Portland Raccoons (ABL)

[Westheim]

Raccoons (27-38) @ Canadiens (39-24)

The Canadiens were motoring, and the Raccoons were … still there, somewhere, but not necessarily anywhere nice. The Canadiens led the CL in pitching, allowing only 261 runs through 63 games. Their offense was not shabby, either, ranking second.

Game 1 saw Bobby Quinn open the night with a double, then saw him stranded at third. The Raccoons lost Jorge Salazar to a stiff neck in the first inning, too, and things went from there. In a 1-1 game in the bottom 6th, Jose Fernandez walked three while collecting only one out. Ken Burnett came in to face Kevin Lewis who grounded to right and right into the runner from first, Kevin Gilmore. The Canadiens still scored the go-ahead run on the play. It was also the winning run, as the Raccoons were again held to five hits. 2-1 Canadiens. Hawley 2-3;

Kisho Saito went into the second game, knowing the need to be perfect for a slim chance at a W. Hall and Osanai both struck out with Jeff Martin on third base in the top 1st, seemingly setting the tone for another horrible slouch night. That did not include ONE clutch hit they got from Bobby Quinn in the second, but in chronological order things started with Elmer Hawley being safe on a bad throw by 3B Chris Lee, where otherwise the inning would have ended. Vinson singled and Hawley made for home, being narrowly safe. Saito trickled a ball through the infield, and then Bobby Quinn came up, two on, two out, and doubled into the deep right corner to score even the slow Saito from first base. 3-0 Coons, and now it was all on Saito, who breezed through the innings. Opposing pitcher Tia Fa also settled down, allowing two more hits through seven innings. O’Morrissey had a leadoff double in the eighth. Higgins was put on intentionally, Hawley bunted the over. Vinson in the #8 spot had a prime chance to score them. Big contact, huge fly ball to deep right and OUTTA THE PARK! Fa was out, but the pen couldn’t end the inning and the Raccoons added two runs. Saito’s shutout was broken up in the bottom 9th, when O’Morrissey couldn’t make a play with two outs that would have preserved the SHO. Saito angrily punched out Kevin Gilmore to end the game then. 8-1 Raccoons. Quinn 3-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Osanai 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Vinson 3-5, HR, 4 RBI; Saito 9.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, W (5-5) and 2-5;

It was still a great outing by Saito and exactly what the Raccoons had needed. Not that Fernandez had been bad in the opener. A decent offense would have picked him up.

After that it was time for the draft (the Coons harvest is in the previous post), and then two more games in Vancouver.

Game 3 saw the balls fly high and deep early on. The Coons started with three singles against Vernon Robertson and scored all three runs on an Osanai sac fly and a 2-run double by Reece. Wade surrendered a 2-run homer in the bottom 1st, but Higgins got those runs back with a homer of his own in the top 2nd, ending Robertson’s day already, 5-2. Scott Wade didn’t fool anybody, as Fred Rodgers cut the lead to 5-4 with another shot in the bottom 4th. Wade dragged himself into the seventh, where he put two on with a 6-4 lead, but Cordero came in for an inning-ending double play. Lagarde and West were aceful enough to hold on to a 7-4 win. Higgins 3-4, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Osanai 3-4, 2B, 3 RBI; Reece 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI;

So while Daniel Hall struck out three times in the game, Osanai knocked three times, drove in three, and now has retaken the team lead for RBI’s from Hall, 41 to 39. Dan The Man is having huge issues to hit the ball right now. Sniff. We tried Vinson in #3 and Hall in #5 for a day or two.

Game 4. Could the Coons win a series in the enemy’s territory? Juan Correa fell behind 1-0 on some questionable fielding and managing in the bottom 2nd. With runners on the corners, two down, Fred Rodgers was up and despite the pitcher on deck, we did not walk him, and he singled for a run to score. An unearned run tied the game in the third, and the Coons squeezed in a run in the fifth with Quinn racing home from second on a Vinson single to shallow left, and Quinn was just barely safe. Aggressive base running was necessary with our lame duck offense to move anything. Rodgers was up in the bottom 7th with runners on first and second and only one down. Correa was still in and Rodgers was a switch hitter, so going to Burnett was not an option here. Correa had to get him. He grounded Rodgers to right, where Higgins made a great play and started a double play. Now, give the old man some security runs! Salazar and Vinson made quick outs in the top 8th. Osanai grounded to the left side of the mound, but Robbie Campbell didn’t make the play and Osanai was safe despite running at zombie pace. That was Campbell’s last batter, and Lance Parsons came in to face Daniel Hall, who was 0-3 with a pair of K’s (again) that day. Don’t get to two strikes again, though Hall, and ripped into the first offering from Parsons, a huge blast OUTTA HERE!! That support was needed. Correa got two outs, then put two on in the bottom 8th, and was removed for Lagarde, who didn’t get out of it until after an RBI single to Art Garrett, so Hall’s shot was now the difference, but only for half an inning, as the Coons added two in the top 9th, one on a wild pitch by Jamel Teissier. So, West was kept in the stall, and instead Juan Martinez sat the Canadiens down in order. 6-2 Raccoons! Quinn 4-5, RBI; Salazar 3-5, RBI; Correa 7.2 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 4 K, W (1-4);

First Furballs win for Juan Correa!! Also, Daniel Hall is the first Raccoon to double-digit home runs this season. And tied Osanai for RBI’s again. And for the first time in ages all positional starters for Portland had at least one hit in the final game in Canada. Most had exactly one.

Raccoons (30-39) @ Loggers (28-41)

Here comes Steven Berry again, still on the brink of being annihilated, although his BABIP numbers (detailed two posts further up) suggest that he’s not half as bad as his 6+ ERA may suggest. The Loggers sent Scott Murphy in, whose 5-4 record and 4.69 ERA suggested that he got almost all the run support on the team. Berry lasted only four innings due to on-and-off rain that eventually forced a 45-minute delay. In those four innings, he struck out four, but also surrendered three runs, while Murphy controlled the Raccoons, but also did not qualify for the win due to the ill weather. Burnett faced three batters in the fifth, never retired anybody and the Loggers scored twice more, hitting single after single. The Raccoons logged six hits, the Loggers racked up the Coons, 6-1. Quinn 2-4, 3B, 2B; Reece (PH) 1-1; Matthews 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

Berry now 3-9 with a 6.23 ERA. It’s gruesome. If he had any options, he would be long gone to Florida.

After K’ing with a man or men on base not once or twice, but three times in the series opener, Tetsu Osanai came through with a 2-run double in the top 1st of the middle game in support of Jose Fernandez. While the Coons cautiously added to that lead, Jose Fernandez developed a no-hit bid, that was not broken up until with two down in the sixth by Charlie Justin. The next play was botched between Osanai and Fernandez, but the young pitcher was able to punch out slugger Jesus Jimenez to escape the inning, but Fernandez was then still blown up huge in the seventh with two down, when the Loggers lined up doubles. Three runs scored, tainting a 5-0 lead, but Cordero locked down the Loggers in the eighth and a 4-run ninth inning by the Furballs moved the game far away. 9-3 Raccoons, and this time the Loggers had six hits (but did enough damage with those) and the Coons had 17. Salazar 3-5; Quinn 2-4, BB, RBI; Vinson 2-5, 3B; Osanai 4-5, 2 2B, 4 RBI; Powers 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI; O’Morrissey 2-4, 2B, RBI; Cordero 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

Daniel Hall was in a huge slump and sat out in the rubber game (with an off day after that). Powers took his spot. Meanwhile, Vinson was highly inefficient in the #3 slot, tripling or not. Quinn was moved to the #3 hole, Powers batted fifth for a game, and O’Morrissey stayed in (leaving Dawson watching more frequently at the moment) to bat second, which obviously was dicey.

That revised lineup didn’t work for a dime, and Kisho Saito was eaten up in the second, loading the bases, and then surrendering 2-run doubles to 1B Pepe Martinez and P Judd Montgomery. Saito was able to only exact minor revenge with an RBI double of his own in the third inning. Saito’s line was horrid, with 70 pitches he went 3+ innings, allowed eight hits and five runs and left a runner on, CF Emilio Roman, but Roman was caught stealing in the inning. Six hits was the Raccoons’ number again. 6-1 Loggers. Carrillo 4.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

Raccoons (31-41) vs. Bayhawks (41-31)

The Bayhawks came in with stellar pitching, the bullpen excelling in particular, and the least runs conceded in the CL (289). The Raccoons had even scored 11 runs less (ranking last again) and were thus not expected to be shut out less than twice in this series.

And they went on a good way there instantly, not getting any bats up against Chris O’Keefe in the opener. When they finally DID have two men aboard in the bottom 5th, Dawson hit into an inning-ending double play. The sixth was even worse: two in scoring position, one out, Quinn popped up, and Osanai struck out. Way to go, guys. Scott Wade could pitch shutout ball only for so long, and an O’Keefe double in the eighth chased him. Lagarde gave up the run, put another runner on, and then that rat’s ass Cameron Green hit a 3-run home run. 4-0 Bayhawks. Raccoons were 6-hit once more. Salazar 3-4; Wade 7.2 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, L (5-7);

The Bayhawks took a 1-0 lead against Correa in the first inning, a deficit the Raccoons had no hurry to make up. Bobby Quinn’s solo homer in the fourth tied the game. Apart from that, they were all around all awful. Bottom 7th, Vinson hit a leadoff double, still in a tied game. Reece grounded to short and Vinson had to hold. O’Morrissey was pinch hit for with Hall, who had sat on the bench again. The Bayhawks did not pitch to him and instead chose to pursue their luck with Elmer Hawley, who was replaced by Leo Smith, who singled to left, but Vinson had to hold. Bases loaded, one out, Higgins pinch hit for Correa, and flew out to deep center, enough for Vinson to tag and score. Salazar struck out to end the inning. Only one run from bases loaded and less than two out, as always. Both teams left a runner on third with one out in the eighth, Vinson and Reece not getting the job done in the bottom 8th. West came in for a save situation (there weren’t many these days), and he had surrendered a run in a meaningless eighth the last day in Milwaukee. He retired the side in order, but was unable to remove any hitter after getting two strikes on all of them. 2-1 Raccoons. Osanai 2-3; Smith (PH) 1-1; Correa 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 4 K, W (2-4);

How did Steven Berry’s ERA (6.23) compare to Wilbert Rodgers’? Not good: 1.71, in almost as many innings. Game 3 went accordingly. The Bayhawks took an early 3-0 lead in the second inning against an ineffective Berry. Bottom 3rd: O’Morrissey with a leadoff triple, and then Berry struck out, Salazar grounded right to Rodgers and was out at first, and Martin struck out. O’Morrissey hung his head, trotting to the dugout from third. The park was about silent. Berry didn’t allow more damage through the sixth, although one could argue the damage was already done. In the bottom 6th, Rodgers inexplicably lost control. Starting the inning, he walked Salazar, walked Martin, walked Quinn. Nobody out. Osanai in the box. Four balls, and a run was forced in. And that was all they got. Hall struck out, once again, and things went downhill from there. 4-1 Bayhawks. Smith 2-4; Matthews 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 1 K;

Daniel Hall carried this team earlier in the season. Now he’s hitting zero.

In other news

June 15 – Los Angeles Pacifics owner Patrick O’Gavagan passes away, with his son Patrick O’Gavagan jr. succeeding him. The younger O’Gavagan is characterized as an unmerciful controller.
June 15 – New York’s Antonio Esquivel goes 0-4 against the Loggers, ending his hitting streak at 30 games.
June 15 – The Wolves and Warriors trade struggling 29-year olds, as OF Ennio Sabre is sent to Sioux Falls, batting only .202 in 99 AB this year, and formerly fearsome 1B Gilberto Alaniz goes to Salem after being demoted to AAA this season. Alaniz has 54 HR to his credit.
June 17 – The injury bug keeps biting LVA OF Claudio Garcia (.312, 3 HR, 30 RBI), who suffered an elbow sprain. The 27-year old will be out for four weeks at least.
June 22 – WAS OF Tomas Maguey (.309, 1 HR, 42 RBI) will be out for about three months with a broken finger.
June 23 – Canadiens hotshot 2B David Brewer (.325, 6 HR, 32 RBI) will miss about two weeks with an elbow sprain. I could cry more.
June 24 – CHA Bastyao Caixinha (8-6, 2.80 ERA) spins a 3-hitter against the Titans as the Falcons win 4-0.

Complaints and stuff

Did some math. Raccoons’ BABIP in last six games: .284; Opponents’ BABIP in last six games: .324; and it’s been going like that since April 1. And I’m sick of it. The game is forking me over *INTENTIONALLY*. I can’t stand such crap.

[Questdog]

I hope that is not a serious accusation......

[Westheim]

There is no logical explanation for what is going on. It's not that the Raccoons defense is *bad* compared to the other teams'. They are bouncing around between 3rd and 5th on the defense rankings, depending on how many balls Ben O'Morrissey has roll away from him to blow up shutouts.

The Raccoons' offensive BABIP is so far off that of the other 11 teams (at least 20 points lower than anybody I have calculated, more for most of them) that only illogical explanations can explain it: the game hates me.

And by now all the big boys (Osanai, Hall, Dawson) are batting between 20 and 80 points less than last year, and Hall leads the team with only ten dingers. I mean, it has to come from somewhere.

Did I mention before that I am paranoid?

There will be no firesale this season, by the way, since it doesn't matter whom the Raccoons field. The team will never win, no matter who's in the lineup.

Take three 13th inning or later losses in the World Series against a team winning only 88 during the regular season for example. That's a prime example of what I'm talking about.

Then there's that Berry case and his BABIP of almost .380 ... there's also no logical explanation for that. I can't help it.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (32-43) vs. Falcons (35-39)

The Falcons ranked 9th in runs scored and 10th in runs allowed in the CL, so were not out of reach of the Inepticoons. On paper at least.

The Falcons scored early and often against an inept Jose Fernandez in the opener, five runs in 2.2 innings. Bobby Quinn’s solo homer in the bottom 1st was pale in comparison. Ken Burnett pitched half a game in relief to get this over with, allowing a solo home run to Jose Madrid, while driving in a run himself at the plate. The Raccoons twice had the tying run at the plate in the middle innings, down 5-2, before the Madrid homer. In the bottom 9th, they got two men on, before Dawson grounded into a double play. Why do I let him play anyway? 6-2 Falcons. Quinn 2-4, HR, RBI; Burnett 4.1 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K and 1-1, 2B, RBI;

Kisho Saito was back to awesome here against the Falcons. Saito was also the Coon coming closest to driving in a run in the bottom 5th with O’Morrissey on second and two down. He singled to left, but O’Morrissey held at third, and Salazar flew out. The game remained scoreless. Bottom 6th, still no runs scored: Martin led off with a double. Quinn grounded to 3B Lorenzo Ocasio, who didn’t make a sure pick and everybody was safe. Runners on the corners, nobody out. Osanai up. Him and Higgins singled in runs for a 2-0 lead. Sorry, Kisho, that’s gotta be enough. Despite a solo shot by Osanai in the bottom 8th, the tying run came to the plate against Grant West in the ninth, before he ended the game. 3-0 Raccoons. Osanai 2-3, HR, 2 RBI; Saito 8.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 7 K, W (6-6) and 2-3;

Kisho Saito ranks third amongst the Coons in batting average with a .308 clip. I should pinch hit with him more often instead of pinch hitting FOR him. Only Salazar and Quinn have higher averages among the batters.

