[Westheim]

We added Alarico Violante as third catcher going into the next series, so we can use Leo Smith as pinch hitter regardless of the inning.

Behind the Titans loomed the Canadiens for the final four games of our head-to-head schedule, so it was important to have everything / everybody in place, working, and humming over the next week.

Raccoons (74-65) @ Titans (63-78)

The main difference in game 1 was the 2-out approach of hitters. While the Titans connected well, with Jack Burbidge driving in three with 2-out knocks his first two times to the plate, the Raccoons flailed helplessly. An Osanai error made it 4-1 Titans through five, and the Raccoons made no impression they could ever come back from that. They got their chance in the sixth, when Osanai, Vinson, and Higgins loaded the bags with one out (and that out, Johnston, was owed to LF Hjalmar Flygt making a Gold Glove play on a line drive). Dawson came up, and instead of hitting into a double play, he took a walk, pushing a run in. A slightly ineffective Jason Turner was pulled with Martin striking out in his place. Arnold flew out to shallow left, ending the inning. With K’s mounting, power was the last resort, and Matt Higgins played that card in the eighth, hitting a 2-run shot to tie the game. Leo Smith pinch-hit with one out in the inning, and hit a huge shot out of left field, and suddenly the Raccoons were ahead, 5-4. It took the cream of the bullpen (Matthews, Cordero, Lagarde) to labor through a 2-men-on bottom 8th, before Flygt got to another liner of Johnston in the top 9th, denying the Coons an extra run. Grant West had to make do with what he had – but couldn’t. The Titans hit a double, a triple, and a single in three appearances to sink him, and the Raccoons lost this one, 6-5. Arnold 2-5, 2 2B; Salazar 2-5, 2B, RBI; Higgins 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Smith (PH) 1-1, HR, RBI; Burnett 1.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Leo Smith made it 2-for-2 in driving in go-ahead runs, starting the middle game of the series and getting a 2-out RBI single into right field in the top 2nd, scoring Matt Higgins. Kisho Saito and Luis De Jesus engaged in a pitcher’s duel, allowing very little offense between them. If anything, De Jesus showed bad control, and he walked Reece and Saito in the top 7th with one out, then advanced them into scoring position with a wild pitch. Bob Arnold was at the plate, but his grounder was so piss poor that the runners had to hold, and then Salazar struck out. It seemed like Saito had to fight for himself. Then Daniel Hall led off the eighth with a double to left. Osanai was put on intentionally (why, we won’t ever know), and then O-Mo came through with a double to right, scoring Hall and potentially breaking the game wide open. Of course, the Raccoons were also known for situations like these in which the outcome was about as friendly as a botched home-made abortion. This time however, they came through, scored five runs, and got Saito comfortable, and that way, Saito easily finished the game, shutting out the Titans. 6-0 Raccoons. Hall 1-3, 2 BB, 2B; Smith 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Saito 9.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K, W (10-11);

News of Kisho Saito’s 10th career shutout were not necessarily front page worthy however, for two other shutouts were pitched that same day. More below.

Scott Wade in the rubber game got support early with a 2-run homer by Osanai in the first inning. This set the tone for a game developing stunningly similar to the one the night before. Wade was awesome on the mound, just a notch below Saito’s outing, and the Raccoons failed to mount any additional offense until the eighth again, when Glenn Johnston hit a 2-out bases-clearing double for a 5-0 lead. However, similarities ended there. Wade allowed a leadoff triple to Alejandro Espinoza in the bottom 8th, and the run scored, and the Titans loaded the bags with one out, bringing the tying run to the plate. Cordero came in, allowing a single and a balk to score two runs. Matthews came in, hit Rafael Ramirez, and walked Augusto Arrendondo. The game was tied, and the Titans scored another run for a 6-run inning, killing not only Wade’s W ambitions and ERA, but also the Raccoons’ season. 6-5 Titans. Salazar 2-5; Osanai 3-4, HR, 2 RBI; Johnston 2-3, BB, 2B, 3 RBI;

The Raccoons fell to seven games out of first place with this terrible series, and even before the Canadiens series are about done.

Raccoons (75-67) @ Canadiens (82-60)

Unless this series resulted in another sweep, the distance on the Canadiens could be rightfully called insurmountable. What were the chances?

