[Westheim]

Raccoons (36-28) @ Miners (34-29) – June 12-14, 2012

The Miners were third in runs scored and fourth in runs allowed in the Federal League, but they were in third place behind the surprise Rebels and the Cyclones. They had a top 3 rotation, too, and the Raccoons sure wished they could get back there… We have played the Miners only once in the last six years, lost two out of three then, but were still .694 all-time against them, the best mark against any team in the Federal League and the ABL.

Projected matchups:
Rich Hood (1-2, 4.29 ERA) vs. Takeru Sato (4-6, 4.57 ERA)
Hector Santos (4-4, 4.46 ERA) vs. Fred Dugo (7-4, 3.11 ERA)
Nick Brown (7-2, 3.07 ERA) vs. Miguel Rodriguez (8-4, 4.07 ERA)

Sato is a lefty, as we know very well; we don’t get to see their other left-hander, Barney Manning, who was on our Hotlist before the 2001 draft. Manning is only 61-62 with a 4.23 ERA for his major league career with a 1.5 K/BB and a history of nagging injuries, but the Raccoons picked ****ing Chris Beairsto instead of him…

We skip Shunyo Yano’s start here and instead will put him to the back of the line. We play nine games before the next off day, so Yano gets the start in the middle, and whether he will be skipped again with the following off day is entirely up to him…

Game 1
POR: 2B Nomura – SS Palmer – 3B Merritt – 1B Quebell – CF J. Alexander – RF Ayers – LF Castro – C Bowen – P Hood
PIT: LF DeWeese – 3B Messer – 1B S. Butler – SS McWhorter – 2B Madison – CF Burkhart – RF Blanc – C Carbajal – P T. Sato

While Hood struck out three on a perfect first turn through the Miners’ lineup, the Raccoons put up two runs in the second inning against Sato, who would turn 40 during the playoffs if the Miners got there. Ayers and Castro reached base before a Yoshi double and a Palmer single plated a run each with two outs. Nomura was thrown out at home on Palmer’s single as he tested the arm of Mohammed Blanc. Hood retired R.J. DeWeese for a second time for 10 straight outs before Clay Messer came up with a single in the bottom 4th. Steve Butler doubled, immediately creating a tight spot, but when Tom McWhorter, the cleanup-hitting shortstop with zero home runs this season, hit a fly to left, Tomas Castro got to it near the line, Messer tagged and went, but found himself gunned down by a blink at home plate, and Hood’s sheet remained clean. But Hood knew fairly well how to shoot a game in the knee; Tim Burkhart drew a 1-out walk and moved up on Blanc’s groundout in the bottom 5th. We gave Jesus Carabajal four wide ones right away to get Hood to face the pitcher, but only did Sato hit an RBI single off Hood, nope, when DeWeese grounded a 1-2 pitch deep behind first where Quebell just barely snagged it, Hood was tardy to first base and had Quebell’s throw glance off his glove for an error that loaded the bags. Clay Messer flew out to left to strand all the runners and the Miners remained 2-1 behind, but … oh wow. The rotation.

The rotation managed to shovel itself a hole every day now, and Hood continued on his chosen path. McWhorter was on first with one out in the bottom 6th. Hood snapped a throw back there that was nowhere near the bag, and while Quebell scampered after it, McWhorter scrambled to second base – he was the tying run after all…! Once more Tomas Castro would hold on to Hood’s game, with the third good play to end an inning with men on base in this game when he shagged Burkhart’s drive to deep left. Top 7th, Bowen hit a leadoff single, and Hood laid down a poor bunt, which ironically enough was good for the Coons, since Takeru Sato desired to get the lead runner, but threw high into center and the Coons had two on with nobody out. Yoshi went on to load the sacks with a hard single to right before Sato slightly lost it and walked Palmer on four straight, shoving in a run. Merritt singled in another run before Felix Colón replaced Sato and got a soft fly to shallow left from Quebell and a double play from J-Alex, but the Coons were now up 4-1. Hood got another out from DeWeese in the eighth before being lifted for Slayton after throwing 101 messy pitches, which nevertheless generated a good line – somehow. Slayton got Messer before allowing a double to right to Steve Butler, who tried to reach third, and made the third out against Keith Ayers’ arm there. The Coons’ outfielder that didn’t make the starting lineup got PH appearances in the ninth and manufactured a run when Seeley walked, moved up to second in between, then scored on Pruitt’s single to right. Steele held down the Miners in the bottom of the inning and a 5-game losing streak was snapped. 5-1 Raccoons. Nomura 2-5, 2B, RBI; Pruitt (PH) 1-1, RBI; Quebell 2-5; Ayers 2-4; Hood 7.1 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, W (2-2);

Defense played a big role in Hood’s outing, and you can twist and turn that either way…

