Portland Raccoons (ABL)

[Westheim]

Entering draft week, the #1 question in Portland is not how we can turn this team back into the decent record waters (because that ship has long sailed AND sunk), but rather whether Daniel Sharp will fall to the Raccoons’ fifth overall pick, and – bonus round – whether we should jump on him.

Answers will come Thursday.

Raccoons (22-38) @ Gold Sox (33-29) – June 12-14, 2000

Salivating over the moribund Raccoons coming to the mountains, the Gold Sox were eager to whip us for three. Never mind their 11th-ranked offense: they had the best pitching in the Federal League! One run’s gonna be enough for them, for three days straight.

Projected starters:
Miguel Lopez (2-8, 5.85 ERA) vs. Carl Bean (9-2, 1.57 ERA)
Bob Joly (1-1, 3.71 ERA) vs. Min-tae Kim (1-1, 3.44 ERA)
Ralph Ford (2-7, 4.56 ERA) vs. Carlos Castro (6-6, 3.38 ERA)

Bean was the Gold Sox’ ’92 first round pick. He was simply lights out. Swing man Min-tae Kim and the only southpaw Carlos Castro were certainly beatable for a decent team.

Game 1
POR: SS Guerin – 1B Martin – 2B Ingall – RF Brady – LF Parker – C Mata – 3B C. Gonzalez – CF Newton – P Lopez
DEN: 3B Davidson – SS A. Rodriguez – RF Jin – 1B A. Munoz – 2B A. Gonzalez – CF Vasquez – LF Reynoso – C Kondo – P Bean

Carl Bean surrendered runs in excess of his advertised per-game allotment in the top 1st, when he hit Brady to add to a Martin double and enable Parker to plate a pair with a double past Fernando Vasquez in center. 2-0 Coons, Lopez took the ball, and threw ten pitches total to the first six batters – even getting five retired – before they stopped fishing and drew two walks to load the bags in the bottom 2nd. Bean’s soft fly to center was grabbed by Newton and Lopez escaped for this time. However he sucked just too hard to keep getting lucky like this, and the Gold Sox tied the score in the third inning sure enough. Something appeared to be wrong with Bean however, who was very hittable vs. the Raccoons: even the lowly Cesar Gonzalez managed to do damage with a 2-run triple, bringing the score to 5-2 in the sixth. Lopez pitched on, relying heavily on the defense, and appeared to go down in the bottom 7th. With two out, he gave a single to Zak Davidson, then walked Armando Rodriguez. That brought up Chih-tui Jin – besides Nori Kondo and Antonio Gonzalez one of three ex-Coons in their lineup – who singled to right, but the Gold Sox ran Davidson on Brady’s arm and the third baseman got nailed out at home by the rightfielder to abruptly end a pitching meltdown well in progress. Astonishingly, Bean was out of the game before Lopez, and the Gold Sox’ praised bullpen all but disintegrated in the top 8th, loading the bags, allowing an RBI single to Lopez, walking in two, and so on, to give up another five runs. While Lopez gave up a pinch-hit home run to Nelson Chavez in the ninth, he unbelievably stayed alive to pitch a complete game effort. 10-3 Raccoons. Ingall 2-4, RBI; Parker 4-5, 3 2B, 2 RBI; Gonzalez 2-3, 2 BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Newton 2-5, 2B; Lopez 9.0 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 3 K, W (3-8) and 2-4, 2 RBI;

Game 2
POR: 2B Ingall – CF Newton – 1B Martin – RF Parker – C Mata – LF C. Gonzalez – 3B Andresen – SS Caddock – P Joly
DEN: SS Davidson – 2B A. Rodriguez – LF Jin – 1B A. Munoz – 3B N. Chavez – CF Vasquez – RF A. White – C Reynoso – P Kim

Marvin Ingall led this lineup in batting with a .258 clip as Brady and Guerin got a day off in a long string of games (eight more after this middle contest). While the Coons struck first, with a run scratched out in the first, and a Caddock solo shot in the second, they loaded them up with no out in the top 3rd – and didn’t score. Parker, Mata, Gonzalez went up and down in vain. The Gold Sox again tied the score in the bottom 3rd, this time with a 2-run shot by Armando Rodriguez. Munoz homered in the fourth for Denver to take the lead, with Joly surrendering three more hard shots that either went straight into the teeth of the defense, or were eventually starved on base. Jin’ 2-run homer in the fifth then ended the night for Joly, and in a complete reversal of the previous games’ fortunes, the Raccoons bullpen was slaughtered in the middle game, and the offense did nothing, not even when given another chance of three on, no outs in the top 9th, as they only managed a sac fly. 10-3 Gold Sox. Newton 3-5, 2B; Martin 3-4, 2B; Caddock 2-4, HR, RBI;

Game 3
POR: SS Guerin – 2B Ingall – C Mata – RF Brady – 3B C. Gonzalez – 1B Michel – LF Newton – CF Kent – P Ford
DEN: 3B Davidson – SS A. Rodriguez – LF Jin – 1B A. Munoz – 2B A. Gonzalez – CF Vasquez – C Kondo – RF Hunt – P Castro

Ralph Ford put two on before he fell off the mound after his 17th pitch of the game (and still in the first…), and struggled to get back up. He was supported by the trainer and Samy Michel as he hopped off, unable to bear weight on his left leg. Kelly Fairchild warmed up as replacement, came in, and threw an exit pitch to 37-year old Antonio Gonzalez, Coon from 1989 to 1991, before the emerging Marvin Ingall started to make him redundant (before being made redundant himself by David Brewer, but that’s another story). The Raccoons were hopeless, Castro striking out six over the first three innings. Castro was on 9 K’s by the time Newton managed to actually a) make contact, and b) even land our first hit of the game with two out in the fifth. Fairchild was also gassed sooner rather than later by the Gold Sox and we had no choice but to bring Scott Wade into the game and mind about tomorrow’s starter later. Then came the seventh. Castro, crushingly dominant so far, suddenly wasn’t. Mata led off with a jack, cutting the gap to 3-1. Brady singled. Gonzalez doubled, the tying runs were in scoring position with no outs. And the Uttercoons couldn’t get it done. As usual. Guerin was still on base with two down after a leadoff double in the eighth, but Brady managed to slap a ball into no man’s land, and the game was tied! Of course the Gold Sox only ever needed two 2-out hits to sink Wade after spectacular long relief with SIX strikeouts, and took a new lead, 4-3, in the bottom 8th, but yet again, closer Javier Rivera gave up a leadoff TRIPLE to Gonzalez in the top 9th! And Michel grounded out, and Newton struck out. Martin hit for Wade, a shy grounder up the middle – Antonio Gonzalez missed it, tied game! And the Raccoons didn’t get another run, as Miller was thrown in as potential loss victim, but at least he got the game to extra innings. Guerin, after a leadoff walk, was sure enough thrown out stealing in the top 10th, and three innings of failing later, Nori Kondo would walk off the Gold Sox with a homer off Elliott Meeks. 5-4 Gold Sox. Mata 2-5, BB, HR, RBI; Brady 2-6, RBI; Gonzalez 2-5, BB, 3B, 2B; Michel 2-5, RBI; Martin (PH) 1-1, RBI; Wade 3.2 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K; Miller 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K;

The News on Ralph Ford are not that bad, but that makes them worse. He has a mild hamstring strain, and will be DTD for a week. While that makes DL’ing unfeasible, we have already expended Scott Wade in (stellar, but pointless) long relief in this game, meaning even if we don’t bring up a starter, we have to pitch everybody on short rest during the following Crusaders series. With Ford out of the window, we NEED to call up somebody, because Fairchild is just another symptom, but no cure to our ills.

Paco Martinez, while having a sub-standard year in AAA (compared to 1999) at 2-4, 4.25 ERA, presents himself as the most logical solution. The only other option was Dwight Williams and his 5+ ERA. Nobody else on the Alley Cats was on the 40-man roster.

Martinez last pitched on Sunday, the 11th, which means he could well go on Friday, the 16th. Then we would have Farley on short rest on Thursday, opening the series vs. New York, followed by Martinez, then Lopez and Joly on regular rest, before we’d skip the ailing Ford and pitch Wade on short rest, but on only 62 pitches. Problem is, Farley would have to pitch on short rest *again* on Monday, and I don’t like that. Alternatively we could sacrifice a game and have Fairchild pitch on Sunday or Monday.

Ah. Decisions.

In other news

June 12 – OCT SP Aaron Anderson (7-5, 2.19 ERA) humbles the Scorpions as he allows only three hits in a 4-0 shutout.

Complaints and stuff

Next will be the draft. Corner facts: lots of outfielders, Coons pick fifth, and we’re very eager on that assumedly major league ready corner infielder, Daniel Sharp. However, Miners, Aces, Stars, and Rebels will have a say in whether he will fall to us.

[Orcin]

Great news... the way this season is going, you might get first pick in next year's draft!

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by Orcin

Great news... the way this season is going, you might get first pick in next year's draft!

(smiles a distorted grin that is well telling he's dying from the pains)

---


2000 AMATEUR DRAFT

We didn’t have a big plan for this. It was back to a “normal” draft for the Raccoons, who were going to pick fifth in every round, with one supplemental round pick. After a few fat years there just wasn’t anybody left to leave the team and will some more draft picks to us.

Probably the most immediate impact player available was corner infielder Daniel Sharp, who had turned 23 just three days before the draft. He was right on top of our list, but the fear was there (for a reason) that he was there on the lists of the four teams in front of us as well. Sharp was the no-doubt #1 pick for us, especially with our corner infield positions currently very weakly manned.

Should Sharp be picked early, there was a nice selection of outfielders to feast on, with potential power bats in a satisfyingly big number. Mathematically it was impossible to NOT draft a potential impact bat either from the outfielders (or Sharp) unless I did something stupid, but those outfield bats were many years away from the big leagues, and bust-prone. We have a history here.

Let’s get into this.

First pick was to the Miners, and they went with SP Henry Becker, a very good selection, certainly in our top 10 as well. The Aces went with infielder Oliver Torres, the Stars with pitcher Fernando Piquero. The Rebels took a corner infielder – but it was not Sharp, but Alfredo Gonzalez, and Sharp fell to us!

2000 PORTLAND RACCOONS DRAFT CLASS
Round 1 (#5) – 1B/3B Daniel Sharp, 23, from Valdez, AK – elite contact bat with an incredible eye for the ball and its flight path; enough power for double digit homers, good defense on the corners of the diamond; essentially ready for the major leagues right now
Supp. Round (#30) – OF Rich Mason, 21, from Fort Worth, TX – strong bat across the bank, very agile and speedy, covers a huge piece of the outfield and has no problems pilfering bags
Round 2 (#70) – MR Matt Cash, 17, from St. Marys, OH – right-hander with a well-moving cutter and a droppy curve, knotting up batters in high school games. High potential at a backend bullpen job.
Round 3 (#94) – MR David Sutherland, 23, from Surprise, AZ – main weapon is a filthy slider, but the question is how much more can you develop it at age 23?
Round 4 (#118) – INF Alan Williams, 21, from Hampton, NJ – your stereotypical middle infielder with great defensive capabilities, able to hit .250, but with no power; has speed, though
Round 5 (#142) – LF Mike Willard, 21, from Trenton, GA – solid contact bat, and he can hit the ball for quite some distance regularly; also brings decent speed, but is not very adept defensively, and also has a weak arm
Round 6 (#166) – INF Tommy Herman, 21, from Frisco, TX – carbon copy of Williams, only a bit less quality in almost any category; could be a backup infielder at best
Round 7 (#190) – C Don Sharp, 18, from College Place, WA – good defensive catcher, but the bat doesn’t look promising
Round 8 (#214) – 3B Steve Searcy, 19, from Ballwin, MO – bat should be good for doubles, and he should hold his ground defensively
Round 9 (#238) – MR Claudio Salazar, 17, from Gurabo, Puerto Rico – throws dead straight, even the curveball
Round 10 (#262) – LF/RF Hanno Klinger, 21, from Wesseling, Germany – knows how to move, knows how to even run, but doesn’t know for his life how to bat
Round 11 (#286) – SP Cristián Mier, 18, from Santo Domingo, Dom. Rep. – four messy pitches to differentiate between, which is hard enough
Round 12 (#310) – MR Alfred Thomas, 17, from Masonboro, NC – not much in the way of potential, as we are picking up scrubs

Vince made most of the picks in the latter half, except for Mier, the then best remaining starting pitcher. There was another reliever, Stu Davis, who was even on our shortlist, but as we picked other relievers and are fairly stuffed with right-handers, he dropped round by round by round, until we didn’t even pick him at all. Neither did anyone else. We have offered him a minor league contract as undrafted free agent.

Sharp was assigned to St. Petersburg to get the bat warmed up. If everything goes well, we might purge somebody else by early July to get him onto the roster. Mason and Sutherland went to AA ball, Ham Lake. The rest is being assigned to the A level in Aumsville.

No position player the Raccoons chose with their first pick (excluding the last two, Chris Roberson and Darwin Tyler) has caught on in a regular role anywhere since 1992 (Luke Newton), and none has held a starter’s job for any meaningful length of time since Joe Jackson, who was our first choice in 1985! The best we did with a few of those first rounders in between was to package them up and flip them for Neil Reece in ’88.

But: No Daniel picked in the first round has ever failed us. That is what I am building all my hopes and dreams on, to have them washed away by the gruesome, ill-willing waves of destruction.

[Trebro]

How much did he end up signing for? There was talk of a million dollar bonus, no?

[Westheim]

Daniel Sharp signed for $1.13M. The whole draft came us some $1.8M, a bit expensive, as it more or less turned a $900k budget room (which was somehow twice as big as at the start of the season) into a $900k budget deficit.

By the way, the internet is out at home and I'm posting from the office right now. Don't know whether that's a temporary problem..... If not, I might be able to post an update from a friend's place tonight, and then nothing until at least Monday.

[Westheim]

Internet comes and goes at home (mostly goes). Since I can't do any multiplayer gaming on the weekend, I will make my life hard with the Raccoons, but I might not be able to post...

Raccoons (23-40) vs. Crusaders (31-34) – June 15-18, 2000

The Crusaders ranked last in the Continental League in runs scored, but – you know – the Raccoons were coming in for f(o)ur, and we had only six runs more in our bank. Besides, they could at least run up an average pitching staff, while the Raccoons were bottom in runs allowed.

In need of another starter for this series, we sent Manuel Martinez to AAA and added Paco Martinez. And I keep typing Miguel Martinez (like Miguel Lopez) and then checking (twice). Time to trade all the Hispanics on the team for Caucasians with clearly distinguishable names like Jim. And John. Joe. And Jack of course.

Projected matchups:
Randy Farley (6-4, 3.35 ERA) vs. Ramiro Gonzalez (7-5, 3.51 ERA)
Paco Martinez (0-0) vs. Hector Lara (2-7, 4.90 ERA)
Miguel Lopez (3-8, 5.35 ERA) vs. Anibal Sandoval (8-4, 3.48 ERA)
Bob Joly (1-2, 5.06 ERA) vs. Francisco Garza (4-7, 3.30 ERA)

Game 1
NYC: RF Gonzales – 2B Brantley – LF A. Johnson – 1B M. Berry – CF Latham – 3B Rush – C Olson – SS Rigg – P R. Gonzalez
POR: SS Guerin – 2B Ingall – 1B Michel – RF Brady – 3B C. Gonzalez – C Jackson – CF Newton – LF Parker – P Farley

Four days after he got incinerated by the Blue Sox, Farley struggled to throw strikes. A single and two walks loaded the bags for the Crusaders in the top 2nd, with no outs, but Ed Rigg eagerly struck out and Ramiro Gonzalez hit into a double play. Farley walked five, and allowed three runs in just five innings, for which he needed over 100 pitches. Second terrible outing in a row, and the other Raccoons weren’t doing anything outrageous, either. Like scoring runs for example. We burned Orlando Blanco in long relief, accepting a 3-0 deficit after five as insurmountable, which included letting Blanco bat in the bottom 8th with nobody on, one out, and him having pitched three frames already. Blanco reached on an error by Jorge Gonzales, and then Michel and Brady drew walks off reliever Jose Hernandez. Gonzalez reliably grounded to second base, plating one run on the groundout, before Martin hit for Jackson and fouled out. Mustering four hits, the Raccoons continued their losing ways. 3-1 Crusaders. Parker 2-4; Blanco 3.1 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

How is this team not folding and closing shop yet? We are playing .250 ball over the last 24 games, dating back to that ugly 7-6 loss against the Knights in which Neil Reece went down.

Game 2
NYC: RF Gonzales – 2B Brantley – C Manuel – LF A. Johnson – 3B Rush – 1B T. Mullins – SS Rigg – CF A. Diéguez – P H. Lara
POR: SS Guerin – CF Newton – RF Brady – LF Parker – C Mata – 1B Martin – 2B Andresen – 3B Caddock – P P. Martinez

Theodore Mullins hit two home runs off Paco Martinez, plating three, and while Martinez wasn’t too bad, it was quite a drag to squeeze him out for seven innings of 4-run ball. The Raccoons got a run early on a passed ball, and Mata hit a solo home run in the fourth, but overall the team’s hitting display remained shameful (would you take the time to notice the sub-.200 batters in #2, #7, #8, and #9?), and they were held well short by a sure-handed Hector Lara. Meeks gave up a pair of runs in the eighth, and Lara wasn’t removed until he put the leadoff batters on in the bottom 9th. Dane Sanders came in with two on, no outs, and Mata up. The youngster drew another walk, before Jackson hit for Meeks in the #6 hole, and hit into a double play. Andresen’s grounder would elude Brantley for an RBI single, but the Coons stopped “hitting” well short of the required threshold, and Sanders struck out Caddock to end the game. 6-4 Crusaders. Guerin 2-4, 2B;

It’s starting to get funny, too. The massive inability showcased on a daily basis. I mean, sure, Neil Reece is sorely missing on a team, on which every single be-damned off season addition is horribly failing again (minus Orlando Blanco perhaps), but even Neil Reece couldn’t heal these seeping sores…

And Luke Newton is batting SECOND.

Game 3
NYC: RF Gonzales – SS Rigg – C Manuel – LF A. Johnson – 3B Rush – 1B T. Mullins – 2B M. Givens – CF A. Diéguez – P Sandoval
POR: SS Guerin – 2B Ingall – 1B Martin – RF Brady – C Mata – LF Parker – 3B C. Gonzalez – CF Newton – P Lopez

Guerin was thrown out stealing in the first once again, while the Crusaders also ran themselves out of a chance in the fourth. While they were knocking on Lopez’ gates, they didn’t break in so far. In the bottom 4th, the Raccoons led off with singles by Martin and Brady, putting runners on the corners. Mata struck out, but in a stunning display of nothing else but dumb luck the Raccoons would shove SIX more singles between infielders to run up a 6-run tally in the inning. The Crusaders didn’t even remove Sandoval in the onslaught, constantly figuring that it would HAVE to stop now, and it never did. Would a 6-run inning make Lopez a winner? The Crusaders put their first two men on in the fifth, before Lopez reached back, struck out Rigg and Manuel, and then got a soft pop to Newton to exit the top 5th. But Lopez, constantly pitching in high counts, was about bled dry, and failed to retire anybody in the sixth, and despite intervention from Daniel Miller, two runs scored. The Coons showed some life in the bottom 6th, however, and after a Martin sac fly we had Brady come up with a 2-run homer, bringing the score to 9-2. That was before Fairchild entered the game, however, who failed to pitch even one inning and got burned on a 3-run double by Malcolm Givens. In the eighth it was Diaz, who failed, and was more than lucky when Donis came in and got a first pitch double play, and got another double play in the ninth, then ending the game. 9-5 Raccoons. Guerin 2-5; Ingall 2-5, RBI; Martin 3-4, 3 RBI; Brady 3-5, HR, 2 RBI; Parker 2-5, 2B, RBI; Caddock (PH) 1-1; Donis 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K, SV (11);

Wut? A Win?

By now we were sure that Ralph Ford could be slotted back into the rotation quite early, and so Paco Martinez was handed back to AAA. We called up a long man (go figure) in Dan Epps, while eyeing Dan Nordahl closely to see whether he was able to be recalled any soon.

Game 4
NYC: RF Gonzales – 2B Brantley – LF A. Johnson – 1B M. Berry – CF Latham – C Manuel – 3B Rush – SS Rigg – P F. Garza
POR: SS Guerin – 2B Ingall – 1B Martin – RF Brady – LF Parker – 3B C. Gonzalez – C Jackson – CF Newton – P Joly

The Crusaders hit three triples off Joly – Bob Rush alone hit two – in an onslaught that was yet only partially successful, since they weren’t hitting much else. A 3-run fourth inning by the Raccoons held the score in balance at that point, and had a scoring chance in the bottom 5th that dissolved in a Cesar Gonzalez-initiated double play. What the Raccoons lacked was a huge extra base hit, and they finally got it in the seventh inning, when the 3-3 tie was broken with Albert Martin’s long-awaited first home run of the season, a 2-shot to right center. Freddy Jackson doubled home Gonzalez to make it 6-3, but Joly almost got that blown up again. He was removed with two on in the top 8th, and Blanco managed to navigate out of there. Then came the ninth, and Donis, who walked Berry, and was then fatally pierced by Latham, cutting the lead to 6-5. Exit Donis, enter Miller, a walk to Rush, a walk to Rigg, a walk by the pitching coach to the mound to do some yelling. Mike Olson pinch-hit at that junction, grounding slowly to right. Miller hustled, grabbed, sent to second, Ingall to first – game over! 6-5 Raccoons! Ingall 2-5; Martin 2-3, HR, 2 RBI; Gonzalez 2-4; Jackson 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Joly 7.2 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, W (2-2) and 3-3;

Raccoons (25-42) @ Titans (34-36) – June 19-21, 2000

The Titans were in second place despite a losing record, 7 1/2 behind the Loggers, illustrating a shabby division in which a halfway decent team could easily run away. The Shabbycoons were not that team. The Titans struggled to score runs just like us and the Crusaders, ranking 11th behind the 10th place Coons as play began. Their rotation and bullpen were formidable, surrendering the fourth-least runs in the league, but they couldn’t outlast the shoddy offense.

