Portland Raccoons (ABL) - Page 64

Westheim · 04-23-2015, 06:28 PM

Nope, didn't work. Seems like merchandise does little to influence the budget, because we went to $540M now, which is consistent with only the media revenue. Shoot.

Restored the backup to a new league file, flipped the additional merchandise to more media contract, advanced to the offseason again, and surprise - ALL 2003 budgets are THE SAME AS BEFORE THE CHANGE.

I have no words.

Plus, the backup threw out all logos and crashes.

I can't even do that........

Westheim · 04-24-2015, 11:30 PM

For 2003, the Raccoons will have a $18.35M budget, virtually the same as last year [referring to the manually amended budget], so Carlosito wasn’t looking forward to stop being such a cheap skate any time soon. The Coons rank 18th in the league, with an average budget of $22.5M available to teams (median: $22.6M).

So let’s see how we can drag ourselves through another miserable offseason and then proper season.

Since spending couldn’t be increased in any meaningful manner, and we had a wish list of players (or at least types of players) to add, we would more than likely have to stay away from the free agent market again and look for our future success in trades. Well, ONE meaningful free agent was probably possible.

But first things first! And the first thing to look at is usually the salary arbitration overview.

The Raccoons will have a flurry of arbitration cases unless we can avoid that somehow, with eight players currently lined up, five of them for the first time (so that’s where the bleeding starts). Players are listed with last year’s output, last year’s input, and salary estimate as well as service time (y.ddd):

SP Carl Bean (15-13, 3.63 ERA) - $900k - $1M – 5.085
SP Ralph Ford (13-9, 2.61 ERA) - $134k - $683k – 3.037
MR Ricardo Huerta (3-6, 3.04 ERA, 1 SV in 77 IP) - $134k - $201k – 3.091
MR Manuel Martinez (2-2, 4.10 ERA in 41.2 IP) - $134k - $201k – 3.011
CL Dan Nordahl (2-3, 2.40 ERA, 31 SV in 56.1 IP) - $134k - $201k – 3.008
1B Albert Martin (.300/.356/.528, 32 HR, 111 RBI) - $134k - $825k – 3.002
2B Jesus Palacios (.320/.374/.436, 11 HR, 56 RBI) - $1.1M - $1.32M – 5.019
OF Chris Parker (.269/.344/.365, 2 HR, 21 RBI) - $210k - $231k – 4.122

Note how well we managed our young players’ service time so they won’t become free agents unduly soon.

There are three players slated for free agency:

INF Marvin Ingall (.272/.318/.370, 4 HR, 44 RBI) - $215k
INF Adrian Matthews (.267/.323/.400, 2 HR, 21 RBI) - $254k
OF Gilberto Flores (.167/.211/.211, 0 HR, 4 RBI) - $210k

Only Marv is a qualifying free agent, having been assigned type B status.

So, at a quick glance, one can easily see that we might want to absolutely retain all arbitration players, minus perhaps Parker (with talent available in Torrez and Beairsto), and that we want to retain at least one between Marv and Matthews, both of whom are playing all four infield positions well, while we probably wouldn’t even have noticed if Gil Flores had died in a fire some time during the last six months.

The choice between Marv and Matthews is a peculiar one. Of course Marv is compensation eligible, and he is five years older (34 to 29), and they produce along the same lines and might cash in the same. And still I am leaning towards keeping Marv, because, well, sentimentality. Which might well be killing this team every year.

Parker might be wise to be kept around as throw-in in a trade and he won’t be expensive anyway. The actual tasks here might be to lock up Al Martin and Ralph Ford long-term if at all possible. Bean is a peculiar case, too. I would call his transition from Denver to Coon City disappointing. It’s not all his fault that he is 25-26 as a Coon, but his strikeouts dropped noticeably after coming here, and well, that’s not the park’s fault! Most of the time he is solid to good, but he will be a free agent next year. It might depend on how the offseason develops, but if we can not address our glaring issues and we notice early this winter that we will without a doubt line up a seventh consecutive losing season (sobs), of which I am not 100% convinced yet, it might be a smart move to deal Bean for parts and prospects.

Parts we will need plenty of:
• #4/#5 guy for rotation, should be right-handed to add to LHP Ford, Brown, and RHP Bean, Farley (surname should start with S, and we will line them up so their first letters will read FFSBB: For ****’s Sake, BaseBall!!)
• Proper closer
• Proper left-handed reliever to accompany Domingo Moreno
• CATCHER!!
• Backup infielder (to add to whoever is left between Ingall and Matthews, so should be left- or switch-hitter)
• Backup outfielder, must be batting right-handed (or switch)

The last one needs early elaborating. The starting outfield will read Roberson-Reece-Brady. Torrez will be the fourth outfielder, and he bats-left handed (like Brady), and might frequently replace either right-handed batter against right-handed pitching to give the lineup a few more teeth, especially given that neither Roberson nor Reece had good second halves. Neither did Brady. The fifth slot must go to a right-hander since last year we ended up batting three lefties against lefty starting increasingly often given that Palacios and Martin are both left-handed batters. A switch-hitter somewhere would be nice to shake things up, but right now the Raccoons don’t have any.

Beairsto will not be on the Opening Day roster because, well, he sucked. And we saw it coming.

IF we could land an actual impact bat for a corner outfield slot that would happen to be right-handed, I would happily buy into that, too. Technically, a slugging centerfielder would be nice, but they are scarce. Neil Reece was one in his prime. He’s not in his prime anymore. How far beyond is he? He was born in ’66.

And unfortunately injuries have eaten him up lately. He has lost the agility that made him such a terrifying opponent just three years ago. He spent the majority of both this and the 2000 season on the shelf with injuries. Vince is deeply concerned about his legs and recommends moving him to leftfield! While this would open a spot for Torrez to play every day against right-handed pitchers, it then forces us to pick between Reece and Roberson.

But let’s put it this way: Torrez doesn’t figure into the Opening Day lineup, but he will get his chance early in the season. He just has to click and the old guy will have to move over. Once a certain Daniel Hall had to move for a certain Vern Kinnear.

And a few years later, a blue shirt with a yellow #16 crossed home plate, fist up high, and the season was over, but that is a different story.

Albeit one that isn’t ending.

Westheim · 04-25-2015, 01:02 AM

A number of pitching stallions that dominated the league for two decades retired after the 2002 season:
Woody Roberts 279-193, 3.16 ERA, 3,313 K * spent entire 21-year career with Condors! 1991 + 1993 CL POTY
Bastyao Caixinha 262-223, 3.53 ERA, 2,844 K * 19-year career for five teams, 1987 CL POTY
Neil Stewart 237-183, 3.45 ERA, 1,842 K * finished 19-year career with five teams as reliever with Topeka, 1995 CL POTY
You know what else they have in common apart from stellar records (Roberts’ 279 W are the ABL record)? None of them – NONE! – ever won a World Series ring! The Condors obviously never won a title, Caixinha often pitched for losing teams, and Stewart was never at the right place at the right time. I associate Stewart mostly with the Indians, but he wasn’t with them in the 80s when they were good, but with the Loggers. He didn’t join the Indians until 1992, and well, they have not even been close to the playoffs since then.

Also, long-time catcher Andres Manuel retired to go fishing. In a 16-year career for five CL teams he went .266 with 73 HR and 672 RBI, taking a ring with the 2001 Titans.

---

2002 AWARDS

Pitchers of the Year: DEN SP Carlos Castro (21-7, 2.38 ERA, 263 K – TRIPLE CROWN) and SFB SP Tony Hamlyn (21-9, 2.16 ERA, 277 K – TRIPLE CROWN)
Hitters of the Year: WAS LF/CF Victorino Sanchez (.383, 18 HR, 91 RBI) and IND LF/RF Ron Alston (.298, 36 HR, 103 RBI)
Rookies of the Year: WAS 1B/3B Aki Yamamoto (.292, 8 HR, 57 RBI) and LVA MR Mario Perez (9-1, 3.28 ERA in 85 IP)
Gold Gloves (FL): P TOP Chris York, C DEN Johnny Johnson, 1B DEN Samy Michel, 2B DEN Jose Correa, 3B DAL Bob Petipas, SS SAL Dave Hutchinson, LF DAL Robinson Perez, CF DEN Luis Alonso, RF SFW Paul Theobald
Gold Gloves (CL): P NYC Greg Connor, C VAN Pedro Hurtado, 1B BOS Hector Ramirez, 2B ATL James Miller, 3B CHA Nelson Chavez, SS BOS Daniel Silva, LF NYC Martin Ortíz, CF LVA Carlos Talamante, RF SFB Paco Javier

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To start the offseason, I sat down with a few arbitration players to talk about deals to avoid arbitration. For some for this year, for some altogether. We got the following deals done:
Dan Nordahl: 1 year, $220k
Manuel Martinez: 1 year, $215k
Ralph Ford: 4 years, $3.5M ($700k in 2003)
Jesus Palacios: 1 year, $1.22M
Carl Bean: 1 year, $950k
Albert Martin: 4 years, $3.4M ($700k in 2003)

Palacios wanted a 4-year deal we couldn’t pay for. Similar with Carl Bean. Unless there are drastic changes (like Carlosito getting bitten by snakes or abducted or executed for a failed coup d’état) those two will leave as free agents after the 2003 season. Ford and Martin were eligible for the first time and had their arbitration years and one year of free agency bought out.

In the end, there were only two arbitration cases left, Huerta and Parker, to whom we offered $210k and 240k, respectively, and that’s what they got, too.

The second thing to do was to take a look at Daniel Miller, who was due $370k with a $75k buyout for the 2003 season. Miller’s career numbers: 698 G, 39-35, 3.61 ERA, 56 SV, 390 BB, 511 K; seems decent, right? Miller in 2000-02: 215 G, 5-10, 4.82 ERA, 17 SV, 141 BB, 149 K; doesn’t seem decent, right? Miller in 2002: 68 G, 3-1, 6.10 ERA, 1 SV, 51 BB, 45 K;

He’s gotta go. It burns inside, but he’s gotta go. Former first round pick, 12 seasons with the Furballs. But he’s gotta go.

As we are on the topic of people going, the group includes both Ingall and Matthews in addition to Miller and Flores. Both middle infielders were looking for 4-year deals, were looking real hard for those, and weren’t willing to sign a 1-year deal. Which is unfortunate.

We got trade proposals early. The Indians had signed Ramiro Cavazos to a $1.5M extension on October 24, then tried to flip him for Randy Farley a week later. You crazy? There was also interest in Eddie Torrez, including from the Elks, inability to take in solid food with the broken jaw or not.

It would be nice to skin the Elks once again, we haven’t really humiliated them since the Saito and Osanai trades. The only Japanese player they have is 21-year old righty Juichi Fujita. He debuted with 16 relief appearances this year, but he should actually be a decent starter. Vince likes him. And whom do they want? Torrez?

Hummmm…

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October 30 – LVA SS/2B Victor Cerdeira announces his retirement after multiple surgeries failed to repair a badly mangled hand. Cerdeira, 31, was hurt in a game against the Falcons on August 4. A 1990 supplemental round pick by the Aces, Cerdeira actually debuted for the Indians in 1993 and also played for Sacramento before looping back to Las Vegas. He batted .258 with 16 HR and 116 RBI in his career.
November 10 – The Loggers trade 30-yr old RF Taisuke Mashiba (.302, 75 HR, 484 RBI) to the Rebels for 30-yr old C Carlos Ramos (.297, 83 HR, 493 RBI).

Westheim · 04-25-2015, 05:21 AM

The arrival of free agency has slashed a few pieces off the expanded roster. This concerns position players mostly. Where do we stand on this November 13?

SP: The rotation is set to contain Ford, Farley, Bean, Brown in whatever order. Garcia and Meza don’t figure to be prudent choices for the fifth spot, but both have options. No other starters on the 40-man roster.

RP: Nordahl, Bruno, Martinez, Huerta, Moreno – that’s quite a good group to start with. We might want to add a proper closer and a strong lefty to that. We can expect no help from Perez and the walk machines Joly and Vega. Kichida was mostly meh in his cup of coffee and will restart at AAA. Joly and Perez have no options. In AAA, Diaz and Rodriguez are still around because nobody offers even half a bag of baseballs for them.

C: Fifield has no options. One in five of his hits go deep for his career, but the problem is that he has significantly more strikeouts than hits. Thomas and Fernandez were both even more awful than Fifield, who had at least the shots going for him, and didn’t even come close to bat their own weight. In a perfect world, we’d add TWO new catchers to replace this corps. Nothing coming forth from the minors, either.

INF: Behind Martin-Palacios-Guerin-Sharp there are only McLaughlin, Ramirez (.025!), and in AAA Gabriel left on the 40-man roster. AAA contains a few more failed prospects (Love, Morris). The first suit around the diamond fits tremendously, but there is zero depth behind it.

OF: Seven 40-man guys on there with Roberson, Reece, Brady, and Torrez set for Opening Day. Parker might survive, but most likely will not. Lyon and Beairsto are left. Lyon will never get it done, and Beairsto will try to get it done in AAA. No additional prospects higher than AA.

We have only $1.2M of budget room available right now, so it already looks like we can at best pick what other teams leave over at the free agent buffet, while having to look for our short-term salvation in trades, which will not be easy, since among our eight players receiving $700k or more (Reece, Palacios, Brady, Bean, Farley, Guerin, Ford, Martin) to pick and trade one is like deciding whether to cut off your own arm or leg. Last year it was “oh yeah we’re trading Cavazos, we have enough outfielders”, but this year it is not this easy AT ALL. First, we don’t have ANY spare parts laying around. Second, we can’t possibly trade a starting pitcher in our situation unless we want to sink even deeper. Third, Reece has a no trade clause. Fourth, this leaves only Palacios, Brady, Guerin, and Martin. We just established that we have no infield replacements at all. So it’s Brady? We don’t want to trade Brady!

Yeah. Cut off your own arm or leg? You decide!

-.-

So, what is the ONE most dire need we have? Is it a starter? Is it a left-handed reliever?

In practical terms, if the Coons had a $25M budget, and had $7M spare right now, we’d go out and sign one of the TWO reigning Triple Crown winners on the free agent market, plus closer Dane Sanders, plus Leborio Catalo, plus …

But the Coons don’t. The Coons have $1.2M left, and that will at best buy ONE piece, and none of those pieces is named Sanders, Hamlyn, Castro, or Catalo. So, what is the ONE thing we need most? The starter? The left-handed reliever? The catcher? It’s got to be one of those, because if your biggest need is a backup infielder, we’re probably talking about a winning team. The last time that happened on the Willamette the Y2K problem was just beginning to be discussed. We’ll have the year two-thousand-and-****ing-three in less than eight weeks comin’ ‘round the corner!

The biggest need might be the catcher. Fifield hit homers, all well and swell, but MORE STRIKEOUTS THAN HITS. There are four big names on the market:

Ex-PIT Rob James (33) - .278/.390/.427 with 102 HR, 802 RBI in 1,401 G (type A)
Ex-LVA Antonio De La Parra (28) - .284/.345/.381 with 43 HR, 394 RBI in 872 G (type A)
Ex-RIC Arturo Aguilar (36) - .259/.374/.382 with 127 HR, 799 RBI in 1,790 G (no comp.)
Ex-OCT David Vinson (37) - .238/.367/.386 with 150 HR, 718 RBI in 1,748 G (type B)

James asks for $3M a year, which is just ever so slightly out of our budget, but we might be able to work out a deal for De La Parra. Aguilar has been hampered by injuries both of the last two seasons, OPS’ing .715 and thus 41 points under his career average in that time frame. At 36, you wonder what he has left. I’d hate to find out on a $1.5M contract or so. Anyway, before we can even add $1.5M in salaries, we have to shed something…

And yes, old David, who’s been around since the Old Testament, is the fourth-best catcher on the market, and below that it is getting even thinner. We won’t re-sign Vinson. I spent most of the 90s tossing and turning at night because he had left six men on base YET AGAIN. I’m getting older too, I need my sleep.

---

A few days after the free agency deadline, I got another trade offer. This one came from the Buffaloes and they offered 32-yr old C Jorge Lopez for scrubs. They tried to dump his $550k salary it seemed, as they had used him as a backup while he batted .952 OPS last year. Now, that .952 is way off. WAY off. Lopez was the starting catcher for the Canadiens in the late 90s, and he was NEVER a guy we thought of as “oh we gotta watch him, HE’S dangerous!”. Not by a mile. Is he better than Fifield and Thomas or Fernandez? Probably. Is he worth $550k? No. His career OPS is .727.

The Condors offered Joe Morton, an outfielder, for Pablo Fernandez and an AA first baseman with little upside. Morton is due $900k and doesn’t move us along a bit, so this one was swiftly rejected.

Still not getting any easier…

Westheim · 04-25-2015, 04:08 PM

The Canadiens know about the potential of Fujita and will not trade him for Eddie Torrez. I also poked my nose into Cal Holbrook who posted an outrageous 7.14 ERA in 2002, but had a .388 BABIP (!!!) going against him over 103 innings (!!!!), but the Canadiens know how to read, too, it seems.

The Condors continue to show keen interest in Torrez. Well, we have keen interest in him as well. We would need more than just one player (and certainly not Joe Morton) back for him. A starting pitcher and a really good prospect would do. The Condors were able to scratch the first itch (Curt Powell would do), but not the second. They really didn’t have anything of value in their minors.

November 20 – The Miners sign 29-yr old 2B/3B Roberto Quintero (.285, 32 HR, 314 RBI), who didn’t play in 2001 and was last seen with the Wolves, to a 4-yr, $5.28M contract.
November 21 – One of the biggest fish in the free agent pool is swept up by the Wolves, who sign ex-NAS INF Leborio Catalo (.319, 2 HR, 383 RBI) to a 5-yr, $11.6M contract. The 26-year old Venezolan may have less power than a fruit fly, but he makes up with a career .430 OBP in 177 SB.
November 22 – The Titans re-sign 27-yr old INF/LF/CF Mark Austin (.285, 75 HR, 475 RBI) for a new ABL record contract of 7-yr, $16.8M, besting Johnny Johnson’s deal with the Gold Sox from two years ago by $3.5M.
November 24 – Ex-PIT C Rob James (.278, 102 HR, 802 RBI) is signed to a 4-yr, $9.18M contract by the Rebels, where he will join the also signed ex-NAS 29-yr old INF Bob Hall (.285, 78 HR, 514 RBI), whom the Rebels add at a 4-yr, $9.12M price point.
November 25 – The Buffaloes grab 2002 CL Triple Crown winner, 27-yr old ex-SFB Tony Hamlyn (107-60, 2.63 ERA), shelling out $16.52M over seven years.
November 25 – The Canadiens add power with 33-yr old OF Royce Green (.276, 205 HR, 788 RBI), who puts his name under a 2-yr, $1.8M deal.
November 27 – Once a Sock, always a Sock, kinda: ex-DEN SP Carlos Castro (167-121, 3.36 ERA) signs a 4-yr, $9.12M contract with the Blue Sox. The 30-yr old lefty is the reigning FL Triple Crown winner.
November 27 – Former Crusader, 28-yr old SP Anibal Sandoval (119-88, 3.37 ERA) is signed to a 5-yr, $11.32M contract by the Aces.
November 29 – The Raccoons flip 25-yr old C Pablo Fernandez (.227, 2 HR, 7 RBI) to the Stars for 23-yr old SP/MR Fernando Piquero (1-1, 4.26 ERA in 9 G).
December 1 – Ex-SAC SP Whit Reeves (105-59, 3.32 ERA) is washed ashore in New York, with the Crusaders committing to 6-yr, $12.72M for the 28-year old right-hander.
December 1 – The Pacifics take possession of ex-DAL 1B Salvador Mendez (.339, 15 HR, 586 RBI) on a 2-year contract that will pay $1.48M to the 34-year old.
December 1 – Rule 5 draft: 13 players are selected over three rounds. The Raccoons are not affected.

When I see other teams shell out $18M in a single day, I get sick in my stomach. I just want to throw up. I want to throw up, right into the Mexican Prick’s slippers.

Meanwhile, we flipped Fernandez, who is just another Fifield with less success, for last year’s #37 prospect and former third overall draft pick (2000) Piquero, who will be assigned to AAA as a starting pitcher to begin 2003. Vince, whom I called in Puerto Rico where he was grazing orphanages, sending a poorly-fed kid named Raúl Valle up north a few days earlier, is confident that he can be a help to the big league club very soon. Piquero is actually our single best bet at a competent fifth starter right now. It makes for an interesting option to start the year with either Felipe Garcia or Román Meza, and see what Piquero does in St. Pete, and then switch them whenever appropriate. Piquero, as should be noted, has an awkward history of finger injuries, which cost him the last two months of the 2002 season when he tore a finger tendon. Fernando, listen. You gotta take care of your paws. You’re a Coon now. You need your paws. First, to pitch, and second, to incessantly shove your little mouth full with whatever food you can find anywhere.

Obviously, the catcher in our eye, De La Parra, was looking for a multi-year deal. Now, we could somehow squeeze him into 2003’s budget at $1.2M. But not into 2004’s.

You may remember that I am routinely signing players to (sometimes steeply) escalating deals. Yeah, this is coming back to **** me really hard. The 2004 estimated budget has drastically less space in the forecast than the current one. So we might be able to sign him for $1.2M for ’03, but it will blow the doors off the ’04 budget and the Mexican Prick has already sent a henchman to politely fork over a note that just said “El Nó!” …

Yeah, well, then … we … well we might as well be just … just continue with Gary Fifield as the starting catcher, because, well … well … we will well …

(slumps over the desk) OH MY GOD WHY IS ALL OF THIS HAPPENING!!!?? (cries furiously)

Our likelihood to post a seventh consecutive losing season was around 70% once the Titans walked off against a defenseless Jose Escobar. We have just crossed the 95% mark, and rising.

Westheim · 04-26-2015, 04:37 PM

We got all kinds of trade offers in the winter meetings. Most were for a good, but prohibitively expensive catcher for either loose pieces (so a salary dump), or for a piece we actually needed. The Condors were also keen on getting Randy Farley back, five years after the Brewer trade that sent him to Coon City.

In general, everybody wanted a piece of our pitchers, and nobody wanted to even be in the same zip code as any of our hitters, which was strange, to be fair. I didn’t perceive our pitching as all that great…

There were two exceptions. One was Torrez, who seemed to be on everybody’s shortlist, and the other was Roberson. Roberson was in the Buffaloes’ eyes specifically. The Buffaloes also had a player that *I* was keen on. It was lefty Ryan O’Quinn, who had been the focus of my trade ambitions last year or two years ago – can’t remember – already, a really solid setup reliever. He’d be fantastic to have! However, Roberson for O’Quinn was nothing that got the Buffaloes excited. Not at all. They just tried to dump 32-yr old C Jorge Lopez and his salary. And no help was forthcoming for the poor Raccoons. We could not get a stud lefty, so we had to settle for an average lefty once again, and we know how our history with those is. Not pretty.

I was spending more time with the Buffaloes GM Cristo Duarte than anybody else during the winter meetings. They tried to dump Jorge Lopez, I tried to get their other catcher, the primary one: Pablo Ledesma. He was 26, batted left-handed, and was a good contact batter with significant gap power and ability to draw walks. I tried to get something going, and we established a few pieces they were keen on. One was Roberson, we knew that. I also made them take Juan Diaz, the left arm from hell. They were really hot on a prospect, SP Jack Berry, who had just come over last winter in trade for Max Heart. In the single season he had spent between AA and AAA (mostly AA though), he had whiffed 191 batters in 219 innings. He had also surrendered 41 home runs. He might not be something you wanted to see on the mound in Portland…

The problem for me was to give up Roberson. I had a preliminary deal done that included all three players and we were able to pick a borderline player from them to make it a 5-player deal. But … Roberson …! He was a first round pick (1998), and … hnnggaaah!!

December 3 – The Pacifics sign ex-TIJ Jesus Bautista (115-98, 3.29 ERA) to a 4-yr, $8.46M contract.
December 4 – The Raccoons acquire 31-yr MR Benton Wilson (16-12, 4.96 ERA, 2 SV) from the Pacifics in exchange for 27-yr old OF Chris Parker (.254, 16 HR, 162 RBI).
December 5 – The Buffaloes and Raccoons strike a deal that sends 25-yr old OF Chris Roberson (.261, 22 HR, 96 RBI), 27-yr old MR Juan Diaz (6-7, 4.85 ERA, 1 SV), and 23-yr old AAA SP Jack Berry to Topeka, while the return trip will be made by 26-yr old C Pablo Ledesma (.262, 41 HR, 250 RBI) and 26-yr old LF/RF Dale Moore (.274, 15 HR, 86 RBI).
December 5 – 33-yr old SS/2B Kuang Liu (.265, 77 HR, 554 RBI), who missed most of 2002 with a concussion, signs a 2-yr, $3.28M contract with the Cyclones.
December 5 – The Condors acquire INF Nelson Chavez (.272, 27 HR, 145 RBI) from the Falcons, parting with AAA 1B Eugene Carter.
December 6 – The Crusaders send MR Nick Hartman (3-7, 4.26 ERA, 1 SV) to the Rebels for 34-yr old 2B Bryan Andrews (.267, 2 HR, 140 RBI).
December 7 – 25-year old INF Brian Nichols (.309, 16 HR, 170 RBI) is traded from the Stars to the Capitals in exchange for 34-yr old 3B Ramiro Gonzalez (.298, 13 HR, 452 RBI).
December 7 – Another trade by the Crusaders, as they send 30-yr old C Mike Olson (.255, 17 HR, 109 RBI) to the Aces to acquire 25-yr old MR Mario Perez (9-1, 3.28 ERA). Perez made his major league debut last year after going undrafted in 1995.
December 12 – Ex-OCT RF/LF Artie Barnes (.275, 98 HR, 502 RBI) signs a 4-yr, $9.12M contract with the Stars.
December 13 – It’s a homecoming in Denver! 39-year old LF/RF Dale Wales (.317, 155 HR, 1,403 RBI) returns to his first major league team after a trek through Tijuana and Salem, signing a 2-yr, $4.62M contract. Wales’ 3,246 career hits rank second all-time in the ABL, 336 base knocks behind Jeffery Brown.
December 15 – The Capitals add 25-yr old ex-TOP SP Chris York (70-62, 4.10 ERA) on a 3-yr, $6.74M contract. York, the sixth overall pick in the 1995 draft, once made his debut at age 19.
December 18 – Former Aces catcher Antonio De La Parra (.284, 43 HR, 394 RBI) ends up in Oklahoma. The 28-year old receives a 4-yr, $6.74M contract.
December 19 – At 37, 1B/3B Ben O’Morrissey (.283, 157 HR, 989 RBI) gets another 3-yr, $6.24M pay day from the Cyclones. O’Morrissey spent 2002 with the Condors and Buffaloes.
December 20 – The Gold Sox scoop up ex-WAS LF/RF Jesus Rivera (.313, 120 HR, 595 RBI), committing to $15.96M over seven years for the 27-year old.
December 21 – It costs $5.5M over three years for the Scorpions to take on ex-VAN SP Jose Dominguez (84-93, 4.45 ERA).
December 24 – The Raccoons flip 29-yr old AAA 1B/2B George Morris (.244, 0 HR, 1 RBI in 41 AB) to the Warriors for 23-yr old AAA SP/MR Jesus Elmore.
December 24 – Ex-SFW OF Luis Arroyo (.273, 155 HR, 872 RBI), who is 33, returns to the Continental League after signing a 2-yr, $3.84M contract with the Bayhawks.

I didn’t want to, but I had to. Roberson had to go, so we could get a strong primary catcher. I - … my heart…

In one more way, while it has eaten up virtually all of our budget space, this might make the Raccoons a better team, other than limiting Gary Fifield to two appearances a week. With Roberson gone, Reece will move to leftfield, and we can give Eddie Torrez the starting job in centerfield. Let’s face it, at 36 Neil’s defensive capabilities will ultimately be limited. Torrez will cover that ground much more efficiently.

Ledesma and Moore both bat left-handed. Whether Moore will stick around (he has no options) remains to be seen. Fifield will be the backup catcher (unless we trade him) because he has no options, but Mark Thomas has.

On New Year’s Day, we have no money left over to play with, and have no backup infielders. Well, except perhaps Brent McLaughlin. Ha-hah.

Bright side: the problem will be taken care of in three or four years. We have a complete set of infielders that Vince rates 3.5 stars or better – in Aumsville. The litter of 18- and 19-year olds are Gilbert Eldridge, Leonard Wyatt, Ieyoshi Nomura, and Rafael Galindo. That’s the sixth, eighth, and first round picks from 2002, and the eighth round pick from 2001.

In terms of WAR, the Ledesma trade was a 5.5 gain. This is to a big part due to Ledesma being very good, a smaller part Roberson’s poor second half last season, and to a not insignificant part the fact that Juan Diaz lost WAR like I lost my marbles whenever he pitched.

(comforts stuffed toy raccoon) It’s okay, Honeypaws. Diaz won’t hurt you no more. Daddy took care of him! (rocks back and forth)

Westheim · 04-27-2015, 05:01 PM

January 2 – The Loggers add ex-CHA SP Ramiro Gonzalez (58-67, 3.85 ERA), who spent most of his career with the Crusaders, handing out $1.88M over three years to the 29-year old southpaw.
January 4 – The Cyclones sign 33-yr old ex-BOS LF Vern Kinnear (.263, 103 HR, 588 RBI) to a 2-yr, $2.16M contract.
January 5 – 30-year old ex-VAN 3B/SS Raymond Sutton (.284, 31 HR, 259 RBI) settles on the Condors’ offer of 4-yr, $5.63M.
January 17 – Former Cyclone, 33-year old SP Alfonso Velasco (123-117, 4.30 ERA) jumps onto the Buffaloes bandwagon, joining on a 4-yr, $5.92M contract, and they also add ex-CHA SP Chang-bum O (75-84, 4.55 ERA) for 1-yr, $770k.
January 20 – Once a Bayhawks, 32-yr old OF Tom Walls (.284, 18 HR, 280 RBI) is now a Miner, and going to earn $3.42M over three years.
January 26 – The Raccoons and 34-yr old INF Marvin Ingall (.279, 48 HR, 397 RBI) agree to a 1-yr, $250k contract.
January 26 – The Rebels end up signing former Condor SP Jose Maldonado (79-64, 3.36 ERA). The 31-year old will earn $3.96M over two years.
January 29 – Tijuana signs 36-year old 2B/SS Jim Stein (.307, 65 HR, 894 RBI), who played with Richmond and Sioux Falls last season, to a 2-yr, $2.28M contract.
February 8 – 28-year old OF Wes McCormick (.273, 73 HR, 283 RBI), who so far spent his career with the Aces, signs a 3-yr, $4.84M contract with the Blue Sox.
February 11 – The Blue Sox strike again, adding ex-NYC CL Dane Sanders (37-40, 2.61 ERA, 162 SV) on a 2-yr, $2.12M deal.
February 13 – 37-year old veteran C David Vinson (.238, 150 HR, 718 RBI) joins the Knights on a 2-yr, $3.04M contract after playing with their division rivals Thunder the last two years.
February 14 – Ex-LVA SP Dan Moriarty (66-78, 4.35 ERA) ends up in Salem, signing a contract for $3.78M over three years.
February 22 – SP Doug Morrow (172-166, 3.90 ERA) returns to the CL North on a 1-yr, $525k contract with the Loggers.
February 23 – The Thunder sign 30-yr old LF/RF Freddie Jones (.298, 18 HR, 374 RBI) for 2-yr, $1.78M. Jones is a former Blue Sock.
February 24 – 36 years old, injury prone, and managing only 476 AB the last two years combined, C Arturo Aguilar (.259, 127 HR, 799 RBI) nevertheless manages to secure a 3-yr, $2.94M contract from the Bayhawks.
March 8 – Sacramento lands 32-yr old SP Cipriano Miranda (61-89, 4.34 ERA) for $590k on a 1-year deal.
March 30 – With Opening Day one week away, the Cyclones grab 2B/3B Thomas Watts (.296, 16 HR, 384 RBI) for 2-yr, $1.62M. Watts was in the Miners organization.
April 1 – The Miners sign SP Takeru Sato (75-73, 3.94 ERA), agreeing to $550k for one season.

Stick with what you know best. Our infield situation was bleak once you got past the starting four. We have McLaughlin, who’s past 30 by now, and Miguel Ramirez, who batted 1-40 last year(!!), and then there’s even more obsure people behind those two. Marv is still a good player, if not an everyday player, and he’s saved us from a perfecto.

