[Westheim]

Raccoons (0-0) @ Loggers (0-0) – April 8-9, 2008

With that, it begins. We will open the year in Milwaukee for a quick 2-game set before heading home for a 2-week homestand with 13 games. By the way, we will not face the Crusaders until the second half of May. For starters, though, cutting our teeth on 36-year old and still good Martin Garcia, who has 267 career wins, might not be a bad test… Overall the Loggers might have a hard time not finishing last, however, since aside from Garcia, they didn’t have much to brag about.

Projected matchups:
Nick Brown (0-0) vs. Martin Garcia (0-0)
Kelvin Yates (0-0) vs. Fernando Cruz (0-0)

Game 1
POR: 2B Barrón – 1B Quebell – CF Castro – RF Black – C Bowen – LF Pruitt – 3B R. Martinez – SS R. Miller – P Brown
MIL: LF J.R. Richardson – 3B Tolwith – RF Hiwalani – CF T. Austin – 2B B. Hernandez – SS T. Johnson – 1B K. Scott – C J. Reyes – P M. Garcia

Juan Barrón hit a single in his first Coons AB, as did Ricardo Martinez, for whom it was obviously the first major league hit, but the Raccoons didn’t amount to a run at either opportunity. For the world always getting stranger, Adrian Quebell hit a solo home run in the third inning to give Brownie a 1-0 lead. Somehow the Loggers excelled at bringing Brown to the plate with two outs and Pruitt somewhere in scoring position, which happened each of the first three times the Coons went through the order, and Brownie never got the ball snipped somewhere nice, and made the final out three times. All was well when everybody was taken out to the ballpark. The Raccoons led 1-0 and Brown had faced the minimum, allowing two singles. That changed rapidly and brutally in the bottom 7th. First Aaron Tolwith and Bakile Hiwalani hit back-to-back doubles through Ricardo Martinez, and then Brown and Miller dropped good throws at bases on consecutive ground balls from Austin and Hernandez. The Loggers scored two runs to take the lead, and didn’t relinquish it in the last two innings, with no Raccoons getting back on base. This included Yoshi Nomura grounding out on a 3-0 pitch with one out in the ninth. 2-1 Loggers. Quebell 2-4, HR, RBI; Pruitt 3-3, BB, 2 2B; Brown 7.1 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, L (0-1);

If that’s a sign of things to come for this season … For everybody in baseball this might well be the worst day of their live. For me it was literally Tuesday.

Game 2
POR: 2B Barrón – 1B Quebell – CF Castro – RF Black – C Bowen – LF Pruitt – 3B R. Martinez – SS R. Miller – P Yates
MIL: LF J.R. Richardson – SS B. Hernandez – RF Hiwalani – CF T. Austin – C Baca – 3B T. Johnson – 2B K. Scott – 1B Lewis – P F. Cruz

With Brown back in the stall and cursing his luck, the Raccoons suddenly found some bats and produced two runs in the first inning against Fernando Cruz. While the Loggers managed to get runners into scoring position in the bottom 3rd only for Richardson and Hernandez to get chainsawed, the Raccoons then had Martinez on first in the fourth. With two out, a hit-and-run was called and Ryan Miller’s gapper in right center scored Martinez easily to make it 3-0. Kel Yates was more productive than Brownie the day before and singled up the middle, 4-0. The third 2-spot of the day was put up by Duke Smack with a home run in the next inning, running the score to 6-0.

It didn’t stay 6-0 for long. After Kel struck out four in a row, he walked two in the bottom 5th before J.R. Richardson emptied the bags with a rocket that dwarfed the Duke’s dinger to the far side of the 415’ sign in left center, instantly halving the distance between the teams. Yates was yanked when Bakile Hiwalani hit a leadoff homer in the bottom 6th, 6-4. Tom Watkins took over and retired five of the next six batters, the only guy reaching not his own making, as Quebell had a grounder spill out of his glove for an error. There were no consequences for this one, and Watkins and Bryan successfully turned the lead over to the back end of the pen, where Bruno was not scored upon, and neither was Angel Casas, who struck out the side on 12 pitches. 6-4 Coons. Quebell 3-5, 2 2B; Castro 3-5, RBI; Watkins 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

Typical. Brown gets victimized by freak occurrences, and Kel gets blown out and still wins his start. Baseball is one wicked game, I can tell you.

