[Westheim]

The Raccoons have to out-crawl a 4-9 pace the rest of the pay to avoid a 100 losses season, which would only be the second in their franchise history. They play against three winning teams down the stretch (9 of 13 games), and their combined record against these teams this season is 20-30, which if matched would just BARELY mean they’d come out at 63-99. Of course we would not mind doing better than that, right? Right.

Our AAA Alley Cats opened the first round of the championships on Sunday with a 7-4 win over the Albion Vanquishers (Rebels affiliate).

Raccoons (58-91) @ Condors (88-61) – September 18-20, 2000

This was the tail end of the 20 straight games we had to play since September 1. At 4-13 in the stretch, we can say it hasn’t gone very good for us. The Condors were repulsed by both the Thunder and the Bayhawks down the stretch and have lost seven of eight against those teams in September to drop out of the CL South race.

Projected matchups:
Miguel Lopez (7-15, 5.11 ERA) vs. Sylvester Clark (13-7, 3.19 ERA)
Scott Wade (6-13, 4.74 ERA) vs. Kelvin Yates (2-1, 4.17 ERA)
Paco Martinez (1-4, 4.44 ERA) vs. Jose Maldonado (14-10, 3.43 ERA)

Game 1
POR: SS Guerin – LF Parker – CF Reece – 1B Martin – RF Brady – 3B Sharp – 2B Ingall – C Mata – P Lopez
TIJ: 3B A. De Jesus – SS J. Barrón – RF Wales – 1B O’Morrissey – CF Gorden – 2B A. Gomez – LF Aguilar – C Washington – P Clark

The Condors paid dearly for Alfredo De Jesus’ 18th error on the season, when he bobbled Daniel Sharp’s grounder in the second inning. That prolonged play for long enough for the Coons to score a pair of runs in the inning. Overall however, the Raccoons continued their recent trend of flailing embarrassingly against whatever the opposing hurler was giving them. Sylvester Clark had 7 K racked up through four innings. Lopez held the Condors down over four – while doing so much less spectacularly – but when he started the fifth inning with eight straight balls, we knew that this ship was going down. Sure enough, De Jesus and Barrón eventually hit a pair of 2-out RBI singles to knot the score. Lopez plunked O’Morrissey leading off the bottom 6th and got himself purged from the contest. Dan Nordahl came in, pitched in his usual pushover fashion, and only a launching grab by Clyde Brady on Rusty Washington’s high line drive kept Lopez from going onto the hook. The game remained tied at two into the top 8th. Samy Michel walked in place of Juan Diaz with John Hatt now pitching for Tijuana. Hatt threw a wild pitch to move Michel to second, and then Juan Barrón colossally threw away Guerin’s grounder to plate Michel and give the Coons the lead back. Hatt issued two more walks before the Condors mercy-killed him, but the Raccoons scored two runs on a Brady sac fly and a Sharp double before fizzling out. The Coons got another unearned run donated courtesy of Gonzalo Aguilar in the ninth, when Donis came into the bottom 9th. Up 6-2, Bruce Boyle hit an infield single, before Donis threw away De Jesus’ grounder. Two on, no outs, Barrón flew out to Reece, before Wales hit into a fielder’s choice. O’Morrissey fouled out to end the game. 6-2 Raccoons. Parker 3-5, RBI;

We had ZERO earned runs in this game. Which is fine. You know. Sometimes you can accept a win that is charitably donated to you in this fashion. It doesn’t make you feel any better, but the opponents are feeling all the worse, so you are not even the sportsy winner, you are also the MORAL winner, and how AWESOME is that!?

Yes, I am making **** up just to get over these fails and get to October without shooting myself.

