Portland Raccoons (ABL)

[Westheim]

No, I have pick trading off. Ramirez will be gone for sure by #10.

[Questdog]

Don't know if you know this already, but since you claim baseball ignorance, I will offer some advice: Make sure to get your closer regular work, even if it is not in save situations. Otherwise, a prolonged rest could see him grow rusty....

And I would never advise trading draft picks, since that is a heresy, but first base is the Coons most glaring weakness.....

[Westheim]

I have suspected the rust factor to actually be there for quite some time already, but the game doesn't actually state anything about it.

Well, I always fall into the trap: "West hasn't pitched in six days ... we're losing 5-1 ... but maybe tomorrow ... tomorrow Saito's pitching ... maybe he'll come around tomorrow ... and tomorrow we'll lead 2-1 ... and whom am I gonna turn to then?"

Looking at the last three hurlers in that pen, I should not be so worried. Any of them can blow through a random set of three batters in most instances. If anything, I wouldn't want Wally Gaston pitching to a string of contact lefties. (One of those actually defeated him in that L he took - THAT would have been a chance to bring in West, but you're always smarter once the damage has been done)

I know, nobody likes Matt Workman but me. His average has now dropped, as predicted by you, too. Well, we don't have anybody else. It's hard to ship off something on a team that doesn't have many valuable pieces. We're not at that point where I'd say we do a firesale, get out some of those 30+ year olds and load up with prospects and make a run in '87/'88.

[Westheim]

Infielder Orlando Lantán, our 1981 first round draft bust, was promoted to AAA ball for the first time – through no merit of his own. The plague has befallen our AAA infield with a fractured cheekbone and a torn quadriceps among the pains there. That’s also the reason that Castillo and Eddie Gonzalez are still on the 25-man roster! We can’t call anybody up, while Castillo is out of options and Gonzalez can refuse minor league assignments – so if we lose Castillo, we have one less infielder to … greatly not help our issues.

Raccoons (20-25) vs. Condors (22-25)

Kisho Saito K’ed four straight between the second and third inning of the opener, but failed to get a bunt down in the bottom 3rd, which killed a good chance to score. Lucero drew a leadoff walk in the sixth and was scored by Workman with a double to break up the 0-0 score. Ricardo Gonzalez homered in the seventh and the Coons led 3-0 in the bottom 8th with the bases loaded after a walk to Walker and Saito up, who so far had pitched a shutout. Go for more offense or let him continue to pitch? We let him bat, he grounded out. But he also mowed down the Condors for good in the top 9th, 3-0 Coons. Dadswell 2-4; Thompson 2-4, RBI; Saito 9.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 8 K, W (3-6);

This was Kisho Saito’s third career shutout, and the first since 1982, when he had shut out – whom? Right! – the Raccoons on two hits while pitching for the Canadiens.

Ricardo Gonzalez had found his good bat, it seemed, since he hit a 3-shot in the first inning of game 2 to make it 4-0 early against Jim Harrington. But Harrington took revenge against Chris Powell right away with a 2-out, 2-run double – his first hit of the season in 22 AB. The Coons added a few, but Powell was taken deep by Wayne Baxter, who was only batting .203 into this game, in the sixth and left with a runner on and two out. Neubauer faced Cisco Banda and gave up an RBI triple. Moran ended the inning. The Condors scored two more against Moran and an ineffective Cunningham, before Gaston put out the fire and held on to the 7-6 lead in the seventh. Gaston also pitched the eighth, before the Coons left the bags full in the bottom of the inning. West scared the fans with a leadoff walk in the top 9th, but retired the next three batters to seal the 7-6 win. Lucero 4-5; Workman 2-5; Hall 2-4, BB, HR, RBI; Thompson 2-3; Gaston 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K;

When Cam Green led off the bottom 3rd with a double, it gave the Raccoons a first for this season: except for the pitcher Powell (who was .200) ALL guys in the lineup batted above .250 at that point! Don’t ask questions about the bench, though. (Still, Green’s next two AB’s resulted in outs and he dropped to .249 again by the time he was removed in a double switch)

With Logan Evans up for game 3, the fans hoped for a sweep. He no-hit the Condors into the fifth inning, but things deteriorated quickly from there. He had rediscovered his wildness between starts and walked six, including two in the seventh, which robbed him of a chance for the W, since the Condors tied the game 3-3 in that inning. Roberto Carrillo walked the first two batters in the top 10th, and by then I had to turn to Wally Gaston yet again, who was tired and couldn’t keep them from scoring. The tying run came as far as second base in the bottom 10th, but since this was a sucking team, they didn’t get the runners in. 5-3 Condors. Workman 2-4, BB; Walker 2-5, 3B, RBI;

Raccoons (22-26) vs. Aces (17-32)

With Vicente Ruíz and Jarrod Schroeder pitching, game 1 unexpectedly became a pitcher’s duel, with Schroeder prevailing, holding a 1-0 lead through six after keeping the Coons to two hits. Ricardo Gonzalez then doubled to start the bottom 7th, which basically represented the best chance to score a run for the team so far. Winston Thompson doubled to left to prove he was over his slump, and also to score Gonzalez, and we had a brand new ballgame, as well as still nobody out with a runner on second. Walker flew out, but advanced Thompson to third. Armando Sanchez pinch hit for Ruíz, and despite batting .167 was walked intentionally. The strategy worked not too well, since Lucero sacrificed Thompson in regardless. 2-1 lead, but in the eighth, Roberto Carrillo served up a homer to Jordan Archer right away. Neubauer was brought in to face lefty Michael Martin – who hit a home run, and Neubauer surrendered another homer in the inning. 4-3 Aces. Dadswell 2-4, BB, 2B; R. Gonzalez 2-3, BB, 2B, RBI;

It was the last blow for Roberto Carrillo and Justin Neubauer. The latter was demoted to AAA, the former, claimed off waivers at the start of the season, was waived and designated for assignment. We called up Jason White, who had been booted for Carrillo (a grave mistake) and Miguel Bojorquez. Alert readers will still recognize the latter: he was with the Raccoons in 1980 and 1981 with ERA’s over 6 and over 8, respectively.

Several teams quickly claimed Carrillo. What? You think he’s gonna put people out for you!?? The Bayhawks eventually got him.

Guess, who pitched for the Aces in game 2. Charles Young, appropriately facing Carlos Gonzalez. What do we remember about Young? He had a misconception about the strike zone of it being 250 feet wide. After a 1-out double by Ricardo Gonzalez in the bottom 2nd, he walked three straight, including Carlos Gonzalez for the first run. The first of many: when Ricardo Gonzalez went yard with Walker and Dadswell still on base in the bottom 4th, that made the score 8-0 Coons. The scoring stopped as soon as Young was out of the game… Carlos Gonzalez allowed two runs in the seventh and the pen was banged in the eighth after a throwing error by Dadswell got things moving. West entered still in the eighth, and restored order with a quick 4-out save. Walker 2-4, HR, 3 RBI; R. Gonzalez 3-3, BB, HR, 2B, 3 RBI; E. Gonzalez (PH) 1-1; C. Gonzalez 7.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, W (3-3) and 1-2, BB, RBI;

Charles Young’s ERA is 7.77 now.

The Coons scored two in the second in the rubber game, before the top 3rd became a showcase why this was a terrible team. With one out, runners were on the corners against Saito and the pitcher up. Travis Newton bunted and Dadswell threw the ball away – his second capital error in this series. Lucero made a throwing error on the next play, and Tom Simmons then took Saito deep to make it 4-2 Aces. Newton then hit Steve Walker with a pitch and Walker had to leave the game. The Raccoons had the bases loaded with nobody out in the inning – they didn’t score. They never scored again, once again leaving the tying run on second base in the ninth. 4-2 Aces after out-hitting them 9-5.

Steve Walker, who had been hit in the hand by Newton, was out with a bruised thumb.

Sam Dadswell also took a few bruises in his special treatment session the following off day.

Raccoons (23-28) @ Loggers (28-25)

We started this series against Gary Simmons (not the one that had been with us, the other one), who was 1-8 with a 9.00 ERA. Just who could be that unlucky team to have been beaten by him. You wanna take a guess? YOU WANNA TAKE A GUESS??

In any case, the Furballs needed Chris Powell to jump start their offense with a 1-out double in the third. Powell and Workman scored runs in the inning, while Powell was able to keep the Loggers off the bags in the early innings – although runner John Howard was hit by the ball and called out in the first, which may or may not have spared the Coons a run. But Simmons, that king of suckers, dominated and frustrated the Raccoons. Daniel Hall was ejected over a strike three call in the sixth – the 7th K for Simmons in the game. The Furballs struck out a total of 13 times in the game, 11 times against Simmons. But a good outing by Powell and superb relief provided by Gaston and West shut out the Loggers, 3-0 Coons. Dadswell, 2-4, RBI; Powell 7.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K, W (5-5) and 1-3, 2B;

How many times has a Raccoons pitcher struck out 11 in a game? Take a guess, answer below in the stuff section.

Bases loaded, nobody out for the Coons in the top 2nd of game 2, but no score. Edgardo Gonzalez struck out and Armando Sanchez grounded into a double play. Next thing you know, Logan Evans walks two and gives up a triple. The moronic 2-pack drew walks to start the top 4th, leading to Evans bunting into a play at third. Daniel Hall was then injured on a play in the bottom 4th. The Raccoons managed to tie the game again, somehow, at 3-3, with Evans still pitching in the bottom 9th, but he put runners on the corners with nobody out. Richard Cunningham came in to fight a hopeless battle – and held on to the tie and sent the game to extra innings with a monster of an inning. Fast forward to the top 13th. Ricardo Gonzalez and Steve Walker (who now had to play despite a bad thumb) walked to start it. Sanchez grounded them one over, but pitcher Jason White would be next to bat. So we got the last bat off the bench, Crosby. Before Crosby could launch at something, Antonio Cordero threw a wild pitch and Gonzalez scored. Crosby then sacrificed Walker in. David Jones hit the first batter in the bottom 13th and the Loggers tied the game against Wally Gaston later in the inning with two out. The game continued. Top 15th: Ricardo Gonzalez walked to start it, and a 1-out single by Sanchez put runners on the corners with Wally Gaston up. The bench was empty. Gaston did the bare minimum: he made only ONE out. Winston Thompson then sent a liner into the deep left corner to score both runners. Whom to pitch in the bottom 15th? Gaston looked empty, West was not rested (which was the reason he hadn’t pitched in the 13th already), and all that remained were Moran and Bojorquez, the latter of which had not pitched at all since being called up. (contemplates) GO WALLY!! He struck out Ken Winters. Matthew Beck popped out. Edgardo Garza bounced out to Thompson. 7-5 Coons. Thompson 5-8, 2B, 2 RBI; Hall 1-2, 2B, RBI; R. Gonzalez 4-5, 2 BB, 2 2B; Sanchez 2-6, BB;

BAD NEWS FLASH: Daniel Hall had a badly twisted thumb (common theme there) with ligament damage and was out until the end of the month of June, which had just begun.

Hall went to the DL and Kelly Weber (known from last season) was called up. This juggled things pretty good in the outfield. Most importantly, Ricardo Gonzalez took over rightfield for all games until Mark Dawson would come off the DL, which would be in another week or so. Crosby moved to left against LHP, and Sanchez against RHP. Lucero and Weber split CF. Gonzalez had secretly shot over .300 the last week and we needed every bit of production with Dawson, Hall, and Walker sidelined.

Despite that 15-inning madness, the pen was still in good shape for the last game of the series. Well, except for Wally perhaps. Lucero’s leadoff jack made it 1-0 Coons, but Garza homered in the fourth to tie the game. Rain chased the starters in the sixth, with Workman on second and nobody out. When play resumed over an hour later, the Raccoons scored two to get Ruíz in line for the win, but an attempt to bring in Carlos Moran for two innings failed quickly. David Jones struck out Luis Rivera with the tying run on third to get out of the mess. Armando Sanchez’ homer in the ninth provided some insurance after Jones and Cunningham had performed fantastically in relief. Lucero made a huge catch on a dipper by Garza into center to lead off the bottom 9th. Grant West struck out the last two batters to complete the sweep! 4-2 Coons. Workman 3-5, 2B; Sanchez (PH) 1-2, HR, RBI; Ruíz 5.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, W (5-5); Cunningham 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

In other news

May 25 – Sometimes you can only shake your head: Outfielder Juan Medine’s best days are LONG over, but the Dallas Stars signed the 38-yr old to a 2-yr, $1.45M extension. Medine’s .235 this year, and has been that slow at the plate for two years.
June 2 – The Aces send former Coon Enrique Sanchez and a prospect to New York for 1B Julio Martinez and a minor leaguer. Sanchez is batting .274 this season, but Martinez has a hopeless .194 average.
June 3 – The Titans trade for 0-7, 4.92 ERA pitcher Kinji Kan, 33, and a minor league pitcher and send SS Yong-chan Chong to San Francisco. Chong is batting .363 in 93 AB’s.
June 3 – SFW INF Pat Graham has a 20-game hitting streak going.

