[Westheim]

Raccoons (11-14) vs. Crusaders (12-12) – May 2-5, 2005

While the Crusaders were right about average in runs scored, they rode the second-best rotation in the league to overcome the fourth-worst bullpen. Also, here the two teams in the Continental League with the lowest batting averages met up. The Crusaders hit .240 to the Coons’ display of .239;

Projected matchups:
Edgar Amador (1-4, 3.99 ERA) vs. Kelly Fairchild (1-1, 1.84 ERA)
Ralph Ford (0-1, 3.44 ERA) vs. Whit Reeves (1-3, 4.65 ERA)
Felipe Garcia (1-2, 3.63 ERA) vs. Greg Connor (1-2, 3.28 ERA)
Ben Carlson (0-3, 3.70 ERA) vs. Frank Pierre (3-1, 1.96 ERA)

We start with three right-handers, before we will get the southpaw Pierre on Thursday, who is the only starter with a winning record in this series. Well, I’m sure ex-Furball Kelly Fairchild will get there when the Fat Cat walks another bushel.

Game 1
NYC: SS Rice – 1B D. Carroll – LF M. Ortíz – RF S. Martin – C D. Anderson – 3B Caraballo – CF Pena – 2B Moultrie – P Fairchild
POR: 1B Sharp – LF Brady – 3B M. Ramirez – RF Greenman – 2B Nomura – SS Yamada – CF Torrez – C Wood – P Amador

After a scoreless first, the lead went back and forth in rapid succession, starting with Todd Moultrie’s RBI triple with two out in the top 2nd. The Coons would take a 2-1 lead when Torrez doubled in a pair in the bottom 2nd, but a Gary Rice homer tied the score to start the third, and the Crusaders got another run on a Stanton Martin double. Bottom 3rd, Brady reached, and Greenman then went deep to restore order, 4-3 Coons. Two errors by the Crusaders helped the Coons to a sac fly off Bobby Wood’s lumber in the bottom 5th, but that extra run was handed back by Amador in his final inning, the sixth, and Huerta blew the lead in the seventh while looking very much ****. After Dave Williams struck out three right-handers in the top 8th to preserve a tied game, Francisco Caraballo made a terrible throwing error to put Clyde Brady on second base to start the bottom 8th. Ramirez singled, but Brady was held at third, but when Greenman got up he took lefty Ignacio Garcia WELL DEEP to straightaway centerfield! New lead, three runs, which nothing was added to before Angel Casas got the ball for the ninth, facing the top of the order. After Rice grounded out, Casas walked Dave Carroll and was 3-1 on Ortíz before the leftfielder grounded into a force, but the Japanese Connection didn’t turn the double play. Angel came back nicely, however, and struck out Martin to end the game. 9-6 Coons. Greenman 3-4, BB, 2 HR, 5 RBI; Nomura 2-4, BB, 2 2B; Yamada 2-5, RBI; Torrez 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI;

Stop it, boys, stop it! Nine runs! I’m dizzy!

Also: among our top 3 in wins is but one starter now (Brownie of course), while the second tier is made up by Williams and Casas with two apiece.

Game 2
NYC: SS Rice – 3B Caraballo – RF S. Martin – LF M. Ortíz – CF Javier – 1B L. Soto – C O’Riordan – 2B Moultrie – P Reeves
POR: LF Brady – 2B Nomura – RF Greenman – 1B A. Martin – CF Torrez – SS Yamada – 3B M. Ramirez – C Cooks – P Ford

Not wanting to annoy me, the Raccoons scrapped the offensive prowess shown in the opener, and also added catastrophic fielding and utterly ******ed pitching. Ford sucked balls, and would be rapped for a dozen hits in the game over 5.2 innings. The amazing thing was that the middle infield turned a pair of double plays to limit the damage greatly, but even that effort was undone by Curt Cooks, who decided that not hitting a lick was not enough, and made not one, but TWO hair-raising throwing errors that led to about all the runs the Crusaders actually scored off Ralph Ford: two in the second inning, and three in the sixth, the latter all being unearned. The Raccoons’ only run had been unearned at that point, and they were 5-1 behind, and were out-hit 12-3. That 4:1 ratio would not become any smaller until the end of the game. A run fell out of Law Rockburn in the seventh, and the Crusaders finished the game with 16 hits. The Raccoons would have four hits in a game that did not adequately express the lopsidedness in its final result, at all. 6-1 Crusaders.

