[Westheim]

It’s about two more weeks before Nick Brown can realistically start a rehab assignment, and we might want him to make two starts for the Alley Cats to get warmed up, so his return will most likely only take place on the very end of August.

Which sucks.

Raccoons (49-52) @ Thunder (59-44) – July 31-August 2, 2006

We are entering the middle week of a 20-game string without an off day, the last two weeks of which will take place on that old road, with highwaymen and … lichs waiting for us to pass through in the darkness. The toughest piece of that grueling 14-game road trip will be these Thunder, who are still very well in contention in the CL South, using their awesome rotation (2nd with a 3.46 ERA) to great effect. They also scored the third-most runs in the Continental League. So how the **** have they lost five of six to the Raccoons so far?

Projected matchups:
Kenichi Watanabe (5-10, 4.46 ERA) vs. Luis Martinez (6-7, 4.12 ERA)
Tim Webster (3-0, 2.81 ERA) vs. Francisco Garza (9-6, 4.55 ERA)
Felipe Garcia (2-3, 5.73 ERA) vs. Aaron Anderson (15-1, 2.28 ERA)

Well, Wednesday’s game is lost already. But there’s an opening for a series win, if only because of injuries to the Thunder. SP Vaughn Higgins is out for possibly the rest of the season, and they also have Tomas Cardenas and Jesus Palacios on the DL. Palacios’ replacement at second, Max Nixon, is laboring on an oblique strain, too.

And then we DID get an off day. The opener was rained out and pushed on to Tuesday for a nice double header. Yeah, more of those please.

Game 1
POR: 2B Nomura – CF Fernandez – LF Brady – 1B Quebell – C A. Ramirez – 3B Sharp – RF Mays – SS Yamada – P Watanabe
OCT: LF V. Sanchez – RF Takizawa – 3B Arreola – CF McCormick – C De La Parra – SS Heathershaw – 2B H. Castro – 1B J. Vargas – P F. Garza

The Raccoons got a hit early, but managed to mess up and Garza saw only the minimum 15 batters through five innings, while Watanabe was mildly overwhelmed by the four left-handers atop the Thunder order. Perennial batting title challenger Victorino Sanchez just refused to be sat down by Watanabe, and with his at-bats all trouble usually started for Watanabe. Not that Watanabe was bad – he just had no answer to one of the best batters in the league, at all. He survived the first inning, but Sanchez hit an RBI triple in the third, in which the Thunder scored two runs. Watanabe got a BIG strikeout in against Wes McCormick that ended the bottom 5th with three Thunder stranded. He went six and two thirds in a really decent effort without having anything to show for it. Garza pitched into the ninth completely obliterating the Raccoons and striking out ten against just two measly singles, half of those by Watanabe. 2-0 Thunder. Watanabe 6.2 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, L (5-11) and 1-2;

Game 2
POR: 2B Nomura – 3B Flores – LF T. Castro – RF Brady – C A. Ramirez – 1B Sharp – CF Crespo – SS Pena – P Webster
OCT: LF V. Sanchez – 1B J. Vargas – 2B Takizawa – RF Gonzales – SS Heathershaw – 3B H. Castro – C Washington – CF McCormick – P L. Martinez

A leadoff walk to Nomura and Vic Flores’ third homer as a Furball provided offense rather quickly for the Coons in the back end of the double header. Ten Critters came to the plate and four runs scored in that top of the first, with Castro and Sharp contributing doubles. After Nomura stranded a full compliment in the first, they left two more runners on in the second. It was not that big a deal then because Tim Webster had been very good recently, but when Webster inexplicably lost control in the fourth inning, things went south quickly. He had already walked the lefty Sanchez on four pitches in the second, then started the third with a 4-pitch walk to Haruyoshi Takizawa. Heathershaw walked as well and then Hector Castro hit a bomb that Tomas Castro didn’t need to run after – it was GONE. That cut our lead to 4-3, and Jorge Gonzales’ swat in the sixth would tie the score at four, and while the Raccoons didn’t do **** with the bats, Webster loaded the bases with walks to Rusty Washington and Ignacio Arreola sandwiching an Alberto Rangel single with no outs in the bottom 7th. And Sanchez was on deck in what had gone from 4-0 in the first to a devastating soul cruncher. Ed Bryan held the Thunder to a single tally on Sanchez’ sac fly, but that was enough for the home team. The Thunder bullpen pitched perfect ball against the Raccoons over three innings. 5-4 Thunder. Flores 3-5, HR, 2 RBI;

And now it’s August 1 and we didn’t unload. Great.

