[Westheim]

Just this short update. Since I don’t know when I will be able to play this week with ruining my soul in the mind mill again this week … ah well.

All Star Game

Manuel Movonda was the only Raccoon in invited to the All Star bonanza. In the CL, the Loggers and Titans led all teams with four representatives each. In the FL, the Scorpions, Stars, and Pacifics each had five players in the mix.

Well, the Raccoons had only one player in the game, and then he didn’t play. Movonda was not used in the Continental League’s 11-inning, 4-3 win. Ivan Camacho doubles home Urbano Cicalina against Ben Carlson to walk off the CL.

---

On Wednesday, the Raccoons designated Ron McDonald for assignment. Batting .190, so-so work in the field. Next! C/1B Ricardo Castillo, a scrap heap signing earlier this year, was called up to replace him as backup. Castillo, 31, had already shown in six seasons with the Miners that he was a backup catcher at best.

Raccoons (43-46) vs. Titans (53-37) – July 16-19, 1998

455 runs now for the Titans, still over 5 R/G. We just had split a 4-game set, and I thought that splitting another one was as much as we could ask for as we were opening a 10-game homestand.

Projected matchups:
Kisho Saito (4-7, 2.62 ERA) vs. Jason O’Halloran (9-6, 3.31 ERA)
Manuel Movonda (8-6, 2.17 ERA) vs. Jesus Bautista (6-8, 5.00 ERA)
Randy Farley (8-4, 2.89 ERA) vs. Bill Smith (7-7, 3.52 ERA)
Miguel Lopez (6-9, 4.85 ERA) vs. Henry Selph (9-3, 3.07 ERA)

Game 1
BOS: SS D. Silva – LF Walls – RF Reid – 3B Henry – CF Alonso – C J. Silva – 1B L. Lopez – 2B Elliott – P O’Halloran
POR: 2B Ingall – SS Guerin – C Turner – 3B Crowe – RF Brady – 1B Utting – CF Newton – LF Parker – P Saito

The Raccoons came outta the break like they went into it. They sucked. Hard. As Saito and O’Halloran lined up zeroes on the board, the Coons had one good chance in the fifth with a 1-out triple from Newton, but Villegas (Parker was already gone) grounded out to the pitcher, and Saito flew out. Crowe struck out to leave Guerin on third base in the sixth, and Saito knew he could at best get a “nice try” out of this one. Saito went nine, and technically had a shutout on four hits in the books – if the team could scratch out a run in the bottom 9th. Good joke. Bill Corkum sat down Guerin and Turner, Crowe singled, but Brady grounded out. Saito’s eyes were glowing, but he was done, no tenth inning for him. Miller lost it in a hurry in the tenth, and the Raccoons managed two hits on the day. 1-0 Titans. Saito 9.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K;

Musical illustration for this one: Talk Talk with their much beloved 80s evergreen “Such A Shame”, which was a roaring #66 in the Billboard Hot 100 back in the day.

Chris Parker had hurt himself early in the game, he would miss a month with torn ankle ligaments. So, we were digging deeper into our system, disabled Parker, and called up Kenny Crockett. It would only be for one day, though, since Stephen Buell was due off the DL for game 3.

And for the next game, we will tune up one of my favorite bands of all time.

THE STRANGLERS.

Game 2
BOS: SS D. Silva – 2B Henry – RF Thomas – C L. Lopez – LF Reid – CF Alonso – 1B J. Silva – 3B Elliott – P Bautista
POR: 2B Ingall – RF Brady – 3B Crowe – C Turner – 1B Wedemeyer – CF Newton – SS Caddock – LF Crockett – P Movonda