Rubber game time with Scott Wade. He was perfect in the first two innings and not so much in the next two, allowing seven hits and four runs. Jose Galvez for the Falcons was perfect through 13 outs, then walked Vinson and allowed a double to Higgins. Reece’s 2-run double drove them in, Dawson walked, Quinn (PH for Wade) walked, and the go-ahead runs were on base. Salazar deep to right, RF Djordje Nedic going after it, but he couldn’t get it, and Salazar cleared the bases! Martin walked, and Galvez was out after a bloop RBI single by Daniel Hall. Osanai scored Martin before the inning ended with a double play hit into by Vinson: four hits, but seven runs for the Coons. Now hold the fort! Carrillo struck out the side in the sixth, Cordero pitched a good seventh, but Lagarde allowed a homer to Madrid starting the eighth, and Higgins’ error on the next play got the tying run to the plate. Oh, no. Lagarde struck out the next two guys and got out of the inning with a 7-5 lead. Reece brought in another run with an RBI groundout in the bottom 8th, and West had no huge trouble saving the game. 8-5 Raccoons. Salazar 1-4, 2B, 3 RBI; Osanai 2-4, RBI; Higgins 2-4, 2B; Reece 1-4, 2B, 3 RBI;

The Raccoons were now up for an 8-game road trip to the North East, and their string of consecutive games would not end until after a final home series against the Indians before the All Star Game.

Raccoons (34-44) @ Crusaders (32-45)

The Crusaders ranked 11th in the CL in runs scored, with 300, six ahead of the Raccoons. Expect a string of 2-1 games here. All in favor of the Crusaders of course, because this here are the Inepticoons.

But the Raccoons started in a hurry against Raimundo Beato with a Salazar single, a ball to Martin’s thigh, and a scratch single by Quinn. Osanai grounded to 1B Douglas Donaldson, who blew the play and two runs scored. Okay, the Crusaders helped big time in making this a 4-run inning: all runs were unearned. The Crusaders nipped single runs off that lead in the second and third, but the Coons restored the 4-run lead by the fifth. David Vinson hit home runs in consecutive AB’s in the fifth and seventh innings. Juan Correa pitched very well, surrendering only six hits while pitching into the ninth inning and exited because of a pitch count of 120 (don’t want to ride a 39-year old that hard). 7-2 Raccoons for a phenomenal 3-game winning streak! Woooo!! Salazar 3-4, BB; Martin 2-4, 3B, RBI; Vinson 3-5, 2 HR, 3 RBI; O’Morrissey 2-5; Correa 8.1 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, W (3-4);

Steven Berry was up in game 2. Patience was running out with him, K/9 prowess or not. He had to get that ERA under six (and better under five) now, or he be gone. He got support in the second inning by the way of O’Morrissey’s first homer of the year, a 2-shot off Hector Lara, who had come in 4-4 with a 4.54 ERA. Berry responded well to being repeatedly screamed at: he turned in seven shutout innings, with the only complaint being ill control and a string of 3-ball counts, but the Crusaders never came to hurt him. Dawson pinch-hit for Berry in the top 8th with Randy Powers on third base, but struck out, slowly drifting towards .170 in the average column. But this time, four hits were enough, as the Crusaders were shut out, 2-0. O’Morrissey 2-3, HR, 2 RBI; Berry 7.0 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K, W (4-10);

After this game, Elmer Hawley was sent down to AAA again and Antonio Gonzalez was once more recalled.

Hall sat out game 3 after another 0-4, 3K performance the day before. Vinson played in the #3 slot in his absence and hit his third homer of the series right in the top 1st. The game became tied again in the bottom 3rd, when Jose Fernandez gave up two 2-out singles, then threw a wild pitch. Gary Nixon came in with a 3-8 record, but a 3.08 ERA, so the guess was for poor run support for him, and that pretty much was true in this game, too. Fernandez gave away a few walks here and there, but they couldn’t torch him. He didn’t strike out anybody until the bottom 6th with two out and two on (ex-Coon Stephen Hall the victim). Osanai drove in Quinn in the fourth to renew the lead, and Quinn then hit an RBI triple in the sixth, with Vinson scoring him for a 4-1 lead. The bottom 7th saw Fernandez come unglued for good, walking two. Cordero came in, but walked Edward Snyder. Now Lagarde came in with the tying runs on base. Throwing a wild pitch to Stan Potvin, he scored the lead runner, then walked Potvin to re-load the bases. Matthews came in, the fourth pitcher in the inning. Diego Rodriguez’ RBI groundout was followed by another walk, before he got Antonio Esquivel to ground out. 4-3. Bases loaded in the top 9th, one out, Matt Higgins scored a much needed run with a single to right. Mr. Double Play did not come up with the pitcher’s spot up, but Daniel Hall grabbed a bat. He struck out once more, and Salazar fouled out. Grant West made his fourth appearance in five days, and joined the walk in the park with a 2-out walk to Rodriguez, but then struck out Donaldson to end the game. 5-3 Raccoons! Quinn 2-4, 3B, RBI; Vinson 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Osanai 2-4, RBI;

Jose Fernandez got the W, but walked six in this outing. The Crusaders’ inability to make something out of their numerous chances saved the day more than Grant West, Albert Matthews or anything else.

Vinson got game 4 off, along with the struggling Higgins. Gonzalez played second base, trying to rally from a .140 average. Kisho Saito pitched, trying to get to a winning record, but fell behind 1-0 in the second, when Esquivel took him deep to left. Another ball got away off the bat of Dale Hunter in the fifth. 2-0 down, the Raccoons were reeling, and they were hitting balls hard, but into outs, and that constantly. Saito was pinch-hit for with Jeff Martin in the seventh, but to no effect. Quinn and Hall had 1-out singles in the top 8th, putting the tying runs on base for Tetsu Osanai. He sent a fly ball to deep left, but Rodriguez made the play of the year out there and the Raccoons remained shut out. 2-0 Crusaders. Hall 2-4; O’Morrissey 2-4, 2B; Martinez 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

Raccoons (37-45) @ Titans (36-47)

Jorge Salazar got the opener of the 4-game series off after playing basically every game for about a month. Bobby Quinn batted leadoff and opened the first game with a double in what became a 3-run inning. A wobbly Scott Wade was threatened to be overrun by the Titans early on, allowing a first inning run and barely leaving the tying runs in scoring position in the second, so David Vinson did a good job in launching a 3-run homer in the third inning. It didn’t help any, though. Wade allowed four runs in the bottom 3rd, being completely ineffective, and all damage being done with two outs. With two runners still on base, he was removed for Burnett, who struck out Alejandro Espinoza to end the nightmare. Both starters were out already in the 6-5 game. Ultimately, Burnett was not any better than Wade, as only an outfield assist by Quinn and a huge catch by Hall held the Coons in the game in the fourth, and he put two on in the fifth, but again struck out Espinoza to escape trouble. Quinn with a 2-out, 2-run double and Higgins with a subsequent RBI single widened the gap again to 9-5 in the sixth. Hall, who had made a huge play to end the fourth inning, would make two more of those to end innings, both times with the tying run at the plate: the seventh and the ninth; in the latter, Grant West put the first two men on, before regaining control. Hjalmar Flygt’s flyer to shallow left could have spelled doom, but Hall made the play and the Raccoons emerged 9-6 winners in a 31-hit slugfest. Quinn 2-5, 2 2B, 2 RBI; Higgins 3-5, RBI; Vinson 2-5, HR, 2B, 3 RBI; Reece 3-5, RBI;

Glenn Johnston starts a rehab assignment at St. Petersburg after having his broken wrist heal up. He should replace Randy Powers in due time on the roster.

Daniel Hall continued his dazzling defense in game 2, nailing Juan Valentin at home in the first inning, but the Titans still took a 1-0 lead there, and upped to 2-0 in the third. The “Mauler” was quite a bit less ace in this game. When David Vinson tied the game with a 2-run double in the fourth, he instantly fell behind 3-2, and when they tied that in the fifth, he fell behind 4-3 and barely left the bags full in the bottom 5th. The Coons left the bases loaded when Martin popped out without scoring in the top 6th. With two out in the top 7th, Salazar was on second and Hall at the plate. He shot a ball up the middle for a single, scoring Salazar, which tied the game. The Titans tried to make the play at home, but Espinoza’s throw was so bad that Hall went to second base, which enabled the Coons to take the lead, when an Osanai grounder got through 1B Jack Burbridge for a single. Vinson came up – and hit ANOTHER HOME RUN!! The Coons now held a 7-4 lead, but Correa put two runners on and both scored, getting him charged with six eggs in the game. The Coons still had their claws on a 7-6 lead, but Lagarde blew it in the eighth, and Matthews lost it in the ninth. 8-7 Titans. Quite a lot of terrible pitching in this series so far. Salazar 2-5, 2B, RBI; Hall 3-5, RBI; Osanai 2-5, RBI; Vinson 2-5, HR, 2B, 4 RBI; Martin 1-2, 2 BB, 3B;

Game 3 saw Mark Dawson in the lineup for the first time in a week, and his first AB actually was productive, an RBI double in the top 2nd that scored the first run of the game. Berry batted next and grounded to short, where Manny Mora botched the play and two runs scored, getting the Raccoons rolling for a 6-run inning, four of them unearned. Berry then set out to lose the game, but failed to. In turn, the Raccoons lost Berry, who was hurt in the bottom 2nd. Carrillo came in, walked a batter, and then surrendered a 3-run triple to Espinoza. Oh, well. The bullpens delivered shutout ball through the seventh after Carrillo’s blunder, including three scoreless frames from him. Even more impressive was the performance of Juan Martinez, who pitched the last four inning in long relief. Salazar and Quinn started the top 8th with singles, bringing up a seemingly resurging Hall. Dan Gray didn’t give him much to hit and Hall drew a walk. Osanai behind him walked, too, forcing in Salazar. There was still nobody out. Vinson grounded out to short for a double play, but a run scored, and Higgins drove in another run. 9-3 Raccoons. Salazar 2-6, 3B, RBI; Quinn 3-6, 2B, RBI; Osanai 2-4, BB, 2 RBI; Higgins 1-2, 3 BB, RBI; Dawson 2-4, BB, 2 2B, RBI; Martinez 4.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K, SV (1);

Steven Berry was diagnosed with a strained abdominal muscle, putting him out for about eight weeks and forcing roster moves. With the bullpen getting eaten up in this series, we brought up a reliever from AAA: right-hander Qi-zhen Geng, 20 years old, a Chinese-Canadien and former international discovery by us. He was having a blast in AAA this year, appearing in 30 games with a 1.71 ERA. He also was added to the 40-man roster. The next moves will add a starter and Glenn Johnston to the roster, but first we completed the road trip. The starting pitcher was not needed until after the All Star break, since the last game before it was Correa’s.

Dreaded Kinji Kan was the Coons’ opponent in game 4. Jose Fernandez went for the Furballs, and his control remained bad. Two walks wasted a 1-0 lead in the first, when Salvador Vargas followed the walks up with an RBI single. Kan hit David Vinson with a pitch early on. Vinson was in pain, but stayed in the game, while we plotted our revenge. In the bottom 6th Fernandez plunked the Titans’ catcher, Augusto Arrendondo, but followed that up with another HBP to Espinoza, who pinch hit for Kan, and the benches almost cleared. Burnett came in to get the final out from Burbidge. Geng made his big league debut in the 1-1 tie in the seventh, and between a double and a wild pitch managed to hold the fort. Mark Dawson broke up the deadlock with a solo home run in the ninth, his 10th of the year, tying Daniel Hall for the team lead. Hall also left two men on with a groundout to end the inning. West put the first two batters, Burbidge and Valentin, on in the bottom 9th. Flygt grounded to Higgins, who converted for two. Burbidge on third base, two down, Vargas batting against West. Fly ball deep to center, Reece running after it, and catching it! 2-1 Coons!! Quinn 2-5; Vinson 2-3, RBI; O’Morrissey (PH) 1-1;

Randy Powers went to AAA and Glenn Johnston was recalled, hitting .600 in his short rehab assignment. He obvisouly was not bothered anymore by the wrist.

Raccoons (40-46) vs. Indians (50-36)

If we could sweep the Indians, we would be only seven behind them and then … that wouldn’t mean anything either.

Johnston batted second in the opener and came back with a double and scored right away. Kisho Saito couldn’t hold on to the lead and fell 2-1 behind in the third, and followed that up with a horrible fourth, where the first four Indians reached base and they scored another two runs. In the bottoms of both innings, the Coons had two on, but hit into a double play both times and got only one run from there. Still down 4-2 in the bottom 8th, Vinson pinch hit for a single to start the inning, and Dawson followed that up with an RBI double. Nobody out, the tying run at second base, Higgins, Smith, Salazar (who reached on an error), and O’Morrissey all balked and the chance was wasted. Johnston was nailed with one out in the bottom 9th for the tying run to get back on base, but Hall hit into a devastating double play for the second time in the game, and for the final time. 4-3 Indians. Johnston 1-2, 2 BB, 2B; Vinson (PH) 1-1; Dawson 3-4, 2 2B, 2 RBI;

To make everything worse, the Raccoons lost Bobby Quinn to injury in this game. He suffered a separated shoulder on a play and had to be carried off the field in intense pain. He will be out for at least a month, tearing another hole into the porous Raccoons lineup. With the injury to Quinn, Randy Powers returns to Portland after one day away.

Scott Wade had a shoddy first inning and fell 1-0 behind, a mark still standing in the bottom 5th, when the bases were loaded and two down with Wade up to bat. O’Morrissey pinch hit, but lined out to left. This set the tone for the game, as the Raccoons again only managed to hit double play balls. Two on in the bottom 9th of this middle game, with one out, Mark Dawson popped out, and Johnston grounded to short. 2-1 Indians. Vinson 2-3, 2B; Martinez 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K;

Juan Correa fell behind quickly in game 3 as well, with a home run by R.J. Stinton. The Coons chained a few singles together for once in the bottom 3rd and Martin with a groundout and Hall with a single scored two runs to turn the game. Johnston hit his first homer of the year in the fourth to make it 3-1. Two runners were left in scoring position by Reece in the sixth as a pinch hitter for Correa. By then, the Coons led only 3-2. The pen wobbled into the eighth, where Grant West came in to pitch a 4-out save. He struck out Juan Carcamo to get things started, and then mowing down the Indians in the ninth as well. 3-2 Coons. Salazar 2-4, 2 2B; Hall 2-4, 2B, RBI; Osanai 2-4; Johnston 2-4, HR, RBI; Carrillo 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K; West 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, SV (24);

Down 2-10 now, we have already lost the season series against the Indians. Gah.

All Star Game

The Raccoons had no All Stars, and they didn’t deserve any, anyway. Capitals and Blue Sox dominated the FL roster with six players each, and the Knights and Condors led the CL with five each. The CL won 7-6, staving off a late FL rally.

