[Westheim]

Raccoons (48-32) vs. Indians (46-35) – July 6-9, 2009

3-1 on the Indians this year, the Raccoons welcomed their four-and-four partners around this year’s All Star break. The Indians had a 7-game winning streak going coming into this 4-game set, and ranked sixth in offense and third in pitching in the league. Their rotation was second only to the Raccoons’, so more low scoring was coming here.

Projected matchups:
Brendan Teasdale (0-1, 8.53 ERA) vs. Bob King (8-8, 3.83 ERA)
Javier Cruz (7-6, 2.90 ERA) vs. Tom Weise (7-6, 3.10 ERA)
Nick Brown (6-4, 2.11 ERA) vs. Román Escobedo (5-5, 4.68 ERA)
Colin Baldwin (7-5, 2.96 ERA) vs. Jimmy Sjogren (8-5, 3.03 ERA)

Two right-handers, two left-handers, and we miss Curtis Tobitt, who had just returned from the DL after a short stint there with shoulder woes. Missing Tobitt is always golden.

Game 1
IND: CF MacNamara – 2B Barrón – 1B Tsung – LF Luxton – C R. Speed – RF D. Richardson – SS R. Miller – 3B C. Aguilar – P King
POR: 2B Nomura – SS Correa – 1B Quebell – RF Alston – LF Pruitt – 3B R. Martinez – CF Trevino – C De La Parra – P Teasdale

A fluke triple by Mun-wah Tsung gave the Indians a 1-0 lead in the first inning. Nomura was up with the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom 2nd and bottom 4th. He grounded out the first time, and also the second time, but the latter occurred only after a run-scoring wild pitch by Bob King. Oh, our mighty offense.

But by then the Raccoons trailed 2-1, and Tsung hit another triple in the top 5th, but was stranded when Robbie Luxton struck out. Barrón and Tsung both made outs against Ed Bryan in the seventh to strand Aguilar and King in scoring position where Teasdale had put them. And no, the Raccoons really weren’t doing anything worth reporting. At least until they had their own fluke extra base hit, a Nomura double that bounced perhaps two inches to the fair side of the left foul line and became a double that also moved Daniel Sharp to third base after he had drawn a leadoff walk. Go-ahead run at second base with no outs, come on now! Correa fouled out on an 0-2 pitch, Quebell grounded out in the ****tiest possible way, and Alston flew out gingerly to left. Nobody scored. In the bottom 8th, Trevino and Black hit a pair of 2-out singles. Keith Ayers hit for Matt Cash and struck out, and nobody scored, and the Raccoons lost. 2-1 Indians. Pruitt 2-4; Black (PH) 1-1;

I need to kill all of them. Come on, teams. Shop is open. Take them all away. I don’t want to see them anymore.

Take Alston and his 5-for-41 streak first.

Game 2
IND: SS R. Miller – CF Theobald – 1B Tsung – LF Luxton – C R. Speed – RF D. Richardson – 2B C. Aguilar – 3B Kilters – P Weise
POR: 2B Nomura – 3B Sharp – LF Pruitt – 1B Quebell – RF Black – SS Howell – CF Trevino – C De La Parra – P Cruz

Cruz struck out six of the first ten batters (two reached, but didn’t score) before Mun-wah Tsung hit a 2-run shot with Paul Theobald on base to irretrievably take this game away from the miserable Coons. Daniel Richardson, who probably never homered in Raccoons Ballpark in 2000, also conquered Cruz with a solo shot in the fourth inning. Offensively, the Raccoons were extremely absent until Daniel Sharp turned into a Weise pitch and homered in the sixth inning. Of course it was a solo homer. While Pruitt followed up with a walk, Quebell grounded out, but the bottom 7th started with another walk to Black, while Weise hadn’t walked anybody in the first 5 2/3 innings. Rob Howell’s infield single put the tying runs on, and after Trevino and De La Parra flew out uselessly, Ron Alston hit for Cruz, who had whiffed nine in a futile outing. At 1-1, Weise threw a wild pitch that advanced the runners to second and third. Two pitches later, Alston ticketed a soft line to center, tying the score with a 2-out, 2-run single.

