Portland Raccoons (ABL)

[Westheim]

Surprise! I’m a dick, and thus I will subject you to another update today!

(With another patch unavoidably hitting Steam on Monday, we might skip Monday’s update. I really don’t want anything to happen with this 2,500+ hours dynasty)

Raccoons (15-23) vs. Indians (19-18) – May 16-19, 2005

Who’d have thought the Indians would be as little as 1 1/2 games out of first place in the middle of May, then get four matchballs against the hapless Coons? Not that they were any good. Their run differential was -14 and they ranked in the bottom half in both runs scored and runs allowed. They were picking the points where to score well, it seemed.

Projected matchups:
Ben Carlson (1-4, 3.79 ERA) vs. Ricardo Sanchez (3-2, 3.43 ERA)
Nick Brown (3-2, 3.17 ERA) vs. Ramón Jimenez (0-6, 6.15 ERA)
Edgar Amador (2-5, 3,75 ERA) vs. Curtis Tobitt (5-2, 2.70 ERA)
Ralph Ford (0-2, 3.96 ERA) vs. Bob King (4-3, 6.12 ERA)

If Brownie doesn’t win on Tuesday, I’m eating my hat, bill first.

Game 1
IND: SS Sepúlveda – RF Alvarez – LF Alston – 3B D. Lopez – C Paraz – CF MacKey – 1B M. Berry – 2B J. Zamora – P R. Sanchez
POR: LF Brady – 3B Sharp – CF Fernandez – 1B Martin – RF Greenman – SS Yamada – 2B Ingram – C Wood – P Carlson

Lorenzo Sepúlveda grounded to Martin, behind first, Martin lobbed to Carlson, Carlson dropped it, and the Indians were in business, with Alvarez singling, Ron Alston doubling, and they got two unearned runs in the first. Before the Coons ever got a hit, they added an earned run in the third, and even with the Indians making a splash of errors, the Coons were just unable. Bottom 5th, Ingram on first, Carlson bunted. When Paraz went to second with that bunt, the throw was high, nobody could come up with it, and that was the Indians’ third mess of the night. Sharp would walk to load them up for Edgardo Fernandez, who rammed the first pitch to left – and right to Ron Alston. Can we finally get a break here?? Yes, we can. Bottom 6th, Martin doubled, Greenman went yard, we were back within one run, Yamada reached, stole a base, and was left to die at third base. Ed Bryan was assigned two innings to work after we had hit for Carlson in the sixth. He struck out a pair in a scoreless seventh, and also got through the eighth, but not before Alston had hit his 13th homer of the season off him. It was still a 4-2 game, we still had a chance. Unless we did something stupid. And boy. Boy.

Top 9th, Kaz Kichida pitching, down 4-2. He got Jesus Zamora. Then Claudio Rey grounded to third, Sharp to first – PAST first. Rey went to second, and then Sepúlveda sent a fly to deep center. Fernandez had it, then dropped it. Rey scored, Sepúlveda the new occupant at second. The pitching coach visited Kichida to assure him that none of this was his fault and the rest of the team were just ******s that would soon be skinned and turned into a coat. The Jesus Alvarez grounded to Tom Ingram – and Ingram completely butchered that play as well. That brought up the fat part of the lineup. Alston singled, 6-2, and Kichida, slightly unnerved, drilled David Lopez. Eventually, with two outs, Felix Martines’ first AB of the year was a 2-run single up the middle. Iemitsu Rin made it a 1-2-3 bottom 9th. 8-2 Indians. Martin 2-4, 2B;

Six runs were unearned, as we made four errors in total, and I think three consecutive errors is something new. Not quite up there with Juan Diaz’ three wild pitches in one at-bat, but certainly trivia material.

What was the number again for that suicide hotline? Maybe they have some tips. Two battles of Captain Coma’s don’t do it.

Game 2
IND: SS Sepúlveda – RF Alvarez – LF Alston – 3B D. Lopez – CF MacKey – 2B J. Zamora – C Bowen – 1B C. Rey – P B. King
POR: CF Wheaton – 3B Sharp – LF Brady – 1B Martin – RF Greenman – SS Yamada – C L. Ramirez – 2B Ingram – P Brown

Jimenez didn’t pitch, but we still saw a 6+ ERA guy in Bob King. Whatever works for you, dear Indians.

Brown was untouched through two innings. Then the rain came. After an hour’s worth of delay, Brown came back out and was taken deep by the first guy that saw him, Craig Bowen, who had no RBI, and hardly any hits this year. The ugly Portland spring reared its head again soon after that, with more rain soaking Brownie in the fourth, and finally causing another one-hour delay in the bottom of the inning. This time Brown was retired, and after the second delay ended, most of the barely 13,000 fans were found to have retired as well, as Brownie Day had simply drowned. The top 5th saw Huerta get hammered by Claudio Rey for a 2-piece, pretty much sealing Brownie’s fate. Stupid errors continued for the Indians, who again made three errors in the game, but the Raccoons stumbled only one run through seven. Bottom 8th, Sharp hit a 1-out single off the impregnable Bob King. Brady grounded to second, and – oops – error. That put the tying runs on base for Martin and Greenman. One of the donkeys fouled out, the other grounded out to short. 3-1 Indians. Brown 4.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, L (3-3) and 1-1; Williams 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 K; Bruno 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K;

Mm. Mm! (nom) Dat cap. (nom) Dat cap iff deliffous! (nom) (nom) Can I have fome falt pleaff?

Game 3
IND: SS Sepúlveda – RF Alvarez – LF Alston – 3B D. Lopez – C Paraz – 1B M. Berry – CF Martines – 2B J. Zamora – P Tobitt
POR: CF Wheaton – 3B Sharp – LF Brady – RF Greenman – SS Yamada – 3B Searcy – 2B Sheehan – C Wood – P Amador

Amador was guilty of three singles and a walk in the first inning, but charged with only one run. Extra work was bad anyway since we were very short on bullpen. In the second Tobitt singled, Sepúlveda tripled and scored on a sac fly, and we were already down 3-0. Both teams got an unearned run by the fourth, and the Raccoons continued to be ****. Top 5th, two out, Sharp made an error, and then Zamora’s grounder wasn’t dug out by Amador, and another 10 pitches went onto the odometer. He was squeezed dry for 120 pitches, which covered 6.2 innings, during which he even struck out nine(!), and yet he ended up horribly buried again. Yes, 4-1 was a loss, no matter whether we were in the first or ninth, since this team was never going to come back from anything. That Danny Sharp hit a leadoff homer in the bottom 8th was as meaningless as the 2-out, 3-run onslaught the heart of the Indians lineup inflicted on the Raccoons the following inning, if you were willing to ignore the increase in Moreno’s and Huerta’s already sizeable ERA’s. 7-2 Indians. Wheaton 2-4; Sharp 2-3, BB, HR, RBI; Searcy 2-4; Martin (PH) 1-1; Rockburn 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

Aaand we have achieved the worst record in baseball. Boy, that 7-6 start really held us back!

We will switch away from our live coverage of a burning orphanage, and absolutely nobody coming with along with any buckets to put it out, to bring you this story from Vancouver, where the Canadiens came back from 5-0 and 8-5 deficits to beat the Loggers, 9-8, and take first place in the division from the Titans.

Oh, those wonderous times were are living in.

Game 4
IND: SS Sepúlveda – RF Alvarez – 3B D. Lopez – C Paraz – CF MacKey – 2B J. Zamora – LF Martines – 1B C. Rey – P A. Alonso
POR: 3B Sharp – LF Brady – CF Fernandez – RF Greenman – 1B Martin – 2B Ingram – SS Sheehan – C Wood – P Ford

Alonso Alonso (4-3, 5.21 ERA) moved into this series after Jimenez got skipped earlier. We entered with one run scored in excess of precisely 3.0 R/G.

Matt MacKey won the game in the first inning, obliterating an 0-2 offering from Ford, crushing a 3-run homer that wrapped around the inside of the foul pole in right. The Coons had Sharp get on, Brady get on, Fernandez hit into a double play, and didn’t score. They hit into another double play (Sheehan the culprit) in the second, and didn’t score. In the bottom 3rd, Bobby Wood led off with a double, and was moved over to third by Ford. Sharp grounded out to short, but Wood scored, and then Brady singled, Fernandez walked, and Greenman hit a double to left center. 3-2 the score, the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position, Martin was nicked, loading them up. Which was bad, since that brought up Tom Ingram with 11 AB of major league experience. Alonso got a sorry grounder to short from him, and the inning ended. The bases were loaded again in the bottom 4th on singles by Wood and Brady, sandwiching a Sharp walk. Fernandez up with two outs, and he finally came through! The centerfielder singled to left, plating two, and then Greenman hit another RBI double to make it 5-3. Both Sharp and Brady continued to be unretired when they reached again in the bottom 6th, standing on first and second with one out for Fernandez, who struck out. Greenman grounded out, keeping the score at 5-3. Ford then was singled against by Martines and Rey to start the seventh inning, the runners going to the corners. Williams came in, did little to keep the game from imploding, and both runners scored, with Rey coming home on a Jesus Alvarez triple. Kichida replaced Williams to no success, and the Indians put up a score-flipping 4-spot. 7-5 Indians. Sharp 1-2, 3 BB, RBI; Brady 3-4, BB; Greenman 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Wood 2-4, 2B;

(shrugs)

Raccoons (15-27) vs. Aces (20-19) – May 20-22, 2005

Aces games were hardly ever boring, or comfortable. They scored the second-most runs in the league, but they also gave up almost as many, with their rotation pitching to a crummy 4.55 ERA.

Projected matchups:
Felipe Garcia (1-4, 3.98 ERA) vs. Bob Bowden (3-2, 4.63 ERA)
Ben Carlson (1-5, 3.48 ERA) vs. David Estrada (3-6, 6.38 ERA)
Nick Brown (3-3, 3.10 ERA) vs. Anibal Sandoval (6-4, 3.80 ERA)

We will have an off day on Monday, to get that beleaguered bullpen some rest. Of course, all starters going seven, and no extra innings, would be fine as well.

Game 1
LVA: RF Covington – CF F. Rivera – 2B O. Torres – LF Messinger – SS Nichols – C M. Olson – 3B Warrain – 1B Briggs – P Bowden
POR: 3B Sharp – CF Wheaton – LF Brady – RF Greenman – 1B Martin – C L. Ramirez – SS Yamada – 2B Ingram – P F. Garcia

With the aid of a Brian Nichols error, the Coons loaded the bases in the first inning, but didn’t score when Leon Ramirez grounded out to Inaki-Luki Warrain. Despite three on, there were no hits in that first inning, and Garcia even struck out four of the first six batters he faced. No hits in the game at all through three, but then Francisco Rivera led off the top 4th with a double and soon enough scored on Forest Messinger’s single. Messinger then stole second and Ramirez’ throwing error awarded him third base. Nichols’ sac fly to center scored Messinger and Garcia loved that fourth so much he drilled Mike Olson, just to have it go on forever. Al Martin led off the bottom 4th with a single, the Coons’ first hit. They would rally to tie the score at two, if you could call a miles-away wild pitch really part of their rally, but it got the first run in when Garcia was batting with one out and the bases stuffed. Sharp singled in the tying run, and the next inning Martin drove in Greenman to take a 3-2 lead! No lead was ever long-lived in Portland, however, and when a Yamada error put Jason Briggs on base with one out in the top 7th, the Aces were prompted to have Artie Hill bat for Bowden, and with four more left-handers behind that, we yanked Garcia for Williams, who allowed a double to Hill, and the lead was blown out of the window with a pinch-hit Ricardo Garcia sac fly. Williams was also guilty of allowing a leadoff triple to Oliver Torres in the eighth, and that was a mess that nobody could clean up, and Law Rockburn the least of all. Torres scored, the Aces led, the Critters couldn’t do anything with Ingram’s leadoff double in the bottom 8th, and the Aces won. 4-3 Aces. Martin 2-4, BB, RBI; Ramirez 2-4, 2B; Ingram 1-2, 2 BB, 2B;

Game 2
LVA: RF Covington – 3B F. Rivera – 2B O. Torres – LF Messinger – SS Nichols – C M. Olson – CF F. Rivera – 1B Briggs – P Marquez
POR: 1B Sharp – CF King – LF Brady – RF Greenman – 3B Searcy – 2B Ingram – C Wood – SS Sheehan – P Carlson

And another rotation change as Jose Marquez (2-5, 4.89 ERA) took over in place of David Estrada.

Sharp walked, King reached on an error by Francisco Rivera, and then Brady hit into a double play, and we were right in business, not scoring in the first, despite the opposing team begging us to do, so they could have a bit of a challenge. Then Forest Messinger cranked a massive leadoff jack in the top 2nd, and the game was irreversibly tilted the Aces’ way, with the score now an insurmountable 1-0. Actually, the Furballs tied it in the bottom 2nd, on doubles by Searcy and Wood. Carlson was then pelted for three runs in the third inning, a rally that started with a leadoff single by the pitcher Jose Marquez. Carlson was helped by a double play turned by Sheehan in the fourth, then made it into, but not out of the sixth. Moreno kept his runner on third base, but we were still 4-1 behind on only three hits. It took another leadoff extra-base hit by Searcy to get something going, a triple in the seventh, and he scored on Ingram’s grounder to second base. The Coons continued to nibble on Marquez, with a Bob Wood single, and then Sheehan got hold of a pitch and just like that left the yard and tied the score at four! Three Coons pitchers somehow cobbled together the top 8th, although it was mainly Fernandez throwing out Oliver Torres going first-to-third on a single to end the inning. In the bottom of the inning, Greenman rammed a double off the wall in the bottom 8th, Searcy also got on, and then Ingram hit a looper over the infield that spun away from Covington and became an RBI double! The Coons would make it a 3-run inning for the second consecutive frame, and the final bang was reserved for Sheehan again, a 2-run single to left that made it 7-4 and had Bruno appear for the ninth. Francisco Rivera singled, but was caught up in a double play, and the Coons actually got away with a win. 7-4 Coons. Searcy 2-3, BB, 3B, 2B; Wood 2-4, 2B, RBI; Sheehan 3-4, HR, 4 RBI; Moreno 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

Game 3
LVA: 1B Briggs – 3B F. Rivera – 2B O. Torres – LF Messinger – SS Nichols – C M. Olson – RF R. Garcia – CF F. Rivera – P Sandoval
POR: 3B Sharp – CF Fernandez – LF Brady – RF Greenman – 1B Martin – 2B Sheehan – SS Yamada – C Wood – P Brown

Brown wasn’t sharp early on, with Jason Briggs hitting a line drive single to right to start the game, but he got caught up in a double play. Second inning, Nichols singled, stole second base, then was thrown out at home on Olson’s single by Edgardo Fernandez. The Coons scored two runs in the bottom 2nd when Sheehan and Yamada got on, stole in tandem, and scored on groundouts by Wood and Brown. Now, there was rain moving into the area, so can we please get through five? No, of course not, because **** Brownie, the baseball gods wanna have their fun. It started to rain in the bottom 3rd, and once the bases were loaded with Coons, the tarp came on.

It stayed on for half an hour, after which Martin, Sheehan, and Yamada each brought in a run to make it 5-0. C’mon Brownie, get through five! He visibly pitched with anger when he came back out for the fourth, and who wouldn’t with the entire universe aligned against him? By the time he was through five, he had piled up eight victims after it went like gum for him in the first two frames. Brady jacked one outta here in the bottom of the fifth inning, running the score to 6-0, before it seemed to stop working for Brownie. Briggs singled to start the sixth. Rivera popped out, but he walked Torres and allowed another single to Messinger to load them up with one out. Brian Nichols hit a shot to fairly deep center, Fernandez caught it, fired it back in, and the lead-footed Briggs was thrown out at the plate!! Bottom 6th, Sharp homered, top 7th, Brown whiffed two more while he gave the weather the finger. So, after seven it was 7-0 and six outs to get with a bullpen that was bending mightily. Well, Bruno was good enough to go in the ninth, so we really only needed the eighth and went to Huerta. First batter, Inaki-Luki Warrain, home run. Oh yeah, that’s where I like it. Huerta would walk Torres with two out, and we used Williams to retire Forest Messinger. The run surrendered by Huerta came back when ex-Coon Benton Wilson served up a bean to Bobby Wood for a leadoff homer in the bottom 8th, and then Bruno came out for the top 9th. Nichols grounded to third, and Sharp booted it for another error. Bruno gave him the look, then struck out the next three batters. 8-1 Brownies! Sharp 2-5, HR, RBI; Brady 3-4, BB, HR, RBI; Greenman 2-5, RBI; Martin 2-4, RBI; Sheehan 3-4, RBI; Brown 7.0 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 10 K, W (4-3);

Browniiieee!!

In other news

May 16 – The Wolves deal LF/CF Bryan Gentil (.250, 1 HR, 9 RBI) to the Gold Sox to receive well-worn MR Enrico Gonzalez (0-2, 5.73 ERA) and a minor leaguer.
May 18 – A fractured wrist should put CHA LF/RF Jesus Flores on the shelf for at least a month. Flores has been batting .281 with 2 HR and 14 RBI.

Complaints and stuff

We made it to 23rd in the power rankings, yaaay!!

Brownie leads the Continental League strikeout race by a fair margin right now. He has 77 whiffs, and the closest guys are Juichi Fujita and Kelvin Yates with 61. He’s second in WAR to Curtis Tobitt with 2.1; No other Raccoons show up anywhere in the leaderboards, except for Yoshi Yamada being t-4th in steals with 10, two off the top mark.

Bob Mays is healthy again and is now batting for a .950 OPS in AAA. I’m trying to figure out a way to get him onto the roster. He really should play rightfield, because he has a murderer’s arm, but not so much range. That means either Brady or Greenman in center. They both don’t give another much in terms of arm and range, and neither would be a good fit for center.

And here comes last week’s trivia answer: with Leon Ramirez, Tom Ingram, and Steve Searcy all debuting last Sunday, a total of 371 players has appeared for the Raccoons throughout the years. And we fondly remember just a handful of them.

Since this is just painful to watch, why not revel in the past a bit? C’mon, let’s cheer another up! Share your favorite Raccoons memory/ies with the crowd!

[Questdog]

Tet-Su!!! Tet-Suuuuuu!!!

I don't know how fondly I remember it, but I surely cannot forget the time it was discovered the undergarments tossed to Tetsu from the crowd belonged to me......

[Westheim]

Raccoons (17-28) @ Thunder (23-22) – May 24-26, 2005

The Thunder’s assumedly better players were all pitchers according to Vince, yet their pitching performance was unspectacular. Their rotation was fifth in ERA, their bullpen even third-last. Overall they ranked fifth in runs allowed, but only eighth in runs scored, with a run differential of -3.

Projected matchups:
Edgar Amador (2-6, 3.79 ERA) vs. Pancho Trevino (3-2, 3.78 ERA)
Ralph Ford (0-2, 4.32 ERA) vs. Vaughn Higgins (3-6, 5.57 ERA)
Felipe Garcia (1-4, 3.86 ERA) vs. Francisco Garza (4-4, 3.84 ERA)

Three right-handers. Let’s see whether the Thunder will also start to juggle their rotation as soon as they make contact with our fear-inducing bats.

Game 1
POR: CF Wheaton – 3B Sharp – LF Brady – RF Greenman – 1B Martin – SS Yamada – 2B Ingram – C Wood – P Amador
OCT: LF Gonzales – C De La Parra – 1B T. Cardenas – 3B Higashi – 2B Palacios – CF Walls – RF P. Flores – SS B. Scott – P Trevino

The Raccoons’ offense more or less consisted of Yamada hitting a 2-out single in the top 2nd, then getting thrown out stealing. In the bottom 2nd, Amador gave up his first run, another one in the third, and then a handful in the fourth. The main problem was the giant black hole we played at second base, as Tom Ingram had three consecutive groundballs elude him completely, all becoming singles that barely reached the outfield grass. Well, another numb nut to throw into the Pacific. To say that the Raccoons were a bit overmatched with the task of making up a 7-run deficit would be wildly understating the problem at hand. They didn’t get a run home until the seventh, and another one on a tiring Trevino, who fell one out short of a complete game, in the ninth. Our highlight undoubtedly was Kaz Kichida’s long relief, which is sad enough, and that Kaz at one point struck out four Thunder in a row. 7-2 Thunder. Wheaton 3-5, RBI; Fernandez (PH) 1-1, BB, 2B; Wood 2-4, RBI; Kichida 3.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K;

Game 2
POR: CF Wheaton – 3B Sharp – LF Fernandez – RF Brady – 1B Martin – C L. Ramirez – SS Yamada – 2B Sheehan – P Ford
OCT: LF Gonzales – C De La Parra – 1B T. Cardenas – 3B Higashi – CF Walls – 2B Palacios – RF P. Flores – SS B. Scott – P A. Anderson

And once again comes somebody who wasn’t advertised beforehand, in Aaron Anderson (6-4, 3.43 ERA)…

Top 2nd, Brady single, Martin single, double play, strikeout. Every day the same melody, and the hard dissonances were unbearable. Meanwhile Ralph Ford fought holes in the middle infield, holes in his own concept of the strike zone, and three men on in the first, which somehow was resolved in his favor, but somewhere, somehow, somebody hit a triple. It was Palacios in the fourth and he was easily scored by Pedro Flores with a single. Burton Scott walked, the two pulled off a double steal, and then Ford walked the pitcher as well. The Thunder deserved at least a 5-run inning out of this, but Jorge Gonzales, the ex-Crusader, grounded into a double play to have the score mercifully remain at 1-0. We go Yoshi Yamada onto third base with no outs in the top 5th after he walked, stole second, and advanced to third on De La Parra’s abysmal throw to centerfield. Sheehan lined out to Scott, and here we go. Ford somehow put a ball in play, not a given with his .043 batting average, and Yamada was all go from the point of contact, and that was all that allowed him to score. Which was great, since Wheaton popped out on the first pitch to end the inning…

Bottom 6th of the 1-1 game, Ford had spilled two men onto the bases yet again, then faced Anderson with two outs. 2-2, fly to center, Wheaton looked like he had lost it for a moment, then made the catch, somehow. Bottom 7th, Huerta pitched and he also put two on, which seems to be some kind of in-joke among the hurling fraternity in our clubhouse. With two out, left Joey Humphrey was tapped to hit for Tom Walls, and we went to Dave Williams, who got a soft fly to center for the third out. Little was there to report about the Furballs’ offensive exploits. There were none, for a very long time. Top 9th then, Jimmy Morey pitching. He issued a 2-out walk to Clyde Brady, and that walk came to bite him. Martin came up, not quite a threat this year, but still a nuisance, and one that hit a double into the gap in left center, and Brady ran at max speed all the way and scored to give his team the lead! Predictably, Leon Ramirez left Martin on second, and so Marcos Bruno had no cushion, and now we were bitten. He got Hector Castro and Alonso Baca, before De La Parra walked, then advanced on a wild pitch.

This had blow-up written all over it. Of course, Tomas Cardenas singled, De La Parra (who could have been ours a few years ago) scored, and we went to extras, where in the bottom 10th the Thunder moved Joey Humphrey all the way to third base with one out before Bruno was able to escape when Brady made a marvelous play on Burton Scott’s pop to shallow leftfield, and then Castro struck out. In the top 11th Bruno’s spot came up after a 2-out single by Fernandez and a Brady walk, because we had pulled Martin for defense earlier. Wood hit for Bruno, struck out, and the game went on with Moreno pitching a clean bottom 11th. Top 12th, second inning for righty Sancho Rivera, he faced Leon Ramirez, who cracked a homer to right center. Alright, let’s do this again. Actually, we were short on arms, with only Rockburn still available other than the burnt-out Kichida. So, this was Moreno’s, I’m afraid. After he had struck out Higashi and Humphrey, Sancho Rivera was next – the Thunder bench was empty! Rivera sent a pop to shallow center, Fernandez coming on, coming on, coming on, and got it! 3-2 Coons. Fernandez 2-5, 2B; Brady 2-3, 2 BB; Martin 2-4, 2B, RBI; Moreno 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, W (2-2);

That one was like pulling teeth, but at least there was a happy end, like, we didn’t bleed to death on the chair.

By the way, that’s eight no-decisions for Ralph “Winless” Ford.

Game 3
POR: CF Wheaton – SS Yamada – LF Brady – RF Greenman – 1B Martin – 3B Searcy – 2B Sheehan – C Wood – P F. Garcia
OCT: LF Gonzales – C De La Parra – 1B T. Cardenas – 3B Higashi – 2B Palacios – CF Walls – RF P. Flores – SS B. Scott – P F. Garza

At least Garcia had understood that he had to give his all with the bat to have a sliver of a chance at a W. When Sheehan led off the third with a double, Garcia also whacked a double and that made it 1-0 for the Coons in this rubber game. Garcia also hit an infield single in his next at-bat, with two out in the fifth, but was sure enough stranded by Wheaton. On the mound he had started with a shoddy first, allowing two walks before somehow bailing out, but then was not challenged until the sixth when the Thunder got a Cardenas double and Higashi single to occupy the corners with one out. Palacios struck out, Walls popped out to shallow right center where Sheehan arrived in time after a wild ride from his position in the infield, and the threat evaporated.

Just like any threat the Raccoons could have put up. Brady singled twice in the middle innings, and twice was caught up in some ****ty 6-4-3 hit into by Greenman. Garcia’s third plate appearance yielded a leadoff single in the eighth. The Thunder were still trusting Garza when we had left-handers coming up, but we couldn’t trust Yamada and so couldn’t use Wheaton for a potentially wicked bunt. So, when Wheaton was drilled, Yamada showed why he couldn’t be trusted and popped out foul. Brady flew out to deep center, moving Garcia to third, and then he scored on a wild pitch!! Just in time before Greenman killed the music again with a strikeout, of course, since a double play was no longer possible in the inning. Garcia was then brought in with two out in the bottom 8th, with Cardenas at third base and Palacios batting. We had lefties for that. Palacios singled anyway, plating the runner, and Rockburn had to get out Alonso Baca, who hit for Walls to get out of the inning. In the top 9th it was Searcy to come up with a double to left, and after Sheehan made an out, Sharp hit for Wood, singled, and the 2-run gap was restored. At that point, Law Rockburn’s turn was up.

Now, Bruno had pitched two unimpressive innings the day before. Moreno had pitched two days in a row, Huerta had not been good, either, and Kichida had gotten ten outs on Tuesday. Well, we’d just go with Law. He struck out, giving Garza a complete game (assuming we’d finish in regulation), then almost was massacred in the bottom of the inning. Pedro Flores’ leadoff double got the Thunder going, and they had runners on the corners with one out, but then couldn’t pull through, as Humphrey and De La Parra made poor outs. 3-1 Coons. Brady 2-4; Martin 2-4; Sharp (PH) 1-1, RBI; Garcia 7.2 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, W (2-4) and 3-3, 2B, RBI; Rockburn 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K, SV (1);

This was our first mid-week series win since mid-April, when we took two out of three from the Knights. And hey, look who’s next!

Raccoons (19-29) @ Knights (20-26) – May 27-29, 2005

Knights games were never boring, and they were out of it, nor was the opposition. With 222 runs scored (t-2nd) and 244 runs allowed (12th, by a good margin), the Knights gave scoreboard operators plenty of reason to stay awake during contests. Their 5.23 rotational ERA was just … wow. We are 2-1 vs. them on the year.

