[Westheim]

Raccoons (60-57) vs. Capitals (53-64) – August 18-20, 2015

In the bottom four in both runs scored and runs allowed, the Capitals really weren’t a good team. While they did excel in hitting home runs, they rarely had runners on base to take an advantage out of that, and they were bottom in stolen bases. The Raccoons hadn’t won a series against Washington since 2006, dropping the three contests played since then, each time losing two of three games.

Projected matchups:
Hector Santos (6-6, 2.58 ERA) vs. Alex Hurtado (6-9, 5.15 ERA)
Nick Brown (13-6, 3.11 ERA) vs. Brendan Teasdale (7-13, 4.13 ERA)
Jonathan Toner (13-4, 2.19 ERA) vs. Wade Davis (8-10, 4.90 ERA)

Brenda! That will be fun! We will miss the other former Raccoon, their only left-hander not on the DL, Colin Baldwin (8-11, 4.45 ERA). They also had Cássio Boda (8-5, 3.35 ERA), but had inexplicably designated him for assignment. Team in trouble? Probably.

These were not the only ex-Coons on the roster. They also had Yoshi Nomura (.316, 5 HR, 54 RBI) and John Alexander (.271, 12 HR, 67 RBI).

Well, at least the above was their disposition on Tuesday morning. When game time came, Hurtado was scratched, and Brenda moved up to the opener on short rest.

Game 1
WAS: RF Sarabia – 2B Nomura – C J. Flores – LF Munn – 1B Hayashi – CF J. Alexander – 3B Rivas – SS Orellana – P Teasdale
POR: CF Carmona – 3B Nunley – SS McKnight – RF Reya – 1B Murphy – LF Richards – 2B Sambrano – C D: Alexander – P Santos

John Alexander wore out his welcome quick enough with a solo homer in the second inning which negated the run the Raccoons had scratched out in the bottom 1st when singles by Cookie and Nunley had merely been followed by a McKnight sac fly. That was it for offense, which was a real shame given it BRENDA pitching for the Capitals. Santos struck out nine through five innings and was still in fairly decent shape then, but when Victor Sarabia and Yoshi hit singles to start the sixth inning this led to a long and protracted battle that saw the runners stranded, but also left Santos gassed with almost 100 pitches. Could he get a run and chance at a rare win? Yup, although nobody was more puzzled than me. Nunley and McKnight opened the bottom 6th with a pair of doubles to take a swift lead, and Teasdale entered meltdown mode with consecutive walks to Reya and Murphy. Ron Richards hit an entirely predictable pathetic grounder back to the mound, but Teasdale and Jose Flores got into each other’s underwear trying to field it and somehow all hands were safe on an RBI single that hardly made it 30 feet. Sandy’s hard 2-run single to right was the death knell for Teasdale, who was replaced after an intentional walk to D-Alex, which reloaded the bases with nobody out in the 5-1 game. Walt Canning hit for Santos and hit another RBI infield single off Cole Pierson, but that was it, as the 1-2-3 batters made the 1-2-3 outs. Canning would remain in the game, replacing Nunley at third. Danny Ochoa would pinch-hit in the #2 spot in the bottom 8th and drive in another run against right-hander Calvin Morris, plating Cookie Carmona, who had just taken his 29th bag of the year, with a single to left. 7-1 Coons. Carmona 2-5; Nunley 2-4, 2B; Ochoa (PH) 1-1, RBI; Murphy 2-3, BB; Sambrano 3-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Canning (PH) 1-2, RBI; Santos 6.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 10 K, W (7-6) and 1-2;

When J-Alex homered in the second, the home crowd applauded politely. When he struck out to end the game with Toki Hayashi, the long-time Titan, on second base against Entwistle, the crowd was delighted and cheered Entwistle with high energy.

