[Westheim]

Raccoons (47-28) vs. Falcons (36-38) – June 28-30, 2010

Outside of a brilliant bullpen that was far and away the best in the league, the Falcons didn’t have a lot to offer. They were 6th in runs scored despite a poor batting average of .247, despite not hitting for a lot of extra bases or stealing bases, or even walking a lot. How they had made it to the upper half of the runs table was a mystery. The rotation was rather middling, and you had to pounce on them because if you entered the seventh trailing, chances were slim. We had gone 1-2 against them so far.

Projected matchups:
Javier Cruz (7-4, 3.10 ERA) vs. Alfredo Collazo (7-5, 4.05 ERA)
Kenichi Watanabe (3-5, 4.44 ERA) vs. David Estrada (5-2, 4.54 ERA)
Colin Baldwin (6-4, 3.07 ERA) vs. Larry Cutts (6-7, 4.69 ERA)

The stars aligned to give us two left-handers in one series, with Estrada and Cutts throwing from the southern side, assuming that Estrada could overcome a mild abdominal strain that was bothering him.

Game 1
CHA: CF DeBoer – 2B Reeve – 3B J. Lopez – RF J. Flores – SS J. Amador – 1B J. Mendoza – C F. Gonzalez – LF J. Jimenez – P Collazo
POR: 1B Quebell – 3B Merritt – LF Pruitt – RF Alston – C Bowen – 2B Nomura – CF White – SS M. Gutierrez – P Cruz

The first pitch of the game already inflicted pain … to Jimmy DeBoer, who was smacked pretty good by Cruz. This was only the first tune in a strangely disharmonic ballad played on the mound by the veteran, who constantly allowed hard contact, with quite a bit of that directed right at our middle infielders for lucky outs. The Coons’ Adrian Quebell entered with a 12-game hitting streak that he ran to 13 games on the first chance with a leadoff single in the bottom 1st, but got thrown out at home on a Pruitt double. Nobody scored until the bottom 3rd when the top 3 guys in the Coons’ order all got on base for Ron Alston, who sent a pitch to deep left, but just like Bowen after him had that ball caught by Jose Jimenez. Alston at least netted an RBI, and the Coons would get a second run on a Nomura single to right. Jimenez would later cut into the 2-0 lead with a 2-out solo home run in the top 5th, only the second base hit for the Falcons, but by far not the second hard-hit ball. The Coons got the run back in the bottom of the inning when Nomura plated Pruitt on another single after Pruitt and Alston had led off the inning by drawing walks, but with two out in the top 6th, Cruz was again scored upon with a howling RBI double hit by Jesus Flores. Bottom 6th, Cruz struck out before Quebell singled to right, staying unretired on the day. Collazo then walked Jon Merritt on four pitches to have two on for the middle of the order, and with the first pitch to Pruitt quite wild, the runners moved into scoring position. Pruitt eventually walked, and with Alex Ramirez replacing Collazo Alston struck out and Bowen flew out easily to left.

While Cruz held onto the 3-2 lead through seven despite showing precious little outside of old age, once Donald Sims took over in the eighth to face left-handed pinch-hitter Luis Reya, the lead was toast. Reya homered to right center, the game was tied, and it was all so horrible. Bottom 8th, Robert Parsons, a right-hander, faced Quebell, and Adrian was still not to be retired; he walked, setting up Merritt to bunt, but the middle of the order still stranded Quebell at third base. Reese and Beltran almost conspired to give up a run in the top 9th, but Merritt started a double play to keep the Falcons down. Bottom 10th, closer Luis Hernandez drilled Rob Howell to get started, and THEN faced Quebell, who wasn’t denied and singled to right. C’mon, keep Howell moving! Merritt popped out to Melvin Pollack at second base, who also was fed a nice grounder by Pruitt, but messed it up quite badly, loading the bases with the error for Alston. Aaaand … Alston and Bowen both struck out to leave them loaded. Bottom 12th, Ron Sakellaris pitching, Howell grounded out on a 3-1 pitch, before Quebell grounded to the pitcher, who threw the ball well past Max Heart at first, and Quebell, while technically not reaching base safely, still got to second base with one out. Can we please …? No! Merritt singled, moving Quebell to third, before Pruitt grounded to Pollack, who threw home to erase Quebell comfortably. Once Alston walked, Bowen went from 0-6 to 0-7 with another strikeout, and the game went from the 12th to the 13th inning. Law Rockburn had already pitched two clean innings when he was sent to bat in the bottom of the 13th, and hit a single to left, only go get forced by Gutierrez, who had by now moved to second base, leaving us longing for Yoshi to be still playing quite hard. Howell ran a full count with two outs, singling eventually and allowing Gutierrez to get to third base for the still always-on Quebell, who chose this opportunity to hit one right to Pollack that wasn’t thrown away. Rockburn was scorched for two runs in the 14th, including a homer by Jesus Flores. The Raccoons didn’t answer that call one bit. 5-3 Falcons. Quebell 4-6, 2 BB; Merritt 2-6, BB; Pruitt 2-6, 2 BB, 2B; Nomura 2-3, BB, 2 RBI; White 2-6, 2B; Cruz 7.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 K; Slayton 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K;

