[Westheim]

Raccoons (66-53) vs. Capitals (73-46) – August 15-17, 2011

Although the Capitals had lost their last three games, they were still playing amazingly, ranking second in both runs scored and runs allowed in the Federal League, with a +137 run differential (Coons: +82). It was really, really tough to poke holes into what they had. Well, they didn’t hit a lot of home runs, but otherwise this was a potential title-winning package. The Raccoons had lost two of three to them in 2009, with the series winner alternating in the last four meetings. Overall we were .524 against them.

Projected matchups:
Nick Brown (10-5, 2.82 ERA) vs. Carlos Sackett (3-2, 3.60 ERA)
Jong-hoo Umberger (8-8, 3.40 ERA) vs. Chris York (9-9, 3.54 ERA)
Colin Baldwin (10-6, 3.03 ERA) vs. Dean Merritt (9-10, 3.82 ERA)

Dean Merritt will be one of their two left-handed starters. We will miss both the other lefty Tyler Sullivan (11-7, 3.16 ERA) as well as our old friend Randy Farley (9-4, 3.50 ERA). Notably, Farley had been (one of the) exchange pieces for an important Raccoon twice in his career. He was one of three players received from the Condors for David Brewer after the 1997 season, and we flipped him with Dan Nordahl to the Warriors for Adrian Quebell before the 2005 season.

Game 1
WAS: 3B J. Soto – CF Cameron – LF J. Morales – C Case – 1B T. Ramos – RF Sarabia – SS A. Gomez – 2B Correa – P Sackett
POR: 2B Nomura – 3B J. Merritt – RF Seeley – 1B Quebell – CF Castro – LF Pruitt – SS Palmer – C Owens – P N. Brown

Although Nick Brown was a left-hander, he got to face seven left-handed batters in this lineup, everybody except for Aurelio Gomez and Jose Correa (another ex-Coon on their roster). Jesus Soto singled on his first pitch, but was rounded up in a double play in what became a quick top of the first. Bottom 1st, Sackett was adrift right away, walking two along with a Merritt single to load the bases with nobody out. The bounty in the event was paltry, though, with only a Quebell sac fly bringing in a single run.

The Critters added a pair in the bottom 3rd in which an RBI double by Tomas Castro was the main drive behind the offense, and took a 3-0 lead. Brown had whiffed only two while maintaining minimum pace the first time through the order, so he had apparently left his dozen-strikeouts stuff in Vancouver. I could only assume it was tough to get through border controls. Soto led off the top 4th with another single, and this time got stranded on third base eventually when Aaron Case, who sat on 18 homers, struck out. While the strikeouts weren’t there, tons and tons of easy grounders to Yoshi Nomura were. Yoshi got a bit pissed after a while – the piece of cake he took out to the field every inning just went uneaten inning after inning. Top 7th, up 4-0 by now after Merritt had singled in Nomura in the fourth, Brown ran his first 3-0 count of the game against Don Cameron, but Cameron was poking and … grounded out to Yoshi! Morales also grounded out to Nomura, who was hissing and whose fur was raised in anger, while Quebell was step by step moving over, an eye on the cake. Brown struck out Case to end the inning and maintained a shutout bid on a manageable pitch count just over 80, although that got shot over 100 in the eighth. Victor Sarabia (more below) singled to right (Yoshi hissed anyway), and after Gomez struck out, Correa singled to center, giving the Capitals runners on the corners with two outs. Phil Brown hit for Enrique Meneces, who had allowed a run in the bottom 7th, but was struck out by Nick Brown to end the inning. Top of the ninth, top of the order, starting on 103 pitches, Nick Brown struck out Soto in a full count, reaching 111 pitches. The pitching coach had an eye on him. Don Cameron hit a single over the first base bag that Quebell couldn’t reach, but Morales hit a soft pop that Brown caught himself. Aaron Case had already gone down on strikes twice and did so a third time on Brownie’s 120th pitch of the game. 5-0 Brownies!!! Nomura 2-4, BB, 2B; Merritt 3-5, RBI; Quebell 2-3, RBI; Brown 9.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 9 K, W (11-5);

BROWNIIIIEEE!!!! That 5-hitter was not only his first complete game of the season, but also his first complete game since 2009, when he had six of them, including three shutouts. He now has 10 shutouts for his career. Ironically, this wasn’t even Brownie’s first shutout against the Capitals. He shut them out on two hits and 11 strikeouts in 2003 before.

