[Westheim]

Raccoons (49-64) @ Crusaders (49-63) – August 11-13, 2003

Misery against suffering in this midweek series, which saw the Crusaders come in with an L3 in the standings, and the Raccoons all the way at L7 after getting ravaged by the Falcons and basically not taking part in the Indians series at all. The Crusaders held the lowest batting average in the league, and scored the fourth-least runs, against allowing the fifth-most runs and suffering from the second-worst rotation ERA at 4.75. The Raccoons might have different weaknesses and no strengths either, and this series could well go either way, with some team taking some share of the three W’s available largely due to the fact that games can’t end in scoreless ties.

Projected matchups:
Felipe Garcia (3-2, 3.48 ERA) vs. Whit Reeves (7-10, 4.00 ERA)
Ramón Meza (1-4, 6.59 ERA) vs. Kelly Fairchild (5-12, 5.01 ERA)
Nick Brown (6-12, 3.91 ERA) vs. Greg Connor (8-8, 3.92 ERA)

Game 1
POR: 3B Sharp – 2B Palacios – C Ledesma – 1B Martin – RF Beairsto – LF Reece – SS Ingall – CF Torrez – P F. Garcia
NYC: RF Britton – 2B B. Andrews – SS Rice – 1B Breach – 3B Rigg – C D. Anderson – LF G. Andrews – CF Pena – P Reeves

While Garcia’s stuff had no bite and he didn’t strike out anybody other than Reeves bunting foul with two strikes, he also had abysmal defensive support with a throwing error by Ingall on the Coons’ very first defensive play of the day, and another one in the third inning when Beairsto had a Reeves single pass him through the wickets. That latter run proved costly as it blew a 1-0 lead, attained with an Eddie Torrez homer. Torrez was the only Raccoon to bring a bat to the game. Everybody else hit with ping-pong paddles against Reeves, who leisurely struck out six the first time through the order, despite six left-handed batters in there, and nine through five innings. Tied at one, Reeves lost control all of a sudden in the top 6th. Sharp walked, and Palacios singled in a full count. They moved into scoring position when Ledesma grounded out for the first man down in the inning. Reeves was cooked as quickly as he had served the Raccoons previously. Man up, and on. Man up, and on. Martin doubled, plating both runners, and Beairsto was walked intentionally, followed by an unintentional walk to Neil Reece. That was it for Reeves, with Bob Evans replacing him. Ingall grounded into a force at home, but Torrez drew another walk from Evans, and then Garcia split the outfielders with a gapper that scored two more runs. Where did that 6-1 lead come from!? And more importantly, where would it go? Garcia failed to navigate the sixth, leaving with a run home and two men on. Marcos Bruno originally didn’t seem to make things better when Bryan Andrews singled to load them up, but he then did strike out silent coonskinner Gary Rice for the last out of the sixth. 6-2. Bruno somehow wobbled through the seventh, but the eighth was another choker. Moreno issued two walks with two men down, just in time for Rice to appear in the box. We went to Dan Nordahl, who had been hardly used in the recent futile stretch, and Rice flew out softly to right. Nordahl ended up finishing the game on 12 pitches, notching the final four outs. 6-2 Raccoons. Martin 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Torrez 1-2, 2 BB, HR, 2 RBI; Bruno 1.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K; Nordahl 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K, SV (22);

Raccoons: six runs on five hits. Crusaders: two runs on nine hits. We’ll take it, since this is as good as anything when you have to kill off a dreadful losing streak.

Game 2
POR: 3B Sharp – 2B Palacios – CF Torrez – 1B Martin – LF Beairsto – C Ledesma – SS Ingall – RF J. Rodriguez – P Meza
NYC: CF Britton – 3B Rigg – LF M. Ortíz – SS Rice – C D. Anderson – 1B Breach – 2B F. Adams – RF Burne – P Fairchild

Early on, Meza was all over the place and looked ripe for early replacement. After the Crusaders got a run in the first inning and it only stopped thanks to Ed Rigg getting caught stealing, Meza grew gradually less worrisome and in the third even struck out Gary Rice to end the frame with a man in scoring position. He’d even get Rice twice in the game, yet also gave up lots of hard contact into center, which was dutifully sucked up by Torrez, however. This was not quite overpainting the horrendous middle infield defense the Raccoons showed, with both middle infielders guilty of catastrophic throwing errors and for Ingall that was back-to-back games with such. Offensively, Palacios had a double in the first, and - … that was it for the Coons. They had a walk, and a hit-by-pitch, and one of those singles between two fielders uneasy with each other’s presence at the play. Jorge Rodriguez continued to be hitless, but saved Bob Joly’s bacon in the eighth with two awesome plays, and that was it. 1-0 Crusaders. Meza 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, L (1-5);

