As we’re hovering right in the middle of our 2-week homestand, our offense has slid down to t-9th in the CL with 155 runs scored. We can’t get the bats going. Of course it doesn’t help if the bats are injured, either.
Raccoons (18-18) vs. Loggers (18-19) – May 17-20, 1993
Being just half a game ahead of the Loggers was already bad enough. Finding that they ranked ahead of us in most offensive categories was probably disillusioning, too. Playing a 4-set with the CL South-leading Condors looming behind them was scaring.
Scott Wade and Scott Murphy in game 1 combined for an ERA over 14, so maybe this was a day for offense. Rain curtailed their outings early, though, but Wade lived up to expectations. While he did strike out five in three innings, he surrendered three runs on seven hits and a wild pitch. He just was not getting better, not even a lick. The Raccoons didn’t get a hit until the fourth inning, then loaded the bases with no outs, THEN LEFT THEM LOADED with Quinn popping out and Vinson hitting into a double play. I blacked out there for an inning or two, for I was convulsing so intensely. When I came back to clarity, it was a 3-1 game, Allen scoring O-Mo on a sac fly in the sixth. Bottom 7th: a 2-out infield single by Chih-tui Jin got things going. I had wanted Jackie Lagarde to pitch the last three innings in the lost cause, but now pinch-hit with Glenn Johnston, who broke an 0-10 PH spell to start the season with a single to left. Salazar came up, grounded to Chun-mei Liang at short, which would have been the end, if Liang hadn’t thrown wildly past 1B Drake Evans. Jin was awarded home, and the go-ahead run was in scoring position for O-Mo, who walked. Reece also worked a full count, then flew to deep left, but into an out. I passed out once more, which was unfortunate, since I missed the comeback in the eighth, where the Raccoons scored two runs on Allen and Quinn doubles and a Johnston sac fly. 4-3 Coons. O’Morrissey 1-2, 2 BB, 2B; Allen 2-3, 2B, RBI; Johnston (PH) 1-1, RBI; Miller 3.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;
It’s probably not fair, but Scott Wade’s potentially last start for the Raccoons is scheduled for the Condors series. He’s got nothing at this point, shooting steadily for a 2.00 WHIP and 7.00 ERA.
Matt Higgins hadn’t made too many starts at second base since Mark Allen’s return from the DL, but the May Allen was not the April Allen and so Higgins started in game 2, which was a good thing. Following a 2-out triple by Jorge Salazar in the bottom 3rd, Higgins broke the scoreless tie with a 2-run homer to left center, his first cherry of the year. Miguel Lopez pitched extraordinarily well, fanning nine over seven innings. He allowed only an unearned run for which Salazar was to blame for a throwing error on his part. Since the Coons were still lame at the plate that meant an all-but-secure 3-1 lead with Lopez exiting. While they didn’t do anything terrifying after that, at least the pen held up, Proctor, Martinez, and West ending the game without another Logger getting close to home. 3-1 Coons. Salazar 2-3, BB, 3B; Higgins 1-3, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Lopez 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 9 K, W (7-1);
Miguel Lopez improved to 7-1 with a 1.57 ERA, both marks ranking first in the ABL. Not bad for a #4 slot, first-full-year guy. He shares the wins lead with CIN Mark Burt, while the next-closest pitcher in ERA is Sioux Falls’ Aaron Anderson with a 2.28 ERA mark at age 22.