Game 3
NYC: SS Rice – 1B D. Carroll – LF M. Ortíz – RF S. Martin – CF Javier – C D. Anderson – 3B Caraballo – 2B Moultrie – P Connor
POR: LF Brady – 2B Nomura – RF Greenman – 1B A. Martin – CF Fernandez – 3B Sharp – SS Yamada – C Wood – P F. Garcia

Top 3rd of a scoreless game, Todd Moultrie led off with an infield single that Garcia couldn’t dig out. Then Martin failed to play Greg Connor’s bunt for another infield single, and when Rice made an out, Dave Carroll walked to load them up. Ortíz singled to center, Fernandez’ throw back home was airmailed to Mexico and two runs scored, and that wasn’t all, as Paco Javier found a way to work in a 2-out triple to romp the score to 4-0. The game was over right there. A semi-decent team would have taken a manly loss, but would have ended the game without actively ridiculing the flock of sorry fans that had actually paid to see a rather expensive circus. Not so the Raccoons. Garcia gave up another run in the fifth, and then in the sixth Sharp and Fernandez made errors to start the inning. Garcia came out, some other mook came in, bad things happened, and we had another utmost depressing game, in which Greg Connor, who can’t throw harder than 90 miles an hour, and has no control whatsoever, pitched a complete game win on four hits. 6-1 Crusaders. Rockburn 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

For sobbing out loud …

Game 4
NYC: SS Rice – 1B D. Carroll – LF M. Ortíz – RF S. Martin – CF Javier – C D. Anderson – 3B Caraballo – 2B Moultrie – P Pierre
POR: SS Yamada – LF Fernandez – RF Greenman – 1B A. Martin – 3B Sharp – CF King – 2B Sheehan – C Wood – P Carlson

Yoshi-Y singled, stole second, and scored on Fernandez’ single before some Coon hit into a double play, but it was 1-0 in support of Carlson after one inning. The score wouldn’t change for four innings, with a few more double plays a factor in that. Carlson looked good until a grounder by Moultrie went past a diving Al Martin for a leadoff single in the sixth. Pierre struck out bunting, but the Crusaders soon had Gary Rice double home the run, 1-1, and they went to the corners before mysteriously letting Carlson escape. Bottom of the inning, the Coons had them on the corners for lifeless Danny Sharp, whose grounder went right through Caraballo for an RBI double and restored the 1-run lead. Then came the seventh and Carlson stopped throwing strikes. He walked Paco Javier, who was bunted to second by Anderson, and then Caraballo popped out on a 2-0 pitch. Lefty Roberto Pena then hit for Moultrie, which prompted a move to Dave Williams, who got a groundout to Yoshi-Y to preserve the 2-1 lead. Marcos Bruno allowed a 2-out walk to Dave Carroll in the top 8th while striking out all other batters he faced, and Casas got ready. Well, we might get some offense before going to him, and Yamada and Nomura went to the corners, and then Sharp fouled out to end the bottom 8th. So, Casas, facing the 4-5-6 batters. Stanton Martin hit a leadoff single before getting sucked up by Paco Javier’s double play grounder. Apasyu Britton hit for Anderson, walked, and the trainer saw something and called for the hook on Casas. The (few) fans were stunned, a few kids in the first row cried when Angel was walked out. Ricardo Huerta came in to face Caraballo, who grounded to Yamada for an out at second base. 2-1 Coons. Yamada 3-4; Fernandez 2-4, 2B, RBI; Nomura (PH) 1-1; Carlson 6.2 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, W (1-3) and 1-2;

Yes, I cried as well when Angel was walked out.

Raccoons (13-16) @ Wolves (15-13) – May 6-8, 2005

The Wolves looked not quite as good as they were. While they didn’t hit for average, they hit for extra bases rather well, and scored the fourth-most runs in the Federal League, while their pitching staff was simply the best over there. Especially delicate was their bullpen, which held opponents 1.38 earned runs per nine innings. Flippin’ Furball, and we’re 11th in bullpen ERA over here, and we’ve lost Angel!