Projected matchups:
Ben Carlson (1-5, 3.81 ERA) vs. Sadakuno Imamura (0-4, 5.72 ERA)
Nick Brown (4-3, 2.77 ERA) vs. Larry Cutts (7-2, 4.26 ERA)
Edgar Amador (2-7, 4.63 ERA) vs. Johnny Collins (2-3, 6.24 ERA)

Game 1
POR: LF Wheaton – 3B Sharp – CF Fernandez – RF Brady – 1B Martin – SS Yamada – C Wood – 2B Ingram – P Carlson
ATL: RF R. Lopez – LF Ware – CF J. Morales – 3B J. Garcia – 1B Tinker – C J. Lopez – SS Luján – 2B J. Miller – P J. Collins

Brady brought in a run on a groundout in the top 1st before Carlson came out and gave up constant hard contact. High flies, line drives, rocketing grounders – the Knights hit them all in almost every at-bat. The little wonder was that they couldn’t score something with it. The defense was tested from the start, but didn’t break – at the start. Meanwhile, Bobby Wood’s homer made it 2-0 in the second. Although Collins wasn’t bringing overwhelming stuff either, the Coons couldn’t touch him again until the sixth. Runners on the corners with no outs, Brady whiffed in a full count, but Martin hit an RBI single to left, and that was already all they got. AMAZINGLY, the Knights still weren’t on the board, with six hits, including two doubles, and a walk through five off Carlson, and TEN flyouts, but no runs. But when Bill Tinker hit a double to start the bottom 6th, Carlson’s time was called, and he came out. We went to Rockburn, who allowed the runner to score, making it a 3-1 game. After that we got two innings from Huerta, scorelessly, while the Coons managed to hit into another one of those nasty double plays in the seventh, and left Brady on base in the eighth, and didn’t do squid against righty Lawrence Bentley in the ninth. Bottom 9th, Bruno in to save the 3-1 lead. James Miller led off with an infield single in a full count. Next was ex-Coon Jorge Defrese, who grounded back to Bruno for a force on Miller at second. Rodrigo Lopez struck out, but Stephen Ware walked, and then Jose Morales doubled to right, the first ball to elude Brady all day, and it brought the score to 3-2, with the winning runs in scoring position. Jorge Garcia got an intentional walk to pitch to the right-hander Tinker. We could have spared ourselves the hassle. Tinker singled through Sharp, and the Knights walked off. 4-3 Knights. Sharp 2-4, 2B; Fernandez 2-4, 2B; Martin 2-4, RBI; Huerta 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

Bruno has gone to ****s. Wonderful.

Game 2
POR: CF Fernandez – 3B Sharp – LF Brady – RF Greenman – 1B Martin – 2B Sheehan – C L. Ramirez – SS Yamada – P Brown
ATL: LF R. Lopez – 1B Ware – CF J. Morales – RF J. Garcia – C J. Lopez – SS Luján – 2B J. Miller – 3B T. Pena – P Imamura

Fernandez was left on third base in the first inning, and in the third was there again, part of runners on the corners with Sharpie, and two outs. Brady grounded to short, but Luján had to play it very deep and had no play, and the run scored. Greenman then popped to first – and Ware dropped it. Bases loaded – come on, punish them! Martin on the first pitch grounded out to James Miller. And now the bad news: Brownie had nothing at all. He gave up three deep flies – all outs – in the first, and then started to walk people. In the bottom 3rd he walked Imamura and Lopez to start the inning, but was bailed out on a double play. In the fourth, again two walks, this time fatal, as two runs scored on Tony Pena’s single and Imamura’s sac fly. He was yanked after five, and the Knights tacked on two in the fifth after a leadoff triple by Stephen Ware, and then another double by Garcia. The Coons would have just one more chance worth mentioning in the game, in the seventh against Bentley, when there were two men in scoring position with two down for Greenman, who used the opportunity to get to 0-4 on the day. 4-1 Knights. Fernandez 3-5, 2B; Sharp 3-4; Huerta 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

The unpronounceable sadness.

Nomura was eligible to come back from the DL, making Tom Ingram redundant, and he was sent back to St. Pete.

Game 3
POR: CF Fernandez – 3B Sharp – LF Wheaton – RF Brady – 1B Martin – 2B Nomura – C Wood – SS Yamada – P Amador
ATL: RF R. Lopez – LF Ware – CF J. Morales – 3B J. Garcia – C J. Lopez – SS Luján – 1B T. Pena – 2B J. Miller – P M. Rios

For whatever reason, we faced Manny Rios (2-4, 4.03 ERA), who didn’t allow a runner in the first inning, while the bottom 1st would see Amador walk the leadoff man, and then Ware reached on an error by Nomura. From here, it was a hit batter and two singles, and merely two runs before Miller flew out to Wheaton (who almost lost it in the sky…). Nothing got better for the obese feline from there, although he somehow struck out seven while getting touched in every naughty place he had. The Knights plated five off him in five innings, four of those earned, and the Raccoons had mustered two hits and one run in the meantime. The next hit the Coons got came in the seventh, a leadoff double for Wheaton, only Wheaton wasn’t stopping at second, but went to third, and there he was out. For laughs, Brady then hit a single, but in the event, nobody scored. Top 9th, the Coons trailed by four. Yet, their first three men got on base, with closer Manuel Reyes now facing Bob Wood, and Wood drew a walk! Yamada came up, about hitless since Easter, drilled a liner to right, and two runs scored on the double! 6-5 Knights, two in scoring position, no outs! Leon Ramirez hit for Dave Williams, walked, and then Fernandez struck out. Sharp had been hit for with Searcy earlier, and Searcy struck out, too, bringing up Wheaton again, and, oh, look, a strikeout. 6-5 Knights. Martin 2-4, 2B; Wood 2-3, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Greenman (PH) 1-1, RBI;

They are just simply disgusting.

Just disgusting. That’s all.

In other news

May 24 – Milwaukee’s Bartolo Hernandez (.328, 2 HR, 16 RBI) makes history, becoming the first ABL player to have a second 6-hit performance. Hernandez uses a 14-inning marathon between the Loggers and the Condors, which the Loggers eventually take 3-1, to get six hits in seven at-bats, all singles, and three of them in extra innings. It is the 38th time a player has six hits in an ABL game, and the fifth time for the Loggers, for whom the feat was achieved twice in 1978 by Francois Dédé and Ethan Michael, in 1998 by Cristo Ramirez, and the following year, on June 29, by Hernandez in a game against the Knights.
May 25 – PIT 1B/3B Jerry Henry (.269, 7 HR, 31 RBI) crushes the Scorpions in a 12-5 Miners romp, smacking five hits, including a pair of 3-run homers (in consecutive innings!), and plates eight batters in total.
May 27 – NYC LF/RF Stanton Martin (.271, 6 HR, 27 RBI) should miss about a month with an oblique strain.

Complaints and stuff

Last in the power rankings again. Which is swell, since the air in 23rd was quite thin.

How many winning streaks of three games or more do the Coons have this season? Right. None.

I just found out that an even better nickname for Lawrence Rockburn might be Raw Lockburn. Gotta investigate this further.

I don’t know what’s wrong with the pitching schedule. Like a thousand other things in 16, it just doesn’t work. Amazingly it worked until early May, and since then it’s a mess. In 12, the projected starters in the email from the scout were never correct, but the schedule on the team page was unless a guy was skipped. Now it’s ALL a mess.

Right now, for the upcoming Bayhawks series, we are listed as getting #5 Iván Cordero, #1 Raúl Fuentes, and #2 Carl Bean as opponents. After that would be #3 Marc Padgett, who is injured, diagnosis pending. I’m pretty sure once we get into that series, mess will happen.

By the way, toggling for a notification when a minor leaguer gets injured, notifies you perhaps 30% of the time, which is pretty ****. I hate 16…

[Westheim]

2005 DRAFT POOL ANALYSIS

We’re having something we haven’t had in many years: a draft pool with a whole bunch of talented young pitchers! Never mind that the hitting part of the pool looks rather bleak, but the young hurler studs are all very juicy and a joy to look at. (Does that sound wrong, somehow?)

Of course, the Raccoons will have to make do with the 12th pick in every round, and no extras. But even at #12, one good pitching prospect should be theirs.

Vince’s shorter shortlist is rather pitching heavy indeed:

SP Jaylen Martin (15/13/13) – BNN #7
SP Zack Yeadon (12/15/15)
SP Tom Weise (13/11/12) – BNN #5
SP Brandon Teasdale (11/12/12)
SP Dave Herndon (11/14/10)

CL Ron Sakellaris (19/16/13)
CL Ricardo Rocha (17/11/13)

C/1B Jamal White (13/15/11) – BNN #6
C Pat Walston (12/12/11)

1B B.J. Manfull (11/13/12)

CF/LF Abe Ruiz (19/6/4)
OF Jimmy Roberts (14/13/11) – BNN #2

White can’t catch, neither can he field. It’s pretty bad. We’re talking early-90s Tetsu Osanai level of defense here. The ball is going to roll right past him while he’s trying to fall to his side just to stop it. Manfull is quite decent on his feet and might be the best bet among those five.

There’s also a pitcher named Jimmy Roberts in the pool, a second-rate talent to those on the shorter shortlist.

It’s unlikely that we will get any of the top 5 starting pitchers, but there is more depth behind that, with a hand full of all-11s to add to these five.

I think I would prefer Yeadon to Martin if given the choice, since Yeadon has a sinker that gives lots of grounders, while Martin’s fastball comes in more straight and he surrenders more fly balls. But those two will be long gone by the time we pick, so the point is moot.

Overall the pool is a *bit* denser than last year, with 10 players ranked 3+ stars by Vince, and 26 players ranked 2+ stars.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (19-32) vs. Bayhawks (25-26) – May 31-June 2, 2005

The Birds were t-2nd in runs scored and t-8th in runs allowed, but only had a +5 run differential, and a losing record. Their main problem was a bottomless well in disguise of a bullpen, which posted a league-worst 4.27 ERA as they came in, readily blowing ever lead entrusted to it.

Projected matchups:
Ralph Ford (0-2, 4.06 ERA) vs. Iván Cordero (1-2, 5.18 ERA)
Felipe Garcia (2-4, 3.55 ERA) vs. Raúl Fuentes (3-8, 5.90 ERA)
Nick Brown (4-4, 3.09 ERA) vs. Carl Bean (6-3, 2.67 ERA)

Before we could get a jump onto Cordero, Tuesday’s series opener drowned and was washed down the river into the Pacific Ocean. We had a double header scheduled for Wednesday. Oh, the lovely Portland weather.

Game 1
SFB: RF R. Gonzalez – SS J. Perez – 2B J. Diaz – 1B I. Gutierrez – CF Black – LF Bonneau – 3B V. Flores – C Washington – P V. Perez
POR: CF Fernandez – 3B Sharp – LF Wheaton – RF Brady – 1B Martin – C L. Ramirez – 2B Nomura – SS Yamada – P Ford

Ford hit Ramiro Gonzalez with an 0-2 pitch, and the Bayhawks went from there. Ford had a walk, a balk, somebody somewhere hit a 3-run homer, and the first part of a Wednesday doubleheader in front of almost empty seats was underway. When it didn’t matter anymore, Ford struck out ten over the remaining 6.1 innings of his start until Jose Perez hit a 1-out single in the eighth. Rockburn came in, couldn’t solve the problem at hand, and the Bayhawks eventually scored two runs on a 2-out triple by Luke Black. Vicente Perez (5-1, 3.93 ERA) had only given up one run up to there, twice surviving runners on the corners with one out along the way. In the bottom 8th it was Clyde Brady with two on and two out, who had been robbed once before by Black in this game, who powered a 3-run homer out of centerfield, but that was not enough to overcome a 5-1 deficit. Martin flew to deep center, but not deep enough, and in the ninth Johnny Smith massacred Ramirez, Nomura, and Yamada. 5-4 Bayhawks. Yamada 2-4, 2B;

So, round 1 was meh, but what will round 2 give us, apart from a wildly different lineup?

Game 2
SFB: RF R. Gonzalez – SS J. Perez – 2B J. Diaz – 1B I. Gutierrez – LF Bonneau – 3B V. Flores – CF Black – C J. Lopez – P I. Cordero
POR: LF Brady – SS Sheehan – 1B Sharp – RF Greenman – 3B Searcy – C Wood – 2B Nomura – CF King – P Ford

For starters, nobody homered in the first, but Searcy drove home Sheehan with a single, and when did we ever expect to read that? The Coons would get runners to third base in both the third and fourth innings due to Bayhawks errors, but never managed to plate those guys. Greenman flew out to deep to right to end the third (after flying out deep to left in the first inning), and Garcia grounded out to keep two runners starved in scoring position in the fourth. Bottom 5th, another Coon on third, and again after an error! Sheehan had hit a 1-out single, before Cordero had botched Sharp’s grounder. Greenman singled to left, bases loaded with one out, and now Searcy grounded hard to second, four to six to three.

They made eyes hurt. They just … they…

While the offense kept underdoing itself, spectacularly, Garcia was rock solid and kept spooling off scoreless ball – until someone got hold of something. It was Luke Black, it was the seventh, it was going well out of the park, and it tied the score at one. Felipe Garcia went eight, was out of luck in terms of run support, and Dave Williams did the ninth. In the bottom 9th, Salvadaro Soure (a former discovery by Vince) pitched in his second inning of work, facing the bottom of the order, and retired Nomura, Wheaton, and Ramirez with three sorry outs. In the top 10th, Huerta allowed two singles, then drilled Jose Perez before Juan Diaz miraculously made the final out to Ramirez right in front of the screen behind home plate. The Furballs stranded a pair in the 11th, before there were two on again in the 12th when Brady and Fernandez singled. Sharp struck out, the second out in the inning, and Greenman got to 2-0 on lefty Ken McKenzie. The third pitch was wild, moving the runners into scoring position, and the fourth one was off intentionally to get to Searcy. Our bench was empty, Fernandez had been the last man from there. The count ran full before Searcy put one into play, and grounded out to second base. Domingo Moreno was then overcome by Jose Perez and Iván Gutierrez in the 13th, before the Birds loaded them up and left them loaded. Bottom 13th, McKenzie happened to face three lefties, and none reached. 2-1 Bayhawks. Sheehan 2-4, 2B; Fernandez (PH) 1-1; Searcy 2-6, RBI; Garcia 8.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K; Huerta 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

Well. We lost the double-header. We also had to play 22 innings, because reasons, and because of our zero clip with runners in scoring position (actually: minus .150), and we also lost Ricardo Huerta, who reported a tweak in his back and his DTD for at least Thursday.

But hey, we still got our pants and shoes. Life is really only truly miserable when someone takes your pants, and your shoes. We are still not completely burnt out.

Game 3
SFB: RF R. Gonzalez – SS J. Perez – 2B J. Diaz – 1B I. Gutierrez – CF Black – LF Bonneau – 3B V. Flores – C Washington – P R. Fuentes
POR: LF Brady – 3B Sharp – CF Fernandez – RF Greenman – 1B Martin – SS Sheehan – 2B Nomura – C Wood – P Brown

The Coons went out and exploded all over Fuentes’ face right in the second innings, churning him on a Greenman double and a Martin homer run for TWO runs in ONE inning! Top 3rd, a so far perfect Brownie allowed a leadoff single to Vic Flores, and then Washington’s grounder was thrown away by Bobby Wood. The runners were in scoring position with no outs, but from here Brown toughed down on the Birds and nobody scored on a strikeout to Fuentes, a soft pop to center from Gonzalez, and Perez grounded out to short. Not that it helped in the big picture. The fifth saw Bonneau lead off with a double, and then Flores tripled, and scored on Washington’s fly to right. Since obviously nobody had scored for the Coons since the bottom 2nd, the game was tied up. Brown struck out nine through six innings, but looked like he wouldn’t get more help. It took a rip to do something in Portland, and Greenman let it rip on this Thursday. He already had two doubles, then gave the Coons and Brownie a new lead in the bottom 6th with a solo homer off Fuentes, 3-2. Sharp pitched two more innings without striking out anybody, but got a few soft grounders and a pop to short to hold onto the 3-2 lead through eight. Bottom 8th, Sharp hit a 1-out single and was run for by Yamada. Yoshi stole a base, but was stranded at third, no insurance came forth, and then it was Bruno, who had blown his last two saves. He struck out Juan Diaz before Gutierrez hit an infield single. Black whiffed, bringing up Bonneau, on whom the count ran full. Gutierrez started running almost while Bruno was still concentrating, but it didn’t matter: Bruno hammered it past a swinging Yohan Bonneau, and the game was over. 3-2 Brownies! Greenman 3-3, BB, HR, 2 2B, RBI; Brown 8.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 9 K, W (5-4);

Browniiieee!!!

Raccoons (20-34) vs. Canadiens (30-22) – June 3-5, 2005

Here come the first-place (by half a game) Elks. I don’t know what’s worse. Their foul stench, or them being in first place!

They had the best program to avoid runs, a good defense that was not fed much trouble by the pitchers, with starters and relievers both ranking second in the league. But they ranked in the bottom half in runs scored (still +38 RD though), and the Titans were breathing down their neck. We are 2-4 against them this season.

Projected matchups:
Edgar Amador (2-8, 4.83 ERA) vs. Rod Taylor (3-3, 3.20 ERA)
Ralph Ford (0-3, 4.14 ERA) vs. Daniel Dickerson (5-4, 3.17 ERA)
Felipe Garcia (2-4, 3.28 ERA) vs. George Norris (0-2, 9.72 ERA)

We had confirmation that Ricardo Huerta was good to go if needed, and looking at the Fat Cat’s recent success, it was good to have all arms ready.

Clyde Brady arrives in this potentially sad series with a 10-game hitting streak.

Game 1
VAN: LF J. Gonzalez – RF Calzado – 2B Dobson – CF E. Garcia – 1B Trinidad – SS Nakayama – 3B Rivas – C Hurtado – P R. Taylor
POR: 3B Sharp – CF Fernandez – LF Brady – RF Greenman – 1B Martin – 2B Sheehan – C Wood – SS Yamada – P Amador

After Amador struck out two in a 1-2-3 first, the second inning was just awful. The first three Elks hit singles, scoring the first run, then he walked Alex Rivas. He was then lucky that Hurtado popped out to him on the mound, and Taylor, a poor hitter even for a pitcher, grounded into a double play. But well, it didn’t matter. The Elks batted through the order in the third inning, put four runs on Amador, and that was that. The Fat Cat was batting with success, with a leadoff single in the third inning, in which he scored the Coons’ only run, then had a 2-out double for an unearned run that plated Yamada, who had reached on a Trinidad error, to make it 5-2. But his pitching was egregiously painful to watch and his ERA had been shot soundly over five. Amador started the top 6th, retired Rivas, and then Yamada and Sharp made errors on consecutive grounders. Everything was blown to pieces even as Ed Bryan came in and the Elks put up their second 4-spot of the day. The Coons rallied in the bottom 7th, Sharp bringing home a run to make it 9-3, and then they loaded the bags, emptied them on a Greenman double, and even Greenman scored, but that still left them down 9-7, and the great offensive effort went to waste, not least for Jose Gonzalez’ leadoff jack off Huerta in the eighth. Pedro Alvarado struck out the side in the ninth for his 12th save of the year. 10-7 Canadiens. Sharp 2-4, BB, RBI; Nomura 1-2, 2B;

Clyde had a hit to get to 11 straight.

Game 2
VAN: CF E. Garcia – RF Trinidad – 1B Harmon – 2B Dobson – SS Nakayama – LF J. Gonzalez – 3B M. Ramirez – C F. Diéguez – P Dickerson
POR: 3B Sharp – CF Fernandez – LF Brady – RF Greenman – 1B Martin – C L. Ramirez – SS Yamada – 2B Nomura – P Ford

Clyde Brady’s first two plate appearances saw a runner on first base, Fernandez in the first, Sharp in the fourth, that was both times picked off before Brady could get his AB completed. Brady never reached, having Dickerson face the minimum through four. Ralph Ford channeled his inner Brownie for 4.2 innings, striking out seven against three singles, before Enrique Garcia homered off him in the fifth, and after that he loaded the bases with two outs and only got out when Yamada snagged Nakayama’s line drive, leaping. All that ran up Ford’s pitch count and he was done after six innings. Wheaton hit for him in the bottom 6th after Nomura had already singled. Wheaton doubled to left against his old team, representing the go-ahead run with nobody out in the 1-0 Elks game. Dickerson crumbled, Sharp walked, Fernandez singled, game tied, and then Clyde Brady against orders put a 3-0 pitch into play, grounded it through Henry Harmon, and we were up 2-1. And still bases loaded. And still nobody out. And remember, Ford still has no wins. Greenman, to center, hard, deep – caught. Sharp tagged and scored, and after Martin grounded to Dickerson for a double play, the 3-1 was the furthest the Coons moved out. While Dickerson toughed it out and went eight innings, the Raccoons got almost spotless relief from their bullpen. Ed Bryan retired Enrique Garcia to start the top 7th, before Rockburn got five quick outs. Marcos Bruno was untouched in the ninth. 3-1 Coons. Fernandez 2-4, RBI; Brady 2-4, RBI; Wheaton (PH) 1-1, 2B; Searcy (PH) 1-1; Ford 6.0 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, W (1-3); Rockburn 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

Yay, Ford no longer winless!

Game 3
VAN: LF J. Gonzalez – RF Calzado – 2B Dobson – CF E. Garcia – 1B Trinidad – 3B Rivas – SS Rodgers – C F. Diéguez – P Fujita
POR: CF Fernandez – SS Yamada – 3B Searcy – RF Brady – 1B Martin – LF Wheaton – C Wood – 2B Nomura – P F. Garcia

The Elks elected to bypass Norris and go with Juichi Fujita (6-3, 2.74 ERA) in the rubber game. In the top 2nd they also had three singles off Garcia, but greedy base running cost them a run when Enrique Garcia was beaten to home plate by Dave Wheaton’s throw. However, one of the curses of Coonsdom was that no good effort was ever rewarded, or rewarding. In the top 3rd, Juichi Fujita led off with a triple(!), and Garcia came back to strike out Gonzalez and Calzado before going to 2-2 on Dobson, but Dobson then doubled into the gap in left center, and the Raccoons trailed once more. The Coons took until the fourth to make themselves noticed, when Martin singled and Wheaton doubled to get into scoring position with one out. Wood just failed, and Nomura was walked to get to Garcia with two out, and Garcia hit the most TERRIBLE bloop seen in a long time, and it fell in, and it scored a pair! They made it a 3-spot when Nomura scored on Fernandez’ single to left, to give Garcia a 3-1 lead that was very much his merit. Or luck. Whatever fits better in your article. Any which way, he gave one run right back on a 2-out double by Dobson, with the Coons’ response being to load the bases in the bottom 5th, just as Wood’s turn came up again. With one out, he at least avoided a double play, and the Coons moved to 4-2 on his groundout. Nomura got the finger again, but this time Garcia grounded out harmlessly. Garcia went six and a third before reaching 100 pitches and the Elks sent lefty Jim Jardine to hit for Fujita. Moreno got Jardine struck out, and also whiffed the righty Gonzalez in this, and lefty Vonne Calzado in the next inning. All was well until the ninth, when Bruno came on, walked Rivas, and Ken Rodgers took him deep. That tied the game. That was really not all there was to see, since Bruno put another man on, got chased angrily, and then Williams came in, issued a walk to Pedro Hurtado, and Jerry Dobson made himself even less liked in Portland with a 3-run homer. Another run scored when Kichida came in. 8-4 Canadiens. Yamada 2-5; Martin 2-4; Wheaton 2-3, BB, 2B; Greenman (PH) 1-1; Garcia 6.1 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 7 K and 1-3, 2 RBI;

Well, ****.

In other news

May 31 – The venerable WAS 1B/2B David Brewer (.231, 0 HR, 5 RBI) might miss most of the remainder of the season with a fractured ankle.
May 31 – CIN OF/1B Will Bailey (.286, 12 HR, 37 RBI) is headed to the DL with elbow tendinitis. The Cyclones think he can back before the end of June.
June 3 – SFB SP Marc Padgett (4-4, 3.66 ERA, 1 SV) is out for the season with bone chips in his elbow.
June 4 – The Miners acquire 33-yr old OF Luis Alonso (.271, 3 HR, 16 RBI) and a non-prospect from the Falcons for 27-yr old OF David Rincón (.306, 4 HR, 22 RBI).
June 4 – A whopping 33 runs are scored in Los Angeles between the Pacifics and Miners. The Miners prevail and win the slugfest, 19-14.

Complaints and stuff

Back to 23rd in the power rankings. I don’t like these lofty heights.

Really not much else to say, other than how fantastic it is that Marcos Bruno goes in the bin the second that Casas has to be DL’ed. Angel by the way looks to be about two weeks removed from going to rehab, so he should arrive here again in late June. What are we supposed to do until then in the one or two games we lead late each week? Have Raw Lockburn close??

Pitching schedule mess continues. Am I supposed to look at every pitcher before the start of the series to try to figure out when he goes? This is more annoying than the Coons’ perceived .125 RISP average.

I actually composed the projected matchups for the Elks series myself from when they last went. OOTP had Scott Spears in the middle game, but Spears had started on Wednesday! Complete mess! Complete mess! It seems like the middle starter is always wrong now.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (21-36) vs. Loggers (23-33) – June 6-9, 2005

The Loggers had a -52 run differential, ranking 10th in both runs scored and runs allowed. Would the historically bad Raccoons be able to capitalize on a dud pitching staff? We’d have to sweep this 4-set to get out of last place, which will probably not happen – at all. We have split the first four-game set we played this season.

Projected matchups:
Ben Carlson (1-5, 5.42 ERA) vs. Armando Gomez (2-5, 6.79 ERA)
Nick Brown (5-4, 3.00 ERA) vs. Dani Alvarado (4-5, 2.97 ERA)
Edgar Amador (2-9, 5.11 ERA) vs. Martin Garcia (2-4, 3.33 ERA)
Ralph Ford (1-3, 3.94 ERA) vs. Ramiro Gonzalez (7-5, 3.76 ERA)

This could be the last start for the Fat Cat. We have absolutely nothing in hand at the AAA level, but this can’t go on like that…

We’d get three left-handed starters (all but Alvarado), and that gives us some chances to play Searcy more, and Clyde Brady will also get an off day, sitting his 13-game hitting streak in the opener.

