[Westheim]

Raccoons (14-8) vs. Indians (13-12) – May 4-7, 2009

Contrary to everybody’s expectation, Portland hadn’t been washed down into the Pacific in our two-week absence and there was still a park to play in. The Indians came in for four games, and we’d see how many we’d actually be able to get in, and how our slight mess of a lineup would work against their fourth-place rotation, fourth-place bullpen, and fourth-place number of runs allowed. They were eighth in offense, with a +2 run differential. The Coons’ was +25, thanks to the best pitching in league, despite the 12-run meltdown on Sunday in the City That Shall Not Be Mentioned.

Projected matchups:
Nick Brown (1-1, 1.57 ERA) vs. Tom Weise (3-1, 3.19 ERA)
Colin Baldwin (1-2, 4.32 ERA) vs. Román Escobedo (0-0)
Greg Grams (3-0, 3.80 ERA) vs. Jimmy Sjogren (3-0, 3.62 ERA)
Jong-hoo Umberger (2-1, 2.73 ERA) vs. Curtis Tobitt (3-2, 3.35 ERA)

The Indians have just traded for the Rebels outfielder Brian MacNamara, who’s batting .222 in 45 AB.

Their rotation is everything but fixed after calling up Ramón Escobedo, who pitched on Wednesday, just like Jimmy Sjogren. Fluctuations entirely possible. Those two are also the only left-handers in their rotation. Closing for Indy: Salvardo Soure (8 SV, 0.75 ERA). Eight years later, I’m still regretting that trade with the Baybirds.

Game 1
IND: CF MacNamara – 2B Barrón – C Paraz – 1B Tsung – RF Theobald – 3B C. Aguilár – LF Morton – SS R. Miller – P Weise
POR: CF Castro – 2B Correa – RF Alston – 1B Quebell – LF Pruitt – C Esquivel – SS Howell – 3B M. Gutierrez – P Brown

MacNamara, just in, had the first of the three singles with which the Indians took a 1-0 lead in the top 1st. While Castro’s leadoff triple in the bottom 1st led to the tying run on an Alston sac fly to center, Brownie would continue to have trouble with the top of the order the entire day, especially ex-Critter Juan Barrón, whom he never retired. Still, the Raccoons actually took a lead with some creaky offense in a Brown start, with Castro scoring Manuel Gutierrez, who had drawn a leadoff walk, with a double in the bottom of the fifth. Trouble brewed in the seventh inning. Tom Weise singled with nobody on and two out, and Brown then walked Dave Heffer, hitting for MacNamara, in a full count. With Barrón back up, that was his day. Law Rockburn was tasked with the pesky middle infielder, entering in a double switch with Trevino (for Pruitt), with the pitcher’s spot due to lead off the bottom of the inning. Barrón struck a hard single to left anyway, loading the bases for Jose Paraz, who snipped the first pitch he saw up the middle where Rob Howell made a lunging grab and flung the ball to Correa JUST in time to get Barrón out and preserve the 2-1 lead. Rockburn held on in the eighth, and while the entirety of the Coons’ order did absolutely nothing against Weise towards the end of his eight innings, Angel Casas struck out Joe Morton and Bruce Boyle to start the ninth before Tom Walls singled up the middle. Ancient Daniel Richardson, not well-liked in Portland still after all these years, grounded out to Correa to end the game. 2-1 Brownies. Castro 3-4, 3B, 2B, RBI; Esquivel 2-3; Brown 6.2 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, W (2-1); Rockburn 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Yaaay, Brownie on #99! Now all will be well!