The Raccoons opened game 1 in a hurry, scoring three runs in the top 1st, with Osanai driving in two in the first inning in back-to-back games, but Juan Correa gave two of the runs away again instantly in a 4-hit bottom 1st. The defense held Correa in the game after that, but he only went six frames before being pinch hit for. The Coons barely managed to starve the tying run at third base in the seventh, but when they themselves left the bags full in the top 8th when PH Bob Arnold struck out, killing a 10-game hitting streak unless he would come to bat once more, the writing was on the wall. Matthews came in for the bottom 8th, walking Carlos Gonsales. He was 3-1 on Raúl Solís, before the youngster was so kind to bounce into a 6-4-3 eraser play. The Furballs left a runner at third base in the ninth. Grant West had no margin for error again. Kevin Gilmore singled through Dawson at third base to start the bottom 9th and was replaced by speedy Doug Hill to run. Hill was at third base with two down. Javier Salcido to the plate, a .184 hitter, and he singled up the middle, West had blown another save. This one went to extra innings. In the 11th, Bob Arnold hit a 1-out triple. The Canadiens forewent Glenn Johnston, who was in the leadoff spot with Arnold on the bench to start the game, and pitched to Salazar, but he hit them with an RBI single. I sent Johnston from second to go home on a Hall single, but he was thrown out and the lead remained 4-3. Lagarde came in to save the game, and had considerable trouble, but was helped out by a double play. 4-3 Raccoons. Johnston 2-5, BB, 2B; Salazar 2-5, BB, RBI; Hall 2-6; Osanai 3-6, 2B, 2 RBI; Smith (PH) 1-1; Arnold (PH) 1-2, 3B;

Tetsu Osanai has reached 100 RBI’s in this game. Grant West in his last 11 outings: 10.2 IP, 18 H, 8 R, 8 ER, 2 BB, 14 K, and perhaps worst of all: 5/9 SV/OPP … things are getting critical here.

“Woody” Lopez doubtlessly appreciated Osanai getting a bit more lukewarm by now, as Osanai was on the back end of back-to-back 2-run hits with Daniel Hall being the front end in the top 3rd. Up 4-0, Lopez still was perfect, but Carlos Quintela’s fourth inning single ended the bid early. Daniel Hall led off the top 7th, but was hit by Ruben Prado and had to leave the game with shoulder pain. The Raccoons loaded the bags in the inning and with one out, Higgins singled in a run, and Dawson came up with a 2-run double. Lopez had shut out the Canadiens so far, but ran into a wall in the bottom 8th and the Canadiens scored two runs. Yet, the Raccoons got those runs back in the top 9th, hurting reliever John Snook, who so far had pitched 14.1 scoreless innings this season. A 1-out bases-loaded infield single by Glenn Johnston scored a run, and Reece, Hall’s replacement, walked on four pitches to force in the second run, and then they added two more, when Vinson walked, too, and Salazar singled in another run. Reece was thrown out at the plate. 11-2 Furballs!! Johnston 2-4, 2 BB, RBI; Hall 1-3, 2B, 2 RBI; Osanai 2-5, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Salazar 3-5, BB, 2B, RBI; Higgins 2-5, RBI; Dawson 2-4, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Lopez 7.1 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, W (14-11) and 1-3;

Dan The Man had a bad bruise on the shoulder and was DTD for approximately three days. He was left out of the game 3 lineup as precaution.

Jason Turner struck out the side in the bottom 1st in game 3, but before long fell 1-0 behind on a Carlos Gonsales home run. The Raccoons missed a few scoring chances early on, but David Vinson, subbing in the #3 hole for Dan The Man, turned the score in the sixth with a 2-run homer to extreme right, just a foot inside the foul pole. That tied Vinson with Dawson for the team lead in dingers, and the old man couldn’t let that stand. Two batters later, he also knocked one outta the park to make it 3-1 Coons off unlucky Kazuyoshi Kato. That lead was not too solid, though. Turner was struggling with control at this point and put runners on the corners with a walk and single in the bottom 7th, and there was nobody out. Burnett came in with a string of four switch- and left-handed hitters up, but surrendered the lead with two hits and a sac fly. Lagarde could not keep the lead runner from scoring and the Canadiens took the lead. The Raccoons went down without as much as a whimper in the eighth, and the bullpen surrendered another 3-spot in the bottom 8th. Looked like a done deal. Top 9th: Neil Reece’ 1-out double and an intentional walk to O’Morrissey brought up Bob Arnold, hitting streak in danger. He hit an RBI double over the head of CF Seitaro Ogawa, bringing the tying run to the plate against Jamel Teissier. Johnston struck out, Vinson was hit by a pitch. Osanai with two down and the bags full took a walk, forcing in a run and bringing up Dawson, who had hit a few game-savers this season already. Dawson lobbed the first pitch over the middle infielders, it fell in, Vinson was sent home, the throw to the plate – SAFE!!! The game was tied on a 2-out, 2-run double by Mark Dawson! Carrillo held the Canadiens short to get the game to extra innings, while Osanai was removed for defense. It didn’t help. In the end, in the bottom 10th, it was again that terribly hitting backup catcher Javier Salcido playing Arse of the Day, hitting a 2-out, 2-run, walkoff home run off Carrillo. 9-7 Canadiens. Dawson 2-5, HR, 3 RBI; O’Morrissey (PH) 1-1, BB, 2B;

