Quote:
Originally Posted by Questdog
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Football is the game that's played with those red eggs, right?
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Raccoons (26-29) vs. Crusaders (24-31) – June 3-6, 2002
Four games against the bottom dwellers of the CL North. Turns out the bottom is not far removed from the Raccoons after all. These were two absolute worst offensive teams in the CL (although their offenses were offensive after all), and in that the Raccoons were still leading the Crusaders by 45 runs – they were sitting at a gruesome 3.4 R/G mark. The Coons’ 4.2 R/G was not great, but somehow could be worked with. Allowing the fourth-least runs in the CL was nothing that remotely helped the Crusaders in their situation.
Projected matchups:
Bob Joly (1-0, 2.45 ERA) vs. Anibal Sandoval (7-4, 1.44 ERA)
Carl Bean (5-5, 3.82 ERA) vs. Edgar Rey (2-5, 5.68 ERA)
Ralph Ford (6-3, 3.07 ERA) vs. Greg Connor (5-6, 4.37 ERA)
Randy Farley (3-7, 4.26 ERA) vs. Kelly Fairchild (1-4, 3.21 ERA)
Rey is the lone left-hander in the group, while Sandoval is probably wondering how he can lose four games with his ERA.
Game 1
NYC: LF M. Ortíz – 2B Brantley – RF A. Johnson – 1B Breach – SS Rice – C Olson – CF R. Chavez – 3B J. Martinez – P Sandoval
POR: 3B Sharp – LF Parker – RF Brady – 1B Martin – SS Guerin – 2B Ingall – CF Lyon – C Fifield – P Joly
And wouldn’t you know it, the game had no scoring in four innings. The Crusaders had been closer to a pair of runs, as Avery Johnson had a fly picked off the top of the fence by Chris Parker in the first inning. In the fifth, the Crusaders had two singles with one out, and Sandoval bunted the runners into scoring position. Martin Ortíz, whose hitting streak had already been extended to start this game, lobbed a single into shallow left and both runners scored. The Raccoons meanwhile were nowhere in the picture, with TWO hits through seven innings. In the top 8th, Joly retired Brantley before leaving for Moreno to face the left-handers. Johnson doubled anyway, but Breach made an out. Miller retired Rice to keep it 2-0. In the bottom of the inning, Fifield singled with one out, and then Roberson grounded to short, but Rice misplayed that double play grounder and everybody was safe – which cost the Crusaders dearly. Daniel Sharp came up, labored a full count and then pierced Sandoval with a liner into the left corner that plated both runners! Unfortunately, Parker and Brady proved unable to get Sharp home from second. And now you had a tied game, firmly enforced by closers Dan Nordahl and Dane Sanders in the ninth, and nobody to drive in a run. Not only delivered Sanders shutout ball in the ninth and tenth, he was also at the plate against Huerta with two out in the top 11th and Vincente Gonzalez on third base. Gonzalez had reached on an infield single. And Sanders dropped an infield single that defeated the battery for the second time in the inning. Gonzalez scored, 3-2 New York. Then came the bottom 11th, with a new pitcher in Leonardo Sosa, and Clyde Brady hit a leadoff double. Martin then fired a shot to deep left – which Ortíz caught nevertheless. Concie however singled to center, scoring Brady and re-tying the game. Next was Ingall, but Concie quickly stole second, his tenth of the year. Ingall fell to 1-2 before he lobbed a soft pop up the right field line. Johnson couldn’t get it, and Concie ran, ran, ran – and was safe! 4-3 Coons! Sharp 3-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Ingall 2-4, BB, RBI; Joly 7.1 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3 K;
Concie drew a walk off Sandoval (stealing his ninth bag eventually) in the bottom 7th in this game. That was the tenth walk given up all year by Sandoval in almost 100 innings of work. He is THAT good. He still didn’t win.
Now, are you ready for the bad news?
After the game, both Domingo Moreno and Dan Nordahl were uncomfortable. Both were sent for evaluation on Tuesday, and neither was available for the time being.