Game 3
POR: 2B Nomura – SS Flores – RF Brady – 1B Quebell – LF T. Castro – 3B Sharp – CF Crespo – C Bowen – P F. Garcia
OCT: LF V. Sanchez – RF Takizawa – 3B Arreola – CF McCormick – C De La Parra – SS Heathershaw – 2B Nixon – 1B H. Castro – P A. Anderson

The Thunder probably expected to have Felipe Garcia for breakfast – which was not an outrageous expectation in itself – but to their shock had to witness their guy getting torn up first. Aaron Anderson had the third inning from hell, starting with a Bowen double, a Nomura single, then walks to Flores and Brady, the latter for the first run of the game, and then finally a bases-clearing double into the left corner by Quebell to run the board to 4-0. But we had seen that before. In this park. This week.

Garcia was helped greatly be the defense, however. With two on and one out in the bottom 1st, Nomura made a nifty grab to start a double play, and in the fourth Arreola went first to third on De La Parra’s single to center, but was thrown out by a bullseye throw by J.C. Crespo. When the Thunder did get on the board in the fifth, it was nothing defense could help with: Max Nixon took a bean out of the park to cut the lead to 4-1. And everything simply stopped working by the sixth. Takizawa reached on a drag bunt that Garcia was too lazy to dig out, and then he walked Arreola. The next two guys hit singles, and there was still nobody out. We hurried Marcos Bruno into the game, who had Bradley Heathershaw at 1-2 before Heathershaw grounded into a run-scoring double play, then struck out Nixon to at least preserve a 4-3 lead after six.

The meltdown continued, however, in the seventh. Rockburn got Castro, but then left-hander Vonne Calzado pinch-hit in the #9 hole. Ed Bryan came out, gave up a single to center and with the tying run arriving on base, Crespo made an incredibly stupid pickup error that cost an extra base, and soon the whole game as the chain reaction got put in motion. Sanchez doubled, we were forced to switch pitchers again, and Adam Riddle got whacked enough for two runs to score and the Thunder to take the lead. The Raccoons had pinch-runner Yoshi Yamada swipe second base with one out in the eighth, but between Tomas Castro and Daniel Sharp, two terrible bums made two terrible outs. 5-4 Thunder. Quebell 2-4, 2B, 3 RBI; Bowen 3-4, 2B;

Clyde Brady has one hit in his last 28 at-bats. But well, it’s the second half of the year!

Thank god we weren’t sellers at the trade deadline and didn’t jeopardize our playoff chances.

Raccoons (49-55) @ Crusaders (57-51) – August 3-6, 2006

Second in the division behind the Indians and trailing by four games in early August, the Crusaders were in the best position since times immemorial to play meaningful games in September. To achieve that they would have to bother their league-best pitching to at least give 60% against the puny Raccoons offense. Them scoring the sixth-most runs in the CL was in general a hindrance for their aspirations, but should suffice to pour out nine or ten runs in a 4-game sweep. We are 4-3 against them this season, but lost a dozen last year.

Projected matchups:
Ralph Ford (9-9, 3.09 ERA) vs. George Kirk (10-5, 3.08 ERA)
Jose Dominguez (11-8, 4.15 ERA) vs. Angel Javier (13-3, 2.25 ERA)
Kenichi Watanabe (5-11, 4.36 ERA) vs. Greg Connor (5-9, 3.59 ERA)
Tim Webster (3-1, 3.25 ERA) vs. Russell Benson (6-6, 3.04 ERA)

That’s all right-handers. Stanton Martin is still on the DL for them, but might return as early as for the second game.

