[Westheim]

Raccoons (11-7) @ Falcons (12-7) – April 28-30, 2008

After getting clobbered by the lowly Aces, we’re heading over to Charlotte to have a look at the division leaders in the South. They had done it exclusively on offense, and I really mean that. They ranked third in runs scored, eighth in runs allowed, and had a -1 run differential. Coons? Second in offense, first in runs allowed (somehow!), and +31.

Projected matchups:
Jong-hoo Umberger (3-0, 1.61 ERA) vs. Jesus Hernandez (2-0, 4.09 ERA)
Kenichi Watanabe (0-3, 7.90 ERA) vs. Tommy Wilson (2-1, 4.50 ERA)
Nick Brown (3-1, 1.21 ERA) vs. Dylan Jones (0-1, 2.95 ERA)

All pitching pairs match hands in this series.

Game 1
POR: SS Barrón – 1B Quebell – RF Castro – LF Pruitt – 3B R. Martinez – 2B Nomura – C Rios – CF Trevino – P Umberger
CHA: 3B H. Green – CF Theobald – 2B J. Lopez – 1B Tsung – LF J. Flores – C Ishikawa – RF Walls – SS S. Moore – P J. Hernandez

Mun-wah Tsung’s error in the first was not cashed in on by the Raccoons despite it putting the leadoff man Barrón on base. Instead, Tsung doubled home Jose Lopez to give the Falcons a 1-0 lead in the bottom 1st. The response was quick then. After Ricardo Martinez had a pitch graze his uniform rather kindly, Nomura doubled and Martinez scored on Rios’ single up the middle, his first major league hit. Nomura was held in anticipation of someone being capable to at least put the ball in play, but Trevino, Umberger, and Barrón struck out in succession. Jong-hoo Umberger went 24 innings without one, but he finally walked Steve Moore in the second inning for his first career freebie. He repeated the gesture to start the bottom 5th, and then Martinez let loose a wild throw on Hernandez’ bunt to open a can of worms. Hubert Green drew a walk to load them up and Jong-hoo was knee deep in trouble. Tsung was the Falcons’ permanent hero with a 2-out, 2-run single after Theobald had struck out and Lopez had popped out to shallow center. Never mind him making another error in the sixth – the Raccoons couldn’t find a way to hit Hernandez, a rather unremarkable pitcher. Flatteringly it would be Bob Mays to get to Hernandez, hitting a home run in Umberger’s place in the seventh inning. That still left the Coons a run short, and the Falcons outfielders sucked up every ball not hit completely out of the park, and of those we had really not enough on this sour Monday. 3-2 Falcons. Mays (PH) 1-1, HR, RBI;

Recent developments led to my visiting GM’s office in Charlotte being beleaguered by pitchers on Tuesday morning. Jong-hoo complained he had been hit for and that he had been left alone in Monday’s game. Javier Cruz moaned about our ballpark in Portland that didn’t suit his explosive style. Winless Watanabe whined that he was winless. Nick Brown threatened not to take the ball if Ricardo Martinez was in the lineup in his next start. Kel Yates whispered that he was scared of the seventh inning’s monster that was waiting to eat him alive.

Nah, all will be well.

Game 2
POR: SS Barrón – 1B Quebell – C Bowen – LF Castro – 3B R. Martinez – 2B Nomura – RF Mays – CF Trevino – P Watanabe
CHA: 3B H. Green – CF Theobald – C F. Chavez – 2B J. Lopez – 1B Tsung – LF J. Flores – RF Burke – SS S. Moore – P T. Wilson

Winless Watanabe did his all to stay winless. Tsung, the former Raccoons farmhand, tripled in two runs in the first inning, and our middle infield blacked out completely in the second inning. Barrón was charged an error and Nomura was chalked up to check him for paraplegia the way the Falcons rolled grounders right past him. By the time Watanabe threw a run-scoring passed ball in the bottom 3rd, the Falcons were up 5-0 and it was all over really hard. He was yanked in the bottom 5th after allowing a home run to Tsung (who was a single shy of the cycle) and walking Jesus Flores. The Raccoons trailed 6-0 with one hit against Wilson. Ed Bryan did the best he could to wave Flores around and the Falcons were up 7-0.

