[Westheim]

While everybody used the off day (our first in three weeks) to catch some breath, I looked at our situation as a whole. We were a week’s worth of games ahead of the Loggers now. We were also about a week removed from getting Liam Wedemeyer back from the DL. We also had three catchers on the roster going into this week, although the flexibility it added for catchers, it took away from everything else. Luke Newton would be recalled from his rehab assignment at the expense of Ron McDonald.

The latest news on Miguel Lopez were that he was about six weeks away from his return. That would of course put his return date in late September, and minor league seasons would be over by then. He would thus have to be added to the expanded roster and make a rehab start under intense fire. I didn’t really like that outlook.

Raccoons (77-40) vs. Cyclones (56-61) – August 13-15, 1996

With Cincy, it was all about their offense, which ranked 4th in the Federal League with 595 runs scored. This still could not pick up their pitching staff, which had surrendered 624 runs already, which was the third-most in the FL. Rotation and bullpen were almost equally bad for them. They also had two of their better pitchers on the DL in young closer Leonardo Sosa and Nobuyoshi Matsui, as well as infielder Raúl Duenas.

Projected matchups:
Jason Turner (8-8, 3.41 ERA) vs. Manuel Garza (11-6, 4.39 ERA)
Scott Wade (10-6, 3.64 ERA) vs. Mark Burt (7-10, 4.82 ERA)
Antonio Donis (11-4, 3.62 ERA) vs. Russ “Cool Papa” Ewing (16-6, 3.79 ERA)

Game 1
CIN: 3B Munoz – 1B Nava – LF Morris – RF Root – CF Harris – SS Connolly – 2B P. Parker – C Morán – P Garza
POR: 2B Brewer – LF Kinnear – CF Reece – 3B O’Morrissey – RF Green – 1B Higgins – SS Salazar – C Vinson – P Turner

Our battery sucked. After we moved 1-0 ahead in the bottom 2nd, David Vinson led off the top 3rd with a throwing error for two bases on Garza’s slow grounder. Garza was brought in to score, tying the game. Turner failed to have either command or stuff ready. He would pitch seven inning of 2-run ball, but the Cyclones dropped two chances to grill him, including in the seventh, when they had runners on the corners with one out, and pinch-hitter Ramiro Gonzalez grounded into a 4-6-3 life-saver. He left in a 2-2 tie, as the Coons had gotten only three hits off Manuel Garza in six frames. The Cyclones brought in ex-Titan and Coon-torturer Arthur Young in the bottom 7th, and Turner did not get a decision when Royce Green left two on. Otero walked leadoff man Munoz in the eighth, but we pitched around that. Bottom 9th, still tied. Martin hit for Daniel Miller, but flew out. Brewer walked against Randy Gregory, and Kinnear singled to center. That brought up Neil Reece, who was looking for success of some kind in this game. He took a wide one, then got a middle one and drilled it. Dan Morris chased after it, to the track, to the wall, he jumped in vain, but it was GONE!!! 5-2 Raccoons!! Reece 1-4, BB, HR, 3 RBI; Salazar 1-2, BB, RBI; Turner 7.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 1 K;

David Brewer collected one hit (no Coon had more than one) to extend his streak to 18 games. Also, Daniel Miller picked up the W in back-to-back games pitching in relief.

Game 2
CIN: 3B Munoz – 1B Nava – LF Morris – RF Root – CF Harris – SS Connolly – 2B P. Parker – C Morán – P Burt
POR: 2B Brewer – SS Salazar – CF Reece – 3B O’Morrissey – RF Green – LF Strong – 1B Ingall – C Kondo – P Wade

Burt allowed hits to the first four Raccoons, before hitting Royce Green in the hand. Green immediately threw the bat to the side and jumped up and down, holding his hand, obviously in pain. Obviously as well, he had to come out. The fans were stunned in silence. That the Raccoons scored three runs in the inning didn’t help. Little happened the next few innings. Scott Wade was at the peak of his game, giving up mostly very soft contact for the infielders to collect more or less casually. There were two situations in the game, where Ingall and Kondo were on base for Wade with one out, in the fourth and sixth innings. Wade failed to lay a bunt down the first time and we didn’t score in the inning. In the sixth, I called a hit-and-run on an 0-1 pitch, but Wade whiffed and Ingall was thrown out at third. Wade then took the right next pitch by Mark Burt into deep left, where it eluded Morris and fell in for an RBI double. Brewer singled and Wade would score on Connolly’s error on a fast grounder by Salazar, 5-0. We left the bags full in the eighth, after loading them with one out when both O-Mo and Martin popped out. Wade entered the ninth on exactly 100 pitches, but faced the tough 2-3-4 batters, who were all switch- or left-handed batters. David Brewer would create a problem when he bobbled Dan Morris’ grounder with one out. But Wade was only shortly shaken. Root flew out to Reece, and then Wade struck out Robert Harris to end the game. 5-0 Coons!! Brewer 3-4, BB; Salazar 3-5, 2B; O’Morrissey 2-5, RBI; Ingall 2-4; Kondo 2-4; Wade 9.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K, W (11-6) and 1-4, 2B, RBI;

Scottyyyy!! This was his 10th career shutout, and the second this season, and also his 17th complete game (4th in 1996). I love this guy!

