[Westheim]

Played the Indians series on Wednesday, when I was really tired and didn’t focus all the time, making a few bad decisions, most notably forking up the lineup for game 4. All losses incurred are on me alone for that series.

Raccoons (48-28) @ Indians (43-35) – June 27-30, 1996

Quite important 4-game set coming up here. The Indians are seven back in the division and we really don’t want to invite them back into the race. The amount of categories they ranked 6th in was astonishing, including runs scored, runs against, and starters’ ERA. So while they were not a bad team, they were not a great team. MR Tim Hess, SP Lorenzo Ángel, INF Angelo Duarte were all on the DL, although Hess could come off during this series.

Projected matchups:
Antonio Donis (9-3, 3.99 ERA) vs. Dan George (7-6, 4.15 ERA)
Jose Rivera (6-0, 1.98 ERA) vs. Kerry Mills (2-11, 7.67 ERA)
Kisho Saito (10-4, 4.05 ERA) vs. Chang-se Park (6-5, 3.59 ERA)
Jason Turner (5-4, 3.07 ERA) vs. Michael Koch (3-2, 3.18 ERA)

Game 1
POR: 2B Brewer – 3B O’Morrissey – RF Green – 1B Wedemeyer – C Vinson – CF Newton – LF Strong – SS Salazar – P Donis
IND: CF Maguey – C Cicalina – 3B Brown – LF Maldonado – 1B Ayala – RF Sakaguchi – SS J. Martinez – 2B M. Carter – P George

The Raccoons’ only hit for a very long time was a leadoff double by Donis in the third, and he was brought in to score the maiden run in the game. Donis was dominant through five, and again just deflated in the sixth, in which the Indians tied the game. O-Mo made strong plays to end the sixth and seventh innings with the go-ahead runs at third base in both innings. Buell actually had a second hit for us in the eighth, but nothing came about it. O-Mo then led off the top 9th with a bloop single, and was also left on there. We went into extras, and in the 10th, Scott Strong had his first hit as a Furball, a 1-out double. Salazar grounded out, and then Kinnear hit for Otero, and grounded to the right of the mound. Ayala hustled in and lobbed the ball – OVER Matt Brown!! The throw went into the seats, and Strong was awarded home. O-Mo drove in two more runs after Brewer had drawn a walk, and De La Rosa sat the Indians’ top 3 batters down in the bottom 10th. 4-1 Coons. O’Morrissey 2-4, 2B, 3 RBI; Buell (PH) 1-1; Donis 6.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 6 K and 1-2, 2B; Otero 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K, W (1-2);

I used De La Rosa over Ban because Ban had thrown 40 pitches the last three days and we led by three. De La Rosa has even better stuff than Ban in my eye, and he did not disappoint.

We will chalk up this one to luck entirely. The Indians left the bags full in the sixth and and another man at third in the seventh, and our runs in the 10th don’t score if Claudio Ayala doesn’t make that throwing error, because the inning ends with Kinnear then.

Game 2
POR: 2B Brewer – LF Kinnear – CF Green – 1B Wedemeyer – C Vinson – 3B O’Morrissey – SS Salazar – RF Strong – P J. Rivera
IND: LF Espinoza – C Cicalina – 3B Brown – RF A. Roldán – 2B Ayala – 1B D. Thompson – CF Maldonado – SS J. Martinez – P Mills

Against the alleged pushover Mills, the Raccoons grounded into double plays in the second, in the third, in the fourth inning. The last one at least brought in a run, our first of the game. Meanwhile, the Indians were hitless against Jose Rivera. The Coons then put away the childish singles in the sixth, as Wedemeyer came to the plate with Big Bertha, the biggest Knoxville Slapper bat he could find in the dugout. He homered off Kerry Mills, and Vinson followed with a shot of his own. The inning continued and Rivera singled home a run with two down, 4-0. Meanwhile, the Indians failed to get on base. Rivera issued his third walk of the day in the sixth, but nothing came of that, and sat down the side in the seventh. Brewer drove in a pair in the top 8th, 6-0, and all eyes were on Rivera entering the bottom 8th. Jose Martinez sent home all hopes for Rivera, though, with a leadoff double. Gone was the no-hitter. Tadanobu Sakaguchi homered to left, and gone was Rivera, too. The game however was not in danger again, as Martinez and Burnett closed it out. We even managed to hit into our fourth double play on the day in the ninth inning. 6-2 Furballs. Green 2-3, 2 BB, 2B; Wedemeyer 2-5, HR, RBI; Vinson 2-5, HR, RBI; Salazar 2-4; Strong 3-4; Rivera 7.0 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 3 K, W (7-0) and 1-2, RBI; Burnett 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

So, no no-no. And I am still stunned by the fact that after two months (almost), still nobody was taken a bat to bruise Rivera. He is chasing after Saito and Donis for most wins on the staff by now!