Game 1
MIL: C Benitez – CF Fletcher – SS T. Johnson – RF Hiwalani – 1B M. Woods – 3B Tolwith – 2B K. Scott – LF Phillip – P A. Gomez
POR: 1B Sharp – LF Fernandez – 3B Searcy – RF Greenman – C L. Ramirez – SS Yamada – 2B Sheehan – CF King – P Carlson

Gomez gave himself the lead with a 2-out RBI single in the second inning. Carlson gave out freebies, and issued a staggering six walks while collecting just nine outs and loading the bags in the fourth inning. That was enough, and Kichida took over the game down 2-0 and Tom Johnson at the plate, surrendered a sac fly to him and then struck out Hiwalani and Woods to escape with a 3-0 deficit. Bakile Hiwalani continued being that live-long thorn in the Coons’ side, making numerous catches on drives to deep right in this game, and the one time the Coons’ hopes didn’t go to die at Hiwalani’s place, Searcy hit into an inning-ending double play. The seventh was Hiwalani’s again, shagging Sharp’s bloop to shallow right to end the inning with King stranded as the tying run. Matt King had driven in a pair with a single before that to get the Coons back to 3-2. Gomez continued in the eighth, retiring Fernandez and Searcy before Greenman reached with a single. Ramirez fired a shot into the gap in right center, unreachable even for the resented Hiwalani, and Greenman made it home safely, tying the score. Gomez remained in with Yamada and his sorry .218 average next, but Yamada zinged it into right and gave the Furballs the lead! Yamada then stole his second base of the day and scored on Sheehan’s single. Then it was Huerta who was handed the 5-3 lead. There were all-righties in the Loggers’ lineup, Kichida had been used, and Bruno and Rockburn (and to which success! …) had both pitched two consecutive days, while Huerta was fresh. Fletcher and Johnson reached on an infield single and a walk with nobody out before Hiwalani struck out in a full count. Woods grounded out to short, and Tolwith grounded out to second, to somehow let this one drop into the Coons’ lap. 5-3 Raccoons. Sharp 2-4; Ramirez 3-4, 2B, RBI; Yamada 2-4, RBI; Sheehan 2-4, RBI; Kichida 4.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K;

I know we are a last place team and have no hope of ever leaving that unhappy place, and we might well lose over 100 games this season, but if Carlson keeps having these all-off days, I will not be able to get around meatcleavering him…

Game 2
MIL: 2B B. Hernandez – CF Fletcher – RF Hiwalani – SS T. Johnson – 1B M. Woods – 3B Tolwith – C Benitez – LF K. Scott – P Alvarado
POR: LF Brady – SS Yamada – CF Fernandez – RF Greenman – 1B Martin – 3B Searcy – C Wood – 2B Nomura – P Brown

Brownie faced an all-right-handed lineup, and Jerry Fletcher took him deep right in the first inning with a solo shot, 1-0. The first meaningful advance of the Coons into scoring position came in the fourth and was owed to a wild pitch that allowed Al Martin to reach second base with two down. Searcy duly made the third out without accidentally breaking Alvarado’s line. In the fifth we had Nomura on first with Brown not getting a bunt down and eventually kicking one foul for a third strike, and THEN Brady singled only for Yamada to strand pair. From the ridiculous to the grandiose then, as fearsome .045 batter Dani Alvarado stroked a leadoff single on the first pitch in the sixth, then advanced on a hit-and-run as Hernandez grounded out to short. Brownie looked annoyed into the Loggers dugout, then struck out Fletcher and Hiwalani, angrily pounding his glove on the way to his own trench on the sidelines. Brownie went eight, stranding runners on the corners in his last inning, before being hit for by Wheaton in the bottom of the eighth, another 1-2-3 affair. And in a 1-0 game, the Loggers didn’t even think about bothering their closer. Alvarado obviously had the Coons in his pocket. Sharp hit for Fernandez to start the ninth, singling to center. Sharp immediately went out again, with Matt King running for him. Greenman singled to center, but Jerry Fletcher had it quickly, and King held at second base. And then, the inevitable double play hit into by Martin. Ramirez hit for Searcy, lobbed one up the right field line, but Hiwalani – of course – snagged it. 1-0 Loggers. Brady 2-4; Martin 2-4; Brown 8.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, L (5-5);

The fail is strong in this team.

Game 3
MIL: 2B B. Hernandez – CF Fletcher – SS T. Johnson – RF Hiwalani – 1B M. Woods – 3B Tolwith – C J. Reyes – LF Kaberman – P M. Garcia
POR: LF Brady – 2B Sheehan – 3B Sharp – RF Greenman – 1B Martin – CF King – SS Yamada – C Wood – P Amador

There was rain in the forecast, so the Fat Cat had to hurry if he wanted to get his 10th loss in. Hurry he did, with a leadoff double by Bartolo Hernandez, a walk to Fletcher, a wild pitch, and two groundouts, while he walked Hiwalani as well, and found himself down 2-0 in no time. He was charged with five runs before the rains came and forced an hour-long delay in the third inning. When Huerta came in for long relief, all he did was to surrender long balls, like a 3-run homer to Tom Johnson. The Raccoons were plainly raped, while Garcia was undeterred by rain and puny wannabe batters, and allowed only an unearned run while pitching into the eighth. Law Rockburn was the only Coons pitcher not touched up for a run in the game, as the Loggers won a rout. 11-1 Loggers. Sheehan 3-4, 2B; Sharp 2-4, 2B, RBI; Ramirez (PH) 1-1; Wheaton (PH) 1-1;

That’s it for Amador. The ERA up to 5.55, and he’s just been **** for well over a month now. He was sent packing to AAA, with Kenichi Watanabe (1-3, 4.60 ERA) getting in entirely undeserved call to the big club. Watanabe pitched on Tuesday. We won’t move back Brownie, so Watanabe will only get to start his first big league game of the season next week.

Also, Clyde Brady’s 14-game hitting streak ended as he only reached on an error and scored the Coons only, lonely run.

Game 4
MIL: 2B B. Hernandez – CF Fletcher – RF Hiwalani – SS T. Johnson – 1B M. Woods – 3B Tolwith – C Benitez – LF Kaberman – P R. Gonzalez
POR: LF Brady – SS Sheehan – 1B Sharp – RF Greenman – CF Fernandez – C L. Ramirez – 2B Nomura – 3B Searcy – P Ford

Jerry Fletcher had killed the Coons the entire series and saw no reason to not keeping on doing it. He hit an absolutely stuffless Ralph Ford for a 2-run double with two outs in the third, and the Loggers added another run in the fourth inning on a double by Aaron Tolwith. The Coons – it goes without mentioning – hadn’t scored yet. The fans were frustrated, but the players were as well. Nomura struck out to start the fifth inning, threw his bat away and slammed his helmet onto the ground, and was ejected. The fans were booing, although it wasn’t quite clear whom they were irate with, although the bets were on Nomura. Raccoons were on second and third for Fernandez with two out in the bottom 6th, but he grounded out to Hernandez, yet we actually did get two runs in the next inning. Ramirez hit a leadoff double, Yamada tripled, and scored on a sac fly, but we were still down 3-2. Bottom 8th, Sheehan singled, Sharp singled, Greenman – double play, no score. They went down 1-2-3 against Robbie Wills in the ninth. 3-2 Loggers. Sheehan 2-4; Sharp 2-4; Ramirez 2-4, 2B; Yamada 1-2, 3B, RBI; Moreno 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

(helplessly shrugs the shoulders) I would love to tell you something enlightening or encouraging, but the truth is that they plainly suck.

There are bright spots, and even those bright spots are tainted with filth. Yoshi Yamada is second in the league with 16 steals – and imagine how many he could have if his OBP wasn’t .240 …

Raccoons (22-39) vs. Pacifics (25-35) – June 10-12, 2005

All time the Raccoons were 20-10 against the Pacifics, and we have even won the last three matchups we have had, all during our long journey through the desert. Of course, the Pacifics have been managed like a third-rate Romanian orphanage just as well all these years.

The Pacifics were not very good at scoring runs, but “not very good” still meant that they had outscored the Coons by some 60 counters at this point. Their pitching staff however was completely on fire. They were allowing 5.5 runs per game, 330 in total, dead last in the Federal League, and maybe even the Raccoons could get the slugging sticks out for once and score four, maybe even five runs in a game here.

Projected matchups:
Felipe Garcia (2-4, 3.25 ERA) vs. Paul Kirkland (3-6, 5.72 ERA)
Ben Carlson (1-5, 3.90 ERA) vs. Greg Grams (2-7, 5.88 ERA)
Nick Brown (5-5, 2.83 ERA) vs. Carlos Camacho (4-5, 4.35 ERA)

Right-right-left, and of course I was kidding. The Coons will score two, three, and no runs, and have Brownie lose another 1-0 game.

Game 1
LAP: RF C. Ramirez – 2B Liu – 1B Murphy – LF Potter – CF Morton – 3B Ramey – SS Edralín – C A. Ramirez – P Kirkland
POR: CF Wheaton – 3B Sharp – LF Brady – RF Greenman – 1B Martin – SS Yamada – C Wood – 2B Nomura – P F. Garcia

Two hits, two walks, a wild pitch – Felipe Garcia was right on top of his game, making a mess in the first inning. Fast forward to the third, Stanley Murphy hit a solo home run before Garcia loaded the bases with walks, allowed a run-scoring single to Antonio Ramirez, then after Kirkland popped out, issued his sixth walk of the day to Cristo Ramirez, forcing in another run. That was his last walk, since Kichida game in from the pen, handing Garcia his discharge papers. Kichida’s first pitch smacked Kuang Liu pretty good, and then he threw a potato to Murphy, who greatfully hit a bases-clearing double. Wait, I gotta count that. It was … ehm … oh, yeah, 9-0! By the time the sixth inning rolled around and the Raccoons upped their output (one hit in five frames) by five singles for three runs, those three runs could not have been less relevant. The Pacifics had reached double digits already. 10-3 Pacifics. Brady 2-4; Ramirez (PH) 1-1; Bryan 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 4 K;

All other teams have been notified that Christian Greenman, Albert Martin, Edgar Fernandez and a few others are available to interesting parties.

Dismal pitching forced us to add another reliever. Steve Searcy was demoted to AAA, and 23-year old righty Adam Riddle was called up. Our 2002 second round pick had struck out 38 batters in 30.1 innings in AAA this year, with a 1.19 WHIP. He can throw 97, and mixes in a changeup.

Game 2
LAP: RF C. Ramirez – 2B Liu – LF Potter – CF Morton – 3B Ramey – SS Moon – 1B Edralín – C A. Ramirez – P Grams
POR: LF Brady – 3B Sharp – CF Fernandez – RF Greenman – 1B Martin – SS Yamada – C Wood – 2B Nomura – P Carlson

Casualties in Saturday’s loss were every last bit of would-be-confidence in Carlson, who was taken deep by Ken Potter in the first inning all the way over the new stands in rightfield, before Yoshi Nomura was injured on the next play intercepting a Joe Morton line drive. For a short time, Christian Greenman’s 2-run shot in the bottom 1st gave the Coons the lead, but Carlson had that blown by the third, with Greg Grams having the first of three singles in the inning and scoring. In the bottom of the inning it was Martin with a 2-run shot, and then Yamada hit a 2-out single, stole his way to third base and scored on Wood’s double to left. That made it 5-2, and even a mediocre pitcher should get that lead at least to the sixth. Carlson made it even into the seventh, then with a 6-2 lead, but only for acrobatic plays by Brady to starve a man in scoring position in the fifth, and Yamada, who made a leaping grab-and-tumble in the sixth to keep two Pacifics on. Two out in the seventh, the Pacifics were on the corners with Potter approaching, so Moreno came in for the switch-hitting Potter, who had a weakness against lefties. Moreno walked him (…), but then struck out Joe Morton, who represented the tying run. Adam Riddle came on in the eighth, walked Chris Ramey, then struck out the next three Pacifics, with Derek Moon his first major league victim, and Huerta closed out the deal in the ninth. 6-2 Coons. Greenman 3-3, HR, 2 RBI; Martin 3-4, HR, 3 RBI; Yamada 2-4;

Another roster move was made with the forceful removal of Matt King. Eddie Torrez had regained his swing in AAA, batting .286/.380/.514 in 84 AB, so he was added to the roster.

Game 3
LAP: 2B Liu – 3B Ramey – 1B Murphy – LF Hartley – CF Morton – SS Moon – RF C. Ramirez – C Lewis – P Camacho
POR: 3B Sharp – 2B Sheehan – LF Fernandez – RF Greenman – 1B Martin – C L. Ramirez – CF Torrez – SS Yamada – P Brown

The Pacifics got three of each from Brownie in the first inning as he surrendered three hits, three walks, three runs, and struck out three in the opening frame. Whether this was poker or merely only the circus, we weren’t sure yet, but with rain approaching, he had booked himself his sixth loss. While Al Martin hit a pretender’s home run in the bottom 2nd, Brown continued to get extraordinarily comically socked – by one guy in the lineup. Derek Moon, a terrible miscast even as a featherweight state fair boxer and the king of sluggers with three home runs in approaching 800 major league at-bats at age 31, took Brown deep. Not once, but twice.

Twice.

Brown, whose inner lion was hissing in anger, got the hook and was locked in his cage after six innings, after which the next performer came in to show his tricks. Huerta put two men on, before Bryan came in to have Greenman make an artistic catch to clean up the mess. At the plate, the Raccoons usually fell over their own feet, with the oversized red shoes to blame as well as the colorful goggles and silly cone heads they wore. Yamada somehow hit an RBI double with two out in the seventh, although Ramirez got himself thrown out at home in the process to have the inning end instead of bringing up a pinch-hitter as the tying run. Guest performer Ray Hoskins then walked said pinch-hitter Brady and Sharp to start the eighth inning, only to then have Sheehan’s zinged liner to deep left being caught by Gold Glover Forest Hartley, who was approaching 42 years old. When Fernandez sent a perfect double play grounder to the mound, Hoskins all but fell onto it, and although Brady and Sharp tried their best to run into each other on the bases and poke their eyes out, everybody was safe with one out and the big bats coming up. Greenman singled in the first run, and Martin hit a sac fly, bringing up Ramirez, who hit a single to right, scoring Fernandez, and Brown was off the hook! The Pacifics decided that Hoskins didn’t have it neither as pitcher, nor as clown, and got fed up with his act. When Donald Sims replaced him, he caught Torrez’ line drive to end the inning. Somehow Bruno, dressed as a bear, escaped calamity in the top 9th when the big tent was already on fire and the elephants running rampage after a leadoff single to Ramey, but everybody made it out safely one more time to keep it tied at five. The Pacifics now went with Nobu Matsui, who hadn’t even gotten his diploma at clown school, and as a pitcher was so-so. He got Yamada to whiff, but Brady was still lingering in that #9 hole. Matsui’s best strategy was to put ten spinning plates and a ball on sticks and tell Brady “See whether you can hit that”; Brady could, and the Coons paraded off walkoff winners. 6-5 Raccoons. Sharp 2-3, BB; Greenman 2-4, RBI; Martin 2-3, HR, 2 RBI; Brady (PH) 1-1, BB, HR, RBI;

In other news

June 6 – Future Hall of Famer LAP OF Cristo Ramirez (.345, 0 HR, 18 RBI) has three hits in the Pacific’s 2-1 win over the Gold Sox to nail together a 20-game hitting streak.
June 7 – The Canadiens lose 2B Jerry Dobson (.310, 7 HR, 33 RBI), who will easily miss a month with a forearm strain.
June 7 – The Pacifics get 1B/3B Chris Ramey (.314, 3 HR, 21 RBI) from the Buffaloes in exchange for a pair of relievers named Jose: Jose Sotelo (2-1, 2.45 ERA) and Jose Rivera (0-0, 3.86 ERA)
June 8 – INF/LF Phil Montray (.286, 0 HR, 3 RBI in 28 AB) returns to the Indians in a deal with the Aces, who send over a minor league catcher.
June 8 – A torn hamstring will sit down SFB 1B Iván Gutierrez (.252, 9 HR, 39 RBI) for at least six weeks.
June 8 – L.A.’s Cristo Ramirez (.338, 0 HR, 18 RBI) has his hitting streak end at 21 games in a 4-3 loss to the Gold Sox.
June 9 – The Loggers acquire SP George Norris (1-2, 7.31 ERA) from the Canadiens for the #36 prospect, 19-year old outfielder Russ Holland.
June 10 – It’s a 20-game hitting streak for DEN INF Carlos Correa (.329, 1 HR, 19 RBI), who has a single in today’s 4-2 loss to the Aces.
June 11 – TIJ SP Jose Aguilar (4-5, 3.86 ERA) is out with a ruptured UCL. The prognosis is grim, and he might face more than one year of recovery time.

Complaints and stuff

Aww, Jerry Dobson is hurt! Aww, poor thing! Aww, I’m so sorry! I hate that pavement licker.

Bob The Clown was on waivers this week, 2.70 ERA in 6.2 innings for Topeka. Boy, was I tempted! (Kidding of course)

ALSO on waivers: Marvin Ingall! He was batting only .216 and while my fingers were itching, he hadn’t looked good at all. He was with the Pacifics, who had already gotten rid of Neil Reece three weeks earlier. Imagine that, Neil Reece, 1,989 career hits, is now a Loganville Bombardier.

There are no words!

While the Coons needed 32 games to score their first 100 runs, they RACED to their second 100 runs, which they completed on Saturday in just *31* games! WHOAH!! Somebody stop us!!

Bright sides! We will pick first in the 2006 draft – yaaay!!

[Questdog]

What are your thoughts on trading the Fat Cat for some offense?

His biggest problem seems to be a lack of control and it does not seem an area where he has a lot of growth potential.

[Westheim]

I don't like to trade controllable starting pitching just so we can place some rental furniture in the charred remains of our burnt-out house. Garcia would have been traded last winter if not for his minimum contract.

Also this: beyond Watanabe we have NO depth at AAA, so we can't trade any starting pitcher without permanently adding that extra long reliever. Our next-best shot in that regard is 25-year old Tim Webster, who was just promoted to AAA for the first time. Yes, we're that broken.

Of course I then fully expect the other teams to throw their best prospects at me for the key ingredients of that league-worst offense...



Edit: those ugly typos!!

[Questdog]

Well, I wouldn't trade for rental furniture either. But if you could get a nice young thumper, I would be very tempted, given the state of the offense. Plus, you may be able to get a low-rent starter tossed into the bargain to take his spot in the rotation for this year.

Just a thought.....

[Westheim]

We started the week with the unfortunate news that Yoshi Nomura had suffered a strained triceps and would need to go onto the DL for the second time this season. What will we do without his .208 bat for the next month!? Tom Ingram was recalled to take his roster spot.

Raccoons (24-40) @ Miners (26-37) – June 14-16, 2005

Interleague play between the worst teams in both leagues, what more do you need to not come out to the ballpark. The Raccoons have not swept a series the entire season, maybe they can get a leg up against the Miners, who were ninth in runs scored, and tenth in runs allowed in the Federal League, with another one of those completely overwhelmed rotations that had piled up a 4.85 ERA, second-worst. Yeah, because we already thumped those league-worst Pacifics so thoroughly…

Projected matchups:
Kenichi Watanabe (0-0) vs. Manuel Pineda (6-4, 4.16 ERA)
Ralph Ford (1-4, 3.93 ERA) vs. Henry Becker (4-5, 3.73 ERA)
Felipe Garcia (2-5, 4.01 ERA) vs. Miguel Rodriguez (1-1, 1.72 ERA)

Hey, those starters don’t look bad at all!

The draft will intersect this series in an ugly way, taking place on Wednesday. Draft outcomes will be reported in a separate post.

Game 1
POR: LF Brady – 3B Sharp – CF Fernandez – RF Greenman – 1B Martin – SS Yamada – 2B Sheehan – C Wood – P Watanabe
PIT: SS Dawson – CF L. Alonso – LF Blanc – C Pino – 1B Simmons – 3B J. Henry – 2B C. Aguilar – RF Walden – P Pineda

The Coons put their first three men on base, but scored only one run to start the series opener. That single tally proved wildly insufficient once Watanabe was entrusted with the white ball with the red stitches. The Miners scored two in the first inning, and single runs each in the next two, against only token resistance and stuff offered by Watanabe. Yamada on second with two out was a welcome excuse to have Watanabe purged for a pinch-hitter in the top 6th, and Torrez flew out harmlessly, but at least the sorry sight on the mound was gone, having surrendered five runs in five innings on eight hits, a walk, and having struck out nobody but his GM’s will to keep breathing. At least the Raccoons were still close given that Greenman had swatted a 2-shot in the fifth off a normally harmless Pineda, who nevertheless managed to strike out 11 Furballs in 7.1 innings. He left in the eighth with Martin and Yamada on base, and was replaced by Tony Vela, the former Raccoon. Wheaton hit for Sheehan, and straight into a double play. Bottom 8th, Kichida loaded them up and Bruno came into the game in what was wildly not a save situation to try to keep the game in theoretical range for the Coons. He walked in a run, and surrendered the other two on a hard single. 8-3 Miners. Greenman 2-4, HR, 3 RBI; Yamada 2-4, 2B;

So the book on the Miners read that they can’t score, and they are easily poundable. Seems legit. Gotta have a word with Vince.

Game 2
POR: 3B Sharp – SS Sheehan – LF Brady – RF Greenman – 1B Martin – C L. Ramirez – CF Torrez – 2B Ingram – P Ford
PIT: SS Dawson – CF L. Alonso – LF Blanc – C Pino – 1B Simmons – 3B J. Henry – 2B C. Aguilar – RF M. Alvarez – P Becker

The Coons claimed two runs in the first, but Ralph Ford would not reap the fruits of that early outburst. It wasn’t that Jerry Henry grabbed him for a solo homer in the second inning, but rather that he grabbed his own hamstring after trying to intercept a groundball in the next inning. He had to come out and Ricardo Huerta was put in to administer to the 2-1 lead. Huerta struck out Dawson and Alonso to end the third inning before it was his turn to bat in the fourth with two in scoring position and two outs. Well, we can’t hit for him now, we gotta cover innings and then put in Riddle somewhere to absorb some before he gets deleted from the roster to take on that missing sixth infielder. So Huerta batted, one strike, two strikes, and then he ripped and actually made ball and bat meet. The resulting drive – to the pronounced horror of the attendance – soared into the top rows of the left field bleachers and was measured at some 406 feet eventually! The disconcerted and bewildered Henry Becker gave up another run in the same inning after Sharp singled and Sheehan doubled, and was removed soon afterwards, presumably to be euthanized. Huerta, Hero of the Day, got us through six on only two singles. The Coons didn’t add on to their lead, but there didn’t seem to be a pressing need to. Moreno and Riddle got us into the ninth and to Rockburn, who surrendered a walk and a balk, but nothing of substance to the Miners. 6-1 Furballs! Sharp 3-5; Sheehan 2-5, 2 2B, RBI; Huerta 3.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K, W (3-2) and 1-2, HR, 3 RBI;

Ricardo Huerta – best rule 5 pick ever. Also, Danny Sharp has logged a 12-game hitting streak. He’s the best position player first-round pick post Daniel Hall. And it’s been some years. Dan The Man has been gone fishing for a decade.

Huerta now ties for second place on the team in wins. He is tied with Domingo Moreno. Nick Brown leads the team with five wins. The rest of our rotation has as much between them. (That discounts Amador’s two wins, but makes for a better punchline)

Ralph Ford’s injury was not serious – we expect him to make it through the night – and he should not miss a start, but for a moment we got all pale in the face.

Adam Riddle was demoted to AAA again to bring up another bench bat in 1B Alejandro Rojas, who was letting the ball fly with 19 homers and a .634 SLG in AAA. Rojas collected 50 AB for us in the last two years, batting .220 with 2 HR and 10 RBI.

Game 3
POR: LF Brady – 3B Sharp – CF Fernandez – RF Greenman – 1B Martin – SS Yamada – 2B Sheehan – C Wood – P F. Garcia
PIT: SS Dawson – RF L. Alonso – LF Blanc – C Pino – 1B Simmons – 2B C. Aguilar – 3B M. Alvarez – CF Walters – P J. Garcia

Our Garcia was perfect until their Garcia hit a single with two out in the bottom 3rd, but overall the game remained scoreless through five with no extra base hits for either team. The Coons had chipped six singles, but hadn’t gotten anybody in. In the top 6th then the Coons loaded the bags with a Martin walk, Sheehan getting drilled, and an infield single by Wood. Garcia hit a fly to center that Bill Walters caught, but Martin tagged up and scored. Brady took rips then, but moved to 0-4 with a K. On the mound, Felipe Garcia got it done, clicking off batter after batter, who got nothing but poor contact, and at one point the Coons infielders registered four pop outs in a row. Walters hit a single with two out in the eighth, but Garcia remained in and got another soft pop from PH Alfredo Ortíz. We did not go to a reliever (Bruno!? Ha-hah!!) in the ninth, since Garcia was only at 84 pitches and the Miners had looked nothing but inept the whole afternoon. Predictably, he melted down instantly, and a Ryan Dawson single and a walk to Luis Alonso spelled out DOOM in all caps. And here came Marcos Bruno. Strikeout, popout, strikeout. 1-0 Coons! Sharp 3-4, BB; Greenman 2-5; Sheehan 2-3; Garcia 8.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 6 K, W (3-5) and 0-3, RBI; Bruno 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, SV (5), IR 2-0;

Raccoons (26-41) @ Indians (38-28) – June 17-19, 2005

The Indians found themselves in an unlikely pennant race in June, despite an offense that was overly reliant on three swatters and a pitching staff that had holes the size of Indiana. They did have one thing though, a sparkling bullpen, which held a 2.11 ERA which was tops in the CL. We got swept under the rug in a 4-game set earlier this season.

Projected matchups:
Nick Brown (5-5, 3.13 ERA) vs. Alonso Alonso (7-3, 4.86 ERA)
Ben Carlson (2-5, 3.78 ERA) vs. Ramón Jimenez (3-7, 5.23 ERA)
Ralph Ford (1-4, 3.93 ERA) vs. Ricardo Sanchez (5-5, 3.82 ERA)

We slid some personnel around. The #5 spot was initially skipped here, and Carlson and Watanabe switched positions, so Carlson starts after rather than before Brownie now. Should help Carlson, really, since the batters will still be dizzy from Brownie’s fire by the time he comes up to hurl junk at them.

Game 1
POR: 3B Sharp – LF Wheaton – 1B Rojas – RF Greenman – SS Yamada – CF Torrez – 2B Sheehan – C L. Ramirez – P N. Brown
IND: SS Sepúlveda – RF Wales – LF Alston – 3B D. Lopez – C Paraz – CF J. Alvarez – 1B J. Zamora – 2B Montray – P Alonso

There was something to be said about Jose Paraz, who had a lion’s bat with a huge swing and tremendous power to all fields. But he also was not really a catcher and had a weak arm. And we had one of the leading base swipers in the league in Yoshi Yamada. He got on in the second, stole one, then moved up on a groundout and scored on a fly out to make it 1-0 for Brownie and the Crew. One run was potentially not enough with Brownie having shown some vulnerability to the long ball recently, and the middle of the Indians lineup merely coming in with 41 of those on the season. But Brownie pitched very well: not quite as flashy as usually, but highly effectively! Hardly any Indian was allowed on base by him, and he also participated in our little running game. Who could steal the most bases off Paraz? Well, besides Yamada, Brownie and Wheaton both got one, and Brownie was also thrown out once. When he successfully stole second base in the top 7th, he also went to third because Paraz’ throw was well into centerfield, and from there Sharpie scored him with a single to make it a 3-0 game. In the bottom 7th then, it all went wrong horribly quickly. Jesus Alvarez hit a double off Brown, the most force the Indians had mustered in this game. There were two outs, why worry? Zamora singled to left, and the quick Alvarez scored. Oh well, it was 3-1 now, and the Coons had left them loaded in the top 7th, but why worry? There were two outs! Then Greenman got the perfect fly from Phil Montray – and dropped it. Tying runs in scoring position as Matt MacKey hit for Alonso. Brown had to reach back – and struck him out. Bottom 8th, no improvement. Wales’ grounder eluded Yamada, Alston’s grounder eluded Sheehan, and we were in the ****. Rockburn relieved a visibly angry Brown, and his first pitch to David Lopez was taken to center. Torrez caught it on the fly, but Dale Wales scored anyway. Paraz flew out to center to end the inning. But the good news were the Bruno looked like he was getting back on track. Although Zamora hit a single in the ninth, Bruno struck out three and this one was – just barley – inserted into the win column. 3-2 Brownies! Wheaton 3-5; Rojas 2-4; Greenman 2-5, RBI; Brown 7.1 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, W (6-5) and 2-4;

That is the second game in a row in which he have hit nothing but singles. Granted, lots of them, but it also takes three singles to score a run. Unless you have Yoshi Yamada run rampant. We have also won three in a row, and five of six! Hu-wheeeeee!!

