[Westheim]

Raccoons (0-0) @ Canadiens (0-0) – April 3-5, 2012

We were opening the season UP THERE, starting the season with a vile stench in our little black noses. Could go better than that! In any case, we had beaten the Elks three years in a row, including a 25-11 performance in the last two years combined.

Projected matchups:
Nick Brown (0-0) vs. Juichi Fujita (0-0)
Colin Baldwin (0-0) vs. Rod Taylor (0-0)
Shunyo Yano (0-0) vs. Brad Osborne (0-0)

And with that the Raccoons start the season facing three right-handed pitchers, with their only southpaw Johnny Krom sitting in the #4 slot in the rotation.

Game 1
POR: CF Castro – 2B Nomura – LF Pruitt – 1B Quebell – C D. Alexander – 3B Merritt – RF J. Alexander – SS Palmer – P Brown
VAN: CF Holland – 2B M. Austin – 1B Gilbert – LF Cameron – 3B Suzuki – SS Rice – C M. Thomas – RF Cavazos – P Fujita

Nick Brown struck out three besides walking Ray Gilbert in the first inning before things quickly went south. Mitsuhide Suzuki singled to start the bottom 2nd, the first hit in the game, and somehow it just went away from Brown at that point. With two outs, he hit Ramiro Cavazos, then walked Juichi Fujita to load the bases with two outs. The top of the order came up again and torched him completely: 2-run double by Ross Holland, 2-run single by Mark Austin. Gilbert walked again before Don Cameron popped out to center. The Coons were down 4-0, with Yoshi Nomura hitting a solo shot to right center to get at least one run back in the top of the third. That was the Coons’ only hit as long as Nick Brown was in the game, which turned out to be six muddled innings, striking out eight, but walking four, and also allowing another single to Fujita. The Elks didn’t get any more runs, but four were already four too many. The Critters took back another run in the top 7th: Michael Palmer tripled with two outs and Seeley hit for Brown and singled to left to score him. Down 4-2 and facing Alvarado in the top 9th, a walk to Dylan Alexander brought up the tying run with nobody out. Sandy Sambrano ran for Alexander with the hope of staying out of a double play. Merritt drove a pitch hard to right, where it was caught by Cavazos. The unfair game of baseball rewarded a sorry chop by John Alexander with a single to shallow center, however, and the tying runs were on base, where they remained once Palmer grounded out to first, and Seeley grounded out to second. 4-2 Canadiens. Seeley (PH) 1-2, RBI;

Meh!

With his eight strikeouts, Nick Brown reached 2,305 for his career. He now sits 14 behind 25th-all-time Steve Rogers, 15 behind 24th-place John Douglas, and 17 behind Kisho Saito’s franchise mark.

Game 2
POR: 2B Nomura – 3B Merritt – LF Pruitt – 1B Quebell – CF Seeley – C D. Alexander – RF J. Alexander – SS Palmer – P Baldwin
VAN: CF Holland – 2B M. Austin – 1B Gilbert – LF Cameron – 3B Suzuki – SS Rice – C M. Thomas – RF Cavazos – P R. Taylor

Another forgettable second inning saw a ground rule double by Gary Rice being followed up with a 2-run homer by ex-Coon Mark Thomas, and Rice would add a solo shot in the fourth inning to increase the distance. The Raccoons had one hit in four innings, and it took Rod Taylor going bonkers in the fifth to get them a chance. Seeley, Dylan Alexander, and Palmer all walked to load the bases with two outs, and then Taylor had his line picked apart with an RBI single by Colin Baldwin and a 2-run double hit by Yoshi, which tied the game, and then another double into the gap hit by Jon Merritt, granting the Coons a 5-3 lead, which grew to 6-3 on Quebell’s 2-out RBI single.

In a perfect world, Colin Baldwin had spun a few more innings of shutout ball, but he was no less awful than Taylor. His control was completely off, and the Elks also kept battering him. He was knocked out after four and two thirds in a 6-4 game with the tying runs on base after allowing five hits and four walks. Micah Steele came in, threw one pitch on which Mitsuhide Suzuki easily flew out to right, and stranded two. As did the Coons in the top 6th, and their lead wouldn’t rest easily. Mullins was assigned the bottom of the sixth, quickly got stuck and was bailed out by Sugano, who then also got the seventh, only to get stuck with two outs. Gilbert singled, Cameron did the same, and Law Rockburn barely escaped when Michael Palmer made a nice play on Suzuki’s slow grounder. Former Raccoon Luis Beltran pitched two innings for the Elks, striking out four Critters, while the Coons’ pen kept drifting and Mark Thomas homered again off Ron Thrasher in the bottom 8th, cutting the lead to a single run. Top 9th, Jayden Reed faced the Raccoons and Michael Palmer snipped a leadoff single to center. Bowen hit for Thrasher and struck out, but in the course of the at-bat, Reed’s 1-0 pitch was wild and allowed Palmer to reach second base. Yoshi then sent a ball into the gap that Don Cameron tried to catch soaring like a bird, but missed it and thumped into the ground for some comedic value. Yoshi had an RBI double that had no effect in the end as Angel Casas sat down the 1-2-3 batters without much fuss in the ninth. 7-5 Coons. Nomura 2-5, 2 2B, 3 RBI; Merritt 2-4, BB, 2 2B, 2 RBI; Palmer 2-3, BB; Castro (PH) 1-1;

Pat Slayton is the only reliever that didn’t get into this game.

