[Westheim]

Raccoons (64-66) @ Knights (69-60)

Vicente Ruíz took the ball first for the Coons. He made a very strong impression, zeroing in on the Knights into the sixth, while he batted in all the runs for his 2-0 lead. Cam Green chased him with an error. (sigh) With the bags full in the sixth, Cunningham came in to get the final out. The Knights threatened against him in the seventh, but didn’t score. Neither team got too far on the bases from there. 2-0 Coons! Hall 2-5; Ruíz 5.2 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K, WIN (12) and 2-3, 2 RBI; both of Ruíz’ RBI’s came with two out.

It is a sign of trouble if the pitchers are more clutch at the plate than the position players. That’s why the Coons aren’t even .500 as opposed to .580 to .600 like last year.

The Knights entered our old Kevin Hatfield in game 2, who sported a 4.43 ERA, but was 7-3. There was no way he was going to lose this one. Carlos Gonzalez surrendered seven runs (six earned) while collecting three outs. He didn’t win it either, being pulled after giving up five walks and a 2-piece to Mark Dawson through 4.2 innings. The Raccoons chewed off a few runs (mostly with long balls, but they never hit one with guys on base), but fell short. 8-6 Knights. Thompson 2-3, 2 BB; Hall 2-3, 2 BB, HR, 2 RBI; Green 2-4, 2B; Castillo 2-4, HR, RBI; Moran 5.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K (15 perfect outs, unheralded);

Carlos Gonzalez (2-7, 4.93 ERA) had proven enough that he was not usable for anything after all. He was demoted to AAA, most ironically exactly after his last start before September 1 – the original call-up date for him, before injuries, other suckers, and whatever. Burton Taylor (5.79 ERA) was also demoted. Young and Ackerman came up (a long “yaaaayyy…” from everybody now).

Christopher Powell had five good innings with a 3-0 lead in game 3. Then things got away, and quickly so. The Knights tied it in the sixth and then tore the pen apart in the seventh. Tom McDonald hit two homers to drive in four alone. Ackerman gave up another 3-run home run to Michael Root in the eighth. 9-4 Knights.

Raccoons (65-68) @ Titans (65-69)

This should be the 4-game series to dump the suckers into fifth place, with the Loggers just a tad behind the Titans.

That the Raccoons would not win ANYTHING here was clear in the top 5th of game 1. They trailed 2-1 and had the bags full with two down. Matt Workman sent a fast grounder bound to rightfield – but it hit Dawson, who came from first and was unaware of the ball. Runner out, inning over. The game became tied in the top 6th on two successive wild pitches by Jose Garza, but don’t expect this team to bring in the remaining runner, now on third, with less than ten outs available. They were as dangerous as a dead snail and never were even close to scoring another run. The Titans finally scraped one together to walk off in the 11th, 3-2. Dadswell 2-4, BB, RBI; Weber 2-5;

Out-hitting the Titans 11-8 in the next game, they lost the game in the eighth on a pitching collapse. Logan Evans had been fine through seven, but then gave away two leadoff doubles in the eighth and the pen could not hold on to the remaining 3-2 lead with nobody out. Of course they also lost the game on crappy and clutchless batting. 4-3 Titans. Green 2-4, BB, RBI; Hall 2-4; Workman 2-4, RBI; Lucero 2-4;

At this point the frustration was boiling. (I was so annoyed on Wednesday here that I stopped playing in the middle of a series, and it has to have come VERY FAR for that to happen)

The next day was September 1. The Coons called up Todd Raines, David Jones, Jayson Bowling, and Fernando Perez, all already known from this and/or last season. None of them is expected to make an impact on a 29-man no-impact roster.

Game 3. The Titans made two errors in the top 3rd of a scoreless game. That was not enough for their opponents to score. With the bags full, Dawson rolled out harmlessly to third to end the inning. Vicente Ruíz held the Titans scoreless through five innings, then came up with the bags loaded and two out in the top 6th. Victor Castillo pinch hit – into 2B Wen Zhan’s glove. If not anything else, he showed great precision. Zhan then singled in the go-ahead run for the Titans in the bottom 7th after Neubauer and Ackerman had given away successive 2-out walks. The single was off Cunningham, but went right through non-defender Cameron Green. This was also the lone run in the game. 1-0 Titans. Raccoons had five hits, yet managed to leave runners at third three times. Dadswell 2-4;

Charles Young was beaten for three runs in the first inning to end the series. That was enough to lose it. The usual stuff, leaving the bases loaded, hitting into double plays. Green, Hall, and Dawson in particular played like they were dead in the 2-3-4 area. Plus centerfield of course. Young went 7.1 innings, leaving after a solo shot by Isto Grönholm. 4-2 Titans. Workman 2-4; Dadswell 2-4, 2B; Walker 2-4, RBI;

They have now lost 12 of 15 against the Titans this year. They had never lost more than 11 against the Titans ever. 11 of 18 of course. They were also fifth now (tied for fourth after their off day following this sweep) in the CL North, 14.5 games ahead of the Crusaders with a magic number of 12. Could get interesting again.

25 more games of general horribleness ahead. For this season.

