[Westheim]

Took a while to open the ballpark for the season opener, as there were some … issues, that had to be resolved or makeshifted around. Thankfully, we have great tech support here in Portland! (casually shoves cage with two overweight hamsters behind a cupboard) Those guys aren’t here for any reason at aaaall.

But now let’s go, let’s go, let’s go!!

Too much euphoria. Too much euphoria…

Raccoons (0-0) vs. Titans (0-0) – April 3-5, 2007

What’s left in that oldy, moldy Titans core? And what do these young raccoon cubs – still green behind their fluffy ears – have in their sticks to welcome them?

Projected matchups:
Nick Brown (0-0) vs. Jorge Chapa (0-0)
Kelvin Yates (0-0) vs. Jason O’Halloran (0-0)
Jose Dominguez (0-0) vs. Bryce Hildred (0-0)

Game 1
BOS: CF Garrison – SS Hutchinson – 1B A. Munoz – C Suda – LF Brulhart – RF G. Munoz – 2B B. Boyle – 3B M. Austin – P Chapa
POR: 2B Nomura – SS Flores – CF Castro – LF Pruitt – RF Black – 3B Sharp – C Bowen – 1B Quebell – P Brown

The opener for the 2007 season sure had everything you were used to in Portland. Mucky weather (and a 30-minute delay in the third inning), heartbreaks, and a convincing early lead evaporating in a puff of smoke.

That early lead was a result of Jorge Chapa being tickled for eight singles and four runs by the Raccoons in the first three innings, including four singles in a row with one out in the bottom 1st. Pruitt drove in the first run for the team in 2007. And with a single. Brownie gave up a run in the third, but basically looked steady, until he didn’t. It started innocently enough with a 1-out single by Chapa (it always starts innocently with the pitcher, right?) in the fifth inning. Brown then drilled Rudy Garrison, and Dave Hutchinson also singled, which was why a walk to Anastasio Munoz was double-plus ungood. While “Quasimodo” Suda lined out to Sharp, Jim Brulhart singled to right and the game was tied out of the blue. Bruce Boyle homered off Brown in the sixth to put the Titans on top, but Brown actually finished the inning. Down 5-4, the Coons restarted the game with back-to-back doubles by Sharpand Bowen off Chapa, and a Hutchinson error brought the go-ahead run in Bowen to third base, with Quebell on first. Crespo hit for Brown, singled, and while Nomura hit into a double play, Vic Flores plated Quebell with another single to put the team up 7-5. The last single came against reliever Matt Collins, who would collect four strikeouts through the end of the eighth. Rockburn and Bryan bridged the game to Angel Casas, who showed no weakness whatsoever, struck out Jimmy Bayle and Garrison, and Hutchinson grounded out to first. 7-5 Brownies! Flores 2-4, RBI; Castro 2-4; Pruitt 3-4, 2 RBI; Crespo (PH) 1-1, RBI;

That was one of those cases of rotten luck. Brownie allowed ten runners in six innings, but five of those piled up in that ugly fifth…

We also premiered something that might become A Thing this season. Along with Angel, Santiago Trevino entered the game in the ninth, with Castro moving to left and Pruitt removed, which greatly improves the outfield defense. Well, no ball left the infield in the inning, but you never know.

With this team, you never, never know.

Next was Kelvin Yates’ Coons debut, but first we designated Juan Gusmán for assignment without ever putting him into a game, because …

Interlude: free agent acquisition

The Raccoons signed 29-yr old SS/2B Kunimatsu Sato (.273, 20 HR, 270 RBI) to a 1-yr, $440k contract. Sato got his start with the Stars in 2000 and stayed with them until being taded to the Capitals in the middle of last season. He was a starter from 2001 through 2004, but never amounted to a 100 OPS+, says Whitebread.

Sato has mostly only been a shortstop in his career, but he’s supposed to provide additional backup for both of our middle infielders. He bats right-handed, so in case Yoshi Nomura goes into a slump, he would also start against left-handed pitchers.

He also has 110 stolen bases in his career, topping 20 each of his four seasons as a regular.

How can it be OPS+ when it is less than OPS? Stupid numbers crap.

Raccoons (0-0) vs. Titans (0-0) – April 3-5, 2007

Back to Portland, where the middle game of the series was drowned out by torrential rains on Wednesday, delaying Yates’ debut to Thursday.

We’ve played one game and I’m already scribbling in my pocket schedule, as we got a double-header scheduled for Thursday (but still with icky weather looming). It’s a dark, wet day. Let’s play two?

