[Westheim]

Raccoons (45-38) vs. Crusaders (42-40) – July 2-5, 2012

Either the Raccoons’ or the Crusaders’ season could well end in the space of the next 11 games, and with the way things were going right now, I wasn’t betting on the Crusaders to book early October holidays. While we had taken three of four games the first time the two teams had met, nothing was going for the Coons at this point, while the Crusaders kept motoring with their second-best offense. Their rotation had struggled earlier, but had reeled themselves in (largely) now, but they were still only tied for eighth in runs allowed in the league. Their run differential of +57 did hint at some horrendous luck and a record that was not trustworthy…

Projected matchups:
Rich Hood (3-4, 4.47 ERA) vs. Paul Miller (6-6, 4.50 ERA)
Hector Santos (5-6, 4.10 ERA) vs. Kelvin Yates (12-3, 2.47 ERA)
Shunyo Yano (3-6, 4.88 ERA) vs. A.J. Bartels (7-4, 3.91 ERA)
Nick Brown (7-4, 2.98 ERA) vs. Pancho Trevino (4-9, 5.37 ERA)

Their leadoff man Roberto Pena was still on the DL, but could come off any day now.

Four more right-handers to contend with. We should see a left-hander on Friday in Vancouver’s Johnny Krom, however.

Game 1
NYC: 2B Caraballo – C G. Ortíz – LF M. Ortíz – 1B Manfull – 3B Bond – CF J. Gonzalez – RF Talamante – SS Kester – P P. Miller
POR: 2B Palmer – 3B Merritt – LF Pruitt – 1B Quebell – RF J. Alexander – CF Seeley – SS Roudabush – C D. Alexander – P Hood

To say that the Coons had little going on would have been a gross overstatement, with a lonely Seeley single their only output in four innings. Miraculously Rich Hood held the Crusaders scoreless for as long, but allowed a run on a 2-out RBI double by Francisco Caraballo in the fifth, and then a solo homer to Kevin Bond in the sixth. In between, the Raccoons had tied the score on two shy singles eluding the infielders, but when they had Palmer and Merritt on the corners with nobody out in the bottom 6th after two more soft singles, the supposed middle of the order crapped out entirely as Pruitt fouled out behind the dish, Quebell hit into a fielder’s choice at second base, and John Alexander pooped out to Caraballo. Hood was headed for another loss after seven not completely bad innings, although he issued three leadoff walks, which were three reasons to put a block of soap into a sock and spank him. Josh Gibson got the two Ortízes in the top 8th before feeling something and requiring replacement with Law Rockburn. Bottom 8th, Palmer hit a leadoff single and stole second base. The middle of the order was up again, but the Crusaders weren’t really bothered by that. A mistake: Matt Pruitt singled to right, and the speedy Palmer scored, tying the game at two in the bottom 8th. Quebell singled, putting two on, but Alexander and Seeley made poor outs to waste the chance. Law took care of the ninth, and Paul Miller was STILL AT IT in the bottom of the inning, and wasn’t replaced after a leadoff single by Dave Roudabush, either. Dylan Alexander came up, hacked once and missed, hacked twice and missed, hacked thrice and ended the game with a booming bomb to left center that was outta here right off that old bat. 4-2 Raccoons. Seeley 2-4; Roudabush 1-2, 2 BB; D. Alexander 2-4, HR, 3 RBI; Hood 7.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 3 K; Rockburn 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, W (3-0);

Josh Gibson was later diagnosed with a oblique tweak (yeah, that’s actually in our trainer’s medical book! I didn’t believe it, he showed me. It’s handwritten, though.) and was DTD for a couple of days. With Yoshi also ailing, we were now down to 23 players.

Game 2
NYC: SS Kester – 3B Bond – LF M. Ortíz – RF S. Martin – 1B Manfull – C G. Ortíz – 2B Moultrie – CF J. Gonzalez – P Yates
POR: SS Palmer – 3B Merritt – LF Pruitt – 1B Quebell – RF J. Alexander – CF Seeley – C D. Alexander – 2B M. Gutierrez – P Santos

