[Westheim]

Originally Posted by wpnads

Finally got caught up reading your dynasty. I have to say, I have really enjoyed seeing how far The Critters have come and hopefully you'll be able to get them back to the championship.

Congratulations for committing to an endeavour that hopefully was worth it. I told Slappy to fashion you an endurance medal and he came back with an empty box of matches stapled to a used bandaid, but wouldn't tell whose bandaid that was. Make of it what your heart desires.

Originally Posted by wpnads

Out of curiosity, would you ever consider moving Brown to pitch out of the bullpen so you could move another pitcher up?

Well, right now ... I don't ... I don't think I can answer anything related to Nick Brown's status right now.....

(a distant bell tolls)

+++

Raccoons (17-19) vs. Loggers (17-20) – May 13-15, 2013

The Loggers weren’t quite as horrible as in recent years so far, and that is not only based on their record. They remained reasonably close to .500 into the latter half of May in ’12 as well, but then with a horrendously lop-sided run differential (and not in their favor). This year, their run differential is -13, and they are close to the league average in runs scored and runs allowed. We beat them 11-7 last year and haven’t lost the season series since 2006.

Projected matchups:
Bill Conway (2-2, 3.72 ERA) vs. Bruce Morrison (2-3, 3.72 ERA)
Nick Brown (2-4, 3.63 ERA) vs. Jim Pennington (3-3, 4.75 ERA)
Hector Santos (1-2, 3.25 ERA) vs. Jim Baker (3-2, 3.51 ERA)
Colin Baldwin (2-3, 4.34 ERA) vs. Ramón Huertas (3-3, 3.12 ERA)

We will face four right-handers, which can only be a good thing.

Game 1
MIL: 1B C. Martin – SS Howell – RF Dally – CF Brissett – 2B O. Sandoval – LF MacNamara – C R. Rucker – 3B Jennings – P Morrison
POR: LF Sambrano – CF Carmona – 2B Nomura – 1B Quebell – C D. Alexander – SS Palmer – RF J. Alexander – 3B Nunley – P Conway

Two pitches into the game, Corey Martin had slapped his first career home run, although I was going to dispute that it counted – against CONWAY. Justin Dally hit an even bigger bomb in the same inning, and Conway fabricated another run on two walks and a wild pitch in the top 2nd to sit in an early 3-0 hole. The Raccoons actually made that up on a bunch of singles for two runs in the bottom 3rd and then Matt Nunley’s first career RBI, a 1-out RBI single that plated Michael Palmer in the fourth, tying the score at three.

The Coons’ pitching staff’s answer to the tied game was quite simply to suck harder. Conway was yanked after five-plus with a leadoff walk to Brian MacNamara, his fifth free pass against seven strikeouts. Sergio Vega took over, was stabbed in the back by Palmer’s error on a grounder by Dave Jennings, but then walked Morrison to load the bases with one out. Even then, Martin struck out, but ex-Coon Rob Howell singled up the middle and into center, and two runs scored to break the tie. Vega was socked with two more 2-out RBI singles, all runs unearned though, and the Raccoons’ offense chose to keep a low profile against the mediocre Loggers pen throughout the latter half of the game. 7-3 Loggers. Carmona 3-5; Quebell 3-4, RBI;

Outside of Carmona and Quebell, the Raccoons had two more hits. Singles, of course. Can anybody on this miserable crew whack a ball real hard??

Game 2
MIL: LF Knowling – SS Howell – RF Dally – 2B O. Sandoval – 1B C. Martin – C R. Hernandez – CF Brissett – 3B Jennings – P Pennington
POR: LF Sambrano – CF Carmona – 2B Nomura – 1B Quebell – RF Bednarski – SS Palmer – C D. Alexander – 3B Rodgers – P Brown

