Portland Raccoons (ABL)

[Westheim]

Raccoons (42-26) vs. Indians (36-33) – June 19-21, 1995

The Indians had sunken to fourth place in our division, but they were still close. After dropping the Loggers series, we might want to take this one to stay afloat. After that we were to face the now 39-31 Aces, so things would not get easier this week.

The Indians were 9th in runs scored (with the second-worst batting average), but 3rd in runs allowed with their rotation second only to ours. Low scoring games, anyone? There was something to their rotation, though, as we were to face the weak end of it, evading both 11-game winner Neil Stewart and Vernon Robertson, who were mainly responsible for the main ERA of this rotation.

Projected matchups:
Robert Vázquez (5-2, 3.76 ERA) vs. Dan George (2-8, 5.86 ERA)
Scott Wade (4-6, 4.32 ERA) vs. Lorenzo Ángel (3-3, 4.18 ERA)
Kisho Saito (8-2, 3.20 ERA) vs. Larry Davis (5-7, 4.34 ERA)

We remained Brewer-less to start this series, especially against a left-handed pitcher in Dan George. To start the game, the Indians had two infield singles sandwiching a walk to load the bases, then popped out twice and SS Angel Gonzalez’ groundout to Ingall at second ended the frame scoreless. The Raccoons were not that much better when it came to score runners. While George issued a lot of hits and walks, the Raccoons scored only three runs in five innings off him, and left eight on base. Once George was removed for Artie Saunders, the Raccoons put two unearned runs on the reliever. 2B Claudio Ayala had made an error to fuel our offense. While the offense got in five runs, Robert Vázquez was very good for us – he pitched a complete game, yielding only a solo home run to Matt Brown. Yeah, that one. 5-1 Coons. O’Morrissey 2-5, RBI; Vázquez 9.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, W (6-2);

While O-Mo’s lone 2-hit performance doesn’t look like much, all our starters got at least one hit in the game. En route to a complete game, the 25th of his career and third this season (but no shutouts this year yet), Vázquez wrecked Carlos Paredes’ 18-game hitting streak. Paredes had been scheduled a day off, but when Tomas Maguey got hurt early in the game, the Indians brought in Paredes, who then went 0-3 against Vázquez.

Brewer’s back was not 100% for game 2, but he wanted to play, and I figured why not. What’s the worst that can happen?

The Indians hadn’t lost game 1 on an error – they were already behind, although you could argue that without the extra runs, up by two, Vázquez gets pulled after eight, and what bozo is gonna close then? – but they pretty much lost game 2 on an error, this time by Angel Gonzalez. Ayala, the culprit of the previous night, had set the Indians 1-0 ahead with a leadoff homer off Wade, but Gonzalez bobbled a surefire double play ball with one out in the bottom 2nd that scored the tying run and left two Coons on. Vinson walked to load them up, and then Wade hit a 2-run double, followed by a 2-run triple by Brewer! Brewer was also brought home, 6-1 Coons. Four of the runs were unearned, but Ángel was knocked out of the game. Baldy drove in two in the fifth, and Brewer was replaced with Ingall so he would not put too much on the back after the sixth. Meanwhile Scott Wade played the contact game with the Indians, and – after Ayala at least – they made mostly very poor contact. The Indians would only have seven runners the entire game, two of which were on Salazar and O-Mo errors. Wade pitched through all of it – and went the distance! 8-1 Raccoons! O’Morrissey 2-4; Baldivía 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Wade 9.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, W (5-6) and 1-3, BB, 2B, 2 RBI;

Wade completed the game on just 96 pitches, 20 less than Vázquez the day before. That’s some pitching! I hope the bullpen didn’t spent their days snoozing out there and watched and learned some!

Saito too.

No, Saito didn’t. He plunked the leadoff batters in the first and third innings in game 3, and conceded three runs in the former. The Coons grabbed two runs right back. Starter Larry Davis threw only two pitches to Brewer before leaving with an injury, so we were knee deep in the Indians bullpen again, who had pitched 6.1 innings the day before. Brewer and Higgins were in scoring position with no out in the bottom 3rd. Reece whiffed, and O-Mo and Green both grounded out to third without bringing in a run. Grrrbll. Higgins was also left on third base by Reece in the fifth. Ron McDonald would then stun everybody with a 2-run single in the bottom 6th, turning the game around, right before Saito bunted into a double play that ended the frame. Saito put Jose Martinez on in the seventh and with two out left the game. We brought in Juan Martinez to face right-handed catcher Mamoru Sato. Sato reached on a Higgins error, and a Luis Maldonado single loaded the bags. Oh, please no—Brewer ended the inning with a SURE-HANDED GRAB [lightning strikes right next to Higgins] on an Angel Gonzalez pop. But there would again not be a win in Saitoland. The bullpen cocked it up massively in the eighth. Burnett got the first out, then issued a walk to Enrique Martinez. Vela came in, and surrendered three straight singles. Miller got the last two outs, but surrendered the go-ahead run on a sac fly. Thus we were one down in the bottom 9th and faced Jim Durden. Salazar hit for Miller to start the frame, who flew out. No Coon ever reached base. 5-4 Indians. Higgins 2-5, 3B; Reece 2-4; O’Morrissey 2-3, BB, 2B, RBI; Miller 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

I spoke to the Blood God again after the game, and he demanded another sacrifice.

Tony Vela was demoted to AAA to live out his <1 K/BB ratio there. We called up 23-yr old Day Grandridge, who had been claimed off waivers by the Warriors this winter. ERA and WHIP had been below 1 for him in AAA. Since the 40-man roster was full, outfielder Cristian Ortíz was waived and designated for assignment.

Raccoons (44-27) @ Aces (39-34) – June 23-25, 1995

The Aces were the opposite of the Indians: high offense, weak pitching. You could find them right next to the Coons in the dictionary. Although, not quite. Their rotation struggled badly, 9th in the league, but they had the best bullpen around. This time we would encounter the better end of a team’s rotation, though.

Projected matchups:
Jason Turner (8-2, 3.24 ERA) vs. Rafael Espinoza (4-5, 3.42 ERA)
Miguel Lopez (5-2, 3.75 ERA) vs. Carlos Guillén (7-4, 3.56 ERA)
Robert Vázquez (6-2, 3.48 ERA) vs. Ben Carlson (2-2, 5.40 ERA)

The Coons had the bases full in the top 1st of the opener, and didn’t score. Turner surrendered a run on three 2-out base hits in the bottom 3rd, and the Raccoons – did nothing. Nothing at all. Only an error by Michael Sanders, the leftfielder, that put Salazar on leading off the sixth, got them back into a 1-0 game that Espinoza had controlled wonderfully. Reece came up and doubled to left, putting the tying runs in scoring position with no outs. Again, we got no clutch hit, and only tied the game on an O-Mo groundout. Green was not pitched to, Baldy whiffed, and Kinnear grounded out. The score remained tied 1-1 after eight innings in a true pitchers’ duel. Espinoza had yielded five hits, Turner six, and Turner was done for the day, while the Aces left their man in for the ninth. Baldy, Kinnear, and Higgins (hitting for Vinson) didn’t even get close to challenging him. The game still went into overtime after West pitched a scoreless ninth. And Espinoza STILL remained in the game! McDonald led off with a double to left, but we could not run for him with Vinson out of the game. Brewer was put on intentionally, and then the Aces brought Vicente Rubio to replace Espinoza. Neither Salazar, nor Reece could do something useful here. O-Mo was nicked, and then Green singled up the middle, and two runs scored. Facing left-handers, Burnett was the Daily Closer ™, but he put the first man on and we ended up with a runner on third with one out after a balk and a groundout. Miller replaced Burnett, walked Antonio Esquivel, then struck out Javier Vargas. Lefty Taisuke Mashiba came up, no left-handers left in the pen. Miller had to pitch to him, and got a grounder to Brewer, who ended the game. 3-1 Coons. Reece 2-5, 2B; McDonald 1-1, 2B; Turner 8.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 6 K;

Cristian Ortíz was claimed by the Capitals. Should I send flowers to the Potomac? Nah, they will figure out themselves that he can’t do anything besides tying his shoes together.

Middle game. It was a strange game. For one, Raccoons reached not once, but twice on an uncaught third strike, once Miguel Lopez, and once Salazar. Nothing came about of the first situation, but the Salazar one came to cost the Aces in the sixth. It put runners on the corners with one out, and next Baldy was hit by a pitch. Vinson drew a walk, forcing in a run, which upped the score to 4-0, and a Lopez sac fly made it 5-0. The first runs had scored on homers by Reece and O-Mo, while Lopez was mostly cruising. And once he was up by five, Lopez fell apart. George Waller tattooed him with a 3-run homer in the bottom 6th to bring the Aces back to within two runs. Lopez was out of this game, and soon enough Royce Green was as well, with an injury. The Coons failed to mount anything the rest of the game, but got good relief this time, as Lagarde, Martinez, West, and Miller pieced together the rest of the game. 5-3 Coons. Brewer 2-4, BB; O’Morrissey 3-5, HR, 2B, RBI;

We had only six hits in this game, but two long balls usually help.

Bad news now: Royce Green was diagnosed with an intercostal strain, and should be out until the All Star game or so. Three weeks is the label attached to him by the medical staff. So, Green goes back to the DL, and now we needed an outfielder. We called up Luke Newton, 22, who batted .265 in a short stint with us earlier this season. Since Neil Reece could use a day off, Newton was to start the final game in Las Vegas right away.

After Vázquez had collected 27 outs the last time he pitched, there was no such gem this time. Instead, he was battered to an early death, bleeding four runs in less than six innings. Meanwhile, the Coons offense hit balls all over the field, yet whenever the flyers came down, a glove was already waiting for them. Vázquez drove in the only run they scored while he was in the game, one among three hits. They clawed themselves into a chance in the top 8th, with runners on the corners and one out, bringing the tying run to the plate in Salazar. Jose Sotelo replaced starter Ben Carlson. Salazar shoved the ball into the ground right in front of the plate, but catcher Mario Cardenas stumbled out of the crouch and failed to make any play. Bases loaded, one out. Here, Neil Reece batted for Baldivía, and bounced into a double play for him. 4-1 Aces. Vinson 2-3, 3B, 2B; Martinez 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

Raccoons (46-28) vs. Condors (37-38) – June 26-28, 1995

The Condors had the most horrible pitching staff in the league, and the only bullpen worse than ours in the Continental League. In turn, the current top 2 offenses would meet here.

Projected matchups:
Scott Wade (5-6, 4.00 ERA) vs. Sergio Gonzalez (6-7, 4.19 ERA)
Kisho Saito (8-2, 3.26 ERA) vs. Juan Lara (4-3, 3.88 ERA)
Jason Turner (8-2, 3.07 ERA) vs. Jose Macias (5-8, 4.64 ERA)

Hot or not, O-Mo and Brewer needed days off. Brewer was penciled in for the final game against the southpaw Macias. O-Mo got a day off right to start the series, and Ingall played third base.

Scoring was low again in Wade’s start. Pitchers figured big in the first runs scored for either team, as Wade singled to lead off the bottom 3rd, where the Coons went up 1-0. Sergio Gonzalez in turn would hit a 2-out RBI triple off him in the fifth, but the Coons moved right ahead again in the bottom 5th, 2-1. Wade went 7.2 innings this time, but with the bases empty, three left-handers due to bat, and 106 pitches on his clock, he came out for Burnett. A pinch-hit home run by Paul Theobald with one out in the ninth blew the save and cost Wade the win. The game went to extra innings, where the Coons ended up with the bases loaded in the bottom 10th and two out, and Jin coming to bat. We could not hit for him, since we had no other outfielders left, so it was Jin’s turn to deliver. The Coons had singled thrice off Mike Dye in the inning. Jin fell to 2-2 against Dye, then knocked the ball to the second baseman Bruce Boyle – and past him. The Coons still walked off. 3-2 Coons. Higgins 2-4, BB; Kinnear 2-5, 2B, RBI; Jin 1-2, RBI; O’Morrissey (PH) 1-1; Wade 7.2 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K;

O-Mo has now a 12-game hitting streak going. I didn’t want to use him in the ninth, but I had hoped for a huge knock. It was a small knock, and Brewer made the final out. And the bullpen. THE BULLPEN.

Offense was hard to come by in the middle game. Saito and Lara totaled five hits given up through five innings, before the Condors got to Saito with a leadoff double by Xiao-wei Li in the top 6th. Li scored on a single by Edgardo Garza, and the Condors were ahead. Saito pitched eight innings of strong ball – and had gotten zero support when he was pinch-hit for to lead off the bottom 8th. Baldy doubled for him. He moved up to third on a passed ball that ran the count between Lara and Brewer to 2-2. Brewer fouled out after that, but Salazar took Saito off the hook with a single to left. The big boys came up with one out, and we were begging for a homer here. Reece flew deep to right, but into Theobald’s glove, and O-Mo popped out. So we had a tie, 1-1, and Campoy came into the game. He put all three batters on that he faced. Lagarde was thrown in, but this was a lost game. The Condors hit two sac flies, and that was enough. 3-1 Condors. Reece 2-4; Baldivía (PH) 1-1, 2B; Saito 8.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K;

Ramón Campoy was designated for assignment after the game. Gabby De La Rosa was recalled after allowing one runner in 5.2 innings in AAA.

