[Westheim]

Raccoons (45-37) @ Loggers (38-44) – July 5-8, 2004

We start the last week before the All Star game. The Loggers were a shadow of their former self, not scoring runs (even less than the Coons), and also their pitching had kind of fallen apart completely. They were second-last in offense and seventh in pitching. They are our four-and-four partner this year around the All Star game, and so far we are up 3-1 in the season series.

Projected matchups:
Felipe Garcia (5-7, 5.05 ERA) vs. Jaime Aguila (2-10, 4.79 ERA)
Nick Brown (12-2, 2.71 ERA) vs. William Lloyd (2-1, 4.32 ERA)
Randy Farley (5-9, 4.72 ERA) vs. Dani Alvarado (6-7, 4.23 ERA)
Ralph Ford (5-7, 4.80 ERA) vs. Ramiro Gonzalez (7-8, 3.97 ERA)

Who are these guys and what are they doing in the majors?? All we know is that Lloyd and Gonzalez (well, we know Gonzalez) are left-handers. And we are not lucky to miss Martin Garcia, but he is on the DL. And boy, could they use him.

Game 1
POR: RF Brady – 3B Sharp – CF Torrez – 1B Martin – C Ledesma – LF Reece – 2B Nomura – SS Sheehan – P F. Garcia
MIL: 2B B. Hernandez – 3B M. Brown – RF Hiwalani – LF Graham – 1B M. Woods – SS T. Johnson – CF C. Ramirez – C Melendez – P Aguila

And here is a pitcher that doesn’t get anything done, and the Raccoons are dazzled beyond belief. They wouldn’t do anything against Aguila, marveling at his ****ty dime-a-dozen stuff. Garcia meanwhile went 3.2 innings of no-hit ball before Dave Graham hobbled a single up the middle into center. In rapid succession Mac Woods singled and Johnson plated both with a double. Garcia’s little world hurriedly headed for total implosion, as the Loggers whacked him at will in the fifth inning. Corkum replaced him, but by then the score was 6-0 and the ship named Hope had long sailed. Corkum also gave up another run in the sixth, and then it was Neil Reece, the Sorry Specter From A Better Time, to actually do some damage with a solo homer off Aguila in the seventh. All too late, and by far not enough, though. 9-1 Loggers. Torrez 2-4, 2B; Reece 2-4, HR, RBI;

For Garcia, this was the end. Enough sucking. Our AAA depth may be shallow, but so is he. We made a few roster moves before Tuesday, as both Garcia and Alejandro Rojas were demoted to AAA. In turn, Conceicao Guerin returned from his rehab assignment, while Marvin Ingall started a rehab assignment in St. Pete. We also added 33-year old Dan Barnes, the contents of a municipal trash bin in a suburban park, cast into pitcher’s form. Barnes pitched to an 8-ish ERA in St. Pete. He will get his two, three starts in July, suck balls tremendously, and will then be released, while I try to trade some unwanted catcher for a mediocre but proper back-end pitcher.

We will also insert Kaz Kichida into a starter’s role in AAA. Yes, he sucked the air of the park as a reliever, no we’ll have him start! Because that’s how we roll, and how do YOU think a team can lose seven-going-on-eight consecutive seasons??

Game 2
POR: SS Guerin – RF Brady – 3B Sharp – 1B Martin – LF Reece – C Thomas – CF King – 2B Sheehan – P N. Brown
MIL: 2B B. Hernandez – RF Fletcher – LF Hiwalani – 1B M. Woods – SS T. Johnson – 3B Tolwith – CF K. Wood – C Melendez – P Lloyd

After going down in order in the first, the Raccoons jumped on Lloyd in the second inning. Martin led off with a double, and Reece and Thomas added singles to get the line moving. Sheehan and Guerin would also hit singles to plate a total of four runs in the inning. Under normal circumstances ample support for a certain pitcher who led the league in wins and was pretty darn close in strikeouts and ERA. It would not be an easy cruise for Brownie, however, and the Loggers put Ken Wood and Ruben Melendez on to start the bottom 3rd, and also brought them in to score to cut the lead in half. The Coons had their chances to increase their bid again, but f.e. in the fifth had Sharp and Martin in scoring position with no outs and didn’t score. In the sixth they would add a run, with the runner (Sheehan) reaching after being drilled. Brown’s stuff was lacking against a fully right-handed lineup and he struck out only five before retiring after seven innings on 90 pitches, but the 5-2 lead was still sound. Then we did something we hadn’t done in a while. We trusted Dan Nordahl with a lead and he made it through an inning without shattering Brown’s thirteenth to bits. Jerry Fletcher hit a leadoff double off Bruno in the ninth, but while he came in to score eventually on Woods’ groundout, that was all the Loggers got. 5-3 Raccoons. Guerin 2-4, 2 RBI; Martin 3-4, 3 2B; Reece 2-4; Sheehan 2-3, 2B, RBI; Brown 7.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, W (13-2);

Brownie has now won six straight, and 13 of his last 15 after going 0-1 in the first three starts of the year. The exceptions in the streak came back to back after seven straight wins, first a no-decision against the Bayhawks, then that dismal 6-1 loss where the Crusaders piled fudge on him.

