[Westheim]

Originally Posted by pgjocki

So, is it to soon to start thinking about next year? Maybe the owner will give you an extra $3 million or so to "go for it".

We've been thinking about next year for about 10 years. When exactly is that supposed to bring about improvement?

+++

(calmly leans against the railing in the front of the second deck along the first base side of the ballpark with Dr. Padilla, nibbling peanuts, watching Nick Valdes chase the pigeons on the field below)

I know, Dr. Padilla, that man needs help. But for the time being, can we just enjoy the free entertainment? – I am pretty sure the pigeons would agree with that assessment. – But before the game starts tonight, how about drugging him senseless so he doesn’t go on our stripes?

Oh, Dr. Padilla … you and your oath!

(Art Goetz’ black snout and whiskers pop up over the bowl with peanuts)

Raccoons (58-59) vs. Rebels (54-65) – August 12-14, 2041

The Rebs were last in the FL East, which was a position the Raccoons might yet find themselves in if they kept playing like THIS. They were 10th in runs scored, eighth in runs allowed, and somehow had a better run differential than the routinely outscored Raccoons, -35 compared to -58. We had last played them in ’39, winning two of three, and had taken the last two series from them.

Projected matchups:
Josh Brown (10-5, 3.88 ERA) vs. Casey Pinter (9-6, 3.12 ERA)
Terry Garrigan (1-2, 7.36 ERA) vs. Danny Tankersley (5-7, 4.31 ERA)
Nelson Moreno (8-9, 5.02 ERA) vs. Julian Ponce (10-9, 3.15 ERA)

Not one, but TWO left-handed pitchers in this set! It would be those on the book ends, sandwiching the right-hander Tankersley.

Yes, Art, I said “sandwich”. – Art, no. – Art, get out of the snack bowl. – Don’t you have to be in uniform??

Game 1
RIC: C Alicea – LF P. Gonzalez – 1B Liberos – RF Ritchey – 3B Frazier – 2B K. Elder – CF Imler – SS Cabral – P Pinter
POR: SS Hunter – 2B Trevino – CF Maldonado – C Kilmer – 1B Goetz – RF Ito – LF Reyna – 3B Trawick – P Brown

Brown struck out five the first time through the order while the Raccoons scored one run when Maldonado doubled home Tony Hunter, who had been hit with a pitch, in the first inning, and Rikuto Ito hit a solo homer in the second inning, going up 2-0. Ramon Alicea answered with a leadoff jack in the fourth inning, getting the Rebs back to within a run, although Cosmo would single home Trawick in the next frame to restore the 2-run gap. Jeff Kilmer added a solo jack in the sixth, mashing a ball over the fence in dead center, but Josh Brown then ran out of steam in the seventh. Josh Frazier and Kenny Elder hit singles and reached scoring position after a Chris Imler groundout for the second out, prompting Nick Valdes to announce that bad things would happen if the Raccoons blew the lead here. Which was probably true – first, they’d blow the lead. And second, maybe Valdes would explode and splatter goo into the snack bowl. No such thing happened – Chuck Jones struck out Ramon Cabral to end the inning.

In the eighth, though, Tim Zimmerman logged only one out before putting the 1-2-3 batters on base and being replaced by Alex Ramirez. Joe Ritchey struck out and Josh Frazier flew out to Maldonado to strand a full set. Valdes continued to grumble anyway. The Coons missed the knockout blow in the eighth inning when Reyna and Trawick went to the corners and Manny Fernandez pinch-hit for Ramirez with two outs, but struck out in a full count. Instead, the 4-1 lead went to lightly-engaged Wyatt Hamill, who sawed off the Rebels 1-2-3 in the ninth to end the Critters’ 5-game spill. 4-1 Raccoons. Trevino 2-4, 2B, RBI; Maldonado 2-4, 2B, RBI; Trawick 1-1, 3 BB; Brown 6.2 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 9 K, W (11-5);

Will the Raccoons now rally and win their way to a division title? Nick? Are you serious??

