[Westheim]

Raccoons (51-31) @ Titans (40-42) – July 5-8, 2010

The Titans had a decent offense, ranking fifth in runs scored, but their rotation was outright horrible, posting a 5.27 ERA that was soundly the worst in the league. The bullpen was decent, sixth in ERA, but the best bullpen on Earth wouldn’t be able to solve that rotation. We were 3-1 against them this year, and we would see them again at the other side of the All Star Game, then in Portland.

Projected matchups:
Brendan Teasdale (0-0) vs. Ron Carter (6-7, 4.51 ERA)
Nick Brown (11-3, 2.39 ERA) vs. Jesus Cabrera (7-4, 4.63 ERA)
Hector Santos (0-1, 4.50 ERA) vs. Ramón Martinez (3-2, 8.41 ERA)
Jong-hoo Umberger (8-5, 3.19 ERA) vs. Mauro Castro (3-10, 4.84 ERA)

Martinez is the only left-handed pitcher in the series, but we were resting Matt Pruitt in the opener, as he had been sore on Sunday already. The Titans had their best hitter, Gerardo Rios, on the shelf anyway.

Teasdale had turned 26 at the end of June. He’s no longer a prospect. He’s probably never going to be a major league regular. But maybe he can finally win a major league game? He’s 0-7 with a 7.59 ERA for his major league career…

Nick Brown’s next start would be Sunday, but since he will damn sure go to the All Star game (and if not, there will be a serious ballot stuffing investigation), he will not make that start.

Game 1
POR: 1B Quebell – 3B Merritt – RF Ayers – LF Alston – C Bowen – 2B Nomura – SS Guerin – CF Trevino – P Teasdale
BOS: 2B J. Ramirez – CF Baez – C Suda – 1B T. Ramos – LF Hayashi – 3B E. Salazar – SS M. Austin – RF Quintanilla – P Carter

Bowen drove in a run in the first, but ultimately the bases remained loaded and Teasdale had nothing better to do than to walk the leadoff man Jesus Ramirez, but recovered to strike out two and get out of the inning. Top 2nd, same song for the Coons, Trevino reaching, stealing, advancing on a throwing error, scoring on Quebell’s single, and once the sacks were full, Bowen lined out to Tony Ramos to end the inning. The Coons switched to double plays in the middle innings to prevent the bases from even getting full, and successfully avoided scoring more than one additional run through six, while Teasdale held up quite well for a while, allowing a run in the bottom 2nd, but nothing else. That was until Marcos Baez singled in the sixth, Brenda through a wild one, and then Tony Ramos proposed she get outta here with a game-tying homer to right. Tokimune Hayashi got on and responsibility shifted to Ron Thrasher shortly, who got Mark Austin to ground out on the first pitch to end the inning and starve the go-ahead run on second base. Top 7th, Alston singled, Bowen walked, Nomura hit into another two-for-one. The Critters then did take the lead in the eighth when Quebell singled and Merritt doubled with two outs, scoring Quebell before Keith Ayers got a chance to extend a black day at the plate to 0-5, 4 K. Angel Casas had been out with great frequency last week, and when Ray Kelley put the Titans away on eight pitches in the bottom 8th, including the 2-3-4 guys, he was left in the game for the bottom of the ninth, still with a 1-run lead. Nobody got on until there were two outs, when Mark Austin walked in a full count. Samy Michel hit for Francisco Quintanilla, but grounded out to first. 4-3 Raccoons. Merritt 5-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Alston 2-4, BB; Thrasher 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K; Kelley 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K, SV (2);

Good sides, bad sides: Ayers stranded eight, yet was never thrown out at home, and Brenda didn’t win, but didn’t lose her eighth game, either.