Game 2
BOS: CF Garrison – SS Hutchinson – 1B A. Munoz – C Suda – RF G. Munoz – 2B B. Boyle – LF Cavazos – 3B M. Austin – P O’Halloran
POR: 2B Nomura – SS Flores – CF Castro – LF Pruitt – RF Black – 3B Sharp – C Bowen – 1B Quebell – P Yates

The honors of the first home run of the year were taken by the new guy in town, as Luke Black hit a solo shot off O’Halloran in the second inning for the first run of the game. After the Titans put the run back on a Garrison RBI double in the third, O’Halloran joined Chapa as the Old Guard of the Titans got shot up by the Raccoons, although with O’Halloran it was about patience and waiting for him to saw off his own branch on the tree. In the bottom 3rd the Coons got two runs off him without the benefit of a hit OR an error. It was all O’Halloran: three walks, a balk, and a wild pitch. O’Halloran wasn’t whacked with the use of the bat until the sixth, when Sharp and Bowen hit back-to-back bombs off him to run the lead to 5-1. The monster that the Titans had put behind the dish wasn’t willing to stand back to our own catcher and tattered a shot off Yates in the seventh inning, but that was also a solo home run and we were still up 5-2. In fact, Yates was pretty conserving with his pitches, and was in quite good shape after the bottom 8th, in which he hit, after Yamada had been inserted for Bowen to run, but became the first ever ABL victim of that monster’s arm, and made the final out. With another game on tap and despite the almost black skies, Yates got a shot at the ninth, in which he faced the 3-4-5 batters. Well, Yates got Anastasio Munoz, but “Quasimodo” Suda CRUSHED another home run and now we did reach out to Angel to save our sorry souls. He struck out Gonzalo Munoz, then got PH Jim Brulhart to fly out to center. 5-3 Coons. Castro 2-3, RBI; Bowen 2-3, BB, HR, RBI; Yates 8.1 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 6 K, W (1-0);

Yoshi Nomura was amongst those subbed out against Hildred. This does not indicate a slump although he started the year 1-for-7. I used the entire bench to try and avoid getting all the bones tired by the end of the first week (20-inning games incoming?).

Game 3
BOS: CF Garrison – SS Hutchinson – 1B A. Munoz – RF G. Munoz – 2B B. Boyle – LF Cavazos – C Rosa – 3B M. Austin – P Hildred
POR: 3B Flores – SS Sato – 1B Quebell – LF Pruitt – RF Crespo – CF Trevino – C Wood – 2B Yamada – P Dominguez

Resting guys didn’t work for long. On Kunimatsu Sato’s first hit as a Coon, Vic Flores was waved around to score from second on the single, taking advantage of Ramiro Cavazos’ jello arm. Flores nevertheless became entangled with ex-Coon Freddy Rosa at home plate and banged his left arm into Rosa’s knee and had to leave the contest. Daniel Sharp took over at third (he might be used to it), and in the third, after which the Coons led 1-0. Quebell ended the third with a fly out to center, then ended the fifth with two men stranded in scoring position. This was not good. Dominguez didn’t give up much early, but we had seen enough in 54 2/3 innings last year to know that a 1-0 lead was not safe with him – and it wasn’t. By the sixth, he didn’t get anybody out, and soon enough surrendered a towering 3-run homer to Boyle as the Titans scored four in the inning. And it just so happened that the Raccoons couldn’t do anything at all with Hildred, who pitched into the eighth, until with two out the Coons actually did bring the tying run to the plate, but Ramiro Román appeared to strike out J.C. Crespo and quell the threat. Yet another ex-Furball, Manuel Martinez, sealed the deal in the ninth. 4-1 Titans. Sato 2-4, RBI;

We had only five hits in this one. Well, we might have been begging for it? And we still lost Vic Flores, although it will not be permanent. He was diagnosed with quad soreness. It will hurt the rest of the weekend, but he should be back to 100% by Monday or Tuesday.

Raccoons (2-1) vs. Aces (2-2) – April 6-8, 2007

The Aces had already lost a quality part of their lineup for the season with Martin Covington going down with a torn labrum after just six AB this year. A certain Albert Martin, signed off the heap for $212k in February, was batting 8-for-13 for them.

