[Westheim]

Raccoons (63-73) vs. Titans (92-46) – September 2-4, 2002

Just after being handled comfortably by the Loggers (and suffering mathematical elimination from October baseball in the process), the summarily struggling Raccoons faced the romping, stomping Titans. This could not end well. Maybe we could at least lose decently? We are 4-8 against them this season.

Projected matchups:
Ralph Ford (11-8, 2.75 ERA) vs. Ray Conner (0-2, 5.24 ERA)
Carl Bean (13-11, 3.90 ERA) vs. Mario Cruz (0-0, 2.57 ERA)
Nick Brown (9-7, 2.39 ERA) vs. Jason O’Halloran (18-6, 2.93 ERA)

Nick Brown will have his bid for franchise history on Wednesday. Facing O’Halloran hands him a sure loss, but he might still strike out eight to match Kisho Saito’s single season K mark. The Titans had lost Joe Mann to injury and were also stretching their rotation, meaning we’d happily miss Jorge Chapa (15-6, 2.25 ERA).

Game 1
BOS: 2B D. Mendez – 1B Matsumoto – RF Jin – SS Austin – 3B V. Flores – LF G. Munoz – CF Bryant – C F. Diéguez – P Conner
POR: 3B Sharp – SS Guerin – LF Roberson – 2B Palacios – 1B Ingall – CF Torrez – C Thomas – RF G. Flores – P Ford

Two out and Victor Flores on second base, we had Ford pitch to .133 batter Fernando Diéguez rather than walk him intentionally. Diéguez singled, the Titans were up 1-0, and the Coons were inept through and through, not finding a way to touch replacement pitcher Conner. A 2-0 deficit in the seventh inning felt like 9-0 or more, because nothing was going forward for the Coons. Then Roberson singled. And Palacios singled. And Conner through a wild pitch. Suddenly, with one out, the Raccoons had the tying runs in scoring position, and Torrez was 2-0 ahead. From 2-0, he would strike out, and now he replaced the righty Thomas with the lefty Martin to hit against the lefty Conner – and it worked! Martin lined a single into left center and two runs scored! The game was tied, and then game the top 8th, Bob Joly took the mound, faced four batters, and retired zero. Marcos Bruno replaced him, the drumming continued, and the Raccoons lost handily. 6-2 Titans. Roberson 2-4; Palacios 2-4; Martin (PH) 1-2, 2 RBI; Ford 7.0 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 5 K;

Okay. Bob Joly has to go. I can’t stand his sorry face any longer. It’s time for a radical roster revamp.

Also, Ralph Ford has not won a game since July.

Game 2
BOS: CF Garrison – SS Matsumoto – RF G. Munoz – 3B Austin – C L. Lopez – LF Elizondo – 2B V. Flores – 1B Hester – P Cruz
POR: 3B Sharp – 2B Palacios – LF Roberson – 1B Martin – RF Brady – CF Torrez – SS Guerin – C Fifield – P Bean

Middle game, another marginal pitcher in for the Titans, but the Raccoons continued to be much, much worse than marginal. They sucked outright. What little offense they had all died whenever Albert Martin came to the plate, who faced Cruz, a right-hander, three times, and struck out three times. Bean pitched very well, apart from one wild inning, where he walked the bases full, and went the distance in the contest, striking out seven and allowing only three hits. One of those hits was a home run by Gonzalo Munoz in the fifth inning. And that home run was the margin of victory. 1-0 Titans. Guerin 2-4, 2B; Bean 9.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 5 BB, 8 K, L (13-12);

The agony. The agony.

Game 3
BOS: 2B D. Mendez – 3B V. Flores – CF Garrison – 1B Matsumoto – LF Austin – RF Bryant – SS H. Ramirez – C F. Diéguez – P O’Halloran
POR: 3B Sharp – SS Guerin – LF Roberson – 1B Martin – 2B Ingall – RF Brady – C Fifield – CF Torrez – P Brown

If those two scrubs managed to hold the Inepticoons to two runs total, O’Halloran would probably pitch a no-hitter at the very least in the last game of the series. Before the Raccoons got a chance to swing the bats, Brown was already hammered for three runs in the first inning with three extra base hits. Brown’s first K was to O’Halloran in the second inning, and by the time O’Halloran was up again, leading off the fifth, Brown had five strikeouts on the day, and 190 for the season. Brown went to 1-2 on O’Halloran, before the pitcher put the ball in play – or actually not. O’Halloran homered, and while Brown went on to whiff Mendez and Garrison, the mood was killed for good in this game, in this series, and in the city as a whole, with a 5-game losing streak being about official with the team trailing 4-0 in the fifth. Brown went eight innings when all was said and done, didn’t get another strikeout and stopping at 192, yet the attendance was on the way to the gates anyway and wouldn’t have bothered anyway. Through eight, the Coons had as many hits as they had errors, three apiece, but then had Guerin and Roberson single to start the bottom 9th, prompting an appearance from John Bennett, whose first pitch to Martin had the Portland first baseman hit an even 100 RBI on the season, sending that pitch well out of the park – but we still were a run behind. And we didn’t get another base runner. 4-3 Titans. Roberson 2-4, 2B;

The indignity. The indignity.

