Portland Raccoons (ABL) - Page 63

Griever20 · 04-10-2015, 09:42 AM

Another Option, albeit a bit harder to predict one, would be to increase the average attendace... Depending in stadium size that could be unbalaced ofc.

But I like the path you've chosen, I had to do a similar thing with a league I player without dynasty where the financials + owners nearly killed the league.

Westheim · 04-10-2015, 11:39 AM

All 24 teams just had $1.75M slapped onto their budgets, for a total of $42M just magically appearing out of the void.

Also, do the Capitals fans know this?

Westheim · 04-10-2015, 02:44 PM

Raccoons (43-49) @ Indians (45-48) – July 15-17, 2002

Batting an anemic .242 as a team, the Indians were hardly scoring and despite their record indicating otherwise, they were a pretty overwhelmed team, with a -44 run differential. Their rotation ranked 10th, but their bullpen was strong, with a second-best 2.91 ERA in the Continental League.

Projected matchups:
Ralph Ford (10-5, 2.38 ERA) vs. Kevin Edwards (1-7, 5.71 ERA)
Carl Bean (9-8, 4.01 ERA) vs. Alonso Alonso (7-6, 4.36 ERA)
Nick Brown (4-6, 2.77 ERA) vs. Manuel Alba (8-9, 3.75 ERA)

Ralph Ford was good to go, it seemed, so he went. Also, ex-Coon Ramiro Cavazos had gone down with a concussion for the Indians and was nursing a nasty headache. We in turn can expect Concie Guerin to return mid-week.

Game 1
POR: 2B Palacios – RF Brady – CF Reece – 1B Martin – LF Roberson – 3B Sharp – SS Matthews – C Fifield – P Ford
IND: 3B Montray – SS M. Jones – LF Alston – 1B D. Lopez – RF Greenman – CF J. Valdez – C T. Turner – 2B Stevens – P K. Edwards

Maybe Ford was not good to go after all. After a leadoff home run by Christian Greenman in the bottom 2nd, three more Indians reached base on two singles and a walk, and Ford would deliver a balk and hit Montray before the inning ended with two runs in and three men starved, somehow. Ford would surrender two more solo home runs to David Lopez and again Greenman before he was dragged back into the shed in the fifth inning. Meanwhile, the pushover Edwards had sat down the first 13 Raccoons he faced, so we knew we had lost early on. Our relief corps sucked the yarn off the balls, with another five runs scoring against the shoddy pitching of Huerta, Diaz, and Bruno. Edwards scattered four singles and no walks in going the distance. 9-0 Indians. Flores (PH) 1-1; Parker (PH) 1-1;

Yeah, those Indians are pretty overwhelmed! They can’t get anything done! They suck! Boo!

Game 2
POR: 2B Palacios – CF Reece – RF Brady – 1B Martin – 3B Sharp – SS Ingall – LF Parker – C Fernandez – P Bean
IND: 2B Montray – RF J. Lugo – LF Alston – 3B D. Lopez – C Paraz – 1B J. Garcia – SS Stevens – CF Greenman – P Alonso

In the first, Palacios and Reece made outs before a gang of Blackmasks flocked onto the base paths for Ingall. We got a certified Ingall single, one of the infield variety where Jesus Garcia didn’t look very good, before Parker struck out to leave three men on in a 1-0 game. Bean had a prime seat to watch a completely atrocious offense: his own. Well, BEAN was doing fine at the plate, smacking a leadoff double in the fifth inning! The monkeys atop the lineup failed to score him. Palacios grounded out, Reece walked, and was then in the right (wrong, depending on which side of the border you’re on) spot when Brady grounded hard to second. In the seventh we had Fernandez on third when Reece walked, and Brady did the honors of ending the inning yet again. In between though, Daniel Sharp had gone deep in the sixth, making this a 2-0 game. Both starters scattered six hits over seven innings and weren’t seen afterwards. We had Rodriguez and Martinez combine for a quick eighth, and then Nordahl came out, retired Paraz, and then – things stalled. Garcia singled. Stevens singled. Bloody hell, Greenman walked. Bases loaded, one out with a 2-0 lead. Tom Turner hit for the pitcher, went to 1-2, but then slapped the next pitch to the right side, where Brent McLaughlin, in for defense, launched himself for a wonderful grab, then tagged out a scrambling Greenman to end the game. 2-0 Raccoons. Bean 7.0 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 6 K, W (10-8) and 1-2, 2B;

So, Brent McLaughlin saved the day, huh?

That makes the next move all the more cruel. With Concie ready to return, McLaughlin … (sighs) … was designated for assignment. Sometimes this job sucks …

Game 3
POR: SS Guerin – 2B Palacios – CF Reece – 1B Martin – LF Roberson – RF Brady – 3B Sharp – C Fifield – P Brown
IND: 3B Montray – SS M. Jones – LF Alston – 1B D. Lopez – RF Greenman – CF J. Valdez – C T. Turner – 2B Stevens – P Alba

Chris Roberson slapped a 3-run home run in the first inning, but no, no-no, this was not going to be Brownie’s day. He hit two batters – IN THE FIRST INNING. The Indians scored two while still bent over, and cut the gap back to 3-2. It looked like the Indians were also taking objection to being pitched inside their rib cage. Fifield was plunked in the second, and Palacios was at least gently stroked across the chest by Alba’s first pitch in the top 3rd. With a wild pitch to Reece, and Reece singling afterwards, the Coons had runners in scoring position with no outs, but held the bats upside down or something. Two outs later, Brady drew a bases-loading walk, and Sharp had enough brain and discipline to draw an RBI walk from an Alba who was just as out of control as our own knife thrower was. When Brownie walked the first two men he faced in the bottom 4th, that not only brought the go-ahead run to the plate for the Indians, it was also Alba, who was up, and the Indians hooked him. Jose Lugo hit for him, grounded out, and one Montray foul pop later, Brown was almost out of the inning, although it required a nice play from Palacios to rein in Mike Jones’ grounder. Brown actually scored a run in the sixth when Art Stevens lost a perfectly good grounder from Palacios to allow him to score from third with two out, 5-2. Roberson saved Brown the indignity of not only walking a reliever in Jorge Escobar with two out, but then walking Montray as well, and getting pummeled by the shortstop, when he made a MAGNIFICENT play on Jones’ fly into the gap in left center in the bottom of the sixth, which was the last frame we could tolerate to see Brown, then hit his second homer on the day in the seventh to make it 6-2. Two out in the bottom 7th Manuel Martinez put enough batters on to be eventually able to balk one in and shorten the lead. The eighth was handled responsibly by Huerta, the Raccoons did not threaten offensively, so here came the bottom 9th, and there came Nordahl, potentially creating some excitement since the game had lost some spice since neither starter was in anymore. While Jones was retired on the first pitch with a grounder to Ingall manning first base, Alston slogged the full length of an at-bat to walk and set the table for David Lopez. Lopez however, grounded to short, and for the second day in a row, a double play ended the game. 6-3 Raccoons. Guerin 3-5, 2B; Roberson 2-5, 2 HR, 4 RBI;

Raccoons (45-50) @ Thunder (61-33) – July 19-21, 2002

Time to face another team so much better than we are. First in runs scored, first in runs allowed, there was no question who was boss in the Continental League. The Thunder had both hitting AND pitching going strong.

Projected matchups:
Randy Farley (6-7, 3.83 ERA) vs. Aaron Anderson (12-5, 2.95 ERA)
Bob Joly (2-5, 3.54 ERA) vs. Vaughn Higgins (12-3, 3.07 ERA)
Ralph Ford (10-6, 2.57 ERA) vs. Fabien Armand (6-5, 3.14 ERA)

Game 1
POR: SS Guerin – 2B Palacios – CF Reece – 1B Martin – LF Roberson – 3B Sharp – RF Parker – C Fifield – P Farley
OCT: RF Barnes – SS Grant – 3B Higashi – 1B T. Cardenas – LF D. Henry – C Vinson – CF M. Rodriguez – 2B H. Castro – P A. Anderson

No score for three innings, although the Thunder eventually got into the swing of things and hit Farley for a double and a triple, and two runs in the bottom 4th. In the next inning, Aaron Anderson misfielded not one, but TWO grounders by Raccoons, and still didn’t pay dearly enough for it, with only one unearned run scoring on a Guerin groundout. The Raccoons had the hardest time getting any form of contact against Anderson, and when they made contact, it was exceptionally poor. When Reece led off the sixth with an infield single, it was only our fourth hit of the game, and two of them of the infield variety. Then Tomas Cardenas made the Thunder’s third error of the day when Martin grounded to him, and come on you gotta make them pay! Roberson grounded out, and Sharp with deadly precision grounded into a double play. No matter how well Randy pitched, he was doomed. He went into the eighth, put two men on, and with the left-hander Dan Henry up, it was Diaz. The Thunder threw in Butch Kaustop, and seconds later it was a 3-1 game after Kaustrop doubled violently to left. Vinson hit a sac fly. 4-1 Thunder. Palacios 2-4;

Anybody remember how Butch Kaustrop was a Raccoon for three days some winter and was then flipped on to the Thunder for some other no-good? Maybe this is a managing problem on a grander scale, but the product on the field is still underwhelming against even our modest expectations. I wish I could do something againt these … these … these …

Uttercoons was always my favorite word.

Game 2
POR: SS Guerin – 2B Palacios – CF Roberson – 1B Martin – RF Brady – 3B Sharp – LF Parker – C Fernandez – P Joly
OCT: RF Barnes – SS Grant – 3B Higashi – 1B T. Cardenas – LF D. Henry – C Vinson – CF M. Rodriguez – 2B H. Castro – P Higgins

Joly was badly adrift from the point he threw the first pitch, but the Thunder only got one run off him in the first three innings. Martin doubled in the fourth and was eventually scored on a wild pitch by Vaughn Higgins to re-tie the score at one. The cover was blown off this one soon enough, though. Every leadoff man reached for the Thunder, as did Vinson in the bottom 4th. Rodriguez grounder was not fielded by anybody with the necessary rigor and became an infield single, and sure enough Daniel Sharp picked this moment for a catastrophic throwing error on Vaughn Higgins’ bunt. Still, the Thunder let Joly off the hook again, plating only a pair (although Bob Grant fell little shy of a grand slam when he flew out to Parker), and when Pablo Fernandez led off the fifth with his first big league home run, we were almost back in business, down 3-2. Now Higgins was about to drown, as Joly, Guerin, and Palacios all singled in succession to load them up with no outs in the inning. Roberson hit one to deep center, but Rodriguez made the play. Still, Joly scored, tying the game. Martin stepped in, and Higgins beat himself with another wild pitch, but nobody could come up with a RISP base hit. Top 6th, Parker flew to center, where Rodriguez dropped the ball not once, but twice, and Parker ended up at second base. He wasn’t scored, sure as hell. Joly and the 4-3 lead lingered into the bottom 7th, where Joly got an out from Higashi before with one out Cardenas legged out an infield single, but pulled something and was replaced by Angel Santos, just as Mauro Rodriguez chased Bob Joly and actually got two outs with no home runs in between and didn’t smash the park’s lighting either. Sharp and Parker were in scoring position with no outs in the top 8th, with Ingall then hitting for Fernandez, but struck out. Reece hit for Rodriguez, was not pitched to, as the Thunder used Jimmy Morey to give out an intentional walk. Morey then whiffed Guerin. Oh for crying out loud! Palacios put the first pitch into play, although was it actually into play? It went to right, pretty high, and pretty fast, and OUTTA HERE – GRAAAAAAND SLAAAAAAMMMM!!!! And then, the bottom 8th. Miller came in, and didn’t retire anybody. Two singles, a walk, gone, and Diaz appared to face – and walk – Artie Barnes. Great. Next was Bruno. The count on Bob Grant ran full, and I was grasping the arm support of my chair with one hand and another box of chocolates with the other. Grant lobbed a soft fly to shallow right, and Brady made a nifty play, keeping all runners pinned. Higashi tried to take a page from Palacios’ playbook and ripped at the first pitch, bee-lining it straight back to where it came from, and into the glove of Bruno that he just barely managed to get between the hissing rocket and his cherished face. The Thunder had gone on contact, and Bruno fell the right way to make a quick throw to first, nabbing Barnes for a double play! Bruno was cuddled by everybody on the way to the dugout. With the 4-run lead standing, he was penciled in for the ninth as well, and started out by drilling Angel Santos. Uh-oh. The next six pitches however were all strikes, and sat down two Thunder. Rodriguez eventually bounced out to Sharp. 8-4 Raccoons!! Guerin 2-5; Palacios 2-5, HR, 4 RBI; Martin 2-4, 2B; Fernandez 1-2, HR, RBI; Bruno 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, SV (4), IR 3-0;

That was … intense! Palacios’ slam was the difference, but the Thunder might have been an awful lot closer if it hadn’t been for them not scoring runs in the early going. Joly was seriously awobble, putting 12 men on in 6.1 innings. But the Thunder never hit anything else than singles in this game, and all of this conspired against them.

We might well get double payback in the Sunday game.

Game 3
POR: SS Matthews – 2B Palacios – CF Reece – LF Roberson – 1B Ingall – 3B Sharp – RF Flores – C Fifield – P Ford
OCT: C Briggs – RF Barnes – SS Grant – 1B Higashi – 2B Kaustrop – LF M. Rodriguez – CF Mallinder – 3B H. Castro – P Armand

Another sharp Capital error got the Thunder going early, as they plated two runs in the first, although part blame was on Ralph Ford, who was putting two strikes on everybody and still put them on regardlessly. He didn’t fan anybody the first time through the Thunder order, but expended pitches aplenty, regardless. The Coons had four consecutive singles in the top 4th which had them tie the score at two, before Fifield left runners on the corners. While the Raccoons didn’t get anything done afterwards, Ford was going so-so, but allowed a leadoff double to Michael Mallinder in the bottom 7th. Mallinder turned third and went for home on a pinch-hit single by Angel Santos, but Neil Reece played that one perfectly and pelted Mallinder at home plate. Nobody was willing to generate a bit of offense in the top 8th, handing Ford a no-decision, and the Thunder had a man on first against Martinez when they hit for Kaustrop with Vinson and two down.

I KNOW DAVID FAIRLY WELL! – He will NEVER get a base hit with two down and ANYBODY ANYWHERE. And he hacked out.

We had Ingall single starting the ninth, but although Concie ran for him, and we expended our left-handed bench dwellers, nobody was able to touch Jimmy Morey. Huerta came out for the bottom 9th, and PH Dan Henry led off with a single to right. He was on third base with one out and the pitcher up. But wait a minute! They didn’t have any pinch-hitters left! Morey made an easy out, and Jason Briggs swung and missed three times to send the contest into overtime. The Thunder had the winning run on third base again with one out in the tenth after a leadoff double by Barnes, but Huerta bailed out of there as well when Clyde Brady, back literally to the wall, caught an Antonio Ayala fly to end the inning. Bottom 11th, Huerta, Dan Henry, double. Daniel Miller replaced Huerta, with Mallinder flying out to right and putting the winning run onto third with one out for the third straight inning. They would eventually walk off – and did so on Hector Castro’s grounder to short that Guerin didn’t get home quick enough. 3-2 Thunder. Roberson 2-5; Ingall 2-4; Guerin 1-1; Ford 7.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 K;

(sigh)

In other news

July 16 – The Loggers try to help their bullpen, trading quad-A second baseman Jeffrey Reed (0-9 in the majors) for the Capitals’ veteran right-handed MR Alonso Villegas (0-2, 4.97 ERA, 1 SV).
July 17 – The Condors acquire OF/1B Joe Morton (.239, 1 HR, 22 RBI) from the Falcons in exchange for 1B Paco Batlle (.308, 0 HR, 1 RBI in 26 AB) and a minor leaguer.
July 19 – ATL LF/RF Alejandro Rodriguez (.338, 1 HR, 31 RBI) has his thumb broken by a pitch and will not return until late August. Atlanta’s Tynan Howard (7-11, 3.81 ERA) is undeterred by the news and 3-hits the Indians in a 5-0 shutout the same night the news break.
July 21 – LVA INF Oliver Torres (.269, 3 HR, 33 RBI) hits the DL with an oblique strain and is not expected back until early September.

Complaints and stuff

Another 3-3 week on the way to Oblivion.

Yes, batting Matthews leadoff was a blunder. I will admit that. The corner of my eye saw SS, the corner of my brain thought Concie, and you can’t trust either.

My meddling has so far not really worked. Nobody signed any meaningful free agents. There were just the two minor trades.

Westheim · 04-11-2015, 06:52 PM

Raccoons (46-52) vs. Bayhawks (56-43) – July 22-24, 2002

Another scarily good team, although these Bayhawks couldn’t stink up to the Thunder in the Southern Division. Ranking 5th in offense and 3rd in pitching was all well and swell, but didn’t help if the opposition led the league in BOTH categories.

Projected matchups:
Carl Bean (10-8, 3.80 ERA) vs. Henry Selph (5-9, 5.53 ERA)
Nick Brown (5-6, 2.77 ERA) vs. Miguel Diaz (7-4, 4.35 ERA)
Randy Farley (6-8, 3.89 ERA) vs. Tony Hamlyn (16-4, 2.10 ERA)

Wow, Hamlyn. Also, Carl Bean had won his last five decisions and was undefeated for over a month, and would try to pass Ralph Ford in wins for the Furballs in the opener, with a struggling Selph opposing him. But we all know how dangerous struggling pitchers can be to the Furballs…

Game 1
SFB: RF Javier – CF Walls – 1B D. Carroll – LF W. Jackson – SS J. Perez – 2B I. Navarro – C Manuel – 3B Bulco – P Selph
POR: SS Guerin – 2B Palacios – LF Roberson – 1B Martin – CF Reece – RF Brady – 3B Sharp – C Fifield – P Bean

With no score on the board, the bottom 4th unfolded particularly peculiar. The Raccoons had Reece (single) and Brady (walk) on base with one out. Sharp grounded to second, where Ismael Navarro had to stretch and could only get Sharp at first. So we had runners in scoring position with two down, and Fifield, batting all of .186, up next. The Bayhawks elected to bypass him and rather pitch to Bean (.340, 2 HR, 10 RBI) – and then Selph rung Bean’s buttocks with the very first pitch. That made it 1-0, and then Guerin struck out, ending the frame. Bean scattered a fair amount of runners all over the place, with a tight spot in the second, where Selph’s spot in the order came up in time to get an inning-ending strikeout in, and then again in the fifth, where only Guerin’s quick hands kept the shutout in order, starting a double play on Jose Perez. Bean was everything but dominant, and his bid for a win dissipated in the dark of night in the seventh. The Raccoons were as excruciating as ever at the plate, and failed to score on their own, and in the top 7th Bean put the leadoff man on for the third straight inning. This time, it cost, with Dave Carroll singling home Paco Javier with one out. That was it for Bean, as Rodriguez came out to face Will Jackson, the left-hander, but instead faced Luke Black, the right-hander. Rodriguez as usual was not particularly helpful, but Marcos Bruno would end the inning before the Bayhawks could take a lead. Bruno and Ingall had entered in a double switch, removing Sharp from the game, and the bottom 7th started with an Ingall single. Guerin made an out on a fly to center, before Palacios reached when Perez dropped his pop, and Roberson was hit by Selph. That filled them up for Albert Martin, and we were already asking us where his power had gone. Another boring fly to middle-outfield later - … well, at least he got Ingall home, the Raccoons led 2-1, and Reece added one plating Palacios with a 2-out single. Even on TV, our NWSN guys Cubby Hairston and Wally Gaston discussed Martin not hitting anything out even an inning later, when we had Parker on first and Fifield batting. Heck, Fifield hit one out, to dead center, making it 5-1, and doing his best to chase down Martin with his 11th while batting below the threshold to legally have oxygen administered. Whatever was right or wrong this side of the power alley, the Bayhawks ultimately couldn’t hurt our bullpen, and went down silently in the eighth and ninth. 5-1 Coons! Reece 2-4, RBI; Brady 2-3, BB; Parker (PH) 1-1; Bean 6.1 IP, 9 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 4 K; Bruno 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, W (2-1);

In fact, Albert Martin has not homered in the month of July. Heck! Since the All Star break he has had TWO extra base hits!

Game 2
SFB: 3B Berrios – LF Walls – 1B D. Carroll – CF Black – C G. Ortíz – SS J. Perez – 2B I. Navarro – RF Bulco – P M. Diaz
POR: RF Brady – 2B Palacios – LF Roberson – 1B Martin – CF Reece – 3B Sharp – C Fifield – SS Matthews – P Brown

Tuesday wouldn’t become merry Nick Brown Appreciation Day, with the diamond allowing a grand slam to Jose Perez in the first inning after walking the two preceding batters with two down. Brown was utter dog poo, allowing everybody and their moms to reach base, and issuing SIX walks in the first three innings, ALL with two outs. Meanwhile, Miguel Diaz was perfect. Brown started the fourth by walking Leon Berrios, and failed to throw a strike past the next two batters, either, finally getting yoinked. The Coons presented themselves overall despicably, totaling one base runner in five innings against Diaz. When they finally came alive, it was more through dumb luck and Diaz melting in the sixth. Matthews hit a single with one out, bringing up Huerta in long relief. Huerta twice failed to lay down a bunt, then got a sign to swing, and singled between Berrios and Perez. Brady walked to load them up, and from there, the Coons would score runs on a walk, a hit batter (Roberson), and a single, but couldn’t tie the score, leaving it at 4-3, and it was still just that after Dan Nordahl pitched a 4-pitch top 9th. Reece led off the bottom 9th against Johnny Smith, who had a 6.5 K/BB rate, but wouldn’t whiff anybody in the inning, instead surrendering line drives to Reece and pinch-hitter Guerin. Alas, both those lines were caught, and no Coon reached base. 4-3 Bayhawks. Palacios 2-4, RBI; Huerta 3.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K and 1-1;

Brownie walked seven, whiffed one.

If they weren’t trampled on, what would hopes and dreams be for anyway?

Unrelated, Gil Flores was designated for assignment. Cal Lyon was called up, but this more of a stopgap measure, and we might make another adjustment soon. I just can’t say whether that will be for Chris Beairsto already…

We got a trade proposal from the Thunder. What do they want from us? I know we have the best grounds crew in the CL (the Raccoons are perpetually lying face down in the dirt and grass and it is me-ti-cu-lous-ly combed!), but they need a PLAYER? The offer was Marvin Ingall going over for C Jason Briggs.

Of course the Coons need a catcher. We have three of them, none batting more than .190. Briggs is interesting. Not much power. Not very good contact. But he has struck out 56 times. IN THE LAST FOUR YEARS. And that is in over 1,300 AB. However, that’s his only trick. He’s a decent catcher, he’s better than anybody we have and claiming to be of the same trade, but he’s also a free agent and will cost us another $300k in salary until we’re there.

Game 3
SFB: RF Javier – CF Walls – 1B D. Carroll – LF W. Jackson – C G. Ortiz – SS J. Perez – 2B Berrios – 3B Bulco – P Hamlyn
POR: SS Guerin – 3B Sharp – LF Roberson – 1B Martin – CF Reece – RF Brady – 2B Ingall – C Fernandez – P Farley

Poor Randy. He didn’t figure much of a chance, even though the score was 1-1 after the first inning, and Hamlyn, who led the CL in all Triple Crown categories, didn’t fan anybody the first time through the order. But Randy himself was pitching like arse, with Roberson nailing out a second run at home in the top 1st, and the Bayhawks leaving five men on without scoring in the next two frames. But they kept getting on base and sooner or later Farley would buckle, which happened in the fifth, a run scoring on doubles by Walls and Jackson handing the Bayhawks a 2-1 lead. That was the margin between the two teams as the innings ticked down. We even used Bob Joly in relief, voiding a start for him with Thursday off, to get a bit of work off the proper bullpen. Joly walked a bunch, but was not scored on. The Raccoons fanned only four times against Hamlyn over eight frames, but couldn’t hit him decisively either. So here we were down by one and facing Johnny Smith again, facing the 4-5-6 guys and axing through them in no time. 2-1 Bayhawks.

(sigh)

The offense is so dead. Nobody is doing anything. Really, nobody. Gimme some dice, gotta write down Friday’s lineup *somehow*. The lineup would not include Fernandez, who was demoted to AAA to add Mark Thomas, who came off the DL.

Raccoons (47-54) vs. Knights (40-61) – July 26-28, 2002

I’d like to pounce on a bottom dweller, please. 101 games, 527 runs allowed, which was pretty much all anybody absolutely needed to know about the Knights, with a half-decent bullpen being seriously overcooked by a rampant atrocious rotation bordering on intentionally harming everybody in attendance, inducing an urge to vomit whenever they wound up, or wherever they wound up. Now they’d wind up in Raccoons Ballpark, and without a doubt would be pretty good.

Projected matchups:
Ralph Ford (10-6, 2.44 ERA) vs. Hector Martinez (6-6, 6.35 ERA)
Carl Bean (10-8, 3.69 ERA) vs. Greg Grams (4-12, 5.19 ERA)
Nick Brown (5-7, 2.89 ERA) vs. Larry Cutts (7-10, 4.96 ERA)

Game 1
ATL: 2B J. Miller – C Valadez – CF Ware – 1B Tinker – RF W. Taylor – SS Lujan – LF A. Solís – 3B A. Hernandez – P H. Martinez
POR: RF Brady – 2B Palacios – CF Reece – LF Roberson – 1B Martin – 3B Sharp – SS Guerin – C Thomas – P Ford

Another game that just like that started out 4-0 Opposition. This time all runs were unearned after a critical error by Guerin that put Stephen Ware on in addition to Ricardo Valadez instead of ending the first in due time. Ford continued to surrender another four singles before inevitably Hector Martinez came up and lobbed out to Brady. Ford was tagged for another three singles and an earned run in the second, and somehow would strike out seven over 4.1 innings before Hector Martinez homered off him to send him to bed with a 6-0 deficit. On a windy Friday night where on the Raccoons’ staff nobody did much, and few did anything, Martinez was out there on the mound, throwing lollipops, wearing his big clown shoes, and a fake red nose, and wasn’t done in. When Roberson led off the second inning with a triple, Martinez came back with three strikeouts. The universe was showing the Raccoons the finger, with Thomas singling to start the bottom 5th, only for Ingall to hit hard to third for a double play. When Martinez issued two 2-out walks to Brady and Palacios, Reece flew to left center for a casual third out. When Ingall got on the next time around, the Knights made impossible plays on defense to foil the Critters again. Ultimately, what the Critters did, was not important. The show was put on by the Knights, who would kill every pitcher the Raccoons fielded in the game, and they fielded a lot.

The game continued to crumble. At first Bob Joly was decent in another unplanned for relief appearance, before getting tagged for two in the seventh. Rodriguez was tasked with the eighth, walked Ware, the lefty, and was then sunk by Tinker with a homer to make it a 10-0 rout. He put another man on, before Miller appeared and cleaned up. Miller remained in for the ninth, but it just was not meant to work. Glenn Douglas singled, James Miller doubled, and Valadez walked. Bases loaded, no outs, out with Miller to have Diaz pitch to the left-hander. Said left-hander singled, and Ware put two more on the board, 12-0. Tinker singled, before Will Taylor accidentally made an out. We were in the ****s, somehow Diaz would collect two more.

Or would he? Nick Verdon singled, plating Valadez, 13-0. Diaz walked Angel Solís, 14-0. Anastasio Hernandez effortlessly took one of Diaz’ beans and sent it against the batter’s eye. 18-0.

Well, somehow Diaz has got to collect two more, since we’re not bringing another pitcher. Douglas singled. Miller flew out, before Valadez walked. Ware, the left-hander, doubled, bringing the score to an especially painful – in case you weren’t numb yet – twenty-oh. This wasn’t going to end, right? Marcos Bruno was sent for. Bill Tinker homered off him. In the bottom 9th, Matthews singled. Then Guerin hit into a double play killing the rally.

22-0 Knights. Matthews (PH) 1-1;

When the grounds crew came in to prepare the field for the Saturday game, they found me lying face down across the remains of the base line running from home to third. There actually was not much line left. The Knights had worn it out.

Players executed:
Mauro Rodriguez (7.13 ERA)
Juan Diaz (10.32 ERA)

Players moving up on executables list:
Pedro Perez (4.50 ERA in AAA)
Cesar Miranda (9-4, 3.50 ERA in 19 GS in AAA)

Game 2
ATL: CF A. Solís – C Valadez – LF Ware – 1B G. Douglas – 2B J. Miller – SS Lujan – RF R. Lopez – 3B Verdon – P Grams
POR: RF Brady – 3B Sharp – CF Reece – 2B Palacios – 1B Martin – SS Matthews – LF Parker – C Fifield – P Bean

After every bloody loss, no matter how mind-boggling, heart-tearing, soul-squelching, spirit-breaking, comes another day with another game. This one had Bean in it, and him and his entourage at least tried to leave the impression that everything was going to be fine. Bean struck out two in the first and kept the Knights at bay early on, while an early lead for the home team was arranged for by Neil Reece, who went deep for two runs in the bottom 1st. The Coons added an unearned run in the third, driven in Palacios, before the Knights had runners on the corners in the fourth, but Bean lasered out Antonio Lujan. Trouble kept brewing, however, with Sharp throwing away Grams’ bunt in the fifth to put two in scoring position with one out. Pieces started to come out of Bean, who walked Solís, before Valadez grounded sharply to Matthews for a double play. Matthews was in the crosshairs in the seventh however, making an error to put on leadoff man Rodrigo Lopez. Once Verdon doubled past Sharp, our 4-0 lead (reached when Brady scored after tripling in the fifth) seemed like it was going to go bust any second now, and Grams took a 1-2 pitch to center for an RBI single, before Bean took control again, struck out Solís and Valadez hit into a double play. Bottom 7th, Fifield was on base for Brady with two out. Brady was unretired on the day and smacked a high fly to right that was not coming down, 6-1 Coons, and Brady was a double from the cycle, but was highly unlikely to come up again with the Raccoons leading. This game was not secure, though. Martinez couldn’t solve the Knights in the eighth and the bases were loaded with two out after a 4-pitch walk to Lopez. In came Nordahl to face Verdon, who lobbed a 2-2 offering to shallow left, but Parker made the catch, stranding three. The Coons scored a pair in the bottom 8th, but Brady’s turn didn’t come up again. Bill Tinker took Dan Nordahl deep in the ninth, but the damage was insufficient to get the Knights back into the game. 8-2 Raccoons. Brady 4-4, HR, 3B, 2 RBI; Palacios 2-4, 2B, RBI; Bean 7.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, W (11-8);

The Knights’ Steven Ware strained a back muscle in this game and would miss a month. I still had some chalk on the face, but listed myself as DTD and moved on.

Bill Tinker has three home runs on the year – all in two days in Portland.

Game 3
ATL: CF A. Solís – C Valadez – 1B Tinker – RF W. Taylor – 2B J. Miller – LF R. Lopez – SS Verdon – 3B A. Hernandez – P Cutts
POR: 3B Sharp – RF Brady – CF Reece – LF Roberson – 2B Palacios – SS Guerin – 1B Ingall – C Fifield – P Brown

Brownie was perfect the first time through the Knights’ lineup, whiffing five, but falling to 3-ball counts three times, and none of those three batters struck out. The soup began to boil soon enough, however. After Solís failed to reach on a drag bunt leading off the, Valadez walked, Tinker lobbed a single over Palacios, and Taylor also walked. Bases loaded, one out, Brown relied on his number one to strike out James Miller, and Rodrigo Lopez grounded out to Guerin, keeping the game scoreless. Scoreless ended in the bottom 5th, when Guerin zinged a soft single to left that Lopez managed to lose between his legs for an extra base. Both Ingall and Fifield singled, bringing Guerin home, 1-0, before Brown struck out in vain attempts to lay down a bunt, and the Raccoons wouldn’t score any more. The Knights got Solís to third base after a leadoff walk in the sixth, but Brown got another key K to Taylor to escape, and the Raccoons continued to flail pointlessly, leaving another two runners on in the bottom of the inning, begging for Brown and whatever relievers we might be bothered using to walk six consecutive Knights. So far, Brownie was holding up, and in the bottom 7th, the Coons had runners on first and second once more after a Fifield single, Brown bunt, and Sharp getting put on intentionally for the guy that was a double removed from happiness the night before. Before Brady could poke, Cutts balked, moving the runners into scoring position. COME ON NOW!! Brady got to 3-1 before poking and it found a hole to get into left for an RBI single. Reece then found it necessary to hit into a double play. Bottom 8th, Guerin reached with a 2-out walk presented by Bartolo Gomez, right-handed relief man. When Guerin set off to steal with Ingall batting, Valadez’ throw was way high and Guerin reached third on the error. And here comes an INGALL SINGLE!! Begging for controversy and horrible things to happen, Brown batted with two on and two out and grounded out, sending himself back to the mound for the ninth with a 3-0 lead, facing the 2-3-4 batters with Nordahl standing by. Ricardo Valadez’ leadoff double was provocation enough to send for Danny, who preserved not only the win, but also Brownie’s clean sheet. 3-0 Coons. Guerin 2-3, BB; Ingall 2-4, RBI; Fifield 1-2, 2 BB, RBI; Brown 8.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 10 K, W (6-7);

Oh Brownie. What are we gonna do with you? Utter crap on Tuesday, awesome on Sunday. That’s ten walks and eleven strikeouts for him this week. Not a great ratio.

In other news

July 22 – OCT 1B Tomas Cardenas (.343, 10 HR, 55 RBI) will miss another two weeks with plantar fasciitis.
July 25 – The Knights part with OF/1B Gerardo Rios (.244, 11 HR, 52 RBI), who gets sent with a minor leaguer to the Rebels for C Ricardo Valadez (.355, 2 HR, 12 RBI in 76 AB) and pitching prospect Juan Sanchez.
July 25 – The Bayhawks deal MR Nesto Martinez (1-2, 3.55 ERA, 3 SV) to the Miners for utility man Justin Comte (.214, 1 HR, 9 RBI in 70 AB) and a minor leaguer.
July 27 – The Condors deal OF Matt MacKey (.357, 5 HR, 10 RBI in 84 AB) to the Indians for veteran bullpen help in MR Jared Chaney (1-0, 1.88 ERA, 9 SV).

Complaints and stuff

I have no comments.

Only this. I erred when I said last week the Raccoons were on the way to Oblivion. They aren’t. They are way too good as the league’s laughing sacks to not be remembered for a long, long time.

Oh. And this. We shopped our dismal, disfigured left-handed ex-relievers around, and uncovered no suitors among the 23 competing baseball franchises, which was not really shocking, after all they were COMPETING, but I was stunned to see that not even medical labs would take a stab at them and send over a box of Aspirin for Diaz and Rodriguez to use them up in research for a boil ointment.

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The following “qualified” free agents signed this week for the most meager money:
SP Ramiro Gonzalez with the Falcons
INF Bob Butler with the Warriors
That’s not a lot, but it’s better than nothing. The Coons must not sign any qualified free agents until at least two more are signed.

Questdog · 04-11-2015, 07:17 PM

Wow.....22 to 0.....it is impressive that you are not under restraint and observation!.....

Westheim · 04-12-2015, 06:08 PM

Raccoons (49-55) @ Aces (48-58) – July 29-31, 2002

Two meaningless teams were playing a meaningless series to end July. The Aces had lost five straight, while the Raccoons were still licking their wounds from a stinging, sour 22-0 sledgehammering by the Knights. The Aces’ had the second-worst rotation in the league, but had a mildly decent bullpen, but their offense was 7th in the CL and no great help.

Projected matchups:
Cesar Miranda (0-0) vs. Tommy Wilson (8-7, 3.28 ERA)
Randy Farley (6-9, 3.82 ERA) vs. Donald Stone (8-8, 4.40 ERA)
Ralph Ford (10-7, 2.49 ERA) vs. Dan Moriarty (9-8, 4.72 ERA)

Game 1
POR: RF Brady – 3B Sharp – CF Reece – 2B Palacios – LF Roberson – 1B Martin – SS Guerin – C Fifield – P Miranda
LVA: SS Hitchcock – CF G. Wills – 1B J. Vargas – RF L. Jenkins – LF McCormick – C L. Paredes – 2B Bell – 3B Combes – P T. Wilson

Cesar Miranda’s big league debut was not met with much excitement, nor with success. While he was handed a 2-0 lead right away, that lead didn’t survive Lou Jenkins’ at-bat in the bottom 1st, and Jenkins would hit another home run in the fifth to knock Miranda from the game with the score 6-2, and three homers against him. Miller surrendered another two runs in the sixth, and meanwhile the Raccoons had nothing going until the eighth, when they loaded the bases with two out after Ian Johnson hit Martin. He would however strike out Guerin, which was part of six strikeouts in two innings of work for Johnson, who finished the game. 8-2 Aces. Brady 2-5; Palacios 2-3; Roberson 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Fifield 3-3, 2B;

Sighing starts early this week. (sigh)

Game 2
POR: RF Brady – SS Guerin – LF Roberson – 2B Palacios – 1B Martin – 3B Ingall – CF Lyon – C Fifield – P Farley
LVA: SS Hitchcock – C De La Parra – 1B J. Vargas – RF L. Jenkins – LF McCormick – 2B Cerdeira – CF G. Wills – 3B Combes – P Stone

Two scratch hits and a walk filled them up in the first inning for Martin, who still had no home runs in a month of July that had long rounded third base and was about to slide into home plate. Stone got ahead of Martin and put two strikes of him, and we braced for the worst, when Martin finally met a pitch. Here it comes AND THERE IT GOES!! GRAAAAAAND SLAAAAAAAMMMMMM!!!!! And in a perfect world, Farley would have held on for the 4-0 lead for at least a little time, but – no. Bases loaded for Wes McCormick, who singled to right to score a pair, and then Cerdeira hit a bloop that kept the bags full in a 4-2 game. One out, Gary Wills’ grounder was not converted for two by the middle infielders, and another run scored before Bernard Combes flew out to deep center. 4-3, and it was all ugly. Lyon also sold out on McCormick’s liner with three on and two out in the bottom 2nd, and made a miraculous catch. Farley allowed seven hits in two innings, and the bullpen got busy early on. Farley allowed three more singles in the bottom 3rd, didn’t retire anybody, and when Bob Joly relieved him. Joly immediately surrendered a 3-run triple to pinch-hitter Dick Bell, and Bell scored on an error by Ingall. On nobody’s radar was the off chance that the Raccoons might recover from that soul-grinding 7-4 deficit after three innings, but they did: Guerin led off with a double, with Roberson and Palacios not doing anything particularly useful in the fifth, but then came Martin and hit ANOTHER ONE out. Following that, Ingall, Lyon, and Fifield hit in order a single, a double, and another single, with Fifield giving the team an 8-7 advantage. We had the bases full with one out in the sixth, but didn’t score. Following that, the Aces reached scoring position in every inning, in the sixth against Joly and Perez, in the seventh against Bruno, and in the eighth against Martinez, and never managed to score, stranding four in total, three of those in scoring position. Could we still please get an insurance run? No, Lyon, Fifield, and Reece went down in order in the ninth, handing the 8-7 lead to Nordahl, who ended the affair in five pitches. 8-7 Raccoons. Guerin 2-5, 2B; Palacios 3-5; Martin 2-3, 2 BB, 2 HR, 6 RBI; Ingall 3-5;

Game 3
POR: 3B Sharp – RF Brady – CF Reece – 1B Martin – LF Roberson – SS Guerin – 2B Ingall – C Thomas – P Ford
LVA: CF Talamante – SS Hitchcock – 1B J. Vargas – LF L. Jenkins – C De La Parra – 2B Cerdeira – RF McCormick – 3B Bell – P Moriarty

Martin kept swinging, and took a Moriarty pitch into the bleachers beyond leftfield, collecting Brady and making it a 3-0 game in the first after Reece had scored Sharp with a groundout. In a MARKED improvement from the last few games, Ford crumbled in the bottom 1st, hitching Hitcock and walking Vargas, but somehow avoided the inevitable 3-run homer. Ford didn’t give up anything early, and the Coons tagged on a run in the second, 4-0. In the fourth, Ford had hit second hit of the day with nobody on and two out. The Raccoons loaded them up for Reece, who flew to deep right – but McCormick caught the rocket on the warning track. Moriarty recovered from the early drubbing to go deep into the game and even hit an infield single off Ford in the sixth, which was then only the second H surrendered by Ford, who in turn struck out the 3-4-5 batters in the bottom 7th. Moriarty was gone after 2-out singles by Ingall and Thomas in the eighth. Ford was not hit for and grounded out against reliever Kilian Carrier. And then came the bottom 8th and we looked at a lot of broken porcelain again. Cerdeira led off with a double, before McCormick drew a walk. Bell grounded back to Ford, who tried to start a double play, but Guerin couldn’t catch his throw at second base. Bases loaded, no outs with a 4-0 lead. Great stuff. Orlando Mendoza singled off Ford to plate the first run and Martinez was brought in, who had his first pitch taken for a 2-run single by Carlos Talamante. Just as quickly as the Aces were overthrowing the Raccoons, however, they fell themselves, with Hitchcock striking out and Vargas hitting to Guerin for two. 4-3, and we would love a comeback in the top 9th, but we rather left Sharp and Reece on the corners. Nordahl was used again, pitching for the fourth time in six days, and he was letting up slowly. After getting three outs on five pitches the previous day, he now needed seven pitches. 4-3 Coons. Sharp 3-5, RBI; Thomas 2-4; Ford 7.0 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 8 K, W (11-7) and 2-4, 2B;

Martin went 0-4 after his homer, but …: IT LIVES. It is also only one ribbie off Ron Alston for the CL lead.

Raccoons (51-56) vs. Loggers (61-47) – August 1-4, 2002

This had the potential to become a very long and said 4-game series. The Loggers were flawed in many ways, but the Raccoons right now didn’t know whether they had pitching or not, and they KNEW they had no offense to speak off, especially with Reece, Guerin, and Roberson all not getting much done right now, while the Loggers were at least bustling with offense.

Projected matchups:
Carl Bean (11-8, 3.52 ERA) vs. Marc Padgett (5-8, 4.59 ERA)
Nick Brown (6-7, 2.80 ERA) vs. Juan Rodriguez (0-0)
Cesar Miranda (0-1, 12.46 ERA) vs. Martin Garcia (11-6, 2.45 ERA)
Randy Farley (6-9, 4.14 ERA) vs. John Miller (11-10, 3.92 ERA)

Rodriguez was a 32-year old left-hander who had made 18 starts in 2000 for the Loggers, but that was already most of his major league experience. After Moriarty and figuring in Garcia in an auto-loss on Saturday, that’s three lefties this week.