Oh, we’re done. Never mind Neil Reece rejoining us with Cal Lyon vanishing into the void that was Florida.
Game 2
NYC: LF M. Ortíz – 2B Brantley – RF A. Johnson – 1B Breach – SS Rice – CF Britton – C Olson – 3B V. Gonzalez – P Rey
POR: 3B Sharp – SS Guerin – CF Reece – 1B Martin – LF Roberson – 2B Ingall – RF Flores – C Fernandez – P Bean
The second game was no different from the first. The Raccoons were outright awful at the plate, while the Crusaders at least had one or two moments. It happened in the second inning, two in scoring position and two out with Gonzalez at the plate. He was batting under .200 and Rey – well, the most stupid things happen with three on, two out, and the pitcher batting. Bean was told to go after Gonzalez, Gonzalez doubled, and that was that. Bean pitched nine, Rey pitched eight, the Raccoons had four meek singles against him, and not even the faint shadow of a run. Sanders was back at it in the bottom 9th, up 2-0, and Reece hit a leadoff single. Then it was on Johnson again, misfielding a Martin single for an extra base, and all of a sudden the tying runs were in scoring position with no outs, and only right-handers up until Bean’s spot against the southpaw Sanders. The first such righty fell behind 0-2 before bumping a grounder to third that Gonzalez managed to miss for an RBI single. And then Ingall lined to the right side, but Breach caught it and tagged out Roberson. The ballpark gasped in disbelief, but this rally was killed. Matthews hit for Flores, walked, and Brady hit for Fernandez, shot the first pitch to left, but Gonzalez got that one. Martin was starved. 2-1 Crusaders. Guerin 2-4; Martin 2-3, BB; Bean 9.0 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, L (5-6);
Well, that is just not working well for us. Last place keeps getting closer. At the very least, we managed to give Martin Ortíz a **** day, ending his hitting streak at 23 games.
Of course, being in Portland, one piece of mildly indifferent news always is followed by at least one piece of bad news. Wednesday morning we got the medical report. First the unfortunate, but still not too horrendous news: Dan Nordahl had some soreness in his shoulder and would have to be shut down for a few weeks, three at most.
Now the bad news: Domingo Moreno had torn his labrum and was going to miss most, if not all of the remainder of the season.
So, two guys headed for the DL, and we scrambled to find replacements. Well. I would much rather eat a Coons hat, but no way led past Juan Diaz. I know, I know, stop moaning. We also added Sergio Vega, with the other right-handed options Lawrence Rockburn and Kazuhiko Kichida neither on the 40-man roster, nor ready to survive in the Bigs. With Manuel Martinez surrendering six runs in two thirds of an inning last week, Marcos Bruno was assigned temporary closer.
Game 3
NYC: LF M. Ortíz – 2B Brantley – CF Gonzales – 1B Breach – SS Rice – C Olson – RF Britton – 3B J. Martinez – P Connor
POR: 3B Sharp – SS Guerin – CF Reece – 1B Martin – RF Brady – LF Roberson – 2B Ingall – C Fifield – P Ford
These two teams’ acts got tiring by now, but another pitchers’ duel unfolded after both starters had a busy first inning before settling into lockdown mode. Ford left two on, the Coons even left them loaded, and then nothing happened until the sixth. Then, Guerin led off with a double, and Reece, who had struck out twice so far, singled to right to bring home the first run of the game. Ford walked a man in the seventh but soon escaped on a double play, but Connor was the guy running out of juice. Bottom 7th, Roberson singled, Ingall singled, and then Fifield uncorked a bomb on a 3-1 pitch to ramp the score to a blistering 4-0! Problem was, the Crusaders put their first two batters on base in the eighth. Ford struck out Ortíz, then was removed with the righty Brantley next. Martinez was chosen, with his first pitch rammed to deep right by Brantley, but Brady made a great play. Gonzales struck out, ending the inning. The ninth was assigned to Rodriguez with the lefty Breach up first, with Bruno in the wings. We didn’t need him, however, with Rodriguez sitting the Crusaders down in order, and they were held to three hits total. 4-0 Coons. Guerin 2-4, 2B; Parker (PH) 1-1; Ingall 2-4; Ford 7.1 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K, W (7-3) and 2-3, 2B;