Odd: all of Brownie’s runs this year have been earned.

Game 3
POR: SS Guerin – CF Torrez – 3B Sharp – 1B Martin – RF Brady – LF Reece – C Ledesma – 2B Nomura – P Farley
MIL: 3B M. Brown – CF Fletcher – RF Hiwalani – 1B M. Woods – SS T. Johnson – 2B Tolwith – LF J.J. Villa – C Melendez – P Alvarado

The Coons had had a 4-run second inning the previous day, the Loggers matched them this time, putting their first six batters in the second inning on base before Fletcher hit into a double play. Otherwise they might well have piled 28 runs on Farley, who continued to be utter dog ****. Like the previous day, the other team scored two in return, here with Al Martin’s 2-run homer, but the Loggers kept piling. They were robbed of a score in the fourth by Brady’s strong catch in right on Tom Johnson’s fly that would have plated two, but ended the inning, but in the fifth, with Villa on base, Farley walked Dani Alvarado, and it was ENOUGH. Out with the carcass, in with Williams, who gave up an RBI single to Matt Brown and we were down 6-2. But let’s not forget that the Loggers had a piece of scum on the mound as well, although their piece of scum went into the seventh, where it threw a wild pitch to plate the first run, before Reece singled in another. That put the tying runs on (Brady was on second) with one out. But the useless Ledesma popped out innocently and Nomura struck out against the Loggers’ piece of scum, and the chance went up in smoke. 6-4 Loggers. Guerin 2-5; Sharp 2-5; Martin 3-5, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Nomura 2-4;

4.2 innings, 10 hits, four walks, six runs. All earned. If we even HAD more crap pitchers at AAA, I’d send Farley to hell as well. He has lost six straight games, and he has earned every single one of those losses. Well, except the one in Tijuana, but that’s not an excuse. Farley has registered an out in the seventh inning merely FIVE times this season.

Game 4
POR: SS Guerin – CF Torrez – 3B Sharp – 1B Martin – LF Reece – C Thomas – RF King – 2B Nomura – P Ford
MIL: 2B B. Hernandez – RF Fletcher – LF Hiwalani – 1B M. Woods – SS T. Johnson – 3B Tolwith – CF K. Wood – C Aguilar – P R. Gonzalez

The first guy to get a hit in the game was Ramiro Gonzalez in the bottom 3rd, a 1-out single. When Fletcher and Hiwalani also singled, the Loggers took a 1-0 lead. The Coons finally got a single by Torrez in the fourth, but Sharp swiftly hit into a double play. King hit a leadoff single in the sixth, then was thrown out stealing. There really was not a whole lot going on for the road team. The Loggers loaded up the bases in the bottom 6th when Fletcher and Johnson drew walks around a Mac Woods double, with one out in the inning. Aaron Tolwith then lined out directly to Ford, who couldn’t get anybody else, but then had Ken Wood fly out to Torrez. Another Sharp double play cost a tally in the top 7th, and we kept trailing by the slimmest of margins. With two outs in the bottom 8th, Mac Woods doubled the score with a monstrous homer off Ford, and Gonzalez came back out for the top of the ninth. There, Concie reached on a single. Then Torrez grounded hard to third, where Matt Brown blew the play and the tying runs were on base with no outs. Sharp had two double plays already, but here he came up with a single to stack them three-wide on the bases for Al Martin. Martin had been hot recently (well, the last few days), but here popped out, and that put it on Reece, and – have we hit into a double play in this inning yet? Nope. Oh, so let’s do that. 2-0 Loggers. Torrez 2-4; Ford 8.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 4 K, L (5-8);

Oh, well, let’s sigh collectively, send two people to make their Raccoons debut in New York, and pretend that it is a brilliant move that can’t go wrong.

However, not all of the 25 Raccoons made the trip to the east.

Player trade

The Raccoons on Friday morning announced a trade with the Wolves. The Raccoons get SP/MR Carlos Sackett (1-1, 4.78 ERA, 1 SV) from the Wolves, sending C Pablo Ledesma (.249, 2 HR, 23 RBI) and minor leaguer 3B Raúl Valle up the Willamette in return.