Game 1
MIL: SS B. Hernandez – 1B Nava – LF Hiwalani – 2B J. Cruz – RF C. Ramirez – CF Fletcher – C L. Ramirez – 3B Cavalleri – P J. Rodriguez
POR: 3B Sharp – RF Brady – CF Reece – 1B Martin – LF Roberson – SS Guerin – 2B Ingall – C Thomas – P Bean

And then the Loggers came up with Rodriguez pitching in the opener. No scoring through three, although the Raccoons were down a third baseman when Sharp bitched after being called out on strikes in the third. Bean had whiffed six in the first three frames, then found himself with the bags full and no outs in the fourth after walking Hiwalani, a Cruz double, and Ramirez getting plunked on the first pitch, and the Loggers scored on a groundout by Fletcher, and Leon Ramirez’ sac fly. Although Rodriguez walked batters in bushels, the Raccoons had only one hit (a Reece single) through four innings. In the fifth, Carl Bean led off with a walk, was picked off first, and then Palacios walked. Brady upped our H’s to a full TWO with a single to right, Palacios going to third base. Reece hit one to right, deep enough to score Palacios, but Martin rolled out to short to end the inning. Bean had two hits and nine strikeouts on his ledger through six innings, yet he still trailed 2-1, but Roberson’s leadoff double in the bottom 6th instilled new hope. But hope doesn’t buy hits, and Roberson was left on second. Bean had his line soiled by two hopping grounders eluding the infielders for two cheap singles in the top 8th, no outs, and the middle of the lineup coming up, and Daniel Miller was torn up rapidly for three runs. Bottom 8th, Martin and Roberson singled and Guerin’s grounder was lost in translation by Jorge Cruz, loading them up with no outs with the Loggers on their second reliever of the inning in Jesus Longoria, a right-hander. Parker hit for Ingall, but popped out, with Lyon batting for Thomas and grounding to short, where Bartolo Hernandez zipped to Cruz, who had the ball glance off his glove for his second error in the inning and a run for the Critters. Fifield batted for Miller, hit a sac fly, but the Raccoons ran out of steam well before tying the score. 5-3 Loggers. Palacios 1-2, BB; Brady 2-5, 2B; Roberson 2-3, BB, 2B; Bean 7.0 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 10 K, L (11-9);

What a rotten week of big innings ruining everybody’s lines and moods.

Well, mine was already ruined.

We also found out that Marc Padgett was nursing a sore elbow which had led to him being scratched.

Game 2
MIL: 2B B. Hernandez – RF C. Ramirez – LF Hiwalani – 1B J. Cruz – C L. Ramirez – CF Fletcher – 3B Cavalleri – SS Costello – P M. Garcia
POR: 3B Sharp – SS Guerin – CF Reece – 1B Martin – RF Roberson – 2B Palacios – C Fifield – LF Parker – P Brown

Between Garcia and Brown, this game was expected to turn into a hitters’ massacre. Both were well capable of lining up double-digit K’s on their own, and both set out to do just that, although a leadoff double by Daniel Sharp led to the Coons taking a 1-0 lead early on Martin’s 2-out single in the bottom 1st. Brown struck out six over four innings, with Hiwalani’s double in the fourth being the Loggers’ first hit of the day, before suffering a first bout of wildness making for a long, yet scoreless, fifth inning. Doubles by Parker and Guerin brought the score to 2-0 in the bottom of the inning, but the top 6th saw Brown come apart. The Loggers had two soft singles, and with two outs Brown threw eight straight balls to Leon Ramirez and Jerry Fletcher. Cavalleri lobbed out to center, but the damage was done. While it was still a 2-1 game, the pen got ready. Brown still started the seventh – big mistake. Pedro Costello’s leadoff jack got the game tied, and Brown then walked Taisuke Mashiba. Neither starter managed 10 K eventually, and neither got a decision. Also, neither team could get the bats up, with this 2-2 game spilling over into extra innings. Bob Joly became the pitcher of record in the 11th, allowing singles to Leon Ramirez and Vitantonio Cavalleri on the way to a loss with not the least little bit of counterattack mounted by the brown-clad team. 3-2 Loggers. Sharp 2-5, 2B; Guerin 2-5, 2B, RBI; Huerta 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K; Perez 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

Nick Brown is fun and all that, but you just can’t trust him. He can lose it at any point, without warning.

Game 3
MIL: C L. Ramirez – 1B Nava – LF Hiwalani – 2B J. Cruz – RF C. Ramirez – CF Fletcher – SS Costello – 3B Cavalleri – P J. Miller
POR: RF Brady – 3B Sharp – CF Reece – 1B Martin – 2B Palacios – SS Guerin – LF Lyon – C Thomas – P Miranda

Miranda retired the first five Loggers, dropping his ERA to a flat nine, before it came apart spectacularly in due time. Fletcher legged out a bunt for a base hit, before Costello was hit by Miranda’s first pitch. Cavalleri singled home the first run, before Miller hit a full-count double over Neil Reece to make it 3-0, and Ramirez singled him home. 4-0, ERA of 15, Miranda was told by Lance Cox to get his crap together and head back to the mucky swamps of Florida as soon as he was back in the dugout. I had called Cox over the phone in the dugout about as soon as Miller’s fly went over Reece’s glove. The bad thing was, our bullpen had been ravaged left and right the whole week, and we couldn’t afford them going seven innings without blowing Randy in the sure loss. But was it a sure loss? Miranda gave up a run in the third, but Thomas and Martin both hit 2-run shots to get the Coons back to 5-4. The more you wanted to keep the Loggers tied! In the event, Miranda was wrung out for six innings and a few defensive heroics keeping the score close, but the Raccoons couldn’t get anything done with the bats anymore. John Miller lived to see the eighth inning, put the first two batters on, but Marvin Ingall hit into a killing double play in time. The Coons also had a Miller pitching in the eighth, and given how laden with work the bullpen was, also used him in the ninth, well, for three batters at least. Nava drew a leadoff walk, and while Miller got the next two men, Nava was on second with the lefty Cristo Ramirez batting, and with how close the game was, still 5-4, I went to Pedro Perez, who got to 1-2 on Ramirez before getting a grounder hit back to himself and pulling Martin off the bag with his throw. The Loggers loaded them up before Costello popped out, sending us to the bottom 9th, Jesus Longoria, and the 8-9-1 part of the lineup due. There were no left-handers on the bench against Longoria. Thomas struck out. Roberson struck out. Brady – doubled. That brought up Daniel Sharp, who was unretired on the day, and managed to sent a grounder to left, which eluded Costello, and Brady scored on the single. Reece struck out, and we were in extras again, with no bullpen to speak of. Well, we still had a closer we didn’t really make use of. Nordahl could go two or three innings! Bottom 11th, Cal Lyon led off with a single. Thomas bunted him over, which got Longoria removed for righty Juan Gomez, with Roberson up. Chris bounced on to Cruz at second, whose throw to first was dropped by Nava, putting the winning run at third with one out for Brady. The count ran full, Sharp was wiggling the bat in the on-deck circle, licking his lips to send home the Coons with his sixth hit of the day – and then Brady ruined his day with a walkoff single to right! 6-5 Coons. Brady 2-6, 2B, RBI; Sharp 5-5, 2B, RBI; Palacios 2-5; Lyon 2-5; Miller 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K; Nordahl 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K, W (2-1);

Sharp was one of three players with 5-hit games on this day, joining Nashville’s Leborio Catolo and new Rebel Gerardo Rios.

Cesar Miranda, who was out of options, was waived and designated for assignment after the game. The next victim will be 25-year old lefty Ramón Meza, who went 9-7 with a 3.95 ERA for St. Pete, and who had been acquired from the Knights for Jorge Defrese last winter. Meza takes over in the same spot in the rotation, which will have him start on one extra day of rest next Thursday against the Elks.

Game 4
MIL: SS B. Hernandez – C L. Ramirez – LF Hiwalani – 2B J. Cruz – RF C. Ramirez – 1B Costello – CF Mashiba – 3B Cavalleri – P M. Wilson
POR: 3B Sharp – 2B Palacios – LF Roberson – 1B Martin – CF Reece – SS Guerin – RF Lyon – C Fifield – P Farley

Randy had been blown all over the place on Tuesday in Las Vegas, and now faced Millard Wilson, who was somehow 9-4 despite an ERA of 5.62; it was as if the Loggers were taunting the Raccoons: “C’mon! Can’t hurt him anyway!” … Wilson’s second pitch was sent to Idaho by Daniel Sharp, 1-0. When Sharp was up again in the bottom 3rd, he doubled, getting into scoring position along with Farley just in time for Wilson to first throw a run-scoring wild pitch, and then scoring himself on Palacios’ 2-out single. That made it 3-0 Coons. Farley had been mired in traffic the first two innings, but that lightened up in the middle innings. By the bottom 5th, Sharp was a triple shy of the cycle after singling to right with Farley on first and one out, but both were left on base this time. In the seventh, the Loggers put two on with two out, but Farley managed to retire PH Juan Jose Villa to exit that jam and pitched a quick eighth after that. In the bottom 7th, Fifield was on second with two out for Sharp, who grounded out, not getting that cycle in, either. Farley was well over 100 pitches after eight, however, and NOW we didn’t have Nordahl available with the 3-0 lead still standing! The next-best thing ready to be abused was Marcos Bruno, and he would face part of the heart of the order starting with Jorge Cruz, who struck out, but then Cristo Ramirez doubled. Reece nabbed Pedro Costello’s fly to center on the warning track, moving Ramirez to third. Bruno vs. Mashiba, who was 2-2 and batting .332 overall in limited use. We COULD go to Cavalleri, but he’d be the tying run, and that’s a no-no, but Bruno ended up walking Mashiba anyway. He did strike out Cavalleri, though. 3-0 Coons! Sharp 3-4, HR, 2B, RBI; Farley 8.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 4 K, W (7-9) and 2-2;

We have to play another ten straight games, so we need more outings like this one, and less of the one Randy had on Tuesday.

In other news

July 29 – The Thunder deal OF/1B Dan Henry (.256, 9 HR, 38 RBI) to the Condors in exchange for MR Jose Ochoa (2-2, 3.08 ERA, 2 SV).
July 29 – VAN SP Daniel Dickerson (8-5, 3.54 ERA) figures to miss a month or so with shoulder inflammation.
July 30 – Old man SP Vernon Robertson (8-7, 3.98 ERA) is out for the season, after the 39-year old logger has torn his rotator cuff.
August 1 – BOS SP Joe Mann (9-8, 3.55 ERA) 3-hits the Indians in a 4-0 win, but the Titans also get the bad news that their catcher Corey Bader (.286, 1 HR, 17 RBI) is out for the season with a fractured elbow.
August 3 – OCT SP Aaron Anderson (15-6, 2.96 ERA) holds on against the Condors and takes a hard-fought 5-4 win for his 200th major league victory. The 11th overall pick by the Warriors in the 1988 draft, Anderson has been named Pitcher of the Month five times, went to three All Star games and won a Gold Glove since debuting in September 1989. He has won 12 games every year since 1991, and went to the DL just once since then. He is 200-139 with a 3.34 ERA and 2,303 strikeouts.

Complaints and stuff

Next blunder this week, not double-checking for the opposing pitcher in the Loggers opener, so we ran out the identical Palacios-less lineup twice in a row, because the Loggers changed their mind like two minutes before the opener. Sigh. Well, we weren’t Palacios-less for long in the Loggers game, because Daniel Sharp commented on the home plate umpire’s bad eye sight early…

I have also been in denial for a long time, but we have to get rid of Daniel Miller, who’s under contract for 2003. He … sucks. Vince is clueless as to why his stuff doesn’t fool anybody anymore. He rates him 16/16/11. I rate him 6/2/-4 …

Around the league, Ben O’Morrissey was claimed off waivers from the Condors by the Buffaloes. Five years later, I am still mad at him.

Some time ago we went into the Raccoons most famous sluggers, and how Royce Green holds the franchise high mark in that category, and also has the best OPS. Who owns the other franchise marks for batters. That one is quickly discussed: Daniel Hall owns ALL countable stats except for those related to stealing bases, which are held by Matt Higgins, and the best AVG and OBP, who are led by David Brewer.

(hums) Dan-iel Haaall ...! ... (sigh)

We have gone 6-3 against both the Aces and Knights this year. The last time we beat them both in a season was in 1996. Which doesn’t mean anything, but you know, wicked numbers…

Did you know Carl Bean is from New Brunswick? – No, he’s not Canadian. What are you talking about? – Oh, he’s from New Brunswick, New Jersey!

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The Warriors signed ex-Coon SP Cipriano Miranda on Thursday. One more qualified free agent has to sign for the Raccoons to be allowed to make a pick.

Westheim · 04-13-2015, 05:26 PM

Raccoons (53-58) vs. Canadiens (53-57) – August 5-8, 2002

Yuck. It smells in here! A whopping 557 runs scored ranked the Canadiens first in the Continental League in offense, but they had surrendered almost as many counters in return, being second-worst off with 530 runs given up. We had a potential for four high scoring games here…

Projected matchups:
Ralph Ford (11-7, 2.37 ERA) vs. Joe Hollow (8-8, 2.46 ERA)
Carl Bean (11-9, 3.59 ERA) vs. Cal Holbrook (5-10, 7.68 ERA)
Nick Brown (6-7, 2.81 ERA) vs. Jose Dominguez (9-6, 4.41 ERA)
Ramón Meza (0-0) vs. Paul Kirkland (2-2, 3.77 ERA)

Hollow was a left-hander, whose record told volumes about how much his team betrayed him. He was Kisho Saito with an Elks hat. The comparison fits, since both are left-handers.

Game 1
VAN: CF T. Wilson – SS Phillips – LF Trinidád – RF Velasquez – C Rosa – 3B A. De Jesus – 1B Shaw – 2B J. Zamora – P Hollow
POR: 3B Sharp – SS Guerin – CF Reece – LF Roberson – 2B Palacios – 1B Ingall – C Fifield – RF Lyon – P Ford

Ralph Ford’s stuff had about zero bite, putting the team into a hole, since Hollow *was* good. The Raccoons had three 2-out base runners in the bottom 1st, Ingall left them on, and they were absent after that. The Canadiens got their three 2-out runners in the top 3rd, with Trinidad driving home Wilson for a 1-0 deficit for the home team, which continued to look outright terrible. Ford was limited to two K’s over seven innings, but at least didn’t give up anything hard. He came up to bat with two out and no one on in the bottom 7th. Why not squeeze another inning out of him? He singled to left in a full count. That brought up Sharp, who also ran the count full and drew a walk, bringing up Concie, who struggled left and right, but made bat meet ball here and hit a huge fly to deep left. Trinidad was never going to get it, then overran it as it bounced off the fence. Concie slid in with a score-flipping 2-run triple! Reece flew out to the warning track, and Ford resumed pitching in the top 8th, striking out Tom Wilson, who sniped at the ump and was tossed. Ford got another K before Trinidad doubled and that saw Ford removed for Manuel Martinez to face the dangerous right-hander Tony Velasquez, who grounded out on a 3-1 offering. The Coons scored a run on three singles in the bottom 8th and could have scored more if Marvin Ingall hadn’t found it necessary to kill any and all offense in this game. Top 9th, Nordahl out, didn’t retire anybody. Freddy Rosa doubled, Alfredo De Jesus singled, and a pinch-hit 3-run bomb by Iván Gutierrez blew Ford’s game to dust. Nordahl was not retrieved from the sand box until Jesus Zamora had singled, and Daniel Miller would surrender that run, too. 5-3 Canadiens. Guerin 2-5, 3B, 2 RBI; Palacios 3-4; Fifield 2-4, RBI; Ford 7.2 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K and 1-2;

Danny, why do you do this to me? Why against THEM?

Game 2
VAN: CF T. Wilson – SS Sutton – RF Velasquez – 1B I. Gutierrez – 2B Phillips – 3B A. De Jesus – LF Wheaton – C Hurtado – P Holbrook
POR: 3B Sharp – 2B Palacios – LF Roberson – 1B Martin – CF Reece – SS Guerin – RF Brady – C Thomas – P Bean

While the Raccoons didn’t knock out Holbrook until the Canadiens hit for him in a promising situation in the fifth, they nevertheless put a 4-spot on him in a second inning that was almost over after a Thomas sac fly for the second out, if it hadn’t been for Bean delivering an RBI single, and Sharp driving in a pair then. The Elks had three on with two out in the top 5th when they hit for Holbrook, but Bean struck out Trinidad, and Wilson lined out to Martin. Carl Bean was doing well and was not scored until the seventh when Dave Wheaton led off with a single and made his way around with a steal and two groundouts. The Coons hadn’t scored since the second and hadn’t threatened since the third, and didn’t get going again. They better would, since Gutierrez hit #29 off Bean in the eighth, cutting the score to 4-2, and Bean allowed a double to Phillips, before De Jesus singled, and things only improved because the Elks sent Phillips and Roberson threw him out at home to end the inning. The Coons nibbled on Paul Brown in the bottom 8th, Reece walking, and Parker singling in place of Guerin. Brady hit into a fielder’s choice, giving PH Marvin Ingall runners on the corners with two down. Ingall had gone 0-4 with 6 LOB the day before, but here it was: an INGALL SINGLE!! 5-2, the park was cheering for old Marv! Lyon would pop out in Bean’s place, but Nordahl was left in the shed after last night’s lengthy gruesome death. We went with Bruno instead. Bruno allowed a leadoff single to Wheaton, but that was as far as the Elks got. 5-2 Coons. Sharp 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Parker (PH) 1-1; Ingall (PH) 1-1, RBI; Bean 8.0 IP, 9 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, W (12-9) and 1-3, RBI;

Of note: Chris Parker’s average as pinch-hitter is better than overall this year (remember he started 2001 at 0-29 in PH situations), and Carl Bean has 12 RBI now!

Game 3
VAN: SS Phillips – CF Wheaton – LF Trinidad – RF Velasquez – C Rosa – 3B A. De Jesus – 1B Trujillo – 2B J. Zamora – P Dominguez
POR: 3B Sharp – 2B Palacios – LF Roberson – 1B Martin – CF Reece – RF Brady – C Fifield – SS Matthews – P Brown

… and Brownie was no good in a game of a thousand horrors. He walked two in the first, the Elks not scoring, and walked Zamora in the second with two out to open the gates. Palacios had homered in the bottom 1st, but the lead evaporated on a cheap single by Dominguez and another one by Phillips. Up 2-1 in the fourth, Brown continued to suck, with Zamora hitting a hard single with one out. Dominguez bunted him to second, and then it shifted to Matthews, who fumbled Phillips’ grounder, putting runners on the corners, and Brown couldn’t handle it. Wheaton singled home the tying run, Trinidad walked, and Tony Velasquez emptied the bags with a double. All runs were unearned, but Brown was still yanked soon after, down 5-2. In the sixth, legging out a grounder, Reece was safe, but also in pain and sunk to the ground behind the first base bag. This was on the way to loading the bases for the Raccoons, and they took Ford off the hook with a 1-out single by Fifield and subsequent double by Matthews. Sharp singled home another run for a 6-5 lead. The Elks faced Miller in the seventh, put men on the corners with one out (that one out being Gutierrez whiffing as pinch-hitter this time), but pop outs by Wilson and Phillips saved Miller additional shame. Instead the shame was on Perez and Martinez in the eighth. Perez only faced Wheaton, who doubled, and Martinez loaded them up with no outs. The Elks scored two, and Brady and Matthews were in scoring position with two out as Ingall hit for Martinez in the bottom 8th, but grounded out. Bottom 9th, one run down, Sharp led off against Alvarado, grounded back to the mound and tumbled into first base safe – but hurt. Next player down. Our bench was down to Mark Thomas, so we wickedly brought Dan Nordahl to run for Sharp, but Palacios got him erased on a grounder before he could even think of stealing a base here. Alvarado struck out Martin to end the game. 7-6 Canadiens. Sharp 3-5, RBI; Roberson 2-5; Reece 2-3, 2B; Matthews 2-4, 2 2B, 2 RBI;

What a ****ing **** game.

Daniel Sharp had knocked up a knee, while Reece was not diagnosed so quickly. Sharp was DTD and might be hobbled for the rest of the week, which all in all put a severe dent in the Coons’ bench.

Game 4
VAN: CF T. Wilson – 1B J. Durán – LF Trinidad – RF Velasquez – C Rosa – SS Phillips – 3B Trujillo – 2B J. Zamora – P Kirkland
POR: RF Brady – 2B Palacios – LF Roberson – 1B Martin – 3B Ingall – SS Guerin – CF Lyon – C Fifield – P Meza

Thus, Ramón Meza made his Raccoons debut with a severely diminished lineup behind him. He struck out Wilson and Trinidad in a perfect first, and while Ingall killed a 3-on, 1-out bottom 1st with another double play, he drove in a run in the third, which then gave Meza a 2-0 lead. Meza had hit a 2-out single in the bottom 2nd, which then moved Fifield into scoring position and allowed Brady to drive him home for the first run of the game. The score got to 4-0 in the third with an RBI single by Fifield and Meza hitting a run-scoring groundout. Then it came apart. Freddy Rosa’s 2-run triple but a serious chink into Meza’s line and he barely escaped that rotten top 4th with the tying runs on base. Martin gave Meza some additional oxygen with a homer in the fifth, and the Raccoons again had Fifield and Meza drive in runs in the bottom 6th to go to an 8-2 lead! Meza pitched to two batters in the seventh, with outs made by Roberson and Lyon at the base of the walls, and before the Elks could soil his line, Meza came in. Miller got the last out, then loaded the bags in the eighth, and two of those runs were conceded by Marcos Bruno, but the Coons were still scoring against a collapsing pitching staff for the visitors, and clouted their way to a series split. 11-4 Raccoons. Brady 2-3, 3 BB, HR, 3 RBI; Palacios 3-5, BB; Roberson 3-6, RBI; Martin 2-4, 2 BB, HR, RBI; Ingall 2-5, 2 RBI; Guerin 2-3, BB; Fifield 2-4, BB, 2 RBI; Meza 6.2 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, W (1-0) and 2-4, 2 RBI;

All Raccoons starters had multi-hit games – except Cal Lyon, who went 0-5.

Now brace for the bad news, apart from Cal Lyon being just as good as advertised. Neil Reece’s ankle was soundly broken – one was tempted to say shattered – and he was put in a black cast and out for the season.

That was sure killing our mood, and even worse was the fact that Eddie Torrez was still on the DL himself, and although he was do to come off soon, I didn’t want him up here all cold after six weeks on the shelf.

We had an opening, and although he was not a good fit for centerfield, Roberson might be. And so we called up 2001 top pick, OF/1B Chris Beairsto (.256, 24 HR, 74 RBI in AAA).

It was all C’s in the outfield now.

Raccoons (55-60) @ Gold Sox (68-45) – August 9-11, 2002

The Gold Sox were not very good offensively, ranking just below average in the Federal League, but – oh brother – did they have pitching! For a while, they had ranked 1-2-3 on the FL ERA board, and they were still far and away best in runs allowed, and that was what had them soundly leading the FL West. Why do we have to play these teams? Why can’t we play …

Well, why can’t we play the school team from the Willamette Institute for the Limbless and the Blind a few times a year? We’d have a chance!

Projected matchups:
Randy Farley (7-9, 3.93 ERA) vs. Victor Bernal (11-8, 2.80 ERA)
Ralph Ford (11-7, 2.31 ERA) vs. Antonio Donis (9-4, 3.34 ERA)
Carl Bean (12-9, 3.53 ERA) vs. Andres Gamez (7-4, 3.85 ERA)

Yes, that’s our Donis of the late 90s, and they use him as a swing man, where they need him. He had 34 appearances this year, with 14 starts, for 97 innings and 113 strikeouts. He hadn’t started since 1997. They also had Samy Michel, Tony Vela, and Orlando Blanco. Denver had always been a fertile ground for ex-Coons, with Chih-tui Jin and Pat Parker enjoying rousing success there. And cycling occasionally.

And we get off lucky: we miss Carlos Castro and Chang-se Park, both with ERA’s soundly under three.

Game 1
POR: RF Brady – 2B Palacios – LF Roberson – 1B Martin – CF Beairsto – SS Guerin – 3B Matthews – C Thomas – P Farley
DEN: CF L. Alonso – SS A. Rodriguez – 3B Davidson – RF Pujols – 1B Michel – 2B Correa – LF A. Lopez – C J. Johnson – P Bernal

Bernal struck out seven in seven innings. With Pedro Pujols hitting a 2-run double off Farley in the third, and nothing more for them through seven, although Farley wobbled mightily in the first three innings, the Coons nominally were only two runs behind, and one run behind once Albert Martin hit his 24th home run off Bernal, the Raccoons felt like down by seven. They were not threatening, and didn’t get even to second base. Farley went into the eighth, but was torn to shreds for good with a 2-out RBI triple by Jose Correa, which was followed by Martinez walking a pair and Bruno throwing a wild pitch to score Correa. The Coons had zero. 4-1 Gold Sox. Palacios 2-3, BB; Martin 2-3, BB, HR, RBI; Parker (PH) 1-1, 2B;

Chris Beairsto had a more than abysmal career debut, going 0-4 with three strikeouts, all handed to him by Victor Bernal. While this is depressing, it is not unexpected. He whiffed almost 30% of the time in AAA.

Game 2
POR: 3B Sharp – SS Guerin – LF Roberson – 1B Martin – 2B Ingall – CF Beairsto – C Fifield – RF Parker – P Ford
DEN: CF L. Alonso – C J. Johnson – RF Pujols – 1B A. Munoz – 2B Correa – SS Davidson – LF R. Chavez – 3B J. Perez – P Donis

No offense was taking place through four innings. Well, Roberson hit into a pair of double plays. Ford whiffed six over four innings, but the first two men in the bottom 5th, Chavez and Perez, singled. Donis bunted them into scoring position, and Ford scored the first run of the game with an immensely wild pitch. It unraveled for him from there, as the Sox put up a 3-spot. Top 6th, Martin and Ingall went into scoring position with one out. Beairsto was up, having whiffed twice already against the lefty Donis. Nah, we sent for Matthews. Matthews whiffed. Fifield was no help. Ford’s game ended with two out in the seventh on an inside-the-park home run by Luis Alonso, down 4-0. The Coons didn’t get a run until they were down to their penultimate out, Parker singling home Matthews, and soiling Orlando Blanco’s bid for a 3-inning save. That was about all they managed to soil except for their own pants. 4-1 Gold Sox. Martin 2-4; Ingall 3-4, 2B; Huerta 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Well. They have AMAZING pitching, and the Raccoons’ offense is … how should I say it… Moist? Cranky? Crusty?

Game 3
POR: RF Brady – SS Guerin – 2B Palacios – 1B Martin – CF Beairsto – 3B Matthews – LF Parker – C Thomas – P Bean
DEN: CF L. Alonso – LF A. Lopez – 3B Davidson – RF Pujols – 1B Michel – 2B Correa – SS J. Perez – C R. Rodriguez – P Gamez

Bean retired the side in the first, but wasn’t quite so successful in the second. Five hits, all singles, plus two walks, tore him to shreds and put the Raccoons into a most undesirable 4-2 hole. How were they going to dig out of that? They got a run on a Thomas double in the fourth, but Bean was also yanked in the same inning, collecting only ten outs in total, with another two singles and a hit batter charged against him. Perez held the score at 5-3, retiring Pujols and Michel. Daniel Miller was inserted into the fifth, and for the one-thousandth time this season put himself into a three-on, no-outs hole. The Gold Sox added two. Joly was almost worse (but how can you be worse than utter dog ****?), allowing one run in the seventh before Parker saved him with an all-out sliding catch for the third out with the bags full. The Coons were trailing by five in the ninth when they whacked three leadoff doubles off Jose Juarez, Parker, Thomas, and Roberson doing the honors in succession. Of course, that got the score to 8-5 and was plenty of motivation for the Gold Sox to send their closer, Scott Hood. He first faced Brady, and Brady hit a massive home run to right center, cutting the deficit to just one run, and there was still nobody out. Even better, Martin would come up in the inning, and he came up with Palacios on first, but grounded out. That moved the tying run to second, and brought Beairsto to the plate with two down. Beairsto had been pelted the whole series, and had one hit. We had Fifield and an ailing Sharp on the bench. Hood was a right-hander, so Beairsto seemed like the best choice. Was he? Yes, he was. Danny, sit down, if you can with that swollen thing on your leg. No, he wasn’t. He grounded to short. 8-7 Gold Sox. Parker 3-3, BB, 2 2B, 2 RBI; Thomas 3-4, 2 2B, 2 RBI; Roberson (PH) 1-1, 2B, RBI;

(slumps over the desk, sobbing)

That was our first sweep at the hands of the Gold Sox since 1979. It should casually be mentioned that the Raccoons have not swept anybody since the April 5-7 series against Las Vegas.

In other news

August 5 – IND C Jose Paraz (.262, 9 HR, 35 RBI) will miss two weeks with a sprained ankle.
August 6 – Tijuana loses SS/2B Juan Barrón (.304, 4 HR, 41 RBI) for the remainder of the season as the 30-year old has strained a hamstring.
August 6 – BOS SP Joe Mann (9-8, 3.59 ERA) is out for the season with an elbow strain.
August 7 – Cincy’s LF/RF Dan Morris (.340, 25 HR, 76 RBI) is in pain with a pinched nerve and won’t be able to play before September.

Complaints and stuff

25 years in Portland, and there’s still no brown cast to mend broken hopes. I mean, bones.

The joy of our lives, yes, one might say, the Ree- Rose of Portland – withered, again.

Add to that the less than woolly debut of his heralded replacement. Life on the Willamette sucks.

Westheim · 04-16-2015, 04:33 PM

Raccoons (55-63) vs. Blue Sox (67-51) – August 12-14, 2002

Yuck, another good team. After getting swept (one wants to say suffocated) by the Gold Sox, the Raccoons just can’t get out of the wet laundry. The Blue Sox were second in scoring and third in preventing scoring in the Federal League, which was a tall task to any team, but even more so to a wholly redundant collection of outcasts – like the Raccoons.

Projected matchups:
Nick Brown (6-7, 2.78 ERA) vs. Stanton Taylor (6-14, 4.35 ERA)
Ramón Meza (1-0, 2.70 ERA) vs. Dave Crawford (10-9, 4.33 ERA)
Randy Farley (7-10, 3.91 ERA) vs. Varsik Deyrmenjian (7-5, 4.73 ERA)

That’s all right-handers, as we manage to miss both Javier Cruz and Dennis Fried, who have 28 wins between them.

Game 1
NAS: LF F. Jones – RF Rangel – 3B Catalo – 2B B. Hall – 1B Townsley – CF P. Taylor – SS S. Walker – C F. Hernandez – P S. Taylor
POR: RF Brady – 3B Sharp – 2B Palacios – 1B Martin – LF Roberson – CF Beairsto – SS Guerin – C Fifield – P Brown

The Blue Sox got going early, with Alberto Rangel hitting a first inning home run off Brownie, but the Coons had an answer, having two men on with two out in the bottom 2nd for Gary Fifield. Fifield lined a shot past Leborio Catalo that bounced all the way to the wall for a 2-run double, giving Brown a lead that would stand for a long time, but wouldn’t stand the test of time ultimately. Then, we were already in the eighth, the game was still 2-1 for the home team, and Stanton Taylor grounded to Palacios, leading off, and Palacios bumbled it at first, then rushed a throw that was nowhere near Martin at first. The Blue Sox brought their man around and tied the score. Brownie looked understandably pissed. So did I. Brownie continued in the ninth, but with two out gave up two singles. Martinez appeared to face switch-hitter Felix Hernandez, who was actually a natural right-hander. Hernandez grounded out, giving the team a chance to walk off with Martin up first in the bottom 9th against lefty Jose Escobar. Martin drew four balls, and was replaced with Parker to run, but ultimately some dumbo bounced into a double play (it was Guerin). The Blue Sox left pairs of runners on in the 10th (still against Martinez), 11th and 12th (both against Bruno), while the Raccoons never even reached base, racking up six strikeouts in overtime, before the 13th saw Joly and Perez collectively put four men on base, with a hit and a walk for each of them. The Raccoons didn’t get on until Adrian Matthews’ pinch-hit 1-out double in the bottom 13th, and became the tying run. Reliever Luis Estrada remained in to give up another double to Clyde Brady to almost the same spot, blowing the lead. Now the WINNING run was on second base, but … yeah, no. With Huerta and Miller unavailable, we brought our last pitcher in Dan Nordahl before Ramón Meza would be next. When Danny was done with three scoreless frames, he remained in the dugout, eager to see whether he would actually witness a brown-clad base runner. He didn’t before his own turn at bat came up. With Cal Lyon left and a left-hander in the game, why not use Dan Nordahl? He singled off Dan Hutchings. Then he STOLE SECOND BASE on a hit-and-run in which Chris Parker botched up his part. Then Parker singled, moving Nordahl to third base, and Roberson to the box. And Roberson lined out to Cesar Gonzalez (yes, the ex-Coon) in leftfield. Nordahl entered the bowels of the park in disgust. So did I. Ramón Meza came into the game in the seventeenth, and while I was plundering the fridge in the office, Meza pitched a scoreless inning. In the bottom 17th, Guerin and Matthews hit cheap singles of Hutchings, bringing Brady up with two down. Brady was a strong 1-7 on the day (better than some others, though), the count ran full, and then he finally put the ball into play, a bouncer to right, that went two inches past the lunging Bob Hall’s glove, and Guerin easily scored on the hopper. 4-3 Coons. Matthews 2-3, 2B; Brown 8.2 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 8 K; Martinez 1.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K; Bruno 2.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K; Nordahl 3.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K and 1-1, SB;

What a drag of a game. I mean, wow. At one point, they out-hit us 14-6, which was shortly before Nordahl came in. If they could have pulled the win out of their sorry arses an inning earlier, Nordahl would have scored the winning run, won the game, and would have STOLEN A FRIGGIN’ BASE EN ROUTE TO THAT WIN. Of course all of this wouldn’t have happened if Palacios HADN’T MISPLAYED THAT FRIGGIN’ GROUNDER!!! (takes the bat to the framed 2002 team photo.

I wonder why Maud has signed me up for anger management therapy.

Coming into the middle game, we had kind of a predicament. Meza was not going to start (maybe on Wednesday), so Randy Farley would go on short rest. We might be able to swallow that, but our bullpen was aching BADLY. And like I said, Randy was starting. We almost needed an additional reliever, but whom to call on? And whom to send down? Well, Cal Lyon was pretty much useless. And we could perhaps add Mauro Rodriguez for two days, then re-banish him to hell. I was choking at the thought, but the only other reliever on the 40-man roster not up here was Sergio Vega, who had gone two of the last three –

Wait a minute.

We have money again! No need to be shy with pennies anymore. Kazuhiko Kichida (5-8, 2.58 ERA, 25 SV) would have to go onto the 40-man roster ahead of the rule 5 draft anyway. The righty was only 22, had been drafted in the third round in 1998 by the Miners. He had gotten him from the Scorpions for Julio Mata last winter. Plus, I missed having a Japanese pitcher around.

Hi Kaz.

Game 2
NAS: LF F. Jones – SS Townsley – 3B Catalo – 1B C. Gonzalez – CF Hensley – RF D. Woods – 2B P. Edralín – C Dunn – P Crawford
POR: 3B Sharp – 2B Palacios – LF Roberson – 1B Martin – CF Beairsto – SS Matthews – RF Parker – C Thomas – P Farley

Farley was socked early, giving up two runs in the first, and while he would escape punishment despite a ton of walks and the occasional line drive after that, and Chris Roberson tied the game with a 2-run homer in the bottom 3rd. The tie remained until Farley was all worked up after six hits and four walks in six innings and at 114 pitches yielded for the debutee Kaz Kichida. Leborio Catalo took Kichida’s very first major league pitch to center for a single, and Kichida’s next nine pitches saw eight go wide (one even wild) for the bases loaded and no outs. The pitching coach enquired about Kichida’s well-being, and after that Kichida struck out Woods, Edralín, and Dunn. The Coons had four hits in six innings, and Crawford decided to help them out, starting the bottom 7th with a drill to Thomas and walking Ingall. Sharp grounded out and Palacios was put on intentionally to load them up. Roberson and Martin both sent flies to deep center – and neither fell in, but at least Roberson brought the go-ahead run in. Miller replaced Kichida in the eighth. With one out Freddie Jones doubled. Well, he struck out Townsley. What’s the worst that can happen? Maybe two walks and a John Hensley grand slam? 6-3 Blue Sox. Palacios 2-4, 2B;

Oh, they just smell. They also left the bases loaded in the bottom 8th.

Game 3
NAS: LF F. Jones – 1B Townsley – 3B Catalo – RF J. Ortíz – 2B B. Hall – CF P. Taylor – SS P. Edralín – C F. Hernandez – P Deyrmenjian
POR: RF Brady – 2B Palacios – LF Roberson – 1B Martin – 3B Sharp – SS Guerin – CF Beairsto – C Fifield – P Meza

Little happened early in the game if you were willing to discount Bob Hall taking deep Ramón Meza not once, but twice. In the bottom 4th, the Raccoons, after leaving two on in the first when Sharp struck out (he also struck out in the bottom 8th the day before), loaded the bases with no outs, but had .105 Chris Beairsto up. The park got to cheer, however, as Beairsto drove in his first run in the Bigs, with an RBI single up the middle. The inning would not get noted down with a really big number: Gary Fifield’s sac fly was all the Coons got, but that tied the score. Surprisingly, the next time the Beairsto-Fifield combo came up again was the next time a run was scored. Actually, two. Beairsto singled past the reach of Catalo, and Fifield hit his dozenth dinger, 4-2. Meza soon put that lead into deadly danger, when he allowed a single to Edralín and a double to Hernandez – and with nobody out in the top 7th. Bruno came in, and somehow got out of the mess with a 4-3 lead, and actually both teams left the bases loaded. However, the inevitable had merely been delayed. In another abysmal bullpen and defensive showing, Bruno walked Bob Hall to start the eighth, yielded for Perez, who loaded them up, and then Huerta got Melvin Dunn to send a soft line to Palacios – who dropped it. The dam broke and all villages downstream were drowned, as the Blue Sox scored three runs in the inning. 6-4 Blue Sox. Martin 2-4, BB, 2B; Guerin 2-4; Beairsto 2-4, RBI;

Thankfully, after going 1-5 in interleague, we can leave town now for two weeks. At this rate, we will be eliminated before September, and then can play out September still in disgrace, but without getting littered with beer cups. Full ones, too.

Raccoons (56-65) @ Crusaders (47-73) – August 16-18, 2002

We’re 7-4 against the Crusaders this year, which, knowing this team, won’t stop the Mantlepieces from getting skinned in New York. We’ve had a nasty track record against them recently. They were not scoring, only 3.65 runs per game, but they had won their last four contest, and with our explosive hurlers coming in, they could probably expect some extension to that.

Projected matchups:
Ralph Ford (11-8, 2.44 ERA) vs. Edgar Rey (6-9, 3.95 ERA)
Carl Bean (12-10, 3.73 ERA) vs. Kelly Fairchild (4-12, 4.09 ERA)
Nick Brown (6-7, 2.68 ERA) vs. Mike Nelson (8-10, 4.58 ERA)

Coming into New York, we still carried eight relievers, but we were looking forward to replace one of them (whichever, doesn’t really matter…) with Eddie Torrez as soon as feasible.

Game 1
POR: 3B Sharp – SS Guerin – CF Roberson – 1B A. Martin – 2B Ingall – RF Brady – C Thomas – LF Parker – P Ford
NYC: SS Rice – 1B T. Mullins – CF M. Ortíz – RF A. Johnson – LF S. Martin – C D. Anderson – 3B L. Ramirez – 2B J. Martinez – P Rey

Ralph Ford had a strange game. He didn’t strike out anybody despite plenty of 2-strike counts through the first four innings. Next, he whipped the side in the fifth. Then Gary Rice led off the sixth with a jack. Yet, by then, Ford held a sizeable lead with the Coons dealing all kinds of pain against Edgar Rey, who failed to retire either Ingall or Brady three times back-to-back, and we got at least productive outs by the last few spots in the order. It was a torrid display of small balls the Raccoons put up, hitting singles all over the place, and scoring in four of the first six innings to still have Ford 5-1 ahead after six. We could see bad things were still due to happen by the top 7th, however, with Mike Collins, that shell of a pitcher when on the Raccoons, retired three Raccoons effortlessly, striking out Brady and Thomas, after already finishing the sixth. In the bottom 7th, Ford got spanked real well, with three straight 1-out hits, all hard, plating two runs in no time. Martinez held off the floods for two more outs, but once Ricardo Huerta got his filthy hands on the bottom 8th, a 1-out RBI triple by rookie Stanton Martin did Ford’s lead in. Daryl Anderson’s groundout scored Martin and tied the score. The Raccoons could not get a ****ing hit for their ****ing lives anymore. Martin Ortíz hit a ball coming out of Marcos Bruno’s dirty paw to Pennsylvania to end the game in the bottom 10th. 6-5 Crusaders. Roberson 2-5, 2B, RBI; Ingall 2-4, BB; Brady 2-4, BB, 2B; Palacios (PH) 1-1;

After the top 6th, we led 5-0, and in hits that could be expressed as a DOZEN for the Coons, and ONE for New York. And still … THAT happened …

Game 2
POR: RF Brady – 2B Palacios – LF Roberson – 1B A. Martin – 3B Ingall – SS Guerin – CF Beairsto – C Fifield – P Bean
NYC: LF M. Ortíz – CF Britton – RF A. Johnson – 1B Berry – SS Rice – C D. Anderson – 3B L. Ramirez – 2B J. Martinez – P Fairchild

When have the Raccoons ever hurt one of their former teammates, especially a terrible one? After Mark Berry followed up Avery Johnson getting dented on the first pitch to him with a towering 2-run homer, and the Coons trailed 3-0 after three, they got back-to-back RBI doubles by Guerin and Beairsto in the top 4th, and Brady was scored after a leadoff double in the fifth to tie the score. Literally five minutes later, Luis Ramirez took Bean deep yet again, and the Crusaders were up 4-3. Maybe defense would have a hand in the game, too? In the bottom 7th, Pedro Perez pitched with two down, a man on second, and Johnson batting. When he got a medium velocity grounder to Palacios, that was supposed to end the inning. But for Palacios, somehow, ball, mind, and gloves refused to align – FOR THE THIRD TIME THIS WEEK. Marcos Bruno, the loser the previous night, looked like he’d wind up the winner once Luis Ramirez made a capital throwing error in the top 8th to plate Ingall and Guerin on Fifield’s grounder, and Bruno had retired pinch-hitter Ted Mullins to end the bottom 7th. In the bottom 8th with a lead grown to 6-4, we went to Kaz Kichida rather than Joly, Miller, or Huerta. Gary Rice hit another homer, and Kichida walked Ramirez to represent the tying run. Gah. Bob Joly entered to replace Kichida, walked Martinez on four pitches and threw the next one entirely past Fifield. For those not scoring at home, that’s 6-5 Coons, one out, two in scoring position. Somehow, he struck out PH Mark Preston, before another pinch-hitter, Vincente Gonzalez sent a hobbling grounder up towards second base. Palacios was right there and zinged a throw to first that narrowly beat out Gonzalez to end the inning. The Coons got a run off Alex Glaviz in the top 9th, 7-5, to entrust that lead, hard fought for with knives and forks, to Dan Nordahl. In an anticlimactic ending if there ever was one, Nordahl sat down the Purplehats in order, with no deep or hard shots whatsoever. 7-5 Coons. Roberson 2-5; Ingall 2-4, BB; Guerin 2-3, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Sharp (PH) 1-1;

For those not counting, the Crusaders have now drilled five homers in two games. The Raccoons have none. Yeah, them Purplehats are not hitting the ball at all!