(Valdes draws a snoot while the GM, Maud, Slappy, Cristiano, and Dr. Padilla all roll around laughing)

Game 2
RIC: CF P. Moore – SS Cabral – RF Ritchey – 1B Liberos – LF P. Gonzalez – 3B Frazier – C K. Morris – 2B DeGroote – P Tankersley
POR: 3B Ramos – SS Hunter – LF Fernandez – CF Maldonado – C Morales – 2B Trevino – 1B Goetz – RF Balaski – P Garrigan

The Raccoons took a lead in the first, Maldonado driving in both Hunter and Fernandez with a liner to right for a 2-0 edge, but there was Terry Garrigan on the mound, so we were probably doomed anyway. Nick DeGroote hit an RBI double in the second, of course, but the run was actually unearned after an error Art Goetz that placed Josh Frazier on base to begin with. The Rebs tied the game in the third; Paul Moore ripped a leadoff triple, although it took until a Manny Liberos grounder to score him. In between, Cabral was out on a grounder to first and Joe Ritchey walked. Pablo Gonzalez ended the inning with a fly to center. – What is it, Nick? – No, we don’t have a better pitcher available. – No, I don’t think we can borrow Rich Willett or somebody for the occasion whenever you come around.

After a leadoff walk to Manny Fernandez in the bottom 3rd, Maldonado hit a gapper for an RBI double, giving the Critters the lead again, 3-2. In a perfect world, the Raccoons would have scored a runner on second with no outs, but instead grounded out, struck out, and … struck out. Berto singled home Balaski in the fourth, though, 4-2. In return, the Rebels erased Terry Garrigan wholly and fully in the fifth inning. Leadoff walk by Moore, Ritchey single, Liberos double, Gonzalez homer, and 4-2 had become 6-4 in favor of the other team. Garrigan was excused from further contribution to our misery, and ended up on waivers the same day. Jon Craig cocked up a run the following inning on two hits, and Clark was taken deep by Frazier in the seventh for another run. The Raccoons stood around watching with interest, or at least with their eyes open, but didn’t even reach second base again until the eighth inning against reliever Jesse Beggs, who then gave up a leadoff jack to Manny in the bottom 9th, which was also a case of too little, too late. 8-5 Rebels. Ramos 3-5, RBI; Fernandez 3-4, BB, HR, RBI; Maldonado 3-5, 2B, 3 RBI;

Garrigan was axed as indicated. Having gone 1-1 with a 6.57 ERA for Denver, he had upped his game to go 0-2 with a 9.95 ERA for the Raccoons. With off days beckoning on Thursday and Monday, the Raccoons didn’t need a fifth starter until the following weekend, so did not call up one. Instead, Josh Rella was added to the bullpen.

Yes, Nick, you may hustle over to your yacht real quick and harpoon Garrigan as he makes his way to the train station.

Game 3
RIC: CF P. Moore – C Alicea – RF Ritchey – 1B Liberos – LF P. Gonzalez – 3B Frazier – SS Cabral – 2B K. Elder – P Ponce
POR: SS Hunter – 2B Trevino – LF Fernandez – CF Maldonado – C Kilmer – RF Ito – 1B Goetz – 3B Trawick – P Moreno

Two singles and a wild pitch gave the Rebels a run in the first inning against routinely crummy Nelson Moreno. The Coons countered with singles by Hunter (who was forced out by Cosmo) and Maldo, a Kilmer walk, and then a bases-loaded RBI single up the middle poked by Ito to tie the game before Goetz poked out to Liberos on a 2-1 pitch to end the inning. After Moreno gave up the 17th homer of the year to Joe Ritchey, a single to Liberos, another wild pitch, and a monstrous 16th homer to Pablo Gonzalez, Nick Valdes sniped that if this was what I was putting his money into, maybe I shouldn’t be getting so much money!! Unable to argue with this reasoning, I stuck my snout deeper into a bucket of Capt’n Coma and razor blades.

Maldonado hit a jack to left in the bottom of the inning, collecting Manny to cut the gap to 4-3, and while the problem of the struggling, ****-out-of-luck sophomore that couldn’t pitch to a basket of strawberries without getting burned by it remained on the mound, the Raccoons actually tied up the game in the fifth. That run, too, was driven in by Maldonado with a 2-out single that cashed Hunter. Kilmer walked after that, but the inning ended on an Ito grounder. Moreno was left without a decision, being yanked for Chuck Jones (who fanned Cabral) with two outs and Gonzalez on second base in the top 6th. Cabral then threw away Goetz’ grounder for two bases at the start of the bottom 6th, and Jake Trawick snuck a single to right to put Critters on the corners. Berto hit for Jones, but made a poor out to Liberos, however, Hunter hit a sac fly to take the lead, and Cosmo tacked one on with a single to left to score Trawick.

