Portland Raccoons (ABL)

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by Orcin

Hey, let me see that Carrell bobblehead... That's neat, oh, whoops, sorry man. Wow, who knew those things could shatter into so many pieces!

No problem, that model already came with glue in the pack.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (52-36) vs. Canadiens (52-35)

Fans packed the ballpark for this series, hoping for a series win over the Vancouveranians, which would mean that the Raccoons took over the division. Logan Evans started the series for the Raccoons. The Canadiens had sent 60% of their rotation to the All Star game, and did not lead off with “Mauler” Correa, but he would rather come up in the fourth game of the series. Robbie Campbell was on the mound for the opener.

Oh, what an opener.

Solo home runs by Dadswell in the first and Dawson in the second got the Raccoons an early 2-0 lead. Evans struck out the side in the second and was perfect through three, but the top 4th quickly went in the wrong direction with an infield single to Raúl Herrera and then a double to Manuel Flores. Both scored, first on a sac fly, then on a wild pitch. Tied game. Evans came to bat with Walker on second and two down in the bottom 4th. Campbell got him to 2-2, then Evans ripped at the fifth pitch and doubled into the gap in right, 3-2 Coons, but the lead didn’t hold up. Evans walked Herrera with one out in the sixth, and although the Coons forced him on a fielder’s choice, they reeled off three straight singles to take a 4-3 lead. Evans was removed when he was up to bat to lead off the bottom 7th. Campbell reached on a rare error by Eddy Bailey at short, who bobbled the ball. Campbell was at third with two down, when Sam Dadswell hit his second big ball of the night, a no-doubter to right, to get the Raccoons ahead again.

But neither did this lead hold up. Cunningham put two on to lead off the eighth, and eventually surrendered a home run to Jorge Diaz, which was the first long ball for Diaz this season. Bottom 9th. Campbell led off, having replaced Osanai at 1B for defense originally, and singled past 2B Vicente Ramirez into center. Sanchez hit a long double to put the tying run (himself) to second. Next was Barrios, who was 0-4 and was matched by closer Marquis. Ricardo Gonzalez pinch hit for him, but before he ever got to jab at something, Marquis made a move to third – but the umpires called it a balk, and Campbell was awarded home and the tying run was a mere 90 feet away with nobody out. Gonzalez hit a zipper through on the left side and the game was tied AGAIN! Dadswell singled to put runners on the corners, and STILL nobody out. Powell was now in Osanai’s spot, but was removed for Flores, who struck out. Dawson popped out on the infield, and that brought up Daniel Hall, who grounded to short – what a WASTE of a chance!!

A massive nail biter went to extra innings. Jones put two away in the bottom 10th before walking backup catcher Benny Long. Gaston came in, but threw a wild pitch, before getting a full count grounder by Ramirez to Campbell and the inning was over. Gaston walked two in the 11th, before getting Bailey to fly out. The Coons also put two on, brought their last bench player (Quintanilla for Gaston), but to no effect. The struggle went on (and would possibly forever), and the Coons again left the winning run on second in the 12th. Bottom 13th. Two on, one out, and Carlos Moran at the plate. There were no guys left to pinch hit with. Bunting would put two away and bring up Dawson, who had blown two big chances already since the ninth. He had to swing – and drew a walk! Now, bases loaded, one out, and Mark Dawson was in the crosshairs. Dirk Campbell struggled with control, threw one ball, two balls, three balls – then Dawson swung at 3-0, a flyout to right. The ballpark fell silent, as Manuel Guzman caught the ball. Sanchez ran from third. Guzman hurried in the ball. SAFE!!!! 8-7 Raccoons. Everybody was exhausted. Sanchez 3-7, 2B; R. Gonzalez (PH) 1-1, RBI; Dadswell 4-6, BB, 2 HR, 3 RBI; Hall 2-6; Moran 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, W (2-0);

The struggle lasted four hours, 32 minutes. The Raccoons led the division.

The weather forecast for game 2 was more than just ugly and it started to drizzle in the third inning, when Carlos Gonzalez had the bags loaded in a scoreless affair. He got a groundout to escape the jam. The Coons didn’t get a hit until the bottom 3rd with two down, as Sanchez dinked one into short right. Kelly Weber tried to make it home from second, but was nailed. The game was shortly interrupted for rain as the bottom 4th took off. Barrios’ at-bat was at 2-2, and he drew a walk when play resumed. It looked like Bill Smith was very irritated by the interruption: next, Dadswell doubled to right. Osanai grounded out, but scored Barrios, and Dawson doubled to right for another run. Dawson however pulled something and had to leave the game. The Coons took a 3-0 lead. Gonzalez was also rattled by the delay and stalled in the sixth. Art Garrett hit a solo home run and after a walk to Ramirez, Gonzalez was taken out. Bentley struck out Guzman to end the inning. The Furballs added one run in the bottom 7th. Powell struck out Flores to start the eighth, before Bailey singled. He got to third on a bad pickoff throw by Dadswell, then a passed ball, and scored on a grounder by Art Garrett, which would have been a double play, had Bailey still been on first. This way, David Jones entered, but lefty Ramon Gonzalez singled. Enough, bring Grant West! He struck out Ramirez, and the Furballs added two in the eighth. West only needed 13 pitches for a 4-out save – 6-2 Raccoons!! Dadswell 2-4, 2B; Dawson 1-2, 2B, RBI; Thompson 1-2; Walker 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Weber 1-2, 2 BB; R. Gonzalez (PH) 1-1; Bentley 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

Mark Dawson was DTD with a mild hip strain. He was able to bat, but I wouldn’t want to put him in the field, limiting him to pinch hitting for up to five days.

Herrera almost went deep against Kisho Saito to start the third game, but Sanchez made a huge pick at the wall – then hit a leadoff homer off Raimundo Beato! Steve Walker, inserted at #2 instead of the slightly struggling Barrios, followed it up with a home run himself. 2-0, very early. The Canadiens came back in the fourth. Two singles off Saito, then a double steal, where Dadswell looked really bad once more. One run got in before Saito escaped the inning. He couldn’t escape the seventh however, where Walker made a crucial error to start the inning and the Canadiens ended up scoring two. The Raccoons had not done anything since taking the early lead, with just two hits in the next five frames. Now they were 3-2 behind. Eighth inning, another Walker error, another two runs scored for the Canadiens, blowing the game open. Down 5-2, the Raccoons entered the ninth. Osanai led off with a double, Hall singled to put runners on the corners and bring the tying run to the plate. Gerard Marquis walked Winston Thompson and now the Canadiens appeared to be in trouble. Barrios was next and sent a grounder up the middle. Marquis missed it, Bailey missed it, INTO CENTER!! Hall dashed around third to score behind Osanai. 5-4 down, two on, nobody out, Ricardo Gonzalez to the plate. He singled to right. 180 feet to go for the winning run. Flores pinch hit for Wally Gaston, who had pitched two innings, and lined out to deep right, but it was deep enough for Thompson to make for home and tie the game. At this point, the Canadiens removed Marquis, who had blown up for the second time in three days. Dirk Campbell, the loser of game 1 entered. Armando Sanchez to the plate, but he flew out, and Walker grounded out. Extra innings. Steve Walker made his third error of the day in the top 10th, which, if not made, would have gotten Cunningham out of the inning. Instead, Art Garrett came up with runners on the corners. He had hurt the Raccoons some already this year, but this time popped out to Osanai. Dadswell’s leadoff single in the bottom 10th, then got Osanai into the box against lefty Carlos Lozano. 0-1 pitch – high ball! Deep ball! Caught. The Canadiens scored two off Bentley in the 12th after two leadoff hits. The Raccoons went down silently. 7-5 Canadiens. Sanchez 2-5, BB, HR, RBI;

This put youngster Scott Wade into a spot, where he had to defend the division lead – against the “Mauler”. Chances were less than good. Three errors sat down Steve Walker and gave Darren Campbell a start. Whether that was improving chances…

Chances definitely didn’t improve when the Canadiens reached Wade for two runs in the first inning. With a 1.85 ERA on the mound, this was simple math, but Campbell did with his chance, what he could, and hit a 2-out RBI double in the bottom 2nd to get close again. But Wade had nothing against the top of the lineup the Canadiens had put up, and they beat him for three runs in the third. The Raccoons meanwhile had no answer to Correa. They managed to load the bags in the fifth, but Barrios struck out without anything countable across. Bottom 6th. Flores led off with a single, and the Canadiens, despite a 5-1 lead, did not pitch to Osanai. Next was Hall, who singled to left, and suddenly there was a chance with nobody out. Thompson grounded, out at home. Campbell struck out. Gonzalez grounded out. Fans started to leave. When Herrera homered off Moran in the eighth to make it 7-1, the crowd became really thin. Correa pitched a complete game and the Canadiens won 8-1, homering off Powell in the ninth (that was Brian Adams, who continued to punish us). Campbell 3-4, 2B, RBI;

Bottles.

Raccoons (54-38) @ Indians (39-54)

The last-place Indians shelled Vicente Ruíz for five runs in four innings. The Raccoons offense? There was none. Sanchez hit a leadoff double in the sixth and was stranded. Hall hit a leadoff double in the seventh. And was stranded. Sanchez hit a leadoff single in the eighth. He was not stranded, but forced on Thompson’s grounder. They got two on in the ninth, and they lost 6-1. Sanchez 3-4, 2B; Weber 1-1, 2 BB;

With the Canadiens being idle, we were now a full game behind. Darren Campbell was hurt late in the game and was DTD with a strained thigh muscle. Well, Darren, you can be hurt all you want, but you won’t do so on the 25-man roster. He was placed on the DL and Orlando Lantán recalled.

Three losses in a row is what Bob Ross would have called a “funny accident”. Four’s a streak. Logan Evans was responsible for not letting it become a streak. Through five innings, the Raccoons were 2-hit by Robert Vazquez, while Evans had given up one hit. The Raccoons then scored two in the top 6th. 2-out singles by Hall and Osanai set the table for Flores to drive both in with a long double to deep left. Now the Indians also slapped at Evans and cut the 2-0 lead in half right away with a leadoff double by Alvin Sutphen. But the seventh escalated quickly from Evans. Sutphen drove in the tying and go-ahead run with a single. The Indians came out with a 4-2 lead. With two on in the eighth, Flores hit a long flyer to deep right – but the annoying Engjell Vulaj caught it. Indians won, 4-2.

And here we have a losing streak.

Armando Sanchez did his part to end the streak with a leadoff homer in the third game. Carlos Gonzalez was not contributing however. In the third, he surrendered two 2-out RBI triples, then hit two batsmen. Who knows what would have happened if Tetsu Osanai had not ripped out a leg and two arms to get to a foul pop from Jorge Gonzalez after that. The poor offense put up by the Raccoons was more than agoninzing. They were 3-hit through seven. They went down quietly in the eighth. The Indians put two runs up against Moran and the Raccoons entered trailing 4-1 in the ninth. Dadswell – K. Osanai – K. Hall up, who had already struck out twice that day, and he hit a double. Thompson walked. Dawson pinch walked for Barrios. Then closer Tim Hess threw a wild pitch, one run came in. Kelly Weber lobbed the next pitch into short center. Thompson scored, and Dawson made a dash – and scored! Quintanilla pinch hit for a single, bringing up Sanchez. Hess was gone by now, and lefty Bernard Hellyer looked forward to get that elusive last out. Sanchez went to work on a 1-0 pitch, a vicious grounder up the left foul line – JUST fair past the bag and past 3B Gonzalez – both runners scored! Walker flew out to bring Grant West into the game. Flyout, K, K. 6-4 Raccoons. Sanchez 3-5, HR, 2B, 3 RBI; Quintanilla (PH) 1-1;

Why are the Raccoons in a tumble? One factor could be Tetsu Osanai. The week since the All Star break, he hit 4-29 with one pity RBI. Five total bases. Ain’t much. The rest of the lineup is struggling as well. Barrios is cold as ice, f.e., but Walker, Hall, Dawson all don’t get a lot of hits on the board, and those are supposed to carry the team.

Raccoons (55-40) @ Thunder (48-46)

Dawson was back in the field for this series. Barrios, unable to hit anything since the break, went out onto the bench. Building a lineup was a struggle at the moment anyway.

And it got more complicated any minute. Armando Sanchez was hurt sliding into third base in the first inning of the series opener in Oklahoma – he goes down, we can start selling, because we have no other leadoff batter. The Coons led 2-0 after two innings. Through four, they had eight hits – but only those two runs. It always comes that way, then goes this way: Saito surrendered two hits to start the bottom 4th, then Jose Gonzales homered. Of course the Raccoons left the bases loaded right away in the fifth. After two silent innings, the Raccoons led off in the eighth with a single by Kelly Weber. Lantán came to bat, removing Saito from the game, and got another single. Quintanilla bunted them over. Walker was removed for lefty Ricardo Gonzalez to counter the reliever in, but the Thunder brought up lefty Donovan Reed instead. Three straight strikes later, Dadswell popped out. Raccoons lost, 3-2, despite out-hitting the Thunder 13-7. Dadswell 2-5; Hall 2-5, 2B; Thompson 2-5; Weber 2-3, BB, 3B; Lantán (PH) 1-1;

Scott Wade had a scary first inning in the middle game, just barely getting out of a bases loaded jam. He then drove in the go ahead run in the top 2nd, and the Raccoons led 4-0 after three. This time the Thunder left runners on third in what seemed like every inning. They didn’t however in the sixth. Wade loaded the bags, then surrendered an RBI single to PH Frederick Webb. With lefties up, David Jones was brought in to protect the 4-1 with one out. Jeff Wagner hit a sac fly to center, before Jones loaded the bases again with a walk to Leonardo Costa. Now we went to Cunningham, who didn’t match lefty Dave Browne in the box, but Jones probably didn’t match anybody right now. Browne went to 1-2 before making very weak contact. Cunningham got to the grounder and threw to Osanai for the third out. But Cunningham gave up two hits to start the seventh. Wally Gaston scrambled left and right to protect the lead, but one run scored. Dawson hit a leadoff double in the top 8th – and never advanced an inch. Gaston had been pinch hit for, and Bentley entered – with loads of lefties in the lineup for Oklahoma. He nailed the first batter he faced, Seitaro Ine. Wagner singled, Costa bunted them over. This was just hopeless. Browne just had to put the ball somewhere else than the left foul line. He put it on the left foul line and the runners held, while Browne was thrown out by Bentley. Guy King was walked intentionally to face Marc Shaw. He flew out to right. Uff. Now, bring on Grant West and end this struggle. He gave up a no-out single, a 1-out single, a 2-out single. Bases loaded. Costa grounded in the general direction of third, where Dawson got to the ball and threw hastily to first. HIGH THROW!! Osanai jumps in vain and ---- JUST GETS IT AND COMES DOWN IN TIME!! Thanks go out to gravity! 4-3 Raccoons in a game of scratching and clawing. Walker 2-4, 2B, RBI; Weber 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI;

We skipped Ruíz and went back to Evans right away for the rubber game. Evans came to bat before he took the mound and made the final out in a 3-run inning, but two runs were unearned. The Raccoons offense basically stopped operating right there. Evans fell to a leadoff double by pitcher Virgil Arnold in the third, as the hurler came around to score, and didn’t K a batter through five innings. In the sixth, the Thunder put runners on the corners, Raccoons still up 3-1, and only one out on the board. THERE Evans struck out two to get out. The same situation transpired again in the bottom 7th. Corners, one out – Gonzales up, who had cost Saito the win in game 1. Behind him was King, so walking him was not a good idea. With Evans at 106 pitches, we went to the pen and Wally Gaston. The Thunder countered with lefty Leonardo Costa. Gaston was beaten and the Thunder tied the game. Seitaro Ine hit a home run-bound ball off Gaston in the bottom 8th, which Dawson, who played right that day, JUST plucked off the top of the fence! Jones then entered to face lefty Sandro Delgado. Dawson never got close to that one. Home run. Raccoons lost, 4-3. Walker 2-5, 2 2B; Thompson 2-4;

In other news

July 17 – The Wolves hold Claudio Rojas dry in the first game after the break and end his hitting streak at 23 games.
July 20 – SFW Gary Hill (6-2, 2.69 ERA) 2-hits the Pacifics in a 6-0 win.
July 23 – Las Vegas loses Mark Allen (.325, 19 HR, 65 RBI) to a sore shoulder until the end of August.
July 25 – The Wolves acquire 3B Jordan Archer (.284, 7 HR, 55 RBI) from Las Vegas, sending back catcher Harold King, who has batted .333 in 27 games this season.
July 25 – Indians selling out? They send SP Joe Brown (5-8, 4.88 ERA) to Atlanta for INF Tom Welch (.267 in 161 AB). Brown is 31 and really has his worst season in his career, while Welch is up and coming.
July 26 – MIL SP Anibal Guerra (4-8, 3.60 ERA) has to have bone chips removed from his elbow and will miss the rest of the season.
July 26 – Dallas wins 3-0 over Topeka, as Jose Salgado (7-6, 4.08 ERA) pitches a 3-hitter.
July 27 – The Indians trade reliable reliever Shane Brown, 25, to the Condors for two prospects.
July 28 – Veterans traded: The Gold Sox acquire SP Victor Macias (3-10, 3.82 ERA) from the Cyclones, sending over Claudio Rojas (.316, 0 HR, 33 RBI) and a prospect.

