[Westheim]

Raccoons (28-17) @ Falcons (24-20) – May 25-27, 2004

We continue to be on the road in this wicked month that sees us play only eight home games, chopped up into three series. The last one will come after we have faced off against the CL South-leading Falcons, who led the Continental League in scoring with 220 runs, exactly five per game. Their rotation had issues, though, with a 4.34 ERA banning them to the second division, although they had a tough-as-nails bullpen, which ranked 2nd with a 2.16 ERA.

Projected matchups:
Randy Farley (3-3, 3.38 ERA) vs. Tommy Wilson (1-7, 6.33 ERA)
Ralph Ford (2-3, 3.66 ERA) vs. Miguel Diaz (5-4, 4.60 ERA)
Edgar Amador (5-1, 3.05 ERA) vs. Jorge Silva (4-3, 3.22 ERA)

The three starters they throw at us are all right-handed. We might get a left-hander at the weekend, but right now Chris Beairsto does not deserve to play over Neil Reece…

We will play three straight interdivision series before the next off day, next Thursday. Skipping Garcia this Thursday is not a good move since everybody would have to pitch on short rest, but we can skip him next week, when only Nick Brown will have to pitch on short rest. Right now, Nick Brown on short rest is infinitely better than Felipe Garcia on normal rest.

Game 1
POR: SS Guerin – RF Brady – CF Torrez – 1B Martin – 3B Sharp – LF Reece – C Ledesma – 2B Ingall – P Farley
CHA: CF Hudson – SS Vieitas – C F. Chavez – RF Burke – 3B H. Green – LF Estrada – 1B Heffer – 2B McGreary – P T. Wilson

The Falcons gave Farley a tremendous whacking in the opener, holding him to 2.2 innings while stuffing him for seven runs. The moniker Mr. Singles was officially changed into Mr. Doubles, because that was what he gave up five of, making it just a tad too easy to get soiled. A 7-1 game through three inning, the Coons’ lone run unearned, saw the Raccoons wholly unable to touch the pitcher with a 6+ ERA, as was the usual custom around these unhappy lands. When the Coons actually did load the bases in the fourth inning, Beairsto hit for Dave Williams with two outs, and fouled to first for the third out. The whacking in the other half of the line score continued, with three runs coming off Huerta in the fourth inning as the Falcons reached double digits like on some Sunday afternoon walk. Since they didn’t score the rest of the way against Moreno and Nordahl, one figures they didn’t bother, or didn’t want to empty their run allotment for this series entirely. Tommy Wilson fell one out short of a complete game when the Falcons pulled him after Ingall and King had hits with two down in the ninth. Guerin walked against Jeff Paul, but Brady fouled out. 10-2 Falcons. Martin 2-4; Ingall 2-3, BB; Nordahl 3.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K;

Well, the bottom line is, they hit eight doubles and Farley sucked balls, but I fear there might be more of this coming in the next two days, since especially Amador has been wonky recently.

Game 2
POR: SS Guerin – RF Brady – CF Torrez – 1B Martin – 3B Sharp – LF Reece – C Ledesma – 2B Ingall – P Ford
CHA: CF Hudson – 2B Heffer – RF J. Lugo – 1B H. Green – SS Vieitas – C Durango – LF Burke – 3B McGreary – P M. Diaz

The first time through the order, the Coons had the advantage due a 2-run triple by Pablo Ledesma in the second inning. For the Falcons, the pitcher hit the ball the hardest, as Diaz had a double in the third, but was left on base. Still 2-0 through four, the Coons doubled to 4-0 in the fifth with some 2-out terror. Brady tripled with nobody on, followed by a Torrez RBI double and a Martin RBI single before Sharp struck out. Clouds hovered over Ford in the bottom of the inning. Toby McGreary rolled a single past Sharp with one out. Diaz sacrificed him to second base, and then Ford drilled John Hudson. Dave Heffer, the old Warrior, walked, and the bags were loaded until Jose Lugo lined to left where Neil Reece made a running catch. It was the fourth consecutive inning in which the Falcons left somebody in scoring position, a string that continued when Herberto Vieitas was left on third base in the sixth once Jake Burke’s drive to deep center was caught by Torrez. Runners on the corners in the bottom 7th, the Falcons finally scored on a 2-out bloop single by Jose Lugo. Ford was yanked immediately to have Bill Corkum face Hubert Green and got him to ground out to Guerin to save Ford’s tail and us a 4-1 lead. Corkum got Vieitas in the eighth, Williams whiffed Durango, but then walked Burke, and we brought our fourth pitcher, intended to be the last one today, Marcos Bruno, to go on a quest for a 4-out save. Nobody reached base on him! 4-1 Furballs. Brady 2-4, 3B; Martin 2-4, RBI; Ford 6.2 IP, 8 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, W (3-3); Bruno 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, SV (7);