And we’re toast.

Game 4. Arnold doubled, Salazar singled, against the left-hander Vernon Robertson to start the game. Leo Smith started behind the plate and batted third, and imitated Vinson well enough, mashing a 3-run homer right away. The Coons left the bags full in the second, and runners on the corners in both the third and fifth innings without scoring. At some point, that had to come back at them. Kisho Saito started out strong, clicking off the Vancouver lineup in perfect manner the first time through, but the budding bid was broken up by Colin Irwin’s leadoff single in the bottom 4th, and the Canadiens scored a run to make it 3-1 in the fifth. Mark Dawson came up with a clutch hit in the top 6th, a massive liner for an RBI double off the wall in deep right, and the Coons added a run and loaded the bags when Saito came up with two out. There was no way I wanted to remove him here, but we could really use a knock to gain more distance. With left-hander Bernard Hellyer on the mound, we got to Daniel Hall and his bruised shoulder. He made sound contact, but his shot to the warning track was intercepted by Colin Irwin and the inning was over, and Saito out of the game. Jackie Lagarde struck out the side in the bottom 6th, but also put four men on base, adding up to a run, but that was nothing against the bullpen implosion in the bottom 7th, where Lagarde, Martinez, and Cordero coughed up four runs, costing Saito the W (and another shot at getting at least to .500). Top 9th: David Vinson pinch hit for Antonio Gonzalez, but popped out foul. Matt Higgins pinch hit for reliever Pedro Vazquez. Teissier did not pitch him carefully enough and Higgins bashed a game-tying home run. It was Blown Saves Week, apparently. It was also Dashed Hopes Week. Ken Burnett collected one out in the bottom 9th, then Carlos Gonsales hit a pinch hit home run. The Canadiens walked off again, 7-6. Arnold 2-6, 2B; Salazar 3-5, BB; Smith 2-5, BB, HR, 3 RBI; Dawson 2-5, 2B, RBI; Reece 3-5, 2B; Higgins (PH) 1-1, HR, RBI; Saito 5.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 K and 1-3;

Raccoons (77-69) vs. Knights (82-64)

Things had already gone to hell, but when the Knights scored four runs in the top 1st of the opener on Scott Wade, it still stung. Wade did not have a good day, dragged himself into the seventh, but was charged with seven runs (five earned). The pitching staff, which had had it’s struggles the last week, was not made for the potent Atlanta offense. The Raccoons were terrible at the plate, scoring three runs early, but two were unearned, and from the fourth to the sixth innings, they ended each of them with a soul-wrenching double play. The bottom 8th saw the Coons trail 7-3. Hall singled his way on, before Osanai was hit in the hand with a pitch from Gary Simmons (the ex-Coon). He was out of the game, and possibly his string of 873 consecutive starts at first base was over. The Raccoons loaded the bags, and Salazar hit a 1-out RBI single, Higgins hit a 2-run double, and Dawson came to the plate with the go-ahead run (Higgins) in scoring position. Dawson hit a game-tying sac fly, but Higgins was left on. Grant West came in for the top 9th to hold the Knights at bay, couldn’t do it, and the Knights won on a 2-out homer by SS Paul Connolly. 8-7 Knights. Hall 3-4, BB, 2B; Vinson 2-4, BB, RBI; Higgins 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI;

Tetsu Osanai’s finger was not broken, just bruised, and he insisted to play through it.

