[Westheim]

Raccoons (3-3) vs. Thunder (3-3) – April 12-14, 2010

The so far pretty toothless Raccoons (meaning both their joysticks and their gloves from hell) got to face the Thunder for their home opener. The Coons would be home for two weeks with 12 games before hitting the road again at the end of the month, and both division leaders (after week 1…) were going to come in. The Thunder had been about average in both runs scored and runs allowed in the first week of the year. We had lost the season series against them in 2009, 4-5, our first loss since 2003.

Projected matchups:
Javier Cruz (0-1, 4.76 ERA) vs. Daniel Dickerson (1-0, 0.00 ERA)
Kenichi Watanabe (0-0) vs. Edgar Amador (1-0, 2.57 ERA)
Colin Baldwin (0-1, 2.70 ERA) vs. Takeru Sato (0-0, 7.50 ERA)

Yeah, finally a left-handed starter! Takeru Sato would it be, in the ninth game of the season. We know Dickerson of course as a long-time rival on the Canadiens, and OF COURSE we know the Fat Cat, whose gonna pitch in the middle game after a number of years in Dallas.

Game 1
OCT: LF Britton – RF Tom Reese – C Ledesma – 2B M. Garza – 1B Takizawa – 3B Arreola – CF Covington – SS Vieitas – P Dickerson
POR: CF Castro – 3B Merritt – RF Alston – 1B Quebell – C Bowen – LF Pruitt – SS Howell – 2B Heathershaw – P Cruz

… and the home run rut was ended by ….. Matt Pruitt! His fourth inning shot counted for two runs, collecting Ron Alston, unfortunately not until after Craig Bowen had hit into a double play in the preceding at-bat, and also unfortunately not until after an ineffective Javier Cruz had been shaken up for three early runs, including a Tom Reese homer. The shot also livened up Matt Pruitt’s sad 1-for-17 start to the season considerably. It didn’t inspire Javier Cruz to change his game plan, however, which seemed to consist in entirety of exhausting the Thunder by allowing repeated doubles. The Thunder got a fourth run off him in the sixth and he soon retired to the embowelments of Raccoons Ballpark. The Raccoons continued to be not very productive all around, but at least got Castro on with a 1-out single in the bottom 8th. With the tying run at the plate, things weren’t over yet. Except that Merritt flew out to left and Alston grounded out to Marcos Garza. Things were pretty much over then. The Raccoons got the tying run to the plate against closer Arturo Lopez when Pruitt hit a 2-out single. Ricardo Martinez batted for a pretty much lost Rob Howell, and flew out to center. 4-2 Thunder. Castro 2-3, BB; Pruitt 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Beltran 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Game 2
OCT: LF Britton – RF Tom Reese – CF J. Gonzalez – 2B M. Garza – 1B Takizawa – 3B Arreola – C Rucker – SS Vieitas – P E. Amador
POR: CF Castro – 3B Merritt – RF Alston – 1B Quebell – LF Pruitt – 2B Nomura – C Owens – SS Howell – P Watanabe

Another day, another homer, this time by Quebell in the second, a solo job and the first run of the day. Watanabe had put the first two batters on base he had faced but then settled a bit into invincible mode, while the Raccoons made exceptionally poor contact off the Fat Cat. They got a chance charitably donated in the bottom 4th when Amador walked Quebell and Nomura around a Pruitt single to load the bases with one out. Then Travis Owens logged two outs on a single pitch, six to four to three. An uneventful inning later, and with Watanabe quietly pitching six shutout innings, Amador started the bottom 6th with walks to Merritt and Alston. As it started to rain, Quebell got a 2-1 pitch into the gap in right center for an RBI double, Pruitt hit a sac fly, and Nomura singled. That’s where the rain forced a delay of 50 minutes, ending the day for both starters. When we came back, Owens hit a sac fly against Dennis Boland to get the score to 4-0. But even with Watanabe out maybe an inning earlier than what he could have gone without the weather, the Raccoons ended up in good hands with their bullpen. The Thunder would get a single off Ray Kelley in the seventh, but that was indeed all. Kelley, Sims, and Slayton finished the game without any accidents as the Coons pulled back to .500. 4-0 Coons. Quebell 2-3, BB, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Watanabe 6.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K, W (1-0);

Now comes our first left-handed opponent. We will have an off day on Thursday and then another one immediately on Monday, but I will still sit some of the regulars. Pruitt, Castro, and Nomura all were not in the starting lineup against Takeru Sato.

