[Westheim]

Time for my favorite chore again, yay …!

Raccoons (34-48) @ Loggers (49-33) – July 2-5, 2001

Things were looking bleak for the Critters as far as this series was concerned. The second place Loggers had a monster run going, winning 17 of their last 22 games (including three of four from the Titans over the weekend), and they were second in runs scored, which was never something promising success with the way our pitching staff was going. Their pitching was largely lacking weaknesses, so the Raccoons had a realistic chance at getting swept during the week.

Projected matchups:
Ralph Ford (5-6, 3.26 ERA) vs. John Miller (7-4, 3.06 ERA)
Randy Farley (2-6, 5.22 ERA) vs. Vernon Robertson (11-6, 3.63 ERA)
Cipriano Miranda (3-9, 4.47 ERA) vs. Marc Padgett (7-4, 4.10 ERA)
Miguel Lopez (5-5, 5.26 ERA) vs. Martin Garcia (11-5, 2.68 ERA)

Game 1
POR: SS Guerin – 3B Sharp – CF Reece – 2B Palacios – 1B Martin – C Fifield – LF Parker – RF Kent – P Ford
MIL: C L. Ramirez – SS B. Hernandez – LF Hiwalani – 2B J. Cruz – CF Fletcher – RF J.J. Villa – 3B T. Johnson – 1B J. Morales – P J. Miller

The opener treated fans with a pitchers’ duel, as neither team was able to get the bats up against the opposing hurler. Well, the Loggers did more so than the Raccoons, who didn’t get on base until the fourth, when Ralph Ford already trailed 1-0 after the Loggers had plated a run on three singles in the bottom 3rd. The best the Raccoons did in the middle innings were putting runners on first and second and then hitting into an inning-ending double play in the sixth. In the bottom 8th, Jason Kent drew the team’s first walk of the game. With one out, Ford went into bunting position, but before it could come that far, Miller twitched to the umpire’s displeasure and had a balk called against him. With the runner in scoring position, Ford went to bat properly and lined to first, where Jose Morales made a launching grab, hurting himself in the process. Sam Fisher replaced him, while Guerin hit a 2-out fly to left that went past the reach of Bakile Hiwalani and fell in for the game-tying RBI double. Guerin scored on Sharp’s single, and the Raccoons led. Ford pitched the eighth, before protection of the 2-1 advantage fell onto Dan Nordahl in the ninth, facing Cruz, Fletcher, and Villa. And Johnson and Fisher, as he successfully walked the bases loaded with two out. Mark Hall hit for closer Robbie Wills … and struck out. 2-1 Raccoons. Guerin 2-4, 2B, RBI; Ford 8.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, W (6-6) and 1-3;

(blinks irritated) Where’s the usual walkoff grand slam? I think we should nickname Dan Nordahl “Wild Ride”.

Jose Morales tweaked an oblique, but was listed merely DTD, so while Rodrigo Morales kept missing for these Loggers, they were not Moralesless.

Okay, no more puns, I promise.

Game 2
POR: 3B Sharp – LF Cavazos – 2B Palacios – CF Reece – 1B Martin – SS Guerin – C Thomas – RF Flores – P Farley
MIL: 2B B. Hernandez – CF Fletcher – RF C. Ramirez – LF Hiwalani – 3B M. Hall – 1B J. Cruz – C L. Ramirez – SS T. Johnson – P Robertson

Farley was whipped early in the game, as the Loggers had six hits and three runs in the first two innings. The Raccoons seemed to only get things going after stealing a base: Guerin was plated by Thomas after his 21st swipe of the year in the top 2nd, and in the top 5th they got a bit more going. Flores stole second, was scored with a Farley single, and then Sharp, Cavazos, and Palacios rapped off three more straight hits, tying the score and loading the bases for Neil Reece, with one out. Reece did not have a good year, so when Robertson got two strikes on him, it was oh-oh in the visitor’s dugout. Reece did connect then, and grounded a single past the reach of Tom Johnson to plate two runs for a 5-3 lead. Jorge Cruz would hit his 17th homer of the season off Farley in the bottom 6th to cut the lead in half and get Farley to the showers. The inevitable implosion was soon to follow. The hapless relief corps, this time consisting of Martinez and Bruno, bothched up in the seventh, allowing two runs on four hits. The offense had nothing to put against that, and left Guerin on third base in the top 8th. In the top 9th, against Wills, Jason Kent led off with a single to left, and, representing the tying run, was bunted to second by Daniel Sharp. Bartolo Hernandez however would intercept both Cavazos’ and Palacios’ grounders to end the game. 6-5 Loggers. Cavazos 2-5, 2B, RBI; Guerin 2-4, 2B; Flores 2-3; Kent 1-1;