Game 2
POR: SS Guerin – LF Parker – 1B Martin – RF Brady – 3B Sharp – C Mata – 2B Ingall – CF Kent – P Wade
TIJ: RF Sanders – SS J. Barrón – LF Wales – 1B O’Morrissey – 2B B. Boyle – CF A. Lopez – 3B Gorden – C Washington – P Ralph

The Condors switched around their pitchers and instead sent Arnold Ralph (3-1, 3.06 ERA) into this contest. While Wade was constantly in trouble in this game, and the Raccoons couldn’t get a hit with a runner in scoring position, not even if someone left a little single to them in his will, the Critters still somehow were up 2-1 after five innings. The Condors were regularly stalled at third base through some defensive miracle, the Coons had gotten runs on productive outs (better than nothing), and the only run against Wade was unearned after a Sharp error. Bottom 6th, everything went to hell. The first three Condors all reached base on singles, including two soft pops falling into shallow center. Ralph tied the game with a sac fly before Sanders hit into a double play, but the lead was gone, and the team sucked badly enough that we would have to wait for another three errors to produce anything. The useless Andrew Schaefer didn’t toss anything but balls in the seventh and the Condors took the lead, 3-2. That’s when Jason Kent, another member of the useless party, led off the top 8th with a triple off Ralph. Neil Reece, who got another day of rest after just returning from rehab, hit for Blanco and hit a deep fly that was nevertheless caught by Wales. However, Kent scored, tying the game again. With two out, Parker tripled (giving the Coons three triples in the game with Guerin hitting one earlier), but Martin flew out gingerly. In looking for somebody to lose this game in the most efficient way, we found Kelly Fairchild uselessly picking his nose in the bullpen. He sure as hell gave up another run in the bottom 8th, and the Raccoons failed to materialize on the bases in the ninth at all. 4-3 Condors. Guerin 2-4, 3B;

… and then there was the game where they hit three triples, and still lost, because they had only five hits in total.

The Alley Cats had lost game 2 in Albion on Monday, 7-4, and would play two home games in the best-of-five series starting Wednesday.

Game 3
POR: SS Guerin – LF Parker – CF Reece – RF Brady – 1B Martin – C Jackson – 2B Caddock – 3B Crowe – P P. Martinez
TIJ: 3B A. De Jesus – SS J. Barrón – RF Wales – 1B O’Morrissey – 2B B. Boyle – CF Gorden – LF Bayle – C Washington – P J. Maldonado

The Condors casually rolled over Martinez, who for a split second this week had been in consideration for a spot in the rotation next year. Like I said, it was a split second, and the eight hits, three walks, and four runs he defenselessly surrendered over four innings in this game will take proper care that such a scenario will never happen. The Raccoons were physically present, but didn’t actually do anything worth noting in the game, safe for a Guerin bloop single scoring their only run in the eighth inning. 5-1 Condors. Guerin 2-4, RBI; Jackson 2-4;

The Alley Cats split their two home games, losing the first one 7-4 on Wednesday (the third 7-4 score in the series), then took game 4, 6-3. That sets up an all-or-nothing game 5 in Albion on Saturday.

Raccoons (59-93) @ Titans (85-68) – September 22-24, 2000

The Titans had almost 100 more runs scored than the Coons, ranking them fourth with 700 points, and the Coons last with 604. And we already had 15 chances to see their pitching from close up and didn’t necessarily need another three to acknowledge their superiority.

Projected matchups:
Randy Farley (13-10, 3.66 ERA) vs. Jesus Bautista (16-14, 3.45 ERA)
Ralph Ford (6-16, 4.85 ERA) vs. Jason O’Halloran (17-7, 2.97 ERA)
Miguel Lopez (7-15, 5.06 ERA) vs. Sergio Gonzalez (13-13, 3.22 ERA)

Game 1
POR: SS Guerin – LF Parker – CF Reece – RF Brady – 3B Sharp – 2B Ingall – 1B Michel – C Mata – P Farley
BOS: SS D. Silva – 2B Brewer – 1B Austin – RF G. Munoz – LF Thomas – CF Garrison – C L. Lopez – 3B Williamson – P Bautista