In other news

June 26 – SFB 2B Pedro Villa (.292, 3 HR, 31 RBI) will miss six weeks with a strained medial collateral ligament.
July 2 – Sacramento’s Carlos Reyes (5-8, 3.68 ERA) fires a 1-hitter in a dominating performance in a 7-0 win over Denver.
July 2 – TIJ LF/RF Yoshinobu Ishizaki (.320, 3 HR, 37 RBI) notches his 2,000th career hit with a 3-4 day against the Falcons, as the Condors win 11-6. The middle hit is the big one, a 5th inning single off Julio Silva. He is the 8th batter to reach the mark, and at the age of 33 could easily get to 3,000 in time.
July 4 – NAS 2B/3B Horace Henry (.309, 15 HR, 58 RBI) has a 20-game hitting streak going.
July 4 – SFW 1B Francisco Lopez (.314, 8 HR, 38 RBI) bashes five hits against the Pacifics. The power slugger falls – of all things – a homer short of the cycle.
July 5 – The Cyclones cool down Horace Henry, already ending his 20-game hitting streak.
July 6 – WAS CL Domingo Rivera (3-3, 1.24 ERA, 24 SV) ends the game against the Blue Sox for a 3-1 Capitals win, notching his 300th career save.
July 6 – SFW Antonio Lopez (7-7, 4.05 ERA) 1-hits the Scorpions in a 2-0 win.
July 8 – SAL 2B/3B Mark “Icon” Allen (.281, 5 HR, 42 RBI) will miss a month with a torn meniscus.

Complaints and stuff

Qi-zhen Geng will return to AAA when play resumes, and Dennis Fried will take over in the rotation for at least one start.

Of course they could not nail down the Indians. Maybe not a sweep, but at least take the series and not let them get even further away. Not that this team, now also ravaged by injuries, stands a chance in September. They didn’t even stand a chance in April.

[Westheim]

Just this quick update. Next week could bring more overtime at work and very few updates, or I decide that I don’t give a crap and still go home at 5pm. ‘ll see.

Raccoons (41-48) vs. Titans (39-51)

Would the Titans ever be able to turn a winning season? Not that us Portlandians REALLY cared, being too bothered with our Inepticoons. This was a 4-game series, continuing the home stand that had started before the All Star game and that would also bring the Loggers and Aces to town afterwards. We also had an off day after the Titans series, giving us added flexibility with the pitching staff, but Kisho Saito was slated to start the series (with Wade and Correa following) on five days’ rest. After that it would be patch working. We also had the option to bring up experienced spot starter Yasushi Suto from AAA if Fernandez and Fried would continue to fall apart at the back end of the rotation.

Game 1 saw David Vinson continue his incredible power surge, bringing the Coons into the lead in the bottom 2nd with a solo home run, and after that lead had gotten away from Saito, hit another one for a 2-1 lead starting the bottom 5th. Saito was still eaten up by Chad Fisher and Shotaro Ono hitting back-to-back dingers in the seventh that gave Boston a 4-3 lead, but the Coons got Saito off the hook in the bottom 7th. Martin was on first with Reece pinch-hitting for Juan Martinez, who had relieved Saito. Reece hit a key double that put him and Martin in scoring position and well-placed RBI singles by Salazar and Johnston turned the game back the right way. Osanai clubbed a homer with two out to clear the bases, and Dawson followed it up with another homer for a 6-run inning. Burnett came in for the eighth, but put Juan Valentin and Hjalmar Flygt on base to start the frame. Here we go again? Lagarde came in, but three runs scored in the inning. Yeah, here we go. West stopped the bleeding reliably in the ninth, though, and the Raccoons stumbled away with a 9-7 win. Osanai 2-4, HR, 2B, 4 RBI; Vinson 2-3, BB, 2 HR, 2 RBI; Reece (PH) 1-2, 2B; West 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K, SV (25);

The Titans were close to going ahead early on in game 2. They put their first two men on against Scott Wade, but never moved further in the first inning, and then had Rafael Ramirez on third base with one out in the second. Ramirez had reached on an error by Vinson, who had just been promoted to batting third. Ramirez hesitated when Ono grounded to Mark Dawson at third base, and pitcher Kinji Kan grounded out, too, to end that inning. Still scoreless in the top 6th, Flygt rolled a single into right to start the inning, extending a hitting streak to 15 games. Salvador Vargas doubled over Randy Powers, who started a game in left in place of Hall, and the Titans had two in scoring position and nobody out. Chad Fisher grounded to third and the runners had to hold as Dawson made the play. Wade had struck out Jack Burbidge twice already in the game, and got him to 1-2 before Burbidge fouled out. Ramirez came up and launched a shot to deep right, but Glenn Johnston hauled it in, and the Raccoons had dodged another major bullet. Now was the time for some offense, boys! Wade went seven scoreless with 100 pitches. Reece singled with two down in the bottom 7th, bringing up Powers, who was pinch hit for with Hall now, but he flew out. Three relievers patched together a messful top 8th, before Jeff Martin, entered in a double switch and in the #9 spot, singled to start the bottom 8th. Salazar singled and Martin went to third. Nobody out, Glenn Johnston up. He flew out to LF Flygt, but that was enough for Martin to tag and score. Finally, a run!! West came in, dap-dap-dap, the game was over. 1-0 Raccoons. Salazar 2-4; Osanai 1-2, BB; Martin 1-1; Wade 7.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 5 K;

Game 3 was scoreless into the fourth, when Johnston singled and Hall doubled to start the home half. Osanai singled Johnston in, and then Vinson came up, now batting fifth, and socked another home run! It was his 10th of the season and put the Coons 4-0 ahead, and the team added another run through Higgins singling, stealing second base, and scoring on a Dawson single. The Raccoons racked up 15 hits in the game, but never got another knock in a RISP situation, the only other run they scored being unearned in the eighth. On the mound, Juan Correa was performing much like a 29-year old and dominated the Titans, getting into danger really only once, when they put two men on to start the seventh, but both runners were starved. Correa went the distance with a 6-hitter, and the Raccoons won 6-0. Salazar 2-5; Johnston 2-5; Osanai 2-5, 2 RBI; Vinson 2-5, HR, 3 RBI; Higgins 2-4, 2B; Dawson 2-4, RBI; Correa 9.0 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K, W (5-4) and 2-4; Daniel Hall (a double) and Neil Reece (no hits) were the only players appearing for the Brownshirts that did not log multiple hits;

Obviously, this was Juan Correa’s first SHO as a Raccoon, and the second complete game, but where did it rank for his career as almost undisputed best starting pitcher in the 14-year history of the ABL? It was his 21st shutout and 97th complete game. He ranked 2nd in both categories to David Burke, 18 CG’s and 14 SHO’s behind. Burke, 35, currently was a free agent with a dead arm.

The Indians had lost their first three out of the gate, now tying with the Canadiens for the division lead, and suddenly the Coons were eight behind. If they could - … ah, stop dreaming.

The Titans made a minor trade before the last game, sending utility man Kelly Carpenter to Cincinnati for two minor leaguers, including 27-yr old Serafim Laborinhos, an outfielder that had never been in the majors so far, but who had a power bat that had to be respected, knocking 41 homers in the minor leagues last year.

Jose Fernandez tried to complete a 4-game sweep of the Titans in the nationally televised CBN Game of the Week on Sunday night. The national audience saw Osanai robbed of a potential RBI double by LF Alejandro Espinoza, ending the bottom 1st, then commit an error to start the top 2nd that led to an unearned run, ending 20 consecutive shutout innings by Coons pitching. The Titans blew up Fernandez in the fourth, putting five men on without making a single out. Martinez could not put the fire out, walked three in a very uncharacteristic outing and the Titans took a 6-0 lead. Through four innings, the Coons had been held to two hits, but they broke out against Jorge Valdes in the bottom 5th. Started by Jeff Martin double, they put up a major rally, scoring four runs and loading the bags with two out. Matt Higgins at the plate. Could he come up with a clutch hit? Single over Chad Fisher into left! Osanai ran from second, but had to hold at third, bringing Martin up with the tying run 90 feet away. 2-2 the count, he made solid contact and hurled a ball to deep center, where Juan Melendez looked one way, then the other, then jumped, MISSED IT!! The ball fell in, hobbled away from Melendez, and Martin had a TRIPLE and three runs were in!! This capped not only Valdes’ day, but also an 8-run inning to take the lead. Up 10-6 after six, the Coons tried to finish the game with Carrillo going the last three frames, but he became stuck in the ninth. With two out, two were on, and Carrillo had exhausted himself throwing 57 pitches. Grant West was brought in to face Espinoza. 1-2, swung and missed. 10-6 Raccoons! Salazar 2-5, RBI; Johnston 3-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Martin 2-3, 3B, 2B, 3 RBI; Gonzalez (PH) 2-3, 2B; Matthews 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K, W (3-3); Carrillo 2.2 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K;

Added to this was killing Flygt's hitting streak at 16 games, as Fernandez and the pen gave him only junk food, walked him twice, but didn't allow any hits.

In other news

July 12 – Tijuana puts CL Bob “Butcher” Haines (3-3, 1.79 ERA, 19 SV) on the DL with a strained rotator cuff. The 35-year old, who also has a no-hitter to his name, should be back by mid-August.
July 13 – VAN SP Tia Fa (7-6, 2.66 ERA) hits the DL with a strained hamstring and won’t return until September, severely hampering the Canadiens in the CL North battle.

Complaints and stuff

This 4-game sweep actually gets the Coons into position again in the CL North. Eight games are not insurmountable, but the offense has to continue to hit at least at this level. Offense for the season is a meager 3.96 R/G. Since the start of the series in Boston, the Coons have scored 5.45 R/G, in a span of 11 games. That’s a small island, however. The 11 games before that they scored 2.82 R/G. Mostly very good pitching has carried them through some of the offensive misery, but you can never feast on Cy Young pitching alone, and to be honest, no Coon is on track for Pitcher of the Year this season, although the top 3 of the rotation are really pitching their heart out. “Mauler” Correa earned Player of the Week honors for his shutout in the trunk week following the All Star game.

Still, we have five players listed has “hot”: David “Bam Bam” Vinson and four guys from the bullpen: Martinez, Carrillo, Matthews, and West. That tells quite a bit about the offense.

David Vinson before his injury: .202/.321/.337, 1 HR, 9 RBI in 89 AB (30 TB)
David Vinson after his injury: .363/.422/.717, 9 HR, 23 RBI in 99 AB (71 TB) <- dat's mah boi!
Something along the line of .290/.350/.600 with 15 HR in 400 AB was what we envisioned when we let Sam Dadswell go to play him as primary catcher.

Just over two weeks to the trade deadline – should the Raccoons be buyers or stay put? We certainly won’t sell. The abnormally pathetic BABIP numbers we’re having are convincing me that this team can actually do a lot more damage than it has. We have suffered from a continuous string of RISP inability and bad luck in general.

If yes, where to improve? Starting pitching is an obvious choice with two rookies at the end of the rotation. Also, with Bobby Quinn out until mid-August, we could use an outfielder, preferably one in the final year of his contract. Money is not an issue. At $1.2M of the budget still in the coffers, we can add any player we want.

[ShaneCarson]

That outfield definitely needs some help.

[Westheim]

The trading block showed a flurry of former Raccoons outfielders, all of which still much beloved in Portland: Cisco Banda, Raúl Herrera, and Alex White; no useful players were on there (but ex-Coons Jack Pennington and Hoyt Cook), and if we wanted a good player down the stretch, we had to do some convincing. A new outfielder had to be able to play right field, since left field was Hallville, and center field was crowded with Johnston, Reece, and everybody else. Johnston played right at the moment, since he played all outfield positions very well. A starting pitcher would in the best of all worlds be left-handed. In both cases, players in their final contract year were highly preferred.

One pitcher on our shortlist was Milwaukee’s Neil Stewart (who was arbitration eligible, but possibly a super-2 case this fall), who was expected to go in the middle game of the following Loggers series. I also took a long look at Nashville’s Salvador Fierro, whose contract was up this season. RIC Jake Wallace would fit, but had $2.4M left on a long contract, and then there was SFW Antonio Lopez, who was perhaps having too good a year so far to be easily acquired mid-season.

Raccoons (45-48) vs. Loggers (42-51)

The Loggers had just swept the Indians in a 4-game set, toppling them from the CL North leader’s spot. So, this was probably not a walkover. But what was a walkover with this team after all…

Game 1’s matchup perhaps was just not fair. Dennis Fried (3-2, 6.89 ERA) against Judd Montgomery (10-5, 2.51 ERA); Emilio Roman’s home run got the Loggers up in the second inning, and they led 3-0 after the top 4th, but in the bottom of the inning Daniel Hall and David Vinson both tied Mark Dawson’s mark of 11 dingers for the team lead, but both were solo shots and the Raccoons kept trailing 3-2. Higgins singled his way on with one out in the bottom 7th, then stole second, his 18th bag of the year. Reece went to 3-1 against Montgomery, then singled to left, and Higgins raced home to tie the game. A tie was nice, but Ken Burnett fell behind in the eighth instantly, and when the Coons never got another runner, their 5-game winning streak ended, and the Loggers’ went to six and counting. 4-3 Loggers. Martinez 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

Our object of desire, Neil Stewart, pitched against Kisho Saito in the middle game. Saito reached 100 K’s for the season with a K to Roman in the fifth, but then trailed 1-0 already. Coming into the sixth, the Coons had been extremely pathetic against Stewart, logging only two hits and a walk, the latter by Hall, who made it two walks with two outs in the inning. Then unbeknownst to the attendance, this set off a chain reaction, as Osanai walked, and then Dawson doubled into left to tie the game. Johnston walked to fill the bags, and Vinson came up, not having hit his daily homer so far. He did so now: GRAAAAND SLAAAAAM DAVID VINSON!! Drake Evans cut that 5-1 lead in half in the seventh, taking Saito deep for two runs in the latter’s final inning. Unfortunately, three relievers (Lagarde, Matthews, and Cordero) were barely able to navigate the eighth, which the Coons only escaped leading when Vinson was man enough to survive a violent home plate collision for the final out, after Glenn Johnston had fired a beam from right. Johnston left the game hurt, though. West claimed the save, 5-4 Coons. Osanai 2-3, BB, 2B; Vinson 1-3, HR, 4 RBI;

Glenn Johnston hurt again is NOT good, removing the final .300 bat from the outfield with Quinn already on the shelf. He is not diagnosed so far. Mark Dawson in right was the best defensive option for now, bringing O’Morrissey in at third base again.

O’Morrissey was up in the rubber game in the bottom 3rd, bases loaded, nobody out, 2-1 lead for the Furballs. Double play, Hall scoring from third. Still, O’Morrissey went to 1-35 in RISP situations. 1-35! It was the first of three consecutive DP innings for the Furballs. That had to invoke some punishment, and it came in the top 6th, where the first two batters, lefties, reached against Scott Wade and both scored to tie the game. Great job, guys. In the bottom of the inning, Mark Dawson hit into ANOTHER double play. Arf. The DP streak broke in the seventh, where they went ahead again for Wade, 5-3, although with runners on the corners and one out, and 4-3 the score, Hall’s grounder to second would have been one if not for a sub-par play between 2B German Roldan and SS Jim Stein. Instead, Antonio Gonzalez scored from third and Hall was safe at first, but was left there. Between Cordero and Lagarde, the bases became loaded in the top 8th, but the Loggers left them all on. West was tagged for a run in the ninth, but held on. 5-4 Raccoons. Salazar 2-4, 2B, RBI; Martin 3-3, 2 2B, RBI; Osanai 1-2, 2 BB, 2B; Gonzalez 2-3, BB, 2B;

Good news: Glenn Johnston has merely strained his hamstring on the laser beam he hurled in, and will not miss more than a week. He will not be disabled.

