walla hit – a double to right! Novelo scored, and the tying run was in scoring position with nobody out, somehow! Duhe walked and was forced out on another Wilson grounder to short, moving Walla to third base. Starr then crashed into a 3-6-1 double play. For ***** sake!!!

Walla was sent packing after six, like every Coons starter in this series, and on a 4-2 hook after giving up another run on Garcia and Robichaud doubles in the bottom 6th. The Titans scratched out another run against Cameron Bridges in the eighth inning, while the Coons did absolutely nothing until Corral led off the ninth with a single against lefty Travis Davis. Early batted for Otal, but popped out. Gates drew a walk, bringing the tying run to the plate, with Eddy Ramirez batting for Flowe. He grounded out to first, and Novelo grounded out to third. 5-2 Titans. Corral 2-4, 2B;

Suddenly the Titans were up by two and a half games in the division, since the Elks had split a four-game series with the the Loggers and were now tied with the Raccoons for second place.

Raccoons (75-64) @ Crusaders (74-67) – September 7-9, 2068

The Coons got broomed all the way to New York by the Titans, where the Crusaders were 4 1/2 games behind in the North and still had expectations, even though the Raccoons had already taken the season series from them, 10-5. Their offense put them seventh, with the #8 pitching, and a -20 run differential, but hey-ho, free wins had just arrived in town. They had Jarod Nesbit, Jose Ambriz, Jeff Maudlin, Alex Rodriguez, and a couple of fringe guys on the DL, but the Raccoons had stopped scoring altogether, so one, two runs was all that was needed now…

Projected matchups:
Girolamo Pizzichini (6-8, 3.61 ERA) vs. A.C. Stebbins (8-9, 4.82 ERA)
Alex Dominguez (16-5, 3.12 ERA) vs. Erik Lee (11-14, 4.85 ERA)
Vinny Morales (7-4, 3.08 ERA) vs. Nick Waldron (11-11, 4.16 ERA)

Left-right-right, because that had worked so well for us in Boston…

Game 1
POR: SS Duhe – CF Ramirez – 1B Starr – LF Early – RF van Otterdijk – 3B Gates – 2B Archuleta – C D’Alessandro – P Pizzichini
NYC: CF Box – RF Nakamura – 1B Starwalt – C D. Johnson – 3B Frasher – SS Masterson – LF Takeuchi – 2B Philpot – P Stebbins

Van Otterdijk hit into his first double play on Friday, doing so in the perfect spot, with Duhe, Ramirez, and Early all over the bases and one out to ensure the Coons would not score in the top of the first. Archuleta singled and was stranded in the second inning, and the Raccoons then frittered away a few walks the second time through the order. Pizza held the Crusaders hitless until Danny Starwalt got a single into leftfield in the bottom 4th, but he was also stranded in the fourth low-scoring game of the week. Pizza then led off the fifth with a single to left, Duhe walked, and Ramirez’ fly to deep left was caught by Kazuhide Takeuchi. But there was no catching Joel Starr’s double into the right-center gap, and that scored two runs, gave Portland a 2-0 upside, and put Starr on 100 RBI for the season! …and then he was of course stranded when Early flew out to right and van Otterdijk lined out to short. Takeuchi then took Pizza deep to center in the bottom 5th to cut the lead in half.

The Raccoons then got a leadoff single from Gates in the sixth, but he couldn’t get a steal attempt off, then was doubled up on Archuleta’s 5-4-3 for another ******* two-for-one. With two outs then, the battery got on base with a D’Alessandro single and Pizza getting nicked by reliever Dave Hyman. Duhe hit an RBI single to center, but Ramirez grounded out to end the inning and left two on base. The 3-1 lead then went to **** pretty quickly in the bottom 6th, with a leadoff walk to Omar Vera and a Bryant Box single that put runners on the corners. Box stole second, Natsu Nakamura got a run home with a groundout, and then Starwalt walked. That was the end for Pizza, who was replaced with Kehoe, who ran two full counts. David Johnson lined out to Duhe, but he walked Eric Frasher with two outs. Johnny Parker then pinch-hit for Hyman in the #6 spot, and the Coons went to McMahan, who got a K to wiggle out of the jam with a bruised 3-2 lead.

The seventh was uneventful, while Gates singled in the eighth inning, but three consecutive pinch-hitters failed to advance him an inch, let alone 270 feet. Dover then killed off the 1-2-3 batters in the bottom 8th to keep the lead in one piece, but Valentin then blew it in the bottom of the ninth with leadoff singles for Johnson and Frasher. Terry Cummings’ groundout and Takeuchi’s sac fly tied the game, but Alex Silverio flew out to Wilson in center to send the game to extras. Early led off the tenth with a single, but then was also left on base to die, while the Raccoons sent Gabriel Rios against the left-handed batters in the 9-1-2 spots, but he was first hit with righty pinch-hitters, and then his own stupidity as he walked leadoff man Chris Duhon, balked him to second base, and then lost the game on a Nakamura sac fly. 4-3 Crusaders. Early 2-4; Gates 2-4, BB;

The Titans won again.

The Titans were now up 3 1/2 games.

Game 2
POR: SS Duhe – CF Wilson – 1B Starr – RF Corral – LF Otal – 3B Gates – C Flowe – 2B Novelo – P A. Dominguez
NYC: CF Box – SS Masterson – 1B Starwalt – C D. Johnson – LF J. Parker – RF Takeuchi – 3B J. Hernandez – 2B Philpot – P E. Lee

Corral doubled home Wilson for a 1-0 start in the first again, but my hopes were flat by now, and so was Dominguez, allowing back-to-back homers to Scott Masterson (inside-the-park) and Danny Starwalt (outside-the-park) in the bottom 1st to immediately fall behind. Top 2nd, straight singles from the 6-7-8 batters and a tied ballgame, but the remaining runners … remained on base after Dominguez’ bunt as both Duhe and Wilson made ****** outs on pops. The Coons had a pair in scoring position and one out *again* in the third inning after a soft single by Starr and an Otal double. This time, Gary Gates came through with a screaming 2-run double into the leftfield corner, 4-2, but was also left on base as Flowe grounded out, Novelo wasn’t extended business to by the Crusaders, and Dominguez grounded out.

Bottom 4th, and Johnny Parker singled to left right away. Takeuchi singled to center, Wilson overran the ball, and the Crusaders had the tying runs in scoring position. They had no trouble scoring them on Jordan Hernandez’ single and Ryan Philpot’s double, and then Chris Duhon hit another pinch-hit, 2-run single. Dominguez was kicked down the tunnel to the clubhouse without logging an out in the inning, and ended up charged with seven runs when Holzmeister allowed an RBI triple to Box, whom the Crusaders then left at third base, as if anybody gave a **** anymore.

Carrington allowed a run in the seventh, while the Raccoons put on a fake threat in the eighth with Gates and Novelo getting on base with one out after several innings of complete absence. Early pinch-hit in the pitcher’s spot and popped out, but Duhe hit a 2-out RBI single, 8-5. Van Otterdijk batted for Wilson when the Crusaders sent in a left-hander, Russell Anderson, but grounded out, and that was that inning. Right-hander Jon Dominguez got the ninth and a walk to Starr and a Corral single put runners on the corners right away. Otal was the tying run, brought in Starr with a groundout, but that didn’t constitute a real gain. Gates and Flowe both fanned to end the game. 8-6 Crusaders. Starr 2-4, BB; Corral 3-5, 2B, RBI; Gates 2-4, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Novelo 2-3, BB, RBI;

(stares blankly)

Game 3
POR: SS Duhe – CF Wilson – 1B Starr – RF Corral – LF Early – C Flowe – 2B Archuleta – 3B Arredondo – P Morales
NYC: CF Box – RF Nakamura – 1B Starwalt – C D. Johnson – 3B Frasher – LF J. Parker – SS J. Hernandez – 2B Philpot – P Waldron

The Coons went up *2-0* in the top of the first on Sunday, getting knocks from Duhe and Wilson, while Starr popped out. Corral’s groundout and Early’s sac fly both got in a run in the inning. Things then immediately hit the fan with a Nakamura single, an Archuleta error, a walk to Johnson, and an RBI single by Eric Frasher, 2-1, before Johnny Parker flew into a 7-2 double play with Early throwing out Starwalt at the plate to end the inning. Jordan Hernandez hit a leadoff single in the second and advanced on two outs before Box grounded out to Archuleta… except that Morales dropped his feed to first base, and the tying run scored on that error.

Leadoff runners Duhe and Wilson were derailed by Starr hitting into a double play and Corral whiffing in the third inning, but at least the Crusaders also wasted a leadoff double by Starwalt. The fourth then began with Early grounding out before Flowe singled. Waldron walked Archuleta on straight balls before giving up a ball in the left-center gap to Manny Arredondo. Flowe scored from second, but Archuleta was thrown out trying. Arredondo made third base on the play at home, then scored on our own Vinny Morales’ single to center, 4-2. Duhe then flew out easily for the third out.

Bottom 4th, and Morales issued straight balls to the leadoff man Hernandez. Philpot’s fly to left was dropped by Early for the third ******* error in the game. Morales then struck out PH Alex Silverio, Hernandez was caught stealing third base, and Box grounded out meekly on a 3-1 pitch. Maybe, just maybe, NEITHER of these two teams, each covered in their own snot, should make the playoffs……

Joel Starr hit his 30th homer, a solo job off southpaw Ed Nadeau, in the fifth inning, extending the score to 5-2. Vinny Morales then retired the Crusaders in order in the fifth and sixth, before Starr came back around with Duhe on base and facing another southpaw, Andres Lopez, in the seventh – and he hit another homer! This put the lead at 7-2, and the next two batters drew walks off righty Christopher Tinari, but were left on base. Philpot hit a leadoff single to center in the bottom 7th, and scored on a stolen base, wild pitch, and Takeuchi’s groundout. Morales was yanked, with Sean Thomas getting outs from Box and Nakamura to finish the bottom 7th. Schmieder got the ball in the eighth and walked Starwalt, but Johnson hit into a double play and Frasher whiffed. Tinari was still around in the ninth and faced Starr, issuing a leadoff walk to him. Early doubled in Starr with a 1-out double, and that was the last run of the game. Kehoe would get the last three outs for Portland. 8-3 Coons. Duhe 1-2, 3 BB; Wilson 2-5, 2B; Starr 2-4, BB, 2 HR, 3 RBI; Arredondo 2-4, 2B, RBI;

In other news

September 4 – The Thunder take a nasty hit when 1B Ian Stone (.308, 20 HR, 72 RBI) tears his ACL and will miss the rest of this and the start of next season.
September 4 – A home run by RIC OF Juan Licona (.307, 4 HR, 26 RBI) wins the Rebels a 1-0 game against the Capitals.
September 5 – SFW UT Devon Franks (.237, 1 HR, 14 RBI) hits a pinch-hit grand slam in a 14-0 rout of the Pacifics. It’s the 24-year-old’s second career home run.
September 8 – Eight runs are scored in regulation and another eight in extra innings as the Aces beat the Condors in Tijuana, 8-6 in 11 innings.
September 9 – SAL SP Guido Branco (14-8, 3.19 ERA) throws a 3-hit shutout to beat the Stars, 4-0.