Game 1
POR: 2B Nomura – SS Flores – 1B Quebell – LF T. Castro – CF Fernandez – 3B Sharp – RF Mays – C A. Ramirez – P Ford
NYC: CF R. Pena – RF Britton – LF M. Ortíz – 3B J. Henry – C J. Lopez – 2B J. Hernandez – SS Guerin – 1B B. Taylor – P Kirk

New York jumped on Ford early with a 2-out, 2-run double by Jorge Lopez in the first inning, but the Raccoons jumped back onto the evil George Kirk and knocked him out after four innings. Key in that and their 4-2 lead then was a 2-run triple by Tomas Castro in the third inning, with Fernandez plating him with a groundout, while Ford doubled home Mays in the fourth. Mark Jones, a left-hander, replaced Kirk, but also got whacked around with a homer by Danny Sharp in the fifth, preceding a Mays single and an RBI triple by Ramirez. That 6-2 lead still didn’t mean they weren’t about to blow it up. Bottom 5th, Roberto Pena led off the inning with a single, then stole second, moved to third on Ramirez’ throwing error, and then stole home against a clueless battery. The thrower part of the clueless battery opened the bottom 6th with a home run conceded to Jorge Lopez before Julio Hernandez tripled. That moved us to switch that thrower part for somebody less aggravating, but Rockburn allowed the runner to score anyway. The Coons got a run off Tom Watkins in the top of the seventh inning before having two on in the eighth with Fernandez lining into a double play. Moreno and Bruno carried the game to Angel Casas, who – in a 7-5 game – quickly nixed the first two men he faced in the seventh before Ape Britton and Martin Ortíz both singled in 2-strike counts. Jerry Henry singled on the first pitch, allowing Britton to score. Oh no, what’s going on NOW? Next man, Jorge Lopez, also a 2-2 count and contact. But this time the ball came favorably to Casas and he managed to get it to first base without further accidents. 7-6 Raccoons. Nomura 2-4, 2 BB, RBI; Castro 2-5, 3B, 2B, 2 RBI; Mays 2-5; Ramirez 2-3, 2 BB, 3B, RBI; Brady (PH) 1-1; Bruno 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K;

Thus Ralph Ford, despite getting shelled, became the Raccoons’ first true 10-game winner this season. And with Brownie’s return timetable, he might well remain the only one. Next on the list after Brownie with seven? Watanabe and Riddle(!!!) with five.

Game 2
POR: 2B Nomura – SS Flores – 1B Quebell – LF Castro – RF Brady – 3B Sharp – CF Crespo – C A. Ramirez – P Dominguez
NYC: CF R. Pena – 1B J. Lopez – LF M. Ortíz – RF S. Martin – SS Rice – 3B J. Henry – 2B J. Hernandez – C D. Anderson – P A. Javier

The Critters went up in the first inning, put their middle infielders on and Brady zinged a single just out of reach of returnee Stanton Martin to plate both of them. Nomura added a run in the second inning before things got wicked again. Up 3-0, Jose Dominguez gave up a first pitch RBI double to Angel Javier in the third inning, then drove in a run himself in the fourth. In the same frame, we had to switch catchers after Ramirez came up lame after a hit and had to be replaced with what looked like a hamstring having gone south. Dominguez got whacked for two runs in the fifth and we were again in one of those unhappy games, and maybe Gary Rice was in a horror year (magnitude of underwhelming performance similar to Sharp) and batting .225, but it was enough to tater one off Dominguez to tie the score in the sixth.

Wicked games call for wicked moves. When Quebell singled with one out in the seventh, we sent Eddie Fernandez to hit for Castro against lefty Mark Jones. It paid dividends immediately, with Fernandez tripling up the leftfield line to bring in Quebell, then score on Brady’s sac fly to right to bring the score to 6-4. The game remained a squeezer, and we were running out of bullpen. Preserving Angel for the ninth (or at least trying to) we had to throw Kaz into the eighth with that 6-4 lead. Stanton Martin hit a leadoff single before Gary Rice rocked a pitch to center that sure looked like it was going before suddenly dropping into Fernandez’ glove. Kaz made it through the inning in one piece. With Nick Lee holding the Raccoons down in the ninth, Angel Casas inherited another 2-run lead and went to 3-1 on his first batter, Daryl Anderson, immediately, but Anderson grounded out. Ian Burns singled, Roberto Pena struck out, and then Jorge Lopez grounded hard to the left side, where Vic Flores made the play deep behind his position before firing a beam to first base, where ball and batter arrived roughly at the same time. The umpire brought up the first, the Crusaders were up in arms, but this game was put to bed. 6-4 Coons. Nomura 2-5, RBI; Flores 2-5; Quebell 2-5; Fernandez (PH) 1-2, 3B, RBI; Ramirez 1-2, 2B;

The team voodoo priests confirmed the hamstring strain the next morning, and Antonio Ramirez went to the DL after doing absolutely nothing in 44 AB since being traded for. This looks like one of those six week things, too, so he won’t even be back at a decent hour. Not quite Itchy or Raúl Castillo, but from the same album.

