Portland Raccoons (ABL)

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by Orcin

Oh man. So close. Let me be the first to say that it was a great season, and Coons fans are not disappointed. In fact, we are optimistic about next season.

Taking three extra-inning losses in the World Series *does* sting a bit, and I am a bit disappointed that they wasted so many chances in this series. They should have won at least games 3 and 6, and then things end differently and

Originally Posted by Questdog

Yes, if this was a rebuilding year, then imagine the spectacle of the fully built article!.....

Some important personnel has their contracts end right here. More on that in the proper mid-October update, but the rebuilding is not complete just yet.

[Westheim]

The morning after the grinding 14-inning loss to the Wolves the Portland Agitator sardonically gave the Raccoons management a score of 100 out of 100.

Our new budget is $13.99M, up more than a million from last year [I actually raised the reference year this time after forgetting to do so like three years in a row… doing this manually since I cringe at today’s escalating salaries; we’re at 1983 now] Our budget sits now 8th in the league, and this must be the first time that the Raccoons have actually been able to spend above-average compared to the rest of the ABL.

The Raccoons and scouting director Richard Steward parted ways after the season. Some of his recommendations had been worth their weight in gold, but some… not so much. We went on to re-sign our very first scouting director, Jeffrey Anderson. Nobody else of caliber was available. He was made responsible for the Orlando Lantán disaster and similar things years ago, but in the meantime had worked with the Gold Sox and had drafted them a nice crop of youngsters. This will be the third year in a row we field a new chief of scouts. Talk about consistency.

First attention – apart from something for a drilling headache over a hideous amount of unclutchiness – goes to the arbitration screen. Nine players are listed, four of which are arbitration eligible:

SP Carlos Gonzalez, 27, 0-3, 8.10 ERA in 20.0 IP
MR Jason Bentley, 27, 1-3, 5.70 ERA in 36.1 IP
INF/LF/RF Stephen Hall, 31, .219, 3 HR, 43 RBI in 136 G between three teams in ‘89
INF Antonio Gonzalez, 27, .298, 9 HR, 36 RBI in 110 G (missed time to injury)

The only no-brainer to retain is Antonio Gonzalez. We will offer the estimate of $220k, but will pitch him a multi-year offer this month.

Stephen Hall came on just because Charlotte’s Antonio Esquivel didn’t clear waivers when I tried to trade Logan Evans in August. To be honest, despite playing six positions, we don’t need him. We will offer the $129k estimate, but will try to ship him away this winter. The same goes for Jason Bentley, who has suffered through two terrible seasons now. We have other bullpen options, especially from the right side.

Carlos Gonzalez is a guy you could write a whole post about. In 1986 he went 16-3 with a 2.83 ERA. Since making the majors for the first time in 1984, he has never pitched through a season without a serious injury of one kind or the other. Continued shoulder AND elbow problems have eaten him up. He was 5-14 with a 5.35 ERA last season (and even worse in five starts at AAA), and was horrible this year, despite a few decent AAA numbers in the middle of the season, going 7-6 with a 3.51 ERA. Since then, he has busted his elbow once again, needing ligament reconstruction surgery. He will be out until mid-summer, and then there is no guarantee that he will ever pitch effectively again. His estimate is $288k. He was the first overall pick by the Raccoons in the 1980 draft. And he will not receive an offer.

Five players are bound for free agency:

SP Carlos Reyes, 30, 12-7, 3.25 ERA in 194.0 IP
MR Antonio Cordero, 29, 5-1, 3.04 ERA, 1 SV in 71.0 IP between two teams in ‘89
MR Nate Goodman, 31, 2-1, 3.72 ERA, 1 SV in 38.2 IP
C Sam Dadswell, 29, .267, 19 HR, 73 RBI in 123 G
1B/3B/LF/RF Mark Dawson, 35, .267, 26 HR, 105 RBI in 149 G

Reyes and Dawson are type A free agents. Dadswell is type B, while Cordero and Goodman are not compensation eligible.

Reyes was a lucky grab last season, hired to plug a hole in the rotation, which he did extremely well. However, he was at the upper end of his level, as he has only one season with a better ERA (1984) and ERA+ (1983). He had not been this good in years. Pitching to contact rather than overwhelming people, he certainly made gains with our mostly good defense (more on that to come). I’m surprised he’s a type A free agent at all. His extension requests are outlandish. He made $230k in 1989. Now he wants a $4.4M contract over seven years, which he is not going to get in Portland. I will gladly take the draft picks.

Cordero and Goodman can be looked at together. With Burnett healthy, we need one more left-hander for next year. Comparing them, Cordero clearly has the better numbers against Goodman. We will try to extend Cordero’s contract, and if we don’t come together quickly, we will try for Goodman. He can still be traded away afterwards.

Now for the two toughest tasks in here: Dadswell and Dawson.

Both these players have a lot in common. They were backbones of the team in the latter half of the 80s. Dawson was even before that, but Dadswell wasn’t brought in until 1984. He’s been the primary catcher ever since, a position the Raccoons have struggled to fill before him.

Dawson is the all-time home run and RBI leader, and although he won’t be that forever with guys like Gabriel Cruz, Michael Root and of course Tetsu Osanai chasing him down, he has racked up impressive HR and RBI numbers for a long time. Add to that Gold Glove defense at third base, and his versatility in the field, and his ability to get a team of youngsters to shut up and listen to a veteran of the game.

Both have critical flaws. Dawson will be 36 next year and has never hit for high AVG and OBP. His .267 average last year was one point shy of his personal best in 1981, the year he came over from the Buffaloes during the summer. Some years, his OBP was barely above .268, and he is the undisputed king not only of home runs, but also of double plays, particulary hitting behind the high-OBP, slow-footed Tetsu Osanai.

Ben O’Morrissey was the main option to inherit third base from Dawson. He didn’t even bat .200 last season and will not start the new season with the big league club. We have no other viable options in our system.

Dadswell’s Achilles heel is defense. Last season, he committed seven throwing errors, his defensive efficiency was scraping the bottom of the barrel and he didn’t even throw out 20% of base stealers. He had a good year here or there, and sample sizes for errors and steals are naturally small, but most of the time, his defense was agonizing.

If we look at David Vinson, our other high hope, his offensive numbers are not as high as Dadswell’s (although he has only played in 43 and 68 games in his two seasons, respectively, but his defensive numbers are not quite as bad. His career CS% is 25.2, which is not good either, but I can’t help but think that he, aged 24, has the bigger upside and will get better.

Verdict: Dadswell will become a free agent, Dawson will get a new contract, if he agrees to a short term (max. 2 years). Otherwise we’ll take the pick and look for a free agent ourselves.

In other news
October 2 – RIC OF Manuel Doval (.344, 33 HR, 117 RBI) and POR 1B Tetsu Osanai (.355, 35 HR, 140 RBI) win the batting titles in their respective leagues.
October 9 – Nashville’s ace, SP Luis Guzman (18-10, 2.39 ERA) was hurt badly in the FLCS against the Wolves. He will miss the entire 1990 season with a torn UCL.
October 22 – The Las Vegas Aces are sold to Nathan Turner, a lenient economizer. Former owner Miguel Angel Rivera was said to have been tired of continuously pouring money into a successless team.
October 23 – The Loggers trade MR Ramon Morales (3-2, 4.27 ERA in 51 G in his rookie season) to Sacramento for two prospects, including highly touted CF Jose Vazquez. The trade makes no sense for the last-place Scorpions whatsoever.
October 26 – POR OF Glenn Johnston was involved in a car accident last night when the vehicle he was travelling in struck a deer with considerable velocity. Johnston was treated in the hospital, but only suffered a minor shoulder injury.
October 29 – INF Antonio Gonzalez signs a 4-yr, $1.33M extension with the Portland Raccoons.

Mark Dawson and Antonio Cordero have offers pending, but don’t react to them.

Now excuse me, I have to take care personally that Glenn Johnston’s shoulder is properly cooled. I won’t let anybody – not even nature – mess with that talent.

Next: the November of Decisions.

[Westheim]

November

Salary arbitrations went well enough. Stephen Hall and Jason Bentley were awarded the team offer of $129k (=estimate). Carlos Gonzalez and Nate Goodman were non-tendered. Dadswell and Reyes refused arbitration.

That other Hall and Bentley were shopped immediately. Nobody dared to touch Bentley, but Hall drew a few offers. Among them was one 17-year old Dominican pitcher our new (and very old) scout was quite hot upon. Few other peoples agreed with him, but he was quite insisting that we take on that kid.

Among players retiring during this month were Jason Gurston, a pitcher I was after many moons ago, Mario Garcia, a pitcher signed by the Furballs as international free agent and then immediately traded to the Crusaders without ever throwing a pitch for us, and also Miguel Sanchez, one of the premier pitchers in the sport for many years. Between the Indians, Warriors, Condors, Scorpions, and Aces he went 151-115 with a 3.34 ERA in 329 career starts. He was the CL Pitcher of the Year in 1981, when he also won the World Series with the Indians.

Free agents included Michael Root, Mark “Icon” Allen, Pedro Villa, David Castillo, Michael Watson, Guy King, Zahid Mashwanis, Raimundo Beato, Cameron Green, Isto Grönholm, Cordell Atkins, Rick Evans, Andres Ramirez, and Carlos Guillén. All of these have cropped up at one point or the other before, some repeatedly, some most notably only once, like Guillén, whose not too distinguished career includes a no-hitter against the Raccoons.

We had about $3M to throw around after the free agents filed and the books cleared up, but they had to be spent wisely. We needed a starting pitcher. We could use a good right-handed reliever, or replace our need from our own farm system, where there were some options to test out.

The outfield was quite crowded, with Hall, Johnston, Dumont, Quinn, Reece, and Martin all throwing punches for five roster spots. There was also the need for at least one backup infielder, who needed to have excellent fielding on both middle positions. We also needed a backup catcher, since I was not entirely thrilled over our AAA options.

November 1 – No Raccoon takes home a Gold Glove this year. Cameron Green wins the 3B glove in the Federal League. Does the FL have eleven third basemen in wheelchairs?
November 2 – The Raccoons announce extensions for Mark Dawson (2-yr, $1.8M) and Antonio Cordero (2-yr, $450k).
November 3 – WAS 1B Billy Mitchell (.301, 15 HR, 96 RBI) and MIL LF Adam Woodward (.274, 18 HR, 81 RBI) are Rookies of the Year. Mitchell is a former draft pick of the Raccoons.
November 4 – NAS SP Luis Guzman (18-10, 2.39 ERA), who will miss the 1990 season after Tommy John surgery, and ATL SP Carlos Asquabal (19-7, 3.13 ERA) are Pitchers of the Year.
November 5 – RIC OF Manuel Doval (.344, 33 HR, 117 RBI) and ATL RF Michael Root (.327, 41 HR, 118 RBI) are named Outstanding Hitters of the Year.
November 9 – Veteran LF/RF Thomas Martin and his 2,053 career hits are traded from the Condors to the Buffaloes. The Condors receive MR Raúl Chavez (10 SV, 2.28 ERA in 163 G).
November 14 – The Raccoons deal INF/LF/RF Stephen Hall, a .247 career batter, to the Condors for 17-year old prospect SP Jose Rivera.
November 23 – Two of the biggest fish among position players on the free agent market are gone, as the Knights and Michael Root agree to a new 6-yr, $5.88M contract to keep the .303, 169 HR, 778 RBI slugger in Atlanta, and the Bayhawks add 2B Pedro Villa, who left the Crusaders as a free agent. Villa, 28, is a .277 batter with some pop and 1,101 career hits and will make $4.09M over five years.
November 24 – The Stars land CL Andres Ramirez (376 SV) for 1-yr, $570k.
November 26 – The Raccoons send AAA RF Marcos Costello to the Stars for C Alarico Violante, who has had a few spurs of big league exposure the last two years.
November 28 – The Miners sign SP David Castillo (91-65, 3.42 ERA) to a 5-yr, $3.95M contract. He spent his big league career with the Warriors so far (and him getting there was a major trade blunder by somebody in the Raccoons management).

Rivera could either turn out a bust or the next “Mauler” Correa. Violante is more of a third catcher. I’m still looking for a better backup for David Vinson. Violante was an international discovery by the Scorpions in Venezuela back in 1982, when he was just 16 years old.

I was chosen as Manager of the Year for the CL. Yay, lucky me. Woulda preferred a ring. The general snuffing of Coons with the other awards is outrageous. But Cam Green wins a Gold Glove?? He made 22 errors!! ARE YOU SERIOUS???

By the way, so far our only free agent after the 1990 season will be Tetsu Osanai. No question, we will try and re-sign him. It may only cost a ship load of money. Or two.

We currently have only ten players making more than the league minimum, including Bentley, who's on the trading block.

[Westheim]

Financial thoughts

As stated, only ten players, as of November 30, 1989, on the Coons 40-man roster make more than the league minimum of $86k. The total player salaries (and I hate that 40-man roster players are not depicted on the obligations screen during the off season) are in the area of $6M with another $3M available to spend.

Our flush of young talent will keep the payroll down for this and next year. Barring injuries, the first players to become arbitration eligible for the first time will be Juan Martinez, Bobby Quinn, and Justin Reader in 1992. Those are not the top notch youngsters, though. Currently, the estimate list for first time arbitration eligible players in 1993 reads: Daniel Dumont (who’s a special case, see below), Steven Berry, Ken Burnett, Matt Higgins, Glenn Johnston, Jackie Lagarde, Jeff Martin, Jason Turner, and David Vinson;

Even with today’s estimates and Kisho Saito’s contract ending in 1992 with $600k coming off the books, the 1993 payroll estimate is already three quarters of a million bucks larger than that of 1992 (no extension for Saito, who will only be 33, included) Our payroll will blow up in our face in 1993!

Super-2 cases could accelerate the implosion to 1992. Meanwhile, for 1990/91 we have surplus money to throw at a big star for two years.

The above doesn’t even include Albert Matthews and Neil Reece as well as a few fringe players currently scheduled to reach arbitration for the first time in 1994.

*Daniel Dumont is among our ten big earners right now. Remember he was an international discovery and got a big league contract right away. Due to injuries and roster management reasons he has not yet wound up the service time inferred with that contract and the contract is written forth. (Either this, or this is a bug) In either case, his estimate for arbitration currently is even higher, so we are not losing money in the long run and we can absorb it this year easily.

December

First duty here was to prepare for the rule 5 draft. With four players gone to free agency and Albert Matthews on the 60-day DL, only 33 players were on our 40-man roster as December 1 approached. AAA C Josh Cook, 1B Vincente Rodriguez, INF Elmer Hawley, and MR Mike Shaw, as well as AA SP Miguel Lopez were added to the 40-man roster. That left a few borderline cases unprotected, and other teams were able to feast on our system.

I was looking for a #5 starter to hold the fort for next season while avoiding a type A free agent. I quickly focused on John Fowler, a 32-year old right-hander who had spent most of his career with the Titans, sometimes as a reliever, regularly injured, arguably his biggest downside. Negotiations anyway quickly ended on widely differing opinions on what was a just contract for Fowler’s services. He insisted on a 4-year deal, but the Raccoons would not offer him that.

December 1 – Rule 5 draft: the Raccoons lose AAA SP Luis Herrera to the Falcons; in total, 16 players are taken over three rounds.
December 3 – The Gold Sox sign C Sam Dadswell, a .270 hitter with 96 home runs, to a 5-yr, $3.9M contract. The Raccoons will receive a supplemental round pick in the 1990 amateur draft.
December 5 – Portland is excited about news that the Raccoons and 1B Tetsu Osanai have agreed on a 6-yr, $6.4M contract extension. Unless he is traded, Osanai will become the first Raccoon to earn $1M in a single season, starting in 1991. Previously, Alex White had signed a contract to earn $1M in a season before the 1983 season, but was traded after only one year and had payday elsewhere.
December 5 – SP Carlos Reyes (91-98, 3.77 ERA) signs a 5-year, $3.13M contract with the Scorpions. The Raccoons receive the Scorpions’ second round pick and a supplemental pick for the 1990 amateur draft.
December 5 – The Indians trade INF Alberto Villanueva, a .266 hitter, to Denver for C Victor Cornett. The 26-yr old Cornett has batted .297 in his budding career, with 27 home runs.
December 8 – The Raccoons deal AAA 1B Orlando Alvarado to the Capitals for utility player Matt Duncan, 23, who can play all positions and has batted .200 in only a few games in the majors.
December 8 – INF Antonio Esquivel, formerly with the Falcons, signs with the Crusaders for 2-yr, $1.03M. Esquivel is a .273 hitter with 62 homers at age 29.
December 8 – The Titans send MR Jose Valentin (17-27, 3.59 ERA in 300 G) to the Cyclones for OF Tom McDonald, who was a dangerous power hitter for the Knights in the mid-80s. The 30-year old has not hit double-digit homers in two years, and last year missed a lot of time with a concussion. He has 122 career home runs, batting .282.
December 12 – C Didier Bourges signs with the Aces for 6-yr, $4.56M after playing with the Bayhawks. Bourges, 29, is a .265 hitter with gap power.
December 16 – The Knights improve their roster with the addition of SS/2B Paul Connolly, 29, who will make $5.74M over six years. Connolly is a .274 batter with double-digit power, doubles power, and can steal bases on top of very good defense. He played with the Gold Sox through 1989.
December 16 – The Rebels add veteran outfielder Guy King (.281, 97 HR, 671 RBI) for 2-yr, $1.42M. King, 34, has been ravaged by injuries and slumps the last few years.
December 20 – The Wolves will try to repeat as champions and add a great player in 2B/3B Mark “Icon” Allen (.299, 126 HR, 550 RBI). The 28-year old ex-Ace will earn $4.85M over five years.
December 21 – Former Titan OF Zahid Mashwanis and his .303 average with power join the Miners, where he will make $2.92M over four years.
December 24 – The Coons sign 28-year old C Leo Smith, an ex-Cyclone, to a 1-yr, $160k deal. Smith is an excellent catcher, but only has a .251 singles bat.
December 25 – The Cyclones add Joe Roberts to be their new closer. The 33-year old closed 28 for the Buffaloes last year, has 151 career saves, and will make $1.1M over three years.
December 26 – Journeyman closer Domingo Alonso, 32, signs with the Gold Sox for 1-yr, $690k. Alonso has 350 career saves.