Game 3, could the third time be the charm as well? Salazar sat out against 21-year old lefty Martin Garcia (4-1, 3.40 ERA), while Raimundo Beato went out for the Furballs. Somehow, “Pooky” had not sucked up a loss so far this season. Beato was strong early on, striking out four in the first three innings (inspired by our youngster, maybe?). O’Morrissey batted leadoff and socked a home run to start the game offensively for the Coons, and when he came up again in the third, tripled to deep right. Ooooh, cycle anyone? The hard parts were done. His chances took a blow in the fifth, when he struck out to end that inning with Osanai on second base. Despite “Pooky” dealin’ storm, he only led 2-0 after five. The top 6th seemed to topple him, as CF Jerry Fletcher led off with a single rolled into right (after bunting foul twice), and 2B Armando Fernandez hitting a double to left. “Pooky” recollected himself and punched out Cristo Ramirez, popped up Drake Evans, and struck out Bob Grant. Wow! The end still came in the eighth, when the Loggers doubled their hit output on the day with three H’s off Beato without him registering an out. Burnett walked Ramirez instead of retiring him, and the Loggers washed over Burnett and Lagarde for four runs. Oh, the agony. Down 4-2, because we are that good, the Coons went down 1-2-3 in the eighth. Mark Allen led off the ninth with a bloop single. With two out, the bases were loaded, but reliever Tony Vela would have been next. Only Rodriguez and Jin were left on the bench, neither batting a lot. Jin was inserted against righty Raúl Ramirez and fouled out. 4-2 Loggers. O’Morrissey 2-4, HR, 3B, RBI; Moreno 1-1; Beato 7.0 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 8 K, L (3-1);
Sinking to 10th in runs scored now. Also sinking in the estimation of our owner, whether we’re actually worth the investment. At least we were able to get Vern Kinnear back from the DL. Ortíz was banned to AAA again, having gone 0-9 here with a .000/.000/.000 slash.
One more against the Loggers. Saito pitched, so we would probably not score at all. Saito was loaded with four runs before a Raccoon ever reached base, allowing three singles to right, a bases-loaded walk, and a run-scoring wild pitch in the second inning alone. O-Mo scored two with a 2-out double in the bottom 3rd, but that still meant a 4-2 deficit. Saito doubled in the fifth and was on third base with one out, when O’Morrissey AND Kinnear both popped out to second base. That was already the last bit of offensive action from this team. Saito went seven innings, left on the hook, was not picked up, and has a losing record again. 4-2 Loggers. Miller 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;
This is not the Kisho Saito we know well and love a lot.
This is also an offense nobody can love a bit. Over four games, they had a total of 26 hits and 11 runs against a pitching staff that couldn’t steal a tricycle without balking.
Raccoons (20-20) vs. Condors (26-15) – May 21-23, 1993
The Condors’ had the second-most productive offense in the Continental League. The pitching wasn’t far off. This could easily become a massacre.
The key moment of game 1 could easily have been in the bottom 2nd already. Bases loaded, one out for Osanai in a scoreless game. He hit into an out in left field, bringing in Reece with the go-ahead run. In reality, he killed the inning, since it brought up Jason Turner, who made a quick out. Turner fell behind 2-1 by the fourth, and that was all the damage he allowed while going seven innings. While he for sure was not all bad, he still wasn’t any good, giving Neil Reece his workout in center. The Raccoons were a lesson in harmlessness. John Douglas, whom we had faced umpteen times as a longtime Logger, was not his wildly wild self, instead punching out Coons in strings. He effortlessly held the 2-1 lead through the middle innings, until one pitch eluded him, and that was a 1-out triple to O-Mo in the eighth. Now Kinnear and Reece HAD to do something, and Kinnear took Turner off the hook with a double to left. Reece stepped in and took a checking glance to deep left to see where Kinnear had shoved it into, then did the same. A pair of doubles turned the game around as late as you could stand it. Allen blooped into shallow right, scoring Reece, and went to second on the throw home. Vinson walked with two down, bringing up Osanai with a chance to put the game out of reach. He flew out. West still saved it, 4-2 Coons. Reece 4-4, 2B, RBI; Allen 2-3, BB, RBI; Turner 7.0 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3 K;
When the Raccoons took the field for game 2 and the first inning, Matt Higgins manned first base. Tetsu Osanai’s consecutive starts streak ended, due to OPS’ing .582 and fielding like a quadriplegic, after 1,253 games. Fans were understandably shocked, but I couldn’t stand anymore whatever it was he was doing. Higgins was batting second, ahead of O-Mo, while Kinnear was dropped to seventh for the day (game 3 was against a lefty), and then we’d see on the way outta town.