Bob Wood’s line in AAA was .189/.267/.264 in 53 AB – roughly similar to his major league line this year, and I was not in a mood for that. We had one decent catching prospect in Erik Ruff, but he had been demoted from St. Pete to Ham Lake four weeks ago and then had been found drifting face down in DL Lake last week with – a hamstring strain! It’s epidemic, hurray! Sergio Esquivel was putting up a .719 OPS in AAA, which was really nothing special, and neither were his defensive abilities, but it was more than Bobo Wood brought to the table, and we want a third catcher in September anyway. So we called up Esquivel, 23 years old, right now. He was dragged out of some gutter in Puerto Rico by Vince in 2002. His power is limited, but he doesn’t strike out a lot, and has decent contact abilities. He is also a switch-hitter.

Game 3
POR: 2B Nomura – CF Fernandez – 1B Quebell – LF Castro – RF Brady – C Bowen – 3B Sharp – SS Yamada – P Watanabe
NYC: CF R. Pena – 1B Nava – LF M. Ortíz – RF S. Martin – SS Rice – 3B J. Henry – 2B J. Hernandez – C D. Anderson – P Connor

Yoshi-N’s leadoff double was left unused, and the remaining offensive effort was completely abandoned when Yoshi-Y hit into an inning-ending double play with two on in the second inning. Watanabe made the most of his skill set, allowed no hits the first time through the order until Pena singled with two outs in the third. We’ll ignore Watanabe drilling Nava, because he got out of the inning and the game remained scoreless through five innings. Then suddenly, scientists found life in the Coons’ dugout. Fernandez singled past Nava in the sixth inning and Quebell made a big swing count for two with a homer to right center, his ninth (…) of the year. It could have all been well, but now with the pressure of maintaining a lead, the beleaguered Watanabe flat out crashed into a tree and was rocked for three runs in the bottom of the same inning. Watanabe was gone after that, and the overused pen had to take over early again. The Crusaders kindly invited the Coons back into the game in the eighth with Anthony Duhamel pitching. Brady chipped a single into no man’s land on the right, then advanced on a balk. On the next pitch, Craig Bowen doubled to plate Brady and tie the game. They walked Sharp intentionally(!?), and it was inviting to hit for Yamada with one out, as he was 0-3 on the day, but we’d much rather hit for Ed Bryan behind him with Vic Flores. Yamada grounded to first for one out, or no out at all, as Jorge Lopez mishandled the grounder badly, loading the bags with the error. Flores hit for Bryan, fouled out, and then Nomura hit a single to left center for the go-ahead run to score against new pitcher Tom Watkins. Fernandez came up with Sharp, Yamada, and Nomura on the bags, singled softly to left, and Yamada was waved around. Nomura followed around second, Ortíz’ throw was cut off by Hernandez and fired to third, where Nomura was tagged out, but not until after Yamada had crossed home plate for a 6-3 lead.

We were REALLY strained in the pen. Moreno was unavailable, and Bruno was almost unavailable. We had to try and make it with a lot of Riddle, and as little Rockburn and Casas as possible. When Riddle got three easy groundouts in the eighth and the lead remained 6-3, we stayed with him in the ninth as we had to retire the 6-7-8 batters. Jerry Henry flew out to right, but Riddle walked Hernandez and we had Angel get ready. Anderson struck out, bringing up left-hander Ming Kui to pinch-hit for Charlie Deacon. Kui grounded a 1-0 pitch to left, Sharp with a stretch, up, throw – out! 6-3 Coons! Nomura 2-4, 2B, RBI; Fernandez 2-5, 2 RBI; Brady 2-3, 2 BB; Bowen 3-5, 2B, RBI; Sharp 1-2, 2 BB; Riddle 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K, SV (1);

While we’ve now won three straight against New York, the Indians are also streaking upwards, so we’re gaining no ground in the standings.

Am I really still looking for the Indians??

