[Westheim]

Raccoons (10-11) vs. Loggers (7-14)

Two awful teams met to determine the masters of awfulness.

Game 1, and the Raccoons got a headstart. While Carlos Gonzalez fell to a 4th inning RBI double off the bat of Jose Aguilar, the Raccoons were no-hit into the seventh by Judd Montgomery. Armando Sanchez singled up the middle to finally break into the H column. This was still a 1-0 game, so not all hope was gone with Sanchez on first and nobody out. All hope was gone only when Sanchez was caught stealing. Yet, the suckers at least got Gonzalez off the hook, courtesy of the other Gonzalez on the team, Ricardo. 1 for 20 so far, he hit a 2-out pinch-hit RBI double in the bottom 8th to tie the game. But then came Cunningham to pitch the ninth. Second pitch – Edgardo Garza hit it out. Loggers won, 2-1, as Tetsu Osanai was stranded on third in the bottom 9th. R. Gonzalez (PH) 1-1, 2B, RBI; C. Gonzalez 7.2 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 4 K;

Three hits against a team as terrible as those Loggers. Oh holy crab …

Osanai provided a lead with an RBI double in the bottom 1st of the middle game. Martinez led off the second with a triple, but they stranded him. With one out in the third, Dawson grounded into a double play with the bags loaded. Top 4th, and Gustavo Flores single-handedly blew the lead with a passed ball, and uncaught third strike, and a stolen bag against him. EVERY CHANCE TO SUCK – they took it. Masterfully. Hokichi Endo homered off Kisho Saito to get the Loggers 2-1 ahead in the fifth. Saito even singled to start the bottom 5th. He never went past first. Bottom 8th, still 2-1 Loggers. Thompson walked, Sanchez double. Two in scoring position, nobody out. You turn this now, or I will RIP YOUR HEADS OFF!! León walked. Osanai then singled to short center, which tied the game. Bases loaded, still nobody out. Dawson up, who was not even hitting .200 anymore. He got a liner to deep center through Jose Aguilar and scored two runs (also getting back to .200), and the Raccoons emerged leading 5-2. Grant West walked the first two Loggers in the ninth and surrendered one run. 5-3 Raccoons. Osanai 3-4, 2B, 2 RBI; S. Martinez 3-4, 3B, RBI; Saito 7.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 7 K;

Ricardo Gonzalez went 0-4 in this game to stay tugged away below .100 safely. He was sent back to AAA, and Gustavo Quintanilla was brought up, who was hitting .359 in AAA this year.

Terry Williams and Scott Wade had some stuff in common. Both had losing records, on losing teams, and ERA’s just under six going into the rubber game. Other than Wade, Reynolds however not even pitched a full inning before leaving with an injury. Wade spun six innings of shutout ball, while the Coons left them on the corners (with one out) in the fifth. Wade gave away one hit through six – then three to start the seventh. Two runs in. The Raccoons left the tying runs on base in the bottom 9th. 2-0 Loggers. Wade 8.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, L (1-4);

They just can not pull some runs out of their big fat - …

Raccoons (11-13) vs. Canadiens (10-14)

I was rather shocked the Canadiens were so bad out of the gate, EVEN WORSE than the Baboons. They suffered from the same ills as we did: bad pitching, bad hitting, bad catching, bad fielding, and added some injuries.

Game 1 saw the Raccoons take the lead in the bottom 2nd, after Osanai hit a TRIPLE and Dawson grounded to get him in. Did anybody realize the effort it took to hurl that body around three bags in as little time as possible? But the effort soon went down the drain, as Vicente Ruíz was socked for three runs in the third. Down 3-2, he came up to bat in the bottom 5th – and homered. Raimundo Beato and 48 other players as well as four umps, the managers and 19,899 in attendance stared in disbelief. But that was also to no avail, since he gave up another run in the top 6th for the Hemiplegic Badgers to trail again. Time for another counter-scramble. With two on in the bottom 6th, and nobody out, Sergio Martinez was told to bunt – and failed. He then grounded into a double play. Quintanilla was walked to get to Ruíz, and León pinch hit for him – a single to short left to tie the game. Thompson then came up with a single to right and the Raccoons went ahead again when Quintanilla scored. Top 7th, things collapsed the other way, away from Tim Moss. Sam Dadswell committed a throwing error that scored the tying run again. Dadswell tried to make good with a go-ahead homer in the bottom 7th. Kelly Weber threw out pinch runner Jorge Diaz at the plate to end the top 8th. Maybe we can finally get some break here? West pitched a perfect ninth with two K’s to end it. 6-5 Raccoons. Sanchez 2-4; Dadswell 2-4, HR, RBI; Quintanilla 2-3, BB; León (PH) 1-2, RBI;

Steve Walker belted a 2-run homer to get the Raccoons on top in the bottom 2nd once again in the middle game. The Furballs added three more in the bottom 4th, including a 2-run triple by Quintanilla. This gave the Raccoons a 5-0 lead, but makes it necessary to shift the focus to Logan Evans. His control was extraordinarily bad. He walked six in his outing and the Canadiens finally added a few hits and slashed the lead from 5-0 to 5-4 in the next few innings. Top 8th: Wally Gaston came in, and walked Marcos Mendez on four pitches, then exited, not because of the walk, but intense pain in his elbow. Cunningham added another walk before punching out two to escape the mess. Despite a walk with two down, Grant West converted another save. 5-4 Raccoons. Walker 2-3, HR, 2B, 2 RBI;

Wally Gaston will head to the DL with bone spurs in his elbow. Estimated time of return? At least a month.

