[Westheim]

By the way, I missed to include this earlier, but Andrew Schaefer cleared waivers (no wonder) and waived his 10/5 rights, accepting an assignment to St. Petersburg.

Raccoons (10-20) vs. Warriors (22-10) – May 8-10, 2000

We can savely assume that we are going to take another beating. The Warriors are 2nd with 177 runs scored in the Federal League, batting .299 as a team, which is tops. Neither do they give up runs. A strong pitching staff has limited the damage to 3.75 runs per game, and you can safely assume that the Raccoons aren’t going to scratch that mark.

Projected matchups:
Randy Farley (3-2, 2.11 ERA) vs. Pat Cherry (5-1, 3.46 ERA)
Miguel Lopez (1-4, 5.70 ERA) vs. Juan Sanchez (2-1, 6.62 ERA)
Jose Rivera (1-4, 4.91 ERA) vs. Luis Munoz (4-1, 4.29 ERA)

The Warriors also inked David Vinson late in the offseason. Vinson, 35, is batting a gruesome .139 …

Game 1
SFW: 1B Mateo – RF Flygt – 2B Heffer – LF Encarnación – CF Arroyo – C Vinson – SS M. Guzman – 3B Petipas – P Cherry
POR: SS Guerin – RF Brady – CF Reece – 1B Gonzalez – LF Richardson – 2B Ingall – C Mata – 3B Caddock – P Farley

Javier Encarnación managed to misplay both opening flies by Guerin and Brady, which became a pair of doubles. Richardson drove in Brady with two down, giving the Raccoons an early 2-0 lead, while Farley struck out four his first time through the Warriors lineup. While Farley silenced the Warriors’ bats, the Raccoons got careless with the runners, leaving men in scoring position in the fourth and fifth innings. The sixth then started perfectly with an Ingall single. Mata, who had already extended a 10-game hitting streak with a double earlier, hit another double, and the Warriors put Caddock on to get a double play from Farley. Randyboy however was smarter than that and signed past Manuel Guzman to bring home the third run of the day. Two more runs scored on groundouts, before singles by Reece and Gonzalez re-loaded the bags, but Ingall’s fly to shallow right was intercepted by Flygt to keep the score at 6-0. When Farley lost his touch in the eighth, it came rather sudden. He walked Flygt, his first walk of the day, then allowed singles to Heffer and Encarnación, the latter already scoring Flygt. Blanco replaced him to face the left-hander Arroyo, but gave up an RBI double. Blanco rallied to strike out Vinson (who had by now reached the hattrick, plus a soft pop to Reece). Nordahl walked the bases full, but at least Richardson caught Bob Petipas’ deep fly before I could die from a heart attack. Nordahl was initially left in there for the ninth, struck out Ruben Melendez and Jaime Mateo and then also got Flygt, which ended the game already! 6-2 Raccoons! Reece 2-5; Gonzalez 2-5, 2B, RBI; Richardson 1-2, 2 BB, 2B, RBI; Mata 2-4, 2 2B; Farley 7.1 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 8 K, W (4-2) and 1-4, RBI; Nordahl 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K, SV (1);

No, I am not feasting on David Vinson’s misery. He was our catcher for almost a decade, mostly living off a fantastic sophomore season. And I know why I didn’t make him an offer to come back as protection to Julio Mata.

Dan Nordahl meanwhile earned his first big league save after 70 such achievements in the minors in the last three years. I am very sure that many more of the big league saves will follow with time.

Game 2
SFW: RF Theobald – 3B Petipas – C Melendez – SS R. Garza – LF Arroyo – 1B M. Guzman – 2B Mateo – CF A. Flores – P J. Sanchez
POR: SS Guerin – RF Brady – CF Reece – 3B Gonzalez – LF Richardson – C Mata – 2B Andresen – 1B Michel – P Lopez

