[Westheim]

Raccoons (77-61) @ Crusaders (82-54) – September 5-7, 2011

The Crusaders had won five games in a row, and a whole lotta games overall, with their league-leading offense that had churned out 705 runs (or 5.2 runs per game), while the pitching was not overwhelming, but thoroughly and undeniably competent with a top 3 rotation and a bullpen with some holes, but a strong back end. They were allowing the fourth-least runs overall in the league. The season series so far stood 7-5 in favor of the Raccoons, who were still feasting on their season-opening sweep of the Crusaders. No such thing was likely in the books now, though, with the Raccoons scrambling to score even small amounts of runs.

Projected matchups:
Nick Brown (12-7, 2.80 ERA) vs. Ed Winn (0-2, 3.22 ERA)
Gil McDonald (7-8, 3.29 ERA) vs. A.J. Bartels (14-7, 3.09 ERA)
Colin Baldwin (13-6, 2.74 ERA) vs. Takeru Sato (9-6, 3.12 ERA)

Kel Yates had vanished to the DL two months ago. Since then, the Crusaders had patched and stuffed their rotation with whatever toy they found conveniently lying around, in this case Ed Winn, a 29-year old right-hander who had made a few starts with the Scorpions in the last years, but never held onto a major league job for any amount of time. Sato is their only left-handed starter. There was another issue for them, as closer Scott Hood had a tweaked calf that had him listed as DTD.

Game 1
POR: 2B Nomura – 3B Merritt – CF Castro – 1B Quebell – LF Pruitt – SS Palmer – RF Ayers – C Bowen – P Brown
NYC: CF R. Pena – 2B Caraballo – LF M. Ortíz – RF S. Martin – 1B Manfull – C G. Ortíz – SS J. Ortega – 3B Bond – P Winn

Nick Brown’s historic struggles against this lineup (except for Martin Ortíz the top 5 pretty much owned him) combined with the fact that this middle of the order had churned out 25+ homers EACH, had us legitimately worried for the series opener, and the Raccoons found themselves instantly reduced in the first inning when Tomas Castro was injured on a tumbling grab on B.J. Manfull’s drive to center that was pretty damn close to score a pair. Nobody scored, but Castro’s remains had to be mopped up and Pat White replaced him.

The Coons then score three in the top 2nd against an unhealthily wild Ed Winn. Keith Ayers romped a solo home run on a 3-1 pitch, and then Bowen doubled on a 3-0 offering. Brown singled, Yoshi and Merritt both walked, and Pat White singled in another run before Quebell couldn’t resist the terrible urge to hit into a double play to end the frame. Being spotted with a 3-run lead didn’t help Brown the slightest, and the Crusaders came within 10 feet of tying the game in the bottom 3rd. Roberto Pena and Francisco Caraballo had made outs, but then Martin Ortíz ripped a triple and scored on Stanton Martin’s bloop single to center. B.J. Manfull gave an 0-1 pitch a huge ride to deep right, but Ayers caught it on the warning track to end the inning at 3-1 Coons. For the Crusaders there was still the slight issue of a completely bonkers starting pitcher, who racked up the walks without whiffing anybody. A Jorge Ortega error put Palmer on with one out in the fifth, and Winn walked both Ayers and Bowen to load them up, reaching seven walks on the day. Brownie had already hit two singles off him, and he lined the first pitch to left! It was in! Palmer scored, Ayers turned third, the throw from Martin Ortíz coming in and Ayers was … SAFE (voice cracks) AT HOME!! WHOAH!!