Projected matchups:
Scott Wade (2-5, 4.65 ERA) vs. Jason O’Halloran (8-4, 2.88 ERA)
Ralph Ford (2-7, 4.52 ERA) vs. Jesus Bautista (6-9, 4.12 ERA)
Randy Farley (6-5, 3.47 ERA) vs. Vicente Perez (2-1, 4.07 ERA)

Game 1
POR: SS Guerin – 2B Ingall – C Mata – RF Brady – 3B Gonzalez – CF Newton – LF Parker – 1B Andresen – P Wade
BOS: SS D. Silva – 2B Brewer – LF Thomas – C L. Lopez – CF Garrison – 1B J. Zamora – RF Elizondo – 3B Torres – P O’Halloran

The Coons surprisingly put three run on O’Halloran early, but Wade struggled with a heavily left-handed lineup (only Zamora and Torres batted right-handed) and was giving up hits in great numbers. The Titans scored single runs in the second and third, and when Tony Torres led off the bottom 4th with a bunt base hit, Wade was as good as toast. Sure enough, the most annoying Daniel Silva would tie the game with a single. In the 3-3 tie, Gonzalez again failed to plate anybody with the bases loaded, instead ending the inning with a grounder to Brewer. That was in the seventh, and in the eighth, Parker was on third with two out when Wade’s turn came up. Martin hit for him against right-hander Jared Chaney, and gloriously fouled out. Chaney surrendered a leadoff double to Guerin in the ninth, before the Titans forewent Ingall to go after Mata with two on. While that worked out to a K, Brady swung for an RBI double to break a tie that was in its fifth inning by then. Two in scoring position for Gonzalez, the Titans still weren’t fancying their chances and put him on without a fight. That brought up Newton, batting a strong .183, and the strategy worked for a force out at home. Bill Corkum then surrendered an RBI single to Parker, and Andresen worked a bases-loaded walk. Michel hit for Blanco at the bottom of the order, and sunk the Titans with a huge 3-run double to center. 9-3 Raccoons. Guerin 3-5, BB, 2 2B, RBI; Mata 2-5; Brady 3-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Parker 2-5, 2B, RBI; Michel (PH) 1-1, 2B, 3 RBI;

Are we getting back to life? The offense is certainly a lot less pale in the face the last few days, and three wins in a row are three wins in a row.

The Titans meanwhile lost Luis Lopez to injury in this game as he tried to break up a double play, instead knocking up his knee.

Game 2
POR: SS Guerin – 2B Ingall – 1B Martin – RF Brady – C Mata – 3B C. Gonzalez – LF Parker – CF Kent – P Ford
BOS: SS D. Silva – 2B Torres – RF Greenman – CF Garrison – 1B Brewer – LF Elizondo – 3B D. Mendez – C Williamson – P Bautista

The Titans got a grand slam before the Raccoons ever got a hit in the middle game. Christian Greenman violently deflowering Ralph Ford about the set the score to Final, since the Raccoons failed to solve Jesus Bautista at all, and Ford was not about to pitch for much longer, throwing himself into four full counts in the bottom 4th – the inning after the slam – and walked three of those four batters. While the Titans somehow failed to plate anybody in this inning, they eventually rapped up a hapless Dan Epps for five more runs in the sixth and seventh, the last run given up by Kelly Fairchild on another Greenman homer. In a rout, a scenario we were well familiar with this season, the Titans rolled over the Raccoons to double-digit runs, while Bautista issued only two singles to Ingall and Mata to cruise to an easy shutout. 10-0 Titans.

**** optimism.

Also, in this game David Brewer hit a 2-run double off Dan Epps for his 2,000th career base hit. I sure wish we still controlled a 32-year old career .331/.406/.457 batter with 72 HR, 757 RBI, 147 SB, and 63 WAR gained in his career…

Game 3
POR: SS Guerin – 2B Ingall – 1B Martin – RF Brady – C Mata – LF Parker – 3B Gonzalez – CF Newton – P Farley
BOS: SS D. Silva – 2B Brewer – LF Thomas – RF G. Munoz – CF Garrison – C Williamson – 1B Elliott – 3B Torres – P V. Perez

Farley struggled badly with control after Albert Martin’s 2-run homer had given the Raccoons a lead in the top 1st. The Titans got one run right back, and then beat up Farley with four 2-out runners in the bottom 5th to take a 3-2 lead after leaving a few chances unused earlier. In desperation, with one out in the top 7th and Newton on first, the hit-and-run was called for Farley, who indeed slapped a single to left that Josh Thomas misfielded for an error and the go-ahead runs setting up camp in scoring position, only to be left on base by Guerin and Ingall. Back-to-back doubles by Brady and Mata would then tie the game in the eighth, with Farley still hoping to get back into the lead. Parker singled, putting runners on the corners, and then Gonzalez hit the most silly grounder, on which Brewer’s only play was to first, and Mata scored. Diaz allowed a leadoff single to Thomas in the bottom 8th, but a double play hit into by Gonzalo Munoz enabled the Coons to escape. Guerin tripled in the top 9th, but wasn’t scored, leaving Donis in the – for us – undesirable situation of not having a cushion in the bottom 9th, which soon made it moot to even keep bothering. Ron Williamson’s leadoff jack put us on an internal search for a new closer, and I was about done with striking out every single name on our roster by the time Munoz bounced out to Ingall to end the game in favor of the Brownshirts – Parker had doubled home Mata in the top 10th. 5-4 Coons. Guerin 2-5, 3B; Brady 2-4, 2B; Parker 2-5, 2B, RBI;

Never liked Donis, never will. Whenever you really need him, he fails. Now insert a player name of your choice for Donis, and you can adequately describe the entire team.

Raccoons (27-43) @ Thunder (45-27) – June 23-25, 2000

After somehow going 4-3 against other offensively terrible teams the last two weeks, we now faced the second-most scoring Thunder. Their pitching was top 3, especially the sterling rotation.

Projected matchups:
Miguel Lopez (4-8, 5.23 ERA) vs. Aaron Anderson (8-5, 2.21 ERA)
Bob Joly (2-2, 4.66 ERA) vs. Fabien Armand (3-6, 5.91 ERA)
Scott Wade (2-5, 4.58 ERA) vs. Lou Corbett (6-3, 3.93 ERA)

After the undefeatable righty Anderson (talking ‘bout the Coons here!), we will get two southpaws who have been very hittable this season. Luke Newton was unavailable in the opener on Friday, having contracted the man flu on the night to Thursday.

Game 1
POR: SS Guerin – 2B Ingall – 1B Martin – RF Brady – C Mata – LF Parker – 3B Gonzalez – CF Kent – P Lopez
OCT: CF Dunphy – RF Humphrey – 1B Higashi – LF R. Green – 3B S. Reece – 2B Grant – SS M. Jones – C Cooks – P Anderson

Lopez was rolled up for three runs in the opening inning, setting the Thunder firmly on due course to victory. He didn’t even make it out of the third inning, chased by a 3-run homer by Bob Grant, having hit two batters on the way. The attendance was treated once more to the stomping of a wholly inept team, that didn’t get a hit until the fourth, didn’t score until the sixth, and then only on a wild pitch, and once Kelly Fairchild entered the game and indeed managed to escalate an established blowout even further, one had to wonder how some of those guys were even finding their bed at night. There were already four runs on Fairchild when he was dragged out to get shot, with one out remaining for the home team. Two on, Donis came in to retire left-hander Mike Jones, but gave up a 3-run home run. 14-2 Thunder. Guerin 2-4, RBI; Gonzalez 1-2, 2 BB;

All on-base occurrences of the Raccoons in the game are listed above. Nobody else happened to get on.

Running up hard on a run differential of -100, and it isn’t even July. At this point, the Uttercoons have scored 292 times (tied for last) and allowed 382 counters to the opposition.

Game 2
POR: SS Guerin – 2B Ingall – C Mata – RF Brady – 1B Michel – LF Parker – CF Newton – 3B Andresen – P Joly
OCT: RF Barnes – CF Humphrey – 3B S. Reece – 1B Higashi – 2B Grant – SS M. Jones – LF Dunphy – C Cooks – P Armand

The Thunder moved into the lead in the first again, this time on a throwing error by terminally useless Nuno Andresen. The score would soon escalate, as usual, with Mike Jones hitting a solo shot in the second, and a 3-run rocket in the third, the score already jumping to 6-0. A Clyde Brady solo shot in the top 4th was duly scored, but didn’t change anything about what was going on. Another whipping was in progress. Bob Joly was hammered for eight runs, but didn’t gain any length in his outing. He left with Jones on first and two out, with Miller coming in to serve up another homer to Christian Dunphy, and we had reached double digits in the fifth inning. Miller would go on to do some damage control after all, pitching two scoreless, and Diaz finished this particular blowout with a scoreless eighth. The Raccoons managed to get into one more scoring chance, and double-played themselves out of it. 10-1 Thunder. Parker 2-4;

Firmly entrenched in last place in both runs scored and runs allowed now, and the run differential up to -99.

Nuno Andresen was designated for assignment after this game. I expected more than a .177 bat from him. While Daniel Sharp had hit his first professional home run the same day, I was not yet calling him up. We brought up Mike Crowe instead, who was batting for a bit over .900 OPS in AAA.

If the Thunder win another one, we will be 0-6 against them in 2000, and we will reach that unpleasant -100 run differential mark.

Game 3
POR: SS Guerin – 1B Martin – 2B Ingall – RF Brady – LF Parker – 3B Crowe – C Jackson – CF Newton – P Wade
OCT: RF Barnes – CF Humphrey – 3B S. Reece – 1B Higashi – 2B Grant – LF D. Henry – SS M. Jones – C Cooks – P Corbett

While the Raccoons scored a run in the top 1st and Scott Wade avoided instant execution, we still didn’t get a good game. Wade walked a pair in the third and got out of it unharmed when Clyde Brady lasered out the tying run at home to end the inning. In the fourth, he was less lucky. A single, two walks, and Curt Cooks grand slam knocked him to the ground. Lou Corbett’s RBI single knocked out Wade in a now 5-1 game with two out in the sixth, and the Raccoons were doing nothing at all. The bullpen suffered another one of those spectacular implosions in the seventh inning, in which the Thunder added on six runs, most of them on Epps. Meeks came in in the eighth, walked two to get started, and only got out on a double play. 11-1 Thunder. Guerin 2-4; Martin 2-4, 2 2B, RBI; Jackson 2-3, BB;

Bob Grant extended a hitting streak to 20 games, getting the easiest part towards 20 right at the end: the brown-clad abortions of last place doom.

In other news

June 15 – The Canadiens flip 29-yr old C Jorge Lopez (.285, 1 HR, 22 RBI) to Los Angeles for rookie RF/LF Matt MacKey (.279, 1 HR, 7 RBI in 43 AB).
June 19 – VAN INF Bob Butler (.294, 6 HR, 35 RBI) uses an extra-inning marathon against the Indians to connect for six base hits. The game, scoreless through 14 innings, takes 19 innings and 5:44 total to end in favor of the Canadiens, 2-1, and Butler was also responsible for his team walking off after his RBI single in the bottom 19th. Butlers collects a home run (in the 15th), a pair of doubles, and two more singles to become the 34th player in ABL history with a 6-hit day, following on DAL Darrel Tracy, who last achieved the feat in April. He is the third Brewer to accomplish six hits in a game, following Raúl Herrera (1984) and David Brewer (1989). The Canadiens’ two runs in the contest are the least in a 6-hit performance since 1978, when Richmond’s Riley Simon had six hits against the Falcons, and his team actually *lost* 2-1.
June 19 – DAL 1B/3B Salvador Mendez (.346, 0 HR, 23 RBI) has two hits in an 8-2 Stars loss to the Scorpions, but nevertheless reaches 20 games with his hitting streak.
June 25 – Salvador Mendez goes to 25 with two hits in a 4-3 win over the Miners.

Complaints and stuff

Stephen Buell right now has 14 AB for the Capitals this season, batting .214. He has spent the vast majority of the season for AAA Modesto, where he started a fight with Anaheim’s Luis Martinez (a Thunder pitching prospect) to get his furry-since-still-unshaved behinds nailed to the bench for eight days on an official league suspension.

There’s a saying in Germany (I come up with lots of these recently, don’t I?) to describe a completely inept competitor. He is called someone with whom you can’t even win a flower pot.

We have 25 of those.

And while we find out R/A number steadily climbing and recently having crossed 5.5 runs allowed per game, I can’t even find anybody in the organization to replace those pushovers with. It’s not even possible to get into “rebuild” mode. This IS the young crop we have. If THIS is the personnel we built our rebuilding program on, there is no hope – the Raccoons will be utterly terrible and play garbage ball for YEARS to come.

[Westheim]

In four of their last five games, the Raccoons pitching staff has been raped for ten or more runs. The collapse is well in progress, and its speed is accelerating.

Raccoons (27-46) @ Knights (28-47) – June 26-28, 2000

Last place shootouts taking place in Georgia in late June, with the Knights besting only the Raccoons in runs allowed, but at least had an average offense, which scored the fifth-most runs in the Continental League.

Projected matchups:
Ralph Ford (2-8, 4.69 ERA) vs. John Collins (5-7, 5.16 ERA)
Randy Farley (6-5, 3.50 ERA) vs. Larry Cutts (4-5, 4.46 ERA)
Miguel Lopez (4-9, 5.78 ERA) vs. Tynan Howard (3-9, 5.24 ERA)

Game 1
POR: SS Guerin – 2B Ingall – 1B Martin – RF Brady – C Mata – 3B Michel – LF Parker – CF Newton – P Ford
ATL: CF Alonso – 2B Palacios – LF Ware – 1B Tinker – RF W. Taylor – 3B J. Morales – C McDonald – SS Pena – P J. Collins

The Raccoons scored a run in the first, and Martin upped that with a monstrous 3-run home run in the third inning for a 4-0 lead. It looked pretty good, but then came the bottom 4th. Stephen Ware reached on an error by Newton, before Ford walked Bill Tinker and issued a wild pitch. Three straight hits later, the game was tied, and still no outs in the inning. Somehow, the Coons then wiggled out of that, and Mata brought in Brady in the fifth for a renewed lead. In the seventh, Clyde Brady had to leave the game after tweaking his knee, while Ford got stuck and was removed after a walk to Ware. Meeks got out of the inning, the Raccoons up 6-4, a lead they nursed into the bottom 9th, when we had little choice but to give the ball to Antonio Donis, but he got Pena, struck out Gerardo Rios, and Ingall made a nice play on Alonso. 6-4 Raccoons. Guerin 4-4, BB, 3B, RBI; Parker 2-4, BB, 2B; Crowe (PH) 1-1;

Brady had a knee sprain, rendering him unavailable for the rest of the week, which was a problem for us with only four outfielders on the roster. He was not DL’ed. We were hoping for both Richardson and Reece becoming available by the weekend. Well, hope is peculiar thing.

Game 2
POR: SS Guerin – 1B Martin – 2B Ingall – LF Gonzalez – RF Parker – C Mata – 3B Crowe – CF Newton – P Farley
ATL: 2B Palacios – C J. Johnson – LF Ware – CF G. Rios – 3B J. Morales – RF Alonso – 1B Chapman – SS Pena – P Cutts

The Raccoons got early power again in the middle game. After Farley fell 1-0 behind in the bottom 1st, struggling with his control, Newton doubled in a pair in the top 2nd to flip the score. In the third, the unlikely spark came in form of a 3-run homer by Cesar Gonzalez, his first in … possibly years. The Knights at 5-1 were not out of this however, and a Crowe error in the bottom 4th led to two unearned runs, doubled in by Bill Tinker. The Knights had their bullpen now in the game with Cutts removed, and Donald Sims loaded the bases with no outs in the top 5th. Parker and Mata singled home runs, and we got another one on a groundout this time, 8-3, and in the sixth, Gonzalez hit another home run, collecting Ingall, to make it 10-3! Offense?? What the heck was going on!? Farley covered 6.1 innings in 120 pitches, which was not exactly great length, but we were up by seven as Blanco came in to face left-handers, collecting five outs quickly. The Knights did not mount a counterattack. 11-3 Raccoons! Martin 2-6, 2B; Ingall 2-3, 2 BB; Gonzalez 2-3, 2 BB, 2 HR, 5 RBI; Parker 3-5, 2B, RBI; Newton 2-4, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Caddock (PH) 1-1; Farley 6.1 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, W (7-5); Blanco 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

One day after getting on base five times, Conceicao Guerin struck out five times. (speechless) He ties an ABL record held by about two dozen other players. Will Taylor and Cristo Ramirez had also run up a disgraceful five strikeouts in a game this season.

Samy Michel spent all night up after this game, vomiting intensely. He was out with a stomach virus, shortening our bench to three players.

Game 3
POR: SS Guerin – 2B Ingall – 1B Martin – LF Gonzalez – C Mata – RF Parker – 3B Crowe – CF Newton – P Lopez
ATL: CF Alonso – 2B Palacios – LF Ware – 1B Tinker – RF W. Taylor – 3B J. Morales – C J. Johnson – SS Pena – P Howard

The Raccoons didn’t really carry their momentum into the game. Lopez misfielded a bunt in the third inning, not getting any out, and the Knights loaded the bags after that, plating two runs eventually. The Raccoons didn’t get anywhere until the fifth, when Mata hit a leadoff jack. The Coons got two more on, but a timely
double play hit into by Crowe had them out of the inning quickly. Mata would be in the thick of it again in the seventh, when he hit a quite surprising triple and was driven in by Parker, tying the game. The Coons loaded them up including Lopez, who loaded the bases with a walk drawn off Howard as we did not hit for him – he was going quite well, with three hits allowed so far in this game. Ingall’s leadoff triple in the eighth gave us a prime chance to take the lead, and while Gonzalez was walked intentionally after Martin made the first out, Mata managed to score Ingall on an infield single. Lopez looked like he could at least pitch another inning, but in his efforts was derailed by a Guerin error in the bottom 8th that put the leadoff man Tony Pena on board, and the Knights brought him in to score and re-tie the score at three. Miller got us into extra innings and also pitched the tenth which was led off by Albert Matthews with an infield single(!!), but we got out of it. The top 11th was to be led off by Julio Mata, who was a double removed from the cycle and still facing Matthews, who had already 2.2 innings on the odometer. Matthews walked him. Mata would however score on a 2-out single by Newton, starting from second base against Chris Chapman’s poor arm in right field. Donis was thrown in for another save attempt, and it was a wild ride, with Alonso and Chapman on base, one out, and two drives to deep left, which Gonzalez somehow managed to intercept. 4-3 Furballs! Mata 3-4, BB, HR, 3B, 2 RBI; Parker 2-5, 2B, RBI; Lopez 8.0 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 5 K; Miller 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K, W (1-3);

As surprising as that may be, we have already claimed the season series against the Knights, 5-1 at this point. That’s not too bad. The Knights are the team we are worst against all time in the Continental League, now with a 96-117 (.451) record.

Trade

The Raccoons had designated Nuno Andresen for assignment five days earlier, after which the 37-yr old infielder found no claimants. Andresen refused assignment to St. Petersburg, so we had find some place to dump him to. The Condors were the only team faintly interested in his services and we quickly worked out a deal for a no-hope minor league pitcher, with the hook that that pitcher was on the 40-man roster and costing money.

We thus acquired 23-yr old right hander Cesar Miranda, who went undrafted in the 1994 amateur draft, was then signed as undrafted free agent and released (twice), and had since bounced from system to system in trades three times. Vince sees nothing in him, and we will likely dump him at the end of the season to make room on the 40-man roster in anticipation of the December 1 rule 5 draft.

Raccoons (30-46) @ Indians (33-45) – June 29-July 2, 2000

We would have to claim the series to break even with the Indians, but let’s take it step by step. The Indians were in itself not terrible, posting about average numbers in most categories.

Projected matchups:
Bob Joly (2-3, 6.15 ERA) vs. Manuel Alba (4-6, 4.07 ERA)
Scott Wade (2-6, 4.79 ERA) vs. Anthony Mosher (2-11, 4.99 ERA)
Ralph Ford (3-8, 4.64 ERA) vs. Steve Holcomb (4-8, 4.67 ERA)
Randy Farley (7-5, 3.36 ERA) vs. David Rios (2-5, 5.73 ERA)

Ex-Coon Mosher was the only southpaw among these.

Game 1
POR: SS Guerin – 2B Ingall – 1B Martin – LF Gonzalez – C Mata – RF Parker – 3B Crowe – CF Newton – P Joly
IND: SS Matthews – RF Alston – 1B M. Brown – LF D. Lopez – C Paraz – 2B J. Garcia – 3B Whaley – CF Fisher – P Alba

A towering home run by Matt Brown in the first inning seemed to indicate that Bob Joly’s appearance in the series opener would be a short one, and the Raccoons would be duly routed. That wasn’t quite the case, though. The Raccoons managed to tie the game on a sac fly in the third, and when Joly fell behind again, had Alba kindly throw a run-scoring, game-tying wild pitch in the fifth. The Indians didn’t get anything done off Joly in the middle innings, while the Raccoons, sparked by a 2-run single by Chris Parker, moved to a 5-2 lead after six. Joly was hit for – to no effect – with two out in the eighth, when Caddock flew deep to center, but not sufficiently deep enough and left two runners stranded. Meeks and Diaz got the eighth over with, before Donis struck out Lopez and Paraz in the ninth, and was one strike away from ending the game, when Cicalina doubled to center. Matt Whaley grounded to the mound, and arrived at first right with Donis’ throw. It was a bang-bang play, but not quite a tie according to the first base umpire. Whaley was out, and the Raccoons had lined up a spectacular 4-game winning streak. 5-2 Coons. Guerin 2-5, RBI; Crowe 2-4; Newton 2-3, BB, 2B; Joly 7.0 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, W (3-3);

Daniel Richardson came off the DL in time for the Friday game, making Jason Kent’s stay in Portland end. His .154 bat returned to St. Petersburg. Neil Reece is not that far off, I have been assured, and Clyde Brady did some running with the sore knee this morning and might be able to go on Saturday.

Game 2
POR: SS Guerin – 1B Martin – 2B Ingall – LF Gonzalez – RF Parker – C Mata – 3B Crowe – CF Newton – P Wade
IND: 3B Whaley – SS Chevalier – 1B M. Brown – LF D. Lopez – C Paraz – 2B J. Garcia – RF Quintela – CF Maguey – P Mosher

Another day, another first inning moonshot from Brown. This one counted for two, and this time it wouldn’t get better for Wade, who was easily hittable and bailed out by saving double plays the next two innings. The once brown-clad, but outcast Mosher dominated the Raccoons, struck out five the first time through the lineup, and also drove in a run off a largely hapless Scott Wade in the fourth inning. The Indians were up 4-0 after four, and 5-1 after five, before Mosher began to melt down, giving up three hits and two wild pitches to plate three runs for the Raccoons in the top 6th. Wade left on the hook, but in the eighth the Raccoons loaded them up against Iemitsu Rin, with Newton coming to bat with one out. Double play. What are you looking for in Portland – happy ends? Better look elsewhere. Tomas Maguey took Dan Epps deep in the eighth en route to killing our monstrous 4-game winning streak. 6-4 Indians. Guerin 2-5, RBI; Ingall 2-4; Parker 3-4, 2B; Mata 2-4, 2B, RBI;

We deemed Dan Epps’ presence no longer necessary to stay afloat, which might not might not be influenced by his 13.50 ERA, and sent him packing to the swamps. Whom could we call up? Martinez? Nordahl? The other Martinez? The other Diaz? Grandma?

