[Westheim]

All Star Game

ATL Jaime Kester was the ASG MVP with a 3-hit performance, including a home run, in the CL’s 7-1 win over the FL. The Federal League’s starter, DEN Antonio Donis, is routed for four runs in two innings as the CL makes things clear early on.

Adrian Quebell was the only starter for the Raccoons, going 2-5 with 2 RBI. Ron Alston hit for New York’s Martin Ortíz and homered Richmond’s Jean-Christophe Fernandes. Nick Brown pitched a scoreless inning, striking out one. Angel Casas was not used.

With Brown hardly into double-digit pitches in his appearance, we penned him in for Friday, the second game of our weekend series in Indy. Umberger would get the first assignment with Teasdale not getting the ball on the weekend. We also dumped the extra reliever, Claudio Salazar, who had to be put on waivers and designated for assignment. Tomas Castro rejoined the team by Thursday.

Raccoons (52-35) @ Indians (49-39) – July 16-19, 2009

We had just sent the Indians home with another three-of-four series, our second of the year, giving us a 6-2 edge against them. They were eighth in offense (Raccoons by now: 10th), and third in runs allowed.

Projected matchups:
Jong-hoo Umberger (7-4, 3.21 ERA) vs. Jimmy Sjogren (8-5, 3.03 ERA)
Nick Brown (7-4, 1.95 ERA) vs. Román Escobedo (5-6, 4.96 ERA)
Javier Cruz (7-6, 2.88 ERA) vs. Curtis Tobitt (9-4, 2.72 ERA)
Colin Baldwin (7-5, 2.95 ERA) vs. Bob King (9-9, 3.74 ERA)

The placement of Curtis Tobitt in this series is highly speculative right now. And all those 7’s disturb me. Makes 8’s of them!

Game 1
POR: CF Castro – 3B Sharp – 1B Quebell – LF Alston – 2B Correa – RF Ayers – SS Howell – C De La Parra – P Umberger
IND: CF MacNamara – 2B Barrón – 1B Tsung – LF Luxton – 3B C. Aguilar – RF D. Richardson – C R. Speed – SS R. Miller – P Sjogren

Basically Umberger got whacked really hard before the weather showed mercy and allowed him out after four innings of 3-run ball, with four of five hits for extra bases and three walks on top of that. By far his worst offense was a home run that Daniel “Ass Hat” Richardson hit off him. The Raccoons had somehow lucked into a run in the second inning, but trailed 3-1 through the middle innings. There wasn’t slight hope until the eighth inning, when Castro and Sharp hit singles to get started. The Indians stayed with the southpaw Sjogren against Quebell and Alston, and he walked them both, pushing in a run and loading the bags with no outs. Once Correa and Nomura had shown that they were better sent to AAA, Howell at least drew a walk to tie the score, but nobody could be bothered to land a hit, and then Ron Alston made an error in the bottom 8th that allowed the Indians to score the go-ahead run again. Salvadaro Soure struck four Raccoons in the ninth inning: Castro into the hip, but three of them out. 4-3 Indians. Sharp 2-4, BB; Howell 1-2, BB, 2B, RBI;

They suck so much… They suck so much……

Game 2
POR: CF Castro – 2B Nomura – LF Pruitt – RF Alston – 3B Sharp – 1B Quebell – SS Correa – C De La Parra – P Brown
IND: CF MacNamara – SS R. Miller – 1B Tsung – RF Theobald – C R. Speed – 2B C. Aguilar – LF D. Richardson – 3B J. Lopez – P King

You always knew that bad things were going to happen in some way or other when Brownie was pitching, and this game was certainly no exception. Both pitchers came to bat with runners on the corners and two outs in the bottom 2nd and fell to 0-2. Brown struck out, but Bob King hit a looping fly that ran away from Alston and fell in for a 2-run double. Because that was the way Portland baseball was working. The horrendous Suckoons would not get another base runner until the seventh inning, when a Sharp grounder eluded Miller for a 1-out single. King crumbled, Quebell doubled, and the runs scored on a groundout by Correa and De La Parra’s soft liner that dinked into shallow center, which tied the game at two. Ron Alston’s double in the top 8th came with two out and started Pruitt from first base. He was sent as an expression of the general desperation surrounding our offensive innings, and was thrown out at the plate. Brown pitched eight innings without receiving any love whatsoever, and Marcos Bruno pitched a scoreless ninth to get the game to extra innings.