Game 2
IND: CF MacNamara – 2B Barrón – C Paraz – 1B Tsung – RF Theobald – 3B C. Aguilár – LF D. Richardson – SS R. Miller – P Sjogren
POR: CF Castro – 2B Correa – LF Alston – RF Black – 1B Quebell – C De La Parra – 3B R. Martinez – SS Howell – P Baldwin

Jimmy Sjogren was sent out by Indy for the second game and displayed some grave control issues right from the start. While Castro struck out in the bottom 1st, Jose Correa hit a single to right before Sjogren walked the entire middle of the order, pushing in Correa with the walk to Quebell, his 25th RBI. De La Parra, the fool, hit at the first pitch he got and grounded into a 6-4-3 to Ryan Miller, who came into this series batting .317 (…). Another strange at-bat occurred in the bottom 2nd. Rob Howell had singled his way on with one out and Baldwin was somehow trying to get him to second base. Although; you could always run on Jose Paraz’ clumsy claw. Howell didn’t get a good jump, though, and once Baldwin had bunted foul often enough to be down 0-2, Howell got the sign to run anyway. The Indians saw it coming, Paraz shot up on the pitchout and fired to second ba-… or maybe not, maybe he fired into centerfield. Howell ended up at third base and the fazed Sjogren then walked Baldwin, only for Castro to fly out to shallow left and Correa to strike out. Hnngh!

No less strange was the top 3rd in this game that qualified for the “wicked” moniker early on. Miller reached to start the inning on a clumsy Martinez non-play that got the sophomore third baseman charged with an error. Sjogren bunted into a double play before MacNamara singled to right where Black corralled the ball, saw MacNamara making for second base and threw him out with a perfect laser.

The madness was further enhanced by a 33-minute rain delay in the fourth inning that was a day behind schedule, and the fact that not only Baldwin spun six shutout innings in this climatically challenged game, but also that Sjogren, who was completely off balance in the first three innings, went on a strikeout spree in the middle three innings, and had whiffed nine Coons by the end of the sixth, with the score still 1-0, but at least the latter thing got taken care of by the off-the-hooks Raccoons pen. Richardson put two men on and Donald Sims served up a 2-out, 2-run double to Joe Morton to get his team into the trailing position, and this was not a team that trailed well right now. The 2-3-4 department was sat down without much fuss by Leonardo Sosa in the seventh inning, but at least Quebell’s whiskers were still twitching occasionally. His single to start the bottom 8th off Hélio Maggessi at least put the tying run on base, and when Maggessi misfielded De La Parra’s grounder for an error, we had two on. Pruitt hit for Martinez and almost into a double play, but we retained runners on the corners for Howell, who DID ground into that double play. Soure sat down the side in the bottom 9th. 2-1 Indians. De La Parra 2-4; Baldwin 6.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K;

I wonder what we’re paying Donald Sims half a million for after all. Ed Bryan was also good enough for those score-flipping multiple-RBI extra-base hits and costs only half the coins.

But anyway, it’s time for changes! The team stinks quite badly right now, and we gotta flick stuff around.

The first two players to be demoted this season were John Richardson (7.56 ERA) and … yeah … Ricardo Martinez (.167, 0 HR, 2 RBI). Martinez, with his glove, can’t bat like that. And Richardson, well, he might not be a permanent solution after all. Ted Reese (a 2004 supplemental round pick by the Loggers that arrived here in trade for Dave Wheaton and cash in 2005) took over the bullpen spot vacated by Richardson, while the third base situation was more of a problem. No AAA player suited our needs (or batted at least his weight; looking at you, Walt Canning!). In AA, there was Kevin Rex, who was a good defensive third baseman, and was drawing walks like crazy, but that still only made for a .646 OPS. Nah, an interim solution was required while I was cooking up something else. That something else might not be popular. Ximenes Lopes was called up as a third catcher for a few days only (hopefully).

Game 3
IND: CF MacNamara – 2B Barrón – C Paraz – 1B Tsung – LF Theobald – 3B C. Aguilár – RF D. Richardson – SS R. Miller – P Escobedo
POR: CF Castro – 2B Correa – LF Alston – RF Black – 1B Quebell – C De La Parra – SS Howell – 3B M. Gutierrez – P Grams