The Rebs whacked three singles for a run off David Lindstrom in the seventh inning, narrowing the score to 6-5, with Josh Rella having to dig him out of the jam by getting Ritchey to fly out to Ito. While the eighth was uneventful, Wyatt Hamill allowed a leadoff single to Jonathan Fleming in the ninth inning. The runner moved up on Kenny Elder’s groundout. Kevin Morris struck out. Paul Moore, though, flew to center, over Maldonado’s head, and tied the game at six. Thanks, Nick, for pointing out that we need to catch that ball. – Yes, Nick, then we would have been winners.

Nothing happened in the ninth or tenth innings as far as the Raccoons’ bats against righty Lazaro Ochoa were concerned. Hamill in the 10th and Craig in the 11th held the Rebs at bay, the latter entering in a double switch that replaced Goetz with Reyna at first base. Reyna hit a 1-out single off Ochoa in the bottom 11th, stole second, reached third on a wild pitch, then watched as the Rebs half-heartedly walked Hunter to set up a double play. The point was moot, though: Cosmo zipped a single to center, ending the game after all. 7-6 Critters. Trevino 2-6, 2 RBI; Fernandez 2-5; Maldonado 3-5, HR, 3 RBI; Morales (PH) 1-1; Reyna 1-1;

Raccoons (60-60) @ Loggers (71-50) – August 16-18, 2041

The Raccoons had not had much fun against the Loggers in recent memory – and were down 8-4 in this year’s season series – and there was little reason to expect this one to go any different way. The Loggers led the division (better than them the damn Elks…), and needed the wins. They were third in runs scored, fourth in runs allowed, but their rotation was rather wonky. They had only two starting pitchers doing better than a 4.24 ERA.

Projected matchups:
Drew Johnson (6-10, 4.11 ERA) vs. Sal Chavez (10-10, 4.24 ERA)
Bernie Chavez (8-9, 3.99 ERA) vs. Carlos Padilla (6-9, 5.26 ERA)
Josh Brown (11-5, 3.76 ERA) vs. Adam Giovenco (7-4, 4.62 ERA)

We’d not see any rotation personnel with an ERA better than 4.24 (also: no lefty), and we’d probably still get swept, somehow.

But we didn’t take a loss on Friday! The reason was steady rain that prevented the game from even starting. Elsewhere, games *did* get started, but there were no fewer than THREE rain-shortened games on this Friday. [more below] For the Coons’ part, they had a double header scheduled for Saturday, but we already had eight relievers on staff, so there was no immediate problem.

Game 1
POR: 3B Ramos – SS Hunter – LF Fernandez – CF Maldonado – C Morales – 2B Trevino – 1B Goetz – RF Balaski – P Johnson
MIL: CF Cannizzard – SS Del Vecchio – 1B Brayboy – 3B Paul – C F. Gomez – LF Hertenstein – RF J. Nelson – 2B V. Acosta – P S. Chavez

Drew Johnson initially was the luckiest bastard on the planet while he pitched; having no problem shuffling runners on base, he got inning-ending double plays turned in the first, and the second (both 6-4-3) and the third innings (4-3 on a liner), when the Loggers had drawn a total of two hits and three walks to crowd him. Because baseball is also weird and makes no sense, the Loggers then went down in order in each of the three middle innings, while the Raccoons were also being 2-hit by Sal Chavez, being shabby throughout. They also drew three walks, just like the Loggers did against Drew Johnson. Jared Paul’s sudden homer tore apart the pleasant tranquility of a still-soggy Saturday appetizer, giving the Loggers a 1-0 lead with one out in the seventh. Felipe Gomez doubled after that, but was stranded. Johnson hung around long enough to give up another single to Victor Acosta leading off the bottom 8th, then got to watch Brent Clark fool around long enough to have that run score, too. The Raccoons entered the ninth being 3-hit, but now faced Kurt Crater. Tony Morales walked for the umpteenth time in the game, but that was already with one out. Cosmo was no help, but Goetz hit a single to right-center, and Morales chugged it all the way to third base with the lead run. Balaski hit a fly to deep center, but Tyler Prestwood was there to end the game. 2-0 Loggers. Hunter 2-3, 2B; Morales 0-1, 3 BB; Johnson 7.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 3 K, L (6-11);

Game 2
POR: 3B Ramos – 2B Trevino – LF Fernandez – C Kilmer – CF Reyna – RF Ito – 1B Goetz – SS Nickas – P B. Chavez
MIL: CF Cannizzard – SS Del Vecchio – 1B Brayboy – 3B Paul – RF Duncan – LF Hertenstein – C H. Alvarez – 2B V. Acosta – P C. Padilla