There was also a personnel decision to make after this game, as Daniel Dickerson had to be activated from the DL. Some problems won’t go away on their own. Since Jeff Magnotta had been poor as heck in his debut, he was sent back to AAA for the rest of the month, and we would give Conway a few more starts (albeit reluctantly!), with Dickerson slotting back into long relief. I know I could just release Dud Dickerson, but he was a pretty fine pitcher in his hey-day and I just can’t get me to do it, which is odd, since I am not really renowned for my warm heart.

Hurtado came back for game 2 of the set. We learned that he had apparently jammed his hand in the fridge on Tuesday morning, which sounded a lot like an injury a Raccoon would suffer.

Game 2
WAS: CF Sarabia – 1B J. Gutierrez – C J. Flores – RF Hayashi – 2B Nomura – LF Munn – 3B Rivas – SS Orellana – P Hurtado
POR: CF Carmona – 3B Nunley – SS McKnight – RF Reya – 1B Murphy – LF Richards – 2B Sambrano – C D: Alexander – P N. Brown

Brownie, anything better than last time out will be swell – my way of motivating people. He would retire the first eight before issuing a puzzling 4-pitch walk to Hurtado, but Sarabia grounded out after that. Meanwhile, in a bit of a flashback to Tuesday, the Raccoons had scored a run in the first on singles by Cookie and Nunley, McKnight getting Cookie in with a productive out, and then it was just over … again. I can’t wait for all the suckers to go away…

Brownie retired the first two in the fourth inning before walking Toki Hayashi. A 1-2 pitch bored in on Yoshi, with the crowd not knowing how to react, and then Danny Munn singled. Bases loaded, ship sinking. The pitching coach checked on Brownie, which he didn’t like at all, but Alex Rivas’ single to center tied the game anyway before Salvador Orellana flew out to Cookie. 1-1 became 2-2 in short order as both pitchers conceded runs with or after a wild pitch, in Brownie’s case a wild one to Munn after Yoshi had hit a 2-out triple in the top 6th – again leaving the crowd without a clear message to send. Nick Brown was left without a decision after being hit for in the bottom 7th to no great effect. Ochoa struck out with Sandy on first, and Cookie couldn’t get a hit, either. Mathis and Thrasher kept the game tied into the bottom 9th, where the Critters faced Juan Jimenez, a left-hander. Bergquist batted for the appalling Richards in the appalling middle of the order, and drew a leadoff walk. Sandy bunted him to second, but Margolis and Hudman failed at pinch-hitting, left Bergquist at third, and we went to extras. Angel Casas allowed three hits to start the top 10th, and while the Capitals had a run thrown out at home by Reya, Juan Gutierrez drove in J-Alex with a single. For the Coons in the bottom of the inning, 1-2-3 went 1-2-3 against Jimenez. 3-2 Capitals. Nunley 2-5; Murphy 2-3, BB; Sambrano 2-3, RBI; Brown 7.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 6 K;

Too bad. I had hoped to make up some of that 2-11 extra-inning record by the end of the season.

Still another 43 games? Does that have to be? – Maud says yes.

Game 3
WAS: RF Sarabia – 2B Nomura – C J. Flores – LF Munn – 1B Hayashi – CF J. Alexander – 3B Rivas – SS Orellana – P W. Davis
POR: CF Carmona – 2B Sambrano – 3B Nunley – RF Richards – 1B Murphy – SS McKnight – LF Ochoa – C Margolis – P Toner

The Capitals had their leadoff man on in the first two innings, but failed to score him both times, before Wade Davis hit a 1-out single in the top of the third. Sarabia also singled, and while Yoshi struck out, Jose Flores reached on a clumsy error by Nunley to fill the bags for Danny Munn, batting .249 with 19 homers. Jonny walked him on four straight before sneezing out Hayashi, but what an aggravating run that was again… A Murphy error created a long fourth inning in which the Capitals stranded a pair, but the extra effort ran Jonny over 80 pitches in just four innings.

