[Westheim]

Raccoons (17-19) vs. Loggers (18-19) – May 13-16, 2002

Four-game sets – they DO exist. Strange schedule. The Loggers didn’t quite know what had hit them so far. Somehow, the 1999 and 2000 Triple Crown winner Martin Garcia had yet to win a ballgame this season! And it was not his fault. They were 10th in runs scored, and apart from Garcia the rotation was in trouble, to say the least. Overall, they were merely average in pitching. Another point on their issues list was a disabled list the size of a hospital with eight 40-man roster players hurt, including outfielder Jerry Fletcher, pitcher Ricardo Medina, and third baseman Jorge Cruz.

Projected matchups:
Felipe Garcia (0-3, 7.25 ERA) vs. Martin Garcia (0-4, 2.89 ERA)
Carl Bean (2-4, 3.33 ERA) vs. John Miller (4-3, 4.07 ERA)
Ralph Ford (5-2, 2.55 ERA) vs. Vernon Robertson (4-2, 4.50 ERA)
Randy Farley (1-5, 4.22 ERA) vs. Millard Wilson (3-3, 6.75 ERA)

Well, Garcia got the easy matchup here with Garcia. We mean their Garcia first, and our Garcia second. See ya, Garcia.

We will wait a minute now for you to finish facepalming.

Game 1
MIL: 2B B. Hernandez – 1B Nava – CF C. Ramirez – LF Hiwalani – RF Mashiba – 3B J. Morales – C Benitez – SS Costello – P M. Garcia
POR: SS Guerin – CF Torrez – LF Roberson – 1B Martin – 3B Sharp – 2B M. Ramirez – RF Flores – C Thomas – P F. Garcia

Our Garcia was performing as expected, which is to say he was outright dismal, walking the first two batters and allowing singles to Hiwalani and Mashiba before Morales and Benitez struck out and left the bags full with a 1-0 score. The Loggers didn’t do much after that, while the Raccoons didn’t do anything at all, casually leaving Danny Sharp on third base in the second inning for a non-change. In the fifth, the Loggers awoke, with Pedro Costello starting the inning with a single, and Garcia eventually yielded a walk and a triple to Cristo Ramirez that brought the score to 3-0. Hiwalani walked, but Mashiba grounded out to second to end the inning. In the bottom 6th, a Torrez single and a Roberson double with two out raised a faint hope that was soon squelched when Martin grounded out on the first pitch. In the eighth, Ricardo Huerta tried to make himself expendable sooner rather than later, issuing a leadoff walk to Cristo Ramirez before giving up three hits, and then hitting PH Mark Smith with the bases loaded. Daniel Miller came in and retired Bartolo Hernandez on a soft grounder to Guerin to keep three Loggers on, but the game was long lost, on seven shutout innings of 4-hit ball by Martin Garcia, who was finally a winner. 5-0 Loggers. Roberson 2-4, 2B; Sharp 2-4, 2B; Miller 1.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

(sigh)

Game 2
MIL: 2B B. Hernandez – 1B Nava – CF C. Ramirez – LF Hiwalani – RF Mashiba – 3B J. Morales – C Sparks – SS Costello – P J. Miller
POR: RF Brady – 3B Sharp – LF Roberson – 1B Martin – CF Torrez – SS Guerin – 2B Ingall – C Thomas – P Bean

Bean was not sharp at all (but Sharp was a bean), and lasted only four horrible innings in this second game. He had one strikeout, which ended the first against the Hivileani, who would get his revenge later with a 2-run homer in the third inning. Bean was awful, allowed eight hits and a walk and the Loggers casually plated five runs. Through four, the Raccoons – exactly, nothing. This would never quite change during this game, which saw John Miller toss a shutout that was not in danger until the ninth, which was the only time in the game the Raccoons actually got someone on third base. But Adrian Matthews dutifully grounded out before a run could actually be scored, leaving Miller with a seven-hitter. 5-0 Loggers. Roberson 2-3, BB; Bruno 2.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K; Diaz 1.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

Yeah, that’s a terrible offense, they’re struggling! And their pitching! It’s horrendous! (cuts himself some more)

To make things yet even WORSE – and yes apparently that is still possible – two players got hurt in this game. One was Jose Nava, and the other was Edgardo Torrez. Neither was diagnosed that night. Yeah, more hurt outfielders. We are so lucky.