To contemplate the trade, the Raccoons demoted Chris Beairsto to AAA, while they called up Gary Fifield.

Raccoons (46-40) @ Crusaders (38-48) – July 9-11, 2004

10th in runs scored, but sixth in runs allowed, the Crusaders kept toiling away in obscurity. Well, their bullpen was pretty good, despite them relying on the unfathomably mediocre Charlie Deacon in a prominent role. The rotation was struggling to a 4.52 ERA, but we’d see its best pieces.

Projected matchups:
Kenichi Watanabe (0-0) vs. Marvin Hall (6-3, 3.36 ERA)
Dan Barnes (0-0) vs. Greg Connor (6-10, 4.15 ERA)
Nick Brown (13-2, 2.70 ERA) vs. Russell Benson (2-9, 4.06 ERA)

That’s three right-handers, and we are fielding two Raccoons debutees, including the Japanese import and a 33-year old, run-down, out-of-control knuckleballer.

Game 1
POR: SS Guerin – CF Torrez – 3B Sharp – 1B Martin – RF Brady – LF Reece – 2B Nomura – C Thomas – P Watanabe
NYC: CF Javier – RF Britton – LF M. Ortíz – C D. Anderson – 1B Breach – 3B A. De Jesus – SS Edralín – 2B Caraballo – P M. Hall

Marvin Hall showed horrendous control, walking six batters in the first three innings. The Raccoons forgot their bats in Milwaukee, though, and failed to drive people in conclusively. In the third, Reece drew a bases-loaded walk for their first run before Nomura popped up a 3-1 pitch and on the way to the dugout got slapped in the helmet by Reece and taught a lesson. Watanabe’s control wasn’t much better, but the Crusaders had trouble getting good contact on his 90mph fastball which had a slight jitter to it. Watanabe walked two in the first three innings, then walked two in the fourth, but the Crusaders popped out twice and the threat was over. Ape Britton’s leadoff single in the sixth got the Crusaders’ foot in the door however, and Britton stole a base and was then slowly moved around to score and knot the score at one. Watanabe didn’t finish the inning; Martinez retired Pedro Edralín with two on and two out. Hall didn’t go much further, walking Torrez in the seventh for walk number eight in the game and Tony Vela replaced him. It was only the Raccoons’ third hit of the day when Al Martin doubled off the fence in left and Torrez was sent, but the favorable bounce and Ortíz’ laser throw got Torrez out at home to end the inning. Top 8th, Reece singled with one out, before Carlos Gonzales walked both Nomura and Thomas. That brought up Ramirez, who had replaced Sharp in a double switch in the bottom 7th. And Ramirez tended to miss a lot of pitches, but when he got hold of one, it rarely ever came down again. The fly he hit off Gonzales DID come down again, but by then all runners had scored on the 3-run double to deepest center. The Coons bullpen held up and got this one into the record books. 4-1 Raccoons. Sharp 1-2, 2 BB; Reece 2-4, BB, RBI; Ramirez 1-1, 2B, 3 RBI; Moreno 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K, W (2-0);

After the game we found out that Neil Reece had injured himself on the final play of the game, a Caraballo fly to left, where he stretched awkwardly at the foul line. He ended up on the DL with a strained oblique, but the 15-day frame should be enough to get him fixed.

And JUST as he was getting warm!

So, NEXT roster move. It doesn’t get any calmer here! I wanted no piece of Beairsto, so Darwin Tyler was called up as Reece’s replacement for the next two days, and we were playing with a man less anyway right now, so Tyler was pretty much guaranteed two starts against the right-handed pitchers.

Game 2
POR: SS Guerin – CF Torrez – 3B Sharp – 1B Martin – RF Brady – 2B Nomura – C Fifield – LF Tyler – P Barnes
NYC: CF Javier – 3B A. De Jesus – LF M. Ortíz – RF J. Gonzales – C D. Anderson – 1B D. Carroll – SS Edralín – 2B Moultrie – P Connor

Daryl Anderson’s 2-run homer in the bottom 2nd gave the Crusaders the lead over Barnes, who had been handed a 1-0 lead for his first (and highly likely only) Raccoons start. By the third, he generally stopped throwing strikes altogether. The Crusaders kept hacking, which limited their output, but 109 pitches carried Barnes barely through five innings, in which he struck out four but walked seven! The Crusaders were up 3-1. So, bring on the next debutee! Carlos Sackett appeared for the first time in a Coons uniform in the sixth prior to getting a start against the Loggers after the break, and delivered a scoreless sixth. The Raccoons somehow lucked into a run in the seventh, but Corkum gave that right back, and they couldn’t even get the bats up against Deacon. 4-2 Crusaders. Martin 2-4, 2B, RBI; Ramirez (PH) 1-1;

They had four hits, we had five. Crap game.

