[Westheim]

Raccoons (6-7) @ Titans (7-5) – April 21-23, 2003

Playing the dominant Titans never gets old. Oh wait, it does! We’re a glorious 8-28 against them the last two years. Their team is largely unchanged from last season, so we can’t expect for the ownage to lessen one bit, despite them not hitting at all in the first two weeks. Their 46 runs scored rank third-worst in the Continental League, but in turn their pitching was blindingly fantastic, with a 2.53 starters’ ERA and 0.76 bullpen ERA.

Projected matchups:
Randy Farley (0-1, 6.48 ERA) vs. Steven Snyder (2-0, 1.50 ERA)
Felipe Garcia (0-1, 5.27 ERA) vs. Joe Mann (1-0, 2.40 ERA)
Ralph Ford (1-2, 6.23 ERA) vs. Jorge Chapa (0-2, 3.32 ERA)

Hard times ahead.

Game 1
POR: RF Brady – CF Torrez – C Ledesma – 1B Martin – LF Reece – 2B Palacios – SS Ingall – 3B M. Ramirez – P Farley
BOS: LF Elizondo – 1B Matsumoto – CF Garrison – RF G. Munoz – 3B Austin – C L. Lopez – 2B V. Flores – SS D. Silva – P Snyder

Pitching reigned supreme on this cold Monday night. Through five innings, neither team had more than two hits, with only Brady hitting two singles off Snyder. When he hit his third single in the top 6th, we mustered something with a 2-run homer by Ledesma to take a 2-0 lead. Farley had had the bases full in the bottom 3rd, and little else, and it was true: the Titans were horrendous at making contact. Raccoons *infielders* registered seven fly outs while Farley was pitching, which surely wasn’t all a pitcher thing. Regardless, Farley was soon enough knocked from the game. Vic Flores doubled in the bottom 7th with one out, then was singled home instantly by the pest Silva. Farley became unglued and walked the bases full with two outs, with Moreno replacing him and getting a deep fly out from Rudy Garrison. The Coons left runners on the corners when Reece was handed his third K of the day by Xavier Herrera, and in the bottom 8th Moreno became stuck as well, but Martinez retired Flores before things could get ugly. Things were heading for Nordahl appearing in the game, which was an all-out non-thrilling proposition, especially in a 1-run game. He entered with an ERA of roughly “a lot”, but then Silva, Diéguez, and Elizondo went up and down in quick succession. 2-1 Coons! Brady 3-3, BB, 2B; Ledesma 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Farley 6.2 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 2 K, W (1-1);

Nordahl’s ERA is still “a lot”, but three runs less than before. Tells you a thing or two about how deep he’s been shoved into the gutter this month.

Game 2
POR: RF Brady – CF Torrez – C Ledesma – 1B Martin – 2B Palacios – 3B Ingall – LF Beairsto – SS McLaughlin – P F. Garcia
BOS: LF Elizondo – 1B Matsumoto – RF G. Munoz – 3B Austin – 2B H. Ramirez – C L. Lopez – CF Bryant – SS V. Flores – P Mann

