[Westheim]

Raccoons (60-84) @ Indians (78-65) – September 13-15, 2005

It was all drifting away from the Indians, who were never expected to compete, had competed, but were now four games out, and scrambling after the Titans. They were 5th in runs scored and 7th in runs allowed, and there was a case to be made for that those numbers were not deserving of the playoffs in the first place. We were 7-8 against them this season.

Projected matchups:
Nick Brown (12-9, 3.03 ERA) vs. Patrick Moreau (6-4, 3.86 ERA)
Kazuhiko Kichida (1-2, 2.80 ERA) vs. Kevin Edwards (0-1, 4.50 ERA)
Ralph Ford (6-11, 3.88 ERA) vs. Bob King (16-13, 4.43 ERA)

Kichida makes a spot start here with Webster’s presence required in AAA with our supply on pseudo-starters severely depleted, and with Garcia still suspended for the middle game. Garcia moves to Amador’s slot, who is still in medical limbo.

Game 1
POR: 3B Sharp – SS Yamada – LF Brady – RF Greenman – 1B Quebell – C Wood – CF Wheaton – 2B Sheehan – P Brown
IND: 1B Stevens – RF Wales – LF Alston – 3B D. Lopez – C Paraz – CF J. Alvarez – 2B J. Zamora – SS W. George – P Moreau

… and Brownie’s control remained well off. He walked a man in the first, and then Paraz to start the second. Alvarez singled to shallow left, out of Brady’s reach, and Zamora followed him right to the same spot. Paraz was sent around third, but Brady still had an arm and lasered him out at home. Next, Will George grounded to third, where Sharp had another not so sharp moment and sailed his throw to second into centerfield. Moreau managed to make contact, a fly to Brady, but that was enough to plate an unearned run. Brown walked a man in every inning until he finally found himself in the fifth, struck out Moreau and Stevens, and Dale Wales (3,657 hits and still counting) grounded out. Then he even got support, with Brady and Greenman bashing back-to-back bombs in the sixth, giving him a 2-1 lead. Brown was still around for the bottom 7th, fell 3-0 behind Alvarez, but the Indian then poked and grounded out. Will George hit a 2-out double in the inning, but Brown struck out Matt MacKey to finish on a high note. Sharp, who was high on the butcher list, led off the top 8th with a home run off Tommy Wooldridge, 3-1. Bruno and Moreno took care of the top of the lineup in the eighth, Iemitsu Rin culled some Cooons in the top 9th, before Angel Casas was assigned to the bottom 9th and got the Indians on two poor grounders and a strikeout to Paraz. 3-1 Brownies! Sharp 3-4, HR, RBI; Brown 7.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 4 BB, 7 K, W (13-9);

Ever since the Break, it has been a struggle for Brownie. While he has only gained .15 ERA, he has walked 29 batters against 61 strikeouts, which is not a *bad* ratio, but he’d been at 39/151 before the All Star game…

Edgar Amador was diagnosed with a strained oblique, but it is a mild strain and he will be able to pitch again this year, but not this week. So, nothing changes with our plans: Kaz on Wednesday, Garcia on Friday, and a lot of prayers all week long.

Next, Kaz’ first major league start. He has started as late as last season in AAA, so this is not totally out of the ordinary for him. We have enough relievers – if he goes five, maybe six, that’ll be fine.

Dave Wheaton gets another start. He’s 4-for-5 with 3 HR against Edwards. We need every little bit we can get.

Game 2
POR: 3B Sharp – SS Yamada – LF Brady – RF Greenman – 1B Quebell – C Wood – CF Wheaton – 2B Sheehan – P Kichida
IND: 2B Sepúlveda – 1B Stevens – LF Alston – 3B D. Lopez – C Paraz – CF J. Alvarez – RF MacKey – SS Montray – P Edwards

