[Westheim]

Raccoons (5-8) vs. Indians (5-7) – April 20-22, 2004

And here’s a cellar dweller series for you, just two weeks into the season, but these teams are already a combined 13 1/2 games out of the Titans, who beat the Elks on our off day, 5-1, behind eight strong innings from Joe Mann. Way to go! The Indians meanwhile had scored 50 runs and allowed 52, not outrageous numbers for sure. Their pitching was quite decent, although their rotation had some holes, but the top 3 in homers in the Continental League are all Indians: Jose Paraz has five, David Lopez has four, and Ron Alston ties for third with three.

Projected matchups:
Edgar Amador (1-0, 3.86 ERA) vs. Jack Hamilton (0-0, 3.48 ERA)
Felipe Garcia (1-0, 1.80 ERA) vs. Doug Morrow (2-0, 2.28 ERA)
Nick Brown (0-1, 4.00 ERA) vs. Patrick Moreau (0-2, 12.60 ERA)

The medical report says that Dan Nordahl might be unavailable for the entire series. In his absence, we will close by committee. You know, should there be something to close at all.

This series starts with the southpaw Hamilton as opponent, so Neil Reece gets that start. Beairsto will be run out on Wednesday against Morrow, but if he doesn’t get his act together rather quickly, he might see more starts against right-handers go to Reece, who is at least hitting singles in addition to tons of whiffs. Like, against Moreau.

Game 1
IND: 2B D. Mendez – RF C. Rey – LF Alston – 3B D. Lopez – C Paraz – CF MacKey – 1B Kilters – SS Stevens – P Hamilton
POR: SS Guerin – 3B Sharp – LF Reece – 1B Martin – C Thomas – CF Torrez – RF King – 2B Sheehan – P Amador

The Fat Cat walked and balked in the first, but the first damage was done to Hamilton, who became Al Martin’s first dinger victim of the season, and that one counted for three runs in the bottom 1st. The Coons would not get another hit until the Cat had one in the fifth, and the Indians only had one hit themselves in the meantime, but that was a solo home run by David Lopez. Unlike Martin he had already hit four on the season, and tied team mate Jose Paraz for the CL lead. It was the only hit the Fat Cat allowed in six innings, and he was preempted from going further by Oregon’s lovely April weather, which doused the park for an hour right after the final out in the bottom 6th. Williams, Martinez, and Moreno combined for six outs against only two baserunners before we had to decide between Bruno and Corkum in the ninth, the score still 3-1, with not an awful lot having happened in the bottoms of innings past the first. In fact, no Raccoon reached third base after the first inning. Bruno came in, facing David Lopez first, who popped out to Ingall at second, just like Paraz after him, and Bruno got an easy grounder to short from PH Craig Bowen. 3-1 Coons. Martin 2-4, HR, 3 RBI; Amador 6.0 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 4 K, W (2-0) and 1-2;

That makes Amador the first Coon with two wins this season, and Marcos Bruno the fourth to grab a save, joining Nordahl (who has two), Huerta, and Moreno. Without checking, I feel like we lead in the latter category.

Game 2
IND: 2B D. Mendez – RF C. Rey – LF Alston – 3B D. Lopez – C Paraz – CF MacKey – 1B Harris – SS Stevens – P Morrow
POR: SS Guerin – 3B Sharp – RF Brady – 1B Martin – 2B Ingall – LF Beairsto – C Ledesma – CF King – P F. Garcia

