[Westheim]

Raccoons (33-22) @ Crusaders (28-27) – June 7-10, 2010

I will admit that I was very worried going into this series. The Crusaders might only be slumbering and they could well awaken the second the Coons stepped through the door to their park. We had swept them in the first series of the year, 3-0, but we had been 5-0 last year and finished 8-10. So far for them nothing had worked out. They were fifth in runs allowed and even eighth in runs scored for some wicked reason.

Projected matchups:
Javier Cruz (3-4, 3.74 ERA) vs. Elwood Spurrell (3-3, 6.00 ERA)
Kenichi Watanabe (2-3, 4.89 ERA) vs. Manuel Hernandez (3-4, 5.12 ERA)
Colin Baldwin (4-3, 3.26 ERA) vs. Kelvin Yates (5-3, 2.50 ERA)
Nick Brown (10-1, 1.42 ERA) vs. Pancho Trevino (4-4, 4.91 ERA)

Hernandez is the only left-hander in this series. Those ERA’s are all pretty high and for most of these guys highly atypical. They could break out into a winning streak any second now.

Game 1
POR: CF Castro – 3B Merritt – LF Pruitt – RF Alston – 1B Quebell – C Bowen – 2B Nomura – SS Canning – P Cruz
NYC: C G. Ortíz – SS J. Hernandez – LF M. Ortíz – RF S. Martin – 1B Manfull – 2B Caraballo – CF Kui – 3B Burns – P Spurrell

The Crusaders scored first, a run in the bottom of the first inning. Cruz drilled Hernandez with a 1-2 pitch, then ran full counts on the Martins and lost them both as Ortíz walked and Stanton hit a double to plate Hernandez. B.J. Manfull popped out, but Francisco Caraballo almost got a ball past Castro in center, but the play was made and Cruz avoided early implosion. Spurrell didn’t however. Alston and Quebell had singles to start the top 2nd, and while Spurrell struck out Bowen and Nomura, he then ran into Walt Canning, who mashed his first career home run to left center field, 3-1 Coons. Both teams would plate a run in the fifth, with Cruz having nobody on with two outs in the bottom of the inning and almost tumbling into demolition after walking Gabriel Ortíz, allowing a single to Hernandez, and then Martin Ortíz hit a huge fly to left and far away from Matt Pruitt that narrowly missed the wall and bounced off for an RBI double before Stanton Martin popped Cruz’ first pitch up to Merritt for an easy third out, finally. Quebell and Bowen were on to start the sixth and the Raccoons got a fifth run on a groundout by Yoshi Nomura. In the bottom of the sixth the Crusaders also had their first two men on with another walk by Cruz, who just wouldn’t find his command on this day, walking three and drilling two, but he got out of the frame against the weak bottom of the order.

The Crusaders weren’t out of this one, though. Slayton pitched in the seventh, put two on, and when Beltran came on with two out against the lefty Manfull, he promptly allowed a double that scored both runners and got the Crusaders back to within a run. Despite a leadoff double by Nomura in the ninth, in which the Crusaders even made an error, the Raccoons failed to tack on an insurance run. Casas was sent without a cushion, struck out Gabriel Ortíz and Hernandez, then had Martin Ortíz single up the middle. Stanton Martin lined a pitch hard to left – but Merritt was there and caught it just before it could hurt. 5-4 Critters. Pruitt 2-4; Canning 2-4, HR, 3 RBI;

Matt Pruitt seemslessly adjoined a pair of singles to his existing 14-game hitting streak that was interrupted by the collision with Herberto Vieitas a bit more than a week ago. The Raccoons have not seen a guy hit for 20 straight games since DAVID BREWER!!

Game 2
POR: CF White – 1B Pruitt – LF Alston – 3B R. Martinez – RF Ayers – 2B Merritt – C Owens – SS Canning – P Watanabe
NYC: CF R. Pena – C G. Ortíz – LF M. Ortíz – RF S. Martin – 1B Manfull – 2B Caraballo – SS J. Hernandez – 3B Burns – P M. Hernandez

This looked a bit like a forfeit by the Coons, but we had to rest as many left-handers as possible at this rare opportunity, in turn worsening defense even more with a groundballer (on a good day) on the mound. Alston, Merritt, and Canning still need to get rest somewhere.