Despite some hurricane-wild performance, Winn lasted six innings and didn’t concede any more runs than those five. Brown had calm fifth and sixth innings and arrived in the seventh in decent shape, on 91 pitches, and facing the bottom of the order, with Jorge Ortega grounding out on the first pitch, Kevin Bond going down in flames for the third time, before ex-Coon Ramiro Cavazos singled to center. Pena grounded out, but that left Brown at 105 pitches and done for the night, especially with his spot due to lead off the top 8th. The Coons got Yoshi and Merritt on base against lefty Ray Conner, but White and Quebell made poor outs and they didn’t add. Law Rockburn came out for the eighth, facing the 2-3-4 batters, or in other terms right-left-right (with another left looming behind that in Manfull). Caraballo reached on the softest single to right and Rockburn then walked Ortíz. Martin grounded into a fielder’s choice that left runners on the corners and brought in Ron Thrasher, who nursed a 3-1 count to Manfull, who then slowly grounded a pitch to the first base side of the mound, and there was no play to get right here, although Caraballo stayed at third base. Bases loaded, tying run up in Gabriel Ortíz, Thrasher handed him a K before Ortega bounced a ball to third that Merritt didn’t dare to throw away, and the Crusaders left the sacks stocked. The Coons made three lightning-quick outs in the top of the ninth before Thrasher continued on the mound. Bond was out on a drag bunt, and Juan Gutierrez grounded out to third before Pena reached on an infield single and Caraballo wrestled a full count walk. That brought up the left-handed Martin brother, but Angel was damn sure getting ready for the right-handed Martin brother, but Thrasher remained in for Ortíz, threw a wild pitch, and then surrendered a fantastic rocket to deep left, high, higher – foul. Full count, Thrasher was toast and walked Ortíz with a pitch that bounced in the dirt and demanded Bowen’s all, then was chased for Angel Casas, who successfully sinkered Stanton into submission. 5-1 Brownies!! Castro 1-1; Brown 7.0 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 8 K, W (13-7) and 3-3, 2 RBI;

****ty command is exactly what will keep Ron Thrasher from achieving lasting fame and greatness. This was a pretty intense game, not least because he was completely going bananas in the ninth. Thankfully we have an Angel at hand.

Game 2
POR: 2B Nomura – 3B Merritt – LF Pruitt – 1B Quebell – SS Palmer – RF Ayers – C Bowen – CF White – P McDonald
NYC: CF R. Pena – 2B Caraballo – LF M. Ortíz – RF S. Martin – 1B Manfull – C G. Ortíz – 3B Bond – SS J. Ortega – P Bartels

Yoshi led off the game with a deep drive that ended up with Stanton Martin anyway, but then Merritt singled and Pruitt walked against Bartels, who had started the year with the Loggers. Quebell grounded hard to Caraballo, whose throw to second was low and got away from Ortega, giving the Coons three men on with one out. Michael Palmer’s hard shot completely ate up Kevin Bond and escaped into foul ground and up the line for a 2-run double, before Keith Ayers’ season ended in graphic manner on an infield single up the middle. Ortega’s throw was into the runner and for a split second B.J. Manfull, Keith Ayers, and the ball all occupied the same spot in space which the universe resolved in Ayers’ fifth digit on the left hand getting smashed and broken in two places, as the cameras dutifully caught in color. Quebell scored, 3-0, but the Coons were about to run out of outfielders. Gentry replaced Ayers. While the Critters stranded two in the first, two in the third, and two in the fourth, the Crusaders made up two runs in the bottom 3rd – McDonald had little in terms of stuff and also nicked Pena in a spot where that didn’t help at all – but then also took a hit when A.J. Bartels came out of the game in the fourth with an injury. CARNAGE!! That didn’t the deter the Crusaders from beating up McDonald in the fourth inning. Manfull, Bond, and PH Cavazos all smacked doubles and McDonald was knocked out down 4-3 with a pair in scoring position and only one out. George Youngblood walked Pena and allowed an RBI single to Caraballo before Martin Ortíz grounded hard to Yoshi for an inning-ending double play, with the Coons down by two. Things didn’t get better for them, either, despite the murky middle relief the Crusaders had now in the game to pitch. Just as it was for the Coons! Youngblood drilled Stanton Martin to start the bottom 5th, allowed a single to Gabriel Ortíz and then walked Bond to get evicted. Slayton conceded two runs when he replaced Youngblood.

Down 7-3 the Coons out the tying run on base in the sixth, facing Ray Conner. Bowen led off with a triple and scored on White’s groundout before Dave Roudabush (having come in with Slayton in a double switch that removed Palmer) reached on Conner’s error. Yoshi singled, Merritt walked, tying runs on base with one out. Two pitches later, everybody sat down after Pruitt had fouled out and Quebell had rolled out to Caraballo, his favorite defender in the world. Slayton pitched through the seventh despite walking three, but the Raccoons couldn’t get the bats up anymore. Scott Hood, despite that balking calf, came out to pitch the ninth in a 7-4 game and struck out Merritt and Pruitt before Quebell worked a 2-out walk. Manuel Gutierrez grabbed a stick to bat for Kyle Mullins, but popped out on the first pitch. 7-4 Crusaders. Nomura 3-5, 2B; Palmer 2-3, 2B, 2 RBI; Ayers 1-1, RBI;

Keith Ayers was lost for the season and I heard it took a while for that crippled finger to get set and put in cast. And with that I mean that I heard him howling during the entire procedure – as did the entire ballpark while the game was still in progress.