Complaints and stuff

Daniel Hall is out! NOOOOOOO!!!!! (cries unconsoleably)

We were 14-12 in May to recover in part from that nightmare April we had. Still, Edgardo Gonzalez and Victor Castillo are performing abysmally, and something has to be done. In turn, the pitching has come around for the most part by now, with the team ranking 2nd in the league in runs allowed. The offense is scoring a sliver over 4 R/G, which still is not enough to turn a winning record (although our Pythagorean record would be 29-25).

For some time, the team’s batting average was .235 – which was a lone(ly) point over the average from the 107-losses season we had in 1979.

The Raccoons signed pitcher Logan Evans to a 6-yr, $4.275M contract at the end of June, keeping Evans in the brown uniform until his age 35 season. This seems to be a lot of money for a guy who has to be repeatedly reminded of the existence of a strike zone. But on the other hand, he’s working out well enough: he won 48 games in the span from 1981 to 1983. He was hurt last year, so his 6-6 record there doesn’t mean a lot. He’s 73-58 in 192 career starts with a 3.22 ERA at the time of signing, dating all the way back to 1978, when he first came up from the minors.

Answer to the questions in relation to the first Loggers game:
- of course the Loggers’ Simmons won against the COONS for his only win of the season in the opening series.
- The answer to the second question posed is “Never”. The single game K record by Raccoons pitchers is 10, set by Gary Simmons. Our Gary Simmons, now with Nashville. Logan Evans leads current Raccoons with 9 K’s in a game, achieved three times.

Next: part 2 of that road trip in Indy. This will be followed by interleague play (Blue Sox and Gold Sox), and then a 4-game series at home against New York, when the draft will be held as well.

[Westheim]

Would playing without Danny Hall be any fun the next few weeks? Would *playing* be any fun the next few weeks?

Raccoons (26-28) @ Indians (27-30)

Kisho Saito took the ball first for the Indians series. Things could have gone great, since the Coons led 3-0 before he even took to the mound, but then he gave a leadoff double to Colin Irwin and added two walks instantly. While the Indians chipped away, the Raccoons did not have another hit until a double by Thompson in the sixth, and this at least started a 2-run inning when it was needed for a 5-2 lead. Saito left after seven 3-hit, 4-walk innings, so he was not entirely horrible. Carlos Moran pitched two messy innings to end it, 6-2 Coons. Workman 2-4, HR, 4 RBI; Thompson 3-4, BB, 2 2B, RBI; Castillo 2-4, RBI; Sanchez (PH) 1-1;

The Raccoons vaulted past the Loggers into third place with this W, and were now only one game below .500!

Cam Green was in the midst of a 3-40 slump, yet the injuries to our key right-handed hitters forced him into the lineup anyway.

The Raccoons put up seven left-handed batters in game 2 (including Christopher Powell), but Jesse Carver (3-6, 3.84 ERA) hardly cared, starting the game with three perfect innings. Thompson singled to lead off the fourth, but we didn’t score. Powell no-hit the Indians into the fifth, where Esteban Hernandez broke up the bid. He was thrown out at the plate by Ricardo Gonzalez to get out of the inning. Two more Indians were thrown out at the plate by Sanchez and Weber, making it a 3-way tie among outfielders, but they still scored a run off a crumbling Powell in the sixth – while the team provided not the slightest slice of support for the old man. Carver went eight frames of 4-hit dominance, with no Raccoon putting a foot on third at all. With only that slim 1-0 lead, they removed him for closer Geronimo Tortima in the ninth. Workman singled, Ricardo Gonzalez doubled to lead off. Go-ahead run on second, nobody out, and the slugging catcher Sam Dadswell up. He lobbed a weak liner *inches* over the glove of 2B Peter Washington to tie up the game and get Powell off a hook on which he didn’t belong. This brought up 3-42 Green. Even a double play has a good chance to score Gonzalez, so we let him bat, but he grounded into a fielder’s choice and Gonzalez could not score. Nobody scored anymore. Damnit!! The game went to overtime. There, Cam Green had that single we would have needed earlier. Richard Cunningham pitched in the 11th in his second inning. Green failed to make a play on a bunt that put two runners on. One out later, he got the next bouncer in his direction and this time threw it away into the stands. The Indians were awarded the winning run, 2-1.

Green was awarded the bench plus a boot print on his bottoms by me.

With Edgardo Gonzalez in the lineup, things were not going to improve. Castillo was the only righty batter now against the Indians’ Alex Miranda. No matter what, there were only four people in that lineup batting over .185, so the Raccoons weren’t going anywhere. The Indians squeezed a run across against Logan Evans in the first and it remained a 1-0 ballgame for an awfully long time. Eddie Gonzalez finally got a flyball past Engjell Vulaj’s mighty glove in left in the seventh, for a 2-out double. Kelly Weber was up – Miranda threw a wild one to advance Gonzalez and Weber collected his first hit of the season just past SS Angelo Duarte to tie the game. Evans was pinch hit for and out of the game after this. Miranda was then dismantled with back-to-back 2-out RBI doubles by Castillo and Eddie Gonzalez in the eighth to give the Coons a lead. Gaston and West quickly brought the game to an end, 3-1 Raccoons. Thompson 2-2, 3 BB; Castillo 2-4, 2B, RBI; E. Gonzalez 2-4, 2 2B, RBI; Weber 2-4, RBI; Lucero (PH) 1-1; Evans 6.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 1 K; Gaston 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, W (3-1);

Raccoons (28-29) vs. Blue Sox (37-22)

Steve Walker was finally well enough to play again and was inserted to third base, which should already go a long way to reduce drag on the slow offense, but of course Hall and Dawson were still out. The Blue Sox were comfortably leading the FL East on the strength of the #1 rotation in the FL. They were giving up just 3.2 R/A overall, which didn’t sound like the Furballs would get a ton of chances to connect against them.

The series opener very much mirrored the last game in Indianapolis with two strong pitchers not willing to yield an inch. The Blue Sox scored one off Ruíz in the third and the Raccoons had to scramble mightily to tie it in the fifth. But the low score masked well that the Raccoons left a runner on third three times in the first six innings, like Sam Dadswell after a leadoff double in the sixth. The Raccoons ran into a tight spot in the seventh against Ruíz and Cunningham, but the latter struck out Jonah Frank with the bases loaded to get out, but Bojórquez hit the only batter he faced to start the eighth and it went rapidly downhill from there with Travis Lange hitting a grand slam off Wally Gaston. Cameron Green made a phenomenal throwing error past Workman the second he found himself in a game again. Raccoons lost, 5-2, leaving runners in scoring position five times. R. Gonzalez 2-5; E. Gonzalez 2-3; Ruíz 6.2 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 K;

Despite Mark Dawson coming off the DL now, the possibility that the series would end up in a sweep was looming big by now.

Ruíz had to leave the game in the seventh with back pains, but would not miss his next start.

Mark Dawson immediately made his presence known with a 2-out RBI single in the bottom 1st to tie the game again, after Carlos Gonzalez had fallen behind on a Mike Grimes home run. Grimes was normally as powerful as six-year old girl, but what do I know about baseball anyway… A myriad of (three) errors by the Blue Sox defense got the Raccoons some key momentum to take a 6-2 lead through four innings. Gonzalez went to two strikes on each of the first three batters in the top 5th – single, single, walk. The lead was cut in half, but Ricardo Gonzalez hit a 2-piece in the bottom 5th, 8-4. While his superb stuff *did* show in the game, striking out seven, his wildness was not something to brag about. He managed to get through six innings just barely. Dawson homered unsurprisingly off former Raccoon Paul Cooper in the sixth before making an early exit in a double switch in order to not tax his ankle too much too soon. Raccoons won, 10-4, with five errors in support of their cause, and one of their own by reliever Carlos Moran with 26 down. Thompson 2-2, 3 BB, 2B, RBI; R. Gonzalez 4-5, HR, 2 RBI; Dadswell 0-5, 3 RBI; Dawson 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Moran 3.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K, SV (1);

Winston Thompson scored five times in this game, which set a new Portland Raccoons record!

Pitching did the deal in game 3, as the Raccoons faced the weak link in the Blue Sox rotation, Justin Marshall. Weak link in this case still meant a 6-3 record on the year. But while Marshall was good in his outing and allowed only two runs in eight frames, Kisho Saito was in ace mode, annihilating the Blue Sox offense. Raccoons won, 2-0, and had five of the nine hits in the game. Saito 7.2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 7 K, W (5-7);

We’re at .500, baby! Next is another division-leading team.

Raccoons (30-30) @ Gold Sox (39-23)

While the Blue Sox had been the #1 pitching team in the FL (yet not the #1 fielding team), the Gold Sox were the #1 hitting team, *easily* scoring more than five runs a game (335 runs in 62 games). The Coons averaged 4.05 R/G.

With Christopher Powell starting the first game, patrons were eager to watch a home run barrage by their team. The first key moment came in the bottom 3rd of a scoreless game with two out and a runner on second. 1B Francisco Lopez, THE biggest threat in the lineup was up, a lefty. This was early, but we nevertheless walked him with the base open. Jimmy Hunter in the #5 spot then flew out harmlessly. Powell pitched 4.2 scoreless innings, before Dale Wales took him deep, and it was already the end of things. In both the seventh and the eighth the Coons had two on with nobody out. The first chance was wasted in spectacular fashion. They scored their runners in the eighth, but that still left them shy. After four relievers pieced together the bottom 8th, they entered trailing the ninth 3-2. Armando Sanchez led off with a single against ace closer Domingo Rivera, but that was it. 3-2 Gold Sox. R. Gonzalez 3-3, BB, 2B; Workman 3-4, RBI; Sanchez 2-4, 2B;

The Raccoons took a 3-0 lead in the first inning of the next game (no wonder, since Logan Evans had always received more support than Chris Powell). Mark Dawson conserved it by throwing out a runner at the plate in the second, coming all the way from left field. Evans was strong through five, but three 2-out RBI hits by the Gold Sox took him apart in the sixth. The Coons still clawed on to a 4-3 lead and Cunningham ended the nightmare sixth. Bottom 8th had a not rested Wally Gaston in (in lack of other options). Dale Wales singled and then Gaston grazed Lopez’ uniform to put two on and nobody out, which soon became three on and one out and switch hitter Shoichi Fujino up. Gaston was able to keep the ball down nicely, bat Fujino zipped a vicious bouncer in the general direction of right center. Winston Thompson made a gold glove play by getting to the ball and shoveled it to Castillo at second base, who drilled it to Workman – inning over. In contrast, West’s bottom 9th was way less nerve-wrecking, a quick 1-2-3 to hold on to the 4-3 win. Workman 2-5, HR, RBI; Dawson 2-4, RBI;

Game 3 was a pitchers’ duel between Vicente Ruíz and Wilson Martinez. The latter struck out a ton of Furballs, while the former kept the ball on the ground for constant fodder to the infielders. Through six, the game was scoreless with only five scattered hits. The Raccoons then managed to load the bags against Martinez with one out in the top 7th and Ruíz up. Lucero was sent to pinch hit. DOUBLE!! The ball hit off the wall and two runs were in. Martinez was shaken, but not defeated and got out of the still precarious situation. The Gold Sox came back in the eighth against David Jones. Jason White worked out of the inning with one out and a runner on second to hold on to a 2-1 lead. A leadoff double by Jimmy Hunter in the ninth put West in a bad position – but he came through, striking out George Mouland on a full count and with Hunter on third to end the game and take the series, 2-1 Raccoons. Workman 2-4, 2B; Dawson 2-4; Lucero (PH) 2-2, 2B, 2 RBI; Ruíz 6.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K, W (5-4);

We’re over .500, baby!!

Next is a 4-set against a cellar dweller. Looks like we’re gonna score less than two runs in that series, giving our track record in the last while or two.