Sims and Rockburn stuttered, but eventually the Indians left a runner on second in the eighth and hit into a double play to end the ninth, giving the Raccoons, who had left Pruitt on after a leadoff double in the bottom 8th, with a walkoff chance. Trevino hit a gapper to right center that Theobald couldn’t cut off soon enough and Trevino had a leadoff double! Ricardo Martinez batted for De La Parra, singling to right, but so hard that Richardson had it quickly and his arm was truly deadly. Trevino held at third. No outs for Alston. And long ball will do. Long ball, high ball, gone ball!! 6-3 Raccoons! Nomura 3-4; Howell 2-4; Martinez (PH) 1-1; Alston (PH) 2-2, HR, 5 RBI; Cruz 7.0 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 9 K;

I casually mentioned before that Tsung was a farmhand of ours a long, long time ago, right?

Crusaders lost today, too, so maybe the magnetic poles suddenly flipped?

Game 3
IND: CF MacNamara – 2B Barrón – 1B Tsung – LF Luxton – RF Theobald – SS R. Miller – C Bader – 3B Kilters – P Escobedo
POR: 2B Correa – 1B Sharp – LF Alston – RF Black – SS Howell – C De La Parra – 3B R. Martinez – CF Trevino – P Brown

The poles were fine, but Brownie wasn’t quite early. He didn’t strike out anybody the first time through the Indians’ order, and got to two strikes only twice before the ball was put in play anyway or he walked Corey Bader. The Coons had opened the game in a hurry with back-to-back doubles by Correa and Sharp, which ended with Alston and Black flying out to Theobald and Sharp getting thrown out at home, but more offense than that lone first inning run was on the way. In the third inning, it was Brown to start the effort with a 1-out double. Sharp walked with two outs, and Alston doubled to score Brownie. Black legged out a slow grounder that Barrón couldn’t play in time to score Sharp for a 3-0 lead. Another run scored when Trevino’s groundout helped Martinez to get home after a fourth inning triple.

For Brown, things got a bit better the second time through the order. After Juan Barrón’s leadoff single in the fourth inning, he came back to retire six of the next seven, including three strikeouts, and that runner that reached was owed to Correa error. By the third time through the order, the Indians were stirring their sticks in vain. They couldn’t hit Brown anymore, and kept being held to two hits through eight innings. Brown had reached just over 100 pitches in retiring Brian MacNamara to end the eighth inning. For the Coons, the doubles had kept coming. Alston and Howell both hit doubles in a 2-run fifth, 6-0, and that was still the score through eight. With an extra day of rest before the All Star game, Brown at least started the ninth inning against Barrón, Tsung, and Luxton, or switch-left-left (but Barrón was better against left-handers). Barrón grounded out to Howell before Brown walked Tsung. Okay, let’s see Luxton, but get somebody ready. Luxton flew out in a high arc to Alston in extreme left, but not all that deep, bringing up Theobald. Brown was on 116 pitches, but assured he had some gas left. Have at it, Brownie! One strike, two strikes, hard grounder to Correa, effortlessly played to Quebell at first. 6-0 Brownies!! Sharp 1-2, 2 BB, 2B; Alston 3-4, 2 2B, RBI; Brown 9.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 8 K, W (7-4) and 1-2, 2B;

That’s how you reclaim the league-wide ERA lead!! He spun his seventh shutout and 15th career complete game. His last shutout came in ’08, but it’s his third complete game this season against five underwater games, leaving him at a very modest and exact 120 innings at the break. If he would make another 14 starts at that rate (but can it possibly rain and drown that much?) after the break, he’d close the year on an almost career-low (for a full season) 213 innings, and that mark was set when he really struggled as a sophomore in 2003.

