[Westheim]

Raccoons (28-41) vs. Titans (38-29) – June 20-22, 2005

The Titans came in for three, which was all there was to this homestand before we had to go back east. We are 3-3 against them so far this season, and the reason as to why they were trailing the Canadiens (by half a game) were quite mysterious. Maybe it’s that 3-3. They lead the league in runs scored, but their pitching hasn’t held up so far, most outrageously their vaunted rotation has posted a 4.35 ERA, the third-worst mark in the Continental League!

Projected matchups:
Ralph Ford (1-4, 3.93 ERA) vs. Ray Conner (5-4, 4.00 ERA)
Felipe Garcia (3-5, 3.66 ERA) vs. Jason O’Halloran (5-5, 4.15 ERA)
Nick Brown (6-5, 3.08 ERA) vs. TBD

We’ll skip Kenichi Watanabe entirely after that rainout on Sunday washed away Ford’s scheduled start in Indy. Ford has instead been pushed to Monday, Garcia from Monday to Tuesday, and we will have Brownie (who started on Friday) as preliminarily scheduled on Wednesday. Oh yeah, and we have a 4-game winning streak!

We don’t know who will start on Wednesday against Brownie yet. It would be Joe Mann’s turn, but he left his last start with some issue or other and there’s no word on him.

Game 1
BOS: SS D. Silva – CF Garrison – LF Brulhart – RF W. Taylor – 2B Metting – 3B M. Austin – 1B L. Lopez – C R. Rivera – P Conner
POR: 3B Sharp – SS Sheehan – 1B Rojas – RF Greenman – LF Brady – C L. Ramirez – CF Fernandez – 2B Ingram – P Ford

The game started like approximately a hundred Titans games the last dozen years. Silva had a cheap single, stole second base, and scored on two productive outs, 1-0. Ford didn’t allow another hit until the fourth, but then it was a Taylor double and Metting RBI single to make it 2-0. Overall, Ford gave up three runs in six innings on 99 pitches, while the Raccoons didn’t have squid against Conner. The first time a Raccoon touched third base in the game was Al Martin on the way home on his pinch-hit solo homer in the bottom 8th. We trailed 3-1 into the ninth, when we faced our old friend Manuel Martinez. Yamada hit for Sheehan, singled, then was caught up in Rojas’ double play grounder, and that about it. 3-1 Titans. Yamada (PH) 1-1; Martin (PH) 1-1, HR, RBI;

Bye-bye winning streak. We hardly knew ye. The same is true for Danny Sharp’s hitting streak.

Game 2
BOS: SS D. Silva – 1B M. Austin – LF Brulhart – RF W. Taylor – C L. Lopez – 2B Metting – CF Elizondo – 3B Matsumoto – P O’Halloran
POR: 3B Sharp – 2B Sheehan – 1B Rojas – RF Greenman – LF Brady – SS Yamada – C Wood – CF Torrez – P F. Garcia

The Coons had five hits in the first two innings, but only managed one run from that, and that was not a good thing. Felipe Garcia had accidentally given his lucky socks into the laundry and now lacked socks, soul, and control. The Titans still needed until the fourth inning to tie the score, but while the Raccoons missed chances to knock over a so not sharp O’Halloran, Garcia somehow made it to the sixth, only to be evicted from the premises after back-to-back home runs by Will Taylor and Luis Lopez to start the inning. We got one solo homer from Greenman in the bottom of the same inning, but it was only ONE solo homer, and we now still trailed 3-2. But Greenman wasn’t done doing damage. O’Halloran left in the seventh after Sharpie got on with a single, and we faced Gabby De La Rosa (my god, how long has it been!?), who put on Rojas, and then Greenman singled into right. Sharp was sent, scored, and NOW we were tied. And Brady found a way to end the inning after coming up with two on and one out… Our bullpen held the Titans short for four innings as we got a chance to walk off, facing Martinez again in the bottom 9th, but nothing happened with our 1-2-3 batters and we went to extras. In the 11th then Dave Williams was unable to remove any batters, allowed a walk and two hits, for two runs, and the Raccoons had to look at Ramiro Román in the bottom of the inning. It was a rather short look we got before we were blown away. 5-3 Titans. Sharp 2-6; Sheehan 2-5; Greenman 2-5, HR, 2 RBI; Wood 2-5; Torrez 2-3, 2 BB, RBI; Bruno 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K;

We had 13 hits to their eight, and we just couldn’t get it done. Depressing game. Can’t they just leave town and leave us alone?