Game 4
NYC: LF M. Ortíz – 2B Brantley – RF A. Johnson – 1B Breach – SS Rice – CF Britton – C Olson – 3B J. Martinez – P Fairchild
POR: 3B Sharp – RF Brady – CF Reece – 1B Martin – LF Roberson – 2B Matthews – SS Gabriel – C Fifield – P Farley
Kelly was coming along great, despite some walk issues, and NO run support. This game was somehow different from the first three. There was plenty of traffic on the bases – but still no scoring. The Raccoons left pairs of runners on in each of the first three innings, while the Crusaders totaled six stranded over four. In the bottom 4th, Gabriel led off with a single. Fifield made an out, and Mike Olson threw away Randy’s bunt. That put two in scoring position for the Coons, with one out. It was their best chance yet. Fairchild got ahead of Danny Sharp, but a 1-2 pitch was taken into deep center, and actually outta deep center! 3-0 Coons on one big rip! We added a run in the fifth, and then it was on Farley to crumble some. A walk, a single, and a double by Britton plated two runs for the Crusaders. Farley’s struggles were not ending, however, and in the seventh, he had two runners on base with Johnson up. Rodriguez came in again and got a fly right to Brady to end the inning. The bottom 7th brought some relief. Roberson and Matthews singled to get started, Roberson stole third, and then Gabriel hit his fourth single on the day to plate Roberson. Fifield’s walk loaded them up before Ingall hit for Rodriguez and hit into a run-scoring, yet still deflating double play. We were however up by four again, and oh, the bullpen opens, and out comes Juan Diaz. He got Breach and Rice, before Britton and Olson reached base on a single and a walk, respectively, bringing out Marcos Bruno for a 4-out save, hopefully. After two strikes to Jose Martinez, the third pitch was wild, but Martinez popped out on the next offering to get that over with. But the job got infinitely easier in the bottom 8th. Nick Hartman walked Brady and Reece, before Martin opened the gap with an RBI double. Don Richardson replaced Hartman, only to serve up a yard-leaver to Chris Roberson that got the Coons to double digits, and even Fifield hit one out! Bruno was never in danger in the ninth with a 9-run lead. He didn’t dare to. 11-2 Coons! Sharp 2-4, BB, HR, 3 RBI; Martin 2-5, 2B, RBI; Roberson 2-5, HR, 3 RBI; Gabriel 4-5, RBI; Fifield 2-3, 2 BB, HR, 2 RBI; Farley 6.2 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, W (4-7); Bruno 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K, SV (1);
Well, that was a nice change of pace! We are now back to one game and three runs under .500!
We are still down two key bullpen pieces however, plus our starting second baseman. This should get only more difficult as better teams roll around. Like the Scorpions.
Raccoons (29-30) vs. Scorpions (33-27) – June 7-9, 2002
The Scorpions were scoring well, ranking third in the Federal League, and 39 runs more than the Raccoons (292-253). They also enjoyed the second-best rotation, but their bullpen was covered in flammables and the match was lit and ready to be thrown in.
Projected matchups:
Nick Brown (3-3, 2.60 ERA) vs. Carlos Castro (7-2, 2.54 ERA)
Bob Joly (1-0, 2.45 ERA) vs. Randy Travis (4-5, 5.48 ERA)
Carl Bean (5-6, 3.63 ERA) vs. David Castillo (2-4, 5.56 ERA)
Good news is, the bad part of the rotation comes to town!