The Colombian Beauty didn’t have his A game, and it showed. The Titans drew an outrageous three walks and used a pair of those to down him with two runs in the second inning. No, it was not Movonda’s game, and his six innings of 2-run ball looked a lot like a much-inflated cow elephant giving birth to twins. Not pleasant to watch. The best the Raccoons managed in supporting him was Werner Turner hitting into a run-scoring double play in the bottom 6th. Donis shoveled the bags full in the seventh, but Tamburrino got a ground ball to Caddock to end the inning, then struck out three in the top 8th. Jason Kent brought home the tying run in the bottom of the inning with a groundout, and with two out we had Wedemeyer still on second base and Caddock batting. Caddock singled to right, Wedemeyer was waved home, since when do we even get a batter to second base, and was thrown out. More extra innings were on the way here, and Wade pitched two of those, scoreless, and the Coons didn’t do anything. Fairchild pitched two more, and Turner drew a leadoff walk off Andres Otero in the 13th. Wedemeyer bunted(!) him over to second, and Jason Kent, batting .138, was intentionally(!!!) walked. That brought up Caddock, who drew a walk the hard way, bringing up Crockett, who popped out, and now Guerin came out to hit for Fairchild with two out and the bags full. 1-0, 1-1, 2-1 … Otero’s fourth pitch was low – and bounced off Luis Lopez, and away. Turner scored, the show of horrors was over. 3-2 Raccoons. Brady 3-6; Crowe 2-6; Turner 2-4, 2 BB; Tamburrino 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K and 1-1; Wade 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K; Fairchild 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K, W (2-1);

That’s what it takes to win. We need a friggin’ EX-COON, in the UMPTEENTH inning, walking the bags FULL, and even THEN …… THEN ….. the CATCHER … to –

(sobs)

Game 3
BOS: SS D. Silva – 2B Henry – RF Thomas – C L. Lopez – 1B G. Douglas – LF Reid – CF Alonso – 3B Elliott – P B. Smith
POR: SS Guerin – RF Brady – 3B Crowe – LF Buell – 1B Wedemeyer – CF Newton – 2B Caddock – C Castillo – P Farley

A Guerin error cost a run in the first inning, but Clyde Brady put the game back into a tie with a homer in the bottom half. WHOAH, OFFENSE!! From there, things went downhill. Mike Crowe was ejected for barking at the umpire, Utting replacing him, and Utting made an error in the fourth that put Pat Elliott on base with two down. Elliott stole second off Castillo, who made his debut, and then Smith singled into left and Elliott scored. Farley lost his touch right here, walked two, but somehow got out of the frame when Thomas popped out to Buell. Trailing 2-1, Brady stepped in in the bottom 5th, bases empty, and homered again. Farley fell behind again instantly, as this was really not his day. Then came the seventh, Smith still pitching and largely dazzling the Raccoons, but all of a sudden Castillo, in his first game with us, homered and tied the game AGAIN. De La Rosa came out for the eighth, walked the bags full, Donis came in to face Thomas, and bibbedi-bubbedi-booh, a grand slam decided this game. 7-3 Titans. Brady 2-4, 2 HR, 2 RBI; Castillo 2-4, HR, RBI;

Raccoons pitching issued ten walks in this game: four by Farley, one by Miller in the seventh, three by De La Rosa, and then one each by Donis and Costa. No other pitchers were used.

Donis, the useless piece of ****.

Game 4
BOS: SS D. Silva – C J. Silva – RF Reid – 1B G. Douglas – 3B Henry – CF Alonso – LF Thomas – 2B G. Roldán – P Selph
POR: SS Guerin – RF Brady – 3B Crowe – LF Buell – 2B Ingall – C Turner – CF Newton – 1B Utting – P M. Lopez