Another game against these ugly birds. Turner surrendered a run in the first, but had the good stuff ready today, fanning six in four innings. The bottom 4th was also the first instance of some remote sign of offense from the Coons. Reece hit a leadoff double and moved to third when O-Mo grounded out. Jin scored him with a sac fly, tying the game, and then Baldy knocked a go-ahead home run. Jose Macias gave up a pair of bases-loaded walks with two outs in the fifth. Turner now had a rather comfy 3-run lead. Oh wait. The first three Condors reached base in the top 6th. The pitching coach went out and they talked about a thing or two. Turner then struck out Henry Givens, before Li blooped a single into left, and one run scored. Turner came back to strike out Kevin Lewis, and Macias was NOT pinch-hit for in that spot and grounded out! Turner was toast after this sixth inning. Grandridge and West pieced together the seventh, in the bottom of which we came to the classic situation of bases loaded, one out, and Baldy to the plate. Stats show that he would hit into a double play 105% of the time. Nah, he went to left this time for an RBI single. Kinnear’s sac fly and an RBi single by McDonald got us to 7-2. Even our bullpen would collect six outs before blowing up five runs, right? Martinez pitched the eighth, and De La Rosa, just returned, was assigned the ninth. O-Mo made the play of the week on a line drive that had teeth all over it off the bat of Xiao-wei Li to start the inning, but De La Rosa got through it. 7-2 Coons. Salazar 2-5; Reece 3-4, BB, 2B; Jin 1-1, 2 BB, 2 RBI; Baldivía 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; McDonald 2-4, RBI; Quinn (PH) 1-1, 2B; Turner 6.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 9 K, W (9-2);

In other news

June 21 – IND OF Tomas Maguey (.306, 1 HR, 14 RBI) has suffered a ruptured foot tendon and is out for the season.
June 22 – TIJ CL Mike Dye (1-1, 0.93 ERA, 19 SV) closes a 2-0 Condors win over the Knights for his 400th career save. Ironically, Dye spent seven years in Atlanta before joining the Condors this year, and was taken out of the closer role in Georgia in 1993.
June 23 – The “out for the year” injuries keep piling up: the Knights’ veteran righty Jesse Carver (7-6, 4.24 ERA) is thus out with a torn labrum.
June 23 – The Miners trade 1B/3B Mario Haider (.268, 4 HR, 24 RBI) to the Titans for RF Matt Smith (.213, 7 HR, 28 RBI). Haider is 32, Smith 27 years old.
June 24 – 25-year old CHA SP Millard Griffin makes his major league debut against the Titans. And what a debut it was! His team scored him four runs, and Griffin doesn’t allow anything in return, posting a 3-hit shutout of the Titans.
June 25 – TIJ SP Woody Roberts (4-8, 5.11 ERA) does not have a great year, but eight innings of 3-run ball and plenty run support in a 10-3 win over the Indians notch him his 200th career win. The eighth overall pick in the 1980 draft has never played outside the Condors system. Among his accolades are a 200-134 record, a 3.18 ERA, a no-hitter at the AA level in 1981, and two Pitcher of the Year awards in 1991 and 1993.
June 25 – Out for the year: TIJ SS Cipriano Ortega (.240, 1 HR, 24 RBI) has his season succumb to shoulder inflammation.
June 25 – Out for the year and beyond: IND SP Larry Davis (5-7, 4.34 ERA) will miss up to 10 months with a torn labrum.
June 25 – The Loggers and Knights play 23 innings, running out of pitchers. Tied 9-9 through 22, thirteen runs score in the 23rd inning, as the Loggers win 18-13. Milwaukee’s ace Martin Garcia pitches 11 innings in relief to earn the win, yet still gives up four runs in the bottom 23rd. Atlanta’s Gerald Hall and Tom Nicks both have five hits.
June 27 – NYC LF/RF Jean-Claude Monnier (.301, 6 HR, 37 RBI) suffers a thumb sprain and will miss a month.

Complaints and stuff

Ben O’Morrissey was named Player of the Week in the CL with a .500 (12-24) clip, 1 HR and 5 RBI. This is actually his FIRST such honor! He does have a Batter of the Month, a Gold Glove, and two All Star nominations, but he had never been Player of the Week before.

Royce Green’s injury was terrible … not only for him, but especially for him. After missing a month early, he was about a week or two removed from qualifying for the PCT batting races again. O-Mo’s OPS is around 1 here in late June, which leads the Continental League. Except that it doesn’t. Would Green qualify, his 1.057 mark would be tops.

Especially since the offense has issues at this point. Besides O-Mo, Reece, and Brewer, we don’t have a lot. Vinson and Salazar are struggling badly, and Kinnear just can’t get out of a funk that has been going on for months. This makes playing with this bullpen of ours even more gruesome. Now we don’t have a 5-run offense. It’s more like three runs a game recently, and this could become a problem instantly.

Kisho Saito is 1-2 in his last eight starts with a 3.80 ERA. There are two 5-run starts in there, but overall, he has been betrayed by the rest of the team after winning seven straight games before that stretch. Saito is mostly fine, occasionally struggling with a fastball that ain’t moving, but his K/BB is 4 for the season and his WHIP is better than the last few years at 1.12. He could easily be at 10 wins already, or even more. Gah.

I offered up the one trade chip I could identify. Bobby Quinn – I got no offers for relief pitchers that could even remotely help us.

I forgot to mention: all our draft picks signed for slot, so the draft came us less than $500k in expenses. We have $130k in the bank for trades or free agent signings. This is not a lot. When the Knights put catcher Francisco Ramirez on waivers this week, I had to pass, because we could not take on over half of his $363k contract.

And no, we still have nobody designated as the closer.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (48-29) vs. Crusaders (33-45) – June 29-July 2, 1995

The Crusaders possessed a ravaged rotation, which was their main problem. They ranked last in the league with a starters’ ERA over 5, and conceded the second-most runs. With the Coons and their top ranking offense, I was sensing a chance here.

Projected matchups:
Miguel Lopez (6-2, 3.80 ERA) vs. Hector Lara (5-9, 5.93 ERA)
Robert Vázquez (6-3, 3.65 ERA) vs. Danny Ramirez (4-6, 4.58 ERA)
Scott Wade (5-6, 3.78 ERA) vs. Dan Barnes (5-9, 4.67 ERA)
Kisho Saito (8-2, 3.11 ERA) vs. Jose Ramos (3-6, 6.14 ERA)

Chances are a curious thing. Hector Lara did not surrender a hit in the opener until the fourth inning, by which time the Crusaders were up 2-0 thanks to a first-inning line drive home run by Victor Martinez. Reece was left on third base following his bloop double, because nobody was able to get a bat onto Lara. The Crusaders were less shy with Lopez, putting a total of five runs on him and knocked him out in the sixth. Lara’s RBI single nailed Lopez’ coffin shut. Lagarde and Miller surrendered pairs of runs, which put us down 9-0 against the pushover Lara. A solo homer by Brewer in the eighth was just for the laughs, and when Lara collapsed and conceded three more runs in the ninth, it didn’t please anybody in attendance. 9-4 Crusaders. Brewer 3-5, HR, 2B, RBI; Kinnear 2-4, HR, RBI; Newton 1-1, 2B, 2 RBI;

Out-hit 18-9. Six of our hits came after the seventh. The humiliation. Oh my … oh … oh my… oh.

To make this more miserable, David Brewer came home lame from his Friday morning jog. He had tweaked his knee and was out for the series. Nothing serious, but another warm bat down.

Game 2. David Ramirez pitched five innings of 3-hit shutout ball against the Raccoons before being forced out by an undisclosed pain. The Raccoons were 1-0 behind at that point, courtesy of a wild Vázquez, who had issued two walks in the first inning, followed by a single. The Coons left the bags full in the third, and Vinson at third base in the fifth inning. Still down 1-0 in the bottom 7th, 2-out walks to Vinson and Higgins, sandwiching a pinch-hit infield single by Marvin Ingall, loaded the bags for Salazar, but the Crusaders had left-hander Xavier Herrera on the mound. Luke Newton was sent in to hit for Salazar. Newton lined out to CF Clement Clark. This was mirrored in the top 8th, De La Rosa packing the bags full. A liner to Neil Reece would make the final out without scoring there. Bottom 8th. Reece walked. O-Mo singled. Jin walked. Nobody out. The Crusaders threw in another reliever, Jose Hernandez, to face Bobby Quinn, who took four balls and we were tied. Then came Baldivía, hit into a double play, home and first, and Vinson drifted out to right. Between Martinez, West, and Grandridge, the Raccoons gave up two runs in the top 9th. 3-1 Crusaders.

Out-hit 10-5. You may guess the suckers were properly screamed at after this game.

They came out and raped Dan Barnes for six runs in .2 innings in the third game, which included the first big league home run for Marvin Ingall, of the 2-out, 3-run variety. And now the bad news: once Barnes was out, the Raccoons only got two more men on base – the entire game. This put focus on Scott Wade, who was pitching to contact all the time, and did especially well so recently. Could he deliver a gem here? Could he at least delay this series going to the Crusaders? You bet! Wade painted the corners for strike calls like his brother was the umpire at home (but that wasn’t the case – the home plate ump was some Wtan Sade. Wait…). The Crusaders were completely unable to get to him. Having pitched a 96-pitch complete game his last time out, Wade got even better: this time he finished in 91 pitches, and did not concede a run! 6-0 Raccoons. Wade 9.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K, W (6-6) and 1-3, 2B, RBI;

This makes for two complete games in his last three starts for Scott Wade, who has now 11 for his career, and for his sixth shutout. He had not tossed a SHO since 1992, the year he posted career-best numbers in ERA (2.76), WHIP (1.11), and WAR (4.9, tied with 1994). Wade at this point is probably as dialed in as you can ever be. In his last three starts, he is 2-0 with an 0.70 ERA.

Brewer’s knee was deemed fine in time for the series finale, so he only missed the two starts against left-handers, of which he probably would have sit one out anyway.

Game 4. With Kisho pitching, I was expecting a Crusaders shutout again. Jose Ramos was scatched by the Crusaders and replaced with Cipriano Miranda (2-5, 5.75 ERA). Both pitchers 2-hit the opposition in a game scoreless through three, before the Coons broke out with a 3-run fourth. Saito gave one run right back in the top 5th, but overall he had brought the heat and was dealing. Between the sixth and seventh, Saito punched out four in a row. O-Mo left the bags full in the bottom 7th in a game that was still all pitching although Miranda had been chased with two men on in the sixth, where the Coons hadn’t scored either. Somehow, although Saito was pitching a 5-hitter with 9 K’s through seven frames, it was like waiting for that bloop-and-blast scenario. And the eighth became Saito’s last inning, in fact. After whiffing Ramón Diaz, pinch-hitter Jerry Watson singled to left, a few feet in front of the rushing Kinnear (he had no chance to get it). Steve Cobb struck out, but then Saito issued his first walk of the game to Clement Clark. Whatever would come about, lefty slugger Pat Jenkins was his last man. Saito punched him out, going over 110 pitches in the process, and completing a dozen K’s. To close this one, I turned to De La Rosa. If you blow this one, you will get your ticket to Kingdom Come. Two out, Raúl Rodriguez singled to left. That brought up the obnoxious Benjamin Butler. Oh, bad vibes coming here. The count ran full. Butler ripped at De La Rosa’s next offering, but didn’t get the bat on it properly. He grounded out to Salazar, who made the final out. 3-1 Coons! Salazar 2-4; Kinnear 2-3, BB, 2B, RBI; Saito 8.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 12 K, W (9-2) and 1-3;

This July 2 was a big day for achievements, and probably Saito’s was the least of it, but his dozen strikeouts tied the franchise record, so far held by odd shot Steven Berry, put up in 1989. The big league record is 15, held jointly by Harry Griggs and David Castillo. For more achievements, see the news section.

In other news

July 2 – 25-yr old DEN 1B Liam Wedemeyer (.337, 19 HR, 61 RBI) has a huge swing – everybody around the league knows that already. Today the youngster joined an elite circle of players to have knocked three home runs in one game. Wedemeyer goes 4-4 with his three dingers, a walk, and 7 RBI, as the Gold Sox STILL manage to lose to the Scorpions, 12-9. It is only the 10th time a player has gone deep thrice in a game, and the first time for a Gold Sock. The Sox had it done twice to them in the 80s (RIC Matt Mason, 1983; MIL Edgardo Garza, 1987), while this is only the second time the three-banger’s team lost the game (IND Victor Cornett, 1991).
July 2 – 27-yr old TOP OF Joe Douglas (.297, 2 HR, 28 RBI) comes to the plate six times in his team’s 11-2 creaming of the Cyclones, and knocks his way on base every time. It is the 25th 6-hit game in ABL history, and the more stunning is this fact: it is the first time ever that the Buffaloes appear in a special achievement game (no-no, cycle, 6-hit, 3 homers), either on the achieving or the receiving end, in the league’s 18 1/2 year history!