Game 2
POR: 2B Nomura – SS Palmer – RF J. Alexander – 1B Quebell – LF Pruitt – CF Castro – 3B Merritt – C D. Alexander – P Santos
PIT: RF Waggoner – 3B Messer – SS McWhorter – LF DeWeese – 2B Madison – CF Burkhart – 1B D. Graham – C Carbajal – P Dugo

After Hood had been perfect the first time through on Tuesday, the Wednesday affair saw Santos face the minimum in the first three innings, despite allowing infield singles to start both the first inning and the third inning. But William Waggoner was caught stealing by D-Alex, while the infield hit in the bottom 3rd was dissolved when Carbajal hit into a double play. The Furballs didn’t score initially, but Quebell and Pruitt reached with one out in the top 4th. Castro singled to center, and Quebell scored from second base while Tim Burkhart appared to get hurt on the throw to home plate and had to leave the game, with Steve Butler taking over. Merritt’s groundout scored another run, giving Santos a 2-0 lead, and Santos blew it instantly when he issued a leadoff walk to Waggoner and then was taken deep by the homerless McWhorter, and that one went to dead center, right over the 427’ sign. Back-to-back doubles by Dave Graham and Jesus Carbajal plated the go-ahead run in the fifth inning. The top 7th saw Merritt hit a leadoff single, then get doubled off on Dylan Alexander’s lineout to Graham. The Coons went down a run into the ninth in rather uninspired fashion, but there both Pruitt and Dylan Alexander, the latter with Merritt on first, hit hard drives, and both were caught on the warning track. 3-2 Miners. Pruitt 2-4, 2B; Merritt 2-4, RBI;

Well, at least we’ve gone multiple games in a row (two) without getting stuffed with six. It’s merely been TWO WEEKS since we last played back-to-back games without conceding six or more runs in either of them…

Counting on Ace Brown to extend that streak!

Game 3
POR: 2B Nomura – SS Palmer – RF J. Alexander – 1B Quebell – LF Pruitt – CF Castro – 3B Merritt – C D. Alexander – P Brown
PIT: RF Waggoner – 3B Messer – 1B S. Butler – SS McWhorter – 2B Madison – CF Burkhart – LF Blanc – C Carbajal – P M. Rodriguez

Tim Burkhart was in the lineup despite a barking back.

Ace Brown also got early support as Matt Pruitt – in anger! – hit the homer he was again denied the previous night and put the Coons up 3-0 in the first inning, collecting Nomura and J-Alex, who had both singled. As far as the ace was concerned, the stuff was not there from the start, Butler was close to a homer in the bottom 1st, and the Miners chewed through him by the bottom 3rd. Four singles off Brown were bad enough, but a soul-stabbing throwing error by Dylan Alexander meant that they not only soiled Brown’s line, but also scored four runs to flip the score. Two runs were unearned, but Nick Brown, who had been amazing until late May, had finally arrived in June and displayed his usual June form, and it was just not pretty to look at. Mohammed Blanc singled to start the bottom 4th, and with two out Brown would hit consecutive batters to load the bases before Steve Butler raked too hard and struck out to strand three Miners.

The Coons’ offense wandered a dark valley after the early bomb hit by Pruitt, and Rodriguez racked up eight strikeouts (to Brown’s three) through five innings. The Critters then had two men on with one out in the sixth, but Quebell and Pruitt made soft outs. Brown was removed after striking out Waggoner and Butler in the bottom 7th, sandwiching a Clay Messer single, when he drilled McWhorter with a 1-2 pitch, his third punched batter on the day, and we figured a) he was at 107 pitches now, b) he was no good anyway, and c) the Miners were probably ready to rip his arms off if he hit another one of theirs. Steele came in to face Steve Madison, the Miners sent a left-handed batter in Dave Graham, but Graham popped out to right on the first pitch, and Brown’s line closed with only the four runs from the third inning on it. The Raccoons had another shot at coming back in the eighth when Nomura was hit and J-Alex doubled. Two in scoring position with two down, Quebell hit the first pitch from Rodriguez into the gap, where Blanc caught it rather effortlessly, and that came after Palmer earlier in the inning had already made a deep out in rightfield. Closer Kevin Wanless pitched for the third straight day in the ninth inning then. Castro became the tying run with a 1-out walk and was moving when Merritt singled to center, with Castro only stopping at third base. Dylan Alexander hit a ball hard to the second baseman, to second, to first, go home. 4-3 Miners. J. Alexander 2-3, BB, 2B;

We will file this away under “****ing **** games we never want to talk about anymore”…

Raccoons (37-30) @ Indians (27-39) – June 15-17, 2012

Mired in last place, the Indians had allowed the most runs in the Continental League, with the worst rotation. Their starters were putting up a 5.22 ERA (despite Curtis Tobitt on that team!), which was well worse than even the Raccoons tethered front five. They were sixth in runs scored, but … that was a 5.22 ERA mark! The Coons had so far split four with them.