Bad news: of the pitchers mentioned at the start of this post, Fierro executed his 10/5 rights, and the Loggers’ demands for Stewart were rather outlandish. The Warriors were at least willing to talk reasonably about Lopez.

Raccoons (47-49) vs. Aces (51-46)

Juan Correa’s streak of nice outings ended in the opener against Las Vegas. He only went five innings with 90 pitches due to extensive traffic, but trailed only 1-0 when he was pinch hit for in the bottom 5th, with the bags full and two out. Neil Reece popped out for him, wasting the first scoring chance the Raccoons had gotten in the game. The other chance came in the seventh, down 2-0, with Higgins and Dawson in scoring position and one down. O’Morrissey sent a flyer to deep left, but Jim Wood caught it. Only Higgins scored on the sac fly and the Raccoons exited the inning trailing. Hall grounded into a killing double play in the eighth, and the Aces still led 2-1, bringing in closer Rick Evans to pitch the bottom 9th, led off by Osanai. So far the Raccoons had barely gotten the ball out of the infield, but Osanai crushed the 0-1 pitch to tie the game with a titanic home run. Vinson struck out, then Higgins came up and doubled past Jim Wood. Dawson to the plate, Higgins got the go signal. Better end this quickly. Higgins went, Dawson grounded to left, and PAST Melvin Greene! There was no way they had a play on the racing Higgins, who made it home safely in a walk-off win! 3-2 Raccoons, and they really stole that one. Martin 2-3, BB; Vinson 2-4; Higgins 2-4, 2B; Dawson 2-3, BB, 2B, RBI; Correa 5.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 K; Martinez 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 K; Carrillo 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, W (3-0);

While Vinson got the Raccoons ahead early with a 2-run triple in the first inning of game 2, Jose Fernandez was extremely wild. He loaded the bags with one out in the top 2nd through a walk, a hit batter, and another walk. He went to 3-2 on pitcher Jose Murillo before striking him out. Melvin Greene, Michael McFarland, and Claudio Garcia then scored five runs with three 2-out hits. Murillo hit Matt Higgins with a pitch in the bottom 2nd, loading the bags, and injuring Higgins. Salazar struck out and Hall flew out to end the inning without scoring a run. Fernandez was out by the fourth, trailing 7-2. The Raccoons now had to rally from deep down. Martin scored a run on two outs with an infield single in the fourth, but Hall’s deep flyer to right was just intercepted afterwards and the deficit remained four runs. Three singles to start the sixth by O’Morrissey, Burnett (!), and Gonzalez (replacing Higgins) scored a run and brought Salazar as the tying run to the plate. He hit an RBI single to left, and Hall came up, but he struck out again. Osanai drove in a run, but they could not press the tying run across. Burnett not only scored a run, he also exhausted himself in long relief, barely getting through the seventh. The bottom 8th saw Salazar and Hall draw 1-out walks. Osanai lobbed a single over the middle infield and Salazar raced home – the game was tied again late. Jose Ruiz struck out Vinson and Dawson to end the bottom 8th, though, leaving two on. The Aces then jumped on Lagarde in the ninth. Lagarde had pitched the eighth on four pitches, but now Angelo Cardenas singled to start the ninth and Osanai misfielded Didier Bourges’ bunt. Jordan Archer singled to load the bags, and there was nobody out. The Aces went on to score three unearned runs, and won the game, 10-7. Higgins 1-1; Gonzalez 2-3, RBI; Salazar 2-4, BB, 2 RBI; Osanai 4-5, 2 RBI; O’Morrissey 2-5, 2B; Burnett 3.2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K and 1-2;

Interlude: Trade

Early on July 22, the Raccoons announced a trade with the Sioux Falls Warriors. The Raccoons acquired SP Antonio “Woody” Lopez, sending over a package of three players from their AAA team, consisting of SP Kiyomitsu Sano, MR Alonso Villegas, and 1B Ed Parrell.

Sano is a good AAA pitcher, but his stuff is run of the mill and we already have that in our current 3-4-5 spots in the rotation. Parrell had been with the Wolves last October and had been a leftover and late free agent signing this spring, however, his production did not warrant a call-up. Villegas was the gem in the bundle, a righty reliever with very good stuff and setup or closer potential. He was 22 and had been claimed off waivers by the Blue Sox in February 1989.

Lopez is a 30-year old left-handed exiled Cuban, who pitched with the Aces from 1980-1989 (missing 1987 to a torn rotator cuff completely) and signed with the Warriors this March. His contract will be up this fall. He is 8-8 with a 3.97 ERA this year, and 93-116 with a 4.41 ERA for his career, which includes a few abysmal seasons in his early 20s. He also lost 21 games in 1985 and 20 games last year. His stuff is well above average, and his slider can remove batters quickly.

Lopez is slotted to start the first game in Atlanta.

A roster move was made, sending Jose Fernandez to AAA. We called up an extra arm in Qi-zhen Geng, since the bullpen had suffered the last two days. Randy Powers was demoted.

Raccoons (47-49) vs. Aces (51-46)

Back to game 3. With Johnston hurt, Higgins hurt and undiagnosed, and Powers demoted, the bench consisted of David Vinson (who had a necessary off day) and Neil Reece. Dennis Fried was the pitcher, and things looked pretty much cut out for our first series loss since the All Star game. The first three Aces … Greene dropped a single just in front of Dawson in right, Michael McFarland singled just past Salazar, and Garcia just barely doubled over Dawson’s glove. One run scored in the inning thanks to Fried getting into a groove, and the Coons tied it in the bottom 1st. That 1-1 stood for a while. Fried went 7.1 frames in a no-decision, before Cordero came in to retire lefty Garcia and switch-hitting slugger Ira Houston. Two out in the top 9th, Matthews plunked Bourges. Pancho Pacheco then reached on an error by Antonio Gonzalez. Edward Carter, a left-hander was broken out to pinch hit and we went to our only remaining left-hander: Grant West struck him out. Osanai led off the bottom 9th, which had already worked once in the series, but didn’t here, as Raffaele Antuofermo grounded him to second. Mark Dawson hurled a single into shallow right, but there was no pinch runner available. O’Morrissey had to get things done, but struck out. Leo Smith flew to center, where Claudio Garcia dropped the ball. Dawson moved to third, and Gonzalez came up. Here we threw in David Vinson, emptying our bench. He grounded out, and the game went to extra innings, and now Vinson had to play second base. The right side of the infield was wide open now. Geng gave the Coons two strong innings, and led off the bottom 11th by striking out. Osanai grounded out. Dawson came up. A huge knock, a huge flyer, OUTTA HERE!!! 2-1 Raccoons! Martin 2-5; Hall 2-4, RBI; Dawson 2-5, HR, RBI; Fried 7.1 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 K; Geng 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K, W (1-0);

In other news

July 19 – The Wolves beat the Gold Sox 3-0. The save is claimed by Andres Ramirez, making the 30-year old the first member of the 400-save club. Ramirez was a 1977 first round pick, 14th overall, by the Warriors, and has claimed 35 or more saves every year since 1981. He has 24 already this year. Given his relatively young age, Ramirez could go well beyond 600 saves in his career.
July 19 – In the middle of a dreadful season, Tijuana’s veteran Cipriano Ortega (.226, 2 HR, 26 RBI) goes down with an oblique strain and will be out for a month.

Complaints and stuff

Two walk-off hits by Mark Dawson in one series – sometimes even a sub-200 batter has his moments. Well, that’s not some token sub-200 batter, that’s the career home run leader, and his lead over Gabriel Cruz was still sizeable, 291 to 238. Next in the list: 3rd Tetsu Osanai 187; 4th ATL Michael Root 186; 5th Daniel Hall 181;

Offense comes and goes, however in the 10 games since the break, the margin of victory or loss was only one greater than three runs, in the 6-0 in game 3 against Boston. Games are close at the moment, and that’s where our very good bullpen (2nd in CL) kicks in.

Injury wire: SP Jason Turner and SP Steven Berry are three and five weeks away from coming off the DL, respectively. Add a few rehab starts and Turner could return in early-to-mid-September and Berry in late September. Bobby Quinn is two weeks away. He should get a few rehab AB’s in AAA, too, I think. Glenn Johnston’s sore hamstring will keep him out of the Atlanta series, but he should be available for the next series in Tijuana, easing the pain a little. Matt Higgins is still not diagnosed, and our bench is precariously short. I have not made up my mind yet, but Geng could be sent back to AAA right away for Elmer Hawley or so.

Also: still looking for outfield help.

Road trip to Atlanta, Tijuana, San Francisco next. Trade deadline is on July 31, the day of the middle game at the Bay.

[blazertaz13]

Now that I am laid up, I am missing my daily installments of Raccoon baseball. It is entertaining to read about the weekly happenings around our favorite furry creatures.

If it makes you feel any better, I can sympathize with your frustration. My own team can't seem to either keep a lead (bullpen) or we decided to take the day off at the plate. Oh well, this is why we play. So please hurry back.

[Westheim]

Sorry for being such an unreliable slacker. Never played more than a series an evening this week, while extensively trying to make trades.

But everybody, no matter whether laid up or laid back or whatever, should get an update of the road trip ending July later today.

And hopefully a trade.

[Westheim]

Facing the top 2 teams in the CL South back-to-back, just when we were clawing our way back into our own division, was certainly undesirable. That’s, unfortunately, life.

We replaced Qi-zhen Geng with Elmer Hawley prior to this series.

Raccoons (49-50) @ Knights (58-40)

Carlos Asquabal, Glenn Ryan, and Kiyohira Sasaki featured an average ERA of 3.30, which was rather crisp. We would face them in order in this series.

Antonio Lopez made his Raccoons debut in the opener, and it was not a pretty sight. Given an early 2-0 lead that Asquabal had surrendered in the first, he allowed a run in the first, and then was constantly on the edge of collapse, starving two runners on base just barely in most innings. SS Paul Connolly singled to start the bottom 7th, stole second base uncontested and advanced to third on the first out. Lopez was done for the day. Cordero struck out Sakutaro Ine, bringing up Michael Root, who was not pitched to, as we tried to get to Luis Barrera. Cordero grounded Barrera out to third. Osanai drove in a run in the eighth, and West entered the ninth with a 3-1 lead, then loaded the bags with one out, and Michael Root came to the plate. His 2-run single tied the game and blew the save for West, who re-loaded the bags with two out. Martinez came in to face Joreao Paulos, who lined an 0-2 pitch hard into deep left center, and Neil Reece lunged at it and CAUGHT IT!! The game went into overtime, where an 0-for-4 Daniel Hall hit a 2-out RBI single in the top 10th for a new lead. Smith (Osanai had been removed for defense earlier) and Vinson walked, but they left the bags full. Saving the game fell to Carrillo, who was done in by a bunt base hit by .074 hitter Emilio Rosa, and then a 2-out RBI double by Manuel Guzman. Ine was hit by a pitch, and Root put on intentionally. Barrera again, but he grounded out and the nightmare continued. Elmer Hawley scored Vinson with an RBI groundout in the top 13th. Lagarde had pitched the 12th and continued with the only arm left a tired Ken Burnett. At least Lagarde could not blow the save here. But he could lose the game, walking Root and Barrera with one out. Bob Goyer came out (long time no see) to pinch hit and lined a double into deep left that scored both runners. The Knights walked off, 6-5. Salazar 2-5, BB; Reece 2-5, BB; Hall 2-6, RBI; Osanai 2-4, RBI;

Yay for morale.

Matt Higgins’ wrist was discovered bruised, but not broken, yet he still had to hit the DL. Qi-zhen Geng added to his miles account by returning to the team, stuffing out the ailing bullpen.

Game 2. The Coons took a 2-0 lead again, this time with a 2-out, 2-run double by Hall in the third. Kisho Saito was strong, but was held in the game early with great catches in left by Hall (first inning) and in right by Dawson (fifth). Up 3-1, the Coons loaded the bases with nobody out in the top 8th. Gonzalez doubled over Michael Root to score two runs, and Saito hit a sac fly. After the relief nightmare last night, Saito did the right thing and went the distance in the game, allowing another run in the bottom 9th, but the Raccoons won, 6-2. Hall 3-5, 2 2B, 2 RBI; O’Morrissey 2-4; Smith 2-4; Gonzalez 2-3, BB, 2 2B, 2 RBI; Saito 9.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, W (8-8);

Game 3 again saw the Coons take an early lead on a first inning solo home run by Daniel Hall, who continued a recent resurge at the plate. By the sixth he was a triple shy of the cycle with three hits. And he was the only Coon with hits against Sasaki. Osanai singled after him in the top 6th, and they scored two in the inning, now leading 4-0, but the Knights ate up Scott Wade in the bottom 6th and tied the game. Two runs were unearned after an error by Dawson in right, but not all was lost, as the Coons recovered with a 4-run inning, two driven in by Dawson, in the top 7th. It almost got away from the Coons in the bottom 7th again. One run scored, and the Knights left them loaded, after Wade had gotten an out and had put a runner on. Lagarde converted then, pitching the final two innings cleanly for a save in the 8-5 win. Hall 4-5, HR, 2B, RBI; Osanai 2-5; O’Morrissey 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Martin (PH) 1-1; Lagarde 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, SV (1);

Interlude: trade

While on the way from Atlanta back to the west coast, the Raccoons completed a deal with the Buffaloes. The Raccoons acquired Bob Arnold (.303, 0 HR, 44 RBI this year), a 29-year old outfielder with very good defense and a great small ball bat, and AAA SP Dean Hood for AAA SP Toru Fujita and AAA MR Miguel Lopez.

Hood and Fujita are about equally unsuited for the big leagues. Lopez is a prospect that will fill a 7th/8th inning role one day. I was ready to part with him mainly because we have TWO pitchers named Miguel Lopez in AAA and I am easily confused by stuff. The *starter* Miguel Lopez is an even better prospect and has been kept.

Bob Arnold was with the Titans a few years ago, and should still be familiar to avid readers. Elmer Hawley was demoted to make room for Arnold on the roster. We also demoted Qi-zhen Geng and brought up Alarico Violante to bring the pen down to seven after an off day and to use the more dangerous Leo Smith as pinch hitter instead of “Harmless” Hawley.

The day after we completed that deal, the Aces offered elite outfielder Claudio Garcia in a trade for Kisho Saito. While ridiculous in this constellation, a trade for Garcia would have been worthwhile to explore *before* acquiring Arnold.

Raccoons (51-51) @ Condors (62-40)

Bob Arnold started the opener in right field as we started this series. Johnston was back in the lineup, too, playing center. They had – along with the rest of the lineup – to cope with the the best rotation in the CL now, and the Condors ranked 2nd in runs scored.

Daniel Hall drove in a go-ahead run for the fourth straight game in the opener, again with a first inning solo home run, this time breaking a tie for the team lead in homers with David Vinson and Mark Dawson. Woody Roberts nailed the Coons down from there, while Juan Correa pitched control ball again and no runs were scored the next five innings. In the top 7th, Roberts issued leadoff walks to Osanai and Vinson, then punched out Arnold and O’Morrissey. Gonzalez came up with a clutch RBI double for an extra run. Correa was pinch hit for, but Mark Dawson struck out. Five relievers ploughed two innings of relief together for the Coons, before in the top 9th, they loaded the bags with nobody out: Vinson walked, Arnold reached on an error, and O’Morrissey singled through everything up the middle. Only one run scored on a Dawson sac fly. West was then able to finish an inning alone without any help (and besides Carrillo, nobody would have been left). 3-0 Raccoons, on five hits. Hall 2-3, BB, HR, RBI; Osanai 1-2, BB; Correa 6.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, W (6-4);

Back above .500!! Woooot!!!