The Coons had their first scoring opportunity in the bottom 4th. Nunley hit a leadoff single, followed by Richards doubling through Hayashi, which put the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position for Murphy, who had **** to make up. He grounded to short AS HE ALWAYS DID with Orellana picking the sure out at first and conceding the tying run. McKnight then came through with an RBI double, giving Jonny the lead, 2-1. The Capitals would walk Margolis intentionally with two outs and McKnight on third base, despite Toner having the vastly better slash line by now, but here he popped out to second. But not only could Jonny not hold on to the lead, he also would not finish the fifth inning. After a walk to Yoshi he threw a wild pitch, and conceded the run on Hayashi’s sharp single to center. J-Alex singled and Rivas walked with two outs, and with the bags full and over 110 pitches he was done. Sugano came in to face the switch-hitter Orellana, who was weaker from the right side, and got a relieving grounder to short to end this ****ed up inning. The Coons left runners in scoring position in the fifth (Murphy leaving two with an F7) and sixth (Reya stranding McKnight at second), and after that had to put in Dickerson in vain hope for two innings without botching the 2-2 tie. This was never going to work outside of the dream world. The Capitals burned him for three runs in the seventh while getting their lead runner put out on a poor bunt by John Alexander, and got two more off Entwistle in the last few innings. With two on, the game ended when D-Alex flew out to J-Alex, a fitting end to the misery and madness. 7-2 Capitals. Nunley 2-4; Richards 3-4, 2B; McKnight 1-2, 2 BB, 2B, RBI; Ochoa 2-4;

Yoshi went 3-for-10 in the set, but also drew three walks. John Alexander was 4-for-9 with a walk. And Danny Margolis has not had a multi-hit game since July 23, shedding 37 points of batting average in the process. He’s in a 3-for-39 rut.

Raccoons (61-59) @ Indians (64-57) – August 21-23, 2015

Facing the Indians hadn’t been fun for a while, and this year the Raccoons were a meager 4-7 against them. They were in the bottom three in offense, but pitched really well, allowing the third-least runs in the CL. However, their run differential of -26 seemed not quite fitting for a team still making a bet for the playoffs, although they were ten games out by now. Heck, the miserable Raccoons had a better run differential than the Indians at -18.

Projected matchups:
Bill Conway (5-11, 5.51 ERA) vs. Tom Weise (9-7, 3.51 ERA)
Kenichi Watanabe (6-9, 4.17 ERA) vs. Alejandro Mendez (8-9, 3.27 ERA)
Hector Santos (7-6, 2.54 ERA) vs. Kyle Lamb (6-11, 5.85 ERA)

The only left-hander for us this week will be Lamb on Sunday. Does it only seem like it or do we ALWAYS face Tom Weise?

Game 1
POR: CF Carmona – 2B Sambrano – 3B Nunley – LF Richards – SS McKnight – RF Reya – 1B Ochoa – C Alexander – P Conway
IND: CF J. Wilson – SS Matias – RF Gilmor – 1B S. Guerra – C Padilla – LF J. Baker – 3B D. Jones – 2B Mathews – P Weise

Sandy reached on an uncaught third strike before being caught stealing in the first inning, while Conway retired the first two before Nick Gilmor tripled, which immediately snowballed into the Indians batting around and scoring three runs before Weise left the bases loaded when he lined out hard to Nunley. The Coons would make up two in the second on straight base hits by McKnight, Reya, and Ochoa, who doubled. But Conway would never have a clean inning, much less a scoreless one. The Indians tagged him for single runs in the second, third, and fourth, and he didn’t finish the latter one, having to be dug out by Mathis with two outs and two on. That inning had also started to slip with two outs and nobody on. Conway sucked capitally, and lost the game more or less on his own.

