[Westheim]

A few things to remember before we get going. The suckers will not score a lick, they will not score a lick, and they will make sure not to score a lick to make Saito lose specifically. No need to get aggravated. No need to get aggravated. We all know what’s gonna happen.

Raccoons (70-79) vs. Thunder (85-64) – September 21-23, 1998

The Thunder were in the midst of a 3-team race for the CL South. The Raccoons were in a race to be first to book flights for a nice October vacation in the Caribbean. This series matched up the two teams with the least runs conceded in the Continental League. We are actually first in that. Not that it has helped us any.

Projected matchups:
Randy Farley (12-5, 2.82 ERA) vs. Aaron Anderson (16-9, 2.59 ERA)
Miguel Lopez (9-13, 4.01 ERA) vs. Vaughn Higgins (0-1, 8.31 ERA)
Bob Joly (2-0, 1.57 ERA) vs. Lou Corbett (15-8, 2.98 ERA)

Game 1
OCT: 2B Browne – CF J.J. Villa – 3B S. Reece – SS Grant – 1B Higashi – C Briggs – RF C. Clark – LF Bonneau – P Anderson
POR: 2B Ingall – LF Brady – CF N. Reece – 3B Crowe – 1B Wedemeyer – SS Guerin – RF Villegas – C McDonald – P Farley

Randy Farley’s ROTY ambitions dissipated in the fourth inning. After both starters had allowed two runs in the first inning, Farley, who was wholly unable to strike out anybody, failed to remove any batters with two strikes, and ended up putting the first four Thunder in the fourth inning on base, including two walks. Then he faced Aaron Anderson, who became the spoiler of his season, doubling through Wedemeyer on a 1-2 pitch. That ramped the score to 6-2, with two men in scoring position, nobody out, and Farley hit the showers. Fairchild held at least Anderson on base, but at 7-2 it was over already. Only accountants took a passing interest in the drubbing that commenced. Jason Briggs’ 2-run home run of Fairchild in the fifth was booked with great precision, and the Raccoons’ personnel swiftly revaluated to zero. 10-3 Thunder. Reece 2-4, 2B, RBI; Costa 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

I am aggravated.

Game 2
OCT: C Briggs – LF J.J. Villa – 3B S. Reece – SS Grant – 1B Higashi – RF Bonneau – 2B Cowan – CF Glass – P Higgins
POR: 2B Ingall – 3B Crowe – CF N. Reece – C Turner – LF Newton – SS Guerin – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Kent – P M. Lopez

The Thunder took another early lead in the middle game, one run in the second inning, and then in the third, the Thunder had runners in scoring position with one out. Bob Grant grounded out hard to Mike Crowe, who managed to keep the runners pinned. Then Takahashi Higashi came up and singled between Ingall and Wedemeyer, 3-0, and that game was over. For a very long time against the recently called up and ravaged Vaughn Higgins, a Neil Reece solo home run was all the Raccoons mustered. Bottom 7th, 3-1 Thunder, Wedemeyer reached with two out on an infield single. Caddock hit for the useless Kent and hit one into the gap, scoring Wedemeyer with a double. Michel then hit for Miguel Lopez and whiffed. Daniel Miller pitched the eighth, loading the bags, but the Thunder didn’t hit for Higgins when he came up with two out, and he struck out. Bottom 8th, Higgins promptly walked Ingall and Crowe to start the frame. This was BEGGING FOR HIM TO GET SOILED!! And Reece singled, loading the bags in a 3-2 game with no outs! And then Turner flew out, and Newton flew out, and all the Suckoons did was tie the game on Turner’s sac fly. So, the game went to extra innings, where the Coons offense continued to fail hard. The pitching held up, though, and so we went to the 13th eventually. Crowe drew a 1-out walk off Hipólito Sendím, and then Reece ripped a double to left, but it wasn’t quite enough to send Crowe home. Werner Turner came up to be put onto the empty base, moving Newton into the box. He presented a gentle floater to Juan Jose Villa for the second out, and then Guerin grounded out. Villa’s home run off Scott Wade put the game away in the 14th, while the Raccoons left the winning runs on base in the bottom half. 4-3 Thunder. Reece 3-6, HR, 2B, RBI; Caddock (PH) 1-1, RBI; De La Rosa 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K;