The ****ing scums left 20 runners on base, with the same stat being eight for the Falcons. We out-hit them 15-9, outwalked them 8-4, and they made a bushel of errors, and these ****ing scums still lost it hard.

Gonna be one long week of suckage again, huh?

Craig Bowen was a glorious 0-for-8 in this game. The sparkle is off.

Game 2
CHA: CF DeBoer – 2B Reeve – C F. Chavez – 3B J. Lopez – RF J. Flores – SS J. Amador – 1B J. Mendoza – LF Reya – P D. Estrada
POR: 3B Merritt – 1B Quebell – LF Pruitt – RF Ayers – CF White – 2B Nomura – C Owens – SS Howell – P Watanabe

Kenichi Watanabe kept getting clobbered. The Falcons scored two runs in the first inning, hitting four singles, three of which came on line drives that just went over the infielder’s heads. They added a run in the third, and overall had ten hits off Watanabe, who was just ready to get blown over. Two double plays in key spots prevented him from being completely exploded, but it was a thoroughly pathetic performance, although not quite as bad as the one put up by the lineup, which was completely unwilling to do anything against Estrada. Rob Howell hit a stray homer in the bottom 5th and that was just about it. There was so little going on, we can skip right to the eighth, in which Merritt hit a 1-out double, only the fourth hit off Estrada, a veteran with an injury history resembling a book on human anatomy. He kept himself in one piece for quite a while in this game, but allowed a 2-out RBI single to Pruitt. It was tempting to hit for Ayers in this spot, with Alston available, but the Falcons were probably anticipating that and thus left their left-hander IN so they would NOT face Alston, and rather have Estrada face Ayers, who eventually walked. Pat White snuck a grounder past Pollack, in for defense, and Pruitt went aggro around third and was just barely safe (mind that only Keith Ayers is always out at home).

That tied the score, with the other runners into scoring position. Now Alston hit for Nomura, Estrada STILL remained in and they did NOT walk him. So of course Alston flew out to left on the first pitch. In the tied affair, Angel Casas went two innings and struck out six (which also indicates that the game spilled into overtime again). Bottom 11th, White led off against Luis Hernandez and got drilled. That was quite like the bottom 10th had started on Monday, only with Howell getting romped and plenty of runners stranded. Alston next, and you weren’t going to bunt with Alston. The effect was the same as he grounded out to Pollack. That brought up Travis Owens, who had been left on second to end the bottom 9th, grounded out to short, and Howell stuck out. Another man stranded in scoring position. Bottom 12th, Merritt doubled with one out. Quebell hadn’t been on base all day and grounded out here, moving Merritt to third. The pitcher was batting in Pruitt’s spot for a while already, and we had to bat Trevino in place of Beltran, and with Hernandez pitching that was never going to work out. One strikeout later we went to about our last available reliever in Ray Kelley, who was denied the win when the Coons had two on in the bottom 13th and Owens hit into a two-for-one, then managed to survive a leadoff double by Luis Reya in the 14th when he struck out two to get out of the frame. Bottom 14th: Howell reached on a looping single off Jerry Scott, after which Heathershaw flew to right and right to Jimmy DeBoer, who dropped the ball. Two on, no outs. GET THE **** SOME RUN IN, YOU ****HEADS!!

Yelling did the job, obviously. Merritt ran a full count against the right-hander Scott, then hit a ball to center that fell in. It wasn’t overly deep, but Howell had the boosters on and scored from second base, ending the second of back-to-back cascades of misery with a walkoff – finally! 4-3 Blighters. Merritt 3-5, 2 BB, 2 2B, RBI; Pruitt 2-4, RBI; Howell 2-5, HR, RBI; Casas 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K; Beltran 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K; Kelley 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K, W (3-1);

Quebell’s streak inexplicably ended. My patience did, too.