Game 4
IND: CF MacNamara – 2B Barrón – 1B Tsung – LF Luxton – RF Theobald – C R. Speed – SS Heffer – 3B Kilters – P Sjogren
POR: 2B Correa – 3B Sharp – LF Alston – RF Black – 1B Quebell – SS Howell – C Esquivel – CF Trevino – P Baldwin

Wednesday’s extra base power sting dissipated by Thursday. There was hardly any offense early on, with the Indians killing their soft efforts by hitting into two double plays. The Coons had little to nothing until Daniel Sharp hit a leadoff triple in the bottom 4th. He was stranded in stunning fashion, with Alston and Howell walking to load them up, but Black, Quebell, and Esquivel all failed.

Top 5th, Richard Speed drew a leadoff walk off Baldwin. Kilters reached on a Quebell error to put runners on the corners and the Indians had Sjogren swing away, flying out to Black in medium right. Speed, who had no speed, was sent from third base and knocked out at home by Black. Forward to the bottom 6th, where Alston hit a double to get started. The Indians decided on an intentional walk to Black, who potentially countered Sjogren if he could just meet a ball, to get to Quebell, whom Sjogren matched. Quebell flew out to shallow center, but Rob Howell yanked a 1-2 pitch into deep left and just past Luxton’s glove. Alston scored handily on the double, and Black was sent around third, arriving just ahead of Luxton’s throw to give Baldwin a 2-0 lead. After Sergio Esquivel(!) got an intentional walk, Trevino hit a bloop single to right to load the bases for … Baldwin. Yeah, have him bat. He’s .114, but he doesn’t have a bad swing at all. Baldwin struck out, and Correa popped out to second base. Oh well.

Not enough that we didn’t hit for Baldwin when it was due time, he also got romped by the Indians immediately. Theobald, Speed, and Heffer hit consecutive 1-out singles to knock him from the game. Sims replaced him, couldn’t preserve the lead anyway, and almost gave up a 3-run homer as well.

Still tied in the bottom 8th, Howell got on against Leonardo Sosa and stole second base. Esquivel got another intentional walk to get to Trevino, although Sosa was a right-hander. We left Trevino to bat here and lined up Pruitt to hit for reliever Ed Bryan after that. Trevino just barely stayed out of a double play on a bouncer that Sosa played to second base to get Esquivel. Pruitt grounded out regardless. All that failing had to backfire when ****ing Daniel Richardson hit a 2-out, 2-run homer off Marcos Bruno in the top 9th. The bottom of the inning started with a Corey Bader error that got Correa on base. Daniel Sharp stunned Salvadaro Soure with a game-tying jack to left, and we had a new ballgame, Alston up, and still no outs, but the middle of the order didn’t do squid, sending the game to extras.

Marcos Bruno pitched a second inning, this time without annoying incidents, and Soure was also back in the bottom, grazing Howell’s chest with the fourth pitch of the opening at-bat. Howell had stolen a base earlier in the game, and did so again here, on a run-and-hit during which Esquivel missed his part entirely. Esquivel was walked intentionally YET AGAIN, bringing up Trevino once more. Nomura hit for Bruno, flew out to left, and Martinez hit for an annoyingly successless Correa, grounding out. The Coons would get another leadoff batter donated onto base in the 11th, when Sharp reached on catcher’s interference with Hélio Maggessi pitching. Alston walked before Black hit a bloop into shallow center. Sharp held at third base as MacNamara was to that ball very quickly. Quebell was nursing a cold spell of his own, but set a minor highlight by walking off his team at the very least, with a single up the middle. 5-4 Coons. Sharp 2-5, HR, 3B, 2 RBI; Howell 2-3, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Trevino 2-5; Baldwin 6.1 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 K;

Raccoons (51-33) vs. Canadiens (43-41) – July 10-12, 2009

The Elks were third in runs scored and sixth in runs allowed. The bullpen was solid, but the rotation had ups and downs like crazy and it all muddled out to a sixth-best starters’ ERA. The Raccoons were 5-3 against them on the season and could really use to win another series against their arch rivals.