Complaints and stuff

Everything’s goin’ to hell – and fast so. The starting pitching is not there. The bullpen is not there. The offense is nowhere near there. They are barely able to play .500 at the moment. I said that from mid-May to mid-June we had a 25-9 stretch. Since then, we’re 15-19. That’s too long a stretch to remain competitive. The Canadiens have quickly built a 2.5 game lead and I don’t see how that should be overcome by the team as it is right now.

Backup catcher Gustavo Flores has come down with the flu. He will be out (DTD) for a week. He had no options left, and I really don’t want to go with one catcher for a week. So, Flores goes to the DL, and we call up Odwin Garza again.

And it gets worse. (It always gets worse) Armando Sanchez has a strained ACL and will be out until into September. That removes a .340 bat and the leadoff batter from the lineup and I have nobody to replace him. Steve Walker subbed the last two games and hit a few doubles, but his numbers are nowhere near the happy zone. High AVG/OBP batters are hard to acquire on the market, especially if you have zero money to spend.

Bill Stevens was brought on to replace Sanchez – in terms of body count. He hit .193 during his stint earlier this year.

Why the hell won’t let the game let me send hurt players to AAA and forces them to be moved to the DL? That was the case with Campbell and would have been the case with Flores had he had options.

That salvage win in the Indians series took place on July 23, 1986. That’s my real birthday. (useless side info)

Then there is one good news to report, but just one. Our top draft pick this year, SP Miguel Martinez, went 5-1 with a 1.02 ERA in eight starts in A ball and was promoted to AA.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (56-42) vs. Bayhawks (38-61)

We had swept the Bayhawks in our first meeting this season. The team was struggling to score runs, and had troubles with their rotation. Which was nothing unknown to these late-July Raccoons.

To start things, Carlos Gonzalez matched up with Rafael Espinoza. Their ERA’s added up to exactly 10. Gonzalez’ was 2.29 going into the contest. The Coons went ahead in the bottom 2nd with an RBI double by Kelly Weber, but the struggling Daniel Hall left the bases loaded when he struck out. Dadswell homered to start the bottom 3rd. Gonzalez went wild in the fourth and went to 3-ball counts on three consecutive hitters (all lefties), and all three reached base. A great grab by Thompson at second limited the damage to one run. Flipping the sides to the bottom 4th, Espinoza walked the bases full for Osanai with one out. A few weeks ago we would have added up to four runs, now were happy with another walk. Mark Dawson made no true effort to evade a pitch to his thigh and forced in another run, and the Bayhawks collapsed right now. Bases loaded, two down for Gonzalez, he singled to left, and Walker cleared the bags with a double to center. That was enough for a blowout, as the Raccoons bombed the Bayhawks out of the park, 12-2. Walker 2-6, 2B, 3 RBI; Dadswell 3-5, BB, 2 HR, 2 RBI; Thompson 3-5, RBI; Weber 3-5, 2B, 2 RBI; C. Gonzalez 7.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 3 K, W (15-3) and 2-3, BB, RBI;

Good news about game 2: Kisho Saito shut out the Bayhawks through eight innings, giving up but two hits. The bad news: we had to pinch hit for him in the bottom 8th despite him not being even remotely out of gas. The Raccoons had scored a lone run in the second inning, driven in by Bill Stevens in his first at-bat since being called up. Osanai had left runners on base with two down twice, and Walker once. Now we had runners on the corners and two out, with starter Matt Rankin still in the game. We chose lefty Odwin Garza as pinch hitter, but he flew out. Grant West came in, 1-2-3, the Bayhawks went down. 1-0 win for the Raccoons. Hall 2-3, BB, 2B; Dawson 2-4, 2B; Saito 8.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K, W (8-9) and 1-3;

Again, the Coons struck in the bottom 2nd in game 2, but only with the help of a massive throwing error by catcher Didier Bourges. Scott Wade drove in two runs himself for a lead. The 2-0 lead persisted through four innings. Wade was as effective on the mound as he was on the plate, 2-hitting the Bayhawks through five. The significance of the bottom 5th will have to be determined a few days from now, but the massive nature of the home run Tetsu Osanai hit to lead off the bottom 5th sure made hope for an end to his drought. It has his first home run for the Coons in over three weeks, not counting the one he bashed in the All Star game. In any case, he followed it up with a leadoff single in the seventh and the Coons scored two in the inning. Scott Wade was going for a shutout, but jammed in the eighth and was gone after consecutive walks. Jones entered to face lefty Greg Douglas, who launched a liner to deep right, Quintanilla after it and – HE CAUGHT IT!! That ended the inning. Bentley pitched a quick ninth and the Coons won 5-0 for their first sweep in ages. Osanai 3-5, HR, RBI; Garza 2-4; Quintanilla 2-4, 2B, RBI; Wade 7.2 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 6 K, W (8-2) and 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI;

For failed trade deadline trade attempts see below.

Raccoons (59-42) vs. Knights (55-46)

This was a battle of two second place teams that both just could not get ahead of the team they trailed for months now.

An off day allowed us to skip Vicente Ruíz once again. But Logan Evans was not good, struggled with control and relied on two double plays to get out of tight situations in the first four innings. Joe Brown, just recently traded to the Knights, held the Furballs well in check until the fifth, when Bill Stevens hit a 2-run home run to left. Another double play saved Evans in the seventh, the Coons still led 2-0, but doubled that when they came to bat in the bottom of the inning. Ruíz appeared out of the pen in the eighth and allowed one hit over the last two innings. The game ended with another double play, and the Coons won 4-0. Osanai 2-4; Weber 3-3, 3B, RBI; Stevens 1-2, HR, 3 RBI; Evans 7.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 5 BB, 5 K, W (8-7); Ruíz 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

This was Bill Stevens’ first big league home run. It took us three baseballs, a game-used bat and an Osanai uniform (new) to retrieve the ball from the fan who caught it.

We also have now quietly pitched 29 shutout innings in a row!

But that streak came to a violent end right in the first inning of the middle game, when sluggers Root and McDonald both doubled off Carlos Gonzalez. Stevens and Garza hit run-scoring doubles in the bottom 2nd to tie the game at 3-3, but Gonzalez was continuing to give away runs. He was lit up for 13 hits and five runs over five innings. Daniel Hall hit his first home run since April in the sixth to get the deficit to 5-4. The pen pitched three no-hit innings to hold the Knights at bay. Then Kelly Weber hit a leadoff double in the bottom 8th. The Knights’ Carlos Asquabal was already over 100 pitches, but they left him in to face the meat of the Raccoons lineup. Dawson flew out, but Osanai hit a single to short center to put the tying run on third. Here comes R.A. Koontz:

Carlos Asquabal toes the rubber and gets the signal from Steve Wall. The first pitch – outside, ball one to Daniel Hall.

Daniel Hall plays with the bat. He’s two for three, with a home run today. Kelly Weber on third, Tetsu Osanai on first.

Hall steps in again. Asquabal throws – contact! Oh, that ball goes soaring, that ball is DEEP, that ball is GONNA GO OUTTA HERE!!!

(The park erupts in cheers)

Michael Root in right field looked after it in vain, that ball was well into the stands! Daniel Hall knocks his second home run of the night, and now the Portland Raccoons lead seven to five.

Grant West got two quick outs, then loaded the bases in the ninth, before grounding out Carl Vickers. 7-5 Raccoons, and a long time hero is back with his big stick well in hand! Hall 3-4, 2 HR, 4 RBI; Stevens 2-4, 2 2B, RBI; Gaston 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K;

Kelly Weber in that eighth inning represented the 500th RBI for Daniel Hall’s career, of course all with the Coons. Danny is the first Raccoon to get there. Mark Dawson is second with 462. Only one more current Coon ranked in the Top 10 all time, Steve Walker at eighth place with 197. Mark Dawson of course is the ABL’s all time RBI leader with 861.

Unfortunately, Kisho Saito was also chopped up early in the last game. With a 5-game winning streak on the line, he fell behind 2-0 in the first. In the second, he fanned Jeremiah Carrell for his 100th K of the season, then hit a 2-out, 2-run double in the bottom 2nd to give the Coons a 3-2 lead! Fast forward to the top 7th, still 3-2 Raccoons. There were two on and one out against Saito, whose pitch count was already at 115. He pitched to Matsuzuka Ohara, who flew out to deep center, which put runners on the corners, two out, and Michael Root to the plate. Now, Root was dangerous, Saito was far used, but Root was also a lefty with a considerable weaker performance against left-handed pitchers. So Saito was put up against him. He got a harmless grounder from Root, and the inning was over. But Cunningham was then hit badly in the top 8th and the lead evaporated. He left with only one out, the tying run in, and the go-ahead run at third. Wally Gaston struck out Douglas Donaldson, which brought up rookie 3B Aaron Nolan. He lined into right, but Ricardo Gonzalez got the glove on it and the inning was over. Gaston allowed a double to Carrell in the ninth. With two out, Grant West came out to face Root and struck him out. Dimian Barrios entered with West in a quad switch (really too complicated to explain, but it involved Walker and R. Gonzalez moving around). He inexpectedly became the match winner by socking a walkoff home run in the ninth! 4-3 Raccoons! Dadswell 3-4, 2B; Barrios 1-1, HR, RBI; Saito 7.0 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 8 K;

Daniel Hall was hurt late in the game and is DTD with a throbbing shoulder. It was serious enough to handicap him for at least one, maybe two weeks – and he ended up on the DL for the third time this season. (facepalm) Paul Blake replaced him on the roster.

Say, with a 6-game winning streak the Raccoons surely lead the division now? (blink)

Nope. We made up but *one* game on the Canadiens. Still 1.5 back. We may be the best second-place team in the Continental League, but that only nets us a Thank You card from the Condors, who extended their lead to 5.5 games in the CL South.

Raccoons (62-42) @ Aces (52-54)

Scott Wade fought his way to a no-decision in the series opener, surrendering a first inning 1-0 Coons lead with a solo jack to Chong-seop O in the bottom 2nd. He was removed for Paul Blake to pinch hit in the seventh, but Blake struck out and Wade’s day was finished. Sam Dadswell had long been unproductive at the plate, but kept the top 8th alive with a 2-out double. Osanai was up next and ripped a home run off starter Jarrod Schroeder into right center. With that and Grant West having pitched the last two days, we went to Cunningham for a 2-inning save. He barely broke into a sweat. 3-1 Raccoons. Walker 2-4, BB; Dadswell 2-3, 2B, RBI; Thompson 1-2, 2 BB; Wade 6.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K; Cunningham 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K, SV (4);

The Osanai home run really was a massive boner from the A-… um, manager. Schroeder’s a righty with almost 120 pitches and Osanai is the left-handed batting Hulk. I still cherished it. Plus, the Canadiens lost 3-1 in Oklahoma and that half game deficit was resurrected.

Game 2 saw Barrios back in the leadoff spot (Walker just had not enough of an OBP) and Ruíz on the mound. Barrios came to the plate twice in the first, 4-run, inning, where he first singled, but then left the bases loaded. The Aces rebounded and branded Ruíz for four runs themselves in the second inning. Back to the other side, the Raccoons added two unearned runs after a run-scoring wild pitch in the third, and Dawson hit a solo jack in the fourth. Ruíz remained wobbly on the mound, but no further damage was done by the Aces through seven. The last few of those innings were almost cruising for Ruíz. Catcher Tony Clark homered off David Jones in the eighth (Clark had already shot one against Ruíz in the second). Grant West did not allow such lapses for himself in the ninth and saved the eighth win in a row for the Furballs, 7-5. Dawson 2-5, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Osanai 2-5, RBI; Weber 2-4, RBI;

The lead given to Logan Evans with a 3-run home run by Ricardo Gonzalez in the second inning didn’t survive the third, where the Aces reeled off base hits at an alarming rate to bring in three runs as well. Evans didn’t survived the bottom 4th. A leadoff triple by Tadashi Kan quickly brought the go-ahead run for the Aces and Evans then loaded the bases and exited. Bentley got Ira Houston to ground out to end the inning. Bentley then also led off the fifth with a double to left and scored after Barrios and Weber hit singles. Osanai squeezed in another run, 5-4 Furballs. That narrow lead was in danger in the sixth, where Wally Gaston had to enter to get things over with, then fell to a leadoff triple by Houston in the seventh. Powell surrendered a 3-run shot to Brad Brown in the eighth. Top 9th: Thompson singled to lead off, and Stevens hit a triple to dead center over the head of everybody. This brought the tying run to the plate in form of Powell, who was needed on the mound should the Raccoons tie it due to a used up pen. Things went better than anticipated: he rolled a slow grounder to closer Matt Sims, who was as slow to retrieve it, then hurried the throw, and it was a really bad throw out of play. Stevens scored and Powell was on second with the tying run. But the rally ended there. Quintanilla and Barrios made poor outs, and Weber struck out to end the winning streak at eight games. 8-7 Aces. Weber 2-4, BB, RBI; Thompson 2-3, BB, 2B; Stevens 2-4, 3B, 2B, RBI;

Raccoons (64-43) vs. Loggers (46-62)

This was a 4-game set, with another home 4-piece against the Canadiens looming next. We’re now in the middle of a 20-game stretch without an off day, so we may want to use this series to give rest to some players that are normally in the lineup every day. Mark Dawson and Steve Walker come to mind.

The Raccoons scored in each of the first four innings of the opener for a 6-0 lead. Carlos Gonzalez had 2-hit the Loggers so far, but momentum swung right back with a 3-run fifth and another run in the sixth to make it 6-4. Jason Bentley struck out the side in the top 8th on just ten pitches. The Raccoons left runners on in the sixth, seventh and eighth and missed a chance to move the game away. West struck out Cipriano Ortega to start the ninth, then Walker muffed a ball on the next grounder. It created a tight spot as Edgardo Garza singled to keep a 10-game hitting streak alive and to put runners on the corners, but eventually Stephen Hall lined out to Kelly Weber in center and the 6-4 win was safe. Osanai 3-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Weber 3-5, 2B, RBI;

Although not a great start, this gave Carlos Gonzalez his 16th win of the year. With it being August 7, there was a sound chance for him to become the first Furballs hurler to reach 20 wins in a season. Maybe that first round pick was not that much of a waste after all.

The Furballs reeled off four hits, three doubles against Neil Stewart right in the bottom 1st to get an early 4-0 lead. Kisho Saito was strong from the start, holding Loggers off the bags. Kelly Weber dropped a flyer in the fourth to put a runner in scoring position, but Saito got out of that situation (there were two outs anyway). Chris McClinton broke up a budding no-hit bid in the fifth with a single into short left. Saito’s control went away completely past the sixth inning and he left in the eighth with a run across and two in scoring position. Unfortunately, Cunningham surrendered a double to Felipe Hernandez and the Loggers cut the gap to 5-3. This time out, Grant West blew the save, but was sabotaged by Gustavo Quintanilla’s bad throw that went way past Sam Dadswell at the plate and allowed a run to score and the tying runner to move up before being singled in. Singles by Ricardo Gonzalez and Dimian Barrios put runners on the corners with nobody out in the bottom 9th. Dadswell hit a flyer over the head of Garza in right for the walkoff run to come in. 6-5 Raccoons. Barrios 2-5, 2B; Dadswell 2-5, 2B, RBI; Osanai 2-4, 2 2B, RBI; Quintanilla 2-4, 2B, RBI; R. Gonzalez 1-1;

Mark Dawson’s off day was set for game 3, as was Steve Walker’s. Neither he nor Barrios were hitting too much recently, so Winston Thompson should get much more playing time again in the next weeks.

