[Westheim]

Raccoons (51-74) @ Titans (68-55) – August 23-25, 2005

We start our last long string of games, 16 straight, in Boston, before we’ll have an off day in every week in September. The Titans still don’t quite know what’s going on in the division, and what bus hit them, but they figure that they won’t soon get a chance to beat a team they’ve already beaten eight out of twelve games on the year. Their most runs scored seems rather dominant against our least runs scored, and the pitching staffs are comparable as a whole, but our rotation will definitely show its soft underbelly.

Projected matchups:
Felipe Garcia (4-12, 4.29 ERA) vs. Bryce Hildred (12-7, 4.45 ERA)
Ralph Ford (4-10, 4.13 ERA) vs. Mauro Castro (0-0)
Edgar Amador (4-10, 4.89 ERA) vs. Jorge Chapa (12-10, 3.79 ERA)

What a sorry collection of starters we have.

Game 1
POR: 3B Sharp – 2B Nomura – CF Fernandez – RF Greenman – 1B Martin – SS Yamada – LF Brady – C Wood – P F. Garcia
BOS: CF Garrison – SS M. Austin – RF G. Munoz – C L. Lopez – 2B Metting – 3B Matsumoto – LF W. Taylor – 1B Frazier – P Hildred

Danny Sharp slapped a single to start the game, which was about where luck ran out for the Coons. Sharp was let on in the first, and in the bottom of the inning, Garcia got knocked for two runs on four hits and a wild pitch, and then another run in the second inning. He didn’t even go five, and the bottom 5th was led off by Bryce Hildred, who hit his second career home run off him. The Raccoons would actually move close once more when Clyde Brady cracked an impressive 2-run shot to get the team to just one behind, 4-3, but in the bottom of the inning Lady Luck raped Ricardo Huerta with a St. Louis Clubber when the Titans got three singles to start the bottom 6th against him, one up the middle between the encroaching Yoshis, one right to Martin that was just a pain to look at, and one just past the reach of Yamada then. Moreno came in, made an utter mess, and three runs scored in the inning. The Silly Singles theme continued to play with Rockburn pitching in the final two defensive innings, and the Titans could have done more damage to him than one run if not for their greed, with one runner (Matsumoto) cut down trying to steal third base, and another run cut down at home plate by Brady. 8-4 Titans. Sharp 2-5; Nomura 2-5; Martin 2-3, BB, HR, RBI;

Yoshi Nomura didn’t reach base on his own merit, but got Al Martin forced out on a grounder in the fourth inning and was safe at first. He then stole second base, tying Matt Higgins for the franchise mark, and scored on a groundout by Bob Wood eventually.

The only other fool to give up a homer to Hildred and his toothpick? Joe Hollow.

Game 2
POR: 3B Sharp – 2B Nomura – CF Fernandez – 1B Martin – LF Brady – RF Wheaton – C Wood – SS Yamada – P Ford
BOS: 3B Matsumoto – SS M. Austin – LF Brulhart – RF G. Munoz – 2B Metting – CF Garrison – 1B Frazier – C R. Rivera – P M. Castro

Mauro Castro, a 25-year old right-hander, made his major league debut in this game, replacing an injured Joe Mann in the rotation. The kid probably thought “Gee, that’s easy, the AAA guys hit me a lot harder”. The Coons didn’t have any hit until the fourth – when they were already trailing 3-0 thanks to their own replacement level pitcher – but then scored already. Nomura had drawn a leadoff walk, and Fernandez doubled him in. But the Coons left him on second base, and in the next inning they loaded the bases with two outs, but Fernandez popped out to left to end the inning. Ford was even worse than Garcia the previous day, falling behind 5-1 on an impressive shot by Jim Brulhart, his 20th of the year, in the fifth inning. But why should the other guys have to work harder when Ford ****s up and we have lost anyway? So Ford wasn’t removed until he walked Munoz to start the eighth, and Marcos Bruno was the only guy that got bothered, although a slap single by Rudy Garrison and a Bob Wood error created a tight situation, which he got dissolved all by himself (the best way to pitch on this team) and struck out Metting, Rivera, and PH Will Taylor. 5-1 Titans.

And that hands us a loss in the season series (4-10 right now) for the seventh straight year (and moves us to -43 overall against the Titans).