Game 3
BOS: SS D. Silva – 1B Matsumoto – LF Brulhart – RF W. Taylor – 2B Metting – 3B M. Austin – CF Garrison – C R. Rivera – P Hildred
POR: 3B Sharp – SS Yamada – LF Brady – 1B Martin – RF Greenman – C Wood – CF Torrez – 2B Ingram – P Brown

As Bryce Hildred (6-5, 4.92 ERA) allowed only one hit the first time through the brown-clad lineup it became apparent that Brownie was most likely on his own, and probably doomed. The main problem was that he didn’t have the admirable control he had shown first in the 2004 season and had almost perfected this year, and issued a couple of walks. Those came to bite him, giving the Titans an extra base to score Jim Brulhart in the fourth and then a runner to come home on Masaaki Matsumoto’s triple in the fifth inning. That put Brownie 2-0 down and it sure looked fatal, but Hildred made a mistake in the bottom 5th and put a ball on a tee for Torrez. For all his struggles, Torrez still could hit a ball on a stick, and with Wood on base tied the game with a rip and a rocket to right. Brown completed eight, game still tied in the bottom 8th when Wheaton hit for him, and zinged a double right there where Matsumoto had hit a triple earlier. Sharp was walked intentionally before the Titans went to De La Rosa, who quelled the threat successfully. We used three relievers in the top of the ninth, but to no avail. Kichida allowed a 2-out RBI single to Ricardo Rivera, sticking the loss to Huerta, and the Coons had absolutely no flash of skill, nor luck against Román in the bottom 9th. 3-2 Titans. Ingram 2-3, 2B; Wheaton (PH) 1-1, 2B; Brown 8.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 9 K;

Our first five batters in the lineup went a combined 0-for-18. Great team. The best ever. We should trade Brownie so he has a shot at 100 career wins.

Raccoons (28-44) @ Falcons (42-29) – June 24-26, 2005

First in the South, the Falcons were doing it with pitching, allowing the least runs in the Continental League, with their rotation and their pen both ranking third in ERA. Offensively they were hamstrung a bit right now with injuries to Jose Lugo and Jesus Flores, as well as Jose Ramirez, although the latter could potentially return during the weekend. Somehow, we had taken two of three from them in our first series of the season, but we can’t stay lucky forever, can we?

Projected matchups:
Ben Carlson (2-5, 3.55 ERA) vs. Tommy Wilson (5-6, 3.44 ERA)
Ralph Ford (1-5, 3.97 ERA) vs. Rodrigo Gomez (2-5, 4.98 ERA)
Felipe Garcia (3-5, 3.75 ERA) vs. Lewis Donaldson (10-2, 2.13 ERA)

Three right-handers might be coming our way.

Game 1
POR: 3B Sharp – SS Yamada – LF Brady – RF Greenman – 1B Martin – CF Torrez – 2B Sheehan – C Wood – P Carlson
CHA: RF Hudson – CF Rincón – 2B H. Green – C Durango – LF Estrada – 1B Vieitas – 3B Petipas – SS Guerin – P T. Wilson

The Coons unleashed some 2-out terror in the second inning with singles by Torrez and Sheehan and then a 2-run double by Wood. Carlson’s grounder was mishandled by Herberto Vieitas, but Sharp couldn’t capitalize and didn’t get the ball past Hubert Green. They came right back however in the third inning, when Torrez and Sheehan both hit 2-out RBI singles to plate Yamada (who had stolen his 20th base in the inning) and Martin. Meanwhile the Falcons stranded a pair of runners in each of the first three innings, never scoring. They played like the real Raccoons, for crying out loud. Sharp put a man on base to start the fourth with one of his pathetic errors, the 10th on the year, but the Falcons still didn’t score, although Carlson’s dumb luck finally run out in the fifth when Pedro Estrada took him well deep for a 3-run homer. He was hit for in the top 6th with Torrez on third and two outs, but Fernandez’ high fly was caught on the warning track. Rockburn got five outs on poor contact before Vieitas hit a triple. With left-handed batter Fernando Chavez coming out, we went to Dave Williams, who surrendered the game-tying single. In the bottom 9th Kaz Kichida drilled the leadoff man Estrada, walked Steve Moore, and once he was yanked, Ed Bryan held on and sent the game to extra innings, only to take the loss in the tenth on three hits. 5-4 Falcons. Torrez 3-4, RBI; Sheehan 2-4, RBI;