Game 3
POR: SS Guerin – RF Cavazos – 2B Palacios – CF Reece – 1B Martin – C Thomas – LF Parker – 3B Heart – P Miranda
MIL: C L. Ramirez – CF Fletcher – RF C. Ramirez – LF Hiwalani – 3B M. Hall – 1B J. Cruz – 2B J. Morales – SS T. Johnson – P Padgett

The Coons – aided by a Morales error to put Concie Guerin on base – plated two runs in the first against Marc Padgett. Initially, I wanted to be happy and enjoy the moment, but then I remembered that Cipriano Miranda had yet to throw a single pitch. When he was through with his first inning, the Loggers had tied the game and left the bases loaded. When Guerin threw away Padgett’s grounder to start the bottom 2nd, the gates opened, and the Loggers took a 4-2 lead. Interestingly, Padgett was just as bad and the Raccoons came back to tie the score in the top 3rd, with a Cavazos triple being the key hit. Mark Hall’s error placed Max Heart on second base with no outs in the top 4th, and somehow this was too early to bring a pinch-hitter and send Scott Wade to the mound. Miranda batted, lobbed a 1-1 pitch to shallow right center and it went right past Cristo Ramirez for a double and gave the Raccoons a new 5-4 lead. Too bad that the team left Miranda on third base then… Reece led off the top 5th with a double and wasn’t scored either. This refusal to cash in cost the Raccoons sooner rather than later. In the bottom 6th, Padgett doubled off Miranda and Leon Ramirez’ bloop fell somewhere in between half the team, but plated Padgett and tied the score. Fletcher plated Ramirez, the Loggers were ahead, and somehow Diaz and Wade at least stalled him on base. The seventh also saw the leadoff batter on for the Raccoons, but again no luck. They trailed 6-5 into the ninth, faced Wills, and somewhere I had seen this before. Palacios with one out sent a fly to deep center, but it was caught, and nobody reached base. 6-5 Loggers. Cavazos 2-5, 3B; Martin 2-4, 3B, 2B, RBI; Heart 2-4; Sharp (PH) 1-1; Wade 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

I had expected a blowout or two, which didn’t happen so far, but consecutive 6-5 losses with enough reasons to kick ourselves weren’t exactly rosy either.

And here comes Garcia…

Game 4
POR: 3B Sharp – LF Cavazos – 2B Palacios – CF Reece – 1B Martin – SS Guerin – C Thomas – RF Flores – P M. Lopez
MIL: RF C. Ramirez – SS B. Hernandez – LF Hiwalani – 3B M. Hall – 2B J. Cruz – C L. Ramirez – CF J.J. Villa – 1B J. Morales – P M. Garcia

What else came? Rain. It started soon after the first pitch and by the second inning forced a delay. After 23 minutes with the tarp on the field, Lopez came back out for the bottom 2nd and was bum-rushed immediately. Cristo Ramirez hammered a 3-run, 2-out double. Depending on how far Garcia would be able to go, this was more than enough to sink the Raccoons. An unearned run on Sharp’s 13th error plated another run in the third, while the Raccoons were non-existent in this game. Lopez was behind in the count to almost every batter, and was booked for five runs (four earned) in five innings, with three walks and one K. Reece managed to drive in Palacios against Garcia, who didn’t go past the sixth inning either after the earlier rain, and only whiffed two Raccoons. Our bullpen was long due (about 24 hours) for another brew-up, which happened in the bottom 7th, when Bob Joly was ravaged for three hits and eventually three runs, because while Bruno came in with Hiwalani on third base, two in, and no outs, and got two outs without Hiwalani scoring, once Diaz appeared to face the left-handed Sam Fisher, Hiwalani was singled home in no time. 8-2 Loggers. Palacios 2-4, 2B; Kent (PH) 1-1;

Once more three terrible starts from our rotation, in succession.

Or in suck-cession.

Yeah, I know, puns.

Raccoons (35-51) @ Crusaders (30-56) – July 6-8, 2001

The Crusaders have swept us in our last two encounters, so we are not necessarily thrilled to face them at the tail end of this 17-game stretch. Never mind their anemic offense which took 86 games to manufacture 301 runs. They know how to score against the Furballs, and that is enough.