Game 3
POR: 1B Sharp – 2B Nomura – CF Fernandez – RF Greenman – LF Brady – 3B Searcy – SS Sheehan – C L. Ramirez – P Amador
BOS: CF Garrison – SS M. Austin – RF G. Munoz – LF Brulhart – C L. Lopez – 2B Metting – 3B Matsumoto – 1B H. Ramirez – P Chapa

Yoshi Nomura, who appeared to step out of the freezer just as September was comin’ round the corner, hit a triple in the first inning, only to get doubled off when Fernandez lined out to short for a stupid base running mistake of the kind normally reserved for Sharp. Those two bright light bulbs were in scoring position with two out after a Yoshi double in the third, but Fernandez’ fly to deep left center was caught by Rudy Garrison and nobody scored, but the Titans would leave two men on as well in the bottom of the inning. They had five base runners through three, with an infield single and four walks issued by the Fat Cat in that. Yet although Amador pitched like he had been hit by a garbage truck, the Coons got the first run, unearned after a Matsumoto error on Amador’s grounder, in the fifth inning, and the Titans couldn’t even get to the Cat when Jorge Chapa lobbed a leadoff single to right in the bottom of the fifth. In the sixth, Brady got to Chapa for a solo shot, and then Amador actually got someone struck out in the bottom of the inning, whiffing Luis Lopez. The Coons got another run in the eighth, when one Yoshi walked, another Yoshi ran for him, nipped one, and scored on a Greenman single. Ironically, ex-Titan Greenman hurt ex-Coon Manuel Martinez for the 3-0 run.

Amador had pitched like crap for seven innings, yet somehow wonderously had not allowed a run, and the pen got a 3-0 lead handed to tend to for six outs. With the Titans fielding three left-handed bats atop the order in the eighth, Moreno got the job, but he walked Garrison and Munoz before leaving with only one out collected. Marcos Bruno was tasked with pulling the cart out of the muck once again, struck out Brulhart, but got tagged by Lopez for a 2-run double before Metting made the third out. Still 3-2 though, and in the ninth we called on our Angel, who fed three grounders to the middle infielders to get this one over with. 3-2 Coons. Nomura 2-3, BB, 3B, 2B; Greenman 2-4, RBI; Martin (PH) 1-1; Amador 7.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 5 BB, 1 K, W (5-10);

That must be as ridiculous as pitching lines get. Two hits, five walks, no runs. Well, the beauty of a walk is that it is only one base and you need four to score. Still, the Cat has to pick it up a bit, or it’s back to playing with the yarn in St. Pete.

When Yoshi-Y was inserted for Yoshi-N in the eighth inning and stole second base, he set a new franchise record for steals in a single season with 43, which is also t-19th for most in a season in the ABL. If he could just get on base more often! Especially this series would have been a good spot with the Titans running out Luis Lopez as often as possible. Lopez is an offense-first catcher with a weak arm, Yamada could run on him all day and Lopez would never get him!

Raccoons (52-76) vs. Aces (49-78) – August 26-28, 2005

The two worst teams in the ABL squared up, and the Aces came in having thrown up the white flag after eight straight losses, and their -130 run differential (Coons: -67) was also wholly attributable to their outrageously inept pitching staff, which had managed to surrender 630 runs (5.0 R/G!) with little to no bright spots. The season series is split brotherly so far.

Projected matchups:
Ben Carlson (7-8, 3.79 ERA) vs. Jose Marquez (7-14, 5.26 ERA)
Nick Brown (11-7, 2.66 ERA) vs. Jim Pennington (9-8, 4.02 ERA)
Felipe Garcia (4-13, 4.40 ERA) vs. Bob Bowden (6-14, 6.04 ERA)

And that’s not even the worst guy in their rotation. David Estrada (6-18, 6.65 ERA) will be missed by the Coons, and we didn’t face him all year.