Both sides hacked in the first innings, but the Raccoons managed to load the bases with nobody out in the bottom 3rd after singles by Concie and Sharpie, and Brady drawing another walk. Martin was up, lined out to Lopez at third, and Marv hit into a 6-4-3 mood killer. The Indians instantly pierced us once more through the heart with a scratch-out run in the top 4th, and in the fifth it came apart rather rapidly for Garcia, who walked Robbie Harris, then had Art Stevens reach on an infield single, and when Morrow bunted it right back to him, he tried to nab Harris at third, but his throw was high and Sharp was lucky to make a leaping grab on it. With the bases now loaded, Garcia walked Mendez, 2-0, before striking out Claudio Rey. The lefty Alston came up, and he hadn’t looked very good in this series so far. Ah, but well, maybe a wild pitch will score the third run for the Indians, and Ingall had to make a marvelous play on the grounder Alston hit on the next pitch to just keep it at 3-0 Indians. Garcia lasted seven otherwise good innings, but the Raccoons were drifting dead in the water. The three runs were well sufficient in the end, but for good measure Lopez would pummel Bill Corkum with a 2-run shot in the eighth. 5-1 Indians. Sharp 2-4; Ledesma 2-3, BB; Ramirez (PH) 1-1, HR, RBI; Garcia 7.0 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 5 K, L (1-1);

Still not last in runs scored. Turns out the Bayhawks have scored only *35* runs in 14 games, which is still a lot more anemic than the Coons, who at this junction fail to exceed the 3 R/G mark, having plated 43 markers in 15 contests.

Game 3
IND: CF Alvarez – 2B D. Mendez – RF Alston – LF D. Lopez – C Paraz – 1B Cortez – 3B Harris – SS Stevens – P Moreau
POR: SS Guerin – 3B Sharp – RF Brady – 1B Martin – 2B Ingall – LF Beairsto – C Ledesma – CF King – P Brown

Dan Nordahl sat in the bullpen for the first time in this series, amongst his mates. Was he available, or was it a trick to make the Indians think he was available? Would we find out?

Brown came in winless, was dismayed to find the same lineup penciled in as in yesterday’s 5-1 loss, and cocked up a run in the first inning, while the Coons had Guerin reach on a single, got him thrown out trying to steal, and then left two men on anyway. Brown drew a leadoff walk in the third, only to be caught up in Concie’s double play grounder, and it looked bad. On the mound, Brown struck out five in the first four innings, but kept trailing until we entered the bottom 4th. The Raccoons got three horribly cheap hits by Brady (past Mendez), Ingall (past Harris), and Beairsto (who never got it out of the infield) to load the bases, and then Ledesma doubled over Cortez to plate two runs. King was walked intentionally after which Brown struck out with the bases loaded, but when Concie came up he doubled into the gap in right center, and all runners scored – OFFENSE!! That made it 5-1, and if Brown had any guts now, he’d hold on to that for a long, long time.

Well… Top 5th. Harris singled to right. Stevens tried to bunt him over, grounded to Brown, who made a piss poor throw to second and look, another error by the pitcher. Chris Kilters hit for the ravaged Moreau and walked, loading them up with one out. Alvarez popped out. David Mendez hacked himself out. Whoah. The Coons had three on with no outs in the bottom 6th before Alonso Alonso (yes, actually, still) struck out Brown and Concie and Sharpie grounded out to short. We did manage to tack on a run on a Beairsto double in the bottom 7th before Brown walked two in the next inning and was removed. Martinez ineffectively allowed both runners to score and Marcos Bruno appeared to strike out Robbie Harris, the tying run, to end the inning. The score 6-3, Nordahl and Corkum did some casual tossing in the pen as the bottom 8th dawned. The Raccoons got King on with a double off Kevin Edwards. Torrez hit for Bruno but was intentionally walked, and Concie hit into another double play, putting King at third. Ramirez hit for Sharp and singled to left, which took away the save, 7-3. Nordahl immediately sat down. Brady got on, and then Martin broke through the poor Edwards’ defenses by unloading his second 3-run homer in the series. Corkum pitched a perfect ninth. 10-3 Raccoons! Guerin 2-5, 2B, 3 RBI; Ramirez (PH) 1-1, RBI; Brady 3-4, BB; Martin 2-4, HR, 3 RBI; Beairsto 3-4, 2B, RBI; Ledesma 2-4, 2 2B, 2 RBI; King 1-2, 2 BB, 2B; Brown 7.1 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 8 K, W (1-1);

Whoah, whoah! Runs! So many runs! Stop it! I’m dizzy!

