Portland Raccoons (ABL)

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by xepicx2729

My boy Daniel Sharp seems to be doing well, though Concie isn't hitting at an amazing clip (even with that streak). Sucks to hear about no playoffs (again) but I have a feeling you'll change that by at least 2010! (i'm giving you the benefit of the doubt with that date, considering this game screws the life outta you.) I do think that Ingall still has a tiny spark in him, but I'm not sure how long it'll last. Alright you can stop reading my rambling, as it's probably all useless (LIKE "ICON" ALLEN WHO WAS A REAL ICON FOR DOING JACK WHEN HE WAS EXPECTED TO!(take it back to the 90s with THAT guy.)) How is Julio Mata doing at this point in time? Man I wanna say more but I just can't or else I'll blow a gasket at the guys who think a 4+ ERA is impressive, or about those backup infielders who bat .212 for a living. Alright, alright, I'll stop now.

Julio Mata got all of 107 AB for the Scorpions between 2002 and 2003, batting .251 before being guttered. He is currently with their AAA team, the Newark Whitewings.

Also thanks for the throwback to “Icon” Allen, I was just about to forget that disaster.

Although, as disasters go, I still remember Ralph Nixon vividly.

Raccoons (61-69) @ Knights (63-65) – August 30-September 1, 2004

The Knights have won their last nine games, which bodes oh so well for the Raccoons in this midweek series, but overall they are still only ninth in runs scored and seventh in runs conceded. Their rotation is much better than their bullpen, the former having the second-best ERA in the CL, and the latter being flat-out worst. The Raccoons have won the season series already, 5-1 ahead coming in.

Projected matchups:
Kenichi Watanabe (0-1, 4.50 ERA) vs. John Woodard (6-14, 5.51 ERA)
Nick Brown (16-6, 3.04 ERA) vs. Tynan Howard (12-9, 2.97 ERA)
Randy Farley (7-11, 4.82 ERA) vs. Larry Cutts (14-8, 2.78 ERA)

Rosters will expand on Wednesday for the third game of the series. Regardless of whom we will reluctantly call up, Randy will pitch on Wednesday. At best, Felipe Garcia can slide in at the bottom of the flock. If I want him up at all. We will certainly try out a few younger bullpen arms.

Game 1
POR: 3B Sharp – CF King – SS Guerin – 1B Martin – 2B Ingall – RF Brady – LF Reece – C Rosa – P Watanabe
ATL: RF R. Lopez – SS Luján – LF J. Morales – 3B J. Garcia – 1B J. Gutierrez – 2B J. Miller – C Valadez – CF F. Rivera – P Woodard

The Raccoons sparked early for three runs in the first inning, one doubled in by Martin, one scoring on a wild pitch, and one coming home on a Brady groundout. Too bad only that Watanabe gave two thirds of the damage right back in the bottom of the same frame, then bunted into a double play in the top 2nd. A total of seven runs were piled on Woodard in three and two thirds before the Knights took him out to secretly dispose of him. Up 7-2, would Watanabe be able to pitch long enough to – no. Bottom 5th, the Knights just kept hitting and with a 4-run lead they had the bases loaded and one out, with the left-handed Jose Morales and Jesus Garcia coming up. And Watanabe was yanked. Williams came in, Morales hit a sac fly, and then Ingall threw away Garcia’s grounder to give the Knights a total of four runs in the inning and bring the score to 7-6. The next few innings were tense with neither team getting a leg up, although the Raccoons got runners onto the corners in the eighth before Sharp popped out to end the threat. Moreno and Casas pitched the bottom 8th, before the Coons suddenly erupted in the top 9th and dug that Knights pen a shallow grave. Martin hit a 2-piece, Rosa drove in a pair with a huge double, and with two outs Casas then even drove in Rosa with a single in his first major league at-bat, which was a grander scheme to have him pitch for a save. The Knights never saw the light of day in the bottom 9th. 12-6 Raccoons. Guerin 2-5; Martin 3-5, HR, 4 RBI; Brady 2-5, 3B, RBI; Reece 2-4, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Rosa 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Rodriguez (PH) 1-1; Nordahl 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K; Casas 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, SV (1) and 1-1, RBI;

Whoah, hits! Runs! Extra-base hits! Extra-base runs!

What happened!?

Game 2
POR: 3B Sharp – CF King – SS Guerin – 1B Martin – 2B Ingall – RF Brady – LF Reece – C Rosa – P Brown
ATL: 2B J. Miller – C J. Lopez – CF J. Morales – LF R. Lopez – RF J. Garcia – SS Luján – 1B J. Gutierrez – 3B Verdon – P Howard

Nick Brown drove in the team’s first run with a 2-out single in the top 2nd, then commenced the bottom 2nd with a leadoff walk to Rodrigo Lopez before being taken well deep by Jorge Garcia. Another run scored for the Knights in the same dumb manner in the bottom 5th. Brown walked Tynan Howard, the pitcher by the way, who then scored on James Miller’s double that gigglingly bounced away from poor old Neil Reece in deep left. Neither pitcher received a decision in the end, for Al Martin’s 19th homer of the season tying the score at three in the top 6th. The Knights appeared to win it with Garcia’s second home run of the day, coming with two out in the bottom 8th off Dave Williams, but the Coons re-tied the score off closer Manuel Reyes with pinch-hits in the ninth. Rodriguez doubled, Sheehan hit an RBI single, and no outs with the go-ahead run on first. Sharp walked, got forced on Guerin’s 1-out grounder, but Martin came through with a single up the middle to score Sheehan. We even got Concie to score on an Ingall Single, before Marcos Bruno got the ball, walked Juan Gutierrez on four straight, and allowed a Nick Verdon single that put the tying runs on the corners with no outs. The Knights would not manage more than a sac fly though, and a hard grounder to first by Alejandro Rodriguez was converted into the final out by Ingall, moved their when Sheehan remained in the game for defense. 6-5 Coons. Guerin 2-5; Martin 2-5, HR, 3 RBI; Ingall 3-5, 2B, RBI; Rodriguez (PH) 1-1, 2B; Sheehan (PH) 1-1, RBI;

Brownie would have needed nine whiffs in this game to reach 200 K while we’re still in August, but he only managed to fan seven over as many innings and remained stuck at 198 strikeouts for the season. Still more than Kisho Saito, whom we still all love dearly, but who never showed much emotion of any kind towards us, managed in a full season – ever. *

The roster expansion came upon us before game 3. The Raccoons added a number of players, with Chris Beairsto, Darwin Tyler, and Gary Fifield lengthening the bench (no Fifield has not gone away, and probably never will). Ed Bryan and Kaz Kichida expand the bullpen. We might add more arms when the AAA season ends.

Bryan, 23, was our fourth round pick in the 1999 draft. There hasn’t been much music around him all those years. He sports a curve, but the fastball is not overly dominating, clocking in at 92mph.

Game 3
POR: 3B Sharp – SS Guerin – 2B Ingall – 1B Martin – LF Reece – CF King – RF M. Ramirez – C Rosa – P Farley
ATL: RF R. Lopez – SS Luján – LF J. Morales – 3B J. Garcia – C J. Lopez – 2B J. Miller – 1B Younger – CF F. Rivera – P Cutts

After Sharp got drilled to start the game, Guerin hit a double to extend his hitting streak to 16 consecutive games. Both runners scored on an Ingall groundout and a Reece single, and the Coons were up 2-0 early. Mr. Singles required double plays in both Knights innings to stay clean before the Coons threw a 4-spot on the scoreboard in the top 3rd. However, without James Miller throwing away Matt King’s grounder, the inning would have ended 3-0. But since his throw went well past debutee Kenneth Younger at first base, Guerin and Ingall were able to score from third and second base, respectively, and King came home on a Ramirez double. After getting help with double plays early, Farley faced the minimum through four innings, and the Knights not only didn’t touch him, they also didn’t tire him. Through six, he had thrown *52* pitches! The Knights took until the eighth inning until a Younger double and a wild pitch got a runner to third base for them, and then they were limited to a foul pop and a lazy fly right to Reece. Bottom 9th, Farley entered on 83 pitches. He struck out Rodrigo Lopez before Antonio Luján and Ricco Ghiberti singled and went onto the corners. Jorge Garcia broke up the shutout with a single up the middle, and things got rapidly out of hand. Martinez appeared, but offered no relief with a Jorge Lopez double and James Miller single plating three runs. Bruno came in, walked the bases full, struck out Jesus Maldonado, before Rodrigo Lopez came up again. Bruno walked him on four straight, and got yanked. We sent for Angel Casas to face Antonio Luján with the tying run at third base, the winning run at second base, and some extra dressing at first. Luján put a full count pitch into play, past Sharp, rolling merrily over the leftfield turf. 7-6 Knights. Sharp 2-4; Guerin 3-5, 2B; Reece 2-4, 2B, RBI; Ramirez 3-4, 2 2B, RBI; Farley 8.1 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 7 K;

Let me just say that I needed a good, long walk in the cold, dark night after this one.

Raccoons (63-70) @ Titans (97-36) – September 2-5, 2004

I think we can keep the introduction short and just say that the Raccoons, who even if they send their closer and their assumed future closer, can’t keep a 6-run lead safe with two outs to collect, and as such the Titans will have a piece of cake kind of a weekend and easily reach 100 wins on the season.

Projected matchups:
Ralph Ford (7-15, 4.20 ERA) vs. Francisco Garza (15-3, 3.71 ERA)
Fernando Piquero (0-0, 5.25 ERA) vs. Joe Mann (12-4, 3.20 ERA)
Kenichi Watanabe (0-1, 5.65 ERA) vs. Jason O’Halloran (17-4, 3.15 ERA)
Nick Brown (16-6, 3.07 ERA) vs. Jorge Chapa (19-5, 1.70 ERA)

Swell.

Game 1
POR: 3B Sharp – SS Guerin – RF Brady – 1B Martin – CF Beairsto – 2B Ingall – LF J. Rodriguez – C Fifield – P Ford
BOS: SS D. Silva – 1B M. Austin – RF G. Munoz – CF Greenman – C L. Lopez – 2B Matsumoto – LF Garrison – 3B V. Flores – P F. Garza

Ralph Ford was beaten as early as the second inning. After Greenman doubled to start the inning, Luis Lopez’ grounder was thrown into the seats by Danny Sharp and the Titans had their first run. They would add two more with a Matsumoto double and Garrison single, then a Vic Flores sac fly. It would be a short and wholly unpleasant outing for Ford, who got harrowed for six runs on nine hits in 3.2 innings, striking out nobody at all, and was handed his 16th loss of the season in pretty definite fashion. Ed Bryan made his major league debut later in the demolition, facing Daniel Silva as his first opponent and got him to ground out to second base to end the sixth inning. In the seventh he walked Mark Austin, allowed a single to Gonzalo Munoz, was removed, then saw Lawrence Rockburn balk and allow a run to score to hand him a nifty 27.00 ERA. Kaz Kichida also made his season debut late in the game, and also was charged a run. The Raccoons had one single by Brady through seven frames, got a bit more off the tiring Garza late, but never mounted the slightest threat. 8-0 Titans. Brady 2-3, BB; Reece (PH) 1-1; Huerta 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

… and we got off easy.

The Titans clinched the division with this cruise control win, the Crusaders being eliminated as the final CL North team on their off day. It is their seventh playoff appearance, all in the last eight years, and their fourth consecutive. They were champions in 1998, 2001, and 2002.

Shoddy weather then preempted Friday’s contest, with a double header scheduled for Saturday.

Game 2
POR: 3B Sharp – SS Guerin – 2B Ingall – 1B Martin – LF Reece – CF King – RF M. Ramirez – C Thomas – P Piquero
BOS: SS D. Silva – 1B M. Austin – RF G. Munoz – CF Greenman – C L. Lopez – LF Garrison – 3B Matsumoto – 2B V. Flores – P O’Halloran

The Coons got Guerin and Ingall on base in the first against the stud lefty O’Halloran, but didn’t score, and Piquero was handed his first two runs of damage in the bottom 1st rather quickly, to get 18 innings of pain on this Saturday under way. Somehow, Piquero managed to not get eaten while allowing ten hits and three walks over 5.2 innings. Like Ford on Thursday, he didn’t get a single strikeout. He left with two runners on base and Munoz batting. Dave Williams came out and struck out the left-hander to keep them stranded. At that point, the Raccoons were nominally still in the game with a 3-1 score. After hitting into double plays in the third and fourth innings, Neil Reece hit an RBI double in the top 6th before Matt King left him and Ingall stranded in scoring position. Another run was chipped off in the seventh with a 2-out RBI double by Sharp, as O’Halloran did not have his very best day. Nordahl in the seventh and Huerta, who struck out the side, in the eighth kept the Titans pinned, but it wasn’t enough. Ramiro Román nailed the Coons down in the ninth, and they were handed their third straight loss and the first of assumed two on this Saturday. 3-2 Titans. Guerin 2-4; Ingall 2-4; Reece 2-3, BB, 2B, RBI; Beairsto (PH) 1-1;

I don’t need to check, because nothing like that has ever happened for sure, but if Kenichi Watanabe does not strike out a batter in the latter game, it will be THREE straight games without a K from the starting pitcher, and that is perhaps the pure definition of shame.