Scott Wade in game 3 got behind early when his opponent Judd Montgomery singled in a run in the second. The Raccoons tied that up again in the bottom 2nd, but Wade gave up runs in every inning through to the fifth. The Raccoons had their chances, but Osanai left the bases full in the fifth, Lantán left a runner on second in the sixth. Carlos Moran was then torched up after three walks in the top 7th, Barrios made an error, it was awful, the Loggers came out leading 8-1 and the game was beyond doubt. Barrios dropped a popped up ball with two out in the eighth and Powell then surrendered another hit to Montgomery for even more (unearned) damage. Judd Montgomery pitched a complete game 8-hitter, as the Loggers thrashed the Coons, 11-2. Five of those 11 runs were unearned, all on Barrios. Dadswell 2-4; Quintanilla 2-4, RBI; Blake 2-4, 2B;

One more game against the Loggers: Ruíz faced Mark Warburton, and both had had their struggles this season. Yet here, they combined for three scoreless and the Raccoons only took the lead in the bottom 4th when Sam Dadswell didn’t pick up the stop sign at third on a 2-out single by Kelly Weber and raced home from second, just barely getting in ahead of Cisco Banda’s throw. Warburton was then hurt in a collision at second base with Steve Walker and left the game in the top 5th. Ruíz pitched six shutout innings, then allowed a leadoff double to German Roldan in the seventh and was replaced by Big Wally, who fired through the inning. The Loggers were incited in the eighth about a call from the Raccoons bench. We led 2-0 and Jones had put a runner on with a walk, who then moved to second, and Edgardo Garza came up, with his 13-game winning streak, but he was 0-3 on the day. There was one out, but we called for an intentional walk. If the Loggers would not come back now, Garza’s streak was over. Cunningham got out of the inning, which only left them the ninth to do it. West was a bit tired and we stayed with Cunningham for the ninth. He struck out Roldan and Charlie Justin, then got Hokichi Endo to pop out. 2-0 Raccoons on six hits to the Loggers’ five, and none to Garza. Dadswell 2-4, 2B; Ruíz 6.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K, W (7-9);

In other news

July 29 – The Knights try to improve their rotation by acquiring SP Wayne Smith (6-5, 3.84 ERA) from the Buffaloes, sending INF Jesus Luna (.252 in 202 AB) in return.
July 29 – The Scorpions and Indians complete a 4-player deal, with veteran outfielder Larry Marshall (.241, 8 HR, 37 RBI) heading to Indy. INF Dane Cubitt (.248, 2 HR, 16 RBI) heads to Sacramento, and minor leaguers are exchanged as well.
July 29 – Aces outfielder Claudio Garcia (.283, 6 HR, 43 RBI) will miss two weeks with an oblique strain.
August 6 – Larry Heller, 27, retires from baseball after continued setbacks from a torn rotator cuff. The starting pitcher, a 1980 first round pick by the Rebels, started 55 games in the majors from 1983 to 1985, with a 13-30 record and a 5.84 ERA.
August 10 – MR Mike Mullins (2-2, 3.63 ERA, 1 SV) is out for the season. The Titans reliever has suffered a ruptured finger tendon that will take several months to heal.

Complaints and stuff

I tried to trade for minimum-salary potentially leadoff batting second basemen at the trade deadline. Of particular interest were Chad Fisher (Condors) and Barry Miller (Titans), but neither deal came to fruition. There were some veterans that could fit the role, even on the trading block, but their salaries made them impossible to fit in with my excessed budget.

The team has nicely bounced back from the mid-July slump with an 11-2 streak in this update. The reason was mostly pitching, but also the return of Osanai, who’s batting a more consistent .325 again now. He is still in line for a triple crown in the CL, although the records put up and mentioned before moved a bit out of view (except for the Coons records of course).

By the way, he does not have the highest batting average overall in the CL. Boston catcher Carlos Gonsales is hitting .356, but currently lacks just a few plate appearances to qualify. The Titans really like to platoon him and the second catcher, John Fleury, who was once very high on our own draft shortlist.

Here’s something strange: I got a news article that Armando Sanchez missed the team flight and may be reprimanded by the team for it. Well, Sanchez has a forked up knee and should be at home, leg up on the couch and watch some TV, and not board tight planes in the first place. Secondly, I was notified that he was suspended for two games by the Commissioner’s Office. Um. Why??

And he is STILL … on the frickin’ DL!

When Daniel Hall hit that huge home run to beat the Knights I already mentioned the Raccoons leaders in RBI's. The full Top 10 as of the end of this update are as follows:
1. Daniel Hall 502 - 2. Mark Dawson 465 - 3. Ben Simon 410 - 4. Wyatt Johnston 309 - 5. Pedro Sánz 300 - 6. Matt Workman 278 - 7. Cameron Green 275 - 8. Steve Walker 197 - 9. Ed Sullivan 196 - 10. Enrique Sanchez 174; our Mount Fuji is right next in line with 153, by the way, in 11th place. For comparison, he has played in 189 games for us so far. Sanchez is the one with the least games in the Top 10, with 404. Wow, that man is a machine!

Ah, this is fun. Let's take a look at the stolen base leaders for the Raccoons! We never really had that one big base stealer, well, we had Raúl Herrera for a season, but were only mildly satisfied. He and Tony Barr were a tremendous steal factory in Nashville. I wonder where Barr has ended up? Anyway, the Raccoons Top 10 in stolen bases all time:
1. Daniel Hall 71 - 2. Ken Clark 57 - 3. Jose Flores 37 - 4. Armando Sanchez 24 - 5. Ben Simon 21 - 6. Jayson Bowling 20 - 7. Raúl Herrera 18 - t-8. Ben Cox and Gustavo Zuniga 17 each - 10. Winston Thompson 16;

Who remembers Jose Flores!? We traded him for SP Rich Hughes, and he never appeared in the majors again! That was in 1979. Loooong time ago. Much is true for most others on the list. There is a suspicious amount of failed centerfielders on the list.

By the way, Tony Barr is still around with the Cyclones, but since stealing 52 bags in 1981 with the Blue Sox, he's pretty much fallen off the radar altogether. Those 52 bases are actually the all time single season record.

Next: four games against the Canadiens, once more, then Denver and Nashville in interleague play – gonna be an intense ten days here. Ten days that can make or break a division title.

[Westheim]

Short, but significant update.

Raccoons (67-44) vs. Canadiens (68-42)

Campbell, Beato, Smith, and Correa. That’s the projected rotation we’re facing in this series.

Shimpei Iwamoto’s single to short right was overrun by Quintanilla in the second inning. A single became a double and the Canadiens scored two unearned runs to get ahead in game 1. Robbie Campbell was ace on the mound for the Canadiens. Through five innings, the Raccoons had two baserunners: Winston Thompson, twice. He was left on third in the bottom 4th. Quintanilla singled to lead off the sixth for the Coons, then stole second with Logan Evans at the plate, but Evans failed to bunt him to third, and struck out (Campbell’s 7th K that day). Quintanilla was left on second then. Evans signaled for the trainer to come in after retiring the first two batters in the top 7th. His back was killing him and he had to be removed from the game, and Powell entered to possibly finish it, but he was removed in the bottom 8th for a pinch hitter. Quintanilla had just tripled with two out and now Ricardo Gonzalez, the King of K’s, entered as pinch hitter for Powell because I wanted to counter the righty Campbell. Gonzalez did not strike out, but singled through to right and scored Quintanilla. Gerard Marquis came in for the ninth. Barrios walked replacing Walker, who had gone 0-3. Dadswell bunted him to second, to give Tetsu Osanai every possible chance to tie the game, at least, but he lined out, and Dawson popped out foul. 2-1 Canadiens. Four hits ain’t enough, boys.

Logan Evans has a sore back and may miss a start. Things keep rotting away. In turn, Gustavo Flores came off the DL and Odwin Garza went back to AAA.

We now had three must-win games ahead of us, while the Canadiens scratched Raimundo Beato and sent in Luis Cruz for the second game, who had an ERA over seven. The Raccoons took a 1-0 lead in the first inning, before Dawson grounded into a double play. Dadswell grounded into a triple play in the third. Brian Adams had a long laugh there, hitting a leadoff home run in the very next inning. Dawson responded with a solo jack in the bottom 4th to make it 2-1. And then there was Carlos Gonzalez on the mound. He started the game with 99 K, and got Eddy Bailey to make it 100 in the first inning. He struck out seven through four innings, and then the whole side in the fifth. A new Raccoons record in the making? He didn’t fan anybody in the sixth, though, when his chase for the milestone first appeared on the scoreboard and fans became antsy. Tetsu Osanai meanwhile hit a deep one to make it 4-1, before some more hits made it 6-1, in the bottom 6th. In the seventh, Gonzalez’ command completely went away and he walked the bases full and was removed without getting an out and two runs already in. Cunningham couldn’t get through the mess. The Canadiens tied it against him, 6-6, and still only one out. Moran hit Gabriel Torres with a pitch to bring in the go-ahead run. The Canadiens sent 14 men to the plate in the inning, scoring nine runs. Fans left the park, never to come back. 12-6 Canadiens.

Game 3. Agony over Coon City. Herrera led off with a single off Saito, stole second against the dork Dadswell, then scored on a single by Melvin Greene. They added another run in the second, while Bill Smith was perfect through 13 batters, before Mark Dawson hit an infield single – to be stranded. The Raccoons had nothing going, while Saito gave away three hits to lead off the seventh. He still went eight innings, which was not as far as Bill Smith went. He went the distance and completed a 4-hit shutout of the Raccoons. 3-0 Canadiens.

Scott Wade vs. Juan Correa sounds much like another no-contest. Wade walked Ramirez to start the game, and Ramirez instantly set out to steal. Flores threw wildly to the outfield and Ramirez went to third, then scored on a sac fly. 1 R, 0 H, 1 E on the board after the top 1st. That was the way things went. The Raccoons looked terrible against Correa. Winston Thompson had a hit in the fourth. But a single won’t make a run, usually. And Wade? He clicked off batters. Thompson made a phenomenal play on a grounder that tried to get past him into right with one out in the sixth, getting an out. That was when most realized, that the scoreboard still read 1 R, 0 H, 1 E for the Canadiens. Top 7th: Bailey grounded out. Adams popped out. Ramon Gonzalez sent a liner out to left – GREAT CATCH!! Quintanilla held on to those 0 H. Dawson singled to start the bottom 7th, but Osanai grounded into a double play. Melvin Greene then grounded to left to start the top 8th – it went through.

The agony. The agony over Coon City.

Stevens made another awesome catch in the ninth, and his and Quintanilla’s efforts looked a lot more impossible than the grounder that fit just between Dawson and Walker. Wade went the distance of nine, then was removed as he was to start the bottom 9th at the plate. Dadswell struck out in his place. Thompson singled off Marquis, just the third hit for the Raccoons on the day. Quintanilla grounded one that sent Thompson to second. Mark Dawson came up, the other heroic hitter in the lineup. He drew a full count walk of Marquis. Osanai in the box – hobbled to second. 1-0 Canadiens. Wade 9.0 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, L (8-4);

The foul taste of decisive defeat, glued to our gums.

Coon City, lay defeated. Lay dead.

[Orcin]

Ouch, that is a nightmare. Great post though. You write disaster better than anyone. Maybe it's all the practice that you've had.

[Westheim]

Yeah. It's like one of those dreams you know you're dreaming, but where you just can not wake up ...

[Westheim]

All hope gone, we can now concentrate on how to improve the team for next season. There are a couple of things to settle in the infield, foremost the fact that Dimian Barrios’ contract is up at the end of this season and he made an expensive $396k. The outfield is a mess, too.

Daniel Hall will come back soon. Let’s see whether he can stay healthy long enough to make his 1,000th career game (he has 995 so far) and maybe even log his 1,000th hit (he stands at 988).

Raccoons (67-48) @ Gold Sox (61-52)

This was a mix-up of second-place teams, both beaten. The Gold Sox trailed the Stars by 12.5 games, while the Raccoons – well, you know.

Vicente Ruíz was lit up by the Gold Sox in the opener. Two runs in the first, four runs in the second, walking four while getting only five outs before Moran entered the game. But Moran was not any more effective, surrendering a 2-run long ball to Dale Wales in the third inning, and was chased in the next inning. Success story of the day was Wally Gaston pitching a scoreless fifth and sixth inning. In the sixth, the Coons loaded the bags against Randy Zimmerman with nobody out before popping out, striking out, and lining out. Raccoons lost, 9-1. Dawson 2-4, 2B, Osanai 2-4, RBI; Gaston 3.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K;

Oh, well.

We mounted seven lefties for Jorge Valdes in game 2. Valdes, a 20-game winner in 1985, was only 9-9 this year, but still solid, and solid was more than what the Raccoons could digest at the moment. We still scored the first run on a wild pitch in the third inning. Up 2-0 in the top 6th, we had the bases loaded with two out and Logan Evans up to bat. If the pen just hadn’t been so strained after the blowout the day before… Evans was sent to bat, struck out, and the chance was gone. Old Jimmy Hunter hit a leadoff double in the bottom 6th and came in to score against Evans, 2-1 only now. But Evans and Cunningham held on through eight and we entered Grant West in the ninth. His perfect inning was possibly the best the team showed in the series so far. Weber 2-4; Evans 7.1 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, W (9-8); West 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, SV (30);

Grant West leads all Continental League pitchers in saves this season. By the way, he is 12th on the career saves list, with 202. That’s 129 behind leader Ed King.

The Canadiens placed Matt Workman on waivers. He has not played in the majors this year, but chugged 29 dingers in AAA ball. I’d claim him if I had the salary room. I don’t.

Carlos Gonzalez, our 16-game winner, left game 3 in the second inning with an undisclosed injury. Powell took over and pitched four clean innings while the Raccoons moved out to a 4-0 lead, then became stuck and was whacked for two runs in the bottom 6th. Another run got across against Cunningham and Jones in the seventh. Things got tense here quickly again, and Grant West blew the save with two outs in the ninth, when Dale Wales singled to short right to drive in Paul Connolly, who had singled to start the frame. The game went to extra innings. The Gold Sox hit three singles off Wally Gaston to win in the bottom 10th, 5-4. Thompson 3-5, 2B, RBI; Barrios 2-5, 2 2B, RBI; Osanai 2-4, 2B, RBI;

Gonzalez was quickly diagnosed after the game: elbow inflammation, his season is over. That’s his third significant elbow injury and he is only 24. He went 16-3 with a 2.83 ERA this year, currently leading the CL in wins.

So it was time for roster moves, since Daniel Hall was eligible to come off the DL. He was back on the roster and Paul Blake was sent down. With Gonzalez to the 60-day DL, we brought up Manuel Paredes from AAA, where he had been 11-12 with a 3.94 ERA. This was his last option year. We had acquired him from Charlotte for Victor Castillo last winter.

Raccoons (68-50) vs. Blue Sox (66-52)

Antonio Rodriguez’ leadoff triple against Kisho Saito quickly produced a Blue Sox run in the opener. Alejandro Lopez, a former first round pick by the Raccoons, hit his first major league home run off Saito in the second inning. Things got out of hand quickly, as was the case more often the last few weeks. In the bottom 4th, Dawson and Osanai got into scoring position with nobody out – but the Coons couldn’t come up with a productive at bat after that. The Blue Sox also put two in scoring position with nobody out in the top 5th. Catcher Travis Lange doubled to right to drive them both in and they scored Lange as well to lead 7-0. Bottom 5th. Bill Stevens, who started in center, drew a leadoff walk. Saito, who was for some reason or other still in the game, bunted, but the Blue Sox fired the ball past their first baseman. Two in scoring position, nobody out – again. Barrios and Walker had RBI hits and Dawson scarificed in Barrios before the inning trickled out with Osanai and Hall. The Blue Sox out-hit the Raccoons 18-8 in the game, which was easily enough to win, 9-5. Barrios 2-5, 2B, RBI; Walker 2-5, 2B, RBI;

Scott Wade pitched a perfect first inning the next day – that was already much improvement over what the rotation had shown this time through. Wade kept retiring batters – with the help of the outfielders, as Weber in center and Hall in left made great catches in the fourth. Back in Portland, the site of his losing effort 1-hitter five days earlier. Through four, he was no less than perfect, but the Raccoons were no-hit through four as well. Top 5th: Horace Henry broke up the perfect game with a double to left. Travis Lange homered. So much for pitching achievements. The Blue Sox took a 3-0 lead in the inning and chased Wade in the sixth. Winston Thompson took revenge with a leadoff single in the bottom 5th – but that was as far as revenge would go. Lange hit another 2-piece of Powell in the eighth. The Raccoons lost, 5-2, on six hits. Thompson 2-4, 2B; R. Gonzalez (PH) 1-1, RBI;

Ruíz was skipped to start Logan Evans on short rest. The wisdom behind this move would not come to daylight until during the game itself, though. But the team had dropped eight of their last nine games and Ruíz was definitely no help to have on the mound.