After all, it has been a disappointing offseason. We got Ledesma, and really not a whole lot beyond that. I tried to single out the one player between all our big earners (excluding Reece), who might be somehow replaceable from AAA. There is none. The one single area where we have some kind of depth in St. Pete is right-handed relief pitching with Kaz Kichida and Lawrence Rockburn. There is NOTHING else left.

Look at Morrow. A stinking half million would have netted Morrow, a decent starter for the back end of our rotation. We have no half million. We have about $200k in the coffers, and that is after clipping a bit more money off the scouting budget. Thanks to the Mexican Prick, we can’t even shore up the rotation. Stick Felipe Garcia into the #5 spot, and if he lasts the season, he might rack up 20 losses. Don’t even get me started on Sato.

We could trade Palacios, play Ingall at second, but that costs us in OBP, and it also costs us against right-handed pitching, and while we might be able to trade Brady, we’d then look at Cal Lyon or Chris Beairsto having a starter’s job, and while we could trade Bean (who’ll be in his walk year), then we’d have Meza AND Garcia in the rotation, and and AND AND AND …

And more losing to come soon.

Westheim · 04-27-2015, 06:36 PM

2003 PORTLAND RACCOONS – Opening Day Roster (first set shows 2002 numbers, second set overall; players with an * are off season acquisitions):

SP Ralph Ford, 25, B:L, T:L (13-9, 2.61 ERA | 33-42, 3.77 ERA) – Ford struck out 175, a career high, and at times was hardly touchable. Bad run support was the major factor in keeping him at 13 wins, he had certainly had the potential for more. The scouting reports warns, however, that he got an advantage from good defense behind him.
SP Carl Bean, 29, B:R, T:R (15-13, 3.63 ERA | 70-71, 3.96 ERA) – keeps looking for his Denver form, but was decent and became the first Raccoon since 1996 to win 15 games in a season. Why his strikeouts are down in Portland remains a mystery.
SP Nick Brown, 25, B:L, T:L (9-11, 2.65 ERA | 11-14, 2.96 ERA) – was not always successful in his first full season in the majors, but at least he brought excitement back to the park, setting a new franchise record for single season strikeouts, fanning 212 and breaking Kisho Saito’s 193 from 1985. We just have to work really hard on those 99 walks he surrendered.
SP Randy Farley, 29, B:R, T:R (9-16, 4.88 ERA | 56-57, 3.78 ERA) – continues to suffer through bouts of worst ineffectiveness, although a .356 BABIP had a hand in his misfortune in 2002. We are still hoping that he can get back to his 1998-2000 form.
SP Felipe Garcia, 25, B:R, T:R (2-5, 5.01 ERA | 4-5, 4.41 ERA) – this poor man’s fifth starter was on the Opening Day roster last season, and didn’t even last two months. There is little reason to hope that it will get better this time.

MU Bob Joly, 27, B:R, T:R (4-7, 3.57 ERA | 16-29, 4.72 ERA) – keeps coming and keeps going, occasionally throwing a no-hitter I am not sure anymore whether that actually took place. Mop-up duty is the one role we can consider him competent enough for.
MR Ricardo Huerta, 29, B:R, T:R (3-6, 3.04 ERA, 1 SV | 8-12, 4.19 ERA, 2 SV) – was a spectacular grab for a rule 5 pick last season, doing well in post roles. He might do even better if used less erratically, as we regularly burned him up in long relief and squeezed him out for 77 innings.
MR Domingo Moreno, 29, B:R, T:L (4-1, 4.09 ERA | 16-7, 2.95 ERA, 12 SV) – missed over half of the 2002 season on the DL, but when he was here, he was mostly effective – mostly; of major concern is the poor 4.5 K/9 rate, which doesn’t fit his career so far, but it might be an issue of the small sample size of 22 IP.
MR Benton Wilson *, 32, B:L, T:L (3-4, 5.57 ERA | 16-12, 4.96 ERA, 2 SV) – acquired in trade from the Pacifics for Chris Parker, Wilson has a very poor BABIP (.332) for his career, and a .387 mark in 2002; he can strike out batters in raw amounts to give him a chance for the defense to not bungle every other play.
SU Marcos Bruno, 27, B:R, T:R (3-2, 2.81 ERA, 6 SV | 8-7, 3.66 ERA, 8 SV) – continues to suffer from wild episodes, but has established himself as a reliable 7th/8th inning right-hander.
SU Manuel Martinez, 24, B:R, T:R (2-2, 4.10 ERA | 5-4, 4.62 ERA, 2 SV) – mostly solid, Martinez had a tendency for really big, nasty innings, ruining his ERA. He’s got a very short breath, making him most suitable for a quick eighth or to get a key right-hander in a jam.
CL Dan Nordahl, 24, B:R, T:R (2-3, 2.40 ERA, 31 SV | 12-13, 4.01 ERA, 52 SV) – gave up more than his share of walkoff grand slams last season, but overall we couldn’t complain TOO much about his work this time around, and with no proven closer and veteran affordable, we might be not so horribly off to continue with Danny.

C Pablo Ledesma *, 27, B:L, T:R (.298, 13 HR, 81 RBI | .262, 41 HR, 250 RBI) – Ledesma was acquired from the Buffaloes for Chris Roberson and buckled scrap, and is a very good defensive catcher while also having a very good eye and rarely striking out; besides possessing some power, he also has a good OBP, making it difficult to find the perfect spot in the lineup for him.
C Gary Fifield, 30, B:R, T:R (.229, 16 HR, 55 RBI | .226, 21 HR, 81 RBI) – showed flashes of dynamite, but racked up strikeouts like crazy, and his defensive game is also not very special, but with Ledesma batting left-handed, he should easily rack up all starts against left-handed pitchers.

1B Albert Martin, 26, B:L, T:L (.300, 32 HR, 111 RBI | .279, 75 HR, 253 RBI) – one of the three or four best home run hitters (park effects helping or not), Martin entered the top 10 for career homers for the Coons, and also had the fourth-best single season for homers as a Furball. He also batted .300 while doing it, and the only real weakness in his game is rather poor defense.
2B Jesus Palacios, 28, B:L, T:R (.320, 11 HR, 56 RBI | .292, 67 HR, 351 RBI) – very good OBP values, although this came without too many walks, and he also doesn’t strike out a lot; fell well short of 24 homers he hit in 2001, but he also missed significant part of the season to injury.
SS Conceicao Guerin, 29, B:R, T:R (.266, 1 HR, 41 RBI | .280, 11 HR, 277 RBI) – 2002 was one long, painful struggle for Concie, who didn’t get on base, didn’t hit, couldn’t run, was hurt some, and all over was just not the wonderful shortstop from previous years. 2003 is about rebounding for him.
1B/3B Daniel Sharp, 25, B:R, T:R (.288, 7 HR, 42 RBI | .286, 19 HR, 122 RBI) – everyday third baseman, never mind the occasional stupid error, in the field or on the base paths; gives his manager another option for a 1/2 batter, posting a .380 OBP last year, and .359 for his career.
1B/2B/3B/SS Marvin Ingall, 34, B:R, T:R (.272, 4 HR, 44 RBI | .279, 48 HR, 397 RBI) – good all-rounder, playing all infield positions well and delivering those trademark INGALL SINGLES whenever one is needed. Like, when the opposing pitcher has sat down 26 of his teammates without allowing anyone on base.
1B/2B/3B/SS Brent McLaughlin, 30, B:R, T:R (.200, 0 HR, 2 RBI | .223, 1 HR, 20 RBI) – purely defensive backup, which is the one thing he is able to do competently: replace Martin in late innings.

LF/CF Neil Reece, 36, B:R, T:R (.257, 7 HR, 35 RBI | .306, 160 HR, 801 RBI) – longest-tenured Raccoon, having debuted in 1989, Reece has been eaten up by old age and injuries; his agility is gone, and Reece will instead start in the vacated leftfield, leaving center to Torrez; he missed most of two of the last three seasons to injury.
RF/CF/LF/1B Edgardo Torrez, 26, B:L, T:L (.271, 2 HR, 7 RBI | .256, 3 HR, 11 RBI) – he might have made it as a centerfield starter if not for untimely injuries costing him several months; he takes over center from the aging/ailing Reece, giving us a speedy and quirky centerfielder, that will still not even be close to being as awesome as Reece was at his age.
LF/RF Clyde Brady, 26, B:L, T:L (.237, 11 HR, 52 RBI | .259, 54 HR, 255 RBI) – suffered through a rotten season, especially in the latter half of the year, and just couldn’t get anything done. His place in right is not in danger yet, except should Chris Beairsto in AAA figure out how not to whiff constantly.
LF/RF Dale Moore *, 27, B:L, T:L (.273, 10 HR, 53 RBI | .274, 16 HR, 86 RBI) – the other piece of the Ledesma trade, Moore comes over to the Buffaloes. He might be suitable for pinch-hitting, but we don’t see him as a solution to our many issues.
LF/RF/CF Cal Lyon, 27, B:L, T:L (.183, 1 HR, 8 RBI | .168, 2 HR, 10 RBI) – you gotta have a backup, two legs, two arms...

On disabled list: one minor leaguer, MR Stu Davis.

Otherwise unavailable: Nobody.

Other roster movement:
MR Pedro Perez, 27, B:L, T:L (0-3, 4.85 ERA | 0-4, 8.57 ERA) – DFA, lacking in every major and minor aspect.

Opening day lineups:
Vs. RHP: 2B Palacios – SS Guerin – CF Torrez – 1B Martin – LF Reece – 3B Sharp – C Ledesma – RF Brady – P Ford
Vs. LHP: SS Guerin – 3B Sharp – CF Torrez – 1B Martin – LF Reece – 2B Ingall – RF Brady – C Fifield – P Ford

OFF SEASON CHANGES:

We gained two wins last season, posting our sixth consecutive losing season at 73-89. BNN says we’re gonna jump over .500 this year. I don’t know where that comes from. WAR smells.

Top 5: Capitals (+9.8), Raccoons (+9.5), Wolves (+8.6), Rebels (+5.8), Loggers (+2.8)
Bottom 5: Miners (-8.4), Warriors (-10.2), Canadiens (-10.4), Falcons (-12.2), Bayhawks (-14.5)

PREDICTION TIME:

There aren’t many changes here at all. The Raccoons only added three new players, of which only Ledesma has actual meaning. Somehow we still ended up gaining the second-most WAR, but quite a large amount of that comes from the pieces we disposed of.

Last year saw a hot start, then some lingering five to eight games below .500 into August, and then a spectacular crash to 73-89. My prediction was 75-87. The hope was for a 81-81 finish. BNN sees us at 82 wins this year. I don’t.

The main change is Ledesma. Moore won’t help, and our history of left-handed relievers makes Benton Wilson the latest entrant in a revolving door. The roster has gaping holes, the bench is more than just thin, and once injuries hit, we will be in a lot of pain.

On the other hand we have a lot of youngsters who can still be expected to develop. Our rotation might be the toughest part of the entire roster, but we can also compose a pretty solid lineup (as long as nobody gets hurt).

It’s hard to make a prediction. Even if the rotation holds up, and the bullpen holds up, we can never go a full season without injuries to our starting position players. And just look at that bench. It’s tear-jerking.

The Raccoons will post their seventh consecutive losing season, starting off decent or even well, but eventually will get decimated by injuries and sink to a 71-91 finish.

PLAYER DEVELOPMENT:

The Raccoons continue to have the 16th-ranked farm system in the ABL. Last year we only had seven top 200 prospects. Of these seven, two are no longer eligible (#25 Eddie Torrez and #132 Felipe Garcia), one has been traded (#31 Jack Berry), and #75 Matt Cash had a year ravaged by injury and dropped off.

36th (+94) – AA 1B Mun-wah Tsung, 20 – international discovery by the Cyclones, acquired in trade for Miguel Lopez, Juan Garcia
62nd (+9) – AAA LF/RF/1B Chris Beairsto, 24 – 2001 first round pick by the Raccoons
79th (new) – A SS/2B Ieyoshi Nomura, 18 – 2002 first round pick by the Raccoons
93rd (new) – AAA LF Mike Willard, 24 – 2000 fifth round pick by the Raccoons
141st (new) – A SP/MR Adam Riddle, 21 – 2002 second round pick by the Raccoons
185th (+15) – AAA 1B Alejandro Rojas, 23 – international discovery be the Vicente Guerra

The Condors’ AAA CF Ramón Perez is the #1 prospect in the country. He was signed out of Mexico in 2000. Last year’s #1 pick, Rebels SP Jesus Cabrera, has dropped to #7, while a certain SP Barney Manning went from #7 to #14.

Next: first pitch – in the Frozen Land of Elks!

Westheim · 04-28-2015, 07:12 PM

Starting a season in the god-forsaken tundra is not the most pleasant of things. To further aggravate the agony, the Raccoons start the season having Opening Day off, while they then have to play 16 straight, hitting the road twice in the process. Even the schedulers hate us.

Raccoons (0-0) @ Canadiens (0-0) – April 8-10, 2003

We lost the season series against the Elks only three times since 1990. Let’s keep it that way and lay an early foundation for it.

Projected matchups:
Ralph Ford (0-0) vs. Daniel Dickerson (0-0)
Carl Bean (0-0) vs. Joe Hollow (0-0)
Nick Brown (0-0) vs. Juan Bello (0-0)

Hollow will be the first left-hander we will face this season. Our lineup vs. right-handers has five lefties in it, six on days Neil Reece gets rest. We will have at least two left-handers batting every time we face a southpaw, and it is only two if we are ready to play McLaughlin over Martin. I don’t think so.

Game 1
POR: 2B Palacios – SS Guerin – CF Torrez – 1B Martin – LF Reece – 3B Sharp – C Ledesma – RF Brady – P Ford
VAN: 2B Dobson – LF Trinidad – RF Velasquez – CF R. Green – C Rosa – 3B A. De Jesus – SS Phillips – 1B J. Zamora – P Dickerson

The Coons scored in their first inning of the year on a Guerin double, wild pitch, and Torrez grounding out. Unfortunately, the Elks got back twice as much on a 2-out, 2-run double by Freddy Rosa in the bottom of the same inning, and we trailed almost as early. In the longer run, neither pitcher would make a point as to why he got handed the assignment for the season opener. The score was 3-3 through four, but in the fifth all hell broke loose for Raccoons pitching. After a 2-run single by De Jesus, with two in, two on, two out, Ford was clearly inefficient and stuck and was yanked for Martinez, who went on to allow a single to Jim Phillips that loaded them up and then a bases-clearing double to Jesus Zamora that broke the score wide open at 8-3. The disgusting weren’t done there. A Torrez error cost a run in the sixth, and in the eighth we had Bruno in, and of the first four batters he faced in 2003, he retired zero. Jorge Durán singled through Guerin, before Bruno walked two and Velasquez singled. Huerta struck out Royce Green and got a double play from Rosa to hold the damage to one run. Not that it mattered for Bruno, whose ERA was infinite either way. 10-4 Canadiens. Guerin 2-5, 2 2B, RBI; Torrez 3-5, HR, 2 RBI; Martin 2-5; Ingall (PH) 1-1; Joly 2.0 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K; Huerta 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, IR 3-0;

Well, that was ugly. And 161 more to come.

Game 2
POR: SS Guerin – 3B Sharp – CF Torrez – 1B Martin – LF Reece – 2B Ingall – RF Brady – C Fifield – P Bean
VAN: SS Simon – LF J. Durán – 2B Dobson – 1B I. Gutierrez – RF Velasquez – 3B A. De Jesus – CF Wheaton – C Hurtado – P Hollow

Ironically, left-handed batter Clyde Brady had the biggest success against southpaw Hollow in this lineup, .382 in 34 AB, with nobody within even 100 points. Bad signs. However, the Coons struck first again, with a Guerin double, passed ball, and a developing pattern notwithstanding, an RBI single by Sharp, but that was it for them already in the first. Patterns were a thing. Another one was developing: Raccoons starters sucking balls and being tagged early. Bean struggled to get people out in the second, and coupled with two bases stolen off Fifield by Velasquez and Hurtado, and Joe Hollow singling in the go-ahead run, fell behind 2-1. That was the score all through the middle innings. In the top 7th, Brady’s ownage of Hollow finally blinked up briefly with a leadoff triple. Well, if that wasn’t going to tie the game! It wasn’t. Fifield flew out to right, Brady tagged, Brady was thrown out. In the eighth, and writhing in agony already, Guerin and Sharp led off with singles. Hollow was still in the game, but Torrez wasn’t going to be hit for here. He fouled out, but then another passed ball advanced the runners on the first pitch to Martin. C’mon, Al. Any deep fly will do. Instead, he struck out in a full count, leaving it to Reece, who was oh-fer on the year. Here, he hit a grounder up the middle that Simon didn’t get to until it was reaching the grass, and Guerin scored on the single. Sharp was at third with Ingall batting against Hollow, and just what could be the best medicine here? Well, how about an INGALL SINGLE!! That gave us the lead, and the Elks were collapsing now. More precisely, it was Hollow, who continued to pitch, but surrendered an RBI single to Brady, and Fifield got on, and then Palacios hit a run-scoring infield single! The Coons put up a 4-spot that got Bean in line for the W. The Raccoons almost batted through the order once more in the ninth, keeping Nordahl in the stall after two more runs scored. Instead, Benton Wilson made his Coons debut and pitched a scoreless inning. 7-2 Coons. Guerin 3-5, 2B; Sharp 4-4, BB, RBI; Moore (PH) 1-1; Ingall 2-4, BB, 2 RBI; Brady 3-4, BB, 3B, 2 RBI; Palacios (PH) 1-1, RBI; Bean 7.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 4 K, W (1-0);

Marcos Bruno pitched the eighth scoreless, bringing his ERA from infinite to a much more manageable 9.00 now.

Game 3
POR: 2B Palacios – SS Guerin – CF Torrez – 1B Martin – LF Reece – 3B Sharp – C Ledesma – RF Brady – P Brown
VAN: 3B A. De Jesus – LF Trinidad – 2B Dobson – CF R. Green – RF Velasquez – SS Phillips – C Rosa – 1B J. Zamora – P Bello

And here comes the first day in the kitchen this year, as we’re baking delicious Brownies! Hopefully. Brownie faced an all-right-handed lineup just like Ford in the opener. He struck out the first two men he faced, then walked Dobson in a 9-pitch battle. Dobson stole second and advanced on Ledesma’s errant throw, but Royce Green lobbed out to Brady and the inning concluded scorelessly. Ledesma redeemed himself by plating his first run as a Furball with a productive groundout cashing in Martin in the top 2nd, 1-0, and then scored on Brady’s double, 2-0. Brown walked his first man in the second, then issued a leadoff walk to Simon in the third. Oh come on, what’s the worst that can happen? The stinking Elks batted through the order, plating five runs and rapidly shredded Brownie to crumbs, and he did not survive the fourth inning. He didn’t get the loss, though, and not by a mile. Torrez hit a solo homer in the fifth, cutting the gap to 5-3, and in the sixth the Raccoons set the park on fire for good. Moore batted for Manuel Martinez in a 5-4 game, bases loaded, no outs, and tied the score with a sac fly. From there, it was just hit after hit after hit, and Guerin, Martin, and Sharp each driving in pairs of runners in an 8-run inning! We now had a 6-run lead, and that should be enough to lean back and – no. Just no. Moreno’s first outing of the year ended up short after Jorge Durán’s RBI triple in the bottom 6th, and Huerta managed to come in with one out and keep Durán on base. The Elks also threatened badly in the seventh after Sharp opened the frame with an error and Huerta then walked Royce Green. Runners were on the corners after Velasquez hit into a fielder’s choice, but Huerta struck out Phillips and Rosa to escape that jam unscathed. It wasn’t the end of the ladder for the Coons’ offense after all, though. Reece doubled home a run off reliever Paul Brown in the eighth, and in the ninth Palacios salvaged an 0-4 day with a 2-run homer off Manuel Chavez, and aided by a critical Jerry Dobson error that soiled a potential inning-ending double play, the Raccoons revved up even more, and scored two more runs! It turned out to be a phenomenal rout: 16-6 Furballs!!! Torrez 3-6, HR, 2 RBI; Martin 2-6, 3 RBI; Reece 4-5, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Sharp 3-5, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Brady 2-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Martinez 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K, W (1-0); Huerta 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K; Joly 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

Excluding Nick Brown, ALL our batters had a hit, scored a run, and drove a run in. Five added a walk.

Odd note: among all our starting lineup (excluding pitchers), Al Martin was the last guy to get a ribbie this season after posting 111 last year.

While this was a fun display of offense for 27 runs on the Elks, we’d like some more constant pitching, please.

Raccoons (2-1) vs. Falcons (0-3) – April 11-13, 2003

Here came the only winless team in the majors, and if that wasn’t tempting to ruin the mood outright during the home opener.

Projected matchups:
Randy Farley (0-0) vs. Rodrigo Gomez (0-0)
Felipe Garcia (0-0) vs. Terry Wilson (0-1, 4.26 ERA)
Ralph Ford (0-1, 13.50 ERA) vs. Manuel Hernandez (0-1, 14.73 ERA)

Game 1
CHA: CF Hudson – C F. Chavez – 2B H. Green – 1B Batlle – LF R. Wilson – RF J. Lugo – SS Vieitas – 3B S. Moore – P R. Gomez
POR: 2B Palacios – SS Guerin – CF Torrez – 1B Martin – LF Reece – 3B Sharp – RF Brady – C Ledesma – P Farley

The general rout of Raccoons starting pitching continued unabated. Farley was utter dog **** and clobbered for four largely unopposed runs in the first inning. Farley didn’t even make it through the second inning, being rocked for six hits, three walks, a hit batter, and ultimately six runs in 1.1 innings. Can it all get more horrible? And so it came that we had to use Domingo Moreno in long relief in the fourth game of the season, and this is before Felipe Garcia ever came into a game! Moreno had every last drop of blood squeezed out of him to collect 14 outs on five hits and two runs, fanning nobody. The game was thoroughly lost, never mind a 3-spot on the way there. The Coons had two on with an 8-3 deficit against them in the seventh with Martin batting with two out. His huge fly to right was just not huge enough and instead was caught, slamming the door shut for good, even before Dan Nordahl in his first game of the year had a chunk taken out of him by Fernando Chavez’ homer. 10-3 Falcons. Brady 3-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Ledesma 2-4, 2B, RBI; McLaughlin (PH) 1-1, 2B;

To make things worse, Dale Moore appeared as pinch-hitter for the fourth time in four games, and was smacked in the knee this time around. He suffered a contusion. The medical team had a hard time putting a number on him as far as his return was concerned, but it looked like he would take at least a week, possibly two. With that, Moore hit the DL and we called up Kaz Kichida to bolster the already strained beyond strainability bullpen.

Game 2
CHA: CF Hudson – C F. Chavez – 2B H. Green – 1B Batlle – LF R. Wilson – RF J. Lugo – SS Vieitas – 3B S. Moore – P T. Wilson
POR: SS Guerin – RF Brady – 3B Sharp – 1B Martin – LF Reece – 2B Ingall – CF Lyon – C Fifield – P F. Garcia

For the second time this week the opposing pitcher drove in the go-ahead run for his team against a Furball, with “Loudmouth” Wilson doing the honors with a 2-out single in the fifth inning off Garcia who until that point had held himself admirably well, allowing only a solo home run to Paco Batlle through the first four innings. Steve Moore would hit another homer off Garcia before his day was done, but then it still was a respectable outing of three runs in seven innings and MARKED PROGRESS for the team and its rotation. He left on the hook, though, since the Raccoons were held to three hits by Wilson and showed no signs of imminent improvement once Garcia was done pitching. With one out in the bottom 8th, however, we got the tying runs on through a Guerin double (his fifth of the year!), and Brady drawing a walk. Sharp hit an RBI single, 3-2, Brady held at second, and when Martin singled, Brady held at third, but the bags were full for Reece, whom Wilson was left in to face. Wilson got ahead of Reece, but our most worn toy eventually sent a 2-2 pitch into shallow right where it died a hero, tying the score as an RBI single. Ingall walked, getting Nordahl jumping up to get that arm loose. With McLaughlin hitting into a two-for-one freebie in place of Lyon, he would have no cushion. In the end, he didn’t need it. Pedro Estrada hit a pinch-hit 1-out single, but that tying run wouldn’t move off first base against Danny. 4-3 Coons. Guerin 2-4, 2 2B; Sharp 2-4, 2 RBI; Martin 2-4;

And there is our first undeserved win of the year!

Game 3
CHA: CF J. Ramirez – C M. Castillo – LF J. Lugo – 3B H. Green – 1B Batlle – RF Hudson – SS Vieitas – 2B A. Ramirez – P M. Hernandez
POR: SS Guerin – 3B Sharp – CF Torrez – 1B Martin – LF Reece – 2B Ingall – RF Brady – C Fifield – P Ford

Two walks enable Paco Batlle to hit an RBI single in the top 1st and we trailed early with Ford clearly not having any of his stuff ready during opening week. The score soon flipped when both Martin and Fifield hit their first homers of the season, plating a total of three runs in the bottom 2nd. That made it a 3-1 game for us, but it didn’t stay one for long. Top 4th, two out, John Hudson on second base. With King just going down on a foul pop, Antonio Ramirez was walked intentionally to face the pitcher, who was 1-1 on the day and 2-2 on the year, and now went to 2-2 and 3-3 respectively with another RBI single, getting the Falcons back to within one run. Hernandez however had his own issues, giving out walks to Ingall and Brady to start the bottom half of the frame. Fifield singled, loading them up, and if Ford could somehow abstain from making two outs, we might be able to get that run and maybe even more back. He struck out, and all we got in the end was Concie’s RBI groundout, 4-2. Top 6th, Ford had Hudson on first with two out and the pest Hernandez batting. This was his last batter, no matter what, and Hernandez hit one into the gap. For crying out loud, why is it that – TORREZ!! Amazing catch by Torrez, and the Falcons could not get another run off Ford, who worked six incredibly crusty innings of 2-run ball, walking five and whiffing six, somehow, on 113 pitches. We put up a 3-spot in the bottom 6th on three hits, including two doubles, but also lost Danny Sharp in the process. Kichida, Joly, and Huerta pitched scoreless relief to end the game. 8-2 Coons. Guerin 2-5, 2B, RBI; Ledesma (PH) 1-1, RBI; Martin 2-3, 2 BB, HR, RBI; Fifield 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Palacios (PH) 1-1, BB;

Sharp suffered a high ankle sprain. He’s out for a month.

One week ago I mentioned how this team can not survive injuries. Moore was a backup player we didn’t need, didn’t long for, and didn’t even want. Sharp is our everyday third baseman and a perfect #2 batter. We might be first in the CL North right now (0.5 up on MIL and BOS, 1.0 on everybody else) but we’re done already.

Sharp hit the DL, and the problems started right away. Ingall would now play third base until further notice, but whom to call up? In AAA, Manny Gabriel had already strained an oblique. The only other player on the 40-man roster was Miguel Ramirez, off to a .364 start with the bat. One … for forty … last year. He was still our best, and perhaps only bet. He got the call.

Raccoons (4-2) vs. Knights (4-2) – April 14-16, 2003

The Knights had held the opposition to 19 runs in six games, which was something new for this ballclub. They also had scored 35 runs, and while the Coons’ had been rather porous when defending, conceding 33 counters, their 42 runs scored ranked second in the CL.

Projected matchups:
Carl Bean (1-0, 2.57 ERA) vs. Scott Murphy (1-0, 1.13 ERA)
Nick Brown (0-0, 12.27 ERA) vs. Sadakuno Imamura (0-0)
Randy Farley (0-1, 33.76 ERA) vs. Larry Cutts (0-0, 5.40 ERA)

Those are some moldy ERA’s right there…

Game 1
ATL: 2B J. Miller – SS Luján – CF Ware – LF A. Rodriguez – C Vinson – 1B J. Gutierrez – RF R. Lopez – 3B D. Henry – P Murphy
POR: 2B Palacios – SS Guerin – CF Torrez – 1B Martin – RF Brady – LF Reece – 3B Ingall – C Ledesma – P Bean

In an ugly first, the Knights smacked back-to-back doubles by Luján and Ware up either foul line before leaving them loaded, 1-0 Atlanta. The Knights would hit doubles off Bean as they pleased, as he was the fourth part of the rotation to go into the bin with a shoddy result, four runs in six and a third innings of work. The Coons proudly left eight men on base in the first four innings alone, plating a lone run on a bases-loaded walk drawn by Torrez in the fourth. In the sixth they lost Guerin on a defensive play to an undisclosed injury. As he limped off the field, the attendance buried part of their faces in their gloves. It was falling all apart and it was not even the middle of April yet. Bottom 9th, still 4-1 after scoreless relief by Joly, Bruno, and Kichida, the Coons faced Manuel Reyes, who retired Miguel Ramirez to start the inning. Then Torrez walked, and Martin singled, bringing up Brady as the tying run. Brady hit into a double play, and it was the perfect **** game. 4-1 Knights. Guerin 2-3; Ingall 2-4; Lyon (PH) 1-1;

Al Martin stole his first career base in this game, in the first inning. Him trailing Concie, who was on second, with two out, the Knights eyed Concie, but not him. When Concie went and Martin moved with him at his best (pathetic) speed, Vinson was so puzzled that his throw to second was well late.

Would I have run on anybody other than old Dave? No.

And does it matter? No. We’re in the ****s.

With the short bench we couldn’t afford to have Guerin unable to play and still on the roster. So, Kaz was sent back to AAA and we called up another infielder in 26-year old Beaverton native Matt Love, who had posted OPS numbers of .736, .601, and .616 the last three years in AAA. He was a right-handed first and second baseman, with no power to speak off. Misery gave him a minor pay day. Him and Ramirez had both been drafted with tremendous hopes in the 1999 draft, Love in the supplemental round, but … no. Just no.

Game 2
ATL: LF R. Lopez – RF A. Rodriguez – CF Ware – 2B J. Miller – C Valadez – 3B Pena – SS Verdon – 1B A. Hernandez – P Imamura
POR: 2B Palacios – RF Brady – CF Torrez – 1B Martin – C Ledesma – SS McLaughlin – LF Lyon – 3B M. Ramirez – P Brown

Brownie whiffed the side in the top 1st (never mind a walk and a hit leaving runners on the corners), and yes, this was a good day for him. Through four innings, he had already nailed EIGHT batters, allowing three hits and no runs, while amazingly the only Coons hit was an RBI single by Ramirez in the bottom 2nd. We got some much appreciated breathing space then in the bottom 5th with Palacios driving in Lyon with a single, and then Brady hit his first bomb of the season to make it 4-0. Then came the sixth. Brownie began to lose it, visibly. He plunked James Miller with a 2-out, 2-2 pitch. Nobody on until then, Miller was soon joined by the singling Valadez, but Brown came back to K Tony Pena for his ninth of the day. He didn’t get any more, walking Nick Verdon to start the seventh, but was helped by a double play, then walked another batter before Rodrigo Lopez grounded out to Palacios and Brown left with seven shutout innings. While Martin drove in a run in the bottom 7th, making it a 5-0 game, we were far from safe. While Moreno got two outs in the eighth, Martinez then replaced him and failed to retire anybody, being tagged by Valadez’ 2-run homer. After Pena doubled, Nordahl came out, along with Love, who replaced Martin in a double switch. Verdon doubled off Nordahl to score Pena, before Anastasio Hernandez lined out to Ramirez. And it just wasn’t meant to be. In the ninth, Nordahl was ravaged with a Vinson single, Rodriguez triple, and Ware single. The incredible agony. Two doubles and a Love error did in Huerta in the 11th. 6-5 Knights. Martin 2-3, BB, 2B, RBI; Ledesma 2-4, 2B; Brown 7.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 9 K;

I always knew Nordahl was not a closer. Just another useless dork.

We got 25 of those, and the eighth game of the season that killed us off for good. Medically, emotionally, faithfully. Concie Guerin was out for a month with shoulder bursitis and hit the DL along with Moore and Sharp, and with five more games we might manage half a dozen by week’s end. Chris Beairsto was summoned to Portland.