Whatever had happened in Las Vegas, it had all but killed the team. Maybe food poisoning. Maybe brainwashing. There were very few logical explanations for what the brown-clad team, whose members looked very much like they had shat their pants, was putting on display. Kichida struck out Tsung to deny him the cycle in the seventh, and the Raccoons put a 3-spot on Wilson when he was left in too long, but overall it was all too little in every regard. 7-4 Falcons. Trevino 2-3, 2 2B; Pruitt (PH) 1-1, 2B, RBI; Kichida 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

No clue what’s wrong with Watanabe or Cruz. Their BABIP’s are .380ish, but the other guys are under .300 (Brown well under .300, Martinez here, Martinez there), and defense can’t possibly be THAT selective. The K/BB numbers also speak volumes, which are outright rancid for both.

Oh heavens, we need a good Brownie start!

Game 3
POR: 2B Barrón – LF Castro – 3B R. Martinez – 1B Pruitt – C Bowen – RF Mays – SS R. Miller – CF Trevino – P Brown
CHA: CF Walls – 2B H. Green – 1B Tsung – 3B J. Lopez – C F. Chavez – RF Theobald – LF Reya – SS R. Sanchez – P D. Jones

Brownie was not smiling upon seeing the lineup card, but took the ball, and was spotted our first lead of the week in the third inning, when Barrón, Castro, and Martinez chained up 2-out hits to plate two runs for the Coons. Bowen led off the fourth with a shot to left, 3-0, and a Miller triple was converted into another run by Trevino’s sac fly. While Brownie had been perfect the first time through the lineup, Hubert Green drew a walk in the bottom 4th, then was thrown out stealing by Bowen. The no-hitter went overboard in the fifth with a leadoff double by Jose Lopez, who went to third on Luis Reya’s grounder to first. Pruitt made a launching stop, lobbed the ball to Brown at the bag, but the throw was low and Brown had to distort to try – and still couldn’t catch it. Reya was safe, but Brown got out of the inning when Ricardo Sanchez grounded out to Martinez, then was still pissed when he found out that he had been charged the error on the Reya play. When the Coons put a fifth run on Jones, he was removed for Carl Bean, who pitched the Raccoons into the ground for the next two-and-some innings. They didn’t score again, but Brownie entered the bottom 9th on 98 pitches and a mission, but faced the top of the order. Relief was certainly standing by. And then Tom Walls’ grounder to third base was mishandled by Martinez once, and twice.

Brown stood in front of the mound, handling that ball he had been tossed by the umpire, and stared straight down into the ground. Martinez looked like a wet dog left outside in the rain. Then the manager came out and removed Brown from the game, and Martinez had to fully expect to find his locker smeared with feces upon entering the clubhouse after whatever conclusion the game might find. It was a good one, though. Marcos Bruno got a double play from Green (well played by Bowen), and Tsung flew out to left center against Sims. 5-0 Brownies! Miller 2-4, 3B, RBI; Brown 8.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 5 K, W (4-1);

All other Raccoons starters (minus Brown) had one hit in the game. Also, no lockers were smeared, but when Martinez cautiously asked Brownie to pass the salt at the team’s after-game dinner, Juan Barrón had to keep Brown from shoving the shaker into Martinez’ eye.

Raccoons (12-9) vs. Loggers (11-10) – May 2-4, 2008

After losing consecutive series, the Raccoons will have to do something against a team that tied for last place in the North (yes, really). The Loggers were average in scoring runs, but had a pitching staff tying for third place in runs allowed and an above-average rotation anchored by never-aging Martin Garcia.

Projected matchups:
Kelvin Yates (3-0, 4.30 ERA) vs. Junior Diaz (2-1, 4.58 ERA)
Javier Cruz (1-2, 10.31 ERA) vs. William Lloyd (1-2, 6.65 ERA)
Jong-hoo Umberger (3-1, 1.59 ERA) vs. Martin Garcia (3-1, 1.65 ERA)

After the righty Diaz, it’s two more left-handers. But thankfully we have nursed the Duke back to strength and will be able to play with less than 11 left-handed batters.