More pitching, less offense. When Clyde Brady rammed a double off the centerfield wall to plate Beairsto in the fifth inning, that was the first run of the game, and the fifth hit in total. Ledesma left pairs of runners on in both the third and the fifth innings, and in the bottom 5th Garcia had a man on first with two out when Elizondo hit a weak grounder to McLaughlin, whose throw to second went amiss. The Titans loaded them up on an infield single into McLaughlin territory before Munoz flew out to end the inning with no scoring. Top 8th, still 1-0. Brady was retired for the first time in the series before Mann walked both Torrez and Ledesma and was replaced with the lefty Herrera, who allowed a first-pitch single to Al Martin. That loaded them up, and Palacios was hit for with a right-hander here, and with Reece having looked bad for more than a week, we called on Fifield! After a first ball, Fifield poked the ball into play, a sorry grounder that became an RBI infield single mainly because Herrera and Austin got into each other’s way when trying to field it. Ingall lined out, bringing up Beairsto, 0-12 with what felt like 14 K. Reece hit for him, wisely stayed away from the first pitch that was wickedly wild and eluded Diéguez, scoring the Coons’ third run, before Reece grounded out on a 3-1. But, 3-0 was 3-0, and Garcia pitched a scoreless eighth, and with only left-handers due in the bottom 9th, the question in advance was whether Nordahl had found it now and could go back-to-back, or whether we trusted Garcia further than we could throw him. He batted for himself in the ninth, successlessly, and then resumed pitching, allowing a double to lead off the inning. We went to *Moreno*. Moreno had not whiffed anybody in eight innings pitched this season, but struck out his first man, Austin. Ramirez popped out. Here, righty David Mendez hit for Herrera in Lopez’ vacated slot. And HERE came Nordahl! He erred every which way in the strike zone, until he finally threw one down the middle in a full count, and Mendez didn’t even see it coming. K, game over! 3-0 Coons!! Brady 2-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Fifield (PH) 1-1, RBI; Garcia 8.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K, W (1-1) and 1-4, 2B;

Better lucky than anything else? Well, I dig ability, but in absence of that, luck will do.

Game 3
POR: SS Ingall – RF Brady – LF Reece – 1B Martin – C Fifield – 3B M. Ramirez – CF Beairsto – 2B Love – P Ford
BOS: 2B D. Mendez – 1B Matsumoto – CF Garrison – RF G. Munoz – 3B V. Flores – LF Bryant – SS H. Ramirez – C F. Diéguez – P Chapa

Ralph Ford was missing, and he was missing badly, plunking Garrison in the first inning in addition to a walk. That didn’t cost a run, but walking Chapa with two out and Bryant on second ended up costing one once Mendez singled to right afterwards. It didn’t get better for us. OBP wiz Brady was ejected after getting called out on strikes to end the third and calling the umpire a bum of a switch or something like that. The next inning, the Titans put up a 3-spot and Ford didn’t live to see the sixth. The Coons had nothing going apart from a soft single from Beairsto, ending futility at 0-13. We couldn’t get much length out of Bob Joly, either, as he put the first three batters he faced on base in the sixth. Ultimately, non of this mattered. The Raccoons amounted to three hits and eleven strikeouts and were swiftly shut out in this one. 5-0 Titans.

Odd fact: after seven outings and 5.2 innings, Benton Wilson has not conceded any earned runs. Neither has he struck out anyone. Instead he leads the team in wins.

!?

Well, I suppose we won more than our due share in this midweek series, so let’s get the heck outta here before they demand a fourth game.

Raccoons (8-8) @ Bayhawks (5-11) – April 25-27, 2003

What was going on at the Bay? 5-11 seemed very un-bayhawk-like. They had not posted a losing record since 1996 (does that year ring a bell in connection with some other dysfunctional club?), but this one looked really out of whack. They had lost Tony Hamlyn and some pieces more to free agency, but that was not enough to explain their 102 runs allowed and 7.43 ERA in the rotation…

Projected matchups:
Carl Bean (2-1, 3.60 ERA) vs. Raúl Fuentes (1-1, 4.50 ERA)
Nick Brown (0-1, 3.78 ERA) vs. Iván Cordero (0-2, 10.00 ERA)
Randy Farley (1-1, 4.20 ERA) vs. Ricardo Sanchez (1-2, 5.91 ERA)

Game 1
POR: RF Brady – 2B Ingall – LF Reece – 1B Martin – C Fifield – 3B M. Ramirez – SS McLaughlin – CF Beairsto – P Bean
SFB: LF R. Gonzalez – C G. Ortíz – CF Arroyo – RF Javier – 3B Foster – SS J. Perez – 1B I. Navarro – 2B Comte – P Fuentes