Also: Yoshi Nomura got 12 assists for 4-3 putouts, plus another one for starting the double play in the first inning. I don’t think I’ve ever seen something like that.

And we have won seven in a row, and 13 of our last 17.

Game 2
WAS: RF Sarabia – CF Cameron – LF J. Morales – 1B T. Ramos – 3B J. Soto – SS J.J. Rodriguez – C T. Turner – 2B Correa – P York
POR: 2B Nomura – 3B J. Merritt – LF Pruitt – 1B Quebell – CF Castro – SS Palmer – RF Ayers – C Bowen – P Umberger

This game had some early commotion when Umberger smacked Don Cameron in the upper arm in the first and Cameron was really completely unhappy and barked at him still standing in the batter’s box. The umpire eventually managed to give him a nudge towards first base, but for a moment a brawl was in the air. Morales then hit a hard single, and Tony Ramos hit another one over the bag unreachable for Quebell. Cameron scored, but Keith Ayers got a favorable bounce off the side wall in foul territory and unleashed a death ray towards third base, where Morales was out. Bottom 2nd, Castro on second base with two outs, Bowen was nicked by Chris York, who was less than a year older than Nick Brown, but had over 500 more strikeouts. That contact came on an 0-2 pitch when Bowen was pretty much a guaranteed third out, and cooler heads narrowly prevailed, even when Jong-hoo Umberger, the worst-hitting pitcher in the galaxy hit a single to center for Tomas Castro to score, Umberger’s first RBI of the year, and it tied the score at 1-1. The next three innings only one batter reached scoring position (the Capitals in the fifth), before the Capitals got Cameron on to lead off the sixth. Morales’ grounder moved him to second, and Tony Ramos hit a double well past the reach of Ayers to give his team a 2-1 lead.

Umberger pitched seven innings without much in terms of stuff, whiffing only one batter, and was hit for in the bottom of the seventh inning. The Coons had left Merritt on third base in the sixth, and then led off the seventh with a pair of singles by Palmer and Ayers, the latter of the infield variety. Bowen struck out, and Seeley grabbed a bat to hit for Umberger. Jason popped out to left, however, and while Yoshi walked, Merritt grounded out to Soto to strand three. The Capitals threatened in the top 8th, where Youngblood got the first two guys out before Ramos singled. Aurelio Gomez hit for Soto and singled to center on an 0-2 offering, and with right-handers up, Law Rockburn took over. Except that the Capitals sent a left-handed bat, ex-Titan Rudy Garrison to bat, and he drove a 1-0 pitch well to deep left – but Pruitt caught it on the track, whiskers against the wall. Bottom 9th, Tommy Wooldridge pitching. Palmer and Owens made quick outs before Bowen lined to right for a single. Gentry hit for Rockburn and singled, representing the winning run. Yoshi came up, found himself down to the final strike quickly, but then shot a hot grounder through new third baseman Gomez and into left, Bowen was sent – no prisoners! – and scored the tying run! Merritt was drilled to load them up, but Pruitt flew out to Sarabia to give us extra innings.

That ****ty 3-on hitting was highly annoying. More annoying was it though to find out that Jose Morales could actually hit homers in this park, nailing a solo shot off Ron Thrasher in the top of the tenth. The Coons got Castro on against Wooldridge with a 1-out infield single in the bottom of the inning, but Castro was caught stealing. Palmer singled, and then Gutierrez, hitting for Thrasher, reached on another infield single. No success could be relayed, however, with Craig Bowen grounding out to Max Heart (‘nother Coon…) at short. 3-2 Capitals. Merritt 2-3, BB; Castro 2-5, 2B; Gutierrez (PH) 1-1; Gentry (PH) 1-1; Umberger 7.0 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 1 K;

Like I said, ****ty 3-on hitting.