Projected matchups:
Nick Brown (3-1, 2.82 ERA) vs. Manny Guzmán (3-2, 2.54 ERA)
Edgar Amador (1-4, 4.08 ERA) vs. Brad Osborne (2-2, 6.47 ERA)
Ralph Ford (0-2, 3.63 ERA) vs. Max Shepherd (3-1, 3.27 ERA)

Frank Pierre might be the only southpaw we see this week, because the Wolves might hurl three more right-handers at us.

Game 1
POR: SS Yamada – LF Brady – CF Fernandez – 1B Martin – RF Greenman – 3B Sharp – 2B Nomura – C Wood – P Brown
SAL: LF F. Guerra – CF F. Jones – SS Hutchinson – 1B A. Munoz – RF Mashiba – C McClendon – 2B Fleming – 3B O. Rios – P M. Guzmán

The Raccoons struck first - … erase that. The Raccoons somehow happened into a run in the second inning. The Wolves struck last, but actually struck. Brown whiffed absolutely nobody, and fooled not even his grandmother. In the bottom 3rd he offered a leadoff walk to Orlando Rios. Guzmán singled in a 2-2 count, and that led to an RBI single by Fernando Guerra. Then Freddie Jones fooled Fernandez with a line drive that fell in and rolled all the way to California for a 2-run triple, and he would eventually score as well. Four runs in the inning, Brown torn to shreds, still no strikeouts, and the Coons were the Coons. Greenman hit a solo homer in the fourth. Maybe they could actually get back in? Top 5th, Brady got on, Fernandez got on, Martin hit an RBI groundout, and then Greenman hit a looper onto the right foul line – safe – to plate Fernandez, and the score was even. But Brown was still awful, limped through five, then put the 7-8 batters on with singles in the bottom 6th. Two out, Ted Mullins hit for the pitcher, and Huerta came out to face the righty. Mullins hit a hard shot to left that Brady had no chance at ever getting to and two runs scored. For the Wolves, Paco Leoniedas, Colby Kirk, and Aurelio Garcia would not allow another base runner for the visiting team. 6-4 Wolves. Greenman 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Williams 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Game 2
POR: SS Yamada – LF Brady – CF Fernandez – 1B Martin – RF Greenman – 3B Sharp – 2B Nomura – C Wood – P Amador
SAL: CF Gentil – 1B T. Mullins – SS Hutchinson – LF F. Guerra – C Ledesma – 2B Davidson – RF F. Jones – 3B O. Rios – P Sackett

Surprise – the Wolves reworked their rotation (and some of their roster) and we faced Carlos Sackett in the middle contest. Sackett had a 6.75 ERA and no decisions after 9.1 innings of work. He immediately went into business and suppressed the Raccoons, while the Wolves jumped onto Amador for three runs in the first inning, with two of the runners walking. The Raccoons didn’t matter with the bat until the top 4th, when Fernandez singled and Martin doubled to put runners in scoring position with no outs. Greenman hit a sac fly, and Sharp grounded to third, only for Rios to misplay it for an error. The tying runs were now on the corners with one out, and fittingly Nomura hit into a double play. They left another runner on in the fifth, with Amador allowing a run in the bottom of that inning, 4-1, then had the bases loaded in the top 6th with Torrez hitting for Wood with two down. Torrez grounded hard to right, but Karl Davidson cut the ball off and played to first in time, and nobody scored. Nobody ever scored. Sackett went eight with ease, while Amador didn’t last past six, and was soundly beaten. They are always soundly beaten. 5-2 Wolves. Fernandez 2-3; Martin 2-4, 2 2B; Ramirez (PH) 1-1, 2B;

And the weekend got even better, because the fun never stops in Portland. Angel Casas has been diagnosed with a partial tear in his labrum and will be out for about two months – at least.

That puts Bruno back to closing, and we called up Ed Bryan from AAA. He’s a lefty, but he’s killing AAA batters, and Dave Williams has also fared quite well against right-handers this season and might be able to cope with more general usage.

Or maybe not, because nothing ever ****ing works in Portland.