Totally surprisingly, the Knights hit a flurry of groundballs at Osanai at the start of the middle game, but he held his ground well enough and David Vinson’s 20th dinger of the year gave the Coons a 1-0 lead in the bottom 2nd. Manuel Guzman took Juan Correa deep in the fourth to tie the game, though. The Raccoons faced Carlos Asquabal in this game and didn’t see much land against the ace of the Knights staff. Through six innings, Arnold was the only other Raccoon with a base hit against Asquabal. To start the bottom 7th of the 1-1 game, Tetsu Osanai – finger swollen and blue or not – singled to short left. Vinson grounded to the mound, but Asquabal’s throw to second base was wide and everybody was safe. Two on, nobody out, Dawson up. He grounded out, but the runners advanced. Neil Reece came up, having flailed badly at Asquabal’s offerings before, and fell behind 0-1, but then hit the ball right where it hurt, launching a moon shot for his first home run of the season, 4-1 Coons. Asquabal was now out of whack and surrendered a leadoff homer to Bob Arnold in the eighth, marking Arnold’s first home run of the year and of course his first as a Coon. The Raccoons won this one, 5-1. Arnold 2-4, HR, RBI; Reece 1-3, HR, 3 RBI; Correa 7.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 0 K, W (11-6); all runs in the game were scored with the long ball;

Qi-zhen Geng pitched the ninth and finally – after six innings – got his first big league K. The victim was Emilio Rosa.

We were able to add Bobby Quinn off the DL in time for game 3, but he did not start the game. Antonio Lopez was ineffective early on, surrendering three runs through three innings, before settling in somewhat, but all the Raccoons mustered early on was a solo shot by Hall. That home run turned out to be half their offensive output. Kiyohira Sasaki pitched masterfully for the Knights, and the only other Furball to knock a hit was David Vinson. The Raccoons never factored in the game, and lost 5-1.

In other news

September 8 – NO-HITTER! Atlanta’s Glenn Ryan joins an elite circle of pitchers by no-hitting the Thunder in a 6-0 win, allowing only two walks in the game. Ryan, 26, and injured from last season until June, is 5-4 with a 3.12 ERA on the season, and the 13th no-hitter in ABL history. It is the first no-hitter for Atlanta pitchers, but the Thunder have been on the receiving end of the last three no-hitters pitched in the ABL, all in the span 12 1/2 months (POR Jason Turner, BOS Luis De Jesus).
September 8 – DEN SP Wilson Martinez (11-12, 4.17 ERA) 2-hits the Scorpions as the Gold Sox win 6-0.
September 11 – The Condor’s ageless (actually 42 years old) Jon Butler (5-2, 1.87 ERA, 24 SV) notches his 400th career save, converting a 3-2 win against the Thunder. Butler is the second closer after Andres Ramirez to reach the mark. When Ramirez was born, however, Butler was already in junior high. While Butler’s career is winding down, Ramirez could reach much higher marks.
September 15 – After being befallen by a slew of injuries, major and minor, in recent times, LVA OF Claudio Garcia (.327, 6 HR, 62 RBI) is now out for the season with a broken kneecap.

Complaints and stuff

There is nothing left to win here. Everybody looking for postseason tickets should apply with the disgusting team over in Colombian Brittany or something like that. The team has lacked sufficient offensive output most of the year, and it has not gotten any better recently.

The bullpen crumbled a few times, but these guys have been ridden hard at points, with a lot of extra innings under our belt already. The story of Grant West is a particularly concerning one. He is completely out of shape at this point.

Not totally unconnected to the West issue: our first round draft pick, Daniel Miller, is already in AAA ball, and has allowed only seven earned runs in 29 innings pitched in the minors. Grant West came up a hot shot like that about ten years ago.

Also in AAA: Steven Berry on rehab, which is almost over. In four starts, he has gone 0-3 with a 4.35 ERA. Things may NOT improve when he returns to the expanded roster.

Tetsu Osanai may have gotten pain bonus, but he won Player of the Week for the September 9-15 period, going 13-29 with 2 HR and 8 RBI.

I tried to trade for Glenn Ryan a few years ago when he was in AAA and on the verge of moving up. That never came about, but it is nice to know that I was exactly right about him. He’s 26-20 with a 3.66 ERA for his career. Injuries have been an issue.