Mark Thomas (…!) was the first CL player with two home runs on the season. In the FL that honor belonged to a certain Jose Morales.

Game 3
POR: CF Castro – 2B Nomura – LF Pruitt – 1B Quebell – RF Seeley – 3B Merritt – C Bowen – SS Palmer – P Yano
VAN: CF Holland – RF E. Garcia – 1B Gilbert – LF Cameron – 3B Suzuki – SS Rice – 2B M. Austin – C M. Thomas – P Osborne

Words had a hard time describing the amount of non-hitting that went on in this game – from both teams. Ray Gilbert’s fourth-inning single was the first hit for either side, and the collective shutout continued for a while. The first hit by a Raccoon was actually contributed by Yano himself, who reached on an infield single in the fifth inning against Osborne, who seemed to have tweaked some thing or other on the play because he was out of the game by the sixth inning. The display in the batter’s box that the Raccoons showed in particular was particularly gruesome. They faced not the best pitching in the world, and were completely silenced. The Elks weren’t. Holland led off the eighth inning with a single, stole second, and scored on Ray Gilbert’s single. Thrasher replaced Yano and barely got out of the inning before the Elks crushed him with the bases loaded. Top of the ninth, down 1-0, Alvarado pitching. Pruitt led off with a single to center, his first hit of the year, and after Quebell struck out it was Seeley with a double to right that gave the Raccoons a real chance to turn this one around. John Alexander took a bat and hit for Merritt, grounding a ball up the first base line that Gilbert and Alvarado both tried to pick and in the end nobody made a play, Alexander was safe, and Pruitt scored the tying run. Bowen struck out, but Palmer singled and the Raccoons were ahead, 2-1! After Dylan Alexander left runners on the corners, Angel Casas took over, but lacked stuff. Jaylin Lawrence represented the tying run after a 1-out single up the middle, got forced out by Holland, but Palmer couldn’t turn the double play. Enrique Garcia singled to left center, which brought up Gilbert, who had worn out the Raccoons to a .625/.769/.625 tune in this series, was down 1-2 with two outs and then grounded hard to left – Gutierrez diving, stops it, throw to second – in time!! 2-1 Critters. J. Alexander (PH) 1-1; Yano 7.1 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 2 K and 1-2;

Raccoons (2-1) vs. Falcons (2-1) – April 6-8, 2012

The Falcons had taken two of three from the Knights to start the season and led the league in stolen bases, but their starting pitchers had been shackled in that series. We had taken the season series the last two years, both times close 5-4 affairs.

Projected matchups:
Bill Conway (0-0) vs. Dave Beebe (0-0)
Hector Santos (0-0) vs. Adrian Valencia (0-0)
Nick Brown (0-1, 6.00 ERA) vs. Max Shepherd (0-0, 6.00 ERA)

Valencia is their only southpaw, but they had an off day on Thursday that would allow them to skip him and bring Alfredo Collazo (0-0, 5.63 ERA) into the series, which would be another righty.

Game 1
CHA: 2B J. Hernandez – CF J. Garcia – C F. Chavez – 1B Valenzuela – LF Jimenez – 3B Ladd – RF Rincón – SS Reeve – P Beebe
POR: 2B Nomura – 3B Merritt – LF Pruitt – 1B Quebell – CF Seeley – C D. Alexander – RF J. Alexander – SS Palmer – P Conway

Dave Beebe, originally an eighth-round pick by the Capitals in 2006, would make his major league debut against the Raccoons.

The Falcons were close to breaking up Conway in the very first inning. He retired Julio Hernandez and Jaime Garcia before Fernando Chavez singled. Then he walked one, another one, oops, wild pitch, and another walk, before David Rincón was retired by Quebell with a true Gold Glover’s grab to mercifully keep the score at 1-0 Falcons. Then Beebe surrendered his first major league home run on his sixth pitch, and again it was Yoshi Nomura to clobber one, his second of the season. Conway never stopped being completely bananas in this game, and was on six walks by the third inning, which also ended with three Falcons stranded when Ron Reeve struck out. The tie would be broken in the bottom 3rd, when Dylan Alexander reduced Yoshi Nomura’s share of team home runs to under 100% with a 2-out, 3-run bomb to left, and no doubt about that one. Beebe was also at five walks after issuing free passes to John Alexander and Palmer in the same inning, and he walked two more en route to loading the bases in the fourth, but this time Dylan popped out to end the inning.