Before the game it was noted, how weakly the components of the Warriors lineup had batted in their careers against Miguel Lopez: 16 for 109, or .147, with Melendez a shocking 3-37 against him (although with two dingers…). That was the old Lopez, the left-handed hero made of steel however. The new Lopez consisted of a wooden frame covered with canvas, which was delapitated and bug-infested, and gave up two walks and a single for a run in the first. The Raccoons had his back though, scored two in the bottom 1st, and knocked out Sanchez once Cesar Gonzalez hit his fifth homer of the year, which counted for three, in the bottom 2nd, 6-1 Coons. No, Lopez still wasn’t any good, pitching a wild game and only the fact that the defense made some nifty plays (with Richardson getting a special mentioning) helped him survive five hits and five walks in his six innings while not surrendering any additional runs. Jose Sotelo silenced the Raccoons in long relief on the other side of the box score, sitting down 11 straight Furballs – of which seven(!) struck out. Neil Reece’s bloop with two out in the seventh fell for a single – finally – and got Sotelo removed, and in an incredible display of dumb luck, once Gonzalez had drawn a walk off Nolan Hill, the next three Coons in order all hit soft singles to plate three more runs. Once Samy Michel flew deep to left, Arroyo caught him to end the inning… The Warriors didn’t get their bats up until the ninth when a terminally inept Kelly Fairchild issued four walks to have two runs scored. Nordahl finished the game by finally retiring Jaime Mateo. 9-3 Raccoons!! Reece 3-4, BB; Gonzalez 2-4, BB, HR, 2B, 4 RBI; Richardson 2-4, 2 RBI; Andresen 2-4, RBI; Michel 2-4;

Regardless of what happens in the final game (cue dramatic music), we have GIVEN those Warriors! Yay!!

The next morning, the Warriors used our press room to announce a 2-yr, $1.9M extension to Pat Cherry, just before we announced our signing of C Freddy Jackson to a minor league deal. Jackson, 35, is a 13-year big league veteran, who played most of his career for the Miners, and will now be assigned to the minors.

Ho-hoh. You didn’t see that one coming, eh?

Game 3
SFW: SS R. Garza – RF Flygt – 2B Heffer – LF Encarnación – CF Arroyo – C Vinson – 1B Mateo – 3B M. Guzman – P L. Munoz
POR: SS Guerin – RF Brady – CF Reece – 3B Gonzalez – LF Richardson – 2B Ingall – C Mata – 1B Michel – P Rivera

Rivera was violently picked apart in the first inning, defense by Richardson holding the damage to two runs. He didn’t even finish the second. The trainer spotted him grimacing throwing the fastball and hauled him in. Meeks pitched through the third, and wound up on the potential winning side of the box score when the Raccoons torched Munoz for four 2-out runs in the bottom 3rd. Both teams would rather frequently leave runners in scoring position in the middle innings, while the score remained 4-2 for the home team. Remarkably it was our long and middle relief, which held up, and the back end, which didn’t. While Miller couldn’t do much about Manuel Guzman being safe on a drag bunt leading off the eighth, he also put Ramón Garza on base with another single. With left-handers up, Donis was broken out to collect five outs with the tying runs already on, which also left only Nordahl in the pen in case this one became tied. The Warriors countered by hitting the right-hander Melendez for Flygt, Melendez doubled, 4-3, and then Donis uncorked a wild pitch to tie the score. Heffer’s sac fly plated Garza, and we trailed, and we did so into the ninth. Caddock and Andresen on the bottom end of the lineup went down silently, before Guerin reached against William Henderson with an infield single. He stole second before Brady walked. The winning runs were on for Neil Reece, who was 0-3 in the game, but figured to counter Henderson, a southpaw, well. Well, no. Reece grounded out to Heffer, and the sensation of sweeping the Warriors did not come together. 5-4 Warriors. Guerin 2-5, RBI; Richardson 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Parker (PH) 1-1, 2B; Meeks 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K; Diaz 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K and 1-1, 2B;

Jose Rivera has been diagnosed with elbow soreness. While this could explain his complete ineptness through the first six weeks of the season, it is also not an excuse. He will be placed on the 15-day DL to heal off (hopefully). Normally, I would have gone to Paco Martinez for two spot starts, but he had been bowled over badly in his last outing, and so I went to good old (24 years old) Bob Joly, who was a decent 2-1 with a 2.38 ERA in AAA this year.

The game also ended Julio Mata’s 12-game hitting streak.

Raccoons (12-21) @ Titans (19-16) – May 12-14, 2000

The Titans were rallying from their sub-par start to the season and had a 5-game winning streak going as we came to town. For some strange reason they were badly struggling to score runs, their 129 counters ranking inferior even to the Raccoons’ challenged production. They could rely on their pitching though, which ranked fourth in the league with a 3.64 ERA.