Complaints and stuff

The Thunder have claimed Ramón Campoy off waivers. If you need more, there’s plenty of corpses here.

That removed almost $100k from our payroll, and with the money we spared from Cristian Ortíz getting claimed earlier, we now have $200k to spend again. I thus put in a claim for Oklahoma’s MR Jaime Feliz. You may have an educated guess, why he was waived. =) Feliz, 28, right-handed, makes the minimum. He was decent so far this year.

That’s all I can manage today and perhaps the rest of the week. We have one week left to the All Star game and it is time to get some trades done. We need help in the pen, this is obvious.

[Westheim]

Gaming night at a colleague's house was cancelled today, so bring in the clowns!

(Yes, I try to endorse OOTP, but I get voted down every time )

Raccoons (50-31) @ Canadiens (34-46) – July 3-6, 1995

Playing four in Vancouver has never been one of my favorite pleasures. At times, it was rather gruesome. These 1995 Canadiens however ranked last in the division (a hair behind the Crusaders), which they could rightly blame their second-to-last number of runs scored for. Scoring just under four runs per game was too much for their average pitching staff to cope with. We were possibly looking at four right-handed pitchers in this series, while Jason Turner had the chance to be the first of our pitchers to ten wins.

There was a possibility of pitching Kisho Saito in place of Scott Wade in the season finale, and moving Wade back to the next game after that. I considered Saito a lock for the All Star Game, although perhaps not for starting it. Did I want him to pitch in Vancouver on four days’ rest, or in the ASG on three days’ rest? I was not certain yet.

Projected matchups:
Jason Turner (9-2, 3.07 ERA) vs. Manny Ramos (7-6, 3.95 ERA)
Miguel Lopez (6-3, 4.05 ERA) vs. Arnold McCray (4-8, 3.51 ERA)
Robert Vázquez (6-3, 3.49 ERA) vs. Ruben Prado (5-8, 4.00 ERA)
Scott Wade (6-6, 3.47 ERA) vs. Jose Dominguez (4-3, 2.83 ERA)

O-Mo got a day off in the first game. He had slumped in the Crusaders series, maybe he needed a day off. Turner was wild at the start of the game and quickly got to four walks. Down 1-0 after the first, David Brewer was our source of offense when he hit a leadoff triple and scored on a Salazar groundout in the third, and then hit a solo homer in the fifth for the go-ahead run. The hard parts of the cycle struck off, the Canadiens walked him intentionally his next time up. Kinnear hit a solo home run in the eighth to make it 3-1. Turner went 7.1 innings, before Luis Arroyo, a tough lefty, appeared in the batter’s box and Burnett entered in place of Turner. We had two on in the top 9th, when the Canadiens brought in Albert Matthews, who quelled the threat. Martinez was selected to save this game, and only allowed one walk en route to the finish. 3-1 Coons. Brewer 3-4, BB, HR, 3B, RBI; Turner 7.1 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 6 K, W (10-2);

Matthews has a 1.23 ERA in just over 20 innings, by the way. Not that Miller has been bad.

For bad news, Ken Burnett was uncomfortable after the game. Injury upon us?

That was not enough bad news? We had hoped to have Royce Green back after the All Star game, but he suffered a setback on his recovery from an intercostal strain and it will at least two weeks until we will get him back.

Meh. Quick, get another game going! David Brewer led off the second game with that double he lacked for the cycle the other day, but came up lame. The knee again. He left the game for Ingall. I made up my mind. DON’T get another game going. (breaks another pack of Aspirin) There was not much scoring in this game either, and were were tied 1-1 through five. Miguel Lopez put two on in the bottom 6th, and the runners were in scoring position with two out and Arroyo up. Lopez matched well with him, so he would go after him. After a visit by the pitching coach, he struck him out. Lopez would then have a clean seventh. Kinnear led off the eighth with a solo shot that gave him a lead, and he was pinch-hit for with Baldivía and Quinn on base and one out. But Jin, who batted for Lopez, and Ingall made outs and we didn’t tack on a run. In turn, Lagarde blew the lead in the bottom 8th and for that honorable duty we got to play extra innings. Raúl Solís would walk off the Canadiens with a 2-out solo homer off Day Grandridge in the 12th inning. 3-2 Canadiens. Brewer 1-1, 2B; Kinnear 4-6, HR, 2 RBI; Baldivía 3-6; Lopez 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 7 K; Miller 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

A sprained knee may keep David Brewer out for most of the remaining week. And this with a struggling offense. It has become really spotty now, with O-Mo going 6-35 recently, and no extra base hits among those six. And now without Brewer (and Green anyway), things were not progressing well here. Kinnear would bat cleanup for the rest of this series, and Higgins would bat leadoff.

Game 3. The Canadiens broke out early against Robert Vázquez, putting three runs on him in the bottom 2nd. The Raccoons scratched out single runs in the fourth and fifth innings, before Kinnear hit a 2-out RBI triple to tie the game in the sixth. O-Mo came up and flew deeeep to center, into Jorge Ledesma’s glove. Ledesma then went on to hit a 2-out solo home run off Vázquez and we were behind again. The Canadiens sent Holden Gorman and his 5.17 ERA to close this one in the ninth. We failed to touch him. 4-3 Canadiens. Salazar 2-3, BB; Martinez 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Day Grandridge walked two in this game. He was 0-1 with a 3.38 ERA and a 2.63 WHIP after six games (2.2 IP) and was demoted the same night. Our waiver claim for Jaime Féliz had been accepted by ABL that day and we swapped right-handers here. (This now officially means that us and the Thunder have swapped right-handed relievers Ramón Campoy and Jaime Féliz through waivers within a few days)

To make things more miserable, Ken Burnett had only a sore elbow, but it would take time to heal off properly. Aaaand. He was headed for the DL. We called up Tim Mallandain, who had been horrible enough in previous years so everybody remembers him and I don’t have to lash out verbally at that incompetent horrendously miscarried sucker. Oops.

Another game. I didn’t want Saito to pitch on three games’ rest in the All Star Game, so he got to pitch on four days’ rest now. Wade was pushed back to Friday in Boston. Jose Dominguez was a 21-year old Cuban rookie for the Canadiens who so far had scraped past wonderfully on what little stuff he had. A 2-out RBI triple by Forest Hartley gave the Canadiens a 1-0 lead in the first. And then, no offense. An error by Jin allowed the Canadiens to score an unearned run in the sixth, and that made Kinnear’s third solo shot of the series come up short of tying the game in the seventh. Ingall led off the eighth with a single and was bunted over by McDonald. Higgins hit for Saito, struck out, and Salazar struck out, too. They wanted to lose this one hard, obviously. Féliz made his Raccoons debut in the bottom 8th, put one man on, and with two out, the runner Salavador Mendez made for second base. McDonald’s throw was into the outfield, Mendez went to third, Féliz walked Jesus Galindo, and when West came in to face Luis Arroyo, Arroyo hit it out. Top 9th, Dominguez still in, Baldivía singled, and then Reece homered. That was the exit for the pitcher, and Matthews was brought in. Kinnear singled up the middle. Tying run to the plate. O-Mo lobbed out to right. Jin grounded to (ex-Coon by the way) Marihito Ohayashi. Four, six, three. 5-3 Canadiens. Baldivía 2-4, 2B; Kinnear 2-4, HR, RBI; Saito 7.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 3 K, L (9-3);

So this is how it feels like to be spat in the face.

Raccoons (51-34) @ Titans (47-40) – July 7-9, 1995

And after going 3-5 against the worst teams in the division, with the team being horrible on levels that elude description, we travelled to the third place team to conclude the pre-ASG half of the season. Everything but a sweep would surprise me dearly.

Projected matchups:
Scott Wade (6-6, 3.47 ERA) vs. Philippe Villard (4-7, 7.15 ERA)
Jason Turner (10-2, 2.95 ERA) vs. Jason O’Halloran (8-5, 3.68 ERA)
Miguel Lopez (6-3, 3.86 ERA) vs. Doug Morrow (9-6, 3.56 ERA)

We got David Brewer back in time for the weekend, and he was in the lineup against the perceived pushover Villard. Now, perceived pushovers are a strange thing. They regularly pushed over the Raccoons. Through four, we had but one runner in scoring position, Kinnear after a double, and he didn’t score. Wade fell 1-0 behind in the bottom 4th, and came to bat in the top 5th with Vinson on first and no outs. He whiffed on his first bunt attempt, then was told to swing. He eventually hurled a double to right. Brewer then drove both runners in with a double. An error by LF Roman Reyes put Salazar on. We went on to score two more, unearned, runs in the inning. A 4-1 lead should have been enough for Wade after his recent outings, but this time the corners kept eluding him, and he was done after six innings. The Coons were 5-1 ahead after a run-scoring wild pitch by Jose Ruiz (and leaving three in scoring position in the sixth and seventh combined) and had nine outs to get. With lots of left-handers up, Mallandain was assigned the seventh. Julio Madrid singled to left to lead off the inning, and then Mallandain served up a 2-run homer to Daniel Silva. We went to De La Rosa for a much less taxing eighth. Kinnear upped our lead back to three with his fourth solo dinger this week in the top 9th, and De La Rosa breezed right across the finish line. 6-3 Coons. Brewer 3-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Reece 2-5, RBI; Kinnear 3-5, HR, 2B, RBI; O’Morrissey 2-5, 2B, RBI; Wade 6.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 2 K, W (7-6) and 1-2, BB, 2B; De La Rosa 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, SV (15);

Mallandain is a piece of horse dung and that will never change. Ken Burnett can’t come back soon enough.

By the way, this was Scott Wade’s 300th big league start. He’s 131-82 with a 3.36 ERA in 1,964 innings. Quite a career, if you ask me!

Reece had the day off in game 2, he appeared lost at the plate, and Newton was in center with Jason Turner aiming for #11. After two bland innings in which we nevertheless lost Matt Higgins, who had started at short, to something that looked like an oblique, Jason Turner hit a 1-out single up the middle in the top 3rd that was followed by a Brewer single and Salazar reaching on an error to load the bases with one out. O-Mo popped to second, and Kinnear grounded out. Turner led off the fifth with another single. A double by Brewer put both in scoring position. Time to end this scoreless malady. O’Halloran walked Salazar, which loaded the bags. The Raccoons scored one run – on a wild pitch. O-Mo flew out to shallow right – too shallow for Turner to tag and dash home. Then came the wild pitch, and then Kinnear struck out, and Jin flew out to left. They were begging to be belted. They were just begging for it. A misplay by Alejandro Espinoza in right then gave Kinnear a 2-run triple in the top 7th, which suddenly shoved the score to 3-0. Kinnear was nevertheless left on third base! [observe the writer turning violet-red in the face] Turner ran out of gas in the seventh, going to 114 pitches in 6.2 innings. West got the final out there, and was left in to bat in the top 8th – the pen had imploded for the Titans and we had tacked on three runs already. Up by six and a heavily left-handed lineup for the Titans, I figured my chances were better with my best available left-hander doing the eighth, which he did excellently. Then we went to the top 9th and there was something in the air, a special achievement was possible if the Coons got at least one man on base. This would bring up Brewer in the inning, and Brewer had silently milled singles all day long to be 5-5 at the plate. But Newton, Vinson, and Quinn all flew out, and there was no history book to be broken out for Brewer to be put down in. Unless, of course, the pen would spill six runs in the bottom 9th. To start things, West put on lefty Roman Reyes with a single, and we went to Lagarde. He went 50:50 between his four batters and with the bags full and two out, Martinez came in to face Silva, a left-hander. Silva rushed at the first pitch and flew out to Newton. 6-0 Coons. Brewer 5-5, 2 2B; Kinnear 1-4, BB, 3B, 3 RBI; Turner 6.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 5 K, W (11-2) and 2-3; West 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

Matt Higgins had a mild oblique strain and was DTD for the final game before the All Star game.

In a strange coincidence, Juan Martinez made his 500th appearance, and Daniel Miller his 200th appearance of their careers, in addition to Scott Wade having 300 starts (304 apperances) at this point. Also strange: all three are lifetime Coons.

Lopez and Doug Morrow soon became entangled in a scratch-and-claw kind of game. The Coons scored a run in the first, which the Titans got back in the fourth. Between that, neither offense was able to do much, as the game was still 1-1 through six, and Morrow had actually hit for the most bases off Lopez with a pair of doubles. Then in the top 7th, the Raccoons had Brewer and Salazar on the corners with two out. Reece, who had whiffed in every at-bat on the day, popped up a 1-1 pitch to shallow center, where it fell in between converging fielders, and Brewer scored. Kinnear took a ball to the ribs to load the bags. And then O-Mo pressed a soft single between Martin Carter and Jack Burbidge on the right side, and we scored two more. While Morrow was thus eaten up, Lopez stayed in the game, held the Titans short, and stayed in there ‘til the end. 6-2 Coons. Brewer 4-4, BB, 3 2B, RBI; O’Morrissey 2-5, 2 RBI; Lopez 9.0 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, W (7-3) and 1-3;

In his 74th start, Lopez pitched his fifth complete game. Three of those were shutouts. Meanwhile, David Brewer has not been surrendered in *11* straight plate appearances! And now that showcase game will mess him up. Bah.

