[Westheim]

Raccoons (45-65) @ Canadiens (56-55) – August 7-10, 2000

Now just barely above .500, the Elks were happy to see the Coons appear for four in Vancouver. I was still not admitted into Canada for well-known reasons and had the old ballpark in Portland all to myself to vandalize it after every one of the four losses we were due to incur, because that is how these series work. The Canadiens were already owning the Raccoons to an 8-3 pace this season. It didn’t really matter that they were a broadly average team. The Raccoons were a broadly terrible team and were due to get disowned towards 12-3 in this series.

Projected matchups:
Scott Wade (5-9, 4.66 ERA) vs. Jose Dominguez (11-6, 3.51 ERA)
Bob Joly (5-8, 4.69 ERA) vs. Joe Hollow (13-9, 3.29 ERA)
Randy Farley (10-8, 3.67 ERA) vs. Jose Marquez (7-12, 4.47 ERA)
Ralph Ford (5-12, 4.37 ERA) vs. Daniel Dickerson (6-9, 5.24 ERA)

Game 1
POR: SS Guerin – LF Parker – 3B Sharp – RF Brady – 1B Martin – 2B Ingall – C Jackson – CF Newton – P Wade
VAN: SS B. Butler – LF J. Durán – RF Velasquez – 1B I. Gutierrez – CF Ledesma – 3B Sutton – C Clemente – 2B Shaw – P Dominguez

Dominguez defeated Wade with a 2-out RBI single in the bottom 2nd, plating the first run of the game after Newton had left men on the corners in the top of the inning. Wade couldn’t exit the inning after that, either, and Butler doubled home a pair to bring the score to 3-0 early on. Shaw and Gutierrez would slap Wade for leadoff home runs in the bottom 4th and 5th, respectively, before Wade was taken out and sent to the butcher’s shop after five, down 5-1, with a Sharp RBI triple the only thing even remotely exciting the Raccoons had managed to put up. But we weren’t done with being horrible yet. Miller came in for hopefully two innings, but didn’t even finish the sixth before Gutierrez grand-slammed him to bed, and the Raccoons watched on calmly as their dismemberment progressed. 9-1 Canadiens. Sharp 2-3, BB, 3B, RBI; Jackson 2-4; Diaz 2.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K;

And we’re gonna have three more of those. I broke a few seats in section 128 with an aluminum bat that night.

Nobody is hitting anything. Of the four outfielders on the roster, only Parker is not labeled as either “cold” or “dead” by Vince. Plus Ingall. And to be honest, apart from the young corner infielders, nobody is doing ANYTHING right now. And Sharp and Martin can’t win games alone.

Game 2
POR: 2B Ingall – 3B Sharp – C Mata – 1B Martin – SS Guerin – RF Richardson – LF Caddock – CF Newton – P Joly
VAN: SS B. Butler – LF J. Durán – RF Velasquez – 1B I. Gutierrez – CF Ledesma – 3B Sutton – C Clemente – 2B Shaw – P Hollow

The Coons greeted Hollow rather roughly, with Sharp, Mata, and Guerin all landing hard line drive hits in the first inning, and coming after Ingall’s soft single to lead off, the Raccoons plated three runs in the top 1st. However, Joly sucked as usual, and the Elks took only one out to tie the game by slamming the sucker into submission. Sharp drove home a run in the second, before the Coons loaded the bags, but left them loaded, 4-3. The lead held up for at least two minutes this time, although Joly was still horrible. He plunked Gutierrez, who had homered twice for 5 RBI on Monday, in the third, and the Canadiens grew unruly in their dugout. Unbelievably, they refused to belief that Bob Joly was just that bad he randomly hit batters by accident. The park erupted in cheers when Antonio Clemente hit a home run to tie the game leading off the bottom 4th. That was the fifth homer by the Elks in this series. The Coons had squid. Joly was thoroughly spat out of the park by the Canadiens in the bottom 5th, when Velasquez and Gutierrez led off with hard line drive hits. Blanco was thrown into long relief, but was ineffective and the Elks took a 7-4 lead in the inning. Blanco gave up another run in the bottom 6th, before the Coons accidentally crowded and knocked out Hollow in the top 7th, because Bob Butler bungled a rally-killing double play grounder to load the bases. Caddock plated one run while hitting into a fielder’s choice, before Newton drew a walk from reliever Juan Bello. Two down, Brady hit for Blanco and grounded up the middle, where the ball mysteriously eluded Butler and plated two runs to bring the Coons back within one run for Ingall to drive in, but Bello struck him out, and that was the story of this game. Butler would make another error in the top 9th, then putting Michel on in addition to Mike Crowe with two out – and again Ingall failed. No Ingall single to salvage a game. 8-7 Canadiens. Sharp 2-5, 2B, RBI; Mata 3-4, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Brady (PH) 1-1, 2 RBI;

