Portland Raccoons (ABL)

[Westheim]

I will see to that stuff tonight. He has no DL days left over, and the option appears to put him on the roster. If this would work out, he'd replace Ohayashi on the roster, or if nothing else works, Martin.

Gonna test that stuff out once I will have survived my daily duty in the Tower of Tears.

(hums) Da-niel Hall ...!

[Westheim]

From the general discussions board:

Originally Posted by Westheim

I've had some issues here, since

a) the game refused to move the player [Daniel Hall] from the DL to the active roster, which it deemed full (29 out of 40 doesn't sound full to me, unless you consider the expanded rosters to seize existence after game #162)
b) the game refused to move the player from the DL to the playoff roster, even when I removed one of the eight infielders [Ohayashi] on there and thus had only 24 men left on it

It did b) while maintaining this was either due to

c) the playoff roster being full (which it wasnt, a spot was open) or
d) the player not being eligible (which he was, since he has been either on the 25-man roster or the DL for more than 13 years without interruption);

That's when I went into commishioners mode to find out that he in fact WAS eligible for the playoff roster, so adding him should not be an issue!

At this point I consider my reservation from yesterday about "cheating" moot, since the program clearly doesn't adhere to what it states from one page to the next.

I have thus edited out his injury, added him to the 25-man roster (which required cleaning out everybody not on the playoff roster and waiving two scrubs, including that eighth infielder), then added him to the playoff roster, and will now leave him on the bench until game 3.

So, we're set here, despite some wonky bytes out of position. I will treat Dan The Man as unavailable for the first two games in Portland, since his "return-o-meter" stated two days as of the day between playoff series. I never quite grasped whether this includes the current day or not, but I think that's a fair deal.

[Westheim]

1992 WORLD SERIES
Portland Raccoons (99-63) vs. Washington Capitals (99-63)

The Raccoons will make their fourth World Series appearance. This is actually a record, with the Blue Sox, Capitals, and Canadiens all topping out at three appearances. Of course, the Coons are 0-3 so far after falling to the Stars in 1983, the Wolves in 1989, and the Capitals in 1991. The only other team with multiple appearances to be oh-for are the Condors (0-2).

The Raccoons had a hard time in the CLCS to get the offense going, totaling eight runs in the first four games, with only gritty pitching by Jason Turner, Scott Wade, and the bullpen holding them in the series, plus key hits by Ben O’Morrissey and Vern Kinnear.

Their offense could be improved, since Daniel Hall was added to the playoff roster in place of Marihito Ohayashi, but the earliest “Dan The Man”, as he is called in Portland, will be able to attack in the series, seems to be game 3 in Washington.

Raccoons pitching was remarkable overall, holding an offense that steamed to 888 runs in the regular season to 3.14 R/G in the CLCS. If they can do the same to the Capitals, they ought to be fine.

The Capitals dropped 14 games compared to last year, when they won an ABL record 113. F.e. 1991 Pitcher of the Year Archie Dye (26-3, 2.24 ERA) had an in comparison rather pedestrian 17-12, 3.61 ERA season, which is about the worst mark in their strong rotation. You can’t say many negative things about the bullpen, although their relievers on average tend to be a bit worse than the Raccoons’. They especially lack a left-handed shutdown guy like the Coons have in Ken Burnett. In fact, they only have one left-handed reliever in Armando Dávila (5-2, 3.59 ERA in 44 G). Combined with three right-handed starters (Dye, Parker Montgomery, and Ethan Thomas) enticing the Raccoons to load their lineup with lefties, especially in games 1 and 2 with the right-handed Hall sidelined, this could turn out to be a significant strategic disadvantage.

The Capitals’ offense doesn’t have to hide form nobody. Their 815 runs scored led the Federal League, they have five double-digit dinger hitters for home run-friendly Raccoons Ballpark, and apart from starting shortstop Nuno Andresen can field a complete lineup of .275+ batters. Especially fearsome may be the left-handers C Gabriel Rivera (.315, 21 HR, 94 RBI – something that POR David Vinson was before this season) and LF/RF Darren Allison (.322, 23 HR, 104 RBI).

Holding them to 3-ish runs per game won’t be easy for the Raccoons, but utterly necessary. The Capitals have no injuries to significant players and can field their best suit as opposed to the Raccoons, who miss outfielder Neil Reece and his slugging.

Defensively, both teams have a weak spot on the right side of the infield. It is a largely immobile 1B Tetsu Osanai for the Raccoons, and a venerable Hector Atilano at second base for the Capitals, even if Atilano’s only fault may be that he is 41 years old.

Last year, the Raccoons saw no land against the Capitals and lost in five games. The teams could be much closer this year. Most everything depends on the Raccoons’ rotation and how well they can handle the opposing offense. It seems hardly likely that the series will be decided in less than six games this time around and might go the distance. The Capitals seem to be a wee bit ahead of the Raccoons overall, and if it is only because Neil Reece hurt his hamstring on the final day of the season.

1992 WORLD SERIES
Portland Raccoons (99-63) vs. Washington Capitals (99-63)

Game 1 – Scott Wade (11-5, 2.76 ERA) vs. Ramón Ortíz (16-9, 3.55 ERA)

Ortíz was the only left-hander the Capitals would offer to us, but he was certainly impressive, his ERA not telling the truth as much as his 163 strikeouts. Unfortunately, without Reece and Hall our lineup tilted heavily to the left side, no matter what I did. Unless I wanted to play Morales, I had to field four left-handers. In the end, Higgins would bat leadoff against Ortíz, followed by Salazar, O’Morrissey, Kinnear, Osanai, Quinn, Johnston, and Vinson.

If there was one thing his manager didn’t like about catcher Gabriel Rivera, it was his arm and error proneness. When Matt Higgins got on to start the bottom 1st, he immediately started to explore his chances and went on Ortíz’ second pitch to Salazar. Rivera’s throw was nowhere near second base and fell into shallow center, and Higgins dashed to third base. He would score on O’Morrissey’s groundout, and the Coons were up 1-0.

Attention shifted to Scott Wade and how he handled the Capitals’ lineup now, and he didn’t do too bad. Nobody reached the first time through, and a leaping grab by O’Morrissey in the fourth made sure that the Capitals’ box score remained empty.

The top 5th then saw Darren Allison and Gabriel Rivera lead off with singles into shallow right. The Capitals were far from dead. Hector Atilano came up clutch with an RBI double, tying the game. With another double by Yoshihito Ito, the Capitals scored three in the inning to take a 3-1 lead. So much for dominance by starting pitching.

The Raccoons struggled to get on base against Ortíz in these innings, until Salazar led off with a single past 1B Fred Rodgers in the sixth. O’Morrissey doubled to right center to put the tying runs into scoring position. Ortíz’ cautious approach to Vern Kinnear resulted in a bases-loading walk with nobody out. The best Tetsu Osanai could manage was a sac fly (god forbid him having a clutch hit), and Quinn in his uselessness struck out. It was on Glenn Johnston to tie the game, and he succeeded with a single to center, scoring O-Mo, 3-3. Vinson grounded out.

Wade and Ortíz came up to bat in the bottom 7th and top 8th, respectively, and neither team pinch-hit for them. There was still some trust in these guys despite minor hiccups. Through eight, Wade had pitched seven perfect innings and a really, really, really rotten one.

In the bottom 8th, the Coons were donated a chance with Osanai reaching on a 2-out error by Rodgers, then advanced on a balk. Quinn producing something here would be really great, but he grounded out.

Wade put Jeffery Brown on with one out in the top 9th, and was replaced by Burnett facing Allison, but the Capitals pinch-hit for their elite slugger with righty Ennio Sabre. Brown stole second base before Sabre grounded out. Two down, Rivera up. Despite Matt Brown having replaced Osanai for defense, Rivera shot a grounder through first base for an RBI double, and the Capitals added two more runs before Juan Martinez ended the massacre.

Bottom 9th. Johnston’s leadoff single was followed by poor outs from Vinson and Martin. Higgins singled to right with two out. Salazar grounded to Atilano, who couldn’t do anything with it and the bases were loaded for O’Morrissey against closer Domingo Rivera. O’Morrissey hit a high liner to center, right to Diego Rodriguez. Game over.

Capitals 6, Raccoons 3 – Higgins 2-5; Salazar 2-5; Johnston 2-4, RBI; Wade 8.1 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, L (0-1);

So much for Ken Burnett being a shutdown guy.

Game 2 – Kisho Saito (12-10, 2.73 ERA) vs. Parker Montgomery (13-8, 3.62 ERA)

Facing a right-hander, we could go back to the somewhat productive lineup from the second half of the CLCS. It’s the one not involving Bobby Quinn. (grim look)

Saito had a wild bout in the top 2nd, walking two batters, before surrendering a 2-out RBI single to 3B Manny Valdez. Oh, yeah, things are rolling.

Jeff Martin got on to start the bottom 3rd, and Saito then bunted him over. With two out, Higgins and O’Morrissey hit back-to-back RBI doubles to turn the game around, but O’Morrissey was thrown out at the plate when he tried to score on a Johnston single. Osanai would hit a home run in the fourth that made it 3-1, but one thing you couldn’t not notice was that Saito was spending most of the game behind in the count. Either his stuff was not there, or the Capitals had much better eyes than anybody in the Continental League.

Whatever Saito did on the mound, he did much better around it. Montgomery tried to bunt Valdez over to second in the top 5th, but Saito made a nifty play that resulted in a 1-6-3 double play. He then plunked Diego Rodriguez and went to 3-1 on Ito before the batter grounded out.

We had seen much less endangered 2-run leads with Saito pitching, so additional offense would be welcome. Higgins stole another bag off Montgomery/Rivera in the bottom 5th and was scored by Kinnear with a 1-out double. That was exactly what I meant. Next up was Glenn Johnston who blooped a single into shallow left. Both runners were waved around the corners, although Jeffery Brown got to the ball quickly, then had to make a decision. Brown went for the sure out at second base, but Kinnear scored, 5-1.

Only a double play saved Saito in the sixth in one of his lesser outings, but the 4-run lead stood up so far. Nelson pitched the seventh without causing property damage, and Miller came in for one batter (Ito) in the eighth, but allowed a single. Burnett retired two left-handers before Lagarde got Sabre, and the 5-1 lead stood.

Lagarde then failed at basic skills by surrendering two line drive singles in the ninth. West had been readied and came in with the tying run already in the on-deck circle. The runner on third scored when Valdez flew out to Kinnear in left, but West would eventually end the game with a double play grounder to his own feet.

Raccoons 5, Capitals 2 (series tied 1-1) – Higgins 2-4, 2B, RBI; Kinnear 1-2, 2 BB, 2B, RBI; Johnston 2-4, RBI; Saito 6.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 3 K, W (1-0); West 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K, SV (1);

This was then 10th postseason save in Grant West’s career.

[Questdog]

Well, my comment about the third time being the charm looks rather stupid doesn't it? Have to go back and study the history because I have forgotten about one of the World Series......

But any way if the third time is the charm, then the 4th time ought to be even charmier.....

[Westheim]

I thought about the third time as being Tetsu’s third World Series – but that ain’t true either. It’s his third with the Furballs, but he won a ring with the Canadiens in ’82. So, yeah, maybe Mrs. Osanai meant something else.

Four is considered an unlucky number in some East Asian countries, right?

I will post a league history and throw out some stats once this deal here is over (most likely tomorrow).


---------


1992 WORLD SERIES
Portland Raccoons (99-63) @ Washington Capitals (99-63)

Game 3 – Jason Turner (16-7, 3.82 ERA) vs. Archie Dye (17-12, 3.61 ERA)

The return of Daniel Hall! He was deemed fit by the team medical staff on the day after game 2, and had batting practice the same morning before we flew cross country. Daniel Hall’s back was always his Achilles tendon, if you know what I mean.

He replaced Martin in the lineup, and batted behind Kinnear in the #5 slot, followed by Johnston, Osanai, and Vinson. A much more credible lineup, if you ask me. Dye had surrendered one run in 17 innings of play in the CLCS, so we could expect the Raccoons to struggle.

Or maybe not. Salazar hit a leadoff single in the game, and a fielding error by Dye put Higgins on. While he whiffed O’Morrissey, Kinnear drilled a shot over the wall in center – IT’S A HOME RUN!! Up 3-0 early, the Coons continued to crowd Dye in the second inning, but after a foul pop by O-Mo and a K by Hall left the bases loaded.