Maybe the defense didn’t matter so much after all in this game, because the pitching was a right mess to start with. Watanabe allowed homers to Gabriel Ortíz in the first and third for three runs total, and he only survived the first two innings because the middle infielders turned him double plays with a traffic jam on the bases in both frames. Home run power was required to score in this game. Keith Ayers hit a shot off Hernandez for one run in the second, but somehow the Raccoons just plainly weren’t hitting home runs, which was shocking of course. Watanabe was more than done after five horrible innings, in which nevertheless the Crusaders failed to topple him and only got the three runs on Gabriel Ortíz’ shots. B.J. Manfull then conquered Ray Kelley with a solo job in the bottom 6th, and that was luckily before Kelley walked the bases loaded – another situation on which the Crusaders didn’t cash in. After Travis Owens hit a solo home run in the top 7th, Tom Reese was out for the bottom of the inning, which started with Gabriel Ortíz – who hit his third bomb of the day. Top 9th, down by three and Scott Hood on the mound, Ricardo Martinez hit a leadoff double, but that was it for the Coons. 5-2 Crusaders. Pruitt 3-4; Nomura (PH) 1-1;

30 years after Michinaga Yamada’s exploits against the Indians, the Crusaders had their second franchise 3 HR game. This was also the first time somebody had triple-bombed off the Raccoons, and it has happened only 20 times in history.

While Matt Pruitt’s hitting streak lives to 16 games, the remaining days of Kenichi Watanabe on this roster might tick down to zero in the near future, too… And about Ricardo Martinez. He is now batting under .250, and that’s just too poor given his overall skill set. We might need to take a look at other options, perhaps somebody who’s actually qualified to play shortstop. Rob Howell in AAA: .362/.462/.455 in 12 games.

Game 3
POR: CF Castro – LF Pruitt – RF Alston – 1B Quebell – C Bowen – 2B Nomura – 3B Heathershaw – SS Canning – P Baldwin
NYC: CF R. Pena – C G. Ortíz – LF M. Ortíz – RF S. Martin – 1B Manfull – 2B Caraballo – SS J. Hernandez – 3B Burns – P Yates

Castro got on, was caught stealing for the second time in this series, and the Raccoons went down in an uninspired manner in the top 1st before the Crusaders drew walks off Baldwin with their first two batters and took a 1-0 lead on a single to right by Stanton Martin. The Raccoons got Canning on to start the top 3rd, and he stole his first career base. Pruitt and Alston drew 2-out walks before Quebell lined hard to center, but the defensively amazing Roberto Pena managed to warp there and catch the rocket in his glove of wonders (in the sense of: we wondered how that one couldn’t fall in).

Then came the top 4th, the bases would be loaded again, but this time with no outs after singles by Bowen and Nomura and a full count walk drawn by Bradley Heathershaw. With the greatest of pains, the Raccoons would score ONE run here, with Canning whiffing, and B.J. Manfull electing the sure out at first on Baldwin’s bouncer. Castro flew out to left. A wild Kel Yates walked six in five innings without getting destroyed, while Baldwin just couldn’t catch a break in the bottom 5th. Both Ortízes reached on singles that escaped the Coons’ infield by inches and confused Ron Alston badly enough to both reach scoring position on Martin Ortíz’ single. With two outs, Stanton Martin up, and Manfull a left-handed batter, Martin was put on and Baldwin was sent to get Manfull. So, the intentional walk was called and – Baldwin was called out for a balk! A balk! On an intentional walk! The inning quickly cascaded into something ugly. Now trailing anyway, Baldwin pitched to Martin after all. At 1-2, Martin bounced one to Heathershaw, whose throw to first was impossible to come up with for Quebell, and the Crusaders scored on the error. With B.J. Manfull batting after all, he hit an 0-2 offering for a looper to right, it fell in, bounced off and past Alston, and *somewhere* in the suites a platter with fine sandwiches splintered against the room’s wall.