I’m starting to think that Daniel Miller is simply overworked. The whole bullpen has been crashed all season long, and Miller has sucked up the most mileage. He had to pitch again in this game, for a scoreless eighth. It’s early August and he is on 56.2 innings. He pitched 59.2 innings all of last season, and 64 on average for the last five years (during which he was never demoted or badly hurt). At this pace, he’d run up to 82 innings, and his stamina is rated 4 by Vince. This might be the reason he gets blown up regularly, he’s badly overworked.

The maintenance crew at Raccoons Ballpark on Wednesday morning was puzzled when they found a trash can firmly lodged in the sliding window of a hot dog stand on the concourse.

Game 3
POR: 2B Ingall – 3B Sharp – C Mata – 1B Martin – SS Guerin – RF Brady – LF Parker – CF Newton – P Farley
VAN: SS B. Butler – C Clemente – RF Velasquez – 1B I. Gutierrez – CF Ledesma – 3B Sutton – LF MacKey – 2B Shaw – P J. Marquez

The Raccoons actually managed to close in on the Canadiens’ five dingers in the series when Brady hit a 2-shot in the top 2nd for the Coons’ first. Focus shifted to Randy inevitably since the Raccoons would go on to whiff at increasing rates against Marquez in the next innings. Farley had given up a single to Butler in the first and then little over the next three innings. In the bottom 4th however, he eventually required rescue by Luke Newton, who threw out a runner on the bases to help Farley maintain a clean line. Albert Martin then came through for insurance, hitting a towering 2-run homer off Marquez in the sixth. Randy drew a walk in the seventh to lead off, and while Ingall whiffed, Sharp then showed Marquez who was boss, nailing the Coons’ third 2-piece on the day, ramping the score to 6-0 and tossing Marquez from the game, and Farley would single home a run off Mark Alexander in the eighth. Everything was set on a shutout course for him, too, until it didn’t. Butler and Clemente reached in the bottom 8th with two down, making Velasquez the do-or-die man for Farley with four left-handers lined up after the rightfielder. Velasquez popped out on the first pitch (Farley’s 94th), and Farley would get to pitch in the bottom 9th with Diaz standing by, and the score up to 8-0 after Parker had scored Mata in the top 9th. Gutierrez fought a 9-pitch battle against Randy before eventually striking out. Ledesma lined out to Newton, and Sutton grounded out to Ingall – SHUTOUT!! 8-0 Raccoons!! Sharp 2-5, HR, 2 RBI; Mata 2-4, BB; Martin 2-5, HR, 2 RBI; Guerin 2-5; Parker 2-4, BB, RBI; Farley 9.0 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 6 K, W (11-8) and 1-3, BB, RBI;

RANDY!! He pitched his fourth career shutout, and the first since his rookie season in 1998. It’s his ninth complete game in 87 starts, and the second this year.

A glimmer of hope was instilled back into me that we might eventually wind up above .500 again if we were just continuing to sieve out the bland stones and kept the gold nuggets.