April’s constant companion then visited: rain by the fifth inning. Conway just barely completed five to be eligible for the win, and there was a 47-minute delay. Beebe was sent back out by his cruel manager, John Alexander singled, stole second, and scored on Palmer’s double, which brought the curtain down for the 24-year old rookie. Slayton pitched two scoreless innings while Juan Carlos Bojorquez hit two Coons in the bottom 6th, but they took the best revenge there was and scored those runs, plus one more, mainly via a 2-run single by Palmer. The rout was on by the seventh, the third 3-spot the Coons threw up in the game, this one sponsored by triples hit by Sandy Sambrano and Jason Seeley. 11-1 Raccoons! Nomura 3-5, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Sambrano (PH) 1-2, 3B; Quebell 3-5, 2B, RBI; D. Alexander 1-3, HR, 4 RBI; J. Alexander 2-2, 3 BB; Palmer 3-4, BB, 2B, 3 RBI; Slayton 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K; Mullins 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

Game 2
CHA: CF DeBoer – 2B J. Hernandez – C F. Chavez – 1B Valenzuela – LF Jimenez – 3B Ladd – RF J. Garcia – SS Reeve – P Valencia
POR: 2B Nomura – 3B Merritt – 1B Quebell – LF Seeley – RF Ayers – SS Palmer – CF Sambrano – C Bowen – P Santos

Santos was strafed in time for two runs on two doubles in the first inning, and another three runs on three hits and two walks in the second. The early Falcons outburst was hardly countered by Quebell’s first homer of the year, a solo shot in the first. Hector got his **** together after that early barrage and lasted six innings, striking out seven, but the damage had already been done in sufficient numbers. The Coons didn’t look much like a comeback for a long time before they did load the bases in the bottom of the sixth on singles by Quebell and Seeley and a walk issued to Palmer with one out. Pablo Sanchez replaced Valencia at this point, a right-hander that had been charred for three runs in one third of an inning on Friday. The Coons scored two on a Sambrano single up the middle and a Bowen sac fly before John Alexander hit for Santos and fouled out on a 3-1 pitch. The Falcons were quick to restore a run when Chavez homered off Kyle Mullins in the top 7th, giving them a 6-3 advantage. While Rockburn and Sugano pitched scoreless ball from there on, the Raccoons would not set another paw on base against Alex Ramirez and Matt Collins. 6-3 Falcons. Quebell 2-4, HR, RBI; Sambrano 2-4, RBI;

I don’t really like the way our pen has to pitch three innings per game… The only guy so far to get somebody out in the seventh has been Shunyo Yano.

Game 3
CHA: CF DeBoer – 2B J. Hernandez – 1B Valenzuela – 3B Ladd – LF Jimenez – RF A. Solís – SS Reeve – C T. Turner – P Shepherd
POR: CF Castro – 2B Nomura – LF Pruitt – 1B Quebell – C D. Alexander – SS Palmer – RF J. Alexander – 3B M. Gutierrez – P Brown

Facing the second-place finisher in the 2011 FL Pitcher of the Year voting, the CL’s third-place finisher in the 2011 Pitcher of the Year voting had to buckle down and improve on his start on Opening Day.

The Coons got an early start against Shepherd, who sat down Castro and Nomura but then allowed a double to Pruitt and a long one to Quebell, who tied Yoshi for the team lead with two bombs. Movement again with two outs in the bottom 2nd, as Castro and Nomura hit singles to go to the corners, where Pruitt stranded them this time. All the Coons’ efforts were limited to 2-out situations, but they got another run in the fifth on a 2-out double by Pruitt and Quebell’s subsequent single. At that point, Brownie was pitching a shutout despite the stuff not being there at all. Through six he had three strikeouts, but had only allowed one hit, a leadoff single by Turner in the third. Wes Ladd had also drawn a leadoff walk in the second, and that was about it for the Falcons through six. Ladd had another leadoff walk in a full count in the top 7th, but got double up on Jose Jimenez’ grounder to Michael Palmer. For much of the game the Falcons didn’t get the ball out of the infield, hitting grounders to Palmer and Gutierrez over and over, and when PH Jaime Garcia hit a fly to Tomas Castro with two down in the eighth it came as a mild shock. That was still the third out, and Brownie sat at 97 pitches through eight, which made a go at a shutout possible, but Jimmy DeBoer and Julio Hernandez both hit singles to start the ninth inning and that created a tricky situation for Angel Casas, who surely would have loved to come in earlier, and who so far had no strikeouts this season. He struck out Chavez before pinch-hitter César Aguilar gave the first pitch he saw a really good ride to deep right, but that ball ended up with John Alexander on the warning track. Jimenez also struck out. 3-0 Brownies! Nomura 2-4; Pruitt 2-4, 2 2B; Quebell 2-4, HR, 3 RBI; Brown 8.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 5 K, W (1-1);

With these five strikeouts, Kisho Saito’s franchise mark should be safe for another start. Brownie is 12 back of the big 2,322 target. On the all-time list, 25th Steve Rogers (9) and 24th John Douglas (10) are more in reach with a strong showing against the Loggers next Friday. Not that this was a bad start! He didn’t have the murder staff, but he fed grounder upon grounder to the defense, which also works well, as we’ve seen.