All CL North teams started their year 1-1, so, eh…

Raccoons (1-1) vs. Thunder (1-1) – April 11-13, 2008

The Thunder had had a rainout in their season-opening matchup with the Aces, and so came in 1-1 as well. Close to everybody was 1-1 in the Continental League.

Projected matchups:
Javier Cruz (0-0) vs. Manny Guzmán (0-0)
Jong-hoo Umberger (0-0) vs. Luis Martinez (0-0)
Kenichi Watanabe (0-0) vs. Santiago Chavez (0-0)

Both teams had a chance to skip their #5 guy, but maybe neither would do it? As far as we know, we’ll face right-left-right in this series.

Game 1
OCT: LF V. Sanchez – 1B T. Cardenas – C P. Ledesma – CF Reese – SS M. Garza – RF Covington – 3B Arreola – 2B Nixon – P Guzmán
POR: SS Barrón – 1B Quebell – CF Castro – RF Black – LF Pruitt – C Bowen – 3B R. Martinez – 2B Nomura – P Cruz

The Thunder took a bite out of Javier Cruz with two runs scoring in the first inning, which was opened by a walk drawn by Victorino Sanchez. Down 2-0 early, the Raccoons rode Duke Smack’s game-tying shot in the bottom 1st to get back tied, and then had Bowen and Martinez reach to start the bottom 2nd. The Thunder were displeased when Yoshi took a borderline pitch in a full count and had it called ball four to load them up. The Coons however didn’t score, with Cruz flying out too shortly to center, and Barrón and Quebell going down flailing. Bowen and Martinez were on again with no outs in the bottom 4th, when Yoshi popped up a 3-1 pitch for the first out. Cruz then came through with a single over a leaping Max Nixon to plate the go-ahead run.

And the Coons kept reaching, despite Barrón and Quebell again ending the fourth on a sad note. Castro and Black reached with singles to start the bottom 5th, and while Pruitt and Bowen didn’t manage to get them in, Ricardo Martinez took a huge swing to power his first major league home run well outta left, a booming 3-run homer that jumped the Coons out to a 6-2 lead. After a shoddy start and despite three leadoff walks, Javier Cruz went seven in his Furballs debut, leaving with an 8-2 lead when Pruitt hit a 2-out, 2-run double off Junior Downey in the bottom 6th. In fact, he wasn’t the only pitcher having his Raccoons debut sprinkled with a bit of being walked over by Victorino, the master of on-base abilities, but when Donald Sims did it in the eighth, no damage occurred. 8-2 Coons. Black 2-5, HR, 2 RBI; Martinez 3-4, HR, 3 RBI; Cruz 7.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 6 K, W (1-0) and 1-3, RBI;

Game 2
OCT: LF V. Sanchez – 1B T. Cardenas – C P. Ledesma – CF Reese – SS M. Garza – RF Covington – 3B Arreola – 2B Nixon – P L. Martinez
POR: 2B Barrón – 1B Quebell – CF Castro – RF Black – C Bowen – LF Pruitt – 3B R. Martinez – SS R. Miller – P Umberger

… and the next Raccoons debutee getting knocked over in the first inning! Jong-hoo allowed two runs on consecutive hits by Ledesma, Reese, and Garza, but again it didn’t take long for the Raccoons to climb back in, but when they scored two runs in the bottom 2nd, their fortunes included an error by Ignacio Arreola and a wild pitch by Luis Martinez along with two singles by Bowen and Miller. Quebell doubled home Barrón in the bottom 3rd to take the lead and the Raccoons would walk the bases full before Matt Pruitt lined into an inning-ending double play. The Thunder left runners on third base in the third and fourth innings, while the Coons went to 4-2 in the bottom 4th when Barrón drove in Martinez with a double. Umberger after a few good innings was tagged for a third run in the sixth by a 2-out single off Max Nixon’s bat. He still looked sharp, though. Okay, he stays in until a man gets on base. No man got on base through eight again for the Thunder, so the game went right to Angel Casas, who held the Thunder at bay to save his second of the year. 4-3 Critters. Barrón 2-3, BB, RBI; Castro 2-4; Umberger 8.0 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, W (1-0);

Game 3
OCT: LF V. Sanchez – 1B T. Cardenas – C P. Ledesma – CF Reese – SS M. Garza – 3B Arreola – RF J. Gonzalez – 2B Nixon – P S. Chavez
POR: SS Barrón – 1B Quebell – CF Castro – RF Black – LF Pruitt – 3B N. Chavez – 2B Nomura – C Esquivel – P Watanabe