Although the maintenance searched the park in Portland thoroughly for more vandalism on Thursday morning, they couldn’t find any, just some confetti and a half-drunk, open bottle of champagne in the offices.

Game 4
POR: SS Guerin – CF Parker – 1B Sharp – C Mata – RF Brady – 2B Michel – 3B Crowe – LF Richardson – P Ford
VAN: C Clemente – SS Sutton – RF Velasquez – CF P. Taylor – 2B H. Henry – LF Ledesma – 1B D. Davis – 3B Shaw – P Dickerson

When Guerin stole second in the first inning, it was just his 15th bag of the year, but an important one as it moved him up far enough to score on a Sharp sac fly eventually. Clemente hit a leadoff double in the bottom 1st, however, and Ford couldn’t hold on to the 1-0 lead. Top 3rd, the Canadiens’ shortstops were not having a good series. Guerin led off with a double that just barely was not a homer in deep left, ramming off the wall about six inches below the edge. Parker’s grounder was slowly administered to by Dickerson and became in infield single. While Sharp then sent a hard grounder up the middle, Henry had a double play started until Sutton dropped his throw and all hands were safe, plating Guerin, 2-1. Dickerson drilled Mata to load the bags with no outs, and while Brady singled home a run, the Coons failed to deal a death knell to the Elks early, with only Crowe scoring another run on a groundout to make it a 4-1 game. Guerin stole second again in the fourth, was doubled home by Parker, and Parker eventually scored on a Doug Davis error. Ford was again wasteful with his pitches, but at least the Canadiens rarely made contact when he hit his marks. They still got a run in the fifth, and Doug Davis homered to make it 6-3 in the bottom 6th, but the death knell finally came in the top 7th, where Alexander was in again, plated a run with a wild pitch and was then bowled over by Daniel Richardson’s 3-run homer. Ford pitched seven largely strong innings to earn the W, although Nordahl gave up a run as usual down the stretch. 10-4 Raccoons! Guerin 2-5, BB, 2B; Parker 3-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Brady 2-4, BB, RBI; Martin (PH) 1-1; Ford 7.0 IP, 9 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 9 K, W (6-12);

Ford struck out veteran Horace Henry three times in the game, including to reach 100 K on the year, in the bottom 4th. Henry, who knows how to hit, I guess, with 2,646 base knocks on his career ledger, was kindly told by Ford – without words – to move the heck over and let Youth come through.

Well, given how badly we were outslugged in the first two games, I will chalk this series up as a moral win for the Coons, and continue to admire Randy whenever he takes the mound.

We also gain on last place, where the Indians are in full-blown collapse mode, having not only lost ALL games this month, but they had lost their last FOURTEEN games at this point, last beating the Falcons, 6-4, on July 26. Since we last played them and took three of four from them in late June / early July, they have gone 10-27.

Raccoons (47-67) @ Scorpions (71-45) – August 11-13, 2000

The Scorpions in vain ran after the Warriors in the FL West, trailing by 7.5 games as we came in. They had the best rotation in the Federal League and a very good bullpen as well, but were not scoring a lot of runs actually, which was hurting them greatly.

Projected matchups:
Miguel Lopez (5-11, 4.84 ERA) vs. Jon Robinson (6-3, 4.61 ERA)
Scott Wade (5-10, 4.81 ERA) vs. Randy Travis (9-9, 3.74 ERA)
Bob Joly (5-9, 5.12 ERA) vs. David Castillo (9-9, 3.37 ERA)

Game 1
POR: SS Guerin – 3B Sharp – 1B Martin – C Mata – RF Brady – 2B Ingall – CF Parker – LF Richardson – P Lopez
SAC: LF Ruvalcubu – 2B F. Rivera – 1B Matsumoto – RF A. Jenkins – SS J. Martinez – CF Cote – C Potts – 3B R. Martinez – P Robinson

The Scorpions took command on Lorenzo Ruvalcubu’s leadoff jack in the bottom 1st, and had Lopez watching from the dugout by the third inning. Lopez gave up five runs on three homers, and was offering less resistance than a paper bag on the mound. Dan Nordahl gave up an unearned run while getting the game through five, and also hit a double and scored along the way. Down 6-1, however, the Coons’ chances looked less than stellar. Jon Robinson turned out to be in total control of the Critters, giving up only four hits and whiffing nine over eight innings. 6-1 Scorpions. Nordahl 2.1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K and 1-1, 2B; Reyes 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K;

We will file away the fact we didn’t need to expend the well-worn Daniel Miller in this lost cause as our own little victory of the day, and apart from that will hang the shoulders and trot on.