Kaz Kichida was demoted to bring up Edgardo Torrez now.

Game 3
POR: 2B Palacios – CF Torrez – LF Roberson – 1B A. Martin – RF Brady – 3B Sharp – SS Guerin – C Fifield – P Brown
NYC: SS Rice – 1B T. Mullins – CF M. Ortíz – LF S. Martin – C D. Anderson – 3B L. Ramirez – RF V. Gonzalez – 2B J. Martinez – P Nelson

Palacios had his hand in some offense for once in the rubber game. His liner to left was dropped by Stanton Martin to start the game and the Crusaders soon wished themselves that one back. Torrez doubled, and both would score on groundouts. In the top 2nd, Palacios’ 2-out RBI triple made it 3-0. Meanwhile Brownie entered the game 26 K off Kisho Saito’s franchise single season mark, and while he got started with three quick ones, he soon committed to the cardinal sin of walking the opposing pitcher with two on and two out. Rice for once chose to not automatically go deep and grounded out to Guerin, but still …! Brownie continued to have a rather liberal interpretation of the strike zone, while the home plate ump was clearly a Republican. Rice would hit a triple the next time up, but that came with two out and nobody on in a 4-0 game, so how bad could it become? Well, Brownie habitually loaded the bases with two walks, then served Stanton Martin a 1-2 cookie, which Roberson just so caught in mid-flight, before drilling his face into the outfield grass. Good news: we now had the cover picture for our yearbook. And the game was still Coons 4, Crusaders 0. 101 pitches took Brown through six, with five of both walks and strikeouts. Miller appeared for the bottom 7th, walked Gonzalez on four straight, and was yoinked. After that, three more relievers managed to keep the shutout alive until the curtain fell on the Crusaders. 5-0 Raccoons. Fifield 2-4; Perez 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

All starters for Portland had at least one hit, including Brown. Aside from Fifield, they all had ONE hit, and ten in total. Also, this time WE had the big bangs, as both Chris Roberson and Al Martin hit solo shots in this game.

In other news

August 14 – LVA SP Donald Stone (9-8, 4.85 ERA) has a partially torn UCL and headed for Tommy John surgery and a year on the shelf.
August 15 – The Wolves lose their young OF Edgardo Fernandez (.256, 1 HR, 24 RBI) to a torn labrum. He might be ready next Opening Day.
August 17 – Nashville’s Dennis Fried (16-8, 3.93 ERA) dominates the Rebels in a 2-0 shutout, allowing only two hits.

Complaints and stuff

With Al Martin hitting his 25th bomb on Sunday, where does that rank him among single season dinger performances in franchise history? And for a career?

Single season home runs by a Raccoon:
1st – 38 – Royce Green (1994)
2nd – 35 – Tetsu Osanai (1989)
3rd – 33 – Liam Wedemeyer (1996)
t-4th – 31 – Tetsu Osanai (1986) and Mark Dawson (1988)
6th – 29 – Daniel Hall (1984)
7th – 28 – Ben Simon (1979)
8th – 27 – Mark Dawson (1983)
t-9th – 26 – Mark Dawson (1989), Royce Green (1996), and Albert Martin (2001)
t-12th – 25 – Mark Dawson (1982), Tetsu Osanai (1988), and Albert Martin (2002)

Career home runs by a Raccoon:
1st – 223 – Daniel Hall
2nd – 221 – Mark Dawson
3rd – 168 – Tetsu Osanai
4th – 160 – Neil Reece
5th – 89 – Royce Green
t-6th – 88 – Ben Simon and David Vinson
8th – 85 – Ben O’Morrissey
9th – 81 – Sam Dadswell
10th – 72 – Vern Kinnear
11th – 69 – Liam Wedemeyer
12th – 68 – Albert Martin

Marvin Ingall is cranky and wants to play every day. Technically there’s no way to argue against that, but where would we play him? Catcher?

Turns out, the $370k final year of Daniel Miller’s contract is an option with a $75k buyout. Sounds like a cheap exit for us that I will shamelessly exploit, no matter the emotional pain. The true question is whether I can emotionally make it through another six weeks WITH him.

We’re about conceiving scratch-off lottery tickets for our home market. Scratch off four fields, if three show a “HR” for homer, you win two tickets with obstructed view for a Raccoons ballgame of your choice. If you get combos of three “H”, “BB”, or “HR”, you win another ticket. If your ticket shows two or more raccoons, you lose.

Of course, this is a Raccoons themed lottery. All tickets have two raccoons. With this team, everybody loses.

Questdog · 04-16-2015, 05:04 PM

17 innings is something!......I hate those extra-innings games and love them at the same time.

I like the Japanese kids' name; hope I can like his pitching....

Westheim · 04-18-2015, 09:38 PM

Raccoons (58-66) @ Indians (57-67) – August 20-22, 2002

Late August, two teams soundly under .500, this is garbage time baseball. Still, somehow, although they were only one game ahead of the Indians, the Raccoons had a much less horrible run differential of -16, while the Indians’ was -75 due to not scoring at all. Well, at the end of the day, 6-0 losses and 6-5 losses count all the same, I guess.

Projected matchups:
Randy Farley (7-10, 3.87 ERA) vs. Alonso Alonso (8-10, 4.34 ERA)
Ramón Meza (2-0, 3.29 ERA) vs. John Collins (7-8, 4.86 ERA)
Ralph Ford (11-8, 2.51 ERA) vs. Ramón Jimenez (9-8, 4.65 ERA)

That’s three right-handers, and we might well get more of those with the Condors at the weekend.

Game 1
POR: 2B Palacios – 3B Sharp – LF Roberson – 1B Martin – RF Brady – SS Guerin – CF Beairsto – C Fifield – P Farley
IND: 2B Montray – SS M. Jones – LF Alston – 3B D. Lopez – CF Cavazos – 1B J. Garcia – RF J. Lugo – C Bowen – P Alonso

When Farley faced Alonso Alonso for the first time in the bottom 3rd, the Indians had no hits, and weren’t looking like they would get some particularly soon. Then Alonso singled to left on a 1-2 pitch. Farley melted rapidly, a walk, a bloop, and David Lopez singled home a pair eventually. The Raccoons performed entirely ugly at the plate, facing a pitcher coming in with 98 walks and 78 strikeouts in just under 160 innings, striking out six time in five innings, while not making Alonso work all too hard. Farley lived / existed through six innings, soaking up four runs of damage in total, of which one was unearned after Gary Fifield unleashed a throw to Beairsto on a stolen base attempt, and another run that Alonso brought home after lightly-hitting catcher Craig Bowen casually tripled. Another triple would explode Marcos Bruno in the seventh, when Jesus Garcia, who possessed molasses-like speed, three-bagged with two outs to plate two more runs. The Raccoons scored on a single up the middle by Guerin, and that was it. 6-2 Indians. Sharp 2-4; Guerin 2-4, 2 RBI;

Why are these abysmal teams always swinging the hot bat when the Inepticoons are in town? I can’t grasp that.

Game 2
POR: 3B Sharp – CF Torrez – LF Roberson – 1B Martin – RF Brady – 2B Ingall – SS Guerin – C Thomas – P Meza
IND: C T. Turner – SS M. Jones – LF Alston – 1B D. Lopez – RF Greenman – 3B J. Garcia – CF J. Lugo – 2B Stevens – P J. Collins

Did we see a well-pitched game this Wednesday, or were the bats just that goddamn awful? Ramón Meza went 14 outs before giving up a hit, and John Collins also only allowed three hits through five innings, one of which was sufficiently deep to actually provide a score: Mark Thomas had made it 1-0 Coons in the third. Top 6th, Sharp led off with a double, leading the Indians to the strange decision to intentionally walk Eddie Torrez. Roberson lined out, but Martin cashed in with his 26th bullet of the season, instantly ramping the score to 4-0. Meza pitched a little gem, not getting touched in the naughty spot until Christian Greenman hit a solo home run in the bottom 7th, Meza’s last inning. Today we did see the offensively handicapped Indians. Meza allowed only three hits, and Joly and Huerta did not allow anybody on base, while we even got some insurance runs late in the game. 7-1 Raccoons. Sharp 3-5, 3 2B, RBI; Palacios (PH) 1-1, RBI; Meza 7.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 8 K, W (3-0);

Game 3
POR: 3B Sharp – CF Torrez – RF Brady – 1B Martin – 2B Palacios – SS Ingall – LF Beairsto – C Fifield – P Ford
IND: 3B Montray – C T. Turner – LF Alston – 1B D. Lopez – RF Greenman – CF Cavazos – SS J. Garcia – 2B Stevens – P Jimenez

22-year old Ramón Jimenez had his little world not only rocked or shaken, but doused with gasoline, set on fire, and the ashes distributed across several galaxies in the rubber game. Shoddy control had him load the bases on two walks and single in the first inning, with Ingall batting with two down. The count ran full but rather than using his eye, Ingall used the bat and hit a bases-clearing double off the centerfield wall, which was only a prelude to Chris Beairsto’s first big league home run, and just like that the Raccoons were up 5-0 for a starter with an ERA of half that mark. What could possibly go wrong now? Turns out: everything. The Raccoons hit into double plays two of the next three innings, not tacking on, and in the bottom 5th, Ralph Ford had the worst five minutes of his life. Cavazos and Garcia singled past Sharp to start the inning. With one out, he faced pinch-hitter Matt MacKey, who took him deep to get the score pulled back to 5-3. That was one thing, but then with two outs, Tom Turner and Ron Alston smashed him with back-to-back solo home runs, ending his day in utter disgrace. Daniel Miller replaced him and surrendered a rocket to Lopez that went right to the warning track where thankfully Beairsto made the catch. Miller got in line for the W when Beairsto then hit his second dinger on this day and on this life, and in the seventh Sharp singled and was almost overtaken when Torrez tripled to center, but managed to safely score the 7-5 run. Not a lot was going on after that except for Beairsto flying to deep right, but not quite out of here for the third time, until the bottom 9th and Nordahl bringing up the tying run with a 1-out walk to Garcia. Craig Bowen hit for Art Stevens and had already tripled in this series, but now drew another walk. Both walks came in full counts, while the next pinch-hitter, Mike Jones, singled on the first pitch. Bases loaded, one out, Nordahl struck out Montray, then had Tom Turner make bat meet ball on 2-1 with two out. Beairsto, having already had a monster game, ran after that to save the game – except that he couldn’t, because Turner had really, really, really gotten it hard for a walkoff grand slam. 9-7 Indians. Sharp 2-5, RBI; Torrez 3-4, BB, 3B, RBI; Beairsto 2-4, 2 HR, 3 RBI; Miller 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

Yeah, those Indians. They clearly have no offense. What a company of pushovers.

By goodness, these 1997-2002 Raccoons have been ****.

Raccoons (59-68) @ Condors (64-64) – August 23-25, 2002

We continue our tour of low-scoring teams that are guaranteed a sudden breakout once the brown pest appears in town to throw over their trash and look for yummy discards. The Condors were 10th, well complementing the Indians and Crusaders, and although we led the season series 4-2, I had no doubt we could lose to them by the time the weekend was in the books. We have won only one season series against them since our last winning season, which was a 5-4 outcome in ’98.

Projected matchups:
Carl Bean (12-10, 3.81 ERA) vs. Jose Maldonado (11-11, 3.13 ERA)
Nick Brown (7-7, 2.58 ERA) vs. Kelvin Yates (8-13, 4.43 ERA)
Randy Farley (7-11, 3.89 ERA) vs. Jesus Bautista (12-12, 2.90 ERA)

All right-handed week, not that it helped our left-handed bats a lot.

Game 1
POR: 3B Sharp – 2B Palacios – CF Roberson – 1B Martin – RF Brady – CF Beairsto – SS Guerin – C Fifield – P Bean
TIJ: 3B B. Román – SS B. Boyle – C Cicalina – CF Morton – 1B L. Soto – LF D. Henry – RF Bayle – 2B Roberts – P Maldonado

Sharp brought in the first run of the game in the top 3rd, but his RBI’s remained at 34 since his grounder also left Carl Bean, who had singled, entangled in a double play, while Fifield scored from third. Sharp would get to 35 eventually, finding himself in the very same situation in the top 5th, no outs, and Fifield on third base. This time he singled, bringing the score to 3-0. By the time he qualified for a possible W, Carl Bean had allowed two hits and fanned four in a solid, yet somehow unremarkable game. While the Coons didn’t increase their lead, Bean didn’t decrease it, either. He came out to be his own closer in the bottom 9th, carrying a 4-hitter on 97 pitches, facing Cicalina to get it started, and certainly that decision had been made a lot easier by Tom Turner’s grand slam rocket vanishing in the leftfield stands the day before in Indy. Cicalina doubled, but Bean remained in the game. Morton grounded up, moving the slow-footed catcher to third. Luis Soto lined right to Sharp for the second out, which made pinch-hitter Baden Speed the last obstacle between Bean and a shutout. Speed grounded to Guerin, which was where offense went to die. 3-0 Coons. Guerin 2-4, 2B; Fifield 2-3, BB, 2 2B, RBI; Bean 9.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 7 K, W (13-10) and 1-4;

Bean delivered the first shutout of the year, his third as a Furball and his fourth in the majors. This was his 22nd complete game, and it clinches the season series for us for the first time in four years.

Game 2
POR: 3B Sharp – CF Torrez – 2B Palacios – 1B Martin – RF Beairsto – SS Guerin – LF Parker – C Fifield – P Brown
TIJ: RF Speed – 3B J. Ramirez – C Cicalina – 1B L. Soto – CF Bayle – CF P. Flores – SS Roberts – 2B R. Garcia – P Yates

Sharp’s single to start the game gave him a 12-game hitting streak, but he was left on first base with Yates striking out two in the inning. In the bottom of the inning, Sharp also reached 10 errors on the year at the first opportunity, a grounder by Baden Speed. Brownie, who was 21 off Kisho Saito’s mark for single season strikeouts, and 28 off 200, responded with a jittery walk to Jose Ramirez, and we just knew it would be bad, but once Urbano Cicalina popped out to Sharp, Brown returned to whiff Luis Soto and Jimmy Bayle. In the top 2nd, Brown had the third of four straight 2-out singles, plating Parker for a 1-0 lead, but ultimately we left it at 1-0 and three men stranded once Torrez fouled out on the first pitch. Gary Fifield powered a 2-run homer in the fourth, the first truly hard knock the Raccoons managed on the day, and it got the score to 3-0. Yates fanned seven in four innings, but was on the short side of the score, while Brown was a mess and walked four in the same time, but the Condors had no hits and no runs. Top 5th, Yates loaded them up with no outs on two singles and a walk, then hit Guerin to force home the Coons’ fourth run. Parker grounded into a force at home, before Fifield worked a run-scoring walk, and then Brown came up, and although Yates had him at 2-2, he surrendered a single to Brownie up the middle and TWO runs scored! That was it for Yates in a 7-0 rout, but his line was not closed yet. Tom Watkins entered, Sharp singled, loading them up, before Torrez whiffed for the second out. Palacios batted for the second time in the inning, ripped, the sound of the bat being heard all the way to El Salvador, and that was up, up, UP – AND – GONE: GRAAAAAAND SLAAAAAAAAAMMMMMMM!!!!! That was an 8-spot, an 11-0 lead, and technically, Brownie was still pitching a no-hitter! However, it was Watkins to break that one up with a leadoff single in the bottom 5th. Brown was cruising much easier with a nominally insurmountable lead, while that even got added to when Eddie Torrez hit a 2-run homer in the seventh, and in the ninth Jesus Palacios came up with Torrez on first and one out, and a triple shy of the cycle, but had to settle for a single off Alex Byrd. Matthews singled, loading them up for Beairsto, the only Raccoon to have gone more or less completely dry in this total rout of the Vultures. He lined out here, too, and the Coons left it at 13-0. Brown returned to the mound in the ninth, coming in on 104 pitches. The count on Cicalina ran full, before the catcher grounded back to Brown and made the first out. Soto flew out to right on the first pitch, leaving Jimmy Bayle to be checked for leftovers. Bayle only saw one pitch and grounded that to Palacios to end the game. 13-0 Raccoons!!! Sharp 3-5, BB; Palacios 4-6, HR, 2B, 4 RBI; Parker 2-5; Fifield 2-4, BB, HR, 3 RBI; Brown 9.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 5 K, W (8-7) and 2-5, 3 RBI;

And who had that ONE hit? A relief pitcher. It kind of hurts. This was Tom Watkins’ second career hit. He hit a double for the Wolves in ’97. That’s it. Regardless, this was Brownie’s first career complete game, and a shutout right away. He now has 34 starts in the major leagues, with 227 K in 214.1 innings over a season’s worth of Go’s.

BUT. Our starters got the message. You wanna win? Take Nordahl out of the ninth.

Game 3
POR: 3B Sharp – 2B Palacios – CF Roberson – 1B Martin – RF Brady – CF Torrez – SS Guerin – C Thomas – P Farley
TIJ: RF Speed – SS B. Boyle – C Cicalina – CF Morton – 1B L. Soto – LF D. Henry – 3B B. Román – 2B J. Ramirez – P Bautista

The Condors had held back all weekend, but they picked into Randy Farley immediately: the first four batters all reached base, including a Bruce Boyle RBI triple, and they went up 3-0 in no time. Farley just could not get anybody out, was down 6-0 once the second inning was concluded, and I was taking it for a sign that the baseball gods had seen enough of the Raccoons’ winning ways and that we wouldn’t get another win from here until Christmas. Bautista didn’t surrender a hit until Roberson doubled in the fourth and while Martin brought him in with an RBI single, the Coons were so far away from getting back into the game, they were practically already on the bus to the airport and on the charter flight to Oklahoma. They had nothing going, with the Condors pitcher going the distance this time. 6-1 Condors. Huerta 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K; Joly 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K;

Well. From highest high to lowest low in a matter of a day, that is it, my dear friends, that is the Raccoons’ Way.

Raccoons (61-69) @ Thunder (80-49) – August 26-28, 2002

Might get ugly here. The low-scoring opposition has been dealt with (not always with success). Now we’re off to see proper teams, getting a look at the Thunder and the Loggers in the last week of August. They had the second-most runs scored in the Continental League, and the least runs allowed, for a whopping +190 run differential. Their rotation and their bullpen were both tops in ERA. They were one Jesus Palacios grand slam off Jimmy Morey removed from being undefeated by the Furballs this season, 5-1.

Projected matchups:
Ramón Meza (3-0, 2.61 ERA) vs. Vaughn Higgins (15-6, 3.29 ERA)
Ralph Ford (11-8, 2.71 ERA) vs. Luis Martinez (11-7, 3.37 ERA)
Carl Bean (13-10, 3.62 ERA) vs. Pancho Trevino (14-7, 3.01 ERA)

There’s a lefty coming on Tuesday in Martinez, and overall this could be a pitching-strong series, although the marked difference might be that they have offense, and we don’t. At least not regularly.

Game 1
POR: 3B Sharp – CF Torrez – 2B Palacios – 1B Martin – RF Brady – LF Beairsto – C Fifield – SS Matthews – P Meza
OCT: CF Humphrey – C Briggs – SS Grant – 1B Higashi – 2B Kaustrop – LF Barnes – RF Mallinder – 3B H. Castro – P Higgins

Meza first came to bat with two out and a man on first base in the top 2nd, and sent a double past Artie Barnes in left. Any other runner than Gary Fifield would have scored, but he had to hold at third base, and Sharp struck out to end the inning. In the bottom 2nd, Adrian Matthews’ first start in a while ended early when he pulled something as he stretched awkwardly trying to turn a double play. Ingall replaced him, and before Marv got a chance to bat, we already had a new pitcher in the game. Meza was socked left and right in the third after two uneasy, but scoreless frames. In the bottom 3rd, he couldn’t get anybody out. The Thunder loaded them up, and in that situation had two walks and two singles, going out to 4-0, and Martinez replaced Meza, only to give up a 3-run triple to Michael Mallinder. With that 7-spot, the game was over, and whoever desired to do so, could go home, which was certainly true for the four fans in Raccoons gear in attendance, two of which weren’t seen again by the fourth. The Raccoons reached third base for the first time since Sharp’s second inning whiff in the eighth after a Torrez double and Palacios single. There were no outs and more lefties coming for Higgins, with Al Martin hitting an RBI double, but the inning soon began to slowly wither and die on the Coons. Ingall hit a 2-out RBI single, but that was all the Raccoons got in back-to-back early you-are-done mood killers. 8-2 Thunder. Roberson (PH) 1-1; Palacios 2-5; Martin 2-4, BB, 2 2B, RBI;

Apart from the just renewed hope that better times might still be coming in our lifetime being dashed violently again, we also had Daniel Sharp go 0-4 in an ugly game to end his hitting streak at 13 games.

Also, we lost Adrian Matthews for two weeks to an oblique strain. We called up Inevitable Brent.

Anybody remembering Domingo Moreno? He was out since the beginning of June and now started a rehab assignment in Florida after getting that labrum sewed up.

Game 2
POR: 3B Sharp – SS Guerin – 2B Palacios – LF Roberson – 1B Ingall – RF Brady – C Thomas – CF Torrez – P Ford
OCT: C Briggs – LF Wood – SS Grant – 1B Higashi – 2B Kaustrop – RF M. Rodriguez – CF Mallinder – 3B H. Castro – P L. Martinez

It continued. Ford, who had gotten smashed to pulp with three home runs in that horrendous fifth inning in Indianapolis, was struck right away in the middle game in Oklahoma by a 2-out, 3-run shot by friggin’ Butch Kaustrop, whose dinger more than just negated Chris Roberson’s RBI triple from the top 1st. The Raccoons had nothing going in their favor, hitting half a dozen flies to Marcos Rodriguez and Michael Mallinder until something finally clicked in the sixth, with a Roberson single and Ingall getting a double past Mallinder. Since Ford hadn’t been particularly good, but hadn’t surrendered additional runs since the first inning, those were the tying runs in scoring position with one out. Brady fired a high shot to deep center – Mallinder caught it. Sac fly. Thomas fired a loud shot to deep right – Rodriguez caught it. The tying run appeared at third base again in the seventh when Torrez led off with a double and Sharp singled him a base over with one out. Two more fly outs to Mallinder later, the game had been tied at the very least, Concie sacrificing Eddie home. Ford went seven, didn’t get a decision, but Marcos Bruno sure looked like he’d be handed a loss once the two batters he faced in the eighth both reached, as Bob Grant singled, and Higashi walked. With Barnes hitting for Kaustrop, Perez appeared, walked him, and we went to Huerta with the bags full and no outs. Tomas Cardenas popped out to shallow right, keeping the runners on their bases, and then Joey Humphrey hit for Mallinder and grounded back to Huerta, who started a double play, home and first. So! With that twist, and those AWD vacs in the outfield both hit for, the Raccoons would sure break through, right? Luis Martinez was still going, but Thomas doubled off him to start the ninth. Fifield hit for Torrez, struck out, but Martin hitting for Huerta singled, and once Sharp singled, Martinez was on the hook in addition to getting hooked, 4-3, and Palacios would hit a sac fly to score Martin eventually. Nordahl had pitched an inning in the blowout the night before, but by now it was either him, Joly, or one of the guys who had gone 1+ innings the night before, Miller and Martinez. So here comes Danny, struck out two, then walked Jason Briggs, and George Wood singled. Bob Grant couldn’t pull the trigger on a 2-2 fastball, and this one for a nice change didn’t blow up on us. 5-3 Coons. Sharp 3-5, RBI; Guerin 3-4, 2B, RBI; Roberson 2-5, 3B, RBI; Torrez 1-2, 2B; Martin (PH) 1-1; Ford 7.0 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 5 K;

Why - … Kaustrop was a Raccoon for four days and twenty minutes one winter. Why the heck didn’t we trade him on to the Thunder? He was included in the Palacios/Ingall deal in January 2001 before being moved on for Lawrence Rockburn, whose arrival in the majors is not threatening to be particularly soon.

Apart from that I am forced to make a roster move. Chris Beairsto was struggling badly, .163/.226/.347 with 2 HR, 5 RBI in 49 AB, with 16 strikeouts the biggest problem. He was demoted to AAA, and we called up Cal Lyon once again.

Game 3
POR: 3B Sharp – CF Torrez – 2B Palacios – 1B Martin – RF Brady – SS Guerin – LF Parker – C Thomas – P Bean
OCT: RF Barnes – SS Grant – 3B Higashi – 1B T. Cardenas – CF Humphrey – C Vinson – LF M. Rodriguez – 2B H. Castro – P Trevino

Another game in the bin early on, with Clyde Brady’s 2-out, 2-run triple in the top 1st soon enough was made redundant by Carl Bean pitching, not finding the strike zone at all and going to three balls on every batter from Cardenas to Rodriguez in the bottom 1st, which culminated in a 2-out grand slam by the latter. Bean’s day would end the next time Rodriguez came up and hit a 2-out, 2-run double in the bottom 3rd. Seven runs, all earned, despite Mark Thomas doing his best in the third inning to not be any help with a pickoff attempt gone wild, and not catching one Bean pitch that was charged on Bean, but was still his fault. Seven for the Thunder after three, which sounded familiar, and we scraped out even the sorriest remains of the bullpen again to somehow make it through the last five innings. It started with Daniel Miller walking the pitcher. Miller was booked for three runs and two men were left on without him even getting out of the inning. The Raccoons folk nodded approvingly when Al Martin hit a 3-run shot in the fifth inning off Trevino, but it was unfortunately entirely meaningless in a 10-5 blowout. Torrez tripled in the seventh, now lacking the home run for a cycle, and his spot did come up in the top 9th of a 10-6 game with Jimmy Morey having put two men on with no outs. Javier Navarro was coming in to face Torrez and everybody beyond should a triple play not be in the cards. Well, two thirds’ success was not bad either, as Eddie lined into a double play. 10-6 Thunder. Sharp 2-5; Torrez 3-5, 3B, 2B; Palacios 2-4, 2B, RBI; Guerin 2-4; Joly 4.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K;

I gotta check with Ernie from our law department first, but I’m ready to release Daniel Miller outright. Question is, will that add only the buyout of his final contract year to our expenses, or the salary of the option being picked up? I mean, common sense hints at the former, but it’s LAW. It’s way more crazy than South Park.

Ah, the pains.

The Thunder stuck a trade proposal with me as we left town, offering Jason Briggs once again for Marvin Ingall and our third rounder from last year, Cedric Chateau. Ingall was not happy, Chateau was not developing for the better, and we still had no decent catcher, but I was still not biting.

Raccoons (62-71) vs. Loggers (76-57) – August 30-September 1, 2002

The Loggers had a great record, but were still 12 games out and their hopes were dying. The Raccoons’ had died ages ago. Ultimately the Loggers couldn’t key on a particular strength. Their lineup was good, but not great, plating the fourth-most runs in the CL. Their pitching was good, but not great, surrendering the fourth-least runs in the CL. And that was not enough against the stomping Titans.

Projected matchups:
Nick Brown (8-7, 2.45 ERA) vs. John Miller (12-12, 4.23 ERA)
Randy Farley (7-12, 4.11 ERA) vs. Martin Garcia (15-6, 2.25 ERA)
Ramón Meza (3-1, 5.09 ERA) vs. Millard Wilson (11-5, 5.28 ERA)

Game 1
MIL: SS B. Hernandez – 3B Buchanan – LF Hiwalani – C L. Ramirez – 1B Nava – CF M. Smith – RF Kaberman – 2B Bowling – P J. Miller
POR: 3B Sharp – CF Torrez – 2B Palacios – 1B Martin – LF Roberson – RF Brady – SS Guerin – C Thomas – P Brown

A lot of little things went wrong early in the game, with Bartolo Hernandez opening the game with a cheap single and a steal, Brown hitting Kaberman in the second (and it was pretty square), and a terrible throwing error by Thomas in the third gave the Loggers two extra bases, yet somwhoe the Coons were up 2-1 at half time, credited solely to the Loggers electing to not intentionally walk Mark Thomas in the bottom 2nd with two out and Brady at third base. Thomas went deep, and Brownie held a lead, with the only run against him unearned. To end the sixth he whiffed Leon Ramirez, giving him 183 K on the year, merely ten off Kisho Saito’s franchise mark for a season. However, all good things inevitably had to end at some point. For the Raccoons and that 2-1 lead that point came in the top 7th through consecutive hits by Smith and Kaberman to bring in the tying run. When Concie hit a leadoff single in the eighth, it was only the third hit for the Coons on the day. Concie was at second after Thomas grounded out, and Brown was hit for in an attempt to generate a run. Ingall was tasked with this RISP situation and zinged a liner up into center. INGALL SINGLE, Concie turning third base, AND HE’S SAFE!!! Nordahl got the ninth, with Cristo Ramirez hitting for Leon Ramirez to get started. Regardless of the Ramirez at hand, he doubled, and that put a serious crimp into Brownie’s hopes for a W. Nava lobbed into an out in shallow left. Mashiba hit for Smith, walked, but Van Kaberman struck out. Two on, two out, Nordahl to Alex Bowling, batting .194 with one homer. Nordahl got to 2-2, before Bowling sent a grounder past the mound and up the middle, Palacios with quick steps cut it off and beat Mashiba to the bag to end the game! 3-2 Coons. Ingall (PH) 1-1, RBI; Brown 8.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 8 K, W (9-7);

Eight more in his next start would tie Kisho’s 193 for Brownie, and then it will still be the first week of September! Unless he is struck by lightning between now and mid-September, the Raccoons will have their first 200 K hurler in 26 years of franchise history.

Game 2
MIL: SS B. Hernandez – 1B Nava – RF Mashiba – LF Hiwalani – CF C. Ramirez – C L. Ramirez – 3B Cavalleri – 2B Bowling – P M. Garcia
POR: 3B Sharp – SS Guerin – LF Roberson – 1B Martin – 2B Ingall – RF Brady – C Fifield – CF Lyon – P Farley

Tall order for the offensively underwhelming Critters, as Martin Garcia came to pay them a visit. Unfortunately in the early going it already looked like a no-contest, with Farley getting shellacked by Bakile Hiwalani with an early 3-run homer, and Garcia, who came in with 199 K on the year, fanning five of the first seven Coons that dared to face him. Then, somehow Furballs started to flock the bases, with Roberson having them full with two out in the bottom 3rd. And then he struck out. Farley surrendered another 3-spot in the fifth inning, this time on hits and hits and hits AND EVEN MORE HITS, and was yanked after that. In the fourth and fifth, the Raccoons hit into inning-ending double plays, the latter instance happening to Guerin with three on and one out. Failure here, failure there, the Raccoons never got anything delivered the entire game, as Garcia struck out two hands full, and the pitched seven of nine shutout innings for his team. 6-0 Loggers. McLaughlin (PH) 1-2; Huerta 1.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

One game good, one game bad, one game good, one game bad, one game not so good, one game to cry your eyes out, and that for six straight years. Well, Garcia has two Crowns on the shelf (and would get a Pitcher of the Month award the very next day after this culling), he knows what he’s doing out there… the Coons in turn … oh my. We’d rather have to constantly be amazed they’re not knocking themselves out with their own backswing.

We hit September with a flush of injuries in the minor leagues. We couldn’t call up a huge score of add-ons, since we barely had 25 boys per level left. For now, an extra arm and bat each would have to do, as we added Sergio Vega and Gil Flores, the latter as a placeholder until Beairsto could find his mojo.

Game 3
MIL: SS B. Hernandez – RF C. Ramirez – LF Hiwalani – C L. Ramirez – 3B Cavalleri – 1B Love – CF Kaberman – 2B K. Scott – P M. Wilson
POR: 3B Sharp – 2B Palacios – CF Roberson – 1B Martin – RF Brady – SS Guerin – LF Parker – C Fifield – P Meza

Rubber game time for Meza, who had been sliced, fried, and served in his last start, his first major league loss. He still got sliced and fell behind 1-0 early, but the bottom of the Coons’ order sent away back-to-back bombs, a 2-shot by Parker and a solo contribution by Fifield, in the bottom 2nd to take a 3-1 lead. Sadly, Vitantonio Cavalleri soon exploited our run-of-the-mill third-rate back-of-rotation filler on the mound with a 2-run homer of his own in the third, and we were tied at three, but then Daniel Sharp led off the bottom of the same inning with a jack. It could become a long day, theoretically. Well, Meza was just not any good, so a 4-3 lead was not secure by any stretch of the imagination. While he always walked Van Kaberman when he appeared, and always struck out Keith Scott, as soon as Cavalleri came up, it was trouble. Cavalleri jacked again in the sixth, knotting the score 4-4. Meza left after Cristo Ramirez hit a 1-out single in the top 7th, but the home run parade went on, Hiwalani taking Manuel Martinez deep right away to give his team the lead. Martinez ****ed up the game for good, walking the next two batters, leading to his eviction on grounds of being ****, but we didn’t get better with Huerta, who walked Kaberman for the umpteenth time before having Nava plate two with a single. Hiwalani punished Perez with another 2-run homer in the eighth – it just didn’t end, as usual. The Loggers finely grounded whatever Raccoons pitcher they faced into the finest dust, then blew it all over the Pacific Northwest. And dust doesn’t hit, and dust doesn’t score. 10-4 Loggers. Parker 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Lyon (PH) 1-1, 2B;

In other news

August 21 – A broken hand means that TOP OF Javier Gusmán (.256, 9 HR, 70 RBI) might not have much baseball season left when he returns from the injury – if any.
August 26 – Pittsburgh’s Roy Floyd (14-7, 3.39 ERA) 3-hits the Warriors in a 5-0 win.
August 29 – The Aces’ 22-year old SP Rafael De Jesus (7-10, 5.20 ERA) is out for an estimated eight months with radial nerve compression.
August 30 – SFB SP Tony Hamlyn (20-7, 2.01 ERA) has a legitimate claim to being the best hurler in baseball right now. While he gives up 11 hits in a 4-0 win of his Bayhawks over the Knights, pitching all the way, he also strikes out 15 batters, the first time anybody in the Continental League has whipped 15. Buffalo Manny Ramos is the only pitcher to ever strike out 16, which he did in 1997.
August 31 – 34-year old SAC LF/RF Vonne Calzado (.333, 8 HR, 63 RBI) has two hits in his team’s 7-5 win over the Salem Wolves, with an RBI single plating Sonny Reece off Wilson Hernandez in the fifth being his 2,500th career base hit. Calzado is a career .335/.385/.465 batter with 121 HR and 1,022 RBI for his career, with 78 stolen bases. He was drafted eighth overall by the Thunder in the 1985 draft, played for them 1989-1995, and since then has also been in Washington, earning the 1990 CL ROTY award and six All Star nominations along the way.
August 31 – Oklahoma’s Vaughn Higgins (17-6, 3.10 ERA) 3-hits the Condors, 4-0, and whiffs seven in the shutout.

Complaints and stuff

Brownie was the CL Player of the Week for the second-to-last week of August, going 2-0 with a 0.00 ERA, and fanning ten in 15 innings. Obviously, the baseball week seems to run from Sunday to Saturday in BNN’s twisted little world, because this includes his six scoreless against New York before the Indians series.

Once I hear from Ernie, and we will have disposed of Daniel Miller’s corpse, there won’t be anybody left from our championship teams, if you are willing to overlook Marvin Ingall, who appeared in seven games in ’93 and a well casted Neil Reece on the DL (who never figured well in those two World Series, also dwelling on the DL…)

No, Dan Nordahl is not the closer we have been looking for since Grant West sat down. He has been scored upon nine times this year, but somehow that makes for 18 runs and six blown saves. The BS’s are especially unnerving, given that he had only 28 opportunities. A 77% success rate would be swell for stealing bases, but I except a bit more in the ninth. Back to the drawing board as usual. Best package him up with those other burst bubbles like Farley and Bruno and trade them for a year’s supply of Aspirin.

Kelly Fairchild also spun a shutout the latter week, which begs the question again why I am making trades at all, especially with pitchers. Left-handed relievers also come to mind.

Odd note: Chris Parker and the Mets’ Travis d’Arnaud hit simulatenous home runs this time through. Not that it made the universe implode, but it was a nice touch. I liked it. Didn’t help the Coons. Mets still lingering.

Questdog · 04-19-2015, 08:22 AM

"Why are these abysmal teams always swinging the hot bat when the Inepticoons are in town? I can’t grasp that."

That reminds me of a question I used to ask myself quite a bit, until I figured out the answer - "Why do people always look at me as if I was crazy?"

Just catch them Canadians.....

Westheim · 04-19-2015, 03:42 PM

Raccoons (63-73) vs. Titans (92-46) – September 2-4, 2002

Just after being handled comfortably by the Loggers (and suffering mathematical elimination from October baseball in the process), the summarily struggling Raccoons faced the romping, stomping Titans. This could not end well. Maybe we could at least lose decently? We are 4-8 against them this season.

Projected matchups:
Ralph Ford (11-8, 2.75 ERA) vs. Ray Conner (0-2, 5.24 ERA)
Carl Bean (13-11, 3.90 ERA) vs. Mario Cruz (0-0, 2.57 ERA)
Nick Brown (9-7, 2.39 ERA) vs. Jason O’Halloran (18-6, 2.93 ERA)

Nick Brown will have his bid for franchise history on Wednesday. Facing O’Halloran hands him a sure loss, but he might still strike out eight to match Kisho Saito’s single season K mark. The Titans had lost Joe Mann to injury and were also stretching their rotation, meaning we’d happily miss Jorge Chapa (15-6, 2.25 ERA).

Game 1
BOS: 2B D. Mendez – 1B Matsumoto – RF Jin – SS Austin – 3B V. Flores – LF G. Munoz – CF Bryant – C F. Diéguez – P Conner
POR: 3B Sharp – SS Guerin – LF Roberson – 2B Palacios – 1B Ingall – CF Torrez – C Thomas – RF G. Flores – P Ford

Two out and Victor Flores on second base, we had Ford pitch to .133 batter Fernando Diéguez rather than walk him intentionally. Diéguez singled, the Titans were up 1-0, and the Coons were inept through and through, not finding a way to touch replacement pitcher Conner. A 2-0 deficit in the seventh inning felt like 9-0 or more, because nothing was going forward for the Coons. Then Roberson singled. And Palacios singled. And Conner through a wild pitch. Suddenly, with one out, the Raccoons had the tying runs in scoring position, and Torrez was 2-0 ahead. From 2-0, he would strike out, and now he replaced the righty Thomas with the lefty Martin to hit against the lefty Conner – and it worked! Martin lined a single into left center and two runs scored! The game was tied, and then game the top 8th, Bob Joly took the mound, faced four batters, and retired zero. Marcos Bruno replaced him, the drumming continued, and the Raccoons lost handily. 6-2 Titans. Roberson 2-4; Palacios 2-4; Martin (PH) 1-2, 2 RBI; Ford 7.0 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 5 K;

Okay. Bob Joly has to go. I can’t stand his sorry face any longer. It’s time for a radical roster revamp.

Also, Ralph Ford has not won a game since July.

Game 2
BOS: CF Garrison – SS Matsumoto – RF G. Munoz – 3B Austin – C L. Lopez – LF Elizondo – 2B V. Flores – 1B Hester – P Cruz
POR: 3B Sharp – 2B Palacios – LF Roberson – 1B Martin – RF Brady – CF Torrez – SS Guerin – C Fifield – P Bean

Middle game, another marginal pitcher in for the Titans, but the Raccoons continued to be much, much worse than marginal. They sucked outright. What little offense they had all died whenever Albert Martin came to the plate, who faced Cruz, a right-hander, three times, and struck out three times. Bean pitched very well, apart from one wild inning, where he walked the bases full, and went the distance in the contest, striking out seven and allowing only three hits. One of those hits was a home run by Gonzalo Munoz in the fifth inning. And that home run was the margin of victory. 1-0 Titans. Guerin 2-4, 2B; Bean 9.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 5 BB, 8 K, L (13-12);

The agony. The agony.

Game 3
BOS: 2B D. Mendez – 3B V. Flores – CF Garrison – 1B Matsumoto – LF Austin – RF Bryant – SS H. Ramirez – C F. Diéguez – P O’Halloran
POR: 3B Sharp – SS Guerin – LF Roberson – 1B Martin – 2B Ingall – RF Brady – C Fifield – CF Torrez – P Brown

If those two scrubs managed to hold the Inepticoons to two runs total, O’Halloran would probably pitch a no-hitter at the very least in the last game of the series. Before the Raccoons got a chance to swing the bats, Brown was already hammered for three runs in the first inning with three extra base hits. Brown’s first K was to O’Halloran in the second inning, and by the time O’Halloran was up again, leading off the fifth, Brown had five strikeouts on the day, and 190 for the season. Brown went to 1-2 on O’Halloran, before the pitcher put the ball in play – or actually not. O’Halloran homered, and while Brown went on to whiff Mendez and Garrison, the mood was killed for good in this game, in this series, and in the city as a whole, with a 5-game losing streak being about official with the team trailing 4-0 in the fifth. Brown went eight innings when all was said and done, didn’t get another strikeout and stopping at 192, yet the attendance was on the way to the gates anyway and wouldn’t have bothered anyway. Through eight, the Coons had as many hits as they had errors, three apiece, but then had Guerin and Roberson single to start the bottom 9th, prompting an appearance from John Bennett, whose first pitch to Martin had the Portland first baseman hit an even 100 RBI on the season, sending that pitch well out of the park – but we still were a run behind. And we didn’t get another base runner. 4-3 Titans. Roberson 2-4, 2B;

The indignity. The indignity.

Raccoons (63-76) @ Canadiens (68-71) – September 6-8, 2002

Nobody was in the mood to go to Canada once again, especially with the team in full collapse mode now and tying the Indians for second-last. The Elks’ second-place offense would certainly mesh well with our beneath-replacement-level pitching, at least as far as the bullpen was concerned. Regardless, they were hot, we were not, and it’s a good thing we can’t mathematically lose a hundred anymore this year.