While Ayers was placed on the DL, Castro was still undiagnosed, and we needed outfield help. Jason Seeley was moved to the 60-day DL to free a spot on the 40-man roster, and we called up RF/LF/1B Jimmy Fucito [sp: foo-see-to’], 23, who was a second-round pick in 2010, #74 overall. Fucito had moved to AAA in July, and had since batted .329/.368/.463 there with 3 HR and 18 RBI. He had 13 doubles among his 54 hits. He bats right-handed, which was a perfect opportunity to make his major league debut on Wednesday against Takeru Sato. He batted in the #3 slot because … well … who else should?

Game 3
POR: 2B Nomura – 3B Merritt – RF Fucito – 1B Quebell – LF Gentry – SS Palmer – C Owens – CF White – P Baldwin
NYC: CF R. Pena – 2B Caraballo – LF M. Ortíz – RF S. Martin – 1B Manfull – C G. Ortíz – SS J. Ortega – 3B Bond – P Sato

While Sato faced the minimum through three innings, Colin Baldwin was in for a good spanking in a rubber game that went away from the Critters quicker than they could empty a common trash can. Roberto Pena yanked a 2-run homer in the third, but for Baldwin that was only the beginning, and for the second straight day the Coons’ starter didn’t make it through four. He started the bottom 4th with walks to the Martin Brothers, then allowed them to score on Manfull’s double to center. Gabriel Ortíz upped the pain with a 2-run homer to left, and it just wouldn’t end. Ortega doubled, Bond grounded out, but then Baldwin walked Sato with two outs and it was really enough by now, down 6-0. Tommy Ward replaced Baldwin, allowed an RBI single to Pena, and was gone as soon as he came in. Ted Reese got out of the inning, but down by seven, the Coons were done (and in to trail in the division by seven games rather soon). Sergio Vega somehow pitched three shutout innings despite allowing five runners and striking out absolutely nobody. Gentry had a hand it that, starting a double play from the outfield.

Offensively, the Coons were reduced to a run-scoring groundout credited to Bowen in the fifth, but New York wasn’t done yet. Josh Gibson got the bottom 8th, walked Cavazos to get started, but Pena hit into a double play. And then he walked Caraballo. There weren’t enough palms to bury your face in, and it got worse when Martin Ortíz whacked a 2-run homer to right, which gave him 223 for his career – incidentally the same number that ended up being Daniel Hall’s career total. 9-1 Crusaders. Gentry 2-4; Vega 3.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 0 K;

… and this is why the Crusaders have won three titles in the last four years, and the Coons – none. That lineup is borderline ridiculous. Or maybe it’s our pitching. I don’t know. Who cares? Who cared?

In his debut, Jimmy Fucito grounded out to Bond three times and to Ortega once. One of those was a double play. One day in the majors and he blended right in!

By the time the Elks came to Portland, we had activated Ricardo Huerta off the DL, and had placed Tomas Castro right on there. Castro had a tear in his labrum and needed surgical repair. He was put on the 60-day DL as we called up Santiago Trevino to play some centerfield. Trevino hadn’t been up in Portland all year, and had batted .267/.353/.319 in St. Petersburg over 92 games. Since the arrival of Ricardo Carmona there he had been largely reduced to filling other guys’ cups with Gaytirade.

Raccoons (78-63) vs. Canadiens (74-64) – September 9-11, 2011

The Elks were third in runs scored and sixth in runs allowed in the league and smelled quite badly. Thankfully, this was the last meeting between the two teams for this season. The Raccoons had already taken the season series at 10-5.

Projected matchups:
Bill Conway (12-10, 3.25 ERA) vs. Scott Spears (10-11, 4.62 ERA)
Hector Santos (3-0, 3.90 ERA) vs. Rod Taylor (16-7, 3.28 ERA)
Nick Brown (13-7, 2.75 ERA) vs. Juichi Fujita (13-10, 3.01 ERA)

All right-handers all the time from them. They have only one injury in SS Gary Rice, who is on the DL with an intercostal strain.

Game 1
VAN: LF Holland – 3B Suzuki – 1B Gilbert – C Baca – 2B Higashi – RF E. Garcia – CF J. Hudson – SS Lawrence – P Spears
POR: 2B Nomura – 3B Merritt – LF Pruitt – 1B Quebell – SS Palmer – RF Fucito – C Bowen – CF Trevino – P Conway

Yoshi started the bottom 1st with a groundout but Spears would then walk Merritt and Quebell around a Pruitt single to load the bases. Palmer struck out, but Fucito snipped a ball to left for his first major league hit and also his first major league RBI. The bases remained loaded for Bowen, one strike, two strikes, a knock and drive to right and GONE – GRAAAAAAAAND SLAAAAAAAMMMM!!!!