Raccoons (4-2) vs. Knights (2-4) – April 9-11, 2012

The Knights had batted for just a .232 average out of the game, 11th in the CL, but had still scored the fifth-most runs with 21 counters to their credit. That turned out to be only 3.5 per game, and offense had been at a premium in the CL in the first week with a 3.76 league ERA. Their pitching was average so far, allowing the sixth-most runs. We had a 6-year run of taking the season series going, including back-to-back 6-3 performances.

Projected matchups:
Colin Baldwin (0-0, 7.71 ERA) vs. Kurt Doyle (0-0, 3.86 ERA)
Shunyo Yano (0-0, 1.23 ERA) vs. Ted McKenzie (0-0, 1.59 ERA)
Bill Conway (1-0, 1.80 ERA) vs. Shaun Yoder (0-0, 1.17 ERA)

Three righties here, as their only southpaw Dave Butler went on Sunday.

Game 1
ATL: RF Arnette – SS Hibbard – LF M. Reyes – 3B C. Martinez – 1B J. Garcia – 2B Hilderbrand – CF Kelsey – C Delgado – P Doyle
POR: LF Castro – 2B Nomura – 1B Pruitt – CF Seeley – SS Palmer – C D. Alexander – 3B Merritt – RF J. Alexander – P Baldwin

Baldwin in his second start of the year continued to be simply off, not hitting the corners, not getting anybody to swing and miss, and instead surrendered pretty fat contact repeatedly, which saw the Knights rush out to a 3-0 lead on a 2-run homer by Marty Reyes in the first and a solo job by Jorge Garcia the second time through. The Coons had no hits the first time through their order, but the bottom 4th brought Yoshi drawing a leadoff walk before Pruitt singled to right. The tying run was up in Jason Seeley, whose grounder to first was botched by Garcia, loading the bases with nobody out. Palmer lined out to left, keeping everybody pinned, before a passed ball on Carlos Delgado scored Yoshi. Dylan Alexander walked before Merritt singled past Garcia’s limited range, 3-2, but here John Alexander struck out and Baldwin popped out to short, but the game got tied in the bottom 5th when Yoshi and Pruitt were on again and Palmer’s 2-out single to left scored Nomura with the tying run, 3-3.

Bottom 6th, Merritt walked, John Alexander singled. Baldwin bunted them into scoring position, and while Castro struck out, the Raccoons broke through anyway with a 2-run single to Yoshi, and then, after a pitching change, Matt Pruitt romped his first long ball of the season off reliever Jim Baker, putting the Critters ahead 7-3! It got even worse for the Knights in the bottom of the seventh, where Baker put two men on and Quebell hit a 2-out, 2-run single while hitting for Baldwin. Down by six, the Knights briefly had a faint chance at a comeback in the eighth, when Manobu Sugano faced Pat Arnette and Bill Miller, allowed a single and a walk, then left, but Law Rockburn got three outs before damage could be incurred by the Coons. The Knights’ Lawrence Rivers walked three in the bottom 8th, conceding a tack-on run on a Dylan Alexander sac fly. 10-3 Brownshirts! Nomura 1-2, 3 BB, 2 RBI; Pruitt 3-4, HR, 2 RBI; J. Alexander 2-4, 2B; Quebell (PH) 1-1, 2 RBI;

We have 16 straight games without an off day to start the season, so everybody will get a day of rest at some point. In fact, the only guy who hasn’t been rested so far is Yoshi, who gets the day off on Tuesday for the middle game.

Game 2
ATL: RF Arnette – CF Kelsey – LF M. Reyes – 1B J. Garcia – 3B C. Martinez – SS Hibbard – C Ledesma – 2B Hilderbrand – P McKenzie
POR: CF Castro – 3B Merritt – LF Pruitt – 1B Quebell – SS Palmer – RF J. Alexander – C Bowen – 2B M. Gutierrez – P Yano

Shunyo Yano made his first Portland start with a pretty grim weather forecast on hand and under clouds that were only waiting for him to start throwing to open up. So we were in a hurry; Yano retired the Knights in order the first time through, striking out four, while the Raccoons took the lead in the first on a Pruitt double and Quebell RBI single. Two innings later, Pruitt was pretty thick in it again, with Castro and Merritt on base ahead of him. Matt clanked a 2-run triple off the wall in right center to open the score to 3-0 and scored on a groundout by Palmer. With two out, the Coons would load the bases on another pair of singles and a walk to Gutierrez, but when Yano came to the plate in this scenario, it was already raining. Yano struck out, then allowed two singles in the top 4th, plus a hard drive by Carlos Martinez to deep center that Castro just barely scratched out of the moist air. The Coons continued to crowd McKenzie, who expended 94 pitches through 3 1/3 innings and was removed with two men on and no hopes of getting out. Jim Baker got out for him, as the Raccoons stranded three runners in the inning.