Game 2
POR: 1B Quebell – 3B Merritt – LF Pruitt – RF Alston – C Bowen – 2B Nomura – CF White – SS Howell – P Brown
BOS: RF Thurman – 2B J. Ramirez – C Suda – 1B T. Ramos – 3B E. Salazar – SS Rodgers – LF M. Austin – CF Baez – P Cabrera

Since June, Brownie’s stuff just plainly hadn’t been there at all, and this continued. He went to seven 2-strike counts against the Titans the first time through the order, and managed only two strikeouts. Ironically, the only batter to actually reach base was Jesus Cabrera, who hit a 2-out double on a 1-2 pitch, but Zachary Thurman struck out after that. Brown had already crossed home plate for the first run of the game in the top 3rd. He had batted with Rob Howell on first when he whiffed on the hit-and-run, and Howell was thrown out. Brown then rebounded to walk, Quebell doubled, Merritt was humbled by a close one and Pruitt drew a bases-loaded walk before Ron Alston grounded out on a 3-1 pitch, and that was why he didn’t have any RBI…

In terms of control, Cabrera was a right mess. He had four walks in the first three innings, and when he already had Quebell on base with two outs in the fifth, he walked Alston and Bowen in full counts to reach seven freebies. Yoshi sent an 0-1 pitch to left where it fell in for a 2-run single, the score ran to 3-0, and while White grounded out, Brownie didn’t allow another runner until Cabrera turned up again. Fiercely determined to become Brown’s and my nightmare for the next week or two, Cabrera singled for his second hit (the grand total of the blue team), and Brown was slightly annoyed and/or unnerved and balked him to second base, but Thurman grounded out to Jon Merritt and Ramirez went down on strikes to keep the Titans off the big ol’ scoreboard. Despite walking seven, Cabrera went eight innings without more than three runs of damage, owing to the Coons not amounting to more than four hits off him, but with Ken Rodgers on second and two outs in the bottom 8th, the Titans thankfully hit for him with switch-hitter Samy Michel, who was not that good against lefties. Brown was sure he could get him, and got him good. But at almost 110 pitches, and “only” a 3-run lead, there was an itch to bring him in, especially with him due to bat in the top 9th. But he wouldn’t pitch again until seven days from now (in the All Star game), so maybe he could complete the game on a slightly higher pitch count? Brown batted, whiffed against Manuel Martinez, the Coons went down in order, and he faced the top of the order in the bottom 9th with Angel ready and waiting. Pitch #111 bored in on Thurman, and that was already enough: Angel Casas replaced Brownie, struck out Ramirez, and on 1-2 got a grounder to Yoshi from “Quasimodo” Suda, which was turned for two. 3-0 Brownies! Bowen 1-2, 2 BB; Brown 8.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 9 K, W (12-3);

Pesky Cabrera!

Game 3
POR: 3B Merritt – CF White – 1B Pruitt – LF Alston – RF Ayers – C Owens – 2B Nomura – SS Guerin – P Santos
BOS: 2B J. Ramirez – SS Rodgers – 1B T. Ramos – LF Hayashi – 3B E. Salazar – C Lemberger – CF Walters – RF Thurman – P R. Martinez

While Martinez had an ERA of almost nine, the Raccoons were kind to him, and the Titans didn’t need to be mean to Hector Santos, who shoveled his own grave without a formal invitation having to be issued. After a Ramirez double to start the bottom 1st he threw a wild pitch and walked a guy, and also conceded the run. He walked THREE in the second, allowing another run, and in the third inning, he came apart completely and was crushed for six runs total, although the four runs in the third inning, which he didn’t survive, were all unearned after a Nomura error, despite one error hardly causing four runs… Dumpster pitching wasn’t over with Santos gone, as Pat Slayton walked four in two innings of work, and when Beltran replaced him with two on and two outs in the bottom 5th he went on to drill Ken Rodgers and allowed a 2-run single to Tony Ramos. The Raccoons, down 8-1, were long defeated by then. The Raccoons continued to pretty much have one hit in every inning, and never mounted something countable until there were two outs in the eighth with two on, and Travis Owens at least soiled Martinez’ line with a 3-run homer that just barely vanished behind the leftfield fence. 8-4 Titans. Merritt 2-4; Ayers 3-4, HR, RBI; Owens 3-4, HR, 3 RBI;

We had 11 hits, they had six, and I had a sore throat. So between Santos and Teasdale, our young starters are 0-9 now.

On the final day of the series, the Titans offered us Manuel Martinez and an AAA outfielder for Manuel Gutierrez. That’s a great deal for us until you consider the price tag on Martinez, which would eat all our budget space, and I might not necessarily spend our last penny on the bullpen. So: no!