The Thunder scored their customary 2-spot in the first inning off Watanabe, who surrendered some pretty hard contact early. There was no timely bounceback from the home team this time, and neither did Watanabe stop bleeding. The Thunder scored two more in the second, and then stranded pairs of runners twice in the remainder of Watanabe’s shoddy five innings. The Raccoons managed only one run while Watanabe was pitching, Pruitt scoring Castro, who also stole the team’s first base of the season in this contest. The Thunder continued to be on the verge of blowing the doors off the park, putting Sanchez and Cardenas on with nobody out and Ed Bryan pitching in the sixth, but again didn’t score. C’mon boys! They’re beggin’ for a comeback!

But the Thunder wouldn’t let them. No Raccoon reached second base until the eighth, and then they scored only on an error to get back to 4-2, and it was a very slow crawl. Ignacio Arreola’s RBI double off Rockburn in the ninth inning put the Thunder up an impenetrable 5-2 with their closer coming out for the bottom 9th, Sancho Rivera. Ricardo Martinez reached with a pinch-hit single, only for Craig Bowen to hit in place of Nomura and find a way into the team’s third double play of the afternoon. Nope, impenetrable. 5-2 Thunder. Castro 2-4, 2B; Black 2-4, RBI; Pruitt 2-4, RBI; Martinez (PH) 1-1; Watkins 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

After opening week, there are no losing teams in the CL North. We’re t-2nd at 3-2 with the Loggers, trailing the 4-2 Crusaders. Everybody else is 3-3.

Raccoons (3-2) vs. Condors (2-5) – April 14-16, 2008

The Condors had a very young team. While there was potential in that, maybe many of those youngsters were a year away from really belonging. Comparing all ten starting pitchers, the Raccoons had the five oldest, and the Condors the five youngest, none of the kids older than 28 (Art Cox). Their bullpen had Ricardo Huerta, 35, and Charlie Deacon, 31, and then a lot of boys that didn’t need to shave. The mix wasn’t working – yet.

Projected matchups:
Nick Brown (0-1, 1.23 ERA) vs. Jaylen Martin (0-1, 8.44 ERA)
Kelvin Yates (1-0, 7.20 ERA) vs. Art Cox (0-1, 3.68 ERA)
Javier Cruz (1-0, 2.57 ERA) vs. Micah Kirchberg (0-0, 4.50 ERA)

Game 1
TIJ: CF R. Perez – RF Tanner – 1B Valenzuela – 2B J. Diaz – LF Crum – SS Ybarra – C N. Thompson – 3B George – P J. Martin
POR: SS Barrón – 1B Quebell – CF Castro – RF Black – LF Pruitt – C Bowen – 3B R. Martinez – 2B Nomura – P Brown

Brownie’s battle plan must have read something like “pitch the same, hope for better luck”. Ricardo Martinez made an error in the first that put him into a two on, one out hole, but he struck out Juan Diaz and Johnny Crum to exit the inning, then gave the rookie a grim look. At least there was more than just one run of support for him, for Matt Pruitt and Craig Bowen crushed back-to-back home runs in the bottom of the second inning for an early 2-0 lead. In the fourth, the Condors had Johnny Crum on first base after he leaned into a pitch. With two out, Nate Thompson grounded to third base, where Ricardo Martinez threw the ball - … I don’t know what he saw, but his throw was 20 feet up the right field line. The Condors got two in scoring position with two outs, and the #8 guy Will George up. We counted on George’s bad strikeout rates, but he put the ball in play, another grounder to third base …

… and Martinez made his third error of the game. Another wide throw pulled Quebell off the bag, a run scored, and Brown was irate on the mound! After Brown had a helpless Jaylen Martin as his seventh strikeout victim, Juan Barrón had to get between him and Martinez after the third strike was called, for the rookie was in active danger of getting his glove shove up his butt. Brown didn’t stop fuming in the dugout at all while Pruitt, Bowen, and Martinez went down 1-2-3 in the bottom 4th. Some pepper was taken out of Brownie’s own rear end when Quebell plated Nomura in the fifth with a single (Nomura had hit a leadoff double), and Castro’s single loaded the bases for the Duke. Black’s groundout and Pruitt’s 2-run single plated all the runners and staked Brownie to a 6-1 lead. The Condors removed one youngster for another, Colin Sabatino, who surrendered another homer to Bowen right away, 8-1. At the next grounder vaguely going in the direction of third base, Brownie, who was falling that way naturally as a left-hander, jumped after it, hissed back Martinez, and threw to first to nab Juan Diaz for the first out in the sixth inning.