Archie Dye was the first Capital to reach base in the game, but didn’t score in that bottom 3rd, the Coons still ahead 3-0.

The Raccoons had another chance to score with two on in the fourth, but Hall left them on when his fly ball to deep center was caught by Rodriguez. Turner surrendered a double to start the bottom of the inning against Fred Rodgers, but the first baseman never was able to move past halfway. A 2-out double by Ito in the bottom 5th spelled trouble when Salazar bobbled Dye’s grounder to short. Runners on the corners, the Coons were perhaps lucky that Rodriguez fouled out on a 1-1 pitch, where Vinson didn’t even have to move very far.

The Capitals eventually did get on the board, though. It was Jeffery Brown with a solo home run in the sixth. 3-1, and all the missed chances loomed large already. That didn’t mean that Turner hadn’t been dominant, allowing only four hits through six, and he then added a perfect seventh.

With Vinson singling in the top 8th, Turner was pinch-hit for with one out. With right-hander Jeff Hodge on, we sent lefty Matt Brown, who struck out. Hodge would do the same to Salazar to end the inning.

Martinez was perfect in the eighth, and the top half of the ninth was about over when Kinnear came up with two out. He was a triple shy of the cycle, but didn’t even get a chance, as Andrés Otero nicked him with the first pitch. Hall walked, but Johnston grounded out, leaving it to West to protect the 3-1 lead. He faced the big lefties in Brown, Allison, and Rivera.

West got the first two before walking Rivera. Atilano doubled to left, putting the tying runs in scoring position for Nuno Andresen. West got to 1-2 before Andresen made contact. A fast grounder to Salazar, the highly priced shortstop retired the not-so-highly priced shortstop, 6-3, to end the game and give the Coons a lead in the series!

Raccoons 3, Capitals 1 – Salazar 2-5; Kinnear 3-4, HR, 2B, 3 RBI; Turner 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, W (1-0) and 1-3;

Game 4 – Robert Vázquez (15-8, 3.51 ERA) vs. Ramón Ortíz

Interesting move by the Capitals to bypass 17-10 Ethan Thomas completely here and go back to Ortíz. The 25-year old would pitch on three days’ rest after going into the eighth in Portland in game 1.

The Raccoons struck first again! After Higgins and Salazar made outs to start the game, O’Morrissey, Kinnear, and Hall hit back-to-back-to-back 2-out doubles to plate two runs in the top 1st. Unfortunately, the Capitals would strike right back. Ennio Sabre’s 2-out, 3-run home run gave them an early lead against Vázquez.

The Raccoons were worryingly harmless after that first inning, landing only a single hit in the next four innings. Vázquez had a few men on base, but the Capitals didn’t get past second base. If he had only gotten out Sabre!

Vázquez would be removed for a pinch-hitter in the seventh of a snoozefest. Ortíz, who showed no signs of tiring, had struck out Johnston and Vinson in the inning, before Osanai had singled to right. No matter how small the chance – we brought Morales, who singled into shallow center on a 1-2 pitch and flipped the lineup over to Higgins. Ortíz fell behind 2-0 before Higgins dished a liner to left – but well into the range of Brown, who registered the final out of the inning.

Morales would make himself useful defensively after replacing Osanai in the field (Higgins moved to first). Lagarde put runners on the corners with one out for Valdez, who shot a liner up the middle that SOMEHOW Morales got to. Lagarde then punched out Allison to end the inning.

When Martinez was inserted into the bottom 8th, he never registered an out. Instead, Hector Atilano put the game away with a 2-run homer. Nelson walked the next two in an effort to make himself entirely expendable a week from now.

Capitals 5, Raccoons 2 (series tied 2-2) – Kinnear 2-4, 2B, RBI; Osanai 2-3; Morales (PH) 1-1;

What a momentum killer. We had basically zero offense after the first inning. Without huge run support, Vázquez is nothing but a taut skin to drum on.

Game 5 – Scott Wade vs. Ethan Thomas (17-10, 3.09)

Here came starter #4 for the Capitals, a 17-game winner having to wait for his turn here. The Raccoons hadn’t even had one (but almost would have had a double-digit winner in the pen with 9-1 Juan Martinez). They now planned for Ortíz in game 7. Hum, well. Then we will have to win the next two, which would be fine by me.

Independent of his ERA and wins, Thomas’ K/BB ratio was just over 1.5 and his 1.21 WHIP didn’t scream ace all over the place, either. He could be taken on. The Wolves had taken him on pretty well in the FLCS, loading him with seven runs in 4.2 innings.

To start the game, Jorge Salazar reached on catcher’s interference. Alright, keep rolling, boys! Despite two infield singles and a wild pitch, they scored only one run in the inning – what a waste of runners.

Wade was not as sharp as in game 1 (minus the fifth inning) and put two on in both of the first two innings, but the Capitals came up short of home in either frame. He got an extra run with a Kinnear RBI triple in the third, in the bottom of which he retired the Capitals in order for the first time in the game.

After singles by Osanai and Vinson, Scott Wade came to bat with one out and the runners on the corners in the fourth. Bunting over Vinson to stay out of the double play was on strategy, but Salazar was batting only .229 in the playoffs and was nothing to bank on here. Better have Wade swing away. He fell 1-2 behind before he made contact and grounded to left. The ball rolled past Andresen for a single, and Osanai scored, 3-0. Salazar popped out, before Thomas walked both Higgins and O-Mo, forcing in another run, 4-0. Kinnear then tried to do too much and looked bad swinging for the fence. He struck out.

The bottom 4th saw Atilano double, but he was left on third base. Neither team did much the next two innings until Andresen led off the bottom 7th with a triple that was at least half on Daniel Hall misplaying it big time in right. He could have held Andresen to a single either by a different approach or by being ten years younger.

Great people’s stars shine the brightest in times of trouble. Ito fouled out. Wade then struck out Sabre, who hit for Thomas. And Rodriguez flew out softly to Kinnear in shallow left. Andresen was starved at third, and only six outs to go with three runs to waste.

Wade entered that tough-as-tungsten left-handed artillery as he pitched in the eighth. With this being his last outing of the season and him dealing to the tune of a 5-hitter, I decided to leave him in until he’d put a man on. He sat them down 1-2-3, Rodgers, Brown, Allison.

Glenn Johnston gave Wade an extra run in the top 9th, as Scotty faced Rivera, Atilano, and Andresen in the bottom 9th. We can probably allow him one runner. C’mon, pitch a shutout!! Rivera grounded out to Osanai. O’Morrissey converted a very slow grounder from Atilano into an out.

Andresen reached for Wade’s second pitch and popped it up. Out to second, Higgins waving off everybody in shouting range, waited a few seconds for it to come down … HE’S GOT IT – IT’S A SHUTOUT!!!!

Raccoons 5, Capitals 0 (Raccoons lead 3-2) – Kinnear 3-5, RBI; Osanai 2-5, 2 2B; Wade 9.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 4 K, W (1-1) and 1-4, RBI;

For Scott Wade, this was his sixth career shutout, and the first in the playoffs, as well as the third this season.

This is our chance. Obivously, we have never led 3-2 in the World Series, since we have never lasted longer than six games in our failed attempts.

At the thought of Daniel Hall hitting a walkoff home run in game 6 I could wet my pants.

[Questdog]

By my count Vern Kinnear has 7 RBIs in the 5 games, so even if I could not remember the past so well, I seem to remember the future okay......

[Westheim]

Capitals reliever Jeff Hodge is out for the year with shoulder inflammation. He could be ready for Opening Day. He’s only 22 and looks very promising to me.

The scoreboard flashed a few trivia questions before the game, with the biggest stunner being the following: Only one CL team won the season series against POR – which one?

Answer: the Falcons (66-96)!!

As usual, regardless of whether there will be game 7, this post will only contain one game.

1992 WORLD SERIES
Portland Raccoons (99-63) vs. Washington Capitals (99-63)

Game 6 – Kisho Saito vs. Parker Montgomery

The Portland Raccoons have never had an actual match ball game in the World Series. Like I said, we never won three in any World Series. Now going back we were able to send our – over his career – best starter on five days’ rest into game 6, while the Capitals had maybe their #3 guy. Saito had been plagued by low run support this year, plus the bullpen crumbling up his wins.

He’d better pitch a shutout. Salazar – Higgins – O’Morrissey – Kinnear – Hall – Johnston – Osanai – Vinson were tasked with outscoring the Capitals by a run. I was tempted to move up Osanai to #6, but he whiffed a lot. Also whiffing: Daniel Hall had batted .154 in Washington, but also had flown into deep outs a few times. Just a little luck was all he needed. Or ten feet more.

Offense was slow for both teams in the early going. O’Morrissey hit a 2-out double in the first, but Kinnear flew out to deep left.

While Saito pitched very dominating and sat down the Capitals in order the first time through their lineup, he took a chunk out of our threat in the bottom 3rd. Vinson’s leadoff single brought up Saito and he failed to lay down a good bunt, getting Vinson forced at second. Salazar followed by walking, so we weren’t dead yet (in fact, Saito’s fielder’s choice was now irrelevant).

Higgins came up, sending a 2-0 pitch to deep center. Rodriguez was racing after it, but couldn’t get it – OFF THE WALL!! Salazar held at third base, and the first run was in! 1-0 Coons! A so far tense crowd burst into cheers. O-Mo made it 2-0 with a sac fly.

Bring it on, Kisho. There was a Japanese bringing it on in the top 4th, but it was Yoshihito Ito, playing second in place of Atilano. He doubled to deep left ending the perfect line for Saito, but Saito popped up Brown and punched out Rivera. End of inning. Through five, Saito had punched out six while allowing two hits.

Saito’s vest remained untainted in a 1-2-3 sixth, but the score was still 2-0. Wade had been far ahead. What would we do in an eighth, ninth inning in a 2-0 game? Go to Lagarde, West? Neither had been free of blemish the last four weeks.

Maybe a little more offense could move us ahead. Kinnear led off the bottom 6th with a double. Hall came up, having whiffed twice against Montgomery. People rose to their feet, cheering and clapping and chanting for him. Hall didn’t get a chance to hit. Montgomery threw him junk and he never took the bait, walking on four pitches.

Johnston came up next and rammed a liner over Ennio Sabre – OFF THE WALL, KINNEAR IS COMIN’ ROUND THIRD – IT’S AN RBI DOUBLE!!!

3-0 Coons, two in scoring position, no outs, the park was rocking. Osanai scored Hall with a sac fly, Johnston to third, and he scored on Vinson’s single, 5-0. One out only still, and Saito singled up the middle as the Capitals threw in ex-Coon Carlos Reyes in his first appearance of the series.

5-0 and nine outs to go for the history books. Saito had only 64 pitches on his odometer and while he needed 16 in the seventh, surrendering a full-count single to Rivera, he chopped off another three outs. Six to go. Saito surrendered hard contact twice in the eighth, but Kinnear and Johnston made the plays and the Capitals were running out of - … well, outs.

Nobody was sitting down anymore. Fans had waited for this a long time. Sixteen years in the making, one of cruel fairy tales was heading towards a happy ending. Otero faced Johnston, Osanai, and Vinson in the bottom 8th, making three quick outs. It didn’t stop the cheering and chanting a bit. There were a few loud heartbeats among it, too (I can attest for at least one).

96 pitches into his day at work, there was no question whether Saito would come back out. He had been dominant all day. He would face Ito, Brown, and Rivera in the ninth.

Yoshihito Ito swung at the first pitch and doubled over Kinnear in deep left. The party would take a bit longer to start, it seemed. Brown came up and took a 3-1 pitch over the wall.

Silence? For a moment, it was very quiet.

Obivously, Grant West came in now to relieve Saito. We were still up by three with three outs to be collected. Rivera, Sabre, Andresen. Rivera took a close pitch for a ball, then got one to his liking, but grounded out to Higgins. Two to go. The chanting was back, only more intense. DE-MON! DE-MON! DE-MON!

Sabre was next. 0-3 in the game, he worked a full count and finally walked. The tying run in Fred Rodgers appeared in the on-deck circle. Andresen had to get on, though. He was batting .190 in the playoffs and probably had it a bit with the nerves. He aggressively went after West’s first pitch. UP IT GOES!! But it didn’t get far, O-Mo hustling into foul ground as it descended again. HE’S GOT IT!!!

DE-MON! DE-MON! DE-MON!

