[Westheim]

Raccoons (53-66) vs. Capitals (58-61) – August 18-20, 2003

Numbers painted a strange picture of the Capitals, whose rotation was third-best in the Federal League in ERA, and the bullpen was at least seventh, but they still had allowed the fourth-most runs. The secret was not terrible defense, but an enormous amount of extra innings the Capitals had played. They had at most three games more under their belt that other FL teams, but had played almost 50 more innings than some of them.

Projected matchups:
Ramón Meza (1-5, 5.81 ERA) vs. Francisco Garza (4-12, 4.71 ERA)
Nick Brown (7-12, 3.79 ERA) vs. Sergio Gonzalez (5-10, 4.41 ERA)
Randy Farley (8-5, 3.36 ERA) vs. Dean Merritt (1-1, 4.43 ERA)

Two right-handers and a southpaw after that. We really have no clue who Merritt is, but the others were in the CL some years ago.

Game 1
WAS: 1B Yamamoto – 2B Nichols – CF V. Sanchez – 3B J. Lopez – LF MacDonald – RF C. Solís – C J. Rivera – SS S. Gomez – P F. Garza
POR: 3B Sharp – 2B Palacios – RF Brady – 1B Martin – CF Beairsto – LF Reece – C Ledesma – SS Ingall – P Meza

No scoring through four, with only one hit in the game, and that was the Capitals’. Salvador Gomez’ leadoff double in the fifth set a walk-happy Ramón Meza up for Aki Yamamoto’s RBI single through Martin, but the Raccoons would reverse the score in the bottom of the inning. First, finally a hit, with Chris Beairsto knocking a 1-out triple. Reece brought him in with a sac fly, and then the Coons got Ledesma and Ingall on, before Meza blooped a ball to shallow left that not only fell in but was misplayed by Pat MacDonald for a run-scoring error. The Coons added two more in the sixth with a Brady single, RBI double by Beairsto, and an RBI single by Reece. Both pitchers got into the eighth, but only Garza got through, ironically, although Meza and his replacement Marcos Bruno did not cause harm to the 4-1 score, and in the ninth Dan Nordahl recovered from three balls to PH John Alexander to retire the side in order, including a K to Alexander. 4-1 Raccoons. Beairsto 2-4, 3B, 2B, RBI; Meza 7.1 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 4 K, W (2-5) and 1-3, RBI;

With the Elks losing to the Blue Sox, 5-4, the Coons jumped into fourth place. Whoah, the air is thin up here!

Game 2
WAS: 1B Yamamoto – 2B Nichols – CF V. Sanchez – 3B J. Lopez – C M. Torres – RF C. Solís – LF J. Gomez – SS S. Gomez – P Merritt
POR: 3B Sharp – 2B Ingall – LF Reece – 1B Martin – CF Beairsto – SS M. Ramirez – RF Brady – C Thomas – P Brown

The Capitals skipped Sergio Gonzalez to go right to Merritt, that unknown southpaw.

Sharp walked in the first and was on second when Neil Reece was denied a double by Victorino Sanchez, who was very much reminding one of a Neil Reece ten years younger. Martin however came through, an RBI single to left and the Coons were up 1-0. Brown meanwhile retired the first 14 Capitals he faced before César Solís sent a 1-2 pitch to left, uncatchable for anybody. The score was still 1-0 after the top 5th, which ended with Jose Gomez striking out. It was a true nail biter. The Raccoons would get two on in the bottom 6th once Neil Reece got a these days rare intentional walk, which was a terrific decision once Al Martin hit into a double play. The top 7th the Capitals had their best chance, getting two into scoring position, but Brown hurled his way outta there. The score remained 1-0 into the bottom 8th, where the Capitals had Kevin Jones pitch in relief. The lefty allowed hits to the first four batters. With the bags full in the 2-0 game Beairsto grounded into a force at home, but the lefty Jones remained in with another right-hander coming up. Miguel Ramirez broke the score wide open. As wide as possible, actually. GRAAAAAAAAND SLAAAAAAAAMMMM!!!! We probably would have run Brown out in the ninth anyway, but with a 6-0 lead it was a no-brainer. After Jesus Rivera bounced out to short, Brownie struck out Sanchez and Lopez to end the game in style! 6-0 Raccoons! Sharp 3-3, BB, 2 2B; Martin 2-4, RBI; Ramirez 2-4, HR, 2B, 4 RBI; Brown 9.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 11 K, W (8-12);

BROWNIIIIIEE!!! His third career shutout sees him still within a dozen K of the Continental League lead.

