[Westheim]

As early as Monday, and less than a week after coming here, Daryl Anderson reminded me that he was not a role player and was a *primary* catcher. He might be a primary ****hole* if anybody’s digging my opinion…

Raccoons (60-57) vs. Blue Sox (52-65) – August 12-14, 2013

The Blue Sox were struggling with most of the things you liked on a baseball team, like, scoring runs, not allowing runs, defense, and so on. They were in the bottom four in both runs scored and runs allowed in the Federal League, and their rotation and bullpen were both in the bottom three in ERA. We had dropped the last series between the teams, 1-2, in 2011 after winning the last three encounters. Overall, we are just better than even against them at a .522 clip.

Projected matchups:
Hector Santos (6-9, 3.74 ERA) vs. Felipe Ramirez (4-5, 3.82 ERA)
Sergio Vega (3-2, 1.95 ERA) vs. Alfredo Collazo (11-7, 3.37 ERA)
Jonathan Toner (1-1, 5.74 ERA) vs. Jason McDonald (4-6, 5.04 ERA)

Three more games, then finally an off day! We get their two least horrendous pitchers, all right-handers. Collazo, 32, is a CL veteran, spending 11 years with the Falcons before coming to Nashville this season. His career ERA is more than a full run higher than his 2013 performance, though.

This will just be a quick 3-game set at home before we go on another 2-week long grand tour of two countries (including an inconvenient double header), but at least we have an off day every week until the start of September now – it helps the colossally beleaguered bullpen a whole bunch, I’m sure!

Game 1
NAS: LF Kretz – SS M. Garza – 3B A. Esquivel – CF Shearing – 1B Griffin – C C. Ramos – RF Beckmann – 2B Barton – P F. Ramirez
POR: CF Carmona – LF Sambrano – 2B Nomura – 1B Quebell – RF Bednarski – C Anderson – 3B Nunley – SS Whitehouse – P Santos

The mini-homestand started in cringeworthy fashion with a leadoff home run by Joey Kretz. The Coons made the third out in the bottom of the inning at third base, which was a no-no, but Carmona was thrown out by Herb Beckmann trying to go first-to-third on Quebell’s 2-out single. Quebell’s defense also continued to be severely lacking, and two grounders escaped him rather easily in the fourth inning to help the Sox score another run. Ineptness would turn into absurdity in the sixth inning. Santos was approaching 100 pitches already after consistently throwing junk in the dirt that no kindergarten player would club at. The Blue Sox spit him out and he was yanked with two runs already in and T.J. Barton on second base with one out. Gallegos came in to face the pitcher Ramirez, who not only slugged an RBI double to deep center, but also then stole third base off a completely befuddled battery. Kretz scored him with a sac fly, bringing the Blue Sox up to 6-0. Daryl Anderson then hit into a double play in the bottom 6th, erasing Bednarski from first, who had only made it there after being plunked by Ramirez. Three left-handers hit singles off Youngblood in the top 7th to add another run for the Blue Sox, while the Raccoons would get only one run off Robby Delikat, a reliever in the class of Slayton and Youngblood and the like, and that was all. 7-1 Blue Sox. Carmona 2-3; Quebell 2-4;

The Blue Sox outslogged us 18-7. Mind that they are not a good offensive team.

I want to demote / fire / set on fire so many players…….

Game 2
NAS: LF Kretz – SS M. Garza – CF Shearing – C Walston – 1B Griffin – RF Adkins – 3B Harman – 2B Barton – P Collazo
POR: CF Carmona – LF Sambrano – 2B Nomura – 1B Quebell – RF Bednarski – SS Canning – C McNeela – 3B Nunley – P Vega

Sergio Vega hadn’t made a name for himself in going deep into games as a makeshift starter, but here he retired the first seven Blue Sox in just 20 pitches before Barton singled to right, but was left on base. 32 pitches for three shutout innings was exactly the pace that managers loved to get from their starters, makeshift or not. While the pace didn’t hold up quite as crisply, the shutout did hold up long enough for the Raccoons to actually score the first run of the game in the bottom 6th after being drawn a nose by Collazo just as well through five innings, as both pitchers nursed 2-hitters. But Ricardo Carmona led off the sixth with a triple and came home on Sambrano’s single into center, with Sandy stealing second, moving up on Yoshi’s groundout, and then coming home on a wild pitch. Bednarski would draw a 2-out walk, then got picked off first by Collazo. Daron Griffin opened the top 7th with a liner up the rightfield line that Bednarski cut off. Griffin raced around second base, but found himself thrown out at third by Bednarski. Vega visibly didn’t have it anymore, walking Jamie Adkins, but he got a double play grounder from Tommy Harman, completing his day with seven shutout innings. Josh Gibson was rescued with another double play hit into by pinch-hitter Herb Beckmann in the eighth, and in the ninth – after Quebell had stranded runners on the corners in the bottom 8th – the Raccoons turned to Manobu Sugano, with the left-handed middle of the order coming up, despite Watanabe being available. The Blue Sox’ Marcos Garza, Conor Shearing, and Pat Walston all looked exceptionally bad, and went down 1-2-3. 2-0 Critters. Sambrano 2-4, RBI; Vega 7.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 4 K, W (4-2);