Raccoons (32-31) vs. Crusaders (26-39)

If game 1 would be a sign into what we would be able to expect from Carlos Gonzalez, our 1980 #1 overall pick, in the long run, we would not be off that bad. He gave up a couple of runs on homers, and scattered hits, but was in good control of the game, getting key K’s whenever necessary. The Raccoons also produced offensively, but had to survive a ninth inning scare. Up 5-2, with West unavailable, Cunningham already used, and Gaston not rested (as always seemed to be the case), David Jones was called upon to close the game, but couldn’t. Moran took over a mess and worsened it. 5-3 lead, bases loaded, two out, enter Wally Gaston to pitch to lefty Dan Younger, who had already gone deep in the game. Younger could not make good contact and sent a harmless grounder to Workman. 5-3 Coons. R. Gonzalez 2-5, HR, RBI; Workman 2-3, BB, 2B, RBI; Castillo (PH) 1-1;

With the Canadiens’ record undertaking a necessarily correction at this point in early-to-mid June, down to below .700, the Coons’ latest strong string brought them to below 10 games behind for the first time since – well, basically mid-April. The win in the opener here brought the gap to 9.5 games.

After Carlos Gonzalez the day before, Kisho Saito also singled in a run in the bottom 2nd in his game. Like Gonzalez, he surrendered a long one in the top 3rd. Unlike Gonzalez, Saito’s home run was to Claudio Sanchez, the opposing pitcher for the latter’s second hit of the year. That made it 3-1 Coons and it remained that way for a while. In the top 6th, Sam Richmond barely made contact with a pitch and the ball rolled in front of the plate. Dadswell made a throwing error past Workman, and Alexander Avery, the next batter, dipped a lazy curve right onto the left foul line for a single – nobody out, runners on the corners. Saito then collected himself and bashed his way through the mess without damage. Then Dadswell made ANOTHER throwing error in the seventh! This one put two in scoring position with one out. Now Saito threw a wild pitch to score a run and we were going downhill rather rapidly and the Crusaders tied the game in the inning with Jason White in relief.

A long rain delay in the bottom 7th with two on for the Coons kept things interesting. When play resumed, Ricardo Gonzalez drove in Ralph Crosby for an unearned run – Crosby had reached on a throwing error. At least that run was coming back to us. Everybody in the pen was aching a bit, so that 4-3 lead was nowhere near safe. Cunningham was tasked with the eight and worked around a leadoff single, speedy pinch runner Leonard Barnett and an intentional walk to Dan Younger to keep the lead alive. Thompson drew a bases-loaded walk in the bottom 8th for an extra run. Grant West’s outing was not too great, not throwing a strike to any of the first three batters: walk, double play, triple, but he then struck out Enrique Sanchez to end the game, 5-3 Coons. Thompson 0-1, 4 BB, RBI; R. Gonzalez 3-5, 2 RBI; Walker 2-4, 2B; Saito 6.1 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 8 K and 1-2, RBI;

Winston Thompson tied a Raccoons record for walks in a 9-inning game with four. He joins a 5-way tie there with Ed Sullivan (1977), Daniel Hall (1981 and 1984), Ramon Borjón (1982), and Spencer Dicks (1983), who all achieved the feat once in the respective years. There have been 19 5-walk games in ABL history.

Sam Dadswell got a day off to get himself straightened out and Andy Reed caught Christopher Powell in game 3 (which was the day of the draft). Powell was taken deep in the first by Pedro Villa, then hit in the third by opponent Francisco Vidrio. Eventually, that HBP brought in the tying run, although Powell was forced out at third in the inning, and the run only scored on an error. Powell was then accident free through the sixth and was pinch hit for in the bottom 6th with the bags full and one out. Cam Green singled in a run, but the next two batters struck out to waste the chance to move ahead more clearly. Two full count walks to start the top 8th issued by Jason White looked like Powell’s lead would be blown, but enter BIG WALLY! He got a double play and then a grounder to Walker to end the inning. Then we struggled to find an arm for the ninth! West and Cunningham had been used heavily the last week. Jones was tired and there were righties (2-3-4) up, which also ruled out Bojorquez. This left Carlos Moran, and this scared me. He walked a batter, but closed out the game, 2-1 Coons! R. Gonzalez 2-4; Reed 2-4, 2B; Green (PH) 1-1, RBI; Powell 6.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, W (6-6);

Game 4 and the fans of the home team hoped for a sweep. Well, Logan Evans was awful, to start things. Although the Crusaders got 15 base runners in six innings, they were only able to score two, which says a lot about the Crusaders, but also some about Evans’ day. The latter run scored on a throwing error *by* Evans. Meanwhile, the Raccoons had no hits entering the sixth, and this just didn’t change. Bottom 9th, Crusaders lead 3-0. Still 0 H on the board for the Coons against Carlos Guillen. Ricardo Gonzalez grounded to second. Mark Dawson flew out, which left Matt Workman to get the dubious honor to become the last out in a no-hitter, but he did a smart thing and worked a walk against the aching Guillen to bring up Steve Walker. Another walk. Andy Reed would have come up, but we brought Sam Dadswell to pinch hit. He grounded out.

In other news

June 7 – Las Vegas slugger Tom Simmons (.272, 6 HR, 27 RBI) is out for a month with a sprained ankle.
June 9 – SFW Pat Graham’s hitting streak reaches 25 games.
June 10 – DAL LF Gabriel Cruz (.327, 11 HR, 40 RBI) is sidelined for one to two weeks by an oblique strain.
June 15 – Pat Graham keeps swinging a sweet bat, getting his streak to 30 games already!
June 16 – And it’s already over: Pat Graham is held hitless by the Scorpions and the Warrior’s streak is over at 30 games.

Complaints and stuff

The Raccoons were no-hit for the first time, by a pitcher with a 9-22 career record.

How can you not hate this team, crashing a great rally that way?

This was the first no-hitter since Eric Edmonstone’s just less than a year earlier. The Crusaders are the first team with two no-hitters pitched for them.

Next: rage attack; then: long road trip to Boston, Oklahoma, Atlanta, and Indianapolis.

[Westheim]

1985 AMATEUR DRAFT

As mentioned a month earlier, the Raccoons aren’t in a bad position for the draft, but it’s also certainly not a great one, with only a few perceived top flight future stars standing out to the naked eye. At #10 in the first (and subsequent) round(s), we may not get one of those. If there’s a lot of one thing in the market, then it’s quality infielders, both of the moving-challenged power corner infielders, as of the defensively good and versatile good-contact, low-power type.

I called the following five players the main prizes when the draft pool came out:
- Corner infielder Joe Jackson, 20/13/16 bat
- Pitcher Greg Lynn, 13/17/16 with mediocre stamina, so he may rather be a murder reliever
- Reliever Jose Mendoza, 20/13/7 with a deadly slider
- First baseman Gabriel Ramirez, 19/18/17 bat, can’t field a ball for his life, though
- Outfielder Grady Young, 14/10/11 bat, but very complete all around player with speed, range, and a good eye

I may want to add the following, not quite AAA category, but possibly AA+ players (that’s not their ceiling in minor league baseball, by the way :-P)

- Pitcher Cesar Sanchez, 9/15/11, which may not seem like much, but he had a nice mix of pitches available to him. One question is whether he’s worth his $1.04M bonus demand
- Catcher Horace Simpson, 10/11/13 with great catching abilities
- Infielder Paul Bruce, 12/5/10, with a superb eye (actually two) and defense

The Raccoons pick 10th in every round, plus 9th (of 33) in the supplemental round, and 21st in the fourth round (courtesy of the Condors signing Cisco Banda).

The Washington Capitals picked first overall and selected outfielder Tomas Maguey, who had been given an unsure “Meh” from the Furballs’ head scout Nathan Bruce.

And now let me tell you something: of the eight players I listed up there, during the first nine picks, ONE was taken (Cesar Sanchez by the Rebels, #3)! And this completely threw me off balance – was my shortlist that poorly scouted? I now had complete doubt on my mind. I turned to Nathan Bruce, who suggested Joe Jackson. I know how Charlie Hough was more keen on Ramirez, but Jackson was above-average to mega in *all* categories, including defense. And you know what? We got them both!

1985 PORTLAND RACCOONS DRAFT PICKS

Round 1 (#10) – 1B/3B Joe Jackson, 20, from Columbus, OH – very good overall bat (20/13/16, plus 20 gap and /K’s), high speed, good defense, he has superstar written all over him.
Supp. Round (#33) – 1B Gabriel Ramirez, 21, from Maturin, Venezuela – he has one upside: an enormous power bat, striking fear wherever he carries it. Defense, speed and everything else are easily outclassed by this.
Round 2 (#67) – MR Jose Mendoza, 18, from Santiago, Dom. Rep. – murder slider at his disposal, but he has to learn control; stamina is very low, but he *could* become a setup or closer guy.
Round 3 (#91) – LF/RF/1B Antonio Morín, 18, from Bayamon, Puerto Rico – bats for high average and strikes out only once a fortnight, plus speed and range are good, but he has no power to speak off.
Round 4 (#115) – 1B/2B Dennis Gray, 21, from Holland, MS – very solid allrounder, but he’s not really great in any category, and has little power.
Round 4 (#126) – CL Gerald Hickman, 21, from Powell, OH – lefty with a shot at being a 7th/8th inning guy, but this depends on whether he can get his changeup into a truly great pitch.
Round 5 (#139) – 3B/2B Bartolo Ayala, 21, from San Pedro de Macoris, Dom. Rep. – solid guy, but no standout features.
Round 6 (#163) – MR Mike Shaw, 22, from Tempe, AZ – has a good curveball, but overall even for a lefty that will not be enough to get close to the majors.
Round 7 (#187) – RF/LF Ramiro Crespo, 21, from Santiago, Dom. Rep. – good contact bat for high average, but no power and unconvincing defense
Round 8 (#211) – 1B/LF/3B/2B Pedro Cardenas, 22, from San Luis Potosi, Mexico – plays a total of six positions, and can bat for a good average, but overall has very little potential to reach the majors.
Round 9 (#235) – MR Ted Montgomery, 21, from Framingham, MS – stuff is okay, but that’s it.
Round 10 (#259) – MR Tak-keung Tsang, 21, from Toronto, Canada – stuff is okay, but that’s it.

Joe Jackson was the only player assigned to the AA level. A few slackers dwelling in AA and A for the last few years were released.

[Charlie Hough]

I'll be damned. You certainly got quite a haul, but I would share in your skepticism (paranoia). It should be interesting to see how these players pan out.

[Westheim]

It does really seem to be rich draft class for the Raccoons. When looking at the pool as a whole, I was rather unconvinced at first, but we either got some of the few cherries or we totally missed here, since a number of the top 9 picks had not even been on our radar.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (35-32) @ Titans (38-32)

The Furballs’ record against the Titans so far this year: 0-6. I see room for improvement here.

At least they made good progress towards ending the drought. First Winston Thompson had a leadoff single to snap a 9+ innings hitless streak. (sour look) In the third, the Coons put up a 3-spot, all with two out, including a 2-run triple by Steve Walker. Vicente Ruíz was not too good on the mound and occasionally had trouble finding the strike zone, but walked only one batter. Bob Arnold homered off him in the fourth, but Mark Dawson hit a 3-bomb in the seventh to more than counter that. Then Miguel Bojorquez put the first three batters on in the bottom 8th. This set the stage for a spectacular collapse of the pen, where Cunningham and Gaston walked in a total of four runs, and Hjalmar Flygt drove in two more. Raccoons lost, 7-6. Thompson 2-5; Lucero 2-3, 2 BB; Dawson 2-5, HR, 4 RBI; Walker 2-5, 3B, 2 RBI;

Miguel Bojorquez was waived and designated for assignment after the game. For some other players a special treatment was scheduled. Justin Neubauer was called up again from AAA. Bojorquez was claimed by the Blue Sox eventually.

Well, that put a giant scratch into the Raccoons’ newfound confidence, losing back-to-back games for the first time this month. And HOW they lost them! Whoah!

Carlos Gonzalez’ performance in game 2 was also - … let’s say questionable. Basically he was defeated by opposing pitcher Jose Garza alone, who hit two doubles off him, first to lead off the third, then for two runs in the fourth. The Titans fans had a party in the stands, but Garza ran into his own issues in the top 6th, loading the bags with nobody out. Dawson scored one run on a grounder, but Dadswell was out at second, before Garza’s 1-0 pitch to Steve Walker was wild and another run was in. Walker singled to right, runners on the corners with one out, but Green struck out and Sanchez also made a poor out. Why, the bloody hell …! Gonzalez was gone already in the top 7th, when Barry Miller blew a potential double play. Instead the Coons had two in scoring position and nobody out. Ricardo Gonzalez clutched to single just past the shortstop Manny Mora for the tying run in. The Coons scored four more in the inning for a 7-3 lead, leading up to the next bullpen breakdown, three runs off White and Neubauer in the bottom 7th. David Jones coughed up the tying run in the eighth. The Coons still stumbled out victors, thanks to a 2-out homer by Sam Dadswell in the 11th. 8-7 Coons. Thompson 2-6; Workman 3-6, 2B; Dadswell 3-5, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Walker 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Carlos Moran earned the win in this game, with West saving #18.