The Raccoons did something strange in that third game of this lost series: they took a lead on their own when Tetsu Osanai, who had been invisible for some time, knocked a 3-run home run in the bottom 1st. That’s where the offense sat back and left Evans to fight for his own. An unwise decision for sure. The Blue Sox chipped singled runs off the lead in the fifth and sixth. In the five innings from the second to the sixth, the Coons had but one hit, a Dadswell single. Cunningham entered in the seventh, but even he was struggling recently, and by struggling I mean a ton, but got through the inning despite an error by Barrios. Dadswell then put up another H for the Coons, a leadoff double in the bottom 7th. He didn’t come around to score. RF Ricardo Gonzalez saved the lead with a nail to third base in the eighth, getting the lead runner Mike Grimes for the third out. Bottom 8th: Thompson walked to start it, and then Mark Dawson hit his annual triple to score him, off the wall in right center. West came in to pitch the ninth with a 5-2 lead. Antonio Rodriguez and Cesar Colon singled through the seams on either side to bring the tying run up with nobody out. One run scored on a flyer to center. Then with two down, West nailed Horace Henry, bringing up John White in the cleanup spot. His crawler to the right side on a 2-2 pitch was just cut off by Thompson, who managed a good enough throw to Osanai before kissing the dirt – game over, 5-3 Raccoons. Dadswell 2-4, 2B;

This was the 10th win for Logan Evans this season.

Raccoons (69-52) @ Crusaders (58-63)

This is step one on a 2-week road trip that will take us into September. Six games back in the division, we have nothing to win there, and 11.5 ahead of the third-place Titans we have (I hope) little to lose there. Sounds like a stinker of a stretch.

Well, ONE guy was happy to having to face the Crusaders: Manuel Paredes, who made his big league debut on the mound for the Raccoons in the opener. He struck out the first batter he faced, CF Stephen Walton. The Raccoons went up 1-0 in the second, but a 3-walk inning from Paredes in the bottom 2nd quickly dashed hopes. The Crusaders took a 2-1 lead. This looked insurmountable already! But it wasn’t. Who tied it? Paredes, with a monster home run to left in the top 5th. Not only the Crusaders were shocked and stared in disbelief (and even the Coons bench took a few moments to realize what had just happened). Out to a 4-2 lead, Paredes was socked hard in the bottom of the same inning, surrendering four more runs. Ricardo Gonzalez hit a homer in the sixth, but then left the bags full as the final out in the seventh. We still trailed 6-5 into the ninth. Winston Thompson struck out on a full count against Joshua Bernard, before Dawson singled to left. Osanai up, we need a big one here. But he flew out. Hall doubled to left, but Dawson could not score, which brought up Dadswell with two down. He flew out harmlessly. 6-5 Crusaders. Thompson 2-5; Dawson 3-5, 2B, RBI;

We faced Hisanobu Higuchi in the middle game – whom I hated with a grim that only I could hate with. But the pitcher for the Crusaders didn’t really matter. Kisho Saito was bashed for four 2-hit hits in the bottom 1st, with home runs on either end, right away. That 4-0 deficit was challenged however. The Raccoons trailed 6-2 into the top 4th, but started with back-to-back doubles by Osanai and Hall. Quintanilla got on with one out and we played a run-and-hit with Bill Stevens at the plate. Stevens missed, but so did catcher Enrique Sanchez on his throw to third, and Hall came all the way in to score from second. Down 6-5 to start the fifth, Walker and Dawson then had hits to start the next inning, but Osanai couldn’t get them in and Hall lined into a double play. Despite surrendering six early, Saito went six innings, still trailing into the top 7th, where he was removed for Kelly Weber to pinch hit. Weber reached on an errant throw and went to second base – and nobody out. And they didn’t get him in. The Coons were still down 6-5 in the ninth. Ricardo Gonzalez had struck a leadoff single to left, and Barrios had walked, but now there were two out. Dawson grounded to third, and Dan Payne couldn’t hold on to Alexander Avery’s throw, and the ball bounced into the dugout. Two-base throwing error, and THIS brought in the tying run. Osanai then flew out, wasting a chance to go ahead, then made an error that got the Crusaders going in the ninth, but Powell pitched out of it, but then took the loss in the 11th. The Raccoons left Barrios on second in the top of the inning, then Powell succumbed to two singles and sac fly. 7-6 Crusaders. Barrios 2-5, BB, 2 2B, RBI; Walker 2-6, RBI; Osanai 2-5, 2 2B;

This was Daniel Hall’s 1,000th career game. He had that RBI double, but ultimately contributed well enough to the loss.

In game 3, the Crusaders batted through the lineup in the third inning to slam four runs on Scott Wade, who surrendered 12 hits and five runs in six innings. There was nothing happening on the other half of the scoreboard for a long time. Francisco Vidrio 2-hit the Raccoons for seven frames. Barrios and Walker then had 1-out singles in the eighth, and Mark Dawson unloaded to deep left – gone the shutout, and the Raccoons were now back in grasping range at 5-3. That brought in Bernard in the ninth. Two got on, but none got in. 5-3 Crusaders, completing a sweep. Walker 2-4;

Raccoons (69-55) @ Indians (51-73)

Let’s see whether we can beat a last place team. Just kidding.

An off day before this series and a couple more on the first two Thursdays in September allowed me to skip Ruíz, who was just dreadful at the moment, and get back to Logan Evans. He got early support from an RBI groundout by Quintanilla in the second, then got six more runs in the third, when the Coons crushed Robert Vazquez, who had entered the game with an ERA equal to Evans (2.74). Evans carried a no-hitter into the sixth, where it was broken up by SS Tom Welch with two down with a single to left. Ill control almost got the better of Evans at several points, but he got two double plays from his infielders and was able to pull off a 3-hitter eventually, as the Raccoons won 7-0. Offensively they didn’t do anything after that massive third inning. Osanai 2-4; Flores 2-3, BB, 2B, RBI; Evans 9.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 3 K, W (11-8);

This was Logan Evans’ seventh career shutout, and the first this season, continuing a streak of one shutout per year going back to our pennant season in 1983.

Mark Dawson’s RBI double gave Manuel Paredes a first-inning lead for his second outing. Paredes had to ditch trouble in each of the first three innings, and managed to do so. Kelly Weber’s base-clearing double (with 2 outs) in the top 4th made it 4-0 Coons. And only THEN the Indians went out to smash Paredes and scored four runs right away in the bottom 4th. The Raccoons gripped their bats a bit tighter going into the fifth and knocked Indians starter Alex Miranda out of the game with three runs to make it 7-4. Nevertheless, Paredes was hardly up for the challenge. LF Sean Bergeron launched a huge shot to deep left to start the bottom 5th – Hall leapt as high as he could at the fence and JUST got the glove on it. Paredes walked the next batter, but got a double play grounder to get out of the inning. Christopher Powell then put the first two Indians on in the seventh. Cunningham induced a run-scoring double play and also got David Harris to ground out for limited damage. Bentley was roughed up in the eighth and West came in with five outs to go and held on to a shaking 7-6 lead. Osanai was presented with a chance with runners on the corners and one out in the top 9th – double play. So, West had no margin for error in the bottom 9th. He struck out Jorge Ramirez to get things moving, but then Orlando Lantán botched an easy grounder by Tom Welch, who was safe at first. With two down, the Indians had runners on the corners. West against Yoritoko Ohwada, who was 3-5 with 2 RBI on the day. Slow roller to the mound, West to it and zings to Osanai – OUT! 7-6 Raccoons. Barrios 2-5; Dawson 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Dadswell 2-4, RBI;

Paredes got the W, but I’m not so thrilled about his 9.00 ERA. Those were also the first back-to-back wins in almost three weeks (then against the Loggers) – not thrilling, either.

And I was also not thrilled with Lantán, who was sent to AAA, batting a scratch over .200 and not making plays in the field that should be made. Carlos Miranda was recalled.

One more in Indy. A leadoff double in the third by Saito himself was wasted as the Coons left him and Winston Thompson in scoring position. Bill Stevens grounded into a double play in the fourth, but at least managed to get Daniel Hall in from third for the first run of the ballgame. Then suddenly things got moving. Sean Bergeron looked very bad on a Kelly Weber flyball into short left center that landed for a hit, and Saito drove him in with another double. Thompson and Barrios had singles, before Dawson flew out to Bergeron. 3-0 Coons. With the bases loaded, Hall dropped a shallow flyer into right field between Vulaj, Aranda, and Taggart to score two more runs in the sixth. But the Indians came back with force in the sixth. Saito suddenly lost control of the game and loaded the bases, only for Alvin Sutphen to smack a grand slam. Only 5-4 lead now. Saito remained in for the seventh – grave mistake. Jorge Ramirez led off with a single, and Taggart homered to left center to get the Indians ahead. Kisho Saito really worked hard to earn that loss. Hall struck out with two on to end the eighth, and they didn’t even get that far in the ninth. 6-5 Indians. Thompson 2-3, 2 BB; Hall 2-4, 2 RBI; Dadswell 3-5, 2B;

The last two games of this series, the losing team both times out-hit the winning team by at least six hits.

In other news

August 16 – Ralph Nixon, 40 years old and back in an everyday role since his trade to the Miners, batting .306 there, is out with a fractured rib that will take at least a month to heal. Will it have been the last line in his career?
August 16 – Jack Pennington, also 36 already, tosses a 2-hitter in a 1-0 win over the Falcons. Pennington is 14-5 with a 2.64 ERA with the Blue Sox.
August 17 – The Miners lose outfielder Xiao-wei Li (.288, 2 HR, 39 RBI) to an oblique strain for four weeks.
August 20 – The Cyclones acquire 1B Matt Workman from the Canadiens, sending RF Jorge Mora (.261 in 23 AB with the Cyclones) in return.
August 21 – Charlotte’s Joe Ellis (12-9, 2.71 ERA) is out for three weeks with a strained hamstring.
August 22 – The Crusaders’ young reliever Luis Mateo (0-1, 1.99 ERA in 26 G) is out for all of this AND next season with a torn rotator cuff.
August 23 – Veteran slugger Guy King (.296, 8 HR, 64 RBI) goes down to a torn back muscle. The 31-yr old will not be able to take the field for the Thunder again until next season.
August 24 – Aces outfielder Claudio Garcia, 23, struggles to stay healthy this year, heading to the DL with an oblique strain, that will keep him away for three weeks. It’s his fourth stint on the DL this season. If he’s playing, he’s batting .282 with 6 HR, 46 RBI.
August 24 – In turn, the Stars lose outfielder Joe Adams (.333, 4 HR, 51 RBI) to a fractured rib. He will be out until late September.
August 28 – A fractured foot will keep ATL INF Jeremiah Carrell (.289, 0 HR, 25 RBI) on the shelf for three weeks or so.
August 28 – Torn ankle ligaments end the season of Nashville’s outfielder Brian Henry (.312, 1 HR, 41 RBI).

Complaints and stuff

Everything’s brutally gone to hell. What else is there to do but count down to Daniel Hall’s 1,000th career hit? The countdown reads 5.

We can also root for Tetsu Osanai’s triple crown ambitions. (Which actually sounds more realistic than Hall nipping those few hits the rest of the season…) But the trend is going south here with increasing speed, too. He’s leading the RBI race by 11 over Atlanta’s Tom McDonald and by 18 over Michael Root. In home runs, he’s only two ahead of BOS 1B Isto Grönholm. McDonald has just recently overtaken him in the batting race (.341 to .340) and that doesn’t account for BOS C Carlos Gonsales, who’s batting .350 and still doesn’t qualify because John Fleury is getting so much playing time.

I’d like to name one hitter that isn’t either slumping or laying dead, at least if compared to earlier in the season. Steve Walker is a terrifying example, tanking to .240; Hall and Dawson do not have good seasons, obviously, also batting .240, and it is clear by now that Osanai has motored this team all the way. He’s been cold since the All Star game. And the team started to tumble right there. They are 19-20 since then (and 4-12 since the Canadiens came to town to chop us up).

Next: the latter half of the road trip, in Tijuana and Oklahoma. Our first home stint in September will feature the Titans and Loggers. Maybe we can drop second place there already. Anything else but a sweep in Tijuana (with the Coons on the upside) and we will have our first losing month of the season in August.

May be a dumb question to ask, but how can a guy have no big league experience and still have only one option year left?

[Questdog]

Any year a player is on the 40 man roster and plays in the minors, he should use an option up, whether he ever plays in the bigs or not.....

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by Questdog

Any year a player is on the 40 man roster and plays in the minors, he should use an option up, whether he ever plays in the bigs or not.....

Yeah, that's reasonable. The main question remains why the Falcons put him on there in the first place and never used him. From what I'm seeing he would not have been rule 5 eligible until this year. (But then, I am wrong all the time...)

What a waste of a young player. But well ... with a 9.00 ERA he's not gonna live long on my roster, either.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (71-56) @ Condors (72-56)

The Condors were trying to win their third straight division title, but the Knights were right on their heels. The Raccoons were trying to not lose any more feathers. Or … tails, which … fits better here.

Scott Wade had lost his last four games (including his 1-hitter against the Canadiens) entering the first game. He gave the Condors a head start, falling 1-0 behind in the first inning. In turn, he started a rally in the top 3rd with a single dipped into short left. Thompson doubled off the wall and gave Barrios a prime chance to turn the game with one out, but he struck out and Dawson flew out, inning over. The Condors in turn upped to 3-0 in the bottom 3rd with the help of Daniel Hall, who dropped a flyball in deep left. Wholly ineffective, Wade gave up 10 hits in the game, struck out none, and took the loss: 6-1 Condors; Thompson 2-3, BB; Dawson 2-4, 2B;

Daniel Hall drove in the Coons’ only run with an RBI double in the ninth, logging career hit #996. Tetsu Osanai went 0-4 in his triple crown bid. Atlanta’s McDonald drove in three against the Canadiens to gain in the RBI department.

Game 2 was Vicente Ruíz’ first time back on the mound in two weeks. The Raccoons loaded the bags in the first inning and – to change things up for once – actually scored two runs. They added one in the second, and Osanai socked a leadoff homer in the third inning, 4-0. Ruíz had been fairly decent through five, but succumbed in the sixth inning. Two leadoff walks, then a K to SS Cipriano Ortega (his only K the whole day), but then an RBI single by Chad Fisher chased him. Another run scored against David Jones, but Jones held on to the 4-3 lead and got out of the inning. A 2-out RBI single by Winston Thompson in the eighth got the Coons some breathing room (although Thompson was then picked off at first). Gaston and West both put two runners on in the last two innings, but pitched around it. 5-3 Raccoons. Weber 3-5, RBI; Osanai 3-5, HR, RBI; Hall 2-4, RBI; Miranda 2-4;

Dannyboy logged an infield RBI single in the first and another single after that to get to 998 career hits. Can he still get 1,000 this month? He has exactly one game left. Tetsu Osanai took firm grip on all three triple crown categories again, leading by .005, 2 HR, 8 RBI overall.

As the Coons put Logan Evans in to face John Douglas (ex-Logger who would occasionally walk eight Coons in games), both Osanai and Hall had big hits right in the first inning. With one out, Osanai singled in Thompson from second, while Hall then hit a 2-run double to score Dawson and Osanai. One run got away from Evans in the bottom 1st again, though, for a 3-1 lead. Top 3rd: Osanai hit a leadoff double, which brought up Daniel Hall. A small crowd of not more than 300 Coons followers had flocked together along the right field line and made considerable noise as he stepped into the box. Hall drew a walk, which was not the desired result, but fine by Coons followers round the nation in the interest of winning the game, yet ultimately still pointless since the Raccoons left the bases loaded in the inning. The score still 3-1, Hall came up again as the first batter in the top 5th, but Jose Moreno converted his slow grounder to third into an out. Top 7th, Coons still 3-1 ahead, Osanai on first, one out, Daniel Hall to the plate. Come on, Danny. This is your stage. Let’s listen to R.A. Koontz.

Daniel Hall is one for two with a walk and two runs batted in today. With the slow Osanai on first base this is not an RBI chance, but right now many people are not necessarily going to look for a run here, but for a mere hit.