Yeah, game 2. This was Wade’s last chance before moving to the bullpen. Facing Woody Roberts (5-0, 2.66 ERA) was probably not going to help him. The Coons grounded into double plays in both of the first two innings, but still got two runs off Roberts, including a bases-loaded plunk to Bobby Quinn. Kinnear was one of the double play offenders, but in the third gunned down Paul Theobald at home, keeping the Condors off the board. Theobald led off in the Condors lineup and the second time up had gotten the first hit off Wade, who was by no means stellar, but held the Condors off the scoreboard until the seventh with a 4-0 lead. With one out, Mark Allen made a terrible throwing error that put Bruce Boyle in scoring position. Wade ended up walking Andrés Manuel, which ended his day there. With the tying run in the on-deck circle, you don’t jeopardize what you got, and he was at 98 pitches anyway. Proctor came in, faced two men, and three runs scored. Useless piece of ****. Jackie Lagarde came in to face pinch-hitter Tadanobu Sakaguchi, and got him to ground out, but hurt his ankle falling off the mound. Theobald popped up Martinez’ first pitch to end the inning. 4-3.
(interlude for dose of heart medication)
Great men shine when things look the most dire. With Higgins on second, one out, and the world about to crumble down once more this week, Neil Reece ripped a 460 foot home run in the bottom 7th, giving us a 6-3 lead. Both bullpens lost more feathers in the eighth, but the Raccoons did come out on top in the game, 8-4 Furballs. Salazar 3-5, RBI; Higgins 3-5; Reece 2-4, HR, 4 RBI; Vinson 1-2, 2 BB, 2B; Wade 6.1 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 1 K, W (2-3);
Jackie Lagarde was placed on crutches by the trainer, but had only a mild ankle sprain and should be good to throw off a soap box by Thursday in San Fran or so, and walked again almost normal the next day.
O-Mo was rested in game 3, with Higgins on third. Moreno played first, and Jin made a start in place of a still struggling Kinnear while facing demotion for being terrible.
Reece scored Higgins on a groundout in the first, and then Paul Theobald looked very bad on successive balls in play to him in right. Both Moreno and Jin ended up at second base, giving Jin his first big league RBI. The score was 2-0 for a long time – kudos to Miguel Lopez. The Coons then had runners in scoring position with one out in the bottom 7th. Higgins flew out to left, but Moreno tagged and went home, 3-0. Salazar got on, and then Reece came through with a 2-run double! The game was put away from the Condors’ reach with Lopez not having been in danger since the second inning after issuing three walks in the first two frames combined. He was almost untouchable from there on and didn’t let the Condors threaten a lot in the remaining seven frames, finishing with a 4-hit shutout! 6-0 Coons! Reece 2-4, 2B, 3 RBI; Quinn 3-4, 3B; Moreno 3-4, 2 2B; Lopez 9.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 6 K, W (8-1);
Lopez’ second career shutout comes less than a month after his first. Fantastic!
On the other hand, we lost David Vinson in this game. He came up with discomfort in the shoulder after a throw and was diagnosed with shoulder tendinitis. He will have to hit the DL, but 15 days should do.
In other news
Seems like it was National Boring Week.
Complaints and stuff
Wait. So, we couldn’t scrape together a tiny piece of offense against the Loggers, then sweep the Condors? Wut? Well, I won’t complain about the latter, that much is clear. I’m just puzzled.
No, Tetsu Osanai was not benched to help Wade win a game or look less bad. Wade is one of my darlings, but he will to be moved somewhere where he can do less damage if he plays this way. How to get rid of Osanai? I have no idea.
Vinson’s injury doesn’t necessarily improve the team, since Rodriguez is nowhere near as good as last year, and the AAA guys aren’t really doing much even there. Oh, well. At least we overcame the omnipresent marble column by stowing it in the dugout.