Portland Raccoons (ABL)

[pgjocki]

Unfortunately I believe Reese needs to go and come back as a coach if he is just going to sit on the bench.

You need some money to react to injuries so tell him thanks and retire his number.

[Westheim]

Odd note #1: Remember Chris Parker, who never could get the bat into any meaningful swing as a Furball? He batted .300+ for the Pacifics both of the last two years.

Odd note #2: Upcoming free agents include Boston SP’s Jorge Chapa and Fernando Garza, career home run leader Raúl Vázquez, ancient Dale Wales and his 3,552 career hits (30 off career leader Jeffery Brown), and ex-Coons Gabby De La Rosa, Tony Vela, Albert Matthews, David Brewer, Ben O’Morrissey, Tzu-jao Ban, Stephen Buell, Chris Parker, and a truck load more.

Salary arbitration went terribly wrong. Dan Nordahl, Manuel Martinez, and Ricardo Huerta were all offered $290k. They received in that order $335k, $366k, and $375k.

Mark Thomas ($280k) and Freddy Rosa ($230k) received our offers. Gary Fifield did not get an offer, as did the four free agents including Neil Reece. In the end Neil Reece is simply washed up. This ravaged body won’t go any further. He’s plainly and simply done, and the Raccoons can not afford to carry a player that is plainly and simply done on the roster.

Now we can go and try to find out which of our more or less reliable, but now hideously overpriced right-handed relievers we want to trade for a replacement right-handed outfielder.

Offseason proper hasn’t even begun and we are already about done with spending out budget. The $400k or so we have left won’t even buy counseling for me over the next 12 months.

It may be the baseball gods’ grander plan, though. They want to suck all the fun out of managing the Raccoons so that I give up and end up packing bags at Wallbert’s.

Well they DID achieve the fun thing…

[Westheim]

An off season of doing nothing was ahead of us. With less than $500k available you can only really do nothing.

Maybe try to trade the scum that has accumulated over the years for not-quite-meaningless prospects, but overall, well, you can only really do nothing.

Well, maybe we can line something up.

Nobody wants Mark Thomas.

Nobody wants Dan Nordahl.

Nobody wants Manuel Martinez unless he can unload total scum.

Maybe even rebuilding is not possible. The main problem here is that Thomas has been **** since time immemorial, and right-handed relievers are not an all too valuable commodity. He who wants prospects might want to dig deeper and trade actual contributing players.

Yet nobody wants Clyde Brady.

And nobody wants Eddie Torrez.

And only the Stars want Conceicao Guerin, but only if they can get rid of a 26-year old outfielder who hit over .730 OPS for the first time last year, and immediately got a big check in arbitration.

Funny thing is that rebuilding is not even possible without trading away the few pieces that keep this from being a 100-losses team next year. All our minor league teams finished 59-81 or worse last season. We don’t have crap in the system. Some right-handed relievers. **** them. We can well see how much value they have.

However, nobody wants Chris Beairsto.

And nobody wants Ricardo Huerta.

And nobody wants Albert Martin.

...

November 21 – The Crusaders acquire 1B Luis Soto (.278, 40 HR, 355 RBI), age 29, from the Thunder in exchange for OF Jorge Gonzales (.251, 48 HR, 226 RBI).
November 26 – 30-year old SP Jorge Chapa (137-82, 3.13 ERA) blows the doors off the Boston Bank, signing with the Titans for a new record contract of $22.68M over seven years.
November 27 – Ex-SFB SP Takeru Sato (102-92, 4.00 ERA) inks a 2-yr, $3.28M contract with the Scorpions.
November 30 – Ex-SAL LF/RF Jesus Flores (.256, 73 HR, 413 RBI) signs a 7-yr, $12.04M contract with the Falcons.
December 1 – Rule 5 draft: 22 players are taken over 2 rounds. The Raccoons draft 26-yr old SS/2B Yoshi Yamada from the Wolves. The Raccoons lose MR Rémy Lucas to the Crusaders, MR Scott Boone to the Knights, and MR Aurelio Hernandez to the Rebels.
December 1 – Weather-hardened LF/RF Dale Wales (.317, 170 HR, 1,526 RBI) – at age 41! – signs a 1-yr, $2.08M contract with the Indians after spending the last two years in Denver. Wales needs 30 hits to dethrone career leader Jeffery Brown. The Indians also take on right-handed, 35-yr old Iván Lopez (81-61, 2.65 ERA, 170 SV) for a year and $740k, unsure whether to use him in the rotation or bullpen.
December 1 – Former Blue Sox closer Jose Escobar (30-40, 2.69 ERA, 260 SV) signs up with the Capitals for 3-yr, $3.68M.
December 3 – The Scorpions hook up with ex-SAL SP Dan Moriarty (99-98, 4.11 ERA) for 7-yr, $19.28M.
December 3 – Former WAS INF Jose Lopez (.265, 157 HR, 694 RBI) inks with the Gold Sox for 6-yr, $10.72M.
December 4 – Cincy snaps up ex-LVA CL Ian Johnson (22-26, 2.84 ERA, 75 SV). The 25-year old southpaw will earn $3.9M over three years.
December 5 – The Wolves also lose their closer Javier “Baby Bull” Navarro (70-70, 2.51 ERA, 399 SV). The 35-year old righty signs a 3-yr, $3.36M deal with the Rebels.
December 7 – Career home run leader LF/RF Raúl Vázquez (.306, 411 HR, 1,506 RBI) returns to the Continental League and signs with the Bayhawks for 2-yr, $4.48M. Vázquez is 38 and probably won’t have 500 in him.
December 7 – Ex-SAC LF/RF Aaron Jenkins (.298, 179 HR, 1,249 RBI) signs a 2-yr, $4.88M deal with the Gold Sox at age 36.
December 8 – The Wolves land ex-WAS SP Steve Rogers (130-112, 3.69 ERA) for 5-yr, $9.6M.
December 9 – 38-year old 1B/C Arturo Aguilar (.258, 141 HR, 869 RBI) returns to the Capitals, where he was part of the early-90s dynasty, in a trade with the Loggers, who receive 26-yr old MR Tim Poe (14-12, 4.03 ERA, 4 SV) and #60 prospect CL Enrique Mesa.
December 12 – Ex-DAL Gabriel De La Rosa (45-51, 2.40 ERA, 209 SV) returns to the CL North by signing a 2-yr, $1.42M contract with the Titans.

A mediocre pitcher like Dan Moriarty will make more in seven years than the Raccoons’ entire budget for next season will encompass. We are that deep down.

What else? Gary Fifield got a $188k deal from the Capitals. Good for him. My scalp ain’t worth as much.

Next year’s team will have Double-Yoshis. And probably not much else. A franchise, broken beyond repair.

Embrace oblivion.

I should talk to Maud about putting that on caps and T-shirts.

[Orcin]

You are caught in the downward spiral of budget cuts, performance declines, attendance declines, profit declines, budget cut, etc. The only way out is to increase profit, thereby encouraging your skinflint owner to gradually increase the budget. Boosting fan interest is the quickest way to more revenue, but that will take winning along with acquiring and keeping popular players. You know how to reduce expense, but you would have to find a partner for the salary dump. The best you can do here is to replace anyone making more than the minimum with someone making the minimum, but that gets in the way of winning and keeping popular players.

I am not helping much, am I? This is still a great read though.

[Westheim]

The Scorpions offered Julio Mata to us. He had a total of 122 AB for them over the last three seasons, mostly being dumped to AAA. AA even in 2003. They want Manuel Martinez and AA OF Desidério Chamissa.

Yeah, sure. Do I look that ******ed?

I was after a few Top 50 prospects, but neither the Capitals nor the Aces were willing to let their about-to-ripen fruits go. With the Capitals it was also a money issue. They had massive budget room, yet had seemingly offered a contract to every free agent out there, and Wally Gaston.

No progress as the calendar hits 2005. And with no progress I mean NO PROGRESS.

December 19 – 33-year old SP Jason O’Halloran (184-104, 3.26 ERA), who has won 20 games in five of the last six seasons, signs a 4-yr, $11.84M extension with the Titans.
December 20 – The Falcons land ex-CIN SP Lewis Donaldson (113-123, 4.44 ERA) on a 2-yr, $4.72M contract. Mediocrity never paid so well.
December 24 – Ex-MIL OF Cristo Ramirez (.330, 67 HR, 1,107 RBI) signs a 2-yr, $1.22M contract with the Pacifics.
December 27 – The Stars give a 3-yr, $3.02M contract to 28-yr old ex-DEN INF Armando Rodriguez (.287, 26 HR, 272 RBI).
December 28 – Next signing for the Stars: ex-SFB SP Manuel Hernandez (82-97, 4.59 ERA) for 3-yr, $5.4M.

---

I actually drove home from work to have lunch here, and a poor lunch on top of that, just to get any trade done.

Any trade would have sufficed. SOME move to change ANYTHING.

Failed.

Back to work.

[Westheim]

The Hall of Fame voting results were announced on January 4. The Hall’s population remained a crisp ten, as nobody was elected to the Hall, and in fact nobody has been inducted since Leland Lewis in 2001, although several players, including one we know quite well, were pretty close!

Top 10 vote getters (year on the ballot*):
SP Craig Hansen – 74.3% (1st)
SP Kisho Saito – 73.3% (1st)
SP Carlos Asquabal – 65.7% (2nd)
C Gabriel Rivera – 62.4% (2nd)
CL Jim Durden – 55.4% (2nd)
CL Domingo Rivera – 51.2% (2nd)
SS Paul Connolly – 39.9% (1st)
OF Yoshinobu Ishizaki – 38.0% (2nd)
INF Pedro Villa – 32.3% (1st)
1B/2B Jeremiah Carrell – 31.7% (2nd)

Carrying forward on the ballot is another ex-Coon in Mark Dawson (21.8%, 2nd), infamous coonsnubber Bill Smith (6.6%, 1st), 1983 World Series coonskinner Kiyohira Sasaki (19.5%, 2nd), and a few other guys like David Burke (most career shutouts), Eddy Bailey (Elk in the late 80s), and Robbie Campbell (likewise).

18 of 42 players dropped off the ballot, including ex-Coons Mike Dye, Jack Pennington, Mark “Icon” Allen, Armando Sanchez, Alex White (RAAAHH!!!), as well as Archie Dye, Clement Clark (both part of the early 90s Capitals dynasty), Judd Montgomery (who was also almost a Coon), and Bob “Butcher” Haines, who in 1984 pitched a no-hitter in a spot start.

Next year’s newcomers on the ballot include a surefire first-ballot Hall of Famer for sure, however, in (still) career hits leader Jeffery Brown. The following year, two former Furballs will be eligible in Jason Turner and Scott Wade, but in all honesty neither of them is a true Hall of Famer…



January 2 – The Rebels sign 38-yr old ex-ATL SP John Woodard (129-172, 4.44 ERA) to a 2-yr, $2.92M deal.
January 7 – The Canadiens trade 26-yr old SP Harry Wentz (11-15, 5.46 ERA) to the Capitals for two third-rate AA prospects.
January 13 – And for everybody else in the CL North it keeps getting worse: the Titans sign ex-SAL INF Kurt Metting (.263, 62 HR, 435 RBI) to a 3-yr, $2.97M deal.
January 13 – Former Thunder SP Fabien Armand (102-72, 3.41 ERA) goes west and signs a 4-yr, $6.84M deal with the Gold Sox.
January 14 – 32-yr old 1B/2B Dave Heffer (.289, 47 HR, 681 RBI) returns to Sioux Falls after a year in Charlotte. He will get $850k for a 1-year deal.
January 15 – Ex-BOS SP Francisco Garza (115-129, 4.09 ERA) signs a 2-yr, $3.6M contract with the Thunder.
January 18 – The Raccoons and Titans agree on a deal that sends 26-yr old MR Manuel Martinez (9-9, 3.53 ERA, 6 SV), 27-yr old C Freddy Rosa (.214, 16 HR, 65 RBI), and 28-yr old C Mark Thomas (.240, 11 HR, 90 RBI) to the Titans, while the Raccoons receive 28-yr old OF Christian Greenman (.244, 77 HR, 226 RBI) and 20-year old A-level shortstop Ryan Miller.
January 22 – Ex-CIN CL Lorenzo Flores (52-57, 2.68 ERA, 278 SV) signs a 3-yr, $4.5M contract with the Stars.
January 22 – Former Thunder SP Dave Crawford (81-93, 3.96 ERA) hooks up with the Warriors for 4-yr, $3.64M.
January 28 – The Warriors also go on and add ex-SAL SP Alfredo Rios (56-85, 4.43 ERA) for $2.4M over three years.
January 29 – The Raccoons sign 29-yr old C/1B Curt Cooks (.277, 9 HR, 62 RBI) to a 1-yr, $200k contract. Cooks last played with the Pacifics in the majors, from 2002 to 2003.



Greenman has been an almost-Coon for over half a year. A trade *somewhere* along those lines was in the talks in July already, and then later in August, but a waiver trade fell through. We offered Thomas and Martinez, and then they specifically asked for – among others – Rosa, whom I’d happily part with. We currently have no catcher on the roster, but we have Bob Wood waiting to be used. He got 17 AB last season already. He’s 24, and an excellent defensive catcher, but he also is a lock in the #8 slot. And he makes the minimum! We will stop flinging money at catchers that don’t deserve it! We have had nothing but disappointments behind the dish since David Vinson’s third season in the majors, and nothing is expected from Bob Wood in the first place, so there won’t be a disappointment anymore.

And we can go with Wood and whomever scrub we can find as backup, because we have already forfeited all hope of a winning record next season anyway.

While Greenman is a credible batter (that will doubtlessly turn into a lifeless .215 lump in Portland), Miller is the prize in here. He was the #73 prospect in 2003, before being downgraded after a bad first full season in professional ball last year, to #198. Vince thinks he’s worth his weight in gold. Too bad he’s only 5’9’’ and 180 lbs. Miller is a sparkling defensive centerfielder with a knack of getting on base, stealing bases, and he also has a bit of pop. We don’t want to label him as future Hall of Famer just yet, but I think he might make All Star teams regularly in a few years. We will take it slow, though, and start him at AA next year.

The major drawback is Greenman’s luxurious $1.12M contract he received in arbitration, which makes him the #2 earner on the roster behind fellow outfielder Clyde Brady ($1.2M). You can expect those to start on the corners, with Torrez in the middle, by the way, unless more trades happen (and I will try). Next in line are starting pitchers Randy Farley ($1M), Nick Brown, Ralph Ford, and then Albert Martin, who all make $900k. Concie makes 800 grand, and then comes Sharpie with 500 grand.

The Cooks signing is not owed to his abilities (his .277 average comes from 573 AB since 1998), but rather to us having allowed a number of minor league catchers to walk as well. We have an interesting catching prospect in Erik Ruff, our 2004 first rounder, who batted .281/.412/.455 in 72 games for Aumsville and will be promoted to AA Ham Lake to start the season, but he’s at the very least two years away from the majors. Even with Cooks aboard, we don’t even have injury depth anywhere in the system.

*As this is the second offseason in OOTP16, a flock of long-retired players reappeared on the ballots and hung on last year, and nobody has been on more than twice. It will sort itself out in eight years at the most. Eight years, or in Northwestern terms: the minimum time between winning seasons for the Raccoons.

Cringeworthy note: OOTP changed the schedule on its own, going to 20 or 21 games against division rivals, and 7 games against opponents in the other division. Do I REALLY need to watch out for every piece of dirt every five seconds?

[xepicx2729]

yay for Saito. is it possible for you to impeach your owner? the cheapskate needs to understand that he sucks at his job.

[Westheim]

No elongated recap on the thought process during the last two months. The thought process basically was to try to unload salary and get some things in order, and restock the farm, and to make it bluntly short, OOTP told me to **** off.

February 1 – Former Wolf SP Ricardo Sanchez (194-120, 3.47 ERA) joins the Indians. The 34-year old veteran will earn $3.06M over three years.
February 1 – The Warriors continue to gobble up starting pitchers, signing ex-LVA SP Manuel Alba (81-116, 3.95 ERA) to a 4-yr, $4M deal.
February 24 – Perpetually bouncing SP Seiichi Sugiyama (83-83, 4.36 ERA) joins the Capitals on a 1-yr, $466k contract.
February 25 – 36-yr old ex-POR INF Marvin Ingall (.277, 58 HR, 478 RBI) signs a 1-yr, $242k deal with the Pacifics.
March 5 – The Raccoons trade AAA SP Carlos Sackett (13-6, 4.67 ERA, 1 SV) back to the Wolves for 26-yr old OF Edgardo Fernandez (.285, 7 HR, 107 RBI) and 23-yr old AA SP/MR Tim Bell.

It’s the middle of March. But does it matter what month it is when you are continuously dragging yourself from defeat to defeat to humiliation to yet another defeat?

---

I hate OOTP 16. There, I said it.