(spins the Wheel of Fortune)

(lands on BANKRUPTCY)

Well, let’s try Manuel Martinez anyway.

Game 3
POR: SS Guerin – 1B Martin – C Mata – RF Brady – LF Richardson – 2B Ingall – CF Newton – 3B Caddock – P Ford
IND: SS Matthews – RF Alston – C Cicalina – 1B D. Lopez – LF Quintela – 3B Whaley – 2B J. Garcia – CF Maguey – P Holcomb

The Raccoons generated a run on four singles in the first, but Ralph Ford’s control was fuzzy once again, and we were expecting an explosion any minute. In the second and fourth innings, he was lucky enough to encounter Holcomb with two on to get a crucial second out en route to escape a jam. Something else eventually got the better of him – an injury. No idea what it was, but he gave the pain signal to the trainer and left the game up 3-0 in the fifth inning. The Indians left the bags full against Elliott Meeks. The Coons got a leadoff single by Caddock in the top 7th and Parker and Martin drew walks on checked swings in full counts to load them up. Unfortunately, a Mata sac fly was all that came out of that situation and the Indians began to hollow out our bullpen with two runs in the bottom of the inning, bringing the score to 4-2. Caddock and Parker struck out to leave a pair in scoring position in the eighth, and in the ninth Guerin and Martin went down quickly. Michel then hit for Mata and singled. Gonzalez hit for Blanco in the #4 slot, and whacked a single as well. Richardson doubled, plating both of them, but our efforts would end after a walk to Ingall where all our efforts ended, at Newton’s spot in the order. Still, up 6-2, we tried our luck with Fairchild in the bottom 9th, which only worked out because of nifty grabs by Guerin and Newton. 6-2 Coons. Martin 2-4, 2B; Michel (PH) 1-1; Gonzalez (PH) 1-1; Richardson 3-5, 2B, 3 RBI; Ingall 3-4, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Meeks 1.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K, W (4-1);

Oh what the heck is going to be wrong with Ralphie now?? Can’t we get a break??

Meanwhile the trainers recommended a short rehab assignment for Neil Reece in St. Petersburg, and he flew down late at night on Saturday to be available on Sunday. We expect him back before the All Star game, which is only ten days removed from us.

Game 4
POR: SS Guerin – 1B Martin – LF Richardson – RF Brady – 2B Ingall – CF Parker – 3B Crowe – C Jackson – P Farley
IND: SS Matthews – RF Alston – 1B M. Brown – LF D. Lopez – C Paraz – 2B J. Garcia – 3B Chevalier – CF Valdez – P Lawrence

24-year old Nate Lawrence from Radnor Township, PA made his season debut in this game after a recent callup, replacing David Rios. He had had two starts in 1999 and was yet to be defeated by a big league team. Both teams’ rightfielders exchanged 2-run homers in the first inning, but when Brady drove in another run in the third, the 3-2 lead held up for a bit longer. Crowe’s throwing error on a Lawrence grounder in the fifth almost doomed Farley’s efforts, but he got Brown to ground out to Ingall to exit the frame with runners on the corners. The Coons got an unearned run along the way, 4-2, before Farley walked Brown in the bottom 8th, and with David Lopez coming up, that was too close for comfort. Meeks came out and got a grounder to force out the lead runner, then walked Paraz. With the tying runs on base, Donis was brought in to face Jesus Garcia, and his first pitch was wild to advance the runners, before Garcia eventually walked to load them up. Cicalina hit for Chevalier and hacked a grounder to Guerin for a comparably easy exit to the inning. Lawrence pitched into the ninth before Martin took him deep for a 5-2 score. The Coons loaded them up, but Alston caught Parker’s fly to deep right to end the frame, but Alston would also make the final out in the contest, also on a fly to right. 5-2 Raccoons! Martin 2-5, HR, RBI; Richardson 2-4, BB, 2B; Brady 3-3, 2 BB, HR, 3 RBI; Farley 7.1 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, W (8-5); Donis 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 1 K, SV (15);

Nothing against Scott Wade or Ralph Ford, but Randy Farley is really the ONLY guy I look forward to see pitching every five days…

Ralph Ford’s injury turned out to be a mildly strained back muscle and he *might* even be available to pitch on his last turn before the All Star game. PHEW!!

Raccoons (33-47) vs. Canadiens (42-39) – July 3-6, 2000

The Elks over .500 were bad news. I mean, they can do whatever they want. They can even finish ahead of the Raccoons, as long as both have losing records. But them winning and us losing, it stings. They were posting above-average numbers in runs scored (4th) and runs allowed (5th), and that posed the worrying question whether they were on the upswing after not taking place in the division race since 1994. During their most recent period of strength them and us finished 1-2 in the division five straight years, with the Raccoons taking precedence four times between 1989 and 1993.

Projected starters:
Miguel Lopez (4-9, 5.44 ERA) vs. Jose Dominguez (8-4, 3.75 ERA)
Bob Joly (3-3, 5.33 ERA) vs. Daniel Dickerson (3-6, 5.79 ERA)
Scott Wade (2-7, 4.95 ERA) vs. Jose Marquez (6-8, 4.08 ERA)
TBD vs. Joe Hollow (8-8, 3.39 ERA)

Game 1
VAN: SS B. Butler – C Clemente – 1B Valenzuela – RF Velasquez – 2B H. Henry – LF P. Taylor – CF J. Durán – 3B Shaw – P Dominguez
POR: SS Guerin – 1B Martin – LF Richardson – RF Brady – 2B Ingall – CF Parker – C Mata – 3B Michel – P Lopez

The Elks carried the opener not on their own hitting prowess, but because the Raccoons proved unable to field for once. Oh, and unable to hit of course. The Canadiens led 2-1 early, with one run on Michel and a catastrophic throwing error. The Raccoons would leave the bases loaded in both the second and sixth innings, which was going to bit them eventually, but it was also a Mata throwing error that plated two more unearned runs for the Canadiens in the top 7th. Lopez left the game with two stab wounds in the back after this inning, and Fairchild certainly tried to, but failed to explode the score by giving five hits and a walk away in two innings of work – yet the Canadiens didn’t score. Neither did the Raccoons. 4-1 Canadiens. Lopez 7.0 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, L (4-10);

Miguel Lopez’ once charming career record is closing in on zero, as he has crashed to 73-59 by now.

Game 2
VAN: 2B B. Butler – LF J. Durán – 1B Valenzuela – CF Ledesma – 3B Sutton – C Clemente – RF MacKey – SS Shaw – P Dickerson
POR: SS Guerin – 1B Martin – LF Parker – RF Brady – 2B Ingall – 3B Gonzalez – C Mata – CF Newton – P Joly

Butler singled, Durán took one into the back, and Valenzuela set the score straight with a long one, 3-0 Canadiens before most patrons had reached their seats. When Joly allowed a leadoff single to Shaw in the second and then threw Dickerson’s bunt away, I blacked out and didn’t even get to remove him with the stage hook we stored in the dugout. The game was long out of hand then. The Raccoons failed to do anything with Daniel Dickerson’s corner-spotting not-so-fast fastballs, and got knotted up over seven shutout innings, trailing 7-0. It wasn’t until Raymond Léger replaced Dickerson in the eighth that Brady got a run in, and the Raccoons were crowding him pretty badly in the bottom 9th. In a 7-2 game, bases loaded, two down, Parker grounded to Butler, who misfielded the ball and all runners were safe. 7-3, Brady up, the Elks sent in their closer Juan Bello, whose first pitch Brady popped up in foul ground to end the game. 7-3 Canadiens. Martin 3-5, RBI; Crowe (PH) 1-1; Miller 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 2 K;

Yeah well. The Elks seem to be so much better than the Critters. They also smell so much more. (looks offended)

Game 3
VAN: 2B B. Butler – LF J. Durán – 1B Valenzuela – RF Velasquez – 3B Sutton – CF MacKey – C D. Davis – SS Shaw – P Marquez
POR: SS Guerin – 1B Martin – 3B Crowe – RF Brady – LF Gonzalez – C Mata – CF Parker – 2B Michel – P Wade

Backup catcher Doug Davis, batting one for ten on the year, was Scott Wade’s anchor in the early game, as he twice got a relieving out from him, in the second and fourth, to keep the Canadiens off the board. The same innings had their bottoms opened with Mata doubles off the wall in center, but only the second opportunity was cashed in on. After Marquez drilled Parker, Michel failed, but Wade hit a double off the wall as well! Driving in the first run of the game, Wade held at third when Guerin singled to make it 2-0. Martin walked, and Brady would eventually single home a pair to make it 4-0. Wade was letting up, allowed a run in the fifth, but was able to escape the sixth by getting Davis to reliably ground out. The Coons were struggling to get another safety run home, and instead had Mike Crowe picked off second base to ruin a well-going seventh inning. Wade eventually yielded to Diaz with the left-hander Sutton up in the eighth, with two down. Diaz provided NO relief, loaded the bags, and Meeks came in to face Wade’s friend Davis. One lineout later, I was able to exhale again, the blue color slowly leaving my face. Donis pitched a so-so ninth, which was just so enough. 4-1 Raccoons. Brady 2-3, 2 RBI; Mata 2-4, 2 2B; Wade 7.2 IP, 9 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, W (3-7) and 1-3, 2B, RBI;

We added Neil Reece to the roster in time for the last game in the series. This came at the expense of Samy Michel, whose bat never was anything special and still wasn’t.

Game 4
VAN: SS B. Butler – C Clemente – 1B Valenzuela – RF Velasquez – 2B H. Henry – LF P. Taylor – CF J. Durán – 3B Sutton – P Hollow
POR: SS Guerin – 1B Martin – CF Reece – RF Brady – 2B Ingall – 3B Crowe – LF Richardson – C Jackson – P Ford

Ford was plainly horrible. He walked three in the first inning, fell 2-0 behind, and continued along that route. Down 3-0, Neil Reece got the crowd exited with a solo home run in the bottom 3rd, but excitement was short-lived in Portland these days and usually dissipated in favor of faces buried in palms, which in this game was the case as soon as Ralph Ford reappeared in the top innings and threw another few wide ones. Ford struck out seven, but walked five, and was removed for Newton to pinch-hit in the bottom 5th. Not that that had any positive effect. With both sides hacking frantically the entire game, the Raccoons were running up the strikeouts a little ahead of the Canadiens (who whiffed twice each against Martinez and Miller for 11 K in total), and the bottom 8th saw Joe Hollow both match the Canadiens’ franchise record for strikeouts in a game with 12 – and then set a new one by whiffing Albert Martin. He was hit for in the ninth, leaving the 3-1 lead to Enrico Gonzalez, who didn’t strike out anybody, but also didn’t allow anybody on base. 3-1 Canadiens.

Raccoons (34-50) @ Loggers (49-37) – July 7-9, 2000

The Loggers were scoring runs at a frantic pace, with 494 counters on the board for them after 86 games. Bakile Hiwalani was closing in on 100 RBI at this very moment. Unless the planets would align strangely for the Raccoons, we didn’t figure to steal a sizeable amount of wins here.

Projected matchups:
Randy Farley (8-5, 3.30 ERA) vs. Davis Sims (4-4, 6.63 ERA)
Miguel Lopez (4-10, 5.12 ERA) vs. John Woodard (7-4, 4.21 ERA)
Bob Joly (3-4, 5.40 ERA) vs. Roberto Herrera (9-6, 4.40 ERA)

Game 1
POR: LF Parker – 1B Martin – CF Reece – RF Brady – 3B Gonzalez – 2B Ingall – C Mata – SS Caddock – P Farley
MIL: SS B. Hernandez – C L. Ramirez – RF C. Ramirez – LF Hiwalani – 1B J. Cruz – CF Fletcher – 3B J. Perez – 2B Baker – P Sims

Hiwalani’s 83rd RBI of the season came right in the first inning on a 1-out RBI single. While Ingall put the score back even with a leadoff homer in the top 2nd, the Raccoons didn’t score after loading the bases in the same inning. Both pitchers wobbled considerably before the Raccoons broke the tie first, with Mata doubling in Reece and Gonzalez in the fifth. The bottom of the inning saw Leon Ramirez take Farley deep then, halving the gap to 3-2, before Cristo Ramirez doubled. Although it was not very late in this game, Hiwalani was not pitched to, and instead Cruz grounded out to Caddock. Sims was removed when the first Coon reached base in the sixth, but Bubba Cannon walked Reece to push Martin to second, and they would both score on Gonzalez’ 2-out double. 5-2 for Farley, who nevertheless was bowled over in the bottom 7th when Román Reyes and Bartolo Hernandez both reached, and Farley was gone after a Leon Ramirez sac fly. 5-3, runner on first, one out, Cristo Ramirez up, and Hiwalani looming. Sounded like a recipe for disaster, but the situation de-escalated fairly easily when Blanco popped up Ramirez, and then Miller didn’t even resolve his AB with Hiwalani, because Mata threw out a cocky Hernandez trying to make it to second base. When they found themselves back to work in the bottom 8th, Hiwalani grounded out, and Miller pitched a perfect inning. The score remained 5-3 into Donis’ shift, which started with Perez flying out to right, but Arthur Baker homered, cutting it to 5-4. Miguel Vela grounded out, before Bartolo Hernandez flew deep to center, with Reece in pursuit – and he got it! 5-4 Furballs! Parker 2-4, BB; Miller 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

All our starters in this game had at least one hit, and we had “only” 10 in total despite that. However, a win is a win is a win, and Farley is now at 9-5, a record that is not too shabby for a staff’s assumed ace. Also, after being virtually tied with the Indians for fifth all week, their 7-3 loss in New York lifted us to sole possession of fifth place.

Game 2
POR: LF Parker – 1B Martin – CF Reece – RF Brady – 3B Gonzalez – SS Guerin – C Jackson – 2B Caddock – P Lopez
MIL: RF C. Ramirez – SS B. Hernandez – LF Hiwalani – 1B J. Cruz – 3B R. Morales – CF Fletcher – C L. Ramirez – 2B J. Perez – P Woodard

Woodard struck out the side in the first, before the second opened with flies that off the bat looked like homers from both Brady and Gonzalez – and would have been in Portland – but they turned out to be a double and an out, respectively. Guerin still drove in Brady, 1-0, but Cristo Ramirez equalized with a 2-out RBI double in the bottom 3rd. A borderline mental manager sent Brady and Gonzalez on a double steal in the top 4th that actually worked out, and both were scored on freakish base hits by Jackson and Caddock, 3-1. While all seemed quite well initially, it soon wasn’t, because Neil Reece left the game after the fourth inning with a new injury, this time it was the back that was aching. After that, I retreated to some dark corner to cut myself, to see if I could still feel anything. In my absence, the Loggers loaded them up in the bottom 6th against Lopez, who found something in his arm to strike out Cruz and Morales to escape a potentially fatal jam. The Loggers led off the seventh with the tying runs in scoring position and no outs, regardless, this time knocking out Lopez. Meeks effectively blew up Lopez’ line by showing no class whatsoever and giving up two hits and a walk, and when Gonzalez hit a 2-shot in the top 8th, Meeks almost managed to blow that lead as well, allowing another run to score. Donis came into the bottom 9th up 5-4, and got Cristo Ramirez and Hernandez out. That brought up Hiwalani. Nah. We will rather have Cruz go deep and end this horrible nightmare quickly. Cruz grounded out. 5-4 Raccoons. Brady 2-4, 2B;

Neil Reece? N-Neil R-Reece? I feel like I’ve been struck with a morning star…

Game 3
POR: SS Guerin – 1B Martin – RF Brady – 2B Ingall – CF Parker – 3B Crowe – C Mata – LF Richardson – P Joly
MIL: SS B. Hernandez – 3B R. Morales – RF C. Ramirez – LF Hiwalani – 1B J. Cruz – CF Fletcher – C L. Ramirez – 2B Baker – P Herrera

With my red, swollen eyes I witnessed the Raccoons ramming a pike right through Roberto Herrera in the first, plating four on a 2-run double by Parker and a 3-run homer by Crowe, leaving Herrera, who was bleeding profusely, in the next inning to tumble in front of nothing less than the "Pumhart von Steyr", just as Clyde Brady was lighting the fuse: 3-run home run Brady, Herrera’s remains blasted all over the park, and the Raccoons ahead by eight. The Loggers were constantly crowing Bob Joly through seven innings, and never landed a definite blow. They came closest to scoring when Chris Parker threw out a runner at the plate. Joly, completely hapless on his own, was dug out by the defense again and again and again. At least that was better than Fairchild’s effort, which consisted of walking a sufficient amount of batters to cause damage to his own team, which was what happened in the eighth. The Raccoons were almost entirely silenced as soon as they had shattered Herrera with their medieval toys and didn’t score the rest of the way. 8-3 Raccoons. Brady 3-5, HR, 3 RBI; Richardson 2-4, 3B, 2B; Joly 7.0 IP, 7 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 1 K, W (4-4) and 1-3;

In other news

June 26 – Oklahoma’s Bob Grant goes 0-3 in a 5-2 loss to the Loggers, ending his hitting streak at 20 games.
June 29 – DAL 1B/3B Salvador Mendez (.344, 0 HR, 24 RBI) hitting streak ends at 28 games as he goes 0-4 in a 5-1 Stars win over the Pacifics.
June 30 – OCT 3B Sonny Reece (.315, 8 HR, 54 RBI) sizzles in a 9-0 romp over the Falcons, going 5-5 with 5 RBI and falls a homer short of the cycle.
July 1 – The Titans agree to a 3-year extension with 25-year old INF Daniel Silva (.269, 1 HR, 28 RBI), who will earn $4M as part of the deal.
July 2 – WAS LF/RF Jesus Rivera (.369, 16 HR, 67 RBI) has a season for the ages and a Triple Crown campaign interrupted harshly by a strained quad, which will require rest for the month of July at least.
July 6 – TIJ SP Terry Murphy (6-5, 4.33 ERA) is out for the year after being diagnosed with shoulder inflammation.
July 8 – OCT OF Joey Humphrey (.363, 5 HR, 24 RBI) has hit in 20 straight games after contributing an RBI double in the Thunder’s 5-2 win over the Aces.
July 9 – Humphrey exits the headlines as soon as he had made them, going hitless in the Thunder’s 3-2 win over Las Vegas, and ending his streak at 20 games.

Complaints and stuff

At some point, Luke Newton’s pathetic bat made his presence in the lineup expendable even at the cost of reduced defense with Chris Parker in centerfield. Consider this the end of Luke Newton’s career. We will look into shipping this .225/.310/.321 career bat (just short of 1,300 AB) out of here on the most efficient way. You know, if having him bat .180/.263/.275 in 200+ AB is the BEST you can do with that lineup spot, you might as well play your grandma in center. You have forfeited your ambitions for better than last place already!

And Parker was fairly good in the recent weeks. With Brady almost OPS’ing .800, the Brewer trade looks better again than last year at this point, when both the outfielders in the deal were relegated into reduced roles, and we only had Farley to admire.

Albert Martin was the CL Rookie of the Month for June, hitting .311 with 3 HR and 14 RBI. His OBP was .373, actually making it a pretty decent idea to have him bat second in front of Reece, Brady, and whomever else could stand on his own legs at various times.

During the Canadiens series at home, we were quite active. Two players had received extension offers before we had left town the last time, and back home we got two signatures:

We agreed to a contract extension with Orlando Blanco, who signed a 2-yr, $450k deal. He will be 34 on July 28, but he is pitching well enough so far to make me belief we actually have found some reliable southpaw for the bullpen, which the Raccoons haven’t had since… phew… Ken Burnett?

The second player to agree to an extension was Daniel Miller. He signed a 3-yr, $1.05M contract, with the last year ($370k) having a team option and a $75k buyout. I don’t think he is done yet (he’s only 32), but the option should protect us a bit better.

With Blanco, Miller, Donis, and maybe Meeks (I have to make up my mind on that) as experienced options, we have three relief slots to be filled by youngsters. Nordahl and Manuel Martinez are obvious and the most likely options. The lack of a strong long relief option among the group might send Meeks away. Too bad Andrew Schaefer didn’t work out, he could have been the long man. Fairchild is no longer a viable option, even for a last place team.

What else? Ah. Right. All Star rosters were released – the Raccoons will not send anybody. No surprise there.

What else? Oh. Yeah. Neil Reece was diagnosed with a herniated disc in his back and this time he could be out for the season, having amassed a grand total of 64 at-bats.

La vida no es bueno.

(sits on the floor, fires up Bertie Higgins’ Key Largo on max volume) WE HAD IT ALL. (rocks slowly back and forth) JUST LIKE BOGIE AND BACALL. (clutches Neil Reece’s 2000 POPPS card against his chest and weeps furiously)

[blazertaz13]

Hey look at the Coons they are no longer in last place of the division. Time for a short celebration.

Still having fun reading this.

[Trebro]

Joly's starting to look like he can be a #4-5 guy. Now if only you could find a #1 and #3 to go with Farley as a #2.

Could Wade be the swing man in 2001? Or are you expecting to move on?

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by blazertaz13

Hey look at the Coons they are no longer in last place of the division. Time for a short celebration.

Fireworks night was cancelled when Neil Reece went down the third time.

Originally Posted by blazertaz13

Still having fun reading this.

As it should be

Originally Posted by Trebro

Joly's starting to look like he can be a #4-5 guy. Now if only you could find a #1 and #3 to go with Farley as a #2.

Joly being a #4 or #5 guy - is that on a first place or last place team? I see nothing in him. I can't imagine how he ever managed to pitch a no-hitter.

Originally Posted by Trebro

Could Wade be the swing man in 2001? Or are you expecting to move on?

He's losing it due to old age, so I am not sure whether we want to continue along that road. He would certainly still be an improvement over Fairchild in long relief, but at the moment we have a problem with filling the rotation anyway...

This is a question that will be answered in September, I guess.

One of the hidden advantages of Scott Wade was of course always the bug that his two pitches led him to ask for reliever's money his whole career, but it is only really an advantage if you get a rock-solid middle of the order starter for that reliever's money.

On a first place team, that is.

[Westheim]

With the Raccoons snubbed we didn’t bother much about the All Star game (yet to be honest, there was nobody on the roster who deserved nomination at all). The Aces’ Charlie Deacon was shredded for five runs in the fourth inning as the Federal League claimed an 8-3 win.

