[Westheim]

Raccoons (65-73) @ Canadiens (59-77) – September 8-10, 2003

Penultimate series against the always unpleasant(ly smelling) Canadiens. While we have cultivated losing records against every other CL North team this year – smothered by MIL, BOS, IND, and 7-8 against NYC – at least we have beaten the drum out of the Elks, 8-4. They were 9th in runs scored, but their biggest problem was allowing the second-most runs in the league, and their bullpen was worst not only in Canada. They also had lost Joe Hollow and our beloved Royce Green to injury.

We’re playin’ in the Land of Elks, which means I am at home and eating a large container of ice cream for each game. Two if the Coons lose.

Projected matchups:
Felipe Garcia (6-3, 3.21 ERA) vs. Cal Holbrook (3-2, 3.71 ERA)
Ramón Meza (3-6, 5.30 ERA) vs. Scott Spears (0-3, 6.84 ERA)
Nick Brown (8-12, 3.67 ERA) vs. Daniel Dickerson (13-11, 3.13 ERA)

Spears was their first round pick from last year, taken fifth overall. On his rush to the big leagues, he casually no-hit the Lincoln Blue Wings, the Capitals’ AA outfit, less than two months after being drafted.

Game 1
POR: CF Torrez – 2B Palacios – LF Reece – 1B Martin – RF Beairsto – 3B M. Ramirez – SS Gabriel – C Thomas – P F. Garcia
VAN: SS Simon – 3B A. De Jesus – 2B Dobson – 1B I. Gutierrez – RF Velasquez – CF T. Wilson – LF E. Garcia – C Hurtado – P Holbrook

Garcia didn’t fool anybody. He didn’t get any K’s (any!), and in turn most at-bats were rather short. The Canadiens put the ball into play quickly, and while a two on, no outs situation in the second inning was defused when Garcia’s namesake Enrique hit into a double play, there was no such luck in the fourth. Alfredo De Jesus and Jerry Dobson singled, and Iván Gutierrez hit his 21st homer of the year for a definitive 3-0 Canadiens lead. For the Raccoons, Torrez had a hit to lead off the game, got erased on a double play by Palacios, and the Raccoons would not get back onto base until the sixth, when Mark Thomas hit a double. He wasn’t scored either. The ball was just not carrying up here, it seemed. Or at least it didn’t for the visiting team. Bottom 6th, De Jesus singled, Dobson singled, De Jesus got himself thrown out at first, but then Gutierrez went deep regardless. That was it for Garcia, 5.1 innings, eight hits, five runs. Another 2-run homer was achieved by Dave Wheaton to further soil Kaz Kichida’s stats, Lawrence Rockburn gave up his first big league run by the Elks’ 2-out terror in the eighth, and the Raccoons were soundly drummed in this one, give or take a 3-run homer by Beairsto in the ninth. 8-3 Canadiens. Torrez 2-4; Rojas (PH) 1-1; Thomas 2-3, 2B;

Yay, four losses in a row! How childish to think we might have a chance at .500, or beyond.

Or beat the Elks.

Game 2
POR: CF Torrez – 2B Palacios – RF Brady – 1B Martin – LF Beairsto – 3B M. Ramirez – SS Gabriel – C Ledesma – P Meza
VAN: CF T. Wilson – 1B J. Zamora – 2B Dobson – RF Velasquez – LF Trinidad – 3B A. De Jesus – C Rosa – SS Phillips – P Spears

Meza casually walked the bases loaded in the bottom 1st, which didn’t lead to damage only for Clyde Brady’s hero’s play on a hissing liner by De Jesus to end the inning. The Raccoons took a 1-0 lead in the second inning when Ledesma went deep off Spears, but ultimately didn’t do much with the rookie. Meza pitched wonky shutout ball long enough to drop his ERA to a flat five before the Canadiens piled on him in the fifth inning, starting with a leadoff single by Spears, and scored two runs on four hits and another walk. The score was re-tied in the sixth when Beairsto singled in Brady, but key strikeouts to Ramirez and Ledesma with two and three men on respectively ended the inning without a big bang or a sarissa rammed into Spears, this included leaving another two men on in the seventh, and in the bottom of the same inning the Canadiens took another lead on Bob Joly’s general tendency to walk batters without need to, Ledesma throwing into center on Dobson stealing second base, awarding him third for free, and then Joly failing to dig out a grounder by Ramón Trinidad that became a 2-out RBI infield single. There was small ball, and there was being dumb. Both boxes got ticked here. The Coons left another three men on in the last two innings combined to put this particularly pathetic loss in the books. 3-2 Canadiens. Palacios 2-5; Brady 2-5; Gabriel 2-4; Fifield (PH) 1-1;

Five in a row, yaay!!