I have not changed any parameters whatsoever, yet it has become completely impossible to trade for prospects to even get started rebuilding (and it was more or less the same last offseason, when we also made only managed two trades, and one of them merely was the swapping of scum). It’s impossible. Nobody will trade their prospects. More precisely, nobody will trade anybody. I have shopped Conceicao Guerin, Clyde Brady, and Eddie Torrez incessantly in intervals during the entire offseason. There have been NO offers for ANY of them. Not ONE. Also, Ford, Farley, Garcia are all rated with three stars current. It is impossible to flick them over for even a 2-star potential semi-prospect. I have spent more time than I would admit to anybody outside this board trying to acquire OF Elvis Wood from the Capitals. Nope. I can't have him, unless I bundle up Nick Brown and Ryan Miller. And Wood isn't even a prospect, he is 24 and in the Bigs, and rated 2 1/2 current, 3 potential stars.

Still, the most outrageous is the prospects.

There aren’t any prospects in the first place. Everybody’s rated with one star. Or less. Some teams can’t even muster a handful of players with more than one star potential in their minor league system. And the prospects that are there, are impossible to acquire. It took an arm and a leg and many hours to cut Ryan Miller loose from the Titans. I used to go through an offseason in about four hours at times. I spent about four hours this time to find and acquire a single prospect, and the AI completely fudged up that trade. The Titans were offered Martinez and Thomas, the latter of whom they don’t even need, as they already have a terrific catcher in Luis Lopez, a capable backup in Corey Bader, and had merely days earlier signed another backup in Ricardo Rivera, and now they are biting when Thomas is shopped, THEN ASK FOR ROSA, TOO! They now have five catchers on their offseason expanded roster! So, on one hand, you can’t get anything done with the best of your intentions, and the only thing you can get done is a complete rip-off of the AI. The Titans will survive this, and don’t need me to be apologetic and feel sorry for them, but this is a frustrating and almost completely fruitless endeavor.

At the same time, there are hardly any qualifying free agents anymore (old rules), and you can’t even get a stinking compensation pick for Marvin Ingall anymore.

All the while your scouting director keeps filling the international complex with two-legged dog poo with a contact potential of 2, more of the useless human junk that composes the entirety of the draft pool.

Next thing I hate about 16: the AI DL’s minor leaguers automatically, and I have no clue anymore what’s going on. I can’t even find a setting for it. It just does what it wants to do and gives me the finger. Lovely. An assembly of stubborn AI and obtuse menus – wonderful. Next dynasty I start will be in 12 again.

[Griever20]

As for trading, I know what you are talking about and its a bit frustrating. I used to shop players around to see what kind of prospects I get, and the truth is that somehow, you only get players offered who make money... I tend to tailor a deal with the team that offers me the best MLB player... but even that is kinda stupid.

I think that started... last year?... when they wanted to fix the trade AI because rebuilding teams could be exploited too easy(like getting Jurickson Profar from the Rangers for some junk), as well as Win Now! teams prospect wise. Problem is, now you a.) can not easily who make money and aren't at least 4.5*, and b.) if you do, it takes you a ton of time to manually manufacture a trade. In your case, you also play in a league with 24 teams(instead of 30), which limits your trade options even more

That being said, I started to use this green/yellow/red information on the bottom more and more, and I found out that actually submitting a deal where they thing its close reveals some players that they don't name right away.

Something I exploit alot, and I'm not ashamed about is the fact that some teams, that have more starters than needed, but them in the pen as RP... and you can easily trade for them, change position to starter... and they double their trade value... so I basically trade for a RP, turn them into a SP and get back a way better package...



As for your problem with the minors DL thingy, go to your manager menu(the button on the top with the house), and select Team Control Settings. On the left, there should be a list of things that can get automized, like minor league demotions, roster management bla.... change that to your manager name and you should be fine... If not... I have no idea...

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by Griever20

As for your problem with the minors DL thingy, go to your manager menu(the button on the top with the house), and select Team Control Settings. On the left, there should be a list of things that can get automized, like minor league demotions, roster management bla.... change that to your manager name and you should be fine... If not... I have no idea...

Everything on that screen as switched to my control except the minor league lineups and depth charts, and I can’t be bothered with those. What do I pay managers for?? It seems that the minor league DL is included in that package, and that is a major design blunder.

I have now flicked on to get at least a notification when someone gets hurt in the minors.

---

I have gone back and checked my trade proposals I *received* this offseason through the end of the last update.

October 26 – Knights offer 26-yr old C Ricardo Valadez (who is decent) for Felipe Garcia and prospect Keegan Crabtree.
October 28 – Miners offer 28-yr old C Alfredo Ortíz (who is vastly overpaid and on the trade block) for Brad Sheehan and prospect Desidério Chamissa.
November 26 – Miners offer Ortíz again for Miguel Ramirez and prospect Santiago Trevino.
December 8 – Miners offer Ortíz again for Freddy Rosa and Trevino
December 8 – Loggers offer 31-yr old C Pedro Benitez (cheap but unproductive) for Rosa and Chamissa.
December 9 – Miners offer Ortíz again for Ramirez and Trevino.
December 10 – Miners offer Ortíz again for Ricardo Huerta and Chamissa. (this was where I told them to **** off)
December 11 – Canadiens offer 29-yr old C Pedro Hurtado (decent, but too expensive for being decent) for Rosa and Chamissa.
December 12 – Warriors offer 28-yr old C Germán Lugo (scum) for Felipe Garcia and Chamissa.
December 23 – Scorpions offer 29-yr old C Julio Mata (ha-hah!) for Manuel Martinez and Chamissa.
January 17 – Scorpions offer Mata again for Felipe Garcia and prospect Adam Riddle.
## We acquired Ryan Miller from the Titans on January 18 ##
January 19 – Knights offer Valadez again for Miguel Ramirez and prospect Ryan Miller
January 26 – Aces offer 33-yr old C Mike Olson (total scum) for Miguel Ramirez and Ryan Miller.
February 4 – Cyclones offer 35-yr old C Brian Mosley (wrecked) for Huerta and Ryan Miller.

This list is complete. 14 trade offers. All the same. Decent-at-best catcher, usually overpaid, for a major leaguer, and a good prospect.

EVERY SINGLE TRADE OFFER was that way.

Truth be told, in a better time I would have taken up the Knights on October 26, but that is a trade that a hopefully, perhaps competing team would wager to do. Garcia still figures as #5 starter, but could be replaced by Watanabe. That leaves no depth, especially after the Sackett trade (but that came later), but in this case, we know that we suck, that we will suck for much longer, and we have an in-house quick fix to the catcher issue in Bob Wood, who will make the minimum and hopefully not bother me too much.

But yeah, this is where the utter frustration comes from. Not the losing team. Not the no-hitter on the final weekend of the season, pitched by a total scum, no, it is this stubborn trade AI.

We did get an offer from the Warriors in late March who hoped to acquire Nick Brown and a pair of borderline semi-prospects for INF Jaime Mateo (who is really good!) and MR Nick Hartman, which was obviously a no-go trade, since Brownie is the only joy that remains on the roster.

---

To free up some more budget space to put into scouting and development (which I had previously cut some when we added Greenman, whom we don’t actually need all that much),

I had Vince list the prospects he would really like to have in the system, then went begging with other teams, and, two weeks before the start of the season, at least achieved *something*, *anything*.

We are ready to sell out (almost) completely. Brownie won’t go anywhere. When this ship goes down, I will embrace Brownie very tightly, while humming the title song from “Titanic”.

March 20 – The Raccoons deal 31-yr old SS Conceicao Guerin (.278, 16 HR, 352 RBI) to the Falcons for 21-yr old AAA RF Bob Mays, 22-yr old AA SP Gary Tucker, and 20-yr old A C Pedro Salas.
March 22 – The Miners trade 31-yr old workhorse SP Roy Floyd (66-67, 3.81 ERA) to the Buffaloes for 28-yr old 1B/3B Jerry Henry (.225, 18 HR, 121 RBI). Henry hit for the cycle against the Pacifics on May 22 of last year.
March 27 – The Raccoons shock their fan base with a trade of 31-yr old SP Randy Farley (77-78, 3.86 ERA) and 26-yr old MR Dan Nordahl (20-18, 4.14 ERA, 92 SV) to the Warriors in exchange for 22-yr old AAA 1B Adrian Quebell.

Quebell is our future first baseman. The future might come this year. He is basically like Al Martin, but will obviously be cheap, and he is a better defender.

For the Concie trade. He’s rated five stars, and you can’t find a better defensive shortstop, and he again fell one base short of the league title in steals last year, but his OBP has never reached that .356 level he put up in 1999. He is a terrific player, the nicest person you can find, but he will also be a free agent after 2005 and his contract demands are already known to be very, very high.

We drafted Yoshi Yamada from the Wolves in the rule 5 draft. He has turned 27 in January and has zero major league at-bats so far. He can defend, he can steal, he can even whack a ball (48 homers over three AAA seasons), but he’s almost blind at the plate, and it will be crowded in the #8 hole between him and Bob Wood.

Mays is a true prospect, with power, speed, and defense as his known tools, though unranked. He’s not quite as adept in the other two tools, batting for average, and bringing along donuts in the morning to please his manager. Tucker and Salas are scum to grab as much as we can.

It’s the best deal possible. Not a great one, but perhaps a decent one, since Concie would have run after this year anyway. That also means that Matt Higgins’ franchise stolen base record will be safe for another bunch of years.

What else? On March 24, Neil Reece packed up and moved to L.A. after signing a 1-yr, $272k contract with the Pacifics. Fan interest, already low, crashed completely. Maud also crashed through the coffee table upon getting the news and had to be treated for a few cuts and bruises. It’s okay, and nobody was going to marry her anyway. However, I understand her. What in hell do you want to use in marketing this team?

The Farley/Nordahl trade blows up the rotation. Fernando Piquero is slated to start the season in the rotation, although we have an offer out there to a proven veteran ™ to complete the set.

[xepicx2729]

Noooo Concie

[shipfb21]

I like the offseason moves. we need 2 tear this thing down completely n rebuild from the ground up with an emphasis on our player development. as a diehard coons fan, im willing to suck really bad for the next 2 or 3 seasons, until the younger players are ready 2 blossom. i think with some crafty moves, n if some prospects can develop accordingly, we can be a contender in 5 seasons... go coons.

[Westheim]

2005 PORTLAND RACCOONS – Opening Day Roster (first set shows 2004 numbers, second set overall; players with an * are off season acquisitions):

SP Nick Brown, 27, B:L, T:L (20-7, 2.84 ERA | 41-34, 3.15 ERA) – strikeout machine, setting a new single season K mark for the team with 240 in 2004 – and he set that mark for the third straight year; the prime source of joy in Portland these days, not bad for a pick from the next-to-last round.
SP Edgar Amador, 23, B:R, T:R (7-4, 3.42 ERA | 13-10, 3.70 ERA) – the “Fat Cat” is a serious groundball pitcher who is hard to homer off, and despite his gargantuan size he can field his own position; he did struggle with injuries last year, however, and at times also with his control.
SP Ralph Ford, 27, B:L, T:L (8-18, 4.26 ERA | 46-71, 4.09 ERA) – to say that he is struggling would be a wild understatement, and the stars refuse to align for him; once a promising young stud, now just another guy on a bottom-of-the-barrel team.
SP Felipe Garcia, 27, B:R, T:R (6-12, 4.67 ERA | 17-23, 4.39 ERA) – between injuries and frequent demotions, Garcia’s case for a rotation spot is wonky, but at least he still makes the minimum – thanks to the frequent demotions.
SP Ben Carlson *, 36, B:L, T:R (13-5, 3.69 ERA | 76-98, 4.26 ERA) – proven veteran signed on the morning of Opening Day, to stretch out the available personnel after the Randy Farley trade. Carlson is a flyball pitcher and has also issued 100+ walks three times in his career, while pitching as few as 185 innings.

MU Kazuhiko Kichida, 25, B:L, T:R (0-0, 3.72 ERA | 1-0, 6.75 ERA) – wins a bullpen job after the trade of Manuel Martinez; his previous record indicates trouble brewing even with mop-up duties.
MR Dave Williams, 30, B:L, T:L (2-1, 3.54 ERA, 1 SV | 7-3, 3.85 ERA, 1 SV) – another rule 5 pick that came out great for the Raccoons, Williams proved entirely capable of holding himself upright over 74 appearances for 48.1 innings, mostly in a specialist role, although he also pitched in extra innings a few times, with his longest outing being four innings.
MR Lawrence Rockburn, 24, B:R, T:R (1-2, 2.70 ERA | 1-2, 3.12 ERA) – after cameo appearances the last two seasons for a total of 26 innings, Rockburn has won a bullpen job out of the gate for 2005. He’s pretty much a run-of-the-mill right-handed reliever without any sparkling features.
MR Ricardo Huerta, 31, B:R, T:R (6-2, 3.30 ERA, 3 SV | 19-18, 3.80 ERA, 6 SV) – continues to impress with rock-solid relief work, pitching between 76 and 77 innings every one of the last three seasons. With the addition of Kichida for the dirty work, Huerta might get used in a more focused manner in 7th/8th inning assignments than before.
SU Marcos Bruno, 29, B:R, T:R (3-5, 3.09 ERA, 29 SV | 16-16, 3.59 ERA, 40 SV) – the next guy in a long parade of closers since Grant West’s retirement to not maintain a death grip on ninth inning leads, he is slotted back into a setup role with the emergence of Angel Casas after inheriting the job from Dan Nordahl early in 2004.
SU Domingo Moreno, 31, B:R, T:L (2-3, 3.33 ERA, 2 SV | 19-13, 2.97 ERA, 16 SV) – entirely steady and almost always reliable, Moreno has won a permanent setup assignment.
CL Angel Casas, 22, B:S, T:R (1-2, 2.70 ERA, 3 SV | 1-2, 2.70 ERA, 3 SV) – wins the closer’s job from Marcos Bruno after striking out 27 in 23.1 innings in his debut last year. Ever since Grant West left us in the dark, Casas might be our best bet to find the light again.

C Bob Wood, 24, B:R, T:R (.353, 0 HR, 1 RBI | .353, 0 HR, 1 RBI) – 17 AB in 2004, and 7 days of major league service for Wood, who is a magically adept defensive catcher, but might struggle to bat his own weight of 200 lbs.
1B/C Curt Cooks *, 30, B:R, T:R (did not appear | .277, 9 HR, 62 RBI) – signed as free agent and backup to Wood, to whom we are dedicated to be the new primary catcher; Cooks has no wonderful features to marvel about.

1B Albert Martin, 28, B:L, T:L (.271, 20 HR, 82 RBI | .283, 125 HR, 452 RBI) – the well fell dry for this slugger in 2004, as he was entirely unable to replicate three straight seasons of 26+ homers and 89+ RBI, with 30/110 outputs in 2002 and 2003; also can’t field a damn, and with the addition of prospect Adrian Quebell we suddenly have competition for his job.
1B/2B Ieyoshi Nomura, 21, B:L, T:R (.246, 1 HR, 11 RBI | .246, 1 HR, 11 RBI) – advertised for his high on-base ability, Nomura didn’t quite walk the opposition into the ground over 114 AB in 2004, but we still have hope; oddly while he has tripled and homered, he has not hit a double among his 28 major league hits.
SS/2B/3B Yoshi Yamada *, 27, B:L, T:R (rookie) – we fully intend to replace Conceicao Guerin with a 27-year old with no major league exposure; we do know however that Yamada can use his glove, and he also has speed, but will he ever get on base?
1B/3B Daniel Sharp, 27, B:R, T:R (.304, 5 HR, 55 RBI | .290, 29 HR, 215 RBI) – everyday third baseman, never mind the occasional stupid error, in the field or on the base paths; performs consistently without any major hot or cold streaks.
3B/SS/2B/RF/1B Miguel Ramirez, 26, B:R, T:R (.251, 12 HR, 49 RBI | .213, 27 HR, 104 RBI) – this butcher’s bat was at least marginally productive last season, batting for a .767 OPS over 291 AB. It’s still not enough to displace either of our corner infielders permanently, although playing him third and Sharp at first is a worthwhile alternative for extreme groundballer Amador.
2B/SS/3B/1B Brad Sheehan, 31, B:R, T:R (.245, 3 HR, 24 RBI | .226, 7 HR, 71 RBI) – wherever the hell he came from, somehow he stayed; plays all positions well, and is primarily a defensive backup.

LF/RF Clyde Brady, 28, B:L, T:L (.241, 14 HR, 55 RBI | .255, 78 HR, 360 RBI) – endured a year of patience including a half-season long slump and 60 days with no home runs whatsoever; when he’s not walking amongst the dead, he is actually a worthwhile player, but he’s gotta stretch to actually deserve being the highest-earning player on the team.
RF/CF/LF/1B Edgardo Torrez, 28, B:L, T:L (.297, 10 HR, 45 RBI | .278, 30 HR, 112 RBI) – this late bloomer has been held to 76 games by (hopefully not) crippling injuries in 2004; he combines most tools well under one hat, and one can only hope that he doesn’t get hurt again for more than half of the season.
RF/LF Christian Greenman *, 29, B:R, T:R (.251, 16 HR, 58 RBI | .244, 77 HR, 226 RBI) – second-biggest contract on the team after a trade with the Titans (mainly for prospect Ryan Miller) brought him in. Greenman can hold his own on the corners, and with more arm power moves to rightfield with Brady shifting to left, and while he hits for power primarily, he does not strike out an awful lot; however he hardly ever walks. And his GM hates him.
LF/CF/RF Edgardo Fernandez *, 26, B:S, T:R (.284, 5 HR, 51 RBI | .285, 7 HR, 107 RBI) – acquire in trade from the Wolves, Fernandez is the primary defensive backup to both corner outfielders, but you can see him start in place of either of them against same-handed pitchers, especially if they slump like Clyde Brady did extensively last summer.
LF/RF/CF Matt King, 27, B:R, T:R (.268, 0 HR, 7 RBI | .279, 1 HR, 66 RBI) – good defensive alternative, with a singles bat; held up quite well when Eddie Torrez was injured for a good chunk in 2004.