Game 3
OCT: C Ledesma – CF J. Gonzalez – RF Tom Reese – LF Britton – 2B M. Garza – SS J. Lugo – 1B Metting – 3B Arreola – P Sato
POR: 2B Merritt – CF White – LF Alston – C Bowen – RF Ayers – 1B Quebell – 3B R. Martinez – SS Howell – P Baldwin

The Raccoons, after Jon Merritt flew out, hit five straight singles in the bottom of the first inning, which amounted to two runs for them before Martinez hit into a double play to end that first inning. In turn in the top 2nd, Britton and Garza were sent to the corners with leadoff singles off Colin Baldwin, but Jose Lugo and Kurt Metting popped out and Ignacio Arreola grounded right back to Baldwin for an easy third out. Bottom of the inning, the Coons got two more runs on two hits, and one of those hits was Merritt getting clanked by Takeru Sato. After that, Pat White romped a pitch outta here, 4-0 Coons, and that wasn’t the last 2-spot at the start of this game. Rob Howell had runners on the corners with two outs in the bottom 3rd and lined a pitch just a few feet past Tom Reese into the gap for a double. Bowen scored easily, and Ayers was sent around third and was not out at home for once.

The middle innings were uneventful. The Coons got a run off long man William Lloyd in the sixth, before Baldwin got stuck in the top 7th and was removed with a run in and two on with two out. Law Rockburn struck out Jose Gonzalez to not have something develop. The Coons made two quick outs in the bottom 8th before all of a sudden Castro (hitting for Merritt), White, and Alston reached, but Craig Bowen grounded out. Still up by six runs, Ted Reese managed to make a cause for early demotion when he sucked so hard Angel Casas had to come into the game. Two hits, a walk, an error by Reese himself – that was two runs and two men on for Angel, who struck out Tom Reese to end the game. 7-3 Critters. Castro (PH) 1-1; White 3-4, HR, 3 RBI; Alston 2-5; Bowen 2-5, RBI; Ayers 3-4; Baldwin 6.2 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, W (1-1);

Funny thing happened. The Crusaders got swept by the Falcons, and now THEY were in last place and one game behind the Coons.

Raccoons (5-4) vs. Crusaders (4-5) – April 16-18, 2010

The Crusaders’ offense had worked really well so far, with 44 runs in nine games, but they had allowed 51 runs in the meantime, and it was almost all on the rotation, where Pancho Trevino and Manuel Hernandez had gotten flatout romped in their first two starts. We would only get one of those, but maybe there was an opening for the Coons’ ninth-place offense.

Projected matchups:
Nick Brown (2-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. Kelvin Yates (1-0, 2.57 ERA)
Jong-hoo Umberger (1-1, 4.50 ERA) vs. Pancho Trevino (0-2, 12.08 ERA)
Javier Cruz (0-2, 5.11 ERA) vs. Elwood Spurrell (1-1, 3.94 ERA)

That’s three right-handers again. What happened to all the southpaws? (Not that this isn’t in some way good for us…)

Game 1
NYC: CF R. Pena – C G. Ortíz – LF M. Ortíz – RF S. Martin – 1B Manfull – 2B Caraballo – SS J. Hernandez – 3B S. Moore – P Yates
POR: CF Castro – 3B Merritt – RF Alston – 1B Quebell – C Bowen – LF Pruitt – 2B Nomura – SS Howell – P Brown

Strikeout par-tay as our former co-aces went against another. Through three innings, there were 11 strikeouts and no hits logged on the scorecard. The first hit was a leadoff single by Gabriel Ortíz in the top 4th, but a grounder to second and another one to the pitcher by the Martin Brothers ended the inning quicker than expected by the Crusaders’ middle of the order. The Coons would also get their first hit to start the fourth inning, a leadoff triple by Jon Merritt, and our own ****ty middle of the order left him there… Alston lined out softly to B.J. Manfull, Quebell popped out to shallow left, and Bowen gave it quite the ride, but didn’t get it out of straightaway center. Instead Roberto Pena made the play and the game remained scoreless. Bottom 5th, Pruitt and Nomura hit singles to start the frame. Rob Howell grounded into a fielder’s choice that got Nomura erased before Brown grounded hard to first, but Manfull swept it up, with Howell moving on to second base. Castro sent a liner to center that looked like it would wait for Pena to come on and suck it up but then bounced in and off Pena’s chest, creating that extra second of delay to score not one, but two runs.