Hall steps out again and swings his bat a few more times.

Daniel Hall was the first overall amateur draft pick the Portland Raccoons have ever made, back in nineteen-seventy-seven. He was the number two pick overall that season, behind Andres Ramirez.

First pitch from Douglas – is a strike. The Raccoons fans along the line there are surely giddy for a hit.

Douglas looks at Osanai. Douglas has walked six today, but no damage since the first inning.

Douglas from the stretch to Daniel Hall. Contact, a soaring ball along the right foul line, not deep. Could be fair, Fisher going out, Dundee c’min’ in, it drops in! Osanai holds at second.

Career hit number one-thousand for Mister Daniel Hall, born June twenty-six, thirty-one years ago. And the Condors are fair sportspeople, as his achievement lights up on the scoreboard just now. The Tijuana crowd rises to their feet and applauds Hall, who is the seventy-fourth player in ABL history to reach four-digit career hits. And Hall lifts his helmet to the crowd and flashes a smile. It has been a hard season for him, losing more than half the games so far to injuries.

And now we get back to playing ball, as Sam Dadswell steps in, oh for two today. John Douglas’ first pitch is wide of the strike zone…

The next three were also wide, loading the bases, and Douglas also gave four wide ones to Walker, pushing in Osanai. Ricardo Gonzalez lined into short left center, which scored Hall, netting him a run on his 1,000th career base hit.

LET’S CELEBRATE THIS!! We may not get anything else to cheer about this season.

Oh, yeah, the Coons took the game, 5-4, after it almost collapsed away from the bullpen. Osanai 3-5, 2B, RBI; Hall 2-4, BB, 2B, 2 RBI;

There were also good news for Logan Evans after the game, but see below.

Interlude: September 1

You know me, I like to call up two additional arms and two or three bats once September starts. This season, we would have called up AAA closer Juan Martinez – but he was hurt in his August 31 outing – diagnosis pending. So, we went ahead and called up relievers Pedro Vazquez and Mike Shaw, who had both already enjoyed very brief stints with the team this season.

Then we called up 2B Dani Perez, an international amateur signing from Panama back in 1983. He had torn through the minor leagues this year and was batting .280 in AAA as well. He would certainly get a handful of starts at second base down the stretch (the season would last into early October anyway this year). Darren Campbell also was recalled after an earlier stint.

Raccoons (73-57) @ Thunder (67-62)

Manuel Paredes’ Raccoons stint lasted less than another full inning after his two shoddy outings. The Thunder blew him up for six runs in the first inning. Vazquez was thrown in and gave the Coons 3.1 scoreless, if messy, innings. Powell also pitched three frames without any more damage – and those were the best news there were to report that day. The Raccoons were soundly defeated, 6-2. Walker 2-4;

Manuel Paredes (1-2, 13.50 ERA) was sent back to AAA after this game. Christopher Powell will finish the season in the rotation. At 9.5 games behind, things like that don’t matter anymore.

Dani Perez made his big league debut in the middle game on September 2. He first came to the plate in a scoreless game in the second inning, facing Bob Gaulton. The Raccoons had the bases loaded with nobody out, but Ricardo Gonzalez had already popped out before Perez. Dani Perez dipped a single to short right for the go-ahead run. Kisho Saito meanwhile started impressively into the game. The first time through the Thunder lineup, he fanned six. Top 4th: Perez came to bat with Daniel Hall at third and two out – single to left, 2-0 Raccoons. But Dave Browne wrecked Saito’s outing with a 2-run home run in the bottom of the frame, tying up the game, and the Thunder took the lead in the next inning. They added three in the eighth and the Raccoons looked beaten trailing 7-3. They weren’t quite. Quintanilla and Barrios led off with singles that put them on the corners. Closer Jamel Teissier came in. Thompson pinch hit for Weber and doubled to deep right center, scoring a run. Mark Dawson stepped into the box, representing the tying run, but grounded out. Osanai didn’t manage more than a sac fly behind him. Daniel Hall had a single after that, but Dadswell flew out. 7-5 Thunder. Barrios 2-5; Thompson (PH) 1-1, 2B, RBI; Osanai 3-4, 2 RBI; Hall 3-5; Perez 2-4, 2 RBI; Quintanilla (PH) 1-1;

Trying to salvage one game in Oklahoma, the Coons scored single runs in both of the first two innings for a 2-0 lead handed to Scott Wade, who had quite a few struggles to get ahead in counts. Through five, he 2-hit the Thunder with no runs for Oklahoma, but only struck out pitcher Wilson Cordova once. The Thunder got to him in the sixth with three hits and a run, cutting the Raccoons’ lead in half. Wade was removed for Barrios to pinch hit as the first man up in the top 7th. Barrios doubled down the left field line. Thompson was walked intentionally, Weber bunted them over, and then Daniel Hall, back in the #3 spot for a struggling Mark Dawson, singled to right to score both runners and advanced to second on a throwing error. This was already the final score, 4-1. Mike Shaw pitched two scoreless innings facing mostly lefties and Grant West closed the game. Thompson 2-2, 3 BB, RBI; Osanai 3-4, BB, RBI; Barrios (PH) 1-2, 2B; Wade 6.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 1 K, W (9-7); Shaw 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K;

Winston Thompson is red hot and has now hit in 12 games in a row!

Raccoons (74-59) vs. Loggers (60-73)

This was the opener to a 6-game home stand, surrounded by off days. It was tempting to skip Ruíz again, but he had been solid his last time out and to be honest, apart from Logan Evans, there was no pitcher in the rotation that I would bank on for a W. Saito was awful since the summer, Wade was struggling to remove batters, Ruíz was struggling anyway, and Powell was … well, sadly, for years past his prime. We had September 5. Another month from here, a 9 1/2 season relationship would come to an end.

So Ruíz it was to start the series against the Loggers, who had by now dumped the Indians into the cellar and were trying to finish anywhere close to decency (the Loggers were one of two teams, the other being the Titans, to never finish with a winning record).

Daniel Hall was thrown out at the plate on an Osanai double to end the bottom 1st, denying the Coons the go-ahead run. With two out in the top 3rd, Ruíz walked two, then gave up two hits for two runs, before a grounder ended the inning – finally. Ruíz remained ineffective after that and was removed after five innings, down just 2-1. The Coons missed a chance to score with Thompson on third and one out. A massive shot by Mark Dawson tied the game in the bottom 6th, it was Dawson’s 15th dinger of the season. But the Loggers countered that, as Hokichi Endo socked a 2-piece off Richard Cunningham in the eighth. The runner on base had been Vazquez’ though. The Raccoons never had another baserunner. 4-2 Loggers. Osanai 2-4, 2B; Miranda 2-4, RBI;

The instant anyone noticed Winston Thompson’s hitting streak – it was over.

Logan Evans, who was the hope for a W these days, was shot off the mound by the Loggers. Four hits, five walks, six runs in not even five innings. The bullpen took over from there and was solid, allowing no more runs. But the damage had been done. Mark Warburton, who was 6-10 with a 5.25 ERA going into the game, shut down the Raccoons for three hits in seven innings, and they didn’t produce any offense until the bottom 9th, when it was way too late. 6-2 Loggers. Perez (PH) 1-1; Quintanilla (PH) 1-1; Walker 2-4, 2B, RBI; Flores (PH) 1-1, RBI; Moran 2.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K;

Christopher Powell had left the rotation in May at 2-1, 4.14 ERA. He was now 2-1, and the ERA a fifth of a point higher. This was his first start in almost four months. You’d better not expect greatness to transpire here.

Through three innings, the game was scoreless. Powell had 2-hit the opposition, while Neil Stewart was perfect for the Loggers. Daniel Hall squeezed out a 2-out walk in the bottom 4th to break up a perfecto bid, but the no-hitter still stood. Until Osanai stepped in. He lined into right center for a single. But Dawson rolled out to end the inning, and the game was still scoreless after five. The Loggers then took swings at Powell in the sixth and loaded the bases with two out. Rookie 1B Ton Otani was up. He hit the ball deep to center, Bill Stevens launched himself at it – CAUGHT IT! Powell was removed for a pinch hitter after six scoreless innings of work, but the Raccoons went down shamefully, not scoring with Winston Thompson at third base, and Daniel Hall struck out to end the inning. Neither team threatened much until the bottom 8th, when Bill Stevens hit a double to start things off. Dani Perez popped out and Steve Walker only managed a grounder that sent Stevens to third. The #1 spot in the lineup now had Cunningham in there after a double switch and he was removed for Dimian Barrios to counter the lefty Stewart, who was still in the game. Barrios singled to short left, 1-0 Coons. (exhausted breathing) A 9-pitch save by West salvaged – again – at least the one win in the series. Barrios (PH) 1-1, RBI; Osanai 2-3; Stevens 2-3, 2B; Powell 6.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 1 K;

Raccoons (75-61) vs. Titans (66-72)

Here was that other team that had never finished with a winning record so far. I’m sure those Furballs would like to help…

Kisho Saito has not won a game since July. He’s 2-9 since mid-June. Saito certainly tried to get a W in the series opener, but received little to no help from his team. The Titans got one run off him in the third, which was it for a while. After a leadoff double in the top 6th, Isto Grönholm sent a long flyer to deep left – he was the main challenger of Osanai in the home run race. The ball missed the wall, but Hall couldn’t get it either. The Titans scored a run, but Osanai shot a 2-run home run in the bottom 6th to tie the game. Saito again was unable to hold on, and Wen Zhan homered to center in the top 7th. Miranda misplayed a grounder at short for another run in the same inning. The Coons, as poorly as the played, this was already an insurmountable 4-2 deficit. And it was. Wally Gaston pitched two good final innings, for nothing. 4-2 Titans. The Raccoons had six hits. Osanai 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Miranda 1-2, BB; Gaston 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

Game 2 was another affair with very low output early on. Both teams had only one hit each the first time through their lineups. Scott Wade looked good, as did Pedro Romero (7-12, 5.03 ERA). Dani Perez, who batted second and played second, walked to start the bottom 4th and we called for a hit-and-run with Daniel Hall, which worked well, putting runners on the corners, when Hall singled to right. Osanai to the plate, a grounder to third that prevented Perez from running, and gave an unproductive out. But Mark Dawson, next up, came up clutch after an era of struggling and singled through Esteban Rodriguez into left. 2-0 Coons. Daniel Hall saved Wade a run by nailing John Fleury at second, when the latter tried to stretch a single in the sixth. Wade got through the next two innings quickly and with a 3-0 lead after eight was allowed to go for a shutout, despite having already completed 114 pitches. He faced the top of the order. John Fleury reached with a bloop single that fell into no man’s land. Wade then struck out RF Salvador Vargas, but walked LF Hjalmar Flygt and his day was over with Isto Grönholm coming up. Grant West saved the game, but one run came across on another sub-par play by the defense. 3-1 Raccoons. The Raccoons had only seven hits in the game. Hall 1-2, 2 BB; Barrios (PH) 2-2, RBI; Wade 8.1 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, W (10-7);

Game 3. Can we please get a series win for once? Darren Campbell got a start at second base. And Ruíz was on the mound. Bill Stevens’ home run got the Raccoons ahead in the first inning, but Wen Zhan hit one for two runs off Ruíz in the next inning. Osanai hit his 27th dinger of the season to tie it up again in the fourth inning. And you could say a lot about how Vicente Ruíz was having a horrible season on the mound – but he was much better at the plate, hitting over .300! He came to bat with Darren Campbell on second and one out in the bottom 5th and singled over SS Manny Mora for the go-ahead run. But, as I said, he was not very good as a pitcher this year and couldn’t work through the sixth. Neither could the pen, the Titans tied the game, 3-3, then scored a run off Wally Gaston in the seventh. The Coons scrambled to avoid giving Gaston his sixth loss with a sub-2 ERA. Perez had a pinch hit single with one out, and Stevens also singled to put them on the corners with one out for Hall, but he grounded into a double play. The bottom 9th started with Osanai, and the way everybody was playing, he better hit a long one. He walked. With Dawson next, we ordered a hit-and-run with the snail-paced Osanai, to avoid another double play. Manny Mora was as puzzled as anybody when the Japanese bulldozer began to dash for second base, and then couldn’t get to Dawson’s grounder, that went through on his other side. Runners on the corners, nobody out, winning run on first. Ricardo Gonzalez pinch-hit for Gustavo Flores. Juan Miranda got him to 2-2 and fans were fearing a rally-killing K, but then Gonzalez grounded up the middle – PAST ZHAN FOR A SINGLE!! The game was tied. But now Campbell made a really bad bunt and Fleury forced Dawson at third. And now the inning was killed. The game went to extra innings. Moran jammed in the 10th, but West got through to put the Coons in a position to win it. Steve Walker led off with a single in his first AB of the day, having just entered in the double switch with West, but was thrown out on an attempt to steal. West hit Bob Arnold to get the 11th started and two infield singled got Arnold around to score. Ben Edmonds struck out the side in the bottom 11th. 5-4 Titans. Perez (PH) 1-1; Walker 1-1; Stevens 3-5, HR, RBI; Dawson 2-5; R. Gonzalez (PH) 1-2, RBI;

In other news

August 29 – VAN SS Eddy Bailey (.289, 8 HR, 58 RBI) is out for the season with a fractured ankle. Heading for the postseason, again pieces are breaking out of the Canadiens’ juggernaut.
August 30 – The playoff-contending Blue Sox will have to make do without their shortstop down the stretch, too, as Mike Grimes (.337, 0 HR, 50 RBI) broke his foot and will miss a month.
August 30 – Miners 1B Motoki Matsu****a (.306, 8 HR, 55 RBI) reaches a 20-game hitting streak with a fourth inning single in a 5-4 loss to Sacramento.
September 1 – The Warriors chill Motoki Matsu****a, ending his hitting streak at 21 games.
September 3 – Atlanta catcher Steve Wall is put away for a long time with a torn posterior cruciate ligament. Batting .311 with 6 HR and 58 RBI, he should miss time until well into next season.
September 5 – Indy’s Robert Vazquez (10-14, 2.86 ERA) hurls a 1-hitter in a 6-0 win over the Titans.
September 6 – Tijuana is shut out 2-0 by Oklahoma City and Dragoljub Djukic (13-10, 4.01), who tosses a 2-hitter.

Complaints and stuff

Logan Evans was named Continental League Pitcher of the Month of August 1986! In seven starts during the month he went 5-1 with a 1.57 ERA. It is the first honor of this kind for Logan Evans, who has turned 30 this year. We have him under contract until 1991.

Oh, this team is aggravating! (sighs)

The team has collapsed for good. From August 9-31, they scored 3.7 R/G, which may be the main reason (apart from the awful pitching). The first week of September, they even dumped that and scored 2.66 R/G …

Armando Sanchez was ready to come off the DL, but I decided to let him walk off his knee problems in a short rehab stint. He will rejoin the team going onto the road again.

Our 16-yr old A level closer, an international discovery, is out with shoulder inflammation. Well, that’s gonna be a superstar. Juan Martinez meanwhile has a sore shoulder and won't be available for a call-up until later this month.

What to do in the offseason? I have some players in my eye that I will try to move and I will not be as choosy as I had been with Cameron Green for years. Time to break this miserable bunch up into unrecognizable tiny pieces.

Next: road trip to Vancouver, Milwaukee, and San Francisco;

[Westheim]

Raccoons (76-63) @ Canadiens (86-53)

Chances were good that the Canadiens would sweep us again, and it hardly mattered in a greater context. All dignity was already gone after that sweep in Portland in August. Since then, the team had rotted away slowly, but steadily, losing six of the eight series played since then.

We had Armando Sanchez back now, and he was placed in rightfield for the time being, with Kelly Weber or Bill Stevens playing in center. Neither Quintanilla nor Gonzalez were putting up anything at this point in the season.

Logan Evans faced Tia Fa (14-6, 2.60 ERA) in the opener, and Evans got through the first two frames quickly. But Brian Adams (always the same guys…) hit a solo home run in the bottom 3rd to give the Canadiens a lead. His first two times up, Sam Dadswell both times grounded into double plays to kill innings. Dawson and Barrios had doubles to start the top 5th for the Raccoons. Winston Thompson singled Barrios in to turn the game. Logan Evans pitched a very good game, but the Canadiens got back at him and tied the game in the seventh inning. Raúl Herrera had led off with a double. Adams led off the bottom 8th with a single past Osanai. The Canadiens replaced him with Stan Bass, a lightning fast runner, who set out to steal second, and Dadswell threw the ball away. Bass went to third with no outs. Evans was replaced by Cunningham, but Bass was scored and the Coons entered the ninth trailing. They never got a runner on base. 3-2 Canadiens, and Sam Dadswell is starting to annoy me a ton. Thompson 2-4, RBI;

We called up Odwin Garza as an extra mitt behind the plate. I openly admit: I can’t stand Dadswell anymore.