Although he was having a horrible season at AAA and about to drop from our own potential contributors list, we called up Cal Lyon to replace the once-again injured Neil Reece. Batting .289 and not even being a regular, the real question was whether he could play any more horrible than Luke Newton. An adept outfielder on all three positions, Lyon was our third round pick in the 1994 draft and had never batted for an .800 OPS at any minor league level in any season in his career. Let’s give this 24-year old left-hander his cup of coffee, and in two weeks we will shrug and throw the next kid into the fire.

Raccoons (37-50) @ Canadiens (45-43) – July 13-16, 2000

Here’s another attempt at foiling the Canadiens’ above-.500 aspirations. Not that I am overly confident.

Projected matchups:
Randy Farley (9-5, 3.35 ERA) vs. Joe Hollow (9-8, 3.26 ERA)
Miguel Lopez (4-10, 5.09 ERA) vs. Jose Dominguez (9-4, 3.71 ERA)
Ralph Ford (3-9, 4.47 ERA) vs. Daniel Dickerson (4-7, 5.07 ERA)
Scott Wade (3-7, 4.68 ERA) vs. Jose Marquez (6-9, 4.18 ERA)

Game 1
POR: SS Guerin – 1B Martin – 2B Ingall – RF Brady – LF Parker – 3B Crowe – C Jackson – CF Lyon – P Farley
VAN: 2B B. Butler – C Clemente – 1B I. Gutierrez – CF Ledesma – 3B Sutton – LF H. Givens – RF MacKey – SS Shaw – P Hollow

The Canadiens didn’t get a hit off Farley until the fourth inning, but when they did, they strung them up quickly and put Randy in a 3-0 hole. But just as suddenly as Farley had been taken for a walk, the same happened to Hollow. He loaded the bases in the top 5th, and with two down, Ingall shot a double into the gap in left center to tie the game in a stroke. Brady plated Ingall to give Randy a 4-3 lead. But Randy didn’t hold up and was knocked out on consecutive run-scoring line drives by Ledesma and Sutton in the bottom 6th. Blanco was torn apart just as well, and the Canadiens put up a 5-run sixth that put the Raccoons deep, deep down, but they rallied again. When the bases were loaded with two out in the seventh, Gonzalez hit for the pitcher Martinez, and struck out – of course – and the score was left with the Elks up by one. Miller was booked for a run in the eighth, leading off by hitting Travis Shaw in shoveling his own grave, and that run went missing at the end when Caddock drove in a pinch-hit 2-out RBI single in the top 9th, but Guerin struck out to leave two men on. 9-8 Canadiens. Brady 3-5, 2 RBI; Parker 2-5; Richardson (PH) 1-1, RBI; Caddock (PH) 1-1, RBI; Diaz 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K;

Guerin is in a terrible slump. He’s not getting anything done ever since having four hits in the opener against the Knights a few weeks back. Time to drop him in the order. I wonder who else could bat leadoff. How about giving up on base stealing entirely?

Game 2
POR: 1B Martin – CF Parker – 2B Ingall – RF Brady – 3B Gonzalez – LF Richardson – SS Guerin – C Mata – P Lopez
VAN: LF P. Taylor – C Clemente – RF Velasquez – SS B. Butler – CF Ledesma – 2B H. Henry – 1B D. Davis – 3B Shaw – P Dominguez

Lopez left after three innings with an undisclosed injury, as the Raccoons continued to be not only terrible, but were also showing the sturdiness of flies, getting swatted on a weekly basis. The contest was scoreless through three, and we forfeited the contest regardless by bringing in Kelly Fairchild. While the first run he surrendered was unearned after an error by Albert Martin, Fairchild soon enough was battered again, with Tony Velasquez homering for two in the bottom 5th to make it a 3-0 game. He gave up four runs in total in just two innings, and when the Raccoons broke out for three runs in the top 6th (two on sac flies with the bags full…), it was insufficient again. Clyde Brady tied the score at five in the top 7th (and also tied Gonzalez for the team lead in dingers with a pathetic eight). The useless Gonzalez left the bases loaded in the top 9th, and that left Bob Joly to absorb the loss on Bob Butler’s walkoff shot. 6-5 Canadiens. Martin 3-5; Parker 2-4, BB; Brady 2-4, BB, HR, 2 RBI;

Game 3
POR: 1B Martin – CF Parker – 2B Ingall – RF Brady – LF Richardson – 3B Crowe – SS Guerin – C Mata – P Ford
VAN: 1B J. Durán – C Clemente – RF Velasquez – SS B. Butler – CF Ledesma – 2B H. Henry – LF P. Taylor – 3B Shaw – P Dickerson

Velasquez found Ford to be little more than a stepping stone and hit another 2-run home run in the bottom 1st, then tying the two runs the Raccons had carved out themselves in the top 1st, driven in by Ingall and Richardson. Dickerson almost hit one out against Ford in the second, as we were found ourselves asking the question whether it was prudent to keep him in the majors any longer. Ford was knocked out in the third inning already, which the Canadiens led off with three straight doubles, all somewhere past Parker in center, and Ford put two more on without retiring anybody. While the Raccoons got three no-hit innings from Daniel Miller, who starved both men still left on base by Ford, three days into the post-All Star season, the bullpen was already bent beyond what it could withhold again, and exploded in flames in a 6-run eighth inning on behalf of the Canadiens, who had their way with the Uttercoons. Three home runs, six doubles, plus change had the Raccoons stomped flat into the ground. 12-4 Canadiens. Caddock 1-1; Richardson 2-4, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Guerin 2-4, 2B; Miller 3.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K and 1-1;

Game 4
POR: 2B Ingall – 1B Martin – 3B Crowe – RF Brady – LF Parker – SS Guerin – C Mata – CF Lyon – P Wade
VAN: C Clemente – 2B H. Henry – RF Velasquez – 1B I. Gutierrez – CF Ledesma – 3B Sutton – LF MacKey – SS Shaw – P Marquez

The Raccoons gobbled up three runs in the first inning off Marquez before resorting to their ever futile ways again and leaving men on in droves. Scott Wade was dealt an early blow when Mata made a massive throwing error on Clemente’s grounder to start the game, and the Canadiens brought their catcher in, while not getting an actual hit until the fourth inning. When they did get a bat on Wade however, things went ugly very quickly in the sixth, with a 2-out, 2-run double by Ledesma tying up the game. Wade dropped to the short end of the line score with a Clemente sac fly in the bottom 7th, 4-3 for the other team, before Parker led off the top 8th with a triple off Pedro Alvarado. The Raccoons left him on, and Wade took an undeserved loss. 4-3 Canadiens. Parker 2-4, 3B; Mata 2-4, RBI;

Complaints and stuff

That’s enough tears cried for a day.

[Westheim]

Over the weekend I had already run up quite a phone bill, on one hand with my pharmacist for more painkillers, and when he refused, with someone who certainly didn’t have a degree in much of anything, but could deliver. And then, with two Federal League teams interested in some broken toy I didn’t want to play with anymore. Notice how a certain guy has been – whenever an offer was on the table that night – suspiciously absent from the lineups since the All Star break.

Raccoons (37-54) vs. Titans (51-43) – July 18-20, 2000

The Titans were only half a game off the Loggers partly due to that surprise sweep the Raccoons had staged over Milwaukee just before the All Star break. Well, and going 1-7 against Vancouver had brought the Elks back into the mix as well. Don’t get me started on that.

The Titans were above average in most categories. What they were lacking this year was that one guy (like O’Halloran or Bautista in recent years) to have an absolute shutdown season. In turn, the Raccoons had a few guys who were about to be shut out from the clubhouse, and did NOT have a starter for game 3 with Miguel Lopez’ well-being being in limbo as the series opened.

Projected matchups:
Bob Joly (4-5, 4.83 ERA) vs. Jesus Bautista (10-9, 3.85 ERA)
Randy Farley (9-6, 3.67 ERA) vs. Jason O’Halloran (11-5, 3.09 ERA)
TBD vs. Sergio Gonzalez (7-10, 3.20 ERA)

Game 1
BOS: SS D. Silva – 2B Brewer – LF Thomas – RF G. Munoz – CF Garrison – C L. Lopez – 1B J. Zamora – 3B Williamson – P Bautista
POR: 1B Martin – LF Richardson – 2B Ingall – RF Brady – C Mata – CF Lyon – SS Guerin – 3B Crowe – P Joly

The last time the Titans saw anything of Bob Joly, he no-hit them. That didn’t quite happen again. Joly again illustrated that he was not part of the solution, but rather part of the problem as the Titans scored three runs early in the game. The Raccoons got a run on a sac fly in the third before hitting into double plays twice, and those were started by Ron Williamson, a catcher playing third base, which at times amounted to some good old Laurel & Hardy humor, but was enough to fend off the Coons for a while. In the bottom 6th, we loaded them up and Mata drove in the tying runs, with two runners then waiting in scoring position with one out. Lyon did not strike out for the first time today, but proved still useless, and Guerin fouled out. While generally inept pitching had something to do with it, Lyon then made the error in the top 8th that sunk the Raccoons on this particular day, and two runs scored. 5-3 Titans. Guerin 2-4; Crowe 2-4, 2B; Meeks 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

Miguel Lopez was by now checked out enough. No structural damage was found on him (this time), but he still was sore in the shoulder and the medical staff insisted on him resting for another ten days or so. That of course meant a trip to the DL and finding some other joke to pitch two starts.

Cal Lyon was batting 1-13 with 5 K by now, plus a game-losing error. I knew it beforehand, that kid was just another one of those Zeroes with legs pinned onto it: every breath a waste of oxygen.

Hey, you would be embittered as well if you had to be around this team for six months out of twelve!

Game 2
BOS: SS D. Silva – 2B Brewer – LF Thomas – RF G. Munoz – CF Garrison – C L. Lopez – 1B Elliott – 3B Walker – P O’Halloran
POR: 2B Ingall – 1B Martin – 3B Crowe – RF Brady – C Mata – LF Richardson – SS Guerin – CF Parker – P Farley

Mata singled home Martin with two out in the bottom 1st, giving Farley a 1-0 lead that would be the gold standard for a very long time in this contest. The Titans weren’t shy about getting on base, though. They got two on in the second, again in the fourth (although that was more shoddy defense than anything on Farley’s behalf), and once more in the fifth. The latter instance involved Steven Walker (no connection to Steve Walker that we know of) hitting a leadoff triple and then being starved on an O’Halloran pop, a Brewer liner to Ingall, and a K to Thomas. Farley went seven, but was already over 100 pitches then and was hit for at the beginning of the seventh, the inning that followed the Raccoons getting three on with one out and not scoring. The score was still 1-0 after the Raccoons left two on in the bottom 7th. While Blanco put two on and was able to get out of the jam with a double play initiated by Guerin in the eighth, Donis came into the ninth and walked Lopez on four throws that resembled a baboon lobbing his own excrements at humans. Elizondo ran for the lead-footed catcher, and Farley was visibly giving up on #10 in the dugout. Daniel Miller replaced Donis before he could actually serve up a hittable strike, but the ship had sailed. Miller failed to throw a strike either. While Pat Elliott bunted Elizondo to second, Walker drew a 4-pitch walk, too, Ron Williamson drew a walk, and while Daniel Silva went to 0-9 in the series, he still killed Farley’s effort with ACTUALLY GETTING SOMETHING DONE in a three on, one out situation. As Elizondo hustled home Martin didn’t even bother to throw home and instead tagged first on the grounder, Randy shot up in the dugout, violently bowled over the Gaytirade barrel and vanished in the bowels of the stadium. The Titans had removed both of their catchers from the game, using Elizondo as backstop in extra innings, which still didn’t mean the Raccoons were able to steal a base. Guerin made a throwing error to lead of the 11th that didn’t lose the Raccoons the game only for the runner to get nabbed by Mata, and the Titans also left the bags full in the 12th. The Raccoons were far from threatening at all. Meeks lost the game in the 14th, impaled by a 3-run homer off Christian Greenman’s bat. 4-1 Titans. Ingall 2-6; Martin 3-5; Brady 2-6; Farley 7.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 6 K; Diaz 2.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K; Martinez 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K;

So let’s see. Our perceived back end of the bullpen faced six batters, walked three, blew a hard-fought 1-0 lead for our perceived ace of the rotation, and I am supposed to NOT browse the “Murder for Hire” category in the Yellow Pages – does that sound okay to you!?

With Miguel Lopez DL’ed, and no trust in Kelly Fairchild to pitch even two innings without tearing down the park, we called up Paco Martinez to make two starts in place of Lopez, but he would not pitch in game 3 of this series. That start would go to Ralph Ford on regular rest. Martinez was penciled in for the opener against the Falcons. But before any of that could take place…

Trade

You probably guessed Luke Newton. Then you guessed wrong.

The Raccoons and Blue Sox agreed on a trade late at night on Wednesday. The Raccoons received right-handed MR Manuel Reyes (1-2, 2.89 ERA, 6 SV) in return for 1B/3B/LF Cesar Gonzalez (.230, 8 HR, 47 RBI). Gonzalez was the latest in a string of giant disappointments for the Raccoons in terms of getting a quality bat, dropping his career OPS by 60 points in Portland, from the .920s to .864, and hitting for .748 this season. The Raccoons had enough, which might have something to do with his $893k arbitration deal, and traded for something else.

Something else turned out to be a strong right-hander, who – I will say that right away – was my second choice, on the team of second choice. Initially I wanted to trade with the Buffaloes for MR Francois Picard and INF Lance Hitchcock. While the Buffaloes were willing to part with either one, they wouldn’t package them, and didn’t accept anything else.

That brought me to the Blue Sox, from whom I wanted their closer Jose Escobar, which didn’t work out either. Escobar reminded me of the young Grant West, which is enough to cause wet pants in Portland almost 20 years later. But Vince was almost as much in praise for Reyes, who takes over the roster spot of the useless Fairchild immediately. Reyes is on a minimum contract for the rest of this season. His acquisition should come at the expense of Elliott Meeks, since we will soon want to fit both Manuel Martinez and Dan Nordahl on the roster, unless Reyes slam dunks in Portland and fills the closer’s spot. It’s not THAT hard to get past Donis these days.

Yet, with the bullpen bled dry in the middle game against the Titans, Fairchild was not recycled just yet, but we would wait another day or two (or for the first long outing by a starter…) before making a move. You might have a hunch about who will be called up then. He is currently playing third in St. Pete, batting .333/.417/.491 and turns his head when you sing the most sweetest of names here in Portland.

Raccoons (37-54) vs. Titans (51-43) – July 18-20, 2000

Game 3
BOS: SS D. Silva – CF Garrison – RF Greenman – 1B G. Douglas – 3B Walker – LF Elizondo – 2B J. Zamora – C Williamson – P S. Gonzalez
POR: 1B Martin – LF Richardson – 2B Ingall – RF Brady – 3B Crowe – C Jackson – SS Guerin – CF Lyon – P Ford

A Greenman homer had won game 2, a Greenman homer won game 3. It came in the fourth, was the first run of the game, and never mind the Williamson 3-piece that was also chugged off Ralph Ford in the same inning, it sent the Titans clear to a sweep right away, because they were playing an utterly hopeless and terminally terrible team. Also never mind the line drive home run that Clyde Brady hit in the bottom of the inning that was rammed right into the second row of the outmost section in left centerfield and took out a popcorn vendor and some guys beer, spraying beercorn across the whole section. It was really the only bad inning Ford delivered, and he delivered eight, but it was enough to get swept under the rug. Although Albert Martin delivered a home run down the road, the Raccoons never even brought the tying run to the plate in another pathetic display of non-batting skills. 4-2 Titans. Martin 3-4, HR, RBI;

With Farley going eight and Miller not requiring life-prolonging measures in a quick ninth, Fairchild was deposed of right away that same night. As Daniel Sharp was handed his #19 Brownshirt on Friday at noon, would this (finally) the beginning of a new era for the Raccoons?

Raccoons (37-57) vs. Falcons (44-50) – July 21-23, 2000

The Falcons’ rotation actually rivalled our own in terms of inability, although they couldn’t quite stink up in terms of injury. Regardless, they had a better bullpen and at least scored the league average in runs, coming in at a semi-decent .468 percentage. And you know what, little birds? You gotta be a lot closer to .500 when you leave on Sunday night.

Projected matchups:
Paco Martinez (0-1, 5.14 ERA) vs. Wyatt Coleman (3-7, 5.08 ERA)
Scott Wade (3-8, 4.63 ERA) vs. Troy Watson (4-7, 6.29 ERA)
Bob Joly (4-6, 4.70 ERA) vs. Angel Romero (11-6, 4.20 ERA)

Game 1
CHA: 2B H. Green – C M. Castillo – SS M. Hall – LF M. Adams – 3B M. Munoz jr. – 1B J. Jackson – RF Morton – CF A. Rodriguez – P Coleman
POR: 2B Ingall – 3B Sharp – 1B Martin – RF Brady – C Mata – LF Parker – SS Guerin – CF Newton – P P. Martinez

After Mark Hall hit an inside-the-park home run in the first inning, Daniel Sharp lobbed a single to shallow right in his first major league at-bat. The Coons didn’t score however, at least in the first. They would swing the score fairly soon however, plating pairs of runs in both the second and third and gave Martinez a 4-2 lead after three. One of the four runs was singled in by Martinez himself, a feat he would replicate in the fifth to make it 5-2, and both times the RBI singles came with two down in the inning. But Martinez still gave up plenty of hits and was removed in the seventh after ten hits, with the tying run at the plate with one out. Another player made his Raccoons debut in this situation, as Manuel Reyes entered a game for the first time with a brown shirt on. It was a debut that made the attendance wish Cesar Gonzalez back to Portland as Reyes gave up the game-tying homer to the first batter he faced, Miguel Castillo. The Raccoons would come back however, and break a 7-game losing streak by overcoming the normally solid Falcons bullpen for three runs in the next two innings to get away with this one. Donis even pitched the ninth without killing anybody! 8-5 Raccoons. Ingall 2-5, RBI; Sharp 2-5; Parker 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Guerin 2-4, BB, 2 2B; Newton 2-3, BB, 2 2B, 2 RBI;

Game 2
CHA: 2B H. Green – RF Mashiba – 1B Lugo – SS M. Hall – CF M. Adams – LF Morton – 3B J. Jackson – C M. Castillo – P Watson
POR: 1B Martin – 3B Sharp – 2B Ingall – RF Brady – LF Parker – SS Guerin – C Mata – CF Newton – P Wade

For the Coons, batting-wise Albert Martin started the game with a home run and for some time it looked like another 1-run game. While the Falcons drew advantage of a leadoff double by Jackson in the fifth and tied the score, the Raccoons came back in the bottom of the inning when Martin doubled home Newton for a renewed lead for Wade. An error by Troy Watson put Brady on base in the bottom 6th, and the Raccoons would come up with four singles off Watson to plate three more runs then, taking a 5-1 lead for Wade, who pitched into the eighth before we got Blanco to retire Matt Adams with a man on. No risks with a decent outing and 115 pitches for Scotty. The Coons held up and claimed the series early. 5-1 Coons. Martin 2-4, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Brady 2-4, 2B; Mata 2-4; Wade 7.2 IP, 8 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, W (4-8);

Game 3
CHA: 2B H. Green – RF Mashiba – 1B Lugo – SS M. Hall – CF M. Adams – LF Morton – 3B Fugosi – C M. Castillo – P A. Romero
POR: 2B Ingall – 3B Sharp – 1B Martin – RF Brady – SS Guerin – LF Richardson – C Jackson – CF Newton – P Joly

Trying to complete a sweep was probably the wrong motivation to start Joly, who was horrible and put at least two men on in every inning he was in the game. Although the Falcons failed to knock him out in due time, Joly was still gone with the bases loaded and no outs in the top 5th, although the Falcons were only up 1-0. Diaz got two outs, before Martinez walked Fugosi to plate a run. Reyes came in for the sixth, allowed four hits and a run, and burst that bubble of hope of actually improving the team ever so slightly in due time. The Falcons won the game handily, despite stranding a thousand and one runners, because the Raccoons were always able to triple the opposition’s incompetence with ease. 4-0 Falcons. Martin 2-4;

16 hits for the Falcons, and 14 left on base tells quite a bit about this stinker of a game. The Raccoons stranded seven men and it still didn’t feel like they took place at all.

In other news

July 17 – The Blue Sox acquire outfielder Preston O’Day (.315, 15 HR, 82 RBI), who is in the twilight of his career at age 36, from the Scorpions and send over two minor leaguers.
July 17 – The Miners trade for the Gold Sox’ OF Fernando Vasquez (.264, 1 HR, 39 RBI), parting with MR Jose Juarez (1-0, 1.95 ERA, 1 SV) and a non-prospect.
July 22 – The Thunder have Vaughn Higgins (12-5, 2.93 ERA) hurl a 2-hit shutout in a 2-0 win over the Canadiens.
July 23 – A big day for DAL 2B/SS Gustavo Infante (.263, 4 HR, 33 RBI). The 26-year old that has flown well under the radar for his major league career bursts onto the front pages by hitting for a cycle in a 12-7 Stars win over the Rebels, batting in three runs with a 4-4 day and a walk. The former first-round pick, who is batting for a .760 OPS for his major league career, delivers the 29th cycle in ABL history, the second this season (LVA Wes McCormick) and the second for the Stars. Samuel Serra had hit for the first ever ABL cycle on April 8, 1977 in the Stars uniform.
July 23 – Bad news from the Bay, where legitimate ace SP Jorge Chapa (10-5, 3.22 ERA) will most likely miss ten months or more with a torn labrum.

Complaints and stuff

Ex-Coon Ben O’Morrissey had five hits, including three doubles, in a game this week. He drove in a pair as the Condors beat the Titans, 6-3. Since being traded mid-1997 with zero home runs in 247 AB for the Raccoons, he has hit double-digit homers again every season – INCLUDING 1997.

To be precise, our trade with the Blue Sox solves three issues:
• Removes a bat that was hoped for having impact, and didn’t have any, batting for a .770ish OPS in Portland
• Reduces our $600k gap in the budget by about half due to Reyes’ minimum contract
• Lifts the glut on the corners for somebody I am actually eager to see playing (and it is not Mike Crowe)

The Blue Sox didn’t accept any “throw-in” for Escobar, but they sent a long list of players as a throw-in to the deal we made, which included a score of fails, including Crowe, Donis, Fairchild, Fifield, and yet they eventually settled for just Gonzalez.

Now, whom can we trade the fail Reyes for?

What else? Jose Rivera, banished to AAA, where he performed horribly, is out for the year with a hamstring strain. That was $750k we didn’t get much out of. Safe to say, the 1998 CL ERA champ will not even be taken to arbitration this fall.