Top 6th, Bob Evans had replaced Yates, who left him with Canning on base. Castro added a single with two outs, but Pruitt popped to second base, and Caraballo dropped it. Bases loaded for Alston, Evans missed generously and walked him, pushing in a run, before Quebell grounded out. Bases loaded, three times, the loot less than underwhelming. This was no way to beat the Crusaders, especially with pitching and defense completely crapping out on basics like not balking on an intentional walk. Rockburn coughed up another run on two doubles in the seventh. The Coons got nothing. 5-2 Crusaders. Castro 2-5; Canning 2-4;

Matt Pruitt came to the plate five times, walked the first two times, grounded out, reached on an error, and popped out to end his 16-game hitting streak.

Game 4
POR: CF Castro – 1B Merritt – LF Pruitt – RF Alston – C Bowen – 3B R. Martinez – 2B Nomura – SS Canning – P Brown
NYC: CF R. Pena – C G. Ortíz – LF M. Ortíz – RF S. Martin – 1B Manfull – 2B Caraballo – SS J. Hernandez – 3B Burns – P Trevino

We kinda really, really needed this win, but … no. Pena hit a single to right, Gabriel Ortíz hit one right through Martinez, and then Brown walked Martin Ortíz. At 1-2 on Stanton Martin, he threw a wild pitch. Martin would strike out, but Manfull reached on an error by Nomura, and Brown continued to not get it done with a walk to Caraballo. Hernandez was drilled, 3-0, Burns walked, 4-0, and then Trevino hit a double to left. 51 pitches, seven runs for the Crusaders, of which five were earned, but all were deserved.

There was really nothing to even play for after that. Brown remained in the game plainly to eat innings after the starters had only pitched 16 innings in this series before that. Brown, who had already been blown out by the Crusaders once in 2009, was completely derailed for seven hits, six walks, and three strikeouts amounting to nine runs in five innings. When he was done getting ravaged, the Crusaders had no hits and only a Merritt walk in the fourth against Trevino… The horrible Raccoons would only ever amount to two hits while Trevino spun a complete game 2-hitter, with the Raccoons even making the scoreboard with a laughably negligible seventh-inning home run by Ron Alston. 9-1 Crusaders. Reese 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K;

Well, and with that, we abandon all hope. The team is ****, was always meant to be ****, and when I said they’d win 101 games I must have hit my head beforehand. Maybe it’s Alzheimer’s and I don’t even know what I’m saying anymore.

Raccoons (34-25) vs. Wolves (25-35) – June 11-13, 2010

Like any good book, the Raccoons kept you always turning another page to see how they would **** up next. The Wolves were the second-worst team in the ABL, though just a bit below league average in both runs scored and runs allowed, and their run differential was even only -7, so they were doubtlessly due a winning streak. We hadn’t played them since 2007, then taking two of three, but had gotten swept the two meetings before that.

Projected matchups:
Jong-hoo Umberger (4-4, 3.88 ERA) vs. Max Shepherd (4-4, 2.95 ERA)
Javier Cruz (4-4, 3.68 ERA) vs. Art Cox (3-3, 4.70 ERA)
Kenichi Watanabe (2-4, 4.94 ERA) vs. Raúl Chavez (5-4, 4.03 ERA)

Chavez is a left-hander, which shall be designated as Ron Alston Won’t Hit a Meaningful Homer Anyway Day.

Game 1
SAL: CF A. Ruíz – C M. Torres – 2B A. Rodriguez – LF Hiwalani – RF J. Gonzalez – 1B Roche – SS Efird – 3B N. Chavez – P Shepherd
POR: CF Castro – 1B Quebell – LF Pruitt – RF Alston – C Bowen – 2B Nomura – SS Canning – 3B Heathershaw – P Umberger