And then – a twist: the rains that had cancelled Friday’s game returned to cancel its makeup date as well. The skies opened an hour after Ramiro Román retired Danny Sharp to end the second game of the series, and another makeup date was created with a double header now on *Sunday*. Like we NEED this game to be played…

Game 3
POR: 3B Sharp – SS Guerin – 2B Ingall – 1B Martin – LF Reece – CF King – RF M. Ramirez – C Rosa – P Watanabe
BOS: SS D. Silva – 1B M. Austin – RF G. Munoz – CF Greenman – C L. Lopez – LF Garrison – 3B Matsumoto – 2B H. Ramirez – P Chapa

The Coons stunned the assembled fan base by doing some major damage to Jorge Chapa’s ERA in the first inning when Concie singled, stole his 23rd base of the year, then scored on Martin’s single. Reece walked, and then King hit a triple into the dark corner in right field, to get the score to 3-0. Watanabe ended the evil curse by striking out Christian Greenman to end the first inning with a man stranded. The Coons loaded them up in the third inning on a true single by Ingall and two infield singles by Martin and King, but couldn’t get anybody to score when Ramirez popped out, but we did get a run in the fourth, Sharp plating Freddy Rosa with a sac fly. The same inning, Neil Reece’s bid for 2,000 hits came to a definitive conclusion, as he made hard contact with the ground to snag a Hector Ramirez line drive and suffered a separated shoulder. Darwin Tyler replaced him in the field, but he will never replace him in our hearts. Only mildly less crushing than Reece’s day was Chapa’s. The ace was romped for six runs through 4.2 innings before the Titans had him issue a bases-loading intentional walk with two out to Rosa. Nathan Harrison came in to retire Watanabe, balked, and hung a seventh run on Chapa’s ledger. So, half a game away, 7-0 Coons. Watanabe faced Harrison to start the bottom 5th, and the reliever singled to signal to all Coons fans (all four of them that were left) that this was not over, but the Titans didn’t score either in this or the next inning. Top 7th, Matt King came to the plate. With one long ball in 581 career AB, he lacked the homer for the cycle at this point, but hit into a force on Martin at second base, Watanabe was removed with one out in the bottom 7th after walking Ramirez and approaching 100 pitches. King came up once more in the ninth, still 7-0, no outs, runners on the corners against lefty Ramón Martinez, and while he singled to score Martin, it left him three bases short of the cycle. Moreno, Casas, and Kichida provided scoreless relief for the Coons en route to a surprise rout. 9-0 Coons. Martin 5-5, 2B, RBI; Tyler 2-3; King 4-5, 3B, 2B, 4 RBI;

So Martin had a 5-hit appearance, and didn’t get any more opportunities, but overall his power production is very disappointing. Although you could say that his whole season was disappointing. Any season for any Raccoon since 1997 has been disappointing, to stay polite.

Game 4
POR: 3B Sharp – SS Guerin – RF Brady – 1B Martin – CF Beairsto – LF Tyler – 2B Sheehan – C Thomas – P Brown
BOS: SS D. Silva – 1B M. Austin – RF G. Munoz – CF Greenman – 2B Matsumoto – LF Garrison – C Bader – 3B V. Flores – P Mann

Joe Mann had to wait two extra days to make this start and retired the first seven Raccoons that came up before Thomas doubled in the third, but he kept the zero up through three, holding a 1-0 lead, the run being scored by the obnoxious Daniel Silva in the first inning. Brown lacked his good stuff and didn’t notch his 200th strikeout until the bottom 4th when he whiffed Corey Bader – and he had come in with 198. But by then, the Coons were up 2-1! Guerin and Brady had hit singles in the top 4th, then had executed a double steal. Martin and Beairsto fed grounders to the middle infielders, allowing both runners to score. A cocky Brown then singled and stole a base in the top 5th, but was stranded by Sharp, and almost had the cockiness beaten out of him in the bottom 5th in the most Raccoonish way possible. Darwin Tyler dropped Mark Austin’s soft fly to left, and then Brown drilled Munoz. Greenman hit into a double play, though. He still got beaten up by unravelling in the bottom 6th. With a man on third base and two outs, Flores was walked intentionally to face Joe Mann, who tied the game with a single to left. Brown then walked Silva and Austin to give the Titans the go-ahead run before angrily striking out Munoz, but the damage was done. Another run was scored on Dave Williams, while the Raccoons just couldn’t beat Mann again, but managed a shabby rally attempt in the ninth on Ramiro Román. Rosa hit a single with two out, before Miguel Ramirez reached on an error by Matsumoto, who had earlier been the victim of Dan Nordahl’s 100th K this season. Matt King, penultimate bat off the bench, hit for Marcos Bruno, and singled to left to load them up for Sharp, who struck out. 4-2 Titans. Brady 2-4; Rosa (PH) 1-1, Thomas 2-3; King (PH) 1-1;

In other news

August 30 – IND C Jose Paraz (.288, 20 HR, 67 RBI) becomes the first Indians player to hit for the CYCLE, smacking four hits total in an 11-5 triumph of the Indians over the Thunder. He drives in six, including a grand slam off Aaron Anderson. Paraz is the 36th player to hit for a cycle in ABL history and the fourth this season after TOP Jerry Henry, BOS Christian Greenman, and DAL Artie Barnes.
September 5 – The Indians have been using outfielder Claudio Rey (.272, 7 HR, 41 RBI) at the bottom of their lineup for the whole season, when he played at all, but they might rethink that stance now. Rey jacks three dingers during Sunday’s 6-3 win over the Loggers, plating four runs. It is the 14th time in ABL history that a player smacks three home runs in one contest, and the third time for an Indian to do it after Victor Cornett in 1991, and Ron Alston last season. The Loggers are triple-thundered for the second time, after the Raccoons’ Ben Simon hit three off them in 1977. In the same game, Indy’s SP Doug Morrow (13-10, 3.68 ERA) claims his 200th career victory. The 1986 first-rounder is 200-185 with a 3.89 ERA for his career and has come back to form after losing *25* games for the 2002 Rebels.

Complaints and stuff

Yoshi Nomura was NOT called up. We want him to make a bid for ROTY next year at age 21. For this, he must at most accumulate two more weeks of service time. Unless I am a total idiot. He has a .408 OBP in AAA for what it is worth. If he could RUN, he would be the perfect leadoff man! But he can’t. Not a lick.

Neil Reece was disabled on Sunday night, and he might come back at the very end of the season, but I doubt he will hit the 24 knocks required to reach 2,000 in a week or so…

Like everything in Portland, that one fell off the table and broke.

Kinda like that Jeremiah Carrell bobblehead that has been re-glued over and over over the years. And since we have had Chad around, it’s been really hard to find any glue when necessary…

If nobody throws a no-hitter in the ABL until Thursday, it will be three full years since the last no-no, which was then Henry Selph’s second no-hitter, for the Bayhawks against the Aces. There was one longer drought in ABL history though. The record stands at three years, eight months, and 17 days, for the time between the no-hitters thrown by MIL Bill Warren and LAP Bob “Butcher” Haines in the early 80s. But there have been six cycles in the last two seasons, and overall cycles have happened 50% more often than no-hitters in the league.

*The season strikeout mark has been often cited as being held by Kisho with 193. That was actually not his best mark in his career. He struck out 196 in 1983 as a 22-year old sophomore with the Elks. Still not enough to beat out Brownie through August.

[xepicx2729]

Sorry about that, though Nixon is truthfully hard to forget. Hey, at least you're besting the Canadiens (by a game cause that's just how the Coons do the Coons). Y'know, one thing I never want to see is a Loggers championship because the Loggers suck. Badly. But woohoo for Nick Brown racking up them strikeouts. After that last game against the Knights, I think I would've joined you on that walk. But hey, the Coons had a runaway game. Rare, but intriguing how a team can give up 9 runs to the Coons. (no offense, I mean, not like I like Salem or anything....) Nah but I'm awaiting more Coons championships!

[Westheim]

Yeah, we're still chewing on that .500 thing. Maybe next year? Or maybe not.

And for every 9-0 against the best team in baseball, you blow a 6-0 lead in the ninth. It's one of those unwritten rules of the game. The Titans are just otherworldly, and they also manage to keep enough of their free agents. The Loggers did, too, with their batters, but their pitching fell apart completely.

No clue how long the Titans will hold on to that division with that death grip of theirs. But the Coons won six out of eight years 1989-96, so it's not something all new in the North...

Also, we have a terribly oppressive heat wave here, temps up to 95-100°F. I use to go outside with a T-shirt when it's 50°F, so this is not my kind of weather, and I spent much of the weekend lying on my bed and helplessly flapping my arms, and it's just too damn hot to get aggravated over fictional baseball. And yes, I still gotta work for a slave's pay again tomorrow. Looks like this will last through Wednesday before the heat and suffering can ease a bit. More from the Coons then, because ... I'm all warm and sticky, and I just can't ......

[xepicx2729]

i'll bet you'll be .500 before the loggers win a championship.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (64-73) vs. Crusaders (69-67) – September 7-9, 2004

We face the Crusaders with the season series tied at 6-6 after the Coons took it each of the last two years. They were just over .500, yet already eliminated from playoff contention by the stomping Titans, their average run production and just-above-average pitching not enough to make even a fake challenge at the top.

Projected matchups:
Randy Farley (7-11, 4.74 ERA) vs. Russell Benson (7-11, 3.94 ERA)
Ralph Ford (7-16, 4.38 ERA) vs. Whit Reeves (12-11, 4.41 ERA)
Fernando Piquero (0-1, 5.09 ERA) vs. Greg Connor (14-13, 3.47 ERA)

Game 1
NYC: SS Rice – 1B Carroll – LF Gonzales – RF S. Martin – CF Javier – 3B A. De Jesus – C R. Rivera – 2B Moultrie – P Benson
POR: 3B Sharp – SS Guerin – RF Brady – 1B A. Martin – 2B Ingall – CF Beairsto – LF J. Rodriguez – C Rosa – P Farley

The Crusaders’ offense consisted of a leadoff single by Paco Javier in the fifth. Javier instantly set out and stole his 28th base of the season, then scored on an Alfredo De Jesus single. Farley did not surrender any more. Unfortunately, seven innings of 1-run ball were not enough to even maintain an even keel, since the Raccoons’ offense was not exactly fruit-bearing. It consisted of Guerin on second, two outs, and Martin at the plate in both the first and third innings, and Martin struck out twice. They also had Guerin and Brady on with one out, Martin being **** again, and Ingall grounding out to second. In the ninth, with pushover Charlie Deacon pitching, Beairsto led off with a single, and Rodriguez was drilled. Freddy Rosa pin-pointedly grounded into a double play and Matt King let Beairsto die horribly at third base. 1-0 Crusaders. Guerin 3-4; Beairsto 2-3, BB; Farley 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 4 K, L (7-12) and 1-2;

Words fail to describe the agony. You’d need to see into my eyes. You can see down really deep through them, right into the bottom of my pitch-black, tortured soul.

Game 2
NYC: SS Rice – 3B A. De Jesus – LF Gonzales – RF S. Martin – C D. Anderson – 1B R. Rivera – CF Javier – 2B Moultrie – P Reeves
POR: SS Guerin – CF King – 3B M. Ramirez – 1B A. Martin – 2B Ingall – RF Beairsto – LF Tyler – C Rosa – P Ford

More good starting pitching went to waste in the middle game when Ralph Ford pitched seven innings of 2-run ball, being defeated by Gary Rice for a solo homer, and with an RBI double by Stanton Martin tying the score for the second time in the sixth inning. That 2-2 tie persisted through seven innings, with the only spark in brown being Concie, who scored in the first, and led off with a triple in the fifth and scored again on a King groundout. Dave Carroll’s pinch-hit leadoff double beat Nordahl and Tyler in the top 8th, and Carroll eventually came in to score for a 3-2 lead for the visitors. Bottom 8th, the Crusaders pen put Ramirez and Ingall on base. Beairsto popped out, with Sharp batting in place of Tyler vs. lefty Ignacio Garica, but the Crusaders went to righty Mario Perez, who walked Sharp nevertheless. Jorge Rodriguez hit for Rosa, and sent a fly into right center that eluded Greg Andrews and fell in for a bases-clearing double! Fifield grounded out in place of Nordahl, but Marcos Bruno held on to this lead just fine. 5-3 Coons. Ramirez 1-2, 2 BB, 2B; Rodriguez (PH) 1-1, 2B, 3 RBI; Brady (PH) 1-1; Ford 7.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 9 K;

Concie stole his 26th bag in this game, which has him third in the CL. Javier has 28 and it would be nice to keep him off the bags. Tijuana’s Arthur Simon has 29 bases nipped this year. The ABL lead is far away, though, with SFW Earl Clark having stolen 36 bases.

