[Westheim]

Raccoons (65-54) vs. Capitals (58-60) – August 13-15, 2012

The Capitals were on a tear, having won their last nine games, so now the Raccoons, who had been playing “meh” baseball for several weeks, had a blazing hot team on their paws. Overall the Capitals’ numbers weren’t impressive at all, sixth in runs scored in the Federal League, and seventh in runs allowed, with a -1 run differential (Coons: +77). They led the league in home runs, too. We hadn’t beat them since 2006, with the last two series both going 2-1 in their favor, most recently in ’11.

Projected matchups:
Richard Williams (2-1, 4.85 ERA) vs. Manuel Hernandez (7-5, 3.67 ERA)
Hector Santos (9-8, 3.72 ERA) vs. Tyler Sullivan (7-11, 5.63 ERA)
Nick Brown (10-7, 2.74 ERA) vs. Chris York (10-5, 3.85 ERA)

More things might work against the Raccoons than their recently indifferent performance. The series starts with two left-handed starters, and they played a double-header on Saturday, meaning if their any smart, they’re flicking the righty York with the lefty Dean Merritt (7-12, 4.43 ERA) to quell the Raccoons for three days. The only guy we definitely won’t see is ex-Coon Randy Farley (9-10, 4.10 ERA), who was trying to squeeze out 200 career wins before running out of time – going on 39 here – and was 14 W short.

Game 1
WAS: 2B A. Rodriguez – SS J. Perez – C J. Flores – 1B T. Ramos – 3B J. Soto – RF Munn – LF McCarthy – CF J. Simmons – P M. Hernandez
POR: 2B Nomura – SS Palmer – CF Sambrano – 1B Quebell – 3B J. Merritt – LF Carmona – RF Ayers – C Bowen – P Williams

Early on this looked like a potential high-offense game. Jalen Simmons hit a 2-run homer off Richard Williams with two out in the second, and Williams after that walked the pitcher, conceded a single to Alberto Rodriguez and also walked Jose Perez before Jose Flores fouled out in rightfield to keep the runners stranded. Bottom 2nd, Manuel Hernandez walked the bases full with nobody out, bringing up the hapless Keith Ayers, who flew out harmlessly to left, and the best the Coons managed to collect was a sac fly by Craig Bowen, remaining down 2-1. Williams would get run in the fifth inning after the Capitals expanded their lead to 5-1 after a bombastic 2-run homer by Jesus Soto, with the Raccoons requiring help in the form of their leadoff men Castro and Nomura reaching on being smacked and an error, respectively, to score two runs of their own in the bottom of the inning. Down 5-3, Carmona hit a leadoff triple in the bottom 6th, and even the runts of the litter were inspired, with Ayers and Bowen hitting back-to-back singles off Hernandez to put the go-ahead run aboard with nobody out. Castro flew out to center and Yoshi hit into a fielder’s choice, which at least got Ayers home with the tying run, but the go-ahead run remained on first until Palmer singled.

Castro had replaced Sambrano in center, and Pat Slayton had pitched the top 6th sitting in the #3 hole, where now the usual occupant against righty pitching, Matt Pruitt came out to pinch-hit. He was due to strike out after hacking at two low pitches, but the third one was up and met by Matt. Deep fly to right, Danny Munn stretching in vain, and it was in for a 2-run, go-ahead double! Lefty Kevin Jones replaced Hernandez, but got clobbered for three more hits and two additional runs, and the Critters were up 9-5. Now they just had to piece nine outs together from a strained bullpen that was a man short and had already spewn forth and flushed down two of the remaining six pitchers. Things predictably went badly, starting with Sugano, who uncharacteristically walked two in the seventh and the leadoff man Aaron Case in the eighth. Steele replaced him, was characteristically no help neither dead nor alive and left with two on and two outs and three left-handed batters up. Ron Thrasher got the assignment here, and was promptly 3-bombed by Tony Ramos, the former Titan. That brought the Capitals to within a run, and an end to all experiments, as Angel Casas entered in another double switch that sat down Yoshi, and the bullpen closed for the day. He struck out Soto, but another ex-Coon in Marcos Bruno (not great anymore, but still pretty darn good), erased Gutierrez, Quebell, and Merritt 1-2-3 in the bottom 8th, and Angel blew the save after singles by Rickey Jackson and Jalen Simmons, plus a groundout by another ex-Titan, Rudy Garrison, that actually brought home the tying run. Carmona was on base with a leadoff single in the bottom 9th, but with the horrendous portion of the lineup behind him EVERYBODY knew he’d steal, and he was caught. There was no pitcher to rescue Angel Casas, who had to endure to the 11th until the Capitals tore him right open for four runs, including a 3-run homer by Rodriguez. Cynically, Ricardo Carmona singled home Quebell in the bottom of the inning for no greater good. 13-10 Capitals. Nomura 2-5, 2B, RBI; Palmer 2-6, 2B, RBI; Pruitt (PH) 1-1, 2B, 2 RBI; Quebell 3-5, BB, RBI; Carmona 4-5, BB, 3B, 2 RBI;

