[Westheim]

Internet comes and goes at home (mostly goes). Since I can't do any multiplayer gaming on the weekend, I will make my life hard with the Raccoons, but I might not be able to post...

Raccoons (23-40) vs. Crusaders (31-34) – June 15-18, 2000

The Crusaders ranked last in the Continental League in runs scored, but – you know – the Raccoons were coming in for f(o)ur, and we had only six runs more in our bank. Besides, they could at least run up an average pitching staff, while the Raccoons were bottom in runs allowed.

In need of another starter for this series, we sent Manuel Martinez to AAA and added Paco Martinez. And I keep typing Miguel Martinez (like Miguel Lopez) and then checking (twice). Time to trade all the Hispanics on the team for Caucasians with clearly distinguishable names like Jim. And John. Joe. And Jack of course.

Projected matchups:
Randy Farley (6-4, 3.35 ERA) vs. Ramiro Gonzalez (7-5, 3.51 ERA)
Paco Martinez (0-0) vs. Hector Lara (2-7, 4.90 ERA)
Miguel Lopez (3-8, 5.35 ERA) vs. Anibal Sandoval (8-4, 3.48 ERA)
Bob Joly (1-2, 5.06 ERA) vs. Francisco Garza (4-7, 3.30 ERA)

Game 1
NYC: RF Gonzales – 2B Brantley – LF A. Johnson – 1B M. Berry – CF Latham – 3B Rush – C Olson – SS Rigg – P R. Gonzalez
POR: SS Guerin – 2B Ingall – 1B Michel – RF Brady – 3B C. Gonzalez – C Jackson – CF Newton – LF Parker – P Farley

Four days after he got incinerated by the Blue Sox, Farley struggled to throw strikes. A single and two walks loaded the bags for the Crusaders in the top 2nd, with no outs, but Ed Rigg eagerly struck out and Ramiro Gonzalez hit into a double play. Farley walked five, and allowed three runs in just five innings, for which he needed over 100 pitches. Second terrible outing in a row, and the other Raccoons weren’t doing anything outrageous, either. Like scoring runs for example. We burned Orlando Blanco in long relief, accepting a 3-0 deficit after five as insurmountable, which included letting Blanco bat in the bottom 8th with nobody on, one out, and him having pitched three frames already. Blanco reached on an error by Jorge Gonzales, and then Michel and Brady drew walks off reliever Jose Hernandez. Gonzalez reliably grounded to second base, plating one run on the groundout, before Martin hit for Jackson and fouled out. Mustering four hits, the Raccoons continued their losing ways. 3-1 Crusaders. Parker 2-4; Blanco 3.1 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

How is this team not folding and closing shop yet? We are playing .250 ball over the last 24 games, dating back to that ugly 7-6 loss against the Knights in which Neil Reece went down.

Game 2
NYC: RF Gonzales – 2B Brantley – C Manuel – LF A. Johnson – 3B Rush – 1B T. Mullins – SS Rigg – CF A. Diéguez – P H. Lara
POR: SS Guerin – CF Newton – RF Brady – LF Parker – C Mata – 1B Martin – 2B Andresen – 3B Caddock – P P. Martinez

Theodore Mullins hit two home runs off Paco Martinez, plating three, and while Martinez wasn’t too bad, it was quite a drag to squeeze him out for seven innings of 4-run ball. The Raccoons got a run early on a passed ball, and Mata hit a solo home run in the fourth, but overall the team’s hitting display remained shameful (would you take the time to notice the sub-.200 batters in #2, #7, #8, and #9?), and they were held well short by a sure-handed Hector Lara. Meeks gave up a pair of runs in the eighth, and Lara wasn’t removed until he put the leadoff batters on in the bottom 9th. Dane Sanders came in with two on, no outs, and Mata up. The youngster drew another walk, before Jackson hit for Meeks in the #6 hole, and hit into a double play. Andresen’s grounder would elude Brantley for an RBI single, but the Coons stopped “hitting” well short of the required threshold, and Sanders struck out Caddock to end the game. 6-4 Crusaders. Guerin 2-4, 2B;

It’s starting to get funny, too. The massive inability showcased on a daily basis. I mean, sure, Neil Reece is sorely missing on a team, on which every single be-damned off season addition is horribly failing again (minus Orlando Blanco perhaps), but even Neil Reece couldn’t heal these seeping sores…

And Luke Newton is batting SECOND.