Game 3
NYC: SS Rice – 1B Carroll – LF Gonzales – RF S. Martin – CF Javier – C D. Anderson – 3B A. De Jesus – 2B Moultrie – P Connor
POR: SS Guerin – CF King – 3B M. Ramirez – 1B A. Martin – 2B Ingall – RF Beairsto – LF Tyler – C Thomas – P Piquero

Piquero left with an injury after just three batters, leaving Ricardo Huerta in a long relief role for this contest. Huerta pitched through four wonderfully, then stumbled in the fifth, and had to be rescued by Martinez, but one run scored. That was half the Coons lead, which had been achieved in the first inning when the first three Raccoons all reached base before Greg Connor could find his mojo. Bases loaded, no outs, they quickly stumbled, but at least had Martin and Ingall make run-scoring outs. So it was 2-1 through five, and we assigned Angel Casas to that flimsy lead. He struck out the first five Crusaders he faced before Daryl Anderson managed to rip a double to center. With lefty Ape Britton hitting in place of De Jesus, we went to Moreno, who couldn’t make a play on Britton’s grounder and it became an infield single. Next man up, Nordahl, facing Todd Moultrie, and he struck him out to end the inning. We were by now out of the good relievers and had to make do with Rockburn in the eighth, which didn’t end well. Two in scoring position with two outs, Bruno was called on in the same inning to get out Stanton Martin. Bruno came through with a K! For the Coons, two and a half offensively futile hours ended at the last moment when Albert Martin hit his 20th dinger with two out in the bottom 8th, a solo job of course. And that run came up big in the ninth, when Bruno started out by walking Paco Javier, who promptly stole #29 off hapless Mark Thomas. Ricardo Rivera struck out, before Derek Burne walked. Moultrie struck out and Rex O’Riordan was down 1-2, then glanced a single to right that allowed the speedy Javier to score, 3-2. Gary Rice would ground out to short. 3-2 Coons. King 2-4, 2 2B; Huerta 3.2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, W (6-2) and 1-1; Casas 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K;

Raccoons (66-74) @ Loggers (69-71) – September 10-12, 2004

Last matchup with the Loggers, who lead the season series 8-7. Their second-best offense could not longer keep pace with the horrendous pitching however, and the Loggers thus had dropped below .500. But hey, Coons comin’ to town, everything will be fine.

Projected matchups:
Kenichi Watanabe (1-1, 3.92 ERA) vs. Dani Alvarado (12-12, 4.10 ERA)
Nick Brown (16-7, 3.11 ERA) vs. William Lloyd (7-5, 4.44 ERA)
Randy Farley (7-12, 4.59 ERA) vs. Armando Gomez (7-9, 5.85 ERA)

Two lefties will end this week. I think about sitting Martin for both games. Apart from the stray homer on Thursday he hasn’t gotten anything meaningful done in … months?

Game 1
POR: SS Guerin – 3B Sharp – 2B Ingall – 1B Martin – RF Brady – CF King – LF J. Rodriguez – C Fifield – P Watanabe
MIL: 2B B. Hernandez – CF Fletcher – LF Hiwalani – 1B M. Woods – RF C. Ramirez – SS T. Johnson – 3B M. Brown – C Melendez – P Alvarado

The Coons got donated two runs early when Bakile Hiwalani made not one, but two misplays, one each in the second and third, to aid them in their quest for more doubles. The baseball gods cried a river over it, forcing a delay of almost an hour in the middle of the third inning, which didn’t bode well for the starters. The Loggers got an unearned run after a Matt King error (who was certainly making many of those) in the bottom 3rd, getting back to 2-1. Watanabe almost got blown out in the bottom 5th after Alvarado hit an infield single – shame on Sharp – and this quickly transpired into two on, two out, Hiwalani up, but Guerin made a strong grab on his rocketing grounder and the inning ended with the Coons still up by one. Watanabe didn’t go any further after the long delay earlier. Top 7th, Sharp doubled home Guerin for an extra run, but Guerin threw it away again – literally – in the bottom 7th. His error and Rockburn pitching didn’t combine well, the Loggers scored Bartolo Hernandez to get back within one counter, and then fabulously had Jerry Fletcher thrown out trying to steal second base, which ended the inning. This was how we arrived in the ninth, with a 3-2 score. Bruno was not available today, and the closest thing to a closer – perhaps – was Manuel Martinez. J.J. Villa drew a leadoff walk, but Martinez was able to retire the next three Loggers – or at least gave his defense chances to do so. 3-2 Raccoons. Guerin 2-5, 2B, RBI; Sharp 3-5, 2 2B, RBI; Ingall 2-4, 2B; Martin 2-4, 2B; Watanabe 5.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, W (2-1);

After this game, Fernando Piquero was placed on the disabled list, after being diagnosed with a strained hamstring. He is done for the season, obviously. Felipe Garcia will be recalled and slotted into Piquero’s spot in the rotation to re-appear next week.

Game 2
POR: SS Guerin – 1B Sharp – 2B Ingall – RF M. Ramirez – LF Beairsto – CF King – C Rosa – 3B Sheehan – P N. Brown
MIL: 2B B. Hernandez – CF Fletcher – LF Hiwalani – 1B M. Woods – RF C. Ramirez – SS T. Johnson – 3B M. Brown – C Melendez – P Lloyd

If Brownie wants 20 wins, he’s gotta start going today!

The Loggers had two singles in the first inning to put them on the corners with one out, but then Hiwalani was thrown out stealing and Mac Woods grounded out to Ingall to keep them from scoring. The first score in the game was not achieved until the fourth when Miguel Ramirez hit a solo home run before the Coons left runners on the corners, and then left a pair on scoring position in the next inning, which ended with a Ramirez strikeout. The Loggers did the same in the bottom 5th after Lloyd hit a 2-out double, but Hernandez struck out in a full count. Nick Brown’s bane on the day were those full counts and he was at 98 pitches after six, but managed to get in a seventh shutout inning, starving Tom Johnson at third base in the process when the Loggers did not hit for Lloyd with two outs. The Coons then loaded them up on three singles by Ingall, Ramirez, and King in the top 8th, with Lloyd still pitching. Freddy Rosa turned out to be his last batter. The catcher drilled high shot to right which looked like a slam in the first second, but dinked onto the warning track and plated a pair instead. Righty Gabriel Garcia struck out Sheehan then, and Brady grounded out to Woods when he hit for Brownie. So, up 3-0, we went to Nordahl, and Hernandez singled, and Hiwalani homered. Homered predictably, to be precise. Angel Casas had been thought of for the ninth inning, but now had to come in earlier, and retired Woods and Ramirez to at least end the eighth. Bruno had had difficult outings on Wednesday and Thursday, and so for the moment we stayed with Casas once Garcia had mowed down our 1-2-3 batters 1-2-3 in the top 9th. Casas got one, two, three pinch-hitters, and went 1-2-3, too. 3-2 Coons. Ramirez 2-4, HR, RBI; King 3-4, 2B; Rosa 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Brown 7.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 9 K, W (17-7); Casas 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, SV (2);

Y’know, boys. Luck at some point is gonna run out. At that point, you lot will run out of fur, I can tell you that.

Game 3
POR: SS Guerin – 3B Sharp – 2B Ingall – RF M. Ramirez – 1B Martin – CF King – C Rosa – LF Beairsto – P Farley
MIL: 2B B. Hernandez – CF Fletcher – LF Hiwalani – 1B M. Woods – RF C. Ramirez – SS T. Johnson – 3B M. Brown – C Benitez – P A. Gomez

Farley was chopped to pieces very early. He had nothing. No stuff, no control, no composure. In just two innings, he allowed three singles, hence the nickname Mr. Singles, three walks, and threw two wild pitches to fall behind 3-0 to the Loggers. The Coons didn’t get going until the fifth, and then it was Beairsto with a bloop single, Farley bunting him over, and Guerin with another bloop to score Beairsto. Farley only went five innings, and before long, the sixth came around the corner and the Raccoons suffered a fantastic bullpen explosion. Williams couldn’t get people out, Huerta couldn’t get people out, and when Hiwalani hit a 3-piece off Kaz Kichida, it was already a 6-run inning. The terrible road team was soundly clobbered, and a season series split was successfully achieved. The useless Armando Gomez, with his ERA close to six, spun a complete game against the Raccoons, allowing eight hits and whiffing seven. 9-2 Loggers. Beairsto 2-4;



In other news

September 6 – 38-year old veteran 2B/SS Jim Stein (.277, 3 HR, 21 RBI) finds himself dumped by the Condors onto the Indians in exchange for two marginal A level players.
September 11 – TOP SP Jack Berry (1-1, 2.30 ERA) spins a 3-hit shutout in his second career start, blanking the Miners in a 2-0 Buffaloes win.
September 12 – CIN INF Bob Butler (.217, 5 HR, 49 RBI) has torn an anterior cruciate ligament and might not even be ready for the start of next season.

Complaints and stuff

Chris Roberson had his second 5-hit game for the Buffaloes this week, and he’s still batting only .244 …

Will Jack Berry ring a bell? We threw him away in the Roberson trade for Pablo Ledesma. And that trade went so well. However, in his first major league start, before the shutout on Saturday, he got romped for two homers. He allowed 48 home runs between AA and AAA last year, and 35 in AAA this year. He struck out 485 batters total in those two seasons.

Maybe it was not an uber-smart trade, but it was good to get rid of him somehow. That power proneness would have been outright nasty in Raccoons Ballpark.

We have not won the season series against Milwaukee in eight years.

Eight years, eight years. That rings familiar…..

[pjh5165]

Angel Casas looks like the real deal. I hope saying that doesnt jinx him.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (68-75) vs. Titans (105-38) – September 14-16, 2004

With a sweep, the Titans will be able to make it four straight seasons of winning 14 or more games against the sorry Raccoons. This might be the best team of all times. It would be disrespectful to try and pick out the slightest weakness.

Projected matchups:
Ralph Ford (7-16, 4.31 ERA) vs. Jason O’Halloran (18-4, 3.01 ERA)
Felipe Garcia (5-11, 5.17 ERA) vs. Jorge Chapa (20-6, 1.95 ERA)
Kenichi Watanabe (2-1, 3.51 ERA) vs. Bryce Hildred (17-6, 3.49 ERA)

We might face more left-handers than right-handers this week, and O’Halloran and Chapa will make the start. Comparing our pitching to them seems like a moot point, since Ford and Garcia might as well be a different species of beasts compared to O’Halloran and Chapa.

Game 1
BOS: 3B V. Flores – 1B Matsumoto – RF G. Munoz – C L. Lopez – 2B M. Austin – CF Garrison – LF Greenman – SS D. Silva – P O’Halloran
POR: SS Guerin – 3B Sharp – 2B Ingall – RF M. Ramirez – 1B Martin – CF King – LF Beairsto – C Thomas – P Ford

Everything you needed to see for definite proof that Ralph Ford was heading for his 17th loss of the season were the first four batters of the game. They all reached base safely, three hits and a walk, and three runs scored in the inning. The Raccoons had Concie thrown out at the plate in the bottom 1st. Ford walked four over six innings, allowing one more run on a Gonzalo Munoz long ball in the fifth, before leaving on a 4-0 hook. The bottom of the sixth saw the Raccoons load the bases against O’Halloran, who at that point had not struck out anybody, but Ramirez popped to short right and Martin grounded out to second to end the inning. It was the final spasm the Coons had, deeply asleep. O’Halloran collected two strikeouts from Beairsto and Sharp down the road, and in the end fell one out short of a shutout when Matt King defied retirement with an infield single with two out in the bottom 9th, joining Ingall on base, who had walked. Ramiro Román came in, got Beairsto, and the Coons had played another sad, sad game. 4-0 Titans. Ingall 2-2, 2 BB; King 2-4; Rosa (PH) 1-1; Moreno 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K;

What a wonderful game. We actually out-hit them, seven to six, and they had only three strikeouts, while Ford and the pen whiffed ten. And yet, defeat, again.

Game 2
BOS: LF Elizondo – 3B Matsumoto – 1B M. Austin – RF G. Munoz – C L. Lopez – CF Garrison – SS V. Flores – 2B D. Silva – P Chapa
POR: SS Guerin – 1B Sharp – 2B Ingall – 3B M. Ramirez – CF King – RF Brady – C Rosa – LF Tyler – P F. Garcia

After five innings in an offensively poor game, both teams had two hits apiece, and one of each had come off the bat of the pitcher. The Coons other hit had provided the only run of the game, a Miguel Ramirez home run in the bottom 2nd. Vicente Elizondo hit a 1-out single in the top 6th, advanced on a wild pitch, but Mark Austin struck out to end the inning. Bottom 6th, Ingall Single, a walk to Ramirez, and then? Double play, groundout. The next inning, the Raccoons had Rosa at second base with one out, and Garcia up. Garcia laid down a wonderful bunt the Titans failed to recover in any way, and the Coons had runners on the corners as Garcia was safe! At that very second, the ground gave way under Chapa. The mound opened up and swallowed him as he allowed doubles to Guerin and Sharp, and singles to Ingall (under cursehead Silva’s glove) and Ramirez, ramping the score to 6-0 before he was removed. Nathan Harrison came in and subdued the Coons with K’s to King and Brady, but the damage was done. There was no damage done to Garcia whatsoever in this game. The Titans couldn’t solve his dime-a-dozen stuff for nine innings. 6-0 Raccoons. Ingall 2-4; Ramirez 2-3, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Garcia 9.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K, W (6-11) and 2-3;

And just like that, Garcia casually spun his second career shutout in a game that should have been Piquero’s.