Kaz sat down the first 11 Indians before Ron Alston dropped a single into shallow right and Greenman overran it right away for an extra base, but when Lopez popped out to end the frame, the Coons remained 1-0 ahead, courtesy of a Yamada single, his 51st stolen base, a Brady single, and a sac fly by Greenman in the top of the same inning. Clyde Brady clouted one in the top 6th for a solo home run, moving the score to 2-0, and Kichida’s command was running away in the bottom 6th. The Indians had two on with two out, but Ron Alston was coming to the plate, so we sent for a lefty in Ed Bryan. Alston singled, loading the bases, and we were now in the mood for some Raw Lockburn to face David Lopez. Rockburn got a poor grounder and played it himself to first to end the frame. An error got the Indians going in the seventh. No, it was not Sharp, for once, but Sheehan. Rockburn left with Paraz on first and one out, for Moreno to come in, but he gave up two hits and a run before Marcos Bruno appeared to surrender Sepúlveda and preserve a 2-1 advantage through seven. The mad scramble continued, however. After Yamada had killed a weak attempt at offense with a double play grounder to short in the top 8th, Bruno gave up two singles right up the middle in the bottom of the inning. Rémy Lucas came in to face the switch-hitter, but natural lefty Paraz, who singled to center. There Matt King was now playing after an earlier double switch, and he fired a rocket towards home to throw out the lead runner Simon Stevens. Then we went to Angel Casas, who gave up a drive to center off Craig Bowen’s bat, but King made another strong play on that. Casas had entered in another double switch, along with Steve Searcy, who took over at third base, so that Casas wouldn’t be the fifth Coon to bat in the top 9th. Sure enough, Searcy then came to the plate with two on and two out and rammed a double off the centerfield wall that plated a pair. Angel then fell behind every batter in the bottom 9th, but one walk was all the Indians could mount. 4-1 Coons. Brady 3-3, BB, HR, RBI; Martin (PH) 1-1; Searcy 1-1, 2B, 2 RBI; Kichida 5.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K, W (2-2); Casas 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K, SV (23);

Wheaton went oh-fer, by the way, and was removed in the first double switch. Clyde Brady, however, hit his 100th career home run.

But well, the Raccoons ruined my summer, it’s only fair they ruin the Indians’ fall.

Game 3
POR: 3B Sharp – 2B Sheehan – LF Brady – RF Greenman – 1B Martin – C L. Ramirez – SS Yamada – CF M. King – P Ford
IND: 2B Sepúlveda – RF Wales – LF Alston – 3B D. Lopez – C Paraz – CF J. Alvarez – 1B Stevens – SS Montray – P B. King

Offense was slow to being with yet again. Both pitchers had a single in the third inning, and still neither team amounted to anything. The Coons would be the first to squeeze out a run, with three soft singles, all consecutively, by King, Ford(!), and Sharp in the top 5th, scoring King on a very close play. Ralph Ford gave up only one hit (but three walks) through six, but that held the Indians well short. While he navigated the tough middle of the order, Jesus Alvarez then hurt him with a leadoff home run in the bottom 7th, tying the score. From there, Ford’s ship sank rapidly. Stevens hit a single, and eventually scored on a pinch-hit single by MacKey. Ford left with runners on first and second, two outs, for Ed Bryan to face Alston. At 0-2 he threw a wild pitch, then surrendered a 2-run single on a 2-2 pitch. While the Raccoons didn’t have an answer to that in the first place, Leon Ramirez donated them an unearned run in the eighth on his 10th error of the season – and he hasn’t played all that much. 5-1 Indians. Sharp 2-4, 2B, RBI; King 2-3;

Raccoons (62-85) @ Thunder (85-61) – September 16-18, 2005

While the Thunder only were average in runs scored, their league-best pitching kept them in the race, one game over the Falcons on the way in. The season series has been split evenly so far.

Projected matchups:
Felipe Garcia (4-15, 4.77 ERA) vs. Pancho Trevino (15-10, 3.34 ERA)
Kenichi Watanabe (0-6, 3.92 ERA) vs. Vaughn Higgins (14-10, 4.27 ERA)
Nick Brown (13-9, 2.92 ERA) vs. Luis Martinez (14-8, 3.41 ERA)

And here’s the news: Bob Mays was called up for this series.

