[Westheim]

Raccoons (52-47) @ Falcons (47-50) – July 27-29, 2004

The Raccoons’ 4-game winning streak would meet up with the Falcons’ 6-game losing streak to see whether both teams had the guts to go on. If they weren’t disintegrating violently, the Falcons knew how to bat, ranking second with a .270 average, and third with 430 runs scored, outscoring us by 35 markers, and they were at least tied for fourth (with the Coons!) with 398 runs allowed.

Projected matchups:
Ralph Ford (5-10, 4.26 ERA) vs. Miguel Diaz (8-9, 4.37 ERA)
Edgar Amador (7-4, 3.30 ERA) vs. Frank Pierre (10-8, 3.70 ERA)
Nick Brown (14-3, 2.88 ERA) vs. Dylan Jones (8-6, 4.21 ERA)

After Diaz, and starting with Pierre, whom the Falcons just on Monday acquired from the Condors for Toby McGreary (.308, 3 HR, 31 RBI), we will be served two left-handers, and the possibility for a third one to start the following series is high. The Coons vs. left-handed pitching? Uh-oh.

Game 1
POR: SS Guerin – CF Torrez – 3B Sharp – 1B Martin – 2B Ingall – RF Brady – C Wood – LF Tyler – P Ford
CHA: 2B Heffer – 3B Whaley – CF Burke – 1B H. Green – LF Estrada – SS Vieitas – C E. Durango – RF Correja – P M. Diaz

Three Coons got on, three Coons brought them in, and we were up 3-0 in a hurry. By the second inning, the Raccoons’ offense was in refusal mode, not even scoring runs when the Falcons were begging them with errors and hit batters like in the top 3rd, Ralph Ford showed to be easily hittable, and Eddie Torrez had been lost to injury. The Ford thing was most unnerving right now. There were constantly Falcons on base, and sometimes you thought there even Falcons on base when the Raccoons were batting. Well, it couldn’t be Coons, because for all practical purposes the Coons ticked all boxes for being legally deceased from the second through the sixth inning. All of a sudden in the top 7th, Martin and Ingall erupted to hit back-to-back home runs and run the score to 5-1. While the Falcons were indeed on base all the time and chased Ford after 6.1 laborious innings, they didn’t get the key hit, and their lone run scored on Pedro Estrada’s inside-the-park home run in the fourth. Ford willed them two base runners, which Manuel Martinez snuffed out quickly with strikeouts to Matt Whaley and Jake Burke. While the Falcons would get one run from Huerta in the eighth, they didn’t even get close to mounting an actual threat late in this one, and both decision streaks endured. 5-2 Raccoons. Ingall 3-4, HR, 2 RBI; Brady 2-3, BB, RBI;

Brady now has two multi-hit games in the last six weeks. Yay!

The injury to Torrez smells. I wanted to sit Brady against the left-handers, but now King has to cover center. Darwin Tyler doesn’t even hit the ball in any fashion, but before we make a roster move regarding him, we want to find out what is wrong with Torrez and whether he will have to be put down.

Game 2
POR: SS Guerin – 2B Ingall – LF Reece – 1B Martin – 3B M. Ramirez – RF Brady – C Thomas – CF King – P Amador
CHA: 2B H. Green – LF Estrada – C F. Chavez – CF Burke – 1B J. Mendoza – SS Vieitas – 3B Moore – RF Warner – P Pierre

The Coons again put three on in the first inning before Ramirez hit into a killing double play. The top 2nd then saw a major spot develop on the vest of the Falcons’ new acquisition. Brady, Thomas, and King reached by various means to load them with no outs, with Amador then lifting a fly to right for a sac fly. Guerin then grounded hard to Herberto Vieitas, by all estimated the end of the inning, except that Vieitas dropped the ball and all hands were safe. From here, another five runs scored when Ingall walked, Reece hit a sac fly, and Martin hit one entirely out of the park. Reece singled home Ingall in the fourth inning, which only then had Pierre see his Falcons debut end, and at 7-0 we were comfortably ahead. Or maybe not. Amador surrendered contact the whole game, and it was not good contact if it’s your pitcher. The Falcons got him for two in the fifth, but we were still up 7-2. Then Amador didn’t get anybody in the bottom 6th, three up, three on. 7-3, runners on first and second, Moreno came on, with the middle infielders twice not turning a double play, and then Moreno surrendering some contact to get yanked. Nordahl allowed an RBI single to Estrada that romped the score to 7-6 before Chavez struck out to end a most dismal 4-run inning. It wasn’t over, though, because Nordahl walked two in the bottom 7th to be yanked himself with two out. We brought Williams, they brought Whaley, and the ex-Indians singled to tie the game. Corkum bloked up a leadoff triple to Hubert Green in the eighth, and that was that. 8-7 Falcons. Ingall 2-4, BB, 3B, RBI; Reece 2-4, RBI; Martin 3-5, HR, 3 RBI; King 3-4, 2B;

Up by seven with 15 outs to collect. No, there is no complicated explanation for it. They just straight suck. They just ****ING SUCK.

We haven’t traded away everything that didn’t have 10/5 rights in a while. Might be time soon. Can’t stand a lot of sorry faces around here anymore.