Game 4
POR: 1B Quebell – 3B Merritt – C Bowen – LF Pruitt – RF White – 2B Nomura – CF Trevino – SS Howell – P Umberger
BOS: 2B J. Ramirez – SS Rodgers – C Suda – 1B T. Ramos – LF Hayashi – CF Baez – 3B M. Austin – RF Thurman – P M. Castro

Ron Alston wasn’t doing anything and got a day off, and after an orgy of 12 walks issued by the Raccoons’ staff on Wednesday, Jong-hoo walked a pair in the first and narrowly escaped with the sacks full when Marcos Baez bounced out to Quebell. Umberger issued another leadoff walk in the second, and a leadoff double in the third. The Titans got one run in those three innings, and always left a man on third base. Umberger himself was drilled in the top of the third and came around to score after singles by Bowen and Pruitt.

Umberger lasted only five, allowing a 3-run homer to Tokimune Hayashi in the fifth. Down 4-2, his spot came up with two on and two out in the top 6th. Bring Alston with a stick! Alston got a stick, then unleashed the ****tiest grounder in baseball history to first base, ending the inning. Top 7th, 1-out singles by Merritt and Bowen set up Pruitt to be a hero, and he lifted a 1-2 pitch over the jumping Ramirez and into shallow right center for the team’s third run. White flew out, but Yoshi singled to left, bringing in Bowen to knot the score at four runs apiece. With Trevino batting, Mauro Castro remained in, which turned out to be a mistake: Trevino hit one into the gap, Pruitt and Nomura both scored, and the Coons were atop 6-4. Castro’s line wasn’t closed, however, and Rob Howell’s single to right was good enough to score Trevino from second for the final nail into Castro’s coffin. The game appeared pretty well in the Coons’ paws for a while, but they crumbled in the bottom of the ninth. Rockburn was tasked with the save since Angel Casas had been used quite a bit recently, but got only one out and then put a man on. Angel came on, but with two outs started to not retire people anymore and Suda, Ramos, and Hayashi struck three consecutive hits off him, which got the Titans to 7-6, and the tying run was at third base. Marcos Baez was the batter, .190 for the year, sounded a bit like Robinson Perez. Baez grounded a 0-1 pitch really hard up the first base line, Quebell lunged, knocked it down and kept it in front of him, then scrambled to the bag and pretty much fell right on top of the base to beat Baez. 7-6 Raccoons. Bowen 4-5; Pruitt 2-4, BB, 2 RBI; Nomura 2-3, 2 BB, RBI; Howell 2-5, 2 RBI; Thrasher 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K;

Upset at being sneezed at, Manuel Martinez logged the final seven outs for the Titans and struck out five.

Raccoons (54-32) vs. Indians (49-37) – July 9-11, 2010

The Indians ranked last in runs scored, and while they maintained a +29 run differential, WE KNEW that you needed to plate more than 3.7 runs per game to get to places. However, they had us beaten so far on the season series, 5-4 in their favor.

Projected matchups:
Javier Cruz (8-4, 2.87 ERA) vs. Jimmy Sjogren (3-9, 5.23 ERA)
Brendan Teasdale (0-0, 4.76 ERA) vs. Tom Weise (9-8, 3.42 ERA)
Greg Dodson (0-0) vs. Bob King (11-5, 2.31 ERA)

Yeah, we’re not quite showing them our mean face, huh? Dodson is the scrub we got back for Bradley Heathershaw, and he’s on the 40-man roster already and lines up well with the Sunday start, while Gil McDonald, the other 27-year old in AAA, fails on both counts. Teasdale will be demoted right after his start and replaced by Dodson, but Dodson might be replaced by McDonald after the All Star Game, possibly.

