[Westheim]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ah, the pains.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

In other news

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

Complaints and stuff

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

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

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

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

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