Game 3
WAS: SS J.J. Rodriguez – CF Cameron – LF J. Morales – C Case – 1B T. Ramos – RF Sarabia – 3B J. Soto – 2B Correa – P D. Merritt
POR: 2B Nomura – 3B J. Merritt – LF Seeley – 1B Quebell – SS Palmer – CF Castro – RF Gentry – C Owens – P Baldwin

J.J. Rodriguez opened the game with a single and scored on another hit by Morales, giving Washington an early 1-0 lead. The Raccoons would have their first two men on in both the first and second innings, and both times killed the effort with a double play. Forward to the fifth, Gentry and Owens reached base with nobody out, and Baldwin’s bunt was bad enough for Gentry to get knocked out at third base. Nomura moved up the runners with a grounder before Jon Merritt hit a bouncer off a 1-2 pitch by Dean Merritt that escaped Jesus Soto into leftfield, plating both runners and flipping the score in the Coons’ favor. Baldwin had not been dominant however, and only had two strikeouts through five inning. The Capitals promptly opened the sixth with singles by Cameron, Morales, and Case, tying the game, but then left a run at third base when Sarabia hit into a double play. Double plays remained the order of the day. The Coons hit into one in the bottom 6th, Castro being guilty, and in the top 7th Baldwin left after a 1-out walk against Jose Correa. With Aurelio Gomez pinch-hitting for Dean Merritt, Joe O’Brian came out and walked Gomez. Rudy Garrison hit for Rodriguez, so we moved on to Thrasher, and he got a double play to end the inning. Thrasher also pitched the eighth against all those left-handers, and to that end we even sent him out to bat against Ryosei Kato in the bottom 7th. There was nobody on with two outs, it didn’t even matter. Yoshi then led off the bottom 8th with a double into the right corner off Kato, but was stranded on third base…

Brett Gentry drew a 2-out walk in the bottom 9th before a shower moved in and we entered a 38-minute rain delay. Once that was over, Gentry was caught stealing, and we went to the 10th again. This one was one to remember forever. Angel Casas came into the game in a double switch, rested enough to go three innings if need be, with an off day on Thursday. He would go instead one third of an inning. Tom Turner led off with a double, and Max Heart scored him with a hard single. Don Cameron homered. Morales singled, and Case popped out, but there was no point. Youngblood came in and further escalated things with a single and a wild pitch, then allowed a 2-run double to Sarabia. The Raccoons were completely destroyed. 8-2 Capitals. Nomura 2-5, 2B; Merritt 2-4, 2 RBI; Gentry 1-2, 2 BB; Thrasher 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

(sits silently in the dark office, gleaming glumly into the void)

Raccoons (67-55) @ Indians (62-57) – August 19-21, 2011

The Indians so far this year had run circles around the completely confused Raccoons, beating them 8-4 in 12 games. They had also won their last four games (the Coons not so much…), and ranked fifth in offense and seventh in pitching in the league. They still had an assortment of players on the DL, to which they had recently added 1B Mun-wah Tsung (.258, 11 HR, 49 RBI), who had torn a meniscus. They were also without pitcher Román Escobedo and infielders Bob Butler and Jim Phillips.

Projected matchups:
Bill Conway (12-7, 2.95 ERA) vs. César Garcia (0-0)
Hector Santos (1-0, 3.38 ERA) vs. Curtis Tobitt (7-3, 2.17 ERA)
Nick Brown (11-5, 2.67 ERA) vs. Tom Weise (11-7, 3.20 ERA)

César Garcia is a 31-year old left-hander who will make his first major league start this Friday. He had collected four relief appearances for the Buffaloes between 2004 and 2005, logging 6.1 innings.

Game 1
POR: 2B Nomura – 3B Merritt – CF Seeley – 1B Pruitt – LF Gentry – SS Palmer – RF Ayers – C Owens – P Conway
IND: 3B Luján – 2B J. Perez – RF J. Ortíz – C Paraz – LF D. Graham – 1B S. Guerra – CF Luxton – SS R. Miller – P C. Garcia

This was one of those games to better not think about for too long, for the headaches were unbearable. In wicked things, Jon Merritt reached on an error the first two times he was up, and was swiftly mopped up in a double play in the first inning. He would score on Keith Ayers’ 2-run double in the fourth, which then flipped the score in the Coons’ favor, but which had been preceded by unimaginable agony. Jose Paraz, the ****tiest arm north, east, south, aaaaand west of the Rio Grande, threw out not one, but two Raccoons trying to steal in the second inning (bringing the Coons’ total SB success to 0/4 this week). The Indians scored a run when Robbie Luxton hit an infield single in the bottom 3rd, and when he stole second base, Owens through the ball up to Minnesota. Luxton reached third and scored on a grounder.