Game 1
IND: 1B Tsung – 3B Sharp – C Paraz – RF Graham – SS Speed – CF Luxton – LF Graves – 2B J. Lopez – P Sjogren
POR: 3B Merritt – 1B Quebell – LF Alston – RF Ayers – CF White – C Owens – 2B Nomura – SS Howell – P Cruz

The Coons spilled over Jimmy Sjogren in a hurry, despite making two quick outs in the first inning. Then, Alston doubled, Ayers tripled, White hit a hard line single, and Owens doubled past Robbie Luxton’s reach in center for three early runs. While Quebell drove in a fourth run in the bottom 2nd, the Indians were hitting Cruz just as hard and it was not going to take long until they would wobble him. In fact, they plated three runs in the third, including a Dave Graham home run. The next 3-spot was put in the Coons’ line in the bottom 4th, a 2-out, 3-run home run by Keith Ayers, but the Indians – worst offense in the league, remember – came right back with two more runs against Javier Cruz in the fifth, and a sixth run scored for them in the sixth inning, which Cruz kindly helped with a timely balk to move the runner to third to score on a fly to Alston. What a nice guy.

Not that the bullpen would fare any better. Ray Kelley pitched in the seventh, and Mun-wah Tsung singled right away. Daniel Sharp, coming in with a .287 clip and four dingers, singled, and it wasn’t going to get better for Kelley. He would face Richard Speed with the runners in scoring position and two outs, and allowed a 2-run single on a 1-2 pitch that flipped the score. That came AFTER the Coons had had two on, no outs, and Ayers hitting into the double play in the bottom of the preceding inning. Bottom 7th, two more singles to start the inning, by Owens and Yoshi. Leonardo Sosa then got Pruitt, hitting for Howell, to pop up, before he walked Bowen. The top slot was occupied by Manuel Gutierrez after Jon Merritt had left with an injury. Bases loaded, one out, Gutierrez at the plate was crying out for a beating, one strike, two strikes, sorry grounder to the second baseman, and Lopez blew the (double) play and dropped the ball often enough for all hands to be safe and the game tied at eight. Quebell up, full count, another grounder to second base, Lopez lobbed it to Speed, who was not a shortstop by trade and dropped the ball just like that. Outrageous!! Three on, one out, two double play chances, and they made TWO errors! And the Coons were ahead, 9-8. Ron Alston would plate two more against new pitcher Helio Maggessi, 11-8. Now, can we find some qualified bullpen help? Pah! Don’t be ****ting around like that. Of course not! Beltran allowed a single and forced Alston to make a leaping grab in the top 8th, narrowly avoiding actual drama, and the Coons stranded a pair in the bottom of the inning. Angel Casas took over, facing PH Jerry Fletcher, the long-time Logger, in the #2 hole. He tried to bunt his way on base, but was thrown out by Angel himself, who then whiffed Jose Paraz. Dave Graham grounded out to find a merciful end to this mind-boggler. 11-8 Raccoons. Quebell 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Alston 3-3, 2 BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Ayers 2-5, HR, 3B, 4 RBI; White 2-5, RBI; Nomura 3-5;

But mess here, mess there, the Raccoons’ 11-spot put them in first place in runs scored in the Continental League, and don’t forget that the Indians are directly behind us and we increased our lead to six games, with the Crusaders just half an effort behind the Indians at this point.

In really, really unfortunate news, Jon Merritt had strained a groin muscle and would be out of commission for two weeks, more or less, which made him the third regular we would place concurrently on the DL, and you could say four regulars, since Walt Canning also was the regular shortstop when he vanished onto the DL over a month ago.

While I briefly contemplated trading whatever it would take for Daniel Sharp (you want Alston back? Okay!), we ultimately resorted to an in-house solution and would accept the indignity of Ricardo Martinez blowing several games with outlandish defense. Ask the Indians how that works, they know. Martinez had batted a shabby .222 in AAA, though, and no homers.

Meanwhile the Indians acquired 1B/2B Juan Gutierrez (.262, 1 HR, 18 RBI) from the Stars, parting with two minor-leaguers, but one of those was 26-year old outfielder Roberto Pacheco (.286, 1 HR, 16 RBI), who had been sent back to the minors after doing some not-too-shabby stuff the last 12 months. Pacheco of course was the price for Craig Bowen in a 2006 trade before Bowen was even a primary catcher. In the end, I think, we got the much better end of this.

