Portland Raccoons (ABL)

[Orcin]

Originally Posted by Westheim

The Raccoons left the park with their heads hanging pretty low.

We can't have the boys feeling bad after getting this far! I am rallying my friends right now, and we are going to meet the team at the airport. It was a great season and we are going to bust down the door next year.

GO COONS!!

[Westheim]

I spent some time this season talking about those 1-run games and how the Raccoons were fake (or let's say lucky) ... how they were lucky after all.

Well, both playoff series were decided by a pair of 1-run games after being split through four. Once the Raccoons held on to slim leads to advance to the Big Stage.

There, they could not quite keep up and the Stars scored that extra run twice.

So, after all, 1-run games got us here, 1-run games sent us home. There really is no reason to be mad here.

I am making myself a 1983 Continental League Champions T-shirt online right now! (struggling a bit with the transparent logo and can't really get it to a proper size...)

Originally Posted by Orcin

We can't have the boys feeling bad after getting this far! I am rallying my friends right now, and we are going to meet the team at the airport. It was a great season and we are going to bust down the door next year.

GO COONS!!

GO COONS!!!

There's A LOT of work to do for that poor GM now.

[Westheim]

The offseason in Portland began in a mixed, but overall happy mood. Yes, the team had lost the World Series. But that was the same team that, merely two years ago, had finished rock bottom in the CL North for the fourth straight time. We had come a long, looong, looooooong way to finish second overall.

There weren’t nearly enough O’s in the world to properly describe the length of that word.

As I had said before the season, this was a great team assembled here, that had two seasons to achieve greatness. It only had two for a variety of reasons, money being one, the age of Chris Powell being the other.

Christopher Powell may not be the best overall pitcher in the league, but for years he’s been the best (and sometimes only good) one the Raccoons have ever had, as far as starters are concerned. He had had to endure a lot with the awful teams of 1977-82. He would long have been a 100-game winner with a decent team. Now we won a pennant with him.

Many other guys on the team are around 30 now, so they have a few more years, but the team will break apart after the next season for money reasons (safe for a juicy budget raise).

So, the 1984 season will be our second chance.

It begins with decision making in October.

Below, my first score as Raccoons GM that is bigger than 2. What do I get if I actually win the World Series?

[Charlie Hough]

Originally Posted by Westheim

I am making myself a 1983 Continental League Champions T-shirt online right now! (struggling a bit with the transparent logo and can't really get it to a proper size...)

This is hilarious. In your own way, you're taking it to the next level, much like the Football Manager gamers who dress in a full suit for the Champions League or domestic cup finals

[Westheim]

I have some kind of special and dubious "fame" for going out of my way to - ... well, um, no, I'm crazy, that's the only explanation.

Unfortunately no online shop carries the proper brown for T-shirts and the logo looks crap on black, so it's gonna be white. EUR 25 down the drain, yay!

As you mentioned football management games - I actually had a lot of success with those in my time, so I can not be THAT bad, most of the time with Werder Bremen.

Path to success in football management games:
Step 1: sign Cristiano Ronaldo
Step 2: SUCCESS!!



And before I make myself any more ridiculous, here come the 'Coons:

-------------------

Our manager, Jim Alexander, retired at age 64. He had hovered around long enough to actually witness a winning team. Our bench coach and a few coaches in the minors also left the team due to expiring contracts.

So, one priority was signing an experienced manager, and there were some very nice options available, including a World Series winner and Manager of the Year recipient, and another Manager of the Year recipient without championship laurels.

More good news: to reproduce success, the budget grew quite a bit, to $10,285,000 (19th of 24). This is about $1M more than last year. This should go some way to keep us safely inside the budget this season. Next year was different book, though, although the estimate was $11.3M so far.

But first things first. There were six players to make decisions for.

Three were arbitration eligible: MR Carlos Moran, C Spencer Dicks, and 3B Cameron Green. Although I was extremely unhappy with Moran, I would make an offer. The estimate was $99k, and we would submit that. The estimate for Dicks, who improved his play tremendously last year, was $104k, but that appeared very low to me. I submitted $110k.

Cameron Green was difficult. He had suffered through a horrible season, getting only 245 AB due to performing abysmally bad during the first four months of the season. His estimate was $189k, which seemed way too high to me. I offered $175k, but we would try to negotiate a contract beforehand.

Then there were three free agents. Two were outfielders: Jason Short and Chris Smith. Short had batted .200 for his $163k salary, and Smith had been great in our run down the stretch, but refused a reasonable contract offer from us. He was 36, no way we’d pay him $1.5M over three years for batting .270 with zero home runs.

Both were type B free agents, and both got an offer to go to arbitration.

Then there was Burton Taylor, who had been signed as situational lefty prior to last season. He performed well, then got hurt. He was not compensation eligible, but I would try to negotiate a contract, although we had brought on David Jones. Jones could also pitch in long relief in case of injury to a starter, if needed. But Taylor had thrived in the situational lefty role and had posted his best numbers in 1983.

There was a seventh man for whom to decide was easy. We had made a 2-yr, $250k deal with Winston Thompson before the ’83 season, with the second season a team option. No question, we would execute that option.

We sent out a couple of offers to renowned guys to fill the manager and coach jobs that were open, and promoted our longtime AA and AAA manager Jesse Chandler to become our bench coach in his last contract year. AA manager Silas Barnett was promoted to AAA. Both sport overall winning records in our organization, although the last year yielded no results to brag about.

Because I am such a good negotiator, the Raccoons were able to sign Chad Klein as their new manager rather quickly, on October 24. He is 45 and receives a 4-yr, $800k (total) contract. He is legendary when it comes to teaching both hitting and pitching, excellent in handling players, and good in teaching fielding. He is the 1980 Manager of the Year when with the Bayhawks. A great guy to have for sure!

We also reached an agreement with Burton Taylor before the end of October, removing him from the free agent list. Taylor, 29, signed a 3-yr, $400k contract, the last year a team option. This comes rather cheap for us, since he’s a good guy if used properly.

October 3 – RIC 1B Ramon Diaz (.347) and TIJ OF Jim Wood (.339) win the batting titles in their respective leagues.
October 23 – The Washington Capitals, the only team to never win the FL East, are sold to Orlando Gonzales by Juan Montano. Gonzales is described as generous, but demanding.
October 29 – The Condors acquire outfielder Felipe Hernandez, 28, with 1,084 career hits and 94 career home runs, from the Wolves in exchange for reliever Carlos Martinez, who is also 28 and has a lifetime 3.80 ERA. Tijuana also receives a minor leaguer, so this looks like a skewed trade to me.

Odd notes:

Mark Dawson is the all-time home run leader of the ABL now! His 27th last season squeezed him past Michinaga Yamada, who was 142 to Dawson’s 143. Yes, the ABL is a league with little power… Former Raccoon Ben Simon and current Raccoon Ramón Borjón are t-5th with 120 each, former Raccoon Ralph Nixon is t-12th with 92, and Daniel Hall is 22nd with 82 dingers.

Ed Sullivan has retired. He was a mainstay on our infield from 1977 to 1979. He was traded to Tijuana, and later to Sioux Falls. In 982 career games he had 910 hits, 74 HR, 437 RBI, and batted .268. He was an All Star in 1981.

Matt Huber also retired. We signed him as starting pitcher for the 1977 season (after the automatic inaugural draft), but he is most notable as the player we sent to Denver to get Chris Powell, together with Laurentij Mlotkovsky. Rusty Frazier also joined the Raccoons organization back then. With the exception of Powell all of them are retired now. Huber pitched only in 112 games (19 starts) in the majors. He went 7-13 with a 6.39 ERA.

[Westheim]

November 2 – Raccoons leave bare-handed as Gold Gloves are dished out.
November 3 – Topeka SS Mitsuzuka Ohara (.255, 8 HR, 69 RBI) and Boston 1B Isto Grönholm (.324, 11 HR, 63 RBI) are Rookies of the Year.
November 4 – The Raccoons’ Justin Westfield is Continental League Manager of the Year.*
November 5 – Pitchers of the Year: SFW SP David Castillo (20-3, 3.23 ERA) and POR SP Kinji Kan (17-11, 2.02 ERA)! Castillo is a former minor leaguer of our organization.
November 6 – DEN 1B Francisco Lopez (.327, 27 HR, 111 RBI) and TIJ 1B Wayne Baxter (.302, 28 HR, 125 RBI) are MVP’s.

*Justin Westfield is my in-game name for about every game. In actuality Jim Alexander ought to be Manager of the Year, but I play out every game, so I think this is fair.

Ohara was an international free agent prior to this season. I looked at him, but didn’t like his defense to play short. With a healthy number of infielders (and counting on Edgardo Gonzalez) I passed.

One of the most important tasks was to extend the contracts with Mark Dawson (who provided the most oomph in ’83 and led the ABL in career homers) and Kinji Kan, who was Pitcher of the Year. Both contracts were up after 1984 and this was where my budget would cry rivers after all. But neither wanted to negotiate at this point, so I could not lock ‘em up yet.

Cameron Green was a stubborn little boy, who deserved a good slapping, and tried everything to get traded away. I tried to negotiate a contract with him, and he demanded a flat 4-yr, $1.2M contract, which is hard for me to fit in this (and especially next) year. I (flinchingly) offered an escalating contract for $1.1M – which he declined. So we went to arbitration.

It were good hearings for the team. All our offers were accepted, even that for Green, which was lower than his estimate, but his demands were found to be outrageous even by the arbitrators. Carlos Moran received $99k, Spencer Dicks $110k, and Green $175k.

Chris Smith and Jason Short refused arbitration and became free agents (what I had hoped for, of course). Both are type B free agents, and with the Raccoons bound to pick second-to-last this year, I can use every supplemental pick there is…

With players spilling on the market on November 16, there was certainly no shortage of talent: ATL CL Jon Butler, ATL OF Engjell Vulaj, BOS SP Ruben Lopez, CHA 1B Riley Simon, CHA INF Cordell Atkins, CIN C Rod Fields, CIN 1B/2B Max Reynolds, CIN INF Jeremiah Carrell, DAL C Angel Potter, IND OF Francis Bell, IND SP Billy Robinson, IND CL Domingo Alonso, IND SP Miguel Sanchez, LAP SP David Burke, LAP SP Bill Smith, NAS INF Pedro Hermundo, NAS INF David Hicks, OCT CL Seung-ook Yi, PIT INF Davis Rigsby, SAC SP Ray Lynch, SFB SP Jose Gonzalez, SFB SP Claudio Sanchez, SFB OF Tim Simmons, SFW 1B Carlos Sandoval, TIJ OF Mitsuharu Yamada, TOP INF Beau Horn, TOP OF Harry Beauman, WAS OF Jesse Whiteaway, and WAS SP Eduardo Jimenez – those were merely the cream of the crop (note a few former Raccoons in there).

The Raccoons also lost a score of 16 or so minor league players (but nobody who’d be missed too much).

Of course, the Raccoons needed only very specific additions to their strong core:

- Possibly a fifth starter to replace Jerry Ackerman
- Possibly an upgrade at 2B, but only if with some pop
- In any case: a top notch centerfielder
- A backup outfielder

It seems like the last two points are on the laundry list every year… the moment we signed Tim Anderson to a huge contract prior to 1977 we started a long list of miserable additions there.

Of course, this leads to another question: what to do with Alex White? In the long run, it goes Alex White vs. Cameron Green, with Dawson playing where there’s room. Both were big disappointments last season. Neither performed as expected. White’s contract is four times bigger than Green’s.

On the minor leagues: they need to be filled up, but maybe I could trade White for a bunch of prospects? Interesting idea.

Anyway, here’s a little update on our troubled kids in the minors. Top picks Orlando Lantán and Alejandro Lopez are in AA and have not performed well last year. Scott Wade mowed down A level batters and already moved up to AA as well, where he’s been used as reliever, but I’d like him to become a starter.

Then there’s Carlos Gonzalez and a ray (a glimmer) of hope. After going 8-9 with a 3.64 ERA in AA last year, he was moved up to AAA in September, and in six games went 5-1 with a 1.94 ERA! He’s been rated down by our new scout (not so new, but he wasn’t around when Gonzalez was drafted in 1980). The word “Cy Young” doesn’t appear in his resume about “Deranged” Gonzalez, but he still attests him front line rotation qualities. So, if we get a #2 guy out of him, I’ll still be happy.

We had a couple of good right-handed relievers in the system, but no place on the major league roster. I don’t know whether trading Fletcher Kelley would help any. Kelley’s posted ERA’s over 4 every season. I think he has it in him, but he doesn’t deliver, so maybe he doesn’t have it after all and we should cut our losses now. We have righties Gilberto Soto, Pedro Vazquez, and Emerson MacDonald, as well as lefty Justin Neubauer, waiting at AAA. They will be joined by Jason Bentley this year, who’s racing through the minors. He was our 1982 round 2 pick (but then our fourth pick due to two picks in the supplemental round).

So, now, November 17, the hot part of the winter begins.

[Westheim]

There were two interesting outfielders among the international free agents. One of them couldn’t play centerfield well, the other was a 26-yr old Dominican, Carlos Garcia. Defense should not have been a problem for him. He was scouted as above average at the plate, but demanded a hefty sum of money. I did not bite.

The free agent market in centerfield also wasn’t something to be necessarily excited about. You need pitchers? Here, take four for the price of two, but centerfielders? Whoo. Little options.

So, we need to trade for one, and there were of course more options there. The only question was whether we’d be able to ice one off his current team.

I soon discovered an almost perfect fit for the Raccoons. (Said that before, right?) It was 23-yr old Raúl Herrera, currently with the Blue Sox. He batted for high average, but with not much power, and also not for many extra base hits, although he was faster than lightning. He was a top notch base stealer, and thus a prototypical leadoff hitter, although his OBP was not that high at some .350 – but he hardly ever struck out.