Game 3
OCT: 2B Browne – LF Bonneau – 3B S. Reece – SS Grant – C Briggs – RF D. Ramos – 1B J. Valentín – CF J.J. Villa – P Corbett
POR: 2B Ingall – SS Guerin – CF N. Reece – C Turner – 3B Crowe – RF Brady – 1B Michel – LF Utting – P Joly

The Thunder flagellated Bob Joly to the tune of ten hits and four runs in six innings. The Raccoons weren’t anywhere near hitting Lou Corbett like that. Dave Browne homered off “Bag of Poo” Donis in the eighth, not that it mattered much. The Raccoons had one lonely run through seven innings, then got Guerin on to start the eighth. Lou Corbett fell 3-1 to Neil Reece, then left one up, and Reece gave it some more elevation for a bombastic 2-piece. That cut the gap to 5-3, but two runs in two innings? Gotta be kidding. Corbett sat down the next three Coons before yielding to Jimmy Morey in the ninth. Michel flew out. Then Caddock hit for Utting and doubled. Parker hit for Iván Costa, flew out, and now Ingall came up, struggling like all hell in recent weeks. He connected to deep center and ripped a triple off the wall. That put the tying run 90 feet away, yet Sonny Reece caught Guerin’s foul pop in time to save the sweep. 5-4 Thunder. Ingall 2-4, BB, 3B, RBI; Guerin 2-5; Brady 2-4, 2B; Caddock (PH) 1-1, 2B; Costa 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

This loss achieved three things. I have finally lost trust in Consuela being a capable shortstop. We were assured a losing season. Mathematically, I mean. Emotionally this has been a losing season at least since the break. And third, I cried myself to sleep and all day on our off-Thursday.

Raccoons (70-82) @ Loggers (86-67) – September 25-27, 1998

Only one number: the Loggers had outscored the Raccoons by 169 runs so far this year. Their pitching was adequate, and that meant it was enough to sweep the Raccoons for the week.

Projected matchups:
Jose Rivera (13-8, 2.47 ERA) vs. Simon Walton (5-4, 3.82 ERA)
Kisho Saito (5-14, 3.15 ERA) vs. Tim Butler (8-6, 5.55 ERA)
Kelly Fairchild (3-3, 3.86 ERA) vs. Rafael Garcia (10-15, 3.67 ERA)

I was willing to give Fairchild a start, since - … well, do we have anything to lose? Our dignity’s all gone by now…

Game 1
POR: 2B Ingall – SS Guerin – CF Reece – C Turner – RF Brady – 3B Crowe – 1B Caddock – LF Newton – P Rivera
MIL: SS B. Hernandez – 2B Sullivan – RF C. Ramirez – LF Hiwalani – CF Fletcher – 1B D. Evans – C M. Vela – 3B J. Lopez – P Walton

Straight singles by Vela, Lopez, Walton, and Hernandez with two out in the second gave the Loggers a 1-0 lead. Rivera’s inability to get at least the pitcher out somehow soon became something to regret. That 1-0 lead stood some time. Then, Reece doubled to lead off the sixth inning. Turner grounded out, moving Reece to third base. Walton got a strike onto Brady, but Brady then got two runs on Walton with a huge home run to right. Rivera was crowded by the Loggers in the sixth, but they didn’t score, yet then put two men on with one out in the seventh and the much-hated Hiwalani up next. Daniel Miller was tasked with ending the inning, struck out Hiwalani, and got Fletcher to ground out to Ingall. Tamburrino got the eighth over with and Wade was brought in with the 2-1 lead still alive in the bottom 9th. He struck out Leon Ramirez, but then Hernandez and Sullivan both singled, bringing up the big boys. Cristo Ramirez grounded hard to first, where Caddock made the play to second base, but the Coons didn’t get the double play. Hiwalani came up with runners on the corners and two down, and this was a case for moving the winning (or rather: losing) run into scoring position so that Wade could pitch to the not-quite-as-threatening Jerry Fletcher. It worked: Fletcher grounded a 1-0 pitch to short, and Guerin made the play. 2-1 Raccoons. Reece 2-4, 2B; Brady 1-4, HR, 2 RBI;