The Raccoons scored a sorry run in the bottom 3rd, Pruitt singling in Quebell, but continued to manufacture tight spots where they really shouldn’t and one of those things was before that in the top 3rd, when there were two outs and nobody on until Miguel Torres reached on a Heathershaw error before Jong-hoo drilled Alberto Rodriguez. Hiwalani would foul out to end the inning, but … gnnngh!! Neither lineup did much to hurt the opposing pitcher through conventional means, but in the bottom 6th the Wolves’ Max Shepherd was in nominal trouble after a walk to Pruitt and an Alston single, only the Coons’ fourth hit in the game. But it took only one more pitch to dissolve the situation in Shepherd’s favor, with Craig Bowen hitting into a double play. Umberger maintained a 2-hitter through seven innings, but was beyond 100 pitches already and would need some qualified backup. Umberger was hit for in the bottom of the seventh with Merritt on first (after hitting in place of Heathershaw) and two outs. Keith Ayers sent a ball to deep center, where it was caught by Abe Ruíz. The centerfielder would strike a leadoff single to right against Law Rockburn in the eighth inning, but the Wolves never got their man off first base. Bottom 8th, still with Shepherd pitching, Castro drew a leadoff walk and was in motion when Quebell defeated Frederic Roche with a hard liner that bounced up the rightfield line and enabled the speedy Castro to score easily from first base. Despite Quebell on second base on the double and no outs, that was all. Pruitt flew out, Alston was walked intentionally, and Bowen and Nomura made two ready outs. Angel Casas drilled Roche with one out in the ninth, but got a double play grounder fed to Walt Canning by Carlos Ramos after that. 2-0 Coons. Quebell 3-4, 2 2B, RBI; Merritt (PH) 1-1; Umberger 7.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 5 K, W (5-4);

Game 2
SAL: CF A. Ruíz – C M. Torres – 2B A. Rodriguez – LF Hiwalani – 1B Roche – SS D. Mendez – RF Olson – 3B N. Chavez – P Cox
POR: CF Castro – 1B Quebell – LF Pruitt – RF Alston – C Bowen – 3B Merritt – 2B Nomura – SS Canning – P Cruz

This time around, the Raccoons got a few runs on the board early. Castro walked to start their effort in the first, with Quebell hitting another double. Pruitt and Alston didn’t come through, but their outs were productive and the team was up 2-0 after the first, and added a run in the second inning after Jon Merritt’s 12th triple of the year. In the fourth, Alston reached leading off on a throwing error, but was left on third base. Meanwhile, Cruz had brought some heat and had seven strikeouts through four innings. Nelson Chavez hit a leadoff single in the top 5th when the Wolves elected to have Art Cox swing away, grounding the first pitch into Walt Canning’s eager glove for a double play. Forward to the bottom 6th, where Pruitt reached on an infield single to start the frame, then stole his first bag of the year on Torres. Alston was walked intentionally, but Bowen hit a double past Hiwalani, going hard on 38, to score Pruitt and put runners on second and third with no outs, and this was also the Coons’ first RISP hit in the game. Alston scored on a sac fly and Cruz would then add to his day with a 2-out RBI knock to get the lead to 6-0. Pitching-wise he added only one K to the seven from the first four innings, whiffing Abe Ruíz in the eighth, the only out he logged there in between a Carlos Ramos walk and Torres single. Kelley came in, struck out Rodriguez, and Hiwalani bounced out to Merritt. Ted Reese’s ninth started with a walk and a balk, but the Wolves wouldn’t score in the 18th inning in the series, either. 6-0 Coons. Cruz 7.1 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 8 K, W (5-4) and 1-3, 2B, RBI;

We had only six hits and three walks, and nobody had more than one knock. But the Elks, who had come to within one knock to tie the division on Thursday, had since lost three games (including Thursday), and were instead tied with the Crusaders, who hadn’t lost since mopping up Kenichi Watanabe on Tuesday. As we’re on the topic of Watanabe…

Game 3
SAL: CF A. Ruíz – C M. Torres – 2B A. Rodriguez – LF Hiwalani – RF J. Gonzalez – 1B Roche – SS D. Mendez – 3B N. Chavez – P R. Chavez
POR: CF White – 2B Nomura – LF Pruitt – RF Ayers – 1B Merritt – 3B R. Martinez – C Owens – SS Canning – P Watanabe