The biggest problem? The Blue Sox were severely pinched with their budget and could not take on Alex White’s contract. We’re talking about a $400k gap here. I also talked to the Stars for Pancho Pacheco, but they had a similar problem. Of course this could well be due to offers made to free agents, so we’d have to wait and see for a while.

November 17 – The Bayhawks send utility man Mike White (.280, 11 HR, 317 RBI in his career), age 27, to Cincinnati for SP Tom Harden (26-35, 4.63 ERA) and a prospect.
November 20 – Milwaukee deals C Clifton Greenan (.238, 15 HR, 142 RBI in the majors) to Sacramento for outfielder Ben Cox (.250 career average), who is of course a former Raccoon.
November 24 – Important news for the CL North teams: the Indians are able to re-sign their closer Domingo Alonso for 1-yr, $434k. He saved 42 games last year and has 217 career saves (6th all time).
November 28 – The Gold Sox improve their pen by signing MR Nate Goodman, a former Knight, for 3-yr, $798k. Goodman has a 3.06 ERA.
November 29 – LF/RF Tom Simmons (.287 with 101 HR), 30, signs for 4-yr, $2.72M with the Aces. He hit .328 with 14 homers for the Bayhawks last year.
November 29 – Will the Wolves get enough in return with this signing? They ink 36-yr old Harry Beauman to a 3-yr, $1.86M contract. Beauman is consistently hitting above .300 in his career, but is getting slower every year.
November 29 – The Raccoons and Blue Sox close an eight player deal: the Raccoons send MR Fletcher Kelley and outfield prospect Alejandro Lopez to Nashville in exchange for OF Raúl Herrera, SP prospect Kelvin Quinn, and four other prospects! Herrera is a speedy .290 batter with 128 stolen bases. Kelley has posted a 4.36 ERA in just over two years in the majors. Lopez was the Raccoons’ 1982 first round draft pick.
December 1 – Nine players are taken in the rule 5 draft. The Raccoons are not affected. The main prize was SP Bastyao Caixinha, left unprotected by the Aces and taken by the Titans, who in total drafted three players and lost one.
December 4 – 2B Jeremiah Carrell takes his .365 career average to Atlanta. The 32-yr old received a 4-yr, $2.9M contract. He is 19th in career hits with 1,051 and leads in career average.
December 6 – Winter meetings start with news that the Buffaloes have inked star 2B Cordell Atkins, 28, for 6-yr, $4.4M. Batting .272, the former Falcon has amassed 868 hits and 42 homers in his career.
December 7 – The Canadiens bolster their rotation by adding SP Bill Smith (72-74, 3.52 ERA) for 3-yr, $1.94M. The 26-yr old has pitched for the Pacifics before.
December 8 – The Wolves send 1B Hoyt Cook (.246 career avg.) to Cincinnati for MR Thomas Green and his 3.60 ERA.
December 8 – The Titans send C Marc Leach (.244 hitter) to Tijuana for 29-yr old SP Dave O’Neill and a prospect. O’Neill has never made the cut at the majors.
December 9 – The Thunder acquire 30-yr old SP Shayne Nealon (45-39, 3.72 ERA) from the Miners for corner infielder Chris Scott, 29, and his .282 average with 779 hits. (Nealon was of course our big pitcher acquisition last year that blew up in our face in no time)
December 18 – The Stars add infield free agents Jose Delgado (.268, 43 HR) and Mario Gonzalez (.240, but a great glove) to bolster their infield.
December 19 – The Raccoons deal LF/RF Alex White to Sioux Falls for outfielder Cisco Banda and outfield prospect Bill Stevens. White was a huge disappointment for Portland, batting only .273, down 70 points from his average. Banda can play every outfield position well and has only a .242 career average, but has considerable gap power and with his speed is a triples threat.
December 21 – Feared outfielder Engjell Vulaj, a former Knight, signs a 3-yr, $1.24M contract with the Indians. Vulaj has a .311 career average with pop, yet had a down year with injuries in ’83.
December 25 – The Bayhawks add the Falcons’ former closer Joe Roberts, 27, who has 107 career saves.
December 29 – The Buffaloes add David Carr for the backend of their pen. Carr was the closer for the 1981 and 1982 Indians and has 80 career saves and a 2.35 ERA. He will make $672k over three years.

The Herrera/Kelley trade was necessary to get a good centerfielder. The Blue Sox could not afford White, but they were ready to take Kelley in addition to Alejandro Lopez, who my scout has on the chart to make the majors, but not as the superstar he was branded as when we drafted him (which cost the head of our old scout). If possible, I would have shipped out Lantán as well, but they did not even want him. The collection of minor leaguers taken on from the Blue Sox includes some so-so talents, but some of them actually have interesting capabilities. Kelley’s departure opens a spot for somebody from AAA, possibly Emerson MacDonald. The trade added +2.4 WAR.

Fan interest crashed after Alex White was traded away. But I have made up my mind here. Dawson will play rightfield to start the season, with Hall and Herrera out there as well. Banda and Borjón are the backups, and Green plays third. If Green does not deliver, he’s traded at the deadline on July 31.

I contemplated whether to keep White on or not, but his performance was so shockingly bad compared to what he did in Cincinnati, I was not ready to pay off that contract through 1989.

Trade proposals from other teams that didn’t make the cut:
- Rebels offered elite 1B Ramon Diaz for our SP Logan Evans (18 wins in ’83, t-1st in CL); we already have a very good first baseman in Matt Workman and neither can play anywhere else

What else? David Jones nursed a sore elbow all December, but will be fine. I’m still looking for a possible fifth starter and an upgrade in the middle infield. Steve Walker will play short, but Bowling and Gonzalez were too weak at the plate overall, and Winston Thompson has played stronger than anybody had had the right to hope for, but whether he can repeat is another story.

There are still a number of top notch starters and closers available on the market, too, but many teams already have budget problems.

[Westheim]

January 1 – Oklahoma City adds Francis Bell, 27, to an already very tough outfield. Bell’s 127 career home runs rank 4th all time. He makes $2.4M over four years.
January 5 – The Knights add former Titans starter Ruben Lopez (63-71, 3.37 ERA), 32, for 4-yr, $1.73M. Lopez suffered from low run support his whole career.
January 6 – Buffaloes and Raccoons complete a trade for outfielders. The Furballs send 33-yr old Ramón Borjón to Topeka for 29-yr old German Serna and a pitching prospect. Neither outfielder batted for much last year although their career averages are rather good: .273 for Serna and .258 for Borjón.
January 7 – The (some say) best free agent pitcher of the winter has found a new home: SP David Burke becomes a Miner for 6-yr, $4.26M. Burke went 113-79 with a 3.18 ERA in his career with the Pacifics.
January 11 – Loggers and Miners exchange first basemen, with Jose Aguilar going to Milwaukee and Alex Garcia to Pittsburgh. Garcia hits for higher average, but Aguilar has a better OBP and more home runs.
January 13 – The Falcons add SP Billy Robinson, a former Indian, for a 5-yr, $3.5M contract. Robinson is 98-60 with a 2.91 ERA for his career.
January 25 – Outfielder George Lynch is forced to retire at age 28 with post-concussion syndrome. In his career with the Warriors and Buffaloes, Lynch has amassed 1,002 hits and 50 home runs.
February 2 – The Miners add another former Pacific with 3B Matt Terry, 31, who comes in at 3-yr, $1.3M for the Miners. Terry is a career .280 batter.
February 2 – The Pacifics in turn add Bob “Butcher” Haines to their bullpen, formerly with Salem. Haines can also be an emergency starter and has a 52-40 record with a 2.52 ERA. He makes $1.1M over three years.
February 8 – SP Miguel Sanchez, 32, becomes a Warrior for a 3-yr, $1.45M contract. He is 76-50 with a 2.74 ERA for his career, spent mostly with the Indians.
February 8 – The Blue Sox improve the backend of their bullpen with the addition of 30-yr old Willis Sims. He has a 2.24 career ERA together with 84 saves, 37 of them for Salem in ’83. He makes $550k for one year.
February 8 – The Gold Sox also add a closer: 29-yr old Seung-ook Yi, formerly with the Bayhawks and Thunder. Yi gets a $378k contract for one year. He has 79 career saves, 39 of those in ’83 for Oklahoma City.
February 10 – The Indians also have a new closer: Lowell “Wacky” Booth. The 28-yr old has spent his career in the Federal League so far, but CL hitters will soon come to fear him. He has 126 saves and a 2.94 ERA, and will earn $540k for one year.
February 11 – The market slowly empties with the Stars adding SP Jose Gonzalez (73-70, 3.80 ERA) for 4-yr, $2.5M. The 26-yr old was with the Bayhawks until 1983.
February 16 – The Aces sign 36-yr old Jon Butler as their new closer for two years at $1.2M. Butler has 249 career saves – 1st overall.
February 27 – The Scorpions upgrade their rotation with SP Mark Lee (84-78, 3.48 ERA). Lee was with the Crusaders since ’77.
March 2 – The Scorpions add outfielder Chris Smith for 1-yr, $278k, which gives the Raccoons a supplemental round pick (currently #15 of 29 there).
March 22 – The Wolves add SP Sergio Salazar for 2-yr, $488k. The 30-yr old is 62-48 with a 2.89 ERA and was played for Charlotte and Milwaukee so far.
March 26 – The Raccoons add Davis Rigsby as backup infielder. Formerly with Cincinnati, Dallas, and Pittsburgh, the career .260 hitter has to rebound from two poor years with the Miners. He is 31 and makes $115k for one year.
March 31 – The Raccoons sign 16-yr old Gustavo Rodriguez, an aspiring outfielder, out of Mexico.

The Borjón/Serna trade was brought forward by the Buffaloes. It cut salary for me, and although Serna can’t play center, I’ve seen enough from Borjón, who batted .199 last year.

With the expensive contracts of White and Borjón gone, we suddenly have money to spend. This year. Next year is a different beast entirely.

Jason Short went unsigned and we did not receive a supplemental draft pick.

[Westheim]

1984 PORTLAND RACCOONS – Opening Day Roster (first set shows 1983 numbers, second set overall; players with an * are off season acquisitions):

SP Kinji Kan, 32, B:L, T:R (17-11, 2.02 ERA | 84-72, 3.76 ERA) – was the 1983 CL Pitcher of the Year, keeping batters off balance all season. He is in a contract year.
SP Christopher Powell, 35, B:L, T:R (11-12, 3.16 ERA | 89-86, 3.25 ERA) – long ball prone, but rock solid most of the time, although he had two awful months in early 1983. Could enter the twilight of his career soon.
SP Logan Evans, 28, B:L, T:L (18-5, 2.92 ERA | 61-51, 3.24 ERA) – tied for the CL lead in wins last year; on his best days, nobody hits him, but on his worst days, nobody needs to hit, ‘cause he walks the bases full.
SP Charles Young, 26, B:R, T:R (7-5, 2.64 ERA | 8-6, 2.82 ERA) – knuckleballer with a ton of potential, who has so far struggled with his command a bit.
SP Jerry Ackerman, 25, B:L, T:L (9-6, 3.73 ERA | 20-19, 3.98 ERA) – bounced between the majors and minors for the last two years; occasionally he gets blown up on the mound, and he must improve his control as well.

MR David Jones, 27, B:L, T:L (5-1, 3.84 ERA, 1 SV | 10-5, 3.59 ERA, 2 SV) – came on in mid-1983 as an injury replacement for Taylor and can be used both as situational lefty and in long relief. He had a 2.40 ERA with the Raccoons.
MR Burton Taylor, 29, B:L, T:L (0-2, 2.64 ERA, 1 SV | 18-23, 3.73 ERA, 35 SV) – had a good first year with the Raccoons, although he was on the DL for almost two months. He may have been overused as only lefty (but West) in the pen, which will not happen again this year.
MR Jason White, 25, B:R, T:R (6-2, 2.76 ERA, 2 SV | 6-5, 3.42 ERA, 2 SV) – he has established himself in the major leagues after taking a few attempts to stick and is now something like our #4 and backup setup, if there is something like that. His K/BB is almost 3, behind only and West’s.
MR Gilberto Soto, 22, B:R, T:R (rookie) – takes over the seventh spot in the pen for the traded Fletcher Kelley. Has good stuff and should be able to hold up well in the majors.
SU Richard Cunningham, 24, B:R, T:R (5-2, 2.34 ERA, 5 SV | 9-7, 2.30 ERA, 8 SV) – he is an excellent fireballer, who can do long outings and has about 9 K/9; hitters hardly ever look good against him, and both lefties and righties fear him alike.
SU Wally Gaston, 27, B:R, T:R (4-2, 2.90 ERA, 2 SV | 27-31, 2.86 ERA, 84 SV) – is hardly hittable for batters, but also walks a lot of them. He also is the last remaining Raccoon from the 1977 season opener.
CL Grant West, 27, B:L, T:L (7-0, 1.93 ERA, 46 SV | 12-0, 1.71 ERA, 93 SV) – nickname “Demon”, says it all. Gave up 13 earned runs in all of last year and is ultra-reliable.

C Enrique Sanchez, 30, B:R, T:R (.281, 9 HR, 64 RBI | .264, 42 HR, 293 RBI) – has played 140+ games in each of the last four years, a true iron man behind the plate. Bounced back from a sub-par first season in Portland to post a career-high .281 average in ‘83.
C Spencer Dicks, 31, B:R, T:R (.271, 2 HR, 16 RBI | .211, 4 HR, 59 RBI) – had a breakout year at the plate, and should get more playing time this season, and catch knuckleballer Young in every game.