Game 3
ATL: 2B J. Miller – SS Luján – CF Ware – RF J. Garcia – LF A. Rodriguez – C Vinson – 1B Verdon – 3B Pena – P Cutts
POR: 2B Ingall – 1B Torrez – LF Reece – RF Brady – C Fifield – CF Beairsto – SS McLaughlin – 3B M. Ramirez – P Farley

Lineups getting more obscure every day, especially with Al Martin getting a day off in a 16-game stretch. And as if the lineup wasn’t bad enough, Farley was not any good either. Somehow, the Knights threatened, but didn’t score for three innings, before they loaded them up with no outs on a hapless Farley in the fourth. Yet, they only scored one run on a groundout before Pena and Cutts had the inning run out. That far, the Coons had but one hit, and it had come from Ramirez. The Coons had nothing coming until McLaughlin hit a 2-out double in the bottom 5th. The Knights forewent Ramirez to go to Farley, and Farley zinged a single through Nick Verdon, with old Brent turning third and making for home – safe! Tied game, Ingall went out of his way with a double, and that plated Ramirez, 2-1, and Torrez singled another run in, 3-1. Somehow, nobody knew quite the hell how, Farley made it through seven innings while the Knights left another scattering of runners on the bags. In the bottom 7th, Matt Love’s first big league base knock was a pinch-hit infield single in the #9 hole, putting two on with one out. Cutts hadn’t been able to make a play on this one, and he failed to convert Ingall’s grounder that followed, either, and this was an infield INGALL SINGLE. Bases loaded for Eddie, but both him and Reece hit poor pop outs for a giant disappointment. And then Moreno went after the top 8th and three left-handers in unspeakably inefficient fashion, leaving two men in scoring position – the tying runs – for Martinez. He faced Verdon, fell behind 1-0, 2-0, and then Verdon lined out hard to Ramirez to end the inning. Confidence in Nordahl was easily overseen in the ninth, trying to hold on to another lead. Incredibly he started out by walking Pena on four straight balls. And he proceeded to blow this one, too, with a single, a walk, and finally a double that went over Brady. While that was something we had seen coming, the game kept getting stranger. Reyes appeared with the Knights having put three on Nordahl and his replacement Wilson for a 4-3 lead. McLaughlin led off with a hit, bringing up Ramirez. Our bench was about exhausted except for the struggling Ledesma, so Ramirez went to bat. He took a hack at the first pitch and drilled it out to the gap in deep right center. Or maybe it could … it would … IT DID!! WALKOFF HOME RUN!!!!! 5-4 Coons. Ingall 2-4, 2B, RBI; McLaughlin 2-4, 2B; Ramirez 3-3, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Love (PH) 1-1; Farley 7.0 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 5 K and 1-1;

Another undeserved win. The team doesn’t deserve any wins. They deserve being skinned for a nice warm hat.

Raccoons (5-4) @ Loggers (4-4) – April 17-20, 2003

44 runs scored, 42 runs allowed, all middle of the pack stuff for the Loggers so far. Their rotation had been ruffled to a 5.06 ERA, 9th in the league. Wanna talk about our rotation?

Projected matchups:
Felipe Garcia (0-0, 3.86 ERA) vs. Doug Morrow (1-0, 2.25 ERA)
Ralph Ford (1-1, 7.59 ERA) vs. Martin Garcia (1-0, 3.95 ERA)
Carl Bean (1-1, 4.05 ERA) vs. Ramiro Gonzalez (0-1, 5.93 ERA)
Nick Brown (0-0, 4.22 ERA) vs. Marc Padgett (0-0)

Two left-handers in the middle of that series. That’s something we didn’t see all this much of last season, when we had more right-handed bats. Now even the right-handed bats that are left and not snoozing (Reece…) are on the DL.

Game 1
POR: 2B Palacios – RF Brady – CF Torrez – 1B Martin – LF Reece – SS Ingall – C Ledesma – 3B M. Ramirez – P F. Garcia
MIL: C C. Ramos – RF C. Ramirez – 3B J. Cruz – SS T. Johnson – CF Fletcher – 2B J. Nava – LF A. Johnson – 1B Costello – P Morrow

With the Raccoons getting absolutely nothing done against Morrow, Garcia was on the way to a well-pitched loss, not allowing a runner through three, but then the Loggers ramped up the pressure bit by bit. A leadoff double by Nava in the bottom 5th led to the Loggers’ first run in the game, and in the bottom 6th they loaded the bases with a Ramirez double, Cruz walking, and a Johnson single. Avery Johnson, the ex-Crusader put two more on the board with a double, leaving Garcia with a much-less-well-pitched loss. Morrow struck out six in a 4-hit shutout. 5-0 Loggers. Reece 2-4, 2B;

Game 2
POR: 2B Ingall – CF Torrez – LF Reece – 1B Martin – C Fifield – 3B M. Ramirez – RF Beairsto – SS McLaughlin – P Ford
MIL: 2B B. Hernandez – RF C. Ramirez – LF Hiwalani – 3B J. Cruz – SS T. Johnson – CF Fletcher – C Benitez – 1B Costello – P M. Garcia

And NOW we face their ACTUAL ace. The Loggers ran themselves out of the first inning when Fifield threw out Bartolo Hernandez at third base after called strike three on Jorge Cruz, but in the second Pedro Costello rammed a 2-run double to right to get the Loggers going. The Loggers made six of their first seven outs with K’s, but still led the game. Martin drove in a run in the third, and in the fifth Garcia had lapses, walked Reece, threw a wild one, walked Martin, threw ANOTHER wild pitch, and then Fifield struck out readily to leave two on. That was about all of the chances the Raccoons managed to grab. Garcia went seven before being hit for in the bottom 7th, in which Bartolo Hernandez singled in the third run off Ralph Ford, who left after 6.2 innings with seven strikeouts, trailing 3-1. Tom Johnson hit a home run off Ricardo Huerta in the eighth to add a run. Not that the Raccoons could have made up even HALF a run’s deficit. 4-1 Loggers. Ingall 3-5, 2B; Martin 3-3, BB, RBI;

Game 3
POR: 3B Ingall – RF Brady – LF Reece – 1B Martin – CF Torrez – SS McLaughlin – C Ledesma – 2B Love – P Bean
MIL: 2B B. Hernandez – RF C. Ramirez – LF Hiwalani – 3B J. Cruz – SS T. Johnson – CF Fletcher- C C. Ramos – 1B J. Nava – P R. Gonzalez

In the second inning of the third game on this Saturday, the lake in the middle of the woods lay silent and peacefully, until SUDDENLY a half-drowned Raccoon broke gasping through the water surface, paddling frantically to reach the shoreline. In actual gameplay, this was the sequence of Torrez leading off with a double, McLaughlin singling, Ledesma doubling, 1-0, Love hitting a sac fly, 2-0, and then Bean sent one OUTTA HERE!! That made it 4-0, all five balls hit hard to the left side. That wasn’t even the end of the inning, which saw another run scoring on a 2-out single by Martin. Bean would have to make do with a 5-0 lead, but oh, wait, no, he drove in another run against Millard Wilson in the third, making it 6-0. Still, Bean’s stuff was not there. He relied heavily on his defense to get people out, and in the fifth a single by Millard Wilson got the Loggers rolling far enough for Tom Johnson to double home two runs in the inning. Even then, he gave up hits galore, and became stuck in the seventh for good, after surrendering 11 hits in total. Moreno got Ramos to ground out and keep the runners on base, but then was taken deep by Nava in the next inning. We were up 9-4 in the bottom 9th with Huerta tasked with three outs. A Johnson single and Fletcher beaning later, he was de-tasked. We went on to Wilson, who was no help either. The tying run came to the plate with two outs in Hernandez. Next pitcher: Bruno. He walked Hernandez. Bases loaded for Cristo Ramirez, who was at least not a home run threat. Instead he struck out. 9-6 Raccoons. Martin 2-4, HR, 3 RBI; McLaughlin 2-4, BB, 2B; Ledesma 1-2, 2 BB, 2B, RBI; Bean 6.2 IP, 11 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, W (2-1) and 1-3, HR, 3 RBI;

Pitching is … is an issue.

(shrugs)

Game 4
POR: CF Torrez – C Ledesma – RF Brady – 1B Martin – SS Ingall – LF Reece – 2B Palacios – 3B M. Ramirez – P Brown
MIL: 2B B. Hernandez – RF C. Ramirez – LF Hiwalani – 3B J. Cruz – SS T. Johnson – CF Fletcher – C Benitez – 1B Costello – P Padgett

Brownie had an eventful game. In the bottom 2nd of a scoreless matchup, Tom Johnson hit a leadoff triple. Now, if I had hope that one of our trash can rummagers could work out of that, it was Brownie. Struck out Fletcher, walked Benitez, struck out Costello, and struck out Padgett – yes! However, wildness soon took over for Brown, who went to 3-ball counts to almost every batter after the third inning. Naturally, this didn’t make for much depth, and while Torrez with a triple and Ledesma with an RBI single plated the first run of the game in the top 6th, Brown gave two back in the bottom 6th with a leadoff jack by Jorge Cruz and then two more hits. Padgett was simply that much better, allowing just three hits and whiffing nine over eight innings in his first start of the season. If that’s the Loggers’ number five guy, the Titans gotta be in for the long haul to stave them off. By contrast, the Raccoons had no rotation, no lineup anymore, and surely no closer. Dan Nordahl was stripped for two runs on a Pedro Benitez homer in the bottom 8th. 4-1 Loggers. Ledesma 2-4, RBI;

In other news

April 8 – Indy’s Ron Alston (.667, 4 HR, 8 RBI in 9 AB) joins the history books by mashing three home runs in the Indians’ 10-1 rout of the Crusaders. All in all, Alston goes 4-5 and drives in seven in the contest, adding to a solo home run he hit on Opening Day. Alston, who is 23 years old, missed a chance on the home run title due to injury last season. It is only the 13th time in ABL history that a batter has hit three dingers in a game. The most recent event was career home run king Raúl Vázquez in last year’s opening series.
April 9 – The Rebels add 33-yr old ex-CIN INF Haruki Nakayama (.275, 69 HR, 749 RBI) on a 1-yr, $690k contract.
April 10 – The Gold Sox are dealt an early and potentially crippling blow, losing SP Chang-se Park (0-0, 0.00 ERA) for perhaps the entire season after the 29-year old Korean is diagnosed with tearing his labrum in the season opener.
April 10 – WAS INF Jose Lopez (.400, 1 HR, 1 RBI in 5 AB) is out for three months with shoulder inflammation.
April 11 – And the next starting pitcher goes down, with SAL SP Alonso Lopez (0-0, 5.40 ERA) missing most or even all of the season with a torn back muscle.
April 15 – MIL 1B Jose Nava (.286, 0 HR, 1 RBI) has a 24-game hitting streak carried over from 2002 end in a 11-6 win of the Loggers over the Bayhawks.
April 15 – NYC SS/3B Gary Rice (.200, 0 HR, 0 RBI) is out for a month with a herniated disc.
April 19 – The King of Dingers, TIJ RF/LF Raúl Vázquez (.234, 1 HR, 8 RBI) is out for three weeks with an abdominal strain.

Complaints and stuff

Players of the Week during the first seven days of the season? Ron Alston, who wanked SIX homers (yikes!), and Dale Wales, the Ancient One, who nevertheless went deep three times (after hitting 20 dingers the last three years combined).

Thank heavens we had no euphoria to begin with. It’s been simply horrible. Starters’ ERA: 10th. Bullpen ERA: 10th. Bottom 3 in ALL pitching categories except homers and strikeouts (8th each). And the injuries. And the general feeling of another five and a half months of slowly an inevitably bleeding to death.

More good news? Our minor league teams are a combined 13-25. And AAA SP Cesar Miranda is headed for Tommy John surgery.

Questdog · 04-28-2015, 07:27 PM

Don't like Royce Green on the Canadians.....

And I still think we will end up on the plus side of .500 this year.....

Westheim · 04-29-2015, 04:55 PM

Raccoons (6-7) @ Titans (7-5) – April 21-23, 2003

Playing the dominant Titans never gets old. Oh wait, it does! We’re a glorious 8-28 against them the last two years. Their team is largely unchanged from last season, so we can’t expect for the ownage to lessen one bit, despite them not hitting at all in the first two weeks. Their 46 runs scored rank third-worst in the Continental League, but in turn their pitching was blindingly fantastic, with a 2.53 starters’ ERA and 0.76 bullpen ERA.

Projected matchups:
Randy Farley (0-1, 6.48 ERA) vs. Steven Snyder (2-0, 1.50 ERA)
Felipe Garcia (0-1, 5.27 ERA) vs. Joe Mann (1-0, 2.40 ERA)
Ralph Ford (1-2, 6.23 ERA) vs. Jorge Chapa (0-2, 3.32 ERA)

Hard times ahead.

Game 1
POR: RF Brady – CF Torrez – C Ledesma – 1B Martin – LF Reece – 2B Palacios – SS Ingall – 3B M. Ramirez – P Farley
BOS: LF Elizondo – 1B Matsumoto – CF Garrison – RF G. Munoz – 3B Austin – C L. Lopez – 2B V. Flores – SS D. Silva – P Snyder

Pitching reigned supreme on this cold Monday night. Through five innings, neither team had more than two hits, with only Brady hitting two singles off Snyder. When he hit his third single in the top 6th, we mustered something with a 2-run homer by Ledesma to take a 2-0 lead. Farley had had the bases full in the bottom 3rd, and little else, and it was true: the Titans were horrendous at making contact. Raccoons *infielders* registered seven fly outs while Farley was pitching, which surely wasn’t all a pitcher thing. Regardless, Farley was soon enough knocked from the game. Vic Flores doubled in the bottom 7th with one out, then was singled home instantly by the pest Silva. Farley became unglued and walked the bases full with two outs, with Moreno replacing him and getting a deep fly out from Rudy Garrison. The Coons left runners on the corners when Reece was handed his third K of the day by Xavier Herrera, and in the bottom 8th Moreno became stuck as well, but Martinez retired Flores before things could get ugly. Things were heading for Nordahl appearing in the game, which was an all-out non-thrilling proposition, especially in a 1-run game. He entered with an ERA of roughly “a lot”, but then Silva, Diéguez, and Elizondo went up and down in quick succession. 2-1 Coons! Brady 3-3, BB, 2B; Ledesma 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Farley 6.2 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 2 K, W (1-1);

Nordahl’s ERA is still “a lot”, but three runs less than before. Tells you a thing or two about how deep he’s been shoved into the gutter this month.

Game 2
POR: RF Brady – CF Torrez – C Ledesma – 1B Martin – 2B Palacios – 3B Ingall – LF Beairsto – SS McLaughlin – P F. Garcia
BOS: LF Elizondo – 1B Matsumoto – RF G. Munoz – 3B Austin – 2B H. Ramirez – C L. Lopez – CF Bryant – SS V. Flores – P Mann

More pitching, less offense. When Clyde Brady rammed a double off the centerfield wall to plate Beairsto in the fifth inning, that was the first run of the game, and the fifth hit in total. Ledesma left pairs of runners on in both the third and the fifth innings, and in the bottom 5th Garcia had a man on first with two out when Elizondo hit a weak grounder to McLaughlin, whose throw to second went amiss. The Titans loaded them up on an infield single into McLaughlin territory before Munoz flew out to end the inning with no scoring. Top 8th, still 1-0. Brady was retired for the first time in the series before Mann walked both Torrez and Ledesma and was replaced with the lefty Herrera, who allowed a first-pitch single to Al Martin. That loaded them up, and Palacios was hit for with a right-hander here, and with Reece having looked bad for more than a week, we called on Fifield! After a first ball, Fifield poked the ball into play, a sorry grounder that became an RBI infield single mainly because Herrera and Austin got into each other’s way when trying to field it. Ingall lined out, bringing up Beairsto, 0-12 with what felt like 14 K. Reece hit for him, wisely stayed away from the first pitch that was wickedly wild and eluded Diéguez, scoring the Coons’ third run, before Reece grounded out on a 3-1. But, 3-0 was 3-0, and Garcia pitched a scoreless eighth, and with only left-handers due in the bottom 9th, the question in advance was whether Nordahl had found it now and could go back-to-back, or whether we trusted Garcia further than we could throw him. He batted for himself in the ninth, successlessly, and then resumed pitching, allowing a double to lead off the inning. We went to *Moreno*. Moreno had not whiffed anybody in eight innings pitched this season, but struck out his first man, Austin. Ramirez popped out. Here, righty David Mendez hit for Herrera in Lopez’ vacated slot. And HERE came Nordahl! He erred every which way in the strike zone, until he finally threw one down the middle in a full count, and Mendez didn’t even see it coming. K, game over! 3-0 Coons!! Brady 2-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Fifield (PH) 1-1, RBI; Garcia 8.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K, W (1-1) and 1-4, 2B;

Better lucky than anything else? Well, I dig ability, but in absence of that, luck will do.

Game 3
POR: SS Ingall – RF Brady – LF Reece – 1B Martin – C Fifield – 3B M. Ramirez – CF Beairsto – 2B Love – P Ford
BOS: 2B D. Mendez – 1B Matsumoto – CF Garrison – RF G. Munoz – 3B V. Flores – LF Bryant – SS H. Ramirez – C F. Diéguez – P Chapa

Ralph Ford was missing, and he was missing badly, plunking Garrison in the first inning in addition to a walk. That didn’t cost a run, but walking Chapa with two out and Bryant on second ended up costing one once Mendez singled to right afterwards. It didn’t get better for us. OBP wiz Brady was ejected after getting called out on strikes to end the third and calling the umpire a bum of a switch or something like that. The next inning, the Titans put up a 3-spot and Ford didn’t live to see the sixth. The Coons had nothing going apart from a soft single from Beairsto, ending futility at 0-13. We couldn’t get much length out of Bob Joly, either, as he put the first three batters he faced on base in the sixth. Ultimately, non of this mattered. The Raccoons amounted to three hits and eleven strikeouts and were swiftly shut out in this one. 5-0 Titans.

Odd fact: after seven outings and 5.2 innings, Benton Wilson has not conceded any earned runs. Neither has he struck out anyone. Instead he leads the team in wins.

!?

Well, I suppose we won more than our due share in this midweek series, so let’s get the heck outta here before they demand a fourth game.

Raccoons (8-8) @ Bayhawks (5-11) – April 25-27, 2003

What was going on at the Bay? 5-11 seemed very un-bayhawk-like. They had not posted a losing record since 1996 (does that year ring a bell in connection with some other dysfunctional club?), but this one looked really out of whack. They had lost Tony Hamlyn and some pieces more to free agency, but that was not enough to explain their 102 runs allowed and 7.43 ERA in the rotation…

Projected matchups:
Carl Bean (2-1, 3.60 ERA) vs. Raúl Fuentes (1-1, 4.50 ERA)
Nick Brown (0-1, 3.78 ERA) vs. Iván Cordero (0-2, 10.00 ERA)
Randy Farley (1-1, 4.20 ERA) vs. Ricardo Sanchez (1-2, 5.91 ERA)

Game 1
POR: RF Brady – 2B Ingall – LF Reece – 1B Martin – C Fifield – 3B M. Ramirez – SS McLaughlin – CF Beairsto – P Bean
SFB: LF R. Gonzalez – C G. Ortíz – CF Arroyo – RF Javier – 3B Foster – SS J. Perez – 1B I. Navarro – 2B Comte – P Fuentes

No, the Coons didn’t come out swinging. While they took a 1-0 lead in the second inning with a solo homer by Miguel Ramirez, they didn’t have much else going on. In the fifth, BOTH teams concluded their innings with strike-em-out-throw-em-out plays, with the Bayhawks blowing a chance for a big inning there. The bottom 5th had started with McLaughlin, useless every which way, made a capital throwing error that put leadoff man Jesse Foster on second base. Foster scored but the two-for-one special held the game at least tied, with Perez stranded on third base. McLaughlin made another throwing error past Martin the next inning, and old Neil had to make a headlong diving play to safe that run from scoring, retiring Paco Javier without breaking his own neck in the process. Bean went seven, didn’t get a decision, and we cobbled the eighth together with three relievers because the Bayhawks refused to make outs. The Coons had three hits again through eight, but Ingall led off the ninth with a single with Fuentes still in there. Reece grounded out, and Ingall moved to third when Martin legged out an infield single. Prime chance for Fifield, who was batting .103, yeah. Matt Love batted for him, struck out, and so did Ramirez. Benton Wilson got booked for his first run allowed in the bottom 9th then, walking leadoff man Paco Javier and Huerta failed to contain the runner. 2-1 Bayhawks. Ingall 2-3, BB; Martin 2-4; Bean 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 2 K;

That was a true stinker of a game. They were also bad – offensively! – in the Boston series, but that was against sterling pitching. The Bayhawks were rumored to be horrendous. Well, Fuentes wasn’t and took a complete game win.

Dale Moore came off the DL, with a wildly unsuccessful Chris Beairsto (1 for 18) heading back to Florida.

Game 2
POR: RF Brady – 2B Ingall – LF Reece – 1B Martin – CF Torrez – 3B M. Ramirez – 2B Palacios – C Ledesma – P P Brown
SFB: 2B Berrios – SS J. Perez – C G. Ortíz – LF Brulhart – 3B Foster – CF Arroyo – RF Comte – 1B Aguilar – P I. Cordero

Cordero walked ten per nine innings, had an ERA of ten, but the Coons had a lineup with ten divided by two left-handed batters (plus Brown). You were hoping for a rash of scoring, you feared the opposite, and in fact the Raccoons buried Cordero as quickly as a glacier. Reece singled home a run in the third, and that was all they did early on. Brown held up, although he was not quite as flashy as usual. Cordero was almost at 100 pitches in the sixth. Martin had singled, and Torrez grounded to second, where Leon Berrios played the ball to first – or not bloody quite. Aguilar couldn’t contain the short hop, and the Coons had two men on with no outs, and the bases were loaded when Ramirez singled to center. Palacios also singled, 2-0, and a run scored on Ledesma’s groundout, and Cordero was taken out eventually. Rodrigo Garcia struck out Reece with the bags full in a 4-0 game to advance to the bottom 6th. Ramirez homered the next inning to make it 5-0. Brown went on and on, completed eight on 99 pitches, and seemed to have juice left. Bottom 9th, Gabriel Ortíz grounded out to Ingall on a 2-2 pitch. Jim Brulhart was down 0-2 and flew out to Torrez, and that made Foster the potential final out. That AB also went to two strikes, and this time Brown did not bother his defense and K’ed him! 5-0 Coons! Martin 2-5; Ramirez 2-2, 2 BB, HR, RBI; Palacios 1-2, 2 BB, RBI; Brown 9.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 7 K, W (1-1);

Brownie’s 4-hitter came on 113 pitches, and it’s for his 12th big league win and second shutout and complete game. He pitched very well in this game, and had many more 2-strike counts. Although 10 K and more excite me, he often mixes them up with five walks, and then I’d rather have a splendidly pitched shutout.

Who wouldn’t?

Game 3
POR: RF Brady – CF Torrez – C Ledesma – 1B Martin – SS Ingall – 2B Palacios – 3B M. Ramirez – LF Moore – P Farley
SFB: LF R. Gonzalez – C G. Ortíz – CF Arroyo – RF Javier – 3B Foster – SS J. Perez – 1B I. Navarro – 2B J. Diaz – P R. Sanchez

Sanchez had his bell rung early with an opening-inning 3-run homer clobbered by Al Martin for his third of the year. The Coons took a nap then while Farley faced the minimum through three innings, but that was aided by two double plays turned by Ingall and Palacios behind him. In the bottom 4th he fell victim to an RBI triple by Paco Javier, but Dale Moore hit a leadoff jack to restore the 3-run gap right away in the fifth. The Bahyhawks however were just starting to constrict Farley, who barely escaped the fifth with two men on, and couldn’t escape the sixth at all. He left with two on, two out and Navarro up, whom Bruno came in for. One pop to shallow right later, we were out of the inning and still leading by two, 4-2. Brady had made that catch and he would make another one an inning later, starving another two runners that Huerta had put there, righties Diaz and Ortíz, while he had surrendered two left-handers. Moreno then induced a sharp line to right from ex-Elk Arroyo, that Brady just so managed to throw himself in the way of. Still 4-2, and the Bayhawks made three quick outs against Moreno (one) and Martinez (two) in the eighth. Add-on offense, perhaps? Yes, one run, plated through singles by Ingall, Reece, and Moore in the top 9th. Nordahl was out for the bottom of that inning, facing the bottom third of the Hawks’ order. Navarro grounded out before the Bayhawks put two on with a Diaz single and an Aguilar walk. Gonzalez grounded to Ingall, now at second, but they only got Aguilar, and PH Jim Brulhart represented the tying run with two out. And he had power. And Nordahl had been whacked hard already this year. Brulhart eventually walked on five pitches, creating a most unpleasant situation with Luis Arroyo up next, a left-hander, but Benton Wilson had lots of walks and no strikeouts. So it was Nordahl vs. Arroyo with three on and two out, and the 2-2 pitch was taken high to right. High, but not deep, and Brady made the play. 5-2 Coons. Ingall 2-4; Reece (PH) 1-1; Moore 2-4, HR, 2 RBI;

In other news

April 21 – LVA RF/LF Lou Jenkins (.342, 5 HR, 14 RBI) is out for the season with a torn labrum.
April 23 – The Aces’ SP Anibal Sandoval (2-1, 3.44 ERA) 2-hits the Falcons in a 5-0 shutout.
April 24 – The Cyclones are blanked by WAS SP Mario Pagán (2-2, 4.56 ERA), amounting to just three hits in a 5-0 shutout.
April 26 – TOP 1B Jose Valenzuela (.355, 4 HR, 19 RBI) has hit in 20 straight games collecting a double in his team’s 5-4 win over the Scorpions.
April 26 – DEN SP Victor Bernal (3-1, 4.39 ERA), who missed last year’s FLCS already, is now out for most of the year with bone chips in his elbow.
April 27 – Another FL West pitcher is diagnosed with bone chips in his elbow, as SAC SP Kenny Frye (0-2, 3.86 ERA) hits the shelf for at least four months.
April 27 – Valenzuela’s hitting streak is snapped at 20 games already by the Scorpions, who hold him at 0-5, while the Buffaloes win 4-3.

Complaints and stuff

Hits to go for Neil Reece to catch Daniel Hall for the franchise record: 113. Could take a while.

Odd note: Brownie has 1,446 professional strikeouts. Drafted as a high schooler in ’95, he has already turned in over 200 innings at every level on the ladder. Nobody thought anything of that kid when he was drafted, and now flocks of young boys wear his jersey.

Things like that are the few reasons I don’t just step in front of a train.

16 runs scored this week. Sixteen! I mean, we finally got good pitching, but sixteen!! For once, a preseason projection kicks in. Injuries would kill the team. Injuries killed the team. Especially against left-handed pitching, we’ve got nothing anymore. And then you get McLaughlin actively throwing games away.

Sharp and Concie were all it took for this team to fold and die.

Questdog · 04-30-2015, 12:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Westheim

Sharp and Concie were all it took for this team to fold and die.

A 4-2 week doesn't exactly qualify as folding up and dying according to the official handbook. You could look it up yourself; the handbook is published by the New York Mets Department of Choking.

Westheim · 04-30-2015, 05:49 PM

I checked, and Concie and Sharpie were still hurting. That in turn hurt me.

Raccoons (10-9) @ Condors (11-8) – April 29-May 1, 2003

Will we ever play at home? The Condors were 3rd in runs scored, but only 8th in runs allowed in this young season. Of note was their struggling bullpen, whose contents were posting a 4.88 ERA, which was even worse than the Coons’.

Projected matchups:
Ralph Ford (1-3, 6.55 ERA) vs. Kelvin Yates (3-1, 2.70 ERA)
Carl Bean (2-1, 2.67 ERA) vs. Curt Powell (0-1, 7.64 ERA)
Nick Brown (1-1, 2.45 ERA) vs. Ramón Ortíz (1-0, 2.16 ERA)

Garcia was skipped because I am in general doubt of his abilities and we had an off day. With Ford, at least we have last year’s memory.

Game 1
POR: RF Brady – C Ledesma – SS Ingall – 1B Martin – 2B Palacios – LF Reece – 3B M. Ramirez – CF Torrez – P Ford
TIJ: LF Bayle – SS J. Barrón – C Cicalina – CF Morton – 1B Suzuki – 2B B. Boyle – RF B. Wilson – 3B Stein – P Yates

Ford was not only beleaguered, but swiftly conquered as the Condors batted through their order in the first inning, whacking six hits, of which four were for extra bases, to score five runs on a stunningly useless shell of a pitcher. The second inning started with three straight singles of varying hardness, and Ford was dragged outta there to be euthanized as quickly as possible. When Bob Joly entered the game, he was quick to surrender another three hits, including a triple, to give the Condors their second 5-spot of the day. Yates was perfect through three. The Raccoons wouldn’t have anybody reach base until enabled so by an uncaught third strike. Somewhere in the course of this soul-smothering rout, Yates had a bad inning and surrendered a string of hits and a few runs. They were all meaningless. Cynically, once Joly was done waving in the last of Ford’s eight runs conceded, and two on his own, the bullpen pitched six scoreless, and almost hitless. 10-4 Condors. Huerta 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K;

So Ford is going the Farley way? I will officially retract my statement that those two and some other buffoons will lead the team to a championship. They will probably lead them to another 100 losses season, but that’s all.

Game 2
POR: RF Brady – C Ledesma – SS Ingall – 1B Martin – 2B Palacios – LF Reece – 3B M. Ramirez – CF Lyon – P Bean
TIJ: LF Bayle – SS J. Barrón – 1B B. Román – RF MacGruder – 3B B. Boyle – CF Morton – C Clemente – 2B Stein – P Powell

Another day, another opposing pitcher being perfect through three against the Ragdolls. Bean retired Powell for the second out in the bottom 3rd, then Bayle legged out a bunt for a single. Four more batters came to the plate in the inning which somehow ended with Boyle lining out viciously to Cal Lyon to leave three men on in a 1-0 game. Brady finally got on base to start the fourth with a double, and a Joe Morton error also put Ledesma on. The inning escalated on the Condors, with an INGALL SINGLE tying the score, before Powell plunked Martin, and Palacios put the Coons ahead with a single. They’d score four in the inning. Bean made it through seven with some more escapades, but no runs allowed. Moreno allowed a hit to Bartolo Román in the eighth, but the Condors didn’t score and it was still 4-1, with Nordahl getting ready. Two out, nobody on in the top 9th, Cal Lyon fired a bolt to deep left, which missed the wall, but didn’t miss Jimmy Bayle’s glove, which in turn touched the wall. Joe Morton’s leadoff double put Nordahl in a bad spot then right away, and the Condors put the tying runs on when Bayle had his fourth hit on the night, a 2-out RBI single. Barrón struck out, however. 4-2 Coons. Brady 2-4, 2B; Palacios 2-4, RBI; Bean 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 3 K, W (3-1);

Game 3
POR: RF Brady – SS Ingall – CF Reece – 1B Martin – 3B M. Ramirez – LF Moore – 2B Love – C Fifield – P Brown
TIJ: LF Bayle – SS J. Barrón – C Cicalina – CF Morton – 1B Suzuki – 2B B. Boyle – RF B. Wilson – 3B Stein – P R. Ortíz

Sometimes, Brown wouldn’t have it, and this time, he didn’t have it. Not by a bloody mile. A Martin sac fly sat the Coons ahead, 1-0, in the first, but Brown gave up two runs in the bottom of the inning without getting ahead in the count on any batter. Fifield went deep in the second, but the joy was short-lived. Brown was socked for three runs (two unearned after an Ingall error) in the bottom 3rd, and soon was out of the game, facing three batters in the fourth, and all three reached. Three innings, seven hits, five walks. Huerta came in and made sure all runs scored with walks and a wild pitch. It was an ugly team effort. Top 6th, down 8-3, they loaded the bases with no outs. Brady popped out, Ingall singled home a run, because that’s what he does, and then Reece and Martin both whiffed most pathetically. At that point, in an 8-4 loss, the Raccoons out-hit the Condors 13-7. Somehow, SOMEHOW, this was possible. The Raccoons would leave more men on along the way. In the eighth, down by four, they had two on after Brady singled with one out and Ingall reached on an error. Reece – abysmal, all around – was hit for by Palacios against the righty Jared Chaney, who grounded out nevertheless. Martin singled home a run, but that was it. The ninth: Enrico Gonzalez walked the first two batters he faced, Moore and Love. Fifield tried to tie it, made an out, but Torrez singled, 8-6. Brady then walked to load them up with one out for Ingall, who popped out, and it was on Palacios against the lefty Gonzalez, which could not end well even on a less **** day. 8-6 Condors. Ingall 3-6, 2 2B, RBI; Martin 3-4, RBI; Moore 2-4, BB, 2B; Fifield 2-5, HR, RBI; Lyon (PH) 1-1; Torrez (PH) 1-2, RBI; Bruno 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K;

Turns out Ingall singles only when it doesn’t really, really count. 15 left on base. Brown torn to shreds. I never liked the Condors. Ugly bird things.