The Critters didn’t see Chavez all too well, but the Wolves certainly saw Watanabe sufficiently good. They just didn’t score, still, but they had six hits in the first four innings and left a runner in scoring position in three of the innings. The home team didn’t reach base until their #8 batter. Walt Canning legged out an infield single, but stumbled over the first base bag and hurt himself. Heathershaw had to replace him in the field. Watanabe pitched in the sixth inning, walked a man, then allowed back-to-back 2-out RBI doubles to Roche and Mendez. That gave the Coons a 2-0 deficit and with Bowen and White going down to start the bottom 6th, they still had only their one hit. Then Nomura hit a ball over Hiwalani for a 2-out double, which Pruitt followed up with a hard single to left. Nomura scored, 2-1, Ayers singled, and Merritt hit another single to left to tie the game. Leftfield remained their preferred target, with Martinez launching a liner to there as well, and Hiwalani didn’t get to that one, either. Martinez came up with a triple, handing Portland a 4-2 lead. Ray Kelley was to bat next, having replaced Watanabe with the intention to also pitch the seventh no matter what. Another runner on third base was all too tempting however, and Ron Alston hit for Kelley. He lined a pitch hard, but right at Alberto Rodriguez. Slayton pitched a clean seventh, yielding for Rockburn in the eighth, who allowed a single with one out to Hiwalani. With the left-handed Javier Gonzalez next we moved on to Sims, who almost allowed a homer or at least an RBI double, but Pruitt managed to make the catch at the wall without smashing in his own face. Angel Casas had a bit less trouble in the ninth inning, despite a 2-out walk to Carlos Ramos. After that, Pat Buckholtz hit for Abe Ruíz and grounded hard to first, but Quebell had been inserted for defense there and ended the game. 4-2 Furballs. Martinez 1-3, 3B, 2 RBI; Canning 1-1;

Nobody with multiple hits again, but sometimes five hits in a row are success enough. Ask Nick Brown about that.

In other news

June 7 – 300 home runs for SAL LF/RF Bakile Hiwalani (.261, 7 HR, 32 RBI)! In a twist of irony, he hits the milestone homer off the Warriors’ Martin Garcia, his teammate on the Loggers for more than a decade. Hiwalani, who hit 293 of his dingers as a Logger, has hit .273 in his career, driving in 1,505 runs, and has also stolen 154 bases. He was an All Star four times and won a Gold Glove in 2000.
June 7 – Season over for PIT LF/RF Mohammed Blanc (.341, 7 HR, 27 RBI), who has suffered a ruptured medial collateral ligament.
June 8 – RIC LF/CF Earl Clark (.303, 6 HR, 32 RBI) is going to miss a month with an ankle injury.
June 11 – Pittsburgh’s 23-year old wonder SP Fred Dugo (7-4, 3.05 ERA) 3-hits the Knights in a 10-0 rout.
June 13 – DEN 3B Javier Rodriguez (.313, 1 HR, 26 RBI) will miss most of the time remaining before the All Star Game, going down with a back strain.
June 13 – DAL SP Paul Miller (4-7, 3.73 ERA) spins a 3-hit shutout against the Falcons. The Stars win 6-0.

Complaints and stuff

Hiwalani homering off Martin Garcia for #300 is something you can hardly make up. He is the ninth player to reach 300 big jobs after Raúl Vázquez (416), Dan Morris (406 and counting), Michael Root (338, HOF), Jose Lopez (329 and active), Gabriel Cruz (318, HOF), Anibal Rodriguez (318), Mark Dawson (304), and David Lopez (303 and hungry for more). I never liked Hiwalani, but he has really been quite the hitter, which needs to be acknowledged at some point. He might have fallen off a cliff around his age 35 season, but before that he was a giant pain in the rear in the North.

No diagnosis on Walt Canning yet, but after the way the team got romped by the Crusaders (as usual), we can stop worrying about the playoffs and start picking apart the top 100 prospect lists to see who we can turn Alston, Quebell, Cruz, Umberger, Bowen, and all the other expensive, useless bling into.

Next week: four against the Elks on the weekend, but before that, on Tuesday, the Amateur Draft. By the way, I misplaced the draft report by our new scout Juan Calderón, but I am confident that I can find it again before the draft takes place. And in case it doesn’t, we won’t pick in the top 40 anyway…