I … I … I just can’t. That’s two bullpen crashes in two days. It’s not like I don’t rely on my pen, and they were not necessarily within the definition of “good”. Most shocking may still have been Cunningham and Gaston walking in four runs in the first game. Gaston cleaned up mess left behind in the seventh here, but Cunningham still has to get an out in this series.

Kisho Saito faced his predecessor as Japanese-born top of the rotation for the Coons, Kinji Kan, who was 2-7 with a 4.29 ERA. We might have done good to get rid of him last year. The question was whether we should also get rid of Saito, who surrendered three home runs in the game en route to a 4-2 loss. Once behind after the fourth, the Raccoons never threatened again.

The Raccoons lost Winston Thompson to hamstring tendinitis. Our leadoff man (.415 OBP) will be out until at least the All Star break. So, Thompson went to the DL, and we needed some replacement. 1B Billy Mitchell was putting up the best numbers at AAA, but we already an exclusive 1B in Matt Workman, and I needed somebody capable of playing second base. So we picked 1B/2B Darren Campbell. He was our 1980 round 4 draft pick and a high average switch hitter, .317 in AAA. He was already 27, and this might be his one and only chance to stick.

This required some lineup juggling, too, since Ricardo Gonzalez was now put into the leadoff spot. Steve Walker moved from #6 to #2. Workman, Dadswell, and Dawson (who was in a slump once again) followed. Campbell was thrown right into the mix at second base.

Raccoons (36-34) @ Thunder (33-39)

The Thunder were on a 10-game losing streak. That sounds like a challenge for this Portland team to get swept.

Christopher Powell had six left-handed batters thrown at him by the Thunder in game 1, a situation that was not especially to anybody’s liking with our team. Eventually, Powell didn’t figure in the decision. The Raccoons were leading 4-1 in the fourth, when he left the game with a throbbing back. Those oldies, huh? Anyway, Moran and Jones pitched well in relief of Powell and held the Thunder at bay for a 5-1 win. Walker 2-5; Dadswell 2-4, 2B, RBI; Dawson 3-4, HR, 2 2B, 4 RBI; Lucero 2-4; Moran 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K, W (2-0); Jones 3.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K, SV (1); Campbell went 0-2 with two walks in his debut

Ricardo Gonzalez put the Raccoons on top in the third with a 2-run oomph for the middle game. Logan Evans was on the mound, something like our ace this season, but his control was off again. It was not entirely bad, walking two through six innings, but he was largely unable to get into good pitcher’s counts. With the Coons up 3-1 in the bottom 7th, he issued a leadoff walk to pitcher Wilson Cordova, prompting an emergency meeting on the mound. He said, he had his stuff together, he was allowed to go after one more batter. Dave Browne grounded to Campbell for a double play against the slow Cordova. Evans ended up going eight and West struck out the side in the ninth, but not without walking two. R. Gonzalez 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Workman 2-3, BB, HR, RBI; Dawson 3-4, RBI; Sanchez (PH) 1-1; Green (PH) 1-1; Evans 8.0 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 1 K, W (8-2);

Vicente Ruíz also was dominating in game 3, allowing one run in seven innings, which was a cascade of a scratch hit, unopposed steal, and another scratch hit, all with two out in the bottom 3rd. The Coons scored constantly to lead 8-1 when the pen took over. Justin Neubauer proved once again unable to get through a few lefty batters. Wally to the rescue – he cleaned up the mess and also completed the ninth. 8-1 Coons the final score. Workman 3-5; Dawson 2-4; Sanchez (PH) 1-1, 2B, 2 RBI; E. Gonzalez 1-3, BB, 3 RBI; Ruíz 7.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, W (6-4);

I must say, I like this kind of sweep much better than the one I was fearing to experience. Oklahoma City winless through 13. Now off to our next opponents, the Knights, who sat atop the CL South.

Raccoons (39-34) @ Knights (44-31)

I had a bad feeling going into this series, since our recently quite strong pitching was going to face a beast of an offense. The top 3 RBI sluggers in the CL were all Knights. Overall, they ranked first in all offensive categories except AVG (2nd), HR (2nd), K (4th), and SB (12th!!). Going back to June 4 (three weeks), the Raccoons hurlers had allowed no more than five runs in a game, except the two 7-run games against Boston with the bullpen crashing big both times. Unfortunately they also had only five games where they had scored more than five…

It had to start with Carlos Gonzalez. But it didn’t. He was awful, with bad control and hit Ralph Nixon *twice*. He effortlessly blew a 2-0 lead given to him by Edgardo Gonzalez with a 2-run double, and the Raccoons never managed to rally against oldie Kyle Owens. The defense bailed out Gonzalez more than once and the Raccoons only trailed 3-2 going into the late innings. In the ninth, Workman grounded out and Crosby also made a poor out, bringing up Mark Dawson, who drilled a 1-2 pitch into the stands – game tied. Cunningham forced extra innings, where Michael Root in the bottom 10th missed a walk off home run – by not too much. Gaston relieved Cunningham in the 12th. Lucero was thrown out to start the 13th when he tried to stretch a double, which was one piece to lose the game in the inning. The Knights put runners on the corners with nobody out in the 13th, and while Gaston retired the next batter, a passed ball to Andy Reed scored Michael Root from third and it was over. 4-3 Knights. Dawson 2-5, HR, RBI;

Steve Walker had left game 1 early with a bruised finger, but was okay to play the next day.

The next day also saw the Raccoons whiff nine times against Xavier Mayes, which pretty much thwarted any attempts to score big. If they got two on, like in the seventh, Cameron Green found ways to ground into double plays. Ricardo Gonzalez hit a long one and Mark Dawson scored on a balk in the seventh to tie at 2-2, but Saito surrendered another run in the bottom 8th after a leadoff walk to Jeremiah Carrell. Mark Dawson came up again in the ninth, with one out and Workman on second. He didn’t get him in, flying out to center, but Dadswell doubled into the gap – again the Coons tied the game down to their final out. Extra innings again. Both teams left runners on third in the 10th, and the Raccoons lost again in the 13th, again 4-3, this time against Moran. They had five total hits in the game. West 2.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

With Chris Powell facing the Atlanta drillers and ace Carlos Asquabal, the sweep was on the horizon. The Raccoons got one run in the second, but Steve Wall homered off Powell in the bottom of the inning. That 1-1 tie persisted for some time, although the Knights constantly had traffic on the bases. They left two on in almost every inning through six, after which Powell left to be pinch hit for – to no effect. The Knights scored in the bottom 7th on a passed ball by Dadswell. That’s where I raged. Dadswell redeemed himself, though, by driving in Workman in the top 8th to tie the game again, but the Knights scored one off Cunningham in the bottom 8th to win the game, 3-2. Walker 2-4; Workman 2-4, 2B;

Ricardo Gonzalez was hurt on a play in the eighth inning. This one didn’t look good from the beginning – and he was diagnosed with a bad elbow sprain and was out for at least a month, removing one of the best bats from the lineup.

This conincided with Daniel Hall’s return from the DL. Normally, Dawson would have moved to third, removing one of the undesirable bats from the infield we always had to play, but with Gonzalez on the DL now, Dawson just moved back to right and Hall retook his throne in left. Hopefully he had a good bat with him. This also removed the last decent leadoff batter (after Thompson was already out). Steve Walker (.344 OBP) moved to the #1 slot.

Six games against Atlanta, all lost, four by one run, and none with more than five runs against. Oh, come on!!

Raccoons (39-37) @ Indians (35-43)

Four games in Indy to finish this so-so road trip.

Logan Evans did not survive the fifth inning of the opener, being rapped for five runs by the Indians. Meanwhile, Alex Miranda pitched a complete game for the Indians. With the exception of Matt Workman, no Raccoon managed to really hurt him. Workman 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Dawson 2-4;

Vicente Ruíz no-hit the Indians through four, backed by Daniel Hall’s solo homer in the first inning, but Esteban Hernandez (one of those chronic coon skinners) solo bombed to start the fifth and tied the game. Hall was driven in by Green in the sixth for a new lead, but it got away again from Ruíz in the seventh. The Indians tied the game, and without a sprawling catch by Steve Walker with two out and the bags full, they would have taken a 2-run lead. The Coons scrambled for one run in the ninth and sent out Grant West. He hit the first batter and the Indians loaded them up with nobody out. I buried my face in my hands to prepare for a very manly cry there. The Indians tied the game, but didn’t win it, and during my still not so manly cry the team narrowly avoided the loss in the 10th, before Workman socked a long one in the 12th. With only White and Moran available, Cunningham was sent out for his third inning. He aced through the Indians, 4-3 Raccoons. Walker 2-5, BB, 2B; Workman 2-6, HR, RBI; Dawson 2-6, 2B; Green 2-5, BB, 2B, RBI; Crosby (PH) 1-1, 2B; Cunningham 3.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, W (4-3);

Here, we were still in what-the-heck mode after that frustrating losing string. Darren Campbell had gone 2-21 and that was enough for now. We called up Orlando Lantán, that 1981 first round pick that was a giant failure, since a) there was room on the 40-man roster, b) Thompson was still a week away from returning, c) he can’t possibly bat worse than Eddie Gonzalez and Victor Castillo. Oh, wait, Campbell could, too.

Who’s Lantán? Hailing from the Dominican he was selected by the Raccoons fourth overall in the 1981 Amateur draft, rated 17/7/13 by then-head scout Jeffrey Anderson. That rating cost Anderson’s head within a year, since Lantán was rated down that quickly. Within three weeks after being drafted, he forked up his knee and spent almost a year recovering. Since then, knee problems have been his constant companion. He never batted more than .268 at any level in a season with at least 100 AB, which was at the A level in ’82. He was a doubles and home run threat in AA, but overall his batting average hampered him. I don’t expect anything out of this call-up, but we still inserted him at third for at least the next game of this series (since Cam Green was constantly scratching on my nerves).

Even without Green, the nerve-scratching continued in game 3, in the form of Carlos Gonzalez. He managed to walk five in the first two innings. That was Logan Evans, in his worst years, multiplied by two. With the bags loaded in the third, Hall struck out and Dawson lined out to end the inning. I was foaming heavily from the mouth very early in that game. The Raccoons ended up being 5-hit, and lost 3-1. Gonzalez didn’t walk anybody past the second inning. Must have seen the foam dripping from my mouth. Lantán collected a single in his fourth at-bat in the ninth.

Game 4 was offense-poor, with Kisho Saito and Jesse Carver battling to a 1-1 draw through seven, after which both left. Mark Dawson’s solo shot in the ninth made the difference as this time Grant West converted for #20. 2-1 Coons. Green 2-4, HR, 2B, RBI; Saito 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 3 K;

This ends a 17-11 month of June for the Coons, although the trend is pointing clearly downward here.

In other news

June 18 – Denver hurler Terry Worley (8-2, 3.14 ERA) is out for the season with shoulder inflammation.
June 18 – Season over as well for Pittsburgh’s outfielder Xiao-wei Li (.295, 1 HR, 25 RBI) with a torn back muscle.
June 19 – The Warriors’ Alex White (.280, 1 HR, 27 RBI) will miss three weeks with a strained hamstring.
June 22 – Nashville loses pitcher Salvador Fierro (7-3, 2.85 ERA) for the season due to shoulder inflammation.
June 25 – LAP OF Yoshinobu Ishizaki (.344, 2 HR, 33 RBI) has a 20-game hitting streak going after two hits against the Rebels.
June 26 – Ishizaki’s streak is already over, after an 0-3 performance in the next game against the Rebels.
June 29 – Denver’s SP Jorge Valdes (10-2, 2.78 ERA) dominates the Warriors in a 2-hitter, as the Gold Sox win 9-0.

Complaints and stuff

Mark Dawson’s ninth inning game-winner the last day in Indy tied him for the CL lead with only 11 big ones. In the FL, Gabriel Cruz and Jerome Ramsey, both with Dallas, tie with 12. Power seems to have completely eluded this league.