Raccoons (63-76) @ Canadiens (68-71) – September 6-8, 2002

Nobody was in the mood to go to Canada once again, especially with the team in full collapse mode now and tying the Indians for second-last. The Elks’ second-place offense would certainly mesh well with our beneath-replacement-level pitching, at least as far as the bullpen was concerned. Regardless, they were hot, we were not, and it’s a good thing we can’t mathematically lose a hundred anymore this year.

Projected matchups:
Randy Farley (7-13, 4.30 ERA) vs. Paul Kirkland (4-4, 3.97 ERA)
Ramón Meza (3-2, 5.52 ERA) vs. Juan Bello (8-11, 4.04 ERA)
Ralph Ford (11-8, 2.74 ERA) vs. Jose Dominguez (10-8, 4.45 ERA)

Game 1
POR: 2B Palacios – 3B Sharp – CF Torrez – 1B Martin – LF Parker – RF Brady – SS Guerin – C Fifield – P Farley
VAN: SS Sutton – LF J. Durán – RF Velasquez – 1B I. Gutierrez – 3B A. De Jesus – CF Wheaton – 2B Phillips – C Hurtado – P Kirkland

The Canadiens loaded the bases with no outs in the first before being held to a sac fly, and the Raccoons actually claimed a 3-1 lead in the top 3rd, with the go-ahead runs being walked in against Parker and Brady with two down, before Guerin flew out on a 2-0 pitch. That lead was soon enough blown by Farley, who was utterly raped in the most inhumane fashion in a 5-run bottom of the third, which was doubles galore for the Canadiens, much to the delight of their disgusting followers. The Raccoons’ pitching was soundly overwhelmed by the irresistible force from the north, with Miller and Martinez torn to shreds in the sixth and seventh, including a 3-run homer by Sutton. Joly was put in and waited until the Canadiens were exhausted from swinging and running around the bases, which was something that didn’t happen until after Raymond Sutton hit another totally unnecessary 3-run homer. It was a most ugly rout. 14-3 Canadiens. Martin 2-4; Ingall (PH) 1-1, 2B;

The shame. The shame.

Game 2
POR: 2B Palacios – SS Guerin – RF Brady – 1B Martin – LF Parker – 3B Ingall – CF Lyon – C Thomas – P Meza
VAN: CF T. Wilson – 3B A. De Jesus – LF Trinidad – RF Velasquez – 1B Phillips – C Rosa – 2B Dobson – SS Morgan – P Bello

Regardless of what the horrendous Meza and the horrendous bullpen would do, the Raccoons madesure that Bello wouldn’t appear in the Performances of the Day featurette on BNN, socking Bello for three runs in the first inning. Well, they had lots of singles, including two of the infield variety. Meza loaded the bags in a hurry in the first, but the Elks failed to score, and wouldn’t get another hit until the sixth, when they got loads of them in quick succession, capped off by a 2-out, 3-run homer by Jerry Dobson that brought the score back to 5-3. Meza collected an out in the seventh before De Jesus singled and Huerta came in to end the frame. In the bottom 8th, Marcos Bruno got two outs with two pitches, then walked the bases full without advance notice. Pedro Perez was called on to face the left-handed Tom Wilson, walked him, and Nordahl then was de-mothballed to take a look at the possibility of walking Alfredo De Jesus. De Jesus poked at the 2-0 pitch and grounded out to Ingall. Nordahl retired the first two in the ninth before walking Phillips, which prompted a PH appearance by slugger Iván Gutierrez, who still grounded out. 5-4 Raccoons. Palacios 3-4; Guerin 2-5, RBI; Nordahl 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K, IR 3-0, SV (25);

What? A win? What sick hex was laid on those poor Elks?