1B Matt Workman, 28, B:L, T:L (.289, 13 HR, 85 RBI | .286, 34 HR, 171 RBI) – started every single game at first last year and led the team in batting average; his defense is not the best, though.
1B/2B/SS/3B Winston Thompson, 30, B:L, T:R (.271, 3 HR, 33 RBI | .111, 0 HR, 4 RBI) – was brought on as backup, but broke through big time after only a handful of AB’s with the Gold Sox in ’79. He will split second base with Bowling.
1B/2B/3B/SS Jayson Bowling, 24, B:L, T:R (.228, 3 HR, 48 RBI | .235, 3 HR, 63 RBI) – good fielder with gap power and speed, led the team with a paltry 11 SB last year. With injuries to Walker and Thompson, he saw a lot of playing time last year and will split second base with Thompson this season.
3B Cameron Green, 27, B:R, T:R (.229, 5 HR, 30 RBI | .237, 27 HR, 145 RBI) – had a terrible season in 1983, bringing is average over .200 only late in the season and hardly played during the summer (only 245 AB’s). He will start at third to begin this season and has to achieve this time.
1B/3B/SS/2B/RF/CF Steve Walker, 24, B:R, T:R (.272, 1 HR, 27 RBI | .265, 13 HR, 140 RBI) – performed well so far, but has played in only 98 games in 1983 due to injuries.
2B/SS/3B Davis Rigsby *, 31, B:R, T:R (.234, 10 HR, 73 RBI | .260, 59 HR, 442 RBI) – signed as free agent, had two slow seasons with the Miners and has to recover from that; he is our backup, but could break out similar to the way Thompson broke through last year.

LF/RF Daniel Hall, 28, B:R, T:R (.279, 16 HR, 76 RBI | .270, 82 HR, 332 RBI) – starter in leftfield, he has range, speed, a contact bat, and power – a very good allround package; the only problem is his health: he has only one injury-free season in his career.
1B/3B/RF/LF Mark Dawson, 30, B:R, T:R (.261, 27 HR, 119 RBI | .252, 143 HR, 641 RBI) – became the all time home run leader last season, and posted a Raccoons RBI record; he powered the team to the World Series with four dingers in the CLCS; his fielding is good as well and he is the starter in rightfield.
LF/CF/RF Raúl Herrera *, 24, B:R, T:R (.311, 5 HR, 64 RBI | .290, 13 HR, 188 RBI) – acquired from the Blue Sox this winter, .Herrera is an elite contact batter with blistering speed and great defense. He has no power to speak off, but is a prime example of a leadoff batter; he will play centerfield.
RF/LF/CF Cisco Banda *, 28, B:L, T:L (.255, 9 HR, 56 RBI | .242, 33 HR, 233 RBI) – acquired from the Warriors for the disappointing Alex White. Banda is a backup, but could quickly slide in to play rightfield, if Green does not come around and Dawson moves to third base.
LF/RF German Serna *, 30, B:R, T:R (.224, 1 HR, 17 RBI | .273, 7 HR, 104 RBI) – acquired from the Buffaloes during the offseason, he has never fought his way to a starting job there in five years of trying; he is backup for us as well.

We waived Ivan Díaz, who was out of options after being a call-up last September.

By the way, last year I said if Alex White won't bat over .300, no Raccoon ever will - uh-oh, trouble!

Opening day lineup:
CF Herrera – SS Walker – LF Hall – RF Dawson – 1B Workman – 3B Green – C Sanchez – 2B Thompson – P Kan

The Raccoons have added only +2.0 WAR this offseason, 8th overall, but of course this time we already had a division-winning team, and I feel like we are no less strong than last year, and maybe even better, so that +2.0 WAR should go in the right direction.

Top 5: Stars (+10.2; dear lord!!), Aces (+8.3), Canadiens (+7.1), Miners (+6.7), Knights (+6.1)
Bottom 5: Crusaders (-5.9), Indians (-6.7), Falcons (-7.6), Capitals (-8.7), Pacifics (-9.7)

The Canadiens have added only two players, with SP Bill Smith giving +5.7 WAR alone. They shed two slackers for the rest of their improvement for only four personnel changes, fewest by far of all 24 teams (the Raccoons have 17 personnel changes, the Wolves lead with 26; all excluding minor league free agents) – with one exception: the Crusaders lost three players, and added zero; that franchise faces hard times.

Last year I said we have to win 90+, and won 95. This year, ownership wants to post a winning record. With the core of the team (White didn’t contribute anything meaningful) together unchanged, I think there is nothing that can stop us from winning 90+ again. Of course, we will face the Canadiens in the battle for the division. Will there be other challengers? Hard to say. None of the other four teams has improved in WAR, and they would have needed to. I don’t think there will be a serious challenge from them come summer.

We will start the season facing the Crusaders.

[Westheim]

Portland has the 10th best system in the league regarding player development. We have two players in the top 25: SP Scott Wade (8th), our 1983 round 1 pick, and 2B/SS Dani Perez (23rd), who was discovered in Panama. There are five more ranked players: 111th SP Carlos Gonzalez (down about 100 spots), 115th OF Ralph Crosby (acquired in trade this winter), 123rd C Andy Reed, 181st C Miguel Carrasco, and 186th SP Todd Raines;

I wanted to do four series tonight, but game 9 has exhausted me mentally. I’m toast. See below.

Raccoons (0-0) vs. Crusaders (0-0)

The season started with Kinji Kan facing the Crusaders’ frontrunner: the 37-yr old Kyle Owens, who was uncomparable to the 32-yr old Kyle Owens, who could dominate games. That was the Crusaders’ #1 starter, a clear sign for a troubled franchise.

Kan started the season by striking out Peter Charles. Owens in turn hit Raúl Herrera with his first pitch. Workman drove him in for an early 1-0 lead. Owens was totally out of whack. In five innings he threw two wild pitches, balked once, and walked four to aid the Raccoons to take a 4-0 lead despite no clutch hitting – they left the bags full virtually every inning. Of course this served a greater purpose: a fielding/bullpen collapse in the seventh. Thompson and Walker misplayed groundballs, Herrera made an error in center, and suddenly Oregon was burning. Richard Cunningham got Benedict Allard to fly out harmlessly to end it with two runs across and the bags full. Cunningham put a stop sign on the Crusaders, but West surrendered a pinch-hit home run to Sam Richmond in the ninth. The score stood, however: 4-3 Raccoons. Walker 2-3, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Workman 2-3, BB, RBI; Thompson 2-4;

After a scary first inning, Christopher Powell settled in, while the Raccoons scored the go-ahead run through a wild pitch in the second. They couldn’t score anything from there. Powell led off the sixth by getting an easy grounder from pitcher Mario Garcia, threw it to first – then stopped walking, and held his knee, then sat on the ground, surrounded by Workman, Walker, Sanchez and the other Coons. SHOCK. The ballpark fell silent immediately. Powell was out of the game for thorough evaluation.

David Jones put two on in the seventh and the Raccoons could not escape from there. The Crusaders tied the game, 1-1. But suddenly this was about something else: the fans loved Powell, and the game suddenly felt numb. Hall drove in the 2-1 go-ahead run in the seventh, but West AGAIN surrendered a home run in the ninth, this time to tie the game. The Furballs lost in the 10th with a run off Gilberto Soto. 3-2 Crusaders. Walker 2-4, BB; Hall 4-5, RBI;

What if there was a serious injury to Christopher Powell!? Agony befell the city.

Both Logan Evans and New York’s Eric Edmonstone had messy outings in game 3. Edmonstone was chased early, while Evans went 6.2 innings. He walked two in the seventh and Jason White came on to get out. Pedro Villa clobbered a 3-run shot and the barrage continued. The Crusaders tied the game. The fans were shocked again. They had not seen so much terrible pitching from their team since 1982. Matt Workman clubbed a 2-run home run in the bottom 7th to get the Raccoons ahead again. Grant West was unavailable, and David Jones pitched a 2-inning save. Walker 4-5, RBI; Workman 2-3, BB, HR, 3 RBI; Green 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI;

Good news that evening: Christopher Powell had a mild hamstring strain and would not even miss a start. The next day, there was a sunrise again.

Raccoons (2-1) vs. Condors (3-1)

Charles Young started his season – messy. A run scored on a passed ball (on Dicks! Not even my defensive catcher could catch Young at times), and Young walked two to start the third and those two scored as well. The Raccoons did not see land against Pedro Romero early on. Walker hit a solo shot in the fourth. Then something moved in the sixth. Herrera drew a 1-out walk, then stole second. Walker doubled to left and the deficit was down to one run. But Hall and Dawson grounded out and the chance was wasted. Bottom 7th, and Workman hit a leadoff double. Cam Green came up clutch with a 2-run homer to left, and now it was 4-3 Furballs! Cunningham and West ended the game. It was the second save for West this year and the first outing without runs against him. The Coons had only five hits in the game, of which four were for extra bases. Walker 2-4, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Workman 2-3, 2B;

The Raccoons batted through the lineup in the first inning against Jim Harrington to start game 2 and led 5-0 early on. They kept adding, but Jerry Ackerman kept things interesting. Entering the sixth leading 8-2, he gave up four straight singles and was dumped. The Condors scored three, when Walker and Thompson could not piece a double play together. Wally Gaston had one of those days where the strike zone appeared to him slightly smaller than a postage stamp, and the Condors crept to just 8-6 in the eighth, but West made it a quick ninth. 8-6 Raccoons. Hall 2-5, 2 2B; Workman 2-4, 2B, 3 RBI; Green 2-4; Sanchez 3-3, BB, 2B, RBI; Thompson 2-4, 2 RBI;

Pitcher of the Year Kinji Kan had his feathers ruffled as well in the last game of the series. Wayne Baxter and Chad Fisher slapped him for big home runs and he was down 6-2 after four innings. The Raccoons got back into the game in the fifth. Herrera led off with a single and stole second. Walker made an out, but Hall, Workman, Dawson, and Green all slugged doubles to cut the gap to 6-5. The game was tied in the seventh on a string of singles, and then we still had the bags full and only one out, but Bowling and Banda made poor outs as pinch hitters. They again had the bags loaded and one out in the bottom 9th, ready to walk off, but Bowling and pinch hitter Serna made unproductive outs. Jason White held the Condors away in the top 10th, and Herrera doubled to lead off in the bottom of the frame. Now or never! They didn’t get him in. Walker made an out, Hall was walked intentionally, and Workman and Dawson made poor outs. Bowling drew a 1-out walk in the bottom 11th, representing the winning run. But Jason White was up to bat – Bowling was sent to steal, and made it to second. Now White had to bat with the bench and pen pretty much used up by now. It didn’t end well, and the struggle continued. Angel Potter homered off White in the 12th, and it was over. 7-6 Condors. Awful game! Herrera 4-7, 2 2B, 3B, RBI; Hall 2-5, BB, 2 2B, RBI; Workman 2-5, BB, 2B, RBI; Dawson 2-6, 2B, RBI; Green 2-5, BB, 2B, 2 RBI;

So far, neither the offense nor the defense were where I liked them to be.

Raccoons (4-2) @ Bayhawks (3-3)

The series started agonizing. Powell pitched seven wonderful innings – and when he was pinch hit for to start the top 8th, was on the hook for a 2-0 loss, result of a massively moronic throwing error by Cameron Green that had led to the two runs. They refused to score for Powell and he took the 2-1 loss. Daniel Hall had socked a leadoff homer in the ninth. Powell 7.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 8 K, LOSS;

Powell now has 12.1 IP, 0 ER, and a 0-1 record, after they blew his lead against New York and now this crap here.

Stuff like that makes me cry.

Green was benched for Rigsby, so he might learn how to field his position, in game 2. An early 1-0 lead on a Sanchez home run in the second got away from Logan Evans in the third. Both teams had runners here and there, but couldn’t score through again through seven. There, Rigsby led off with a single to left, his first hit as Raccoon. Logan Evans bunted and the Bayhawks could not make a play, Evans was safe at first. Herrera doubled to left to get the Coons ahead, but although they had two in scoring position and no outs, they scored only one more – they HAVE to make these chances!! Up 3-1, Evans batted around a leadoff double by Ignacio Cordova in the bottom 8th, then West saved the game 1-2-3. 3-1 Raccoons, who had eight hits, one for each starter, but Dawson.

In the rubber game we looked at Matt Rankin, who had been abused badly in his first start of the season, six runs in 1.2 innings against the Crusaders. Herrera made an out to start the top 1st, but Walker, Hall, and Workman all got on with two hits and a walk. Mark Dawson then drilled the ball OUTTA HERE!! 4-0 Raccoons quickly. Then came Young and gave the four runs away, in a single inning.

Wow. Top 2nd. Young led off with an infield single. Herrera reached on an error. Walker singled to left. Hall up, three on, nobody out. OUTTA HERE!!! That made for two grand slams in 1+ innings off Rankin (who was sent to Mongolia right away, still in the sweaty uniform), and an 8-4 lead. The Furballs blew up two plays behind Young in the second. Two unearned runs scored, 8-6 Skunkheads…

Hall drove in a runner in the fourth, but a Workman error plated that run for the Bayhawks in the bottom 4th. That game was dragging – on my nerves, especially. 9-7 Raccoons. Workman made another misplay in the bottom 5th that got the leadoff batter on. Daniel Hall clubbed a 3-run homer in the top 6th, while Young was pinch hit for by Thompson, who replaced Workman – for defensive purposes – at first, with a 12-7 lead you can never be too careful. (sour look)

And this thriller was far from over! I needed two innings from David Jones. He made 1.2 – before Michael Bolton socked a 2-piece off him in the bottom 7th. We brought on Richard Cunningham to face Claudio Rojas – who took him deep: 12-10 Raccoons. Hall and Dawson almost went yard in the eighth, but both shots were plucked off the fence. Cunningham fireballed his way through the eighth. Bottom 9th, still up 12-10. Grant West came in, not rested, and the first grounder to left was botched BY GREEN!! Bolton doubled to center with one out and Walker made an awesome catch with the tying run on second to get out number two. Sergio Figueroa was next, but we did not pitch to him with first base open, and instead went to Ricardo Gonzalez, a lefty with a slow start to the season. He tied the game with a double to right. Blown save #2 for West, and extra innings.