Christopher Powell’s days are clearly over. Although he’s 3-1 over his last seven starts and dropped his ERA by a full point over the span, he’s not gone past the seventh inning in any of his starts this season. He’s getting worked up too much. It’s just enough to stay in the game right now, but next year could become brutal on him. Sad to see a longtime Coon City hero demise that way. :-(

Daniel Hall’s performance since his return is of utmost concern. He had a grand total of one hit (the home run mentioned) and apart from that reached base only once on an error. He struck out – a lot. He’s swinging at everything and doesn’t hit a lot. Please no, Danny, please, don’t swing at pitches coming at your groin – uhm …

Lefty reliever Burton Taylor was released in mid-June, posting a 15.34 ERA in AAA ball.

I worked on a deal to ship out 3B Cameron Green these weeks. He’s rated with five stars, but doesn’t even perform for two. His defense is a trainwreck and while he has some power, he strikes out in raw amounts this season. I worked on a deal with the Miners for Dimian Barrios, a veteran infielder once with the Titans, but eventually the deal didn’t come together, since they weren’t going to include outfield prospect Bob Mayes in the deal. For himself, Barrios has little worth; he can play most infield positions (but 1B) well, but has not batted over .260 in a few years. He was batting in the .240 range at the time of talks, but we all know that additions to the Coons roster routinely drop 50 points from their batting average.

The night of June 30 to July 1, we began trade talks with another CL North team for a slugger, but this has to stay secret at the moment.

While Raccoons Ballpark *is* a pitcher’s park, that alone can’t properly describe that effect… it’s the fact that this world, this laptop, and this game … are hating me.

Next: four at home against the Canadiens, then three in Milwaukee, then All Star game. We will start with four in Vancouver, so the next update will in all likelihood find the Coons safely below .500 ...

(sobs)

[Westheim]

I had a tremendously bad feeling about the upcoming two weeks with eight games against Vancouver. It just can not end well…

Raccoons (41-39) vs. Canadiens (55-26)

Christopher Powell was overmatched in the first game, surrendering two home runs to get 4-2 behind, a deficit the Raccoons never were able to even challenge. They lost 6-3, with Daniel Hall striking out four times. Walker 3-4, BB; Workman 2-5; Dawson 3-4, BB, HR, 2B, 3 RBI;

The game 2 lineup conceded defeat right away, with Dawson and Walker getting a day off, and only four players batting .220+, including Hall, who was stunning everybody with his un-performance. Logan Evans started the game by facing Raúl Herrera. Home run, 1-0 Canadiens. Better bury all hope now. Yet, the bottom 4th: with two out, Cameron Green doubled over the shortstop and was driven in by Victor Castillo (yes, he can – apparently – hit as well) with a double to the left corner. Ralph Crosby walked and Orlando Lantán drove in Castillo with a Texas Leaguer to right. Bottom 7th. Lantán reached on an error, but the next two batters grounded into fielder’s choices, which brought up Hall, with 2 K and robbed of a double by a great catch by Seitaro Ogawa on the day. HOME RUN TO RIGHT!! That made it 4-1 Coons, and they added two more in the eighth for a 6-1 win behind Evans. Hall 2-5, HR, 2 RBI; Green 2-4, 2B; Evans 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, W (9-3);

Zeros lined up quickly in game 3 between Vicente Ruíz and Bill Smith, until the latter was taken deep by Rodrigo Lucero in the fifth. Ruíz then felt inspired to collapse instantly, with a leadoff walk and then an error on a play in the infield. The Canadiens took a 2-1 lead. Lucero’s homer was the only offense the team managed to put up and Ruíz took the 3-1 loss, although only one of the runs was earned (after his own error). Walker 2-4;

Carlos Gonzalez was up in the last game of the series, making the prospect of reaching a split rather dim. Workman sacrificed in a run in the bottom 1st for a lead, which was quickly smothered by Gonzalez with a dismal second inning, where the Canadiens went up 2-1. In the fifth he managed to load the bags again, but struck out feared slugger Tetsu Osanai with no damage done to end the inning. In the sixth, Andy Reed made two errors in one inning for an unearned run. The Furballs were held down and lost 5-1. Walker 3-4, BB; Hall 2-4;

Interlude: blockbuster trade

The deal had been agreed on by late night on July 2, but was not officially announced and completed until the evening of July 4, after the completion of the Canadiens-Raccoons series.

The Raccoons will send 30-yr old 1B Matt Workman (.279, 7 HR, 30 RBI), accompanied by outfield prospects Gustavo Rodriguez, 17, and Carlos Quintela, 18, both international discoveries out of Mexico by Nathan Bruce, to Vancouver.

In return the Raccoons get 1B Tetsu “Cannibal” Osanai (.372, 10 HR, 47 RBI) in 75 games. An international discovery from Japan, Osanai has already left his mark at age 26. A regular since the 1983 season, he has a lifetime .329 / .387 / .498 line with 51 homers. In total, he has hit around 60 XBH in a full season, and is expected to still improve a bit in the future. He will be arbitration eligible for two more seasons.

The management and scouting staff of the Raccoons largely agree on the fact that neither of the two youngsters should have any large impact in their career. Rodriguez is a mediocre fielder with a small bat, while Quintela is a terrible fielder with a mediocre bat. So, really this is a deal Workman for Osanai, and should propel the Coons ahead.

I expect Questdog to be happy now. =)

Raccoons (42-42) @ Loggers (46-40)

Tetsu Osanai appeared in his first game for the Raccoons to start the series in Milwaukee, whose team, although totally bereft of stars in the offseason, continued to battle for second in the division.

And Osanai made himself quite popular with Coons fans right away, drilling a 3-piece in the fifth inning that broke a scoreless tie in which the Raccoons had threatened two times already, but Cam Green had been thrown out at the plate once, and they had left two on another time. The Loggers responded by putting three on with nobody out in the bottom 5th, but pitcher Judd Montgomery lined into a double play and helped Kisho Saito to get out of the inning. Saito tried to pitch a shutout, but it went away in the eighth after a multitude of errors by either him or Dadswell behind the plate. Two runs came in, but the team held on to a 5-2 win. Dadswell 2-4, BB; Green 2-5, 2B; Saito 7.2 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 9 K, W (6-8) and 3-4, 2 RBI; Saito’s nine strikeouts were one short of the Coons’ team record.

Game 2 saw the Raccoons gain a 2-0 lead through four, but a throwing error by Dadswell broke Powell’s so far good run into pieces and the Loggers tied the game. Powell hit pitcher John Douglas to lead off the bottom 5th, and Douglas was bummed again, when Sanchez threw to Dadswell, who violently tagged Douglas out at the plate to end the inning. Powell left with a no-decision and the game went into overtime, as the Raccoons were unable to get on base in the second half of the game. The Loggers walked off in the 11th, after Cunningham had made a failed grab to get a runner on base. Neubauer and Gaston then surrendered hits. 3-2 Loggers.

Logan Evans and Vicente Ruíz were both nominated for the Continental League team at the All Star game, and both would have been up as the next two starters. Carlos Gonzalez was obviously not ready, so we gave the start to Carlos Moran.

Moran held the opposition at bay and the game was scoreless through four. Lantán got on in the top 5th and Moran bunted. Pitcher Neil Stewart threw the ball past John Howard at first and the Coons had two on with one out. Steve Walker sacrificed in Lantán, but Hall flew out to left to end the inning up 1-0. An error by Moran then loaded the bags in the sixth with nobody out – without having surrendered a hit so far! He walked Eddie Harris on four pitches and was yanked with a no-hitter intact. Wally Gaston was not able to clean up that capital mess left behind and the Loggers led 3-1. The Furballs were weak and couldn’t get their bats up, being held to three hits so far. Daniel Hall only reached on an error in the eighth. Dawson lobbed a weak flyer into right to put runners on the corners with one out. Green pinch hit for Gaston and sacrificed in a run (although Hall barely beat the throw). Lucero doubled to right, but this brought up Lantán. And then the umpires called a balk on Stewart, and Dawson moonwalked in from third to tie the game, 3-3. Lantán left Lucero on third with a poor out. Victor Castillo, who wasn’t good for much this season, drew a walk to start the ninth. Andy Reed was up, having replaced Dadswell in a double switch. He doubled to left on a hit-and-run and Castillo scored easily. Walker tripled for another run. Hall was walked intentionally to get to Osanai, which seemed more than just strange. Osanai grounded, but Jose Delgado missed the pickup, and Walker scored. 6-3, still nobody out, but the outs came quickly now. Dawson sacrificed Hall in, 7-3, then Crosby and Lucero quickly made outs. The bottom 9th went quickly, and the Raccoons won 7-3. Walker 3-4, 3B, 2B, 2 RBI; Reed (PH) 1-2, 2B, RBI;

At 44-43, the Raccoons barely stayed above .500 at the break. They are 338-300 in runs scored/against, setting marks of 3.89 R/G and 3.45 R/A respectively. So the pitching was (most of the time) really good, but the offense failed to keep pace. The offense was 9th in the league, the defense 3rd.

Winston Thompson was activated FINALLY from the DL after this series, giving us back a true leadoff hitter, which Steve Walker, for all the reasons I liked him, for being a pretty complete player, was not. Edgardo Gonzalez was sent to AAA, after he waived his 10/5 rights. This meant we retained Orlando Lantán for the moment, who at least batted .200, and thus 40 points more than Eddie Gonzalez.

All Star Game

The Coons sent four players to the contest, SP Logan Evans, SP Vicente Ruíz, CL Grant West, and 1B Tetsu Osanai. Well, can you really count the latter, being a Raccoon for three days? The Canadiens, Knights, and Falcons also sent four players, while the Condors had six! The Gold Sox lead the FL with five players. NAS SP Jack Pennington and ATL INF Ralph Nixon were the only former Coons invited.

The Continental League lost 4-0, with the Coons playing rather infamous roles. Logan Evans was selected as the starter and pitched two clean innings. Tetsu Osanai was also a starter, but went 0-3. Grant West was beaten in the third inning with a 3-run homer by Sioux Falls’ Rafael Lopez and took the loss. Ruíz did not play.

We reworked our rotation to have Kisho Saito on top for the second half, with Ruíz and Evans next. Powell and Gonzalez were #4 and #5.

Raccoons (44-43) @ Canadiens (60-28)

The first game after the break was more than just lop-sided. The Raccoons didn’t get the ball out of the infield, while Kisho Saito was shelled for 11 hits and five runs in 5.1 innings. Raccoons lost 6-0, on just five hits. Thompson 2-4, BB; Castillo (PH) 1-1;

The misery continued in the next game. Early on, the Raccoons couldn’t get the ball out of the infield and onto the grass beyond again, while Ruíz gave up four runs through five. They left two on in one inning and the bases loaded in both the seventh and the eighth, mostly with walks and a ball to Steve Walker’s thigh. Thompson and Osanai came on in the ninth, down 4-1. Mark Dawson whammed a 2-2 pitch by Cipriano Silva into the stands in left to tie the game. White and Jones held the Canadiens at by in the ninth. Andy Reed pinch hit for Jones in the 10th with a leadoff single – but strolled a base too far and was thrown out. Lantán came up. HOME RUN!! He took Will Shelton deep into left (four seats to the right of where Dawson’s shot had ended up) for his first big league home run. Grant West converted in his first appearance after taking the L in the All Star game. 5-4 Coons. Osanai 3-5, 2B; Dawson 2-5, HR, 3 RBI; Hall 2-5; Green 2-3, BB, 2B, RBI; Sanchez 1-2, BB; Lantán (PH) 1-1, BB, HR, RBI;

Although the Furballs still didn’t hit for a lot, they made the most out of two early Vancouver errors in game 3, which together with a big 2-run triple by Thompson and a 2-piece by Dawson gave them a 5-0 lead through five. Logan Evans was in cruise control and going for a shutout, but stuttered in the seventh. Raúl Herrera singled to start the inning, stole second, and advanced on another single by Gabriel Torres. Evans struck out Bryan Stephenson on a full count and Dadswell nailed Torres trying to steal second, before Evans also K’ed Seitaro Ogawa to get out of it in style. Evans finally ran out of steam in the ninth. The pen got some bloddy noses and allowed both runners left by Evans to score, but the Raccoons held on to a 10-2 win. Thompson 2-6, 3B, 2 RBI; Walker 2-5, BB, 2B; Osanai 2-5, BB, 2B, RBI; Dawson 2-4, BB, HR, 4 RBI; Green 2-3, 2 BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Sanchez 2-4, 2B, RBI; Evans 8.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, W (10-3);