FL Player of the Week: NAS OF/1B Tony Roman (.282, 18 HR, 69 RBI), hitting .615 (8-13) with 2 HR, 3 RBI
CL Player of the Week: SFB 3B Joel Chavez (.295, 1 HR, 21 RBI), hitting .429 (12-28) with 8 RBI

Complaints and stuff

(opens snout)

(closes snout)

(buries face in paws)

Playoff picture in the North (with strength of schedule and the know-it-all chance to win the division):
BOS (80-63) – POR (6), VAN (4), IND (3), MIL (3), NYC (3), OCT (3), TIJ (3) – .520 – 84.0% (+50.8%)
POR (76-66) – BOS (6), IND (4), VAN (4), ATL (3), MIL (3), NYC (3), SFB (3) – .507 – 7.2% (-35.8%)
VAN (75-67) – MIL (7), BOS (4), POR (4), CHA (3), IND (3), LVA (3), NYC (3) – .504 – 5.1% (-14.7%)
NYC (76-68) – IND (6), ATL (3), BOS (3), MIL (3), POR (3), SFB (3), VAN (3) – .508 – 3.5% (+1.1%)
MIL (73-70) – VAN (7), IND (4), BOS (3), CHA (3), LVA (3), NYC (3), POR (3) – .486 – 0.2% (-1.5%)

Fun Fact: Last year’s #5 pick Jack Hamel batted .320 across 28 games in AAA before ending his season with an intercostal strain.

What’s fun about that, I hear you ask, but what was fun about LITERALLY ANYTHING THIS WEEK???

[Westheim]

Raccoons (76-66) @ Canadiens (75-67) – September 10-13, 2068

I was at home, drinking, before this series even began. The Elks had lost five in a row, but would have no trouble extinguishing the Raccoons’ surprising flame, and they were already up 9-5 in the season series, too. Offensively they ranked fifth, but were allowing the third-fewest runs for a solid +74 run differential (Portland: +16). Regulars Carlos Castro and Tyler Chenette were dealing with nagging injuries.

Projected matchups:
Tony Gaytan (7-10, 4.31 ERA) vs. Nate Freeman (8-9, 2.48 ERA)
Nick Walla (12-11, 2.59 ERA) vs. Ernesto Culver (11-11, 4.30 ERA)
Girolamo Pizzichini (6-8, 3.60 ERA) vs. Vince Ellison (12-8, 3.74 ERA)
Alex Dominguez (16-6, 3.43 ERA) vs. Ray Rath (10-10, 4.32 ERA)

Would the Raccoons do something to Freeman, the first of four right-handers coming up here, this time around? Nick Walla was fading anyway, but could we at least TRY and help him??

Game 1
POR: SS Duhe – CF Wilson – 1B Starr – RF Corral – LF Early – 2B Archuleta – 3B Mendoza – C D’Alessandro – P Gaytan
VAN: CF D. Moore – 2B Kilday – RF Lozada – 1B A. Metz – C Varner – LF Chenette – SS Eggert – 3B R. Cordero – P N. Freeman

Gaytan rolled over and took it right away, allowing a single to Dan Moore, a wild pitch, an RBI single to Matt Kilday, and then a 2-run homer to Andy Metz for a blitz 3-0 deficit in the first inning. Time for a sip! (shoves bottle of Capt’n Coma halfway down his snout)

To be fair, the Raccoons did *something*, and soon, getting a run in the second on hits by the foundering Archuleta and Mendoza, and in the third inning Gaytan led off with a single and scored on Joel Starr’s 2-out double to right, so at least Freeman wasn’t going to improve a lot on his ERA lead in this game, if at all. Marquise Early then socked a leadoff jack to right in the fourth inning, at which point Freeman would have to work overtime to improve at all (in fact, with the homer, Nick Walla was the ERA leader again for a few minutes). Oh, and that shot also tied the game. Freeman also put Mendoza and D’Alessandro on base before striking out Gaytan and getting a groundout from Duhe, and then Steve Varner took Gaytan deep in the bottom 4th to restore the Elks to a 4-3 lead.

Top 5th, Wilson hit a leadoff single and stole second base, then was immediately driven in by Starr with a single, tying the score at four. Corral singled, and Freeman lost Early in a full count to load the bases with nobody out, then was unceremoniously yanked and replaced with right-hander Juan Rosado. The Raccoons sent Benito Otal to bat for Archuleta and got an RBI single and a 5-4 lead, but did not send another left-hander to bat for Diego Mendoza, and Mendoza responded with a sock filled to the top with screws and bolts when he peppered a homer outta rightfield – GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAND SLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMMMMMM!!!!! … WHAT’S YOUR ERA LEAD DOING NOW, FREEMAN??? HAH!!!!!

Nick Walla would pay dearly for my cockiness on Tuesday, I was sure. In the meantime, the Elks took their frustration out on whoever was near, which was Gaytan, who gave up a huge homer to John Bustillos in the bottom 5th, then responded by drilling Dan Moore, who needed no further invitation to visit him on the mound. Gaytan threw his glove in Moore’s face, ducked under a swing, but his own punch missed as well, and then they disappeared under a pile of other players. The brawl took ten minutes to sort out, and Gaytan and Moore were both ejected. Danny Nickel ran for Moore, and Jason Holzmeister replaced Gaytan in a 9-5 game, conceding Nickel’s run on a Roberto Lozada double, 9-6, so the game was still on. Martyn Polaco walked Starr and Corral in the top 6th, and Early was down 1-2 when his fly to left was dropped in foul ground by the ailing Chenette, which gave Early another shot at Polaco, but he struck out for the second out of the inning. Pablo Novelo hit an RBI single through the left side, 10-6, but Mendoza grounded out to short, and then Matt Schmieder was beaten up by the bottom of the order, walking Dan Eggert and giving up an RBI double to Rico Cordero, followed by a pinch-hit single by Dave Robles. Josh C entered instead with runners on the corners and got a double play grounder from Nickel to escape; Carrington also got all three outs in the seventh.

Dallas Samson had pitched the seventh for the Elks, then allowed a leadoff single to center to Starr and walked Corral in the eighth. The next three made poor outs though, and didn’t get anybody home in what was still a tense 3-run game. Chenette singled off McMahan with one out in the bottom 8th, but Nava then got a double play grounder from Eggert to get out of the inning. The Coons got a pinch-hit double from Jake Flowe in the ninth, but again no run, and then sent Valentin against the 8-9-1 batters. He struck out Rico Cordero and Rick Atkins, and Nickel grounded out to Duhe to end the game. 10-7 Raccoons! Starr 3-4, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Otal (PH) 1-1, RBI; Mendoza 3-5, HR, 2B, 5 RBI; D’Alessandro 2-4; Flowe (PH) 1-1, 2B; Carrington 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

The league brought the hammer down on Tony Gaytan, who was hit with a 10-game suspension – as was Moore on the other side. We would thus need a spot starter on Saturday. No, it’s not gonna be Centeno or Wharton.

Freeman got beaten so badly he was now *third* in the ERA race, 21 points behind Nick Walla, with the resurging Ken Nielsen of Oklahoma City in between.

The Titans did not play on Monday, so the Raccoons were now three full games behind.

Game 2
POR: SS Duhe – CF Wilson – 1B Starr – RF Corral – LF Otal – 3B Mendoza – C Flowe – 2B Archuleta – P Walla
VAN: 3B C. Castro – 2B Kilday – RF Lozada – C Varner – LF Chenette – CF Atkins – 1B R. Cordero – SS Barraza – P E. Culver

After a scoreless first inning in which the Raccoons left Starr on base, the Raccoons went up 1-0 when Archuleta drove in Mendoza – those two seemed to get warm at just the right time – but Walla was then hit with three straight singles by Steve Varner, Tyler Chenette, and Rick Atkins to begin the bottom 2nd and conceded two runs in the inning. The Coons came right roaring back, despite making two outs to begin the third inning. Starr then singled, Corral walked, and an RBI double by Otal and Mendoza’s 2-run single drove in three markers for a 4-2 lead.

Walla had retired the Elks 1-2-3 in the first inning, with two strikeouts, but after that there was no ease to his pitching. He walked Castro in the third inning, and in the fourth allowed a sharp single to Atkins before getting himself into a full count against Cordero, but the Elks disappeared on a strike-em-out, throw-em-out double play when Cordero whiffed and Atkins was caught stealing. Castro and Matt Kilday hit 2-out singles in the fifth, but Lozada grounded out to second base to leave them on; however, Walla was already on 88 pitches with that sequence of events, allowing seven hits and a walk in just five innings. He helped himself in the sixth inning, though, which began with three straight Critters reaching base (and Mendoza being caught stealing), so Walla came to the plate with Flowe and Archuleta on second and first, and one out. He struck a double over the head of an in-playing Atkins, and the Raccoons extended their lead to 5-2 on *not* a Walla-banger, since the ball never got to the fence. But I like saying “Walla-banger”. (shrugs!) Duhe hit a sac fly, 6-2, and Wilson singled into left, but Walla stopped at third base. He scored on a Starr single to left before Corral grounded out hard to Cordero. The pen was up and ready when Walla began the bottom 6th, but he got through that frame despite a bloop single by Chenette with one out, getting a double play grounder from Atkins after that. However, this would be it for Walla in the game.

