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Westheim · 06-03-2014, 04:16 PM

How can anything be tasteless, 40 pages into my scribbles here?

I know I am a spoiled brat, and that there is very little reason to complain, but these crushing defeats … are very crushing. It may be only my fault, but I think I see more 4-run innings than in … oh let’s say 1979, when the Raccoons won all of 55 games.

Time to move forward now and get those Loggers.

Raccoons (44-26) @ Thunder (32-40) – June 21-23, 1996

The Thunder were scoring the third-most runs in the Continental League, but their pitching staff was a burning train wreck, ranking in the bottom three in most important categories in the Continental League. Some high scoring games could be in the books for us.

Projected matchups:
Scott Wade (4-5, 3.60 ERA) vs. Jon Robinson (9-5, 3.21 ERA)
Antonio Donis (9-2, 3.89 ERA) vs. Aaron Anderson (7-7, 3.12 ERA)
Jose Rivera (5-0, 1.63 ERA) vs. Millard Wilson (3-4, 4.48 ERA)

Last in the CL South, the Thunder still posed a threat, and despite an off day before this series and Turner having pitched an 8-inning complete game in the last loss in Boston, I did not send the 13th pitcher away yet. I was also trying to identify a better backup than Stephen Buell, who had certainly fared well in his cup of coffee, but him and Kinnear were very much excluding each other from the lineup. I had thought about Kevin Savary before, but he had come off the DL cold as ice.

Game 1
POR: 2B Brewer – 3B O’Morrissey – CF N. Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Green – C Vinson – SS Ingall – LF Newton – P Wade
OCT: SS J. Sanchez – 1B Shaw – RF Norton – 3B S. Reece – 2B H. Ramirez – LF Browne – CF L. Hernandez – C Guidry – P Robinson

After a perfect first by Wade, the first five Thunder reached base in the second inning, and Jose Sanchez soon enough emptied the bases with a grand slam to dead center. Two innings in, the starter wound up, the game lost. Despearte for length out of Wade, he remained in for the third inning, and was battered to an 8-0 score. Looking for long relief from Pancho Padilla turned out to be no option either, since he was raped for three more runs in the fourth inning. The Raccoons were going down, but the orchestra was playing ‘til the end. 14-2 Thunder. O’Morrissey 2-4, 2 2B; Wedemeyer 2-4, HR, RBI;

Crowning an 8-56 skid with an 0-3 day was Neil Reece. Oh yeah, he also broke a finger, and won’t be back until late July or early August. Talk about going down. We called up Scott Strong, who had gone 6-19 in AAA since arriving there.

Game 2
POR: 2B Brewer – LF Kinnear – 3B O’Morrissey – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Green – C Vinson – CF Newton – SS Salazar – P Donis
OCT: SS J. Sanchez – CF L. Hernandez – LF Norton – 3B S. Reece – RF Barnes – 2B Browne – 1B Ikeda – C Guidry – P A. Anderson

The first three Thunder in the game all reached base, and the team batted through the lineup in the first inning, putting three runs on a stuffless Antonio Donis. In the third, Donis hit not one, but two batters, loading the bags with two out, but like in the first inning, pitcher Aaron Anderson grounded out to leave the bags full, and that was about all that held the Raccoons somewhat in the game a third of the way through: Anderson being a terrible batter. Donis was all washed up after five innings, with the Thunder leaving their runners on at will, and with Anderson being a much better pitcher than a hitter, 3-hitting the Raccoons and allowing nobody past first base after five. The Coons finally put a foot on second base when Royce Green circled them after a solo shot in the seventh. Down 3-1, felt like a world away. We actually got the tying run to the plate in the eighth with Brewer on first and one out. Kinnear flew out, O’Morrissey grounded out. Jimmy Morey came out for the ninth. Wedemeyer singled to lead off the frame, and then Royce Green hit an enormous fly ball to deep center, but while it had the height, it lacked the depth, but also was too far away for Lucio Hernandez to catch up and fell in for an RBI double. No outs, and the tying run 180 feet from home, Vinson struck out, Newton walked, and Salazar grounded to short, 6-4-3. 3-2 Thunder. Green 2-4, HR, 2B, 2 RBI;