Oh yes, six in a row. With Saito pitching next, the next 8-game losing streak could be around the corner, though.

Game 3
POR: 2B Brewer – LF Kinnear – 3B O’Morrissey – 1B Wedemeyer – C Vinson – RF Strong – CF Newton – SS Ingall – P Saito
IND: CF Maguey – C Cicalina – 3B Brown – LF Maldonado – 1B Ayala – RF Sakaguchi – SS J. Martinez – 2B M. Carter – P Campbell

The Indians toppled their rotation by throwing in 36-year old Robbie Campbell (1-1, 3.95 ERA in 27.1 IP) into this game, and there was also rain in the forecast.

Saito didn’t have it, and it became clear early on. Matt Brown homered for two in the first inning, and Martin Carter hit a leadoff jack in the bottom 2nd, which then tied the game at three, since Campbell had been rocked in the top 2nd, too, including a 2-run homer by Scott Strong. Neither starter could surrender much more as heavy rain put the game on hold once Saito struck out Carter to end the bottom 3rd. After a one hour delay, neither hurler came back out. The Coons left the bags full in the top 4th when both Kinnear and O-Mo popped out. We also had the bags full in the fifth. Royce Green pinch-hit for Otero with two out, but whiffed against Jorge Escobar. I then hoped for De La Rosa to give me three frames, but the Indians whacked him in his first, with another Brown homer and a bases-loaded walk plating a pair, and he would be removed after a leadoff walk to Urbano Cicalina in the sixth. By then however, he was in the lead thanks to a 3-run homer by O-Mo that made it 6-5 Furballs. Mallandain took over from De La Rosa, despite a mostly right-handed lineup, and although he walked a pair, he managed to go through seven. In the top 8th, we got some much-longed-for insurance with an RBI double by Strong and then one run scoring on an error by Jose Martinez. But in the bottom 8th, Juan Martinez walked the bases full with two outs. Tzu-jao Ban came in to face Sakaguchi, but the Japanese hit an infield single that Ingall failed to dig out, and Ban walked in a run with four errant ones to Martinez, but then struck out Carter, so we were still up by one. Now, Ban had entered along with Higgins in a double switch, since the #9 slot led off the ninth. Higgins got on, stole second, and Brewer walked. O-Mo hit a 1-out single but Higgins was held – and now Ban had to bat. Only Burnett and a gassed Miller were left in the pen, and I really wanted Ban to pitch the ninth. So he had to bat against Jim Durden. Of course, he struck out, and so did Vinson. I had to see it coming from far, far away, but Ban blew it. Matt Brown, that disgusting bag of filth, singled in the tying run, and we went to extra innings with basically no bullpen. And on top of that, we left runners in scoring position in the 10th (Brewer), and the bags full in the 11th (Newton). Burnett dropped Higgins’ throw to first in the bottom 11th that put leadoff man Cicalina on, and Burnett never surrendered another batter. 9-8 Indians. O’Morrissey 2-6, BB, 2B, 3 RBI; Vinson 2-5, 2 BB, 2B; Strong 2-6, BB, HR, 2B, 3 RBI; Newton 3-7; Ingall 2-5, BB; Higgins 2-2; Mallandain 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 1 K;

We left TWENTY men on base in this game. TWENTY. That should have been plenty enough of chances to score some more runs against those Indians.