Game 4
POR: 2B Nomura – SS Flores – 1B Quebell – LF Castro – CF Fernandez – RF Mays – 3B Sharp – C Esquivel – P Webster
NYC: CF R. Pena – 1B Nava – RF S. Martin – LF M. Ortiz – 3B J. Henry – SS Rice – C J. Lopez – 2B Caraballo – P Benson

Both teams had three hits through three, but didn’t get anybody across, with the middle infield turning a double play twice in support of Webster, an ordinary 4-6-3 in the first, and then a rather less ordinary 8-4 in the third, with Roberto Pena tagging up from first on Jose Nava’s fly to center and trying to beat Fernandez’ arm – but he couldn’t. In the top of the fourth Benson gave up a leadoff walk to Fernandez which then rapidly devolved into pain for him when Bob Mays took him deep just inside the foul pole to give Webster a 2-0 lead. 2-0 instantly became 2-1, with Stanton Martin socking a home run off Webster in the bottom 4th. We got a run in the fifth, 3-1, but Webster continued to find trouble. The Crusaders had two on with two out in the bottom 5th. First base was open and the batter was righty Stanton Martin. An intentional walk would bring up Martin Ortíz, a left-hander, and both could mean sudden death for Webster. He was a southpaw, so in the end, we put S. Martin on, and an 8-pitch battle with Martin O. resulted in a bases-loaded walk and a lead reduction to 3-2. Jerry Henry’s 2-run single then gave them the lead.

Webster started the seventh inning, quickly put a man on, and when Law Rockburn came in, it just got incrementally worse. Rockburn allowed two doubles, and Nomura made a throwing error to unravel the inning into a 4-spot for the Crusaders that decidedly averted getting swept for the Crusaders. One of those doubles was to Stanton Martin, who already had a single and a dinger, and came up again in the bottom 8th where the Coons just tried to finish out this game and move on to the next city – all across the continent. In that, we used Ed Bryan. There were two outs, a man on, but please, Ed, just get out of this one. He didn’t. Stanton Martin fired a blazing line into the gap in left center, Brady and Castro were scurrying after it, neither got a good play on it, and Martin turned second by the time Castro threw the ball in. But Castro had no arm whatsoever, and Stanton Martin arrived at third base, standing up, having completed the cycle.

Easy Eddie then threw a wild one, drilled Ortíz, and we REALLY had to bother another pitcher to get the final out, which was actually logged when Esquivel threw out Ortíz stealing. 10-5 Crusaders. Nomura 2-4, 2B; Castro 3-5, 2B, RBI; Mays 3-4, BB, HR, 2 RBI;

Well, for all the misery and pain Stanton “Clockwork” Martin has suffered through this year, he has now been rewarded with a entry in the history books, hitting for the 37th cycle in ABL history, and the first in Crusaders history. There had not been a cycle in almost two years (and safe for a certain Mr. Kirk there has not been a no-hitter in almost five years!) since Jose Paraz’ in 2004. It is the second cycle on August 6, after OCT Tyler Burch’s in 1990. Finally, it’s the second cycle against the Raccoons. Charlotte’s franchise hits leader Hubert Green ticked all four boxes in 1999.

In other news

August 2 – The Capitals get 3-hit by SFW Jose Marquez (7-10, 3.69 ERA), losing 7-0.

Complaints and stuff

Yeah, dropped straight out of the upper half in the power rankings again. 12th to 17th. We reached 400 runs scored on Saturday in our 107th game. Still not scoring enough to not be rightfully contracted from the league.

And cycles and no-hitters might roughly happen equal amounts of time – but I don’t particularly care about a cycle (unless I hate the player), while a no-hitter will stink up the whole month. Or offseason, if it happens on October 1, by a certain Crusaders scumbag.

Whitebread compiled a scouting update on our roster this week. It’s grim. He took Vince’s old ratings, and slashed bits off left and right. Daniel Sharp, Bob Wood, Angel Casas, Clyde Brady, Bob Mays, Felipe Garcia – all took ratings hits. On the other hand we might have something in prospects Matt Pruitt, Derrek Fredlund, and Ricardo Martinez.

No scouting changes with Ryan Miller, who should get his shot in September – but for now hit the DL with a strained rib cage. He should be good by September, but … ugh, I don’t know…

Anybody spotting me noobing into having Antonio Ramirez starting both ends of the double header wins a cookie. When the opener was rained out and the Thunder switched their starters, my brain just shut off. There are REASONS why we haven’t covered playoffs here in a while.