Stanton Martin, who had had Monday off and didn’t even appear as a pinch-hitter, was back in the lineup, and just after the midway point of the season he was sporting 23 homers and 84 RBI. That was nuts. That was really nuts. Fortunately, Santos had him under control in another low-key game for the offense. The Raccoons scratched out a run when Jon Merritt doubled into the gap in the third, scoring Gutierrez, and that was it for the first five innings. Santos would pitch seven shutout innings on five hits, all but one singles, but Thrasher couldn’t get through the eighth. Martin Ortíz’ 2-out single brought up Stanton Martin as the go-ahead run, and Angel Casas was going to come in and try a 4-out save. Castro replaced Seeley in a double switch here and would lead off the bottom 8th. Angel drilled Martin (…!) before allowing a vicious liner (…!) to B.J. Manfull that ended up in Quebell’s glove after a quick swipe with the glove. Maybe I was panicking, but Angel was off right now, and that couldn’t be any good. The Coons had their first two men (Castro, Palmer) on in the bottom 8th, but between Merritt (K), Pruitt (deep F8), and Quebell (3) didn’t score anything once again. Angel Casas then struck out the side. 1-0 Critters. Merritt 2-4, 2B, RBI; Castro 1-1; Santos 7.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 6 K, W (6-6); Casas 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K, SV (25);

Both teams were able to declare their leadoff batters healthy before game 3, as Yoshi Nomura’s paw wasn’t purple anymore, and Roberto Pena was also recovered from a mild hamstring strain.

For the Fourth of July, we had a promotion where every fan at the park received an American flag, more or less. The stripes were all there, but in the blue field there was the Raccoons logo surrounded by eight stars – one for every playoff appearance of the Critters.

Game 3
NYC: CF R. Pena – 2B Caraballo – LF M. Ortíz – RF S. Martin – 1B Manfull – C G. Ortíz – 3B Bond – SS Kester – P Bartels
POR: 2B Nomura – SS Palmer – LF Pruitt – 1B Quebell – 3B Merritt – CF Castro – RF Ayers – C Bowen – P Yano

Caraballo’s error in the first and Manfull’s error in the third inning weren’t exploited by the Raccoons, but they did get a 2-run homer from Craig Bowen to take an early lead in this game in the second inning. That was not going to be enough, however, not with Yano pitching. Indeed he was getting torn open by the fourth inning, despite the Martin Brothers going down on three pitches to start the frame. Manfull drew a 4-pitch walk, Gabe Ortíz was drilled with the first pitch, and the Crusaders took gruesome revenge, with doubles by Bond and Bartels scoring three runs in the inning, and Caraballo’s leadoff jack in the fifth gave them a 4-2 lead. While Pruitt couldn’t get anybody to cross home plate in a runners on first and third, two outs scenario in the bottom of the fifth, the Crusaders hung one last run on Yano in the sixth before getting into the Coons’ pen, where Thrasher delivered two innings, but couldn’t get a bunt down in the bottom 7th and killed that inning offensively. Bottom of the eighth, Pruitt got on to start the frame. Quebell’s drive to right wasn’t deep enough and caught, but Merritt hit an RBI triple to center, at least bringing up the tying run. Castro’s fly to deep right was also caught by Stanton Martin, but Merritt scored, 5-4.

If it had been a RISP situation, Seeley would probably have hit for Ayers here against the righty Bartels, but it wasn’t, so Ayers batted for himself and was down to two strikes quickly before raking a 1-2 pitch to deep left. Was this one gonna go? It was! Home run! Tied game! And then… and then the Crusaders’ middle of the order overran Micah Steele, Gabriel Ortíz hit an RBI single with two outs, and the Coons were sent to the bottom of the ninth trailing anyway. Yoshi drew a 1-out walk from Scott Hood to become the tying run. Palmer’s grounder to Kevin Bond had the potential to end the game, but Bond tried to get two so badly that he lost the ball in transfer and didn’t get anybody. Big break for the Coons! Now, Pruitt batting with runners on first and second and one out! The 0-1 … PAST Daryl Anderson! (voice cracks) Wild pitch, runners in scoring position! The 1-1, grounded up the middle, PAST Moultrie into center! Nomura scores, Palmer around third, Pena throwing home, Palmer coming in- … and he’s out! And he’s hurt, too! NOOO!!!

Quebell flew out to left, which meant extra innings. Roudabush replaced Palmer at short. Sugano pitched a scoreless inning, but that didn’t help in any way. Law Rockburn got five quick outs after Sugano before Bond doubled with two outs in the 12th, followed right away by an RBI single by Jaime Kester. The Crusaders took the lead, and in the three extra innings, the Raccoons never hit the ball out of the infield, and never had a base runner. 7-6 Crusaders. Pruitt 2-6, RBI; Bowen 2-4, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Thrasher 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K; Sugano 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

Well, if Palmer goes down, this was the end of our season, I fear. Put those Coons flags on half-staff then.