Game 1
LVA: SS F. Soto – RF Speed – 2B O. Torres – C T. Turner – 3B Warrain – 1B F. Rivera – LF Hill – CF G. Wills – P J. Marquez
POR: 3B Sharp – 2B Nomura – CF Fernandez – RF Greenman – 1B Martin – SS Sheehan – LF King – C L. Ramirez – P Carlson

Bottom 1st, a bloop, a walk, and a huge shot by Fernandez: 3-0 Coons, no outs wasted. It didn’t take long however for the Aces to strike back rabidly. Sheehan had made an error in the first inning, and he made another one in the third inning to put leadoff man Baden Speed on base. The Aces went from there, adding hit after hit after hit and romped Carlson, who also drilled a batter, for five runs. Carlson continued the recent trend of starters not pitching very long, and was hooked in the fifth with runners on the corners and one out, and the score still 5-3, and we went to Ed Bryan to get the left-handed batters Gary Wills and Jose Marquez, but both singled and closed Carlson’s line at seven runs, six earned. The Aces also gave Kaz Kichida and Domingo Moreno the kiss of death before this one was gotten over with, including a 2-run homer by Gary Wills, who was a joke of a hitter, batting .180 on the year, against Moreno, who had clearly gone to ****s again. 10-4 Aces. Sharp 2-3, 2 BB; Martin 2-4, 3B;

Game 2
LVA: SS F. Soto – RF Speed – 2B O. Torres – C T. Turner – LF R. Garcia – 3B Warrain – 1B F. Rivera – CF G. Wills – P Pennington
POR: 3B Sharp – 2B Nomura – CF Fernandez – RF Greenman – 1B Martin – LF Brady – C Wood – SS Yamada – P Brown

Brownie struck out the first two batters in the game, but found trouble soon enough in the second inning, in which he issued two walks. Bases loaded with one out, the ****ty Gary Wills doubled through Al Martin and two runs scored before Brown blasted Pennington and got a soft out from Soto to end the inning, down 2-0. Brown drew a walk at the plate then himself in the bottom 3rd, only to get picked off to end the inning in a 3-0 count to Yoshi Nomura. Top 4th, Inaki-Luki Warrain reached on catcher’s interference, there was another single on the right side – whenever the Aces needed a hit, they’d get it at Martin’s corner – before the Aces botched themselves out of it, with a runner caught stealing and two sorry foul pops. The Coons got the tying runs in scoring position with no outs in the bottom 4th when Nomura singled and Fernandez doubled. It wasn’t pretty, but the runs came in, with Greenman grounding out on the first pitch, but scoring Yoshi-N, and Martin hitting a single that glanced off the glove of a jumping Oliver Torres. Then came Clyde Brady and longed to make it clear that Clyde was still not quite Bonnie at the plate, and drilled a huge 2-run homer to right! That one actually got the park going, and engagement turned to delight when Brady came up the next time, Martin on first again, and hit ANOTHER 2-piece! The Coons actually extended this to their second 4-spot in the game, when Wood singled, Yamada for once made sound contact and doubled, plating Wood on a close play, and then Brown hit a solid liner to shallow right center to score the rapidly racing Yamada, 8-2. While Clyde Brady came really close to a third dinger in the bottom 7th, but fell about 15 feet short and made the third out with two on, Brownie went seven and two thirds, left with Baden Speed on first and Tom Turner up, Ricardo Huerta offered one pitch to Turner, and it went well out. Those two runs were re-clawed in the bottom 8th, however, and this time the Coons put up double digits, matching the result from the Friday game. 10-4 Brownies!! Nomura 3-5, 2B, RBI; Fernandez 3-5, 2B; Martin 2-3, BB, RBI; Brady 2-4, 2 HR, 4 RBI; Yamada 3-4, 2B, RBI; Brown 7.2 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 10 K, W (12-7) and 1-2, BB, RBI;

Nick Brown put up double digit strikeouts for the first time since whiffing ten Canadiens in his last start before the All Star Game. He had averaged just 5.3 K/G in between. His K/9 however is the highest this year of any full season in his career, 9.9;

Game 3
LVA: SS F. Soto – RF Speed – 2B O. Torres – C T. Turner – LF R. Garcia – 3B Warrain – 1B F. Rivera – CF Cameron – P Bowden
POR: CF Fernandez – 2B Nomura – LF Brady – RF Greenman – 1B Martin – C Wood – 3B Searcy – SS Yamada – P F. Garcia