Game 3
NYC: RF Gonzales – SS Rigg – C Manuel – LF A. Johnson – 3B Rush – 1B T. Mullins – 2B M. Givens – CF A. Diéguez – P Sandoval
POR: SS Guerin – 2B Ingall – 1B Martin – RF Brady – C Mata – LF Parker – 3B C. Gonzalez – CF Newton – P Lopez

Guerin was thrown out stealing in the first once again, while the Crusaders also ran themselves out of a chance in the fourth. While they were knocking on Lopez’ gates, they didn’t break in so far. In the bottom 4th, the Raccoons led off with singles by Martin and Brady, putting runners on the corners. Mata struck out, but in a stunning display of nothing else but dumb luck the Raccoons would shove SIX more singles between infielders to run up a 6-run tally in the inning. The Crusaders didn’t even remove Sandoval in the onslaught, constantly figuring that it would HAVE to stop now, and it never did. Would a 6-run inning make Lopez a winner? The Crusaders put their first two men on in the fifth, before Lopez reached back, struck out Rigg and Manuel, and then got a soft pop to Newton to exit the top 5th. But Lopez, constantly pitching in high counts, was about bled dry, and failed to retire anybody in the sixth, and despite intervention from Daniel Miller, two runs scored. The Coons showed some life in the bottom 6th, however, and after a Martin sac fly we had Brady come up with a 2-run homer, bringing the score to 9-2. That was before Fairchild entered the game, however, who failed to pitch even one inning and got burned on a 3-run double by Malcolm Givens. In the eighth it was Diaz, who failed, and was more than lucky when Donis came in and got a first pitch double play, and got another double play in the ninth, then ending the game. 9-5 Raccoons. Guerin 2-5; Ingall 2-5, RBI; Martin 3-4, 3 RBI; Brady 3-5, HR, 2 RBI; Parker 2-5, 2B, RBI; Caddock (PH) 1-1; Donis 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K, SV (11);

Wut? A Win?

By now we were sure that Ralph Ford could be slotted back into the rotation quite early, and so Paco Martinez was handed back to AAA. We called up a long man (go figure) in Dan Epps, while eyeing Dan Nordahl closely to see whether he was able to be recalled any soon.

Game 4
NYC: RF Gonzales – 2B Brantley – LF A. Johnson – 1B M. Berry – CF Latham – C Manuel – 3B Rush – SS Rigg – P F. Garza
POR: SS Guerin – 2B Ingall – 1B Martin – RF Brady – LF Parker – 3B C. Gonzalez – C Jackson – CF Newton – P Joly

The Crusaders hit three triples off Joly – Bob Rush alone hit two – in an onslaught that was yet only partially successful, since they weren’t hitting much else. A 3-run fourth inning by the Raccoons held the score in balance at that point, and had a scoring chance in the bottom 5th that dissolved in a Cesar Gonzalez-initiated double play. What the Raccoons lacked was a huge extra base hit, and they finally got it in the seventh inning, when the 3-3 tie was broken with Albert Martin’s long-awaited first home run of the season, a 2-shot to right center. Freddy Jackson doubled home Gonzalez to make it 6-3, but Joly almost got that blown up again. He was removed with two on in the top 8th, and Blanco managed to navigate out of there. Then came the ninth, and Donis, who walked Berry, and was then fatally pierced by Latham, cutting the lead to 6-5. Exit Donis, enter Miller, a walk to Rush, a walk to Rigg, a walk by the pitching coach to the mound to do some yelling. Mike Olson pinch-hit at that junction, grounding slowly to right. Miller hustled, grabbed, sent to second, Ingall to first – game over! 6-5 Raccoons! Ingall 2-5; Martin 2-3, HR, 2 RBI; Gonzalez 2-4; Jackson 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Joly 7.2 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, W (2-2) and 3-3;

Raccoons (25-42) @ Titans (34-36) – June 19-21, 2000

The Titans were in second place despite a losing record, 7 1/2 behind the Loggers, illustrating a shabby division in which a halfway decent team could easily run away. The Shabbycoons were not that team. The Titans struggled to score runs just like us and the Crusaders, ranking 11th behind the 10th place Coons as play began. Their rotation and bullpen were formidable, surrendering the fourth-least runs in the league, but they couldn’t outlast the shoddy offense.