We also got news that Marcos Bruno’s herniated disc had worsened and he would take longer to come back.

Game 3
POR: CF Torrez – RF Brady – LF Beairsto – 1B Martin – 3B Ingall – C Ledesma – SS Gabriel – 2B Love – P Brown
VAN: C Rosa – CF Wheaton – 2B Dobson – RF Velasquez – LF Trinidad – 3B A. De Jesus – 1B Simon – SS Phillips – P Dickerson

Two 25-year old studs went up against another, the difference being that Dickerson had better control but also fooled less batters than Brown. Like every game in the series, this one was led off by Torrez with a single. He never scored. In turn, Wheaton and Dobson hit doubles off Brownie in the bottom 1st and two runs scored early. The Raccoons got one run back in unearned fashion after Ingall reached on a De Jesus error in the second inning, but Brown lacked fortuné completely, as the Elks took the run back in the bottom 3rd when soft singles eluded the infielders, and in the fourth the rather pathetic Freddy Rosa, wielding a .172 bat, took him deep to make it 4-1. Brown then led off the top 5th with an infield single and scored when Torrez hit one out, cutting the gap to 4-3. But while the next three Coons all hit deep flies to the warning track, all three were caught, and we kept trailing, and we soon trailed by one more when it was Tony Velasquez’ turn to show Brown the bleachers in the bottom of the fifth. Top 6th, Ingall single, and then Ledesma squeezed another single past Jerry Dobson, who was then fed a perfect 4-6-3 by Manny Gabriel, except for the 6, Jim Phillips, having the ball go off the top of his glove, and all hands were safe with no outs in the inning. Palacios hit for Love and singled up the middle, 5-4 Elks, and we had Brown bat for himself in what could become a feast day for the Agitator back at home. But Brown managed to put a 2-2 pitch into play and it went past Dobson for another RBI single, and we were tied! And we STILL had the bags full with no outs! Dickerson looked dizzy, walked Torrez for the go-ahead run and was then removed for lefty Bubba Cannon and his 6 K/BB. Reece batted for Brady, struck out, and Beairsto struck out, and Martin grounded out to have this one NOT become a rout. Brown held on to the 6-5 score for another inning, whiffing ten batters in the game, but all the runs on him were earned, while four on Dickerson were unearned. Thomas hit for Brown with two out and Ingall and Gabriel in scoring position in the top 7th, but popped out to short. The Raccoons hit three singles off Ralph Davis in the top 8th, and nobody scored, while the bullpen was constantly on the edge of breaking. Benton Wilson wiggled out of the seventh with two men on base reaching against Huerta, and in the bottom 8th it was a Gabriel-induced double play that bailed out Wilson and Martinez. Inevitably this led to Nordahl coming into a crazy 1-run game, which always had the potential for heartbreak. He went to 3-1 on PH Jorge Durán, but Durán grounded out. He went to a full count on Dobson, but struck him out. A K to Velasquez gave him 60 on the year, and the Raccoons at least avoided the sweep. 6-5 Coons. Torrez 2-4, BB, HR, 3 RBI; Martin 2-5; Ledesma 2-5;

That was a wicked one we in no way deserved, by the way. But Brownie will take it as compensation for all the good ones he pitched that he didn’t win. He’s a meager 9-12 on the year now.

Daniel Sharp will rejoin the team in time for the weekend series at home against the Crusaders, but we also got the bad news of another setback and worse pain for Marcos Bruno. This one doesn’t look good at all.

Raccoons (66-75) vs. Crusaders (63-76) – September 12-14, 2003

Their .245 batting average was worst in the league, and they scored the third-least runs with it. Both starters and relievers ranked second-worst in ERA. This was not a good team, but the Coons still were 7-8 against them and would need to take two out of three to get at least a split out of the season series.

Projected matchups:
Randy Farley (10-5, 3.53 ERA) vs. Kelly Fairchild (6-15, 5.19 ERA)
Edgar Amador (4-5, 4.34 ERA) vs. Marvin Hall (6-7, 5.75 ERA)
Felipe Garcia (6-4, 3.53 ERA) vs. Greg Connor (12-10, 3.78 ERA)

We will thus not face a southpaw all week long. This means that Rojas will not make any starts, and that Neil Reece won’t chase franchise history until next week, since I want to choke those right-handers with my left-handed power bats.