Something developed in the 11th with singles by Nomura and Pruitt off Helio Maggessi. Two on, no outs, Alston up, could be worse, like with Trevino up. Alston grounded a 1-1 pitch up the middle, but Barrón intercepted it quite deep behind second base and flung the ball to first base without aiming – bad decision. Tsung couldn’t come up with it, the ball was into the dugout, and the Coons were awarded a run and runners in scoring position on the error. What sounds like a comfortable position to score a few add-on runs developed into gnashed teeth, two outs, and the bases loaded with an intentional walk to Quebell. Rob Howell hit for De La Plague and hit a lucky blooper into shallow right just ahead of Richardson. Two runs scored. Angel Casas got groundouts to first, second, and third base in the bottom of the inning. 5-2 Coons. Pruitt 2-4, RBI; De La Parra 2-4, RBI; Howell (PH) 1-1, 2 RBI; Brown 8.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 5 K;

Well, Brownie brought it on himself. No wonder he never wins when he gives up 2-run doubles to opposing pitchers all the time. No wait, those are the other buffoons. He did it for the first time this year.

Game 3
POR: CF Castro – 2B Nomura – LF Pruitt – RF Alston – 3B Sharp – 1B Quebell – SS Correa – C Esquivel – P Cruz
IND: CF MacNamara – 2B Barrón – 1B Tsung – LF Luxton – 3B C. Aguilar – RF D. Richardson – C R. Speed – SS R. Miller – P Weise

Tom Weise (8-6, 2.91 ERA) was moved into game three on Saturday to signalize that the Indians didn’t really know what they wanted with their rotation.

Tomas Castro started the game with a single, was thrown out stealing, and this cost the Coons a run right away. They could have had a 4-spot, but they had to settle for three, with four more hits coming against Weise in the inning. While Friday had been dry (Brown’s start dry? What witchcraft was at work here??), this game saw another early rain delay, 31 minutes in the third inning. The tarp was brought out after Alston had hit a deep drive just foul outside the left pole with Pruitt on first base in the top 3rd. By the time the at-bat resumed, Alston had lost calibration and instead had to chug out an infield single. One run scored in the inning when Correa’s grounder went inches past Barrón’s extended glove for a single to right, but the Coons stranded five between this and the next inning, but then ripped three singles to start the top 6th, loading the sacks. Alston flew out unproductively in that spot, but a passed ball and a Sharp single scored all the runners for a 7-0 lead, also knocking out the unsuspected Weise. All the while Javier Cruz was pitching a very controlled game and didn’t allow much hard contact, generating a load of poor groundballs and those were a feast for our infielders. The final line score had blowout proportions, with the Raccoons out-hitting the Indians 16-6. 7-0 Furballs. Castro 2-5; Nomura 2-4, BB; Pruitt 3-4, BB, 2B; Sharp 2-5, 3 RBI; Quebell 2-4, BB, RBI; Correa 3-5, 2 RBI; Cruz 7.1 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K, W (8-6);

Game 4
POR: CF Castro – SS Howell – LF Alston – RF Ayers – 1B Quebell – 3B R. Martinez – 2B Correa – C De La Parra – P Baldwin
IND: CF MacNamara – SS R. Miller – 1B Tsung – LF Luxton – RF Theobald – C R. Speed – 2B Heffer – 3B J. Lopez – P Escobedo