With that outburst, the Coons went to have dinner and left it to Conway to deal with the Elks, which went rather well with a 1-hitter through five, and only a leadoff double by Ross Holland created trouble for Conway in the sixth, but Holland would be stranded at third base. Bottom 6th, Dave Weber was pitching and again the bases were loaded with one out with a pair of walks involved. Just in time, the Critters returned engorged and whacked a few more hits off the poor Weber and his eventual replacement Will Whitaker. Merritt singled in tow, Pruitt also singled to load the bags again, and Quebell’s fly to center was only a short setback. Palmer plated two with a single, and Jimmy Fucito even plated another two with a double! The rout was clearly on, and after seven a few regulars were replaced, including an 0-4 Yoshi and also the slammer Bowen. Conway got stuck in the top 8th but was bailed out by Slayton, who took over with three on and nobody out and got Ray Gilbert to ground into a force at home, and then Alonso Baca to lift out to Fucito in right. Pruitt was run for by Saenz after singling in the bottom 8th. Reliever Sean Lewis then surrendered a real bomb to Quebell that ran the score to Coons 13, Elks 0, and Slayton took care of that not changing in the ninth. 13-0 Furballs! Pruitt 4-5; Palmer 2-5, 2 RBI; Fucito 2-5, 2B, 3 RBI; Bowen 2-3, BB, HR, 4 RBI; Conway 7.1 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 4 K, W (13-10) and 1-3; Slayton 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

Ah. That was fun. That was some great fun.

Also, after being stuck at ten for over TWO MONTHS, the Raccoons’ home run lead jumped to 11, with the tie between Quebell and Bowen remaining in force. Third in homers, tied with Pruitt, is still Jose Morales, with nine, who hasn’t been a Coon since the middle of July…

This was also Craig Bowen’s 100th career dinger.

Game 2
VAN: LF Holland – 3B Suzuki – 1B Gilbert – C Baca – 2B Higashi – RF E. Garcia – CF J. Hudson – SS Lawrence – P R. Taylor
POR: 2B Nomura – 3B Merritt – LF Pruitt – 1B Quebell – SS Palmer – RF Fucito – C Bowen – CF White – P Santos

The damned Elks weren’t shy about getting revenge early, romping Hector Santos in a 5-run second inning. They never stopped hitting hard balls, knocking five hits in addition to the two walks and the balk he gave up for free, and the inning only ended because Mitsuhide Suzuki got cocky on the bases. Santos was gone after three completely dismal innings, a condition that was also true for the offense, who remained shut out and choked by Rod Taylor, who led the CL in strikeouts with 212 coming into the game and was not asking around for very long before adding to that. The top 4th saw Sergio Vega bean John Hudson with his first pitch. Hudson left the game, replaced by pinch-runner Brian Thompson, who would score against Vega’s eventual replacement Ted Reese, who entered the game with the sacks full and one out. Thompson would drive in Baca with a single off Tommy Ward (…; the run was on Reese, though) in the fifth, running the score to 7-0 already. The Coons wouldn’t get drummed quite as hard as the Elks the day before, but Ricardo Huerta would give up a homer to Alonso Baca in the ninth for some late pain. Rod Taylor went the distance, struck out ten, including Manuel Gutierrez to end the game, and only allowed a solo homer to Brett Gentry along the way. 8-1 Canadiens. Gentry 1-2, HR, RBI; Ward 2.2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

I think the laws of baseball say that the rubber game will be a 2-1 affair then, right?

Game 3
VAN: 3B Suzuki – C Rucker – 1B Gilbert – 2B Higashi – LF D. Moore – CF J. Hudson – RF Holland – SS Koka – P Fujita
POR: 2B Nomura – 3B Merritt – LF Pruitt – 1B Quebell – RF Gentry – C Bowen – SS M. Gutierrez – CF Trevino – P Brown

And the pitchers’ duel was on! Through four innings, Ray Gilbert had two singles off Brown, and that was it for the Elks more or less, while the Coons had a 2-out double by Trevino in the second after which Brown struck out, and when Trevino batted with two on and two out in the bottom 4th, he grounded out to Gilbert. Brownie reached 200 strikeouts for the season with a merciless screw that knotted up Joey Koka in the top of the fifth, the second of three strikeouts in the inning and eight so far for Brown, who then struck out himself to start the bottom 5th, Fujita’s fifth strikeout. Nomura grounded out, but then Fujita hit Merritt and walked Pruitt. Quebell ran a full count before singling to left, and Merritt – in motion from the start – scored handily. Gentry then popped out foul to Gilbert to strand runners on the corners, 1-0, and the score tilted further in favor of the home team in the sixth. Fujita walked Trevino with two down, then fell to back-to-back RBI doubles by Brownie and Yoshi that put the Brownshirts up 3-0.