Game 1
POR: 3B Sharp – 2B Sheehan – LF Brady – CF Greenman – 1B Martin – RF Mays – SS Yamada – C B. Wood – P F. Garcia
OCT: 1B J. Brown – CF Walls – SS Grant – 3B Higashi – LF Humphrey – C De La Parra – 2B Palacios – RF Ayers – P Trevino

For a nice change, Garcia was not walloped. He did not give up a hit through three and two thirds, but when Palacios beat Greenman’s paltry range with a double to center in the fifth, that quickly became a run. Of course it was 1-0 Thunder then – the Raccoons’ hitting display through six innings was outright horrendous. Bob Mays then drew a leadoff walk in the seventh – and trouble found Pancho Trevino. Mays stole second and scored on Wood’s single, and with two outs, Sharp hit another home run to give Garcia, who hadn’t won a game since July, a 3-1 lead. Garcia was gone after a De La Parra double in the seventh, with Lucas and Rockburn somehow tumbling through the inning without a run scoring. The 3-1 lead arrived in Casas’ paws, and he saved it – by circumstances. Joey Humphrey hit a 1-out single, but tried to gain an extra base while Mays played the ball at the rightfield line. Obviously Humphrey didn’t know Mays’ arm – he was out at second. And when Palacios fired a drive to deep center, he couldn’t beat Greenman this time, for Greenman had been removed for defense. Eddie Fernandez made the play. 3-1 Coons. Sharp 1-3, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Garcia 6.1 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, W (5-15) and 1-2; Rockburn 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Game 2
POR: 3B Sharp – 2B Sheehan – LF Brady – 1B Martin – RF Mays – SS Yamada – CF Fernandez – C Cooks – P Watanabe
OCT: 1B J. Brown – CF Walls – SS Grant – 3B Higashi – LF Humphrey – C De La Parra – 2B Palacios – RF Ayers – P Higgins

“Winless” Watanabe found himself sabotaged early by the Stupid Error Show. Al Martin caught a soft pop by Tom Walls in the bottom 1st – and then had it drop out of the glove … and then kicked it away. A rattled Watanabe was rolled for three unearned runs in the inning, and the Coons founds themselves treading water early. It hardly got any better for him. Top 4th, Bob Mays, who was homerless in 56 major league at-bats, found himself up with three on and one out. He hit one sharply to Palacios, to Grant, to Brown, inning over. He was up again with two on and two out in the sixth – and flew out softly to Walls. The score was still 3-0, “Winless” soldiering on, but gave up an earned run in the sixth and was hit for in the Coons’ half of the seventh, in which Curt Cooks plated Fernandez with a single, but 3-0 and 4-1 – it’s all the same ****ty taste. Bob Mays picked his next at-bat for his first home run, there was nobody on, but he followed Al Martin’s solo shot and that cut the gap to 4-3 in the eighth. Then Yamada walked, stole second base, Sancho Rivera replaced Higgins, and Rivera popped up Fernandez and the pop was caught in foul territory by Antonio De La Parra. Lucas and Huerta held on in the bottom 8th, and then Cooks led off the ninth with a single off Jimmy Morey – his fourth single on the day! For once, the Coons romped over Morey: Wheaton doubled, and Sharp singled, which tied the score at four, with runners on the corners and no outs. Quebell hit for Sheehan, SINGLED, and that put the Coons ahead! We got another run on a Brady sac fly after Morey had balked both runners into scoring position. Angel Casas was unavailable after frequent work, and Marcos Bruno was tasked with the ninth, and didn’t allow anybody on base. 6-4 Coons! Sharp 2-5, RBI; Sheehan 2-4; Quebell (PH) 1-1, RBI; Martin 2-4, BB, HR, RBI; Cooks 4-4, RBI; Wheaton 1-1, 2B;

Ricardo Huerta picked up his seventh win by getting two outs in the eighth. He is now alone in third place again on the team, trailing Brownie and the old fart that can’t get anybody out.

What a strange team.