On disabled list: Nobody.

Otherwise unavailable: Nobody.

Other roster movement:
SP Fernando Piquero, 26, B:R, T:R (0-1, 4.91 ERA | 2-2, 4.02 ERA) – DFA after Ben Carlson signed on; if Carlson had not agreed to a deal, Piquero would have started the season as the #5 starter.
SP/MR Sergio Vega, 24, B:R, T:R (0-1, 3.38 ERA | 0-2, 5.44 ERA) – DFA because we can do much better.
LF/RF Chris Beairsto, 26, B:L, T:L (.217, 6 HR, 27 RBI | .214, 27 HR, 77 RBI) – DFA because he is an atrocious batter with 35% more strikeouts than hits.
Furthermore, MR Scott Boone and MR Rémy Lucas were returned by the Knights and Crusaders, respectively, after being taken in the rule 5 draft in December. Both were re-assigned to AAA St. Petersburg.

Opening day lineups:
Vs. RHP: CF Torrez – 2B Nomura – 3B Sharp – 1B Martin – LF Brady – RF Greenman – SS Yamada – C Wood – P Brown
Vs. LHP: 3B Sharp – 2B Nomura – CF Torrez – 1B Martin – RF Greenman – LF Brady – SS Sheehan – C Wood – P Brown

OFF SEASON CHANGES:

The Raccoons posted their franchise-worst eighth consecutive losing season at 78-84, and that after being 16 games over .500 on May 31. Since then Neil Reece is gone, Marvin Ingall is gone, Conceicao Guerin is gone, Randy Farley is gone, Dan Nordahl is gone. We mainly acquired prospects, some of which might be able to deliver this season (Quebell), and some of which are poised to leave a mark only further down the road (like Ryan Miller). The Raccoons thus shed WAR like crazy, and appeared in the bottom 5 of offseason WAR gains according to BNN.

Top 5: Stars (+12.3), Gold Sox (+12.2), Pacifics (+10.0), Warriors (+9.5), Crusaders (+5.4)
Bottom 5: Raccoons (-8.2), Canadiens (-8.3), Bayhawks (-9.2), Loggers (-9.4), Knights (-9.9)

PREDICTION TIME:

Last year we saw the team never being a factor and finish far out at 72-90. Well, they were never a factor, and finished far out, but that came only after two fabulous months of reaching for the Stars. Not that they were ever threatening the Titans.

This year, everything is lost as soon as they will have donned their unis for their first game in Vancouver. There is no hope. We are playing a completely unproven and potentially completely overwhelmed Double Yoshi middle infield, for crying out loud. We know our catcher won’t hit .200. Add two or three injuries and this thing gets flushed into the Pacific quicker than you get spell “disintegration”.

The Raccoons will grace the bottom of the division, and finish soundly mauled at 65-97. Or worse.

PLAYER DEVELOPMENT:

Last year, somebody analyzed the 24 team’s minor league departments while being completely drunk. The Raccoons were ranked first with 17 youngsters in the top 200. Most of those were relief pitchers, but they counted. We also had six among the first 61 selections.

This year we are ranked 16th, with 14 players in the top 200, but they are almost all in the latter half of those top 200. Furthermore, #2 Angel Casas (service time), #52 Lawrence Rockburn (service time), #72 Alejandro Rojas, #134 Aurelio Hernandez (rule 5 pick), #156 Keegan Crabtree, #191 Leonard Wyatt, and #199 Tony Rodriguez are no longer on the list for a variety of reasons.

24th (+13) – AAA MR Rémy Lucas, 26 – 2000 fifth round pick by the Crusaders, acquired in trade with Bill Corkum and Pedro Delgado for Manny Gabriel and Dale Moore, lost to Crusaders in rule 5 draft, and given back to Raccoons
47th (-23) – AA MR Pedro Delgado, 20 – 2002 first round pick by the Titans, acquired in trade with Bill Corkum and Rémy Lucas for Manny Gabriel and Dale Moore
54th (-32) – AAA CL Adam Riddle, 23 – 2002 second round pick by the Raccoons
81st (new) – AAA 1B Adrian Quebell, 22 – 2000 supplemental round pick by the Warriors, acquired in trade for Randy Farley and Dan Nordahl
99th (+30) – AAA MR Luis Beltran, 25 – 2001 seventh round pick by the Raccoons
111th (-9) – AAA MR Ed Bryan, 24 – 1999 fourth round pick by the Raccoons
113th (-2) – AAA MR Scott Boone, 24 – 1998 supplemental round pick by the Raccoons, lost to Knights in rule 5 draft and returned to Raccoons
125th (-13) – AAA MR Matt Cash, 22 – 2000 second round pick by the Raccoons
138th (-43) – AAA MR Cody Bryant, 22 – 2001 second round pick by the Raccoons
141st (new) – AA SS Ryan Miller, 20 – 2002 first round pick by the Titans, acquired in trade with Christian Greenman for Mark Thomas, Manuel Martinez, and Freddy Rosa
143rd (new) – A C Pedro Salas, 20 – 2003 supplemental round pick by the Falcons, acquire in trade with Bob Mays, Gary Tucker for Conceicao Guerin
157th (new) – AAA RF Bob Mays, 21 – 2001 supplemental round pick by the Titans, acquired in trade with Falcons with Pedro Salas, Gary Tucker for Conceicao Guerin
179th (-118) – AA OF Santiago Trevino, 22 – 2003 second round pick by the Raccoons
187th (-67) – ML C Bob Wood, 24 – 1999 third round pick by the Raccoons

23-year old CIN 1B Ray Gilbert is the #1 prospect for the second consecutive season. Some Barney Manning was 6-6 with a 7.06 ERA in AAA last year for the Miners’ AAA team, the Akron Ostriches, and continues to rank high at #14.

Next: first pitch!

[Westheim]

Raccoons (0-0) @ Canadiens (0-0) – April 5-7, 2005

Nothing like Opening Day and you can’t be there, because your photo has been adorned with a fat, red, struck-through circle and hangs in every shop and police station all over the country in which your team happens to play. It's alright, I can cry from afar.

Projected matchups:
Nick Brown (0-0) vs. Daniel Dickerson (0-0)
Edgar Amador (0-0) vs. Juichi Fujita (0-0)
Ralph Ford (0-0) vs. Cal Holbrook (0-0)

Game 1
POR: CF Torrez – 2B Nomura – 3B Sharp – 1B Martin – LF Brady – RF Greenman – SS Yamada – C Wood – P Brown
VAN: CF E. Garcia – RF Calzado – 1B Harmon – 2B Dobson – SS Nakayama – LF Trinidad – 3B Phillips – C F. Diéguez – P Dickerson

Nick Brown came, saw, and conquered. He struck out six batters the first time through the lineup to make a statement to the Elks, while the Raccoons looked remarkably harmless with the bats as well. Al Martin had our first hit of the season in the second inning, but was left on. Clyde Brady put up our first tally with a solo home run in the fourth. By then, Brownie had been through runners on the corners with one out in the bottom 3rd, and then survived an error by Daniel Sharp to start the bottom 4th, too. Overall he went seven innings, struck out nine, and didn’t concede anything countable to the Canadiens. Moreno struck out Garcia and Calzado in the bottom 8th, Bruno came in and struck out Henry Harmon, and it was still 1-0. A Sharp single was the only recognizable effort in the top 9th, and so it was Angel Casas versus the 4-5-6 guys in the bottom 9th. An out to the catcher, an out to short, and an out to second, and this game was over in a crisp 2:22! 1-0 Brownies! Sharp 2-4; Brady 1-4, HR, RBI; Brown 7.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 9 K, W (1-0);

Dickerson went eight and allowed only five hits as well. I remember trying half-heartedly to trade for him when he was a rookie and sucked balls, but in the end it is all woulda, coulda, shoulda.

The Titans lost their opener to the Loggers, blowing an early 4-0 lead to lose 5-4. We’re thus one game up on them. HOW DOES THAT FEEL, TITANS, HUH??

Game 2
POR: CF Torrez – 2B Nomura – 3B Sharp – 1B Martin – LF Brady – RF Greenman – SS Yamada – C Wood – P Amador
VAN: CF E. Garcia – SS Nakayama – RF Calzado – 2B Dobson – LF Trinidad – 1B Wheaton – 3B Phillips – C F. Diéguez – P Fujita

While the Elks had the bases loaded twice through four innings and didn’t score for Fujita making the third out in the bottom 2nd, and Fernando Diéguez lining to Yamada for a double play in the bottom 4th, the Raccoons were held hitless by Fujita that far, with the Japanese putting seven coon skins onto his wagon early on. Then came the top 5th, and Yamada chipped his first major league hit, a single to shallow center. Amador then got a single to left in, and when Torrez singled up the right field line, Yamada was sent around third. For some reason, Amador thought we’d have a double and went to third, where he was out by a mile, but Yamada had already scored, 1-0. The Fat Cat, out of breath, started the bottom 5th with a leadoff walk to Fujita, and that could only ever go wrong. 2-out extra base hits by Calzado and Dobson gave the Elks a 2-1 lead, and in the bottom 7th it got rapidly worse with Dave Williams pitching. Williams made an error that put Enrique Garcia on base, then didn’t mind the batter a bit, and Garcia stole second. Williams would then throw a wild pitch, then walked Haruki Nakayama. Law Rockburn eventually came in, and the first man he faced, Jerry Dobson, immediately homered to make it 5-1, and Ramón Trinidad made it back-to-back for a 6-1 score. The Raccoons put up merely token resistance, Fujita took home eleven pelts, and the Coons were soundly defeated to even their record. 6-2 Canadiens. Sharp 2-4; Yamada 3-4;

Game 3
POR: CF Torrez – 2B Nomura – 3B Sharp – 1B Martin – RF Brady – LF Fernandez – SS Yamada – C Cooks – P Ford
VAN: CF E. Garcia – 3B Phillips – 1B Harmon – 2B Dobson – SS Nakayama – LF Trinidad – RF Wheaton – C F. Diéguez – P Holbrook

Yoshi-Y singled home Brady to score the first run of the game in the top 2nd, but the Canadiens came right back against Ford with three singles in the bottom 2nd. Sharpie then set an exclamation mark with a home run in the fourth, and with a Martin double, Brady walking, and an infield single by Fernandez the bases were loaded with no outs against Cal Holbrook. Yoshi-Y managed to avoid our third double play of the day and instead singled to left to score Martin and make it 3-1. Curt Cooks then grounded to short to find that long elusive third DP, but Brady scored to make it 4-1 at least. Ford flew out to Trinidad, then was drawn a nose by Holbrook with a 2-out RBI double in the bottom of the inning, cutting the score to 4-2. The next time Holbrook was up in the bottom 6th, he already faced Marcos Bruno. Ford had departed with one out in the inning after putting runners on the corners, and Diéguez had just made the second out. Holbrook chipped a single to left, got his team to 4-3, and Bruno then retired Enrique Garcia, but we kinda needed more offense! But for now the Elks were pushing and got as far as second base in the bottom 7th before Moreno cleaned up Huerta’s mess, before creating his own in the eighth. Brady had gone deep in the top 8th for an insurance run and Moreno still blew up everything we had. He walked Trinidad to start the frame, and then Wheaton tripled. From there, Diéguez struck out and Pedro Hurtado popped out to shallow right, and then Garcia, another lefty, shattered all the effort with a double to right. The top 9th saw Greenman hit for Rockburn and ground out on a 3-0 pitch, and in turn the Elks walked off of Kichida in the bottom of the inning. 6-5 Canadiens. Sharp 2-4, HR, RBI; Brady 2-3, BB, HR, RBI; Fernandez 2-4; Yamada 3-4, 2 RBI;

Raccoons (1-2) vs. Falcons (3-0) – April 8-10, 2005

The Falcons are flawless as the Coons, not quite so flawless, come home for a 6-game homestand – they will only get two more home games the entire month. But when you are worst in the league in almost any offensive category, you prefer to play on the road anyway, for there you get booed less.

Projected matchups:
Felipe Garcia (0-0) vs. Alfredo Collazo (0-0)
Ben Carlson (0-0) vs. Rodrigo Gomez (0-0, 0.00 ERA)
Nick Brown (1-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. Lewis Donaldson (1-0, 1.13 ERA)

We will not face a left-handed pitcher the entire week!

Game 1
CHA: RF Hudson – SS Guerin – C F. Chavez – LF J. Flores – 2B H. Green – 3B Vieitas – 1B Mendoza – CF Burke – P Collazo
POR: CF Torrez – 3B Sharp – LF Brady – 1B Martin – RF Greenman – 2B Nomura – SS Yamada – C Wood – P F. Garcia

Concie came in hitting 8-for-12, but struck out in the first as the Falcons went down 1-2-3. He still scored the first run of the game, drawing a 2-out walk in the top 3rd and then coming home casually on Fernando Chavez’ triple. Despite Garcia basically tossing batting practice, the Falcons couldn’t get much more meaningful done, and were retired on foul pops four times in the game, and always with a runner in scoring position. But even the dumbest luck eventually runs out, and Garcia was sent to bed with no outs in the seventh on a 2-run homer by pinch-hitter Jose Mendoza. That made it 3-0. The Raccoons … while Collazo had given out a bunch of walks, four in total, the sorry Coons just couldn’t buy a hit with anybody on base. They had a single by Sharp (who was also plunked) and a double by Greenman, who had gone 0-for-9 in the Elks series. That was it. Collazo also went six frames only, and the Coons couldn’t score on the pen either in the seventh, despite a grave error by Vieitas putting the humorously harmless Bob Wood on second base with one out. Bottom 8th, that same Bob Wood came to the plate with runners on the corners and two outs after Yoshi-Y had just singled home a pair, and that runner on third, Yoshi-N, was the tying run. Wood struck out, continuing to go oh-fer on the season. Bottom 9th, facing Luis Hernandez, still down by one. King made the first out before Edgardo Fernandez had a pinch-hit single to center. Sharp whiffed, but Brady shoved a single to right. Fernandez went to third and drew a throw that was never going to nab him unless he’d fall down and break both legs. Brady moved to second. Winning runs in scoring position, Al Martin facing a righty closer with two outs, batting .133 on the season, with no ribbies. A ball, a strike, a swing, grounder up the middle, past the infielders, Brady turning third base, the throw from Jake Burke – is – late!! 4-3 Raccoons!!! Fernandez (PH) 1-1; Brady 2-5; Martin 1-4, BB, 2 RBI; Greenman 2-4, 2B;

With Brady not plating anybody, but scoring twice, in the game, Yoshi-Y, that rule 5 pick, now leads the team in RBI with four. Of our 12 runs so far, Brady scored seven, however.

And no, we probably didn’t deserve that win.

Game 2
CHA: RF Hudson – SS Guerin – C F. Chavez – LF J. Flores – 2B H. Green – 1B Mendoza – 3B Moore – CF L. Alonso – P Donaldson
POR: CF Torrez – 3B Sharp – LF Brady – 1B Martin – RF Greenman – 2B Nomura – SS Yamada – C Wood – P Carlson

Ben Carlson, in his Raccoons debut, expended 34 pitches in the first inning – which was scoreless. He just happened to not fool anybody and guys kept fouling off his crap until he had walked a pair. Luis Alonso took him deep in the second inning to make it 1-0 and the Raccoons proceeded to leave the tying run on third base in the next two innings. The latter instance included a runner on first, and the same happened again in the fifth, although one run scored in that inning. The Coons, through five, had eight hits, and almost as many men left on base. The Falcons were up 2-1, the difference maker now a homer by Hubert Green. Carlson went into the sixth in a semi-respectable effort before issuing a 2-out walk to Jose Mendoza. Williams came on, walked Steve Moore, before Luis Alonso popped out to Nomura. Lewis Donaldson walked Wood and Torrez in the bottom 7th, but Sharp hit into a killing double play, and we still trailed 2-1 despite vastly outhitting them, 8-3. When Yoshi-Y, newborn superhero, hit a leadoff single in the bottom 9th off the same Hernandez we had eaten up the day before, the advantage was 10-5 and the score still 2-1. An errant pickoff throw moved Yamada to second base before he could ever attempt to steal, but in succession Ramirez, Fernandez, and Torrez made outs and Yamada was left on second base. 2-1 Falcons. Torrez 2-4, BB; Sharp 2-4, RBI; Greenman 2-4; Huerta 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

Well, we didn’t deserve to lose this one, so it evens out with Friday’s game. That means the rubber match will go by skill, and if it weren’t for Nick Brown, we’d have no hope. We have scored 13 runs in those first five games…

A tie for last place with the Crusaders has been achieved at this point.