Game 3
POR: SS Guerin – 3B Sharp – 2B Ingall – 1B Martin – LF Reece – RF Brady – C Wood – CF King – P Brown
CHA: 2B Heffer – 3B Whaley – CF Burke – 1B H. Green – LF Estrada – SS Vieitas – C E. Durango – RF Correja – P D. Jones

Everything was falling to pieces in a hurry in this game. While Brown knocked in the first run of the game with a funny double in the top 2nd, he did not get out of the bottom 2nd. Hubert Green hit a bloop single before Brown walked the bases full, then hit Durango to tie the game. Correja singled, 2-1. The pitcher struck out, before Brown also plunked Dave Heffer. Whaley walked, 4-1, and another run scored on Burke’s groundout, before Green hit another single to score Heffer. When Estrada walked, Brown was grabbed and thrown under a bus. I didn’t realize much of the remaining seven innings, crying furiously in the corner of my box. Let’s shorten the bad news section by saying that some teams can come back from being force-fed a bitter 6-run inning, and some teams just can’t. 7-4 Falcons. Ingall 4-5, RBI; Ramirez (PH) 1-1; Sheehan (PH) 2-2, 2B, RBI;

Also, Eddie Torrez was diagnosed with a concussion and is out for the year. We have no replacements for that. Beairsto sucks. Beairsto capitally sucks. I hate Beairsto. More than anybody else on the roster.

Lacking any enlightenment, Matt Love was called up as additional warm body.

In slightly less agonizing news, we claimed catcher Freddy Rosa off waivers by the Canadiens. Bob Wood, who followed up going 5-for-5 to start his major league career by going 0-for-11, will be sent back to AAA, and Rosa will be added to the major league roster to serve as our 395th catcher of the last seven years. He was batting .214 with 6 HR and 13 RBI for the Elks.

Raccoons (53-49) vs. Thunder (54-46) – July 30-August 1, 2004

The Thunder ranked third in both offense and defense. What a favorable matchup for a team in entirety and eternity composed of perpetual fails.

Projected matchups:
Randy Farley (5-10, 4.86 ERA) vs. Fabien Armand (8-9, 3.43 ERA)
Ralph Ford (6-10, 4.11 ERA) vs. Aaron Anderson (11-6, 3.64 ERA)
Carlos Sackett (3-2, 4.53 ERA) vs. Dave Crawford (2-9, 6.07 ERA)

Game 1
OCT: 2B Palacios – LF Humphrey – 3B Higashi – C Baca – 1B L. Soto – RF A. Flores – SS Nixon – CF Olson – P Armand
POR: SS Guerin – 3B Sharp – 2B Ingall – 1B Martin – LF Reece – RF Brady – CF King – C Thomas – P Farley

Sharp singled home Guerin in the first for a 1-0 lead that didn’t survive Farley meeting up with Armand in the top 2nd. Armand singled to break a 1-1 tie as Max Nixon crossed the plate, who had earlier brought home Alberto Flores after Flores had hit a leadoff triple. The Thunder had the bases loaded in the top 4th after a Sharp error, but Palacios and Humphrey couldn’t get anybody in and the inning ended with the Coons still trailing 2-1, but they got even in the bottom 5th with an RBI groundout by Sharp, who seemed to have his hand in everything. Farley was still going in the top 8th when he walked Nixon and Olson singled. Martinez replaced him, facing Antonio De La Parra, and walked the batter to load the bases. Martinez then fell to 3-0 on Jesus Palacios, before Palacios poked and grounded out to end the inning, leading to his manager bursting a few vital blood vessels. In the bottom 8th, Clyde Brady hit into an inning-ending double play on a 3-0 pitch, leading to the second manager being rushed to the hospital in the span of ten minutes. The game spilled into unlonged-for extra innings when the Raccoons’ top of the order couldn’t do anything with two on, one out, and Jimmy Morey pitching in the bottom 9th. Huerta had replaced Moreno with two out in the ninth, entering with a double switch that removed Brady. In the top 10th, Alberto Flores doubled to get going and scored on an Olson single. Bottom 10th, Ingall hit a rocket to center that annoyingly Olson managed to catch. Martin hit a bloop to right and was run for by Sheehan, who was barely alive at second when Reece pirouetted flailingly to hack out on a hit-and-run. Ramirez then hit for Huerta, and followed the Ingall trail in hitting a high, hard one to center. Only difference was, Ramirez’ wasn’t coming back. Walkoff homer!!! 4-3 Raccoons!! Guerin 3-5, 2B; Ramirez (PH) 1-1, HR, 2 RBI; Thomas 3-4; Tyler 1-1; Farley 7.2 IP, 9 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 2 K;

Game 2
OCT: RF A. Flores – C De La Parra – 1B L. Soto – 3B Higashi – 2B Nixon – LF Walls – SS Scott – CF Olson – P A. Anderson
POR: 3B Sharp – RF Brady – 2B M. Ramirez – 1B Martin – SS Sheehan – C Rosa – CF King – LF Tyler – P Ford