Game 3
POR: 2B Brewer – LF Kinnear – 3B O’Morrissey – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Green – C Vinson – CF Newton – SS Salazar – P J. Rivera
OCT: SS J. Sanchez – 1B Shaw – RF Norton – 3B S. Reece – 2B H. Ramirez – LF Browne – CF L. Hernandez – C Guidry – P Wilson

Rivera had batted to a .188 BABIP this season, so I was well expecting the recent stretch of opposing hitting to continue in full force. Lucio Hernandez got the scoring going in the bottom 2nd with a 2-out RBI single, collecting Sonny Reece. Travis Shaw was hit by a pitch in the third inning, which also quickly escalated. Two on and two out, Rivera threw a wild pitch, and then allowed Ramirez to drive in the runners with a double. Through four, the Raccoons were non-existent at the plate. Luke Newton drew a leadoff walk in the fifth, then ran on Rob Guidry, who had already thrown him out once in the series, but this time Guidry’s throw went into the outfield and Newton went to third. Salazar hit a sac fly, and we were again behind 3-1 and it felt like so much more. But Millard Wilson was in the process of losing it: he walked Rivera, and then Brewer as well. Kinnear got into a 3-ball count and then took a rip, which froze my face. But his liner went over Hector Ramirez and past Hernandez in center for a game-tying 2-run triple! COME ON BOYS!! LET’S DO IT THE KINNEAR WAY!! Kinnear scored on O-Mo’s sac fly, before Wilson struck out Wedemeyer, but we now gave a 4-3 lead to Jose Rivera, who struggled through the fifth, and was pinch-hit for in the top 6th with two on and two out, as the Thunder were bringing in left-hander Mac Henson. Higgins came out and singled up the middle, Green turned third base and was merely safe at the plate. Henson remained in, walked Brewer, loading the bags, and walked Kinnear, forcing home a run. O-Mo then popped out foul, but that dreadful Thunder pitching finally began to show. Between relievers Rick Nicholls and Andy Castle, the Raccoons tacked on five runs in the seventh inning (Castle would still strike out our 4-5-6 batters in the eighth). We also got some amazing and totally unexpected long relief from Tim Mallandain, who almost completed a 4-inning save before running out of breath. 12-3 Raccoons. Kinnear 2-4, BB, 3B, 2B, 6 RBI; Green 3-5, 2B; Salazar 2-3, BB, 2 RBI; Higgins (PH) 1-1, RBI; Mallandain 3.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 1 K;

Big innings happen on either side of the line score, that much is fact. But the regularity with which they are coming after our (perceived) top rotation is unpleasant. We lost another game on the Loggers over this weekend series.

Raccoons (45-28) @ Knights (35-40) – June 24-26, 1996

The Knights were struggling to score runs, having only 306 to their credit, barely more than four per game, which ranked 10th in the league (POR: 381, 5.2, 1st). They had a very decent rotation, but their bullpen was 11th overall with an ERA of 4.27. They also had two of their outfielders (Jesus Gonzalez and Freddy Gonzalez) on the DL, which was not improving their chances to score runs. But hey, they were going up against the recently much-torn-up Kisho Saito and Scott Wade, so anything was possible for them.

Projected matchups:
Kisho Saito (9-4, 4.30 ERA) vs. Pat Cherry (5-4, 3.91 ERA)
Jason Turner (4-4, 3.22 ERA) vs. Chet Sloan (1-2, 4.71 ERA)
Scott Wade (4-6, 4.26 ERA) vs. Carlos Asquabal (6-10, 3.14 ERA)

Going into this series, we returned Pancho Padilla to AAA and brought Stephen Buell back up for that extra bat.