Game 1
NYC: SS Rice – CF Britton – LF M. Ortíz – RF S. Martin – C D. Anderson – 1B Berry – 3B Rigg – 2B Caraballo – P Fairchild
POR: CF Torrez – 3B Sharp – RF Brady – 1B A. Martin – LF Beairsto – 2B Palacios – SS Ingall – C Ledesma – P Farley

Farley started out in search of the strike zone, finding it only occasionally, but the Crusaders didn’t score in the top 1st. The bottom 1st saw Fairchild get hammered early with a Sharp double and then back-to-back bombs by Brady and Martin that made it 3-0 for the Furballs, who loaded them up but left them loaded in the next inning. Randy wobbled badly, however, and in the fourth the Crusaders finally broke through. A walk, two hits, and two stolen bases in between led to two runs and a 3-2 score, and the next inning Gary Rice singled home Francisco Carballo to tie it. Bottom 5th, help was on the way in form of power. Kelly Fairchild could only stare in amazement at Chris Beairsto’s 2-run homer that cleared the field, the wall, the batter’s eye, and the scoreboard behind that. MASSIVE home run! It also gave Randy a new lead, 5-3, but he made it through only one more inning, walking Stanton Martin and getting out on a double play. Lawrence Rockburn pitched the seventh, allowing one runner, and both teams stranded a pair in the eighth. Nordahl faced the bottom third of the order in the top 9th, retired Ed Rigg, but then Caraballo tripled. Felix Gonzalez hit for the pitcher, flew out to Brady, but Caraballo scored. Gary Rice had hurt the Raccoons all year long, but not tonight. He lined to the left side of the diamond, but Manny Gabriel was more or less right there and grabbed it. 5-4 Coons. Martin 2-4, HR, 3B, RBI; Ingall 3-4;

Game 2
NYC: SS Rice – CF Britton – LF M. Ortíz – RF S. Martin – C D. Anderson – 1B Berry – 2B B. Andrews – 3B Caraballo – P M. Hall
POR: CF Torrez – 3B Sharp – RF Brady – 1B A. Martin – LF Reece – 2B Palacios – SS Ingall – C Ledesma – P Amador

Both pitchers would drive in 2-out runs off another in this game, first Amador with a double in the second inning that went just over Apasyu Britton, and Hall did the honors with an RBI single in the fifth. In both cases, this was the team’s first tally of the game. Hall had been rocked quite a bit early on, as the Raccoons stranded pairs of runners in each of the third three innings, but also scored two more runs after Amador’s double. In the fifth, the Crusaders only scored thanks to two grounders eluding Palacios for singles other than Hall’s. The score was 3-1 after five, but grew in the bottom 6th. Ingall and Ledesma got it going by reaching base, and Amador bunted them into scoring position. Torrez was not pitched to and walked intentionally. Sharp fired one to deep right, but Stanton Martin caught it, holding him to a sac fly. Brady singled, reloading the bags with two out for Al Martin, who drew his 100th RBI of the year with a bases loaded walk. Hall was gone, but the line kept moving with Reece and Palacios hitting RBI singles, and Ingall drawing another bases loaded walk from Don Richardson, who then caught Ledesma’s liner to end the inning after five runs had come across and the Coons led 8-1. We went to 9-1 when Torrez homered off ex-Coon Mike Collins in the seventh, and another run scored in the eighth. An attempt to have the inept Boone and Kichida pitch the last two innings failed abysmally and the Crusaders rallied for three runs late. 10-4 Furballs. Martin 2-4, BB, RBI; Reece 3-5, RBI; Palacios 2-5, RBI; Ingall 4-4, BB, 2B, 3 RBI; Ledesma 2-4, 2B, RBI; Amador 7.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 7 K, W (5-5) and 1-2, 2B, RBI;

Three of the six singles surrendered by Amador rolled through between Palacios and Martin. We know Martin can’t field for his life, but Palacios didn’t look good in this one at all. Well, we can’t pay him, he’ll be gone in three weeks anyway.

Nice day at the office for Marv, though, who was not retired.

Game 3
NYC: SS Rice – CF Britton – LF M. Ortíz – C D. Anderson – 1B Berry – 2B B. Andrews – RF Gonzales – 3B Rigg – P Connor
POR: CF Torrez – 3B Sharp – RF Brady – 1B A. Martin – LF Beairsto – 2B Palacios – SS M. Ramirez – C Ledesma – P F. Garcia