Game 3
POR: 2B Sheehan – SS Yamada – LF Brady – RF Greenman – 1B Quebell – 3B Searcy – CF Fernandez – C B. Wood – P N. Brown
OCT: 2B Palacios – C De La Parra – SS Grant – 3B Higashi – LF Walls – 1B G. Wood – CF Humphrey – RF P. Flores – P A. Anderson

The Thunder tried to stop us with Aaron Anderson (15-8, 2.84 ERA) in the Sunday game. He held the Raccoons so short that they easily fit into a box of matches, while Brownie’s control was by now searched for on milk cartons. It still went quite good for him – never mind a rocketing pitch count – until Yamada made a rare error in the fifth that plated the first run for the Thunder. Yamada didn’t have a good day so far. An inning earlier he had already been thrown out stealing by De La Parra, and it looked like he’d be the guy to lock into the baggage compartment on the plane outta Oklahoma City, until he hit a 1-out double in the top 6th that moved Nick Brown to third base. Brown had singled, and brought home the tying run on Clyde Brady’s single to right, Yamada not far behind, and it was 2-1 Coons. Brady would be left on despite a Greenman single, Brownie bore down and clawed and bit his way through the bottom 6th, and in the top 7th he batted with no outs and Fernandez and Brown on second and first, respectively. Brown swung, but grounded out to Palacios, however the only play was to first base, and we had runners in scoring position again with one out, but the Coons didn’t score when Sheehan was sat down on a hero’s play by Jesus Palacios, and Yamada struck out. Brown walked Anderson in the bottom 7th, but struck out Palacios to end on a high note. Could the Coons pull through again?

For starters, Anderson pulled through and struck out the side in the eighth to reach 11 on the day. Rockburn came in for the bottom 8th, gave up a 1-out single to Bob Grant, but then got Takahashi Higashi to hit into a double play. Top 9th. Fernandez grounded out, with Anderson still in the game. Sharp hit for Wood, singled, and Humphrey overran it, moving Sharp to second. Bob Mays hit for Rockburn, but was walked intentionally(!), to get to Sheehan, but hey, we’ve still got Al Martin on the bench. Aaaand a double play. And so it was Casas with no safety net, and he struck out Alonso Baca, George Wood grounded out to short, and Joey Humphrey was retired by Ingram on a pop to second. 2-1 Brownies!! Yamada 2-4, 2B; Quebell 2-4; Sharp (PH) 1-1; Brown 7.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 4 BB, 7 K, W (14-9) and 1-3;

In other news

September 12 – Boston’s Bryce Hildred (15-7, 4.17 ERA) holds the Crusaders to two hits in an 8-0 shutout.
September 14 – BOS INF Masaaki Matsumoto (.295, 0 HR, 63 RBI) reaches the 2,000 hits plateau in the Titans’ 6-5 loss to the Crusaders. The milestone hit is a 12th inning leadoff single off Charlie Deacon, making Matsumoto the potential tying run, but he is left on second base. The 32-year old Japanese was discovered by the Capitals in 1991, and made his debut in 1995 for Washington, moving over Sacramento to Boston. He has a Gold Glove and five All Star nominations along with three World Series rings.
September 17 – TOP MR Jose Sotelo (3-2, 3.32 ERA, 12 SV) has suffered an oblique strain while programming his VCR. He is out for up to two weeks. Yes, actually.
September 18 – Season over for TIJ CF Ramón Perez (.261, 13 HR, 74 RBI), who is out with an oblique strain. He also was a distant second to Yoshi Yamada of the Raccoons in stolen bases in the ABL, with 39.

Complaints and stuff

Look at this team, winning, and throwing away the #1 pick! Sitting on the #5 choice now.

Unless we can mop the Knights, the Thunder and Falcons will be the only teams we have beaten both of the last two seasons. 12-6 against the Thunder, and 11-7 against the Falcons.

Single season steals:
1st – Moromao Hino (DAL, 1998) – 58
2nd – Andrés Serna (DAL, 1986) – 55
3rd – Andrés Serna (DAL, 1990) – 54
t-4th – Moromao Hino (DAL, 1996) – 53
t-4th – Yoshi Yamada (POR, 2005) – 53

And how did Adrian Quebell steal a base? If you’re really desperate, you will hit-and-run with anybody. On that play, both catchers whiffed. Wood with a stick, and António De La Parra with the glove.

OOTP needed some intervention this week, with an outrageously silly career-ending hamstring strain that I overrode in commish mode. No the player is not a Coon, nor has he ever been. That doesn’t make it any less outrageously silly.