Projected matchups:
Ralph Ford (2-2, 3.93 ERA) vs. Sergio Gonzalez (4-3, 2.04 ERA)
Scott Wade (1-4, 4.78 ERA) vs. John Miller (3-2, 4.43 ERA)
Randy Farley (4-2, 2.17 ERA) vs. Jason O’Halloran (5-2, 2.78 ERA)

Game 1
POR: SS Guerin – LF Richardson – CF Reece – 3B Gonzalez – 2B Ingall – C Mata – RF Parker – 1B Michel – P Ford
BOS: CF Alonso – SS D. Silva – LF Reid – 1B G. Douglas – 2B Torres – RF Elizondo – 3B Delgado – C Williamson – P S. Gonzalez

While Ralphie pitched seven innings allowing only two runs in the opener, including a solo homer to Glenn Douglas in the sixth, the gap couldn’t have felt any bigger. Sergio Gonzalez was absolutely shutting down the offense and whatever eluded him high and deep was sucked up by Luis Alonso – or an airborne vac cleaner posing to be Alonso – in centerfield. It wasn’t until the eighth that the Raccoons posed a threat, when Parker led off with a double. Brady hit for Ford and singled him home, cutting the gap in half (but it still felt way bigger). Guerin struck out, but Richardson got a single past Silva. Reece came up with two on, two down, and had been denied by Alonso twice already today. Keep it on the ground, Neil, we might get more outta that. Reece took the second pitch to the left side and it JUST BARELY SO eluded Silva, and with Brady activating rocket boost, Reece’s single tied up the game. Gonzalez managed to lob a 3-2 pitch over Torres then and it dinked into shallow right, scoring Richardson, and we had the lead! Ingall’s liner to right was intercepted by Douglas, but we were up 3-2. So, how’s the back end of that pen doing? Badly. Douglas reached against Daniel Miller, and Josh Thomas’ pinch-hit homer buried Miller under an ERA that suddenly was over nine. Yet, Miller didn’t lose the game. Chris Parker tied the score with a huge homer off Bill Corkum in the ninth, possibly saving his job for another day. The loss went to Nordahl, who led off the bottom 11th with a hit batter (Delgado), walked the bags full, struck out Silva for the second out, but then fell victim to Dave Reid’s single. 5-4 Titans. Parker 2-4, HR, 2B, RBI; Brady (PH) 1-1, RBI;

Mellow…

Game 2
POR: SS Guerin – RF Brady – CF Reece – 3B Gonzalez – 2B Ingall – LF Parker – 1B Michel – C Fifield – P Wade
BOS: CF Elizondo – 2B Brewer – RF Thomas – 1B G. Munoz – LF Reid – SS D. Silva – C L. Lopez – 3B Torres – P J. Miller

Neither team had a hit through two innings. Miller walked two to get the top 3rd going, Wade bunted over the runners, and then the Raccoons enjoyed four straight base hits plating four runs. Following an error by Dave Reid on leadoff man Concie Guerin’s liner to left in the top 5th, Miller walked the bags full, and soon took more damage, as the Raccoons knocked him out with three more runs, which were all unearned. Up 7-0, Wade surrendered his first hit on a leadoff double by Munoz in the bottom 5th. Somehow Wade had lost composure between innings, and was now surrendering line drive after line drive. The Titans took him for a walk around the park, plating three runs in the inning and getting back into slam range. Move on to the sixth, and everything was back to normal for a Scott Wade now pitching on a very short leash. He would give up another run, in the eighth, but by then the Raccoons had already added another 2-spot in the top 7th, and the Titans weren’t going to get back into this game. 9-4 Raccoons. Reece 2-3, 2 BB, RBI; Parker 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI;

You know what would be swell? Having a winning week. We haven’t had one this year… And while we will get the best man to give the ball to in the rubber game, the same will be the case for the Titans, and the Raccoons have had their share of issues with O’Halloran for the last years.

Game 3
POR: SS Guerin – 2B Ingall – CF Reece – 3B Gonzalez – C Mata – RF Brady – 1B Andresen – LF Newton – P Farley
BOS: CF Elizondo – 2B Brewer – RF Thomas – 1B G. Munoz – SS D. Silva – C L. Lopez – LF Alonso – 3B Williamson – P O’Halloran