Pics linked from Photobucket today, because the boards refuse to accept my attachments at any cost. Must be the laptop. I think it is also causing the internet fails. Everybody says it still has a virus or something, but anti-virus software won't find anything. I'm close to throwing $2,000 into the trash. I have enough crap going all day long and can't be bothered to spend my evenings with a bitch made out of bytes.

[Westheim]

From the latest Spots Illuminated issue. Picture description reads as follows:

"What? We must bat against Martin Garcia?" "Nope, not going to happen. We're not comin' down!" - Is the Raccoons' young talent (pictured: Daniel Sharp, Albert Martin) really ready for the major leagues?

I think we're gonna sue.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (39-58) vs. Bayhawks (65-35) – July 25-27, 2000

One of those series, where you know you’ve lost already, and it is still Monday morning. And that is your OFF day and the Bayhawks aren’t going to invade until TUESDAY. 3rd in runs scored, 2nd in runs allowed, best rotation – should be enough reasons for us to get torn up once more.

Projected matchups:
Randy Farley (9-6, 3.46 ERA) vs. Ricardo Sanchez (13-8, 3.51 ERA)
Ralph Ford (3-11, 4.82 ERA) vs. Miguel Diaz (8-4, 3.08 ERA)
Paco Martinez (0-1, 5.40 ERA) vs. Henry Selph (9-2, 3.16 ERA)

Game 1
SFB: RF Javier – 2B H. Ramirez – LF W. Jackson – 1B D. Carroll – 3B B. Hall – C G. Ortíz – CF Marquez – SS T. Smith – P R. Sanchez
POR: 1B Martin – 3B Sharp – 2B Ingall – RF Brady – CF Parker – SS Guerin – LF Richardson – C Mata – P Farley

The Bayhawks did enough damage just by hitting balls in the general direction of Richardson, who failed to make any play in the first two innings, as three doubles fell in and the Bayhawks scored two runs on them. While the Bayhawks were hitting doubles, the Raccoons were occasionally hitting a single, maybe two, but were in any case routinely leaving a pair of runners on base. Farley pitched to the best of his abilities, which was by far not enough to carry a team consisting in entirety of shadows of former selfs and some dead weight, and was knocked out in the eighth with a 2-run single by Bob Hall that ramped the score to 5-1. Manuel Reyes, the useless piece of dirt, immediately gave up a 2-run home run to pinch-hitter Luke Black to load Farley with a sixth run. Manuel Martinez gave up a 3-run home run in the ninth to Dave Carroll to turn it into a rout for good. 11-1 Bayhawks. Ingall 3-3, 2 BB, 3B; Richardson 3-4; Mata 2-3, BB, RBI;

Bayhawks: 15 hits (including two home runs and seven doubles) and four walks for 11 runs and 8 left on base. Raccoons: 10 hits (including one triple) and five walks for one run and 13 left on base.

Manuel Martinez was deposed of. Time to give Nordahl another try.

Why exactly did I trade for Manuel Reyes? It’s got to have been some worrying that the particular printout I had of our pitching staff hadn’t enough fat stains on it already, right? Because that’s what he amounts to. An ugly stain on our roster.

Just like everybody else.

Game 2
SFB: 2B H. Ramirez – C G. Ortíz – 1B D. Carroll – CF Black – LF Cavazos – SS B. Hall – RF Marquez – 3B T. Smith – P M. Diaz
POR: 1B Martin – 2B Ingall – LF Richardson – RF Brady – CF Parker – SS Guerin – C Mata – 3B Caddock – P Ford

While Diaz was eaten up early by the Raccoons with a pair of 2-out doubles – Parker in the first and Mata in the third – and five runs total over three innings, Ford was so uncontrolled in his delivery the Bayhawks hardly ever put a ball into play. They either walked or hacked themselves out swinging. They didn’t get a hit until the fifth, and then it was a homer by Marquez straight away, cutting the score to 5-1. Ford would finish with a horribly skewed line, with three quarters of the runners he put on reaching by a walk. He still pitched seven innings of 1-run ball, so he was at least successful in throwing bubbles, more than most other pitchers on the team could claim. In the bottom 8th, the Raccoons had one of those most-horrible moments again. With two down, Lyon was on first base, and Daniel Sharp hit for Martin. Sharp fired a shot to right center, hitting off the wall, and Lyon was sent around third in anticipation of Sharp’s first big league RBI. However, Lyon was nailed out by Marquez, and Sharp came up lame at second base and had to leave the game right away again. While I lost consciousness in my office with perfect view of our $1.13M draft expense hobbling off the field, bumped against the plexiglass and then fell to the side and crashed into a table made of actual glass, at least Elliott Meeks pitched a perfect ninth. 5-1 Raccoons. Martin 2-3, BB, 2B; Sharp (PH) 1-1, 2B; Parker 2-4, 2B, 3 RBI; Ford 7.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 6 BB, 8 K, W (4-11) and 1-3;

Daniel Sharp’s knee was a bit sore, but had no structural damage after he almost fell over second base. The trainer told us to leave him alone on Thursday, and maybe he would be fine again on Friday.

Game 3
SFB: RF Javier – C G. Ortíz – 1B D. Carroll – CF Black – SS B. Hall – LF Marquez – 2B V. Martinez – 3B J. Gomez – P Selph
POR: 1B Martin – 2B Ingall – LF Richardson – RF Brady – 3B Crowe – C Mata – CF Lyon – SS Caddock – P P. Martinez

Dark clouds hovered over Portland as summer was about to end in these northern climates. We were going to get rain. Martinez pitched a bit like Ford the day before, just less successful, and less supported. While he also allowed a solo home run in the middle innings and was generally unsure of the proper size of the strike zone, and also struck out less, the Raccoons offered him one hit and no runs of support through four, but at least lost Cal Lyon to injury along the way. In the bottom 5th, Caddock and Martinez reached with singles and the count was 3-0 on Martin, when the young first baseman put the next pitch into play and grounded out to Vicente Martinez. I fell asleep again, bumped against the plexiglass and crashed into the trophy case, cutting the other half of my face on the 1993 World Championship trophy. I woke up as the tarp was rolled off the field, and the first thing that I was able to grasp then was Elliott Meeks giving up a home run to Jorge Gomez. No action was forthcoming from the brown-dressed team, which was held to four hits, neither before, nor after the rains. 2-0 Bayhawks. Martinez 6.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 3 K, L (0-2) and 1-1;

Cal Lyon had a sore elbow, which didn’t really change anything about my decision to part with the sucker. He was batting 1-19 with 9 K. Even with Luke Newton, we can still do better than that… Since Jesus Taramillo was fighting pains in the hand and I was not in the mood for Jason Kent, we called up Samy Michel.

The Bayhawks also showed some humor by offering a trade for Daniel Miller, tongue-in-cheekly offering their backup outfielder Ramiro Cavazos and a failed AA pitcher. Yeah, sure.

Raccoons (40-60) vs. Aces (42-60) – July 28-30, 2000

Although they scored more than the Raccoons, and allowed less scoring than the Raccoons, the Aces weren’t necessarily much better off in the standings. Well, they were a thoroughly below-average team and failed to rank very high in any given category except sunburns…

Projected matchups:
Scott Wade (4-8, 4.41 ERA) vs. Jou Hara (6-8, 3.89 ERA)
Bob Joly (4-7, 4.68 ERA) vs. Dan Moriarty (7-11, 3.79 ERA)
Randy Farley (9-7, 3.68 ERA) vs. Carlos Guillén (5-11, 4.57 ERA)

Game 1
LVA: 2B O. Torres – C De La Parra – 1B J. Vargas – CF McCormick – RF Ghiberti – 3B Combes – LF Wills – SS Bradley – P Hara
POR: 1B Martin – 2B Ingall – LF Richardson – RF Brady – CF Parker – 3B Sharp – SS Guerin – C Mata – P Wade

The Raccoons again brought the paralyzed bats to the park, and while Wade held up well for some time, it didn’t help him a lot. The Aces scored one run in the fourth, and then hit three singles in succession right through either Guerin or Ingall to plate two more in the fifth. It got even worse in the seventh, where the Aces got balls past every infielder but Martin to sink Wade for good. Daniel Miller offered no relief, walking two runners in as the score again bloomed up into a rout, especially with the Raccoons doing absolutely NOTHING. The Raccoons were shut out for the second day in a row, while the Aces also exploded Dan Nordahl in his first game back from AAA to put up 18 hits and not that much less runs. 10-0 Aces. Martin 2-4; Brady 2-4;

Whenever you think it can not possibly get any worse…

Game 2
LVA: 2B O. Torres – C De La Parra – 1B J. Vargas – CF McCormick – RF Ghiberti – 3B Combes – LF Wills – SS Bradley – P Moriarty
POR: 2B Ingall – 3B Sharp – 1B Michel – RF Brady – SS Guerin – LF Richardson – C Jackson – CF Newton – P Joly

Joly was terrible again and got booked for four runs through four innings, including two RBI doubles by Gary Wills. The Raccoons failed to get a runner into scoring position until the fifth inning, and then Newton was left on third base by Sharp as the team was trying really hard to run their scoreless streak to 30 consecutive innings and beyond. They achieved the mark in style, not even hitting a ball past the diamond’s measurements in their 29th and 30th shutout innings, the sixth and seventh of this game, still trailing 4-0, and they didn’t get any better afterwards for sure, as the suckers were held to four hits. The Aces missed their chance to balloon the score any further in the last few innings, leaving six men on base after the sixth. 4-0 Aces. Guerin 2-3, BB;

Game 3
LVA: 2B O. Torres – 3B Combes – 1B J. Vargas – CF McCormick – LF L. Jenkins – C L. Paredes – RF Moreno – SS Bradley – P Guillén
POR: 2B Ingall – LF Parker – 1B Sharp – RF Brady – SS Guerin – C Mata – 3B Crowe – CF Newton – P Farley

McCormick brought a run home on an RBI groundout in the first inning, and the good news for Randy were that he could stop worrying, since unless the Aces would make four consecutive errors along the way, he was going to wind up with his eighth loss. The Raccoons left the bases loaded in the bottom 1st to go 33 innings without scoring. The counter would run to 35 before Julio Mata hit a leadoff jack in the bottom 4th. He did that after barely escaping the maniac with the bandaged face and the chainsaw who suddenly burst into the home dugout after Mata had made a terrible throwing error in the top 4th that plated a second run for the Aces. Farley pitched only six innings before he was tired and plunked the opposing pitcher and left 3-1 behind. As soon as the relief corps could their paws on the game, the score exploded again, with Meeks not getting the seventh mastered and Blanco coming in to surrendered a pinch-hit 3-run homer to Ricco Ghiberti. The Raccoons were standing by while they were steamrolled. They stood by well enough in the bottom 7th to draw three walks and get the benefit of the incapacitated on an error by John Bradley, scoring two runs, but things went wrong as soon as they actually poked at a ball. Or as soon as they pitched, especially if Dan Nordahl pitched. 7-3 Aces.

In other news

July 25 – The Loggers send backup outfielder Román Reyes (.250, 2 HR, 19 RBI in 52 AB) to the Buffaloes for two minor leaguers.
July 26 – The Loggers part with 2B/3B Jose Perez (.248, 4 HR, 37 RBI) and send him to the Gold Sox along with a minor leaguer to acquire SP Makoto Kogawa (9-6, 3.68 ERA).
July 26 – Bad news for the Indians and their 21-year old MR Iemitsu Rin (5-1, 2.42 ERA). He will miss a full year with a torn flexor tendon in his elbow.
July 27 – In a surprising move, the Titans trade CL Bill Corkum (1-2, 3.32 ERA, 25 SV) and a minor leaguer to the Pacifics for INF/LF Mark Austin (.317, 12 HR, 51 RBI) and a non-prospect.
July 28 – The Wolves bury their own team by acquiring MR Cesar Salcido (1-2, 2.72 ERA, 2 SV) from the Indians, giving up on two minor leaguers including AAA SP Chris Frazier.

Complaints and stuff

Unbearable.

There are about 3,000 things I hate about this roster, but let me pick just one: our young right-handed relief crop is posting an ERA over EIGHT.

How could ever come this far? How could this even happen? Where did we go wrong? Where did the points got set for permanent, terminal, total disaster?

[Westheim]

We were not removing any more dead meat at the trade deadline, partly because of a lack of trade value to said dead meat, and partly because most dead meat could only be parted with by taking on other dead meat. We were starting a 2-week, 14-game road trip once we were finished being handed our furry behinds by the Aces.

Raccoons (40-63) @ Thunder (70-33) – July 31-August 2, 2000

Oh sweet, more stomping to come. The Thunder gave up just barely over 3.5 runs per game, which would mean three runs in total for the Coons in the series. They were also scoring at a frantic pace, but then again you don’t get to .680 without a large run differential. Theirs was +189 coming in. (Coons: -130)

Projected matchups:
Ralph Ford (4-11, 4.59 ERA) vs. Aaron Anderson (13-6, 2.53 ERA)
Miguel Lopez (4-10, 4.95 ERA) vs. Vaughn Higgins (12-6, 2.86 ERA)
Scott Wade (4-9, 4.70 ERA) vs. Fabien Armand (8-7, 4.49 ERA)

We have yet to take a game from Oklahoma this season, and this is the last series. It does not look good at all. The Raccoons have not gone 0-9 against a CL South team in 15 years (1985 Knights).

Game 1
POR: 1B Martin – 2B Ingall – LF Richardson – RF Brady – 3B Sharp – C Mata – SS Guerin – CF Newton – P Ford
OCT: RF Bonneau – CF Humphrey – 1B Higashi – LF R. Green – 3B S. Reece – 2B Grant – SS P. Hernandez – C Guidry – P Anderson

Bob Grant’s homer put the Thunder up, 1-0, in the second inning, with Ford again missing the zone every which way. The Thunder added a second run in the fourth, and while Anderson faced the minimum through four innings, the only reason he didn’t extend that streak to five was that he hit Julio Mata with two down in the top 5th. The Raccoons were wholly unable to do anything with their hitting sticks, and Mata’s HBP amounted to 50% of their base runners in the entire game. Mata had erased Sharp on a double play grounder to short in the second inning. The only reason the Raccoons weren’t no-hit in this game was Sharp’s single off Anderson. 2-0 Thunder. Ford 7.1 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 4 K, L (4-12);

Oh my. They keep getting worse. It’s so depressing …!

The worst thing is that on our run for the #1 pick next June we have to actually out-lose the Knights, who are still 4.5 games behind us.

Game 2
POR: 2B Ingall – LF Parker – 3B Sharp – RF Brady – 1B Michel – SS Guerin – C Jackson – CF Newton – P Lopez
OCT: RF Bonneau – CF Humphrey – 1B Higashi – LF R. Green – 3B S. Reece – 2B Grant – SS P. Hernandez – C Briggs – P Higgins

In a stunner, the Raccoons not only scored in the middle game, but they also scored first! Daniel Sharp doubled home Ingall in the first inning, before Brady and Michel whiffed to keep him on base. Even more stunning, the Coons added another run in the second, and a Brady sac fly made it 3-0 in the third. Even more astonishing than that was the fact that the Thunder didn’t get a hit until a 2-out single by Royce Green in the fourth. The Thunder didn’t score, though, but the Coons did: Brady homered for a pair in the fifth, 5-0. Lopez pitched well over four, before he started to give up high flies in the fifth. In fact, every out in the fifth and sixth was registered by an outfielder, and the Thunder didn’t get on base, but that 5-0 lead was way from secure. Sure enough, they got their first three men on in the bottom 7th, including a Newton error, and Lopez was unable to push them back into their cage. The Thunder scored three with ease, and now we were sweating. Miller pitched a scoreless eighth, and Donis got two out before Pedro Hernandez singled in the bottom 9th. That brought Jason Briggs up as the tying run. He grounded hard to Sharp, but the rookie made the play and the Thunder would not sweep the Raccoons this time. 5-3 Raccoons. Sharp 2-5, 2B, RBI; Guerin 3-4; Jackson 2-4; Lopez 6.2 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, W (5-10);

Clyde Brady’s sac fly gave him 50 RBI on the season. That’s the team lead. Yes, we had to get to AUGUST to get someone to 50 RBI. Brady also hit his tenth home run for the season. That is also the team lead. We had to get to AUGUST to - …

(sobs)

Game 3
POR: 2B Ingall – LF Parker – C Mata – 1B Sharp – SS Guerin – 3B Crowe – RF Richardson – CF Newton – P Wade
OCT: RF Barnes – CF Humphrey – 2B S. Reece – LF Bonneau – 3B Higashi – SS Grant – 1B D. Henry – C Briggs – P Armand

Wade was done in by catcher’s interference. Having apparently struck out Armand to starve two runners on base, the umpire instead signaled that the bat had touched Mata’s glove. That loaded the Thunder up and sure enough Artie Barnes doubled all runners home. Even without his own battery mate sabotaging him, Wade struggled with a lineup that contained six left-handed batters, but somehow got through five without any more damage done. In the top 5th the Coons had scored a run on an Ingall single, and then Guerin tripled home Sharp in the sixth, putting the tying run on third base with one out. In an outrageous twist of events, Mike Crowe managed to take Fabien Armand deep then, flipping the score to 4-3 Coons! Wade managed to nurse that scantest of leads through seven innings, and Blanco pitched a perfect eight. That had Donis out again, facing PH Royce Green, and two more righties in Higashi and Grant. I had a bad feeling the second he left the bullpen, and for a reason. Green hit a ticket to right that Ingall intercepted, but couldn’t play to Sharp. Infield single. Then it was Sharp who made a great play on Higashi’s grounder and nabbed Green at second. Could we get out of it? Grant flew out to Richardson before Hernandez hit for Henry, another right-hander, but he popped it up, and we took the series! 4-3 Coons! Mata 3-4; Newton 2-3, BB;

A 2-7 season against the Thunder still ties our worst performance against them. We also went 2-7 in 1977, and 1979, and 1981.

Raccoons (42-64) @ Crusaders (48-60) – August 3-6, 2000

The Crusaders had taken a bad nose dive starting with a 10-18 June, and had some trouble scoring. (Well, they’re not alone out there…) Their pitching was solid though, especially the rotation.

Projected matchups:
Bob Joly (4-8, 4.75 ERA) vs. Ramiro Gonzalez (10-8, 3.62 ERA)
Randy Farley (9-8, 3.72 ERA) vs. Francisco Garza (6-13, 3.86 ERA)
Ralph Ford (4-12, 4.46 ERA) vs. Cipriano Miranda (8-9, 3.89 ERA)
Miguel Lopez (5-10, 4.64 ERA) vs. Greg Connor (2-0, 4.37 ERA)

Connor is new to the league, a 23-year old right-hander who has yet to lose a start and is scheduled for his fourth on Sunday. The Crusaders picked him ninth overall in the 1996 draft.

Game 1
POR: 2B Ingall – 3B Sharp – C Mata – RF Brady – SS Guerin – 1B Martin – LF Richardson – CF Newton – P Joly
NYC: SS Rice – 2B Brantley – CF D. Woods – LF A. Johnson – 1B M. Berry – C Manuel – 3B Rush – RF Latham – P R. Gonzalez

The game was scoreless after the first, something Joly had to thank Guerin for, as Concie turned an awesome double play on a Johnson grounder that would have scored Brantley from first base otherwise. The score didn’t remain scoreless for very much longer. Bob Joly stunned the Crusaders with a 2-out, 3-run homer in the top 2nd, which Gonzalez kept staring after much longer than it took the ball to vanish into the seats in left field. There was no reason for Gonzalez to throw in the cards just yet, however, since Joly still had to pitch, and he did so very badly. The Crusaders tied the score the very next inning, 3-3 through three. Gonzalez however HAD to accept the blame for what happened in the top 5th. Joly led off, and Gonzalez’ first pitch landed in the left field stands again. It was unbelievable. The Crusaders fans booed their own pitcher now. But: Joly STILL had to CONTINUE to PITCH. Andres Manuel didn’t miss a 3-run homer by much in the bottom 5th, but instead Newton caught the fly at the wall. Joly hit a leadoff single off reliever Pancho Gutierrez in the seventh, then collided with Gary Rice at second on Ingall’s grounder, but it was Rice that had to be carted off. Dan Woods almost went deep in the bottom 7th, but Brady made a strong catch for the second out with a man on first. That got Joly removed, finally. Blanco allowed a single to Johnson, and when Theodore Mullins hit for Mark Berry, Reyes came out to face him, but walked him. Manuel also worked a full count before grounding sharply to third. Sharp made the play, threw to first, but high, yet Martin went up and even came down again in time to nip Manuel! Reyes then gave up a leadoff double to Bob Rush, putting the tying run on second base with no outs in the bottom 8th. Latham singled, Reyes was purged, and Daniel Miller walked Mike Olson. Bases loaded, but Miller struck out Anibal Sandoval before Brantley popped up and out to Ingall. Would we prefer to have Miller pitch to the lefty Woods or call for Diaz? Nah, Miller had this goin’. Miller pitched to Woods, who sent the first pitch sharply to first, where Martin hurled himself at it and scrambled back to first base for the out just in time. You know, we could REALLY use an insurance run here! Parker pinch-walked for Newton in the ninth, and then Michel hit for Miller and sent a huge fly to deep right. While it missed the fence, it fell in, hopped oddly off the wall, and Brian Latham failed to contain it until Michel was already past second base – RBI triple! The Coons tore up Dane Sanders for three runs in the inning, and that allowed us to bypass Donis and go with Nordahl, who gave up a hit, but not a run for once. 7-3 Coons! Sharp 2-4, BB, 2B; Mata 2-5, 2B, RBI; Joly 6.2 IP, 10 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, W (5-8) and 3-3, 2 HR, 4 RBI;

This hands-on approach by Joly was very enlightening. If your team doesn’t score for you … We scheduled extra batting practice for the whole pitching staff.

We also dodged the Indians to take possession of fifth place in the CL North again.