Christopher Powell allowed three hits in six innings, unfortunately including a home run to Seitaro Ogawa. The Raccoons didn’t set a foot on third until the top 7th, then with two out and Powell to bat, so Lucero came out to pinch hit. A 1-2 pitch from Will Shelton was high and tight, and while Lucero successfully bailed outta there, Mark Hilliard couldn’t catch it. Daniel Hall scored on the wild one to get Powell off the hook. Lucero then lobbed the next pitch to center for an easy ou- NO, HE DROPPED IT!! Ramon Gonzalez blew the play and Lucero instead brought in the go-ahead run in Sam Dadswell. Wally Gaston came within two strikes of an immaculate inning in the bottom 7th, but Melvin Greene laid off two close pitches for balls. Gaston still struck out the side, before Dadswell cost Powell the W in the eighth with an uncaught third strike that prolonged the inning and brought a runner to third, from where he then scored on the next out. Dadswell also failed to even make a throw on a base-stealing attempt in the bottom 9th, where the Canadiens walked off, 3-2. Powell 6.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3 K;

In other news

July 3 – Rebels 1B Ramón Diaz (.322, 2 HR, 31 RBI) has a bruised kneecap and will be out for up to three months, which would mean the whole rest of the season.
July 4 – Brady Boyd (8-6, 3.40 ERA) tosses a 2-hitter as the last-place Capitals romp over the first-place Blue Sox, 9-0.
July 6 – Salem’s Carlos Lopez (9-6, 3.78 ERA) dominates the Warriors in a 2-hit shutout, taking a 3-0 win.
July 8 – The Condors lose Cisco Banda (.272, 4 HR, 26 RBI) for the season due to a ruptured finger tendon.
July 11 – Young shooting star Dale Wales (.328, 6 HR, 70 RBI) of the Gold Sox has suffered a partially torn labrum and is out for the season.
July 13 – Salem’s Jorge Padilla (.272, 0 HR, 17 RBI) knocks two hits in a 4-3 win over L.A. to bring a hitting streak to 20 games.
July 14 – LAP SP Greg Cain (10-6, 3.05 ERA) 2-hits the Wolves in a 1-0 win. One of those two hits was to Jorge Padilla, who thus extended his streak to 21 games.
July 14 – Another 2-hitter is pitched in the FL East, as Craig Hansen (13-6, 2.52 ERA) zeros in on the Rebels. The Miners win 6-0.

Complaints and stuff

In a week shortened by the All Star game and only consisting of the last Vancouver series, Mark Dawson was the CL Player of the Week, going 5-13 with 2 HR and 8 RBI! Be happy now!

Sad story of the day: the Canadiens demoted Mark Workman, who hit .276 with 54 HR and 278 RBI in 595 games for the Raccoons, and had started 404 consecutive games for them, to AAA. :-( I feel bad for the poor sucker. :-(

More on that deal: the original proposal to ship out Tetsu Osanai actually came from the Canadiens. They wanted Daniel Hall, Richard Cunningham, and that prospect Rodriguez in the deal. That latter milk face is the only one they got, since I instantly balked at the notion of sending out not only *either* Hall *or* Cunningham, but *both*. When adding Osanai, who can only play first base, we make Workman redundant, so we added him to the deal, and quickly removed Hall and Cunningham. They still asked for one of those two, or Logan Evans, or Grant West. I then proposed Quintela, and two days later got a thumbs up.

It’s not my 100% happy solution to the low-offense issue, since Workman still was contributing nicely and led the Coons in AVG apart from those on the DL. Defensively, we certainly didn’t make an upgrade. Offensively, I want to hope that Osanai becomes the first Furball to hit .300 over a season. Either that, or TERRIBLE THINGS WILL HAPPEN. (fumes)

David Jones signed a 1-yr, $109k extension. He still is arbitration eligible after that.

Huge concerns are also there about Sam Dadswell, who’s not hit anything for a month and whose defense is hair-raising. He’s close to getting benched for incompetent Andy Reed, who at least doesn’t throw balls away all the time. Dadswell has 9 errors and 12 passed balls against him, a -8.1 ZR and a .878 EFF. Hell, *I* could catch for a -8.1 ZR myself!

Next: home stand against Boston, Charlotte, San Francisco, and Las Vegas. We will end the month in Oklahoma City.

[Questdog]

I was born in Japan (son of a serviceman), so Tetsu is my new favorite Raccoon!

Good riddance to Workman (who will probably win the Triple Crown next year).

But seriously, how in the heck did the AI make this trade? You have the difficulty set to Donald Grant mode?.....

[Westheim]

You may or may not have noticed a bunch of Japanese pitchers coming through the door (and right back out) the last few years.

The AI trading difficulty is set to average and the preference to neutral. Think of standard values, since I've never seen that screen before.

Obviously they see something in those two prospects that we do not, since it was not Workman they really wanted, they wanted those two. Workman was demoted to AAA almost instantly, where he is batting .342 with four homers in nine games. OPS of 1.090

Something prompted me to make similar trades before... although I can't come up with similarly lop-sided trades where the Raccoons grabbed garbage. A few years ago, I shipped in that hot pitching prospect Francisco Trujillo, but I can't remember for whom. That slacker has since busted big time.

And there's Orlando Lantán, who was supposed to be The Answer. He's not likely to stick at the majors for much longer.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (46-45) vs. Titans (48-46)

We are a shocking 1-8 against the Titans this season, the reasons for which elude me completely. They were 3rd in runs scored and 8th in runs allowed so far (opposite to the Coons 9th/2nd respectively). It was not even bad luck, only two games had been lost by single runs. But surely this would come around soon, right?

Boston stormed right out of the gate with a 2-run home run by Isto Grönholm off Carlos Gonzalez. Here we go. But Gonzalez settled in after the early blow, the Coons crawled back in as a whole, tying it in the bottom 1st and when Tetsu Osanai homered to center in the fifth, they led 5-2. Two insurance runs added in the eighth proved absolutely necessary, since Moran and West each surrendered a homer in the top 9th and the Coons only barely tumbled over the finish line for a 7-5 win. Thompson 2-5; Osanai 3-5, HR, 4 RBI; Dadswell (PH) 1-1, RBI;

In game 2 it was Hjalmar Flygt to 2-bomb Kisho Saito in the first and the Titans added another run for good measure. Titans starter Eric McCullough left early, but that didn’t help the Raccoons a bit. They left the bases loaded twice, with different catchers making the final outs, and left two on in the ninth, when Steve Walker grounded out. 4-0 Titans. Thompson 2-5; Dawson 2-4; this gave Kisho Saito his 10th loss of the season despite a 2.99 ERA;

Armando Sanchez bobbled and dropped the very first ball into play in the rubber game for a Flygt triple (what really should have been an error) to keep hopes low from the start. Vicente Ruíz managed to get two outs, keeping Flygt where he was, but then the annoying pest named Isto Grönholm singled just past Steve Walker to get the run in. Top 5th: Flygt (another pest) walked to lead off the inning and things began to look bleak again in a 2-2 tie. Daniel Hall then turned a double play on a flyer to shallow left with Flygt running – Hall caught it and nailed Flygt at first. Hall then went on to drive in the go-ahead run in the bottom 5th, but Ruíz surrendered the second of two home runs to Zahid Mashwanis in the top 6th to get behind. In the bottom 6th, Castillo (PH for Ruíz), Thompson, and Walker had three straight singles with one out to load the bags and we go to the radio broadcast with R.A. Koontz:

The 2-2 pitch – misses, and the count is full to Osanai. Castillo is on third, Thompson on second, Walker on first, all good runners, and a full count to Tetsu Osanai with one out.

3-2 pitch to Osanai. BELTED!! Mashwanis runs after it, but he’s NEVER GONNA GET THAT ONE, OUT AND AWAY!!! Tetsu Osanai … puts the Coons atop!!

That was the end of scoring already in the game, although both teams put a few in scoring position in the late innings. Raccoons prevailed, 7-4, to finally take a series from the Titans this season (and also pass them for third place). Thompson 2-4, 2B, RBI; Walker 2-4; Osanai 3-4, BB, HR, 4 RBI; Hall 2-5, 2B, RBI; Dadswell 3-4, 2 2B; Castillo (PH) 1-2;

Isto Grönholm ran a hitting streak to 20 games by punishing Raccoons pitching in this series. The same day, Jorge Padilla’s streak ended.

Raccoons (48-46) vs. Falcons (52-42)

Carried by a stud rotation and some big guns like Gilberto Dougan, Irwin Webster, and Teo Colón, the Falcons were a tough team to beat. The Coons had failed to do so so far this season, being swept in the only encounter with the Charlotte team.

The first thing coming at us was Juan Correa, the “Mauler”, who was only 8-7 on the season, but with a stellar 2.26 ERA, a slice below Logan Evans’ 2.31. The anticipated pitchers’ duel never came to be, as both were socked for three runs early. The Coons led 4-3 in the bottom 5th, when Hall had a 1-out double. Dadswell struck out, but Cam Green singled through the defenders on the left side to score Hall from second. Armando Sanchez came up and homered to right, 7-3. Then, Evans put the first two on in the sixth. Cunningham came in, but Gary Helton’s grounder was not picked up by Steve Walker, he dropped it, and both runners scored. It was only Walker’s second error in almost 300 chances this season, but it was certainly a critical one. But the Coons then in turned gained from a defensive indifference by the Falcons in the bottom 6th, when Osanai lobbed a ball close to the left field line, with neither defender there going after it hard enough, scoring Winston Thompson from second. There was still nobody out, and although Dawson grounded into a double play, the Coons scored two more in the inning, 10-5. They eventually added another run to win 11-5 on 20 hits, something entirely new for this team (I may have been in the wrong ballpark after all) with all positional starters getting at least two hits in! Thompson 3-6, RBI; Walker 4-5, BB; Osanai 2-6, RBI; Dawson 2-5, RBI; Hall 2-3, BB, 2 2B, 2 RBI; Dadswell 2-4, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Green 3-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Sanchez 2-5, HR, 3 RBI; Moran 3.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 0 K, SV (3);

This had the Coons put up double-digit runs twice within a week (after the 10-2 in Vancouver six days ago), a feat not achieved since April 28-29 with 16 against Milwaukee followed by 11 against Vancouver the next day. In fact they only had six games with 10 or more runs for the entire season.

Christopher Powell was not up to the challenges of the Falcons lineup and was abused for five runs in 5.1 innings. An error by Osanai made the sixth a bigger implosion than it would have had to be. The Raccoons trailed 6-2 after that malaise, with the majority of our players not able to read into Billy Robinson’s pitches at all. They were 2-hit so far, with both H’s by Walker, and both for extra bases and producing their lone two runs. If one performance should be mentioned positively, it was David Jones’, who pitched 2+ clean innings against a heavily right-handed dominated lineup. The 6-2 loss stood until the end. Walker 2-4, 3B, 2B, RBI; Jones 2.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

The rubber game saw a disgusting first two innings from Carlos Gonzalez, who donated the Falcons a quick 3-0 lead. Cam Green homered in the third, 3-1. Walker and Osanai hit back-to-back doubles in the fourth, 3-2. Dawson, Hall, and Dadswell were unable to score Osanai with no outs. Gonzalez was pinch hit for in the fifth, to no effect, and Moran served up a 2-piece in the sixth, before nailing pitcher Julio Rodriguez with two down. Rodriguez took it personally and charged the mound, sparking a brawl. Both pitchers were ejected. Things only became worse from there, and the Raccoons were beaten 7-2, held to six hits. Green 2-4, HR, RBI;

Carlos Moran was suspended for eight games after the brawl. Yeah, great.

The Raccoons made roster moves: MR Justin Neubauer (5.40 ERA), OF Ralph Crosby (.143 AVG) and INF Orlando Lantán (.160 AVG) were all demoted to AAA, and we called up MR Gilberto Soto (who was not effective in AAA, but I needed someone to eat innings with Moran suspended), OF Kelly Weber, and INF Carlos Miranda.

Miranda was the only new player among them. He had been a supplemental round pick, 25th overall, in the 1982 draft. He was now 23, a versatile defender, who played all four infield positions well, and with a .286 average in 227 AB in AAA (he missed a few weeks with injuries), but his BB/K ratio was unfriendly even in AAA. And unfriendly was a friendly way to express it.