On-and-off rain got heavier by the fifth inning, when the tarp briefly came onto the infield, but was lifted after a quarter of an hour when the rain was reduced to a drizzle. The Coons stranded three runners again in that inning, and they could have had the Knights wailing in a corner by now. At least Yano went seven scoreless, being hit for with Seeley in the bottom 7th with Bowen and Gutierrez on the corners and nobody out. Dave Shannon walked Jason in a full count, loading them up for the top of the order, Castro struck out, but Merritt got hit with a pitch to force in a run – hooray! Ray Conner replaced Shannon an in just six pitches allowed another three runs to three batters with a Pruitt single, a Quebell sac fly, and then a Palmer single running the score to 8-0. Sugano again put two left-handers on base in the top of the eighth, with Micah Steele providing only partial relief, loading the sacks with a walk to Marty Reyes before he conceded a run on a Garcia single to right. That scored one run for the Knights, leaving the Raccoons still up by seven, and that was before they exploited Ed Bryan, their former no-good left-handed reliever, and two Knights errors in the bottom of the eighth to throw up another 4-spot to complete a rout. 12-1 Greycoats! Castro 2-6, 2 RBI; Merritt 1-2, 2 BB, 2 RBI; Pruitt 4-6, 3B, 2B, 4 RBI; Bowen 3-4, BB, 2 2B; Yano 7.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 5 K, W (1-0);

In these two games combined, Knights pitching struck out seven Critters, but walked EIGHTEEN. I think, they have an issue with their staff…

The Crusaders got clobbered by the Thunder, 11-6, this Tuesday, allowing the 6-2 Raccoons to take over a solitary lead in the division for the first time this year. We had already tied them for a few days before that.

Game 3
ATL: RF Arnette – CF Kelsey – LF M. Reyes – 3B C. Martinez – SS Hibbard – C Ledesma – 1B G. Munoz – 2B Hilderbrand – P Yoder
POR: 2B Nomura – 3B Merritt – LF Pruitt – 1B Quebell – CF Seeley – C D. Alexander – SS Palmer – RF J. Alexander – P Conway

Shaun Yoder walked Nomura and Merritt in the first inning, but the Coons didn’t get anybody in, and from there the attention largely shifted on the grisly mistreatment the Knights’ lineup gave Bill Conway, who was walking people left and right AND allowed monstrously hard contact, and those two things didn’t mesh too well with another. Carlos Martinez and T.J. Hilderbrand both homered in a 4-run second inning, and the Knights extended their lead to 6-1 by the fourth inning on a few doubles. What would the Coons do sitting in a 5-run hole?

Bottom 6th, Quebell grounded out to Hilderbrand before Seeley whiffed. That was the last out that Yoder got. Both Alexanders and Palmer in between hit singles off him, getting the Coons to 6-2 with runners on the corners. Sandy Sambrano hit for Slayton, who had been in for long relief, lined a pitch to deep center where John Kelsey misplayed it into a 2-run double, then scored on Yoshi’s third single of the game. Merritt got hit by Yoder, before Shannon came in and struck out Pruitt, but the Critters were back at 6-5 after that 4-run barrage. Unfortunately they were then about to fall into the same trapdoor of shoddy fielding and pitching again. Thrasher was assigned the top 7th, thrashed Carlos Delgado with a pitch on his fat butt, then got a grounder to third from Jorge Garcia that Merritt threw wildly and pulled Quebell off the bag. Two on, Bill Miller hit for Kelsey, but grounded into a double play that left Delgado at third, where he remained when Reyes struck out. Seeley got on in the bottom 7th, but never past first base, yet after Thrasher put up another scoreless inning the bottom 8th was opened by a John Alexander double to center – he was the tying run, but was left on third when Bryan struck out Sambrano, Yoshi grounded out, and Merritt whiffed against Rivers. Bottom 9th, Patrick Mercier reduced the Coons to two outs in a hurry before Seeley drove a ball to deep right – stretch! stretch! GO! No, Garcia got it against the wall. 6-5 Knights. Nomura 3-4, BB, RBI; Palmer 2-4; J. Alexander 3-4, 2B, RBI; Sambrano (PH) 1-2, 2B, 2 RBI; Thrasher 2.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

Ugh, so close!! This was the first game in which the Raccoons actually made errors in 2011; Quebell dropped a foul pop early in the game for the first E of the season.

Raccoons (6-3) @ Loggers (5-3) – April 12-15, 2012

The Loggers were one stupid game away from taking the lead in the CL North, and somehow they had so far allowed the least runs in the Continental League (25!), despite their pitching staff being largely composed of reclamation projects, donations and a prayer or two. The offense was tied for seventh with 35 runs scored. We went 9-9 against the Loggers in ’11, but we haven’t lost the season series since leaving the cellar of constant losing in ’07.