And we haven’t scored in 21 innings.

Game 3
MIL: SS B. Hernandez – CF M. Smith – LF Hiwalani – 2B J. Cruz – RF C. Ramirez – C Benitez – 1B Costello – 3B Buchanan – P Robertson
POR: 3B Sharp – RF Brady – LF Roberson – 1B Martin – SS Guerin – LF Flores – 2B M. Ramirez – C Fifield – P Ford

Ralph Ford did everything we asked from him in this game, lining up zeroes on the board. He had a minor hiccup in the second inning, but the Loggers didn’t score then and that continued for a while. Unfortunately for him, Vernon Robertson, a veteran of the Civil War according to the history books, terribly befuddled the Raccoons, which was not the tallest task in the world. The Coons raced through the 20s in the “scoreless innings” count. Ford crossed 100 pitches at the end of the seventh, three hits, nine strikeouts, no runs allowed. Bottom 7th: Robertson hit Concie to start the inning. Gil Flores grounded to the second base side of short, where Hernandez tried to rush a double play, but couldn’t get the ball out of his glove and didn’t get ANY out. And then we started a double steal – and Concie was thrown out. Ramirez grounded out, moving Flores to third, but Roberson put two strikes on Fifield, who eventually put the ball into play, a not too sharp roller up the third base line – and past Buchanan. Flores was stunned, but managed to score. Ford did the eighth, but at 118 pitches was done. Dan Nordahl got ready, while the Raccoons failed to score in the bottom 8th, and Nordahl’s first man was Hiwalani. Danny got him to 1-2, but failed to remove him and Hiwalani dumped a single into shallow left. Cruz, just off the DL, walked, and Ramirez grounded to Guerin, who couldn’t turn two. The bases were loaded, once Benitez drew a borderline full count walk. Costello struck out, hacking eagerly, and then Phil Buchanan put the first ball in play, a soft fly to shallow right, Brady coming on, coming on, coming on – got it! 1-0 Raccoons. Roberson 2-4, 2B; Flores 2-3, 2B; Fifield 1-2, BB, RBI; Ford 8.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 10 K, W (6-2);

THAT … was NOT … pretty. NOT pretty. Getting the desired result is fine, but THAT … was NOT … pretty. NOT … pretty.

Ralph Ford is now third in strikeouts in the CL, having 55 to John Miller’s 56. Tony Hamlyn has 68. Nick Brown will go Friday, and has 53 so far. He has the potential to throw anywhere between 13 and zero.

And *actually*, Robertson is 39, and the Raccoons have one run scored in almost 39 innings (actually 29).

Game 4
MIL: SS B. Hernandez – 1B Nava – LF Hiwalani – CF C. Ramirez – RF Mashiba – 3B J. Morales – 2B Costello – C Benitez – P M. Wilson
POR: RF Brady – 3B Sharp – CF Roberson – 1B Martin – LF Parker – SS Guerin – 2B Ingall – C Fifield – P Farley

Nava was back in there with a sore ankle, but soothed the pain with an RBI single in the first. Farley surrendered four singles, looked horrible, and only escaped because of Morales fouling out and Costello sending the easiest grounder to Sharp. Farley walked the pitcher in the second inning and surrendered three more singles and two runs. Shoot him outright? Sounds like a plan. Farley sucked beyond everything holy or unholy, surrendered 11 hits and four runs through 3.2 innings and was removed when he plunked Taisuke Mashiba. Albert Martin’s 10th homer of the season, of the solo variety, in the bottom 4th was greeted with minor cheers only, as the home team fans sat dejectedly, wishing their $10 ticket price back. Juan Diaz surrendered a 3-run bomb to Cristo Ramirez in the sixth, not retiring anybody, but the attendance started to retire for another hot dog, eating it on the way to the car. In total, those that stuck around saw the Loggers drill 17 hits of a hopelessly overmatched Raccoons staff, and they got away easily. 7-3 Loggers. Roberson 2-5, 3B, RBI; Martin 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Ingall 1-2, BB; Martinez 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

Edgardo Torrez wrist’ was not broken, we finally found out that evening. It was sprained nevertheless and he would go to the shelf for the next four weeks. Great, more outfielder going down, always a good thing. Cal Lyon came back.

