Portland Raccoons (ABL)

[Westheim]

Raccoons (7-12) vs. Knights (7-11) – April 23-25, 2001

Marvin Ingall was batting .338/.402/.446 for the Knights, so hurray on the Palacios trade. Apart from that the Knights were thoroughly below average in every imaginable category, but they were hitting home runs, so here come six more dingers over three games.

Projected matchups:
Randy Farley (0-2, 6.46 ERA) vs. Greg Grams (2-2, 3.33 ERA)
Carl Bean (1-2, 6.56 ERA) vs. Ed Wallace (0-1, 6.23 ERA)
Ralph Ford (2-1, 2.08 ERA) vs. Larry Cutts (2-1, 3.54 ERA)

Except for a 37-year old Manuel Movonda (0-3, 6.45 ERA) the Knights had a very young rotation, with Grams at 28 already the second-most senior hurler in there. Unfortunately for them, it was not a very good rotation… But here come the Coons.

Game 1
ATL: RF A. Rodriguez – C Fabián – LF Ware – CF G. Rios – 1B Tinker – 2B J. Miller – SS Luján – 3B Pena – P Grams
POR: SS Guerin – LF Cavazos – CF Reece – RF Brady – 1B Martin – 3B Sharp – C Mata – 2B Palacios – P Farley

Something was wrong with Farley, so much we could testify to by now. In the first inning, he walked three in addition to two hits, and surrendered two runs. While a Guerin triple and a Brady home run did get the Raccoons back even in the bottom of the first, Farley continued to pitch like **** and was bowled over for good in a 3-run fourth. Things did not get better by any stretch of the imagination in the fifth, when Martinez and Diaz issued three 4-pitch walks combined, and managed to get another two runs over for the Knights. The Raccoons were never particularly close to tying the score again, except in the bottom 8th, when Parker came out to hit with two on and two out. Well, Parker was 0-for as a pinch-hitter, and he remained 0-for. For good measure, the Knights punched Elliott Meeks in the ninth for some insurance runs, three in total, including that long awaited hostile home run, hit by Pedro Fabián. Screw the cosmetic two runs the Raccoons scored (one donated by Brock Tyler with a wild pitch) in the bottom ninth. 10-6 Knights. Guerin 2-5, 3B, 2B; Cavazos 3-5, 2B, RBI; Brady 2-4, BB, HR, RBI; Martin 2-5, 2B, RBI; Wade 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

I was in the mood – after eight straight losses – to see some heads roll.

As such, we beheaded pitching coach Scotty Flynn. With the Raccoons on pace to allow a slick 1,000 runs this year, we’d start with the booger telling the other boogers how to throw the ball.

We also demoted Manny Gabriel (batting a slick .077) and gave a callup to George Morris, who had batted a slightly slicker .111 for the 1999 Raccoons.

Game 2
ATL: RF A. Rodriguez – SS Ingall – LF Ware – CF G. Rios – 1B Tinker – 2B J. Miller – C Alvarez – 3B Pena – P E. Wallace
POR: SS Guerin – LF Cavazos – CF Reece – RF Brady – 1B Martin – 3B Sharp – C Thomas – 2B Palacios – P Bean

Ed Wallace left the game in the second inning with some form of injury, when he was just about to load the bags. An infield single by Sharp got that done, and with no outs in a scoreless game. Colby Kirk struck out Mark Thomas, but Palacios managed a single. Carl Bean hit a sac fly, 2-0, and then Kirk couldn’t get Guerin’s grounder played properly and the bases were loaded again, just in time for a scorching hot Ramiro Cavazos, batting .371, to hit a bases-clearing double to deep right. With a 5-0 lead there would be no excuses for Carl Bean if he didn’t win this game. Bean struck out to end the bottom 3rd with the bases loaded, but that wasn’t as bad as immediately going to 3-ball counts to the next three batters he faced in the top 4th. Two reached, but Guerin started a double play to keep up the zero in the Knights’ R column. Pretty much the same things happened two frames later. Bean whiffed and left three men on, and then walked two right away. Guerin again bailed him out. Although the Raccoons drew walks like crazy (loading the bags twice…), they couldn’t get a hit after Cavazos’ 3-run double clean through to the eighth, when Guerin hit a 2-out single that didn’t really turned into anything big. Bean held the Knights dry through the eight, came back out for the ninth with the shortest of leashes, and had to removed with two out because the Knights hit two bloops that fell in front of Cavazos. Juan Diaz struck out Vern Kinnear to end the game. 5-0 Raccoons. Cavazos 1-5, 2B, 3 RBI; Brady 0-1, 3 BB; Bean 8.2 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 6 K, W (2-2);

James Miller made the final out that Bean registered, fouling back a 2-2 pitch that Thomas hauled in. We never saw a happier player: Miller had been 0-7 with 7 K in this series up to that point.

It also saddens my heart that the terminal K that Kinnear swung for was only his ninth AB on the year. The Knights aren’t playing him at all. :-(

We had eight walks to our five hits.

Also of note, the Titans claimed MR Orlando Blanco. May they try to lower his 15.88 ERA…

Game 3
ATL: CF L. Alonso – SS Ingall – 1B Tinker – RF W. Taylor – 2B J. Miller – C Fabián – LF Kinnear – 3B Pena – P Cutts
POR: SS Guerin – LF Cavazos – CF Reece – RF Brady – 3B Sharp – 1B Martin – 2B Heart – C Mata – P Ford

The Raccoons took a 2-0 lead in the bottom 1st only for Ford to fail completely in the top 2nd, as he walked Miller, and then was taken deep in succession by Fabián and Kinnear. The Knights scored a fourth run, too, and our so far best pitcher was quickly torn wide open. Ford gave up five runs in total in five innings, which put him on a 2-run hook due to Clyde Brady driving home his team-leading (and by far) 15th RBI in the bottom 5th with a 2-out single. James Miller was slowly getting his revenge in this series finale, driving in a run off Meeks in the seventh, but the Coons got the tying run up after an RBI single by Cavazos in the bottom 7th. Reece and Brady with one out, you were hardly going to get a better chance. Reece’s soft single to right put the tying runs on base and knocked out Larry Cutts. Jose Perez, a right-hander, faced Brady, who grounded out, and Sharp struck out to end the inning. Marcos Bruno loaded the bags in the top 9th, but wasn’t scored on when Kinnear grounded out to Guerin. Bottom 9th, Thomas led off with a walk drawn from – whom? – Manuel Reyes. Unfortunately, he didn’t give up anything else, striking out Guerin, grounding out Palacios, and admittedly getting help from Alonso in retiring Neil Reece on fly to deep center. 6-4 Knights. Guerin 2-5, 3B; Cavazos 2-5, RBI; Reece 2-5; Brady 2-4, RBI;

Concie has a 10-game hitting streak going on.

We had Thursday off, and on this Thursday – after losing Orlando Blanco on waivers earlier – we claimed right-hander Pancho Gutierrez off waivers by the Crusaders. Gutierrez was a 34-year old journeyman who had pitched to a 6.40 ERA in 2000 with the Crusaders, but was actually good this year with a 1.23 ERA in 7.1 innings, walking none and striking out eight. Let’s watch him burn together.

Raccoons (8-14) vs. Crusaders (6-15) – April 27-29, 2001

Since the 3-game sweep over the Crusaders at the start of the year, we had gone 5-14, and they 6-12, so we were probably both horrible teams. They ranked last in runs scored, with 55 anemic crossing over home plate in 21 games, and their pitching was about average, but average pitching was never going to soften the fall you take from a team batting .222 as a whole.

Projected matchups:
Cipriano Miranda (0-3, 4.66 ERA) vs. Greg Connor (0-2, 6.86 ERA)
Miguel Lopez (0-2, 11.57 ERA) vs. Mike Nelson (0-2, 5.23 ERA)
Randy Farley (0-3, 7.48 ERA) vs. Anibal Sandoval (2-2, 3.46 ERA)

But notice how the Raccoons send in three guys with an combined 0-8 record… Oh, this is going to go so well.

Game 1
NYC: LF M. Ortíz – 2B Brantley – RF A. Johnson – 1B M. Berry – CF Latham – C Olson – 3B Rigg – SS J. Martinez – P Connor
POR: SS Guerin – LF Cavazos – CF Reece – RF Brady – 1B Martin – 3B Sharp – 2B Palacios – C Mata – P Miranda

Miranda walked Martin Ortíz at the start of the game, and immediately I sensed impending doom. True to my feelings, Ortíz stole second unopposed and scored on a Brantley single. No outs, 1-0 Crusaders, and yes, that’s the team that never scores any runs. By contrast, Greg Connor needed five pitches for the bottom 1st. Meanwhile, production did kick in for the Coons, and from the unlikeliest spots, as they had runners on the corners with two down in the bottom 2nd, and Mata batting. Not only did Mata hit an RBI single, but so did Miranda, taking a 2-1 lead. We loaded them up, but Cavazos struck out. And after that arousing experience, Martin Ortíz led off the top 3rd with a blast – bam! – tied. The Crusaders would later in the sixth utilize a 4-pitch walk to Brian Latham to generate another run, taking a 3-2 lead, while the Raccoons were toothless opposing Connor. Pancho Gutierrez made his first appearance as a Raccoon in the ninth, against his former team, and sure as hell gave up his first walk of the season. The Crusaders didn’t tack on, though, and the Raccoons came into the ninth behind by a run and not having gotten the ball out of the infield in three innings. Neither did they in the bottom 9th. Leonardo Sosa hit Sharp, who was removed on Palacios’ grounder. Palacios stole second, but never progressed any further. 3-2 Crusaders. Guerin 2-4;

-.-

Game 2
NYC: LF M. Ortíz – 2B Brantley – CF Gonzales – 3B Rush – C Olson – SS J. Martinez – RF Latham – 1B T. Mullins – P Nelson
POR: SS Guerin – CF Cavazos – 1B Martin – RF Brady – 3B Sharp – 2B Palacios – LF Parker – C Mata – P M. Lopez

Lopez got obliterated instantly, walking Brantley and then surrendering four singles for three runs in the first inning. While the Raccoons would tie that score in the bottom 2nd on a Palacios 2-piece and a sac fly by Lopez himself, that didn’t make Lopez a better pitcher. He continued to be battered relentlessly, but the defense made some very good plays behind him, with Sharp, Cavazos, and Parker all standing out and taking away a double. The score remained tied into the bottom 6th, when Parker was on first with two down and Lopez’ turn was up. Well, maybe our defense would hold up another inning. Lopez doubled through Rush, and we had runners in scoring position, which was a situation the team had failed to cash in on in the bottom 3rd with Palacios and Parker then failing. This time, Guerin singled up the middle for the go-ahead run and a 12-game hitting streak, while Mike Nelson scored Lopez on a wild pitch, and then Cavazos doubled home Guerin. A Brantley single with one out in the seventh got Lopez removed instantly, and Marcos Bruno ended the inning by retiring Gonzales and Rush. Clyde Brady was the center of attention in the bottom of the inning. After a leadoff walk, he stole second base (2 SB for him on the season – matching his 2000 loot), and was on third after a Sharp single, when Palacios flew out to center. Brady tagged on his own to test Jorge Gonzales’ arm. The ball arrived a good second ahead of Brady and Olson blocked the plate, but Brady was already sliding at high speed, raised his left leg and took Olson out. Olson lost the ball and Brady was ruled safe, much to the fury of the Crusaders, with Bob Rush and Ted Mullins yelling at Brady as he hurried into the dugout. Olson was fine after shaking off that kick to the chest, and the Coons were up 7-3, but not for much longer. Gutierrez came in for the eighth, failed and allowed three singles. Dan Nordahl failed to contain the fire and a 3-run homer by pinch-hitter Avery Johnson tied the score at seven. Bloody…….. Nordahl was sent to bat to pitch the ninth, but plans changed when he walked and Cavazos hit a 2-run homer, giving the Raccoons new life. One Dan replaced the other as Daniel Miller entered the fray, served up a leadoff homer to Jorge Gonzales, and then walked Mark Berry. Speechlessness. Scott Wade was jumping up and down in the pen, trying to get the manager’s attention. Olson struck out against Miller, but Martinez singled. Enter Scott Wade, because does it really matter who gets blown up? Wade got Latham on a grounder, but Berry advanced to third with two out. This brought up Ted Mullins, a lefty, batting .071 on the year. Wade fell behind, 1-0, 2-1 … then threw a wild ball three, and Berry came home. Mullins struck out then.

Feel the darkness. Feel the black. The cold. The agony. No hope. Never.

Mike Collins began to pitch for the Crusaders, which wasn’t that much of a guaranteed disaster when he did it against a team of imbeciles, as it turned out, and the Coons stranded a pair in the ninth. In the tenth, Albert Martin led off with a double. Brady grounded out, but moved Martin to third with one out. Any hard contact from Daniel Sharp would do, but they weren’t letting him and put him on. Max Heart batted for Wade, struck out, and that brought up Reece, who had been inserted into the #7 hole earlier and was in a terrible slump. He grounded out to Mullins. In the top 11th, Meeks, that piece of poo, walked a pair, then gave an RBI single to Brian Latham. The Coons had two on with two out for Martin against closer Alex Byrd in the bottom of the inning. The lead runner was Guerin, a single would do. He grounded out. 10-9 Crusaders. Guerin 2-6, BB, RBI; Cavazos 3-7, HR, 2B, 3 RBI; Martin 2-6, 2 2B; Sharp 3-5, 2B, RBI; Parker 2-4; Morris 1-1, BB;

15 men left on base.

I lay motionless on the floor for a good six hours after the second lead was blown up in the ninth. The cleaning ladies came in, cleaned around me, and went out again. They weren’t disturbed one bit. It was a sight they were used to see.

Game 3
NYC: 3B Rigg – 2B Brantley – RF A. Johnson – 1B M. Berry – CF Latham – LF Gonzales – C Preston – SS J. Martinez – P Sandoval
POR: SS Guerin – LF Cavazos – RF Brady – CF Reece – 1B Martin – 3B Sharp – 2B Palacios – C Thomas – P Farley

The Raccoons had four singles in the first two innings, failed to score, and then the Crusaders led off the top 3rd with four straight singles, the first by Sandoval, and scored two runs. They would have two more 2-out singles in the fourth inning, sinking a Randy Farley who was entirely unable to strike out anybody, and mostly to throw strikes in the first place. The Crusaders put five runs on him in five innings, hitting 11 singles to all possible and impossible fields, and Farley would eventually be found in the clubhouse, lying on a bench and staring at the floor. The bullpen was wobbly but did not concede a run through regulation with Bruno, Nordahl, and Wade patching together four innings. Sandoval went all the way into the ninth holding on a 5-1 lead, but with one out, Thomas hit a single that glanced off Brantley’s glove, and then Flores hit a bloop single hitting for Wade. The Crusaders reacted and brought Leonardo Sosa in what was now a save opportunity. Three pitches later, Guerin hit into a double play. 5-1 Crusaders. Cavazos 2-3, BB, 2B; Sharp 2-4, 2B; Thomas 2-4; Morris (PH) 1-1, 2B; Flores (PH) 1-1; Bruno 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K;

In other news

April 24 – SAC 3B/2B Sonny Reece (.308, 0 HR, 9 RBI) suffered a mild shoulder strain and will miss one week.
April 29 – The Crusaders find out that CL Dane Sanders (0-0, 0.00 ERA, 3 SV) is out for the year with a fractured knee.

Complaints and stuff

We ACTUALLY have good news this week! Ramiro Cavazos was named Player of the Week, batting .419 (13-31) with 1 HR and 9 RBI!

And now, the newest edition of The Rueful Reports:

Chris Parker as pinch-hitter: 0-15.

Lopez is due $650k next year and about $525k are left of this year’s salary. That’s going to be about $25,000 for every loss he’s going to incur during the remainder of that deal, while holding a 14.29 ERA.

And Farley – who was so good the last three years – is utter dog **** this season. He has three options and I think it’s time to utilize one. We might be pressed hard to find a replacement at AAA, though:
RHP Felipe Garcia, 1-0, 5.40 ERA, 1.48 WHIP
LHP Frank McGeraghty, 1-1, 4.94 ERA, 1.73 WHIP
RHP Dwight Williams, 1-2, 8.31 ERA, 1.94 WHIP
RHP Cesar Miranda, 3-1, 3.09 ERA, 1.16 WHIP
RHP Julio Romero, 1-1, 6.35 ERA, 1.69 WHIP, and of course:
RHP Bob Joly, 1-1, 4.15 ERA, 1.62 WHIP in relief

Pick your poison, huh?

You know. I … I really like the Raccoons. Not this particular incarnation of them, but the franchise … the franchise history as a whole. It has been good fun, mostly, sometimes, ehm … more often than our current franchise .499 win clip. But right now, picking between a week of Raccoons or spending the evening lying face down and naked in the about 5” of snow outside … tough choice.

[Trebro]

Oh no, are we seeing the first signs of potential retirement?

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by Trebro

Oh no, are we seeing the first signs of potential retirement?

(stands on a chair under the light fixture in the office, holding a knotted rope) Huh?

Not bloody quite.