(deep sigh)

Game 2
POR: 3B Sharp – SS Yamada – CF Torrez – RF Greenman – 1B Martin – 2B Sheehan – LF Wheaton – C Wood – P Ford
CHA: RF Hudson – SS Guerin – C Durango – 2B H. Green – 1B Vieitas – LF Estrada – CF Burke – 3B Petipas – P R. Gomez

John Hudson hit a leadoff triple in the bottom 1st, but didn’t score when Guerin whiffed, Durango grounded out right in front of home plate, and Green’s drive to left was intercepted by Wheaton, who was playing since Clyde Brady had entered his summer slump. See him in September. In turn the Coons had the bases loaded with nobody out in the second, and merely managed one run. The Falcons had somebody on in every inning, and often enough their leadoff man, but didn’t score until the fifth, when they tied the game on John Hudson’s RBI double, and by then Hudson only lacked the home run for the cycle, and the Coons had not had a runner since the second inning. But before Hudson got a chance at a home run himself, he had to helplessly watch Al Martin hit his eighth of the season, a thundering 2-run shot in the seventh that collected Eddie Torrez, whose leadoff single had broken Rodrigo Gomez’ run of a dozen straight batters sat down. Bottom 7th, Ford walked Jake Burke to start the inning. Petipas singled to right, Burke to third, Greenman’s throw, too, except that it was nowhere close to third, caromed off the side wall, and bounced back into no man’s land for ample time for Burke to score and for Petipas to cruise into second base. After Jose Mendoza had grounded out, Hudson came up, but couldn’t get the ball up and had to settle for another single, moving Petipas to third base with one out. Two soft pops would strand the runners and preserve the 3-2 lead that was enlarged to 4-2 when Yamada doubled home Brady, who had reached on a pinch-walk in the top 8th. Huerta appeared for the eighth, allowing a leadoff single to Hubert Green. Vieitas then grounded to the right side, where Sheehan was completely overrun by the ball that threw him onto his buttocks before vanishing in giggling manner in rightfield. The dashing Green, however, was held up at third base and got directions to his dugout: the first base umpire ruled that the ball had glanced off Green’s back leg and that slight change of direction had helped the ball to take out Sheehan. Slow motion replay showed that the call was correct, so instead of runners on the corners and no outs the Falcons had one man on first base and one out, and Estrada’s double play grounder to Yamada did the rest for them. Marcos Bruno then saved the game without much fuss. 4-2 Coons. Martin 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Ford 7.0 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, W (2-5);

The Falcons out-hit us 10-6, so that was quite the steal. We fared SO poorly with the bat that we only left three men on base in this game!

Game 3
POR: 3B Sharp – SS Yamada – CF Torrez – RF Greenman – 1B Martin – 2B Sheehan – LF Wheaton – C Wood – P F. Garcia
CHA: RF Hudson – CF Rincón – 2B H. Green – C Durango – 1B Vieitas – LF Burke – 3B S. Moore – SS Guerin – P Donaldson

The Furballs scored first in all games in the series, with Greenman smacking a home run to get the second inning underway. At that point Daniel Sharp had already a poor out and an error, and we kept counting. Felipe Garcia however needed no errors to be defeated. Two singles through the infielders, unreachable, and then a 3-run homer by Steve Moore in the bottom 4th did the job quite well. The Raccoons would not get another hit (or base runner, for what it was worth) off Lewis Donaldson until the eighth inning, when Clyde Brady had a single batting in Wood’s place, with two out. Bottom 8th, Vieitas led off with an inside-the-park home run off Domingo Moreno, who would also surrender a 2-out RBI single to Eugene Carter, who came to the plate 0-for-17. 5-1 Falcons. Brady (PH) 1-1;

It was also the time to bring Angel Casas back into the fold. We had to delete a left-hander from the pen. Moreno, despite that 2-run escapade in Sunday’s game, had caught himself well from the disaster he was in early April, and Ed Bryan had done well for himself since his callup, and was not going to go anyway. That left Williams the odd man out.

