[Westheim]

Raccoons (46-43) vs. Loggers (43-46)

Logan Evans started the first game after the break. He struck out nine, but also allowed three runs in seven innings and thanks to incompetence at the plate displayed by his teammates took the loss. The Raccoons were shut out on four hits. 4-0 Loggers.

The Raccoons took a 1-0 lead in the first inning the next day. That was all they had to offer for Vicente Ruíz, who was rocked for five runs in the first four innings, and still went seven frames. Using up the pen with this anemic offense wasn’t going to help either. An error by 1B Jorge Flores almost would have gotten them back into the game, but down 5-3 and with two on Daniel Hall and Mark Dawson made poor outs. Soto and Moran were beaten in the top 9th, and the Raccoons put two on in the bottom 9th with nobody out, and nobody scored. 9-3 Loggers. Banda 3-4, 2B, RBI;

Nobody was doing any hitting anymore. Hall, Dawson, Workman, Green, the rest of the suckers. All cold. Anemic.

Carlos Gonzalez was shelled for four runs early on and the Raccoons trailed 4-2 in the bottom 6th, where Green, Hall, and Dawson all got on base to lead off the inning. Bases loaded, nobody out. Workman struck out. Thompson struck out. Sanchez rolled out to short. Sanchez then threw the ball away on a stealing attempt in the seventh, which led to two unearned runs against Jason White, who pitched his heart out in relief, unrewarded of course. Daniel Hall sunk a 2-bomb in the eighth. 6-4 Loggers. Hall 2-3, BB, HR, 2 RBI;

This loss tied us with the Loggers for third. Agony.

The second inning got the Raccoons 2-0 behind in the last game of the series. Matt Workman made an error that loaded the bases with nobody out and Kinji Kan was in no constitution to pitch through such a situation. He didn’t get anybody out in this game and didn’t K anybody until Hokichi Endo to end the sixth. Mark Dawson unloaded for three runs in the bottom 3rd to give the Furballs a lead, and Cam Green added a solo bang in the fifth, 4-2. Kan jammed in the eighth, badly. Wally Gaston was not totally effective, but limited the damage to one run, and West closed it for #23. 6-3 Raccoons. Dawson 3-4, HR, 3 RBI; Sanchez 2-4; Walker 2-4, RBI;

Richard Cunningham came off the DL after this series. Gilberto Soto was demoted to AAA instead of Carlos Moran, since Soto had been whacked around constantly for two weeks now.

Raccoons (47-46) vs. Indians (49-43)

Christopher Powell got his kazillionth no-decision to start the Indians series. The Raccoons led 2-0 after two innings, but stopped there. Powell was beaten around by Esteban Hernandez with a triple and a double that both scored runs. Hernandez was on third with two down in the seventh and Thompson lost grip on a grounder to second – Hernandez scored and Powell was on the hook, 3-2 Indians. Banda doubled in a run in the bottom 7th to at least get Powell off. Jason White put the two leadoff men on in the ninth. Sanchez botched the throw on a double steal and with only one out Cunningham couldn’t keep them from scoring. Indians won, 5-3. Banda 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Thompson 2-4; Walker 2-3, BB; Daniel Hall went 0-4 and dipped below .300 …

Game 2 saw the Raccoons score only with big ones. Cisco Banda had a solo jack in the third, and Daniel Hall once connected in his slump for a 3-run shot in the fifth. Meanwhile Logan Evans mowed down the Indians relentlessly, and pitched a complete game in the 4-0 win. Evans faced the minimum 27 batters, but it was not a perfect game, since he allowed a walk to Guillermo Gonzalez, who was erased on a double play. He also did not pitch a no-hitter, which was broken up early by Jorge Ramirez, who also was erased on a double play. Evans still finished with a stunning 1-hitter. Banda 2-5, HR, RBI; Workman 2-3, BB; Evans 9.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K and 1-3;

It was Evans’ fifth career shutout, the first of the Indians, the first in 1984 (the last had come in September of 1983). He has never been this close to either a no-hitter or a perfect game with only two baserunners. His previous best had been five (with three hits and two walks), in 1981 against the Condors.

The Coons took the lead in the second inning of the rubber game. Dawson led off with his annual triple and was brought in on a grounder by Cam Green. Still up 1-0 in the bottom 5th, we had Sanchez and Gonzalez on with one out and the pitcher Ruíz to the plate. I felt daring and called a hit and run. Ruíz zinged through into right field and Sanchez scored. Gonzalez came in from third on a single by Cisco Banda. 3-0 Furballs. Meanwhile Ruíz was also pitching a great game. He averted disaster in the first with three singles that somehow got through the infielders, also survived a scary third, and struck out contact hitter and speedster Bill Taggart with runners on the corners to end the seventh. Ruíz was still shutting out the Indians through eight, but with an advanced pitch count. He got two out in the top 9th, but Dane Cubitt got on with a single. I came out to talk to Ruíz. He was tired but would have liked to continue. My call: stay in there. Even if Orlando Torres homered off him, we were still ahead and Grant West had only to collect one more out. Torres, on a 2-0 pitch, sent a huge arc of a flyball to deep right and Mark Dawson JUST GOT IT!! 3-0 Raccoons. Ruíz 9.0 IP, 9 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K and 2-3, RBI; that’s right, he was the only Coon with more than one hit, too.