Dickerson was in after that, but faced only two batters before leaving with some ailment of some sort. The Raccoons were left to stick together Bruno and Thrasher for outings of more than three outs, with the latter being charged with a run on a bloop single by Joey Mathews, who stole second base, and another bloop single by Raul Matias that scored Mathews. The Raccoons, despite running a lineup without a right-handed batter, could not get to Weise at all, and were held to a solo homer by Dylan Alexander in the seventh inning before heading to the ninth down 7-3. They had two down before Joel Davis hit D-Alex with a pitch. Stan Murphy hit for Thrasher and singled to left, knocking out Davis and bringing on Jarrod Morrison, their closer. Cookie came through with a 2-run double into the rightfield corner, but Sandy Sambrano grounded out to end the game. 7-5 Indians. Carmona 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Nunley 2-4; Murphy (PH) 1-1; Bruno 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Pfffff. Oddly, while still a game over .500, we have dropped into fifth place on our own now. Behind the Loggers, yay.

The Dickerson problem solved itself overnight. The Druid diagnosed him with shoulder inflammation and he would not pitch again for the Raccoons.

Game 2
POR: CF Carmona – 3B Nunley – SS McKnight – LF Richards – RF Reya – 1B Murphy – C Alexander – 2B Bergquist – P Watanabe
IND: CF J. Wilson – SS Matias – RF Gilmor – 1B S. Guerra – C Padilla – LF J. Baker – 3B D. Jones – 2B Mathews – P A. Mendez

The Indians didn’t take long to take the lead again. Watanabe issued a walk to John Wilson to start his night, and Nick Gilmor swiftly doubled him in to score. The Coons had Bergquist on first in the third inning, and Watanabe batting with one out. At 1-2, the go sign was given to Bergquist, Watanabe lined to the left side, but Dan Jones caught a) the ball, and b) Bergquist 60 feet off first. Fittingly, the Indians started the bottom 3rd with two line drives to either side that fell in, and after a walk to Gilmor had the bases loaded with nobody down. Santiago Guerra grounded to third, where Nunley’s only play was at first base, and a run scored. The Indians then left the score at 2-0 as Dave Padilla popped out to McKnight, who also played Josh Baker’s grounder for the third out. The Raccoons would have the bases loaded on their own, with one out in the fourth inning. Cookie led off with a single, stole second and made it to third on Padilla’s errant throw. Nunley and Richards walked to give Luis Reya a chance to do some damage to something else than my will to live, but grounded to Guerra, who zipped to second to get Richards, but the return throw was not quite in time, and at least one run scored before Murphy popped out. The Coons only had their third hit in the sixth inning when Nunley hit a blooper into center for a single and stole second base more or less by accident, but was stranded there by McKnight and Richards. That was it for the Coons, not just for their ineptitude, but for the fact that the skies had been gray for a while, it had started to drizzle in the bottom 5th, and it started to pour in the bottom of the sixth, with the game called an hour later. 2-1 Indians. Watanabe 5.1 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, L (6-10);

Too bad. I had been looking forward do have three on with nobody out in the ninth and Richards, Reya, and Murphy foul out three times in a row.

Game 3
POR: CF Carmona – LF Sambrano – 1B Murphy – RF Reya – SS Hudman – 3B Canning – C Margolis – 2B Bergquist – P Santos
IND: CF J. Wilson – SS Matias – RF Gilmor – 1B S. Guerra – C Padilla – LF J. Baker – 3B D. Jones – 2B Mathews – P Lamb

The Coons had two on in the first, didn’t score, the Coons had two on in the second, didn’t score, and the Arrowheads were really doing a good job at choking them and robbing me of the last bit of energy. Santos kept the Indians hitless through three, sort of, if you were willing to ignore the two batters he drilled with a ball, but nobody scored through three. The Raccoons would have three hits after five innings, two by Margolis, while the Indians had none through four before Santos walked Joey Mathews with one out in the bottom 5th, and John Wilson not only broke up a developing no-hit bid, but also scored the run with an RBI double.