Herrera would have been a player to add to the 40-man roster, but with Matthews on the 60-day DL that would have filled the roster in January. I wasn’t too keen on Herrera eventually, with his stuff being not too convincing.

Duncan gives us a #7/#8 guy on the depth chart for infielders with potential to go up, while Alvarado has nowhere to go with Tetsu Osanai locked up long time. 1B-only players have really no place in our system.

We have an offer out there for a veteran starting pitcher to fill the hole on the back end of the rotation. We still have to find a middle infielder and a right-handed reliever. We have options for both of those needs at AAA, but I’m not too convinced there.

[Westheim]

Something dawned on me when I was in the bathroom once in mid-January. Why not take Carlos Miranda as sixth infielder? He has exceptional defense on all infield positions. He’s cheap. True, he is not batting for a lot, and maybe not even for a little bit. He has a .244 singles bat. He has no home runs in 266 big league AB’s, and hardly draws any walks. But he would make for a great defensive backup at first base and to give our other three infielders (Dawson, Gonzalez, Higgins) regular rest. We really have a very good offensive team assembled. We can accommodate a #8 batter.

If nothing else comes together, Miranda is a valid option as backup. Let’s concentrate to complete the pitching staff.

Pedro Durán caught my eye. He is 30 years old, a dominating right-hander with about 3 K/BB and 7 K/9. While he was under control of the Aces, he was a middle reliever. Problem is: the last three years he was with the Falcons, Loggers, and Pacifics, all average-or-below teams, and was the closer on all three of them. He demands closer’s money. He’s not gonna close games for the Raccoons, neither will he get closer’s money, but he could be one of those expensive short-term additions we can afford to bring in this year. His rumored demand however is 3-yr, $1.65M, which would way overpay him.

Another option was Xiao-shuang Sa, also 30, and a team mate of Durán last year in L.A., whose demands were a little friendlier and who had a few more K/9 and had a 1.59 ERA last year, but who had the disadvantage of an impossible to type given name. Both where type B free agents.

January 5 – The Crusaders improve their pitching by adding 28-yr old ex-VAN Raimundo “Pooky” Beato for 6-yr, $4.02M. Beato is 77-64 with a 3.62 ERA for his career.
January 11 – Another former Canadien finds a new home, in this case Las Vegas for CL Rick Evans, costing the Aces $1.46M over two years. Evans, 30, has 362 career saves.
January 13 – The Raccoons ink SP Robert Sawyer, a 31-year old veteran, to a 2-yr, $880k deal. Sawyer is 65-64 with a 4.04 ERA over his career and spent the last season with Oklahoma City.
January 18 – 3B Cameron Green (.244, 90 HR, 542 RBI), a 33-yr old ex-Coon, joins the Bayhawks train for 3-yr, $2.1M.
January 22 – The Wolves improve their bullpen with MR Xiao-shuang Sa, who has a career ERA of 2.95 and 121 saves. Sa will earn $334k for one year.
January 28 – The Indians deal 1B Francisco Lopez (.311, 165 HR, 907 RBI) to the Warriors for RF Juan Carcamo (.293, 24 HR, 175 RBI). This is not an attempt at rejuvenation: Lopez is only one year older than Carcamo (30 to 29). The true reason for a low-scoring team to deal it’s prime slugger for … something like Carcamo … remains mysterious to me. (In WAR, the Indians lose 2.9) Maybe Lopez parked his Dodge square on the GM’s cat, I don’t know.
January 29 – The Indians trade INF Jorge Salazar, 28, to the Raccoons for MR Jason Bentley, AAA 1B Vincente Rodriguez, and A LF Luis Maldonado. Salazar is a .271 singles hitter with excellent defense, that can also draw a lot of walks. Bentley is 5-11 with a 4.01 ERA in 238 appearances.
February 1 – The Raccoons ink MR Roberto Carrillo, a career 3.42 ERA pitcher, who was last with the Canadiens. Carrillo will make $600k over two years.
February 1 – The Bayhawks add 1B Isto Grönholm, formerly with the Loggers, for 3-yr, $1.89M. Grönholm is .281, 113 HR, 518 RBI over his career, but struggled with injuries last year.

Sawyer held off on our offer for over a month before finally signing it. He had an ugly year with the Thunder, losing 16 games, but that team was challenged all over the roster, including on defense. He is a left-hander and will go into the #4 or #5 hole. It’s a really tough decision: I don’t want to skip any of my right-handers (Wade, Turner, Berry), but I also don’t want to start #5 Sawyer and #1 Saito back to back as left-handers, but maybe that’s the smaller blight to pick.

Sawyer had a really bad year last season, but the BABIP with the Thunder was extraordinarily high. The two years before that he was in the 3.50 range in ERA and I would happily take that.

Ultimately, the Miranda idea was a good one – if you don’t have money to spend. Salazar can take us so much further. He has EXCELLENT defense all over the infield but first base, where he’s only very good. His bat is above average, although he has no power to speak of. He is a big threat to Gonzalez at short, and may well replace him. They may platoon. Now, Gonzalez is a right-hander. Salazar bats left-handed. There, perfect platoon. Since the other three guys in the infield won’t go anywhere but to the restroom before and after the game, Gonzalez will platoon with him. Reade is a distant sixth.

What do we give up? Bentley has been disappointing in the last two years. Rodriguez is another 1B-only slugger in our system that won’t play for us unless something horrible happens to the Tono Tank Tetsu. If that happens, we still have options.

The only thing that at one point could hurt us, is Maldonado. Now he is only at the A level, batting .202 with little power. Add three years from now, he could become a huge slugger in the Bigs. Or maybe not. What do I know about the future? Sometimes I can’t remember what I did five minutes ago.

We are so stuffed with young talent (plus Daniel Hall, my man crush #1) in the outfield right now, I still have to demote one among the group of Reece, Dumont, Quinn, and Martin. Quinn’s having an advantage for being out of options (we got him on waivers after all).

Durán turned out to be insisting on a $479k contract. I was not going to offer more than $400k to anybody for the 7th/8th inning role I was envisioning, and even that was overpaying vastly. Carrillo should get the job done equally well. We’re now more or less set with our 25-man roster. There is room for an upgrade of the sixth infield spot and maybe for a bullpen spot, currently I plan with Yasushi Suto as long man.

The Wolves beat us to Sa. The Wolves keep beating us to lots of things recently. Gonna drive upstate now. (grabs spiked club) Will return in February if I can safely make it back across the county border.

[Westheim]

February 9 – The Condors add veteran 1B/2B Cordell Atkins for 2-yr, $738k. Atkins has 1,526 career hits. The 34-year old spent the last six years in Topeka after seven years in Charlotte.
February 10 – 37-year old Alfonso Aranda receives a 1-yr, $432 contract from the Indians. Aranda has 2,285 career hits, which ranks him 2nd on the all-time leaderboard, 206 knocks behind Claudio Rojas.
February 10 – Denver signs CL Juan Miranda, who has 288 career saves, for 3-yr, $720k. Miranda, 32, has an career ERA of 3.12, but was much below that the last few years.
February 10 – The Warriors ink CL Pedro Durán, 30, for 1-yr, $472k. Durán has 130 career saves at age 30, but didn’t become a closer until 1987.
February 10 – After four years in Tijuana, 31-year old 1B/2B Juan Valentín returns to Boston, signing a 3-yr, $1.56M deal. He is .282 with 70 HR and 584 RBI in his career.
February 17 – SP/MR Manuel Garza, 29, returns to Salem after one year in Indy, signing a 1-yr, $466k contract. Garza is 42-41 with a 3.54 ERA in his career.
February 22 – 33-yr old SP Jorge Mora (117-122, 3.70 ERA) signs with the Crusaders, going to make $812k over two years. Mora spent the last three-and-some years in Tijuana. His best years came in the early 80s with the Falcons.
February 23 – I don’t get it: the Blue Sox trade OF Gabriel Cruz (.303, 225 HR, 945 RBI) to the Rebels for MR Tony Simpson (3.67 ERA in his career) and prospect C Thomas Mason. Cruz was traded to Nashville from the Stars one year ago, contributing to the Stars crashing by over 30 games last season.

What’s going on here with Gabriel Cruz?? That guy is an AMAZING power hitter (in this league)!! He’s getting trade for trash for the second winter in a row!! I can’t believe it!!

Cruz has not been rated higher than 3.5 stars by any of the scouts we went through the last years. Nathan Bruce gave him five stars back in 1984. Cruz has it ALL! He’s a massive power hitter, hits for a .290 average every year, he has very good defense for a 220lbs guy, and can even steal double-digit bases (once, in 1983; he’s however stolen six or more EVERY year in the big leagues!).

Listen, you GM’s! If nobody wants him, I’ll take him gladly!!

Yes, I am a bit enraged.

It’s March 1. Few valuable pieces remain on the market. “Mauler” Correa has gone unsigned so far, as has SP Carlos Guillén, the only guy to no-hit the Coons, and SP Dragoljub Djukic, who won the World Series with the Wolves last year, although they lost his start. Ed Parrell is another member of that team without a home so far. MR Robbie Dadswell, a second cousin of Sam Dadswell from Canada and an international free agent this year, is also unsigned. A few other names include Jeffery Utter, Virgil Arnold, Melvin Greene, and John Harris. All have hurt us at one point or another, you may remember them, and if you don’t, it’s no leg break either.

Anybody remember 1B Hoyt Cook? He who hit .300 in 250 AB with the Coons one year and then, when he became the 1B starter, exploded to hit .193? That year we got Matt Workman up. Hoyt is 35 now and has not played in the Bigs since 1986, and he’s on the trading block. He hit 69 dingers for the Aces’ AAA affiliate in Monmouth over the last three years. I consider trading Tetsu Osanai for him.

No, no, I don’t! Continue breathing, everybody! =)

[Westheim]

We activated Albert Matthews from the DL on March 2. This removed Suto to the minors and placed Mike Shaw on waivers (which he cleared), since our 40-man roster is currently full.

Other than that minor shuffling we were idle for March, as a few last cherries were picked off the floor by the crows around.

March 17 – The Indians sign SP Carlos Guillén (58-80, 3.81 ERA) to a 2-yr, $844k contract.

Like I said, little happened. I had to decide on which of my six strong outfielders to cut before entering the season. Hall was a no-go, Quinn had no options, Johnston had been AMAZING, those three were safe.

That left Martin, Reece, and Dumont. After long considerations, Neil Reece was the odd man out. He had a brilliant, but short stint in September and October going for him, in addition to excellent centerfield defense. He was a right-hander, though, and we already had two of those in Hall and Quinn. I really like to load the lineup with lefties against right-handed batters. Dumont has the added bonus of being a good first baseman, presenting another late-inning replacement for Tetsu Osanai. Martin thus beat out Reece, but it was really close. Really close. We will start to compare them heavily two weeks into the season.

---

1990 PORTLAND RACCOONS – Opening Day Roster (first set shows 1989 numbers, second set overall; players with an * are off season acquisitions):

SP Kisho Saito, 29, B:L, T:L (17-5, 2.72 ERA | 122-83, 3.03 ERA) – workhorse and strikeout machine, posted 1.06 WHIP marks for back-to-back seasons; a true ace!
SP Scott Wade, 27, B:R, T:R (21-6, 3.44 ERA | 63-34, 3.22 ERA) – very consistent starter; went on an amazing run early last season, going 15-0 before being handed a loss; he continues to be susceptible to the long ball, though.
SP Jason Turner, 24, B:R, T:R (12-5, 2.90 ERA | 15-8, 3.38 ERA) – burst onto the scene for the second time and this time with a blaze, tossing a no-hitter against Oklahoma City last season; surrendered less than 8 H/9, but needs to iron out some control issues; also gave up only five dingers in 167.2 innings.
SP Steven Berry, 28, B:R, T:R (9-8, 3.01 ERA, 1 SV | 9-8, 3.01 ERA, 1 SV) – was a rule 5 pick from Oklahoma City last year; overwhelmed the league with intriguing stuff, as he struck out 141 in 155.1 innings of work.
SP Robert Sawyer *, 31, B:L, T:L (9-16, 4.79 ERA | 65-64, 4.04 ERA, 3 SV) – had a bad season with Oklahoma City last season, also hurt by a bad defense; has posted numbers in the mid-3 ERA range before.

MR Juan Martinez, 23, B:R, T:R (2-2, 2.68 ERA, 2 SV | 7-5, 3.06 ERA, 3 SV) – developed very well last season, although he may still be used in long relief if necessary.
MR Albert Matthews, 20, B:R, T:R (1-0, 2.53 ERA, 1 SV | 1-0, 2.53 ERA, 1 SV) – made his debut last season and after a rocky start settled in nicely, then got hurt in late September and missed the playoffs; very good stuff to move along.
MR Roberto Carrillo *, 29, B:R, T:R (7-1, 4.11 ERA, 1 SV | 25-22, 3.42 ERA, 36 SV) – free agent, was with the Canadiens, good overall package here; closed for the Cyclones in 1988, and was not too bad there.
MR Antonio Cordero, 29, B:L, T:L (5-1, 3.04 ERA, 1 SV | 19-16, 3.38 ERA, 8 SV) – came in a trade with the Crusaders last season to shore up the left side of the pen, when Burnett was still hurt, and did so well enough to keep him and banish Nate Goodman.
SU Ken Burnett, 27, B:L, T:L (3-2, 3.38 ERA | 4-4, 5.40 ERA) – was hurt and only pitched in 28 games last season, but he finally had the year we had envisioned him to be capable of having; now it’s about staying healthy.
SU Jackie Lagarde, 26, B:R, T:R (0-5, 2.08 ERA, 4 SV | 2-5, 2.08 ERA, 5 SV) – had a very good year, starting out as middle reliever, but moved into the righty setup spot when Dirk Campbell was given up on; he has pure nasty stuff, but not so good control, in many ways remembering one of the Wally Gaston of the early 80s. Could be our closer in a few years from now.
CL Grant West, 33, B:L, T:L (3-5, 2.43 ERA, 39 SV | 30-16, 1.87 ERA, 327 SV) – nickname “Demon”, says it all; had a few short down stretches both of the last two years, but I still don’t see anybody inheriting the closer’s role from him in the very near future.

C David Vinson, 24, B:S, T:R (.256, 8 HR, 32 RBI | .253, 10 HR, 42 RBI) – replaced Sam Dadswell making most of the starts last September; if given more AB’s, he should be able to almost match Dadswell’s offensive numbers, and be less clumsy behind the dish.
C Leo Smith *, 28, B:R, T:R (.228, 4 HR, 55 RBI | .251, 14 HR, 268 RBI) – added as a free agent, spent all of his 8-year career with the Cyclones, mostly as the primary catcher, but will be the backup to David Vinson.

1B Tetsu Osanai, 31, B:L, T:L (.355, 35 HR, 140 RBI | .332, 179 HR, 798 RBI) – offensive monster with a big punch; won his third batting title last season; has started 726 consecutive games for the Raccoons at first base – every single one since being acquired from Vancouver; was locked up long term this winter and will remain a Raccoon through his age 37 season. 1B starter, OBVIOUSLY;
1B/3B/RF/LF Mark Dawson, 36, B:R, T:R (.267, 26 HR, 105 RBI | .246, 279 HR, 1,186 RBI) – #1 on the all-time home run and RBI leaderboards; four Gold Gloves at third base; was supposed to exit via free agency to make room for Ben O’Morrissey, but when the youngster batted .193, we found even more we liked about Mark Dawson, who in the last two years had his two best seasons in OPS ever, and his defense has yet to let up; 3B starter.
1B/3B/2B/SS Matt Higgins, 25, B:S, T:R (.265, 8 HR, 61 RBI | .259, 8 HR, 61 RBI) – had a very good rookie season, adding 32 steals to his offensive numbers; will be the 2B starter.
SS/3B/2B/1B Jorge Salazar *, 29, B:L, T:R (.278, 1 HR, 43 RBI | .271, 11 HR, 268 RBI) – acquired from the Indians for Jason Bentley and two prospects; he adds excellent defense up the middle and a very steady bat to the lineup; and will start out platooning with Gonzalez at short.
1B/3B/SS/2B Antonio Gonzalez, 27, B:R, T:R (.298, 9 HR, 36 RBI | .260, 25 HR, 184 RBI) – had a phenomenal season as the primary shortstop last year, much better than his previous track record; still had only 410 AB due to an injury; will platoon at short with Salazar.
1B/3B/2B/RF/SS/LF/CF Justin Reader, 26, B:R, T:R (.263, 0 HR, 22 RBI | .265, 0 HR, 67 RBI) – defensive allrounder with a steady, but not overwhelming bat; has no home runs in 883 AB’s.

LF/RF Daniel Hall, 34, B:R, T:R (.266, 18 HR, 63 RBI | .264, 170 HR, 684 RBI) – pretty complete player, first ever Coons draft pick; had a resurgence last year, but was axed down by injuries in September and October; staying healthy and 4-K days remain his biggest challenges.
CF/RF/LF Glenn Johnston, 23, B:L, T:R (.310, 9 HR, 63 RBI | .297, 12 HR, 93 RBI) – very complete player, almost like a younger Daniel Hall, but with great defense in all three outfield positions with a little less home run power; his 1989 season was certainly one to drool about.
LF/CF/RF Jeff Martin, 23, B:L, T:L (.283, 1 HR, 15 RBI | .277, 6 HR, 37 RBI) – good defense, but his bat lacked the pop he had shown in his minor league career and with the Pacifics in 1988; is the odd man out if Neil Reece starts the year on fire in AAA.
LF/RF/1B Bobby Quinn, 25, B:R, T:R (.286, 9 HR, 59 RBI | .260, 12 HR, 88 RBI) – solid defender and offensive threat, was a waiver claim off the Capitals early last season; although he slumped during the summer, he contributed a lot; will start in a RF platoon with Daniel Dumont.
LF/RF/1B Daniel Dumont, 24, B:L, T:L (.292, 3 HR, 23 RBI | .270, 4 HR, 44 RBI) – had some injury problems last year and also was in AAA for a time, but should make use of the chances given in a RF platoon with Bobby Quinn.