Again Brown was mui excellente through six innings and then stuff happened in the seventh. Thompson and George got balls between people for two hits to start the seventh, and for a moment it looked like Brownie would come out, but he managed to get poor contact from left-handers Perez (who grounded out to first) and Tanner (who flew out more or less softly to right) and nobody scored. Recent Raccoon Ward Jackson put the first four Critters on base in the bottom 7th, but he only scored the one run, perhaps also because we hoped for another good inning from Brownie and had him bat and go to 0-for-7 on the year. With a 10-1 lead it was okay. Brown made a mental error on a 2-out grounder by Crum back to the mound in that eighth and then threw wildly to first himself, the Coons’ fourth error and the first not made by a rookie third baseman, but got out of the inning unharmed. Kichida pitched a scoreless ninth. 10-1 Brownies! Quebell 2-4, RBI; Castro 3-5, 2B; Pruitt 3-4, HR, 3 RBI; Bowen 2-3, BB, 2 HR, 3 RBI; Nomura 2-3, 2 2B; Brown 8.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 9 K, W (1-1);

Brown really needs to run his mouth against Martinez! In 15.1 innings he has only struck out 15 batters, that isn’t even 9 K/9! Sucker!

Martinez though better keep batting .381, because that’s about as much as he needs when he continues to field this way. He needed a basic rookie lesson and sat for Nelson Chavez in the next game, while doing some footwork stuff in the afternoon, when bench coach Jayden Cannon erected a giant white sign that read, in thick black letters, THROW HERE, and a downwards-pointing arrow, right behind first base, which was manned by Chad in the Raccoon costume. (Chavez already replaced him defensively in the opener, but not until after the seventh inning, which gave Martinez ample opportunity to scratch out at least one hit and not go oh-fer)

Game 2
TIJ: SS Ybarra – LF Crum – 2B J. Diaz – CF R. Perez – 1B Valenzuela – C P. Estrada – RF Ward – 3B George – P Cox
POR: SS Barrón – 1B Quebell – CF Castro – RF Black – LF Pruitt – C Brown – 3B Chavez – 2B Nomura – P Yates

While Yates had more than 9 K/9, he also had way more home runs allowed than Brown so far this year, and kept adding to that. Ramón Perez got him for a 3-run rocket in the first inning, following a Crum single and a walk to Diaz. Duke Smack pulled two runs back with his third home run of the season in the bottom 1st, but the right-handed half of our pair of co-aces was scuffling badly.

Also scuffling: Art Cox. With Chavez singling and Nomura walking in the bottom 2nd, he also gave four wild ones to Yates to load the sacks, inviting Juan Barrón to flip the score with a 2-run double into left. Cox didn’t survive the inning, with his manager knocking him out with a golf club in the middle of Craig Bowen’s at-bat when a balk brought home the Coons’ eighth run, after Castro had doubled in a pair and had scored on the Duke’s single to center. After that 6-run inning, the 8-3 game was Kel’s to lose, and the Condors kept whacking away, Juan Diaz going deep in the top 3rd to get back to 8-4. That was the last run the Condors got off Yates, who eventually went six innings of 4-run ball, striking out 11. Something along those lines was amiss for sure. The Coons left runners galore in the middle innings until Yoshi Nomura hit a leadoff jack off Sabatino in the seventh. The game appeared all bagged until Kaz Kichida hurled eight straight balls to start the ninth inning. The tying run appeared in the hole, so we moved to scarcely used Marcos Bruno against Will George. Bruno threw strikes, strikes, strikes, and fanned the side with Wes McCormick and Pancho Ybarra also going down after George. 9-4 Critters! Black 4-5, HR, 2B, 3 RBI; Nomura 1-1, 3 BB, HR, RBI;

With these outbursts, we’re t-3rd in runs scored. One more greenhorn coming!

Game 3
TIJ: SS Ybarra – RF Tanner – 2B J. Diaz – CF R. Perez – LF Crum – C P. Estrada – 1B B. Román – 3B George – P Kirchberg
POR: SS Barrón – 1B Quebell – CF Castro – RF Black – 3B R. Martinez – LF Crespo – 2B Nomura – C Esquivel – P Cruz

Rowan Tanner’s homer put the Condors up 1-0 in the first, which was an all too familiar occurrence yet again. However, another recurring them was quick turnarounds by the home team in Portland, and – boy! – was this one quick! Barrón got on with a single, and we tried a hit-and-run but Quebell flew out. Barrón got to second anyway on a wild pitch, then scored on Castro’s double, 1-1. That brought up the Duke, and – ooh!! – THE DUKE!! MAMMOTH HOMER!!