Both teams got a run in the first inning and we were reminded of Nick Brown not going again until Thursday with Garcia delivering one bad at-bat after another. In the third inning, he walked Bob Bowden to get the inning started, which directly and inevitably led to a 2-out, 3-run homer by Tom Turner that put the Aces ahead, 4-1. Rookie Don Cameron clomped Garcia for another rocket, of the 2-run variety, in the fourth – his first career homer. Garcia didn’t see the light in the sixth inning, being hit for in the bottom 5th after allowing six runs, while the other Furballs just couldn’t see enough of Bowden’s feisty visage and were easy with him to not get him accidentally removed from the game. When the Raccoons did score a pair in the bottom 5th, the Raw Lockburn went out and got his wig set on fire, Ricardo Garcia firing a leadoff jack and every batter he faced becoming an Ace of Base, and they plated another run off Bryan to make it an 8-3 game. The Coons started to scratch and claw in the late innings. It was actually the bottom of the order that produced two runs in the seventh, and another one in the eighth, moving back to 8-6. Marcos Bruno struck out the side in the top 9th to give his team a chance in the bottom of the inning, facing closer Don Davis, but after the inspiring small ball rallies in the seventh and eighth, the Coons had Sheehan, Fernandez, and Nomura make three exceptionally poor outs in that final inning. 8-6 Aces. Fernandez 2-4, 3 RBI; Nomura 2-5; Searcy 3-4, 2B, RBI; Kichida 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K and 1-1;

Kaz had his first major league hit – not that it meant much.

In other news

August 22 – The Aces lose OF Forest Messinger (.260, 8 HR, 53 RBI) for the rest of the season. The 26-year old has torn some ligaments in his ankle.
August 26 – With the finish line slowly approaching, the playoff-hopeful Buffaloes are dealt a blow with 1B/2B Georg Spinu (.290, 5 HR, 37 RBI) going down with a sore shoulder. He might come back in late September.

Complaints and stuff

Clyde Brady smacked four homers and drove in eight this week, but was not even in the picture for Player of the Week. Essentially, besides the four homers, he only had two other hits, both singles. But we’re not 12th/12th/12th in the team slash line batting anymore – we’re now second-to-last in slugging! Yaaay!!

Honestly, do we even have a hitting coach?

As we’re on Clyde already, you may have guessed it or known it or maybe not, but he is the longest-tenured Raccoon on the roster since the demise of Neil Reece, debuting in 1998, and beating Ralph Ford and Al Martin to the show by a year. You might also remember (or not…) how he came over. After the Raccoons self-combusted into a 68-94 wildfire in 1997, we sold off (or let walk) parts, like Vern Kinnear, whose image of the fist raised and the yellow #16 on the blue uniform I won’t ever be able to forget, and by far the most expensive of those parts was David Brewer, who had signed the biggest deal in ABL history (6-yr, $9M) with the Coons before the 1995 season. Brewer was traded off to the Condors in return for three players, two of whom we have flipped over by now: Chris Parker, Randy Farley, and Clyde Brady.

What have those four done in the Bigs since the trade (numbers are for all teams)?
David Brewer: .298, 23 HR, 308 RBI, 19.2 WAR
Clyde Brady: .252, 97 HR, 421 RBI, 17.2 WAR
Chris Parker: .277, 40 HR, 301 RBI, 2.9 WAR
Randy Farley: 90-88, 3.86 ERA, 24.2 WAR

Yup, good trade. Just never worked out for us. Which sounds strange, but the last nine years, nothing has ever worked out for us. By the way, Parker was traded for Benton Wilson, who offered so-so relief in 2003 before walking as free agent, but Farley was packed with Dan Nordahl for Adrian Quebell, who is hurting AAA pitching and you know that September 1 is approaching, right? (Our AAA team is actually putting up a winning record for a change – the only one in the system – but they’re 6 1/2 out with 19 to play, so we can pillage that roster)

The Brewer deal in other numbers: he produced 31 WAR over that 6-year contract, and we paid just under half of it, but enjoyed 19.9 of those WAR (64%). He has 78 career WAR, but since that contract ended, it’s been a pain for him. In his age 33-37 seasons, he reached 500 AB only once, and accumulated only 8.1 WAR in total. Yeah, now guess what the Canadiens got for his cost-controlled years!

Would you believe the Titans are the team we have the by far worst all time record against in the CL North? They were irrelevant for all of the 80s and most of the 90s, yet it’s not even remotely close! But their long strong period has coincided with our long banana period, and we haven’t even managed to win five games on average for the last five years…

Raccoons overall vs. CL North:
IND .513
VAN .506
NYC .493
MIL .487
BOS .460
(all teams .492)

Unless we get swept by the Condors, this crummy August was our best month this year…