On disabled list:
Nobody.

Opening day lineups:
Vs. RHP: 2B Higgins – CF Johnston – LF Hall – 1B Osanai – 3B Dawson – RF Dumont – SS Salazar – C Vinson – P
Vs. LHP: 2B Higgins – SS Gonzalez – LF Hall – 1B Osanai – 3B Dawson – RF Quinn – CF Johnston – C Vinson – P

We lost 0.2 WAR this off season, placing us 10th among the 24 teams overall.

Top 5: Indians (+3.4), Miners (+3.0), Wolves (+2.2), Knights (+2.1), Cyclones (+1.9)
Bottom 5: Titans (-5.3), Buffaloes (-6.1), Gold Sox (-7.1), Canadiens (-8.4), Aces (-9.0)

PREDICTION TIME:

Cordero is the only reliever scouted under 4.5 stars; the rotation was ace last year; we have an army of young, hungry, and very talented players with veterans Dawson, Hall, and West holding the pack together.

This team can go a long way. There can only be one goal for this team: WIN THE TITLE!!

Player development:

Compared to last years, a huge number of the then 13 prospects vanished from the list either through amassing playing time (O’Morrissey, Higgins, Matthews) or being traded (Maldonado, Alvarado, V. Rodriguez) or for being picked in the rule 5 draft (Herrera). Consequently, our system dropped from the top spot to 3rd, which is still a strong position, especially given the fact that the Raccoons have turned only two losing seasons in the last seven years and have never had very high draft picks.

6th (+13) – AAA CF Neil Reece, 23 – 1984 first round pick by Buffaloes, acquired in 1988 for David Jones and others
7th – A SP Gabriel De La Rosa, 19 – 1989 supplemental round pick by the Raccoons
40th (+1) – AA SP Miguel Lopez, 21 – international discovery by the Warriors, acquired in 1988 for Manuel Paredes and Odwin Garza
49th (+39) – AA OF Vern Kinnear, 21 – international discovery by Nathan Bruce
64th – AAA MR Tony Vela, 19 – international discovery by Charles Hutchinson
82nd – AAA SP Eduardo Salazar, 23 – 1989 first round pick by the Raccoons
132nd – AA 1B/3B Matt Brown, 20 – 1987 supplemental round pick by the Pacifics, signed with Raccoons after being released in 1989
136th – AAA INF/LF Elmer Hawley, 22 – 1985 round 3 pick by the Buffaloes, acquired with Orlando Alvarado for Juan Ramirez and cash in 1988
164th (-71) – AAA LF/CF Randy Powers, 25 – 1983 supplemental round pick by the Capitals, acquired with Antonio Gonzalez and Rex Sherman for Billy Mitchell in 1988
168th – A SP Cesar Salcido, 18 – international discovery by Richard Steward
180th (-119) – AAA MR Alonso Villegas, 22 – international discovery by Crusaders, claimed off waivers from Blue Sox last winter
188th – AAA SP Dennis Fried, 21 – 1987 round 4 pick by the Raccoons

Kiyomitsu Sano, a starting pitcher, is the only of the 13 guys in last year’s top 200 that has not fallen out for any reason mentioned above and doesn’t re-appear either. He is the fourth-next Raccoon prospect still listed, but not ranked, after AAA SP Toru Fujita, AA OF Winston Witter, and A SP Jose Rivera. There’s another Miguel Lopez a bit further down the list, too, that one a reliever.

SAC Joe Mann is the #1 prospect overall, and I would have loved to get to draft him last year. He was the #1 overall pick, too. The Wolves have two SP’s in the top 10, the only other team to tie with the Coons for two Top 10 players.

By the way, some teams have close to zero talent in the minor leagues. I consider expanding the draft by about two rounds starting this year. Does anybody have experience or expertise here? Currently we’re picking for ten rounds, with players created for 13 rounds, and there are only three levels of minor leagues.

Next: first pitch!

[Westheim]

Raccoons (0-0) @ Indians (0-0)

The Indians tabbed Jesse Carver to go on Opening Day, with Kisho Saito going for the Furballs, who scored first on a solo home run by Mark Dawson in the second inning. The lead didn’t hold up, as Jimmy Erickson tied the game with a single in the bottom 2nd. Erickson was on the Opening Day roster for the first time after big league stints in ’87 and ’89. While Dawson’s ringing roundtripper was the Coons’ only hit early on, Saito got lit up in a 3-run fourth, where the first three men all hit safely. A leadoff double by Higgins in the sixth spurred the Coons. Dawson came up with two on and two down and homered to almost the exact same spot again to tie the game, but Saito couldn’t hold on to the tie in the sixth and the Indians moved ahead 5-4 again. Unfortunately, the Raccoons didn’t have much offense besides Dawson, and even the old man left Daniel Hall on third base in the eighth. The Raccoons came up short and were closed out by Jim Durden. 5-4 Indians. Dawson 3-4, 2 HR, 4 RBI;

Scott Wade came into the middle game without any stuff. The Indians made good contact, made it often, and were too dumb to run the bases properly. Hall and Quinn threw out two runners trying to go to third base in the first inning. The Indians still went up 1-0 after a Matt Higgins error on a slow grounder by Forest Hartley in the second, and Higgins showed more terrible defense in the fourth, when he made the first of two errors in the inning (the other was by Gonzalez), which coupled with four hits by a helpless Scott Wade combined for four runs, three unearned. The Raccoons lay dead for a long time and didn’t threaten until the seventh. Down 5-1, a Higgins single with runners on the corners scored a run. Dumont pinch hit for Gonzalez and walked against just-in reliever Munemori Suzuki, loading the bags with nobody out. Hall’s grounder forced Dumont, but the inning continued. Osanai’s sac fly got the Coons to within a run, but their run ended there, one run short. That was the closest they came. The Indians crashed Martinez and Burnett in the last two innings and won handily, 9-4. Hall 2-4, BB, RBI; Vinson 2-4, 2B; Reader (PH) 1-2;

Looking for some offense, defense, pitching, and lots of valium to appear instantly.

The Tono Tank hit a 2-run homer in the top 3rd of the last game of the set to give the Raccoons and Jason Turner in particular a lead. The Indians instantly upped their game and R.J. Stinton’s 2-out dinger in the bottom 3rd cut the lead in half already. But the Indians tried hard to defeat themselves here. Dumont and Salazar reached to start the top 4th. The only play on a slow grounder by Vinson was to first, bringing up Turner, but Terry Reynolds first threw a wild pitch to score Dumont, and Turner scored Salazar with a fly ball to deep center that almost became a double. Dumont upped it to 5-1 with a home run in the fifth, but the Indians made a lot out of an Osanai error in the bottom 5th. Without the error, they would have had a runner on first with one out, but instead two runners were in scoring position with nobody out, and the Indians scored three unearned runs on a few singles. The Indians added four more hits with their first five batters in the bottom 6th, breaking up Turner for good. Balls were sneaking all through the infield at every place imaginable. The Raccoons had the tying runs on base in the eighth, but couldn’t score andybody. Grant West came into the game in the bottom 8th to get some meaningless work. The first two Indians up hit infield singles to Osanai and Higgins and West was also lit up. 8-5 Indians. Higgins 2-5; Osanai 2-5, HR, 2 RBI;

Where are the low-scoring Indians of old? I liked those much better.

This was the total nightmare. The pitching was not good, but the fielding was a complete miscarriage. Four errors and numerous missed plays, with the former accounting for seven unearned runs alone.

Raccoons (0-3) @ Bayhawks (2-1)

The Raccoons flashed extra base power in the top 2nd of the opener with doubles by Dawson and Dumont and a Vinson triple for two runs. Perhaps a key moment came in the bottom 6th. The Coons were up 3-0, the bags were loaded, two out, and Steven Berry in to bat. He remained in there, but struck out, leaving the bags full. But we didn’t come to regret it. Hall, Osanai, and Dawson added two runs with 2-out hits in the seventh, and Berry threw a stop on the opposition by going into the eighth with shutout ball before jamming with two out and two on. Burnett ended the inning with a K to Dave Burton, who was hitting over .700 at that point. The Raccoons entered the bottom 9th leading 7-0, but Albert Matthews managed to get Grant West into a position to collect his first save of the year after falling to a 3-run homer by pathetic hitting shortstop Mike Powys, then walking two. West got fearsome Pedro Villa to end the game. 7-3 Raccoons. Johnston 2-5, 2B; Hall 2-5, 2 2B, RBI; Dawson 3-5, 2B, RBI; Dumont 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Vinson 2-3, BB, HR, RBI; Berry 7.2 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 7 K, W (1-0);

Game 2, Robert Sawyer making his Raccoons debut along with catcher Leo Smith. But first came some base stealing out of the book by Matt Higgins, who drew a walk to start the game. He stole second, and catcher Ed Hopper and pitcher Pepe Martinez looked very bad on it. He then stole third and Hopper and Martinez looked even worse on it. Johnston tripled him in, and the Coons scored four runs in the inning, with Smith hitting an RBI single his first time as a Brownshirt. Then Sawyer walked three of his first four batters in the bottom 1st and only two great plays by Bobby Quinn held the damage to one run. The Coons added another 4-spot in the third including a bases-clearing double by Jorge Salazar, but would it be enough? Sawyer was beyond awful and the Bayhawks shortened the gap to 8-5 by the time he was yanked in the sixth. Martinez gave his all to let the three runs in the inning score. Some good relief by Carrillo held the game right there. The Coons left the bags full once down the road, but prevailed to win 8-5. Dawson 2-5; Salazar 2-4, BB, 2B, 4 RBI; Carrillo 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K;

Quinn had played in this game, already breaking up the lineups given out on Opening Day. Johnston was not hitting anything so far, either. Well, he HIT things, but things didn’t fall in for him. Jeff Martin would play in the third game here for him.

In the top 3rd, Martin reached base to lead off the inning. He stole second and the ball went into center field, Martin hustling to third. There, the Raccoons left him, with nobody out. Martin then didn’t make himself a favor with an error creating a precarious bottom 4th, which Saito nevertheless was able to pitch out of. Poor Kisho Saito even had to bat in his own lead with a 2-out RBI single in the top 7th which finally broke up the first game that remained scoreless for a long time this season. Isto Grönholm’s solo shot in the bottom 7th made the point rather moot, though. Top 9th, the game still tied at 1-1. Salazar’s leadoff double put the Furballs in a great position. Vinson’s single to left put the go-ahead run at third. Martin struck out, and this time Saito came out to generate offense. The Bayhawks brought Matt Rankin, the Raccoons brought Johnston, who grounded out to first and Salazar held. Bobby Quinn pinch hit for Higgins and flew out. The agony. The game went into extra innings, and far so, with more offensive inabilities displayed by both teams. Dawson hit into an untimely double play, Hall struck out four times in the game, Martin and Reader weren’t getting anything done. Osanai left Hall on second in the 15th, and struck out. Osanai was then removed in a double switch, placing Reader at first, who made a great play to end the bottom 15th with the Bayhawks’ Brandon Bailey at third base. Both teams enjoyed phenomenal relief pitching, though. Gonzalez and Dumont let Martin starve on second in the 17th. They were asking for a loss, they were begging for a loss, but Martinez put together three scoreless frames around that time, including putting a fifth K on Powys in the bottom 17th, which set a Bayhawks record. Hall singled to start the 18th. Martinez bunted him over. Dawson grounded to third, was thrown out, Hall to third, Salazar to FINALLY SCORE A RUN HERE. Russ McCallum struck him out. 19th: Martin hits a double off the wall with one out. Reader flies to center, makes the second out, Martin to third. Gonzalez – grounded out. The Bayhawks walked off on a 1-out Isto Grönholm RBI double in the bottom 19th. 2-1 Bayhawks. Saito 8.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 K; Lagarde 2.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K; Matthews 3.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K; Martinez 3.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K;

In other news

April 7 – TOP Arnold McCray (1-0, 3.46 ERA) 2-hits the opposition in an 8-0 triumph over the Wolves.
April 7 – 25-year old WAS Archie Dye (1-1, 1.69 ERA) tosses a 3-hitter as the Capitals beat the Stars by a 6-0 score.
April 8 – ATL 3B Luis Barrera (.333, 0 HR, 2 RBI) will miss six to seven weeks with a torn quad.

Complaints and stuff

Arf. Won’t say no more.

[Westheim]

Home opener. Things can’t possibly get worse now, can they?

Raccoons (2-4) vs. Thunder (3-3)

With the game having gone 19 innings and some six hours and nobody having caught much sleep on the trip home, game 1 still was no sugar pie unless Scott Wade could step up and go at least seven innings. Wade started with a walk to leadoff man Pepe Padilla, but also started a double play in the top 1st to exit that frame. Wade’s inability to retire pitcher Kevin Williams in the third cost him a 1-out single, and two singles later, he was 1-0 behind. Daniel Hall came in with a 10-game hitting streak dating back to early September before he first got hurt. He made it 11 games with a 2-run homer in the bottom 3rd, his first of the season. Now, Wade had always had issues with left-handed lineups, and the Thunder fielded six plus Williams. He scattered quite a few hits and so some additional offense would have been nice. A 2-out double by Higgins was followed by walks to Gonzalez and Hall in the bottom 5th, but Osanai flew out and left them stranded. Of course it came as it had to come, with SS Alfonso Torres hitting a 2-run home run off Wade in the sixth, and he was not even a left-hander, but Marc Shaw was and he homered off Wade in the seventh, burying the man that had won his first 15 decisions last year, 4-2, and going to make him 0-2 for the year. Osanai flew out with the bases loaded to end the bottom 7th, and that was it. Or wasn’t it? Bottom 9th: Vinson was walked by Donovan Reed. Martin doubled to left. The tying runs were in scoring position and nobody out! Higgins flew out to left, Vinson tagged and scored, Martin to third. Gonzalez grounded out pathetically and that brought up Daniel Hall to save the day. He had reached base four times already in the game. Reed worked him to 1-2. The next pitch was CRUSHED by Hall, flew 452 feet way out of center, and sent the Raccoons home winners! 5-4 Coons! Higgins 3-4, 2 2B, RBI; Hall 3-3, 2 BB, 2 HR, 4 RBI; Martin 1-2, 2B; Cordero 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

Dan The Man!!! Granted it was early, but at this point, Hall was tying for the lead in batter WAR and was 2nd only to Michael Root in OPS with a 1.228 mark. Dan The Man, have my children!!!

Ahem. Game 2. After two nice innings, Jason Turner was completely dissected by the Thunder in the third inning. Two routine grounders going past Salazar and Higgins once each certainly contributed to the misery, but either way, the Thunder put a 5-pack on Turner, including a 2-run home run by Dave Browne. Browne drove in two more in the fourth, spelling doom for Turner, who was not even close to his 1989 form like most of the Furballs, who left runners on in each of the four innings, three times in scoring position, and the bases were left loaded in the fourth, and they never scored anything in these innings. After five, they trailed 8-0 and looked seriously done. The only way for them to score, it seemed, was the long ball, of which Dawson offered one in the bottom 6th, 8-1. Vinson also knocked one out, collecting Dumont, 8-3. Bottom 7th: Hall homered with one out, 8-4. Osanai made it back-to-back, 8-5. Dawson and Dumont got on. Vinson flew to deep center, but it missed the wall, but it still was a 2-run triple. Suddenly, the tying run was at third base, and one out! Martin rolled out poorly, Quinn struck out. Gnah. Bottom 8th: Higgins reached on an error to start the frame, then went to third on Salazar’s single. Hall up, and I would be happy with a single. While he flew out to center, Higgins tagged and scored easily to tie the game. That’s fine, too, Dan The Man!! Then came Dave Browne again, facing Grant West in the top 9th, the first man up. He homered to right. It just can’t be ………. Bottom 9th, down a run again: Dumont and Martin walked, putting the winning runs on with one out. Gonzalez pinch hit for West, and he picked the perfect moment for his first hit of the year (0-10 so far) with an RBI single to left. Now Higgins for the win, and he also singled to left, but Martin was held at third. Bases loaded, one out, tied game. Salazar struck out and that got us to Dan The Man. Vargas started with a ball. Hall ripped at the next pitch, but fouled it back. Ball, then two foul rips. The sixth pitch of the at-bat filled the count. Silence in the park. The seventh pitch was close, but low, Hall walked and forced in the game-winning run!! 10-9 Raccoons!! Higgins 2-6; Salazar 2-6, 2B; Hall 1-4, BB, HR, 3 RBI; Dawson 3-5, HR, RBI; Dumont 2-4, BB; Vinson 2-5, HR, 3B, 4 RBI; Burnett 3.0 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 K;

DAN THE MAN!! BACK-TO-BACK WALK-OFF PLATE APPEARANCES!!! I DON’T BELIEVE IT!!!

Ahem. Game 3. (can’t stop grinning) Steven Berry fell 1-0 behind in the first inning, while the Raccoons put their first three men on in the bottom 2nd, but Berry was up. Everything but a double play would be fine. He lined out (almost a single, but well…). Higgins grounded out, but a run scored, and that was all they got, and accordingly the Thunder took a 2-1 lead in the third. Berry had major issues with the loaded left-handed lineup, and a nifty play by old Mark Dawson prevented further damage when he got to Browne’s blazing grounder before it could get into left for two runs to score. The Coons tied it again in the bottom 3rd. Hall and Osanai reached base on singles and were on the corners to start the frame. Dawson flew out to short center, and Dumont bounced to the mound, but Dragoljub Djukic threw wildly past second base. Hall scored. In the fourth, Osanai got over .300 with an RBI single and also got Berry a 3-2 lead. It was Daniel Hall to set a mark again in the bottom 6th. With Higgins and Salazar on, he drilled a massive shot out to right center. Goin’, goin’, GONE!!! It was his fourth homer in the series, taking over the team lead in all triple crown categories, and the Thunder were crying at his mere appearance at the plate! Dawson tied for the team home run lead with a solo shot later in the inning, making it 7-2. Berry pitched well after the early troubles and went deep into the game, and into center, hitting a 2-out triple in the bottom 7th. He didn’t score since Higgins grounded out to first, but went eight innings on the hill, and struck out the last two men (Browne and Tom Nicks) on full counts. Hall came up once more in the bottom 8th, and hit another double. Sadly, he did not get a chance for another walkoff appearance, as the Raccoons took this one by storm, winning 9-2. Higgins 2-5, 2B, RBI; Hall 3-4, BB, HR, 2B, 3 RBI; Osanai 3-4, 2 RBI; Dumont 2-4, BB, 2 RBI; Berry 8.0 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 8 K, W (2-0) and 1-4, 3B;

Daniel Hall is so hot, his uniform is burning 7-11, 4 HR, 10 RBI - DAN THE MAN FOR MVP!!!