Raccoons (11-11) vs. Canadiens (11-10) – May 2-4, 2003

Great, just back in Portland, and the whole city stinks. Must be those vile creatures that invaded from the north. Some looked familiar, but they all smelled. Yuck. The Elks had dropped their last four games, turning to Portland to get back up in the division. Both teams tied for sixth in runs allowed, while the Elks had the Coons edged by five runs for fifth place in the Continental League.

Projected matchups:
Randy Farley (2-1, 3.92 ERA) vs. George Norris (1-1, 2.08 ERA)
Felipe Garcia (1-1, 3.32 ERA) vs. Daniel Dickerson (4-1, 2.88 ERA)
Ralph Ford (1-4, 9.26 ERA) vs. Joe Hollow (0-3, 5.94 ERA)

Game 1
VAN: SS Simon – LF T. Wilson – 2B Dobson – 1B I. Gutierrez – CF Wheaton – 3B A. De Jesus – RF Trinidad – C Hurtado – P Norris
POR: RF Brady – 2B Palacios – 3B Ingall – 1B Martin – C Ledesma – LF Moore – CF Torrez – SS McLaughlin – P Farley

Walks to Brady and Palacios and a Martin single loaded them up in the bottom 1st, before Jerry Dobson couldn’t turn a double play on a perfectly suited grounder from Ledesma. That was the only run the Coons got in the inning. Farley responded by allowing three singles and then walking Hurtado with the bases loaded in the top of the second. In a game in which the Raccoons would routinely leave a runner on third base, at least Eddie Torrez went yard in the bottom 4th, but the 2-1 lead was swiftly blown by Farley in the next inning. Farley was continuously wobbling, not getting into a rhythm, and it was almost like the team said “well, Randy, if you always blow your leads, we simply won’t give you any more, and you will lose!” This didn’t happen today, as Farley was hit for in the bottom 6th, and Reece made a poor out in his place. In the top 7th, Benton Wilson had his first strikeout of the year, had even two, and then was socked a 2-run homer by Tony Velasquez. The Raccoons eventually stopped leaving runners on third base, ceasing to reach base at all, except for Brady in the bottom 9th, with a 1-out single. When Palacios grounded to him, Dobson turned the double play this time. 4-2 Canadiens. Palacios 2-4, BB; Martin 2-4;

Yeah. Well. It’s just not going at all. It’s all out horrible.

Game 2
VAN: SS Simon – CF Wheaton – 2B Dobson – 1B I. Gutierrez – LF T. Wilson – 3B Rodgers – RF E. Garcia – C Hurtado – P Dickerson
POR: RF Brady – 2B Palacios – 3B Ingall – 1B Martin – C Ledesma – LF Reece – 3B M. Ramirez – CF Torrez – P F. Garcia

… and again the opposing pitcher faced the minimum the first time through the order, although this time a bloop single by Al Martin and a Ledesma double play were involved. Ledesma also had a hand in the first Canadiens run, which scored in the fourth when Enrique Garcia doubled home Tom Wilson (and pulled something in the process). Wilson had stolen second base before that, with Ledesma’s throw errant and into center, giving Wilson third base even. The next inning, Ingall made already his second error in the game, this one catastrophic, scoring a 2-out run and bringing up Iván Gutierrez, who then took Felipe Garcia well deep. Garcia was done after six, not having allowed an earned run and still well trailing, 4-1. Palacios was on first in the bottom 6th when Ingall hit one to Dobson, but for once an opponent bobbled one. This brought up Martin as the tying run, who figured as a pretty good matchup to Dickerson, who was a control pitcher, but not an overpowering one. Dickerson promptly missed his spot, and Martin hammered a game-tying fireball out of rightfield. The inning continued, with Ledesma grounding to Dobson – and he botched it again! Reece singled, moving Ledesma to second, and Ramirez singled, bases loaded, and Dickerson, who had not retired any of the last six batters, then walked Torrez to give the Coons a 5-4 lead. Moore hit for Garcia, singled, 6-4, before Al Matthews came in and got Brady to hit into a double play. In the bottom 8th the Coons loaded them up but two pinch-hitters, Fifield and Love, struck out, and Brady grounded out to first to end an 0-5 day for himself. No tack-on run, so Nordahl appeared. He started by walking Hurtado, then got a one-bounce comebacker from Jim Phillips he was too slow to turn into a double play. When he actually faced the left-handed batters on the top of the lineup, Simon and Wheaton, he struck them out. 6-4 Coons. Palacios 2-4; Martin 2-4, HR, 3 RBI; Reece 3-4; Moore (PH) 1-1, RBI; Garcia 6.0 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 4 K, W (2-1); Moreno 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Baseball is a game of wonders. It is called as such because you are constantly wondering what the heck is going on. Of ten runs in this game, only two were earned, both on Dickerson. Five errors were made.

May we please take this series so I don’t have to cry all night? We might not deserve it, but …… but!

Game 3
VAN: SS Simon – 3B Phillips – 2B Dobson – RF Velasquez – LF Trinidad – CF T. Wilson – C Rosa – 1B J. Zamora – P Hollow
POR: SS Ingall – RF Moore – LF Reece – 1B Martin – 3B M. Ramirez – CF Torrez – 2B Love – C Fifield – P Ford

The first run of the game was scored on errors by Dobson AND Wilson in the fourth inning. So the good news was the Canadiens still played ****ty defense, although they had turned two double plays already, and Ford had not been pounced on for a dozen outs. Him walking Hollow to start the top 5th however could be interpreted as trouble looming, yet the Elks didn’t score in that inning, either. The next inning saw another double play turned on the snoozing Coons, and Ramón Trinidad tied the score with a 1-out solo home run in the sixth. Trinidad would get to run after a Ramirez thunderbolt in the bottom of the same frame however, and it landed just a few seats over from where Trinidad had deposited one in the top half for a leadoff jack. Ford was yanked after Zamora and Simon reached the corners in the top 7th with only one out. Bruno wiggled out of the inning, first with a K to Phillips, walked Dobson, but Velasquez grounded out. The Coons left two on in their half of the seventh, before Huerta came out and walked Trinidad. Tom Wilson hit one sharply to Love, who turned two with Ingall. Freddy Rosa then singled, and Gutierrez came out to hit for Zamora, so we moved for a lefty. Benton Wilson went 2-2 on the pinch-hitter before Gutierrez grounded out sharply to Martin. The Coons again left a pair of 2-out runners on in their two catchers in the bottom 8th. Nordahl had no cushion for the ninth, and I had a very bad feeling. He faced Hurtado first, and like the previous day, Hurtado reached, this time on a single. That flipped the lineup to its top, with Simon grounding to Ingall, now at the keystone, but him and McLaughlin couldn’t turn the double play, getting only Hurtado. When Phillips grounded to Ramirez, they got the lead runner again, but no double play. That brought up Dobson, who had hurt his team so much in this series that one had to expect some divine intervention to set him straight with the Coons. He was 0-2 on the day, and 3-23 against the Coons on the year, but 1-3 lifetime against Nordahl. Nordahl was not enjoying even modest stuff right now. But Dobson had shoveled his team into holes all weekend long, and he ended this series with a strikeout. 2-1 Critters. Moore 2-4; Reece 2-4; Ramirez 3-4, HR, RBI; Ledesma (PH) 1-1;

In other news

April 28 – MIL SP/MR Vernon Robertson (2-0, 0.75 ERA) announces his retirement at year’s end. Robertson, 40, has 222 wins to his credit. He needs 64 strikeouts to reach a swift 2,000.
April 28 – DAL SP Angel Romero (2-2, 1.41 ERA) goes to the shelf for most of the season with a torn labrum.
May 4 – Salem loses INF Leborio Catalo (.301, 0 HR, 11 RBI) for a month to an oblique strain.

Complaints and stuff

Whoah, this Sunday game was constantly trying to get out of hand. The Coons were about to get whacked almost every inning, and it never happened. Maybe THIS is the divine sign that the team is not quite as **** as some people think it is?

Well, the lineup certainly is right now. We’re batting scrubs, and lots of them. We NEED Concie and Sharpie back, but neither of them figures to be back before another week goes down on the schedule. Maybe something can be made of Ramirez this year (and DFA’ing McLaughlin), but Love joins the atrocious group of Lyon, Fifield, and the animate corpse of Neil Reece, who is 106 hits removed from the franchise mark, but might crumble to dust before he gets even close.

Nordahl ties for third in saves in the league despite getting raped with bats for most of the first two weeks? Stranger things might have happened, but rarely outside of Old Testament plagues.

Last year, our former southpaw Miguel Lopez went 9-13 with a 5.65 ERA for the Cyclones, but at least he made 27 starts which was not something he did regularly in his career. This year, the season is already over for him. Ending up with the Miners’ AAA team in Akron, Lopez went 2-0 with a 4.63 ERA in three starts before tearing a rotator cuff. He’s out for the year. Whether he will come back next year at age 35 remains to be seen. Poor kid, had a promising career, just couldn’t ever stay healthy.

Another ex-Coon getting hurt was Chris Parker. Traded to L.A., he earned a starting spot on that decrepit team and merely hit .409 over 66 AB before spraining his wrist last Sunday.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Questdog

A 4-2 week doesn't exactly qualify as folding up and dying according to the official handbook. You could look it up yourself; the handbook is published by the New York Mets Department of Choking.

The Raccoons played two teams who were struggling to score anyway that week (I didn’t list the Bayhawks’ offense, but it was below average, too). The pitching happened to hold up, but the offense was anemic. A 4-2 week was nice to have, but the bigger picture was unfriendly.

Right now, the Raccoons are unable to recover from even one bad thing happening to them.

We are 25 games in. The Raccoons have recovered from a 3-run deficit exactly twice, and both times against the Canadiens. One was this Saturday with Jerry Dobson burying his team, and the other was the 16-run drubbing we gave them in the season’s third game, when the lineup was still complete.

Good teams can afford to make a mistake or two, shrug, and get four hits in an inning to tie the score. These Coons are batting scrubs galore, and we are going to see two more offensively inept teams in the Crusaders and Wolves next week, but after that it’s division leaders and teams that are hunting them… And against such competition I currently see no chance for the Critters to not be caught, shot, and skinned to be turned into clothing.

Westheim · 05-01-2015, 11:20 AM

Raccoons (13-12) vs. Crusaders (10-14) – May 5-8, 2003

This would probably not be the year the Crusaders returned to relevance, either. Vince rated their roster as poor throughout with the only players he’d readily add to the Raccoons’ roster being pitchers Whit Reeves and Leonardo Sosa and outfielder Martin Ortíz. Their collection of scraps had scored 77 runs through 24 games, last in the Continental League, and had surrendered 119 counters in return, which was the third-worst mark. Their bullpen was especially troubled, posting a league-worst 5.44 ERA mark.

Projected matchups:
Carl Bean (3-1, 2.38 ERA) vs. Greg Connor (2-1, 2.61 ERA)
Nick Brown (1-2, 3.14 ERA) vs. Kelly Fairchild (1-3, 5.23 ERA)
Randy Farley (2-1, 3.71 ERA) vs. Mike Nelson (2-2, 3.58 ERA)
Felipe Garcia (2-1, 2.60 ERA) vs. Marvin Hall (0-2, 3.50 ERA)

That’s four right-handers in this series, and with the way the Raccoons were laden with lefties right now, this was not the worst thing in the world for them.

Game 1
NYC: CF Gonzales – SS Burne – LF M. Ortíz – 1B M. Berry – 3B V. Gonzalez – 2B Brantley – C F. Gonzalez – RF G. Andrews – P Connor
POR: RF Brady – C Ledesma – SS Ingall – 1B Martin – LF Reece – 2B Palacios – 3B M. Ramirez – CF Torrez – P Bean

And just because for whatever actual reasons, the Crusaders bounced Bean around for four hits and two runs in the first inning. Just for starters, they had already almost fulfilled their daily run expectancy. Bean continued to bleed singles throughout his outing, but the Coons at least managed to come back at some point. While Ledesma ended the bottom 3rd with a soul-killing double play, a leadoff Ingall single the next inning got the Coons going. Martin and Palacios both singled, loading the bases with one out for Ramirez, who fired a hard grounder to third base and past a diving Vincente Gonzalez. The ball went to the corner, plating two runs and tying the game. After Torrez was walked intentionally, Bean then grounded into another soul-killing double play. Gonzales got his revenge with an RBI triple in the seventh to give the Crusaders a new lead, 4-3, but in the bottom of the frame the Coons got another chance developed after Torrez drew a leadoff walk. Bean bunted, the Crusaders tried to get Torrez and didn’t get anybody. Two on, no outs for Brady, with the chances to come back increased with a passed ball on Felix Gonzalez on the second pitch of the at-bat. Brady ultimately walked, and then Ledesma popped out. Uh-oh. Ingall grounded to second, where Ron Brantley’s only play was to first, and that groundout tied the score. Martin hit a soft floater over Brantley into shallow center then to score the go-ahead run! Neil Reece, however, predictably grounded out poorly for the fourth time on the day. The bean managed to get through another inning. Mindful that we didn’t have Nordahl available, we were longing for an insurance run (like we wouldn’t long WHEN Nordahl was available!), but no such luck. With right-handers up and Bruno also a bit tired, we deemed Manuel Martinez to be our best bet at getting the 4-3 lead over, and he struck out the side (never minding a walk to Gonzales with two out). 4-3 Coons. Martin 2-4, RBI; Palacios 2-4, 2B; Torrez 0-1, 3 BB; Bean 8.0 IP, 9 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, W (4-1);

Game 2
NYC: 2B B. Andrews – C D. Anderson – LF M. Ortíz – CF Gonzales – 1B T. Mullins – SS Burne – 3B V. Gonzalez – RF G. Andrews – P Fairchild
POR: RF Brady – C Ledesma – SS Ingall – 1B Martin – LF Reece – 3B M. Ramirez – CF Torrez – 2B Love – P Brown

And once again Brown had nothing, absolutely nothing. The Crusaders routed him for four runs in the second inning, including a 3-run homer by Greg Andrews with nobody out. Four of the five leadoff batters Brown faced in the game reached base, three on walks, and the last one when Derek Burne hit a homer to make it 5-2 in the top 5th. That was also Brown’s last batter, again getting yanked in shame. Bob Joly promptly surrendered another run, and while the Raccoons loaded them up and brought up Martin in the bottom 5th with two outs, Martin rolled out gingerly to short. Joly was ripped up for another three runs by the seventh, and the Raccoons were swiftly routed by the most horrendous lineup in baseball. 9-3 Crusaders. Ingall 3-5, HR, 2B, RBI; Love 3-3, BB;

No, Brown starts aren’t fun anymore, either. And our only “meaningful offseason addition” is batting .211 now as well.

Game 3
NYC: CF Gonzales – 2B B. Andrews – LF M. Ortíz – C D. Anderson – 1B M. Berry – 3B V. Gonzalez – SS Burne – RF G. Andrews – P Nelson
POR: RF Brady – SS Ingall – LF Moore – 1B Martin – 3B M. Ramirez – 2B Palacios – C Fifield – CF Torrez – P Farley

For a nice change, the early game was not a mind-boggling disaster for the Coons in game 3. Farley pitched a scoreless first, and in the bottom of the inning Brady and Moore reached base and were scored with singles by Martin and Palacios, 2-0. In the top 2nd, Vincente Gonzalez tripled, but was starved on third base by Farley. Palacios would also go deep in the fourth to make it 3-0, while Farley was surrendering singles left, right, and center, but the Crusaders didn’t score. Fairytale Hour ended and reality kicked in soon enough, though. In the bottom 5th, both teams would go to great lengths to show who sucked more. Derek Burne’s error put leadoff batter Farley on base in the inning, and the Raccoons quickly loaded them up with no outs, only for Moore to pop out and Martin to hit a high pop to shallow center that even a snail had managed to get to by the time the ball decided to come down to earth again. Three on, two outs, Ramirez batting. Oh well, maybe next inning. Or maybe Mike Nelson would plunk Ramirez, forcing home the fourth run for the Coons. With Palacios up, Nelson threw a wild one, 5-0, before Palacios proficiently popped out to Burne, where all the misery had started. Bottom 6th, the Coons had Fifield and Torrez draw walks off Alex Glaviz, Farley bunt them over, and Brady and Ingall whiff to leave them there. Top 7th, Gonzales hit a triple to get things started, and then Palacios made a terrible throw on Bryan Andrews’ grounder that Martin could not come up with. The run scored, Andrews went to second, and Farley went showering. Moreno appeared, waved in the runner with a double to Ortíz, and eventually left himself with the tying runs on base and Bruno coming in to maybe, or maybe not, take care of PH Ron Brantley. He didn’t, Brantley singled, and the fourth run of the inning came home. As were talking about mind-boggling disaster at the top of the show, another pinch-hitter appeared, 20-year old Canadian Conor Shearing. He would have his 11th major league at-bat against Marcos Bruno, and would take home a ball from his first big league home run that gave the Crusaders a 7-5 lead. Fans were littering the field with beer cups (some full) and a few Raccoons caps, much to the amazement of the visiting Crusaders. Bottom 7th, Bob Evans pitched for the Crusaders, with Moore singling, and then Ramirez and Fifield walked. Bases loaded, two out for Torrez, and another walk for Evans, who was then taken out. Righty Bryan Davidson appeared, as Ledesma hit for Bruno. His liner to center was caught by Gonzales, and the fans now grew truly unruly. Benton Wilson loaded them up in the top 8th but the Crusaders hit into an inning-ending double play. In turn, Ramirez left two on base in the bottom 8th. Felix Gonzalez, a fearsome .063 batter, homered off Huerta in the ninth, which was answered with someone throwing a baseball glove at the Raccoons mascot atop their dugout. Once Leonardo Sosa made it a 1-2-3 bottom 9th, a ripped out chair was thrown into leftfield, which Martin Ortíz hurriedly vacated. 8-6 Crusaders. Brady 2-5; Ingall 2-5;

(stewing)

Game 4
NYC: CF Gonzales – 2B B. Andrews – LF M. Ortíz – C D. Anderson – 1B M. Berry – 3B V. Gonzalez – SS Burne – RF G. Andrews – P M. Hall
POR: RF Brady – SS Ingall – LF Moore – 1B Martin – 3B M. Ramirez – 2B Palacios – C Ledesma – CF Lyon – P F. Garcia

With the number of security personnel and the amount of calming substances in my system both greatly increased, the Raccoons tried against all possible and impossible odds and oddities to salvage a split in this series against a team that was wildly more inept even when compared to them rather than a proper big league team.

The game saw Felipe Garcia throw only 25 pitches before leaving with some imaginary or actual ailment of sorts, possibly other than just being aware of being far displaced atop a major league mound. On the way to those 25 pitches he had already booked himself a loss serving up an awe-inspiring 2-run homer to Martin Ortíz. There was no way the Raccoons would piece together eight innings with their ragdoll bullpen, so while for the moment Bob Joly was thrown in there to take way more damage than absolutely necessary, Ralph Ford was sent to the bullpen to warm up. Garcia’s desire to run up enough losses to be demoted out of the spotlight (and the Agitator’s front page) was curtailed by Al Martin hitting a 2-piece himself in the bottom 1st. Yet, with Bob “Jitters” Joly pitching, another crooked number in the upper part of the line score was highly likely to appear sooner than a large Peperoni ordered from the pizza parlor across the street from the park. The Italians took their time, while Martin singled home another run in the bottom 3rd to make it 3-2 Coons, with Hall loading them up with two out for Ledesma, whose liner to left was not caught by Ortíz, as Ingall scored, and Martin was waved around third on the single, with Ortíz’ throw nowhere near the plate. Cal Lyon flew out to center, leaving the score at 5-2 for the time being.

However, this was Joly pitching. Setbacks were guaranteed, only the timing was uncertain. The setback came in the fifth. Three men up, three singles, three on, no outs. Joly was yanked and replaced by Martinez in the hope to get a K somewhere, something that couldn’t be expected from Ford right now. Martinez struck out Gonzales, popped out Andrews, and then Ortíz and Anderson hit singles tying the game. Okay, bring Ford.

In another cynical twist, Ford struck out Mark Berry to end the inning with two men stranded, but the score was now tied at five. Two men were left on by Lyon again in the bottom 5th, and in the sixth Martin was up with the bases loaded and one out. Again he couldn’t convert the scoring bases loaded situation and instead rolled into a force at home, and Ramirez was no help in scoring someone, either. That horse face Shearing led off the seventh as pinch-hitter, singled, and Ford surrendered enough crap to have the kid score the go-ahead run for back-to-back days. Ford had nothing, still remained in the game, and surrendered another RBI double to fudge face Shearing in the eighth. The game was lost anyway, but not without more pain coming our way, as Moreno replaced Ford, walked a pair, which was just enough to be able to give up a sac fly to plate the piece of **** Shearing.

Fans were really into it now, booing the sorry collection of fails in the brown uniforms on the field. Another run fell out of Nordahl’s pants in the ninth, while I was manically banging my fists against the safety glass in my office. Bottom 9th, there came Sosa, and there went the Raccoons. 9-6 Crusaders. Ingall 2-4, BB; Martin 3-5, HR, 4 RBI; Palacios 3-4, BB; Ledesma 2-4, BB, 2 RBI; Reece (PH) 1-1;

Once Gary Fifield rolled out to short for the final out, I released a mark-shattering, high-pitched scream, hit against the glass once more, and then sank to the knees, slumped against the glass, to cry violently. Let all the crap leave your system. I was loud enough for Slappy to actually stick his head through the door to see whether I was alright. I wasn’t. He left with the remaining Jack Daniels. I slept against the glass once the crying exhausted me enough to actually go to sleep. I didn’t even deal out capital punishments before the team left to play the Wolves.

What should they be punished for? The Crusaders scored 77 runs in a month. They scored 29 in four days over the Portland Misfits. They are ****, true. But you can’t punish them for being ****.

They were born that way.

Westheim · 05-03-2015, 05:45 PM

Raccoons (14-15) @ Wolves (14-14) – May 9-11, 2003

The Raccoons were to play down the road in Salem over the weekend, and I didn’t go. I couldn’t. I had seen a little bit too much recently. I’d leave the team to Lance Cox, who should be man and manager enough to give the suckers The Look if necessary.

We faced a thoroughly average team with no particularly glaring strengths of weaknesses. The Wolves had a -4 run differential, compared to -11 for the Raccoons.

Projected matchups:
Ralph Ford (2-5, 7.79 ERA) vs. Dan Moriarty (4-1, 2.82 ERA)
Carl Bean (4-1, 2.57 ERA) vs. Wilson Hernandez (4-2, 4.98 ERA)
Nick Brown (1-3, 4.13 ERA) vs. Manny Guzmán (1-4, 4.63 ERA)

Game 1
POR: 2B Ingall – RF Brady – LF Reece – 1B Martin – 3B M. Ramirez – C Fifield – CF Lyon – SS McLaughlin – P Ford
SAL: CF Summers – SS Hutchinson – RF J. Flores – C J. Lopez – 2B Metting – LF Nixon – 1B Fleming – 3B McGreary – P Moriarty

Ingall single, walks to Brady and Reece, and – SCREECH. Moriarty held the Coons to a sac fly in the first. Hard pressed for any kind of pitching, the Raccoons started Ralph Ford the day after he appeared in relief against the Crusaders, but Ford held up remarkably well and pitched four scoreless frames. He missed wildly in the fifth and was removed, with Marcos Bruno taking over and preserving the 1-0 lead. The Coons had the bases loaded with no outs in the sixth again, but again couldn’t get another hit, but at least scored two runs on a bases-loaded walk to Ramirez and a groundout by Fifield. Bruno almost made it through three innings, but when the Wolves had two on with two out in the bottom 7th and lefty Orlando Rios hit for Moriarty, Benton Wilson was called on and got Rios to ground out to Ingall. The Coons added two runs in the eighth, including the sixth homer of the year for Al Martin, but when Wilson put a man on in the bottom 8th we brought Nordahl in, the only rested pitcher we had left. Nordahl surrendered a homer to Jorge Lopez, the first man he faced, and it was 5-2. The offensive players, knowing Nordahl well enough, tacked on two runs, and Nordahl continued to get whacked in the bottom 9th, but a launching catch by Miguel Ramirez ended the game before the Wolves could raise his ERA beyond ridiculous. 7-2 Raccoons. Brady 2-4, BB, 2B; Reece 3-4, BB, 2 2B; Ramirez 2-2, 2 2B, 2 RBI; Ford 4.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 5 K; Bruno 2.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 K, W (1-1) and 1-1;

Felipe Garcia has been diagnosed with a small tear in his labrum. He will be out for two months as we try to avoid surgery. So, as Garcia heads to the DL, we call up Ricky Beach, a 29-year old right-hander, who was a 10th round pick by the Canadiens in 1995. He made 20 starts for the 2001 Thunder, going 10-6 with a 4.16 ERA. We added him from the scrap heap in late April. Normally, we’d go with either Ramón Meza or winter addition Fernando Piquero, but both are posting ERA’s north of seven in St. Petersburg, and are a big factor in that team playing 6-24 baseball.

Like we don’t have enough problems.

We will pitch Bean and Brown on short rest while Beach will be available in relief. We have an off day on Monday, and with Farley going in the first game against Richmond at home, we won’t need Beach to start until Wednesday. That should be plenty of regeneration time for Beach to appear in at least one game.

Meanwhile, Dan Nordahl’s K/9 and ERA are the same right now, which is never a good thing: 8.03;

Game 2
POR: RF Brady – 2B Palacios – LF Reece – 1B Martin – 3B M. Ramirez – C Ledesma – CF Torrez – SS McLaughlin – P Bean
SAL: LF Bass – 2B Metting – RF J. Flores – C J. Lopez – SS Hutchinson – 1B Fleming – CF Guerra – 3B O. Rios – P W. Hernandez

Wilson Hernandez had already walked a pair when he faced Carl Bean with the bases loaded and two down in the top 2nd. Bean was perhaps the best-batting pitcher we had, and it really showed, as he battled out a walk that forced in the first run of the game. Brady singled, and Hernandez would throw a wild pitch to make it 3-0 in short time. Bean was perhaps the best-batting pitcher on the team, but he might not be the best-pitching pitcher, and gave back a run right away, before in the third inning there was a collision of second basemen at second base as Metting clobbered into Palacios to break up a double play. Breaking it up he did, but he also strained something on the play and left the game. The Wolves didn’t score in the inning, keeping the score at 3-1. Bean struggled with control all game long, but in turn didn’t give up any sound contact, either. He needed 102 pitches through eight, and was then up 5-1 with a 2-hitter. We saw a chance to regenerate our bullpen without using Beach, left him in, but he couldn’t get through the game and put two men on. Nordahl came in to face Tom Fleming, and Domingo Moreno warmed up in case Nordahl would not collect the third out. Fleming walked, predictably, and when Moreno came in, righty Max Nixon hit for Fernando Guerra. Nixon hit the Wolves, who were in slam range, in home runs, but didn’t get all of Moreno’s second pitch and instead flew out softly to Torrez. 5-1 Coons. Brady 2-5, RBI; Martin 1-2, 2 BB; McLaughlin 2-3, BB; Bean 8.2 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 6 K, W (5-1) and 0-3, BB, RBI;

Kurt Metting will miss a month with an oblique strain. Our own injury report has both Guerin and Sharp return in a week or less.

Back to a winning record. Now let’s fudge up the third game. The Raccoons have not had a series sweep – for good or bad – this season.

Game 3
POR: RF Brady – LF Moore – 2B Palacios – 1B Martin – SS Ingall – 3B M. Ramirez – C Ledesma – CF Torrez – P Brown
SAL: CF Summers – 1B Fleming – C J. Lopez – SS Hutchinson – LF Nixon – 2B McGreary – RF Romine – 3B J. Carroll – P M. Guzmán

The Wolves scored in the first off Brown, but the Coons had the bags full with one out in the top 3rd – and again didn’t get a hit, but still turned the game on a wild pitch and a groundout, 2-1. Brown had sucked balls in his last two starts, he sucked balls in this start, being excessively wild and not getting past the fifth inning, in which he hit two batters and allowed two runs to fall behind again. For the third time in four innings, the Coons left two men on in the top 6th, leaving Brown on a 3-2 hook as Ricky Beach made his Raccoons debut in the bottom of the inning. In an Oregon-sized disaster, Beach faced six batters, walked three and allowed two hits, and was yanked before Martinez came in to hold the damage to three runs. It was sufficient damage nevertheless. In a 6-2 game, the Coons loaded them up with singles by Ledesma, Torrez, and Love in the top 8th, bringing up Brady with two out. Lefty Aurelio Gomez had already allowed two hits, and Brady was about the best bat we had going and the bench held only Fifield and McLaughlin anyway. “Bonnie” Brady struck out. 6-2 Wolves. Moore 2-5; Ledesma 2-4; Torrez 2-3, BB, 2B; Love (PH) 1-1;

We out-hit them 10-9. We even left LESS men on base (13-12). We still lost soundly. How? Maybe it was the nine walks we gave out for free?

Sweepless in Portland. Some also sleepless.

Raccoons (16-16) vs. Rebels (11-21) – May 13-15, 2003

The Rebels had a horrible pitching staff all around, which netted them last place even with a fairly decent offense that ranked fifth in the Federal League.

Projected matchups:
Randy Farley (2-1, 3.03 ERA) vs. John Webb (1-2, 5.11 ERA)
Ricky Beach (0-0, 81.00 ERA) vs. Sylvester Clark (2-1, 4.26 ERA)
Ralph Ford (2-5, 6.94 ERA) vs. Esteban Flores (1-5, 8.18 ERA)

That’s three right-handers, including our former struggling Raccoon Esteban Flores. Could the offense pick it up against them and give us a winning record?

Game 1
RIC: RF Mashiba – 1B F. Rivera – 3B A. Gonzalez – LF G. Rios – C James – CF Villalobos – 2B Nielsen – SS Nakayama – P Webb
POR: RF Brady – 2B Palacios – LF Reece – 1B Martin – SS Ingall – C Ledesma – 3B M. Ramirez – CF Lyon – P Farley

The Coons scrambled and plated single runs in both of the first two innings against Webb, before Brady was hit by a pitch to start the third. Palacios singled, and then Reece doubled up the left foul line to make it 3-0. Martin was next and doubled over Gerardo Rios to ramp the score to 5-0. Farley had only allowed one base runner in the first five innings, but predictably the baseball gods were annoyed by that quick and easy lead and threw rocks and lightning at him once he had two men out in the fourth. He walked Rios. James singled, and Villalobos walked. Singles by Nielsen and Nakayama plated three runs before somehow pinch-hitter Bob Hall lined out to Ingall. That quickly, 5-0 became 5-3, and another half inning later it was 9-3, as the Coons sent ten men to the plate in the bottom 4th against ex-Titans closer Bill Corkum, who took the brunt of all four runs, and Juan Gomez. 9-3 was insufficient to win this game, however. Farley faced six batters in the fifth inning, and all six reached base. Four hits, one walk, one Ingall error became four runs, three of them unearned, somehow. The offense however seemed to consider nine runs enough to win any game and entered siesta for the time being. The Coons’ bullpen could only hold onto a 2-run lead for so long (most of the time two batters long), and Martinez gave birth to a Theodore Nielsen home run in the eighth inning, bringing the score to 9-8. That meant that Nordahl time was around the corner with no cushion in a game of batting through the orders at frantic paces. The Coons did not score in the bottom 8th when Martin narrowly missed a home run, handing the 9-8 score to Nordahl. The first man up, Alfredo Gonzalez, promptly hit a home run off Suckerface Nordahl, and the game was tied. Qi-zhen Geng, another former Raccoon, walked Ledesma to start the bottom 9th. Inept through and through, the Coons ****ed up even a sac bunt as Ramirez got Ledesma forced out at second, then was caught stealing. Extra innings, and Nordahl made a mockery out of anybody’s patience and sanity of mind when he struck out five over two innings after blowing the game in the first place. Once the Coons went down 1-2-3 in the bottom 11th, Bob Joly appeared as the last man from the bullpen. The thing I liked most about Joly – and there were so many things to like, but the ONE thing … - was that he went about his job so systematically. And so he systematically issued a leadoff walk because that is what general fudgecakes like him used to do. Walkee Rob James scored on Nakayama’s single, and the Coons put up another spectacular 1-2-3 no-show in the bottom of the 12th. 10-9 Rebels. Brady 2-4, BB; Palacios 4-5, BB, RBI; Martin 2-4, 2B, 4 RBI; Huerta 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

What a fantastic pitching display. I am sure these staffs will fill their leagues’ All Star rosters about completely when July rolls around.

