[Westheim]

Originally Posted by Texasborn

2 in one day?

True Raccoons fans can endure this much suffering! And I had today off from work to watch NASCAR on Sunday night and post at such an ungodly hour

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Raccoons (56-59) vs. Capitals (54-63) – August 15-17, 2006

Hey, off day! After that, our old friends, the Capitals. They are in no better a situation than us, fifth place, out of anything you keep breathing for, although they didn’t have their ace on the DL. Their ace was Randy Farley, and with 14 wins and his 2.40 ERA you wonder what the heck went wrong in Portland – again.

Overall, the Capitals were bad at scoring runs, second last in the FL (say hello, little Furballs), and also were conceding the fourth-most runs. Basically, their whole pitching staff aside from Randy Farley was junk. On top of all that, they had a bottom 3 defense. We lined up with them last year, losing two of three.

Projected matchups:
Jose Dominguez (12-9, 4.45 ERA) vs. Chris York (7-10, 4.49 ERA)
Kenichi Watanabe (5-12, 4.61 ERA) vs. Harry Wentz (11-10, 4.08 ERA)
Tim Webster (4-2, 3.51 ERA) vs. Dean Merritt (6-11, 5.39 ERA)

The Capitals have an outfielder, Raúl Vázquez – who is NOT … THE Raúl Vázquez, the home run leader. This Vázquez is 25, looks decent, but not Hall of Fame material.

Game 1
WAS: SS Lulli – 3B Matsumoto – RF J. Gomez – LF R. Vázquez – C Case – CF E. Wood – 1B R. Vargas – 2B F. Adams – P York
POR: 2B Nomura – SS Flores – LF Castro – 1B Quebell – RF Brady – 3B Sharp – CF Fernandez – C Bowen – P Dominguez

The Coons fell behind in the second inning, the blame being on Yoshi Nomura throwing away a grounder from Elvis Wood, the guy the Coons wanted, but weren’t allowed to get, in the second inning, with Roberto Vargas singling home Wood quickly. The Raccoons had the bases loaded with two outs and Dominguez at the plate, but nothing was going to transpire from that. Obviously, when Chris York led off the third inning with the bat, he singled, Dominguez balked, then walked Adriano Lulli, and ex-Titan Masaaki Matsumoto hit a screaming double into the gap to jump the Capitals to 3-0, and then that young Vázquez would get a single to right in to plate Matsumoto and run the score to 4-0. Dominguez would bunt into a double play and allow five runs in five and two thirds, four of which were earned, and for which he was relentlessly booed by the home crowd, and the two runners he left on in the sixth inning were almost surrendered by Adam Riddle with a deep drive to left center by Adriano Lulli, but Fernandez was on his post and made the out, but what Riddle didn’t get done there, him and Bryan achieved in the seventh inning, putting up another 3-spot for the Capitals while tossing batting practice. Somewhere along this unhappy road the Raccoons had scored a run in the third inning. Not that it mattered too greatly, even when the Critters put up a 4-spot in the bottom 7th against a tiring York who issued a number of walks, then didn’t get too good relief. All runs scored with two outs on a Brady single, Sharp walk, and Fernandez single. The team even got the tying run to the plate in the ninth inning with a Yamada single and Sharp taking one too close for comfort, but once Fernandez stepped in against Jose Escobar with two outs, all too quickly the game ended with a strikeout. 8-5 Capitals. Nomura 0-1, 4 BB; Yamada 1-1; Brady 2-5, 2 RBI; Fernandez 2-4, BB, 2 RBI;

But hey, progress! Dominguez shaved off .35 from his ERA and now is tossing at a 7.62 ERA rate for the Portlanders. That’s true, genuine progress!

**** my …

Game 2
WAS: SS Lulli – 3B Matsumoto – RF J. Gomez – LF R. Vázquez – C Case – CF E. Wood – 1B P. Brown – 2B H. Cardenas – P Wentz
POR: 2B Nomura – SS Flores – LF Castro – 1B Quebell – RF Brady – 3B Sharp – CF Fernandez – C Bowen – P Watanabe