Grant West vs. Fred Rodgers. West’s first pitch was swung at and was a very poor grounder hobbling between the mound and the left foul line. O’Morrissey was playing deep, but West sprung off the mound, agile like a cat, not looking 35 years old at all. West picked it up, turned, threw to Osanai. Rodgers was not even close.

THE RACCOONS WIN THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP!!!!!

I CAN’T BELIEVE IT!!!!!

As the fireworks shot up from behind the centerfield scoreboard, the Raccoons dugout and bullpen emptied in a hurry, players and personnel streaming out to crowd both West and Saito, and Kinnear, and O-Mo, and they all became a giant mesh of arms, hopping up and down.

The fans hopped up and down alike. The sound system blasted rock music into the crowd. Axxis screamed into the ecstatic crowd: Touch the rainbow/ and your dreams come true/ spread your wings/ and feel the breath of the wind! Fireworks, metallic rock, a berzerk crowd. The old ballpark withstood it with ease, breathing a deep sigh of relief as well.

Raccoons 5, Capitals 2 – Higgins 2-4, 2B, RBI; Johnston 2-4, 2B, RBI; Vinson 2-4, RBI; Saito 8.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 8 K, W (2-0); West 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K, SV (2);

1992 WORLD CHAMPIONS
PORTLAND RACCOONS
(1st title)

[Westheim]

Here we are cracking some numbers. This post contains both the ABL history and the Raccoons history.

Unfortunately the team table doesn't retain the sorting when exporting. The team with the best overall record are the Blue Sox, whose era of dominance was in the mid-to-late 80s. They won 89 or more games for nine straight years from 1983-91.

We are t-15th with the Warriors.

[Westheim]

Raccoons positional starters and pitchers throughout history.

I must admit that I am slow to come up with some of the names from back then. I actually DO remember well some of the more frightening and draining characters like Angel Costa, Ned Ray, and Ben Jenkins.

Very well reflected is our consistent struggle to find somebody to plug that hole in center field. That one went on and on and on for a decade.

If your keen on anything else about the last 16 years, it may help to ask.

[Westheim]

Vern Kinnear batted .500 with 1 HR and 6 RBI in the World Series. I said he can’t stem the offense alone. Well, he tried pretty good! I love this boy!

The Blue Sox have claimed SP Jose Fernandez for whatever reason. He was one of the two players waived in my little fiddling with 0’s and 1’s. We have plenty of depth. Miguel Lopez is pushing up to be in the rotation this year and I can’t find good arguments to keep him out. This could mean flipping one of our bottom-end guys for prospects or that meaningful backup infielder we’ve been looking for for some time.

There is also an issue on the roster. I won’t call names, but it’s a rather large static marble column firmly entrenched at first base, where it is not doing an awful lot.

I’m serious. I will try to flip him. We have a young and dishing Esteban Baldivia ready to come up. We would still require a powerful backup for first base. Matt Brown is not this backup.

Our new budget was set at $16.2M. This is a small $300k increase over the 1992 budget, and we retain 5th place among all teams. The Crusaders, playing in arguably the biggest market there is, STILL field a team on a $9M budget. You see how far they are coming with it. Not far. In sharp (and a bit ridiculous) contrast, the Condors ownership will spend $21M on their team this year.

The Pittsburgh Miners are sold to Kevin McQueen, a wealthy businessman, who is said to be ready and eager to empty his pockets into the team without expecting immediate results.

---

We have ten players heading for arbitration (or maybe not), so it will take some time to sort things out.

The arbitration candidates included the following (* super-2 case):
MR Ken Burnett (3-2, 2.13 ERA)
MR Juan Martinez (9-1, 1.57 ERA)
C David Vinson (.216/.361/.335)
INF Marihito Ohayashi (.231/.259/.385 in 26 AB)
INF Matt Higgins (.265/.314/.346)
1B/3B Ben O’Morrissey (.283/.358/.433)
OF Jeff Martin (.176/.250/.294)
CF/LF Neil Reece (.340/.385/.506) *

The following players are free agents:
MR Chris Nelson (3-2, 3.99 ERA)
INF Mauro Morales (.292/.349/.335)

Nelson is not compensation eligible. Morales is a type A free agent, which is rather strange for somebody with 209 AB on the year.

The calls on the bottom 2 are easiest: both have to go. Nelson was highly annoying with a BB/9 over 4. Morales dropped his average by over 100 points from Salem to Portland. And he is compensation eligible. I can find better stuff on the market or in trades.

Of course, most of the guys in the top category are easy calls for receiving offers. We will also try to make long-term deals with at least Reece and O’Morrissey.

Ohayashi will not receive an offer, since I can’t stand people that come here and get hurt immediately. He has already been waived, but nobody wanted him.

The two cases that will cause headaches are Martin and Vinson.

Martin has never done anything to justify us holding on to him for this long. He is 26 now and I don’t see any signs for a big league career. However, his scouting report still speaks favorably about his abilities. The question of whether to retain him could come down to somebody else: Bobby Quinn, who had a draining season and a terrible playoff campaign. Glenn Johnston came up clutch often in the playoffs, securing his future for another year, but Quinn was so goddamn awful…

Like Quinn, David Vinson crashed horribly in 1992. In the last three years his OPS were .912, .734, and .697 in that order. While he was so-so in 1991, he was dragging it this year, even getting the backup man substantial playing time. Vinson has the biggest price tag attached in the arbitration class. We could try to negotiate and buy out his remaining arbitration years (2) at a low rate. But we could also test the free agent market.

However, currently there is not a lot of air in the budget. Unless we slash into scouting and development, we have only $1M available at this point. Of course, we could add $1.1M by moving that marble column someplace else. Maybe the Canadiens will take him back? I’d take two prospects for him. But not those that we sent over eight years ago.

[Questdog]

Congratulations! I am sure it is very gratifying to see your 16-year plan come to fruition!

As for Tetsu, you need not fear any mail-bomb attacks from disgruntled fans in this sector. I would love to seem him stick around and have a renaissance like Teacher's Pet did this year, but I would not love to see him stick around and hit .260 with 2 home runs......

And I really like the way Esteban Baldivia rolls off my tongue....wait, I mean how pronouncing his name is a pleasant experience.....Viva Baldivia!

[Westheim]

We started the offseason business by talking to Ben O’Morrissey and Neil Reece about mid-to-long term contracts. Super-2 case Reece was not interested in such an arrangement yet, preferring to test his value in arbitration. O’Morrissey (who has about a year more service time) was ready to talk. By the time we drank some coffee in the office on the Wednesday after winning it all, the Blue Sox had already swapped eight players around, so we were late comers to the frenzy for sure.

I was looking at the potential top free agents as far as first base was concerned. Baldivia is ready, I think, but throwing a rookie into the hot water can backfire quickly. However, no prime-rate best-age first basemen were available. NYC Douglas Donaldson was to become a free agent, but while he had home run power (10 HR in 1992, but that should be magnified in Portland’s park), I found him not to hit any doubles or triples at all, with barely over 20% of ALL his hits being for extra bases. That was not what I was looking for.

Projecting our lineup (which would not see too many changes) I found myself wishing to lead off with Salazar again. Behind that O’Morrissey can bat either second or third. Preferably second, and then you have Kinnear, Hall, and Reece in the heart of the lineup. Higgins probably bats sixth especially with Baldivia on first, since he has about zero speed (240 lbs getting moved very slowly). The catcher’s spot is in eighth. This lineup assumes similar production to 1992. If Daniel Hall is batting .245 in his farewell year, he will probably not bat higher than sixth. If Matt Higgins bats .300 with a reasonable number of walks, he will lead off since his speed is nice to have unimpaired by casual walkers like Salazar.

At this point, I was really, really certain, to have Baldivia come up. He batted .328/.424/.507 with 20 HR and 106 RBI in 144 games in AAA last year. We can probably expect him to bat .270 with 15+ dingers here.

AAA INF Ben Nash was put on the 40-man roster since he was slated for minor league free agency. He’s our fourth round pick from 1986. Many injuries (most small, but there’s always something with him), batting .252 in AAA last year, but I was calculating with him as #7 or #8 on the infield depth chart. Of the other six players on the farm heading into free agency, I’m fairly sure that I never mentioned them after the initial draft or taking them on as free agents in the last one or two years. None of them appeared in the Bigs for us.

Interesting fact: which player that just won the World Series with the Raccoons has accumulated the most rings in his career? The answer could be really surprising: Mauro Morales. He was on three World Series-winning teams, the 1992 Raccoons, the 1989 Wolves, and the 1985 Gold Sox.

Kisho Saito and Tetsu Osanai have two, for example, both winning with the 1982 Canadiens.

October 31 – The Raccoons announced a 4-year contract being signed with their young 1B/3B Ben O’Morrissey, which will pay the 26-year old $1.88M and buys out his arbitration years and one year of free agency.
November 2 – The Raccoons and MR Juan Martinez agree to a 4-year, $1.1M contract extension. Martinez was heading for salary arbitration for the final time this month, but the Coons were convinced by his 3.25 K/BB and 2.58 career ERA and moved quickly.
November 4 – Among Gold Glove winners is POR SS Jorge Salazar, who wins his fourth total Glove, and the CL SS glove for the third year in a row.
November 5 – Along with WAS CL Jesus Longoria (6-5, 2.55 ERA, 23 SV), POR LF Vern Kinnear (.311, 16 HR, 82 RBI) is named Rookie of the Year!
November 7 – SAL SP Rafael Serrano (16-6, 2.49 ERA) and LVA SP Jou Hara (19-3, 3.19 ERA) are named Pitchers of the Year.
November 8 – DEN INF Jesus Garcia (.288, 20 HR, 95 RBI) and IND LF/RF Raúl Vázquez (.331, 42 HR, 122 RBI) win Batter of the Year honors. Vázquez broke Michael Root’s single-season home run record of 41 home runs – just barely.
November 11 – The Buffaloes announce having signed SP Dragoljub Djukic (105-94, 3.89 ERA) to a 2-yr, $720k deal. Djukic, 33, last appeared in 1991 for the Indians, and went unsigned through all of 1992 after an injury to his pitching hand.

I was also named Manager of the Year for the Continental League. I always knew I was something special.

There were a few minor deals being made around the league, but really nothing worth mentioning, involving obscure players like the Loggers acquiring outfielder Serafim Laborinhos from the Titans. He had 33 AB last year in the major leagues. So much for trading.

Juan Martinez probably has closer potential for a team not going to the World Series. With West, Lagarde, and Burnett he forms the core of a fantastic bullpen. I had to extend him long-term.

With Reece not wanting to sign, and Higgins and Vinson not really catching fire, that was the last piece removed from the salary arbitration table, as we went in with five guys (those three plus Burnett and Martin).

Reece, Higgins, and Burnett got offers slightly over the estimate. We stayed below with Vinson ($325k vs. $343k) and Martin ($200k), whose $240k estimate was a joke, and not a good one. Should have released him right here on the spot. The guy has appeared in five seasons and has never been able to stay and make himself worth the worries. He was really high on that trade-out list.

We came up 3-2 in the hearings. You may be able to guess which players got rulings in their favors. Vinson got $350k (well, big deal… he would have deserved that two years ago), while Martin got $300k!!! What!!?? ARE YOU BAT**** CRAZY!!???

That’s it for Mr. Martin. I’m not gonna pay for that. If I’m gonna have my way, I’ll trade him and the marble column up cross the border for a bag o’ baseballs.

Wanna hear the bad news? Shopping Tetsu Osanai yielded zero results.

[Westheim]

Since he popped up in the player lists above, I want to inform you about the fate of Wally Gaston, the last original Coon to stick with the team. When we let him go after the 1988 season for his seriously deteriorating pitching, I wasn’t too sure that he would ever pitch again in the majors.

He did. He made ONE appearance for the Thunder after that. He retired in 1991.

Always loved the guy.