Projected matchups:
Scott Wade (2-5, 4.65 ERA) vs. Jason O’Halloran (8-4, 2.88 ERA)
Ralph Ford (2-7, 4.52 ERA) vs. Jesus Bautista (6-9, 4.12 ERA)
Randy Farley (6-5, 3.47 ERA) vs. Vicente Perez (2-1, 4.07 ERA)

Game 1
POR: SS Guerin – 2B Ingall – C Mata – RF Brady – 3B Gonzalez – CF Newton – LF Parker – 1B Andresen – P Wade
BOS: SS D. Silva – 2B Brewer – LF Thomas – C L. Lopez – CF Garrison – 1B J. Zamora – RF Elizondo – 3B Torres – P O’Halloran

The Coons surprisingly put three run on O’Halloran early, but Wade struggled with a heavily left-handed lineup (only Zamora and Torres batted right-handed) and was giving up hits in great numbers. The Titans scored single runs in the second and third, and when Tony Torres led off the bottom 4th with a bunt base hit, Wade was as good as toast. Sure enough, the most annoying Daniel Silva would tie the game with a single. In the 3-3 tie, Gonzalez again failed to plate anybody with the bases loaded, instead ending the inning with a grounder to Brewer. That was in the seventh, and in the eighth, Parker was on third with two out when Wade’s turn came up. Martin hit for him against right-hander Jared Chaney, and gloriously fouled out. Chaney surrendered a leadoff double to Guerin in the ninth, before the Titans forewent Ingall to go after Mata with two on. While that worked out to a K, Brady swung for an RBI double to break a tie that was in its fifth inning by then. Two in scoring position for Gonzalez, the Titans still weren’t fancying their chances and put him on without a fight. That brought up Newton, batting a strong .183, and the strategy worked for a force out at home. Bill Corkum then surrendered an RBI single to Parker, and Andresen worked a bases-loaded walk. Michel hit for Blanco at the bottom of the order, and sunk the Titans with a huge 3-run double to center. 9-3 Raccoons. Guerin 3-5, BB, 2 2B, RBI; Mata 2-5; Brady 3-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Parker 2-5, 2B, RBI; Michel (PH) 1-1, 2B, 3 RBI;

Are we getting back to life? The offense is certainly a lot less pale in the face the last few days, and three wins in a row are three wins in a row.

The Titans meanwhile lost Luis Lopez to injury in this game as he tried to break up a double play, instead knocking up his knee.

Game 2
POR: SS Guerin – 2B Ingall – 1B Martin – RF Brady – C Mata – 3B C. Gonzalez – LF Parker – CF Kent – P Ford
BOS: SS D. Silva – 2B Torres – RF Greenman – CF Garrison – 1B Brewer – LF Elizondo – 3B D. Mendez – C Williamson – P Bautista

The Titans got a grand slam before the Raccoons ever got a hit in the middle game. Christian Greenman violently deflowering Ralph Ford about the set the score to Final, since the Raccoons failed to solve Jesus Bautista at all, and Ford was not about to pitch for much longer, throwing himself into four full counts in the bottom 4th – the inning after the slam – and walked three of those four batters. While the Titans somehow failed to plate anybody in this inning, they eventually rapped up a hapless Dan Epps for five more runs in the sixth and seventh, the last run given up by Kelly Fairchild on another Greenman homer. In a rout, a scenario we were well familiar with this season, the Titans rolled over the Raccoons to double-digit runs, while Bautista issued only two singles to Ingall and Mata to cruise to an easy shutout. 10-0 Titans.

**** optimism.

Also, in this game David Brewer hit a 2-run double off Dan Epps for his 2,000th career base hit. I sure wish we still controlled a 32-year old career .331/.406/.457 batter with 72 HR, 757 RBI, 147 SB, and 63 WAR gained in his career…

Game 3
POR: SS Guerin – 2B Ingall – 1B Martin – RF Brady – C Mata – LF Parker – 3B Gonzalez – CF Newton – P Farley
BOS: SS D. Silva – 2B Brewer – LF Thomas – RF G. Munoz – CF Garrison – C Williamson – 1B Elliott – 3B Torres – P V. Perez