So. Now for news on Royce Green: the hand looked bad, but X-rays showed no fractures anywhere. He had suffered a bad contusion and would be unavailable for a week or so.

And this presents a dilemma. Lacking an outfielder for a week is bad enough, even worse when it is powerhouse (or powerhorse?) Royce Green. But wouldn’t it be worse to DL him and miss him for TWO weeks? Green was thus not disabled (yet) and we would play a man short.

The injury however prompted us to set our catching staff straight. McDonald was sent back to AAA, and we recalled Luke Newton.

Game 3
CIN: 2B Berrios – 3B R. Gonzalez – RF Morris – CF Aguilar – SS Connolly – C Morán – 1B Munoz – LF Root – P Ewing
POR: 2B Brewer – LF Kinnear – CF Reece – 3B O’Morrissey – RF Strong – 1B Ingall – SS Salazar – C Vinson – P Donis

A wild Donis walked a pair in the first without nasty consequences, then with two out in the second and nobody on hit Michael Root. Nothing came of that either, but in the bottom 2nd, Ingall was hit by Ewing, putting two on with one out. Fans grew unruly. The Coons made Ewing pay with three runs in the inning but there were a few grim looks in the Browns’ dugout. Leon Berrios then stole home successfully against Vinson in the top 3rd. Donis went six before running out of gas, backed by a solo home run by Neil Reece in the fifth that made it 4-1. No additional batters were hit – the next HBP would certainly have emptied the benches. I would have jumped in with a bat myself. A cloudy day became rainy, for both the Cyclones and everybody in attendance as the Raccoons had a big inning going against Arthur Young in the bottom 7th when rain forced a delay of more than an hour. Once play resumed, our inning quickly ended against Salvador Franco. Dan Morris homered off Burnett in the eighth, cutting our lead back to 6-2, and trouble was brewing in the ninth with De La Rosa in. The first two Cyclones reached. Berrios grounded out, putting them in scoring position. De La Rosa then came back to strike out Gonzalez. That brought up Morris with a base open, but he was not the tying run, and with both left-handers used (unsuccessfully), De La Rosa would pitch to him, and after that, Ban would come in. De La Rosa walked him anyway. Ban faced Gonzalo Aguilar as the tying run with two outs, and struck him out. 6-2 Raccoons! Brewer 4-5, RBI; Reece 2-4, HR, 3B, 2 RBI; Kondo (PH) 1-1, RBI; Donis 6.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 4 K, W (12-4) and 1-2, RBI;

Oy, a sweep! The Cyclones’ offense never clicked in the entire series. Wade annihilated them outright, and they didn’t see much land in the other two games either, with Turner escaping annihilation the closest (and he also got no W).

And oy, David Brewer’s streak soared to 20 games!!

But Vinson was so good the first half of the season. And now? Moah. Same for Ken Burnett. Well, Burnett was never any good all year, but the last two batters he faced have homered.

Raccoons (80-40) @ Indians (69-52) – August 16-18, 1996

How the Indians were playing .570 ball with the worst batting average in the league was their secret. I could not make it out. Their pitching ranked 4th, but their offense was nowhere near the pace for a 93-69 record. The Indians also had five players on the DL, including outfielder Tomas Maguey, infielder Angelo Duarte, and pitchers Tim Hess, Lorenzo Ángel, and Fernando Pena. They were weakened, but they were bravely fighting on!

Projected matchups:
Jose Rivera (12-0, 2.37 ERA) vs. Chang-se Park (11-7, 3.27 ERA)
Kisho Saito (13-6, 4.11 ERA) vs. Steve Holcomb (2-9, 4.84 ERA)
Jason Turner (8-8, 3.31 ERA) vs. Dan George (11-9, 3.42 ERA)

The last guy, Dan George, was the only left-hander we would face all week. We had another off day coming after this series, so David Brewer would play through this week. Kinnear had been off in the second game against Cincy, but he was more durable than Brewer anyway. I just wanted Scott Strong’s bat in the game for a day.