Can anybody here give that ****ing poor little **** a little ****ing bit of run support!!?? A leadoff walk in the sixth was a nice start to get things going, but after Murphy reached, Reya struck out, Hudman got him forced, and Canning was blazed by Lamb, who had about 1.5 walks for every strikeout this season. Instead, Santos got torn up for four line drive hits and two runs in the bottom of the sixth. Unloved Santos went seven innings for a miserable team and picked up another unnecessary loss. 3-0 Indians. Margolis 3-4;

In other news

August 17 – DEN SP Willis Sanguino (18-4, 3.11 ERA) pitches a 2-hit shutout against the Falcons. The Gold Sox win 3-0.
August 17 – The Indians will be without 2B Jong-beom Kym (.267, 8 HR, 27 RBI) for the next month after the 31-year old has sprained his ankle.
August 19 – The Aces take a nasty hit in their playoff bid as they lose INF Brent Burke (.309, 10 HR, 51 RBI) for a month to a sprained ankle.
August 20 – 39-year old RIC 3B/1B Jon Merritt (.268, 0 HR, 5 RBI) logs his 2,000th career hit in a 2-hit performance with a fifth-inning RBI single off Indy’s Dan Lambert. The Rebels win 5-3. Merritt spent most of his career with the Buffaloes and later the Raccoons and is a career .268/.380/.375 batter with 60 HR and 787 RBI.
August 20 – The Pacifics beat the Bayhawks, 1-0, on a solo home run by Jonny Gartner (.302, 5 HR, 43 RBI).
August 21 – SAC SP William Kay (11-8, 3.53 ERA) is out for the year with shoulder inflammation.
August 21 – Frequently ailing DAL 3B/2B Hector Garcia (.291, 6 HR, 40 RBI) will have to sit out another three to four weeks with a strained hamstring.
August 21 – Canadiens and Crusaders have at it for 16 innings. They go into overtime tied at one, and both score three runs in the 13th inning before the Canadiens score two in the top 16th and outlast the Crusaders’ 1-run onslaught in the bottom 16th to win, 6-5.
August 22 – At 39 years old, LAP 1B/3B Dennis Berman (.299, 15 HR, 73 RBI) reaches a major milestone with his 3,000th career hit in a 13-5 win over the Stars, in which the Pacifics score all their 13 runs in the fifth inning, and Berman also gets his hit there, an RBI single off John Watson. Berman is a career .284/.366/.446 batter with 315 HR and 1,501 RBI. He is a 4-time Platinum Stick winner, but never won a World Series, playing for the Cyclones most of his career before they won their most recent title, and for the Stars after their most recent title.

Complaints and stuff

What is it with ankles these days!? Why don’t just amputate all players’ feet and replace them with those spring blades they show off in the Paralympics? Nope, sorry, we can’t afford that.

Also replace arms. I can’t imagine a calculator controlling a third-rate batting cage pitching machine could be much worse than some of our human pitchers. Not that the offense is any good. We are at 3.7 runs per game in August, but over the last 19 games we’re actually down to just 3.2 runs per game. No wonder I keep running out of booze. And pills. Especially pills. People say that pills and booze don’t mix, but that’s not true. The secret is in shaking, not stirring.

Almost ten million bucks well spent: 48 G, 38 GS, 8-16, 223.1 IP, 4.96 ERA … at least it is over now.

Magnotta was back on the roster to take back the spot hurriedly vacated by Dud Dickerson and would take the spot of Conway again. Not that Magnotta was the solution to anything. He had pitched in a game in AAA on Thursday, and had allowed four runs in a no-decision.

I was looking at upcoming free agents, and I find it hard to find a David Brewer type to drool over.

Down in AAA, third lefty George Youngblood tore his flexor tendon and is out for a year.

Also, it’s still August, and three season series against the CL North opposition are already decided. We got rolled by the Elks and the Indians, and took out the Titans. We have good shots against the Loggers (7-4) and Crusaders (8-3!!??). The Titans and Knights will be up next week in a week-long homestand.