Game 1
POR: 2B Brewer – LF Kinnear – RF Green – 1B Wedemeyer – C Vinson – 3B O’Morrissey – CF Newton – SS Salazar – P Saito
ATL: LF M. Smith – 3B Utting – 2B Nicks – RF Hatch – 1B M. Guzman – SS Tanaka – CF Cooper – C J. Johnson – P Cherry

The Coons scored runs in the first and third innings, while in the latter occasion leaving two in scoring position when both Green and Wedemeyer struck out. Kisho Saito found himself in may 3-ball counts early on (four times in the first 8 PA’s), but allowed only two base runners the first time through the lineup, and we were up 2-0 after three. The second time through, only Connor Cooper reached on a bloop single. Saito appeared to be cruising, having whiffed seven through six frames of 2-hit ball, and nobody reached the next two innings, with only one batter (Sosa Tanaka) making solid contact to the deeper regions of the outfield. The Raccoons had not scored a lot, leading 3-0 through eight, and with Saito just at 100 pitches, would you send him out for the ninth? He came to bat with nobody on and two outs in the top 9th, was sent to bat, and whiffed. Bottom 9th, Saito faced Jose Rojas, Mark Smith, and Jai Utting, with Tzu-jao Ban ready in the pen. Rojas’ leadoff triple was enough to exit Saito. While Ban saved the game by sitting Smith, Utting, and Tom Nicks down in due time, he did not keep Saito’s ledger clean, Rojas scored when Smith grounded out. 3-1 Saito’s Minions. Brewer 2-2, BB, 2B, RBI; Salazar 2-4; Saito 8.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, W (10-4) and 1-3;

Saito is about alternating (near-)shutouts and 8-run blowups by now. I always liked his consistency, so this is a very alien picture… he just turned 36, old age?

His hits, walks, strikeouts, and BABIP are all more or less the same level as in the last few seasons. Well, the BABIP is up a bit (it was roughly .295 for three straight years, but is around .310 this year), and the walks are slowly creeping up. He is surrendering LESS home runs, and still gives up MORE runs. There is but ONE logical explanation: someone put a curse on him.

Game 2
POR: 2B Brewer – 3B O’Morrissey – RF Green – C Vinson – LF Buell – CF Newton – SS Ingall – 1B Higgins – P Turner
ATL: 2B Nicks – C F. Ramirez – RF Hatch – SS Tanaka – 1B M. Guzmán – 3B Utting – CF Cooper – LF M. Smith – P Sloan

The Raccoons scored single runs in each of the first four innings, all cobbled together with small ball tactics, while Turner held the Knights to two hits through five, but those two hits had been back-to-back with two out in the second and had plated a run, so we were up 4-1. Bottom 6th, a bloop, a walk, another bloop, the tying runs were on with no outs. Turner got Sosa Tanaka to fly out to shallow center, holding the runners. Guzmán lined to O-Mo, who made the catch, but took a moment too long to turn a double play on Francisco Ramirez, who was far off second base. Utting grounded out to Ingall. PHEW!! With runners on the corners and no outs in the top 7th, Royce Green brought in our fifth run, but at the cost of an inning-crippling double play. Turner left after seven, and the Knights got a run off De La Rosa in the eighth, and while we didn’t add more offense, Ban pitched a quick ninth to save the game. 5-2 Raccoons. Brewer 4-5, RBI; O’Morrissey 2-4, BB, RBI; Ingall 2-4, RBI; Higgins 2-4, 2B; Turner 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, W (5-4) and 2-3;

Now we need to help Scott Wade a bit. He is falling behind the necessary pace to win ten this year, and you know about his streak. He has only won one of his last 11 starts…

Game 3
POR: LF Kinnear – 3B O’Morrissey – RF Green – 1B Wedemeyer – CF Newton – 2B Higgins – SS Ingall – C Kondo – P Wade
ATL: 2B Nicks – C F. Ramirez – RF Hatch – SS Tanaka – 1B M. Guzmán – 3B Utting – CF Cooper – LF M. Smith – P Asquabal