Game 1
MIL: 1B K. Scott – 2B B. Hernandez – RF Hiwalani – CF T. Austin – C Baca – SS T. Johnson – LF J. Garcia – 3B S. Johnson – P J. Diaz
POR: SS Barrón – 1B Quebell – CF Castro – RF Black – LF Pruitt – 3B R. Martinez – C Bowen – 2B Nomura – P Yates

Before the game, Kel sat in front of the couch in my office, pressing Honeypaws against his cheek and suckling his thumb. Still afraid of those seventh inning monsters.

Kel sat down the first eight before Diaz singled. Keith Scott’s double to right was thrown back in by Black, yet wildly, and the lead-footed pitcher scored from first base… What was worse than that shoddy play was the fact that the Raccoons had only two hits through five innings, and both were singles by Yates. He struck out nine and walked two against four hits in six innings. While everybody was eying the seventh, the top 6th saw the Raccoons finally amount to something. A Quebell walk was an unsuspicious start, but soon it was followed by a Castro single. While Pruitt got Castro forced out, Martinez singled to right to score Quebell. Bowen was hit by Diaz to load them up for Nomura with two down, but he flew out to center. And Kel? Faced Tom Johnson to start the seventh inning, in which he had yet to retire a batter on the season. When Johnson went down on three pitches, the home crowd erupted in cheers. While he finished the inning, the Raccoons left two men on base in the bottom 7th when Black flew out to Hiwalani and Yates didn’t get a decision. Law Rockburn lined up for the W after a quick eighth when Nelson Chavez drove in his first run as a Coon with a 1-out pinch-hit single to plate Pruitt from second base in the bottom 8th. Ryan Miller hit for Rockburn, right into a double play, to deny us a cushion. Angel Casas struck out Hiwalani, allowed a single to Tim Austin, but got a grounder to second from Alonso Baca for the game-ending double play. 2-1 Raccoons. Castro 2-4; Martinez 2-3, BB, RBI; Chavez (PH) 1-1, RBI; Yates 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 10 K and 2-2;

All of our eight hits were singles. It is not easy to score then… This was also the first game this week where we hadn’t numerous drives caught in the deeper regions of the outfield. Diaz was really the best guy we faced so far, but we will get a tough nut on Sunday anyway.

For the middle game, J.C. Crespo was activated off the DL, with a .174 batting Bob Mays going back to AAA.

Game 2
MIL: LF J.R. Richardson – 2B B. Hernandez – RF Hiwalani – CF T. Austin – C Baca – SS T. Johnson – 1B K. Scott – 3B S. Johnson – P Lloyd
POR: 2B Barrón – CF Castro – 3B R. Martinez – RF Black – 1B Pruitt – C Bowen – LF Crespo – SS R. Miller – P Cruz

Aided by a J.R. Richardson misplay the Raccoons took a 1-0 lead in the bottom 1st that Alonso Baca’s leadoff jack – a no-doubter to deepest center – negated in a hurry. Spotted another lead, 2-1 after a Ryan Miller RBI double, Cruz without the slightest hint of shame walked the bases loaded with no outs in the fourth and escaped with a 2-2 tie after a miraculous play by Crespo in left and a lesser catch by Black whose arm intimidated Tim Austin into staying at third base and not trying to get home like Hiwalani had on the previous play. Sure enough the Loggers got a lead eventually, on Richardson’s homer in the fifth. The 3-2 score remained true until Cruz was removed with two outs and Keith Scott on second in the seventh. Ed Bryan entered to face the lefty Richardson, had to look at a badly struggling, .215 Aaron Tolwith taking a stick instead, and struck him out.