Trade and Stuff

Unrelated to the back-to-back 14-inning games the Raccoons made their move and changed several roster spots. First off, a trade was concluded with the Scorpions, as we traded off the completely off-balance Donald Sims (2-0, 2.73 ERA, 1 SV), who ran a WHIP of 1.58, which was unacceptable for us. Beltran was doing well, so Sims, who was due $500k both this and next season, had to make room. At the same time, we hoped to fill the gaping hole at shortstop with somebody still familiar to Critters fans, as we acquired 36-year old SS Conceicao Guerin (.273, 1 HR, 6 RBI)!

Concie wasn’t getting at-bats in Sacramento, stuck behind Dave McCormick, but he still had that shiny glove and was a more or less consistent .260 singles hitter, although he hadn’t been a starter for a full season since leaving the Falcons after 2005. And let’s be honest, a .260 singles bat and upper echelon glove is more than we can sew together between all our other shortstops right now. Guerin made $264k this year and was a free agent after the season.

We also made several other moves after this. First, we promoted Ron Thrasher, who had whiffed 51 men in 36 innings in AAA, and whom we had picked up last year from the Elks, to fill the second lefty spot in the pen. Then we had to get rid of an infielder, and it was Bradley Heathershaw, a disappointment of galactic proportions. He was waived and designated for assignment.

And then we put another player on waivers and designated him for assignment. Kenichi Watanabe (3-5, 4.45 ERA) was getting hit and hit and hit, and there had to be an end to that at some point. The time has come: Hector Santos (43 BB, 87 K in 88 IP) was promoted to the major league roster! Santos slotted into the rotation behind Nick Brown, and would make his debut on Friday … in New York.

Raccoons (47-28) vs. Falcons (36-38) – June 28-30, 2010

Game 3
CHA: 2B Reeve – SS J. Amador – C F. Chavez – 3B J. Lopez – CF J. Jimenez – RF J. Flores – LF Nieves – 1B Heart – P Cutts
POR: 3B Merritt – 1B Pruitt – RF Ayers – LF Alston – 2B Nomura – SS Guerin – C Owens – CF White – P Baldwin

Baldwin went to full counts on the first three batters, resuling in a single, a stolen base and throwing error by Owens, another single, and another single … and two runs in total. It would be a very long day, especially for Baldwin. There was no bullpen available for him to leave early. He would throw 110 pitches at least, and if the Falcons stuffed him 20 runs, it would be so. And they were certainly getting there early as he walked two and threw a wild pitch in the second inning to allow another two runs. Third inning: Lopez reached on a Merritt error, Jimenez doubled, and Flores walked. Domingo Nieves hit a slam, the Falcons were up 8-2, and Baldwin was not going to get out of this one, still. Nobody out in the third. Max Heart singled, and when Cutts bunted, Baldwin’s throw to first was ****. Ayers made an error in the fourth that wonderously would be inconsequential, but that made it four errors on the day for the team that wanted to win the division. And eight runs against. The Coons scored an odd run here or there, but this was just a mess. It was such big a mess that Colin Baldwin went six innings on 124 pitches, trailing 8-3, then complained about pains in the pitching arm. Oh, great, things are getting better by the minute! Pat Slayton was thrown in there hopefully going to go three innings, which so badly didn’t work once the Falcons turned him inside out for three runs in the seventh, in which he threw almost 30 pitches. The Coons had the bags full with two outs in an 11-5 game in the bottom 7th when his turn came up, Quebell hit for him, but of course that wasn’t going to be a zinger. And yet, despite the savage way in which the Raccoons’ pitchers got raped in this game, they got the tying run into the on-deck circle in the bottom of the ninth, and with no outs. Ted Reese pitched two scoreless in substituting for the mop-up / long reliever, and Matt Pruitt launched a 2-piece in the bottom 8th to get back to 11-7. Trevino hit a pinch-hit triple in Owens’ place in the bottom 9th to get started, and White drew a walk. Bowen hit for Reese, and smacked a huge drive off Alex Ramirez that was SO gone – new score: 11-10. Next, Domingo Nieves, who had hit safely five times in the game, misplayed a Merritt fly into a double. Pruitt had two taters on the day, and now hit a bouncer to right and past Max Heart, scoring Merritt, and we were TIED.