Game 3
POR: SS Guerin – RF Brady – CF Torrez – 1B Martin – 2B Ingall – C Ledesma – 3B M. Ramirez – LF Beairsto – P Amador
CHA: CF Hudson – LF J. Lugo – C F. Chavez – RF Burke – 3B H. Green – 1B Mendoza – SS Vieitas – 2B McGreary – P J. Silva

The Furballs struck first again. While Amador’s control problems were persisting stubbornly, the Falcons left their men on early, but a leadoff walk to Beairsto eventually turned into an RBI single for Brady, and a 2-run homer for Torrez, both with two outs. The first really tough spot wasn’t encountered until the fifth by Amador, when he walked Vieitas and McGreary zinged a liner past a perplexed Ingall to put runners on the corners with no outs. But Silva struck out on a foul bunt, Hudson popped out and Jose Lugo whiffed to keep the score at three-zip. They came back the next inning though, and this time broke through violently. Bases loaded with one out, Vieitas lobbed a fly to Beairsto in left for the second out. Beairsto tried to nab Burke at home, which was ill advised, and poorly executed, giving every runner the extra base. Next, McGreary grounded to Ramirez, whose throw went well past Martin, and plated the tying runs. Amador, shell-shocked, gave up two more runs before mercy helped the Coons to the third out. Five runs, four unearned on the not-contributing blokes at third base and in leftfield. Top 8th, three 1-out singles by Brady, Torrez, and Martin loaded them up and chased Silva from the 5-3 game. Sharp hit for an 0-3 Ingall and walked against reliever Luis Hernandez, 5-4, and Hernandez was immediately replaced by another right-hander in Arturo Ramirez. Ledesma HAD to do something here to save poor Amador’s ham. He jabbed at a 3-1 pitch and grounded to first, where Jose Mendoza got him out, but didn’t get Sharp at second – tied game. Reece hit for Ramirez for the go-ahead RBI single before Beairsto grounded out. The Falcons had Vieitas hit a 1-out double off Huerta in the bottom 8th, but then left him there as the Coons led 6-5. They didn’t get anything done in their half of the ninth before Bruno came on for the bottom half – and struck out the side. 6-5 Furballs! Torrez 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Reece (PH) 1-1, RBI; Moreno 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, W (1-0);

The Titans also took two of three in Oklahoma, losing the series finale in 12 innings.

Raccoons (30-18) vs. Bayhawks (25-20) – May 28-30, 2004

Surprise! We just played the CL South leaders, and now we’ll play the CL South leaders! The Bayhawks had squeezed past the Falcons with a sweep over the Indians, scoring 22 runs in those three games, and they had also beaten the Titans two out of three before that. So while they had a -6 run differential with the sixth-most runs scored and the sixth-most runs allowed, they were a dangerous bunch and not be taken lightly!

Projected matchups:
Felipe Garcia (3-4, 5.53 ERA) vs. Carl Bean (1-1, 5.14 ERA)
Nick Brown (7-1, 2.97 ERA) vs. Takeru Sato (3-4, 4.70 ERA)
Randy Farley (3-4, 4.34 ERA) vs. Raúl Fuentes (5-5, 2.22 ERA)

That’s two legit starters struggling as the first two opponents in this series, and the latter two are both lefties. Sad to see Bean toiling away in the land of 5+ ERA’s, but we would still like that victory, thank you. It would probably require a good dose of offense, though.

