[Westheim]

Just a single series in this update. I’ve worked increasingly late all week, I’m dead tired now, and I might not get to the Coons tomorrow at all, so I will just leave this here rather than not report anything for three straight days.

Raccoons (22-16) vs. Titans (14-24) – May 16-19, 2011

We had the Titans in the thick for a 3-way battle for the division before the season, and that had not happened, at all. They were dead-last in the division, and the reasons for that were somewhat puzzling. They were batting .240 as a team, rock bottom in the league, and thus weren’t scoring many runs at all (3.85 R/G, 10th in CL). Tony “Ratface” Hamlyn, their BIG signing before the season, was scuffling so badly – he had a 5.8 K/9 and a 3.15 ERA. Why is a 3.15 ERA so bad? Well, that’s merely his worst single season ERA … ever. The pen was a mess, and they were neither playing the power game, nor the running game very well. They were a complete dumpster fire. We have beaten them in the season series three years in a row, including 10-8 in 2010.

Projected matchups:
Gil McDonald (1-4, 4.19 ERA) vs. Jesus Cabrera (2-5, 4.38 ERA)
Nick Brown (5-2, 3.17 ERA) vs. Ron Carter (2-3, 5.55 ERA)
Jong-hoo Umberger (3-2, 2.49 ERA) vs. Chester Graham (1-2, 4.03 ERA)
Colin Baldwin (3-2, 2.05 ERA) vs. Mauro Castro (2-4, 5.36 ERA)

We won’t have to see Hamlyn to return to dominance in Portland, though, unless they would send him in on short rest. Chester Graham should be the only left-hander for the Raccoons in this series.

Jon Merritt was not in the lineup on Monday, being officially listed with a “mild abdominal strain” after taking one in the nuts on Sunday. He was given as being day-to-day.

Game 1
BOS: SS M. Rivera – CF J. Gusmán – RF R. Garcia – C Suda – LF G. Rios – 1B Hayashi – 2B J. Ramirez – 3B E. Salazar – P Cabrera
POR: CF T. Castro – SS Palmer – LF Pruitt – RF Morales – 2B Nomura – 1B Quebell – C Bowen – 3B M. Gutierrez – P McDonald

McDonald retired the first five Titans before Tokimune Hayashi socked a home run in the second inning to send the Titans up 1-0. Jesus Ramirez and Edgar Salazar both hit hard singles before McDonald drilled Cabrera with an 0-2 pitch. With the bases loaded, Mike Rivera popped out to center to end the inning. The Coons appeared to get going early, but after stranding pairs of runners in the first and second innings, and never scoring, they fell first into a snooze in the middle innings, and by the sixth into stupidity. There, Pruitt reached to start the inning by wrestling a walk from Jesus Cabrera. After Morales fouled out, Pruitt was picked off first by Cabrera, one pitch before Nomura singled, whom Cabrera then balked to second base. He was left there, the fifth runner stranded in scoring position for the Raccoons, when Quebell’s drive to deep center was caught by Javier Gusmán. They made the half dozen full by the next inning, when Bowen’s leadoff walk didn’t lead to anything. Gil McDonald’s seven innings of 3-hit ball left him on the short end, that short end grew shorter by the eighth. Pat Slayton faced three batters, giving up two singles, and Ron Thrasher couldn’t get out of there and conceded the lead run on a Hayashi single. The Titans used their former closer Charlie Deacon in the eighth and sent Dan Parker, whom they put even more hope in than in Deacon, in the ninth. Adrian Quebell doubled off the lefty to start the inning, which brought up the tying run with nobody out. He became the seventh Raccoon stranded in scoring position after an Ayers single moved him to third with two outs, only for Castro to pop out. 2-0 Titans. Pruitt 2-2, 2 BB; Ayers (PH) 1-1; McDonald 7.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, L (1-5);

Goddamnit, they’re ****…

Game 2
BOS: SS M. Rivera – CF J. Gusmán – RF R. Garcia – C J. Flores – 1B Hayashi – 2B J. Ramirez – LF Summers – 3B E. Salazar – P Carter
POR: 3B Merritt – 2B Nomura – LF Pruitt – CF Morales – 1B Quebell – C Bowen – RF Taylor – SS Palmer – P Brown