Still in the top 4th, Travis Owens got an intentional walk to reload the bases with two down for Baldwin, who chipped a ball in play between Garcia and Antonio Luján who almost crashed into another, and nobody made a play anywhere, Baldwin reaching with an RBI infield single. With three still on, Yoshi Nomura, who never struck out, struck out. All the Coons’ three runs were unearned, but like they say, unearned leads never last. Except when the other team leads on unearned runs. Those always last.

Bottom 5th, Conway walked Luxton with one out. Ryan Miller singled to center, and Seeley threw the ball back in, and the Coons had Luxton trapped between second and third! Merritt threw to Nomura, but Palmer didn’t cover third base, and Luxton scrambled down there! They … they … they … didn’t … …….!!!

The Indians were content with one run here, which scored on Garcia’s groundout, to get to 3-2. The next inning, Jose Perez and Juan Ortíz led off with singles. Owens blatantly missed a pitch that escaped for a passed ball, moving up the runners and taking away the double play Yoshi could have started with Jose Paraz’ grounder, which instead was now the game-tying groundout. That was all for Conway, with Youngblood appearing to face the left-handed power threat Dave Graham (21 HR, 81 RBI), who plated the go-ahead run with a grounder to Nomura – which wouldn’t have been possible if they had gotten the double play. Top 7th, down 4-3, Owens led off with a single, which I could see quite clearly in the crosshairs. Roudabush hit for Youngblood, bounced to Garcia, double play right he- NO! He threw it away! The throw went into center, and the Coons had two on with nobody out. And Yoshi grounded into a fielder’s choice that removed Roudabush, and Merritt grounded into a double play. Hnnnngggghhh!!!

Bottom 7th (voice cracks), Jason Seeley planted his face against the wall trying to make a catch on Antonio Luján’s drive and left with an injury. In the top of the eighth, Gentry was caught stealing again (0/5…), and when Josh Gibson appeared to pitch the bottom 8th he smacked Perez and walked Ortíz and Paraz. Bases loaded, nobody out. O’Brian came on and walked in a run before the Indians somehow made three outs without running up a cricket score. Top 9th, Salvadaro Soure allowed a leadoff single to Palmer. Tying run up in Ayers, he lined to first, Mark Clark snagged it and doubled off Palmer who was far astray. 5-3 Indians. Gentry 2-3, BB; Palmer 2-4;

I have heard that big league managers have gone on killing sprees and soaked entire clubhouses in blood for far less than this. What a monumentally wretched team …

Game 2
POR: 2B Nomura – 3B Merritt – LF Pruitt – 1B Quebell – CF Castro – RF Gentry – C Bowen – SS M. Gutierrez – P Santos
IND: 3B Luján – CF Luxton – RF J. Ortíz – C Paraz – LF D. Graham – 1B S. Guerra – 2B M. Clark – SS R. Miller – P Tobitt

Top of the first, a 2-out, 2-run double by Castro gave Hector Santos a lead he instantly blew by allowing hits to the first three Indians that came up. They tied the score, but in the top 2nd, the Coons would come back with two runs of their own, exploiting a bad decision by Luján who tried to get the lead runner Gutierrez at second base on a less-than-stellar bunt by Santos, but really got nobody. Nomura came up with an RBI double then, and Merritt scored Santos with a groundout. The Indians had the tying runs on base with nobody out in the bottom 2nd, but Tobitt, who had missed much of the season with an injury, bunted into a double play to end the inning. It was painfully obvious (and obviously painful) that Hector Santos had nothing at all on any of his pitches in this start, and the Indians knocked him out before the fifth inning was over. Dave Graham tied the game with a 2-run homer in the fourth. Quebell hit a solo piece in the top 5th, and Santos would serve up another long-distance ball to Robbie Luxton in the bottom of the inning, knotting the score at five. Neither starter got a decision, but at least Tobitt had gotten ten of the dozen strikeouts between the two starters.