Game 2
POR: 2B Ingall – LF Parker – 3B Sharp – RF Brady – 1B Martin – SS Guerin – C Mata – CF Newton – P Farley
NYC: 2B Brantley – RF Latham – CF D. Woods – LF A. Johnson – 1B M. Berry – 3B Rush – C Olson – SS L. Ramirez – P F. Garza

Berry bungled Ingall’s grounder to get the game started with an error, which cost the Crusaders a pair of unearned runs eventually. The Coons added single runs in the third and fourth innings, before Randy – who relied heavily on the defense – had the fourth inning from hell. The Crusaders drew a walk, had two infield singles, had scored a pair already, and when Garza grounded to him with two down, Farley threw it past Martin. Brantley grounded out to Guerin to keep the score from escalating completely, but it was still a 4-3 game now. Martin then led off the bottom 5th with an error, and the writing was on the wall, clearly visible for me, yet the run didn’t score. Farley was removed after putting Latham on in the seventh, but Diaz managed to get out when PH Mullins grounded out, and the score was still 4-3. The Coons left the bases loaded in the top 8th after not hitting much at all the last three innings. The Crusaders in turn had runners on the corners with no outs against Meeks in the bottom 8th and didn’t score either. Could the Coons win four in a row? They couldn’t score in the ninth, so Donis was in a 4-3 game again. Malcolm Givens popped out to Ingall, and Donis fanned Brantley and Latham to put this one away. 4-3 Coons! Sharp 3-5, 2 2B, RBI; Guerin 2-5, 2 RBI; Mata 2-4, 2B;

Another two things that took us until August: getting a guy with 100 K onto the staff. Farley whiffed Brian Latham in the first to reach the mark. Before Kisho Saito arrived, we sometimes needed to wait until September, but wow, are we horrible. Farley also won his tenth game on the year.

Game 3
POR: SS Guerin – CF Parker – 3B Sharp – RF Brady – 1B Martin – C Mata – LF Richardson – 2B Caddock – P Ford
NYC: SS L. Ramirez – 2B Brantley – C Manuel – 3B Rush – LF J. Cruz – 1B M. Givens – RF D. Woods – CF Latham – P Miranda

Miranda was socked in the first with back-to-back homers by Parker and Sharp, who hit the first in his 49 AB old career! With Guerin on, these counted for three runs total, and the Coons tacked on a pair in the fifth. Ford meanwhile, while he wasn’t pitching a bad game, he also didn’t pitch a strong game. It was his usual control problems. Through six, he allowed one hit and two walks, and still went to 2-2 or a full count on almost anybody. The Crusaders didn’t score, no chance, but Ford was almost at 100 pitches after six shutout frames of 1-hit ball. Then we left him in for too long, Dan Woods took him deep in the seventh, and his line got soiled with two runs. The Raccoons struggled to provide any security runs in the last two innings, bringing Donis in for the fourth time this week. We soon got a warning shot not to try to use him five times, as Juan Cruz hit a huge shot to cut the gap to 5-3 with one out. Donis retired the next two batters however, as the Coons went to FIVE IN A ROW! 5-3 Coons! Guerin 2-4; Parker 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Sharp 2-4, HR, RBI; Ford 6.2 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, W (5-12); Nordahl 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K;

One run through the rotation and all our guys got WINS?? We’re not in Oregon anymore, are we?

Game 4
POR: CF Parker – LF Richardson – 3B Sharp – RF Brady – 1B Martin – 2B Ingall – C Mata – SS Caddock – P Lopez
NYC: 1B T. Mullins – SS L. Ramirez – C Manuel – RF A. Johnson – 3B Rush – LF J. Cruz – 2B M. Givens – CF A. Dieguéz – P Connor

Things got more dreamlike with a leadoff homer by Chris Parker in this contest. Reality began to kick in, however. Lopez loaded the bags in the bottom 1st with no outs, then struck out Johnson and Rush. Cruz however hit a grand slam, and one that sounded like one right off the bat. Caddock hit one of his oddball homers in the top 2nd, but the Coons still trailed 4-2 in the bottom 3rd, when the game derailed for good and the winning streak with it. Manuel had singled to start the inning, and then Ingall threw away a potential double play grounder on Johnson. Rush walked, bags full, no outs. While Cruz flew out to Brady, Manuel tagged and made for home, but Brady THREW HIM OUT!! Unfortunately, we still missed an out, and didn’t get it. Malcolm Givens singled home a pair, and while we got some good bullpen work from Elliott Meeks early on, the Raccoons never again got the tying run even as far as the on-deck circle. When Reyes was invariably blown up in the eighth inning, the game was long considered lost. Julio Mata’s 2-run homer in the ninth only got the stats geeks excited. 9-4 Crusaders. Parker 2-5, HR, RBI; Martin 2-3, BB, 2 2B; Caddock 2-4, HR, RBI; Guerin 1-2, 2B; Meeks 2.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 K;

THOSE are my boys! Well, it couldn’t go on forever, I guess.

In other news

July 31 – The Thunder lock up OF Joey Humphrey (.355, 5 HR, 31 RBI) for the next seven years. Humphrey, 29, will make $10.78M over the time of the contract.
August 1 – Two weeks on the shelf for RIC RF/LF Raúl Vázquez (.331, 12 HR, 53 RBI), who has strained an oblique.
August 2 – MIL 1B/3B Jorge Cruz (.256, 14 HR, 77 RBI) is out until mid-September with a rotator cuff strain.

Complaints and stuff

Albert Martin hit .340 with 3 HR and 5 RBI to be named CL ROTM for July. If you hit three dingers and plate only five, it says something about your team, too…. Elsewhere, the FL named Chih-tui Jin their HOTM. Now I wish we still had him. What did we trade him for? Liam Wedemeyer and Tzu-jao Ban. The former is unemployed, the latter was flipped for Sidney Aycock, who was shown the door. Why didn’t we keep Jin?

You know, I’m really rooting hard for both Farley and Ford to make the long term cut. We could have the Ralph ‘n Randy Show for YEARS to come!

We took a couple of casualties in the minors this week, most notably AAA infielder Matt Love, whom I am targeting as alternative to Marvin Ingall at second base in the not too distant future. He’s out for two more weeks with a sprained wrist.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (45-65) @ Canadiens (56-55) – August 7-10, 2000

Now just barely above .500, the Elks were happy to see the Coons appear for four in Vancouver. I was still not admitted into Canada for well-known reasons and had the old ballpark in Portland all to myself to vandalize it after every one of the four losses we were due to incur, because that is how these series work. The Canadiens were already owning the Raccoons to an 8-3 pace this season. It didn’t really matter that they were a broadly average team. The Raccoons were a broadly terrible team and were due to get disowned towards 12-3 in this series.

Projected matchups:
Scott Wade (5-9, 4.66 ERA) vs. Jose Dominguez (11-6, 3.51 ERA)
Bob Joly (5-8, 4.69 ERA) vs. Joe Hollow (13-9, 3.29 ERA)
Randy Farley (10-8, 3.67 ERA) vs. Jose Marquez (7-12, 4.47 ERA)
Ralph Ford (5-12, 4.37 ERA) vs. Daniel Dickerson (6-9, 5.24 ERA)

Game 1
POR: SS Guerin – LF Parker – 3B Sharp – RF Brady – 1B Martin – 2B Ingall – C Jackson – CF Newton – P Wade
VAN: SS B. Butler – LF J. Durán – RF Velasquez – 1B I. Gutierrez – CF Ledesma – 3B Sutton – C Clemente – 2B Shaw – P Dominguez

Dominguez defeated Wade with a 2-out RBI single in the bottom 2nd, plating the first run of the game after Newton had left men on the corners in the top of the inning. Wade couldn’t exit the inning after that, either, and Butler doubled home a pair to bring the score to 3-0 early on. Shaw and Gutierrez would slap Wade for leadoff home runs in the bottom 4th and 5th, respectively, before Wade was taken out and sent to the butcher’s shop after five, down 5-1, with a Sharp RBI triple the only thing even remotely exciting the Raccoons had managed to put up. But we weren’t done with being horrible yet. Miller came in for hopefully two innings, but didn’t even finish the sixth before Gutierrez grand-slammed him to bed, and the Raccoons watched on calmly as their dismemberment progressed. 9-1 Canadiens. Sharp 2-3, BB, 3B, RBI; Jackson 2-4; Diaz 2.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K;

And we’re gonna have three more of those. I broke a few seats in section 128 with an aluminum bat that night.

Nobody is hitting anything. Of the four outfielders on the roster, only Parker is not labeled as either “cold” or “dead” by Vince. Plus Ingall. And to be honest, apart from the young corner infielders, nobody is doing ANYTHING right now. And Sharp and Martin can’t win games alone.

Game 2
POR: 2B Ingall – 3B Sharp – C Mata – 1B Martin – SS Guerin – RF Richardson – LF Caddock – CF Newton – P Joly
VAN: SS B. Butler – LF J. Durán – RF Velasquez – 1B I. Gutierrez – CF Ledesma – 3B Sutton – C Clemente – 2B Shaw – P Hollow

The Coons greeted Hollow rather roughly, with Sharp, Mata, and Guerin all landing hard line drive hits in the first inning, and coming after Ingall’s soft single to lead off, the Raccoons plated three runs in the top 1st. However, Joly sucked as usual, and the Elks took only one out to tie the game by slamming the sucker into submission. Sharp drove home a run in the second, before the Coons loaded the bags, but left them loaded, 4-3. The lead held up for at least two minutes this time, although Joly was still horrible. He plunked Gutierrez, who had homered twice for 5 RBI on Monday, in the third, and the Canadiens grew unruly in their dugout. Unbelievably, they refused to belief that Bob Joly was just that bad he randomly hit batters by accident. The park erupted in cheers when Antonio Clemente hit a home run to tie the game leading off the bottom 4th. That was the fifth homer by the Elks in this series. The Coons had squid. Joly was thoroughly spat out of the park by the Canadiens in the bottom 5th, when Velasquez and Gutierrez led off with hard line drive hits. Blanco was thrown into long relief, but was ineffective and the Elks took a 7-4 lead in the inning. Blanco gave up another run in the bottom 6th, before the Coons accidentally crowded and knocked out Hollow in the top 7th, because Bob Butler bungled a rally-killing double play grounder to load the bases. Caddock plated one run while hitting into a fielder’s choice, before Newton drew a walk from reliever Juan Bello. Two down, Brady hit for Blanco and grounded up the middle, where the ball mysteriously eluded Butler and plated two runs to bring the Coons back within one run for Ingall to drive in, but Bello struck him out, and that was the story of this game. Butler would make another error in the top 9th, then putting Michel on in addition to Mike Crowe with two out – and again Ingall failed. No Ingall single to salvage a game. 8-7 Canadiens. Sharp 2-5, 2B, RBI; Mata 3-4, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Brady (PH) 1-1, 2 RBI;

I’m starting to think that Daniel Miller is simply overworked. The whole bullpen has been crashed all season long, and Miller has sucked up the most mileage. He had to pitch again in this game, for a scoreless eighth. It’s early August and he is on 56.2 innings. He pitched 59.2 innings all of last season, and 64 on average for the last five years (during which he was never demoted or badly hurt). At this pace, he’d run up to 82 innings, and his stamina is rated 4 by Vince. This might be the reason he gets blown up regularly, he’s badly overworked.

The maintenance crew at Raccoons Ballpark on Wednesday morning was puzzled when they found a trash can firmly lodged in the sliding window of a hot dog stand on the concourse.

Game 3
POR: 2B Ingall – 3B Sharp – C Mata – 1B Martin – SS Guerin – RF Brady – LF Parker – CF Newton – P Farley
VAN: SS B. Butler – C Clemente – RF Velasquez – 1B I. Gutierrez – CF Ledesma – 3B Sutton – LF MacKey – 2B Shaw – P J. Marquez

The Raccoons actually managed to close in on the Canadiens’ five dingers in the series when Brady hit a 2-shot in the top 2nd for the Coons’ first. Focus shifted to Randy inevitably since the Raccoons would go on to whiff at increasing rates against Marquez in the next innings. Farley had given up a single to Butler in the first and then little over the next three innings. In the bottom 4th however, he eventually required rescue by Luke Newton, who threw out a runner on the bases to help Farley maintain a clean line. Albert Martin then came through for insurance, hitting a towering 2-run homer off Marquez in the sixth. Randy drew a walk in the seventh to lead off, and while Ingall whiffed, Sharp then showed Marquez who was boss, nailing the Coons’ third 2-piece on the day, ramping the score to 6-0 and tossing Marquez from the game, and Farley would single home a run off Mark Alexander in the eighth. Everything was set on a shutout course for him, too, until it didn’t. Butler and Clemente reached in the bottom 8th with two down, making Velasquez the do-or-die man for Farley with four left-handers lined up after the rightfielder. Velasquez popped out on the first pitch (Farley’s 94th), and Farley would get to pitch in the bottom 9th with Diaz standing by, and the score up to 8-0 after Parker had scored Mata in the top 9th. Gutierrez fought a 9-pitch battle against Randy before eventually striking out. Ledesma lined out to Newton, and Sutton grounded out to Ingall – SHUTOUT!! 8-0 Raccoons!! Sharp 2-5, HR, 2 RBI; Mata 2-4, BB; Martin 2-5, HR, 2 RBI; Guerin 2-5; Parker 2-4, BB, RBI; Farley 9.0 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 6 K, W (11-8) and 1-3, BB, RBI;

RANDY!! He pitched his fourth career shutout, and the first since his rookie season in 1998. It’s his ninth complete game in 87 starts, and the second this year.

A glimmer of hope was instilled back into me that we might eventually wind up above .500 again if we were just continuing to sieve out the bland stones and kept the gold nuggets.

Although the maintenance searched the park in Portland thoroughly for more vandalism on Thursday morning, they couldn’t find any, just some confetti and a half-drunk, open bottle of champagne in the offices.

Game 4
POR: SS Guerin – CF Parker – 1B Sharp – C Mata – RF Brady – 2B Michel – 3B Crowe – LF Richardson – P Ford
VAN: C Clemente – SS Sutton – RF Velasquez – CF P. Taylor – 2B H. Henry – LF Ledesma – 1B D. Davis – 3B Shaw – P Dickerson

When Guerin stole second in the first inning, it was just his 15th bag of the year, but an important one as it moved him up far enough to score on a Sharp sac fly eventually. Clemente hit a leadoff double in the bottom 1st, however, and Ford couldn’t hold on to the 1-0 lead. Top 3rd, the Canadiens’ shortstops were not having a good series. Guerin led off with a double that just barely was not a homer in deep left, ramming off the wall about six inches below the edge. Parker’s grounder was slowly administered to by Dickerson and became in infield single. While Sharp then sent a hard grounder up the middle, Henry had a double play started until Sutton dropped his throw and all hands were safe, plating Guerin, 2-1. Dickerson drilled Mata to load the bags with no outs, and while Brady singled home a run, the Coons failed to deal a death knell to the Elks early, with only Crowe scoring another run on a groundout to make it a 4-1 game. Guerin stole second again in the fourth, was doubled home by Parker, and Parker eventually scored on a Doug Davis error. Ford was again wasteful with his pitches, but at least the Canadiens rarely made contact when he hit his marks. They still got a run in the fifth, and Doug Davis homered to make it 6-3 in the bottom 6th, but the death knell finally came in the top 7th, where Alexander was in again, plated a run with a wild pitch and was then bowled over by Daniel Richardson’s 3-run homer. Ford pitched seven largely strong innings to earn the W, although Nordahl gave up a run as usual down the stretch. 10-4 Raccoons! Guerin 2-5, BB, 2B; Parker 3-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Brady 2-4, BB, RBI; Martin (PH) 1-1; Ford 7.0 IP, 9 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 9 K, W (6-12);

Ford struck out veteran Horace Henry three times in the game, including to reach 100 K on the year, in the bottom 4th. Henry, who knows how to hit, I guess, with 2,646 base knocks on his career ledger, was kindly told by Ford – without words – to move the heck over and let Youth come through.

Well, given how badly we were outslugged in the first two games, I will chalk this series up as a moral win for the Coons, and continue to admire Randy whenever he takes the mound.

We also gain on last place, where the Indians are in full-blown collapse mode, having not only lost ALL games this month, but they had lost their last FOURTEEN games at this point, last beating the Falcons, 6-4, on July 26. Since we last played them and took three of four from them in late June / early July, they have gone 10-27.

Raccoons (47-67) @ Scorpions (71-45) – August 11-13, 2000

The Scorpions in vain ran after the Warriors in the FL West, trailing by 7.5 games as we came in. They had the best rotation in the Federal League and a very good bullpen as well, but were not scoring a lot of runs actually, which was hurting them greatly.

Projected matchups:
Miguel Lopez (5-11, 4.84 ERA) vs. Jon Robinson (6-3, 4.61 ERA)
Scott Wade (5-10, 4.81 ERA) vs. Randy Travis (9-9, 3.74 ERA)
Bob Joly (5-9, 5.12 ERA) vs. David Castillo (9-9, 3.37 ERA)

Game 1
POR: SS Guerin – 3B Sharp – 1B Martin – C Mata – RF Brady – 2B Ingall – CF Parker – LF Richardson – P Lopez
SAC: LF Ruvalcubu – 2B F. Rivera – 1B Matsumoto – RF A. Jenkins – SS J. Martinez – CF Cote – C Potts – 3B R. Martinez – P Robinson

The Scorpions took command on Lorenzo Ruvalcubu’s leadoff jack in the bottom 1st, and had Lopez watching from the dugout by the third inning. Lopez gave up five runs on three homers, and was offering less resistance than a paper bag on the mound. Dan Nordahl gave up an unearned run while getting the game through five, and also hit a double and scored along the way. Down 6-1, however, the Coons’ chances looked less than stellar. Jon Robinson turned out to be in total control of the Critters, giving up only four hits and whiffing nine over eight innings. 6-1 Scorpions. Nordahl 2.1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K and 1-1, 2B; Reyes 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K;

We will file away the fact we didn’t need to expend the well-worn Daniel Miller in this lost cause as our own little victory of the day, and apart from that will hang the shoulders and trot on.

By the way, the Indians ended their 14-game spill with a 6-3 win in Salem, so at 3.5 games ahead we could tie for last place again as soon as Tuesday.

Game 2
POR: SS Guerin – 1B Martin – C Mata – RF Brady – 2B Ingall – 3B Crowe – CF Parker – LF Richardson – P Wade
SAC: CF Ruvalcubu – 3B F. Rivera – 2B Matsumoto – LF A. Jenkins – C Branch – RF S. Green – 1B O’Molony – SS R. Martinez – P Travis

Richardson doubled home a pair in the second inning after Travis had struggled with control and had plunked Marvin Ingall as well. Wade was taken deep by none other than Lance Branch in the bottom of the inning, cutting the lead back to 2-1 rather quickly. Bottom 3rd, Ramon Martinez doubled, and then Wade misfielded Travis’ bunt. Runners on the corners, no outs, Ruvalcubu popped out before Felipe Rivera tied the game with an infield single. The Scorpions stranded a pair then. In the top 4th, Richardson was put on intentionally with a pair in scoring position and one out so Travis could pitch to Wade, but Scotty pushed a grounder through Rivera at third for a go-ahead RBI single. While Guerin brought in a run, he also got Richardson forced out, but Travis was then sent for dinner with RBI singles by Martin and Mata, giving the Coons the 6-2 upside. While Wade couldn’t get out Branch the whole day (which kinda bugged me), the rest of the Scorpions’ bats didn’t do too much against him after the third inning. Branch also completed his personal conquest of Wade in this game by converting Wade’s sac bunt attempt in the eighth into a double play. The Scorpions rose from the dead in the bottom 8th, getting two singles through Guerin in succession. Wade yielded after retiring Aaron Jenkins for the second out, to have Orlando Blanco face Branch. Of course, Branch soiled Wade’s line permanently with a 2-run single, 7-4. Donis had his first appearance of the week in the bottom 9th then, and after starting with a K to O’Molony was quickly turned inside out. After consecutive RBI doubles by Ruvalcubu and Rivera, we made another move and brought Daniel Miller to face Masaaki Matsumoto. Miller didn’t retire anybody, as the Raccoons exploded spectacularly on a walk to Matsumoto, an RBI double by Jenkins, and then a 2-0 pitch that went through Mata’s legs to plate Matsumoto. 8-7 Scorpions. Martin 2-5, RBI; Ingall 2-3, 2B, RBI; Richardson 2-3, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Wade 7.2 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 2 K;

Insert your non-family friendly curses of choice here.

Batting .203, Mike Crowe suffered demotion to AAA after this game, as we called up an outfielder in Jason Kent. Between Kent and Cal Lyon there was not much difference in uselessness, and the perhaps least useless option, Jesus Taramillo, was on the disabled list.

Game 3
POR: LF Parker – 3B Sharp – 1B Martin – RF Brady – C Mata – 2B Ingall – SS Caddock – CF Kent – P Joly
SAC: CF Ruvalcubu – 3B F. Rivera – 2B Matsumoto – LF A. Jenkins – C Branch – 1B P. Perez – RF S. Green – SS J. Martinez – P Reeves

14-5 Whit Reeves and his 2.57 ERA replaced Castillo on the Sunday start, effectively sealing the sweep for Sacramento here, as if the Critters fielding Scumbag Joly wasn’t enough. It was not even a close contest. The Raccoons had a single here and there, but when they actually had the bases loaded with two out in the third, Brady hit a soft pop to left to end the inning. By contrast, Joly was annihilated in 2.2 innings, allowing seven earned runs in the process. Mata continued in his quest to bin a solid sophomore season with an uncaught third strike in this game that almost escalated the pace of destruction in the fifth inning, then lived in his own little dream world in the sixth and failed to nab Aaron Jenkins as he stole home. The Scorpions showed mercy in the end and didn’t stuff the pushover Raccoons for another half dozen runs despite certainly possessing the necessary abilities. 8-0 Scorpions. Martin 2-4; Diaz 3.1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 1 K;

Bob Joly (5-10, 5.70 ERA) wasn’t even taken back to Portland. He was singled out at the airport and sent straight to St. Petersburg. We will bother about a replacement player next week.

In other news

August 7 – The Loggers lose 34-yr old SP Davis Sims (4-7, 7.78 ERA), who has been horrible all season long, for the remainder of the year due to bone chips in Sims’ elbow.
August 10 – Los Angeles’ LF/RF Anibal Rodriguez (.327, 23 HR, 77 RBI) contributes two hits in his team’s 4-3 win over the Wolves, including a solo home run off Edgar Rey in the fifth inning. It is Rodriguez’ 300th career home run. Drafted in the first round of the 1984 draft, seventh overall, by the Pacifics, the 34-year old Puerto Rican reaches an elite plateau occupied only by four other players in Michael Root (338 HR), Raúl Vázquez (330), Gabriel Cruz (318), and Mark Dawson (304). With the last two retired already and Root on his last legs, the still fresh looking, 2,230 hits-heavy Rodriguez looks like he could get easily to at least second place in the next two years. Sixth place Jeffery Brown has 274 dingers, and the 38-year old has produced only four this year. Nobody else has more than 226: OCT Will Jackson is next-closest after just overtaking retired Raccoon Daniel Hall recently.
August 13 – RIC OF Jose Martinez (.339, 4 HR, 55 RBI) collects his 2,000th base hit in a 13-3 drubbing of the Rebels over the Aces. An eighth inning triple off Ian Johnson is the milestone hit for Martinez, who spent most of his career with the Titans.