An Ingall triple and Reece’s following RBI single gave the Raccoons the early advantage in the rubber game, even before Ron Williamson made a bad error on Gonzalez’ grounder to put two Coons in scoring position. Mata singled Reece home, and Gonzalez would eventually score on a passed ball. It all was very similar to how the Coons had toppled Martin Garcia a few weeks earlier. This time, they scored three runs, two unearned, in the top 1st. However, back then the Raccoons had enjoyed starling pitching and defense. That was not the case today. Farley allowed a pair of singles to Brewer and Thomas, before getting Munoz. With two down, he faced the inevitable Daniel Silva, who hadn’t done a lot in the series, but now doubled through Andresen to plate both runners. A passed ball on Mata cost another run once Luis Lopez hit, and it wouldn’t stop. Alonso drove Lopez home, and the Titans took a 4-3 lead. So much for getting your best men up to pitch. O’Halloran’s day ended with a 2-out, 3-run double by Cesar Gonzalez, tilting the score back into the Raccoons’ favor at 6-4. Brewer’s RBI single gave the Titans another run in the bottom 2nd, and Farley only escaped on a double play started by Ingall. Farley was knocked out in the fifth after ten hits and no strikeouts when – the inevitable – Daniel Silva legged out a grounder to break up a double play and bring in the tying run from third base. Both bullpens were wobbling, but neither team scored through eight. The Titans fielded Ramiro Román to pitch in the top 9th, and he issued a leadoff walk to Caddock in the #9 hole. Guerin singled, Ingall walked, and oh that’s gotta be it! No outs, bases loaded, Neil Reece up, how can that not end with multiple runs scoring? While he fell 1-2 behind, he didn’t whiff, but grounded hard to third for Caddock to be forced out easily at home. Gonzalez grounded to Brewer for another out at home, and that left business to Mata, who was a hero and drew a walk, forcing home Ingall. The Titans threw Bill Corkum into the mess to somehow get out with minimal damage. Clyde Brady flew to deep left – which was exactly where the pesky Alonso was playing, and he got that one, too. Donis had only a 1-run lead in the bottom 9th, and surely Dave Reid started the frame with a single to center. Douglas moved up the runner on a groundout, before Thomas flew out to Newton. That put up left-handers for Donis to swallow. The count ran full on Gonzalo Munoz, and I had my mouth full of sweets, which were excellent at the Titans’ park, and couldn’t swallow. Could Donis swallow him? 97 miles an hour right down broadway did the job – for the Furballs. Munoz never moved the bat. 7-6 Raccoons. Guerin 2-5, 2B; Ingall 2-4, BB, 3B; Brady 2-5, 2 2B; Miller 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K;

Dan Nordahl got the win as the Raccoons won their first week all season long. In six games since his callup, he has collected a win, two losses, and a save, so you could rightfully say that he was well in the middle of the action…

In other news

May 9 – Topeka’s youngest bull is on the shelf for now. Chris York (2-2, 3.21 ERA) has been diagnosed with bone chips in his elbow and is most likely out for the season.
May 13 – A torn labrum means season over for CIN SP Albert Zarate (2-4, 5.27 ERA). Experts doubt the 35-year old, who has an injury history of quite some length, will ever come back.

Complaints and stuff

Odd stat: Scott Wade leads all CL pitchers in BABIP, with a .225 mark. So, this can mean two things. Either his pitching style and our infield work together very well, or he is due a giant blowup sooner than we would like to see.

Odd stat #2: Opponents slug .302 off Farley, which ties for fourth in the league, or for third, depending on whether demigods like Martin Garcia (.220 OppSLG) are included in the statistic.

Odd stat #3: BNN tracks 31 batting stats. No Raccoon features in the top 5 of ANY of them, not even in the negative ones.

Yes, we are that … that … that meaningless, there’s not even a word for it.

Not much else happened in Coon City and satellite’s thereof. How about a rundown of Gold Gloves amassed by the Raccoons over the years, by position? We have won 28 Gloves in 23 seasons (for obvious math reasons, the league average is 17.25), 17 of which have come from the three positions on the left side of the field.

P: 2 – Christopher Powell (1978), Alejandro Venegas (1988)
C: 1 – Werner Turner (1998)
1B: 2 – Wyatt Johnston (twice, 1977 + 1978)
2B: 3 – Ben Simon (1978), Angel Costa (1979), Marvin Ingall (1999)
3B: 6 – Cameron Green (1981), Mark Dawson (four times, 1986 + 1987 + 1988 + 1990), Ben O’Morrissey (1991)
SS: 6 – Ben Simon (twice, 1980 + 1981), Jorge Salazar (thrice, 1990 + 1991 + 1992), Conceicao Guerin (1999)
LF: 5 – Daniel Hall (1987), Vern Kinnear (thrice, 1994 + 1996 + 1997), Stephen Buell (1999)
CF: 3 – Neil Reece (thrice, 1997 + 1998 + 1999)
RF: nope

Our longest drought without any Glove was four years, 1982-85. Our longest drought at any position is … well, forever, in right field. Our longest active drought on a position we won a glove before, is 21 years, at first base.

Wyatt Johnston recently turned 57, by the way. Did you know that in the league’s inaugural season, he was the only player to start every game (all at first base by the way), and that the only other player to appear in all games, was fellow Raccoon Ben Simon? Bet you didn’t!

‘nuff number crunching. Doesn’t make this team any better.