The cabinet of nightmares had a no-good Miguel Lopez to offer, who was dumb and lucky enough to strand five Titans in the first two innings, with Guerin holding the shutout intact with two great plays. Bottom 3rd, Newton on base after a Daniel Silva throwing error (that alone was nice enough), Lopez came up to bat with one out. He swung away and took a pitch to deep center, and Alonso was not gonna get that one! It fell in, bounced to the wall, and a bit away from Alonso, while Lopez had turned first base, and was turning second base, and was safe with a triple! 1-0 Coons, runner on third with one out, so Guerin and Brady struck out. Lopez was no good on the mound and gave the run right back in the top 4th, and the Titans left the bags full eventually. Lopez then loaded the bags in the fifth with three straight singles and was yanked. Tamburrino came in for damage control, and got a hard grounder to third from Horace Henry. Crowe made the play and started a double play, third and first, while the go-ahead run scored. The Coons took until the seventh to develop a faint chance at re-tying it. Miller had pitched two scoreless, so the game was still 2-1 Titans, and then Buell walked to start the seventh. Next, he notched his tenth SB of the year, and was in scoring position with no outs and in front of Ingall. An Ingall single would help here. Ingall grounded out to Henry, leaving Buell at second, and then Turner also grounded to Henry, except that this time Henry threw it into the seats. Buell was awarded home, and we were tied. Kent hit for De La Rosa to start the bottom 8th, and singled to right. AGGRO MODE. Kent was set in motion with Guerin batting and Guerin lined into shallow left. Josh Thomas tried to make a play, and instead gave Guerin an RBI double. And although Guerin ended up at third after a wild pitch by Jose Valentín, with no outs, the Coons didn’t score him. Wade came into a 3-2 game, and after a Julio Silva single to start the frame, Guerin made another saving double play grab that nursed Wade through the inning. 3-2 Coons. Kent 1-1; Miller 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K;

Raccoons had four hits. The Titans had 11. Watching them play was like chewing on some really old cookie who had been left on a platter for a few weeks. It was all soft and hard at the same time, and tasted like garlic.

In other news

July 15 – The Warriors acquire INF/OF Ramón Garza (.287, 1 HR, 19 RBI) and a minor leaguer from the Falcons, end send over OF Matt Adams (.356, 10 HR, 36 RBI) and a minor leaguer.
July 16 – VAN SP Jose Marquez (8-9, 4.16 ERA) 2-hits the Crusaders in an 8-0 romp.
July 17 – DEN SP Wilson Hernandez (6-10, 4.75 ERA) spins a 2-hitter of his own as the Gold Sox stomp the Scorpions, 11-0.
July 18 – DAL OF Diego Rodriguez (.370, 6 HR, 54 RBI) has been hitting quite like a machine for a while, and he reaches a 20-game hitting streak with a 3-hit day against the Wolves. We will not mention that there was not much reason to celebrate with the Wolves romping over the Stars, 15-4.

Complaints and stuff

Gosh, I hate Daniel Silva. Always on base, and stealing at will, and constantly harassing with his presence. Daniel Silva…. He’s not even deserving to be named Daniel. That beautiful name should be reserved for … (gets watery eyes) … very sp-special … people who … (cries)

Marvin Ingall, who was rocketacious the first two months of the year, is batting scantily .200 off the DL. Way to go.

And I was just going to mention that Werner Turner was 15/35 in throwing out base stealers until the Titans stole four off him in the second game.

For a truly good report (as far as good goes on here), Clyde Brady had been fairly warm (maybe even hot!) in the last few weeks. While he was only batting for half a WAR in 200 AB in his rookie season, he is 29-67 since June 21. There were a few games in there where he didn’t play, but those were still in June. He has appeared in every game since June 30 now, starting all but three. And he’s only 22, too.

What did Neil Reece do at 22? That was in 1988. At that point we just traded for him mid-season, and he didn’t make his big league debut until the following year. He OPS’ed .780ish between AA, AAA, and two minor league systems that year. And Daniel Hall? He was only drafted at 22, and OPS’ed .829 for Ham Lake that season.

I also checked on Glenn Johnston, whom I remember as such a hot iron at a young age. His debut came in ’88, which was his age 22 season, but he didn’t break out until the next year.

By the way, for sad news, Glenn Johnston never was signed anywhere after electing minor league free agency in 1994. He has since retired, last playing professional ball at age 28.

Glenny……

Me is sad.