Bob Arnold batted leadoff instead of the recently struggling Salazar in the middle game against left-hander Hisanobu Higuchi, who still had not suffered as much as he had made me suffer years ago. Go skin him, my critters!

There was pain in the game, but it was all on me and Coon City. In a 1-1 game in the bottom 4th, 1B Will Rodd was walked intentionally with two out to get Higuchi to the plate with two men on. He doubled to score them both, and “Woody” Lopez was blown up, as the Condors scored four more runs on him. Here was the #2 offense in the league, which now led the #11 offense 7-1 with five frames left. Carrillo pitched in long relief, three scoreless inning, before he, too, was blown up with two outs on the board in the seventh. Higuchi pitched a complete game on just 92 pitches as the Raccoons looked entirely lost at the plate. 10-1 Condors, five hits for the Raccoons. Vinson 2-4;

Tijuana’s Jose Macias and Dennis Fried fought a scoreless duel in game 3 until Fried fell to the 2-out cancer that had befallen Raccoons pitching the day before. The Condors hit four 2-out singles, including Macias, in the bottom 5th, scoring the go-ahead run. Fried allowed a run in the sixth, and a pinch hit, 2-out, 2-run double by Tadanobu Sakaguchi moved the game and the series away in the seventh. The Coons had two in scoring position in the eighth, and didn’t score. Their first two men reached base in the ninth against Jon Butler, before Martin and Smith struck out. Reece singled to center. Bases loaded, two down, tying run in Bob Arnold coming to the plate. He popped out. 4-0 Condors. O’Morrissey 2-4;

So much fore above .500, and now the Coons were seven games back again, and not scoring hits, not even when given a bat inside a barn and being told to hit a random part of the barn.

Raccoons (52-53) @ Bayhawks (55-50)

Kisho Saito faced an all-righty lineup in the opener and didn’t fare well, falling behind 1-0 in the first. The Bayhawks lost SP Wilson Moreno to injury in the third inning, but the bullpen did a great job for them. Down 3-0, the Raccoons showed life for the first time in the seventh. Vinson walked, Arnold was nicked, and Dawson singled to left, nobody out, tying runs on. Gonzalez grounded to short for an RBI groundout. Martin pinch hit for Saito and flew out to shallow right, and Salazar flew out to center. Chance wasted, game lost. Lagarde allowed two runs in the eighth. The Raccoons had pinch-hit singles by O’Morrissey and Smith in the top 9th. Salazar doubled to left, scoring a run, and bringing the tying run to the plate with one out, but Johnston grounded out poorly. Hall with two out, a huge fly ball to center, which missed the fence, but fell in for a 2-run double. Hall was the tying run, and Osanai at the plate, and the big guy from overseas, who could not get anything done this year, couldn’t get this one done either, and grounded out. 5-4 Bayhawks. Salazar 2-5, 2B, RBI; O’Morrissey (PH) 1-1; Smith (PH) 1-1;

The priests that conducted the animal sacrifices before game 2 advised us that the inspected liver clearly stated that we had to get Daniel Hall into position to drive in a tie-breaking run, otherwise the Raccoons would lose the game. The coaches nodded, then the priests held a barbecue.

Hall came up after Salazar had hit a leadoff double in the first inning, and singled up the middle to get the Coons 1-0 ahead. O’Morrissey homered in the second to make it 2-0. Smith started the game behind the plate and hit a double behind O-Mo, but pulled something hustling into second base and was removed for Violante. A pitch by Ramon Vargas rode in on Scott Wade, brushing him, and this cost Vargas an out and eventually two runs, 4-0. This day, the Bayhawks lacked clutch hitting, leaving the bags full in the fifth while down 6-1 when Wade struck out Isto Grönholm, and then had their first two men on in the sixth before hitting into a double play. Grönhom DID hurt Wade in the eighth with a 2-shot, but by then they were six behind and he merely spoiled Wade’s line, and Osanai countered in the ninth with a 3-run home run, albeit in a meaningless game. Did I say meaningless? Au contraire. The Bayhawks rolled up Martinez, Matthews, and Burnett in the bottom 9th, scored four runs and forced Grant West out of the pen in an inning the Raccoons entered seven runs ahead with the tying run already at the plate and only one out. West ended it, while another run scored on a groundout. 10-8 Raccoons. Salazar 2-5, 2B; Hall 2-3, BB, HR, 3 RBI; O’Morrissey 2-5, HR, 2B, RBI; Smith 1-1, 2B;

Leo Smith has tweaked his knee and will be unavailable for about five days, keeping Violante on the roster longer than anybody appreciated around Portland.

The rubber game saw Juan Correa, but the veteran just didn’t have it that day. The Bayhawks made strong contact all game long and the defense made a few great plays, primarily in the outfield. Still, he trailed 3-2 when he was pinch-hit for in the seventh. Gonzalez had reached on an error, Martin hit a single in place of Correa, and Salazar’s single loaded the bags with nobody out. Johnston hit a double past CF Dave Burton that turned the game around. Hall struck out, but Osanai drove in two more runs with a single. Those runs were necessary. Grönholm homered off Lagarde in the eighth, and Woody Ross homered off West in the ninth. West still closed the game successfully, but this was the light-hitting catcher and fringe player Woody Ross’ first career home run. 6-5 Raccoons. Salazar 2-5; O’Morrissey 2-4, 3B, 2B, 2 RBI; Martin (PH) 2-2;

In other news

July 24 – NO-HITTER!! 26-year old BOS Luis De Jesus (10-8, 3.96) dominates the Thunder in a 4-0 victory, allowing only two walks all day long. De Jesus is the 12th pitcher to hurl a no-hitter, following the Raccoons’ Jason Turner achieving the feat last season, then also again the Thunder, who join the Capitals in the dubious achievement of being the flailing team in back-to-back no-hitters.
July 29 – TOP 2B/3B Hector Gonzalez (.262, 4 HR, 51 RBI) is out for the season with a broken elbow.
July 29 – The Capitals swap 1B Billy Mitchell (.363, 11 HR, 53 RBI) to the Falcons for unremarkable MR Julio Silva and a minor league pitcher. Another trade completely beyond me, especially with the Capitals leading their division.

Complaints and stuff

David Vinson ran away with the CL Hitter of the Month award for July, batting .333 with 7 HR and 22 RBI. I said it before, but: dat’s mah boi! :-P

Daniel “Dan The Man” Hall was the CL Player of the Week ending July 28, hitting 14-27 with 2 HR and 6 RBI, including three game-winning knocks. Now, if he could keep this pace until Octo- … nevertheless, I smiled when he got the award.

We were 16-10 in July, enjoying mostly good pitching. The offense … meeeeeeh … mostly not so good.

Bob Arnold with Topeka (304 AB): .303, 0 HR, 44 RBI; Bob Arnold with Portland (25 AB): .160, 0 HR, 0 RBI; yeah, I did it! Whatever it is.

Next: most crucial home stand with a 4-game set against the Canadiens. If we lose that series, it is all over, and the trades were pointless. Titans for three after that.

[Westheim]

While the Raccoons started the homestand that would make or break their season, Bobby Quinn started a rehab assignment at AAA. Also, crucial 4-game sets against the cross-border pests tend to go horribly wrong.

Raccoons (54-54) vs. Canadiens (61-45)

The offensive abysmalies continued in the opener. First inning, two on, nobody out, not score. Second inning, two on, nobody out, double play, no score. Third inning, bases loaded, nobody out, one run. They finally connected in the bottom 5th of the 1-1 game. With one out, O’Morrissey singled his way on, and Hall doubled to put two in scoring position. Osanai came through with a 2-run double, and Vinson and Martin loaded the bags for Dawson, who flew out pathetically, and the Coons left the three runners on when Gonzalez floated out to CF Colin Irwin. They left runners on the corners with one out in the eighth, and they were begging for trouble. Grant West was not available after pitching the last two days and we went to Cordero with left-hander David Brewer leading off the top 9th. Cordero sat down the Canadiens in order and closed the game for his first save of the year, 3-1 Raccoons. O’Morrissey 2-3; Osanai 2-4, 2B, 3 RBI; Martin 2-3, BB; Lopez 8.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, W (9-9);

By the way, we officially re-aligned our setup men now, with Lagarde and Burnett struggling badly. Matthews and Cordero were the new setup men.

Vinson, Johnston, and Arnold loaded the bags with three singles to start the bottom 2nd of the second game, and Gonzalez singled through SS Art Garrett to score a run, and Dennis Fried hit one deep enough for a sac fly. Just when the Coons looked like they would have Robbie Campbell for breakfast, they blew it up and were held to a 2-0 lead. At least Fried pitched a very good game. He went eight frames like Lopez the day before and overall held the 2-run lead, as the Furballs were up 4-2 when he left, and “Demon” West made a quick end to it. 4-2 Coons! Salazar 3-5, RBI; Hall 2-4, HR, 2B, RBI; Gonzalez 2-4, RBI; Fried 8.0 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 7 K, W (4-3) and 1-2, RBI;

In game 3, between Kisho Saito and Vernon Robertson there was not much room for offense. Hall singled his way on in the fourth, but when Osanai hobbled into an out, Hall was caught up in a collision on second base and left the game holding his arm. The Canadiens broke up the scoring drought with three extra base hits and two runs off Kisho Saito in the sixth. Bob Arnold had his first RBI as a Raccoon in the bottom 6th, but the team trailed and Saito left after seven innings. In Salazar and Martin, the Raccoons put the tying runs on base with nobody out in the bottom 8th. Osanai popped out, Arnold struck out, and Reece grounded out, just as it had always been. Bottom 9th, Gonzalez led off with a single against Jamel Teissier. Vinson pinch hit for Violante and doubled to the ball. Tying runs in scoring position, nobody out. Dawson pinch hit for Lagarde in the #9 hole. A home run would certainly be nice. His last few AB’s had been everything but that. Teissier’s 1-0 pitch was right into Dawson’s crosshairs though, and the resounding knock made Teissier walk straight off the mound! WALK OFF HOME RUN!!! 4-3 Coons!!! Hall 1-2; Martin 1-1, BB; Arnold 3-4, RBI; Gonzalez 2-4; Vinson (PH) 1-1, 2B; Dawson (PH) 1-1, HR, 3 RBI; Saito 7.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 K;

Now for the bad news: Daniel Hall was out with an elbow sprain and would miss at least two weeks in this highly critical part of the season. That’s certainly gonna dampen euphoria on the Willamette. How to plug that hole in the lineup? Bobby Quinn had gone 5-8 with a dinger and three driven in in his short rehab stint, and he had no complains about ongoing bodily grief. Quinn was recalled, he would take over right field, and Arnold would slot to left. Martin would supplant either one at times against right-handers.

Game 4. A sweep would cut our deficit to four games. Quinn batted third against the right-hander Kazuyoshi Kato. 3B Raúl Solís led off the game with a triple off Wade and things developed not so nice from there. Wade trailed 3-0 after two innings, before the Coons loaded the bags with one out in the bottom 3rd. Quinn forced in a run with a walk, Osanai hit a sac fly, and Vinson’s 2-run double turned the game around. Much better already! Once the Coons led 4-3, two things happened: all their offensive abilities died, but Scott Wade suddenly pitched perfect ball, not allowing a base runner through the eighth inning! Dawson hit a solo shot for an insurance run in the bottom 8th. Wade came up to bat with two down and nobody on there – stay with him? No, West would pitch the ninth. Leo Smith struck out for Wade. West retired the side in order, 5-3 Raccoons!! Arnold 2-4; Johnston 2-4; Wade 8.0 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, W (10-8) and 1-2, BB, 2B;

FOUR GAME SWEEP!!! Take that, you smelly elks from Polarstan!!

By no means did we destroy the Canadiens, though. We merely outlasted them, feasting on pitching and just squeaking by. The Indians dropped three of four to the Titans, making our position in the CL North even better. Unfortunately this also means that the Titans come in rather hot.

Raccoons (58-54) vs. Titans (51-62)

We were quite familiar with the Titans’ starter in game 1: Carlos Gonzalez, the constantly injured and erratic ex-Raccoon, who was 1-1 with a 4.32 ERA through his first four starts with Boston, walking nine batters per 9 IP. Unfortunately, the Raccoons failed to draw any reasonable number of walks from Gonzalez, who scattered seven hits but only one walk through seven frames of a 1-1 game. The Titans’ only run was unearned after an O’Morrissey error. Correa pitched quickly and effectively, but had to wait for offense to get in line for a W. Jorge Salazar led off the bottom 8th with a double, advanced on Arnold’s groundout, and finally was scored by Bobby Quinn with a single to left. Grant West retired two quickly in the ninth, but then fell to extra base hits from Salvador Vargas and Chad Fisher, which tied the game. Extra innings became excruciating with the flailing Raccoons, who left runners on base in the 10th and 11th innings. They loaded the bags with a 2-out single by Arnold and walks to Quinn and Osanai in the 12th. David Vinson got to 1-1 against Javier Ortiz – and a balk was called! Bob Arnold jugged home, and the Raccoons extended their winning streak on a walkoff balk! 3-2 Raccoons. Salazar 2-6, 2B; Arnold 2-6; Quinn 2-5, BB, 2B, RBI; Vinson 2-5; Gonzalez 2-5; Correa 8.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K; Lagarde 2.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

Fact number 1: That was probably the only way for the Raccoons to win the game; fact number 2: the first MLB game I ever watched was a Mets game that R.A. Dickey started against the Braves, and the Mets eventually lost to a walkoff balk there. And no, I haven’t been doing that baseball thing for any considerable length of time.

Offensive anemia continued for both teams in game 2, but while Antonio Lopez 1-hit the Titans through six, Chad Fisher rolled him up with a 2-run homer in the seventh. And only THEN did the Raccoons seem to remember what the game was all about: scoring some runs! Dawson homered in the bottom of the inning to cut the deficit in half, and Gonzalez was on first with two out. Salazar walked, and then Johnston hit an RBI single to tie the game. Arnold singled, loading the bags, and then Osanai hit a huge 2-run double to right, which turned out to be the winning margin in the contest. Cordero and Matthews combined for a scoreless eighth, and with West worked up from yesterday, we sent in Martinez for the ninth, and he converted with the help of a double play. 4-2 Raccoons! Johnston 3-4, 2B, RBI; Lopez 7.0 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 1 K, W (10-9);

The Raccoons have won their first seven games in August now, and eight in a row in total. Run totals for the stretch: 39-26, so only 13 above the break-even point. This is a very fragile streak, and the Coons have had to come from behind in on top of that in five of those eight games. It is also some impressive pitching. Meanwhile, the Canadiens continued to crumble and had fallen into a tie with the Indians now, with the Coons two games behind.

We got our roster straight by sending Alarico Violante to AAA for Elmer Hawley, who was used to the cross-country trip by now.