While Asquabal came in with a 4:1 K/BB ratio, he was wild. Kinnear was plunked to start the game (but soon removed in O-Mo’s 6-4-3 mess), and he loaded the bags with one out in the top 2nd, including two walks. Wade was batting in that situation, whiffed, and so did Kinnear. Scott Wade surrendered some good contact early, but most was plucked from the air by the outfielders, and the Knights failed to score through three. In the top 3rd, Wedemeyer had got us ahead with a solo homer, and in the fourth Nori Kondo hit his first home run as a Raccoons with a 2-run homer to left, 3-0. Both pitchers became better at their game in the middle innings, Asquabal racking up a few K’s and Wade getting those easy groundballs. We ended up facing almost the same situation as in the series opener after eight. Up 3-0, with Wade pitching a 3-hitter, this time just below 100 pitches, but Wade would not bat in the ninth after making the final out in the eighth. We didn’t score in the top 9th, and Wade went out for the bottom 9th, facing Nicks, the pitcher slot, and Hollis Hatch. Burnett and Miller were warm already. And again, the first guy our pitcher faced had a hit, a single, and we made the move to the pen. Since the Knights twitched first and brought left-hander Ramón Corona to pinch-hit, Burnett was thrown in first. Corona singled up the middle. Hatch grounded out, putting the runners in scoring position. Tanaka was a left-hander and popped Burnett’s first pitch to left, where Buell made the play, but Nicks scored. Then Miller came in to face the righty Guzmán. He grounded out to Ingall. 3-1 Coons! Green 2-5, 2B; Wedemeyer 2-4, HR, RBI; Kondo 3-3, BB, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Wade 8.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, W (5-6);

Nori Kondo was a triple shy of the cycle after flying below the radar for three months. Nice, nice.

In other news

June 24 – MIL SP Rafael Garcia (9-4, 3.88 ERA) is out for the year with a torn flexor tendon in his elbow.
June 24 – The Scorpions acquire 36-year old MR Joaquin Bastos (2-4, 3.04 ERA) from the Indians, sending over RF/LF Alejandro Roldán (.294, 0 HR, 12 RBI), who is 25.

Complaints and stuff

The win in the final game in Oklahoma was #1,600 for the Raccoons franchise. And after walking off with bloodied noses four games in a row, we have now won four in a row again.

I don’t understand this team … at all.

But well. Neil Reece is on the shelf for another month at least, and Luke Newton is not hitting a lot. However, we more than exhausted our budget in the amateur draft and I will not be able to take on any budget in eventual trades. I would not know whom to trade anyway away, to be honest. I feel like I need all the pieces I still have.