Projected matchups:
Raúl Fuentes (0-0) vs. Jack Thomas (0-0)
Kenichi Watanabe (0-0) vs. Anibal Sandoval (0-1, 6.43 ERA)
Nick Brown (1-0, 7.50 ERA) vs. Jim Pennington (0-0, 1.50 ERA)

Game 1
LVA: SS Soto – 3B Warrain – C Durango – 1B A. Martin – 2B B. Nichols – CF Messinger – RF Cameron – LF L. Taylor – P Thomas
POR: 2B Nomura – SS Sato – CF Castro – LF Pruitt – RF Black – 3B Sharp – C Bowen – 1B Quebell – P Fuentes

Kunimatsu Sato had singled in the first run of the game in the bottom 3rd in the last game, he did the same in this one. This time he plated Quebell however, and Vic Flores was on the shelf anyway. By then, Raúl Fuentes had already survived having runners on the corners with one out in the first. Fuentes had bailed out of the first starting with a K to Martin, but hit Martin to put two men on in the first place in the fourth. The Aces had a chance, but let it get away. Nichols flew out to Pruitt in left, and then it was Forest Messinger to strike out, inning over. Yoshi-N doubled in a run in the fifth when three other Raccoons whiffed with two men on base, but the Aces got to Fuentes in the top 6th. A leadoff walk to Inaki-Luki Warrain opened the gates for bad things to happen, like a Kunimatsu Sato error to put runners on the corners once more. This time, the Aces brought home Warrain, but still trailed 2-1. Err, 3-1. Daniel Sharp doubled home Luke Black in the bottom of the inning, then sat down at second base, which he had barely reached alive. The trainer hustled out to collect the remains of another infielder, as Yoshi Yamada replaced him in the game.

Bowen singled to plate Yamada, 4-1, and Fuentes retired the first two men in the seventh before reaching 110 pitches and Law Rockburn replaced him to end the seventh. Both bullpens were largely spotless through the eighth, although the Coons reached third base with Luke Black in their half of the eighth, but couldn’t get him in. Angel Casas appeared to save the 4-1 lead, but had to face the left-handed 6-7-8 batters (who were batting a combined .176). He struck out Messinger and also got Cameron out, but Logan Taylor homered to right. Good thing we had a big lead, huh? 4-2 Critters. Sharp 2-3, 2B, RBI; Bowen 2-4, RBI; Quebell 2-3, BB; Fuentes 6.2 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, W (1-0);

Daniel Sharp was in a bit of pain, but we dodged another bullet: no structural damage, just a sore knee. He wasn’t able to play at all, however, for at least a few days. That’s a predicament, since now our bench is down to three and a half guys… Will the Raccoons survive the weekend without a pitcher having to play short?

Game 2
LVA: LF L. Taylor – 2B B. Nichols – C Durango – RF R. Garcia – 1B A. Martin – 3B Warrain – CF Cameron – 3B Soto – P Sandoval
POR: 2B Nomura – SS Sato – CF Castro – LF Pruitt – RF Black – 1B Quebell – C Bowen – 3B Yamada – P Watanabe

While the worker ant Watanabe worked hard, the results weren’t all that convincing. There were constantly Aces on the bases, and it was about all defense that carried Watanabe through five innings of 1-run ball, including Al Martin being thrown out at home by Luke Black in the second, and a few other strong defensive plays. Watanabe was not scored upon through four, before Logan Taylor hit a 1-out triple in the fifth and scored on Nichols’ groundout. Durango, Garcia, and Martin all reached before Watanabe’s last man Warrain popped one out to Sato to end the inning.

Speaking of Luke Black’s arm, he tried to make himself a fan favorite out of the gates. Our biggest free agent acquisition in some years, Black drove in four runs in his first two plate appearances this Saturday, with a 2-run single in the first, and a 2-run homer in the third, taking care of the Raccoons’ 4-1 lead in the fifth after Watanabe’s departure all by himself. Black doubled in the fifth, nobody to drive in, unfortunately, missing a triple for the cycle, and scored on Quebell’s single. 5-1 became 5-3 in a hurry when Colby Kirk and Kaz Kichida were wholly inefficient in the top 6th, but the bottom 6th saw both a run made in Japan, with Yoshi-Y singling, Kaz bunting him over, and Yoshi-N plating him with a single to get back to 6-3 at least. The game wasn’t over just yet, though. Marcos Bruno got the last out in the seventh and two in the eighth, but drilled Taylor along the way. Ed Bryan came in to face Durango, who rammed the first pitch he saw to center – but Castro! Castro made a wonderful play! And that ended the inning, and the score remained 6-3 through eight.

Now, do you bring Angel? He had thrown 41 pitches on three of the last four days, and he had a history of getting hurt in April, so NO. Bruno had been used, as well as Kaz and both left-handers, but Rockburn was available, facing 4-5-6, and right-left-right. No ball left the infield as Rockburn was perfect in the inning, and also struck out Al Martin. 6-3 Coons! Nomura 2-4, BB, RBI; Black 3-3, BB, HR, 2B, 4 RBI; Quebell 3-4, RBI;

First team in the CL to get to four wins! WOOOT!!!