Raccoons (49-48) vs. Bayhawks (40-60)

Cameron Green helped the Bayhawks to go ahead with two unearned runs in the fourth inning, ruining the solid start by Saito. The offense responded by drawing four walks in the bottom 4th to also score four runs (Green didn’t do anything). Saito then jerked in the sixth, putting three on with nobody out. Wally Gaston came in, but surrendered a home run to Yong-chan Chong. It was already the death knell to the Coons. They lost 7-5, with the bases loaded in the ninth and a K to Winston Thompson. Dadswell 2-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Miranda (PH) 1-1; Reed (PH) 1-1;

The Coons wasted tons of hits in the middle game. The lone run came from a solo home run by Armando Sanchez, otherwise they let countless chances get away. The 1-0 lead got away from Vicente Ruíz in the sixth, and the game remained tied at 1-1 into the ninth. Grant West pitched the ninth, then the tenth. Daniel Hall got on with one out in the bottom 10th and a hit-and-run with Dadswell at the plate put runners on the corners, but Dadswell was picked off at first for the second out before we could even decide on a strategy with Cameron Green as pinch hitter at the plate. Coons fans looked in disbelief – an impression only slowly turning into joy when Green dipped a 1-2 pitch into right center between two defenders, scoring Hall from third. 2-1 Coons. Thompson 3-5; Hall 2-5; Green (PH) 1-1, RBI; Ruíz 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K and 2-3; West 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K, W (1-0);

Some early trouble for Logan Evans was equaled by Mark Dawson with a 1st inning 2-shot. Lucero homered for a Raccoons lead, which got away from Evans in the fifth after two leadoff walks. Steve Walker’s RBI double made it 4-3 in the bottom 5th. Evans actually managed to pitch a clean inning to leave in line for the W. Top 7th: Didier Bourges’ grounder to third was thrown away by Green. Cunningham had to tear out arms and legs to get through that inning. When Green singled to lead off the bottom 7th, he was removed by pinch runner Miranda, who was the only Coon to score before they left three on. The ace end of the pen held down the Bayhawks well in the last innings and the Coons won 6-3 to take the series. Walker 4-5, 2B, RBI; Dawson 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Reed 2-4;

Raccoons (51-49) vs. Aces (39-63)

The series opened with Chris Powell facing 16-game loser Antonio Lopez. You bet the Coons didn’t know how to hit him. The bottom of the sixth presented the first serious chance to score for either team. Dawson led off with a single and then RF Tom Simmons misplayed a flyball by Osanai, which fell in for a double. Two in scoring position and nobody out. Daniel Hall at least managed a sac fly for a run, something Green didn’t. Reed doubled in Osanai and Lucero was intentionally walked, bringing up Powell. In a vain attempt to generate offense, he was removed for Armando Sanchez, who grounded out. David Jones put the first two runners on in the seventh and Cunningham couldn’t get through them, INSTANTLY blowing Powell’s lead. Adding three runs in the bottom 7th, the pen again choked in the eighth with one run charged to Cunningham. Jason White saved the game with the backend used or tired. 6-3 Raccoons. Dawson 2-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Osanai 4-4, 2B, RBI; Castillo (PH) 1-1; Powell 6.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

****ty offense AND relief pitching again rob Powell of the few wins he actually deserves!! (foames)

Game 2 was the horror. Carlos Gonzalez held a 2-0 lead into the seventh and put three on with no one out. The Aces scored seven runs in the inning, four off Jason White with a grand slam by Chris Lynch. Raccoons lost shamefully, 8-3.

Scream. Scream. SCREAM.

The screams didn’t become any less in the last game of the series against this last place team. That fact alone should have been enough to know that the Raccoons would drop it. Kisho Saito pitched a complete game losing effort, 3-2, surrendering single runs three times with six clean innings around that. The Raccoons’ offense was non-existent with only five hits. Sanchez 2-3;

In other news

July 18 – Salem’s Jorge Padilla has his hitting streak come to an end at 23 games after being held away in four AB’s against the Gold Sox. The Wolves still win, 5-4.
July 19 – Isto Grönholm’s blossoming hitting streak is trampled down by the Condors, who hold the Titans first baseman at 0-4 and kill his streak at 20 games.
July 22 – Warriors slugger Ronaldo Cabrera (.303, 11 HR, 67 RBI) will miss at least a month with a sore shoulder.
July 24 – Reliever Sixto Pacheco (2.36 ERA in 44 games) is sent to Washington by the Condors, who in turn acquire pitching prospect Santiago Perez.
July 28 – In a move hardly understandable for anybody outside their management, the Gold Sox send valuable slugger Francisco Lopez (.332, 15 HR, 79 RBI) to Sacramento for corner infielder Shiro Sasaki (.264, 5 HR, 41 RBI).

Complaints and stuff

Where to start complaining? They can’t get anything done. That’s the one basic complaint.

[Questdog]

tet-SUUU! tet-SUUU!! tet-SUUUUUUU!!!!

[Westheim]

Raccoons (52-51) @ Thunder (49-54)

Both teams hardly got the bat on pitches through the first six innings, with the Coons trailing 2-1. A 2-out big one by Dadswell tied the game in the eighth, before Green had a long double to start the ninth. Armando Sanchez hit a home run to center for the first Coons lead in the game. West collected the save rather easily, 4-2 Coons! No Furball had more than one hit, accounting for the challenged offense.

There was noticeably more early offense in game 2, with the 4-2 score matched by the top 2nd. Logan Evans was again far from great, his stuff had become lost somewhere during this month. He didn’t get a K until the seventh, but at least he *made* it to the seventh, where the Raccoons still led, 5-3. Evans went eight before handing over to West, who again made short work of the Thunder in the ninth. 5-3 Coons. Osanai 3-5, HR, 2 RBI; Sanchez 2-3, 2B;

Osanai made it back-to-back in the category of first inning homers with a 2-piece in the third game, also tying Mark Dawson for the team lead (although Osanai’s had of course partly been with Vancouver). Dawson had nothing of that, and took Ray Shaw deep as well right in the next at bat. Dadswell was up next. HOME RUN, THREE IN A ROW!! Of course, the string ran out with Daniel Hall, who haplessly grounded out. This gave Christopher Powell a 4-0 lead – which was not enough. The Thunder threw everything at him at least able to *move* their left arm. They moved their left arms pretty well and the lead was down to 4-3 after two innings. Hall doubled in a run in the third, but left immediately with a calf strain – must have been overuse of his legs, which were not used anymore to running ONE HUNDRED EIGHTY BLOODY FEET. The Raccoons scored three in the inning, but the Thunder crawled right back in against Powell, 7-4 after three. Osanai went deep in the top 5th, but the run got away again in the bottom 5th, where Powell hardly was able to wobble through. He was pinch hit for in the sixth. Both teams threatened in the next innings, but couldn’t score and the Coons entered the bottom 9th still 8-5 ahead. West had been out two days in a row and we tried Wally Gaston against the lefties, but it didn’t work. He walked the bags full with two out, before a single to right scored two. Now West came out, but walked another batter for full bags again. With righty Carlos Vela coming out to pinch hit, I went back to the pen and got Gilberto Soto. He got Vela to foul out and the game was FINALLY over, 8-7 Coons. Osanai 2-4, BB, 2 HR, 3 RBI; Hall 1-2, 2B; Castillo (PH) 1-2;

Raccoons (55-51) @ Crusaders (44-64)

Hall was still aching and not in the lineup for the opener of the 4-game series. Sanchez and Lucero both played alongside Dawson in the outfield.

The top 1st in that opener saw Tetsu Osanai unload for the third game in a row, again for two runs, half of the Coons’ prey in the 4-run first. But the dumbo on the mound that day was Carlos Gonzalez, who managed to blow up that lead easily, also giving up four of the five runs against him with two out. The game went to extra innings, where the Crusaders walked off against White and Jones in the 10th, 6-5. Thompson 2-5, BB; Reed 2-3, BB; Sanchez 2-4, BB, 2B, 2 RBI;

Ricardo Gonzalez came off the DL to replace Kelly Weber on the roster.

Game 2 marked the fourth day in a row that Tetsu Osanai went yard in the first inning! That was already a quarter of all the Raccoons’ baserunners that day. They were out-hit 10-3 by the last-place Crusaders, who hit Kisho Saito at will. Agonizing 3-1 loss. Osanai 2-3, HR, RBI;

With Osanai popping out in the first inning to end that early power stretch of four games, the Raccoons didn’t score at all in the first and found themselves 1-0 down instead. Pitcher Vicente Ruíz had to have a leadoff double himself in the third to even get the team a chance to get back in. He scored with two down on a flyout – barely. Mark Dawson threw out the go-ahead run at the plate in the bottom 6th on another flyout. The Raccoons had not been able to mount any significant threat in the innings since tying it up at 1-1, a score still on the board in the top 9th. There, Mark Dawson singled just a tad over the glove of Sam Richmond into short left. They left him there, perfectly portraying their incompetence at the plate. Wally Gaston had a 1-out single himself in the top 10th – for crap. In the bottom 10th, he walked Dan Younger to start it. With one out, Younger advanced to third on another moronic moment by Dadswell, throwing a ball into the outfield when Younger tried to steal. Gaston wiggled through, but the Raccoons lost in the 12th, 2-1. Gaston had been their last baserunner. Thompson 2-5; Ruíz 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K and 2-3, 2B;

Oh, bloody hell!! How can you POSSIBLY drop three against a team THAT terrible!!?? I went through one or two rage-cry-rage cycles in the clubhouse after that defeat.

Game 4 saw 13-game winner Logan Evans, and terrible weather. It also saw the Coons put up five in the first two innings. Sometimes rage-cry-rage cycles seem to help. They put up five MORE in the third inning. That can’t… they’re messing with me. They got the lead to 11-0, before Evans gave three away in the fifth, which he barely managed to complete after a half-hour rain delay. The offense stopped altogether after the fourth inning, and the pitching collapsed completely in the eighth, where the Crusaders scored six runs to make it 11-9. The Raccoons left the bags full in the ninth when Lucero’s long flyer into the left corner was caught by Younger.

The writing was on the wall.

Grant West was defeated with two out in the bottom 9th, 11-11.

---

That’s it. It’s over. I’ve had enough. I’ve banged my head on the desk enough with this game.

[Westheim]

End of that game: the Hemiplegic Badgers scored Ricardo Gonzalez on a Cam Green sac fly in the top 10th. West blew the lead again in the bottom of the inning. No scoring until the 15th, when Osanai homered to right for three. A tired Wally Gaston stumbled through the bottom of the inning to hold on to the 15-12 win.

[Orcin]

Originally Posted by Questdog

tet-SUUU! tet-SUUU!! tet-SUUUUUUU!!!!

^^^ This.

[Westheim]

I should know better…

Raccoons (56-54) @ Canadiens (76-35)

What on earth is gonna stop these Canadiens? Probably there could be something, but it won’t be these terrible Coons.

With a depleted pen, Christopher Powell had to start the series largely on his own. This was a scenario that would have worked wonders in 1982. But this was 1985, and Old Chris had become truly old. He was torn apart by the Canadiens with five runs in the second inning, and there was nobody to be able to relief him. He surrendered six in total, and the pen was battered for six more in the seventh. 12-3 Canadiens.

Home runs by Ricardo Gonzalez (solo) and Sam Dadswell (2-run) put the Coons up 3-0 in the second game, before Carlos Gonzalez ever touched a ball. By the fourth inning, the Raccoons led 4-0, but had lost Mark Dawson and Carlos Gonzalez to injuries. The Raccoons held on to a 4-1 win behind a long relief outing by Jason White (which may have been his first good outing of the year), but without their long balls didn’t even get close to scoring. R. Gonzalez 2-4, HR, RBI; Dadswell 2-4, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Green 2-4, HR, RBI; White 4.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, W (5-1);

Losing Dawson tore another hole that team could not fill, at least at the plate. While Ricardo Gonzalez and Rodrigo Lucero were more than capable to form a 4+ star defensive outfield with Daniel Hall, offensively we could bury all hope, should Dawson be out for the year. Then the team would lose 30+ of their last 50.

Talking about Hall. He was down to 6th/7th in the lineup, and in the lineup put up for the third game of the series, he ranked 9th in batting average. That’s right. Kisho Saito was batting for more than Hall this season (.265 to Hall’s .230).