Baseball. It’s fascinating. And rarely ever boring.

Game 3
BOS: LF Elizondo – 3B Matsumoto – 1B M. Austin – RF G. Munoz – C L. Lopez – CF Garrison – SS V. Flores – 2B D. Silva – P Hildred
POR: SS Guerin – LF J. Rodriguez – 3B M. Ramirez – 1B Martin – 2B Ingall – RF Brady – CF Beairsto – C Rosa – P Watanabe

Watanabe allowed a run in the top 2nd, but the bottom of the frame brought a quick reversal of fortunes, with Ingall and Brady reaching base to start the inning, and then Beairsto got a fat one and hit it about a mile, far out of center for a 3-1 score for the home team. Watanabe, whose stuff was still in Japan and who struggled to strike out anybody’s grandma, about consistently had a runner on base to worry about, but the Titans couldn’t cash in for a long time, while Clyde Brady hit a solo shot in the bottom 6th to enlarge the advantage to three runs. Watanabe survived seven, but Moreno started the eighth with left-handers due up first. He walked Austin, then allowed a single to Munoz. Luis Lopez hit into a double play, but the Titans managed a run off Moreno to get back to 4-2, and Nordahl had to end the inning with a K to Vic Flores. The Coons amounted to squid in the bottom 8th against Risto Mäkelä, and the ninth was Bruno’s. He retired Silva and David Brewer before Elizondo singled. Matsumoto, however, grounded back to the mound, and Bruno made the play to first with plenty of time. 4-2 Coons. Brady 2-3, HR, RBI; Beairsto 1-2, BB, HR, 3 RBI; Watanabe 7.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 1 K, W (3-1);

Clyde Brady hits home runs? That’s new, huh?

But heeey, we only lost a dozen to them this year! That’s the best season series vs. Boston in YEARS!!

Raccoons (70-76) vs. Falcons (74-72) – September 17-19, 2004

… and there comes the team with the SECOND-most runs in the league. We held the Titans to six runs, so the Falcons might be shut out at least twice on the weekend, right? Why exactly the Falcons were lumbering at .500 was a mystery. They had a +56 run differential, their rotation was solid, their bullpen was fantastic, and yet they weren’t winning games. Maybe we have a drilling coming for us. The season series is tied at three.

Projected matchups:
Nick Brown (17-7, 3.00 ERA) vs. Frank Pierre (14-12, 3.82 ERA)
Randy Farley (7-13, 4.61 ERA) vs. Tommy Wilson (5-17, 5.36 ERA)
Ralph Ford (7-17, 4.36 ERA) vs. Greg Grams (11-9, 4.08 ERA)

No, even split. Only Pierre is a left-hander.

Game 1
CHA: CF J. Ramirez – 2B Heffer – RF Burke – 1B H. Green – SS Vieitas – LF Estrada – C E. Durango – 3B Whaley – P Pierre
POR: SS Guerin – 1B Sharp – 2B Ingall – 3B M. Ramirez – CF King – LF Beairsto – C Rosa – RF J. Rodriguez – P Brown

The Coons stumbled quickly, with Beairsto and Guerin making errors in the top 2nd, with Beairsto’s costing an unearned run. There were three hits and three strikeouts, and no runs, in the top 3rd, as Brown ended the inning with the bags full, but there he was expending too many pitches we would rather turn into length rather than three men on base. Brownie bounced back to retire the Falcons in order in the fourth and fifth, and in the bottom 5th the Coons, who had been 1-hit so far, actually amounted to something vaguely resembling a scoring threat. Beairsto hit a 1-out double, and then Thomas followed that up with another double almost right into the same area in the gap in right center. That tied the game, but they couldn’t get Thomas home. In the bottom 6th it was Pedro Estrada to make a scary error when Ingall – with Sharp on first – hit a single to left that Estrada managed to get deflected off his glove for an error and an extra base for the runners, who were in scoring position with one out. Ramirez barely managed a sac fly that almost had a pumped up Estrada throw out Sharp at home, but the run scored, Brown was up by the slimmest of margins, and madly tore down the 7-8-9 batters with three K’s in the top 7th, 9-10-11 on the day for him. He got the dozen full with Jose Ramirez to start the eighth and finished that inning with soft groundouts by Dave Heffer and Jake Burke. But Brownie was at 112 pitches and we figured he might not have enough gas for the ninth, with the 4-5-6 guys up. We’d much rather see Angel Casas in the spot. The Falcons threw left-handed pinch-hitters Fernando Chavez and Jose Mendoza at him, but both grounded out to Ingall, which left up Estrada, who was due to wear the fool’s hat if he didn’t keep the game going. He lined a hard one to left, but right to Beairsto, and that game was over! 2-1 Brownies! Sharp 2-4, 2B; Ingall 2-4; Rodriguez 2-3; Brown 8.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 12 K, W (18-7);

Browniiiiiie!!

He DOES bring joy!

Game 2
CHA: LF J. Ramirez – 2B Heffer – C F. Chavez – RF Burke – 1B H. Green – SS Vieitas – CF J. Hudson – 3B Whaley – P T. Wilson
POR: SS Guerin – 3B Sharp – LF Beairsto – 1B Martin – CF King – 2B Ingall – RF Brady – C Rosa – P Farley

The Coons got two early, singled in by Ingall with the bases loaded in the bottom 1st. Brady would walk to reload them, but Rosa grounded out to keep it 2-0. Both Wilson and Farley proved to be incredibly porous with runs being scored in seven of the first ten half-innings, one by each team in the second and third innings, and the Falcons drew closer again in the fourth, to 4-3, with the Coons not having an immediate answer. Farley was lingering, somehow made it through the fifth, but needed some major support. He set up his own rally by drawing a 2-out walk off Wilson in the bottom 5th. Guerin got a hit, and then Sharp got a hit – a big one. 3-run homer for Danny, and the score bloomed to 7-3! In the bottom 6th we faced reliever Tom Brooks, a righty, who had a very short and very unhappy afternoon when Martin led off with a double off the wall, King singled, Ingall ripped one off the wall, and Brady ripped one to Idaho, 11-3! And the game became a laugher for good in the bottom 8th, when Brady hit another home run, as did Concie(!!), both off rookie reliever Jean-Christophe Fernandes. 14-3 Raccoons!!! Guerin 4-5, BB, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Sharp 3-6, HR, 4 RBI; Martin 2-6, 2 2B; Ingall 2-4, 3 RBI; Brady 3-4, BB, 2 HR, 3B, 4 RBI;

Brady missed the cycle by the double! Where was HE all year long? We could have needed his bat! Instead he was on the DL all year!

What do you mean he was not on the DL all year? Where HAS he been??

Game 3
CHA: LF J. Ramirez – 2B Heffer – 1B H. Green – C E. Durango – CF J. Hudson – RF Estrada – SS Starks – 3B Whaley – P Grams
POR: SS Guerin – 3B Sharp – LF Beairsto – 1B Martin – CF King – 2B Ingall – RF Brady – C Rosa – P Ford

After two scoreless frames to start with, and little action in them, Ford walked Leslie Starks and Matt Whaley to get the third inning started. The Falcons then saw Grams strike out on three foul bunts, before Ramirez lined out to Martin who tagged first to round up Whaley on a double play. Bottom 3rd, Ford led off with a single, and quickly the bases were loaded with no outs. Beairsto grounded so poorly to Grams that Ford was forced out at home, and Martin barely managed a sac fly to center. The Coons got another chance, perhaps undeserved, when King’s grounder to first was bobbled by Hubert Green and the bases reloaded on the error, but Ingall flew out and the score remained 1-0. Ford couldn’t hold onto that and when Starks hit a 1-out triple over Matt King in the top 5th, Whaley plated him with a sac fly soon enough. Ford allowed only three hits, but walked four, over seven innings, and didn’t get back into the lead. He was due up first in the bottom of the seventh and was hit for with Rodriguez, who hit a double to left, and never got moved past second base. After Williams retired Fernando Chavez to start the top 8th, Martinez put two men on base. Domingo Moreno eventually rescued him with a K to Durango and the game remained tied. Bruno was also almost tagged in the ninth, allowing a double to PH Steve Moore, and Whaley almost got a ball past Rodriguez, who had taken over in leftfield – almost. The Coons struck out in order in the bottom 9th for extra innings. Top 10th, Bruno still in, another double by Jake Burke. When Hubert Green grounded back to the mound with two outs, Bruno bobbled it, and didn’t throw, but Burke also hadn’t moved, and thus the Falcons were denied a score when Durango struck out, and the Falcons stranded another pair in the 11th vs. Nordahl. The Coons couldn’t do the least little thing, however, but when Ed Bryan pitched a scoreless top 12th, and Rodriguez hit his second leadoff double of the day in the bottom of that inning, the fans’ chants became pretty insisting. Concie fouled out, Sharp walked, and that was no improvement. Bryan was in Beairsto’s slot and was hit for by Ramirez, but Ramirez struck out. Martin maybe? He was hitless on the day, but at least he countered righty Luis Hernandez. First pitch, contact, AND IT GOES THROUGH INTO LEFT!! Rodriguez turning, coming home, THE THROW IS LATE!!! 2-1 COONS!! Sharp 2-5, BB, 2B; Fifield (PH) 1-1; Rodriguez (PH) 2-3, 2 2B; Ford 7.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 3 K; Bruno 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K;

In other news

September 13 – Under tears at the press conference, CHA OF Ralph Wilson announces his retirement. The 25-year old tore all ligaments in his ankle in April and since then has been heading form surgery to surgery and it has only ever gotten worse. Doctors are about to recommend amputation. Wilson was the Falcons’ 1997 first round pick and hit .298/.388/.403 with 14 HR and 203 RBI in 514 major league games.
September 14 – NAS SP Carlos Castro (11-13, 3.44 ERA) gets his 200th major league win as he puts up eight shutout frames, whiffing eight, in a 3-0 Blue Sox win over the Miners. Castro, who has just turned 32, debuted at 19 years old for the Falcons, who signed them out of the Dominican in 1990, and has been a rotation cornerstone ever since his 20th birthday. He is 200-142 with a 3.33 ERA for his career, with 2,737 strikeouts, and was the 2002 FL Pitcher of the Year.
September 15 – New York’s young SS/3B Gary Rice (.298, 3 HR, 60 RBI) might have to sit out two weeks with shoulder tendinitis.
September 17 – WAS SP Chris York (10-17, 4.02 ERA) 2-hits the Pacifics in a 5-0 shutout.
September 19 – OCT CL Jimmy Morey (2-6, 2.45 ERA, 13 SV) sits down the Titans in the ninth to seal a 4-2 Thunder win for his 300th career save.
September 19 – Nashville’s Carlos Castro (12-13, 3.31 ERA) spins back-to-back shutouts, holding the Wolves dry in a 5-0 game, allowing only five hits.

Complaints and stuff

What’s wrong with the Critters?
- What do you mean “What’s wrong”?
They have won nine of their last eleven!
- Are you really talking about the Coons?
I tell you! They won nine of their last eleven!
- Go home, you’re drunk.

Of those nine wins, five came with a run differential of one, two with an RD of two, one with an RD of five, and one with an RD of eleven. And now we are in that phase where the baseball gods try to sucker me into false hope with a few wins and try to get me all excited before the losshammer comes down again. I’m not falling for that. No more.

When Nick Brown struck out Frank Pierre to end the seventh inning, he broke his own record for strikeouts by a Raccoon in a single season. You’ll note he’s done that three years in a row now, upping Saito’s 193 mark to 212, 223, and now 225+ in succession.

And he still has two, maaaaybe three starts left. A 20-game winner would be so great for this franchise, but if he wins neither of the first two games, we won’t bother with having him pitch even more innings. He is at 208.2 already, and with three more starts might bowl through 230. His career high in innings pitched is 210.1 in 2002.

None of our minor league teams managed to win 60 games this year. Sucking badly for years is one thing, but not even having anything but relief pitchers on the farm gets your mood down…

In Aumsville, our 2004 sixth rounder, SP Eric Thrift, started 18 games. He didn’t win a single one. He lost all but three. His WHIP was 2.21, and his ERA was 9.40. His BABIP? .427!!! That actually amounted to 0.2 WAR, although I am at a loss imagining how somebody could have been worse than 0-15 with a 9.40 ERA. Even a kid in a wheelchair would have buckled up and won a game at some point…

[Questdog]

Best week in a while!

I can smell .500!....or is that just the hind-end of the Loggers in front of us?...