No, the Coons didn’t come out swinging. While they took a 1-0 lead in the second inning with a solo homer by Miguel Ramirez, they didn’t have much else going on. In the fifth, BOTH teams concluded their innings with strike-em-out-throw-em-out plays, with the Bayhawks blowing a chance for a big inning there. The bottom 5th had started with McLaughlin, useless every which way, made a capital throwing error that put leadoff man Jesse Foster on second base. Foster scored but the two-for-one special held the game at least tied, with Perez stranded on third base. McLaughlin made another throwing error past Martin the next inning, and old Neil had to make a headlong diving play to safe that run from scoring, retiring Paco Javier without breaking his own neck in the process. Bean went seven, didn’t get a decision, and we cobbled the eighth together with three relievers because the Bayhawks refused to make outs. The Coons had three hits again through eight, but Ingall led off the ninth with a single with Fuentes still in there. Reece grounded out, and Ingall moved to third when Martin legged out an infield single. Prime chance for Fifield, who was batting .103, yeah. Matt Love batted for him, struck out, and so did Ramirez. Benton Wilson got booked for his first run allowed in the bottom 9th then, walking leadoff man Paco Javier and Huerta failed to contain the runner. 2-1 Bayhawks. Ingall 2-3, BB; Martin 2-4; Bean 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 2 K;

That was a true stinker of a game. They were also bad – offensively! – in the Boston series, but that was against sterling pitching. The Bayhawks were rumored to be horrendous. Well, Fuentes wasn’t and took a complete game win.

Dale Moore came off the DL, with a wildly unsuccessful Chris Beairsto (1 for 18) heading back to Florida.

Game 2
POR: RF Brady – 2B Ingall – LF Reece – 1B Martin – CF Torrez – 3B M. Ramirez – 2B Palacios – C Ledesma – P P Brown
SFB: 2B Berrios – SS J. Perez – C G. Ortíz – LF Brulhart – 3B Foster – CF Arroyo – RF Comte – 1B Aguilar – P I. Cordero

Cordero walked ten per nine innings, had an ERA of ten, but the Coons had a lineup with ten divided by two left-handed batters (plus Brown). You were hoping for a rash of scoring, you feared the opposite, and in fact the Raccoons buried Cordero as quickly as a glacier. Reece singled home a run in the third, and that was all they did early on. Brown held up, although he was not quite as flashy as usual. Cordero was almost at 100 pitches in the sixth. Martin had singled, and Torrez grounded to second, where Leon Berrios played the ball to first – or not bloody quite. Aguilar couldn’t contain the short hop, and the Coons had two men on with no outs, and the bases were loaded when Ramirez singled to center. Palacios also singled, 2-0, and a run scored on Ledesma’s groundout, and Cordero was taken out eventually. Rodrigo Garcia struck out Reece with the bags full in a 4-0 game to advance to the bottom 6th. Ramirez homered the next inning to make it 5-0. Brown went on and on, completed eight on 99 pitches, and seemed to have juice left. Bottom 9th, Gabriel Ortíz grounded out to Ingall on a 2-2 pitch. Jim Brulhart was down 0-2 and flew out to Torrez, and that made Foster the potential final out. That AB also went to two strikes, and this time Brown did not bother his defense and K’ed him! 5-0 Coons! Martin 2-5; Ramirez 2-2, 2 BB, HR, RBI; Palacios 1-2, 2 BB, RBI; Brown 9.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 7 K, W (1-1);

Brownie’s 4-hitter came on 113 pitches, and it’s for his 12th big league win and second shutout and complete game. He pitched very well in this game, and had many more 2-strike counts. Although 10 K and more excite me, he often mixes them up with five walks, and then I’d rather have a splendidly pitched shutout.

Who wouldn’t?

