[Westheim]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

So, Brent McLaughlin saved the day, huh?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Uttercoons was always my favorite word.

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

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

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

We might well get double payback in the Sunday game.

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

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

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

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

(sigh)

In other news

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

Complaints and stuff

Another 3-3 week on the way to Oblivion.

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

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