[Westheim]

Before heading into the season’s penultimate week, we issued two more call-ups following the end of the AAA season, adding right-hander Sergio Vega and 2B Yoshi Nomura, who went .336/.403/.487 with 6 HR and 39 RBI in 70 games in AAA this season. He was on the roster in mid-season already, hitting .256/.303/.317 with one dinger. He was held off so as to not exceed rookie limits this year. The bigger plan right now pencils him in as the 2B starter for his age 21 season – in Portland that is.

To put Vega on the 40-man roster, we moved Fernando Piquero to the 60-day DL.

Raccoons (73-76) vs. Bayhawks (73-76) – September 20-22, 2004

Eighth in offense, t-10th in avoiding runs with the worst rotation in the league (4.68 ERA), the Bayhawks weren’t particularly good at much. The Coons, winners of nine of their last eleven, were 4-2 against the Birds this season, which should work out to a season series win. It would be the first time for us to win the season series in consecutive years since we took it six years in a row from 1989 to 1994.

Projected matchups:
Felipe Garcia (6-11, 4.80 ERA) vs. Takeru Sato (12-11, 4.41 ERA)
Kenichi Watanabe (3-1, 3.03 ERA) vs. Raúl Fuentes (11-17, 4.10 ERA)
Nick Brown (18-7, 2.93 ERA) vs. Marc Padgett (14-10, 3.62 ERA)

The two left-handers up front this week do hinder showcasing Yoshi a bit, though…

Game 1
SFB: 2B J. Diaz – C J. Lopez – LF Bonneau – 1B I. Gutierrez – CF Black – RF Brulhart – 3B Foster – SS J. Barrón – P T. Sato
POR: SS Guerin – 3B Sharp – 2B M. Ramirez – 1B Martin – CF King – RF Brady – C Rosa – LF J. Rodriguez – P F. Garcia

Garcia exceeded the three hits he had allowed in the shutout that had started the Coons’ recent 5-game winning streak by the second inning, although the Bayhawks were a bit lucky with a few cheap chops falling in for singles. They scored a run in the third inning on a sac fly, while the Raccoons didn’t get a hit until the fifth, when Matt King lobbed a ball into shallow center. Next was Clyde Brady, who had recently rediscovered that batting yielded better results when you kept your eyes open while at it. Brady ripped, Brady drilled, Brady homered, and it was 2-1 Coons. Too bad that Yohan Bonneau and Iván Gutierrez both singled off Garcia to start the sixth, and while Luke Black hit into a double play, Bonneau scored and tied the game. Williams replaced Garcia in the top 7th, allowed a leadoff single to PH Joe Morton, but Manuel Martinez eventually stranded him at third base, but issued a leadoff walk in the top 8th to Jorge Lopez. That was the subtle sign to the rest of the bullpen to just go up in flames. Martinez, Moreno, and Nordahl ended up charged with four runs collectively, and that was an unrecoverable deficit for a team that had merely scraped out four hits since the start of the game.

Or was it? The Coons got a run in the eighth when Sharpie and Concie executed a beautiful hit-and-run that got Concie to third and allowed him to score on Ramirez’ inevitable double play grounder. In the bottom 9th then against closer Johnny Smith, Brady drew a 1-out walk and then Nomura singled to left. Yet, that was the high water mark. Rodriguez’ grounder got Nomura out at second, and Marv couldn’t get the ball in play at all and struck out. 6-3 Bayhawks. Sharp 2-4; Nomura (PH) 1-1;

Before September 16, Clyde Brady had been on the 60-day homerless list. He has four in four games since then.

Game 2
SFB: 2B J. Diaz – C J. Lopez – LF Bonneau – 1B I. Gutierrez – RF A. Johnson – 3B J. Perez – CF J. Morton – SS J. Barrón – P Fuentes
POR: SS Guerin – 3B Sharp – RF M. Ramirez – 1B Martin – 2B Ingall – LF Brady – CF King – C Fifield – P Watanabe

The Bayhawks took a 1-0 lead in the top 2nd in what could best and most politely be described as a defensive mess for the home team, with Brady giving them an extra base with an error on playing Gutierrez’ leadoff single, and then Fifield and Watanabe had some cultural and language barriers they couldn’t overcome for crying out loud, with a passed ball and a wild pitch on consecutive pitches that moved another runner all the way to third base. Watanabe, who had won his last three decisions, had little to nothing in this game and didn’t make it out of the fifth inning. Then the Coons were down 2-1, their only hit a solo homer by Miguel Ramirez. The bases were loaded with two outs in that top 5th, and Dave Williams was sent to investigate whether we could perhaps retire Yohan Bonneau for a change. We kinda couldn’t. Bonneau’s line drive went into Ingall’s glove, then out of it, then to the ground, then into Ingall’s paw, then out of it. Williams got Gutierrez at least, keeping the score at 3-1. In what was one of those dreadful games, the Coons were robbed twice in the bottom 7th. First Avery Johnson picked Brady’s fifth homer in five days off the top of the fence, and with two on and one out, Nomura hit for Rockburn and drilled a liner to deep left, which Bonneau nevertheless intercepted with a jumping grab before impacting the warning track. The Coons didn’t score, made a feeble attempt at a comeback in the eighth that was abandoned after one run on an Ingall Single, and then sent Angel Casas into the top 9th in the hope he could keep the Bayhawks where they were – but he very couldn’t. Morton singled, Brulhart walked, and Juan Diaz hit his first homer of the season. 6-3 Bayhawks. Guerin 2-3, 2 BB, RBI; King 2-4, 2B; Beairsto (PH) 1-1; Bryan 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Yeah. Yeah, well…

Final home game of the season coming up.

Game 3
SFB: 3B J. Perez – 2B T. Torres – CF Black – LF Brulhart – 1B J. Cruz – C M. Vela – RF A. Johnson – SS J. Barrón – P Padgett
POR: SS Guerin – 3B Sharp – 2B Nomura – 1B Martin – RF Brady – CF King – LF Beairsto – C Rosa – P Brown

On the plus side, the Coons got a hit the first time through the order, even two, the latter by Brown in the third inning, and Brown even stole a base, but was left on that base anyway. Brownie had two very tense innings to start the game, and never switched into domination mode. The Bayhawks left them on the corners in the second, and again in the fourth. The fourth was also the end for somebody who had to leave the game with a blister on his finger. And it was not a pitcher, but Matt King. STOP PICKING YOUR NOSE, YOU PIGLET!

At least the Coons managed an unearned run in the bottom of the fourth. Nomura reached on an error and scored on a double by Rodriguez, who had replaced King in the field. Brown’s response was to drill the opposing pitcher, who then scored on Jose Perez’ triple. Perez scored on Tony Torres’ groundout, and when Guerin tripled in the bottom 5th, there were already two out, and Danny Sharp continued to be oh-fer with runners in scoring position in this series.

What could they do for Brownie’s quest for 20, and the Coons’ quest for a back-to-back season series wins over the Birds from the waterfront? Nomura singled to start the bottom 6th, but found himself forced once more on Martin’s grounder. Next, Brady, who had been robbed last night, and made hard contact again – and this one was GONE!!! Score-flipping homer from Brady, Brown bit his way through the seventh, and then the Coons got Concie and Sharpie on for Nomura in the bottom 7th. Padgett was still in there despite five left-handers next for the Raccoons. But why go to a lefty when your righty starter will get a double play grounder from the first left-handed batter anyway? Salvadaro Soure came on in the bottom 8th, another righty, and while he got Martin, Brady singled, and then it was Rodriguez’ turn to go all yard, ramping the score to 5-2. Beairsto tripled, Ingall hit a sac fly, and Brown was about to bite the bench coach when he tried to take the bat away from him. Brownie grounded out, but reappeared for the ninth, entering on 99 pitches. Pitch #101 drilled Jorge Cruz. Ingall was then charged an error for dropping a foul pop by Vela, who ended up striking out in a full count then. Brown was not going to let anybody interfere with his 19th win of the season, and ended the game with a strikeout to Luis Arroyo. 6-2 Raccoons!! Brady 3-4, HR, 2 RBI; Rodriguez 3-3, 2B, 3 RBI; Brown 9.0 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 9 K, W (19-7) and 1-4;

BROWNIE!!

Well, if you want to get a job done ‘round here, you gotta do it yourself. This was his sixth complete game, and the second this season. He has four shutouts. Right now he is in the top 3 in all Triple Crown categories, but without a chance to win the ERA title (Jorge Chapa’s is 2.06), and he would have to start two more games to catch Chapa in wins. It was also his 40th career win, putting him t-13th in franchise history with Jorge Romero.

Next Tuesday will be the money start for him – and I won’t be there. The money start will take place in Elkland.

Raccoons (74-78) @ Indians (74-78) – September 24-26, 2004

In a three-way tie with the Crusaders, these teams will wrestle for any position between second and sixth in the division. The Indians have scored the fourth-most runs despite the lowest batting average, a tribute to their Big Three of Ron Alston, David Lopez, and Jose Paraz. Their pitching has the second-worst rotation (and look what the Furballs didn’t do to the worst rotation…) and they have allowed the third-most runs.

Projected matchups:
Randy Farley (8-13, 4.53 ERA) vs. Curtis Tobitt (2-2, 3.57 ERA)
Ralph Ford (7-17, 4.25 ERA) vs. Alonso Alonso (13-6, 3.51 ERA)
Felipe Garcia (6-11, 4.72 ERA) vs. Anthony Mosher (11-13, 3.67 ERA)

That doesn’t look SO bad! Where did they hide their armless pitchers!? Mosher is the only southpaw in that array.

Neil Reece will come off the DL for the Saturday game.

Game 1
POR: SS Guerin – 2B Nomura – 3B Sharp – 1B Martin – RF Brady – CF King – LF Tyler – C Rosa – P Farley
IND: RF J. Alvarez – 2B D. Mendez – LF Alston – 1B D. Lopez – C Paraz – CF MacKey – 3B Harris – SS A. Stevens – P Tobitt

After Alvarez doubled, Mendez singled, and Alston walked, the pitching coach went out to a hapless Randy for a kind “’sup?”. It helped, somehow. Lopez hit a sac fly, but that was all the Indians got, yet that sac fly was pretty deep and credit where it was due, with Brady, for making that catch. Nevertheless, Farley got himself yanked in the third inning, since when the top of the lineup came round again then, he didn’t retire nobody at all, but in 2.1 innings allowed four walks. Martinez came in, but Nomura and Guerin couldn’t turn a double play on MacKey’s grounder, and the Indians took a 4-0 lead in the inning. And at that point, Curtis Tobitt was nothing less than perfect. But perfect ended in the fourth, when Guerin and Sharp singled, only to have Martin hit into a double play to end the inning. The only meaningful production for the Raccoons would come out of the #9 spot. In subsequent 2-out PH appearances, Beairsto tripled in a pair in the fifth, and Ramirez doubled home another run in the seventh. A run off Kichida meant it was 5-3 through seven, but Tobitt was still pitching and gave all the starters fits. He went eight innings, walked none and struck out seven in a good outing, and Iemitsu Rin chainsawed what remained of the Brownshirts in the top 9th. 5-3 Indians. Sharp 2-4, 2B; Beairsto (PH) 1-1, 3B, 2 RBI; Ramirez (PH) 1-1, 2B, RBI;

Well, that was a sad game. We entered the 10-game road trip having to win eight for a winning season. I’d say that ship has sailed, since we’re going to pitch quite a number of starters not named Brown in the remaining nine. So here comes a losing season, the eighth in a row, and the 16th total for the franchise.

Embrace oblivion.

Game 2
POR: 3B Sharp – 2B Nomura – RF Brady – 1B Martin – CF King – LF Beairsto – SS Sheehan – C Thomas – P Ford
IND: RF J. Alvarez – 1B S. Stevens – LF Alston – 3B D. Lopez – C Paraz – 2B D. Mendez – CF Martines – SS A. Stevens – P Alonso

Unbelievably, the Raccoons started the game with five straight singles to score three runs, before they made an equal number of three quick outs. Quick outs were not a thing that came easy to Ford in this game as he worked many a deep count and struggled with control from the start, but the Indians didn’t get that key knock to bowl him over for a long time. The Coons added runs on a Beairsto homer in the third, and another one in the fifth to chase Alonso Alonso (yes, really, still!), and then Ford issued a leadoff walk to Art Stevens in the bottom 5th. Well, up 6-0, what can happen. Maybe Sharp making something dumb, like throwing away Ryan O’Quinn’s bunt attempt. That put a pair in scoring position with no outs, but the pendulum swung back instantly, with Yoshi nabbing Jesus Alvarez’ line drive and doubling the confused O’Quinn (a relief pitcher after all) off second base. After Ford walked Simon Stevens on four pitches, Alston fouled out on the first offering to end that inning in due time. Ford ultimately was chased in the seventh when he put Art Stevens and Claudio Rey on base with one out. Nordahl appeared, having struck out the side in the seventh the previous day. Now a 2-2 pitch was grounded to short by Alvarez and became an inning ending double play to keep Ford’s vest spotless for the day. The Indians would load them up in the bottom 9th against Law Rockburn, an error by Yoshi, and a walk off Casas, but the latter then struck out Simon Stevens to end the game and preserve the shutout. 6-0 Coons! Sharp 3-5; Brady 4-5, 2B; King 3-3, BB, 2 RBI; Beairsto 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Ford 6.1 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 7 K, W (8-17); Rockburn 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K;

The Loggers and Indians split their first two games so far, which puts us in a 3-way tie yet again. Thirty-six and a half games back, but in a 3-way tie. I’m so glad we’re not playing meaningless games…

Jorge Chapa won today, 4-1 with the Titans over the Elks, to win his 22nd, which eliminates Nick Brown from ANY shot to win the most games this year. Unless we use him relief from now. In every game.