Game 3
CHA: CF Hudson – SS Guerin – RF J. Flores – 2B H. Green – C Durango – 1B Vieitas – LF Estrada – 3B Petipas – P T. Wilson
POR: RF Brady – LF Fernandez – 3B Sharp – 1B Martin – CF King – 2B Nomura – SS Yamada – C Wood – P Brown

Brown all but lost the game in the first, putting Hudson and Green on base, the latter with a 2-out infield single that fell about within five feet of him, and was then taken deep by Eduardo Durango. Eduardo who? Right. While he held up from there, the Raccoons did little to nothing. They did so little that it was Brown himself to jumpstart the offense with a 1-out single in the bottom 5th. Brady drew a walk and then Fernandez singled up the middle to score Brown from second base. Sharp’s infield single loaded them up, but Martin’s sac fly was all we got as King lined out to center, and the Coons remained a run behind, and that didn’t change when they had Yamada at second, two outs, and Torrez hit for Brown in the bottom 6th, only to ground out to second. Scoreless relief by Rockburn, Moreno, and Casas put us again one behind in the bottom 9th, but Hernandez was worn out and so we faced Rodrigo Gomez, starting with Greenman, who was hitting for Bob Wood, and hit a double up the left field line. Sheehan had entered with Casas in a double switch. This was his first action of 2005, and he immediately showed off, hitting an RBI single to left that tied up the score. Brady walked, and then an infield single by Fernandez to load them up for Sharpie with NO OUTS. Gomez, unfazed, fell behind, and never recovered. Sharpie walked, and the Coons had their second walkoff this week. 4-3 Raccoons! Brady 2-2, 2 BB; Fernandez 2-5, RBI; Nomura 2-4; Greenman (PH) 1-1, 2B; Sheehan 1-1, RBI;

Brownie struck out seven over six innings, reaching almost 100 pitches in the process. ALL his strikeouts came with 2-2 or 3-2 counts, which is not generally considered economical. Neither are first-inning, 3-run home runs to backup catchers.

Raccoons (3-3) vs. Knights (3-3) – April 11-13, 2005

One game off the lead in their division, the Knights ranked fourth in runs scored with 28, something the Raccoons couldn’t bloody quite claim. They had given up 24 runs. For the Coons it was 17 runs scored, 20 surrendered, t-10th and t-3rd respectively.

Projected matchups:
Edgar Amador (0-1, 3.00 ERA) vs. Johnny Collins (0-0, 9.00 ERA)
Ralph Ford (0-0, 5.06 ERA) vs. Jong-suk Lee (0-1, 14.73 ERA)
Felipe Garcia (0-0, 4.50 ERA) vs. Manny Rios (0-0, 0.00 ERA)

That’s more right-handers! Not a left-handed starter in sight!

Game 1
ATL: RF R. Lopez – SS Luján – CF J. Morales – 3B J. Garcia – LF Ware – 1B J. Gutierrez – C Valadez – 2B J. Miller – P J. Collins
POR: CF Torrez – 3B Sharp – LF Brady – 1B Martin – RF Greenman – SS M. Ramirez – 2B Nomura – C Cooks – P Amador

The Knights had a single by Rodrigo Lopez to lead off the game, and loaded them up with a pair of 2-out walks, but didn’t score in the first. The Coons had the bases loaded with no outs in the bottom 2nd after a leadoff double by Martin, and Greenman and Ramirez also finding ways on. Nomura grounded out to first, plating Martin, Cooks flew out to center, plating Greenman, and Ramirez came home on a bloop single by the Fat Cat, making it a 3-0 Coons game. The Cat however was off by miles, walked the bases full in the top of the third, and two runs scored to bring the Knights right back to 3-2. Although Sharp hit a leadoff triple and scored in the bottom 3rd, the Cat was utter **** and did not retire anybody in the fourth inning. Collins led off with a single, Lopez tripled, and Luján singled. Tied game, runner on first, next hurler please. The ship was sinking rapidly, however. Moreno offered no relief against left-handers, two more runs scored, and HE was yanked with two men in scoring position, which was not a situation crying out for Kaz Kichida, but he came in anyway and served up a 3-run homer to James Miller to complete a 7-run inning and handed the Raccoons a very definite loss. When the Raccoons put up an accidental 3-spot in the bottom of the fifth, the Knights raped Rockburn for the equal amount in the next inning. Then came Williams into the seventh, facing three left-handers, and putting them all on base with singles. Only one run actually scored, but the Knights put up a right thumping in the opener. 14-8 Knights. Sharp 2-5, 3B; Martin 2-3, BB, 2 2B, RBI; Ramirez 3-4, 2B, RBI; Nomura 2-4, 3 RBI;

So apart from using up most of our bullpen, we also had to remove Al Martin from this game, who hurt his wrist sliding into second base. It’s only a bruise and if we give him a day off tomorrow, he should be good.

Health-wise.

Bullpen ERA at this junction: 5.96 …

Game 2
ATL: 2B J. Miller – 1B Ware – LF R. Lopez – CF J. Morales – C J. Lopez – RF J. Garcia – SS J. Gutierrez – 3B Verdon – P J. Lee
POR: CF Torrez – 1B Sharp – 3B M. Ramirez – LF Brady – SS Yamada – RF Greenman – 2B Nomura – C Wood – P Ford

Double plays were the theme of the game early on, both teams turning a pair, before the Raccoons found other ways to make themselves redundant as entertainment factor in the long-disgruntled city of Portland. We had runners on the corners with two outs in the bottom 4th when the runner on first base, Yoshi Yamada, suddenly took off to steal and was thrown out. That ended the inning. The fifth ended with Sharp flying out gingerly to right to leave the bases loaded. Meanwhile the Knights had been denied often enough themselves, and in the top 6th broke through with a pair of leadoff doubles by Ware and Lopez, and both scored in the inning to make it 2-0 Knights, but that lead was erased again when Yamada and Greenman went deep back-to-back in the bottom of the same inning. Ford battled through the seventh and tossed his way through the eighth on fumes in his bid for a win, his sweaty appearance after retiring Morales to finish his final inning a pretty representation of a young fella who hadn’t had much luck in his major league career, and if luck hadn’t kicked in so far, it pretty damn certain wouldn’t now. The Coons flailed themselves out of their half of the eighth, and Ford did not get a decision. Huerta pitched the ninth, and Casas the tenth. Torrez struck out to lead off the bottom 10th before Bartolo Gomez drilled Sharp, who left the game, with Matt King running. Ramirez flayed over a sinker on a hit-and-run, but King was safe at second base. Then Ramirez struck out, and so did Brady. Top 11th, again no score against Casas. Bottom 11th, Yamada drew a leadoff walk from Gomez. He was visibly antsy at first base and everybody knew he’d go eventually, but Greenman singled before he got a good jump against Gomez, and Morales was to the ball very quickly, holding Yoshi-Y at second base. He was antsy regardless and took off with Nomura batting. Lopez’ throw to third was well high, Nick Verdon couldn’t come up with it, and Yamada scampered home to walk off the Coons for the third time on the homestand. 3-2 Critters. Greenman 3-4, BB, HR, RBI; Wood 2-4; Ford 8.0 IP, 9 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 6 K; Casas 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, W (2-0);

First Coons home run for Christian Greenman, whom I despise, and first major league home run for Yoshi Yamada. Also, Angel Casas has more wins than saves on the season… He also LEADS the team in wins!

Game 3
ATL: RF R. Lopez – C J. Lopez – CF J. Morales – 3B J. Garcia – LF Ware – 1B J. Gutierrez – SS Luján – 2B J. Miller – P M. Rios
POR: LF Brady – 3B Sharp – 1B Martin – RF Greenman – CF Fernandez – SS Yamada – 2B Nomura – C Wood – P F. Garcia

Rodrigo Lopez fouled off Garcia’s first pitch and that was the last time Garcia was ahead in any count for a good, long while. Amazingly, none of the first eight Knights reached base, and then even more amazingly it was Manny Rios to hit a single to get them on. That was their only hit for a long, long time. The Coons however were likewise befuddled by Rios, and couldn’t get past second base. Nothing came off Brady’s infield single to lead off the sixth either, but in the seventh there was a proper leadoff single by Greenman, then an infield single for Fernandez. Two on, no outs in a scoreless game, Yoshi-Y’s single to right loaded them up and finally had SOMEBODY reach third base in the game. Yoshi-N popped out to the shortstop, and then Bob Wood flew out to left, only for Stephen Ware to DROP the ball, and the first run scored! Garcia batted for himself and was HIT BY THE PITCH!! That forced another run in and caused a few guys, foremost our other starters, to hurl nasty vocabulary at Manny Rios. Brady was retired when Jorge Garcia snagged his liner on third base, but the bases remained loaded. Sharp hit an RBI single, and then came Martin, homerless on the year, but that was bound to change. GRAAAAAAAND SLAAAAAAAAMMM!!!! Garcia had no trouble in the eighth, but it started to lightly drizzle in the bottom of the inning, as Yamada was doubling in Fernandez to make it 8-0. C’mon boys, hurry up! James Miller led off the ninth with the Knigths’s second hit on the day, a single to right center, but was then caught up in Bill Tinker’s double play. Rodrigo Lopez grounded out, and the shutout was complete! 9-0 Coons!! Greenman 3-4, 2B; Fernandez 2-3, BB; Yamada 2-4, 2B, RBI; Garcia 9.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 7 K, W (1-0);

Felipe Garcia, a few weeks before his 28th birthday, tossed his third career shutout. He has no other complete games in 57 starts. The 2-hitter is the closest he’s come to the record books. He previously had a 3-hitter against the Titans (last September!) as his career best.

Raccoons (5-4) @ Loggers (3-5) – April 14-17, 2005

There is a team with a more embarrassing offense than the Coons, and it’s the Loggers so far. Actually, the 9-0 win got the Coons to seventh in runs scored, but the Loggers are last. They also didn’t prevent runs well early on with a 10th-ranked 4.62 ERA to their rotation.

Projected matchups:
Ben Carlson (0-1, 3.18 ERA) vs. Dani Alvarado (0-0, 0.00 ERA)
Nick Brown (1-0, 2.08 ERA) vs. Armando Gomez (0-1, 7.50 ERA)
Edgar Amador (0-2, 7.00 ERA) vs. Martin Garcia (0-1, 6.00 ERA)
Ralph Ford (0-0, 3.38 ERA) vs. Ramiro Gonzalez (2-1, 3.07 ERA)

Alvarado is the tenth straight right-hander we will face to start the season. Then there will be something of a change, with three straight left-handers starting against us on the weekend.

Game 1
POR: LF Brady – 2B Nomura – 1B Martin – RF Greenman – SS Yamada – CF Torrez – 3B M. Ramirez – C Cooks – P Carlson
MIL: 2B B. Hernandez – CF Fletcher – 3B T. Johnson – RF Hiwalani – 1B M. Woods – C Benitez – LF Phillip – SS Costello – P Alvarado

Yamada plated Nomura with a 2-out single in the first, the Coons were up 1-0, and although Bartolo Hernandez hit a leadoff double off Carlson in the bottom 1st, he didn’t score. That was not the last extra-base hit off Carlson in the game however, and the Loggers quickly tied the score at one in the bottom 2nd with a double and two singles. Greenman robbed Pedro Costello of an RBI double to end the fourth inning, and we really needed some offense to get started. But whenever the Coons got a man on first base in the middle innings, they soon found a way to wrap up a pair and remained empty-handed. And when Carlson then issued two walks with nobody out in the bottom 6th, the ship began to take on water, but then Mac Woods hacked himself out spectacularly (losing his helmet twice in the at-bat), and Benitez also whiffed, which left Clint Phillip to ground out. Jerry Fletcher would then finally come through for the Loggers in the bottom 7th with a 2-out RBI single and Carlson couldn’t exit that frame, walking Tom Johnson on four straight. Marcos Bruno came in to relief him and struck out a .121 batting Bakile Hiwalani to strand a pair. But we needed the Coons to score, and they wouldn’t. Not at all. Much the opposite, Kaz Kichida found a way to get taken deep by light-hitting shortstop Pedro Costello in the eighth. 4-1 Loggers. Martin 3-4;

Game 2
POR: 3B Sharp – SS Yamada – LF Fernandez – RF Greenman – 1B Martin – CF King – 2B Sheehan – C Wood – P Brown
MIL: 2B B. Hernandez – CF Fletcher – RF Hiwalani – 3B T. Johnson – 1B M. Woods – C Benitez – LF Scott – SS Costello – P A. Gomez

Sharp and Greenman produced the first two runs for the Coons in this game, in the first and third innings, with Sharp scoring on a Greenman groundout in the first, and a double by the rightfielder in the third. Greenman would score on a Matt King single in the latter inning, and we led 3-0, although the Loggers should have tied it in the bottom 2nd with men on first and second, and Keith Scott unleashing a driller up the middle that Brad Sheehan SOMEHOW caught in mid-air, with the lead runner already almost at third base and easily doubled off. While Sharpie did not reach base his third time up, Greenman kept producing runs. Fernandez was on first when he came to bat in the fifth and this time he rocketed one outta center to bring the score to 5-0. Brownie utterly dominated the Loggers for six innings before they got a bit lucky in the seventh, with Hiwalani singling and Johnson doubling with no outs. There was hardly a way out of that without conceding a run, and Brownie ended up conceding both on a silly bloop single by Pedro Benitez. He was hit for in the top 8th with Clyde Brady, two on and two out, but Brady grounded out to Costello. And it kept getting worse. Huerta spilled runners onto the corners in the bottom 8th, with Bruno coming out. But Bruno walked Fletcher, and while Hiwalani popped out for the second man to be retired, Tom Johnson hit another double to plate a pair and leave the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position. Bruno dug a trench and struck out Mac Woods, but the lead was now down to a flimsy 5-4. An insurance run would have been great, but Robbie Wills retired the Coons in order in the ninth. Casas faced the 6-7-8 guys, all right-handers, got ahead on all of them, and then Benitez grounded out, Scott popped out, and Costello struck out. 5-4 Coons! Sharp 2-5, 2B; Fernandez 3-5, 2B, Greenman 2-4, HR, 3B, 4 RBI; Brown 7.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, W (2-0) and 1-3;

That was certainly closer than I would have enjoyed. Huerta was unscored upon before this game and I thought with three runs advantage I could go with the second-rate righty. Well, less thinking, more smart, please. Brownie would not have been pleased.

Game 3
POR: 3B Sharp – LF Brady – CF Fernandez – 1B Martin – RF Greenman – 2B Nomura – SS Sheehan – C Wood – P Amador
MIL: 2B B. Hernandez – CF Fletcher – 3B T. Johnson – RF Hiwalani – 1B M. Woods – LF Kaberman – C J. Reyes – SS Costello – P M. Garcia

We certainly weren’t sued to seeing a 6.00 ERA from Martin Garcia (merely 221 career wins…), so one could expect “regression towards the mean”, which was a 2.84 career ERA, to start rather soon. For the Fat Cat, the book had more walks put into script, and he gave the first of those to Hernandez right away, and Hernandez scored on a Hiwalani single, another case for “regression towards the mean”. The Coons found themselves duly massacred and unable to do anything unless the Loggers did something stupid – and they did. After Amador snipped a single (to move his average to .750) in the third inning, Garcia and Reyes got completely crossed up. Garcia threw two wild pitches completely past Reyes’ target, and Brady also had a double in the inning as the Coons took a 2-1 lead! Their only other scoring chance came after a Loggers error in the fifth, but was left unused. Neither pitcher was threatened much in the middle innings. Amador had another hit in the seventh, but was ultimately stopped at third base. In the eighth, however, Al Martin hit a solo homer to bring the score to 3-1. Amador was lifted after a 1-out double by Tom Johnson, but that runner didn’t score, either, for the Loggers, keeping the Coons up by two. Martin Garcia went the distance of nine, then had to hope for his team to come back in the bottom 9th against Angel Casas, starting with Van Kaberman, who flew out to deep left, but then Jesus Reyes doubled to center. Clint Phillip was up next and unleashed another rocket that was heading towards right – but Ramirez!! Miguel Ramirez had come in after hitting for Nomura in the top 9th, leapt, snagged the fireball, and then bowled it to Sheehan at second base to double off the runner – and the game was over! 3-1 Coons! Amador 7.1 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 3 K, W (1-2) and 2-2;

Game 4
POR: 1B Sharp – CF Torrez – LF Fernandez – RF Greenman – SS Yamada – 3B M. Ramirez – 2B Nomura – C Wood – P Ford
MIL: 2B B. Hernandez – CF Fletcher – RF Hiwalani – 3B T. Johnson – 1B M. Woods – C Benitez – LF Kaberman – SS Costello – P R. Gonzalez