Staggering.

Ayers flew out to center, and Pruitt was strolling far already when Alston chopped a bloop to center, where it fell in for a single, bringing Pruitt, the winning run, all the way to third with one out for Yoshi, who put an 0-1 pitch from Ramirez into play and grounded to the shortstop, but close to second base. Alston had been moving already and it was doubtful they’d get a double play, so Amador threw home to nail down Pruitt, but NO! HE’S SAFE! HE’S SAFE!! THE COONS WIN IT!! THE COONS WIN IT!!!

Total madness!! 12-11 Raccoons!!! Pruitt 5-6, 2 HR, 4 RBI; Alston 2-6, HR, RBI; Nomura 2-5, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Trevino (PH) 1-1, 3B; White 3-4, BB; Bowen (PH) 1-1, HR, 3 RBI; Reese 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, W (2-1);

I have said this before. But … NOW I have seen everything.

Raccoons (49-29) @ Crusaders (43-34) – July 1-4, 2010

We were only 4-3 against the Crusaders, who were coming around after a scrummy start in which they played .500 ball for two months. Since then they had cranked it up, the offense was producing now, and the pitching was good as well, they were fourth in both runs scored and runs allowed, and also they were getting better. We need our top game for this one, and we’re gonna pitch the ace with an ERA of almost 5 in June, the debutee, and the two guys that could do everything from a shutout to a blowout in any given start.

Projected matchups:
Nick Brown (11-3, 2.21 ERA) vs. Manuel Hernandez (6-4, 4.24 ERA)
Hector Santos (0-0) vs. Pancho Trevino (6-5, 3.88 ERA)
Jong-hoo Umberger (7-5, 3.29 ERA) vs. Ken Maddox (6-4, 4.45 ERA)
Javier Cruz (7-4, 3.06 ERA) vs. Mike Collins (3-3, 3.79 ERA)

Boys, a split would already be a good achievement. A split keeps them almost a week’s worth of games behind. A split would be fantastic!

The left-hander Hernandez will give us three straight to face, and while we hope for a resurgence of Brown now that it counts (and we pretend to have forgotten him getting blown out the last time against New York), we were most nervously eyeing Saturday and Hector Santos’ major league debut. When was the last time we longed for Brownie’s start to be done with and in the books to see the next guy in line?

Game 1
POR: 3B Merritt – 1B Quebell – RF Ayers – LF Alston – C Bowen – SS Guerin – CF White – 2B M. Gutierrez – P Brown
NYC: CF R. Pena – C G. Ortíz – LF M. Ortíz – RF S. Martin – 1B Manfull – 2B Caraballo – 3B Bond – SS Brantley – P M. Hernandez

Brownie started the game with a walk, and that had always been a bad sign, and probably still was. While his walk rate would not remain 100%, he worked in full counts regularly, and that was not the way to preserve a completely mangled bullpen. He needed 54 pitches through three innings, after which we were tied at one with runs driven in by Manuel Gutierrez and B.J. Manfull, respectively. The Coons didn’t do anything with Jon Merritt’s 1-out double in the top of the fifth. In the bottom of the inning, Francisco Caraballo hit a leadoff single and was moved around to be at third with two outs. Brown didn’t get Hernandez struck out, and Hernandez hit a liner off Brown’s 1-1 pitch that came screaming right back to Brown, who swiped it off his whiskers with his glove – for the third out. Help was on the way in terms of offense. Keith Ayers led off the sixth with a double and scored on consecutive groundouts to put the Coons up 2-1. Luckily Ron Brantley hadn’t read the scouting report and didn’t know that Ayers was easy to get out at home, and instead threw out Bowen when he was fed the catcher’s grounder. After that, Guerin and White reached with two outs and Gutierrez managed to sneak a grounder past Caraballo and into center. Guerin was still quick (but the quick first step or two were gone completely at 36) and scored handily from second base. Brown sent a ball almost to the warning track in rightfield, but Stanton Martin had that erased, keeping the score at 3-1. Brown struck out the first two batters in the sixth, Pena and Gabriel Ortíz, before Martin Ortíz walked and Stanton Martin singled. B.J. Manfull beat Ayers for a double, the game was tied, and then scored on Caraballo’s single, and just like that, the Coons trailed 4-3. The Raccoons weren’t dead, scratched out the tying run in the top 7th on a Merritt double and eventually an Ayers sac fly, and Brown labored his way through another inning before retiring for a shower. He got a no-decision, striking out eight. Next thing we saw was the major league debut of Ron Thrasher, and he would first see the Martin Brothers right away. Ortíz flew out to center, but Stanton doubled. Thrasher struck out Manfull, then left with the right-hander up next. Rockburn got a grounder to Merritt, who made a bad throw that bounced off the first first, then off Quebell next, and the Crusaders had them on the corners, but Kevin Bond fouled out to end the inning. Alston fouled out to strand two in the top 9th just as well, and the Raccoons couldn’t pull something out, instead heading to extras for the third time on the week, and it was only Thursday. Ray Kelley drilled Gabriel Ortíz to start the bottom 10th, and when Martin Ortíz singled, it was about over. Kelley labored on, but fell to a pinch-hit single by Paco Batlle. 5-4 Crusaders. Merritt 2-4, BB, 2 2B; Quebell 2-5, 2B; Pruitt (PH) 1-1; White 3-5; Gutierrez 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI;