Also: Danny Sharp reached a 14-game hitting streak with his RBI single in the seventh. That makes the top 3 in hitting streaks in the CL all Raccoons for the season, with a 20-game streak for Dave Wheaton (when he was an Elk), and another 14-game streak for Brady.

Game 2
POR: 3B Sharp – SS Yamada – LF Brady – RF Greenman – 1B Martin – 2B Ingram – C Wood – CF Torrez – P Carlson
IND: SS Sepúlveda – 2B Montray – LF Alston – 3B D. Lopez – C Paraz – CF J. Alvarez – RF MacKey – 1B C. Rey – P R. Sanchez

Carlson had grave problems with the upper half of the lineup, got crowded in the first and surrendered only one run after a strong play by Brady, and again in the third, when a double play resolved the situation in his favor. Brady also ended our dry spell for extra base hits with a pair of doubles in his second and third AB’s of the day. The first amounted to nothing when Greenman preferred to make the final out to third base with a grounder in a 3-0 count. The latter led to Brady tying the game when Martin singled to right in the top 6th. Ingram then instantly hit into a double play. Carlson made it to the seventh with strong defense behind him all the way, but then walked MacKey and allowed a single to pinch-hitter Dale Wales. With two out, Matt Brown hit for Sepúlveda, and we went to Dave Williams. Matt Brown popped foul to Sharp, but Sharp dropped it, and Brown remained alive, but ultimately struck out. We were still tied after eight. Iemitsu Rin came in to kill the Coons in the ninth, normally an easy task. We started off with hitting Rojas for the wildly inefficient Ingram, and Rojas reached second base after Rin misfielded his grounder, then rushed a throw that Matt Brown couldn’t catch. Playing for one run, Wood bunted Rojas to third, and in Torrez’ place, Leon Ramirez was sent batting. He doubled to left!! Sheehan hit for Huerta, singled, and then Yamada added an RBI single with two outs! Brady struck out, but we were up 3-1! Bruno had been out two days in a row, and with what was coming at us in the bottom 9th, switch- and left-handed hitters, I went with Moreno. The Indians went down 1-2-3. 3-1 Coons!! Yamada 2-5, RBI; Brady 2-4, BB, 2 2B; Martin 2-4, RBI; Ramirez (PH) 1-1, 2B, RBI; Sheehan (PH) 1-1; Carlson 6.2 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K;

Sharp has nine errors now and we don’t even have half time. I don’t like my third basemen to make 20 errors. Or more. Sharpie, look at what happened to Cam Green. Do you want to end like Cam Green?

Sharpie extended his hitting streak to 15 with a late single, while Huerta won his second game this week, moving into sole possession of second place on the team. (sour grin)

Well, and with that, our week ended. On Sunday, it poured. Really hard.

With it being clear that our game would not be played, I flicked on the local network for the game of the week, which carried the Crusaders and Titans. Jorge Chapa went for the Titans and dealt it to the Crusaders. Will Taylor hit a homer in the fourth to give him a 1-0 lead, before they loaded them up and left them loaded. It didn’t matter. In 8.1 innings, Chapa scattered five hits and struck out four, allowing nothing at all. Titans won, 1-0. Best thing is, we play them next, and won’t face him, hah! Will Taylor wound up Player of the Week, though, and probably won’t sit for three games…

The game has been rescheduled for August 4, when we will play a double-header to open a 4-day stay in Indy that will become a 5-game series! That double header will sit square right in the middle of 16 days without an off day, so that should be fun… It could have been scheduled for our last trip to Indy in mid-September, but noooo…

But! The Coons had a 4-1 week – yaaaay!!

In other news

June 13 – The hitting streak of Denver’s Jose Correa (.323, 1 HR, 21 RBI) ends after 22 games in a 6-3 loss to the Indians, in which he goes oh-for-four.
June 14 – Just called up to the big leagues, 21-yr old PIT SP Barney Manning (0-0, 2.00 ERA) has been placed on the DL with shoulder inflammation. He will be out for the rest of the season.
June 16 – Sad day in Nashville, as CF John Hensley (.246, 2 HR, 19 RBI) announces his retirement from baseball after suffering a severe concussion earlier in the season. Hensley, 34, was the 1994 FL Rookie of the Year and won seven Gold Gloves with the Warriors (who picked him in the first round of the 1992 draft) and Blue Sox. Hensley amassed 1,415 career hits at a .268/.360/.469 clip with 184 HR and 936 RBI. He stole 101 bases. The last few seasons had been marred by injuries small and big for him, and he never appeared in more than 109 games in a season since 2002. In the end, he said, it had just become too much of a burden on his body, and he has to step away.
June 16 – SAC SP Takeru Sato (3-6, 7.47 ERA) is out for a month with an oblique strain. No word on whether the Scorpions are lobbying their medical staff for an arm amputation to collect insurance.
June 19 – LVA OF Forest Messinger (.264, 6 HR, 42 RBI) will miss a month with plantar fasciitis.

Complaints and stuff

John Hensley was the other half of what I used to combine with Neil Reece as the best centerfielders in baseball in the mid-to-late 90s. I thought at least Hensley would make it to 2,000 hits. Sad.

I missed it completely, but Dale Wales is by now the career hits leader, having surpassed Jeffery Brown’s 3,582 hits mark already a good while ago. Wales, 42, matched and surpassed Brown in the same game, the Indians’ 7-4 win last Tuesday against the Titans. Both hits came off Jason O’Halloran (so not quite a shabby guy) in consecutive at-bats, a third inning single, and then a 2-out, 3-run homer in the fourth!

What’s with the lead in other prime offensive counting stats?

Raúl Vázquez leads with 412 home runs, but he’s had just one for the Bayhawks this season so far. Nobody among active players has even 300. The closest is CIN Dan Morris, with 290, 6th overall.

Jeffery Brown still leads in RBI with 1,545, but his days are about to be over. Dale Wales is at 1,538 and will not bother with him much longer. Vázquez has 1,514 but his 39-year old body has not produced a lot this year…

The career lead in stolen bases belongs to - … somebody you may have never heard of. Moromao Hino stole 485 bases between 1987 and 2001, but spent all of his career in the Federal League. He lead the league in steals seven times. Diego Rodriguez had 460 in his career, and the third place guy is still active: ex-Logger Cristo Ramirez has 388 and counting. The next active player? Daniel Silva, the scum, with 340.

By the way, it’s true: after Huerta’s heroics on Wednesday, relievers accounted for more than 50% of the team’s wins this season. We ARE a sorry bunch. Since then the picture has been reversed, though.

Angel Casas started a rehab assignment to St. Pete on Sunday. We may want to give him at least three outings there.

No suitors for our disliked bats, either.

[Westheim]

2005 AMATEUR DRAFT

The Raccoons entered the 2005 draft with the 12th pick in every round, and again no extra picks, thanks to the poor quality of their free agents, whom they couldn’t get out of the door quick enough.

The draft has been documented as being pitching rich. Vince’s shorter shortlist is rather pitching heavy indeed:
SP Jaylen Martin (15/13/13) – BNN #7
SP Zack Yeadon (12/15/15)
SP Tom Weise (13/11/12) – BNN #5
SP Brandon Teasdale (11/12/12)
SP Jamie Herndon (11/14/10) – whom I called Dave before -.-

CL Ron Sakellaris (19/16/13)
CL Ricardo Rocha (17/11/13)

C/1B Jamal White (13/15/11) – BNN #6
C Pat Walston (12/12/11)

1B B.J. Manfull (11/13/12)


CF/LF Abe Ruiz (19/6/4)
OF Jimmy Roberts (14/13/11) – BNN #2

We have already elaborated how we have no hope to grab one of the top 2 starting pitchers. We hope for any of the next three to fall into our paws. If that doesn’t come to pass, there’s another handful of promising arms behind those. If EVERYTHING ELSE FAILS, we might shrug and pick Jimmy Roberts (the outfielder, not the pitcher).

To get started with fails in reverse, Jimmy Roberts (the outfielder, not the pitcher) was taken first overall in the draft by the Pacifics. After that, Jaylen Martin went #2 to the Condors, and Jamal White #3 to the Aces. The next two picks were pitchers not high on our list, before Zack Yeadon went #6 to the Warriors. The Cyclones took B.J. Manfull at #7, and Abe Ruiz went #9 to the Canadiens. Finally, the Indians snatched up Tom Weise at #11, leaving us to pick between SP Brandon Teasdale, SP Dave Herndon, CL Ron Sakellaris, CL Ricardo Rocha, and C Pat Walston in the first round. We had enough relievers in the minors, really. If any of them are around in the fourth round, well. But we need starting pitching!

The need for starting pitching had us pick Teasdale over Herndon. No other player from the shorter shortlist remained available by the time the Coons FINALLY got to pick again, the starting pitchers had been picked thin. We had the choice between a guy that wasn’t going to cut it even in Vince’s eyes, or a talented shortstop, who was going to cut it definitely in Vince’s eyes. We went with the pitcher though, because we already have Ryan Miller in the system, and we have another potentially highly talented shortstop in our international complex in Campo Cagantina in Venezuela.

2005 PORTLAND RACCOONS DRAFT CLASS

Round 1 (#12) – SP Brendan Teasdale, 20, from the Bronx, NY – right-hander with nifty control and a mean slider and circle change that gets a lot of swings and misses; has high stamina and despite his small size he’s quite athletic
Round 2 (#68) – SP Pat Composto, 20, from Naugatuck, CT – four pitches in development, with good control; unfortunately has a flyball tendency and has to get more sink on his fastball
Round 3 (#92) – LF/CF Ed Caldwell, 18, from Charleston, MO – best used in center due to his explosive speed and great range; unfortunately he has no arms and the area scout called him clumsy, too; the bat is nothing spectacular, although he might be able to keep the strikeouts down and draw more walks with a good eye
Round 4 (#116) – INF Jamie Orr, 20, from Largo, FL – can play all over the infield with a steady glove; his bat is primarily a shortstop’s with some contact ability and absolutely no power; he can steal bases frequently though with an explosive first step
Round 5 (#140) – INF Jamie Spicer, 19, from Huntington Park, CA – good defensive ability, but not much speed, and not one home run hit since his stickball days
Round 6 (#164) – SP Tom Davis, 18, from Artesia, NM – soft fastball, straight changeup, spoony forkball, but he can pitch like that all afternoon; might have a career throwing batting practice
Round 7 (#188) – OF/2B/SS Malik Campbell, 20, from Salida, CO – can play all over the field a bit, and can run a bit, but can’t bat, not even a bit
Round 8 (#212) – SS/RF Josh Gibson, 19, from Moss Point, MS – drafted as a shortstop, his secondary position hints at what we plan to do with him; his exceptionally poor bat doesn’t allow any hope at any airtime above single-A ball, but Vince thinks that he might be a worthwhile pitcher
Round 9 (#236) – MR Geoff Goldberg, 18, from Monroe, NY – left-hander, but there’s really not much to see here except a curve that can hit anywhere between halfway between mound and plate, and at the base of the backstop
Round 10 (#260) – SS Dave Brumley, 18, from Scarborough, ME – because when has anyone ever complained about too many shortstops?
Round 11 (#284) – SP Ron Melchin, 17, from Wilmington, DE – he can sport a full, bright red beard at age 17, so who says he can’t get that slider developed?
Round 12 (#308) – SP Vic Alcorn, 18, from Braintree, MA – I understand that Vince’s brother owns Alcorn’s second cousin, once removed, money, or something like that

Yeah, Vince made the last four picks because I was sad that we hadn’t gotten two stud pitchers and retreated to have a sob eventually. I think the top 4 have legit shots at big league jobs, and you never know which of your Ron Melchin’s will wind up in the bigs and whiff 100 batters before draft day, right?

Teasdale was assigned to AA ball, and everybody else lined up in single A.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (28-41) vs. Titans (38-29) – June 20-22, 2005

The Titans came in for three, which was all there was to this homestand before we had to go back east. We are 3-3 against them so far this season, and the reason as to why they were trailing the Canadiens (by half a game) were quite mysterious. Maybe it’s that 3-3. They lead the league in runs scored, but their pitching hasn’t held up so far, most outrageously their vaunted rotation has posted a 4.35 ERA, the third-worst mark in the Continental League!

Projected matchups:
Ralph Ford (1-4, 3.93 ERA) vs. Ray Conner (5-4, 4.00 ERA)
Felipe Garcia (3-5, 3.66 ERA) vs. Jason O’Halloran (5-5, 4.15 ERA)
Nick Brown (6-5, 3.08 ERA) vs. TBD

We’ll skip Kenichi Watanabe entirely after that rainout on Sunday washed away Ford’s scheduled start in Indy. Ford has instead been pushed to Monday, Garcia from Monday to Tuesday, and we will have Brownie (who started on Friday) as preliminarily scheduled on Wednesday. Oh yeah, and we have a 4-game winning streak!

We don’t know who will start on Wednesday against Brownie yet. It would be Joe Mann’s turn, but he left his last start with some issue or other and there’s no word on him.

Game 1
BOS: SS D. Silva – CF Garrison – LF Brulhart – RF W. Taylor – 2B Metting – 3B M. Austin – 1B L. Lopez – C R. Rivera – P Conner
POR: 3B Sharp – SS Sheehan – 1B Rojas – RF Greenman – LF Brady – C L. Ramirez – CF Fernandez – 2B Ingram – P Ford

The game started like approximately a hundred Titans games the last dozen years. Silva had a cheap single, stole second base, and scored on two productive outs, 1-0. Ford didn’t allow another hit until the fourth, but then it was a Taylor double and Metting RBI single to make it 2-0. Overall, Ford gave up three runs in six innings on 99 pitches, while the Raccoons didn’t have squid against Conner. The first time a Raccoon touched third base in the game was Al Martin on the way home on his pinch-hit solo homer in the bottom 8th. We trailed 3-1 into the ninth, when we faced our old friend Manuel Martinez. Yamada hit for Sheehan, singled, then was caught up in Rojas’ double play grounder, and that about it. 3-1 Titans. Yamada (PH) 1-1; Martin (PH) 1-1, HR, RBI;

Bye-bye winning streak. We hardly knew ye. The same is true for Danny Sharp’s hitting streak.

Game 2
BOS: SS D. Silva – 1B M. Austin – LF Brulhart – RF W. Taylor – C L. Lopez – 2B Metting – CF Elizondo – 3B Matsumoto – P O’Halloran
POR: 3B Sharp – 2B Sheehan – 1B Rojas – RF Greenman – LF Brady – SS Yamada – C Wood – CF Torrez – P F. Garcia

The Coons had five hits in the first two innings, but only managed one run from that, and that was not a good thing. Felipe Garcia had accidentally given his lucky socks into the laundry and now lacked socks, soul, and control. The Titans still needed until the fourth inning to tie the score, but while the Raccoons missed chances to knock over a so not sharp O’Halloran, Garcia somehow made it to the sixth, only to be evicted from the premises after back-to-back home runs by Will Taylor and Luis Lopez to start the inning. We got one solo homer from Greenman in the bottom of the same inning, but it was only ONE solo homer, and we now still trailed 3-2. But Greenman wasn’t done doing damage. O’Halloran left in the seventh after Sharpie got on with a single, and we faced Gabby De La Rosa (my god, how long has it been!?), who put on Rojas, and then Greenman singled into right. Sharp was sent, scored, and NOW we were tied. And Brady found a way to end the inning after coming up with two on and one out… Our bullpen held the Titans short for four innings as we got a chance to walk off, facing Martinez again in the bottom 9th, but nothing happened with our 1-2-3 batters and we went to extras. In the 11th then Dave Williams was unable to remove any batters, allowed a walk and two hits, for two runs, and the Raccoons had to look at Ramiro Román in the bottom of the inning. It was a rather short look we got before we were blown away. 5-3 Titans. Sharp 2-6; Sheehan 2-5; Greenman 2-5, HR, 2 RBI; Wood 2-5; Torrez 2-3, 2 BB, RBI; Bruno 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K;

We had 13 hits to their eight, and we just couldn’t get it done. Depressing game. Can’t they just leave town and leave us alone?

Game 3
BOS: SS D. Silva – 1B Matsumoto – LF Brulhart – RF W. Taylor – 2B Metting – 3B M. Austin – CF Garrison – C R. Rivera – P Hildred
POR: 3B Sharp – SS Yamada – LF Brady – 1B Martin – RF Greenman – C Wood – CF Torrez – 2B Ingram – P Brown

As Bryce Hildred (6-5, 4.92 ERA) allowed only one hit the first time through the brown-clad lineup it became apparent that Brownie was most likely on his own, and probably doomed. The main problem was that he didn’t have the admirable control he had shown first in the 2004 season and had almost perfected this year, and issued a couple of walks. Those came to bite him, giving the Titans an extra base to score Jim Brulhart in the fourth and then a runner to come home on Masaaki Matsumoto’s triple in the fifth inning. That put Brownie 2-0 down and it sure looked fatal, but Hildred made a mistake in the bottom 5th and put a ball on a tee for Torrez. For all his struggles, Torrez still could hit a ball on a stick, and with Wood on base tied the game with a rip and a rocket to right. Brown completed eight, game still tied in the bottom 8th when Wheaton hit for him, and zinged a double right there where Matsumoto had hit a triple earlier. Sharp was walked intentionally before the Titans went to De La Rosa, who quelled the threat successfully. We used three relievers in the top of the ninth, but to no avail. Kichida allowed a 2-out RBI single to Ricardo Rivera, sticking the loss to Huerta, and the Coons had absolutely no flash of skill, nor luck against Román in the bottom 9th. 3-2 Titans. Ingram 2-3, 2B; Wheaton (PH) 1-1, 2B; Brown 8.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 9 K;

Our first five batters in the lineup went a combined 0-for-18. Great team. The best ever. We should trade Brownie so he has a shot at 100 career wins.

Raccoons (28-44) @ Falcons (42-29) – June 24-26, 2005

First in the South, the Falcons were doing it with pitching, allowing the least runs in the Continental League, with their rotation and their pen both ranking third in ERA. Offensively they were hamstrung a bit right now with injuries to Jose Lugo and Jesus Flores, as well as Jose Ramirez, although the latter could potentially return during the weekend. Somehow, we had taken two of three from them in our first series of the season, but we can’t stay lucky forever, can we?

Projected matchups:
Ben Carlson (2-5, 3.55 ERA) vs. Tommy Wilson (5-6, 3.44 ERA)
Ralph Ford (1-5, 3.97 ERA) vs. Rodrigo Gomez (2-5, 4.98 ERA)
Felipe Garcia (3-5, 3.75 ERA) vs. Lewis Donaldson (10-2, 2.13 ERA)

Three right-handers might be coming our way.

Game 1
POR: 3B Sharp – SS Yamada – LF Brady – RF Greenman – 1B Martin – CF Torrez – 2B Sheehan – C Wood – P Carlson
CHA: RF Hudson – CF Rincón – 2B H. Green – C Durango – LF Estrada – 1B Vieitas – 3B Petipas – SS Guerin – P T. Wilson

The Coons unleashed some 2-out terror in the second inning with singles by Torrez and Sheehan and then a 2-run double by Wood. Carlson’s grounder was mishandled by Herberto Vieitas, but Sharp couldn’t capitalize and didn’t get the ball past Hubert Green. They came right back however in the third inning, when Torrez and Sheehan both hit 2-out RBI singles to plate Yamada (who had stolen his 20th base in the inning) and Martin. Meanwhile the Falcons stranded a pair of runners in each of the first three innings, never scoring. They played like the real Raccoons, for crying out loud. Sharp put a man on base to start the fourth with one of his pathetic errors, the 10th on the year, but the Falcons still didn’t score, although Carlson’s dumb luck finally run out in the fifth when Pedro Estrada took him well deep for a 3-run homer. He was hit for in the top 6th with Torrez on third and two outs, but Fernandez’ high fly was caught on the warning track. Rockburn got five outs on poor contact before Vieitas hit a triple. With left-handed batter Fernando Chavez coming out, we went to Dave Williams, who surrendered the game-tying single. In the bottom 9th Kaz Kichida drilled the leadoff man Estrada, walked Steve Moore, and once he was yanked, Ed Bryan held on and sent the game to extra innings, only to take the loss in the tenth on three hits. 5-4 Falcons. Torrez 3-4, RBI; Sheehan 2-4, RBI;

(deep sigh)

Game 2
POR: 3B Sharp – SS Yamada – CF Torrez – RF Greenman – 1B Martin – 2B Sheehan – LF Wheaton – C Wood – P Ford
CHA: RF Hudson – SS Guerin – C Durango – 2B H. Green – 1B Vieitas – LF Estrada – CF Burke – 3B Petipas – P R. Gomez

John Hudson hit a leadoff triple in the bottom 1st, but didn’t score when Guerin whiffed, Durango grounded out right in front of home plate, and Green’s drive to left was intercepted by Wheaton, who was playing since Clyde Brady had entered his summer slump. See him in September. In turn the Coons had the bases loaded with nobody out in the second, and merely managed one run. The Falcons had somebody on in every inning, and often enough their leadoff man, but didn’t score until the fifth, when they tied the game on John Hudson’s RBI double, and by then Hudson only lacked the home run for the cycle, and the Coons had not had a runner since the second inning. But before Hudson got a chance at a home run himself, he had to helplessly watch Al Martin hit his eighth of the season, a thundering 2-run shot in the seventh that collected Eddie Torrez, whose leadoff single had broken Rodrigo Gomez’ run of a dozen straight batters sat down. Bottom 7th, Ford walked Jake Burke to start the inning. Petipas singled to right, Burke to third, Greenman’s throw, too, except that it was nowhere close to third, caromed off the side wall, and bounced back into no man’s land for ample time for Burke to score and for Petipas to cruise into second base. After Jose Mendoza had grounded out, Hudson came up, but couldn’t get the ball up and had to settle for another single, moving Petipas to third base with one out. Two soft pops would strand the runners and preserve the 3-2 lead that was enlarged to 4-2 when Yamada doubled home Brady, who had reached on a pinch-walk in the top 8th. Huerta appeared for the eighth, allowing a leadoff single to Hubert Green. Vieitas then grounded to the right side, where Sheehan was completely overrun by the ball that threw him onto his buttocks before vanishing in giggling manner in rightfield. The dashing Green, however, was held up at third base and got directions to his dugout: the first base umpire ruled that the ball had glanced off Green’s back leg and that slight change of direction had helped the ball to take out Sheehan. Slow motion replay showed that the call was correct, so instead of runners on the corners and no outs the Falcons had one man on first base and one out, and Estrada’s double play grounder to Yamada did the rest for them. Marcos Bruno then saved the game without much fuss. 4-2 Coons. Martin 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Ford 7.0 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, W (2-5);

The Falcons out-hit us 10-6, so that was quite the steal. We fared SO poorly with the bat that we only left three men on base in this game!

Game 3
POR: 3B Sharp – SS Yamada – CF Torrez – RF Greenman – 1B Martin – 2B Sheehan – LF Wheaton – C Wood – P F. Garcia
CHA: RF Hudson – CF Rincón – 2B H. Green – C Durango – 1B Vieitas – LF Burke – 3B S. Moore – SS Guerin – P Donaldson

The Furballs scored first in all games in the series, with Greenman smacking a home run to get the second inning underway. At that point Daniel Sharp had already a poor out and an error, and we kept counting. Felipe Garcia however needed no errors to be defeated. Two singles through the infielders, unreachable, and then a 3-run homer by Steve Moore in the bottom 4th did the job quite well. The Raccoons would not get another hit (or base runner, for what it was worth) off Lewis Donaldson until the eighth inning, when Clyde Brady had a single batting in Wood’s place, with two out. Bottom 8th, Vieitas led off with an inside-the-park home run off Domingo Moreno, who would also surrender a 2-out RBI single to Eugene Carter, who came to the plate 0-for-17. 5-1 Falcons. Brady (PH) 1-1;

It was also the time to bring Angel Casas back into the fold. We had to delete a left-hander from the pen. Moreno, despite that 2-run escapade in Sunday’s game, had caught himself well from the disaster he was in early April, and Ed Bryan had done well for himself since his callup, and was not going to go anyway. That left Williams the odd man out.

Since it was impossible to manufacture a trade with anybody these days, Williams was waived and designated for assignment on Monday morning.

Raccoons (29-46) @ Aces (31-44) – June 27-29, 2005

The Aces were giving up the most runs of all the Continental League teams, with a 5.02 ERA in their rotation. Once you had cut their starters into little cubes, the bullpen was not much better. They knew how to score, though, ranking fourth in offense. We were 2-1 against them this year.

Projected matchups:
Kenichi Watanabe (0-1, 9.00 ERA) vs. Jose Marquez (2-8, 6.09 ERA)
Nick Brown (5-5, 3.02 ERA) vs. Jim Pennington (4-3, 3.60 ERA)
Ben Carlson (2-5, 3.67 ERA) vs. Bob Bowden (5-6, 5.46 ERA)

Game 1
POR: 3B Sharp – SS Sheehan – LF Brady – RF Greenman – 1B Rojas – CF Torrez – C L. Ramirez – 2B Ingram – P Watanabe
LVA: SS Nichols – 3B F. Rivera – 2B O. Torres – CF Covington – RF R. Garcia – 1B Abrams – C Yu – LF G. Wills – P J. Marquez

Fans paid to get through the gates, only to find out that neither team had arrived with any bats. While Watanabe and Marquez tossed third-rate junk, both the Raccoons and Aces had to make do with tennis rackets, golf clubs, and Rojas even used the bat boy, and the results were accordingly. Poor contact, all around. Even when Watanabe walked Wills and Marquez in succession at some point, the Aces couldn’t cash in. The Raccoons also allowed them a runner to reach on an uncaught third strike and made no impediment on Martin Covington’s repeated base stealing attempts, and the Aces still didn’t score, unpolitely refusing every cordial invitation. Watanabe got removed in the eighth, after PH Artie Hill’s accidental double to center. He had swung with a sawed-off telephone pole. The Aces loaded them up with two out against Moreno with an Oliver Torres infield single that Ingram refused to play, and a walk to Inaki-Luki Warrain. We tried to counter Ricardo Garcia with Raw Lockburn, whose 1-0 pitch went through Leon Ramirez’ legs, before Garcia hit a 2-run single past a tardy Sharp. Top 9th, the Coons had three hits total at that point, facing Leonard Williamson. Sheehan chipped a soft single, Brady hit another one, and Greenman rolled one into left with permission from mis-assigned Gold Glover Felipe Rivera. Bases loaded, no outs. The Raccoons obviously balked out of that. 3-1 Aces. Sheehan 2-3; Torrez 2-4, RBI; Watanabe 7.2 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, L (0-2);

Okay, this … this was the most miserable game all year. It can’t possibly get any worse than this.