Arf.

After consecutive extra-inning losses and consistent poor performance by the starting pitching, our pen was now properly shot, and Hector Santos ain’t famous for pitching complete games… Worse, the only guy to reasonably put on waivers to get in fresh blood right now with an extra reliever was Carmona, and he was JUST heating up. We might even be forced to piggy-back Santos with Spears in the middle game, which was liable to produce more problems down the road as the week would progress and the Raccoons regress...

At least I restocked on fudge bars. I also checked, and we still have a stash of Capt’n Coma left over from the bad times, which I might check on if it’s still good.

Game 2
WAS: 2B A. Rodriguez – SS J. Perez – C J. Flores – 1B T. Ramos – 3B J. Soto – RF Munn – LF McCarthy – CF J. Simmons – P Sullivan
POR: CF Carmona – SS Palmer – LF Pruitt – 1B Quebell – 3B J. Merritt – 2B Sambrano – C D. Alexander – RF Ayers – P Santos

Santos sat down the first 13 Capitals before Soto and Munn hit back-to-back singles to create instant drama. While the inning was resolved with a fly out to shallow right by Jimmy McCarthy and a K to Simmons, the general state of the game was worrisome, with no runs on the board and no intent visible by the Raccoons to change that any time soon. Santos had logged an out in the eighth inning exactly twice this season, but even then we could ill afford extra innings. Santos and Carmona hit 1-out singles in the bottom 5th, but were left on, but in the next frame Quebell hit a leadoff single and Jon Merritt wrestled a walk from Tyler Sullivan, and the Coons jumped onto the board with an RBI double by Sandy and a 2-run single by D-Alex, 3-0 after six, but three of the first four Capitals hit singles off Santos to not only jump onto the board with two runs, but also thoroughly ruining his pitch count. The Coons exploited three walks in the bottom 7th for two takeback runs, but Santos couldn’t go longer than two more outs before he showed a sharp drop in velocity. Jose Perez doubled with two out in the eighth, and Josh Gibson was thrown in to see whether he could avoid blowing a 5-2 lead. He struck out Soto, but had nothing in the tank by the ninth, walking two before departing for Scott Spears, who had thrown 124 pitches three days ago (what are those donkeys in AAA doing with my rehabbing players!!??). He allowed two hard flies to Chris Parker and Jalen Simmons, but somehow Carmona and Ayers managed to make breathtaking plays and end the game. 5-2 Coons. Carmona 2-5; Pruitt 2-4, BB; Sambrano 2-3, BB, 2B, RBI; D. Alexander 2-3, 3 RBI; Santos 7.2 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 7 K, W (10-8) and 1-3;

Yep, that’s our Chris Parker of old, Raccoon from 1998 to 2002, a.k.a. The Time When The Forest Wept, so inane were those Raccoons back then. He’s been stealing a deserving player’s roster spot for 15 years now, so congrats to him.

Hector Santos threw 104 pitches, his season high. He reached 101 before, but sometimes he’s toast by 90. Also: first career save for Scott Spears, although halves should be awarded to Carmona and Ayers instead. Keith Ayers – not one good at-bat the entire season, but half a save; knock yourself out.