Complaints and stuff

What do you mean, I should play another week? Do I look completely nuts to you?

Well.

You know you have a crap team when the Players of the Week that aren’t from your team (which happened a few times this year, but anyway…) are by almost 40% from teams you played against during the given week. This week it was Bob Butler.

I might be able to project that red, hot, intense love for Saito-sama onto Randy Farley eventually. He’s pitching to a winning record on abysmal teams – he’s GOT to be good! His career win ratio is .571, while the Coons have been playing .450 ball in the meantime.

Now we just have to get Ralph Ford to stop throwing balls, then we can have the Ralph & Randy Show I am dreaming about. Well, they COULD be an awesome 1-2 punch in a rotation. In a slight improvement, Vince recently upgraded Ralph from 16/12/8 to 16/12/9. He sees his ceiling at 16/12/12.

This week, the Raccoons announced to part ways with their on-field manager Chad Klein after 17 years, six division titles and two championships. Klein, 62, and general management agreed that the chemistry had gone away lately and that it was best to seek out new challenges and success individually. The Raccoons will make their current hitting coach Lance Cox their new manager. Cox managed on every level of the minors for the Raccoons since 1994, reaching and losing the AAA championship series with the Alley Cats in 1999. Cox, 51, was a .210 batting catcher for the Cyclones from 1977 to 1979 before turning to coaching.

Browsing the career home run table after Rodriguez reached #300, I remembered all guys in the top 25 in one way or another, except #23, Jerome Ramsey. That name didn’t ring any bell. He hit 175 HR in a 12-year career that ended in 1989 already. I checked him out and was stunned as he was with the Stars for most of his career, but also sunk the Raccoons in the 1983 World Series.

I am getting old, I guess. I forget things.

Who are you again?

[Westheim]

Raccoons (47-70) vs. Capitals (61-56) – August 15-17, 2000

Despite their mediocre record, the Capitals were still in the running for a playoff spot, trailing the Blue Sox by only four games coming in. They had lost four games in a row, though. Their strengths were with offense, in which they ranked third in the Federal League, while their pitching at times would fall apart, giving them a -10 run differential, with the fifth-most runs allowed. Their bullpen was especially porous, ranking 10th in the FL. However, the Raccoons were considerable worse in every aspect…

Projected matchups:
Randy Farley (11-8, 3.45 ERA) vs. Vernon Robertson (10-6, 5.00 ERA)
Ralph Ford (6-12, 4.34 ERA) vs. Chad Wright (7-6, 3.88 ERA)
Miguel Lopez (5-12, 5.13 ERA) vs. Takeru Sato (9-9, 3.22 ERA)

We know Robertson, but I am not sure whether we have played against the 26-year old right-hander Wright and the 27-year old southpaw Sato before.

Game 1
WAS: SS J. Lopez – 3B R. Gonzalez – CF V. Sanchez – LF J. Rivera – RF Calzado – 1B C. Solís – C W. Turner – 2B McFarland – P Robertson
POR: SS Guerin – 1B Martin – 3B Sharp – RF Brady – 2B Ingall – CF Parker – LF Richardson – C Jackson – P Farley

The attendance got treated to a pitcher’s duel in the series opener. Robertson and Farley traded goose eggs through five innings, with Farley not even giving up a hit through six. The big question was whether Farley could get any support in his bid, and the answer would turn out to be affirmative, even if he didn’t get much to work with. However, Daniel Sharp put up a 1 for the Raccoons with a home run in the bottom 6th. Farley was back out for the seventh, got Ramiro Gonzalez, before Victorino Sanchez grounded to the right side, far to Ingall’s left. Ingall launched after it, barely got a glove at it, scrambled up and – didn’t make a throw. Sanchez was safe already. Solís singled to start the eighth, but Turner – always the killer when it came to offense – hit into a double play. Robertson went eight, whiffing nine, and Farley went back out for the ninth (remember how good our closer is) on 99 pitches and facing PH Tony Diaz to start the frame. Farley got to 1-2, then had one get away and hit Diaz. Tying run on base, we began to sweat. Jose Lopez came up and hit a hard shot to short, bouncing once as it hit the warning track. Guerin refused to be eaten up by hit, smothered it, lobbed to Ingall, and they turned the double play. That left Ramiro Gonzalez to bother about, and he grounded out to Guerin as well. 1-0 Coons! Sharp 1-4, HR, RBI; Ingall 2-3; Farley 9.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 8 K, W (12-8) and 1-3;

RANDY!!!! I LOVE THIS KID!! After his fifth career shutout and tenth complete game in 88 starts, Randy also reaches 12 on the year, and is one win away from his career best (13-13 in 1999).

Also: DANIEL SHARP!!

We gave Paco Martinez the callup. He had started the same day, pitching seven innings of 2-run ball in a 5-2 win for St. Pete.

Game 2
WAS: 2B T. Diaz – 3B R. Gonzalez – CF V. Sanchez – SS J. Lopez – LF J. Rivera – 1B C. Solís – RF McFarland – C W. Turner – P Wright
POR: SS Guerin – 3B Sharp – 1B Martin – RF Brady – LF Parker – 2B Ingall – C Mata – CF Kent – P Ford

The Raccoons scored three runs in the first inning when Wright looked like he wouldn’t go very deep, but then settled into a groove quickly. Ford went the other way, not allowing a hit through to the third, but then quickly coming apart with control issues. The Capitals drew four walks off him in five innings, and tied the game in the fifth. Ford struck out six in six innings, but could not get back in line for a W, and needed 117 pitches for six frames. The Coons were locked out of the game by Wright entirely after the first inning. While Blanco and Reyes pitched scoreless innings, Donis fell to a leadoff double by Tony Diaz in the ninth. Diaz came around to score, while Jesus Longoria replaced Wright. He walked Martin to start the bottom 9th, who was run for by Newton. Brady and Parker both made outs, moving Newton to third. Now we needed an Ingall single, but we got a pop to shallow right that Vonne Calzado caught leisurely. 4-3 Capitals. Martin 2-3, BB;

Sigh. Would have been nice to pick up an actual hit at some point in the ninth. The last of our five singles came in the third inning.

Game 3
WAS: 2B T. Diaz – 3B R. Gonzalez – CF V. Sanchez – SS J. Lopez – LF J. Rivera – 1B C. Solís – RF McFarland – C J. Rivera – P Sato
POR: SS Guerin – 1B Martin – 3B Sharp – RF Brady – 2B Ingall – CF Parker – C Mata – LF Richardson – P M. Lopez

Another game in which the music started to play mostly on the silent keys – neither team got a hit until Guerin’s 2-out single in the bottom 3rd that led to nothing at all. The Capitals had two hits in the fourth, didn’t score, and the Coons lined up three singles in the bottom 4th to go up 1-0 before Lopez flew out to leave the bases loaded. But Sato began to lose it. The Coons loaded the bags once more in the fifth, and then Parker drew a 2-out walk in a full count to push home Guerin with a run, and Mata singled home a pair on a grounder that Lopez missed by fractions of an inch. The Capitals didn’t know how to break up Lopez, not even when Guerin made a critical error in the sixth that put a runner on third. Bottom 7th, Pancho Padilla appeared in relief for the Capitals, and loaded the bases quickly with walks to Brady and Parker and sandwiched between those a toss into Ingall’s thigh. Padilla would not retire anybody as the game got out of hand for the Capitals: Mata singled home another pair, 6-0, and then Richardson hit an RBI single, which prompted an appearance from Alonso Villegas. When the Capitals actually did get to Lopez he was smashed into pieces instantly: four hard hits in the top 8th knocked him from the game. Nordahl allowed a runner left on by Lopez to score, and the Capitals got back within slam range. Having just blown a huge lead a few days earlier in Sacramento, we got nervous. Like the fall of the Roman Empire, it began innocently enough. Nordahl continued to pitch and sat down the first two in the ninth. Then Diaz reached on an error by Sharp. And then Gonzalez reached on an error – by Sharp. The poor kid was out there on the field and looked like he was about to cry. The slammers came up, and I was not in the mood to have Nordahl pitch to left-hander Victorino Sanchez and his 1.028 OPS. Blanco came in – and struck him out. 7-3 Raccoons. Guerin 3-4, BB, 2B; Brady 2-4, BB; Mata 2-4, 4 RBI; Lopez 7.2 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, W (6-12);

Always walking the edge, this team. Daniel Sharp, who had given his best Cameron Green impressions in the ninth, kept looking for holes in his glove in the locker room, sitting sadly on the bench in front of his locker until Scotty gave him a hug finally…

Raccoons (49-71) @ Indians (48-73) – August 18-20, 2000

Yay, last place playoffs! The teams were about equally abysmal, with the Indians having a clear edge on the pitching side, ranking 7th in runs allowed, with 66 runs allowed less than the Raccoons. However, ugly remains ugly no matter how often you paint it green.

Projected matchups:
Scott Wade (5-10, 4.74 ERA) vs. Steve Holcomb (7-13, 3.97 ERA)
Paco Martinez (0-2, 4.19 ERA) vs. Chris Frazier (0-1, 8.59 ERA)
Randy Farley (12-8, 3.26 ERA) vs. Manuel Alba (6-10, 3.76 ERA)

Game 1
POR: SS Guerin – 3B Sharp – 1B Martin – RF Brady – LF Parker – C Mata – 2B Caddock – CF Newton – P Wade
IND: SS Montray – RF Alston – 1B M. Brown – LF D. Lopez – C Paraz – 2B J. Garcia – 3B Whaley – CF Fisher – P Holcomb

Although Matt Brown hit into a double play in the bottom 1st, he still did damage against his first big league team, plating Phil Montray from third base. Holcomb was perfect through four before he issued walks to Brady and Parker to start the fifth inning in the 1-0 game. Mata singled up the middle, breaking up the no-hitter, too, and enabling Brady to score from second base to tie the score. After Caddock grounded out, the Indians elected to walk Newton intentionally to face Wade with one out, which was begging for it to backfire for them, but Wade lined out and Guerin couldn’t get the ball onto the ground either. Bases loaded, one out in the top 6th, Mata hit to Whaley and into a double play. Wade continued to survive despite an error by Brady in the bottom 7th, and kept the game tied, hoping for offense, after his last start had ended in disaster when the team blew the 7-2 lead in Sacramento. Guerin got on in the eighth, leading off, and stole second base. Sharp came back from 0-2 to a full count against reliever Paul Maxwell, who came in to face him, and after making three hard outs before, Sharp hit a high bloop to shallow center – and THAT one fell in. Guerin had to hold at third, but we had nobody out – and we didn’t score anybody, either. Martin struck out, Brady lined out, Parker walked, and Mata grounded to second. Nope! No win for Wade! Better luck next life, Scotty. Wade pitched a scoreless eighth. Caddock and Richardson made outs before Michel hit for Wade against reliever Momsilo Plavsic and drew a walk. Guerin also walked, bringing up Sharp. C’mon Danny, show us what you’re made of! Apparently, he was made out of groundouts to first. Although Elliott Meeks tried hard to issue four walks in the bottom 9th, he was ultimately unsuccessful and two teams who had bored the attendance to death by combining for six hits over nine innings went on to play even more awful baseball, but not for long. Dan Nordahl had another horrible outing, walking two, before Ron Alston ended a dire presentation with a double off the wall. 2-1 Indians. Wade 8.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 2 K;

The Uttercoons had ten walks, three hits, one run, a dozen left on base. Short-hand definition of two crap teams playing each other.

It got even better. Elliott Meeks had gone to the clubhouse after his crappy performance in the bottom 9th. Neil Reece, who was with the team on the weekend, followed him after Meeks kicked a bag of baseballs (precisely twice his trade value) in the dugout on the way to the tunnel under the stands. By the team the rest of the team arrived in the clubhouse after Dan Nordahl’s own uninspired appearance in the bottom 10th they saw Reece administer to Meeks with a once-white towel after Meeks had cut his hand trying to demolish his locker and … the floor was a mess.

Meeks is out for the season, says the medical staff. The 40-man roster was full. With Neil Reece not expected back before mid-September, more like 75 days after getting hurt for the third time this year, he was moved to the 60-day DL to free up space to add Andrew Schaefer back to the 25- and 40-man rosters. Not that Schaefer had been any good in AAA. But we were paying him one way or another anyway…

Game 2
POR: SS Guerin – 3B Sharp – LF Parker – RF Brady – 1B Michel – 2B Ingall – C Mata – CF Newton – P P. Martinez
IND: SS Matthews – LF Quintela – C Cicalina – 1B D. Lopez – RF Alston – 3B Whaley – 2B Montray – CF Maguey – P Frazier

After three more snoozer innings, the Coons plated two thanks to a Michel double, mostly, in the top 4th. The Indians came right back with another RBI double by Alston. The Coons would hit five hard shots to left center or center off Frazier in the fifth then. The outfielders snagged only two, and the other three became doubles and a pair of runs. Martinez, who was pitching on short rest, began to give up hard contact by the sixth and was removed in a 5-1 game with one out and a man on. While Reyes upon entering gave up more hard contact, at least we found takers with gloves in the field for those. The Coons managed to leave bushels of runners on again in the late innings, and we were just waiting for the inevitable Indians comeback. Schaefer out in the eighth was probably begging for it, but he pitched a scoreless inning. Still up by four, Daniel Miller appeared in the bottom 9th, didn’t get in front of a single batter, but somehow escaped with two men on. 5-1 Raccoons. Sharp 4-5, 2B; Newton 2-4, BB, 2B, RBI;

(Somehow, I always want to type Walter Alston with this Indians guy…)

By now we have at least staved off the prospect of dropping to last place this weekend. Yay.

And next we are hoping for Randy Farley (unconquered in 21 consecutive innings) to treat us to another gem.

Game 3
POR: SS Guerin – 3B Sharp – 1B Martin – RF Brady – 2B Ingall – LF Parker – C Jackson – CF Newton – P Farley
IND: SS Montray – RF Alston – 1B M. Brown – LF D. Lopez – C Paraz – 2B J. Garcia – 3B Whaley – CF Maguey – P Alba

The Randy Show almost ended in the first inning after Montray walked and Ron Alston hit an infield single. Key to escape was a K to Lopez and Montray got starved at third base. The Coons scored a run in the second and two in the third, with a Brady triple being very helpful in the latter instance. Farley again struggled with the three left-handed batters atop the Indians lineup and again put a pair on in the bottom 3rd, but AGAIN struck out Lopez and this time also Paraz to exit the inning, up 3-0. Problems arose when Matt Whaley hit an infield single in the bottom 4th. Maguey also got on, and the two were in scoring position with two down and Montray reappearing in the box. Farley got him to ground out to Ingall, advancing still unscored upon. But the left-handers continued to give him trouble. In the fifth, both Alston and Brown reached. Lopez flew out, advancing Alston to third with one out. When Jose Paraz walked, loading the bags, vanity went out of the window. Screw scoreless innings, keep the lead in one piece! Garcia’s sac fly killed off the streak, and Whaley plated another run, 3-2. Farley was removed in the bottom 6th after Carlos Quintela led off with a pinch-hit single. Diaz was to face the top of the order, and blew the lead in record time. Sharp made another error in the bottom 7th that put the go-ahead run on second base with no outs, but Daniel Miller navigated out of the inning with the score still knotted at three. The Coons almost lost in the ninth after Reyes had issued two walks and was almost taken out by a Sam Fisher grounder, but managed to make the play to first to go to extras. Top 11th: Reyes – although a sucker – was intended to be used for another inning, since this would potentially take another ten innings. When Newton made an out to get the frame started, Reyes batted, and hit a double. Guerin grounded out, moving him to third, and then Sharp came up, 0-5 one day removed from his 4-hit day. Sharp grounded to third, and Whaley – botched the play. Reyes scored, Sharp was safe on an error. Now we still left Reyes in with a 4-3 lead. He was to face right-handers, and Donis sucked either way. Schaefer and Nordahl were the only options left in the pen. Reyes came through, only allowing a soft single to Garcia with two down. 4-3 Coons! Brady 2-5, 3B, RBI; Ingall 2-4, BB, RBI; Reyes 3.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 0 K, W (3-2) and 1-1, 2B;

In other news

August 17 – SFB Tony Hamlyn (13-7, 2.90 ERA) 1-hits the Pacifics in a 4-0 shutout. Anibal Rodriguez (who had hit his 300th home run last week) has the offending hit, a fourth inning single.
August 19 – VAN OF Luis Arroyo (.274, 15 HR, 75 RBI) is out for the year with a torn labrum.
August 20 – The Blue Sox trade 1B Roberto Vargas (.292, 4 HR, 65 RBI) to the Warriors, along with a minor leaguer, for OF Alberto Flores (.329, 1 HR, 26 RBI in 173 AB).

Complaints and stuff

The evil Indians finally climbed Mount Randy after 25 innings, Sharp had his moments this week, and Ford can't find the zone, but I will say it here and now, and in ten years’ time we will know whether I have been right:

Farley. Ford. Martin. Sharp. These four. These four will win us a World Series.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (51-72) vs. Titans (72-53) – August 22-24, 2000

The Titans led the division, although their lead over the Loggers was fluctuating up and down all the time. The Titans were strong both offensively and defensively, and their rotation was a tough nut to crack. It was kind of surprising to see the Raccoons come into the series having lost only seven of twelve so far.

Projected matchups:
Ralph Ford (6-12, 4.35 ERA) vs. Jesus Bautista (14-11, 3.29 ERA)
Miguel Lopez (6-12, 5.03 ERA) vs. Sergio Gonzalez (10-11, 3.33 ERA)
Scott Wade (5-10, 4.56 ERA) vs. Jason O’Halloran (15-5, 3.09 ERA)

Game 1
BOS: SS D. Silva – CF Garrison – 3B Austin – RF Greenman – LF G. Munoz – 1B G. Douglas – 2B J. Zamora – C Williamson – P Bautista
POR: SS Guerin – 3B Sharp – 1B Martin – RF Brady – 2B Ingall – LF Parker – C Mata – CF Kent – P Ford

The Coons struck first, if you could call it striking at all. Three soft singles to start the bottom 2nd gave them a 1-0 lead, two on, no outs, and while they loaded them up, they couldn’t seem to score until Ralph Ford came up. Ford’s batting average didn’t even entitle him to a dollar dog, but at least he hit a sac fly, 2-0. Now Ford had his usual control struggles. After Mark Austin led off the fourth with a double, Ford walked a pair to load them up with no outs. Glenn Douglas flew out to Brady on the right field line, and Austin tagged up, only to be shotgunned out at home by Brady. In a perfect world, Ford would have used that to retire Zamora, but instead balked, then surrendered a single to tie the score, threw a wild pitch, and fell to a Williamson RBI double before some baseball god finally showed some mercy with the kid and had Sharp grab Bautista’s liner for the third out. Ford was still run over in the fifth inning and was removed from the game in disgrace. Down 6-3 after six, the Raccoons looked defeated already. Bautista then struggled in the seventh and loaded them up with no outs. Guerin walked to force a run in, but Sharp struck out. Martin had been removed in a double switch and Richardson pinch-hit for Schaefer now, only managed a sac fly, and Brady fouled out. The Titans used three pitchers to get three strikeouts from three Raccoons in the eighth, keeping the score 6-5, and while Diaz held the fort for two innings, they went down as shamefully in the bottom 9th. 6-5 Titans. Parker 2-4, 2B, RBI; Blanco 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K; Diaz 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

How they actually scored five runs from just ten base runners (six hits, three walks, and Ingall took one too close for comfort) is amazing. If they could just once do that in a game where the pitcher actually manages to go past the fifth inning.

Game 2
BOS: SS D. Silva – CF Garrison – 3B Austin – RF Greenman – LF G. Munoz – 1B G. Douglas – 2B Elliott – C Williamson – P S. Gonzalez
POR: SS Guerin – 3B Sharp – 1B Martin – RF Brady – 2B Ingall – LF Parker – C Mata – CF Kent – P Lopez

The Coons, unable to land a hard hit, somehow loaded them up on a few shy singles in the first inning, before Parker hit a shy grounder that wasn’t a single and they didn’t score. Lopez let the Titans’ pitcher defeat him at the first opportunity, as he failed to remove Gonzalez in an 0-2 count in the third. Gonzalez singled, Garrison doubled, and Austin cashed in a pair, while the Raccoons were still wearing bats on their heads and swung at pitches with their helmets. Gonzalez drove in a run himself to make it a 4-0 score with two out in the fourth and we were looking at an extended bullpen showcase yet again (and that was nothing to revel about either). Mata was having a month from hell, losing a good pitch for a passed ball, then causing catcher’s interference to ruin Lopez’ first K of the day, which would have ended the fifth. Instead, Greenman went to first and scored on Munoz’ lightning bolt in the general direction of Montana. Pat Elliott also homered, as the Raccoons went down in flames for the 74th time on the year. In short, the Raccoons were routed, the pitching staff and the catcher sucked like hell, and when the brown-clad team finally found their bats, they were already down by double digits. 11-2 Titans. Guerin 2-5; Brady 2-2, 2 BB, 2B, RBI;

And every day, it gets a little bit worse. Four runs on Schaefer, the useless ****. Which moron gave that sucker a 2-year deal??

Game 3
BOS: SS D. Silva – 1B Brewer – 3B Austin – LF Thomas – CF Garrison – C L. Lopez – RF Elizondo – 2B Williamson – P O’Halloran
POR: SS Guerin – 1B Sharp – 3B Ingall – RF Brady – 2B Michel – LF Parker – C Jackson – CF Newton – P Wade

Another day, another game, another disaster, Wade was stuffed for seven singles and five runs – in the second inning alone. Meanwhile, O’Halloran was perfect through four. Wade added four innings of 1-hit ball after dying a death of a thousand needles, which added to my cynicism for sure, before Diaz came in and promptly surrendered a 2-run homer to Josh Thomas. The Coons at the same point had ONE hit, a bloop by Jackson. Although O’Halloran only struck out three in the game, he still reduced the Raccoons to rubble and pitched a 4-hit shutout. 7-0 Titans. Brady 2-3, BB, 2B;

Raccoons (51-75) vs. Knights (43-83) – August 25-27, 2000

Now facing the worst team in baseball, the Raccoons had one last chance to prove that they deserved better than being dismembered for the dollar value of their body parts. The Raccoons sucked badly, but the Knights were abysmal with a pitching staff that would embarrass a third rate orphanage. (Well, and the Coons?) We were 5-1 against them on the year.