Oh look, Brownie’s next!

Game 2
POR: 3B Sharp – SS Yamada – LF Brady – RF Greenman – 1B Martin – CF Torrez – 2B Sheehan – C Wood – P Brown
LVA: CF Covington – 3B F. Rivera – 2B O. Torres – SS Nichols – RF R. Garcia – 1B Abrams – C Yu – LF G. Wills – P Pennington

In the first, on two walks and three stolen bases, the Raccoons scored one run, somehow. Top 3rd, Yamada hit a single, then stole his third base on the day. Brady struck out, but the ball got away from emergency catcher Min-tae Yu (all other Aces catchers were incapacitated!), and Brady reached on the passed ball, moving Yamada to third. But now, thought Christian Greenman, was the time for a proper hit. One knock later, three Furballs galloped around the bases as Greenman had smacked his 14th homer of the season, and another run scored on three more hits in the inning to make it 5-0 in support of Brownie, who had his issues with control, but things didn’t get completely OUT of control. He got better by the third inning and reached ten strikeouts when he erased Rivera to end the fifth! His pitch economy remained bad however, and we got the bullpen stirring after he struck out one more in the sixth, almost having reached 100 pitches by then. Brown was not yet removed in the top 7th when his turn at bat came up with Wood on first, one out, and a 6-0 score. His bunt was taken to second base by Yu, but the throw was high, and everybody was safe, but nothing came about it when Sharp grounded out to first to get Brownie forced out, and Yamada fouled out. Then Brownie did the bottom 7th on six pitches, reaching a dozen whiffs, too, and we didn’t quite pat him on the back yet. He was removed however once Covington reached on an infield single with one out in the eighth. Huerta came in. Two down, Torres hit an infield single. Nichols grounded to short, and Yamada botched it. Bases loaded, and nobody could quite believe it. But Ricardo Garcia struck out, and the Aces didn’t get another chance to harm Brownie’s record. 6-0 Brownies!! Yamada 2-4, BB; Greenman 2-4, HR, 4 RBI; Torrez 3-5; Wood 4-5, 2 RBI; Brown 7.1 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 12 K, W (7-5);

Nick Brown reached 100 more strikeouts than walks in the third inning of this June 28 game. In good years, Kisho Saito reached the same mark in mid-to-late August. Brownie IS the best we ever had!

And his 7-5 record is a disgrace.

Game 3
POR: 3B Sharp – SS Yamada – LF Brady – RF Greenman – 1B Rojas – C Wood – CF Fernandez – 2B Ingram – P Carlson
LVA: SS Nichols – 3B F. Rivera – 2B O. Torres – CF Covington – RF R. Garcia – 1B Abrams – C Yu – LF G. Wills – P Bowden

Bob Bowden had a very bad day at the office on Wednesday. The Coons romped him for four runs in the first two innings, even leaving five men on base. His own team did precious little, and he still had to work with Yu, who hadn’t caught since high school. Bobby Wood was on third base with two outs in the fifth inning, 4-1 the score. Ingram was walked intentionally to get Carlson up, and the first pitch went right by Yu for a run-scoring passed ball. The Raccoons were not free of shame, however – and not by a mile. They still led 5-1 in the bottom 6th, when the Aces got going on two grounders back to Carlson. The first was an infield single, the latter a plain error, two on, no outs. Those runners pulled off a double steal, Covington leading the way, and while Yu popped out for the second out, we had to expect the poor sod Bowden to be pinch-hit for, so Carlson went after Wills instead. Gary Wills flew to left, and Brady just plainly botched it. Two runs scored, Wills to second base on the error, and then Bowden, the poor sod, was NOT hit for and instead had to face Carlson, who threw a wild pitch before Bowden could hack himself out: 5-3 after six. Bowden had to pitch on, while we went to Kichida in the seventh, who put the tying runs on base without retiring anybody. Moreno got Torres to ground out to Rojas, moving up the runners, and the Aces hit right-hander Inaki-Luki Warrain for Covington. Marcos Bruno was called on and struck out both Warrain and Ricardo Garcia to escape another mess. The Aces continued to teach their entirely clueless former first-rounder a lesson and didn’t bring him until he had thrown 130 pitches and had loaded the bags with one out in the eighth, then brought right-hander Don Davis to face Yamada and Brady, both of whom brought home a run before Greenman made the inning end. Like Kichida in the seventh, we then had Raw Lockburn put Nichols and Rivera on base with nobody out in the ninth. Angel Casas had to come out to face left-handers with our two southpaws already used up. Torres singled, 7-4. Don Cameron walked. Ricardo Garcia walked, 7-5. Abrams flew out to center, 7-6. Yu, the laughing sack for the entire series, singled to right, 7-7. And then two strikeouts, and extra innings. Add Casas to the list of ****s to kill off at the deadline. The Aces put runners on third base in the bottom 10th and 11th, never scoring off Huerta, who was the last man coming out of the pen. There was nobody else. The Raccoons left two on in the top 11th, three on in the top 12th, and Huerta was finally defeated in the bottom 13th on Gary Wills’ 2-out RBI single. 8-7 Aces. Wood 4-7, 2B, RBI; Ingram 2-5, BB;

We merely left 16 men on base. It’s not like we got ANY chance to score.

****ing team. Brutally ****ing team. Brutally ****ing **** team.

Raccoons (30-48) vs. Loggers (34-44) – June 30-July 3, 2005

And the next team to come in and collect free wins will be the … Loggers! Yaay!!

They might rank second-worst in offense in the Continental League (guess to whom! GUESS!!!), and they might also surrender the second-most runs, with a -72 run differential, but that’s only smoke and mirrors. When it comes down to heart, soul, and the least little bit of good fortune, they have the Raccoons beat, any day of the week. We’d play four in an attempt to crash to 3-9 against them on the season.

Projected matchups:
Ralph Ford (2-5, 3.87 ERA) vs. George Norris (2-3, 6.47 ERA)
Felipe Garcia (3-6, 3.77 ERA) vs. William Lloyd (3-9, 7.17 ERA)
Kenichi Watanabe (0-2, 4.26 ERA) vs. Martin Garcia (5-5, 3.04 ERA)
Nick Brown (7-5, 2.83 ERA) vs. Armando Gomez (2-7, 6.16 ERA)

Don’t you worry, woodchucks, it will all be well soon.

Game 1
MIL: 2B B. Hernandez – CF Fletcher – SS K. Scott – RF Hiwalani – 1B M. Woods – 3B Tolwith – C Benitez – LF Kaberman – P Norris
POR: 3B Sharp – SS Yamada – LF Brady – RF Greenman – 1B Martin – C B. Wood – CF Torrez – 2B Sheehan – P Ford

Ford faced a lineup composed entirely of right-handed batters, which worked out well enough for three Loggers runs in the first inning. The Coons put up a crooked number of their own in the bottom of the second. Starting out with a Martin home run, they had runners in scoring position when Ford came to bat with one out. His grounder eluded the defenders on the left side and tied the game, and it just went on as Norris threw batting practice, eventually getting socked for five runs in the inning when Greenman hit a bases-loaded, 2-out, 2-run single to left. That didn’t make Ford a better pitcher, and the 5-3 lead was critically endangered in the fourth inning with runners on the corners before Ken Wood (who replaced an injured Van Kaberman) grounded into the third out to Sheehan. Bottom of the same inning, Yoshi-Y drew a walk, Brady another one, and when Yoshi set off to steal third, Benitez’ throw went over the leaping Tolwith’s head, and Yamada scored, 6-3, Brady going to third, where he was starved. The bottom 5th saw reliever Alan Crowley load the bases with no outs before Ford, Sharp, and Yamada ****ed up completely and nobody scored. Ford got stomped from the game in the sixth, with Hiwalani hitting one out and then Mac Woods coming up with a triple. Kichida entered and scored Woods with a wild pitch, 6-5.

The Coons continued to botch a multitude of chances for add-on offense, like in the eighth, when Brady walked, ran, ended up on third on Greenman’s 1-out single, and then was yet again ****ing left there. Bruno had pitched the eighth already, but with Casas having been blown out the day before in a long and unpleasant ninth inning, and nobody else available, we tried to squeeze him for a 6-out save, which could only ever go wrong. Pedro Benitez led off the ninth, the count ran full, Bruno threw a pitch low and far away, Benitez swung and missed anyway, but Wood missed it just as well, and Benitez reached first base on the uncaught third strike. Ken Wood and Jesus Reyes grounded out, leaving Benitez at third base with two outs and Bartolo Hernandez (.333 this year!) batting. He grounded to third, Sharp picked it up and – no, he didn’t. It rolled straight through Sharp, Benitez scored, and the game was tied. Then Jerry Fletcher showed a stunned Bruno the way to Idaho. 8-6 Loggers. Brady 0-1, 4 BB; Greenman 2-5, 2 RBI; Torrez 2-4; Bruno 2.0 IP, 1 H, 3 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, L (2-3);

… and I really, REALLY, REALLY … have to GO ****ING KILL SOMEBODY NOW.

And it really, really, really won’t be Marcos Bruno…

Game 2
MIL: 2B B. Hernandez – CF Fletcher – SS K. Scott – RF Hiwalani – 1B M. Woods – 3B Tolwith – C J. Reyes – LF K. Wood – P Lloyd
POR: LF Brady – 2B Sheehan – CF Torrez – RF Greenman – 1B Rojas – C L. Ramirez – SS Yamada – 3B Ingram – P F. Garcia

When Felipe Garcia allowed a leadoff single to Mac Woods in the top 2nd, that was innocent enough. That he walked the next three batters while throwing only one (swinging…) strike, was not quite innocent, but rather completely uncalled for, and naughty. Hernandez, the anti-hero of the previous night, singled to left, two more scored, and the Loggers had another one of those 3-0 leads. The bottom 2nd started with a Hernandez error that put a horribly inept .148 batting Alejandro Rojas on base. Yamada doubled, and inexplicably Lloyd then drilled Garcia with two outs to load them up for Brady, and for once someone came through. This time Lloyd made sure he stayed away from the batter and pitched down the middle, with Clyde thankfully converting: GRAAAAAAAND SLAAAAAAAAMMMMM!!!

For the Raccoons, a 4-3 lead was just one more thing that was begging to be blown. Like a 6-5 lead, perhaps. And Garcia couldn’t even to that. He pitched into the seventh before allowing a 1-out single to Hernandez. Rockburn came in, Hernandez stole second, and Fletcher singled him in – tied at four. Excellently executed. Bottom 7th, Martin, who had entered in a double switch with Rockburn, led off with a single. Lloyd was still in, and then got zipped by Brady with a triple, which left Clyde a double short of the cycle in a 5-4 game. We don’t have to mention that Clyde Brady, who reached third base with no outs, was left there? Good. Because he was left there. Rockburn almost blew the lead a second time in the eighth, walking two, before Moreno got out of the jam. In the ninth it was Casas to try to notch a save, perhaps. A leadoff walk to Hernandez was not QUITE the result we were aiming for. Hiwalani singled with two outs, moving Hernandez to third base for Mac Woods, but he struck out. 5-4 Raccoons. Brady 3-4, HR, 3B, 5 RBI; Martin 1-1;

No, Sharp did not appear in this game, and yes, it has to do with Thursday’s contest. I was not going to make myself watch him, because I just wanted to thrust my fist straight through his face, and bolt out his pea-sized brain through the back of his silly head.

Wrath has to go some place, eventually, and it was time to demote one of the window lickers. Rojas had to go, batting .133 in 30 AB, with no extra-base hits. We called up Steve Searcy. A wild third baseman appears! How convenient!

Game 3
MIL: 2B B. Hernandez – CF Fletcher – SS K. Scott – RF Hiwalani – 1B M. Woods – 3B Tolwith – C J. Reyes – LF Kaberman – P M. Garcia
POR: SS Yamada – 2B Sheehan – LF Brady – RF Greenman – 1B Martin – C B. Wood – CF Fernandez – 3B Searcy – P Watanabe

Brady and Greenman in particular tore out arms and legs to suck up all the deep drives Watanabe surrendered on this Saturday afternoon, and Watanabe shrugged and plated Van Kaberman with a wild pitch, two out in the fourth, to fall behind 2-1. The Coons flipped the score with three hits off a visibly aging Martin Garcia in the bottom 4th, going to 3-2, and Watanabe continued to throw batting practice. Top 5th, Keith Scott singled, and Woods would draw a walk, and Tolwith got smacked, and then Reyes ruined the show and struck out to end the inning with no score. When Hernandez hit a double to put himself and Martin Garcia into scoring position with one out in the sixth, Watanabe got hooked, but this mess refused to be cleaned, and Jerry Fletcher chipped a single on Huerta’s 0-2 pitch, just past the grasp of Sheehan and into rightfield to plate the runners and re-flip the score. The Raccoons were … not getting on base anymore. Martin Garcia went seven for his 227th career win, and the bullpen had Gabriel Garcia and Robbie Wills collect six outs from six batters. 4-3 Loggers. Greenman 2-4, 2 2B;

We had all of five hits.

Game 4
MIL: 2B B. Hernandez – CF Fletcher – SS K. Scott – RF Hiwalani – 1B M. Woods – 3B Tolwith – C Benitez – LF Kaberman – P A. Gomez
POR: LF Brady – 3B Sharp – C L. Ramirez – RF Greenman – 1B Martin – 2B Sheehan – CF Torrez – SS Yamada – P Brown

Brown needed 40 pitches to get through the first inning in which the Loggers had two walks and two hits and left three men stranded, but Brown’s control had been nothing short of abysmal. The Raccoons pulled the run back in the bottom 1st when Brady walked and somehow scampered around to score, only for Van Kaberman to reach base on a drag bunt and eventually score on a Martin error. Al Martin could feel the lava bolts being loaded into by ballista and hit a leadoff jack in the bottom 2nd to re-even the game at two. Brownie threw over 100 pitches in five innings and was removed for a pinch-hitter to start the bottom 5th, in which Brady and Sharp reached base with one out (Searcy’s) only for Ramirez’ drive to left center to be caught by Kaberman. Greenman then came up with an RBI single to left, and Martin doubled to right, plating another run. Sheehan’s groundout left Brownie in line for a 4-2 win he probably didn’t quite deserve, but luckily this week’s escapades had left us with not much of a bullpen and we had a dire need for Kaz Kichida to pitch two innings. To everybody’s amazement the Loggers made six outs while seeing only 24 pitches and never reaching base, and if we could use Kichida for another frame to completely bridge the gap to Angel, why not go for it? Two walks with no outs in the top 8th were the consequence of that greedy thinking, and now we had to use Ed Bryan against Bakile Hiwalani. There was no way the game would not get tied, but it got tied on two wild pitches and a chop single. Oh yeah, and still no outs. The Coons ended up losing in mind-boggling fashion, with Kaberman launching a triple off Bryan in the top of the ninth, and Kaberman scoring on a suicide squeeze. 5-4 Loggers. Martin 2-4, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Wheaton (PH) 1-1;

(gasps)

In other news

June 20 – LVA OF Francisco Rivera (.274, 5 HR, 22 RBI) has been diagnosed with a severe concussion and could be out for the season.
June 23 – Salem’s Brad Osborne (7-3, 4.80 ERA) 3-hits the Stars in a 5-0 shutout.
June 23 – The Condor’s OF Robbie Luxton (.262, 7 HR, 35 RBI) goes to the DL with a hip strain, and might miss six weeks.
June 24 – SP Ricardo Sanchez (6-5, 3.58 ERA) logs his 200th win, coming through in a 9-4 win over the Condors.
July 1 – SAC INF/LF Dave McCormick (.309, 14 HR, 44 RBI) has three hits to reach a 20-game hitting streak, while his team gets blown out by the Wolves, 10-2.
July 3 – The Condors flip LF/RF Luis Reya (.319, 2 HR, 19 RBI) to the Falcons for SP Jorge Silva (4-5, 3.73 ERA) and #69 prospect SP Ian Ward.

Complaints and stuff

Friday, after that hilariously, brutally, completely incompetently conducted first game in the Loggers series, the Agitator had a field day. Everybody got smeared with poo. Everybody! The coaching staff, the players, the GM (of course, because this is so all my fault), and even the Loggers, for not showing any kind of mercy with the most hapless miscast of wrongly assigned and overburdened third-rate menagerie of a calamitously inept synchronized swimming troupe that had ever been exiled onto a baseball diamond – for there was no water there to drown in! – that they butchered for a win of theirs.

It was only one win, and for the Coons one loss, but it was the second time in a week that we had the absolute worst loss of the season (and quite a few seasons back), and I didn’t pick up the paper after that, because Maud threw it out as soon as she found it in the morning. Good girl.

I might have a third cousin, once removed, who might be looking for a wife, y’know? Stu’s a hog farmer in Montana. Here’s his address. – No, Maud. – No. No, he does not have telephone. You have to write him a letter.

Enclose a picture. – Ah, wait. Don’t enclose a picture.

But yeah, that loss. That Thursday loss. What a way to end a month. No reading the paper starting in July, which usually comes later in the year than that we stop worrying about the W-L record. This year it was early May, I think.

---

Our second-rounder, Pat Composto, has already gone down with a shoulder injury.

SLAPPY!! – Slappy, you got any more Capt’n Coma in your room? – Buy some. Here’s fifty bucks.

---

This historically bad offense is driving me crazy. No clutch whatsoever. They are blatantly sucking badly.

How historically bad are they? Well, try this: no Raccoons team except that in 1981, scored less runs per game. The 1981 Coons ended up with 519 runs scored and this one here gives them a good run for their money.

And I keep wondering why I can’t move Martin, Greenman, Fernandez, and the others. Which aspiring team would want those losers? But I know we can try one more thing. I will have Maud call the Army. They always need targets, right? Shooting exercises with their tanks and choppers and rocket rifles mounted on stealth bicycles, right?

They can have Sharp as well.

For Sharp, use incendiary ammo.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (31-51) vs. Crusaders (38-44) – July 4-7, 2005

It was another year out of contention for the Crusaders as well, and their streak was well longer than the Raccoons’. What was amazing was their rotten luck. Their run differential was +53! Their rotation was simply awesome, ranking tops with a 3.43 ERA. They only scored average runs, but was a team scoring an average amount of runs not supposed to win with its stellar starting pitching? We are 2-2 so far this season, and will play four-and-four with the Crusaders around the All Star Break.

Projected matchups:
Ben Carlson (2-5, 3.51 ERA) vs. Russell Benson (6-6, 2.89 ERA)
Ralph Ford (2-5, 4.10 ERA) vs. Greg Connor (6-8, 4.42 ERA)
Felipe Garcia (3-6, 3.88 ERA) vs. Frank Pierre (5-9, 4.20 ERA)
Kenichi Watanabe (0-3, 5.00 ERA) vs. George Kirk (0-0)

Yes, that George Kirk. Presumably they have brought him just for the joy of another no-hitter. We miss Whit Reeves, and we will still be annihilated.

Game 1
NYC: SS Rice – 1B D. Carroll – LF M. Ortíz – RF S. Martin – CF Javier – 3B Watts – C O`Riordan – 2B Moultrie – P Benson
POR: 3B Sharp – SS Yamada – CF Torrez – RF Brady – 1B A. Martin – LF Wheaton – C Wood – 2B Sheehan – P Carlson

Carlson loaded them up in the first inning, with the Crusaders, not scoring, but that was an inauspicious start… The Coons however got Yamada on with a single. He stole his 28th base, then scored on Torrez’ single, and then came Brady and hammered one out to make it 3-0 in a rush! The home team’s efforts weren’t helped by their ****ty pitcher, however. Carlson pitched like crap, allowed two runs in the third inning, and in the fourth put leadoff man Moultrie on base with another single. Benson grounded back to him, and Carlson threw away the ball trying to get the out at second base. Moultrie made it to third on a double play hit into by Gary Rice, then scored and tied the game when Carlson uncorked a wild pitch. Fifth inning, leadoff walk issued by Carlson, and then a hit, and another hit, and suddenly it was 5-3 for the Crusaders. The Coons made up a run in the bottom 6th, before Ed Bryan had a man on first base in the top 7th. He changed a 1-2 count to a 3-2 count with two wild pitches, then gave up a sac fly to Rex O’Riordan, who was batting a grandiose .149; It was not that that was yet the death knell for the Raccoons, who had the tying runs on base in the bottom 8th when we went to great lengths in having Leon Ramirez bat in place of Yamada with lefty Francois Picard on the mound, but Ramirez grounded out to short and the inning was over. The Raccoons were dealt their death knell however in the top 9th, when Lawrence Rockburn came in, allowed three hits and a wild pitch for three runs. 9-4 Crusaders. Yamada 2-4, RBI; Wheaton 3-4; Greenman (PH) 1-1, 2B;

And we start the week with a truly horrible game, full of messed up chokeheads. Carlson, Ramirez, Rockburn. You name them. Can’t pick a wrong one.

Game 2
NYC: SS Rice – 1B D. Carroll – RF S. Martin – LF M. Ortíz – C D. Anderson – 3B Watts – CF Javier – 2B Moultrie – P Connor
POR: 3B Sharp – SS Yamada – LF Brady – RF Greenman – CF Torrez – 3B Searcy – 2B Ingram – C L. Ramirez – P Ford

In the bottom 1st, Sharp singled, Yamada walked, a wild pitch, and then another walk to Brady, and it seemed like the Raccoons would get a quick start again. Then Greenman hit into a double play. Sharp scored, but that was all the Coons got there. At least Ralph Ford pitched less like a dork in this second game and the Crusaders didn’t get much of anything in the first three innings, before they got a chance with a wild bout by Ford, who allowed a full count single to Stanton Martin, drilled Martin Ortíz, walked Thomas Watts to load them up before Paco Javier lifted out to Brady for the third out. Greenman’s second at-bat came to start the fourth inning, and we wished he hadn’t saved it for there, as he hit one out off Connor, 2-0. Gary Rice, one of those guys with a focus on furry woodland creatures, hit a solo homer off Ford then in the top of the fifth, cutting the score back to 2-1, but Connor faced the top of the order again in the bottom of the inning, Sharp and Yamada reached, and then Brady hit another thunder shot to reach double-digit homers and romp the score to 5-1!

Top 6th, two men on with two outs and Ford faced his final batter, having reached 108 pitches in putting those two runners on base. Paco Javier grounded hard to right, where it hit Thomas Watts, the runner from first, and ended the inning. Scoring went on in the game, however, with Connor just not retiring anybody in the bottom of the sixth. Ramirez singled, Wheaton (for Ford) singled, Sharp singled. Bases loaded, Yamada drew a walk, and here came Brady. Connor still in, for whatever reason, and Brady conquered him with another drive to deep right. It was high, it was deep, and it was pretty: GRAAAAAAAAND SLAAAAAAAAMMMM!!!!

With us (and Brady in particular!) sending bombs away here, we had built a 10-1 lead and tried to get the final three innings from Kichida. You know, burn out one guy, have the rest of them ready for the final five games before the break. Didn’t work, because Kichida was wild and walked three while collecting only four outs. Moreno conceded one run but ended the inning, and Bruno then had a quickie ninth. 11-2 Coons! Sharp 3-4, BB, 2B; Brady 2-4, BB, 2 HR, 7 RBI; Searcy 2-5, 2B; Ramirez 2-4, RBI; Wheaton (PH) 1-1; Ford 6.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 9 K, W (3-5);

That is our first game this season of double-digit runs. Merely took until July. But for one day we don’t want to bitch, and rather see another pitch. (silly grin) Okay, no more terrible puns.

Game 3
NYC: SS Rice – 1B D. Carroll – LF M. Ortíz – RF S. Martin – CF Javier – 3B Watts – C D. Anderson – 2B Moultrie – P Pierre
POR: 1B Sharp – SS Yamada – LF Brady – RF Greenman – C Wood – 2B Sheehan – CF Fernandez – 3B Searcy – P F. Garcia

The tables were turned rather rapidly when Rice and Carroll hit singles and Stanton Martin tagged Garcia with a 3-run homer in the first inning. Soon after that we got a quick shower moving through, wetting the field and putting the game under delay for just over quarter of an hour. It took the Raccoons four innings to mount something resembling a threat, when they loaded them up with one out in the bottom 4th, aided by an Ortíz error. Searcy was up to bat, and zinged into an inning-ending double play. Yoshi-Y would hit a solo home run in the fifth inning, while Garcia clawed his way through seven frames, with Yamada making an error, losing his footing on wet grass, then dropping the ball on a grounder, but Garcia got through. Despite having no stuff, walking four and whiffing only two, he made it through seven. Bruno gave up a run in the eighth, before the Crusaders started to sabotage their own effort in the bottom of that inning. Nobody went after a Bob Wood bloop, which fell in for a 2-out single. Sheehan doubled, and then Fernandez’ grounder was butchered by Gary Rice for a run-scoring error. Searcy hit a double off Pierre on the first pitch, scoring another run to make it 4-3 and the go-ahead run was on second base! This had Al Martin hit for Bruno, but he grounded out to first. Garcia seemed to be stuck with the loss. The Crusaders played Charlie Deacon, the sorry excuse for a closer, who retired Sharp and Yamada to start the inning, but that brought up Clyde Brady, and Clyde Brady was hot, and Deacon had always so not been a closer: the result was a game-tying home run! Greenman got on, but Wood did not, and the game was going to run long.

Casas had already pitched the top 9th for us, and both closers got the tenth inning, with scoreless results. In the 11th, both teams sent left-handers, Bryan and Picard, respectively, which continued in the 12th. We only had Huerta as last fresh reliever in the pen, and you can get a few innings from Huerta (whose innings pitched have shot up in June…), but after that it would have to be Watanabe. Can we get some offense, please? Greenman led off the 12th with a double off Picard. We only needed one run: Wood bunted Greenman to third base. They didn’t pitch to Sheehan, setting up a double play, but Fernandez fouled out instead, bringing up Searcy, who had three doubles in the game, but now struck out, and the band played on, and it played on with Huerta, while the Crusaders stuck with Picard, who started his fourth inning in the 14th and had to come up with a way to compensate for a Caraballo error that put Clyde Brady on first with no outs. Brady reached third with one out after Greenman grounded out and Wood singled. Sheehan then grounded to short, where Rice didn’t love his chances for a double play and zinged it home, but Brady had cheated and had gotten a headstart, and it’s gonna be close, and he was - - - SAFE!!!! 5-4 Coons!! Brady 2-7, HR, RBI; Wood 2-5, BB; Searcy 3-6, 3 2B, RBI; Casas 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K; Bryan 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K; Huerta 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, W (5-4);

Well, it’s Watanabe up next and we have no bullpen. For a moment I toyed with thoughts to move Brownie up to have him go on short rest and have Watanabe in the pen, but that puts everybody on short rest in the end. We have enough trouble as things are!