The sparkle that Nick Brown showed in his last start until the floods washed it away never quite developed in this Tuesday night affair. Mainly the blame was on Jose Flores’ 2-run homer in the first inning. Gusmán hit a homer in the third inning to set the Titans firmly ahead at 3-0, and for a long time this looked like another completely fruitless affair that would end in a mind-crippling shutout. The Raccoons didn’t even get to strand runners in scoring position – they didn’t get on base in the first place, but Craig Bowen whacked a 2-piece in the bottom of the sixth that rudely interrupted Ron Carter’s shutout-in-progress. Brownie was left on second base in the seventh inning after first getting Michael Palmer killed with a crappy bunt. At least he didn’t allow any more damage through eight innings, striking out eight and walking none, which in general was a good sign. Outside of Ricardo Garcia’s single before the Flores homer and the two dingers themselves, he allowed only one more baserunner, so trailing 3-2 was especially bitter. But we had another chance to at least take him off that grisly butcher’s hook, if our 3-4-5 batters, all left-handed, could get through lefty Matt Collins in the bottom of the eighth. Pruitt struck out. That’s going well… But while Jose Morales was down 1-2 and might be renamed “Singus” before long, he hit a double to right center to put up pressure. Trying to shake things up, Keith Ayers was sent to bat for Quebell, with the Titans countering by sending Charlie Deacon to the mound again. Ayers lined a 1-0 pitch to left, Barry Summers missed it just barely and had to chase it almost all the way to the wall. Double, tied ballgame! That was all, unfortunately, after Bowen struck out and Taylor made a super-soft third out, fluffy as a kitten. Taylor was out after that with Ayers remaining in the game, and Howell entering at short with Palmer moving to first base, and Palmer led off the bottom of the ninth once Pat Slayton booked half rations with a leadoff walk Ricardo Garcia in the top of the inning. The Coons turned a double play to end that inning, but Slayton had to work out the hard way after issuing another leadoff walk in the 10th. In between innings, the Coons had put Howell (single) and Yoshi (walk) on, but Pruitt had rolled out to keep the game going. Jose Morales reached on a Gerardo Rios error in the bottom 10th, in which we faced “Dodo” Iwase, a right-hander. Ayers grounded to short, but Rivera had trouble to get the ball out of his glove and that cost the Titans the double play, only Ayers getting thrown out at first, with Morales remaining on second base. Craig Bowen got to be the hero: he lofted a shallow liner over Ramirez into right, and Morales had a good look at it and got going early enough to score, as the Raccoons walked off. 4-3 Raccoons. Morales 2-5, 2B; Quebell 2-3; Ayers (PH) 1-2, 2B, RBI; Bowen 2-5, HR, 3 RBI; Palmer 2-4; Howell 1-1; Brown 8.0 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 8 K; Slayton 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 K, W (1-0);

After this game, we placed Lawrence Rockburn on the DL. He has suffered a sprained ankle, and it’s quite a bad sprain. He is not expected back until the All Star break, which is quite a bad blow to this bullpen that has already shed two players to AAA for heavy sucking. We brought up Josh Gibson (3.77 ERA in AAA) to take over the empty spot, but this also means that Pat Slayton has moved up to pitch the eighth inning against right-handed lineups, and I don’t like that one bite.

I forgot to specify whether two leadoff walks in a game should net you quarter rations (half of half rations). Well, we can’t afford anybody actually starving, so perhaps you shouldn’t be able to actually half your rations more than once in a game.

Looking into their dark, hungry eyes is hard. I love them after all.

Most of the time.

Game 3
BOS: SS M. Rivera – CF J. Gusmán – RF R. Garcia – C J. Flores – LF G. Rios – 1B Hayashi – 2B J. Ramirez – 3B E. Salazar – P Graham
POR: 3B Merritt – SS Palmer – LF Pruitt – CF Morales – RF Ayers – 2B Nomura – C Bowen – 1B Quebell – P Umberger

Mucky weather kept the crowd low, but a game was still played in Coon City, intermittently. No team was in a mood to score through four innings, and with all the poor contact that was generated you were even tempted to call this a pitching duel. There was a short rain delay in the fifth inning, not even 20 minutes, and when play resumed, Keith Ayers single-handedly ruined Umberger’s day. He looked in awe at a liner Jesus Ramirez hit to right, and got moving way too late to make a play, having it bounce in for a double. Umberger then handed a single to Chester Graham with an 0-2 pitch with two outs, and that single ended up with Ayers as well. There was a shot at the runner at the plate, but Ayers’ throw was catastrophically wild and the run scored in unearned fashion on the error. The next time Ramirez was up, he hit another double past Ayers, this one scoring a run with two outs in the sixth. While the offense and defense were already ****, the pitching chimed in. Chester Graham hit a leadoff double off Tommy Ward in the top 7th and scored on Mike Rivera’s follow-up double to run the score to 3-0. Rivera would be caught stealing third base by Craig Bowen, but the damage kept being done. Sergio Vega joined about everybody else on half rations with a leadoff walk in the eighth.

The Coons would bring up the tying run in the bottom 8th after singles by Morales and Ayers with one out. Dan Parker replaced Graham at that point, prompting a move to hit for Yoshi with Travis Owens after Howell had already been used before, and Owens singled to center, with Morales scoring from second base. 3-1 Coons, runners on first and second for Bowen, who flew out to left. Quebell grounded out to Jesus Ramirez to end the inning. The tying run was up again in the bottom 9th. “Dodo” Iwase got Tomas Castro, hitting for Vega, to ground out on a 3-1 pitch to start the ninth, but Jon Merritt hit a single. Michael Palmer grounded hard to Ron Brantley at first as well, but Brantley was caught out by a wicked bounce and the ball entered his pants through the left leg and left through the right, giving the Coons the tying runs on for Pruitt and Morales against the righty Iwase. Pruitt singled to center on the first pitch, loading them up for Morales. Never before would we have liked a homer more than here, but at least Morales kept the line moving with a full count walk he drew. That brought up Keith Ayers, so far the goat of the day. We could hit with Logan Taylor here, who was the last man on the bench, but the idea didn’t thrill me. Ayers hit the first pitch to right – past Brantley! Palmer in, tied ballgame! But the Coons failed to walk off. Owens grounded to first, with Brantley firing home to get Pruitt, and then Manuel Gutierrez rolled out to Iwase to send the game to extras. When the Raccoons refused to win it after the Titans gave them a chance with erroneous fielding, the Titans were glad to pick up the opportunity as it arose in the 11th. Jon Merritt put pinch-hitter Hideaki “Quasimodo” Suda on base with a clumsy error, and Quebell couldn’t do anything with a Ramirez grounder that became an infield single. From there, Ricardo Huerta unraveled, the Titans scored two runs and claimed game 3 for themselves. 5-3 Titans. Pruitt 3-6; Morales 2-5, BB, 2B, RBI; Ayers 2-4, BB, RBI; Owens (PH) 1-2, RBI; Howell (PH) 1-1; Vega 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 K;