---

A few numbers on Randy Farley before I head for today's shift in the mind mill:

1998: 31 G, 31 GS, 197.1 IP, 12-6, 3.10 ERA, 75 BB, 125 K, 1.26 WHIP, .269 BABIP, 3.84 FIP
1999: 33 G, 32 GS, 218.2 IP, 13-13, 2.80 ERA, 71 BB, 135 K, 1.16 WHIP, .267 BABIP, 3.57 FIP
2000: 33 G, 33 GS, 203.0 IP, 14-11, 3.59 ERA, 74 BB, 139 K, 1.42 WHIP, .320 BABIP, 3.51 FIP
2001: 6 G, 6 GS, 32.2 IP, 0-4, 7.71 ERA, 18 BB, 26 K, 1.96 WHIP, .394 BABIP, 4.36 FIP
Career: 103 G, 102 GS, 651.2 IP, 39-34, 3.38 ERA, 238 BB, 425 K, 1.31 WHIP, .292 BABIP

Now, I wouldn't give too much on the actual FIP values (rather on their relative progression), because the ABL's run environment is strange, to say the least, but I am keying on the BABIP. It is almost .400! In his last start he gave up 11 singles, how is that even possible... Then add a slight, but noticeable walk issue. Yet, the K's are not down.

All the numbers indicate that he's not a high-2 ERA pitcher, but rather a low-3 ERA pitcher (3.10 to 3.30 maybe?), but I am tempted to put his infernal April mostly on ROTTEN, ROTTEN, ROTTEN luck. Very Saito-esque, if you will buy into that.

[Westheim]

Fell violently ill yesterday morning and spent most of the day in bed in a state of confused dazedness, and shivering. It’s better today, although I can’t really concentrate.

This is going to go oh so well.

Raccoons (8-17) @ Loggers (14-10) – April 30-May 3, 2001

The Loggers had greaty improved their rotation in the offseason, and it showed, with a 3.79 starters’ ERA that ranked them 4th in the league, and their bullpen topped the league with a 1.77 ERA mark. By contrast, their killer offense was struggling right now, with only 99 runs scored from 24 contests, a huge setback from 2000.

Projected matchups:
Carl Bean (2-2, 4.78 ERA) vs. Vernon Robertson (3-2, 1.99 ERA)
Ralph Ford (2-2, 3.19 ERA) vs. Marc Padgett (1-2, 6.57 ERA)
Cipriano Miranda (0-4, 4.44 ERA) vs. Millard Wilson (2-2, 2.83 ERA)
Miguel Lopez (0-2, 9.30 ERA) vs. Carlos Guillén (2-0, 4.64 ERA)

Being scheduled to miss Martin Garcia, the twice-consecutive Triple Crown winner, was certainly not a bad thing, although his April had been shoddy with a 1-3, 3.70 ERA output. For his standards, that was abysmal. On the other hand, we were still looking at Carlos Guillén, the only guy to ever no-hit the Raccoons, and he was still going, *16* years later.

Game 1
POR: SS Guerin – LF Cavazos – 3B Sharp – RF Brady – CF Reece – 1B Martin – 2B Heart – C Mata – P Bean
MIL: SS B. Hernandez – CF Fletcher – RF C. Ramirez – LF Hiwalani – 3B M. Hall – 1B J. Cruz – 2B R. Morales – C L. Ramirez – P Robertson

Julio Mata hit a 2-out, 2-run homer in the top 2nd to get Bean into the lead, but unfortunately, Bean was still struggling and not living up to expectations at all. Jorge Cruz took him deep in the bottom of the inning, and he then dumped a Leon Ramirez grounder before Vernon Robertson doubled Ramirez home to tie the score immediately. Cruz put another two runs on the board with a 2-out double in the bottom 3rd, plating Cristo Ramirez, who had walked, and Hiwalani, who had been hit by a pitch. While the Coons got a run off a pair of doubles by Brady and Reece in the sixth, they left runners on the corners in that inning, just like in the preceding one, and continued to trail 4-3. Reece found himself with two men on and two down in the seventh, and before his RBI double he had struck out twice against the not-overpowering-anymore Vernon Robertson. Reece fell to 0-2 before he made contact, and oh boy, was it contact. Hiwalani never bothered running after a know-it-off-the-bat 3-run, go-ahead home run. Bean did not return, with Elliott Meeks coming out for the bottom 7th. With one out, Fletcher doubled off the wall in dead center, Ramirez walked, and then Hiwalani grounded up the middle. Reece got to it quickly and fired home, where Fletcher was hammered out. That left two in scoring position with two down and Mark Hall batting. As Meeks threw ball after ball we readied ourselves to have Dan Nordahl pitch with the bases loaded, but it didn’t come to that: Hall emptied the bags with a 3-run home run of his own. To complete the mandatory humiliation on the brown-clad team, the Loggers ate up three relief pitchers (Gutierrez, Diaz, and Miller) in the bottom 8th for seven hits, a walk, and two errors, to plate another six runs. 13-6 Loggers. Guerin 2-5; Cavazos 2-4, BB; Brady 3-5, 2B; Reece 3-5, HR, 2B, 4 RBI;

My, what a crisp loss. They got away with merely 13 runs allowed. This means we close April at 8-18, and if that wasn’t bad enough, this was also the SIXTH game in which the Raccoons allowed double-digit runs. It’s not a strength of schedule thing or such crap. The six games were:
April 11 – 14-1 @ SFB
April 15 – 15-5 @ VAN
April 19 – 12-4 vs. IND
April 23 – 10-6 vs. ATL
April 28 – 10-9 vs. NYC
April 30 – 13-6 @ MIL
Six teams, six kicks into the nuts. Since sweeping the Crusaders to open the season, and allowing only three runs in those three games, the Raccoons have allowed less than four runs only three times, and they even lost two of THOSE games.

And we have lost 13 of 14, in case you gave up counting some time ago. We also hit last place now.

Game 2
POR: SS Guerin – LF Cavazos – CF Reece – RF Brady – 1B Martin – 2B Palacios – 3B Morris – C Mata – P Ford
MIL: RF C. Ramirez – SS B. Hernandez – LF Hiwalani – 3B M. Hall – 1B J. Cruz – CF Fletcher – 2B R. Morales – C L. Ramirez – P Padgett

The only guy to have a hit in the first third of the game was Neil Reece, a single that didn’t amount to anything. The Coons amounted to something by the fourth, however, with Reece scoring on a Palacios single to make it 1-0 in favor of Ford. That lead lasted less than half a hot dog, with Hiwalani tying the score through a leadoff jack in the bottom 4th, and Morales drove in Cruz to make it 2-1 for the home team in the same frame. The run was unearned after a Cavazos error. The score flipped in the top 6th when Jesus Palacios hit a team-lead-tying 2-run homer to get Ford ahead again. A Hiwalani leadoff single almost spelled doom again, but the Raccoons managed to starve the tying run on third base in the bottom 6th. Ford seemed well until he suddenly snapped and with two out in the bottom 7th tossed eight straight balls to left-handers Juan Jose Villa and Cristo Ramirez. Nordahl came in, fell to 3-0 on Bartolo Hernandez, who then poked at the fourth pitch and popped up to shallow right – but nobody got to it. Villa scored, game tied. The agony. In the top 8th, John Hatt appeared for the Loggers, and issued two walks sandwiching a Reece single to load the bags with nobody out. Martin predictably grounded to second for a force at home, but Palacios resolved the situation favorably with a 2-run double to right. Hatt would throw a run-scoring wild pitch, and Daniel Sharp pinch-hit for a 2-run double, as this time it was the Loggers’ pen that imploded. But not so fast, young grasshopper. The Raccoons might be holding an 8-3 lead, but they still had to pitch for six outs. Meeks got one in the bottom 8th, then loaded the bases. Doom impending once more, in desperation we went to Daniel Miller in the vain hope that he could somehow extract himself from that jam and collect five outs. We got an instant break when Leon Ramirez lined out to Palacios and our second baseman found Jerry Fletcher far astray of second base. Guerin beat Fletcher to the bag and the inning was over. Brady homered in the ninth, and Miller was perfect in the bottom of the inning to nail down the Coons’ second win in 17 days… 9-3 Raccoons. Guerin 2-5; Reece 2-4, BB; Palacios 3-5, HR, 2B, 5 RBI; Sharp (PH) 1-1, 2B, 2 RBI; Miller 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, SV (7);

Concie extended his hitting streak to 15 games, while Cavazos had his own end at 10 games.

Game 3
POR: SS Guerin – LF Cavazos – CF Reece – RF Brady – 1B Martin – 3B Sharp – 2B Palacios – C Thomas – P Miranda
MIL: SS B. Hernandez – CF Fletcher – RF C. Ramirez – LF Hiwalani – 3B M. Hall – 1B J. Cruz – 2B R. Morales – C M. Vela – P M. Wilson

Concie made it 16 right away with a double to start the contest, but he was left on second base. Starting with a Palacios double, the Raccoons would however score three runs in the second inning, while Miranda was tagged on an RBI groundout in the bottom half, 3-1. The score would grow to 6-1 by the top 5th solely through errors on the Loggers’ behalf, with one run scoring in the aftermath of Mark Hall failing to field a Miranda bunt in the fourth, and with two in scoring position in the fifth, Wilson picked a Sharp grounder and threw it past Cruz into the stands, right to a young boy in Loggers fan gear, who threw it right back onto the field in dismay. Two innings later, the Raccoons scored on their own with two solo home runs (by Martin and Palacios) off Makoto Kogawa. Miranda was holding up wonderfully so far, while the offense just didn’t stop. They scored FOUR runs off ace reliever Ricardo Medina in the eighth, and the Loggers were forced to go to Carlos Guillén, next day’s starter. And then, all of a sudden, Miranda failed to get people out in the bottom 8th. Three singles later he was removed for Wade, who surrendered a 3-run homer to Jorge Cruz. But no matter how hard the relief corps tried, they couldn’t lose this game anymore, with the offense producing a dozen runs. 12-5 Raccoons. Guerin 3-6, 2B, RBI; Cavazos 4-6, RBI; Martin 4-5, HR, 3 2B, 2 RBI; Palacios 4-5, HR, 2 2B, 3 RBI; Miranda 7.1 IP, 8 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, W (1-4);

We were back in fourth place in the division, half a game ahead of both the Crusaders and Canadiens, and our offense was suddenly 6th in the leage after 21 runs in two days.

Game 4
POR: SS Guerin – 2B Palacios – CF Reece – RF Brady – 1B Martin – 3B Sharp – LF Parker – C Mata – P M. Lopez
MIL: RF C. Ramirez – SS B. Hernandez – LF Hiwalani – 3B M. Hall – 1B J. Cruz – CF Fletcher – 2B R. Morales – C L. Ramirez – P J. Miller

With Guillén used up in game 3, the Loggers sent 32-year old swingman John Miller to make a spot start, his second of the year. He was 1-0 with a 2.25 ERA. Guerin again got the streak extended early, this time with a triple, and Reece drove him in with a single. Two walks loaded the bags, but when Sharp flew out to right, we had Reece tag, but he got thrown out by Cristo Ramirez. Miguel Lopez was constantly missing the strike zone, and the Loggers loaded the bags in the bottom 2nd, after even John Miller drew a walk from him, but Ramirez grounded to Guerin to get that inning ended. With two wonky pitchers, there were plenty more scoring chances, and the Coons plated a pair in the top 3rd, before leaving the bags full without scoring in the fourth, when Hernandez made a great play on a 2-out grounder by Brady. Pitching almost exclusively behind in the count, sooner or later the Loggers HAD to get to Lopez, and they did in the fifth. One run scored on a sac fly, and a runner remained on third base with two down. Lopez then hit Hiwalani, bringing up Mark Hall who led the team in home runs with six. Before Hall could do permanent damage however, Hiwalani was moved to steal second base and was thrown out by Mata, ending the frame with a 3-1 score. The sixth was the end of a wild day for Miller, who had walked six men, and now gave up long home runs to Reece and Martin, the latter for two runs, and both hit their fourth home runs on the season, tying for the team lead with Brady and Palacios. About Palacios ... - C–rlos Guillén appeared in relief again in the seventh inning (the Loggers were clearly desperate), and couldn’t silence the Coons. Two on, two out, Palacios was up and hit a ball to deep right. It looked like a borderline homer, but Palacios went full throttle around the bags, which was a good thing, as it was not a home run, but hit off the edge of the wall, bouncing UP, then back onto the field, but over the onrushing Ramirez, who thumped the wall. Palacios was halfway to third by the time Ramirez got the ball controlled, and while the third base coach had the stop sign up, Palacios didn’t bother, blew through, and was safe at home with an inside-the-park-home run!! Lopez finally got stuck in the seventh after two walks and Pancho Gutierrez came in, instantly scoring both runs with a Bartolo Hernandez double. Gutierrez avoided being shot with a scoreless eighth, and Bruno finished out the game. 9-3 Raccoons! Guerin 3-5, BB, 3B; Palacios 2-5, BB, HR, 3 RBI; Reece 2-4, BB, HR, 3 RBI; Martin 2-3, 2 BB, HR, 2 RBI; Mata 2-5;

There’s a saying in Germany (I know, that part of the report again…) that states “Alles neu macht der Mai”, which more or less comes out to “May renews everything”. Our bats appear to be blossoming right now, don’t they?

Raccoons (11-18) @ Miners (15-13) – May 4-6, 2001

The Miners were thoroughly average, but a reamarkable weak spot was their rotation, which had run up a 5.14 ERA in the Federal League, although we would miss the weakest links in their chain and face the solid part. Interestingly, we both ranked 6th in runs scored in our leagues, but the Miners topped the Coons by 14 runs, 145 to 131.

We swept the Miners the last time we faced them, and actually haven’t lost a series against them since *1980*. The Miners are the team the Raccoons have performed best against, at a .714 clip.

Projected matchups:
Randy Farley (0-4, 7.71 ERA) vs. Roy Floyd (1-2, 4.29 ERA)
Carl Bean (2-2, 4.74 ERA) vs. Jose Marquez (3-2, 3.80 ERA)
Ralph Ford (2-2, 3.11 ERA) vs. Jerry Lane (1-1, 3.95 ERA)

Game 1
POR: SS Guerin – 2B Palacios – CF Reece – RF Brady – LF Cavazos – 1B Martin – 3B Sharp – C Thomas – P Farley
PIT: SS Sepúlveda – 1B Nava – LF Blanc – 2B Chandler – 3B Watts – RF Rincón – C Townsend – CF Walters – P Floyd

Jesus Palacios continued his unexpected barrage by hitting a solo home run in the opening frame. In what was something like his last chance before demotion, Farley gave that lead away immediately, and when Martin hit a homer in the fourth to make it 2-1, that lead didn’t hold up past the inning, either. With two out, Farley drilled Tom Townsend, then walked Bill Walters to get the tying run home. He fell to 2-0 on Floyd before the pitcher grounded out to Sharp. Farley led off the fifth with a single and was then scored on Palacios’ second homer of the day! Farley managed to get into the eighth, and even struck out the first two men, but with the Coons still up by only two runs, he was removed once Pat Chandler singled. Dan Nordahl struck out Thomas Watts to end the eighth. Miller closed out the contest with a pair of strikeouts against one single. 4-2 Coons. Palacios 2-5, 2 HR, 3 RBI; Martin 2-3, BB, HR, RBI; Sharp 3-4; Farley 7.2 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 6 K, W (1-4) and 1-3;

Demotion staved off for another five days, I’d say. Also, what’s going on with Palacios? He’s BURNING! He is now second in the CL for dingers, only one off IND David Lopez.

Also, Chris Parker ran his PH futility to 0-17, and 17 was another key number, as that was where Concie ended his hitting streak, going 0-5.

Meanwhile, we have won four in a row.

Game 2
POR: SS Guerin – 2B Palacios – CF Reece – LF Cavazos – 3B Sharp – RF Flores – 1B Heart – C Mata – P Bean
PIT: SS Sepúlveda – 1B Nava – LF Blanc – RF C. Torres – 2B Chandler – 3B Watts – C Washington – CF Walters – P J. Marquez

Pitching was dominant in the middle game of the series, with neither team developing a serious threat until the bottom 5th where Watts and Washington led off with singles to go to the corners. Bean struck out Walters, and then Marquez bunted Washington to second base. Lorenzo Sepúlveda’s grounder was converted by Bean and the game remained scoreless. Not for much longer, however. Cavazos homered off Marquez with one out in the sixth, and the Coons strung together four singles after that, plating two runs, the latter RBI single by Bean. Guerin grounded to third base, but Watts threw it away, plating another run, and Palacios hit a 2-run blooper to make it 6-0 before Reece made his second out of the inning. That gave Carl Bean all liberty to go as deep as he pleased in this contest. In the eighth, the first two Miners reached base, but Bean struck out the next two to eventually quell that threat. In the top 9th the rout was put on for good when Max Heart hit a 3-run home run, and that wasn’t all, as reliever Jose Torres loaded the bases with two down, and Reece singled up the middle to plate two more runs. Carl Bean needed only six pitches to complete the game then. 11-0 Critters!! Guerin 2-5, BB; Palacios 3-5, BB, 2 RBI; Reece 2-6, 2 RBI; Cavazos 3-6, HR, RBI; Martin (PH) 1-1, 2B; Heart 2-5, HR, 3 RBI; Bean 9.0 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 8 K, W (3-2) and 2-5, RBI;

Okay, who are these guys, and what have they done to my players? Are they alive? Can they be ransomed?

Do we want them to be ransomed?

This was the 18th complete game, but only the second shutout of Bean’s career, both firsts for the Coons. He had to abandon his first attempt in the ninth a few weeks back. That was the only game the Coons managed to win during their 1-12 spill in late April.