(facepalms)

Game 3
POR: 3B Sharp – 2B M. Ramirez – CF Beairsto – 1B Martin – LF Reece – RF J. Rodriguez – C Thomas – SS Gabriel – P Brown
NYC: 2B Caraballo – 3B Rigg – LF M. Ortíz – C D. Anderson – 1B Breach – CF G. Andrews – SS F. Adams – RF Burne – P Connor

The skies were dark, rain was imminent, so of course Nick Brown had his best game available. He struck out one in the first, leadoff man and debutee Francisco Caraballo, struck out the side in the second, and had another K in the third, this time already in a steady rain. The game was scoreless, at least until Daryl Anderson homered in the bottom 4th to make it 1-0 for the home team. And while the rains didn’t wash away Brown in time, the most ****ed up inning in history commenced in the sixth. While Brown had hardly thrown a ball in the game, he started that inning with four straight to the pitcher. Next, Caraballo’s bunt wasn’t dug out by anybody, and Brown hit Rigg with an 0-2 pitch. Bases loaded, nobody out. Rain getting more intense, too. Then Ortíz popped out to short, Anderson struck out, and Breach rolled out to second base. Inning over. However, Brown was still losing, and the lineup was still ****. The top 7th was the closest they came to being a credible major league outfit. With one out, Martin walked, and Reece and Rodriguez both singled. Load ‘em up with one out, Thomas was next. Well, hum, yeah, no, I don’t know. But imagining Ledesma in the spot didn’t help, and Thomas was sent to bat, which he did by sending a hard grounder to the short side of second base. Any decent shortstop would turn a double play, but Adams blinked too long and had that ball glance off his glove into center for a 2-run single. That was all they got, with Brown making the third out. But he was pitching so well! Yeah, no. He faced the debutee with two out and two in scoring position in the bottom 7th, and Caraballo fired a rocket into the gap in right center for a – third out!! Rodriguez OUT OF THE BLUE!! Wow!! In the bigger picture, this led to no more Raccoons offense anyway, and to Nordahl appearing to protect a 2-1 lead in the bottom 9th. We didn’t fancy our chances, and Brown the least so, and Alan Breach’s leadoff walk didn’t improve the grim outlook. One inning earlier, in the eighth, Manuel Martinez had been saved by a 6-4-3 hit into by Daryl Anderson, and now the same thing happened to Greg Andrews, which left Fred Adams as the poor sod to not only give up all the opposition’s runs, but also make the final out. Unless he homered. He fired the first pitch to deep center, Beairsto running, running, runniiiiiiiing – got it! 2-1 Coons. Rodriguez 2-4, 2B; Brown 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, W (7-12);

Wow. Someone gotta get me some nails, I’ve bitten mine off after this series. Can they make it any more frantic?

These aren’t even exactly frantic games. They just aren’t doing anything!

Raccoons (51-65) @ Gold Sox (67-47) – August 15-17, 2003

Yeah, we might have our hands full with these guys. They had scored 561 runs, third in the FL, with the best batting average over there. They weren’t exactly bleeding runs either, allowing the fourth-least in their league. Their starting pitching was far removed from the stellar phalanx of the 2002 season, but injuries had been a deciding factor in that. Overall, they were still a much better team, including a 40-year old Dale Wales OPS’ing .853… And we haven’t won a series from Denver since 1995…

Projected matchups:
Randy Farley (7-5, 3.52 ERA) vs. David Estrada (12-6, 4.24 ERA)
Edgar Amador (2-4, 5.01 ERA) vs. Paco Martinez (4-5, 4.60 ERA)
Felipe Garcia (4-2, 3.30 ERA) vs. Jorge Martinez (6-5, 4.76 ERA)

Missing both Chang-se Park (labrum) and Victor Bernal (bone chips in elbow) from their rotation of stallions, the Gold Sox had dug deep into the box of spare Martinezes and had dug out ex-Coon Paco. Him and Estrada are left-handers.

Game 1
POR: 3B Sharp – 2B Ingall – LF Reece – 1B Martin – SS M. Ramirez – RF Beairsto – C Thomas – CF Torrez – P Farley
DEN: 3B Davidson – 2B Correa – RF Wales – CF Pujols – 1B Michel – C J. Johnson – LF L. Alonso – SS A. Rodriguez – P Estrada

