[Westheim]

The Raccoons had an off day before the start of the series against the Indians, but what good are off days when your pitching is too bad to ever get exhausted?

Raccoons (24-28) vs. Indians (31-23)

We ran out Venegas in the opener despite the conveniently placed off day. The less I see of Carlos Gonzalez, the better.

While Venegas quickly fell behind 1-0 in the first after an R.J. Stinton triple, the Raccoons’ first ten men up all made outs, before Armando Sanchez singled his way on in the fourth. Daniel Hall followed that up with an RBI triple, but was starved at third by Osanai and Dawson and the Raccoons trailed 2-1. The Indians broke the game open in the fifth. A leadoff double and subsequent bunt by Terry Reynolds was followed by back-to-back infield RBI singles by Jorge Salazar and Stinton, then a 3-piece by Forest Hartley. The Raccoons just have no pitching at all. They brought the tying run to the plate in the sixth after *some* offense displayed by the heart of the lineup, but then still trailed 6-4. Moss came into the game in the next inning, blew it, and Wally Gaston added a run with a wild pitch with one strike to go in the eighth and the Raccoons lost 8-4. J. Sanchez 2-4, RBI;

Back to the top of the rotation. Gonzalez, Evans, Saito, and Wade all have four wins (and some have four wins for a long time already). Will any of them make it five this time through? The Raccoons have dropped nine of their last ten, going from average-at-best to can’t-watch-it-my-eyes-are-bleeding.

Carlos Gonzalez was up in the middle game, living on the brink of demotion to AAA (he has an option left). We tried a new lineup with both Sanchezes (Armando and Jose) leading off ahead of Hall, Osanai, and Dawson. One of them had had an oomph week, Dawson had an 11-game streak, and Osanai was nothing but causing trouble. The Sanchezes singled in the bottom 1st and Hall scored Armando on a fielder’s choice for the Coons to take a lead. Gonzalez almost gave it all back with what almost was a 3-run homer to pitcher Jesse Carver (who had less than half Gonzalez’ ERA) in the top 2nd, but Armando Sanchez caught the flyer just in time. Still, this was merely delaying what everybody saw coming, and Gonzalez coughed up two runs in the third. It remained 2-1 for some time, with the Coons leaving runners in scoring position twice. Gonzalez was removed in the seventh. With two out and a runner on third he wanted to go after Salazar, but walked him. David Jones then came in to face Angelo Duarte, but surrendered a tomb-sealing RBI single to Duarte. A leadoff double by Dadswell in the bottom 7th was wasted when Thompson, Costello, and Quintanilla failed to move him an inch, let alone 180 feet. After Moss struck out the side in the top 8th, Jose Sanchez and Hall singled their way on to start the bottom 8th. Osanai up. Flew out. Dawson up, his hitting streak in danger after going 0-3 so far. Carver was still in to face him and Dawson buried a fastball in the left field bleachers, and suddenly the Raccoons were ahead. Grant West was happy to turn in a 1-2-3 save. 4-3 Raccoons. J. Sanchez 2-4; Dawson 1-4, HR, 3 RBI; Dadswell 2-4, 2B; Moss 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K, W (1-2);

Dani Perez was back to ready for the rubber game, but was left on the bench for another day.

The Furballs took a first inning lead on a bad throw by Raúl Vazquez from right field, trying to get Jose Sanchez, who tagged upon Tetsu Osanai’s flyout to Vazquez. Logan Evans spent his time behind in the count again. He fell behind 2-1 in the fourth, but batted for an RBI groundout in the bottom of the inning to tie the score again. Alex Miranda was the opposing pitcher, entering with a 3-8 record and a horrid 6+ ERA, but he held the Raccoons short enough. He started the top 5th with a single to short right – but made the mistake to keep running and was hammered out at second base. Osanai returned them the favor by not stopping at second on a 2-out double in the bottom 5th – and was hammered accordingly. Evans loaded them up in the sixth and one run scored against Bentley on a sac fly, Raccoons down 3-2. Hall singled first up in the bottom 8th and was brought around by the rest of the team to score on a 2-out single by Winston Thompson to tie the game again. Cunningham held the Indians short to give them a chance to walk off, but the 8-9-1 hitters were up in the bottom 9th and were blanked by Jim Durden. Campbell put two on, but then escaped in the top 10th. Jose Sanchez popped out foul in the bottom 10th, Hall struck out, and Osanai grounded to 1B Gilberto Alaniz, who botched a simple pickup. Osanai was safe. Dawson came up, 0-4, but with a red glimmer in his eyes. He went to 1-2 against Durden, then killed him with a massive home run to left! 5-3 Raccoons! Hall 2-5; Dawson 1-5, HR, 2 RBI; Thompson 2-3, BB, RBI;

Back-to-back game winning home runs by Mark Dawson are at least something to write positively about.

Raccoons (26-29) @ Crusaders (24-31)

This was a 4-game set on a short cross-country trip before an interleague week starting at home.