Game 3
POR: SS Guerin – 2B Palacios – CF Reece – RF Brady – LF Cavazos – 1B Martin – 3B Sharp – C Thomas – P Ford
PIT: CF Rincón – 3B J. Martinez – LF Blanc – RF C. Torres – 1B Chandler – C Washington – 2B Sepúlveda – SS Ryan – P Lane

The Coons took a 1-0 lead in the first, but then left their runners on after that. Meanwhile Ford pitched in numerous 3-ball counts, and that got to him in the bottom 4th. The Miners tied the score, had two in scoring position with one out, and Ford went on to walk Haden Ryan. Lane grounded to Sharp, whose throw pulled Martin off the bag, and everybody was safe, 2-1 Miners. David Rincón struck out in a full count, and Juan Martinez grounded out to limit the damage. The score was still 2-1 for the green team in the top 7th with two Furballs on and one out, when the Miners brought Pat Clark to relieve Jerry Lane with Ralph up to bat, prompting us to go to Gilberto Flores to counter the left-handed Clark, but Flores struck out anyway. Guerin, however, didn’t, and in a full count hit a bloop to no man’s land that allowed Albert Martin to score from second base and tie the game. Clark then balked and Palacios hit a single to right to take the lead before Reece struck out to end the frame. Ford was now in line for the 3-2 win, but that required the chronically flammable bullpen to hold up for three innings. It didn’t, and it didn’t my a mile, as David Rincón took Marcos Bruno deep with one out in the seventh inning, and when Bruno faced Carlos Torres to start the bottom 8th, he allowed a double that would lead to another run when Juan Diaz failed to deal with the left-handers, too. Paco Barrera held the Critters to a 2-out single by Guerin in the ninth, ending their 5-game winning streak. 4-3 Miners. Guerin 3-5, 2B, RBI; Palacios 2-4, BB, 2 RBI; Sharp 3-4, 2B;

In other news

May 1 – Topeka’s 1B/2B Georg Spinu (.232, 3 HR, 9 RBI) is out for at least a month with a fractured hand.
May 2 – Career home run leader RIC RF/LF Raúl Vázquez (.320, 3 HR, 17 RBI) gets hurt for the second time this year and will miss the whole month with a sprained ankle. Vázquez has 343 HR and leads the closest active competitor, Anibal Rodriguez, by 31.
May 6 – DAL OF Francisco Rivera (.337, 4 HR, 19 RBI) is out for three weeks with a strained hamstring.
May 6 – For the third straight year, Denver’s SS/3B Zak Davidson (.407, 0 HR, 13 RBI) has put together a 20-game hitting streak, batting for two singles in an 8-7 loss of the Gold Sox to the Thunder. He had a 22-game streak in 1999, and a 20-game run in 2000.

Complaints and stuff

At this junction, Furballs occupy the first three spots in batter WAR in the Continental League, Ramiro Cavazos (2.0) leading Concie Guerin (1.5) and Albert Martin (1.4). Cavazos also leads the league in batting with a .375 clip, slightly outhitting Bayhawks rookie Jesse Foster (.370). That’s weak compared to the FL leader though, where NAS Leborio Catalo is batting .448!

None of our pitchers is anywhere near a happy zone, though.

What else? Salvadaro Soure, whom we had traded to the Bayhawks, was the A level Pitcher of the Month. Well, but we got Cavazos.

Actually we thought Palacios might be the better offensive addition, which had not been true at all in April, but the first week in may saw him smother the opposition as he batted .483 (14-29) with 5 HR and 16 RBI the preceding week, easily netting him the Player of the Week honors!

[Westheim]

Raccoons (13-19) vs. Pacifics (14-18) – May 7-9, 2001

While the Pacifics ranked fourth in runs scored in the FL with 173, they were at the absolute bottom in runs allowed, with 189. That’s actually more runs allowed than the Raccoons, who have been scored upon 179 times. Wow, must those Pacifics be pathetic! They too suffered from a truly abhorrent bullpen that was last in their league, so we’d better wear their starters out quickly.

Projected matchups:
Cipriano Miranda (1-4, 4.54 ERA) vs. Jonathan Dumont (1-3, 5.68 ERA)
Miguel Lopez (1-2, 8.00 ERA) vs. Brad Osborne (1-2, 5.26 ERA)
Randy Farley (1-4, 6.69 ERA9 vs. Wyatt Coleman (3-3, 4.81 ERA)

Part of that abysmal bullpen was our old friend Jason Turner (2-0, 5.26 ERA), who had been demoted last year, but was now back up in the Bigs for the Pacifics, yet still on the trading block.

Game 1
LAP: CF Talamante – 2B Cardenas – 1B Battle – RF A. Rodriguez – C P. Ledesma – SS J. Vega – LF F. Vasquez – 3B E. Wallace – P Dumont
POR: SS Guerin – 2B Palacios – CF Reece – RF Brady – LF Cavazos – 1B Martin – 3B Sharp – C Thomas – P Miranda

Between two hits, a hit batter, and a balk, Cipriano Miranda somehow allowed only a single run in the first inning. Miranda couldn’t control his stuff, and even more so couldn’t control Carlos Talamante, who reached base every time he faced him, and stole second base twice. The Pacifics didn’t score again until the sixth, and then only one run, and with the refreshing amount of offense we had enjoyed last week, we would have expected for this game, and against this pitching staff, to be turned around rather easily – but it wasn’t. Dumont didn’t give up any runs himself, but was removed for Jason Turner with two on and two out in the bottom 6th. Turner walked Sharp to load them up, then walked Thomas to force home the Coons’ first run of the day. Gilberto Flores hit for Miranda (because Chris Parker couldn’t be expected to reach base even against an ailing 36-year old right-hander) and successfully slapped a single past Hector Cardenas to plate two runs and turn the score around. Bruno and Nordahl pitched perfect innings while the Coons stranded three in the meantime, getting Daniel Miller out with no cushion, and he gave up pinch-hit double to Jorge Lopez with one out. Talamante grounded out, moving Lopez to third base, and bringing up an 0-4 Cardenas. The Pacific grounded to third, Sharp bungled it, and Miller didn’t retire anybody else en route to the hook. The Critters trailed 4-3 into the bottom 9th and closer Peter Sanders retired Palacios to get going, but then Neil Reece reached on an infield single. Brady walked, Cavazos singled. One out, bags full – BUT … Albert Martin had been hit for earlier against a left-hander, and now Max Heart stared down the rifled gun that was Sanders’ arm. No, Chris Parker is not going to in that spot. Heart fell to 0-2, then hit one deep to right. Rodriguez caught it, but Reece tagged and scored. Sharp grounded out for more baseball for everybody, the Coons loaded the bags against Qi-zhen Geng with two outs in the bottom 10th, but Brady grounded out. We got our next chance – while Scott Wade handled the Pacifics respectably – in the bottom 12th with a leadoff single by Mark Thomas. Parker, who had entered the game with Wade in a double switch earlier, bunted him over, and then Qi-zhen Geng in his third inning threw a wild pitch that almost took Concie’s nose off. Thomas at third with one out, come on, Concie! They walked him intentionally to get a double play chance, but when Palacios grounded to second, Cardenas went home to nip Thomas instead, and the Coons failed to score again. Same scenario in the 13th, Brady led off with a double this time, and Wade bunted him to third (only Mata was left on the bench). Heart was walked intentionally (same old hat, huh?), and then the Pacifics brought a new arm in Ricardo Huerta for Sharp, who hit a soft fly to right, and Thomas rolled out to Huerta. Oh my goodness. Well, a favorable resolve would come finally in the next inning, and it came from the unlikeliest source. After Parker had made an out, Guerin was up again, facing Huerta – and hit a hard shot to deep center and OUTTA HERE!!! 5-4 Raccoons!! Guerin 2-7, BB, HR, RBI; Reece 2-6, RBI; Cavazos 3-4, BB; Flores (PH) 1-1, 2 RBI; Morris (PH) 1-1; Parker 1-2; Miranda 6.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 5 K; Wade 4.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K, W (1-0);

If you have to play fourteen, at least win. Then those fourteen weren’t for nought.

Afterwards, everybody thanked Daniel Sharp for having to play 5 1/2 extra innings. I heard that Miranda, Miller, Brady, Palacios, and Thomas taped him to his locker, while the senior section of the roster, Reece and Wade primarily, nodded approvingly.

That will teach the kid!

Game 2
LAP: SS J. Vega – 1B V. Martinez – LF A. Rodriguez – CF Talamante – RF Keshishian – C J. Lopez – 2B H. Cardenas – 3B H. Castro – P B. Osborne
POR: SS Guerin – 2B Palacios – CF Reece – RF Brady – LF Cavazos – 1B Martin – 3B Morris – C Mata – P M. Lopez

Lopez faced an all-right-handed lineup, and this just could not go well. He would certainly not have an excuse for losing other than being wrecked by injuries, since the Raccoons stormed Osborne for five runs, crowned by a 3-shot by Albert Martin, in the first inning. In return, Lopez loaded the bags in the top 2nd, also with the help of a Morris error (third base, my, my…), and the Pacifics did not hit for Osborne with two out. Osborne flew deep to right, where Brady made a hero’s play to keep the zero on the scoreboard. Lopez was clearly coming apart in the fourth with the Pacifics back to 5-2, two on, two out, when Morris made his second error on a Martinez grounder and loaded the bases. Lopez faced Anibal Rodriguez, who was in the top 5 in career home runs for a reason, but we had burned our long man in the previous game… Lopez was left in, and Rodriguez struck out anyway. Reece and Brady brought home Guerin and Palacios in the bottom 5th to restore the old gap of five runs, but somehow the game got more and more wicked. Lopez struck out Hector Castro to start the top 6th – if only Mata had come up with the ball. Castro reached on the uncaught third strike, and it would be another awesome Brady play that kept him from scoring. Lopez lasted into the seventh, before a Talamante home run got him removed. Meeks pitched for five outs, before the Raccoons put up another four runs on the as-bad-as-advertised Pacifics bullpen in the eighth, three with a Palacios homer. That same bullpen had already issued three 2-out walks in the seventh, but Martin had flown out and they didn’t score then. Gutierrez came in to pitch the ninth, which was led off by Anibal Rodriguez, who had earlier had a key K against Lopez – and three more on the day. Five was the major league record, and Gutierrez whiffed him again for the full 100% of shame possible. Never mind that the useless Gutierrez gave up two runs before getting another two outs, but the real laughing sack was Rodriguez. 11-5 Coons! Guerin 3-5, RBI; Reece 2-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Brady 2-3, 2 BB, 2 RBI; Mata 2-4; Meeks 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K;

When I casually strolled through the clubhouse and through the locker room in the late innings, I found Daniel Sharp still taped rock steady to the locker, with wet pants, and mumbling – through the ten layers of tape keeping his mouth shut – for mercy. So that’s why we had to play Morris at third.

I casually strolled on.

Game 3
LAP: CF Talamante – LF F. Vasquez – 1B Battle – RF A. Rodriguez – C P. Ledesma – SS J. Vega – 2B H. Castro – 3B E. Wallace – P Coleman
POR: SS Guerin – 2B Palacios – CF Reece – RF Brady – LF Cavazos – 1B Martin – 3B Sharp – C Mata – P Farley

Well, *somebody* took Sharp down overnight, and I was suspecting Slappy. This game started with a bang, Talamante homering off Farley, which got the AAA guys stirring for sure. Martin tied the score with a solo shot of his own in the bottom 2nd, and Farley pitched himself into more trouble immediately, loading the bags with two out in the third. But like the day before with Lopez, he faced Rodriguez with two out and three on, and like Lopez he whiffed him. Both teams would load the bags with no outs in the fourth. While Farley ultimately conceded only one run (which tied the score after the Coons had gone up 2-1 in the bottom 3rd), the Coons didn’t do any better, with Talamante snagging a Sharp liner off the grass, Mata singling, but that was it, 3-2. Farley put the first two men on in the top 5th, and was removed, and everybody had a hunch that it would be more than five days before his next big league start. Nordahl came in, struck out Rodriguez (a recurring occurrence), and finally got out on a double play started by Guerin. He also pitched the sixth, and the seventh was a big stumble, but we still got out ahead 3-2 between Wade and Diaz. Guerin then shocked the Pacifics and Raccoons alike with another home run leading off the bottom 7th. With an earlier triple, he had actually both hard parts of the cycle knocked off, but lacked the single and double. As a group however, the Coons were badly struggling against Coleman, who struck out Cavazos to end the seventh, his 10th K on the day. Struggling too was Marcos Bruno in the top 8th, putting Castro on with a 1-out single, and then allowing a deep double to Wallace. Reece warped that wall back home, relayed by Palacios, and Mata tagged out Castro by more than whisker, but less than a beard. Miller got into a 4-2 game in the ninth, and this time nobody reached. 4-2 Coons! Guerin 2-4, HR, 3B, RBI; Martin 3-4, HR, RBI; Mata 2-4, RBI; Nordahl 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K, W (3-0);

The Coons have now won eight of nine! Nobody quite knows what’s going on with this team after they lost 13 of 14 before that.

Meanwhile, Chris Parker is 0-20 as a pinch-hitter.

Also, the fate of Randy Farley was decided between me, Vince, and Slappy (whose presence irritated Vince) in the strategic war room on Thursday, which we had off. He would not make the trip to Indy, but rather to Florida. Let’s have him pitch without pressure for five, six starts, and see what we have. Meanwhile, Scott Wade might be our best bet to fill the void, but Vince was in favor of giving 23-yr old Felipe Garcia a try. He was 1-2 with a 5.95 ERA in AAA, but appeared to be really been betrayed by horrible defense. Garcia, a third round pick in 1995, had come over from the Capitals for AAA 1B Harry Jackson in December 1999.

Raccoons (16-19) @ Indians (18-14) – May 11-13, 2001

The Indians had swept us in April, but who hadn’t? They were scoring poorly (unless playing the Raccoons), ranking 11th in runs produced, but were in turn second-best in runs allowed with a very strong pitching staff. 1987 all over with these Indians? Well, then they beat us by a single game to the division, but that was before there were any Loggers or Titans around, and the Raccoons hadn’t had a self-inflaming pitching staff either.

Projected matchups:
Carl Bean (3-2, 3.83 ERA) vs. Junior Diaz (1-1, 2.03 ERA)
Felipe Garcia (0-0) vs. Ben Carlson (1-2, 6.35 ERA)
Ralph Ford (2-2, 2.89 ERA) vs. Anthony Mosher (3-3, 3.33 ERA)

Let it be noted that at this point we are roughly on the 72-90 course that I described as the best possible outcome for this team before the season started.

Game 1
POR: SS Guerin – LF Cavazos – RF Brady – CF Reece – 2B Palacios – 1B Martin – 3B Sharp – C Mata – P Bean
IND: 2B Montray – SS M. Jones – C Paraz – 3B D. Lopez – LF Alston – 1B J. Garcia – RF Lugo – CF J. Valdez – P J. Diaz

Clyde Brady recently made all the big plays, it seemed. After the Coons had gone up 1-0 in the top 1st, Bean loaded the bags in the bottom of the inning. With two out, Jesus Garcia hit a deep fly to right, and Brady pocketed it just off the wall. It would soon turn out to be another strange game. Diaz was walking countless batters, but the Raccoons couldn’t buy a timely hit. In turn, Bean walked just one, but also failed to strike batters out, and instead gave up countless singles, which led him to lose a 2-0 lead by the fifth, when a David Lopez singled plated Mike Jones to tie the contest. With the Indians having ten hits to the Raccoons’ three, Bean was removed in the bottom 7th with two men on to have Juan Diaz face the left-handed Ron Alston, resulting in an inning-ending K. Junior Diaz was still going in the eighth, issuing a leadoff walk to Clyde Brady – and that was Clyde’s fourth on the day. Cynically, removing the right-hander Diaz for the southpaw Kevin Jones to face Palacios and Martin did the Indians in, since both singled through on the right side, with Martin plating Brady to break the tie. Predictably, Sharp and Mata failed to hit Jones, who remained in the game, and left two men on. Although Guerin got on and stole his 10th base of the year, the Coons couldn’t manufacture another run in the ninth, when Brady the only time he wasn’t walked on the day grounded out instead. That game back to hurt the Coons now, when Miller came into the ninth, retired the first two, then put on Mike Jones with a single, and Jose Paraz homered to walk off the Indians. 4-3 Indians. Brady 0-1, 4 BB;

Ultimately, in a game that was as much pleasure as a wet T-shirt stuck to your back, justice was served. (And we knew beforehand that Daniel Miller was not a closer) Despite having half the Indians’ hits, the Coons left more men on base through the six walks that Diaz offered.

Game 2
POR: SS Guerin – LF Cavazos – RF Brady – CF Reece – 2B Palacios – 1B Martin – 3B Sharp – C Mata – P F. Garcia
IND: 2B Montray – RF Lugo – C Paraz – 3B D. Lopez – LF Alston – 1B J. Garcia – SS Matthews – CF J. Valdez – P Carlson

The Indians rolled over Garcia with a truck, backed up, rolled over him again, and then finally made up their mind, kicked a forward gear in again, and rolled over him again before driving off. That’s a short version of his major league debut, in which he was battered for three runs in the first inning, another in the third, and was spared of more destruction only through a slick play by Brady (as usual). The Coons trailed 4-2 after four, with Palacios accounting for their only two runs, but both Garcia and Guerin reached on errors to begin the fifth inning. Such impunity must surely be punished, but Cavazos grounded into a force at second, and when Brady grounded to the mound, it had double play written all over it, except that Carlson bungled it for the Indians’ THIRD error of the inning. An unnerved Carlson then brushed a diving Neil Reece in the back, loading them up with one out, and walked Palacios to tie the score. It was the following pop by Martin that killed the inning and we left three men stranded once Sharp flew out to right. Garcia put two men on again in the bottom 5th and was hooked from the game, but Diaz failed to clean up against the lefty Alston and switch-hitter Jesus Garcia, allowing both runners to score. Neil Reece throwing out Alston at home on Adrian Matthews’ single ended the inning with only a 6-4 score and somehow by now the whole team was to blame. But we got a spark again, and Ramiro Cavazos tied the score with a 2-shot in the top 6th. Boy, oh, boy, it was waging back and forth! The two CL leaders in home runs were both in this game in David Lopez and Jesus Palacios, and who would get to ten homers first? Palacios! His leadoff jack in the seventh gave the Coons their first lead in the game! At some point, however, the bullpen had to withstand another outing by Pancho Gutierrez, even if that meant putting him into the seventh with a 7-6 lead. The Indians quickly had two on with one out, when Jesus Garcia lifted a ball to shallow center. Jose Paraz, the lead runner, went, as did Neil Reece, and what Paraz couldn’t have seen coming was that Reece at 34 was still a cheetah in coonish disguise – he caught, he threw, he double-played Gutierrez out of the bucket full of **** he was standing in. The Raccoons scratched out an extra run in the eighth, and Nordahl held on to that, bringing Miller out with a 2-run advantage this time around. Phil Montray led off and lined hard into the glove that a hastily dropping Miller reflexively raised to protect his noggin. Miller needed a minute to shake that one off, then resumed pitching – and walked Lugo. And walked Paraz. Oh noes! He was clearly off now, and we hurriedly threw in Scott Wade to face David Lopez, who wanted that home run lead back. However, Wade struck him out on three straight strikes, and Alston worked a full count, but eventually whiffed as well. 8-6 Raccoons. Cavazos 2-5, HR, 2 RBI; Brady 2-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Reece 2-4; Palacios 2-4, BB, 2 HR, 4 RBI; Morris 1-2, 3B;

I wouldn’t quite have dreamed about Jesus Palacios leading the home run race in mid-May. He has ten, Lopez has nine. Milwaukee’s Mark Hall has nine as well. The only guy topping Palacios is Dallas’ Mac Woods in the FL with 11 dingers.