Game 2
IND: 1B Tsung – 3B Sharp – C Paraz – RF Graham – LF Graves – CF Luxton – 2B C. Aguilár – SS M. Clark – P Weise
POR: 1B Quebell – CF White – LF Pruitt – RF Alston – C Bowen – 3B R. Martinez – SS Howell – 2B M. Gutierrez – P Teasdale

While Tom Weise was perfect through four innings, Teasdale offered a number of walks early, and also allowed plenty of hard contact, but early on everything ended up with White and Alston. Ron Alston also opened the scoring with a leadoff jack in the fifth, but eventually someone had to get a hold of Teasdale, and it was Dave Graham with a solo home run in the top of the sixth. After that homer, Teasdale suddenly pitched a lot better, in a twisted way, and managed to complete eight innings on just one more single, a strikeout, and lots of grounders for easy outs. Teasdale’s spot was up at the start of the bottom of the eighth inning and he was obviously hit for. Yoshi grabbed a bat on his off day, rammed a ball to deep right where it clanked off the fence in a very odd manner, and Graham took very long to play it back in, helping Yoshi to a leadoff triple! The Indians elected to walk Quebell intentionally before Weise struck out White and Pruitt, with Alston flying out to left. The agony. The agony! Ron Thrasher pitched a scoreless ninth to maintain the walkoff chance, while the Indians stuck to Tom Weise, their starter! The Coons started the ninth quite similar to the eighth, with Bowen smacking a leadoff double to left, but to shorten a sad story considerably, Law Rockburn came out to pitch the 10th inning … and the 11th. There, Alston drew a leadoff walk from Salvarado Soure, and Bowen managed to lay down a bunt without getting anybody killed. Not that that helped to end the game.

Law Rockburn pitched three perfect innings to no avail, before Pat Slayton took over in the 13th and Mark Clark singled right away. The Indians’ bench was deserted, so Marcos Bruno, in since the 12th, laid down a bunt that was decidedly poor and Slayton was able to get Clark out at second. Slayton then struck out Tsung and Sharp. Bottom 13th, desperate measures. Pruitt hit a 1-out single off Bruno, then stole second on the weak-armed Paraz. The main effect of that was Alston getting walked intentionally, but Bowen then battled out another walk in a full count (and Bruno’s K/BB this year was indeed only slightly better than 2). Travis Owens hit for an 0-5 Ricardo Martinez, grounded one to Sharp, and Sharpie turned the double play. FOR ****’S SAKE!!!

By the 14th inning, both benches were empty, relievers were batting with men on base and two outs, we had Rob Howell manning third base, and Paraz was still catching for the Indians, so if Quebell gets on, he’s gonna run the ****ing hell now! But he didn’t, running his day to 0-6 as the 15th inning began with Bruno still tossing. White went to 0-7. Pruitt went deep, ending the game with a bang. Finally. Goddamnit, finally. 2-1 Blighters. Pruitt 3-7, HR, RBI; Howell 2-5, BB; Nomura (PH) 1-1, 3B; Teasdale 8.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 4 K; Rockburn 3.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K; Slayton 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

Luis Beltran picked up his fifth win. As we had planned, Teasdale (0-0, 2.63 ERA) was demoted after the game and we brought on Greg Dodson, another winless pitcher.

Game 3
IND: 1B Tsung – 3B Sharp – RF Graham – LF Graves – CF Luxton – 2B J. Gutierrez – C Speed – SS M. Clark – P King
POR: 1B Quebell – 2B Nomura – LF Pruitt – RF Alston – C Bowen – 3B R. Martinez – CF Trevino – SS Guerin – P Dodson

Greg Dodson, who came out of nowhere to start this game on the All Star break’s eve, pretty much was limited to throwing right down the middle time and again in this one, which for a while even looked like it might be enough for a win. Pruitt had driven in Quebell in the first, but the Indians got that run pulled back in the top of the third. But the bottom of that inning saw Yoshi and Alston on base for Martinez with two out, and while he was not making any great impressions, he managed to hit a single up the middle for the go-ahead RBI single. Trevino followed that with another RBI single afterwards, and the Coons held a 3-1 lead that was soon chipped back to 3-2 when Luxton tripled in the fourth and scored on a wild pitch, so even “throwing right down the middle” was not something Dodson was able to do consistently.