West was removed for Wally Gaston in the 10th. The Bayhawks had Michael Bolton as tying run on second with one out in the 11th, but he was nailed by Dicks when he tried to steal and Figueroa flew out to right to end the inning. Top 12th: Green and Bowling walked to lead off. Dicks flew out, but Green advanced, and was driven in by Winston Thompson. Herrera got a free pass to face Walker, who struck out. Hall came up and forced a walk to push in another run. Wally Gaston was up to bat with the bags full and two down, but I needed the bottom of the inning from him. He flew out and the Raccoons entered the bottom 12th up 14-12. Wally Gaston struck out the side.

GO WALLY!!!

Herrera 2-6, BB; Walker 3-7; Hall 4-6, BB, 2 HR, 2B, 9 RBI; Gaston 3.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 5 K, WIN (2);

In other news

April 6 – OCT SP Wilson Cordova is out until at least September and has to have bone chips removed from his elbow. He was 11-7 with a 3.65 ERA in 1983, his rookie season.
April 7 – VAN RF Jorge Diaz is out for the season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament. The youngster was trying to play his first full season in the majors.

Complaints and stuff

Steve Walker was the CL Player of the Week (April 2-8) with a 11-19 (.579), HR, 6 RBI performance.

Daniel Hall tied the Continental League regular season record for RBI’s in a game, with 8. He set the record for an extra innings game, with 9. I’m not sure if those two things are separate or not. And if anything, that 14-12 slugfest will go down as the Daniel Hall Game - and I can live with that.

We did not get MR Ivan Diaz through waivers, he was claimed by the Stars. As if THEY needed players!

And honestly, when Powell was injured in that very first start, I almost blacked out. Things felt so light and yet numb for at least five minutes. I am emotionally attached to him, you better go looking for some anti-suicide counseling for me once he retires.

By the way, after unloading Borjón and White with their contracts, we suddenly have 800 grand to spend. (casually goes through a sports car magazine)

Next: four in Vancouver, then at home against Indians, Thunder, Knights, and Crusaders.

Dannyboy's player card. I LOVE THIS KID!!

[Westheim]

Box score from the Daniel Hall Game.

[Charlie Hough]

Originally Posted by Westheim

December 19 – The Raccoons deal LF/RF Alex White to Sioux Falls for outfielder Cisco Banda and outfield prospect Bill Stevens. White was a huge disappointment for Portland, batting only .273, down 70 points from his average. Banda can play every outfield position well and has only a .242 career average, but has considerable gap power and with his speed is a triples threat.

Cripe. Another guy who can't hit for average??? That's not what we fans bargained for when we called for Alex White to be shipped out of town. Maybe the prospect will be decent.

[Westheim]

I see that the White/Banda trade may seem strange to you. I was motivated by a couple of thoughts here:

- White was slated to make $5.1M over the next six years (last year at $1.1M a team option, but that's still a ton of bucks), with $640k this year, which is about 10% of my budget after scouting and development and staff costs.
- Has White performed well enough to justify getting 10% of the salary cake? No. Clearly not. He was shipped in as a .340 batter and leaves with a .270 clip and an irate fan base.
- What can White play? LF/RF. He can't play center effectively as we saw in only a few games from him there. And the Raccoons have never had a centerfielder to speak of.

Now to Banda:

- Banda is in a contract year and makes less than half of White's salary: $310k;
- Banda has awesome defense in all three outfield positions, he has blistering speed and more than 1/3 of his hits are for extra bases, including many triples and home runs.
- Now, Banda is not even our starter in center: that is Raúl Herrera, who is much the same player, without the home run power, but more raw speed, and comes in at $190k and is arbitration eligible for two more years.

So, Banda and Herrera together come *cheaper* than White, and can hit about as much, yet I'm already covered for the backup there.

By the way, that prospect Bill Stevens is scouted as a 4-star potential player with some pop. He is 23, and starts at AAA this year for the first time. He also can play all three outfield positions, and who knows, he could be the main prize in the package one day.

Apart from that, there is some very mundane reason for dealing with the Warriors. Somehow, many teams were very short on budget this winter and could not take on the contract of White, which left only five or six teams to deal with. My original plan was to trade White for Herrera to the Blue Sox, but money made that one fall through.

Banda could start soon in right, if Green doesn't pick up his *defense*. We're not even talking about offense here. Three errors in just a few games is outrageous!

This has not been a popular trade with the fan base (-4 interest), but I already have my .270 batters, and they don't make $640k or more.

The only guy with a contract that big is Christopher Powell ($700k this year, runs through '87, his age 38 season, but that is a team option with zero buyout), the next is Mark Dawson at $440k.

Besides, I need the money to make extensions with Dawson and Kan, who contributed considerably more than White. White had to go, I got the most there was to get.

By the way, White is hitting .167 early on with Sioux Falls. But that don't tell much, Mark Dawson is hitting even less, but Dawson is an incredibly streaky guy, who bats .400 with four dingers in one week (CLCS against Oklahoma), then .150 the next week (World Series).

[Westheim]

Raccoons (6-3) @ Canadiens (7-1)

So far the Canadiens have played the game that everybody knows from the Raccoons: stellar pitching, no offense. That carried them to .875 in the opening week. Now they face us for four games. And let’s face it. The Coons are hard to scout early on this season

The Coons left runners on third in the first two innings, which came back to hurt them, when the Canadiens plated two off Ackerman in the bottom 2nd. That 2-0 lead held up for a while. Green singled to lead off the top 6th, and Thompson came up when Sanchez had made an out. He socked a homer to dead center to tie up the game, 2-2. Green then provided a lead with a solo jack in the top 8th. Burton Taylor had trouble in the bottom 8th, but White got him out, and I hoped for a 5-out save from White, since the pen had been abused so much in the last game in San Francisco. But he put two on with one out. Gilberto Soto was rested, but I didn’t trust him enough, and David Jones didn’t match the next batters, so I turned to Cunningham, who got Melvin Greene to pop out to Workman. But then the Canadiens sent lefty Jeff Lee, and NOW I turned to Jones to kill him. Which he did (although Daniel Hall made quite a run for that deep flyball…) 3-2 Raccoons. Workman 2-4; Green 3-3, BB, HR, RBI;

This was the Portland Raccoons’ 500th win in franchise history.

Mark Dawson was batting .098 and was by now dropped to #6 in the lineup behind Workman and Green to bunch all the hot guys very closely together. (Does that sound wrong? Nooo…)

The Coons took a 1-0 lead in the top 1st of game 2, but it got away from Kan with a wild pitch in the second. No, Kinji Kan, Pitcher of the Year, was not up to form yet. The Canadiens squeezed in another run in the third, but Raúl Herrera tied it up with a leadoff jack to dead center in the top 4th, and they scored another run in the inning, when the Canadiens’ Robbie Campbell balked *twice* in the inning. Kan lost the lead again with a 2-piece to Eddy Bailey in the seventh, which chased him from the game, but the Raccoons rebounded entering the top 8th trailing 5-3 with pinch-hit RBI hits by Dicks and Banda. Steve Walker mowed down the catcher Shimpei Iwamoto in the ninth on a Cam Green single to score the go-ahead run. Now, West was still tired and I wanted to get him rest. Wally Gaston had pitched the eighth, and I let him in to start the ninth. Melvin Greene singled to lead off, but Gaston got the next three. GO WALLY!! 6-5 Raccoons. Walker 2-5; Hall 3-5, 2B;

Wally Gaston now led the Continental League in wins, with 3. =)

Game 3 featured Chris Powell (0-1, 0.00 ERA) and Bill Smith (1-0, 0.56 ERA), the Canadiens’ only meaningful acquisition this winter. Both had their ERA’s brought to more reasonable numbers in this game.

The Raccoons struck first with a run in the top 1st, but Bailey homered off Powell (#1 this year, here we go again) to tie it immediately. The Canadiens put up another run in the second, when we pitched to #8 Vicente Ramirez with two down and a runner on second, which turned out to be a mistake. But a myriad of singles scored four for the Raccoons in the fourth for a 5-2 lead. Ramirez continued to bat around Powell with a leadoff double in the fifth, and he scored, 5-3 Raccoons. Powell then could not continue past the fifth: back stiffness, a clear sign of old age? The pen blew up his lead again… oh, the humanity! Jason White was to blame, and he walked two to start the seventh. While Gilberto Soto came in now and struck out the side, between K’s Sanchez threw away the ball on a steal, and the stealer scored, 6-5 Canadiens, which was also the final score. What a shameful way to lose the game! Herrera 2-5, RBI; Dawson 3-4; Soto 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K;

Let’s recollect. Powell has three starts. He left twice with minor injuries, while in line for the W, and they botched it both times. They didn’t score in his other start, and Green made an error that LOST him the game. They clearly hate him, it’s the only reasonable explanation.

One more game before a much needed off day. Logan Evans pitched, but the first scary moment came from rightfield, where Mark Dawson successfully nailed Eddy Bailey trying to go first to third on a single in the first inning. But Dawson lost balance, tripped, and made a bad step, then remained on the ground. He had a sprained ankle and was removed for Cisco Banda. Logan Evans meanwhile didn’t fool anybody. The Canadiens scored three in the second, and three more in the fourth. One run was unearned thanks to another Green error.

Top 8th. The Coons had been held to one hit by Steve Murray through seven. Here, they put runners on the corners with Jones up to bat, who was doing long relief, because I didn’t have too many arms. He went sufficiently deep to left center to score at least Cisco Banda from third. Bowling was plunked and Herrera drew a walk and suddenly there was a 1-out fire. Murray threw a wild pitch to Steve Walker to score the first run, then Walker singled up the middle to score the other two. Now Walker was on for Daniel Hall. The 2-1 pitch – HOME RUN!! Out of the deep blue, the Raccoons incinerated Murray for six runs in that top 8th. Green and Banda provided 2-out doubles to score the go-ahead run!! Now, where was the backend of my pen? But Quincy Cox doubled off Cunningham to lead off and came around to score – the game was tied again. Sad face.

We continued to ride the Cunningham horse, who struck out Iwamoto with the winning run on third in the bottom 9th to get into overtime. He worked through the 11th, ending that with two K’s, but would have to be removed after that. Top 12th. Hall and Workman singled with one out. Green came up and zinged a liner over 2B Melvin Greene into right and made it a double with a dash around first. Hall scored. Banda hit a 2-run double, Sanchez tripled him in – by the time the inning was over, the Coons had plated SEVEN again. Wally Gaston plunked Eddy Bailey in the bottom 12th and he came around to score. 14-8 Furballs!! Herrera 2-6, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Hall 3-6, 2 RBI; Green 2-6, 2 2B, RBI; Banda 3-5, BB, 2 2B, 3 RBI; Sanchez 3-5, BB, 3B, RBI;

That win got us atop the CL North, for the first time since opening day, 0.5 ahead of the Canadiens, who tied us on our off day.

Raccoons (9-4) vs. Indians (6-6)

The Indians have come out of the gates with significantly more offense than last season, which means: mid-pack in the league. But it’s early. The Raccoons rank 2nd in runs scored. Ha-ha.

Mark Dawson was unavailable for this series with the sprained ankle and Banda played in right. Because of his speed he batted 2nd behind Herrera.

Charles Young’s knuckleball didn’t fool anybody in game 1 and he was quickly loaded with three runs. He still went seven. In the eighth, Taylor walked the bases full, he has been awful so far this year. Somehow, the pen still wobbled through without any more damage. But the Indians had a murder 8th/9th inning combo in Domingo Alonso and “Wacky” Booth this year, and the Coons entered the bottom 8th 3-1 behind. Hall homered off Alonso. In the ninth, Cam Green led off with a triple off Booth, who then struck out Thompson and Bowling and got Sanchez to pop out – 3-2 Indians.

Both pitchers developed no-hit bids in the middle game. Jerry Ackerman’s blew up first, in the fifth, and the Indians scored in the sixth, when he grazed opposing pitcher Jesse Carver with a fastball, then walked the next batter with nobody out. Carver came around to score eventually. Carver’s bid remained intact into the seventh. Hall drew a 1-out walk and reached second on a hit-and-run, where Workman was out at first. Walker then singled up the middle and Hall scored to tie the game. Ackerman and Cunningham were then crashed in the eighth, and the Raccoons lost, 4-1, on only three hits.

The Raccoons celebrated another grand slam, this time by Enrique Sanchez in the bottom 2nd of the last game. And it was off Alex Miranda, making it double sweet. Apparently, Miranda was angry about it. He reached on a Thompson error in the top 3rd, then mowed down Thompson on second base on the next play. Thompson was injured and had to leave the game, incinerating the crowd, who aggressively booed Miranda and littered the field with cups and food. Chaos almost broke out. The crowd then got something to cheer, when Miranda missed his bunt on an 0-2 pitch in the top 5th, and fouled the ball to right – a strikeout. Kan struck out Bill Taggart to end that inning with a runner on second. Kan and Miranda both went on in the game. The Indians scored one off Kan in the top 7th and he was removed for Mark Dawson to pinch hit, who had a scratch single, but was removed on the next play. Herrera was on first now, and Banda singled to put two on. Daniel Hall stepped in, still facing Miranda. Two on, two out. HOME RUN TO LEFT!!! And the ballpark erupted in cheers.