While that gave the Raccoons a 3-1 lead (and the Duke 11 RBI in 7 1/9 games), Cruz still wasn’t any good and got romped for two more runs in the top 2nd, re-tying the score. Hidden in the box score was the fact that Tomas Castro had outfield assists in both innings. Esquivel’s leadoff walk transformed into the go-ahead run, singled in by Quebell, in the bottom 2nd, but in the top 3rd Cruz put on Diaz with a walk, allowed Perez to reach on an infield single he couldn’t play, and then was taken well out of center by Johnny Crum. That was it for him, 2+ innings and six earned runs. Another run scored off Kichida before the inning was over, putting the Coons in a 7-4 hole. But if they could just nudge Kirchberg a little bit more - … then they’d face a ravaged pen again, and ours was comparably fresh! Kirchberg was nudged promptly when Martinez reached on an infield single and Crespo homered just inside the right foul pole.

So wait, that’s 7-6 visitors with no outs in the bottom 3rd? For wonderous reasons, scoring stopped here for a while. Ed Bryan was cast into long relief against a predominantly left-handed lineup and got seven outs before Pruitt hit for him with two on and two out in the bottom 5th, but flew out to Perez in deep center. While the Condors were suffocated by the Coons’ pen, the Raccoons got a man on here and there, but never got him around. In the seventh it was Martinez drawing another leadoff walk to no avail. In the eighth Barrón reached on a bloop single between Ybarra and Crum. The inning ended on a hard drive by Castro to right, caught by Wes McCormick. After eight, it was still 7-6, and with Bruno being spotless in the ninth, the score was still true in the bottom 9th, but here we had the advantage of the Duke leading off, and Charlie Deacon pitching. Unfortunately, the Duke struck out, Martinez was retired on a highlight reel catch by Crum, and Crespo went down silently. 7-6 Condors. Barrón 3-5; Castro 2-5, 2B, RBI; Martinez 2-4, BB; Bryan 2.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K; Sims 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

That was an awful game, and we abused our left-handed relievers quite badly for nothing. Unfortunately, our next opponent has some potent left-handed bats…

Raccoons (5-3) vs. Indians (6-3) – April 17-20, 2008

The Indians had been remarkably average so far with the 6th-best offense and t-7th for runs allowed. Their rotation was on the spotty side (and they had lost Curtis Tobitt to injury early on), while their pen was strong with a 1.52 ERA.

Projected matchups:
Jong-hoo Umberger (1-0, 2.25 ERA) vs. Ramón Jimenez (0-0, 2.57 ERA)
Kenichi Watanabe (0-1, 7.20 ERA) vs. Bob King (1-1, 4.05 ERA)
Nick Brown (1-1, 0.59 ERA) vs. Ramiro Gonzalez (0-1, 7.11 ERA)
Kelvin Yates (2-0, 6.55 ERA) vs. Román Escobedo (1-0, 5.14 ERA)

That’s two righties, two lefties for us, which is important, as I want to give everybody a day off early on. Well, Pruitt had a day off already, so he doesn’t count anymore, but Castro, Black, Quebell, and Barrón will get a day of rest at some point in this series (another three games will follow right up with the Titans). I’m tempted to rest as many as possible on Friday with Watanabe pitching. I always tried to stretch this stuff out over half a week, but it weakens you for … half a week. By giving as much rest as possible in the same game, you hurt your chances for one game only. Any maybe the second suit can still win?