One more for a stainless 7-0 homestand now: Dennis Fried was up against Luis De Jesus, who came off the adrenalin rush of a no-hitter. Jorge Salazar set him straight with a leadoff single and the team scored him for an early 1-0 lead, that became 2-0 in the second, with Fried contributing a single. David Vinson had not homered in three weeks coming off his white-hot streak, but ended that not-too-cold streak with a 2-shot in the third, and Mark Dawson’s 3-run homer in the fourth capped a 5-run fourth that chased De Jesus. Fried pitched strong on the mound, but his shutout was eventually broken up with a Juan Valentin home run leading off the ninth inning. Carrillo relieved him to collect the final three outs. 9-1 Furballs!! Salazar 2-4, BB; Johnston 2-3, 2 2B, RBI; Quinn 1-2; Dawson 2-4, HR, 3 RBI; Fried 8.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, W (5-3);

Nine in a row!! On the downside, Glenn Johnston left the game after the fourth inning with a right hamstring, but should be okay in a few days.

Also, Matt Higgins returned from the DL on our off day following this series, and Elmer Hawley was returned to AAA without appearing in the only game he was on the roster. Also, Jason Turner was able to start a rehab assignment in St. Petersburg.

Raccoons (61-54) @ Scorpions (40-73)

We now visited the worst team in the ABL, which was putting our winning streak in grave danger to be humiliatingly destroyed. They had the worst offense in the Federal League, and the pitching staff was no beauty either.

Johnston did not start in the opener, but Quinn was back in the lineup, and Matt Higgins played second base after Antonio Gonzalez had started there for the last two weeks. Kisho Saito took the mound, looking to get off the short list of Coons starters with losing records. The Furballs helped him a great deal by crowding Israel Gomes in the third inning, forcing three walks in addition to three hits, scoring three runs. They loaded the bases with nobody out in the fifth, and Vinson flew out to right, but Arnold tagged and scored. Gomes walked Jeff Martin to reload the bags instantly, and a Texas leaguer by Mark Dawson scored another run, and Higgins scored two with a double to left, 7-0, and they made it 9-0 through six. Saito was cruising until the Scorpions suddenly whacked five hits off him in the bottom 7th, plating three, and Saito did not get out of the inning, and Lagarde allowed a fourth run on Saito and another run to score. This had collapse and shameful defeat written all over it. Up 9-5 in the bottom 9th, Carrillo got one out and put three on, the lead down to 9-6. West came in, getting a sac fly from Tommy Norton. Two down now, all’s gonna be well. And then Rodrigo Morales hit, and Jorge Gonzalez hit, and the Scorpions were back to within a run, with pinch runner Stan Bass on first base. West against Mauro Arellano, a grounder to left, Dawson JUST getting to it, and making the out at second base. Wow. 9-8 Raccoons. Quinn 2-5; Osanai 2-4, HR, 3 RBI; Vinson 1-2, 2 BB, RBI; Higgins 3-5, 2 2B, 2 RBI;

Did I throw out laurels for the pitching staff just two days ago? GIVE ‘EM BACK, RIGHT NOW!! And yes, Tetsu Osanai needed until August 10 to log ten long balls this season. Felt like May 10 in some other years.

Game 2 saw the Raccoons put their frist two men on in the top 3rd, after a Bob Arnold single and a walk to Leo Smith. Wade bunted badly and got Arnold forced at third base in what seemed like an inning killer. But the Raccoons then chained together RBI hits by Salazar, Higgins, and Quinn to score four runs, negating Wade’s awful bunt. Wade supported himself well with an RBI knock in the fourth for a 5-0 lead. While he pitched decently, his control was off in this game, though, and through three innings, he was already at 67 pitches. His next (and last) three innings were much in contrast to that, covering them in 32 pitches of perfect ball. The Raccoons offense continued to add single runs in the sixth and seventh, and then two more in the eighth. This time, the bullpen did not implode, and the Scorpions never got a hit past the third inning. 9-0 Raccoons! Salazar 2-6, 2B, 2 RBI; Higgins 2-5, RBI; Quinn 3-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Arnold 3-4, BB; Wade 6.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 3 K, W (11-8) and 1-3, RBI; Martinez 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 4 K;

Bob Arnold had the day off for game 3, giving Neil Reece a start in center. Reece had not appeared in the starting lineup in about two weeks, because a) we had not played a left-hander for a long stretch now and b) he was slumping badly.

Juan Correa struggled with control in his start in game 3 and fell 1-0 behind in the second. The Raccoons did not get a hit against 5-10 Antonio Gutierrez until the fourth, a 1-out single by Osanai. A plunk on Higgins, the single by Osanai, and a walk to Vinson loaded the bags. Glenn Johnston turned the score inside out with a 2-run double off the wall in the gap in left center, but that was not all to it. Neil Reece added an RBI single, and Ben O’Morrissey hit another 2-run double, before the inning fizzled out. An error by Bobby Quinn helped the Scorpions to two unearned runs in the bottom 4th, though, so the game was far from over, with the Coons leading 5-3 now. But Sacramento pitching was not made for these Raccoons, apparently, as they quickly filled the bags again in the fifth and scored three more runs, again two driven in by O-Mo. And the game STILL was far from safe, as Correa loaded the bags without getting an out in the fifth. After a long meeting on the mound he got through the mess with a fly ball to each outfielder and only one run scoring on a Adam Warren sac fly. Correa was also much more efficient the following inning, and was able to complete seven frames, but it was easily one of his worst starts as a Brownshirt, walking four and striking out nobody in addition to seven hits allowed. The Raccoons offense had another spark late, with a run in the eighth and three more in the ninth, including *another* 2-RBI hit by O-Mo. Lagarde and Burnett held the Scorpions short in the last innings, and the Raccoons completed back-to-back-to-back sweeps with a 12-4 smashing! Osanai 2-4 BB; Reece 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI; O’Morrissey 3-5, 2B, 6 RBI;

This was our first ever sweep over the Scorpions, but we have taken the last five series against them to turn what was a 2-10 record through the 1982 season into a much more friendly 13-14 record eight years later.

In other news

August 3 – SAC Carlos Reyes (9-10, 3.16 ERA) tosses a 1-hitter against his old team, the Wolves, as the Scorpions win in a 10-0 blowout. Sean Bergeron breaks up the no-hitter in the seventh with a double.
August 6 – OCT OF Tyler Burch (.394, 2 HR, 8 RBI in 33 AB) appeared in just his 26th major league game today, an 11-9 loss of the Thunder to the Knights. Nevertheless, Burch HIT FOR THE CYCLE, going 5-5 with a homer and four RBI’s. This is the 15th cycle in ABL history, the second for the Thunder (Jonah Frank, 1979), and the sixth cycle in the sport within two years going back to Thomas Martin’s on August 31, 1988. By the way, Jonah Frank’s cycle 11 years ago was the last instance of a player cycling at home – all other cycles since have been achieved on the road.
August 10 – TIJ CL Bob “Butcher” Haines (3-3, 1.69 ERA, 19 SV) is out for the year with shoulder inflammation after making only one appearance coming back from a rotator cuff strain.

Complaints and stuff

I’m enraged because Daniel Hall’s injury was not honored by BNN with a special news story. ENRAGED.

We have won 12 in a row now and are right in the thick of the CL North race again, which in itself is quite an achievement. Also, we have scored 30 runs in that last series, but that was against the worst team in baseball, so we will have to see what that number will be worth in the end. If nothing else, our offense jumped to 7th in runs scored in the last week. With the Rebels, Crusaders, and Loggers coming into Portland on the next homestand, we will see some better pitching in any case.

Daniel Hall will join the team about in the middle of that homestand. The interesting question is: who will be sent away? At the moment, it would have to be Reece, I think. His CF defense is enormous, but he doesn’t bring much to the plate. Steven Berry should start rehabbing at AAA in a week or so, too. By the way, Jason Turner’s first rehab start at AAA was a success, going seven innings with ease and allowing only four hits and no runs against the Gold Sox’ affiliate Chula Vista New Order.

Some weird numbers: the sweep over the Scorpions has put the Raccoons ahead of them in the all-time team record category, where the Coons are now 1,071-1,153. Our recent surge has also put us past the Crusaders and Gold Sox, and were are now in 17th position all time! If you take into account, how abysmally far behind 23rd place we were ten years ago, that has already to be counted as success. The Miners are eight games ahead of us at 1,079-1,145 and passing those would get us to the middle third of the list. Which team ranks last? Obviously, the Loggers: 955-1,269 (.429), 90.5 games behind the next-most terrible franchise, the Titans. (Yes, the CL North has four teams among the worst eight). There are two teams in a tight fight for first place at the moment, with the Indians (1,196-1,028) just trailing the Blue Sox (1,199-1,026) at the moment.

So, we merely have to make up 127.5 games on the Blue Sox to take over first place. A couple o’ those easily achieved 128-34 seasons should do.

[Mr. Baseball]

Is this stats only Westheim? Just curious

[Westheim]

No, I have never played stats only. I'm using a 1-20 ratings scale and tend to hate my scouts.

[Questdog]

Awesome stretch!....Dawson continues his feast or famine ways, though at least it is currently feast time.....

[ShaneCarson]

Absolutely incredible run. Hope the team can keep it up!

[Westheim]

Raccoons (64-54) vs. Rebels (66-52)

Here came a true test to start a 9-game, 10-day homestand. The Rebels were overall a bit above average in most categories. They had an excellent bullpen that helped them catch up on what their offense sometimes failed to achieve. Sounds familiar? They are similar to the Raccoons in many ways. Plus, they had outfielder Manuel Doval, who led the FL in all triple crown categories. We would face three very good and renowned starters in this series. Like I said, a true test. Are the Raccoons after all made for October baseball?

The Rebels also were the new home of Dimian Barrios, who hit a double in the second off “Woody” Lopez, but by then the Raccoons already led 1-0 after three straight hits off Craig Hansen. Lopez seemed to be cruising until he suddenly stopped throwing strikes in the fourth, and Enrico Lopez hit a 2-piece to turn the game, which was soon re-turned by Vinson with a 2-run home run in the bottom 4th. That 3-2 lead was shaky, however. The Rebels put two on in the sixth and with two down, Barrios blooped a single into short center. Johnston got to it, the runner from second, CF Manuel Doval, went home, but Johnston strike home was perfect and Vinson tagged him out. “Woody” ran out of steam in the seventh. Two on, two out, Martinez came in and struck out Mike Grimes to escape the jam. The Coons had Salazar on second base in the bottom 7th with one out. The Rebels elected to walk Johnston intentionally, a strategy they had employed earlier in the game, where it had worked very well, when Quinn and Osanai had made outs. Quinn struck out now for the second out, but this time Osanai got through, a single up the middle that scored Salazar. With the bags loaded after a Vinson single, Jeff Martin pinch hit for Matt Higgins against the right-hander Hansen. The Rebels left him in the game, and got burnt when Martin doubled up the right field line for two more runs. The bullpen only almost got through the game with that lead. With two out in the ninth, Burnett was tagged with a pinch-hit 2-run homer by Antonio Gutierrez and West was broken out to get the final out, flying Kantaro Takeuchi to left center. 6-4 Raccoons, and we are at 13! Salazar 3-5, 3 2B; Vinson 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Martin (PH) 1-1, 2B, 2 RBI; Lopez 6.2 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, W (11-9); Matthews 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

The Indians’ Jim Durden blew a costly save against the Buffaloes, who won it in the ninth, 3-2, and with the Canadiens beating the Cyclones 6-0, we are now half a game out of the division lead.

For the first time in two weeks, the Raccoons faced a left-handed starter in game 2. This gave Jorge Salazar an off day. By the way, his three doubles in the opener were NOT a new team record. If you remember, Glenn Johnston once hit four doubles in September 1989.

Dennis Fried faced Jake Wallace in this middle game. Fried put two on in the top 1st with nobody out, but the Rebels ran themselves out with a double steal in which Leo Smith nailed Takeuchi at third base. Fried eventually escaped unscathed with a double play ball by Connor Starr, the Rebels’ first round draft pick from last year. The first three Raccoons reached base against Jake Wallace, many years ago and a few times a focus of trade talks to make him a Coon (and actually so long ago I can’t even tell when exactly it was). Osanai also hit into a double play, but at least a run scored. Bobby Quinn drove in two runs with a double in the third, but that lead evaporated with home runs by Doval and Donnie Nichols by the fifth, 3-3, and Doval hit another one for two more runs with two out in the fifth, 5-3 Rebels. Dimian Barrios played third base for the Rebels and made about every play in the general direction of his bag, but one: with Antonio Gonzalez on first in the bottom 8th, Quinn squeezed a ball past him for a single. The tying runs were now on and Osanai up. A double play would be very bad now. But that was exactly what happened. O’Morrissey drove in Gonzalez with a 2-out single, but Smith grounded out and we entered the bottom 9th trailing by a run and the fantastic Lawson Steward came in to close it. His ERA was 1.08 and with the 7-8-9 spots up, our streak seemed over. We threw every left-hander from the bench at him, but to no avail. 1-2-3, the Coons went down, and the streak was history. 5-4 Rebels. Arnold 2-4; Quinn 3-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Lagarde 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

Was it a bad decision to play neither Vinson, nor Salazar, nor Johnston in this game? Trying to counter the left-hander Wallace certainly didn’t help us an inch.

Kisho Saito and Billy Robinson engaged in a pitcher’s duel in the rubber game. Long time no rubber game for this team… The Raccoons left single runners on in each of the first five innings, without scoring, and only two runners reached with hits. Saito was ace through five as well, but a double by Robinson in the top 6th spelled doom. It was only the second hit for the Rebels, but Takeuchi and Doval were quick to tag on two more and score two runs. The Rebels added a run in the seventh and the Raccoons couldn’t touch Robinson for anything in the world, but the Rebels took him out in the seventh and handed it to their stellar bullpen. Salazar and Higgins went to the corners with nobody out in the bottom 8th then, bringing Bobby Quinn as tying run to the plate. He flew out to Starr, as Salazar tagged and scored. Osanai then doubled to left off Marvin Newton. The tying runs were in scoring position, Vinson up. WILD PITCH!! The 1-1 offering from Newton was way off the plate, and Higgins scored easily, as C Alberto Durán hustled after the errant throw. Any long ball gets Saito off the hook now, and 2-1 on Vinson, who eventually walked, setting up a double play opportunity for Bob Arnold, who executed perfectly. Inning over. Bottom 9th, Steward in, 7-8-9 batters up, again. In 59.1 innings, Steward had issued but seven walks, but Johnston drew one to start the inning. O-Mo bunted him over, and Mark Dawson pinch-hit in the #9 spot. Steward mercilessly struck the old man out, and Salazar popped out. 3-2 Rebels. Salazar 2-4, BB, 2B; Higgins 2-4; Saito 7.0 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, L (9-10);

Half a game away two days ago, we have now plunged to 2.5 games back. I feel like Icarus.

This was our first Rebels series not resulting in a sweep, but the 4-11 record tells you which team has been dominating so far.

Raccoons (65-56) vs. Crusaders (47-74)

Somehow, the Crusaders sat in last place in the division while sporting the best rotation in the Continental League. They also sported the most pathetic offense, though.