Mark Dawson *does* in fact hit one triple every season all the way back to ’77. He felt very daring and speedy in ’78 and ’80 with three and in ’81 with two for 13 career triples. (The team leader was Cisco Banda with 31 just a nip ahead of Daniel Hall with 30; both first came up during the 1978 season)

This was also W #10 for Ruíz – the first Raccoon to get there this year (although Wally Gaston had had a flying start for sure). Not bad for someone who wasn’t on anybody’s radar and unemployed at the start of the season. The Coons starters had also pitched back-to-back shutouts for what I think is the first time ever. In his 245th career start, Ruíz pitched his first ever complete game!

Raccoons (49-47) @ Knights (51-44)

Whenever something can go wrong, it will, apparently. Only true for the Coons, of course. They led 2-1 in the bottom 2nd of the series opener, when Steve Wall reached on an error by Cam Green to lead off the inning. Two outs and a walk later, Carlos Gonzalez nailed and hurt the Knights’ new acquisition Mitsuzuka Ohara, then walked in a run. From there, it only became worse. Gonzalez took the 5-2 loss, while the Raccoons out-hit the Knights 10-7, but always found room and time to ground into a double play or strike out with the corners occupied and two down. The agony continued. Banda 3-5, RBI; Dawson 2-4; Workman 2-4; Hall was not hitting anything and dropped under .290 …

More humiliation in the next game. Kinji Kan was even more awful than Gonzalez the day before, with six runs against him. He left after 5.2 innings with the bases loaded and lefty Michael Root up. Burton Taylor came in and walked Root on four straight pitches. They had NOTHING against the Knights. 8-1 Knights. Hall 1-2, 2 BB, 2B, RBI;

There was a roster change for game 3 and we had 13 pitchers on the roster for the last game in the series, but see below for more. Chris Powell went out and Cisco Banda hit a leadoff homer, but the Knights had four straight hits to start the game (one through Rigsby and one through Workman, for good measure) to get the Knights 2-1 ahead. A throwing error by Green plated another run in the second, but was I surprised? No. Upset? YOU BET I WAS!! Green actually made two errors in the game. Cisco Banda was hurt on a play in the third, and Powell surrendered six runs in six innings. 6-2 Knights. Sanchez 2-4;

In other news

July 15 – In a seemingly lop-sided trade, the Buffaloes unload SS Mitsuzuka Ohara, who’s only batting .215 this season, on the Knights for infielder Arturo Garcia (.287, 8 HR, 51 RBI). Ohara signed as international free agent prior to last season and has done nothing but disappointed so far.
July 16 – For the second year in a row, 36-yr old Chris Smith is dealt from the FL to the CL in July. The Scorpions send him to Vancouver for reliever Jesus Cortez and his 1.17 ERA in 30 appearances. Smith is batting .252 this season.
July 20 – Denver’s young ace Wilson Martinez (13-3, 2.24 ERA) is out for the season and maybe even the first part of next season with a torn rotator cuff.
July 22 – LAP CF Xiao-wei Li (.328, 3 HR, 36 RBI) will miss about a month with a sprained ankle.
July 22 – The Titans send slugger Ronaldo Cabrera (.286, 7 HR, 48 RBI) to Sioux Falls for veteran reliever Ben Edmonds, who has a 5.23 ERA this season, but is 2.96 ERA lifetime in 485 appearances with 76 saves.

Complaints and stuff

I will end this update in the middle of our week on the road, and with the Coons successfully tanking their record below .500, but this has reasons: we made some deals.

In the early morning hours before our third game in Atlanta, we struck a deal with the Canadiens: the Raccoons send OF Raúl Herrera (batting .217) to Vancouver for SP Kisho Saito (14-4, 2.98 ERA)!! BANG!!

I could have had Saito, 24, already two years ago, then by trading Carlos Gonzalez, who was then struggling in AA ball. I didn’t do it then, but now they accepted Herrera, who had dumped 80 points off his career average in Portland (as was common among imported outfielders). Herrera can do a ton better, but he’s been played out by Cisco Banda, who at least performs as badly as before. Herrera was brought on as threat on the bases, but didn’t even get there. The sad story of the centerfield hole in Portland continues.

Of course this was about 16 hours before Cisco Banda was injured in the third game against the Knights.

Saito is a genuine #2 starter in my eye, with very good performances on the mound, a nasty curve. His only downside was a tendency to give up home runs, but one certain pitcher in that category is firmly chained to my heart already.

But that was only the first deal, there was another one the next day. SP Kinji Kan was traded to Oklahoma City for C Sam Dadswell. The Thunder were eager to get the 1983 Pitcher of the Year, who became the 1984 Dork of the Year, while I was eager to get Dadswell, a good defensive catcher with (for a catcher) good offensive numbers. Enrique Sanchez was way out of whack this season and was made backup with this deal. Mark Mitchell was sent back to AAA. Dadswell had another plus: he batted left-handed, a feature not too common about ABL catchers and I had a slight shortage of lefties on the roster anyway.

The rest of the team … no offense. Zero. And bad pitching and fielding. And they will not finish over .500 this season, never. They are just too … they suck too hard…

Another roster move: Victor Castillo was called up from AAA. Primarily a shortstop, he can play other infield positions as well. Banda is not diagnosed as of the morning of the next game against the Falcons, and Steve Walker is needed as backup outfielder now. Castillo’s bat was nothing special, but he was stellar defensively.