A Sergio Martinez error plated an unearned run against Carlos Gonzalez in the top 1st, which the Raccoons countered with the help of a Daniel Hall triple in the bottom 2nd. Gonzalez struck out seven from the second through the fifth, holding the Canadiens at bay, but then had to wiggle around a Hector Atilano triple in the sixth. Armando Sanchez’ leadoff jack in the bottom 6th put the Furballs on top, 2-1. That remained the score through eight. Gonzalez was still in, and West was not available after being out the last two days. The plan was to have Gonzalez pitch one at a time in the ninth, but if he got to Brian Adams, the fourth guy to come up in the inning, David Jones would take over. It came exactly that way – Ramon Carrillo reached base and Adams came up with two out. Jones struck him out on a full count to hold on to the 2-1 win. The Raccoons had only four hits (after six the day before). C. Gonzalez 8.2 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 9 K, W (2-1);

A sweep over the Canadiens would have made me a happy squealing piglet last season. This season it was somehow moot.

If you look at it, all wins were 1-run wins. The first one went back and forth, the second one was a 5-run lead that collapsed away. The third was won on two big hits (Hall, Sanchez) and a stellar pitching performance. There was really no reason to get overly ecstatic.

Pedro Vazquez was called up to replace Wally Gaston on the roster. David Jones moved into a setup role, while Vazquez and Martinez would largely share mop-up and 6th/7th inning roles.

Raccoons (14-13) @ Buffaloes (16-12)

Game 1. Kisho Saito did what was a wise thing to do with this team: create your own offense. With the bases loaded in the top 2nd, he hit a ball into the left centerfield gap to score two runs, and Thompson added an infield RBI single to it for a 3-0 lead. The Coons added two in the third inning, including a home run by Osanai, and the Buffaloes also got one for a 5-1 score that persisted through eight. The Coons only put Osanai on in the ninth and didn’t score. Saito was only at 94 pitches and was sent out for the ninth, but two base hits scored a run and he was brought in. Grant West ended the game. 5-2 Raccoons. Osanai 3-5, HR, RBI; Dawson 2-4, BB, 2B; Saito 8.2 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, W (3-1) and 2-4, 2 2B, 2 RBI;

Neither team accounted for much offense to start the middle game. The Buffaloes twice left runners on third against Scott Wade, in the second and fourth innings, and Cristo Negrón, clicked off Raccoons batters with relative ease. But Negrón’s control worsened. He walked two in the fifth, and then followed a Sanchez single with two more walks in the sixth. Bases loaded, Carlos León up with one out. His grounder to third was easily converted by Arturo Garcia for a double play, home and first. While Wade also zeroed out the Buffaloes, he also blew two chances to score, popping up bunts for easy outs in both the fifth and seventh innings. The game was still scoreless through seven. The Raccoons chased Negrón in the eighth with a Dadswell double, intentional walk to Osanai, and a Dawson single. Nobody out, three on, and León up again, but the Buffaloes brought lefty Cesar Zuniga, and we went to Flores to pinch hit. He flew to left for an out, but at least it was far enough for Dadswell to tag and score. Hall grounded out, and hadn’t it been for a wild pitch by Zuniga, the Raccoons wouldn’t have scored another run. Wade put two on with two out and Cunningham was brought in. One run scored on a double by Engjell Vulaj (he continued to annoy, even when a league away), and walked the bases full before Flores was able to catch a foul pop to end the misery. Grant West gave a double to Will Gilmore in the ninth, but held on to the 2-1 lead. Dadswell 2-3, BB, 2B; Wade 7.2 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 2 K, W (2-4);

Game 3 saw the Coons hit three singles and leave the bases loaded (Daniel Hall K’ed) in the top 1st. Mark Dawson’s RBI double started the scoring in the top 3rd, which the Raccoons left with a 2-0 lead. One run got away from Vicente Ruíz in the fourth, but the Raccoons re-added it in the sixth, when Dadswell made for home from second on a Kelly Weber single to deep right. Things took a turn south in the bottom 7th then. Milo Carpenter, not exactly a power-bursting second baseman, homered off Ruíz, who was chased with a Gilmore double. Still nobody out, Tim Moss took pitcher Santiago Alonso’s bunt to force Gilmore at third. With righties at the top of the lineup, Jason Bentley came out, and led the Coons out of the inning with a 3-2 lead. Dadswell hit a 1-out double in the top 8th. Despite batting .190, Daniel Hall got an intentional walk, and the Raccoons left them on. Miguel Martinez pitched a strong bottom 8th with two K’s against the 3-4-5 batters. The Coons added an insurance run and Jones saved the game with West having been out the last two days. 4-2 Raccoons. Thompson 3-5; Dawson 2-5, 2B, RBI; Osanai 2-5; Dadswell 2-5, 2B; Chong 1-1;

So, out of the blue we had swept consecutive series. But this should not fool anybody. We had gotten a strong run through the rotation here. The offense was paralyzed. While looming four over .500 (and suddenly only one game behind the Indians, who had been swept by the Miners), our run differential was merely +1.