Raccoons (5-4) vs. Crusaders (4-5)

Kisho Saito’s and Gary Nixon’s duel remained scoreless to three in the opener, and yes, the Raccoons had already skipped #5 starter Robert Sawyer here due to an off day and his hair-raising performance in his first outing. Antonio Esquivel slugged a 2-run homer out of center in the fourth to give New York a lead. Nixon completed five dominant innings before a sore spot on the thumb of his throwing hand forced him to exit. Saito went seven innings and found himself 2-0 behind when he was pinch hit for in the bottom 7th with Quinn on first and no outs. Not that the Coons had not had base runners: they had left some on in five of six innings, and twice had left them on third base. Dumont grounded to pitcher Paul Towns, but beat the throw to first, the tying runs were on base. Higgins got Dumont forced out, runners on the corners with one out, and Salazar dinked the next ball into shallow right, just in front of ex-Coon Gustavo Quintanilla. Daniel Hall came up, and so far had not had a hit in the game, 13-game hitting streak in danger. Towns’ 2-1 pitch was much to Hall’s liking, big contact and another HOME RUN!! But this was not the last song in the game. Lagarde came in for the eighth, faced three batters, didn’t retire any, and the storm was on. Martinez entered. While he did not throw good pitches, and Hall made a good play, Johnston made a great play, and Quinn made a phenomenal play, he got the Coons out of the inning with a 4-3 lead still alive. Grant West also made no great impression in the ninth inning. Leadoff single by Edward Snyder. The Crusaders moved him around the horn to third (a great double steal by Hall in deepest left included), before Stan Potvin grounded out to West for the final out. 4-3 Raccoons, whew! Salazar 2-3, BB, RBI; Hall 1-4, HR, 3 RBI; Johnston 2-4; Quinn 2-4; Dumont (PH) 1-2; Saito 7.0 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, W (1-1) and 1-2, 2B;

Another game, another 2-run home run to get New York ahead, this time in the first inning and by Raúl Castillo, and off a struggling Scott Wade. Against Raimundo Beato, the Raccoons were once again terrifyingly bad when it came to score runners in scoring position, and didn’t get a run in until the sixth, after which they trailed 3-1. Wade went seven. Like the day before Wade was pinch hit for in the bottom 7th with Leo Smith now on first and no outs, and again Daniel Hall came up with two down and two on, and 0-3 on the day. Beato struck him out, and his 14-game hitting streak was snuffed out. In the bottom 9th, Gonzalez got on with two out, but Higgins flew out and the game was lost. 3-1 Crusaders. Osanai 2-4, 2B; Martin 2-4, 2 2B, RBI; Smith 1-2, BB; Gonzalez (PH) 1-1; Lagarde 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

Mark Dawson sat out in the rubber game, Gonzalez starting at third. The Coons sent un-phenomenal phenom Jason Turner, who entered with a crisp 11.00 ERA, and was expected to dominate 13.50 ERA owner Luis Andrade for New York. Turner also got an early lead when Hall singled in Higgins from second in the bottom 1st. Hall went to second base himself on a pathetic throw from CF Castillo that went past C Potvin. After that, the amount of runners the Raccoons left unscored was shameful. The 1-0 stood into the late innings. Turner no-hit the Crusaders for 11 outs, before Douglas Donaldson dipped a single just fair of the right field line, and while Turner went eight innings, the Crusaders got only three hits off him. Unfortunately the Coons’ team LOB was 12 in the game and they still only led 1-0 into the ninth. West came out, facing the righty 2-3-4 barrage of the Crusaders. Castillo led off and singled, but West squeezed through the inning. 1-0 Furballs! Higgins 2-4; Hall 2-4, RBI; Johnston 2-3, BB; Turner 8.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 7 K, W (1-1);

Daniel Hall’s impressive home week was properly honored (see below).

Raccoons (7-5) vs. Loggers (6-6)

The Loggers so far had lived on impressive pitching, including an 0.62 bullpen ERA. Time to put that to the test.

Steven Berry was wild to start the opener, nicking leadoff man Emilio Roman, and walking two, while Roman was thrown out at home by Dumont on a single, trying to score from second. Berry struck out the side in the second, though. Sub par clutch hitting continued for the Furballs, but they loaded the bags with no outs in the bottom 4th in a scoreless game – their preferred situation to crash completely. Glenn Johnston was up and did the best he could do – walk. The go-ahead run scored, and they continued to do damage with two sac flies, and then a 2-run double by Daniel Hall. Berry dominated the Loggers through five, before he failed to surrender anybody after getting one out in the sixth. When C Edgardo Ramos stepped to the bag as the tying run, Berry was yanked. Matthews got a double play to end the inning, 5-2 Coons. They got another run when Johnston came through again in a bases loaded situation (with two out then) in the seventh, an RBI single to left. The Coons entered the ninth up 6-2, but needed the services of Grant West to strike out RF Cristo Ramirez, who was batting close to .500 playing full time, to end the game. 6-2 Coons! Vinson 0-1, 3 BB; Johnston 2-3, BB, 2 RBI; Matthews 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

Game 2, another day where the Raccoons showed remarkable inability at the plate, flailing at everything Judd Montgomery threw them. Robert Sawyer started behind in the count early, then had a strong streak in the third and fourth and carried a no-hitter into the fifth, before he was torpedoed in the sixth with two singles and a walk to start the inning. Alejandro Maez, hitting .118 so far, hit a 3-run double into the left field corner. That already broke up the game – the Raccoons had nothing in hand against Montgomery, who issued three walks in the bottom 7th, and they still didn’t hurt him a bit, as he only allowed three hits over eight frames. 3-0 Loggers.

Kisho Saito collected his first four outs with K’s in the rubber game, but still fell 1-0 behind in the second on two doubles by Drake Evans and Luis Gonzalez. Poor clutch hitting held on for the Coons. Martin’s leadoff double in the third was unconverted. Hall reached base on a 2-base throwing error by pitcher Neil Stewart in the fourth, and nobody out. Osanai flew out. Hall then was able to score from third when Cristo Ramirez didn’t get to a Dawson looper into right. That was all the offense they were able to come up. Saito went eight innings, struck out eleven, but ended up the loser on two doubles in the top 8th. Of course the Loggers brought their runners in. 3-1 Loggers. Saito 8.0 IP, 9 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 11 K, L (1-2); Martinez 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

The team has combined for seven hits in the last two games. Way to go. I’m amazed nobody broke their foot with a bat, or hurled the bat into the home team dugout. The defense has recovered a bit, but now the offense is slumping.

Raccoons (8-7) vs. Condors (9-7)

The Condors were another team that was put up well defensively and entered on a 6-game winning streak. Not necessarily the right opponent for the Raccoons at this very moment…

The Condors opened the series by scoring on a wild pitch by Scott Wade in the top 1st of game 1. Their starter, John Douglas, entered with a 2.05 ERA, but was still the walk machine. Maybe the Coons could get him that way? Oh, boy, could they! Martin and Osanai walked in the first inning, Hall singled in between, and Dawson singled in two of them, and Osanai scored on a sac fly by Vinson, 3-1. You couldn’t tell which pitcher was shaking more here. Wade was helped by four towering pop outs in the first three innings, then a strong double play by Gonzalez and Higgins in a tight fourth, while Douglas could count on the double play himself and a bad bunt by Wade that killed the bottom 4th. After the top 5th, it started to rain and things became even worse. “Itchy” pressed in a run with a single between Gonzalez and Dawson that honestly should have been the final out in the top 6th. Wade collected an out from Jim Wood in the top 7th, before the rain became too heavy and a delay of almost an hour forced both pitchers out of the game. Matthews almost blew it in the same inning once play resumed, but the Coons held on to a 3-2 win. They had two base runners after that first inning blast of offense. Hall 2-4;

Turner was wild in the middle game, and while he was also unhittable in the first three frames, the Condors took it to him in the fourth, where they took a 2-0 lead. Jose Macias in turn didn’t give the Raccoons anything to live on. Johnston’s infield single in the first inning was already a success. The Coons, too, loaded the bags in the bottom 4th, but Reader popped out. Turner barely made it through five, but by then the Raccoons were 4-0 behind – hopelessly. Macias let up a bit as the game progressed and actually allowed ten hits over eight innings, but the Raccoons were WHOLLY UNABLE to manufacture any runs if the ball didn’t fly out immediately. 4-1 Condors. The Raccoons only scored on a Dawson double play ball they couldn’t convert properly. Johnston 2-4; Osanai 2-4; Dawson 2-4, RBI; Smith 2-4; Carrillo 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

The Condors had the last game won by the second inning. Berry issued a single and a walk. Higgins lost a potential double play ball and the bags were full with nobody out. Berry then struck out Oscar Riley and pitcher Makoto Kogawa, before things became unglued. Cipriano Ortega and Tadanobu Sakaguchi brought in runs with a single and a walk and Preston O’Day sealed the deal with a grand slam. 6-0, none of the runs were earned, all were on Higgins. The Condors added a run in the third, and a 3-run homer by Ishizaki made the deficit double-digits. Kogawa, who came in with a 7.11 ERA and 4/13 K/BB, absolutely dominated an underwhelming team. 12-0 Condors. Osanai 2-4; Cordero 2.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K;

The team had 33 hits in the last two series. That alone is already pathetic. What’s worse? No home runs among them, no triples, only four doubles, and all of those against the Loggers.

It’s the worst.

The first fans ceremonially burned their season tickets in front of the park as the team left town.

In other news

April 12 – TOP Arnold McCray (2-0, 2.05 ERA) continues to sizzle with a 2-hitter in a 6-0 shutout over the Cyclones.
April 13 – One day later, and still in Topeka, CIN Claudio Rojas becomes the first ABL player to rack up 2,500 base hits in his career, reaching the mark with a first inning single of Fernando Chavez. The Cyclones still lose, 7-3, as Rojas goes 2-4. At age 34, Rojas has all the time in the world, to also reach 3,000 hits! He’s under contract until next year, and in his 14-year career he has been traded mid-season four times, including twice by Cincy and once to Cincy, the team with which he’s for the third time now. He has two World Series rings with Cincinnati (1977) and Denver (1985).
April 15 – CHA SP Joe Ellis (1-1, 5.28 ERA) has suffered a torn UCL. Whether the 38-year old will come back after at least one year of rehab is uncertain. Ellis spent his whole 182-140 career (2.78 ERA) for the Falcons. His 2,097 career strikeouts rank 2nd behind only Juan “Mauler” Correa’s.
April 16 – DAL 2B Andres Serna (.377, 1 HR, 8 RBI) extends a hitting streak dating back to 1989 to 20 games.
April 16 – PIT CF/RF Jesus Rodriguez (.324, 2 HR, 5 RBI) will miss six weeks with an oblique strain.
April 19 – WAS Julio Rodriguez (2-2, 1.78 ERA) turns in a 2-hitter against the Cyclones. The Capitals won 4-0.
April 21 – DAL 1B/2B Pete Ross (.235, 1 HR, 6 RBI) had a slow start to his season, but a 6th inning single against Jared Poole in a 7-5 win over the Miners has him as the sixth player joining the 2,000 hits club. Ross spent eight years in Sacramento, is in his sixth year in Dallas, has won two rings, one with each team, and has only eight home runs among his 2,000 hits.
April 21 – IND RF Raúl Vazquez (.365, 3 HR, 10 RBI) will miss four to five months due to a broken ankle, a terrible blow to a low-scoring team like the Indians.

Complaints and stuff

Daniel Hall was Player of the Week in the Continental League, batting 10-27 with 5 HR and 13 RBI. That’s some big damage. There’s no question as to who will be the first Raccoon to have his number retired.

That was a wonderful homestand – if you were comatose during it’s latter half.

Through the Loggers grind, the team ranked 10th in hits in the CL, yet had the least strikeouts at the plate. That leads me to think that they just can’t dip the ball somewhere safe (a theory supported by personal experience of their unbelievable unclutchiness, which was hair-raising).

Now they rank 11th in all offensive categories but XBH (7th thanks to the earlier home run galore), HR (t-3rd), BB (8th), K (1st), and SB (t-6th). Pitching’s been a mixed bag, but they rank consistently in the upper half except for home runs allowed (10th) and that could be due to our ballpark alone. The defense remains bad, but ranks mid-pack in the CL now.

A few heads could be rolling before long. Production from the infield is pathetic all around. Higgins is 6/6 in steals, but doesn’t get on base at all the last week. Osanai doesn’t hit anything but holes into the air. Gonzalez and Reader? Gah. Bobby Quinn is pathetic, Johnston has rallied from batting .120 after ten games. Hall has been brought down to earth with like two singles the last week.

Our team DL had just emptied on March 27 when the last minor leaguer returned to camp. One week into the minor league season, AA OF prospect Winston Witter breaks his foot. A MR Clint Thomas (or something like that) has a hideously bent elbow. Hey! (snip, snip) Get the nurses to work!

[Westheim]

Raccoons (9-9) @ Aces (11-8)

Ira Houston was blazing hot coming into this series, having collected about as many hits last week as the Coons had in total. Overall, the Aces were second in team AVG in the CL, but ranked mid-pack in runs. Death by a thousand needles apparently. This was also the first stint on a 13-game road trip leading to the east coast and back again.

The opener’s bottom 1st started with a leadoff home run by 3B Melvin Greene off Robert Sawyer. Way to go. The Aces took a 2-0 lead in the inning. The Furballs actually showed some sign of life in the third inning, which started with Higgins and Johnston drawing walks. A towering almost-homer, RBI double by Daniel Hall into deep right was the opening shot to a 4-run inning and a 4-2 lead, which nevertheless was not to live through the fourth, where it was blown up by more highly inefficient pitching by Sawyer. To that came inefficient offense, with the Raccoons having Osanai ground into a badly timed double play in the top 5th and left the tying run in Bobby Quinn on third base in the sixth. Top 7th, Johnston and Hall got on with no out. Osanai popped out to short. Xavier Mayes threw a wild pitch, and the tying runs were in scoring position, taking the double play away from Dawson, who then singled to left, but it was not long enough for Hall to score, and the tying run remained at third base. Willis Sims relieved Mayes, and his first pitch to Bobby Quinn was low and past catcher Didier Bourges. Hall scored and the game was tied, but the Raccoons left the go-ahead run on at third now. But, one run here or one run there, ultimately didn’t matter, as the Aces broke up the Raccoons bullpen, which had been supposed to be good, but sucked like everybody else, for good in the seventh. Five runs off a collection of relievers in the seventh, two home runs off Carrillo in the eighth. 14-6 Aces. Hall 3-5, 2B, RBI; Dawson 2-5, RBI; Quinn 2-4, 2B;

Game 2 was Kisho Saito’s start and he threw a beautiful stop on the romping Aces. Although his control was a tick off and he went to many full counts, he had a 1-hitter going through six. Unfortunately, the Coons didn’t get a hit until the fourth, when Daniel Hall singled, and were also 1-hit by Jou Hara through six innings. Hall also had the Coons’ second hit in the game, a 1-out single in the seventh. Osanai – double play. Bourges started the bottom 8th with a single off Saito, the second hit of the Aces that night. They moved him over with two outs. Saito was 2-2 on Melvin Greene, until the Ace shoved the ball through into left. 1-0 Aces. Hara remained in for the eighth. Salazar and Johnston had 2-out singles. Daniel Hall came up. Another bit of magic would help a ton here. Hara was 1-2 on Hall, when Dan The Man made contact and plonked a lazy flyer into shallow right field. Salazar flew home and the game was tied. Osanai grounded out, of course. The game went to extra innings, where Rick Evans struck out six Furballs in a row. Juan Martinez walked the first two Aces in the 12th, which cost the team eventually. 2-1 Aces. Salazar 2-4, BB; Hall 3-5, RBI; Saito 8.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K; Lagarde 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

What a beautifully horrible grind this was.

And it continued in game 3, where the Raccoons loaded the bases with Osanai (single), Dawson (double), and Dumont (walk) to start the second innings, then didn’t score with Smith (lined to short), Reader (K), and Wade (grounded to short). Wade was good for 2.2 innings, then walked three in a row and gave up a grand slam to Mauro Granados. What a wonderful joy it was to deal with this pack. Wade had no problems going through six innings after that, but of course had to walk three before surrendering that god-damned home run. Mark Dawson hit a stray home run in the top 4th when it didn’t matter anymore. When Dawson was the tying run with one out in the top 8th in a 5-2 game, he struck out, then berated the umpire for an ejection. When Quinn pinch hit in the ninth with one out, and was the tying run in a 5-3 game (no ill-advised joy here, that run scored on a wild pitch), he grounded into a killing double play. 5-3 Aces. Dawson 2-4, HR, 2B, RBI;

It is hard to actually find civilized words for it.

Raccoons (9-12) @ Indians (15-7)

The Raccoons were a team that wasn’t hitting, wasn’t pitching, wasn’t fielding, and now met a team again, that was hitting, that was pitching, that was fielding, and that had already drawn them a nose this season. Some radical changed were coming with the team on the way to the East.