Projected matchups:
Randy Farley (7-13, 4.30 ERA) vs. Paul Kirkland (4-4, 3.97 ERA)
Ramón Meza (3-2, 5.52 ERA) vs. Juan Bello (8-11, 4.04 ERA)
Ralph Ford (11-8, 2.74 ERA) vs. Jose Dominguez (10-8, 4.45 ERA)

Game 1
POR: 2B Palacios – 3B Sharp – CF Torrez – 1B Martin – LF Parker – RF Brady – SS Guerin – C Fifield – P Farley
VAN: SS Sutton – LF J. Durán – RF Velasquez – 1B I. Gutierrez – 3B A. De Jesus – CF Wheaton – 2B Phillips – C Hurtado – P Kirkland

The Canadiens loaded the bases with no outs in the first before being held to a sac fly, and the Raccoons actually claimed a 3-1 lead in the top 3rd, with the go-ahead runs being walked in against Parker and Brady with two down, before Guerin flew out on a 2-0 pitch. That lead was soon enough blown by Farley, who was utterly raped in the most inhumane fashion in a 5-run bottom of the third, which was doubles galore for the Canadiens, much to the delight of their disgusting followers. The Raccoons’ pitching was soundly overwhelmed by the irresistible force from the north, with Miller and Martinez torn to shreds in the sixth and seventh, including a 3-run homer by Sutton. Joly was put in and waited until the Canadiens were exhausted from swinging and running around the bases, which was something that didn’t happen until after Raymond Sutton hit another totally unnecessary 3-run homer. It was a most ugly rout. 14-3 Canadiens. Martin 2-4; Ingall (PH) 1-1, 2B;

The shame. The shame.

Game 2
POR: 2B Palacios – SS Guerin – RF Brady – 1B Martin – LF Parker – 3B Ingall – CF Lyon – C Thomas – P Meza
VAN: CF T. Wilson – 3B A. De Jesus – LF Trinidad – RF Velasquez – 1B Phillips – C Rosa – 2B Dobson – SS Morgan – P Bello

Regardless of what the horrendous Meza and the horrendous bullpen would do, the Raccoons madesure that Bello wouldn’t appear in the Performances of the Day featurette on BNN, socking Bello for three runs in the first inning. Well, they had lots of singles, including two of the infield variety. Meza loaded the bags in a hurry in the first, but the Elks failed to score, and wouldn’t get another hit until the sixth, when they got loads of them in quick succession, capped off by a 2-out, 3-run homer by Jerry Dobson that brought the score back to 5-3. Meza collected an out in the seventh before De Jesus singled and Huerta came in to end the frame. In the bottom 8th, Marcos Bruno got two outs with two pitches, then walked the bases full without advance notice. Pedro Perez was called on to face the left-handed Tom Wilson, walked him, and Nordahl then was de-mothballed to take a look at the possibility of walking Alfredo De Jesus. De Jesus poked at the 2-0 pitch and grounded out to Ingall. Nordahl retired the first two in the ninth before walking Phillips, which prompted a PH appearance by slugger Iván Gutierrez, who still grounded out. 5-4 Raccoons. Palacios 3-4; Guerin 2-5, RBI; Nordahl 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K, IR 3-0, SV (25);

What? A win? What sick hex was laid on those poor Elks?

Game 3
POR: 2B Palacios – 3B Sharp – CF Torrez – 1B Martin – RF Brady – C Fifield – LF Parker – SS McLaughlin – P Ford
VAN: CF T. Wilson – 3B A. De Jesus – LF Trinidad – RF Velasquez – 1B Phillips – C Rosa – 2B J. Zamora – SS Morgan – P Dominguez

The Coons came out early, with Torrez homering on a 3-0 pitch in the first for a 1-0 lead, and the Raccoons chained up a number of hits including two doubles to add three more runs in the second against Dominguez, who lacked any of his usually tremendous stuff and was hit for in the bottom 3rd, down 5-0, although his pinch-hitter, Dave Wheaton, hit a double in the middle of a 2-spot for the Canadiens to take a piece out of Ford. Jim Phillips homered to start the bottom 4th, and Ford was just not qualified to give us – and himself – an easy win, or a win at all. He was winless since July 31. Would this be the one? Walks to Trinidad and Velasquez and a Rosa single loaded them up in the bottom 5th, and Jesus Zamora hit a deep fly to center that somehow ended up in Torrez’ glove to end the inning. A 2-out single by Wilson knocked Ford out in the bottom 6th, with Martinez getting a groundout from De Jesus to close Ford’s line at 5.2 innings and three runs. McLaughlin came through with a 2-out, 2-run double in the top 7th to create some breathing space and potentially getting this one home. But there were still nine outs to collect, and the Coons were the Coons after all. Miller walked two in the bottom 7th, but Huerta bailed the Brownshirts out. Martin enlarged the lead with #29, a solo shot in the eighth, and Huerta ended up finishing the job, collecting eight outs with only a 2-out double by Velasquez in the bottom 9th against him. 8-3 Coons. Sharp 2-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Martin 2-5, HR, RBI; Fifield 2-5, 2B; Parker 2-4, RBI; McLaughlin 2-4, BB, 2 2B, 2 RBI; Huerta 2.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, SV (1);

And so, after 38 days of staying outside and looking in, Ralph Ford won his career-high 12th game of the year, and was allowed to enter the Hut of Wins again.

It WAS cold outside.

With this, we have claimed the season series, 10-8, for the second straight year, and the tenth time in the 13 seasons since 1990. At least this. At least we got this.

In other news

September 3 – OCT SP Aaron Anderson (17-8, 2.71 ERA) 3-hits the Bayhawks in a 3-0 win.
September 5 – Miners SP Roy Floyd (15-8, 3.48 ERA) turns in his second shutout in three games, blanking the Cyclones to four hits in a 4-0 win.
September 6 – WAS 1B/3B/RF Cesar Solís (.240, 0 HR, 27 RBI) is out for at least half a year with a ruptured medial collateral ligament.
September 8 – A hamstring strain ends the season of SFB SP Ricardo Sanchez (14-10, 3.81 ERA).

Complaints and stuff

We can still win our 2,100th franchise regular season game this year. If we go undefeated from here. Ho-hum.

As Al Martin has broken through the 100 RBI mark, let’s also take a look at single season and franchise RBI marks now!

Single season RBI by a Raccoon:

1st – 140 – Tetsu Osanai (1989)
t-2nd – 121 – Tetsu Osanai (twice, 1986 + 1990)
4th – 119 – Mark Dawson (1983)
5th – 115 – Mark Dawson (1988)
6th – 111 – Daniel Hall (1992)
t-7th – 109 – Tetsu Osanai (twice, 1987 + 1988), Liam Wedemeyer (1997)
10th – 105 – Mark Dawson (1989)
11th – 104 – Tetsu Osanai (1991)
12th – 103 – Albert Martin (2002)
13th – 102 – Daniel Hall (1984)
14th – 101 – Royce Green (1994)

A piss poor 1981 team had Ben Simon lead the team with *68* RBI. Yes, he played the whole season. However, recent years had a few teams not far behind. Recently, Werner Turner and Clyde Brady led the team in consecutive seasons with less than 80.

Career RBI by a Raccoon:
1st – 980 – Daniel Hall
2nd – 869 – Mark Dawson
3rd – 865 – Tetsu Osanai
4th – 801 – Neil Reece
5th – 520 – Ben O’Morrissey
6th – 457 – David Vinson
7th – 410 – Ben Simon
8th – 397 – Vern Kinnear
9th – 392 – Matt Higgins
10th – 349 – Jorge Salazar
11th – 345 – Marvin Ingall
…
19th – 272 – Conceicao Guerin
20th – 254 – Steve Walker
21st – 249 – Clyde Brady
22nd – 245 – Albert Martin

And because we (read: I) just love wicked stats, here’s one more: the lowest number of RBI for the Raccoons currently unoccupied is 24. Each number between 1 and 23 is represented, but 24 isn’t. Due to retirements, no lower number will ever “open up” again. Coons with 23 or 25 RBI (see if you can remember them all!): Cisco Banda and Glenn Adams have 25, while 23 have been reached by Justin Reader, Sidney Aycock, and Randy Farley.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Questdog

Just catch them Canadians.....

Any other tasks we might even have a chance for?

One more week in the minor leagues, and that season can’t end soon enough. Not only did all our minor league teams get whipped soundly below .500 (fitting the parent club), by now we have injuries raging across the system. The minor league teams are down to perhaps 11 or 12 credible starting pitchers! That’s the main reason we can not add more players right now.

Do we even want to add more players?

Do we even want to leave bed?

Westheim · 04-20-2015, 03:32 PM

Raccoons (65-77) @ Loggers (80-63) – September 9-12, 2002

From the second-best to the third-best offense in the Continental League, and one that the Raccoons had little hope of taking the season series in this last confrontation, which stood at 6-8. The other former strength of the Loggers, strong starting pitching, had deserted them though this season, as their rotation had a 4.00 ERA this year.

Projected matchups:
Carl Bean (13-12, 3.76 ERA) vs. John Miller (13-13, 4.05 ERA)
Nick Brown (9-8, 2.43 ERA) vs. Martin Garcia (16-7, 2.28 ERA)
Randy Farley (7-14, 4.43 ERA) vs. Millard Wilson (12-6, 5.55 ERA)
Ramón Meza (4-2, 5.30 ERA) vs. Marc Padgett (8-9, 4.33 ERA)

Poor Brownie drew the one beast that the Loggers had remaining, although his main attraction was coming in with 192 K and a real chance to not only shatter Saito’s mark of 193 for a season, but also become the first Raccoon to 200 this Tuesday.

Game 1
POR: 2B Palacios – 3B Sharp – CF Torrez – 1B Martin – RF Brady – SS Guerin – LF Parker – C Fifield – P Bean
MIL: SS B. Hernandez – 1B Nava – RF Mashiba – LF Hiwalani – CF C. Ramirez – C L. Ramirez – 3B Cavalleri – 2B K. Scott – P J. Miller

The Coons took a bat to Miller in the first inning, plating three runs on a pair of 2-out doubles by Brady and Guerin, with the score 4-0 by the second after a run-scoring wild pitch. Soon enough, however, we found somebody actively working against the team, and it was Martin, hacking out twice with four men on in total, and then losing Miller’s grounder in the bottom 3rd that soon escalated into two unearned runs. While the Raccoons unwound 13 hits off Miller in five innings, they also left plenty of those runners on base, scoring only five runs from the dozen-plus knocks. How could this not hurt the team? In the bottom 5th Vitantonio Cavalleri continued his late-season dominance of Raccoons pitching with a solo homer, giving the Loggers three runs on just four hits. Bottom 7th, two out, back-to-back doubles by Hernandez and Nava put the tying run in scoring position and got Bean removed in favor of Perez against the lefty Mashiba. Martinez came in to face Hiwalani, gave up a double to him, and another one to Ramirez, and and and. 8-5 Loggers. Palacios 4-6, 2B; Sharp 3-4, BB; Torrez 2-5; Parker 3-4, BB, 2B; Fifield 2-5, RBI;

Us: 16 hits. Them: 12 hits. Them: 7 men left on base. Us: 15 men left on base. Capitally ****ing ass team.

Game 2
POR: 3B Sharp – SS Guerin – 2B Ingall – 1B Martin – CF Roberson – RF Brady – C Fifield – LF Parker – P Brown
MIL: SS B. Hernandez – 1B D. Love – LF Hiwalani – C L. Ramirez – 3B Cavalleri – CF Fletcher – RF M. Smith – 2B Bowling – P M. Garcia

Brown went to two strikes on the first three batters. All three singled. It was not only one of those games. It was THE game. Whatever could go wrong for Brownie, went wrong. The Loggers picked up two runs in the first, before Bowling hit another 2-strike single in the bottom 2nd. Then came Garcia, bunted and legged it out for a single on Fifield. Bowling and Garcia, also known as Slow and Slower, then double stole two bases – for both it was their first of the year – on the hapless battery. Hernandez walked, Love hit a sacrifice, and while Brown then struck out Hiwalani to reach 193, nobody was giving a **** anymore. Brown set a new record by striking out Garcia in the third, then left the game, which by then was a 5-0 rout with two men waiting in scoring position. Sharp’s hero play on Bartolo Hernandez’ first-pitch hammer throw at his face, surrendered by Sergio Vega, closed Brown’s line at 2.2 innings and five runs, with two strikeouts. **** the record. **** life.

-.-

The Raccoons were thoroughly Garcia’ed, the only run scoring on a Hiwalani error. 7-1 Loggers. Sharp 2-4; Martin 2-4, 2B; Matthews (PH) 1-1, 2B; Joly 4.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Game 3
POR: 2B Palacios – 3B Sharp – CF Torrez – 1B Martin – LF Roberson – RF Brady – C Thomas – SS Matthews – P Farley
MIL: C L. Ramirez – 1B Nava – RF C. Ramirez – 3B Cavalleri – CF Fletcher – SS Buchanan – LF Mashiba – 2B K. Scott – P M. Wilson

The third game started with a bang off Palacios’ bat and a subsequent triple by Sharp, leading to two quick runs. The main question was how quickly Farley would falter and collapse. Sharp drew a bases-loaded walk in the second to make it 3-0 before Torrez struck out, then had one of his brain fart moments in the bottom 2nd. Runners on the corners, one out, he received Wilson’s bunt, then for reasons never to be fully determined (because I beat him to death after the inning) went to second with the ball – and Mashiba, coming from first, was safe. Leon Ramirez drove in two with a single, the tying run scored on a wild pitch, and soon enough somebody (Cavalleri, with his disgusting horse face) hit a triple. The Loggers put six on Farley, and usually this would constitute a rout if it hadn’t been for Millard Wilson to suck equal amounts compared with Farley. Albert Martin thundered his 30th homer of the season to tie the score at six in the top 4th. No pitching, much hitting. Farley still found a way winding up with the loss after allowing a Ramirez single and a Cavalleri double to start the bottom 4th. Cavalleri drove home Ramirez for a 7-6 score, and in case you weren’t numb yet, Sergio Vega appeared to make things much, much worse. Both Vega and Perez were skinned in a 5-run fifth. It was so outrageously terrible, by the sixth inning the Loggers had two players an inch away from major feats, as Cristo Ramirez was on five hits, and Cavalleri a homer shy of the cycle. With the way the Raccoons were going, they’d face spare outfielders by the eighth inning and have good chances. Ramirez came up with one out and Nava on first in the bottom 8th, facing Bruno, but didn’t get anything to hit and walked eventually. Cavalleri hit into a force at second. 12-6 Loggers. Palacios 3-4, BB, HR, RBI; Miller 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K;

Bloody…

Game 4
POR: 2B Palacios – SS Guerin – CF Torrez – 1B Martin – LF Roberson – 3B Ingall – RF Parker – C Fifield – P Meza
MIL: SS B. Hernandez – RF C. Ramirez – LF Hiwalani – C L. Ramirez – 3B Cavalleri – CF Fletcher – 1B Sparks – 2B K. Scott – P Padgett

Meza waited until the third inning to truly suck, blowing a 1-0 lead with a bases-loaded 2-out single by Cavalleri. The go-ahead run came in for the Loggers when Fifield failed to make a play on Jerry Fletcher’s grounder right in front of his big ugly nose. Roberson led off the fourth with a double which he thought was triple, but which the Loggers were in disagreement on. When Ingall doubled behind him, there was no Roberson left on base to be scored, and Ingall was left on third base as the Raccoons continued to trail 2-1. Meza’s day went to **** soon enough, loading the bags in the fifth and then forcing in two runs on additional walks. He offered six freebies on the day. The Loggers scored another run off Bruno in the sixth, but the Coons got two on bloop hits in the seventh, getting back to 5-3, and then left the tying runs idling on the bases in the eighth. Robbie Wills was up for the ninth, facing Torrez, Martin and the pitcher’s slot, which meant that Brady grabbed a bat. Three lefties to counter Wills, resulting in a pop, a single, and a walk to put the tying runs on with one out and Ingall next. Marv grounded out to first, leaving it to Parker with the runners in scoring position. He flew to center, and that ended the game. 5-3 Loggers. Torrez 2-5, RBI; Martin 2-5, RBI; Roberson 2-4, 2B; Ingall 3-5, 2 2B; Parker 3-5; Lyon (PH) 2-2;

The Pooshirts had 16 hits. They left 14 men on, which has become a routine exercise now.

Guerin stole his 20th base. Last year he was leading the league in steals at this point. This year he doesn’t even have half as much as the leader, a certain Bartolo Hernandez, two stole #40 and #41 in this series.

After the game we found out that Meza hadn’t felt well in the first place and now had an inflamed shoulder.

Amputate that ****ing arm, it ain’t good for nothing anyway.

Raccoons (65-81) @ Bayhawks (75-71) – September 13-15, 2002

The Bayhawks were not as good as they had been, mainly resting on the mound beast Tony Hamlyn, but they were at least average, and average was at least two worlds better than the Raccoons could hope to be on one of their slightly less hellish days. And they also led the season series 4-2.

Projected matchups:
Ralph Ford (12-8, 2.80 ERA) vs. Henry Selph (8-14, 5.24 ERA)
Carl Bean (13-12, 3.77 ERA) vs. Tony Hamlyn (20-8, 2.18 ERA)
Nick Brown (9-9, 2.63 ERA) vs. Dani Alvarado (8-11, 4.41 ERA)

We will be assured of a losing record Saturday at the very latest. No way we chew up Hamlyn. We might get dumb AND lucky on Selph, but that will be it. After that, Brownie, getting torn up again.

The AAA season ends tonight, so we can call up a few more players like Beairsto and two arms or so.

Game 1
POR: 2B Palacios – SS Guerin – RF Brady – 1B Martin – CF Roberson – 3B Sharp – LF Parker – C Fifield – P Ford
SFB: CF Walls – SS J. Perez – C G. Ortíz – RF Black – LF Brulhart – 1B I. Navarro – 3B Comte – 2B Bulco – P Selph

Ford walked two in the first inning to load them up, but somehow the Bayhawks failed to score. They did score in the second, with Justin Comte leading off with a single, Bulco walking, and then Fifield making a capital and instantly fatal throwing error on the bunt. Three unearned runs scored. Selph would be safe on his next bunt, which Sharp failed to dig out in due time, putting runners on the corners with no outs in the bottom 4th. Bulco scored on Walls’ sac fly, making it 4-0. Meanwhile, the Decrepicoons were still looking for their first base runner. Henry Selph, 35, ancient enough to be a dusted relic telling the story of a fallen civilization, was perfect twice through the Raccoons’ lineup. Top 7th: Palacios bounced back to Selph for an out, Guerin struck out in a full count, and Brady grounded out to Bulco. Top 8th: Martin K’ed. Roberson K’ed. Sharp grounded to the side of the mound, and Selph made the play himselph. Eight innings, 24 Decrepicoons up, 24 Decrepicoons down. Ford went 7.2 before running out of what little steam he had come into the game with, with Joly collecting the last out in the eighth. Top 9th, Selph still out there, still old, still the only pitcher to have multiple no-hitters to his name.

Parker up. Selph got him to 2-2 before Parker put the ball in play. It was grounded past Selph, but more or less right to Trystao Bulco. Out.

Fifield was hit for by Eddie Torrez. 1-1 pitch, taken to center, high, so not deep, and caught leisurely by Tom Walls. Out number two.

Another pinch-hitter came up. Never had we longed more for an INGALL SINGLE than right now, so Marv hit for Joly, getting the choice between saving us from complete and total disgrace, or going down as the last out in the ABL’s first perfecto. He took the first pitch on the outside corner. Strike one. The next two pitches were high, and called balls. The next one was lower, and Ingall took a hack, knocking a grounder past the mound, and past the reach of Bulco. As that lonely grounder hobbled into centerfield, the park cried out in shock.

INGALL SINGLE!!!

Raccoons lost, though.

4-0 Bayhawks. Ingall (PH) 1-1;

Oh my dearness.

The following players were called up:
SP Felipe Garcia (mainly to take over for Meza, who will miss at least one start)
MR Domingo Moreno (who had no place to rehab anymore and had not allowed an earned run in 5.2 innings)
MR Kaz Kichida
C Pablo Fernandez
INF Miguel Ramirez
OF Chris Beairsto

And only NOW comes Hamlyn!

Game 2
POR: SS Guerin – CF Beairsto – 1B Ingall – LF Roberson – RF Brady – 2B Matthews – 3B M. Ramirez – C Fernandez – P Bean
SFB: LF Walls – C G. Ortíz – RF Javier – 3B Foster – SS J. Perez – 1B Bulco – CF Black – 2B I. Navarro – P Hamlyn

BOTH pitchers were perfect once through the opposing lineup. Hamlyn whiffed four, Bean only whiffed Hamlyn, but neither team had been on base. The first thing that properly happened was Matthews tweaking something in his neck on a play in the fourth and having to be replaced with Palacios. Bean then walked Javier, but still had a no-hitter. Hamlyn was perfect through four, but Roberson singled to start the fifth. Things rapidly unraveled for Hamlyn with Palacios hitting a single and then Pablo Fernandez came in and hit an RBI single to left. Once Bean was brushed on the thigh, Guerin doubled home a pair and we were up 3-0. Bean had yet to be tagged, but with two out in the sixth, Tom Walls hit a double. Once more, things developed rapidly, with two more hits plating two runs and running the score to 3-2, while Hamlyn was on 10 K and the Coons couldn’t hope to add on. Hamlyn made it a dozen on Ramirez and Fernandez to start the bottom 7th, but then Bean hit a double, Guerin got on, and Sharp hit for Beairsto and hit an RBI double. Hamlyn plated another run with a wild one, giving us a 5-2 lead. Bean dropped another run while going 7.2 innings and left for Moreno to pitch to Paco Javier. That AB resulted in a single, and Martinez appeared to retire Foster with a K. We actually got to break out Dan Nordahl, who faced the 5-6-7 part of the lineup. He went to two strikes on everbody he faced, whiffing Perez before Bulco singled, but a K to Navarro ended the game in due time. 5-3 Coons. Sharp (PH) 1-2, 2B, RBI; Palacios 2-3; Bean 7.2 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, W (14-12) and 1-2, 2B;

How, why! The Raccoons actually ARE able to win a game and not fudge up capitally from the first pitch onwards!

Game 3
POR: SS Guerin – CF Beairsto – 1B Ingall – LF Roberson – RF Brady – 2B Matthews – 3B M. Ramirez – C Fernandez – P Brown
SFB: CF Walls – SS J. Perez – C G. Ortíz – CF Black – LF Brulhart – 3B Foster – 1B I. Navarro – 2B J. Diaz – P Sato

Takeru Sato was freshly signed by the Bayhawks after sitting all year on the fence. A struggling Brown was chopped to little crumbs starting with Sato hitting a 2-run single in the bottom 2nd. That single came in a full count, and a full count means three balls, and that was about where Brown was in every single at-bat the entire game. Unsurprisingly that made for a very short outing, 4.1 innings, and only four strikeouts, leaving him at 198 for the season. Huerta came in with a man on and ended the fifth with a grounder by Black and a whiff to Jim Brulhart. The game was still 2-0 Hawks. While the pen was shaking without falling, Sato had the Coons in his death grip. Martin hit a pinch-hit single in the eighth, but we never made it past first base. Johnny Smith replaced Sato in the ninth, having 67 K in 62.1 innings this season. It was still a 2-0 game, so when Ingall led off with an INGALL SINGLE, we figured we’d have a chance. Roberson singled. Brady flew out to right center, before Palacios walked the bags full. Parker hit for Ramirez, dished a shot to deep center, but Tom Walls made an admittedly fantastic play. Ingall scored, the other runners held, while Torrez hit for Fernandez, fell 0-2 behind, then grounded weakly to second, but the Bayhawks had no play! Bases loaded, two out, we’d need a run, and Daniel Miller was hit for by Gary Fifield (there were no more promising options left on the bench). Fifield swung for the fences, one strike, two strikes, CONTACT, high, to deep center – and to Walls. 2-1 Bayhawks. Martin (PH) 1-1; Torrez (PH) 1-1;

Matthews was hurt again, tearing an abdominal muscle this time. He’s out for the year.

And yes, I did mess up the lineup when the Bayhawks brought in Sato.

In other news

September 9 – LAP SP Raúl Chavez (9-18, 5.26 ERA) has a nice day, 3-hitting the Gold Sox in a 7-0 Pacifics win.
September 10 – CHA SP Terry Wilson (11-14, 3.96 ERA) is out for the year with a torn labrum.
September 13 – Boston wins 4-2 in Oklahoma, and then they have to wait for the Loggers’ extra inning contest in Tijuana to end. After Robbie Wills issues a bases-loaded walk to Bartolo Román in the bottom 11th, walking off the Condors, the Titans have clinched the CL North. This is the Titans’ fifth playoff appearance, all in the last six years, and they will try to defend their 2001 title.
September 13 – Vancouver’s Joe Hollow (11-11, 2.75 ERA) has his season end with shoulder inflammation and might take half a year to recover.
September 14 – BOS LF/RF Chih-tui Jin (.269, 8 HR, 54 RBI) announces his retirement after suffering a complete tear in his labrum. Jin was the Raccoons’ fifth round pick in 1988, debuting with them in 1993, but had his most success with the Gold Sox. He only appeared in Boston this year. He was .295/.406/.445 for his career, with 74 HR and 487 RBI.

Complaints and stuff

WORST week … in a LONG time. The team at its ABSOLUTE WORST. What a … a … there are no words.

No family friendly words at least.

We will now crown our LONE hero of the week:

Questdog · 04-20-2015, 04:07 PM

Wow, tough, tough week.

And I don't see them Canada boys no more up ahead of us; they must have done made it 'round the bend......

Please keep us out of last place, anyways.....

Westheim · 04-21-2015, 03:46 PM

Raccoons (66-83) vs. Falcons (68-81) – September 16-18, 2002

Two forgettable teams in the penultimate week of the season. At least the Falcons had the outrageously bad Knights going for them, with the Coons gleaming into last place’s abyss. If we can’t solve the league’s third-worst rotation and get drummed by their above-average offense, we might tie with the Crusaders for last place by midweek. The season series was tied.

Projected matchups:
Randy Farley (7-15, 4.69 ERA) vs. Ramiro Gonzalez (5-2, 2.41 ERA)
Felipe Garcia (0-5, 6.96 ERA) vs. Jesus Hernandez (5-12, 5.30 ERA)
Ralph Ford (12-9, 2.74 ERA) vs. Chang-bum O (10-13, 4.37 ERA)

Two left-handed pitchers (Gonzalez and O) in the same series? Wut?

Game 1
CHA: LF R. Wilson – C F. Chavez – 2B H. Green – 1B Batlle – CF Burke – SS A. Ramirez – RF Estrada – 3B N. Chavez – P R. Gonzalez
POR: SS Guerin – LF Roberson – 3B Sharp – 1B Martin – 2B Ingall – RF Brady – CF Torrez – C Fifield – P Farley

Randy was 1-8 since the end of June, blooming his ERA by .9 runs, with the majority of that coming in the last five games, which he had all lost in a landslide. This might well be his last start of the season before getting mothballed. Should he lose this one, it was all his fault, since the Coons got ahead early with a 3-run homer by Marvin Ingall in the bottom 1st. Farley certainly wasn’t any good, he was more lucky. The Falcons left pairs of runners on base in the first, second, and fourth innings, never getting that last single, that everybody always seemed to get off Farley. Well, Randy was better at the plate, having two hits, including a triple(!), and managed to line up six shutout innings with a little help from the defense. In the seventh, up 4-0, it all went wrong, though. Pinch-hit single by John Hudson, double by Ralph Wilson, and an infield single by batting leader Fernando Chavez – bases loaded, no outs. Farley struck out Green before Perez was called in to get the lefties. He didn’t. Batlle doubled, Burke was hit for, with Huerta coming in to issue two walks. Martinez replaced the collection of ******s to strike out Estrada, while Nelson Chavez lined out to deep left, where Roberson made a fantastic play to stop the bleeding at 4-3 and the bags full. Moreno pitched in the eighth, surrendering a high and deep fly to center to Fernando Chavez with two down. Torrez, the ball, and the wall all meshed into one, and when the dust settled, Chavez was out, and so was Torrez. Nordahl walked two in the ninth, but somehow the Raccoons squeaked through. 4-3 Coons. Martin 2-4, 2B; Ingall 2-4, HR, 3 RBI;

He broke WHAT? Apparently, Torrez applied an unconventional break mechanism at the centerfield wall. He simply didn’t slow down at all in making the catch, and slammed into it face first, breaking his jaw.

So, no more cookies for Eddie, just pea soup for the next four weeks, and he’s out for the season.

(facepalm)

Game 2
CHA: LF R. Wilson – SS A. Ramirez – 2B H. Green – 1B Batlle – CF Burke – RF J. Lugo – C M. Castillo – 3B N. Chavez – P J. Hernandez
POR: 2B Palacios – 3B Sharp – RF Brady – 1B Martin – LF Roberson – SS Guerin – CF Beairsto – C Thomas – P F. Garcia

The Raccoons unleashed some 2-out terror on Hernandez, hitting four 2-out singles in the bottom 3rd to plate two runs just in time before Beairsto got knotted up hacking himself out, and then added another run on a Palacios single and Sharp double with two out in the fourth. Garcia fell into the category of “not good, but breathing on his own”. The Falcons threatened in the first inning, and then not quite until the sixth again, when they put two runners in scoring position with one out, only for two pops, one fair, one foul, to end the inning. Bottom 6th, Garcia hit a 2-out double with the bags deserted, but Hernandez then balked and Palacios singled to score Garcia from third base, 4-0. The pattern broke up the next inning, when Martin went deep off Shane Sweet with only one out in the inning. Garcia still wasn’t getting touched. With a 5-0 lead he was not hit for in the bottom 8th, making the final out. Bags had been empty. So, he came back out for the ninth, facing Jake Burke leading off, and the relief corps was working just in case. Burke flew out to center on the first pitch, before Lugo whiffed. Castillo singled to left, but well, let’s have him one more. Nelson Chavez sent a lofty liner to center, but Beairsto had more than enough time to get there. 5-0 Coons! Palacios 2-3, BB, RBI; Sharp 2-4, 2 2B, RBI; Martin 3-4, HR, RBI; Roberson 2-4, RBI; Guerin 2-4, 2B, RBI; Garcia 9.0 IP, 8 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K, W (1-5) and 1-4, 2B;

With his 31st home run of the season, Al Martin has now achieved a tie for fourth on the all-time franchise chart for a single season effort, matching Tetsu Osanai’s 1986 and Mark Dawson’s 1988 output. He is also already our 10th-most prolific home run hitter in franchise history, having knocked out Vern Kinnear (that last week already).

What do 1988 and 2002 have in common? They were utter **** years. After 1988 came 1989.

1989 ended **** though. I can’t un-see Glenn Johnston dropping Ed Parrell’s fly.

Game 3
CHA: 1B M. Clark – C M. Castillo – LF J. Lugo – 3B H. Green – 2B A. Ramirez – CF Estrada – RF King – SS Burgess – P O
POR: 3B Sharp – SS Guerin – LF Roberson – 1B Martin – 2B Palacios – C Fifield – CF Lyon – RF Flores – P Ford

The Raccoons have not swept a series since the first week of the season. We can give the ball to our assumed best pitcher. Said assumed best pitcher faced an exclusively right-handed lineup, and was INCREDIBLY wonky from the start. The Falcons knocked four singles off him in the first two innings, and didn’t score only for them having both Mark Clark and Pedro Estrada getting caught stealing by Fifield. Wonky went on to pitch the third under pressure when not only Chang-bum O hit a leadoff single on a 1-2 pitch, but Gil Flores managed to lose the ball in his underpants, giving the pitcher an extra base. Ford went on to strike out the side – but didn’t get the third K called, instead Lugo walked in a full count. Green singled to left, before Ramirez also sent a grounder there that Sharp intercepted and somehow glove-lobbed to Palacios at second where in a hair split-decision Green was called out. MIGHT BE NICE TO GET SOME OFFENSE GOING. Guerin walked with one out in the bottom 3rd. Roberson shoved a double past Estrada in center, plating Concie rather easily, 1-0. O unraveled, walking Martin and Palacios before Fifield chipped an RBI single to right. Lyon popped out, leaving it to the not-so-stellar Flores to get something going. Flores hit it to left center – and it fell in and bounced to the wall! Two runs in, the Coons were up 4-0! Ford failed to pitch a single 1-2-3 inning, somehow went six and didn’t allow a run, and we’d file that under success and try to cobble together the last nine outs with the bullpen. Bruno knocked off three outs in the seventh (with dumb luck, mainly). Martinez had a chunk taken out of him in the eighth with extra base hits by Green and Estrada that plated the Falcons’ first run. Kaz Kichida replaced him and struck out King to end the frame, and Nordahl sat them down in order in the ninth. Bring out the brooms! 4-1 Coons! Roberson 2-4, 2B, RBI; Flores 3-4, 2 2B, 2 RBI; Ingall (PH) 1-1; Ford 6.0 IP, 7 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 3 K, W (13-9)

I was unsure whether to list Ford’s outing as good. It was not good. It was all dumb luck. But in the end, if your abilities are not quite enough to sweep a series for FIVE AND A HALF MONTHS, then dumb luck will do.

Raccoons (69-83) vs. Indians (68-84) – September 20-22, 2002

569 runs ranked those Indians last in the Continental League, with average pitching on top of that. Would be nice to take the series and remain in fourth place, wouldn’t it?

Projected matchups:
Carl Bean (14-12, 3.76 ERA) vs. Alonso Alonso (12-12, 3.73 ERA)
Nick Brown (9-10, 2.67 ERA) vs. Junior Diaz (3-1, 1.54 ERA)
Ramón Meza (4-3, 5.36 ERA) vs. John Collins (7-12, 5.39 ERA)

Game 1
IND: 2B Montray – SS M. Jones – LF Alston – C Paraz – 3B D. Lopez – CF Cavazos – 1B J. Garcia – RF J. Lugo – P Alonso
POR: 3B Sharp – 2B Palacios – LF Roberson – 1B Martin – RF Parker – SS Guerin – CF Beairsto – C Fernandez – P Bean

Bottom 2nd in a scoreless game, Guerin led off with a single. He set off to steal second, with Paraz’ throw nowhere near the bag and well into center. Guerin made it to third, giving even the wild hacker Beairsto a chance to plate him with a bit of contact. A bit of contact he got: quite a lot actually. High – deep – well gone! Third career homer for our 2001 top pick! The joy was short-lived, with Bean getting pierced with four arrows for three brave warriors sneaking across home plate in the third, as the Indians took a 3-2 lead. The Indians had again two in scoring position with two out in the fourth, but Bean managed to strike out Montray, who batted a miserable .125 against Portland this year. 3-2 was still the score in the bottom 6th when Brady hit for Bean with two out and two on. The lead runner was Concie on second base, and Brady singled to right. Concie was sent, and thrown out by Lugo. Against the pen, the Indians left a man in scoring position both in the seventh and eighth, but the Raccoons just couldn’t get the bats up. To start the top 9th, Kichida walked two, Bruno walked one, no outs, and this one was well lost, even though the damage ultimately amounted to just one run that Bruno walked in against Ron Alston. 4-2 Indians. Martin 2-4; Guerin 2-4, 2B; Brady (PH) 1-1;

What a stinker of a game. Stinks of piss. But that might be explained sufficiently with the piss poor home team.

Game 2
IND: C T. Turner – 3B Whaley – LF Alston – 1B D. Lopez – RF Greenman – SS Montray – CF J. Alvarez – 2B Stevens – P J. Diaz
POR: 1B Sharp – SS Guerin – LF Roberson – 2B Palacios – RF Parker – C Fifield – CF Beairsto – 3B M. Ramirez – P Brown

Brownie’s last two starts had been utter crap, but today he would go for 200 K. He reached the mark quickly, removing Lopez for #200 and to end the first inning. Almost as quickly he fell behind, with Greenman hitting a leadoff jack in the second. Three singles plated Montray in the fourth, making it 2-0, and the Coons had not done an awful lot at the plate so far. Roberson started the bottom 4th with a single, Palacios got on, and then Parker uncorked a welcome 3-shot to flip the score in favor of the furred team. Brownie went into the seventh, striking out two full hands, but eventually ran out of steam, and with the tying run on base and Alston up, he was replaced with Domingo Moreno. Alston grounded to Guerin, ending the inning and keeping the 3-2 lead alive. In between, Greenman had been the main killer of Raccoons offense, making three strong catches in right, which cost the Critters at least two runs. He continued to do the dirty work in the eighth, homering off Huerta to tie the score at three. The next inning, there was one he didn’t catch on defense, though, and that one gave the Coons the lead back as Roberson’s liner rammed off the wall to plate Guerin with an RBI double. Although the Coons proceeded to load the bases, Beairsto hacked out for the second out, and Martin flew out to right hitting in place of Ramirez. Thus a 4-3 lead was inherited by Dannyboy, and he retired Paraz, Bowen, and Cavazos, three pinch-hitters, in order. 4-3 Coons! Guerin 2-4; Roberson 2-4, 2B, RBI; Parker 1-2, 2 BB, HR, 3 RBI; Brown 6.2 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 10 K and 1-2;

Danny is one shy of 30 saves for a horribly lousy team (not that he was flawless, oooooh no). Brownie is still looking for his tenth win of the season to go with his 208 strikeouts. He will only get one more shot.

Game 3
IND: SS W. Walker – 3B Whaley – LF Alston – 1B D. Lopez – RF Greenman – CF J. Valdez – C Abrams – 2B Stevens – P J. Collins
POR: 3B Sharp – 2B Palacios – RF Brady – 1B Martin – LF Roberson – CF Beairsto – C Fifield – SS M. Ramirez – P Meza

Both teams lost their leftfielders to injury in the top 4th. First Alston was hurt legging out an infield single that made it 2-0 Indians, then Roberson was hurt on the catch that ended the inning, and it wouldn’t get batter for the Raccoons. Collins, who had a negative batting average, homered off Meza in the fifth, and the inning continued for some time with another hit, a Sharp error, and another Greenman homer that rocketed the score to 6-0. When Daniel Sharp hit a leadoff jack in the sixth, it was only the team’s second hit of the day. They had nothing against Collins. Defense was messy as well, with Martin making an error in the seventh that helped the Indians to plate two more runs. And it went on and on! Wilton Walker tried to steal third base in the eighth, Fifield made an outrageous throwing error, and the Indians reached double digits when Walker scampered home on the hapless Bob Joly. The Coons finished with more errors than hits in a devastating rout on the way out of town. 10-1 Indians.

Ron Alston tore a quad, ending his season with a .298 clip, 36 homers and 103 driven in. We don’t know what’s wrong with Roberson so far.

In other news

September 16 – The Thunder behind Fabien Armand clobber the Crusaders, 12-2, to seal the CL South and set up the 2001 CLCS rematch with the Titans. It will be the Thunder’s third straight, and eighth total playoff appearance.
September 17 – TIJ SP Jose Maldonado (13-12, 2.92 ERA) is shut down to have bone chips removed from his elbow. He should be ready for the start of the 2003 season.
September 20 – San Fran’s Tony Hamlyn (21-9, 2.22 ERA) continues to make a case for the Triple Crown by striking out ten and giving up three hits in a 10-0 romp of the Bayhawks over the Falcons. Hamlyn is currently one win, 30 K, and .16 ERA ahead of the competition.
September 21 – The Gold Sox suffer a blow with the news that SP Victor Bernal (17-9, 2.61 ERA) will miss the rest of the year with a sore shoulder.
September 22 – One day after the bad news, there are good news for the Gold Sox, as they hold off the Warriors, 4-2, while the Scorpions take a 4-3 loss in L.A., which in combination clinches the FL West for the Gold Sox. It will be the first postseason in 17 years for the Sox, who won the 1985 World Series and since then suffered five last place finishes.

Complaints and stuff

Nice week. Until Sunday broke over us.

Odd note: Daniel Miller has appeared in more career games than the next three most-appeared pitchers on the staff combined. It might explain his expiration date reading “best before 2001”.

---

With Takeru Sato signing with the Bayhawks last week, the required four qualified free agents have signed. But of course the dead-in-the-water Raccoons won’t sign anybody in September. Not even Royce Green.

Questdog · 04-21-2015, 04:09 PM

Not even Royce Green?

Westheim · 04-21-2015, 04:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Questdog

Not even Royce Green?

Sadly, no. Between Reece, Roberson, Brady, Torrez, Beairsto, and Parker we already have quite a bit of potential to pick from.

The thought of platooning him with Brady is nice. But we're paying Brady $1.2M per year.

We're paying Brady $1.2M per year to OPS .710, to be precise.

Westheim · 04-22-2015, 05:57 PM

Raccoons (70-85) @ Crusaders (65-90) – September 23-26, 2002

Welcome to Garbage Week! We appreciate your presence and your willingness to waste your precious time. As a special treat we will start the final rounds of madness for this year – as far as the Willamette area is concerned – with a 4-game set in New York, featuring two abysmal teams, with the road team having a very good chance of getting completely clowned and ending up in last place by year’s end.

Projected matchups:
Felipe Garcia (1-5, 5.44 ERA) vs. Kelly Fairchild (8-13, 3.56 ERA)
Randy Farley (8-15, 4.68 ERA) vs. Edgar Rey (7-13, 4.92 ERA)
Ralph Ford (13-9, 2.66 ERA) vs. Anibal Sandoval (18-10, 2.47 ERA)
Carl Bean (14-13, 3.79 ERA) vs. Greg Connor (12-13, 3.58 ERA)

Game 1
POR: 3B Sharp – 2B Palacios – LF Parker – 1B Martin – C Fifield – RF Brady – SS Guerin – CF Beairsto – P F. Garcia
NYC: LF M. Ortíz – CF Britton – RF A. Johnson – 1B Berry – SS Rice – 3B L. Ramirez – C Olson – 2B J. Martinez – P Fairchild

Martin Ortíz got an early jump with a leadoff homer against Garcia, who struggled with pretty much everything, from the opponents to the ball and the mound and his own ugly nose. The Coons had nothing against Fairchild – as usual – for the first four innings. In the fifth Fairchild made a capital error by walking Beairsto to get going, and the Raccoons would get three 2-out singles, with Palacios tying the game, and Martin singling in the go-ahead run, 2-1. Beairsto then homered in the sixth, before Garcia, who walked five, got stuck for good in the bottom 6th, leaving with one out and Rice on first. Bruno came in. At 2-2 against Luis Ramirez, Bruno threw low, Rice was going, Fifield fired a shot, nowhere near any friendly fielder. Bruno walked Ramirez before surrendering two singles and nobody knew quite how we got out of there still leading 3-2. Moreno got four outs against the lefty-loaded top of the lineup in the seventh and eighth, and the score was still 3-2 for the brown-clad team into the bottom 9th with Nordahl trying to save his 30th of the year. Three batters, three grounders to left, three outs made. 3-2 Coons! Sharp 2-5; Parker 3-4, 2B; Moreno 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K;

Chris Roberson was finally diagnosed with a bruised hand, and no fractures. He was told to take it easy for a few more days, but he will play again this year! He is DTD for the New York series for the moment.