Five straight 2-out batters reached for the Thunder in the top 1st, scoring two runs before Olson struck out. Anderson hit a leadoff single in the top 2nd and although Flores followed up with an infield single that Sheehan refused to do anything with, the Thunder didn’t score. That didn’t change that Ford sucked outright and got yanked by the fourth inning. In 3.1 innings, he surrendered 11 hits, three walks, and was laden with five runs. The Raccoons followed a simple pattern offensively, putting Sharp on base and have some dork hit into a double play, at least early on. Eventually, even Sharp stopped getting on base, then hit into a double play himself. The Raccoons hit into four in this game, and generally didn’t get a lick done. In mop-up, Corkum allowed two runs, and Bruno was touched for one run. 8-1 Thunder. Sharp 2-4; Guerin (PH) 1-1;

Game 3
OCT: SS Nixon – LF Humphrey – 3B Higashi – C Baca – 1B L. Soto – RF A. Flores – 2B Scott – CF Olson – P Crawford
POR: SS Guerin – 3B Sharp – 2B Ingall – 1B Martin – LF Reece – RF Brady – CF King – C Thomas – P Sackett

Sackett pitched to give the kids that loudly filled the park for some bull**** family promotion Maud had cooked up a valuable lesson. If you put the leadoff man on every single inning, damage will be done to you. To be precise he put the first two men on twice and the leadoff man in the first three innings, and the Thunder casually took a 4-0 lead. In a twist, Sackett then surrendered 13 straight Thunder once the damage was already done in sufficient numbers to thwart hopes for a comeback. That streak ended with Max Nixon’s 2-out double in the top 7th, and Sackett quickly walked Humphrey, and Martinez then replaced him, only to give up an RBI single to Takahashi Higashi. The score after six and a half? 5-0. The Raccoons had two hits against the pushover Dave Crawford, who got pounded by everybody. But not the Raccoons. Because the Raccoons are **** as all hell. Brady had their third single in the bottom 7th with one out and nobody on. Then King singled. Tyler hit for Thomas for his left-handed bat, and singled to right, scoring Brady. Ramirez hit for Martinez and got hold of one of those pushover pitches, and pushed it over the wall in leftfield, axing the lead down to one run. Then Guerin got on with a double. Sharp came up, singled, Guerin ran, and was safe – tied ballgame, six straight base hits against Crawford, who struck out Ingall, before Martin singled. Reece was down 1-2 before he sent a pitch to left for a single, and Sharp was sent and made it home safely. So that’s a 6-run inning, and our record this week with 6-run innings anywhere in the line score? 0-2. Moreno walked a pair in the top 8th but the Thunder never hit a ball fair in the inning, and eventually a foul out ended the inning, handing over the 6-5 advantage to Marcos Bruno, who faced the top of the order. Tyler had replaced Reece for defense earlier and made a miraculous catch on Max Nixon’s line drive that started the inning. Woot!! Now everything will be fine! We’d have a .500 week, and we’d have finished better than - … and then Humphrey homered. Never mind Brad Sheehan hitting a walkoff single, plating Sharp with two out in the bottom 9th. Emotionally, the damage was off any scales or charts. 7-6 Raccoons. Sharp 2-4, BB, RBI; Rosa 1-1; Sheehan (PH) 1-1, RBI; Brady 2-4, 2B; King 1-2, 2 BB; Tyler (PH) 1-2, RBI; Ramirez (PH) 1-2, HR, 3 RBI;


In other news

July 27 – The Capitals acquire SP Jonathan Dumont (4-6, 4.10 ERA) from the Pacifics in exchange for #56 prospect C Errol Spears, 19.
July 27 – The Loggers add DEN SP Jaime Aguila (3-13, 5.21 ERA) for a minor leaguer.
July 28 – INF Oliver Torres (.274, 2 HR, 36 RBI), who basically powered the Aces on his own last season, is now out for the remainder of this season with a torn back muscle.
August 1 – The 2,000 hits club welcomes CIN LF/RF Dan Morris (.319, 10 HR, 28 RBI), who joins with two hits in a 5-3 win over the Pacifics, knocking a first inning RBI double off Raúl Chavez. The 34-year old Morris, once a first rounder in 1991, spending his entire career with the Cyclones, has been to the All Star game eight times and was the FL Hitter of the Year in 1995 and 1997.
August 1 – SFB SP Raúl Fuentes (11-10, 3.42 ERA) 2-hits the Canadiens in a 14-0 threshing.

Complaints and stuff

Thank heavens Thomas Watts got traded this week. The Cyclones were bugging me with him daily. Usually for Ingall and Trevino. Do I look that stupid? It doesn’t even make our News section because Watts is far over the mountain as far as ability to contribute is concerned. The Miners picked him up and will soon regret it.

Everybody wants Trevino, who can’t hit a lick in AA.

And then I would like to express how raging mad I am at this team, not for faltering catastrophically like a straw hut in a cyclone, but for starting the season .640-ish well into May. It makes them all the more unbearable to watch as they are clogging along in sub-.350 land. If they had started out .420 and had maintained that **** pace throughout, nobody would have been mad. Now I can’t stand their repulsive sight anymore.