Game 4
NYC: CF R. Pena – 2B Caraballo – LF M. Ortíz – RF S. Martin – C G. Ortíz – 1B Batlle – 3B D. Anderson – SS Kester – P P. Trevino
POR: 2B Nomura – 3B Merritt – LF Pruitt – 1B Quebell – CF Seeley – RF J. Alexander – C Bowen – SS M. Gutierrez – P Brown

Another day, another go-ahead 2-run homer by Craig Bowen! Again coming in the second inning, these were the first runs of the game, and Yoshi Nomura added a solo shot to lead off the third inning afterwards, handing Brown a 3-0 lead. Brownie faced the minimum the first time through the order, but the pitch counts grew longer already and the Crusaders were looking for an opening, something like an unexpected hit by the pitcher. Trevino listened, and hit a 1-out single to left in the sixth inning, only their second hit and third baserunner off Brown, but the game didn’t suddenly tilt, Pena struck out, and Caraballo grounded out to Merritt.

Roberto Pena was hurt in his second game off the DL, making a stretching grab and tumble on a drive by John Alexander in the seventh inning. Tim Austin replaced him. Top 8th, Paco Batlle led off with a double off the wall in right, for sure the most danger the Crusaders had posed in this game, but Anderson grounded out to short, keeping the runner pinned, and Kester struck out. The Crusaders did NOT hit for Trevino in this spot with a runner on second and two outs – come on, Brownie, have him! Trevino bounced an 0-1 pitch to Merritt, who retired the pitcher at first base. Eight shutout innings, but Brown’s pitch count had reached 103, and I was … disinclined, to say the least. These were the Crusaders after all. They had hair on their teeth, and these hairs had tiny teeth themselves! D-Alex hit for Brown, singled, but nothing came of that in the bottom 8th. Angel got the top of the order, starting with Austin, who struck out. Ayers had replaced John Alexander for defense and caught Caraballo’s fly for the second out before things started to get wonky, as both of the Martin Brothers singled, and those weren’t convincing singles. Especially the latter by Stanton Martin was just BARELY past Gutierrez, but it was past him after all. The runners were on the corners, Gabriel Ortíz batting – strikeout! 3-0 Brownies. Bowen 1-3, HR, 2 RBI; D. Alexander 1-1; Brown 8.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 6 K, W (8-4);

Roberto Pena (.236, 0 HR, 14 RBI) was out for another three to four weeks with a knee sprain, so we would not see him in the return series in New York after the All Star game.

Remarkable: Stanton Martin had come in batting .341/.365/.618, but in this series went 2-for-13 with no extra base hits, no walks, and five strikeouts.

Raccoons (48-39) vs. Canadiens (47-38) – July 6-8, 2012

Another dicey series was upon us, and the Raccoons’ little black noses were bleeding for the foul stench that had come over Portland again. The Elks were doing it all on pitching, conceding the second-least runs in the league, while their offense ranked eighth. Their run differential was only +18, so compare that to the Crusaders’. The Coons’ was +41, by the way. So far we were 6-3 against the Elks this year.

Projected matchups:
Scott Spears (5-3, 2.82 ERA) vs. Johnny Krom (5-4, 3.10 ERA)
Rich Hood (3-4, 4.22 ERA) vs. Bill King (5-8, 4.34 ERA)
Hector Santos (6-6, 3.82 ERA) vs. Juichi Fujita (9-5, 3.66 ERA)

Like I said before, Krom was a left-hander, and the only one we’d get in the set. Michael Palmer is still being evaluated; we sure could have used him in the opener.

Game 1
VAN: CF K. Evans – RF E. Garcia – LF Cameron – 1B Gilbert – C Baca – SS Rice – 3B T. Pena – 2B M. Austin – P Krom
POR: 2B Nomura – 3B Merritt – CF J. Alexander – 1B Quebell – RF Ayers – LF Seeley – C Bowen – SS Roudabush – P Spears

The Coons scored a pair in the first inning, but they were unearned after a Gary Rice throwing error opened the inning. Spears was wildly adrift from the start, allowed four hits and a run in the first two innings, and walked a pair in the third before being rescued on nifty plays by Merritt and Seeley. A 36-minute rain delay in the fourth inning didn’t help and he delivered an entirely unconvincing outing, but the defense helped to maintain the 2-1 lead through six innings, with an insurance run tacked on in the bottom 6th, when Roudabush hit a sac fly with the bases loaded and one out. Pruitt batted for Spears, but flew out to leftfielder Don Cameron. Quebell added a run with an RBI single in the bottom 7th, plating Alexander with two down, Tony Pena made a throwing error on Ayers’ grounder, but Luis Beltran, the ex-Coon, struck out Seeley to get out the jam. Law Rockburn scuffled in the top 8th, needing only one out to end the inning and inheriting nobody from Sugano, but allowed hits to Ray Gilbert and Alonso Baca to bring up the tying run before Gary Rice popped out to short, and Angel Casas couldn’t go without drama, either. He made a fielding error and allowed hits to Jose Mendoza and Enrique Garcia, which placed the tying runs on the bases with two outs, but after Don Cameron flew out easily to left, he “only” conceded an unearned run. 4-2 Coons. Quebell 2-3, BB, RBI; Spears 6.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 5 K, W (6-3); Sugano 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