The offense sucks so tremendously, I’m close to trading for Ron Alston. Or Daniel Sharp. Even Sharpie might help us. Heck, even Alarico Violante might help us now. Violante with the 1990-91 Coons: .191/.208/.319 …

Jon Merritt is on pace for 25 errors. Well, then we could have stayed with Ricardo Martinez as well…

Game 4
BOS: SS M. Rivera – 2B J. Ramirez – RF R. Garcia – C J. Flores – CF J. Gusmán – LF Hayashi – 1B G. Rios – 3B E. Salazar – P M. Castro
POR: 3B Merritt – CF T. Castro – LF Pruitt – RF Morales – 2B Nomura – C Owens – 1B Quebell – SS Palmer – P Baldwin

Two perfect innings to start the game dipped Colin Baldwin’s ERA under 2 for the season, which didn’t sound right and would probably soon be rectified. So when the Critters had their first three men on in the bottom 2nd, singles by Morales and Owens sandwiching Nomura getting hammered with a pitch, scoring was imperative, and scoring they did, shoving half a dozen runs across in the inning by simply keeping the line moving. Quebell, Palmer, and Baldwin all hit RBI singles, two to right and one to left, before Merritt struck out. Castro hit another RBI single, Pruitt walked in a run, and Morales hit a sac fly. Yoshi also reached on a single before Owens flew out to Garcia. And then the Titans started to adjust Baldwin’s ERA. Gerardo Rios and Edgar Salazar started the top 3rd with singles, and they would score on a Rivera single and a groundout, but the runs were put right back into the bottom line by the Coons in the bottom of the inning. With Mauro Castro removed in favor of Dusty Balzer, Quebell and Palmer got on, were bunted over by Baldwin, and scored on Jon Merritt’s single, 8-2. The Titans would have the leadoff man on base with singles in each of the next two innings, but didn’t score, while the Coons reached double digits in the fourth. First, Michael Palmer hit his first home run as a Raccoon, and then Balzer and Parker gave up four walks between them to shove in the tenth run.

Top 6th, Baldwin was put on half rations after a wild leadoff walk to Ricardo Garcia. Jose Flores homered to cut the gap to six, and Baldwin would not retire another batter, with Javier Gusmán singling, and Hayashi and Rios drawing walks to chase him. Ricardo Huerta replaced him and did some fine damage containment by getting two grounders from Edgar Salazar – turned into a double play by Yoshi – and PH Alexis Legendre to keep the score at 10-5. We faced ex-Coon Rémy Lucas, who had saved the 11-inning game the day before, in the bottom 6th. In full counts, Yoshi struck out, but Owens walked, and Quebell hit a single after that. Keith Ayers hit for Huerta with two outs and rammed the first pitch to deep left center – HOMER!! Some wild scoring here in Coon City!

After Tommy Ward got two outs from Rivera and Ramirez to start the seventh in the wicked 13-5 game, Josh Gibson came in, faced three batters, threw three pitches, and surrendered three rockets. Garcia doubled to left, Flores singled to center, and Castro suffered second-degree burns to two paws when he caught Gusmán’s howling shot mid-air in deep center, then got the two other claws broken on a Ramirez drive into his direction, catching that to strand three in the eighth. That came with Ron Thrasher pitching. Gibson had departed after four batters, retiring only Salazar with a K. The Coons scored a run on a Logan Taylor single in the bottom of the inning before Sergio Vega actually struck out the side in the top of the ninth. 14-5 Furballs. Castro 2-4, BB, RBI; Taylor (PH) 1-1, RBI; Morales 2-4, RBI; Nomura 2-4; Quebell 4-5, RBI; Palmer 2-4, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Ayers (PH) 1-1, HR, 3 RBI;

In other news

May 18 – LAP CL Risto Mäkelä (3-1, 1.42 ERA, 8 SV) is out for up to 12 months with a torn flexor tendon.
May 19 – The Bayhawks deal OF Don Cameron (.319, 2 HR, 13 RBI) to the Capitals for 38-year old 1B Roberto Vargas (.212, 1 HR, 15 RBI) and a prospect.

Complaints and stuff

…zzzzzzz….