[Westheim]

Raccoons (25-32) vs. Loggers (35-21) – June 9-12, 2003

I considered calling in “sick” for this series, since nothing good can possibly happen to the Raccoons. The Loggers are tops in runs scored and in bullpen ERA, and don’t you think the rotation is shabby. Much the opposite. This is a team that might dump the Titans this year. Before that, however, the baseball gods have put the menial task of dumping the Coons.

Projected matchups:
Randy Farley (3-1, 3.34 ERA) vs. Martin Garcia (6-2, 2.88 ERA)
Bob Joly (0-2, 5.17 ERA) vs. Marc Padgett (2-1, 2.70 ERA)
Ralph Ford (3-8, 5.45 ERA) vs. Ramiro Gonzalez (3-5, 3.65 ERA)
Carl Bean (5-4, 2.72 ERA) vs. Doug Morrow (7-3, 3.36 ERA)

Game 1
MIL: 2B B. Hernandez – RF C. Ramirez – LF Hiwalani – 3B J. Cruz – SS T. Johnson – CF Fletcher – C C. Ramos – 1B Costello – P M. Garcia
POR: 3B Sharp – RF Brady – LF Reece – 1B Martin – SS Guerin – 2B Palacios – C Fifield – CF Torrez – P Farley

When you can easily calculate that your lame-ass offense might well be held to two runs or less (most likely less) runs by the opposing starter, you hate to see your starter getting deconstructed so thoroughly as Farley did in the first inning. Allowing three hits and three walks, the Loggers put four on him, and the game was essentially over. Frustratingly, Farley would go on to pitch seven more innings of 3-hit ball, shutting out the Loggers after that horrid first. It didn’t help a lick. Garcia was on, and with Garcia that didn’t mean he was merely on, but ON. Through six that meant three hits and 11 K for the Raccoons, and although they chained up three singles in the eighth, Garcia’s last inning, they only amounted to one run. And that was wildly insufficient this Monday. 4-1 Loggers. Sharp 2-4; Guerin 2-4, 2B;

The plus side of losing the game in the first inning is that the bullpen doesn’t get a chance to fudge up a flimsy 2-1 lead.

In passing, this was also Martin García’s 200th career win. For him, 200 wins stand against 105 losses, with a sparkling 2.80 ERA. He is only 31 years old. Right here is the prime candidate to reach 300 career wins as the first ABL pitcher to get there. He’s t-19th on the all-time win list, and has 79 to go before he can catch all-time leader Woody Roberts. One might say that the Loggers picked well when they had the first pick in the 1990 draft. Garcia is merely a 5-time Pitcher of the Year (1996, 1998-2001) …

Game 2
MIL: 2B B. Hernandez – RF C. Ramirez – LF Hiwalani – 3B J. Cruz – SS T. Johnson – CF Fletcher – C C. Ramos – 1B J. Nava – P Padgett
POR: 3B Sharp – 2B Palacios – RF Brady – 1B Martin – LF Moore – C Ledesma – SS M. Ramirez – CF Torrez – P Joly

Padgett never faced anybody other than Sharp, leaving with an injury after three pitches. The Raccoons scored a run in the first on Jesus Longoria, but were then silenced again. A 1-0 lead given to Joly equaled no lead at all, and Joly didn’t make it through the fifth inning, socked for five runs, three of which were unearned after a Sharp error, but who are we kidding? It’s Joly. Meanwhile the Loggers had a middle reliever, Gabriel Garcia, pressed into long relief duty, in which he fared overwhelmingly well, fanning five Raccoons in three shutout innings. It fit the picture the fundamentally overwhelmed Raccoons had painted for the last six weeks very well. They weren’t doing anything – at all. After that single run in the first inning, the Loggers pen was never in trouble and pitched eight shutout innings. 7-1 Loggers.

Game 3
MIL: 2B B. Hernandez – RF C. Ramirez – LF Hiwalani – 3B J. Cruz – SS T. Johnson – CF Fletcher – C Benitez – 1B Costello – P R. Gonzalez
POR: 3B Sharp – RF Brady – LF Reece – 1B Martin – 2B Ingall – SS Guerin – CF Torrez – C Fifield – P Ford