That should have been a safe lead, right? No. Soto gave up one in the eighth, and Taylor and Jones were raped for four in the ninth. Grant West got the last two outs in the game. 7-6 Raccoons. Banda 2-4; Hall 2-4, HR, 2B, 3 RBI;

Thompson had a bad hamstring injury and was out for at least one month. He went to the DL. This left Steve Walker as only backup for 1B, so I needed someone from AAA, who could play there and was already on the 40-man roster. Brandon Roland was only a middle infielder. I chose Edgardo Gonzalez, who had been demoted after the signing of Davis Rigsby. You should remember him, he batted .239 for us in ’82 as a pleasant surprise, but only .201 last year. This is his last option year.

Raccoons (10-6) vs. Thunder (5-11)

The Thunder had moved from first to last since we last met them in the CLCS. Their feared outfield wasn’t hitting a lot and Ralph Hoyles had been blasted so far. For the home team, Dawson was back in for Banda in right and batting fifth behind Workman (as had been the case for a few days already), since Workman was cleaning up just better at the moment.

Christopher Powell (0-1, 1.56 ERA ………) entered facing Shayne Nealon (2-1, 2.89 ERA). Powell seemed to be single-handedly defeated by Guy King (who had been injured during the CLCS), who drove in two early, once with a solo jack. But while the Coons took some time to hit against Nealon, they eventually did. Walker walked (pun!!) to lead off the bottom 4th. Hall socked a home run (the first hit for the team in the game) to tie the score, 2-2. Powell again only earned a no-decision, leaving after seven frames. The Raccoons lost, 3-2, in 12 innings, with the loss on Cunningham, but really on Sanchez, who could not keep the winning run from stealing second. Only five hits on poor offense again.

Logan Evans hit the first batter he faced in game 2 and that set the stage for a horrible night. Down 3-1 in the third, the Coons had the bags full, but Hall and Workman popped up in the infield to end the inning. Exceptionally poor fielding by the infielders and messy pitching contributed to an 8-3 defeat. Wally Gaston f.e. walked five in 1.1 innings. Hall 2-5;

The pitching was so awful, as well as the fielding, that I found myself looking at the free agents list here… Daniel Hall now had a 14-game hitting streak, which was about the only good news at the moment.

Game 3. Young’s knuckleball still didn’t get people to chop wildly at air. The Raccoons lost Steve Walker in the third inning to a calf cramp after sliding into second base. Hall tripled in replacement Gonzalez for a 2-0 lead and to extend his streak to 15. Workman drove in Hall, 3-0. In the top 4th, Guy King’s ongoing destruction of the Raccoons staff came to hurt the Thunder. With a runner on third and one out, King was walked intentionally. Shaw then grounded into a double play to end the inning. Young went seven scoreless, striking out Alfonso Aranda to end the top 7th with the bags full and 5-0 ahead. In the bottom 7th, Raúl Herrera ended an 0-24 skid at the plate with a 2-run triple to make it 7-0. The Coons won this one, 8-0, to avoid the sweep. Hall 2-2, 3 BB, 2B, 3B, RBI; Workman 2-4, 2 RBI; Dawson 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Rigsby 1-2, 2 BB;

Raccoons (11-8) vs. Knights (7-11)

Gonzalez had to play short in this series for Steve Walker, who was nursing his calf. In game 1, Jerry Ackerman was yanked after three innings: eight hits, four runs were against him. It didn’t get any better after that. Five runs were on Richard Cunningham, who couldn’t get anybody out, Sanchez had two passed balls, there were a few wild pitches. The team was steamrolled, 11-2, had only five hits, and Hall hadn’t any, hitting streak over, everything over.

The entire staff was getting slaughtered almost every day now, there was not one guy who didn’t give away runs for free…

Kinji Kan – Pitcher of the Year. That was long forgotten. He was chopped up for six runs in the middle game. The Raccoons scored early on a solo jack by Sanchez, then two more when they walked three times to start the bottom 2nd. Of course they didn’t have any hits in that inning. To be exact, Sanchez’ home run was their only hit through five innings. They came alive in the bottom 9th and started a rally against the Atlanta pen. But once they had tied the game, they left two on with two pathetic outs by Dicks and Herrera. Extra innings, and there weren’t even any relievers available due to the regular slaughterings of the starting pitchers. Jason White somehow wobbled through the 10th with the go-ahead run on third. Bottom 10th. Sanchez led off with a double, getting the crowd to it’s feet. The Knights didn’t dare pitch to Hall and walked him intentionally, getting boos from the ranks. Workman was told to bunt, but the bunt was right to the pitcher, who threw to third, but the throw was high, 3B Bob Goyer was pulled off the bag and Sanchez was safe. Bags full, nobody out. Dawson hit a ball to center that was sufficiently long to score Sanchez and to walk off, 7-6 Raccoons. The crowd celebrated, but what I had seen didn’t warrant any happy faces. Sanchez 3-5, HR, 2 2B, RBI; Dawson 2-3, BB, RBI; Serna (PH) 1-1, RBI;

Herrera (.202) was benched for game 3, Banda played center. Powell (0-1, 1.85 ERA) against Xavier Mayes (1-2, 7.99 ERA). Powell was torn up for seven runs in six innings, two unearned, with two awful errors by Workman and Rigsby. The Raccoons had taken a 3-0 lead with a big rip by Matt Workman, then everything had gone to hell from inning two on. This time, where Powell deserved the loss, the team got him off the hook, by killing Mayes in the bottom 7th. Daniel Hall tied the game with a big 2-run double to deep center, but Sanchez, the go-ahead run, was thrown out at the plate. Taylor lost the game in the eighth. 8-7 Knights.

Here we have the crisis.

Raccoons (12-10) vs. Crusaders (8-13)

Burton Taylor was demoted to AAA on our off day. He kindly waived his 10/5 rights, realizing that an 8.10 ERA and 3.90 WHIP weren’t getting him anywhere. Justin Neubauer joined the team. Other measures were explored at this point.

Cam Green threw away the very first ball rolling in his direction in this game to plate an unearned run in the first. New York’s Miguel Fuentes was injured (and called OUT!) in a collision between catchers in the fourth, when he tried to get through Sanchez, our Man of Steel. That also ended a dangerous inning without runs across. Evans never surrendered an earned run in the start and left after seven, still 1-0 behind. Workman sacrificed in a runner in the eighth to tie the game. There was another catcher’s mix-up in the bottom 9th. The Raccoons had Sanchez on third and Rigsby on first with one out. German Serna pinch hit for the pitcher and grounded to short. Instead of going for the double play against the rather slow Serna, SS Benedict Allard fired home, where Sanchez arrived with the ball and backup catcher Andrew Porter – all in the same spot at the same time. Safe was the call, yet somewhat disputed, and the Raccoons walked off, 2-1. Dawson 2-4; Sanchez 2-3, BB; Daniel Hall isn’t getting many hits anymore, especially not with runners in scoring position, he is simply walked with first open. Cowards, I say! Cowards!

Portland led the middle game 3-1 after the first inning. Rain started in the third and forced a delay in the fourth. Somehow, Young’s knuckleball (and Young himself) were not terribly affected by the 40-minute delay, but it chased Dave Paul, who had started for New York. Young was forced out by a walk and RBI triple to start the sixth and the game derailed right here, when Jason White couldn’t get out and the tying run scored. Bottom 8th: Rigsby singled to get on with one out. Herrera came out to pinch hit for Dicks and tripled to deep left, and was then scored by Sanchez, who pinch hit in the pitcher’s spot. West saved the game, 5-3 Raccoons. Banda 2-5; Walker 2-3, 2B, RBI; Workman 2-4, 2B; Rigsby 3-3, RBI; Wally Gaston had pitched a quick eighth and got the W (4);

Herrera was back playing center, Banda moved to right, Dawson to third for the last game of the series. Green was slumping and had already five errors. That record made me think of giving Ed Sullivan posthumously the title “Rock of the Infield”.

Game 3 was big, with Jerry Ackerman and Kyle Owens both tending to ERA’s over 5. The Coons struck first with Banda getting on with a single, stealing, taking third on Hall’s single and being scored on a sac fly by Workman. Banda made two fantasterrifilicious plays in right in the first few innings to keep that 1-0 lead together. Ackerman pitched eight scoreless innings, while the Raccoons totaled two hits and that 1-0 lead. West came in but the save was blown with an error by Banda that scored the tying run. The Raccoons had a chance to win in the 10th with a double by Rigsby that went untaken. The next inning, Rigsby blew up a double play that would have gotten Cunningham out of the inning, instead he was bludgeoned for three runs. Raccoons lost, 4-1. They had four hits.

In other news

April 14 – The Capitals’ Brady Boyd dominates the Buffaloes in a 1-hit 6-0 shutout.
April 22 – Dallas’ Sergio Esparraguera (1-2, 3.86 ERA) downs Nashville with a 3-hitter. The Stars win 4-0.
April 27 – San Francisco’s outfielder Michael Bolton (.237, 1 HR, 5 RBI) is most likely out for the season with a broken elbow.
April 27 – Los Angeles infielder Carl Foster (.387, 1 HR, 11 RBI) is out for four weeks with an intercostal strain.

Complaints and stuff

TERRIBLE!! They are playing TERRIBLE!!

The rotation has been blown up as well as the pen. Cunningham has been abused and West has been, too, although much of this could come from overuse. The pen has had to pitch 82.2 innings so far, and it is not built to withstand that much strain. Last year we might have made it through two months with only 90 IP on our pen, but this year the whole pitching staff is torched, starting with the ineptitudes of Kan, Evans, and Ackerman (and to a lesser extent Powell and Young) and continuing with the pen. And then there is Gilberto Soto, who has held up very well so far. He is a pitcher similar in build to Wally Gaston. Very good stuff and movement, but no means to control the latter – but worse at the last point. But he’s only walked three so far, so maybe everything’s only half as bad.

Ah, who’m I kidding? Of course it’s 100% bad. TERRIBLE!!

That said, I have an offer out there for veteran SP Vicente Ruíz to come aboard. He’s nothing special, but if he were, he weren’t a free agent.

Daniel Hall was the CL Player of the Week (April 15-21) with a .400, 4 HR, 8 RBI line. I would have felt deeply insulted with any other winner. (Please notice me getting more and more emotionally attached to some of my players – this will end badly at some point)

Note: the avg. CL ERA is 3.88 at this point, which would be a new record high (and would be above the FL’s for the first time in ABL history), but this could well be due to *only* the Raccoons’ performance.

Next: road trip to Milwaukee and Pittsburgh, then interleague home part against L.A., then 2-week road trip to Indy, Boston, Las Vegas, and Charlotte. The draft pool will come out during the Titans series.

Oh, yeah. Alex White bats .341 for Sioux Falls.

[Westheim]

ABL Player Profile

Meet the new ABL career home run leader. With Mark Dawson’s slow start into the 1984 season, Chris “Missing” Lynch has taken over the top spot, chugging nine dingers in April.

This had been coming for a while. Lynch has been hitting 20 long balls for five straight seasons, sometimes while struggling to stay healthy.

While Lynch doesn’t have much of a bat in regards to high batting average, he also hardly ever strikes out. When he gets a hit, one fifth of the time it is a homer, and another fifth of the time a double. He has some speed, but not enough to be a threat for triples or steals. (And I think he's underrated by our scout, I'd add at least two points to each of those stats)

He started in the Warriors’ organization and quickly jumped into the majors in 1977. He won a ring with the Warriors in 1978, then was traded before the 1981 season to the Las Vegas Aces for two pitchers and another outfielder. The Warriors may regret that move by now: none of the three players transferred stuck with them for long.

Lynch is under contract until 1985 on a 4-yr, $2.4M contract and will then be a free agent.

One of the the pitchers included in the Lynch deal in the winter of ‘80/’81? Vicente Ruíz, whom I was trying to acquire right now.

[Westheim]

Somehow, these posts keep getting longer and longer…

Raccoons (14-11) @ Loggers (12-12)

Things began … not good. Kinji Kan started game 1 with a first inning 2-run shot by Alvin Sutphen. Mark Dawson solo homered in the second, but the Raccoons were already behind. They led at one point, but that got away from Kan again and the game was tied 3-3 after six. Kan came to bat in the top 7th, and the pen was still overused, so he remained in and lobbed a hit to left. Herrera and Hall drew walks to bring up Workman with two down. He got a grounder just past 2B Stephen Hall to score Kan and Herrera. Kan was removed at the first sign of trouble in the bottom 7th, a 2-out, 4-pitch walk to Jose Aguilar. White surrendered an RBI double to Sutphen. 5-4 Raccoons after seven. The Coons added a run in the ninth, and Wally Gaston pitched a 4-out save with West tired. Herrera 2-4, BB, 3B, RBI; Dawson 3-5, HR, 2B, RBI;

Vancouver lost to the Indians and we took the top spot in the division, but half a game ahead of both of those teams. Teams refused to pitch to Daniel Hall as soon as a runner was in scoring position, but Mark Dawson was warming up. He was put back to the #4 spot, where he belonged with Workman into the #5. Also, Banda was not hitting enough to be #2 and was swapped with Walker, down to the #6 or #7, depending on the catcher and opposing pitcher.

Chris Powell had a good outing in game 2 – unrewarded AGAIN. Daniel Hall had gone yard in the first inning, 1-0 Raccoons, but the Loggers scored two in the bottom 1st. The second run was Banda’s fault, who threw the ball way past the catcher, who could have nailed the runner with a good throw. The Raccoons tied it in the top 7th, with Powell removed for Green to pinch hit – he drove in Banda with a single, 2-2. The Coons faced elimination in the 10th, were Soto put runners on the corners with one out. Wally Gaston came on and struck out SS Dan Payne, but the main prize was Sutphen, the Rookie of the Month, behind him. Gaston made him ground out, and the Coons won 3-2 in the 11th. Hall 2-3, BB, HR, RBI; Sanchez 2-5, RBI; Green (PH) 1-2, RBI; this was the fifth win for Wally Gaston in relief this season, tying for the Continental League lead (the others are starters, of course). Chris Powell was winless…

Green was back in at third and Banda out – he was on for defense, didn’t provide it, and batted less than Green.