Game 2
POR: 3B Sharp – 2B Palacios – LF Parker – 1B Martin – C Fifield – CF Lyon – RF Flores – SS McLaughlin – P Farley
NYC: LF M. Ortíz – 3B L. Ramirez – RF A. Johnson – 1B Berry – SS Rice – C D. Anderson – CF Latham – 2B J. Martinez – P Rey

Game 2 was one of those that made you want to run away and never come back. This was despite the Raccoons holding a lead for most of the game. It was still horrendous. We plated two runs in the first on a few singles, but Farley was shoddy from the start, showing bad control and not having one strikeout until the fourth inning. Then, the game was tied, 2-2, which was part Farley’s fault with issuing walks and finally two singles, but part McLaughlin’s as well, mishandling the potential inning-ending double play ball for an error that got the Crusaders going in the first place. Back-to-back bombs by Martin (for two) and Fifield would see the Coons jump out to 5-2 in the fifth, in the bottom of which, with one out and one on, Parker dropped an easy soft fly for the second unnecessary error of the day. Daryl anderson’s RBI single in the bottom 6th got Farley knocked from the game, and Huerta, who replaced him, right away gave up an RBI double to Brian Latham. He walked the bags full but somehow the Crusaders failed to tie the game, leaving the Coons up 5-4. The seventh and eighth were a constant walk on the edge, with the tying run being starved in scoring position in the seventh, and in the eighth Miller was surrendering one deep fly to Jose Martinez that Parker somehow intercepted. The Coons had men on in the eighth and ninth, but always hit one of those killing grounders. The game remained a 1-run affair, bringing Nordahl back into the action in the ninth. Struck out Ortíz, struck out Ramirez, str- … Johnson hit one of those bloop singles. That brought up Berry, who was unretired on the day, and hit a fly to right, up along the foul line. Brady coming, Brady coming, Brady catching!! 5-4 Raccoons! Sharp 3-5; Palacios 2-5, 2B; Parker 2-4; Martin 2-4, HR, 3 RBI; Fifield 2-5, HR, RBI;

The win means that we have clinched fifth place in the division.

(overly pronounced) Yaaayy!!

Also, we’re now 11-5 against the Crusaders this season. The last time we won 12 from them was 1993.

It always comes down to 1993 or 1996, huh?

Game 3
POR: 3B Sharp – 2B Palacios – LF Parker – 1B Martin – RF Beairsto – SS Guerin – CF Lyon – C Fernandez – P Ford
NYC: RF Gonzales – SS Rice – CF M. Ortíz – 1B T. Mullins – C D. Anderson – LF A. Johnson – CF V. Gonzalez – 2B Burne – P Sandoval

The third game of the set was certainly well-pitched, which was no surprise given the personnel involved. Through five, both teams combined for five hits, and the score was 1-1. Avery Johnson and Pablo Fernandez had brought in runs with productive outs to get there. Ford starved two runners in the bottom 6th when he whiffed Johnson, and then Martin led off the top 7th with a double. The Crusaders walked the fear-striking .133 batter Chris Beairsto intentionally to get to Concie, who then took an 0-2 pitch for the team to load the bases with nobody out. Lyon hit a sac fly before Fernandez sure enough hit into a double play. Bottom 8th, things began to unravel for Ford with a 1-out walk by Rice and a subsequent single by Ortíz that moved Rice to third. In a full count, Ford struck out Mullins, but that left the righty Anderson up. It was too dicey. We called on Bruno, who got a grounder that Palacios barely managed to make the inning-ending play on. We loaded the bases with two out in the top 9th with two hits and Ingall drawing a pinch-walk off Dane Sanders. Brady hit for Fernandez in the key spot, and struck out. It was still 2-1, but Nordahl would not come out today. We’d try to patch it together with what was available, starting with Domingo Moreno facing the lefty Avery Johnson, who singled. Miller came out for a right-hander, but the Crusaders pinch-hit with left-handed batter Mark Berry, who flew out to Flores in center. With Britton hitting now, Perez was called on, but gave up a grounder that Palacios couldn’t get an out on. In need for a right-hander, we got desperate and chose Kaz Kichida over Bob Joly, which was also a mistake, as Stanton Martin hit an RBI single before Kichida walked the bags full. Bob Joly came out NOW, struck out Rice, then walked Ortíz. 3-2 Crusaders. Guerin 2-3; Ford 7.2 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 5 K;

I wouldn’t be surprised by Ford demanding to be traded. Heck, *I* want to be traded!! We used six relievers, of which three didn’t register an out.

Game 4
POR: 3B Sharp – SS Guerin – 2B Palacios – 1B Martin – RF Brady – LF Parker – CF Beairsto – C Fernandez – P Bean
NYC: LF M. Ortíz – CF Britton – RF A. Johnson – 1B Berry – SS Rice – C D. Anderson – 3B L. Ramirez – 2B Burne – P Connor

Beairsto, who saw himself among the all-time great batters without a doubt by now, was the first dumb thing to fall off the wagon in the series closer, striking out, as usual, in the second inning, then snuffing at the umpire, who had none of that from a hacker still green behind the ears. Beairsto was tossed, and I angrily choked one of the few surviving stuffed toy raccoons we carried around. The Coons made one run out of three on, one out in the third inning, while Bean struck out four in a row in the early going before he ever gave up a hit. He gave up two in the fourth inning, but the Crusaders didn’t score when he K’ed his sixth man of the day, Gary Rice, who would strike out three times total against Bean in this game. Both teams were thoroughly inept at the plate. In the sixth the Coons got two hits, both singles, ruined by three pop outs. Fernandez then hit a homer in the seventh to make it 2-0. Bean kept trucking, opening the bottom 8th with a strikeout to Derek Burne, which made it 10 K on the day for him. The inning saw two Crusaders get on, but they still couldn’t score, but they had Bean over 110 pitches. He probably wouldn’t come back, and then the Crusaders made the curious choice to pick Mike Collins from a bullpen full of capable hurlers to start the top 9th for them. Brady walked, Parker tripled, 3-0. Fernandez brought home Parker, 4-0, and Bean now DID return for the bottom 9th, although Nordahl was warming up. We didn’t need Danny, though. Berry grounded out to Palacios, Rice grounded out to Sharp (now at first base), and Anderson was punched out royally! 4-0 Beans – errr, Coons! Sharp 2-4; Fernandez 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Farley 9.0 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 11 K, W (15-13);

Raccoons (73-86) vs. Titans (103-56) – September 27-29, 2002

Can - … can we just be friends? Please?

Projected matchups:
Nick Brown (9-10, 2.67 ERA) vs. Jorge Chapa (17-7, 2.55 ERA)
Ramón Meza (4-4, 5.40 ERA) vs. Bryce Hildred (13-9, 4.15 ERA)
Randy Farley (9-15, 4.64 ERA) vs. Ray Conner (3-2, 4.61 ERA)

Game 1
BOS: 2B D. Mendez – 3B V. Flores – RF G. Munoz – 1B Matsumoto – SS D. Silva – LF Bryant – CF Austin – C F. Diéguez – P Chapa
POR: 1B Sharp – SS Guerin – 2B Ingall – LF Roberson – C Fifield – RF Brady – 3B M. Ramirez – CF Lyon – P Brown

Brownie was trying to win his 10th of the year and went through 13 batters without either a walk OR a strikeout, which was something we certainly hadn’t seen before this year. The game was still scoreless when he struck out Daniel Silva for the last out in the fourth. Both Brown and Chapa pitched marvelously, and neither team even reached third base until the seventh inning, when Gary Fifield touched it exactly once as he circled the bases after a 2-out solo homer. Now up 1-0 we were counting on Brownie to get us through and outta here, but that would have been nice, and as Raccoons fan you had chosen eternal suffering. He walked Mark Austin up front in the eighth, his first walk on the day, and was INSTANTLY bitten, with Diéguez doubling, and while he got two outs without the runners moving, Victor Flores hit a 2-out, 2-run double that deflated the home team’s ambitions. 3-1 Titans. Fifield 2-3, HR, RBI; Brown 8.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, L (9-11);

****ing arse team.

Game 2
BOS: LF Elizondo – 3B V. Flores – CF Garrison – 1B Matsumoto – 2B D. Mendez – SS Austin – RF Bryant – C F. Diéguez – P Hildred
POR: 3B Sharp – SS Guerin – 2B Palacios – 1B Martin – LF Roberson – RF Brady – CF Beairsto – C Fernandez – P Meza

Ex-Coon on the mound, everybody knew what would happen here. They didn’t get a hit until with two out in the bottom 5th, and then it was Fernandez, so Meza readily made the final out of the inning, flying out to Garrison. Then, the game was still scoreless. That soon changed. Meza hit Garrison to get the sixth inning underway, and from there a cavalcade of errors and inaccuracies including a high throw by Fernandez on a stolen base attempt, a wild pitch by Meza, and his general non-level of ability rapidly got the Titans onto the board, as they scored two runs and knocked out Meza. Miller finished the inning, but, also freed of all ability, surrendered a run in the seventh. Bruno surrendered another run, as the bullpen made it overly easy on the good team to down the **** team. When all was already lost, Bob Joly still found it necessary to surrender a last-out homer to David Mendez. 5-2 Titans. Parker (PH) 1-1;

Game 3
BOS: LF Elizondo – 1B H. Ramirez – CF Garrison – RF G. Munoz – 3B Austin – SS D. Silva – 2B V. Flores – C F. Diéguez – P Conner
POR: 3B Sharp – SS Guerin – LF Roberson – 1B Martin – RF Brady – C Thomas – CF Beairsto – 2B M. Ramirez – P Farley

We just should have kept Farley in the Chest of Forgotten Toys. He sucked outright and was brutally bludgeoned on the way to six runs surrendered in not even two innings. That was the whole ballgame – Farley getting hit by not one, not two, but five busses in the second inning. The bullpen managed to hold the Titans to one more run in seven innings. The Raccoons, who had led 2-1 after a 2-run triple by Brady in the bottom 1st, where shut down the rest of the game, not … well, rising would be said too much … not breathing again until the ninth inning, when Fifield delayed the saddest end to a baseball season for another minute by hitting a 2-out RBI double off Ramiro Román. Ingall then struck out, and that was it, five hits on closing day. 7-3 Titans. Guerin 2-4; Fifield (PH) 1-1, 2B, RBI; Vega 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K; Kichida 3.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Thank god it is over. Can’t stand the sorry sight of those…… “§%&”$(.

In other news

September 23 – The Titans suffer a terrible blow by losing their catcher Luis Lopez (.277, 15 HR, 69 RBI) with a quad strain. He might be out for all of the playoffs.
September 24 – The season might be dying, but MIL 1B Jose Nava (.315, 8 HR, 32 RBI) doesn’t want it to end right now. With a single in the Loggers’ 6-5 win over the Titans, Nava has chained up a 20-game hitting streak.
September 28 – The Blue Sox lose 7-1 in Washington, but since the Buffaloes lose to the Rebels, 6-2, the Blue Sox still manage to clinch the FL East and set the playoff field. It will be the Sox’ record ninth playoff appearance, the first since 2000 and the third in five years.

Complaints and stuff

Carl Bean became our first 15-game winner since 1996, when Master Kisho was still the master and won 19 games. It always comes down to 1993 or 1996 with “last” things around here…

We have turned in our best record in four years.

We still sucked.

Westheim · 04-23-2015, 04:20 PM

2002 PLAYOFFS

The FLCS pitted the 97-65 Blue Sox and 96-66 Gold Sox against one another. While the Blue Sox were the most well-travelled team when it came to October baseball with their ninth appearance, the Gold Sox had not been to the postseason since winning it all in ’85. Who’d sock it to the other?

The Blue Sox had been extremely successful at playing small ball, hitting for the best average and enjoying the highest on-base percentage in the Federal League, and barely hitting any home runs at all to score the second-most runs in their league. Their pitching was splendid. In the FL, a 4.25 rotation ERA was good enough for 3rd, whle their bullpen ranked 2nd. Javier Cruz, Dennis Fried, and Dave Crawford had won 54 games between them, while Stanton Taylor had gone 7-19 with an ERA just slightly above theirs. They were ALL in the low 4’s for ERA. Closer Jose Escobar saved 41 contest, but also lost six games. In their lineup they had a few incredible beasts. OF Juan Ortíz had hit 21 homers, but had also struck out a lot, while in the infield Leborio Catalo had not only knocked exactly 200 hits, but had also walked 136 times for an insane .474 OBP! Two key pieces were missing however, as SS Bob Townsley was out for the year with a broken wrist, while CF John Hensley would miss the FLCS with an elbow sprain, but *might* make it back for the World Series.

The Gold Sox’ main strength was their insane rotation, where Carlos Castro (21-7), Victor Bernal (17-9), and Chang-se Park (16-15) had all occupied the first three spots in the FL ERA race, and Castro had won the Triple Crown. The problems started right here, however, with Bernal being injured and out, and the back half of the Gold Sox’ playoff rotation was not nearly as stellar. Their bullpen was also merely average, with a closer in Scott Hood that was rapidly alternating between lockdown and blowup, losing nine games over the year. The real problem for the Gold Sox might be their offense: it just wasn’t any good. They were last in extra base hits and home runs, predictably almost last in slugging, and also second-to-last in walks! One wandered how they scored runs at all, and they in fact didn’t. Their 721 runs scored were below average in the FL. If their was any game-changing batter they had, it was outfielder Pedro Pujols, who hit .323 and hit 16 homers, which was almost 25% of the team output.

They say, good pitching beats good hitting in the playoffs. Problem for the Gold Sox: they lack a third of their good pitching, putting incredible strain on Castro and Park to not get beaten. One can’t imagine that the Gold Sox can out-hit the Blue Sox. Best guess: Blue Sox in six.

Both CLCS contestants won triple digits, with the Titans winning 106 to the Thunder’s 100 games. Interestingly, if you discount the ’96 Raccoons and ’99 Bayhawks, one of these two teams has won the CL pennant every year since 1994. Factoring in the Raccoons it’s just three teams plus the one-time Bayhawks all the way since 1991. Both these teams made it to the World Series three times since 1994, and both went 2-1 in the final round. These were also the two most recent champions, with the Thunder winning in 2000, and the Titans in 2001.

The Thunder led the Continental League in most pitching categories, and were top 3 in all but strikeouts (5th). Vaughn Higgins’ 3.45 ERA was the worst in their playoff rotation, and him, Pancho Trevino, and Aaron Anderson were all ten games over .500 over the year. Their bullpen had six rock-solid pitchers, most of which had WHIPs in the 1.10s or better. It was a staff that was hard not to like. Their offense wasn’t nearly as good. They were good, but they were nowhere near what the Titans would throw at them. They had four double-digit home run hitters in Takahashi Higashi (20), Artie Barnes (17), Tomas Cardenas (13), and David Vinson (10). They also had a marvelous allrounder in Joey Humphrey. But the bottom of their lineup was thin, especially since neither Higashi nor Cardenas were good anywhere other than first base. Their only significant injury was infielder Bob Grant, who was not a great hitter at age 33, but could have helped the bottom of the order tremendously if healthy.

The Titans were quite different from the Thunder. Their pitching had spots, but not only good ones. While 18-7 Jorge Chapa and 20-9 Jason O’Halloran were as good as always, both Bryce Hildred and Ray Conner were soundly over 4 ERA-wise. In their bullpen, they had a lights out trio at the back end in closer John Bennett, who had saved 48 games and had won eight, and setup men Ramiro Román and Xavier Herrera, neither of which had an ERA over 2, or a WHIP over 1.20. The rest of their bullpen was not nearly as good. Their strength lay in offense, having scored 767 runs over the course of the season, which was very close to the league lead. They were on base a lot, 2nd in OBP, with the most walks and least strikeouts in the CL. They were average in home runs, but above average in extra base hits, giving them enough fuel to move all those walkers around. While there were no single standout players in their lineup, it was a densely packed unit where it was very hard to single out one particular weak spot – with one exception. Their two catchers, Luis Lopez and Corey Bader, were BOTH out with injuries. Their primary catcher was now Fernando Diéguez, who had 68 AB over the year, and Pete Baggett, who had never even appeared in the regular season – ever!

Overall, the Titans’ lineup is still better stuffed than the Thunder’s. The Thunder in turn have a marked advantage between the pitching staffs. It is a close call, but the Thunder look like they would prevail in six or seven games.

2002 CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES

Gold Sox @ Blue Sox … 0-3 … (Blue Sox lead 1-0) … NAS Dennis Fried 9.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 5 K, W;
Thunder @ Titans … 2-5 … (Titans lead 1-0) … OCT Takahashi Higashi 3-3, BB, 2B;

Gold Sox @ Blue Sox … 5-8 … (Blue Sox lead 2-0) … Gold Sox’ Carlos Castro is crushed in 5-run third
Thunder @ Titans … 5-3 … (series tied 1-1) … OCT Takahashi Higashi 5-5, 2B, 2 RBI;

Blue Sox @ Gold Sox … 1-5 … (Blue Sox lead 2-1) … DEN Andres Gamez 8.2 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 5 BB, 4 K, W;
Titans @ Thunder … 5-2 (10) … (Titans lead 2-1) … OCT Artie Barnes 4-5, 3B;

Blue Sox @ Gold Sox … 0-1 … (series tied 2-2) … DEN Chang-se Park 9.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K, W; NAS Dennis Fried 8.0 IP, 9 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, L;
Titans @ Thunder … 3-4 (12) … (series tied 2-2) … BOS Ray Conner 8.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 4 K;

Blue Sox @ Gold Sox … 2-5 … (Gold Sox lead 3-2) … DEN Samy Michel 3-4, 2 2B, 2 RBI;
Titans @ Thunder … 2-3 … (Thunder lead 3-2) … OCT Aaron Anderson 8.0 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 6 K, W;

Gold Sox @ Blue Sox … 1-7 … (series tied 3-3) … NAS Juan Ortíz 2-4, BB, HR, 2B, 3 RBI;
Thunder @ Titans … 3-6 … (series tied 3-3) … BOS Mark Austin 2-4, HR, 2B, 4 RBI;

Gold Sox @ Blue Sox … 3-5 … (Blue Sox win 4-3) …
Thunder @ Titans … 2-3 … (Titans win 4-3) … BOS Gonzalo Munoz 2-4, HR, 3 RBI;

…

2002 WORLD SERIES

The Blue Sox pitched tremendously, holding the Gold Sox to 20 runs in the 7-game FLCS, but couldn’t hit a lot themselves. In the end, it was perhaps that additional game they won during the regular season that made them advance, as all games were won by the home team in the series, and most of them were pretty darn close. The Blue Sox are improved now, adding CF John Hensley to the fold again, who only appeared in 91 games due to injuries, but who at 32 is still a stud both with the bat and with the glove, being arguably the best centerfielder in the ABL now.

The Titans were not able to replenish, but at least they didn’t lose any additional personnel. Their offense had not been able to come through against the Thunder, scoring only 27 runs in seven games, but their rotation had held up very well, and they allowed only three runs per game themselves.

The series, which is a rematch of the 1998 Classic, which the Titans won, is almost too close to call. The Blue Sox might have a slight advantage due to superior pitching, but everybody thought that of the Thunder as well.

Blue Sox @ Titans … 1-5 … (Titans lead 1-0) … BOS Jason O’Halloran 7.2 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, W; BOS Vicente Elizondo 3-5, 2 2B, 3 RBI; BOS Gonzalo Munoz 3-3, RBI;

Blue Sox @ Titans … 1-6 … (Titans lead 2-0) … BOS Ray Conner 8.0 IP, 8 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, W; BOS Mark Austin 2-4, 2B, 3 RBI;

Titans @ Blue Sox … 5-0 … (Titans lead 3-0) … NAS Dennis Fried 8.1 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, L; all runs scored in the ninth and are unearned after a Leborio Catalo error

Titans @ Blue Sox … 2-7 … (Titans lead 3-1) … NAS Steven Walker 3-4, 2B, 3 RBI;

Titans @ Blue Sox … 4-5 … (Titans lead 3-2) … O’Halloran surrenders five unearned runs in the fifth on errors by Hector Ramirez and himself

Blue Sox @ Titans … 4-5 … (Titans win 4-2) … NAS Phil Taylor 3-4, 2 2B, RBI;

Dennis Fried enters the bottom 9th with a 4-0 lead and on a 3-hit shutout. He gets going by hitting PH David Mendez. Vicente Elizondo flies out, but Masaaki Matsumoto battles hard to draw a walk which gets Fried out of the game and Jose Escobar in. His first pitch is popped up to right by Rudy Garrison for the second out, advancing Mendez to third, and Mendez then scores on Gonzalo Munoz’ single. Then Mark Austin singles, and Matsumoto scores, 4-2. Daniel Silva hits a double into deep center, which ties the game and puts the golden run at second base for Hector Ramirez. Escobar tries to somehow collect another out, but Hector Ramirez rams his second pitch in line drive fashion into the left center gap, uncatchable for anybody, and Silva strolls home with ease as the park erupts in madness.

2002 WORLD CHAMPIONS
BOSTON TITANS
(3rd title)

Westheim · 04-23-2015, 05:30 PM

Financial budging (botching).

In the end, 14 teams finished the season with a budget surplus, with them totaling total budget room unused of $16.68M. 10 teams remained overbudget, with a total of $12.04M of budget gap. So, overall, $4.64M were left unused, with 20-some valuable free agents not signed during the season.

In my simple mind, that means that the $42M I pumped in midseason was not even enough. While of the $12.04M that the negative teams were unable to cover, almost 75% lay with three worst offenders (Crusaders, Pacifics, Thunder).

20-some valuable free agents left over, plus five or so signing for scraps in August means that the league probably needs another $40M just so that we don’t kill off the talent randomly. Or would it? Half of the players are relievers. The top salary in the league is $2.12M (split between Dale Wales and ex-Coon Matt Brown). Well.

We need more money. I have pulled an external backup on the last day before the start of the offseason. The current plan is to double the national media contract ($2.6M now), merchandise ($850k), and max cash ($590k). While the latter will not increase the budget, and will increase the buffer. The first two would add $3.45M to the budgets on average, as I understand it, but slanted in favor of big market teams, so something like between $2M and $5M for each team. Total base budgets last season amounted to $481.98M, which was then upped to $523.98M midseason. Thus I am shooting for something in the $564M area. To not cause additional kerfuffle, player salary benchmarks will not be modified this year.

(To be fair, small market teams are overachieving for some time now. Well. Except the Critters. But several big market teams are operating on an orphanage’s budget right now, like NY and LA, and could use some help)

More later, possibly tomorrow. If I get sensible numbers with the changes above, we’ll go forth with that. If not, I will roll back and make more changes.

04-10-2015, 09:42 AM	#1241
Griever20 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Mar 2014 Location: Dortmund, Germany Posts: 3,727	Another Option, albeit a bit harder to predict one, would be to increase the average attendace... Depending in stadium size that could be unbalaced ofc. But I like the path you've chosen, I had to do a similar thing with a league I player without dynasty where the financials + owners nearly killed the league. __________________ The Montreal Expos... Exposing the New MLB? MLB 2015 - Being the Brewmaster(ended) MLB 2013: The Blue Jays That Never Were(concluded)

04-10-2015, 11:39 AM	#1242
Westheim Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Germany Posts: 13,744	All 24 teams just had $1.75M slapped onto their budgets, for a total of $42M just magically appearing out of the void. Also, do the Capitals fans know this? Attached Images __________________ Portland Raccoons, 92 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 * 2061 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA \| RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here.

04-10-2015, 02:44 PM	#1243
Westheim Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Germany Posts: 13,744	Raccoons (43-49) @ Indians (45-48) – July 15-17, 2002 Batting an anemic .242 as a team, the Indians were hardly scoring and despite their record indicating otherwise, they were a pretty overwhelmed team, with a -44 run differential. Their rotation ranked 10th, but their bullpen was strong, with a second-best 2.91 ERA in the Continental League. Projected matchups: Ralph Ford (10-5, 2.38 ERA) vs. Kevin Edwards (1-7, 5.71 ERA) Carl Bean (9-8, 4.01 ERA) vs. Alonso Alonso (7-6, 4.36 ERA) Nick Brown (4-6, 2.77 ERA) vs. Manuel Alba (8-9, 3.75 ERA) Ralph Ford was good to go, it seemed, so he went. Also, ex-Coon Ramiro Cavazos had gone down with a concussion for the Indians and was nursing a nasty headache. We in turn can expect Concie Guerin to return mid-week. Game 1 POR: 2B Palacios – RF Brady – CF Reece – 1B Martin – LF Roberson – 3B Sharp – SS Matthews – C Fifield – P Ford IND: 3B Montray – SS M. Jones – LF Alston – 1B D. Lopez – RF Greenman – CF J. Valdez – C T. Turner – 2B Stevens – P K. Edwards Maybe Ford was not good to go after all. After a leadoff home run by Christian Greenman in the bottom 2nd, three more Indians reached base on two singles and a walk, and Ford would deliver a balk and hit Montray before the inning ended with two runs in and three men starved, somehow. Ford would surrender two more solo home runs to David Lopez and again Greenman before he was dragged back into the shed in the fifth inning. Meanwhile, the pushover Edwards had sat down the first 13 Raccoons he faced, so we knew we had lost early on. Our relief corps sucked the yarn off the balls, with another five runs scoring against the shoddy pitching of Huerta, Diaz, and Bruno. Edwards scattered four singles and no walks in going the distance. 9-0 Indians. Flores (PH) 1-1; Parker (PH) 1-1; Yeah, those Indians are pretty overwhelmed! They can’t get anything done! They suck! Boo! Game 2 POR: 2B Palacios – CF Reece – RF Brady – 1B Martin – 3B Sharp – SS Ingall – LF Parker – C Fernandez – P Bean IND: 2B Montray – RF J. Lugo – LF Alston – 3B D. Lopez – C Paraz – 1B J. Garcia – SS Stevens – CF Greenman – P Alonso In the first, Palacios and Reece made outs before a gang of Blackmasks flocked onto the base paths for Ingall. We got a certified Ingall single, one of the infield variety where Jesus Garcia didn’t look very good, before Parker struck out to leave three men on in a 1-0 game. Bean had a prime seat to watch a completely atrocious offense: his own. Well, BEAN was doing fine at the plate, smacking a leadoff double in the fifth inning! The monkeys atop the lineup failed to score him. Palacios grounded out, Reece walked, and was then in the right (wrong, depending on which side of the border you’re on) spot when Brady grounded hard to second. In the seventh we had Fernandez on third when Reece walked, and Brady did the honors of ending the inning yet again. In between though, Daniel Sharp had gone deep in the sixth, making this a 2-0 game. Both starters scattered six hits over seven innings and weren’t seen afterwards. We had Rodriguez and Martinez combine for a quick eighth, and then Nordahl came out, retired Paraz, and then – things stalled. Garcia singled. Stevens singled. Bloody hell, Greenman walked. Bases loaded, one out with a 2-0 lead. Tom Turner hit for the pitcher, went to 1-2, but then slapped the next pitch to the right side, where Brent McLaughlin, in for defense, launched himself for a wonderful grab, then tagged out a scrambling Greenman to end the game. 2-0 Raccoons. Bean 7.0 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 6 K, W (10-8) and 1-2, 2B; So, Brent McLaughlin saved the day, huh? That makes the next move all the more cruel. With Concie ready to return, McLaughlin … (sighs) … was designated for assignment. Sometimes this job sucks … Game 3 POR: SS Guerin – 2B Palacios – CF Reece – 1B Martin – LF Roberson – RF Brady – 3B Sharp – C Fifield – P Brown IND: 3B Montray – SS M. Jones – LF Alston – 1B D. Lopez – RF Greenman – CF J. Valdez – C T. Turner – 2B Stevens – P Alba Chris Roberson slapped a 3-run home run in the first inning, but no, no-no, this was not going to be Brownie’s day. He hit two batters – IN THE FIRST INNING. The Indians scored two while still bent over, and cut the gap back to 3-2. It looked like the Indians were also taking objection to being pitched inside their rib cage. Fifield was plunked in the second, and Palacios was at least gently stroked across the chest by Alba’s first pitch in the top 3rd. With a wild pitch to Reece, and Reece singling afterwards, the Coons had runners in scoring position with no outs, but held the bats upside down or something. Two outs later, Brady drew a bases-loading walk, and Sharp had enough brain and discipline to draw an RBI walk from an Alba who was just as out of control as our own knife thrower was. When Brownie walked the first two men he faced in the bottom 4th, that not only brought the go-ahead run to the plate for the Indians, it was also Alba, who was up, and the Indians hooked him. Jose Lugo hit for him, grounded out, and one Montray foul pop later, Brown was almost out of the inning, although it required a nice play from Palacios to rein in Mike Jones’ grounder. Brown actually scored a run in the sixth when Art Stevens lost a perfectly good grounder from Palacios to allow him to score from third with two out, 5-2. Roberson saved Brown the indignity of not only walking a reliever in Jorge Escobar with two out, but then walking Montray as well, and getting pummeled by the shortstop, when he made a MAGNIFICENT play on Jones’ fly into the gap in left center in the bottom of the sixth, which was the last frame we could tolerate to see Brown, then hit his second homer on the day in the seventh to make it 6-2. Two out in the bottom 7th Manuel Martinez put enough batters on to be eventually able to balk one in and shorten the lead. The eighth was handled responsibly by Huerta, the Raccoons did not threaten offensively, so here came the bottom 9th, and there came Nordahl, potentially creating some excitement since the game had lost some spice since neither starter was in anymore. While Jones was retired on the first pitch with a grounder to Ingall manning first base, Alston slogged the full length of an at-bat to walk and set the table for David Lopez. Lopez however, grounded to short, and for the second day in a row, a double play ended the game. 6-3 Raccoons. Guerin 3-5, 2B; Roberson 2-5, 2 HR, 4 RBI; Raccoons (45-50) @ Thunder (61-33) – July 19-21, 2002 Time to face another team so much better than we are. First in runs scored, first in runs allowed, there was no question who was boss in the Continental League. The Thunder had both hitting AND pitching going strong. Projected matchups: Randy Farley (6-7, 3.83 ERA) vs. Aaron Anderson (12-5, 2.95 ERA) Bob Joly (2-5, 3.54 ERA) vs. Vaughn Higgins (12-3, 3.07 ERA) Ralph Ford (10-6, 2.57 ERA) vs. Fabien Armand (6-5, 3.14 ERA) Game 1 POR: SS Guerin – 2B Palacios – CF Reece – 1B Martin – LF Roberson – 3B Sharp – RF Parker – C Fifield – P Farley OCT: RF Barnes – SS Grant – 3B Higashi – 1B T. Cardenas – LF D. Henry – C Vinson – CF M. Rodriguez – 2B H. Castro – P A. Anderson No score for three innings, although the Thunder eventually got into the swing of things and hit Farley for a double and a triple, and two runs in the bottom 4th. In the next inning, Aaron Anderson misfielded not one, but TWO grounders by Raccoons, and still didn’t pay dearly enough for it, with only one unearned run scoring on a Guerin groundout. The Raccoons had the hardest time getting any form of contact against Anderson, and when they made contact, it was exceptionally poor. When Reece led off the sixth with an infield single, it was only our fourth hit of the game, and two of them of the infield variety. Then Tomas Cardenas made the Thunder’s third error of the day when Martin grounded to him, and come on you gotta make them pay! Roberson grounded out, and Sharp with deadly precision grounded into a double play. No matter how well Randy pitched, he was doomed. He went into the eighth, put two men on, and with the left-hander Dan Henry up, it was Diaz. The Thunder threw in Butch Kaustop, and seconds later it was a 3-1 game after Kaustrop doubled violently to left. Vinson hit a sac fly. 4-1 Thunder. Palacios 2-4; Anybody remember how Butch Kaustrop was a Raccoon for three days some winter and was then flipped on to the Thunder for some other no-good? Maybe this is a managing problem on a grander scale, but the product on the field is still underwhelming against even our modest expectations. I wish I could do something againt these … these … these … Uttercoons was always my favorite word. Game 2 POR: SS Guerin – 2B Palacios – CF Roberson – 1B Martin – RF Brady – 3B Sharp – LF Parker – C Fernandez – P Joly OCT: RF Barnes – SS Grant – 3B Higashi – 1B T. Cardenas – LF D. Henry – C Vinson – CF M. Rodriguez – 2B H. Castro – P Higgins Joly was badly adrift from the point he threw the first pitch, but the Thunder only got one run off him in the first three innings. Martin doubled in the fourth and was eventually scored on a wild pitch by Vaughn Higgins to re-tie the score at one. The cover was blown off this one soon enough, though. Every leadoff man reached for the Thunder, as did Vinson in the bottom 4th. Rodriguez grounder was not fielded by anybody with the necessary rigor and became an infield single, and sure enough Daniel Sharp picked this moment for a catastrophic throwing error on Vaughn Higgins’ bunt. Still, the Thunder let Joly off the hook again, plating only a pair (although Bob Grant fell little shy of a grand slam when he flew out to Parker), and when Pablo Fernandez led off the fifth with his first big league home run, we were almost back in business, down 3-2. Now Higgins was about to drown, as Joly, Guerin, and Palacios all singled in succession to load them up with no outs in the inning. Roberson hit one to deep center, but Rodriguez made the play. Still, Joly scored, tying the game. Martin stepped in, and Higgins beat himself with another wild pitch, but nobody could come up with a RISP base hit. Top 6th, Parker flew to center, where Rodriguez dropped the ball not once, but twice, and Parker ended up at second base. He wasn’t scored, sure as hell. Joly and the 4-3 lead lingered into the bottom 7th, where Joly got an out from Higashi before with one out Cardenas legged out an infield single, but pulled something and was replaced by Angel Santos, just as Mauro Rodriguez chased Bob Joly and actually got two outs with no home runs in between and didn’t smash the park’s lighting either. Sharp and Parker were in scoring position with no outs in the top 8th, with Ingall then hitting for Fernandez, but struck out. Reece hit for Rodriguez, was not pitched to, as the Thunder used Jimmy Morey to give out an intentional walk. Morey then whiffed Guerin. Oh for crying out loud! Palacios put the first pitch into play, although was it actually into play? It went to right, pretty high, and pretty fast, and OUTTA HERE – GRAAAAAAND SLAAAAAAMMMM!!!! And then, the bottom 8th. Miller came in, and didn’t retire anybody. Two singles, a walk, gone, and Diaz appared to face – and walk – Artie Barnes. Great. Next was Bruno. The count on Bob Grant ran full, and I was grasping the arm support of my chair with one hand and another box of chocolates with the other. Grant lobbed a soft fly to shallow right, and Brady made a nifty play, keeping all runners pinned. Higashi tried to take a page from Palacios’ playbook and ripped at the first pitch, bee-lining it straight back to where it came from, and into the glove of Bruno that he just barely managed to get between the hissing rocket and his cherished face. The Thunder had gone on contact, and Bruno fell the right way to make a quick throw to first, nabbing Barnes for a double play! Bruno was cuddled by everybody on the way to the dugout. With the 4-run lead standing, he was penciled in for the ninth as well, and started out by drilling Angel Santos. Uh-oh. The next six pitches however were all strikes, and sat down two Thunder. Rodriguez eventually bounced out to Sharp. 8-4 Raccoons!! Guerin 2-5; Palacios 2-5, HR, 4 RBI; Martin 2-4, 2B; Fernandez 1-2, HR, RBI; Bruno 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, SV (4), IR 3-0; That was … intense! Palacios’ slam was the difference, but the Thunder might have been an awful lot closer if it hadn’t been for them not scoring runs in the early going. Joly was seriously awobble, putting 12 men on in 6.1 innings. But the Thunder never hit anything else than singles in this game, and all of this conspired against them. We might well get double payback in the Sunday game. Game 3 POR: SS Matthews – 2B Palacios – CF Reece – LF Roberson – 1B Ingall – 3B Sharp – RF Flores – C Fifield – P Ford OCT: C Briggs – RF Barnes – SS Grant – 1B Higashi – 2B Kaustrop – LF M. Rodriguez – CF Mallinder – 3B H. Castro – P Armand Another sharp Capital error got the Thunder going early, as they plated two runs in the first, although part blame was on Ralph Ford, who was putting two strikes on everybody and still put them on regardlessly. He didn’t fan anybody the first time through the Thunder order, but expended pitches aplenty, regardless. The Coons had four consecutive singles in the top 4th which had them tie the score at two, before Fifield left runners on the corners. While the Raccoons didn’t get anything done afterwards, Ford was going so-so, but allowed a leadoff double to Michael Mallinder in the bottom 7th. Mallinder turned third and went for home on a pinch-hit single by Angel Santos, but Neil Reece played that one perfectly and pelted Mallinder at home plate. Nobody was willing to generate a bit of offense in the top 8th, handing Ford a no-decision, and the Thunder had a man on first against Martinez when they hit for Kaustrop with Vinson and two down. I KNOW DAVID FAIRLY WELL! – He will NEVER get a base hit with two down and ANYBODY ANYWHERE. And he hacked out. We had Ingall single starting the ninth, but although Concie ran for him, and we expended our left-handed bench dwellers, nobody was able to touch Jimmy Morey. Huerta came out for the bottom 9th, and PH Dan Henry led off with a single to right. He was on third base with one out and the pitcher up. But wait a minute! They didn’t have any pinch-hitters left! Morey made an easy out, and Jason Briggs swung and missed three times to send the contest into overtime. The Thunder had the winning run on third base again with one out in the tenth after a leadoff double by Barnes, but Huerta bailed out of there as well when Clyde Brady, back literally to the wall, caught an Antonio Ayala fly to end the inning. Bottom 11th, Huerta, Dan Henry, double. Daniel Miller replaced Huerta, with Mallinder flying out to right and putting the winning run onto third with one out for the third straight inning. They would eventually walk off – and did so on Hector Castro’s grounder to short that Guerin didn’t get home quick enough. 3-2 Thunder. Roberson 2-5; Ingall 2-4; Guerin 1-1; Ford 7.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 K; (sigh) In other news July 16 – The Loggers try to help their bullpen, trading quad-A second baseman Jeffrey Reed (0-9 in the majors) for the Capitals’ veteran right-handed MR Alonso Villegas (0-2, 4.97 ERA, 1 SV). July 17 – The Condors acquire OF/1B Joe Morton (.239, 1 HR, 22 RBI) from the Falcons in exchange for 1B Paco Batlle (.308, 0 HR, 1 RBI in 26 AB) and a minor leaguer. July 19 – ATL LF/RF Alejandro Rodriguez (.338, 1 HR, 31 RBI) has his thumb broken by a pitch and will not return until late August. Atlanta’s Tynan Howard (7-11, 3.81 ERA) is undeterred by the news and 3-hits the Indians in a 5-0 shutout the same night the news break. July 21 – LVA INF Oliver Torres (.269, 3 HR, 33 RBI) hits the DL with an oblique strain and is not expected back until early September. Complaints and stuff Another 3-3 week on the way to Oblivion. Yes, batting Matthews leadoff was a blunder. I will admit that. The corner of my eye saw SS, the corner of my brain thought Concie, and you can’t trust either. My meddling has so far not really worked. Nobody signed any meaningful free agents. There were just the two minor trades. Attached Images __________________ Portland Raccoons, 92 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 * 2061 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA \| RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here.