Bednarski being hit by a pitch and two singles by Palmer and D-Alex gave the Coons a bases-loaded situation with one out in the second, but pops by Rodgers and Brown that were very high without going very far resolved the situation in the Loggers’ favor. Brownie, while not necessarily to blame for the team not scoring as a whole, then melted in wonderful fashion in the top 3rd. Jim Pennington hit a 1-out single, the Loggers’ first hit on the day, before Howell reached on another Palmer error, and Brown smacked Dally in a 3-0 count. Bases loaded, 0-2 pitch to Oscar Sandoval, bounced to left and to Palmer, who misses it completely, and the Loggers plate two. Corey Martin would strike out, but the mind was boggling already. It also started to drizzle lightly a short period later. A mess of a game also saw Brown drop a feed from Quebell at first base two innings later, but the Loggers were held completely away from third base in the middle innings. The Raccoons reached there exactly once, on Sandy Sambrano’s leadoff triple in the fifth, from where he scored on a sac fly by Ricardo Carmona, and that was that. Brownie finished seven without allowing another run, and his turn to bat came up in the bottom 7th. Rodgers had just drawn a leadoff walk, representing the tying run and with no trust whatsoever in a productive at-bat from the bench-dwellers, Brownie was asked to bunt the runner to second base before having a snack. That worked well enough, and Carmona scored Rodgers with a 2-out single to take Brown off the hook, but he was again denied a win. Worse, the first pitch of the bullpen (Gibson’s) was catapulted out of leftfield by Corey Martin, and the Loggers retook their lead RIGHT AWAY. Thrasher and Mathis were run out there to finish regulation without any more accidents, but the Coons were 3-2 behind in the bottom 9th, facing lefty Kevin Cummings, with nothing but left-handers coming up or on the bench. D-Alex singled anyway, and moved up on Rodgers’ grounder to first. J-Alex batted for Mathis, and left/right splits are totally overvalued. Alexander wonked a tremendous shot to deep right, and that was TOTALLY gone. 4-3 Raccoons! Carmona 2-3, 2 RBI; D. Alexander 2-4; J. Alexander (PH) 1-1, HR, 2 RBI; Brown 7.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 9 K;

The Corey Martin strikeout in the third inning marked 2,600 K for Nick Brown in his major league career. This was also the Furballs’ fifth win on the homestand (in eight games) and the FOURTH walkoff!

Ricardo Carmona stole his 12th base (against five failures) and grabbed a share of the CL Lead, tying BOS Mike Rivera. The CL lead is 15, held by Richmond’s Danny Flores.

Game 3
MIL: LF Knowling – SS Howell – RF Dally – CF Brissett – 2B O. Sandoval – C R. Hernandez – 1B C. Martin – 3B Jennings – P Baker
POR: CF Carmona – 2B Nomura – 1B Quebell – RF Bednarski – LF Pruitt – SS Rodgers – 3B Nunley – C Bowen – P Santos

The first major league error for Matt Nunley put the first Logger on base in the top 2nd, Raúl Hernandez reaching, but Santos quickly extinguished Corey Martin with a strikeout – no harm done. The Raccoons continued their unimpressive ways with the stick, getting two men on through various ways in the second and third innings, but didn’t actually score. If your pitcher reaches on a bloop single and you still can’t make the other team pay for it even a tiny bit – it’s sad. Santos was maintaining a no-hitter through four innings, but before he could continue there was a brief rain delay. Although it only lasted about 20 minutes, Santos’ stuff was already diminished on the other side of it. Hernandez singled with one out, Martin singled as well, and Jim Baker plated the first Loggers run with a 2-out single past Nunley. Bowen’s leadoff double in the bottom 5th didn’t lead to a run, either. Another runner was left in scoring position in the bottom 6th, and when Bowen hit a 1-out single in the bottom 7th, J-Alex batted for Santos and grounded into a double play. Vega put two of his three batters on base in the top 8th before Sugano cleaned up, before Yoshi’s 1-out double in the bottom 8th made him the tying run. Quebell struck out (…!), Bednarski gladly walked to not being blamed for doing anything wrong (better not do anything…), and Pruitt was 0-2 against an unfazed Baker until he chipped the third pitch up the middle and it eluded Gold Glover Oscar Sandoval for a single. Yoshi ran has hard as the paws would let him and scored, tied game. Rodgers struck out (gaaahh!!!), before Watanabe in the top 9th allowed a leadoff single to pinch-hitter Robert Rucker, who was swiftly run for by Aaron Moody. After moving up to second on a groundout by Hernandez, Moody took off for third, Bowen’s throw was CAPITALLY off and into leftfield and Moody scored. AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!! AAAAHHH, BOWEN!!! AAAAHHH!!!