06-03-2014, 04:16 PM	#859
Westheim Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Germany Posts: 13,745	How can anything be tasteless, 40 pages into my scribbles here? I know I am a spoiled brat, and that there is very little reason to complain, but these crushing defeats … are very crushing. It may be only my fault, but I think I see more 4-run innings than in … oh let’s say 1979, when the Raccoons won all of 55 games. Time to move forward now and get those Loggers. Raccoons (44-26) @ Thunder (32-40) – June 21-23, 1996 The Thunder were scoring the third-most runs in the Continental League, but their pitching staff was a burning train wreck, ranking in the bottom three in most important categories in the Continental League. Some high scoring games could be in the books for us. Projected matchups: Scott Wade (4-5, 3.60 ERA) vs. Jon Robinson (9-5, 3.21 ERA) Antonio Donis (9-2, 3.89 ERA) vs. Aaron Anderson (7-7, 3.12 ERA) Jose Rivera (5-0, 1.63 ERA) vs. Millard Wilson (3-4, 4.48 ERA) Last in the CL South, the Thunder still posed a threat, and despite an off day before this series and Turner having pitched an 8-inning complete game in the last loss in Boston, I did not send the 13th pitcher away yet. I was also trying to identify a better backup than Stephen Buell, who had certainly fared well in his cup of coffee, but him and Kinnear were very much excluding each other from the lineup. I had thought about Kevin Savary before, but he had come off the DL cold as ice. Game 1 POR: 2B Brewer – 3B O’Morrissey – CF N. Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Green – C Vinson – SS Ingall – LF Newton – P Wade OCT: SS J. Sanchez – 1B Shaw – RF Norton – 3B S. Reece – 2B H. Ramirez – LF Browne – CF L. Hernandez – C Guidry – P Robinson After a perfect first by Wade, the first five Thunder reached base in the second inning, and Jose Sanchez soon enough emptied the bases with a grand slam to dead center. Two innings in, the starter wound up, the game lost. Despearte for length out of Wade, he remained in for the third inning, and was battered to an 8-0 score. Looking for long relief from Pancho Padilla turned out to be no option either, since he was raped for three more runs in the fourth inning. The Raccoons were going down, but the orchestra was playing ‘til the end. 14-2 Thunder. O’Morrissey 2-4, 2 2B; Wedemeyer 2-4, HR, RBI; Crowning an 8-56 skid with an 0-3 day was Neil Reece. Oh yeah, he also broke a finger, and won’t be back until late July or early August. Talk about going down. We called up Scott Strong, who had gone 6-19 in AAA since arriving there. Game 2 POR: 2B Brewer – LF Kinnear – 3B O’Morrissey – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Green – C Vinson – CF Newton – SS Salazar – P Donis OCT: SS J. Sanchez – CF L. Hernandez – LF Norton – 3B S. Reece – RF Barnes – 2B Browne – 1B Ikeda – C Guidry – P A. Anderson The first three Thunder in the game all reached base, and the team batted through the lineup in the first inning, putting three runs on a stuffless Antonio Donis. In the third, Donis hit not one, but two batters, loading the bags with two out, but like in the first inning, pitcher Aaron Anderson grounded out to leave the bags full, and that was about all that held the Raccoons somewhat in the game a third of the way through: Anderson being a terrible batter. Donis was all washed up after five innings, with the Thunder leaving their runners on at will, and with Anderson being a much better pitcher than a hitter, 3-hitting the Raccoons and allowing nobody past first base after five. The Coons finally put a foot on second base when Royce Green circled them after a solo shot in the seventh. Down 3-1, felt like a world away. We actually got the tying run to the plate in the eighth with Brewer on first and one out. Kinnear flew out, O’Morrissey grounded out. Jimmy Morey came out for the ninth. Wedemeyer singled to lead off the frame, and then Royce Green hit an enormous fly ball to deep center, but while it had the height, it lacked the depth, but also was too far away for Lucio Hernandez to catch up and fell in for an RBI double. No outs, and the tying run 180 feet from home, Vinson struck out, Newton walked, and Salazar grounded to short, 6-4-3. 