Carlos Padilla lasted one batter before leaving with an injury, yielding to left-hander Daniel Miller (1-0, 2.16 ERA), which didn’t affect the Raccoons so much given that our lineup was alternating left-handers with right-handers and switch-hitters throughout, except for the pitcher’s spot. Padilla and Miller combined to retire the first eight Coons up in the box until Bernie Chavez knocked a double to right and scored on Berto’s subsequent single to put Portland up 1-0. Ramos was stranded, as were Reyna and Ito when Art Goetz grounded out in the fourth inning. Instead, dastardly Ted Del Vecchio ripped a leadoff triple off Bernie Chavez in the bottom 4th, and Chavez was shaken enough to surrender a score-flipping homer to Aaron Brayboy right afterwards…

The lead was flipped back in the top 5th, with Nickas and Berto reaching base. Cosmo grounded out, moving them into scoring position, and both scored on Manny’s single shoved through between Victor Acosta and the annoying Brayboy. Kilmer whiffed, which for my taste still beat his next plate appearance when he came up to bat with Berto and Manny on the bases and one out in the seventh and got struck in the paw by a Mario Bojorques fastball. In great physical discomfort, Kilmer had to come out of the game, with Tony Morales strapping the old gear back on after having caught the day’s first eight defensive innings. Running for Kilmer though was Jake Trawick. That turned out to be the waste of a player when Miguel Reyna belted a homer to right – GRAAAAAAAAAND SLAAAAAAAAAMMMM!!!

Bernie Chavez made it through seven without giving up a run, mostly because Reyna threw out Daniel Hertenstein at home plate on a Hector Alvarez double in the bottom 7th, preserving the 7-2 lead. The Coons stretched that by one run in the eighth on a collection of happy accidents, like Nickas getting hit, Maldonado legging out an infield single, and Cosmo beating the return throw in bang-bang fashion to break up a double play and getting Nickas across from third base after all. That was the final run of the game; David Lindstrom and Josh Rella would pitch scoreless innings to finish off the Loggers. 8-2 Raccoons. Ramos 1-2, 2 BB; Fernandez 2-4, BB, 2 RBI; Reyna 2-5, HR, 4 RBI; Ito 2-4; Maldonado (PH) 1-1; Chavez 7.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, W (9-9) and 1-2, 2B;

Sooo, a Chavez has won both of the first two games of the set.

Do we have another Chavez?

That was a no, and we also had a slight catcher’s problem on Sunday, with Jeff Kilmer ruled day-to-day with a bruised, but not broken, paw. The Raccoons reacted by exchanging Josh Rella for catcher Chris Lancaster, even if he wouldn’t play after all.

Game 3
POR: SS Hunter – 2B Trevino – LF Fernandez – CF Maldonado – C Morales – 1B Reyna – RF Ito – 3B Trawick – P Brown
MIL: CF Cannizzard – SS Del Vecchio – 3B Paul – 1B Brayboy – LF Hertenstein – C F. Gomez – RF Duncan – 2B V. Acosta – P Giovenco

Brown was torn up in the first inning; Del Vecchio, the ********, walked, and Aaron Brayboy, the *********, hit an RBI single with two outs. A throw to home plate by Maldonado was late, but allowed Brayboy to second, and they were on the corners after a Hertenstein single. Felipe Gomez then ripped a 2-run double through Trawick to make it 3-0 before Nick Duncan popped out. Once more, the Raccoons had nothing cooking against a mediocre pitcher, and while the Loggers let go of Brown after that first inning, the Raccoons didn’t get more than three scattered hits off Giovenco through six. Manny Fernandez hit a leadoff double in the seventh, which then saw him score on Maldo’s single, and everybody looked surprised because it was so unexpected. Then Maldonado was caught stealing, which was a much more familiar sight… The Raccoons responded with Brown putting two scrubs on base and Ramirez conceding the runs on another single by colossal ******** Ted Del Vecchio.