Between W. Atanabe and W. Entz there could be only one W. In, but countless bad puns – and a few runs here or there. The Raccoons got a good start, with three straight singles from their top 3 batters, and with two outs again a single from Sharp and a double from Fernandez to quickly race out to 4-0 lead. That lead had to rest in Watanabe’s unqualified paws however. How unqualified were those paws? Very unqualified. In the top 2nd, the Capitals came close to home runs twice, with Brady and Castro making catches on the warning track, hit two singles anyway, but didn’t score. In the bottom of the inning, Watanabe led off with a double to right – except it was no double, and he was out, for he had cut first base by several feet…

It was one of those stunning games. Most stunned was Wentz, who couldn’t get anybody out if not for extraordinary stupidity by his opponent. After that non-double, Nomura walked, Flores singled, and Castro cashed in with a 3-run homer. Quebell singled, Brady singled, and then Wentz was no more in the game. Jesus Longoria would surrender one of the runs, leaving Wentz with an ugly 1.1 IP, 8 ER line. Longoria would not be left unscarred, however, with the Coons having Castro double in a pair in the third to reach double digits – IN THE THIRD INNING. Watanabe didn’t allow runs through five innings, although both teams had the bases loaded in the fourth, and neither scored. By the bottom 5th, Castro had a shot at the cycle, but lacked the hardest part, the triple. We were satisfied with a single over the shortstop for the moment, especially as it set off another 3-run inning with Quebell getting on, and then Brady plating one, and Sharp two, with hits. Apparently, a 13-run lead was exactly the sweet spot for Watanabe, who reeled off a number of strikeouts in the sixth and seventh. Kichida appeared in the eighth, loaded the bases, but got out of it. All in all, the Capitals managed five hits in a shutout in which their pitching was conclusively dismantled. 13-0 Furballs! Flores 3-5; Castro 4-5, HR, 2B, 6 RBI; Quebell 2-5; Sharp 2-4, BB, 2B, 3 RBI; Fernandez 3-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Crespo (PH) 1-1, 2B; Watanabe 7.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 8 K, W (6-12);

Whenever one of those laughers happens, you hope that you crippled their bullpen for the remaining games in this series. But it probably is not the case here. While we sent Wentz and Longoria crying, they only used two other guys and should have five relievers available tomorrow.

Game 3
WAS: SS Lulli – 3B Matsumoto – RF J. Gomez – C Case – LF R. Vázquez – CF E. Wood – 1B P. Brown – 2B F. Adams – P Merritt
POR: 2B Nomura – SS Flores – LF Castro – 1B Quebell – 3B Sharp – RF Brady – CF Fernandez – C Esquivel – P Webster

The Critters got a highlights play early. Lulli had singled to start the game and had a running start with one out and Gomez batting. Vic Flores leapt to snare Gomez’ soft line, then comfortably doubled up Lulli, who had already made it to second base. The Raccoons got handed a 1-0 lead on a wild pitch from southpaw Dean Merritt in the bottom 1st. Merritt remained wild, throwing another pitch past his backstop in the third inning, which then helped the Raccoons to a run indirectly, moving runners to second and third with one out and giving Fred Adams the chance at only the out at first when Quebell grounded one to him. Then the score was 3-1, with Webster giving up many singles and being unable to strike out anybody. The Coons added a run on in the fourth after an error by the catcher Aaron Case on Clyde Brady’s stolen base attempt. Brady moved to third and scored on Fernandez’ groundout. But mess worked both ways at times, and did so in this game. Three singles loaded the bags with Capitals in the fifth and an unravelling Webster balked and surrendered another run on a sac fly before Case grounded out to end the inning with only a 4-3 lead remaining. Webster allowed another two singles before he got yanked in the sixth. Rockburn collected the last two innings in the frame to keep the Capitals at bay. The Coons also got a run on a balk in the seventh, but then – once more – it all came apart.

Top 8th, Moreno in the game against left-handers when suddenly the Portland weather remembered that it had to suck. Moreno got doused and chased after a 67-minute delay that didn’t end the game however. When Angel Casas resumed the game, the tying run was at the plate in Elvis Wood with a runner on first and one out. Wood, the guy the Coons wanted and couldn’t get, tripled, and the roof caved in. Phil Brown hit a sac fly, and there was a lead no more. The Raccoons got Yamada on base but didn’t score, and the collapse continued in the ninth. Casas put two men on, Bryan came in and couldn’t solve the problem, with Aaron Case driving in the go-ahead run.