Line drives galore, the Raccoons whacked Bautista for three runs in the first inning (and had their fourth in Sharp cut down at home plate when they got too cocky). The Titans took some fire early, lost Gonzalo Munoz on a head-long play to rob Ingall of a single, and Ron Williamson plated a run with a throwing error in the fourth to make it 4-0. Bautista was finally knocked out by Sharp in the fifth with a 2-run double, and with a 6-0 lead it was all Randy’s responsibility to set a new career-high in wins for himself. Although the Titans didn’t score on Farley, they readily took balls as he was not very sharp in this start. He allowed no runs through seven, but when Daniel Silva, that little pest, drew a 9-pitch walk to lead off the bottom 8th, it put Farley on 111 on the day and made sending him for nine a gamble he could only pay dearly for. Blanco came in, was ineffective, yielded to Miller, and somehow the Raccoons got out of the inning when Josh Thomas grounded to Ingall for a double play. The Titans would still break up the shutout on Juan Diaz in the ninth inning. 8-1 Raccoons. Parker 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Reece 3-5, 2B, RBI; Sharp 2-5, 2 2B, 3 RBI; Michel 2-3, BB, 2B; Farley 7.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 5 K, W (14-10);

Neil Reece retired David Brewer in the sixth inning in more-or-less breakneck fashion. One out, nobody on, Reece galloped after a high fly to deep, straight center, caught it at full speed on the warning track and then had no time to slow down before meeting the wall. Thankfully, the Titans had padded the outfield walls all around a few years ago, and once Reece was ejected again by the padding, he looked a little woozy, but was able to shake it off. No fourth DL tour this season for a broken face – yet.

Luke Newton came off the DL for the Saturday game. Not that anybody wants to see him in uniform anyway.

Game 2
POR: SS Guerin – 3B Sharp – CF Reece – RF Brady – 2B Ingall – LF Parker – 1B Michel – C Mata – P Ford
BOS: SS D. Silva – CF Garrison – RF Greenman – 1B G. Douglas – 3B Walker – LF Elizondo – 2B D. Mendez – C F. Diéguez – P O’Halloran

The Coons failed to generate a base runner until Guerin hit a leadoff single in the fourth but was starved on first base. O’Halloran and Ford both looked zeroed in on the opposing batsmen, with Ford only getting in danger whenever Ingall made an error, and that happened twice in the first five innings, both times putting two men on, but the Titans never scored, and the game was scoreless through five. The Raccoons were sat down straight for three innings after that, while Ford did not quite match that pace, but still tossed shutout ball through eight. O’Halloran did not return for the ninth, with the Titans instead sending their new (after the Bill Corkum trade) bullpen flagship, Ramiro Román, who got Guerin to foul out, gave Sharp his third K on the day, and got Reece to – oh, that one is high, higher – OUTTA HERE!!! Up 1-0, Ford returned for the ninth, but only got Elizondo before David Mendez hit a single. We scrambled, sent Reyes to pitch to Diéguez, but the Titans brought a left-hander in Mark Austin, who struck out, but Josh Thomas doubled to right then. That put the winning runs (for the Titans at least) in scoring position with two down and Daniel Silva batting. Donis replaced Reyes. There was really little use in walking Silva. They still had David Brewer and Luis Lopez on the bench to hit for Rudy Garrison. Donis had to get Silva, gave up a 1-0 fly to left center, and Parker made the play. 1-0 Coons! Reece 1-4, HR, RBI; Ford 8.1 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 6 K, W (7-16);

NEIL! REECE! THAT’S what we were missing all year long! Let’s not mention the three hits total we had in this game.

Also, the Alley Cats slugged through the Vanquishers and vanquished them, 9-6, to advance to the AAA championship for the second consecutive year. They will face the Cincy-aligned Glendale Sports. The 7-game series starts Monday, so we will not bring up any more prospects. I want the kids to win a title.