All Star Game – July 11, 1995

Without checking I am fairly sure that we have the most All Stars by any Raccoons team ever: Kisho Saito, Jason Turner, Ben O’Morrissey, David Brewer, Jorge Salazar, and Neil Reece. That’s six. A healthy Royce Green might have had a good chance to be number seven. So, while I was right on Saito, I thought Jason Turner walking almost four per nine innings would exclude him, but he was on the team just as well, plus almost a complete infield, and Reece.

The only other CL team with more than three players on the roster were the Titans, with four. In the FL, the Scorpions were far ahead with their six players on the team.

Despite (or because of?) so many Raccoons on the CL team, the FL got away with a 3-1 win. Neil Reece knocked in the only run for the Coons, starting in center and hitting an RBI triple in the eighth on an 1-3 day, also logging a walk. His triple was the only XBH for the Continental League. O-Mo also played the complete game (at second base!!) and went 1-4. Salazar singled in a PH appearance, then played short, replacing SFB Roberto Rodriguez. Saito appeared in the ninth and surrendered two hits, but no runs. Brewer pinch-hit to no effect. Turner did not appear.

Raccoons (54-34) vs. Canadiens (39-48) – July 13-16, 1995

I could have gone a few more weeks without seeing this team. With Jason Turner not pitching in the All Star game, he could start the opener on regular rest, and we would go from there, effectively skipping Kisho Saito, our ace, in the rotation. I guess, stranger things have happened, but it was still mighty strange.

Projected matchups:
Jason Turner (11-2, 2.78 ERA) vs. Manny Ramos (7-8, 3.99 ERA)
Miguel Lopez (7-3, 3.70 ERA) vs. Arnold McCray (5-8, 3.65 ERA)
Robert Vázquez (6-4, 3.63 ERA) vs. Ruben Prado (6-8, 3,96 ERA)
Scott Wade (7-6, 3.37 ERA) vs. Jose Dominguez (5-3, 2.90 ERA)

Turner was awful in the opener, wild with his stuff, and was knocked around and out of the game by the fourth inning. He was charged with five runs, one of them unearned after his own throwing error, and was on a hook that the offense refused to take him off. We tasked Jaime Féliz with long relief, and he put seven men on in 1.1 innings. And not that it stopped there. The Canadiens raped almost the entire bullpen in this game, and scored runs in all but two innings in a moral-destroying blowout. 13-6 Canadiens. Brewer 2-5; Ingall 1-1, BB, HR, RBI;

Interlude: Trade

On Friday morning the sports news first reported a trade completed between the Condors and the Raccoons that sent MR/CL Mike Dye, 35, who recently saved his 400th game, to Portland for AAA 2B Pat Parker.

Parker is a good hitter, but will be hideously blocked by David Brewer at second base, and Brewer is not fitting the mold for first basemen, so the best bet was to flip the 24-year old Parker, who is .205 (15-73) with 1 HR and 8 RBI in two callups in ’93 and ’94, to elsewhere and get back a piece we can use to effect. Dye will be a free agent at the end of the season, but will now be designated our new closer.

In turn, Jaime Féliz, who had just been torn and quartered, was now also waived and designated for assignment after posting a 27 ERA in two outings with the Raccoons.

The Condors first offered Dye when I shopped Baldivía again after the All Star game, and then I found out they were keen on Parker. I would have flipped Baldy for Dye, too, if I just had a first baseman to replace him with. A few years ago we had so many power studs at first base that all got traded because we had Tetsu Osanai. That was pre-meltdown of course.

Raccoons (54-34) vs. Canadiens (39-48) – July 13-16, 1995

That didn’t change that the Canadiens had our number and continued to jump on us and make my life a living hell. Neil Reece made throwing error in the top 2nd of game 2 that plated two runners for the Canadiens. They had all kinds of balls fall in, and we couldn’t get hits. We were down 3-1 in the bottom 5th with Brewer on and two down, when Higgins reached on an error by coonskinner Luis Arroyo. Reece walked to load the bags and Kinnear came up. Kinnear had missed a huge spot in his last at-bat, and found himself down two strikes against Arnold McCray quickly again. McCray then missed his spot with the 1-2 pitch, but Kinnear didn’t miss the pitch. No fielder even ran after it. It was gone. GRAAAAAND SLAAAAAMMM!!!! Miguel Lopez wobbled through six innings of barely watchable tossing, before De La Rosa, West, and Martinez bridged to the ninth, still up by two, where Mike Dye immediately got his first save chance for his new team. With two out, Michael McFarland got on, after Dye had whiffed the first two batters, but Salvador Mendez made the final out to Salazar. 5-3 Coons. Brewer 2-3, BB, 2B; Kinnear 1-2, BB, HR, 4 RBI;

The Canadiens moved Dominguez up into game 3, replacing Ruben Prado. That was not necessarily good: we had failed to strike him the first time we had faced him last week. This was not the case this time. Baldy hit a solo homer in the first, and we put three more runs on Dominguez in the second inning. Raúl Solís would hit a homer off Vázquez in the third to cut the lead to 4-1. Vázquez was dealing his balls with hot sauce in this game. In fact, Solís was the only guy that came even close to threatening him. The Canadiens’ leadoff hitter would add a second homer off Vázquez in the eighth, and that was about all that kept Vázquez from going the distance. We called on Dye to close the game. After losing Mendez to a single in an 0-2 count to start the inning, Dye struck out the side. 4-2 Coons! Vázquez 8.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 9 K, W (7-4);

Both sides had only five hits each. And more bad news: Ben O’Morrissey was injured while running the bases. We had no diagnosis immediately.

Prado was put up in game 4 by the Canadiens, facing Wade. The 1995 Ruben Prado at times shared fates with 1795 Poland. Both were chopped into pieces. The Coons took six runs off him in the first four innings. Wade appeared to be cruising before his control got away in the sixth. Jesus Galindo socked a 3-run homer off him there, and with a runner on third and one out in the seventh, Wade was removed. Daniel Miller managed to finish the inning without that run scoring, and we were up by three with six outs to be collected. After Mallandain surrendered Arroyo, Lagarde issued a mindless walk to Galindo. De La Rosa came in, ended the eighth, and since I didn’t want to throw in Dye three days in a row right away, and we only had Martinez left in the pen along with a much-used West, left Gabby in for the ninth. There, he sat down the side in order. 6-3 Coons. Brewer 2-4, BB; Baldivía 3-5, HR, 3 RBI; Vinson (PH) 1-1; De La Rosa 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, SV (16);

In other news

July 3 – WAS SP Bill Smith (7-10, 4.70 ERA) tosses eight innings of 3-hit shutout ball as the Capitals rout the Rebels, 10-0, for his 200th career win. Smith (200-183, 3.47 ERA), ranked the #44 prospect in the ABL before the 1977 season, has been a 2-time All Star, and won championships with the 1984 Canadiens and 1988 Stars.
July 5 – NYC SP David Ramirez (4-6, 4.35 ERA) is out for the season with bone chips in his elbow.
July 11 – SAC SP David Castillo (13-2, 3.72 ERA) is also out for the year with a torn labrum, tearing a man-sized hole into the Scorpions’ playoff ambitions.
July 13 – PIT SP Manuel Movonda (11-1, 4.38 ERA) delivers a peak performance with a 1-hit shutout in a 1-0 win of the Miners over Buffaloes. Joe Douglas breaks up a perfect game with a 1-out single in the ninth.
July 16 – A strained back muscle will force DAL C/1B Rob James (.310, 4 HR, 60 RBI) to miss about three weeks of play.

Complaints and stuff

I saw this one coming all week long, but Vern Kinnear was named Player of the Week before the All Star game. He went 14-29 with 4 HR and 11 RBI, so he went red hot right at the same time where O-Mo went out completely.

The offense has been ailing. Apart from a blazing hot David Brewer, who has an 11-game hitting streak going, and Vern Kinnear, who socked five dingers these two weeks, we do not have a lot currently. Salazar, Higgins, Reece, Quinn, Jin, Vinson – all struggling more or less badly. Well, at least Reece makes good contact, but he can’t get the ball out, and they don’t fall in for doubles either.

Is the bullpen finally shored up now? Of course not. They are still wobbling left and right. Odd note: when we brought in Dye, our pen comprised a total of 1,005 big league saves. Of course West (522) and Dye (401) made up for over 90% of those. Dye saved 20 games with a 1.05 ERA for the Condors this year. Like I said, he is 35, his contract will be up, and Parker is a good player, and the Condors may not go anywhere this season. The trade made much sense for both sides.

One serious candidate for a callup this fall, AAA 3B Mike Crowe, is out for the year with a broken kneecap. He had batted .298 with 19 homers in St. Pete. Our AAA team was befallen by a rash of injuries at the start of July, which means that the depth of our big league team is also seriously un-deep at this point.

This is where O-Mo’s injury comes in. We got the report on Monday morning. He has an oblique strain, and that means he will hit the DL. The best news about this mess is the fact that maybe the 15 days will be enough for him to come back. We are getting thin at the plate!

The callup will go to INF Steve Caddock, 25, who only gets the call because the 40-man roster is full and he is the only spare infielder on it, all others are on the minor league disabled list. Caddock was our second round pick in 1988, and he is more of a utility guy. Even for the AAA level his batting is poor with a .237 average.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (57-35) @ Indians (43-50) – July 17-19, 1995

Batting .241 (12th in CL) was the main reason for the Indians dropping from first in April to fourth in July. Actually, since standing at 18-6 on April 29, the team had played .362 ball. That ain’t a lot. They had a few good players on the DL for the year (SP Larry Davis, OF Tomas Maguey), which was not helping either.

Projected matchups:
Kisho Saito (9-3, 2.88 ERA) vs. Dan George (2-13, 5.91 ERA)
Jason Turner (11-3, 2.99 ERA) vs. Vernon Robertson (6-7, 2.95 ERA)
Miguel Lopez (8-3, 3.59 ERA) vs. Lorenzo Ángel (3-7, 4.72 ERA)

If the opener’s pitching matchup looked slightly lopsided, it probably was so. But then again, how often have we blown such games? And the Raccoons immediately had problems with George, despite a first inning run worked on by Brewer and Kinnear. Saito would be perfect through three innings, before Claudio Ayala hit a home run off him in the fourth, which tied the game. The Coons had left a hand full of runners on between runs. But George finally crumbled in the fifth. With the bags full and two out, Baldivía drew an RBI walk, and then Ingall singled in a pair. George was knocked out, and the Raccoons scored another 3-piece on the bullpen in the sixth. That was only the tune-up. Reece tripled in a run in the seventh, 8-1, but the Coons exploded spectacularly for a 6-run eighth, during which Reece tripled again! Saito breezed through the game, and we added two more in the ninth. 16-1 Raccoons!! Brewer 3-6, BB, 2B, RBI; Higgins 3-7, 3 RBI; Reece 3-5, BB, 2 3B, 2B, 3 RBI; Kinnear 2-5, BB, RBI; Quinn 2-5, BB, 2B, RBI; Baldivía 2-4, 2 BB, 2B, RBI; Ingall 4-5, BB, 2B, 3 RBI; Vinson 3-5, BB, 2 RBI; Saito 9.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, W (10-2);

ALL our positional starters had multi-hit games!

So, and after this rush of euphoria, are you ready for the bad news? Okay? Neil Reece came up lame after his latter triple, and was not diagnosed that night. Even after a 16-run bonanza, something has to go wrong. Good grief…

But we got to breathe a sigh of relief the next day. Reece merely had an intercostal strain. So while he was most likely out for the rest of the week, he would not go to the DL and would be able to come back maybe as early as Sunday. Those were his first two triples of the year. Maybe he taxed his legs too much… - Yes, Michael? – You sure? – Okay. – Our trainer has just informed me that the intercostal muscle has nothing to do with the legs. Well, he’s gotta know, he studied medicine in Tijuana for three years.

Middle game. Brewer needed a day off, Reece was hurting, and with all that other personnel on the DL, our lineup looked a bit cheesy: full of holes. Turner went out, trying to complete the dozen, and the game started out rather tight. Matt Brown took Turner deep in the bottom 1st, but the Raccoons scored a pair in the top 3rd to take a 2-1 lead. While Turner didn’t get into many good counts, he didn’t surrender much hard contact. In the top 6th, Salazar singled to right to lead off, only our fifth hit in the game, and the Indians responded with taking out Robertson to go to that recently much-ravaged bullpen. We put up two runs instantly, but going to the bottom 6th, Turner loaded the bags with the tying runs without getting anybody out. After the pitching coach went out, Turner held the Indians to one run in the inning on a Carlos Paredes groundout, before punching out Mamoru Sato and getting Angelo Duarte to fly out to center. Turner went seven. The Indians got the tying run to the plate against Mallandain in the eighth, but De La Rosa replaced him to punch out Sato and get out of the inning. Mike Dye effortlessly collected his third save as a Coon. 4-2 Furballs. Salazar 4-4, RBI; Baldivía 2-4; Vinson 2-3; Turner 7.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, W (12-3)

Mallandain was demoted after the game: Ken Burnett was ready to come off the DL and was added back to the roster. We still have O-Mo and Green on there, and Reece is unavailable, lingering on the 25-man roster. Good news: Green will come back by the time we go to Oklahoma for the weekend.