Projected matchups:
Jong-hoo Umberger (7-4, 3.05 ERA) vs. Scott Spears (6-7, 5.32 ERA)
Brendan Teasdale (0-2, 5.68 ERA) vs. Rod Taylor (9-5, 3.02 ERA)
Javier Cruz (7-6, 2.96 ERA) vs. Dave Crawford (6-7, 5.17 ERA)

We get two of their three strugglers, and miss Juichi Fujita, so that’s a plus. All their guys are right-handers. Infielder Gary Rice is still on the DL, but is eligible to return on Sunday. Meanwhile Trevino was sore on Friday and we had to put Luke Black in center, which was what sent him to the DL the last time.

Game 1
VAN: CF Holland – SS Rodgers – 1B D. Morris – RF J. Thomas – 3B Suzuki – C G. Ortíz – LF F. Jones – 2B Dobson – P Spears
POR: 2B Nomura – 3B Sharp – LF Pruitt – RF Alston – CF Black – 1B Quebell – SS Howell – C De La Parra – P Umberger

Luke Black made a tumbling catch in the first inning, sprained his thumb, and it looked like we had just gained $1M in budget space for 2010. When Umberger didn’t break our roster in half, he allowed a homer to Dan Morris, which was double-plus ungood with a struggling Ron Alston in the home run race. Pruitt pulled the Coons back even with a solo home run of his own in the bottom of the inning. Spears was then taken apart in the bottom 2nd, in which the Coons plated four runs off him, with a 2-run homer by Sharp at the very end of it.

The Elks were tumbling for a few innings after that early knock, but got back into the game in the fifth inning. Dobson dropped down a bunt and was safe against Sharp playing too deep to field it in time to start the inning, stole second base, and came home on Spears’ single past Nomura into center, and they got two more runs in the sixth in which Umberger just completely stopped retiring people. Sims came in at 5-3 and two men on, but of course had to allow an RBI single to Ross Holland and throw another wild pitch before Quebell did the hard work for him retiring Rodgers. The Coons, suddenly aware of the fragility of a 5-1 lead after two innings, had Quebell triple to start the bottom 6th. The first-sacker scored on Howell’s bloop to right, 6-4, which was not enough to prevent the pen from further blowing the lead. Reese allowed three hits in the seventh, Ayers in center made an error, and the Elks tied the score at six. Ayers further kept making himself replaceable by hitting into an inning-ending double play with two on in the bottom of the same inning.

The top 9th saw Ed Bryan in to face Morris and Thomas. Both reached with hard singles. Cash replaced Bryan and got a double play that Suzuki hit hard to Sharp, but Morris was on third base, and stranded there when Gabriel Ortíz struck out. The Coons didn’t reach, bringing us another extra inning affair. With our bullpen rapidly having been depleted in those middle-to-late innings we were basically down to Angel Casas. Bruno had spun quite a few innings lately. Casas covered the tenth on 11 pitches, but when Pruitt and Alston made outs in the bottom of the inning against Cris Pena (in his third inning!), Brendan Teasdale was sent from the dugout to the bullpen to start warming up, since Angel wouldn’t pitch beyond the 11th.

There was no 11th, though. Keith Ayers, pretty much the 25th man on the roster, fired a high liner across centerfield that just went over the wall. Walkoff! 7-6 Critters. Alston 2-4, BB; Quebell 2-4, 3B; Howell 2-4, 2B, RBI; Martinez (PH) 1-1; Rockburn 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

No, there’s no point trying to tape this. The Duke/Count of Wherever went to the DL and would stay there for the rest of the month perhaps, making it impossible for him to trigger his option for 2010. Hmpf.

While we put an outfielder on the DL, we called up a relief pitcher with the way the bullpen had been mangled in just two days after Brownie gave all of them some rest. Claudio Salazar joined us. He had a 3.79 ERA in 19 major league innings accumulated in 2006 and 2008.

That’s also three walkoff wins in four days (with Brownie’s shutout in between), and back-to-back wins for Angel Casas. Careful, Brownie, he’s 2-1 already, he’s gonna getcha!