But Brownie was in trouble in the top 7th. He walked Takahashi Higashi, the first free pass on the day, then plunked John Hudson with one out (and Hudson certainly had enough of that, playing in some aches and pains already). With the tying run at the plate, things were still in favor of Brown. Holland was a lefty, and had little power (4 HR in 532 AB in ’11), and Joey Koka behind him was not valued very highly in any way. Brownie struck out both of them to end his day with a dozen strikeouts after seven innings. Fujita would also go seven, striking out nine, but remained on the short end. Law Rockburn got three outs from three Elks in the top of the eighth, setting up Angel Casas, who had Gilbert, Higashi, and Moore for second lunch. 3-0 Brownies!! Quebell 2-3, BB, RBI; Brown 7.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 12 K, W (14-7) and 1-3, 2B, RBI;

In other news

September 6 – The Pacifics will shut down SP Brad Smith (15-6, 2.25 ERA) for a few weeks as the 27-year old right-hander is dealing with a sore elbow. The Pacifics are nine ahead of the Warriors in the West and can easily get away with this.
September 9 – The Scorpions’ rookie SP William Kay (9-9, 4.05 ERA) needs knee reconstruction surgery after tearing pretty much everything, including the ACL, on a defensive play. He figures to be out well into the 2012 season.
September 11 – NYC SP A.J. Bartels (14-7, 3.13 ERA) is out for the year with a torn flexor tendon in his elbow, but should be healed up by Opening Day in 2012.
September 11 – SFW MR Dan Nordahl (4-4, 2.52 ERA, 8 SV) has been diagnosed with a tear in his labrum and is lost for the season.

Complaints and stuff

The next Raccoons loss will be their 2,800th in regular season play. Who dares to accept that shame?

What I rarely get to talk about relating to Nick Brown – with the news of his death apparently greatly exaggerated (since the beginning of August: 8 GS, 57.1 IP, 5-3, 2 SHO, 1.88 ERA, 6 BB, 69 K!); and I sure like to talk about him whenever possible – is where he is positioned in career strikeouts against the whole league and not only with an eye on Kisho Saito. First, Kisho Saito is 11th in career strikeouts with 2,800 (2,322 for Portland), but with his Monday performance against the Crusaders, Brownie broke past Jason O’Halloran into the top 30 on the all-time ABL leaderboard. O’Halloran is 39 and reduced to about nothing at all by now. He was unsigned until August 15, when the Loggers picked him up for some trash can innings, but he has only gotten into one game since and struck out only one batter, Richmond’s Bruce Boyle. Those two combined are 80 years old, by the way.

With Sunday’s splendid outing against the Elks, Brown also jumped over Ricardo Torres. So, how does the path into the top 20 look like right now?

ABL CAREER STRIKEOUTS – 20th THROUGH 30th

20th – Angel Romero – 2,499
21st – Dennis Fried – 2,455 (yep, that Dennis Fried)
22nd – Juan Correa – 2,427 (HOF)
23rd – David Castillo – 2,378
24th – John Douglas – 2,320
25th – Steve Rogers – 2,319
t-26th – Doug Morrow – 2,295
t-26th – Alfonso Velasco – 2,295
28th – Jou Hara – 2,289
29th – NICK BROWN – 2,277
30th – Ricardo Torres – 2,273

No active pitchers among these (but three that were Coons at one point); the only active pitchers with more strikeouts than Brownie are:

3rd – Tony Hamlyn – 3,280 (trailing HOF Woody Roberts by 33, and future HOF Martin Garcia by 503)
6th – Javier Cruz – 3,018
9th – Chris York – 2,889
19th – Kelvin Yates – 2,501

Cruz is with the Cyclones right now and reached 3,000 on August 28, but there was no news story.

It's a holiday over here - not Cinco de Mayo, although I completely befuddled a few of the ladies in the office with that yesterday; ah, great fun was had! =) - and there might be another update tonight depending on how the other thing I want to try likes or hates me.