A bloop (Reece) and a blast (Martin’s 10th) gave Ralph Ford two runs to work with in the first inning. Err, well. One run. He had already been whacked every which way in the top 1st for the Loggers to strike first, but now it was a 2-1 game. It wasn’t long before a Jorge Cruz line drive home run made it 2-2, but Martin, who came in as dead as disco after an especially disheartening 0-5 day on Tuesday, came back in his next at-bat and hit another one out himself to restore a 1-run advantage for Coon City. But … but Ford sucked balls. He went five innings, allowed 11 hits, and was penciled into the loser’s column when Tom Johnson hit a towering 3-run homer in the fifth. The Loggers had already tied the score in the inning, and were now up 6-3. They didn’t stop there, because why would they? Huerta was torn to shreds in a seventh inning from hell on four singles, two wild pitches, and Martinez couldn’t dig him out either, resulting in three runs. Gonzalez fell one out short of a complete game, leaving when Torrez drove in Guerin in the bottom 9th for a meaningless run. 9-4 Loggers. Martin 3-4, 2 HR, 3 RBI; Ingall 2-4; Torrez 2-4, RBI;

Thank goodness we will hit the road next week. That means our pitching staff, entirely consisting of clowns and freaks and no-lifers, will only ruin the mood for eight innings a day.

The Coons made a roster move on Thursday, designating the perpetually successless Cal Lyon for assignment. Ramón Meza was called up to make a spot start as Carl Bean was scratched for unknown reasons. The southpaw Meza was 2-8 with a 7.35 ERA in AAA, so the Loggers had that 4-game sweep in the bag. It had not been close even once.

Game 4
MIL: C Benitez – RF C. Ramirez – LF Hiwalani – 3B J. Cruz – SS T. Johnson – CF Fletcher – 2B M. Valdes – 1B J. Nava – P Morrow
POR: RF Brady – SS Guerin – 2B Palacios – 1B Martin – LF Moore – 3B M. Ramirez – C Ledesma – CF Torrez – P Meza

Meza was taken deep by Hiwalani for a pair of runs in the first, and in the bottom of the inning, Doug Morrow was most wonky. The bases were loaded with two out for Ramirez. Morrow had already walked a pair and was 3-0 on Ramirez. Ramirez swung (!!) and grounded out to short. Meza was not in sync with the universe and the strike zone and expended 60 pitches through three innings. Some time around the fourth, something switched in his brain, and he began to throw dead straight down broadway. In a way, that was better. The Loggers would make scores of first-pitch outs and Meza eventually went eight innings with only one additional run surrendered. The Loggers would get a fourth run off Benton Wilson after a Jose Nava leadoff double in the ninth. And the Raccoons’ offense? Unbelievably, that bases-loading walk that Dale Moore drew in the first inning was their last base runner. After Moore, Morrow sat down 22 straight. Carl McCoy pitched the ninth in 1-2-3 fashion. 4-0 Loggers. Meza 8.0 IP, 9 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, L (0-1);

For the record, Al Martin and a soft single off his assumed power bat was everything that kept us from getting no-hit for this gloomy mid-June series. We haven’t scheduled regular beltings for a while, but Ramirez will get the practice reinstituted. What a ****ing dumbtwat.

Interlude: Trade

The Raccoons had spent the last one and a half years in neutral mode, hoping to make a poke back at that elusive .500 mark. It hadn’t worked out. Now they were 11 below .500, had no hope of returning there, and so we started to sell everything that wasn’t nailed down.

Carl Bean had been scratched from the fourth game of the Loggers series, and there was a reason for that. The following night, the Raccoons flipped Bean, 75-75 with a 3.87 ERA for his career, to the same Loggers he didn’t pitch against.

In return, the Raccoons received three minor leaguers: AAA SP Edgar Amador, AA 1B/3B Jon Liles, and A MR Mike Carter. Amador is the main prize, a hulking 6’3’’, 280 lbs titan with a flaming heater in the upper 90s with natural sink, and three other decent or good pitches, including a nasty fork. He is 1-1 with a 4.13 ERA in four big league starts this season, victimized by a .402 BABIP. Amador is 21 years old and will at first be placed in AAA.

The second-biggest prize is Carter, a 23-year old lefty languishing in A ball for unknown reasons. He killed A ball hitters. Vince thinks he should be in AAA, but for now we will place him in AA. Liles is a pure filler since we have a lot of injured position players and in general woodland creatures with striped bushy tails like to shove their little mouths full with everything they can get.

Bean had been in a contract year, and the Raccoons could not expect to muster the funds to re-sign him after the year. The injury to Marc Padgett certainly accelerated the Loggers’ inclination to get the deal done.

Matt Love was added as roster filler to the Raccoons (after Cal Lyon had been DFA’ed), while fan interest crashed.

Raccoons (25-36) vs. Pacifics (28-33) – June 13-15, 2003

How the Pacifics managed to maintain a semi-decent record with the third-least runs scored and the most runs allowed in the Federal League was anybody’s guess. Their rotation had a 5.69 ERA and screamed for a pounding.

And here come the Uttercoons.