Logan Evans was injured in an on base collision in game 3 of the series after just driving in the tying run in the top 3rd. The Loggers went ahead again on an error by Cameron Green, who was becoming an annoyance. The Coons however came back in the seventh, when they stopped trying to hit John Douglas’ pitches, and started to try him find the strike zone. He pushed in runs with bases-loaded walks to Hall and Dawson. They led 5-2, but then Soto filled the bags with Loggers in the eighth. Where was my pen? Looking for the oxygen tent. Justin Neubauer got two BIG outs, the latter from righty slugger Marvin Mills. Raccoons won, 6-2. Herrera 2-6, RBI; Dawson 2-3, 2 BB, RBI; Rigsby 3-4, BB, 3B; Gonzalez 2-2, BB, RBI;

The last game had Young against Anibal Guerra, who had been discovered and smuggled out of Cuba in 1979 and never had come to our attention so far. Erratic was the best word to describe him, but he had enough control to occasionally find the zone in the game. Young in turn was beaten and battered. Hadn’t three double plays bailed him out of crowded situations, he wouldn’t have made it through seven with only four runs against him. The abused pen was then battered for five more runs in the eighth. 9-3 Loggers. Workman 2-5, 2B;

Interlude – Free Agent signing

The Raccoons signed SP Vicente Ruíz late on May 3, after the 9-3 loss in Milwaukee. He was told to fly right to Pittsburgh. Quick briefing on him: he is 29 and Dominican. He was with Las Vegas for four years and with Sioux Falls for three, where he went 10-11 with a 4.29 ERA last year. His career record is 73-81 with a 3.95 ERA. He has never been with a winning team his whole career. I hang my hope on the fact that he was quite good in the CL with Las Vegas. Now with Logan Evans possibly injured and out, we needed a starter anyway and Ruíz original target (Ackerman’s spot) would have to be taken over by somebody at AAA.

He is a 4-pitch guy with a good slider and changeup and good control as well. He’s not here to build the Pyramids in a day, he’s here to go his six, seven innings without major damage.

He got a 1-yr, $120k contract. The only other reasonable option for a starter on the free agent market would have been Mark Copeland, 34, who had been blown up completely the last two years in Dallas and Topeka.

Raccoons (17-12) @ Miners (11-17)

So far, a very strong rotation with Leland Lewis, David Burke, and Ricardo Torres had not helped the Miners a bit, they sat at the bottom of the FL East.

The Raccoons had 13 pitchers on their roster for this series. New acquisition Ruíz got the ball instead of Ackerman for the first game, with the latter moved to the aching pen. Ruíz pitched a strong debut game and went 6.2 innings in a 7-3 win over the Miners. Ackerman pitched the last 2.1 innings. Herrera 2-5, 2B; Hall 3-5, 2B, RBI; Workman 3-4, 2 2B, 3 RBI;

But the Coons fell to the Miners the next day, 8-4, on awful pitching by Kinji Kan – again. He could not get anybody out, walked scored of people, and hit and injured catcher Carlos Soto with a pitch. The Coons were held short by Leland Lewis on one run through seven innings and only lived up against the bullpen, but of course it would have had to be a tough rally from 7-1 down. David Jones also had another terrible outing in relief in the eighth, forcing in a runner put on by Wally Gaston. By the way, Soto had a broken thumb, so Kan was not only hurting his own team … Herrera 2-5; Hall 2-5, 2B, RBI; Dawson 2-5, RBI; Rigsby 2-4, 2B;

Davis Rigsby was our new leadoff batter, since he was still over .300 at the plate. Walker moved back into the bottom third of the lineup. He was struggling, as was Matt Workman at that point. Mark Dawson was up to .235 after his catastrophic first two weeks.

We also got news that Logan Evans would be out for some longer: he had apparently twisted his thumb so badly in his collision in game 3 in Milwaukee that ligaments had been torn. He was out until the middle or end of June and would require a rehab start or two, so he would not come back until about the All Star break. As Evans went to the DL, this forced another roster move. His start had been the first back in Portland against Los Angeles, and there were only two sensible options for replacements at the AAA team. The one was Todd Raines, the other was Carlos Gonzalez. Both were putting up ERA’s around 2.50, but ultimately, it had to be Raines: he was already on the 40-man roster, and that roster was full. Raines was also rested and there was no pinch, he could take over Evans’ spot in the rotation. Welcome to the majors, Todd. No, no, you would have made them anyway, yeah.

Oh yeah, game 3. We should stop starting Cam Green in Chris Powell’s games. Rigsby started the game with a home run, and Green then blew that lead with a bad throw on Ricardo Torres’ sac bunt in the third. I’m gonna kill him. I’M GONNA KILL HIM.

Powell got ANOTHER no decision. The home run of the day was to Chris Scott for two, and Powell trailed 4-1 at one point, but overall had good control over the Miners, fanning seven. He went 7.1 innings and left down 4-3. Herrera had a leadoff single in the ninth. Hall grounded him to second, and he scored on a long single by Dawson, that left the latter on second due an error by the defenders. Up 5-4, West came in to close it, and did so with a K to Chris Scott as the final out. 5-4 Coons. Herrera 2-4; Hall 2-5; Workman 3-4, 2B, 2 RBI;

Interlude: Player profile

Who is Todd Raines, the Raccoons’ next new starter?

Raines is 23, and was a round 2 pick in the 1979 draft by the Richmond Rebels. He is considered a good average pitcher with a strong curve that has the potential to devastate. Problems include an inability to keep the ball down. His groundball percentage is 47%, like Christopher Powell’s, and while not that many leave the yard, he has some control problems. OSA asserts him supreme stuff, but Nathan Bruce, my head scout, doesn’t.

He was traded by the Rebels only six months after the draft and was then with the Stars organization for two years. The Raccoons acquired him in November 1981 for 1B Hoyt Cook. He is one month removed from a 1-hitter in AAA ball, where he fanned 13.

Raccoons (19-13) vs. Pacifics (16-16)

Daniel Hall was a bit out of shape and got rest for the first game. German Serna played in left. Raines pitched – wow. Let’s just say Mark Dawson made a few plays in right that left NO doubts about his physical fitness. Raines hardly made it through six with a 3-3 tie. The Raccoons blew that one up in the bottom 8th. Green drove in two, and Walker homered out to center for a 7-3 lead. Soto pitched a perfect ninth. 7-3 Raccoons. Dawson 2-3, 2B, 2 RBI; the Furballs had only seven hits in the game, but for once lived up to the sentence that you may only leave the table once your plate is empty.

The winning pitcher in that first game? Wally Gaston. He now had six wins – leading the major leagues! GO WALLY!!

We jumped on Bob Gaulton, who entered with a 7.84 ERA, early on in game 2, scoring five runs in three innings. Young was pushed to complete eight frames. He started quite well, and ended well, but in the middle had a complete lapse of command with three straight walks. We still completed a convincing win here, 7-2 Raccoons. Hall 0-1, 4 BB (ties a team record); Dawson 2-5, HR, 3 RBI; Workman 2-5;

We completed our first sweep of the season the next day. Ruíz was mostly solid in this start, and had to be, because he only got two runs in support this time. He went seven innings of 1-run ball, the result of a walk and a hit batsman in the sixth, with one run coming across. 2-1 Coons! Herrera 3-4, BB; Green 2-4, 2B, RBI; Ruíz 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, WIN (2);

Raccoons (22-13) @ Indians (17-16)

This was potentially a big series here. The Indians had beaten us for our first series this year (2-1) and they had a much better team offensively. As had the Raccoons, somehow.

With our pen rested and ready again, we sent Justin Neubauer (no damage in 2.2 IP) back to AAA and recalled Edgardo Gonzalez for the infield.

Game 1 featured two pitchers, whose ERA’s added up to over 11 (not too unevenly distributed) and as I said improved offenses. No wonder the game was 1-0 through eight… (I should stop making statements) – Kinji Kan made his first strong start in … a very long time, going eight innings of shutout ball. The Raccoons put a 4-spot on the Indians in the ninth for a 5-0 lead and I gave him a shot at the shutout, but he walked the first batter and the next had a hit and Kan was removed. Soto surrendered a double to Michael Martin, 5-2, and suddenly we had a fire on the field and we had to break out Grant West to end that threat. 5-2 Coons. Hall 2-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Dawson 2-5; Green 2-4;

Game 2 had Powell as the Coons starter, so there was no scoring from our team. Both teams had one run in the fourth, and in the seventh Powell surrendered a leadoff double and the runner came around to score. The offense didn’t see any land against the combo of Alonso and Booth and a 5-game winning streak was over. 2-1 Indians. We had only four hits. But no wonder. Christopher Powell had been the Coons starter. Powell: 8 starts, 0-2 record, 2.84 ERA … I’m going to kill those slackers sooner or later.

The Coons had four singles in the top 3rd of the rubber game – and didn’t score. Steve Walker was thrown out trying to steal second and the next three were not driven in by either Hall or Dawson. They were again held down by the Indians staff, and again lost the game, 2-1. Raines took the loss. Rigsby 4-4; Sanchez 2-4;

Raccoons (23-15) @ Titans (18-20)

First up in this important 4-game series (important, since a loss would get the Titans back into the fight for the division lead) was Bastyao Caixinha, the pitcher the Titans had taken from Las Vegas in the rule 5 draft. He had been blasted so far for an ERA of 7.94. He no-hit the Raccoons through three (which was bad enough), while Young gave up three in the bottom 3rd. But the Raccoons rebounded nicely from here. Hall singled up the middle to start a 4-spot in the top 4th. Young was again blasted in the bottom 4th and was yanked. David Jones gave up more in relief. The Raccoons managed to tie the game in the top 6th, 7-7. Scoring stopped there, suddenly, with the ineffective starters out of the game. But the Raccoons were just unable to score. They eventually lost in the 12th after wasting the complete pen (once again…) and West took the 8-7 loss in the 12th. It was the first major league loss for Grant West in his career. Rigsby 2-6, 2B, RBI; Workman 2-6, RBI; Green 2-4, BB, 3B, RBI; Walker 2-5;

We also lost Jerry Ackerman to injury in this game, sore hamstring, he was unavailable for a few days. In addition to that misery, we demoted David Jones and his 6.88 ERA. Something was wrong with the left-handed pitchers this year… we recalled Burton Taylor, who had not really improved his outings a lot in AAA with a 6.00 ERA…

Vicente Ruíz and the rest of the Raccoons were smothered the next day. Ruíz gave up seven runs in six innings in a 10-1 blowout, where nothing, really nothing, worked out for the team. They didn’t hit, they didn’t run, they didn’t field, and they certainly didn’t pitch …

I *desperately* needed a strong outing from Kinji Kan, since the pen was already aching again. Game 3 put him against solid Jose Garza (2-3, 4.02), while Kan fashioned a 5.54 ERA (yet with twice Garza’s wins). And Kan delivered, sort of. The Raccoons led 1-0 in the third when we cheated ourselves out of a run, when Herrera was thrown out stealing right before a triple by Hall. Who then was hung out to dry there and didn’t score either. Kan hung on to a 2-1 lead going into the bottom 8th, where he struck out Wen Zhan with one out – but the umpire ruled catcher’s interference on Sanchez and Zhan came around to score on a double and the game was tied and went to extra innings. Then the Titans walked off in the 10th. Gaston had walked three, and Grönholm planted a 2-out single into shallow right. 3-2 Titans. After five wins in a row now five losses in a row. Bad pitching plus slow offense: all of our main punch Hall, Dawson, and Workman were struggling at this point. Rigsby 2-5; Hall 2-4, BB, 3B, RBI;

The Furballs rallied for six runs in the top 1st of the last game of this horrible series. Christopher Powell came to bat before he ever climbed the mound, and now this was his to lose. And the first two outs were made at the fences minus five feet by Hall and Dawson, so it would not get boring in this game. Up 7-2 in the fourth, and striking out the side (3-4-5 Gonsales, Grönholm, Cabrera), Powell was still well on pace for his first W of the season. Then it started to rain. Bottom 7th, Raccoons up 8-3. Walker made an error with one down and the next batter also reached base. I went out to Powell, who was soaked wet on the mound. He wanted to go after Gonsales, but walked him. Jason White then came in. Bottom 7th, up 8-3, bases full, one out, and slugger Isto Grönholm to face Jason White. Single to right. Cabrera doubled to left. Cunningham came out. 8-6, two in scoring position, still one out.

Powell did not get that W. The tying run scored in the bottom 9th, with two out. On a wild pitch by Grant West. The runner had reached base on a Cameron Green error.

ON A CAMERON GREEN ERROR.

Raccoons won 9-8 in the 11th, RBI double by Dawson.

Raccoons (24-18) @ Aces (24-18)

The 1984 Aces: big steaming machine with lots of production, but the pitching staff was not necessarily awesome. They ranked 10th in runs allowed. Well, the Raccoons were 9th…

Todd Raines punched his ticket back to AAA (and possibly oblivion) with his outing in game 1 of the series. Two innings, six hits, six walks, seven runs. Raccoons shot down 10-6. The pitching is becoming more and more ridiculous every day. I don’t even know whom to call up! Hall 2-5, HR, 2B, 3 RBI; Green 3-4, 2B;

I eventually went with Neubauer to return into the pen, and Ackerman took over his #5 spot in the rotation. With Young and Ruíz bumped up one spot. Not that either of them belonged in the #3 spot.