There was hope for game 1 on Friday. The Raccoons were 3-0 in Friday games this season. Jason Turner started the game with three very strong innings of 1-hit ball before the Coons got their first scoring chance. Johnston had walked to start the top 4th, before Hall bounced a ball into right that somehow went through 2B Dave Dixon. RF Juan Robles tried to get Johnston at third base, but was way late and Hall moved up to second. Nobody out, Osanai stepped in and had another very poor out, a grounder to first that forced Johnston to hold. Johnston scored on a Dawson sac fly to left center that was not a sure thing to not getting thrown out either, and Hall was left on entirely. Turner loaded the bases in the bottom 4th, but struck out Jorge Ramirez to keep that flimsy 1-0 lead in one piece, and also stranded a runner on third in the fifth inning. He went seven shutout innings eventually. The Indians helped out the Raccoons with a run-scoring wild pitch in the sixth. Top 9th: runners on the corners with nobody out, Gonzalez K’ed, Quinn K’ed, Salazar grounded out. West came in to save the 2-0 game, surrendering a hit, but striking out two, bolstering a poor K rate so far this season. Hall 2-3, BB; Martin 2-3, BB; Turner 7.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 3 K, W (2-2);

Apart from that stray homer by Dawson in the last game in Vegas, this has become a singles team. Which doesn’t help if you’re having seven hits a game (like here) and most time even less.

Neil Reece would have been on the list to get a call to the majors, batting .317 in AAA, but now has come down with an oblique strain (actually a few days ago already) and won’t be available until the end of the road trip. That saved us for another week on a decision on Bobby Quinn or Jeff Martin, but another Raccoon got the Go sign after game 1 here after going 0-3 in the game, 2-30 on the season and with below average defense at shortstop: Antonio Gonzalez. Elmer Hawley was promoted to the majors to make his debut, hitting .290 at AAA.

Hawley made his debut playing short that night in game 2. He had been a round 3 pick by the Buffaloes in 1985 and had come over in the trade that shipped Juan Ramirez to the Miners after the 1988 season.

In the sorry collection of Furballs that started game 2, Johnston batted leadoff with a .266 average, second highest in the lineup behind Hall’s .341 mark. In addition to no offense, Dixon homered off Steven Berry in the first inning, and Juan Carcamo added a 3-run home run in the second, and the Indians just KEPT dealing, knocking Berry out after 1.1 innings, seven runs in, and two men on. The defense was of no particular help, either. Now, the Raccoons got some fantastic relief from Ken Burnett, who retired all 14 Indians he faced, and that performance was entirely wasted. The Coons got three runs off Carlos Guillén in the middle innings, each time sparked by Daniel Hall doubles, but they had no way in their patheticness to come back from Berry’s blowup. 7-3 Indians. Hall 3-4, 2 2B; Osanai 3-4, 2B, RBI; Salazar (PH) 1-1; Burnett 4.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

Hawley went 0-4 in the game, made the final out, and had a grounder glance off his glove in that dreadful second inning. What a debut! A STAR IS BORN!

Game 3, as things were rapidly dissolving on the Willamette. Terry Reynolds walked four men in the first inning, which even for the Raccoons was enough to score exactly one run. Reynolds redeemed himself with a 2-out, 2-run single in the bottom 2nd against Sawyer, and the Indians made it 5-1 by the third, where Reynolds got hurt and left the game. Top 6th: Dawson and Dumont walked as the first two Raccoons up in the inning. Higgins grounded to the mound, but Tim Hess could not make any play. Bases loaded, nobody out, tying run in Leo Smith at the plate. Hess was gone and Jorge Mora in. Smith flew out to left, Dawson tagged and scored. Quinn pinch hit for Sawyer, grounded out, and Martin grounded out as well. Cameras caught the Raccoons manager banging his head frantically against the wall in the dugout. 5-3 Indians. The Raccoons had nine walks, but only four hits. Dumont 1-2, 2 BB, 2B, RBI; Martinez 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

In other news

April 23 – Dallas’ Andres Serna (.341, 1 HR, 11 RBI) gets his hitting streak to 25 games with a first inning single in a 2-1 win over Cincy.
April 24 – BOS Kinji Kan (3-1, 3.24 ERA) 2-hits the Condors in an 8-0 win of the Titans.
April 24 – CIN CF Robert Harris (.304, 4 HR, 10 RBI) will miss three to four weeks with a strained hamstring.
April 25 – WAS OF Clement Clark (.376, 1 HR, 10 RBI) gets two singles in a 9-2 loss of the Capitals to the Wolves, extending his hitting streak to 20 games.
April 28 – Clark’s hitting streak is chilled by the Blue Sox, who hold him 0-3 and end his streak at 21 games.
April 29 – The Gold Sox clean up amongst the Stars, beating them 9-3, and ending Andres Serna’s hitting parade at 29 games.

Complaints and stuff

I could use a hug or two.

The Raccoons have hit rock bottom in AVG, OBP, H in the Continental League and are 10th or 11th in SLG, OPS, R, XBH, and SB. They are 6th in HR, BB, and 3rd in K at the plate. The pitching staff continues to rank around mid pack.

Bobby Quinn has about six days before Neil Reece will come off the DL and will make a run for his roster spot. The following roster moves will be made on the way to Boston:

SP Robert Sawyer will be demoted to AAA, and in case of recalcitrant refusal, waived and designated for assignment; SP Dennis Fried will be called up, after going 3-0 with a 1.09 ERA and three shutouts in AAA.
INF/OF Justin Reader will be waived and designated for assignment, and 1B/3B Ben O’Morrissey called up, though only hitting .221 in AAA.

Next on the list will be Matt Higgins and well, Bobby Quinn. Relievers are also closely watched.

Yes, I’m having fun, stop asking.

No, please, talk to me, say something, I'm ... I'm ...

[Orcin]

Originally Posted by Westheim

I could use a hug or two.

[snipped the usual complaining, etc.]

Yes, I’m having fun, stop asking.

No, please, talk to me, say something, I'm ... I'm ...

Ah, glad you asked. Here is my canned speech for anyone that is having a problem in OOTP. It has been cultivated from years of reading this forum and making note of the most frequent responses to complaints and questions. I suggest that you choose answer #1, but feel free to choose any other that makes you feel better.

1. Your sample size is too small. Play more games and then check again.
2. The program is working as intended. You just don't understand the [game, feature, strategy].
3. It is more realistic this way.
4. Play stats only.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (10-14) @ Titans (9-16)

The Titans so far had lacked any pitching and ranked at or close to the bottom in many important pitching categories. This 4-game series was thus a true test for our lame duck offense.

The just called up Dennis Fried made his debut in the series opener. He loaded the bags in the bottom 1st, but the Titans didn’t score. The Raccoons in turn were slaughtered by Jorge Valdes, who collected his first seven outs with seven K’s, including an uncaught third strike for Fried to reach base to start the top 3rd. An error and a hit batter (Hall) loaded the bases with one out. Osanai gently flew out. Dawson struck out. No score. Fried had bring in his own lead with an RBI groundout in the fourth. Valdes exhausted himself by striking out eight, then walking four and left in the fifth. Not that the Coons had a nice day against the pen, they were just unable to score anything. Fried went 6.1 innings with a 2-1 lead, which was still the score in the bottom 9th. West walked the leadoff man Salvador Vargas, who was on third with two outs. Tom McDonald, who was struggling greatly for years now, and was hitting .188 this year, pinch hit in the #9 spot and singled past Hawley into right to tie the game and West blew another save. The game went to extra innings, leaving the poor attendance writhing in agony for many more innings. The Raccoons had their first two men on in the 12th, never advanced them, and then lost in the 13th, 3-2. Martin 2-6, RBI; Salazar 2-6; Hawley 2-5, BB; O’Morrissey (PH) 1-1; Fried 6.1 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 2 K; Cordero 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K; Martinez 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

Boston’s Santiago Perez struck out nine Raccoons over seven innings of work in game 2. And this was supposed to be a terrible rotation. He allowed two hits and no runs. Kisho Saito also shut out the Titans through seven, allowing five hits and hitting three batters, including McDonald twice. Despearte times called for desperate measures: Higgins bunted to start the top 8th and actually reached first base safely and a 2-out triple by Salazar finally got something on the board. Saito had been pinch hit for. Lagarde got through the eighth, and Burnett was sent out for the bottom 9th with West having pitched two innings the day before. Burnett put two on, but had Hjalmar Flygt down 0-2 with two out, when Flygt hit a zipper up the right foul line, but right to the feet of Tetsu Osanai. 1-0 Raccoons. Saito 7.0 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K, W (2-2);

They had four hits in that game. If you have to rely on shutting out the opposition, you’re asking for trouble.

Game 3, and Wade was up to pitch. The Furballs left two on in the second, then loaded the bags with Wade, Salazar, and Johnston and nobody out in the third. Hall struck out, Osanai bounced out, and Vinson flew out and they scored only one run. Dawson wasn’t even in the game to avoid another double play extravaganza. Wade was perfect through three, then came apart in the fifth with two walks and a 2-run double by Shotaro Ono. 2-1 Titans, and that was as much as an opponent needed to take a Raccoons starter apart. Even Hall was cold by now, K’ing in rapid frequency and leaving two men on in the seventh with a poor groundout. Top 8th: Osanai doubled and Vinson and Dumont drew walks. Nobody out. SCORE SOME ****ING RUNS NOW!!! Higgins zinged a looper into short right and finally one fell in, scoring Osanai to tie the game. O’Morrissey, Martin, and Salazar failed to bring in the go-ahead run. Groundout, K, groundout. The Titans walked off in the ninth, 3-2, after a Vinson throwing error put a runner on third with nobody out. Matthews was not beef enough to get out of that crap. Salazar 2-5, 2B; Johnston 3-5; Osanai 2-5, 2B, RBI; Higgins 2-4, RBI;

The Knights have claimed SP Robert Sawyer at this point. As if they needed that can of worm. Reader was claimed by the Condors.

Game 4. Quinn had gone the entire month of April without an RBI, and he got his first in the top 2nd with a sac fly scoring Osanai for a 1-0 lead. Bottom 2nd. The Raccoons and Jason Turner amassed two hit batsmen, a massive throwing error, a misplay by Hall in left, and four hits and a few walks in a 7-run inning. 7-1 Titans, and Hisanobu Higuchi, that rat-faced face rat pitching, it was clear that some crap like that had to happen. The error by Leo Smith cost five unearned runs. The Raccoons instantly loaded the bags in the third. AND LEFT THEM LOADED. Further lowlights: Dawson leaving on four more, Martinez surrendering two homers in the eighth. 13-2 Titans. Johnston 2-5; Osanai 3-4, 2B, RBI; Quinn 1-2, BB, RBI;

In other news

May 3 – NAS SP Steven Thompson (3-0, 2.23 ERA) will miss about six weeks with a herniated disc.
May 3 – SFW 1B Francisco Lopez (.368, 6 HR, 23 RBI) is going to be out for a month with a sore shoulder.

Complaints and stuff

Recent not-hitting streaks: Hall 3-22; Dumont 3-20; Quinn 4-28; Vinson 4-34; Higgins 6-41; Dawson 0-19 or 4-36, you decide;

28 games, 95 runs. That’s your 1978 or 1981 Raccoons. Only with a bigger payroll and higher initial expectations. My whole life is stuffed with draining crap, I have no energy for THIS crap on top of that.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (11-17) @ Blue Sox (20-7)

There was no way for this series going well for the Raccoons. The Blue Sox were ranking among the top 3 in all important categories in the Federal League. The Raccoons starters could only hope for the mercy rule being hurriedly put in place, which did not happen. We tried Johnston as leadoff man (why not? He had two arms, two legs, and sometimes both eyes open) and again O’Morrissey at third, at least for the opener. This had Vinson bat fifth, though…

The Raccoons took a surprise lead in that game 1 on an RBI double by Tetsu Osanai in the top 1st. C Travis Lange tied the game again quickly, with a solo shot off Steven Berry in the bottom 2nd. Osanai seemed to wake up from his April slumber, though: he added a 2-run double in the third for a 3-1 lead. The Raccoons also got a run from the bottom of the order with O’Morrissey and Hawley. Berry chopped up the Blue Sox through five, allowing that one hit and K’ing seven, then was annihilated with five hits and five runs in the sixth. The Raccoons left the bases loaded, scoring only an unearned run in the seventh, trailing 6-5 out of that inning, and never had another base runner. 6-5 Blue Sox. Raccoons out-hit them 11-6, but didn’t get their men in. Salazar 2-4, BB, 2B; Osanai 2-5, 2 2B, 3 RBI; O’Morrissey 2-4; Hawley 3-4, 2B, RBI;

Neil Reece came off the DL and returned to AAA. That sets the clock ticking for Mr. Bobby “.185” Quinn.

Bad catching also continued in game 2 for Leo Smith, who committed a throwing error on Izumo Sasaki’s stealing attempt in the bottom 2nd, which cost Dennis Fried the shutout on pitcher Gabe Cranwell’s sac fly. Cranwell then tied the game in the third with a wild pitch. Fried had collected his first big league hit just before, moving Quinn from first to third. It was the first of two WP’s for Cranwell on the day, and the next one also led to a run, moving O’Morrissey from first to second, from where Bobby Quinn singled him in then in the seventh, breaking that 1-1 tie. Daniel Hall added to it with a 2-run homer in the eighth, his first dinger since his phenomenal week 2 during which he hit five. That boost was necessary, since a so far stellar Fried also let a 2-shot get away in the bottom 8th. Hall came up once more with two out in the ninth, and had two men on. He connected and narrowly missed the fence in deep right by at most ten feet for a 2-run triple. 6-3 Raccoons! Salazar 2-5; Hall 2-5, HR, 3B, 4 RBI; Quinn 3-3, BB, 2B, RBI; Fried 8.0 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, W (1-0) and 1-3;

This ended a 3-game slide that had felt much longer (actually, they had been 3-13 in their last 16 games, so it was in fact a 16-game spill). Also nice to see that Party Bobby got the message.

Quinn and Dawson walked in the top 2nd of the rubber game, as Nashville’s Salvador Fierro had some control woes. Hawley squeezed a single into right, loading the bags with nobody out. Vinson struck out, Saito struck out, before thankfully Glenn Johnston singled into right for two runs to score, before Higgins ended the inning with a grounder to short. Lange hit another homer in the bottom 2nd, cutting the lead in half. Lange was actually not a prolific power hitter, but had the Coons’ number in this series, not even appearing in the middle game of the series. Meanwhile, Fierro ironed out his bad control and now nailed Furball after Furball, striking out eight through four innings. The Coons led 3-1 in the bottom 7th when Saito issued a walk to Lange and a double to Flores to put the tying runs in scoring position. Sasaki was up to bat, a right-hander, and Saito just didn’t have it 100% that day. We went to the pen and Albert Matthews. The Blue Sox countered with left-hander Stan Williams to pinch-hit, and he was only .333 on the season. He was put on intentionally to go after whomever the Blue Sox would send out to pinch hit for reliever Sixto Pacheco. It was Alejandro Lopez, a lefty, former first round pick by the Coons. Now WE went to lefty Cordero and he struck him out! Grant West in the ninth almost came apart with two out, hitting Lange, then allowing a single and then requiring Quinn to make a strong play to end the game. 3-1 Coons. Johnston 4-5, 2 RBI; Higgins 2-4, BB; Hawley 1-2, 2 BB; Saito 6.2 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, W (3-2);

The offense found at least some life here in this series, with several players having strong single games, but nobody is on a true streak here. The pitching was very good safe for the Berry blowup that still nobody understands.

This was our ninth interleague series against the Blue Sox. No team has ever been swept in the matchups, the Raccoons taking five 2-1 series, and the Blue Sox four.

By the way, Kisho Saito has a 36/3 K/BB ratio so far this season, plunging from 16:1 before this game to 12:1 now. He better get his stuff together! :-P

Raccoons (13-18) vs. Stars (19-12)

Much like the Blue Sox, the Stars ranked top in many categories in the Federal League. They had refound their offense in the post-Gabriel Cruz era now, but did it with a high-OBP roster now. The most home runs by any guy on their roster? 2 (Ryan Dickerson). Home runs were the only category (batting or pitching) they were worse than 8th.

The Raccoons loaded the bases with one out in the bottom 1st of the opener, before Dawson grounded into a double play. Yeah, always start off with something familiar. The score went to 1-1 into the bottom 4th, where Bill Smith on the mound for Dallas showed some lapses. Dawson and Dumont started the inning with singles. Leo Smith was told to bunt them over and bunted to the left of the mound. Bill Smith was slow to get there and Leo Smith hustled it out for everybody being safe, and nobody out. Matt Higgins tweaked out a walk for the go-ahead run being forced in. Scott Wade, Glenn Johnston, and Jorge Salazar all singled for three more runs, and Hall walked with the bases loaded to end Bill Smith’s day. The March of Singles continued with Osanai, before Dawson struck out. Juan Gomez tried to end the inning here, but his 0-2 pitch to Daniel Dumont was right down Broadway, and Dumont tattooed it for a MASSIVE GRAND SLAM out of right field!! This capped a 10-run inning for the Raccoons. Wade came apart a bit in the seventh, but for back-to-back games Cordero ended the seventh with the bases loaded and a K, this time to ex-Coon Marcos Costello. The Coons had left on two in the fifth, two in the sixth, and Dawson ended the seventh like the first, so many more runs would have been entirely possible. 11-2 Raccoons. All Coons had at least one hit. Johnston 4-5, 2 RBI; Salazar 2-5; Dumont 3-5, HR, 4 RBI; Smith 2-5; Higgins 2-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Martinez 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

Game 2. Jorge Rosa had been lights out so far in this season, while Jason Turner had been blown up twice already. And it showed in this game. Turner’s stuff was essentially absent, Jorge Salazar’s defense at short was, too, and the Stars scored in every inning through three, leading 3-0. The Coons excelled only at double plays. Vinson came up with a 2-out, 2-run double in the bottom 4th, but was hurt tumbling into the base and had to leave the game, and Leo Smith came in as replacement, and would take care of tying the game in the bottom 6th with a sac fly. With Hawley still on first and two out, Turner came to bat. Hawley was sent running, Turner connected and launched a double into the left field corner, scoring Hawley from first base and for the go-ahead run. Turner walked the leadoff man in the seventh and exited, and the pen held on to that flimsy lead. The bottom of the order then produced another pair of runs for the Coons in the eighth and they won, 6-3. O’Morrissey 2-4, 2B; Hawley 1-1, BB, 2B, RBI; Vinson 1-2, 2B, 2 RBI; Smith 1-1, 2 RBI;

We had – out of the blue – a 4-game winning streak now, but got bad news after this game: David Vinson had suffered a torn abdominal muscle, and was given an ETA of about mid-June, so five weeks on the DL for him. That left us with Leo Smith and we called up Alarico Violante as replacement, who was batting a mere .207 in AAA. Oh, that’s gonna be great. Violante was a discovery by the Scorpions in 1982, but his big league experience (4-28, 0 HR, 3 RBI) had come in 1988 and 1989 with the Stars. He was only 24, but also had no potential whatsoever. I liked his name a lot, though.