Projected matchups:
Nick Brown (3-7, 4.26 ERA) vs. Raúl Chavez (2-8, 6.02 ERA)
Randy Farley (3-2, 3.48 ERA) vs. Jesus Bautista (4-7, 6.53 ERA)
Bob Joly (0-3, 5.05 ERA) vs. Harry Wentz (4-7, 5.84 ERA)

Game 1
LAP: CF Gentil – 1B S. Mendez – RF Bonneau – LF K. Potter – 3B Moon – SS J. Vega – 2B Battle – C Cooks – P R. Chavez
POR: 3B Sharp – RF Brady – 2B Ingall – LF Reece – SS Guerin – C Fifield – CF Torrez – 1B Love – P Brown

Brown hit the first batter of the game, Bryan Gentil, then walked Salvador Mendez. Yohan Bonneau hit into a double play, before Ken Potter took Brown well deep. 2-0 Pacifics in no time. The next batter, Derek Moon, was called out on strikes and exploded right away, pointing the bat at Brown and told the umpire how the sucker on the mound hadn’t thrown a strike the whole game. Moon was then allowed to shower early. The Raccoons, two runs down, started a tedious slow-motion scramble to get back into the game. They got a run in the first, and in the fifth had Sharp on first with Brady batting and one out. Brady singled through Mendez and Sharp aggressively went to third, where he was safe, and Brady moved up to second, representing the go-ahead run. Ingall precisely grounded to the one spot he shouldn’t, new third baseman Eric Wallace. Reece grounded to the same spot, but slower and Wallace turned out to not have any play. An infield single tied the game, and then Guerin struck out. The tedious scramble continued. The go-ahead run was left on third base again in the bottom 6th, and Brown was able to squeeze out another inning. Could he leave in line for a win? Sharp led off the seventh with a single, then got erased on Brady’s double play. Ingall hurled a double over Gentil, bringing up Reece, who dumped a single to right and Ingall was running and scored, 3-2. Now get that over with, boys. Top 8th, Martinez retired Mendez, then yielded for Moreno, who plunked Bonneau and surrendered two singles to blow it. Bruno came in to the rescue and kept the Pacifics from taking a lead on the so far strong Moreno. Bruno also did the ninth to give the Critters a walkoff chance against righty Peter Sanders, who started his assignment by allowing Danny Sharp’s fourth hit on the day. Brady grounded into the teeth of the defense again, erasing Sharp. And the Coons didn’t score, sending the game to extras. Wilson appeared to face the part of the lineup with Moreno had flunked against, allowed a 2-out single to Wallace, but struck out Potter and Vega. Bottom 10th, Sanders to Guerin, resulting in a single, and Guerin stole second base right away. Martin hit for Fifield, but got only junk and walked. Torrez flew out to left, moving Concie to third. Palacios and Ledesma came out as pinch-hitters, and both ****ed up. The - … I … it’s … - … (chews on hat). Bottom 11th, Sharp walked, Brady – double play. Sergio Vega lost in the 12th. 4-3 Pacifics. Sharp 4-5, BB; Ingall 2-6, 2B; Reece 3-6, 2 RBI; Guerin 2-6, RBI; Torrez 3-6, 2B; Brown 7.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 7 K; Bruno 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K;

Brown probably hates his own team as much as opposing hitters, mostly those that get away from the game with welts and bruises and sometimes two strikeouts, hate him.

Since being 16-15 after a 5-1 win over the Wolves on May 10, the Raccoons have lost 22 of their last 31 games. They are on their second 6-game losing streak of the season. The first instance lasted seven losses, immediately following that 16-15 ray of light.

Game 2
LAP: CF C. Parker – 2B S. Mendez – RF Bonneau – 1B Battle – 3B E. Wallace – SS J. Vega – LF Gentil – C Cooks – P Bautista
POR: 3B Sharp – RF Brady – 2B Palacios – 1B Martin – LF Reece – SS Guerin – C Ledesma – CF Torrez – P Farley

Everybody wondered what was wrong with Jesus Bautista and his 6+ ERA. We got a glimpse of potential issues in the first inning, where he drilled Sharp, walked Brady, allowed a single to Palacios, DRILLED Martin …! It was horrible! Reece singled, driving in two to make it 3-0, and then somewhere, some bonk hit into a double play. Ledesma was the culprit. Mr. Singles loaded the bases in return in the top 2nd and was lucky enough for Bautista to come up with two down and fly out softly to Clyde Brady. Additional offense was called for and delivered: Bautista did not survive the second inning, putting men on quickly, and back-to-back doubles by Martin and Reece ramped the score to 7-0. A few runs were unearned after a Bonneau error, but Bautista had not been on top of a single batter and he had faced 14. And 14 Coons usually got opposing pitchers through four at least. Farley was not particularly good, although nine runs of support carried him for a while. Yet, in the seventh he got irretrievably stuck. Bases loaded, Bonneau up in a 9-2 game, one out, Moreno came in, got a soft pop to Torrez from Bonneau and a higher fly out to medium-depth right from Battle. Huerta pitched six quick outs to get things over with. Against the bullpen, the Raccoons managed very little to nothing. 9-2 Coons. Martin 2-3, 2B, 3 RBI; Reece 3-5, 2B, 3 RBI; Ramirez (PH) 1-1; Huerta 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

With this game, Al Martin is top 3 in all triple crown categories again. He leads in RBI (51), trails Ron Alston by two home runs, and Oliver Torres of the Aces by a mere 50 points of batting average.