Could there be a recovery against Jose Escobar? Flores struck out. Then Castro singled. And Quebell singled. Mays hit for the luckless Bryan and – singled! Castro around third, coming home, and he scores, tied at six! Brady was next, singled to load them up, and then Fernandez put the first pitch into play, up the middle, and PAST the infielders! 7-6 Raccoons! Nomura 2-3, 2 BB, 2B; Flores 3-5, 2B; Castro 2-5; Mays (PH) 1-1, RBI; Brady 2-5; Fernandez 2-5, 2 RBI; Yamada 1-1;

Well, the offense seems to have woken up, finally. But the pitching is … unnnggghh!!

To be precise, we have scored 98 runs this month – in 17 games!! They used to take 38 games to score a hundred!

… and we are just seven and a half back. These goddamn delusions!

Raccoons (58-60) @ Indians (67-54) – August 18-20, 2006

The Indians led the division by three, although still nobody quite knew how they did it. They had the Raccoons’ number however, beating them eight out of eleven this season, but overall they were only seventh in scoring and fourth in avoiding to be scored on. The Indians missed one third of their killer middle of the order, with David Lopez on the DL. Alston and Paraz were alive and well, though.

Projected matchups:
Felipe Garcia (3-3, 5.85 ERA) vs. Curtis Tobitt (14-4, 2.25 ERA)
Ralph Ford (11-9, 3.23 ERA) vs. Bob King (9-9, 4.12 ERA)
Jose Dominguez (12-10, 4.52 ERA) vs. Ramiro Gonzalez (11-10, 3.63 ERA)

We start the series with a full bench, sending Claudio Salazar back to AAA and recalling Steve Searcy.

Game 1
POR: 2B Nomura – SS Flores – LF Castro – 1B Quebell – RF Brady – 3B Sharp – CF Fernandez – C Bowen – P F. Garcia
IND: CF A. Solís – SS J. Lopez – LF Alston – C Paraz – RF MacKey – 1B Battle – 3B Fugosi – 2B J. Miller – P Tobitt

Garcia allowed a leadoff jack to Angel Solís, put Lopez on with a single, then had Sharp start a double play. No, said Garcia, I want to create a blowout in the first inning! Paraz singled, and then he walked two. Sharp got Fugosi’s grounder, and telling Garcia to **** himself, and that he was an ***hole, retired Fugosi with a strong throw. Garcia almost surrendered a 3-run homer to Ron Alston in the second, but Fernandez caught it at the warning track, and made two more strong catches behind the useless donkey **** Garcia, who, in five innings, allowed five hits and five walks while striking out absolutely nobody. He was hit for in the top 6th, still in a 1-0 game. Tobitt had been perfect through four until Quebell drew a walk in the fifth. By now he had struck out nine, but had just allowed a leadoff single to Craig Bowen. Mays singled, but Nomura hit into a double play, and nobody scored. Tobitt would strike out a dozen Critters before on-and-off rain brought the tarp on by the seventh inning and Tobitt had his stellar outing cut short. Domingo Moreno held the Indians short for eight outs after Garcia’s departure, and the Raccoons still trailed by Solís’ leadoff jack in the ninth, facing Iemitsu Rin. Crespo struck out, Nomura grounded out, Flores struck out. 1-0 Indians. Mays (PH) 1-1; Moreno 2.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

Two hits in the game. Way to deflate. No surprise, though. It’s a **** team after all.

Garcia was designated for assignment and Sergio Vega called up.

Game 2
POR: 2B Nomura – SS Flores – LF Brady – 1B Quebell – 3B Sharp – RF Mays – CF Fernandez – C Bowen – P Ford
IND: CF A. Solís – RF B. Miller – LF Alston – 3B Fugosi – 2B J. Miller – C L. Paredes – 1B Brantley – SS C. Aguilar – P B. King

Yoshi led off with a single, casually hustled to second, but was thrown out there. The Coons didn’t score, but the Indians scored two in the first on RBI extra-base hits by Fugosi and Miller. While the Raccoons struggled to make any kind of contact against the Indians’ Bob King, Ford gave up hard hits readily, and was stuffed for five runs in four innings, but was squeezed out for six anyway. The Raccoons had nothing against King until James Miller played on into their lap with an error in the seventh inning. Searcy and Nomura were on for Vic Flores, who singled to left and scored Searcy for an unearned run, but Brady quickly rolled up and died – as did the hope of ever winning a game against these Indians. Sergio Vega, who would not make a start until next week, appeared in relief in the eighth, walked the first three batters he saw, and was charged with two runs. 7-1 Indians. Flores 3-4, RBI; Sharp 2-4; Searcy (PH) 1-1;

