[Westheim]

Third catcher Bob Armstrong was called up from AAA to replace the injured David Vinson, while Jose Rodriguez would make most of the starts over the next two weeks.

Raccoons (23-20) @ Bayhawks (24-19) – May 24-26, 1993

The Bayhawks had a good bullpen and hadn’t given up too many runs overall so far (170, 3rd in CL). Their offense in turn had outpaced the Raccoons’ so far (190 to 184 runs), but not by much.

Neil Reece got a day off in the opener of the series, only his third game not started this season. The Coons faced Pepe Martinez, whose 5.61 ERA and almost 6 BB/9 were probably favorable indicators for opposing hitting, but the Raccoons were not hitters, they were bashers at best, and bashers tend to miss their target. The game was scoreless for long enough that the ejection to San Fran’s Mike Powys in the fourth for arguing strike three was about the highlight. Raimundo Beato tossed seven shutout innings with so-so control and there was still no score, but in the top 8th Martinez finally came apart, walked Higgins and O-Mo, and Mark Allen singled Higgins home. Vern Kinnear’s 2-out, 2-run double let us breath relief, as the bullpen would hold up, and an extra run in the ninth (on bases loaded, no outs, but who am I to complain?) made this a 4-0 win for the Raccoons. Allen 2-5, 2 RBI; Quinn 2-5; Kinnear 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Jin (PH) 1-1; Beato 7.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 8 K, W (4-1);

The Bayhawks quickly moved out 1-0 in the middle game, Pedro Villa hitting a home run off Kisho Saito in the bottom 1st. The Coons bounced back in the third with a 2-run single from Allen. Johnston was thrown out at home to end the top 4th, and Saito allowed a run in the bottom half of the inning that tied the game again. Saito just wasn’t himself here, and then was blown up with two more home runs for a 5-2 deficit in the fifth. The Raccoons never got another runner into scoring position and lost accordingly, 5-2. Rodriguez 2-3; Vela 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K;

And the injury report, our constant friend and companion: Bobby Quinn was hurt on a defensive play in the game. He will miss three to four weeks with a sprained ankle. The organization is running out of outfielders… No less than six of them are on the DL for a variety of calamities. We could not call up an outfielder here, so went with an infielder. 1B Esteban Baldivía, despite not hitting a lot after being hurt early in April, was called up to audition for up to two weeks. Whether I was enjoying him batting .182 or not, Glenn Johnston was now the everyday starter in right, because he at least brought defense out there, which Chih-tui Jin, our lone spare outfielder now, didn’t.

The Bayhawks started the party early in the rubber game, scoring two unearned runs on an O’Morrissey error and a subsequent Pedro Perez double in the first, and then on a 2-run homer by Ennio Sabre in the third inning. 4-0 and the Raccoons hadn’t even touched second base. The Raccoons scoring two, mainly through a Kinnear double, were a short lived renaissance in the fourth inning, since Jason Turner was whacked for two more runs in the bottom 5th. Turner was gone before long. The Raccoons trailed 6-3 into the seventh with an error by Powys allowing leadoff man Johnston to reach base. A single under 2B Pedro Villa’s glove, hit by Armstrong, put two on, and the Coons got a run in on a 1-out RBI groundout by Salazar. O-Mo and Kinnear got on, and now Reece had the chance to turn the game around with the bases loaded. He walked, but Allen grounded out, and the Raccoons remained 6-5 behind. Burnett and Martinez surrendered another run in the bottom 7th, but the Inepticoons wouldn’t have scored anyway. 7-5 Bayhawks. O’Morrissey 2-4, BB, 2B; Kinnear 2-4, BB, 2B, RBI;

Baldivía went 0-3 in his debut, with a double play. Yay, the next Coon superstar HAS BEEN BORN.

The outfield situation was now bad enough that I hit the free agent market, where I found two old friends(?) of us: Bob Arnold and Alejandro Lopez. The former was a Coon in 1990 and 1991, with mixed results. The latter was our first round pick from 1982, who had been traded off as a prospect and was now unemployed. Both had batted .240ish last season. Lopez was willing to take home an offer for a minor league contract. Maybe he would appear for the Raccoons after all?

Whatever the future would bring, Lopez signed on the day after this series and was assigned to AAA to get his bat into shape. We need it. Our offense is ranked 10th in the CL.