FIRST game after the off day, ALL relievers used. Great! Great!! And with Beach up NEXT … !!

(torrid scream)

Game 2
RIC: RF Mashiba – CF J. Garcia – 3B A. Gonzalez – LF G. Rios – C James – 2B B. Hall – 1B Mendoza – SS Nielsen – P Clark
POR: RF Brady – 2B Palacios – SS Ingall – 1B Martin – LF Moore – 3B M. Ramirez – C Ledesma – CF Torrez – P Beach

Beach was in a hurry to get back into the better weather of Florida. After a clean first inning, he walked four men, intermingled with two hits for four runs in the second inning. After the Coons loaded them up in the bottom 2nd and left them loaded, Jose Mendoza took Beach deep to make it 6-0 in the third. He ended up giving up another pair of runs in the fourth inning before getting yanked, never to be seen again around Coon City. The Coons scored four including a 3-run piece by Palacios in the bottom 4th, but it didn’t exactly matter. Joly pitched three innings here, surrendering a run on a wild pitch, and it would have been more if not for two double plays turned behind him to erase a surplus of runners. Another 2-run homer was whacked out of Benton Wilson by Gerardo Rios, making it double digits for the Rebels in the eighth. The Coons scored three runs when Albert Martin tripled to drive in a pair and then scored in the ninth, but … but well. 11-7 Rebels. Palacios 2-5, HR, 3 RBI; Martin 2-4, BB, 3B, 2 RBI; Moore 3-5, 2 2B, RBI; Ledesma 1-2, 3 BB;

Ricky Beach was handed back to AAA. If we weren’t hampered by injuries throughout the system, I’d release the turd outright. We need a starter. We also need six additional relievers, but we will need a starter as we will have no off day for two weeks. We could use Joly. (cackles) Well, maybe we will. We can add a capable reliever much easier.

Say hi to Kaz.

And Joly? Back in the rotation. His baseball career is worse than a cat. Even a cat would have run out of lives by now.

Game 3
RIC: 3B A. Gonzalez – SS Nakayama – C James – RF G. Rios – 2B B. Hall – CF J. Garcia – 1B Nielsen – LF Villalobos – P E. Flores
POR: RF Brady – 2B Palacios – SS Ingall – 1B Martin – CF Moore – LF Reece – 3B M. Ramirez – C Ledesma – P Ford

Ford faced the minimum through three innings, despite him surrendering a pair of singles, thanks to Ledesma throwing out a runner and a double play. The Coons did absolutely nothing, but forke up everything for Ford in the fourth. Alfredo Gonzalez hit a single, and then Ramirez capitally butchered Nakayama’s grounder for an error. The dams broke right open, accelerated when Neil Reece – after starting a double play to rack up a runner at home – made another stupid error in leftfield. Four runs scored. All were unearned. Nobody got an earned run off Ford on the day, but Ford would not get anything nice out of it. He was hit for in the bottom 6th. The Coons had scratched out a run in the fifth when Palacios singled in Ledesma, and we had the bags full with one out when Torrez hit for Ford, ineffectively. Brady launched a rocket deep into the gap in left center, but that one was caught by Villalobos, and there was just no justice. The supposedly easily flammable Rebels pen refused to be incinerated by the scrappy Raccoons, and they faced Geng in the bottom 9th. WE knew he was not a closer, the Rebels still used him, and he had an 0.52 ERA. It was an error by Gonzalez on Cal Lyon’s 2-out grounder that brought up the tying run in the first place, and that tying run was Martin in a 4-2 game. He grounded out anyway. 4-2 Rebels. Palacios 2-5, RBI; Ford 6.0 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, L (2-6) and 1-1, 2B;

Hey, THERE’S our sweep! Nice! Ford had our only extra base hit. And we routinely left double digits on again (11). Cool!

(smashes computer screen with bat)

Also, we have been swept by the Rebels in back-to-back years, and are now 8-22 against them all-time.

Does not include postseason stats. (grimaces)

Raccoons (16-19) vs. Titans (19-14) – May 16-18, 2003

In short, the Coons will be in last place by Sunday night, a half game above in a tie for third place right now. They have no chance against the suddenly strong Titans. While they are right now only sixth in runs scored, they are rallying from almost the bottom of the league. Their pitching is simply fantastic, allowing 106 runs in 33 games, for just a shade over 3.2 per game. Coons have no chance at anything other than getting swept for the week and ending up at seven losses in a row.

Projected matchups:
Carl Bean (5-1, 2.31 ERA) vs. Jason O’Halloran (4-1, 3.27 ERA)
Nick Brown (1-4, 4.30 ERA) vs. Bryce Hildred (2-3, 2.36 ERA)
Randy Farley (2-1, 3.68 ERA) vs. Joe Mann (2-2, 3.06 ERA)

We activated both Sharpie and Concie in time for this series, with Love optioned back to St. Pete, and McLaughlin getting designated for assignment. I hope this will shore up lots of things that need shoring up.

Game 1
BOS: LF Elizondo – 1B Matsumoto – CF Garrison – RF G. Munoz – 3B Austin – 2B H. Ramirez – C L. Lopez – SS D. Silva – P O’Halloran
POR: 2B Ingall – 3B Sharp – RF Brady – 1B Martin – LF Reece – SS Guerin – CF Torrez – C Fifield – P Bean

Bean, whose junk didn’t bite anybody anyway, faced a lineup composed mostly of left-handed and switch-hitters and struggled badly. The Titans easily got on base, flicking singles all over the place, and scored single runs in three of the first six innings. The only right-handed batter in the Titans’ lineup was Matsumoto, and he hit an RBI double, the only extra base hit the Titans shook out of Bean, who ultimately went seven frames in semi-decent, but wildly unsuccessful fashion. Well, the output was decent, the input wasn’t. The Raccoons meanwhile ran into O’Halloran and were properly chainsawed, putting out poor outs in great amounts. And while Depeche Mode once proclaimed that everything counts in large amounts, pops and whiffs didn’t. Kichida in the ninth loaded them up including two walks without retiring anybody, and Huerta almost had the mess cleaned up when Reece dropped a fly in left for his second jaw-dropping error of the week. 6-0 Titans. Brady 2-3, BB; Moore (PH) 1-1;

Yeah, well. No spark coming forth from Concie and Sharpie, who went a combined 1-7, either. We had six hits total.

Game 2
BOS: SS D. Silva – 1B Matsumoto – RF Garrison – 3B V. Flores – 2B D. Mendez – CF Bryant – LF G. Munoz – C F. Diéguez – P Hildred
POR: 3B Sharp – 2B Palacios – RF Brady – 1B Martin – CF Moore – SS Guerin – LF Reece – C Ledesma – P Brown

Good news: Nick Brown struck out the side in the first. Bad news: he did so after Howard Bryant had already slapped a grand slam on him and five runs were on the board. Silva had started it with a single, Matsumoto had reached on an error by Martin, and a walk, and that was just how things were going around here. Ten minutes into the game, it was already hopelessly lost, angering everybody who had forked over eleven bucks to see it. Brown pitched five more innings in futility, allowing a run on a Bryant triple and a subsequent wild pitch in the sixth before also hitting a man, and by now nobody was even cheering for him anymore when he happened to strike out somebody by accident. When Brown was done pitching and hit for, the Raccoons had one hit. They would only account for two more until the end of the game, and their only run scored on an error. Nordahl appeared in the ninth to get the dust off, put on Silva, who promptly stole his third bag of the weekend, and scored before Nordahl could walk the bags full. 7-1 Titans.

Game 3
BOS: LF Elizondo – 1B Matsumoto – CF Garrison – RF G. Munoz – 3B Austin – 2B H. Ramirez – C L. Lopez – SS D. Silva – P Mann
POR: 3B Sharp – 2B Palacios – RF Brady – 1B Martin – CF Moore – SS Guerin – LF Reece – C Ledesma – P Brown

Mark Austin’s leadoff triple in the second inning quickly became the game’s first run, and again in the wrong line. Farley didn’t exactly fool anybody, but got lots of grounders that stifled the Titans’ offense for the most part as Guerin and Palacios turned a few double plays. Offensively, the Raccoons were about invisible safe for one cheap hit, until Joe Mann gave up a double to Ledesma to start the bottom 6th. Farley bunted, bunted badly, and Ledesma was out at third, and that was that. Bottom 7th, Mann walked Martin with one out. Moore sent a fly to deep center that was caught, and then Guerin sent a fly to deep center that was not. With two out, Martin was in full flight, or whatever his highest gear was, and scored on a double, tying the score. Farley continued in the eighth, with Elizondo being out on a bunt attempt, but then Matsumoto, the only-right-hander in the lineup, drew his second walk off Farley. Wilson replaced Farley and got a double play from Rudy Garrison. Moreno held the Titans away in the ninth, giving the Raccoons a chance to walk off with Palacios getting it started against John Bennett, a right-hander who saw four left-handers lined up for the inning. Palacios whiffed. Brady sailed out to shallow left. Martin drew a walk, but Moore popped out. Martinez pitched a scoreless tenth, leading up to Reece hitting a single off Bennett before being erased on an inning-ending double play hit into by Ledesma in the bottom of the inning. The game wouldn’t be concluded until Nordahl entered to give up a homer. It was hit by Luis Lopez in the 12th, collecting Bryant, who had walked ahead of him in Ramirez’ spot in the order. The Raccoons managed six hits in total. 3-1 Titans. Guerin 2-5, 2B, RBI; Farley 7.1 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 2 K; Martinez 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

The Buffaloes claimed Brent McLaughlin off waivers, so there’s $100k less on our books.

In other news

May 8 – CIN LF/RF Dan Morris (.305, 6 HR, 18 RBI) will miss two weeks with a mild oblique strain.
May 10 – VAN SP Joe Hollow (1-4, 4.11 ERA) wins his first game of the year in style with a 3-hit shutout over the Scorpions, as the Canadiens win 7-0.
May 13 – DAL 3B Ramiro Gonzalez (.336, 0 HR, 12 RBI) has hit in 20 straight games.
May 16 – A torn ankle ligament forces CIN 1B/2B David Brewer (.245, 0 HR, 4 RBI) to the disabled list. One month should be enough to heal for him.
May 16 – The Wolves not only beat the Stars, 7-5, they also kill off Ramiro Gonzalez’ hot streak at 22 games, holding him hitless in five at-bats.

Complaints and stuff

Brown is utter ****. Nordahl is utter ****. Ford is utter ****. Joly is utter ****. The entire lineup is utter ****.

And I love Neil Reece with all my heart, but he has that old people smell about him…

Ah. Why bother. We knew it would end up like this all along.

Westheim · 05-04-2015, 06:29 PM

Raccoons (16-22) vs. Indians (18-20) – May 19-22, 2003

The Indians didn’t specifically sharpen their arrows before coming in for a four-game set. It wasn’t necessary. The seven-straight-losses Raccoons could easily be defeated without special preparations. Besides, they were in the upper half in both offense and defense in the CL, had a +20 run differential, and seemingly only rotten luck had them pressed below .500. Ha! We know an even more rotten team!

Projected matchups:
Bob Joly (0-1, 4.70 ERA) vs. Patrick Moreau (3-2, 2.90 ERA)
Ralph Ford (2-6, 5.95 ERA) vs. Curtis Tobitt (0-0, 0.00 ERA)
Carl Bean (5-2, 2.50 ERA) vs. Ramón Jimenez (2-5, 3.30 ERA)
Nick Brown (1-5, 4.53 ERA) vs. Alonso Alonso (2-4, 4.42 ERA)

Four straight right-handers coming up, including a couple of youngsters, including Tobitt. The 23-year old supplemental round pick from last year would make his first start after four scoreless relief appearances for four innings.

Game 1
IND: 3B Montray – SS M. Jones – LF Alston – 1B D. Lopez – C Paraz – CF Cavazos – RF MacKey – 2B Stevens – P Moreau
POR: RF Brady – 3B Sharp – 2B Palacios – 1B Martin – CF Moore – SS Guerin – LF Reece – C Ledesma – P Joly

Joly was awful, the Indians got on base easily and it was 3-0 after the top 4th, single runs in every inning but the second. The Coons’ Reece and Palacios had left runners on the corners in consecutive innings, but in the bottom of the fourth we got three on with Martin, Moore, and Guerin, bringing up Reece with no outs. Old Neil was held to a sac fly, but Ledesma doubled to plate the second run, and then Joly managed a game-tying sac fly. Yeah, we’re not losing anymore! Except Joly surrendered three cheap hits in the fifth and we were losing again, 4-3. Joly had perhaps ONE good at-bat in the whole game. With two out in the sixth, Moreau was on third base for the Indians. We walked Ron Alston intentionally to get to the righty David Lopez, a power hitter nevertheless. Joly struck him out. It was also his last batter. Bottom 6th, Guerin hit a deep fly to left that was caught by Alston, before Reece hit a fly on the same path. Alston wouldn’t get this one, since it was outta here, and it tied the score. The Coons loaded them up with two out, knocking out Moreau, as Jack Hamilton, a left-hander, came in to face Palacios: perfect excuse to go to Ingall. He hit a grounder to right, but Art Stevens got to it and made the play for the third out, keeping Joly without a decision. Bottom 7th, Hamilton kept pitching, but he put two men on base for Reece with one out. Reece had tied it, and now he broke up the tie with a single to left that plate Al Martin. Ramirez hit for the pitcher Huerta and doubled in another two runs, and next up was Brady and hit a fantastic bomb off Maximo Mendez, far and deep out of rightfield, 9-4! And then the bullpen came in for the Coons. Kichida faced two batters in the eighth, and didn’t retire anybody for his second straight outing. Benton Wilson got Montray and Jones to pop out before Ron Alston drew a walk to load them up. Marcos Bruno was our last remotely rested pitcher and appeared now only to walk Lopez, forcing home a run, before Paraz grounded out. The ninth however was much calmer and Bruno sat down the side in order to end the game and the Raccoons’ 7-game skid. 9-5 Coons. Brady 2-5, HR, 2 RBI; Martin 2-5; Moore 3-4, BB; Reece 2-3, HR, 3 RBI; Ledesma 1-2, 2 BB, 2B, RBI; Ramirez (PH) 1-1, 2B, 2 RBI;

Al Martin doesn’t get the big hits currently, but still has put together a 12-game hitting streak.

Game 2
IND: 3B Montray – SS M. Jones – RF Alston – 1B D. Lopez – CF Greenman – LF Alvarez – C Bowen – 2B Stevens – P Tobitt
POR: RF Brady – 3B Ingall – 2B Palacios – 1B Martin – LF Reece – SS Guerin – CF Torrez – C Fifield – P Ford

Ford struck out Montray, struck out Jones, and then Alston homered. Oh well, two third of an inning of decent ball is progress anyway. Tobitt’s first major league start would be put into history as successful as he struck out ten Furballs over eight innings, surrendering five hits, although three of those were pretty hard, and resulted in a Fifield homer and a Guerin RBI double for two runs for the Raccoons. The Indians however plated three off Ford, who only went six innings, with Alston contributing a second home run in the fifth. Moreno, Bruno, and Martinez held the Indians just short of tacking on runs in the seventh through ninth innings, leaving Iemitsu Rin with no cushion against Ingall, Palacios, and Martin. Marv walked on four straight balls. Palacios was 2-1 ahead when he dinked a pitch into the ground just in front of home plate. It bounced funnily away from Craig Bowen, and somehow Palacios made it to first safely. Now we just needed a sound knock from Al, but he struck out. Sharp hit for Martinez in the #5 slot, grounder to short, to second, to first. 3-2 Indians. Moore (PH) 1-1;

So close, but once again, no cigar. We currently virtually tie the Canadiens for last place, 17-23 to 16-22.

That is not a pretty spot.

Game 3
IND: 3B Montray – SS M. Jones – LF Alston – 1B D. Lopez – C Paraz – CF Cavazos – RF MacKey – 2B Stevens – P Jimenez
POR: RF Brady – 3B Sharp – LF Moore – 1B Martin – 2B Palacios – SS Guerin – C Ledesma – CF Torrez – P Bean

And another game that started out **** and never got any better. Carl Bean allowed singles to Montray and Jones, walked Alston, and the Indians batted through the order to land another three singles for three runs. There were eight hits in the game through three innings, and they were all the Indians’. Sharp led off the bottom 4th with a double, Moore got on, and then Martin singled in the Coons’ first run, cutting the gap to 4-1. A Palacios single and Guerin double that was hideously misplayed by Cavazos broke open the inning and the Coons tied the score before Bean left the go-ahead run at third base. Jimenez continued to struggle after Bean pitched a 1-2-3 fifth, and put two on for Martin in the bottom 5th. Martin doubled to right, plating Clyde Brady to make it 5-4 Coons, but although Moore and Martin were now in scoring position with one out, Palacios and Guerin failed to get them in. Bean was wrung out for 123 pitches, completing 6.1 innings, but left once David Lopez doubled to represent the tying run at second base. Moreno came in to face the switch-hitters Paraz and Cavazos, who were natural left-handers, but Jose Paraz took him out of center right away to flip the score to 6-5 in favor of the visitors. We tried again to get at least one inning out of Kichida in the eighth, which was just another disaster coming down on us. Kichida allowed three hits, two walks, and was scored upon only twice thanks to Huerta wiggling out of his mess eventually. 8-5 Indians. Sharp 2-5, 2B; Martin 3-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Huerta 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, IR 3-0;

Thanks to this most recent awful pitching performance, which continues a trend that has been going on for more than two weeks solid, we are now 11th in runs allowed in the league, with only the Bayhawks having given up another 16 runs on top of our 200, which gives us almost five runs allowed per game.

Next: Brown, whose last four starts have been all-out crap. He has 43 K in 43.2 IP. He has still been crap.

Game 4
IND: 3B Montray – SS M. Jones – RF Alston – 1B D. Lopez – CF Greenman – C Paraz – LF Alvarez – 2B Stevens – P Alonso
POR: RF Brady – 3B Sharp – LF Moore – 1B Martin – 2B Palacios – SS Guerin – C Ledesma – CF Torrez – P Brown

For starters, Alonso had a horrible first inning. Brady and Moore were on the corners when Martin doubled them both in to bring his hitting streak to 15 games, and another run scored when Ledesma drew a bases-loaded walk. Torrez and Brown then left the bags full. Alonso had conceded three runs in no time, but Brown soon joined him in the gutter, issuing three walks, including one to Alonso, in the second inning before somehow whiffing Montray to exit the inning. It was another wacky outing. His control was awful, but the Indians couldn’t complement the walks with enough hits to cross the plate. In the bottom 5th, Al Martin’s 2-run homer made it a 5-0 game. As much as we would have longed for depth from Brown, we wouldn’t get it. He hit 100 pitches in the sixth, which he completed, but it started to rain and we got a delay in the bottom of the inning. Martin came up with Moore on base in the seventh and made it back-to-back at-bats with 2-run homers, also shooting the score to 7-0! The Indians were not going to get back into the game. After they got three hits off Brown, they didn’t get any more against the relief corps, which even included four outs from Dan Nordahl without any catastrophes along with that! 7-0 Coons! Sharp 2-4; Martin 3-4, 2 HR, 2B, 6 RBI; Torrez 2-3, 2B; Brown 6.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 7 K, W (2-5); Nordahl 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

A split doesn’t get you along, but a split is certainly better than a 7-game losing streak. I can’t quite imagine how we could ever get back to .500, but a split is a start at least.

Al features in the top 3 in AVG, HR, RBI, OPS, and WAR. More precisely, he hold second place alone or in a tie in all of them. Ron Alston leads in homers and ribbies (loading up fantastically in this series), while the other three categories are led by the Aces’ Oliver Torres – and he’s in town next.

On the other hand, we lost Eddie Torrez to injury. He came up lame after hitting a double in the sixth.

Raccoons (18-24) vs. Aces (22-18) – May 23-25, 2003

The Aces had been in first place, but were now in a 4-game skid. Numbers indicated that they were playing a bit above their weight class, with their offense being merely average, while the pitching ranked fourth in the league. The strength lay with the rotation, while the bullpen was really not good at all. But they had 26-year old infielder Oliver Torres, who merely OPS’ed 1.130 …

Projected matchups:
Randy Farley (2-1, 3.27 ERA) vs. Anibal Sandoval (5-3, 3.36 ERA)
Bob Joly (0-1, 4.97 ERA) vs. Frank Pierre (2-2, 3.21 ERA)
Ralph Ford (2-7, 5.77 ERA) vs. Alfredo Rios (6-2, 3.79 ERA)

Pierre would be the only southpaw we’d face this week. While this part of their rotation looked good already, we’d miss their best starter, Tommy Wilson, who had a 2.42 ERA.

Game 1
LVA: 2B F. Soto – C L. Paredes – 3B O. Torres – 1B J. Vargas – LF Talamante – RF Covington – CF G. Wills – SS Bell – P Sandoval
POR: RF Brady – 3B Sharp – CF Moore – 1B Martin – LF Reece – SS Guerin – C Ledesma – 2B M. Ramirez – P Farley

The weather, already interfering with the Thursday game, was even more icky on Friday, and we had rain in the forecast, so the Aces were in a hurry to deliver Randy his usual Death by Singles ™. It was Torres who singled in a run each in the first and third innings. Neil Reece hit a leadoff triple in the bottom 2nd and was thrown out when we sent him on Guerin’s deep fly out to right. Old age kept showing. The weather did so, too, and it started to rain in the fourth. The rain lightened up a bit when Miguel Ramirez tied the game at two with a home run in the bottom 5th, but in the top 6th it came down heavy. Farley finished the inning and the tarp came onto the diamond. After a delay of almost an hour, Moore and Martin went down in the bottom 6th, and it didn’t look like the Coons might get Farley in line for a win. Then Reece doubled. Bell lost Guerin’s grounder, putting runners on the corners, before Ledesma hit a huge 3-run home run to break up the tie and make it 5-2 Farley. Another run was scored off reliever Rafael De Jesus in the seventh. In the top 8th, Kichida was brought into the game to get at least ONE right-hander. Nope, Talamante singled. Out with Kichida, in with Wilson, who struck out Martin Covington and Gary Wills and got righty Dick Bell to ground out. Bruno ended the game with a scoreless ninth. 6-2 Coons. Brady 2-4, 2B; Sharp 2-4, 2B, RBI; Reece 2-4, 3B, 2B; Palacios (PH) 1-2;

There were two casualties in this otherwise solid game: Al Martin went 0-4 and had his streak end at 15 games. Also, we got rid of Kaz Kichida. 7 G, 3.2 IP, 9 H, 8 BB, 4 K. The true miracle is that he has only conceded three runs for a 7.36 ERA. His last four games, he faced 13 batters, and registered two outs.

That’s not something we can work on here. So, Kichida goes, and we called up 22-year old lefty Scott Boone. In 14 innings in AAA, he had struck out 23 against three walks. This 1998 supplemental round pick had already been on the 40-man roster, and we now had three left-handers in the bullpen, but what the hell …

In other news, Eddie Torrez has been diagnosed with knee inflammation. He will miss another few games, but should be ready to play by the next weekend. Here comes the dilemma. Torrez hasn’t played well recently. Not by a mile. We’re now taking the defensive hit that comes with playing Reece (old) and Moore (little range) in left and center, rather than buy Torrez’ .185 bat. With this, Torrez went to the DL, and the open roster spot went to Chris Beairsto, who casually had smacked 13 home runs in AAA so far. He was not batting anything (.246) down there, either, but slugged enough to have a 1.009 OPS.

Game 2
LVA: CF C. Guzmán – C L. Paredes – 3B O. Torres – 1B J. Vargas – LF Talamante – RF Covington – 2B F. Soto – SS Bell – P Pierre
POR: 1B Sharp – 2B Ingall – LF Reece – RF Brady – 3B M. Ramirez – SS Guerin – CF Beairsto – C Fifield – P Joly

Clueless Bob was blown to pieces in the third inning on nothing but walks and singles as the Aces scored three runs and left them loaded once Covington floated out to Beairsto, more than just negating Miguel Ramirez’ solo shot in the bottom 2nd. Pierre was not that much better, however: the Coons re-tied the score at three in the bottom 3rd. It didn’t make Joly any less clueless, though. Nobody on with two out in the fourth, he allowed a single to Pierre, and another one, and another one, and Pierre crossed the plate. Down 4-3, the Coons struggled, and left runners on base. Bottom 6th, men manned the corners with one out and Beairsto batting. He hit a grounder to Soto, who zipped to second, and Beairsto narrowly beat out the relay as Clyde Brady scored from third to tie the game again. After a wild pitch, Fifield grounded to third, where Torres – a hero with the bat, but less so with the glove – threw the ball away, plating Beairsto from second base and now the Coons were ahead again, 5-4. Joly left with two on and one out in the top 7th, and when Martinez came in, he hit Carlos Talamante to load them up. Covington grounded to short, but the starting Vargas, moved up to second by the HBP, obstructed Guerin’s view of the ball for a fraction of a second, and Covington beat out Ingall’s throw to first by about as much while Torres scored from third. Tied game, again. It wasn’t tied for long. Featherweight batter Dick Bell homered off Martinez to start the eighth inning. In the losing cause, Scott Boone made his major league debut and struck out the first batter he faced, pinch-hitter Forest Messinger. Then he put two men on, and Torres singled both of them in as the ball went comically through Sharp’s legs at first. Down 8-5 we faced Charlie Deacon, the non-closer, in the bottom 8th. Brady singled, got forced by Ramirez, and then Martin hit for Guerin and doubled. That brought up the tying run in manic hacker Beairsto, who promptly hacked himself out dutifully, and all we got was an RBI single from Fifield. Ian Johnson made 1-2-3 work of the Coons in the ninth. 8-6 Aces. Sharp 2-5; Brady 2-4, 2B, RBI; Martin (PH) 1-1, 2B; Fifield 2-4, RBI;

15 hits allowed, and except for Bell’s shot they were all singles.

Game 3
LVA: C L. Paredes – 3B Warrain – SS O. Torres – 1B J. Vargas – LF Talamante – CF Bell – RF Messinger – 2B F. Soto – P A. Rios
POR: 3B Sharp – RF Brady – CF Moore – 1B Martin – LF Reece – SS Guerin – C Ledesma – 2B M. Ramirez – P Ford

The Aces got their first base runner when Ford walked their pitcher in the third. In some ways you’re glad, and in some …… The Raccoons didn’t have a runner until the third either when Ramirez walked. Soon the bags were bustling with Coons with Moore up and two outs. Aaand he fouled out. Scoreless through three, and through four, and through five … Sharp’s single in the third inning was the only hit in the game when it started to drizzle in the top 6th. Soon enough, the skies opened again, sogging the field forcefully, and denying Ford a chance to get his bid developed any further. When play resumed after more than an hour, Sharp became the second – in addition to the first – base runner of the game, reaching on an error by Inaki-Luki Warrain. Reliever Don Davis surrendered a single to Brady, then walked Moore. Bases loaded with no outs. C’MON BOYS – FOR RALPH!! Martin ran a full count before striking out, and the count also ran full on Reece, who didn’t bite on Davis’ low junk and walked, forcing home the first run of the game. Guerin singled, 2-0, but that was all we got. Top 7th, Huerta came in, and the no-hitter went up in smoke right away when Warrain singled. Carlos Talamante tied the score with a 2-out jack, and Ford’s splendid outing went up in a bucket of water. The bottom 7th was led off by Marvin Ingall, who had entered with Huerta in a double switch, and who hit a double, then quickly vacated second base with a cramp or strain in his calf. Once Sharp grounded out, Brady was walked intentionally and Moore singled, loading them up for Martin. C’mon, Al! Give us some! While we were holding out for a slam, Martin came through somewhat less spectacularly and singled up the middle to score Palacios, who ran for Ingall. Reece whiffed, and Guerin hit a terrible bloop that nevertheless struck the Aces where it hurt when Soto and Messinger both closed in on the ball, and then both shied back, as the ball dropped in for a 2-run single. New pitcher Andrew Wills allowed a 2-run single to Ledesma that was somewhat less of a pain for Aces fans to watch, and the Coons led by five. But, this was Coon City. No game was complete without the bullpen ****ing up. Top 9th, Boone entered. A single, a walk, and then Torres tripled the runners in. No outs, tying run appearing in the on-deck circle, and now we had to trust our week to Nordahl against the 4-5-6 guys. He walked Vargas. He walked Talamante. Lefty Covington hit for Bell and hit a ball over Sharp that the 1993 Neil Reece might have gotten, but the 2003 Neil Reece couldn’t. The single score another run, 7-5, and then Forest Messinger singled, 7-6. GODFORSAKEN BUNCH OF LARDSTAINS, I’M GONNA §%&§( §$&/(§ YOU ALL!!! Francisco Soto hit a sharp grounder to the right side. Palacios nabbed it, hurled it to second base to force Messinger, and Guerin zinged it back to first and Soto was - ………. OUT!!! 7-6 Raccoons. Brady 2-3, 2 BB; Guerin 2-4, 3 RBI; Ingall (PH) 1-1, 2B; Ford 6.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 6 K;

With an off day coming up, Marv might not even miss a game with a mild calf strain.

Scott Boone’s ERA: 135 – and no, there’s no point missing anywhere.

In other news

A truck carrying 100,000 eggs crashed and fell on its side on the Veterans Memorial Highway, north of the intersection with Sunnyside Road. Local residents get ready to prepare the world's biggest omelette. Drive with caution.

Complaints and stuff

Up and down, and up and down. Mostly down, but at least we scratched out a winning week. The pitching however is horrendous. Why can’t we find any decent relief!?

pjh5165 · 05-05-2015, 09:16 AM

"Clueless Bob" might be your best nickname yet.

Westheim · 05-05-2015, 04:40 PM

2003 AMATEUR DRAFT POOL

The 2003 Amateur Draft will see the Raccoons pick seventh in every round. It is highly uncertain so far, however, what it will actually see them pick. The choices are not so great. It is the second consecutive draft pool that is very poor in some categories.

Foremost of those is starting pitching. There is perhaps ONE worthwhile starting pitcher in the entire draft class. That’s it. Tough luck if you plan to need starting pitching in a few years. Oops, that’s 24 teams.

It is also a poor pool as far as the traditional power positions are concerned. Those immobile first basemen are certainly in there. They just can’t hit. Vince had a hard time filling a 10-man shortlist of the highlights:

SP Jose Flores (11/15/11)

RP Will Butler (20/16/20)
RP Angel Casas (20/16/17)
RP Matt Valentine (20/15/10)

C Mike Wilson (13/12/11)
C Errol Spears (12/12/13) – who can’t actually catch…

1B Steve Butler (15/20/17)
1B Joaquin Hernandez (14/10/12)

LF/RF Jose Morales (15/13/14)
RF Artie Hill (14/15/14)
OF/1B Tommy Ward (14/8/12)

---

Quote:

Originally Posted by pjh5165

"Clueless Bob" might be your best nickname yet.

... and it was so easy!

That Crusaders lineup he no-hit a few years back should just voluntarily retire.

Westheim · 05-06-2015, 04:36 PM

Raccoons (20-25) @ Thunder (26-19) – May 27-29, 2003

Oh come on. We don’t need the Thunder to show us we suck. We know just like that. They did it all with pitching, allowing 3.4 runs per game, while they were scoring just a tiny bit more, but apparently the tenth place offense could still lead a division with appropriate pitching behind it.

Projected matchups:
Carl Bean (5-2, 2.95 ERA) vs. Fabien Armand (4-3, 2.67 ERA)
Nick Brown (2-5, 3.99 ERA) vs. Aaron Anderson (2-3, 4.10 ERA)
Randy Farley (3-1, 3.24 ERA) vs. Pancho Trevino (5-3, 3.52 ERA)

Hum. Somehow our starting pitching seems even comparable. Then why are lodged into last place in the division (the Elks won on Monday)?