This was Adrian Quebell’s first RBI in ten days. Brrrr, the offense is bad…

And it was going to get much worse. Michael Palmer was placed on the DL before the middle game of the set, after being diagnosed with a groin strain. He figures to miss the rest of the month, and we just found a deep hole in our lineup. We called up Pat Whitehouse, our third-rounder in the 2006 draft. Ordinary right-handed shortstop, good defense, meager bat. He’s been in the organization the entire time, and never made a dime, this is his first time on the 40-man roster. Him, Roudabush, and Gutierrez might take turns here and we’ll see whether any of them stand out. Probably not.

Game 2
VAN: CF K. Evans – C M. Thomas – 1B Gilbert – LF Cameron – 3B Suzuki – RF E. Garcia – 2B Rice – SS Lawrence – P King
POR: 2B Nomura – CF Castro – LF Pruitt – 1B Quebell – RF J. Alexander – C Bowen – 3B Roudabush – SS M. Gutierrez – P Hood

Rich Hood struggled, which was not news, and the Elks took a 1-0 lead in the second on three hits. More interesting was Yoshi Nomura getting drilled by a Bill King pitch that was closer to the dugout than to the plate. The injury-tested Raccoons and especially the hurting Nomura were disgruntled, but the fact that Hood hit the Elks’ second baseman Gary Rice in the top 4th was certainly totally coincidentally.

The Raccoons vaguely moved for the first time in the bottom 4th after Quebell opened the frame with a single, and Rice misfiled a John Alexander double play grounder for a throwing error that put the runs required to flip the score on base with nobody out. Bowen hurled the first pitch he saw right through Ray Gilbert for an RBI double, tying the game. Roudabush popped out to Rice, and Gutierrez was walked intentionally to get to Hood, which was a curious choice, and Hood singled up the middle to get himself a lead, his first major league RBI. Yoshi hit a sac fly to conclude a 3-run inning. Hood’s response to a 3-1 lead was to spend the entire fifth inning behind in the count, loading the bases, and then lucking out of that mess when Pruitt caught Mitsuhide Suzuki’s sizzling hot liner to left center. The Coons had two in the bottom of the frame when John Alexander was denied a homer by Enrique Garcia at the wall, and Hood didn’t reappear for the sixth, being sent showering on 94 messy pitches. Thrasher pitched the inning, and the Coons had another chance to break the game open in the bottom of that inning, Seeley, Nomura, and Castro loading the bases with consecutive 1-out singles, and this time they indeed broke through King and reliever Peter Edwards. Pruitt plated a run with a groundout, another one came in on a wild pitch, and then Quebell cranked a 2-run homer, running the score to 7-1. The Elks had their own chance in the top 8th, getting the leadoff man Suzuki on with a double off Gibson, before Slayton filled the bags. With two outs, Kurt Evans sent a drive to deep, deep right, deep, deep – caught by Seeley. The Elks got three hits, including two doubles, off Slayton in the ninth and … didn’t score. Mark Thomas hit the first double, but was thrown out at third base by Pruitt. They left runners on the corners. 7-1 Critters. Pruitt 2-5, RBI; Quebell 3-4, HR, 2 RBI; Seeley (PH) 1-1, BB;

Pat Whitehouse made his major league debut in the eighth inning, entering in a double switch with Slayton. He got an at-bat in the bottom 8th and grounded out, leaving Quebell on first.

What’s more, the Titans lost their fourth game of the week, and the Raccoons vaulted past them into first place in the North! The Titans were playing the Elks four-and-four around the break, and had split the first series evenly.