Game 3
NAS: LF Kretz – SS M. Garza – 3B A. Esquivel – CF Shearing – C Walston – 1B Griffin – RF Adkins – 2B Barton – P McDonald
POR: CF Carmona – LF Sambrano – 2B Nomura – 1B Quebell – C Anderson – RF White – SS Canning – 3B Rodgers – P Toner

Toner early on again failed to channel his first semi-successful major league start, and got waffled hard from the start. Conor Shearing hit a 2-run double in the first inning, while the Raccoons scuffled as usual. When they did have two men on in the third inning, Adrian Quebell hit into an inning-ending double play. Daryl Anderson led off the bottom 4th with a hard single to center, then got washed up in Pat White’s double play. Then, singles by Canning and Rodgers, and McDonald, who had struggled with control from the start, walked Toner to fill the bases with two outs for Carmona, who lined out to Shearing.

Bottom 5th, still down 2-0. While the Sox didn’t miss many pitches, they hit mostly at fielders in these middle innings. Sambrano led off with a single, and Yoshi singled as well, sending Sandy to third base. Quebell grounded to T.J. Barton once more, but Barton missed it and Quebell had an RBI single. The Coons would somehow get in the tying run as well, but left the go-ahead run on third base in the inning. Toner held up through seven innings after an incredibly rocky start to this game, and was hit for with two outs and two on in the bottom 7th. Facing right-hander Nick Melendez would be Matt Pruitt, which looked like another forfeit, but the anemic leftfielder actually managed to single into right, scoring Walt Canning from second base to take a 3-2 lead. Melendez then walked Carmona, but Sambrano grounded out to end the inning with three Coons stranded. They scratched out an insurance run in the eighth, 4-2, before Josh Gibson faced Antonio Esquivel to start the ninth. Gibson had pitched the eighth, and Sugano was penciled in for the ninth again once the right-hander Esquivel was out of the way. Unfortunately, Esquivel singled, and Sugano faced the tying run at the plate and nobody out. Shearing struck out, and Walston and Griffin were both retired on pops over the infield. 4-2 Raccoons. Nomura 3-4, RBI; Quebell 2-5, 2B, RBI; Anderson 2-5, 2B; Canning 2-5; Rodgers 2-3, BB; Pruitt (PH) 1-1, RBI; Toner 7.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, W (2-1) and 1-2, BB;

We out-hit the Blue Sox 15-4 in this one and left SIXTEEN men on base.

Raccoons (62-58) @ Crusaders (52-65) – August 16-18, 2013

The Crusaders had won four straight to grab a half game lead in the CL North. They ranked second in both runs scored and runs allowed, but they had suffered a few injuries recently, including Daniel Sharp, who was perhaps not as much of a key to success for them as Stanton Martin, who came off the DL *just* in time for this 3-game weekend set. They held a 7-4 edge over the Coons in ’13 after winning only three games against Portland last year.

Projected matchups:
Rich Hood (6-8, 4.99 ERA) vs. Pancho Trevino (19-2, 2.79 ERA)
Bill Conway (5-9, 3.64 ERA) vs. Kelvin Yates (1-0, 5.40 ERA)
Hector Santos (6-10, 3.90 ERA) vs. A.J. Bartels (9-8, 4.44 ERA)

Three more right-handers. Trevino was actually looking for his 20th win in the middle of August, and his chances against Hood were certainly not bad. Kel Yates was just returning from the DL as well, having missed almost all of 2013 so far.