In the bottom 7th Crespo led off with a single past multiple Gold Glover Bartolo Hernandez. Miller didn’t help the cause, but Quebell hit a double in the pitcher’s spot. With one out we had a prime chance, but Barrón lined out to Spencer Johnson at third for the second out. Castro was cautiously walked, and Ricardo Martinez hopped a grounder over the mound, luckily to Lloyd’s off side. Hernandez was hustling in and – no play!! All hands safe, the Raccoons tied the game on a 2-out infield single! The Duke drew a bases-loaded walk before Pruitt grounded out. Bruno tended well to the 4-3 lead with a quick eighth, we didn’t score either, and it was Angel again with the 1-run lead. Quebell had remained in the game for defense and made the final out on Jaime Garcia’s grounder after Angel had struck out Baca and Johnson. 4-3 Coons! Martinez 2-3, BB, RBI; Quebell (PH) 1-1, 2B;

I wouldn’t call Cruz’ start “good” necessarily, but it’s a start.

Game 3
MIL: LF J.R. Richardson – 2B B. Hernandez – RF Hiwalani – CF T. Austin – C Baca – SS T. Johnson – 1B K. Scott – 3B S. Johnson – P M. Garcia
POR: 2B Barrón – 1B Quebell – LF Castro – RF Black – 3B R. Martinez – LF Crespo – SS R. Miller – C Rios – P Umberger

We expected Martin Garcia – 270 big league wins and counting – to be one hell of a customer, but they probably didn’t consider our catcher worth compiling a scouting report about. When they faced Juan Rios with Black and Martinez in scoring position in the bottom of the second and two outs, no thought was wasted on walking him. Rios took the first pitch into center and two runs were on the board! We were able to add an unearned run when Martinez was awarded home in the fourth inning on a capital throwing error by Spencer Johnson, who was hitting zero and probably had bought his spot in the lineup. Martinez himself had been graced by yet another pitch and had stolen second base before Miller’s grounder had been airmailed into the stands, and it was 3-0 Coons. The next inning it dawned on us that maybe Garcia was not as intimidating as we thought. Once the Duke powered a 2-run homer and the scoreboard sprung the Coons’ R’s to 5, we seemed to be close to a sweep.

Baseball is a fickle game, though. Umberger allowed hard flies to the outfield rather frequently, but while the Raccoons had been plagued by ill BABIP luck the whole series in Charlotte, this time the Loggers didn’t catch a break. Not one. The entire game. Instead, their eagerness to swing had Jong-hoo on just 79 pitches through eight innings! He struck out Richardson to commence the ninth before Hernandez and Hiwalani grounded out to Martinez and Barrón respectively. 5-0 Raccoons! Castro 2-3, BB, 2B; Black 1-3, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Martinez 2-3, 2B; Umberger 9.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K, W (4-1);

Oh, let me look into your eyes once more, beauty …! (gently floats away)

In other news

April 30 – DAL 3B/2B Hector Garcia (.313, 0 HR, 16 RBI) raps six hits, two doubles and four singles, with one RBI in the Stars’ 8-2 win over the Cyclones. It is the 40th 6-hit performance in ABL history, and the third in the Stars records (Gabriel Cruz, 1983; Darrel Tracy, 2000).
April 30 – CHA 3B Javier Rodriguez (.260, 0 HR, 7 RBI) might miss seven weeks with a fractured hand.
May 1 – TOP SP Tony Hamlyn (2-3, 1.85 ERA) finds out that the best way not to get soiled is to pitch all the way, and 2-hits the Pacifics in a 2-hit, 3-0 shutout.
May 2 – LAP 3B Jens Carroll (.258, 0 HR, 7 RBI) will miss six weeks with a groin strain.
May 3 – It’s another 6-hit game! SFB INF Jose Perez (.337, 1 HR, 7 RBI) has six hits, also two doubles and four singles, with one RBI in the Bayhawks’ extra-inning 8-7 loss to the Condors. The fourth 6-hitter in Bayhawks history (Mike White, 1979; Hector Roman, 1983; Roberto Rodriguez, 1994) is also the first one in a losing effort since DAL Darrel Tracy’s in 2000. Only two other players were on the losing side in their 6-hit performance, the others being VAN David Brewer in ’89 and RIC Riley Simon in ’78. Of course, two 6-hitters in one week is nothing new. For what it’s worth, the Scorpions’ Martin Horn and Jared O’Molony achieved the feat in the same 20-0 drubbing of the Cyclones in 1996, with LVA Andres Manuel’s 6-hitter following five days later.