Before the Saturday game, the Elks acquired utility man INF Steven Walker from Salem. They also got #7 prospect CL Ron Thrasher in a deal for 37-year old outfield ghost Freddie Jones, which is quite the haul…

Game 2
VAN: CF Holland – SS Rodgers – 1B D. Morris – RF J. Thomas – 3B Suzuki – C G. Ortíz – LF Southcott – 2B Dobson – P R. Taylor
POR: 2B Nomura – 3B Sharp – LF Pruitt – RF Alston – 1B Quebell – SS Howell – C Esquivel – CF Trevino – P Teasdale

Brenda was just awful, which was the fitting word to describe his misery. He struggled to get ahead of any batter, walked four and drilled one in five innings, and somehow only allowed two runs in the second, in which Clint Southcott’s RBI triple was the key piece. The Raccoons were dead-silent, with half of their runners through five innings reaching on the Elks’ two errors. Teasdale somehow suckered his way through six innings, walking five, without getting obliterated. Bryan was on the way to a big inning in the seventh when he got a double play turned, but Salazar had less luck in his season debut. Southcott, whom I was wishing only grisly things already, hit another RBI triple in another 2-spot in the eighth. Through eight and a third innings, the Raccoons had nothing against Rod Taylor, even with three errors made by the Elks defense. Then the Elks replaced him with Jose Escobar, and down to the final out, the Coons got singles from Esquivel and De La Parra, sending the Elks to scurry for closer Pedro Alvarado. Ricardo Martinez hit for Salazar, the last bat off the bench, and also singled, bringing up the tying run in Yoshi, who flew out awfully softly to center. 4-0 Canadiens. Howell 2-3; De La Parra (PH) 1-1; Martinez (PH) 1-1;

Teasdale has a foul smell to him…

Game 3
VAN: CF Holland – LF E. Garcia – RF J. Thomas – 1B D. Morris – SS Rice – 3B Rodgers – C R. Hernandez – 2B Dobson – P Crawford
POR: 2B Nomura – 1B Sharp – LF Pruitt – RF Alston – SS Correa – 3B R. Martinez – C De La Parra – CF Trevino – P Cruz

Teasdale had walked five in six innings, Cruz walked five in just three, including three in the third, in which the Elks squeezed out the first run of the game on a single by Gary Rice. Somehow Cruz made it through six innings as well, walking six and whiffing four, and not allowing another run although he was damn well beggin’ for it. Agonizingly he was also the first Raccoon to reach base with a 2-out single in the third inning. The Coons had runners on the corners in the fourth when Ricardo Martinez grounded out to short, and didn’t do a whole lot otherwise until Ron Alston rung a giant gong to wake up the rest of the team with a solo homer in the bottom 6th, tying the score. A rattled Crawford walked Correa on four pitches, then served up the next bomb to Martinez and suddenly the Raccoons led 3-1 after the Elks had stranded a million runners.

Donald Sims was given the lead in the seventh and didn’t explode it in a hurry for once, and in the bottom 7th Quebell hit a 1-out double in his spot. Nomura was put on intentionally, Sharp walked unintentionally, and the Raccoons had a FAT chance with Crawford yet to be removed and Pruitt and Alston coming up. Pruitt lined the second pitch into a double play, which actually went 4-5. Not Yoshi on second, but Quebell on third base was doubled off. He had started running and never looked at the ball. The horrors!!

The horrors got worse. Gary Rice homered off Bruno to get the stinkin’ Elks back to 3-2, and Bruno walked a runner before Dobson lined a hard ball into left center. Trevino made a hero’s catch out there that kept the lead in one piece, and that was before the home team snuck out of another RISP situation in the bottom 8th, and Angel Casas was chainsawed for three runs in the ninth inning. Holland singled, Garcia doubled to tie the game, and Thomas yanked a homer to center.