The offseason – November 1992

November 22 – SP Woody Roberts (166-109, 3.10 ERA) re-signs with the Condors for 5-yr, $4.25M. The 31-yr old Roberts had just four days earlier become a free agent. Roberts, who has 1,947 career strikeouts, was the Condors’ first-round pick in 1980 and has spent all of his career with the team.
November 23 – The Raccoons flip 1B/3B Matt Brown (.209, 1 HR, 15 RBI) to the Indians for INF Sixto Moreno (.234, 15 HR, 111 RBI). Neither the 23-yr old Brown, nor the 27-yr old Moreno are expected to fill starter roles for their new teams.
November 23 – The Titans add 25-yr old 2B Dave Dixon (.290, 2 HR, 98 RBI) in a swap with the Falcons for 29-yr old SP Dennis Lauzon (51-58, 4.33 ERA) and AAA CL Francisco Gutierrez.
November 24 – The Canadiens and the Wolves make a deal for 27-year old infielders. INF Kelly Carpenter (.253, 36 HR, 157 RBI) and a minor leaguer head north to Vancouver in exchange for 1B Carlos Guzman (.314, 14 HR, 95 RBI) and a minor leaguer.
November 27 – Paydays don’t stop for Hector Atilano despite the infielder being already 41 years old. The Scorpions will pay him $860k to don the green stripes for 1993. Atilano has 2,542 career hits, 186 dingers, and a .315 batting average. He batted .312 with 10 homers for the Capitals last year. Atilano is just 42 hits away from Claudio Rojas’ all-time record.

Atilano still going strong keeps surprising me. He refuses to age. While he still trails Rojas in the hits category, he is far and away in the total bases category with 3,759 TB. Rojas has only 2,874 TB! So that’s a total of 290 extra bases for somebody who had 2,584 career base hits. Woow. Rojas thus ranks only 12th in career TB, with five current or former Raccoons ahead of him: 3rd Mark Dawson (3,349), 6th Tetsu Osanai (3,118), 7th Armando Sanchez (3,093), 8th Yoshinobu Ishizaki (3,076), and 11th Daniel Hall (2,967).

So much for mixed-to-positive news. Now … - I tried to locate teams that were really hot on Jeff Martin to load them with a certain marble column in a deal for both. The Stars had an interesting left-hander in Les Browning, age 24, and were eager to get Martin.

But...

Maybe I should have asked the marble column first. Tetsu Osanai would exercise his 10/5 rights to veto any trade. Any. He has ten years and 141 days of experience. Oh, holy cow. There is no way we can just release him. He is due another $4.5M and that can’t be paid by the team under any circumstances.

Well, that crashes all plans, basically. There is no room for two first basemen on the roster. Since we can not get rid of this one, we can’t add Baldivia come spring. The only possible option would be to designate Osanai for assignment, but who could be so stupid …? He will definitely not accept a minor league assignment.

Oh, good riddance, we’re stuck with a marble column batting two-eleven with four home runs for four more years …!! (bursts into tears)

[Westheim]

It’s cold, it’s dark. Must be December in the ABL. Four months until Opening Day, gnaaah!

Prior to the rule 5 draft, we brought some order into our organization.

We released Daniel Dumont, 27, who after three partial seasons (1988-90) of batting .255 with six home runs in 587 AB for the Raccoons, produced nothing at all in AAA the last two years and was clogging up roster space. SP Eduardo Salazar, MR Tony Vela, INF Elmer Hawley, LF/RF Chih-tui Jin, and OF Winston Witter were added to the 40-man roster. That left two spots open on the 40-man roster, but we didn’t need to protect anybody beyond those (our real good prospects are not eligible yet) and I wouldn’t mind losing some scrubs. I also was not intending to take anybody in the rule 5 draft.

There was one infielder in the draft who was interesting, the Wolves’ Marvin Ingall, but ultimately he was batting .257 in AAA, how much can he bat in the majors?

I still became entangled in talks with the Wolves the next week, at the Winter Meetings held in Tijuana. I was looking for a power-packing infielder, capable of playing at least second base (preferably also shortstop) at a level that won’t hurt the whole team. Well, the first name I came across was Vancouver’s David Brewer, but the Canadiens were in no mood to even discuss my fiendish proposals for their 25-year old .370ish batter and excellent defender still under team control, despite me throwing in three players from the active roster and asking them to pick a fourth to get talks started.

December 1 – Rule 5 draft: 16 players are taken over four rounds. Among the players taken is ex-Raccoon SP Steven Berry by the Pacifics after being left unprotected by the Stars. The Raccoons are not affected in the draft.
December 1 – The Aces sign 35-yo ex-CIN MR Joe Roberts (61-54, 2.52 ERA, 224 SV) to a 2-yr, $632k deal. Roberts was a closer as recently as 1990-91 for the Cyclones, so that would be an option for the Aces to use the right-hander.
December 2 – Former Raccoon (1989-91) INF Antonio Gonzalez is traded from the Bayhawks to the Indians, who send over OF/1B Rich Tracy and a minor leaguer in return. Gonzalez is a career .261 batter, while Tracy, who never has been a starter in a 5-year career, is batting .237 so far.
December 2 – Another former Raccoon (1979-85) switches teams as the Warriors send 3B Cameron Green (.247, 122 HR, 717 RBI) is sent to Dallas for not-outstanding MR Masafumi Kawano.
December 4 – The Rebels sign ex-SAC C Arturo Aguilar (.251, 31 HR, 246 RBI) to a 5-yr, $3.9M deal. Aguilar was the starting catcher for the 1990 and 1991 champions Capitals.
December 8 – On the first day of the Winter Meetings, Salem signs ex-BOS Salvador Vargas (.293, 49 HR, 455 RBI) for 3-yr, $1.98M plus ex-NAS SP Luis Guzman (89-56, 3.31 ERA) for 4-yr, $3.34M.
December 8 – The Miners grab former Rebel SP Jake Wallace (155-132, 3.64 ERA) for 3-yr, $2.01M.
December 8 – As starting pitchers are ripped from the market, ex-OCT Kevin Williams (135-131, 3.67 ERA) signs on with the Gold Sox for 3-yr, $1.87M.
December 8 – The Canadiens send 27-yr old OF Antonio Rodriguez (.292, 51 HR, 613 RBI), who drove in 102 runners last season, to Las Vegas for 26-yr old INF/RF Michael McFarland (.294, 6 HR, 203 RBI) and a prospect. The Aces also add 1B/2B/3B Manny Mora (.290, 37 HR, 449 RBI) in a deal with the Buffaloes for 32-yr old 1B/2B Mark Williams (.294, 9 HR, 154 RBI).
December 9 – The Raccoons and Wolves strike a deal that sees the Raccoons acquiring 2B/3B/1B Mark “Icon” Allen (.290, 179 HR, 754 RBI) and minor leaguer Marvin Ingall, while the Wolves add to their pitching with SP Robert Vázquez (102-61, 2.89 ERA) and MR Roberto Carrillo (38-28, 3.29 ERA, 39 SV).
December 18 – The Wolves continue shopping, as they add 36-yr old 2B/SS Eddy Bailey (.280, 103 HR, 762 RBI) for 3-yr, $2.07M.
December 21 – The Raccoons trade AAA SP Eduardo Salazar, 26, to the Miners for 24-year old MR Christian Proctor (1-3, 3.89 ERA), who was a rookie in 1992. Salazar has yet to make his big league debut.

It took some time to sign off on that Allen/Vázquez/Carrillo deal. WAR-wise, we lost a chunk of competitiveness here, since Allen batted a meager .221 last season, but still hit 16 dingers. However, that’s his one season that was not awesome. From 1985 on, he hit between .274 and .331 every year, launched 20+ home runs five times, and also posted .900+ OPS five times. His career OPS is .852. (For comparison: Tetsu Osanai’s is .870)

We give up Vázquez and Carrillo. The latter had two awesome years in 1990 and 1991, but tailed off with 50% more hits allowed compared to 1991 (while pitching 69 innings both years!), and could be descending due to age. The other, Vázquez, won 32 games the last two seasons, more than Saito and Wade, and tying Turner for most on the Coons, but did it with considerable above-average run support, while posting a problematic 1.37 WHIP last year.

Besides, I needed an opening in the rotation for 24-year old Miguel Lopez, who is attested readiness by head scout Vicente Guerra. My heart is pinned to Saito, Turner, and Wade, and I would never trade those (which I said about Logan Evans a few years ago…), and Beato is still injured. Besides, I think after all Beato has a bit more upside than Vázquez. Their contracts are (were) about equal.

Carrillo can be easily replaced with the array of fantastic right-handed relief pitching we have stowed away at AAA in Albert Matthews, Tony Vela, Qi-zhen Geng, Gabriel De La Rosa, and one or two more.

While Allen carries a huge salary ($970k for two more years), this trade came about almost neutral in terms of budget. Most of his playing time will come from Higgins, I fear, unless we can get rid of the marble column.

What else do we have to get lined up? Move Jeff Martin and decide on a right-handed reliever to join the bullpen. Matthews certainly has the best cards.

[Westheim]

January 1993

It’s undoubtedly a slow offseason for the Furballs.

After not getting anything worthwhile out of shopping Jeff Martin at the end of 1992, once the calendars were replaced by the 1993 editions, I got a call from the Bayhawks on January 3, 1993. Now, their proposal was flawed, offering a 35-yr old MR Pedro Gonzales for Martin AND two prospects. But they were keen on Martin, obviously, and I would be happy to deal him for a second-rate prospect or an infielder with options. There was only one issue: the Bayhawks had only $158k of budget room, and Martin had been awarded $300k. This made trade talks very difficult, to say the least. Well, it worked with Gonzales, but we had absolutely zero use for him. The Gonzales offerings didn’t stop even after we traded Martin elsewhere.

January 8 – The Portland Raccoons trade OF Jeff Martin (.263, 7 HR, 72 RBI) to the Thunder for AAA outfielder Cristian Ortíz, 25.
January 9 – Boston adds SP Francisco Vidrio (112-116, 3.87 ERA) with a 4-yr, $2.09M contract. The 33-yr old Vidrio was with the Falcons in 1992 and has pitched for four teams in the last four years.
January 10 – Veteran C Travis Lange (.258, 147 HR, 774 RBI) signs a 2-yr, $1.3M deal with the Warriors. Lange, 33, was the Blue Sox’ starting catcher since 1983, including their six playoff seasons and two championships.
January 11 – 29-year old OF Scott Strong (.289, 48 HR, 438 RBI) signs a 2-yr, $1.14M contract with the Wolves.

Ortíz is by no means a great prospect, but he did well last year in AAA. We could not get a deal done with the Bayhawks due to their budget issues, and then turned to the Thunder, who had the money and were desperate enough to take Martin.

Nevertheless, we were set with the departure of Jeff Martin. There was a reliever to add before Opening Day, and we would have to squeeze either Matt Duncan or Sixto Moreno through waivers once the season started.

When was the best time to put Tetsu Osanai on waivers? It wouldn’t help us. Nobody would take him, and we were not going to get him to agree to demotion.

[Westheim]

February and March 1993

February 4 – LF/RF Manny Espinosa (.271, 85 HR, 543 RBI) played for the Aces and Bayhawks in 1992, and will be a Capital now, signing a 3-yr, $1.68M contract.
February 5 – Charlotte Falcons owner Miguel Lopez passes away. His son Chance takes over the reigns of the team. Insiders consider it unlikely that the younger Lopez will be more willing to spend big money on the team than his father did.
February 5 – Los Angeles grabs 1B/2B/3B Douglas Donaldson (.275, 48 HR, 364 RBI) for 3-yr, $1.47M. The 29-year old was with the Crusaders since 1989.
February 7 – The Blue Sox have themselves a new closer in Juan Miranda (46-63, 2.99 ERA, 354 SV). The 35-year old ex-Gold Sox signs for 3-yr, $2.01M.
February 7 – CL Ricardo Medina, 29, also has a new home in Vancouver, where he will make $610k for one year. The former Falcon is 44-41 with a 2.66 ERA and 162 SV in his career.
February 10 – As closers fall into place, all-time saves leader Andres Ramirez (62-73, 2.56 ERA, 484 SV) finds a new home in Cincinnati, getting a 3-yr, $2.07M payday. Ramirez, 33, has bounced around in the last few years, last closing for the Indians.
February 10 – The Warriors improve their roster with ex-VAN SS Art Garrett (.268, 85 HR, 551 RBI), giving the 32-year old a 2-yr, $840k deal.
February 13 – SP Chris O’Keefe (71-74, 4.06 ERA) is signed by the Titans for 3-yr, $1.25M. O’Keefe pitched for the Bayhawks all of his career, and interestingly no-hit the Titans on June 25, 1991. So they know what he can do…
March 26 – Vancouver Canadiens owner Matt Neal passed away after a brief illness, leaving the team to his son Jerry, a tolerant economizer.