Raccoons (18-22) vs. Condors (19-22) – May 17-19, 2002

The Condors were below .500, which was a rather unfamiliar situation for a team that hadn’t finished below .500 in any of the last seasons. They were more average than anything else both offensively and defensively, which was a good recipe for a few 12-0 shutouts for them against the Issuecoons.

Projected matchups:
Nick Brown (2-2, 2.96 ERA) vs. Kelvin Yates (2-6, 5.96 ERA)
Felipe Garcia (0-4, 6.44 ERA) vs. Jose Maldonado (3-4, 3.88 ERA)
Carl Bean (2-5, 3.90 ERA) vs. Jesus Bautista (4-4, 3.72 ERA)

Game 1
TIJ: LF Bayle – 2B B. Boyle – C Cicalina – RF Vázquez – SS J. Barrón – 1B Cambria – CF Gorden – 3B Heathershaw – P Yates
POR: 3B Sharp – CF Lyon – LF Roberson – 1B Martin – RF Brady – 2B Matthews – SS Guerin – C Thomas – P Brown

The first Coon, Sharp, reached on an error by rookie Bradley Heathershaw. Lyon hit an infield single, before Roberson fired a grounder under a diving Heathershaw to plate the first run. Martin and Brady made poor outs, and it seemed we’d be stuck with one run only, but the middle infielders came through with a 2-run single by Matthews, who went to second on the throw home, and then scored on Concie’s single. 4-0 for Nicky – on a good day it would be enough. After a long first two innings, Brown mowed over the Condors in the third, and had two out in the fourth, with a 5-0 lead, when - … somehow things seem to happen sometimes. Juan Barrón hit a weak grounder between Sharp and Guerin on the left side, and then Brown came apart for two walks, then faced Heatershaw. That count also ran full before the 24-year old third baseman sent a grounder to Concie that ended the inning. It was a good thing he made THAT play and botched the one that put Urbano Cicalina on to start the sixth. Home run king Raúl Vázquez had a grounder dingle past Matthews for a single, putting runners on the corner, but Brown found the mustard, struck out Juan Barrón and Hugues Cambria found the way into a double play, which Concie turned nicely. Nick Brown ended up pitching seven shutout innings, whiffing nine. Roberson came up in the bottom 7th with Lyon on second and no out, and he already had three doubles, most of them through Heathershaw. Well, he hit another one, and this one ALSO went past Heathershaw. Jon Robinson was pitching, but sucked badly, issuing three walks before Ingall hit for Brown. He was not content with an Ingall single, but doubled (well over Heathershaw this time) and plated two, romping the score to 10-0. With Huerta pitching, Cal Lyon started a double play on desperate Condors in the eighth. The bottom of the frame saw Al Martin make it eleven with his eleventh, and the Coons rolled on over Alex Byrd with an Ingall single the final knock in this rout. 13-0 Coons!! Lyon 2-6; Roberson 4-5, 4 2B, 2 RBI; Martin 2-5, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Matthews 2-4, 3 RBI; Guerin 3-5, 2 RBI; Ingall (PH) 2-2, 2B, 3 RBI; Brown 7.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 9 K, W (3-2) and 1-3;

So now you’re scoring in excess of a dozen? Geez, I don’t even know this team. By the way, we faced not only the Home Run King in this game, but also the Wins King, Woody Roberts, who is unscored upon in his old-age relief role.