Since it was impossible to manufacture a trade with anybody these days, Williams was waived and designated for assignment on Monday morning.

Raccoons (29-46) @ Aces (31-44) – June 27-29, 2005

The Aces were giving up the most runs of all the Continental League teams, with a 5.02 ERA in their rotation. Once you had cut their starters into little cubes, the bullpen was not much better. They knew how to score, though, ranking fourth in offense. We were 2-1 against them this year.

Projected matchups:
Kenichi Watanabe (0-1, 9.00 ERA) vs. Jose Marquez (2-8, 6.09 ERA)
Nick Brown (5-5, 3.02 ERA) vs. Jim Pennington (4-3, 3.60 ERA)
Ben Carlson (2-5, 3.67 ERA) vs. Bob Bowden (5-6, 5.46 ERA)

Game 1
POR: 3B Sharp – SS Sheehan – LF Brady – RF Greenman – 1B Rojas – CF Torrez – C L. Ramirez – 2B Ingram – P Watanabe
LVA: SS Nichols – 3B F. Rivera – 2B O. Torres – CF Covington – RF R. Garcia – 1B Abrams – C Yu – LF G. Wills – P J. Marquez

Fans paid to get through the gates, only to find out that neither team had arrived with any bats. While Watanabe and Marquez tossed third-rate junk, both the Raccoons and Aces had to make do with tennis rackets, golf clubs, and Rojas even used the bat boy, and the results were accordingly. Poor contact, all around. Even when Watanabe walked Wills and Marquez in succession at some point, the Aces couldn’t cash in. The Raccoons also allowed them a runner to reach on an uncaught third strike and made no impediment on Martin Covington’s repeated base stealing attempts, and the Aces still didn’t score, unpolitely refusing every cordial invitation. Watanabe got removed in the eighth, after PH Artie Hill’s accidental double to center. He had swung with a sawed-off telephone pole. The Aces loaded them up with two out against Moreno with an Oliver Torres infield single that Ingram refused to play, and a walk to Inaki-Luki Warrain. We tried to counter Ricardo Garcia with Raw Lockburn, whose 1-0 pitch went through Leon Ramirez’ legs, before Garcia hit a 2-run single past a tardy Sharp. Top 9th, the Coons had three hits total at that point, facing Leonard Williamson. Sheehan chipped a soft single, Brady hit another one, and Greenman rolled one into left with permission from mis-assigned Gold Glover Felipe Rivera. Bases loaded, no outs. The Raccoons obviously balked out of that. 3-1 Aces. Sheehan 2-3; Torrez 2-4, RBI; Watanabe 7.2 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, L (0-2);

Okay, this … this was the most miserable game all year. It can’t possibly get any worse than this.

Oh look, Brownie’s next!

Game 2
POR: 3B Sharp – SS Yamada – LF Brady – RF Greenman – 1B Martin – CF Torrez – 2B Sheehan – C Wood – P Brown
LVA: CF Covington – 3B F. Rivera – 2B O. Torres – SS Nichols – RF R. Garcia – 1B Abrams – C Yu – LF G. Wills – P Pennington

In the first, on two walks and three stolen bases, the Raccoons scored one run, somehow. Top 3rd, Yamada hit a single, then stole his third base on the day. Brady struck out, but the ball got away from emergency catcher Min-tae Yu (all other Aces catchers were incapacitated!), and Brady reached on the passed ball, moving Yamada to third. But now, thought Christian Greenman, was the time for a proper hit. One knock later, three Furballs galloped around the bases as Greenman had smacked his 14th homer of the season, and another run scored on three more hits in the inning to make it 5-0 in support of Brownie, who had his issues with control, but things didn’t get completely OUT of control. He got better by the third inning and reached ten strikeouts when he erased Rivera to end the fifth! His pitch economy remained bad however, and we got the bullpen stirring after he struck out one more in the sixth, almost having reached 100 pitches by then. Brown was not yet removed in the top 7th when his turn at bat came up with Wood on first, one out, and a 6-0 score. His bunt was taken to second base by Yu, but the throw was high, and everybody was safe, but nothing came about it when Sharp grounded out to first to get Brownie forced out, and Yamada fouled out. Then Brownie did the bottom 7th on six pitches, reaching a dozen whiffs, too, and we didn’t quite pat him on the back yet. He was removed however once Covington reached on an infield single with one out in the eighth. Huerta came in. Two down, Torres hit an infield single. Nichols grounded to short, and Yamada botched it. Bases loaded, and nobody could quite believe it. But Ricardo Garcia struck out, and the Aces didn’t get another chance to harm Brownie’s record. 6-0 Brownies!! Yamada 2-4, BB; Greenman 2-4, HR, 4 RBI; Torrez 3-5; Wood 4-5, 2 RBI; Brown 7.1 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 12 K, W (7-5);