Game 3
LAP: CF C. Parker – 2B S. Mendez – RF Bonneau – LF K. Potter – 1B Battle – SS Moon – 3B J. Vega – C Cooks – P Wentz
POR: 3B Sharp – RF Brady – CF Moore – 1B Martin – LF Reece – SS Guerin – C Ledesma – 2B M. Ramirez – P Joly

Miguel Ramirez put the Coons ahead 1-0 in the second with a sac fly, but the team didn’t add immediately and expecting Joly to pitch shutout ball for any length of time was just asking for trouble. The Pacifics re-tied the score in the fourth, but the bottom of the same inning was painful: the Coons loaded them up with one out, including a HBP to Concie, for Ramirez to bat again. A hit would have been great, but we took the RBI groundout. Then Joly was plunked. Sharp sent a fly to deep left with three men on, but Ken Potter nabbed it to end the inning. So here’s that 1-run lead again. And Joly still in the game. Ya. The next fudge-up happened in the sixth. Bonneau hit a 1-out double, and when Ken Potter grounded to first, Martin made the play, tossed to Joly, and Joly - … nobody knows what’s going on in his head, but it looked like he wasn’t opening his glove in the first place. The error helped the Pacifics to re-tie the score and Joly left after seven with a no-decision. The eighth saw the Pacifics draw two walks off Martinez and one off Bruno, but they didn’t score. The Coons were struggling to solve Wentz, but got a chance in the bottom 8th. Martin walked with one out, and then Reece managed to get a double past Bonneau to get himself and Martin into scoring position. Concie sailed out to shallow right, and Ledesma flew to Potter for an easy – error. Two runs scored when the ball glanced off Potter’s glove. Nordahl saved this one without much fuss. 4-2 Coons. Moore 2-4, 2B; Reece 2-4, 2B; Ledesma 2-4, RBI; Joly 7.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 1 K;

Deserved or not, the Coons have a 2-game winning streak – WE’RE ON A ROLL, BABY!!!

In other news

June 13 – Carl Bean’s Loggers debut could not have been any better: he fans nine and allows only four hits in a 7-0 shutout over the Wolves. He’s now 6-4 with a 2.46 ERA for the year. Bean replaces Marc Padgett (2-1, 2.67 ERA) in the Loggers rotation. Padgett is out for the season with a torn rotator cuff.
June 14 – OCT INF Bob Grant (.253, 4 HR, 26 RBI) celebrates his 2,000th career base hit in a 6-5 Thunder win over the Cyclones. The milestone hit is a game-tying RBI single off Paco Leoniedas in the seventh inning. Grant, 33, was the ninth overall pick in the 1987 draft, taken by the Loggers. He played with them from 1990 through 1996, and with the Thunder since then. He was an All Star three times and won the CL Gold Glove at second base in 1997.
June 14 – For MIL 2B/SS Bartolo Hernandez (.325, 2 HR, 29 RBI), his hitting streak reaches 25 games with one hit in a 7-3 loss to the Wolves.
June 15 – More Loggers in the news, as SP John Miller (6-2, 3.59 ERA) shuts out the Wolves on three hits in the last game of the series, whiffing eleven while the Wolves get clobbered 10-0.
June 15 – OF Christian Greenman (.225, 8 HR, 21 RBI), traded from the Titans to the Indians prior to the 2002 season, is traded back from the Indians to the Titans, along with a scrub, for 2B/3B David Mendez (.313, 2 HR, 19 RBI).

Complaints and stuff

Only two active pitchers are ahead of Martin Garcia in career wins, and of those, Vernon Robertson is on his last legs, 12th with 223 wins. Oklahoma’s Aaron Anderson is t-16th with 209 wins and enjoys a good pace.

Edgar Amador made his Alley Cats debut in relief (!?) pitching 1.1 scoreless innings. Gotta check with the staff in St. Pete. They seem to be mildly idiotic down there.

With a fourth inning single off Harry Wentz on Sunday, Neil Reece has gotten within 80 hits of Daniel Hall’s franchise mark. He had a very good series with three multi-hit games and eight knocks total against L.A., and unfortunately, they won’t come back this year… and maybe not even next…