Game 1
SAC: CF Ruvalcubu – 1B Heart – LF A. Jenkins – 3B S. Reece – 2B Cowan – C R. Rivera – RF Dubois – SS Davidson – P Castro
POR: 3B Sharp – SS Guerin – CF N. Reece – 1B Martin – LF Roberson – RF Brady – 2B Ingall – C Fifield – P Brown
Two guys had Brown’s number, and that was about enough. In the first and third innings, Lorenzo Ruvalcubu got on base to start the frame, and both times Sonny Reece singled him home. Nobody else was doing a whole lot against Brown, who was throwing lots of strikes, but again got no support. The Coons matched the first run, but didn’t do anything after falling behind again. In the fourth, we had two on and two out when Gil Flores singled into left and Reece was sent around third, but was thrown out by Aaron Jenkins. Max Heart struck out his first two times against Brown, but hit a single in the seventh. Jenkins doubled, and Heart was sent, and Heart was ALSO thrown out. That was Brown’s last batter as he was first due to bat in the bottom 7th and we kinda needed offense. We didn’t get it, though, but instead hit into double plays in both the seventh and eighth. In the ninth, Miller was victimized by poor catching from Fifield. While he did put two men on, Fifield didn’t even make a throw when Ruvalcubu stole second for the second time in the game, then failed to field a Sam Green grounder for the third run to score. Bottom 9th, down by two, we faced Francois Picard, and we got our first two men on when Brady walked and was moved to second by an Ingall single. Fifield struck out, but Matthews hit an RBI single, representing the winning run. Sharp was 0-4 on the day, but Picard was rattled now and walked him on four balls. 3-2, bases loaded, one out for Concie, who turned on the first pitch and shot a grounder to left in the path cut by the earlier Ingall single. Karl Davidson hadn’t gotten Ingall’s, and Guerin’s wasn’t getting nabbed, either. Matthews was waved around, and this time there was plenty of time for the runner to score as the Coons walked off for the second time this week. 4-3 Coons! Guerin 3-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Martin 2-3, BB, RBI; Fifield 2-4; Matthews (PH) 1-1, RBI; Brown 7.0 IP, 9 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 9 K;
Why the heck, you might ask, did Gil Flores bat in the fourth inning? Well, Roberson came up lame in the second, and we suffered our third injury of the week. But this one was not going to cost us beyond batting Gil Flores fifth for seven innings. He knocked up his knee but there was no real damage and the pain was gone the next day, no need to hold him out of Saturday’s game.
Game 2
SAC: CF Ruvalcubu – C Branch – RF Calzado – 3B S. Reece – LF A. Jenkins – 2B Cowan – 1B S. Green – SS Davidson – P Travis
POR: SS Guerin – 1B Ingall – CF N. Reece – LF Roberson – RF Brady – 3B Matthews – C Fernandez – 2B Gabriel – P Joly
No-hitter here, no-hitter there, Bob Joly remained a donkey in a brown shirt. After he fell behind early, a second inning homer by Clyde Brady flipped the score to 2-1 here. Joly struggled, with the Scorpions leaving one man on in the third, and pairs in the next two innings, while the Raccoons were largely silenced by Randy Travis. In the top 6th, Joly blew it up all by himself, walking Vonne Calzado, and then plunking Sonny Reece. Two on, no outs, the Scorpions were going to cash in on that one, with the tying run scoring on a sac fly by Will Cowan. The Coons were blown out in the seventh. Five runs scored between Joly being Joly, Rodriguez walking a pair, and Miller surrendering another home run. In a twist of irony the Raccoons scored two in the bottom 7th, but this game had been properly blown. 8-4 Scorpions. Guerin 2-5; Ingall 2-4, 2B, RBI; Reece 2-4, 2B, RBI;
We get to .500 again, unexpectedly, and the bloke moves begin. As usual, the bullpen.