Long-time Raccoon and still career home run leader with 304 shots Mark Dawson has retired after waiting 18 months for offers to restart his career that came to a crashing stop when we released him in 1991. He never played for another team. Unless something happens to Richmond’s Gabriel Cruz this season, he will break through that mark set by Mark. Cruz stands at 288 HR in second place. Next? Michael Root (243 and counting), Tetsu Osanai (219 and counting very slowly), Daniel Hall (217 and not counting for very much longer). No other player so far has hit 200+.

Dawson also still leads the RBI board with 1,268 driven in, but there the closest challenger is none other than ageless Hector Atilano, only 62 behind.

Richard Cunningham – former Coons first round pick and armed with killer stuff – remains on the free agent list well into the year. I would have been tempted to make an offer, but he is a type A free agent, and I’m not gonna blow our only decent draft pick for a 33-yr old right-handed reliever, who posted a 5.02 ERA in 1992. Granted, I blame the Stars for the ERA. They made him strike out *129* batters last season, riding Cunningham for an unheard of 109 1/3 innings!! If you look at his stats, we rode him up to or over 80 innings a few times in his career, and those were pretty much his worst seasons. He is way over-used with 100 innings despite killing stuff. Cunningham eventually signed with the Thunder for $155k for one year.

Maybe if Morales would have been signed …? But nobody showed any remote sign of interest in a run-of-the-mill 29-year old infielder who happened to be a type A free agent. Huh. I wonder where that came from.

By March, no truly big names remained on the market. Ex-Coon SP Antonio Lopez signed on March 24 with the Buffaloes for a paltry $190k. There was seemingly no money left to dish out. The Raccoons left their $1.2M where they were and moved on.

On March 24, almost two weeks before Opening Day, I sat down with the managerial staff of the team. The main focus of the talks was on the Japanese marble column with the .721 OPS – barely league average. Would we expose him to waivers on the extremely thin chance for one of the 14 teams in the ABL that were mathematically able to swallow his contract would actually be so dumb to do so? In the end, we agreed not to. He was extremely popular with the fan base, and the last thing anybody wanted to do was to draw the ire of the paying costumers in a more medium-sized market and a team owner sitting somewhere down in Mexico where the biggest fun he had was to spend all winter counting the profit his baseball team in the frozen tundras of Oregon had turned him the previous season.

Daniel Hall had a huge turnaround season last year at age 36/37. Before that he had lowered his career OPS an astonishing seven years in a row, before posting a career high .920 in 1992. (I don’t expect him to match that mark again this year, since it would be tooooo sweet)

The marble column has posted sub-career average OPS numbers for three years in a row. I sure hope there’s no 7-year rule in place here.

[Westheim]

1993 PORTLAND RACCOONS – Opening Day Roster (first set shows 1992 numbers, second set overall; players with an * are off season acquisitions):

SP Kisho Saito, 32, B:L, T:L (12-10, 2.73 ERA | 163-111, 3.01 ERA) – workhorse and strikeout machine doing his job at the top of the rotation, who pitched the deciding game 6 in the 1992 World Series. First year of big contract. He received about zero run support last season, resulting in a very unfavorably W-L record and delaying his run at 200 wins.
SP Jason Turner, 27, B:R, T:R (16-7, 3.82 ERA | 53-27, 3.31 ERA) – struggled early on last season, but came back strong when he was needed to be; very good stuff, maybe best on the starting corps; no-hit the Thunder in 1989; elite pitcher to hang your hopes onto.
SP Scott Wade, 30, B:R, T:R (11-5, 2.76 ERA | 102-60, 3.25 ERA) – very consistent starter; astonishingly dominated left-handed batting last season while he went quietly about his business; low run support and several bullpen collapses left him with 15 no-decisions.
SP Miguel Lopez, 24, B:S, T:L (1-1, 3.38 ERA | 5-4, 3.36 ERA) – made cameo appearances in the big leagues both of the last two seasons; features very good stuff that struck out 255 batters in 30 AAA starts last season.
SP Raimundo Beato, 31, B:R, T:R (10-9, 3.76 ERA | 114-101, 3.73 ERA) – 5-pitch guy that does a good job at the bottom of the rotation, although he suffered the occasional blowup last year, his first with the Raccoons.

MR Christian Proctor *, 25, B:R, T:L (1-3, 3.89 ERA | 1-3, 3.89 ERA) – acquired from the Miners for former first round pick Eduardo Salazar, he had a successful rookie season last year; he will pitch in a sixth/seventh inning situational role.
MR Juan Martinez, 26, B:R, T:R (9-1, 1.57 ERA | 23-11, 2.58 ERA, 8 SV) – very good stuff and strong control, could possibly be a closer somewhere else, although his strikeouts came down a bit in 1992.
MR Daniel Miller, 24, B:S, T:R (3-2, 4.03 ERA | 5-3, 3.59 ERA) – appeared in both of the last two seasons; pitched 15 scoreless innings to start his career in 1991, before suffering an implosion in 1992, where he bounced back and forth between Portland and St. Petersburg; is best used in a sixth/seventh inning and out of 1-run lead situations.
MR Albert Matthews, 23, B:R, T:R (2-1, 4.80 ERA | 8-6, 2.76 ERA, 1 SV) – was sent back to AAA in both 1991 and 1992, after struggling badly in both years; came back in September and pitched very well there.
SU Jackie Lagarde, 29, B:R, T:R (4-4, 2.13 ERA | 18-16, 2.21 ERA, 9 SV) – astonishing stuff, with control lacking on occasions; in a tied game in the eighth inning, this is the guy to go to.
SU Ken Burnett, 30, B:L, T:L (3-2, 2.13 ERA, 2 SV | 12-15, 3.66 ERA, 3 SV) – very serviceable left-hander that can do just about everything from closing out games in emergencies to long relief.
CL Grant West, 36, B:L, T:L (1-3, 2.29 ERA, 49 SV | 32-22, 1.96 ERA, 466 SV) – a LEGEND. The “Demon” will aim straight for 500 saves this season, all for his hometown team; saved game 6 against the Capitals last October; shows no signs of slowing down despite his advancing age.

C David Vinson, 27, B:S, T:R (.216, 7 HR, 44 RBI | .248, 48 HR, 220 RBI) – after a magnificent 1990 season (21 HR), he has not produced a lot to cheer about since; had to split time evenly with Rodriguez at times last year.
C Jose Rodriguez, 24, B:R, T:R (.312, 3 HR, 24 RBI | .312, 3 HR, 24 RBI) – replaced the horrible Shimpei Iwamoto as backup early last year and even got into a position to share catching duties about equally with Vinson in mid-season, when he batted in the high .300s. Will be backup, getting one to two starts a week.

1B Tetsu Osanai, 34, B:L, T:L (.285, 6 HR, 87 RBI | .321, 219 HR, 1,110 RBI) – former offensive monster with former big punch; three batting titles and still chasing after the all time home run lead held by Mark Dawson (304 HR), but his production has declined for the third year in a row; has started 1,192 consecutive games for the Raccoons at first base – every single one since being acquired from Vancouver; unable to move in the field; refused trades this winter; favor with management has pretty much fallen out last year, if not with the fan base.
3B/2B/1B Mark Allen *, 31, B:S, T:R (.221, 16 HR, 62 RBI | .290, 179 HR, 754 RBI) – acquired in trade from the Wolves for Robert Vázquez and Roberto Carrillo; elite slugger who comes off his single worst season in his career.
SS/3B/2B/1B Jorge Salazar, 32, B:L, T:R (.304, 2 HR, 49 RBI | .284, 18 HR, 414 RBI) – excellent defense and a surprisingly productive bat with back-to-back-to-back .300+ seasons, he has the shortstop starting job nailed down hard after winning the Gold Glove three years in a row.
1B/3B Ben O’Morrissey, 27, B:R, T:R (.283, 14 HR, 77 RBI | .274, 27 HR, 196 RBI) – coupled very good defense at third base with an offensive breakout season last year, also providing game-winning clutch hits twice in the CLCS; is currently firmly entrenched at his position.
1B/3B/2B/SS Matt Higgins, 28, B:S, T:R (.265, 5 HR, 55 RBI | .250, 24 HR, 215 RBI) – has stolen 24+ bases for four straight years, 112 in total in his career, but a sometimes lacking bat will force him into more of a support role with slugger Mark Allen arriving unless we can get rid of Osanai one way or another and Allen can play first base.
1B/2B/3B/SS Sixto Moreno *, 27, B:R, T:R (.207, 5 HR, 26 RBI | .234, 15 HR, 111 RBI) – acquired from the Indians for Matt Brown, he will be our utility man going into the season.

LF/RF Daniel Hall, 37, B:R, T:R (.295, 24 HR, 111 RBI | .265, 217 HR, 926 RBI) – responded to a 1991 concussion and being shoved to right by the emerging Vern Kinnear and the general process of getting old by posting his best offensive season since 1984 and probably the best of his career; pretty complete player, first ever Coons draft pick; is in the final year of the “retirement contract” he signed in 1985, but who knows, if he posts another 280-20-80 season …?
CF/LF Neil Reece, 26, B:R, T:R (.340, 21 HR, 90 RBI | .334, 38 HR, 185 RBI) – fantastic defense in center, coupled with a 1992 season, that even blew away his fantastic 1991 campaign, probably has the Buffaloes kick themselves that they traded him in 1988; unfortunately missed the playoffs getting hurt in the last game of the regular season.
LF Vern Kinnear, 24, B:L, T:R (.311, 16 HR, 82 RBI | .305, 16 HR, 82 RBI) – had a fabulous rookie season, culminating in winning the Rookie of the Year award; the young Australian has pushed Daniel Hall to right field, and seems to be emplaced in left for years to come.
CF/RF/LF Glenn Johnston, 26, B:L, T:R (.214, 4 HR, 25 RBI | .278, 19 HR, 182 RBI) – comparisons with Daniel Hall as a pretty complete player suffered a serious blow last season when he just couldn’t get his batting worked out; will have to fight back from a backup role.
LF/RF/1B Bobby Quinn, 28, B:R, T:R (.236, 3 HR, 28 RBI | .278, 28 HR, 228 RBI) – like Johnston suffered from UBA (universal batting amnesia) in 1992 and has to bounce back now.

On disabled list: Nobody

Otherwise unavailable: Nobody

Other roster movement: INF Matt Duncan was placed on waivers

Opening day lineups:
Vs. RHP: SS Salazar – 3B O’Morrissey – LF Kinnear – CF Reece – RF Hall – 2B Allen – 1B Osanai – C Vinson – P Saito
Vs. LHP: 3B O’Morrissey – SS Salazar – RF Hall – CF Reece – LF Kinnear – 2B Allen – C Vinson – 1B Osanai – P Saito

We lost 2.8 WAR in the offseason, which ranks us 16th in the ABL. However, -2.4 WAR come from the Mark Allen trade, who had an unnaturally bad season in 1992 and is almost certain to come back to batting .270 to .300 with double-digit dingers. -1.4 WAR came from free agents Morales and Nelson, while we gained 1.5 WAR with Proctor. Robert Vázquez (included in the Allen deal) had +1.9 WAR last year and I am confident that Miguel Lopez will more than match that.

Top 5: Wolves (+15.1), Indians (+3.2), Thunder (+3.2), Titans (+3.1), Gold Sox (+2.9)
Bottom 5: Warriors (-5.4), Falcons (-6.9), Stars (-8.7), Canadiens (-8.9), Blue Sox (-11.0)

PREDICTION TIME:

Last year, I predicted a repeat of our 1991 season (96-66) and facing the Bayhawks in the CLCS with an open end to that matchup. I never was so close as we went 99-63 and beat the Bayhawks in seven before we defeated the mighty Capitals in six games in the World Series.

The team has remained largely complete. Robert Vázquez won his 32 games in 1991-92 due to big run support and if Lopez gets that as well, he will probably win even more. We have improved with the addition of Mark Allen, so that’s puts us even further ahead of the division, especially with the Canadiens losing key personnel (Art Garrett and half their bullpen) to free agency and the questionable Rodriguez-McFarland trade with the Aces.

At the same time, we can not count on Daniel Hall repeating his outstanding season. Vern Kinnear will be a sophomore, and those are prone to slumping. You could in turn say that Vinson and Osanai can’t get any worse and will probably be on the upswing this season, but who knows?