Would Nordahl have been available? Well, who knows? ;-)

Raccoons (7-9) vs. Thunder (7-9) – April 23-25, 2004

While the Raccoons couldn’t find runs with the help of a flashlight, but were pitching pretty okay, the Thunder were the opposite, primarily scoring runs (other than last year, when they led the division with the worst offense), but they had shown to have an explosive bullpen that had cost them a few games already. The rotation ranked fourth with a 3.53 ERA, comparable to the Raccoons’.

Projected matchups:
Randy Farley (1-1, 2.37 ERA) vs. Vaughn Higgins (2-1, 3.27 ERA)
Ralph Ford (0-2, 8.22 ERA) vs. Dave Crawford (0-1, 9.00 ERA)
Edgar Amador (2-0, 3.15 ERA) vs. Fabien Armand (1-2, 1.52 ERA)

Game 1
OCT: 2B Palacios – C De La Parra – 3B Higashi – SS Grant – RF A. Flores – 1B Nixon – LF Rangel – CF Olson – P Higgins
POR: SS Guerin – RF Brady – LF Beairsto – 1B Martin – 2B Ingall – CF Torrez – 3B M. Ramirez – C Ledesma – P Farley

Guerin and Brady hit doubles in the bottom 1st and both scored in the inning, but Randy, who had been shoddy in the first, also was battered in the second inning. The two runs came back onto the board, but when Vaughn Higgins popped up his bunt for an easy second out, keeping Mike Olson at first base, we figured, well, that’s gonna do. Not quite. Palacios hit an infield single, and an unfazed Farley walked De La Parra. Ingall then intercepted Takahashi Higashi’s hard grounder to make the final out to second, but just barely, keeping the score 2-2. But Farley struggled, and just didn’t get ahead in the count to about anybody. The Thunder threatened in the fourth again, but Higgins bunted into a double play to avoid any harm to Farley. Brady singled home Ledesma in the bottom 4th to give Randy the lead again, 3-2, but the Thunder kept hitting singles off Randy (what was his derisive nickname again?), and he didn’t last through the sixth inning. Two on, one out, Dave Williams entered and struck out Olson and Higgins to preserve the 3-2 advantage. The Raccoons tacked on a run in the bottom 6th when Martin singled in Guerin, and the gap opened further the next inning when two runs fell out of the Thunder bullpen. Our bullpen however was immaculate, recording 11 outs with only one single falling out of Marcos Bruno in the ninth, and striking out seven. Martinez struck out the side in the eighth. 6-2 Coons! Guerin 3-5, 2B, RBI; Brady 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Thomas (PH) 1-1, 2B; Torrez 2-3, BB, RBI; Ramirez 2-4; Ledesma 2-4, 2B;

Good news, we’re only half a game out of second place now. Now, regarding the Titans ……

Bad news, the Buffaloes are the first team to a hundred runs scored. We have … what? 59? Relatedly, Al Martin became the first Coon with 10 RBI. ‘t was about time, y’ know?

Game 2
OCT: 2B Nixon – C De La Parra – 1B L. Soto – 3B Higashi – SS Grant – RF A. Flores – LF Walls – CF Rangel – P Crawford
POR: SS Guerin – RF Brady – 2B Ingall – 1B Martin – LF Reece – CF Torrez – 3B Sharp – C Ledesma – P Ford

Ford pitched only one inning, allowing an unearned run after Concie dropped a pop fly to shallow left, then left with back soreness. That was pretty bad, and now we had to ravage our bullpen for eight innings, and so Ricardo Huerta came out to go as far as possible. His spot came up with two down and Sharp and Ledesma on the corners in the bottom 2nd, but no way we would hit for our best long man option there. We didn’t need to, either, as Huerta singled to right and tied the score. Concie failed to redeem himself and grounded out, and then Huerta was taken apart by the Thunder, nipping him for two runs in the third, and Alberto Rangel added a solo home run in the fourth, which was all that Huerta managed: three innings, three runs. But Corkum pitched two scoreless, and after that the Coons threatened in the bottom 6th. Reece led off with a single, and Crawford walked Torrez and Sharp – no outs. Ledesma’s double tied the game, but unfortunately it was also the last hit they got in the inning, and they barely took a lead on Brady’s RBI groundout. Moreno came in despite all the batters in the Thunder lineup being right-handed. He got four outs before Luis Soto singled with one out in the eighth. Okay, get Nordahl, he’s well rested. That didn’t preclude him from blowing the save, though, as Bob Grant lined a 2-out double off the wall in left to drive home Soto and knot the score at five. The Coons had runners on third with one out in both the seventh and eighth, and never scored. Bottom 9th, Jimmy Morey, who struggled to an uncharacteristic 5.68 ERA early on, started the inning by giving up an Ingall single up the middle. Nordahl had been double switched in for Al Martin, though, and now Mark Thomas hit for him. He lined out to short, and Ingall wasn’t moved by Reece or Torrez either.