After the Critters scratched out a run in the top of the first inning, Ramirez hitting into an RBI groundout, Farley came out to walk Zak Davidson right away. He missed often early, and a little less later, and amazingly, the Gold Sox didn’t quite get enough hits to plate any runners. Torrez led off the fifth with a double and scored on another groundout by Sharp, but when Estrada hit a single to lead off the Gold Sox’ half of the fifth inning, we knew Farley was in trouble. Zak Davidson doubled, and eventually Wales plated the pitcher on another groundout. Nobody in hitting mood, eh? Well, Neil Reece was. He had two cheap singles already, and in the top 6th he connected for a home run to left center, 3-1. And now Estrada was on the way out. Martin singled, Ramirez tripled, and then Beairsto brought down the curtain on his night with a huge 2-piece to slightly right of dead center. Manny Ramos replaced Estrada with four runs across and nobody out. Thomas singled, Torrez walked. Still no outs. Farley bunted, oops, badly, out at third, out at first, and after that the inning ended rather quickly. When Reece was up in the top 7th, Ramos came in a bit too far for our taste and drilled him. Reece picked up his ribs and went to first, then jogged home when Al Martin dealt a punishing 2-run circuit blow that made it 8-1. Toby Bevan hit Marv in the eighth, and there was some slight unrest accumulating in the visitors’ dugout. Bevan’s punishment was that Ingall was brought in to score (on a groundout) as well. For now at least. Randy, after struggling early, recovered wonderfully to pitch a complete game. 9-1 Raccoons. Reece 4-4, HR, RBI; Martin 4-5, HR, 2 RBI; Beairsto 2-5, HR, 2 RBI; Thomas 2-5; Torrez 3-4, 2 2B; Farley 9.0 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, W (8-5);

Might the Coons get a 10-game winner this year after all?

For the moment, Jorge Rodriguez returned to AAA as Clyde Brady rejoined us from the DL.

Game 2
POR: 3B Sharp – 2B Ingall – LF Reece – 1B Martin – SS M. Ramirez – RF Brady – C Thomas – CF Torrez – P Amador
DEN: 3B Davidson – 2B Correa – RF Wales – LF J. Rivera – CF Pujols – 1B Michel – C J. Johnson – SS A. Rodriguez – P P. Martinez

Sharp singled, Ingall went deep, and the ex-Coon trailed 2-0 in the first. Reece singled, staying unretired in the series, but was left on third base eventually. When he came up again, he grounded out to short, and around that time, offense died completely in the game. While the Raccoons hit a couple of balls to deep center, all their efforts died in Pedro Pujols’ glove, and Amador overwhelmingly gave up only weak contact. In the sixth, the Gold Sox had a pair of 2-out singles, but that was it, really. So the score was still 2-0 in the top 9th, which Martin started with a single. Beairsto ran for him, and took third when Ramirez singled to left on a hit-and-run. No outs, the Gold Sox actually went for their closer Scott Hood, who gave up an RBI single to Clyde Brady right away. Thomas loaded them up with another single, to right, and then Torrez was terribly unlucky when Jesus Rivera nipped his line drive to deep left, turning it into a sac fly. Amador bunted successfully, but Sharp popped out. That made it a 4-0 game with three outs to collect, and Amador had been so in the groove, that we left him in to see how he’d cope. If he’d blow up, we could still go to Nordahl for a quick and merciful end. Amador started by facing Wales, and walked him on four balls straight. That was so not good. He then got a fielder’s choice from Rivera, before Pujols fired a cannonball into the gap in left center. Torrez caught it!!! HA, PUJOLS!! HOW DOES THAT FEEL!!?? With two down, 21-year old Edgar Amador faced another ex-Coon in Samy Michel. C’mon Eddie! For youth and … frugality, or whatever!! Youth came through, Michel did not, and we celebrated a kid’s shutout: 4-0 Raccoons!!! Ingall 3-4, HR, 2 RBI; Amador 9.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 2 K, W (3-4) and 1-3;

For reasons obvious, this is young Eddie’s first career shutout and complete game. YAY, GO, EDDIE!!

Actually, we have two Eddies, which makes things slightly convoluted.

Game 3
POR: 3B Sharp – 2B Palacios – RF Brady – 1B Martin – LF Beairsto – CF Torrez – C Ledesma – SS Gabriel – P F. Garcia
DEN: 3B Davidson – C J. Johnson – RF Wales – LF J. Rivera – CF Pujols – 1B Michel – 2B J. Terry – SS A. Rodriguez – P J. Martinez