Keith Ayers was just batting “cleanup” because I longed to separate the left-handers against Escobedo, then cleaned up Howell with a 2-run homer in the first inning after Alston had just struck out blinking (or possibly eating, I was blinking and eating at that point). Escobedo gave up quite a bit of hard contact in the first innings, leading to a Martinez leadoff double and him scoring in the second inning, but the Raccoons fell asleep after that (or were too concentrated on eating). Baldwin was so-so, needing rescue with the double play with a bunch of singles against him. Paul Theobald did hit into a double play in the bottom 4th, but that still scored Tsung from third base to get the Indians to 3-1. The Coons, with nobody on base, were one strike on Escobedo away from leaving the bottom 5th then Escobedo singled and in a hurry Brian MacNamara reached on an infield single (Martinez…) and Miller walked in a full count to pull up Mun-wah Tsung with the bags stacked. Tsung of course singled over Correa on a 2-2 pitch to tie the game before Luxton struck out.

The Indians got two more hits off Baldwin to chase him in the sixth, loading him with nine hits total, but at least Rockburn managed to get out of the inning without another disaster. Top 7th, Escobedo so far had only allowed six hits and no walks, but issued free passes to both Correa and De La Parcour when this inning got underway. Pruitt batted for Rockburn and grounded up the middle but reached on a Miller error to load the bases with no outs. Castro – K. Howell – pooped out (no typo). I knew where this was going and buried by wet face in my paws, not daring to look what Alston would glare at. From the sound he hit the first ball Escobedo offered him before the whole park went “Hhhh…!!” – GRAAAAAAAAND SLAAAAAAAAMMMMMMMM!!!!

While that sent Escobedo to read a good book, the issues just began for the Coons and their 7-3 lead when Sims entered the game and immediately allowed a double to MacNamara. Defensive heroics by Howell and Quebell kept the Indians from scoring in the inning, Sims wasn’t contributing anything nice. The Coons scraped together enough juice for another run in the top 8th before Ted Reese cut the ball for hopefully two clean innings on the way outta Indy. That worked – more or less – and Tomas Castro even hit his first home run of the season in his last AB of an otherwise forgettable series for him. 9-3 Coons. Alston 1-5, HR, 4 RBI; Martinez 2-4, 2B; De La Parra 2-3, BB, 2 RBI; Reese 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 1 K;

Something borrowed, something blue, and sometimes something new: the Coons left TWO men on base in this game, while scoring nine runs!! I somehow only remember them ever doing the opposite…

In other news

July 14 – The Canadiens pick up 39-year old lefty Ray Hoskins (2-2, 3.38 ERA, 1 SV) and unranked outfield prospect Dave Carter from the Titans for 27-yr old 1B Tony Ramos (.323, 4 HR, 33 RBI).
July 15 – 1B Albert Martin (.256, 7 HR, 28 RBI) is sent with a non-prospect from Tijuana up to Sacramento in exchange for a minor leaguer.
July 16 – LAP LF/CF Jimmy Roberts (.279, 12 HR, 50 RBI) faces two weeks on the shelf after spraining his elbow.
July 17 – CHA SP Larry Cutts (8-9, 4.02 ERA) 3-hits the Condors in a 3-0 shutout.
July 19 – The Aces send LF/RF Don Cameron (.280, 3 HR, 47 RBI) to the Bayhawks for SP Shawn White (4-7, 3.17 ERA) and #69 prospect SS Brent Burke.

Complaints and stuff

Next week: three games plus change with the Crusaders, then back to the west coast to face the Bayhawks, who are one below .500 and even less away from the playoffs. Wicked division.

Salazar reached St. Pete safely without being taken by bandits. Do we actually care?

The Elks made a trade offer to us. They desire Sergio Esquivel and would give us Ricardo Huerta(!!), that twice-already-traded #7 prospect CL Ron Thrasher, and cash to nurse our piggy bank.

By now it’s safe to say that we had the crappiest offseason before the 2009 campaign that we possibly could have had assembled. Greg Grams has already been discarded for tomorrow’s discards, and that dumb bloke behind the plate annoys me about as greatly as the entirely useless piece of dog **** Correa. How can you sign and draft for this much redundant failure?

This team will never get back to the playoffs, never. I need to get fired, that would get the team in line.

But I still have those photos.