Game 1
SFB: LF Arroyo – SS J. Barrón – RF A. Johnson – 1B I. Gutierrez – 2B J. Cruz – CF Morton – C J. Lopez – 3B T. Torres – P Bean
POR: RF Brady – 3B Sharp – CF Torrez – 1B Martin – 2B Ingall – C Ledesma – LF King – SS Sheehan – P F. Garcia

Bean walked Brady in the first, but retired all other Coons in the first two innings. In the third, the Coons got going with an infield single by Sheehan, with Brady scoring him with a blooper to shallow left and Torrez driving in Brady to make it 2-0. Garcia added a run in the bottom 4th with a sac fly. Himself he had given up a hit in the first, and didn’t give up another until Lopez doubled in the fifth, but was left on base. Bean was held to five innings in his return to Portland, surrendering five runs when Torrez took him deep in the fifth. Garcia was gracefully gliding through six innings until the Bayhawks hit three straight singles off him with one out in the seventh. Tony Torres had been hurt earlier on defense and was replayed by Jesse Foster, who got his first AB of the year right here, and killed his team’s chances with a double play. When we had three on with one out in our half of the seventh, Reece initially struck out, but Brady and Sharp plated three runs with 2-out singles. Only down 8-0 the Bayhawks started to hit and drive the ball. They would take chunks out of Martinez and Nordahl down the stretch, but came up well short. 8-3 Raccoons. Brady 2-3, 2 BB, 2 RBI; Sharp 2-4, BB, 2 RBI; Torrez 2-4, BB, HR, 3 RBI; Ledesma 2-5; King 2-3, BB; Sheehan 1-2, 2 BB; Garcia 7.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 6 K, W (4-4) and 1-1, RBI;

Al Martin went 0-5, but if he had hit as well, we’d have won 19-3 probably.

Game 2
SFB: LF Buell – SS J. Barrón – 1B J. Cruz – CF Black – RF A. Johnson – 2B Valdes – C M. Vela – 3B Foster – P T. Sato
POR: SS Guerin – RF Brady – 3B Sharp – CF Torrez – 2B Ingall – LF Reece – C Thomas – 2B Sheehan – P Brown

Brown struck out five the first time through the lineup, allowing only a walk and a single, but threw a few too many balls overall. Neither team scored early on, and neither came even close. The Bayhawks were the first to reach third base after a walk to Foster and a single by Takeru Sato with two out in the fifth, but Brown struck out Buell to run his whiffs to eight. He struck out three more in the sixth, but en route was tagged with a leadoff single by Barrón, who was then doubled in by Luke Black, who led the ABL in homers with 11. Vela and Foster reached to start the seventh, but Brown bit down on them and then got K’s to Buell and Barrón to keep them on base. That’s 13 strikeouts! – and yet he was trailing, 1-0. When the Coons went down 1-2-3 to Sato in the bottom of the inning, it ended Brown’s winning streak at seven games. But he wouldn’t *lose*. With two out in the eighth, Guerin doubled, Brady walked, and Sharp singled to right, with Guerin beating Avery Johnson’s arm to be safe at home and tie the score at one. Ricardo Huerta survived three left-handed pinch-hitters in the ninth inning to give the team a walkoff chance, facing closer Johnny Smith (6.75 K/BB) in the bottom 9th, starting with Martin hitting for Marv to counter the righty Smith. Martin hit a drive to right, but Johnson made the play. When Buell hit a leadoff double in the 10th, Huerta got in trouble. He was at third base with two outs and Black at the plate, but this was not a favorable bet for us. Black was put on intentionally, and then Dave Williams was tasked with the lefty Johnson, got a hard grounder to Sharp, but Danny made the play and the Bayhawks didn’t score, but the Coons didn’t do anything against Johnny Smith, but he didn’t return for the 11th, the top half of which was taken care of by Bruno, but only Sharp reached on a single against Salvadaro Soure, and we were about to run of arms sooner or later. Dan Nordahl struck out the side in the top 13th, and Soure was still pitching in the bottom 13th, striking out Brady and Sharp. Torrez then singled, and Martin walked, with the Bayhawks going to right-hander Juan Santana after that. Santana faced only one batter, Reece, who livened up an 0-5 day with a bloop single on which Eddie Torrez never stopped running. 2-1 Raccoons!!! Guerin 2-6, 2B; Sharp 2-6, RBI; Brown 7.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 13 K; Huerta 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K;

Brownie picked former Furball Stephen Buell off first base in the third inning. I know that no pitcher had a pickoff for us all of last year, so our last before that goes back to 2002!

The Bayhawks struck out TWENTY-THREE TIMES in this game! 34-year old Mauro Valdes hit for a platinum sombrero! Brownie was propelled to the top of the strikeouts board in the CL, and trails only WAS Chris York by three, 81 to 78.