Law Rockburn was also sore after logging three outs between the eighth and ninth inning and was sent for evaluation. Let’s see whether we can turn over the entire roster by Sunday!

Game 2
POR: 1B Quebell – 3B Merritt – LF Pruitt – RF Alston – C Bowen – 2B Nomura – SS Guerin – CF S. Trevino – P Santos
NYC: CF R. Pena – C G. Ortíz – LF M. Ortíz – RF S. Martin – 1B Manfull – 2B Caraballo – 3B Bond – SS Brantley – P P. Trevino

Hector Santos on this July 2, 2010 cherished his first major league at-bat, spending nine pitches with Roberto Pena, before the centerfielder grounded out to first, and had a perfect first inning. Congrats, son, now you’ve got an official big league ERA! Stanton Martin was the first guy to reach against Santos, on an infield single in the bottom of the second, but was collected in Manfull’s double play grounder and the youngster remained unscored upon, then hit a ball past Manfull his first time at the plate, bouncing it into the corner for a double, but ECSTASY ECSTASY ECSTASY he kept running and was out at third base. While the Coons failed to do anything with the bats against Pancho Trevino, Santos didn’t strike out anybody until he faced Martin Ortíz to start the bottom 4th. Ortíz went down, but he then walked Stanton Martin, and Manfull went well deep on a well fat pitch. Precisely here, a nice day for the rookie turned into a nightmare. He walked two more in the inning, and barely got out alive and with all limbs attached. Santos went six, allowed three runs and struck out four. It was not completely bad, but it was not good, either. And the lineup was twice worse, managing only two hits by position players off Trevino through eight innings. Strangely it was Scott Hood who struggled in the ninth inning, allowing singles to Alston and Nomura, but the tying run that came up was Concie Guerin, and there were two outs. Hoping for some wicked PH magic, we sent Travis Owens, but he was just completely overpowered by Hood and whiffed. 3-0 Crusaders.

Yeah, we’re gonna lose four, pretty obvious.

Meanwhile, injury news. Law Rockburn was merely sore and would need another day or two to get back to strength, but Colin Baldwin had torn a meniscus and was headed to the DL. He would most likely miss the rest of July. With the open roster spot, we added a reliever first, with Derrek Fredlund coming up to help out for two or three days before yielding for a starter. Fredlund had 2.5 K/BB and a 1.93 ERA in AAA.

Trade and Stuff

Also, both our players on waivers cleared them. Watanabe was assigned to St. Petersburg (which was swell since we were going to pull another pitcher from there by next week), but Heathershaw refused the assignment.

We picked up the phone and got a deal worked out with the Capitals. So, Bradley Heathershaw, with the winner’s name and a .120 average, 1 HR and 2 RBI, was sent to Washington in exchange for 27-year old SP Greg Dodson, who had gone undrafted in 2000 and had schmoozed his way onto a professional roster by carrying water bottles and clean bats. Right-hander, three pitches, short stamina, 0-2 with a 7.98 ERA in the majors. Well, you ain’t gonna get Juichi Fujita for Heathershaw.

I would have so loved for him to click for the Coons :-(

Raccoons (49-29) @ Crusaders (43-34) – July 1-4, 2010

Game 3
POR: 1B Quebell – 3B Merritt – LF Pruitt – RF Alston – CF White – 2B Nomura – C Bowen – SS Howell – P Umberger
NYC: CF R. Pena – C G. Ortíz – LF M. Ortíz – RF S. Martin – 1B Manfull – 2B Caraballo – 3B Bond – SS Brantley – P Maddox

Jong-hoo walked right on the edge of destruction early on, as the Crusaders had four hits in the first two innings, but both times found their way into the double play that saved Umberger’s bacon (Umbacon?). Don’t get cocky, though: the Coons hit into a two-for-one before the Crusaders ever did in this game.