Raccoons (24-22) @ Falcons (23-24) – May 28-30, 1993

Strong offense, weak pitching, especially in the rotation. The Falcons weren’t going to go anywhere nice in the long run. Just like the Raccoons.

Neil Reece got Scott Wade a 1-0 lead in the first inning of the opener with an RBI double scoring Salazar. It was all about defense from there with Wade and Carlos Castro both coming in with ERA’s of six or more. Wade held on until the sixth, then was knocked out on three straight hits, tying the game with one out. Burnett came in, but couldn’t keep the second run from scoring, as 2B Juan Barrón scored on Djordje Nedic’ sac fly. Wade didn’t become stuck with the L though, when Kinnear got on in the top 7th and successive fly balls from Rodriguez and Johnston eluded LF Jose Madrid’s reach for back-to-back RBI doubles that turned the game again. The eighth became even more terrible for the Falcons – between a few singles, a pair of intentional walks, and a wild pitch, two more balls got past Madrid and RF Nedic and all that combined for five Coons runs. 8-3 Raccoons. O’Morrissey 2-4, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Kinnear 3-5, 2B, RBI; Johnston 2-3, BB, 2B, 2 RBI;

The first meaningful event in game 2 was an injury to Glenn Johnston on a defensive play in the second inning. How can it be …!? Jin came in to play right, which was begging for trouble. The game was hanging in limbo through four (no balls coming Jin’s way) and was scoreless until the top 5th, which began with our Miguel Lopez batting first and last – in between the Coons scored five runs on a 3-shot by O-Mo and two more after that after loading the bags with one out. Lopez seemed to be cruising, but was battered some in the seventh with a home run by Christian Dunphy and another run, which he kindly helped produce by hitting a batter to advance the lead runner. Still 5-2, though. Until the eighth, where Juan Martinez was bashed for two runs and Lagarde had to hold things together. The top 9th was led off with a Reece walk and an Allen double. Prime chance to add to a crumbling lead. Kinnear was put on intentionally, and then Moreno and Rodriguez rolled run-scoring singles through the infielders. With one out, Lagarde was sent bunting, and the defense forked that one up majestically, too, for a 2-base throwing error and an RBI for Lagarde, who also pitched the ninth. 9-4 Coons. Higgins 2-6; O’Morrissey 3-6, HR, 3 RBI; Moreno 2-5, RBI; Rodriguez 2-4, 3 RBI; Lopez 7.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, W (9-1) and 1-3; Lagarde 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, SV (2) and 0-1, RBI;

Lopez was now in sole position of the W lead in the ABL with nine.

Glenn Johnston was undiagnosed so far. Since we couldn’t go with three outfielders, we had to send Baldivía back to AAA batting 0-6 so far. Ortíz was recalled to start in right in game 3.

Game 3 meant it was “Pooky” time. Vern Kinnear hit his first dinger of the year in the first inning, 1-0. Beato almost would have given it right back, but was bailed out in time by Allen and Salazar with a double play ending the bottom 1st. Beato labored heavily until the Falcons knocked him over in the fifth with three runs. The Coons still only had one hit – Kinnear’s long one. Leadoff singles by Reece and Allen in the seventh tripled our offensive output instantly, even though we had nothing on the board amounting to tie the game. Osanai had started the game at first, was 0-2, and up next. He handled RISP situations like a pro – at flying out. The Coons got one run on an Armstrong single, but remained 3-2 behind. West pitched the eighth after having remained outside looking in all week, and with two out in the ninth, Jin pinch-hit for him for a single. Armstrong grounded to 3B Ron Williamson, who threw wildly to first, and all hands were safe. Ortíz came up, still hitless in his career. The bench held nothing promising, so the youngster had to hit. He struck out. 3-2 Falcons. Jin (PH) 1-1;

In other news

May 25 – IND SP Neil Stewart (6-3, 2.84 ERA) 3-hits the Falcons as the Indians win 1-0.
May 28 – VAN INF Salvador Mendez (.356, 0 HR, 33 RBI) extends a hitting streak to 20 games with a sixth inning single against the Condors.
May 29 – Mendez goes 0-3 against the Condors in the next game, ending his streak at 20 games instantly.

Complaints and stuff

The outfield situation is dire. Hall out, Quinn out, Johnston hurt and undiagnosed, and the replacements were shockingly bad. Everything contributes all too well to the overall misery.

Meh.