[Westheim]

Now, let’s finish the season decently and soundly over .500. Please.

Raccoons (78-71) vs. Thunder (69-80)

The Thunder were trying to finish the year in decency just as much as we did. But there was no mercy to be had for them. This was a bad team, with not a single section of the roster standing out.

Jason Turner didn’t allow a hit until with two out in the third in the opener, but then three straight Thunder reached base and they scored a run. Hall reached on an error in the bottom 4th and Osanai saddled one for a ride to the Pacific to turn the game to a 2-1 lead. Dawson followed that up with a home run himself. It was the 300th home run of his career, most of them with the Raccoons, and both teams came out to congratulate him at the plate – after all, Dawson was the first player to reach 300 dingers. The Raccoons led 4-1 after six, and Turner went into the eighth before giving way to Burnett with left-handers up. Burnett put two on, and with two out Grant West came in for a 4-out save, but allowed two singles and a run to score before getting out of the inning. He had a less scary ninth, holding on to the game. 4-2 Raccoons. Dawson 2-3, BB, HR, RBI; Turner 7.1 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, W (5-3);

With the AAA season over, and our affiliate, the St. Petersburg Alley Cats, finished five games out in their division. We added a few more players, SP Dennis Fried, SP Steven Berry (whose rehab stint was up anyway), and INF Matt Duncan. Fried would start the middle game here. Duncan was a defensive option, so we could pinch hit more readily for the struggling Matt Higgins. Duncan, 24, had been a supplemental round pick by the Warriors in 1987, but they had released him in 1989. We had acquired him last December from the Capitals for AAA 1B Orlando Alvarado. Between Sioux Falls and Washington, he had 208 AB and a .202 average.

Fried starting the middle game was largely ineffective. He allowed nine hits and three runs in four innings, leaving the bags full twice, and was pinch-hit for in the bottom 4th, when the Coons had scored a run and had the bases loaded with one out. Bob Arnold’s liner was caught by SS Tom Nicks, and Johnston came up with two down. He also went up the middle, but out of everybody’s reach, and the single tied the game as two runs scored. Four innings in, the game was tied at three, and now we tested the other call-up, Steven Berry. The top 6th showed pretty well why I was losing all hope in Berry. Tony Oliva led off with a single and advanced on a groundout by Alfonso Torres. Oliva got a huge jump stealing third base off a tardy Berry, who then walked Vonne Calzado, and then didn’t hold him on, and Calzado stole second, taking the double play away. Berry got the double play in order again, hitting Dave Browne with a pitch. With two out, Berry walked Alejandro Olvera and the Thunder took a 4-3 lead. The Coons had the tying run on third base in the bottom 6th with one out, but two pinch hitters (Martin, Smith) didn’t get the run in. Berry was pinch-hit for with the latter. Matt Duncan made his Raccoons debut as defensive replacement then. The Raccoons had only one more base runner in the game, Glenn Johnston, and he was picked off before anybody could use him to do damage. 4-3 Thunder. Johnston 2-5, 2 RBI; Quinn 2-4; Dawson 2-4, 2B; Lagarde 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Kisho Saito came into game 3 with a losing record. We really wanted to get him a WINNING record, but he would have to win his last two starts. Things started off more so-so, with call-up Mitch Heller taking Saito deep in the first. The offense also was not really awake early on. Higgins drew a leadoff walk in the bottom 3rd and stole second, but Saito actually had the first hit for the Brownshirts. Runners on the corners, nobody out, Bobby Quinn in the #1 spot did the bare minimum and hit a sac fly to tie the game. Johnston got on, and after Hall rolled out, Osanai hit a 3-piece to give Saito a lead, 4-1. Saito then inexplicably started the top 4th with two straight 4-pitch walks. The pitching coach hustled out. Saito was over 200 innings on the season and had a history of September meltdowns. Saito then settled in and retired the next three batters. Saito was pulled in the sixth after collecting one out and with Calzado at second base. He didn’t have it, no use in getting him broken up now with the team going to finish second at best. Lagarde came in, collecting one out, before the Thunder broke him up and tied the game. The bullpen did not get better from there. Martinez got two outs in the seventh, then got two men on after David Vinson had already thrown out Oliva stealing. Another single to center, the runner from second going home, and it took a perfect throw from Glenn Johnston to nail him and get out of the inning in a tie. Carrillo managed to pitch a clean eighth, and the Coons then actually managed to scratch a hit together in the bottom 8th to take a lead. And now the question: can somebody close this game? West came out. Tyler Burch and Oliva gave the defense work, but were surrendered. Coonskinner Jeff Wagner came up. Remember, he made the final out in Jason Turner’s no-hitter last year. He made the final out here, and it was a strikeout again. 5-4 Raccoons. Johnston 1-2, 2 BB; Osanai 2-4, HR, 3 RBI;

Raccoons (80-72) @ Loggers (73-80)

We embarked for a final road series in Milwaukee (we’d finish the year at home against New York and Indy, the latter possibly deciding second place).