Scoreless through three, and unable to hit a double when it would be useful, the Critters chained together a Merritt walk and singles by Alston and White to get the first run across in the fourth. Bowen would single to right with two out to get another run in for a 2-0 lead, which instantly got compromised in the bottom 4th when Umberger put on Stanton Martin and Manfull, then allowed a liner to left to Caraballo. Martin scored easily, Manfull was struck down by Pruitt at home plate, and Pruitt then also had the haul a Kevin Bond out of the sky to not surrender the tying run after all and rather end the inning.

But while you may be exhaling, with this team, relief would never last forever. Two innings of offensive nothingness were to get punished when Gabriel Ortíz doubled to right to start the bottom 6th. Martin Ortíz grounded to Yoshi, Gabriel moved up, Stanton Martin struck out. The left-hander Manfull was very hurtfull to the Raccoons and was walked intentionally to get to Caraballo, who then in a full count drew a VERY UNINTENTIONAL WALK, but Kevin Bond was the boo man again for the Crusaders, bouncing out to Quebell to end the inning. GODDAMNIT, SCORE SOME RUNS!! Nope, not gonna happen. Brantley singled in the bottom 7th, knocking out Umberger. Beltran replaced him to face Paco Batlle and drilled the pinch-hitter, and once Pena bounced out the tying and go-ahead runs were in scoring position. Beltran struck out the catcher Ortíz, but the outfielder Ortíz sent a mighty drive to left AND THERE WAS PRUITT!! Another fantastic catch! BUT GODDAMNIT, WE GOTTA WIN THIS ONE, FOR FUR’S SAKE!!

Top 8th, Manuel Reyes pitching. Ex-Coon – good chance! Merritt bounced a single to right before Pruitt walked. No outs. Boys, this is serious. We NEED an insurance run. Better two. Better nine! We need Ron Alston to do something great! But Ron Alston flew out to center and merely got Merritt to third, and when Pat White grounded sharply to the short side of second base, Ron Brantley nipped the ball to Caraballo, whose pirouette and zinger to first were – LATE!! White was safe, the run scored, 3-1 Fuzzbutts! White then promptly made the third out going first-to-third on Yoshi’s single. (rubbing temples with eyes closed) Yet SOMEHOW the 3-1 lead arrived in healthy manner at Angel’s qualified paws in the ninth inning. He struck out Kevin Bond. Brantley grounded softly to third, Merritt had to bare-hand that one and whip it over to Quebell and got him! Now, a pinch-hitter, Robinson Perez, batting less than .200. One strike! Two strikes! Home run! WAT?? ACK!! Roberto Pena grounded out to Quebell while I was unconscious. 3-2 Furballs!! Nomura 2-4; Umberger 6.0 IP, 8 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 2 K, W (8-5) and 1-3;

Before the Saturday games the Indians had been in a position to tie the division by Sunday night if they had kept winning and the Coons would have continued to look like pre-school kits. But, the Elks outdueled the Indians on Saturday, beat them 7-6, and our lead was safe through the weekend, although it had melted considerably since the week had started.

Game 4
POR: 1B Quebell – 3B Merritt – LF Pruitt – RF Alston – CF White – 2B Nomura – C Owens – SS Howell – P Cruz
NYC: CF R. Pena – C G. Ortíz – LF M. Ortíz – RF S. Martin – 1B Manfull – 2B Caraballo – 3B Bond – SS Brantley – P Collins

The Raccoons had leadoff doubles from Quebell and Owens, respectively, in the first two innings and managed to score a grand total of one run, while the Crusaders got Pena on to start the bottom of the first on a Pruitt error. Pena stole second, and his next goal was third base, but this time Owens erased him. New York didn’t get a hit off Cruz until Stanton Martin grounded through Howell in the fourth, and then he was left on first base, too. We got two men on then in the fifth with two outs and Pruitt batting. Pruitt was a bit sore we found out, and maybe it was best to get him replaced after this at-bat, and it would be even better than best if it would be a productive one! He popped out to Pena in center. Next inning, there was a sense of urgency when Owens was batting with Pat White on first base and two outs. Howell was that dreaded automatic out, so Owens had to go and got the green light at 3-0. Collins came down the middle, Owens was never going to hold back and CRASHED the pitch to far, far away, slightly right of dead center and GONE!!