The Coons took a surprising 6-5 lead in the top 6th when Ryan O’Quinn gave up a pinch-hit homer to Dave Roudabush, coming in batting .088. The joy was short-lived, as was all joy around the ’11 Coons. Joe O’Brian came into the bottom 6th, and walked the bases full just like that. Law Rockburn replaced him and surrendered only the tying run, 6-6. The next two frames were scoreless, with the Critters stranding runners on the corners in the top 8th when Palmer popped out. Matt Pruitt then opened the ninth with a homer off Soure, which was the Blighters’ fifth lead of the day, and they had already blown four. Soure struck out the next three, and Angel had NOTHING. Ryan Miller and Clint Philip somehow made outs on the first pitch before Luján hit a hard single and Luxton hit an even harder double, both to left, and that double rammed off the wall so hard that Luján had to be held at third base. Four batters in, Casas had thrown five pitches. This was going to blow up. This was going to blow up so goddamn hard. Juan Ortíz struck out. 6-5 Blighters. Nomura 4-5, 2B, RBI; Quebell 3-5, HR, 2B, RBI; Roudabush (PH) 1-2, HR, RBI;

Dave Roudabush was now hitting a mighty .111, but he remained on the roster. The same was not true for Joe O’Brian, who since coming over from the Capitals in the Morales/Carmona deal had thrown 11.1 innings and walked 11. He was waived and designated for assignment (he had no options). Ted Reese was recalled after toiling away with St. Pete for several months. He had pitched in 35 games, covering 48 innings with a 2.44 ERA and 1.31 WHIP. The walks were well up, almost one walk every other inning.

Game 3
POR: 2B Nomura – 3B Merritt – LF Pruitt – 1B Quebell – CF Castro – SS Palmer – C Bowen – RF Ayers – P Brown
IND: SS R. Miller – 3B Luján – LF D. Graham – RF J. Ortíz – 1B S. Guerra – 2B J. Perez – C R. Speed – CF Luxton – P Weise

Castro stole his 20th base of the year, ironically not off Paraz, but against the backup Richard Speed in the second inning. Castro had reached on a soft single and would score on Palmer’s soft single, giving Brownie a 1-0 lead that Santiago Guerra would kill with a solo homer in the bottom of the inning. One inning further along, Brown would suffer a death by singles. Miller and Luján led off with a crawler and a bloop, and after Graham went down on strikes, Ortíz sent one to the second base bag that Yoshi intercepted, but couldn’t make a play with. Guerra chipped another infield single… Jose Perez fouled out before Richard Speed nailed a pitch really hard for a grand slam. That sent the Indians up 6-1, and Brown about packing. Now I mainly wanted some more innings from him since our bullpen had been slapped unconscious on Saturday. Luján promptly reached on another infield single in the bottom of the fourth. He would go through six, allowing one more run, but it wasn’t like his line wasn’t soiled already. In the meantime the Coons did – nothing. This was not a state that would change significantly for the rest of this game. Weise went eight and allowed only five singles. That was all. 7-1 Indians. Castro 3-4;

In other news

August 18 – CIN INF Bob Hall (.251, 8 HR, 46 RBI), who was already nursing a bruised elbow, slides on his thumb in a game against the Titans and tears ligaments in the digit. The 38-year old veteran will be out for a month.
August 21 – NYC OF Roberto Pena (.283, 3 HR, 40 RBI) has hit in 20 straight games, connecting for a first inning single in the Crusaders’ 9-4 loss to Vancouver. In the same game, VAN 1B Ray Gilbert (.349, 23 HR, 74 RBI) goes 5-for-5 with two homers and a double, and drives in four.

Complaints and stuff

Just when I thought Brownie might be fine again… No, he’s not. He’s a wreck.

A $7,102,469 wreck. Adding in the dead deals of Merritt ($4,035,493) and Bowen ($7,949,382), the Coons were in for over 19 million dollars in tears and heart medication. That was not quite the way I had intended to go about things.

The Capitals’ Victor Sarabia was also a player I tried to flip Jose Morales for. He is only 22, and is already hitting over .300 with extra base power, although he is not one to hit too many home runs. Defense is good, he can swipe bags by the dozen, too – the Capitals wouldn’t do it. But maybe Ricardo Carmona can do the same for us by 2013.

After an off day on Monday we’ll play 16 straight games into September, including all three North teams we haven’t seen the last two weeks. Can’t wait to get soiled by the Loggers again. Won’t have to wait for much longer – they will be our first opponent in the middle of next week. We will actually skip Umberger on Monday, since he’s plain bad and has even less stuff on display than Brownie. Or Slappy. Or Slappy’s dead Grandma Moe.