04-11-2015, 06:52 PM	#1244
Westheim Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Germany Posts: 13,744	Raccoons (46-52) vs. Bayhawks (56-43) – July 22-24, 2002 Another scarily good team, although these Bayhawks couldn’t stink up to the Thunder in the Southern Division. Ranking 5th in offense and 3rd in pitching was all well and swell, but didn’t help if the opposition led the league in BOTH categories. Projected matchups: Carl Bean (10-8, 3.80 ERA) vs. Henry Selph (5-9, 5.53 ERA) Nick Brown (5-6, 2.77 ERA) vs. Miguel Diaz (7-4, 4.35 ERA) Randy Farley (6-8, 3.89 ERA) vs. Tony Hamlyn (16-4, 2.10 ERA) Wow, Hamlyn. Also, Carl Bean had won his last five decisions and was undefeated for over a month, and would try to pass Ralph Ford in wins for the Furballs in the opener, with a struggling Selph opposing him. But we all know how dangerous struggling pitchers can be to the Furballs… Game 1 SFB: RF Javier – CF Walls – 1B D. Carroll – LF W. Jackson – SS J. Perez – 2B I. Navarro – C Manuel – 3B Bulco – P Selph POR: SS Guerin – 2B Palacios – LF Roberson – 1B Martin – CF Reece – RF Brady – 3B Sharp – C Fifield – P Bean With no score on the board, the bottom 4th unfolded particularly peculiar. The Raccoons had Reece (single) and Brady (walk) on base with one out. Sharp grounded to second, where Ismael Navarro had to stretch and could only get Sharp at first. So we had runners in scoring position with two down, and Fifield, batting all of .186, up next. The Bayhawks elected to bypass him and rather pitch to Bean (.340, 2 HR, 10 RBI) – and then Selph rung Bean’s buttocks with the very first pitch. That made it 1-0, and then Guerin struck out, ending the frame. Bean scattered a fair amount of runners all over the place, with a tight spot in the second, where Selph’s spot in the order came up in time to get an inning-ending strikeout in, and then again in the fifth, where only Guerin’s quick hands kept the shutout in order, starting a double play on Jose Perez. Bean was everything but dominant, and his bid for a win dissipated in the dark of night in the seventh. The Raccoons were as excruciating as ever at the plate, and failed to score on their own, and in the top 7th Bean put the leadoff man on for the third straight inning. This time, it cost, with Dave Carroll singling home Paco Javier with one out. That was it for Bean, as Rodriguez came out to face Will Jackson, the left-hander, but instead faced Luke Black, the right-hander. Rodriguez as usual was not particularly helpful, but Marcos Bruno would end the inning before the Bayhawks could take a lead. Bruno and Ingall had entered in a double switch, removing Sharp from the game, and the bottom 7th started with an Ingall single. Guerin made an out on a fly to center, before Palacios reached when Perez dropped his pop, and Roberson was hit by Selph. That filled them up for Albert Martin, and we were already asking us where his power had gone. Another boring fly to middle-outfield later - … well, at least he got Ingall home, the Raccoons led 2-1, and Reece added one plating Palacios with a 2-out single. Even on TV, our NWSN guys Cubby Hairston and Wally Gaston discussed Martin not hitting anything out even an inning later, when we had Parker on first and Fifield batting. Heck, Fifield hit one out, to dead center, making it 5-1, and doing his best to chase down Martin with his 11th while batting below the threshold to legally have oxygen administered. Whatever was right or wrong this side of the power alley, the Bayhawks ultimately couldn’t hurt our bullpen, and went down silently in the eighth and ninth. 5-1 Coons! Reece 2-4, RBI; Brady 2-3, BB; Parker (PH) 1-1; Bean 6.1 IP, 9 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 4 K; Bruno 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, W (2-1); In fact, Albert Martin has not homered in the month of July. Heck! Since the All Star break he has had TWO extra base hits! Game 2 SFB: 3B Berrios – LF Walls – 1B D. Carroll – CF Black – C G. Ortíz – SS J. Perez – 2B I. Navarro – RF Bulco – P M. Diaz POR: RF Brady – 2B Palacios – LF Roberson – 1B Martin – CF Reece – 3B Sharp – C Fifield – SS Matthews – P Brown Tuesday wouldn’t become merry Nick Brown Appreciation Day, with the diamond allowing a grand slam to Jose Perez in the first inning after walking the two preceding batters with two down. Brown was utter dog poo, allowing everybody and their moms to reach base, and issuing SIX walks in the first three innings, ALL with two outs. Meanwhile, Miguel Diaz was perfect. Brown started the fourth by walking Leon Berrios, and failed to throw a strike past the next two batters, either, finally getting yoinked. The Coons presented themselves overall despicably, totaling one base runner in five innings against Diaz. When they finally came alive, it was more through dumb luck and Diaz melting in the sixth. Matthews hit a single with one out, bringing up Huerta in long relief. Huerta twice failed to lay down a bunt, then got a sign to swing, and singled between Berrios and Perez. Brady walked to load them up, and from there, the Coons would score runs on a walk, a hit batter (Roberson), and a single, but couldn’t tie the score, leaving it at 4-3, and it was still just that after Dan Nordahl pitched a 4-pitch top 9th. Reece led off the bottom 9th against Johnny Smith, who had a 6.5 K/BB rate, but wouldn’t whiff anybody in the inning, instead surrendering line drives to Reece and pinch-hitter Guerin. Alas, both those lines were caught, and no Coon reached base. 4-3 Bayhawks. Palacios 2-4, RBI; Huerta 3.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K and 1-1; Brownie walked seven, whiffed one. If they weren’t trampled on, what would hopes and dreams be for anyway? Unrelated, Gil Flores was designated for assignment. Cal Lyon was called up, but this more of a stopgap measure, and we might make another adjustment soon. I just can’t say whether that will be for Chris Beairsto already… We got a trade proposal from the Thunder. What do they want from us? I know we have the best grounds crew in the CL (the Raccoons are perpetually lying face down in the dirt and grass and it is me-ti-cu-lous-ly combed!), but they need a PLAYER? The offer was Marvin Ingall going over for C Jason Briggs. Of course the Coons need a catcher. We have three of them, none batting more than .190. Briggs is interesting. Not much power. Not very good contact. But he has struck out 56 times. IN THE LAST FOUR YEARS. And that is in over 1,300 AB. However, that’s his only trick. He’s a decent catcher, he’s better than anybody we have and claiming to be of the same trade, but he’s also a free agent and will cost us another $300k in salary until we’re there. Game 3 SFB: RF Javier – CF Walls – 1B D. Carroll – LF W. Jackson – C G. Ortiz – SS J. Perez – 2B Berrios – 3B Bulco – P Hamlyn POR: SS Guerin – 3B Sharp – LF Roberson – 1B Martin – CF Reece – RF Brady – 2B Ingall – C Fernandez – P Farley Poor Randy. He didn’t figure much of a chance, even though the score was 1-1 after the first inning, and Hamlyn, who led the CL in all Triple Crown categories, didn’t fan anybody the first time through the order. But Randy himself was pitching like arse, with Roberson nailing out a second run at home in the top 1st, and the Bayhawks leaving five men on without scoring in the next two frames. But they kept getting on base and sooner or later Farley would buckle, which happened in the fifth, a run scoring on doubles by Walls and Jackson handing the Bayhawks a 2-1 lead. That was the margin between the two teams as the innings ticked down. We even used Bob Joly in relief, voiding a start for him with Thursday off, to get a bit of work off the proper bullpen. Joly walked a bunch, but was not scored on. The Raccoons fanned only four times against Hamlyn over eight frames, but couldn’t hit him decisively either. So here we were down by one and facing Johnny Smith again, facing the 4-5-6 guys and axing through them in no time. 2-1 Bayhawks. (sigh) The offense is so dead. Nobody is doing anything. Really, nobody. Gimme some dice, gotta write down Friday’s lineup somehow. The lineup would not include Fernandez, who was demoted to AAA to add Mark Thomas, who came off the DL. Raccoons (47-54) vs. Knights (40-61) – July 26-28, 2002 I’d like to pounce on a bottom dweller, please. 101 games, 527 runs allowed, which was pretty much all anybody absolutely needed to know about the Knights, with a half-decent bullpen being seriously overcooked by a rampant atrocious rotation bordering on intentionally harming everybody in attendance, inducing an urge to vomit whenever they wound up, or wherever they wound up. Now they’d wind up in Raccoons Ballpark, and without a doubt would be pretty good. Projected matchups: Ralph Ford (10-6, 2.44 ERA) vs. Hector Martinez (6-6, 6.35 ERA) Carl Bean (10-8, 3.69 ERA) vs. Greg Grams (4-12, 5.19 ERA) Nick Brown (5-7, 2.89 ERA) vs. Larry Cutts (7-10, 4.96 ERA) Game 1 ATL: 2B J. Miller – C Valadez – CF Ware – 1B Tinker – RF W. Taylor – SS Lujan – LF A. Solís – 3B A. Hernandez – P H. Martinez POR: RF Brady – 2B Palacios – CF Reece – LF Roberson – 1B Martin – 3B Sharp – SS Guerin – C Thomas – P Ford Another game that just like that started out 4-0 Opposition. This time all runs were unearned after a critical error by Guerin that put Stephen Ware on in addition to Ricardo Valadez instead of ending the first in due time. Ford continued to surrender another four singles before inevitably Hector Martinez came up and lobbed out to Brady. Ford was tagged for another three singles and an earned run in the second, and somehow would strike out seven over 4.1 innings before Hector Martinez homered off him to send him to bed with a 6-0 deficit. On a windy Friday night where on the Raccoons’ staff nobody did much, and few did anything, Martinez was out there on the mound, throwing lollipops, wearing his big clown shoes, and a fake red nose, and wasn’t done in. When Roberson led off the second inning with a triple, Martinez came back with three strikeouts. The universe was showing the Raccoons the finger, with Thomas singling to start the bottom 5th, only for Ingall to hit hard to third for a double play. When Martinez issued two 2-out walks to Brady and Palacios, Reece flew to left center for a casual third out. When Ingall got on the next time around, the Knights made impossible plays on defense to foil the Critters again. Ultimately, what the Critters did, was not important. The show was put on by the Knights, who would kill every pitcher the Raccoons fielded in the game, and they fielded a lot. The game continued to crumble. At first Bob Joly was decent in another unplanned for relief appearance, before getting tagged for two in the seventh. Rodriguez was tasked with the eighth, walked Ware, the lefty, and was then sunk by Tinker with a homer to make it a 10-0 rout. He put another man on, before Miller appeared and cleaned up. Miller remained in for the ninth, but it just was not meant to work. Glenn Douglas singled, James Miller doubled, and Valadez walked. Bases loaded, no outs, out with Miller to have Diaz pitch to the left-hander. Said left-hander singled, and Ware put two more on the board, 12-0. Tinker singled, before Will Taylor accidentally made an out. We were in the **s, somehow Diaz would collect two more. Or would he? Nick Verdon singled, plating Valadez, 13-0. Diaz walked Angel Solís, 14-0. Anastasio Hernandez effortlessly took one of Diaz’ beans and sent it against the batter’s eye. 18-0. Well, somehow Diaz has got to collect two more, since we’re not bringing another pitcher. Douglas singled. Miller flew out, before Valadez walked. Ware, the left-hander, doubled, bringing the score to an especially painful – in case you weren’t numb yet – twenty-oh. This wasn’t going to end, right? Marcos Bruno was sent for. Bill Tinker homered off him. In the bottom 9th, Matthews singled. Then Guerin hit into a double play killing the rally. 22-0 Knights. Matthews (PH) 1-1; When the grounds crew came in to prepare the field for the Saturday game, they found me lying face down across the remains of the base line running from home to third. There actually was not much line left. The Knights had worn it out. Players executed: Mauro Rodriguez (7.13 ERA) Juan Diaz (10.32 ERA) Players moving up on executables list: Pedro Perez (4.50 ERA in AAA) Cesar Miranda (9-4, 3.50 ERA in 19 GS in AAA) Game 2 ATL: CF A. Solís – C Valadez – LF Ware – 1B G. Douglas – 2B J. Miller – SS Lujan – RF R. Lopez – 3B Verdon – P Grams POR: RF Brady – 3B Sharp – CF Reece – 2B Palacios – 1B Martin – SS Matthews – LF Parker – C Fifield – P Bean After every bloody loss, no matter how mind-boggling, heart-tearing, soul-squelching, spirit-breaking, comes another day with another game. This one had Bean in it, and him and his entourage at least tried to leave the impression that everything was going to be fine. Bean struck out two in the first and kept the Knights at bay early on, while an early lead for the home team was arranged for by Neil Reece, who went deep for two runs in the bottom 1st. The Coons added an unearned run in the third, driven in Palacios, before the Knights had runners on the corners in the fourth, but Bean lasered out Antonio Lujan. Trouble kept brewing, however, with Sharp throwing away Grams’ bunt in the fifth to put two in scoring position with one out. Pieces started to come out of Bean, who walked Solís, before Valadez grounded sharply to Matthews for a double play. Matthews was in the crosshairs in the seventh however, making an error to put on leadoff man Rodrigo Lopez. Once Verdon doubled past Sharp, our 4-0 lead (reached when Brady scored after tripling in the fifth) seemed like it was going to go bust any second now, and Grams took a 1-2 pitch to center for an RBI single, before Bean took control again, struck out Solís and Valadez hit into a double play. Bottom 7th, Fifield was on base for Brady with two out. Brady was unretired on the day and smacked a high fly to right that was not coming down, 6-1 Coons, and Brady was a double from the cycle, but was highly unlikely to come up again with the Raccoons leading. This game was not secure, though. Martinez couldn’t solve the Knights in the eighth and the bases were loaded with two out after a 4-pitch walk to Lopez. In came Nordahl to face Verdon, who lobbed a 2-2 offering to shallow left, but Parker made the catch, stranding three. The Coons scored a pair in the bottom 8th, but Brady’s turn didn’t come up again. Bill Tinker took Dan Nordahl deep in the ninth, but the damage was insufficient to get the Knights back into the game. 8-2 Raccoons. Brady 4-4, HR, 3B, 2 RBI; Palacios 2-4, 2B, RBI; Bean 7.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, W (11-8); The Knights’ Steven Ware strained a back muscle in this game and would miss a month. I still had some chalk on the face, but listed myself as DTD and moved on. Bill Tinker has three home runs on the year – all in two days in Portland. Game 3 ATL: CF A. Solís – C Valadez – 1B Tinker – RF W. Taylor – 2B J. Miller – LF R. Lopez – SS Verdon – 3B A. Hernandez – P Cutts POR: 3B Sharp – RF Brady – CF Reece – LF Roberson – 2B Palacios – SS Guerin – 1B Ingall – C Fifield – P Brown Brownie was perfect the first time through the Knights’ lineup, whiffing five, but falling to 3-ball counts three times, and none of those three batters struck out. The soup began to boil soon enough, however. After Solís failed to reach on a drag bunt leading off the, Valadez walked, Tinker lobbed a single over Palacios, and Taylor also walked. Bases loaded, one out, Brown relied on his number one to strike out James Miller, and Rodrigo Lopez grounded out to Guerin, keeping the game scoreless. Scoreless ended in the bottom 5th, when Guerin zinged a soft single to left that Lopez managed to lose between his legs for an extra base. Both Ingall and Fifield singled, bringing Guerin home, 1-0, before Brown struck out in vain attempts to lay down a bunt, and the Raccoons wouldn’t score any more. The Knights got Solís to third base after a leadoff walk in the sixth, but Brown got another key K to Taylor to escape, and the Raccoons continued to flail pointlessly, leaving another two runners on in the bottom of the inning, begging for Brown and whatever relievers we might be bothered using to walk six consecutive Knights. So far, Brownie was holding up, and in the bottom 7th, the Coons had runners on first and second once more after a Fifield single, Brown bunt, and Sharp getting put on intentionally for the guy that was a double removed from happiness the night before. Before Brady could poke, Cutts balked, moving the runners into scoring position. COME ON NOW!! Brady got to 3-1 before poking and it found a hole to get into left for an RBI single. Reece then found it necessary to hit into a double play. Bottom 8th, Guerin reached with a 2-out walk presented by Bartolo Gomez, right-handed relief man. When Guerin set off to steal with Ingall batting, Valadez’ throw was way high and Guerin reached third on the error. And here comes an INGALL SINGLE!! Begging for controversy and horrible things to happen, Brown batted with two on and two out and grounded out, sending himself back to the mound for the ninth with a 3-0 lead, facing the 2-3-4 batters with Nordahl standing by. Ricardo Valadez’ leadoff double was provocation enough to send for Danny, who preserved not only the win, but also Brownie’s clean sheet. 3-0 Coons. Guerin 2-3, BB; Ingall 2-4, RBI; Fifield 1-2, 2 BB, RBI; Brown 8.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 10 K, W (6-7); Oh Brownie. What are we gonna do with you? Utter crap on Tuesday, awesome on Sunday. That’s ten walks and eleven strikeouts for him this week. Not a great ratio. In other news July 22 – OCT 1B Tomas Cardenas (.343, 10 HR, 55 RBI) will miss another two weeks with plantar fasciitis. July 25 – The Knights part with OF/1B Gerardo Rios (.244, 11 HR, 52 RBI), who gets sent with a minor leaguer to the Rebels for C Ricardo Valadez (.355, 2 HR, 12 RBI in 76 AB) and pitching prospect Juan Sanchez. July 25 – The Bayhawks deal MR Nesto Martinez (1-2, 3.55 ERA, 3 SV) to the Miners for utility man Justin Comte (.214, 1 HR, 9 RBI in 70 AB) and a minor leaguer. July 27 – The Condors deal OF Matt MacKey (.357, 5 HR, 10 RBI in 84 AB) to the Indians for veteran bullpen help in MR Jared Chaney (1-0, 1.88 ERA, 9 SV). Complaints and stuff** I have no comments. Only this. I erred when I said last week the Raccoons were on the way to Oblivion. They aren’t. They are way too good as the league’s laughing sacks to not be remembered for a long, long time. Oh. And this. We shopped our dismal, disfigured left-handed ex-relievers around, and uncovered no suitors among the 23 competing baseball franchises, which was not really shocking, after all they were COMPETING, but I was stunned to see that not even medical labs would take a stab at them and send over a box of Aspirin for Diaz and Rodriguez to use them up in research for a boil ointment. --- The following “qualified” free agents signed this week for the most meager money: SP Ramiro Gonzalez with the Falcons INF Bob Butler with the Warriors That’s not a lot, but it’s better than nothing. The Coons must not sign any qualified free agents until at least two more are signed. Attached Images __________________ Portland Raccoons, 92 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 * 2061 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA \| RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here. Last edited by Westheim; 04-11-2015 at 06:56 PM.

04-12-2015, 06:08 PM	#1246
Westheim Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Germany Posts: 13,744	Raccoons (49-55) @ Aces (48-58) – July 29-31, 2002 Two meaningless teams were playing a meaningless series to end July. The Aces had lost five straight, while the Raccoons were still licking their wounds from a stinging, sour 22-0 sledgehammering by the Knights. The Aces’ had the second-worst rotation in the league, but had a mildly decent bullpen, but their offense was 7th in the CL and no great help. Projected matchups: Cesar Miranda (0-0) vs. Tommy Wilson (8-7, 3.28 ERA) Randy Farley (6-9, 3.82 ERA) vs. Donald Stone (8-8, 4.40 ERA) Ralph Ford (10-7, 2.49 ERA) vs. Dan Moriarty (9-8, 4.72 ERA) Game 1 POR: RF Brady – 3B Sharp – CF Reece – 2B Palacios – LF Roberson – 1B Martin – SS Guerin – C Fifield – P Miranda LVA: SS Hitchcock – CF G. Wills – 1B J. Vargas – RF L. Jenkins – LF McCormick – C L. Paredes – 2B Bell – 3B Combes – P T. Wilson Cesar Miranda’s big league debut was not met with much excitement, nor with success. While he was handed a 2-0 lead right away, that lead didn’t survive Lou Jenkins’ at-bat in the bottom 1st, and Jenkins would hit another home run in the fifth to knock Miranda from the game with the score 6-2, and three homers against him. Miller surrendered another two runs in the sixth, and meanwhile the Raccoons had nothing going until the eighth, when they loaded the bases with two out after Ian Johnson hit Martin. He would however strike out Guerin, which was part of six strikeouts in two innings of work for Johnson, who finished the game. 8-2 Aces. Brady 2-5; Palacios 2-3; Roberson 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Fifield 3-3, 2B; Sighing starts early this week. (sigh) Game 2 POR: RF Brady – SS Guerin – LF Roberson – 2B Palacios – 1B Martin – 3B Ingall – CF Lyon – C Fifield – P Farley LVA: SS Hitchcock – C De La Parra – 1B J. Vargas – RF L. Jenkins – LF McCormick – 2B Cerdeira – CF G. Wills – 3B Combes – P Stone Two scratch hits and a walk filled them up in the first inning for Martin, who still had no home runs in a month of July that had long rounded third base and was about to slide into home plate. Stone got ahead of Martin and put two strikes of him, and we braced for the worst, when Martin finally met a pitch. Here it comes AND THERE IT GOES!! GRAAAAAAND SLAAAAAAAMMMMMM!!!!! And in a perfect world, Farley would have held on for the 4-0 lead for at least a little time, but – no. Bases loaded for Wes McCormick, who singled to right to score a pair, and then Cerdeira hit a bloop that kept the bags full in a 4-2 game. One out, Gary Wills’ grounder was not converted for two by the middle infielders, and another run scored before Bernard Combes flew out to deep center. 4-3, and it was all ugly. Lyon also sold out on McCormick’s liner with three on and two out in the bottom 2nd, and made a miraculous catch. Farley allowed seven hits in two innings, and the bullpen got busy early on. Farley allowed three more singles in the bottom 3rd, didn’t retire anybody, and when Bob Joly relieved him. Joly immediately surrendered a 3-run triple to pinch-hitter Dick Bell, and Bell scored on an error by Ingall. On nobody’s radar was the off chance that the Raccoons might recover from that soul-grinding 7-4 deficit after three innings, but they did: Guerin led off with a double, with Roberson and Palacios not doing anything particularly useful in the fifth, but then came Martin and hit ANOTHER ONE out. Following that, Ingall, Lyon, and Fifield hit in order a single, a double, and another single, with Fifield giving the team an 8-7 advantage. We had the bases full with one out in the sixth, but didn’t score. Following that, the Aces reached scoring position in every inning, in the sixth against Joly and Perez, in the seventh against Bruno, and in the eighth against Martinez, and never managed to score, stranding four in total, three of those in scoring position. Could we still please get an insurance run? No, Lyon, Fifield, and Reece went down in order in the ninth, handing the 8-7 lead to Nordahl, who ended the affair in five pitches. 8-7 Raccoons. Guerin 2-5, 2B; Palacios 3-5; Martin 2-3, 2 BB, 2 HR, 6 RBI; Ingall 3-5; Game 3 POR: 3B Sharp – RF Brady – CF Reece – 1B Martin – LF Roberson – SS Guerin – 2B Ingall – C Thomas – P Ford LVA: CF Talamante – SS Hitchcock – 1B J. Vargas – LF L. Jenkins – C De La Parra – 2B Cerdeira – RF McCormick – 3B Bell – P Moriarty Martin kept swinging, and took a Moriarty pitch into the bleachers beyond leftfield, collecting Brady and making it a 3-0 game in the first after Reece had scored Sharp with a groundout. In a MARKED improvement from the last few games, Ford crumbled in the bottom 1st, hitching Hitcock and walking Vargas, but somehow avoided the inevitable 3-run homer. Ford didn’t give up anything early, and the Coons tagged on a run in the second, 4-0. In the fourth, Ford had hit second hit of the day with nobody on and two out. The Raccoons loaded them up for Reece, who flew to deep right – but McCormick caught the rocket on the warning track. Moriarty recovered from the early drubbing to go deep into the game and even hit an infield single off Ford in the sixth, which was then only the second H surrendered by Ford, who in turn struck out the 3-4-5 batters in the bottom 7th. Moriarty was gone after 2-out singles by Ingall and Thomas in the eighth. Ford was not hit for and grounded out against reliever Kilian Carrier. And then came the bottom 8th and we looked at a lot of broken porcelain again. Cerdeira led off with a double, before McCormick drew a walk. Bell grounded back to Ford, who tried to start a double play, but Guerin couldn’t catch his throw at second base. Bases loaded, no outs with a 4-0 lead. Great stuff. Orlando Mendoza singled off Ford to plate the first run and Martinez was brought in, who had his first pitch taken for a 2-run single by Carlos Talamante. Just as quickly as the Aces were overthrowing the Raccoons, however, they fell themselves, with Hitchcock striking out and Vargas hitting to Guerin for two. 4-3, and we would love a comeback in the top 9th, but we rather left Sharp and Reece on the corners. Nordahl was used again, pitching for the fourth time in six days, and he was letting up slowly. After getting three outs on five pitches the previous day, he now needed seven pitches. 4-3 Coons. Sharp 3-5, RBI; Thomas 2-4; Ford 7.0 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 8 K, W (11-7) and 2-4, 2B; Martin went 0-4 after his homer, but …: IT LIVES. It is also only one ribbie off Ron Alston for the CL lead. Raccoons (51-56) vs. Loggers (61-47) – August 1-4, 2002 This had the potential to become a very long and said 4-game series. The Loggers were flawed in many ways, but the Raccoons right now didn’t know whether they had pitching or not, and they KNEW they had no offense to speak off, especially with Reece, Guerin, and Roberson all not getting much done right now, while the Loggers were at least bustling with offense. Projected matchups: Carl Bean (11-8, 3.52 ERA) vs. Marc Padgett (5-8, 4.59 ERA) Nick Brown (6-7, 2.80 ERA) vs. Juan Rodriguez (0-0) Cesar Miranda (0-1, 12.46 ERA) vs. Martin Garcia (11-6, 2.45 ERA) Randy Farley (6-9, 4.14 ERA) vs. John Miller (11-10, 3.92 ERA) Rodriguez was a 32-year old left-hander who had made 18 starts in 2000 for the Loggers, but that was already most of his major league experience. After Moriarty and figuring in Garcia in an auto-loss on Saturday, that’s three lefties this week. Game 1 MIL: SS B. Hernandez – 1B Nava – LF Hiwalani – 2B J. Cruz – RF C. Ramirez – CF Fletcher – C L. Ramirez – 3B Cavalleri – P J. Rodriguez POR: 3B Sharp – RF Brady – CF Reece – 1B Martin – LF Roberson – SS Guerin – 2B Ingall – C Thomas – P Bean And then the Loggers came up with Rodriguez pitching in the opener. No scoring through three, although the Raccoons were down a third baseman when Sharp bitched after being called out on strikes in the third. Bean had whiffed six in the first three frames, then found himself with the bags full and no outs in the fourth after walking Hiwalani, a Cruz double, and Ramirez getting plunked on the first pitch, and the Loggers scored on a groundout by Fletcher, and Leon Ramirez’ sac fly. Although Rodriguez walked batters in bushels, the Raccoons had only one hit (a Reece single) through four innings. In the fifth, Carl Bean led off with a walk, was picked off first, and then Palacios walked. Brady upped our H’s to a full TWO with a single to right, Palacios going to third base. Reece hit one to right, deep enough to score Palacios, but Martin rolled out to short to end the inning. Bean had two hits and nine strikeouts on his ledger through six innings, yet he still trailed 2-1, but Roberson’s leadoff double in the bottom 6th instilled new hope. But hope doesn’t buy hits, and Roberson was left on second. Bean had his line soiled by two hopping grounders eluding the infielders for two cheap singles in the top 8th, no outs, and the middle of the lineup coming up, and Daniel Miller was torn up rapidly for three runs. Bottom 8th, Martin and Roberson singled and Guerin’s grounder was lost in translation by Jorge Cruz, loading them up with no outs with the Loggers on their second reliever of the inning in Jesus Longoria, a right-hander. Parker hit for Ingall, but popped out, with Lyon batting for Thomas and grounding to short, where Bartolo Hernandez zipped to Cruz, who had the ball glance off his glove for his second error in the inning and a run for the Critters. Fifield batted for Miller, hit a sac fly, but the Raccoons ran out of steam well before tying the score. 5-3 Loggers. Palacios 1-2, BB; Brady 2-5, 2B; Roberson 2-3, BB, 2B; Bean 7.0 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 10 K, L (11-9); What a rotten week of big innings ruining everybody’s lines and moods. Well, mine was already ruined. We also found out that Marc Padgett was nursing a sore elbow which had led to him being scratched. Game 2 MIL: 2B B. Hernandez – RF C. Ramirez – LF Hiwalani – 1B J. Cruz – C L. Ramirez – CF Fletcher – 3B Cavalleri – SS Costello – P M. Garcia POR: 3B Sharp – SS Guerin – CF Reece – 1B Martin – RF Roberson – 2B Palacios – C Fifield – LF Parker – P Brown Between Garcia and Brown, this game was expected to turn into a hitters’ massacre. Both were well capable of lining up double-digit K’s on their own, and both set out to do just that, although a leadoff double by Daniel Sharp led to the Coons taking a 1-0 lead early on Martin’s 2-out single in the bottom 1st. Brown struck out six over four innings, with Hiwalani’s double in the fourth being the Loggers’ first hit of the day, before suffering a first bout of wildness making for a long, yet scoreless, fifth inning. Doubles by Parker and Guerin brought the score to 2-0 in the bottom of the inning, but the top 6th saw Brown come apart. The Loggers had two soft singles, and with two outs Brown threw eight straight balls to Leon Ramirez and Jerry Fletcher. Cavalleri lobbed out to center, but the damage was done. While it was still a 2-1 game, the pen got ready. Brown still started the seventh – big mistake. Pedro Costello’s leadoff jack got the game tied, and Brown then walked Taisuke Mashiba. Neither starter managed 10 K eventually, and neither got a decision. Also, neither team could get the bats up, with this 2-2 game spilling over into extra innings. Bob Joly became the pitcher of record in the 11th, allowing singles to Leon Ramirez and Vitantonio Cavalleri on the way to a loss with not the least little bit of counterattack mounted by the brown-clad team. 3-2 Loggers. Sharp 2-5, 2B; Guerin 2-5, 2B, RBI; Huerta 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K; Perez 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K; Nick Brown is fun and all that, but you just can’t trust him. He can lose it at any point, without warning. Game 3 MIL: C L. Ramirez – 1B Nava – LF Hiwalani – 2B J. Cruz – RF C. Ramirez – CF Fletcher – SS Costello – 3B Cavalleri – P J. Miller POR: RF Brady – 3B Sharp – CF Reece – 1B Martin – 2B Palacios – SS Guerin – LF Lyon – C Thomas – P Miranda Miranda retired the first five Loggers, dropping his ERA to a flat nine, before it came apart spectacularly in due time. Fletcher legged out a bunt for a base hit, before Costello was hit by Miranda’s first pitch. Cavalleri singled home the first run, before Miller hit a full-count double over Neil Reece to make it 3-0, and Ramirez singled him home. 4-0, ERA of 15, Miranda was told by Lance Cox to get his crap together and head back to the mucky swamps of Florida as soon as he was back in the dugout. I had called Cox over the phone in the dugout about as soon as Miller’s fly went over Reece’s glove. The bad thing was, our bullpen had been ravaged left and right the whole week, and we couldn’t afford them going seven innings without blowing Randy in the sure loss. But was it a sure loss? Miranda gave up a run in the third, but Thomas and Martin both hit 2-run shots to get the Coons back to 5-4. The more you wanted to keep the Loggers tied! In the event, Miranda was wrung out for six innings and a few defensive heroics keeping the score close, but the Raccoons couldn’t get anything done with the bats anymore. John Miller lived to see the eighth inning, put the first two batters on, but Marvin Ingall hit into a killing double play in time. The Coons also had a Miller pitching in the eighth, and given how laden with work the bullpen was, also used him in the ninth, well, for three batters at least. Nava drew a leadoff walk, and while Miller got the next two men, Nava was on second with the lefty Cristo Ramirez batting, and with how close the game was, still 5-4, I went to Pedro Perez, who got to 1-2 on Ramirez before getting a grounder hit back to himself and pulling Martin off the bag with his throw. The Loggers loaded them up before Costello popped out, sending us to the bottom 9th, Jesus Longoria, and the 8-9-1 part of the lineup due. There were no left-handers on the bench against Longoria. Thomas struck out. Roberson struck out. Brady – doubled. That brought up Daniel Sharp, who was unretired on the day, and managed to sent a grounder to left, which eluded Costello, and Brady scored on the single. Reece struck out, and we were in extras again, with no bullpen to speak of. Well, we still had a closer we didn’t really make use of. Nordahl could go two or three innings! Bottom 11th, Cal Lyon led off with a single. Thomas bunted him over, which got Longoria removed for righty Juan Gomez, with Roberson up. Chris bounced on to Cruz at second, whose throw to first was dropped by Nava, putting the winning run at third with one out for Brady. The count ran full, Sharp was wiggling the bat in the on-deck circle, licking his lips to send home the Coons with his sixth hit of the day – and then Brady ruined his day with a walkoff single to right! 6-5 Coons. Brady 2-6, 2B, RBI; Sharp 5-5, 2B, RBI; Palacios 2-5; Lyon 2-5; Miller 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K; Nordahl 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K, W (2-1); Sharp was one of three players with 5-hit games on this day, joining Nashville’s Leborio Catolo and new Rebel Gerardo Rios. Cesar Miranda, who was out of options, was waived and designated for assignment after the game. The next victim will be 25-year old lefty Ramón Meza, who went 9-7 with a 3.95 ERA for St. Pete, and who had been acquired from the Knights for Jorge Defrese last winter. Meza takes over in the same spot in the rotation, which will have him start on one extra day of rest next Thursday against the Elks. Game 4 MIL: SS B. Hernandez – C L. Ramirez – LF Hiwalani – 2B J. Cruz – RF C. Ramirez – 1B Costello – CF Mashiba – 3B Cavalleri – P M. Wilson POR: 3B Sharp – 2B Palacios – LF Roberson – 1B Martin – CF Reece – SS Guerin – RF Lyon – C Fifield – P Farley Randy had been blown all over the place on Tuesday in Las Vegas, and now faced Millard Wilson, who was somehow 9-4 despite an ERA of 5.62; it was as if the Loggers were taunting the Raccoons: “C’mon! Can’t hurt him anyway!” … Wilson’s second pitch was sent to Idaho by Daniel Sharp, 1-0. When Sharp was up again in the bottom 3rd, he doubled, getting into scoring position along with Farley just in time for Wilson to first throw a run-scoring wild pitch, and then scoring himself on Palacios’ 2-out single. That made it 3-0 Coons. Farley had been mired in traffic the first two innings, but that lightened up in the middle innings. By the bottom 5th, Sharp was a triple shy of the cycle after singling to right with Farley on first and one out, but both were left on base this time. In the seventh, the Loggers put two on with two out, but Farley managed to retire PH Juan Jose Villa to exit that jam and pitched a quick eighth after that. In the bottom 7th, Fifield was on second with two out for Sharp, who grounded out, not getting that cycle in, either. Farley was well over 100 pitches after eight, however, and NOW we didn’t have Nordahl available with the 3-0 lead still standing! The next-best thing ready to be abused was Marcos Bruno, and he would face part of the heart of the order starting with Jorge Cruz, who struck out, but then Cristo Ramirez doubled. Reece nabbed Pedro Costello’s fly to center on the warning track, moving Ramirez to third. Bruno vs. Mashiba, who was 2-2 and batting .332 overall in limited use. We COULD go to Cavalleri, but he’d be the tying run, and that’s a no-no, but Bruno ended up walking Mashiba anyway. He did strike out Cavalleri, though. 3-0 Coons! Sharp 3-4, HR, 2B, RBI; Farley 8.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 4 K, W (7-9) and 2-2; We have to play another ten straight games, so we need more outings like this one, and less of the one Randy had on Tuesday. In other news July 29 – The Thunder deal OF/1B Dan Henry (.256, 9 HR, 38 RBI) to the Condors in exchange for MR Jose Ochoa (2-2, 3.08 ERA, 2 SV). July 29 – VAN SP Daniel Dickerson (8-5, 3.54 ERA) figures to miss a month or so with shoulder inflammation. July 30 – Old man SP Vernon Robertson (8-7, 3.98 ERA) is out for the season, after the 39-year old logger has torn his rotator cuff. August 1 – BOS SP Joe Mann (9-8, 3.55 ERA) 3-hits the Indians in a 4-0 win, but the Titans also get the bad news that their catcher Corey Bader (.286, 1 HR, 17 RBI) is out for the season with a fractured elbow. August 3 – OCT SP Aaron Anderson (15-6, 2.96 ERA) holds on against the Condors and takes a hard-fought 5-4 win for his 200th major league victory. The 11th overall pick by the Warriors in the 1988 draft, Anderson has been named Pitcher of the Month five times, went to three All Star games and won a Gold Glove since debuting in September 1989. He has won 12 games every year since 1991, and went to the DL just once since then. He is 200-139 with a 3.34 ERA and 2,303 strikeouts. Complaints and stuff Next blunder this week, not double-checking for the opposing pitcher in the Loggers opener, so we ran out the identical Palacios-less lineup twice in a row, because the Loggers changed their mind like two minutes before the opener. Sigh. Well, we weren’t Palacios-less for long in the Loggers game, because Daniel Sharp commented on the home plate umpire’s bad eye sight early… I have also been in denial for a long time, but we have to get rid of Daniel Miller, who’s under contract for 2003. He … sucks. Vince is clueless as to why his stuff doesn’t fool anybody anymore. He rates him 16/16/11. I rate him 6/2/-4 … Around the league, Ben O’Morrissey was claimed off waivers from the Condors by the Buffaloes. Five years later, I am still mad at him. Some time ago we went into the Raccoons most famous sluggers, and how Royce Green holds the franchise high mark in that category, and also has the best OPS. Who owns the other franchise marks for batters. That one is quickly discussed: Daniel Hall owns ALL countable stats except for those related to stealing bases, which are held by Matt Higgins, and the best AVG and OBP, who are led by David Brewer. (hums) Dan-iel Haaall ...! ... (sigh) We have gone 6-3 against both the Aces and Knights this year. The last time we beat them both in a season was in 1996. Which doesn’t mean anything, but you know, wicked numbers… Did you know Carl Bean is from New Brunswick? – No, he’s not Canadian. What are you talking about? – Oh, he’s from New Brunswick, New Jersey! --- The Warriors signed ex-Coon SP Cipriano Miranda on Thursday. One more qualified free agent has to sign for the Raccoons to be allowed to make a pick. Attached Images __________________ Portland Raccoons, 92 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 * 2061 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA \| RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here.

04-11-2015, 07:17 PM	#1245
Questdog Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: In a dark, damp cave where I'm training slugs to run the bases...... Posts: 16,142	Wow.....22 to 0.....it is impressive that you are not under restraint and observation!.....