Game 4
POR: 2B Brewer – LF Kinnear – 3B O’Morrissey – 1B Wedemeyer – C Vinson – RF Strong – CF Newton – SS Ingall – P Turner
IND: 1B D. Thompson – LF Sakaguchi – 3B Brown – RF A. Roldán – CF Maguey – 2B Ayala – C Cardenas – SS J. Martinez – P Park

Sakaguchi’s RBI triple got the Indians going in the bottom 1st, in which they scored a pair. Turner didn’t really have his stuff and command ready and was down 3-0 before the Raccoons ever really threatened. Vinson drove in O-Mo with two out in the sixth to get us on the board, but there wasn’t really a lot happening in the top halves of innings. Turner and Otero at least held the Indians to their three runs, and when Jim Durden issued a 1-out walk to Luke Newton, we got the tying run to the plate in the top 9th. Salazar hit for Durden and singled, bringing up Green in the #9 slot. Grounder up the middle, Ayala had it and turned the double play. 3-1 Indians. Strong 2-3, BB; Salazar (PH) 1-1; Otero 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Of course I forked up here with the lineup. I was mentally fixed on the left-hander Koch pitching the final game and then ran that sub-par, experimental right-handed lineup without checking and didn’t realize it until not the first, but the second inning. I suck. I suck, I suck, I suck. Let’s go on.

Raccoons (50-30) vs. Canadiens (31-50) – July 1-4, 1996

The Canadiens continued to suffer horribly from their pitching, with them conceding the most runs in the league, (425 at the half way point), with their starting and relief pitching almost equally bad. SP Jose Dominguez was on the DL, and outfielder Jorge Ledesma was on the shelf with an undiagnosed ailment coming in here.

Projected matchups:
Scott Wade (5-6, 4.01 ERA) vs. Lucio Munoz (4-5, 3.65 ERA)
Antonio Donis (9-3, 4.81 ERA) vs. Fernando Chavez (6-7, 3.80 ERA)
Jose Rivera (7-0, 2.04 ERA) vs. John Collins (4-4, 4.22 ERA)
Kisho Saito (10-4, 4.19 ERA) vs. Glenn Ryan (6-7, 5.29 ERA)

Those were all right-handers, but maybe the Canadiens would shuffle their guys some, too.

Game 1
VAN: SS McFarland – 2B S. Mendez – RF Arroyo – 1B Mosley – 3B Galindo – CF D. Edwards – LF Moore – C J. Lopez – P Munoz
POR: 2B Brewer – LF Kinnear – 3B O’Morrissey – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Green – C Vinson – CF Newton – SS Salazar – P Wade

In the third inning of a scoreless game, both pitchers led off their teams’ offensive innings by getting on base. Munoz singled, while Wade actually reached on an error. Munoz scored, but the Raccoons followed up Wade’s ROE by taking the lead with a 1-out, 2-run double by Wedemeyer with the bags full, and Green hit a sac fly, 3-1. Wade went seven, not surrendering another run until his last inning, but the Raccoons had not added runs either. Strong hit for Wade to lead off the bottom 7th and singled, and Brewer also singled. Kinnear hit a hot liner into right that Luis Arroyo caught, but Strong moved to third, and from there he scored on O-Mo’s groundout, 4-2. Miller pitched a 5-pitch eighth, and we added a run in the eighth, and then put Ban into the ninth, and he didn’t throw strikes at all. Two walks and a single, the bases were loaded, and no outs. De La Rosa replaced him, popped up Forest Hartley, and while he surrendered an RBI single to Alberto Durán, he got the game over with in time. 5-3 Raccoons. Brewer 2-3, BB; Ingall (PH) 1-1; Strong (PH) 1-1; Wade 7.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, W (6-6);

Closer woes starting again? Also, at this point David Brewer is our last .300+ batter. Nobody is hitting for more than a week. We have four players BNN labels as “hot”, and they are all pitchers.

Game 2
VAN: RF Arroyo – CF Ledesma – LF Hartley – 1B Mosley – 3B Galindo – SS McFarland – 2B B. Butler – C J. Lopez – P F. Chavez
POR: 2B Brewer – LF Kinnear – 3B O’Morrissey – 1B Wedemeyer – CF Green – SS Salazar – RF Strong – C Kondo – P Donis

Jorge Ledesma was in the lineup, but came out of the game in the first inning, hurting. Hartley’s solo home run got the Canadiens ahead in the first, but it was their only hit for a long time. The Raccoons scored three again in the bottom 3rd, this time with a 2-run triple by O’Morrissey as the center piece. Donis struck out five in a row at one point, but only seven in total while pitching into the seventh. When he put Mosley on, he was removed with two down. Martinez faced Jesus Galindo, but surrendered a game-tying home run, then put two more on and had to be dug out by De La Rosa. It got worse in the eighth. Mallandain walked two left-handers, and when Daniel Miller came in, he provided little relief. The game went down the drain in a hurry, as the Canadiens raped our bullpen for six runs. 9-3 Canadiens. Kinnear 2-4, 2B; O’Morrissey 2-4, 3B, 2 RBI; Donis 6.2 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 7 K;