Game 3
SAC: CF Ruvalcubu – C Branch – RF Calzado – 3B S. Reece – LF A. Jenkins – 1B Dubois – 2B Cowan – SS Davidson – P Castillo
POR: 3B Sharp – SS Guerin – CF N. Reece – 1B Martin – LF Roberson – RF Brady – 2B Ingall – C Fifield – P Bean
If Joly was an annoyance in the middle game, Bean in the rubber game was just a hurricane flattening a seaside orphanage. The seaside orphanage of our dreams, that is. Bean was absolutely horrible, was whacked left and right, not helped the least by the defense, and did not survive the third inning, leaving after a 1-out, 2-run double by Karl Davidson that ramped the score to a staggering 7-0. It was already a blowout, and the eighth run was driven in by Ruvalcubu against Huerta. 8-0, and six innings to pitch, and in the ear still the Broken Chairs from the night before. It was the most devastating experience one could possibly imagine. While Ricardo Huerta did the best he could to absorb damage and protect the rest of the crew, logging 3.2 innings of 1-run ball, the Raccoons hit entirely meaningless home runs in the fourth (Fifield) and sixth (Martin) to get not even back into slam range. After Huerta, we managed to complete the last three innings with three more relievers, of which one did not record any outs and was thus entirely superfluous in the exercise, and I will not name him, but it was a left-hander facing left-handers. No, it was not pretty. 9-4 Scorpions. Martin 3-4, HR, RBI; Brady 2-2, 2 BB; Huerta 3.2 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 K; Martinez 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K; Bruno 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;
How deflating! How dispiriting! How disheartening!
In other news
June 3 – 39-year old MIL MR Ricardo Medina, who tore his UCL at the end of the 2001 season, announces that he suffered another setback and has decided to call it a career after Tommy John surgery didn’t bring the desired results. Medina was originally signed by the Titans out of Cuba but within a year dealt to the Falcons for SP Virgil Arnold. He debuted in 1985 and was with the Falcons through ’92 before going on to pitch for the Canadiens, Wolves, Warriors, and Loggers, appearing in 895 games, saving 376 of them, and amassing a 75-72 record, 2.30 ERA, and 1,050 strikeouts. He even started 28 games between 1987 and 1988.
June 6 – DEN OF Pedro Pujols (.361, 7 HR, 48 RBI) has torn a quad and is out until the All Star break.
June 7 – The Loggers acquire 1B/3B/RF Vitantonio Cavalleri (.313, 4 HR, 27 RBI) from the Rebels along with a minor leaguer for the veteran 1B/3B Jose Morales (.333, 0 HR, 8 RBI in 69 AB), who was demoted to AAA recently, but figures to return to the big leagues with the Rebels.
June 7 – The Rebels end CHA C Fernando Chavez’ hitting streak at 24 games.
June 8 – CHA SP Manuel Hernandez (7-2, 2.77 ERA) 2-hits the Rebels and whiffs nine in a 4-0 shutout.
Complaints and stuff
Lorenzo Ruvalcubu went .500 (7-14) with three doubles, a walk, and four stolen bases against us. Thank heavens he’s in that other league! The Raccoons have nobody on fire (except the bullpen in general).
Well, starting a week with two of your key relievers going down is certainly not great. Palacios was also on the DL, but started a rehab stint on the weekend and should rejoin us by mid-week. Manny Gabriel had a 4-hit game, but that’s not going to be enough to stick around. Nobody else has options. Well, except Daniel Sharp. Ha-hah.
Remember that starter I wanted to bring up rather than Joly? Cesar Miranda? Well, there is a hamstring issue which might have us enjoy Bobby Bomfman a few weeks longer while crying ourselves to death.
And it is … man. They went to 15-15 in early May and were gangbanged by the Cyclones, 5-0, 5-0, 6-5. Now they get back to 30-30, and then the Scorpions start to actually try and win, plating 17 over the last two games of that series. And we played the Scorpions four times the last five years, and the record is decidedly unpretty at 2-10.
What else? Neil Reece has a 12-game hitting streak going, dating to before his injury, yet most of the game in there have him with one single. He also hacked out a lot this week. 12 games is nice, but he is still not contributing a lot right now. (Harshest criticism of outfield sweetheart #2 in some years, huh?)
In Milwaukee, GM Leland French officially snapped. Three days after Ricardo Medina announced his retirement, he orchestrated a deal with the Rebels to get back a minor leaguer named … Ricardo Medina. Where can I find a Daniel Hall NOW?
Below is our rule 5 pick. Decent grab, huh?