Cruz started to crumble by the sixth, too. Pena got on with a leadoff single, then was nipped stealing, but with two outs Martin Ortíz walked, and he was safe when he ran on our battery and made it to second base. Pat White, moved to left with Pruitt hauled in, had already caught a rocket from Gabriel Ortíz on the track, then got shot another cannonball in his direction by Stanton Martin and somehow grabbed that and held it without breaking his neck, too! Ron Alston plated Quebell with a 2-out single in the seventh, enlarging the lead to 4-0, but the Crusaders got two men on with singles in the bottom 7th, and then sent Robinson Perez (he who homered off Angel the previous day) to bat against Cruz, who was swiftly hauled in and replaced by Luis Beltran, who whiffed the evil scrub. But those crumbling noises got louder and louder. In the bottom 8th, Beltran and Fredlund allowed singles to the first three batters that turned up before Stanton Martin’s grounder was taken for a force out at third base by Merritt. By then, one run was already in. Thrasher came out to face Manfull and walked him on four pitches. Law Rockburn was next in line, but the failing wouldn’t stop, as Caraballo converted two strikes into two runs with a liner into shallow left. Rockburn walked Bond before the nightmare ended with a double play started by Owens, but that pretty 4-0 lead had become a soiled 4-3 mess.

The Coons were almost down against Hood in the ninth when Merritt and Trevino suddenly hit singles and went to the corners with two outs. Ron Alston came up and grounded out to first. Hnnnghh!! Oh well, here comes Angel, and Robinson Perez was no longer in the game, too! Jesus Palacios – K! Roberto Pena – 4-3! Gabriel Ortíz – K! 4-3 Coons! Merritt 3-4, BB; Owens 2-4, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Cruz 6.2 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 5 K, W (8-4);

I’m all sweaty …

In other news

June 28 – SFB INF/RF Ramón Garza (.245, 1 HR, 14 RBI) has two hits in the Bayhawks’ 9-7 win over the Titans to reach 2,500 for his career. The 37-year old Garza drives in the winning run off Matt Collins in the seventh inning to reach the milestone mark. Garza is hitting .278 with 59 HR and 963 RBI for his career and was the 2008 World Series MVP.
July 4 – WAS SP Randy Farley (6-7, 4.74 ERA) strained an oblique while running up the stairs and will miss two weeks on the DL.
July 4 – The Canadiens push the issue by acquiring 1B Ray Gilbert (.333, 5 HR, 11 RBI) from the Cyclones, sending over 40-year old MR Ray Hoskins (3-0, 3.06 ERA, 1 SV) and #8 prospect CF Dave Carter, who’s in AAA. Gilbert missed time with injuries and also played a bunch in AAA after getting squeezed out of his first base slot in Cincy.
July 4 – LAP SP J.J. Wirth (6-9, 4.99 ERA) 2-hits the Gold Sox in a 6-0 shutout.
July 4 – Slightly less stellar, but still impressive: SFW SP Ken Harris (9-3, 2.50 ERA), who spills three hits in shutting out the Wolves, 5-0.

Complaints and stuff

Not a pleasant week, I’ll say that, but it sure had entertainment value. We’ve reached the halfway point of the season now (actually plus one game, but well…), and we’re ahead. No need to fell comfy though. We were ahead by 10 1/2 games in late June three years ago and everybody knows that the Crusaders have won three straight World Series…

The shutout on Friday was our 2,700th franchise loss. Congrats, Hector, barely here and already in the record books. Sorta.

Watch the Elks, too. They sold their farm to acquire Ray Gilbert, who’s not quite Ron Alston, but not far short of it. That’s going to be a serious upgrade for them.

In bad news, I had Brenda pulled form her start in St. Pete on Sunday so she could pitch for us on Monday in Boston. So pre-chalk that one into the loss column, please.

In no shocking news: Jimmy Oatmeal is back in single-A, four years after being the #3 pick in the draft. But back to the 2001 draft, when I was a bit between Barney Manning and some other guy. Manning was a #1 prospect at one point and eventually debuted with the Miners. He’s since become a bit of a #4 starter for them. Not great, but not bad. Oh, that other guy that we selected at #2 in that draft? Chris Beairsto.