MacNamara and Tsung were really mean to Grams in this start. The first two times through the order, MacNamara got on and scored, while Tsung drove in a run. Their 3-0 lead after the top 3rd was somewhat cut into by Ron Alston’s 2-out, 2-run double in the bottom 3rd, but Grams continued to have every single hair pulled out of his fur, one by one. In the fifth, Escobedo hit a leadoff single, Barrón walked, and Grams’ ****ty throw also put Paraz on base to load them up for Tsung. Ed Bryan was tasked with the left-handed first baseman and allowed an RBI single to him before Paul Theobald hit into a double play started by Gutierrez. When Castro got on in the bottom 5th and was immediately thrown out stealing, I resigned myself to fate and put in the just-arrived Ted Reese for some juicy long relief in his major league debut, which started with a strikeout to César Aguilár and ultimately a clean sixth before Correa hit a leadoff single in the bottom of the inning. Ron Alston’s drive to right was caught at the fence by Daniel Richardson, but when Richardson bounced off the fence, so did the ball out of his glove and Alston had a double. Runners on second and third and no outs for Black, who better get that 15th RBI now! While he did, it was only on a sac fly, which wasn’t greatly advancing the cause, and while Quebell singled, we sooner rather than later found some expensive mook to hit into a double play (De La Parra), leaving the team short, 4-3.

The Indians were unfazed in general, added a run off Reese in the seventh, and things continued to splinter for the Raccoons with Rob Howell tweaking his shoulder on a throw in the eighth. He left the game, Correa moved over and Yoshi entered at second base, immediately getting a big spot at-bat in the bottom 8th. After a Black single and Quebell walking, the catching mook managed a little fister for an RBI single to left, bringing up Yoshi with the tying and go-ahead runs on first and second. Nomura’s liner escaped Richardson, but De La Parra was way too slow to score on the double, and the go-ahead runs were left on base once Gutierrez struck out, oh, and by the way, Escobedo was still pitching. Donald Sims managed to not blow up the game in the ninth and was hit for to start the bottom 9th with Hélio Maggessi facing Pruitt, who singled, but then Castro popped up a bunt. Basic baseball skills – sorely lacking ‘round here. Correa walked, putting the Coons a solid single by Ron Alston away from a walkoff, but Alston was not a singles man. His rip to center was no doubt outta here, and measured at 411 feet. Walkoff!!! 8-5 Raccoons. Alston 3-5, HR, 2 2B, 5 RBI; Quebell 1-2, 2 BB; Nomura 1-1, 2B, RBI; Pruitt (PH) 1-1; Reese 3.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 4 K;

Today’s damage report has me report that Rob Howell strained his shoulder and will be out for the next three to four weeks. He was put on the DL.

We were scrambling for a shortstop yet again, with multiple things conspiring against the call-up for a proper shortstop. The Raccoons would continue to improvise for another day or two. Normally, we’d call up SS Dave Roudabush from AAA now, but he was not on the 40-man roster, and would add $150k to our expenses, and that must not happen right now. Not now. It can happen on the weekend. I’m working on a waiver claim, and you won’t believe…

But for now, Ricardo Martinez was placed on a plane yet again and flown back to Portland.

Game 4
IND: CF MacNamara – 2B Barrón – 1B Tsung – C Paraz – RF D. Richardson – 3B C. Aguilár – LF A. Solís – SS R. Miller – P Tobitt
POR: CF Castro – 2B Nomura – LF Alston – 1B Quebell – RF Black – C De La Parra – 3B R. Martinez – SS M. Gutierrez – P Umberger

Misery went on and on, with Jong-hoo Umberger pitching for only four outs before leaving the game with what looked like a hamstring problem. That sent the bullpen scrambling pretty madly, potentially sending Marcos Bruno into long relief, although Matt Cash was spewn out first by the bullpen gate and would be wrung out for eight outs on 41 pitches. In what was hastily developing into another wicked game, Ricardo Martinez had put the Coons ahead with a solo shot in the bottom 2nd, 1-0, but killed the fourth with a double play after the Raccoons had put their first two batters on base. Marcos Bruno entered as anticipated in the fifth inning with the hope of having him turn in three more scoreless frames. He did a quick fifth, but the sixth was less than pretty. Tobitt led it off with a single, Barrón also singled, and Paraz was plunked with a 1-2 pitch with two out, loading them bases and bringing up … Richardson. That old nightmare fell to 0-2 before cracking a bouncer hard to the right side – but we had a Gold Glover manning first base and Quebell intercepted the missile and made the play himself to end the inning. Bruno had less problems in the seventh and also spun 41 pitches in advancing the contest. In the bottom 7th there was actually some offense by the home team. Martinez hit a double, moved up on Gutierrez’ groundout and scored on Pruitt’s sac fly. Castro then got on, stole second, and scored on Nomura’s single to run the score to 3-0.