Game 1
POR: 2B Brewer – SS Salazar – CF Reece – 3B O’Morrissey – LF Kinnear – 1B Higgins – RF Newton – C Vinson – P J. Rivera
IND: SS J. Martinez – CF L. Maldonado – 3B Brown – RF A. Roldán – 1B Paredes – LF Sakaguchi – C Cardenas – 2B Chevalier – P Park

The Raccoons had six hits in the first two innings, but scored only one run with those, which Rivera gave back in the bottom 2nd with a home run to Carlos Paredes. And then nobody got on base again! It was not until the seventh that a runner got into scoring position again. After Park bruised Vinson to lead off the top 7th, Rivera bunted him to second. But the Indians made the right call in putting Brewer on intentionally, and Salazar grounded into a double play. Bottom 7th, and Alejandro Roldán was homerless in 195 AB on the season, but managed to take Rivera deep. A Salazar error cost an unearned run in the eighth, and the Raccoons had nothing going. Jim Durden came out for the ninth. Newton led off with a single to center. Strong batted for Vinson and walked. Ingall hit for Otero and singled to left. Bases loaded, no outs, and nowhere to put Brewer. Durden ran the count full on Brewer, and then threw a wide one Brewer didn’t want to fish for. That walk pushed in the first run we needed. Salazar then grounded into a force at home. And Reece grounded into a force at home. And O’Morrissey? Grounded into a force at first. 3-2 Indians. Brewer 2-3, 2 BB, RBI; Reece 2-4, BB; Ingall (PH) 1-1;

Losing that one this way? Stinks. Bah. Disgusting.

Also, Rivera has been defeated, but that had to happen at some point.

Liam Wedemeyer came off the DL in time for the last two games of the set. Jeff Martin was designated for assignment.

Game 2
POR: 2B Brewer – LF Kinnear – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – 3B O’Morrissey – RF Strong – SS Salazar – C Kondo – P Saito
IND: 3B J. Martinez – C Cicalina – 1B Brown – CF Ayala – LF L. Maldonado – RF Sakaguchi – 2B Carter – SS Cerdeira – P Holcomb

Matt Brown pierced Saito with a solo homer in the first inning, but the Raccoons came right back. Salazar hit a 1-out triple in the second, and scored on Kondo’s single. Saito bunted, but Jose Martinez threw the bunt away, putting our Japanese pair in scoring position with one out. David Brewer extended his hitting streak to 22 games with a grounder up the middle that JUST eluded Victor Cerdeira, and both runners were able to score, 3-1. Holcomb was torn open quickly, with another run in the third, and O-Mo’s 1-out, 3-run double in the fourth put him to bed, and our Japanese pair would both come up with 2-out RBI singles before the inning fizzled out, as far as you can call anything like that for a 6-run inning. We were up 10-1. While that game was under normal circumstances in Saito’s W column, we added a few more. Meanwhile, Saito did not allow a hit after the Brown home run until the seventh, when Claudio Ayala hit a 2-out double. Of course, being Saito he was immediately singled against by Luis Maldonado for Ayala to score. Regardless, Saito had a bear of a game, on the mound and at the plate. Martinez, Santana, and Salazar crumbled in the bottom 9th, allowing an extra run to the Indians, but this one was a rout. 13-3 Raccoons. Brewer 3-4, 2 BB, 2 RBI; Reece 2-5, BB, RBI; Wedemeyer 2-4, 2 BB, 2B; O’Morrissey 2-6, 2B, 4 RBI; Salazar 3-6, 3B, 2B, RBI; Kondo 2-6, 2 RBI; Saito 8.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 8 K, W (14-6) and 2-4, RBI;

Game 3
POR: 2B Brewer – 3B O’Morrissey – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – SS Ingall – LF Kinnear – RF Newton – C Vinson – P Turner
IND: CF Espinoza – C Cicalina – 3B Brown – RF A Roldán – LF Sakaguchi – SS J. Martinez – 1B Ayala – 2B Chevalier – P George

Top 2nd, no outs, bases loaded, Newton to the plate. He flew out to right, but that was deep enough to score Wedemeyer from third. Vinson then drummed a double off the wall in center, scoring another run. After Turner made the second out, but Brewer singled into left, and we got another run home. Up 3-0, the action stopped. The Indians failed to get the bat on Jason Turner. Yes, their offense was as good as advertised: very slow. Turner would go into the eighth before issuing back-to-back walks and being removed, still shutting out the Indians. His mess was cleaned up, but in the ninth Daniel Miller suddenly stopped working like the clockwork he had been recently. He loaded the bags with two outs with us leading 5-0. Tzu-jao Ban came out, and issued a walk to Urbano Cicalina, bringing up Matt Brown as the tying run. Oh dear … he grounded out. 5-1 Coons. Brewer 2-4, BB, RBI; Strong (PH) 1-1; Turner 7.1 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 1 K, W (9-8);