Game 3
SFB: LF Arroyo – SS J. Barrón – RF A. Johnson – 1B I. Gutierrez – 2B J. Cruz – CF Morton – C J. Lopez – 3B Foster – P R. Fuentes
POR: SS Guerin – CF Torrez – 3B Sharp – 1B Martin – 2B Ingall – LF Reece – C Thomas – RF King – P Farley

Four lefties and a switch hitter in their lineup or not: there was not a whole lot of bullpen available for Randy Farley to abuse in the rubber game, so he’d better improve on 2.2 innings and seven runs from Tuesday…

Farley had a scoreless first, then witnessed his teammates take a quick sledgehammer to Fuentes, plating four runs in the first inning, with RBI singles by Ingall and Thomas sandwiching a 2-run double by Reece. Trouble started soon for Farley, although it was not all his own making and baking. Jesse Foster reached on catcher’s interference to start the third inning and was singled home by Juan Barrón with two out to cut the lead to 4-1, but Farley chipped a 2-out single to shallow right in the bottom of the inning, with Marvin Ingall scoring to make it 5-1 and a 4-run lead again. Top 5th, Foster was on again, when Mauro Valdes hit for Fuentes and flew to right. Matt King caught it, then dropped it. A nervous Farley walked Luis Arroyo, which brought up the tying run in Juan Barrón with no outs, but that tying run would pop out twice in succession then before Ivan Gutierrez, a slugger by trade, but batting .164 in late May, grounded out to Concie. Whoah, bullet dodged. The Birds left another runner on third in the sixth inning. Farley went seven, with the team taking bats to Bubba Cannon in the bottom of the seventh to add two runs for a 7-1 lead. The bullpen was used minimally, with Williams and Corkum delivering scoreless innings to complete the 3-game sweep! 7-1 Raccoons! Martin 2-5; Ingall 3-4, 2B, RBI; Reece 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Thomas 3-4, 2B, 3 RBI; Farley 7.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 7 K, W (4-4) and 1-3, RBI;

Ironically, Farley struck out only one right-hander, with six K’s coming at left-handed batters!

In other news

May 25 – OCT OF/1B Mike Olson (.256, 0 HR, 5 RBI) is out for six weeks with a broken finger.
May 25 – CIN OF/1B Will Bailey (.315, 3 HR, 13 RBI) ends up on the DL for the second time this year, suffering a thumb sprain.
May 28 – LVA INF Oliver Torres (.235, 1 HR, 19 RBI) will miss all of June with a broken thumb.
May 30 – The Condors will be without OF Robbie Luxton (.247, 7 HR, 25 RBI) until after the All Star Game. The 25-year old right-hander has sprained his ankle.

Complaints and stuff

You know your opposition is great when you drop only one game all week and still can’t make up ground on them. The Titans only lost that 12-inning game in Oklahoma, and went 5-1 just like us. But we dethroned two division leaders this week (even though it doesn’t show in the standings), and that should give us the tie-breaker as far as this week is concerned.

We are 24-12 against right-handers, and, well, look at our lefty bats. 9-6 against left-handers isn’t shabby, but 24-12 is a word.

Why do our backups insist on playing such ****ty defense? All except Sheehan. This includes Reece in a platoon that is no more, but Reece is old and gets a pass on past merits in a lot of things when it comes to roster decisions, and well, maybe for Beairsto a “roster decision” could include turning him into a muff!

To be precise, Beairsto has one option left. No other backup position player has one.

By the way, Neil Reece got under 75 to go in respect to the 2,000 career hits mark. And with more playing time coming his way…

Oh, and a stat that never gets talked about are doubles. Who leads the franchise in doubles? Daniel Hall, far and away, and nobody is even remotely close. But here’s the top 20, because we never talk about doubles, and a few names from the distant past crop up, too:

Portland Raccoons – Doubles
1st – 485 – Daniel Hall
2nd – 323 – Mark Dawson
3rd – 289 – Tetsu Osanai
4th – 268 – Neil Reece
5th – 240 – Ben O’Morrissey
6th – 208 – Jorge Salazar
7th – 204 – Conceicao Guerin
8th – 200 – David Vinson
9th – 185 – Vern Kinnear
10th – 184 – Marvin Ingall
11th – 161 – Ben Simon
12th – 157 – Pedro Sánz
13th – 156 – Matt Higgins
14th – 128 – Bobby Quinn
15th – 127 – Matt Workman
16th – 124 – Daniel Sharp
17th – 122 – Cameron Green
18th – 120 – Sam Dadswell
19th – 117 – David Brewer
20th – 115 – Steve Walker