The Elks then exploded in the seventh inning. Justin Wittman put Otal, Mendoza, and Flowe on base with all-singles, was yanked for Ben Caillet, who allowed another single to van Otterdijk, and then a 3-run homer to Duhe, 12-2! With that, we sent Cameron Bridges into the game with the full intention of having him do the last three innings for a working man’s save. He already threw 48 pitches in the seventh and eighth, having to pitch around a base runner in both of those frames, then gave up a leadoff double to Andy Metz in the bottom 9th. Roberto Barraza popped out, he hit John Rutecki, then had his pulse felt. He was still left in the game, struck out Castro, but an RBI single by Kilday ended his day after 63 pitches. Gabriel Rios then got Lozada to ground out. 12-3 Raccoons! Starr 3-5, 2B, RBI; Otal 2-5, 2B, RBI; Mendoza 4-5, 2 RBI; Flowe 3-5, RBI; Archuleta 2-4, 2B, RBI; Arredondo (PH) 1-1; van Otterdijk (PH) 1-2; Walla 6.0 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, W (13-11) and 2-3, 2B, RBI;

Walla’s ERA went up one point, and he was now five points ahead of Nielsen, who was gonna pitch on Wednesday.

The Titans were also stuffed double digits, losing 10-4 to the Crusaders, so the gap was down to two games.

Game 3
POR: SS Duhe – CF Wilson – 1B Starr – LF Otal – RF van Otterdijk – 3B Mendoza – C Flowe – 2B Archuleta – P Pizzichini
VAN: 3B C. Castro – CF Atkins – RF Lozada – 1B A. Metz – LF Chenette – 2B Eggert – C Herr – SS Barraza – P Ellison

Rick Atkins’ homer in the bottom 1st gave the Elks a 1-0 lead while the Raccoons had already stranded Jaden Wilson, who singled and stole second in the top 1st. Joel Starr struck out after that took place, then came to the plate with the sacks loaded with Pizza (single), Duhe (walk), and Wilson (single) in the top 3rd, and one out. His hard grounder to third base was contained by Castro and taken for a 5-4-3 double play. In turn, Ellison hit a leadoff double off Pizza in the bottom 3rd, but was stranded with hapless outs from the 1-2-3 batters.

The game then fell silent a bit until the Raccoons got a leadoff single from Wilson in the sixth. Starr flew out to Chenette, but Benito Otal’s single sent the tying run to third base with one out. Now it was George van Otterdijk to hit into a 5-4-3 double play… Pizza was done after six, getting hit for after Archuleta hit a 2-out single off Ellison. Jose Corral drew a walk in his place, never getting anything to hit, and then Duhe grounded out to short. It appeared that the Raccoons had used up all their runs for the week on Monday and Tuesday. The Coons managed to get scoreless innings from Holzmeister and Sean Thomas (!) to get through eight innings, but they were *still* 1-0 behind after the 2-3-4 batters were retired in order by Ellison in the eighth inning, and he returned to finish the job in the ninth, retiring Early and Mendoza on the ground, and then Flowe lofted a ball out to Atkins that was easily caught. 1-0 Canadiens. Wilson 3-4; Archuleta 2-3;

Both the Titans and Thunder had their games rained out on Wednesday.

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

While Ray Rath dispatched the Raccoons for an Arredondo single and five strikeouts in the first three innings, Dominguez was all over the place, anywhere but the strike zone, walked FOUR, threw 72 pitches, and gave up two well-deserved third-inning runs on a Varner single with the bases loaded before Chenette flew out to right and Atkins popped out to Starr to let him get away with just the two runs. Things got worse in the bottom 4th with a leadoff walk to Barraza, after which Rath popped out and Castro struck out – the first K for Dominguez in this game – before Kilday singled to right with two outs. Barraza went to third base, and Jose Corral had A) nothing on his throw, and B) then waved for help from Luis Silva, which couldn’t be good. After a short house call in shallow right, Silva collected Corral, and the Raccoons had to replace him with van Otterdijk. Lozada then hit a 2-run double into the left-center gap, and Dominguez was yanked for Nava, who faced four batters and retired none. Metz doubled, Varner homered, Chenette singled and stole second, and then scored on an Atkins single. That made it an 8-0 game, and Schmieder replaced Nava and got a K on Barraza to end the ******* inning.

Well beaten, the Coons got the fifth together between Schmieder and Thomas, and then went to Kehoe for garbage relief, so he wasn’t going to pick up the spot start on Saturday – although due to developments, he pitched only one inning, giving up a ninth run to the damn Elks. Rath walked Starr to begin the seventh, at which point he had only allowed a pair of singles to Arredondo (of all people) for base hits. Starr was forced out by van Otterdijk, Early singled, and then Mendoza forced out van Otterdijk on a 5-U grounder. Down to two outs, Flowe rolled a ball in front of the plate that Varner threw away for two bases and a run, blowing the shutout bid by Rath, who continued to pitch, allowing an RBI single to Arredondo, a walk to Otal, and another walk with the bags full to Duhe, which brought up Kehoe in the #2 spot. Archuleta batted for him, with the tying run still in the dugout, but if not here, when then? Archuleta grounded out to third, and that was basically the ballgame. McMahan gave up another run in the seventh, and Dover gave up a solo homer to Rick Atkins in garbage relief in the eighth. 11-3 Canadiens. Arredondo 3-4, RBI;

*hicks!*

The Titans split a double-header with the Crusaders, which was good enough for them to retain a 3-game lead by nightfall. The Thunder also played two against the Knights, including Nielsen picking up a W with 7.1 shutout innings in the first game, taking sole possession of first place in BOTH the wins and ERA tables. He was nowhere in strikeouts though.

Raccoons (78-68) vs. Knights (74-72) – September 14-16, 2068

The Knights were sixth in runs scored and ninth in runs allowed. They were liable to mathematical elimination on the weekend, not that they still considered themselves contenders, being 15 games out in second place in the South. They were bottoms in stolen bases and didn’t really excel in anything. The Coons were up 4-2 against them. The only notable injury was pitcher Ken McDonald.

Projected matchups:
Vinny Morales (8-4, 3.07 ERA) vs. Rob Wikinson (10-9, 3.77 ERA)
Gabriel Rios (2-4, 4.70 ERA) vs. Adam Lunn (8-12, 4.20 ERA)
Nick Walla (13-11, 2.60 ERA) vs. Luis Briseno (10-10, 3.79 ERA)

Another set of only right-handed pitchers – except for Rios of course, who was taking the slot of the banhammered Gaytan. The Knights didn’t have a lot of left-handed batters, so losing the extra lefty reliever was not going to be much of an issue.

Jose Corral was not diagnosed as of Friday, and Jared Duhe got a day off.

Game 1
ATL: CF Jo. Soto – C Hart – RF J. Evans – 2B J. Munoz – 3B Schomer – 1B J. Paez – LF Fumero – SS Rascon – P Wilkinson
POR: 3B Mendoza – RF Wilson – 1B Starr – LF Early – CF Otal – 2B Novelo – SS Gates – C D’Alessandro – P V. Morales

The Coons made five outs in a row before Pablo Novelo socked a homer for a 1-0 lead, after which Gates and D’Alessandro both singled, but were left on when Vinny Morales grounded out. Joel Starr after two really quiet innings added another 2-out solo homer, his 32nd shot of the year, to extend the lead to 2-0. Morales was mostly getting groundouts, which was very refreshing after some rough pitching days.

Bottom 4th, Novelo and D’Alessandro were on base again with two outs when Morales fired a sharp grounder through the right side. Jake Evans cut the ball off before it could get to the fence, but Novelo scored from second base on the single, 3-0. Mendoza put another RBI single into right, but Wilson grounded out, keeping the score at 4-0. Starr grounded out to begin the fifth, but Early then singled and Otal doubled – and then came up lame. Silva collected him as well, and van Otterdijk ran for him, with a pair in scoring position and one out. Novelo cleaned up the bases with his second homer of the game after hitting just two all season up until Thursday, 7-0! Wilkinson was done, while Vinny Morales struck out the side in the sixth. These were his last outs, though, because Evans, Jorge Munoz, and Jon Schomer then went homer, single, homer on him in the seventh, knocking him out of the game in a real hurry. Nava got out of the inning, and Josh C then retired the 1-2-3 batters in order in the eighth, after which D’Alessandro hit his first homer of the year off Melvin Guerra to lead off the bottom 8th. Cameron Bridges finished the game with a 1-2-3 ninth. 8-3 Coons. Novelo 3-4, 2 HR, 4 RBI; D’Alessandro 2-3, BB, HR, RBI; Morales 6.0 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, W (9-4) and 1-3, RBI;

The Titans got two homers from Jorge Arviso (25 total now) to beat the Condors, 9-3, on Friday, so the gap remained three games.

Anyway, Jose Corral was diagnosed with a strained triceps, which was going to be a season-ending injury, even if we could drag out proceedings into October, so his .282 stick and 13 homers were off until next year. Otal was still unclear on Saturday. Also, did I at any point say “oh, we have so many outfielders?” – (Slappy, Maud, Cristiano, Honeypaws, and Chad all nod with accusing eyes)

Suddenly there were only four healthy outfielders on the roster. The AAA season had just ended with the Alley Cats missing the playoffs by one game, and the Raccoons reached down and added some more bodies with right-handers Cody Childress and Randy “Rated-R” Rautenstrauch, neither of whom would be available on Saturday yet, as well as outfielder Jamie Colter, who was right in the lineup on Saturday, which was also a needed day off for Jaden Wilson.

Game 2
ATL: 2B J. Munoz – C Hart – 1B M. Medina – LF J. Acuna – 3B Schomer – CF Fumero – RF J. Paez – SS B. Ellis – P Lunn
POR: SS Duhe – 3B Mendoza – 1B Starr – LF Early – C Flowe – 2B Archuleta – RF Colter – CF Ramirez – P Rios

It looked like rain was coming on Saturday, but the Raccoons took a quick lead in the bottom 1st with a leadoff double by Duhe and an RBI single for Starr. Early then walked, Flowe reached on an error by Ben Ellis to load the bases, and Archuleta cranked a 2-run double to left. Colter’s pop and Ramirez’ fly to center ended the inning. Starr singled home Duhe again in the second inning, 4-0, but him and Mendoza ended up walking back to the dugout after Marquise Early spanked into a 6-4-3 double play to end the bottom 2nd.

That score persisted for a while then. Rios had pairs of runners on base against him in both the second and third innings, but the Knights couldn’t bring any of them across, then had only two singles across the next three innings before it finally started to rain in the sixth. There was a brief rain delay in the bottom 6th. Rios came back out in the seventh, facing the bottom of the Knights’ order, where he walked Juan Paez before turning a 1-6-3 double play on a comebacker by Ellis, but then nicked PH Christian Glenn and was replaced. Kehoe came in, allowed a single to Jorge Munoz, but Justin Hart then grounded out. Miguel Medina homered off Kehoe to begin the eighth, and Dover replaced him. Javier Acuna got a hit off him, but the next three Knights made poor outs and the score remained 4-1. Valentin would put the game away with three strikeouts in the ninth, not including a pinch-hit double by rare Knights lefty hitter Phil Mower. 4-1 Coons. Duhe 2-4, 2B; Starr 2-3, BB, 2 RBI; Rios 6.2 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 6 K, W (3-4);

The Condors put 13 on the Titans on Saturday, allowing the Coons to get back to two games out.