Bottom 9th, down by two, Alvarado allowed a single to De La Parra before he walked Trevino, bringing up Quebell with no outs, which probably meant a double play was near. Four to six to three left De La Parra on third, with Keith Ayers batting for the broken Casas. His single up the middle brought up Sharp, who had hit a few dingers in the week, and that was exactly what we needed right now. Or maybe he can strike out instead… 5-4 Canadiens. Ayers (PH) 1-1, RBI; Alston 2-4, HR, RBI;

In other news

July 7 – DAL 1B/3B Dennis Berman (.300, 9 HR, 42 RBI) has completed a streak of 20 games with consecutive base hits, hitting a solo home run in the Stars’ 9-3 loss to Sacramento.
July 7 – RIC CF/LF Earl Clark (.347, 6 HR, 37 RBI) will be on the DL for a month with an oblique strain.
July 7 – The Crusaders add SP Ken Maddox (4-6, 5.48 ERA) from the Rebels for two second-rate prospects.
July 7 – The Blue Sox send CL Luis Hernandez (5-1, 2.12 ERA, 13 SV) to the Falcons for four prospects, none of them ranked in the top 100.
July 8 – Dallas’ Berman (.298, 9 HR, 42 RBI) already has his streak snapped at 20 games, going hitless in an 8-0 shutout that goes the Scorpions’ way. SAC SP Dan Moriarty (7-7, 3.74 ERA) spins a 6-hitter.
July 9 – Vancouver’s Dan Morris (.313, 22 HR, 61 RBI) belts his 400th career home run in a 10-4 Canadiens smashing of the Loggers, a solo shot off Roy Thomas in the first inning – on his 39th birthday! Morris is only the second player in ABL history to reach 400 home runs, trailing career leader Raúl Vázquez by 16 bombs. Vázquez retired in 2007. Morris, a first round pick by the Cyclones in 1991, is in his 18th major league season, and while his defense is shaky at best, those big arms still work. Despite being the most prolific active slugger, Morris has never led the league in slugging, but did lead in average (twice) and OBP (also twice) in his career.
July 9 – TIJ 1B/2B Juan Diaz (.233, 8 HR, 44 RBI) will miss four weeks with a sprained ankle.
July 10 – BOS SP Jorge Chapa (6-6, 3.80 ERA) has torn a finger tendon and is out for the 2009 season.
July 10 – The Wolves and the Pacifics beat a 13-12 mind-boggler that goes the Oregonians’ way, with two of their guys, Bill Miller (.286, 4 HR, 31 RBI) and Alberto Rodriguez (.293, 4 HR, 47 RBI), knocking five hits.

Complaints and stuff

29 runs in seven games! Almost major league average! Woooot!! What happened? Heck, I don’t know! We even dropped to 10th in runs scored. I have no clue. I only empty the bottles around here.

While Ron Alston was the Player of the Week, batting .423 (11-26) with 2 HR and 7 RBI, I did find out that Sharpie (slugging .708 this week) had switched to a new cereal with oat and raisins. The entire team was force-fed that one going into the break. It tastes like ashes with cat **** sprinkled over it. But it looks like this one has everything a little boy needs.

We have four All Stars, and it’s really no surprise, neither the number, nor who they are. Okay, I wasn’t quite sure about Quebell, but he gets his first All Star nomination, along with Nick Brown (4th), Ron Alston (7th; 1st with POR), and Angel Casas (3rd).

Hector Santos won’t be here so soon, allowing 13 runs in his last two games in AAA, shooting his ERA almost all the way to five.

In terms of outfielders, prospect Dave Green went to the minor-league DL with shoulder inflammation and should stay there for a while, and Tomas Castro didn’t quite make it back to the team before the break, but starts a rehab assignment on Monday to get him into shape and get him back here by Monday. For a few days I felt like Keith Ayers wouldn’t be with us much longer. He doesn’t have options. But then came Friday, and things … changed.

But Ayers is not a good piece after all. When Castro comes back, it might improve the offense over Trevino’s awful poking, but Ayers… Then again, there’s nobody at AAA that could possibly help us.

We signed 16-year old left-hander Alejandro Gomez out of Panama at a $158k price point. His stuff has natural sink, which is what good pitchers are made off.

Service announcement: I should get the 4-game set with Indy in tomorrow, but there will again not be an update from there until possibly Saturday. I appreciate your patience and that you aren’t flinging rocks at unreliable me … yet.