11th round in the draft, and we found him.

I know it was dumb luck.

Game 3
WAS: CF Alexander – SS Nichols – LF V. Sanchez – 3B J. Lopez – C M. Torres – 2B Reed – RF MacDonald – 1B Yamamoto – P Wright
POR: 3B Sharp – 2B Palacios – RF Brady – 1B Martin – CF Beairsto – LF Reece – C Ledesma – SS Ingall – P Farley

Chad Wright (1-3, 5.04 ERA) was a 29-year old righty in his seventh year with the Caps, and he had never been any good, thus spending most of this year with their AAA team in Modesto.

We had a pretty ugly first inning. Farley came out and gave up line drives upon line drives, with two quick runs scoring. In the bottom of the inning we lost not one, but two players, as Daniel Sharp strained some thing or other in his back and left the game, and Clyde Brady was ejected for barking at the umpire after being called out on strikes to end the inning. The Coons did get two runs (if not two players) back in the bottom 2nd with Beairsto’s 12th homer of the (for him very short) year preceded by Reece walking and coming around the bags to score on a wild pitch. That tied the game shortly, but in the top 3rd the Capitals had their way with Farley yet again, two singles, two walks, another run, and the inning only ended mercifully because Farley could overpower Wright to get a K for the third out. Injury walk-on Ramirez would tie the score with his own 10th home run in not that many at-bats, which was in the fifth, and the next inning Wright imploded. The Coons had them loaded with one out, and Wright walked both Ledesma, the go-ahead run coming home, and Ingall, which made it 5-3. In Farley’s place, Dale Moore hit a sac fly for a 6-3 score before Ramirez struck out against Kevin Jones. That Jones had a special encounter with the other walk-on Eddie Torrez in the seventh, surrendering a 2-run homer, and now Torrez had 10 dingers! It was all add-on, since the relief corps of Martinez, Wilson, and Joly held the Capitals scoreless down the stretch. 8-3 Coons!! Sharp 1-1; Torrez 1-2, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Reece 1-2, 2 BB; Thomas (PH) 1-1, 2B; Wilson 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Remember Kevin Jones? Ex-Coon. ‘f course!

Daniel Sharp had to go on the DL with a back strain. He should miss around three weeks. Matt Love was called up, but we might want to add a third catcher in Gary Fifield?

Raccoons (56-66) @ Loggers (77-43) – August 22-24, 2003

The Coons have been thoroughly caught, killed, and skinned by the Loggers this season, losing nine of a dozen contests. We haven’t been there, and we haven’t even been close to it. There isn’t much this team can do against a team with a +182 run differential.

Projected matchups:
Edgar Amador (3-4, 4.35 ERA) vs. Carl Bean (9-5, 3.05 ERA)
Felipe Garcia (4-2, 3.57 ERA) vs. John Miller (8-5, 4.23 ERA)
Ramón Meza (2-5, 5.20 ERA) vs. Doug Morrow (13-8, 4.00 ERA)

History could be made here, as Cristo Ramirez comes into this series with 2,992 career hits.