Game 3
POR: SS Guerin – 2B Palacios – CF Reece – RF Brady – LF Cavazos – 3B Sharp – C Thomas – 1B Heart – P Ford
IND: 2B Matthews – LF Quintela – 3B D. Lopez – RF J. Valdez – C Abrams – CF Maguey – 1B Montray – SS Gallegos – P Mosher

Ex-Coon Anthony Mosher was perfect the first time through the Raccoons lineup, while Ralph Ford sucked all along. Juan Valdez lifted the Indians in the third with a 2-run homer, and Ford got the bases loaded with inability, then walked David Lopez to force home the third run of the game in the fourth. Ford couldn’t get anybody out in the fifth either, and once Phil Montray – the only left-handed batter they fielded! – singled home another run, Ford was yanked. Things got easily worse with Elliott Meeks replacing Ford, and the Indians were atop 6-0 while the Raccoons had managed one hit through five innings. While Meeks saved his pelt by pitching clean through the seventh, the Raccoons were just plain failing. They amounted to three hits ultimately, and never progressed past second base. 6-0 Indians. Cavazos 2-4;

For accounting purposes, I will mention that Neil Reece had the only other hit, and somehow we still managed to hit into two double plays.

Well, not only did good pitching beat good (“good”) hitting in this series, but bad hitting also beat up abominable pitching.

In other news

May 9 – SFW SP Pat Cherry (5-1, 1.77 ERA) is still dominant at age 35, and 2-hits the Falcons in an 11-0 romp.
May 11 – Blue Sox infielder Pedro Edralín (.336, 1 HR, 24 RBI) has a 20-game hitting streak going after contributing two hits and the game-winning RBI in a 10-9 win over the Buffaloes.
May 11 – LVA 1B/3B Javier Vargas (.278, 1 HR, 5 RBI) will miss up to a month with a strained hamstring.
May 12 – OCT INF Bob Grant (.308, 5 HR, 28 RBI) has strained an abdominal muscle and will have to sit out the rest of the month.
May 12 – While the Buffaloes chill Pedro Edralín’s hitting streak at 25 games, Denver’s Zak Davidson (.413, 0 HR, 14 RBI) keeps going at a rapid pace, connecting three times in a 6-5 Gold Sox win over the Wolves to reach 25 games.

Complaints and stuff

Chris Parker as pinch-hitter: 0-22. Is that even possible?

Apart from that, it was the second good week in a row, even if it ended with a real stinker, against a pitcher I grow to hate. Despite two hits by Ramiro Cavazos, he lost the lead in the batting race in the CL on Sunday to Joey Humphrey, who lobbed three knocks against the Aces. The Thunder won all their games this week, btw.

The Coons are in the top half in every offensive category in the CL except stolen bases (7th). They lead in hits and home runs (and still are only fourth in runs). Pitching-wise. Ouch. They are in the bottom four in every category except strikeouts (3rd), and LAST in home runs.

Sunday also saw Randy Farley in his first AAA start, where he claimed a win in 8.2 innings with 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 8 K. So, *technically*, he is still able to deliver. We will however have him pitch at least three or four more games. Vince will notify me once he has suffered enough indignity. Felipe Garcia ain’t a permanent solution anyway.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (17-21) @ Titans (28-10) – May 14-17, 2001

Playing four in Boston was not something you necessarily were digging for when your team had just embarked on a 9-3 run. However, my wishes were ignored by the schedule, and we’d have to take on the third-best offensive, and single best defensive team (only 111 runs allowed!) of the league. And yes, 111 runs actually amounted to less than three per game for the Titans. No. No, nothing but doom is predicted for the Coons in this series…

Projected matchups:
Cipriano Miranda (1-4, 4.31 ERA) vs. Jason O’Halloran (6-1, 2.79 ERA)
Miguel Lopez (2-2, 7.29 ERA) vs. Steven Snyder (3-3, 2.01 ERA)
Carl Bean (3-2, 3.69 ERA) vs. Jesus Bautista (5-3, 2.98 ERA)
Felipe Garcia (0-0, 11.57 ERA) vs. Juan Sanchez (2-1, 2.29 ERA)

Game 1
POR: SS Guerin – 2B Palacios – CF Reece – 1B Martin – LF Cavazos – 3B Sharp – RF Flores – C Mata – P Miranda
BOS: SS D. Silva – CF Garrison – 3B Austin – RF G. Munoz – LF J. Thomas – C L. Lopez – 1B H. Ramirez – 2B D. Mendez – P O’Halloran

Jason O’Halloran issued three walks in the first, with the Raccoons still unable to score any runs, and when Miranda appeared for the bottom 1st, the disgusting pest that was leading off for the Titans homered. Daniel Silva, pest of pests! It was of course his first home run on the season. The Raccoons left runners on the corners in the top 2nd, then faded into obscurity. Miranda was more or less helped out by defense against six left-handers and two switch-hitters – only David Mendez batted right-handed – until he started to make dumb mistakes, hit a batter, walked batters, and Hector Ramirez dissolved a still nominally close 2-0 score in the bottom 6th with a 3-run home run. O’Halloran’s 2-out double knocked Miranda from the game, and Marcos Bruno came in, faced four left-handers, didn’t retire any, and Nordahl issued one more walk to run the score to 8-0. Pancho Gutierrez conceded another run before the slaughter was over, and the Raccoons went down on five hits. 9-0 Titans. Palacios 2-3;

Nothing is changing (except that the Raccoons have run up another 19-inning scoreless streak). The pitching is terminally inept, and we will have three more games just like that. Maybe Carl Bean can escape annihilation, but if the Raccoons stay under 30 runs for the series, it will be a miracle.

Pancho Gutierrez (1.23 ERA for New York, 10.29 ERA for Portland) had long out-worn his welcome. He was designated for assignment. We added 26-year old left-hander Pedro Perez from AAA. Perez had appeared in two games in 1999, and had a career 54.00 ERA in the majors. At least we know what we’re getting into.

Game 2
POR: SS Guerin – LF Cavazos – RF Brady – CF Reece – 2B Palacios – 1B Martin – 3B Sharp – C Mata – P M. Lopez
BOS: SS D. Silva – CF Garrison – 3B Austin – RF Greenman – C Manuel – LF Elizondo – 2B H. Ramirez – 1B Walker – P Snyder

22 outs were collected in the second game before any team got a hit. That hit, unfortunately, was a solo home run by Christian Greenman and put the Titans ahead 1-0. While Albert Martin hit a single in the fifth that at least dissolved the no-hitter that was looming over them already, they absolutely failed to get a runner even to second base. Lopez went seven innings, allowing only one more run – that of course plated by the vomit-inducing appearance of Silva – but except for the previous day, a 2-0 deficit had never felt so big. The Titans still went to their bullpen after the seventh, and the eighth became the usual bullpen implosion. Meeks came in, faced Greenman, who went yard, then walked Manuel. Pedro Perez came in, and put Elizondo on, and Ramirez, and Walker, and Zamora. Perez failed to end the inning, and another run scored against Scott Wade. Martin’s single remained all the Raccoons managed. Another day, another disgrace. 9-0 Titans. Lopez 7.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 6 K, L (2-3);

Pedro Perez, 0.2 innings, five runs. A bit worse than in 1999. ERA somewhere in the 60s. He was demoted straight back to St. Petersburg. We also demoted George Morris, since we clearly needed more arms. Bob Joly and Manuel Martinez rejoined the ranks.

So, 28 innings without a run scored, but 24 runs given up (this includes the 6-0 loss to Indy on Sunday as well as the last inning of the game before), and Bob Joly is back. That 9-3 was a welcome respite but it is over now. The Raccoons are going straight for 100 losses now.

And beyond.

Game 3
POR: SS Guerin – CF Cavazos – RF Brady – 2B Palacios – 1B Martin – 3B Sharp – C Thomas – LF Parker – P Bean
BOS: SS D. Silva – CF Garrison – 3B Austin – RF G. Munoz – LF J. Thomas – C L. Lopez – 1B H. Ramirez – 2B Walker – P Bautista

The Raccoons’ collective coma eventually lasted a combined 30 innings before Concie Guerin singled home Chris Parker in the third to tie the score at one and finally put something countable on the board for the road team. The Titans fans applauded, snickering. A Cavazos single loaded the bags then, and while Brady lifted out to left, Bautista then drilled Palacios to give Bean, who had yet to get to two strikes on anybody, a 2-1 lead. Bean finally arrived in a 2-strike count in the fourth(!!!!), a 1-2 count to Luis Lopez, who then almost went deep. A base running blunder by Cavazos, who got himself tagged out before getting to third base on a double cost a run in the top 5th, when Brady doubled after him. Brady was left on base, and the Titans took a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the inning after Garrison hit a *proper* triple and the Titans tacked on two hits against a beanless Tooth, and that looked like that was that. But it wasn’t. Innocently enough the top 6th started with Martin reaching on an infield single and Sharp grounding out. But then Thomas hit a huge RBI double, and the Coons, including Bean, would hit four more RBI hits to take a 7-3 lead. Nominally commanding, collapse was looming everywhere for this team, and a 4-run lead was never safe. But now down considerably, the Titans suddenly started hacking and Bean began to whiff people, striking out the side in the bottom 6th. But, remember the collapse thing, in the bottom 7th, every bag had a Titan and only one out. Nordahl came in, still the least explosive piece in the bullpen, and got a sac fly from Luis Lopez, before Juan Diaz managed to have Hector Ramirez fly out. In the top 8th we faced Orlando Blanco (5.2 IP, 10 ER in POR; 4.1 IP, 0 ER in BOS), who pitched a scoreless inning then, but Max Heart hurt him with a pinch-hit RBI single in the ninth. For the Coons, Martinez and Bruno finished the game. 8-4 Coons. Cavazos 4-5, 3B, 2B, RBI; Brady 2-5, 2B, RBI; Heart (PH) 1-1, RBI; Thomas 2-4, 2B, RBI; Reece (PH) 1-1;

Let’s see. To avoid handing 30 runs to the Titans, Garcia & the Gang must stay at seven or under.

Ha-hah. Good joke.

Game 4
POR: SS Guerin – 2B Palacios – CF Reece – RF Brady – LF Cavazos – 1B Martin – 3B Sharp – C M. Thomas – P F. Garcia
BOS: SS D. Silva – CF Garrison – 3B Austin – RF G. Munoz – LF J. Thomas – C L. Lopez – 1B H. Ramirez – 2B D. Mendez – P J. Sanchez

In inclement weather, Felipe Garcia sold his fur dearly. The Titans had two on in the second, but didn’t score, and didn’t get a runner to third base in the first four innings at all. The Raccoons took a 1-0 lead in the top 4th. Guerin had doubled, and Palacios lobbed a ball to shallow center that Rudy Garrison couldn’t make up his mind on. Eventually he tried to snag it before it bounced, it still bounced, first off the grass, then off his chest. Palacios ended up at second on the play, and on third in the inning without being scored, and the Coons left them all across the pond in the next frame. In the bottom 5th, Garcia was about to wind out of trouble with Mendez on third base when Mark Thomas led a ball get away and Mendez scored on the passed ball – tied game. We hit for Garcia in the seventh. Daniel Sharp was on third and there were two outs with righty Ramiro Román dealing. Chris Parker – nghh, no, still no luck. Daniel Silva snagged his liner, and Garcia did not get a decision. Neither did Wade, who pitched a scoreless eighth. Diaz was up next with the heavily left-handed top of the lineup due up. Daniel Silva singled, the pest, but then was thrown out by Thomas as he tried to nip his 12th base of the year, stunning the crowd. Rudy Garrison drew a walk, set off, and Thomas threw HIM out!! Austin singled. Will he? He didn’t, but anyway, Munoz singled to right, and the Titans could lead by six runs by now, but didn’t. However, the barn was burning again and we sent for Nordahl to retire Josh Thomas, which he did. We deliberately let Nordahl make the final out in the top 9th so he could pitch the bottom 9th. He got two, then walked a pair with Silva up. Silva hit a shot to deep right that was about to end the game if not for Brady and an A-MA-ZING catch! That sent the game to extras, and the Coons faced John Bennett in the tenth. After Guerin popped up a bunt, he was out although he almost made it to first before Lopez snagged the pop out of the air. Palacios reached, however, and stole his second base on the day, much to the dismay of the fans. Reece flew out, moving Palacios to third, and Brady grounded to right, where Hector Ramirez made a launching grab, but lost his footing getting up. He was not far off the bag and Bennett hadn’t moved over at first, and when he finally broke there, Brady outraced him, and Palacios scored! That was all they could hand to Daniel Miller, though. Miller faced the ugly 2-3-4 part of the lineup, all lefties, and Heart was in for defense, which was now a common sight late with close leads, as he replaced Martin (much like Osanai had always been replaced in the 80s). Miller mowed down Garrison. Austin fell to 0-2, then flew out to Brady. And then it began again. Gonzalo Munoz singled to left, and Miller walked Thomas, and you didn’t want Luis Lopez to come up in these spots, but here he did. First pitch, square into left, and Cavazos’ arm was weak, and this was tied again. After an intentional walk to Ramirez, Miller could at least face a right-hander in Mendez, who popped out to Concie and the band played on, now with Heart leading off the 11th, in which Sharp was eventually left on third base. Since it was evident that the Raccoons were not going to score on the stalwart Titans bullpen, we surrendered at that point. Bob Joly entered, in other words: ballgame. The Titans walked off on a bases-loaded walk to Josh Thomas. 3-2 Titans. Guerin 2-4, BB, 2B; Brady 2-4, BB, RBI; Sharp 2-4, 2 2B; Garcia 6.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 2 K; Nordahl 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 0 K;

Raccoons (18-24) @ Aces (18-24) – May 18-20, 2001

Nominally, the teams were about equally bad in pitching, with the Coons holding a clear edge in offense, but that still resulted from our early-May outburst, and had long been washed down the drain again in the dismal last five games, in which we totaled 10 runs. The Aces by contrast had a 4-game winning streak going on.

Projected matchups:
Ralph Ford (2-3, 3.56 ERA) vs. Alfredo Rios (2-5, 5.30 ERA)
Cipriano Miranda (1-5, 4.96 ERA) vs. Patrick Clark (2-3, 4.38 ERA)
Miguel Lopez (2-3, 6.47 ERA) vs. Dan Moriarty (5-1, 3.56 ERA)

We are still t-4th in runs scored and their pitching is not that much better than ours. Their lineup didn’t have to offer all that much except for the 3-4-5 guys in the opener. If just the rotation would hold up over the weekend …!

Game 1
POR: SS Guerin – 2B Palacios – CF Reece – RF Brady – 1B Martin – 3B Sharp – LF Parker – C Mata – P Ford
LVA: RF Ghiberti – C De La Parra – 1B O. Torres – LF L. Jenkins – CF McCormick – SS Cerdeira – 3B Bell – 2B Bradley – P A. Rios

While Brady plated Palacios with a sac fly in the first, it was obvious very quickly that this would not be a good start for Ralph Ford. He loaded the bags in the bottom 2nd on four straight unfavorable counts resulting in a McCormick single, a Cerdeira walk, a K to Dick Bell, and then he hit John Bradley in his third straight 3-ball count. Rios luckily fouled out and Ricco Ghiberti lined right to Sharp to keep the Aces from scoring. The Aces tied the score in the fourth then, an inning where Ford walked two. The Coons appeared to catch a major break in the next inning. Guerin had stolen a base his last time on, and went for second again. De La Parra rushed the throw, Cerdeira couldn’t get it and Guerin went to third. One out, Palacios and Reece both made pathetic outs and Guerin was left unscored. Ford was eventually ditched after his fifth walk of the day, to Bradley in the sixth and didn’t get a decision. Bruno got Ghiberti to pop out to end that frame, still in a 1-1 tie. Top 7th, Rios got Parker to 0-2 to get it underway, before Parker drilled a shot to right. Ghiberti at first appeared to get it, but it whizzed past an inch above his raised glove and dinked in for a triple, hopping wickedly away from the 28-yr old Venezuelan on the Starturf. Leadoff triple – SCORE THE SUCKER, GODDAMNIT!! Mata heard by screams and doubled, it was 2-1 Coons! Mata however was never moved up another base, and in turn Bruno struggled in the seventh and gave the run right back.