Despite being gently described with the word “poor”, the Crusaders offense was on the verge of cracking Scott Wade early on in the series opener, but they left runners in scoring position in both of the first two innings. The Crusaders would take a 1-0 lead in the fifth inning owing to an error by Tetsu Osanai, who dropped a good throw from Mark Dawson. Dale Hunter homered off Wade in the seventh. Raimundo Beato was dominating the Raccoons when he was on the mound. After leaving runners on the corners in the bottom 2nd, the Furballs did not get back into a threatening position for most of the game. Martin led off the bottom 7th with a double. Dawson came up and also doubled to right, into almost the same spot. Suddenly we were in business, with the tying run at second base. Quinn pinch hit for Wade, but struck out, and Salazar was punched out as well. Oh, come on! Higgins grounded to the mound, but beat out Beato’s throw with his blazing speed. Runners on the corners for Johnston in the #3 hole. SINGLE TO LEFT!! Dawson scored and Wade was off the hook, but if we wanted to get him a W, Osanai had to knock one. As his season was going, he struck out. Matthews, Cordero, and Martinez could not get a clean eighth together and a 2-out double by Raúl Castillo scored the go-ahead run again, and the bullpen committed two more runs in the ninth. Bottom 9th, two out, Higgins on first, Johnston flew out to left center, but Hunter dropped the ball. One more chance, Osanai as the tying run came to the plate. SINGLE TO RIGHT!! Both runs scored, but the Coons were still short, and a slow runner on first as Vinson came to bat. O’Morrissey pinch-ran for Osanai, but Vinson grounded out, and we had lost our third straight 1-run game. 5-4 Crusaders. Johnston 2-5, RBI; Dawson 2-4, 2B, RBI; Wade 7.0 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K;

The offense of the Crusaders was best described with a look at game 2 starter Gary Nixon’s numbers, who paired a solid 3.89 ERA with a paltry 5-13 record. While he was perfect the first time through the lineup, Juan Correa was eaten up early on with six hits, a Higgins error, and three runs (two earned) through four innings. The Raccoons tried to get into business in the fourth, which Salazar started with a leadoff single to left. Johnston doubled, and nobody out. Quinn up, grounded out, but Salazar scored, and Osanai mimicked him almost perfectly with another RBI groundout. That got the runs in, but helped the Crusaders to end the inning quickly. All things were going to hell, without a doubt. Correa was clobbered out of the game with a 3-run sixth, and the Coons never looked like they could recover. Nixon issued his first three walks of the game in succession in the bottom 6th with one out. Osanai came up. Struck out. Vinson. Lined out to first. 6-2 Crusaders. In hits that read 12-3. Reece 1-2; Carrillo 3.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

Game 3 brought a roster change. Antonio Gonzalez was demoted to AAA as Daniel Hall came off the DL. Steven Berry also was assigned to AAA for a rehab assignment.

The score of game 3 jumped to 1-1 in the first inning, before both lineup resorted to embarrass themselves. Antonio Lopez at one point struck out four in a row, but apart from that relied on his defense, and the Coons were just terrible all around. Dale Hunter eventually came through with a 1-out double scoring Antonio Esquivel in the seventh. NYC starter Luis Andrade issued a leadoff walk to Salazar in the bottom 8th, maybe our last chance to avoid a sweep and losing our face. Johnston grounded out on a hit and run, bringing Hall up with one out and the runner in scoring position. He struck out, and Osanai flew out. Grant West was tagged for a run in the ninth. To start the bottom 9th, Vinson reached on an error, and never was advanced. 3-1 Crusaders. Four hits for the Raccoons.

4.5 games behind, and with the team sucking everybody’s heart out, it’s over. During the series, we made a waiver claim on Oklahoma’s Tony Oliva for some offensive middle infield help, but now I hope he will be pulled back, since we won’t need him anyway. It’s over.

Raccoons (65-59) vs. Loggers (56-68)

Mark Dawson came up in the bottom 1st of the opener with two out and runners on the corners. He hit the ball approximately two feet for an easy third out at first base. Setting the tone early, eh? Oh, yeah. Dennis Fried was pitching a 5-hitter through seven innings. Did he get in line for a win? Nope. He was to lead off the bottom 7th and was pinch hit for with Jeff Martin, who was the first out in a 1-2-3 inning. Matthews pitched the eighth well. Hall led off the bottom 8th with a walk. Osanai had a full count and then walked. Dawson came up, Mr. Double Play. 1-0 pitch, grounder, Stein to Flores to Evans. Hall was a sad panda on third base and Bob Arnold came to the plate and bounced up the middle, where Jim Stein got the ball, and his throw to Evans was sub-par, but good enough. Inning over. Ken Burnett walked leadoff man German Roldán in the ninth, and with one out Jesus Jimenez came to the plate, the Loggers’ only true answer to “Who’s driving in runs for you?”. Lagarde relieved Burnett to face the right-handed pain machine, and popped him out on the first pitch. Cordero entered and got the final out also on one pitch from Grady Young. Leo Smith singled his way on to start the bottom 9th. Higgins bunted him over. Vinson pinch hit for the pitcher, but him and Salazar left Smith on. Extra innings, extra emetic ball. The Raccoons were basically out of arms, too, as Grant West came out. He struck out two in a quick top 10th. For the bottom 10th, Johnston, Hall, Osanai were due. If those didn’t manage to walk off, nobody would. Better don’t put runners on first and second for Dawson behind Osanai. They didn’t as none of the three batters reached base. Jimenez’ leadoff double in the top 12th probably was bad enough, and a wild pitch by Grant West didn’t make things better. He struck out Young and Evans with Jimenez still at third base. 2B Tony Flores came up. West had thrown 52 pitches already, but there was only an aching Juan Martinez left in the bullpen, after that it had to be a starter. West was talked to on the mound to get another out here. 2-2 to Flores, STRUCK OUT THE SIDE!! GIVE THAT BOY A WIN NOW!!! Higgins reached on an error to start the bottom 12th. He had to try and steal and went on the first pitch to PH Bobby Quinn. Santiago Rodriguez dropped the ball and never made a throw, Higgins was safe at second. Bobby, please. I’m begging you. He flew out to LF Gates Golunski. Salazar grounded out, Higgins to third, two down. Johnston to the plate. Glenn, please, I’M BEGGING YOU (shakes player violently)!! He flew out. Martinez got through the top 13th quickly. Hall drew a leadoff walk in the bottom 13th. Osanai struck out, and with Dawson at the plate, Loggers reliever Antonio Diaz foolishly took away the double play with a wild pitch, as Hall went to second. Dawson flew out, and Arnold grounded out. Things went on. Between a Jimenez double, Martinez struck out the side in the 14th. Leo Smith hit a leadoff single. Higgins walked. If you don’t walk off instantly here … (raises fist)! We went all in: O-Mo pinch hit for Martinez. And he struck out. Salazar forced a walk, loading the bags. Johnston to the plate, any long ball will do. He struck out. Daniel Hall came up. Fans (the few that were left) were on their feet, chanting. Grounded out to Jimenez at third. Now we went to burn up Scott Wade, who would have pitched game 3, ****ing up our rotation. Fast forward to the 17th, the Loggers broke up the collective shutout with a 2-out RBI single from Drake Evans. Wade had struck out five in three innings, but was now on the losing end. Against Cameron Butler, Hall struck out, Osanai struck out. And dickhead Mark Dawson, HOMERED TO LEFT, prolonging the struggle unnecessarily. Arnold reached, but Smith grounded out. And there it goes. Just when everybody had thought they could get home before two in the morning. Top 19th. Cristo Ramirez was on second base with one out. Jimenez grounded to short, and Salazar lost the ball as he was going to throw it to first. Ramirez scored. Bottom 19th. Hall and Osanai made outs. Elimination loomed, as Weston Fox pitched to Mark Dawson. Another home run. Un. Be. Lievable. Arnold singled, Smith singled, Arnold to third. Higgins with the chance to end it. Poor contact, to the ride side, Tony Flores and Drake Evans converging. BUT IT GETS THROUGH!! ARNOLD SCORES, HIGGINS SAFE, BALLGAME OVER, FINALLY!!!!

3-2 Raccoons. Dawson 3-9, 2 HR, 2 RBI; Arnold 4-8, BB; Smith 4-8, BB; Fried 7.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K; West 3.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 7 K; Martinez 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K; Wade 5.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 6 K, W (12-8);

Mark Dawson would have been severely fined for intentionally making me cry more than absolutely necessary had this not ended in the 19th. Raccoons pitching struck out 21 batters, and walked one (Burnett blowing the stats). The hitters walked ten times and struck out seven times. And they STILL could squeeze by in time.

Now for the bad news: our pen was basically dead. Wade could not start game 3. We had an off day after game 3. We could pitch Correa on short rest (Saito was to start game 2 as planned), but we needed a reliever. We selected Qi-zhen Geng. Ben O’Morrissey was demoted, if only just because he was the only guy that would not waste an option this way. That move left us with four infielders, but it was only for the rest of this series. We probably needed a starter still for game 3, depending on how game 2 would go. If Ken Burnett or Jackie Lagarde could go unused in game 2, either one of them could make a 5-inning emergency start in the last game of the series.

Game 2. Please finish it in regulation. In the best of all worlds, Saito would pitch a shutout to go with that wish. But Saito was not on top of his game (on top of which he was unbeatable) and got into trouble in the first inning, but the Loggers left them on the corners. Tetsu Osanai hit a solo home run in the bottom 2nd to provide a margin of error of – err – nothing. Hall added a run with a 2-out RBI single in the third, but Saito walked on thin ice, allowing a homer to Santiago Rodriguez in the fifth. Dan The Man also had a bad game in that he committed not one, but two errors in left field (wonder if that ever happened before?), but neither led to a run, fortunately. Saito threw too many balls and only completed seven inning. Geng entered for the eighth. He plunked Jimenez and things went worse from there. The Loggers tied it and had two men in scoring position with two down and Rodriguez at the plate. We went to Lagarde and he struck him out, but Saito’s lead was gone. Lagarde would be used up here, trying to save Burnett for tomorrow. Of course, if we went 19 again… Lagarde exhausted himself in the 10th and almost fell off the mound as he struck out Tony Flores to end the inning. Bottom 10th: Higgins lined just over the shortstop and the outfielders missed his liner as well, which hoppled all the way to the wall. Leadoff triple. Salazar struck out, Johnston struck out, Hall grounded out. OH COME ON!!! Carrillo managed to squeeze an inning out of himself, but then we had to go to Burnett. They had left a man on in the 11th, and left one on in the 12th, and the Loggers got their man in in the top 13th. Facing elimination, Daniel Hall doubled into the gap in right center to start the bottom 13th. Osanai lined over 2B German Roldán for a single, but Hall had to hold at third base. Dawson in a perfect double play spot, but that one didn’t get on the ground, but out to center, where Grady Young caught it. Hall tagged, scored, and tied the game. Burnett had to bat in the #7 spot and struck out and this went on, too. Burnett allowed another run in the top 14th. Higgins led off the bottom 14th with an infield single, then stole second. Vinson drilled a double into deep left, scoring Higgins. Winning run at second base, nobody out. And that winning run remained right there. More innings. Burnett managed another inning, this time scoreless. Matthews was thrown in and loaded the bags in the 16th, but then caught Grady Young’s liner for the final out. If that was not a charm for some offense! Quinn got on to start the bottom 16th, and Vinson’s 1-out single got a run into scoring position. Salazar grounded to short, but the Loggers only got Vinson. Johnston came up, 0-7 on the day. SINGLE TO CENTER!! The Raccoons walked off. Some had to be wheeled off in wheelchairs by nurses. 5-4 Raccoons. Hall 3-7, 2B, RBI; Arnold 2-4, BB, 2B; Higgins 2-6, BB, 3B; Vinson 3-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Saito 7.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K; Lagarde 2.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K;

35 innings in two days. Who wants to pitch tomorrow? In the end, we went where nobody had thought so far. AAA catcher Josh Cook was designated for assignment to make room on the 40-man roster, and Dean Hood was called up. We had gotten him in the Bob Arnold trade with Topeka. He had never made a big league appearance. It was a crap shoot.

Hood was rudely greeted to the Bigs by Jimenez, who nailed him for a 2-run homer in the first inning. They added four runs in the second inning, and Hood’s big league debut was bound to end not long after it had started, as he was settled with seven runs. The Raccoons? This was a no-contest. The Raccoons managed only three hits the entire game, never put a runner in scoring position, and had to use up the sorry remains of their bullpen to get over the distance. The Loggers didn’t score any more, but had put enough on Hood. 7-0 Loggers. Carrillo 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K;

Dean Hood was demoted to AAA instantly, and Ben O’Morrissey recalled.

It’s over.

In other news

August 16 – VAN 2B David Brewer (.327, 6 HR, 49 RBI) hits the DL with a sore shoulder. The 22-year old hotshot will miss about a month, and the Canadiens will miss him.
August 17 – The Aces lose the face of their franchise, OF/1B Ira Houston (.320, 15 HR, 93 RBI) for the season after the 27-year old strained a hamstring. Houston led the CL in RBI’s at the time of his injury. With OCT LF/RF Will Jackson (91 RBI) also nursing an injury, Portland’s 1B Tetsu Osanai (87 RBI) ranks as the highest healthy run driver.
August 18 – Bad news for Atlanta: RF Michael Root (.339, 21 HR, 77 RBI) is out for the season with a torn calf muscle. This puts the Knights in a very bad spot in the CL South.
August 18 – And another slugger out: OCT LF/RF Will Jackson (.260, 28 HR, 91 RBI) has fractured a finger and will be also out for the rest of the season. Jackson led the ABL in home runs by a large margin.

Complaints and stuff

I have no further comments.

[Westheim]

The Blue Sox claimed catcher Josh Cook, something like the #4 on our depth chart, who had been taken off the 40-man roster to accommodate Dean Hood. Cook went 2-11 in his short big league stint with the Raccoons in 1989.

We embarked on a short 6-game road trip against CL South teams, and not the cream of the crop. The way the team was playing, I’d say we’d score eight runs combined.

Raccoons (67-60) @ Falcons (53-73)

The Falcons stormed right out of the gate in the opener, putting three runs on Juan Correa in the bottom 1st. Correa lasted only five innings with an inability to get runners out in the game. He got 4-0 behind, before home runs by Vinson (2 runs) and Osanai (solo) brought the Raccoons back in. Glenn Johnston was on third base in the top 6th, and with two outs, Dawson was walked to get to Correa, and he was pinch hit for with Jeff Martin, who fought hard to work a walk. Bases loaded, Salazar grounded out. Burnett gave up a run in the bottom 6th, and the Falcons led 5-3. The Coons actually got the tying runs into scoring position, but Johnston left them there, ending the seventh with a roller to second.