Meanwhile Brownie was logging away the outs with stunning efficiency, finishing the seventh with strikeout #10 to Stanton Martin, still on a one-hitter. It all looked so amazing! Top 8th, B.J. Manfull singled. Caraballo doubled, and then Julio Hernandez took a dubious walk in a full count and the bases were loaded with no outs. Hnngg. The switch-hitter Steve Moore was up, who was weaker against lefties, and Brownie had gas left. Brown went after him, whiff #11. Then the Crusaders sent Cristo Ramirez to bat for Kel Yates, and Ramirez had the second-highest career total in hits in the league, but he was old, slow, and a left-hander, and he struck out. That brought up Roberto Pena, another left-hander, not hit for, and why move out Brown for Sims now? Makes no sense, and Pena grounded out easily to Quebell on the first pitch.

(gets an oxygen mask put on by Maud) Fanks, Maub.

Not that it got much easier from here. The Coons didn’t do anything worth noting in the bottom 8th, and Angel Casas was handed the 2-0 lead in the ninth. Gabriel Ortíz grounded out before he went to full counts on both of the Martin Brothers. Ortíz walked, but Stanton was called out, but we weren’t out of the woods yet, since B.J. Manfull had a good stroke as well and was a left-hander. But Angel was on, Manfull couldn’t keep up, and struck out on a pitch right on the corner. 2-0 Brownies!! Castro 1-4, 2 RBI; Nomura 2-3; Brown 8.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 12 K, W (3-0);

BROWNIIIIEEEE!!!

Game 2
NYC: CF R. Pena – C G. Ortíz – LF M. Ortíz – RF S. Martin – 1B Manfull – SS J. Hernandez – 2B Brantley – 3B S. Moore – P Trevino
POR: CF Castro – 3B Merritt – RF Alston – 1B Quebell – C Bowen – LF Pruitt – 2B Nomura – SS Howell – P Umberger

The Crusaders hadn’t gotten to Nick Brown whatever the circumstances on Friday, but they sure as heck got to Umberger in a hurry on Saturday. Manfull singled in a pair in the first inning, and they got another run in the second, making lots of good contact as Umberger’s hit total skyrocketed. The Raccoons hit into a double play to kill their bottom of the first inning, and scuffled in the early innings against Pancho Trevino and his 12+ ERA. While they made up a run in the fourth, Rob Howell continued to be the death of all offense, coming up with two men on base in both of his first two at-bats, and twice ended the inning with a sorry soft fly for the third out. But slowly Trevino started to not make good pitches again and the Coons didn’t hit the ball on the ground all the time. Castro lined to left center for a 1-out double in the fifth, and while Merritt’s hard grounder to third base was intercepted by Moore, Ron Alston then knotted the score with his first homer of the year, a high shot to far right, 3-3.

Jong-hoo was gone after six very mixed innings, not earning a decision. Luis Beltran retired the 1-2-3 batters on short notice in the top of the seventh, while the Crusaders stayed with Trevino for another inning. Pat White hit for Beltran, grounded out, but Castro got on. Merritt flew out, Alston walked, and still no left-hander to face Quebell, who fired a rocket past Steve Moore into the leftfield corner to score not only Castro, but also Alston and gave the Greycoats a 5-3 lead. Bowen grounded out to end the seventh, with Rockburn taking over in the top 8th, but he failed to retire any of the two batters he faced, as Stanton Martin walked, and Manfull singled. When the Crusaders sent a left-hander to pinch-hit in Matt MacKey, Donald Sims replaced Rockburn and allowed got him, but then Francisco Caraballo singled and Moore walked on four pitches as we just couldn’t hit the zone. Then came Cristo Ramirez, who had batted with the sacks full and one out the previous day in the eighth – to no success. He bounced a ball back to Sims, who threw home, and Bowen zinged to first, beating out the ancient Ramirez by a mile or even two for a most welcome 1-2-3 double play and we maintained a 5-4 lead. And although Angel started the ninth inning a batter earlier, facing Pena, the inning went much the same for him. Nobody on until the Martins came up, then he walked Ortíz, but Stanton struck out. 5-4 Greycoats!!! Castro 3-4, 2B; Quebell 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Pruitt 2-3, BB, RBI; Nomura 2-3, BB;

Maud, this oxygen mask doesn’t do. Order me an oxygen tent, express delivery, they’re gonna be here another day.