We stole this one. The Loggers out-hit us 10-4, both teams drew five walks, and the only threat the Raccoons ever amounted to was Reece on third, and Clyde Brady cashed in on that one. That kid is making a run for starting rightfielder next year, I can tell you.

Game 2
POR: 2B Ingall – LF Brady – CF Reece – C Turner – SS Caddock – 3B Crowe – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Villegas – P Saito
MIL: SS B. Hernandez – C L. Ramirez – RF C. Ramirez – LF Hiwalani – CF Fletcher – 2B Sullivan – 3B Sugano – 1B Costello – P Butler

Butler surrendered all left-handers he faced in the first inning, but the right-handers hit him for two quick runs, the first time the Coons struck first all week. And they were trying really hard after being properly screamed at before the game. Screamed, yelled, and called animal names, they swung with great motivation and produced the strangest of lines for Butler, who went five inning, striking out seven, but allowing 12 hits for five runs. At that point, after five, Saito was pitching a 3-hitter, although he was giving up the occasional hard contact. The score was still 5-0 when the Coons loaded the bags in the eighth with one out against Andrew Schaefer. Time to put this one to bed! Schaefer was not removed for Wedemeyer, the left-hander, but – wait, my bad. Wedemeyer sucked, and struck out. Villegas came up, still a left-hander, yet while a passed ball gave the Coons a run, they couldn’t get one themselves unless Butler was in the game, it seemed. Saito was scored against in the bottom 8th, and removed after a Leon Ramirez triple and Cristo Ramirez RBI single that basically went right by Wedemeyer. The pair was removed as De La Rosa and Kowalchuk entered in their opposite slots (the #9 slot was to lead off the ninth). Hiwalani homered off De La Rosa to close the book on Saito and get this game onto the slide towards humiliation. De La Rosa failed, put two men on with two out, and Miller came out to face Pedro Costello, who was the tying run all of a sudden. Costello hit a double in a full count, plating both runs, before Miller struck out Drake Evans to end the Daily Nightmare. Kowalchuk struck out to start the ninth, as we faced Ricardo Medina, before Marvin Ingall provided some relief with a huge homer to left. Scott Wade emerged up 7-5, and I really, really, really didn’t want Hiwalani to bat, but that meant sitting them down 1-2-3. Hernandez grounded out (nice play by Caddock), and Leon Ramirez popped out. Almost through here! C’mon, get that Cristo guy before he can hang orange clothes around Saito’s win! Ramirez doubled, predictably, and Hiwalani again would not get a chance, as Wade again was sent after Fletcher. Aaaand …… struck him out. 7-5 Raccoons. Ingall 4-5, BB, HR, 2B, RBI; Reece 3-6, 2B, RBI; Turner 2-5, 2 RBI; Villegas 3-5, 2B, RBI; Saito 7.1 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, W (6-14);

What do you mean, he won?

For Kisho, #232 came nine starts past #231. At that pace, he will have to pitch to age 44 to get 250 wins done. But he won. They almost blew it, but he won, and we will take this one and cherish it dearly. He will have one more start this season, so he could get back to a crisp .333 win ratio this year... or end up at the horrible horrors of losing 15 games. It would be the fourth time, offensively inept Raccoons squads would subject him to this kind of humiliation and ridicule. (Well, in ’86, when he lost a career-high 17, he really struggled. But apart from that…)

The Loggers faced elimination from the playoffs in the Sunday game then, with the Titans beating on the Canadiens and the magic number at 2.