Projected matchups:
Paco Martinez (1-2, 3.65 ERA) vs. Tynan Howard (6-15, 5.73 ERA)
Randy Farley (12-8, 3.32 ERA) vs. Ed Wallace (2-3, 6.37 ERA)
Ralph Ford (6-13, 4.58 ERA) vs. John Collins (9-12, 5.40 ERA)

That’s three right-handers, which should suit us with most of our batters being left-handed now. But, well, they can easily suck from either side of the plate, no matter who’s throwing what at them.

Game 1
ATL: CF Alonso – 2B Palacios – 1B Tinker – RF W. Taylor – 3B J. Morales – C J. Johnson – LF Kinnear – SS Tanaka – P Howard
POR: SS Guerin – 3B Sharp – 1B Martin – RF Brady – LF Parker – 2B Ingall – C Mata – CF Kent – P P. Martinez

Martinez was all over the general vicinity of home plate, and while he struck out seven in five innings of work, he also allowed ten Knights on base. That they scored only two runs, the latter on a fifth inning homer by Will Taylor, was maybe the most astonishing fact. The Raccoons continued their sucking ways and trailed 2-1 with Martinez already over 100 pitches and done. Friday, and still no guy getting past six this week. It wasn’t much better at the plate, where nothing happened in the bottoms of innings. In the top 7th, Vern Kinnear hit an RBI single off Blanco to make it 3-1 and that was pretty much a gap that could not be bridged by this team, unless the Knights made a mistake – and they made it. Howard began to crumble in the eighth, walking Sharp on four pitches, and then surrendered a hard single to Martin. With Brady up, we expected a left-hander to relieve Howard, but they didn’t send one, and then Brady hit #12 on the year to flip the score to 4-3 for the home team. The hard part came for the ninth: find someone to save this game for Nordahl, who was in line for the W. Since two left-handers were to lead off the inning, Donis was chosen over Miller. Donis fell to three balls on both Stephen Ware and Gerardo Rios, but they poked and both made outs. Donis then struck out Johnny Johnson to end the game. 4-3 Coons. Brady 1-4, HR, 3 RBI; Parker 2-4; Ingall 2-4;

Game 2
ATL: 2B Palacios – RF A. Rodriguez – LF Ware – CF G. Rios – 1B Tinker – 3B J. Morales – C McDonald – SS Tanaka – P Wallace
POR: SS Guerin – LF Parker – 1B Martin – RF Brady – 2B Ingall – 3B Caddock – C Mata – CF Kent – P Farley

The Knights led off with four left-handers and quickly overmatched Farley, as they batted around the order in the first inning and took a 3-0 lead. Nothing remained of 25-innings Mount Randy, as the Knights hit him at will. The Raccoons let it be, and wondered at the fast white things that zipped past them when they were sent to stand into a chalk box for – to them – no discernible reason. Farley was knocked out in the fourth inning, five runs across, and the Raccoons managed two hits through five innings against 22-year old Wallace and his 6+ ERA that was by then approaching 5.50. Wallace showed a small crack in the bottom 6th then, as he allowed the Uttercoons to load the bags on a single and two walks, and Brady was to bat with no outs. The Knights slowly got the bullpen going, not expecting much out of the Raccoons’ middle of the lineup – neither did anybody affiliated with that crap team, either. Brady lobbed a single over Sosa Tanaka, also plating Parker to cut the gap to 5-2. Oh well, Ingall’s gonna hit into double play now, he’s not hit Ingall singles all year. Wallace threw one down the middle to Ingall, clocked at 96, and Ingall hit it square. As it rose up and rapidly gained ground towards left field, some 20,000 people in the park gasped in amazement as Ingall hit a game-tying 3-run homer into the uppermost row in the left field stands. That flash of excitement was short-lived, though. Blanco failed in the top 8th, the Knights scored a pair on him, and that put a definitive end to another night to forget on the Willamette. 7-5 Knights. Guerin 2-3, BB, 2B; Diaz 2.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 3 K;

Game 3
ATL: CF Alonso – 2B Palacios – LF Ware – 1B Tinker – RF W. Taylor – 3B J. Morales – C J. Johnson – SS Tanaka – P J. Collins
POR: SS Guerin – 1B Martin – 2B Ingall – RF Brady – LF Richardson – 3B Sharp – C Mata – CF Kent – P Ford

The same story as in every Ford start. Can’t hit the zone, gave up hits, runners scored, wah wah wah. The Knights scored two on him in the second inning, with the first run plated on a John Collins sac fly with one out and the bags full that was more fly than sac, and almost got to the wall. Following the shining example of the more experienced pitching corps, Ford entangled himself in abysmalty, and couldn’t go further than five innings, having on his ledger six each of hits, walks, and strikeouts, and three runs. The Raccoons were held to three hits by Collins through six innings and trailed 3-1. Reyes pitched scoreless long relief, the most menial task on a staff was one he could barely carry out in a semi-decent fashion. Bottom 7th, Brady led off with a shot off his boomstick, making it 3-2. Richardson then rammed a double off the centerfield wall. Uh-oh! The minions are uprising! That brought up Sharp, mired in a 1-22 rut, but maybe we could hit for Kent with an actual batter. Checking the box score while Sharp pirouetted into a Collins slider and sent it to left – high – deep – GONE. Up 4-3 again due to power, the Raccoons put Mata on with a single, but then quickly left the inning when Parker hit into a double play. Daniel Miller was tasked with the eighth, was perfect, the Coons added a run with a 2-out RBI single by Richardson off Albert Matthews in the bottom of the frame. That brought up Sharp with runners on the corners, but he grounded slowly up the left foul line. Matthews, who as a right-hander had fallen in the other direction, stumbled, and Johnson also was slow to make a play, and Sharp beat the throw – RBI single! Donis entered for the ninth, was taken deep by Palacios, and would possibly have blown up if not for a strong catch by Richardson on Stephen Ware’s pop to shallow left. 6-4 Raccoons. Martin 3-4, 2B, RBI; Richardson 2-4, 2B, RBI; Sharp 2-4, HR, 3 RBI; Reyes 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, W (4-2);

In other news

August 22 – The 2,000 career hits mark is reached by SAC OF Aaron Jenkins (.304, 14 HR, 76 RBI). Jenkins, the fourth overall pick by the Scorpions in the 1987 draft, hits a game-tying RBI single in the sixth inning off the Stars’ Elwood Spurrell – to no avail. The Scorpions lose 4-3.

Complaints and stuff

Again, somebody who faced us this week was Player of the Week: Boston’s Mark Austin. I would have voted for him, too, if I hadn’t been stripped of my vote almost 20 years ago for ALWAYS voting for Daniel Hall. Slappy, the janitor, has been voting for us since ’87, and he’s always doing it drunk, and he’s doing a better job than I have done in my sanest of minds.

Before the last game against the Knights, I was begging to just lose ordinarily. Not spectacularly, or in rape fashion. We are that far, because we are that good.

I hear the Three Sisters calling. Can’t wait to lock myself up in a cabin in the woods. Wouldn’t mind the short term company of a grizzly bear, either. Would somebody be so kind to hide one in my office while I’m in the bathroom, crying relentlessly?

[Westheim]

Bonus mental episode. Always the poet (which is actually true), I have come up with something that is best hummed along the chorus of Nik Kershaw’s The Riddle.

The Raccoons are so awful,
Are a pain to see play;
Make you cry, make you scream,
Make you run, run away;
Issue walks, issue balks,
Strike out four times a day;
And it hurts if you still
Recall their Good Old Days,
Which are lo-ong, lo-ong gone…

And for the grand finale:

The Raccoons are so awful,
Are a pain to see play;
Make you cry, make you scream,
Make you run, run away;
Issue walks, issue balks,
Strike out four times a day;
And it hurts if you still
Recall their Good Old Days,
Which are never, never coming back,
Which are never, never coming back…

[Westheim]

Raccoons (53-76) @ Falcons (61-68) – August 28-30, 2000

The Falcons were suffering from the second-worst rotation in the league which was crawling to the mercy killing at September’s end with a 4.71 ERA. Their offense was 6th in the league, and overall they were giving up only the fifth-most runs thanks to a strong bullpen.

Projected matchups:
Miguel Lopez (6-13, 5.33 ERA) vs. Wyatt Coleman (6-8, 4.50 ERA)
Scott Wade (5-11, 4.67 ERA) vs. Troy Watson (6-10, 5.55 ERA)
Paco Martinez (1-2, 3.64 ERA) vs. Terry Wilson (8-11, 4.69 ERA)

We will have Thursday off, so the Falcons are our last opponents before rosters expand on Friday.

Game 1
POR: SS Guerin – 3B Sharp – RF Brady – 2B Ingall – 1B Martin – LF Parker – C Jackson – CF Newton – P Lopez
CHA: 2B H. Green – C M. Castillo – SS M. Hall – 3B M. Munoz jr. – LF Terry – RF M. Adams – 1B McDaniel – CF A. Rodriguez – P Coleman

Nothing better than starting a week with one pitcher pouncing on the other, and in this case it was Coleman hitting a 2-out RBI single against the as usual hapless Lopez to make it 1-0 Falcons in the bottom 2nd. The next time Coleman was up the bases were loaded and there was only one out in the fourth. Lopez failed to do anything with him and Concie barely managed to intercept Coleman’s sharp liner to short. That made it two down, but was merely a prelude to Hubert Green’s grand slam that was following on the lineout’s heels. The Falcons were up 5-0, the Raccoons had little to show but two double plays hit into, and the bullpen was scrambling in the fourth once again. The Coons would have two men in scoring position with no outs in consecutive innings down the stretch, plated a grand total of one run combined, and when Dan Nordahl pitched two innings in relief without killing himself, we shrugged, put that one in our moral win column, and let another gruesome loss be completed. 5-1 Falcons. Parker 4-4, 2B; Jackson 2-4, 2B; Nordahl 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K; Schaefer 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

There are two more years remaining on Miguel Lopez’s contract, and $1.275M in total. I am shivering. How do you move such a worn-off, scoffed off, ugly old Christmas sweater that’s been in your family for generations?

Well, focus on the good things: we will never have to pay out the pitcher award bonus in his contract.

Game 2
POR: 2B Ingall – 1B Martin – 3B Sharp – RF Brady – LF Richardson – C Mata – SS Caddock – CF Kent – P Wade
CHA: 2B H. Green – RF Mashiba – SS M. Hall – CF M. Adams – LF Morton – 3B M. Munoz jr. – 1B Terry – C M. Castillo – P Watson

The Coons struck first after an Ingall single and Martin going deep in the top 1st, 2-0. However, Wade struck out two in the first inning, and that was always a sign of trouble. Wade always was liable to get pummeled when he struck people out… It didn’t take long for him to lose his touch. After sitting down the first seven Falcons, Castillo hit a 1-out single in the third, and after Green walked and Mashiba took one too close for comfort, Mark Hall tied the game with a bases-loaded 2-out, 2-run single. Fittingly, the Raccoons had left the bases loaded without scoring in the top 3rd (Richardson to blame as always). A Sharp error got the Falcons going in the bottom 5th, but with two in scoring position Hall made a hard out to deep right, falling victim to Brady. At this point, the Raccoons’ bats were completely silenced and Wade knew that the best he could achieve was not to surrender a run and avoid to lose, or hit a home run himself. Neither thing happened, as Wade went down to doubles by Morton and Munoz in the bottom 6th. Wade also put two men on in the seventh and was removed for Diaz, who readily allowed one of the runners to score. The Raccoons, down by three, technically were still batting, but actually weren’t. Leonard Williamson was pitching in the ninth. Richardson singled, but was forced by Mata. Guerin hit for Caddock and doubled, bringing the tying run up with one out. Michel hit for Kent, fouled out, and then Jackson hit for Schaefer and doubled past Joe Morton to score both runners. Tying run at second, time for an Ingall single! Or a groundout. Whatever works. 5-4 Falcons. Ingall 2-5; Guerin (PH) 1-1, 2B; Jackson (PH) 1-1, 2B, 2 RBI;

Closing in on last place in the division again. 100 losses are also still not unlikely, and we have not had a pitcher complete seven innings since August 18, when Wade went eight, but the Coons fell, 2-1, to Indy.

Game 3
POR: SS Guerin – 3B Sharp – RF Brady – 2B Ingall – 1B Martin – C Mata – CF Parker – LF Richardson – P P. Martinez
CHA: 2B H. Green – C M. Castillo – SS M. Hall – 1B J. Jackson – 3B M. Munoz jr. – LF Terry – RF M. Adams – CF Morton – P Wilson

The Raccoons again scored two in the top 1st, which was started with Guerin reaching on a Munoz error. Sharp singled, and both spooled off a double steal. Brady managed to get a bloop in for the first run before Ingall killed all momentum with a run-scoring double play ball to Hubert Green. Sharp in the second and Guerin in the third drove in runs with two down, which put the pressure on Martinez not to let that wealth of offense get away. While “Loudmouth” Wilson struck out eight in just five innings, Martinez’ outing still made us long for something better. He constantly pitched in 3-ball counts, despite not walking anybody, but the Falcons were easily hitting him, and hitting him well. His 100th pitch came with one out in the bottom 6th, and Matt Adams took it over the wall to tie the score at five. Top 8th, Parker singled, and Richardson doubled with one out. Against the right-hander Shane Sweet, Caddock hit for Miller in the #9 hole, popped out, and Guerin whiffed. But the Falcons were full of crap as well. Varying degrees of inability by Blanco, Ingall, and Mata put runners in scoring position with no outs in the bottom 8th – and they didn’t score either. In the top 9th, Enrique Hernandez served up a solo home run to Clyde Brady, giving the Raccoons a 6-5 lead before they left two in scoring position. The wonkiest of leads was assigned to Donis for protection, who got a foul pop from Castillo for the first out before whiffing Hall. Mashiba walked, but Munoz popped out to center. 6-5 Coons. Guerin 3-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Sharp 2-5, RBI; Brady 2-4, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Martin 3-5, 3B; Richardson 2-4, 2 2B;

August 31 was off, and was there for letting the mind wander.

The Raccoons were quite obviously not fighting for anything except not losing a hundred (which stinks) at this point. There was some untapped talent at AAA, but the Alley Cats, despite being 69-60 only, led their division by two games and had a chance on the playoffs. Plus, most of the interesting players down there were not rule 5 eligible yet this fall. And we have no money. So, the Matt Loves, and the Marcos Brunos, and whoever else was there, were not called up.

We issued only a few callups on September 1, and none of the callups had achieved anything but to give me headaches all season long. Kelly Fairchild came back to ease the strain on the pen (even though not on my nerves). Manuel Martinez was brought up for the same reason. In batters, we only added Mike Crowe, and he was useless anyway.

Raccoons (54-78) @ Crusaders (60-73) – September 1-3, 2000

The Crusaders’ pitching was quite the other way round from the Falcons’ with a good rotation and a bullpen loaded with TNT. That still had them up 1-0 over the Coons, of course. They also outscored us by 38 runs, ranking 8th to our 11th place.

Projected matchups:
Randy Farley (12-8, 3.52 ERA) vs. Anibal Sandoval (14-12, 3.86 ERA)
Ralph Ford (6-13, 4.61 ERA) vs. Ramiro Gonzalez (12-10, 3.54 ERA)
Miguel Lopez (6-14, 5.51 ERA) vs. Cipriano Miranda (10-10, 4.06 ERA)

Game 1
POR: 2B Ingall – 1B Martin – 3B Sharp – RF Brady – SS Guerin – LF Richardson – C Mata – CF Kent – P Farley
NYC: 3B Rigg – 2B Brantley – LF A. Johnson – CF D. Woods – C Manuel – RF Latham – 1B Rush – SS F. Adams – P Sandoval

Farley was in the way of Ed Rigg’s grounder in the bottom 1st. First defensive play in the game, and our starter took the ball to the foot. The offending object ricocheted to Ingall, who was stunned but made the play, while Farley limped for a few steps but then assured the trainer that he was good. He struck out Brantley, then smiled at the trainer, who watched him with eagle eyes. In the bottom 3rd, Farley failed to field a bouncer by Brantley to the mound, and by the time Sharp got there, Brantley was safe, but the game remained scoreless once Johnson flew out to center. The Crusaders scored a run in the fifth, while the horrible Raccoons were doing nothing at all. In the bottom 6th, Dan Woods led off with a grounder up the first base line. Martin hustled in and threw to Farley, who missed the throw and was charged an error. The trainer went back out, struggled with Farley, but failed to drag him out. It came how I had always seen it coming, inevitably. Latham doubled home Woods for an unearned run, and then Bob Rush took Farley deeper than deep. The game was escalating, but actually – did it really matter whether the Critters were down by one or by five? Of course not. When Andres Manuel’s throw to second went into center and Guerin stole his 20th base largely uncontested and was able to go to third as Dan Woods had to collect the errant ball, he arrived there with one out. Richardson fouled out to Manuel, who was sweating, and Mata whiffed. Miller was killed off for three runs on an Avery Johnson home run (#19) in the bottom 8th, while Sandoval went the distance. 9-2 Crusaders. Martin 2-4, 2B, RBI; Michel (PH) 1-1; Kent 3-4, 2B;

The loss dumped as to last place in runs allowed again. Our run differential is -155. And in early August I though Randy might come through against the suckers and win 16 or 17 or so. By now I am sure he will drop to .500 again, just like last year.

Meanwhile the Loggers moved into a virtual tie for first place with the Titans. At least the Canadiens have dropped well off the pace in the division.

Game 2
POR: SS Guerin – 3B Sharp – RF Brady – 2B Ingall – LF Parker – 1B Martin – C Jackson – CF Newton – P Ford
NYC: SS Rigg – LF J. Cruz – C Manuel – 3B Rush – 1B T. Mullins – 2B M. Givens – RF D. Woods – CF V. Gonzalez – P R. Gonzalez

Ford well behind in the first, Newton fell on his face and left the game, also in the first, and we were heading straight for another loss. Daniel Sharp managed to temporarily stop the bleeding in the third inning, tying the game with a 2-run double, but also fell on his face and left the game. Bottom 3rd. Ralphie walked Juan Cruz to get it going, his first walk in the game. Then he gave the second to Manuel. And the third to Rush. And another one to Mullins. Givens did something wrong, for he popped out. Dan Woods did something too, he hit a grand slam. Defeated at once, the Raccoons couldn’t even be helped by a 3-run eighth anymore. 10-6 Crusaders. Guerin 2-5; Sharp 1-2, 2B, 2 RBI; Parker 2-4; Jackson 2-4, RBI; Kent 2-4, 2B, RBI; Fairchild 3.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Is it too late to revise the statement about Farley, Ford, Sharp, and Martin being the key parts for a World Series championship? Because it has been wrong. I switched something up. They were all on the list of sick horses that were due for shooting and butchering.

There are about 21 more names on that list.

And while Luke Newton’s ailments were undiagnosed that night, Daniel Sharp had a tight back and would be DTD, but severely hampered, for the next week.

We once had a Daniel with a back story, and it didn’t end well…….

Game 3
POR: SS Guerin – LF Richardson – 1B Martin – RF Brady – 3B Ingall – 2B Michel – C Mata – CF Kent – P Lopez
NYC: SS Rigg – 2B Brantley – C Manuel – RF A. Johnson – 3B Rush – LF J. Cruz – 1B M. Givens – CF V. Gonzalez – P Miranda

This time around, it would be the Crusaders’ starter to lose all marbles early on. Miranda walked the bases full in the second inning, no outs. After Mata’s sac fly, Kent came through with a 2-run double, giving Lopez a 3-run lead, but the weather forecast had had hail over the mounds of New York in the bottom halves of innings, and Lopez was punched for two runs immediately in the bottom 2nd. The tie (or worse) was looming big in the fourth, when the Crusaders brought Johnson into third base with one out after Johnson had led off with a double. But Lopez struck out Cruz and Givens to escape still ahead 3-2, and you might have wanted to wonder whether he could actually hold on. But you better didn’t. In the bottom 5th, Ed Rigg, the antithesis to a power hitter, slugged a homer to knot the score. Even better, now with two out, Brantley singled, Lopez balked, then drilled Manuel. That brought up Johnson, but why remove him now for a southpaw? The pitching coach went out to inquire whether Lopez had gone fully nuts now, the answer being more or less inconclusive, and when Johnson popped out to Concie, the score remained tied at three, but the Crusaders had six hits to the Raccoons’ one. With Ingall on, Samy Michel didn’t miss a home run by a lot in the seventh, but instead made an out to Juan Cruz. Kent singled with two out, and two on with two out was good enough an excuse to lift Lopez for a pinch-hitter. Parker grounded to second – out. The uncontrollable urge to kill off the entire roster was much intensified in the bottom 7th. Dan Nordahl appeared in relief in the tied game, and the Crusaders sent the left-hander Brian Latham for Gonzalez to hit. He actually didn’t hit, but readily walked, and Miranda laid down a bunt that Julio Mata threw Bronx-wards. Two in scoring position, no outs, Nordahl looking like a dog locked outside in the rain, and the Crusaders sent Mark Berry to pinch-hit for Rigg, another left-hander. Diaz came in, threw a wild pitch, then walked Berry regardless. The violent bullpen explosion continued with another walk, a Johnson single, Diaz being dragged out, torn, quartered, tarred, feathered, and sent to Siberia, before Miller finally got the second out, as he struck out Bob Rush, offering a glimmer of hope at a decent – NO!! NOT TODAY EITHER!!! Juan Cruz – SURE AS HELL – hit a HOWLING DOUBLE into left, and one run, two runs, three runs scored. NO BREAK! NO RELIEF! NEVERMORE! And – in YET ANOTHER TWIST OF BITTER TWISTEDNESS – Albert Martin hit a 2-run homer in the eighth. If Miller had just gotten Cruz - … or Diaz had been less futile than 20 tonnes of ice cubes dumped into Death Valley ….. 8-5 Crusaders. Kent 2-3, 2B, 2 RBI;

In other news

September 2 – Nashville’s Dennis Fried (18-5, 4.06 ERA) pitches a 3-hit shutout against the Miners. Blue Sox win, 8-0.

Complaints and stuff

… and whenever you’re down and have been kicked in the jaw AND the nuts, Dennis Fried pitches a shutout.

Eight more losses than wins from now, we’ll drop off the list of teams with records better than .500 in ABL history.

In the 1998 amateur draft, the Raccoons picked LF/CF Chris Roberson and reliever Scott Boone with their first two picks, before the Condors drafted SP Curt Powell 40th overall. Said Curt Powell – besides making me remember Christopher Powell and sighing – debuted this July, and went 5-0 in August to be named Rookie AND Pitcher of the Month. To recapitulate, Roberson smells at AAA, and Boone is out with elbow surgery.

(slowly and repeatedly slams head against door frame)