Farley struggled badly with control after Albert Martin’s 2-run homer had given the Raccoons a lead in the top 1st. The Titans got one run right back, and then beat up Farley with four 2-out runners in the bottom 5th to take a 3-2 lead after leaving a few chances unused earlier. In desperation, with one out in the top 7th and Newton on first, the hit-and-run was called for Farley, who indeed slapped a single to left that Josh Thomas misfielded for an error and the go-ahead runs setting up camp in scoring position, only to be left on base by Guerin and Ingall. Back-to-back doubles by Brady and Mata would then tie the game in the eighth, with Farley still hoping to get back into the lead. Parker singled, putting runners on the corners, and then Gonzalez hit the most silly grounder, on which Brewer’s only play was to first, and Mata scored. Diaz allowed a leadoff single to Thomas in the bottom 8th, but a double play hit into by Gonzalo Munoz enabled the Coons to escape. Guerin tripled in the top 9th, but wasn’t scored, leaving Donis in the – for us – undesirable situation of not having a cushion in the bottom 9th, which soon made it moot to even keep bothering. Ron Williamson’s leadoff jack put us on an internal search for a new closer, and I was about done with striking out every single name on our roster by the time Munoz bounced out to Ingall to end the game in favor of the Brownshirts – Parker had doubled home Mata in the top 10th. 5-4 Coons. Guerin 2-5, 3B; Brady 2-4, 2B; Parker 2-5, 2B, RBI;

Never liked Donis, never will. Whenever you really need him, he fails. Now insert a player name of your choice for Donis, and you can adequately describe the entire team.

Raccoons (27-43) @ Thunder (45-27) – June 23-25, 2000

After somehow going 4-3 against other offensively terrible teams the last two weeks, we now faced the second-most scoring Thunder. Their pitching was top 3, especially the sterling rotation.

Projected matchups:
Miguel Lopez (4-8, 5.23 ERA) vs. Aaron Anderson (8-5, 2.21 ERA)
Bob Joly (2-2, 4.66 ERA) vs. Fabien Armand (3-6, 5.91 ERA)
Scott Wade (2-5, 4.58 ERA) vs. Lou Corbett (6-3, 3.93 ERA)

After the undefeatable righty Anderson (talking ‘bout the Coons here!), we will get two southpaws who have been very hittable this season. Luke Newton was unavailable in the opener on Friday, having contracted the man flu on the night to Thursday.

Game 1
POR: SS Guerin – 2B Ingall – 1B Martin – RF Brady – C Mata – LF Parker – 3B Gonzalez – CF Kent – P Lopez
OCT: CF Dunphy – RF Humphrey – 1B Higashi – LF R. Green – 3B S. Reece – 2B Grant – SS M. Jones – C Cooks – P Anderson

Lopez was rolled up for three runs in the opening inning, setting the Thunder firmly on due course to victory. He didn’t even make it out of the third inning, chased by a 3-run homer by Bob Grant, having hit two batters on the way. The attendance was treated once more to the stomping of a wholly inept team, that didn’t get a hit until the fourth, didn’t score until the sixth, and then only on a wild pitch, and once Kelly Fairchild entered the game and indeed managed to escalate an established blowout even further, one had to wonder how some of those guys were even finding their bed at night. There were already four runs on Fairchild when he was dragged out to get shot, with one out remaining for the home team. Two on, Donis came in to retire left-hander Mike Jones, but gave up a 3-run home run. 14-2 Thunder. Guerin 2-4, RBI; Gonzalez 1-2, 2 BB;

All on-base occurrences of the Raccoons in the game are listed above. Nobody else happened to get on.

Running up hard on a run differential of -100, and it isn’t even July. At this point, the Uttercoons have scored 292 times (tied for last) and allowed 382 counters to the opposition.

Game 2
POR: SS Guerin – 2B Ingall – C Mata – RF Brady – 1B Michel – LF Parker – CF Newton – 3B Andresen – P Joly
OCT: RF Barnes – CF Humphrey – 3B S. Reece – 1B Higashi – 2B Grant – SS M. Jones – LF Dunphy – C Cooks – P Armand

The Thunder moved into the lead in the first again, this time on a throwing error by terminally useless Nuno Andresen. The score would soon escalate, as usual, with Mike Jones hitting a solo shot in the second, and a 3-run rocket in the third, the score already jumping to 6-0. A Clyde Brady solo shot in the top 4th was duly scored, but didn’t change anything about what was going on. Another whipping was in progress. Bob Joly was hammered for eight runs, but didn’t gain any length in his outing. He left with Jones on first and two out, with Miller coming in to serve up another homer to Christian Dunphy, and we had reached double digits in the fifth inning. Miller would go on to do some damage control after all, pitching two scoreless, and Diaz finished this particular blowout with a scoreless eighth. The Raccoons managed to get into one more scoring chance, and double-played themselves out of it. 10-1 Thunder. Parker 2-4;

Firmly entrenched in last place in both runs scored and runs allowed now, and the run differential up to -99.