No. Just no.

Game 3
POR: SS Guerin – 1B Sharp – 3B M. Ramirez – RF Brady – 2B Ingall – LF Reece – CF King – C Rosa – P F. Garcia
IND: RF J. Alvarez – 2B D. Mendez – LF Alston – 1B D. Lopez – CF MacKey – C Bowen – 3B Cortez – SS A. Stevens – P Mosher

The Indians got three runs off Garcia early, in a second inning where they hit three balls hard to left field and Neil Reece was not close to any of them. The Coons would dig a bit to climb back into the game, but Freddy Rosa hit two solo homers, and after the latter one Garcia singled, advanced on a wild pitch, and scored on a Sharp double in the top 5th, and the score was tied at three. But Sharp was left on base, and then ex-Coon Mosher had a leadoff single off Garcia in the bottom of the frame. David Mendez doubled him in, and the Indians did not bemuse themselves with leaving their runner stranded. He scored, and Garcia was yanked before five were complete. Top 6th, bases loaded with one out and Jorge Rodriguez pinch-hit for Manuel Martinez, who had ended the fifth inning on the mound. Rodriguez struck out and Mosher got Guerin to loop out to Alvarez in rightfield to quell this threat. The Coons trailed 6-3 in the ninth, facing Rin, who led the CL in saves, and had an 0.70 ERA. Then Sheehan tripled with two outs. Sharp doubled. The tying run came to the plate in Miguel Ramirez! And he flew out harmlessly to left. 6-4 Indians. Sheehan 1-1, 3B; Sharp 2-4, BB, 2 2B, 2 RBI; Ingall 2-4; Rosa 2-3, BB, 2 HR, 2 RBI;

Why did Sheehan hit a triple in front of Danny Sharp in the ninth? Concie and Jesus Alvarez collided at second base in the seventh inning, and Concie had to be dragged off the field on a sling around his foot.

Just when he tied for the lead in stolen bases …!!

In other news

September 24 – The Buffaloes clinch the FL East with a 3-1 win over the Blue Sox, with Dan George going to 24-6 on the season. The Buffaloes will make their fifth playoff appearance, the second consecutive, and third in four years.
September 25 – CHA SP Miguel Diaz (16-11, 3.32 ERA) 3-hits the Bayhawks as the Falcons win 7-0.
September 26 – Another 3-hit shutout is pitched by Dallas’ Angel Romero (11-10, 3.77 ERA), who does the honors to the Warriors in a 9-0 rout.

Complaints and stuff

Initially I was against it, because it’s not in the spirit of the classic game of baseball, but everybody who advised on it was right, and Clyde Brady regained his swing and success at the plate after receiving that guide dog that barks on a fastball, growls on a curve, and leaves a mark on a slider down low.

We haven’t had a 20-game winner since 1995 (Jason Turner), and only once before that (Scott Wade, 1989). Kisho Saito was a 20-game winner when he was traded to Portland in 1984, but 14 of those wins came in a red uniform.

By the way, it’ll be five years since his retirement and forfeit of another million bucks just to get outta here. I think he has a strong Hall of Fame case: 238-197, 3.23 ERA, 1.15 WHIP, 2,800 K, ROTY (1982), 7xAS.

He is t-8th with Leland Lewis (who is in the Hall) in wins, and just this week, MIL Martin Garcia passed him for fifth in strikeouts. Of the other four guys ahead in strikeouts, none is in the Hall, but Woody Roberts (3,313), Arnold McCray (2,900), and Bastyao Caixinha (2,844) all pitched in the 2000’s, the only other guy being Carlos Asquabal (2,995), who retired a year ahead of Saito, but only received 40% of the vote last season, and has a better W-L record at 245-175.

But Asquabal’s best season ERA was a 1.88 mark in 1988, where he missed half the year with an injury. He never pitched below a 3.00 ERA in ANY other season. Kisho did it seven times, with a best of 2.44 in 1987.

A 2.44 ERA for an offensively inept team that held him to 14 wins in 34 starts, that is, and was broken up the following year.

Odd fact: we won the season series against all CL South teams, except the Condors (4-5), with a best of 7-2 against the Knights. We may well not win any season series against CL North teams unless we can either sweep the Elks (hahah), or at least win two of three against the Crusaders. Five of our six interleague series ended in sweeps (romped the Miners and Pacifics, got romped by Buffaloes, Wolves, and Cyclones). Odd season.

We also went 6-12 against the can’t-do-crap Indians in consecutive years which is immensely frustrating.

[xepicx2729]

Kinda rough week, but some good games here and there, especially Brownie!

[Westheim]

Final week. Danny Sharp is coming in with a 12-game hitting streak.

Raccoons (75-80) @ Canadiens (72-83) – September 27-30, 2004

Neither team was scoring runs this season, with the 11th place team visiting the 10th place team. The pitching was in the upper half but not spectacular for both franchises. And the Raccoons still have a splendid change to finish last in the division.

Projected matchups:
Kenichi Watanabe (3-2, 3.13 ERA) vs. Scott Spears (11-9, 4.49 ERA)
Nick Brown (19-7, 2.89 ERA) vs. George Norris (2-12, 6.55 ERA)
Randy Farley (8-14, 4.68 ERA) vs. Harry Wentz (11-15, 5.54 ERA)
Ralph Ford (8-17, 4.11 ERA) vs. Joe Hollow (8-14, 4.79 ERA)

Game 1
POR: 3B Sharp – 2B Nomura – RF Brady – 1B Martin – CF King – LF J. Rodriguez – SS Sheehan – C Fifield – P Watanabe
VAN: CF E. Garcia – RF Wheaton – 3B Suzuki – 1B A. Munoz – SS Rodgers – 2B J. Zamora – LF J. Gonzalez – C F. Diéguez – P Spears

Gary Fifield did what had one him a job a long, long time ago and hit a 2-run homer in the second inning to give the Coons a lead. It was about everything Watanabe got in support, except for a nice defensive play here and there. What he had, he managed well, allowing one run in seven innings, striking a career-high six. The Canadiens left runners in scoring position four times, though. Spears went the distance of nine innings, holding the Raccoons to the two runs powered up by Fifield, while Bruno took over the 2-1 lead from Williams and Huerta, who administered to it carefully in the eighth. Anastasio Munoz hit a leadoff single just past Yoshi Nomura, but Bruno dug a trench on the mound and gave out headshots to the next three batters that dared to step up to the plate. The runner never got off first base. 2-1 Coons. Rodriguez 2-3; Fifield 1-3, HR, 2 RBI; Watanabe 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, W (4-2);

We’re in that 3-way tie again. The Elks are four back in last place. And now comes Brownie’s big day.

There will no big day for Concie anymore this season. He fell on the shoulder in the on-base collision on Sunday and it got separated. He’ll take six weeks to heal up, and the Raccoons don’t use to play baseball for this long.

Game 2
POR: 3B Sharp – CF Brady – LF Reece – 1B Martin – 2B Ingall – LF J. Rodriguez – SS Sheehan – C Rosa – P Brown
VAN: CF E. Garcia – RF Trinidad – 3B Suzuki – 1B A. Munoz – LF R. Green – 2B J. Zamora – SS Rodgers – C F. Diéguez – P Norris

We went down another shortstop in no time in another collision at second base, as Jesus Zamora went hard into Sheehan in the second inning, and this time Sheehan got his hand caught in Zamora’s spikes, which sounds every bit as thrilling as the blood gushing out of his paw was, and had to be dumped in a hastily dug shallow grave on the infield dirt. Miguel Ramirez took over. Brownie starved runners on the corners in that inning, but got no help whatsoever from the lineup. He was also the first Raccoon to manage to get on base, with a walk in the third inning, but was left on by Sharp. When Al Martin finally landed a hit against the pushover Norris, a double, he was also left on base in the fourth. Munoz homered off Brown in the bottom 4th, a solo shot, but when Martin came up again, the Coons led, 2-1, and the bases were full with two outs after a fifth inning rally, which Brown also had to keep going with a single. Martin scored a pair with a single to right, with Sharp and Brady coming home, and Reece scored on an Ingall Single before Rodriguez struck out to end the inning. And if that 5-spot wasn’t enough for Brownie to get #20 over, he wouldn’t deserve it anyway!

Although the Elks got a man on base in each of the three innings that Brownie pitched after that top 5th, they never mounted a proper threat, and after seven innings Brownie was over 100 pitches already, but had whiffed seven for a nice round 240 for the season. Yoshi provided some more breathing room with a pinch-hit 2-run single in the eighth, and at 7-1 it was about giving the ball to some combo of Moreno, Nordahl, and Casas perhaps, and go to bed happy. Well, almost. Moreno pitched a clean eighth, but Nordahl got himself impaled by another Munoz home run. Ed Bryan got the last out in the game. 7-2 Brownies!! Martin 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Ingall 2-5, RBI; Nomura (PH) 1-1, 2 RBI; Brown 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, W (20-7) and 1-2, BB;

HUZZAH!! BROWNIE!!

In other notes, Sheehan is out for the season with a nasty cut all across his hand, and we need another middle infielder, really. Ingall and Nomura are two second basemen, basically, and Ingall has hardly played on the left side of the diamond the last two years. Ramirez is not a very well trained shortstop either. We had Pat Chandler still in the organization, a 33-year old who had been a starter for the Bayhawks from 1997 to 1998, and played all positions well. He had one major league at-bat between 2002 and 2004.

To get Pat Chandler up, failing lefty reliever Scott Boone was waived and DFA’ed.

Also, Nick Brown will not start the season finale. 224 innings is enough when there is nothing to play for. The Pitcher of the Year is going to be Jorge Chapa, no matter how many Brownie would fan against the Crusaders. We will spot start somebody, most likely Sergio Vega.

Game 3
POR: 3B Sharp – RF Brady – LF J. Rodriguez – 1B Martin – 2B Ingall – SS Chandler – CF King – C Rosa – P Farley
VAN: CF E. Garcia – RF Wheaton – 3B Suzuki – 1B A. Munoz – LF R. Green – SS Rodgers – 2B J. Zamora – C F. Diéguez – P Wentz

Farley sat down the first 11 Elks before Mitsuhide Suzuki sneaked a single into rightfield, but the Raccoons had – while having two hits more than that – not been successful at all in the first four innings either. That single almost became a run when a blazing-hot Munoz doubled to deep right, Suzuki was sent, but thrown out by Clyde Brady at home plate. Runners on the corners in the top 5th, Farley batted with one out and singled to left to bring home Matt King for the first run of the game. The Coons would get another one in the inning, and Farley completed five scoreless, six scoreless, seven scoreless, although the traffic in the seventh was thick after a leadoff walk to Suzuki, and later an infield single by Rodgers with two out. The Coons got an insurance run in the eighth on an Ingall sac fly, which came with the bases loaded. We would have wished for more, and we were bitten soon. Farley got stuck in the eighth and was removed after Dave Wheaton drove in the first run for the Elks with a 1-out single. Martinez replaced him and was taken deep by Suzuki, tying the game. The ninth belonged to Casas, who gave up a leadoff double to Royce Green, and could not get back on track. Zamora walked off the disgusting Elks. 4-3 Canadiens. Brady 2-3, BB, RBI; Rosa 2-4; Farley 7.2 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K and 1-2, RBI;

Game 4
POR: 1B Sharp – RF Brady – LF Reece – 3B M. Ramirez – 2B Ingall – CF King – C Thomas – SS Chandler – P Ford
VAN: SS Rodgers – RF Trinidad – 3B Suzuki – 1B A. Munoz – 2B J. Zamora – CF J. Gonzalez – LF Wheaton – C Hurtado – P Hollow

The Coons coughed and clawed to score a run in the top 3rd on a Reece double and Ramirez single before leaving two men on anyway, before Hollow led off the bottom 3rd with a double and Ford just didn’t retire anybody. Munoz’ 3-run homer blew the score wide open in favor of the smelling Elks, 4-1, and Ford wouldn’t get out of the fourth inning at all. Down 5-2, bases loaded, Nordahl came in and somehow got the next two outs. The Canadiens scored runs in four consecutive innings there, seven total, while the Raccoons had trouble amassing four hits off Joe Hollow in the entire game, and just kept falling further and further behind. Hollow went eight innings, and comfortably got his ninth win, while Ford didn’t bloody quite. 8-3 Canadiens. Reece 2-5, 2B, RBI;

So, with three to play, we are tied with the Crusaders. We’re three ahead of the Vile Smells. The Indians are one ahead, and the Loggers three ahead. The Loggers play the Canadiens, while the Indians have to deal with the Titans.