That was before Ed Bryan almost single-handedly blew the game. MacNamara singled off him to start the eighth and he whacked Barrón with a pitch. Tsung popped out before the Indians game within ten feet of a game-tying 3-run bomb by Paraz that Black sucked up on the warning track. Richardson singled to right to plate the first run, which led to Angel Casas to appear while Bryan was chased into the tunnel by a maddened manager. Casas got Aguilár to ground out to end the inning with the tying runs on base. The Critters didn’t add anything of value in the bottom 8th, but with De La Parra being hit for by Trevino, Ximenes Lopes made his Raccoons debut in the ninth inning, witnessing Angel sitting down the Indians in order. 3-1 Furballs. Castro 3-4; Nomura 2-4, RBI; Martinez 2-3, HR, 2B, RBI; Cash 2.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K, W (1-0); Bruno 3.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K; Casas 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, SV (10);

Today’s damage report: mild hamstring strain only for Jong-hoo, and he might (again) not miss a start. He was listed as DTD to get started.

And then…

Waiver claim

On Friday morning, the Raccoons were awarded the contract of 1B/3B Daniel Sharp off waivers by the Buffaloes. Sharp, batting .281 with no dingers and 9 RBI in 24 games this season, is the first Critter with three distinct stints in the organization, playing for the Coons after being drafted in 2000 through 2007, then in mid-2008 after being claimed off waivers from the Miners (and before being dealt to the Indians), and now after the waiver claim off the Buffaloes.

What can I say. He has pictures of me and Honeypaws in an explicit pose.

One good game doesn’t make a revival, and Ricardo Martinez was handed back to AAA to get evaluated further. We also removed Ximenes Lopes from the roster and added SS Dave Roudabush, a Condors eighth rounder from 2004 whom we had picked off the scrap heap in December 2007. Roudabush was batting .280/.321/.427 with 0 HR and 9 RBI in AAA at the time of the call and should get most of the starts as long as Howell is on the DL. He bats right handed and is definitely not a base stealer, but has a sure glove.

Raccoons (17-9) @ Capitals (17-12) – May 8-10, 2009

The Capitals were in a virtual tie for the FL East lead while the Raccoons were 1 1/2 games out in their division. How exactly they were doing it was something to marvel about, but they were ninth in runs scored in the Federal League and absolute last in batting average, while only posting the fifth-least runs allowed. Their defense was especially shoddy and their rotation was stuffed with ex-Coons, too, so their success was a mystery. We hadn’t played them since 2006, when we took two of three from them. In fact, the Raccoons had taken four of the last five series between the teams.

Projected matchups:
Javier Cruz (2-1, 3.31 ERA) vs. Dean Merritt (2-1, 5.06 ERA)
Nick Brown (2-1, 1.53 ERA) vs. Ralph Ford (1-2, 5.63 ERA)
Colin Baldwin (1-2, 3.48 ERA) vs. Randy Farley (3-1, 3.11 ERA)

Who else is in their rotation? Kelly Fairchild (2-3, 3.78 ERA) and – since a recent callup – Carlos Sackett.

CARLOS SACKETT!!

Game 1
POR: CF Castro – 2B Correa – LF Alston – RF Black – 1B Quebell – 3B Sharp – C De La Parra – SS Roudabush – P Cruz
WAS: 3B R. Garza – 2B Watts – LF Potter – CF E. Wood – 1B R. Vargas – C C. Ramos – RF Vázquez – SS Guerin – P Merritt