Game 1
POR: 3B Sharp – SS Guerin – 2B M. Ramirez – 1B Martin – LF Reece – RF Brady – CF Lyon – C Fifield – P Bean
OCT: LF F. Jones – C De La Parra – 3B Higashi – 1B T. Cardenas – CF Humphrey – SS Grant – RF M. Rodriguez – 2B H. Castro – P Armand

Bean was strong the first time through the lineup, facing the minimum on just one hit, but once the fourth inning rolled around, the Thunder led it off with four straight singles to all fields. Bases loaded, no outs, the threat dissipated quickly through no significant contribution by Bean, who didn’t get balls passed people anymore. But Humphrey popped up and Grant hit into the teeth of the defense to get three outs rather quickly. Bean pitched eight innings on exactly 100 pitches, and gave up just that one run driven in by Tomas Cardenas – and was on the losing end of the score. The Raccoons managed three hits through eight, none for extra bases, then faced right-hander Sancho Rivera in the ninth. Palacios hit for Ramirez, still whiffed, and Martin and Reece would not fare much better. 1-0 Thunder. Guerin 2-4; Bean 8.0 IP, 9 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 6 K, L (5-3);

Three singles, two walks. No runs. They didn’t even hack overly badly. Fabien Armand went eight and struck out five. They just made piss poor contact all the time.

Nobody particularly likes Carl Bean around here, but he has deserved better.

Game 2
POR: 3B Sharp – RF Brady – LF Moore – 1B Martin – 2B Palacios – SS Guerin – C Ledesma – CF Beairsto – P Brown
OCT: LF F. Jones – RF Humphrey – SS Grant – 1B Higashi – 2B Kaustrop – C De La Parra – 3B H. Castro – CF Santos – P A. Anderson

The Coons wasted singles by Sharp and Martin in the first when Palacios rolled out to Higashi, who in the bottom 1st would tattoo Brown with a 2-run homer. Brown had nothing – as usual – and in the third gave the game away for good, with three singles wrapped around two walks and that made it a 5-0 game. While Brown would ultimately go six and two thirds and didn’t bleed any more runs, he finished with five walks against just four strikeouts. And the Raccoons? How did they fare? Most poorly. Not only would they just not score, they didn’t even touch second base past the first inning. Not even once. Anderson pitched a 5-hitter, and had to come up with just 95 pitches. 5-0 Thunder. Sharp 2-4; Guerin 2-2, BB;

And just like that, we have a 19-inning scoreless streak going. Way to go, us!

Game 3
POR: 3B Sharp – RF Brady – LF Moore – 1B Martin – 2B Palacios – SS Guerin – C Ledesma – CF Beairsto – P Farley
OCT: LF F. Jones – C De La Parra – 3B Higashi – 1B T. Cardenas – CF Humphrey – SS Grant – RF Santos – 2B H. Castro – P Trevino

As we all knew, the Raccoons weren’t doing anything, and didn’t plan on ever doing anything again. The Thunder went down silently in the first, before Cardenas rung a double off the wall in rightfield to start the bottom 2nd. The next three Thunder all hit hard flies to the warning track, and all were caught, two by Moore and one by Beairsto. When Cardenas hit a solo home run in the bottom 4th to break a scoreless tie, Farley spun around so quickly on the mound that he strained his calf and had to leave the game. It took the Coons until the sixth inning to reach third base. Down 2-0, Al Martin hit a single that loaded the bases with one out. The Coons ended a 24-inning scoreless skid in style with a run-scoring groundout hit into by Palacios, but then Concie lobbed a fluffy liner over Takahashi Higashi and into shallow left to flip the score with two runs coming home. Boone put the tying run on base in Humphrey right away with a single, but Marcos Bruno cleaned up in the bottom 6th. That 3-2 lead was flimsy as all hell. Wilson got through the seventh, but Martinez allowed a double to Cardenas with one out in the eighth. Moreno popped up Humphrey, but then faced the righty Bob Grant. However, our pen only had Dan Nordahl left, and you really didn’t want to put him in with the tying run already in scoring position. Bob Grant fired a liner that went right into Moreno’s extended glove, and somehow this is how you have to make outs. But Nordahl had to pitch eventually, and then it was still 3-2. He went to a full count on Angel Santos before removing him, also struck out Hector Castro, and then walked Jason Briggs. Here we - … oh, no, we actually got out of this one. Freddie Jones grounded out to Palacios. 3-2 Coons. Moore 2-4; Martin 2-3, BB; Reece (PH) 1-1;

Farley’s calf strain is mild and he will not miss a start. We still used all of our relievers in this game, which is something you never really WANT to do, but fortunately we have another off day after the series in Atlanta.

Raccoons (21-27) @ Knights (21-25) – May 30-June 1, 2003

The Knights have lost six straight, allowing seven or more runs in four of those six games. Might there be an opening for the Raccoons? Overall, their roster is rather balanced, and slightly below average in both pitching and hitting. Yeah, we can still get swept. The Knights took the first series we played this year, 2-1 in their favor.

Projected matchups:
Bob Joly (0-1, 5.35 ERA) vs. John Woodard (6-2, 3.43 ERA)
Ralph Ford (2-7, 5.14 ERA) vs. Sadakuno Imamura (0-3, 6.39 ERA)
Carl Bean (5-3, 2.75 ERA) vs. Larry Cutts (5-2, 4.42 ERA)

Game 1
POR: 3B Sharp – RF Brady – 2B Palacios – 1B Martin – LF Reece – SS Guerin – C Ledesma – CF Lyon – P Joly
ATL: 2B Brantley – SS Luján – LF A. Rodriguez – 1B Tinker – RF J. Garcia – C Vinson – CF Ghiberti – 3B D. Henry – P Woodard

Bill Tinker roughed up Joly in the first, following up Alejandro Rodriguez’ triple with a homer that made it 2-0 in a hurry. The Coons got a run back in the top 2nd when Vinson couldn’t dig out Joly’s 2-out grounder and Reece scored from third base by the time the always-bumbling Vinson got the ball to first base. Scoring died then. The Coons twice put two men on with singles in the next two innings, but failed to plate any, and the Knights left them loaded up in the bottom 4th, the last men on being Doug Henry with an intentional walk, and even then Cal Lyon had to hustle after John Woodard’s fly. Woodard fanned Coons in respectable numbers, K’ing eight in six innings. Then came the seventh, still 2-1 Knights, but then Sharp hit a 1-out single and a suddenly melting Woodard walked both Brady and Palacios, bringing up our best chance to go ahead in Al Martin. Al had not plated somebody so far this week (big wonder with three runs going…), and now only did the bare minimum with a run-scoring groundout. Reece then grounded out against reliever Colby Kirk, keeping two men in scoring position in a 2-2 game. As one could expect, Joly put runners on the corners in the bottom 7th, and got removed for Benton Wilson to pitch to the left-handed batter Rodriguez, but the Knights countered with righty Will Taylor, who walked to load the bases. Manuel Martinez appeared to face Bill Tinker, and got a first-pitch double play grounder to Guerin. In the top 8th we had Guerin and Ledesma on base with no outs, then had Ingall and Moore pinch-hit to absolutely zero effect, and Sharp grounded out as well. Boone faced Jorge Garcia to start the bottom 8th, walked him, and got yanked. Bruno came in, had the defense defeated on a Rodrigo Lopez grounder to left that became an infield single, but then still wiggled out of the inning preserving the tie. Top 9th, Brady made the first out before Palacios singled. Maybe Martin could – no. That brought up Reece. Oh well, maybe we’ll score next month. Then Reece doubled, and Palacios scored, breaking the tie. Nordahl got his pants on and started throwing, and when he appeared in the bottom 9th, he had a 4-2 lead after Guerin had singled home Reece. He faced the top of the order and was done in six pitches. 4-2 Coons! Sharp 2-5; Reece 2-5, 2B, RBI; Guerin 2-5, RBI; Ledesma 2-5;

23 hits combined in this game, and only six runs. 13 hits for us, by the way. What mediocre pitching can do for sub-mediocre batting…

Then, we banished Boone (45 ERA, 10 WHIP) and went to Sergio Vega, who was up and down last year already.

Game 2
POR: SS Guerin – RF Brady – 2B Palacios – 1B Martin – LF Reece – 3B M. Ramirez – C Fifield – CF Beairsto – P Ford
ATL: CF Ghiberti – 2B Brantley – LF R. Lopez – 1B Tinker – RF W. Taylor – C Valadez – SS Luján – 3B Verdon – P Imamura

Ford took to the mound and it went like this: hard contact, hard contact, even harder contact, and the Knights somehow scored only two runs. Facing an all right-handed lineup, Ford was not only struggling, he stunk it up. The Knights would eventually shake seven innings (five earned, two on his own error) out of him in knocking him out in the sixth inning. Tinker hit a 3-run homer. The Raccoons amounted to all but two hits through six against the pushover Imamura. At 7-0 the game was long decided when the Inepticoons loaded the bases with no outs in the eighth. And then Imamura and Bartolo Gomez held the Coons to one run, and the two runs that scored on pinch-hit base knocks in the ninth were meaningless as well. 7-3 Knights. Sharp (PH) 1-1, RBI; Ingall (PH) 1-1, 2B, RBI; Moore (PH) 1-2;

Time to ask for donations. We’re in dire need of hits and runs. And some good luck. And someone to rejuvenate Neil Reece.

Game 3
POR: 1B Sharp – SS Guerin – 3B M. Ramirez – RF Brady – LF Reece – 2B Ingall – CF Beairsto – C Fifield – P Bean
ATL: CF Ghiberti – SS Luján – LF A. Rodriguez – 1B Tinker – RF J. Garcia – C Valadez – 2B J. Gutierrez – 3B D. Henry – P Cutts

Garcia scored after hitting a double to lead off the bottom 2nd and the Knights were up 1-0, and the Coons were trailing again, and trailing early again. They had one hit in four innings before Fifield hit a double to start our half of the fifth. Bean singled, putting the runs to flip the score onto the corners, and then Cutts lost Sharp to a walk. Bases loaded, no outs, and the Coons wouldn’t score when Guerin grounded to third to get Fifield nailed at home, Ramirez fouled out, and Brady hit a grounder to short. Morally, they were conceding defeat at every opportunity. Every opportunity wrapped up every inning from there through the eighth. After eight, it was still 1-0 for the Knights, as Bean was on the way to take his second well-pitched loss of the week. The ninth, Manuel Reyes pitching to Jorge Defrese, and if an ex-Coons battery wasn’t opening possibilities! Ingall led off with a single, before Moore hit for a chronically successless Beairsto, but flew out. Fifield whiffed, but we still had an ace up our sleeve, hitting Al Martin for Carl Bean. He lacked oomph right now, but singled to keep the line moving to the top of the order and Danny Sharp. 1-1 pitch, uh, that one was up. And not deep at all. And there is Gutierrez. And it’s in his glove. 1-0 Knights. Martin (PH) 1-1; Bean 8.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 9 K, L (5-4) and 1-2;

Daniel Sharp and Larry Cutts… Sharp Cutts?

Makes sense.

In other news

May 28 – The Canadiens are 3-hit, 6-0, by LVA Anibal Sandoval (6-4, 2.90 ERA).
May 30 – 33-year old TOP OF Paul Theobald (.341, 1 HR, 33 RBI) figures to miss the rest of the season with a concussion.

Complaints and stuff

(slumped over the table, moaning)

Well. We know how Kisho Saito occasionally would not get run support at all. “At all” then constituted one or two runs a game for a month. Carl Bean would have been a winner twice this week with two runs a game. He has started 11 games this year, has received less than two runs of support five times, and ZERO in three of his last four starts. He gets 3.1 R/G overall.

As if we’re not getting enough kicks into the nuts, Bryce Hildred was named CL Pitcher of the Month. Oh come on, world! Ain’t there no justice!!??

Vince took away Neil Reece’s centerfield rating and strongly advised me against using him anywhere but left or first. Well, there’s no room at first, except maybe against left-handed pitching during a long stretch of games.

Centerfield is an issue for the first time in about 15 years. We can pick between an adept fielder not hitting anything (Torrez, Lyon, Beairsto, pick your poison), or an adept hitter not fielding (Moore, Reece, Brady). Yay, lucky us!

It's like that closer we've been looking for for going on ten years now.

Questdog · 05-06-2015, 05:10 PM

Can Moore field? 'Cause if so, he seems to be asking for more playing time.....

P.S. I know you said he wasn't good in center......

04-23-2015, 06:28 PM	#1261
Westheim Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Germany Posts: 13,786	Nope, didn't work. Seems like merchandise does little to influence the budget, because we went to $540M now, which is consistent with only the media revenue. Shoot. Restored the backup to a new league file, flipped the additional merchandise to more media contract, advanced to the offseason again, and surprise - ALL 2003 budgets are THE SAME AS BEFORE THE CHANGE. I have no words. Plus, the backup threw out all logos and crashes. I can't even do that........ __________________ 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.

04-24-2015, 11:30 PM	#1262
Westheim Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Germany Posts: 13,786	For 2003, the Raccoons will have a $18.35M budget, virtually the same as last year [referring to the manually amended budget], so Carlosito wasn’t looking forward to stop being such a cheap skate any time soon. The Coons rank 18th in the league, with an average budget of $22.5M available to teams (median: $22.6M). So let’s see how we can drag ourselves through another miserable offseason and then proper season. Since spending couldn’t be increased in any meaningful manner, and we had a wish list of players (or at least types of players) to add, we would more than likely have to stay away from the free agent market again and look for our future success in trades. Well, ONE meaningful free agent was probably possible. But first things first! And the first thing to look at is usually the salary arbitration overview. The Raccoons will have a flurry of arbitration cases unless we can avoid that somehow, with eight players currently lined up, five of them for the first time (so that’s where the bleeding starts). Players are listed with last year’s output, last year’s input, and salary estimate as well as service time (y.ddd): SP Carl Bean (15-13, 3.63 ERA) - $900k - $1M – 5.085 SP Ralph Ford (13-9, 2.61 ERA) - $134k - $683k – 3.037 MR Ricardo Huerta (3-6, 3.04 ERA, 1 SV in 77 IP) - $134k - $201k – 3.091 MR Manuel Martinez (2-2, 4.10 ERA in 41.2 IP) - $134k - $201k – 3.011 CL Dan Nordahl (2-3, 2.40 ERA, 31 SV in 56.1 IP) - $134k - $201k – 3.008 1B Albert Martin (.300/.356/.528, 32 HR, 111 RBI) - $134k - $825k – 3.002 2B Jesus Palacios (.320/.374/.436, 11 HR, 56 RBI) - $1.1M - $1.32M – 5.019 OF Chris Parker (.269/.344/.365, 2 HR, 21 RBI) - $210k - $231k – 4.122 Note how well we managed our young players’ service time so they won’t become free agents unduly soon. There are three players slated for free agency: INF Marvin Ingall (.272/.318/.370, 4 HR, 44 RBI) - $215k INF Adrian Matthews (.267/.323/.400, 2 HR, 21 RBI) - $254k OF Gilberto Flores (.167/.211/.211, 0 HR, 4 RBI) - $210k Only Marv is a qualifying free agent, having been assigned type B status. So, at a quick glance, one can easily see that we might want to absolutely retain all arbitration players, minus perhaps Parker (with talent available in Torrez and Beairsto), and that we want to retain at least one between Marv and Matthews, both of whom are playing all four infield positions well, while we probably wouldn’t even have noticed if Gil Flores had died in a fire some time during the last six months. The choice between Marv and Matthews is a peculiar one. Of course Marv is compensation eligible, and he is five years older (34 to 29), and they produce along the same lines and might cash in the same. And still I am leaning towards keeping Marv, because, well, sentimentality. Which might well be killing this team every year. Parker might be wise to be kept around as throw-in in a trade and he won’t be expensive anyway. The actual tasks here might be to lock up Al Martin and Ralph Ford long-term if at all possible. Bean is a peculiar case, too. I would call his transition from Denver to Coon City disappointing. It’s not all his fault that he is 25-26 as a Coon, but his strikeouts dropped noticeably after coming here, and well, that’s not the park’s fault! Most of the time he is solid to good, but he will be a free agent next year. It might depend on how the offseason develops, but if we can not address our glaring issues and we notice early this winter that we will without a doubt line up a seventh consecutive losing season (sobs), of which I am not 100% convinced yet, it might be a smart move to deal Bean for parts and prospects. Parts we will need plenty of: • #4/#5 guy for rotation, should be right-handed to add to LHP Ford, Brown, and RHP Bean, Farley (surname should start with S, and we will line them up so their first letters will read FFSBB: For ***’s Sake, BaseBall!!) • Proper closer • Proper left-handed reliever to accompany Domingo Moreno • CATCHER!! • Backup infielder (to add to whoever is left between Ingall and Matthews, so should be left- or switch-hitter) • Backup outfielder, must be batting right-handed (or switch) The last one needs early elaborating. The starting outfield will read Roberson-Reece-Brady. Torrez will be the fourth outfielder, and he bats-left handed (like Brady), and might frequently replace either right-handed batter against right-handed pitching to give the lineup a few more teeth, especially given that neither Roberson nor Reece had good second halves. Neither did Brady. The fifth slot must go to a right-hander since last year we ended up batting three lefties against lefty starting increasingly often given that Palacios and Martin are both left-handed batters. A switch-hitter somewhere would be nice to shake things up, but right now the Raccoons don’t have any. Beairsto will not be on the Opening Day roster because, well, he sucked. And we saw it coming. IF we could land an actual impact bat for a corner outfield slot that would happen to be right-handed, I would happily buy into that, too. Technically, a slugging centerfielder would be nice, but they are scarce. Neil Reece was one in his prime. He’s not in his prime anymore. How far beyond is he? He was born in ’66. And unfortunately injuries have eaten him up lately. He has lost the agility that made him such a terrifying opponent just three years ago. He spent the majority of both this and the 2000 season on the shelf with injuries. Vince is deeply concerned about his legs and recommends moving him to leftfield! While this would open a spot for Torrez to play every day against right-handed pitchers, it then forces us to pick between Reece and Roberson. But let’s put it this way: Torrez doesn’t figure into the Opening Day lineup, but he will get his chance early in the season. He just has to click and the old guy will have to move over. Once a certain Daniel Hall had to move for a certain Vern Kinnear. And a few years later, a blue shirt with a yellow #16 crossed home plate, fist up high, and the season was over, but that is a different story. Albeit one that isn’t ending. __________________ 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.

04-25-2015, 01:02 AM	#1263
Westheim Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Germany Posts: 13,786	A number of pitching stallions that dominated the league for two decades retired after the 2002 season: Woody Roberts 279-193, 3.16 ERA, 3,313 K * spent entire 21-year career with Condors! 1991 + 1993 CL POTY Bastyao Caixinha 262-223, 3.53 ERA, 2,844 K * 19-year career for five teams, 1987 CL POTY Neil Stewart 237-183, 3.45 ERA, 1,842 K * finished 19-year career with five teams as reliever with Topeka, 1995 CL POTY You know what else they have in common apart from stellar records (Roberts’ 279 W are the ABL record)? None of them – NONE! – ever won a World Series ring! The Condors obviously never won a title, Caixinha often pitched for losing teams, and Stewart was never at the right place at the right time. I associate Stewart mostly with the Indians, but he wasn’t with them in the 80s when they were good, but with the Loggers. He didn’t join the Indians until 1992, and well, they have not even been close to the playoffs since then. Also, long-time catcher Andres Manuel retired to go fishing. In a 16-year career for five CL teams he went .266 with 73 HR and 672 RBI, taking a ring with the 2001 Titans. --- 2002 AWARDS Pitchers of the Year: DEN SP Carlos Castro (21-7, 2.38 ERA, 263 K – TRIPLE CROWN) and SFB SP Tony Hamlyn (21-9, 2.16 ERA, 277 K – TRIPLE CROWN) Hitters of the Year: WAS LF/CF Victorino Sanchez (.383, 18 HR, 91 RBI) and IND LF/RF Ron Alston (.298, 36 HR, 103 RBI) Rookies of the Year: WAS 1B/3B Aki Yamamoto (.292, 8 HR, 57 RBI) and LVA MR Mario Perez (9-1, 3.28 ERA in 85 IP) Gold Gloves (FL): P TOP Chris York, C DEN Johnny Johnson, 1B DEN Samy Michel, 2B DEN Jose Correa, 3B DAL Bob Petipas, SS SAL Dave Hutchinson, LF DAL Robinson Perez, CF DEN Luis Alonso, RF SFW Paul Theobald Gold Gloves (CL): P NYC Greg Connor, C VAN Pedro Hurtado, 1B BOS Hector Ramirez, 2B ATL James Miller, 3B CHA Nelson Chavez, SS BOS Daniel Silva, LF NYC Martin Ortíz, CF LVA Carlos Talamante, RF SFB Paco Javier --- To start the offseason, I sat down with a few arbitration players to talk about deals to avoid arbitration. For some for this year, for some altogether. We got the following deals done: Dan Nordahl: 1 year, $220k Manuel Martinez: 1 year, $215k Ralph Ford: 4 years, $3.5M ($700k in 2003) Jesus Palacios: 1 year, $1.22M Carl Bean: 1 year, $950k Albert Martin: 4 years, $3.4M ($700k in 2003) Palacios wanted a 4-year deal we couldn’t pay for. Similar with Carl Bean. Unless there are drastic changes (like Carlosito getting bitten by snakes or abducted or executed for a failed coup d’état) those two will leave as free agents after the 2003 season. Ford and Martin were eligible for the first time and had their arbitration years and one year of free agency bought out. In the end, there were only two arbitration cases left, Huerta and Parker, to whom we offered $210k and 240k, respectively, and that’s what they got, too. The second thing to do was to take a look at Daniel Miller, who was due $370k with a $75k buyout for the 2003 season. Miller’s career numbers: 698 G, 39-35, 3.61 ERA, 56 SV, 390 BB, 511 K; seems decent, right? Miller in 2000-02: 215 G, 5-10, 4.82 ERA, 17 SV, 141 BB, 149 K; doesn’t seem decent, right? Miller in 2002: 68 G, 3-1, 6.10 ERA, 1 SV, 51 BB, 45 K; He’s gotta go. It burns inside, but he’s gotta go. Former first round pick, 12 seasons with the Furballs. But he’s gotta go. As we are on the topic of people going, the group includes both Ingall and Matthews in addition to Miller and Flores. Both middle infielders were looking for 4-year deals, were looking real hard for those, and weren’t willing to sign a 1-year deal. Which is unfortunate. We got trade proposals early. The Indians had signed Ramiro Cavazos to a $1.5M extension on October 24, then tried to flip him for Randy Farley a week later. You crazy? There was also interest in Eddie Torrez, including from the Elks, inability to take in solid food with the broken jaw or not. It would be nice to skin the Elks once again, we haven’t really humiliated them since the Saito and Osanai trades. The only Japanese player they have is 21-year old righty Juichi Fujita. He debuted with 16 relief appearances this year, but he should actually be a decent starter. Vince likes him. And whom do they want? Torrez? Hummmm… --- October 30 – LVA SS/2B Victor Cerdeira announces his retirement after multiple surgeries failed to repair a badly mangled hand. Cerdeira, 31, was hurt in a game against the Falcons on August 4. A 1990 supplemental round pick by the Aces, Cerdeira actually debuted for the Indians in 1993 and also played for Sacramento before looping back to Las Vegas. He batted .258 with 16 HR and 116 RBI in his career. November 10 – The Loggers trade 30-yr old RF Taisuke Mashiba (.302, 75 HR, 484 RBI) to the Rebels for 30-yr old C Carlos Ramos (.297, 83 HR, 493 RBI). __________________ 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; 04-25-2015 at 01:04 AM.

04-25-2015, 05:21 AM	#1264
Westheim Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Germany Posts: 13,786	The arrival of free agency has slashed a few pieces off the expanded roster. This concerns position players mostly. Where do we stand on this November 13? SP: The rotation is set to contain Ford, Farley, Bean, Brown in whatever order. Garcia and Meza don’t figure to be prudent choices for the fifth spot, but both have options. No other starters on the 40-man roster. RP: Nordahl, Bruno, Martinez, Huerta, Moreno – that’s quite a good group to start with. We might want to add a proper closer and a strong lefty to that. We can expect no help from Perez and the walk machines Joly and Vega. Kichida was mostly meh in his cup of coffee and will restart at AAA. Joly and Perez have no options. In AAA, Diaz and Rodriguez are still around because nobody offers even half a bag of baseballs for them. C: Fifield has no options. One in five of his hits go deep for his career, but the problem is that he has significantly more strikeouts than hits. Thomas and Fernandez were both even more awful than Fifield, who had at least the shots going for him, and didn’t even come close to bat their own weight. In a perfect world, we’d add TWO new catchers to replace this corps. Nothing coming forth from the minors, either. INF: Behind Martin-Palacios-Guerin-Sharp there are only McLaughlin, Ramirez (.025!), and in AAA Gabriel left on the 40-man roster. AAA contains a few more failed prospects (Love, Morris). The first suit around the diamond fits tremendously, but there is zero depth behind it. OF: Seven 40-man guys on there with Roberson, Reece, Brady, and Torrez set for Opening Day. Parker might survive, but most likely will not. Lyon and Beairsto are left. Lyon will never get it done, and Beairsto will try to get it done in AAA. No additional prospects higher than AA. We have only $1.2M of budget room available right now, so it already looks like we can at best pick what other teams leave over at the free agent buffet, while having to look for our short-term salvation in trades, which will not be easy, since among our eight players receiving $700k or more (Reece, Palacios, Brady, Bean, Farley, Guerin, Ford, Martin) to pick and trade one is like deciding whether to cut off your own arm or leg. Last year it was “oh yeah we’re trading Cavazos, we have enough outfielders”, but this year it is not this easy AT ALL. First, we don’t have ANY spare parts laying around. Second, we can’t possibly trade a starting pitcher in our situation unless we want to sink even deeper. Third, Reece has a no trade clause. Fourth, this leaves only Palacios, Brady, Guerin, and Martin. We just established that we have no infield replacements at all. So it’s Brady? We don’t want to trade Brady! Yeah. Cut off your own arm or leg? You decide! -.- So, what is the ONE most dire need we have? Is it a starter? Is it a left-handed reliever? In practical terms, if the Coons had a $25M budget, and had $7M spare right now, we’d go out and sign one of the TWO reigning Triple Crown winners on the free agent market, plus closer Dane Sanders, plus Leborio Catalo, plus … But the Coons don’t. The Coons have $1.2M left, and that will at best buy ONE piece, and none of those pieces is named Sanders, Hamlyn, Castro, or Catalo. So, what is the ONE thing we need most? The starter? The left-handed reliever? The catcher? It’s got to be one of those, because if your biggest need is a backup infielder, we’re probably talking about a winning team. The last time that happened on the Willamette the Y2K problem was just beginning to be discussed. We’ll have the year two-thousand-and-***ing-three in less than eight weeks comin’ ‘round the corner! The biggest need might be the catcher. Fifield hit homers, all well and swell, but MORE STRIKEOUTS THAN HITS. There are four big names on the market: Ex-PIT Rob James (33) - .278/.390/.427 with 102 HR, 802 RBI in 1,401 G (type A) Ex-LVA Antonio De La Parra (28) - .284/.345/.381 with 43 HR, 394 RBI in 872 G (type A) Ex-RIC Arturo Aguilar (36) - .259/.374/.382 with 127 HR, 799 RBI in 1,790 G (no comp.) Ex-OCT David Vinson (37) - .238/.367/.386 with 150 HR, 718 RBI in 1,748 G (type B) James asks for $3M a year, which is just ever so slightly out of our budget, but we might be able to work out a deal for De La Parra. Aguilar has been hampered by injuries both of the last two seasons, OPS’ing .715 and thus 41 points under his career average in that time frame. At 36, you wonder what he has left. I’d hate to find out on a $1.5M contract or so. Anyway, before we can even add $1.5M in salaries, we have to shed something… And yes, old David, who’s been around since the Old Testament, is the fourth-best catcher on the market, and below that it is getting even thinner. We won’t re-sign Vinson. I spent most of the 90s tossing and turning at night because he had left six men on base YET AGAIN. I’m getting older too, I need my sleep. --- A few days after the free agency deadline, I got another trade offer. This one came from the Buffaloes and they offered 32-yr old C Jorge Lopez for scrubs. They tried to dump his $550k salary it seemed, as they had used him as a backup while he batted .952 OPS last year. Now, that .952 is way off. WAY off. Lopez was the starting catcher for the Canadiens in the late 90s, and he was NEVER a guy we thought of as “oh we gotta watch him, HE’S dangerous!”. Not by a mile. Is he better than Fifield and Thomas or Fernandez? Probably. Is he worth $550k? No. His career OPS is .727. The Condors offered Joe Morton, an outfielder, for Pablo Fernandez and an AA first baseman with little upside. Morton is due $900k and doesn’t move us along a bit, so this one was swiftly rejected. Still not getting any easier… __________________ 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.

04-25-2015, 04:08 PM	#1265
Westheim Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Germany Posts: 13,786	The Canadiens know about the potential of Fujita and will not trade him for Eddie Torrez. I also poked my nose into Cal Holbrook who posted an outrageous 7.14 ERA in 2002, but had a .388 BABIP (!!!) going against him over 103 innings (!!!!), but the Canadiens know how to read, too, it seems. The Condors continue to show keen interest in Torrez. Well, we have keen interest in him as well. We would need more than just one player (and certainly not Joe Morton) back for him. A starting pitcher and a really good prospect would do. The Condors were able to scratch the first itch (Curt Powell would do), but not the second. They really didn’t have anything of value in their minors. November 20 – The Miners sign 29-yr old 2B/3B Roberto Quintero (.285, 32 HR, 314 RBI), who didn’t play in 2001 and was last seen with the Wolves, to a 4-yr, $5.28M contract. November 21 – One of the biggest fish in the free agent pool is swept up by the Wolves, who sign ex-NAS INF Leborio Catalo (.319, 2 HR, 383 RBI) to a 5-yr, $11.6M contract. The 26-year old Venezolan may have less power than a fruit fly, but he makes up with a career .430 OBP in 177 SB. November 22 – The Titans re-sign 27-yr old INF/LF/CF Mark Austin (.285, 75 HR, 475 RBI) for a new ABL record contract of 7-yr, $16.8M, besting Johnny Johnson’s deal with the Gold Sox from two years ago by $3.5M. November 24 – Ex-PIT C Rob James (.278, 102 HR, 802 RBI) is signed to a 4-yr, $9.18M contract by the Rebels, where he will join the also signed ex-NAS 29-yr old INF Bob Hall (.285, 78 HR, 514 RBI), whom the Rebels add at a 4-yr, $9.12M price point. November 25 – The Buffaloes grab 2002 CL Triple Crown winner, 27-yr old ex-SFB Tony Hamlyn (107-60, 2.63 ERA), shelling out $16.52M over seven years. November 25 – The Canadiens add power with 33-yr old OF Royce Green (.276, 205 HR, 788 RBI), who puts his name under a 2-yr, $1.8M deal. November 27 – Once a Sock, always a Sock, kinda: ex-DEN SP Carlos Castro (167-121, 3.36 ERA) signs a 4-yr, $9.12M contract with the Blue Sox. The 30-yr old lefty is the reigning FL Triple Crown winner. November 27 – Former Crusader, 28-yr old SP Anibal Sandoval (119-88, 3.37 ERA) is signed to a 5-yr, $11.32M contract by the Aces. November 29 – The Raccoons flip 25-yr old C Pablo Fernandez (.227, 2 HR, 7 RBI) to the Stars for 23-yr old SP/MR Fernando Piquero (1-1, 4.26 ERA in 9 G). December 1 – Ex-SAC SP Whit Reeves (105-59, 3.32 ERA) is washed ashore in New York, with the Crusaders committing to 6-yr, $12.72M for the 28-year old right-hander. December 1 – The Pacifics take possession of ex-DAL 1B Salvador Mendez (.339, 15 HR, 586 RBI) on a 2-year contract that will pay $1.48M to the 34-year old. December 1 – Rule 5 draft: 13 players are selected over three rounds. The Raccoons are not affected. When I see other teams shell out $18M in a single day, I get sick in my stomach. I just want to throw up. I want to throw up, right into the Mexican Prick’s slippers. Meanwhile, we flipped Fernandez, who is just another Fifield with less success, for last year’s #37 prospect and former third overall draft pick (2000) Piquero, who will be assigned to AAA as a starting pitcher to begin 2003. Vince, whom I called in Puerto Rico where he was grazing orphanages, sending a poorly-fed kid named Raúl Valle up north a few days earlier, is confident that he can be a help to the big league club very soon. Piquero is actually our single best bet at a competent fifth starter right now. It makes for an interesting option to start the year with either Felipe Garcia or Román Meza, and see what Piquero does in St. Pete, and then switch them whenever appropriate. Piquero, as should be noted, has an awkward history of finger injuries, which cost him the last two months of the 2002 season when he tore a finger tendon. Fernando, listen. You gotta take care of your paws. You’re a Coon now. You need your paws. First, to pitch, and second, to incessantly shove your little mouth full with whatever food you can find anywhere. Obviously, the catcher in our eye, De La Parra, was looking for a multi-year deal. Now, we could somehow squeeze him into 2003’s budget at $1.2M. But not into 2004’s. You may remember that I am routinely signing players to (sometimes steeply) escalating deals. Yeah, this is coming back to **** me really hard. The 2004 estimated budget has drastically less space in the forecast than the current one. So we might be able to sign him for $1.2M for ’03, but it will blow the doors off the ’04 budget and the Mexican Prick has already sent a henchman to politely fork over a note that just said “El Nó!” … Yeah, well, then … we … well we might as well be just … just continue with Gary Fifield as the starting catcher, because, well … well … we will well … (slumps over the desk) OH MY GOD WHY IS ALL OF THIS HAPPENING!!!?? (cries furiously) Our likelihood to post a seventh consecutive losing season was around 70% once the Titans walked off against a defenseless Jose Escobar. We have just crossed the 95% mark, and rising. __________________ 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.

