[Westheim]

The week started with a roster move and Jorge Rodriguez being waived and designated for assignment as Christian Greenman came off the DL.

Raccoons (10-8) @ Falcons (14-5) – April 24-26, 2006

On to the defending champions, and how awkward is that to say about the Falcons. They were in first place in the South yet again, smothering the opposition with almost seven runs scored per game, and 129 runs in total. Almost their entire starting lineup was hitting .300 or better, with Fernando Chavez coming in at .403 even. That their rotation ranked ninth was not quite as important …

Projected matchups:
Kenichi Watanabe (1-2, 4.00 ERA) vs. Rodrigo Gomez (2-0, 3.79 ERA)
Edgar Amador (0-2, 6.75 ERA) vs. Tommy Wilson (1-1, 7.59 ERA)
Ralph Ford (2-1, 4.01 ERA) vs. Alfredo Collazo (0-2, 4.64 ERA)

We get to bypass Larry Cutts (4-0, 2.89 ERA), which can’t be a bad thing… These three are all right-handers.

Game 1
POR: 3B Sharp – 2B Nomura – LF Brady – 1B Quebell – SS V. Flores – RF Mays – C Wood – CF Trevino – P Watanabe
CHA: 3B J. Rodriguez – CF Rincón – C F. Chavez – LF J. Flores – RF Reya – 2B H. Green – 1B Tsung – SS Starks – P R. Gomez

With two out in the second, Watanabe might have hit a double over the leaping Javier Rodriguez to plate Mays and Wood for the first two runs of the game, but in no way was he able to withstand the impending onslaught of the Falcons, who had a leadoff home run by Jesus Flores in the bottom 2nd, then put runners on the corners with no outs. While Watanabe was able to wiggle out of there with a well-timed pop out, the wheels came off in the next inning, with Hubert Green’s double off the wall plating two and giving the Falcons a 4-2 lead, and it certainly didn’t help when Watanabe bunted into a double play in the top of the fourth. That even proceeded the complete annihilation of the road team in the bottom 6th. Errors by Wood and Flores, another play not made by Nomura, Ed Bryan not relieving pressure at all with a 2-run triple to Javier Rodriguez, who then even stole home against a completely clueless battery, helped the Falcons to put up a 5-spot and break out to a 9-3 lead. Kaz Kichida logged our last six outs, which included three registered on the warning track, one by each outfielder. 9-3 Falcons. Mays 3-4, 3B; Wood 3-4; Kichida 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

Game 2
POR: 3B Sharp – 2B Nomura – LF Brady – 1B Quebell – C Wood – RF Greenman – CF Trevino – SS Yamada – P Amador
CHA: 3B J. Rodriguez – CF Rincón – LF J. Flores – RF Reya – 2B H. Green – 1B Tsung – C Durango – SS Starks – P T. Wilson

Daniel Sharp started the game with a single – and that was it for the Raccoons. Edgar Amador maintained the claim of being a major league pitcher for three innings, striking out four in a scoreless game, but issued two walks to start the bottom 4th and it just fell apart all too easily, with the Falcons greatly aided by the fact that Sharp couldn’t make any play on Mun-wah Tsung’s drag bunt, which was as great a drag bunt as they come from ex-Raccoons minor leaguers barely suited for play at first base. That prolonged the inning to help the Falcons score both their walkers, yet the Raccoons weren’t sentenced to trail in perpetuity yet. Nomura drove home Amador in the fifth after Amador had enjoyed the Raccoons first hit since – well – the first. Top 6th, Wilson’s ERA started to show and he surrendered an RBI double to Santiago Trevino in his third time through the order. The Falcons resorted to the great stupidity to intentionally walk Yamada, who had struck out twice and hadn’t looked any more ridiculous had he stepped into the box with a tennis racket in his hands. Amador batted for himself with the best bat on the pitching staff, flew to left center, where Flores made the catch, and when Bob Wood tagged and made for home, he was thrown out to end the inning. Amador held on to the 2-2 tie for no time at all, with grounders by Green and Tsung vanishing in the seams between infielders on either side of the diamond. Two on, no outs, Bryan and Bruno were rotated in, but a run scored. Eight men came to the plate in the bottom 7th, with two infield singles, a Quebell error, and Domingo Moreno having plainly nothing contributing for three more runs. Top 9th, down 6-2, a rally. Mays and Searcy had pinch-hit singles, which got the line moving. Mays scored on Sharp’s groundout, the first at-bat with actual closer Luis Hernandez in the game. Nomura made the second out, but then Brady and Quebell shocked the Falcons fans with back-to-back RBI doubles, with Quebell representing the tying run. And if Bob Wood had gotten anything into his swing… 6-5 Falcons. Quebell 2-5, 2B, RBI; Mays (PH) 1-1; Searcy (PH) 1-1;

It’s called getting brushed against the stroke. Or struck with a brush, or whatever. It’s unpleasant.