(slams head against the wall) (slams head against the wall) (slams head against the wall) (slams head against the wall) (slams head against the wall)

Concie had to leave the game with an injury at this junction and with our short bench and Martin having been removed in a double switch, we were forced to play Heart at short and Brady at first, and EXACTLY that combo, together with the useless turd Joly pitching, cost the game in the eighth. Two out, runner on first, Heart got a grounder to end the inning, except he lobbed it past Brady, who could snag it. The Aces then piled on Joly for three runs. 5-2 Aces. Guerin 2-4;

Random observations: pitching is as **** as ever, offense is as **** as ever, and fielding is even more **** than ever, and now the first injury of the year fells the glue of the team. Yay!

Concie was out for a week with back stiffness after handling a wild throw from Palacios with an even wilder stretch in the seventh. There was no point in DL’ing him, that would cost him a good week of games he wouldn’t be rendered unable to play in. But it meant we had to abandon the extra arm in the pen immediately, and the choice was not a hard one.

Joly was dumped and we called up INF/RF Miguel Ramirez, 22, right-handed, a Dominican we had signed from the scrap heap after he had been dumped by the Crusaders at the tender age of 18. He was batting .297/.396/.547 with 8 HR and 25 RBI in 128 AB in AAA and could fill a lineup slot for a week easily. Or so I thought.

Game 2
POR: LF Cavazos – 2B Palacios – RF Brady – CF Reece – 1B Martin – 3B Sharp – SS M. Ramirez – C Mata – P Miranda
LVA: SS Bradley – RF Wills – 2B O. Torres – LF L. Jenkins – CF McCormick – C L. Paredes – 1B Bell – 3B J. Martinez – P P. Clark

Clark came in, wilder than a thunderstorm, having walked 37 in 39 innings, with only 16 K against that. He walked the first two Coons, and Brady plated a run with a single. Clark was truly abominable in this start, too, walking seven batters in four innings, conceding five runs, but he also struck out five, including three K’s on poor young Miguel Ramirez, who made his debut to an 0-3, 3 K, 7 LOB tune. Not that the useless Miranda knew where to throw. The Aces didn’t score through three, which was somewhat miraculous, because he was almost as wild. In the fourth, they took him apart: Oliver Torres drew a leadoff walk, moved to second on Jenkins’ groundout, and scored when McCormick singled, 5-1. Paredes walked, Bell flew out, two down. A Jaime Martinez single loaded the bases. Gabriel Silva singled, plating two runs as pinch-hitter for Clark. When Miranda drilled John Bradley to reload the bags he was gone to the Yukon. Manuel Martinez entered and served up a most welcome grand slam to Gary Wills. Only the Raccoons knew how to enter an inning up by five and exit it losing. The Aces fans were amused then their team led off the fifth with two infield singles. The wholly incapable Pelts from the North were at work again. The Aces in turn didn’t score because they actually ran themselves out of the inning. The Raccoons didn’t get automatic base runners anymore with Clark removed from the game, and to be precise, they didn’t get any base runners anymore, as George Moore pitched three perfect innings. The eighth saw Ian Johnson appear after Mata finally broke Moore with a single. Flores hit for Meeks and tripled, putting the tying runs on third for the Critters, and NO OUTS. They did get the minimum requirements done, as Cavazos scored him with a sac fly. However, as your parents always told you, and as the miscarriages on the field obviously didn’t get told from their miscarried parents, the minimum is rarely enough. In the ninth, Reece drew a leadoff walk, and Martin was supposed to bunt him over to give Sharp a better chance to plate him. Martin bunted so badly that Reece got nabbed at second, and the Raccoons didn’t score. When Oliver Torres hit a leadoff double off Wade in the bottom 9th, the curtains were already coming down. 8-7 Aces. Brady 2-4, BB, 2 RBI; Flores (PH) 1-1, 3B, RBI; Meeks 3.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 3 K;

The big league debut of Miguel Ramirez: 0-5, 4 K, 8 LOB. We counseled him late that night so he would slit his wrists.

We needed a shortstop on Sunday after all.

Game 3
POR: LF Cavazos – 2B Palacios – CF Reece – 1B Martin – 3B Sharp – RF Brady – SS M. Ramirez – C Mata – P M. Lopez
LVA: RF Ghiberti – C De La Parra – 1B O. Torres – LF L. Jenkins – SS Cerdeira – CF Wills – 3B Bradley – 2B J. Martinez – P Moriarty

Even though nobody believed in it anymore, the Raccoons managed a home run in this week, when Sharp hit his second of the year in the second inning of the Sunday game. Ramirez also had his first career hit, a single, in the same inning, but was left on when Mata flailed out. While Lopez was holding up early on and pitched shutout ball, Moriarty got hit pretty hard and surrendered three more runs by the fourth. By the fifth however, Lopez began to lose it again. In the fifth, he plunked Bradley, but the defense mopped up. In the sixth, he hit Ghiberti leading off, and this time got pummeled with a Torres RBI triple, Jenkins RBI single, and it was not like our lead was all that big. The Aces had just chopped off half of it, 4-2. We had two on in the seventh when Reece hit into a double play, the Coons’ third on the day, and in a twist of irony, Martin homered with two out after that. Not that it helped Lopez any. He put on Martinez and PH McCormick with singles in the bottom 7th. One out, Bruno entered, somehow got Ghiberti, then drilled De La Parra. That was also three on the day. Bases loaded for Torres, Juan Diaz came out of the pen to face him, got two strikes on him before surrendering a single, then got a wildly hacking Lou Jenkins to strike himself out. Mata hit into a fourth double play in the eighth, but could they also smack four batters? Nordahl was in the game with a 6-3 lead, but didn’t want to play with the brain-damaged morons all around him. Two down, they paid him back, as Mata dropped a kindergarten pop up that a stickball player would have caught easily and without crying. That would have been the third out, but now Jaime Martinez came up. Nordahl struck him out energetically. The lead then went into Miller’s hands, which recently was the recipe for the perfect storm. This time however, he struck out two, and converted the third batter’s grounder himself for the third out. 6-3 Coons. Cavazos 3-5, RBI; Palacios 2-5; Martin 3-4, HR, 3 RBI; Sharp 2-4, HR, RBI;

In other news

May 14 – The Gold Sox’ Zak Davidson (.392, 0 HR, 14 RBI) has his third hitting streak of 20 or more games in as many seasons end with an 0-4 day in a 2-1 loss to the Pacifics. Davidson hit safely in 26 consecutive games, the most he has ever achieved.
May 15 – PIT SP Jose Marquez (5-3, 3.22 ERA) 2-hits the Blue Sox in a 3-0 win.
May 19 – Milwaukee’s RF/LF Cristo Ramirez (.301, 1 HR, 14 RBI) celebrates his 2,500th hit in a 4-1 win of the Loggers over the Thunder, a leadoff double in the fourth off Vaughn Higgins. The 31-year old Venezuelan Ramirez was picked sixth overall by the Loggers in the 1988 amateur draft and has spent his entire career with the organization, earning eight All Star selections, two Gold Gloves (1990, 1995), five Batter of the Month, and two Batter of the Year (1993, 1998) awards. Ramirez, currently lodged in 12th place on the all-time hits list, figures to be the prime challenger for far-and-away and recently retired leader Jeffery Brown with his 3,582 hits.

Complaints and stuff

The Raccoons played seven games this week. I was crying.

The Knights waived Vern Kinnear this week. I was crying.

Neil Reece struck out nine times this week. I was crying.

Concie tried to be a hero and got hurt this week. I was crying.

Las Vegas’ Lou Jenkins was named Player of this week. I was crying.

Young Miguel Ramirez hit for a golden sombrero in his debut this week. I was crying.

Something else?

Amidst all those tears, it WAS a horrible week, no doubt. I struggle to find anything positive. If anything, then Dan Nordahl is getting into better and better shape to maybe be trusted with the closer’s job soon? No? Yes? No? The boy is below.

[Trebro]

Maybe you need to put him on the field daily? That's a pretty fair left field rating, ya know...

[Westheim]

His bat is far not enough to make that a good solution. Although for a pitcher he is quite the batting monster with an 8/4/5 bat with 12 Gap. I'm still looking for ways to get him to pinch-run, though.

I have the following series against the Falcons series already in the books, since gaming night with the guys was an utter disaster last night, as we got our furry behinds handed to us by pretty much everybody on the internet. Ended up complaining about our misery until close to 3am while the Coons swung their sticks a little. More on that (the Coons and their sticks) later today.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (19-26) @ Falcons (17-27) – May 22-24, 2001

The Falcons were second-to-last in runs scored in the CL, and their rotation was also second-to-last. (The Coons’ was not last anymore, although I wonder how that could be…). They had a good bullpen however, and the Coons were not in a position currently to stress it.

Projected matchups:
Carl Bean (4-2, 3.90 ERA) vs. Fernando Chavez (3-4, 6.75 ERA)
Felipe Garcia (0-0, 5.06 ERA) vs. Angel Romero (3-4, 4.96 ERA)
Ralph Ford (2-3, 3.35 ERA) vs. Terry Wilson (3-3, 3.94 ERA)

That was the right-hander Chavez, 36, and two southpaws. We hadn’t faced too many left-handers recently. But the way the team was hitting, we could easily lose against right-handers, left-handers, and even double above elbow amputees.

Game 1
POR: LF Cavazos – 2B Palacios – RF Brady – CF Reece – 1B Martin – 3B Sharp – SS M. Ramirez – C Mata – P Bean
CHA: 2B H. Green – C M. Castillo – RF Lugo – 1B Soto – CF Morton – LF R. Wilson – 3B J. Munoz – SS Vieitas – P F. Chavez

The veteran Chavez retired the Coons in order the first time through the lineup, while the Falcons twice left a runner in scoring position, and that was it for the first three innings. Then, a bang, Ramiro Cavazos led off the fourth with a home run, 1-0. Bean lacked stuff again, struck out only one through five innings, and then was hit with a game-tying 2-out RBI double by Chavez, and the Falcons tore him up in the sixth when he just couldn’t get anybody out. Reece and Brady made a lot of good catches in this game, but couldn’t help against the line drives in the sixth, neither when Elliott Meeks insisted on walking four Falcons in the eighth. Closer Tom Brooks held a 3-run lead in the ninth, drilled Brady with one out, and then allowed a double to Reece, bringing up the tying run in Albert Martin, who countered him, and rammed a doubled past Luis Soto at first. Tying run at second now, and Daniel Sharp proceeded with a bloop to right that Jose Lugo couldn’t get. It was a single, and Martin had run like crazy and scored – tied ballgame! Both our catchers struck out after that, leaving it to Scott Wade to get into extra innings, which he did, and Jesus Palacios lifted the team with a 2-run homer in the top 10th off Haden Helton, and Miller managed a perfect nin- … tenth. 7-5 Coons. Cavazos 2-4, BB, HR, 2B, RBI; Palacios 2-5, HR, 3 RBI; Reece 2-5, 2B; Sharp 2-4, 3B, RBI;

Game 2
POR: LF Cavazos – 2B Palacios – CF Reece – RF Brady – 3B Sharp – 1B Heart – SS M. Ramirez – C Thomas – P F. Garcia
CHA: 2B H. Green – C M. Castillo – RF Lugo – 1B Soto – CF Morton – LF R. Wilson – 3B J. Munoz – SS Vieitas – P A. Romero

The game started like the previous one: no scoring. This time it lasted through four, and it ended like the last time as well, with Cavazos going yard. This time around it counted for two, and was followed up by Palacios reaching and then Reece hit another homer! Up 4-0, Garcia, who had put two in scoring position with no outs in the first, but has somehow wiggled out of that jam, looked like primed for his first big league win, but the game blew up on him faster than we could get anybody warmed up. Two runs across in the bottom 6th, we walked Herberto Vieitas to get the pitcher up, but Angel Romero hit an RBI single, too. Now Bruno entered with the house on fire, and got Hubert Green to pop out to Ramirez, but it didn’t matter, because Diaz couldn’t handle the bottom 8th, and Nordahl couldn’t bail him out, and the Falcons got the tying run driven in by Green to make it 4-4. Top 9th: after Ramirez made the first out, Thomas, PH Flores, and Cavazos all got on to load them up against Steven Anderson. Palacios grounded hard to short, where Ramón Trinidad couldn’t glove it properly – and the Coons took the lead on the error. And the Falcons collapsed: Reece brought home two with a single, Brady hit an RBI double, and Anderson was yanked and tarred and feathered. Max Heart would also managed to drive home a run, but got hurt on the next play in a collision with Green. Scott Wade pitched the ninth perfectly. 10-4 Coons! Cavazos 3-5, HR, 2 RBI; Reece 2-5, HR, 4 RBI; Ramirez 2-5, 2B, RBI; Thomas 2-3, 2 BB; Bruno 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Bad news with Max Heart, who sprained his elbow and would be out for three weeks. That worsened our predicaments somewhat with Guerin also ailing. Heart had to be disabled either way, and we added Manny Gabriel, but by now the AAA team was down to four infielders…

Game 3
POR: LF Cavazos – 3B Sharp – RF Brady – CF Reece – 1B Martin – 2B M. Ramirez – C Mata – SS Gabriel – P Ford
CHA: SS H. Green – C M. Castillo – RF Lugo – 1B Soto – LF Trinidad – 2B Sullivan – 3B J. Munoz – CF R. Wilson – P T. Wilson

For a change, scoring started early in the last game of the series, with Miguel Ramirez having the first big knock of his career, a 2-out, 2-run single in the first inning. Ford was better this time, going after hitters AND the strike zone at the same time. He struck out five in the first four innings, including a run given up in the bottom 4th, but Neil Reece put it back onto the board in the top 5th with a 2-out RBI single, making it a 3-1 game. The same inning, “Loudmouth” Wilson left the game with an injury. Inclement weather would limit Ford to five innings however, before the rain forced a delay after he had struck out to conclude the top 6th. Martinez handled the next frame, and the Falcons’ bullpen had another nightmare outing in the seventh, when both Martin and Gabriel roughed them up with 2-run hits to run the score to 7-1, and we added two more in the eighth as their bullpen was completely in flames. 9-1 Coons! Brady 2-5, RBI; Reece 4-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Martin 2-5, 2 RBI; Ford 5.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, W (3-3); Bruno 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

The Falcons had less to offer than I thought. On the weekend, we go up against the Bayhawks, which is scary. Concie might be available again on Saturday, so that would certainly help us.

Raccoons (22-26) vs. Bayhawks (27-19) – May 25-27, 2001

While the Bayhawks’ pitching staff was not quite as lights out as last season, it was still a very good troop that was not easily scored upon and allowed less than average runs in the Continental League. Their offense was ranked 2nd in runs scored, and this did not match well with the Raccoons’ nightmare pitching staff that ranked last in runs allowed, and with the Thunder next on our platter, this could easily become ugly…

Projected matchups:
Cipriano Miranda (1-5, 5.69 ERA) vs. Tony Hamlyn (8-1, 2.55 ERA)
Miguel Lopez (3-3, 6.17 ERA) vs. Ricardo Sanchez (2-3, 4.87 ERA)
Carl Bean (4-2, 4.09 ERA) vs. Dani Alvarado (2-4, 5.93 ERA)

Game 1
SFB: RF Javier – 3B Foster – 1B D. Carroll – LF W. Jackson – SS B. Hall – C G. Ortíz – CF A. Marquez – 2B Navarro – P Hamlyn
POR: LF Cavazos – 2B Palacios – CF Reece – RF Brady – 3B Sharp – 1B Martin – C Mata – SS M. Ramirez – P Miranda

Odds weren’t in the Raccoons favor for sure, and things weren’t made better by Miranda with things like hitting batters. He drilled Will Jackson to lead off the second inning, but the Bayhawks fell short of scoring. In the bottom 2nd, Hamlyn put the first two men on before Martin hit into a double play and Mata readily struck out. Dave Carroll’s leadoff homer in the fourth got the scoring going, and Miranda hit Jackson again. Jackson had enough, made for the mound and threw Miranda to the ground before Daniel Sharp pushed him over and a brawl ensued. The umpires needed ten minutes to get everybody sorted out and play resumed, minus Miranda and Jackson, who were both ejected. Elliott Meeks continued for the Coons, and went three innings, striking out SIX. Yet, the Raccoons failed to muster anything remotely resembling offense. Significantly, it would be Daniel Miller to be blown up in a 3-run ninth, but it wasn’t like the Raccoons had had any chance to score a run on Tony Hamlyn in the first place. Hamlyn shut out the Raccoons on five hits, whiffing eight. 4-0 Bayhawks. Thomas (PH) 1-1; Meeks 3.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K;

Time to look for a new closer. Miller can’t even pitch a clean inning when he doesn’t close.

Game 2
SFB: RF Javier – LF Walls – 1B D. Carroll – CF Black – SS B. Hall – C G. Ortíz – 3B T. Smith – 2B Navarro – P R. Sanchez
POR: SS Guerin – LF Cavazos – CF Reece – RF Brady – 1B Martin – 2B Palacios – 3B Sharp – C Thomas – P M. Lopez

Luke Black, the replacement for the suspended Jackson, got the Bayhawks going with an RBI triple in the first inning and would also have his hand in their second run later in the game. The Raccoons were awful, getting on base, but not home. They left two on when the right-handed Sanchez struck out Brady and Martin to end the first, and also left men on with inning-ending strikeouts in the third and fourth. The second was killed on a double play. They stopped getting on after that. Lopez went 7.1 innings, but was booked for four runs, with the balls flying anywhere and everywhere at the end. Sanchez went eight but wasn’t allowed to follow up on Hamlyn’s shutout. Instead, the Bayhawks sent Andrew Schaefer into the ninth which was led off by an ice cold Brady, but even Clyde still had enough to beat the air out of a plastic bag and homered to dead center, exiting Schaefer right away. Closer Johnny Smith (0.00 ERA) then quickly ended the contest. 4-1 Bayhawks. Wade 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

We also made three errors, all by corner infielders, with one on Martin and two on Sharp, the latter costing Lopez a run.