In other news

August 13 – Oft-injured DEN LF Dale Wales (.303, 5 HR, 38 RBI) could be out for the year with a bad oblique strain.
August 14 – SAC 2B/SS Jim Stein (.320, 2 HR, 48 RBI) will miss five weeks with back spasms.
August 16 – CHA 2B/SS Adam Kent (.231, 6 HR, 44 RBI) has fractured his foot and will miss four weeks.
August 16 – As the Crusaders dump the Canadiens, 10-5, Clement Clark (.287, 5 HR, 34 RBI) rips five hits to extend his hitting streak to 24 games.
August 17 – The Canadiens beat the Crusaders, 4-3, but they can’t beat Clement Clark, who goes 1-4 to reach 25 games for his hitting streak.
August 18 – The Canadiens finally stop Clement Clark’s hitting streak at 25 games, but still lose the series to the Crusaders with a 3-1 loss.

Complaints and stuff

Good news! We won’t finish with a losing record this year! XD

Neil Reece’s walkoff home run on Tuesday not only warmed by heart, it also gave us six batters with double-digit home runs (including the still DL-ed Wedemeyer) on August 13. I checked, what’s the most double-digit dinger heroes the Raccoons have ever had in a season? My first guess was four, some year in which Tetsu Osanai, Mark Dawson, Daniel Hall, and Cameron Green would combine for that. The actual answer?

Six! In 1985, Mark Dawson hit 22, Ricardo Gonzalez 21, Sam Dadswell 18, Tetsu Osanai 16, Cam Green 14, and Daniel Hall 12. (That year, Osanai was traded for with the Canadiens; it was also one of the few years Hall was NOT hurt)

Years in which four or more Raccoons hit 10 or more home runs:
1977 – 4 – Ben Simon (21), Ed Sullivan (20), Pedro Sánz (17), Wyatt Johnston (15)
1982 – 5 – Mark Dawson (25), Matt Workman (19), Daniel Hall (18), Ramón Borjón (15), Cam Green (11)
1987 – 5 – Tetsu Osanai (21), Mark Dawson (16), Armando Sanchez (16), Daniel Hall (11), Sam Dadswell (10)
1988 – 5 – Mark Dawson (31), Tetsu Osanai (25), Sam Dadswell (14), Armando Sanchez (14), Daniel Hall (13)
1989 – 4 – Tetsu Osanai (35), Mark Dawson (26), Sam Dadswell (19), Daniel Hall (18)
1990 – 4 – Mark Dawson (21), David Vinson (21), Tetsu Osanai (20), Daniel Hall (16)
1991 – 4 – Tetsu Osanai (14), Neil Reece (13), Bobby Quinn (10), David Vinson (10)
1992 – 4 – Daniel Hall (24), Neil Reece (21), Vern Kinnear (16), Ben O’Morrissey (14)
1993 – 4 – Ben O’Morrissey (20), Neil Reece (18), Alejandro Lopez (18), Mark Allen (11)
1994 – 4 – Royce Green (38), Mark Allen (14), Vern Kinnear (13), Ben O’Morrissey (12)
1995 – 4 – Royce Green (16), Neil Reece (15), Vern Kinnear (13), Ben O’Morrissey (12)

We had three in almost every other season. Wow, so many loud shots fired unheard by me.

Well, we won’t make it seven, it seems. Nobody is even close to ten.

Other thoughts. Neil Reece was hurt more often than not during our playoff runs in the early 90s. I consider sitting him once a week from here, similarly to what I’ve been doing with David Brewer for two years now. Newton will play a very adequate center in his place, but of course you lose some offense. Although you could rightfully state that this is far from the best Neil Reece has ever been at the plate.

On David Brewer, he now has the longest active hitting streak at 23 games, and trails only the “deceased” streaks of Clement Clark (25) and Sonny Reece (26) for this season. And he has been BLAZING hot. It came as no surprise to me that he was named Player of the Week for this last stretch of seven days, going 15-23 with 5 RBI.

On July 24, his AVG was .313. Since then he has been on a tear, batting 46-93, so almost .500!! Among those 46 hits are just six doubles and no “bigger” hits, but hey, he added 19 walks for good measure, and has struck out only SEVEN times!

I love this boy!! Worth every million he’s due!! Never mind that sound. That's just owner Carlos Valdés crying.