Projected matchups:
Scott Spears (2-3, 3.05 ERA) vs. Curtis Tobitt (7-3, 2.69 ERA)
Shunyo Yano (2-5, 5.18 ERA) vs. Tom Weise (4-7, 5.54 ERA)
Rich Hood (2-2, 3.49 ERA) vs. Samuel McMullen (2-5, 3.64 ERA)

Lefty on Sunday, and we really get their only two guys that aren’t bitten by ineptness. Tristan Broun was running an ERA of ELEVEN, but he had pitched on Wednesday, and with Tobitt’s normal turn falling on their off day on Thursday they weren’t going to pull any crazy moves to get him into the series for sure…

Game 1
POR: 2B Nomura – SS Palmer – LF Pruitt – 1B Quebell – CF Castro – RF Seeley – 3B Merritt – C Bowen – P Spears
IND: LF Kui – 2B M. Clark – RF J. Ortíz – 1B Tsung – C Paraz – SS R. Miller – CF J. Cardenas – 3B Reece – P Tobitt

The game started with Yoshi Nomura reaching on an uncaught third strike, but the Raccoons didn’t make anything out of Jose Paraz booting strike three. The Coons would not get another base runner until the fourth, when Palmer singled and Pruitt walked to start the inning, although they would not have scored if not for a balk by Curtis Tobitt when there were already two more coontails on his belt – they were striking out rabidly indeed. That run-scoring balk erased a 1-0 lead Tobitt had achieved himself with a leadoff double in the bottom 3rd, after which he moved up on groundouts to score. After an intentional walk to Sonny Reece to load the bases in the bottom 4th, Tobitt was up with two outs, but now grounded out to Palmer and kept the game tied. Tobitt issued two walks in the top 5th, but again the Coons bowed out without biting, and the game remained tied through seven innings. Tobitt struck out nine through seven, and despite a pitch count of 105 the Indians sent him back out for the top of the eighth. It surely didn’t hurt him: the Coons’ top of the order made three really quick outs. But Tobitt had to settle for a no-decision, just like Spears, when Sugano and Slayton held the Indians down in the bottom 8th. Helio Maggessi faced Quebell to start the ninth, and Quebell ripped a rising rocket to left on the 1-1 pitch – foul. He did single to center on the next pitch, however. Here came Castro, chumped a pitch into the ground in front of the plate, Paraz got Quebell forced out at second leisurely, but Castro legged out the return throw – then was caught stealing by Paraz and his pathetic stump for an arm! Oh come on, Coons!! GET SOME **** DONE!! Next thing everybody saw was Jason Seeley homering on a 3-1 pitch by Maggessi to break the 1-1 tie. Okay, that works as well. Angel Casas survived a 2-out double by PH Dave Padilla to get this one into the W column. 2-1 Critters. Seeley 1-3, BB, HR, RBI; Merritt 2-4; Spears 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 4 K;

Game 2
POR: 2B Nomura – SS Palmer – RF J. Alexander – 1B Quebell – LF Pruitt – CF Seeley – C Bowen – 3B Roudabush – P Yano
IND: SS R. Miller – 2B M. Clark – RF J. Ortíz – 1B Tsung – C Paraz – CF Luxton – LF Bonneau – 3B Reece – P Weise

Nomura and Palmer opened the game with singles before the middle of the order farted out conclusively, and the same two guys were on base again with one out in the top of the third, and the result was remarkably identical, but in the next inning Yano would hit a 2-out single to score Jason Seeley from second base, and that was the first run of the game. (shakes head) Baseball, wicked ****.

Yano had a 1-hitter through five innings, but that sounded way more fantastic than it actually was. He had walked a couple, of which double plays had taken care, and there had been hard hits right to defenders all the way. His luck really ran out in the sixth, when the Indians suddenly found the holes and shackled him for five hits, all singles, for three runs before he was removed for Thrasher with two outs and two on, and Thrasher struck out Robbie Luxton to end the inning. Tom Weise struck out seven in five innings, allowing only four hits in total, while the Raccoons just couldn’t find a groove. Or competent relief. Kyle Mullins entered the bottom 8th, was taken yard by Ryan Miller and then allowed a double to Mark Clark, two right-handed batters. Rockburn cleaned up the mess, but there was no comeback from the Coons. 4-1 Indians. Nomura 2-4; Thrasher 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K;

That was it for Mullins and his 5.34 ERA and 1.71 WHIP. He was waived and DFA’ed and we would try our luck with Josh Gibson now.