It would have conincided nicely with the All Star Game. Brownie is in a head-to-head race with Jorge Chapa to be the CL’s starter, and pitching on Thursday would have given him four days rest before the ASG. Well, three will do, and after that it’s a reset anyway. But still, it’s Watanabe up next and we have no bullpen.

Game 4
NYC: SS Rice – C D. Anderson – LF M. Ortíz – RF S. Martin – CF Javier – 3B Caraballo – 1B L. Soto – 2B Moultrie – P Kirk
POR: 3B Sharp – SS Yamada – LF Brady – RF Greenman – 1B A. Martin – CF Torrez – C Wood – 2B Ingram – P Watanabe

Don’t get no-hit, don’t get no-hit, don’t get no-hit.

Kirk faced the minimum the first time through the order, issuing a walk to Sharp, who got double up by Yoshi-Y, and the game was scoreless, but that changed in the top 4th with a 2-run homer by Paco Javier. It took the sorry Raccoons four and two thirds innings(!!!) to get a hit off Kirk, that miscarriage of a pitcher (worse than Bob the Clown!), when Tom Ingram singled past the reach of Caraballo and into leftfield. Watanabe went seven innings with Javier’s shot the only meaningful action, but the Raccoons didn’t have anything going at all. It took the Coons until the bottom 8th to mount anything meaningful. Wood led off with a single, their second(!) on the day. Ingram grounded out, and then Wheaton hit a single. Kirk walked Sharp to load them up, Yamada whiffed, and Brady’s hard grounder was intercepted and played in time by Luis Soto at first base. The Crusaders almost overcame the depleted Critters pen in the top 9th, with Moreno and Kichida stuffing the bags, but nobody scored in the end. Bottom 9th, Deacon time, and time for another comeback? Ah, not bloody quite. 2-0 Crusaders. Wheaton (PH) 1-1; Watanabe 7.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 7 K, L (0-4);

Go home, George, nobody likes you here! I said, go home, George! THERE’S the door!

Raccoons (33-53) vs. Canadiens (52-33) – July 8-10, 2005

Always not a pleasure (a 3-6 not-pleasure this year) to have the Stinkers in town. They were riding the second-ranked offense in the CL, outscoring the Raccoons by more than a hundred runs, and had the pitching to complete the picture.

Projected matchups:
Nick Brown (7-5, 2.78 ERA) vs. Juichi Fujita (10-4, 3.07 ERA)
Ben Carlson (2-6, 3.70 ERA) vs. Daniel Dickerson (7-5, 4.45 ERA)
Ralph Ford (3-5, 3.96 ERA) vs. Scott Spears (7-5, 4.45 ERA)

With Brownie potentially starting the All Star Game, we’d try and limit him to six innings or 90 pitches. (We should try and limit his innings anyway)

Game 1
VAN: CF J. Gonzalez – RF Denunez – SS Nakayama – 3B Suzuki – LF Trinidad – 1B Phillips – 2B M. Ramirez – C F. Diéguez – P Fujita
POR: 3B Sharp – SS Yamada – LF Brady – RF Greenman – 1B Martin – CF Torrez – C Wood – 2B Sheehan – P Brown

Both teams got a runner to third base with one out in their halves of the second inning, and neither scored them. In the top 3rd then, it was Jorge Denunez with his first career home run – off Brownie of course. When Brownie however sent a single to right in the bottom 3rd, Denunez would mishandle it for an extra base, which allowed Brown to score on Sharp’s single that followed. Brown also must have gotten wind of that 90 pitches thing, because he threw with even more extreme vigor and with hatred flickering in his eyes. The Canadiens flailed, going down without a whimper eight times in the first five innings before Jose Gonzalez got hold of a pitch and lined a double into the right field corner in the sixth inning. The Elks smartly brought him around to score, and Brown was on the hook. He made 90 pitches work for seven innings before reluctantly giving up the ball without clawing. He knew what was coming. Everybody knew what was coming. The Raccoons would not get on base – ever. Or would they? Bottom 9th, Brady singled, representing the tying run. Greenman walked, and then Martin singled up the middle, Brady rounding third for home – safe! Tied game! That was it, however, and we went to overtime once again. We had to bother Ricardo Huerta yet again for two innings, and he surrendered a run in the 11th. Bottom 11th, we faced left-hander Ralph Davis who had a thoroughly uninviting 0.89 ERA, allowing two runs in 20.1 innings. Brady drove a ball to deep right, but it was caught by Pedro Hurtado, who had been displaced there after some wicked pinch-hitting. Greenman however singled, and then Torrez walked. Searcy hit for Huerta, drew another walk, and that brought up Sheehan with the bases loaded and two outs. Brad, we kinda need a run here. Better two. The 1-1 pitch was lined to the left side by Sheehan, the leaping Suzuki couldn’t get it, and it bounced into left, and up the left field line, as Greenman and Torrez were scurrying home, and the Coons walked off in the bottom of the 11th!! 4-3 Brownies!! Sharp 2-5, RBI; Greenman 2-4, 2B; Sheehan 1-5, 2 RBI; Brown 7.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 10 K and 1-1, BB;

Yoshi Nomura started a rehab assignment over the weekend and the All Star break in St. Petersburg.

And if anyone is counting, Huerta now has six wins and is only one removed from the team lead. And it is JULY.

Game 2
VAN: RF Calzado – 1B Phillips – 3B Suzuki – 2B Rodgers – LF Trinidad – SS M. Ramirez – CF Denunez – C F. Diéguez – P Spears
POR: 3B Sharp – SS Yamada – LF Brady – RF Greenman – 1B Martin – CF Torrez – C Wood – 2B Sheehan – P Carlson

Double plays were the order of the day. The Coons hit into one in the first, the Elks in the second, the Coons in the third, and both teams in the fourth. All offense was swiftly killed this way. It was not until someone made a dumb error that some runs could be tallied, and of course that dumb person was a Furball. Torrez unleashed a wild throw trying to nab whatever runner he could see wherever he might go, but in the end the Elks managed two runs in the inning anyway. And the Raccoons, in the bottom 5th, hit into a double play. Quite obviously it was hard to get anywhere pleasant with such a hitting display, and, oh, look, Sharp hit into another one! That was five double play grounders in six innings. In the seventh, for a change, we did not hit into a double play, because no Raccoon ever reached base under his own power before Jim Phillips dropped Greenman’s pop to first and put him right there. Martin doubled, and then a ball got away from Diéguez to score Greenman, 2-1. The Elks loaded the bases in the top 8th against Carlson and Bryan, but Bruno cleaned house and nobody scored, and Marcos also kept the line clean in the ninth. Could be manage another furious rally? Well, Pedro Alvarado didn’t allow anybody on base. 2-1 Canadiens. Martin 2-2, 2 2B;

Five double plays. That’s a whole new quality of sucking right there. In total we made four fly outs, and 13 on the ground, but those were for 18 total outs.

Game 3
VAN: CF J. Gonzalez – RF Denunez – 3B Suzuki – 2B Rodgers – 1B Phillips – SS M. Ramirez – LF Jardine – C F. Diéguez – P Hollow
POR: 1B Sharp – SS Sheehan – LF Brady – RF Greenman – C L. Ramirez – CF Fernandez – 2B Ingram – 3B Searcy – P Ford

Rather than Dickerson we faced Joe Hollow (1-2, 4.88 ERA) who didn’t look quite right after missing a few months with shoulder inflammation and had been partly used in relief early on, but had now taken over the rotation slot formerly occupied by Cal Holbrook despite issuing almost six walks per nine innings.

Ralph Ford got nothing. The Canadiens had two on the board before making an out, and then butchered up a chance for a decisive first inning by leaving runners all over the place when Jardine popped out to short and Diéguez managed to whiff against the tissue thrower Ford, who ended up surrendering four runs in five innings before shooting over 100 pitches due to a combo of ****ty pitch selection and no control over anything in his petty arsenal. Hollow, yet fantastically, although reported as being completely bereft of any command over his stuff, dazzled the Raccoons in wonderful manner and didn’t walk anybody until the sixth inning. Soon afterwards, rain, that had started and stopped once before, forced a delay, and when Hollow came back half an hour later, he was not the same and got chopped for three runs in the bottom 6th. The game was about to get away from the Elks in violent manner by the seventh. Still up 4-3, Jim Jardine tried to snag a soft poppy liner to shallow left by Wheaton on the fly rather than take a bouncer for a single. It fell in anyway, bounced past Jardine and all the way to the wall. Wheaton was on third. Martin, having entered in a double switch and batting ninth, grounded to short, where Miguel Ramirez, Coon no more, looked back Wheaton before rushing a throw to first – and past first. Martin was awarded second base, Wheaton home, and the game was tied. The Coons then loaded them up with no outs, and yet all the suckers managed was a Brady sac fly. Huerta put a man on in the eighth, but Bryan came on with two out and struck out PH Vonne Calzado. The ninth was Casas’, starting with Mitsuhide Suzuki, who was the first of two groundouts, and then Angel had Phillips at 1-2 … and drilled him. Pedro Hurtado came out to pinch-hit, but grounded out to Yamada, who had entered for this inning as Martin had left again for defensive considerations. 5-4 Coons. Sheehan 2-4, 2B; Wheaton (PH) 2-2, 3B; Kichida 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K;

Tissue thrower, in regard to Ralph Ford, because he makes me cry.

All Star Game

Turns out Martin Garcia started the All Star Game, although Jorge Chapa and Nick Brown received more votes than him. Brownie pitched the fifth, whiffed a pair, and the Continental League, whose roster was steaming with Titans and Canadiens, lost the game 2-1 to the Federal League. The loss was late on Salvadaro Soure (one of Vince’s discoveries from a few years back).

No other Coons went to the big bonanza in New York. Anybody surprised? Brownie then just stayed in New York instead of flying back to Portland, and on Wednesday blew his salary on fine clothing, and a golden gong for his new marble bathroom.

Are we paying him too much?

Raccoons (35-54) @ Crusaders (41-48) – July 14-17, 2005

Well, they are still seven under in the standings, and have still scored 48 more runs than they allowed, for a wicked disparage.

Projected matchups:
Felipe Garcia (3-6, 3.88 ERA) vs. Whit Reeves (9-4, 2.63 ERA)
Ralph Ford (3-5, 4.09 ERA) vs. Greg Connor (6-9, 4.71 ERA)
Kenichi Watanabe (0-4, 4.32 ERA) vs. Russell Benson (7-7, 3.19 ERA)
Nick Brown (7-5, 2.77 ERA) vs. Frank Pierre (5-9, 3.73 ERA)

We readjusted the rotation with Carlson now in #5, and Garcia and Ford (who can start on regular rest over the break), switching positions. Carlson will also be skipped on the first run with an off day on the Monday after the series. Also, Yoshi Nomura was back on the roster for this series, with Searcy having been demoted.

Game 1
POR: 3B Sharp – SS Yamada – LF Brady – RF Greenman – 1B A. Martin – CF Fernandez – 2B Nomura – C Wood – P F. Garcia
NYC: SS Rice – 1B D. Carroll – RF S. Martin – LF M. Ortíz – C D. Anderson – CF Javier – 3B Caraballo – 2B Moultrie – P Reeves

Garcia simply got it socked. The Crusaders stomped over him for five runs in the first two innings, and in the third inning got a man on with a drag bunt, and then Sharp made an error, and it just wasn’t going to end anytime soon. Garcia was bailed out of there by the long-separated Yoshis turning a double play, but was finally yanked in the fourth. At that point, the Coons didn’t even had a hit. Nomura finally broke into the H column in the fifth with a single to right, but then had to be removed in a double switch to get Kaz Kichida into the game for long relief, putting Kaz into a convenient spot in the lineup. Kaz somewhat delivered, pitching the rest of the game on four hits and one run, and the rest of the game meant through eight only. The Raccoons could not mount anything even vaguely resembling offense, and were held to three hits. 6-1 Crusaders. Nomura 1-2; Kichida 3.2 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 0 K;

Ah well. We’ll get them tomorrow, boys!

Kidding, of course.

Game 2
POR: 3B Sharp – SS Yamada – LF Brady – RF Greenman – 1B A. Martin – 2B Nomura – CF Torrez – C L. Ramirez – P Ford
NYC: SS Rice – CF Javier – RF S. Martin – LF M. Ortíz – C D. Anderson – 3B Caraballo – 1B L. Soto – 2B Moultrie – P Connor

For an unfamiliar change, the Raccoons burst out in the first inning, with Yamada and Brady getting on in front of Greenman, who hit a moon shot for his 16th homer of the year. Greenman continued to feature in most interesting plays, hitting a double in the third in which he got starved, and then made an error in the bottom of the inning that gave the Crusaders their first runner in pitcher Greg Connor, but he was also left on base. The Crusaders got a hit in the fourth, two actually, but still didn’t score, and in the top 5th Greenman drove another ball, but this time got it caught by Paco Javier on the warning track. The Coons had runners on the corners in the top 6th when the Crusaders managed to pick off the trailing runner, Eddie Torrez. All the offensive inability at some point had to come back to cost the Coons, and of course it did. Bottom 6th, Gary Rice bunted his way on base, and Javier had an infield single to short, and then Martin Ortíz let it fly and tied the score with one swat. The next inning, Soto and Moultrie reached, and Gary Rice doubled them in, which ended another Ford start on a depressed line, with Rice scoring as well when Bruno allowed a single to Ortíz. 6-3 Crusaders. Greenman 2-4, HR, 2B, 3 RBI; Nomura 2-4;

Torrez. The concussion must have gotten him. He’s so useless!

But it’s the middle of July, we gotta start moving inventory anyway.

Game 3
POR: 3B Sharp – CF Wheaton – LF Brady – RF Greenman – 1B A. Martin – SS Yamada – 2B Nomura – C L. Ramirez – P Watanabe
NYC: SS Rice – 1B D. Carroll – RF S. Martin – LF M. Ortíz – C D. Anderson – CF Javier – 3B Caraballo – 2B Moultrie – P Benson

Watanabe threw batting practice again. In the bottom 2nd, Paco Javier fired a shot to deep right, that Greenman somehow caught in tumbling manner, then dumped onto the warning track and remained there with some ill or other. Once he put in a box and shipped back to Portland, and Fernandez had replaced him, Watanabe continued to be ****, but the Crusaders made easy, and scored only single runs in the third and fourth innings. For the Critters, their almost comical ineptness continued. Watanabe, for crying out loud, couldn’t even get a bunt down. That forced Ramirez from the bases in the fifth, and likely cost a run, and with that run on the board, Brady’s solo homer in the sixth would have tied the game. So, it didn’t, and once Yamada reached base after that, he quickly was thrown out stealing, which is bad, since running is the only thing he’s capable of. To make it still worse, STILL WORSE, Leon Ramirez plated a run for the Crusaders with a throwing error in the bottom of the seventh. With the entire universe staunchly opposed against any good fortune for the Raccoons, we used Angel Casas in the bottom 8th just to get the poor sod some work. The Crusaders almost got a 2-run homer by Caraballo off him that Brady picked off the top of the fence. 3-1 Crusaders.

Watanabe (0-5, 4.02 ERA), who sucks, officially, was demoted after the game. That guy is an eye sore! We promoted not the Fat Cat, who was not any better in AAA than in the Bigs, but brought up 25-year old lefty Tim Webster, who has four pitches, which he throws with varying success. He has only made five starts in AAA, 3-1 record with a 4.54 ERA, 14 BB, 34 K in 35 IP. He was our fifth round pick in 2001 and took his time to get going…

We had to make another roster move however, as Christian Greenman had strained an oblique and would miss at least two weeks. As his replacement we called up Chris Beairsto, who had 19 homers in AAA, and about 2,500 strikeouts. Beairsto is out of options, so maybe we can rid ourselves of him once Greenman comes off the DL.

With Webster coming up, we changed our rotation. Webster had last pitched Tuesday. If we slotted him into Watanabe’s spot, he’d not go for nine straight days. Instead, Brownie was pushed to next Tuesday, but Carlson would still be skipped, because Carlson sucks on any length of rest.

Game 4
POR: LF Wheaton – SS Sheehan – 3B Brady – RF Brady – 1B A. Martin – CF Fernandez – 2B Ingram – C Wood – P Webster
NYC: SS Rice – 1B D. Carroll – RF S. Martin – LF M. Ortíz – C D. Anderson – 3B Caraballo – CF Javier – 2B Moultrie – P Pierre

Without a doubt, Tim Webster would never forget his first inning in the majors. There are things even Alzheimer’s disease can’t erase.

Webster surrendered Rice on a grounder back to the mound, so at least no infinite ERA for him. Then he walked Dave Carroll. Stanton Martin singled, but it didn’t get really ugly until after Martin Ortíz’ RBI double. Daryl Anderson grounded to third, and Sharp plainly butchered it for his 15th error of the season, scoring the second run of the inning, and then Caraballo hit a sac fly. Javier grounded to second to get out of – oops, no, Martin dropped it. Three runs, two unearned, and of course the Raccoons would never come back from that, and everybody knew. Except maybe if the Crusaders would be even more ****. For starters, Todd Moultrie made a grievous throwing error to start the second inning that put Brady on base, and Martin would single him in, then score on Bobby Wood’s triple! Those two unearned runs came right back off Webster, however, when Stanton Martin lifted one out of the park in the bottom 2nd. The Coons came back to 5-3 – that run also unearned – and Webster managed to shut up the Crusaders through six, as the game calmed down noticeably in the middle innings. Neither team mounted anything, with the Coons unable to mount anything themselves, but they wouldn’t go quietly. Wood was on base with one out in the ninth against Deacon, with Yamada hitting for Rockburn. He grounded to second, but the Crusaders only got the lead runner. Wheaton was next, but first Yamada took off – and was safe. We might have had to dismember him if he hadn’t been – Daryl Anderson had thrown him out twice in the series. Wheaton then hit an infield single, appearing on base as the tying run. And then Sheehan popped out. 5-3 Crusaders. Sheehan 2-5, 2B; Sharp 2-4; Wood 1-2, BB, 3B, 2 RBI;

In other news

July 4 – Big blow for the Indians, who lose SP Alonso Alonso (8-6, 5.04 ERA), who is headed for Tommy John surgery with a torn UCL and will miss north of one full year.
July 4 – SAL SP Manny Guzmán (7-4, 2.83 ERA) faces a 12-month recovery timetable after he has torn the flexor tendon in his elbow.
July 5 – Season over for another player: VAN OF Enrique Garcia (.347, 1 HR, 33 RBI) has gone down with a torn achilles tendon.
July 7 – The hitting streak of Sacramento’s Dave McCormick (.310, 15 HR, 45 RBI) sizzles to 25 games with one hit in a 5-4 win over the Stars. Said hit is a game-tying, eighth inning home run off Angel Romero.
July 7 – The Cyclones get C/1B Urbano Cicalina (.299, 8 HR, 39 RBI) from the Condors in exchange for 20-yr old A-level OF Pat Dunn.
July 8 – The Loggers lose 31-yr old SP Ramiro Gonzalez (10-6, 3.61 ERA) for the rest of the season due to a hamstring strain.
July 9 – MIL OF/1B Jerry Fletcher (.291, 2 HR, 26 RBI) reaches 2,000 career hits, but celebrations were cancelled since the Loggers took so long to collect 27 outs from the Titans, getting romped 11-3. The milestone hit is an RBI single off Jorge Chapa in the third inning.
July 9 – By trading C Tom Turner (.225, 14 HR, 38 RBI) to the Aces, the Scorpions acquire MR Leonard Williamson (1-4, 4.50 ERA, 20 SV) and an unranked prospect.
July 9 – MR Tony Vela (1-6, 4.45 ERA, 3 SV) is dealt from the Miners to the Capitals for two prospects.
July 10 – The Pacifics kill off Dave McCormick’s hitting streak at 27 games. McCormick is hitting .311 with 15 HR and 48 RBI.
July 11 – The Scorpions get word that SP Dan Moriarty (8-10, 3.77 ERA) figures to miss a month with a knee sprain.
July 12 – The Bayhawks grab SP Curt Powell (12-4, 4.49 ERA) in a trade with the Condors, sending over two prospects, including highly regarded 19-yr old SP Colin Sabatino.
July 14 – DAL C/1B Rob James (.238, 8 HR, 42 RBI) is out for two weeks with patellar tendinitis.
July 15 – The Pacifics deal veteran star OF Cristo Ramirez (.342, 0 HR, 27 RBI) to the Warriors with three prospects coming on in return for them, including #63 SP Jimmy Watson.
July 15 – LAP LF Ken Potter (.254, 19 HR, 62 RBI) is going to miss a month with a hamstring strain.
July 16 – The Loggers acquire LF/RF Jimmy Bayle (.293, 3 HR, 25 RBI) from the Condors for C Pedro Benitez (.253, 4 HR, 19 RBI) and a minor leaguer.
July 17 – Topeka’s Tony Hamlyn (9-7, 2.90 ERA) spills only two hits, one walk, and whiffs ten in a 1-0 shutout of his Buffaloes over the Capitals.

Complaints and stuff

George Kirk seriously gives me a nasty flashback to the early 90s, when there was another one of those ****ty no-good pitchers that would always have his field day against the Raccoons. I can’t for crying out loud remember the name and it will take some digging. I only know he was on the Titans and was ugly as all hell. Pig snout and all. Archer? Goddamnit, I can’t come up with it!

The Greenman injury is of course another kick right into the nuts. I was about to trade that guy! Now he’s out and won’t be back before the deadline. The baseball gods just took another dump onto the steaming pile that has buried my desk.

Great stuff. Really. And my landlady still wonders why I spend all night crying and screaming.

Nothing, ever, works.

Even Slappy drank all the booze he got for my fifty bucks.

[shipfb21]

now is the time 2 trade our beloved brownie... I know, I know, blasphemy, but we already own the worst record in baseball. im sure a contender would back up the truck 2 acquire him. we can get 2 top prospects along with a 2nd tier prospect... combine these kids with our high draft pick next season, and we can see the light at the end of the tunnel... we just cant miss on these prospects... #tomorrowstartsnow

[Westheim]

Raccoons (35-58) @ Titans (53-38) – July 19-21, 2005

The Titans were wondering what was going wrong this year, scoring the most runs and allowing the fourth-least runs, and still were running after the Canadiens at the All Star Game. But the Elks lost on Monday, moving these two teams into a virtual tie as we commenced our series on Tuesday. We are 3-6 against them this season, and we haven’t been better than 6-12 against them in four years.

Projected matchups:
Nick Brown (7-5, 2.77 ERA) vs. Ray Conner (6-6, 3.89 ERA)
Felipe Garcia (3-7, 4.14 ERA) vs. Jason O’Halloran (7-6, 4.21 ERA)
Ralph Ford (3-6, 4.32 ERA) vs. Joe Mann (9-6, 4.50 ERA)

By the way, did you know that Ray Conner, who’s nothing special with just 16 career wins at age 30, was once a sixth round pick by the Coons in 1993? He became a minor league free agent without registering on our radar and fought his way through the Falcons and Indians organizations to get up with the dominant team of the 2000’s.

Game 1
POR: 3B Sharp – SS Sheehan – CF Fernandez – RF Brady – 1B Martin – 2B Ingram – LF Beairsto – C Wood – P Brown
BOS: 3B Matsumoto – SS M. Austin – LF Brulhart – RF G. Munoz – 2B Metting – CF Garrison – 1B Frazier – C R. Rivera – P Conner

The Coons had a Sheehan single, Fernandez double, and a Brady sac fly to score a run in the first, but that was nothing against the bottom of the inning. Matsumoto led off with a double on an 0-2 pitch. Brown then walked Austin, and Brulhart singled to left, loading the bases. Gonzalo Munoz grounded back to the mound, where Brown picked the ball niftily, went home for the first out and Bob Wood played to first for the second out on the double play. And then Brown walked Kurt Metting. Garrison came up – and struck out. Still 1-0 Coons! Even more amazing, the whole affair took just 19 pitches to develop and conclude. It wouldn’t get better for Brownie this time, however. By the third inning, he had walked four, and struck out none except Rudy Garrison. Bottom 5th, Conner singled off Brown, and he walked another batter before Jim Brulhart hit into a relieving double play. Then it was 2-0 Coons after they had been donated a run in the top of the same inning, when Sheehan’s grounder rolled far enough away from a clumsy Ricardo Rivera to allow Bob Wood to scamper home from third base with two outs. When Wood was up again, he sent a drive to deep right that Munoz caught, but hurt himself and left the game. Brownie was hit for in the top 7th, and despite incredibly awful command did not allow a run through six. Rockburn then pitched the seventh, and Moreno and Bruno split the eighth for us, allowing no runs. Angel Casas came on in the ninth – still two-zip – and Garrison led off with a single past Al Martin. Luis Lopez hit for Toby Frazier, but into the teeth of the defense for a double play. And then Angel inexplicably walked Rivera on four pitches, which gave Hector Ramirez a chance to pinch-hit, and resulted in a drive to deep center – but also a catch by Fernandez. 2-0 Brownies!! Sheehan 2-3, BB, RBI; Fernandez 2-4, 2 2B; Wood 1-2, BB; Brown 6.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 5 BB, 4 K, W (8-5);

We turned three double plays, two of which helped out Brown in critical situations. HOW he surrendered no runs in this game, I can’t explain. This is as borderline a post game dispatch mention as I’ll make.

Vince, at this point, labels five of our batters as cold. We know that all 13 are cold, but five are about to die to exposure: Ramirez, Martin, Ingram, Torrez, and Yamada;

Game 2
POR: 1B Sharp – 2B Sheehan – CF Fernandez – RF Brady – LF Beairsto – C Wood – SS Yamada – 3B Ingram – P F. Garcia
BOS: CF Garrison – SS M. Austin – RF W. Taylor – LF Brulhart – C L. Lopez – 2B Metting – 3B Matsumoto – 1B Frazier – P O’Halloran

After Brownie had survived more by miracle than skill in the opener, Garcia was just romped. While the Titans again lacked the last final knock, they put two on him in the second inning, and got him out with one out in the sixth inning, after O’Halloran had singled to left, with three runs on Garcia. The Coons had rediscovered their knack for double plays. Garcia, adding insult to ineptness, bunted into a double play in the third, and they hit into another one with Fernandez in the fourth, with Brady and Beairsto reaching base after that – all for naught. Sheehan’s double in the sixth eventually did lead to a run, and in the seventh Martin had a pinch-hit single off O’Halloran, and then Sharp hit into a double play. The score got out of hand against Kaz Kichida in the bottom 7th, who logged one out against four hits and three runs. O’Halloran went for a complete game effort. Wood was on base in the ninth, but got forced on Yamada’s grounder. One out to collect, Yamada put on a show by thieving his way to third base, then was left there when Dave Wheaton struck out. 6-1 Titans. Sheehan 2-3, BB, 2B; Beairsto 2-4, 2B; Wood 2-4; Martin (PH) 1-1;

Yoshi Yamada is trying to run away from Las Vegas’ Martin Covington. His two steals get him to 32, while Covington has reached 29 by now. Ramón Perez on the Condors is a distant third with 25, and in the Federal League the leader, SFW Earl Clark, only has 22. Also, Yamada already ties for fourth for most steals by a Coon in a season. Matt Higgins also had 32 in ’89, and Ken Clark reached that mark eight years earlier, setting the franchise mark then, that was broken in ’87 by Armando Sanchez, who finished with 33, now tying for second with the Concie’s 33 in 2001. The only season a Coon was better than 33 steals was Matt Higgins’ 1993 campaign, when he swiped 42 bags. At the rate Yamada is going at, even while his OBP is utter ****, he should get to 42 easily this year. He is also already 10th in steals in franchise history!