The Raccoons immediately scored two runs in the first inning that were supported by a Raúl Vázquez error (not the former standout slugger Raúl Vázquez) and driven in by a Quebell single. Javier Cruz was pitching with a bit of traffic on the bases early but at least didn’t have anybody on when Ken Potter homered in the bottom 3rd to get the Capitals back to 2-1. A scoring chance transpired for the Raccoons in the top 4th with singles by Sharp and De La Parra before Roudabush walked and Cruz came to bat with no outs and an 0-13 ledger for the season. A soft line caught by Thomas Watts got him to 0-14, but at least Castro hit a sac fly to Elvis Wood to bring in a run. Correa legged out an infield single to restock the bags upon which Alston doubled in a pair, and Black, after two strikeouts earlier in the game, drove a ball to deep left that got intercepted by Ken Potter. He was back at the plate against Dane Sanders in the sixth, having Correa and Alston on the corners with one out in the 5-1 game, and both runners were unretired in their first four plate appearances. The Count of Hack delivered his first RBI base bit in almost THREE WEEKS, and then that one still didn’t leave the infield, but carried Concie Guerin so far behind second plate that he couldn’t make any play anymore and Black had an RBI single. While that was our only run in the sixth, the Capitals kept crumbling, Roudabush hit a double for his first major league hit in the seventh and after Cruz also singled (hooray!), Castro drove Roudabush in with a single to right. Sanders walked Correa before Alston flew out to Potter in left, bringing up the Count of Hack once more, who floated a ball to Vázquez to end the frame. The Raccoons ultimately scored single runs in the last four innings, and the Capitals would give Rockburn and Reese slight scratches with single runs in their last two innings of batting, but the Raccoons came out well on top. 9-3 Critters. Correa 5-5, BB, 3 2B; Alston 3-5, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Quebell 2-4, BB, 3 RBI; Sharp 2-6; De La Parra 3-5, RBI; Cruz 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 5 K;

We had 19 hits in this game, plus six walks, and left 15 men on base. Well, a W is a W is a W.

Tyler Sullivan of the Bayhawks got roughed up for four runs in seven innings in a 4-3 loss to Los Angeles, which moved Nick Brown into the CL ERA lead.

Game 2
POR: CF Castro – 2B Correa – LF Alston – RF Black – 1B Quebell – 3B Sharp – C De La Parra – SS Roudabush – P N. Brown
WAS: 3B R. Garza – 1B Legendre – RF P. Brown – LF Vázquez – CF E. Wood – C Case – 2B H. Ramirez – SS Guerin – P Ford

The game started with Castro singling and getting caught stealing before the focus turned to Nick Brown, who walked Ramón Garza, drilled Alexis Legendre, and walked Phil Brown to create a mess in no time. After Vázquez hit a ball to deep center that Castro shagged to hold the Capitals to a sac fly, Brown walked Elvis Wood before somehow getting out with a K to Aaron Case and Hector Ramirez’ foul pop that Sharp caught. While the Coons took a 2-1 lead in the top 3rd, Brown was a complete mess in this start. He walked Concie in the bottom of the second, then took Ralph Ford’s bunt and turned it into a double play before just shrugging and resorting to throw fire right down the middle and hoping for someone to make a play. Somehow this worked better than actually trying to pitch meaningfully, and Brown made it through six innings without another walk or another run and only three hits allowed.

Meanwhile the offense was creaking badly once more. The third inning outburst had been fueled by a Roudabush double, but when he hit another one to start the seventh, Nomura and Castro struck out, with Correa contributing a foul pop out. All that non-hitting magnified errors like Sharp’s in the bottom 7th. Rockburn had already allowed Guerin on base with a leadoff single, and Sharp had nothing better to do than throwing Ford’s bunt into the stands. With the tying run on third and no outs, Brown’s lead was dying quickly, and Rockburn walking PH Ken Potter on four pitches didn’t help at all. We moved on to Bruno, who struck out two, but also allowed a game-tying sac fly. Bruno logged another out to retire Wood in the eighth, before Sims took over and blew the game with a double to Case and a single to Guerin.