Raccoons (65-72) vs. Crusaders (50-86)

The lineup was heavily reworked. Dawson was out of the cleanup spot. Hall was in (although he has driven in two in the last 12 games), the righty lineup was stuffed with left- and switch-handers, regardless of performance. The team will finish fifth anyway, it doesn’t matter. The only righties in there were Hall (triple crown on the team, plus only Fernando Perez plays leftfield and bats left, and in this case, Hall is exempt) and Dawson (no lefty to play right field). Green benched, Walker benched. How much of a fork did I give by now? Enough to play .120 hitting Jayson Bowling at third.

Since the Crusaders walked up Carlos Guillen, a lefty, in the first game of the series, the less dramatically revised lineup vs. LHP was rolled out first, with Hall batting cleanup, although so far it was unclear whom he should clean up after all.

Oh, how much I wished for Chris Powell to have a winning season once more. Problem was, he was 7-8 at this point. And he was on a team that had lost 13 of 17, and 11 of 32, and of course six in a row.

The Crusaders took the lead in the third on a scratch single just past Steve Walker. The Coons did not land a hit until the bottom 4th, by Green with one out. Workman singled as well and Hall walked to fill the bags, bringing up Mark Dawson. He lifted a 1-1 pitch to deep left. It kept travelling for the foul pole, but stayed fair. HOLY COW, A GRAND SLAM!!! The Coons added two in the sixth and Thompson homered in the seventh. Powell surrendered a long one in the eighth, then was removed with two down and a runner on second. David Jones’ first task after getting an undeserved call-up was to get rid of Ben Browning to end the inning. He kinda did, although 98% of credit went to Winston Thompson and his heroic catch of Browning’s double-bound liner. Jones’ ninth inning was even worse. Grant West came into the game with the tying run in the on-deck circle to strike out Peter Charles (who had homered off Powell) and to collect SV #34. 7-2 Coons! Thompson 2-4, RBI; Dawson 2-4, HR, 4 RBI; Powell 7.2 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, WIN (8);

We rolled out a struggling Kisho Saito and our skewed lineup vs. RHP out for game 2. The three lefties leading off in the revised lineup totaled seven hits and helped a great deal to make him an 18-game winner, but Saito also was back to strong in this game with seven innings of 1-run ball (and that scored in the eighth, which Saito should not have started, I admit). The Coons won 5-1, and could have won much higher if not for Daniel Hall, who K’ed three times in the first four innings and left eight on base. Ouch. Thompson 3-3, 2 BB; Dadswell 2-4, BB; Workman 2-4, BB, 2 2B, 2 RBI; Saito 7.0 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, WIN (18);

Now if we could just get Logan Evans to “strong” status as well. But we couldn’t. Miguel Fuentes took him deep for two in the fourth and just when the Coons had scrambled back to tie it, he gave up a home run to opposing pitcher Mario Garcia to lead off the sixth. David Jones managed to give up three runs in the seventh and the Raccoons lost, 6-3. Dadswell 3-5, HR, 3B, 2B, RBI; Dawson 2-4, RBI;

Raccoons (67-73) @ Loggers (66-74)

This was the last series against the Loggers for this season. We were 6-9 behind and had not looked good in most games against them.

Ruíz took the ball first and started out very solid. The Coons scored three early, then shattered Loggers starter Fiorello Garafaio completely in the fourth, where they put up a 7-spot, crowned by a 3-run home run by Dawson. The team led 11-2 after six, 11-2 after seven, 11-2 into the bottom 9th.

You probably know what’s coming. Todd Raines, Jerry Ackerman, Richard Cunningham, and Grant West were skinned for ten runs, including a walk off grand slam by Hokichi Endo. 12-11 Loggers.

I have really had it.

Game 2. Charles Young let a 3-0 lead get away with doing his usual crap on the mound. Leadoff walk, ball in the dirt on a stealing attempt, wild pitch – in that order, and lots of it. 4-3 Loggers.

Game 3, Powell’s game. The hemiplegic badgers left the bases loaded in the first. Powell then hit the first two batters, which then scored on a dropped flyball by Kelly Weber. Powell was injured in the third and left the game, with no hits and two unearned runs against him. Edgardo Gonzalez put him off the hook with a solo shot in the fourth. Todd Raines lost the game in the sixth. 4-2 Loggers.

Raccoons (67-76) vs. Titans (73-71)

Saito sucked again, and the rest of the assembly of human failures managed to get into four double plays in the game and leave the bags loaded once. 5-1 Titans in that first game.

After that came the news that Christopher Powell was out for the season with an elbow injury.

This was so not great.

I closed my eyes and felt the emptiness in Coon City.

In other news

September 2 – Season over for 22-yr old Titans SS Barry Miller (.281, 2 HR, 35 RBI). The infield wizard is down with a ruptured finger tendon.
September 4 – An elbow sprain robs the Aces of feared slugger RF Tom Simmons (.332, 21 HR, 85 RBI) down the stretch.
September 4 – The Canadiens beat the Logger 1-0, with their starter Luciano Pizzonia tossing a 3-hitter in his first start after getting called up again! He pitched in the majors before, from 1980 to ’82 with the Stars.
September 6 – Harsh punishments are handed out by the ABL office after a ferocious fistfight between ATL Carlos Asquabal and OCT Guy King. Both are suspended for *15* games.

Complaints and stuff

It would be best to just walk away.

Maybe I should do just that.