Nuno Andresen was designated for assignment after this game. I expected more than a .177 bat from him. While Daniel Sharp had hit his first professional home run the same day, I was not yet calling him up. We brought up Mike Crowe instead, who was batting for a bit over .900 OPS in AAA.

If the Thunder win another one, we will be 0-6 against them in 2000, and we will reach that unpleasant -100 run differential mark.

Game 3
POR: SS Guerin – 1B Martin – 2B Ingall – RF Brady – LF Parker – 3B Crowe – C Jackson – CF Newton – P Wade
OCT: RF Barnes – CF Humphrey – 3B S. Reece – 1B Higashi – 2B Grant – LF D. Henry – SS M. Jones – C Cooks – P Corbett

While the Raccoons scored a run in the top 1st and Scott Wade avoided instant execution, we still didn’t get a good game. Wade walked a pair in the third and got out of it unharmed when Clyde Brady lasered out the tying run at home to end the inning. In the fourth, he was less lucky. A single, two walks, and Curt Cooks grand slam knocked him to the ground. Lou Corbett’s RBI single knocked out Wade in a now 5-1 game with two out in the sixth, and the Raccoons were doing nothing at all. The bullpen suffered another one of those spectacular implosions in the seventh inning, in which the Thunder added on six runs, most of them on Epps. Meeks came in in the eighth, walked two to get started, and only got out on a double play. 11-1 Thunder. Guerin 2-4; Martin 2-4, 2 2B, RBI; Jackson 2-3, BB;

Bob Grant extended a hitting streak to 20 games, getting the easiest part towards 20 right at the end: the brown-clad abortions of last place doom.

In other news

June 15 – The Canadiens flip 29-yr old C Jorge Lopez (.285, 1 HR, 22 RBI) to Los Angeles for rookie RF/LF Matt MacKey (.279, 1 HR, 7 RBI in 43 AB).
June 19 – VAN INF Bob Butler (.294, 6 HR, 35 RBI) uses an extra-inning marathon against the Indians to connect for six base hits. The game, scoreless through 14 innings, takes 19 innings and 5:44 total to end in favor of the Canadiens, 2-1, and Butler was also responsible for his team walking off after his RBI single in the bottom 19th. Butlers collects a home run (in the 15th), a pair of doubles, and two more singles to become the 34th player in ABL history with a 6-hit day, following on DAL Darrel Tracy, who last achieved the feat in April. He is the third Brewer to accomplish six hits in a game, following Raúl Herrera (1984) and David Brewer (1989). The Canadiens’ two runs in the contest are the least in a 6-hit performance since 1978, when Richmond’s Riley Simon had six hits against the Falcons, and his team actually *lost* 2-1.
June 19 – DAL 1B/3B Salvador Mendez (.346, 0 HR, 23 RBI) has two hits in an 8-2 Stars loss to the Scorpions, but nevertheless reaches 20 games with his hitting streak.
June 25 – Salvador Mendez goes to 25 with two hits in a 4-3 win over the Miners.

Complaints and stuff

Stephen Buell right now has 14 AB for the Capitals this season, batting .214. He has spent the vast majority of the season for AAA Modesto, where he started a fight with Anaheim’s Luis Martinez (a Thunder pitching prospect) to get his furry-since-still-unshaved behinds nailed to the bench for eight days on an official league suspension.

There’s a saying in Germany (I come up with lots of these recently, don’t I?) to describe a completely inept competitor. He is called someone with whom you can’t even win a flower pot.

We have 25 of those.

And while we find out R/A number steadily climbing and recently having crossed 5.5 runs allowed per game, I can’t even find anybody in the organization to replace those pushovers with. It’s not even possible to get into “rebuild” mode. This IS the young crop we have. If THIS is the personnel we built our rebuilding program on, there is no hope – the Raccoons will be utterly terrible and play garbage ball for YEARS to come.