To start the series, Daniel Hall had a day off, getting both Quinn and Arnold into the lineup, which was highly difficult otherwise, and Matt Duncan started at second instead of Higgins. The Loggers roughed up Wade early on with two runs in the first, and a Gates Golunski home run in the second, and yes the Gates Golunski chuckles ended early again. Salazar, Duncan, and Wade then loaded the bags in the top 3rd with nobody out, but they scored only one measly run. Vinson’s 21st homer of the year made it 3-2 Loggers in the fourth, but overall they didn’t do enough to hurt a shaky Scott Murphy on the mound. Wade went six, keeping the score there, but the offense didn’t score for him and he was pinch-hit for to no effect with Martin in the seventh. The bullpen then was blown up in the eighth and the Raccoons entered the ninth trailing 6-2. With one out, Duncan and Martin got on base, and Hall pinch-hit for the pitcher Matthews in the #1 spot. His RBI groundout pretty much killed the rally, and Johnston struck out. 6-3 Loggers. Salazar 2-4; Duncan 2-4, 2 2B; Martin (PH) 1-2;

Things didn’t get any better further into this series. Juan Correa was bad from the start in game 2, and was lit up in the bottom 3rd, his last inning after ten hits and five runs in. The Loggers lost their starter Ray Burnett to injury early on, but the Raccoons were completely unable to get to the bullpen with their bats, scoring two innings in the fifth with some help from the Loggers, making one run unearned. The bottom 5th extended the nightmare, as Ken Burnett did another public display of general inability, loading the bags, and Martinez joined him, walking Golunski and surrendering a 3-run double to German Roldan. Carrillo eventually managed to exit the inning, but by then the Loggers led 9-2. The Loggers logged 17 hits in the game, the Inepticoons ineptly had seven. 9-3 Loggers. O’Morrissey 2-4; Arnold 2-2, BB, 2B, RBI; Carrillo 2.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K;

The Raccoons took a 1-0 lead in the final game of the series when Mark Dawson hit a 2-out RBI single in the first inning. That was already about their offensive output for the day. “Woody” Lopez in turn developed a perfect game bid, clicking off batter after batter, until he walked Neil Stewart with two down in the bottom 6th. Stewart was of course the Loggers’ pitcher. With a K to leadoff man Emilio Roman, the no-hitter was still intact, but even the fans in the park were somewhat disappointed of the bid ending that way. But now the Loggers were quick to sink Lopez, starting with Bob Grant and a leadoff single in the bottom 7th. Cristo Ramirez added a single that put both runners into scoring position on a defensive misplay by Bob Arnold. Jesus Jimenez grounded out, but scored the game-tying run. The Raccoons filled the bags with one out, including two walks by Stewart, in the eighth. They scored two runs, and one was a donation, a wild pitch. Osanai hit a sac fly scoring the other. Matthews put the first two men on in the bottom 8th and was yanked, and against Cordero one run scored. Thankfully, West held on to the lead in the ninth, avoiding the embarrassment of getting swept by the Loggers. 3-2 Raccoons. Arnold 2-4, 2B; Gonzalez 2-4, 2B; Lopez 7.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, W (15-12);

In other news

September 21 – Atlanta’s Tom Connolly (.276, 7 HR, 69 RBI) notches his 2,000th career hit in a 5-3 loss to Tijuana, becoming the ninth player to reach that mark. At age 29, Connolly has a long way he can go. Hit #2,000 is a triple off John Douglas in the sixth inning.
September 21 – LVA CL Rick Evans (4-6, 2.13 ERA, 38 SV) holds the Thunder at bay to save an 8-6 win, notching his 400th career save. He at age 30 is the third player to reach that mark.
September 21 – The Pacifics’ rally against Sacramento falls short and they lose 7-5, while the Stars take ten innings to beat the Warriors 2-1. This clinches the FL West for the Stars, who will make their fifth postseason appearance and the fourth in the last five years.
September 23 – The Canadiens win 4-1 in Boston, and coupled with the Indians’ 3-2 loss in New York, clinch the CL North. It will be their fifth postseason appearance and the first since 1986.
September 23 – DEN Wilson Martinez (13-13, 4.07 ERA) gets only one run from his team, but 3-hits the Wolves, converting for a 1-0 shutout.

Complaints and stuff

So much for decency. In addition to a dying offense the pitching has been ... I have several vulgar expressions in my mind right now.

Maybe Ken Burnett is not made to be on a 25-man roster. We will certainly look into improvements for that bullpen spot.

By the way, several contracts will be up after the season, and I have made very few thoughts so far about whom to retain and whom to shun.

There will be more important games still coming for the Coons. Steven Berry will get a start down the stretch, and maybe Fried will get another one, too. Right now, I see neither of them in our rotation next year, and they won't have space in the pen, especially with younger relievers pushing up. I only say Daniel Miller. I think, that kid is special.