Out for the year however was Benito Otal with an abdominal strain. The Raccoons made no move to replace him, because the 40-man roster was full, and it was hard to find a victim on short notice.

Game 3
ATL: CF Jo. Soto – C Hart – RF J. Evans – LF J. Acuna – 3B Schomer – 1B J. Paez – 2B Fumero – SS B. Ellis – P Briseno
POR: SS Duhe – CF Wilson – 1B Starr – LF Early – C Flowe – 3B Mendoza – RF van Otterdijk – 2B Archuleta – P Walla

Walla had two clean innings, but fell behind after a leadoff walk to Ben Ellis in the third inning, with the runner being driven in by Justin Hart with two outs. Evans flew out, and Acuna hit a leadoff double in the fourth inning, Walla walked Jon Schomer, but then got straight outs on pops and a grounder to Duhe from Ellis. The Raccoons had not gotten going with the sticks so far, but Starr reached on an error by Juan Paez to begin the bottom 4th, so maybe something could develop in an unearned fashion. Early singled to center, moving the tying run to second, but Flowe struck out. Mendoza got the job done though, and peppered a 3-run homer to left!

The Knights came back quickly with three singles and an Evans sac fly to narrow the score to 3-2 in the fifth, as Walla was lacking stuff and luck in equal amounts – except that Joel Starr found Wilson on base after a 2-out walk in the bottom 5th and socked him another two runs of support with his 33rd dinger of the season…! Marquise Early then got nicked and barked at Kody Mello, but was nudged to first base by the home plate umpire and Jake Flowe before we could lose another outfielder with an ejection. Flowe walked, and both runners scored on a 2-run double by Mendoza, who really wielded the rake this week, 7-2. The .100 batter van Otterdijk was then walked intentionally for reasons best known to the Knights, and Archuleta hit a scratch single filling them up for Walla with two outs, and Walla singled up the middle!! Two more runs scored, Mello was gone without logging an out, and lefty Felix Morales finally ended the inning with a groundout from Duhe.

Up by seven, we still hoped for some more outs from Walla without him giving up any more runs, if possible at all. He got the 6-7-8 in order in the sixth, before Morales was tagged for straight hits by the 3-4-5 batters and a run on Flowe’s single, then an RBI groundout by Mendoza. Nick Sikora retired van Otterdijk to end the inning. Walla struck out two in a 1-2-3 seventh, batted for himself once more, and then got around an Evans single to end up with eight innings in the blowout, but that was enough on 104 pitches then. The Coons sent some pinch-hitters against Freddie DeWitt in the bottom 8th. Early was not hit for, but singled, and then scored on Tony Spink’s RBI double for a tack-on run. Schmieder then finished the game. 12-2 Furballs! Starr 2-5, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Early 3-4, RBI; Spink (PH) 1-1, 2B, RBI; Mendoza 2-4, HR, 2B, 6 RBI; Walla 8.0 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, W (14-11) and 1-3, 2 RBI;

In other news

September 10 – The Loggers lose starting catcher Tommy Guitreau (.251, 12 HR, 58 RBI) for the remainder of the season; the 30-year-old was out with a strained hip muscle.
September 12 – Shoulder tendinitis was likely ending the season of Falcons INF John Schmidt (.282, 2 HR, 32 RBI).
September 12 – The Miners rout the Rebels, 18-5, on the strength of an 11-run sixth inning. PIT C/1B Nick Dingman (.262, 26 HR, 94 RBI) hits a 3-run homer in that inning, and drives in six runs on three hits overall in the game.
September 12 – The Pacifics hand a 17-2 drubbing to the Gold Sox, with four RBI each from C Matt Warner (.289, 14 HR, 71 RBI) and 1B Jon Herbert (.267, 0 HR, 5 RBI).
September 14 – The Thunder beat the Indians, 9-6, to win the CL South.
September 15 – Bayhawks SP Steve Smith (11-7, 3.13 ERA, 1 SV) 2-hits the Crusaders in a 5-0 shutout, whiffing nine.
September 15 – The Loggers beat the Aces, 7-6 in 18 innings. Teams score four total runs in the first, eight total runs in the seventh, and then a whole load of nothing until the Loggers finally squish the winning run across in the top of the 18th on a pinch-hit single by 1B Chris Thayer (.389, 0 HR, 2 RBI).
September 16 – TOP CL Brian Burkey (3-7, 4.58 ERA, 35 SV) would spend the winter rehabbing a torn rotator cuff.

FL Player of the Week: DAL CF Tyler Wharton (.354, 36 HR, 143 RBI), slaughtering .591 (13-22) with 1 HR, 5 RBI
CL Player of the Week: POR INF Diego Mendoza (.235, 7 HR, 39 RBI), raking .393 (11-28) with 2 HR, 14 RBI

Complaints and stuff

The Titans lost again on Sunday, and now the Raccoons were just one game out in the division (again).

Playoff picture in the North (with strength of schedule and the know-it-all chance to win the division):
BOS (82-67) – VAN (4), IND (3), POR (3), OCT (3) – .536 – 65.0% (-19.0%)
POR (81-68) – IND (4), BOS (3), MIL (3), SFB (3) – .498 – 28.5% (+21.3%)
VAN (79-70) – BOS (4), LVA (3), MIL (3), NYC (3) – .509 – 3.6% (-1.5%)
NYC (79-71) – ATL (3), IND (3), MIL (3), VAN (3) – .502 – 2.5% (-1.0%)
MIL (77-73) – CHA (3), NYC (3), POR (3), VAN (3) – .510 – 0.4% (+0.2%)

Walla did fairly well overall across his two starts, but Ken Nielsen’s refusal to give up runs now have him second in the ERA race, five points behind. Nate Freeman also slithered back in with a scoreless outing on Saturday, now eight points behind Walla.

Nobody was going to take the home run crown from Joel Starr, unless either Jorge Arviso or Jose Palominos could come up with eight homers across the last two weeks.

That Jon Herbert kid (“kid”) that drove in four runs for LA on Wednesday was a #13 pick by the Raccoons in 2059. We lost him to the Thunder in the Rule 5 draft in ’64, and he meandered through a few more minor league systems after that before resurfacing with the Pacifics last year. He has no home runs in 61 career games, and just 13 RBI… Aren’t we good at drafting???

The Raccoons had another home series against the eliminated Bayhawks, then would go to Milwaukee for the weekend. The final week was again at home, with four against Indy and then the potential final showdown against the Titans. Maybe we’d even still have outfielders by then.

Fun Fact: The Coons need one more win for their second winning season in the last… seven…

Fun’s always relative, isn’t it?

[Westheim]

Raccoons (81-68) vs. Bayhawks (70-79) – September 17-19, 2068

The Raccoons needed wins and the Bayhawks looked like they were ready to give them away. They were tenth in runs scored, and fourth in runs allowed. The season series was even though – we needed the offense bubbling against a team that was 20 games out in the South, which had of course already been taken by the Thunder.

Projected matchups:
Girolamo Pizzichini (6-9, 3.53 ERA) vs. Kelly Whitney (8-17, 4.42 ERA)
Alex Dominguez (16-7, 3.61 ERA) vs. Juan Sanchez (8-12, 4.84 ERA)
Vinny Morales (9-4, 3.12 ERA) vs. Preston Young (14-7, 2.76 ERA)

Sanchez, a former Critter, was the only southpaw. After this series, we would have our final day off.

Game 1
SFB: CF Parrish – 3B J. Chavez – LF Streng – RF J. Ward – C H. Valdez – 1B McEwan – 2B Bruce – SS Leggett – P Whitney
POR: SS Duhe – CF Wilson – 1B Starr – LF Early – C Flowe – 3B Mendoza – RF Colter – 2B Archuleta – P Pizzichini

The day began with a home run by John Parrish, and then Joel Chavez and Ian Streng knocks that put two runners in scoring position before Pizza somehow turned that around, struck out Jake Ward and Hugo Valdez, and got a grounder to third base from Jim McEwan to end the inning. Duhe reached on an error in the bottom 1st, but was doubled off by Starr. The Raccoons seemed to gain traction in the bottom 3rd with singles from Colter and Archuleta to lead off, but then Pizza couldn’t get a bunt down and instead struck out. Duhe singled, but that one now only loaded the bases and invited hope for more good things to come, but Wilson grounded into a force at the plate before Starr snuck a 2-out, 2-run single up the middle to flip the score after all. Early then flew out to Parrish in deep center. McEwan then homered the game tied again in the fourth, and Pizza bunted into a force play his next time around, at which point I felt a bit like I had just been handed a slice topped with nothing but olives…

Pizza held on to the 2-2 score through the end of the seventh inning, but had to settle for a no-decision since the Raccoons just couldn’t get going against Whitney, who was still going in the bottom 8th, nicked Jaden Wilson, but the runner then was caught stealing… and the Raccoons went down calmly afterwards. Both Josh C in the eighth and Nava in the ninth allowed a hit to the Bayhawks, but no run to score, and so Whitney was still trying to punch his 18th loss of the season as the bottom of the ninth began with Flowe batting. He singled and was run for with Arredondo, who was caught stealing, and the Raccoons fecklessly had the game drift into extra innings. Pedro Valentin struck out the side in the tenth before Ramon Archuleta hit a leadoff triple into the left-center gap against right-hander Roland Wiser. Eddy Ramirez batted for Valentin, but popped out on the infield. Duhe was not pitched to, but Wilson ended the game with a clean single to center. 3-2 Critters. Wilson 2-4, RBI; Flowe 2-4; Archuleta 3-4, 3B; Pizzichini 7.0 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 K;

The Titans beat the Thunder, 4-3, and so the gap remained one game. The Crusaders and Elks took losses against the Knights and Aces, respectively, and with both of them now 4+ games behind it looked like the 5-way race might be narrowing down.