Top 8th, Berto hit for Trawick, but made an out, before Goetz and Hunter reached against Cesar Perez. Lefty Marvin Verduzco replaced Perez, but gave up a socked RBI double to Cosmo Trevino, putting the tying run in the box with one out. Manny popped out, but Maldonado shot a ball up the rightfield line for a 2-run single with two outs, 5-4. Tony Morales grounded out to end the inning. Jon Craig retired the 6-7-8 batters in the bottom 8th, bringing up Crater with no cushion and the Coons’ own 6-7-8 batters (but with Berto having replaced Trawick). Reyna grounded out before Balaski hit for Ito and singled, and so did Berto. Then Jon Craig needed pinch-hitting for. There was Nickas on the bench, and Lancaster, and Kilmer. Kilmer was begging to hit despite the bruised paw. Kilmer got to hit. He hit a grounder to short that the Loggers almost fumbled and got only one out on, with runners on the corners then for Hunter with two outs. He had the count run full, then hit a fly to left. Hertenstein caught it. 5-4 Loggers. Fernandez 2-4, 2B; Maldonado 2-4, 3 RBI; Balaski (PH) 1-1; Goetz (PH) 1-1;

In other news

August 14 – The Miners beat the Indians, 7-5, mostly on the contributions of catcher Giampaolo Petroni (.233, 15 HR, 56 RBI), who whacks five hits, a triple shy of the cycle, and drives in four runs in the game.
August 14 – NAS C Jorge Santa Cruz (.267, 16 HR, 56 RBI) breaks a 19-inning deadlock with the Canadiens with a homer in the top of the inning, giving the Blue Sox a 2-1 lead. Triumph turns to tragedy though with NAS RF/LF/3B Josh Stevenson (.231, 0 HR, 0 RBI), who drops Johnny Lopez’ 2-out fly ball for an error, allowing VAN OF Jerry Outram (.354, 18 HR, 66 RBI) to score with the tying run. Two further singles off NAS MR Juan Espudo (2-2, 2.44 ERA, 1 SV) give the Canadiens a 3-2 walkoff win.
August 14 – NYC OF/3B Joe Graf (.299, 5 HR, 32 RBI) goes yard in the sixth inning for the only offense in the Crusaders’ 1-0 win over the Cyclones.
August 14 – The Thunder’s SP Juan Ramos (5-8, 3.45 ERA) is out for the year with a partial tear in his labrum.
August 15 – All runs in the Pacifics’ 3-1 win over the Knights score in the 10th inning.
August 16 – On a stormy day in the central U.S., the Raccoons-Loggers game is rained out, while the Federal League sees *three* rain-shortened games. The Stars beat the Wolves, 4-1, and the Blue Sox beat the Miners, 8-1, both in seven innings each, while the Pacifics notch a 2-1, 6-inning win over the Gold Sox.
August 18 – With an RBI single in an 8-5 loss over the Titans, New York’s OF/3B Joe Graf (.307, 5 HR, 34 RBI) has a 20-game hitting streak.

FL Player of the Week: BOS RF/LF Sean Calais (.283, 3 HR, 39 RBI), hitting .565 (13-23) with 4 RBI
CL Player of the Week: POR UT Jesus Maldonado (.322, 8 HR, 48 RBI), batting .478 (11-23) with 1 HR, 10 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Maldo! Whee!

Apart from that… Meh week. 3-3. Looked clueless. Soggy hitting. Putrid pitching. We did score more than we gave up, but that was mostly on the Loggers losing their starter in the second half of a double-header as soon as the poor guy came out of the bullpen.

Terry Garrigan went unclaimed while on waivers, and got his release on the weekend. The trades we do. We’ll need a fifth starter by the weekend. We could bring up Mathers again, or use Montano from his rehab assignment.

We will NOT bring up Jason Wheatley. Highly esteemed as a prospect (#26), he has his struggles at AAA, walking more than he strikes out since being promoted there in June. I have no concern that this is a permanent problem, and he turned 21 just this month. He also does not have to be protected on the 40-man roster this fall, so there is no reason to burn him in two ill-advised spot starts for an ERA of yucky dimensions.

We can just use Montano, who is already burned all over.

No off day left after Monday’s. We’ll play five straight sets, 17 games in 16 days, before the next day off; remember we have two make-up double-headers in September, too. The first one comes right on the 2nd of September. We will swing through Boston on the way home. Once back in Portland we’ll see the Falcons, Knights, and Crusaders before finishing the string in Indy.

Fun Fact: The Raccoons have lost the season series to the Loggers for the third year running.

This so far happened only once before, when they actually lost it four years in a row, and yes, we’re back to the decade of darkness. 1997 to 2000 the Raccoons always lost 10+, and they never won the season series throughout the decade, with a few 9-9s sprinkled in there.