By the way, the Indians ended their 14-game spill with a 6-3 win in Salem, so at 3.5 games ahead we could tie for last place again as soon as Tuesday.

Game 2
POR: SS Guerin – 1B Martin – C Mata – RF Brady – 2B Ingall – 3B Crowe – CF Parker – LF Richardson – P Wade
SAC: CF Ruvalcubu – 3B F. Rivera – 2B Matsumoto – LF A. Jenkins – C Branch – RF S. Green – 1B O’Molony – SS R. Martinez – P Travis

Richardson doubled home a pair in the second inning after Travis had struggled with control and had plunked Marvin Ingall as well. Wade was taken deep by none other than Lance Branch in the bottom of the inning, cutting the lead back to 2-1 rather quickly. Bottom 3rd, Ramon Martinez doubled, and then Wade misfielded Travis’ bunt. Runners on the corners, no outs, Ruvalcubu popped out before Felipe Rivera tied the game with an infield single. The Scorpions stranded a pair then. In the top 4th, Richardson was put on intentionally with a pair in scoring position and one out so Travis could pitch to Wade, but Scotty pushed a grounder through Rivera at third for a go-ahead RBI single. While Guerin brought in a run, he also got Richardson forced out, but Travis was then sent for dinner with RBI singles by Martin and Mata, giving the Coons the 6-2 upside. While Wade couldn’t get out Branch the whole day (which kinda bugged me), the rest of the Scorpions’ bats didn’t do too much against him after the third inning. Branch also completed his personal conquest of Wade in this game by converting Wade’s sac bunt attempt in the eighth into a double play. The Scorpions rose from the dead in the bottom 8th, getting two singles through Guerin in succession. Wade yielded after retiring Aaron Jenkins for the second out, to have Orlando Blanco face Branch. Of course, Branch soiled Wade’s line permanently with a 2-run single, 7-4. Donis had his first appearance of the week in the bottom 9th then, and after starting with a K to O’Molony was quickly turned inside out. After consecutive RBI doubles by Ruvalcubu and Rivera, we made another move and brought Daniel Miller to face Masaaki Matsumoto. Miller didn’t retire anybody, as the Raccoons exploded spectacularly on a walk to Matsumoto, an RBI double by Jenkins, and then a 2-0 pitch that went through Mata’s legs to plate Matsumoto. 8-7 Scorpions. Martin 2-5, RBI; Ingall 2-3, 2B, RBI; Richardson 2-3, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Wade 7.2 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 2 K;

Insert your non-family friendly curses of choice here.

Batting .203, Mike Crowe suffered demotion to AAA after this game, as we called up an outfielder in Jason Kent. Between Kent and Cal Lyon there was not much difference in uselessness, and the perhaps least useless option, Jesus Taramillo, was on the disabled list.

Game 3
POR: LF Parker – 3B Sharp – 1B Martin – RF Brady – C Mata – 2B Ingall – SS Caddock – CF Kent – P Joly
SAC: CF Ruvalcubu – 3B F. Rivera – 2B Matsumoto – LF A. Jenkins – C Branch – 1B P. Perez – RF S. Green – SS J. Martinez – P Reeves