Powell vs. Correa in game 2 was not really an invitation for Coons fans to tune in. To be fair to Powell, he had not been able to keep pace with Correa five years ago, either. Here he was able to match Correa through the first innings – no hits on either side after two. Kelly Weber had the first hit of the game in the third, but was stranded on second base. Weber also made a huge catch in the bottom 3rd to keep the game scoreless, and it stayed that way through five frames. The Coons then managed to get a run across in the sixth, as Osanai drove in Hall with two out. But the Canadiens struck right back and scored off Powell in the bottom of the inning. Powell left in the tied game after seven innings. David Jones then served up a home run to Brian Adams in the bottom 8th. That was again too much for the Raccoons to overcome in the ninth. 2-1 Canadiens. Sanchez 2-4; Weber 2-4; Powell 7.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 1 K;

Since things were hopeless anyway, Odwin Garza and Dani Perez were in the lineup for game 3. Saito pitched decently, but surrendered a home run to Raimundo Beato, the opposing pitcher. The Raccoons trailed 2-0 after five, getting all but three hits against Beato, and only four in the whole game. 2-0 Canadiens. Sanchez 2-4;

The Raccoons totaled 17 hits in the whole series. They were not only miserable, they were more miserable than they had been in years. They also set a record with season losses against the Canadiens, with 13. They lost the whole second half of the 18 games against them this season.

Raccoons (76-66) @ Loggers (65-78)

As it was now, the Raccoons’ rotation had to be flawless to get a W somehow. Game 1 then started with an unearned run for the Raccooons ,when CF Ken Winters dropped Armando Sanchez’ flyer on the first play of the game. Sanchez came in to score in the top 1st. Wade lined up zeros, eventually getting more support in the fifth: one run, Hall singled in Thompson after the latter had tripled. Wade made it look easy on the mound, and was not removed for a pinch hitter with two on and two out in the top 8th, when he came to bat. Naturally, he grounded out, but pitched another clean inning afterwards. Top 9th: Thompson, Hall, and Osanai walked with one out to load the bags full, bringing up Mark Dawson, but the Loggers brought their closer Domingo Alonso, who struck him out. Barrios pinch hit for Walker with two down. He grounded out. CAN’T YOU SCORE SOME ROTTEN RUNS HERE??? Usual procedure in the bottom 9th with a 2-0 lead. Let Wade pursue that shutout, but pull him at the first sign of trouble, which was a 1-out single by Ken Winters. With two lefties up next, Grant West came in and cleaned up. 2-0 Raccoons. Thompson 2-4, BB, 3B, RBI; Hall 2-4, BB, RBI; Dawson 3-5; Quintanilla (PH) 1-1; Wade 8.1 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K, W (11-7);

Game 2 was scoreless through seven. Vicente Ruíz had 5-hit the Loggers that far, never putting anybody on third base. Mark Warburton in turn had no-hit the Raccoons through six. Four walks were everything against him. The Raccoons went down without a whimper again in the eighth, with Ruíz removed for Campbell to bat. Wally Gaston pitched a quick bottom 8th. Top 9th and Thompson to lead it off. He grounded out, as did Daniel Hall. Warburton was on track for a no-hitter, he just needed to get Osanai out, and then hope for offense of the middle of the Loggers lineup. One strike to Osanai, but the big guy connected on the next pitch, a soaring flyball deep to center, deep, deeper, gone! It was his 28th home run of the season, and also broke up the no-hitter on the 27th out. After a leadoff walk to Felipe Hernandez, West struck out the side in the bottom 9th. 1-0 Raccoons on, well, one hit. Ruíz 7.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

That makes for a run through the rotation, where our starters surrendered five runs and went 1-1. Oh, well.

Game 3 started with a double from Armando Sanchez, who was later scored by Hall on a groundout. But Logan Evans had not brought his control to Milwaukee. He walked three in the first inning, loaded the bases, and was lucky to get a crucial out at home that held the Loggers from doing more damage than just tying the game. The Loggers took a 3-1 lead in the third, including an Edgardo Garza home run, as Evans was just not effective. The offense was also not effective, though by the seventh inning they scored their third run, which eclipsed everything they had achieved the last few days, but Evans was on the hook, 4-3. This was still the score into the ninth. Kelly Weber pinch hit for Cunningham in the #7 spot, but struck out, and Stevens and Barrios also made quick outs. 4-3 Loggers. Sanchez 3-4, 2 2B;

Things did not get better by an inch in the last game of the series. Powell surrendered two home runs to Ray Lee in Lee’s first two trips to the plate and that was easily enough to lose the game. There was just NO OFFENSE on this team!! Powell surrendered five runs in six innings, while the Raccoons couldn’t even get one against Judd Montgomery until the eighth inning, and that one was unearned then. Montgomery went the distance with a 6-hitter in the 5-1 win. Sanchez 2-3;

Besides, Armando Sanchez, nobody’s doing anything. It is horrible.

Raccoons (78-68) @ Bayhawks (59-87)

The Bayhawks would post a heavy losing record, that much was clear already. Little offense, bad pitching, they looked like prey to any decent team. But the Raccoons were unable to get runs at the moment, so could fell find themselves swept again.

Our opponent for game 1: Chris O’Keefe (3-8, 5.73 ERA). His record cried “Beat me”. Sanchez and Hall hit safely in the first for a 1-0 lead. Saito struck out the first two batters, before things struck against him. The Bayhawks scored two in the first, and O’Keefe hit a 2-run ground-rule double in the second inning. Saito was yanked by the third, 6-2 down. The Bayhawks added four runs off Carlos Moran in the fourth inning to make it an official blowout early. The pen actually managed to pitch the last three innings without further damage, but the Raccoons were defeated soundly, 11-3. Sanchez 2-5;

The first two Raccoons got on in game 2, before Hall struck out and Osanai grounded into a double play. Mark Dawson put the Coons ahead, 1-0, with a home run in the top 2nd, but Scott Wade had the score tied again in the same inning with a homer to Juan Carlos Sanchez. Wade then led off the top 3rd with a single, and Sanchez reached on an error by Sanchez at third. They loaded the bags with two out for Mark Dawson, who unloaded to left for a GRAND SLAM! The slam was unearned due to Sanchez’ error, but the Coons led 5-1 and Dawson had driven in all five. The Coons upped to 7-1 in the sixth, while Wade was strong, but an error by Armando Sanchez plated a run in the seventh. Shaw gave up a home run in the eighth, as the Bayhawks tried to crawl back in. Grant West needed some work and entered in the 7-3 game in the ninth. He put the first two men on, but then got three straight outs and conserved the 7-3 win. Sanchez 2-5, 2B; Barrios 2-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Dawson 2-3, 2 BB, 2 HR, 5 RBI; Wade 7.0 IP, 10 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, W (12-7) and 2-3;

Rubber game. Daniel Hall hit a 2-piece in a 3-run first inning. Osanai hit #29 in the third, a solo shot, to make it 4-0. With Vicente Ruíz on the mound, more support was always better. But we want to be fair: Ruíz pitched a good game. He 2-hit the Bayhawks through five and had some mild trouble in the sixth, where they scored one run. The Raccoons gobbled up single runs a few more times and managed to tie their offensive outburst from the day before, and won 7-1, but only six players actually contributed, all with multi-hit games or a good PH appearance. Sanchez 3-5, RBI; Hall 3-5, HR, 2 RBI; Osanai 3-5, HR, RBI; Dawson 2-3, BB, 2 2B, 2 RBI; Stevens 2-4, BB; Thompson (PH) 1-1; Ruíz 6.2 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, W (9-10);

In other news

September 12 – Chasing after his own home run record for a single season, Dallas’ Gabriel Cruz (.322, 33 HR, 96 RBI) has strained a rib cage muscle and will be hindered at least a week. He has not been put on the DL so far.
September 14 – Now the knee: Gabriel Cruz (.323, 33 HR, 97 RBI) will be out now for two weeks with knee tendinitis.
September 14 – NYC OF Stephen Walton (.270, 4 HR, 35 RBI) has broken his kneecap and will be in a cast for some time. He may miss the start of next season with rehab, too.
September 16 – Vancouver’s Tia Fa (14-6, 2.61 ERA) will be out until next year with a ruptured UCL, suffered in the Raccoons game.
September 17 – 37-yr old SFW RF Rafael Lopez (.292, 9 HR, 75 RBI) hits for the CYCLE, going 5-5 with 4 RBI against the Stars. The Warriors still lose, 16-10. It is the first cycle in ABL baseball in over two years, following Mark Allen’s in July 1984. It is the first cycle for a player whose team lost the game since 1978 and only the ninth cycle overall.
September 20 – The Canadiens break a tie with the Aces in the ninth inning and win 5-2, clinching the CL North for the fourth time in five years. They are the first team to qualify for the postseason four times.

Complaints and stuff

This team. Is no. Fun.

How big was that 7-3 win in San Francisco offense-wise? Those seven runs were not only the most runs they scored in a game in the month of September (on the 20th of the month), but actually exceeded their combined offense for ANY TWO CONSECUTIVE GAMES since September 3, with one exception on Sep. 9-10, when they combined for seven in the last two Titans games. That’s how much this team is blowing right now! And it took a pair of bursts by Mark Dawson. If they don’t get the long ball, they’re lost – not enough baserunners.

After shortly leading the league in offense in June or so, they have dipped to 6th in the CL. With the 5th least runs against it’s no wonder they’re collapsing towards .500 now.

We still managed a few firsts in San Francisco here: we won our first series in September (yikes) and went 8-1 against a CL South team for the first time ever! Yes, that took us almost ten years.

Tetsu Osanai is .338 with 29 HR and 113 RBI, leading all three triple crown categories with a sound lead. Three other players make up the rest of the Top 3 in the TC categories. LVA Mark Allen and ATL Tom McDonald are batting .327 and .324 respectively. Allen and ATL Michael Root both have 25 dingers. And McDonald and Root have 105 and 103 RBI, respectively.

Dimian Barrios again contacted me for a contract extension. I don’t know if I really want to keep him. I have a hard time envisioning the roster for next season. He will be 33 next year and I already have a lot of 30+ players (Hall, Dawson, Evans, Thompson...).

The M# in the FL West is 1 already, so the Stars will make it. The other two divisions are tight, especially the CL South, with a 4-team battle. The Knights certainly have the offense, but their pitching is not quite top notch.

The most games a team has lost since the Coons lost 107 in 1979: 100 by the Capitals two years ago. The Pacifics are well on track to lose more than 100. California is no pretty place to be a baseball fan anyway, and it’s been like that for years now. Since 1982, when all three California teams finished in the upper half of their divisions and the Pacifics made the playoffs, things have gotten progressively worse.

Leftovers: we will play the Falcons and Indians at home, then hop to New York for four games. The Titans will visit us to close out the season. At 80-69 we should be able to pull a winning record and land somewhere around 85 wins, which was what I saw as possible before the season, but of course this will not be a success. They were on a .600 pace well into the summer, before collapsing abysmally.

[Westheim]

13 games left in the season. Can the Coons win two?

Raccoons (80-69) vs. Falcons (77-72)

Daniel Hall had a day off for the season opener. Logan Evans was on the mound, but his control was off once again. He walked four in five innings with the game tied, 1-1, after the top 5th, and Evans already past 100 pitches. Bentley pitched two scoreless innings. Wally Gaston’s leadoff walk to Irwin Webster in the top 8th proved to be problematic – Webster came around to score. But Mark Dawson was on a hot streak with his big lumber. He homered with two out in the bottom 8th to tie the game again. Carlos Moran pitched a wobbly but scoreless ninth, putting the Raccoons in a position to walk off. Kelly Weber led off the bottom of the inning with a single to right – and Jose Rivera misplayed the ball, giving Weber an extra base. Thompson couldn’t advance him and Sanchez walked, bringing up Moran in the #2 spot. Hall came out to pinch hit against Raffaele Antuofermo. But he struck out and Dadswell grounded out. Runner on second with nobody out – no score. GODDAMNIT!!! Pedro Vazquez came on for the 10th, but put the first two batters on. The agony. Grant West was broken out and managed to get through the inning without damage, but a Teo Colón RBI double in the 11th won the game for the Falcons. The Raccoons did nothing once Weber reached second in the ninth. 3-2 Falcons. Osanai 2-5; Weber 3-5, 2B, RBI;

Middle game. Down 2-1 in the bottom 3rd, Christopher Powell did something he had never done before. He hit a home run. This one tied the game, but tied games tended to be lost games for the Raccoons this time of the year. Powell was not good on the mound, but great grabs by Sanchez kept the fourth and fifth innings scoreless. Daniel Hall then came up with a big 2-run double with two down in the bottom 5th for a 4-2 lead. The Coons loaded the bases in the inning after that, but Flores struck out to waste it. The bullpen had a few issues, but held the Falcons at bay. West struck out the side in the ninth. 5-2 Raccoons. Hall 4-4, 3 2B, 3 RBI; Dawson 2-4, RBI; Perez 2-4;

We faced Manuel Movonda in game 3. He could have been ours, had I made the trade for Ruíz four months ago. Antonio Esquivel hit a home run off Kisho Saito in the first inning. Saito’s control was bad, but he only surrendered one more hit through seven innings. The Raccoons? Zeroed out by Movonda. He struck out nine over eight innings. Moran and Shaw made a mockery of the ninth before Wally Gaston made an end to the horror. The Raccoons still trailed 1-0 into the bottom 9th, and faced Antuofermo again. Hall flew deep to center, but Jonah Frank caught the flyer, which could have been a double. Osanai then went to right, where it dropped in and bounced away from Gilbert Dougan’s chest. The tying run went to second base, but was killed off at third, when Barrios flew out to Frank to end the game. 1-0 Falcons. Osanai 3-4; Dawson 2-4, 2B;

Raccoons (81-71) vs. Indians (64-88)

The Furballs loaded the bags in the first and scored three runs before Scott Wade left the bases loaded. Wade no-hit the Indians for three innings, and while the Indians scored a run in the fifth, it was unearned due to an error by Flores. Daniel Hall crushed a home run in the bottom 5th to restore a 3-run lead. RF Raul Vazquez responded with a homer for the Indians in the sixth. Wade pitched seven innings and was removed with a 4-2 lead, one out, and the bags full in the bottom 7th. Steve Walker pinch hit into a double play. The 4-2 stood through eight. West had had two rough long outings recently and we brought in Cunningham in the ninth. He struck out two and ended the game quickly. 4-2 Raccoons. Sanchez 2-4; Hall 2-5, HR, RBI; Flores 1-2, 2 BB, 2B, RBI; Campbell 2-4; Stevens 2-4, RBI; Wade 7.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, W (13-7);

This gives us a winning record for back-to-back seasons, and for the third time overall (1983, 1985, 1986).

Vicente Ruíz struck out seven in a short outing in game 2. He also surrendered two homers, and five runs in just 4.2 innings. The Raccoons looked exceptionally bad again, this time against Alex Miranda. Miranda went the distance, scattering eight hits. Robert Vazquez went 3-4, lacking only the single for the cycle. The Raccoons were soundly defeated, 9-2. Osanai 2-4, 2B; Weber 3-4, HR, 2 RBI;

Rubber game. Daniel Hall hit a 2-out triple in the bottom 1st, bringing Osanai to the plate. The big guy thanked him by breaking his Raccoons home run record with a huge blast to dead center. It was his 30th homer of the season. Dani Perez went deep in the second inning for his first major league home run. Perez came up again in the bottom 3rd with one on and two out – another home run!! Dadswell went deep right after him, making it four homers in three innings for a 6-0 lead. That amount of offense was enough to carry the team with a solid Logan Evans on the mound. His control was still not there, but he kept the damage to one run in the fifth inning. The Raccoons won 7-1. Hall 2-3, 3B; Osanai 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Perez 3-4, 2 HR, 3 RBI; Dadswell 4-4, RBI; Stevens (PH) 1-1, RBI; Evans 7.1 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 1 K, W (13-11);

Raccoons (83-72) @ Crusaders (77-78)

The two teams entered the series six games apart with seven to play, so one win would earn the Raccoons an untied second place at season’s end. Of course we want more than just one win against the Crusaders, although since July we’ve lived in You-Will-Take-What-You-Get-Or-You-Won’t-Get-Nothing-At-All Land.