Nick Brown reached 100 more strikeouts than walks in the third inning of this June 28 game. In good years, Kisho Saito reached the same mark in mid-to-late August. Brownie IS the best we ever had!

And his 7-5 record is a disgrace.

Game 3
POR: 3B Sharp – SS Yamada – LF Brady – RF Greenman – 1B Rojas – C Wood – CF Fernandez – 2B Ingram – P Carlson
LVA: SS Nichols – 3B F. Rivera – 2B O. Torres – CF Covington – RF R. Garcia – 1B Abrams – C Yu – LF G. Wills – P Bowden

Bob Bowden had a very bad day at the office on Wednesday. The Coons romped him for four runs in the first two innings, even leaving five men on base. His own team did precious little, and he still had to work with Yu, who hadn’t caught since high school. Bobby Wood was on third base with two outs in the fifth inning, 4-1 the score. Ingram was walked intentionally to get Carlson up, and the first pitch went right by Yu for a run-scoring passed ball. The Raccoons were not free of shame, however – and not by a mile. They still led 5-1 in the bottom 6th, when the Aces got going on two grounders back to Carlson. The first was an infield single, the latter a plain error, two on, no outs. Those runners pulled off a double steal, Covington leading the way, and while Yu popped out for the second out, we had to expect the poor sod Bowden to be pinch-hit for, so Carlson went after Wills instead. Gary Wills flew to left, and Brady just plainly botched it. Two runs scored, Wills to second base on the error, and then Bowden, the poor sod, was NOT hit for and instead had to face Carlson, who threw a wild pitch before Bowden could hack himself out: 5-3 after six. Bowden had to pitch on, while we went to Kichida in the seventh, who put the tying runs on base without retiring anybody. Moreno got Torres to ground out to Rojas, moving up the runners, and the Aces hit right-hander Inaki-Luki Warrain for Covington. Marcos Bruno was called on and struck out both Warrain and Ricardo Garcia to escape another mess. The Aces continued to teach their entirely clueless former first-rounder a lesson and didn’t bring him until he had thrown 130 pitches and had loaded the bags with one out in the eighth, then brought right-hander Don Davis to face Yamada and Brady, both of whom brought home a run before Greenman made the inning end. Like Kichida in the seventh, we then had Raw Lockburn put Nichols and Rivera on base with nobody out in the ninth. Angel Casas had to come out to face left-handers with our two southpaws already used up. Torres singled, 7-4. Don Cameron walked. Ricardo Garcia walked, 7-5. Abrams flew out to center, 7-6. Yu, the laughing sack for the entire series, singled to right, 7-7. And then two strikeouts, and extra innings. Add Casas to the list of ****s to kill off at the deadline. The Aces put runners on third base in the bottom 10th and 11th, never scoring off Huerta, who was the last man coming out of the pen. There was nobody else. The Raccoons left two on in the top 11th, three on in the top 12th, and Huerta was finally defeated in the bottom 13th on Gary Wills’ 2-out RBI single. 8-7 Aces. Wood 4-7, 2B, RBI; Ingram 2-5, BB;

We merely left 16 men on base. It’s not like we got ANY chance to score.

****ing team. Brutally ****ing team. Brutally ****ing **** team.

Raccoons (30-48) vs. Loggers (34-44) – June 30-July 3, 2005

And the next team to come in and collect free wins will be the … Loggers! Yaay!!