Raccoons (77-82) @ Crusaders (77-82) – October 1-3, 2004

20 years from now, nobody will remember anymore what will have happened in this ultimately largely meaningless series. Fourth, fifth – they’re all horrible losers.

Maybe even 20 days from now.

Projected matchups:
Sergio Vega (0-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. George Kirk (2-11, 6.63 ERA)
Felipe Garcia (6-12, 4.89 ERA) vs. Russell Benson (10-13, 3.88 ERA)
Kenichi Watanabe (4-2, 2.84 ERA) vs. Kelly Fairchild (8-13, 4.63 ERA)

Game 1
POR: 3B Sharp – RF Brady – LF J. Rodriguez – 1B A. Martin – 2B Nomura – CF King – SS Chandler – C Thomas – P Vega
NYC: SS Rice – 3B A. De Jesus – LF M. Ortíz – RF S. Martin – C D. Anderson – 1B D. Carroll – CF Javier – 2B Moultrie – P Kirk

Gary Rice jacked for an instant deficit for Vega, and in return the Raccoons loaded them up in the top 2nd only to have Mark Thomas hit into an inning-ending double play. While Vega was bad, and if he didn’t surrender home runs, he surrendered walks, the real shame was the rest of the lineup. George Kirk, a fantastic pushover if there ever was one, no-hit them through three, through four, through five innings. Vega was yanked in the fifth, down 2-0 with two on and one out, and Ed Bryan found a way out of that mess. Top 6th, still no hits for the Coons. Rodriguez was up first in the seventh, sent a drive to deep center, but Paco Javier made that play, and the next two went down easily, and the eighth consisted of three poor groundball outs. They weren’t going to …? Were they? Three walks and nothing else to their credit. Marvin Ingall pinch-hit for Freddy Rosa to start the top 9th, still down 2-0, and lined out to right. Sharp grounded out to third. I can’t believe it. I just can’t believe it. Clyde Brady against the most terrible shame in the universe, drew a walk that didn’t really help as it brought up rookie Jorge Rodriguez. Fly to left, Ortíz back, Ortíz back in, somehow made the catch. It was a no-hitter. 2-0 Crusaders. Rockburn 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

I may have been wrong with the part where nobody will remember this series 20,000 years from now.

George Kirk’s career numbers, and mind you he is 31 years old: 27 G, 21 GS, 5-15, 6.26 ERA, 128.0 IP, 19 HR, 80 BB, 97 K.

Game 2
POR: 3B Sharp – 2B Nomura – RF Brady – 1B A. Martin – LF Reece – SS Ingall – CF King – C Rosa – P F. Garcia
NYC: SS Rice – 3B A. De Jesus – LF M. Ortíz – RF S. Martin – CF Javier – C D. Anderson – 1B R. Rivera – 2B Moultrie – P Benson

Those that weren’t still numb from Friday’s bitter spectacle, saw Marvin Ingall bring home single runs in both the first and third innings, first with a bases loaded walk, then with a double, before Matt King both times stranded several men on base. That was about all the Raccoons managed to mount, but the Crusaders weren’t really any better. They had one hit through four innings, then had a pair of 2-out singles in the fifth, but left those runners stranded. Garcia cruised through eight innings, and came back out for the ninth, starting by getting De Jesus out. Then Martin Ortíz homered. Next, Marcos Bruno came in. He struck out Stanton Martin before Javier singled. Then Anderson doubled, and Javier, owner of 30 steals, leading the Continental League, was not denied and sent the game to extra innings, where Domingo Moreno didn’t retire anybody in the bottom of the tenth. 3-2 Crusaders. Nomura 2-4; Brady 2-4; Garcia 8.1 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3 K;

Game 3
POR: 3B Sharp – 2B Nomura – RF Brady – 1B A. Martin – CF King – LF Tyler – SS Chandler – C Thomas – P Watanabe
NYC: SS Rice – 3B A. De Jesus – LF M. Ortíz – RF S. Martin – CF Javier – 1B R. Rivera – C D. Anderson – 2B Moultrie – P Fairchild

… and the ****heads were at it once more in the final game of the season. After two scoreless, an error by Stanton Martin, who dropped Sharp’s poor pop, put runners in scoring position in the top 3rd, which Nomura masterfully resolved with a double play. Fairchild then led off the bottom 3rd with a single, Rice tripled, and with an infield hit and two stolen bases, the ****heads managed to cock up three full runs in the inning. Watanabe would not allow anything else until Daryl Anderson homered in the seventh inning, knocking him from the game, and what did the Lunatic Lunkheads do? Not the slightest bit of **** through seven innings, trailing 4-0. The top 8th began with pinch-hit singles by Beairsto and Reece off Alex Byrd, before Sharp singled off Tony Vela to load them up with no outs. Brady walked and King singled to plate two runs, 4-2, while Nomura and Martin struck out. Another ex-Coon came in to face Tyler, who was hit for by Miguel Ramirez with the bases loaded. Ha, ex-Coon! One-time sucker, always sucker. Appropriately, Ramirez went deep for a GRAAAAAAND SLAAAAAAMM!!!! And to nobody’s surprise, the bullpen tried to cock up that lead with great impunity, with Martinez putting runners on the corners in the ninth and then allowing an RBI single. Somehow, the Crusaders didn’t quite manage to complete the sweep, however, and fell to the most lackluster team in human memory. 6-5 Raccoons. Brady 3-4, BB; Ramirez 1-1, HR, 4 RBI; Reece (PH) 2-2;

In other news

September 30 – The Thunder wrap up the CL South, making their ninth playoffs, and the fourth in the last five seasons. The nine playoff runs tie them with the Blue Sox for most by any ABL team. That leaves the FL West open, where the Gold Sox and Wolves are tied with three to play.
October 2 – Two wins over the Scorpions, with the Gold Sox’ two losses against the Stars, clinch the FL West for the Wolves, who will make their third playoff appearance, and their first since 1992. They were champions in 1989.

Complaints and stuff

Embrace oblivion. It’s all we’ll ever have.

[Westheim]

2004 ABL PLAYOFFS

Who’s gonna beat the 117-45 Titans, who put up the best ever regular season result in the ABL, besting the Capitals’ 113-49 run in 1991. Then the Capitals beat the Raccoons in the World Series in the first of three consecutive matchups between those teams, and the only one they’d win of those.

The only thing the Titans can’t do well is hitting home runs, of which they hit only 80, third-worst in the CL. It doesn’t matter however, since they led the league in about every other conceivable category, with a spectacular run differential of +290! Three 20-game winners in Jorge Chapa (23-7, 2.14 ERA), Jason O’Halloran (20-6, 2.99 ERA), and Francisco Garza (20-4, 3.61 ERA), three guys batting .300 in Masaaki Matsumoto (.339, 1 HR, 50 RBI), Gonzalo Munoz (.342, 25 HR, 118 RBI), and Mark Austin (.307, 13 HR, 90 RBI) – pick your poison, there’s enough for everybody! Their only injuries are to one of their several closer candidates John Bennett, and to infielder Victor Flores. The latter might possibly be available after the CLCS, but that is uncertain so far.

Yet, last year, the Titans were also the hands-off favorites, and who won the title? The Gold Sox.

The first stepping stone for the Titans will be the 88-74 Thunder, who came out on top in a thoroughly mediocre CL South. Their main strength was pitching, with the second-best rotation (to the Titans of course), headed by Aaron Anderson (20-9, 3.04 ERA) and the depressingly unsupported Fabien Armand (12-12, 2.98 ERA), but the bullpen was not shabby either. Their problems were of the offensive nature, where about all good batters they had had a few years ago had by now fled the plains, most notably Sonny Reece. No qualified starter hit even .280 for them, and they relied on the long ball quite a lot, with rookie catcher Alonso Baca leading a compact team leaderboard with 19 dingers. They have no speed, their defense is shaky, the back end of their rotation is pitiful, and nobody can offer a plausible scenario that would have them advance to the World Series.

Prediction: Titans in three games. Yes, really.

Over in the FLCS, the playing field is much more level between the Buffaloes, who are fairly regular visitors to the playoffs, and the Wolves, who haven’t been there in 12 years.

The 102-60 Buffaloes, the second-best record in the league this year, utilized a high batting average and on-base percentage to constrict their opponents. Neither home runs, nor stolen bases were their specialty, with only Lionnel Perri (18), and Javier Gusmán (14) exceeding ten homers, and the same two plus Georg Spinu being the only players to steal more than six bases for them. Their rotation is headed by perhaps the best pitcher in baseball in the last few years, Tony Hamlyn (21-7, 1.85 ERA), with Dan George (25-6, 2.99 ERA) not quite willing to play second fiddle. They also have four formidable relievers at the back end of their pen, including closer Ryosei Kato, who saved 49 games and pitched to a 2.48 ERA. The biggest problem for them could be the rather unimpressive back end of the rotation, which could barely lift its own weight. On the DL for the playoffs is veteran outfielder Paul Theobald, who didn’t have a great season anyway.

Opposing them are the 93-69 Wolves, who won the FL West by two games, the closest margin in the ABL this season. They were the best defensive team in the Federal League. And that was where their “best” things ended already. While they were above average in many categories (not home runs, though), they didn’t excel in any category, and their bullpen was even in the bottom half in the Federal League, and was perceived as their biggest weakness, and one might even say was a true mess. Nobody in that pen had had much of any success in the season, and while the entire rotation posted ERA’s soundly below four, the best mark was put up by Ricardo Sanchez (9-7, 3.36 ERA), who pitched to 19 no-decisions this season. Their lineup had good OBP on the top and two 20-homer guys in the middle in Dave Hutchinson (.320, 20 HR, 103 RBI) and Kurt Metting (.255, 20 HR, 83 RBI), but was not overly convincing throughout, but in contrast to the Buffaloes they at least had somebody batting over .280… In fact, they had four guys hitting over .280! They also had no injuries heading into the playoffs.

Prediction: tough. Their mediocre pitching goes against the Wolves, but the Buffaloes – while they have two monster starters – have a giant hole for the 3-4 slots. But you can expect them to start Hamlyn and George twice each, so the Wolves will have to formulate a plan to beat them rather than look forward to the strugglers. Buffaloes in seven, maybe?

…

2004 CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES

Thunder @ Titans … 3-4 … (Titans lead 1-0) … BOS Gonzalo Munoz 3-5, 2 2B, RBI; Munoz hits walkoff single in the bottom 9th;

Wolves @ Buffaloes … 0-5 … (Buffaloes lead 1-0) … TOP Tony Hamlyn 9.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 5 K, W;
Thunder @ Titans … 3-4 … (Titans lead 2-0) …

Wolves @ Buffaloes … 5-2 … (series tied 1-1) … SAL Manny Guzmán 8.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 3 K, W; SAL Jesus Flores 2-5, HR, 3 RBI;

Titans @ Thunder … 8-0 … (Titans lead 3-0) … BOS Bryce Hildred 7.0 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 9 K, W; BOS Gonzalo Munoz 2-4, BB, 2 HR, 2 RBI;

Buffaloes @ Wolves … 3-4 (11) … (Wolves lead 2-1) … SAL Kurt Metting 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; SAL Bryan Gentil hits walkoff homer off Arthur Joplin in the 11th;
Titans @ Thunder … 3-1 … (Titans win 4-0) … BOS Joe Mann 7.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 6 K, W;

Buffaloes @ Wolves … 9-3 … (series tied 2-2) … TOP Tony Hamlyn 8.0 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 8 K, W; Buffaloes score six runs on Dan Moriarty in the first inning;

Buffaloes @ Wolves … 2-5 … (Wolves lead 3-2) … TOP Dan George hits a batter and walks two to load the bases in the bottom 7th, and the Wolves turn a 2-1 deficit into a key win;

Wolves @ Buffaloes … 9-8 … (Wolves win 4-2) … SAL Bryan Gentil 4-5, 3B, 2B, RBI; SAL Fernando Guerra 2-3, HR, 3 RBI; SAL Pablo Ledesma 2-4, BB, HR, 2 RBI; TOP Lionnel Perri 2-4, HR, 3 RBI; Salem’s starter Brit Osborne is slaughtered in a 6-run fourth, but the Buffaloes pen can’t hold on to an 8-4 lead and crumbles to pieces in the late innings;

…

2004 WORLD SERIES

The Titans regain Vic Flores heading into the World Series, but they did quite well without him. The Wolves had no injuries to begin with, and still don’t have any. The question how they want to defeat the Titans is valid however. The Titans tower over them in every conceivable category, and if they don’t become the first team to win a fourth championship, no team ever will.