The 4-game set started with Christopher Powell making his second-to-last start for the Raccoons. Nothing about this game made it worth being commemorated past the night it actually took place, at least from a Raccoons point of view. Powell went six innings, surrendered four runs, including a homer, while the offense did zero. Mark Dawson hit a home run in the fifth inning, and that was 50% of the hits they had while Powell was in the game. The Raccoons put three on in the top 9th – then fizzled out and didn’t score. 5-1 Crusaders, while the Raccoons were 5-hit by Francisco Vidrio.

Game 2 had Kisho Saito, who was 0-8 over his last 11 starts, and like everybody just wanted the season over. He faced Hisanobu Higuchi in an all-Japanese shootout. This time, the Raccoons shot first, and scored two on Higuchi in the second inning, and another one in the fourth. Saito drove in a run in each inning and struck out six in his first four innings, leading 3-0. Daniel Hall hit an infield single to start the top 5th and scored on a double by Osanai, and Osanai was also scored eventually on a grounder by Steve Walker. With a 5-0 lead in the seventh, Saito found it necessary to allow Dave Polk to unleash a monstrous 2-run home run. Wally Gaston held the Crusaders at bay in the eighth, before the offense crunched through the New York bullpen in the ninth, scoring five more runs for a 10-2 win. Sanchez 2-6, 3 RBI; Hall 2-4; Osanai 3-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Miranda (PH) 1-1; Flores (PH) 1-1, RBI; Stevens 2-4, BB, RBI;

This assured us to have second place in sole possession at the end of the season. Next up was Scott Wade, who had something to celebrate even before the game, since he pitched his (projected) final start of the season as the newly-designated Pitcher of the Month for the CL.

Wade faced Carlos Guillen (13-12, 3.09 ERA), who had already lost twice to the Coons this year, but had always given them a hard time. Wade pitched a good game, but was a little wild, wearing out early. Tom Draper hit a 2-run double off him in the bottom 6th to get the first runs in in the game. The Raccoons were entirely puzzled so far, only leaving Kelly Weber on third in the top 3rd, and then the bags loaded in the sixth after a few scratch hits. Wade went seven innings, but the Raccoons could not get the bats up against Guillen, and not much more against the pen. Cunningham gave up a homer to Pedro Villa in the eighth and the Coons lost 3-0. Osanai 2-4; those two hits were 50% of our offense…

The final game of the series saw Tetsu Osanai do something for his triple crown ambitions early on with a 2-run home run, collecting Hall, in the top 1st. This gave him 118 RBI’s, breaking Mark Dawson’s Raccoons record for single-season RBI’s. Vicente Ruíz was halfway decent on the mound, surrendering one run in six innings, but scattered eight hits and the Crusaders left runners on third a few times. Kelly Weber singled in a run in the top 7th to make it 3-1. The Raccoons added three more in the eighth for a comfy 6-1 lead, which was also the final score to split the series. West made an appearance in the ninth, surrendering the Crusaders 1-2-3, but so had Pedro Vazquez in the eighth (which was kinda new for the kid). Sanchez 2-3, 2 BB, 2B; Walker (PH) 1-2, 2B, 2 RBI; Perez (PH) 1-1; Dadswell (PH) 2-3;

This win will make the 1986 season our second-best one, record-wise, topping the 84-78 from last season. The 95-67 mark from 1983 is of course not reachable anymore.

How does Osanai’s triple crown campaign fare? At .343, 31 HR, 118 RBI he leads Mark Allen by 14 points and five dingers, and Tom McDonald by seven driven in. With three to play, he certainly looks good.

Raccoons (85-74) vs. Titans (73-86)

The Titans quickly put three on Logan Evans in the opener. The Raccoons had scores of baserunners, but left most of them on, scoring single runs in the second, third, and fifth innings to tie the game again. They could have done much more damage, one of the runs was unearned even. Then, the Titans came back in the sixth with another run against Evans, who didn’t look very good in his final appearance of the season. Flores, Thompson, and Weber started with three straight singles in the bottom 6th, putting Evans up next, but he was removed for Bill Stevens, who struck out. Armando Sanchez grounded to short for what seemed like the final note in the opera, but Bob Goyer (who was not a natural born shortstop) made a bad throw and everybody was safe and the game tied. Without that error, they wouldn’t have scored, and they didn’t score more. Walker struck out and Hall flew into the gap, but into an out. A Kelly Weber error put Isto Grönholm on in the top 8th, who advanced to third on a wild pitch by Wally Gaston, who then recovered to strike out Zahid Mashwanis to end the inning. Cunningham had to bail out Bentley in the ninth to keep the game tied, and had it over to the Power Division against Juan Miranda in the bottom 9th. The Power Division looked awful against Miranda, who pitched two dominating innings as the game went into overtime. Bottom 12th, Osanai led off against Ben Edmonds. First pitch, a slap, and the ball flew deep to center, but missed the wall. Still, a double and nobody out. Mark Dawson was walked intentionally, bringing up Flores, who was 4-5 on the day. Streak’s gotta run out, right? Nope, he singled over 2B Esteban Rodriguez, but Osanai had to hold at third. Next was Thompson, 3-4 so far. He singled through to the right, and the Raccoons FINALLY walked off, 5-4. It took them 23 baserunners to get those five runs. Flores 5-6; Thompson 4-5, BB, RBI; Weber 2-4, BB, RBI; Gaston 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K; Jones 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, W (6-4);

This was only the sixth time a Raccoon hit safely five or more times in a game. Matt Workman (twice), Winston Thompson, Daniel Hall, and Freddy Lopez (6 hits) are the other Coons. Only Lopez and Workman (both times) pulled off the feat in regulation.

Tetsu Osanai lost a point in AVG on Allen and maintained pace in the other categories in regard to Allen and McDonald.

Last chance for Chris Powell to post a winning record. He would have to overcome Kinji Kan for this, a 15-game winner with the Titans. He certainly tried hard, knocking in the go-ahead run with two down in the bottom 2nd. It was a fragile 1-0 lead, but Powell managed to hold the Titans off the board for the time being. In the bottom 5th, Weber and Hall got on with one out. Osanai grounded to the mound, but Kan misplayed it and didn’t get Hall at second. Weber scored on the error. Powell kept motoring, now with a 2-0 lead. After a tight sixth with close plays, he got three flyers in the seventh, of which only one to left was mildly scary – Hall got that one. Some insurance runs would have been nice, and Osanai doubled in Sanchez in the seventh, 3-0. Top 8th: Barry Miller flew out to center, Bob Arnold was K’ed by Powell, and Manny Mora flew out to left center. The Coons put Thompson on with two out in the bottom 8th, which brought up Powell. We want to see that SHO. He struck out. Now to R.A. Koontz.

First up will be Ryan Dickerson, who has caused the most trouble for Christopher Powell today. Dickerson two for three today, which is half the hits Powell has allowed so far. And he’s already down oh and one. Dickerson looks at strike two! […]

The fans on their feet, and once more chanting for Christopher Powell, who’s been the face of the rotation for almost a decade here in Portland. Full count to Ryan Dickerson.

Roller up to Winston Thompson, he has it, and Dickerson is out by a mile. One down in the top of the ninth.

Hjalmar Flygt steps in. Christopher Powell has appeared in three-hundred-forty-five games for the Raccoons, three-hundred-and-three starts. He’s working quickly here. Two and one to Flygt, the leftfielder. Another ball.

Powell has tossed nine shutouts in his career, none since nineteen-eighty-four. Flygt fouls off that pitch. Full count now.

And the sixth pitch is wide, Flygt is aboard. And now, Isto Grönholm will step in, feared home run slugger, and one for three today.

First pitch is a ball. Powell struggling with control now in the ninth. Raccoons lead three to zip.

Grönholm fouls off the second pitch.

Christopher Powell may not be back with the team next year. He has another year on his contract, but it is a very expensive team option, which most likely will not be taken up by the Raccoons, as we have heard in the last weeks.

Grönholm fouls that one off as well. One and two to Isto Grönholm. He is five for twenty-one against Powell lifetime, with one home run.

This could be Christopher Powell’s last batter in his long Raccoons career. If Grönholm gets on, we will look at Mashwanis, and Grant West, who’s warming up, will enter the game, presumably.

Grönholm is ready to face Powell. From the stretch to Grönholm, contact – a grounder up the left foul line, right to Mark Dawson. To Thompson – OUT! To Osanai – OUT AT FIRST!! The game is over, Christopher Powell has tossed a shutout in his final start for the Raccoons!! Everybody’s racing out to hug him!

Sanchez 2-4; Garza 2-4; Powell 9.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 1 K, W (5-4);

Gustavo Flores hit a 2-run single in the first inning to give Kisho Saito a lead in the season finale. Saito had his stuff ready, but also struggled with control, which came to cost him in the fourth, where the Titans tied the game. The Raccoons bounced back and scored two in the bottom 4th to make it 4-2. Rain chased the starters in the sixth inning, but Saito was still in line for the win, as Hall drove in another run in the bottom 6th. Jones, Gaston, and Cunningham combined for two innings, bringing in Grant West in the ninth for another save opportunity. He was chopped to pieces by the Titans, first a 2-run home run by Carlos Gonsales, and then they kept on hitting, with John Fleury driving in two more. Scott Wade came in to collect the final out in the blowup. Fans were shell shocked. Miranda surrendered the Raccoons, including Osanai and Dawson, in order in the bottom 9th. 6-5 Titans. Weber 3-4;

The blowup put a considerable amount of grief on the after-game celebrations for Tetsu Osanai’s triple crown.

In other news

September 22 – The Stars take a 7-3 win behind pitcher Jake Wallace over the Capitals, clinching the FL West. It will be their second playoff appearance after winning the title three years ago.
September 23 – Denver’s Wilson Martinez (17-7, 2.71 ERA) is out for the rest of the season with a dead arm. He is 28.
September 24 – The Stars beat the Capitals, 4-1, for their 100th win of the season. With 10 games to play, the Stars have a sound chance at putting up a new record for wins by a team in a season. The record stands at 106 wins, logged by the Cincinnati Cyclones in 1979.
September 30 – Dallas infielder Andres Serna breaks the single-season record for stolen bases, pilfering his 53rd bag of the season. Tony Barr had once stolen 52 for Nashville.
October 1 – Denver’s OF Yoshinobu Ishizaki (.302, 6 HR, 61 RBI) will be in pain for some time with a strained rib cage muscle. The Gold Sox list him as DTD.
October 1 – The Stars take 14 innings to out-last the Pacifics, 9-8, putting them at 105-53, one win away from the all-time record for wins, and with four more to play.
October 2 – Shock for the Titans: Jose Garza, 26, 14-9 with a 3.80 ERA this season, will miss all of next season with a torn ulnar collateral ligament.
October 2 – The Stars trounce the Pacifics, 9-0, to tie the Cyclones’ 106 wins from 1979. They will play the Gold Sox at home to end the season. In the FL East only the Blue Sox and the Buffaloes remain, with Nashville up by one. The Blue Sox will be in Washington to end the season, the Buffaloes welcome the Rebels. In the CL South, the Knights are one win away from the postseason. They will travel to the last team to be in a position to beat them, the Falcons, who now need to win four against the Knights to make the playoffs.
October 2 – The Wolves beat the Warriors, 5-0, while Carlos Reyes tosses a 3-hitter. Reyes had a rough season, going 13-20 with a 3.82 ERA.
October 2 – DEN Randy Zimmerman (13-11, 3.41 ERA) also tosses a 3-hitter as the Gold Sox chop up the Scorpions, 11-0.
October 3 – Both the Buffaloes (3-2 to Richmond) and Blue Sox (11-1 in Washington) take losses to keep the FL East open. The Knights survive a late surge by the Falcons, win 4-3, and take the CL South. However, Jeremiah Carrell (.297, 0 HR, 29 RBI) will miss the postseason with a separated shoulder. It will be the Knights’ second playoff appearance after 1979.
October 4 – The Blue Sox beat the Capitals 7-5 after rallying big in a 5-run eighth inning. With the Buffaloes losing 7-2 to the Rebels, the Blue Sox have clinched the FL East one day early. It is their third playoff appearance.

Complaints and stuff

After struggling a boat load in August, Scott Wade has become dialed in in the month of September – enough to be named Continental League Pitcher of the Month! In five starts, he went 5-0 with a stunning 0.98 ERA!

Christopher Powell’s last-start shutout was oh so sweet, I almost shed a tear. No, it won’t make me keep him.

Tetsu Osanai has won the triple crown, besting a few Raccoons records along the way. He also started all games at first base, making it four straight seasons that the Raccoons have used only one first baseman as starter (if you accept that the two guys we did use in that stretch were traded for each other mid-season last year).

Steve Walker was a little passed off down the stretch, wanting to go back to the starting lineup. Well, Steve, I love you almost unconditionally, but, honey, you gotta hit some balls. Nevertheless, he wants to be traded.

Next: playoffs, and then we will have a truck load of work ahead of us to get this roster straightened out.

[Westheim]

Update with new records in red.

All time records in Batting Triple Crown categories so far:
Batting avg.: Jeremiah Carrell (CIN, 1979) with .3944
Home Runs: Gabriel Cruz (DAL, 1984) and Gabriel Cruz (DAL, 1986) with 35 each
Runs batted in: Ralph Nixon (NYC, 1978) and Tom McDonald (ATL, 1985) with 136 each

Only considering the Continental League, you get the following numbers:
Batting avg.: Claudio Rojas (SFB, 1984) with .3623
Home Runs: Tetsu Osanai (POR, 1986) with 31
Runs batted in: Ralph Nixon (NYC, 1978) and Tom McDonald (ATL, 1985) with 136 each

And now we're only considering the Raccoons:
Batting avg.: Tetsu Osanai (1986) with .341
Home Runs: Tetsu Osanai (1986) with 31
Runs batted in: Tetsu Osanai (1986) with 121

[Westheim]

1986 LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES

The Stars and Canadiens should be odds-on favorites. Both won double-digit more games than their opponents in the regular season.

Blue Sox @ Stars … 5-1 … (Blue Sox lead 1-0) … Larry Coffin’s PH 3-run home run decides the game in the ninth;
Knights @ Canadiens … 3-2 … (Knights lead 1-0) … ATL Carlos Asquabal 8.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 8 K, W;

Blue Sox @ Stars … 0-4 … (series tied 1-1) … DAL Jose Gonzalez 9.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K, W!!!
Knights @ Canadiens … 11-8 … (Knights lead 2-0) … Knights put seven up in the first three innings, routing Robbie Campbell

Stars @ Blue Sox … 4-5 … (Blue Sox lead 2-1) … Nashville comes from behind in the bottom 9th to win
Canadiens @ Knights … 3-4 … (Knights lead 3-0) … ATL Douglas Donaldson 2-3, HR, 2B, 3 RBI;

Stars @ Blue Sox … 2-1 … (series tied 2-2)
Canadiens @ Knights … 3-2 … (Knights lead 3-1)

Stars @ Blue Sox … 4-3 … (Stars lead 3-2) … the Stars turn the game in the top 7th and then cling on to their small 1-run lead;
Canadiens @ Knights … 9-1 … (Knights lead 3-2) … Asquabal is blown out early this time;

Blue Sox @ Stars … 9-2 … (series tied 3-3) … Blue Sox score five in the top 9th to put the game away
Knights @ Canadiens … 1-2 (13) … (series tied 3-3) … the Knights have been so close, and now they lose in 13 innings to face a game 7;

Blue Sox @ Stars … 5-4 (16) … (Blue Sox win 4-3) … incredible marathon over SIXTEEN innings in Dallas, as Jack Pennington gets the win in relief;
Knights @ Canadiens … 2-1 … (Knights win 4-3) … ATL Wayne Smith 7.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K; Juan Correa is chewed up in the middle innings;

Well, I know nothing ‘bout baseball, there you have it.

1986 WORLD SERIES

There is no clear-cut favorite here. The Blue Sox have the better bullpen (anchored by former Coon Gary Simmons), and sport an array of high-average, low-power hitters for small ball play. Only three players hit double-digit homers: Travis Lange, Horace Henry, and John White. The Knights have the better rotation, but it is nowhere near what they chewed through on the Canadiens to get here in the first place. Their offense is mostly paced by outfielders Tom McDonald and Michael Root.

For the Blue Sox, this is the second World Series, after losing to the Canadiens in 1984. The Knights have reached the ultimate level for the first time.