For a welcome change, Charles Young had a decent game the next day, going seven innings of 2-run ball. He took the win, 4-2, although Wally Gaston had to sort out his mess in the bottom 8th. The Raccoons twice showed no baserunning instincts, with Banda thrown out trying to stretch a double, and Walker thrown out trying to make a double that was not a double. Banda 3-4, 2B, RBI; Workman 2-4; Banda had gotten the start over the ice cold Herrera.

Rubber game. Daniel Hall socked a 2-run home run in the first inning, but those two runs got away from Ruíz immediately. New lead then in the third with a 3-run shot by Mark Dawson. Davis Rigsby and Hall added solo shots and still Ruíz hardly made it through five innings. The Furballs led 10-4 in the top 7th, but in the bottom 7th Gilberto Soto was taken deep twice for three runs, one homer was by Chris Lynch. The barrage continued with single runs scored by both teams in the eighth. Up 11-8 we brought in West for the bottom 9th, where the Aces continued to hit balls every which way, but West held on to 2/3 of the lead. 11-9 Raccoons. Rigsby 3-6, HR, 2B, 3 RBI; Hall 2-4, 2 BB, 2 HR, 3 RBI; Dawson 2-5, BB, HR, 2B, 3 RBI; Green 2-2, 3 BB, 2B, RBI;

In other news

May 3 – Salem’s Harry Beauman is out with a concussion for at least four months. The 36-yr old veteran batted .356 in 73 AB’s this season.
May 12 – The Thunder sign Ralph Hoyles to a 2-yr extension worth $1.3M. Hoyles is 125-74 with a 2.72 ERA for his career. But he is also 37, and 1-4 with a 4.82 ERA in eight starts this year…
May 14 – The Thunder beat the Condors 3-0, with Hunter Frazier (4-3, 4.33 ERA) tossing a 2-hitter.
May 20 – IND SS Gabe Taylor is out for at least a month with a strained groin muscle. He batted .325 in 114 AB’s so far.

Complaints and stuff

It’s hard to say so far if that team can make the playoffs this year. The pitching and fielding are so much out of whack… I hardly complain about the offense this year – because it has never been that productive. They are almost scoring FIVE runs a game (4.94 to be exact). Sadly, they also give up 4.8 runs a game.

Chris Lynch was chosen over Daniel Hall as Batter of the Month of April – I am insulted!! Since then, Hall’s production has collapsed. Dawson doesn’t hit for much, and Herrera is another failure.

Mark Dawson has signed an extension with the Portland Raccoons. He will make $2.46M over the next five years, which is not too much compared to some other guys out there.

In addition to that, Richard Cunningham signed a 3-yr, $420k contract. I wanted to sign him for at least five years, but he had nothing of it. He wanted one year at some $160k and we eventually settled somewhere in between. Cunningham would have been arbitration eligible for the first time this season. I consider this bargain, since it is only slightly over his arbitration estimate, and that should rise with more good performances. I wonder why he doesn’t have much of a fanbase here in Portland. Must be that hideous mustache of his.

We still have four free agents and at least six arbitration eligible players to care about.

Winston Thompson comes off the DL in time for the next installment here. Edgardo Gonzalez goes back to AAA.

One more stop in Charlotte on this dreadful road trip, then home series against the Bayhawks. We will then hit the road for Oklahoma City and New York.

Next: draft pool analysis.

[Westheim]

1984 Draft pool

First, numbers: we will have picks #23, #40, #81 and every 24th from there.

I earmarked 30 pitchers in the 288-player pool. There were a couple of very strong guys in there. The main prize seemed to be Tim Hess, who had a potential 20/20/12 rating with high stamina, but of course the chances that he would remain through 22 picks were – thin. Another prime candidate was MR Lawson Steward, with a potential 20/20/18 rating.

For the first time in years, there were no promising catchers in the pool at all, so that group could be skipped more or less safely (and the Coons had 11 catchers on their teams, so we were not short on them, either). Among the 39 position players that we shortlisted were probably no big stars, but a bunch of promising talent, especially in the outfield this time. The #1 pick among that group was probably a guy with an unpronounceable name to most in the sport: LF/RF/1B Hjalmar Flygt, with a potential 20/12/20 rating.

Whatever would happen during the first 22 picks – none of those players would remain on the table by pick #23. That’s what you get for going to the World Series.

I prefer going to the World Series to picking second in the amateur draft.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (26-19) @ Falcons (24-20)

Harmless Raccoons were easily defeated by veteran William Williams (1-5, 4.41 ERA) in the series opener, held to five hits. Ackerman went deep (7.1 IP), but his inability to strike out batters hurt him and cost the game, first with a 2-strike triple to John Powell and later with back-to-back 2-strike hits in the next inning. 2-0 Falcons. Banda 2-4, 2B;

Game 2 had “Mauler” Correa as the opposing pitcher. Trailing 1-0 in the top 6th, Hall doubled in Banda to tie the game, but was left at third in the inning. Hall then made one of his rare errors to help score two in the bottom 6th. An RBI triple by Sanchez set up a prime chance to tie the game again with two outs in the top 7th, but Herrera made a poor infield out and Rigsby flew out to center. Hall was again left to die at third base in the top 8th. Cunningham was taken deep by Irwin Webster in the eighth. 4-2 Falcons, and the Raccoons again had only five hits.

Back-to-back RBI doubles gave the Coons a 2-0 lead thanks to Hall and Dawson in the last game. Trying to salvage at least one in this series, and that one would have to be Powell, who gave the two runs back in the bottom 1st. But Hall created a new, 4-2, lead with a 2-run shot, his 12th, in the top 3rd. By the fifth, the Coons still led 4-2 and Hall was 3-3 with a triple missing for the cycle. But Hall’s final at bat of the day resulted “only” in another single, part of a 2-run eighth inning, which saw the Raccoons grow Powell’s lead to 6-3. Powell had surrendered a run in the sixth after nicking leadoff batter Gilbert Dougan, who clearly made no efforts to get out of the way, but the umpire had nothing of it. The Falcons chopped one off against Wally Gaston in the eighth, before a 1-hour rain delay kept everybody waiting (it had again been raining on and off throughout the game, even the weather hated Chris Powell). Grant West made short work of the Falcons in the ninth, making Christopher Powell FINALLY a winner in 1984 on the 53rd day of the season and in Powell’s 11th start. Hall 4-4, BB, HR, 2B, 3 RBI; Dawson 3-5, 2B, RBI; Walker 2-4, RBI; Powell is now 1-2 with a 3.38 ERA.

Raccoons (27-21) vs. Bayhawks (20-26)

The Raccoons won the series opener, 3-2, with a fairly steady Charles Young on the mound, who allowed the two runs amid nine hits, but they lost Daniel Hall, who remained on the ground after colliding with 3B Claudio Rojas after a triple in the sixth inning. The crowd was on it’s feet – but not Hall, who was carried off. Hall 1-2, BB, 3B; Green 2-3, HR, 2 RBI;

Game 2: the Coons beat the Bayhawks 3-2 again, with a fairly steady Vicente Ruíz on the mound, who allowed the two runs amid six hits. They missed Daniel Hall, who was in the hospital for evaluation. Thompson 2-4; Sanchez 2-4, RBI;

Late that evening Coon City got the (good?) news. Dannyboy only(?) had a badly strained quad and was out for another week or so. Of course this removed by far the most potent bat of the team for the rest of this road trip. He had a history of hamstring and back injuries that would undoubtedly have sidelined him for longer. Replays also seemed to indicate him sliding back first into Claudio Rojas’ knee at third base, but – we take this and carry him around on a golden chair for a few days. Hall was leading the CL in homers, average, and WAR at this point.

Home runs by Herrera and Green got the Raccoons an early 3-1 lead in the first inning of the last game, but Jerry Ackerman blew it in the fourth in spectacular fashion, including making an error on a grounder that could have ended the rally before it even really began. Four runs scored, Ackerman was yanked, and the Raccoons lost 6-5 despite good relief outings by Soto (3 IP, 1 ER) and Gaston (2 IP, 0 R). Wally even got close to a win once again in the bottom 9th, when a San Francisco error enabled Sanchez to drive in two, but the rally fell short and Sanchez was hung out to dry at second by the Bayhawks.

Raccoons (29-22) @ Thunder (24-27)

The series was opened between Kinji Kan and Ralph Hoyles, last season’s aces, who now combined for an ERA over 9. The Raccoons ate up Hoyles for seven runs in three plus innings. While Kan walked the bags full with nobody out in the bottom 2nd, he then struck out two and got an easy grounder to Thompson to end the threat. And while the Coons led 7-0 after chasing Hoyles, that wasn’t even half the scoring they did in the game. Without hitting a single home run, they plated 15 runners on 24 hits and a few walks and even left ten runners on. The Thunder were clobbered big time, only scoring two unearned runs (…) off Jason White in the eighth. 15-2 Raccoons!! Banda 4-5, 2B; Workman 5-5, BB, 3B, 3 RBI; Dawson 2-5, 2 RBI; Green 4-6, 3B, 4 RBI; Thompson 3-5, BB, 2 2B, 2 RBI; Bowling (PH) 1-1, RBI; Kan 6.2 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 3 K and 2-4, 2 RBI;

This was the second 5-hit game for Matt Workman in his major league career. There is only one other Raccoon to ever have more than four hits in a game, six in a game against the Loggers back in 1977. That was Freddy Lopez. Don’t remember that name? Neither do I, not very well at least. He was a third baseman who appeared in 238 games for the Coons between 1977 and 1979, hitting .213 in a total of 531 AB’s. That 6-hit game was his quarter of an hour in the spotlight. He never got another chance once the Raccoons dumped him and is since retired.

Christopher Powell made a strong start the next day. He gave up only five hits, unfortunately three of them in the bottom 4th, where the Thunder scored two. But that was all the damage, while he went eight frames, which was good enough for – a no-decision, again. The Raccoons only tied it in the eighth after being dominated by Hunter Frazier throughout the game. Powell would still have had gas for the ninth, but faced five straight lefties in the lineup and I was not to take any risks and brought out a lefty in Justin Neubauer, but the Thunder quickly replaced Troy Scott with righty Jose Gonzales. Neubauer held him off, and Cunningham pitched two scoreless frames in overtime. The bottom 12th saw Guy King lead off with a triple against Soto. That was as good as doom here. We walked the next two batters to create force plays on every base. Soto then struck out righty slugger Alfonso Aranda, but the next batter, Gary Reed, grounded a slow one to right, and it was slow enough for King to score before Green fired home. 3-2 Thunder. Herrera 3-5, Workman 2-4, 2 RBI; Dawson 2-5, 2B; Walker 2-5, 2 2B;

Charles Young was blown up in game 3, surrendering five runs in four innings, four alone in the second. Included was a home run by opposing pitcher Ray Shaw. The hapless Furballs had the bags full with no outs in the sixth and scored one miserable run. They did a little batter with bags loaded and one out in the eight, scoring at least two. Still: Raccoons lost, 6-3. Herrera 2-5, 2B; Dawson (PH) 1-1, RBI;

Raccoons (30-24) @ Crusaders (19-33)

Great news! Daniel Hall had recovered much quicker than anticipated from his quad strain and was available again for the series in New York!

A hitless game through three innings, game 1 saw a Steve Walker home run in the fifth as the first run, and the Raccoons scored three more in the inning for a 4-0 lead. Hall was brought in early after seven innings to make it easier on him, but by then the team led 5-0. Jason White allowed a run in an ineffective no-out outing in the eighth. 5-1 Raccoons. Hall 2-4, RBI; Workman 2-4, BB, 2 RBI; Ruíz 7.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K and 1-1, BB;

Game 2 brought the last we would see from Jerry Ackerman for a while. He completely blew up in the third inning, where the Crusaders plated six runners against him and hapless Burton Taylor. The Crusaders led 9-4 after three innings… The Coons put up a late rally in the eighth, which was ended masterfully by reliever Joshua Bernard, who struck out Herrera, Banda, and Rigsby, all with the bags full, and also mowed them down in the ninth. 11-6 Crusaders. Green 2-5, 2 RBI; Walker 0-1, 2 BB, RBI;

As indicated, Jerry Ackerman was demoted to AAA for general incompetence. He was 2-5 with a 4.75 ERA and could not get anybody out. He had 9 K’s in 47.1 IP this year, and to make things worse he walked batters in scores sometimes. We called up Carlos Moran, for whom this was his last option year and also his last chance. He had a 3.52 ERA in various roles in two months at AAA ball.

The last game in the series got away from Kinji Kan quickly with three runs in the first inning. That was not the main story of the game, that was the performance of New York’s starter Dave Paul. He pitched a magnificent game, retiring batter after batter, pitching 22 perfect outs. With one out in the eighth, he faced Matt Workman. Workman worked a 3-1 count and got a pitch right in the wheelhouse, drilling it to deep right, where it just barely failed to go over the fence. The slow Workman had hit a double and Paul’s effort went up in smoke. Still, it was not enough to win the game. 5-1 Crusaders.

Things were unraveling fast here, with a loss to a sub-.400 team.