Game 3
POR: 2B Nomura – SS Flores – LF Castro – RF Brady – CF Crespo – 1B Sharp – C Esquivel – 3B Searcy – P Dominguez
IND: CF A. Solís – RF B. Miller – LF Alston – C Paraz – 1B Battle – 3B C. Aguilar – 2B Brantley – SS J. Lopez – P R. Gonzalez

Yoshi drew a leadoff walk and would score after cheap singles by Castro and Brady, when Crespo hit a fly to Alston in left. When Steve Searcy retired Ramiro Gonzalez on a foul pop to start the third inning, it was a Great Moment in Humanity: Jose Dominguez’ Portland ERA had dropped below seven, at 6.99; Promptly Solís and Bill Miller reached base, but Alston and Paraz made poor outs to the dismay of the home crowd.

Dominguez hit a sac fly in the fourth, bringing the lead to 2-0 before Nomura left another runner stranded. The Indians had runners on the corners in the bottom 4th but didn’t score when Nomura then caught Ramiro Gonzalez’ liner before it could do damage. Top 5th, bases loaded for Sergio Esquivel who sent a fly to right center, but Bill Miller was there. Angel Solís hit a leadoff single in the bottom 5th but again the middle of the order failed to get good contact off Dominguez. Somehow, Dominguez made it through six innings on close to 110 pitches without surrendering a run, while giving his defense a workout and getting doubled off second base on Flores’ liner in the top of the sixth.

Jose Paraz became the center of attention by the seventh. He was an awesome player, with one flaw: he had a pathetic arm, and you could usually run against him at will. Both Castro and Crespo stole bases off him in the seventh, taking away a double play from Brady, and motivating the Indians to have reliever Iván Lopez walk Sharp(!) intentionally. Which was fine: Esquivel singled in Crespo to make it a 4-0 game, before two left-handed pinch hitters (Quebell and Mays) plainly failed against the righty Lopez to end the inning. Filippo Fugosi had entered in a double switch with Lopez, playing third, and made a grave throwing error on Nomura’s grounder to start the eighth. Brady would plate Nomura with a single, 5-0, while Ed Bryan saw five left-handers and switch hitters and sat down all of them between the seventh and eighth. In the ninth, it became a rout. Quebell and Bowen drew walks off Lopez, bringing in Ricardo Sanchez to finally subdue the Coons. Instead, he hit Nomura. With the bags stuffed, Flores and Castro would both stroke hard hits off Sanchez, both plating two runners. But even in a rout, some bloke had to do something annoying. Kaz Kichida was tabbed for the ninth (because why would be take Bruno?), got the first two Indians, then allowed a homer to Jose Lopez. 9-1 Coons. Flores 2-6, 2B, 2 RBI; Castro 4-6, 2 RBI; Brady 2-6, RBI; Crespo 3-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Sharp 2-3, 2 BB; Dominguez 6.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 4 K, W (13-10); Bryan 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

Yoshi Nomura has been hit ten times this season. I am starting to get the impression that other teams hate him.