Game 3
POR: 2B Nomura – SS Palmer – 3B Merritt – 1B Quebell – LF Pruitt – RF Ayers – CF Seeley – C Bowen – P Hood
IND: LF Bayle – 2B M. Clark – RF J. Ortíz – 1B Tsung – C Padilla – CF Kui – SS R. Miller – 3B Reece – P McMullen

Sam McMullen started this game with a pair of walks, then gave Merritt a single on a 1-2 pitch, loading the bags with nobody out. A team that needed a big hit with runners in scoring position in the worst way sent their best guy (at least in terms of countables), and Quebell … fouled out. Pruitt flew out to shallow left, no chance to score for Yoshi, and while Keith Ayers suddenly made the best show with a fly to deep left, but Jimmy Bayle had that as well, and Bayle would also draw a 2-out, bases-loaded walk in the bottom 2nd to give Rich Hood a headache. Hood’s control was calamitous; the defense dug him out of a tight spot in the first, when Nomura converted a vicious one-bouncer for a double play, but in the second he just kept walking them before Mark Clark fouled out. Bayle’s walk equalized Craig Bowen’s solo shot from the top 2nd, 1-1.

And with that it was off to the races to see which starting pitcher could get torn apart by the wild dogs first. McMullen crapped out and allowed a 2-out, 2-run single to Keith Ayers(!) in the top 3rd, but the Indians made up the two runs before they made an out in the bottom 3rd, with a single by Juan Ortíz, a walk by Mun-wah Tsung, and then a 2-run triple by Padilla, who miraculously was left on third base after a foul out, another walk, and then a double play hit into by Sonny Reece. Three-three after three.

Yoshi Nomura’s home run gave Hood the third lead on the day, making it 4-3 in the top 4th, Hood for once didn’t cough up the game-tying run right away, and the Coons tacked on a run in the fifth, Seeley hitting a sac fly. Hood kept hobbling on, although his pitch count was at 94 through five, having walked five and whiffed four. Top 6th, bases loaded AGAIN with nobody out AGAIN, and it was Quebell up AGAIN. Sam McMullen issued one last walk, his seventh, to force home a run against Quebell, 6-3 Coons, and then was gone with right-hander Brock Bose replacing him. Bose got Pruitt in a way, with Pruitt going to 0-4 on the day when he grounded to Tsung, and Tsung got Palmer thrown out at home, but that was it for Bose in terms of success, and the Raccoons then tore him open. Ayers hit a 2-run double to right, Seeley and Bowen both hit RBI singles to left, the Coons reached double digits, and after Hood grounded out it was Yoshi with an RBI single to right – a 6-run inning for an 11-3 lead!

Hood got two outs on two pitches in the bottom 6th before Sonny Reece singled to center in a full count. The Indians, down by eight, had stopped bothering and had reliever Johnny Watson bat with two down, and Hood smacked him real good with a 2-2 pitch. Alright, that’s it for the white kid from the hood. Law Rockburn came in and got Bayle to fly out to right to end the inning, and between Law and Josh Gibson, the Raccoons finished out this game without any more damage. 11-3 Critters! Nomura 2-4, 2 BB, HR, 2 RBI; Palmer 3-5, BB; Merritt 2-4, 2 BB; Quebell 2-4, BB, RBI; Ayers 2-4, BB, 2B, 4 RBI; Bowen 2-4, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Rockburn 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K; Gibson 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

So they CAN get a hit with a runner in scoring position! Hah!

In other news

June 11 – The Condors place OF Shawn Blackburn (.270, 4 HR, 19 RBI) on the DL with a pretty severe concussion and don’t expect him back this season.
June 13 – The Canadiens announce a 6-yr, $18.64M extension to SP Rod Taylor. The 31-year old right-hander, who has been with the Canadiens his entire career, is 121-79 with a 3.43 ERA and 1,900 strikeouts right now. He has led the CL in strikeouts the last four years, but he has also led the CL in home runs allowed three times already, most recently in ’10.
June 16 – Dallas’ SP Jose Flores (11-3, 2.02 ERA) 3-hits the Pacifics in a 3-0 shutout.

Complaints and stuff

Friday’s 2-1 win on Jason Seeley’s homer was the 2,900th in franchise history (regular season only), and the W went to Pat Slayton, who got the last out in the eighth. Oh, whatever works.

For those who like to count: if the Coons make it to 93 wins this season, that will be their 3,000th franchise win *including* playoffs.

Ricardo Carmona came off the minor league DL on Saturday, going 1-3 with a walk in a 5-4 loss to the Los Reyes Crows. On those Los Reyes Crows: 2006 first-rounder Jimmy Oatmeal, who had moved to the Condors’ AAA team earlier this season, batted league average even for 15 games, then went down with a hip strain. He’s 24 now, and might turn into a major leaguer after all. Although – after he missed six weeks on the DL, he came back batting 2-for-12 this week, with 3 K. Regardless, watch out for September. We will not get involved with that, our last series with Tijuana ends on August 29.