Game 1
POR: CF Torrez – 2B Palacios – RF Brady – 1B Martin – LF Reece – 3B M. Ramirez – C Ledesma – SS Ingall – P Amador
MIL: 2B B. Hernandez – RF C. Ramirez – LF Hiwalani – 3B J. Cruz – SS T. Johnson – CF Fletcher – C C. Ramos – 1B J. Nava – P Bean

Torrez drew a leadoff walk and once Palacios singled, Brady doubled, and Reece singled, three runs were on the board against ex-Coon Carl Bean. Unfortunately, Edgar Amador was no more lucky, allowing four soft singles in the bottom of the inning, and then he was still lucky that the Loggers amounted to only one run. Bean struck out nine in seven innings of work and trailed until the very last moment. Amador had allowed a run on two walks and a wild pitch in the second, and then the 3-2 score had stood for 90 minutes. In the bottom 7th, Nava doubled with one out, getting Amador removed. Moreno failed to clean up and a 2-run double with two out off the bat of Cristo Ramirez flipped the score in favor of Bean and the Loggers. However, this medal had two sides. Jesus Longoria pitched in the top 8th, and Martin got on with a single. Reece popped out for the second out before Beairsto hit for Ramirez and walked. That brought up Ledesma, who fell to 0-2 before connecting for a liner to deep right. Ramirez at first seemed to have a chance to end the inning with a catch, but it tailed away and now the Coons had a score-flipping 2-out, 2-run double! Huerta was in line for the W now, retired two in the eighth, before Fletcher and Ramos reached. Martinez appeared and got a soft pop from Jose Nava to shallow left, but Beairsto, who had replaced Reece for defense, had to come in rather quickly to grab it. The 5-4 lead was Nordahl’s to protect in the bottom 9th, got Juan Jose Villa and Bartolo Hernandez to ground out to Palacios, and then the inevitable Ramirez doubled. Hiwalani with nobody on was bad enough, but with the tying run in scoring position it was a no-go, so we actually put the winning run on base voluntarily to have Nordahl face the assumedly easier Manuel Valdés in Jorge Cruz’ vacated slot. Nordahl got within one strike of the end when Valdés fired the 2-2 pitch to deep right. Run, Clyde Brady, run! Aaaand – he’s got it!! 5-4 Raccoons! Martin 3-4, RBI;

Four in a row!? What sick hex is going on here??

Cristo Ramirez had three hits, so he’s on pace for The Big Mark on Sunday.

Game 2
POR: CF Torrez – 2B Palacios – RF Beairsto – 1B Martin – 3B M. Ramirez – C Ledesma – LF Moore – SS Gabriel – P F. Garcia
MIL: 2B B. Hernandez – RF C. Ramirez – LF Hiwalani – 3B J. Cruz – SS T. Johnson – CF Fletcher – C C. Ramos – 1B J. Nava – P J. Miller

Cristo Ramirez had a double in the first (#2,996), and after that Hiwalani popped up to short, but not out to short, as Manny Gabriel – not good for much at all with a bat – dropped that one. He got his whiskers saved by Garcia, who turned a double play on Jorge Cruz’ grounder to keep the Loggers from scoring early. Believe it or not, the second inning was even more awful, although the Loggers only swung hard twice. But leading off was Tom Johnson with an inside-the-park home run and after that Jerry Fletcher tripled and was soon scored. That made it 2-0 for the home team. It didn’t stay 2-0 for long. Garcia had nothing and was whacked mercilessly, with the Loggers getting another triple, Hiwalani driving home Ramirez, who had walked, in the third inning, and the Loggers went up to 4-0. It was Triples Day, and Batters Getting Tossed Weekend, however, and both teams got some of either eventually, with Dale Moore hitting a 2-run triple, and Carlos Ramos getting tossed for chirping after Domingo Moreno K’ed him. That was in the sixth, with Garcia already showering after 4.2 innings of gruesome work. The score was only 4-2 however. Top 7th, Torrez hit a triple with two outs, but Palacios struck out. But more shoddy pitching was on the way for the Coons. In the bottom of the inning, Huerta was taken to the corner by Hiwalani for a leadoff double. Hiwalani was on third with two outs, Jerry Fletcher was 0-2, and then Huerta threw one ENTIRELY past the catcher. Thus when Martin homered in the eighth it only cut the score back to 5-3, and Miller put on the next three batters to load them up with one out before Jesus Longoria replaced him. Gabriel’s turn was up, but we could do better, Ingall hitting for him, aaand … well, that didn’t work out: double play to short. In the top 9th it was a Bartolo Hernandez error that gave the Raccoons life against Robbie Wills. It put a runner on second with two out, but that runner was Palacios and next was Beairsto, who was on a tear. Yet, he was also strikeout-prone. Wills knew that and got him fishing with junk. 5-3 Loggers. Torrez 2-5, 2B;

Cristo Ramirez needs four hits in the final game to reach 3,000.