Knights @ Blue Sox … 5-6 (11) … (Blue Sox lead 1-0) … Knights score first in the top 11th, but the Blue Sox get back and walk off; ATL Sakutaro Ine 3-6, 2 2B, 3 RBI;

Knights @ Blue Sox … 4-6 … (Blue Sox lead 2-0)

Blue Sox @ Knights … 5-1 … (Blue Sox lead 3-0) … NAS Horace Henry 3-5, 2 RBI; NAS Antonio Rodriguez 3-4, BB, 3B;

Blue Sox @ Knights … 4-3 … (Blue Sox win 4-0) … Knights lead 3-0 after three – then collapse; PH Cesar Colón grounds into a run-scoring fielder’s choice in the top 8th to plate the Golden run.

1986 WORLD CHAMPIONS

NASHVILLE BLUE SOX
(1st title)

This is the first World Series sweep since the inaugural championship in 1977, when the Cyclones wiped the floor with the Bayhawks.

For the first time, the third-seeded team wins the World Series. (The fourth seed has already won long ago, the Crusaders in 1979)

[Westheim]

The Raccoons have seven players with expired contracts / arbitration eligibility / else. Most decisions are easy. Some are not.

The group that is eligible for arbitration includes: C Sam Dadswell, C Gustavo Flores, INF Winston Thompson, and OF Rodrigo Lucero. We are for obvious reasons keeping the first three. Lucero, 35, will be granted free agency.

Two players’ contracts have expired: MR Carlos Moran and INF Dimian Barrios.

Moran has been our mop-up guy for some time now, but he’s too expensive in my eyes. I need to cut somewhere, and I can just as well have Jason Bentley pitch mop-up, alternating with somebody else. Of course we want to have a rotation that does not require a lot of innings pitched in 12-1 losses, so I am envisioning something along the lines of that Bentley and perhaps a free agent. The AAA relievers (Vazquez above all) have not been too thrilling. Mike Shaw may be a good future reliever, but will start at AAA next year, he needs seasoning.

Barrios is a tricky one. He will be 33 next year and has been a good contributor to the team. But he also made $396k last season and I will not go back to him at that price. He is a type B free agent, so there is a draft pick involved in letting him go. We will try to negotiate a contract. Talks will also be held with the two catchers mentioned above.

Personnel question number 7 was Christopher Powell. It was no real question. I have decided long ago that his $840k option would not be picked up – too expensive. I once paid a 40-yr old Wyatt Johnston a quarter million bucks for doing nothing – I won’t do stuff like that again. Bye, Chris, it was nice having you. (sniff) Interestingly, Powell became labeled a type B free agent, so we offered arbitration, which he ultimately refused (as did Barrios) …

October 6 – SAC Hector Atilano (.346, 14 HR, 100 RBI) wins the Federal League batting title, while of course our Tetsu Osanai (.341, 31 HR, 121 RBI) has logged the Continental League triple crown.
October 23 – Luis Hurtado, considered to be charitable in financial things, has bought the Denver Gold Sox.
October 23 – The Oklahoma City Thunder are sold by Cristobal Trejo to Jack Morton, a wealthy real estate mogul. Morton is considered charitable and lenient.
November 2 – Mark Dawson wins a Gold Glove at third base, his second. He won his first in 1978 with the Buffaloes in the Federal League.
November 3 – WAS 1B Danny Nichols (.365, 11 HR, 48 RBI) and VAN INF Art Garrett (.313, 10 HR, 53 RBI) are Rookies of the Year.
November 6 – Cy Young Awards go to TOP SP Arnold McCray (17-8, 2.08 ERA) and VAN SP Juan Correa (20-5, 1.68 ERA).
November 7 – SAC INF Hector Atilano (.346, 14 HR, 100 RBI) and POR 1B Tetsu Osanai (.341, 31 HR, 121 RBI) are MVP’s.
November 7 – The Canadiens trade infielder Vicente Ramirez (.252, 0 HR, 51 RBI in ’86) and a prospect to Las Vegas for MR Thomas Green and pitching prospect Shoji Tanaka.
November 12 – The Wolves trade SP Carlos Lopez (35-42, 4.39 ERA) to Nashville for INF Ed Parrell (.296 with little power in 571 G) and a prospect.

Our budget will be up to $11.7M this year, a raise of just over $600k compared to last year (but only about $300k over the previous record budget from 1984). To be honest, I had hoped for more.

We have other issues, too. Our hitting coach, Frank McDonnell, chose to retire after only two years. I have a total of six openings, including hitting and bench coach at the major league level. There were no truly great hitting coaches available this year, and I had banked on McDonnell for another year. Argh. Eventually, I dug out a “good” hitting coach, but the Raccoons could have used a PHENOMENAL one…

In turn we extended the contract of manager Chad Klein through to 1992. At LEG/LEG/Good/Excel/Excel/Excel I won’t take gambles.

As for player negotiations, Dimian Barrios demanded a 5-yr, $4.5M contract. Dimi, the door is over there, I’m sure you know how to use it.

Negotiations with Sam Dadswell were equally fruitless, as he wanted to go somewhere in the direction of 5-yr, $3M. While I was certainly willing to sign him that long, I can’t pay him that amount. I quit when he refused 4-yr, $1.65M. Gustavo Flores was less of a bit- … brat. He accepted a 4-yr, $640k deal, that buys out his remaining arbitration years and one year of free agency.

So, Dadswell went to arbitration with Winston Thompson. Dadswell demanded $390k there, but arbitrators ruled in favor of the team, giving him $300k. Surprisingly, Thompson was awarded $225k instead of the $175k offered by us. You win some, you lose some.

Other news: Kevin Hatfield retired after three rough years, where he was unable to stay in the majors and bounced around to AAA repeatedly. He saved 50 games for the Raccoons from 1977 to 1979 and retired with 444 appeareances (109 starts), 999.2 innings pitched, and a 4.37 ERA.

November 16 saw free agents file for .. well, free agency. With rosters uncluttered, I saw what I had, besides a lot of work. We were not hit very hard by minor league free agents (nine, but only filler players), but would have some work cut out with Powell, Moran, and Barrios gone. Well, we also have to improve a team. I have about $1M to get things done.

[Westheim]

To-do list for the next four months, analyzed by roster area:

Rotation: the top 3 are mostly set with Evans, Gonzalez, and Wade. We also have Saito and Ruíz still with us, but both come off really bad seasons. They have been much better before, so I can only hope for them to return, which should be easy for Saito, who’s a high-stuff, great-control guy, but at times gave away hit after hit after hit. Ruíz not only had his worst year in Portland, he also had his worst year (by ERA) in regards to playing in the slightly-more-pitcher-friendly Continental League. He’ll be 32 only, but we will look for an upgrade, possibly in trade. Next on the depth chart are Jerry Ackerman and Manuel Paredes.

Bullpen: With West, Gaston, Cunningham, Jones, and Bentley, five places are taken. There is one lefty and one righty spot to give away. Mike Shaw will spend some time at AAA, while he was great in his two stints with the team last year, we should remember that he skipped the AAA level entirely on the way here. I want him to pitch there, too. Pedro Vazquez was awful and I look into moving him. We have a number of options at AAA, like McDonald and Soto, who have been owning AAA, but have been shelled in the majors before. I am definitely looking into adding a free agent lefty here.

Catcher: Dadswell and Flores in somewhat of a platoon, with the former batting left-handed. Not much to discuss here. In Odwin Garza and Andy Reed we have two more catchers on the 40-man roster and will look at trading one, if necessary.

Infield: The corners are firmly owned by Osanai and Dawson. With Barrios gone, Walker and Thompson will be our starters in the middle. The backups are much up in the air. Carlos Miranda could be a defensive replacement. Darren Campbell and Dani Perez can only play second (apart from Campbell at first, where Osanai is entrenched and unmoveable). At most one can be on the roster, since neither will be a regular. We will look into an upgrade here. In Billy Mitchell, Gabriel Ramirez, and Joe Jackson we have three promising corner outfielders at AAA, but no potentially helpful middle infielders.

Outfield: Here, the mess is most messy. We have Daniel Hall in left, who has struggled two years in a row. We have Armando Sanchez in one of the other positions, who can bat anywhere from .180 to .350. We have played a variety of other outfielders last year. Ricardo Gonzalez was intended to be the everyday rightfielder, but imploded. I look for a trade here. Kelly Weber should be on the roster in some capacity, as could Bill Stevens. Quintanilla had some moments, but did not convince me with a drought down the stretch. There is room for at least one addition here, but at least the centerfield hole is not as gaping as some years ago.

Who can be traded? Tough one. I have surplus corner infielders at AAA, but you won’t get much for those. Steve Walker wants to be traded, but he should be the starting shortstop next season. Plus, Walker slumped badly the last 50 games and doesn’t have too much trade value at the moment.

By the way, the Canadiens have lost some pieces, including CL Gerard Marquis, SS Eddy Bailey, SP/MR Steve Murray, and SP Bill Smith, and are at -11.3 WAR. The Raccoons rank 3rd with -2.3 WAR (mainly Barrios, but also .9 WAR from Powell) as of filing day.

November 19 – The Raccoons trade minors 1B Gabriel Ramirez to Cincinnati for outfield prospect Glenn Johnston. Both have been first round picks in 1985.
November 21 – The Condors acquire veteran catcher Clifton Greenan and a prospect for backup infielder Mauro Fernandez from the Cyclones.
November 25 – The Indians sign oldie SP Hunter Frazier (125-102, 3.22 ERA). The 37-yr old ex-Pacific will earn $1.34M over two years.
November 29 – The first huge contract of the winter goes out to SP Kevin Williams, 27, ex-Titan, who is 55-62 with a 3.52 ERA for his still young career. The Thunder add him for 6-yr at a $4.92M price tag.
December 1 – Rule 5 draft: 15 players are taken; the Raccoons select MR Miguel Martinez out of the Cyclones organization.

The prospects deal with Cincinnati was brought about due to Osanai’s firm grip on first base. It’s unrealistic to expect any other first baseman to get past him during the length of his current contract, which ends after the 1990 season. Johnston is considered a high-average hitter with gap power and he can play all three outfield positions very well. He has not much power, but this is a good trade in that it gives us a legitimate centerfield prospect for a first baseman without a chance in the organization. I tried to trade them Billy Mitchell, another AAA 1B-only instead of Ramirez, whom I raved about after the draft last year, but they wanted Ramirez, really hard. So be it.

Martinez can fill a sixth/seventh inning or mop-up role, making Vazquez redundant. The Top 5 of the pen had been set anyway, so now we just need another lefty.

I have a few offers out there for a middle infielder, a lefty veteran out of the pen, and another lefty reliever, who’s spent time with the Raccoons (yet not successfully) before.

Left to do as of the night of December 1:
- One, maybe two additional infielders with strong middle infield defense
- Lefty reliever for 6th/7th inning
- If available, a starting pitcher capable of being a #4 guy
- Outfield upgrade, most likely CF/RF
- Some minor league additions, like about two catchers, two high-minors infielders, and two to three outfielders

[Questdog]

I know you like Dawson, but that .283 OBP is really, really crappy.....gold glove mitigates it somewhat, but he is sucking the life out of our offense.....

And we at least learned one thing in '86: that the Nippon 'Coon Curse is only haunting the pitching staff......

1987: All 'Coons Go to Heaven.....

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by Questdog

I know you like Dawson, but that .283 OBP is really, really crappy.....gold glove mitigates it somewhat, but he is sucking the life out of our offense.....

I have been looking at that exact number for most of the season already. But despite that terrible OBP, he managed a +2.5 WAR last year, which is more than Daniel Hall, Steve Walker, and Sam Dadswell managed *together*. Only Tetsuuuu and Armando Sanchez had higher batter WAR's on the team.

Of course, he's done it on defense, including a +20.4 ZR at 3B, where he played about 80% of the time.

He is 33, and has three years left ($1.6M in total) on his contract. No team has asked for him in a trade in two years, so his trade value is limited, unfortunately. But be assured that I am aware of the issue and have been looking for things to do.

Originally Posted by Questdog

And we at least learned one thing in '86: that the Nippon 'Coon Curse is only haunting the pitching staff......

That one is definitely true.

Originally Posted by Questdog

1987: All 'Coons Go to Heaven.....

Your optimism is unbreakable, apparently. I'll see how the rest of the winter goes before making any predictions.

One thing is already certain: the Ruíz/Movonda deal won't come together anymore. In fact, the Falcons won't trade Movonda for anything else than Carlos Gonzalez, which makes the point of the trade moot, or in a trade including Grant West.

That was a BIG MISS by me. It will haunt me for another decade, at least.

[Westheim]

December 4 – Pitching ace Kiyohira Sasaki (95-54, 3.18 ERA) is inked by the Knights for 5-yr, $3.65M.
December 6 – C Miguel Fuentes, a former Condor, takes his 1,164 career hits to Dallas. The 31-yr old will receive $1.96M over three years.
December 6 – Star shortstop Eddy Bailey (.296, 58 HR, 401 RBI) is signed by the Knights for 6-yr, $4.98M.
December 7 – The Raccoons add 2B/SS Sergio Martinez, a 28-yr old career .283 hitter, as a challenge to their existing middle infielders. Martinez will make $400k over two years. They also add former Coon MR Frank O’Rearden on a minor league contract.
December 7 – The Knights keep buying, adding C Joreao Paulos, 31, for 7-yr, $4.92M. This might be a bit expensive for a career .249 hitter with average power.
December 7 – The Canadiens add a closer in ex-CIN Chris Nelson, who has a 2.23 career ERA with 64 saves.
December 7 – Alfonso Aranda returns to Oklahoma City in a trade with Indianapolis and in exchange for MR Jorge Mora and a minor leaguer. Aranda is 34, and a career .312 hitter, who has had two rough years now.
December 8 – MR Tim Moss signs a 1-yr, $135k contract with the Raccoons. Moss, 31, is 19-20 with a 3.75 ERA in 303 appearances for Boston, L.A., Pittsburgh, and Topeka in his 9-year career.
December 8 – The Blue Sox trade for outfielder Ronaldo Cabrera (.305, 116 HR, 575 RBI) and send MR Jesus Cortez (2.74 ERA for his career) to Sioux Falls.
December 10 – MR Justin Neubauer is claimed by the Indianapolis Indians after being put on waivers by the Raccoons.
December 13 – Star 1B Ramon Diaz, 28, (.333, 30 HR, 377 RBI) settles on the Gold Sox for $2.83M over four years. Diaz was with the Rebels so far.
December 14 – The Buffaloes add renowned slugger Engjell Vulaj (.301, 82 HR, 641 RBI). The 32-yr old outfielder will earn $3.32M over five years.

I negotiated with SP Bill Smith, who is top-of-the-rotation material. He absolutely *insisted* on 5-yr, $4.37M, which is a hefty sum to fit into a budget. I went to $3.65M before giving up at the end of the winter meetings. He is 117-100 with a 3.24 ERA, his record tainted by pitching for the Pacifics when they were most horrible. He was 45-26 for the Canadiens the last three years. At 29, you could have fun for a long time with him.

Sergio Martinez has never batted below .267 in a season, and is a capable middle infielder, at about a quarter the cost that Dimian Barrios demanded. He can’t play third base as effectively, which is about his only drawback apart from a higher K rate and a career .324 OBP. So, he’s no leadoff batter, but could contribute well in the #2, #6, or #7 spots.

It’s December 15. Adding a starting pitcher will be hard. Jorge Valdes is on the market, demanding money similar to Bill Smith, and he is very much comparable to Logan Evans, and one of those ill-command guys is enough.

Gah, if I could just sign Smith at reasonable money…

[Orcin]

Originally Posted by Westheim

One thing is already certain: the Ruíz/Movonda deal won't come together anymore. In fact, the Falcons won't trade Movonda for anything else than Carlos Gonzalez, which makes the point of the trade moot, or in a trade including Grant West.

That was a BIG MISS by me. It will haunt me for another decade, at least.

This is something that still has me puzzled. Why did the AI want to make this trade earlier and not now? What changed?

Did the players change significantly? I doubt it.

Did the scouting rating change on the AI side? If so, why doesn't it look different for you?

Is it a money issue? Did the team focus change?

I am not asking for analysis. These are rhetorical questions. It is one part of the program that I do not understand at all. I am not saying it doesn't work. Indeed, it works too well as you have just seen. One day the deal is there, and literally the next it could be gone. I find it fascinating.

Ok, back to your game now.