AND ISN’T LIFE GREAT?? We ACTUALLY had to play extra innings because Nordahl is such a ****ING DORK!

The only justifiably fresh pitcher left was Dave Williams, the left-handed rule 5 pick, but we gotta use the pieces we have before interrupting The Fat Cat’s second dinner. Max Nixon drew a leadoff walk from Williams, moved to third on a bunt and a steal, and was starved when Soto struck out and Higashi grounded back to Williams for an easy third out. Soto was the bloke again in the 12th, when he flew out to Torrez, leaving two men stranded on second and third. By now The Fat Cat had arrived in the bullpen, sans feathered hat, and started some tossing, as Williams had finished three innings. We’d get one from Bruno, and then it was him. Or maybe we could get some offense before that? (giggles) The 13th was his fourth inning and his last, as he left with a fantastic applause generated by a sparse crowd. Sancho Rivera sat down Ramirez, Guerin, and Brady in order in the bottom of the inning. Then came Bruno, three up, three down, and we faced Jose Ochoa in the bottom 14th. Ochoa had had a hand in the Thunder bullpen meltdown the previous day, and he was a lefty facing right-handers. Ingall flew to deep left, but Tom Walls made it there. King hit for Bruno, last bat off the bench, and lined to center, AND RANGEL MISPLAYED IT!! It fell in, bounced to the wall, Rangel scurrying after it, and King had a triple!! That got everybody up, and everybody was chanting for Neil Reece to end this before we’d flip over to Sunday. The Thunder had other plans, walked Reece intentionally, and so Ochoa could face the lefty Torrez. But it didn’t work: Torrez singled past Soto, and the game was over. The Fat Cat returned for a third dinner. 6-5 Raccoons! Ingall 3-7, 2B, RBI; King (PH) 1-1, 3B; Reece 2-6, BB; Sharp 3-5, BB; Ledesma 3-6, 2B, 2 RBI; Corkum 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K; Williams 4.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 3 K;

Marv hit an RBI double in the third inning that marked his 1,000th hit as a Raccoon, and the 1,133rd of his major league career (132 for the Knights in 2001, and one for the Wolves all the way back in 1990).

And no, Alberto Rangel is not a centerfielder by trade. Not that I’m complaining.

We were in a sticky proposition for Sunday, though. We had about no bullpen available to back up Amador, and we could not possibly get another reliever up without waiving another player. Vince wasn’t here, scouring banana plantations in Costa Rica, so I went over his scouting reports. No, I couldn’t figure out what was so good about him. He didn’t show it in any case.

So the Raccoons waived and designated Brad Sheehan for assignment, and Lawrence Rockburn was called up.

Game 3
OCT: 2B Palacios – C De La Parra – LF Humphrey – 3B Higashi – SS Grant – RF A. Flores – 1B Nixon – CF Olson – P Armand
POR: SS Guerin – 3B Sharp – LF Reece – 1B Martin – C Thomas – RF Brady – CF King – 2B M. Ramirez – P Amador