Quebell restored the 2-run lead with an increasingly rare home run in the bottom 4th, and in the next inning we got a chance to bow out of Dodson’s ragdoll pitching, which had netted him three walks and no strikeouts in this game. Concie hit a 2-out double to right, and this was a serious RBI chance, we declared! Pat White of recent 0-7 glory hit for Dodson, lined a pitch past Sharpie into left and all the way to the wall, plating Concie easily, 5-2, and Quebell and Nomura would hit 2-out RBI knocks as well to get the score up to 7-2. Five runs, four innings, and a ravaged pen – sounds like a challenge. Ron Thrasher instantly got … thrashed in the sixth with an Al Graves double, another Luxton triple, and a sac fly by Gutierrez. 7-4, still almost four runs, and … ugh. And it didn’t get better any time soon. Alston got on to start the bottom 6th, then was picked off. Mun-wah Tsung homered off Ted Reese in the top 7th, 7-5, and then Beltran completely blew the game by facing three left-handers and not retiring any of them. Luxton’s RBI single tied the game at seven, and I prepared to send Nick Brown for the inevitable 13th inning. Ray Kelley meanwhile had a clear task when he entered for the eighth: to mind that there would be a ninth inning, too. And probably a tenth if the didn’t **** up for some reason. Part one of the job went well, and Quebell reached to start the bottom 8th when Graves made an error. That put Quebell on first base and right in the crosshairs when Nomura hit a grounder to short for two outs in one stroke (and even one pitch). Coons can’t score, but Indians can, with Graham, Luxton, and Gutierrez all hitting singles off Kelley in the ninth to plate the go-ahead run. 8-7 Indians. Quebell 3-5, HR, 2 2B, 2 RBI; Nomura 3-4, BB, RBI; Alston 2-4, BB; Guerin 2-4, 2B; White (PH) 1-1, 2B, RBI;

Yeah, those Indians. Definitely **** at hitting. And scoring. Yeah, they suck.

Why don’t I just fire a mustard gas grenade into the locker room?

In other news

July 5 – Constantly hurt NYC RF/LF Stanton Martin (.309, 12 HR, 62 RBI) is headed for the DL again, suffering from inflammation in the knee. He might not miss more than two weeks.
July 6 – The Indians shift OF Angel Solís (.241, 1 HR, 9 RBI) to the Falcons in exchange for MR Ryan O’Quinn (2-3, 1.75 ERA) and #53 prospect C Dave Padilla.
July 8 – CHA MR Robert Parsons (1-3, 3.77 ERA, 1 SV) disappears onto the disabled list with radial nerve compression. The estimate on his return is roughly April 2011.
July 9 – The Knights acquire CL Jerry Paul (1-1, 2.14 ERA, 16 SV) from the Buffaloes for a package of three prospects, with #116 SS Jonathon Harris included.

Complaints and stuff

Note for the winter meetings: lobby for the DH rule to be brought on in the CL, so Nick Brown can finally pitch that no-hitter he deserves.

For all that’s going right right now, we only got three All Stars, and Matt Pruitt might have been snuffed for the injuries? If he would qualify, he’d lead the batting race! Anyway, Brownie, Quebell, and Alston go to the game, their 5th, 2nd, and 8th nomination, respectively. Brownie got the most fan votes in the CL among ALL players. Yeah, and what do those selectors have against Angel Casas??

Update on the field hospital. Merritt should be good after 15 days. Castro and Baldwin are further off, perhaps a week longer, and you might wonder whether they would need a start or two / a dozen AB’s in AAA to get warm again. Walt Canning should be ready by next weekend, but we already have two shortstops now, and Canning was not a revelation exactly when he was up, batting a powerless .250 in 96 AB. He might go straight back to AAA.

We missed out on all the international free agents we targeted so far, even a really scrummy one, some Venezuelan centerfielder Frank Santos, who signed with the Wolves for $10,800. We had offered $10,100. Now watch him become a star and hit the walkoff grand slam in game 7 of the 2024 World Series against some Raccoons reliever. All for seven bills.

I had some contract talks with Angel Casas, who’s a free agent at the end of the year. So far, we’re quite a bit (bid?) apart…

Meanwhile Ron Alston let me know he’d gladly stay here. For $32 million. I am ****ting you not. $32 million.