Game 1
POR: CF Carmona – LF Sambrano – 2B Nomura – 1B Quebell – C Anderson – RF White – SS Canning – 3B Rodgers – P Hood
NYC: CF Brissett – 2B Caraballo – LF M. Ortíz – RF S. Martin – 1B Manfull – C G. Ortíz – SS J. Hernandez – 3B Petersen – P Trevino

Trevino dipped one into Yoshi and walked two in the first inning, but the Raccoons couldn’t find a hit and didn’t score. Hood struggled from the start, but the Crusaders didn’t hit them hard enough to get them past the outfielders in the early innings and the game was scoreless through three. In the fourth, Trevino had a bout of wildness again. Ken Rodgers found the bases to be loaded with one out, hit the first pitch high to right, where Stanton Martin sold out on a catch, much to the shock of his manager, but came up allright. Rodgers’ fly was deep enough to bring home Quebell with the game’s first run, however. Hood grounded out to leave two on.

After a 1-2-3 top 5th, Hood allowed a leadoff single to Trevino in the bottom 5th, and Amari Brissett reached on an infield single. Caraballo bunted the runners into scoring position, bringing up the Crusaders’ heart of the order, which had 67 homers between them (POR: 13). The Martin Brothers didn’t go deep (enough), but did a good job, with Martin Ortíz bringing home Trevino with a deep sac fly to center, and Stanton Martin singled to left, plating Brissett, and New York was up 2-1.

With Rodgers at first base in the seventh inning, Hood was left in the game to bunt him into scoring position and hope for some extra base magic from Ricardo Carmona. Hood bunted into a double play instead, then conceded ANOTHER leadoff single to Trevino in the bottom of the inning. With right-hander Bob Morris batting for Amari Brissett, Tom Constantino came out. Constantino hadn’t pitched in the Blue Sox series and ran 3-ball counts to Morris, who grounded out, and Francisco Caraballo, who walked. Sugano came on to face the left-hander Ortíz and try to salvage at least a comeback chance. Ortíz lined out Sambrano in left (bssss…!) and then the Raccoons took a page out of the handbook for mad managers and walked right-hander Stanton Martin intentionally with only third base open. Sugano would face B.J. Manfull (a left-handed batter) with the bases loaded – and he grounded out to end the inning! Gallegos and Youngblood narrowly avoided being blown up by the bottom of the order in the bottom 8th, giving the Coons’ 5-6-7 batters a chance to come back from a 2-1 deficit against Micah Steele. The most the Coons managed was a pinch-walk drawn by Bednarski, and nobody hit a ball out of the infield. 2-1 Crusaders.

Well, four hits most of the time ain’t enough to win any game. We actually walked more Crusaders (5) than that.

Things are so bleak in every regard right now, I booked myself TWO rooms in the same hotel in New York. The team thinks I’m in a suite on the ninth floor, but I’m actually in a storage room on the second floor, and sleeping on a stool, slumped against the ball. I just can’t have anybody bugging me after the daily loss. And I found out the hard way that we imported complainers onto the roster the entire year. Daryl Anderson would be the worst. Whether the Crusaders would take him back?

The bandits at the hotel are charging the same price for the storage room, which is full of brooms and buckets, than for the suite, by the way. They should all be thrown into the oubliette.

Game 2
POR: LF Carmona – SS Sambrano – 2B Nomura – 1B Quebell – RF Bednarski – CF White – C Anderson – 3B Nunley – P Conway
NYC: CF Brissett – 2B Caraballo – LF M. Ortíz – RF S. Martin – 1B Manfull – SS J. Hernandez – C Case – 3B Petersen – P K. Yates

Carmona walked and stole second base, then scored on Yoshi’s single in the first inning, just before Quebell hit into another double play. Conway retired the Crusaders in order the first time through and their first runner would be Brissett legging out an infield single, but that was all they got in the fourth inning. Conway walked Manfull on four pitches to start the bottom 5th, but he was erased in a double play. Aaron Case then singled (only the third hit in the entire game), and Conway walked Tommie Petersen on four pitches again. Kel Yates snipped a grounder past Yoshi into rightfield, and Case scored handily to tie the score. The Crusaders took the lead the next inning when Caraballo led off with a double and scored on consecutive groundouts by the Martin Brothers, and Conway continued to issue walks.