Game 3
SFB: RF Javier – CF Walls – 1B D. Carroll – SS B. Hall – C G. Ortíz – 3B Foster – LF A. Marquez – 2B Navarro – P Alvarado
POR: SS Guerin – 2B Palacios – CF Reece – 1B Martin – LF Cavazos – RF Parker – C Mata – 3B Gabriel – P Bean

We loaded up on left-handers for the occasion, which had no negative effect on Alvarado, but maybe on Bean, because he sucked once again. The Bayhawks would have nuked him in the second inning if not for Jesse Foster lining to Manny Gabriel for a double play, but got him the next inning anyway for two runs, one of which Bean even walked in. Down 2-0, the Raccoons failed, failed, and failed, first not getting on at all, and then leaving pairs of runners on in the fifth and sixth, scoring only on a Mata sac fly along the way in the sixth. Jesse Foster’s leadoff homer kind of negated that in the top 7th. Alvarado managed to run his count to seven walks in the bottom 7th, still was not scored on, but Bean managed to give up another leadoff homer to Paco Javier in the eighth. Miller was lit up for two more runs in the ninth. Pointless, it was all pointless. Any team sending out Andrew Schaefer twice in a series and still manages a sweep, must be playing the Raccoons. 6-2 Raccoons. Martin 2-5, 2B, RBI;

Pointless, it was all pointless.

In other news

May 22 – OCT SP Pancho Trevino (5-0, 1.61 ERA) was well en route to become a ROTY contender, but is now out for the year with a torn achilles tendon.
May 23 – The CL leader in saves, IND CL Arthur Joplin (1-1, 0.45 ERA, 12 SV) is out for two weeks with a mild hamstring strain.
May 24 – The Loggers and SP Martin Garcia (4-4, 2.99 ERA) agree on a 7-yr, $13.64M contract.
May 24 – LVA INF Oliver Torres (.282, 3 HR, 28 RBI) is out for the season with a severe concussion.
May 27 – The Thunder announce a 3-yr, $4.02M extension to CL Jimmy Morey’s contract. Morey is 3-2 with a 2.22 ERA and 9 saves this year, and has 267 for his career.

Complaints and stuff

Pointless, all pointless.

Pointless stat of the week #1: Ramiro Cavazos was Player of the Week at .423 (11-26) with 2 HR, 4 RBI. Too bad the rest of his team played like crap.

Pointless stat of the week #2: no team is even close to the Raccoons’ 46 home runs allowed.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (22-29) @ Thunder (32-19) – May 28-30, 2001

More humiliation was coming the Coons’ way with the Thunder awaiting them. This was the top scoring team in the league, plating almost 5.2 runs per game, and they weren’t really giving them up on a rapid pace, either. The fact that they were down a starting pitcher (Pancho Trevino) and three pieces out of their lineup (Artie Barnes, Bob Grant, Yohan Bonneau) would help a decent team to take this series. But we’re still the Coons, and we’re still ****.

Projected matchups:
Felipe Garcia (0-0, 4.96 ERA) vs. Aaron Anderson (2-3, 4.03 ERA)
Ralph Ford (3-3, 3.22 ERA) vs. Vaughn Higgins (3-6, 2.84 ERA)
Cipriano Miranda (1-6, 5.54 ERA) vs. Luis Martinez (1-0, 3.46 ERA)

Game 1
POR: SS Guerin – 2B Palacios – CF Reece – 1B Martin – LF Cavazos – RF Brady – 3B Sharp – C Mata – P F. Garcia
OCT: 2B Kaustrop – SS Liu – 1B Higashi – RF D. Henry – LF Humphrey – C Vinson – CF A. Diéguez – 3B Scott – P A. Anderson

A 2-out single by Dan Henry plated Butch Kaustrop (who, as you may remember, was a Coon for a few days this winter) in the bottom 1st to get the winner team on track. While the Raccoons accumulated plenty of hits, they didn’t accumulate plenty of runs. With runners on the corners in the fourth, however, and one out, Daniel Sharp managed to shoot a double over Joey Humphrey. Brady was held at third base as the go-ahead run, and Mata was walked intentionally to load them up. Garcia flew out to center, medium depth, Brady was sent, and lasered out by Diéguez, and Diéguez would throw out Cavazos to end the sixth inning, too. Felipe Garcia went completely wild in the bottom 5th and something was wrong. The pitching coach and trainer checked him out, and brought him in once he walked Kaustrop. Martinez retired Kuang Liu to end the inning, but Garcia was ailing. The Raccoons struggled to plate any runs, and in the top 8th had the bags full with two out and Sharp batting. Anderson’s first pitch was wild however, scoring Neil Reece to unknot the 1-1 score. Sharp eventually walked, prompting the Thunder to bring a reliever, and Sancho Rivera came out, a power righthander. Miguel Ramirez hit for Julio Mata and sent a long fly ball into the gap in right center that nobody was going to get, and the bases emptied on this 3-run double! Scott Wade pitched the last two inning to nail this coffin shut. 5-1 Furballs. Guerin 3-5; Martin 2-4; Sharp 2-3, BB, 2B, RBI; Ramirez (PH) 1-1, 2B, 3 RBI; Martinez 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K; Wade 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K;

Concie stole a base off Vinson in the ninth, his 13th on the year. I mean, it’s VINSON. He’s been wearing a “Free steals” cap all through the 90s, and we were there to see it! Concie leads the CL in bags, two over the distasteful Daniel Silva. In the FL, Dave Heffer has 15 for the .843 Warriors.

.843!!

Game 2
POR: LF Cavazos – 2B M. Ramirez – CF Reece – 1B Martin – RF Brady – 3B Sharp – SS Gabriel – C Mata – P Ford
OCT: SS Liu – CF Humphrey – 1B Higashi – 2B Kaustrop – C Briggs – LF Mallinder – RF A. Diéguez – 3B A. Ayala – P Higgins

Neither pitcher was giving up all that much in this game. It would be key to utilize this one or two chances at scoring you got, and the Coons failed. Vaughn Higgins wasn’t too inviting to be scored upon in the first place, and Miguel Ramirez hit into two killing double plays after Cavazos had gotten on base. The Thunder squeezed out a run on Ralph Ford in the fourth. Fearing it wouldn’t be enough for some reason or other, when Ford hit Diéguez to lead off the bottom 7th, they bunted the outfielder over twice to have Kuang Liu drive him home. But Liu walked, and Humphrey grounded out to third, and that plot failed. And then Ford auto-forfeited the game in the bottom 8th, walking both Higashi and Kaustrop. Nordahl was thrown in, hoping he could cull the Thunder in time, but a pinch-hit single by Dan Henry with two down plated Higashi. Ultimately it didn’t matter anyway: Higgins retired the side in order in the ninth and completed a 4-hit shutout. 2-0 Thunder. Cavazos 2-4, 2B; Ford 7.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 6 BB, 3 K, L (3-4);

Game 3
POR: SS Guerin – 2B Palacios – CF Reece – LF Cavazos – 1B Martin – 3B Sharp – C Thomas – LF Parker – P Miranda
OCT: 2B Kaustrop – SS Liu – 1B Higashi – RF D. Henry – LF Humphrey – C Vinson – CF Mallinder – 3B Scott – P L. Martinez

Guerin stole another bag off Vinson in the first, leading to the Coons’ only run in the opening frame, but Vinson took revenge with his fifth home run of the year, a solo shot in the bottom 2nd. The game didn’t get much further on the first try, as a light rain set in that quickly intensified and interrupted play for 16 minutes in the top 3rd. When play resumed, Miranda was no good, and was removed in the fifth once Dan Henry put the Raccoons behind, 3-2. Diaz starved a pair in scoring position. The Raccoons struggled to reach base however, and when Guerin reached on a walk in the seventh, he was thrown out stealing by Vinson(!!). We got another chance when Kuang Liu made an error to put Reece on base with no outs in the top 8th. Cavazos failed to get a bunt down against Sancho Rivera, and at 0-2 was *drilled* by Rivera. This would be the spot for a clutch hit, but in succession Martin, Sharp, and Brady all just plain failed. In turn, the Thunder loaded the bases on Martinez and had Liu come through with a 2-out, 2-run double, and Jimmy Morey did the honors. 5-3 Thunder. Guerin 3-4, BB; Mata 1-1, 2B, RBI;

Of course. Under no circumstances may the Raccoons (or me) be allowed to have a ****ing break.

Raccoons (23-31) @ Crusaders (14-38) – June 1-3, 2001

The Crusaders ranked in the upper half in runs allowed, with quite good a rotation. The bullpen was awful (but whose wasn’t?), but the real, stunning issue was their offense. They weren’t even scoring three runs a game, with 149 counters in 52 games. But worry you not, poor Crusaders! Help is on his way, Big Apple is about to be bitten into by a horde of insatiable Critters. Who give up tons of runs wherever they go.

Projected matchups:
Miguel Lopez (3-4, 5.83 ERA) vs. Anibal Sandoval (4-5, 2.64 ERA)
Carl Bean (4-3, 4.19 ERA) vs. Fernando Garza (3-7, 3.68 ERA)
TBD vs. Greg Connor (1-6, 5.46 ERA)

We still didn’t know whether Garcia could pitch, so we were tempted to hold back Scott Wade to make a spot start.

Also mind that the toothless Crusaders swept us the last time we battled.

Game 1
POR: SS Guerin – 2B Palacios – CF Reece – 1B Martin – LF Cavazos – RF Brady – 3B Sharp – C Mata – P M. Lopez
NYC: LF M. Ortíz – C Olson – CF Gonzales – RF A. Johnson – 3B Rush – 2B Rigg – 1B T. Mullins – SS Rice – P Sandoval

The Raccoons had two on in the first two innings, and Martin and Mata hit into killing double plays, while the first hit that Lopez gave up was a 2-run home run to Gary Rice. Sure, whatever works. Bob Rush hit a 3-run homer in the third inning, and what was the team that couldn’t score again? Both teams had five hits through three innings, and the Dumbcoons trailed 5-0. The only meaningful offense the Raccoons would generate was a 2-run homer by Brady later in the game. They hit into another double play, though. 5-3 Crusaders. Palacios 2-4; Brady 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Parker (PH) 1-1, 2B; Bruno 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K; Meeks 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

After the game, Chris Parker was handed a cake and a few flowers for ending his pinch-hitting futility at 0-29, needing merely two months to land a hit.

Felipe Garcia was diagnosed with a shoulder strain, which would indeed make him miss his next start, so we were looking at a spot start by Scott Wade on Sunday. With Meeks and Bruno tossing two apiece this Friday, that gives us four relievers on Saturday.

In St. Petersburg, outfielder Edgardo Torrez hit three home runs in a 10-8 win of the Alley Cats over Cumming. Maybe I need to reshuffle a thing to get that .372, 16 HR, 35 RBI bat into the lineup.

Game 2
POR: SS Guerin – 2B Palacios – CF Reece – 1B Martin – LF Cavazos – RF Brady – 3B Sharp – C Mata – P Bean
NYC: SS Rice – C Olson – RF A. Johnson – 1B M. Berry – CF Latham – 3B Rush – LF Sanders – 2B Rigg – P F. Garza

Mike Olson’s home run made it 1-0 Crusaders in the first, exceeded their average runs per game in the second, and the Raccoons joined their pitcher in being **** as always. No, Bean was more **** than usual. The Crusaders completely ****ed him up in the bottom 3rd, in which they got three infield singles to spit on the dismal sucker on the mound, and in total routed him for 10 hits and six runs in 2.2 innings. Sandoval pitched shutout ball, whiffing six in five innings, before Palacios’ leadoff jack in the sixth signaled that the Raccoons might be terrible, maybe even dead, but on occasion could be bothered to reach out from the grave. The same inning, Clyde Brady would go deep for three, but the damage had already been done long before. Daniel Miller pitched three innings, gave up two more runs, and this one went down as another L by a good margin. 8-4 Crusaders. Brady 2-3, BB, HR, 3 RBI; Martinez 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Time to clean some house. We returned Manny Gabriel (batting 3-39!!!) to AAA, and this time, Julio Mata joined him. Mata was batting .168/.233/.204 and there was no reason to keep hoping that it would get better suddenly. We added perennial scrubs Gary Fifield and Brent McLaughlin.

Game 3
POR: SS Guerin – 2B Palacios – CF Reece – RF Brady – LF Cavazos – 3B Sharp – 1B M. Ramirez – C Thomas – P Wade
NYC: LF M. Ortíz – C Olson – RF A. Johnson – 1B M. Berry – CF Latham – 3B Rush – SS Rice – 2B Rigg – P Connor

Wade did his job well, although six of the seven leadoff men he faced, reached base safely. Ultimately, the Crusaders didn’t amount to much and only got six hits and two runs off him, and it could have been a wonderful day, if the godforsaken bunch of douches that had donned the brown shirts had done a ****ing lick with the bats other than seeing if they could stick them up each other’s nostrils. They out-hit the Crusaders 9-6, but whenever the time called for a measly singled, they failed, popped up, or into a double play, which they did in consecutive innings, and were shut out. 2-0 Crusaders. Brady 2-4; Sharp 2-4; Wade 7.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, L (2-2);

In other news

May 29 – SFW SP Lou Corbett (7-0, 3.47 ERA) could well miss the rest of this season with ulnar nerve irritation.
June 2 – NAS SP Stanton Taylor (5-2, 4.18 ERA) pitches a 2-hit shutout over the Cyclones in a 5-0 Blue Sox triumph.

Complaints and stuff

Jesus Palacios was the CL Hitter of the Month in May, batting .390 with 9 HR and 35 RBI, which admittedly is some crisp contribution. But May is gone, and June is no less cruel to this team, which, if deposited there, would disgrace a toxic waste dump.

Pointless wisdom of the week: strong pitching might beat strong hitting, but ****ed-up hitting beats ****ed-up pitching three days in a row.

[Westheim]

2001 AMATEUR DRAFT CLASS

The 2001 draft class is kind of lopsided. Some positions are well over-represented, while some are barely present at all, and while this is often true, and most of the time there are very few, if any, surefire starting pitchers in the class, this time there are no less than three fielding positions as well where you will have a hard time picking future All Stars. These are third base, shortstop, and centerfield. There is really nothing to pick among these three positions, but you could fill a roster with borderline-immobile first basemen.

Vince has earmarked 78 of the 300-some players in the draft pool, with 14 players on the more exclusive shorter shortlist.

SP Barney Manning (13/17/16)
SP Jesus Cabrera (14/13/12)

RP Cody Bryant (20/18/9)
RP Kevin Wanless (17/17/15)
RP Stu Sharp (20/9/11)
RP Felix Colon (18/11/9)

C/1B Bernie Benson (14/9/13)
C Eduardo Durango (12/11/14)

1B Stanley Murphy (20/20/19)
1B/2B Francisco Soto (20/16/16)
2B Juan Diaz (15/20/19)

LF/RF/1B Chris Beairsto (17/20/20)
LF/RF David Clarke (16/16/11)
LF/RF Jose Gomez (16/12/14)

You might be tempted to say “Yeah, let’s hope the Knights are blind and then pick Manning”. But well, it’s not quite so easy. Manning is a 17-year old southpaw, so that’s a wonky 13/17/16, and he also demands $1.9M as a signing bonus. After we blew the bank for good last year with the signing of Daniel Sharp as our first-rounder (which I rarely regret), I am not quite certain that is the road to go down. It doesn’t get better by picking Cabrera, who demands $2.1M, and the other assumed top pick Chris Beairsto (a French-Canadian, the emphasis is on the O: Ber-stó) also looks for $2M. Stanley Murphy wants less than $1M, but you can only have so many first basemen on your roster, and I am not unhappy with Albert Martin either.

You know whom I like? 19-year old Cody Bryant.

The Raccoons will have the second pick in every round of the 2001 draft. They have no additional picks since their only two compensation eligible free agents following the 2000 season either accepted salary arbitration (Scott Wade) or went unsigned (Daniel Richardson).

[Westheim]

Raccoons (23-34) vs. Canadiens (21-33) – June 5-7, 2001

The Canadiens continued to suffer from a terrible pitching staff, with the rotation hanging one sliver under a 5.00 ERA as a group, and the bullpen was just as bad, and even slightly worse than the Coons’. They were scoring average runs, so this could potentially develop into a scorefest. We are 2-2 on the year.