And the Capitals did NOT send Merritt, but stayed with Chris York, which can’t possibly be a bad thing, right? Regarding the pen, the best case scenario would still be a complete game shutout by Brownie, who was 11 K off another jump up the career strikeouts board.

Game 3
WAS: 3B J. Soto – SS J. Perez – C J. Flores – 2B A. Rodriguez – 1B T. Ramos – LF McCarthy – RF Munn – CF J. Simmons – P York
POR: 2B Nomura – CF Carmona – LF Pruitt – 1B Quebell – 3B J. Merritt – SS Palmer – RF J. Alexander – C D. Alexander – P Brown

Facing one of only four active pitchers ahead of him in career strikeouts and with the Raccoons in dire need of a peak performance, Nick Brown couldn’t come up with such one, or even a decent, deep outing. The Capitals had three hits in their first four batters to score two runs in the first inning, and Jesus Soto hit a 2-run homer in the second to send them soaring 4-0, while the Coons were retired in order by York. Nick Brown, while rocked in his day job, had the only Raccoons hit through five innings, and when they did finally get on in the middle innings, they also hit into double plays once again. Scorched for 11 hits and five runs over eight innings, Nick Brown wound up with a crushing defeat with at best a pyrrhic victory over York in strikeouts, whiffing six to York’s five, but Chris York probably didn’t bother too hard, since in the end it was him who dealt a 6-hit shutout in a completely depressing affair for the home crowd, even before Ron Thrasher and Micah Steele conspired to cock up another three runs on a Jesus Flores homer in the ninth inning. 8-0 Capitals. Merritt 2-3; Castro (PH) 1-1;

First, this game sucked balls. Second, at least Nick Brown protected the wounded pen, except for some wannabe-setup scum – and Steele was the Loggers’ closer for years, so that’s why they have a 10-year rent on last place – and with the off day on Thursday we could get things back in order.

Except for some emotional scarring, but that comes with the job.

Raccoons (66-56) @ Loggers (45-75) – August 17-19, 2012

The Raccoons were merely 7-5 on the once more desperately bad Loggers this year, but was it a symptom or was it the cause for the Raccoons’ misery? Who knew, and who bothered… The Loggers had lost five straight, were 8th in runs scored, and 11th in runs allowed with a meager rotation and the worst bullpen in the league. They also had seven more or less key players to them on the DL, including Daniel Sharp, who was out with a strained hip.

Projected matchups:
Shunyo Yano (4-10, 5.10 ERA) vs. Roman Jimenez (8-9, 4.73 ERA)
Scott Spears (7-3, 2.75 ERA) vs. Gabriel Caro (11-10, 3.62 ERA)
Rich Hood (6-5, 3.60 ERA) vs. TBD

Horrid weather had forced the Loggers to play three games in the last two games, and we weren’t quite sure what to expect on Sunday. Jimenez and Caro are right-handers, however.

Game 1
POR: 2B Nomura – RF Carmona – LF Pruitt – 1B Quebell – SS Palmer – CF Castro – 3B Merritt – C D. Alexander – P Yano
MIL: LF Alires – 2B O. Sandoval – 1B Roncero – RF Dally – SS Luján – C R. Hernandez – CF Gilmor – 3B Ito – P R. Jimenez

Dylan Alexander set the Raccoons ahead with an RBI single in the second inning, and they would add a run on a productive groundout by Nomura before the frame was over after depressingly leaving runners on the corners after getting them there with one out in the first. The Loggers weren’t yet picking up Yano, and helped out with errors when so inclined, which led to an unearned run in the fourth inning. Jimenez lost control completely in those middle innings, issued two walks on his way to load the bases with one out in the top 5th, with D-Alex back at the plate, and he tied for the home run lead on the team when he creamed an 0-1 pitch to deep right and outta here. GRAAAAAAAAAAAND SLAAAAAAAAAAAMMMMM!!!