Steve Caddock made his debut in this game, grounding into a double play in the ninth, PH’ing for De La Rosa. He would get a start in the last game of the series, playing third base as we anticipated the right-hander Lorenzo Ángel, and then remained in the lineup even as the Indians scratched Ángel and went to lefty Michael Koch (1-2, 8.05 ERA).

Game 3 started much like the middle contest. Sato homered off Miguel Lopez in the bottom 1st, 1-0 Indians, but we tied it in the third and took a 2-1 lead in the fourth. The latter run was unearned, as the Indians’ Jose Martinez made two errors in the inning, and we ended up leaving the bags full when Caddock and Lopez struck out in succession. We were up 3-1 in the bottom 6th, where the Indians put a pair in scoring position. Lopez made an odd step delivering to Mamoru Sato and aborted the pitch – the balk forced in the runner on third, but Lopez came back to punch out Sato to end the inning. Baldy drove in two runs in the top seventh, but Lopez was in trouble again in the bottom 7th. With runners on the corners and one out, I was ready to remove him, when the Indians sent Matt Brown on his off day to pinch-hit. Lopez struck him out, then left. Juan Martinez popped out Ayala to end the inning. Then came the eighth, and the bullpen hiccupped again, yet supported by Baldy, whose leadoff error in the inning only got the Indians going. Miller, West, and De La Rosa paraded in and out until we got out of there, with only the unearned run scoring. Dye then came out again for the ninth. With two out, Ayala bunted his way on base, but that was all the Indians got. 5-3 Coons! Baldivía 2-5, 3 RBI; Vinson 1-2, 2 BB; Lopez 6.2 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, W (9-3) and 2-3, RBI;

Caddock was demoted after the game to get Royce Green off the DL and onto the roster. I did not demote Luke Newton, since even with Newton, we only had two qualified centerfielders.

Raccoons (60-35) @ Thunder (53-41) – July 21-23, 1995

In a faceoff of first place teams in the CL, the Raccoons had only marginally worse pitching (3rd to 2nd in runs allowed), but by far had outscored the Thunder this season: 473 to 416 runs scored. The Thunder offense was below average, and I was hoping for the strong starts by our guys to continue for a while.

Projected matchups:
Robert Vázquez (7-4, 3.53 ERA) vs. Jon Robinson (9-5, 3.02 ERA)
Scott Wade (8-6, 3.41 ERA) vs. Raimundo Beato (9-7, 4.05 ERA)
Kisho Saito (10-3, 2.76 ERA) vs. Lou Corbett (8-4, 3.62 ERA)

The Coons didn’t let Jon Robinson see much daylight in the opener. Up 1-0 after the first, they singled him to death in the third inning, bringing 11 men to the plate and putting up a 5-spot. While the Thunder got a run with a solo homer by Hector Ramirez in the fourth, nothing went right for them. When they had runners on the corners in the bottom 6th against Vázquez, Sonny Reece, their playoff hero from last season, lined into an inning-ending double play. By that time, David Brewer was a home run shy of the cycle after ticking off the triple with one of the RBI kind in the top 5th. Brewer struck out in the seventh, where the Coons ballooned the score to 10-1, and came up with two on and two out in the eighth, but lined out to second. And while the offense pounced on the Thunder’s reportedly not so bad staff, Robert Vázquez shook off that home run and went the distance, sparkling both on the mound AND at the plate in the Coons’ second rout of the week. 11-1 Raccoons! Brewer 3-6, 3B, 2B, RBI; Baldivía 2-4, BB, 2 2B, 2 RBI; Green 3-5, BB, 2 2B, 2 RBI; Vázquez 9.0 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, W (8-4) and 4-5, 2 RBI;

FOUR HITS FROM THE PITCHER!! I can’t remember EVER seeing such a thing! In fact, the only time Vázquez made an out was when he actually tried to bunt over Vinson in the seventh! Average up to .256 for Vázquez with this stunning effort!

Neil Reece was fine enough to play in the middle game, hooray! He was back in there instantly, replacing Newton, who had fallen into the river and drifted towards the Pacific during the last few days, dropping his average almost to .200. A ticket to Florida for him had already been booked and we would switch players with St. Pete again before the next series.

It was nice to see Pooky again, even in the wrong uniform. I kinda liked the guy, although his time in Portland ultimately was a bit short (three years). It also didn’t mean we wouldn’t try to smear the fences with his intestines. However, Beato had none of it. The game became a pitchers’ duel, and one in which our guy, Scott Wade, was on the wrong end of. Wade was strong in six innings, but surrendered two runs, one of which was unearned. He was pinch-hit for in the top 7th, representing the tying run, but Chih-tui Jin lined into an inning-ending double play. Then, the Raccoons had had all of four hits against Beato. Top 8th, Brewer led off with a double, extending his hitting streak to 15 games. However, Beato again clawed into the ball, and while we scored Brewer on outs by Ingall and Reece, we were still behind. Burnett pitched a quick eighth, and the Thunder brought in closer Jimmy Morey for the ninth. Morey walked Salazar, Morey walked Baldy. That brought up the strikeout-happy Vinson, but Vinson had been much better recently. Vinson fell behind 1-2, but then hit a shot to left, but not deep enough. Vonne Calzado made the play, but Salazar moved up. Higgins came out to bat. Morey struck him out, bringing up Brewer – and Brewer struck out too. 2-1 Thunder. Ingall 2-4;

Losing that one with this ninth inning smelled like fish in the sun.

Rubber game time. I would hate to lose this series.

We had Kisho Saito going in the rubber game. Six pitches into his game, he was 2-0 behind. Jose Sanchez bunted his way on base, Hector Ramirez tripled, and Calzado singled Ramirez in. Whish-whish-whish. The game came to mirror that of the previous day, with the exception that Lou Corbett shut down the Raccoons even harder. After a leadoff hit by Brewer in the first inning, the Raccoons did not get another hit off him – until the eighth. By then Saito was already showering, sent from the game after a Sanchez home run in the seventh. Salazar was the guy to lead off the top 8th with a single to left, and was erased by Higgins on a double play. Despite only two hits, we managed to ground into three double plays after a few walks issued by Corbett. A David Vinson homer then counted for only one run, so we were down by two when Jimmy Morey appeared again in the ninth. A pinch-hit single by Ingall with one out brought the tying run to the plate, which was Reece, but Reece grounded to third, getting Ingall forced. Green blooped into shallow right and Kinnear walked, loading the bags with two out for Salazar. The shortstop took Morey’s first pitch and lined it up the middle, past everybody into shallow center. Reece scored, and Green flew around third and caused a sonic boom halfway to home – SAFE! Saito was off the hook, but Higgins lined out and the inning ended here. In the top 11th, we had our first two men on, and then didn’t score. This had to lash back at us, and did. Sonny Reece did, what he did best, walking off his team, with a 2-out RBI single off De La Rosa in the bottom 11th. 4-3 Thunder. Ingall (PH) 2-2; Salazar 2-4, BB, 2 RBI; Miller 1.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Meh.

The Loggers have closed to within 3.5 games with us dropping the close games again. We have 11 games left with them.

To make grief worse, Ben O’Morrissey suffered a setback with his oblique, and he will take at least one more week to come back. Also, we sent Luke Newton back to AAA and brought back Caddock.

Raccoons (61-37) vs. Bayhawks (53-46) – July 24-26, 1995

Here came another at-best-average offensive team with a decent pitching staff. The Bayhawks somewhat lvied on power to compensate for their .254 average (9th in CL). Their bullpen ranked 3rd with a 2.93 ERA, so we better scored on their starters and not wait for the back end of their bullpen to come in.

Projected matchups:
Jason Turner (12-3, 2.97 ERA) vs. Min-tae Kim (10-7, 4.19 ERA)
Miguel Lopez (9-3, 3.54 ERA) vs. Jorge Chapa (6-4, 3.92 ERA)
Robert Vázquez (8-4, 3.35 ERA) vs. Ricardo Sanchez (8-6, 2.73 ERA)

The opener saw the Raccoons nailed firmly to the ground for the third game in a row. Jason Turner did a stellar job, going eight innings of 2-run ball, and it was not enough to be even close to a win. Min-tae Kim scattered six hits while pitching into the ninth, all singles, and the Raccoons never even touched third base in a game that took a crisp, clean 2:22 to complete. 2-0 Bayhawks. Green 2-4; Turner 8.0 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 8 K, L (12-4) and 1-2;

Something’s wrong here. We’re not getting home runs. We’re not getting doubles. We’re only getting double plays. I may have to resort to belting here…

Middle game. 2B Pete Thompson hit a leadoff homer off Miguel Lopez, and here we go. Jorge Chapa however was scary wild, walked three in the first inning as we scored the tying run, and then walked the first three men up in the bottom 3rd. Ingall grounded up the middle for an RBI single, but we only got one more run as Salazar hit into a run-scoring double play. Lopez ran up the strikeout count in this game, but still wobbled with a few line drives that led to a run in the fifth. The Furballs struggled to get anything going once Chapa was out of the game, until McDonald led off the bottom 6th with a double to center. Lopez singled to right, presenting Brewer with an inviting target to extend his hitting streak, but he popped out, and with Baldivía and Reece also making poor outs, nobody scored. McDonald came up with two on and two out in the bottom 7th. He zinged a liner over Mike Powys at short for a double into the gap, finally providing a tack-on run. At the same time, this knocked Lopez from the game. Up 4-2, with two out and two in scoring position I wanted my best chances for more runs. Jin lined out to Pedro Perez in right. I had a bad feeling here, a sure feeling that we were destined to lose this one, too. West and Martinez pitched a quick top 8th, bringing Brewer to the plate to lead off the bottom 8th. He was 0-3 on the day, and grounded right back to Juan Gil on the mound. We didn’t score, and Dye entered in the ninth. With two out, he walked Raúl Castillo. Oh, now. Now it’s gonna happen. Roberto Guevara sliced right through a 3-2 splitter. Ballgame. 4-2 Raccoons. Reece 2-5; Ingall 2-2, 2 BB, 2 RBI; McDonald 2-4, 2 2B, RBI; Lopez 7.0 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 9 K, W (10-3) and 1-3;

Robert Vázquez 1-hit the Bayhawks through five innings in the rubber game, before everything went to hell rather violently. The Bayhawks had three 2-out hits in the top 6th, the last of which was a 3-run homer by 3B Lorenzo Delgado. Vázquez and Vinson (passed ball for a change) coughed up two more runs in the seventh. That was only the start. The Bayhawks would put pairs of runs on both Miller and Lagarde en route to a much depressing rout. The Raccoons again had no extra base hits and although it was already meaningless then, with the bases loaded and one out in the bottom 8th, didn’t score. 9-0 Bayhawks. Reece 3-4; Ingall 2-4; De La Rosa 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

What the hell is going on? We were out-hit only 10-8, and are smothered 9-0?? What the HELL???

Raccoons (62-39) vs. Knights (35-66) – July 28-30, 1995

The Raccoons in their terrible rut might have a hard time with a team that ranked 10th in both runs scored and runs allowed in the league, especially since we were to face a few nominally good starters in this series, including Carlos Asquabal, who came off a shutout in his last start. We are 6-0 against the Knights this year, but we also have managed 1.6 R/G en route to losing four of our last five.

Projected matchups:
Scott Wade (8-7, 3.32 ERA) vs. Pepe Martinez (2-11, 6.75 ERA)
Kisho Saito (10-3, 2.83 ERA) vs. Carlos Asquabal (8-9, 3.78 ERA)
Jason Turner (12-4, 2.93 ERA) vs. Jim Harrington (7-12, 4.18 ERA)

Pepe Martinez struck David Brewer in the head with his first pitch. That’s how things were going for us. Brewer was of course out of this game and replaced by Ingall. Needless to say that nobody in the park was happy, and a few sections in the upper deck became highly unruly at Martinez’ incompetence. Chih-tui Jin, playing this game over Royce Green, singled in a pair in the same inning. We were up 3-0 in the top 6th, when Scott Wade clipped CF Gerald Hall. The park was cheering, although no obvious intent was noticeable. Hall would be scored to shorten our lead to 3-1, and Wade was beaten for another three hits and the tying runs in the seventh. Wade would not get a win, but everybody in attendance wanted the rat’s ass on the mound for the Knights to take a bitter loss, and probably a beating on the way home. Martinez completely lost control in the bottom 7th, loaded the bags with two outs, and then issued another walk to Higgins, forcing in the go-ahead run again. When Baldy hit a bases-clearing double off the wall in the gap in right center, the whole park was on their feet at once, cheering for Baldy, and whistling, shouting, and gesturing (some obscenely) at Martinez, who was out of the game. Up 7-3, we still had to collect six outs, and for starters, Grant West surrenderd a run in the eighth. De La Rosa got the final out in that inning and was left in for the ninth, where he pitched around a leadoff double. 7-4 Raccoons. Reece 2-4, 2B; Jin 1-2, 2 BB, 2 RBI; Baldivía 1-4, 2B, 3 RBI; De La Rosa 1.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, SV (17);

We are neck deep in the sh- … horse dung now. The offense is ailing as it is. And now Brewer gets beaned. He was listed as DTD, but the estimated recovery time was given as two weeks by the medical staff. And where do guys go that will be injured for two weeks? Right.