I predict that the Raccoons will finish 97-65, far enough ahead of the competition in the CL North for me not having to sweat in late September. I don’t see any serious challenge to the Bayhawks arising in the CL South, so we could well meet a third straight time in the CLCS. Watch out for those Wolves in the Federal League, who have been able to remove a lot of dead flesh from their roster while adding to the pitching. A repeat of the Oregon Brawl ’89 (with a better outcome) would be neat.

PLAYER DEVELOPMENT:

Our system was ranked 4th overall prior to last season with three players in the top 20, one of which is no longer eligible after winning ROTY honors last year (of course this is Vern Kinnear), and five players in total in the top 100, and ten in the top 200. One of the latter (Salazar) was traded, while all others were still eligible.

Well, our farm remains strong and productive, as we have increased our ranked players to 14 for the new edition of the list! Included is a hole bunch of international discoveries by four different head scouts, reflecting on our lavish spending on scouting and development, perhaps. A few years ago, most of our top prospects had been acquired in trade.

To be honest, we don’t even have enough room on the roster to give all those boys their chance.

8th (+1) – AA SP Antonio Donis, 20 – 1990 third round pick by the Raccoons
24th – AAA INF Marvin Ingall, 24 – 1989 first round pick by the Wolves, acquired in 1992 for Robert Vázquez and Roberto Carrillo, along with Mark “Icon” Allen
36th (-19) – AAA CL Gabriel De La Rosa, 22 – 1989 supplemental round pick by the Raccoons
53rd (+99) – AAA LF Chih-tui Jin, 23 – 1988 fifth round pick by the Raccoons
54th (+27) – AAA MR Tony Vela, 22 – international discovery by Charles Hutchinson
55th (+101) – AAA SP Jose Rivera, 20 – international discovery by the Condors, acquired in 1989 for Stephen Hall
61st (+138) – AAA 1B Esteban Baldivia, 24 – international free agent signing
107th – A SP Alonso Lopez, 18 – international discovery by Vicente Guerra
113th – AA 3B Mike Crowe, 22 – 1992 supplemental round pick by the Raccoons
115th (-49) – A SS Conceicao Guerin, 19 – international discovery by Vicente Guerra
146th – A LF Stephen Buell, 17 – international discovery by Vicente Guerra
166th – AAA MR Esteban Flores, 19 – international discovery by Jeffrey Anderson
180th – AAA MR César Salcido, 21 – international discovery by Richard Steward
200th – AAA 2B Pat Parker, 22 – 1991 second round pick by the Raccoons

In a very strange move, SP Terry Wilson, the first overall pick in the 1992 draft by the Miners, was named #1 prospect – despite having to undergo Tommy John surgery for tearing his UCL in his first start in professional ball.

Next: first pitch!

[Westheim]

Raccoons (0-0) vs. Titans (0-0) – April 6-8, 1993

Left-handers Kisho Saito and Francisco Vidrio were sent for competition on Opening Day, as we faced one of the potential challengers in the CL North. Neither team got a hit until Tetsu Osanai’s 1-out single in the third inning, while the Titans’ Jose Martinez broke up Saito’s no-hitter in the fourth, but was instantly erased by Vinson in a pickoff. Osanai would also have our second hit on the day in the bottom 6th, as offense was slow, but now kicked in finally. Saito bunted him to second. The Titans elected to put on O-Mo intentionally, but Salazar punished them with an RBI double to left. Unfortunately, that was it. Hall grounded to short and O-Mo was too tardy to go home and score. Reece grounded out to leave two in scoring position. Saito held the 1-0 in the seventh, then was pinch-hit for in the bottom of the inning with two on and two out. Higgins grounded out. Burnett and Lagarde took care of the eighth, and when West came in to close it out, he walked the leadoff man, Martinez. A George Waller single put runners on the corners with one out, but thanks to Jack Burbidge popping up and out to Salazar, West was able to escape with a Chad Fisher groundout. 1-0 Raccoons, five hits for each team. Salazar 1-4, 2B, RBI; Osanai 3-3; Saito 7.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 5 K, W (1-0);

We almost didn’t score, but Tetsu is batting 1.000 – oh joy. Well, at least we got an ace outing from Master Kisho and didn’t bowl him out of the win.

Jason Turner was not very good in game 2, surrendering plenty of good contact. Neil Reece held the Coons in the game at least twice in the early innings, while the Titans took a 1-0 lead. Mark “Icon” Allen got his first hit as a Furball in the second inning, and made himself actually useful in the fourth, knocking a 2-run home run to turn the game on its head. Reece added a run for a 3-1 lead in the fifth, but Turner put the first three men on in the top 6th. All three runners scored against Juan Martinez as the Titans bounced two singles up the middle. Down 4-3, Christian Proctor made his Raccoons debut in the seventh, striking out Matt Smith before he put another three left-handers on. The Titans didn’t score here, but in turn Reece and Hall left the tying run in O’Morrissey on third base in the bottom 7th, too. After a 70-minute rain delay (it had rained on and off all afternoon), Daniel Miller retired on batter, then retired himself with a stiff forearm. The rain removed Lagarde from the game, and left us with a spent pen after only eight innings. Raimundo Beato was hurriedly warmed up and sent into the fray in the ninth, which would hopefully not derail our rotation in week 1. Beato fittingly walked two and took 27 pitches, allowing another run. Titans closer Javier Navarro put the first two Coons on in the bottom 9th, and they were left on. 5-3 Titans. O’Morrissey 2-4, BB, 2 2B; Allen 2-3, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Vinson 2-3, BB;

A lot of stuff not going right at all early on here…

Miller was thought to be out for about five days, while Scott Wade entered game 3 in the hope that he would go seven and at least take pressure of the bullpen. Wade didn’t even last four, knocked out in a 6-0 game – with one run of those earned. A Tetsu Osanai error completely derailed the fourth inning. Osanai continued to not be able to make a single play in the fifth, adding another run to the Titans’ score. Cancerous fielding continued otherwise as well with a bloop by Matt Smith into shallow left that nobody could be bothered to go after decisively, while Jorge Salazar decided to hit his annual home run in a shattering blowout game. 11-3 Titans. Salazar 2-4, HR, 3 RBI; Quinn (PH) 2-3, 2B;

Wow. Just wow. Kinnear 0-9; Reece 1-12; Hall 0-12; Vinson was a nightmare (4/4 steals for BOS; POR: 0/2); Osanai was a nightmare; we struck out ten (half of those were Saito’s) and walked SIXTEEN;

Raccoons (1-2) vs. Aces (3-1) – April 9-11, 1993

Quinn and Higgins were in the lineup against lefty Cory Dufour. Miguel Lopez made his first start as member of an Opening Day roster and got early support, although you couldn’t help think that it wasn’t offensive prowess by the Raccoons, but rather Dufour’s inability to throw a proper pitch, and the Coons scored five runs on four walks, three hits, and a wild pitch. All could have been fine with Lopez ticking off batters, but the Coons were dealt the next blow in the fourth when Hall came up lame after making a catch. Kinnear replaced him. Lopez hit a triple and scored in the fourth, before running into trouble in the top 6th, loading the bags. A reaffirmative talk with the pitching coach helped him to strike out SS Robinson Gutierrez and the inning was over. The pep talk worked exactly one, and in the seventh he was still blown up for three runs. The beleaguered bullpen was about to crumble, too, when we sent in Grant West with two on and two out in a 6-3 game in the eighth. He retired Diego Rodriguez, but in the ninth again two Aces got on with scratch singles. West just barely escaped with a K to Javier Vargas. 6-3 Raccoons, who had two hits after the first inning spill by Dufour. Reece 2-4, RBI; West 1.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, SV (2);

Daniel Hall was once again a herniated disc in his back. It doesn’t look to bit a severe case, but he will be severely hampered for a week, leaving us another man short. Dan. Get a new spine, please. Please, I mean it.

It didn’t get much better. Raimundo Beato surrendered plenty of hits and walks – but the bullpen was in no condition to pitch five innings. Somehow, the defense held the damage to one run over five innings, while scratching out two runs themselves for a 2-1 lead. Beato entered the sixth having already thrown 99 pitches (in addition to the 27 in game 2 against the Titans three days earlier), and the Aces were kind enough for RF Zahid Mashwanis and 3B Martin Carter to foul out quickly in the inning, while Beato struck out CF Royce Green. Beato came to bat in the bottom 6th with Jose Rodriguez on third base and one out. While we had a few hitters available, we had to ride “Pooky” until exhaustion to take something off the pen, which had tossed 15 innings and suffered considerable damage (plus being a man short). Beato hurled a pitch from Fernando Pena into the depths of right field – OVER Mashwanis, and it became an RBI double. Strangely, the Aces weren’t taking the pitches anymore, and Beato needed only seven in a 1-2-3 seventh. Up 4-1, Beato struck out two in the eighth before walking Manny Mora on his 127th pitch and was relieved by Proctor, who gave up an RBI double to Mashwanis. Here came West again in the eighth, retired Carter, got a run of support in the bottom 8th (the Coons scoring single runs five straight innings), then was almost thrown off the mound by a Higgins error plating a run in the ninth, but held on. 5-3 Coons, but it hadn’t been pretty. O’Morrissey 0-1, 4 BB; Quinn 4-5, RBI; Kinnear 3-4; Allen 2-4, HR, RBI; Higgins 1-1, 2B; Beato 7.2 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 5 BB, 6 K, W (1-0); West 1.1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, SV (3);

The four walks by O-Mo (two intentional) tie the franchise record held by

Game 3 pitted Saito against last year’s POTY Jou Hara. Rain was in the forecast. Vern Kinnear hit an RBI double in the first after O’Morrissey had singled and stolen second, the Coons’ first sack of the year (after going 0/3). It started to rain in the third (oh please no …!), but only for about ten minutes, just enough to soak all players. Saito faced the minimum into the fifth, until a 2-out error by Salazar got him over for good (he had surrendered a single to Diego Rodriguez, but Hara had bunted into a DP in the third). Hara was injured while pitching to Kinnear in the fifth, and ended up on the hook, 1-0. It rained once more for an inning in the sixth and seventh, while Saito was trying to keep his eyes closed whenever he gave up contact and one or another Furball hustled over the wet grass. Through the top 8th, he 2-hit the Aces, and still had only a 1-0 lead. O-Mo got on in the bottom 8th, rain fell again, and O-Mo was thrown out stealing. 1/5 for the team on the season. Top 9th. West was a bit worked up, and Saito had thrown only 90 pitches. Go Kisho! He sat the Aces down in order! OUR ACE!! 1-0 Coons. O’Morrissey 2-2, 2 BB; Kinnear 1-4, 2B, RBI; Saito 9.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K, W (2-0);

Master Kisho pitched his 15th regular season shutout (16 if you count playoffs) and has turned in a SHO six years in a row now.

We were indeed 5-hit there again. While Kisho is 2-0, he has received exactly two runs of support. I will not complain yet, and save the electro shocks for the first time it does not work out, but I am not amused as far as the offense is concerned. Or the defense. Or the pitching. Or the running!

Raccoons (4-2) vs. Falcons (4-2) – April 12-14, 1993

The Falcons had churned out more than twice of our run output so far (42 vs. 19), but their pitching had not been quite up to the task. Whenever you see a guy like Lorenzo Ángel scheduled for the series, it’s like Christmas, because he’s here for getting unwrapped. Pretty bold statement. I hope the offense picks me up in game 2.

Before game 2 came game 1, though. Thanks to Kisho, our bullpen was almost back to normal, and we could send in Turner with some backup. While Turner gave up a run in the first, the Coons came back massively, slapping Ernest Fleming for four runs in the bottom 1st. By the third inning, Fleming was knocked out and we led 7-1, although a few singles just barely got past the infielders. While a bad throw by Vinson on a stolen base attempt by Adam Kent went into the outfield and helped to score the Falcons an unearned run, Mark Allen sunk their ship for good in the bottom 5th with a 2-run homer. The Falcons completely disintegrated down the road, and the Raccoons and their fans were able to celebrate a 17-3 drubbing! Salazar 3-5, 2B, RBI; O’Morrissey 2-5, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Kinnear 4-5, BB, RBI; Reece 4-5, BB, 2B, 3 RBI; Allen 2-4, 2 BB, HR, 2B, 3 RBI; Quinn 2-5, 2 RBI; Vinson 4-4, BB, 2 2B, 2 RBI; Turner 7.2 IP, 10 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 8 K, W (1-1) and 1-3, RBI;

We don’t want to focus on the throwing error by Vinson exclusively here. In the game, he also threw out THREE base stealers, with only Kent safe. Meanwhile, who was the only starter not to have a hit in this game? Tetsu Osanai.