Projected matchups:
Ralph Ford (3-4, 3.15 ERA) vs. Daniel Dickerson (4-3, 4.87 ERA)
Cipriano Miranda (1-7, 5.59 ERA) vs. Joe Hollow (4-7, 4.88 ERA)
Miguel Lopez (3-5, 6.21 ERA) vs. Jose Dominguez (3-8, 5.73 ERA)

Game 1
VAN: C Clemente – LF J. Durán – 1B Valenzuela – RF Velasquez – CF P. Taylor – 3B A. De Jesus – SS Sutton – 2B Shaw – P Dickerson
POR: SS Guerin – 2B Palacios – CF Reece – LF Cavazos – 1B Martin – RF Brady – 3B Sharp – C Thomas – P Ford

The Canadiens got their start on Sharp’s seventh error of the year, which helped them to plate an unearned run in the top 2nd. Cavazos re-tied the score with a leadoff homer in the bottom 2nd, and the struggling Dickerson loaded the bases, before issuing TWO free runs through hit batsmen (Thomas and Guerin), and eventually Palacios broke up the score with a fly to center, that would have been a single, but Taylor botched it. The Coons took a 5-1 lead, and Taylor made another error the next inning, but we left two men on base. And while we were up by four, Ralph Ford still had to pitch, so I was worried to say the least. The Canadiens had two singles in the top 4th when Travis Shaw flew to right. Brady should have made the second out, but dropped the ball instead. Bases loaded, one out, Ford, whose stuff was particularly sharp on this day, fanned Dickerson, and then got Clemente to ground out to Guerin. It was Ford’s eighth strikeout on the day, and he made it nine in the fifth, but constant base traffic meant that he was close to 100 pitches already. He got one K in the sixth, putting him at ten, and getting the franchise record of 12 within reach. He came back out for the seventh, the Coons by now up 7-1 after two more Canadiens errors, and led off by fanning Jorge Durán, then Jose Valenzuela – he tied the franchise mark! Velasquez then sent a fly to deep left. Cavazos caught it, but at 123 pitches, Ford was going to come in. Parker batted in his place in the bottom 7th, facing Mark Alexander, and struck out, and no one was surprised. This game however, even though the score was 7-1 with two to go, was far from over. Elliott Meeks faced three batters in the top 8th, didn’t retire any of them, and when Bruno came into the 7-2 game, he loaded the bags with a walk to Shaw, evoking the darkest images of the Great Losses this team has ever suffered. But Bruno didn’t let it get that far. He struck out PH Anthony Mills, Clemente popped out to Sharp, and Reece took care of a soft fly by Durán. 7-2 Raccoons. Cavazos 2-5, HR, 2B, RBI; Brady 2-3, BB, 2 RBI; Sharp 3-4; Ford 7.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 12 K, W (4-4); Bruno 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 K;

Ralph Ford tied the mark of 12 K jointly held by Stephen Berry (who whiffed a dozen in 1989) and Kisho Saito (1995). The CL record is 14, held by six pitchers, and the ABL record is 16 by then-Star Manny Ramos in 1996. With a little less ill control, we could have sent him for another inning, but…

Game 2
VAN: CF T. Wilson – C Clemente – 1B Valenzuela – RF Velasquez – LF J. Durán – 3B Sutton – 2B Shaw – SS Mills – P Hollow
POR: SS Guerin – 2B Palacios – CF Reece – LF Cavazos – RF Brady – 3B Sharp – 1B Martin – C Thomas – P Miranda

Useless Miranda was very useless, failing to remove Joe Hollow with two on and two out in the second inning, and the Canadiens quickly took a 2-0 lead on singles by Hollow and Wilson. The Raccoons didn’t get a hit until the bottom 4th, but then reeled off four of them in quick succession, and even Miranda drove in a run as they turned the score to a 3-2 lead. In the bottom 5th it was then an error that really appeared to get the Coons going. Palacios and Reece had singled when Brady grounded to Anthony Mills, and what could have been a double play in all likelihood was bobbled by the 19-year old and everybody was safe. Three on, no outs, the Furballs began to both their own efforts. Brady hacked himself out in a full count. Sharp grounded out, plating one run, but Martin also rolled out, and we dropped another excellent chance to do damage, and most alarmingly, Miranda was still the pitcher on duty, and the Canadiens put their leadoff man on with a single in the sixth, but failed to score. Likewise, the Coons stranded Mark Thomas on third base in their half of the sixth, and Miranda was insistent to pitch with a man on base even in the seventh. After Sharp removed his burden once with a double play, Miranda gave up another single to Valenzuela and was taken out. Manuel Martinez came in to face Tony Velasquez, who flew out to Reece to end the inning. The Raccoons managed to plate two in the bottom 7th, but lost Clyde Brady to injury, and in the top 8th we tried to give Daniel Miller some work. Another Sharp double play was necessary to keep him from getting piled on. In the ninth it was Meeks who got the assignment, and again didn’t retire anybody, putting two men on. That led to some scrambling, and Dan Nordahl appeared on the mound. However, this milk had been spilled. With two out, Tony Velasquez went deep, tying the score at six. In the 11th, the Canadiens appeared to squish Juan Diaz, who had walked two and plunked one, when Velasquez hit into an inning-ending double play. The wholly inept Diaz issued another walk in the 12th, leading us to go to starter Felipe Garcia to try and turn the tide here. The Coons had had a vague chance in the 11th with Reece on second and two out, but got a real one in the bottom 13rd. Still tied, Guerin hit a 1-out double off Raymond Léger, who then walked Palacios. Reece grounded out, but Cavazos dinked a single into center to end this game. 7-6 Raccoons. Guerin 2-6, BB; Cavazos 2-6, BB, RBI; Brady 2-4, 3B, 2B, RBI; Garcia 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, W (1-0);

So, Felipe Garcia got his first big league win in relief rather than in a start, also possibly voiding his next start.

Meanwhile, I tested by brand new neutron disruptor on Elliott Meeks (5.04 ERA). It worked! He vanished off our roster just like that. We called up Randy Farley (2-2, 1.73 ERA, 10 BB, 50 K in 5 GS in AAA), although that didn’t quite solve our rotation issues, since he had pitched on Monday. Somebody had to go on short rest, or we’d give the start to Scott Wade.

And then came the really good news: sliding into third base, Clyde Brady had twisted his ankle in some ugly way, and had torn ankle ligaments. Jason Kent was called up as Brady went to the DL.

He’s out for the year.

Game 3
VAN: C Clemente – LF J. Durán – 1B Valenzuela – RF Velasquez – CF P. Taylor – 3B A. De Jesus – SS Sutton – 2B Shaw – P Dominguez
POR: SS Guerin – 2B Palacios – CF Reece – LF Cavazos – 1B Martin – 3B M. Ramirez – RF Parker – C Fifield – P M. Lopez

Again, scoring started in the second inning. Both teams then loaded the bags with no outs, and while the Canadiens limited themselves to a Sutton sac fly, the Raccoons hit two sac flies (Parker and Lopez), and then added two runs with a Palacios single and a Reece walk, 4-1. Additional offense would come from Cavazos, who hit 2-out doubles in both of his next two at-bats, plating a total of three runs. Miguel Lopez was knocked around finally in the seventh, in which the Canadiens shortened the gap to 7-3, but the Coons had once again three on and none out in the bottom 7th. The Raccoons struggled to get a hit, but pitcher Ray Hoskins readily issued more walks. Guerin drew one with the bags full and one out, and Palacios grounded out to score a run. Reece and Cavazos walked, 10-3, bringing up Martin. Oh, and we finally got a hit with the bases loaded: GRAAAAAAAAAND SLAAAAAAAAAMMM!!!! The Canadiens weren’t quite through with suffering, however. They would have to take another shot, by Palacios, with two out in the bottom 8th, and it would count for three in one of the most lopsided games the Raccoons had come out on top in in quite a few years, and this despite Manuel Martinez also giving up a 3-run homer in the top 9th to Valenzuela. 17-6 Raccoons!! Guerin 2-4, 2 BB, RBI; Palacios 2-5, BB, HR, 5 RBI; Cavazos 2-5, BB, 2 2B, 4 RBI; Martin 2-4, BB, HR, 4 RBI; Fifield 4-5; Lopez 7.0 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, W (4-5);

Sweeping the Elks never gets old!!

Raccoons (26-34) vs. Cyclones (29-32) – June 8-10, 2001

Here came a team that would know how to take on the embarrassing staff of the Coons, with the Cyclones ranking 3rd in the FL in offense. They were struggling to find consistent pitching themselves, though, and ranked 9th in the FL with a pitching staff that was only marginally better than the Canadiens’.

Projected matchups:
Carl Bean (4-4, 4.76 ERA) vs. Lewis Donaldson (5-2, 5.08 ERA)
Scott Wade (2-2, 3.43 ERA) vs. Alfonso Velasco (6-5, 3.96 ERA)
Randy Farley (1-4, 6.50 ERA) vs. Billy Lawson (2-8, 5.88 ERA)

That’s six right-handers slated for this series.

Game 1
CIN: C J. Silva – 1B Maldrum – CF Bailey – RF D. Morris – SS Nakayama – 3B MacKillop – LF Graves – 2B LaRocca – P Donaldson
POR: 2B Palacios – LF Cavazos – CF Reece – 1B Martin – 3B Sharp – RF Parker – C Thomas – SS McLaughlin – P Bean

Jesus Palacios’ leadoff shot was the difference in the game for some time, but while Carl Bean struck out his share of batters, the Cyclones also singled against him all the time, and eventually connected to do damage. That happened in the fifth. With one man on, Will Bailey hit a game-tying double, and ex-Titan Haruki Nakayama plated him for the visitors to take the lead. The Raccoons couldn’t get the bats up against Donaldson, which was bad enough, and the game derailed for good in the top 7th when with one man on and no outs, Mark Thomas made a massive throwing error on Larry Maldrum’s bunt, putting two men in scoring position against Bean, and bringing up the left-handed battery of Bailey and Morris. This was a loss, and everybody knew it. Both runs scored. Technically, the Raccoons had the tying runs on base in the bottom 8th after Reece hit an RBI single, but the Cyclones whacked Garcia in the ninth to get this one onto the safe side. 6-2 Cyclones. Reece 3-4, RBI;

Game 2
CIN: C J. Silva – 1B Maldrum – CF Bailey – RF D. Morris – SS Nakayama – 3B MacKillop – LF A. Rojas – 2B LaRocca – P Velasco
POR: SS Guerin – LF Cavazos – CF Reece – 2B Palacios – 1B Martin – 3B Sharp – RF Parker – C Thomas – P Wade

Wade was slapped around early, with the Cyclones hitting four singles in the first, but somehow got only one run, and three more hits and a run in the second inning. The Coons deprived themselves of a run in the bottom 1st when Guerin was thrown out on a run-and-hit in which Reece didn’t hit, but Guerin would have scored in the course of the inning without the base running shenanigans. The Raccoons left five men on in the first three innings, and Wade was exploded with a Will Bailey grand slam in the top 4th. Down 6-0 in a dreadful contest, the Raccoons were already defeated. The next victim was Marcos Bruno, who was slaughtered by Bailey as well, this time with a 3-run home run. Perhaps this massacre was better cut short with the following line: the only player to contribute something meaningful in this game – a fourth inning home run – was Chris Parker. 9-1 Cyclones. Palacios 2-3; Flores (PH) 1-1, 2B; Sharp 2-4, 2B; Diaz 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

Oh well. We swept one team, that obviously means we have to get swept by another team. Otherwise there would be a remote chance for improvement.

Game 3
CIN: LF V. Hernandez – 1B Maldrum – CF Bailey – RF D. Morris – SS Nakayama – 2B Duarte – 3B MacKillop – C B. Mosley – P Lawson
POR: SS Guerin – LF Cavazos – CF Reece – 2B Palacios – 1B Martin – 3B Sharp – RF Flores – C Fifield – P Farley

For the first time this week, there was no early rush of scoring. Farley was wonky, but the Cyclones didn’t get that one key hit (much less three in a row), and only one hit in total over five innings, while drawing three walks. The Raccoons in turn didn’t get a hit until Farley had one, and failed in a prime chance in the bottom 4th with two in scoring position and one out. Sharp struck out, Flores surrendered almost as peacefully. Farley finished the sixth with a strikeout to Larry Maldrum, but showed the trainer something in the dugout, and both then vanished in the tunnel. The game was still scoreless then, but a 2-out home run by Albert Martin in the bottom of the inning put Farley posthumously on top, 1-0. However, that meant getting the next three innings over with our mangled bullpen. Nordahl managed a scoreless seventh, but a look into the bullpen in the bottom 7th offered a good sight of nothing but misery. Nordahl batted with two out and nobody on in the bottom 7th, singled, then was caught stealing. He walked MacKillop to lead off the bottom 8th, and the Cyclones bunted him all the way to third to have .320 Vicente Hernandez batting with two outs. Hernandez sent a glider to left center, and Cavazos made the catch. Some additional offense would have been nice, but when Reece singled with one out in the eighth, Guerin was sent from second and thrown out at home. We had little to no choice but to give the 1-0 lead to Daniel Miller in the ninth, despite Bailey and Morris looming behind Maldrum, who got a K to get things going. But Miller – as expected – failed to get either left-hander out, issuing a full count walk and a single. Nakayama also ran a full count, but then struck out, bringing up ancient veteran Angelo Duarte, who was batting .194 – but was also a left-hander. The park was buzzing for Miller, who was pitching almost in slow motion. After six pitches, another full count, Duarte walked, bringing up MacKillop. By now I knew we were going down. And he struck him out. 1-0 Furballs! Guerin 2-4; Martin 1-3, HR, RBI; Farley 6.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 6 K and 1-2; Nordahl 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 0 K, W (5-0) and 1-1;

Note how the same messy bug keeps popping up. Farley *finished* the sixth before leaving the game, but the game is insisting to have a pitcher in, so Nordahl technically appeared as new pitcher before the inning actually finished. That cost Randy a W. Any way to reassign that? I doubt it.

In other news

June 4 – Wolves LF Dale Wales (.351, 2 HR, 33 RBI) breaks through the 3,000 hits barrier with two hits in the Wolves’ 9-8 win over the Warriors on Monday. He hits a second inning RBI double off Johnny Collins to reach the milestone. Wales, 38, was the second overall pick in the 1981 draft, taken by the Gold Sox, with whom he debuted the next year and spent the first 15 of his ongoing 20-year career. He was also in Tijuana for four years before joining the Wolves. Injuries have been a constant companion for him throughout most of his career, but the elite .317/.381/.463 career hitter with 142 home runs has now finally joined the 3,000 hits club, where his only company are the retired Jeffery Brown and Paul Connolly.
June 5 – 25-year old WAS OF Stephen Buell (.217, 0 HR, 17 RBI) is out for the season with a torn labrum.
June 6 – CIN INF Dennis Berman (.316, 10 HR, 38 RBI) is suffering from a pinched nerve and might be unavailable for three more weeks.
June 7 – 34-yr old RIC 2B/SS Jim Stein (.262, 1 HR, 13 RBI) notches his 2,000th career hit in a 6-5 Rebels win over the Blue Sox, with the milestone reached via a first inning single off Stanton Taylor. Stein was a supplemental round pick by the Capitals once, but was traded to the Loggers for reliever Matt Carter for whom he would eventually make his debut in 1989. Since then he has played with the Scorpions, Warriors, and Rebels and hit for a career .309/.359/.418 slash with 63 HR and 825 RBI.
June 9 – With two hits in the Loggers’ 6-3 win over the Wolves, MIL OF/1B Bakile Hiwalani (.283, 7 HR, 43 RBI) has a 20-game hitting streak going.

Complaints and stuff

Clyde … Brady … He OPS’ed .885 at the time of his demise, much more than what I would have thought possible when we first got him as a triple-A player. He was more a throw-in in the Brewer/Farley trade with the Condors prior to 1998.

The rest of our system was culled by injuries as well during this week. I know for sure the following players got hurt just the last seven days: Taramillo, Romero, Carlton, Torrez in AAA; Vela in AA; and Mahoney, Willard, and Searcy in A. That brings the entire organization down to 95 able men and boys. That’s not a lot over four levels!

I also noticed that 40-year old Diego Rodriguez is seven hits away from joining the 3,000 hits club – but he’s a free agent! That’s too bad, really. :-/

Where are they now? Royce Green was traded to the Gold Sox after winning it all with the Thunder last year. He’s batting .216 with five home runs at this point, and spent all week on the shelf after brawling with the Scorpions’ Holden Gorman.

[Westheim]

I kind of don’t have enough time today for the draft, either, especially since I can't make up my mind about whom to pick in the first round AT ALL, so I will leave you just with this interleague series with our 1983 World Series foes, and unfortunately that’s going to be all for today.

Raccoons (27-36) @ Stars (31-31) – June 11-13, 2001

We hadn’t played the Stars since 1998, and we have the fourth-worst record against them of all the Federal League teams, at 19-20 (.487).

The Stars were also a scoring machine, much more even than the preceding Cyclones, ranking 2nd in runs scored in the FL. Their pitching staff was basically of the same quality than what we faced all of last week and went 4-2 against, with their pitchers surrendering the third-most runs in the FL, with the rotation much worse than the bullpen.

Projected matchups:
Ralph Ford (4-4, 2.85 ERA) vs. Chang-bum O (7-6, 4.23 ERA)
Cipriano Miranda (1-7, 5.29 ERA) vs. Elwood Spurrell (5-6, 6.26 ERA)
Miguel Lopez (4-5, 5.95 ERA) vs. John Collins (5-5, 5.00 ERA)

How lame a name has John Collins compared to the other two? O is a left-hander that was in my sore eyes in the 1992 draft, but they picked him 12th overall, long before the Raccoons – which at one point in their history were actually decent and winning games and silverware and stuff – ever got their first pick that year.