With O-Mo at least a week away, we needed another infielder from AAA. Ben Nash got the call-up. With Higgins struggling badly, and Baldy being at least spotty, our 3-men All Star infield was decimated to a group of people watching to the bases not running away on their own.

And then Kisho Saito had a sub-par start in the middle game. Saito did not have his command with him, and Tom Nicks’ 2-run homer in the third inning blew a hard-scrambled 1-0 lead from the first inning (where the Raccoons also failed to cash in on an error by CF Gerald Hall and left two in scoring position). Nicks homered again in the sixth inning, and in the seventh, Saito picked off Sosa Tanaka from first base to get to two outs, and from here surrendered two singles, including one to Asquabal, and was then sunk by a 3-run homer by Rory Gorden. Hopelessly behind, the Raccoons were annihilated by Asquabal, but the Knights left him in one inning too long and he faltered in the ninth. Still, the Raccoons’ pathetic rally lacked bite and fell way short. 6-4 Knights. Ingall 2-4, RBI;

Everything is going to hell. My belt broke after just three punishments after this game.

Green and Reece would come out to knock in pairs of runs in the first two innings off Jim Harrington in the rubber game for an early 4-0 lead for Turner. Green hit a home run, our first homer in a week(!!!!). While the Knights could not score on Turner early on, Turner by no means pitched a good game. He spent too much time in bad counts, and needed lots of pitches for the first five innings, despite only three runners. The Knights got one run off Turner in the sixth, and Turner put on two more in the seventh, where Martinez bailed him out. Our offense was basically failing their way through the innings past the second, and Dye came in still up 4-1 in the ninth. After getting one out, he loaded the bags with a walk to C Johnny Johnson, a single by PH Fred Adams, and another walk to Gorden. Jai Utting then lifted a lob to shallow center, which Reece made an amazing catch on, also holding the runners. One out to collect, but that out would have to be Tom Nicks. Nicks lofted a shallow fly ball to right center – and Green got to it in time. 4-1 Coons. Ingall 2-4; Reece 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Kinnear 2-4, 2B; Turner 6.1 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, W (13-4) and 1-2;

In other news

July 17 – LVA CL Vicente Rubio (3-4, 2.29 ERA, 21 SV) saves a 6-5 Aces win over the Thunder, notching his 300th career save.
July 19 – SFB INF Roberto Rodriguez (.301, 1 HR, 38 RBI) will have to sit out three to four weeks with a forearm strain.
July 20 – NAS 2B/3B Horace Henry (.290, 7 HR, 60 RBI) goes 2-4 in a 3-2 win of his Blue Sox against the Buffaloes. A leadoff single in the bottom 6th off Rob Griffin gives Henry his 2,000th career hit. Henry has spent his entire career in the Blue Sox organization, who took him 14th overall in the 1983 draft.
July 20 – Oklahoma City loses 35-yr old SP Kevin Williams (4-6, 4.75 ERA) to a torn UCL and Tommy John surgery. Williams will be out for a year. The Thunder had just acquired him a few weeks ago from the Condors.
July 23 – Ex-Coon CHA MR Chris Nelson (3-0, 4.62 ERA, 1 SV) is out for the season with a torn rotator cuff.
July 24 – ATL Carlos Asquabal (8-9, 3.78 ERA) sparkles in a 2-hit shutout against the Crusaders, which the Knights win 4-0.
July 25 – Big day for MIL SP Rafael Garcia (10-9, 4.29 ERA), as he 2-hits the Condors. The Loggers win 7-0.
July 25 – The Titans’ Doug Morrow (11-8, 3.57 ERA) 3-hits the Thunder in a 4-0 Titans win.
July 28 – TIJ OF Paul Theobald (.327, 7 HR, 53 RBI) has suffered a badly sprained ankle that could cost him up to two months on the DL.
July 29 – The Thunder trade 25-yr old 3B/1B Haruki Nakayama (.236, 1 HR, 23 RBI) to the Capitals for 35-yr old veteran SP Manuel Garza (4-11, 4.92 ERA).

Complaints and stuff

One certain Knights pitcher is sure to get some hate mail from me. (cuts letters out of magazines) Where can I find a headline containing the letters “tard”?

We are in the doldrums at this point. The Loggers are on a hot streak, and we are – obviously – not. Two home runs in two weeks tells you something (and one of them was still in a lost game). Also four games in which we did not have a single extra base hit. The hitting has between injuries and slumps stopped altogether now. There is no point in making a late panic trade. All the pieces are in place. Right now, they just don’t click.

Not at all.

Apart from that, we got very strong pitching out of the rotation, and the bullpen did not blow any games late. Adding Mike Dye was a fantastic move! It took care of the ninth inning, and we can use the reliable backup arms an inning earlier. Currently, Burnett, Martinez, De La Rosa, and Miller all put in good outings consistently. West lacks stuff, Lagarde lacks everything. Lagarde’s contract will be up. I could not have imagined this before the season, but he will not get an offer, nor will West. Other free agents: Dye, Vázquez, Quinn;

Anybody remembering Dennis Fried? He appeared in 16 games (13 starts) for the Raccoons in 1990 as a young pitcher who could stun you, one way or the other. He was traded to Nashville the next season, where he at first ended up in AAA, but he is a fix in their rotation since 1993. By now he is 58-44 with a 3.61 ERA. He came to my attention this week, tossing a 5-hit shutout in a 1-0 game. He is still only 26 years old and has been playing on a really bad team, so here is some good career in the making.

By the way we traded Dennis Fried for Raúl Castillo (NOT the same Raúl Castillo we faced in the Bayhawks series), who was concussed in the third game he played for the Furballs. We would trade Castillo the Crusaders the following winter for “Pooky” Beato, and Castillo was out of baseball within the next year. Now Beato has gone the way of free agents, bringing us Manuel Villa as a supplemental pick.

I really dig going through history this way! And after almost 20 seasons, you actually have some great history, and you can identify with many of the guys. This is one reason I don’t like simming 20 years before stepping into a league. The guys that played during those 20 years appear as mere numbers. No “oh yeah, that guy always gave us trouble” and “he was with those great XY teams”.

Can you imagine Daniel Hall merely being a set of numbers? No! Daniel Hall is much more than that to me. He’s about a piece of my life. It has been a wonderful two (real) years here.

I also like to go sentimental from time to (sob) time.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (64-40) @ Aces (54-52) – July 31-August 2, 1995

The Aces were as close to October baseball as they hadn’t been in a dozen years. Their 88-74 second place finish behind the Thunder in 1983 (5 GB) was their very best finish in terms of record and position. Now they were 4.5 games behind the lead and still fully in the race. They were hanging on despite the third-worst rotation in the league, although we would encounter the better part of their starters. They lived on offense, barely outscoring the Coons, 510 runs to 507. But, to be nitpicky, they had two games more under their belt. Just sayin’.

Projected matchups:
Miguel Lopez (10-3, 3.49 ERA) vs. Rafael Espinoza (6-9, 4.30 ERA)
Robert Vázquez (8-5, 3.53 ERA) vs. Ben Carlson (5-3, 3.58 ERA)
Scott Wade (8-7, 3.37 ERA) vs. Jou Hara (9-8, 4.09 ERA)

Depressing facts: Vern Kinnear came into this series hitting 1-15 against the Aces this year (albeit that hit was a 2-piece dinger). Also: we were facing all right-handers the first time since the last Canadiens series we had. David Brewer would have liked that.

Lopez and Espinoza pitched well in the opener, allowing only the merest of offense to be logged. The Raccoons got a few singles and a walk together in the fourth to score two runs, the latter on an RBI groundout by Higgins, where Jesus Zamora could also have gone to second to try a double play that would have ended the frame. Lopez would lead off the top 7th with a double, and the Raccoons added two runs to lead 4-0. Lopez would surrender only his third hit on the day in the bottom 7th, but unfortunately it was a 2-run homer to Zamora. Still, Lopez went another inning, handing it over directly to Dye, who remained untainted by filth under his coonskin cap, although this time he required Royce Green to make an awesome catch for the final out. 4-2 Raccoons! Reece 2-4, 2 2B, RBI; Baldivía 2-3, 2B; Lopez 8.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, W (11-3) and 1-3, 2B;

We took a 1-0 lead in the first with an unearned run the next day, before we managed to run ourselves out of runs repeatedly. Vázquez bunted into a double play that ended the second inning. Green was caught stealing in the fourth, keeping him from scoring on a Baldy double to deepest left two batters later. Kinnear had reached between those two and scored against the fear-striking arm of Lucio Hernandez. We got another run in the fifth, when Salazar, on a Kinnear bloop single, blew through the stop sign at third and scored. The Aces lost CF Javier Vargas to injury on that play. Vázquez was erratic meanwhile, pitching in undesirable counts repeatedly. He loaded the bags in the bottom 5th with two out and George Waller up. No matter what, this was his last batter. The count ran full, and then Vázquez still struck him out. The pen had to cover four with a 3-0 lead, and Miller made that 3-1 in the sixth already. West and De La Rosa pitched scoreless innings. Dye had been out two days in a row, so we went to Martinez to close this game. While he gave up a leadoff single to Zamora and hard contact to give Kinnear and Reece work for the first two outs, he still put the game away, although it was not pretty. 3-1 Coons. Ingall 4-5; Salazar 2-5, RBI; Reece 2-4, BB; Baldivía 2-4, 2B, RBI;

4-2, 3-1 … are were really talking about the most potent run machines in the Continental League!?

Also, this should not mean we were forfeiting game 3, but we were to play four with the Loggers over the weekend, and I wanted to have my best team on the field then. Thus, Reece, Salazar, and Vinson all sat in game 3. Green had already been removed in a double switch with Vázquez in the middle game, so he had only played half a game, and this had to do. And Scott Wade just had to toss a shutout so he would not lose. Haha.

This Jou Hara we faced in the final game had little in common with the Jou Hara from a few years back. That Jou Hara won 19 games in 1992 and was Pitcher of the Year. This Jou Hara was walking them in bunches and surrendered runs upon runs. In this game however, he was perfect the first time through the lineup, while Wade’s shutout went out of the window in the first. Down 1-0, Ingall broke up any bid by Hara with a leadoff jack in the fourth that tied the game. The next thing in the park that was broken up was Wade. The Aces put their first three batters on in the bottom 4th, with a double that somehow eluded Kinnear in left, a walk and a single. Then Wade bobbled a sure grounder for an out at home and everybody was safe, and the next thing we got to see was LF Edward Carter sinking a ball into the bleachers behind right field. That game was lost, as Hara had a grip on the Coons, and the Aces put another 4-spot on De La Rosa in the fifth. Gabby also drilled and injured Taisuke Mashiba. 10-1 Aces. Quinn 2-4; Lagarde 2.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Ah, offense. Finally. Wrong team, though. We had four hits in the game and whiffed ten times. I think, even Reece in the lineup wouldn’t have kept Wade from taking the L.

Raccoons (66-41) vs. Loggers (64-44) – August 3-6, 1995

We will duke it out over the division lead in a 4-game set. Unless we get swept, we will stay ahead, however with the current state of things, getting swept is not out of the question. Vázquez was iffy in his last start, Saito never gets run support, and to be honest, NOBODY on the team has been getting or giving any run support whatsoever for two weeks now.

We did however get Ben O’Morrissey back from the DL in time for this series, and Ben Nash was demoted back to AAA.

Projected matchups:
Kisho Saito (10-4, 3.06 ERA) vs. Tim Butler (8-4, 3.88 ERA)
Jason Turner (13-4, 2.86 ERA) vs. Rafael Garcia (10-9, 4.33 ERA)
Miguel Lopez (11-3, 3.42 ERA) vs. Martin Garcia (12-6, 2.65 ERA)
Robert Vázquez (9-5, 3.40 ERA) vs. Jorge Casas (11-6, 3.51 ERA)

At the start of the opener, Saito walked the first two batters, and the Logger scored a run. Uh-oh. The Coons left a pair in scoring position in the bottom 1st, and then grounded into an inning-ending double play in the second, and in the third, and in the fourth. Saito was looking unhappy. Kinnear gave him reason to smile. Moved up to batting second, Kinnear drilled a 2-out, 2-run homer in the bottom 5th that gave Saito the lead. The score remained 2-1 through six, when everything went to hell for the second time in the game. Saito hit Bob Grant with a 1-2 pitch to lead off the seventh. Jose Perez then came through with a triple and we were tied. Gates Golunski bunted his way on in this scenario. Runners on the corners, no outs, the count ran full against Shoji Murakami, who swung through Saito’s sixth pitch, while Golunski tried to steal second – and was hammered out by Vinson. Now Saito had only to get through SS Miguel Ibarra, who batted a scary .169, and we are still tied. Ibarra popped out to Salazar. Now, give that guy some offense, boys! Nah. Didn’t happen. Saito started the ninth, but Cristo Ramirez doubled and Grant was walked on four straight by Saito, which gave him the hook. Saito kicked over the Gatorade barrel on the way to the clubhouse, as Martinez came in, walked the bags full, and surrendered Saito’s lead run on a sac fly. It was the losing run. We got our first two men on in the bottom 9th, and then NOTHING. 3-2 Loggers. Ingall 3-5; Jin (PH) 1-1; Saito 8.0 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 8 K, L (10-5) and 1-3;

They left 11 men on base despite hitting into three double plays. **** was steaming, and three more to play.