In other news

August 14 – Sioux Falls’ Raúl Bovane (.314, 9 HR, 68 RBI) has his hitting streak end after 23 games, behind held dry by the Thunder despite the Warriors clubbing Oklahoma, 12-4.
August 16 – SFB SS/2B Juan Barrón (.306, 3 HR, 43 RBI) joins the 2,500 hits club, with a 3-4 day in the Bayhawks’ 5-2 win over the Pacifics. Barrón’s single off Brian Patrick in the first inning achieves the milestone, and at 34 years old, Barrón still has excellent chances to reach 3,000 hits. A .307/.348/.389 career batter with 31 HR and 811 RBI, and 168 SB, Barrón was originally drafted sixth overall by the Falcons in 1990, and has spent his entire career in the CL South for the Falcons, Condors, and Bayhawks, winning four Gold Gloves along the way, one at second, and three at short. He led the league in 1994 with 60 doubles.
August 16 – SAC 1B Sammy Cain (.234, 21 HR, 71 RBI) is on fire, swatting three home runs to plate half a dozen runners in an 11-5 romp over the Condors. It is the 16th time an ABL batter has achieved three dingers in a single game, the first time for the Scorpions, and the second time this year after L.A.’s Yohan Bonneau did it to the Stars on June 6.
August 17 – Milwaukee’s SP Roy Thomas (5-8, 6.51 ERA) 2-hits the Miners in a 7-0 shutout.
August 18 – Cincy’s own veteran, LF/RF Dan Morris (.325, 25 HR, 82 RBI) has put together a 20-game hitting streak with three hits in an 11-5 romp over the Miners.
August 18 – The Warriors and Gold Sox clobber another, with the Warriors taking the game 14-11, but man of the game was Denver’s Jose Correa (.321, 3 HR, 40 RBI), who has five hits and drives in six runners.
August 18 – TIJ CF/LF Ramón Perez (.303, 9 HR, 42 RBI) will miss a week with a thumb contusion.
August 20 – TOP CL Ryosei Kato (5-0, 2.53 ERA, 33 SV) brings a lead to safety for the 300th time in the Buffaloes’ 3-2 win over the Blue Sox. A 5-time All Star and 2005 Reliever of the Year, Kato is 34 and should have ample time for a push to 400.
August 20 – Dan Morris (.322, 25 HR, 82 RBI) only makes it to 21 games with his hitting streak before getting silenced by the Miners on Sunday.

Complaints and stuff

Me watching what is developing in first place is of course the desperation of a physically, mentally, and foremost spiritually broken man. There is no actual point to it.

Tuesday was Nick Brown’s first rehab start. He walked six and lasted only five innings, conceding three runs. He also struck out six and took a meaningless win. Sunday’s start was WAY better for him: he went seven innings, allowed two hits, and struck out a dozen while walking one. That Brownie please, with the loads of sugar on it, to go, please!

We will add him to the roster after Vega’s start early next week. We have that double header next week, so somehow, somewhere, we need a spot start. I’m looking at Kaz, but it’s convoluted: we have Monday off, then three against the Titans. Right now we have Watanabe, Webster, Vega tabbed. Friday is our double header with the Knights. Regular rest does put Brown on Friday, going along with Ford. Then we would have four more before an off day, with Dominguez slated to pitch on Daniel Hall Appreciation & Bobblehead Day – first 15,000 fans receive a Daniel Hall Bobblehead, with 223 of those signed by the appreciable Daniel Hall – and then it would be Watanabe on Sunday on regular rest, and the following week it’s Webster, a big question mark, and then …? We might have to keep Vega around unless we want to start Brown on short rest right away. Or Ford on short rest. I don’t like keeping Vega around, since he’s essentially useless and occupies a valuable roster spot. As it is, we will already go to a short bench when Brownie returns, demoting Searcy.

Felipe Garcia suffered addition by subtraction for like the third time this year. We will bridge our way to Brown’s return in whatever condition with a spot start by Sergio Vega. You may remember him, although it’s not mandatory. Completely unremarkable right-hander with no stuff, little control, and failed auditions every year from 2001 through 2004.

The FL Player of the Week hit .375 with 4 HR and 13 RBI. He is on the Stars. His name is Christian Greenman.

Stats time! Here are the career home run leaders – by franchise! Players with an asterisk are still active with the respective franchise.

CIN – Dan Morris – 329 *
LAP – Anibal Rodriguez – 318
ATL – Michael Root – 284
DAL – Mac Woods – 252
WAS – Jeffery Brown – 243 (HOF)
MIL – Bakile Hiwalani – 229 *
POR – Daniel Hall – 223
RIC – Raúl Vázquez – 207
IND – David Lopez – 205 *
OCT – Dave Browne – 194
SAC – Aaron Jenkins – 179
NAS – Horace Henry – 173
TIJ – Preston O’Day – 165
BOS – Luis Lopez – 161 *
NYC – Avery Johnson – 160
VAN – Miguel Guzmán – 154
SAL – Benny Carver – 148
TOP – Corey Patel – 144
LVA – Javier Vargas – 140
SFB – Pedro Perez – 135
DEN – Dale Wales – 133
CHA – Hubert Green – 132 *
SFW – John Hensley – 120
PIT – Carlos Torres – 109

I hope the “bench player” thing on player strategy works and the AI doesn’t go nuts to start Brown before I can get him up. I set it to five days starting Monday…