04-26-2015, 04:37 PM	#1266
Westheim Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Germany Posts: 13,786	We got all kinds of trade offers in the winter meetings. Most were for a good, but prohibitively expensive catcher for either loose pieces (so a salary dump), or for a piece we actually needed. The Condors were also keen on getting Randy Farley back, five years after the Brewer trade that sent him to Coon City. In general, everybody wanted a piece of our pitchers, and nobody wanted to even be in the same zip code as any of our hitters, which was strange, to be fair. I didn’t perceive our pitching as all that great… There were two exceptions. One was Torrez, who seemed to be on everybody’s shortlist, and the other was Roberson. Roberson was in the Buffaloes’ eyes specifically. The Buffaloes also had a player that I was keen on. It was lefty Ryan O’Quinn, who had been the focus of my trade ambitions last year or two years ago – can’t remember – already, a really solid setup reliever. He’d be fantastic to have! However, Roberson for O’Quinn was nothing that got the Buffaloes excited. Not at all. They just tried to dump 32-yr old C Jorge Lopez and his salary. And no help was forthcoming for the poor Raccoons. We could not get a stud lefty, so we had to settle for an average lefty once again, and we know how our history with those is. Not pretty. I was spending more time with the Buffaloes GM Cristo Duarte than anybody else during the winter meetings. They tried to dump Jorge Lopez, I tried to get their other catcher, the primary one: Pablo Ledesma. He was 26, batted left-handed, and was a good contact batter with significant gap power and ability to draw walks. I tried to get something going, and we established a few pieces they were keen on. One was Roberson, we knew that. I also made them take Juan Diaz, the left arm from hell. They were really hot on a prospect, SP Jack Berry, who had just come over last winter in trade for Max Heart. In the single season he had spent between AA and AAA (mostly AA though), he had whiffed 191 batters in 219 innings. He had also surrendered 41 home runs. He might not be something you wanted to see on the mound in Portland… The problem for me was to give up Roberson. I had a preliminary deal done that included all three players and we were able to pick a borderline player from them to make it a 5-player deal. But … Roberson …! He was a first round pick (1998), and … hnnggaaah!! December 3 – The Pacifics sign ex-TIJ Jesus Bautista (115-98, 3.29 ERA) to a 4-yr, $8.46M contract. December 4 – The Raccoons acquire 31-yr MR Benton Wilson (16-12, 4.96 ERA, 2 SV) from the Pacifics in exchange for 27-yr old OF Chris Parker (.254, 16 HR, 162 RBI). December 5 – The Buffaloes and Raccoons strike a deal that sends 25-yr old OF Chris Roberson (.261, 22 HR, 96 RBI), 27-yr old MR Juan Diaz (6-7, 4.85 ERA, 1 SV), and 23-yr old AAA SP Jack Berry to Topeka, while the return trip will be made by 26-yr old C Pablo Ledesma (.262, 41 HR, 250 RBI) and 26-yr old LF/RF Dale Moore (.274, 15 HR, 86 RBI). December 5 – 33-yr old SS/2B Kuang Liu (.265, 77 HR, 554 RBI), who missed most of 2002 with a concussion, signs a 2-yr, $3.28M contract with the Cyclones. December 5 – The Condors acquire INF Nelson Chavez (.272, 27 HR, 145 RBI) from the Falcons, parting with AAA 1B Eugene Carter. December 6 – The Crusaders send MR Nick Hartman (3-7, 4.26 ERA, 1 SV) to the Rebels for 34-yr old 2B Bryan Andrews (.267, 2 HR, 140 RBI). December 7 – 25-year old INF Brian Nichols (.309, 16 HR, 170 RBI) is traded from the Stars to the Capitals in exchange for 34-yr old 3B Ramiro Gonzalez (.298, 13 HR, 452 RBI). December 7 – Another trade by the Crusaders, as they send 30-yr old C Mike Olson (.255, 17 HR, 109 RBI) to the Aces to acquire 25-yr old MR Mario Perez (9-1, 3.28 ERA). Perez made his major league debut last year after going undrafted in 1995. December 12 – Ex-OCT RF/LF Artie Barnes (.275, 98 HR, 502 RBI) signs a 4-yr, $9.12M contract with the Stars. December 13 – It’s a homecoming in Denver! 39-year old LF/RF Dale Wales (.317, 155 HR, 1,403 RBI) returns to his first major league team after a trek through Tijuana and Salem, signing a 2-yr, $4.62M contract. Wales’ 3,246 career hits rank second all-time in the ABL, 336 base knocks behind Jeffery Brown. December 15 – The Capitals add 25-yr old ex-TOP SP Chris York (70-62, 4.10 ERA) on a 3-yr, $6.74M contract. York, the sixth overall pick in the 1995 draft, once made his debut at age 19. December 18 – Former Aces catcher Antonio De La Parra (.284, 43 HR, 394 RBI) ends up in Oklahoma. The 28-year old receives a 4-yr, $6.74M contract. December 19 – At 37, 1B/3B Ben O’Morrissey (.283, 157 HR, 989 RBI) gets another 3-yr, $6.24M pay day from the Cyclones. O’Morrissey spent 2002 with the Condors and Buffaloes. December 20 – The Gold Sox scoop up ex-WAS LF/RF Jesus Rivera (.313, 120 HR, 595 RBI), committing to $15.96M over seven years for the 27-year old. December 21 – It costs $5.5M over three years for the Scorpions to take on ex-VAN SP Jose Dominguez (84-93, 4.45 ERA). December 24 – The Raccoons flip 29-yr old AAA 1B/2B George Morris (.244, 0 HR, 1 RBI in 41 AB) to the Warriors for 23-yr old AAA SP/MR Jesus Elmore. December 24 – Ex-SFW OF Luis Arroyo (.273, 155 HR, 872 RBI), who is 33, returns to the Continental League after signing a 2-yr, $3.84M contract with the Bayhawks. I didn’t want to, but I had to. Roberson had to go, so we could get a strong primary catcher. I - … my heart… In one more way, while it has eaten up virtually all of our budget space, this might make the Raccoons a better team, other than limiting Gary Fifield to two appearances a week. With Roberson gone, Reece will move to leftfield, and we can give Eddie Torrez the starting job in centerfield. Let’s face it, at 36 Neil’s defensive capabilities will ultimately be limited. Torrez will cover that ground much more efficiently. Ledesma and Moore both bat left-handed. Whether Moore will stick around (he has no options) remains to be seen. Fifield will be the backup catcher (unless we trade him) because he has no options, but Mark Thomas has. On New Year’s Day, we have no money left over to play with, and have no backup infielders. Well, except perhaps Brent McLaughlin. Ha-hah. Bright side: the problem will be taken care of in three or four years. We have a complete set of infielders that Vince rates 3.5 stars or better – in Aumsville. The litter of 18- and 19-year olds are Gilbert Eldridge, Leonard Wyatt, Ieyoshi Nomura, and Rafael Galindo. That’s the sixth, eighth, and first round picks from 2002, and the eighth round pick from 2001. In terms of WAR, the Ledesma trade was a 5.5 gain. This is to a big part due to Ledesma being very good, a smaller part Roberson’s poor second half last season, and to a not insignificant part the fact that Juan Diaz lost WAR like I lost my marbles whenever he pitched. (comforts stuffed toy raccoon) It’s okay, Honeypaws. Diaz won’t hurt you no more. Daddy took care of him! (rocks back and forth) __________________ 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.

04-27-2015, 05:01 PM	#1267
Westheim Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Germany Posts: 13,786	January 2 – The Loggers add ex-CHA SP Ramiro Gonzalez (58-67, 3.85 ERA), who spent most of his career with the Crusaders, handing out $1.88M over three years to the 29-year old southpaw. January 4 – The Cyclones sign 33-yr old ex-BOS LF Vern Kinnear (.263, 103 HR, 588 RBI) to a 2-yr, $2.16M contract. January 5 – 30-year old ex-VAN 3B/SS Raymond Sutton (.284, 31 HR, 259 RBI) settles on the Condors’ offer of 4-yr, $5.63M. January 17 – Former Cyclone, 33-year old SP Alfonso Velasco (123-117, 4.30 ERA) jumps onto the Buffaloes bandwagon, joining on a 4-yr, $5.92M contract, and they also add ex-CHA SP Chang-bum O (75-84, 4.55 ERA) for 1-yr, $770k. January 20 – Once a Bayhawks, 32-yr old OF Tom Walls (.284, 18 HR, 280 RBI) is now a Miner, and going to earn $3.42M over three years. January 26 – The Raccoons and 34-yr old INF Marvin Ingall (.279, 48 HR, 397 RBI) agree to a 1-yr, $250k contract. January 26 – The Rebels end up signing former Condor SP Jose Maldonado (79-64, 3.36 ERA). The 31-year old will earn $3.96M over two years. January 29 – Tijuana signs 36-year old 2B/SS Jim Stein (.307, 65 HR, 894 RBI), who played with Richmond and Sioux Falls last season, to a 2-yr, $2.28M contract. February 8 – 28-year old OF Wes McCormick (.273, 73 HR, 283 RBI), who so far spent his career with the Aces, signs a 3-yr, $4.84M contract with the Blue Sox. February 11 – The Blue Sox strike again, adding ex-NYC CL Dane Sanders (37-40, 2.61 ERA, 162 SV) on a 2-yr, $2.12M deal. February 13 – 37-year old veteran C David Vinson (.238, 150 HR, 718 RBI) joins the Knights on a 2-yr, $3.04M contract after playing with their division rivals Thunder the last two years. February 14 – Ex-LVA SP Dan Moriarty (66-78, 4.35 ERA) ends up in Salem, signing a contract for $3.78M over three years. February 22 – SP Doug Morrow (172-166, 3.90 ERA) returns to the CL North on a 1-yr, $525k contract with the Loggers. February 23 – The Thunder sign 30-yr old LF/RF Freddie Jones (.298, 18 HR, 374 RBI) for 2-yr, $1.78M. Jones is a former Blue Sock. February 24 – 36 years old, injury prone, and managing only 476 AB the last two years combined, C Arturo Aguilar (.259, 127 HR, 799 RBI) nevertheless manages to secure a 3-yr, $2.94M contract from the Bayhawks. March 8 – Sacramento lands 32-yr old SP Cipriano Miranda (61-89, 4.34 ERA) for $590k on a 1-year deal. March 30 – With Opening Day one week away, the Cyclones grab 2B/3B Thomas Watts (.296, 16 HR, 384 RBI) for 2-yr, $1.62M. Watts was in the Miners organization. April 1 – The Miners sign SP Takeru Sato (75-73, 3.94 ERA), agreeing to $550k for one season. Stick with what you know best. Our infield situation was bleak once you got past the starting four. We have McLaughlin, who’s past 30 by now, and Miguel Ramirez, who batted 1-40 last year(!!), and then there’s even more obsure people behind those two. Marv is still a good player, if not an everyday player, and he’s saved us from a perfecto. After all, it has been a disappointing offseason. We got Ledesma, and really not a whole lot beyond that. I tried to single out the one player between all our big earners (excluding Reece), who might be somehow replaceable from AAA. There is none. The one single area where we have some kind of depth in St. Pete is right-handed relief pitching with Kaz Kichida and Lawrence Rockburn. There is NOTHING else left. Look at Morrow. A stinking half million would have netted Morrow, a decent starter for the back end of our rotation. We have no half million. We have about $200k in the coffers, and that is after clipping a bit more money off the scouting budget. Thanks to the Mexican Prick, we can’t even shore up the rotation. Stick Felipe Garcia into the #5 spot, and if he lasts the season, he might rack up 20 losses. Don’t even get me started on Sato. We could trade Palacios, play Ingall at second, but that costs us in OBP, and it also costs us against right-handed pitching, and while we might be able to trade Brady, we’d then look at Cal Lyon or Chris Beairsto having a starter’s job, and while we could trade Bean (who’ll be in his walk year), then we’d have Meza AND Garcia in the rotation, and and AND AND AND … And more losing to come soon. __________________ 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.

04-27-2015, 06:36 PM	#1268
Westheim Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Germany Posts: 13,786	2003 PORTLAND RACCOONS – Opening Day Roster (first set shows 2002 numbers, second set overall; players with an * are off season acquisitions): SP Ralph Ford, 25, B:L, T:L (13-9, 2.61 ERA \| 33-42, 3.77 ERA) – Ford struck out 175, a career high, and at times was hardly touchable. Bad run support was the major factor in keeping him at 13 wins, he had certainly had the potential for more. The scouting reports warns, however, that he got an advantage from good defense behind him. SP Carl Bean, 29, B:R, T:R (15-13, 3.63 ERA \| 70-71, 3.96 ERA) – keeps looking for his Denver form, but was decent and became the first Raccoon since 1996 to win 15 games in a season. Why his strikeouts are down in Portland remains a mystery. SP Nick Brown, 25, B:L, T:L (9-11, 2.65 ERA \| 11-14, 2.96 ERA) – was not always successful in his first full season in the majors, but at least he brought excitement back to the park, setting a new franchise record for single season strikeouts, fanning 212 and breaking Kisho Saito’s 193 from 1985. We just have to work really hard on those 99 walks he surrendered. SP Randy Farley, 29, B:R, T:R (9-16, 4.88 ERA \| 56-57, 3.78 ERA) – continues to suffer through bouts of worst ineffectiveness, although a .356 BABIP had a hand in his misfortune in 2002. We are still hoping that he can get back to his 1998-2000 form. SP Felipe Garcia, 25, B:R, T:R (2-5, 5.01 ERA \| 4-5, 4.41 ERA) – this poor man’s fifth starter was on the Opening Day roster last season, and didn’t even last two months. There is little reason to hope that it will get better this time. MU Bob Joly, 27, B:R, T:R (4-7, 3.57 ERA \| 16-29, 4.72 ERA) – keeps coming and keeps going, occasionally throwing a no-hitter I am not sure anymore whether that actually took place. Mop-up duty is the one role we can consider him competent enough for. MR Ricardo Huerta, 29, B:R, T:R (3-6, 3.04 ERA, 1 SV \| 8-12, 4.19 ERA, 2 SV) – was a spectacular grab for a rule 5 pick last season, doing well in post roles. He might do even better if used less erratically, as we regularly burned him up in long relief and squeezed him out for 77 innings. MR Domingo Moreno, 29, B:R, T:L (4-1, 4.09 ERA \| 16-7, 2.95 ERA, 12 SV) – missed over half of the 2002 season on the DL, but when he was here, he was mostly effective – mostly; of major concern is the poor 4.5 K/9 rate, which doesn’t fit his career so far, but it might be an issue of the small sample size of 22 IP. MR Benton Wilson , 32, B:L, T:L (3-4, 5.57 ERA \| 16-12, 4.96 ERA, 2 SV) – acquired in trade from the Pacifics for Chris Parker, Wilson has a very poor BABIP (.332) for his career, and a .387 mark in 2002; he can strike out batters in raw amounts to give him a chance for the defense to not bungle every other play. SU Marcos Bruno, 27, B:R, T:R (3-2, 2.81 ERA, 6 SV \| 8-7, 3.66 ERA, 8 SV) – continues to suffer from wild episodes, but has established himself as a reliable 7th/8th inning right-hander. SU Manuel Martinez, 24, B:R, T:R (2-2, 4.10 ERA \| 5-4, 4.62 ERA, 2 SV) – mostly solid, Martinez had a tendency for really big, nasty innings, ruining his ERA. He’s got a very short breath, making him most suitable for a quick eighth or to get a key right-hander in a jam. CL Dan Nordahl, 24, B:R, T:R (2-3, 2.40 ERA, 31 SV \| 12-13, 4.01 ERA, 52 SV) – gave up more than his share of walkoff grand slams last season, but overall we couldn’t complain TOO much about his work this time around, and with no proven closer and veteran affordable, we might be not so horribly off to continue with Danny. C Pablo Ledesma , 27, B:L, T:R (.298, 13 HR, 81 RBI \| .262, 41 HR, 250 RBI) – Ledesma was acquired from the Buffaloes for Chris Roberson and buckled scrap, and is a very good defensive catcher while also having a very good eye and rarely striking out; besides possessing some power, he also has a good OBP, making it difficult to find the perfect spot in the lineup for him. C Gary Fifield, 30, B:R, T:R (.229, 16 HR, 55 RBI \| .226, 21 HR, 81 RBI) – showed flashes of dynamite, but racked up strikeouts like crazy, and his defensive game is also not very special, but with Ledesma batting left-handed, he should easily rack up all starts against left-handed pitchers. 1B Albert Martin, 26, B:L, T:L (.300, 32 HR, 111 RBI \| .279, 75 HR, 253 RBI) – one of the three or four best home run hitters (park effects helping or not), Martin entered the top 10 for career homers for the Coons, and also had the fourth-best single season for homers as a Furball. He also batted .300 while doing it, and the only real weakness in his game is rather poor defense. 2B Jesus Palacios, 28, B:L, T:R (.320, 11 HR, 56 RBI \| .292, 67 HR, 351 RBI) – very good OBP values, although this came without too many walks, and he also doesn’t strike out a lot; fell well short of 24 homers he hit in 2001, but he also missed significant part of the season to injury. SS Conceicao Guerin, 29, B:R, T:R (.266, 1 HR, 41 RBI \| .280, 11 HR, 277 RBI) – 2002 was one long, painful struggle for Concie, who didn’t get on base, didn’t hit, couldn’t run, was hurt some, and all over was just not the wonderful shortstop from previous years. 2003 is about rebounding for him. 1B/3B Daniel Sharp, 25, B:R, T:R (.288, 7 HR, 42 RBI \| .286, 19 HR, 122 RBI) – everyday third baseman, never mind the occasional stupid error, in the field or on the base paths; gives his manager another option for a 1/2 batter, posting a .380 OBP last year, and .359 for his career. 1B/2B/3B/SS Marvin Ingall, 34, B:R, T:R (.272, 4 HR, 44 RBI \| .279, 48 HR, 397 RBI) – good all-rounder, playing all infield positions well and delivering those trademark INGALL SINGLES whenever one is needed. Like, when the opposing pitcher has sat down 26 of his teammates without allowing anyone on base. 1B/2B/3B/SS Brent McLaughlin, 30, B:R, T:R (.200, 0 HR, 2 RBI \| .223, 1 HR, 20 RBI) – purely defensive backup, which is the one thing he is able to do competently: replace Martin in late innings. LF/CF Neil Reece, 36, B:R, T:R (.257, 7 HR, 35 RBI \| .306, 160 HR, 801 RBI) – longest-tenured Raccoon, having debuted in 1989, Reece has been eaten up by old age and injuries; his agility is gone, and Reece will instead start in the vacated leftfield, leaving center to Torrez; he missed most of two of the last three seasons to injury. RF/CF/LF/1B Edgardo Torrez, 26, B:L, T:L (.271, 2 HR, 7 RBI \| .256, 3 HR, 11 RBI) – he might have made it as a centerfield starter if not for untimely injuries costing him several months; he takes over center from the aging/ailing Reece, giving us a speedy and quirky centerfielder, that will still not even be close to being as awesome as Reece was at his age. LF/RF Clyde Brady, 26, B:L, T:L (.237, 11 HR, 52 RBI \| .259, 54 HR, 255 RBI) – suffered through a rotten season, especially in the latter half of the year, and just couldn’t get anything done. His place in right is not in danger yet, except should Chris Beairsto in AAA figure out how not to whiff constantly. LF/RF Dale Moore , 27, B:L, T:L (.273, 10 HR, 53 RBI \| .274, 16 HR, 86 RBI) – the other piece of the Ledesma trade, Moore comes over to the Buffaloes. He might be suitable for pinch-hitting, but we don’t see him as a solution to our many issues. LF/RF/CF Cal Lyon, 27, B:L, T:L (.183, 1 HR, 8 RBI \| .168, 2 HR, 10 RBI) – you gotta have a backup, two legs, two arms... On disabled list: one minor leaguer, MR Stu Davis. Otherwise unavailable: Nobody. Other roster movement: MR Pedro Perez, 27, B:L, T:L (0-3, 4.85 ERA \| 0-4, 8.57 ERA) – DFA, lacking in every major and minor aspect. Opening day lineups: Vs. RHP: 2B Palacios – SS Guerin – CF Torrez – 1B Martin – LF Reece – 3B Sharp – C Ledesma – RF Brady – P Ford Vs. LHP: SS Guerin – 3B Sharp – CF Torrez – 1B Martin – LF Reece – 2B Ingall – RF Brady – C Fifield – P Ford OFF SEASON CHANGES: We gained two wins last season, posting our sixth consecutive losing season at 73-89. BNN says we’re gonna jump over .500 this year. I don’t know where that comes from. WAR smells. Top 5: Capitals (+9.8), Raccoons (+9.5), Wolves (+8.6), Rebels (+5.8), Loggers (+2.8) Bottom 5: Miners (-8.4), Warriors (-10.2), Canadiens (-10.4), Falcons (-12.2), Bayhawks (-14.5) PREDICTION TIME: There aren’t many changes here at all. The Raccoons only added three new players, of which only Ledesma has actual meaning. Somehow we still ended up gaining the second-most WAR, but quite a large amount of that comes from the pieces we disposed of. Last year saw a hot start, then some lingering five to eight games below .500 into August, and then a spectacular crash to 73-89. My prediction was 75-87. The hope was for a 81-81 finish. BNN sees us at 82 wins this year. I don’t. The main change is Ledesma. Moore won’t help, and our history of left-handed relievers makes Benton Wilson the latest entrant in a revolving door. The roster has gaping holes, the bench is more than just thin, and once injuries hit, we will be in a lot of pain. On the other hand we have a lot of youngsters who can still be expected to develop. Our rotation might be the toughest part of the entire roster, but we can also compose a pretty solid lineup (as long as nobody gets hurt). It’s hard to make a prediction. Even if the rotation holds up, and the bullpen holds up, we can never go a full season without injuries to our starting position players. And just look at that bench. It’s tear-jerking. The Raccoons will post their seventh consecutive losing season, starting off decent or even well, but eventually will get decimated by injuries and sink to a 71-91 finish. PLAYER DEVELOPMENT: The Raccoons continue to have the 16th-ranked farm system in the ABL. Last year we only had seven top 200 prospects. Of these seven, two are no longer eligible (#25 Eddie Torrez and #132 Felipe Garcia), one has been traded (#31 Jack Berry), and #75 Matt Cash had a year ravaged by injury and dropped off. 36th (+94) – AA 1B Mun-wah Tsung, 20 – international discovery by the Cyclones, acquired in trade for Miguel Lopez, Juan Garcia 62nd (+9) – AAA LF/RF/1B Chris Beairsto, 24 – 2001 first round pick by the Raccoons 79th (new) – A SS/2B Ieyoshi Nomura, 18 – 2002 first round pick by the Raccoons 93rd (new) – AAA LF Mike Willard, 24 – 2000 fifth round pick by the Raccoons 141st (new) – A SP/MR Adam Riddle, 21 – 2002 second round pick by the Raccoons 185th (+15) – AAA 1B Alejandro Rojas, 23 – international discovery be the Vicente Guerra The Condors’ AAA CF Ramón Perez is the #1 prospect in the country. He was signed out of Mexico in 2000. Last year’s #1 pick, Rebels SP Jesus Cabrera, has dropped to #7, while a certain SP Barney Manning went from #7 to #14. Next: first pitch – in the Frozen Land of Elks! __________________ 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.

04-28-2015, 07:27 PM	#1270
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	Don't like Royce Green on the Canadians..... And I still think we will end up on the plus side of .500 this year.....

04-29-2015, 04:55 PM	#1271
Westheim Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Germany Posts: 13,786	Raccoons (6-7) @ Titans (7-5) – April 21-23, 2003 Playing the dominant Titans never gets old. Oh wait, it does! We’re a glorious 8-28 against them the last two years. Their team is largely unchanged from last season, so we can’t expect for the ownage to lessen one bit, despite them not hitting at all in the first two weeks. Their 46 runs scored rank third-worst in the Continental League, but in turn their pitching was blindingly fantastic, with a 2.53 starters’ ERA and 0.76 bullpen ERA. Projected matchups: Randy Farley (0-1, 6.48 ERA) vs. Steven Snyder (2-0, 1.50 ERA) Felipe Garcia (0-1, 5.27 ERA) vs. Joe Mann (1-0, 2.40 ERA) Ralph Ford (1-2, 6.23 ERA) vs. Jorge Chapa (0-2, 3.32 ERA) Hard times ahead. Game 1 POR: RF Brady – CF Torrez – C Ledesma – 1B Martin – LF Reece – 2B Palacios – SS Ingall – 3B M. Ramirez – P Farley BOS: LF Elizondo – 1B Matsumoto – CF Garrison – RF G. Munoz – 3B Austin – C L. Lopez – 2B V. Flores – SS D. Silva – P Snyder Pitching reigned supreme on this cold Monday night. Through five innings, neither team had more than two hits, with only Brady hitting two singles off Snyder. When he hit his third single in the top 6th, we mustered something with a 2-run homer by Ledesma to take a 2-0 lead. Farley had had the bases full in the bottom 3rd, and little else, and it was true: the Titans were horrendous at making contact. Raccoons infielders registered seven fly outs while Farley was pitching, which surely wasn’t all a pitcher thing. Regardless, Farley was soon enough knocked from the game. Vic Flores doubled in the bottom 7th with one out, then was singled home instantly by the pest Silva. Farley became unglued and walked the bases full with two outs, with Moreno replacing him and getting a deep fly out from Rudy Garrison. The Coons left runners on the corners when Reece was handed his third K of the day by Xavier Herrera, and in the bottom 8th Moreno became stuck as well, but Martinez retired Flores before things could get ugly. Things were heading for Nordahl appearing in the game, which was an all-out non-thrilling proposition, especially in a 1-run game. He entered with an ERA of roughly “a lot”, but then Silva, Diéguez, and Elizondo went up and down in quick succession. 2-1 Coons! Brady 3-3, BB, 2B; Ledesma 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Farley 6.2 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 2 K, W (1-1); Nordahl’s ERA is still “a lot”, but three runs less than before. Tells you a thing or two about how deep he’s been shoved into the gutter this month. Game 2 POR: RF Brady – CF Torrez – C Ledesma – 1B Martin – 2B Palacios – 3B Ingall – LF Beairsto – SS McLaughlin – P F. Garcia BOS: LF Elizondo – 1B Matsumoto – RF G. Munoz – 3B Austin – 2B H. Ramirez – C L. Lopez – CF Bryant – SS V. Flores – P Mann More pitching, less offense. When Clyde Brady rammed a double off the centerfield wall to plate Beairsto in the fifth inning, that was the first run of the game, and the fifth hit in total. Ledesma left pairs of runners on in both the third and the fifth innings, and in the bottom 5th Garcia had a man on first with two out when Elizondo hit a weak grounder to McLaughlin, whose throw to second went amiss. The Titans loaded them up on an infield single into McLaughlin territory before Munoz flew out to end the inning with no scoring. Top 8th, still 1-0. Brady was retired for the first time in the series before Mann walked both Torrez and Ledesma and was replaced with the lefty Herrera, who allowed a first-pitch single to Al Martin. That loaded them up, and Palacios was hit for with a right-hander here, and with Reece having looked bad for more than a week, we called on Fifield! After a first ball, Fifield poked the ball into play, a sorry grounder that became an RBI infield single mainly because Herrera and Austin got into each other’s way when trying to field it. Ingall lined out, bringing up Beairsto, 0-12 with what felt like 14 K. Reece hit for him, wisely stayed away from the first pitch that was wickedly wild and eluded Diéguez, scoring the Coons’ third run, before Reece grounded out on a 3-1. But, 3-0 was 3-0, and Garcia pitched a scoreless eighth, and with only left-handers due in the bottom 9th, the question in advance was whether Nordahl had found it now and could go back-to-back, or whether we trusted Garcia further than we could throw him. He batted for himself in the ninth, successlessly, and then resumed pitching, allowing a double to lead off the inning. We went to Moreno. Moreno had not whiffed anybody in eight innings pitched this season, but struck out his first man, Austin. Ramirez popped out. Here, righty David Mendez hit for Herrera in Lopez’ vacated slot. And HERE came Nordahl! He erred every which way in the strike zone, until he finally threw one down the middle in a full count, and Mendez didn’t even see it coming. K, game over! 3-0 Coons!! Brady 2-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Fifield (PH) 1-1, RBI; Garcia 8.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K, W (1-1) and 1-4, 2B; Better lucky than anything else? Well, I dig ability, but in absence of that, luck will do. Game 3 POR: SS Ingall – RF Brady – LF Reece – 1B Martin – C Fifield – 3B M. Ramirez – CF Beairsto – 2B Love – P Ford BOS: 2B D. Mendez – 1B Matsumoto – CF Garrison – RF G. Munoz – 3B V. Flores – LF Bryant – SS H. Ramirez – C F. Diéguez – P Chapa Ralph Ford was missing, and he was missing badly, plunking Garrison in the first inning in addition to a walk. That didn’t cost a run, but walking Chapa with two out and Bryant on second ended up costing one once Mendez singled to right afterwards. It didn’t get better for us. OBP wiz Brady was ejected after getting called out on strikes to end the third and calling the umpire a bum of a switch or something like that. The next inning, the Titans put up a 3-spot and Ford didn’t live to see the sixth. The Coons had nothing going apart from a soft single from Beairsto, ending futility at 0-13. We couldn’t get much length out of Bob Joly, either, as he put the first three batters he faced on base in the sixth. Ultimately, non of this mattered. The Raccoons amounted to three hits and eleven strikeouts and were swiftly shut out in this one. 5-0 Titans. Odd fact: after seven outings and 5.2 innings, Benton Wilson has not conceded any earned runs. Neither has he struck out anyone. Instead he leads the team in wins. !? Well, I suppose we won more than our due share in this midweek series, so let’s get the heck outta here before they demand a fourth game. Raccoons (8-8) @ Bayhawks (5-11) – April 25-27, 2003 What was going on at the Bay? 5-11 seemed very un-bayhawk-like. They had not posted a losing record since 1996 (does that year ring a bell in connection with some other dysfunctional club?), but this one looked really out of whack. They had lost Tony Hamlyn and some pieces more to free agency, but that was not enough to explain their 102 runs allowed and 7.43 ERA in the rotation… Projected matchups: Carl Bean (2-1, 3.60 ERA) vs. Raúl Fuentes (1-1, 4.50 ERA) Nick Brown (0-1, 3.78 ERA) vs. Iván Cordero (0-2, 10.00 ERA) Randy Farley (1-1, 4.20 ERA) vs. Ricardo Sanchez (1-2, 5.91 ERA) Game 1 POR: RF Brady – 2B Ingall – LF Reece – 1B Martin – C Fifield – 3B M. Ramirez – SS McLaughlin – CF Beairsto – P Bean SFB: LF R. Gonzalez – C G. Ortíz – CF Arroyo – RF Javier – 3B Foster – SS J. Perez – 1B I. Navarro – 2B Comte – P Fuentes No, the Coons didn’t come out swinging. While they took a 1-0 lead in the second inning with a solo homer by Miguel Ramirez, they didn’t have much else going on. In the fifth, BOTH teams concluded their innings with strike-em-out-throw-em-out plays, with the Bayhawks blowing a chance for a big inning there. The bottom 5th had started with McLaughlin, useless every which way, made a capital throwing error that put leadoff man Jesse Foster on second base. Foster scored but the two-for-one special held the game at least tied, with Perez stranded on third base. McLaughlin made another throwing error past Martin the next inning, and old Neil had to make a headlong diving play to safe that run from scoring, retiring Paco Javier without breaking his own neck in the process. Bean went seven, didn’t get a decision, and we cobbled the eighth together with three relievers because the Bayhawks refused to make outs. The Coons had three hits again through eight, but Ingall led off the ninth with a single with Fuentes still in there. Reece grounded out, and Ingall moved to third when Martin legged out an infield single. Prime chance for Fifield, who was batting .103, yeah. Matt Love batted for him, struck out, and so did Ramirez. Benton Wilson got booked for his first run allowed in the bottom 9th then, walking leadoff man Paco Javier and Huerta failed to contain the runner. 2-1 Bayhawks. Ingall 2-3, BB; Martin 2-4; Bean 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 2 K; That was a true stinker of a game. They were also bad – offensively! – in the Boston series, but that was against sterling pitching. The Bayhawks were rumored to be horrendous. Well, Fuentes wasn’t and took a complete game win. Dale Moore came off the DL, with a wildly unsuccessful Chris Beairsto (1 for 18) heading back to Florida. Game 2 POR: RF Brady – 2B Ingall – LF Reece – 1B Martin – CF Torrez – 3B M. Ramirez – 2B Palacios – C Ledesma – P P Brown SFB: 2B Berrios – SS J. Perez – C G. Ortíz – LF Brulhart – 3B Foster – CF Arroyo – RF Comte – 1B Aguilar – P I. Cordero Cordero walked ten per nine innings, had an ERA of ten, but the Coons had a lineup with ten divided by two left-handed batters (plus Brown). You were hoping for a rash of scoring, you feared the opposite, and in fact the Raccoons buried Cordero as quickly as a glacier. Reece singled home a run in the third, and that was all they did early on. Brown held up, although he was not quite as flashy as usual. Cordero was almost at 100 pitches in the sixth. Martin had singled, and Torrez grounded to second, where Leon Berrios played the ball to first – or not bloody quite. Aguilar couldn’t contain the short hop, and the Coons had two men on with no outs, and the bases were loaded when Ramirez singled to center. Palacios also singled, 2-0, and a run scored on Ledesma’s groundout, and Cordero was taken out eventually. Rodrigo Garcia struck out Reece with the bags full in a 4-0 game to advance to the bottom 6th. Ramirez homered the next inning to make it 5-0. Brown went on and on, completed eight on 99 pitches, and seemed to have juice left. Bottom 9th, Gabriel Ortíz grounded out to Ingall on a 2-2 pitch. Jim Brulhart was down 0-2 and flew out to Torrez, and that made Foster the potential final out. That AB also went to two strikes, and this time Brown did not bother his defense and K’ed him! 5-0 Coons! Martin 2-5; Ramirez 2-2, 2 BB, HR, RBI; Palacios 1-2, 2 BB, RBI; Brown 9.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 7 K, W (1-1); Brownie’s 4-hitter came on 113 pitches, and it’s for his 12th big league win and second shutout and complete game. He pitched very well in this game, and had many more 2-strike counts. Although 10 K and more excite me, he often mixes them up with five walks, and then I’d rather have a splendidly pitched shutout. Who wouldn’t? Game 3 POR: RF Brady – CF Torrez – C Ledesma – 1B Martin – SS Ingall – 2B Palacios – 3B M. Ramirez – LF Moore – P Farley SFB: LF R. Gonzalez – C G. Ortíz – CF Arroyo – RF Javier – 3B Foster – SS J. Perez – 1B I. Navarro – 2B J. Diaz – P R. Sanchez Sanchez had his bell rung early with an opening-inning 3-run homer clobbered by Al Martin for his third of the year. The Coons took a nap then while Farley faced the minimum through three innings, but that was aided by two double plays turned by Ingall and Palacios behind him. In the bottom 4th he fell victim to an RBI triple by Paco Javier, but Dale Moore hit a leadoff jack to restore the 3-run gap right away in the fifth. The Bahyhawks however were just starting to constrict Farley, who barely escaped the fifth with two men on, and couldn’t escape the sixth at all. He left with two on, two out and Navarro up, whom Bruno came in for. One pop to shallow right later, we were out of the inning and still leading by two, 4-2. Brady had made that catch and he would make another one an inning later, starving another two runners that Huerta had put there, righties Diaz and Ortíz, while he had surrendered two left-handers. Moreno then induced a sharp line to right from ex-Elk Arroyo, that Brady just so managed to throw himself in the way of. Still 4-2, and the Bayhawks made three quick outs against Moreno (one) and Martinez (two) in the eighth. Add-on offense, perhaps? Yes, one run, plated through singles by Ingall, Reece, and Moore in the top 9th. Nordahl was out for the bottom of that inning, facing the bottom third of the Hawks’ order. Navarro grounded out before the Bayhawks put two on with a Diaz single and an Aguilar walk. Gonzalez grounded to Ingall, now at second, but they only got Aguilar, and PH Jim Brulhart represented the tying run with two out. And he had power. And Nordahl had been whacked hard already this year. Brulhart eventually walked on five pitches, creating a most unpleasant situation with Luis Arroyo up next, a left-hander, but Benton Wilson had lots of walks and no strikeouts. So it was Nordahl vs. Arroyo with three on and two out, and the 2-2 pitch was taken high to right. High, but not deep, and Brady made the play. 5-2 Coons. Ingall 2-4; Reece (PH) 1-1; Moore 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; In other news April 21 – LVA RF/LF Lou Jenkins (.342, 5 HR, 14 RBI) is out for the season with a torn labrum. April 23 – The Aces’ SP Anibal Sandoval (2-1, 3.44 ERA) 2-hits the Falcons in a 5-0 shutout. April 24 – The Cyclones are blanked by WAS SP Mario Pagán (2-2, 4.56 ERA), amounting to just three hits in a 5-0 shutout. April 26 – TOP 1B Jose Valenzuela (.355, 4 HR, 19 RBI) has hit in 20 straight games collecting a double in his team’s 5-4 win over the Scorpions. April 26 – DEN SP Victor Bernal (3-1, 4.39 ERA), who missed last year’s FLCS already, is now out for most of the year with bone chips in his elbow. April 27 – Another FL West pitcher is diagnosed with bone chips in his elbow, as SAC SP Kenny Frye (0-2, 3.86 ERA) hits the shelf for at least four months. April 27 – Valenzuela’s hitting streak is snapped at 20 games already by the Scorpions, who hold him at 0-5, while the Buffaloes win 4-3. Complaints and stuff Hits to go for Neil Reece to catch Daniel Hall for the franchise record: 113. Could take a while. Odd note: Brownie has 1,446 professional strikeouts. Drafted as a high schooler in ’95, he has already turned in over 200 innings at every level on the ladder. Nobody thought anything of that kid when he was drafted, and now flocks of young boys wear his jersey. Things like that are the few reasons I don’t just step in front of a train. 16 runs scored this week. Sixteen! I mean, we finally got good pitching, but sixteen!! For once, a preseason projection kicks in. Injuries would kill the team. Injuries killed the team. Especially against left-handed pitching, we’ve got nothing anymore. And then you get McLaughlin actively throwing games away. Sharp and Concie were all it took for this team to fold and die. 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; 04-29-2015 at 04:58 PM.