3-2 Thunder. Green 2-4, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Game 3 POR: 2B Brewer – LF Kinnear – 3B O’Morrissey – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Green – C Vinson – CF Newton – SS Salazar – P J. Rivera OCT: SS J. Sanchez – 1B Shaw – RF Norton – 3B S. Reece – 2B H. Ramirez – LF Browne – CF L. Hernandez – C Guidry – P Wilson Rivera had batted to a .188 BABIP this season, so I was well expecting the recent stretch of opposing hitting to continue in full force. Lucio Hernandez got the scoring going in the bottom 2nd with a 2-out RBI single, collecting Sonny Reece. Travis Shaw was hit by a pitch in the third inning, which also quickly escalated. Two on and two out, Rivera threw a wild pitch, and then allowed Ramirez to drive in the runners with a double. Through four, the Raccoons were non-existent at the plate. Luke Newton drew a leadoff walk in the fifth, then ran on Rob Guidry, who had already thrown him out once in the series, but this time Guidry’s throw went into the outfield and Newton went to third. Salazar hit a sac fly, and we were again behind 3-1 and it felt like so much more. But Millard Wilson was in the process of losing it: he walked Rivera, and then Brewer as well. Kinnear got into a 3-ball count and then took a rip, which froze my face. But his liner went over Hector Ramirez and past Hernandez in center for a game-tying 2-run triple! COME ON BOYS!! LET’S DO IT THE KINNEAR WAY!! Kinnear scored on O-Mo’s sac fly, before Wilson struck out Wedemeyer, but we now gave a 4-3 lead to Jose Rivera, who struggled through the fifth, and was pinch-hit for in the top 6th with two on and two out, as the Thunder were bringing in left-hander Mac Henson. Higgins came out and singled up the middle, Green turned third base and was merely safe at the plate. Henson remained in, walked Brewer, loading the bags, and walked Kinnear, forcing home a run. O-Mo then popped out foul, but that dreadful Thunder pitching finally began to show. Between relievers Rick Nicholls and Andy Castle, the Raccoons tacked on five runs in the seventh inning (Castle would still strike out our 4-5-6 batters in the eighth). We also got some amazing and totally unexpected long relief from Tim Mallandain, who almost completed a 4-inning save before running out of breath. 12-3 Raccoons. Kinnear 2-4, BB, 3B, 2B, 6 RBI; Green 3-5, 2B; Salazar 2-3, BB, 2 RBI; Higgins (PH) 1-1, RBI; Mallandain 3.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 1 K; Big innings happen on either side of the line score, that much is fact. But the regularity with which they are coming after our (perceived) top rotation is unpleasant. We lost another game on the Loggers over this weekend series. Raccoons (45-28) @ Knights (35-40) – June 24-26, 1996 The Knights were struggling to score runs, having only 306 to their credit, barely more than four per game, which ranked 10th in the league (POR: 381, 5.2, 1st). They had a very decent rotation, but their bullpen was 11th overall with an ERA of 4.27. They also had two of their outfielders (Jesus Gonzalez and Freddy Gonzalez) on the DL, which was not improving their chances to score runs. But hey, they were going up against the recently much-torn-up Kisho Saito and Scott Wade, so anything was possible for them. Projected matchups: Kisho Saito (9-4, 4.30 ERA) vs. Pat Cherry (5-4, 3.91 ERA) Jason Turner (4-4, 3.22 ERA) vs. Chet Sloan (1-2, 4.71 ERA) Scott Wade (4-6, 4.26 ERA) vs. Carlos Asquabal (6-10, 3.14 ERA) Going into this series, we returned Pancho Padilla to AAA and brought Stephen Buell back up for that extra bat. Game 1 POR: 2B Brewer – LF Kinnear – RF Green – 1B Wedemeyer – C Vinson – 3B O’Morrissey – CF Newton – SS Salazar – P Saito ATL: LF M. Smith – 3B Utting – 2B Nicks – RF Hatch – 1B M. Guzman – SS Tanaka – CF Cooper – C J. Johnson – P Cherry The Coons scored runs in the first and third innings, while in the latter occasion leaving two in scoring position when both Green and Wedemeyer struck out. Kisho Saito found himself in may 3-ball counts early on (four times in the first 8 PA’s), but allowed only two base runners the first time through the lineup, and we were up 2-0 after three. The second time through, only Connor Cooper reached on a bloop single. Saito appeared to be cruising, having whiffed seven through six frames of 2-hit ball, and nobody reached the next two innings, with only one batter (Sosa Tanaka) making solid contact to the deeper regions of the outfield. The Raccoons had not scored a lot, leading 3-0 through eight, and with Saito just at 100 pitches, would you send him out for the ninth? He came to bat with nobody on and two outs in the top 9th, was sent to bat, and whiffed. Bottom 9th, Saito faced Jose Rojas, Mark Smith, and Jai Utting, with Tzu-jao Ban ready in the pen. Rojas’ leadoff triple was enough to exit Saito. While Ban saved the game by sitting Smith, Utting, and Tom Nicks down in due time, he did not keep Saito’s ledger clean, Rojas scored when Smith grounded out. 3-1 Saito’s Minions. Brewer 2-2, BB, 2B, RBI; Salazar 2-4; Saito 8.