The Raccoons, held to one hit through six innings, had a leadoff single by Bednarski in the top 7th, another single by Anderson, and then Nunley hit a bouncer to his opposite Petersen, which appeared to bounce right on the edge between the grass and the dirt and escaped into left over Petersen’s glove. ****ty luck gave the Coons bases loaded with one out, with Pruitt batting for the pitcher again. Kel was melting, walked him to tie the game, and the Crusaders now through Alex Ramirez at the top of the order, and both Carmona and Sambrano were retired on easy pops. Bottom 8th, Martin Ortíz hit a 1-out double off Pat Slayton. Stanton popped out to Yoshi, and Manfull was walked intentionally to bring up Ramirez, who had logged three quick outs in the top 8th and had originally entered in a double switch, and force the Crusaders to show a pinch-hitter. It was left-hander Jesus Flores, and Sugano got the assignment, retiring him on a grounder to Yoshi to end the inning. Against Robbie Wills in the ninth, Pat White led off with a single, but would be stranded at third base. Constantino got the game into extras with a scoreless bottom 9th, and Yoshi legged out an infield single in the top 10th, only for the obnoxious Quebell to hit into another double play. Two hits and a walk won the game for the Crusaders against Constantino in the bottom 10th, with Bob Morris hitting a pinch-hit walkoff single to plate Martin Ortíz. 3-2 Crusaders. Nomura 2-4, BB, RBI; McNeela (PH) 1-1;

Matt Nunley, batting .190, was demoted before the series finale, with Keith Ayers getting added back onto the roster.

Game 3
POR: CF Carmona – LF Sambrano – 2B Nomura – RF Bednarski – 1B Pruitt – SS Canning – C McNeela – 3B Rodgers – P Santos
NYC: CF Brissett – 2B Caraballo – LF M. Ortíz – RF S. Martin – 1B Manfull – SS J. Hernandez – C Case – 3B Petersen – P Bartels

The Raccoons’ recipe for a first-inning run worked again. Sambrano singled, stole second, and scored on Yoshi’s single. Bednarski also singled, but Pruitt struck out and Canning grounded out to leave two on early. Santos struck out three of the first four batters he faced before B.J. Manfull cracked his 24th homer in the second inning to tie up the game early. Top 3rd: Carmona singled, stole second, Yoshi doubled him in. Once again, Santos failed to hold on for long, the Crusaders smacked three hard hits in the bottom 4th and the game was tied again at two. Three more singles, two of the infield variety, were good enough for the go-ahead run in the bottom 5th, driven in by Martin Ortíz. The Coons had runners on the corners in the top 6th with one out, but Canning struck out and RBI-less McNeela grounded out to Caraballo to end the inning.

But then Yoshi came up with two outs and runners on the corners in the top 7th. He was unretired on the day with two doubles, exactly what the Raccoons needed down 3-2. Alex Ramirez was pitching in relief of Bartels, had one strike on Yoshi, two strikes on Yoshi, then contact, a bouncer to left and through – tied game! Bednarski, the tool, struck out of course. The Coons’ Pruitt and Canning opened the top 8th with back-to-back singles before three at-bats of nuthin’ left them in scoring position. Top 9th, Sambrano got on with one out against Wills. He stole second and made it to third on Gabriel Ortíz’ errant throw. Here comes Yoshi! But … he had already four hits on the day, and would not get the fifth. He popped up a 1-2 pitch and the Coons left Sandy at third. Ken Wood homered off Josh Gibson in the bottom 9th to sweep the Raccoons. 4-3 Crusaders. Sambrano 3-5; Nomura 4-5, 2 2B, 3 RBI; White (PH) 1-2;

Once Yoshi Nomura will depart this fall, the Raccoons will never score a run again. NEVER.

In other news

August 14 – IND SP Tristan Broun (12-9, 3.04 ERA) has a 2-hit shutout against the Buffaloes. Broun allows both singles in the first inning before retiring 26 consecutive batters.
August 17 – SFW OF Jose “Dingus” Morales (.342, 18 HR, 94 RBI) will miss the rest of August with a strained rib cage muscle.
August 17 – IND 2B Jong-beom Kym (.255, 9 HR, 33 RBI) is injured yet again and will miss a month with a strained hammy.
August 17 – Stars sophomore OF/1B Hugo Mendoza (.271, 15 HR, 57 RBI) will miss a month after suffering a shoulder strain.

Complaints and stuff

Ron Thrasher suffered a setback with his ****ty oblique and will take about another week before he can return. Maybe even more.

Last week, I was THIS close to call up Chris Brown from Ham Lake to start a few games. Brown was up at St. Pete last year and to start this season, but got tarred, feathered, and sexually assaulted while there. But… just look at the misery. However, this week we actually got a good start from Vega, and Toner had luck on his side, so no chances will be made right now. Jack Berry is still two weeks off and then will need rehab, so he won’t help us in the short term, either. D-Alex is going to be out until the middle of September, too. You might argue that the Raccoons need a bat more than anything else… T-10th in runs scored now. Only the Falcons have plated less.