Complaints and stuff

Nick Brown’s stellar April (4-1, 0.96 ERA, 37 K) had him picked Continental League Pitcher of the Month. Hooray! To his greatest annoyance, he had to share headlines with Ricardo Martinez being anointed Rookie of the Month after clubbing .333 with 4 HR and 14 RBI. Apparently his five errors did little to pull him down in the eyes of the prize committee. Nick Brown was not smiling on the picture they had taken with an ABL guy before Friday’s game back in Portland.

After the April 30 games, Nick Brown led or had a share in all triple crown categories.

We all knew we weren’t going to hit .307 forever, and this week we were really bitten by rotten BABIP luck. That middle game in Charlotte was probably not in reach anyway, but we could have claimed the opener with just the odd blip of - … well, we’re one game out and that Duke is still holding court rather impressively.

Only ABL player with multiple 6-hit days? Bartolo Hernandez of these Loggers.

By the way, Mun-wah Tsung, was acquired from the Cyclones in 2002 for a rotting Miguel Lopez and a no-good first baseman in the minors, and dealt on to the Falcons in 2004 in an orgy of failed prospects that sent Jesus Elmore to the Falcons as well (although he’s now with the Titans…), in exchange for Matt King (ugh!) and Keegan Crabtree, who finally became a minor league free agent. And Tsung was merely the CL ROTY in 2006.

Ya, that was probably a bad trade.

Colin Baldwin is standing by. Winless gets another chance next week, but if he stinks up the joint again, he’s gone. He actually has another option, so we can keep him around and keep him warm in AAA.

Also, I teased you earlier with the two players that were Rookies of the Year as Raccoons and never went back to that. The winners were Vern Kinnear (1992) and Edgardo Torrez (2003). While Kinnear went on to enough of a career to snip a World Series-winning hit (blue shirt, yellow #16, and that raised fist…), Torrez is now a 31-year old stealing everybody’s time in double-A ball.

Also, so far in “Stats Time!”, we have mostly taken looks at the Raccoons, and after a while you’ve chewed through everything. How about a look at some of our division opponents? I will try to remember to weave this into future weeks as well, but for now, since we played them, let’s look at the Loggers’ franchise leaders!

WINS
1st – Martin Garcia – 270
2nd – Davis Sims – 125
3rd – Rafael Garcia – 115
4th – Judd Montgomery – 87
5th – Neil Stewart – 85

STRIKEOUTS
1st – Martin Garcia – 3,424
2nd – Davis Sims – 1,356
3rd – Rafael Garcia – 1,139
4th – Gary Simmons – 935
5th – John Douglas – 877

HITS
1st – Cristo Ramirez – 3,158
2nd – Bartolo Hernandez – 2,178
3rd – Jerry Fletcher – 2,071
4th – Bakile Hiwalani – 1,938
5th – Drake Evans – 1,379

HOME RUNS
1st – Bakile Hiwalani – 257
2nd – Drake Evans – 77
3rd – Jose Perez – 76
4th – Jorge Cruz – 74
5th – Jesus Jimenez – 71

STOLEN BASES
1st – Cristo Ramirez – 381
2nd – Bartolo Hernandez – 290
t-3rd – Jerry Fletcher – 137
t-3rd – Bakile Hiwalani – 137
5th – Edgardo Garza – 120

Unsurprisingly, these are mostly players from the last decade-plus. Only Simmons and Douglas left the team before 1988. Sims and Garcia were the front runners of a franchise that turned from perennially horrible to finally contending and winning from their debut in the late 80s until they both left after 2000. If you look past the terrific foursome that their four hits leaders were for a number of years, the Loggers never had much of anything in terms of batters, and there’s probably one Martin Garcia in a generation for each team, so his numbers will not be matched for some time, especially since they’ve made use of journeyman without growing their own guys for the last few years.

And hat off to everybody who kept counting and realized that for the first time a 500’s milestone in franchise wins was claimed by a relief pitcher. Congrats Lawrence Rockburn!