05-01-2015, 11:20 AM	#1274
Westheim Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Germany Posts: 13,786	Raccoons (13-12) vs. Crusaders (10-14) – May 5-8, 2003 This would probably not be the year the Crusaders returned to relevance, either. Vince rated their roster as poor throughout with the only players he’d readily add to the Raccoons’ roster being pitchers Whit Reeves and Leonardo Sosa and outfielder Martin Ortíz. Their collection of scraps had scored 77 runs through 24 games, last in the Continental League, and had surrendered 119 counters in return, which was the third-worst mark. Their bullpen was especially troubled, posting a league-worst 5.44 ERA mark. Projected matchups: Carl Bean (3-1, 2.38 ERA) vs. Greg Connor (2-1, 2.61 ERA) Nick Brown (1-2, 3.14 ERA) vs. Kelly Fairchild (1-3, 5.23 ERA) Randy Farley (2-1, 3.71 ERA) vs. Mike Nelson (2-2, 3.58 ERA) Felipe Garcia (2-1, 2.60 ERA) vs. Marvin Hall (0-2, 3.50 ERA) That’s four right-handers in this series, and with the way the Raccoons were laden with lefties right now, this was not the worst thing in the world for them. Game 1 NYC: CF Gonzales – SS Burne – LF M. Ortíz – 1B M. Berry – 3B V. Gonzalez – 2B Brantley – C F. Gonzalez – RF G. Andrews – P Connor POR: RF Brady – C Ledesma – SS Ingall – 1B Martin – LF Reece – 2B Palacios – 3B M. Ramirez – CF Torrez – P Bean And just because for whatever actual reasons, the Crusaders bounced Bean around for four hits and two runs in the first inning. Just for starters, they had already almost fulfilled their daily run expectancy. Bean continued to bleed singles throughout his outing, but the Coons at least managed to come back at some point. While Ledesma ended the bottom 3rd with a soul-killing double play, a leadoff Ingall single the next inning got the Coons going. Martin and Palacios both singled, loading the bases with one out for Ramirez, who fired a hard grounder to third base and past a diving Vincente Gonzalez. The ball went to the corner, plating two runs and tying the game. After Torrez was walked intentionally, Bean then grounded into another soul-killing double play. Gonzales got his revenge with an RBI triple in the seventh to give the Crusaders a new lead, 4-3, but in the bottom of the frame the Coons got another chance developed after Torrez drew a leadoff walk. Bean bunted, the Crusaders tried to get Torrez and didn’t get anybody. Two on, no outs for Brady, with the chances to come back increased with a passed ball on Felix Gonzalez on the second pitch of the at-bat. Brady ultimately walked, and then Ledesma popped out. Uh-oh. Ingall grounded to second, where Ron Brantley’s only play was to first, and that groundout tied the score. Martin hit a soft floater over Brantley into shallow center then to score the go-ahead run! Neil Reece, however, predictably grounded out poorly for the fourth time on the day. The bean managed to get through another inning. Mindful that we didn’t have Nordahl available, we were longing for an insurance run (like we wouldn’t long WHEN Nordahl was available!), but no such luck. With right-handers up and Bruno also a bit tired, we deemed Manuel Martinez to be our best bet at getting the 4-3 lead over, and he struck out the side (never minding a walk to Gonzales with two out). 4-3 Coons. Martin 2-4, RBI; Palacios 2-4, 2B; Torrez 0-1, 3 BB; Bean 8.0 IP, 9 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, W (4-1); Game 2 NYC: 2B B. Andrews – C D. Anderson – LF M. Ortíz – CF Gonzales – 1B T. Mullins – SS Burne – 3B V. Gonzalez – RF G. Andrews – P Fairchild POR: RF Brady – C Ledesma – SS Ingall – 1B Martin – LF Reece – 3B M. Ramirez – CF Torrez – 2B Love – P Brown And once again Brown had nothing, absolutely nothing. The Crusaders routed him for four runs in the second inning, including a 3-run homer by Greg Andrews with nobody out. Four of the five leadoff batters Brown faced in the game reached base, three on walks, and the last one when Derek Burne hit a homer to make it 5-2 in the top 5th. That was also Brown’s last batter, again getting yanked in shame. Bob Joly promptly surrendered another run, and while the Raccoons loaded them up and brought up Martin in the bottom 5th with two outs, Martin rolled out gingerly to short. Joly was ripped up for another three runs by the seventh, and the Raccoons were swiftly routed by the most horrendous lineup in baseball. 9-3 Crusaders. Ingall 3-5, HR, 2B, RBI; Love 3-3, BB; No, Brown starts aren’t fun anymore, either. And our only “meaningful offseason addition” is batting .211 now as well. Game 3 NYC: CF Gonzales – 2B B. Andrews – LF M. Ortíz – C D. Anderson – 1B M. Berry – 3B V. Gonzalez – SS Burne – RF G. Andrews – P Nelson POR: RF Brady – SS Ingall – LF Moore – 1B Martin – 3B M. Ramirez – 2B Palacios – C Fifield – CF Torrez – P Farley For a nice change, the early game was not a mind-boggling disaster for the Coons in game 3. Farley pitched a scoreless first, and in the bottom of the inning Brady and Moore reached base and were scored with singles by Martin and Palacios, 2-0. In the top 2nd, Vincente Gonzalez tripled, but was starved on third base by Farley. Palacios would also go deep in the fourth to make it 3-0, while Farley was surrendering singles left, right, and center, but the Crusaders didn’t score. Fairytale Hour ended and reality kicked in soon enough, though. In the bottom 5th, both teams would go to great lengths to show who sucked more. Derek Burne’s error put leadoff batter Farley on base in the inning, and the Raccoons quickly loaded them up with no outs, only for Moore to pop out and Martin to hit a high pop to shallow center that even a snail had managed to get to by the time the ball decided to come down to earth again. Three on, two outs, Ramirez batting. Oh well, maybe next inning. Or maybe Mike Nelson would plunk Ramirez, forcing home the fourth run for the Coons. With Palacios up, Nelson threw a wild one, 5-0, before Palacios proficiently popped out to Burne, where all the misery had started. Bottom 6th, the Coons had Fifield and Torrez draw walks off Alex Glaviz, Farley bunt them over, and Brady and Ingall whiff to leave them there. Top 7th, Gonzales hit a triple to get things started, and then Palacios made a terrible throw on Bryan Andrews’ grounder that Martin could not come up with. The run scored, Andrews went to second, and Farley went showering. Moreno appeared, waved in the runner with a double to Ortíz, and eventually left himself with the tying runs on base and Bruno coming in to maybe, or maybe not, take care of PH Ron Brantley. He didn’t, Brantley singled, and the fourth run of the inning came home. As were talking about mind-boggling disaster at the top of the show, another pinch-hitter appeared, 20-year old Canadian Conor Shearing. He would have his 11th major league at-bat against Marcos Bruno, and would take home a ball from his first big league home run that gave the Crusaders a 7-5 lead. Fans were littering the field with beer cups (some full) and a few Raccoons caps, much to the amazement of the visiting Crusaders. Bottom 7th, Bob Evans pitched for the Crusaders, with Moore singling, and then Ramirez and Fifield walked. Bases loaded, two out for Torrez, and another walk for Evans, who was then taken out. Righty Bryan Davidson appeared, as Ledesma hit for Bruno. His liner to center was caught by Gonzales, and the fans now grew truly unruly. Benton Wilson loaded them up in the top 8th but the Crusaders hit into an inning-ending double play. In turn, Ramirez left two on base in the bottom 8th. Felix Gonzalez, a fearsome .063 batter, homered off Huerta in the ninth, which was answered with someone throwing a baseball glove at the Raccoons mascot atop their dugout. Once Leonardo Sosa made it a 1-2-3 bottom 9th, a ripped out chair was thrown into leftfield, which Martin Ortíz hurriedly vacated. 8-6 Crusaders. Brady 2-5; Ingall 2-5; (stewing) Game 4 NYC: CF Gonzales – 2B B. Andrews – LF M. Ortíz – C D. Anderson – 1B M. Berry – 3B V. Gonzalez – SS Burne – RF G. Andrews – P M. Hall POR: RF Brady – SS Ingall – LF Moore – 1B Martin – 3B M. Ramirez – 2B Palacios – C Ledesma – CF Lyon – P F. Garcia With the number of security personnel and the amount of calming substances in my system both greatly increased, the Raccoons tried against all possible and impossible odds and oddities to salvage a split in this series against a team that was wildly more inept even when compared to them rather than a proper big league team. The game saw Felipe Garcia throw only 25 pitches before leaving with some imaginary or actual ailment of sorts, possibly other than just being aware of being far displaced atop a major league mound. On the way to those 25 pitches he had already booked himself a loss serving up an awe-inspiring 2-run homer to Martin Ortíz. There was no way the Raccoons would piece together eight innings with their ragdoll bullpen, so while for the moment Bob Joly was thrown in there to take way more damage than absolutely necessary, Ralph Ford was sent to the bullpen to warm up. Garcia’s desire to run up enough losses to be demoted out of the spotlight (and the Agitator’s front page) was curtailed by Al Martin hitting a 2-piece himself in the bottom 1st. Yet, with Bob “Jitters” Joly pitching, another crooked number in the upper part of the line score was highly likely to appear sooner than a large Peperoni ordered from the pizza parlor across the street from the park. The Italians took their time, while Martin singled home another run in the bottom 3rd to make it 3-2 Coons, with Hall loading them up with two out for Ledesma, whose liner to left was not caught by Ortíz, as Ingall scored, and Martin was waved around third on the single, with Ortíz’ throw nowhere near the plate. Cal Lyon flew out to center, leaving the score at 5-2 for the time being. However, this was Joly pitching. Setbacks were guaranteed, only the timing was uncertain. The setback came in the fifth. Three men up, three singles, three on, no outs. Joly was yanked and replaced by Martinez in the hope to get a K somewhere, something that couldn’t be expected from Ford right now. Martinez struck out Gonzales, popped out Andrews, and then Ortíz and Anderson hit singles tying the game. Okay, bring Ford. In another cynical twist, Ford struck out Mark Berry to end the inning with two men stranded, but the score was now tied at five. Two men were left on by Lyon again in the bottom 5th, and in the sixth Martin was up with the bases loaded and one out. Again he couldn’t convert the scoring bases loaded situation and instead rolled into a force at home, and Ramirez was no help in scoring someone, either. That horse face Shearing led off the seventh as pinch-hitter, singled, and Ford surrendered enough crap to have the kid score the go-ahead run for back-to-back days. Ford had nothing, still remained in the game, and surrendered another RBI double to fudge face Shearing in the eighth. The game was lost anyway, but not without more pain coming our way, as Moreno replaced Ford, walked a pair, which was just enough to be able to give up a sac fly to plate the piece of ** Shearing. Fans were really into it now, booing the sorry collection of fails in the brown uniforms on the field. Another run fell out of Nordahl’s pants in the ninth, while I was manically banging my fists against the safety glass in my office. Bottom 9th, there came Sosa, and there went the Raccoons. 9-6 Crusaders. Ingall 2-4, BB; Martin 3-5, HR, 4 RBI; Palacios 3-4, BB; Ledesma 2-4, BB, 2 RBI; Reece (PH) 1-1; Once Gary Fifield rolled out to short for the final out, I released a mark-shattering, high-pitched scream, hit against the glass once more, and then sank to the knees, slumped against the glass, to cry violently. Let all the crap leave your system. I was loud enough for Slappy to actually stick his head through the door to see whether I was alright. I wasn’t. He left with the remaining Jack Daniels. I slept against the glass once the crying exhausted me enough to actually go to sleep. I didn’t even deal out capital punishments before the team left to play the Wolves. What should they be punished for? The Crusaders scored 77 runs in a month. They scored 29 in four days over the Portland Misfits. They are , true. But you can’t punish them for being *. They were born that way. __________________ 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.

05-05-2015, 09:16 AM	#1277
pjh5165 Major Leagues Join Date: Jul 2013 Location: Philadelphia Posts: 410	"Clueless Bob" might be your best nickname yet.

05-06-2015, 04:36 PM	#1279
Westheim Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Germany Posts: 13,786	Raccoons (20-25) @ Thunder (26-19) – May 27-29, 2003 Oh come on. We don’t need the Thunder to show us we suck. We know just like that. They did it all with pitching, allowing 3.4 runs per game, while they were scoring just a tiny bit more, but apparently the tenth place offense could still lead a division with appropriate pitching behind it. Projected matchups: Carl Bean (5-2, 2.95 ERA) vs. Fabien Armand (4-3, 2.67 ERA) Nick Brown (2-5, 3.99 ERA) vs. Aaron Anderson (2-3, 4.10 ERA) Randy Farley (3-1, 3.24 ERA) vs. Pancho Trevino (5-3, 3.52 ERA) Hum. Somehow our starting pitching seems even comparable. Then why are lodged into last place in the division (the Elks won on Monday)? Game 1 POR: 3B Sharp – SS Guerin – 2B M. Ramirez – 1B Martin – LF Reece – RF Brady – CF Lyon – C Fifield – P Bean OCT: LF F. Jones – C De La Parra – 3B Higashi – 1B T. Cardenas – CF Humphrey – SS Grant – RF M. Rodriguez – 2B H. Castro – P Armand Bean was strong the first time through the lineup, facing the minimum on just one hit, but once the fourth inning rolled around, the Thunder led it off with four straight singles to all fields. Bases loaded, no outs, the threat dissipated quickly through no significant contribution by Bean, who didn’t get balls passed people anymore. But Humphrey popped up and Grant hit into the teeth of the defense to get three outs rather quickly. Bean pitched eight innings on exactly 100 pitches, and gave up just that one run driven in by Tomas Cardenas – and was on the losing end of the score. The Raccoons managed three hits through eight, none for extra bases, then faced right-hander Sancho Rivera in the ninth. Palacios hit for Ramirez, still whiffed, and Martin and Reece would not fare much better. 1-0 Thunder. Guerin 2-4; Bean 8.0 IP, 9 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 6 K, L (5-3); Three singles, two walks. No runs. They didn’t even hack overly badly. Fabien Armand went eight and struck out five. They just made piss poor contact all the time. Nobody particularly likes Carl Bean around here, but he has deserved better. Game 2 POR: 3B Sharp – RF Brady – LF Moore – 1B Martin – 2B Palacios – SS Guerin – C Ledesma – CF Beairsto – P Brown OCT: LF F. Jones – RF Humphrey – SS Grant – 1B Higashi – 2B Kaustrop – C De La Parra – 3B H. Castro – CF Santos – P A. Anderson The Coons wasted singles by Sharp and Martin in the first when Palacios rolled out to Higashi, who in the bottom 1st would tattoo Brown with a 2-run homer. Brown had nothing – as usual – and in the third gave the game away for good, with three singles wrapped around two walks and that made it a 5-0 game. While Brown would ultimately go six and two thirds and didn’t bleed any more runs, he finished with five walks against just four strikeouts. And the Raccoons? How did they fare? Most poorly. Not only would they just not score, they didn’t even touch second base past the first inning. Not even once. Anderson pitched a 5-hitter, and had to come up with just 95 pitches. 5-0 Thunder. Sharp 2-4; Guerin 2-2, BB; And just like that, we have a 19-inning scoreless streak going. Way to go, us! Game 3 POR: 3B Sharp – RF Brady – LF Moore – 1B Martin – 2B Palacios – SS Guerin – C Ledesma – CF Beairsto – P Farley OCT: LF F. Jones – C De La Parra – 3B Higashi – 1B T. Cardenas – CF Humphrey – SS Grant – RF Santos – 2B H. Castro – P Trevino As we all knew, the Raccoons weren’t doing anything, and didn’t plan on ever doing anything again. The Thunder went down silently in the first, before Cardenas rung a double off the wall in rightfield to start the bottom 2nd. The next three Thunder all hit hard flies to the warning track, and all were caught, two by Moore and one by Beairsto. When Cardenas hit a solo home run in the bottom 4th to break a scoreless tie, Farley spun around so quickly on the mound that he strained his calf and had to leave the game. It took the Coons until the sixth inning to reach third base. Down 2-0, Al Martin hit a single that loaded the bases with one out. The Coons ended a 24-inning scoreless skid in style with a run-scoring groundout hit into by Palacios, but then Concie lobbed a fluffy liner over Takahashi Higashi and into shallow left to flip the score with two runs coming home. Boone put the tying run on base in Humphrey right away with a single, but Marcos Bruno cleaned up in the bottom 6th. That 3-2 lead was flimsy as all hell. Wilson got through the seventh, but Martinez allowed a double to Cardenas with one out in the eighth. Moreno popped up Humphrey, but then faced the righty Bob Grant. However, our pen only had Dan Nordahl left, and you really didn’t want to put him in with the tying run already in scoring position. Bob Grant fired a liner that went right into Moreno’s extended glove, and somehow this is how you have to make outs. But Nordahl had to pitch eventually, and then it was still 3-2. He went to a full count on Angel Santos before removing him, also struck out Hector Castro, and then walked Jason Briggs. Here we - … oh, no, we actually got out of this one. Freddie Jones grounded out to Palacios. 3-2 Coons. Moore 2-4; Martin 2-3, BB; Reece (PH) 1-1; Farley’s calf strain is mild and he will not miss a start. We still used all of our relievers in this game, which is something you never really WANT to do, but fortunately we have another off day after the series in Atlanta. Raccoons (21-27) @ Knights (21-25) – May 30-June 1, 2003 The Knights have lost six straight, allowing seven or more runs in four of those six games. Might there be an opening for the Raccoons? Overall, their roster is rather balanced, and slightly below average in both pitching and hitting. Yeah, we can still get swept. The Knights took the first series we played this year, 2-1 in their favor. Projected matchups: Bob Joly (0-1, 5.35 ERA) vs. John Woodard (6-2, 3.43 ERA) Ralph Ford (2-7, 5.14 ERA) vs. Sadakuno Imamura (0-3, 6.39 ERA) Carl Bean (5-3, 2.75 ERA) vs. Larry Cutts (5-2, 4.42 ERA) Game 1 POR: 3B Sharp – RF Brady – 2B Palacios – 1B Martin – LF Reece – SS Guerin – C Ledesma – CF Lyon – P Joly ATL: 2B Brantley – SS Luján – LF A. Rodriguez – 1B Tinker – RF J. Garcia – C Vinson – CF Ghiberti – 3B D. Henry – P Woodard Bill Tinker roughed up Joly in the first, following up Alejandro Rodriguez’ triple with a homer that made it 2-0 in a hurry. The Coons got a run back in the top 2nd when Vinson couldn’t dig out Joly’s 2-out grounder and Reece scored from third base by the time the always-bumbling Vinson got the ball to first base. Scoring died then. The Coons twice put two men on with singles in the next two innings, but failed to plate any, and the Knights left them loaded up in the bottom 4th, the last men on being Doug Henry with an intentional walk, and even then Cal Lyon had to hustle after John Woodard’s fly. Woodard fanned Coons in respectable numbers, K’ing eight in six innings. Then came the seventh, still 2-1 Knights, but then Sharp hit a 1-out single and a suddenly melting Woodard walked both Brady and Palacios, bringing up our best chance to go ahead in Al Martin. Al had not plated somebody so far this week (big wonder with three runs going…), and now only did the bare minimum with a run-scoring groundout. Reece then grounded out against reliever Colby Kirk, keeping two men in scoring position in a 2-2 game. As one could expect, Joly put runners on the corners in the bottom 7th, and got removed for Benton Wilson to pitch to the left-handed batter Rodriguez, but the Knights countered with righty Will Taylor, who walked to load the bases. Manuel Martinez appeared to face Bill Tinker, and got a first-pitch double play grounder to Guerin. In the top 8th we had Guerin and Ledesma on base with no outs, then had Ingall and Moore pinch-hit to absolutely zero effect, and Sharp grounded out as well. Boone faced Jorge Garcia to start the bottom 8th, walked him, and got yanked. Bruno came in, had the defense defeated on a Rodrigo Lopez grounder to left that became an infield single, but then still wiggled out of the inning preserving the tie. Top 9th, Brady made the first out before Palacios singled. Maybe Martin could – no. That brought up Reece. Oh well, maybe we’ll score next month. Then Reece doubled, and Palacios scored, breaking the tie. Nordahl got his pants on and started throwing, and when he appeared in the bottom 9th, he had a 4-2 lead after Guerin had singled home Reece. He faced the top of the order and was done in six pitches. 4-2 Coons! Sharp 2-5; Reece 2-5, 2B, RBI; Guerin 2-5, RBI; Ledesma 2-5; 23 hits combined in this game, and only six runs. 13 hits for us, by the way. What mediocre pitching can do for sub-mediocre batting… Then, we banished Boone (45 ERA, 10 WHIP) and went to Sergio Vega, who was up and down last year already. Game 2 POR: SS Guerin – RF Brady – 2B Palacios – 1B Martin – LF Reece – 3B M. Ramirez – C Fifield – CF Beairsto – P Ford ATL: CF Ghiberti – 2B Brantley – LF R. Lopez – 1B Tinker – RF W. Taylor – C Valadez – SS Luján – 3B Verdon – P Imamura Ford took to the mound and it went like this: hard contact, hard contact, even harder contact, and the Knights somehow scored only two runs. Facing an all right-handed lineup, Ford was not only struggling, he stunk it up. The Knights would eventually shake seven innings (five earned, two on his own error) out of him in knocking him out in the sixth inning. Tinker hit a 3-run homer. The Raccoons amounted to all but two hits through six against the pushover Imamura. At 7-0 the game was long decided when the Inepticoons loaded the bases with no outs in the eighth. And then Imamura and Bartolo Gomez held the Coons to one run, and the two runs that scored on pinch-hit base knocks in the ninth were meaningless as well. 7-3 Knights. Sharp (PH) 1-1, RBI; Ingall (PH) 1-1, 2B, RBI; Moore (PH) 1-2; Time to ask for donations. We’re in dire need of hits and runs. And some good luck. And someone to rejuvenate Neil Reece. Game 3 POR: 1B Sharp – SS Guerin – 3B M. Ramirez – RF Brady – LF Reece – 2B Ingall – CF Beairsto – C Fifield – P Bean ATL: CF Ghiberti – SS Luján – LF A. Rodriguez – 1B Tinker – RF J. Garcia – C Valadez – 2B J. Gutierrez – 3B D. Henry – P Cutts Garcia scored after hitting a double to lead off the bottom 2nd and the Knights were up 1-0, and the Coons were trailing again, and trailing early again. They had one hit in four innings before Fifield hit a double to start our half of the fifth. Bean singled, putting the runs to flip the score onto the corners, and then Cutts lost Sharp to a walk. Bases loaded, no outs, and the Coons wouldn’t score when Guerin grounded to third to get Fifield nailed at home, Ramirez fouled out, and Brady hit a grounder to short. Morally, they were conceding defeat at every opportunity. Every opportunity wrapped up every inning from there through the eighth. After eight, it was still 1-0 for the Knights, as Bean was on the way to take his second well-pitched loss of the week. The ninth, Manuel Reyes pitching to Jorge Defrese, and if an ex-Coons battery wasn’t opening possibilities! Ingall led off with a single, before Moore hit for a chronically successless Beairsto, but flew out. Fifield whiffed, but we still had an ace up our sleeve, hitting Al Martin for Carl Bean. He lacked oomph right now, but singled to keep the line moving to the top of the order and Danny Sharp. 1-1 pitch, uh, that one was up. And not deep at all. And there is Gutierrez. And it’s in his glove. 1-0 Knights. Martin (PH) 1-1; Bean 8.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 9 K, L (5-4) and 1-2; Daniel Sharp and Larry Cutts… Sharp Cutts? Makes sense. In other news May 28 – The Canadiens are 3-hit, 6-0, by LVA Anibal Sandoval (6-4, 2.90 ERA). May 30 – 33-year old TOP OF Paul Theobald (.341, 1 HR, 33 RBI) figures to miss the rest of the season with a concussion. Complaints and stuff (slumped over the table, moaning) Well. We know how Kisho Saito occasionally would not get run support at all. “At all” then constituted one or two runs a game for a month. Carl Bean would have been a winner twice this week with two runs a game. He has started 11 games this year, has received less than two runs of support five times, and ZERO in three of his last four starts. He gets 3.1 R/G overall. As if we’re not getting enough kicks into the nuts, Bryce Hildred was named CL Pitcher of the Month. Oh come on, world! Ain’t there no justice!!?? Vince took away Neil Reece’s centerfield rating and strongly advised me against using him anywhere but left or first. Well, there’s no room at first, except maybe against left-handed pitching during a long stretch of games. Centerfield is an issue for the first time in about 15 years. We can pick between an adept fielder not hitting anything (Torrez, Lyon, Beairsto, pick your poison), or an adept hitter not fielding (Moore, Reece, Brady). Yay, lucky us! It's like that closer we've been looking for for going on ten years now. 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.

05-06-2015, 05:10 PM	#1280
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	Can Moore field? 'Cause if so, he seems to be asking for more playing time..... P.S. I know you said he wasn't good in center......