We have no hitting. It is not that we are lacking Neil Reece (who didn’t hit **** before being hurt either), but the whole team is not hitting anymore. In 7 of the last 13 games, we have scored three runs or less, and with the pitching not stellar, this brings us to playing to a .500 tune for the last 13 games. Well, almost, 7-6.

The bullpen continues to be an area of concern, too.

Game 3
VAN: SS McFarland – 2B S. Mendez – RF Arroyo – 1B Mosley – LF Hartley – 3B Galindo – CF D. Edwards – C J. Lopez – P J. Collins
POR: 2B Brewer – RF Strong – 3B O’Morrissey – 1B Wedemeyer – CF Green – C Vinson – SS Salazar – LF Buell – P J. Rivera

Stephen Buell hit his first big league home run, a leadoff job in the bottom 3rd, then tying the game. Jose Rivera was very hittable in this game, which quickly got out of the Raccoons’ reach. Rivera was down 5-1 in the sixth, but came back out for the seventh, facing McFarland leading off. He surrendered a leadoff double, then was in pain, and was removed. Between Mallandain and Otero, the run scored, 6-2 Canadiens, while the Raccoons had zero going for them. The best chance one could get was facing Albert Matthews in the bottom 9th, down 6-3. Matthews walked Vinson, and walked Salazar. The tying run came up in Buell, and no outs. Matthews continued to miss, and also walked Buell. Ingall hit for Burnett in the #9 slot, but struck out. Brewer came up, another left-hander, and those continued to tear up Matthews, as Brewer singled into left, which scored a pair. Down 6-5, the winning runs in scoring position, one out, Strong to the plate. He grounded to second, where Bob Butler faked to home, which had Buell scrambling back in a hurry, then put out Strong at first. O-Mo had to get something done, and took Matthews’ second pitch to left. IT GETS THROUGH!! Buell comes home, Brewer turns third, Brewer goes home, the throw! Is! LATE!! RACCOONS WALK OFF!!! 7-6 Furballs!! Brewer 4-5, HR, 2 2B, 3 RBI; Green 2-4; Buell 2-3, BB, HR, 3B, RBI; Kinnear (PH) 1-1, 2B, RBI; Martinez 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

To be fair, this was the Canadiens’ game, if they had put in somebody other than Albert Matthews. ANY guy who doesn’t walk the first three men in an inning would have closed this one easily.

Scoring four in the bottom 9th is sweet, regardless. It is double sweet against the Canadiens.

Unfortunately, I had to send down Stephen Buell the morning after his first home run in the Bigs. We needed another arm in the bullpen and we brought up Cesar Salcido as additional pitcher for the last four games before the All Star Game. I did not get Pancho Padilla, because he had worked regularly the last few days and was tired already. Salcido can at least be used to eat innings in a deflating loss, should we run into one of those. By the way, Kisho is pitching next, and between zero and eight runs everything is possible for the Canadiens.

The news on Jose Rivera are good: he came out with back spasms and won’t be available for a week. However, the All Star game cancels his next start anyway, so we will not have to DL him or anything like that. I don’t see any pitcher out of our rotation go to the All Star game anyway.

Game 4
VAN: CF Ledesma – 2B S. Mendez – LF Hartley – 1B Mosley – 3B Galindo – RF Moore – SS B. Butler – C J. Lopez – P Ryan
POR: 2B Brewer – RF Strong – 3B O’Morrissey – LF Kinnear – CF Green – 1B Higgins – SS Salazar – C Vinson – P Saito

A man on second, two out, 0-2 on Mosley, Saito was almost out of the first. Then the Canadiens jumped on him for three hits and three runs. A throwing error by Salazar cost an unearned run in the second. The Raccoons were still waiting for a hit, which would come with a double off Vinson’s bat in the bottom 3rd, which put him and Salazar in scoring position. Saito and Brewer at least got them in with productive outs. Two out in the top 5th, nobody on, Galindo hit a soft bloop into shallow right for a single. Roland Moore hit an infield single to Brewer. And then Butler singled to left to score another run. Lopez was walked intentionally to get to Ryan, who buried Saito with a 2-run single. ARGH!!! Seven runs on Saito on ten hits, nine of which had been soft bloops, grounders, or infield knocks. I gave up on the game, put Salcido in, and closed my eyes to cry some. In the bottom 6th, we got our second hit of the game, a Strong single, and the next two Inepticoons also singled, loading the bags for Royce Green against Glenn Ryan. Green lined out, and Higgins flied out, inning over. 8-2 Canadiens.