Game 2
SFB: CF Parrish – 3B J. Chavez – LF Streng – RF J. Ward – C H. Valdez – 2B Bruce – 1B Navarre – SS Leggett – P Ju. Sanchez
POR: SS Duhe – CF Ramirez – 1B Starr – LF Early – 3B Mendoza – RF van Otterdijk – 2B Archuleta – C D’Alessandro – P Dominguez

Dominguez hadn’t won a game in a while, and giving up leadoff extra-base hits didn’t seem like a way that would readily facilitate a win, but the Bayhawks also failed to score after the leadoff doubles the Parrish hit in the first, and Joel Chavez in the fourth. Dominguez struck out five in as many innings and allowed no runs, while the Raccoons had the bases loaded in the bottom 1st when van Otterdijk grounded out, and got Duhe and Ramirez on base in the third inning before a wild pitch helpfully moved them into scoring position. Joel Starr hit a sac fly to bring in the game’s first run, and Marquise Early added an RBI single to go up 2-0, but was ultimately left on base by … van Otterdijk.

The Bayhawks’ John Parrish then drew a leadoff walk in the sixth and Diego Mendoza mishandled Chavez’ grounder for an error, and Dominguez’ stuff wasn’t enough to get off scoff-free this time. Streng grounded out, Ward hit an RBI single, but then Valdez and Ryan Bruce both whiffed to keep two on base, and the Raccoons up by one, but another hapless inning in the bottom 6th was followed by a sneaky leadoff single by Nate Navarre and then a Wally Leggett homer brushing the foul pole on its way out, flipping the score to 3-2 Baybirds. Dominguez was lifted – no W again! – but was taken off the hook in the bottom 7th with a Jared Duhe homer that tied the game. Ramirez also reached base, leading to Sanchez’ removal for righty Billy Thompson. Starr doubled and Early walked to fill the bases, bringing up Mendoza. Thompson ran the count full against him, and then threw a pitch inside that might have brushed Mendoza’s sleeve, but was ball four anyway and nobody started a discussion. This forced in the go-ahead run. Colter batted for the listless van Otterdijk, but flew out to right just the same.

The lead was blown with a major blackout from Jesse Dover, who hit the leadoff man Streng with a 1-2 pitch in the eighth, then balked the pinch-runner Mario Flores to second. Ward flew out, but Hugo Valdez’ infield single put runners on the corners, and Bruce tied the game with a groundout up the middle. Navarre also grounded out to Duhe to end the inning. The Raccoons filled the bases again in the bottom 8th on … three walks issued by Thompson to Archuleta, Duhe, and Ramirez, bringing up Starr, and the raking continued with a tie-breaking, 2-out, 2-run single to left! Early grounded out, and McMahan got the ball for the ninth, got the switch-hitter Leggett and the right-handed McEwan out, and then walked the left-handed Parrish on four pitches… Valentin came in and got another save with a K to Chavez. 6-4 Coons. Duhe 3-4, BB, HR, RBI; Ramirez 2-4; Starr 2-4, 2B, 3 RBI; Early 2-4, BB, RBI; Mendoza 1-2, 2 BB, RBI;

Ken Nielsen threw 5.2 innings of 1-run ball against the Titans on Tuesday, which gave him another W and bettered his ERA by a couple of points, but also beat Boston, 6-1, which meant the Raccoons were now tied for first. The Crusaders and Elks reversed their fortunes from Monday, while the Loggers lost to the Falcons and were now six games out.

Joel Starr meanwhile had reached 116 RBI, which was a top 10 season for RBI in Raccoons lore. It was unlikely that he’d whack in another 24 runs and tie for the franchise record, held jointly by Tetsu Osanai and Rich Hereford, but a top 5 season was only five RBI (for a tie) away.

Game 3
SFB: 2B Bruce – 3B J. Chavez – LF Streng – RF J. Ward – C H. Valdez – 1B McEwan – CF Navarre – SS Leggett – P P. Young
POR: SS Duhe – CF Wilson – 1B Starr – LF Early – C Flowe – 3B Mendoza – RF Colter – 2B Archuleta – P Morales

The Raccoons trailed early again as Chavez doubled and Streng singled him home right in the first inning. Both teams drew two walks and neither scored in the second inning, but Morales walked the opposing pitcher with two outs to my great and audible dismay. A Streng homer made it 2-0 in the third inning, while the Raccoons got pairs of singles in the third and fourth innings, and still didn’t manage to push a run across, now with Early making the third out in the third inning, and Archuleta murdering the fourth with a double play grounder. Starr singled and Early walked to lead off the sixth – and the Raccoons still failed to push a run across with a nothing-performance from the 5-6-7 batters…

The Bayhawks extended their lead to 4-0 in the seventh with Morales walking Leggett before unceremoniously departing, and George Kehoe giving up a 2-out homer to Chavez. Archuleta then homered off Rich Krogman the moment the Baybirds lifted Young after six scoreless, if busy, innings. This already described the actual extent of the Critters’ rally in this game. The last two innings were entirely listless against a parade of relievers, and the game just got away. 4-1 Bayhawks. Starr 2-3, BB;

The Titans of course won again, so they were now a game up on the Critters once more. The Crusaders also won, taking third place in the division, 3 1/2 games out on Wednesday night, while the Elks and Loggers lost. The Loggers finished getting swept by the Falcons – at home – on Thursday.

It would now be all the more funny if they tore the Raccoons apart once more…

Raccoons (83-69) @ Loggers (77-76) – September 21-13, 2068

The Loggers had a magic number of three on Friday morning, which meant even sweeping the Raccoons might not be enough to stave of mathematical elimination, but why not go out and try that at least? Their bombastic offense – which by now had a number of teeth knocked out with Fidel Carrera, Tommy Guitreau, and Jonathan Merrill all finishing the year on the DL – hadn’t lived up to the 2067 standards, and they had given up the most runs in the league, entering the weekend series with a -8 run differential. They were up 9-6 in the season series.

Projected matchups:
Nick Walla (14-11, 2.59 ERA) vs. Jose Villegas (7-4, 4.14 ERA)
Tony Gaytan (7-10, 4.53 ERA) vs. Ramon Carreno (12-12, 5.27 ERA)
Girolamo Pizzichini (6-9, 3.49 ERA) vs. Brett Bebout (11-8, 3.63 ERA)

Villegas was left-handed in this group. Gaytan was still banned for the opener, but would be allowed to partake in game action again on Saturday after his ejection and suspension.

Unless we found a way to overtake the Titans, this would be the Raccoons’ final road appearance of the season.

Game 1
POR: SS Duhe – CF Ramirez – 1B Starr – LF Early – 3B Mendoza – 2B Archuleta – C D’Alessandro – RF van Otterdijk – P Walla
MIL: RF D. Wright – CF Alaniz – LF C. Dominguez – 1B C. Ramirez – SS Reber – 3B Murcia – 2B R. Fisher – C Bergeron – P J. Villegas

For a change, the Raccoons scored first as Duhe walked, and Ramirez doubled to begin the game. With a pair in scoring position, Joel Starr popped out to shallow left, which didn’t get a run home, but Randy Fisher bobbling Early’s grounder and kicking it into centerfield sure did. Mendoza hit a sac fly, 2-0, but Archuleta whiffed to end the inning. Walla then tried to contain what remained of the Butcher Brigade, which ramped his pitch count up early, and it didn’t help when he struck out Kyle Reber in the bottom 2nd, and then the batter reached anyway on an uncaught third strike. Don Bergeron hit a leadoff single in the bottom 3rd, but as forced out on a bad bunt by Villegas. Mario Alaniz hit a 2-out single, but the pair was stranded on Carlos Dominguez’ grounding out to Starr.

The Raccoons remained stuck on two base hits, with Starr narrowly missing a homer and settling for an F7 in the fifth inning. Walla allowed a leadoff single to Fisher in the bottom 5th, after which Bergeron flew out to Ramirez and Villegas bunted the runner to second. A wild pitch and Dave Wright’s single plated the runner, and Wright then stole second and got third base on D’Alessandro’s throwing error, but was stranded when Alaniz popped out to first, but the score was now down to 2-1. The Loggers turned the game around in the sixth, though, getting a Ramirez single, Reber double, and then scored runs on Murcia’s groundout and Fisher’s 2-out single…

That turn of events didn’t help with anything, from Walla’s faltering ERA title campaign all the to the standings, and the Raccoons did nothing in the seventh to recover the lead, then had to use three relievers to crawl through the bottom 7th against the Loggers, and then Danny Nava gave up another two runs on four hits in the bottom 8th… The Raccoons ended up being turned away for three base hits by the Loggers. 5-2 Loggers. Duhe 0-1, 3 BB;

Walla was now down to third place in the ERA race, and 13 points out.

The Titans also socked the Indians, 8-3, to get to two games ahead, while the Elks beat the Crusaders, 2-1 in ten innings, to reclaim third place.

Game 2
POR: SS Duhe – CF Wilson – 1B Starr – LF Early – C Flowe – 2B Archuleta – RF Colter – 3B Gates – P Gaytan
MIL: RF D. Wright – CF Alaniz – LF C. Dominguez – 1B C. Ramirez – SS Reber – 3B Murcia – 2B R. Fisher – C Bergeron – P Carreno

A Gary Gates sac fly brought in Flowe and his leadoff single in the second inning to take another early lead, with a Jamie Colter double also instrumental in getting the runner to third base. Gary Gates was actually much of the Coons offense in this game, getting a leadoff triple into the leftfield corner in the fifth inning – no, not much happening in between – and coming home on a Gaytan grounder to second base to extend the lead to 2-0. So Gaytan was doing good?? … Wellllll… he had not allowed a run yet; that much was true. But he had walked three batters, nailed two, and the infielders had made some very fine plays to keep his tush clean.

His luck ran out in the bottom 5th, getting Carreno out before Dave Wright raked a homer to left. The two left-handed killers in the 3-4 spots had not made many outs against Gaytan yet, and Dominguez singled and Cesar Ramirez then powered another homer to right, giving Milwaukee a 3-1 lead…

Could the Raccoons wake up? Starr opened the sixth with a single, and Early snuck another single up the middle. Jake Flowe then hit a fly to left-center that dropped between Dominguez and Alaniz, and Starr scored the tying run, while Early was held at third base with nobody out. Of course the Raccoons found a way to **** that up with an Archuleta fly to right. Dave Wright caught that, and for some reason Flowe was far off second base and was doubled off for a 9-6 play. As if that was not depressing enough, Colter then struck out, leaving the go-ahead run on third base.

