[Westheim]

Raccoons (19-18) vs. Canadiens (11-25) – May 19-21, 1998

Whatever struggles the Raccoons were experiencing, it was certainly worse for the Elks. Not that I was griefing for their pity too much. They had ZERO pitching. They didn’t have a lot of offense, but they had ZERO pitching. They had already allowed 256 runs – that’s a whopping (whipping) SEVEN RUNS per game. Never before has a team been so ridiculously bad on the mound.

And here come the Coons.

Projected matchups:
Miguel Lopez (3-4, 3.09 ERA) vs. Jose Dominguez (1-5, 6.27 ERA)
Randy Farley (4-1, 2.82 ERA) vs. John Collins (1-6, 7.17 ERA)
Kisho Saito (1-5, 2.57 ERA) vs. Jose Marquez (2-5, 7.84 ERA)

Jose Rivera had struggled badly his last few starts and as such would be skipped here. Besides, I really wanted Kisho Saito to win a game every two months or so. This is not in violation of the “one player’s needs ain’t more important than the team’s needs” rule. There was an off day before this series, Rivera was walking them in droves, and Saito had this look on his face…

Game 1
VAN: 2B B. Butler – SS Shaw – LF Hartley – 1B Mosley – CF Ledesma – RF Moore – C Castillo – 3B P. Williams – P Dominguez
POR: 2B Ingall – RF Brady – CF Reece – 3B Crowe – 1B Michel – LF Parker – C Turner – SS Caddock – P M. Lopez

And here come the Inepticoons. Ingall and Brady singled in the first, the runners were on the corners, and the Raccoons failed to score in the inning. And the next. And the one after that. And then Bill Mosley hit a 2-run homer off Lopez in the fourth inning, and Lopez walked Ledesma, who then clobbered Marvin Ingall on the next play, and Ingall was knocked out. Mosley doubled up on Lopez the next time he came up, 3-0 Elks, and the Raccoons logged their first hit since the first inning on Neil Reece’s leadoff single in the bottom 6th. Michel singling, and Parker walking loaded the bags with one out for Turner, who found a way to ground one to Travis Shaw, and the inning was over. Patrick Williams’ bomb in the seventh got the attendance rid of Lopez, and when Daniel Miller came in he issued three 2-out walks before Caddock rescued him with a nice catch on Ledesma’s line drive. Neil Reece then held the game in reach (theoretically) in the eighth with a nifty catch followed by a kill throw to home plate, getting two outs in one swoop. Still down 4-0, the bullpen entered for the Canadiens, and suddenly – an opening! The tying runs were aboard in a 4-1 game and two out for Conceicao Guerin, who was now in the leadoff spot, when he squeezed a single past Shaw to plate a pair. McDonald hit for Carlton in the #2 slot against Juan Bello (7.98 ERA) – and lined out. The Canadiens responded by putting four runs on a helpless Tamburrino in the ninth. 8-3 Canadiens. Ingall 1-1, BB, 2B; Guerin 2-3, 2 RBI; Brady 2-4; Newton (PH) 1-1, RBI;

Game 2
VAN: CF Ledesma – 3B Sutton – 1B Mosley – C J. Lopez – RF J. Wilson – LF J. Moreno – 2B Darke – SS Shaw – P J. Collins
POR: 3B Crowe – SS Guerin – RF Brady – CF Reece – 1B Michel – C Turner – LF Parker – 2B Caddock – P Farley

The Coons got the first run of the game with Michel’s first career RBI, a 2-out RBI single. Then they started to fail again. While Farley only struck out left-handed batters in this start, Michel tripled with one out in the fourth – and was left on. Meanwhile John Collins struck out nine – obviously hibernating – Raccoons through the first five innings. It was a clutch performance by Farley that didn’t let this one get away, and then in the bottom 7th, we finally got a big knock, a 2-run homer by Steve Caddock to make it 3-0. All was well for Farley, who pitched a scoreless eighth, and came back out for the ninth. When Lopez singled to lead off the ninth, Wade was getting ready, but Joe Wilson hit into a double play, and Farley then popped up Moreno, and Caddock got that one. 3-0 Raccoons. Crowe 2-4; Michel 2-4, 3B, RBI; Farley 9.0 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 6 K, W (5-1) and 1-3;

That’s Randyboy’s first career shutout of course, being a rookie, and never having gotten through the eighth inning before. Are the Condors regretting the trade yet? David Brewer is batting .285/.354/.423 so far, but he was also very slow out of the box two of the three years he was with us, and always ended up with minimums of .322/.412/.421 for an average 5.5 WAR from the plate. He has 0.6 offensive WAR so far this year.