Projected matchups:
Carl Bean (6-6, 4.18 ERA) vs. George Allen (0-0)
Ralph Ford (6-6, 3.09 ERA) vs. Anibal Sandoval (7-9, 3.50 ERA)
Randy Farley (2-6, 5.31 ERA) vs. Francisco Garza (8-9, 4.07 ERA)

Allen was a 27-year old right-hander making just his third career start, his 25th appearance (since 1998), and his first of this season. And the other two guys? They have more than half of the New Yorkians’ wins…

Game 1
POR: LF Cavazos – 3B Sharp – 2B Palacios – CF Reece – 1B Martin – SS Guerin – C Thomas – RF Kent – P Bean
NYC: LF M. Ortíz – 2B Rigg – 1B M. Berry – CF Latham – SS Rice – RF Gonzales – 3B F. Adams – C Olson – P Allen

The go-ahead run for New York scored on a wild pitch in the first inning. After that first facepalm moment, Bean did not allow runners until the fifth, when he walked Gonzales and Olson, but both were stranded in scoring position. In between, Mark Thomas had hit a 2-run double in the top 2nd and by now Bean was up 3-1. Thomas added another run by plating Martin for an unearned run in the top 6th (the Crusaders made three errors in the game), and Bean went through eight innings, allowing just two more hits, and was already considerably over 100 pitches. When his turn to bat came up with two out in the ninth, Max Heart hit for him. Nordahl warmed up in the pen, when Heart made his appearance moot with a pinch-hit homer (off ex-Coon Toru Fujita) that moved the game past save range. Manuel Martinez instead came out to pitch in the ninth. 5-1 Coons. Cavazos 2-5; Sharp 2-5, 2B; Guerin 2-4; Heart (PH) 1-1, HR, RBI; Bean 8.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 4 K, W (7-6);

Vince rated George Allen the best player in the Crusaders’ lineup in this game. He gave him 2.5 stars, and nobody else had more than two. By comparison, led by the 4.5 stars Palacios and Bean, the Coons averaged 2.9 stars with their lineup.

And I say ex-Coon regarding Toru Fujita, yet only one of his 370-some career appearances has come as a Raccoon, but it was the very first one: a spot start in 1989.

Game 2
POR: LF Cavazos – 3B Sharp – 2B Palacios – CF Reece – 1B Martin – SS Guerin – C Thomas – RF Kent – P Ford
NYC: LF M. Ortíz – SS Rigg – CF Gonzales – RF A. Johnson – 3B Rush – 1B M. Berry – C Olson – 2B F. Adams – P Sandoval

Singles by Cavazos and Sharp, followed by Palacios getting plunked, loaded the bags with no outs in the top 1st. Reece was still slumping, but had come through in a similar spot in Milwaukee. Not so this time, as he hit into a double play, with Cavazos scoring. Martin singled to plate Sharp and we still got away with a 2-0 lead. Ford however soon proved hittable and the Crusaders sabotaged themselves with a killing double play in the bottom 1st, then took one run out of the lead in the bottom 3rd. Reece’s leadoff double in the top 4th eventually led to him being scored by Concie and the 2-run gap was restored. Not that Ford was defenseless – he twice converted bunts from Sandoval into force outs at second base – but the fact that almost every leadoff batter of the Crusaders reached base one way or other created constant pressure, under which Ford eventually buckled. He walked both Gonzales and Johnson to start the bottom 6th, and when they successfully pulled off a double steal, we knew we were going down. Bob Rush doubled the runners home, tying the score, and Ford walked Berry before walking from the game. Marcos Bruno replaced him, but didn’t relief him. After Olson popped out, Bruno walked both Adams and Sandoval to fall behind in the score. What did the Raccoons do? After Reece’s double in the top 4th, Sandoval sat down the next 15 batters without blinking once. And so the Raccoons found themselves down by one run in the top 9th for the third time this week, with Leonardo Sosa first looking at Sharp. 16, 17, 18. 4-3 Crusaders.

Four walks in one inning. Fantastic. Go on boys, go on. No, I’m not sharpening that broad axe for any one reason. No, no.