There weren’t many things in life that were certainties, but when it came to Shunyo Yano, we were sure by now; he was a total dork. The instant he was spotted with a 7-0 lead he started slacking again and the Loggers immediately created an opening into this game. Antonio Luján and Raúl Hernandez hit back-to-back doubles to start the bottom 5th and one run scored. Edgar Alires hit a leadoff triple in the sixth, and also scored on Oscar Sandoval’s groundout to short. Of course, the Loggers were also horrible, and by the seventh, Greg Dodson was pitching, whom they had received in the trash trade for Richard Williams. His ERA was almost 9. Michael Palmer led off with a single in the seventh, but Castro forced him, then took off to steal second base, took third on Hernandez’ errant throw, then scored on a wild pitch. Two dismal teams – head to head with another! D-Alex hit another homer, 9-2, but the bottom 7th saw Yano come apart completely. He faced four batters, retired none, then was pulled with the manager taking Merritt’s glove and slapping Yano on the head before sending him to the showers. The Loggers would bring the tying run to the plate in the inning after starting seven behind when a Carmona error and a walk to Silvestro Roncero loaded the bases, but in that spot Manobu Sugano struck out Justin Dally and the Coons remained ahead by four.

Milwaukee’s Oscar Valdez and Portland’s Richard Williams nursed a total ERA of 12 and were thus not the suspected candidates to do it, but both pitched two shutout innings after this near-implosion to close out the game. 9-5 Furballs. Merritt 2-4, 2B; D. Alexander 3-4, 2 HR, 6 RBI; Williams 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Admittedly, one team is more dismal than the other, and I still think the team has it in them, even with the hollow bullpen and the rotation filled with second-rate jokes. And their inane RISP hitting. And what else …

Oh, and in this one our top 5 batters went 3-for-24 with two walks, and SOMEHOW the team poured out nine runs…

Game 2
POR: 2B Nomura – CF Carmona – 1B Pruitt – RF J. Alexander – SS Palmer – C D. Alexander – 3B Merritt – LF Castro – P Spears
MIL: LF Alires – 2B O. Sandoval – 1B Roncero – RF Dally – SS Luján – C R. Hernandez – CF Gilmor – 3B F. Cuevas – P Caro

When Gabriel Caro started pitching, Yoshi Nomura sniffed cookies in his right pants pocket. His whiskers twitched in characteristic fashion, and that was picked up by Pruitt and Quebell in the dugout. Before Caro could blink twice, a whole flock of hungry Raccoons was all over him. Yoshi reached base to start the inning, drawing a walk. Carmona, who had made a few hard outs in the opener, was retired on a line drive, but then the hits machine jumped into action. Pruitt doubled, John Alexander singled, plating two. Palmer, D-Alex, and Merritt all reached, 3-0 with the bags loaded, before Castro lined out to short. Finally arriving at the pitcher, Gabriel Caro walked Spears on four pitches to force home the fourth run, and then Yoshi hit an 0-1 pitch into the gap in left center, emptying the bases and putting up a 7-spot in the first. The Loggers had to haul in Caro in the third inning, and when he retired to the showers, he still had Pruitt clawed firm to his pants with the snout shoved deep into the pocket to reach even the last crumbs.

Any decent pitcher would have run with a 7-run lead and would sparkled, but the Raccoons were looking for somebody like that to magically appear on the roster. Scott Spears struggled badly once he got the ball and spilled three runs in five innings before putting two more runners on base in the sixth to get yanked. The Raccoons had added two runs in the top 6th, so they were still up by six runs when Thrasher replaced Spears and struck out two to escape the jam, and the Raccoons tore through another ex-Furball in the eighth, shoving Ted Reese around for three runs, including D-Alex’ fourth hit of the day, an RBI double. 12-3 Raccoons. Nomura 2-4, BB, 2 2B, 3 RBI; Carmona 3-6; Pruitt 2-6, 2B; J. Alexander 3-5, 3 RBI; D. Alexander 4-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Thrasher 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K;

The ravaged Loggers put up another right-hander for the Sunday game, Ramón Huertas (1-2, 3.44 ERA), who had spent most of the year in Lubbock with their AAA team, posting a 4.51 ERA there.