Once Maud had calmed me with a cold towel on the forehead and some of Ivan the Druid’s wonder tea, which he claimed cured everything (even depression and madness?), the Coons were up to bat in the bottom of the inning, down 2-1. Nunley grounded out. Bowen singled to right, his third hit on the – WHAT THE?? He ran past first and towards second, and Dally threw him out!! AAAAAAAHHH!!! BOW-WEEEEEEENNNN!!!!! GAAAAAHHHH!!! 2-1 Loggers. Bednarski 0-1, 3 BB; Santos 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 8 K;

AAAAAAHHH!!! BOWEEEEEENNN!!!

(Maud is forced to load the crossbow with a tranquilizer bolt)

Game 4
MIL: LF Knowling – SS Howell – RF Dally – 2B O. Sandoval – 1B C. Martin – C R. Hernandez – CF Brissett – 3B Jennings – P Huertas
POR: CF Carmona – 2B Sambrano – 1B Quebell – RF Bednarski – LF Pruitt – SS Palmer – 3B Rodgers – C D. Alexander – P Baldwin

For once, Baldwin didn’t come out to walk everybody’s mother. He whiffed six his first time through the Loggers’ lineup, and even was spotted a run by an accidental RBI single hit by Quebell in the bottom 1st, plating Sambrano after Carmona had reduced the loot by a run for getting caught stealing earlier. Sambrano drew his second walk his second time up, then got caught stealing himself. While no additional run support for him was coming forward, Baldwin snapped and lost it from one inning to the next, opening the sixth with a walk to the pitcher Huertas. After another walk to Zach Knowling, Sandoval singled home Huertas to tie the game, and Baldwin walked Corey Martin to eventually load the bases. Gibson replaced Baldwin and got a grounder to third from Hernandez that ended the inning at 1-1, and Gibson also did a quick seventh. Sugano had a scoreless eighth, which included handing Justin Dally a golden sombrero in the course of the inning. When D-Alex drew a leadoff walk in the bottom 8th and represented the go-ahead run, the excitement almost was too much to bear. OFFENSE, maybe. Yoshi batted for Sugano and rocketed a 1-0 pitch to deep right, and well beyond the reach of Dally, into the corner for a double. No outs, runners on second and third, top of the order up. With a terrible wheezing noise, the Raccoons would get ONE run in on Sambrano’s liner to center that was caught by Amari Brissett on the run and D-Alex was released from third base in a move that expressed desperation better than a thousand words. Alexander scored, but mostly because the throw was not very good. Hoshi saved the game on three harmless pops. 2-1 Blighters. Bednarski 2-3, 2B; Nomura (PH) 1-1, 2B; Gibson 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

As the Coons were preparing to fail against the Condors over the weekend, their last two wins by starting pitchers had been by series opener Rich Hood last Sunday, and before that by Nick Brown in his shutout two weeks ago.

Raccoons (19-21) vs. Condors (19-22) – May 16-18, 2013

Hey, another bullpen worse than the Coons’ inept collection of dizzying nauseants, with a whopping 6.59 ERA charged against the Condors’ “relievers”, who weren’t relieving much except their fans’ burning desire to stay past the sixth inning for their games. Their rotation was average, as was their offense. The Raccoons had won the season series for eight straight years, including three straight 5-4 squeeze jobs.

Projected matchups:
Rich Hood (2-2, 4.04 ERA) vs. Dave Hogan (1-5, 5.47 ERA)
Bill Conway (2-3, 3.92 ERA) vs. TBD
Nick Brown (2-4, 3.14 ERA) vs. Michael Colvard (3-2, 3.44 ERA)

TBD would be the turn of southpaw Wes Yates (2-3, 4.79 ERA), who’s day-to-day with a back ailment. It is uncertain whether he can pitch. If he can’t, and Colvard moves up, we might face “Midnight” Martin (2-5, 2.37 ERA) on Sunday.

Game 1
TIJ: 3B Dasher – 2B Dougal – C M. Torres – CF Feldmann – RF Branch – 1B May – LF Eroh – SS M. Miller – P Hogan
POR: LF Sambrano – CF Carmona – 2B Nomura – RF Bednarski – C D. Alexander – 1B Pruitt – SS Palmer – 3B Nunley – P Hood

Doubles by Craig Dasher and Miguel Torres gave the Condors an early lead, and Ezra Branch’s single past Pruitt assured them of two runs in the opening frame. The waffling never stopped for Hood, who coughed up single runs in the next two innings to drop to 4-0, but then had a 2-out RBI double in the Raccoons’ 3-run fourth. Hood had already been the first Raccoon to reach base with a 2-out single in the previous inning, but after Sambrano’s double Carmona had struck out to leave two in scoring position. Hood’s double drove in the third run of the inning, left him and Nunley in scoring position, and then Sambrano struck out. The Coons had runners on the corners in the bottom 6th, bringing up Nunley with one out, with the rookie generating a sorry pop to short, and J-Alex hit for Mathis, who had replaced the successless Hood at the start of the sixth, but had grounded out.