In this game, the Coons couldn’t turn their double plays. That cost a run in the first, and in the second it would have cost another if Eddie Torrez hadn’t sledgehammered Van Kaberman out at the plate to end the frame. The Coons lumbered about offensively, getting only two hits in the first four frames, but then the game got tied on Bob Wood’s first career homer, a massive crush of a shot to straightaway centerfield! The obnoxious Hiwalani continued his regression toward the mean however, and hit an RBI single plating Hernandez in the bottom 5th to restore the old gap, now at 2-1. The Loggers stranded two men in scoring position when they elected not to hit for their pitcher Ramiro Gonzalez with two out in the sixth and Gonzalez struck out. The Critters just couldn’t get the bats up. They still trailed 2-1 in the ninth, facing Robbie Wills, which was not a thrilling scenario. Yet then Edgardo Fernandez started off with a double through Mac Woods’ tired old body and all the way to the fence. Greenman grounded out to first, moving the tying run to third base with one out. But Yamada couldn’t get the job done, and when Brady hit for Ramirez, he struck out. 2-1 Loggers. Fernandez 2-3, BB, 2B; Ford 6.2 IP, 9 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, L (0-1);

In other news

April 6 – At age 41, LAP LF Forest Hartley (.375, 0 HR, 2 RBI) has his 2,500th career base hit with two hits and an RBI in the Pacifics’ 5-0 win over the Scorpions. The milestone hit is a first inning single off Takeru Sato. Hartley was the 11th overall pick by the Indians in the 1983 draft, debuting the next season at age 20. Since then he has batted .290 with 181 HR and 1,085 RBI, while never playing on a championship team. He is a 3-time All Star and won a Gold Glove in 1993.
April 7 – RIC OF Juan Jose Villa (0 AB) appears to be out for the entire season, breaking his elbow on a defensive play on Opening Day.
April 8 – TOP 1B/2B Georg Spinu figures to be out for the rest of the month with a strained rib cage muscle.
April 9 – RIC CL Javier Navarro (0-1, 10.80 ERA, 1 SV) notches his 400th career save by finishing out a 4-1 win for the Rebels over the Scorpions. Navarro, 35, a 9-time All Star, also is 70-71 with a 2.52 ERA for his career, winning a title with the Thunder in 2000.
April 9 – The season has barely started, but it’s over for IND SP Anthony Mosher (0-0, 3.38 ERA), who left his first start of the year and has been diagnosed with radial never compression.
April 9 – The Titans trade INF Victor Flores (.250, 0 HR, 0 RBI) to the Bayhawks for LF/RF Jim Brulhart (.571, 4 HR, 11 RBI). Brulhart batted .173 in kindly limited playing time in 2004.
April 9 – WAS SP Chris York (1-1, 1.06 ERA) fans 14 Stars in a 13-0 romp, allowing six hits in a shutout.
April 13 – VAN OF Dave Wheaton (.500, 1 HR, 7 RBI) has a 20-game hitting streak going after a single in the Canadiens’ 5-3 loss to the Falcons.
April 13 – SAL INF Leborio Catalo (.278, 0 HR, 2 RBI) is out for a month with a fractured finger.
April 14 – DAL OF/1B Robinson Perez (.378, 0 HR, 4 RBI) will miss six weeks with an oblique strain.
April 15 – Dave Wheaton’s hitting streak ends at 20 games, as he goes 0-3 in a 6-2 win of his Canadiens over the Crusaders.

Complaints and stuff

Playing against Concie is weird. I don’t like it.

The offense is pathetic. This is nothing that was not to be expected, however. 13 games in, we already have seven games in which he scored three or fewer runs (mostly fewer), and another two with four and five runs each, and we scored 3.6 runs per game overall in the first few weeks.

We also received a trade proposal from the Thunder, offering back Jesus Palacios in exchange for Watanabe and prospect Trevino. When will people understand that we want to GET prospects and DEAL expensive inventory?

Did you know? Manuel Flores scored his 1,000th career run on August 1, 1991 as a Canadien.

Manuel who?

Probably no update tomorrow, been playing a lot of Civ V recently, the joy of which comes in bursts. Currently, I have a burst. The Coons aren’t much joy. However! I will be on holidays from the 23rd through to the end of the month, and there should be ample time for a daily dose of horrible baseball then.

[Westheim]

Just couldn't stay away and had to see whether their semi-decent 7-6 start was fake or not.

Raccoons (7-6) @ Titans (8-4) – April 18-20, 2005

Aaaand here come the Titans. Nobody particularly wanted to see them, but here they were. What an unhappy place to be in. The season is young, yet they are already second in offense and first in defense. Their starter’s ERA was 2.56, and their bullpen ERA 1.80, for crying out loud. Nothing to see here, maybe at the weekend with a little luck we might win a game.

Projected matchups:
Felipe Garcia (1-0, 1.80 ERA) vs. Joe Mann (2-0, 2.19 ERA)
Ben Carlson (0-2, 2.92 ERA) vs. Ray Conner (2-0, 1.69 ERA)
Nick Brown (2-0, 2.25 ERA) vs. Jorge Chapa (1-1, 3.21 ERA)

Right-left-left it is for this series. We have … basically no chance.

Game 1
POR: 3B Sharp – LF Brady – 2B M. Ramirez – 1B Martin – RF Greenman – CF Torrez – SS Yamada – C Cooks – P F. Garcia
BOS: SS D. Silva – 1B M. Austin – LF G. Munoz – C L. Lopez – 2B Metting – CF Garrison – RF Encarnación – 3B Matsumoto – P Mann

Felipe Garcia lacked the necessary fortune to achieve anything appreciable in the opener. Neither team had a lot of offense. But Garcia offered a walk at the most inopportune times, first to fall 1-0 behind in the first after the Titans pulled off a double steal, and then to fall 2-1 behind in the fourth, again walking the scoring batter in the first place. The Coons had scratched out a run in the third on a Cooks single, Garcia’s bunt, and a Sharp double, but had left runners on the corners before long, and would leave runners on the corners in the fifth inning, too. Garcia left in a double switch in the bottom 7th, leaving Dave Williams to escape a man on second with two outs, which he did with a K to Will Taylor. Down 2-1 in the ninth we faced Gabby De La Rosa, who was in his seventh season post-Portland, and the Coons made an effort to kind of softly overwhelm him. Greenman rolled a single to right and Nomura pinch-walked, before Fernandez grounded out in Kichida’s place, leaving the runners in scoring position for Curt Cooks with two out. Matt King was called on to pinch-hit, grounded up the middle, Kurt Metting intercepted the grounder, but had no play – Greenman scored, and the game was tied! Yet, Brad Sheehan, who had entered in the earlier double switch, struck out, leaving runners on the corners once more, and Ricardo Huerta was swiftly defeated by a Rudy Garrison single and Masaaki Matsumoto double in the bottom of the inning. 3-2 Titans. King (PH) 1-1, RBI; Garcia 6.2 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 2 K;

Game 2
POR: 3B Sharp – LF Brady – RF Greenman – 1B Martin – 2B M. Ramirez – CF Torrez – SS Sheehan – C Wood – P Carlson
BOS: SS D. Silva – 1B M. Austin – LF G. Munoz – C L. Lopez – 2B Metting – CF Garrison – RF W. Taylor – 3B Matsumoto – P Chapa

Jorge Chapa moved up to this game as the Titans elected to skip Ray Conner’s turn in the rotation.

You don’t quite know what to elect as the Miracle of the Day in this game. Either the Raccoons scoring a run in the first on a Danny Sharp triple and subsequent sac fly by Brady, or Ben Carlson, the old ragged fella, no-hitting the Titans for four innings. His house of cards came down in the fifth, however, when Kurt Metting doubled to get going and scored to tie the game at one. That one run on two hits in the fifth exploded all the way to three runs on five hits in the sixth, an inning Carlson didn’t see to conclusion. Unforseeably however, that was not quite the game yet. Down 4-1 the Raccoons got Bob Wood on in the top 7th, and then King had another pinch-hit single in Kichida’s place. Good things developed, as Sharp singled home a run, Brady walked, and Greenman’s fatal grounder to third was bungled by Matsumoto, as the Coons got to 4-3 with the bags full and two out, as Chapa was yanked for Gabby against the left-hander(!) Al Martin. Gabby got ahead on Martin 1-2, before Martin bounced a ball to third – AND PAST MATSUMOTO!! Two runs scored, giving the Raccoons a 5-4 lead before Ramirez grounded out to end the frame! Alas, when Moreno came in to face left-handers in the bottom of the inning, he was completely torn to shreds, and gangbanged for all four runs we had just scored. And so another dismal loss entered the record books. No, wait a moment! Torrez homered in the eighth, 8-6, and in the top 9th Sharp hit a leadoff single off Ramiro Román, and then Brady doubled to get both runners into scoring position! Yet, a Martin groundout was all we even got into play. And so another dismal loss entered the record books. 8-7 Titans. Sharp 3-5, 3B, RBI; Greenman 2-5; King (PH) 1-1;

Moreno now has a 19-ish ERA. He has the least innings pitched, and most runs conceded on the staff.

Just why?

Game 3
POR: 3B Sharp – LF Brady – RF Greenman – 1B Martin – CF King – 2B Nomura – SS Yamada – C Wood – P Brown
BOS: C R. Rivera – 3B Matsumoto – LF W. Taylor – 1B M. Austin – SS H. Ramirez – RF Brulhart – 2B Frazier – CF Encarnación – P Conner

And here came Conner. Huh?

This time it was Brady to hit the first inning triple and score on a sac fly to make it 1-0 early. And then Brownie came out, walked the first batter, threw a wild one, made an error, and we knew that the one run conceded in this bottom 1st wouldn’t be the only one, and we were in for a world of pain, with the only ray of light for the entire week swiftly disappearing in the darkness. Dark clouds actually moved up, with the forecast not having been bad at all in the morning. Then the Coons lost Yoshi-N in the second inning, as Nomura left the game after batting and hitting a double after the trainer consulted him at second base. Ramirez replaced him and immediately looked quite bad on a play in the bottom of the inning. Brown had to bite and claw to keep the Titans from scoring as they stranded runners on the corners in both the second and third innings. Top 4th, Wood chopped a single, and so did Brown! When Sharp walked, the bases were loaded for Brady, who singled to left and the speedy Brown refused to be held at third and was safe at home! Now up 3-1, Brown had some leeway, but a terrible bloop by Matsumoto fooled Greenman completely in the bottom 4th and became a leadoff double. Brown bit his way around that, too. Still the dark clouds. It started to rain just as Brownie was commencing his final inning, the bottom 6th. He retired Mark Austin before the game entered a rain delay. We never emerged from it, as the game was called two hours later, and the Coons got away with a cheap one! 3-1 Brownies! Brady 3-3, BB, 3B, 2 RBI; Martin 2-4, 2B; Nomura 1-1, 2B; Wood 1-2; Brown 5.1 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, W (3-0) and 1-3;

Well, we didn’t deserve this one, but we will certainly not complain. Getting three innings from the bullpen with a 2-run lead would have been … an interesting challenge.

Nomura had a mild oblique strain and was described two days of rest. One day will be our off day and then the first game in San Fran will be against a left-hander, so we will survive it, I guess.

Raccoons (8-8) @ Bayhawks (10-6) – April 22-24, 2005

We just escaped the second-best offense, and as reward for that we get to see the best offense. Yay, lucky us! Their starters were everything but bulletproof however, posting a 4.46 ERA so far through the first two and a half weeks, which ranked 9th in the Continental League. We’d still see the starter who led the league in ERA…

Projected matchups:
Edgar Amador (1-2, 4.41 ERA) vs. Raúl Fuentes (1-2, 5.89 ERA)
Ralph Ford (0-1, 3.15 ERA) vs. Marc Padgett (3-0, 0.47 ERA)
Felipe Garcia (1-0, 2.08 ERA) vs. Carl Bean (2-1, 2.87 ERA)

One more lefty in Fuentes, and then a pair of right-handers we know well. Bean anyway, and Padgett pitched in our division for four years with the Loggers.

Game 1
POR: 3B Sharp – LF Brady – RF Greenman – 1B Martin – CF Fernandez – SS Yamada – 2B M. Ramirez – C Wood – P Amador
SFB: 2B J. Diaz – LF Theobald – RF Bonneau – 1B I. Gutierrez – CF Black – 3B J. Perez – SS J. Barrón – C Washington – P R. Fuentes

The Fat Cat walked the bases loaded in the first inning before Jose Perez made the final out on a 3-1 pitch, a sorry pop lushed out to Fernandez. It didn’t help Amador, however, with a Yohan Bonneau triple heart and soul to the Bayhawks’ 2-run third inning that put up the first score in the game. Amador never got any better, being charged with four runs in six innings, walking four and striking out absolutely nobody. It still got worse, with Moreno being charged with another two runs to temporarily fire his ERA over 20 in the bottom 7th. The most remarkable offensive achievement for the Coons were their fourth and seventh innings being perfect copies of another. Sharp struck out, Brady singled, Greenman mauled two. Those two Brady singles were all that stood between Fuentes and a perfect game. 6-0 Bayhawks. Brady 2-3;

Game 2
POR: 3B Sharp – LF Brady – RF Greenman – 1B Martin – SS Yamada – CF Torrez – 2B Nomura – C Wood – P Ford
SFB: CF Black – LF Theobald – 1B I. Gutierrez – 2B J. Diaz – RF Bonneau – 3B J. Perez – SS J. Barrón – C J. Lopez – P Padgett

The Coons scored a run in the first inning on a Martin groundout, then had Nomura and Wood on with no outs in the second. Ford, who had misfielded an infield grounder and hit a batter in the bottom 1st and still hadn’t been scored upon, bunted into a force at third, and we didn’t score. Ford, the dork, walked the pitcher to start the bottom 3rd, walked Black as well, and was jumped on for three runs. Because, you know, the Waterbirds can actually hit. The Coons failed their way to the seventh where suddenly Sharp singled and Brady walked with one out. Greenman came up and fired a shot to left that at first looked like it would count for three, but then banged off the wall for a common RBI double, but Greenman was now the go-ahead run at second base. Martin singled to left to tie the game, and Yamada’s fly to Bonneau in right was enough to score Greenman as the Raccoons flipped the table on the Bayhawks. Ralph Ford was still tossing, and tossed up an exit pitch to Rusty Washington to start the bottom of the inning. What a smart management of a slim lead. That was now gone, and it was 4-4 after seven. In the top 9th we had Brady on first with one out, and hit-and-run our way into a strike-em-out-throw-em-out. The game was a drag in extra innings until Martin made an error to put the leadoff man on in the bottom 12th, with Moreno pitching. But the Bayhawks had used their entire bench already, and thus we were able to force their reliever Salvadaro Soure (a former discovery by our Vince) to the plate with the winning run at second base and two outs. Moreno got to 1-2 before surrendering a drive to center, but Edgardo Fernandez made the play. We still had a bench, but no batters, if you know what I mean. Moreno’s turn was up with one out in the top 13th, and King hit for him with nobody on. Soure made a mistake, King noticed it and drilled a homer to right! As Angel Casas had been used already (he had not pitched all week, and we didn’t want to have him rot in the pen any longer), Marcos Bruno was assigned the finishing duties in this game, facing the heart of the lineup. Iván Gutierrez led off with an infield single, but Diaz struck out and Bonneau grounded into a double play. 5-4 Coons. Greenman 4-6, 2 2B, RBI; Martin 2-5, 2 RBI; King (PH) 1-1, HR, RBI; Casas 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

This was Matt King’s second career home run and his first as a Furball.

Game 3
POR: 3B Sharp – LF Fernandez – RF Greenman – 1B Martin – CF King – SS Yamada – 2B Nomura – C Cooks – P F. Garcia
SFB: 2B J. Diaz – LF Theobald – RF Bonneau – 1B I. Gutierrez – CF Black – SS J. Perez – C Washington – 3B Bulco – P V. Perez

No rendezvous with Carl Bean, as Vicente Perez (1-1, 7.13 ERA) was assigned to Sunday’s start basically 30 minutes before the game for unknown reasons.

The first three Hawks all hit safely to deep left, plating them an early run on Garcia, who looked quite shabby in that first inning. The shabby look was good for something, however, as Garcia would put up the Coons’ first run later, in the third inning, with a solo homer to left that left the pitcher Perez and Paul Theobald with a sour look. Theobald responded with a leadoff walk in the bottom of the inning, and Yohan Bonneau then took up the part of going yard. 3-1 Hawks, and Bonneau would have another at-bat like that in the fifth to get the score to 5-1. Garcia went six with five runs (four earned) against him, and the Coons were – not doing much of anything. Yamada reached third base once, but was stranded, and in the eighth Martin singled home Fernandez, who had hit a leadoff double, but nobody was following up on that either. 5-2 Bayhawks. Martin 2-3, BB, RBI; Yamada 2-4, 2B; Bruno 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Yamada was thrown out twice in this game, both times stealing second base. He stole third successfully, however. Weird, huh?