Game 3
VAN: 3B B. Butler – C J. Lopez – LF Hartley – 1B Mosley – CF Ledesma – RF Moore – SS Shaw – 2B Darke – P Marquez
POR: SS Guerin – 3B Crowe – CF Reece – 1B Michel – C Turner – LF Newton – 2B Utting – RF Villegas – P Saito

Saito and the W were intentionally parted by the defense already in the first. A pair of errors by Guerin and Crowe allowed the first and fourth Canadien on base, and Saito barely came out only 1-0 down when he got Travis Shaw to ground out. Saito was visibly disgusted by his teammates, then was blown up without assistance in the third inning on a 3-run bomb by Bill Mosley. The Raccoons had exactly one producer in the lineup, Neil Reece, and they went down hard, and took Saito with them. 6-3 Canadiens. Guerin 3-5, 2B; Reece 3-4, HR, 3 RBI; Villegas 2-4;

Instead, they hit into three double plays.

We also got the diagnosis on Marvin Ingall, who had been absolutely blazing terrific the first two months of the year. Well, that was over now. He was out until the All Star break with a strained oblique.

WE AIN’T GONNA WIN A SINGLE ****ING GAME FOR SIX WEEKS.

Free agent signing

The same day of game 3, the Raccoons added a replacement for the chased Alonso Santana. They announced the signing of 32-year old Brooklynite Dave Beck, a southpaw reliever, on a 1-yr, $180k contract. Beck was the Titans’ eighth round pick in 1984, and made his debut as September callup for the Canadiens in 1989. He stayed with them through 1994, and since then has pitched for the Bayhawks and Titans. He has a 4.53 career ERA, but has decent K/BB and was very good the last two seasons.

He was added to the roster in time for the following series, at the expense of Fred Carlton.

Raccoons (20-20) vs. Falcons (20-21) – May 22-24, 1998

The Falcons had a good rotation, which ranked fourth in the league, but they suffered offensively, scoring only a hair over four runs a game. Well, that’s still four more than a certain bunch of suckers I know about.

Projected matchups:
Manuel Movonda (3-3, 2.25 ERA) vs. Carlos Castro (4-3, 2.53 ERA)
Miguel Lopez (3-5, 3.42 ERA) vs. Terry Wilson (4-3, 4.14 ERA)
Randy Farley (5-1, 2.35 ERA) vs. Angel Romero (5-2, 2.10 ERA)

That’s three left-handers. Reece is the only RHB in the outfield now. Hum. Parker is sucking anyway. He will start in the first game, and if he continues to fail, he will be demoted for a right-hander. That was the thought, at least. However, the only right-handed batting outfielder on the AAA roster was George Wood, who was not on the 40-man roster, and who was also struggling. Argh!! And no more AA experiments. By the way, as Ingall was DL’ed, we called up infielder Brent McLaughlin, just to have a body on the bench. But maybe we should really call up a first baseman, have Michel play second, and go from there. I don’t know. I have lost any clue I ever had.

Lopez hadn’t pitched very far in his game, but Farley was also starting on short rest. We’d take it slow with him in his start.