Projected matchups:
Hector Santos (0-1, 7.50 ERA) vs. Gil McDonald (0-0, 1.69 ERA)
Nick Brown (1-1, 2.57 ERA) vs. Ramón Huertas (1-0, 3.86 ERA)
Colin Baldwin (1-0, 5.40 ERA) vs. Fernando Cruz (0-1, 3.65 ERA)
Shunyo Yano (1-0, 0.63 ERA) vs. Gabriel Caro (2-0, 0.53 ERA)

… and just look at that opening matchup! That one cries out 8-1 loss all the way! Cruz will be the second left-handed pitcher we see this year. And thankfully nobody noticed earlier that Michael Palmer hadn’t had an off day so far…

Game 1
POR: 2B Nomura – 3B Merritt – LF Pruitt – 1B Quebell – CF Seeley – RF J. Alexander – SS M. Gutierrez – C Bowen – P Santos
MIL: LF Knowling – SS Luján – RF Dally – CF Locke – 1B Roncero – C R. Hernandez – 3B F. Cuevas – 2B Sandoval – P McDonald

The Raccoons made some offensive mistakes early on, with Merritt erasing Yoshi on a double play in the first inning and getting caught stealing in the third just before Pruitt doubled. The Coons still scored two early, including a Quebell sac fly that plated Pruitt in the third. Santos struck out five consecutive batters between the second and third innings before Zach Knowling hit a double, but was stranded. Philip Locke hit a 1-out triple in the first which didn’t faze Santos much, as he struck out Silvestro Roncero (#8 on the day!) before Raúl Hernandez fouled out behind Bowen.

Santos, twice through the order, maintained a 3-hit shutout with nine strikeouts. Knowling led off the sixth and for the second time tried to bunt his way on, and for the second time it didn’t work. Justin Dally would take a 2-out walk, the Loggers’ first, before Locke went down in flames, Santos’ 10th strikeout, but by the seventh inning things turned against the Coons. Merritt hit a 2-out triple in the top 7th but couldn’t be brought home by Pruitt, with the lead remaining 2-0. Bottom 7th, Santos got one more out before Hernandez singled and Cuevas got drilled with an 0-2 pitch. That was it for Hector, with the left-handed Amari Brissett announced as pinch-hitter Thrasher took over. Brissett and Suketsune Ito both were thrown in the trash, ending the seventh with the tying runs on base. Thrasher also faced Knowling to start the eighth, who this time hit a proper single. Steele replaced Thrasher against his old team and sat down the next three Loggers to end this frame. A stomach-twisting throwing error by Pat Hanson got the Coons’ leadoff man Gutierrez on base in the top of the ninth and the Critters shoved him in for a potentially critical insurance run, giving Angel Casas a 3-run lead for the bottom of the ninth. But hey, it’s Angel! Nobody reached, and two struck out to put this one in the books. 3-0 Raccoons! Pruitt 2-4, BB, 3B, 2B; Seeley 3-4, 2B; Castro (PH) 1-1; Santos 6.1 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 10 K, W (1-1);

Game 2
POR: CF Castro – 2B Nomura – LF Pruitt – 1B Quebell – RF Seeley – SS Palmer – C D. Alexander – 3B Merritt – P Brown
MIL: LF Knowling – SS Luján – RF Dally – CF Locke – 2B Sandoval – C R. Hernandez – 3B Ito – 1B Roncero – P Huertas

Both teams got the leadoff man on, and both guys were caught stealing. In Zach Knowling’s case, he reached on a pop that came right Merritt’s way, and Merritt had it drop two feet in front of him. Nick Brown’s look said it all. Can we finally get a slick-fielding third baseman, or at least one that cuts down on the stupid errors? Oh no, they couldn’t, and it got worse at an alarming rate. They left runners on first and third in the top 2nd before Brown got waffled in the bottom of the inning, with a Pruitt error involved as well as just bad pitching. The Loggers had two outs and runners on second and third after Pruitt’s numbening mistake in left, and Roncero at the plate. He was a left-hander and Brownie should be able to handle him well. Roncero hit a hard grounder to right, Yoshi with a diving grab kept it in front of him, throw to first – SAFE. NO! Yes, safe. Huertas and Knowling both hit hard singles, and the Loggers took a 3-0 lead, all runs earned in the end. And it yet got worse. Bottom 3rd, Brown started with a K to Dally, before Philip Locke’s grounder glanced off Quebell’s glove and into the outfield, generously scored a hit. Oscar Sandoval hit an infield single that Palmer couldn’t dig out, but a pop and a grounder to Yoshi allowed Brown to get out of the inning.

The Coons couldn’t do anything with the crummy Huertas for five innings before Castro and Nomura went to the corners with nobody out in the top 6th. Pruitt batted as the tying run with two more power lefties to come, but Pruitt killed the inning on the first pitch he saw with a run-scoring double play and the Loggers took that run right back in the bottom of the inning, Brown’s last, but despite being down 4-1 and the team largely clueless so far, he would not take the loss. Huertas was still on it, and was bombed by Seeley to start the top 7th. Palmer singled before Huertas got two outs. John Alexander hit for Brown and hit a liner into the right corner, an RBI triple! He was the tying run, and Castro dinked a bloop into shallow left to tie the game! The Coons used three pitchers to get three outs in the bottom 7th in a tied game, with Rockburn striking out Daniel Sharp to end that inning.