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, W (10-4) and 1-3; Saito is about alternating (near-)shutouts and 8-run blowups by now. I always liked his consistency, so this is a very alien picture… he just turned 36, old age? His hits, walks, strikeouts, and BABIP are all more or less the same level as in the last few seasons. Well, the BABIP is up a bit (it was roughly .295 for three straight years, but is around .310 this year), and the walks are slowly creeping up. He is surrendering LESS home runs, and still gives up MORE runs. There is but ONE logical explanation: someone put a curse on him. Game 2 POR: 2B Brewer – 3B O’Morrissey – RF Green – C Vinson – LF Buell – CF Newton – SS Ingall – 1B Higgins – P Turner ATL: 2B Nicks – C F. Ramirez – RF Hatch – SS Tanaka – 1B M. Guzmán – 3B Utting – CF Cooper – LF M. Smith – P Sloan The Raccoons scored single runs in each of the first four innings, all cobbled together with small ball tactics, while Turner held the Knights to two hits through five, but those two hits had been back-to-back with two out in the second and had plated a run, so we were up 4-1. Bottom 6th, a bloop, a walk, another bloop, the tying runs were on with no outs. Turner got Sosa Tanaka to fly out to shallow center, holding the runners. Guzmán lined to O-Mo, who made the catch, but took a moment too long to turn a double play on Francisco Ramirez, who was far off second base. Utting grounded out to Ingall. PHEW!! With runners on the corners and no outs in the top 7th, Royce Green brought in our fifth run, but at the cost of an inning-crippling double play. Turner left after seven, and the Knights got a run off De La Rosa in the eighth, and while we didn’t add more offense, Ban pitched a quick ninth to save the game. 5-2 Raccoons. Brewer 4-5, RBI; O’Morrissey 2-4, BB, RBI; Ingall 2-4, RBI; Higgins 2-4, 2B; Turner 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, W (5-4) and 2-3; Now we need to help Scott Wade a bit. He is falling behind the necessary pace to win ten this year, and you know about his streak. He has only won one of his last 11 starts… Game 3 POR: LF Kinnear – 3B O’Morrissey – RF Green – 1B Wedemeyer – CF Newton – 2B Higgins – SS Ingall – C Kondo – P Wade ATL: 2B Nicks – C F. Ramirez – RF Hatch – SS Tanaka – 1B M. Guzmán – 3B Utting – CF Cooper – LF M. Smith – P Asquabal While Asquabal came in with a 4:1 K/BB ratio, he was wild. Kinnear was plunked to start the game (but soon removed in O-Mo’s 6-4-3 mess), and he loaded the bags with one out in the top 2nd, including two walks. Wade was batting in that situation, whiffed, and so did Kinnear. Scott Wade surrendered some good contact early, but most was plucked from the air by the outfielders, and the Knights failed to score through three. In the top 3rd, Wedemeyer had got us ahead with a solo homer, and in the fourth Nori Kondo hit his first home run as a Raccoons with a 2-run homer to left, 3-0. Both pitchers became better at their game in the middle innings, Asquabal racking up a few K’s and Wade getting those easy groundballs. We ended up facing almost the same situation as in the series opener after eight. Up 3-0, with Wade pitching a 3-hitter, this time just below 100 pitches, but Wade would not bat in the ninth after making the final out in the eighth. We didn’t score in the top 9th, and Wade went out for the bottom 9th, facing Nicks, the pitcher slot, and Hollis Hatch. Burnett and Miller were warm already. And again, the first guy our pitcher faced had a hit, a single, and we made the move to the pen. Since the Knights twitched first and brought left-hander Ramón Corona to pinch-hit, Burnett was thrown in first. Corona singled up the middle. Hatch grounded out, putting the runners in scoring position. Tanaka was a left-hander and popped Burnett’s first pitch to left, where Buell made the play, but Nicks scored. Then Miller came in to face the righty Guzmán. He grounded out to Ingall. 3-1 Coons! Green 2-5, 2B; Wedemeyer 2-4, HR, RBI; Kondo 3-3, BB, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Wade 8.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, W (5-6); Nori Kondo was a triple shy of the cycle after flying below the radar for three months. Nice, nice. In other news June 24 – MIL SP Rafael Garcia (9-4, 3.88 ERA) is out for the year with a torn flexor tendon in his elbow. June 24 – The Scorpions acquire 36-year old MR Joaquin Bastos (2-4, 3.04 ERA) from the Indians, sending over RF/LF Alejandro Roldán (.294, 0 HR, 12 RBI), who is 25. Complaints and stuff The win in the final game in Oklahoma was #1,600 for the Raccoons franchise. And after walking off with bloodied noses four games in a row, we have now won four in a row again. I don’t understand this team … at all. But well. Neil Reece is on the shelf for another month at least, and Luke Newton is not hitting a lot. However, we more than exhausted our budget in the amateur draft and I will not be able to take on any budget in eventual trades. I would not know whom to trade anyway away, to be honest. I feel like I need all the pieces I still have. Attached Images __________________ Portland Raccoons, 92 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 * 2061 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA \| RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here.