They might rank second-worst in offense in the Continental League (guess to whom! GUESS!!!), and they might also surrender the second-most runs, with a -72 run differential, but that’s only smoke and mirrors. When it comes down to heart, soul, and the least little bit of good fortune, they have the Raccoons beat, any day of the week. We’d play four in an attempt to crash to 3-9 against them on the season.

Projected matchups:
Ralph Ford (2-5, 3.87 ERA) vs. George Norris (2-3, 6.47 ERA)
Felipe Garcia (3-6, 3.77 ERA) vs. William Lloyd (3-9, 7.17 ERA)
Kenichi Watanabe (0-2, 4.26 ERA) vs. Martin Garcia (5-5, 3.04 ERA)
Nick Brown (7-5, 2.83 ERA) vs. Armando Gomez (2-7, 6.16 ERA)

Don’t you worry, woodchucks, it will all be well soon.

Game 1
MIL: 2B B. Hernandez – CF Fletcher – SS K. Scott – RF Hiwalani – 1B M. Woods – 3B Tolwith – C Benitez – LF Kaberman – P Norris
POR: 3B Sharp – SS Yamada – LF Brady – RF Greenman – 1B Martin – C B. Wood – CF Torrez – 2B Sheehan – P Ford

Ford faced a lineup composed entirely of right-handed batters, which worked out well enough for three Loggers runs in the first inning. The Coons put up a crooked number of their own in the bottom of the second. Starting out with a Martin home run, they had runners in scoring position when Ford came to bat with one out. His grounder eluded the defenders on the left side and tied the game, and it just went on as Norris threw batting practice, eventually getting socked for five runs in the inning when Greenman hit a bases-loaded, 2-out, 2-run single to left. That didn’t make Ford a better pitcher, and the 5-3 lead was critically endangered in the fourth inning with runners on the corners before Ken Wood (who replaced an injured Van Kaberman) grounded into the third out to Sheehan. Bottom of the same inning, Yoshi-Y drew a walk, Brady another one, and when Yoshi set off to steal third, Benitez’ throw went over the leaping Tolwith’s head, and Yamada scored, 6-3, Brady going to third, where he was starved. The bottom 5th saw reliever Alan Crowley load the bases with no outs before Ford, Sharp, and Yamada ****ed up completely and nobody scored. Ford got stomped from the game in the sixth, with Hiwalani hitting one out and then Mac Woods coming up with a triple. Kichida entered and scored Woods with a wild pitch, 6-5.

The Coons continued to botch a multitude of chances for add-on offense, like in the eighth, when Brady walked, ran, ended up on third on Greenman’s 1-out single, and then was yet again ****ing left there. Bruno had pitched the eighth already, but with Casas having been blown out the day before in a long and unpleasant ninth inning, and nobody else available, we tried to squeeze him for a 6-out save, which could only ever go wrong. Pedro Benitez led off the ninth, the count ran full, Bruno threw a pitch low and far away, Benitez swung and missed anyway, but Wood missed it just as well, and Benitez reached first base on the uncaught third strike. Ken Wood and Jesus Reyes grounded out, leaving Benitez at third base with two outs and Bartolo Hernandez (.333 this year!) batting. He grounded to third, Sharp picked it up and – no, he didn’t. It rolled straight through Sharp, Benitez scored, and the game was tied. Then Jerry Fletcher showed a stunned Bruno the way to Idaho. 8-6 Loggers. Brady 0-1, 4 BB; Greenman 2-5, 2 RBI; Torrez 2-4; Bruno 2.0 IP, 1 H, 3 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, L (2-3);

… and I really, REALLY, REALLY … have to GO ****ING KILL SOMEBODY NOW.

And it really, really, really won’t be Marcos Bruno…

Game 2
MIL: 2B B. Hernandez – CF Fletcher – SS K. Scott – RF Hiwalani – 1B M. Woods – 3B Tolwith – C J. Reyes – LF K. Wood – P Lloyd
POR: LF Brady – 2B Sheehan – CF Torrez – RF Greenman – 1B Rojas – C L. Ramirez – SS Yamada – 3B Ingram – P F. Garcia

When Felipe Garcia allowed a leadoff single to Mac Woods in the top 2nd, that was innocent enough. That he walked the next three batters while throwing only one (swinging…) strike, was not quite innocent, but rather completely uncalled for, and naughty. Hernandez, the anti-hero of the previous night, singled to left, two more scored, and the Loggers had another one of those 3-0 leads. The bottom 2nd started with a Hernandez error that put a horribly inept .148 batting Alejandro Rojas on base. Yamada doubled, and inexplicably Lloyd then drilled Garcia with two outs to load them up for Brady, and for once someone came through. This time Lloyd made sure he stayed away from the batter and pitched down the middle, with Clyde thankfully converting: GRAAAAAAAND SLAAAAAAAAMMMMM!!!