While Craig Dasher stole three bases off the Coons in this game, none of these steals mattered greatly, but when Carmona took his 14th bag of the season in the bottom 7th, he moved himself with the tying run into scoring position with one out, was able to tag up on Nomura’s fly out to Ryan Feldmann, and then scored on a soft single by Bednarski into left – tied game. Bottom 8th, Pruitt led off with a single that went under Ezra Branch’s glove and dinked against the inside of his leg. Pruitt thought he had second base, but DIDN’T, and halfway between bases suddenly realized that the ball hadn’t gone to the track and that he was going to be very out at second base. He threw the anchor, scrambled back to first and lunged onto the base JUST AHEAD of Nick May’s tag. Not that it mattered. The next three batters never moved Pruitt off first base. The ninth inning then brought the daily bullpen implosion, with Pat “****ing” Slayton walking a pair before being yanked for Gibson, who allowed back-to-back singles and three runs to Stanley Dougal and Miguel Torres. Dougal had gained an extra base when Carmona’s throw back in went wild. Carmona would leave the game with an injury, and with the Coons out of outfielders, Pat Whitehouse had to go to centerfield. Gibson somehow got out of the inning, but the Raccoons went down 1-2-3 in the ninth. 7-4 Condors. Pruitt 2-4; Vega 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K;

Ricardo Carmona had a blister on his finger, nothing too serious, but he wouldn’t start the middle game. He was available to pinch-hit, but nothing more.

Game 2
TIJ: 3B Dasher – SS Eroh – RF Branch – 1B R. Morris – LF Raupp – CF Feldmann – C M. Torres – SS M. Miller – P Colvard
POR: 2B Nomura – LF Sambrano – C D. Alexander – RF Bednarski – CF J. Alexander – 1B Pruitt – SS Whitehouse – 3B Rodgers – P Conway

Wes Yates was not available, but was not ruled out to start on Sunday rather than “Midnight” Martin. Colvard went on short rest.

Conway struck out three in the first inning, then was brought back to earth by the second, in which he walked the leadoff man, Jimmy Raupp, who scored two hard hits later. The Coons would tie the game again in the bottom 2nd when Whitehouse reached, stole second, and came home on Ken Rodgers’ double, all with two outs. Two innings later, the Coons would have a leadoff double once again, hit by John Alexander, and in good tradition it didn’t lead to anything, and certainly not to a lead. The Raccoons WOULD take a lead, however, in the bottom 6th, opened with back-to-back homers by Bednarski and J-Alex. Bill Conway had performed decently in the middle innings, but spilled singles to Matt Miller and Craig Dasher in the top of the seventh and was removed with two outs. The ball went to the rookie Mathis, because Gibson had been abused quite a bit this week, and I didn’t trust Pat Slayton with yesterday’s half-eaten sandwich, much less with a 3-1 lead with the tying runs on. Mathis got Ron Eroh to ground out to Whitehouse, and the danger was turned away for the moment. But just like Sambrano ruined the bottom 7th with a double play, Thrasher ruined the eighth by hitting the leadoff man Branch. He got Rob Morris, but we now longed for a right-hander, and by now the choice was not much of a choice anymore. So here came Slayton, and wouldn’t you ****ING believe it, he served up the tying home run to Ryan Feldmann! Slayton cocked up two more base runners in the ninth, and Branch singled in the go-ahead run off Sugano. The Condors rolled in Kaz Kichida for the bottom 9th, who had an ERA of more than 11, but struck out Pruitt and Whitehouse to get started. Palmer drew a pinch-walk before Carmona singled, and then Yoshi also walked, loading the bases for Sandy Sambrano, batting a sad .200, who was almost instantly down two strikes before knocking a little looper to right, out of the reach of Dougal at second, and into rightfield! Palmer in to tie it, and Carmona came FLYING down the third base line, well ahead of a throw – it’s a walkoff!!! 5-4 Critters. Sambrano 1-5, 2 RBI; J. Alexander 2-4, HR, 2B, RBI; Rodgers 1-2, BB, 2B, RBI; Palmer (PH) 0-0, BB; Carmona (PH) 1-1; Conway 6.2 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 7 K;

Pat Slayton (6.43 ERA) had a rough Sunday morning. The delivery boy had been instructed to make as much noise as possible on bringing him his plane ticket to St. Petersburg in the first place, but the actual idea of nailing it onto his apartment door had been mine.