Game 1
CHA: CF R. Garza – SS J. Barrón – 1B H. Green – 3B M. Hall – LF Encarnación – 2B P. Villa – RF Cleveland – C D. Smith – P Castro
POR: SS Guerin – 3B Crowe – 1B Michel – CF Reece – 2B Utting – RF Newton – C McDonald – LF Parker – P Movonda

Movonda surrendered a pair of runs in the first inning, leading to Utting coming up with the bags full and one out in the bottom of the inning. Utting slapped a single into right, getting Guerin home, but Newton then got doubled up. It was a Javier Encarnación error in the third inning that put Samy Michel on second base for Neil Reece, and Reece zinged a single up the middle to score the young Canadian, and the game was tied again. That tie lived until Samy Michel’s next AB, and here said young Canadian launched his maiden big league homer, putting Movonda up 3-2. All was going well for Movonda now until the seventh. Duane Smith singled on with one out, and then Castro came up to bunt. He bunted to the left side and Crowe had a long way to go on that one – and didn’t make the play. Castro’s bunt base hit put the Raccoons and Movonda in somewhat of a predicament, as the top of the lineup came up with the go-ahead runs on. Movonda was going to pitch to Ramón Garza, however, as Garza was a right-hander, and Barrón a switch hitter. Garza poked at the first pitch, grounded hard to third, but right to Crowe, who never missed a beat on this one and converted it into a 5-4-3 double duty. Then came the bullpen, and blew it. De La Rosa walked Green and allowed a double to Hall in the eighth, and Donis surrendered a sac fly to Christian Dunphy, who hit for Encarnación to counter Donis. The game went to extra innings with Scott Wade pitching. Guerin got on leading off the 10th, but was caught stealing in a pitchout. With two down, Michel and Reece singled, bringing up Utting with right-hander Holden Gorman pitching. Yeah, I didn’t quite like my chances with the bench. Utting grounded out. Beck made his Coons debut in a scoreless 12th, and Turner then hit for him leading off the bottom 12th, whiffing. Guerin grounded out, and we had Fairchild warm up for the 13th and beyond (undoubtedly 20, at least), when Mike Crowe stepped into the box. Crowe homered – it was a walkoff!!! 4-3 Raccoons!!! Guerin 3-6, 2B; Michel 3-5, HR, RBI; Reece 2-5, RBI; Parker 2-5; Movonda 7.0 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K; Wade 2.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

So, Dave Beck actually won his first appearance as a Brownshirt. Let’s build on that!

Game 2
CHA: CF Dunphy – 2B J. Barrón – 3B H. Green – LF Cleveland – C J. Rivera – SS R. Garza – 1B P. Villa – RF S. Vargas – P Wilson
POR: SS Guerin – 3B Crowe – 1B Michel – CF Reece – C Turner – LF Newton – RF Brady – 2B McLaughlin – P M. Lopez

Christian Dunphy was batting a frightening .153, yet somehow Miguel Lopez managed to throw him four low ones that Dunphy didn’t go after for a 2-out, bases-loaded walk in the second inning. Bottom 2nd, “Loudmouth” Wilson walked Werner Turner, and then quickly left the game with an apparent injury. Brady got on, and then McLaughlin doubled to tie the game. As reliever Leonard Williamson came apart, a huge 2-out, 2-run single by Guerin and another knock by Crowe plated a total of four runs in the inning. Bad control and composure were problems Lopez fought with as much as the Falcons in general in this game, though. Although the Coons tacked on a run in the fourth, Lopez came close to getting removed in the fifth, after which he had four walks on his ledger, and had balked in one of the two Falcons runs in the inning, bringing the score to 5-3. Lopez was yanked in the sixth after putting two men on, and Tamburrino got out of the inning with runners on the corners. Miller pitched a quick seventh, but then allowed a pair of 1-out singles in the eighth. Beck came in, and rescued the lead, although one run scored. With Wade unavailable, we were now only up by one run, but that was before the bottom 8th. Here the strained Falcons bullpen exploded for good. Reece walked, Turner singled, and they just came apart piece by piece although McLaughlin hit into a double play. The inning continued with RBI hits by Caddock and Guerin, a walk by Crowe, and another big hit by Michel, before Reece struck out. Six runs scored, Kelly Fairchild found a way to get bombed by Jesus Rivera, but the Coons won. 11-6 Raccoons. Guerin 4-5, 3B, 2B, 4 RBI; Turner 2-3, BB; Brady 1-2, 2 BB; Caddock (PH) 1-1, RBI;