Game 3
POR: 3B Sharp – CF Fernandez – RF Brady – 1B Martin – LF Beairsto – SS Yamada – 2B Nomura – C L. Ramirez – P Ford
BOS: 3B Matsumoto – SS M. Austin – LF Brulhart – RF W. Taylor – 2B Metting – CF Garrison – 1B Frazier – C R. Rivera – P Hildred

Ineptness continued as Bryce Hildred (9-5, 4.50 ERA) took the mound. Ford was knocked on for three runs in the second inning, including a Ricardo Rivera home run for something you don’t see every day, or any day. Ford also bunted into a force play, and when we had Nomura and Ramirez hit singles to start the top 5th, and we very reluctantly expected Ford bunting into a triple play. Instead, Hildred mishandled the bunt, threw it away, a run scored, 3-1, and the tying runs were in scoring position with nobody out. But Coons will be Coons. Sharp struck out, Fernandez popped out, Brady walked, and Martin flew out more or less harmlessly to Brulhart in leftfield. Brulhart was front and center again in the bottom of the inning, pairing up with Will Taylor to hit back-to-back home runs off a completely overburdened Ralph Ford. The Raccoons put the Yoshis in scoring position in the sixth, and left them on again, and two on with no outs in the seventh resulted in Brady lining out right to Frazier, and Martin grounding into a room service 4-6-3 double wipeout. Both teams got a run by Leon Ramirez in the eighth inning, first an RBI triple in the top half, then a passed ball to conceded a runner from third base in the bottom. In the top 9th, the Coons loaded the bases on Manuel Martinez and Ramiro Román to get the tying run to the plate in Eddie Torrez – and here came a game-ending double play. 6-2 Titans. Yamada 2-4, 2B; Nomura 2-4; Ramirez 3-4, 3B, RBI;

We made a move after this game, demoting Eddie Torrez and bringing up Bob Mays, who had just turned 22, and whom we had acquired in the trade of Conceicao Guerin to the Falcons this March. He’s a left-hander perfectly suited for duty in rightfield, with a powerful arm. His power is considerable, but he won’t draw many walks and will strike out frequently.

In Coons terms, by the time Greenman comes off the DL in two weeks or so, Mays will have batted .160 with two RBI’s and 21 strikeouts.

Raccoons (36-60) @ Condors (43-53) – July 22-24, 2005

And here comes a matchup between the two teams in the league that just weren’t scoring anything. The Coons ranked bottom with 315 runs scored. The Condors were the second-worst team – with 62 more runs in the bank! Yes, we are that bad. Our pitching was a bit better, but SIXTY-TWO!! We’re last by … SIXTY-TWO!!

Projected matchups:
Ben Carlson (2-7, 3.60 ERA) vs. Jeremiah Bowman (2-5, 4.70 ERA)
Tim Webster (0-1, 4.50 ERA) vs. Román Escobedo (4-4, 3.33 ERA)
Nick Brown (8-5, 2.65 ERA) vs. Brian Patrick (1-5, 5.67 ERA)

Game 1
POR: 3B Sharp – SS Yamada – LF Brady – 1B Martin – CF Wheaton – RF Mays – 2B Nomura – C Wood – P Carlson
TIJ: SS McGreary – LF MacGruder – CF R. Perez – RF J. Thomas – 2B B. Boyle – 3B N. Chavez – 1B Heathershaw – C L. Fernandez – P Bowman

Danny Sharp hit a leadoff double, scored, and it was not going to last with Carlson on the mound: the Condors tied the game in the bottom 2nd after flunking out in the first. In the bottom 4th the Condors had Nelson Chavez and Bradley Heathershaw on the corners with no outs. Heathershaw went on a 1-2 pitch, Fernandez struck out, and Heathershaw was out at second on Wood’s throw. Never mind, however, since Bowman singled to center, scoring Chavez anyway to make it 2-1 for the ruffled birds. No Raccoon even got on base until Sharp hit a 1-out single in the sixth. Those 62 runs had come from somewhere! Carlson pitched into the seventh, but got very much not out of it, although Ed Bryan held the Condors short in the inning, and the score remained 2-1. It was a close game, if you were willing to ignore the blatant inability of the Coons to reach base. Bryan was still in for the eighth, where Ramón Perez reached on an infield single, and then Paco Estrada pinch-hit for Josh Thomas and went well deep to left center. 4-1 Condors. Sharp 2-4, 2B;

We had three hits. We also had no walks. The only Raccoon that wasn’t dead on contact was Al Martin, who managed a single.

Bob Mays had nothing at the plate in his debut, but already has an assist, nailing a Condor at third base.

Game 2
POR: 3B Sharp – SS Sheehan – CF E. Fernandez – LF Brady – 1B Martin – C L. Ramirez – RF Mays – 2B Ingram – P Webster
TIJ: LF B. Miller – 1B Cambria – CF R. Perez – 2B B. Boyle – RF J. Thomas – 3B N. Chavez – SS Heathershaw – C L. Fernandez – P Escobedo

Brady brought in a run with a groundout in the first again before Tim Webster violently exploded in the bottom of the inning, allowing four hits, three of those doubles, and the Condors scored twice, and had the third run axed down at home plate by Edgardo Fernandez. Top 2nd, the bases were loaded with no outs after a few walks and an infield single, bringing up Webster, who came through with a liner over the head of Heathershaw, flipping the score back to 3-2 for the furry woodland creatures. Escobedo was beaten up for five runs total in the first three innings, but Webster’s stuff came and went and he was by no means out of the weather. The Condors got another run off him in the fifth, but ultimately failed when it counted. In the top 6th, Brad Sheehan came up lame after an RBI double that scored Sharp, 6-3, and had to leave the game with Yamada coming in. Bruno handled the seventh, and Moreno issued a leadoff walk in the eighth before striking out the side. The Coons missed a chance in the top 9th to tack on when Wheaton hit for Moreno, but left runners on the corners. But we had Angel coming up, what was the worst that could happen? Nothing, as it turned out. After Moreno whiffed three, Angel did, too, and this one remained in the Coons’ hands for Tim Webster’s first career win. 6-3 Raccoons. Sheehan 2-4, 2 2B, RBI; Fernandez 3-3, 3B, RBI; Ramirez 3-4, BB, HR, RBI; Ingram 2-4;

Sheehan has a sore hamstring. There’s no point in DL’ing him, but he will be out for a few days.

Game 3
POR: 3B Sharp – SS Yamada – CF Wheaton – 1B Martin – RF Mays – LF Beairsto – 2B Nomura – C Wood – P Brown
TIJ: 3B N. Chavez – 1B Cambria – CF R. Perez – 2B B. Boyle – RF J. Thomas – SS McGreary – LF B. Román – C L. Fernandez – P Patrick

The Coons took the lead in the top 1st again, this time on Bob Mays’ first career hit, an RBI single to plate Sharp with two out in the inning. Beairsto popped out foul, but then hammered down Nelson Chavez at home to end the bottom 1st before harm could be done to Brownie. Brown then lined up in the row of starting pitchers that couldn’t get a bunt down, hitting into a force in the second inning that got Yoshi Nomura erased, but he then scored on an unlikely triple by Danny Sharp, 2-0. The Raccoons added another run, unearned, in the third inning, but you couldn’t take your eyes off the fact that Brownie had his second horrible start of the week. The Condors had five hits off him in the first two innings, didn’t score, and in the outfield Bob Mays made a few great catches to keep them steady. In the fifth the Condors loaded them up but just about when it seemed Brownie would buckle and collapse, he struck out Bruce Boyle to end the inning. Josh Thomas unleashed a leadoff home run in the bottom 6th, but Brown would sit down another six Condors after that as he worked his way through seven. Ed Bryan pitched a scoreless eighth, while Brian Patrick, who had been romped early in the contest, was still in the game! He fell an out shy of a complete game: Dave Wheaton’s 2-out single in the top 9th moved Clyde Brady to third base, and they went to the pen to keep it close with Al Martin up next. Al Martin, who had not gone deep since the times of Moses, and duly grounded out against reliever Tom Watkins, who was not even a left-hander. Angel Casas had another 1-2-3 ninth, and the Coons had achieved a rare .500 week. 3-1 Brownies! Martin 2-5, 2B; Brady (PH) 1-1; Brown 7.0 IP, 8 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, W (9-5);

In other news

July 18 – DEN SP Andres Gamez (8-8, 3.91 ERA) will miss the rest of July and all of August with a thumb sprain.
July 22 – A new 20-game hitting streak is in the headlines as NYC LF/RF Stanton “Clockwork” Martin (.295, 10 HR, 44 RBI) has reached the mark with a hit in a 6-4 loss to the Bayhawks.
July 23 – 21-year old southpaw SAC SP Jorge Gine (0-0, 2.35 ERA) has to put his major league career on hold after four starts, having to undergo Tommy John surgery, which should cost him a year to recover from.
July 23 – Another loss for the Crusaders in San Francisco, 4-1, and this time Stanton Martin’s hitting streak went with it, ending at 20 games.
July 24 – The Falcons lose SP Alfredo Collazo (5-1, 5.22 ERA) for the rest of the season due to shoulder inflammation.

Complaints and stuff

We mentioned Yoshi-Y and his afterburners earlier. Who are the franchise top 10 in stolen bases?

1st Matt Higgins – 220
2nd Conceicao Guerin – 191
3rd Daniel Hall – 99
4th Armando Sanchez – 78
5th Ben O’Morrissey – 63
6th Ken Clark – 57
7th Stephen Buell – 46
8th Luke Newton – 41
9th Jose Flores – 37
10th Yoshi Yamada – 34

For all the years he played here, Neil Reece only stole 17 bases, and his success rate was 45%. Honorary mention to Clyde Brady, who’s 12th with 25 bags pilfered – in eight years.

… and I am TRYING to trade, but I can’t get ANYBODY. Nobody’s trading with the Raccoons. Nobody likes the Raccoons. Everybody hates the Raccoons.

Confession time: with our outfield struggles, I tried to trade for Neil Reece, so that he could somehow log his 2,000th career hit before his legs would give out for good. The Pacifics, in a 1-for-1 trade, insist on Nick Brown. Nobody else will do.

Well, **** the Pacifics. I think they’re going trying to get back on me for the Osanai trade 12 years ago.

And trading Brownie (not only for Reece, but in general) is out of question. He’s the only plaything that’s still remotely fun ‘round here. Plus, we just signed him to a *relatively* team-friendly 5-year deal. I don’t quite know what we’re saving him for, but …

Talent in the Raccoons farm system by stars as ranked by Vince:

5.0 – 0
4.5 – 1 (Miller)
4.0 – 2 (Lucas, Quebell)
3.5 – 0
3.0 – 3 (Amador, Riddle, Trevino)
2.5 – 3
2.0 – 11
< 2 – 88

This includes the international complex, where the only interesting player is a 17-year old Dominican shortstop named Willie Cordero, who might get promoted to Aumsville soon-ish.

[Westheim]

Off day on July 25. Tried to move personnel. Yet... Nobody is trading any prospects, except for the most outrageous return (read: Nick Brown). This is with neutral trade settings, just like I played in 12, except then trading was not such a burning pain in the backside.

Just one example, and it's not even a proper prospect. The Capitals have a 25-year old starting pitcher in AAA. His third pitch is crap. He is 25, so he won't get any better. His control is mucky. He will in all likelihood get lit up by major league hitting. And the Capitals are still in the hunt in the FL East. They could use a little help.

When offered Edgardo Fernandez, their response is "add Amador or Brown". Offering Daniel Sharp, they are still not happy, but would take alternatively Ford, Casas, or Quebell.

Kenichi Watanabe is not even remotely as terrible as their guy, and they would perhaps consider Fernandez + Sharp + Watanabe for that 25-year old future victim.

The Pacifics have three promising SP prospects. We're aiming for the least colorful of them, two stars potential. The Pacifics bitterly need major league pitching, because they are getting romped incessantly. I am offering Watanabe and Moreno, which is not enough. They ask for the usual suspects: Brown, Amador, Quebell, and Casas.

I will not trade Quebell!! I want to get rid of Al Martin, so I can promote Quebell, for crying out loud!!

But they seem to be keen on a first baseman, so why not offer Martin. So it's Watanabe, Moreno, and Martin. They ask for one of: Amador, Brady, Brown, Bruno, Casas, Ford, F. Garcia, Nomura, Quebell, Sharp.

All the while the AI is merrily trading prospects - within reason! - with another. In July, the following prospects in the top 100 have been traded: #32, #63, #69, #74, and another half dozen ranked prospects in triple-digits.

And I am trying to trade for ONE UNRANKED TWO-STAR PROSPECT, and I need to shell out FOUR PLAYERS FOR HIM???

This game is starting to become incredibly annoying. If it doesn't want to play with me, maybe I shouldn't play with it.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (38-61) vs. Thunder (57-40) – July 26-28, 2005

The best pitching in the league was able to mitigate a chronically sleepy offense, that scored the third-least amount of runs. Where the Critters rank in offense has been well established and doesn’t need to be evaluated further.

Projected matchups:
Felipe Garcia (3-8, 4.18 ERA) vs. Pancho Trevino (9-6, 3.18 ERA)
Ralph Ford (3-7, 4.50 ERA) vs. Francisco Garza (7-10, 4.04 ERA)
Ben Carlson (2-8, 3.54 ERA) vs. Aaron Anderson (11-7, 2.88 ERA)

Game 1
OCT: RF Gonzales – CF Walls – 1B T. Cardenas – 3B Higashi – 2B Palacios – SS Grant – C De La Parra – LF P. Flores – P Trevino
POR: 3B Sharp – SS Yamada – CF Wheaton – 1B Martin – LF Brady – RF Mays – 2B Nomura – C Wood – P F. Garcia

We had a 1-1 game in the top 3rd, with Garcia not getting anybody out on his own. The Thunder hit and hit and hit, and made it 3-1 with two out, and had two in scoring position and Flores at the plate. Except we walked him intentionally. And then Garcia walked Trevino, unintentionally, on four pitches. He ended up getting whacked for five runs, not even getting out of the fifth inning, where Rockburn rescued him with another two runners in scoring position. The Coons’ offense was a sorry sight to see, one could say an eye sore, and was best consummated drunk. They were certainly tumbling around home plate that way. The sole exception to the rule was Al Martin, who hit two home runs off Trevino in a depressing losing effort. Marcos Bruno pitched the ninth, was victimized by two hopping singles between Nomura and Martin to get his assignment underway, then rebounded by striking out the side. 5-2 Thunder. Martin 2-4, 2 HR, 2 RBI; Kichida 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

Bob Mays had his first extra base hit (a double), as well as his first stolen base in this game.

Game 2
OCT: RF Gonzales – CF Walls – 1B T. Cardenas – 3B Higashi – SS Grant – C De La Parra – 2B Palacios – LF P. Flores – P F. Garza
POR: 3B Sharp – LF Wheaton – CF Fernandez – 1B Martin – RF Mays – SS Sheehan – 2B Nomura – C Wood – P Ford

In the first two innings, Ralph Ford couldn’t throw a called strike for his life. The defense had to tear out some legs and arms to keep the Thunder from scoring. It got a bit better after that, and the game was still scoreless after five. So of course this would be the game where Daniel Sharp would make an outrageously stupid error to get the Thunder going, which happened in the sixth, a throw to first that was not even close. It put runners in scoring position with no outs, and Ford still had no stuff to write home about and the runner would score on a pair of singles. The Raccoons then got two bloop hits by Wheaton and Fernandez to start their half of the sixth inning. Martin drew a walk, so we had bases loaded with no outs. Mays popped out to short, Sheehan fanned, and then lefty Jason Long got a soft fly to center from Nomura, and nobody scored. The Coons went on to leave runners at second base in each of the next two innings, while the bullpen didn’t give the Thunder anything to feel safe – except they were already save, for they were up by two and Jimmy Morey came in for the ninth. 2-0 Thunder. Wheaton 2-4; Fernandez 3-4, 2B; Wood 2-4; Ford 7.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, L (3-8);

There is still not a man among the Inepticoons with more than three wins, except Brownie and Huerta.

Game 3
OCT: RF Gonzales – C De La Parra – 1B T. Cardenas – 3B Higashi – 2B Palacios – SS Grant – CF Humphrey – LF P. Flores – P L. Martinez
POR: 3B Sharp – SS Sheehan – CF Fernandez – 1B Martin – C L. Ramirez – RF Mays – LF Beairsto – 2B Ingram – P Carlson

In a shocking development that nobody could have seen coming, the Raccoons not only scored, but also scored first, and scored a few in the final game of the set. Al Martin led off the bottom 2nd with a jack, with Beairsto walking with two out. Ingram doubled, plating Beairsto, and then Carlson lined a single to center to score a third run. Of course, so much offense had to come with a cost, and Tom Ingram limped out of the game, being replaced by Yamada. Undeterred, the Coons added two runs in the third inning for a 5-0 lead, that was surely in good hands with MVP candidate Ben Carlson.

Of course not! Bob Grant hit a 3-run home run off Carlson in the fourth, a so called no-doubter, and the Thunder were right back in the thick of things. Both teams tried to nurse their starters to go just a little bit further without a blowout occurring. The Coons got another run on an RBI double by Sheehan in the bottom 6th, leading 6-3, and that would have been a good point to take out Carlson and have the pen do the just work, but no, we wanted him to do the seventh, and it went wrong. Bruno eventually came in with runners on the corners after a pair of singles, facing the top of the order with one out. Jorge Gonzales grounded out to Sheehan, but the only play was to first, and a run scored. Bruno then lost both De La Parra and Cardenas in full counts, walking the bases full, before Takahashi Higashi struck out to end the frame. In the eighth, Jesus Palacios homered off Ed Bryan, cutting the lead to 6-5. Adding on would have been great, but whom am I kidding? Angel Casas had no cushion in the top 9th, and retired Alonso Baca, Jorge Gonzales, and Antonio De La Parra in order to put it away regardless. 6-5 Coons. Sharp 3-4, BB; Sheehan 2-5, 2B, RBI; Martin 2-3, BB, HR, RBI; Ingram 1-1, 2B, RBI;

Tom Ingram contracted a sore quad, and that will hurt for a few days, and he really shouldn’t play on it. We put him away to the disabled list, but the minimum duration of 15 days will do. We added Matt King from AAA, where he had been hitting .300; maybe he can make himself useful, bat .250 up here, or AT THE VERY LEAST bring me a cold soda.

Raccoons (39-63) vs. Bayhawks (47-56) – July 29-31, 2005

The Bayhawks had their issues, primarily a second-worst rotation that was posting 4.55 ERA. It would be waste of time, however, to go into detail, how the Raccoons are not quite adept at hurting such bottom-of-the-barrel pitching, and instead point at the birds’ seventh place offense, and note that their 4.2 runs scored per game were soundly enough to take a sweep here. They were already 4-2 against us this season.

Projected matchups:
Tim Webster (1-1, 4.50 ERA) vs. Vicente Perez (8-7, 4.64 ERA)
Nick Brown (9-5, 2.58 ERA) vs. Iván Cordero (5-8, 4.52 ERA)
Felipe Garcia (3-9, 4.37 ERA) vs. Carl Bean (9-8, 3.40 ERA)

Why did we ever trade Carl Bean?

Game 1
SFB: LF Bonneau – C Campbell – 2B J. Diaz – 1B I. Gutierrez – CF Black – RF Theobald – 3B J. Perez – SS J. Barrón – P V. Perez
POR: 3B Sharp – CF Fernandez – LF Brady – 1B Martin – RF Mays – C Wood – SS Yamada – 2B Nomura – P Webster

The fuzzy offense got plenty of chances handed early by the Bayhawks, with Vicente Perez a little wild, and the defense a bit shaky. Yoshi-N was walked intentionally his first two times up to the plate, and Webster grounded out twice to end the inning and leave a total of five men on. Well, I don’t blame him, necessarily, I’d rather blame Yamada, for a poor soft chop and a quick out when Bob Wood stood on third base with one out after reaching on an error and advancing on a passed ball. Accordingly, the Raccoons didn’t score early, and not by a mile. At that point, Tim Webster had been perfect, sitting down the first dozen Bayhawks – or rather letting the defense do it, he had zero strikeouts. Iván Gutierrez then led off the fifth with a double, but this school bus on a field trip didn’t run off the cliffs just yet, as Luke Black lined out to short and Yoshi-Y got Gutierrez doubled off. Webster continued to face the minimum through five, yet still couldn’t get any support, for when Brady and Martin hit 2-out singles in the bottom 5th, Bob Mays flew out to left. Deep left, but it was still an out. After amusedly watching the sorry parade of non-batter parade up and down to the plate in the bottoms of innings for an hour and a half, the Bayhawks finally went serious in the seventh. Double from Brian Campbell, double into the gap from Gutierrez, and they had themselves a run. And one run is all it takes. They still got another one on an RBI triple by Luke Black with two outs in the ninth. 2-0 Bayhawks. Martin 2-4; Wood 2-4; Webster 9.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 1 K, L (1-2);

Nomura had a single in the ninth, at that was all our offense.

Game 2
SFB: LF Bonneau – C Campbell – 2B J. Diaz – 1B I. Gutierrez – CF Black – RF Theobald – 3B J. Perez – SS J. Barrón – P Powell
POR: 3B Sharp – CF Fernandez – LF Brady – 1B Martin – RF Mays – C Wood – SS Yamada – 2B Nomura – P Brown

Despite his recent struggles, Nick Brown had not been defeated in eight straight games coming into the middle contest. Curt Powell (12-5, 4.65 ERA) found himself romped in the first inning. He walked Danny Sharp, and then Fernandez did something he hadn’t done yet in a brown shirt: he went deep, outta left center. Powell shook that off, then allowed a single to Brady. Martin came up, and – uh-oh! – that was WELL deep and went outta right center! So, four batters, 4-0 Coons, gonna be a good day, huh? Actually, the first guy Powell would retire was Nomura, which was a double play, and Yamada got caught stealing right after that, but we had put up a 5-spot in the first!

The Bayhawks started to crawl back into the game in the top 2nd, when Gutierrez hit a leadoff homer to cut the lead to 5-1, but Brownie led off with a single in the bottom of the inning, stole second base, and scored on a Brady sac fly eventually to get the 5-run gap restored. We even tacked one on in the bottom 3rd when Mays was already on base and both Yoshis hit terrible grounders that died long before reaching the infield dirt – yet none was played conclusively by the Bayhawks and both were credited with singles, moving the score to 7-1.

And yet we spent the entire middle innings waiting for something bad to happen. Brownie didn’t have his most nasty stuff, but also didn’t issue walks like he had in his last few starts. The worst that happened to the Raccoons in the middle innings was lefty Rodrigo Garcia sitting down eight straight of them in long relief before walking Brady and getting doubled against by Martin, which scored Brady from first and made it 8-1 in the seventh. Brownie entered the ninth on 93 pitches, facing Campbell first, who grounded out, but then Juan Diaz hit a double. The pitching coach went out and we got somebody up, but maybe Brownie could get out? Gutierrez was a left-hander after all. Nope, Gutierrez singled through between Sheehan and Martin on the right side, and that was it for Brownie. No complete game heroics today. We went to Huerta, whose first pitch was grounded back to the mound by Luke Black. Huerta went to second – or perhaps past second. Terrible throwing error, a run scored, and the Bayhawks were still alive, and stayed alive long enough for Jose Perez to hit a 2-run single through Sharp, before Al Martin made a strong play on Juan Barrón’s bouncing grounder to finally end the game. 8-4 Raccoons. Brady 1-2, BB; Martin 2-4, HR, 2B, 3 RBI; Mays 2-4; Yamada 2-4, RBI; Brown 8.1 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, W (10-5) and 1-4;

Phew. I knew something was going to happen all along. I just knew it. This team CAN’T get a 5-spot and just run with it. They just CAN’T.

Game 3
SFB: LF Bonneau – C Campbell – 2B J. Diaz – 1B I. Gutierrez – CF Black – RF Theobald – 3B J. Perez – SS J. Barrón – P Bean
POR: 3B Sharp – CF Fernandez – RF Brady – 1B Martin – C L. Ramirez – LF Beairsto – SS Sheehan – 2B Nomura – P F. Garcia

Sharpie made a few nifty plays at the hot corner early on, but even that couldn’t prevent Garcia from falling behind. The Bayhawks just started to go the other way and hit those hard shots through Martin. It was only a run in the second inning, but the Raccoons “offense” had returned to game 1 pumpkin level against Carl Bean, and totaled one hit through five innings, and that was not a home run. In the sixth, Nomura led off with a chopper in front of the plate that Campbell didn’t dig out fast enough and Nomura was safe for our second hit, yay! Garcia, still down only 1-0, bunted him over, and then Sharp grounded up the middle; oh, Barrón’s never going to get this one, we’re gonna - … Barrón got it, pirouetted around and Sharp was out by an eyelash at first base. Oh can we get a break here!!

Yes. Yes, we can! Fernandez doubled through Perez at third, scoring Nomura to tie it. Brady came up, and he knew Bean fairly well from his time as a Coon and Bean was unable to fool him: Brady got hold of a 1-1 pitch and sent it soaring to deep right center – HOME RUN!!! That didn’t put Garcia in front of the stove with a cup of cocoa, however, and there was still work to do. Garcia’s work day ended in the eighth, when Yohan Bonneau took him deep, cutting the lead to 3-2. Bruno and Bryan were used to exit the inning, and Casas got ready. When Dave Wheaton hit for Bryan to start the bottom 8th and singled, Yamada came out to run for him, and by now EVERYBODY knew that Yamada was going to run as soon as he had his spikes on. Yamada ran, Campbell looked confused, and by the time he started a throwing motion, Yamada was already at second, AND had dusted himself off. He then scored on Sharp’s single, and the inning went on long enough for another run to score. Casas thus came out with the maximum save-eligible lead, 5-2, and went about to blow it. A single here, a walk there, then another single by Barrón to load them up with one out, and here came home run king Raúl Vázquez to pinch-hit. Casas was off, walked him, and it was 5-3. Bonneau grounded to the mound, Casas got the out at home, but Bonneau was safe. Brian Campbell was batting. In a 1-2 count Casas threw a slider that completely slid away from Ramirez, who had to chase it down, and the Bayhawks scored another run. 5-4, two outs, two in scoring position, but they were still down to their last strike. Another slider, Campbell whiffed and wailed, and Ramirez – for a change – held on, yay! 5-4 Coons. Martin 2-4; Nomura 1-2, BB; Wheaton (PH) 1-1; Garcia 7.1 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, W (4-9);

Well, that was ugly.

But that whole season has been, so…

After this game, Chris Beairsto, batting .087, was deleted from the team via waivers and designation for assignment. Time to close this chapter in our book of sadness.