Game 1
POR: SS Guerin – 3B Sharp – CF Reece – LF Cavazos – 1B Martin – 2B M. Ramirez – C Thomas – RF Flores – P Ford
DAL: SS K. Sato – 2B S. Mendez – 1B M. Woods – C James – RF Hino – CF F. Rivera – LF R. Perez – 3B K. Davidson – P O

One start removed from fanning a dozen and tying the franchise mark in single game strikeouts, Ralph Ford was all but ****. He took 36 pitches to get through the first inning, reaching three balls on five of the seven batters he faced, and walked three in total, including one walk with the bases full. He gave up Chang-bum O’s second career home run in the bottom 2nd, and was chopped to pieces by the fourth, when Mac Woods’ 22nd homer of the year made it 5-1 Stars, and also made Ford’s presence in the game no longer required. The Raccoons lineup was not present at all in this game, silenced by O, who was made surrender a run by his defense and two errors in the top 3rd, but that was as brutal as the Raccoons handled him. Guerin would hit a 1-out triple in the seventh and actually scored on Sharp’s grounder that Sato managed to take so long to play that even the slowish Sharp reached first base safely. In the ninth, the Raccoons got another scoring chance with two in scoring position after a Robinson Perez error – the Stars’ fourth on the day! – and no outs, but couldn’t get the bats up, including consecutive pop outs by Sharp and Reece. 7-2 Stars. Guerin 2-5, 3B; Sharp 2-5, RBI; Flores 2-4; Parker 1-1;

We divested ourselves of the services of Felipe Garcia (4.61 ERA in 27.1 IP) and Miguel Ramirez (.159 in 44 AB) after this game. Manny Gabriel and Bob Joly were called up, because why not?

Game 2
POR: SS Guerin – LF Cavazos – CF Reece – 2B Palacios – 1B Martin – 3B Sharp – RF Kent – C Thomas – P Miranda
DAL: SS K. Sato – 2B Brewer – 1B M. Woods – LF R. Perez – CF F. Rivera – RF Hino – C A. Ortíz – 3B Nichols – P Spurrell

The fantastically named Elwood Spurrell had walked 11 batters in 92 innings this year, and had struck out 73, so his ERA was probably a bit misleading. His main problem was a fastball that sometimes came in dead straight and led to a lot of home runs on his ledger. Through three innings however, he dominated the Raccoons, allowing one soft single and whiffed five. The lone single was Sharp’s, on his 24th birthday. Sharp would have another big moment later in the game, when he struck out to end the sixth inning (repeating a scene from the fourth), and slammed down his bat before turning around to bitch at the umpire. After that he got to blow out the candles on the cake alone in the clubhouse while his teammates continued to play and Manny Gabriel replaced the ejected Danny Sharp at third base. At that point, however, fortunes were actually looking good: Miranda had yet to explode, and in the top 4th, Neil Reece had singled before Palacios had gotten one of those dead straight pitches and hadn’t missed it, and so the Coons were up 2-0. But the Stars would take a chunk out of Miranda in the bottom 6th, with Mac Woods extending a hitting streak to 16 games with an RBI double to half the Coons’ advantage. The run was actually unearned after a passed ball on Thomas. Both starters went eight frames, with Spurrell striking out ten to Miranda’s six, but he also allowed another run in the eighth, driven in with two outs by Palacios, 3-1. Spurrell clearly was done in the ninth, evident in him plunking Gabriel and allowing a double to Jason Kent with no outs. Old friend Gabby De La Rosa came out to clean up the mess, and he had struck out 30 and walked just two in 23.2 innings this year! Thomas still brought one run home with a groundout, but we couldn’t touch Gabby for anything else. While I was longing to put Dan Nordahl into the closer’s role, he had had a long outing on Sunday, and I was preferring to go with Miller with a 3-run lead – which probably was a mistake because his third pitch struck leadoff man Robinson Perez square into the forearm. With a man on, Rivera flew to deep left, but Cavazos, after tearing an arm and a leg, managed to catch it, and Moromao Hino was only retired on a launching all-out play by Guerin. Reece also got to stretch his legs on an Alfredo Ortíz fly to deep center before this game was in the books. 4-1 Furballs. Guerin 2-5; Palacios 3-4, HR, 3 RBI; Miranda 8.0 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 6 K, W (2-7);

Palacios‘ 15th homer ties him with Cincy’s Will Bailey for second-most overall in the ABL. Far and away is Mac Woods with 22. And we will have to survive another game against him.

Robinson Perez got away with a bad bruise on his arm and would be out for only a few days. When will Miller kill one?

Game 3
POR: SS Guerin – RF Cavazos – CF Reece – 2B Palacios – 1B Martin – 3B Sharp – LF Parker – C Fifield – P M. Lopez
DAL: SS K. Sato – 2B S. Mendez – 1B M. Woods – C James – RF Hino – CF F. Rivera – LF Tracy – 3B K. Davidson – P J. Collins

The first inning took a while to conclude, as both teams started to bludgeon the opposing pitcher right away. For the Coons, Guerin singled, stole second, and was plated by Reece, before we got a few more singles, and eventually Sharp and Lopez both drove in pairs of runners for five runs total. All would have been well if not Lopez had – after a K to Kunimatsu Sato at the top of the inning – loaded the bases and had also been battered for three runs. After a peaceful second, Albert Martin rocketed a home run outta here in the third, giving Lopez a 6-3 lead. In the bottom 4th, a leadoff error by Sharp got Lopez into trouble (although he contributed enough to the mess himself), and the Stars loaded the bases. They would score on a passed ball on Gary Fifield, but Hino eventually flew out to Parker to end the inning. Collins had pitched through four, but was pinch-hit for in that inning, bringing out southpaw Rafael Negrón in the top 5th. He did everything but surrender left-handers: Palacios singled to get things moving. Martin walked before Sharp (so, the first righty) grounded out. Parker came up and hit a monstrous home run to get Lopez back into a 5-run lead, 9-4. And despite all this offense, Lopez couldn’t complete the fifth. Three hits and a run later, with two down, he got himself yanked from the game with Mac Woods, representing the tying run, eagerly hacking in the on-deck circle. Salvador Mendez singled off Manuel Martinez to plate a run, which did bring up Woods, who ran a full count and then grounded out to Guerin. 9-6, and breathing heavily, with four innings still left. Martinez put a man on in the bottom 6th, and then the useless Diaz appeared. He walked Rivera, and Tracy hit an RBI double, putting the tying runs in scoring position with one out. Scott Wade was brought into the game in vain hope of him containing the storm, which he did just barely after a Davidson sac fly and the following pinch-hit groundout by Ortíz (that Guerin almost lobbed over Martin at first). That brought the score to 9-8. You gotta love the Uttercoons’ pitching… With Sharp and Parker on and no outs in the top 7th, I came up with the wicked plan to have Fifield bunt them over and Wade driving them in, but Fifield bunted into a double play instead. Wade didn’t manage a hit, either, and in the bottom 7th it was Parker throwing out Woods at the plate on a 2-out double by Rob James that upheld the brittle 9-8 lead. Nobody reached base in the eighth, and Nordahl got ready to appear in the ninth, while I was hoping for some bolstering of this lead, but while Palacios got on to start the ninth, he was also thrown out stealing. No cushion for Nordahl, and Karl Davidson hit a double on his very first pitch. Reliever Hipólito Sendím bunted him to third, before Nordahl walked Sato. Mendez fouled out in a full count, bringing up Mac Woods. Walking him intentionally was tempting with the – for the Stars – winning runs on base anyway. That way Nordahl could pitch to a much less dangerous (MUCH LESS DANGEROUS) Rob James, but Nordahl had also gone to three balls on the last two guys (and to four on one). Nah, he had to get Woods, and he didn’t, as Woods ran the count full, and then walked anyway. So, .238 Rob James with two down and the sacks stacked, that count ran full as well, and he walked him. That prompted a change, as Marcos Bruno came in relieve our apparently-not-closer. He threw four balls to Hino. 10-9 Stars. Guerin 2-5; Palacios 3-5; Martin 2-4, HR, RBI; Sharp 2-3, 2 BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Parker 2-4, BB, HR, 3 RBI; Wade 2.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K;

-.-

In other news

June 11 – Milwaukee’s Bakile Hiwalani is held dry by the Buffaloes in the Loggers’ 3-1 win on Monday, ending a 21-game hitting streak.
June 13 – The Titans suffer a terrible blow as SP Sergio Gonzalez (9-0, 1.88 ERA) goes down with shoulder inflammation and is not expected to pitch again this year.
June 13 – LVA LF/RF Lou Jenkins (.283, 8 HR, 40 RBI) is also out for the year with a broken elbow.

Complaints and stuff

Randy Farley is still listed DTD with a mild calf strain and we are not sure whether he can make his scheduled Saturday start. However, with an off day on Thursday, we might be able to move Ford up to Saturday to gain an extra day with him.

Nothing dramatic has happened these three days.

[Westheim]

Same old madness in Coon City: this week we had another meeting regarding the franchise fielding one of those anthropomorphized mascots before and during games. You know, stick some loser in some old grey rug vaguely resembling a raccoon and have him hand out baseballs to kids to make them shut up. We’ve been talking about this for a long time, several months. My PR advisor, an emotionally frigid but highly professional woman named Maud, who’s in her late 40s and – I suspect – has never been touched by a male living being in her life … wants the mascot to be colored brown, like the raccoon in our logo, but I have this stupid grey rug lying around because who gives a ****??

Nothing against Maud, by the way, she has a lot on her hands, trying to keep by Jack Daniels and barbiturate levels just right so I don’t bring my pump action shotgun to press conferences and blast the always-charming Agitator’s beat reporter’s head right off.

In the Agitator’s case, “beat reporter” *literally* means beating up in print the people you are interviewing, by the way.

So, yeah, the mascot. It’s been supposed to be there last year, since the Spots Illuminated ran a report on the five best mascots in the ABL, and of course the Raccoons didn’t even have one and again were only mentioned in the mid-pages, Sports Tragedies section. SI named the Salem Wolves’ mascot the best in the ABL, a light blue / light grey wolf with a giant nose and ears and an almost obnoxious permanent grin, with a pink tongue sticking out between the fangs. They do that baseballs-for-the-kids ****, too.

Of course, Oregon is Oregon, and – if you come from somewhere else, like California, where there’s lots of people – Oregon is small, like one of those charming little towns on side roads in New England, in which everybody knows everybody else. Coming in second in Oregon almost certainly means coming in last, and we don’t want to come in last. Not again!

So we’re on the mascot, but we can’t agree on the color, while we actually do have hired somebody to wear the costume and we’ve been paying him (slavishly, I admit) for the last eight months. His name is Chad, he is 20 and mildly - … I don’t want to say ******ed, but he’s dropped out of community college after he spent all his days and nights sniffing glue and god-knows-what-else. He’s easily distracted by the simplest of things. Like colors. Or kittens. A runt-of-the-litter baseball team offering him the lowest of pathetic jobs – way, WAY below someone who clears clogged up sewers, for example – is probably the only chance he’ll get in life to earn his own bread. Who says the Raccoons aren’t charitable?

Slappy, the janitor, also tried to get his wife’s brother the mascot job, but the brother bailed out when he learned that they were talking about the Portland Raccoons, the major league baseball team, and NOT – as he, hard of hearing, had at first assumed – the Portland Baboons, a team in a recreational, mixed-gender Sunday softball league. He only wanted to work for a cool team.

I vaguely remember Maud wrestling the shotgun from me when I learned of his reply. But I was dazed by the whisky and he drugs and I can’t really tell anymore.

Anyway! So, the mascot thing. Chad was the only guy we could get other than some mid-50s guy named Bob who had just been released from jail for - … I think it was indecent exposure, and Maud didn’t want him around kids. Chad, constantly high on fumes, didn’t mind working for a run-down franchise and making a total donkey of himself between innings. He didn’t mind a lot of things…

Which can’t be said of the personnel we have, donning the actual uniforms, some of which are bitching and moaning about the team’s un-success again, and everybody’s blaming everybody else. Hey, I know it’s the fifth consecutive losing season, despite all the drinking and pills I can still count that far.

Merely Neil Reece is happily going along. He basically has his retirement contract signed, and has recently started selling his body for TV advertisement. It’s less dodgy than it sounds. Well, actually … For the last two weeks he’s appeared in nationwide commercials for a brand new salty, buttery spread with a strong radish flavor. I have to admire Neil, I mean, he’s running around the outfield and jumping into the fences 150 games a year, and for the commercial he actually managed to shoulder a bat, said some nonsense crap like “This makes every breakfast a home run!” without wetting his own pants in mad laughter, and THEN to bite off a slice of bread, profoundly soiled with a thick layer of salty radish spread, and smile into the camera for three seconds without crying and / or vomiting.

They originally wanted Daniel Sharp, who despite playing for a team with the image of a third-rate orphanage in Zimbabwe has some cool vibe with teens and young adults (Maud said that, I don’t give a dime about what teens think), but simply the smell of the evil pseudo-food made him run. But not Neil! Such a strong man! We need more of him!

And Chad, stop sniffing the empty toner container.

[Westheim]

Why are we not progressing anymore here? Because I can't make up my mind. I have suffered a case of massive brainlock (pending whether there is actually anything there to lock).

Blow two million (that we don't have) on a 17-year old pitcher that looks juicy on the outside, but yet is projected to be a reliever? And yes, the Knights have the first pick.

I ... I just ... I just can't ... can't ... I ...

[Orcin]

I would be more concerned about the work ethic than anything else. He has the stamina to be a starter, but he really only has one pitch now. He might have to work hard to develop two more of the three possibilities. And it doesn't sound like you can count on hard work from him.

[Trebro]

I have an allergic reaction to drafting anyone with a bad work ethic that high.

[Griever20]

He should end up as a starter if he reaches bis potential yeah, but with money being a concern as well as his work ethic...

Another thing, I'm usual a bit hesitent to draft a 17 year old pitcher high who has a normal injury history... because there will be 3-4 years of minor league ball including injuries infront of him, so he may get a fragile tag if you are unlucky.

[Westheim]

2001 AMATEUR DRAFT

As detailed before, the 2001 draft class was short on starting pitchers, left-side infielders, and centerfielders, while containing a wealth of average first basemen.

Barney or not Barney (Manning)? That was the main question as we closed in on the June 15 draft. Vince Guerra was certainly convinced by his potential, but had dug around a bit and had turned up a few things about Manning, that 17-year old southpaw starter. He reportedly had the most terrible grades in high school, topping out at a C minus in shop class. His life consisted of video games and some baseball. Vince recommended to carefully pick here. The ability was there, it was big, but the laziness was bigger.

What other options were there? I was keen on relief pitcher Cody Bryant, and we had a history of picking great whenever we went to relief pitchers in the first round (Grant “Hall of Fame” West, anyone? And there’s more). Then there were a few fielders in 1B Stanley Murphy, 1B/2B Francisco Soto, and LF/RF/1B Chris Beairsto. Vince tended to give the nod to Beairsto, the French-Canadian, who was 22. We had made an expensive first round pick with Daniel Sharp last year, drafting basically major league ready talent and said talent was batting around .300 this year – you can certainly do worse.

Beairsto was also rather flexible in where you could put him, never mind that we think we have solid talent at all three of his positions.

And whom would the Knights pick with the first overall selection?

They selected 1B/2B Doug Henry, who had been seventh on our list of infielders, a 17-year old switch hitter with a pale face.

Here come the Coons! Beairsto? Manning? Soto? Vince knew best, probably?

2001 Portland Raccoons Draft Class
Round 1 (#2) – LF/RF/1B Chris Beairsto, 22, from Edmonton, Canada – compactly built corner outfielder, not very adept defensively, but gifted with an exceptional eye and both contact and power abilities, although he would sometimes hack, trying to do too much; high potential to become an impact player within the next 15 months
Round 2 (#66) – MR Cody Bryant, 19, from Los Angeles, CA – right-hander with a nasty slider and a sinking fastball inducing tons of groundballs, this kid has to work on his control, and everything else should fall into place easily
Round 3 (#90) – 2B Cedric Chateau, 22, from Toronto, Canada – good contact bat, but mostly for slap singles, yet he has a good OBP playing for Rutgers, and he is quite adept as a second baseman. His weak arm limits him to the right side of the diamond
Round 4 (#114) – MR Stu Sharp, 18, from Palmetto, FL – fastball tops out at 90mph for this righty, but the swooping curve is something to marvel at; has just started throwing a changeup and it seems like he will need it to get to the Bigs
Round 5 (#138) – SP Tim Webster, 21, from Memphis, TN – marginal southpaw working hard on four messy pitches; if he makes it, he’ll have to master control since he also tops out at 90-91 mph.
Round 6 (#162) – RF/LF Jose Cruz, 19, from Scottsdale, AZ – not very agile, not very powerful, despite a big build, but he knows how to put the ball in play
Round 7 (#186) – MR Luis Beltran, 21, from Houston, TX – southpaw with a slider, prone to home runs
Round 8 (#210) – SS Rafael Galindo, 18, from Santiago, Dom. Rep. – slick little shortstop with a very thin frame; can steal bases, but doesn’t hit for a lot
Round 9 (#234) – SP Marc Cunningham, 17, from Fontana, CA – slowball pitcher with a 86mph fastball that doesn’t even hit the strike zone
Round 10 (#258) – C Ramón Ramos, 20, from Guacara, Venezuela – no positive abilities to speak of
Round 11 (#282) – 1B Gilberto Hernandez, 21, from Maracaibo, Venezuela – all the power he has is more than mitigated by his terrible approach at the plate; if he hits a ball, then it’s by accident
Round 12 (#306) – SP Albert Pujols, 20, from Comendador, Dom. Rep. – throws balls with his left arm, strikes with none of his arms, has a 6.16 ERA for Oregon State, and c’mon, Albert Pujols!?

We assigned our two Canadians to the AA team, and the rest of the pack to the A level.

Manning went fourth overall to the Miners, Soto seventh overall to the Aces, and Murphy eighth to the Pacifics.

Undrafted went the son of former Falcons reliever Lorenzo Ángel, Lorenzo Ángel jr., who at age 18 had no abilities whatsoever, but demanded a $750k signing bonus.

180th overall and to the Blue Sox went – to my great annoyance – a fabulously named first baseman, the potentially fear-inducing … wait for it … Cletus Wamboldt.

[Orcin]

Originally Posted by Westheim

Manning went fourth overall to the Miners.

Please give us an update on his progress in a few years.