Game 3
CHA: CF R. Garza – 2B J. Barrón – 1B H. Green – 3B M. Hall – LF Encarnación – RF A. Lopez – 2B P. Villa – C D. Smith – P Romero
POR: SS Guerin – 3B Crowe – 1B Michel – CF Reece – C Turner – RF Brady – 2B Utting – LF Parker – P Farley

In wet conditions, Garza’s leadoff triple soon enough led to a run for the Falcons. The Raccoons looked bad against Romero until the fourth when Reece and Turner slapped singles to start the frame, and Brady and Utting added two more one-basers to take a 2-1 lead – and no one out! Parker grounded out, but Farley pressed a single up the middle, plating Brady, and when Guerin singled, the bases were loaded with one out. But Crowe popped out to right, yet deep enough to make it a sac fly, and Michel grounded out to Green. Still, that was a 4-1 lead here. Farley didn’t make it through the sixth after Green and Hall had 2-out base hits and Green scored, 4-2. Donis replaced him and actually didn’t blow the game for once. A Turner error cost another run in the seventh, 4-3, and the Falcons were smelling a chance to avoid getting swept. But that was before Neil Reece was introduced to reliever Brian Morris. His towering home run restored a 3-run gap, also collecting Mike Crowe, who had walked, and that looked much more comfy for us. The Coons loaded the bags with two out, prompting the appearance of Luke Newton to hit for Brad Tamburrino, but he grounded out to Green, and that was that. The bullpen had to get six outs with a 6-3 lead, and Miller came in, struck out Barrón, but Green doubled. Hall grounded out, moving Green to third and bringing up the left-handers in the #5 and #6 holes. Beck had been out two days in a row already and Donis had been used. We’re up by three, have Miller pitch to Encarnación (who was a potential power threat), and then we can still bring Wade for a 4-out save. Miller ran the count full on Encarnación, and then struck him out. DANNYBOY!! Thus Wade had only to collect three outs – and needed only five pitches to do so. 6-3 Coons! Reece 3-5, HR, 2 RBI; Brady 3-4, RBI; Utting 2-4, RBI;

Free agent signing

This happened on Monday, an off day, but why not shove it in here? We signed C/1B Ricardo Castillo to a minor league deal. Castillo was a backup for the Miners from 1991 to 1996, batting .231 in 878 AB. The most AB he had in a season were 307 in ’94, when he hit eight homers and still came out with a .661 OPS. However, he’s not here for fantastic offense. Basic offense from the backup catcher slot will do. For now, he is assigned to AAA, but I am getting tired of Ronald McDonald in a hurry.

Castillo also is no investment into the future. He is 31. Use him while his body is still warm.

In other news
The other 23 teams played, too, but nothing worth noting occurred.

Complaints and stuff

Healthy for six weeks, and then RAM-BAM-BAMM!! Buell, Wedemeyer, Ingall – all down. That’s terrible. We are now fielding a lineup with at least three sub-.200 batters every day, and that does NOT include the pitcher!

By the way, Ingall still leads the CL in batter WAR with a 2.0 mark. I am increasingly embittered by that oblique strain. He will also drop out of the batting title race in second place behind VAN Forest Hartley. BITTERNESS. Other leaders are Movonda (3rd in ERA, pitcher WAR), and Farley (t-2nd in wins).

And it is good to see Neil Reece coming off life support. Even the brainless zombies on the roster are only half as scary to watch without their head. That’s probably not doing Neil any justice, but he’s not really been a major factor these two months. Also a shoutout to Consuela (or so) manning short, batting about twice as much as the expectation on him.

And YET … they are STILL … above five-double-oh.

Below, and never gonna win 250 unless he gets traded, Kisho Saito. I am really pissed. He hasn’t gotten any run support in YEARS.

Also watch his K/BB, which pales in comparison to the Colombian Beauty’s: Movonda has struck out 49, and walked FIVE this season.