Matt Nunley (.227, 0 HR, 1 RBI) joined him on the way to St. Pete, with Walt Canning coming off the DL in time for Sunday’s game. The bullpen was reinforced by Juan Gallegos, a 3-year old discovery from Venezuela that Whitebread had dug out there six years ago. He was nothing special at all. 87mph fastball, a good curve, and a ****ty changeup. He was pitching to a 2.87 ERA in Florida, and hey, why not?

Game 3
TIJ: 3B Dasher – 2B Dougal – C M. Torres – CF Feldmann – RF Branch – 1B May – LF M. Herrera – SS M. Miller – P W. Yates
POR: 2B Nomura – LF Sambrano – CF J. Alexander – RF Bednarski – 1B Quebell – SS Palmer – 3B Canning – C Bowen – P Brown

Nick Brown left the Sunday game after two pitches with an apparent injury, which was well enough to sent me into a frenzied madness. Vega replaced him, walked two in the inning, but got out, somehow, then loaded the bases with nobody out in the second inning, and still didn’t allow a run. His highly erratic ways prevented him from doing any actual long relief, and he was totally toast after the third inning, having thrown over 50 pitches. The Raccoons usually got Yoshi Nomura on base before developing an existential crisis and the game was scoreless when Juan Gallegos made his major league debut in a spot you would not have expected him in, starting the fourth inning. Mike Herrera hit a leadoff single against him and advanced on two groundouts, but was left on third when Gallegos struck out Dasher. The Raccoons remained offensively inept, and to drive the misery to the max, it started to rain in the fifth inning, ultimately resulting in a 38-minute rain delay in the sixth inning after Gallegos had spun three shutout innings and had hit a single in the fifth inning – of course without spawning general excitement in the lineup. Yoshi singled behind him, Gallegos went to second base, and then everything died once again.

The Condors sent a soaked Wes Yates back out for the bottom 6th, and he quickly retired Bednarski and Quebell before Palmer hit a single. A hit-and-run was called, because who even still gave a ****, and Canning singled just past Dougal into right, sending Palmer to third. Craig Bowen got a fat pitch and KILLED it, and I mean he KILLED it. 433 feet to almost dead center – HOME RUN!! Carmona hit for the hero Gallegos, walked, and was dashing when Yoshi doubled to center off reliever Ted Miller. Feldmann’s throw back in was way wild, Carmona scored, 4-0. Gibson was not touched in the seventh, but the Condors shook a run out of Thrasher’s pockets in the eighth. Hoshi faced the top of the order in the ninth, struck out Dasher, Dougal, and Torres in order and sent me to a sleepless night. 4-1 Coons. Nomura 3-4, BB; Bowen 2-4, HR, 3 RBI; Gallegos 3.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K, W (1-0) and 1-1;

Must… not… think… about… Brownie… being… hurt… must… not… think… about… Brownie… being… hurt… must… not…

In other news

May 14 – BOS CL Iemitsu Rin (1-0, 0.96 ERA, 14 SV) seals his 300th career save in the Titans’ 4-1 win over the Indians.
May 14 – A sprained wrist will put RIC LF Earl Clark (.324, 1 HR, 19 RBI) out of action for the next five to six weeks.
May 15 – The Pacifics acquire 41-year old CL Ryosei Kato (0-3, 6 SV, 11.85 ERA) from the Aces for three rather dull prospects.

Complaints and stuff

Teamwide failure is always tricky to diagnose. It might be something in the water, or perhaps with the air condition, but the staff now has the problem narrowed down and it must be a nutritional problem. They’re not eating enough! As fat as most of the Raccoons are, 6,000 kilocalories is NOWHERE enough a daily ration to find any energy on the field!

I had eyed Chris Brown in AAA for a potential promotion to the Bigs in September, but he got blown up for long enough to still have a 7+ ERA in mid-May and was sent back to Ham Lake to get readjusted.

As we are on the subject of Browns – now please excuse me. I have some banging of fists against walls to do along with furious howling.