14-5 Whit Reeves and his 2.57 ERA replaced Castillo on the Sunday start, effectively sealing the sweep for Sacramento here, as if the Critters fielding Scumbag Joly wasn’t enough. It was not even a close contest. The Raccoons had a single here and there, but when they actually had the bases loaded with two out in the third, Brady hit a soft pop to left to end the inning. By contrast, Joly was annihilated in 2.2 innings, allowing seven earned runs in the process. Mata continued in his quest to bin a solid sophomore season with an uncaught third strike in this game that almost escalated the pace of destruction in the fifth inning, then lived in his own little dream world in the sixth and failed to nab Aaron Jenkins as he stole home. The Scorpions showed mercy in the end and didn’t stuff the pushover Raccoons for another half dozen runs despite certainly possessing the necessary abilities. 8-0 Scorpions. Martin 2-4; Diaz 3.1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 1 K;

Bob Joly (5-10, 5.70 ERA) wasn’t even taken back to Portland. He was singled out at the airport and sent straight to St. Petersburg. We will bother about a replacement player next week.

In other news

August 7 – The Loggers lose 34-yr old SP Davis Sims (4-7, 7.78 ERA), who has been horrible all season long, for the remainder of the year due to bone chips in Sims’ elbow.
August 10 – Los Angeles’ LF/RF Anibal Rodriguez (.327, 23 HR, 77 RBI) contributes two hits in his team’s 4-3 win over the Wolves, including a solo home run off Edgar Rey in the fifth inning. It is Rodriguez’ 300th career home run. Drafted in the first round of the 1984 draft, seventh overall, by the Pacifics, the 34-year old Puerto Rican reaches an elite plateau occupied only by four other players in Michael Root (338 HR), Raúl Vázquez (330), Gabriel Cruz (318), and Mark Dawson (304). With the last two retired already and Root on his last legs, the still fresh looking, 2,230 hits-heavy Rodriguez looks like he could get easily to at least second place in the next two years. Sixth place Jeffery Brown has 274 dingers, and the 38-year old has produced only four this year. Nobody else has more than 226: OCT Will Jackson is next-closest after just overtaking retired Raccoon Daniel Hall recently.
August 13 – RIC OF Jose Martinez (.339, 4 HR, 55 RBI) collects his 2,000th base hit in a 13-3 drubbing of the Rebels over the Aces. An eighth inning triple off Ian Johnson is the milestone hit for Martinez, who spent most of his career with the Titans.

Complaints and stuff

What do you mean, I should play another week? Do I look completely nuts to you?

Well.

You know you have a crap team when the Players of the Week that aren’t from your team (which happened a few times this year, but anyway…) are by almost 40% from teams you played against during the given week. This week it was Bob Butler.

I might be able to project that red, hot, intense love for Saito-sama onto Randy Farley eventually. He’s pitching to a winning record on abysmal teams – he’s GOT to be good! His career win ratio is .571, while the Coons have been playing .450 ball in the meantime.

Now we just have to get Ralph Ford to stop throwing balls, then we can have the Ralph & Randy Show I am dreaming about. Well, they COULD be an awesome 1-2 punch in a rotation. In a slight improvement, Vince recently upgraded Ralph from 16/12/8 to 16/12/9. He sees his ceiling at 16/12/12.

This week, the Raccoons announced to part ways with their on-field manager Chad Klein after 17 years, six division titles and two championships. Klein, 62, and general management agreed that the chemistry had gone away lately and that it was best to seek out new challenges and success individually. The Raccoons will make their current hitting coach Lance Cox their new manager. Cox managed on every level of the minors for the Raccoons since 1994, reaching and losing the AAA championship series with the Alley Cats in 1999. Cox, 51, was a .210 batting catcher for the Cyclones from 1977 to 1979 before turning to coaching.

Browsing the career home run table after Rodriguez reached #300, I remembered all guys in the top 25 in one way or another, except #23, Jerome Ramsey. That name didn’t ring any bell. He hit 175 HR in a 12-year career that ended in 1989 already. I checked him out and was stunned as he was with the Stars for most of his career, but also sunk the Raccoons in the 1983 World Series.

I am getting old, I guess. I forget things.

Who are you again?