Game 3
NYC: CF R. Pena – C G. Ortíz – LF M. Ortíz – RF S. Martin – 1B Manfull – 2B Caraballo – SS Brantley – 3B S. Moore – P Reeves
POR: LF Castro – 2B Nomura – RF Alston – C Bowen – 1B Quebell – CF White – 3B Heathershaw – SS Howell – P Cruz

Veteran Whit Reeves (0-0, 1.20 ERA) made his first start of the season. He had only pitched in relief in one of the losses to the Falcons earlier in the week, and not at all in week one. The Furballs got an early start on him, aided by walks to Castro and Alston in the bottom of the first inning. Bowen singled to load them up, Quebell hit a sac fly, and White also drove in a run, 2-0. Meanwhile Cruz retired the first seven batters he saw, then walked Moore, but converted Reeves’ poor bunt into a double play himself and faced the minimum through three innings, but got turned into pulp in due time. Both Ortízes reached base in the fourth inning and B.J. Manfull hit a ringing 3-run homer to flip the score in the Crusaders’ favor. Like in the previous game, however, we’d have Ron Alston to tie the game at three before long. This time he did it on the third of three consecutive 2-out singles in the bottom 4th, scoring Tomas Castro. Bowen took big cuts, but struck out to keep Yoshi and Alston stranded, but we were tied at three at least.

Reeves lasted into the bottom 6th, leaving after a 1-out walk to Nomura, his fifth walk in the game. Lefty Jayden Maness took over for him, but no way we’re hitting for Ron Alston in any kind of spot, and there were reasons for that. Maness’ third pitch was turned into a pattie as Alston flung it violently out of the park, in about the same direction as the previous day, and the Raccoons held a 5-3 lead (with Reeves accountable for the loss). Cruz would complete seven innings but then drill Moore to start the eighth. With MacKey hitting for the pitcher, Donald Sims was at it again, struck out MacKey and Pena, then yielded for Ray Kelley against the right-hander Gabriel Ortíz, who threw only one pitch that Ortíz catapulted to left center where it was – WOAH, CASTRO!!! Tomas Castro came out of NOWHERE and made a flying catch on that drive just before it could do hurts to the Raccoons!

Once Alston left Yoshi at second base in the eighth inning, we were in a bit of predicament for the ninth. We were up by two. Angel had pitched two days in a row, and the Martins were up AGAIN, this time to start the inning. And Angel Casas had a bit of a history with getting overworked and then hurt in April, and the rule of thumb was to not pitch him three days in a row in April since then. With Manfull, there were two lefties. Sims had been burned already, but I wasn’t trusting Beltran with this. Rockburn had not retired anybody on Saturday. Reese and Slayton? Nah! We pulled out Luis Beltran to pitch to Martin Ortíz only, and then it would be Rockburn from there. Beltran got his man on a grounder to Yoshi, and then came Law, got a pop to Ayers in right from Stanton Martin, and then another one to Yoshi by Manfull. 5-3 Raccoons!!! Nomura 2-3, BB, 2B; Alston 2-4, BB, HR, 3 RBI; Quebell 1-2, BB; Cruz 7.0 IP, 2 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 5 K, W (1-2);

In other news

April 13 – The Cyclones choke the Wolves in a 2-hitter, with CIN SP Jeremiah Bowman (1-0, 0.00 ERA) going the distance in the 5-0 shutout.
April 13 – Paling in comparison is the 3-hit shutout spun by SFB SP G.G. Williams (1-1, 2.12 ERA) in a 4-0 win over the Indians.
April 16 – More shutouts for the country: RIC SP Johnny Collins (2-1, 2.52 ERA) spins a 3-hitter as the Rebels beat the Blue Sox 4-0.

Complaints and stuff

BROWNIE POWER!!! Life is good. For the most part. After his 12 K day (that almost went haywire, but didn’t, and let’s pretend that never happened) he led the CL in all three triple crown categories, no ties. Vancouver’s Rod Taylor passed him in the strikeout department by Sunday, but there’s nobody else with three wins OR an invisible ERA in the Continental League right now.

Yep. Life’s good.