In other news

April 18 – SAL SP Raúl Chavez (2-2, 1.47 ERA) is going to miss five weeks with a fractured finger.
April 20 – CIN SP Tynan Howard (0-1, 10.24 ERA) didn’t look right from the start and it has now been confirmed that he has suffered a torn flexor tendon and is out for the season.
April 21 – While the Capitals offense smothers the Cyclones for ten runs, WAS SP Chris York (3-1, 0.53 ERA) pitches a 3-hit shutout and sends an early statement to opposing lineups.
April 23 – Miguel Diaz (3-0, 2.37 ERA) tosses a 3-hitter for the Stars in their 5-0 win over the Miners.
April 24 – Back-to-back shutouts for Stars starters, as Manuel Hernandez (3-1, 1.61 ERA) 2-hits the Miners in another 5-0 shutout win.

Complaints and stuff

Yep, they've been fake. 66 runs in 19 games.

Remember the Concie trade that made you cry? We got a promising outfielder for it in 21-year old Bob Mays. In his first nine games in AAA, he batted .359/.405/.795 with 4 HR and 5 RBI, and stole five bases. And then he sprained his thumb.

A-ah.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (9-10) @ Condors (6-13) – April 26-28, 2005

The problem of the Condors was pitching, and it was a big one. They had in just three weeks run up a -48 run differential, with the worst run-avoidance program in the Continental League. They were seventh in runs scored.

Projected matchups:
Nick Brown (3-0, 2.13 ERA) vs. Kelvin Yates (0-2, 7.29 ERA)
Edgar Amador (1-3, 4.84 ERA) vs. Curt Powell (3-1, 6.93 ERA)
Ralph Ford (0-1, 3.67 ERA) vs. Jose Aguilar (1-3, 5.66 ERA)

That’s all right-handers, and with our abundance of left-handers to stuff the lineup with, this should play into our hands.

Game 1
POR: LF Fernandez – RF Brady – 3B Sharp – 1B Martin – CF Torrez – SS Yamada – 2B Nomura – C Wood – P Brown
TIJ: CF R. Perez – 3B N. Chavez – RF Luxton – C Cicalina – 1B Reya – SS B. Boyle – LF J. Thomas – 2B McGreary – P Yates

If there was a point to just throw in the towel and walk away, it was this game. This Tuesday night game at the plate of the worst team in the league.

Brown started off well, but was victimized by Daniel Sharp’s ****ty defense in the second inning. Bruce Boyle hit a 2-out triple into the gap in right center, which happens, but when Brown got a friendly grounder from Josh Thomas to third base, Sharp completely blew it and the run scored. Meanwhile, Yates and his 7+ ERA retired the first ten Raccoons until Brady walked in the top 4th, and Sharp quickly got him wound up in a double play. The bottom 4th however was the true soul crusher. Brown got Cicalina and Reya on the corners with a single, balk, and another single, with no outs. Then he struck out Boyle and Thomas. And then McGreary singled, which is, well, too bad, but now the pitcher came up and – doubled over Brady into the corner in right, and the score was blown out to 4-0, then 5-0 when Ramón Perez singled him home. It didn’t matter that Clyde Brady turned the play of the decade in the bottom 5th, when with Cicalina on first, Luis Reya doubled to right, Brady fired the ball home to kill off Cicalina, and Bobby Wood went to third where Reya was heading to get the third out of the inning there, our usual household 9-2-5 double play. The Coons managed ONE single (Fernandez’) in the time they made 26 outs, until Miguel Ramirez killed the Condors’ shutout with a pinch-hit 2-run triple, which was entirely useless in the bigger context. 6-2 Condors. Ramirez (PH) 1-1, 3B, 2 RBI;

To be fair, Yates led the Continental League in strikeouts the last two years. But other teams managed to hit him, too! The Coons can’t hit anybody.

The Coons could not steal candy from a three-year old.

Game 2
POR: 1B Sharp – LF Brady – 3B M. Ramirez – RF Greenman – SS Yamada – CF Torrez – 2B Nomura – C Wood – P Amador
TIJ: SS B. Boyle – C Cicalina – LF R. Perez – CF Luxton – RF J. Thomas – 1B B. Román – 3B Simon – 2B McGreary – P Powell

Brady made it back-to-back games for outfield assists, bringing the crusher down on Ramón Perez at home plate in the sixth inning. That kept the game scoreless through six, with the Critters having stranded two in the first, three in the second, and another two in the fourth. The Fat Cat had given up a leadoff double to Boyle, and then hardly anything in hits, but four walks through six. The scoring drought was broken the next inning with a pinch-hit 2-out homer by Nelson Chavez, and the Raccoons simply never scored, unable to press a clutch hit in between their dozen strikeouts, nine of which came against Powell in seven innings. 1-0 Condors. Amador 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 3 K, L (1-4);

Game 3
POR: 3B Sharp – LF Brady – RF Greenman – 1B Martin – CF Fernandez – SS Yamada – 2B Nomura – C Cooks – P Ford
TIJ: CF R. Perez – LF Bayle – RF Luxton – C Cicalina – 1B Reya – SS B. Boyle – 3B N. Chavez – 2B McGreary – P Aguilar

Wholly inept offense continued for the road team, while the Condors were unfortunate enough to get leadoff singles in the second and third innings, and then hit into 6-4-3 double-outs both times, which allowed Ford to face the minimum through three innings. He walked Perez to start the fourth, and Jimmy Bayle tripled the run home with a proper swing, then scored when Ford balked right after Sharp retired Robbie Luxton on a launching grab. At that point, down 2-0, the Coons were hitless. Fernandez drew a leadoff walk in the top 5th, and then the Double Yoshis delivered double hits, first a Yamada single, then an RBI double from Nomura. The Condors walked Cooks intentionally, which was a strange move with a .118 batter, to load them up with no outs, and then Ford struck out, Sharp struck out, Brady walked, and Greenman – struck out. At least the bottom 6th ended with Luxton nailed at home by Greenman on Cicalina’s double, which gave the the Condors an out at home in every game of the series. The Coons had their first two batters on in the sixth, after which they died, and in the eighth, when Fernandez hit into a double play. In a ninth inning that stretched like gum, Nomura drew a leadoff walk from Brian Patrick, was bunted over by Cooks, advanced on a wild pitch, before Torrez failed in a PH appearance, but then Sharp singled to left to get us on top. Angel Casas retired the side in order in the ninth to take at least one win from an outright dismal series. 3-2 Critters. Martin 2-4, 2B;

THOSE starters, and this team managed 13 hits and five runs – IN THE ENTIRE SERIES.

April, and I am already screaming and plotting how to make them all magically disappear. Why not to Topeka?

Raccoons (9-10) vs. Canadiens (12-9) – April 29-May 1, 2005

The Canadiens looked healthy early on, third in runs scored, and fourth in runs allowed, after a month of action. The Raccoons looked morbidly awful and terminally horrible. The Elks lead the season series 2-1 after beating us during Opening Week.

Projected matchups:
Felipe Garcia (1-1, 2.93 ERA) vs. Juichi Fujita (2-1, 2.45 ERA)
Ben Carlson (0-2, 4.00 ERA) vs. Cal Holbrook (2-0, 5.06 ERA)
Nick Brown (3-1, 2.87 ERA) vs. Scott Spears (3-1, 4.45 ERA)

An entire week of right-handers. The dice are falling strangely this year.

Game 1
VAN: CF E. Garcia – SS Nakayama – 1B Harmon – 2B Dobson – 3B Phillips – LF Wheaton – RF J. Gonzalez – C F. Diéguez – P Fujita
POR: 3B Sharp – LF Brady – RF Greenman – 1B Martin – SS Yamada – 2B Nomura – CF Torrez – C Wood – P F. Garcia

Jim Phillips hit his first home run of the season in the first inning, having it count for three and the Coons sat in an early hole which amounted roughly to their overall daily production. But they didn’t die silently: Sharp got on in the third, and Brady homered, to take the team lead with three, and get us back into a 3-2 game. Then, top 4th, Phillips doubled, Jose Gonzalez homered, and it was 5-2. And THEN they died silently. Garcia went seven without spilling any more, and Rockburn, Moreno, and Bruno finished the game from there, but with this offense, there was nothing to win. Both Yoshis were left on third base in the remainder of the game, and no Raccoon crossed home again. 5-2 Canadiens. Brady 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Nomura 2-4, 2B; Ramirez (PH) 1-1;

Cal Holbrook was skipped from the rotation by the Elks and would not face us.

Game 2
VAN: CF E. Garcia – SS Nakayama – 2B Dobson – RF Calzado – LF Wheaton – 1B Rodgers – 3B Rivas – C F. Diéguez – P Holbrook
POR: 3B Sharp – LF Fernandez – RF Brady – 1B Martin – SS Yamada – 2B Nomura – CF Torrez – C Wood – P Carlson

In a stunner, the Raccoons took a rousing 1-0 lead in the first inning, on a Brady double and a Martin single, and they didn’t immediately blow it. In fact, Carlson struck out three in a row early on and was not threatened in the first three innings, but the Elks loaded the bags in the fourth with a hit-by-pitch, a single, and a walk, before Edgardo Fernandez utterly robbed Alex Rivas of a bases-clearing double with a sprawling catch in the gap in left center, ending the inning, and the fifth ended with a K to Jerry Dobson with two Elks stranded. The Coons yet had to follow up Martin’s RBI single with anything. A Calzado single and Wheaton double put two runners in scoring position to start the top 6th, and Carlson was not going to recover from that. Both runs scored, it started to rain, and once Carlson retired Spears to start the seventh inning, the game went to delay, never to resume. 2-1 Canadiens. Martin 1-2, RBI; Carlson 6.1 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, L (0-3);

We had three hits against Scott Spears, and … well. There, I did it. I bit a piece off my clutched fist.

Game 3
VAN: CF E. Garcia – LF Trinidad – 1B Harmon – 2B Dobson – SS Nakayama – RF Wheaton – 3B Phillips – C F. Diéguez – P R. Taylor
POR: 3B Sharp – LF Brady – RF Greenman – 1B Martin – CF Fernandez – SS Yamada – 2B Nomura – C Wood – P Brown

First man up, Enrique Garcia was drilled by Brown, and Henry Harmon hit his first homer of the season for a quick 2-0 deficit, as Brownie Day was witnessed to run off the road and down a cliff by a paltry Sunday crowd. Rod Taylor (2-2, 3.30 ERA) hadn’t thrown a pitch yet and had already won. While Brown had good innings, like whiffing the side in the third inning, and getting two strikeouts in to end the fifth after Diéguez had led off with a double through Martin and being bunted to third, but overall he was not the dominant guy from the first four starts. And the Coons sucked, which was a problem, too. They loaded the bases on a generous walk to Brady, a cheap single, and some more dumb luck, but scored only one run in the bottom 1st, and then were entirely awful. They didn’t get another hit until the fifth, when Wood hit a leadoff single, but Brown got him written off with a bad bunt which Taylor played to second for a force. Sharp made a poor out, but then Brady doubled to right and Brown would not stop running and scored the tying run. Clyde would be left on by Greenman, and the score remained tied at two. Henry Harmon drew a leadoff walk in the top 6th and then Dobson ALMOST went yard, with Greenman making the pick right at the top of the wall in right. Brown got a visit from the pitching coach, then struck out Haruki Nakayama and Dave Wheaton, and struck out the side in the seventh. When Bobby Wood hit a 1-out double in the bottom of the inning, Ramirez hit for Brown, flew out, Wood to third, and then Matt King was undusted to hit for a startlingly overwhelmed Daniel Sharp. And that inning ended on a foul pop. Marcos Bruno, hardly used recently with ONE batter faced all week, held the Elks down for two innings to give the Coons a chance for their fourth walkoff in just nine home games this season. Taylor was still pitching in the ninth, and got the second-worst possible result from Yoshi Yamada’s plate appearance that started the inning. Yamada drilled a 1-1 offering to right center, it fell between the fielders, and Yamada scooted to third base with a triple.

GODDAMN, SCORE HIM!!!!

Then Nomura grounded out to short, and Yamada had to hold on the hard grounder. Wood walked. Ramirez whiffed. Torrez hit for Bruno with left-hander Juan Santana coming on to counter him, and sure enough we went to extras. After two innings of crying profusely, the bottom 12th already gave the Coons another chance as their offense, obviously living in the fast lane, was humming after a leadoff single by Ramirez. Law Rockburn had already pitched two innings, and was now used to bunt Ramirez to second, from where he could score on a Brady single. Alas, Brady never got a ball to hit and instead was used as a potential double play goat by the Elks, but then Pedro Alvarado’s first pitch to Christian Greenman was wild and Ramirez was at third, and Brady at second. Next intentional walk, loading them up for Al Martin. Martin didn’t fare well against the righty Alvarado, whiffing, and Fernandez lined out to Dobson. Huerta then pitched the top 13th, and when Yamada smacked a single to right off Cal Holbrook, the righty evicted from the start in the middle game, Pedro Hurtado, a catcher by trade, overran the ball and Yamada ended up at second base on the error. After an intentional walk to Nomura, Wood and Ramirez struck out, leaving Huerta with a bat in his hands. Only Sheehan and Cooks on the bench – go Richie. Huerta jabbed Holbrook’s first pitch into play, it picked up speed as it bounced off the back side of the mound, under a diving Holbrook, and then was last seen escaping the converging middle infielders. Yoshi-Y was well safe at home. 3-2 Coons. Brady 2-4, 2 BB, 2B, RBI; Yamada 2-6, 3B; Wood 2-5, 2B; Brown 7.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 11 K; Bruno 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K; Rockburn 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K; Huerta 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K and 1-1, RBI;

In other news

9-year old Danny Martin from Rosewood is looking for his cat Tuffy, who’s been missing since Thursday. Tuffy is a tomcat, three years old, black, with white paws, and loves to steal the family dog’s food.

Complaints and stuff

Lineup for Monday: Yamada – Amador – Brady – Greenman – Brown – Huerta – Garcia – Ford – Wood … well, somebody’s gotta catch.

The level of non-hitting shown by the team is jaw-dropping. The offense can’t do anything. We got some sparks from Brady and Greenman, some speed whenever Yamada accidentally gets on, which didn’t happen a lot this week, and really nothing else. Sharp started strong, and now hacks, hacks, and hacks. Martin is last year’s Martin, and last year’s Martin was unpleasant. Torrez has been completely dissolved in sucker’s acid. Has anybody seen Yoshi Nomura lately?

The most worrying really is Sharp. He’s an automatic strikeout. In his previous full seasons he had between 76 and 109 strikeouts. He is at 30 already. The OPS is soundly the worst of his career. And he has made five mostly dumb errors already. The base running blunders have toned down. But that ties in to the strikeouts.

All of this is a crying shame, because the team actually has a winning team’s pitching staff, despite some holes (Carlson, anyone?). Even Kichida has not been outrageously bad. Moreno has been, though.

How has our offseason booty fared in the minors so far? We already talked about how Mays has gotten hurt. Adrian Quebell’s OPS is .822 in AAA, but with only one homer. Ryan Miller is struggling to a .673 OPS in Ham Lake, which is certainly not great. Tim Bell is starting for Ham Lake, and has been dipped into boiling oil to a 8.18 ERA so far.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (11-14) vs. Crusaders (12-12) – May 2-5, 2005

While the Crusaders were right about average in runs scored, they rode the second-best rotation in the league to overcome the fourth-worst bullpen. Also, here the two teams in the Continental League with the lowest batting averages met up. The Crusaders hit .240 to the Coons’ display of .239;

Projected matchups:
Edgar Amador (1-4, 3.99 ERA) vs. Kelly Fairchild (1-1, 1.84 ERA)
Ralph Ford (0-1, 3.44 ERA) vs. Whit Reeves (1-3, 4.65 ERA)
Felipe Garcia (1-2, 3.63 ERA) vs. Greg Connor (1-2, 3.28 ERA)
Ben Carlson (0-3, 3.70 ERA) vs. Frank Pierre (3-1, 1.96 ERA)

We start with three right-handers, before we will get the southpaw Pierre on Thursday, who is the only starter with a winning record in this series. Well, I’m sure ex-Furball Kelly Fairchild will get there when the Fat Cat walks another bushel.

Game 1
NYC: SS Rice – 1B D. Carroll – LF M. Ortíz – RF S. Martin – C D. Anderson – 3B Caraballo – CF Pena – 2B Moultrie – P Fairchild
POR: 1B Sharp – LF Brady – 3B M. Ramirez – RF Greenman – 2B Nomura – SS Yamada – CF Torrez – C Wood – P Amador

After a scoreless first, the lead went back and forth in rapid succession, starting with Todd Moultrie’s RBI triple with two out in the top 2nd. The Coons would take a 2-1 lead when Torrez doubled in a pair in the bottom 2nd, but a Gary Rice homer tied the score to start the third, and the Crusaders got another run on a Stanton Martin double. Bottom 3rd, Brady reached, and Greenman then went deep to restore order, 4-3 Coons. Two errors by the Crusaders helped the Coons to a sac fly off Bobby Wood’s lumber in the bottom 5th, but that extra run was handed back by Amador in his final inning, the sixth, and Huerta blew the lead in the seventh while looking very much ****. After Dave Williams struck out three right-handers in the top 8th to preserve a tied game, Francisco Caraballo made a terrible throwing error to put Clyde Brady on second base to start the bottom 8th. Ramirez singled, but Brady was held at third, but when Greenman got up he took lefty Ignacio Garcia WELL DEEP to straightaway centerfield! New lead, three runs, which nothing was added to before Angel Casas got the ball for the ninth, facing the top of the order. After Rice grounded out, Casas walked Dave Carroll and was 3-1 on Ortíz before the leftfielder grounded into a force, but the Japanese Connection didn’t turn the double play. Angel came back nicely, however, and struck out Martin to end the game. 9-6 Coons. Greenman 3-4, BB, 2 HR, 5 RBI; Nomura 2-4, BB, 2 2B; Yamada 2-5, RBI; Torrez 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI;

Stop it, boys, stop it! Nine runs! I’m dizzy!