Game 3
POR: 2B Nomura – SS Palmer – LF Pruitt – 1B Quebell – RF J. Alexander – CF Castro – 3B Merritt – C Bowen – P Hood
MIL: CF Gilmor – 1B Roncero – C McClendon – RF Dally – SS Luján – 2B O. Sandoval – LF Hodgers – 3B F. Cuevas – P Huertas

RISP hitting fell apart again after a couple of good games. Huertas walked people left and right, but the Raccoons left a runner in scoring position in the third, two in scoring position (when the bottom of the order was understandably dispatched) in the fourth, and when they had the bases loaded with one out in the fifth, John Alexander’s sac fly was all they could manage. Hood held up nicely early on, allowing only one hit in four innings, but Luján and Sandoval opened the bottom 5th with singles. Victor Hodgers bunted them into scoring position but Hood came back to strike out Fernando Cuevas before Huertas lined out to center. Huertas allowed five hits and six walks in six plus innings, but it wasn’t until he was removed after Palmer’s leadoff single in the seventh and the appearance of Ted Reese that the Loggers started to crumble. Pruitt and J-Alex drove in runs in the inning to give Hood a 3-0 lead. Rich Hood showed some very fine crumbling as well by the seventh, which had two on for the Loggers and Suketsune Ito retired with a very deep fly to center to end the inning, and he put two more on in the eighth and was removed for Pat Slayton to face the right-hander Luján, who grounded out to Yoshi on the first pitch to end another inning with two left on base. Yoshi then led off the ninth with a double off Kevin Cummings before Sambrano ran for him, but it didn’t really matter afterwards since even a paraplegic badger would have scored on Palmer triple into the gap in right center. Pruitt would score him with a sac fly for enough insurance to not remove Slayton, and the Loggers got only one man on and didn’t break up the shutout. 5-0 Furballs! Nomura 2-5, 2B; Palmer 3-5, 3B, RBI; J. Alexander 1-1, 2 BB, 2 RBI; Castro 2-4, 2B; Hood 7.2 IP, 7 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 8 K, W (7-5); Slayton 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, SV (1);

In other news

August 15 – IND RF Juan Ortíz (.290, 21 HR, 71 RBI) is expected to miss a month with a strained biceps.
August 16 – Boston’s newly traded-for ace SP Curtis Tobitt (11-7, 3.24 ERA) sparkles in a 4-1 win over the Cyclones in which he strikes out 16 batters to tie the Continental League record set by Kelvin Yates, then of the Condors, in 2005. The major league record remains 18 strikeouts, put up by Washington’s Chris York in 2004.
August 16 – Double-whammy for the Indians: C Jose Paraz (.263, 10 HR, 46 RBI) could miss the rest of the season with a torn quad.
August 18 – Often injured WAS RF/CF Victor Sarabia (.253, 6 HR, 37 RBI) is just off the DL and returns to the DL right away, expected to miss three weeks with a sprained thumb.
August 18 – RIC INF Bob Butler (.279, 5 HR, 41 RBI) is out for the year with a ruptured achilles tendon.

Complaints and stuff

The Coons were back 2 1/2 early in the week, but came back on the weekend with the dominant sweep over the sorry Loggers (and boy, was it time for that!).

Not much else to say this week. Let’s crunch some numbers instead.

PORTLAND RACCOONS – FRANCHISE STOLEN BASE LEADERS

1st – Matt Higgins – 220
2nd – Conceicao Guerin – 193
3rd – Tomas Castro – 140
4th – Daniel Hall – 99
5th – Armando Sanchez – 78
6th – Yoshi Yamada – 68
7th – Ben O’Morrissey – 63
8th – Ken Clark – 57
9th – Stephen Buell – 46
10th – Luke Newton – 41
…
t-15th – Santiago Trevino – 24
t-28th – Sandy Sambrano – 16
t-34th – Matt Pruitt – 14
t-40th – Michael Palmer – 12
t-46th – Ricardo Carmona – 11
t-51th – Nick Brown – 9

Okay, I didn’t want to include any current players under 10 SB, but Nick Brown… I can’t resist. I’m weak when it comes to Brownie.

Below, Hector Santos. Shouldn’t he do better than he does? I don’t know, I feel like he should be closer to Brownie in performance than to Rich Hood, who’s a lot more mundane and scouted 12/12/11 by Calderón.