04-13-2015, 05:26 PM	#1247
Westheim Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Germany Posts: 13,744	Raccoons (53-58) vs. Canadiens (53-57) – August 5-8, 2002 Yuck. It smells in here! A whopping 557 runs scored ranked the Canadiens first in the Continental League in offense, but they had surrendered almost as many counters in return, being second-worst off with 530 runs given up. We had a potential for four high scoring games here… Projected matchups: Ralph Ford (11-7, 2.37 ERA) vs. Joe Hollow (8-8, 2.46 ERA) Carl Bean (11-9, 3.59 ERA) vs. Cal Holbrook (5-10, 7.68 ERA) Nick Brown (6-7, 2.81 ERA) vs. Jose Dominguez (9-6, 4.41 ERA) Ramón Meza (0-0) vs. Paul Kirkland (2-2, 3.77 ERA) Hollow was a left-hander, whose record told volumes about how much his team betrayed him. He was Kisho Saito with an Elks hat. The comparison fits, since both are left-handers. Game 1 VAN: CF T. Wilson – SS Phillips – LF Trinidád – RF Velasquez – C Rosa – 3B A. De Jesus – 1B Shaw – 2B J. Zamora – P Hollow POR: 3B Sharp – SS Guerin – CF Reece – LF Roberson – 2B Palacios – 1B Ingall – C Fifield – RF Lyon – P Ford Ralph Ford’s stuff had about zero bite, putting the team into a hole, since Hollow was good. The Raccoons had three 2-out base runners in the bottom 1st, Ingall left them on, and they were absent after that. The Canadiens got their three 2-out runners in the top 3rd, with Trinidad driving home Wilson for a 1-0 deficit for the home team, which continued to look outright terrible. Ford was limited to two K’s over seven innings, but at least didn’t give up anything hard. He came up to bat with two out and no one on in the bottom 7th. Why not squeeze another inning out of him? He singled to left in a full count. That brought up Sharp, who also ran the count full and drew a walk, bringing up Concie, who struggled left and right, but made bat meet ball here and hit a huge fly to deep left. Trinidad was never going to get it, then overran it as it bounced off the fence. Concie slid in with a score-flipping 2-run triple! Reece flew out to the warning track, and Ford resumed pitching in the top 8th, striking out Tom Wilson, who sniped at the ump and was tossed. Ford got another K before Trinidad doubled and that saw Ford removed for Manuel Martinez to face the dangerous right-hander Tony Velasquez, who grounded out on a 3-1 offering. The Coons scored a run on three singles in the bottom 8th and could have scored more if Marvin Ingall hadn’t found it necessary to kill any and all offense in this game. Top 9th, Nordahl out, didn’t retire anybody. Freddy Rosa doubled, Alfredo De Jesus singled, and a pinch-hit 3-run bomb by Iván Gutierrez blew Ford’s game to dust. Nordahl was not retrieved from the sand box until Jesus Zamora had singled, and Daniel Miller would surrender that run, too. 5-3 Canadiens. Guerin 2-5, 3B, 2 RBI; Palacios 3-4; Fifield 2-4, RBI; Ford 7.2 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K and 1-2; Danny, why do you do this to me? Why against THEM? Game 2 VAN: CF T. Wilson – SS Sutton – RF Velasquez – 1B I. Gutierrez – 2B Phillips – 3B A. De Jesus – LF Wheaton – C Hurtado – P Holbrook POR: 3B Sharp – 2B Palacios – LF Roberson – 1B Martin – CF Reece – SS Guerin – RF Brady – C Thomas – P Bean While the Raccoons didn’t knock out Holbrook until the Canadiens hit for him in a promising situation in the fifth, they nevertheless put a 4-spot on him in a second inning that was almost over after a Thomas sac fly for the second out, if it hadn’t been for Bean delivering an RBI single, and Sharp driving in a pair then. The Elks had three on with two out in the top 5th when they hit for Holbrook, but Bean struck out Trinidad, and Wilson lined out to Martin. Carl Bean was doing well and was not scored until the seventh when Dave Wheaton led off with a single and made his way around with a steal and two groundouts. The Coons hadn’t scored since the second and hadn’t threatened since the third, and didn’t get going again. They better would, since Gutierrez hit #29 off Bean in the eighth, cutting the score to 4-2, and Bean allowed a double to Phillips, before De Jesus singled, and things only improved because the Elks sent Phillips and Roberson threw him out at home to end the inning. The Coons nibbled on Paul Brown in the bottom 8th, Reece walking, and Parker singling in place of Guerin. Brady hit into a fielder’s choice, giving PH Marvin Ingall runners on the corners with two down. Ingall had gone 0-4 with 6 LOB the day before, but here it was: an INGALL SINGLE!! 5-2, the park was cheering for old Marv! Lyon would pop out in Bean’s place, but Nordahl was left in the shed after last night’s lengthy gruesome death. We went with Bruno instead. Bruno allowed a leadoff single to Wheaton, but that was as far as the Elks got. 5-2 Coons. Sharp 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Parker (PH) 1-1; Ingall (PH) 1-1, RBI; Bean 8.0 IP, 9 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, W (12-9) and 1-3, RBI; Of note: Chris Parker’s average as pinch-hitter is better than overall this year (remember he started 2001 at 0-29 in PH situations), and Carl Bean has 12 RBI now! Game 3 VAN: SS Phillips – CF Wheaton – LF Trinidad – RF Velasquez – C Rosa – 3B A. De Jesus – 1B Trujillo – 2B J. Zamora – P Dominguez POR: 3B Sharp – 2B Palacios – LF Roberson – 1B Martin – CF Reece – RF Brady – C Fifield – SS Matthews – P Brown … and Brownie was no good in a game of a thousand horrors. He walked two in the first, the Elks not scoring, and walked Zamora in the second with two out to open the gates. Palacios had homered in the bottom 1st, but the lead evaporated on a cheap single by Dominguez and another one by Phillips. Up 2-1 in the fourth, Brown continued to suck, with Zamora hitting a hard single with one out. Dominguez bunted him to second, and then it shifted to Matthews, who fumbled Phillips’ grounder, putting runners on the corners, and Brown couldn’t handle it. Wheaton singled home the tying run, Trinidad walked, and Tony Velasquez emptied the bags with a double. All runs were unearned, but Brown was still yanked soon after, down 5-2. In the sixth, legging out a grounder, Reece was safe, but also in pain and sunk to the ground behind the first base bag. This was on the way to loading the bases for the Raccoons, and they took Ford off the hook with a 1-out single by Fifield and subsequent double by Matthews. Sharp singled home another run for a 6-5 lead. The Elks faced Miller in the seventh, put men on the corners with one out (that one out being Gutierrez whiffing as pinch-hitter this time), but pop outs by Wilson and Phillips saved Miller additional shame. Instead the shame was on Perez and Martinez in the eighth. Perez only faced Wheaton, who doubled, and Martinez loaded them up with no outs. The Elks scored two, and Brady and Matthews were in scoring position with two out as Ingall hit for Martinez in the bottom 8th, but grounded out. Bottom 9th, one run down, Sharp led off against Alvarado, grounded back to the mound and tumbled into first base safe – but hurt. Next player down. Our bench was down to Mark Thomas, so we wickedly brought Dan Nordahl to run for Sharp, but Palacios got him erased on a grounder before he could even think of stealing a base here. Alvarado struck out Martin to end the game. 7-6 Canadiens. Sharp 3-5, RBI; Roberson 2-5; Reece 2-3, 2B; Matthews 2-4, 2 2B, 2 RBI; What a **ing game. Daniel Sharp had knocked up a knee, while Reece was not diagnosed so quickly. Sharp was DTD and might be hobbled for the rest of the week, which all in all put a severe dent in the Coons’ bench. Game 4 VAN: CF T. Wilson – 1B J. Durán – LF Trinidad – RF Velasquez – C Rosa – SS Phillips – 3B Trujillo – 2B J. Zamora – P Kirkland POR: RF Brady – 2B Palacios – LF Roberson – 1B Martin – 3B Ingall – SS Guerin – CF Lyon – C Fifield – P Meza Thus, Ramón Meza made his Raccoons debut with a severely diminished lineup behind him. He struck out Wilson and Trinidad in a perfect first, and while Ingall killed a 3-on, 1-out bottom 1st with another double play, he drove in a run in the third, which then gave Meza a 2-0 lead. Meza had hit a 2-out single in the bottom 2nd, which then moved Fifield into scoring position and allowed Brady to drive him home for the first run of the game. The score got to 4-0 in the third with an RBI single by Fifield and Meza hitting a run-scoring groundout. Then it came apart. Freddy Rosa’s 2-run triple but a serious chink into Meza’s line and he barely escaped that rotten top 4th with the tying runs on base. Martin gave Meza some additional oxygen with a homer in the fifth, and the Raccoons again had Fifield and Meza drive in runs in the bottom 6th to go to an 8-2 lead! Meza pitched to two batters in the seventh, with outs made by Roberson and Lyon at the base of the walls, and before the Elks could soil his line, Meza came in. Miller got the last out, then loaded the bags in the eighth, and two of those runs were conceded by Marcos Bruno, but the Coons were still scoring against a collapsing pitching staff for the visitors, and clouted their way to a series split. 11-4 Raccoons. Brady 2-3, 3 BB, HR, 3 RBI; Palacios 3-5, BB; Roberson 3-6, RBI; Martin 2-4, 2 BB, HR, RBI; Ingall 2-5, 2 RBI; Guerin 2-3, BB; Fifield 2-4, BB, 2 RBI; Meza 6.2 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, W (1-0) and 2-4, 2 RBI; All Raccoons starters had multi-hit games – except Cal Lyon, who went 0-5. Now brace for the bad news, apart from Cal Lyon being just as good as advertised. Neil Reece’s ankle was soundly broken – one was tempted to say shattered – and he was put in a black cast and out for the season. That was sure killing our mood, and even worse was the fact that Eddie Torrez was still on the DL himself, and although he was do to come off soon, I didn’t want him up here all cold after six weeks on the shelf. We had an opening, and although he was not a good fit for centerfield, Roberson might be. And so we called up 2001 top pick, OF/1B Chris Beairsto (.256, 24 HR, 74 RBI in AAA). It was all C’s in the outfield now. Raccoons (55-60) @ Gold Sox (68-45) – August 9-11, 2002 The Gold Sox were not very good offensively, ranking just below average in the Federal League, but – oh brother – did they have pitching! For a while, they had ranked 1-2-3 on the FL ERA board, and they were still far and away best in runs allowed, and that was what had them soundly leading the FL West. Why do we have to play these teams? Why can’t we play … Well, why can’t we play the school team from the Willamette Institute for the Limbless and the Blind a few times a year? We’d have a chance! Projected matchups: Randy Farley (7-9, 3.93 ERA) vs. Victor Bernal (11-8, 2.80 ERA) Ralph Ford (11-7, 2.31 ERA) vs. Antonio Donis (9-4, 3.34 ERA) Carl Bean (12-9, 3.53 ERA) vs. Andres Gamez (7-4, 3.85 ERA) Yes, that’s our Donis of the late 90s, and they use him as a swing man, where they need him. He had 34 appearances this year, with 14 starts, for 97 innings and 113 strikeouts. He hadn’t started since 1997. They also had Samy Michel, Tony Vela, and Orlando Blanco. Denver had always been a fertile ground for ex-Coons, with Chih-tui Jin and Pat Parker enjoying rousing success there. And cycling occasionally. And we get off lucky: we miss Carlos Castro and Chang-se Park, both with ERA’s soundly under three. Game 1 POR: RF Brady – 2B Palacios – LF Roberson – 1B Martin – CF Beairsto – SS Guerin – 3B Matthews – C Thomas – P Farley DEN: CF L. Alonso – SS A. Rodriguez – 3B Davidson – RF Pujols – 1B Michel – 2B Correa – LF A. Lopez – C J. Johnson – P Bernal Bernal struck out seven in seven innings. With Pedro Pujols hitting a 2-run double off Farley in the third, and nothing more for them through seven, although Farley wobbled mightily in the first three innings, the Coons nominally were only two runs behind, and one run behind once Albert Martin hit his 24th home run off Bernal, the Raccoons felt like down by seven. They were not threatening, and didn’t get even to second base. Farley went into the eighth, but was torn to shreds for good with a 2-out RBI triple by Jose Correa, which was followed by Martinez walking a pair and Bruno throwing a wild pitch to score Correa. The Coons had zero. 4-1 Gold Sox. Palacios 2-3, BB; Martin 2-3, BB, HR, RBI; Parker (PH) 1-1, 2B; Chris Beairsto had a more than abysmal career debut, going 0-4 with three strikeouts, all handed to him by Victor Bernal. While this is depressing, it is not unexpected. He whiffed almost 30% of the time in AAA. Game 2 POR: 3B Sharp – SS Guerin – LF Roberson – 1B Martin – 2B Ingall – CF Beairsto – C Fifield – RF Parker – P Ford DEN: CF L. Alonso – C J. Johnson – RF Pujols – 1B A. Munoz – 2B Correa – SS Davidson – LF R. Chavez – 3B J. Perez – P Donis No offense was taking place through four innings. Well, Roberson hit into a pair of double plays. Ford whiffed six over four innings, but the first two men in the bottom 5th, Chavez and Perez, singled. Donis bunted them into scoring position, and Ford scored the first run of the game with an immensely wild pitch. It unraveled for him from there, as the Sox put up a 3-spot. Top 6th, Martin and Ingall went into scoring position with one out. Beairsto was up, having whiffed twice already against the lefty Donis. Nah, we sent for Matthews. Matthews whiffed. Fifield was no help. Ford’s game ended with two out in the seventh on an inside-the-park home run by Luis Alonso, down 4-0. The Coons didn’t get a run until they were down to their penultimate out, Parker singling home Matthews, and soiling Orlando Blanco’s bid for a 3-inning save. That was about all they managed to soil except for their own pants. 4-1 Gold Sox. Martin 2-4; Ingall 3-4, 2B; Huerta 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K; Well. They have AMAZING pitching, and the Raccoons’ offense is … how should I say it… Moist? Cranky? Crusty? Game 3 POR: RF Brady – SS Guerin – 2B Palacios – 1B Martin – CF Beairsto – 3B Matthews – LF Parker – C Thomas – P Bean DEN: CF L. Alonso – LF A. Lopez – 3B Davidson – RF Pujols – 1B Michel – 2B Correa – SS J. Perez – C R. Rodriguez – P Gamez Bean retired the side in the first, but wasn’t quite so successful in the second. Five hits, all singles, plus two walks, tore him to shreds and put the Raccoons into a most undesirable 4-2 hole. How were they going to dig out of that? They got a run on a Thomas double in the fourth, but Bean was also yanked in the same inning, collecting only ten outs in total, with another two singles and a hit batter charged against him. Perez held the score at 5-3, retiring Pujols and Michel. Daniel Miller was inserted into the fifth, and for the one-thousandth time this season put himself into a three-on, no-outs hole. The Gold Sox added two. Joly was almost worse (but how can you be worse than utter dog ?), allowing one run in the seventh before Parker saved him with an all-out sliding catch for the third out with the bags full. The Coons were trailing by five in the ninth when they whacked three leadoff doubles off Jose Juarez, Parker, Thomas, and Roberson doing the honors in succession. Of course, that got the score to 8-5 and was plenty of motivation for the Gold Sox to send their closer, Scott Hood. He first faced Brady, and Brady hit a massive home run to right center, cutting the deficit to just one run, and there was still nobody out. Even better, Martin would come up in the inning, and he came up with Palacios on first, but grounded out. That moved the tying run to second, and brought Beairsto to the plate with two down. Beairsto had been pelted the whole series, and had one hit. We had Fifield and an ailing Sharp on the bench. Hood was a right-hander, so Beairsto seemed like the best choice. Was he? Yes, he was. Danny, sit down, if you can with that swollen thing on your leg. No, he wasn’t. He grounded to short. 8-7 Gold Sox. Parker 3-3, BB, 2 2B, 2 RBI; Thomas 3-4, 2 2B, 2 RBI; Roberson (PH) 1-1, 2B, RBI; (slumps over the desk, sobbing) That was our first sweep at the hands of the Gold Sox since 1979. It should casually be mentioned that the Raccoons have not swept anybody since the April 5-7 series against Las Vegas. In other news August 5 – IND C Jose Paraz (.262, 9 HR, 35 RBI) will miss two weeks with a sprained ankle. August 6 – Tijuana loses SS/2B Juan Barrón (.304, 4 HR, 41 RBI) for the remainder of the season as the 30-year old has strained a hamstring. August 6 – BOS SP Joe Mann (9-8, 3.59 ERA) is out for the season with an elbow strain. August 7 – Cincy’s LF/RF Dan Morris (.340, 25 HR, 76 RBI) is in pain with a pinched nerve and won’t be able to play before September. Complaints and stuff** 25 years in Portland, and there’s still no brown cast to mend broken hopes. I mean, bones. The joy of our lives, yes, one might say, the Ree- Rose of Portland – withered, again. Add to that the less than woolly debut of his heralded replacement. Life on the Willamette sucks. Attached Images __________________ Portland Raccoons, 92 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 * 2061 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA \| RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here.

04-16-2015, 04:33 PM	#1248
Westheim Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Germany Posts: 13,744	Raccoons (55-63) vs. Blue Sox (67-51) – August 12-14, 2002 Yuck, another good team. After getting swept (one wants to say suffocated) by the Gold Sox, the Raccoons just can’t get out of the wet laundry. The Blue Sox were second in scoring and third in preventing scoring in the Federal League, which was a tall task to any team, but even more so to a wholly redundant collection of outcasts – like the Raccoons. Projected matchups: Nick Brown (6-7, 2.78 ERA) vs. Stanton Taylor (6-14, 4.35 ERA) Ramón Meza (1-0, 2.70 ERA) vs. Dave Crawford (10-9, 4.33 ERA) Randy Farley (7-10, 3.91 ERA) vs. Varsik Deyrmenjian (7-5, 4.73 ERA) That’s all right-handers, as we manage to miss both Javier Cruz and Dennis Fried, who have 28 wins between them. Game 1 NAS: LF F. Jones – RF Rangel – 3B Catalo – 2B B. Hall – 1B Townsley – CF P. Taylor – SS S. Walker – C F. Hernandez – P S. Taylor POR: RF Brady – 3B Sharp – 2B Palacios – 1B Martin – LF Roberson – CF Beairsto – SS Guerin – C Fifield – P Brown The Blue Sox got going early, with Alberto Rangel hitting a first inning home run off Brownie, but the Coons had an answer, having two men on with two out in the bottom 2nd for Gary Fifield. Fifield lined a shot past Leborio Catalo that bounced all the way to the wall for a 2-run double, giving Brown a lead that would stand for a long time, but wouldn’t stand the test of time ultimately. Then, we were already in the eighth, the game was still 2-1 for the home team, and Stanton Taylor grounded to Palacios, leading off, and Palacios bumbled it at first, then rushed a throw that was nowhere near Martin at first. The Blue Sox brought their man around and tied the score. Brownie looked understandably pissed. So did I. Brownie continued in the ninth, but with two out gave up two singles. Martinez appeared to face switch-hitter Felix Hernandez, who was actually a natural right-hander. Hernandez grounded out, giving the team a chance to walk off with Martin up first in the bottom 9th against lefty Jose Escobar. Martin drew four balls, and was replaced with Parker to run, but ultimately some dumbo bounced into a double play (it was Guerin). The Blue Sox left pairs of runners on in the 10th (still against Martinez), 11th and 12th (both against Bruno), while the Raccoons never even reached base, racking up six strikeouts in overtime, before the 13th saw Joly and Perez collectively put four men on base, with a hit and a walk for each of them. The Raccoons didn’t get on until Adrian Matthews’ pinch-hit 1-out double in the bottom 13th, and became the tying run. Reliever Luis Estrada remained in to give up another double to Clyde Brady to almost the same spot, blowing the lead. Now the WINNING run was on second base, but … yeah, no. With Huerta and Miller unavailable, we brought our last pitcher in Dan Nordahl before Ramón Meza would be next. When Danny was done with three scoreless frames, he remained in the dugout, eager to see whether he would actually witness a brown-clad base runner. He didn’t before his own turn at bat came up. With Cal Lyon left and a left-hander in the game, why not use Dan Nordahl? He singled off Dan Hutchings. Then he STOLE SECOND BASE on a hit-and-run in which Chris Parker botched up his part. Then Parker singled, moving Nordahl to third base, and Roberson to the box. And Roberson lined out to Cesar Gonzalez (yes, the ex-Coon) in leftfield. Nordahl entered the bowels of the park in disgust. So did I. Ramón Meza came into the game in the seventeenth, and while I was plundering the fridge in the office, Meza pitched a scoreless inning. In the bottom 17th, Guerin and Matthews hit cheap singles of Hutchings, bringing Brady up with two down. Brady was a strong 1-7 on the day (better than some others, though), the count ran full, and then he finally put the ball into play, a bouncer to right, that went two inches past the lunging Bob Hall’s glove, and Guerin easily scored on the hopper. 4-3 Coons. Matthews 2-3, 2B; Brown 8.2 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 8 K; Martinez 1.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K; Bruno 2.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K; Nordahl 3.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K and 1-1, SB; What a drag of a game. I mean, wow. At one point, they out-hit us 14-6, which was shortly before Nordahl came in. If they could have pulled the win out of their sorry arses an inning earlier, Nordahl would have scored the winning run, won the game, and would have STOLEN A FRIGGIN’ BASE EN ROUTE TO THAT WIN. Of course all of this wouldn’t have happened if Palacios HADN’T MISPLAYED THAT FRIGGIN’ GROUNDER!!! (takes the bat to the framed 2002 team photo. I wonder why Maud has signed me up for anger management therapy. Coming into the middle game, we had kind of a predicament. Meza was not going to start (maybe on Wednesday), so Randy Farley would go on short rest. We might be able to swallow that, but our bullpen was aching BADLY. And like I said, Randy was starting. We almost needed an additional reliever, but whom to call on? And whom to send down? Well, Cal Lyon was pretty much useless. And we could perhaps add Mauro Rodriguez for two days, then re-banish him to hell. I was choking at the thought, but the only other reliever on the 40-man roster not up here was Sergio Vega, who had gone two of the last three – Wait a minute. We have money again! No need to be shy with pennies anymore. Kazuhiko Kichida (5-8, 2.58 ERA, 25 SV) would have to go onto the 40-man roster ahead of the rule 5 draft anyway. The righty was only 22, had been drafted in the third round in 1998 by the Miners. He had gotten him from the Scorpions for Julio Mata last winter. Plus, I missed having a Japanese pitcher around. Hi Kaz. Game 2 NAS: LF F. Jones – SS Townsley – 3B Catalo – 1B C. Gonzalez – CF Hensley – RF D. Woods – 2B P. Edralín – C Dunn – P Crawford POR: 3B Sharp – 2B Palacios – LF Roberson – 1B Martin – CF Beairsto – SS Matthews – RF Parker – C Thomas – P Farley Farley was socked early, giving up two runs in the first, and while he would escape punishment despite a ton of walks and the occasional line drive after that, and Chris Roberson tied the game with a 2-run homer in the bottom 3rd. The tie remained until Farley was all worked up after six hits and four walks in six innings and at 114 pitches yielded for the debutee Kaz Kichida. Leborio Catalo took Kichida’s very first major league pitch to center for a single, and Kichida’s next nine pitches saw eight go wide (one even wild) for the bases loaded and no outs. The pitching coach enquired about Kichida’s well-being, and after that Kichida struck out Woods, Edralín, and Dunn. The Coons had four hits in six innings, and Crawford decided to help them out, starting the bottom 7th with a drill to Thomas and walking Ingall. Sharp grounded out and Palacios was put on intentionally to load them up. Roberson and Martin both sent flies to deep center – and neither fell in, but at least Roberson brought the go-ahead run in. Miller replaced Kichida in the eighth. With one out Freddie Jones doubled. Well, he struck out Townsley. What’s the worst that can happen? Maybe two walks and a John Hensley grand slam? 6-3 Blue Sox. Palacios 2-4, 2B; Oh, they just smell. They also left the bases loaded in the bottom 8th. Game 3 NAS: LF F. Jones – 1B Townsley – 3B Catalo – RF J. Ortíz – 2B B. Hall – CF P. Taylor – SS P. Edralín – C F. Hernandez – P Deyrmenjian POR: RF Brady – 2B Palacios – LF Roberson – 1B Martin – 3B Sharp – SS Guerin – CF Beairsto – C Fifield – P Meza Little happened early in the game if you were willing to discount Bob Hall taking deep Ramón Meza not once, but twice. In the bottom 4th, the Raccoons, after leaving two on in the first when Sharp struck out (he also struck out in the bottom 8th the day before), loaded the bases with no outs, but had .105 Chris Beairsto up. The park got to cheer, however, as Beairsto drove in his first run in the Bigs, with an RBI single up the middle. The inning would not get noted down with a really big number: Gary Fifield’s sac fly was all the Coons got, but that tied the score. Surprisingly, the next time the Beairsto-Fifield combo came up again was the next time a run was scored. Actually, two. Beairsto singled past the reach of Catalo, and Fifield hit his dozenth dinger, 4-2. Meza soon put that lead into deadly danger, when he allowed a single to Edralín and a double to Hernandez – and with nobody out in the top 7th. Bruno came in, and somehow got out of the mess with a 4-3 lead, and actually both teams left the bases loaded. However, the inevitable had merely been delayed. In another abysmal bullpen and defensive showing, Bruno walked Bob Hall to start the eighth, yielded for Perez, who loaded them up, and then Huerta got Melvin Dunn to send a soft line to Palacios – who dropped it. The dam broke and all villages downstream were drowned, as the Blue Sox scored three runs in the inning. 6-4 Blue Sox. Martin 2-4, BB, 2B; Guerin 2-4; Beairsto 2-4, RBI; Thankfully, after going 1-5 in interleague, we can leave town now for two weeks. At this rate, we will be eliminated before September, and then can play out September still in disgrace, but without getting littered with beer cups. Full ones, too. Raccoons (56-65) @ Crusaders (47-73) – August 16-18, 2002 We’re 7-4 against the Crusaders this year, which, knowing this team, won’t stop the Mantlepieces from getting skinned in New York. We’ve had a nasty track record against them recently. They were not scoring, only 3.65 runs per game, but they had won their last four contest, and with our explosive hurlers coming in, they could probably expect some extension to that. Projected matchups: Ralph Ford (11-8, 2.44 ERA) vs. Edgar Rey (6-9, 3.95 ERA) Carl Bean (12-10, 3.73 ERA) vs. Kelly Fairchild (4-12, 4.09 ERA) Nick Brown (6-7, 2.68 ERA) vs. Mike Nelson (8-10, 4.58 ERA) Coming into New York, we still carried eight relievers, but we were looking forward to replace one of them (whichever, doesn’t really matter…) with Eddie Torrez as soon as feasible. Game 1 POR: 3B Sharp – SS Guerin – CF Roberson – 1B A. Martin – 2B Ingall – RF Brady – C Thomas – LF Parker – P Ford NYC: SS Rice – 1B T. Mullins – CF M. Ortíz – RF A. Johnson – LF S. Martin – C D. Anderson – 3B L. Ramirez – 2B J. Martinez – P Rey Ralph Ford had a strange game. He didn’t strike out anybody despite plenty of 2-strike counts through the first four innings. Next, he whipped the side in the fifth. Then Gary Rice led off the sixth with a jack. Yet, by then, Ford held a sizeable lead with the Coons dealing all kinds of pain against Edgar Rey, who failed to retire either Ingall or Brady three times back-to-back, and we got at least productive outs by the last few spots in the order. It was a torrid display of small balls the Raccoons put up, hitting singles all over the place, and scoring in four of the first six innings to still have Ford 5-1 ahead after six. We could see bad things were still due to happen by the top 7th, however, with Mike Collins, that shell of a pitcher when on the Raccoons, retired three Raccoons effortlessly, striking out Brady and Thomas, after already finishing the sixth. In the bottom 7th, Ford got spanked real well, with three straight 1-out hits, all hard, plating two runs in no time. Martinez held off the floods for two more outs, but once Ricardo Huerta got his filthy hands on the bottom 8th, a 1-out RBI triple by rookie Stanton Martin did Ford’s lead in. Daryl Anderson’s groundout scored Martin and tied the score. The Raccoons could not get a **ing hit for their ing lives anymore. Martin Ortíz hit a ball coming out of Marcos Bruno’s dirty paw to Pennsylvania to end the game in the bottom 10th. 6-5 Crusaders. Roberson 2-5, 2B, RBI; Ingall 2-4, BB; Brady 2-4, BB, 2B; Palacios (PH) 1-1; After the top 6th, we led 5-0, and in hits that could be expressed as a DOZEN for the Coons, and ONE for New York. And still … THAT happened … Game 2 POR: RF Brady – 2B Palacios – LF Roberson – 1B A. Martin – 3B Ingall – SS Guerin – CF Beairsto – C Fifield – P Bean NYC: LF M. Ortíz – CF Britton – RF A. Johnson – 1B Berry – SS Rice – C D. Anderson – 3B L. Ramirez – 2B J. Martinez – P Fairchild When have the Raccoons ever hurt one of their former teammates, especially a terrible one? After Mark Berry followed up Avery Johnson getting dented on the first pitch to him with a towering 2-run homer, and the Coons trailed 3-0 after three, they got back-to-back RBI doubles by Guerin and Beairsto in the top 4th, and Brady was scored after a leadoff double in the fifth to tie the score. Literally five minutes later, Luis Ramirez took Bean deep yet again, and the Crusaders were up 4-3. Maybe defense would have a hand in the game, too? In the bottom 7th, Pedro Perez pitched with two down, a man on second, and Johnson batting. When he got a medium velocity grounder to Palacios, that was supposed to end the inning. But for Palacios, somehow, ball, mind, and gloves refused to align – FOR THE THIRD TIME THIS WEEK. Marcos Bruno, the loser the previous night, looked like he’d wind up the winner once Luis Ramirez made a capital throwing error in the top 8th to plate Ingall and Guerin on Fifield’s grounder, and Bruno had retired pinch-hitter Ted Mullins to end the bottom 7th. In the bottom 8th with a lead grown to 6-4, we went to Kaz Kichida rather than Joly, Miller, or Huerta. Gary Rice hit another homer, and Kichida walked Ramirez to represent the tying run. Gah. Bob Joly entered to replace Kichida, walked Martinez on four pitches and threw the next one entirely past Fifield. For those not scoring at home, that’s 6-5 Coons, one out, two in scoring position. Somehow, he struck out PH Mark Preston, before another pinch-hitter, Vincente Gonzalez sent a hobbling grounder up towards second base. Palacios was right there and zinged a throw to first that narrowly beat out Gonzalez to end the inning. The Coons got a run off Alex Glaviz in the top 9th, 7-5, to entrust that lead, hard fought for with knives and forks, to Dan Nordahl. In an anticlimactic ending if there ever was one, Nordahl sat down the Purplehats in order, with no deep or hard shots whatsoever. 7-5 Coons. Roberson 2-5; Ingall 2-4, BB; Guerin 2-3, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Sharp (PH) 1-1; For those not counting, the Crusaders have now drilled five homers in two games. The Raccoons have none. Yeah, them Purplehats are not hitting the ball at all! Kaz Kichida was demoted to bring up Edgardo Torrez now. Game 3 POR: 2B Palacios – CF Torrez – LF Roberson – 1B A. Martin – RF Brady – 3B Sharp – SS Guerin – C Fifield – P Brown NYC: SS Rice – 1B T. Mullins – CF M. Ortíz – LF S. Martin – C D. Anderson – 3B L. Ramirez – RF V. Gonzalez – 2B J. Martinez – P Nelson Palacios had his hand in some offense for once in the rubber game. His liner to left was dropped by Stanton Martin to start the game and the Crusaders soon wished themselves that one back. Torrez doubled, and both would score on groundouts. In the top 2nd, Palacios’ 2-out RBI triple made it 3-0. Meanwhile Brownie entered the game 26 K off Kisho Saito’s franchise single season mark, and while he got started with three quick ones, he soon committed to the cardinal sin of walking the opposing pitcher with two on and two out. Rice for once chose to not automatically go deep and grounded out to Guerin, but still …! Brownie continued to have a rather liberal interpretation of the strike zone, while the home plate ump was clearly a Republican. Rice would hit a triple the next time up, but that came with two out and nobody on in a 4-0 game, so how bad could it become? Well, Brownie habitually loaded the bases with two walks, then served Stanton Martin a 1-2 cookie, which Roberson just so caught in mid-flight, before drilling his face into the outfield grass. Good news: we now had the cover picture for our yearbook. And the game was still Coons 4, Crusaders 0. 101 pitches took Brown through six, with five of both walks and strikeouts. Miller appeared for the bottom 7th, walked Gonzalez on four straight, and was yoinked. After that, three more relievers managed to keep the shutout alive until the curtain fell on the Crusaders. 5-0 Raccoons. Fifield 2-4; Perez 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K; All starters for Portland had at least one hit, including Brown. Aside from Fifield, they all had ONE hit, and ten in total. Also, this time WE had the big bangs, as both Chris Roberson and Al Martin hit solo shots in this game. In other news August 14 – LVA SP Donald Stone (9-8, 4.85 ERA) has a partially torn UCL and headed for Tommy John surgery and a year on the shelf. August 15 – The Wolves lose their young OF Edgardo Fernandez (.256, 1 HR, 24 RBI) to a torn labrum. He might be ready next Opening Day. August 17 – Nashville’s Dennis Fried (16-8, 3.93 ERA) dominates the Rebels in a 2-0 shutout, allowing only two hits. Complaints and stuff With Al Martin hitting his 25th bomb on Sunday, where does that rank him among single season dinger performances in franchise history? And for a career? Single season home runs by a Raccoon: 1st – 38 – Royce Green (1994) 2nd – 35 – Tetsu Osanai (1989) 3rd – 33 – Liam Wedemeyer (1996) t-4th – 31 – Tetsu Osanai (1986) and Mark Dawson (1988) 6th – 29 – Daniel Hall (1984) 7th – 28 – Ben Simon (1979) 8th – 27 – Mark Dawson (1983) t-9th – 26 – Mark Dawson (1989), Royce Green (1996), and Albert Martin (2001) t-12th – 25 – Mark Dawson (1982), Tetsu Osanai (1988), and Albert Martin (2002) Career home runs by a Raccoon: 1st – 223 – Daniel Hall 2nd – 221 – Mark Dawson 3rd – 168 – Tetsu Osanai 4th – 160 – Neil Reece 5th – 89 – Royce Green t-6th – 88 – Ben Simon and David Vinson 8th – 85 – Ben O’Morrissey 9th – 81 – Sam Dadswell 10th – 72 – Vern Kinnear 11th – 69 – Liam Wedemeyer 12th – 68 – Albert Martin Marvin Ingall is cranky and wants to play every day. Technically there’s no way to argue against that, but where would we play him? Catcher? Turns out, the $370k final year of Daniel Miller’s contract is an option with a $75k buyout. Sounds like a cheap exit for us that I will shamelessly exploit, no matter the emotional pain. The true question is whether I can emotionally make it through another six weeks WITH him. We’re about conceiving scratch-off lottery tickets for our home market. Scratch off four fields, if three show a “HR” for homer, you win two tickets with obstructed view for a Raccoons ballgame of your choice. If you get combos of three “H”, “BB”, or “HR”, you win another ticket. If your ticket shows two or more raccoons, you lose. Of course, this is a Raccoons themed lottery. All tickets have two raccoons. With this team, everybody** loses. Attached Images __________________ Portland Raccoons, 92 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 * 2061 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA \| RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here.

04-16-2015, 05:04 PM	#1249
Questdog Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: In a dark, damp cave where I'm training slugs to run the bases...... Posts: 16,142	17 innings is something!......I hate those extra-innings games and love them at the same time. I like the Japanese kids' name; hope I can like his pitching....

04-19-2015, 08:22 AM	#1251
Questdog Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: In a dark, damp cave where I'm training slugs to run the bases...... Posts: 16,142	"Why are these abysmal teams always swinging the hot bat when the Inepticoons are in town? I can’t grasp that." That reminds me of a question I used to ask myself quite a bit, until I figured out the answer - "Why do people always look at me as if I was crazy?" Just catch them Canadians..... Last edited by Questdog; 04-19-2015 at 08:24 AM.

04-20-2015, 03:32 PM	#1253
Westheim Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Germany Posts: 13,744	Raccoons (65-77) @ Loggers (80-63) – September 9-12, 2002 From the second-best to the third-best offense in the Continental League, and one that the Raccoons had little hope of taking the season series in this last confrontation, which stood at 6-8. The other former strength of the Loggers, strong starting pitching, had deserted them though this season, as their rotation had a 4.00 ERA this year. Projected matchups: Carl Bean (13-12, 3.76 ERA) vs. John Miller (13-13, 4.05 ERA) Nick Brown (9-8, 2.43 ERA) vs. Martin Garcia (16-7, 2.28 ERA) Randy Farley (7-14, 4.43 ERA) vs. Millard Wilson (12-6, 5.55 ERA) Ramón Meza (4-2, 5.30 ERA) vs. Marc Padgett (8-9, 4.33 ERA) Poor Brownie drew the one beast that the Loggers had remaining, although his main attraction was coming in with 192 K and a real chance to not only shatter Saito’s mark of 193 for a season, but also become the first Raccoon to 200 this Tuesday. Game 1 POR: 2B Palacios – 3B Sharp – CF Torrez – 1B Martin – RF Brady – SS Guerin – LF Parker – C Fifield – P Bean MIL: SS B. Hernandez – 1B Nava – RF Mashiba – LF Hiwalani – CF C. Ramirez – C L. Ramirez – 3B Cavalleri – 2B K. Scott – P J. Miller The Coons took a bat to Miller in the first inning, plating three runs on a pair of 2-out doubles by Brady and Guerin, with the score 4-0 by the second after a run-scoring wild pitch. Soon enough, however, we found somebody actively working against the team, and it was Martin, hacking out twice with four men on in total, and then losing Miller’s grounder in the bottom 3rd that soon escalated into two unearned runs. While the Raccoons unwound 13 hits off Miller in five innings, they also left plenty of those runners on base, scoring only five runs from the dozen-plus knocks. How could this not hurt the team? In the bottom 5th Vitantonio Cavalleri continued his late-season dominance of Raccoons pitching with a solo homer, giving the Loggers three runs on just four hits. Bottom 7th, two out, back-to-back doubles by Hernandez and Nava put the tying run in scoring position and got Bean removed in favor of Perez against the lefty Mashiba. Martinez came in to face Hiwalani, gave up a double to him, and another one to Ramirez, and and and. 8-5 Loggers. Palacios 4-6, 2B; Sharp 3-4, BB; Torrez 2-5; Parker 3-4, BB, 2B; Fifield 2-5, RBI; Us: 16 hits. Them: 12 hits. Them: 7 men left on base. Us: 15 men left on base. Capitally **ing ass team. Game 2 POR: 3B Sharp – SS Guerin – 2B Ingall – 1B Martin – CF Roberson – RF Brady – C Fifield – LF Parker – P Brown MIL: SS B. Hernandez – 1B D. Love – LF Hiwalani – C L. Ramirez – 3B Cavalleri – CF Fletcher – RF M. Smith – 2B Bowling – P M. Garcia Brown went to two strikes on the first three batters. All three singled. It was not only one of those games. It was THE game. Whatever could go wrong for Brownie, went wrong. The Loggers picked up two runs in the first, before Bowling hit another 2-strike single in the bottom 2nd. Then came Garcia, bunted and legged it out for a single on Fifield. Bowling and Garcia, also known as Slow and Slower, then double stole two bases – for both it was their first of the year – on the hapless battery. Hernandez walked, Love hit a sacrifice, and while Brown then struck out Hiwalani to reach 193, nobody was giving a anymore. Brown set a new record by striking out Garcia in the third, then left the game, which by then was a 5-0 rout with two men waiting in scoring position. Sharp’s hero play on Bartolo Hernandez’ first-pitch hammer throw at his face, surrendered by Sergio Vega, closed Brown’s line at 2.2 innings and five runs, with two strikeouts. the record. life. -.- The Raccoons were thoroughly Garcia’ed, the only run scoring on a Hiwalani error. 7-1 Loggers. Sharp 2-4; Martin 2-4, 2B; Matthews (PH) 1-1, 2B; Joly 4.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K; Game 3 POR: 2B Palacios – 3B Sharp – CF Torrez – 1B Martin – LF Roberson – RF Brady – C Thomas – SS Matthews – P Farley MIL: C L. Ramirez – 1B Nava – RF C. Ramirez – 3B Cavalleri – CF Fletcher – SS Buchanan – LF Mashiba – 2B K. Scott – P M. Wilson The third game started with a bang off Palacios’ bat and a subsequent triple by Sharp, leading to two quick runs. The main question was how quickly Farley would falter and collapse. Sharp drew a bases-loaded walk in the second to make it 3-0 before Torrez struck out, then had one of his brain fart moments in the bottom 2nd. Runners on the corners, one out, he received Wilson’s bunt, then for reasons never to be fully determined (because I beat him to death after the inning) went to second with the ball – and Mashiba, coming from first, was safe. Leon Ramirez drove in two with a single, the tying run scored on a wild pitch, and soon enough somebody (Cavalleri, with his disgusting horse face) hit a triple. The Loggers put six on Farley, and usually this would constitute a rout if it hadn’t been for Millard Wilson to suck equal amounts compared with Farley. Albert Martin thundered his 30th homer of the season to tie the score at six in the top 4th. No pitching, much hitting. Farley still found a way winding up with the loss after allowing a Ramirez single and a Cavalleri double to start the bottom 4th. Cavalleri drove home Ramirez for a 7-6 score, and in case you weren’t numb yet, Sergio Vega appeared to make things much, much worse. Both Vega and Perez were skinned in a 5-run fifth. It was so outrageously terrible, by the sixth inning the Loggers had two players an inch away from major feats, as Cristo Ramirez was on five hits, and Cavalleri a homer shy of the cycle. With the way the Raccoons were going, they’d face spare outfielders by the eighth inning and have good chances. Ramirez came up with one out and Nava on first in the bottom 8th, facing Bruno, but didn’t get anything to hit and walked eventually. Cavalleri hit into a force at second. 12-6 Loggers. Palacios 3-4, BB, HR, RBI; Miller 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K; Bloody… Game 4 POR: 2B Palacios – SS Guerin – CF Torrez – 1B Martin – LF Roberson – 3B Ingall – RF Parker – C Fifield – P Meza MIL: SS B. Hernandez – RF C. Ramirez – LF Hiwalani – C L. Ramirez – 3B Cavalleri – CF Fletcher – 1B Sparks – 2B K. Scott – P Padgett Meza waited until the third inning to truly suck, blowing a 1-0 lead with a bases-loaded 2-out single by Cavalleri. The go-ahead run came in for the Loggers when Fifield failed to make a play on Jerry Fletcher’s grounder right in front of his big ugly nose. Roberson led off the fourth with a double which he thought was triple, but which the Loggers were in disagreement on. When Ingall doubled behind him, there was no Roberson left on base to be scored, and Ingall was left on third base as the Raccoons continued to trail 2-1. Meza’s day went to soon enough, loading the bags in the fifth and then forcing in two runs on additional walks. He offered six freebies on the day. The Loggers scored another run off Bruno in the sixth, but the Coons got two on bloop hits in the seventh, getting back to 5-3, and then left the tying runs idling on the bases in the eighth. Robbie Wills was up for the ninth, facing Torrez, Martin and the pitcher’s slot, which meant that Brady grabbed a bat. Three lefties to counter Wills, resulting in a pop, a single, and a walk to put the tying runs on with one out and Ingall next. Marv grounded out to first, leaving it to Parker with the runners in scoring position. He flew to center, and that ended the game. 5-3 Loggers. Torrez 2-5, RBI; Martin 2-5, RBI; Roberson 2-4, 2B; Ingall 3-5, 2 2B; Parker 3-5; Lyon (PH) 2-2; The Pooshirts had 16 hits. They left 14 men on, which has become a routine exercise now. Guerin stole his 20th base. Last year he was leading the league in steals at this point. This year he doesn’t even have half as much as the leader, a certain Bartolo Hernandez, two stole #40 and #41 in this series. After the game we found out that Meza hadn’t felt well in the first place and now had an inflamed shoulder. Amputate that ing arm, it ain’t good for nothing anyway. Raccoons (65-81) @ Bayhawks (75-71) – September 13-15, 2002 The Bayhawks were not as good as they had been, mainly resting on the mound beast Tony Hamlyn, but they were at least average, and average was at least two worlds better than the Raccoons could hope to be on one of their slightly less hellish days. And they also led the season series 4-2. Projected matchups: Ralph Ford (12-8, 2.80 ERA) vs. Henry Selph (8-14, 5.24 ERA) Carl Bean (13-12, 3.77 ERA) vs. Tony Hamlyn (20-8, 2.18 ERA) Nick Brown (9-9, 2.63 ERA) vs. Dani Alvarado (8-11, 4.41 ERA) We will be assured of a losing record Saturday at the very latest. No way we chew up Hamlyn. We might get dumb AND lucky on Selph, but that will be it. After that, Brownie, getting torn up again. The AAA season ends tonight, so we can call up a few more players like Beairsto and two arms or so. Game 1 POR: 2B Palacios – SS Guerin – RF Brady – 1B Martin – CF Roberson – 3B Sharp – LF Parker – C Fifield – P Ford SFB: CF Walls – SS J. Perez – C G. Ortíz – RF Black – LF Brulhart – 1B I. Navarro – 3B Comte – 2B Bulco – P Selph Ford walked two in the first inning to load them up, but somehow the Bayhawks failed to score. They did score in the second, with Justin Comte leading off with a single, Bulco walking, and then Fifield making a capital and instantly fatal throwing error on the bunt. Three unearned runs scored. Selph would be safe on his next bunt, which Sharp failed to dig out in due time, putting runners on the corners with no outs in the bottom 4th. Bulco scored on Walls’ sac fly, making it 4-0. Meanwhile, the Decrepicoons were still looking for their first base runner. Henry Selph, 35, ancient enough to be a dusted relic telling the story of a fallen civilization, was perfect twice through the Raccoons’ lineup. Top 7th: Palacios bounced back to Selph for an out, Guerin struck out in a full count, and Brady grounded out to Bulco. Top 8th: Martin K’ed. Roberson K’ed. Sharp grounded to the side of the mound, and Selph made the play himselph. Eight innings, 24 Decrepicoons up, 24 Decrepicoons down. Ford went 7.2 before running out of what little steam he had come into the game with, with Joly collecting the last out in the eighth. Top 9th, Selph still out there, still old, still the only pitcher to have multiple no-hitters to his name. Parker up. Selph got him to 2-2 before Parker put the ball in play. It was grounded past Selph, but more or less right to Trystao Bulco. Out. Fifield was hit for by Eddie Torrez. 1-1 pitch, taken to center, high, so not deep, and caught leisurely by Tom Walls. Out number two. Another pinch-hitter came up. Never had we longed more for an INGALL SINGLE than right now, so Marv hit for Joly, getting the choice between saving us from complete and total disgrace, or going down as the last out in the ABL’s first perfecto. He took the first pitch on the outside corner. Strike one. The next two pitches were high, and called balls. The next one was lower, and Ingall took a hack, knocking a grounder past the mound, and past the reach of Bulco. As that lonely grounder hobbled into centerfield, the park cried out in shock. INGALL SINGLE!!! Raccoons lost, though. 4-0 Bayhawks. Ingall (PH) 1-1; Oh my dearness. The following players were called up: SP Felipe Garcia (mainly to take over for Meza, who will miss at least one start) MR Domingo Moreno (who had no place to rehab anymore and had not allowed an earned run in 5.2 innings) MR Kaz Kichida C Pablo Fernandez INF Miguel Ramirez OF Chris Beairsto And only NOW comes Hamlyn! Game 2 POR: SS Guerin – CF Beairsto – 1B Ingall – LF Roberson – RF Brady – 2B Matthews – 3B M. Ramirez – C Fernandez – P Bean SFB: LF Walls – C G. Ortíz – RF Javier – 3B Foster – SS J. Perez – 1B Bulco – CF Black – 2B I. Navarro – P Hamlyn BOTH pitchers were perfect once through the opposing lineup. Hamlyn whiffed four, Bean only whiffed Hamlyn, but neither team had been on base. The first thing that properly happened was Matthews tweaking something in his neck on a play in the fourth and having to be replaced with Palacios. Bean then walked Javier, but still had a no-hitter. Hamlyn was perfect through four, but Roberson singled to start the fifth. Things rapidly unraveled for Hamlyn with Palacios hitting a single and then Pablo Fernandez came in and hit an RBI single to left. Once Bean was brushed on the thigh, Guerin doubled home a pair and we were up 3-0. Bean had yet to be tagged, but with two out in the sixth, Tom Walls hit a double. Once more, things developed rapidly, with two more hits plating two runs and running the score to 3-2, while Hamlyn was on 10 K and the Coons couldn’t hope to add on. Hamlyn made it a dozen on Ramirez and Fernandez to start the bottom 7th, but then Bean hit a double, Guerin got on, and Sharp hit for Beairsto and hit an RBI double. Hamlyn plated another run with a wild one, giving us a 5-2 lead. Bean dropped another run while going 7.2 innings and left for Moreno to pitch to Paco Javier. That AB resulted in a single, and Martinez appeared to retire Foster with a K. We actually got to break out Dan Nordahl, who faced the 5-6-7 part of the lineup. He went to two strikes on everbody he faced, whiffing Perez before Bulco singled, but a K to Navarro ended the game in due time. 5-3 Coons. Sharp (PH) 1-2, 2B, RBI; Palacios 2-3; Bean 7.2 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, W (14-12) and 1-2, 2B; How, why! The Raccoons actually ARE able to win a game and not fudge up capitally from the first pitch onwards! Game 3 POR: SS Guerin – CF Beairsto – 1B Ingall – LF Roberson – RF Brady – 2B Matthews – 3B M. Ramirez – C Fernandez – P Brown SFB: CF Walls – SS J. Perez – C G. Ortíz – CF Black – LF Brulhart – 3B Foster – 1B I. Navarro – 2B J. Diaz – P Sato Takeru Sato was freshly signed by the Bayhawks after sitting all year on the fence. A struggling Brown was chopped to little crumbs starting with Sato hitting a 2-run single in the bottom 2nd. That single came in a full count, and a full count means three balls, and that was about where Brown was in every single at-bat the entire game. Unsurprisingly that made for a very short outing, 4.1 innings, and only four strikeouts, leaving him at 198 for the season. Huerta came in with a man on and ended the fifth with a grounder by Black and a whiff to Jim Brulhart. The game was still 2-0 Hawks. While the pen was shaking without falling, Sato had the Coons in his death grip. Martin hit a pinch-hit single in the eighth, but we never made it past first base. Johnny Smith replaced Sato in the ninth, having 67 K in 62.1 innings this season. It was still a 2-0 game, so when Ingall led off with an INGALL SINGLE, we figured we’d have a chance. Roberson singled. Brady flew out to right center, before Palacios walked the bags full. Parker hit for Ramirez, dished a shot to deep center, but Tom Walls made an admittedly fantastic play. Ingall scored, the other runners held, while Torrez hit for Fernandez, fell 0-2 behind, then grounded weakly to second, but the Bayhawks had no play! Bases loaded, two out, we’d need a run, and Daniel Miller was hit for by Gary Fifield (there were no more promising options left on the bench). Fifield swung for the fences, one strike, two strikes, CONTACT, high, to deep center – and to Walls. 2-1 Bayhawks. Martin (PH) 1-1; Torrez (PH) 1-1; Matthews was hurt again, tearing an abdominal muscle this time. He’s out for the year. And yes, I did mess up the lineup when the Bayhawks brought in Sato. In other news September 9 – LAP SP Raúl Chavez (9-18, 5.26 ERA) has a nice day, 3-hitting the Gold Sox in a 7-0 Pacifics win. September 10 – CHA SP Terry Wilson (11-14, 3.96 ERA) is out for the year with a torn labrum. September 13 – Boston wins 4-2 in Oklahoma, and then they have to wait for the Loggers’ extra inning contest in Tijuana to end. After Robbie Wills issues a bases-loaded walk to Bartolo Román in the bottom 11th, walking off the Condors, the Titans have clinched the CL North. This is the Titans’ fifth playoff appearance, all in the last six years, and they will try to defend their 2001 title. September 13 – Vancouver’s Joe Hollow (11-11, 2.75 ERA) has his season end with shoulder inflammation and might take half a year to recover. September 14 – BOS LF/RF Chih-tui Jin (.269, 8 HR, 54 RBI) announces his retirement after suffering a complete tear in his labrum. Jin was the Raccoons’ fifth round pick in 1988, debuting with them in 1993, but had his most success with the Gold Sox. He only appeared in Boston this year. He was .295/.406/.445 for his career, with 74 HR and 487 RBI. Complaints and stuff** WORST week … in a LONG time. The team at its ABSOLUTE WORST. What a … a … there are no words. No family friendly words at least. We will now crown our LONE hero of the week: Attached Images __________________ Portland Raccoons, 92 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 * 2061 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA \| RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here.