Also: among our top 3 in wins is but one starter now (Brownie of course), while the second tier is made up by Williams and Casas with two apiece.

Game 2
NYC: SS Rice – 3B Caraballo – RF S. Martin – LF M. Ortíz – CF Javier – 1B L. Soto – C O’Riordan – 2B Moultrie – P Reeves
POR: LF Brady – 2B Nomura – RF Greenman – 1B A. Martin – CF Torrez – SS Yamada – 3B M. Ramirez – C Cooks – P Ford

Not wanting to annoy me, the Raccoons scrapped the offensive prowess shown in the opener, and also added catastrophic fielding and utterly ******ed pitching. Ford sucked balls, and would be rapped for a dozen hits in the game over 5.2 innings. The amazing thing was that the middle infield turned a pair of double plays to limit the damage greatly, but even that effort was undone by Curt Cooks, who decided that not hitting a lick was not enough, and made not one, but TWO hair-raising throwing errors that led to about all the runs the Crusaders actually scored off Ralph Ford: two in the second inning, and three in the sixth, the latter all being unearned. The Raccoons’ only run had been unearned at that point, and they were 5-1 behind, and were out-hit 12-3. That 4:1 ratio would not become any smaller until the end of the game. A run fell out of Law Rockburn in the seventh, and the Crusaders finished the game with 16 hits. The Raccoons would have four hits in a game that did not adequately express the lopsidedness in its final result, at all. 6-1 Crusaders.

Game 3
NYC: SS Rice – 1B D. Carroll – LF M. Ortíz – RF S. Martin – CF Javier – C D. Anderson – 3B Caraballo – 2B Moultrie – P Connor
POR: LF Brady – 2B Nomura – RF Greenman – 1B A. Martin – CF Fernandez – 3B Sharp – SS Yamada – C Wood – P F. Garcia

Top 3rd of a scoreless game, Todd Moultrie led off with an infield single that Garcia couldn’t dig out. Then Martin failed to play Greg Connor’s bunt for another infield single, and when Rice made an out, Dave Carroll walked to load them up. Ortíz singled to center, Fernandez’ throw back home was airmailed to Mexico and two runs scored, and that wasn’t all, as Paco Javier found a way to work in a 2-out triple to romp the score to 4-0. The game was over right there. A semi-decent team would have taken a manly loss, but would have ended the game without actively ridiculing the flock of sorry fans that had actually paid to see a rather expensive circus. Not so the Raccoons. Garcia gave up another run in the fifth, and then in the sixth Sharp and Fernandez made errors to start the inning. Garcia came out, some other mook came in, bad things happened, and we had another utmost depressing game, in which Greg Connor, who can’t throw harder than 90 miles an hour, and has no control whatsoever, pitched a complete game win on four hits. 6-1 Crusaders. Rockburn 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

For sobbing out loud …

Game 4
NYC: SS Rice – 1B D. Carroll – LF M. Ortíz – RF S. Martin – CF Javier – C D. Anderson – 3B Caraballo – 2B Moultrie – P Pierre
POR: SS Yamada – LF Fernandez – RF Greenman – 1B A. Martin – 3B Sharp – CF King – 2B Sheehan – C Wood – P Carlson

Yoshi-Y singled, stole second, and scored on Fernandez’ single before some Coon hit into a double play, but it was 1-0 in support of Carlson after one inning. The score wouldn’t change for four innings, with a few more double plays a factor in that. Carlson looked good until a grounder by Moultrie went past a diving Al Martin for a leadoff single in the sixth. Pierre struck out bunting, but the Crusaders soon had Gary Rice double home the run, 1-1, and they went to the corners before mysteriously letting Carlson escape. Bottom of the inning, the Coons had them on the corners for lifeless Danny Sharp, whose grounder went right through Caraballo for an RBI double and restored the 1-run lead. Then came the seventh and Carlson stopped throwing strikes. He walked Paco Javier, who was bunted to second by Anderson, and then Caraballo popped out on a 2-0 pitch. Lefty Roberto Pena then hit for Moultrie, which prompted a move to Dave Williams, who got a groundout to Yoshi-Y to preserve the 2-1 lead. Marcos Bruno allowed a 2-out walk to Dave Carroll in the top 8th while striking out all other batters he faced, and Casas got ready. Well, we might get some offense before going to him, and Yamada and Nomura went to the corners, and then Sharp fouled out to end the bottom 8th. So, Casas, facing the 4-5-6 batters. Stanton Martin hit a leadoff single before getting sucked up by Paco Javier’s double play grounder. Apasyu Britton hit for Anderson, walked, and the trainer saw something and called for the hook on Casas. The (few) fans were stunned, a few kids in the first row cried when Angel was walked out. Ricardo Huerta came in to face Caraballo, who grounded to Yamada for an out at second base. 2-1 Coons. Yamada 3-4; Fernandez 2-4, 2B, RBI; Nomura (PH) 1-1; Carlson 6.2 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, W (1-3) and 1-2;

Yes, I cried as well when Angel was walked out.

Raccoons (13-16) @ Wolves (15-13) – May 6-8, 2005

The Wolves looked not quite as good as they were. While they didn’t hit for average, they hit for extra bases rather well, and scored the fourth-most runs in the Federal League, while their pitching staff was simply the best over there. Especially delicate was their bullpen, which held opponents 1.38 earned runs per nine innings. Flippin’ Furball, and we’re 11th in bullpen ERA over here, and we’ve lost Angel!

Projected matchups:
Nick Brown (3-1, 2.82 ERA) vs. Manny Guzmán (3-2, 2.54 ERA)
Edgar Amador (1-4, 4.08 ERA) vs. Brad Osborne (2-2, 6.47 ERA)
Ralph Ford (0-2, 3.63 ERA) vs. Max Shepherd (3-1, 3.27 ERA)

Frank Pierre might be the only southpaw we see this week, because the Wolves might hurl three more right-handers at us.

Game 1
POR: SS Yamada – LF Brady – CF Fernandez – 1B Martin – RF Greenman – 3B Sharp – 2B Nomura – C Wood – P Brown
SAL: LF F. Guerra – CF F. Jones – SS Hutchinson – 1B A. Munoz – RF Mashiba – C McClendon – 2B Fleming – 3B O. Rios – P M. Guzmán

The Raccoons struck first - … erase that. The Raccoons somehow happened into a run in the second inning. The Wolves struck last, but actually struck. Brown whiffed absolutely nobody, and fooled not even his grandmother. In the bottom 3rd he offered a leadoff walk to Orlando Rios. Guzmán singled in a 2-2 count, and that led to an RBI single by Fernando Guerra. Then Freddie Jones fooled Fernandez with a line drive that fell in and rolled all the way to California for a 2-run triple, and he would eventually score as well. Four runs in the inning, Brown torn to shreds, still no strikeouts, and the Coons were the Coons. Greenman hit a solo homer in the fourth. Maybe they could actually get back in? Top 5th, Brady got on, Fernandez got on, Martin hit an RBI groundout, and then Greenman hit a looper onto the right foul line – safe – to plate Fernandez, and the score was even. But Brown was still awful, limped through five, then put the 7-8 batters on with singles in the bottom 6th. Two out, Ted Mullins hit for the pitcher, and Huerta came out to face the righty. Mullins hit a hard shot to left that Brady had no chance at ever getting to and two runs scored. For the Wolves, Paco Leoniedas, Colby Kirk, and Aurelio Garcia would not allow another base runner for the visiting team. 6-4 Wolves. Greenman 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Williams 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Game 2
POR: SS Yamada – LF Brady – CF Fernandez – 1B Martin – RF Greenman – 3B Sharp – 2B Nomura – C Wood – P Amador
SAL: CF Gentil – 1B T. Mullins – SS Hutchinson – LF F. Guerra – C Ledesma – 2B Davidson – RF F. Jones – 3B O. Rios – P Sackett

Surprise – the Wolves reworked their rotation (and some of their roster) and we faced Carlos Sackett in the middle contest. Sackett had a 6.75 ERA and no decisions after 9.1 innings of work. He immediately went into business and suppressed the Raccoons, while the Wolves jumped onto Amador for three runs in the first inning, with two of the runners walking. The Raccoons didn’t matter with the bat until the top 4th, when Fernandez singled and Martin doubled to put runners in scoring position with no outs. Greenman hit a sac fly, and Sharp grounded to third, only for Rios to misplay it for an error. The tying runs were now on the corners with one out, and fittingly Nomura hit into a double play. They left another runner on in the fifth, with Amador allowing a run in the bottom of that inning, 4-1, then had the bases loaded in the top 6th with Torrez hitting for Wood with two down. Torrez grounded hard to right, but Karl Davidson cut the ball off and played to first in time, and nobody scored. Nobody ever scored. Sackett went eight with ease, while Amador didn’t last past six, and was soundly beaten. They are always soundly beaten. 5-2 Wolves. Fernandez 2-3; Martin 2-4, 2 2B; Ramirez (PH) 1-1, 2B;

And the weekend got even better, because the fun never stops in Portland. Angel Casas has been diagnosed with a partial tear in his labrum and will be out for about two months – at least.

That puts Bruno back to closing, and we called up Ed Bryan from AAA. He’s a lefty, but he’s killing AAA batters, and Dave Williams has also fared quite well against right-handers this season and might be able to cope with more general usage.

Or maybe not, because nothing ever ****ing works in Portland.

Game 3
POR: LF Brady – 3B Sharp – RF Greenman – 1B Martin – CF King – 2B Nomura – C Wood – SS Sheehan – P Ford
SAL: 2B Fleming – CF Gentil – 1B A. Munoz – RF Mashiba – C McClendon – LF F. Jones – SS Davidson – 3B O. Rios – P Rogers

Steve Rogers (2-3, 3.59 ERA) came up as Sunday’s Special Southpaw Serving from Salem. Rogers not only suffocated the few Coons that still had a pulse with a pillow, he also drove in a run with a 2-out RBI double in the bottom 2nd, which already made it 2-0 against Ford. That became 3-0 by the fourth, and there were two in scoring position with two out when Tom Fleming’s looper to shallow right had Nomura and Greenman converge at rapid pace and almost take each other’s heads off. Greenman actually made the play and the inning ended, with two hits, one run, and no forcefully deceased Critters. When Nomura led off the fifth with a double and Bobby Wood actually singled, they almost would have started an actual rally, but Brad Sheehan’s precisely placed double play grounder held them to one run. Also, Ford gave that run right back. Top 6th, Brady singled, Sharp singled, Brady to third, no outs. Greenman singled, Brady in, tying runs on first and second and still no outs. And then, Martin, double play. It started to rain soon after, the baseball gods laughing so hard they hard to cry. The rain forced a 1-hour delay in the bottom 7th to knock Ford from the game, with Bryan Gentil on second base. When play resumed, Ed Bryan ended the inning without the runner scoring. Top 8th, the Coons faced Avtandil Tarakhanov. Brady walked, Sharp got him forced, and then Greenman’s double scored only one run. Colby Kirk replaced Tarakhanov to face Martin, but Martin hit a double that closely followed the path beaten by Greenman’s and tied the game. Martin was then left on when Fernandez hit for Bryan in the #5 hole. Law Rockburn pitched two scoreless frames to get us into extras, where in the top 10th we had two on with two out and Martin flew to deep center, but got that screamer caught by Gentil. Martin then vanished in a double switch that brought in Domingo Moreno, who allowed a 1-out double to Taisuke Mashiba, who then tried to advance on Pablo Ledesma’s fly out to Torrez in centerfield. Torrez’ throw was right into Ramirez’ glove at third base and Mashiba was out, pushing the game to the 11th. There, the Wolves got a leadoff double by Brandon Bass, and although we yanked Moreno it was too late. Kichida surrendered a walkoff single to Dave Hutchinson. 5-4 Wolves. Greenman 3-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Wood 3-5; Rockburn 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

And thus, the Wolves have swept us in consecutive seasons.

Yay.

In other news

May 8 – NYC OF Paco Javier (.262, 2 HR, 15 RBI) might miss two months with a strained oblique.

Complaints and stuff

When Nick Brown is your only remaining source of joy, and he pitches like he did on Friday, your whole life is just a continuous walk through hell. Fittingly, we dropped to dead last in the BNN power rankings. In all fairness, if a team needs 32 games to reach 100 runs scored, that should come with a mandatory disbandment. Or dismemberment, which might be more funny. We are last in ALL offensive categories, minus slugging (11th!), homers (t-9th), extra-base hits (t-10th), and stolen bases (10th).

LAST … in HITS … AND WALKS … AND IN STRIKEOUTS!!

Of course this could be seen coming all along, but have I mentioned that I intend on unloading the last few semi-capable pieces on this team?

And in case there’s any doubt, this is all the Mexican Prick’s fault. ****ing bastard. I expect you to keep praying that he gets blown up by a rival drug lord.

Daniel Sharp has not had a multi-hit game since April 19. To be precise, he’s 8-for-59 (.135) since then. Add six walks to that. And fifteen strikeouts. He’s shed 114 points off his batting average.

And Sharp is an interesting player, because getting on base is the only thing he’s capable of. He can’t swat for power. He can’t field (with 14 errors and -3.1 ZR on average over his four full seasons). He is dumb as a brick and lacks basic baseball instincts on the bases. Without a .300 batting average, he doesn’t even reach replacement level.

Before this season, he accumulated 13.9 WAR in his career. He is at 0.1 WAR for 2005.

Which is an introduction to the slight hint at a potential extinction event happening to this roster in the very near future.

The Pacifics use Neil Reece as pinch-hitter only, and he has only five hits so far this season. He needs 12 more for 2,000.

Remember miserable Eric Thrift, whom we drafted last year and who went 0-15 in 18 starts for the Aumsville Beagles last year? He finally won a game! Yay!!

[Westheim]

This NWSN Portland Raccoons telecast is presented by …

Capt’n Coma’s Special Stew – when simply being drunk ain’t enough,

Portland Pest Control – gets rid of all unwanted vermin in your house, and

National Suicide Hotline – we can find a way, tomorrow.

Raccoons (13-19) vs. Rebels (14-18) – May 10-12, 2005

The Raccoons were historically inept against the Rebels, not only as far as that unfortunate 1996 World Series was concerned, but also during the regular season. Of 30 games played between the teams, the Raccoons had won merely eight, and none since 1998!

This time, the two worst offensive alignments of both leagues would meet, as the Rebels ranked bottom with 116 runs scored in the Federal League (and that was still 16% more than the Raccoons could have been bothered to put up). Their pitching was ninth, with a porous bullpen that was the second-worst in the FL.

Projected matchups:
Felipe Garcia (1-3, 4.24 ERA) vs. Jesus Cabrera (2-0, 2.47 ERA)
Ben Carlson (1-3, 3.19 ERA) vs. John Webb (3-1, 3.20 ERA)
Nick Brown (3-2, 3.68 ERA) vs. Esteban Flores (0-5, 3.73 ERA)

Spot the ex-Raccoon in those three right-handers.

Game 1
RIC: CF MacNamara – 1B Batlle – C James – 3B A. Gonzalez – LF G. Rios – SS B. Hall – RF L. Jenkins – 2B Brantley – P Cabrera
POR: SS Yamada – LF Brady – RF Greenman – 1B Martin – 3B Sharp – 2B Nomura – CF Torrez – C Wood – P F. Garcia

A whiff, a soft single, a wild pitch, another soft single, oh look, the Rebels are up 1-0 already, and I haven’t eaten taken a bite from my hot dog yet! The Coons managed to sneak Yamada and Brady into scoring position with two out in the bottom 3rd, but Greenman’s groundout to Brantley kept them on base to slowly rot away. When their animate corpses regained possession of bases again, first and second with no outs in the sixth, Greenman masterfully rolled into a 6-4-3 and Martin took over the part where the final out was made to Ron Brantley. Garcia meanwhile completed seven innings in strong fashion, spilling only two more singles, a hit batter, a walk, and another wild pitch, nothing of which particularly helpful to the Rebels, but the Raccoons just wouldn’t support him, kindly or otherwise. Jesus Cabrera hit Nomura with a pitch in the bottom 7th, then struck out Torrez and Wood to end the frame. No output, just none. The top 8th saw Dave Williams get three outs on three pitches, and the top 9th had Ed Bryan whiff a pair to overcome two singles. In the bottom 9th the Raccoons actually shortly breathed. Martin rolled out against “Baby Bull” Navarro, but Sharp then doubled to left, already the single biggest contact the team had put in the entire game. Nomura popped out to third on 3-1, but Torrez somehow walked. Edgardo Fernandez hit for Bob Wood, and struck out. 1-0 Rebels. Brady 2-4; Sharp 2-4, 2B; Garcia 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 8 K, L (1-4);

I really can’t offer any emotional support. We have another 129 games on the schedule, and every single one of them will go like this.