Game 3
POR: LF Brady – 3B Sharp – RF Greenman – 1B Martin – CF King – 2B Nomura – C Wood – SS Sheehan – P Ford
SAL: 2B Fleming – CF Gentil – 1B A. Munoz – RF Mashiba – C McClendon – LF F. Jones – SS Davidson – 3B O. Rios – P Rogers

Steve Rogers (2-3, 3.59 ERA) came up as Sunday’s Special Southpaw Serving from Salem. Rogers not only suffocated the few Coons that still had a pulse with a pillow, he also drove in a run with a 2-out RBI double in the bottom 2nd, which already made it 2-0 against Ford. That became 3-0 by the fourth, and there were two in scoring position with two out when Tom Fleming’s looper to shallow right had Nomura and Greenman converge at rapid pace and almost take each other’s heads off. Greenman actually made the play and the inning ended, with two hits, one run, and no forcefully deceased Critters. When Nomura led off the fifth with a double and Bobby Wood actually singled, they almost would have started an actual rally, but Brad Sheehan’s precisely placed double play grounder held them to one run. Also, Ford gave that run right back. Top 6th, Brady singled, Sharp singled, Brady to third, no outs. Greenman singled, Brady in, tying runs on first and second and still no outs. And then, Martin, double play. It started to rain soon after, the baseball gods laughing so hard they hard to cry. The rain forced a 1-hour delay in the bottom 7th to knock Ford from the game, with Bryan Gentil on second base. When play resumed, Ed Bryan ended the inning without the runner scoring. Top 8th, the Coons faced Avtandil Tarakhanov. Brady walked, Sharp got him forced, and then Greenman’s double scored only one run. Colby Kirk replaced Tarakhanov to face Martin, but Martin hit a double that closely followed the path beaten by Greenman’s and tied the game. Martin was then left on when Fernandez hit for Bryan in the #5 hole. Law Rockburn pitched two scoreless frames to get us into extras, where in the top 10th we had two on with two out and Martin flew to deep center, but got that screamer caught by Gentil. Martin then vanished in a double switch that brought in Domingo Moreno, who allowed a 1-out double to Taisuke Mashiba, who then tried to advance on Pablo Ledesma’s fly out to Torrez in centerfield. Torrez’ throw was right into Ramirez’ glove at third base and Mashiba was out, pushing the game to the 11th. There, the Wolves got a leadoff double by Brandon Bass, and although we yanked Moreno it was too late. Kichida surrendered a walkoff single to Dave Hutchinson. 5-4 Wolves. Greenman 3-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Wood 3-5; Rockburn 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

And thus, the Wolves have swept us in consecutive seasons.

Yay.

In other news

May 8 – NYC OF Paco Javier (.262, 2 HR, 15 RBI) might miss two months with a strained oblique.

Complaints and stuff

When Nick Brown is your only remaining source of joy, and he pitches like he did on Friday, your whole life is just a continuous walk through hell. Fittingly, we dropped to dead last in the BNN power rankings. In all fairness, if a team needs 32 games to reach 100 runs scored, that should come with a mandatory disbandment. Or dismemberment, which might be more funny. We are last in ALL offensive categories, minus slugging (11th!), homers (t-9th), extra-base hits (t-10th), and stolen bases (10th).

LAST … in HITS … AND WALKS … AND IN STRIKEOUTS!!

Of course this could be seen coming all along, but have I mentioned that I intend on unloading the last few semi-capable pieces on this team?

And in case there’s any doubt, this is all the Mexican Prick’s fault. ****ing bastard. I expect you to keep praying that he gets blown up by a rival drug lord.

Daniel Sharp has not had a multi-hit game since April 19. To be precise, he’s 8-for-59 (.135) since then. Add six walks to that. And fifteen strikeouts. He’s shed 114 points off his batting average.

And Sharp is an interesting player, because getting on base is the only thing he’s capable of. He can’t swat for power. He can’t field (with 14 errors and -3.1 ZR on average over his four full seasons). He is dumb as a brick and lacks basic baseball instincts on the bases. Without a .300 batting average, he doesn’t even reach replacement level.

Before this season, he accumulated 13.9 WAR in his career. He is at 0.1 WAR for 2005.

Which is an introduction to the slight hint at a potential extinction event happening to this roster in the very near future.

The Pacifics use Neil Reece as pinch-hitter only, and he has only five hits so far this season. He needs 12 more for 2,000.

Remember miserable Eric Thrift, whom we drafted last year and who went 0-15 in 18 starts for the Aumsville Beagles last year? He finally won a game! Yay!!