Game 3
POR: 3B Sharp – 2B Nomura – LF Brady – 1B Quebell – SS V. Flores – RF Mays – C Bowen – CF Trevino – P Ford
CHA: 3B J. Rodriguez – CF Rincón – RF J. Flores – 1B Tsung – 2B H. Green – C Durango – LF Reya – SS Starks – P Collazo

The Falcons stayed with their left-leaning lineup when Ralph Ford appeared on the mound, hinting at other team’s opinion of Ford perhaps more than anything else. Ford fell behind in the first after a David Rincón double and Mun-wah Tsung single, and it was 2-0 after two. The Falcons got two more doubles through five innings, but both those runners were left on, while the Coons did not even have hope until the top 5th when Craig Bowen was on second base with two out and Sharp rammed a pitch into deep center, where it was nevertheless caught by Rincón. Still held to two hits through six, the Coons had TWO runners on base AT THE SAME TIME in the seventh!! Whoah!! Mercy!! Will wonders ever cease!? Vic Flores had been hit with a pitch, and Bowen had walked again, bringing up Trevino, who fired a rocket into the gap where neither Rincón nor Jesus Flores could reach it and with Trevino’s speed this one became a game-tying 2-run triple! Searcy plated Trevino with a sac fly, 3-2 Coons, and Sharp and Nomura singled, but Brady’s drive to center was caught and the inning ended. Like the day before, the hard-fought achievement was blown up instantly. Moreno came in, walked Leslie Starks, allowed a double, and when Marcos Bruno relieved him, the relief was limited. The Falcons plated two, took a 4-3 lead, and didn’t look back. 4-3 Falcons. Nomura 2-4, 2B;

Raccoons (10-11) vs. Loggers (8-12) – April 28-30, 2006

From the best offensive team to the worst offensive team, and the Loggers weren’t too good at preventing runs either, ranking 7th in the league. By ERA, their rotation and bullpen actually ranked both in the bottom three. We had so far split the season-opening 2-game set.

Projected matchups:
Kelly Fairchild (1-0, 3.06 ERA) vs. George Norris (0-3, 11.49 ERA)
Nick Brown (4-1, 2.73 ERA) vs. Dani Alvarado (0-4, 9.36 ERA)
Edgar Amador (0-3, 6.45 ERA) vs. Martin Garcia (4-1, 1.69 ERA)

We have another off day next week and use the chance to skip the completely hopeless Watanabe. And if we don’t beat AND beat up their first two guys, I will fall into a severe late-April depression.

Game 1
MIL: LF Bayle – CF Wheaton – SS T. Johnson – RF Hiwalani – 2B B. Hernandez – 3B Tolwith – 1B M. Woods – C J. Reyes – P Norris
POR: 3B Sharp – 2B Nomura – LF Brady – 1B Quebell – SS Flores – RF Mays – C Wood – CF Crespo – P Fairchild

Of course you also had to account for your own pushover on the mound, and in this case said pushover allowed a grand slam with no outs to Mac Woods in the second inning, after walking Bakile Hiwalani, allowing a double to Bartolo Hernandez, and drilling Aaron Tolwith. The score moved to 5-0 in the third, the run being unearned after a soul-squishing throwing error by Bob Wood. The Coons, through three, were looking for a hit against a guy with an ERA big enough to mark down a house on the far end of a rural road. That hit finally fell to the ground in the fourth, a Quebell single, and they got onto the board in the fifth, which Mays led off with a single, before the next two batters forced out to sorry sod in front of them. Then Fairchild, Sharp, and Nomura hit singles in succession, the latter two getting home a total of two runs. Brady then struck out. That mini-rally soon was negated by absolutely incredible non-pitching by Fairchild, Bryan, and Rockburn, who managed to cock up three more runs between the sixth and seventh, the last of those being balked in by Rockburn. The Raccoons would score two more runs in the bottom 8th entirely without their own right-doing, with Quebell being pitched into the ribs by Tim Poe, and Poe then delivering a wild one as well after Norris had walked Nomura to start the inning before leaving. 8-4 Loggers. Quebell 1-2, BB; Mays 1-2, BB, RBI;

That headache…

The Loggers made not one, but two trades the same night. Reliever Tim Poe (0-0, 2.70 ERA) was sent to the Stars after his mishaps, with OF Tim Austin (.289, 1 HR, 9 RBI) coming over along with #11 prospect A CL Jarrod Morrison! The Loggers also sent RF/CF Clint Philip, who was hitless in 10 AB, and a double-A infielder to the Rebels for 1B Paco Batlle (.322, 1 HR, 9 RBI).