Game 1
IND: RF B. Miller – 1B S. Stevens – LF Alston – C Paraz – 2B C. Aguilar – 3B Fugosi – CF A. Solís – SS Brantley – P Jimenez
POR: SS Barrón – 1B Quebell – CF Castro – RF Black – LF Pruitt – C Bowen – 3B R. Martinez – 2B Nomura – P Umberger

The Duke – in flames – cannonaded a line drive for a 2-run home run off Jimenez in the first inning, and for once this wasn’t just to make up damage done earlier to our own guy. The Raccoons took a genuine 2-0 lead. In return, it was short-lived. Angel Solís’ 2-out RBI triple took a big bite out of it, and Ron Alston tied the score with an RBI single in the third. The Coons had two men on in the bottom 3rd with no outs but had the Duke hit into a double play this time, and while Pruitt walked, Bowen left him and Quebell stranded. For the Indians, singles kept falling in, while the Raccoons kept hitting into double plays, like Quebell did in the fifth. Umberger somehow stalked around various disasters while nursing the 2-2 tie more or less luckily until the Coons finally - … well, technically it didn’t fall in either, because it cleared the fence. Ricardo Martinez’ solo jack gave them a 3-2 lead in the bottom 6th, and then, with two outs, Nomura got on. Umberger had a good arm, but had never wielded a bat in his life, and it showed early on with comical hacks. But with the pen having gotten abused the previous day we weren’t going to hit for him with a lead in the sixth. And lo and behold, he sniped a single to left! That brought up Barrón, who singled up the middle, Yoshi was sent, and Solís’ throw was late, 4-2!

Quebell singled home another run before Umberger ran back out. He got two outs in the seventh before Stevens hit another bloop single. With Ron Alston up, we brought Donald Sims for one batter only. The count ran full, Alston grounded to the right side of the second base bag, and Yoshi just had no play at all. Marcos Bruno replaced Sims against Jose Paraz, and got a grounder to first for the last out of the inning and the 5-2 lead well alive. Facing Nobu Matsui in the bottom 7th, Yoshi Nomura found the bases loaded with one out after singles by Pruitt and Bowen and a walk drawn by Martinez. Yoshi grounded poorly to second, but poor enough for the Indians’ Aguilar to only get Bowen at second. That made it 6-2 and Bruno came up which was an issue. This was a place to score runs but we were in danger of running out of arms, although - … Angel hadn’t been used too often so far. Maybe he could pitch in a non-save situation of more than three outs here. Crespo hit for Bruno, flew out, then remained in for defense at Pruitt’s expense. Watkins pitched a scoreless eighth, then was hit for by Chavez with two out and two on in the bottom 8th, again to no effect, but Angel was perfect in the ninth to end this one. 6-2 Coons! Barrón 3-5, RBI; Quebell 2-4, BB, RBI; Castro 2-4; Pruitt 2-4; Bowen 1-2, 2 BB; Umberger 6.2 IP, 9 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, W (2-0) and 1-3;

By now, all teams in the North have a winning record! At 6-3, were t-3rd with the Loggers, one game back of the Crusaders.

And wow, the Duke! 13 RBI in nine games!

Game 2
IND: RF B. Miller – 1B S. Stevens – LF Alston – CF Luxton – 2B C. Aguilar – 3B Fugosi – C Washington – SS J. Lopez – P King
POR: 1B Quebell – 3B R. Martinez – C Bowen – LF Pruitt – RF Crespo – 2B Nomura – SS R. Miller – CF Trevino – P Watanabe

Everybody except Quebell, who had an 11-game hitting streak going (that he stretched to 12 in his first attempt), got their mandatory rest in Friday’s game. Would it matter at all? Watanabe allowed four hard hits and two runs in the opening inning. Doubles by Quebell and Pruitt plated a run in the bottom 1st that the Indians pried back off Watanabe in the third, and they could have scored much more, but left men in scoring position in the second and fourth, and the bases loaded in the fifth. Watanabe also pitched a clean sixth before yielding for the pen at over 100 pitches. The Coons didn’t have many chances, and Pruitt was twice denied another extra-base hit by Robbie Luxton, both times with a man on base. The Duke’s off day ended in the seventh inning when J.C. Crespo tweaked a shoulder and had to leave the game. He led off the bottom 7th with a single, but Nomura hit into a double play right away. Home runs in the eighth inning put the game away, with Bryan allowing one to Luxton and Kichida being taken deep by Filippo Fugosi. 6-1 Indians. Quebell 2-4, 2B;

Gee, I hope we will at least win the other two games after that stinker. What’s wrong with Watanabe??