Gaytan got another inning from the Loggers, holding the sodden 3-3 tie, and when Holzmeister replaced him in the bottom 7th, he right away allowed two singles. McMahan came in, got a 1-6-3 double play comebacker from Dominguez, but Ramirez laid off the garbage and drew a 2-out walk. Dover then replaced him against Kyle Reber, and got the third out on a sharp grounder to Duhe on the first pitch he threw. Starr doubled in the top of the eighth, but was left on base, and Dover shuffled the bags full with Fisher, Bergeron, and Wright in the bottom 8th before Josh C coaxed a groundout from Alaniz to end the inning and strand all the green-hatted runners.

Nick Robinson had the ball in the ninth and retired Archuleta on a grounder before Novelo pinch-hit and singled, and Gates hit another single. Mendoza batted for Carrington, but popped out, and Duhe sent Alaniz back in center, but the ball was caught near the warning track. The Loggers then piled up on the bases again with Gabriel Rios pitching in the bottom 9th. He got Dominguez, but Cesar Ramirez singled his way on base. Reber also singled and Phil Reder ran for Ramirez, so at least he was out of the game. Rafael Murcia popped out, Rios walked Jake Jackson to make it three on and two outs – and then Bergeron struck out.

Extras, and the tenth began with Jaden Wilson singling off Robinson to left, with Dominguez fumbling the ball for an error and extra base, which only took the ball away from Starr, who got directions to first base, then was forced out on Early’s fielder’s choice. Flowe then struck out, and so did van Otterdijk. The Coons saw out Rios in the bottom 10th, then got Novelo on base again against Jose Lugo. He was forced out by Gates. Rios – with two lefty sticks still leading off the bottom 11th – remained in there to bunt, which he did successfully, and then Jared Duhe snapped a single to center, and Gates hurried around to score and break the 3-3 tie that had looked like it was gonna be broken half a dozen times already in this game. Wilson singled, but Starr grounded out, and then Rios still remained around to face Dominguez, who grounded out, and Jose Ahumada, whom he walked in a full count before Valentin replaced him. Reber flew out to left against the closer, Murcia singled to center, and Jackson struck out. Phew! 4-3 Critters. Duhe 2-6, RBI; Wilson 2-5, BB; Starr 2-5, BB, 2B; Flowe 2-5, 2B, RBI; Novelo (PH) 2-2; Gates 2-4, 3B, RBI; Rios 2.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 3 K, W (4-4);

Back to one! The Indians beat the Titans, 5-3, and the Raccoons crept back up to them. The Crusaders got the upper hand again for third place with a 5-1 win against the Elks.

Meanwhile, one was now also the Loggers’ magic number for elimination.

Game 3
POR: SS Duhe – CF Wilson – 1B Starr – LF Early – C Flowe – 2B Archuleta – RF Colter – 3B Mendoza – P Pizzichini
MIL: RF D. Wright – CF Alaniz – LF C. Dominguez – 1B C. Ramirez – SS Reber – 3B Murcia – 2B Ahumada – C Lulich – P Bebout

Sunday’s early lead came in the first inning on a Wilson triple and Starr single, and was rapidly overturned by the Loggers putting three runs on Pizza in the bottom 1st. Wright and Alaniz led off with singles, Ramirez hit a sac fly, and then Reber and Murcia came out with more RBI knocks. I had my ears hanging low, and it looked like Pizza might get yanked early. Dominguez and Ramirez hit singles off him in the third inning, but Reber then spanked one into a double play to ruin the inning for Milwaukee, and in the fourth Ian Lulich singled with one out, and we were ready to yank Pizza after the inevitable Bebout bunt, but Bebout instead swung away and hit into another double play to end the inning.

The Coons had made up a run in the top 4th with a Starr double and Early’s RBI single, then had Mendoza lead off the fifth … by reaching on an error. And then the Raccoons had a pitcher hit into a double play… Wright hit a leadoff single in the fifth and was forced out by Alaniz, after which Sean Thomas replaced Pizza and actually got the two chucks out. After we got nothing out of Early and Flowe singles in the sixth, the Raccoons double-switched in Rated-R and Eddy Ramirez in right, which was a lotta R’s indeed. This boldness was unrewarded, as the Loggers scored a tack-on run on Reber’s leadoff single, stolen base, and two productive outs in the bottom 6th, 4-2.

Top 8th, and Wilson drew a leadoff walk from Bebout. Starr flew out to left, and Bebout lost Early on four pitches, putting the tying run on base, but Flowe’s grounder to first was taken by Ramirez to second base for a force play. Archuleta batted with runners on the corners and two outs, lined a double to right, but the ball didn’t get into the corner, and Flowe wasn’t gonna score from first base. Novelo then batted for Rated-R… and grounded out. Dover held the Loggers in place in the bottom 8th before they sent ex-Coon Tetsu Kurihara after the Critters in the ninth. Gary Gates batted for Mendoza and doubled to left-center, which put the tying run in an interesting position. When Eddy Ramirez slapped a single past Vince Shapiro at third base, Gates never hesitated, turned around third base and went for home, scoring easily as Dominguez’ bad throw was cut off to keep the go-ahead run on first base. Ramirez stole second base, and Duhe walked in a full count, as did Wilson, loading the bags for Joel Starr with nobody out. Well, well – no way to intentionally walk him now…! Kurihara got a strike, and then tried to get another with a breaking ball that hung. And you better not throw hangers to 2068 Joel Starr, because that hanger was BASHED and high and deep to left and – GONE!!! GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAND SLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMMMMMMMMMM!!!!

With Kurihara beaten deader than dead, Angelo Ramirez collected the actual outs in the ninth inning before McMahan came out to look after the Loggers, retiring them in order to eliminate them from playoff consideration. 8-4 Furballs!! Starr 3-5, HR, 2B, 5 RBI; Early 2-4, BB, RBI; Gates (PH) 1-1, 2B; Ramirez 1-2, RBI;

In other news

September 19 – LVA 3B/2B/RF/CF Matt Rodewald (.271, 3 HR, 30 RBI) has his season end early after breaking his wrist.
September 21 – VAN RF/LF Roberto Lozada (.320, 14 HR, 89 RBI) has a 20-game hitting streak together after getting two singles and a double in a skinny 2-1 win against the Crusaders.
September 21 – The Scorpions lead the Gold Sox at home, 5-3 after seven innings before both teams score a run in the eighth inning. The Gold Sox then turn the game around with four runs in the top of the ninth, but the Scorpions answer with a walkoff grand slam by 3B/SS/LF/RF J.P. Gallo (.264, 23 HR, 83 RBI) for a 10-8 win.
September 22 – The season of Condors OF/2B/SS Mike Pinault (.232, 11 HR, 54 RBI) ends early with a strained rib cage muscle.

FL Player of the Week: NAS INF Jordan Sellman (.268, 16 HR, 56 RBI), batting .458 (11-24) with 4 HR, 10 RBI
CL Player of the Week: CHA C/1B Oscar Matos (.318, 24 HR, 92 RBI), bashing .480 (12-25) with 3 HR, 4 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Boston dropped another game to the Indians on Sunday, which allowed the Raccoons to erase the deficit and tie them at the end of the week. The Elks also swung the third-place battle around again. While those two teams were now “just” three games and small change behind, they were in fact as good as eliminated, courtesy of the fact that the Raccoons and Titans still had three games against each other and one or the other was bound to win at least two of them; e.g. the most losses the winner of the division could possibly end up with was 75.

Playoff picture in the North (with strength of schedule and the know-it-all chance to win the division):
BOS (85-70) – VAN (4), POR (3) – .537 – 55.4% (-9.6%)
POR (85-70) – IND (4), BOS (3) – .508 – 44.1% (+15.6%)
VAN (82-73) – BOS (4), MIL (3) – .528 – 0.4% (-3.2%)
NYC (82-74) – IND (3), MIL (3) – .489 – 0.1% (-2.4%)

The Elks could of course force themselves into the conversation with a sweep of the Titans, but they would still need help to catch up with the Coons.

The Condors cleaned house this week and fired their manager and GM, which was probably a justified reaction after their winter shopping spree that had yielded NOTHING.

Fun Fact: Joel Starr’s 121 RBI this year indeed tie for the fifth-most a Raccoon has ever gotten in a single season.

The only players with more RBI’s in a season were Tetsu Osanai (140 in 1989), Rich Hereford (140 in 2028), Hugo “Tiger” Mendoza (133 in 2020), and Troy Greenway (132 in 2038). Starr’s 121 currently tie two more Tetsu seasons from 1986 and 1990.

Starr, who is batting .388/.447/.665 with runners in scoring position this year, has with 767 RBI for the franchise also entered the top 10 in that category:

1st – Jesus Maldonado – 1,165
2nd – Manny Fernandez – 1,110
3rd – Matt Nunley – 1,053
4th – Daniel Hall – 980
5th – Matt Waters – 918
6th – Neil Reece – 905
7th – Mark Dawson – 869
8th – Tetsu Osanai – 865
9th – Tim Stalker – 800
10th – Joel Starr – 767

Few of these guys had RBI’s with other teams, of course. Waters had 46 after his Coons stint ended, and Reece had all of two with the Pacifics as a 38-year-old no-longer-centerfielder. Tim Stalker tingled through four towns for 42 RBI after his Raccoons days ended.

Mark Dawson of course had enjoyed a successful career *before* Portland, driving in 399 runs for the Buffos, which puts him ahead of the hometown heroes with 1,268 RBI in total. Big Tetsu had 260 RBI for the Elks before coming to Portland and then three more with the ever-funny Pacifics afterwards for 1,128 in total.

Note that Joel Starr played only 1,522 of his 1,523 career games with the Raccoons. He had a single appearance with the Miners in ’57 before we acquired him. No hits, on RBI, just a walk in that 0-for-3.

[Westheim]

Everybody in postseason chase mood…!!?? (excitedly grins and pulls string that makes two small paws on the front of his new Raccoons cap clap together repeatedly)

Raccoons (85-70) vs. Indians (74-81) – September 24-27, 2068

The Indians had just made the Titans trip, and they had also rallied a lot from their rancid start to the season, so the Raccoons wouldn’t get auto-wins here, even being up 10-4 on the season against the Arrowheads. Indy was eighth in runs scored and tenth in runs allowed.

Projected matchups:
Alex Dominguez (16-7, 3.63 ERA) vs. Jorge Flores (12-9, 4.77 ERA)
Vinny Morales (9-5, 3.17 ERA) vs. Justin Esch (8-6, 3.83 ERA)
Nick Walla (14-12, 2.64 ERA) vs. Mike DeWitt (15-8, 2.94 ERA)
Tony Gaytan (7-10, 4.53 ERA) vs. Victor Perez (12-7, 3.84 ERA)

DeWitt was the only southpaw around in that rotation.