But in the meantime:

Trade

Just before noon on Wednesday, the Raccoons announced a trade with their division rivals, the Canadiens. The Raccoons send 26-year old INF Miguel Ramirez (.212, 0 HR, 3 RBI) north and will receive 27-year old OF Dave Wheaton (.349, 1 HR, 15 RBI).

Ramirez will never bat any more than .225, and if you don’t hit for power and you’re not a defensive asset, .225 is ****. Wheaton plays all outfield positions well and is a career .293 batter with a bit of power. In a full season, he might hit up to 15 homers in a good year, but he’s not going to be a starter for us unless the plague comes over our other outfielders. He only makes $258k this year, so he’s not a terrible burden.

Wheaton was placed on the active roster. We’re now an infielder short and have six outfielders, but looking at some guys’ stats, that situation will change shortly.

Raccoons (13-19) vs. Rebels (14-18) – May 10-12, 2005

Game 2
RIC: CF MacNamara – 1B Batlle – C James – 3B A. Gonzalez – LF G. Rios – SS B. Hall – RF L. Jenkins – 2B Brantley – P E. Flores
POR: SS Yamada – LF Brady – RF Greenman – 1B Martin – 3B Sharp – 2B Nomura – CF Torrez – C Wood – P Carlson

The Rebels went up 1-0 again in the top 1st, but had three on when Gerardo Rios hit into an inning-ending double play. Carlson had been whacked every which way by the first few batters, and this set the trend for this start. In the second, they had Lou Jenkins on second base when Flores doubled through Sharp, and after MacNamara walked, Paco Batlle homered to make it 5-0. Without a mercy rule in place, the Raccoons had to lumber on, albeit lumber- and listless. After four, they had hit into two double plays and had left the bags choked full in the second. Amazingly, the Rebels called it a day after the second inning. After getting shellacked for five runs in two innings, Carlson would toss another FIVE innings of hitless ball. The Rebels just didn’t bother. While this was crying out for punishment, the Raccoons didn’t know squid about making an honest effort, and accepted being shut out by Esteban Flores. The Rebels didn’t have another hit until with two out in the ninth, when Kichida allowed singles to Jenkins and Brantley. There, Vern Kinnear(!) appeared to hit for Flores, while we went to Moreno, who struck him out. 5-0 Rebels. Fernandez (PH) 1-1; Sharp 2-4; Wood 2-3; Kichida 1.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

Poor Vern. He’s batting .111 in 18 AB this year. :-( He hasn’t done well at all since that walkoff infield single to notch the 2002 World Series, and I think we will blend out everything beyond that and remember him for what he was in the 1990s, although the raised first and the yellow #16 on the blue uni will always taint that picture.

But well, it was good for HIM! I’m happy for him, he had a World Series-winning hit, how many Coons can claim they have one? *

Meanwhile the Coons haven’t score in 21 innings…

Game 3
RIC: CF MacNamara – SS B. Hall – C James – 3B A. Gonzalez – RF G. Rios – 1B Batlle – 2B Brantley – LF L. Jenkins – P Webb
POR: SS Yamada – LF Wheaton – RF Brady – 1B Martin – 3B Sharp – 2B Nomura – CF Torrez – C Cooks – P Brown

Not scoring ended at 21 innings, just barely, when Daniel Sharp’s grounder eluded Bob Hall and Dave Wheaton scored from second base after reaching on an infield single in the first place. 1-0 in the first, but we cautiously watched Brownie has he did not strike out anybody until he faced Webb in the third inning. On the other hand, the Rebels had a hard time reaching base early on, only doing so on Batlle taking one for the team, and MacNamara drawing a walk in the third, but then being caught stealing by Curt Cooks. Gerardo Rios’ leadoff jack in the fifth then spoiled the party as it tied the score. Would the Raccoons score again? Well… Nothing really happened until Rios was back at the plate in the seventh, and Brownie ended the inning by striking him out. Rios jawed, Rios was tossed. Brownie now had 8 K after picking up the pace. He still had no support. Bottom 7th, Sharp led off with a single. Torrez singled past Brantley, and Brown was up to bat with two on and two out. He blooped a single to right, but Sharp wasn’t going to score on that. Webb was still in there, facing Yamada, and Yoshi-Y … fouled out, 50 feet high, and two feet over in the other batter’s box. Brown went nine, game still tied. Bottom 9th, Sharp led off against ex-Coon Qi-zhen Geng and his 7.07 ERA, and was the first of three quick outs. Extra innings, and Brown hissed and clawed when we tried to take the ball. While Alfredo Gonzalez led off with a single (the Rebels’ second hit on the day!!), Brown struck out Germao Alisto to casually set a Continental League record for strikeouts in an extra-inning game, then got a double play from Batlle. He still couldn’t get a win. Moreno pitched a scoreless 11th before we faced lefty Bartolo Ortíz, and all we got was Matt King walking in Martin’s place. Top 12th, Gonzalez homered off Huerta, as did Alisto. Bottom 12th, Torrez walked, Cooks hit into a double play. Greenman singled. Yamada singled. Fernandez hit for Ed Bryan. Fernandez struck out. 3-1 Rebels. Yamada 2-6; Sharp 2-5, RBI; Torrez 2-4, BB; Brown 10.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 12 K and 1-3;

****ing team of ****s.

Raccoons (13-22) vs. Titans (19-14) – May 13-15, 2005

The Titans, t-4th in runs scored and 4th in runs allowed, looked markedly human with a mere .576 winning percentage. Let’s see what we can do about that.

Projected matchups:
Edgar Amador (1-5, 4.35 ERA) vs. Jason O’Halloran (3-1, 2.88 ERA)
Ralph Ford (0-2, 3.88 ERA) vs. Bryce Hildred (4-2, 3.80 ERA)
Felipe Garcia (1-4, 3.80 ERA) vs. Joe Mann (4-2, 4.07 ERA)

Game 1
BOS: SS D. Silva – 1B M. Austin – LF G. Munoz – RF Brulhart – C L. Lopez – 2B Metting – CF Garrison – 3B Matsumoto – P O’Halloran
POR: SS Yamada – 3B Sharp – LF Wheaton – RF Greenman – 1B Martin – CF Torrez – 2B Sheehan – C Wood – P Amador

The Fat Cat was the first Coon to reach base in the game, drawing an actual walk off “Monster” O’Halloran in the bottom 3rd before Yamada grounded out. Then the game was still scoreless, which held true to the fifth. There, Eddie Torrez lobbed a ball over Kurt Metting and it dropped right in front of the rushing Jim Brulhart (who was OPS’ing over 1.000). Sheehan then had a proper hit, a double into the left corner, giving the Coons runners on second and third and no outs. Wood was put on intentionally, and Amador had a productive RBI groundout. Another run scored on a Yamada sac fly to right, before O’Halloran drilled Sharp and Wheaton drew another walk. That brought up Christian Greenman, who led the team in homers. Second pitch, contact, and everybody froze in utter amazement at that unstoppable rocket. GRAAAAAAAAAND SLAAAAAAAAAMMMM!!!!!

While Greenman’s shot was still establishing orbit, Martin flew out to deep center, ending that 6-run fifth inning. The Cat would better hold on to that, insisted on walking Mark Austin to start the sixth, but Munoz hit into a double play. The Titans then loaded the bases in the seventh, getting Amador removed with two out and the pest Silva coming to the plate. Dave Williams got him to ground out. After their fifth inning prowess, the Raccoons did not get back on base until Sheehan singled with two out in the eighth. Nomura had a pinch-hit single in place of Wood, but Fernandez flew out to left center when he hit for Bryan. Huerta put runners on the corners in the ninth, but survived to tell about it. 6-0 Coons! Greenman 1-3, BB, HR, 4 RBI; Sheehan 2-4, 2B; Nomura (PH) 1-1; Amador 6.2 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 1 K, W (2-5);

This was Eddie Torrez’ last game. His .152 bat was optioned to AAA. We promoted 3B Steve Searcy to make his major league debut. Searcy, 24, was our eighth round pick in the 2000 draft, and very slowly worked his way through the minors. He never batted for a lot of home runs, but this year has six in 80 AB in St. Petersburg, for a .968 OPS. His defensive skills are average, and he was not really a base stealer. He bats right-handed.

Game 2
BOS: SS D. Silva – 3B Matsumoto – RF G. Munoz – 2B Metting – 1B M. Austin – C R. Rivera – LF Brulhart – CF Garrison – P Mann
POR: SS Yamada – LF Brady – 3B Sharp – RF Greenman – CF Fernandez – 1B Martin – 2B Nomura – C Wood – P Ford

And Greenman continued to torture his old team that never saw use for him in a starting role, hitting a 2-run homer in the first inning to follow up a Sharp double. Fernandez walked, but was thrown out at home on Martin’s double. Following up on such an inning would be big, maybe too big for the Coons (maybe??), and so Ford was relegated to his own skill set, which was not good news when the Titans were in town. He made it through three, but the fourth saw Munoz hit a single up the middle, Metting walked, then there was a passed ball on Wood, and oh, yeah, no outs in the inning. Ricardo Rivera doubled in the runners with one out after Austin had lined out to Nomura, and the tied game was only preserved after strong plays by Yamada and Fernandez that ended the inning. Fernandez was on again after a single in the bottom 4th, and this time scored on Martin’s double, which came AFTER a balk was called on Joe Mann. So, 3-2 lead again, and it lasted something like two minutes before it was Joe Mann to punish Ford with a leadoff homer in the fifth inning. The Titans stranded a pair in scoring position in that inning, and in the sixth Brady had to race after hard hit flies three times and caught all of them. The Coons had runners on the corners with two out in the sixth, Wheaton hit for Ford and grounded out. Hard contact continued to be the Titans’ specialty in this game, and they overcame the outfielders and the Coons’ pen for a run on three hits, including two doubles, in the seventh inning, while the Coons stranded another pair in the bottom 7th. The top 8th continued to be exciting. First, Rivera lined out hard to Nomura, who had to jump, fell backwards and dug a hole with the back of his head. He ended up lying on the ground for a minute before he was gingerly walked off, eyes closed, and replaced by Sheehan. The next batter that Kaz Kichida faced, Brulhart, struck out on a borderline 3-2 pitch, and gave the umpire quite an earful, then also was walked off gingerly by the next man in the order, Rudy Garrison, after being tossed while his manager also got his money’s worth. While the Titans got booed a bit, the Coons couldn’t get bats up anymore. In the bottom 9th, two down against Ramiro Román, Brady drew a walk, bringing up Sharp, who lobbed a soft line to shallow center – but was denied by Garrison. Law Rockburn took the loss. 4-3 Titans. Sharp 2-4, 2B; Greenman 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Fernandez 2-3, BB; Martin 3-4, 2 2B, RBI;

From the kind uncle’s strategy booklet, that he once found in a box of cereal: we made a rare triple switch after the eighth. The #9 hole with Kichida was due to lead off in the bottom 9th, down 4-3. Bruno was set to relieve him, but we didn’t want him to pitch only one inning on the off chance that we would tie it. The next batter that was possible to replace in the order going up was #8 Wood, but that would mean Cooks going into the #9 hole. THEN it would be better to have BRUNO bat! So Bruno went to the #8 hole, Cooks into #5, and King replaced Fernandez in center, batting ninth.

Yoshi-N was diagnosed with a concussion after he didn’t remember that he didn’t like Gaytirade at all, and only realized it after four cups. It’s not too serious, but he should not hold that noggin’ into harm’s way while he’s dazed, and so Nomura made a trip to the DL. He might be good after the minimum 15 days.

In dire need for a middle infielder after having trade Miguel Ramirez earlier in the week, we promoted AAA utility guy Tom Ingram to the major league roster. He plays all positions well, but that is about everything he does. He is a .233 switch-hitting batter in merely 90 AB in AAA. We drafted him in the ninth round in 2002.

On Sunday morning we got a new player, having claimed C Leon Ramirez (.236, 1 HR, 15 RBI) off waivers by the Gold Sox. Ramirez had been made redundant after they had traded for the Knights’ Ricardo Valadez (.240, 1 HR, 3 RBI) earlier in the week, sending old utility man 2B/3B Jose Perez (.385, 0 HR, 6 RBI in 26 AB) to Atlanta.

Ramirez, a 32-year old cheap right-hander was added to the roster and Curt Cooks designated for assignment, batting .074…

Game 3
BOS: SS D. Silva – 1B M. Austin – LF G. Munoz – C L. Lopez – 2B Metting – CF Garrison – RF W. Taylor – 3B Matsumoto – P Hildred
POR: LF Brady – SS Yamada – RF Greenman – 1B Martin – CF Fernandez – C L. Ramirez – 3B Searcy – 2B Ingram – P F. Garcia

Runner on third, two out, we did not walk Matsumoto intentionally in the second inning, since Hildred as ex-Coon had that extra punishment factor and would certainly hit a single. Or triple. Instead, Matsumoto singled, 1-0, and then Hildred struck out. Yay. Bottom 2nd, Leon Ramirez’ first Coons AB was a strikeout. Searcy came up, ripped, and HOME RUN!!! Well, that was unexpected! One homer wasn’t gonna cut it for the Coons, however, since Garcia was mightily beleaguered by the Titans, and hardly knew how to get anybody out. The Titans scored the go-ahead run in the third, leaving the bases stranded, and Munoz homered in the fifth. When Garcia put runners on the corners in the same inning, he was yoinked, down 3-1, and Rockburn managed to stall any other scoring. Bottom 5th, Searcy was clipped by Hildred to start things off, and then Tom Ingram had his first major league hit, a single to left. Rockburn bunted them into scoring position, but neither Brady nor Yoshi-Y, robbed of his brother and sulking, could be bothered to drive them in, but the Raccoons took the lead in the next inning on a solo shot by Martin and a 2-run shot by Ramirez! However, Dave Williams set out to instantly forfeit the 4-3 advantage, loading the bases with no outs in the top 7th. Huerta replaced him, got a grounder from Brulhart to third, where Searcy masterfully tagged the base to force Lopez coming from second, then rocketed a throw to first to nip Brulhart and end the inning.

Bottom 7th, and Hildred simply drowned. Sheehan, who had entered with Huerta in a double switch, doubled to get going, and Brady was put on intentionally. Yamada singled to right in a full count, scoring Sheehan, and then Greenman walked. And yet no reliever came in until Martin’s 2-run single to right that made it 7-3 Coons. Another run scored against reliever Risto Mäkelä, and it wasn’t over, as Clyde Brady dished a leadoff jack off Nathan Harrison in the eighth, and only that was the final knock in a furious rally. 9-3 Coons! Yamada 2-5, 2B, RBI; Martin 2-5, HR, 3 RBI; Ramirez 2-4, HR, 3 RBI; Sheehan 1-2, 2B; Rockburn 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, W (1-1); Huerta 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K; Moreno 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Nah, we’re still last in runs scored, 12 behind the Loggers, and 24 behind any other CL team.

In other news

May 11 – NYC MR Bill Corkum (1-0, 1.65 ERA) is out for four months with a torn labrum.
May 11 – TOP SP Jack Berry (3-2, 3.04 ERA) 2-hits the Condors to take a 7-0 shutout win.
May 12 – LF/RF Dale Wales (.244, 1 HR, 3 RBI) has come within eight hits of Jeffery Brown’s career mark! But now the 42-year old will spend some time on the shelf, as an intercostal strain will cost him the rest of May.
May 13 – NYC OF Roberto Pena (.333, 0 HR, 8 RBI) is out for six weeks. The 20-year old has suffered a separated shoulder.

Complaints and stuff

Casas, now Nomura. The baseball gods hate our youngsters. What if Brownie is next??

My justification for playing three debutees (for the team, and two for their careers) on Sunday? YOLO.

Oh yeah, this is funny: Corkum appeared in 56 games for the Coons and went 1-3 with a 5.02 ERA last season before being donated to the Knights, for whom he appeared in 15 more games. He went 4-0 with a 2.16 ERA.

And yes, that Berry kid is the one we traded away because he’d never make it.

With four debutees this week, how many players have worn the brown shirt overall since 1977? The answer comes next week.

*If you define World Series-winning hit as the hit that gives the winning team the lead for the final time in the last game of the series, the answer is two. Matt Higgins opened the scoring in game 6 of the 1992 Show with an RBI double off Parker Montgomery, while Daniel Hall hit a 2-out, 2-run double in a 5-run first inning of game 7 the following year, off Ramón Ortíz. To complete the info on this, Higgins plated Kisho Saito back then, while Hall brought home Jorge Salazar and Esteban Baldivía.

[Questdog]

That one star the old scout gave Albert Martin is not looking so ridiculous any more....

And how much longer are you going to be able to hate Greenman?

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by Questdog

That one star the old scout gave Albert Martin is not looking so ridiculous any more....

To be fair, he pretended to be a worthwhile player for a good bunch of time.

Originally Posted by Questdog

And how much longer are you going to be able to hate Greenman?

We'll talk when he's been named World Series MVP.