Crespo hit the DL with a sore shoulder. The minimum 15 days might suffice to nurse him back to usability. Hel-lo, Bob Mays (.283, 0 HR, 5 RBI in AAA)…

Game 3
IND: RF B. Miller – 2B Brantley – LF Alston – C Paraz – CF Luxton – 1B S. Stevens – 3B C. Aguilar – SS J. Lopez – P R. Gonzalez
POR: 2B Barrón – 3B R. Martinez – CF Castro – RF Black – LF Pruitt – C Bowen – 1B Chavez – SS R. Miller – P Brown

Miller singled and Brantley walked before Ron Alston’s double play grounder somewhat defused another tense first inning, and the Indians didn’t score on Brownie. In fact, neither team scored the first time through the order. Ron Alston conquered Brown with a solo home run in the fourth inning, his third of the season. The Raccoons were clueless against Gonzalez, and when they did get somebody on, damn sure they found a way to hit into a double play. Without a doubt far and away their best chance presented itself to them when Angel Solís couldn’t get to another Pruitt drive to center and Pruitt was safe at third with a leadoff triple in the bottom 7th, representing the tying run. Two ****ty groundouts and Miller’s fly to center later, Pruitt trotted from third base into the dugout and Brownie broke a bat in the on-deck circle and was about to eat the donut when he was called to the mound by the umpire. The top 8th saw Gonzalez(!) reach on an infield single because Bowen was too clumsy to make a play. Ron Brantley walked on a dubious call before Brownie’s last man was Alston. He struck him out in a full count to end the inning.

SCORE SOME RUNS!!!

With only left-handed hitters on the bench, Bob Mays hit for Brown and went down flailing to start the bottom 8th. Barrón popped out before Ricardo Martinez reached on an infield single far behind short, where Jose Lopez was carried away by momentum and got nothing on his throw. Okay, the slammers come up, maybe Castro can keep it going and the Du- ooooh, Castro! Castro! Castro! CASTROOOOOOOO, HOME RUUUUUUUN!!!! One cameo appearance by Angel later, Brownie’s second win was in the books. 2-1 Brownies! Martinez 3-3, BB; Castro 1-4, HR, 2 RBI; Pruitt 2-3, 3B; Brown 8.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 8 K, W (2-1);

Add a Miller single to the honorable mentions and you have the team’s entire hitting output. That was a chewy game, but Tomas Castro came through for us when we really, really, really needed it. Brownie sat in the dugout ready to kill before Castro lifted his first shot of the season.

Game 4
IND: RF B. Miller – 1B S. Stevens – LF Alston – C Paraz – CF Luxton – 2B C. Aguilar – 3B Fugosi – SS J. Lopez – P Escobedo
POR: 2B Barrón – 1B Quebell – CF Castro – RF Black – LF Pruitt – 3B R. Martinez – SS R. Miller – C Esquivel – P Yates

Barrón scored on Castro’s groundout to give Yates a 1-0 lead in the first, and Kel responded with five strikeouts and only one single (Alston for a 13-game hitting streak) the first time through the order. Quebell extended his own hitting streak to 13 games with a single in the bottom 3rd that followed Barrón walking and preceded a Castro single after which the Raccoons had the bases loaded with no outs. Throwing strikes became an increasing burden for Escobedo, who walked the Duke, allowed a single for another run to Pruitt, and then drilled Martinez outright, 4-0, still bases loaded, still no outs. Miller’s fielder’s choice scored another run, but the Coons ran out after that with Esquivel striking out when he lunged after bad balls trying to be a hero, and Kel grounded out to short, but was now 5-0 ahead. Said Kel then came out and walked Stevens and Alston as the first two men up in the fourth before whiffing Paraz and Luxton and getting a soft fly to Pruitt from César Aguilar. Yeah, something was off with him, and he faced Alston in the fifth with the sacks full and two outs after two singles and a walk to Stevens. Alston was down 0-2 and still managed to unleash a drive to deep right. Was it - … Would it - … It died on the track in Black’s glove, but for a long four seconds I felt like I was going to die right there.

And after that it got really ugly. Martinez hit a bloop single in the bottom 5th and stole second. Esquivel batted with one out against ex-Coon Manuel Reyes, who completely lost a pitch that struck a belatedly evading Esquivel beneath the helmet. The young Puerto Rican fell in an instant and remained motionless on the ground for 30 seconds while Jose Paraz and Kelvin Yates, who was in the on-deck circle hurried to check on him until both teams’ trainers came rushing to the plate. Esquivel was bleeding out of the mouth and after a lengthy delay was loaded on a cart and rushed right out to the ambulance in dreadful silence. Craig Bowen replaced him.