Down 3-2 and facing ex-Indian Tommy Wooldridge in the ninth inning, the Coons got singles from Pruitt and Roudabush before Nomura walked to load them up for Castro with one out. The count ran full, Castro struck out, Esquivel hit for Sims in Correa’s spot, looked at one strike, and another one, and then Wooldridge threw one in the dirt that almost unpawed the leaping Esquivel and escaped Carlos Ramos while Pruitt scampered home to tie the score before Esquivel was sniffed out by Wooldridge on the next pitch. Legendre’s double play prevented Cash from conceding a walkoff in the bottom 9th and we went to extras, where nothing happened in the 10th with the same pitching personnel. In the 11th, Chikara “Dodo” Iwase, a right-handed fireballer took over for the Capitals, and the Coons kept being made presents. Pruitt hit a leadoff double before De La Parra was put on intentionally, setting up Roudabush to strike out. Iwase’s first throw to Nomura was wild, however, moving the runners into scoring position. Nomura was then walked intentionally, loading them up for … Manuel Gutierrez. There had been some lineup shuffling, and now the Coons looked at a .167 batter and then either Cash or Trevino, who was batting not even .100 … Gutierrez struck out, Trevino flew out.

Bryan’s scoreless bottom 11th continued the “Dodo” Show, and he gave up singles to Alston and Black as the 12th inning commenced. Quebell grounded out to repeat that runners on second and third, one out situation, now with Pruitt batting, or maybe not, maybe they’d walk him outright. The catching mook came up, hit a crappy pop to right center, Potter caught it and struck down Alston at home. By this point I was cowering in a corner of the visiting GM’s suite with a bar of chocolate in each paw.

When Angel Casas pitched a scoreless bottom 12th, he was the last player not a starting pitcher that was thrown into the fray. We were out of relievers and pinch-hitters, and he was due to bat fourth in the 13th inning, coming up with Roudabush on first base and two outs and becoming the third strikeout victim of Iwase in a row, the final act of offensive futility for this team in this game. The Capitals walked off in the bottom 13th with back-to-back 2-out doubles by Ramirez and Guerin. 4-3 Capitals. Castro 2-4, RBI; Pruitt (PH) 2-2, 2B; Roudabush 4-6, 2 2B; Bruno 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K; Cash 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

13 men left on base.

-.-

Game 3
POR: CF Castro – 2B Nomura – RF Alston – 1B Quebell – LF Pruitt – 3B Sharp – SS Roudabush – C Esquivel – P Baldwin
WAS: 3B R. Garza – 1B Legendre – RF P. Brown – LF Vázquez – CF E. Wood – C Case – 2B Watts – SS Guerin – P Farley

Elvis Wood’s first inning grand slam off the hapless Baldwin was enough for me to retreat from the suite and scour the premises for edibles. Nothing to see here.

Our recent bullpen usage prevented us from yanking Baldwin early, but he lined up zeroes after the slam through six innings before Garza and Legendre reached with one out in the seventh and prompted a move to a reliever that wasn’t completely gassed. That was Bruno, who walked Brown before Vázquez popped out to Sharp and Wood whiffed to end the frame. At that point, the not-too-well aged Randy Farley had spun a 3-hitter with one run allowed on a Castro RBI triple. But the Coons got the tying run to the plate at least in the top 8th after Correa had walked in Bruno’s place and Castro had flicked a blooper to shallow center for a single. Nomura batted with two outs against Farley and grounded out exceedingly poorly. The Raccoons couldn’t score, but the Capitals could, adding a meaningless run off Ted Reese in the eighth. 5-1 Capitals. Castro 2-4, 3B, RBI;

So, after stranding 28 total the last two games, we had a 4-hitter in this game done to us. Oh my.

In other news

May 4 – New York’s SP Pancho Trevino (4-1, 2.20 ERA) 3-hits the Titans in a 2-0 complete game shutout.
May 7 – The Capitals lose their ace for the season as Chris York (3-0, 2.63 ERA) goes down with bone chips in his elbow.
May 7 – Not quite for certain, but perhaps also out for the year: SAC 1B/2B/LF Dave McCormick (.324, 3 HR, 22 RBI), who has broken his elbow.
May 10 – The Falcons deal OF Pedro Estrada (.351, 2 HR, 7 RBI) to the Cyclones for 36-year old minor leaguer INF Max Heart and a non-prospect.

Complaints and stuff

The Raccoons stand at 2,598 regular season wins. Normally I’d say, hey, even that lineup (8th in runs scored…) can win two next week to notch 2,600, but then again we play the two teams that squared off in last year’s World Series, and I fear the worst. Or worse.

Kenichi Watanabe is lurking in AAA and posting semi-decent results.