Game 1
IND: CF Hilario – RF T. Torres – C A. Gomez – 1B M. Rogers – 3B Ma. Martin – 2B P. Weber – LF Spicer – SS Valadez – P Jo. Flores
POR: SS Duhe – CF Wilson – 1B Starr – LF Early – C Flowe – 3B Mendoza – RF Colter – 2B Novelo – P Dominguez

Offense was hard to come by, with the Raccoons having one base hit through five innings and all, and even when Jorge Flores walked three batters, they still managed to hit into two double plays with Starr in the first and Early in the fourth – but also scored a run: Jake Flowe drew a leadoff walk in the bottom 2nd, Mendoza doubled, and Jamie Colter got the game’s first run home with a grounder to the right side, but Mendoza was left on base. It sure was not a lot of offense, but for the time being Alex Dominguez did his very best – surely more than in the last four to six weeks against anybody – to make it stand up, and held the Arrowheads to two base hits through five shutout innings. Jamie Colter hit a deep F7 in the bottom 5th, but apart from that the Raccoons remained rather anemic. Alex Gomez actually found outfield real estate for a double in the sixth inning. This came with two outs though and Matt Rogers didn’t find a way to get him around to score. However, Malcolm Spicer also hit a 2-out double in the seventh. Eddie Menchaca batted for Fernando Valadez, struck an RBI double to left-center, hurt himself, and likely ended his season with a bum ankle. Jorge Flores grounded out to end the inning, now in a 1-1 game.

Dominguez held out for 100 pitches and eight innings of fine baseball, but the lead was gone, and the Raccoons were still on one base hit against Flores. Colter drew another walk in the bottom 8th, but that led nowhere. Matt Rogers then took Josh C deep in the ninth inning and then the Raccoons put two more Indians on base with walks before finally getting out of the inning. Right-hander Brian McLaughlin got the ball for the ninth for Indy, walking the leadoff man Duhe, who was forced out Wilson’s grounder to Paul Weber. Starr dropped a soft single into shallow center, only the second Portland hit in the game, and Wilson moved to second base. Starr was forced out on Early’s grounder to shortstop Guillermo Lujan, so Flowe batted with the tying and go-ahead runs on the corners and two outs. He popped out to Lujan. 2-1 Indians. Dominguez 8.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 7 K;

(still holds the string but has nothing to clap for)

The Titans took a 1-game lead again with a 2-0 win against the damn Elks, and killed the 21-game hitting streak of Roberto Lozada in the same go. The Crusaders beat the Loggers, 6-2, to stay technically relevant.

Game 2
IND: CF Hilario – RF T. Torres – C A. Gomez – 1B M. Rogers – 3B Ma. Martin – 2B P. Weber – LF Valencia – SS Valadez – P Esch
POR: SS Duhe – CF Wilson – 1B Starr – C Flowe – 3B Mendoza – LF Ramirez – 2B Archuleta – RF van Otterdijk – P Morales

Starr hit a double in the first inning, but that on itself wasn’t gonna give the Raccoons a run, and instead the Indians took the lead in the second, in which they got their second leadoff single of the day. Matt Martin singled to right, Paul Weber walked on four pitches, and Rafael Valencia hit an RBI single. He would hurt himself running the bases, while Esch would drive in a second run with a groundout, and Jose Hilario left the third runner on base. The Raccoons answered with Mendoza and van Otterdijk doubles for a run in the bottom 2nd – which marked the first career RBI for George van Otterdijk – before Morales made the third out. However, Jaden Wilson socked a game-tying homer in the bottom 3rd.

The game was tied for about three seconds before Matt Martin strung a leadoff triple into the leftfield corner in the fourth inning and he scored on Weber’s groundout on the very next pitch, so the Indians took a new 3-2 lead. Eddy Ramirez then singled to begin the Coons’ half of the fourth. He stole second, Archuleta popped out, and then van Otterdijk tied the game back up with a single to left-center, his second RBI knock in a row…! He was bunted on by Morales, and then Duhe singled to center, getting the rookie around to score and the Raccoons were up, 4-3.

Hilario hit another single in the fifth and stole his 46th base of the year, but the remainder of the lineup didn’t find a way to get him around from there. However, Weber hit a 1-out single in the sixth to knock out Vinny Morales. Sean Thomas came in for the left-handers, and gave up a game-tying triple to Matthew Parker on the very first pitch he tossed up there. Valadez then struck out Wil Mejia walked, and Hilario grounded out, and it was four-all in the middle of the sixth.

Futile poking continued for two innings before the Raccoons opened the bottom 8th with Mendoza and Ramirez singles against Shamar King. Colter batted for Archuleta and scratched a 1-2 pitch out of the dirt to flick it over Wil Martinez into shallow right for another single, but Mendoza was held at third base. Batting with three on and nobody out was van Otterdijk, who for some wicked reason was yet to be retired in this game, also fell 1-2 behind, and then lofted a fly to right that Tony Torres caught, but Mendoza hurried home in time to score the go-ahead run on the sac fly. Novelo batted for McMahan and smacked an RBI double to left, Duhe found an RBI single in center, and when Pablo Apodaca replaced King, he walked the bags full with Wilson, bringing up Starr with one out. Both Starr and Flowe struck out, and so Pedro Valentin had a 3-run lead to work with in the ninth inning, He retired Corey Vazquez and Hilario before Tony Torres slapped a single into right. Alex Gomez went own on strikes, though. 7-4 Raccoons. Duhe 2-5, 2 RBI; Mendoza 2-4, 2B; Ramirez 2-4; Colter (PH) 1-1; van Otterdijk 3-3, 2B, 3 RBI; Novelo (PH) 1-1, 2B, RBI;

Everybody was back to square one with a 10-7 win the Elks nailed down against the Titans.

New York beat Milwaukee again, 5-4, which kept them hypothetically engaged, even though for them to get even to a tie-breaker scenario they now had to win out AND the Elks had to take two more from Boston AND the Coons had to drop their last two to Indy AND the Titans-Raccoons couldn’t end in a sweep … and then it was still a 3-way tie.

This was the last division race going on as both the Cyclones and Warriors clinched with wins on Tuesday.

Game 3
IND: CF Hilario – RF T. Torres – C A. Gomez – 1B M. Rogers – 3B Ma. Martin – 2B P. Weber – LF G. Lujan – SS Valadez – P M. DeWitt
POR: SS Duhe – CF Ramirez – 1B Starr – LF Early – 3B Mendoza – 2B Archuleta – RF van Otterdijk – C D’Alessandro – P Walla

Ramon Archuleta hit a solo home run in the second inning to give the Coons a 1-0 lead, but also struck out to end the third inning with the bases loaded without any additional runs having been scored. Walla, who had put two on base in the first inning, but seemed to have overcome that, was then blown up in the fourth inning as the last fleeting hope of an ERA title was rudely dashed, beginning the bane of general and field level managers everywhere, a leadoff walk to Alex Gomez. With one out, singles by Martin and Weber tied the game, and then Lujan cranked a 3-run homer to give Indy the 4-1 lead. Walla then ****** the bases full in the fifth with Hilario’s infield single (Torres forced him out), a walk to Gomez, and nicking Rogers, then as unceremoniously yanked. Jesse Dover entered the game in the FIFTH, struck out Martin and Weber to keep the damage to what had already been incurred, and that was the inning.

The Indians instead added two runs against useless Sean Thomas, who faced five batters, four left-handers and a switch-hitter, and managed to give up three screamers for a double, triple, single, and two runs, and then still wasn’t out of the top of the sixth inning. Cam Bridges struck out Gomez to end the inning, and the Raccoons then finally did *something*, anything really, against DeWitt with back-to-back bombs bashed by Archuleta and van Otterdijk in the bottom 6th, reducing the gap to 6-3 again. This was the first career home run of van Otterdijk, too. However, Bridges walked Rogers to begin the seventh and then was immediately taken deep by Matt Martin, restoring the Indians’ 5-run lead. Bridges would finish that inning, Cody Childress allowed another run across the final two innings in his first outing of the year, and the Raccoons got beaten quite comprehensively in the end. 9-3 Indians. Archuleta 2-3, 2 HR, 2 RBI; van Otterdijk 3-4, HR, RBI;

In the worst kind of good news, the damn Elks won a game, beating the Titans, 5-4, fending off a late rally there. The Crusaders were eliminated by virtue of a 5-1 loss to the Loggers and were no longer going to bother anybody.

Game 4
IND: CF Hilario – RF T. Torres – 1B M. Rogers – 3B Ma. Martin – 2B P. Weber – LF Spicer – C J. Edwards – SS Valadez – P V. Perez
POR: SS Duhe – CF Wilson – 1B Starr – LF Early – C Flowe – 2B Archuleta – RF van Otterdijk – 3B Gates – P Gaytan

While the Indians had the leadoff man on base in each of the first three innings and never scored, the Raccoons made something out of a 1-out single by Duhe and Wilson walking in the bottom 3rd when they took off for a double steal. John Edwards’ throw bounced off Wilson’s fat tush into centerfield for an error, and Duhe scored, while Wilson scurried to third base, scoring after Starr walked on an Early groundout, 2-0. Whatever ******* works!! (pulls the string and claps the hat paws!)

It was still 2-0 in the bottom 5th, which Gaytan, somehow pitching a 2-hitter, and Duhe opened with a pair of singles. Wilson’s groundout moved them into scoring position, and Joel Starr – very silent so far in this series – tacked on my the modest means of a sac fly to Spicer in left. Early’s groundout left Duhe stranded.

Jake Flowe’s first home run in 2 1/2 months (!) added a run to begin the bottom 6th, while Gaytan was still fooling around with the baseball, walking Matt Martin to begin the seventh inning – his third leadoff walk in the game – before putting a K on Weber and getting a double play grounder from Spicer (!), buggering out of the inning. Gaytan pitched into the eighth until he walked Valadez and Wil Martinez hit a single with one out. Rios replaced him, got a fielder’s choice grounder from Hilario, and then rung up Torres to keep the Raccoons’ sheets clean. He remained around to pop out Rogers to begin the ninth, then was replaced with Nava, who collected two groundouts to put the game away. Duhe 4-4; Starr 1-1, 2 BB, RBI; Gaytan 7.1 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 6 K, W (8-10) and 1-3;

The Titans scored four in the first inning on Thursday, then blew that lead by the sixth inning and suffered a terrific bullpen explosion that left them short despite another late rally of their own. The damn Elks beat them, 10-8, and the Raccoons now had a 1-game lead in the division. (frantic hat paw clapping and a really, really stupid grin)

The scenario for the weekend was thus clear: the Raccoons had to beat the Titans twice; by Sunday would be preferred, but we could make do with a second win on Monday (which would be a Walla start, for better or worse).