Almost matching our offensive output of the previous week vaulted us into first place of the division for the first time, thanks to the Canadiens losing 6-3 to the Condors.

This left Scott Wade as the last starter to grab a win this season, and he faced Ángel. 1B César Cruz gave the Falcons a 2-0 lead with a massive homer in the top 2nd, leaving the Furballs to come back against the perceived pushover on the mound. Ángel was so god-awful, with no control whatsoever, but Allen killed a chance in the bottom 2nd with a double play grounder, before we chopped one run off in the third. To start the fourth, the Coons loaded the bags (including a HBP to Quinn) with no outs, but here they failed to land a blow. While Rodriguez’ sac fly and a groundout by Osanai both scored runs to turn around the game, much more would have been possible. In turn Djordje Nedic left two men on in the fifth for the Falcons, as Wade dodged bullets now. Ángel continued to make himself unpopular drilling Kinnear in the fifth – his third HBP on the day. With two out, Mark Allen punished him with a 2-run triple to right center. The Falcons came back into the game with a string of hits in the seventh, knocking out Wade and coming back to 6-4 behind the Coons, but Burnett, Lagarde, and West held the game together. 6-4 Coons! Salazar 2-5, 2B; Allen 2-4, 3B, 2 RBI;

Stunning development of the day: the almighty Capitals are smashed 13-6 by the Stars and fall to a .500 record. They trail the Rebels in the FL East by one game.

The Falcons’ Orlando Blanco (0-1, 9.53 ERA) had a similar makeup to Fleming and Ángel. Wear your chain mails, boys. Quinn batted in a run in the first inning (going out #3 for his right-handed bat against lefty Blanco). The game lingered at 1-0 Coons for a while until Blanco was blown up by a MASSIVE 3-run home run by Mark Allen in the bottom 4th. The shot actually went over the stands in left and into the parking lot. Miguel Lopez made a mockery of Falcons pitching with a leadoff home run in the bottom 5th, obviously his maiden shot in the big leagues, and the ball was easily retrieved from the bottom of the batter’s eye, which was not accessible to paying customers for obvious reasons. It was a good thing the ball was also retrieved quickly for Lopez. Two innings later Bobby Quinn would homer into the same spot. Defensive inadequacies then kicked in again in the sixth. Salazar had a grounder go through his legs (and wasn’t even given an error), before O’Morrissey committed an error to get Lopez into a jam in the sixth. Lopez got out well, but Allen didn’t, jamming his thumb after being taken out by César Cruz to prevent a double play. Jose Madrid would then end Lopez’ night with a home run in the eighth, but the Coons won convincingly, 6-1. Salazar 2-4, 2B; Quinn 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Reece 2-4; Allen 1-1, BB, HR, 3 RBI; Vinson (PH) 1-1; Lopez 7.2 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, W (2-0);

In other news

April 12 – PIT SP David Castillo’s season lasted two third of an inning, allowing three runs before exiting with a ruptured triceps tendon. The 33-yr old is done for the season.

Complaints and stuff

Kisho’s 16 scoreless innings in week 1 were snuffed for Player of the Week with Tijuana’s Manuel Doval selected for batting 11-22 with 2 HR and 4 RBI. Well. I do not agree here.

Mark “Icon” Allen leads the CL in home runs and RBI. He will now go off to the DL with a sprained thumb, which will take two to three weeks to heal. That’s a bummer, because the rest of the team has not yet picked up the big bats. Bobby Quinn is certainly making a case for himself and to send Dan The Man to the retirement home.

[Westheim]

With “Icon” Allen out, we put him on the 15-day DL to nurse that thumbie, and put Matt Duncan, who had been put on waivers on Opening Day, back onto the roster. Welcome back. Don’t look like a moldy lemon.

Raccoons (7-2) @ Crusaders (1-8) – April 16-18, 1993

In nine games, the Crusaders had scored a whopping 22 runs, which summed up their struggles pretty good. They had a terrible time mounting any offense and for that resided in a deep, dark cellar really early in the season. They managed to field one batter batting more than .240 in the opener.

John Woodard (0-2, 2.87 ERA) was tagged for two runs in the first by the Coons, with a Neil Reece RBI double the main output, but Alfonso Rojas would tie the game the same inning with a 2-run homer off “Pooky”. 2-out doubles by Higgins and Vinson plated a run in the third, 3-2 Coons, but Beato did NOT look good on the mound. But the Crusaders were undoubtedly good at digging their own grave. 2B Benjamin Butler made a capital error to throw away a bunt by Beato in the fourth, which put Osanai and Beato in scoring position with no outs, from where Salazar drove them in. That didn’t keep Beato from being awful, though. He was knocked out in the bottom 4th after surrendering two runs on three hits, and with nobody out. Matthews allowed the tying run to score. And the Crusaders took a lead in the fifth after a pickoff throw by Vinson went past Osanai, advancing the runner into scoring position, from where he promptly scored, and the Crusaders added two runs in the sixth on a 2-out, 2-run blooper by Butler that fell in where a good first baseman could have gotten it. It was one of those games that made you wish you were a heavy drinker and could just booze the memories away. Top 9th, down 8-5, Salazar led off with a single. O’Morrissey tripled into deep right, bringing up the tying run in Vern Kinnear. He grounded out, scoring O-Mo. Reece singled, but was forced on Higgins’ grounder, and Vinson grounded out. 8-7 Crusaders. Salazar 4-5, 2B, 2 RBI; O’Morrissey 2-5, 3B, RBI; Reece 2-5, 2B, RBI;

Yeah, let’s give up eight runs to a team scoring 2.44 a game! Gimme that booze! I SAID GIMME THAT BOOZE!!!

Kisho Saito surrendered his first run of the year in the first inning of game 2, reducing his chances at a win to zero with 1 R/G of support. Saito balked in a run in the second inning, while the Raccoons had loaded the bags in both of the first two innings and never scored. That became the motto of the day. Missed chances. Saito scored a run with a sac fly in the fourth, before the team left the bases loaded again. Saito battled through six innings, surrendering three runs, while a solo home run by O-Mo in the sixth kept the deficit at one run, but they had to score two on the doormat of the division, and were looking so awful. Quinn singled to start the top 7th. Reece had not ripped one so far this season, now would be a great time. He singled to center. Then Kinnear and Higgins made outs, and it looked like the runners would be left on. Vinson pinch-hit for Rodriguez, and lobbed a bloop to right, which Alfonso Rojas caught for the final – no, he dropped it! The tying run scored, and two were in scoring position with two down and Osanai coming up. Tetsuuuuu…… grounded out. Saito had another inning to give, but didn’t get in position for a win. Lagarde was defeated with three 2-out singles in the eighth. 4-3 Crusaders. O’Morrissey 3-4, BB, RBI; Reece 2-5; Higgins 3-5;

14 left on base in this one.

Daniel Hall returned to the lineup in game 3, batting .000 on the season. The Raccoons put their first three men on, and only scored on a wild pitch by Gary Nixon. Oh, come on. Rain chased the starters early in a 1-1 game, while the Coons built pressure in the fourth. Bases loaded, no outs in the top 4th when we pinch-hit for Turner with Quinn, whose sac fly was all we got. Again. Between themselves, Daniel Miller and Dane Sanders collected all outs in the fifth inning with strikeouts, allowing no runners. That had to come back, and Proctor put two men on in the bottom 7th. Martinez couldn’t keep the tying run from coming home. The Raccoons barely scratched out a run then in the ninth with 1-out doubles by Salazar and O’Morrissey that just barely fell behind the outfielders. Now West had to get things done, and sat the Crusaders down in order, striking out the last two. 3-2 Raccoons. Salazar 3-5, 2B; O’Morrissey 3-4, BB, 2 2B, RBI; Miller 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

Raccoons (8-4) @ Indians (8-5) – April 20-22, 1993

The two best defenses met in this series, with the Indians having allowed 43 runs so far, with the Raccoons close by with 44. They had outscored us a bit as well.

The Indians’ Raúl Vázquez struck first with a home run off Scott Wade in the bottom 1st of the opener, but the Coons came back with two runs off Neil Stewart in the second inning. Daniel Hall finally landed a hit in the third inning, a 1-out single up the middle, jumping all the way to 1-22 for the season. Wade was not sharp early on in the season and couldn’t hold the 2-1 lead, then couldn’t hold a 4-2 lead and left in the sixth in a tied game. The Coons grounded into three inning-ending double plays in regulation, helping the game to spill over into extra innings for the first time this year. With Hall on first in the top 10th and one out, Kinnear would have made it four DP’s if not for a throwing error by SS Pedro Fierros. Pinch hitters Johnston and Vinson helped Fierros out of there with poor outs. Fierros still featured big when the Coons actually did score in the 11th, not being able to locate a bloop by Higgins that fell in and scored two. Those runs were on Jim Durden, renowned closer, and he didn’t manage to get another out in the inning, and the Coons scored four. Daniel Miller held on in the bottom 11th, 8-4 Raccoons. O’Morrissey 2-5, BB, RBI; Salazar 3-6, 2B, RBI; Higgins 2-6, 2 RBI; Hall 5-6, RBI; Kinnear 2-5, 2 RBI; Quinn (PH) 1-2; Proctor 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K; Burnett 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K; Miller 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K, W (1-0);

That’s actually true. Going oh-for-twenty-one to start the season (and having back issues again), helped Dan The Man to hit five straight singles then. Strange game this is, baseball.

One more fascinating stat: after this game, O-Mo leads the CL in OPS with a 1.199 mark.

Miguel Lopez faced Jesus Lopez (0-1, 3.75 ERA) in the middle game. The Raccoons put up a lot of hits, yet mostly singles, and the game was scoreless after three. Surprisingly, Jorge Salazar homered in the fourth inning to give Miguel Lopez a 1-0 lead, but they chained up their singles nicely in the fifth for two more runs and another run in the sixth – Salazar driving in a run in each of these innings. The Coons failed to build on that 4-0 lead, while Miguel Lopez had tossed a great game so far, 4-hitting the Indians through seven innings. He walked Tomas Maguey in the eighth, but the inning could have ended had Vinson been able to convert Dennis Meehan’s poor grounder in front of the plate into an out. Lagarde replaced Lopez to get the final out in the inning, and while he was on it, finished the shutout of the Indians. 4-0 Furballs. Salazar 3-5, 3 RBI; Reece 2-5, RBI; Lopez 7.2 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 8 K, W (3-0); Lagarde 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, SV (1);

All the starting position players collected at least one hit. For O-Mo however a 1-5 day was not enough to keep his first place on the OPS table, as he dropped to 1.130 and 3rd place. In turn, Lopez leads now (tied with others) in wins, strikeouts (tied with Woody Roberts), and is third in ERA in the CL. Not too shabby if you ask me.

We skipped the so far terrible Raimundo Beato to go right to Kisho Saito. Maguey drove in a run in the first, while the Raccoons didn’t do a lot against Larry Davis early. Saito went to full counts on three batters in the third inning, walking two, but Maguey fouled out to end the inning. The Raccoons put two on in the fifth with no outs, but starting with Osanai everything went wrong – as usual – and we remained 1-0 behind. In the bottom 5th, Reece misplayed a fly ball from Larry Davis, which fell in for a 1-out triple. R.J. Stinton came up and lined to Johnston in deep right – and Davis failed to tag and score! Angelo Duarte grounded out and the Indians didn’t score! Saito pitched seven innings, giving up four hits and that measly run. Did he get support? Bloody hell, he didn’t. The Indians shut out the Coons on five hits and won, 1-0. Kinnear (PH) 1-1; Saito 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, L (2-1);

Raccoons (10-5) vs. Knights (6-9) – April 23-25, 1993

The Knights had only scored 57 runs so far, which wasn’t necessarily plenty and had put them close to the bottom of their division.