In other news

May 23 – Bob “Butcher” Haines becomes only the fourth pitcher in ABL history to pitch a NO-HITTER, in a 4-0 Pacifics win in Washington over the Capitals. Haines walks three and fans three in the performance, which takes 104 pitches. It is Haines’ first start of the season after 15 relief appearances, and his 100th start overall. The previous no-hitter was pitched on September 6, 1980 by Milwaukee’s Bill Warren. This is the first no-hitter pitched in the Federal League.
May 27 – Las Vegas’ slugger Chris “Missing” Lynch (.296, 12 HR, 39 RBI) will miss two weeks with a strained hamstring.
June 1 – Jim Harrington (7-4, 3.35 ERA) tosses a 1-hitter in a 4-0 win of his Condors over the Aces.
June 1 – IND SP Alex Miranda (7-5, 2.90 ERA) also has a great game, hurling a 3-hitter in a 7-0 defeat of the Titans.
June 2 – Ouch! Sacramento loses veteran starter Morton Jennings (6-4, 4.50 ERA) for the season. He has a torn ulnar collateral ligament and will require Tommy John surgery. The 32-yr old is 89-78 for his career with a 3.59 ERA. He has one career shutout: against the Raccoons :-P
June 4 – The Indians acquire veteran reliever Geronimo Tortima from the Bayhawks, with whom he only appeared in seven games this season. In exchange, outfielder Greg Douglas and a minor leaguer go to San Francisco.

Complaints and stuff

Despite being injured, Daniel Hall still received Player of the Week (May 20-26) honors! During the 5 1/2 games he played that week, he went 8-18 with 3 HR, 7 RBI. Due to his injury, Hall also missed out on a opportunity to become Batter of the Month of May, which went to Michael Root, Knights rightfielder. (You may or may not remember me expressing relief when Engjell Vulaj missed two of our series against Atlanta last season and they played Root, whom I underestimated by A TRUCK FULL OF BRICKS there…)

We received a trade proposal from the Washington Capitals on May 31 which at first glance seemed like we found money in that. They offered 27-yr old reliever Jamel Teissier for our AAA middle infielder (and frequent call-up last season) Brandon Roland. I knew Roland, he had nothing even remotely resembling a major league career. I also knew Teissier fairly well, who had for a few years been the Loggers’ closer and who struck out about 10 per nine frames while in Milwaukee. The Capitals used him in setup with similar numbers. But there were three problems: a $348k contract until season’s end, his expectation to be a closer, and the fact he was a right-hander. I considered him overpaid, inferior to Grant West (and even Cunningham and Gaston) in most aspects, and Gilberto Soto had made a splash at filling the seventh spot in our pen – so I declined. I saw no use for him with us.

The Buffaloes played Ramón Borjón on waivers on May 31. He batted .273 in very limited playing time, so it was hard to say what he was really capable of. I was not thrilled by Raúl Herrera’s performance so far, but Borjón had been one of those chronic underachievers as well.

Who is Dave Paul, our opponent in game 3 in New York? He is a former Raccoon, although I don’t know whether his name has been mentioned here so far. He was traded before the 1977 with three other players to the Capitals to acquire Ben Simon. He pitched for the Capitals, Cyclones, Capitals again, and since this year the Crusaders, with 200 games (161 starts), a 49-58 record and a 4.15 ERA.

Right now things are really not running well for us. We can not get the pitching in line. Ackerman has gotten the boot, Evans is injured for another month, Young is highly inconsistent, Ruíz and Kan are also inconsistent, and Powell is not the Powell from 1980-82. The last resort could be to make room on the 40-man roster for Carlos Gonzalez, but the original plan was to call him up in September for a few first sniffs at major league ball. He is 3-7 at AAA, but for a poorly scoring team. His ERA is 2.16, but Todd Raines also had an ERA under 3 before being called up (and he continues to have a 2.47 ERA there). Is “Deranged” Gonzalez ready for the major leagues? See his profile below.

Next up: home stand against the Canadiens and Cyclones. Then road trip to Dallas. We will face the Titans at home and during that series the draft will be held.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (31-26) vs. Canadiens (34-20)

We just can not afford to lose this series. So, our offense needs to keep pace with the mediocre pitching, but the Canadiens have by far the best staff in the league.

But the first game was another start for Chris Powell. It rained again. And the Coons could not solve the enigma that was Robbie Campbell. Matt Workman got a solo homer off him in the bottom 7th, but they had only two more hits all game. Powell had given up a 2-piece to Seitaro Ogawa in the fifth and took the 2-1 loss.

Game 2 was almost a perfect copy of the first. Like Powell the day before, Charles Young went eight frames, giving up two runs on homers, this time two solo home runs by Osanai and Bailey. Hall drove in one run and the Raccoons lost again, 2-1. The two homers off Young were the only hits for the Canadiens, and the Raccoons had only three.

This already placed us 6.5 games behind Vancouver, putting our playoff ambitions in serious doubt. Now once the pitchers performed well, the offense couldn’t get through the opposing starters.

But the Raccoons could not get through the Canadiens, not at all. Kisho Saito and the pen allowed only three hits, again, in the last game. The Raccoons briefly led after a 2-run home run by Hall, but it was not enough. They lost 5-2. Hall 2-4, HR, 2B, 2 RBI;

That made the gap 7.5 games. At our current performance and how the Canadiens were pitching, this was the point where I became more and more convinced that we would not finish anywhere close to first place this year. This had been not necessarily the do-or-die series already, but to be swept here and now, at home, was pretty much a death blow to our ambitions. And it really was no wonder we were that far behind and almost down to .500 – we were scoring a record 4.62 R/G, but gave up 4.53 … only in 1979 had the Furballs staff posted a worse ERA, and they lost 107 games that year; this was not going to work out. The pitching was too awful to be a contending team.

Raccoons (31-29) vs. Cyclones (26-35)

Cincinnati’s offense was very slow, but they had strong pitching assembled with Jason Gurston carrying an amazing 1.71 ERA.

Out of despair, Carlos Moran started the first game of the series. The Cyclones did not put up a single right-handed batter. Five lefties, three switch. They took a few innings, but then they cooked him. The Raccoons had nothing at all. They upped their production to four hits, one a massive crusher by Mark Dawson. That was it. 6-1 Cyclones. Dawson 2-4, HR, RBI;

The middle game put Jason Gurston on the mound for the Cyclones, who threw a 2-hit shutout. Kinji Kan was blown up for six runs in 5.1 innings. There really is not more to say about these games. The Raccoons sucked a hell of a time here. They had NO offense, they had NO pitching.

Game 3. No change. Five hits for the ragged bunch of losers. The Cyclones scored only two off Powell, but those were enough. Daniel Hall struck out with the tying runs in scoring position to end the game. He went 0-11 in the series. Walker 3-4;

There really is not much more to say but this: the team has lost 10 of their last 11 games. They scored 16 runs in the first four games in that streak and went 1-3. They have scored six runs in the last seven games of that streak in one of the most horrendous home stands in history. In the power rankings, they dropped 13 spots, from 9th to 22nd, crashing by 23 points.

This felt like 1979. But worse.

Raccoons (31-32) @ Stars (32-30)

Steve Walker actually gave the Raccoons a lead with a home run to center in the top 4th, driving in Workman, too, who had doubled. Those were the first two hits of the team on that day. Immediately afterwards in the bottom 4th, Charles Young looked very bad on a grounder by Joe Adams, who was safe at first. Gabriel Cruz launched his own massive burst to center to tie the game. It was still tied in the bottom 9th. Jason White walked the leadoff man, Mario Gonzalez, who was quick. Sanchez tried to pick a dozy Gonzalez at first, and threw the ball past Workman. Gonzalez advanced to second with nobody out. White got a K, but we brought up Wally Gaston, who had more K power and had room for a walk. He struck out the next two Stars to get the game to extra innings. Cisco Banda homered off Juan Miranda (!?!) in the top 10th and we actually had a chance to break out Grant West for the first time in - … a long time. He surrendered a leadoff double to pinch hitter Stan Potvin, but pitched around it. 3-2 Raccoons. Workman 2-4, 2B; Wally Gaston had his seventh win in relief this season!

In what I hoped to be the signal for his 4-31 (and 0-16) slump to end, Daniel Hall socked a 2-piece in the first inning the next day. Like the day before, the Raccoons pitcher, Ruíz in this case, made a horrible play for an infield single to Cruz, who was then driven in on a home run by Jerome Ramsay. In the same inning. Game tied, 2-2. The Stars lost their starter Sergio Esparraguera to injury in the second, and the Raccoons scored two again off Hidekazu Oyama, including a long RBI double by pitcher Vicente Ruíz. They added two more in the third, 6-2, but with the Stars as opponents, and on Starturf, and with Vicente Ruíz on the mound, no lead was safe. Ruíz believed in the words “And thou shalt not taketh more than thou giveth” and everybody knew it. But great catches from Dawson in the fourth and Hall in the fifth prevented damage and Ruíz had another good 2.1 innings after that. The Raccoons took advantage of an overwhelmed bullpen that had to cover 7.2 innings and couldn’t, at least not efficiently. It became a major bashing, 12-2 Raccoons, with a 3-run homer by Cam Green with two down in the ninth. Green 2-4, BB, HR, 4 RBI; Dawson 3-6, 3 2B (ties a Raccoons record); Workman 3-6, 2B; Sanchez 2-5, 2B, RBI; Walker 2-5, 2 RBI; Thompson 3-5; Ruíz 7.1 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 3 K and 2-3, 2B, 2 RBI;

Carlos Moran made another start as place holder in the last game. He gave up a run in the third, while the Raccoons so far had been harmless against K-King Kiyohira Sasaki. Green singled in the fourth with one out. Hall drew a walk, which brought up Dawson with two up and one down. He grounded to third, where 3B Jose Delgado made a Cam Green error that exploded the whole inning: he threw the ball way past first base, the tying run scored, and Hall and Dawson were in scoring position. The Coons drove in three more in the inning, three unearned runs in total, for a 4-1 lead. But this was Moran pitching. Pancho Pacheco homered in the fourth, and the Moran-Sanchez combo plated a run in the fifth with a wild pitch and a thrown away attempt to nail a stealer. Moran ended the sixth with a strikeout to Sasaki, who would have gotten the boot for a pinch hitter had the Stars still had a pen remaining after the last game. So, the 4-3 lead remained after six. But we couldn’t get Sasaki out either, who went deep into the game and didn’t give the Raccoons a chance at another run. Sasaki went eight, and the Stars threw in the remains of their pen to get through the ninth, three pitchers for three batters. Grant West again let Stan Potvin on base to start the bottom 9th, this time with a bad throw to Workman, but pitched around it again. 4-3 Raccoons, swept those evil Dallasians who denied us the World Series last year! Banda 2-4; we had six hits in total – without that error by Delgado we would have lost…

In other news

June 12 – OCT SP Shayne Nealon (7-2, 2.52 ERA) is out for the season with bone chips in his elbow. I will restrain myself from further comments about his ERA.
June 12 – The Capitals send veteran reliever Jamel Teissier to Salem for 3B Jose Perez. Teissier has an 0.89 ERA in limited play time. Perez bats .319 in limited play time.
June 13 – DEN SP Wilson Martinez (10-1, 2.09 ERA) tosses a 3-hitter against the Canadiens, as the Gold Sox win 8-0.
June 13 – LVA CF Claudio Garcia (.300, 1 HR, 30 RBI) goes down to a shoulder injury for three weeks.
June 13 – SAL 1B Jorge Padilla (.337, 1 HR, 22 RBI) will be out for a month with a broken foot.

Complaints and stuff

Most awful week ever. I have no words for that kind of slump. Going 1-10 with zero offense. That’s how to finish not-first.

They ended it in style though, against the Stars, although the question has to be asked: would a playoff team go 1-10 with zero offense? I don’t think so.

Something will have to be done about Jayson Bowling and Spencer Dicks, too. Daniel Hall batted almost zero throughout the last two weeks, too, unfortunately. He still ties the home run race with Chris Lynch, but his average is now 38 points off from the leader Jeremiah Carrell.

A few problems contribute to the mediocre (although it’s been mostly quite good for the last two weeks or so) pitching. It’s defense. Neither Sanchez nor Dicks get stealers out, and their defensive efficiency is down from ’83. The same is true for our regular shortstop Steve Walker. He had a +2.3 ZR in ’83, but +1.3 ZR this year. He had eight errors in all of ’83 at short, but already five this year. Cam Green has a better ZR and EFF this year, but has already 50% more errors than in all of last year! Matt Workman is also one of the error sinks for us, and it has not gotten better. He has never even been close to a neutral ZR or EFF, but his worst seasons were ’82 and ’83 actually. All guys available for 2B show values below their ’83 performances. Rigsby is worst with a -0.7 ZR, .990 EFF at 2B. That creates a huge hole on the right side, but Thompson ain’t much better and we can’t play Bowling, who’s batting .110 …

The outfielders perform very well so far, with Mark Dawson posting better defensive stats in rightfield than last year, and Daniel Hall’s are through the ceiling, he has a +8.6 ZR (was +3.2) and 1.109 EFF!! This looks like a career season all around for him.

So, my observations from managing the games were correct, yet not described in detail yet. The infield is killing us defensively this season. (these paragraphs were written after the Canadiens swept us, numbers changed slightly since then, but not significantly)

Carlos Gonzalez went 7.1 scoreless with a W the day we lost the second time to Vancouver, then added 8.1 innings of 2-run ball in his next start, both times K’ing 11. He’s now 5-7 with a 1.99 ERA. I’m tempted to do it, but I also have to account for the next step: Logan Evans’ return, which will not leave a spot in the rotation for Gonzalez. Evans’ recovery from torn thumb ligaments has gone a tad quicker than anticipated and he will be able to start his rehab assignment in the next three days.

Next: draft, plus home series against Boston, then road week: Indy, Tijuana. We will end the month with a tough home stand against Las Vegas and Vancouver.

[Westheim]

Coons Maniac Quiz - Round 1

1) Who is the current all-time home run leader while playing for the Raccoons?

2) Who is the current all-time ERA leader while pitching for the Raccoons? (50 IP minimum)

3) How many 1984 Raccoons, on the current 25-man roster or on the disabled list, have been members of the 1977 Raccoons or their 1977 minor league affiliates?

All correct answers will be eligible for our main prize: an original imaginary coonskin cap!