Then the bad news: our gory field hospital got added to overnight, as Adam Riddle came down with fever and some truly nasty sneeze. He was sent to bed and would be unavailable for a few days. That’s 22 Coons left alive now…

Game 3
LVA: SS Soto – 3B Warrain – RF R. Garcia – 1B A. Martin – 2B B. Nichols – CF Messinger – C T. Turner – LF Cameron – P Pennington
POR: 2B Nomura – SS Sato – LF Castro – 1B Pruitt – RF Black – C Bowen – CF Trevino – 3B Yamada – P Brown

Bad weather on the horizon again, Brownie set out to lower that ugly 7.50 ERA inherited on Tuesday in the opener. The ERA went up to a flat nine before ever twitching in the other direction as Francisco Soto doubled and scored on Warrain’s single. Brown threw six pitches to the first three men, resulting in three hits and no strikes by anybody before Al Martin hit into a double play and Nichols whiffed. No, this would not be a Brown start to marvel much about. In the second, he went to full counts on three consecutive batters, striking out one, and plunking another. Matt Pruitt had tied the score with an RBI single in the bottom 1st, and Brownie at least held the tie until the skies couldn’t hold all that moisture anymore. Rain delay in the third – like on Opening Day! Don’t you hate those Portland Aprils??

The delay lasted about 45 minutes, longer than on Tuesday, and how much could you torture Brown this Opening Week (never mind his adventures in the 20-inning drama against Oklahoma last year around this time), but at the same time there was not that much bullpen available. Ironically, Brownie got BETTER after the delay! Had it been a struggle before, he mowed down batters afterwards, whiffing nine over six innings! Nobody gave him a lead, however, and he left in a 1-1 tie. Colby Kirk held that for an inning before Marcos Bruno got into a tight spot in the eighth. Logan Taylor’s pinch-hit single was followed by a walk to Warrain, but then Ricardo Garcia hit into an inning-ending 6-4-3 beauty. Sato and Pruitt singled in the bottom 8th off ex-Furball Domingo Moreno, but that was not enough for a run. After a quick ninth by Bryan, Moreno was still in for the bottom of the inning with plenty more left-handers in the lineup. Well, except for Craig Bowen, who led off, and who was a switch-hitter. Moreno tried to power past him, but Bowen met the 1-0 with the bat, and here power met power for a long drive – that – was – GONE!!!! 2-1 Raccoons!!! Pruitt 3-3, BB, RBI; Flores (PH) 1-1; Brown 6.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 9 K;


In other news

April 3 – IND LF/RF Ron Alston (.167, 0 HR, 0 RBI in 6 AB) will miss most of April with an oblique strain. This might hurt the Indians…
April 4 – The Rebels acquire C Brian Campbell (.600, 0 HR, 0 RBI in 5 AB) from the Bayhawks for two minor leaguers, including a veteran that has fallen out of favor in 31-yr old Paco Batlle.
April 6 – SFW CF/LF Earl Clark (.357, 0 HR, 2 RBI) keeps nursing a hitting streak carried over from 2006, getting two hits in a 6-0 shutout of the Rebels to run the streak to 20 games.
April 6 – The Loggers’ SP William Lloyd (1-0, 0.00 ERA) shuts out the Knights on three hits in a 9-0 rout.
April 7 – Free agent SP Carl Bean (111-125, 4.27 ERA) signs a 2-yr, $1.92M contract with the Falcons.
April 7 – The Rebels kill off Earl Clark’s hitting streak at 20 games.

Complaints and stuff

Least runs conceded in the CL after a week, and eighth in offense. Well, 25 runs (4.17 R/G) would be a GREAT improvement over previous years…

All three players we designated for assignment (Ward Jackson, Sergio Vega, and Juan Gusmán) cleared waivers and were assigned to St. Petersburg.

With Flores and Sharp incapacitated, if we could find a Japanese first baseman we’d have the first all-Japanese infield in baseball history. Outside of Japan, of course.

News from the Aches & Ailments Department indicate that Vic Flores (who pinch-hit twice on the weekend) is expected back on Monday, but Sharp and Riddle might stay unavailable for the next series.

Saturday, May 12 the Raccoons will be at home facing the Indians. The day has been designated Neil Reece Appreciation and Bobblehead Day at the ballpark. There will also be a number retired. And I will advise Maud to be cautious with the bobblehead order.

(mindless Chad still making the rounds, bobbling all the leftover Daniel Hall bobbleheads)