Game 2. The Coons took a 1-0 lead in the second mainly due to SS Izumo Sasaki bungling a grounder for his 11th error of the year, but we got some actual offense in in the third. Neil Reece’s 1-out RBI triple was the main contributing factor in a 3-run inning that gave Turner a 4-0 lead. But Turner was wobbly and struggled with command, so it was still an everything goes game. It still worked out for Turner a long time – until it didn’t. He walked Golunski leading off the seventh, then was taken deep by Murakami. Still up 4-2, Caddock pinch-hit for a double in the bottom 8th, and when Ingall grounded out, Caddock went to third. Then Kinnear struck out. It would have been nice to have this insurance run, you know? Reece listened, doubled, and the inning continued with a Golunski error putting on Green. O-Mo walked, and we could move this far away, if only Salazar didn’t strike out here. Dye walked two in the ninth before he punched out Jerry Fletcher to end the game. 5-2 Coons. Ingall 2-5; Reece 3-4, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Vinson 3-4, 2B, RBI; Caddock (PH) 1-1, 2B; Turner 7.1 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, W (14-4);

Miguel Lopez was also wild in the third game, hitting the second batter he faced, Drake Evans. Not that Evans was mad at Lopez, but he homered his next time around, Loggers one, Furballs nuthin’. But the Loggers had Sasaki at short, and he had a troublesome series. In the bottom 4th O-Mo got on, then stole second base with one out. Higgins grounded to Sasaki – another comedy of errors at short. O-Mo scored the tying run by the time Sasaki had figured out the state of play and himself. We got Vinson on with a 2-out single, where Higgins dashed to third. That brought up Lopez, who drilled a liner over the head of Martin Garcia into shallow center to give himself a lead, 2-1. We left the bags full eventually, and Garcia led off the top 5th with a single and was brought in to score. Lopez issued a walk and threw two wild pitches in the inning. His wild interpretation of the strike zone eventually did get some support from the offense. While the Coons left four on in the fifth and sixth combined, at least David Vinson hit a leadoff jack in the latter, putting us up 3-2. And again we could not tack on a run, and this time Mike Dye blew the save, defeated by a pair of walks, a pair of bunts, a hit, and two runs scoring. In came John Bennett, who led the CL in saves, and sat the Coons down 1-2-3. 4-3 Loggers. Reece 3-5, 2B; Vinson 2-3, HR, RBI;

We had to win game 4 if we didn’t want the Loggers within half a game of us.

Ingall did all he could with a leadoff home run in the bottom 1st. Vázquez was not good, however, and the Loggers got the run back in the second inning already. And then the usual drudgery began for the Raccoons, and they had the bags full in the third inning, but O-Mo popped out to center for the final out and they didn’t score, and in due time Vázquez was 2-1 behind. Ingall hit a leadoff double in the bottom 5th, sitting a triple shy of the cycle then, and the Coons scored him, just barely, on a 2-out infield single by Royce Green. For the love of all furry critters, we could not buy a proper hit with runners on in this game, and left runners on in the sixth and seventh. The game was still tied through eight, and Miller pitched a 5-pitch ninth to sit down the Loggers. Now we had a chance to walk off. Jin, batting for Miller, whiffed. Ingall walked, but Kinnear forced him out with a grounder. Reece dinked a single into left. Green could end this on time. He got a 2-0 pitch to his liking and shoved it into shallow left center, where Golunski took time to get to it. Kinnear was waved home, slid over the plate as Murakami slapped the throw on him – SAFE!!! 3-2 Coons. Ingall 3-4, BB, HR, 2B, RBI; Reece 2-5; Green 2-3, 2 BB, 2 RBI; Higgins (PH) 1-1; Miller 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, W (4-0);

In other news

August 2 – TIJ Woody Roberts (7-10, 4.84 ERA) shuts out the Indians, 4-0, tossing a 3-hitter.
August 2 – Ex-Coon NAS SP Dennis Fried (9-8, 3.48 ERA) has his day, 2-hitting the Pacifics in a 7-0 win for the Blue Sox.
August 3 – RIC RF/LF Raúl Vázquez (.351, 23 HR, 89 RBI) has his monster season interrupted by a sprained ankle, which will force him out for this month.
August 4 – SAL SP Luis Guzman (9-11, 4.49 ERA) could miss all of next season with a torn rotator cuff.
August 5 – The Knights beat the Bayhawks 4-0. Pat Cherry (7-12, 3.74 ERA) tosses a 2-hit shutout.
August 6 – ATL RF/LF Gerald Hall (.240, 6 HR, 25 RBI) is out for the year with a torn labrum.

Complaints and stuff

Watching the offense struggle is a painful grind. In the 15 games since we drubbed the Thunder 11-1 in the opener of that series, we have exceeded four runs TWICE. No wonder the Loggers are breathing down our neck. Even our stud rotation can’t keep up with that. No rotation could. And the only thing that is currently missing from the perfect lineup is Brewer (he will come back next week). It JUST … WON’T … WORK… at this point. Having problems is one thing. The 1979 Coons were horrible. They would not score runs. Period. The 1995 Coons are about the best ever assembled. Not being able to score for 2 1/2 weeks is not only grinding my heart to rubble, it is also a terrible mystery that has to be solved.

For this purpose I have arranged for Ben Matlock, Lt. Columbo, and Jessica Fletcher to be flown to Portland.

Columbo immediately burned a whole into the carpet in my office…

Last 15 starts for Kisho Saito: 3.44 ERA in 99.1 IP, 3.9 K/BB, and discounting the 16-run thumping of the Indians a few weeks back, 3.4 R/G, and such came about a 2-5 record for Saito in that period. And it PISSES me off.

Miguel Lopez was named the CL Pitcher of the Month for July, going 5-0 with a 2.06 ERA in six starts. He went 43.2 innings, punching out 37 batters. It is his second such award in the Bigs (he also has four in the minors).

What is even more surprising since even I hadn’t been really paying attention to him (but batting him leadoff most of the time during Brewer’s stint on the DL here) is the fact that Marvin Ingall won the Rookie of the Month award! He went .358 in 67 AB, plating 13 with two homers.

At times this week, we had the top 3 in batter WAR on our team in Brewer (4.7), O-Mo (3.9), and Reece (3.6 going up to 4.0). Never mind that two of them were on the DL. Brewer also continues to lead the league in AVG and OPS.

Below is also the profile of Ingall. Not bad for a throw-in in the deal we made for Mark Allen with the Wolves, huh?

[Westheim]

Raccoons (68-43) vs. Canadiens (51-59) – August 7-10, 1995

The Canadiens still weren’t very good in any one category. They were middling about in the bottom half of the division, going neither back nor forth. The 9th-best offense and 6th-best defense in the league would come to Portland for four games. We needed the W’s, but we were again scheduled only right-handers, and David Brewer would not come back until the weekend, so our most dangerous left-handed bat was missing from the lineup.

Projected matchups:
Scott Wade (8-8, 3.39 ERA) vs. Manny Ramos (9-9, 3.98 ERA)
Kisho Saito (10-5, 3.08 ERA) vs. John Collins (6-9, 5.73 ERA)
Jason Turner (14-4, 2.84 ERA) vs. Arnold McCray (7-11, 3.56 ERA)
Miguel Lopez (11-3, 3.38 ERA) vs. Jose Dominguez (7-5, 3.18 ERA)

We went into the opener with Salazar batting leadoff and Caddock playing first, just so we could have four left- or switch-hitters in there. Do I really want the umpteenth infielder on the depth chart in place of righty Baldivía? Well, for one game, this is a nice try.

Manny Ramos wore out Raccoons pitching AND hitting in the opener. He had a 3-hit day, which included a leadoff double in the fifth, during which he scored the Canadiens’ second run off wade, and a 2-out, 2-run single in the sixth, which sent Wade home. By that time, we were down 4-0, and had touched third base twice the entire game. The first instance was in the bottom 1st, when Neil Reece only shortly vacationed around there, going first-to-home on a 2-out Green double, but didn’t QUITE make it home. We also left the bases loaded in the third, blaming that on Reece and Green making the last two outs in pathetic fashion. Reece would not see the end of the game, leaving with an injury rather early, while Green didn’t get anything done at the plate. One run was scratched out in the seventh, but that still left us trailing, until Kinnear came up with two on and two out against Ramos in the eighth. The Canadiens did not replace him with a southpaw, but came to regret it, and Kinnear bombed us back into a tie, which held for some time. In the 11th inning, both teams loaded the bags. The Canadiens did so with one out against Burnett and then De La Rosa, but couldn’t get anyone in. The Coons did so with three 2-out runners: Vinson walked, Baldy singled, Salazar walked. That brought up Ingall, while the Canadiens left Holden Gorman in to face him. I would have appreciated Ingall taking a pitch or two, but he poked at the first ball he saw, hit it into the ground in front of home plate, and was out by about 88 feet at first base. By the 13th, our last available arm (minus a tired Mike Dye) was in the game, Juan Martinez. He barely wobbled through that inning. Caddock, 0-5, led off the bottom 14th. His best AB of the day ended with a flyout to the wall in dead center – if only Jose Saldana would have gotten the glove up an inch higher. The ball glanced off the glove, dropped, and Caddock had a double. Boys. This is important. David Vinson got the message. There was only one more pitch in the game, which Vinson took into the left center gap for a double. 5-4 Coons. Ingall 3-6; Jin 2-3; Kinnear 2-6, HR, 3 RBI; Vinson 2-4, 2 BB, 2 2B, 2 RBI; Burnett 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 1 K; De La Rosa 1.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Neil Reece hit the DL with a mild shoulder strain, which was estimated at the minimum of two weeks. Which is a blow to an offense already struggling, since Reece still hit around .300ish. We know he can do better, but he was a huge chunk that is now gone for two weeks. Luke Newton was recalled.

Kisho Saito would be well advised to go deep into the second game. Raúl Solís hit a leadoff triple and scored on a groundout and the Canadiens were in business in the first. Saito would be done after five innings. Then, the Canadiens were up 5-0, four runs earned (and the fifth was unearned due to a Saito error), including a 2-run homer by Luis Arroyo. The Raccoons hadn’t even touched third base. Aided by an error by Saldana, they scored two runs in the fifth. Lagarde gave us two scoreless, yet hardly watchable innings. The Canadiens left the bags full in the seventh and eighth, while the Raccoons did zero. Bottom 9th, still down 5-2. Quinn got on, and then Jin pinch-hit for a double play. Yeah. Salazar singled, and Ingall walked. Suddenly, facing Albert Matthews, we had the tying run at the plate in Kinnear. He had tied the game with a moon shot the last night. But not tonight. Grounder to second, out. 5-2 Canadiens. Salazar 4-5, RBI; Quinn 2-4;

These hitters were like that four-year old having gotten lost on a big railway station, staring motionless and with watery eyes at the people zooming past, in this case the opposing teams. And I admit that I am the one with the watery eyes. In any case, they were on the right track to fall behind the Loggers in short time.

Royce Green had a day off in the next game. Not that it mattered.

Wednesday had terrible weather, though. It rained on and off almost from the start. Jason Turner was getting soaked, but at least got an early lead, two unearned runs in the bottom 2nd on a Michael McFarland error. In the bottom 4th, Quinn was at first with one out and Turner at the plate. We called a hit-and-run, Turner put the ball in play, and the Canadiens failed to make any play. All hands safe, Salazar singled to load them up, and Higgins drew a walk, forcing in a run, 3-0. While Kinnear flew out to center, Arnold McCray was rapidly becoming unhinged. O-Mo singled to left, scoring a run, and then McCray went on to hit consecutive batters! That removed him from the game, down 6-0, and Norio Hayashi got Newton out to leave the score there. We still added a few more against the bullpen in the late innings, while Turner pitched a very strong game with a single lapse in the sixth inning. 9-1 Raccoons! Salazar 2-6, RBI; Kinnear 2-4, RBI; Newton 2-5, 2B, RBI; McDonald (PH) 1-1; Green (PH) 1-1; Turner 8.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, W (15-4) and 2-4, 2B;

With 15 wins, where does Jason Turner rank in the CL in regards to most wins? He is second to IND Neil Stewart, who has 17 W’s. In the FL, there are two guys ahead of Turner. LAP Angel Romero has 16, and one guy, whom we know well, has 17. We faced him a few times the last years. It is Washington’s Archie Dye!

So many guys with the surname Dye. Archie Dye, Mike Dye, Jermaine Dye… I never encountered a Mr. Dye outside these ballgames. They can’t be brothers, either. Their skin colors don’t match.