04-20-2015, 04:07 PM	#1254
Questdog Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: In a dark, damp cave where I'm training slugs to run the bases...... Posts: 16,142	Wow, tough, tough week. And I don't see them Canada boys no more up ahead of us; they must have done made it 'round the bend...... Please keep us out of last place, anyways.....

04-21-2015, 03:46 PM	#1255
Westheim Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Germany Posts: 13,744	Raccoons (66-83) vs. Falcons (68-81) – September 16-18, 2002 Two forgettable teams in the penultimate week of the season. At least the Falcons had the outrageously bad Knights going for them, with the Coons gleaming into last place’s abyss. If we can’t solve the league’s third-worst rotation and get drummed by their above-average offense, we might tie with the Crusaders for last place by midweek. The season series was tied. Projected matchups: Randy Farley (7-15, 4.69 ERA) vs. Ramiro Gonzalez (5-2, 2.41 ERA) Felipe Garcia (0-5, 6.96 ERA) vs. Jesus Hernandez (5-12, 5.30 ERA) Ralph Ford (12-9, 2.74 ERA) vs. Chang-bum O (10-13, 4.37 ERA) Two left-handed pitchers (Gonzalez and O) in the same series? Wut? Game 1 CHA: LF R. Wilson – C F. Chavez – 2B H. Green – 1B Batlle – CF Burke – SS A. Ramirez – RF Estrada – 3B N. Chavez – P R. Gonzalez POR: SS Guerin – LF Roberson – 3B Sharp – 1B Martin – 2B Ingall – RF Brady – CF Torrez – C Fifield – P Farley Randy was 1-8 since the end of June, blooming his ERA by .9 runs, with the majority of that coming in the last five games, which he had all lost in a landslide. This might well be his last start of the season before getting mothballed. Should he lose this one, it was all his fault, since the Coons got ahead early with a 3-run homer by Marvin Ingall in the bottom 1st. Farley certainly wasn’t any good, he was more lucky. The Falcons left pairs of runners on base in the first, second, and fourth innings, never getting that last single, that everybody always seemed to get off Farley. Well, Randy was better at the plate, having two hits, including a triple(!), and managed to line up six shutout innings with a little help from the defense. In the seventh, up 4-0, it all went wrong, though. Pinch-hit single by John Hudson, double by Ralph Wilson, and an infield single by batting leader Fernando Chavez – bases loaded, no outs. Farley struck out Green before Perez was called in to get the lefties. He didn’t. Batlle doubled, Burke was hit for, with Huerta coming in to issue two walks. Martinez replaced the collection of ****s to strike out Estrada, while Nelson Chavez lined out to deep left, where Roberson made a fantastic play to stop the bleeding at 4-3 and the bags full. Moreno pitched in the eighth, surrendering a high and deep fly to center to Fernando Chavez with two down. Torrez, the ball, and the wall all meshed into one, and when the dust settled, Chavez was out, and so was Torrez. Nordahl walked two in the ninth, but somehow the Raccoons squeaked through. 4-3 Coons. Martin 2-4, 2B; Ingall 2-4, HR, 3 RBI; He broke WHAT? Apparently, Torrez applied an unconventional break mechanism at the centerfield wall. He simply didn’t slow down at all in making the catch, and slammed into it face first, breaking his jaw. So, no more cookies for Eddie, just pea soup for the next four weeks, and he’s out for the season. (facepalm) Game 2 CHA: LF R. Wilson – SS A. Ramirez – 2B H. Green – 1B Batlle – CF Burke – RF J. Lugo – C M. Castillo – 3B N. Chavez – P J. Hernandez POR: 2B Palacios – 3B Sharp – RF Brady – 1B Martin – LF Roberson – SS Guerin – CF Beairsto – C Thomas – P F. Garcia The Raccoons unleashed some 2-out terror on Hernandez, hitting four 2-out singles in the bottom 3rd to plate two runs just in time before Beairsto got knotted up hacking himself out, and then added another run on a Palacios single and Sharp double with two out in the fourth. Garcia fell into the category of “not good, but breathing on his own”. The Falcons threatened in the first inning, and then not quite until the sixth again, when they put two runners in scoring position with one out, only for two pops, one fair, one foul, to end the inning. Bottom 6th, Garcia hit a 2-out double with the bags deserted, but Hernandez then balked and Palacios singled to score Garcia from third base, 4-0. The pattern broke up the next inning, when Martin went deep off Shane Sweet with only one out in the inning. Garcia still wasn’t getting touched. With a 5-0 lead he was not hit for in the bottom 8th, making the final out. Bags had been empty. So, he came back out for the ninth, facing Jake Burke leading off, and the relief corps was working just in case. Burke flew out to center on the first pitch, before Lugo whiffed. Castillo singled to left, but well, let’s have him one more. Nelson Chavez sent a lofty liner to center, but Beairsto had more than enough time to get there. 5-0 Coons! Palacios 2-3, BB, RBI; Sharp 2-4, 2 2B, RBI; Martin 3-4, HR, RBI; Roberson 2-4, RBI; Guerin 2-4, 2B, RBI; Garcia 9.0 IP, 8 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K, W (1-5) and 1-4, 2B; With his 31st home run of the season, Al Martin has now achieved a tie for fourth on the all-time franchise chart for a single season effort, matching Tetsu Osanai’s 1986 and Mark Dawson’s 1988 output. He is also already our 10th-most prolific home run hitter in franchise history, having knocked out Vern Kinnear (that last week already). What do 1988 and 2002 have in common? They were utter years. After 1988 came 1989. 1989 ended though. I can’t un-see Glenn Johnston dropping Ed Parrell’s fly. Game 3 CHA: 1B M. Clark – C M. Castillo – LF J. Lugo – 3B H. Green – 2B A. Ramirez – CF Estrada – RF King – SS Burgess – P O POR: 3B Sharp – SS Guerin – LF Roberson – 1B Martin – 2B Palacios – C Fifield – CF Lyon – RF Flores – P Ford The Raccoons have not swept a series since the first week of the season. We can give the ball to our assumed best pitcher. Said assumed best pitcher faced an exclusively right-handed lineup, and was INCREDIBLY wonky from the start. The Falcons knocked four singles off him in the first two innings, and didn’t score only for them having both Mark Clark and Pedro Estrada getting caught stealing by Fifield. Wonky went on to pitch the third under pressure when not only Chang-bum O hit a leadoff single on a 1-2 pitch, but Gil Flores managed to lose the ball in his underpants, giving the pitcher an extra base. Ford went on to strike out the side – but didn’t get the third K called, instead Lugo walked in a full count. Green singled to left, before Ramirez also sent a grounder there that Sharp intercepted and somehow glove-lobbed to Palacios at second where in a hair split-decision Green was called out. MIGHT BE NICE TO GET SOME OFFENSE GOING. Guerin walked with one out in the bottom 3rd. Roberson shoved a double past Estrada in center, plating Concie rather easily, 1-0. O unraveled, walking Martin and Palacios before Fifield chipped an RBI single to right. Lyon popped out, leaving it to the not-so-stellar Flores to get something going. Flores hit it to left center – and it fell in and bounced to the wall! Two runs in, the Coons were up 4-0! Ford failed to pitch a single 1-2-3 inning, somehow went six and didn’t allow a run, and we’d file that under success and try to cobble together the last nine outs with the bullpen. Bruno knocked off three outs in the seventh (with dumb luck, mainly). Martinez had a chunk taken out of him in the eighth with extra base hits by Green and Estrada that plated the Falcons’ first run. Kaz Kichida replaced him and struck out King to end the frame, and Nordahl sat them down in order in the ninth. Bring out the brooms! 4-1 Coons! Roberson 2-4, 2B, RBI; Flores 3-4, 2 2B, 2 RBI; Ingall (PH) 1-1; Ford 6.0 IP, 7 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 3 K, W (13-9) I was unsure whether to list Ford’s outing as good. It was not good. It was all dumb luck. But in the end, if your abilities are not quite enough to sweep a series for FIVE AND A HALF MONTHS, then dumb luck will do. Raccoons (69-83) vs. Indians (68-84) – September 20-22, 2002 569 runs ranked those Indians last in the Continental League, with average pitching on top of that. Would be nice to take the series and remain in fourth place, wouldn’t it? Projected matchups: Carl Bean (14-12, 3.76 ERA) vs. Alonso Alonso (12-12, 3.73 ERA) Nick Brown (9-10, 2.67 ERA) vs. Junior Diaz (3-1, 1.54 ERA) Ramón Meza (4-3, 5.36 ERA) vs. John Collins (7-12, 5.39 ERA) Game 1 IND: 2B Montray – SS M. Jones – LF Alston – C Paraz – 3B D. Lopez – CF Cavazos – 1B J. Garcia – RF J. Lugo – P Alonso POR: 3B Sharp – 2B Palacios – LF Roberson – 1B Martin – RF Parker – SS Guerin – CF Beairsto – C Fernandez – P Bean Bottom 2nd in a scoreless game, Guerin led off with a single. He set off to steal second, with Paraz’ throw nowhere near the bag and well into center. Guerin made it to third, giving even the wild hacker Beairsto a chance to plate him with a bit of contact. A bit of contact he got: quite a lot actually. High – deep – well gone! Third career homer for our 2001 top pick! The joy was short-lived, with Bean getting pierced with four arrows for three brave warriors sneaking across home plate in the third, as the Indians took a 3-2 lead. The Indians had again two in scoring position with two out in the fourth, but Bean managed to strike out Montray, who batted a miserable .125 against Portland this year. 3-2 was still the score in the bottom 6th when Brady hit for Bean with two out and two on. The lead runner was Concie on second base, and Brady singled to right. Concie was sent, and thrown out by Lugo. Against the pen, the Indians left a man in scoring position both in the seventh and eighth, but the Raccoons just couldn’t get the bats up. To start the top 9th, Kichida walked two, Bruno walked one, no outs, and this one was well lost, even though the damage ultimately amounted to just one run that Bruno walked in against Ron Alston. 4-2 Indians. Martin 2-4; Guerin 2-4, 2B; Brady (PH) 1-1; What a stinker of a game. Stinks of piss. But that might be explained sufficiently with the piss poor home team. Game 2 IND: C T. Turner – 3B Whaley – LF Alston – 1B D. Lopez – RF Greenman – SS Montray – CF J. Alvarez – 2B Stevens – P J. Diaz POR: 1B Sharp – SS Guerin – LF Roberson – 2B Palacios – RF Parker – C Fifield – CF Beairsto – 3B M. Ramirez – P Brown Brownie’s last two starts had been utter crap, but today he would go for 200 K. He reached the mark quickly, removing Lopez for #200 and to end the first inning. Almost as quickly he fell behind, with Greenman hitting a leadoff jack in the second. Three singles plated Montray in the fourth, making it 2-0, and the Coons had not done an awful lot at the plate so far. Roberson started the bottom 4th with a single, Palacios got on, and then Parker uncorked a welcome 3-shot to flip the score in favor of the furred team. Brownie went into the seventh, striking out two full hands, but eventually ran out of steam, and with the tying run on base and Alston up, he was replaced with Domingo Moreno. Alston grounded to Guerin, ending the inning and keeping the 3-2 lead alive. In between, Greenman had been the main killer of Raccoons offense, making three strong catches in right, which cost the Critters at least two runs. He continued to do the dirty work in the eighth, homering off Huerta to tie the score at three. The next inning, there was one he didn’t catch on defense, though, and that one gave the Coons the lead back as Roberson’s liner rammed off the wall to plate Guerin with an RBI double. Although the Coons proceeded to load the bases, Beairsto hacked out for the second out, and Martin flew out to right hitting in place of Ramirez. Thus a 4-3 lead was inherited by Dannyboy, and he retired Paraz, Bowen, and Cavazos, three pinch-hitters, in order. 4-3 Coons! Guerin 2-4; Roberson 2-4, 2B, RBI; Parker 1-2, 2 BB, HR, 3 RBI; Brown 6.2 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 10 K and 1-2; Danny is one shy of 30 saves for a horribly lousy team (not that he was flawless, oooooh no). Brownie is still looking for his tenth win of the season to go with his 208 strikeouts. He will only get one more shot. Game 3 IND: SS W. Walker – 3B Whaley – LF Alston – 1B D. Lopez – RF Greenman – CF J. Valdez – C Abrams – 2B Stevens – P J. Collins POR: 3B Sharp – 2B Palacios – RF Brady – 1B Martin – LF Roberson – CF Beairsto – C Fifield – SS M. Ramirez – P Meza Both teams lost their leftfielders to injury in the top 4th. First Alston was hurt legging out an infield single that made it 2-0 Indians, then Roberson was hurt on the catch that ended the inning, and it wouldn’t get batter for the Raccoons. Collins, who had a negative batting average, homered off Meza in the fifth, and the inning continued for some time with another hit, a Sharp error, and another Greenman homer that rocketed the score to 6-0. When Daniel Sharp hit a leadoff jack in the sixth, it was only the team’s second hit of the day. They had nothing against Collins. Defense was messy as well, with Martin making an error in the seventh that helped the Indians to plate two more runs. And it went on and on! Wilton Walker tried to steal third base in the eighth, Fifield made an outrageous throwing error, and the Indians reached double digits when Walker scampered home on the hapless Bob Joly. The Coons finished with more errors than hits in a devastating rout on the way out of town. 10-1 Indians. Ron Alston tore a quad, ending his season with a .298 clip, 36 homers and 103 driven in. We don’t know what’s wrong with Roberson so far. In other news September 16 – The Thunder behind Fabien Armand clobber the Crusaders, 12-2, to seal the CL South and set up the 2001 CLCS rematch with the Titans. It will be the Thunder’s third straight, and eighth total playoff appearance. September 17 – TIJ SP Jose Maldonado (13-12, 2.92 ERA) is shut down to have bone chips removed from his elbow. He should be ready for the start of the 2003 season. September 20 – San Fran’s Tony Hamlyn (21-9, 2.22 ERA) continues to make a case for the Triple Crown by striking out ten and giving up three hits in a 10-0 romp of the Bayhawks over the Falcons. Hamlyn is currently one win, 30 K, and .16 ERA ahead of the competition. September 21 – The Gold Sox suffer a blow with the news that SP Victor Bernal (17-9, 2.61 ERA) will miss the rest of the year with a sore shoulder. September 22 – One day after the bad news, there are good news for the Gold Sox, as they hold off the Warriors, 4-2, while the Scorpions take a 4-3 loss in L.A., which in combination clinches the FL West for the Gold Sox. It will be the first postseason in 17 years for the Sox, who won the 1985 World Series and since then suffered five last place finishes. Complaints and stuff** Nice week. Until Sunday broke over us. Odd note: Daniel Miller has appeared in more career games than the next three most-appeared pitchers on the staff combined. It might explain his expiration date reading “best before 2001”. --- With Takeru Sato signing with the Bayhawks last week, the required four qualified free agents have signed. But of course the dead-in-the-water Raccoons won’t sign anybody in September. Not even Royce Green. Attached Images __________________ Portland Raccoons, 92 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 * 2061 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA \| RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here. Last edited by Westheim; 04-21-2015 at 04:23 PM.

04-21-2015, 04:09 PM	#1256
Questdog Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: In a dark, damp cave where I'm training slugs to run the bases...... Posts: 16,142	Not even Royce Green?

04-22-2015, 05:57 PM	#1258
Westheim Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Germany Posts: 13,744	Raccoons (70-85) @ Crusaders (65-90) – September 23-26, 2002 Welcome to Garbage Week! We appreciate your presence and your willingness to waste your precious time. As a special treat we will start the final rounds of madness for this year – as far as the Willamette area is concerned – with a 4-game set in New York, featuring two abysmal teams, with the road team having a very good chance of getting completely clowned and ending up in last place by year’s end. Projected matchups: Felipe Garcia (1-5, 5.44 ERA) vs. Kelly Fairchild (8-13, 3.56 ERA) Randy Farley (8-15, 4.68 ERA) vs. Edgar Rey (7-13, 4.92 ERA) Ralph Ford (13-9, 2.66 ERA) vs. Anibal Sandoval (18-10, 2.47 ERA) Carl Bean (14-13, 3.79 ERA) vs. Greg Connor (12-13, 3.58 ERA) Game 1 POR: 3B Sharp – 2B Palacios – LF Parker – 1B Martin – C Fifield – RF Brady – SS Guerin – CF Beairsto – P F. Garcia NYC: LF M. Ortíz – CF Britton – RF A. Johnson – 1B Berry – SS Rice – 3B L. Ramirez – C Olson – 2B J. Martinez – P Fairchild Martin Ortíz got an early jump with a leadoff homer against Garcia, who struggled with pretty much everything, from the opponents to the ball and the mound and his own ugly nose. The Coons had nothing against Fairchild – as usual – for the first four innings. In the fifth Fairchild made a capital error by walking Beairsto to get going, and the Raccoons would get three 2-out singles, with Palacios tying the game, and Martin singling in the go-ahead run, 2-1. Beairsto then homered in the sixth, before Garcia, who walked five, got stuck for good in the bottom 6th, leaving with one out and Rice on first. Bruno came in. At 2-2 against Luis Ramirez, Bruno threw low, Rice was going, Fifield fired a shot, nowhere near any friendly fielder. Bruno walked Ramirez before surrendering two singles and nobody knew quite how we got out of there still leading 3-2. Moreno got four outs against the lefty-loaded top of the lineup in the seventh and eighth, and the score was still 3-2 for the brown-clad team into the bottom 9th with Nordahl trying to save his 30th of the year. Three batters, three grounders to left, three outs made. 3-2 Coons! Sharp 2-5; Parker 3-4, 2B; Moreno 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K; Chris Roberson was finally diagnosed with a bruised hand, and no fractures. He was told to take it easy for a few more days, but he will play again this year! He is DTD for the New York series for the moment. Game 2 POR: 3B Sharp – 2B Palacios – LF Parker – 1B Martin – C Fifield – CF Lyon – RF Flores – SS McLaughlin – P Farley NYC: LF M. Ortíz – 3B L. Ramirez – RF A. Johnson – 1B Berry – SS Rice – C D. Anderson – CF Latham – 2B J. Martinez – P Rey Game 2 was one of those that made you want to run away and never come back. This was despite the Raccoons holding a lead for most of the game. It was still horrendous. We plated two runs in the first on a few singles, but Farley was shoddy from the start, showing bad control and not having one strikeout until the fourth inning. Then, the game was tied, 2-2, which was part Farley’s fault with issuing walks and finally two singles, but part McLaughlin’s as well, mishandling the potential inning-ending double play ball for an error that got the Crusaders going in the first place. Back-to-back bombs by Martin (for two) and Fifield would see the Coons jump out to 5-2 in the fifth, in the bottom of which, with one out and one on, Parker dropped an easy soft fly for the second unnecessary error of the day. Daryl anderson’s RBI single in the bottom 6th got Farley knocked from the game, and Huerta, who replaced him, right away gave up an RBI double to Brian Latham. He walked the bags full but somehow the Crusaders failed to tie the game, leaving the Coons up 5-4. The seventh and eighth were a constant walk on the edge, with the tying run being starved in scoring position in the seventh, and in the eighth Miller was surrendering one deep fly to Jose Martinez that Parker somehow intercepted. The Coons had men on in the eighth and ninth, but always hit one of those killing grounders. The game remained a 1-run affair, bringing Nordahl back into the action in the ninth. Struck out Ortíz, struck out Ramirez, str- … Johnson hit one of those bloop singles. That brought up Berry, who was unretired on the day, and hit a fly to right, up along the foul line. Brady coming, Brady coming, Brady catching!! 5-4 Raccoons! Sharp 3-5; Palacios 2-5, 2B; Parker 2-4; Martin 2-4, HR, 3 RBI; Fifield 2-5, HR, RBI; The win means that we have clinched fifth place in the division. (overly pronounced) Yaaayy!! Also, we’re now 11-5 against the Crusaders this season. The last time we won 12 from them was 1993. It always comes down to 1993 or 1996, huh? Game 3 POR: 3B Sharp – 2B Palacios – LF Parker – 1B Martin – RF Beairsto – SS Guerin – CF Lyon – C Fernandez – P Ford NYC: RF Gonzales – SS Rice – CF M. Ortíz – 1B T. Mullins – C D. Anderson – LF A. Johnson – CF V. Gonzalez – 2B Burne – P Sandoval The third game of the set was certainly well-pitched, which was no surprise given the personnel involved. Through five, both teams combined for five hits, and the score was 1-1. Avery Johnson and Pablo Fernandez had brought in runs with productive outs to get there. Ford starved two runners in the bottom 6th when he whiffed Johnson, and then Martin led off the top 7th with a double. The Crusaders walked the fear-striking .133 batter Chris Beairsto intentionally to get to Concie, who then took an 0-2 pitch for the team to load the bases with nobody out. Lyon hit a sac fly before Fernandez sure enough hit into a double play. Bottom 8th, things began to unravel for Ford with a 1-out walk by Rice and a subsequent single by Ortíz that moved Rice to third. In a full count, Ford struck out Mullins, but that left the righty Anderson up. It was too dicey. We called on Bruno, who got a grounder that Palacios barely managed to make the inning-ending play on. We loaded the bases with two out in the top 9th with two hits and Ingall drawing a pinch-walk off Dane Sanders. Brady hit for Fernandez in the key spot, and struck out. It was still 2-1, but Nordahl would not come out today. We’d try to patch it together with what was available, starting with Domingo Moreno facing the lefty Avery Johnson, who singled. Miller came out for a right-hander, but the Crusaders pinch-hit with left-handed batter Mark Berry, who flew out to Flores in center. With Britton hitting now, Perez was called on, but gave up a grounder that Palacios couldn’t get an out on. In need for a right-hander, we got desperate and chose Kaz Kichida over Bob Joly, which was also a mistake, as Stanton Martin hit an RBI single before Kichida walked the bags full. Bob Joly came out NOW, struck out Rice, then walked Ortíz. 3-2 Crusaders. Guerin 2-3; Ford 7.2 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 5 K; I wouldn’t be surprised by Ford demanding to be traded. Heck, I want to be traded!! We used six relievers, of which three didn’t register an out. Game 4 POR: 3B Sharp – SS Guerin – 2B Palacios – 1B Martin – RF Brady – LF Parker – CF Beairsto – C Fernandez – P Bean NYC: LF M. Ortíz – CF Britton – RF A. Johnson – 1B Berry – SS Rice – C D. Anderson – 3B L. Ramirez – 2B Burne – P Connor Beairsto, who saw himself among the all-time great batters without a doubt by now, was the first dumb thing to fall off the wagon in the series closer, striking out, as usual, in the second inning, then snuffing at the umpire, who had none of that from a hacker still green behind the ears. Beairsto was tossed, and I angrily choked one of the few surviving stuffed toy raccoons we carried around. The Coons made one run out of three on, one out in the third inning, while Bean struck out four in a row in the early going before he ever gave up a hit. He gave up two in the fourth inning, but the Crusaders didn’t score when he K’ed his sixth man of the day, Gary Rice, who would strike out three times total against Bean in this game. Both teams were thoroughly inept at the plate. In the sixth the Coons got two hits, both singles, ruined by three pop outs. Fernandez then hit a homer in the seventh to make it 2-0. Bean kept trucking, opening the bottom 8th with a strikeout to Derek Burne, which made it 10 K on the day for him. The inning saw two Crusaders get on, but they still couldn’t score, but they had Bean over 110 pitches. He probably wouldn’t come back, and then the Crusaders made the curious choice to pick Mike Collins from a bullpen full of capable hurlers to start the top 9th for them. Brady walked, Parker tripled, 3-0. Fernandez brought home Parker, 4-0, and Bean now DID return for the bottom 9th, although Nordahl was warming up. We didn’t need Danny, though. Berry grounded out to Palacios, Rice grounded out to Sharp (now at first base), and Anderson was punched out royally! 4-0 Beans – errr, Coons! Sharp 2-4; Fernandez 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Farley 9.0 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 11 K, W (15-13); Raccoons (73-86) vs. Titans (103-56) – September 27-29, 2002 Can - … can we just be friends? Please? Projected matchups: Nick Brown (9-10, 2.67 ERA) vs. Jorge Chapa (17-7, 2.55 ERA) Ramón Meza (4-4, 5.40 ERA) vs. Bryce Hildred (13-9, 4.15 ERA) Randy Farley (9-15, 4.64 ERA) vs. Ray Conner (3-2, 4.61 ERA) Game 1 BOS: 2B D. Mendez – 3B V. Flores – RF G. Munoz – 1B Matsumoto – SS D. Silva – LF Bryant – CF Austin – C F. Diéguez – P Chapa POR: 1B Sharp – SS Guerin – 2B Ingall – LF Roberson – C Fifield – RF Brady – 3B M. Ramirez – CF Lyon – P Brown Brownie was trying to win his 10th of the year and went through 13 batters without either a walk OR a strikeout, which was something we certainly hadn’t seen before this year. The game was still scoreless when he struck out Daniel Silva for the last out in the fourth. Both Brown and Chapa pitched marvelously, and neither team even reached third base until the seventh inning, when Gary Fifield touched it exactly once as he circled the bases after a 2-out solo homer. Now up 1-0 we were counting on Brownie to get us through and outta here, but that would have been nice, and as Raccoons fan you had chosen eternal suffering. He walked Mark Austin up front in the eighth, his first walk on the day, and was INSTANTLY bitten, with Diéguez doubling, and while he got two outs without the runners moving, Victor Flores hit a 2-out, 2-run double that deflated the home team’s ambitions. 3-1 Titans. Fifield 2-3, HR, RBI; Brown 8.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, L (9-11); **ing arse team. Game 2 BOS: LF Elizondo – 3B V. Flores – CF Garrison – 1B Matsumoto – 2B D. Mendez – SS Austin – RF Bryant – C F. Diéguez – P Hildred POR: 3B Sharp – SS Guerin – 2B Palacios – 1B Martin – LF Roberson – RF Brady – CF Beairsto – C Fernandez – P Meza Ex-Coon on the mound, everybody knew what would happen here. They didn’t get a hit until with two out in the bottom 5th, and then it was Fernandez, so Meza readily made the final out of the inning, flying out to Garrison. Then, the game was still scoreless. That soon changed. Meza hit Garrison to get the sixth inning underway, and from there a cavalcade of errors and inaccuracies including a high throw by Fernandez on a stolen base attempt, a wild pitch by Meza, and his general non-level of ability rapidly got the Titans onto the board, as they scored two runs and knocked out Meza. Miller finished the inning, but, also freed of all ability, surrendered a run in the seventh. Bruno surrendered another run, as the bullpen made it overly easy on the good team to down the team. When all was already lost, Bob Joly still found it necessary to surrender a last-out homer to David Mendez. 5-2 Titans. Parker (PH) 1-1; Game 3 BOS: LF Elizondo – 1B H. Ramirez – CF Garrison – RF G. Munoz – 3B Austin – SS D. Silva – 2B V. Flores – C F. Diéguez – P Conner POR: 3B Sharp – SS Guerin – LF Roberson – 1B Martin – RF Brady – C Thomas – CF Beairsto – 2B M. Ramirez – P Farley We just should have kept Farley in the Chest of Forgotten Toys. He sucked outright and was brutally bludgeoned on the way to six runs surrendered in not even two innings. That was the whole ballgame – Farley getting hit by not one, not two, but five busses in the second inning. The bullpen managed to hold the Titans to one more run in seven innings. The Raccoons, who had led 2-1 after a 2-run triple by Brady in the bottom 1st, where shut down the rest of the game, not … well, rising would be said too much … not breathing again until the ninth inning, when Fifield delayed the saddest end to a baseball season for another minute by hitting a 2-out RBI double off Ramiro Román. Ingall then struck out, and that was it, five hits on closing day. 7-3 Titans. Guerin 2-4; Fifield (PH) 1-1, 2B, RBI; Vega 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K; Kichida 3.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K; Thank god it is over. Can’t stand the sorry sight of those…… “§%&”$(. In other news September 23 – The Titans suffer a terrible blow by losing their catcher Luis Lopez (.277, 15 HR, 69 RBI) with a quad strain. He might be out for all of the playoffs. September 24 – The season might be dying, but MIL 1B Jose Nava (.315, 8 HR, 32 RBI) doesn’t want it to end right now. With a single in the Loggers’ 6-5 win over the Titans, Nava has chained up a 20-game hitting streak. September 28 – The Blue Sox lose 7-1 in Washington, but since the Buffaloes lose to the Rebels, 6-2, the Blue Sox still manage to clinch the FL East and set the playoff field. It will be the Sox’ record ninth playoff appearance, the first since 2000 and the third in five years. Complaints and stuff** Carl Bean became our first 15-game winner since 1996, when Master Kisho was still the master and won 19 games. It always comes down to 1993 or 1996 with “last” things around here… We have turned in our best record in four years. We still sucked. Attached Images __________________ Portland Raccoons, 92 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 * 2061 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA \| RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here.

04-23-2015, 04:20 PM	#1259
Westheim Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Germany Posts: 13,744	2002 PLAYOFFS The FLCS pitted the 97-65 Blue Sox and 96-66 Gold Sox against one another. While the Blue Sox were the most well-travelled team when it came to October baseball with their ninth appearance, the Gold Sox had not been to the postseason since winning it all in ’85. Who’d sock it to the other? The Blue Sox had been extremely successful at playing small ball, hitting for the best average and enjoying the highest on-base percentage in the Federal League, and barely hitting any home runs at all to score the second-most runs in their league. Their pitching was splendid. In the FL, a 4.25 rotation ERA was good enough for 3rd, whle their bullpen ranked 2nd. Javier Cruz, Dennis Fried, and Dave Crawford had won 54 games between them, while Stanton Taylor had gone 7-19 with an ERA just slightly above theirs. They were ALL in the low 4’s for ERA. Closer Jose Escobar saved 41 contest, but also lost six games. In their lineup they had a few incredible beasts. OF Juan Ortíz had hit 21 homers, but had also struck out a lot, while in the infield Leborio Catalo had not only knocked exactly 200 hits, but had also walked 136 times for an insane .474 OBP! Two key pieces were missing however, as SS Bob Townsley was out for the year with a broken wrist, while CF John Hensley would miss the FLCS with an elbow sprain, but might make it back for the World Series. The Gold Sox’ main strength was their insane rotation, where Carlos Castro (21-7), Victor Bernal (17-9), and Chang-se Park (16-15) had all occupied the first three spots in the FL ERA race, and Castro had won the Triple Crown. The problems started right here, however, with Bernal being injured and out, and the back half of the Gold Sox’ playoff rotation was not nearly as stellar. Their bullpen was also merely average, with a closer in Scott Hood that was rapidly alternating between lockdown and blowup, losing nine games over the year. The real problem for the Gold Sox might be their offense: it just wasn’t any good. They were last in extra base hits and home runs, predictably almost last in slugging, and also second-to-last in walks! One wandered how they scored runs at all, and they in fact didn’t. Their 721 runs scored were below average in the FL. If their was any game-changing batter they had, it was outfielder Pedro Pujols, who hit .323 and hit 16 homers, which was almost 25% of the team output. They say, good pitching beats good hitting in the playoffs. Problem for the Gold Sox: they lack a third of their good pitching, putting incredible strain on Castro and Park to not get beaten. One can’t imagine that the Gold Sox can out-hit the Blue Sox. Best guess: Blue Sox in six. Both CLCS contestants won triple digits, with the Titans winning 106 to the Thunder’s 100 games. Interestingly, if you discount the ’96 Raccoons and ’99 Bayhawks, one of these two teams has won the CL pennant every year since 1994. Factoring in the Raccoons it’s just three teams plus the one-time Bayhawks all the way since 1991. Both these teams made it to the World Series three times since 1994, and both went 2-1 in the final round. These were also the two most recent champions, with the Thunder winning in 2000, and the Titans in 2001. The Thunder led the Continental League in most pitching categories, and were top 3 in all but strikeouts (5th). Vaughn Higgins’ 3.45 ERA was the worst in their playoff rotation, and him, Pancho Trevino, and Aaron Anderson were all ten games over .500 over the year. Their bullpen had six rock-solid pitchers, most of which had WHIPs in the 1.10s or better. It was a staff that was hard not to like. Their offense wasn’t nearly as good. They were good, but they were nowhere near what the Titans would throw at them. They had four double-digit home run hitters in Takahashi Higashi (20), Artie Barnes (17), Tomas Cardenas (13), and David Vinson (10). They also had a marvelous allrounder in Joey Humphrey. But the bottom of their lineup was thin, especially since neither Higashi nor Cardenas were good anywhere other than first base. Their only significant injury was infielder Bob Grant, who was not a great hitter at age 33, but could have helped the bottom of the order tremendously if healthy. The Titans were quite different from the Thunder. Their pitching had spots, but not only good ones. While 18-7 Jorge Chapa and 20-9 Jason O’Halloran were as good as always, both Bryce Hildred and Ray Conner were soundly over 4 ERA-wise. In their bullpen, they had a lights out trio at the back end in closer John Bennett, who had saved 48 games and had won eight, and setup men Ramiro Román and Xavier Herrera, neither of which had an ERA over 2, or a WHIP over 1.20. The rest of their bullpen was not nearly as good. Their strength lay in offense, having scored 767 runs over the course of the season, which was very close to the league lead. They were on base a lot, 2nd in OBP, with the most walks and least strikeouts in the CL. They were average in home runs, but above average in extra base hits, giving them enough fuel to move all those walkers around. While there were no single standout players in their lineup, it was a densely packed unit where it was very hard to single out one particular weak spot – with one exception. Their two catchers, Luis Lopez and Corey Bader, were BOTH out with injuries. Their primary catcher was now Fernando Diéguez, who had 68 AB over the year, and Pete Baggett, who had never even appeared in the regular season – ever! Overall, the Titans’ lineup is still better stuffed than the Thunder’s. The Thunder in turn have a marked advantage between the pitching staffs. It is a close call, but the Thunder look like they would prevail in six or seven games. 2002 CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES Gold Sox @ Blue Sox … 0-3 … (Blue Sox lead 1-0) … NAS Dennis Fried 9.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 5 K, W; Thunder @ Titans … 2-5 … (Titans lead 1-0) … OCT Takahashi Higashi 3-3, BB, 2B; Gold Sox @ Blue Sox … 5-8 … (Blue Sox lead 2-0) … Gold Sox’ Carlos Castro is crushed in 5-run third Thunder @ Titans … 5-3 … (series tied 1-1) … OCT Takahashi Higashi 5-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Blue Sox @ Gold Sox … 1-5 … (Blue Sox lead 2-1) … DEN Andres Gamez 8.2 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 5 BB, 4 K, W; Titans @ Thunder … 5-2 (10) … (Titans lead 2-1) … OCT Artie Barnes 4-5, 3B; Blue Sox @ Gold Sox … 0-1 … (series tied 2-2) … DEN Chang-se Park 9.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K, W; NAS Dennis Fried 8.0 IP, 9 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, L; Titans @ Thunder … 3-4 (12) … (series tied 2-2) … BOS Ray Conner 8.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 4 K; Blue Sox @ Gold Sox … 2-5 … (Gold Sox lead 3-2) … DEN Samy Michel 3-4, 2 2B, 2 RBI; Titans @ Thunder … 2-3 … (Thunder lead 3-2) … OCT Aaron Anderson 8.0 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 6 K, W; Gold Sox @ Blue Sox … 1-7 … (series tied 3-3) … NAS Juan Ortíz 2-4, BB, HR, 2B, 3 RBI; Thunder @ Titans … 3-6 … (series tied 3-3) … BOS Mark Austin 2-4, HR, 2B, 4 RBI; Gold Sox @ Blue Sox … 3-5 … (Blue Sox win 4-3) … Thunder @ Titans … 2-3 … (Titans win 4-3) … BOS Gonzalo Munoz 2-4, HR, 3 RBI; … 2002 WORLD SERIES The Blue Sox pitched tremendously, holding the Gold Sox to 20 runs in the 7-game FLCS, but couldn’t hit a lot themselves. In the end, it was perhaps that additional game they won during the regular season that made them advance, as all games were won by the home team in the series, and most of them were pretty darn close. The Blue Sox are improved now, adding CF John Hensley to the fold again, who only appeared in 91 games due to injuries, but who at 32 is still a stud both with the bat and with the glove, being arguably the best centerfielder in the ABL now. The Titans were not able to replenish, but at least they didn’t lose any additional personnel. Their offense had not been able to come through against the Thunder, scoring only 27 runs in seven games, but their rotation had held up very well, and they allowed only three runs per game themselves. The series, which is a rematch of the 1998 Classic, which the Titans won, is almost too close to call. The Blue Sox might have a slight advantage due to superior pitching, but everybody thought that of the Thunder as well. Blue Sox @ Titans … 1-5 … (Titans lead 1-0) … BOS Jason O’Halloran 7.2 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, W; BOS Vicente Elizondo 3-5, 2 2B, 3 RBI; BOS Gonzalo Munoz 3-3, RBI; Blue Sox @ Titans … 1-6 … (Titans lead 2-0) … BOS Ray Conner 8.0 IP, 8 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, W; BOS Mark Austin 2-4, 2B, 3 RBI; Titans @ Blue Sox … 5-0 … (Titans lead 3-0) … NAS Dennis Fried 8.1 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, L; all runs scored in the ninth and are unearned after a Leborio Catalo error Titans @ Blue Sox … 2-7 … (Titans lead 3-1) … NAS Steven Walker 3-4, 2B, 3 RBI; Titans @ Blue Sox … 4-5 … (Titans lead 3-2) … O’Halloran surrenders five unearned runs in the fifth on errors by Hector Ramirez and himself Blue Sox @ Titans … 4-5 … (Titans win 4-2) … NAS Phil Taylor 3-4, 2 2B, RBI; Dennis Fried enters the bottom 9th with a 4-0 lead and on a 3-hit shutout. He gets going by hitting PH David Mendez. Vicente Elizondo flies out, but Masaaki Matsumoto battles hard to draw a walk which gets Fried out of the game and Jose Escobar in. His first pitch is popped up to right by Rudy Garrison for the second out, advancing Mendez to third, and Mendez then scores on Gonzalo Munoz’ single. Then Mark Austin singles, and Matsumoto scores, 4-2. Daniel Silva hits a double into deep center, which ties the game and puts the golden run at second base for Hector Ramirez. Escobar tries to somehow collect another out, but Hector Ramirez rams his second pitch in line drive fashion into the left center gap, uncatchable for anybody, and Silva strolls home with ease as the park erupts in madness. 2002 WORLD CHAMPIONS BOSTON TITANS (3rd title) Attached Images __________________ Portland Raccoons, 92 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 * 2061 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA \| RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here.

04-23-2015, 05:30 PM	#1260
Westheim Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Germany Posts: 13,744	Financial budging (botching). In the end, 14 teams finished the season with a budget surplus, with them totaling total budget room unused of $16.68M. 10 teams remained overbudget, with a total of $12.04M of budget gap. So, overall, $4.64M were left unused, with 20-some valuable free agents not signed during the season. In my simple mind, that means that the $42M I pumped in midseason was not even enough. While of the $12.04M that the negative teams were unable to cover, almost 75% lay with three worst offenders (Crusaders, Pacifics, Thunder). 20-some valuable free agents left over, plus five or so signing for scraps in August means that the league probably needs another $40M just so that we don’t kill off the talent randomly. Or would it? Half of the players are relievers. The top salary in the league is $2.12M (split between Dale Wales and ex-Coon Matt Brown). Well. We need more money. I have pulled an external backup on the last day before the start of the offseason. The current plan is to double the national media contract ($2.6M now), merchandise ($850k), and max cash ($590k). While the latter will not increase the budget, and will increase the buffer. The first two would add $3.45M to the budgets on average, as I understand it, but slanted in favor of big market teams, so something like between $2M and $5M for each team. Total base budgets last season amounted to $481.98M, which was then upped to $523.98M midseason. Thus I am shooting for something in the $564M area. To not cause additional kerfuffle, player salary benchmarks will not be modified this year. (To be fair, small market teams are overachieving for some time now. Well. Except the Critters. But several big market teams are operating on an orphanage’s budget right now, like NY and LA, and could use some help) More later, possibly tomorrow. If I get sensible numbers with the changes above, we’ll go forth with that. If not, I will roll back and make more changes. __________________ Portland Raccoons, 92 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 * 2061 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA \| RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here. Last edited by Westheim; 04-23-2015 at 06:26 PM.