Game 3
POR: SS Guerin – CF Torrez – 3B Sharp – 1B Martin – RF Brady – 2B Sheehan – C Thomas – LF Tyler – P Brown
NYC: SS Edralín – 3B A. De Jesus – LF M. Ortíz – RF J. Gonzales – 1B D. Carroll – CF Britton – C R. Rivera – 2B Moultrie – P Benson

Benson took major damage in the first inning. First, the Coons hit a couple of singles, with Martin plating Torrez for the first run of the game. With the bases loaded, he issued walks then to Sheehan and Thomas, 3-0, before Tyler poked and grounded to short, but the Crusaders got only Thomas at second. Brown flew out to keep it at 4-0, but it was quite the head start. Then, bottom 1st, double to right, double to left, homer. Um, what? Yes, Brown was pitching, but it was not quite a Brownish start… In a 4-3 game, the Raccoons hit into double plays in the next two innings, while Brown just so held on to dear life, before they had a pair of 2-out RBI hits in the fifth that knocked out Benson, a Sheehan single and a Thomas double. Tyler walked, and Brown also drew a walk, yet Concie struck out against Bob Evans. Brown got through six without any more damage, but was then hit for with Nomura, who hit into another double play. Nordahl was handed the 6-3 lead in the bottom 7th and bulldozed it with a double to Ricardo Rivera and two walks, and nobody out. Martinez came on to try and save the unsavable. He struck out Edralín. Breach popped out, and then - … **** managed to stick. Martinez walked Martin Ortíz, then gave up a bases-clearing double to Gonzales to shatter Brown’s winning streak. That was not the end, as the Raccoons bullpen exploded for seven total runs in the final two innings, with more damage on Corkum. 10-6 Crusaders. Torrez 2-4, BB; Martin 3-5, RBI; Tyler 1-2, 2 BB, RBI;

I blame no one but that squared ****head Nordahl. I have to get rid of that ****ing piece of ****.

In other news

July 10 – OCT INF Bob Grant (.311, 6 HR, 32 RBI) is out for the season with a broken kneecap.
July 11 – BOS 1B/2B David Brewer (.281, 1 HR, 16 RBI), in a 3-2 win of the Titans over the Indians, collected his 2,500th career base hit, a sixth inning single off Alonso Alonso. Brewer, once the second-overall pick by the Canadiens in 1988, debuted with them in the same season and stayed there until 1994 before signing up with the Raccoons, with which he won the 1995 Hitter of the Year award. He also played with the Condors, Stars, and Cyclones, and the Titans once before, and two months shy of his 37th birthday has amassed 86 HR, 937 RBI, 161 SB, and a .327/.400/.453 career slash line. He was an All Star seven times consecutively, from 1991 through 1997.
July 11 – The Loggers deal MR Jesus Longoria (1-2, 1.99 ERA, 2 SV) to the Capitals for a bushel containing five marginal prospects, none of whom is ranked. Longoria, 35, was already a Capital from 1991, his debut, to 2001, winning two titles with them.

Complaints and stuff

This week’s trade was done to get rid of an expensive and outrageously poorly performing player who had somehow won in the Gold Glove Lottery last year. Sackett will settle into the rotation once we have disposed of Watanabe and/or Barnes. I tried to get more for Ledesma, but other teams know he’s ****, too. I was after Vaughn Higgins of the Thunder, an actually very good pitcher, but the price would have been so steep, we’d bled ourselves dry. And while ten relief pitching prospects look nice on the Top 200, they have zero trade value.

By the way, Sackett is 26, and was the Wolves’ first-rounder in 1999, picked 10th overall. He has appeared in 52 games in the majors since 2002, 13 of those starts, with a 10-4 record and 4-40 ERA. Seven wins came in 2003, in which all of his 12 appearances were starts, with a 3.00 ERA. He tends to keep the ball on the ground, but he won’t overpower people. In a way, he’s a bit like Edgar Amador, just way slimmer.

The Titans have offered us Hector Ramirez in trade for Brad Sheehan and a potential outfield prospect Santiago Trevino, who is in AA, but can’t find a way to use his bat. Now, Ramirez fits best on second base for us, and he would without a doubt be an upgrade over Marv Ingall, but he is guaranteed $1.9M per season through 2006, and I want no part of that contract.

By the way, I do not want Bryce Hildred to win that wins title. If he ends with the most wins in the CL, I will make my way up the Wells Fargo Center via the stairs and my way down the Wells Fargo Center WITHOUT STAIRS.