Game 3
POR: SS Guerin – LF Parker – CF Reece – RF Brady – 3B Sharp – 2B Ingall – 1B Martin – C Jackson – P Lopez
BOS: SS D. Silva – CF Garrison – RF Greenman – 1B G. Douglas – 3B Walker – 2B J. Zamora – LF Elizondo – C Williamson – P S. Gonzalez

Reece made it 1-0 for back-to-back games when he hit a sac fly scoring Parker, who had tripled, in the first inning. Lopez held up at first, and then sparked another offensive challenge in the third inning, hitting the first of three straight 1-out singles to load the bases for Reece. Neil ticketed one up the middle that eluded the infielders, Lopez scored, and was almost pushed home by Guerin dashing ‘round third behind him, 3-0. Brady walked, Sharp whiffed, and that brought up Ingall, who hit a 1-0 pitch to deep left center. Garrison first broke in, and after three steps noticed his capital mistake, pedaled back, but it was way too late: Ingall’s liner spotted the edge of the warning track, bounced off the wall and away from Garrison, and the bases got emptied on a 3-run triple! Gonzalez went for dinner at that point, and Mario Cruz stalled Ingall on third in a 6-0 game. It didn’t stay a 6-0 game for long, though, as the Titans began to push Lopez into a corner. Greenman plated a run in the bottom 3rd, and Lopez just barely got out of a tight spot in the fourth. The sixth saw the Raccoons rejuvenate the offense. With Parker on and two out, Reece hit a high deep one – gone with the wind! Lopez continued to hold up, but like Ford the day before got terminally stuck in the ninth inning and issued a pair of 1-out walks to Elizondo and Williamson. Nordahl struck out Fernando Diéguez, but Blanco then allowed Silva to plate a run, before the lights went out. 8-2 Raccoons. Guerin 2-5; Parker 4-5, 3B; Reece 2-4, HR, 5 RBI; Jackson 2-5; Lopez 8.1 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 3 K, W (8-15) and 1-4;

This sweep pretty much nails the division in favor of the Loggers. Odd thing is, just before the All Star break, we swept the Loggers in Milwaukee, which then cost them a comfy spot at the top of the division. Unfortunately for the Titans, the Loggers had ample time to get back into the race.

In other news

September 21 – For Dallas’ infielder Salvador Mendez (.317, 1 HR, 47 RBI) the season ends early with a quad strain.
September 22 – It took the Blue Sox almost six hours, but they clinched the FL East with a 11-5, 16-inning win over the Rebels on Friday. They qualify for their eighth playoff appearance, last getting there in 1998. The Blue Sox of course had a sparkling 80s dynasty when they won the East six out of seven years from 1983 to 1989, and won the championship twice. With the Raccoons and Condors eliminated, the Blue Sox set a new record for playoff appearances, leaving the other two teams in the dust with their seven October trips.
September 22 – In the same game, history is made, as Raúl Vázquez smashes a pair of home runs to first tie, then pass Michel Root for the career home run mark. Dennis Fried gives up the 338th shot to tie Root, while Jorge Escobar gets pierced for the new record mark and #339. Both home runs tie the game. These are HR #20 and #21 for the 34-year old Vázquez in 2000, and with the exception of the 1990 season, in which he only appeared in 25 games after suffering a badly busted ankle on April 21, has hit 17 or more dingers every year since 1987.
September 22 – DEN 3B/SS Zak Davidson (.331, 0 HR, 48 RBI) has a 20-game hitting streak going after he hits a single in the Gold Sox’ 7-1 win over the Wolves. Davidson already had a 22-game streak in 1999.
September 23 – Davidson’s streak is already ended after going 0-4 in the next game in Salem. The Gold Sox win 2-0.

Complaints and stuff

Daniel Richardson told me that he did not want to remain in Portland any longer. I told him that I don’t want him to remain in Portland any longer, either. We agreed to hate each other.

Our top 5 salaries on the current roster (this removes Cesar Gonzalez who would rank second on the list) this year:
Neil Reece - $1.1M
Jose Rivera - $750k
Miguel Lopez - $600k
Daniel Richardson - $600k
Marvin Ingall - $500k

Did we get a bang for our buck, huh!?

If you add about half of Gonzalez’ salary, you get $4M of our more or less $10M salaries going into those six. Half of the money has sat on the DL, and the other half was largely ineffective. Even Ingall has a terrible year. The few players with good years (Farley, Brady, Parker, maybe Martin after all) all played for minimum contracts of $120k.