Game 3
POR: 2B Palacios – 3B Sharp – CF Torrez – 1B Martin – RF Brady – C Fifield – LF Parker – SS McLaughlin – P Ford
VAN: CF T. Wilson – 3B A. De Jesus – LF Trinidad – RF Velasquez – 1B Phillips – C Rosa – 2B J. Zamora – SS Morgan – P Dominguez

The Coons came out early, with Torrez homering on a 3-0 pitch in the first for a 1-0 lead, and the Raccoons chained up a number of hits including two doubles to add three more runs in the second against Dominguez, who lacked any of his usually tremendous stuff and was hit for in the bottom 3rd, down 5-0, although his pinch-hitter, Dave Wheaton, hit a double in the middle of a 2-spot for the Canadiens to take a piece out of Ford. Jim Phillips homered to start the bottom 4th, and Ford was just not qualified to give us – and himself – an easy win, or a win at all. He was winless since July 31. Would this be the one? Walks to Trinidad and Velasquez and a Rosa single loaded them up in the bottom 5th, and Jesus Zamora hit a deep fly to center that somehow ended up in Torrez’ glove to end the inning. A 2-out single by Wilson knocked Ford out in the bottom 6th, with Martinez getting a groundout from De Jesus to close Ford’s line at 5.2 innings and three runs. McLaughlin came through with a 2-out, 2-run double in the top 7th to create some breathing space and potentially getting this one home. But there were still nine outs to collect, and the Coons were the Coons after all. Miller walked two in the bottom 7th, but Huerta bailed the Brownshirts out. Martin enlarged the lead with #29, a solo shot in the eighth, and Huerta ended up finishing the job, collecting eight outs with only a 2-out double by Velasquez in the bottom 9th against him. 8-3 Coons. Sharp 2-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Martin 2-5, HR, RBI; Fifield 2-5, 2B; Parker 2-4, RBI; McLaughlin 2-4, BB, 2 2B, 2 RBI; Huerta 2.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, SV (1);

And so, after 38 days of staying outside and looking in, Ralph Ford won his career-high 12th game of the year, and was allowed to enter the Hut of Wins again.

It WAS cold outside.

With this, we have claimed the season series, 10-8, for the second straight year, and the tenth time in the 13 seasons since 1990. At least this. At least we got this.

In other news

September 3 – OCT SP Aaron Anderson (17-8, 2.71 ERA) 3-hits the Bayhawks in a 3-0 win.
September 5 – Miners SP Roy Floyd (15-8, 3.48 ERA) turns in his second shutout in three games, blanking the Cyclones to four hits in a 4-0 win.
September 6 – WAS 1B/3B/RF Cesar Solís (.240, 0 HR, 27 RBI) is out for at least half a year with a ruptured medial collateral ligament.
September 8 – A hamstring strain ends the season of SFB SP Ricardo Sanchez (14-10, 3.81 ERA).

Complaints and stuff

We can still win our 2,100th franchise regular season game this year. If we go undefeated from here. Ho-hum.

As Al Martin has broken through the 100 RBI mark, let’s also take a look at single season and franchise RBI marks now!

Single season RBI by a Raccoon:

1st – 140 – Tetsu Osanai (1989)
t-2nd – 121 – Tetsu Osanai (twice, 1986 + 1990)
4th – 119 – Mark Dawson (1983)
5th – 115 – Mark Dawson (1988)
6th – 111 – Daniel Hall (1992)
t-7th – 109 – Tetsu Osanai (twice, 1987 + 1988), Liam Wedemeyer (1997)
10th – 105 – Mark Dawson (1989)
11th – 104 – Tetsu Osanai (1991)
12th – 103 – Albert Martin (2002)
13th – 102 – Daniel Hall (1984)
14th – 101 – Royce Green (1994)

A piss poor 1981 team had Ben Simon lead the team with *68* RBI. Yes, he played the whole season. However, recent years had a few teams not far behind. Recently, Werner Turner and Clyde Brady led the team in consecutive seasons with less than 80.

Career RBI by a Raccoon:
1st – 980 – Daniel Hall
2nd – 869 – Mark Dawson
3rd – 865 – Tetsu Osanai
4th – 801 – Neil Reece
5th – 520 – Ben O’Morrissey
6th – 457 – David Vinson
7th – 410 – Ben Simon
8th – 397 – Vern Kinnear
9th – 392 – Matt Higgins
10th – 349 – Jorge Salazar
11th – 345 – Marvin Ingall
…
19th – 272 – Conceicao Guerin
20th – 254 – Steve Walker
21st – 249 – Clyde Brady
22nd – 245 – Albert Martin

And because we (read: I) just love wicked stats, here’s one more: the lowest number of RBI for the Raccoons currently unoccupied is 24. Each number between 1 and 23 is represented, but 24 isn’t. Due to retirements, no lower number will ever “open up” again. Coons with 23 or 25 RBI (see if you can remember them all!): Cisco Banda and Glenn Adams have 25, while 23 have been reached by Justin Reader, Sidney Aycock, and Randy Farley.

Originally Posted by Questdog

Just catch them Canadians.....

Any other tasks we might even have a chance for?

One more week in the minor leagues, and that season can’t end soon enough. Not only did all our minor league teams get whipped soundly below .500 (fitting the parent club), by now we have injuries raging across the system. The minor league teams are down to perhaps 11 or 12 credible starting pitchers! That’s the main reason we can not add more players right now.

Do we even want to add more players?

Do we even want to leave bed?