This sucks.

Raccoons (52-32) @ Loggers (56-30) – July 5-7, 1996

Last series before the All Star game, and we are three games back. So, winning this series seems like a good thing to do. But with their offense humming, I see hard times upon us. But with Davis Sims and Rafael Garcia on the DL the rotation of theirs we were facing consisted of a few fill-ins, too, so maybe … nah, stop kidding.

Projected matchups:
Jason Turner (5-5, 3.16 ERA) vs. Simon Walton (2-0, 5.34 ERA)
Scott Wade (6-6, 3.92 ERA) vs. Cole Johnston (1-1, 5.28 ERA)
Antonio Donis (9-3, 3.73 ERA) vs. Jorge Casas (5-4, 4.45 ERA)

Stephen Walton was a 23-year old left-hander, who had not been taken in the 1991 amateur draft and had bounced around before ending up with the Loggers. Johnston had not been picked in the 1988 draft.

Game 1
POR: 2B Brewer – 3B O’Morrissey – RF Green – 1B Wedemeyer – C Vinson – LF Kinnear – SS Ingall – CF Newton – P Turner
MIL: CF Fletcher – 1B Evans – RF C. Ramirez – SS Grant – LF McGuire – 3B J. Perez – C L. Ramirez – 2B Chevalier – P Walton

In the first, Walton alternated walks and K’s to the Coons before Vinson hit a 3-run homer. That was the Raccoons’ last hit until the fifth, when Newton shoved a double through Jose Perez to put himself and Ingall in scoring position with no outs. In a throwback to the last game, the pitcher and Brewer brought home the runners with groundouts. The Coons led 5-1 while Turner was well adrift, putting runners in scoring position in every inning so far, and the Loggers hit four singles off him to get their two runs back in the bottom 5th. They had two more singles in the bottom 6th, knocking out Turner after 5.1 frames. Drake Evans lined out hard to Ingall against Ken Burnett, who felt the need to load the bags by hitting Cristo Ramirez, before Bob Grant struck out. De La Rosa pitched the seventh, and entered the eighth, but found himself with two on and one out in the 5-3 game and left-handers coming up. Burnett used, Salcido useless, that left Mallandain. The ship was sinking hard, as Ricardo Rivera hit for Evans and doubled, before Ramirez hit a single in a 2-2 count and the game was tied. Tzu-jao Ban and Nori Kondo entered in a double switch, and Ramirez found it necessary to run on Kondo, who nailed him at second. Runner on third, two out, tied game, and Bob Grant grounded out to O-Mo to end the eighth. We went into extras. O-Mo hit a ball to deep left to lead off the top 10th, but it was caught. Green then singled to left, and got an extra base when Jessie McGuire missed the pickup. He never advanced, as we left on a pair, as we would do in the 11th. We were running out of arms rapidly at this point. Royce Green hit a leadoff double in the 12th. GET HIM IN!!!!! Wedemeyer was put on intentionally, bringing up Strong, who shot a double up the right field line, scoring Green. No outs, two in scoring position, and we only managed one sac fly. Up 7-5, only Martinez and Miller were left to pick from, and they had thrown 35 and 57 pitches, respectively, the last few days. Martinez was the fresher arm and was put in. McGuire took his first pitch into center for a single. Jose Perez grounded sharply to third, but O-Mo made a sparkling play and got McGuire at second base. Leon Ramirez grounded even more sharply to third then, but O-Mo made that play, too, and zinged it to Brewer, to first, out, over! 7-5 Raccoons. Green 2-5, BB, 2B; Strong 1-2, 2B, RBI; Newton 2-5, BB, 2 2B; Ban 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K; Otero 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K, W (2-2);

We were out-hit 15-9 in this one. And Mallandain sucks. And even with an 8-man pen we can not get through games right now without guys ending up on oxygen support.