Another Martinez turned up, another Martinez was turned down: while the Coons sprinkled four singles in the first two innings without scoring, they would come to that after a 2-out walk to Brady in the third inning, when Martin and Beairsto went deep to left back-to-back, quickly creating a 3-0 score. Unfortunately, Felipe Garcia was whipped in return with a 2-shot by Armando Rodriguez, and the score got tied in the fifth inning when Johnny Johnson singled home Zak Davidson. Needing more bombs away, Ledesma hit a solo shot in the top 6th to make it 4-3, but that lead was blown to pieces in the bottom 6th, as Jorge Martinez actually outlasted Garcia in this contest. The Gold Sox loaded them up and then Garcia walked in a run, and another one scored on a wild pitch that was meant to whiff Martinez batting with the bases loaded. If it was any consolation, Martinez would not get the win either, as Daniel Sharp’s leadoff jack in the top 7th knotted the score at five. (It wasn’t). In the top 8th we had the bases loaded before Antonio Donis (another ex-Coon!) killed the rally, and also shut us down in the ninth. Bottom 9th, second inning for Marcos Bruno, and pinch-hitter Luis Alonso reached on a capital throwing error by Daniel Sharp, putting Alonso on second base – with nobody out. Because the Raccoons must never sweep a series, Zak Davidson legged out an infield single, moving Alonso to third with no outs, and Bruno had nothing against Johnson either, who singled on the first pitch. 6-5 Gold Sox. Sharp 2-5, HR, RBI; Palacios 2-5; Martin 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Torrez 3-4, 2B;

Oh well. Sweeps are overrated. And something for winning teams.

In other news

August 12 – The Thunder lose SP Aaron Anderson (9-8, 3.03 ERA) for the rest of the season, as the 33-year old righty suffers from acute elbow soreness. Anderson is – behind the really, really old Vernon Robertson – the second-winningest active pitchers with 214 W, ranking 15th all time.
August 13 – TOP Tony Hamlyn (14-3, 2.61 ERA) allows only two hits but whiffs ten in a 9-0 blanking of the Capitals.
August 14 – SP Juan Garcia (8-13, 4.36 ERA) fires a shutout for the Miners, 3-hitting the Rebels.
August 14 – The hitting streak of TOP OF Lionnel Perri (.314, 20 HR, 96 RBI) ends with an 0-5 day in the Buffaloes 7-4 loss to the Capitals. He had hit in 22 straight games.
August 15 – One day after Perri’s streak, that of ATL C Ricardo Valadez (.276, 2 HR, 29 RBI) dies as well as the Capitals hold him hitless. His streak ran for 23 games.
August 16 – The Buffaloes lose their first baseman, Jose Valenzuela (.290, 13 HR, 85 RBI) for the season to a torn anterior cruciate ligament.
August 16 – The season also ends for WAS SP Mario Pagán (10-6, 2.76 ERA), who is befallen by biceps tendinitis.
August 16 – For RIC SP John Webb (9-9, 4.95 ERA), the ailment is a torn rotator cuff, and he is also out for the rest of the year.

Complaints and stuff

You know who got his 200th career win this month? Dennis Fried. I could just KICK myself for that trade, for a guy that had only 118 AB after that trade, and only nine of those as a Raccoon. -.-

With that history, I checked on the other side of the Ledesma trade again. To be blunt, Ledesma sucks. We sent over Chris Roberson and Jack Berry, mainly, and Berry has surrendered 37 homers between AA and AAA already. The stunning part is that Chris Roberson isn’t batting .460 with 52 home runs by now. He hasn’t played in the Bigs AT ALL for Topeka. He’s rotting in AAA.

While we’re counting down on Neil Reece and his hunt for the franchise mark for hits, I have checked over at the ABL leaderboards for hits. Daniel Hall’s 1,886 don’t sound like that much, but they rank him 55th all time at this point. Only 48 players have made it to 2,000 so far, and only half a dozen figures to have a chance to reach that mark by the end of *next* year, then including some colorful names like Dan Morris (Cincy for his whole career), Haruki Nakayama (ex-BOS), and Sonny Reece (that kid that hit two walkoff homers in postseason game sevens). Tomas Maguey, the long-time Indian, is at 1,832, but his days are about over. Neil Reece’s 1,854 rank him t-60th.

Franchise hits leaders by … well … franchise (* denotes active for this franchise):
3,139 – WAS Jeffery Brown
2,988 – MIL Cristo Ramirez *
2,907 – OCT Dave Browne
2,552 – SAC Aaron Jenkins *
2,531 – DEN Dale Wales *
2,376 – LAP Anibal Rodriguez
2,204 – NAS Horace Henry
2,056 – LVA Lowell Allen
1,933 – ATL Michael Root
1,895 – CIN Dan Morris *
1,886 – POR Daniel Hall
1,863 – TIJ Cipriano Ortega
1,800 – BOS Hjalmar Flygt
1,759 – SFW Dafe Heffer *
1,509 – PIT Carlos Torres
1,478 – IND Angelo Duarte
1,407 – TOP Georg Spinu *
1,390 – DAL Gabriel Cruz
1,386 – SAL Jorge Padilla
1,358 – VAN Salvador Mendez
1,328 – SFB Mike Powys
1,285 – RIC Raúl Vázquez
1,219 – CHA Michael Watson (1)
1,111 – NYC Avery Johnson

(1) Hubert Green is active and one hit away from tying Watson