Next is Brownie and his 998 K. It would be AWESOME if he could strike out Bakile Hiwalani for 1,000!

Game 2
MIL: LF Bayle – 2B B. Hernandez – CF T. Austin – RF Hiwalani – 1B Batlle – SS T. Johnson – 3B Tolwith – C T. Phillips – P Alvarado
POR: 3B Sharp – CF Trevino – LF Brady – 1B Quebell – SS Flores – RF Mays – C Wood – SS Yamada – P Brown

Fate said no, and the first five Loggers all were retired on groundouts (but I won’t complain about THAT), and Brown didn’t get even #999 until fanning Tolwith to end the top 2nd. Before anybody went down for #1,000, Brownie drove in his own lead, a 1-out single in the third inning that scored Bob Wood, who had reached on an Alvarado error. Tim Austin, Logger for less than 24 hours, grounded out to start the fourth, which brought up Hiwalani again – but he grounded out as well. Paco Batlle, just arrived in the Continental League as well, then whiffed on a low slider for Brownie to reach the milestone.

Okay, enough with numbers, put a dent into their pitcher! However, the bottom 4th was the third inning in which they hit into an inning-ending double play. And as always, it got worse. Tom Johnson led off the fifth with a home run to tie the score, and Brown then had a 1-2 pitch ride in on Tolwith who was drilled, flung his bat and made for the mound. Brown met him a quarter of the way in from the mound, ducked under Tolwith’s swing, then elbow checked him into the ribs before the contents of both dugouts and bullpens tumbled all over each other. Brownie was tossed and we could see a suspension coming. Tied game in the fifth, but I retreated to the bathroom to cry furiously.

In that bathroom, I spared myself Mays and Yamada on the corners with one out in the bottom 5th, Yamada being caught stealing, and Kaz Kichida striking out. I also spared myself the 2-run seventh inning for the Loggers, fueled by singles rolling past either side of Yamada, an actual Yamada error, and Kichida throwing a run-scoring wild pitch. I also spared myself Tom Johnson’s home run off Rémy Lucas in the ninth, and of course a game-ending double play hit into Quebell. 4-1 Loggers. Flores 2-3;

On top of all that other ****, this was our 2,400th regular season loss. After the game, Yoshi Yamada was demoted to AAA, batting 1-for-19, stealing 1-for-4, and fielding like arse. We called up equally useless Tom Ingram, batting .167 in AAA.

Nick Brown was suspended by the league for eight games. As was Tolwith. Who gives a **** about Tolwith?

Eight games without Brownie!! I might as well just kill myself.

Game 3
MIL: LF Bayle – 2B B. Hernandez – CF T. Austin – RF Hiwalani – 1B Batlle – SS T. Johnson – 3B Costello – C J. Reyes – P M. Garcia
POR: 3B Sharp – SS Flores – LF Brady – 1B Quebell – C Bowen – RF Greenman – CF Crespo – 2B Ingram – P Amador

It took the Raccoons 13 batters to actually reach base against Martin Garcia, and when Quebell finally hit a single to lead off the fifth, Craig Bowen was not to be denied with a double play. At that point, the Fat Cat had hung some fat pitches and had been taken deep once, with a few more hard shots giving the Loggers an as-good-as-won 3-0 lead through five. J.C. Crespo hit a leadoff single in the sixth, Garcia balked, then struck out three. Amador actually made it into the eighth before a Crespo error put him in a bad spot and got him removed at 108 pitches. The Raccoons couldn’t score even when Costello and Garcia made errors in the same inning, the bottom 8th, and Garcia put up a line like in old times, eight shutout innings on three hits and nine whiffs. Robbie Wills did the honors. 3-0 Loggers. Quebell 2-4; Amador 7.2 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, L (0-4);

In other news

April 24 – The Capitals’ Jose Escobar (0-0, 4.26 ERA, 6 SV) preserves a close lead for the 300th time in a 4-3 win over the Gold Sox.
April 26 – NYC RF/LF Stanton Martin (.306, 4 HR, 17 RBI) might miss only the minimum 15 days after being put onto the DL with a mild oblique strain.

Complaints and stuff

Worst week ever. Just … worst week ever.