Kel singled to score Martinez and make it a 6-0 game, but failed to appear in the seventh inning for the first time this year, walking two more in the sixth. The Indians never scored on him, however. The Raccoons were up 8-0 in the bottom 8th. Fugosi had just caught a liner by Ryan Miller for the second out when the public address announcer told the attendance that Sergio Esquivel was in quite some pain, but was conscious and alert after a first check in the nearest hospital. All might be well after all in Portland. 8-0 Coons. Quebell 2-4, BB; Castro 2-5, 2B, RBI; Black 2-3, 2 BB, 2B, RBI; Martinez 2-4, RBI; Yates 6.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 5 BB, 10 K, W (3-0) and 1-3, RBI;

Late on Sunday night, after Esquivel had been bombarded with all the semi-deadly rays modern medicine had to offer, we found out definitely that he had suffered a broken cheekbone and would be out for a while. He had also lost two teeth. Six weeks are a cautious estimate thrown around, but you would want him to play a certain amount of rehab games, too.

In other news

April 8 – SFW SP Dave Crawford (1-0, 0.00 ERA) opens his season with a 3-hit shutout in a 7-0 win over the Wolves.
April 9 – Boston’s veteran Jason O’Halloran (1-0, 0.00 ERA) 3-hits the Canadiens in a 6-0 shutout.
April 11 – LAP SP Raúl Fuentes (1-0, 3.00 ERA) might be out for the year with a fractured elbow.
April 14 – The Indians are dealt a terrible blow with news that SP Curtis Tobitt (1-1, 5.11 ERA), the CL’s reigning Pitcher of the Year, might miss more than half of the 2008 season with shoulder inflammation.
April 18 – LAP LF Ken Potter (.316, 2 HR, 6 RBI) could miss three months with a broken hand.
April 20 – SFW INF Jaime Mateo (.357, 1 HR, 7 RBI) already missed most of 2007 and is now out for the year with a torn medial collateral ligament.
April 20 – CIN RF/LF/1B Will Bailey (.237, 0 HR, 2 RBI) is out until late May with a strained hammy.
April 20 – NYC RF/LF Stanton Martin (.319, 1 HR, 16 RBI) will have to sit out for a week with a mild shoulder strain.

Complaints and stuff

For the second time in this league, I accidentally simmed a game because I’m dumb and click wildly when it is not required. Won’t tell which game, though, although you might guess which it is since you should know my tendencies by now, which the AI didn’t adhere to.

Kunimatsu Sato batted .522 in opening week for the Scorpions to be named Player of the Week.

With Esquivel sidelined, our 2003 ninth-rounder Juan Rios, already 26, will make his not at all anticipated major league debut sooner or later. He will be added to the roster on Monday.

Daniel Sharp had signed with the Miners only to be slided to AAA by them at the start of the season. He was on waivers, and I was tempted, but then didn’t bite. Our third base situation was unhappy enough as it was in those first days of the season, but since then Ricardo Martinez’ bat has broken out quite a bit. Brownie still doesn’t like him.

No decisions out of the bullpen so far in 2008! That’s quite the surprise, but then the Raccoons plating the second-most runs is a mighty big surprise… It probably won’t last. We probably won’t bat .307 as a team for the year…

In theory, the Raccoons can win their 2,500th franchise game next week if they go 5-1 at least against the Titans and Aces. Who’s gonna win #2,500? And who are the winners of our previous 500’s milestones?

#500 – (April 1984) – Jerry Ackerman went seven innings in a 2-2 tie in Vancouver when Cameron Green provided the margin of victory in the 3-2 win with a solo home run in the top of the eighth; Ackerman won only two games the entire season, and only 33 in his career;
#1,000 – (September 1989) – Jason Turner, the only right-hander in the honorable group, has trouble all day, but somehow keeps the Loggers from scoring in a 4-0 victory in Portland, with Tetsu Osanai and Bobby Quinn driving in runs;
#1,500 – (June 12, 1995) – Miguel Lopez, a notoriously poor hitter, helped himself with a 3-run home run off Richmond’s Harry Selph in this 6-2 interleague road win, but lasted only six innings; Royce Green provided a cushion with a 2-run homer;
#2,000 – (August 26, 2001) – Ralph Ford pitched seven innings of 3-run ball on the final day of a dreadful homestand, as the Coons squeezed out a 4-3 win over the Aces, the winning run scoring in dramatic fashion on a Conceicao Guerin liner to center that Dick Bell appeared to catch before it bounced in, but the umpires called it a trapped ball regardless, allowing Brent McLaughlin to score the winning run;

*Exact dates for the first two games are unavailable because Chad spilled his cocoa over the notes, rendering them illegible.