The Critters had a chance in the top of the ninth when Dylan Alexander got drilled by Tim Poe to start the inning. Sambrano ran for him, but was caught stealing. Nobody scored as Steele held the Loggers at bay to get to the tenth inning in the 4-4 tie. Poe was still in, and the Raccoons got an even better chance with a leadoff walk drawn by Yoshi. Pruitt, who had made the third out in the top 7th with two men on, now came through with a double into the rightfield corner, and the Raccoons had two men in scoring position. Quebell was walked intentionally to load the bags, and Seeley struck out. Palmer lined a pitch to short but Antonio Luján JUST missed it! It was into left, and Yoshi scored the go-ahead run! That was all they got as Sambrano struck out and when Ayers hit for an 0-for-4 Jon Merritt, he flew out to deep left. Oh well, bring Angel! Luján struck out, Dally grounded out, Brissett grounded out – ballgame! 5-4 Raccoons! Castro 3-4, RBI; Palmer 3-5, RBI; J. Alexander (PH) 1-1, 3B, RBI; Bowen (PH) 1-1;

Game 3
POR: 2B Nomura – 3B Merritt – 1B Pruitt – LF Seeley – CF Sambrano – SS Palmer – RF Ayers – C Bowen – P Baldwin
MIL: LF Knowling – SS Luján – RF Dally – CF Locke – 2B Sandoval – 3B Sharp – C R. Hernandez – 1B Roncero – P F. Cruz

A Jason Seeley sac fly gave the Raccoons a 1-0 lead in the top of the first before Colin Baldwin had a 36-pitch first inning of his own. He made a throwing error, walked two, but struck out three and nobody scored, with Daniel Sharp going down looking to end the inning. Another tight spot developed in the bottom of the fourth inning, with runners on the corners and nobody out. Sharp struck out again, Raúl Hernandez went down whiffing as well, and Roncero then grounded out to Pruitt, the Coons remaining up 1-0. Their lineup didn’t do a lot, while Baldwin kept wobbling through, but in the bottom 6th Jon Merritt made another throwing error that put the leadoff man on base with nobody out. Baldwin didn’t recover from that, Oscar Sandoval doubled home Dally with the tying run, and Baldwin left the game in a 1-1 tie and two men on after Hernandez walked with two outs. Sugano got the third out from Roncero, a nasty fly to right that ended up with Ayers, thankfully.

Top 7th, Ayers could have followed up his strong play with a hit, but struck out. Bowen drew a walk, John Alexander, batting for Sugano, struck out. Yoshi then rammed a bouncer to third, too fast for Sharpie to make a play and it was all the way to the wall! Bowen had the rocket between his buttocks lit by remote control to fire him all the way around the bases and he scored ahead of Zach Knowling’s throw! RBI double by Yoshi Nomura! Unfortunately, Merritt couldn’t come up with anything, and in the bottom of the inning Kyle Mullins was turned upside down. He hit PH Pedro Estrada to start the inning and Knowling reached on an infield single. Dally singled in the tying run, and Locke brought in the go-ahead run as the Loggers took a 3-2 lead. The Loggers sent lefty Jose Rivera into the top of the eighth, with Pruitt and Seeley up first to start the inning. Pruitt singled hard to right, and Seeley hit a hard one to deep left, and Knowling couldn’t reach it. Double, runners on second and third with nobody out for the Coons! Sandy Sambrano struck out against right-hander Richard Williams, Palmer popped out to third. That brought up Ayers, who had made nothing but outs since the season started. No! Quebell batted for him, with Kevin Cummings, another left-hander replacing Williams. Down to two strikes, Quebell jabbed a bouncer into play, up the middle, past Fernando Cuevas AND INTO CENTER!! Pruitt in to score! Seeley in to score! Coons have the lead! Law was in for the bottom of the eighth, with the Loggers’ Hernandez reaching with a floating leadoff single. Despite not much in terms of stuff, Law got through the inning, with two outs to Sambrano in deep center. The Raccoons stranded two runners in the top ninth when Cummings struck out Seeley, leaving Ron Thrasher to protect a 4-3 lead in the bottom of the inning. Angel Casas had pitched two days in a row – and he wasn’t going to pitch three days in a row in April due to historical reasons, plus three of the first four batters up in the bottom 9th were left-handers. Henry McClendon was not a left-handed batter, but was up first and grounded hard to Merritt, who made a strong throw to JUST nip McClendon at first base! Dally and Locke then struck out. 4-3 Furballs!! Nomura 2-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Pruitt 2-4, BB; Quebell (PH) 1-1, 2 RBI; Baldwin 5.2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 4 BB, 7 K and 1-1;

That was … that was a really tense game! Ugh, I’m sweating! This team surely has some bite to it early on!