Matt Higgins was caught stealing in the eighth inning in this game. This was the first time anybody nailed him this season. He was 20/20 going into the game. Arnold 2-5; Osanai 3-5, HR, 2B, RBI; Vinson 2-5, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Dawson 1-2, 2 BB;

While the Raccoons killed an early chance with a double play by Bob Arnold, the Falcons took a 1-0 lead in the first off Antonio Lopez. The Falcons fielded Luis Herrera, who had been taken from the Raccoons in the rule 5 draft. Down 2-0 to Herrera, David Vinson tied the game with another 2-run homer in the fourth. Herrera left the game with an injury after the home run. Actually driving in a go-ahead run however had to be done by Lopez, doing so against reliever Juan Ybarra. The Raccoons made it 4-2 in the fifth and then broke up the bullpen in the sixth with a 4-run inning, the centerpiece in which was a bases-clearing double by Vinson. Also, Tetsu Osanai was hit by the pitch in consecutive plate appearances. Entirely coincidentally, Jackie Lagarde hit the Falcons’ 1B Jesus Herrera in the eighth. Coincidence. I swear. (twitches) Ultimately, that event didn’t figure into the decision, as the Raccoons held up on the mound. They took the middle game, 9-2. Salazar 3-6; Arnold 3-6; Hall 2-5, BB, 2 RBI; Osanai 2-3, 2B; Vinson 3-4, HR, 2B, 5 RBI; Reece (PH) 1-1; Lopez 7.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, W (12-10) and 2-4, RBI;

Jason Turner went 3-0 with a 0.81 ERA in his rehab in AAA. That seemed good enough. He was recalled to the major leagues, and Dennis Fried was sent to AAA. Turner would start game 3 right away on six days’ rest. To make room on the 40-man roster for Turner, Dean Hood was designated for assignment.

Turner also fell behind in the first, again 1-0, in the rubber game. While the Raccoons tied it, they left runners on third base in the fourth, and again in the fifth inning. Turner had to labor hard in his return with a lineup consisting of five left-handers and two switch-hitters. The Falcons left the bags full once and could have hurt Turner a couple more times with an extra hit, but he held the 1-1 tie until he was pinch-hit for in the top 7th. The 1-1 tie remained into extra innings, with Neil Reece in center twice making great catches to avoid a loss. O’Morrissey was on first in the top 11th with one out. With Leo Smith batting, we called a run-and-hit, and it worked, as Smith doubled into the right center gap, and O-Mo scored the tie-breaking run. Of course, Smith was left on third base. Grant West looked terrible in the bottom 11th, walking the leadoff man Alejandro Moreno. With one out and runners on the corners, reliever Ricardo Medina bunted, and West tried to get the out at second, and everybody was safe. That was the final nail. The Falcons scored a run on a sac fly, and then walked off on a single by .184 hitter John Tate. 3-2 Falcons. O’Morrissey 3-5, 2B; Smith 3-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Reece 2-5; Dawson (PH) 1-2, 2B; Cordero 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K; Lagarde 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

Raccoons (68-62) @ Aces (68-62)

The opener saw the Raccoons score two runs in the first, but they didn’t really score them, it was more like a present by the Aces with an error, a hit batter, and a wild pitch in the inning. Without all that, the inning would have ended with a double play hit into by Daniel Hall and no runs scored. Kisho Saito could not hold on to the lead, when the Aces put their first four men on base in the bottom 2nd. They scored three runs in the inning. Saito didn’t have his stuff that day, which became more apparent the longer he was in the game. Still 3-2 down, Johnston was walked in the top 6th with O’Morrissey on third base and two out, bringing up the pitcher’s spot, but we sent Neil Reece to pinch hit, having already brought in Bob Arnold on his off day to replace an injured Daniel Hall (see below). The Raccoons had already twice left runners on third base in the game, but Reece knocked it into short center to get Saito off the hook. Salazar walked after a wild pitch by Jose Murillo, but Quinn grounded to the pitcher to waste the chance to get Saito a W. Carrillo fell behind 4-3 in the bottom 6th, but the Coons got their two leadoff batters on in the top 7th, bringing up a blazing hot David Vinson. NAILED! OUTTA HERE!! Now with the game turned 6-4 to the good side, the Raccoons had to hold on. The Aces put the tying runs into scoring position against Matthews in the eighth, but he got out of the tight spot. Grant West struck out the side in the ninth. 6-4 Coons. Arnold 2-4; Vinson 3-4, BB, HR, 4 RBI; Reece (PH) 1-2, RBI;

Daniel Hall was out for a week with an intercostal strain. He was not put on the DL, and we were playing a man short once again. Vinson would bat third in Hall’s absence and Quinn was a good fit in the #5 spot.

Scott Wade started for the first time since his extra-inning bonanza against the Loggers in the middle game. He came up with the bags full and one out in the top 2nd and forced a walk off Jarrod Schroeder to score the first run of the game. Salazar’s double made it 3-0. Bottom 2nd. Angelo Cardenas led off with a home run, before Wade loaded the bags. Schroeder came up with one out, grounded to Dawson, who made a monumental error, scoring two runs, and they took a 4-3 lead here. Wade also lasted only five innings, allowing two earned runs in the bottom 5th and was pinch hit for representing the tying run in the top 6th, but nothing came about that chance, as ultimately Arnold hit into a double play with the bags full and on a 3-1 count. That was their last chance already. 6-4 Aces, as Dawson’s three unearned runs cost the game here. Salazar 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Quinn 2-4;

Osanai’s 2-run homer in the first got the Raccoons up early in the rubber game, but half that lead evaporated in the bottom 1st already, as it seemed like Juan Correa was going to continue his recent trend of losing his mojo, and when Vinson led a ball glance off his glove and then off his shinguards for a passed ball, that led to the tying run for the Aces in the fourth, and the game started anew. With one out in the top 6th, the Coons loaded the bags on a pitch to Vinson’s hip, a walk to Osanai, and a freak single up the middle by Quinn. O-Mo came up, and Xavier Mayes’ first pitch was in by a mile and plunked him, too. The Coons dugout got antsy to grab some bats and flatten him into the ground, but cooler heads prevailed. Higgins was walked, forcing another run in, and Reece’s sac fly made it 5-2. The Coons loaded the bags with no outs in the eighth. C’mon, hurt ‘em! Higgins was up and fell 0-1 behind, but Mayes’ next pitch was a good one – for Higgins. He made full contact and drove it over the wall for a GRAND SLAM!! Juan Correa was still in the game, pitching no-hit ball since having the game gotten tied in the fourth. This also provided much needed relief for the bullpen and he was told to try to finish it. He did finish the game, but Melvin Greene fired a 2-run homer en route in the ninth. 10-4 Raccoons. Osanai 2-4, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Quinn 2-4, BB; Higgins 1-4, BB, HR, 5 RBI; Reece 1-2, BB, RBI; Correa 9.0 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, W (9-6);

In other news

August 23 – IND CL Jim Durden (3-5, 2.43 ERA, 34 SV) masterfully saves a 9-6 win against the Aces, clinching SV number 300.
August 23 – ATL 3B Luis Barrera (.267, 10 HR, 47 RBI) won’t be available for the stretch drive. The 33-year old veteran is plagued by back soreness and will miss at least a month to recover.

Complaints and stuff

So-so ball, with agonizing games and offensive land rushes in quick succession now. That is not the game of a playoff team, and they accordingly fell further behind this week. We will return home now to play the Canadiens for life and death.

The Raccoons have only one more game before rosters expand. Basically we need two arms for the pen and two bats, one of which has to be an infielder, and will be Antonio Gonzalez. The rest is up in the air.

Random fact: I have an innate inability to type the name Anotnio without stopping at least twice.

[Westheim]

Important service announcement: I have about nine to ten hours of work on my desk that absolutely positively has to be handled today. Once I have slugged through that, I will have time off from the soul-wrenching world of lowly-paid labor until September 2.

Progress should be rapid (maybe even rabid?) starting tonight.

Yaaaaay.

[ShaneCarson]

Looking forward to it as always!

[Westheim]

Raccoons (70-63) vs. Canadiens (76-56)

This was already the Raccoons’ last chance to prove that things were not over yet: three games at home against the much-hated cross-border pests.

If this was to salvage the season, the effort began as frustrating as it could be, with the Raccoons leaving the bags full in the bottom 1st on a pop out by Higgins. “Woody” Lopez had to get to the plate and hit an RBI double in the second inning to get the Furballs on the board. But Lopez was also responsible for dropping a throw by Osanai that would have ended the top 4th with a 3-0 lead intact. Instead, catcher Javier Salcido came up and homered to deep center and it was 3-2 with two unearned runs. From there, the Raccoons had plenty of base runners, but didn’t get them in. Vinson struck out twice to end innings with two men on. Lopez went seven innings without any other trouble, holding on to that flimsy 3-2 lead. Cordero pitched a perfect eighth, and then Vinson came up for the third time in the game with two on and two out in the bottom 8th. This time he didn’t miss anything and tattooed reliever Lance Parsons with a 3-run home run, which moved the game to the safe side. 6-2 Raccoons. Arnold 2-4, BB, RBI; Osanai 3-5, 2B; Vinson 3-5, HR, 2B, 3 RBI; Higgins 2-5, 2B, RBI; Dawson 2-3, BB, 2B; Lopez 7.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, W (13-10) and 1-3, 2B, RBI; Cordero 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

September 1 approached. We called up INF Antonio Lopez, MR Qi-zhen Geng, and MR Pedro Vazquez (3.12 ERA in AAA). The first two were already here for stretches this year, and the latter had been with the Coons at various points in past years, and was out of options.

Game 2. Jason Turner struggled in the top 2nd, where the Canadiens filled the bags with two down. Pitcher Ruben Prado’s hissing line drive into deep center was masterfully intercepted by Glenn Johnston and no runs scored in the inning. Johnston before long had to move over to right and Reece entered the game to replace an injured Bobby Quinn. Johnston also drove in the first run of the game in the bottom 2nd. In the third, the Raccoons set Prado on fire with a 5-run inning, including a 3-run homer by Mark Dawson. Turner was solid as a rock after that shaky second inning, but got into trouble with an error again, this time committed by Johnston, who was the main focus of the game. Kevin Gilmore then hit that unearned 2-out, 2-run home run in the top 6th. Again, that was the only blemish on the pitching staff. The Canadiens never even got the tying run to the on-deck circle the rest of the way and the Raccoons had back-to-back 6-2 wins over them. Quinn 1-2; Reece 1-2; Osanai 2-4, RBI; Johnston 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Dawson 2-4, HR, 3 RBI; Turner 7.1 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, W (4-3);

Bobby Quinn was diagnosed with back tightness bad enough that it was thought to affect him for two weeks. He was placed on the DL. So far, nobody was called up, and Daniel Hall would be able to play in time for the next series anyway.

Mark Dawson reached the .200 plateau with a second inning single in this game. Woot!!

As things were going this season, things went wrong the second Kisho Saito’s name appeared on the scoreboard. Colin Irwin hit a leadoff homer in the last game of the series and the Canadiens took a 2-0 lead in the first. Saito drove in the first Coons run in the second, making it back-to-back days for starting pitchers to jump-start their offense, and a wild pitch by Kazuyoshi Kato in the third tied the game, but the Raccoons left the bases loaded, and lost a run when Glenn Johnston was caught stealing before that. The tie didn’t hold long. An error by Mark Dawson got the Canadiens going in the fourth and they scored two unearned runs in the inning. Saito didn’t look great, but that made it six unearned runs on the Coons defense in this pivotal series. But as I said, Saito was really not great by any measure and fell 6-2 behind in the fifth. Run support also did not kick in. Bottom 8th then: the Raccoons trailed 6-3 when Salazar, batting 9th after replacing Gonzalez in a double switch, singled his way on. Bob Arnold doubled into deep left. The Canadiens brought left-hander Bernard Hellyer to face Glenn Johnston, who was 0-3 and pinch-hit for with O-Mo, who only managed an RBI groundout before Vinson grounded out to end the inning. Jamel Teissier annihilated the Raccoons quickly in the bottom 9th. 6-4 Canadiens. Salazar 2-2, 3B; Carrillo 3.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

Raccoons (72-64) @ Indians (72-65)

Daniel Hall was available again and would maybe even stay in the lineup for more than three days this time. Who knew?

Hall knocked two singles in his first two AB’s back in the opener, but was always left on. The run the Raccoons actually did score to move into a 1-0 lead in the second inning was unearned after an error. Jorge Salazar upped to 2-0 in the fifth with his first home run as a Brownshirt (taking him only just north of 500 AB’s to get there). Scott Wade pitched a very shaky no-hitter into the fifth (shaky because between Johnston and Higgins there had already been four awesome plays) until the Indians broke it up with two singles, but didn’t score. Wade pitched eight scoreless, but with the score still only 2-0 and the 3-4-5 hitters due in the ninth, Grant West was broken up and Wade did not get to complete the shutout. 13 pitches by West later Wade was a bit lucky he at least got the W – West put the first two men on before getting through the mess. 2-0 Raccoons, as the teams totaled just 11 hits. Hall 2-4; Wade 8.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K, W (13-9);

Daniel Hall drove in the go-ahead run in the top 1st of the middle game, as the Coons took an early 2-0 lead. Hall also had an RBI double in the fifth, scoring Matt Higgins from first base, to give some more support to Juan Correa. With Hall still on second base, torrential rain suddenly came down, forcing a delay of over an hour. Correa had been stellar so far, but had only gone four innings. He insisted on going out again after the play, and while he couldn’t order himself lunch at McDonalds for his life after more than a decade in the States, he had enough English vocabulary to force his way back to the mound. Correa completed the fifth inning without damage done, but was pinch hit for in the top 6th. Daniel Hall hit his third double of the day in the seventh, but was left on base along with Osanai when Vinson struck out again to end an inning. Burnett, Lagarde, and Cordero each pitched scoreless inning in relief, before the game was handed to Grant West, who this time converted masterfully. 3-0 Raccoons. Higgins 2-5; Hall 4-4, 3 2B, 2 RBI; Correa 5.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K, W (10-6);

A series sweep however seemed not be in the books in game 3. Antonio Lopez quickly gave up two runs and Jesse Carver (15-12, 3.34 ERA) for the Indians was most brilliant, developing a perfect game bid. Matt Higgins took a full count pitch into center for a single to spare the Raccoons of humiliation starting the sixth inning. Bob Arnold got Higgins in with a 2-out RBI single, but the Coons still trailed 2-1. With two out in the top 8th the Raccoons rallied. Martin pinch hit for Lopez and singled. Arnold and Salazar also singled, but Martin had to hold at third. Daniel Hall up with the go-ahead run at second base, but he flew out to Forest Hartley in center. Ageless Jim Durden entered the game in the ninth to close it. Tetsu Osanai led off with a single to right. O-Mo ran for him, and got to third on a 1-out single by Glenn Johnston. Higgins struck out, leaving things to Mark Dawson, who flew to center – and to Hartley. 2-1 Indians. Arnold 2-4, RBI;

In other news

August 31 – WAS C Gabriel Rivera (.267, 15 HR, 70 RBI) will miss the rest of the regular season with bone chips in his elbow.
September 1 – Salem’s Mark “Icon” Allen (.283, 11 HR, 57 RBI) could well be done for this year with a sore shoulder suffered in an on-base collision.
September 4 – SFW 1B Francisco Lopez (.313, 15 HR, 59 RBI) will miss most of the month with a torn meniscus.
September 4 – WAS SP Archie Dye (18-7, 2.88 ERA) 3-hits the Blue Sox in a much celebrated 1-0 win in the fierce division race.
September 6 – IND C Victor Cornett (.267, 13 HR, 81 RBI) is out for the rest of the regular season with a fractured thumb.

Complaints and stuff

We fared well, but not well enough in these two series. In the last month of the season, it will be hard to erase that 5-game lead the Canadiens have.

Marcos Costello, who went 15-73 between 1987 and 1989 for the Raccoons, was the Federal League’s Rookie of the Month. He went 29-60 for the Stars with 2 HR and 10 RBI.