For the Raccoons, a 4-3 lead was just one more thing that was begging to be blown. Like a 6-5 lead, perhaps. And Garcia couldn’t even to that. He pitched into the seventh before allowing a 1-out single to Hernandez. Rockburn came in, Hernandez stole second, and Fletcher singled him in – tied at four. Excellently executed. Bottom 7th, Martin, who had entered in a double switch with Rockburn, led off with a single. Lloyd was still in, and then got zipped by Brady with a triple, which left Clyde a double short of the cycle in a 5-4 game. We don’t have to mention that Clyde Brady, who reached third base with no outs, was left there? Good. Because he was left there. Rockburn almost blew the lead a second time in the eighth, walking two, before Moreno got out of the jam. In the ninth it was Casas to try to notch a save, perhaps. A leadoff walk to Hernandez was not QUITE the result we were aiming for. Hiwalani singled with two outs, moving Hernandez to third base for Mac Woods, but he struck out. 5-4 Raccoons. Brady 3-4, HR, 3B, 5 RBI; Martin 1-1;

No, Sharp did not appear in this game, and yes, it has to do with Thursday’s contest. I was not going to make myself watch him, because I just wanted to thrust my fist straight through his face, and bolt out his pea-sized brain through the back of his silly head.

Wrath has to go some place, eventually, and it was time to demote one of the window lickers. Rojas had to go, batting .133 in 30 AB, with no extra-base hits. We called up Steve Searcy. A wild third baseman appears! How convenient!

Game 3
MIL: 2B B. Hernandez – CF Fletcher – SS K. Scott – RF Hiwalani – 1B M. Woods – 3B Tolwith – C J. Reyes – LF Kaberman – P M. Garcia
POR: SS Yamada – 2B Sheehan – LF Brady – RF Greenman – 1B Martin – C B. Wood – CF Fernandez – 3B Searcy – P Watanabe

Brady and Greenman in particular tore out arms and legs to suck up all the deep drives Watanabe surrendered on this Saturday afternoon, and Watanabe shrugged and plated Van Kaberman with a wild pitch, two out in the fourth, to fall behind 2-1. The Coons flipped the score with three hits off a visibly aging Martin Garcia in the bottom 4th, going to 3-2, and Watanabe continued to throw batting practice. Top 5th, Keith Scott singled, and Woods would draw a walk, and Tolwith got smacked, and then Reyes ruined the show and struck out to end the inning with no score. When Hernandez hit a double to put himself and Martin Garcia into scoring position with one out in the sixth, Watanabe got hooked, but this mess refused to be cleaned, and Jerry Fletcher chipped a single on Huerta’s 0-2 pitch, just past the grasp of Sheehan and into rightfield to plate the runners and re-flip the score. The Raccoons were … not getting on base anymore. Martin Garcia went seven for his 227th career win, and the bullpen had Gabriel Garcia and Robbie Wills collect six outs from six batters. 4-3 Loggers. Greenman 2-4, 2 2B;

We had all of five hits.

Game 4
MIL: 2B B. Hernandez – CF Fletcher – SS K. Scott – RF Hiwalani – 1B M. Woods – 3B Tolwith – C Benitez – LF Kaberman – P A. Gomez
POR: LF Brady – 3B Sharp – C L. Ramirez – RF Greenman – 1B Martin – 2B Sheehan – CF Torrez – SS Yamada – P Brown