O’Morrissey batted second against righty Jim Harrington and blew out a 2-run homer in the bottom 1st for an instant lead for Jason Turner, which was extended to 5-0 in the fourth. Turner pitched a very strange game, allowing one run in six innings, but he walked five and struck out – none! That wasn’t Jason Turner at all out there, maybe it was an impostor? Whatever it was, it was taken out for Duncan to pinch-hit in the bottom 6th, and was carried to the trainer’s room to be properly inspected and probed. The bullpen allowed only one walk (Proctor to Michael Root, who walked thrice in the game), and held on to a 5-1 win. Salazar 2-4, 2B; O’Morrissey 3-4, HR, 3 RBI; Reece 2-4; Hall 2-4; Quinn (PH) 1-1; Matthews 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Hall and Higgins were rested in game 2 for Quinn and Duncan, as Scott Wade pitched. The Knights took a 1-0 lead in the first after Vinson allowed CF Jesus Gonzalez to steal his way from first to third. We were 2-1 behind in the bottom 4th, which started with a Quinn single. Vinson doubled, resembling the go-ahead run on second base. Osanai made himself more ridiculous with a straight-up pop out. Luckily, Salazar would come through with a 2-out, 2-run double, followed by a 2-run single by O-Mo. Jesus Gonzalez got on again – and stole another base off Vinson, and scored. 5-3 Coons in the fifth, but that would change in the sixth. The Knights dished doubles past Kinnear and Quinn and in no time had put four men up and on. Wade was chased in a 5-4 game, bases loaded, no outs, and Burnett wiggled out of the storm with only the tying run scoring. Miller was less than great when he came in in the eighth, surrendering a 2-run homer to pinch-hitter Tony Diaz. 8-5 Knights. Salazar 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; O’Morrissey 2-4, 2 RBI; Burnett 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

We left Quinn in for game 3, but took Kinnear out. That outfield was not what it was supposed to be so far.

The Knights sent Glenn Ryan (0-2, 7.90 ERA) into game 3, but before he ever pitched, the Knights tore up Miguel Lopez with a leadoff home run by Diaz and then two more runs. It didn’t get better. Osanai made a really costly, really dumb fielding error in the third that cost two unearned runs, and when Ryan became wilder than wild in the bottom 3rd, nobody could be bothered to have a big hit with the bases loaded. And who made the final out? Osanai. Hall had drawn a bases-loaded walk, and Vinson had rolled one through the defenders, but that didn’t help when trying to erase a 5-run deficit. Reece and Hall then went to the corners with no outs in a 5-3 game in the fifth. Higgins came up. Hadn’t Hall taken out SS Tom Nicks, his grounder would have been a double play. Reece scored, Higgins was safe. Osanai would ground into that double play to end the inning. He was removed in a double switch along with Lopez right there and would hopefully never be seen again. Lagarde and Proctor were touched for runs by the Knights, while the Raccoons excelled only at being goddamn awful. In the bottom 9th, 1-out singles by Hall and Higgins brought the tying run to the plate once more, and Vinson drew a 4-pitch walk. Kinnear pinch-hit here, and struck out. Rodriguez pinch-hit for Duncan and grounded out. 8-5 Knights. O’Morrissey 3-5; Quinn 2-5, RBI; Hall 2-3, 2 BB, RBI; Higgins 2-4, 2 RBI; Vinson 2-3, 2 BB, RBI;

13 hits for both teams, but the Raccoons dished out eight walks and left 14 men on. That’s a recurring theme. Bad control, and even worse clutch hitting than ever.

In other news

April 18 – VAN SP Vicente Torres (2-0, 6.75 ERA) is out for the season with shoulder inflammation.
April 19 – Season over as well for RIC 3B Antonio Gutierrez (.302, 2 HR, 11 RBI). The 25-year old has torn his posterior cruciate ligament.
April 22 – DAL LF/RF Sakutaro Ine (.459, 2 HR, 8 RBI) is out for at least four months with a concussion.
April 23 – SFW INF Esteban Areizaga (.214, 1 HR, 7 RBI) will miss until June due to a fractured tibia.

Complaints and stuff

Ben O’Morrissey has a 13-game hitting streak running. The rest of the team can probably be dragged out behind the clubhouse and be shot without losing much. Osanai… Osanai…

How many runs of support has Kisho Saito gotten in his first four starts this season? Five. FIVE FRICKIN’ RUNS.

Mark Allen has suffered a setback in his recovery from a sprained thumb (really) and won’t come back until early-to-mid May. Yaay.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (11-7) vs. Thunder (7-12) – April 26-28, 1993

The Thunder had shown themselves lacking in most aspects you like about a baseball team. Like … scoring runs, not allowing runs, and so. They ranked 10th or worse in most basic categories, except for a decent bullpen.

Glenn Johnston needed AB’s and started a game in center to start the series, with Moreno playing second in place of Higgins. “Pooky” and Manuel Garza combined for an ERA over 14, so logically the offense was slow in the game. Despite Beato giving up plenty of singles, the Raccoons scored first, Kinnear bringing in Salazar in the third inning. Beato was fine as long as he didn’t give up better contact, which he did in the top 6th, with Will Jackson’s leadoff jack tying the game. The Thunder brought Richard Cunningham in relief in the seventh, and Rick had already lost three games somehow. Two out in the top 9th, Lagarde had a runner on first and allowed a double to Dave Browne, putting two in scoring position. With plenty of left-handers up, and Proctor and Burnett used already, Grant West had to retire Vonne Calzado – strikeout! But the Inepticoons failed to walk off in the ninth, so West retired three more in the tenth. The team still failed to score, miserably, and was defeated by a 3-run home run by CF Bruce Hardy of Daniel Miller in the 12th. They didn’t lose until loading the bases and scoring a run in the bottom 12th, though. 4-2 Thunder. Salazar 3-6; O’Morrissey 2-6, RBI; Quinn 2-5; Beato 6.2 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K; West 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Wonderful. 11 hits, all singles, and they lost on two home runs against a team that had hit only a dozen so far this season. Just … how … why …

With Saito in game 2, another 1-0 game was likely, but who would score that run? Jose Sanchez singled to start the game, stole second unimpeded by Vinson, and eventually scored thanks to the extra base. 1-0 Thunder. Yay. Well, the game didn’t exactly become a pitcher’s duel. Through three innings, the Raccoons led 6-5. Hall tied the game with an RBI single in the first, Saito gave up two, Salazar hit a 2-out, 3-run double, Saito gave up two more, and the Coons came right back with two – the short version. Despite having taken the bats to him early on, Saito soldiered through the sixth, scattering a few singles along the way, but he held the 6-5 lead. Once Juan Martinez entered the game in the seventh, he had nothing better to do than surrendering a single to Fernando Gonzales and an RBI double to Calzado, and Saito would not get a W again. And that was before Matthews and Proctor were torn up for three more runs in the eighth. 9-6 Thunder. Salazar 2-5, 2B, 3 RBI; Hall 2-5, RBI;

****.

Jason Turner was beaten for four runs in the third inning in game 3. Turner was more or less awful, walking five in his start, and left the imbecile offense with the unaccomplishable task of getting back into a 4-0 game. Johnston batted in two in the bottom 4th, and Salazar hit a 2-out single to score Rodriguez in the fifth, but they were still 4-3 down. The Thunder actually helped them with a shameful error by SS Jose Sanchez, who failed to catch a popup, bringing up Hall with two on and no outs instead of one on and one out. Hall walked, bases loaded, no outs. As usual, they blew up catastrophically, scored one on a sac fly, and Osanai made the final out. Find that script and burn it! Turner came back out for the seventh, the Thunder rolled two singles past Salazar and Osanai, and when Burnett got in replacing Turner, the Thunder scored three runs. After scraping out a run in the bottom 8th, the Coons trailed 7-5 into the bottom 9th. Against Paul Maxwell, they got their first two men on with singles by Reece and Salazar. O-Mo came up, 0-3, hitting streak in danger. He lined into center, Alejandro Olvera coming on and trying to make the catch, but he couldn’t. The ball fell in, bounced off Olvera’s chest and became an RBI double. No outs, winning runs in scoring position. Quinn popped out to center, Salazar tagged and was thrown out. 7-6 Thunder. Salazar 3-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Johnston 2-5, 2 RBI; Higgins 2-3, 2B, RBI;

And the best thing: sliding into second base, Ben O’Morrissey strained his groin and will be DTD for a week. As if I didn’t have enough **** going on around here. Higgins would sub at third base and we’d waste a lineup slot with Duncan and Moreno doing second base duty.

Raccoons (11-10) @ Titans (10-12) – April 30-May 2, 1993

The Titans continued their big offense, bad pitching ways, leading the CL in runs scored, and possessing absolutely no pitching (starters ERA was 10th, bullpen ERA 12th).

As it turned out, bad pitching beat up bad hitting, and Scott Wade wasn’t up to the challenge either. 1-0 down, pitcher Doug Morrow put the game away with a 2-out, 2-run single off Wade in the fourth, 3-0, unrecoverably lost. Morrow 4-hit the Raccoons through eight innings, and they scored their only run after a walk, infield single, and wild pitch – and THEN blew up with the runners to tie the game still on. Wade was ridden all the way, eight innings. 3-1 Titans. Salazar 2-4; Quinn (PH) 1-1;

Six losses in a row. I did some shaking up the lineup, but the main reason for lame ass offense may be the astonishing lack of extra base hits. AND no clutch hitting. But it was a bit telling that for game 2, pitcher Miguel Lopez had the second-most home runs (1) in the lineup. After SALAZAR.

NO HOME RUNS FROM REECE. NO HOME RUNS FROM HALL. NO HOME RUNS FROM FRICKING OSANAI.

Santiago Perez (1-1, 7.98 ERA) looked ripe for being blasted off the mound. Of course, he held the Coons scoreless the first three innings, but was matched by Lopez. For approximately the first time all season, Osanai didn’t make an out with the bags full and any number of outs (two in this case) with an RBI single in the top 4th, 1-0 Furballs. Osanai DID however leave two on in the 3-run fifth. Lopez dominated the Titans over seven, and if he had remained on the bench after that, we probably would have been fine, but I sent him back out and he was knocked for two runs quickly. West walked the leadoff man in the ninth. Oh, bloody hell, we’re the **** gonna go to **** here…! Nope, Chad Fisher never progressed past first, as West retired the next three to end the spill. At least on paper. 4-2 Raccoons. Salazar 3-4, BB, 2B; Hall 2-4, BB, 2B; Moreno 2-2, 2 BB; Lopez 7.1 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, W (4-1);

Lopez picked up the franchise’s 1,300th overall win.

Quinn batted leadoff against left Francisco Vidrio (1-2, 5.08 ERA) in game 3, which also meant going back to “Pooky”. An error and a wild pitch scored a run for the Coons in the first, and a Quinn sac fly made it 2-0 in the second. Two infield singles by the Titans then cost a run in the bottom 3rd. Well, “Pooky” might have had a hand in there with a walk, too, and an untimely one, too, to C Cipriano León. He continued walking people after that and was yanked in the fifth in a 2-2 game with the bases loaded and one out. Burnett couldn’t hold the Titans from scoring the go-ahead run. Mr. Beato didn’t remain on the hook, though, since the Titans had an abysmal top 6th. The Raccoons hit four singles, two of the very cheap variety, and were additionally helped big time by two pickup errors by outfielders, and the Titans walked Quinn and Reece intentionally, and then we still left the bags full, but scored four runs. Bottom 6th. Proctor faced two, and put both on. Miller somehow got out of there with only one run scoring, 6-4. While the Titans pen gave away more from here, the Coons’ was steady, mostly. 9-4 Raccoons. Salazar 3-5, 3 RBI; Higgins 3-4, BB, 2B; Osanai 3-4, BB, RBI; Kinnear (PH) 2-2, 2B, RBI; Miller 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

We lost Vern Kinnear in this game to a torn hamstring. He may be out for some three weeks.

After the game, “Pooky” found a map of Portland pinned to his locker in the visitor’s clubhouse, which in a thick red pen had lined out directions from Raccoons Ballpark to the Unemployment Office, and a note with an appointment made for the first day after our current road trip.

I just didn’t have enough time to prepare another copy for Proctor.

In other news

April 30 – IND RF/LF Raúl Vázquez (.280, 3 HR, 15 RBI) is hurt after wall contact on a play and will miss up to a month with a separated shoulder.
April 30 – MIL SS/2B Jim Stein (.367, 1 HR, 12 RBI) will miss six weeks with a strained triceps.

Complaints and stuff

While hurt, Ben O’Morrissey was named CL Batter of the Month with a .402, 3 HR, 16 RBI output (and a 16-game hitting streak active). Jorge Salazar in turn was CL Player of the Week for this week here, batting 13-26 (.500) with 0 HR and 4 RBI.

I won’t even bother to talk about the ****** collection of ********* that makes up the rest of the offensive staff and will spend the next few days crying.