We were left with nine healthy catchers in our system now and reached out to free agents. We were also evaluating one or two certain pitchers, well-known, on the free agent market. They were veterans of the game and had gone unsigned this winter.

Game 3. Bobby Quinn gave Daniel Hall a day off. Dawson was back in the lineup, scraping just above .200, and of course Smith was catching. Steven Berry and Mark Warburton had about equal shares in a combined 12.25 ERA coming in. Yet, Berry was still striking out batters at a rate of 9+ K/9, but was prone to spills like the one that happened in the top 5th of this game. With one runner on second and one out, a passed ball by Smith advanced the runner and threw off Berry, who walked the current batter, then allowed an RBI single past Higgins, and finally fell to a 3-run shot by Costello. Jake Martin’s 2-run homer in the sixth buried Berry for good. And it didn’t stop: Carrillo was lit up for three runs, including another home run by Costello, in the seventh. The rout was on, the Furballs had nothing, and they lost big, not scoring until their last out, 9-1. Johnston 2-4, BB, 2 2B, RBI; Salazar 2-4; Quinn 2-4;

Raccoons (15-19) @ Loggers (14-20)

The Loggers possessed porous pitching that ranked 11th in runs allowed in the CL. The offense was not half as bad, excelling in some categories like XBH, SLG, OPS, while rapidly (and rabidly) striking out.

In the opener, Mark Dawson hit a 2-out RBI double in the second for a 1-0 lead, but the Loggers tied the game right away in the bottom 2nd off Dennis Fried. The Loggers then took a 2-1 lead on an error by Salazar in the third. Enter Mark Dawson again, who really didn’t want to lose this game, and hit a 3-run homer in the fourth for a new 4-2 lead. Fried surrendered a lot of line drives to the Loggers, which obviously was how they scored their runs, with lots of doubles. Home runs also helped a bit, of course, such as German Roldán’s leadoff jack in the fifth. The Loggers put two on with liners, before Fried struck out rookie Gates Golunski to end the inning, but our rookie pitcher didn’t last much past that, putting two more on in the sixth. Martinez and Burnett got outta there. The top 7th saw the Coons load the bags with Hall (double), Osanai (int. walk), and Quinn (single) with one out. Higgins hit an RBI single, and then Dawson narrowly missed a grand slam, instead collecting a 3-run double when his flyer fell in to the base of the wall in right center. Hot streak beginning here? The Coons added two in the eighth, Alarico Violante collected his first hit for the Coons in the ninth, and they won 10-4. Hall 2-5, 2 2B, RBI; Quinn 4-4, BB, RBI; Higgins 2-5, RBI; Dawson 3-5, HR, 2 2B, 7 RBI; Violante (PH) 1-1, 2B;

Gates Golunski. I think I’ll need a drink to get over that name. Also, Bobby Quinn is making a case for him. Instead, Daniel Dumont is getting into the demotion focus, sinking into the .220 swamp more and more.

The Raccoons announced a new player the next day: 1B/3B/C Ed Parrell; you may remember him, he was a member of the Wolves’ title-winning team last year, then went unsigned in the winter as a free agent. He signed a minor league deal, reporting to our AAA team in St. Petersburg. Parrell, 30, will act as an emergency catcher, should the need arise. We have one more player offer out there.

The Loggers ate up Kisho Saito early on in the middle game, scoring three runs in the first inning, and two more in the second. Saito obviously had nothing against them. He made a nice play in the third, nailing a runner at third base on pitcher Ray Burnett’s bunt, then almost surrendered a 2-run homer to Roldán; Quinn got to the ball at the edge of the fence in deep right. Saito dragged himself through six, the last three innings markedly better than the first three, without any more danger or damage. The Coons rallied as hard as they could: Mark Dawson hit a 3-run homer in the fourth and they added a run in the fifth (Saito on a sac fly), but still trailed a run. Jeff Martin’s leadoff double in the seventh then got Saito off the hook. Violante, who made his first start for the Coons, moved Martin to third with a fly out, and Johnston pinch hit for Saito and hit a sac fly to tie the game. The Coons had now smelled blood. Quinn led off the eighth with a single, and Hall singled, too. Quinn aggressively went to third and was safe. Osanai stepped in, but before he could do damage, Ray Burnett threw a wild pitch and Quinn scored the go-ahead run, and some 2-out terror added three more runs. 9-5 Raccoons, YES!! Quinn 2-4, BB; Martin 2-3, BB, 2B, RBI; Violante 2-4, RBI;

Game 3 for a sweep? Scott Wade again had trouble with left-handers, but got a 3-0 lead through two innings, before a bobble by Hall in left field cost an unearned run in the third. While the Loggers out-hit the Coons 7-4 through five, Wade still held on to a 3-1 lead. Hall got that run back with a solo jack in the sixth, and Wade went eight innings, allowing only one more hit to the Loggers, a 2-out double to Jesus Jimenez in the eighth, but Jimenez was thrown out trying to make it a triple, as Hall got the ball in very quickly. In the end, the Coons needed every run, as West was tattooed for a 2-run homer by Santiago Rodriguez in the ninth. West struck out the side, but that one got away massively. Still, the Raccoons won, 4-3, for a series sweep, their first sweep in a month! Hall 2-4, HR, RBI; Quinn 2-4, 2B; Wade 8.0 IP, 8 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 6 K, W (3-3) and 1-3;

In other news

May 4 – The Indians lose a key piece of their bullpen, setup man Tim Hess (3-0, 2.50 ERA, 1 SV), who will be out for a month with shoulder inflammation. Hess, 26, has a 2.07 career ERA in 294 appearances.
May 9 – LAP Greg Cain (5-2, 1.97 ERA) pitches a gem in a 7-0 win over the Indians, allowing only two hits.

Complaints and stuff

Oh, thank the furry gods, the offense is back! (exhales exhaustingly)

Well, we’re still last in AVG, but t-9th in runs scored thanks to some good scoring in the last week and a half. Must be due to the team scoring 6.1 R/G in the last nine games. The pitching is decent, but Steven Berry is a concern. His K/9 of 9.16 leads the majors! At the same time, he’s getting furiously whacked. We have an offer out there for a veteran SP that everybody reading here knows very well, and Berry is under great pressure here.

Meanwhile, Dennis Fried is putting on quite a show since his callup. To be honest, I think he pitches far above his true level early in this season. But as long as he produces results like the one he has, he will remain here.

By the way, how is our old Logan Evans doing in Dallas? We missed him in our interleague series. Last year he made seven starts for them, going 2-2, this year he’s 3-3 in eight starts, both times with a 3.35 ERA. This year he leads the majors in walks with 34 in 51 IP. So he’s very much like a very old house only held together by the fresh paint on the walls. I hate to having been forced to send him away, but I think it was for the better. For the Coons at least.

Below is Mr. Fried. Nice to see that Richard Cunningham’s Men With Hideous Moustaches Club is still accepting new members. Is there a Women With Hid- no? Why not?

[Westheim]

We now had a home week facing our favorite team, the Canadiens, and the Falcons. A road trip to Atlanta was looming darkly beyond that. The revealing of the draft pool would also take place in the middle of the Canadiens series.

By the way, I have expanded the draft here. We always had 10 rounds of drafting and players for 13 rounds. Since many teams have barely any talent for their first round picks busting for consecutive years, I have expanded the draft to 12 rounds with players for 15 rounds.

Raccoons (18-19) vs. Canadiens (21-15)

When the Indians lost their game against the Titans (a very close 11-0 thumping), the Canadiens moved into sole position of first place on our common off day here.

The series opened – badly. Jason Turner in game 1 threw exactly five pitches before he left with arm pain. We hurriedly warmed up Dennis Fried to enter the game, since I didn’t want to blow the whole bullpen at the start of a 6-game set. With two already out in the inning, Fried and Violante combined for two hits, two stolen bases, and two runs on a Kevin Gilmore home run before finally getting somebody out. A Johnston error added a run in the third, but the Coons played big ball early on, and Osanai and Dawson hit homers to turn it around to 5-3 through three. The Canadiens came back to crush a helpless Fried with six runs, capped by a 3-run shot by Kevin Lewis, in the fifth. So much for long relief. Matthews pitched two innings, but also surrendered two runs. It all combined for a 11-5 drubbing that fit just perfectly into the big picture of how these two teams had played against each other in the last five or six years. Dawson 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Burnett 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Jason Turner suffered a strained forearm. He will be out for three months, so with rehab won’t be back until September. Oh, bugger. (To make things worse, I accidentally slipped with my finger, neglected to read, and put Fried not in the empty #9 spot, but the #8 spot and removed Leo Smith from the game. Idiot.)

Now we had a big hole in our rotation. Turner was out on the 60-day DL, and Fried had been gassed and lost the game. Thus we had Berry today, nobody tomorrow, and then Saito. But we had had an off day, and still an offer out to a slowly reacting veteran SP. Thus we could move up to Saito for game 3, then Wade and then had a gaping hole when the Falcons would come in. In case we could not come up with a signed veteran in time for that Falcons game on Friday, we needed an arm from AAA. Yasushi Suto was the spot starter of choice since 1988, but he had started just this Tuesday and was not available. We were thus looking next at Eduardo Salazar, our first round pick out of college from last year, who was having a strong season, but who would start today, and then Carlos De Los Angeles, who was more in the category labeled “unremarkable”.

Now, Berry in game 2. He remained awful and fell 2-0 behind in the second on bad control, walking two. Vancouver’s Vernon Robertson was perfect through ten outs, before Salazar laid down a perfect bunt base hit in the fourth. Salazar stole second and was brought in by Hall with a single, but Berry surrendered a 2-run home run to Carlos Gonsales in the fifth to only fall further behind. He was pinch hit for in the bottom 5th and the Coons shortened the gap to 4-3, and when Dawson and Quinn hit back-to-back doubles in the sixth, Berry was off the hook. The Coons briefly took a 5-4 lead in the seventh, but Burnett and Lagarde were eaten up in the eighth, surrendering four hits for three runs. The Canadiens brought in Jamel Teissier for the bottom 9th with a 7-5 lead. He had been roughed up pretty well so far this season, and Dumont hit a leadoff single, and then Higgins rushed one out of the park to tie the game in the bottom 9th, and still nobody out. Salazar got on, but was thrown out trying to steal second base and the game went into overtime. Things went as wrong as they always did against the much-hated Redhats. In the 11th, they got their leadoff man on base on a Salazar error, then hit an infield single. Carrillo came in, got two outs, then we put David Brewer on intentionally to avoid his .393 lefty bat. Gilmore was the man that counted, and he singled to right. 9-7 Canadiens. Salazar 3-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Quinn 2-5, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Cordero 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

Antonio Cordero has amassed 15.2 scoreless innings. I don’t want to talk about anybody else. And another day passed, still no message from the angrily waited on SP. Jose Fernandez got a call to the big league team to eat up the middle game against Charlotte.

Bringing up Kisho Saito had no positive effects for the Raccoons’ efforts. The Canadiens sent ten men to the plate in the first inning, scored four times, and went cruising. Saito lasted only four innings in back-to-back terrible starts, and while Higgins and Hawley hit home runs to cut the deficit to 4-2, things looked bleak to the third degree. Colin Irwin hit a half-unearned 2-run homer off Carrillo in the fifth, Osanai had committed an error, another one in his rapidly filling book. A Daniel Hall home run had only big picture meaning in the race for 4th place on the all time homer list that he was losing against Michael Root. The relief corps botched the game just enough that a pathetic late rally fell short. 9-6 Canadiens. Higgins 2-5, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Hall 2-5, HR, RBI; Martin 2-5, 3B, 2B, RBI; Hawley 2-5, HR, RBI; Smith 3-4, 2B; O’Morrissey (PH) 1-1;

For Elmer Hawley this was his maiden big league home run. Could I care less? That was some ****ty pitching. What you could expect against our arch nemesis. Of course, this blew the division wide open against the Raccoons, who had just clawed and grabbed and bitten their way back to 3.5 games behind first place. Now the pitching was subterraneously bad.

Interlude: free agent signing

The morning of the series opener against the Charlotte Falcons, the Raccoons announced their newest acquisition from the free agent market, and it was no small name: the all-time career leader in wins, 39-year old Juan “Mauler” Correa.

Correa signed a 1-yr, $180k contract with the Raccoons to help out their struggling and decimated pitching staff. A winner of 261 games in his career and having struck out 2,385 batters in a 13-year career with five different teams, Correa brings a certain weight and name with him, although his last season in Atlanta was not really amazing, going 8-11 with a 4.69 ERA. Still, fans were overjoyed in Portland. Despite all the laurels, Correa frequently found himself on teams that ultimately came up short and has only World Series ring to his credit, with the 1980 Sacramento Scorpions.

To make room for Correa on the 25-man roster, Ben O’Morrissey was demoted to AAA until Jose Fernandez would return to AAA after his spot start in game 2.

Raccoons (18-22) vs. Falcons (18-23)

Scott Wade’s ship was quickly sunk in the series opener, with two runs in the first, then a leadoff walk in the third. Higgins threw away a double play ball, Jose Madrid singled to load the bags and then discarded ex-Coon Joe Jackson hit a grand slam. It was Jackson’s first homer of the year in 150 AB’s. While we got some nice relief, the Raccoons had exactly zero means of hurting Charlotte’s Bastyao Caixinha. 6-1 Falcons. Hall 2-4; Johnston 2-3, BB, 2B; Burnett 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K; Matthews 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Game 2 saw Jose Fernandez make his spot start against Manuel Movonda, who was suffering from low run support, but nothing else, coming in 2-5 with a 3.77 ERA. While Johnston hit an RBI double in the first inning to give Fernandez an early 1-0 lead, the defense repeatedly tried to backstab him. Higgins made an error in the second, Osanai made one in the third, and “Hamlet” Fernandez soldiered on with that 1-0 lead. The Coons loaded the bags in the fourth, but Smith struck out and Fernandez flew out to right to waste the chance. Another came instantly. Higgins singled and stole second, Johnston walked, and Hall singled to start the bottom 5th, nobody out. Osanai scored Higgins with a sac fly, before Dawson grounded the Coons’ way out of the inning. So much inability was of course punished eventually, and Fernandez was eaten up with a 2-out, 2-run single by Adam Kent in the seventh. Martinez lost the game in the eighth, 3-2 Falcons. Higgins 2-4; Salazar 2-3, BB; Fernandez 6.2 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 5 K;

Looks like a 5-game losing streak, smells like a 5-game losing streak, must BE a 5-game losing streak.

Juan Correa made his Raccoons debut in the last game of the homestand. He had spent four seasons with them, 1982 to 1985, winning 18 or more games every year. His opposite was Luis Herrera, who was 1-4 with a 6.60 ERA, and the pitcher the Falcons had plucked from our nest in the rule 5 draft last winter. After two scoreless innings, Correa grounded out to leave two Coons on in the bottom 2nd, then allowed a leadoff double to Herrera in the top 3rd. Kent homered, and the next three Falcons all singled their way on. Two Falcons fouled out, and Angelo Alicea flew out to Johnston in center. Still, the Coons trailed by two, and here was a pitcher with a WHIP of almost 2 and they were unable to get to him. Correa pitched eight and remained a victim of the piss poor offense the Raccoons showed in this series. Grant West made a token appearance in the ninth, mainly to show the few fans present that yes, he’s still here. And he walked three, allowed two runs, one unearned after an error by O’Morrissey. 5-1 Falcons, as they 4-hit the Raccoons and the only RBI was attributed to Correa.

0-6 homestand. Yes.

Raccoons (18-25) @ Knights (23-20)

With the Knights going to throw solely left-handers at us in this series, Bobby Quinn was to bat leadoff. Yes, we were that desperate.