The damn Elks were still alive, but the only way they could still get into a tie-breaker was with a sweep of the Loggers, and with the Titans inning exactly two games on the weekend, which would set up a 3-way tie, which was the best that the Elks could do at this stage.

Raccoons (87-72) vs. Titans (86-73) – September 28-30, 2068

The Titans arrived looking slightly embarrassed, but nevertheless determined. They had lost three in a row, and they had to stop losing quick to turn this thing back around. Third in runs scored and fifth in runs allowed, they brought a +78 run differential, twice the +39 differential the Raccoons had to offer. The Titans also had already won twice as many games in the season series, with a 10-5 tally in favor of Boston. Their only injury was ace Mike Bell.

Projected matchups:
Girolamo Pizzichini (6-9, 3.56 ERA) vs. Ricardo Montoya (11-9, 3.28 ERA)
Alex Dominguez (16-7, 3.53 ERA) vs. Tyler Riddle (12-10, 3.24 ERA)
Vinny Morales (9-5, 3.29 ERA) vs. Jesse Cruise (1-2, 4.88 ERA)

Montoya was the final right-hander the Raccoons would see in the regular season, with two southpaws at the end of the series. In case a tie-breaker would have to be played on Monday, we expected to face Bryce Wallace (10-15, 3.74 ERA), another righty.

Game 1
BOS: LF S. Humphries – C Arviso – RF M. Garcia – CF Marcotte – 2B Jer. White – 3B D. Miller – SS Robichaud – 1B I. Berrios – P R. Montoya
POR: SS Duhe – CF Wilson – 1B Starr – LF Early – C Flowe – 2B Archuleta – RF Colter – 3B Mendoza – P Pizzichini

Boston led very early on as Pizza walked Steve Humphries, Jorge Arviso legged out an infield single (…), and while Manuel Garcia found a double play to hit into, Eddie Marcotte as always good for an RBI single against the Furballs… The brown-hatted team (hat-paw-clap!) had a Duhe double to begin the bottom 1st, and Mendoza single to begin the bottom 3rd, scored from neither of those situations, and was 3-0 behind following a Garcia homer to begin the fourth inning and then Marcotte singling, stealing, and scoring on Danny Miller’s single. Pizza would be yanked after a 1-out single by Humphries in the fifth inning, and Josh C kept the runner on base.

The tying run was at the plate in the bottom 5th in… circumstances; Mendoza hit a 1-out double to left and van Otterdijk batted for the pitcher, grounded to short, and Jared Robichaud just plain fumbled the ball and the error put runners on the corners. Duhe flew out to shallow right, with no way for a runner to head home against Garcia’s arm, but Jaden Wilson got the team on the board with an RBI single to right-center, and that sent Starr to bat with the tying runs on base. A wild pitch even advanced the runners, but Starr hit a sharp grounder right at Ivan Berrios, and the inning ended.

The Titans responded with two idiotic runs on Cam Bridges, an idiot, despite Marcotte doubling and being thrown out at home by Wilson on a Jeremy White single to center. Danny Miller whiffed, and Bridges then hit Robichaud and allowed RBI singles to Berrios and MONTOYA. Nava replaced him, allowed another RBI single to Humphries, 6-1, and then finally got Arviso on a fly to right, at which point the game looked pretty dead, and the Raccoons resorted to sending Rated-R to pitch the last three innings. Danny Miller became the fifth Boston player with 20 homers on the year when he took Rated-R deep in the eighth inning – but not that it mattered. The Coons drew mostly blanks against Montoya for seven innings, and it didn’t get better against Joe Cash after that. 7-1 Titans. Mendoza 2-3, 2B;

23-year-old shortstop Dan Eggert kept the damn Elks alive with a walkoff single in the 13th inning to beat the Loggers, 10-9.

Brilliant.

Game 2
BOS: LF S. Humphries – C Arviso – RF M. Garcia – CF Marcotte – 2B Jer. White – 3B D. Miller – SS Robichaud – 1B I. Berrios – P Riddle
POR: SS Duhe – CF Ramirez – 1B Starr – LF Early – 3B Mendoza – 2B Archuleta – RF van Otterdijk – C D’Alessandro – P Dominguez

The Raccoons tried to get a W from a pitcher who hadn’t won a game since August 17, and didn’t get a single hit of support from his team the first time through the order. Danny Miller singled for Boston in the second, but apart from that the Titans were just as silent in the early going, before they got singles on back-to-back pitches from Garcia and Marcotte to lead off the fourth inning. White’s RBI single gave Boston the lead, and Dominguez walked Miller to fill the bases before Robichaud plated a second run with a fielder’s choice to short. Miller was out on that play, Robichaud was then caught stealing, and Berrios grounded out to leave White on third base in the 2-0 game. Early hit a 2-out single in the bottom 4th that led nowhere.

An Arviso homer, his 28th of the year, extended the Titans lead to 3-0 in the fifth inning, while Archuleta found the gap for a leadoff triple in the bottom 5th and scored on a groundout by van Otterdijk, which was better than nothing at this point. Another home run by Marcotte made it 4-1 in the sixth and Dominguez was yanked after a 1-out single to center hit by Miller. Holzmeister replaced him, and the inning ended with long fly outs to left by Robichaud and Berrios.

Holzmeister went on to walk Humphries with one out in the seventh inning. Thomas came in to face Arviso, allowed a single that sent the lead runner to third base, and then Garcia hit a sac fly, 5-1, off Carrington. Marcotte struck out, but the game was really out of paws now, even before the Raccoons – who amounted to TWO base hits in eight innings – suffered a 3-run implosion between Schmieder and Kehoe in the ninth inning. 8-1 Titans. Archuleta 1-2, BB, 3B;

The damn Elks out-clubbed the Loggers again on Saturday, this time winning 12-11 in regulation to be just one more silly score away from getting into a 3-way tie.

Although that required the Raccoons to actually win a ballgame.

Game 3
BOS: LF S. Humphries – C Arviso – RF M. Garcia – CF Marcotte – 2B Jer. White – 3B D. Miller – SS Robichaud – 1B I. Berrios – P Cruise
POR: SS Duhe – CF Ramirez – 1B Starr – LF Early – 2B Archuleta – C Flowe – RF van Otterdijk – 3B Mendoza – P Morales

The Titans brought up a 28-year-old quad-A pitcher for this win-or-sob game, and the Raccoons brought up a 27-year-old … well, he had qualified for the rate statistics after all… and then Vinny Morales faced ONE batter, retiring Steve Humphries, and then drew attention from Luis Silva for shaking out his arm and was taken out of the game. (unceremoniously tosses the paw cap behind himself and opens a bottle of Capt’n Coma)

The stunned Coons sent in Cody Childress for a mixture of length and “ohmagawd-ohmagawd-ohmagawd-what-are-we-gonna-do??” and tried to do something with the sticks in the meantime, but it was Robichaud to give the Titans a 2-0 lead with an INSIDE-THE-PARK homer in the second inning with Jeremy White on base. The hole was already four feet deep at that point, but Archuleta singled and Flowe doubled in the bottom 2nd and the tying runs were in scoring position with one gone, but van Otterdijk popped out and Mendoza grounded out to third to **** the chance away.

Suddenly it was the fifth inning, Childress had tossed four innings of 6-hit, 2-run, 6-K ball, and then was knocked out when Arviso singled. The Coons went to Nava, who got Garcia and Marcotte out, bunted Mendoza onwards in the bottom 5th, but Humphries ran down a Duhe fly to left-center and the runner was stranded in scoring position. Nava and Rios put the sixth together, while Cruise was still on a 3-hitter. He walked Eddy Ramirez to begin the bottom 6th, but Starr – ******* plainly not having a good week at all – hit into a double play. Bottom 7th, another leadoff walk to Archuleta, and a full count to Flowe, who chopped a slow roller into play that just died a hero, and the tying run reached on an infield single. Van Otterdijk *scorched* a liner – right into the glove of Berrios, who found Flowe off base and tagged him out for a 3-U double play. Mendoza grounded out, leaving Archuleta to die at second base.

Jesse Dover overcame Marcotte and Miller singles to keep the Titans from tacking on in the eighth inning. Wilson batted for him to begin the bottom 8th and flew out to Joe Washington in deep right. Duhe singled, Ramirez flew out, and that brought up Starr as the tying run, and I felt like this was the Raccoons’ final whiff at a tie-breaker game. We needed #35 from Starr, badly. He popped out foul behind the plate.

Valentin retired the Bostonians in order in the ninth inning before they sent their own closer Cody Kleidon after the Critters to nail down this 2-0 game and the whole ******* season. He struck out Early. Archuleta flew out to Humphries on a 2-1 pitch. Novelo batted for Flowe and ran a 3-1 count … and then grounded out to Robichaud. Curtains. 2-0 Titans. Flowe 2-3, 2B;

In other news

September 24 – The Warriors beat the Scorpions, 3-2 in 14 innings.
September 25 – TIJ SS Jason Turner (.240, 13 HR, 52 RBI) hits a home run for the only tally in a 1-0 win against the Bayhawks.
September 27 – The Wolves win a 2-1, 16-inning game from the Gold Sox.
September 28 – WAS SP Jon Reyes (9-11, 4.39 ERA) will have Tommy John surgery to repair a torn UCL and is expected to miss the 2069 season.
September 30 – ATL SP Rob Wilkinson (11-12, 4.21 ERA) throws a 1-hit shutout against the Condors for a 5-0 win. TIJ C/1B Mike Brann (.224, 24 HR, 61 RBI) singles for the lone Condors base hit.
September 30 – Blue Sox CL Roberto Navarro (7-3, 2.62 ERA, 26 SV) was going to miss at least the first two months of the 2069 season due to requiring surgery to repair a torn flexor tendon in his elbow.
September 30 – The Crusaders and Indians treat the fans in attendance to an 18-inning, 5-4 New York win on Closing Day.

FL Player of the Week:
CL Player of the Week:

Complaints and stuff

(cries in the dark while holding Honeypaws and an empty bottle)

[UltimateAverageGuy]

WOW.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[DD Martin]

Well that didn’t end well. Ending the season on a 5 game skid