Game 3
POR: CF Torrez – 2B Palacios – RF Beairsto – 1B Martin – LF Reece – C Thomas – 3B M. Ramirez – SS Gabriel – P Meza
MIL: 2B B. Hernandez – RF C. Ramirez – LF Hiwalani – 3B J. Cruz – SS T. Johnson – CF Fletcher – C Benitez – P J. Nava – P Morrow

Meza was nowhere remotely near useful, and just waited for the big inning to happen. After the Loggers’ Jose Nava hit into a double play with the bases loaded in the second, Meza had no such luck anymore in the third when Hiwalani tagged him with a 3-run homer. That easily negated the single run Torrez and Palacios had carved out in the top of the inning. Pitcher Doug Morrow however had already left with an injury, so maybe the Raccoons could do something against the bullpen? They scored one run before leaving the bases loaded in the fourth inning, and in the bottom half of the same frame Meza melted completely. The four batters he faced all reached, including two being hit by a pitch. Somehow the damage was held to one more run by Bob Joly, but the Loggers already led 5-2, so “just one more run” was not a success either. Top 5th, Palacios homered off Jeff Adkins, 5-3, and then Adkins walked Beairsto before Al Martin narrowly missed a game-tying homer and had to settle for a double off the centerfield wall. That put the tying runs into scoring position however, and there were no outs for Neil Reece, who hit a sac fly to left, but that was still better than Mark Thomas’ K. The game would however inevitably blow up against the Raccoons, who were also trying to patch it together with their pen, and to even less success than the Loggers. When Bakile Hiwalani hit his second 3-run homer of the game in the sixth it was two thirds on Joly, one third on Bruno, and ramped the score to 9-4. The Loggers kept putting up the pressure, while the Raccoons just didn’t get it done against the bullpen, not even against 40-years-old-and-over-the-hill Vernon Robertson. 9-4 Loggers. Torrez 2-5, 2B; Palacios 2-5, HR, 2 RBI; Martin 2-4, 2 2B; Thomas 2-4;

That was ugly. At least we got outta there before they turned on the celebrations for Cristo Ramirez, who still needs to collect three hits.

In other news

August 21 – The Capitals place SP Sergio Gonzalez (5-10, 4.38 ERA) on the DL with rotator cuff inflammation. He is out for the season.
August 23 – The Titans will have to go the rest of the way this year without OF Vicente Elizondo (.300, 1 HR, 50 RBI), who is out with a torn finger tendon.
August 24 – Paralyzing agony in Atlanta: the Knights picked OF Jose Morales first overall just ten weeks ago in the 2003 draft. They debuted the likeable 20-year old on Friday. On Saturday he slams into the leftfield fence in pursuit of a Jose Hermundo fly ball and is out indefinitely with a severe concussion.

Complaints and stuff

First opponent swept this year! Oh, it’s merely August… LATE August.

Gonzalez actually pitched in the series we had with the Capitals, in relief, and left the third game with the injury.

Can we please have Brownie finish with a decent record? While he’s just not as good as last year, having already allowed as many earned runs as all of last season, and more home runs, and being on pace for more walks, it’s clearly mostly him, despite a 12 points higher BABIP. But, I mean, he’s pretty much our lone spark, since Randy Farley is pitching effectively, but he’s rather dull, to be honest. Brown has a spark.

No ABL team has ever won a division with a losing record. That brings us to this year’s CL South …