Saito was up against Travis Newton (2-4, 3.48 ERA) in the opener – the 11th straight righty the Raccoons faced. The remaining three days in New York were scheduled to be against lefties then. Mark Dawson quickly extended his hitting streak to 14 this time with the latter of a pair of RBI doubles (the other by Osanai) in the top 1st. Saito gave one run right back with an RBI triple to Pedro Villa in the bottom 1st, but settled in after that, while the Raccoons piled on Newton. It was 5-1 after two, and 6-1 after four. Newton filled them up with nobody out in the fifth and Saito up. Down 1-2, Saito made contact into a double play, but at least brought a run in, 7-1, and got Newton out of the game. The Raccoons led 8-1 into the bottom 8th. Now one for the ages. Saito walked the first man up and was removed. Two straight walks by Jason Bentley filled the bags, nobody out. Wally Gaston came in, and faced three batters, while four runs scored. Enter Moss: pitch to Lorenzo Gomez’ hip, then a flyout by PH Seitaro Ine. Now, Grant West was warm, with all righties to come and the tying run at the plate already. 1-1 to Raúl Castillo, West threw a wild pitch to put the two runners into scoring position. Castillo singled to left for two runs to score, and West gave up another single to Sam Richmond, which put the go-ahead run on. West was screamed at on the mound by the pitching coach, then walked Diego Rodriguez, which brought up Pedro Villa, the most dangerous bat the Crusaders had. He singled to left for two runs. Raccoons lost, 9-8.

Seriously? SERIOUSLY?? How can you be SERIOUS about this, this … ah-da…… HHRWAAAAHH!!!

I preferred to spend game 2 in the silent isolation of my hotel room. I missed Scott Wade turning in a very fine outing over seven innings and some early offense for a 6-2 lead through eight. Cunningham came in for the ninth, got two quick outs, then loaded the bases, before getting a grounder by Lorenzo Gomez to second that Dani Perez converted for the final out. Mark Dawson went 0-4 to end his hitting streak at 14 games. 6-2 Raccoons. Hall 2-3, BB, HR, RBI; Vinson 2-4; Wade 7.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 4 K, W (5-3);

Game 3. The Coons batted through the order in a 5-run first inning, including a 2-out bases-clearing double by Gustavo Quintanilla, in support of Venegas. All were unearned. The same Venegas then gave three runs right back in the bottom 1st, making me wish back to the hotel room. From there, Venegas tumbled through seven frames with some good defense and a few infield popups around him, while the Coons left the bags full in the fifth, leaving the score at 5-3. The Crusaders lost Pedro Villa early on to injury, making things perhaps a bit easier. Dawson became the first Coon this year to double-digit bombs with a solo home run in the eighth. Up 6-3, Grant West (last time out: 0.0 IP, 3 H, 2 BB) came into the bottom 9th. Three hits and two runs later he left again. 6-5, tying run on second base, nobody out. Edward Snyder bunted the runner, Seitaro Ine, over to third and was out at first. Gaston walked Raúl Castillo, then struck out John Beach. Diego Rodriguez was walked intentionally to create a force at home and get Sam Richmond, Villa’s replacement at 2B, up. Soaring flyer to deep center, Kelly Weber running, running, runniiiiiiiiiing – catching. 6-5 Raccoons.

Despite facing lefty Francisco Vidrio in game 4, we fielded four left-handed batters in the lineup, plus switch-hitter Vinson. So many righties were struggling right now. Pedro Villa was back in the lineup for New York with a sore back, which didn’t bother him too much: he homered off Carlos Gonzalez in the first inning. The Crusaders put seven runs on Gonzalez in another horrible outing, while Vidrio held the Raccoons at bay easily. Out of bullpen to use, West was sent into the lost game in the bottom 8th. The first two Crusaders reached again, before Dawson managed to make a play for an out, and West actually STRUCK OUT somebody (Vidrio…). The Coons were soundly defeated, 7-1, in a complete game outing by Vidrio, and only scored a run because the Crusaders went for the sure out at third base against Dawson back in the fourth inning, letting Armando Sanchez score on a long Jose Sanchez single to right. A. Sanchez 2-4; Dawson 1-2, BB, 2B;

In other news

June 2 – LAP Greg Cain (5-3, 4.09 ERA) 3-hits the Capitals in a 2-0 win for the Pacifics.
June 4 – TOP SP Johnny Brown (6-5, 4.50 ERA) is out for the season with bone chips in his elbow.

Complaints and stuff

This update seemed way too long, but now that I have edited out the obscenities and most of the crying.........

Ten straight batters Grant West had faced reached base. Two questions. A) Why? and B) WHY???

A couple of our AAA guys:
SP Jason Turner 8-1, 2.98 ERA, 107/36 K/BB
MR Emerson MacDonald 1-2, 2.43 ERA, 3 SV, 30/4 K/BB
1B Billy Mitchell .322, 15 HR, 34 RBI
OF Glenn Johnston .313, 8 HR, 27 RBI, 3/3 SB
OF Daniel Dumont .386, 3 HR, 24 RBI, 1/2 SB