On a positive note, we still have not lost a series against Topeka in the decade (six series in eight years) and have swept the last two for a 16-8 overall record against them.

Raccoons (17-13) vs. Warriors (14-18)

This was a team that sported a number of former Raccoons, including OF Alex White, C Enrique Sanchez, SP David Castillo (although he never played for us in the majors), and MR Stanton Coleman. How hard can those be to beat?

The Raccoons scored two in the bottom 1st, while Logan Evans was perfect through three innings in the opener. But Evans was torn up in the fourth for three runs and the Coons were behind. The Raccoons singled three times in the bottom 5th for a bases loaded, one out situation. Osanai and Hall both struck out. That far, they trailed 3-2, but led 8-3 in hits. Things didn’t get better. The Warriors added two in the eighth, and the Raccoons left the bases loaded again with a K to Sergio Martinez in the bottom 8th. Warriors won, 5-2. Hits: 10-6 Raccoons; Team LOB: 11-5 Raccoons. Thompson 2-5; Sanchez 2-5, 2B, RBI;

Daniel Hall was so bad, he was benched. It tore my heart right through the middle. But he was too awful to watch. The saddest sight…

Kelly Weber’s 2-run triple got the Coons up again in the first inning. Next inning, the Warriors knocked Carlos Gonzalez out of this middle game with a 7-run barrage on four hits and a few walks, and aided by an error by Osanai, but mostly by terrible pitching. Between the third and seventh inning, no Raccoon reached base. Armando Sanchez’ leadoff infield single in the bottom 8th was meaningless, the Raccoons trailed 9-2 already. 9-2 was also the final score, and the hits column read 7-4 Warriors. Cunningham 3.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K;

Carlos Castro came into the last game with a 1.78 ERA. How were we supposed to hurt him? These days, our hitting coach chalked it up on the plus side, when none of the boys knocked himself out with the lumber in batting practice.

It didn’t matter a single bit what Castro did or didn’t. Kisho Saito was whacked around for 12 hits, 5 runs in 4+ innings, and even then there were still two on that Tim Moss had to pitch around (which he did). The Raccoons were 2-hit through four innings. Moss had a 1-on, 2-out single in the bottom 5th – Thompson grounded out. After the shelling to Saito, the bullpen pitched five innings of 1-hit ball. But of course, it was way past their bedtime. They left runners on third twice, and never scored, going down 5-0. Moss 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K and 1-1; Jones 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

In other news

May 3 – The Miners beat the Cyclones 6-2, but there are still reasons to celebrate for Cincinnati, as Claudio Rojas goes 3-4 and logs his 2,000th career base hit.
May 4 – DAL SP Jose Gonzalez (3-1, 3.97 ERA) is out for at least four months with a torn rotator cuff.
May 12 – Milwaukee’s Edgardo Garza (.317, 5 HR, 15 RBI) launches three home runs in a 10-8 win over the Gold Sox.

Complaints and stuff

Things are so utterly pointless around here… Record over last two weeks: 7-5; so far, so good. Runs scored/against over last two weeks: 34-41;

Of our 17 wins, the distribution of run differentials were as follows:

7 runs – 1 game
6 runs – 1 game
4 runs – 2 games
3 runs – 1 game
2 runs – 5 games
1 run – 7 games

And here we are – with ZERO OFFENSE. It took them 33 games to score 129 runs. That’s less than four per game, and that’s completely awful.

The Raccoons ranked top of the leagues in the Power Rankings published May 11. That was all pitching, folks. Pitching ain’t gonna carry you for seven months – it didn’t even carry into the next week. We need some offense. Some pieces are there, like Osanai of course, and we have a few high-OBP guys with speed in Sanchez and Thompson. Dadswell’s AVG is appealing (his defense is NOT), but we are missing production from Dawson, Walker, and Hall. All those three are batting FAR … VERY FAR below their undisputable capabilities.

In fact, the only players performing noticeably better than in 1986 are Winston Thompson and Jason Bentley. Everybody else is either level (not too many) or worse. Some much worse (Evans, Cunningham, Wade, Flores, Walker) …

Amidst a sea of suckers, 1B Tetsu Osanai remains as a standout – in a good way. He was the CL Player of the Week for the week ending May 2. He went 13-24 with a homer and six batted in.

In his 11th year with the Coons, Wally Gaston has been placed on the DL for the first time. This of course will pretty much void his vesting option for next year, since he won’t be able to reach 60 IP anymore.

And as if I didn’t have enough crap to deal with, FOUR(!!!) minor league catchers have gotten hurt simultaneously, adding a pressing need to sign some junk free agents. All this pointless actions steal time from me actually taking care of getting the important things done, for example knotting a proper sling to hang myself with. We started the season with only nine catchers in the system and it promptly came back slapping me in the face …

AGONY.