Game 2
POR: 2B Brewer – RF Strong – LF Kinnear – CF Green – 3B Ingall – 1B Higgins – C Vinson – SS Salazar – P Wade
MIL: CF Fletcher – 1B Evans – RF C. Ramirez – SS Grant – LF McGuire – C L. Ramirez – 3B Golunski – 2B Chevalier – P Johnston

Cole Johnston, 30, in his tenth big league start, failed to retire any of the first five Raccoons, and we ended up 5-spotting him in the first inning. Now, a semi-decent start by Wade, and we have this in the bank! Bottom 2nd, Bob Grant led off with a vicious liner to the deepest corner in left that kept running away from Kinnear, while Grant hurried around the bases and came up with an inside-the-park job. The next three guys would single off Wade, who managed to survive with two K’s sandwiching a sac fly. 5-2. While the Raccoons did nothing offensively with Johnston gone after two innings, Wade gave up a solo home run to Leon Ramirez in the fourth. 5-3. After the Raccoons left pairs of runners on in the fifth and sixth, Jerry Fletcher put down Wade with a game-tying home run in the bottom 6th. Top 7th, bases loaded, one out. Wade was to be hit for anyway here and O-Mo came out with a bat. After grounding to Grant, he narrowly beat out the throw from the pivoting Chevalier to be safe at first, and we led 6-5, but then Brewer struck out. The bullpen was dead. Burnett pitched a perfect seventh, and with two right-handers next, was left in to start the eighth, too. Ramirez got on, and Golunski hit a triple. Of course he would NOT stay on base, scoring on a Fletcher triple off Daniel Miller. Ingall got on leading off the top 9th, but Vinson’s double play ended the game. 7-6 Loggers. Kinnear 2-4; Green 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Ingall 3-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Vinson 2-4, BB; Salazar 2-4, RBI;

Again 15 hits against Raccoons pitching. Everything keeps to come crashing down.

You MUST – NOT – LOSE … a game in which you lead 5-0 after the first. Especially not for first place.

Oh come on, I feel completely sucked dry by now … I know they lose the last one anyway. Donis is pitching, and he can’t go more than six, and the pen sucks even more than the starting pitching.

And it became even worse. Antonio Donis was put onto the All Star Game, and that kicked him from the start in the rubber game. Worser: Rivera was hurt, and was not available, and so was any other guy on the team. Even worserer: nobody on the AAA team that was on the 40-man roster was available. So we had to throw in one of our precious relievers. Congrats, Loggers on being up by four then.

Game 3
POR: 2B Brewer – LF Kinnear – 3B O’Morrissey – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Green – C Vinson – SS Salazar – CF Newton – P De La Rosa
MIL: CF Fletcher – 1B Evans – RF C. Ramirez – SS Grant – LF McGuire – 3B J. Perez – C L. Ramirez – 2B Chevalier – P Casas