The Coons jumped on aging veteran Bernard Lepore in the first inning of the opener, sending ten men to the plate and scoring four runs, the last on a poor grounder by pitcher Dennis Fried that inexplicably rolled through 1B Marcinek Wodaj. While Fried gave up a run in the bottom 1st, he came up with another huge bit, a 2-run double in the top 5th, which extended his lead to 7-1. While everything seemed to be on pace to end the Raccoons latest losing streak, Fried was mangled in the bottom 5th with home runs by Wodaj and Eddy Bailey and the lead shrunk to 7-5, and a 2-out triple by Paul Connolly and single by Manuel Guzman brought Michael Root as the go-ahead run to the plate in the sixth. Cordero came in, still scoreless against in 17 innings this year. He didn’t get out of the mess until loading the bases with Root and Wodaj first. Up 8-6, Carrillo and the defense worked hard to blow it in the eighth. One out, two in scoring position, Root up, and he was intentionally walked before Burnett came in to face Wodaj, and struck a pair to get out of the jam. The Coons loaded the bags with no outs in the top 9th and scored twice. In the bottom 9th, with a 4-run lead, Matthews came in to pitch. Elmer Hawley made errors on consecutive plays to load the bases with one out. Oh, the nightmare, it just was not ending. West got out of the swamp with two grounders to Dawson, the only reliable man on the infield (albeit hitting a mighty .205). 10-7 Raccoons. Quinn 2-5, BB, RBI; Johnston 2-3, 2 BB, 2 RBI; Smith 3-4, BB, 2B;

Back to Berry against Carlos Asquabal, who strangely was 1-4 with a 3.57 ERA coming in, and his K numbers were way down to 42 in total and less than six per nine innings. Berry had 41 K’s, but almost 9 K/9, of course owing to his all around terrible outings he was putting up, and this was no exception. The Knights took a 3-0 lead in the first on a helpless Berry, and Wodaj made it 4-0 with a third inning homer. The Coons left the bags full in the fourth, since they didn’t need to score if they wanted to lose. Berry only went five. There was still a furry rally in the seventh on a string of hits that scored three runs, but they needed an error by Connolly at short to tie the game. Leo Smith then found his way into an inning-ending double play, stellarly avoiding to take an actual lead, and that continued in the ninth, when they left the bases loaded, as Salazar with one out masterfully grounded into a force at home and O’Morrissey - … was himself. We had Dumont playing second base by the ninth inning, the bench was empty, and the game went to extra innings, with the bullpen rapidly emptying as well, but we got some amazing, while wild, relief from Lagarde, who went four innings to exhaust himself. The dilemma of an empty bench: Lagarde’s spot came up to bat in the top 13th with two down and the bases loaded. There was nobody left! Lagarde had struck out once before and did so again. The Knights walked off in the bottom of the inning against Burnett and Carrillo. 5-4 Knights. Hawley 2-4; Osanai 2-4, 2 BB, RBI; Higgins (PH) 1-1, RBI; Johnston 1-2; Smith 3-4, BB, 2 2B; Cordero 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K; Lagarde 4.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 6 K;

To make things even worse (apparently that was still possible) Glenn Johnston broke his wrist on a great play to retire Root early in the game. Johnston prevented a double, but dug up the ground with his face and will spend the next six weeks watching the misery from the outside. Johnston’s wrist in a brown cast (yes, they have that in Portland) was the call up for Neil Reece, who was in the middle of a batting slump. Feel free to prolong that here, Neil. By the way, the only thing that kept Steven Berry on the 25-man roster was the fact that he had no options left.

Rubber game. Kisho Saito tried to stop his slide. He fell 1-0 behind in the first after a Matt Higgins throwing error. Saito tied the game with a 2-out RBI single himself in the top 2nd (who else should do it?), but fell to an RBI triple by Eddy Bailey in the fourth. The Raccoons failed to mount any meaningful offense and lost again, 4-2. Quinn 2-4; Salazar 2-4;

In other news

May 24 – PIT SP David Castillo (3-2, 3.28 ERA) is out for the season with a torn rotator cuff with an estimated recovery time of four months.

Complaints and stuff

How could this become such a train wreck? Just how? The pieces were all there at the start of the season, and nothing has worked out in any way. The offense sucks, the pitching is spotty, and mostly sucks. The defense is horrendous.

They suck. They just suck. Why can’t I ever catch a break!?

[Questdog]

What is wrong with Tet-suuuuu???.....

[Westheim]

He got his $6.4M payday.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (19-27) @ Thunder (20-28)

The Raccoons had swept the Thunder earlier this season, although basically Daniel Hall had owned them and the rest of the team had trudged along. Hall had hit four homers in that series. He’s only hit four since. The rest of the team? I would have to count, but four combined would be a good guess.

The Comical Cabaret (not that anybody but Oklahomians were laughing) left two runners in scoring position in both the first (Quinn the culprit) and second (Martin). Higgins left two on to end the third. Oh, the headaches. Scott Wade didn’t get any support until Leo Smith hit a leadoff jack in the fourth inning, his first home run as a Brownshirt. Scott Wade was broken up in the sixth inning with three consecutive base hits to start the frame. Two runs in, he scored Vonne Calzado with a wild pitch and was yanked. In this 5-run inning, Antonio Cordero’s perfect ERA went to hell with a home run to Marc Shaw. An Osanai homer was too little, too late, but mostly too little. 5-2 Thunder. Salazar 2-4; Osanai 2-4, HR, RBI;

Game 2 was a pitchers’ duel slash hitting snooze. OCT rookie Francisco Saucedo silenced the Raccoons even better than anybody the last one and a half weeks, and Juan Correa didn’t fool anybody, but Calzado was the only guy to make good contact against him, and did so three times. Through seven, the game was scoreless. Correa was two thirds through the bottom 8th, when Pepe Padilla singled his way on. Grady Young grounded to first, and Correa dropped Osanai’s throw. Now two were on, and Calzado came up. Burnett replaced Correa on the mound and Calzado grounded out on the first pitch. Jeff Martin lifted the Coons in the ninth, pinch hitting for Higgins with two in scoring position and two down, doubling over Calzado in right center. West made short work of slugger Will Jackson, Dave Browne, and Tony Oliva in the bottom 9th. 2-0 Coons on four measly hits. Reece 2-4; Martin (PH) 1-1, 2B, 2 RBI; Correa 7.2 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K;

In the rubber game, Oliva and pitcher Fernando Vigil were the only right-handed batters against Dennis Fried, and he didn’t even get to retire those. He was beaten for three in the first inning, while Vigil was perfect into the fourth, but also coughed up three hits and two runs in the inning. After Fried hit consecutive batters in the bottom 4th, then surrendered a 2-run double to Vigil, he was penciled in for a flight to St. Petersburg. He walked Oliva, then was gone. Burnett drilled Calzado to score a run – the third hit batsmen of the inning. The Thunder were collecting bats, balls and a small howitzer in their dugout to conduct a counterattack eventually. Still, the Raccoons were not chanceless against Vigil. They scored a run in the fifth with two down, Hall walked after getting nothing but junk from Vigil, and that brought up Osanai. He brought a run in with an RBI single past 1B Jackson, but Reece flew out and the chance was wasted once again. Two were left on in the seventh. Reece led off the top 8th with a double. Quinn’s pinch hit RBI single scored him with one down, 6-5, and with two down the bases were loaded for Jeff Martin. One run, Jeff, we need one run! He struck out. 7-5 Thunder. Salazar 2-4, BB; Martin 2-5, RBI; Osanai 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Quinn (PH) 1-1, RBI; Dumont (PH) 1-1, BB;

With a 6.89 ERA (but still a winning record, 3-2) SP Dennis Fried was demoted to St. Petersburg, and we recalled SP Jose Fernandez, slotting him behind Berry to start the middle game of the Condors series.

Raccoons (20-29) vs. Condors (30-20)

Offense was the name of the game for the Condors. They had 253 runs scored to the Raccoons’ 197. But of course the Raccoons had played a game less, so actually the gap was artificially inflated … we were virtually assured not to win big in this series. The Condors carried ex-Coons Yoshinobu Ishizaki (hitting .340+) and Justin Reader (hitting .230).

First sent out was the puzzling Steven Berry, a shade under 9 K/9 and with an ERA a shade over 6.60, and that number grew in the first inning with a second-pitch homer to Tadanobu Sakaguchi. Berry sucked big time, didn’t strike out anybody until the sixth (C Andres Manuel), not even pitcher Charles Bywaters, trailing 2-1 in the fourth, with two down, the bases loaded, and an 0-2 count. Bywaters singled into left to break the game open, 4-1 Condors. Instead walking guys, it looked like Berry’s days were numbered and counting down in single digits. The Coons managed to score two runs with kind assistance of Bywaters and Manuel (WP and PB, respectively), but Martinez was beaten in the eighth. 6-3 Condors. Reece (PH) 1-1; Quinn 2-3, BB; Dawson 1-2, 2 BB, 2B; Cordero 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

Daniel Dumont struck out with the bases loaded batting for Berry in the sixth, which was the final out in the inning. That’s another guy that is going to get axed before long.

It was time for a major shakeup for the lineup. For the first time in years, Tetsu Osanai was removed from the cleanup spot, and Daniel Hall moved there. With two more righties up in this series, we’d try to alternate bats as good as possible, with L Salazar, R Reece (or S Higgins), L Martin, R Hall, L Osanai, R Quinn (or S Higgins), R Dawson, and R Smith. Dawson isn’t hitting a dime, either. That double in the opener was his first hit in over a week!

Game 2. Jose Fernandez faced Jon Butler, the war-scarred, grisly, 42-year old veteran Jon Butler, who had never started a major league game in his career! Hall got Fernandez a 1-0 lead in the third, but the not-so-young rookie blew it instantly with a homer to Preston O’Day in the top 4th, then walking three and hitting Mark Bowman on the thigh. The bottom 5th was quite eventful, as Higgins bowled over SS Cipriano Ortega at second base, and Ortega had to leave the game, while Higgins was called out. Hall doubled in another run to tie the game, and the Osanai managed a bloop to shallow left. Hall was sent homewards, threw on the afterburners and scored, just barely under Manuel’s tag. Fernandez gave the lead away with a game-tying wild pitch with two out in the seventh. Sakaguchi was at the plate, and then grounded out to Salazar. Bottom 7th: Higgins was drilled by the long-lived Butler to start the inning, then stole two bags on two pitches, tying a Raccoons record for three stolen bases in one game. Hall fouled out this time, Osanai did so, too, but Quinn managed to dink a Butler pitch into short center. The Coons led, but Cordero blew it in the eighth with three singles and a run. West had a troublesome top 9th and left two in scoring position. The game went to extra innings, and the Coons were given a nice wrapped gift by Ishizaki in the bottom 10th. Osanai singled to start the game, and Quinn also singled right in front of the onrushing Ishizaki, who misfielded the ball and both runners advanced a base. Nobody out, winning run 90 feet away. Neil Reece came up, having entered in a double switch in the top 10th. The Condors didn’t pitch to him and put him on first. Hawley pinch hit for Smith, but struck out. O’Morrissey came up and never swung at a pitch from Bob Haines. All four were in too tight, and O’Morrissey walked, forcing in the winning run. 5-4 Raccoons. Salazar 3-5; Hall 2-5, 2 2B, 2 RBI; Quinn 2-4, BB, RBI; O’Morrissey 0-1, BB, RBI;

Matt Higgins’ three stolen bases in this game ties a Coons record held by himself and Daniel Hall.

Daniel Hall figured prominently in the decision in game 3, too. His error got the Condors into scoring position against Kisho Saito in the fourth, and a subsequent wild pitch by Saito scored the Condors a run. Things didn’t look for neither Saito nor Hall with the Raccoons refusing vehemently to score. Saito hit a leadoff single in the bottom 7th, still 1-0 down. Salazar followed that up with another single. Higgins bunted them over, but Martin fouled out. All eyes on Hall! On a 2-1 count he grounded up just right of second base, and also just out of the reach of 2B Oscar Riley. Saito scored, and Salazar was waved home and was SAFE!! Saito was sent batting with Smith on first and one out, and we called a hit and run. Smith went, Saito went as well and it got through into right field! Runner on the corners, Salazar had the chance to get things moving further, and added an insurance run with a single to left. Saito remained in, 3-hitting the Condors so far. Preston O’Day’s 1-out double did not yet chase Saito, who struck out Manuel to get to the pitcher in the #6 spot. Ishizaki came out to pinch-hit, and he was a lefty, so Jackie Lagarde was not yet an option, and West had worked an entire night shift for four outs the day before. Saito was reassured by the pitching coach, then walked Itchy. Eternal Hector Atilano came up, another lefty. He will get him, he will. Atilano slapped at Saito’s first pitch, a HUGE fly ball into the gap in left center! Hall going after it – Hall hurled his aging body at the ball, AND CAUGHT IT!!!! 3-1 Raccoons!!! Salazar 3-5, 2B, RBI; Hall 1-4, 2 RBI; Dawson 2-3, 2B; Saito 9.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, W (4-4) and 2-4;

Without those clutch hits by Dan The Man, the Coons get swept here. Nobody else is any clutch. Dawson has just gotten back to .200, Osanai is playing at journeyman second baseman level, and while Martin is hitting for average, he never comes up with anything but junk with runners in scoring position.

In other news

May 26 – VAN 3B Raúl Solís (.283, 3 HR, 18 RBI) will miss up to six weeks with a strained groin muscle.
May 26 – WAS Jesus Lopez (7-0, 2.32 ERA) 3-hits the Gold Sox in a dominating performance, getting only one run of support in a 1-0 Capitals win.
May 27 – Make it two! Rookie SP Ramon Ortiz (3-4, 2.98 ERA) pitches the back end of back-to-back shutouts for Capitals pitchers against the Gold Sox, a 2-hitter in a 10-0 blowout.

Complaints and stuff

Been working a few long days this week, so that update will have to make do for the time being. Also went through the draft pool A to L, but no further yet. The team as a whole just doesn’t click. At least Saito seems to be back with a 4-hitter here.

Berry, Dumont, Martinez, and a few others are living on the razor’s edge.

I advanced past our May 31 off day to June 1 to get a look at the players of the month of May, but totally unexpectedly the Raccoons did not feature, so that’s why all the pitchers are rested. Normally I take the pics right after the final game in the update without advancing.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (22-30) vs. Indians (33-21)

When I showed my clueless face when the Indians acquired Juan Carcamo for slugger Francisco Lopez this winter, I should have already anticipated that he would clobber the Raccoons before soon. He had hit a 3-run homer in the first series between the teams in April, and broke up a scoreless game 1 with a 2-run homer off Scott Wade on June 1. Wade again lacked any bite, could not remove batters with two strikes on at all, and fell 3-0 behind in the sixth. If anything, Wade’s defense was great, turning a Carver bunt into a double play in the seventh. Jesse Carver 2-hit the Coons through five. A Salazar single to start the bottom 6th was removed by Martin with an inning-ending double play, too. When the Coons looked beaten, they started to wave their striped tails: Hall and Osanai homered back-to-back in the bottom 7th, Dumont doubled with one out … and then Smith flew out harmlessly to center and Quinn struck out batting for Wade. Jim Durden came in to close the game in the bottom 9th, facing Hall, Osanai, and Dawson. Osanai got on, but Dumont grounded out to second to end the game. 3-2 Indians. Salazar 2-4; Osanai 2-4, HR, RBI;

IND CL Jim Durden was hurt in this outing, suffering a shoulder subluxation, and was out for a week.

The poor offense continued, lineup shakeup or not. The middle game of the series was scoreless through five, as Juan Correa pitched fine, but just had zero support. Quinn left two in scoring position with a fly out in the bottom 5th. Correa was then eaten up by two hits to start the top 6th and the Indians took a 1-0 lead. Correa pitched out his old heart and soul, but wouldn’t get #262. That second grade student drawing of a team couldn’t score. They managed three hits against Carlos Guillen and Tim Hess. 1-0 Indians. Correa 8.0 IP, 8 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 6 K, L (0-2);

This night, OF Forest Hartley hurt his shoulder on a defensive play for the Indians. Gee, guys, stop playing so hard, our team won’t hurt you if you only give 80%, either.

Game 3. Berry Time. It tasted sour, like really old and rotten berries from the swamplands. Jimmy Erickson homered off him in the second, and after a Salazar error in the third, catcher Victor Cornett hit a 3-shot for three unearned runs. They led 7-0 through five (while Berry struck out seven), and the Raccoons even refused gifts like a huge error by 3B Mitsuzuka Ohara in the bottom 5th, which put runners in scoring position with one out, and Dawson grounded out SO POORLY, that the runners had to hold, and then Violante flew out to left. Another error by Ohara in the sixth got things flowing, though. The Coons loaded the bags with one out and Hall up. Hall didn’t get much to hit, but was hit himself, forcing in a run. Osanai had a 2-run single, a Reece single reloaded the bags, and Dawson came up as the tying run, batting .193. Unless he hit it out, he’d end the inning, that much was clear. He grounded to the mound, Ando to Cornett to Duarte at first, inning over. You just wanted to scream. Bottom 7th: two on, two out, Higgins grounded to 2B Dave Dixon, whose throwing error put one run on the board and placed two Coons in scoring position for Daniel Hall, but he grounded out to Ohara, who made a fine play. Hall again was the tying run with two out in the bottom 9th, then walked against Hess, loading the bases. Martinez had replaced Osanai in a double switch, and lefty Jeff Martin came out to pinch hit. Hess struck him out. 7-4 Indians. Salazar 2-5; Higgins 2-5; Osanai 3-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Reece 2-4;

Another homestand, another sweep.

The following roster moves were made before we boarded a plane to New York: Daniel Dumont was demoted to AAA, hitting two-oh-two and about zero recently. Randy Powers was called up to make his debut despite hitting only .236 in AAA himself. Gotta see some new loser faces. Elmer Hawley was demoted, having fizzled out quickly after a hot start to his big league career, and replaced with Antonio Gonzalez, who had learned how to hold the bat now.

Randy Powers plays all three outfield spots, but excels really only in left and center. He bats right-handed, has little power, but goes into the gaps for doubles quite often. He was a 1983 supplemental round pick by the Capitals, and we got him in the Billy Mitchell trade after the 1988 season, along with Antonio Gonzalez and a minor leaguer.

Raccoons (22-33) @ Crusaders (23-32)

We had to play four in New York, and as it looked like, all against righty starters. Of course, with a team struggling this hard, it didn’t really matter whether the pitcher threw right-handed, or left-handed, or whether he didn’t have any arms and flicked a ball at batters with his foot. We were 1.5 games ahead of rock bottom, where the Loggers had signed a long-term lease that seemed ripe to expire.