Game 3
POR: RF Brady – CF Torrez – C Ledesma – 1B Martin – SS Ingall – 2B Palacios – 3B M. Ramirez – LF Moore – P Farley
SFB: LF R. Gonzalez – C G. Ortíz – CF Arroyo – RF Javier – 3B Foster – SS J. Perez – 1B I. Navarro – 2B J. Diaz – P R. Sanchez

Sanchez had his bell rung early with an opening-inning 3-run homer clobbered by Al Martin for his third of the year. The Coons took a nap then while Farley faced the minimum through three innings, but that was aided by two double plays turned by Ingall and Palacios behind him. In the bottom 4th he fell victim to an RBI triple by Paco Javier, but Dale Moore hit a leadoff jack to restore the 3-run gap right away in the fifth. The Bahyhawks however were just starting to constrict Farley, who barely escaped the fifth with two men on, and couldn’t escape the sixth at all. He left with two on, two out and Navarro up, whom Bruno came in for. One pop to shallow right later, we were out of the inning and still leading by two, 4-2. Brady had made that catch and he would make another one an inning later, starving another two runners that Huerta had put there, righties Diaz and Ortíz, while he had surrendered two left-handers. Moreno then induced a sharp line to right from ex-Elk Arroyo, that Brady just so managed to throw himself in the way of. Still 4-2, and the Bayhawks made three quick outs against Moreno (one) and Martinez (two) in the eighth. Add-on offense, perhaps? Yes, one run, plated through singles by Ingall, Reece, and Moore in the top 9th. Nordahl was out for the bottom of that inning, facing the bottom third of the Hawks’ order. Navarro grounded out before the Bayhawks put two on with a Diaz single and an Aguilar walk. Gonzalez grounded to Ingall, now at second, but they only got Aguilar, and PH Jim Brulhart represented the tying run with two out. And he had power. And Nordahl had been whacked hard already this year. Brulhart eventually walked on five pitches, creating a most unpleasant situation with Luis Arroyo up next, a left-hander, but Benton Wilson had lots of walks and no strikeouts. So it was Nordahl vs. Arroyo with three on and two out, and the 2-2 pitch was taken high to right. High, but not deep, and Brady made the play. 5-2 Coons. Ingall 2-4; Reece (PH) 1-1; Moore 2-4, HR, 2 RBI;

In other news

April 21 – LVA RF/LF Lou Jenkins (.342, 5 HR, 14 RBI) is out for the season with a torn labrum.
April 23 – The Aces’ SP Anibal Sandoval (2-1, 3.44 ERA) 2-hits the Falcons in a 5-0 shutout.
April 24 – The Cyclones are blanked by WAS SP Mario Pagán (2-2, 4.56 ERA), amounting to just three hits in a 5-0 shutout.
April 26 – TOP 1B Jose Valenzuela (.355, 4 HR, 19 RBI) has hit in 20 straight games collecting a double in his team’s 5-4 win over the Scorpions.
April 26 – DEN SP Victor Bernal (3-1, 4.39 ERA), who missed last year’s FLCS already, is now out for most of the year with bone chips in his elbow.
April 27 – Another FL West pitcher is diagnosed with bone chips in his elbow, as SAC SP Kenny Frye (0-2, 3.86 ERA) hits the shelf for at least four months.
April 27 – Valenzuela’s hitting streak is snapped at 20 games already by the Scorpions, who hold him at 0-5, while the Buffaloes win 4-3.

Complaints and stuff

Hits to go for Neil Reece to catch Daniel Hall for the franchise record: 113. Could take a while.

Odd note: Brownie has 1,446 professional strikeouts. Drafted as a high schooler in ’95, he has already turned in over 200 innings at every level on the ladder. Nobody thought anything of that kid when he was drafted, and now flocks of young boys wear his jersey.

Things like that are the few reasons I don’t just step in front of a train.

16 runs scored this week. Sixteen! I mean, we finally got good pitching, but sixteen!! For once, a preseason projection kicks in. Injuries would kill the team. Injuries killed the team. Especially against left-handed pitching, we’ve got nothing anymore. And then you get McLaughlin actively throwing games away.

Sharp and Concie were all it took for this team to fold and die.