Some point to 1989 however, and how the Wolves outwitted a seemingly dominant Continental League team before…

Wolves @ Titans … 3-4 … (Titans lead 1-0) … BOS Jorge Chapa 7.2 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 7 K, W; BOS Victor Flores 4-4, RBI;

Wolves @ Titans … 3-5 … (Titans lead 2-0) … 4-run sixth spoils an early 2-0 lead for the Wolves

Titans @ Wolves … 0-1 … (Titans lead 2-1) … SAL Ricardo Sanchez 7.2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 1 K, W; BOS Bryce Hildred 8.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, L; SAL Kurt Metting 1-3, HR, RBI;

Titans @ Wolves … 2-3 … (series tied 2-2) … SAL Kurt Metting 2-3, BB, HR, RBI; After the Titans left 13 runners on base, Kurt Metting hits walkoff home run off Ramiro Román to tie up the series!

Titans @ Wolves … 10-1 … (Titans lead 3-2) … BOS Jorge Chapa 7.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, W; BOS Vicente Elizondo 3-5, HR, 2B, 5 RBI; SAL Henry McClendon 3-4; for the third time in these playoffs, the Wolves get socked a 6-run inning;

Wolves @ Titans … 3-8 … (Titans win 4-2) … BOS Jason O’Halloran 7.0 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, W; BOS Gonzalo Munoz 2-4, BB, HR, 2 RBI; BOS Masaaki Matsumoto 3-5, 2B;

2004 WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS
BOSTON TITANS
(4th title)

[blazertaz13]

Tough season and to add salt to already opened wound, the in state rivals made it all the way to the World Series. The only thing that helps is that they did not win it (would hate for a parade going on in the state capital).

As Cub fans say at the end of each season (yes I am one), "There is always next season."

Good luck during the offseason.

[xepicx2729]

BROWNIE! Alright, I think we should just refer to the Coons as the Brownies until he's gone. Jussayin'.

[Westheim]

Final note #1: Kenichi Watanabe was a surprise Rookie of the Month in September, pitching to a 4-1 record and 1.50 ERA, with only 13 strikeouts in 30 innings.

Final note #2: The Raccoons had the fewest people at the park since 1981.

---

In 2004, the Raccoons had the second-smallest budget ($19.6M) and payroll ($13.8M), both ahead of the Pacifics, while the most affluent teams had a bit over $30M available, with the Buffaloes leading the ABL with $32M.

There have been more words written about the Mexican Prick’s indifference towards the team he inherited from not always easy, but always interested Carlos Valdes than the poor Critters have dollars in their piggy bank, and the point is ultimately moot, since we can’t get rid of him, unless we finally start costing him money, which we can’t unless nobody comes to the park at all anymore. That might take a while, since what else is there to do in Portland all summer long?

However, there is cat puke on your carpet, and there is cat puke in your bed. It’s all awful, but to different degrees.

And the Mexican Prick puked right into my bed. The budget for 2005 has been slashed to $18.2M, $1.4M less than last season, and the smallest budget in the ABL – by far.

At the same time we are supposed to sign a top player, according to the Prick. And with what? Am I supposed to stand on the side of the freeway in high heels and a pink purse to earn the money for that???

And my landlady keeps asking me why I’m crying and screaming all night long, for now 28 years. Dear old Estelle doesn’t get it. She doesn’t follow baseball. Or much of anything except for reruns of The Price is Right.

…

2004 AWARDS
Pitchers of the Year: TOP Tony Hamlyn (21-7, 1.85 ERA) and BOS Jorge Chapa (23-7, 2.14 ERA)
Batters of the Year: WAS OF John Alexander (.330, 31 HR, 123 RBI) and BOS LF/RF Gonzalo Munoz (.342, 25 HR, 118 RBI)
Rookies of the Year: CIN INF Marcos Garza (.316, 10 HR, 61 RBI) and TIJ CF Ramón Perez (.241, 12 HR, 61 RBI)
Relievers of the Year: DEN Scott Hood (5-3, 1.31 ERA, 44 SV) and IND Iemitsu Rin (2-1, 0.80 ERA, 42 SV)
Gold Gloves (FL): P WAS Steve Rogers, C RIC Rob James, 1B NAS Cesar Gonzalez, 2B DAL Hector Garcia, 3B SAC Sonny Reece, SS DEN Armando Rodriguez, LF NAS Alex Samuels, CF DAL Cesar Morán, RF TOP Javier Gusmán
Gold Gloves (CL): P VAN Juichi Fujita, C MIL Ruben Melendez, 1B OCT Luis Soto, 2B MIL Bartolo Hernandez, 3B TIJ Nelson Chavez, SS SFB Juan Barrón, LF NYC Martin Ortíz, CF LVA Carlos Talamante, RF OCT Alberto Flores
Platinum Sticks (FL): P WAS Steve Rogers, C DAL Rafael Garza, 1B WAS Jose Lopez, 2B TOP Georg Spinu, 3B SAC Sonny Reece, SS SAL Dave Hutchinson, LF WAS Victorino Sanchez, CF WAS John Alexander, RF DEN Pedro Pujóls
Platinum Sticks (CL): P CHA Miguel Diaz, C IND Jose Paraz, 1B BOS Masaaki Matsumoto, 2B BOS Mark Austin, 3B OCT Takahashi Higashi, SS ATL Antonio Luján, LF IND Ron Alston, CF BOS Rudy Garrison, RF BOS Gonzalo Munoz

…

Every offseason, no matter how depressing, starts with a look at free agents and salary arbitration.

The following players are headed for arbitration (with stats, 2004 salary, 2005 estimate, service time in y.ddd):
SP Nick Brown (20-7, 2.84 ERA, 240 K) - $440k - $787k – 4.046
MR Ricardo Huerta (6-2, 3.30 ERA in 76.1 IP) - $260k - $290k – 5.091
MR Manuel Martinez (1-2, 2.29 ERA in 51 IP) - $260k - $290k – 5.011
MR Dan Nordahl (4-2, 4.44 ERA in 77 IP) - $250k - §280k – 5.008
MR Dave Williams (2-1, 3.54 ERA in 48.1 IP) - $150k - $230k – 3.049
CL Marcos Bruno (3-5, 3.09 ERA, 29 SV in 58.1 IP) - $220k - $290k – 4.000
C Gary Fifield (.148/.179/.296, 1 HR, 2 RBI in 27 AB) - $230k - $260k – 3.109
C Freddy Rosa (.219/.307/.367, 9 HR, 29 RBI in 256 AB) - $150k - $230k – 2.146
C Mark Thomas (.216/.271/.289, 0 HR, 19 RBI in 232 AB) - $250k - $280k – 3.157
OF Matt King (.268/.317/.343, 0 HR, 24 RBI in 321 AB) - $150k - $230k – 2.144

The following four players figure to be free agents:
SP Dan Barnes (0-1, 3.86 ERA) - $150k
INF Pat Chandler (.167/.333/.167, 0 HR, 0 RBI) - $150k
INF Marvin Ingall (.266/.339/.351, 5 HR, 50 RBI) - $300k
LF Neil Reece (.276/.341/.341, 2 HR, 40 RBI) - $1.4M

Our budget cut amounts exactly to Neil Reece’s salary, so I suspect that the Prick figures that he used to bring us joy and therefore he must go in any case. What an asshole.

But in all sincerity, Neil Reece is done. At 38, he has nothing left, he can’t field, he won’t anything other than singles, and we can’t possibly pay for another year of him slapping singles whenever he’s not hurt. Of course he will not make it to 2,000 hits, but has anybody ever expected the baseball gods to allow that feat to happen? Perhaps some other team will take him on. I doubt it.

We will also severe the ties with Marv now. He is 36, and while he has been a great second baseman whenever not blocked by David Brewer or Jesus Palacios, we have a shiny new toy in Yoshi Nomura, who is supposed to take over at second. Whether Yoshi will be able to avoid drowning over a full season we don’t know, but we gotta find out. At the very least, Yoshi knows how to reach base. Nobody expects home runs from him. Unfortunately he’s slow as a snail, but so has Ingall been.

Nobody ever needed Barnes and Chandler.

Well. We need those pitchers to stay, and will have to see how cheap we can get with them. We don’t know what will be left of Eddie Torrez after he had to get his head and neck realigned with the concussion, so Matt King has to be kept aboard for he is the only defensive centerfield option that won’t make the pitchers revolt. Those catchers, however. How about a clean cut?

While we will of course make offers to them, we will be looking into a trade for one of the right-handed relievers, probably either Martinez or Nordahl. Huerta is a good long man option and pitches 380 innings every year, more or less, and Bruno won’t go anywhere, but of course we have to fit Angel Casas somewhere, and there are more guys in AAA, or even on the expanded roster like Law Rockburn.

You know, we gotta save money, as usual. If we have Rockburn, why bother with Nordahl, especially since Nordahl is prone to give up home runs at the slightest provocation.

In the early days of October, we signed a few of the players to 1-year deals to circumvent arbitration. Dave Williams signed for $225k. Matt King and Marcos Bruno were both offered multi-year deals, but refused. King signed for $230k for one year, Bruno for $300k. Ricardo Huerta refused a multi-year deal and also demanded too much for one year. We did however avoid arbitration with Brownie.

The last week before arbitration hearings I was looking for an excuse to keep Neil Reece around as pinch-hitter and part of a platoon in leftfield. Whom do we have? We have Torrez and his backup King in center. Those aren’t going anywhere. Clyde Brady and his guide dog aren’t going anywhere. And then? Beairsto is not only a free swinger; he creates so much wind he could get a job as a propeller. Tyler and Rodriguez were thoroughly unthrilling. You might find Rodriguez on the roster, but Darwin Tyler might become extinct rather than evolving into a big league player…

Is there room for a right-hander? Or would we rather have something come in in a trade? Reece is old, he can’t field anymore. We might be able to sneak him in for a few games at first base, against left-handers.

…

October 4 – CHA OF Jose Ramirez (.256, 7 HR, 41 RBI) has suffered a torn labrum and is expected to miss about two months at the start of the 2005 season.
November 1 – The Canadiens acquire 37-year old RF/LF Vonne Calzado (.334, 134 HR, 1,151 RBI) from the Miners in exchange for 26-year old OF Tom Wilson (.256, 12 HR, 120 RBI) and a minor leaguer.
November 6 – The Raccoons announce a contract extension with 26-year old SP Nick Brown (41-34, 3.15 ERA, 725 K) over five years, buying out Brown’s remaining two years of arbitration and three years of free agency. Brown will receive a staggered total of $7,000,000 for his services.
November 8 – The Loggers trade LF/RF Dave Graham (.305, 10 HR, 58 RBI) to the Warriors for MR Alan Crowley (8-3, 2.36 ERA, 2 SV).

…

The Brown contract starts at $900k this season, but escalates up to $1.75M in 2009. That’s still not TOO much if he maintains this level for the next five years. At least we can stop bothering about our #1 slot in the rotation for a while.

In late October we had a deal lined up with the Knights for catchers Ricardo Valadez and AA Dan Booth. Valadez is better than anything we have had since Vinson’s sophomore year, and Booth appears on a good way even though he was slow to develop initially. We would have sent Kenichi Watanabe and AAA 1B Alejandro Rojas. We were about done with it, and then I called it off.

Watanabe looks terribly uninspiring on the mound. He walks almost as many as he strikes out. His control is good, but he’s absolutely no Scott Wade. Also, he has poor stamina. He is REALLY no Scott Wade. But past our #1 starter, results have been mixed last season (and a few seasons before that). We will get the Fat Cat back for next season, and we still have Brownie and Garcia under team control, and Farley and Ford signed through ’05 and ’06, respectively. That is already five, but three of them are in constant risk to be shot. Watanabe has options and can be stashed away at AAA if nothing else, and the number of promising SP prospects we have is zero. Watanabe is 28, he won’t get any better, but he doesn’t have to be traded for yet another catcher who comes in and doesn’t do squid, but hits walkoff homers as soon as he’s traded for a pair of used shoes.

It’s going to be one of those Manuel Movonda things, and I will kick myself forever.

…

It’s November 9. We are not yet at arbitration because I am flaying the flesh of my skin over Neil Reece.

[shipfb21]

I really genuinely dislike the coons owner... he needs 2 open up his purse. im assuming he wears a man purse. or he needs 2 sell the team. I applaud ur efforts despite having the deck stacked against u... I love this dynasty report, one of my favs... could u give us faithful readers, and new followers, some screen shots of some of the leagues history, etc...

[Trebro]

Unpopular opinion time: Let Reece go.

You managed to get to 78 wins this year. You might be able to get yourself up to 82, but not by paying big bucks to Reece. Plus, look at it this way? Remember Ingall, and how you let him walk, then were able to bring him back at a song? I bet if Reece doesn't retire (and if he does, you didn't need him on your team), you can grab him for next to nothing in Spring Training.

[Questdog]

Popular opinion time: Keep Reese, if he will take a salary in line with his abilities (on the cheap). Don't you want him on the bench telling the boys how it was back in the day when vermin ruled the world?

[xepicx2729]

Originally Posted by questdog

popular opinion time: Keep reese, if he will take a salary in line with his abilities (on the cheap). Don't you want him on the bench telling the boys how it was back in the day when vermin ruled the world?

+1

[Westheim]

While I am winding in agony, here are some historical overviews over the league. If you are longing for anything else, let your voice be heard.