Now hold on to something: the Raccoons took a lead! Leo Smith singled to start the top 3rd, stole second, and scored when Jose Fernandez was his own run support with a double to left that scored Smith. Jorge Salazar broke the game open the next inning with a 2-out, 3-run double off the wall in left, and was then scored by Gonzalez, who batted second despite a .067 average. Now he was already up to .091. The Coons put up another crooked number in the sixth, this time including a bases-clearing double by Daniel Hall and another 4-run inning. Gonzalez came up with his first homer of the year in the eighth inning, making it double-digits then, 10-0. Jose Fernandez was stellar on the mound, cruising to his first big league win (in his fifth start), and already a shutout! 10-0 Coons. Salazar 3-5, 2B, 3 RBI; Gonzalez 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Hall 2-5, 2B, 3 RBI; Reece 2-4, BB, 3B; Smith 2-4, BB; Fernandez 9.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K, W (1-0) and 2-5, RBI;

Hector Lara started game 2 for the Crusaders, on a 6.94 ERA. According to more (and also to less) recent history, he’d at most allow one run over eight frames, while the Crusaders would light up Kisho Saito. The Furballs opened with a run in the first, but left two in scoring position. Quinn was the culprit here in his first start in about a week, and left the bags loaded in the third. Two more were left on in the fourth by the team, again asking for trouble, and it promptly came to them. Leo Smith couldn’t field Lorenzo Gomez’ bunt in the bottom 4th, and Gomez was safe, breaking up a 9-out perfect bid by Saito. Two more singles scored Gomez and the game was tied. Hall left two on in the sixth, where the Coons took a 2-1 lead. Powers in his debut had walked and stolen second base, then had scored on singles by Saito and Smith. Saito battled through eight innings holding on to a 1-run lead and gave the ball to West for the ninth, and West blew it on the first batter, a home run to Douglas Donaldson. Goddammit!!! Extra innings. An Osanai error put John Harris, the leadoff man, on in the bottom 10th, but Lagarde managed to starve him at third base and advanced the game to the 11th. Top 12th, Osanai singled, Quinn doubled with one out, getting O’Morrissey up. With the right-hander Jared Chaney dealing, Higgins pinch hit for him. Higgins struck out, and Reece PH-ing for Powers also struck out. It was … it was … it was the Coons on TV, why don’t you change the channel and shut up? The Furballs actually managed to fudge a run together in the 14th (and left two in scoring position). Martinez came out to save it the game now, relieving Matthews. He hit not one, but two batters. One out, Roberto Carrillo entered, and MR Carlos Benitez bunted over the runners as the Crusaders’ bench was empty (the Coons had Violante still available, but only one more pitcher). Left-hander Keith Lake for the win: Carrillo flew him out to center, where Reece made the catch. 3-2 Raccoons, in a grind. Salazar 2-6, BB; Osanai 2-4, 3 BB; Martin (PH) 1-1; Saito 8.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 4 K; Lagarde 3.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K;

Osanai got the team started in game 3 with a bloop single between everybody in shallow left for a first inning 2-0 headstart. Wade repeated Saito’s perfect three innings of the previous day and added one out, before surrendering a double to Stan Potvin, but he managed to starve him on base. The fifth went wrong. With Antonio Esquivel on third base and two down, Martin Limon was walked to get to the pitcher, but Luis Andrade lobbed a single into short center and a run scored. The leadoff man got on in the sixth and one man went on in the seventh, but Wade managed to hold on. Some offense would be nice here, boys! Hall and Osanai left two men on base in the top 8th. Wade had a quick eighth and was on 98 pitches so far. Now, West had blown the save the day before, and there were right-handers up for the ninth, starting off with Diego Rodriguez, Donaldson, and Esquivel. That was the big unit there. Lagarde had been spent in extra innings, too. So … Scott, it’s all yours. Rodriguez doubled to start the inning. Why … couldn’t … never … just … Dawson made a huge play to retire Donaldson and held Rodriguez in place. Esquivel was on a hitting streak that the Coons didn’t manage to contain (see below) and was put on intentionally as the winning run. Better go after Raul Castillo and Stephen Hall. Castillo grounded to Dawson, but the Coons couldn’t turn the double play. Esquivel was out at second. Stephen Hall had made the final out in game 1, would he make it here? Pop to right, Quinn coming in – GOT IT!! 2-1 Raccoons! Quinn 2-3, BB; Wade 9.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, W (4-6);

Both walks in Wade’s line were intentional, one of them backfired, but thankfully it wasn’t the latter one. This was his first complete game this season. Wade has now one complete game every season in the Bigs, but only one, something along the line that Mark Dawson hits one triple each year (occasionally connecting for a cycle).

Osanai was getting a bit better recently and him and Hall were restored to their old positions in the lineup.

Somehow, some way, the Coons entered game 4 with a chance to sweep the Crusaders. That however would mean that they had to score Juan Correa some frickin’ runs. Correa shoveled himself his own grave, though, falling to a 2-run homer by pitcher Raimundo Beato. It was only the beginning for a major socking for Correa, who went 5.1 innings with seven runs against him, including three long balls. 8-3 Crusaders. Higgins 2-5, RBI; O’Morrissey 1-1;

In other news

June 2 – NYC 1B/2B Antonio Esquivel (.260, 4 HR, 25 RBI) has a hitting streak soar to 20 games.
June 4 – The day Jose Fernandez fired his first ABL W and SHO, Richmond’s Harry Griggs (6-6, 3.61 ERA) superseded him in the news with a 3-hitter against the Blue Sox, as the Rebels won 4-0.
June 7 – Antonio Esquivel continues to excel, getting his hitting streak to 25 games.

Complaints and stuff

Something’s wrong with my keyboard, I can’t get the ‘ thing atop the vowels anymore. Don’t ask me, it has just stopped working. It always places two ´´ things instantly. Until it miraculously fixes itself or I get a new laptop, vowels will be without the ‘ thing. Yes, I know I omit them half the time anyway.

Kisho Saito leads pitchers in WAR in the Continental League at this point, but that [insert profanity of your personal choice] team can’t score him any runs. As they can’t for Correa, either. Saito is 3rd in ERA in the CL behind 2nd place Bastyao Caixinha (Falcons) and – hold on to something – Boston’s KINJI KAN. How did he crawl out of his hole!!??

David Vinson has started a short rehab assignment and should join the team, replacing Violante, in short time.

[Westheim]

It was interleague week, and it started against certain other woodlands creatures from Oregon. Since dueling in the World Series last year, the two teams from Oregon had gone a combined 51-68, and by now it was widely accepted by the local baseball fans that neither team would be playing past September this time around.

Raccoons (25-34) vs. Wolves (26-34)

Some less crappy start from Steven Berry here would be nicey-nice. The Wolves had their issues with their pitching as well, but Berry had to stop giving away so many hits and runs. His stuff was dominating early on and he struck out five in three scoreless innings to start the game. Matt Higgins provided him with a lead in the bottom 3rd, a solo shot into the bleachers behind the left field wall. Jon Robinson looked frustrated at the mound. Two down, nobody on, Daniel Hall came up and was hit squarely in the shoulder after ducking away from it. Hall hurled the bat away and went after Robinson, and the benches emptied. Berry came apart in the fifth. The Wolves loaded the bags with one out (including a HBP to Dale Cleveland), and two singles later, three runs were in, and Berry was out. Again. And the Raccoons did not get back. Again. 3-2 Wolves. Higgins 2-3, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Powers 1-2; Matthews 1.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Daniel Hall and Jon Robinson got 5-game suspensions for their brawl. In turn, Randy Powers, who entered the game in place of the ejected Hall, landed his first big league hit. Hall’s suspension rips another hole into the hole-stacked Swiss cheese lineup we have. Leo Smith batted third in the middle game. So much for that. Powers replaced Hall in left field for the duration of his suspension, so this series and the next.

Jose Fernandez matched up with Alejandro Venegas for said game 2. Fernandez surrendered leadoff doubles in both of the first two innings, and both times the run scored. The Coons scored an unearned run on a throwing error by C Les Harper when Matt Higgins stole second in the first inning. Higgins went to third and eventually scored. In the bottom 4th, the Raccoons loaded the bags with one out and Antonio Gonzalez up. The sucker blew it, of course, with a poor lazy flyer to central center, and Powers lined out to 2B Mark “Icon” Allen. Gonzalez came up again in the sixth with two on and was pinch hit for with Salazar even there. Salazar’s knock was heard all over the city, hitting a huge RBI double and putting the go-ahead run at third. Powers was put on to get Fernandez into the box, and he remained in, hitting a single through 3B Sixto Moreno, being his own best friend (once more…). Bobby Quinn scored two runs with a single in the leadoff spot for a substantial 5-2 lead. Fernandez struck out a guy in the top 7th, then put one on, struck one out, put another one on, and faced Cleveland as the tying run – STRUCK HIM OUT!! That was the 10th and final K for Fernandez that day. The pen took over, and how it did: Cordero walked Benny Carver in the eighth, and Jackie Lagarde came in to be taken deep by Sean Bergeron. Grant West managed to hold on, but also put a runner on. 5-4 Raccoons. Smith 2-3, RBI; Osanai 2-4; Reece 2-4; Salazar (PH) 1-2, RBI; Martin (PH) 1-1; Fernandez 7.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 10 K, W (2-0) and 1-3, RBI;

With Kisho Saito you always hoped for a long outing and a W for the team, but rubber game day was not his best outing. The Wolves scored two off him in the first inning. Bottom 3rd: Saito walked, pitcher Evan Dawson misfielded Jorge Salazar’s grounder, and Quinn singled to left. Bases loaded, nobody out. Smith scored a run with a sac fly, that was it. Again. There was some scoring into the fifth, the bottom of which the Coons entered down 4-2. Quinn doubled to start the frame, and Smith also doubled. Nobody out, tying run on second base – didn’t score. Osanai struck out and Higgins and Martin left Smith at third. 5-3 Wolves. Quinn 2-4, 2B; Carrillo 3.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K;

After the series, some players departed to Cincinnati, while others were to go to St. Petersburg. These were Antonio Gonzalez and Alarico Violante. David Vinson was recalled from his rehab stint, and Elmer Hawley was brought back, too.

Raccoons (26-36) @ Cyclones (27-33)

Another team average in many aspects, the Cyclones tried to stay in contention in the FL East, which was a lot to ask with the Capitals playing .700 ball.

Scott Wade pitched three strong innings in game 1, got no support, then lost cohesion and fell 1-0 behind in the fourth. Osanai’s 2-out RBI single tied the game in the sixth, scoring Higgins, and Wade added two more innings, holding the fort with a 1-1 tie. He got no further support and no W, and the Coons left the go-ahead run on third base in the ninth, too. Matthews got two outs in the bottom 10th, then loaded the bases. Lagarde came in to face Billy Rowland, and punched him out. Top 11th, and Quinn and Osanai were in scoring position with nobody out. Vinson was put on intentionally and again they merely managed a sac fly (Martin). West came in to save it and sat down the Cyclones in order. 2-1 Raccoons. Salazar 2-5; Quinn 2-5; Osanai 2-5, 2B, RBI; Wade 7.0 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K; Martinez 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

This was Jackie Lagarde’s first W as a Furball after mysteriously going 0-5 last year despite pitching magnificiently.

Game 2. Can we please, PLEASE …! Give Mr. Correa a win? He really deserves better than this. The Coons instantly left runners on the corners in the top 1st. Quinn stole a home run from Joey Jones in the second, but Jones and Jesus Galindo hit back-to-back home runs in the fourth, putting three runs on the board. The Coons yet had to get into the H column. Powers doubled in the top 5th to end that drought, but the only run scored was batted in by Correa and then they left the bases loaded in that inning. They were just incredible. Bases loaded, two out, Correa up in the top 6th. What the heck, old man, hit away. He grounded out. The tying run came to the plate twice after that, but … 3-1 Cyclones. Powers 2-4; Correa 8.0 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, L (0-4) and 1-3, RBI;

Daniel Hall returned from his suspension for the rubber game, relieving us of Randy Powers’ .200 bat. As if that had been our only problem.

Hall also did little to jump start the invisible offense, as Jim Harrington no-hit the Coons into the sixth inning in the rubber game. With Berry on the mound, that meant trouble, and it came in the form of almost 100 pitches and two runs in through five innings. Berry didn’t get through the sixth eventually. Top 7th, Hall leading off. He singled, and Osanai singled, and Vinson singled. Bases loaded, nobody out, two runs needed to tie the game. Higgins, Martin, O’Morrissey … didn’t score A SINGLE *** RUN. The tying run came to the plate one more time in the ninth, with two down. Higgins was on first when Martin was hit by closer Joe Roberts. O’Morrissey was replaced by Dawson. If Dawson can do one thing, it’s hitting a home run. He CAN NOT hit into a double play here. That’s a possible win-win-win situation. He struck out. 3-0 Cyclones. Osanai 2-4;

In other news

June 8 – TIJ OF Preston O’Day (.260, 9 HR, 35 RBI) is having a down season and now has an oblique strain as well that may shelf him for the rest of the month.
June 12 – The Miners get wiped out by the Titans, 10-1, but there is still a minor ceremony after the game, honoring 35-yr old OF Armando Sanchez, who collected his 2,000th career hit in the game, a ninth inning single off Jesus Cortez.
June 12 – New York’s Antonio Esquivel (.293, 5 HR, 31 RBI) brings his hitting streak to 30 games.
June 12 – TOP Jorge Ramos (4-3, 4.95 ERA) puzzles the Loggers and pitches a 2-hitter in a 5-0 win.
June 12 – The Wolves look for improved pitching and acquire veteran SP Terry Reynolds (2-6, 5.20 ERA) from the Indians, sending over utility infielder Sixto Moreno (.313 in 131 AB) and minor leaguer Gordon Smith.
June 12 – Struggling to keep pace with Washington, the Blue Sox lose CL Matt Sims (5-2, 3.25 ERA, 15 SV) to a strained abdominal muscle. Sims should not miss more than two weeks.
June 13 – MIL SP Davis Sims (1-8, 5.49 ERA) is out for the season with a torn back muscle.

Complaints and stuff

Runs scored/against these three weeks: 13-19. THIRTEEN RUNS, FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!!!

1989 Steven Berry: 29 G, 22 GS, 9-8, 1 SV, 3.01 ERA, 155.1 IP, 154 H, 52 ER, 36 BB, 141 K, 1.22 WHIP, .253 OAVG, .306 BABIP
1990 Steven Berry: 13 G, 13 GS, 3-8, 6.23 ERA, 69.1 IP, 90 H, 48 ER, 33 BB, 68 K, 1.77 WHIP, .311 OAVG, .370 BABIP
He’s striking out nine a game, but these H/9 and BB/9 are killers! How can that be!?

Also, why does this piece of junk of a game not state a team’s offensive BABIP?? Manually calculated it is .266, which seems outright cheap. Our defense has rallied to rank 3rd in BABIP with a .283 mark. That pretty neatly masks the 59 homers surrendered by Raccoons pitching, dead last in the CL.

Offensive categories the Coons rank not 10th or worse in: XBH (8th), HR (7th), K (3rd);
Offensive categories the Coons rank 10th or worse in: AVG, OBP, SLG, OPS, R, H, BB, SB;
Offensive categories the Coons rank LAST in: AVG, OBP, SLG, OPS, R

It’s draining me. It’s so badly, heavily, soul-wrenchingly draining me.

[Westheim]

1990 AMATEUR DRAFT

The Raccoons came in with the 22nd pick in every round, plus two picks in the supplemental round, and the Scorpions’ 2nd round pick, which came in at #2 in that round.

The following players were highly salivated on by Raccoons scouting, but would most likely not remain at #22: SP Martin Garcia (17/17/16), SP Steve Rogers (14/19/14), SP Travis Reed (11/13/20), MR Joe Jennings (20/20/14), CL John Bennett (20/15/18), MR Leon Wright (20/17/15), MR Daniel Miller (19/18/12), SS/2B Juan Barron (18/5/11), SS/3B Jose Sanchez (10/14/15), LF/RF/1B Dave Reid (13/14/16), OF Royce Green (13/14/12), and OF Vicente Perez (17/4/15). Yeah, it was a pitchers crop this year.

The Loggers once again had the first pick in the draft, and made a #1 draft pick out of said SP Martin Garcia. Rogers went #2 to the Scorpions. After ten picks, all guys off our hot list were gone except for Reed, the four relievers and Perez, who went #14.

1990 Portland Raccoons Draft class:
Round 1 (#22) – MR Daniel Miller, 22, from Bloomfield, NJ – devastating slider, a 98mph cutter, and remarkable ability to hit the corners, too; a little more control, and this righty can pitch in Portland next September.
Supp. Round (#44) – 2B Jayson Kelley, 18, from Brentwood, CA – unremarkable defense, but with a bat that should make him a .300 hitter with a considerable number of doubles and triples due to gap power and great speed
Supp. Round (#58) – C Marcos Lozano, 21, from Santo Domingo, Dom. Rep. – very good bat for a catcher, although his catching abilities could be better; still projects to be a big league catcher at some point.
Round 2 (#69) – MR Leon Wright, 17, from Ecorse, MI – his curveball is just unfair to hitters, while his stamina doesn’t allow him to go after more than three batters every second day, which is his main drawback.
Round 2 (#89) – LF/CF Francisco Reyes, 21, from St. Louis, MO – great speed and range in the outfield; bat doesn’t have much power, but his average should be good enough for a .280 clip in the Bigs.
Round 3 (#113) – MR Antonio Donis, 18, from Asuncion Nochixtlan, Mexico – left-hander with a nasty cutter; his long-term success will depend on whether he can make anything useful out of his developing changeup.
Round 4 (#137) – 1B Mark Logan, 19, from Paradise, NV – traditional first base slugger with bad defense and a power bat
Round 5 (#161) – 1B/LF/2B Michael Martin, 21, from New Berlin, WI – decent package, he can do a lot of things fairly well, but nothing at the top of the crop.
Round 6 (#185) – SP Jose Castro, 18, from Carolina, Puerto Rico – four pitches, all raw, much to work on, and even then… he’s a lefty, so he may grab a job someplace eventually.
Round 7 (#209) – 2B Don Ingram, 23, from Brick, NJ – a good defender with decent speed, he has not much going for him at the plate
Round 8 (#233) – OF Patrick Barnes, 21, from Daytona Beach, FL – solid defender, good speed, IF he ever could get on base…
Round 9 (#257) – C/1B Emeric DeMeo, 20, from Florence, Italy – quite some catcher, and can also play a very good first base, but his bat has holes of tremendous size.
Round 10 (#281) – SP James Sparks, 22, from Hazelwood, MO – left-hander with three pitches and questionable movement and control.
Round 11 (#305) – SP Tommy Carroll, 17, from Bel Air North, MD – five bad pitches, but he has time to develop
Round 12 (#329) – MR Raul Mejia, 18, from Lancaster, PA – decent changeup, not much else

Miller and Lozano were assigned to the AA team; everybody else was put with the A team. Some players were moved up a notch in the system, and some were released, most notably MR Mike Shaw, who had a 9.75 ERA in 12.1 innings in AAA.