Brown needed 40 pitches to get through the first inning in which the Loggers had two walks and two hits and left three men stranded, but Brown’s control had been nothing short of abysmal. The Raccoons pulled the run back in the bottom 1st when Brady walked and somehow scampered around to score, only for Van Kaberman to reach base on a drag bunt and eventually score on a Martin error. Al Martin could feel the lava bolts being loaded into by ballista and hit a leadoff jack in the bottom 2nd to re-even the game at two. Brownie threw over 100 pitches in five innings and was removed for a pinch-hitter to start the bottom 5th, in which Brady and Sharp reached base with one out (Searcy’s) only for Ramirez’ drive to left center to be caught by Kaberman. Greenman then came up with an RBI single to left, and Martin doubled to right, plating another run. Sheehan’s groundout left Brownie in line for a 4-2 win he probably didn’t quite deserve, but luckily this week’s escapades had left us with not much of a bullpen and we had a dire need for Kaz Kichida to pitch two innings. To everybody’s amazement the Loggers made six outs while seeing only 24 pitches and never reaching base, and if we could use Kichida for another frame to completely bridge the gap to Angel, why not go for it? Two walks with no outs in the top 8th were the consequence of that greedy thinking, and now we had to use Ed Bryan against Bakile Hiwalani. There was no way the game would not get tied, but it got tied on two wild pitches and a chop single. Oh yeah, and still no outs. The Coons ended up losing in mind-boggling fashion, with Kaberman launching a triple off Bryan in the top of the ninth, and Kaberman scoring on a suicide squeeze. 5-4 Loggers. Martin 2-4, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Wheaton (PH) 1-1;

(gasps)

In other news

June 20 – LVA OF Francisco Rivera (.274, 5 HR, 22 RBI) has been diagnosed with a severe concussion and could be out for the season.
June 23 – Salem’s Brad Osborne (7-3, 4.80 ERA) 3-hits the Stars in a 5-0 shutout.
June 23 – The Condor’s OF Robbie Luxton (.262, 7 HR, 35 RBI) goes to the DL with a hip strain, and might miss six weeks.
June 24 – SP Ricardo Sanchez (6-5, 3.58 ERA) logs his 200th win, coming through in a 9-4 win over the Condors.
July 1 – SAC INF/LF Dave McCormick (.309, 14 HR, 44 RBI) has three hits to reach a 20-game hitting streak, while his team gets blown out by the Wolves, 10-2.
July 3 – The Condors flip LF/RF Luis Reya (.319, 2 HR, 19 RBI) to the Falcons for SP Jorge Silva (4-5, 3.73 ERA) and #69 prospect SP Ian Ward.

Complaints and stuff

Friday, after that hilariously, brutally, completely incompetently conducted first game in the Loggers series, the Agitator had a field day. Everybody got smeared with poo. Everybody! The coaching staff, the players, the GM (of course, because this is so all my fault), and even the Loggers, for not showing any kind of mercy with the most hapless miscast of wrongly assigned and overburdened third-rate menagerie of a calamitously inept synchronized swimming troupe that had ever been exiled onto a baseball diamond – for there was no water there to drown in! – that they butchered for a win of theirs.

It was only one win, and for the Coons one loss, but it was the second time in a week that we had the absolute worst loss of the season (and quite a few seasons back), and I didn’t pick up the paper after that, because Maud threw it out as soon as she found it in the morning. Good girl.

I might have a third cousin, once removed, who might be looking for a wife, y’know? Stu’s a hog farmer in Montana. Here’s his address. – No, Maud. – No. No, he does not have telephone. You have to write him a letter.

Enclose a picture. – Ah, wait. Don’t enclose a picture.

But yeah, that loss. That Thursday loss. What a way to end a month. No reading the paper starting in July, which usually comes later in the year than that we stop worrying about the W-L record. This year it was early May, I think.

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Our second-rounder, Pat Composto, has already gone down with a shoulder injury.

SLAPPY!! – Slappy, you got any more Capt’n Coma in your room? – Buy some. Here’s fifty bucks.

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This historically bad offense is driving me crazy. No clutch whatsoever. They are blatantly sucking badly.

How historically bad are they? Well, try this: no Raccoons team except that in 1981, scored less runs per game. The 1981 Coons ended up with 519 runs scored and this one here gives them a good run for their money.

And I keep wondering why I can’t move Martin, Greenman, Fernandez, and the others. Which aspiring team would want those losers? But I know we can try one more thing. I will have Maud call the Army. They always need targets, right? Shooting exercises with their tanks and choppers and rocket rifles mounted on stealth bicycles, right?

They can have Sharp as well.

For Sharp, use incendiary ammo.