In other news

July 25 – SAC INF/LF Dave McCormick (.314, 17 HR, 50 RBI), who recently had a 27-game hitting streak snapped, now faces 27 and some days on the DL, having strained an oblique.
July 26 – The Crusaders receive SP Angel Javier (5-9, 4.67 ERA) in a trade with the Miners, sending over two prospects, including AAA outfielder Conor Shearing.
July 26 – The Scorpions dump blown-up SP Takeru Sato (3-6, 7.47 ERA) onto the Cyclones, having to add a prospect in 2B Rafael Moreno, and receive OF Ramiro Cavazos (.279, 8 HR, 49 RBI) in return.
July 26 – The Miners find themselves shut out by SAC SP Miguel Rodriguez (4-3, 4.98 ERA), who spills just three hits in a 7-0 Scorpions win.
July 27 – As the Cyclones lose 4-3 to the Pacifics, CIN LF/RF Dan Morris (.307, 15 HR, 57 RBI) hits a solo homer in the fifth inning off Greg Grams. That is Morris’ 300th career homer, only the sixth player in the ABL to reach this mark. Morris, the first round pick, seventh overall, by the Cyclones in 1991, has spent his entire career with the organization. He is a career .318/.433/.512 batter with 300 HR and 1,141 RBI, and 2,132 career hits. At age 35 you have to wonder how far he will come on the leaderboards, but he has already entered the history books with eight All Star appearances and has won the FL Hitter of the Year award twice, in 1995 and 1997.
July 29 – VAN INF Haruki Nakayama (.264, 6 HR, 49 RBI) reaches the 2,000 hits mark with a hit in the Canadiens’ 10-2 win over Atlanta, a second inning single of Jong-suk Lee. The 35-year old Nakayama, who signed as a international free agent with the Thunder in 1988, is with his ninth different team, picking up two World Series rings (1994 with Thunder, 1998 with Titans), four All Star nominations, and a Gold Glove with him. For his career he’s a .277/.346/.389 batter with 90 HR and 904 RBI.
July 30 – SP Alfredo Rios (6-9, 4.10 ERA) is dealt to the Stars by the Warriors, who receive #56 prospect AA CL Jair Mauceri.
July 31 – Rookie LAP 1B/3B Jens Carroll (.320, 1 HR, 16 RBI) has fashioned a 20-game hitting streak with two hits in today’s game, appearing in only his 30th game of the season. Oh yeah, the mood was still down in the clubhouse, for the Pacifics got shot into space by the Capitals, 19-2.

Complaints and stuff

Albert Martin was named the CL Player of the Week, batting .455 (10-22) while swatting four homers and plating six.

Because I can’t even count to three properly, the following thing went unmentioned last week: when Nick Brown outlasted (just barely) the Condors, he claimed his 50th major league win. Not big a mark, but not too many Raccoons hurlers have gotten there. Pitchers with 50 wins for the Coons, here:

1st Kisho Saito – 189
2nd Scott Wade – 170
3rd Logan Evans – 124
4th Jason Turner – 109
5th Christopher Powell – 104
6th Miguel Lopez – 83
7th Randy Farley – 77
8th Nick Brown – 51

Ralph Ford has 49, and he’s had as many for quite some time…

In other news, Christian Greenman suffered a setback and will not be ready to start next week. We’re more looking at the weekend now.

Looks like the Cyclones want to make this a run for the #1 draft pick. GET OFF OUR LAWN!!

As far as below’s stats are concerned, the league batting average is .261 in the CL, .264 for both leagues combined.

You know why it’s hard to get compensation picks in Portland? Because we don’t have any free agents in the first place. Nobody reaches six years of major league exposure here, because they go so frickin’ cold their feet get amputated from said exposure long before. Although this year, we might actually have a qualifying free agent, type B. Brace yourself, it’s Carlson. Ya, who’s gonna sign that donk?

Other free agents will be Huerta and Leon Ramirez. No compensation. Ramirez can go to hell, I don’t care. Huerta is serviceable, but replaceable, but at the same time also not compensation eligible. Wouldn’t it be smarter to sign him to an extension and then trade him instead of letting him go as free agent? Maybe we can get something important in return, like another team’s guy that flocks the uniforms with the players’ names. We gotta find someone. Our flocking guy has dyslexia, and Nick Bwnro, Clyde Ydbra, and Al Rmtnia are really fed up.

Might explain why our merchandise sales are so poor, though.

I’m gonna have Maud look into it. She’s got time, my hog farmer cousin hasn’t written back. Yes, she sent him a photo…

[Texasborn]

Thanks for the enormous amount of detail and time you put into the forum. I have spent the past couple of days reviewing everything that's happened so.... let's go furballs!!

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by Texasborn

Thanks for the enormous amount of detail and time you put into the forum. I have spent the past couple of days reviewing everything that's happened so.... let's go furballs!!

Feel free to list every single bad trade I made in the last 28 years.

---

Raccoons (41-64) @ Falcons (59-44) – August 1-3, 2005

We will now start our intense roadtrip, four cities with 15 games in 14 days, with another three at home against the Capitals directly after that. It’s even worse in this week, when we will have to play a 5-game series on the weekend in Indy. We will need an additional starter from AAA (Watanabe anyone?). But before we will buckle and break for good, we will start with a 3-game set in Charlotte, where the Falcons, who are sixth in runs scored, second in runs allowed, and one game behind the Thunder in the Southern Division. We have so far split our six games between another.

Projected matchups:
Ralph Ford (3-8, 4.33 ERA) vs. Dylan Jones (10-8, 4.06 ERA)
Ben Carlson (3-8, 3.67 ERA) vs. Rodrigo Gomez (5-6, 3.96 ERA)
Tim Webster (1-2, 3.43 ERA) vs. Lewis Donaldson (13-2, 1.99 ERA)

We DFA’ed Beairsto on Sunday, and have an open roster spot. We are currently an infielder short. Alejandro Rojas was brought up for a few days, but we will replace him with a starting pitcher before the Falcons series.

Game 1
POR: 3B Sharp – CF Fernandez – LF Brady – 1B Martin – 2B Sheehan – C Wood – RF Mays – SS Yamada – P Ford
CHA: 3B J. Rodriguez – 1B P. Estrada – LF J. Flores – 2B H. Green – RF Reya – C Durango – CF Rincón – SS Guerin – P D. Jones

After nothing happened at all for five innings, Fernandez hit a leadoff triple in the top of the sixth, and the Raccoons loaded the bases on walks to Brady (intentional) and Martin (not quite so) – and failed to score. Ralph Ford, understandably frustrated, was romped for three runs in the bottom 6th, including an unlikely 2-piece from leadoff hitter Javier Rodriguez, and that was really everything that transpired during the game. The Coons had the Bobs reach base with nobody out in the top 9th, but did anybody actually think they would come back against Luis Hernandez? Yamada lined right into Hernandez’ glove, before Wheaton and Sharp both struck out. 3-0 Falcons. Ford 7.1 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, L (3-9);

Things then got even worse for the Raccoons after that, with rain washing out Tuesday’s game and pushing it to Wednesday where the teams would play a double header.

Game 2
POR: 3B Sharp – CF Fernandez – LF Brady – 1B Martin – RF Mays – SS Yamada – C Wood – 2B Nomura – P Carlson
CHA: 3B J. Rodriguez – 1B J. Mendoza – C F. Chavez – LF J. Flores – 2B H. Green – RF Reya – CF Burke – SS Guerin – P Donaldson

The continuously hopeless Raccoons faced the pitcher with the lowest ERA in baseball and touched him for two runs in the first inning when Sharp singled and Fernandez went well deep. And then came the useless monkey Carlson, walked three in the bottom of the inning and got charged with three runs to fall behind, immediately followed by another 3-spot in the second inning. But well, you think you can get out of that, in the day shift of the first half of back-to-back double headers? **** you, you’re pitching through this.

The most interesting thing was that this was not the end for the Raccoons, and that Donaldson would get roughed up even further. Carlson completed five innings, allowing no more runs, and in the top 6th Donaldson was stripped naked by the Raccoons and chased from the game. Brady was the first to get on. Martin was drilled, and then Mays hit an RBI double, 6-3. Yamada singled, 6-4. Wood made an out to right, the runners holding, and Nomura was walked intentionally with one out before Kevin Johnston, a left-hander, appeared in relief. We countered with Alejandro Rojas batting for Carlson, Rojas walked, it was 6-5, Sharp fouled out, but Fernandez drew a walk in a full count to force in the tying run! Brady would draw yet another walk before Martin hacked himself out, but now we led 7-6 after a 5-spot in which the Falcons looked quite ugly.

Not wanting to stand back, the Coons got ugly in the bottom of the same inning. Moreno came in to pitch two innings with plenty of left-handed batters in the Falcons’ order. He walked Pedro Estrada in the #9 hole, before Javier Rodriguez’ bunt was blown up between Martin and Nomura, putting runners in scoring position with nobody out. How to get out of that one? With a K to Mendoza, a foul pop by Chavez, and Flores grounding out to Nomura perhaps. The 7-6 lead lived past the sixth, Moreno had much less hassle in the seventh, Bruno did the eighth, and in the top 9th we even got an insurance run when Brady was tripled in by Mays with two out. The leadoff man reached against Angel Casas in the ninth, but did not get past second base. 8-6 Coons. Sharp 2-5; Brady 1-2, 3 BB, RBI; Mays 3-5, 3B, 2B, 2 RBI; Moreno 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K;

Al Martin hit for the golden sombrero in this one.

Game 3
POR: 3B Sharp – CF Fernandez – RF Mays – LF Brady – C L. Ramirez – 1B Rojas – SS Yamada – 2B Nomura – P Webster
CHA: 3B J. Rodriguez – 1B P. Estrada – LF J. Flores – 2B H. Green – RF Reya – C Durango – CF Rincón – SS Guerin – P R. Gomez

Three doubles off Webster plated two runs for the Falcons in the first, and the drubbing continued in the next, where Clyde Brady made an inexcusable error one-handing and dropping Rodrigo Gomez’ soft liner with two out. Rodriguez singled, Estrada tripled off a completely helpless Webster, and the Falcons held a 4-0 lead after two innings. Webster couldn’t lay down a bunt either, getting Nomura forced out at second base in the top of the third, when ran through third base and was thrown out to end the inning on Bob Mays’ single to right.

Just when we were ready to sell Webster’s poor soul to a casually passing gypsy band, the Coons batted in the top of the fourth. Brady, Ramirez, Rojas, Yamada – all reached base on singles before Nomura even made the first out. That brought up Webster in a 4-1 game with the bases loaded. We can’t hit for him, we have a double-header tomorrow! So Webster hit, and with a determined swing lobbed a fly to center and past David Rincón for a bases-clearing, game-tying double. This game. Amazement never ceases! Amusement did frequently, but amazement – never!

Sharp doubled home Webster to give the Coons a 5-4 lead that Webster blew effortlessly in the fifth, but despite a 5-5 score after five both teams remained with their starters in the sixth, which was scoreless. After Gomez put Fernandez and Mays on base in the top 7th, he got replaced by right-hander Arturo Ramirez for Brady, which was probably not the place to send a right-hander with dubious stuff. Brady tattooed one, and the Coons were up 8-5! Webster was pressed dry for seven before getting removed. Both relief staffs continued to crumble in the final innings, but the Raccoons held on despite Concie Guerin hitting his first home run of the season off Kaz Kichida. When Ed Bryan was in trouble in the bottom 9th, the Yoshis turned a wonderful double play to get the game two outs further to conclusion, and Bryan retired Durango to end the game. 10-6 Coons. Sharp 3-5, 2B, RBI; Fernandez 2-5, 2B; Mays 3-5, RBI; Brady 2-5, HR, 2B, 3 RBI; Rojas 2-5, 2B, RBI; Yamada 3-5, RBI; Webster 7.0 IP, 9 H, 5 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 1 K, W (2-2) and 1-3, 2B, 3 RBI; Martin (PH) 1-1;

19 hits in this game! Whoah! Where did all that offense come from!?

Raccoons (43-65) @ Indians (61-46) – August 4-7, 2005

Here comes the dreaded 5-game set against the Indians, who suddenly led the division by half a game. Their 10th place batting average nevertheless resulted in the fourth-most runs scored mostly thanks to the three swatters they had in the middle of that lineup, but they still ranked in the bottom half in runs allowed, albeit just barely, with a troubled rotation dragging down the best bullpen in the Continental League.

Projected matchups:
Nick Brown (10-5, 2.49 ERA) vs. Curtis Tobitt (13-5, 3.56 ERA)
Edgar Amador (2-10, 5.53 ERA) vs. Bob King (12-9, 5.25 ERA)
Felipe Garcia (4-9, 4.27 ERA) vs. Ricardo Sanchez (10-6, 3.83 ERA)
Ralph Ford (3-9, 4.30 ERA) vs. Patrick Moreau (3-1, 3.45 ERA)
Ben Carlson (4-9, 3.98 ERA) vs. Ramón Jimenez (5-11, 4.59 ERA)

Despite loads of trouble in AAA, Edgar Amador got the spot start, mainly because Watanabe’s turn didn’t match up at all with the double header. Brownie will get the first half of the double header, and we expect him to be easy on the bullpen, although we have actually a lot of arms still available, really all except Moreno, who tossed two innings the day before. Well, Moreno was available, if things got tight. Also, this: Law Rockburn hadn’t pitched at all in the Falcons series, and Ricardo Huerta threw only one pitch in inducing a double play in the series opening loss in Charlotte, and thus is ready for long relief, which we expect much readier from Amador than Brown, so Huerta gets tandemed with the Fat Cat for this bonanza. Also, all players should have at least one of the four double-blocked games off. Since Amador relies on defense when he pitches decently at all, he will get Yamada at short. The only guy I failed to cover is Daniel Sharp. Well, that will tell him to make stupid errors.

Game 1
POR: 3B Sharp – LF Wheaton – RF Brady – 1B Martin – C Wood – SS Sheehan – 2B Nomura – CF M. King – P N. Brown
IND: SS Sepúlveda – RF Wales – LF Alston – 3B D. Lopez – C Paraz – CF J. Alvarez – 1B J. Zamora – 2B Valdes – P Tobitt

Dale Wales, the wonderful old man, 42 years and 83 days at this point in his live, knocked a triple off Brownie in the first inning for his 3,627th major league hit. He was also starved when Alston popped out to Sheehan and Lopez whiffed. Wales hit a single his next time up, but again was left on base in the bottom 3rd. At that point Curtis Tobitt was still perfect, but Clyde Brady hit a 2-out single in the top 4th to get that bid over with. He would be the last Coon to reach for a while, but Brownie got touched up in the middle innings with three solo home runs by the 4-5-6 batters (although not consecutively) to fall 3-0 behind. Brown struck out only five over seven innings, in a battle that was a clear victory for the power guys in the white uniforms and red hats. The Raccoons had but their one runner through eight before the Indians evacuated Tobitt for coonskinning closer Iemitsu Rin. And suddenly King singled, Sharp singled, and Brady walked. Two outs for Martin, who has hacking madly this week, but only Yamada remained on the bench and then I’d prefer a hacker that can swat. Trying to swat, Martin hacked, and Brownie got handed his first loss since June 7 (1-0 vs. Loggers). 3-0 Indians.

Game 2
POR: 3B Sharp – CF Fernandez – LF Wheaton – 1B Martin – C L. Ramirez – RF Mays – SS Yamada – 2B Sheehan – P Amador
IND: SS Sepúlveda – RF Wales – LF Alston – 3B D. Lopez – CF J. Alvarez – 1B J. Zamora – C Bowen – 2B Montray – P B. King

The latter half of the double header brought us the oddest game in a while, and that says something with the two games in Charlotte that we somehow got away with. The Coons put up a quick 4-spot in the second inning, with Sheehan clubbing a 3-run homer. Amador, who was completely out of control of his stuff and walked batters left and right, singled into rightfield, which brought up Danny Sharp, who hit a line drive to left center that bounced off the grass in front of the onrushing Ron Alston, bounced off his glove, hopped over the backup Alvarez, who fell onto the grass after losing balance and Alston had to scamper after the ball and over Alvarez, while the Fat Cat broke into the most frantic jog you’d ever witness, and scored, while Danny Sharp was safe on the throw to third base, but was left on base by Fernandez. The Indians got a run back in the bottom of the inning, but the defense bailed Amador out of a few tense situations, and it was still 4-1 through four. Amador then chopped his second single to lead off the top 5th. Wild pitch, and Sharp singled, runners on the corners with no outs, which was the right time for Sharp to get picked off while Fernandez struck out. Wheaton then walked, bringing up Al Martin, who fired a shot over the jumping Zamora into the rightfield corner, and there Dale Wales’ age showed and he took forever to get that ball back in, and Martin had a 2-run triple! The Fat Cat went six plus, putting the first two men in the seventh on base to get removed. Huerta came in, got a double play from Dale Wales, and Alston also grounded out rather harmlessly to keep the 6-1 lead untouched. Huerta also did the eighth, and Bryan took care of the ninth without any major stress happening late. 6-1 Coons! Sharp 2-5, 3B, RBI; Martin 2-4, 3B, 2 RBI; Sheehan 2-3, BB, HR, 2B, 3 RBI; Huerta 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Well, we got out of that one relatively well. Amador issued five walks in addition to seven hits allowed, and a 2.00 WHIP is not what we want to see. Had he pitched a very good came, Tim Webster would have gone back to St. Pete, but this way it was Amador’s plane to take. We should see him in September, though. We added Steve Searcy, who will also give Sharp some needed rest in the Friday game. Only one game tomorrow, how lame!

Play a double-double header and end up 3-1? Consider yourself lucky. The odd thing is that of all the guys that pitched it was Brownie to lose his start.

Game 3
POR: SS Yamada – CF Fernandez – RF Brady – 1B Martin – C Wood – 3B Searcy – 2B Nomura – LF M. King – P F. Garcia
IND: SS Sepúlveda – 1B J. Zamora – LF Alston – 3B D. Lopez – C Paraz – CF J. Alvarez – RF MacKey – 2B Montray – P Moreau

Despite no hits, the Coons still had the bags full in the top 1st with one out after Fernandez and Brady had drawn walks and Martin had been plunked. Moreau’s errant ways continued with a walk to Bob Wood, 1-0 Coons, but then Searcy struck out and Nomura flew out to center. Both sides threatened a bit in the next innings without getting that key hit, but perhaps the Coons got it in the fourth, a Yoshi Nomura double that put him and Searcy in scoring position with no outs. The scary .167 batter Matt King was walked intentionally to get to Garcia, which backfired when Garcia rammed a single into left, the last hit the Coons got in the inning. One run scored, and another one scored on Yamada’s sac fly to center, but that was it. Then it was Garcia’s turn again and it went all wrong. Martin’s error allowed Ron Alston on base to start the bottom 4th, before Lopez singled and Paraz walked. Then Jesus Alvarez fed the perfect grounder to Nomura, and Yoshi-N’s throw was bobbled by Yoshi-Y, and we didn’t get nobody. Matt MacKey hit a sac fly, and Garcia immediately reloaded the bases with a walk given up to Phil Montray. Moreau hit him hard, but lined out to Martin, and then the count on Sepúlveda ran full until Sepúlveda took a pitch he shouldn’t have taken and was called out to end the inning, the Furballs still up 3-2, yet that was before Jesus Zamora hit a game-tying homer the next frame. Garcia lumbered on into the bottom 7th where Dale Wales ended his day with a pinch-hit double to start the frame, and Zamora – after tying the game – hit the go-ahead RBI double off Domingo Moreno. In the bottom 8th Bruno put the first two men on base, but got a double play turned behind him and struck out Matt Brown to escape, but we could not escape this loss. 4-3 Indians. Nomura 1-2, BB, 2B;

Game 4
POR: 3B Sharp – CF Fernandez – LF Brady – 1B Martin – RF Mays – C L. Ramirez – SS Yamada – 2B Nomura – P Ford
IND: 1B J. Zamora – RF Wales – 3B D. Lopez – C Paraz – CF J. Alvarez – SS Valdes – LF MacKey – 2B Montray – P R. Sanchez

The Coons appeared to get a quick start with a Sharp walk and a Fernandez double, but quickly deflated when Matt MacKey snagged Brady’s drive into the gap and held him to a sac fly. Leon Ramirez then made a cause for instant retirement when he couldn’t throw out a certain unkillable 42-year old who swiped his first base of the season, which broke up a chance for a double play on the next ground ball and then Alvarez came to bat with two outs and gave the Feathers the lead with a triple, 2-1. MacKey homered off Ford in the third, making it 3-1, and Ford generally had no bite on the fastball and couldn’t throw a breaking pitch for anything other than an amused batter and a ball. The Indians failed to sink Ford early, however, and instead had to watch reliever Jack Hamilton give up a game-tying home run to Al Martin in the sixth inning. But Ford was still pitching, and MacKey was still batting, and when they met again in the bottom 6th the result was another homer, and a 4-3 lead for the Indians, which put an end to Ford’s shenanigans. Top 7th, Leon Ramirez homered, and the game was tied again (he may still file for retirement though). Huerta did the bottom 7th, the Coons left two men on base in the top 8th, and then it was Sharp with another error that had Lorenzo Sepúlveda on base with nobody out in the bottom of the 8th against Ed Bryan – and MacKey was batting after that. Sepúlveda stole second before MacKey walked anyway, but Bryan came back and struck out Montray and Brown. Marcos Bruno was brought on for the right-handed Zamora, the count ran full, the battle raged back and forth, but eventually Bruno prevailed and struck Zamora out. Top 9th, Yoshi Yamada hit a 1-out single off Iván Lopez. Yamada instantly dashed as soon as Lopez moved to deliver to Yoshi Nomura, and Paraz had a weak arm and no chance. Nomura then sent a grounder to first that got bobbled by Zamora and that gave the Coons Yoshis on the corners with one out. And yet all that Wheaton and Sharp managed in the next two at-bats were two sorry grounders to third, that didn’t even get a dasher like Yoshi-Y home. Rockburn got us to extras, and Lopez was still dealing in the top 10th, where we put runners on the corners with NO outs! Martin blooped into shallow right, something that Wales would have gotten in the 80s, but not anymore, and Fernandez scored on the single. The Indians imploded on the spot. Mays singled, loading them up, before Lopez uncorked a wild pitch, and then Zamora made another error on Ramirez’ grounder. They just couldn’t get an out! It didn’t get better for them when Chang-bum O, a former starter, replaced Lopez, and the Raccoons, for all the errors and mistakes and finally a resounding 2-out, 2-run double by Sharp, put up a 6-spot! 10-4 Coons!! Sharp 2-5, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Fernandez 2-5, BB, 2B; Martin 3-4, BB, HR, 3 RBI;

Where does all this offense come from? This is so … we’re so unused to that. It almost makes you uncomfortable.

AND now Christian Greenman came off the DL! We demoted Bob Mays and kept Matt King is qualified centerfield backup, but we liked some things we saw from Mays (sadly no home runs), and he will come back in September and might be on the roster to get the 2006 season underway.

So, one more game remaining in this monster set, the rubber game, actually, and we hand the ball to Carlson. Listen, Carlson. Another start like on Monday and you’re turned into a glove!

Game 5
POR: 3B Sharp – CF Fernandez – LF Brady – RF Greenman – 1B Martin – C Wood – SS Yamada – 2B Nomura – P Carlson
IND: SS Sepúlveda – RF Wales – LF Alston – C Paraz – 1B J. Zamora – 3B Valdes – CF MacKey – 2B Montray – P Jimenez

Sharp reached on an infield hit and somehow came around to score on a wild pitch in the first, but Carlson threw so much junk that you knew that one run wasn’t gonna last very long. He made it to the third inning, where Ron Alston smacked a game-tying home run, and his 28th of the season, and they also got another run in the inning when Carlson walked Paraz and Zamora doubled the run home. In the top 4th we actually loaded the bases (an error was involved), with Carlson coming up with one out. Well, if we hadn’t pitched an extra game on Thursday, I might have been tempted to hit for him right there, but this was too early (we won’t get an off day until Thursday). So, Carlson had to bat for himself, sent a soft fly to right center – and Wales didn’t get it!! It bounced past Wales, who couldn’t get after it and it was eventually played by the centerfielder Matt MacKey – 2-run double! Sharp singled in Nomura, 4-2, and another single by Fernandez scored Carlson! Jimenez didn’t reappear after that inning, but how would Carlson go about with that 5-2 lead? Not bloody well.

Ron Alston drew a leadoff walk in the bottom 5th. After that, Paraz, Zamora, and Valdes all unleashed deep drives. All three were caught, one by Fernandez and two by Greenman, but in general Carlson was just an accident waiting to happen. But before Carlson could fall apart completely, the Indians’ prized bullpen had its horses driven away when the Raccoons put up another 3-spot in the top 7th. Kichida pitched two scoreless, and then we got Casas into the bottom 9th to close it out. First up MacKey – and he hit him. That’s not good. Next, Montray – and he hit him! The pitching coach warped out there to look after him, but he assured he was fine. Really? In any case, the next two pitches ended the game: Craig Bowen hit into a double play, and Sepúlveda flew out to center. 8-2 Coons. Sharp 2-5, RBI; Fernandez 4-4, BB, RBI; Nomura 4-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Kichida 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

You remember the times when Raccoons used to hit 28 home runs?

In other news

August 1 – TIJ SP Kelvin Yates (7-9, 3.55 ERA) strikes out 15 Indians in an 8-0 win for the Condors.
August 2 – The season is over for LVA OF Martin Covington (.255, 12 HR, 49 RBI), who has suffered radial nerve compression.
August 2 – While LAP Jens Carroll (.317, 1 HR, 16 RBI) has his hitting streak snapped at 22 games by the Blue Sox in a 6-2 Pacifics loss, another 20-game hitting streak is born in the same game, as NAS 1B/3B Antonio Esquivel (.271, 11 HR, 55 RBI) has one hit in his team’s win to reach the mark.
August 4 – ATL SP Manny Rios (8-10, 4.59 ERA) is out for the year with a torn rotator cuff. Will the 37-year old be able to recover from that?
August 6 – Another 20-game hitting streak is registered by MIL 2B/SS Bartolo Hernandez (.345, 4 HR, 44 RBI) with one hit in the Loggers’ 5-0 shutout of the Canadiens.
August 7 – NAS Antonio Esquivel (.273, 11 HR, 57 RBI) has his 23-game hitting streak ended by the Miners. The Blue Sox lose, 8-2.

Complaints and stuff

Somehow, despite being shut out twice, we scored 45 runs this week. Must be something in the water.

Covington’s injury all but hands the stolen base crown to Yoshi Yamada, unless he breaks a leg now and both get caught by somebody else. When Covington went down, Yamada’s lead over Ramón Lopez was 11 bags. It’s a full dozen now.

Nick Brown led the CL in strikeouts all year long, but his slow recent outings and 25 K in two starts by Kelvin Yates this week have put him behind.

And look at that CL North and how all teams are somehow still in the race. Except one.

Did you know: Salvador Mendez got his 2,000th career hit on August 6, 2001 while playing for the Stars.

Raccoons Revisited: In 1986, the team was led in triples by Kelly Weber, who hit four, and all but 17 defensive innings at first base were logged by Tetsu Osanai.

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speaking of tetsu, is he a hall of famer? what are his career numbers? maybe u could post some of the top 5 or so players in important pitching and batting categories. how many players are currently in the hall?