Danny Sharp homered in the first, and Al Martin drove in another run in the third while Garcia was wobbly. His stuff didn’t bite, and it seemed like the Crusaders left somebody in scoring position almost every inning. This couldn’t go well forever, and in the fifth they finally broke through when consecutive 2-out doubles past the sizeable reach of Clyde Brady in right center hit by Anderson and Berry plated a total of three runs. The game was about to blow open when Garcia walked Connor on four straight balls with two out in the sixth and Sharp made one of his trademarked throws past Martin’s reach on Gary Rice’s grounder. Benton Wilson appeared to induce an easy pop from Britton to end the inning. Connor continued to pitch and the Raccoons had nothing going in the middle innings. He entered that meaty middle of the order again in the eighth, and those guys were all left-handed. Brady flew out softly for the second out, but Al Martin racked up another homer to knot the score at three! And the Crusaders STILL didn’t remove Connor, who was left in to face Beairsto, and made a really juicy 2-2 pitch down the middle. Beairsto tended to miss a lot but he sure didn’t miss that one: BOMBS AWAY! It is … OUTTA HERE!! That 4-3 lead still had to survive contact with Dan Nordahl, however. Though while he did save it in a perfect ninth, most credit should go to Matt Love, who replaced Martin for defense. He made a launching catch on Stanton Martin’s liner to start the inning, then made a nifty pick on Gary Rice’s grounder as well. Britton struck out. 4-3 Critters!! Torrez 2-4, 2B; Martin 3-4, HR, 2 RBI; Wilson 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Not only did we sweep away this series and won the season series, 10-8, we are now also back to an even .500 split against the Crusaders over the last 27 years: 243-243. As a tie-breaker, no-hitters pitched against another, the tie is not broken: 1-1.

In other news

September 10 – TIJ SP Kelvin Yates (11-12, 3.11 ERA) 2-hits the Bayhawks in a 4-0 shutout.
September 14 – Here’s a blow to the Loggers, as SP Carl Bean (11-6, 3.12 ERA) has to be shut down with shoulder inflammation.
September 14 – DEN SP Roberto Herrera (4-3, 3.14 ERA) is out for the season with a torn labrum. He should return in time for first pitch next year.

Complaints and stuff

W7, L5, W4… Well, we’ll take the 11-5 run anyway. I would have loved to take the Elks series, though.

At 69-75, we have a very real chance to best our last four seasons. That is sad enough, but we already topped dreadful 2000 (63-99), and 1999, 2001 (71-91 each), and 2002 (73-89) are not that far away.

I am tempted to bring Marvin Ingall back yet again. If we can see in November that the Raccoons will make it eight consecutive losing seasons anyway, then we can just as well cover the gap to Better Times ™ with Ingall, especially with no second base prospects forthcoming in the foreseeable future. This does not include Yoshi Nomura, who fared well in A and AA in his age 19 season: .258/.392/.341 with 3 HR, 18 RBI in 182 AB in A, and .282/.377/.425 with 4 HR, 23 RBI in 242 AB in AA. His season ended early with biceps tendinitis, costing him the last two weeks.

He can’t run for his life, strangely enough, and we shouldn’t even bother about that. His defense is wonky, and he’s a little bit chubby for a middle infielder. But Vince is all over the kid, projecting him to develop a 20/6/18 bat, and that batting left-handed. He is, however, quite easily at least one and a half years away from being even remotely useful in the Bigs. Late season call-up in 2005? Possibly. But not before that. We most recently rushed Dan Nordahl and Julio Mata and it didn’t do them any good.

Julio who? Since the trade he has gobbled up all of 52 AB with the Scorpions, and even caught in Tampa in AA for them this year.

Concie will return in time for the next series in Indy, so move over Manny Gabriel. We are worryingly eyeing Marcos Bruno, who is still in pain, although it’s a bit better than mid-week.

With Clyde Brady reaching ten dingers this week, we now have six guys with double digits this season. All instances of six guys hitting 10 or more home runs for the Raccoons:

1985: Mark Dawson (22), Ricardo Gonzalez (21), Sam Dadswell (18), Tetsu Osanai (16), Cameron Green (14), Daniel Hall (12)
1996: Liam Wedemeyer (33), Royce Green (26), Neil Reece (15), Ben O’Morrissey (14), Vern Kinnear (14), David Vinson (13)
2003: Albert Martin (24), Chris Beairsto (16), Edgardo Torrez (15), Miguel Ramirez (13), Pablo Ledesma (12), Clyde Brady (10)

I am not mad for Royce Green signing with the Canadiens. He’s gotta get bread on the table, too.

Also: Neil had five hits this week, and is now 10 off Dan The Man. Still tied for third with Tetsu in homers, and trailing him by 7 RBI. Neil is very much a singles hitter now, and we should probably bat him even lower (6th/7th), but right now his right-handed bat is required to break up the strings of left-handers a bit higher up.