Game 3
POR: 3B Crowe – LF Brady – CF Reece – C Turner – 1B Michel – 2B Caddock – SS Guerin – RF Villegas – P Fairchild
MIL: SS B. Hernandez – C L. Ramirez – RF C. Ramirez – LF Hiwalani – CF Fletcher – 1B D. Evans – 2B M. Wilson – 3B Buchanan – P R. Garcia

The game was 1-1 early, before Cristo Ramirez got a 2-out RBI single off Fairchild in the bottom 5th to give the Loggers a lead and still hope against hope to make the playoffs. Flip to the top 6th, Turner doubled against Garcia, and Samy Michel upped the pressure with a triple off the wall in straightaway center. Tied game, go-ahead run on third with no outs, you could just wait for Rafael Garcia striking out the next three guys, and indeed, Caddock went down with strike three, and Guerin grounded out to the third base side of home. Villegas was not pitched to. Chris Parker hit for Fairchild, and grounded out to second. Dismal suckers. Iván Costa put a man on in the seventh, and with Cristo Ramirez coming up with two out, Donis was thrown into the action, and only left said action victorious because Guerin made a nice launching grab on Ramirez’ grounder. The game was still tied, 2-2, but one team was about to cave in, and it wasn’t the brown-clad one. Samy Michel singled with one out in the eighth, then stole second base (his first SB in the Bigs) with Caddock at bat. While Caddock made an out eventually, grounding out to Hernandez at short, Guerin came up and through with a 2-out RBI double past Buchanan. Marvin Ingall hit for Donis in the #8 slot and also doubled, to right! Guerin was in, Ingall at second, and Parker was to bat, and he doubled to center! The Loggers couldn’t even get their bullpen up this quickly, and the eighth ended with Crowe striking out still against Garcia. The closer situation was a bit problematic now here, with the score of 5-2 holding up through the top 9th. Wade had pitched two days in a row, both times crowded. De La Rosa had pitched a quick eighth, while the options remaining on the bench had either pitched in both of the previous two games as well, or were named Grandridge. Alas, Gabby stayed in, facing the bottom third of the lineup, while Daniel Miller was warming up as backup. The Canadiens were leading the Titans 9-2 at this point, so elimination was probably not coming today for the Loggers anyway. Gabby meanwhile took offense to Miller throwing behind him. He turned the anger towards Myron Wilson, Phil Buchanan, and Benny Carver, striking out the side en route to a 2-frame save. 5-2 Raccoons. Michel 2-4, 3B, RBI; Guerin 2-4, 2B, RBI; Ingall (PH) 1-1, 2B, RBI; Parker 1-2, 2B, RBI; Costa 1.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K; De La Rosa 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K, SV (3);

In other news

September 22 – As the Warriors face elimination, they lose 1B/2B Dave Heffer (.316, 4 HR, 63 RBI) with a mild hamstring strain.
September 23 – The Aces announce a 7-yr, $8.4M deal signed with 1B/3B Javier Vargas (.304, 15 HR, 64 RBI), who had been bound to be a free agent this fall. [This was the player I wanted to sign this fall]
September 24 – Warriors CL Lawrence Bentley (2-8, 4.85 ERA, 32 SV) also goes down with a torn labrum. He is not expected to heal until Opening Day in 1999.
September 25 – The Scorpions bowl over the Pacifics in a 7-run sixth inning, win 8-0, and are the first team to punch their October ticket. It will be the Scorpions’ sixth playoff appearance (1977, 1979-80, 1995-96), and they have two titles so far.

Complaints and stuff

Neil Reece had a hot week, and was rewarded by being named the CL Player of the Week. He went .444 (12-27) with 2 HR and 5 RBI.

One more week, then I can hit the mountains again. Solitude and silence. What more does a man need…

Must not forget that anti-bear spray this time.