Game 4
POR: 2B Nomura – SS Palmer – LF Pruitt – 1B Quebell – CF Seeley – RF J. Alexander – C D. Alexander – 3B Merritt – P Yano
MIL: C R. Hernandez – SS Luján – RF Dally – CF Locke – 3B Sharp – 1B Roncero – LF P. Estrada – 2B Sandoval – P Caro

The Coons had the bases loaded in the first: Yoshi had walked to start the game, Palmer singled, and Quebell drew a 4-pitch walk. Seeley and John Alexander both hit balls quite hard to the right side, but both were intercepted and nobody scored. The Loggers had a single from Dally and a double from Locke to put two men in scoring position. Daniel Sharp grounded to Palmer – and Palmer blew it. The Loggers took a 1-0 lead on the error. And if that was already painful, it got yet worse in the second inning. Estrada and Sandoval were both down to two strikes when they both singled to center. Caro got them over into scoring position, from where they scored on a passed ball and a balk. Loggers 3, Raccoons 0. Of the three runs, six were unearned.

Earned runs followed soon, with Philip Locke knocking a 2-run homer in the bottom 3rd, and after that Yano walked two, and Merritt made another grisly error to plate the Loggers’ sixth run. The Coons weren’t going to pick this one out of the trash. They had two on in the top 4th when Dylan Alexander hit into a double play, and while we tried to get any length at all out of Yano, he had absolutely nothing. The Loggers opened the bottom 5th with singles by Roncero, Estrada, and Sandoval to load the bases. Pat Slayton took over, and with the way our pen had been squeezed Slayton had to know that NOBODY was going to rescue him if he got into some **** or other. The Loggers knew that, too, and they tore him up right in the fifth inning, turning on a painful rout. Caro and Luján hit sac flies with a walk to Hernandez in between, and then Dally and Locke had hard base hits to score three more runs. That got the Loggers up to 11-0. The best the hapless Coons managed to do were back-to-back homers by John Alexander and Tomas Castro in the top of the ninth to ruin Caro’s line and shutout bid. 11-2 Loggers. Palmer 2-4; Castro (PH) 1-1, HR, RBI;

Whatever I said about this team having bite, I will take it all back. They had double lunch, and that was it.

In other news

April 2 – DAL 1B/3B Dennis Berman (.400, 0 HR, 0 RBI) takes his 19-game hitting streak from the end of 2011, and contributes two hits in the Stars’ 3-2 win over the Gold Sox to reach 20 games.
April 4 – New York’s C Gabriel Ortíz (.385, 0 HR, 0 RBI) has three hits in the Crusaders’ 5-3 win over the Indians, including his 2,000th career hit, a second inning single off Román Escobedo.
April 6 – PIT SS Tom McWhorter, who suffered an injury on Opening Day without getting even an at-bat, is reported to have broken his thumb and will miss a month.
April 8 – DAL 1B/3B Dennis Berman (.458, 0 HR, 3 RBI) has his 24-game hitting streak come to an end in an 8-3 win over the Capitals, in which he goes 0-for-2 with two walks.
April 10 – The Crusaders announce that their CF Roberto Pena (.235, 0 HR, 3 RBI) has been placed on the DL with a broken wrist and won’t be back before the latter half of May.
April 10 – MIL SP Gabriel Caro (2-0, 0.53 ERA) 3-hits the Bayhawks in a 4-0 shutout.
April 11 – VAN 1B Ray Gilbert (.471, 2 HR, 6 RBI) tears down the Falcons almost on his own in an 11-4 Canadiens win, ripping five hits, including a double and two homers off Dave Beebe and Larry Cutts, driving in three runs.
April 11 – It’s a 20-game hitting streak for OCT INF/LF Dave McCormick (.436, 2 HR, 12 RBI) after three hits in a 5-3 win over the Crusaders!
April 12 – It’s a hitting streak no more for Oklahoma’s McCormick (.405, 2 HR, 12 RBI), who goes 0-for-3 in a 2-0 win over the Falcons. The Thunder have yet to lose a ballgame.
April 12 – Pittsburgh’s 1B/3B Marc Williams (.292, 0 HR, 1 RBI) lands on the DL with shoulder inflammation. The 28-year old might miss two months.
April 12 – NYC LF Martin Ortíz (.351, 1 HR, 8 RBI) agrees to a 2-yr, $6.8M contract extension with the Crusaders.

Complaints and stuff

Nick Brown remains in 26th place in the all-time strikeout list, but his deficit is down to three against Steve Rogers and four against John Douglas, as well as six behind Kisho Saito for the franchise record.

We’ve certainly seen almost everything so far, a few laughers, a few nail biters, and an ugly rout. But hey, first place is first place. We are on a 2-week road trip and on the way to Boston. The Crusaders will not come across our way until two weeks from now.

Early words from the farm. Ricardo Carmona is batting .360/.407/.520 in AAA. Jimmy Fucito’s OPS is over 1. Rich Hood had a scoreless start. Daniel Price is hitting .412 in Aumsville. However, that’s all after just one week of play. But, mmm, Carmona. Yummy, yummy. Can’t wait to break my head over how to make room for him on the roster.