To make things worstestenst, game 3 was held under a more or less steady rain. Everybody was soaked. The Loggers still hit triples, though, with Cristo Ramirez getting one with two out in the bottom 3rd for the first run of the game. Vinson hit a homer in the top 4th to re-tie the game. While De La Rosa gave it all he had and pitched his heart out, the offense was denied again and again. With Kinnear on first and no outs, O-Mo, Wedemeyer, and Green would hit into three line drive outs, for example, in the sixth. They left two on in the seventh. De La Rosa went seven innings in the greatest start we had seen in a while. Top 8th, Kinnear on first again. O-Mo and Wedemeyer were retired by Cristo Ramirez on huge fly balls to the warning track. In Portland, both would have been gone. Green singled to left, and Vinson flew out to … Ramirez. Mallandain put two on in the bottom 8th, and Miller walked the bags full, but Leon Ramirez grounded out to end the inning, still 1-1. Newton was left on third base in the ninth, and then Jamal Chevalier led off the bottom 9th with a single to center. Miller remained in. Bob Rush made an out, before Chevalier stole second and took third on a throwing error by Vinson. One out. Fletcher popped out to O-Mo, two out. Golunski against Miller. 1-0 pitch grounded back to Miller, throw to first, out. Extra innings. A recently ravaged Burnett came out to face Cristo Ramirez leading off the tenth, but gave up a double on the first pitch. Exit Burnett, enter Otero. Ramirez went to third on a groundout, then went for home when McGuire grounded to O-Mo, who was well alert and rocketed the ball to Vinson, who tagged out Ramirez in time. Kinnear made a huge play on an Alex Gonzalez fly ball to end the frame. Vinson led off the 11th with a double, Salazar singled, and then Newton blooped a single into shallow left. FINALLY A ****ING RUN!!! Strong singling in place of Otero loaded the bases against Raymond Leger, who didn’t have much, maybe due to pitching every day in this series. And HERE, in the 11th, the rain became so bad they called a delay, which lasted almost an hour. When play finally resumed, we still had the bags full, and no outs in a 2-1 game. Mario Chaves replaced Leger, as Brewer and Kinnear flied out to shallow left. Oh my … O-MO!! O’Morrissey hit a 2-run double to deep left, and Wedemeyer turned an 0-5 day around with a 2-run single. Cancel your euphoria, Ban still has three outs to get. He got the first two, before he went into full counts to the next three batters … losing them all. And Ramirez was coming up. And he singled. And the tying run came to the plate. I stormed the field swinging a bat and took a swing at Ban before Wedemeyer and the first base coach dragged me out. Bob Grant hit a 2-run double. 6-5, and STILL an out to collect. Jessie McGuire was eager to be the hero … too eager. Even for the kick-me version of Tzu-jao Ban on the mound, and struck out. 6-5 Raccoons. O’Morrissey 3-6, 2B, 2 RBI; Vinson 2-4, BB, HR, 2B, RBI; Newton 2-3, 2 BB, RBI; De La Rosa 7.0 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 K; Miller 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K;

Just let me go to sleep now.

In other news

June 28 – RIC 3B Antonio Gutierrez (.254, 6 HR, 43 RBI) is out for the year with a broken elbow.
July 2 – TIJ INF Bruce Boyle (.294, 7 HR, 41 RBI) will be missing for a week or so with a mild oblique strain.
July 6 – IND CL Jim Durden (3-2, 1.51 ERA, 24 SV) closes down a 3-0 Indians win over the Crusaders. It is the 500th time for Durden that he claims a save, and he becomes only the third member of the 500 SV club after Andres Ramirez and Grant West. Durden, a first round pick by the Scorpions in 1979, has been with the Indians for ten years now. His career numbers are 79-65 with a 1.88 ERA in 988 games.

Complaints and stuff

I am mentally exhausted. This team is mentally exhausting. Everything is mentally exhausting. I am mentally exhausted. Did I mention that I am mentally exhausted? Everything is mentally exhausting.

That Kisho Saito gets rectally impaled every other game – it is the fact that the singles fall in where they don’t belong. BB/9, K/9, FIP are all more or less in line with his career stats, for the season and recently. The H/9 are through the roof, massively. He has 8.3 H/9 for his career, but 9.3 on the year, and 10.1 in June, and 18 in this last start. He has surrendered six or more runs (earned or not) in four starts this season:

April 23 @ Falcons, 6 IP, 8 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 0 HR, 4 BB, 5 K
June 2 @ Loggers, 3.2 IP, 8 H, 8 R, 5 ER, 2 HR, 1 BB, 1 K
June 18 @ Titans, 5 IP, 11 H, 8 R, 8 ER, 0 HR, 0 BB, 6 K
July 4 vs. Canadiens, 5 IP, 10 H, 7 R, 6 ER, 0 HR, 1 BB, 3 K

He has not surrendered a long ball but in the Loggers game, and only seven on the season (which projects to 14 now, and he used to give up 15 to 21 the last few years), so home runs are NOT the problem. Hits by bases in these four games:

CHA: 4 singles, 4 doubles
MIL: 4 singles, 2 doubles, 2 home runs
BOS: 7 singles, 2 doubles, 2 triples
VAN: 8 singles, 2 doubles

In the Falcons game, he walked four, which only turned that into a disaster. In the other games, the opponents would just not stop hitting against him, and in the last two there were a LOT of singles. Why can’t anybody defend against that? And it is not that it has only been Saito! This ties in to the metric butt ton of 4-run innings we have run into this season. It just keeps happening, and I have only that curse explanation for it.

Don’t even get me started on a closer almost blowing out a 5-run lead with one out to collect and nobody on base to start with.

Everything is so depressing.

And exhausting.