Game 3
VAN: CF K. Evans – 3B Suzuki – LF Cameron – 1B Gilbert – C Baca – SS Rice – RF E. Garcia – 2B Lawrence – P Fujita
POR: 2B Nomura – 3B Merritt – LF Pruitt – 1B Quebell – RF J. Alexander – C Bowen – CF Castro – SS Roudabush – P Santos

Hector Santos was trying to get a winning record before the break and to get to 100 K, which would require him to … well, win the game and strike out five. Kurt Evans started out the game with two strikes, then homered. Oh, well. Can’t have it all, I guess. Suzuki and Cameron singled before Ray Gilbert blasted an unassuming baseball to Kingdom Come, running up a 4-0 score, four batters into the game. The next batter, Alonso Baca, hit a ball to deep left that was a candidate, but ended up with Pruitt on the track, and Santos certainly looked like **** in this game…

It certainly didn’t get better for anybody in brown involved in this game. Merritt made his 15th error in the third inning, and that run came in to score, and Yoshi Nomura left another game with an injury, this time a tweak in the shoulder after flinging a baseball to get a close out at first. Santos was yanked after 5 1/3 innings, on a 5-1 hook and with only four strikeouts, after walking Gary Rice. He had driven in the Coons’ only run, though… There really wasn’t much more to report in this game. Fujita vanquished the Raccoons efficiently over eight innings. When Pedro Alvarado came out for the ninth, Craig Bowen greeted him with a leadoff jack, Keith Ayers hit a pinch-hit homer with two down, but that was all to this non-rally. 5-3 Canadiens. Ayers (PH) 1-1, HR, RBI;

We could have gone to 9-3 against them this season, but … no. Hector Santos started the game still sleeping. I’m really souring on him…

In other news

July 2 – CHA SP Max Shepherd (3-8, 3.42 ERA) has suffered a high-grade hamstring strain and could even be out for the season.
July 5 – The Indians give up and deal LF/RF Yohan Bonneau (.274, 3 HR, 13 RBI) and cash to the Stars for three prospects including #151 AAA SP/CL Chris Rose, as well as 3B Sonny Reece (.273, 4 HR, 20 RBI) to the Titans for another two prospects.
July 5 – 39-year old veteran SP Takeru Sato (5-8, 4.50 ERA) has been placed on the DL by the Miners. Sato needs to have bone chips removed from his elbow and is out for the season.
July 7 – 10-time All Star and 2-time Hitter of the Year SFB LF/RF Ron Alston (.338, 19 HR, 58 RBI) has his 2,000th career hit. Alston hits a double in the first inning off Jaylen “Midnight” Martin to reach 2,000, chips in another double later and drives in a run in the Bayhawks’ 4-1 win over the Condors.
July 8 – The Cyclones’ LF/RF/1B Will Bailey (.395, 9 HR, 52 RBI) swats his 300th career home run, a solo shot off the Miners’ Fred Dugo.
July 8 – LAP SP Bruce Mark (11-5, 2.48 ERA) sparkles in a 1-hit shutout over the Scorpions, with John Hudson’s third inning single the only blemish.
July 8 – For whatever reason, the Crusaders pick up SP Rodrigo Moreno (3-12, 5.67 ERA) from the Bayhawks, parting with 2B Todd Moultrie (.106, 0 HR, 2 RBI) and a non-prospect.
July 8 – The Falcons acquire 1B Juan Diaz (.214, 9 HR, 39 RBI) from the Blue Sox in exchange for OF Jaime Garcia (.214, 1 HR, 23 RBI) and a second-rate prospect.

Complaints and stuff

Yoshi ended up defeated in the All Star Game voting by OCT Dave McCormick by less than 700 votes. That’s a sour one…

Almost equally sour: he’s hurt yet again. A mild shoulder strain should still bother him when we go to New York after the All Star game.

Scott Spears’ peripherals are gruesome, K/BB hardly over 1.5, K/9 under six, and he’s getting a .259 BABIP turned in his favor, and as such it has somehow worked out for a 5-0 record since coming to Portland for him.

On the third we added our first international false hope of the year, blowing $280k (so, most of a team’s free international allotment) on 17-year old Panamanian right-hander Vic Mercado. He’s a groundballer with a nasty changeup, although overall stuff is not as interesting as his ability to locate his 88mph fastball with utmost precision.

Stanton Martin is an amazing player, but he’s also a total wreck. He is 33 years old, and in his career has only twice managed to stay healthy enough to play more than 125 games. A lot of 110’s in that career batting log in the games column. His Hall of Fame case will be an interesting one. Right now, despite a .295/.331/.508 slash and 199 HR with 925 RBI I’d say nope. Well, he didn’t break out until he was 26 (in 2005), but then led the league in slugging three times, and he also as three Platinum Sticks and a pile of Gold Gloves, but no, he has yet to show more to make the Hall, on my ballot at least. His first few playoff runs were also poor, ironically, because the Crusaders actually were the World Champions then, but in 2011, when they lost to the Pacifics, he batted .432/.457/.659 in the playoffs.

Oh, right. Who’s representing the Coons at the All Star game?

Nick Brown.

Fín.

The Indians – THE INDIANS – have FIVE All-Stars! Have you seen where they’re at? FIVE!! I give up. **** the All Star game.