Game 3
POR: LF Cavazos – 3B Sharp – 2B Palacios – CF Reece – 1B Martin – SS Guerin – RF Kent – C Fifield – P Farley
NYC: LF M. Ortíz – SS Rice – RF A. Johnson – 1B M. Berry – CF Latham – 3B Rush – 2B F. Adams – C Olson – P F. Garza

The game started with a Cavazos double, and the next four Raccoons struck out, spilling over into the second inning, by which time Farley had already coughed up a run (and I had coughed up some blood). Fifield K’ed to start the top 3rd, before Farley hit a single. Cavazos came up again and drilled a long one out of right field to put Farley on top, 2-1. That was not all, though. Sharp made an out, but then Palacios and Reece sent the bombs flying with back-to-back solo home runs! Kent just narrowly missed a homer in the fourth, instead plating Guerin with a double, and Cavazos hit a 2-out single which ultimately didn’t amount to anything, but in this 5-1 game he was a triple shy of the cycle in the fourth. The Crusaders were not out of hit, however, with Farley melting in the bottom 5th, and Martin Ortíz hitting a 2-out homer. Farley walked two more, before Latham lofted a ball to Cavazos to exit the inning with the tying runs in scoring position. Farley left after six with a 6-3 lead that had been enhanced by Fifield scoring on a wild pitch from Sandoval, who ended up striking out eight between getting battered for six counters. Diaz actually managed a 1-2-3 inning in the seventh, and Martinez managed not to get set on fire in the eighth. With the Raccoons not scoring (and Cavazos not tripling), Dan Nordahl this time entered the game, up 6-3, and grounded out Mike Olson to Sharp to start the inning. Then Jorge Gonzales pinch-hit for the pitcher, and the count ran full. Oh no, don’t start walking them again, Danny …! The sixth pitch of the AB was on the corner and called, however, and that brought up Ortíz, who hit a 2-out single. Nordahl continued to fall behind in the count, also to Gary Rice, who grounded a 2-1 pitch hard to first base. There, McLaughlin had replaced Martin for defense, and made the play. 6-3 Coons. Cavazos 4-5, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Palacios 2-5, HR, RBI; Reece 2-5, HR, 2B, RBI; Parker (PH) 1-1;

Chris Parker is now a whopping 3-37 as a pinch-hitter! That kid is on FIRE!!

In other news

July 3 – TOP 3B/SS Gabriel Rodriguez (.327, 5 HR, 37 RBI) is out for the year with torn ankle ligaments.
July 3 – Oklahoma’s SP Ricky Beach (4-1, 2.23 ERA) sparkles in his sixth major league start. While the offense gives him 20 runs of support in a total thrashing of the Knights, Beach allows only three hits and pitches a shutout.
July 3 – SFW SP Pat Cherry (9-7, 2.35 ERA) 2-hits the Gold Sox in a 3-0 shutout.
July 4 – Another shutout, as SFB Tony Hamlyn (13-3, 2.11 ERA) dominates the Aces, allowing only two hits in an 8-0 romp.
July 5 – The shutout parade continues with Roberto Muniz spinning one in his second start of the year for the Pacifics. Muniz (1-1, 0.60 ERA) allows two hits in a 6-0 win over the Wolves.
July 5 – The Condors take a serious blow with OF Jeff MacGruder (.281, 12 HR, 61 RBI) suffering an oblique strain. He will miss six weeks.
July 6 – Two weeks on the DL is the result of a broken hamate bone in the wrist of Warriors OF Luis Arroyo (.257, 3 HR, 24 RBI).
July 7 – Big day for Sacramento’s OF Aaron Jenkins (.323, 6 HR, 56 RBI): as the Scorpions trash the Wolves, 17-4, Jenkins connects for six hits, including a homer and three doubles, and plates four runs, becoming the 35th player in ABL history to have a 6-hit game. It is the first time in over a year that the feat has been achieved, with Vancouver’s Bob Butler last getting it done on June 19, 2000. It is the fourth time a Scorpion connects six times after Dave Petersen in 1979 and Martin Horn and Jared O’Molony, who achieved a 6-hitter in the same 20-0 blowout of the Cyclones in 1996.

Complaints and stuff

That Rodriguez guy that went down for the Buffaloes and has been OPS’ing .918 is actually a former Raccoon, a short-lived part of the most dismal 1997 squad, before being flipped for Werner Turner and Bob Joly after the season. Six months earlier, incoming, he was part of the trade that sent Ben O’Morrissey out of town then. The other part? Ralph Ford.

After a slow first week, Chris Beairsto burst into flames for the Ham Lake Panthers and ended up batting .373/.500/.784 with 5 HR and 16 RBI in 15 games. He was promoted to AAA St. Petersburg mid-week.

Also in AAA, Julio Mata, who was batting .247 with six homers, has strained an ACL and is out until late August.