Yes, I do love saying Heathershaw. My new favorite player of all time. He’s an Aussie. There’s an Aussie whose loss I am still not over, and probably never will be.

Game 2
TIJ: CF Gorden – 2B J. Barrón – RF Vázquez – 3B B. Boyle – C Cicalina – LF Bishop – 1B B. Román – SS Heathershaw – P J. Maldonado
POR: 3B Sharp – CF Lyon – LF Roberson – 1B Martin – RF Brady – SS Matthews – 2B M. Ramirez – C Fifield – P F. Garcia

Saturday, everything was back to horrible. Felipe Garcia started his last major league game, going not very long, but down rather quickly, and without a doubt. In two innings, the Condors whipped him for seven hits and four runs. Heathershaw hit an RBI triple. The Raccoons didn’t do anything offensively through five, and trailed 5-0. In the sixth, Diaz entered with us hoping he could go two innings. Rory Gorden singled. Barrón walked, Vázquez walked, and Bruce Boyle had a 3-0 count, when Diaz balked, and denied Boyle the inevitable RBI to his walk. It was one of those games. After the rout the previous day, the Raccoons got routed right back. They had nothing going apart from bases loaded with two outs in the ninth, and then Sharp flew out to Vázquez and that was already the ballgame. 7-0 Condors. Sharp 2-5; Parker (PH) 1-1; Nordahl 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

We needed to use Nordahl here, since we were simply out of arms.

But things were changing. I had enough. The clubhouse was cleansed that night.

Raccoons sent to St. Petersburg:
SP Felipe Garcia (0-5, 6.96 ERA, 32.1 IP, 41 H, 12 BB, 23 K)
MR Juan Diaz (0-1, 8.74 ERA, 11.1 IP, 16 H, 7 BB, 13 K)
INF Miguel Ramirez (.045/.087/.045 in 22 AB)

Alley Cats reluctantly called up to Portland:
MR Mauro Rodriguez (1-1, 1.93 ERA, 28 IP, 25 H, 9 BB, 21 K)
MR Bob Joly (0-0, 3.26 ERA, 2 SV, 19.1 IP, 19 H, 3 BB, 10 K)
INF/LF/RF Manny Gabriel (.313/.406/.373, 0 HR, 11 RBI in 83 AB)

Rodriguez was our fourth-rounder in the 1997 draft. He’s 27 already. But we will keep changing southpaws until we find a usable one, I guess?

Game 3
TIJ: LF Bayle – 2B J. Barrón – RF Vázquez – 3B B. Boyle – 1B Cambria – CF Gorden – C Estrada – SS Osmond – P Bautista
POR: 3B Sharp – LF Parker – CF Lyon – RF Brady – 1B Matthews – SS Guerin – 2B Gabriel – C Thomas – P Bean

Glenn Osmond’s first at-bat as a Condor since getting claimed off waivers from the Cyclones saw him hit a 2-out RBI single off Carl Bean in the second to get the scoring underway. Bean’s 1-out single in the top 3rd then got the Coons going. Sharp walked, and Parker squeezed a grounder past Osmond that allowed even Bean to score from second base. The chance for something better was wasted when Lyon struck out and Brady rolled out to second. The tie didn’t live long with Rory Gorden hitting into a run-scoring double play in the next inning, but the fifth seemed to be a Coons’ inning then. Sharp got on, and Parker doubled, two in scoring position with no outs for Lyon, and while Bautista got to 2-2 on him, Lyon managed to get the damn thing into play, and for the second time in the game it rolled just past Osmond for an RBI single. After a Brady walk (on four straight), it was 2-2, three on, no outs. And now Bautista was shaking badly, fell to 3-1 on Matthews, who then poked, but it got through up the middle for another RBI single, and we got two more of those, all consecutively, by Guerin and Gabriel before the inning fizzled out, 5-2. If Bean just were a tiny little bit less horrible …! Barrón led off with a single in the sixth, and while Bean struck out the two dangerous left-handers, he fell to the weak left-hander, as Hugues Cambria lobbed a single over Martin to score Barrón who had stolen a base in the meantime. Bean faced Estrada and Osmond in the seventh, the two excuse-level right-handers both hit singles, and Bean was gone. Moreno struck out Bartolo Román, and Martinez yielded a sac fly to Jimmy Bayle, but we got out with a 5-4 lead. Unfortunately, we were to face the 3-4-5 left-handed array again in the eighth, and only Rodriguez was left to make his debut in an undesirable spot for everybody – except the Condors. The first batter of his major league career was non other than the Home Run King – and he struck him out. Boyle grounded out, but Cambria walked, and we made a move for Nordahl, who replaced Gabriel, with Martin coming in at first. The #8 guy was due up first in the bottom 8th, so Martin could hit once, then be switched out for Ingall for defense in the ninth. It was wicked plan, cunning almost. Nordahl got out of the eighth after a Gorden single, but Martin flew out to right in his only turn at bat. Osmond led off the ninth and zinged a double to get the fans gasping. Jack Bishop pinch-hit, but struck out, and Bayle was fanned as well. Barrón made contact at 2-1, to left, and oh **** it’s high, it’s high – but it’s not deep. Parker made the catch. 5-4 Coons. Parker 3-4, 2B, RBI; Guerin 2-4, RBI; Nordahl 1.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, SV (6);