Three 2-out walks and a Flores single gave the Thunder a 2-0 lead in the first, and you couldn’t be any less happy about it. The Fat Cat walked another batter in the second before settling into a groove and didn’t surrender any runs until the Coons tied the score in the fifth. Armand had already thrown a run-scoring wild pitch in the second inning, and in the fifth doubles by Ramirez and Guerin got the score to 2-2, Sharp singled, too, but Reece hit into an inning-ending double play. The next inning, the intentional walk strategy hurt the Thunder for the second time in as many days. Martin was at third after a leadoff double and a fly out by Thomas. Brady was not pitched to by the Thunder, although Armand matched him, and they rather picked King, who was a right-hander. King promptly singled to left, and the Coons were up 3-2. Ramirez walked. In any other situation, Amador would be hit for at over 80 pitches, but we NEEDED another inning from him. And oops, another double play… Concie walked at the top of the home half of the seventh. After Sharp popped out, Reece grounded to the mound. It would have been our umpteenseventh double play of the week, but Armand actually threw that one away, and we had first and second with one out. That was also the curtain for Armand, with Sergio Alvarez, a right-hander, replacing him, but Alvarez surrendered both Martin and Thomas on the first pitch. Top 8th, still 3-2, the Fat Cat still in there. He got Higashi, but then Grant lined a shot over Martin and into deep right. Brady played it short of the wall, and Grant went through second base only to find Brady’s throw to arrive at third well ahead of himself and he was out. Alberto Flores flew out leisurely to Reece, who hardly had to move (not that he moved easily…), and the cat had gotten through eight. Clyde Brady’s leadoff jack in the bottom of the inning created some breathing space as Nordahl took to the mound in the ninth, facing the bottom third of the order. He ran a full count on Max Nixon, who grounded out to short, then whiffed Mike Olson. Alonso Baca hit for the pitcher, and also found Concie’s glove. 4-2 Coons! King 2-4, RBI; Ramirez 2-2, 2 BB, 2 2B; Amador 8.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 4 K, W (3-0);

CATMANIA!!

In other news

April 20 – The Loggers commit big, signing 29-year old 2B/SS Bartolo Hernandez (.294, 0 HR, 7 RBI) to a 5-yr, $14.8M contract extension. At his young age, Hernandez has already landed 1,377 base hits and has 194 stolen bases and a Gold Glove – there’s nothing he can’t do.
April 24 – NYC SP Emerson Fricke (1-0, 3.68 ERA) is out for the year with a torn flexor tendon in his elbow.
April 24 – NAS CF John Hensley (.377, 0 HR, 5 RBI) is out for a month with knee tendinitis.

Complaints and stuff

As Mr. Orcin commented, we have an entire bullpen getting ready in the minor leagues. We might want to look at getting bats in exchange for arms, current or future. When the Raccoons scored ten runs on Thursday, and even with half the league not playing, they didn’t move out of second-to-last place in runs scored in the CL…

Vince recommends promoting Angel Casas (not quite 22 years old) to the Bigs right now. He has him 20/14/10 current, 20/15/16 potential, and five stars current. He appeared in 23 AAA games total between this and last season (remember he was only drafted in 2003), and in 29 innings allowed only 23 hits, 13 walks, and struck out 42. This year, he has 7 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 11 K. I think I would like to see a little more outings in AAA, but we might be able to promote him in the latter half of May.

Ralph Ford will not miss a start with the back issue, but he still is struggling badly…

On the other hand I am starting to really dig Amador. His BABIP is amazing, but he gets lots and lots of poor groundballs. And Amador has given up 10 homers in 127 innings for the Coons, which ain’t bad when you play in Portland half the time, and with the Loggers, he didn’t surrender any in 24 innings in a much more cozy park for pitchers. The Loggers may come to regret that trade, since by now they have nothing to show for it. Bean is a Bayhawk now. 22 years old from Venezuela, doesn’t understand a lick of English, but he’s constantly around the other Latin players on the team. Garcia and Guerin (who are from Venezuela), and Bruno (who was born in Michigan, but you wouldn’t guess that) are talking to him a lot and they say he’s really easy to get along with.

Unless you’re a fashion person. You might take the leopard jacket and the purple hat as an insult. I’ll take it any day of the week if he keeps pitching this way, though, and the Raccoons have a 4-game winning streak!!