Tetsu Osanai drilled #20 in the first inning to make it 2-0 early. Hall actually managed to drive in a run with a single in the fourth, 3-0. Meanwhile, Saito and his opponent Tia Fa engaged in a duel of who could throw the most fireballs. Both fanned five by the third inning, before batters at least managed to make occasional contact with the ball. Saito was then knocked for two in the seventh, but both runs were unearned after a Cam Green error (note a common theme that’s been running for years), but wasn’t removed until the top 9th with the Raccoons having two in scoring position. Lucero had already struck out and Sanchez pinch hit for Saito, grounding out to end the inning. West made short work of the Canadiens for the second day in a row, 3-2 Raccoons. Osanai 2-4, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Hall 2-4, RBI; Lucero 2-4; Saito 8.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 8 K, W (7-13);

Game 4 pitted Ruíz against a resurging Robbie Campbell, but the duel was abandoned early in a fifth inning rain delay in a 1-1 game. The Raccoons ended up striking out 12 times, had only five hits, and lost the game 2-1 in the ninth, when the Canadiens walked off against Cunningham. The blame rested more with Andy Reed, who botched a throw to third on a steal attempt by Vicente Ramirez. R. Gonzalez 2-3, BB, 2B, RBI; Osanai 2-4;

You win some, you lose some, then you win some again, but in turn you lose thrice that amount. Apparently. Maybe it’s just me. Carlos Gonzalez was out for the season with elbow tendinitis, finishing 6-7 with a 3.58 ERA. That was not the bad part, because he had been awful for the most part of the season. The bad part was being forced to replace a bad pitcher with a worse pitcher. For the moment, I didn’t even have a starter available to call up. Carlos Moran was scheduled to take over one or two starts for things to sort out, and meanwhile we called up Jason Bentley for the first time.

Bentley, 23, was our 1982 round 2 draft pick. He had been used as closer for a while on the AA and AAA teams, but this year had been more in a 7th/8th inning role. For the Raccoons, he would have to pick up slack for now. He was not the prototypical mop up guy due to insufficient stamina, but should be good to go three innings without falling over.

Raccoons (58-56) @ Scorpions (44-72)

A genuinely bad team, the 1985 Scorpions had been waiting for those Raccoons to come to town all season. Those Raccoons, as a genuinely bad team, liked to lose against genuinely bad teams. In Francisco Lopez, Larry Marshall, Hector Atilano and others they had a few prime sluggers on board in Sacramento. Why it didn’t work out at all this year was mysterious.

A solo home run by Dadswell in the fourth gave Logan Evans a lead he had to scratch and claw against the Scorpions to hold on. Top 6th, the Coons loaded the bags with nobody out and Hall up. He barely managed to make contact with the ball, which rolled to the pitcher. Ricardo Gonzalez was fast from third and Juan Torres had no chance for the out at home, so turned to go to first – where Hall was safe already! The Coons scored only one more in the inning, on a grounder by Sanchez. Evans was in danger in the bottom 7th with two leadoff hits by the Scorpions, but bowled through it. Evans then went for the big SHO on the horizon, and got through 8.2 innings, before Marshall took him deep. West finished the game for his 30th SV of the year, 3-1 Raccoons. Osanai 2-4; Dadswell 3-4, HR, 2B, RBI; Hall 2-2, BB, 2B, RBI; Evans 8.2 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, W (14-3);

News from the player heap: the Raccoons claimed catcher Gustavo Flores off waivers from the Cyclones. Flores, 26, was a 1977 round 2 pick by the Gold Sox and was twice traded by 1979. He spent five years in the Aces organization, appearing in the majors for considerable time before the Cyclones claimed him off waivers at the start of this season. His career batting average is .270 in 371 AB, and his defense is rated as excellent (which puts him far above Andy Reed, who was demoted to AAA). Flores was slotted in as backup for Dadswell.

Parker Montgomery dominated the Coons in the middle game, while Powell remained ineffective. The Raccoons shortly threatened in the fourth, but scored only one run, and trailed 4-1 in the eighth. Hall had a 2-out double, which was followed by walks by Jesus Cortez to Osanai and Dadswell, both on full counts. Walker replaced the 0-3 Sanchez and drew a 4-pitch walk to force in Hall. Castillo drew another 4-pitch walk, 4-3 down now. Cortez still remained in, but we brought up Lucero to pinch hit for Miranda. Lucero walked! Five walks in a row were some kind of magic. Next up was Powell, and he was pinch hit for with the new Coon on the block, Gustavo Flores, while the Scorpions finally chased Cortez. Carlos Reyna struck out Flores and the game remained tied. Now we gonna turn that around! No, we’re not. David Jones blew up the game right away in the eighth, and the Coons lost 7-4. Hall 2-5; Walker 0-0, BB, RBI; Lucero 0-0, BB, RBI;

Mark Dawson was not diagnosed until now, five days after being hurt in the game in Vancouver! His knee had gone bust in that game, but he was lucky, it was *only* a sprain. He would be back in a week or so. But the Coons were playing a man short and I hated it. We did some math. Dawson had been hurt on August 6, and was projected to return on August 18 or 19. If we moved him to the DL, he’d miss only two more days in the home series against Boston, and the Coons were unable to hurt those anyway. So, Dawson was transferred to the 15-day DL. Kelly Weber was called up.

Carlos Moran started the rubber game. In his only start this season, against Milwaukee, he had no-hit the Loggers through five innings and still had been charged with three runs. That no-hitter was gone after two outs this time, and Moran surrendered five runs in the second inning. He then went on to hit a 2-run home run in the top 3rd. He was yanked after an RBI double to pitcher Jeff Thompson. The game was blown out already, and it didn’t get better with Jones on the mound. A 2-run piece by Winston Thompson, his first long ball of the year, didn’t help anymore, either.

Or did it? The Raccoons scrambled for two more runs in the seventh, getting the gap to 8-7 down. Wally Gaston nailed down the Scorpions in relief, but they didn’t score in the eighth, missing a big chance after a leadoff hit by Hall. Sanchez led off the ninth with a single and advanced to third on Castillo’s third hit of the day. A long single by Carlos Miranda tied the game at eight, and still nobody out, but Wally Gaston up. Steve Walker pinch hit for him, but flew out, and Thompson and Gonzalez didn’t do any better. Cunningham pitched three scoreless, going through the 11th without support, but with two out in the 12th, Daniel Hall suddenly homered to right. Osanai singled and Dadswell had a walk, bringing up Sanchez, who doubled and advanced to third when the Scorpions tried to make the play at home. Castillo struck out. Bentley made his first career appearance in the bottom 12th. He converted masterfully. 11-8 Raccoons. Hall 2-6, BB, HR, RBI; Dadswell 2-6, BB, RBI; Sanchez 4-7, 2 2B, 2 RBI; Castillo 3-7, RBI; Miranda 4-6, 2B, RBI; Green (PH) 1-1, RBI; Cunningham 3.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, W (6-6); Bentley (first career app.) 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, SV (1);

This marked the first time the Raccoons had won a series against the Scorpions for an all-time record of 4-11.

Daniel Hall’s game winning home run was his first long one since July 2, six weeks ago.

The Condors claimed Yoelbi Maurinha, who had been placed on waivers by us to make some room on the 40-man roster. He had pitched in AA and AAA this season, racking up 6+ ERA’s in both levels.

Raccoons (60-57) vs. Capitals (48-69)

The Raccoons never figured out Washington’s Brady Boyd in the first game, while Saito was unsharp as all season and gave up doubles at a steady pace. The Raccoons lost, 4-0, and never even had a real chance to score. Osanai 2-4;

Vicente Ruíz pitched seven innings of 4-hit ball, but unfortunately half those hits were triples and the Raccoons were again more than harmless – their only hit through six had come from Ruíz! Flores tripled with two down in the seventh for the Coons and Lucero drove him in. That was it for offense. They lost 2-1 on four hits in total. Green (PH) 1-1, 2B;

Steve Walker was one of those struggling at the time, as were Osanai, Thompson and a few others. Once again we had zero production from center, too. For the moment, Castillo started short over Walker for a game or two.

Logan Evans gave away a run early in the last game, but the Raccoons FINALLY got their bats up and incinerated Jose Murillo for six runs in the second inning. Evans was far from the top of his game, which he had shown often this season, but managed to hold the damage to one more run through six. With two out in the bottom 7th, the Coons put up another rally to put the game away at 12-3, but wait, wasn’t this the team that had blown an 11-run lead not even two weeks ago? Nothing along those lines happened this time, with Bentley pitching two clean innings to hold the 12-3 lead. R. Gonzalez 3-5, HR, 2B, 3 RBI; Osanai 2-4, BB, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Dadswell 2-5; Castillo 2-4, 2B, 3 RBI; Weber (PH) 1-2, 2B, RBI; Bentley 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

In other news

July 29 – Young Titans outfielder-turned-third-baseman Bob Arnold (.333 in 114 AB) is out for a month with a broken finger.
July 30 – Raccoon-turned-Logger Davis Rigsby (.263, 3 HR, 15 RBI) has a 5-hit game, including a 3-run homer in a 9-4 win over the Knights. The string of ex-Furballs shining elsewhere continues unbroken.
August 1 – The Aces lose their closer Domingo Alonso for the rest of the season with ulnar nerve irritation. Despite 24 saves, Alonso had an off year with a 4.46 ERA.
August 1 – The Loggers are 1-hit by Vancouver’s Raimundo Beato (13-4, 2.91 ERA) in a 6-0 loss.
August 2 – The Canadiens lose star shortstop Eddy Bailey (.296, 8 HR, 41 RBI) for the season due to a ruptured achilles tendon. He could even miss the start of next season.
August 2 – Tijuana closer Scott Clements holds down the Thunder in an 8-6 win to notch his 300th career save.
August 12 – One for the record books: Juan “Mauler” Correa notches his 200th major league win in a complete game 9-hitter over the Gold Sox! Correa’s Falcons barely prevailed in the 5-4 win. Without a question, Correa is the most stud pitcher in the ABL, as proven by his 200-72 record, 2.25 career ERA, 1.00 career WHIP, and 1,811 K’s, all of which lead starting pitchers (there are a few qualifying closers with better ERA’s, but Ed King’s 2.10 mark isn’t that much better). The next-closest pitcher is Jack Pennington with 145 wins. To be fair, Correa has always been with contending teams, though.
August 12 – SAC 1B Alfonso Aranda will be out for a long time with a ruptured medial collateral ligament. The 32-year old hit .302 this season between Oklahoma and Sacramento, with 11 HR and 67 RBI.

Complaints and stuff

The second win in Oklahoma brought the Raccoons into second place in the division. But of course things deteriorated rapidly again from there. Although they are still second, they have not shown that they belong there, necessarily.

Tetsu Osanai rode the big ball en route to becoming Player of the Week in the CL of the week ending August 3, with .300, 5 HR, 9 RBI to his credit. In contrast to that, we have scheduled slow pitch stickball training for Daniel Hall.

One decision is already final: we will call up Scott Wade to take over the #5 spot in the rotation. He is the lone promising SP prospect we have. He’s 13-7 with a 3.55 ERA in AAA this year, striking out 4.5 for every walk he surrendered. He was a bit home run prone, though. Gilberto Soto will have to yield to make room on the roster. That’s an easy decision.

Dawson will come back in less than a week. We will play in Indy, then return home for the Titans and Knights. August will end on the road, in Charlotte and New York, the latter series ending on September 1.

[Questdog]

Glad to see this post--I was afraid, by your tone, that we might see the 'Coons no more......

One other thing: you're idea of a horrible team and my idea must not be the same. These furry critters may be a bit schizophrenic, but they are by no means horrible. You have winning record, for Pete's sake!.....

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by Questdog

Glad to see this post--I was afraid, by your tone, that we might see the 'Coons no more......

I "quit" about two times a season, on average. The longest break was two months after that game in 1980:

Originally Posted by Westheim

This was a matchup of Juan Berrios (0-5, 7.00) and John Vogler, who made his major league debut for the Cyclones. Berrios walked four in a 4-run first inning. He walked four more in the second and was gone, 5-0 down.

The Raccoons walked a total of 19 batters in the game and went under 12-1. Berrios 2 IP, 8 BB. Simmons 4 IP, 6 BB. Lopez 1 IP, 4 BB. Jenkins 2 IP, 1 BB.

Measured against that, I was not even really bothered by that 11-run lead blown up.

Originally Posted by Questdog

One other thing: you're idea of a horrible team and my idea must not be the same. These furry critters may be a bit schizophrenic, but they are by no means horrible. You have winning record, for Pete's sake!.....

1) Furry critters is cute, I hadn't even thought of that term so far. I might steal that one. Critters, hee-hee.

2) You're right, this is a .500 team, although from pre-season expectation and observation it should have been more. But we had injuries, we had another foul egg in the nest in Armando Sanchez, Powell is old, and Hall can't make contact this year, all dragging down the team.

Rationally, I know that.

But I'm still clawing to that 1983 season, where we (somehow) won the pennant. That was so nice. Taking into account that the core of the team is mostly the same, it's frustrating that they don't get back to 95-wins form.

It will not get better from here on, either. We can't count on Powell anymore and we only have three solid starters in the rotation. We're bleeding.

1979. THAT was a horrible team. We could have had "Mauler" Correa in the rotation, and they still would have lost a hundred ...!