(gasps)

In other news

May 13 – The Pacifics are silenced by DEN Carlos Castro (6-1, 2.22 ERA), who spins a 2-hit shutout and takes the 4-0 win.
May 16 – TIJ OF Jeff MacGruder (.264, 9 HR, 31 RBI) has torn up his anterior cruciate ligament and is out for the season.
May 16 – SAL INF Kurt Metting (.271, 6 HR, 29 RBI) is laid up in a cast after fracturing his fibula and is not expected back in uniform before August.
May 16 – SAC OF Lorenzo Ruvalcubu (.333, 2 HR, 24 RBI) scratches out a single in five AB in the Scorpions’ 5-3 loss to the Wolves, which sees him complete a 20-game string of consecutive hitting.
May 17 – The Stars tie up their prime slugger, 1B Mac Woods (.266, 9 HR, 26 RBI) by signing him to a 5-yr, $9M extension.
May 17 – The Miners end Lorenzo Ruvalcubu’s shenanigans, killing his streak at 20 with an 0-4 day, and also beat the Scorpions, 3-2.
May 18 – Next guy with a 20-game hitting streak: Richmond’s INF Felipe Rivera (.368, 4 HR, 22 RBI), who has two hits in the Rebels’ 5-3 win over the Gold Sox to reach the 20 mark.
May 19 – And it’s gone: the Gold Sox bludgeon the Rebels, 16-3, and also kill off Rivera’s streak at 20 games.

Complaints and stuff

You can say a lot of things about Dan Nordahl, but whenever he pitches, it never gets boring. Where’s the heart medication? And the booze.

Nick Brown is now third in K’s, while Ford is third in ERA, and tied for third in wins in the Continental League. And whenever those two do not start, we get shelled for sure.

We have 11 players on the DL across the system. NONE are pitchers. EIGHT are outfielders. It’s CRAZY!! Mid-week, we were left with 15 healthy outfielders in the entire system. We had to sign two scrubs off the heap just to keep the blood circulating. Olvera, the old bone we picked up earlier, is atrocious in AAA, not even OPS'ing .550

Rodriguez wanted #32. That’s Grant West’s number! Are you CRAZY?? He got #36. The deal is, he gets #32 when he surpasses the Demon’s save total.

And I know nobody wants to see Bob Joly touch a ball in a brown shirt again, but we don’t have anybody. Also, the next start for #5 falls on an off day on Thursday, and we won’t need a fifth starter until May 28 in Atlanta. After that comes a longer stretch of games. If we would have had another off day on the following Monday or so, I would have been fine with using Joly once, then skipping again, but I think Cesar Miranda might get a call in time for May 28. He’s the only AAA starter with an ERA on the sunny side of 4.60. And not by much.