Another game here, before I talk myself out of readers. After finally getting some offense in the third game, we went back to nothing at all in the fourth. Meanwhile, Miguel Lopez was shredded to pieces, allowing an unearned run (Kinnear dropped a ball) in the third, but then was battered with a 3-run homer by Alberto Durán in the fourth, and a 2-run job by Saldana in the sixth. We had scored one measly run on three even more measly hits. We ended up 6-hit and never were even close to competing. 7-1 Canadiens. Ingall 2-4; Green 2-4, 2B, RBI; Lagarde 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Our progress is best measured in zeroes.

Raccoons (70-45) @ Gold Sox (54-59) – August 11-13, 1995

A weak offense and average pitching had the Gold Sox basically out of it since July. They were 14 games back in the FL West and in fourth place as we turned up interleague mode for the last time this year. They still had one of the most fearsome hitters in the Federal League, left-handed 1B Liam Wedemeyer, who was at 25 homers and regretted not being able to come to Portland for three games.

Projected matchups:
Robert Vázquez (9-5, 3.37 ERA) vs. John Woodard (6-9, 4.99 ERA)
Scott Wade (8-8, 3.50 ERA) vs. Kiyohira Sasaki (9-11, 3.99 ERA)
Kisho Saito (10-6, 3.20 ERA) vs. Miguel Martinez (5-11, 4.60 ERA)

The Raccoons had 12 base runners in the opener – in the first four innings! They managed to leave pairs of them on in each of the first four innings, and somehow ended up leading only 3-1 after four. Woodard was adrift in the water, scored a run with a wild pitch in the fourth and was doing his team a disservice with every pitch. Wedemeyer homered off Vázquez in a 2-run sixth that brought the Gold Sox back into striking distance despite them being dwarfed more than 2:1 in base runners in the game. Both pitchers were removed in the top 7th. Woodward after a leadoff single by Vinson, and Vázquez for Quinn to pinch-hit. The Coons got the bases loaded with two out, and Baldy up, so the middle infielders got ready for an easy grounder. Nope, Baldy drummed a 2-1 pitch by Nathan Davis off the wall in center, bringing in all three runners this time. FINALLY. Burnett failed to get Wedemeyer out in the seventh, but he was the Gold Sox’ last base runner in the game, and we added a run in the ninth. 8-3 Coons. Salazar 2-4, 2 BB; Baldivía 2-5, 2B, 3 RBI; Green 2-3, 2 BB, RBI; Vinson 3-5, 2B; Higgins (PH) 1-1, 2B; Quinn (PH) 1-1;

We finally got David Brewer back the next day, ridding us of the atrocious Steve Caddock, who was sent back to St. Pete. Of course, the next day we faced a left-hander. Brewer still batted leadoff. Salazar needed a day off after playing every day during this stretch, and Higgins manned short. As I was getting more creative with lineups, I had Vinson bat third, Green play center, and Ingall at first base. I would have played Grandma in right and batting sixth, but the 25-man roster was full.

Sasaki should be well remembered among followers. Apart from ocassional appearances of him during the regular season – he spent most of his career in the Federal League – we faced him twice in the playoffs. While we chewed through his 1989 Knights, he dominated us hopelessly in the 1983 World Series, when he was with the Stars. He is now 36, has 211 career wins, and still puts down K’s like there’s no tomorrow. If he can go a few more years, he should make it to 3,000. Current total: 2,554.

Sasaki added seven K’s to his collection in the match against Wade, but exited on the hook in the seventh. While Wade had flown out to right with the bags full in the third – the only serious scoring chance for either team through five innings – O-Mo set the Raccoons ahead with a monstrous solo home run in the top 6th. That was the difference when two singles knocked out Sasaki in the seventh, and Royce Green responded to facing reliever Juan Sanchez with an RBI double to right. O-Mo was put on intentionally with one out, but we only managed to add one run on a Higgins sac fly, 3-0. Now, with a 1-0 lead, do you have Wade pitch to Wedemeyer leading off an inning? Probably not! At 3-0? Sure. What’s the worst that can happen? Wedemeyer grounded out to Higgins, and Wade continued to cruise, then on a 2-hitter. In the ninth, we had the bags full with no outs, scored a pair on groundouts, and Wade was sent to bat with two on and two out, and again flew out to right. But Wade was pitching a gem on ample steam, and I wanted to see some more. Wade struck out ex-Coon Antonio Gonzalez, who led off the bottom 9th. Dale Wales lined out to Quinn in right. That brought up Wedemeyer once more. No walk be given! Humiliate him! Wedemeyer sliced at Wade’s first pitch and grounded out to Higgins once more. 5-0 Coons!! Ingall 2-5; Green 2-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Quinn 3-4, BB; Wade 9.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K, W (9-8);

That was one of the most AMAZING games I ever saw pitched by a Furball! 98 pitches, 63 for strikes, and at best five hard hit balls off Wade the entire game! No dozen strikeouts, no no-hitter, no glitzy stuff, but regardless of that, THIS here was a PEAK PERFORMANCE!! I AM AMAZED!!

It was Wade’s seventh career shutout. It was probably his best game ever. Better than that 1-hitter he lost against the Canadiens in (I would have to look up the exact year, which ain’t easy) ’86 or ’87. Also, the result was markedly more pleasant.

Wade, 33, had his 133rd win in this game (against 84 losses and a 3.35 ERA). He crossed the 2,000 innings mark in this game. Interestingly, he does not even have 1,000 strikeouts: he sits at 975;

Saito in game 3 did not face Wedemeyer, who had the day off. Not that it helped Saito any. He surrendered line drives and home runs like there was no tomorrow, and was down 6-0 after four innings of work. Miguel Martinez faced the minimum through three innings, but then left with an injury. The Gold Sox bullpen carefully administered their lead over six innings. The Raccoons were once more not even close to winning this one and lost, 6-1 Gold Sox. Salazar 2-4, RBI; Baldivía 2-3; Quinn (PH) 1-1; Miller 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K;

Saito falls to 10-7. In three months, he has won three games.

For every great game you get at least three kicks into the nuts. This is how baseball works.

Oh yeah, the Loggers win game after the game and are only one game behind.

Raccoons (72-46) vs. Blue Sox (56-62) – August 14-16, 1995

The Blue Sox were very much cast from the same form as the Gold Sox. Their offense was about average, their pitching was not quite average in the Federal League. Overall, it was just not enough to hit .500. But with these Coons coming in, many things are possible. We were to face two youngsters and a grizzled veteran in this series.

Projected matchups:
Jason Turner (15-4, 2.76 ERA) vs. Javier Cruz (4-3, 3.52 ERA)
Miguel Lopez (11-4, 3.56 ERA) vs. Roy Collier (7-12, 5.30 ERA)
Robert Vázquez (10-5, 3.41 ERA) vs. Salvador Fierro (5-9, 4.72 ERA)

Balls again only fell in for one team in the opener, and that team again was not the one in the brown caps. Jason Turner was wildly inaccurate with his pitches, and had singles and doubles hit all over the place. The Blue Sox scored five on him in six innings, while the Raccoons had nothing – absolutely nothing – going for them until Kinnear and Quinn hit back-to-back home runs in the bottom 6th. That still had the team behind by three. Cruz was still pitching for Nashville when Brewer and Salazar singled their ways on in the bottom 8th. Nobody out, the tying run came to the plate. O-Mo fouled out, Kinnear merely hit a sac fly, and Quinn ended the inning. 5-3 Blue Sox. McDonald 2-4;

The Loggers had this Monday off, so we fell to half a game ahead of them. Things are swimming down the river at an increased pace now.

The young Collier was suffocated by a flurry of singles by the Raccoons very quickly in the middle game. However, singles also mean you don’t advance too far with each new single. So while the Coons put something on the board in each of the first four innings against Collier, they totaled “only” five runs in that span, including a solo homer by O’Morrissey. Miguel Lopez didn’t find his good stuff until relatively late in the game. Defense, with Newton and Green making a few awesome catches and a pair of double plays as well, kept him in the game with a bid for a 2-hitter through six. Only then did he manage to actually miss some bats. In a 6-0 game with the bags full and no outs in the bottom 8th, he was mindlessly sent to bat, and he brought in a run with a groundout. The Coons would plate three in the inning, and Lopez went back out for the ninth, where he only threw five pitches to end the game. 9-0 Furballs! Brewer 3-4, BB, 3B, RBI; O’Morrissey 2-5, HR, 2 RBI; Vinson 2-3, BB, 2B; Baldivía 2-3, RBI; Newton 2-3, BB, 2 RBI; Lopez 9.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 6 K, W (12-4) and 1-4, RBI;

Although Lopez needed five less pitches than Wade for his 3-hitter, it was much less impressive. He surrendered plenty of fat contact and let the defense do most of the work. I mean, a 3-hit shutout is wonderful, but Wade’s was FANTASTIC, in caps. It was Lopez’ fourth career shutout in his 81st start.

Game 3 was brought along by a leadoff jack hit by Horace Henry in the top 2nd. The Coons had runners on the corners and one out in the bottom 3rd when I got Bobby Quinn thrown out at home on a squeeze play. But O-Mo then drew a walk to load the bags and Green doubled to deep right for two runs to score. That 2-1 lead was not well entrusted with Vázquez. He gave up two singles and a homer to Jose Gonzalez in the top 4th – and the band played on. Shattered with five runs in the inning, Vázquez was yanked. Down 6-2, the game was out of the window, especially since the Coons had nothing going against Fierro, and De La Rosa gave up another run in the sixth. They collected the grand total of two hits after the third inning. 7-2 Blue Sox. Jin (PH) 1-1; Baldivía (PH) 1-1; Miller 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

This was our 13th series against the Blue Sox – the most against any FL opponent – and there has never been a sweep in such a series. The only other opponent for which this is true, are the Capitals, whom we played seven times. Total records, vs. Blue Sox 21-18, vs. Capitals 10-11;

We had Thursday off, but the Loggers played their final game against the Miners and had a chance to tie us for the division lead. They would lose to the Miners in extra innings, 5-4, so we continue to lead.

… on borrowed time.

In other news

August 9 – OCT MR Ramón Campoy (1-1, 5.59 ERA) is out for the season with a broken elbow. The Thunder had gotten him off waivers from the Raccoons last month.
August 10 – BOS SP Philippe Villard (6-8, 6.01 ERA) has his season end, too, with shoulder inflammation.
August 15 – A hamstring strain will place SAC 1B/3B/CF Jared O’Molony (.322, 3 HR, 53 RBI) on the DL for at least one month.
August 17 – NAS SP Rafael Lopez (11-10, 4.61 ERA) fails a drug test and is handed a 10-game suspension.

Complaints and stuff

During this update, Alarico Violante was on waivers by the Knights. He’s a career backup catcher, who was with us in 1990 and one game in 1991, who has about the coolest name ever given. I still passed.

We also had a 19-yr old Mexican outfielder Edgardo Lorenzo in AA ball, who retired from baseball due to post-concussion syndrome. Hard to say whether anything would have developed out of him, but regardless it is a sad story developing here. Will the authorities now deport him back to La Cucaracha? – What? – He is from where? – Culiacan? – Never heard of that.

Sigh. Like I said. We’re in the doldrums.

[Westheim]

Musical score suggestion: Talk Talk – Such A Shame

Raccoons (73-48) @ Crusaders (53-68) – August 18-20, 1995

The Crusaders must be cursed. Even under new ownership they continued to grace the rear of the division. In this series, they would fling two rookies at us, who combined for 41 years of age and seven starts in the big leagues. Their pitching was horrible, they were conceding the second-most runs in the league, and had the absolute worst rotation. The offense was at best average, and they had just lost their big free agent acquisition Clement Clark to an undisclosed injury. They had like three batters left who would have a faint chance of playing *at all* for the Raccoons in Pat Jenkins, Steve Cobb, and Ruben Melendez. They were in the horse dung …

Projected matchups:
Scott Wade (9-8, 3.29 ERA) vs. Anibal Sandoval (3-1, 3.03 ERA)
Kisho Saito (10-7, 3.45 ERA) vs. Ken Johnson (0-1, 8.59 ERA)
Jason Turner (15-5, 2.92 ERA) vs. Cipriano Miranda (6-11, 5.67 ERA)

And if the Crusaders were where they were, it begged the question where the Raccoons were, especially while watching the opener. Wade and Sandoval were both not dealing hot sauce, but both lineups were outright pathetic. Through seven innings, we were deadlocked in a 1-1 game, both runs scoring in the third inning, and Wade had been forced to bat in his own run support. In the eighth (and there was really nothing going on in the middle innings at all), Brewer hit a 1-out double, just the eighth hit in the game combining both teams. Salazar singled to right, and Brewer was sent for home, and was thrown out. Bottom 9th, still tied, Wade was to face three lefties, and walked Martin Limón up front. Jean-Claude Monnier bounced into a 5-4-3, which brought up Jenkins, THE threat the Crusaders had. Nah, no walk was to be given, since Melendez, the slugging catcher, was batting behind him. Jenkins grounded out to O’Morrissey. So, extra innings, and both pitchers seemed like they would appear in the tenth! Not only that, they completed it, but Wade was at 124 pitches and done. Top 11th, Brewer led off with a single, and Salazar bunted him over. Sandoval walked O-Mo, and that was the end for him. Jared Chaney sat down Green and Kinnear. We lost the game in the 12th between Burnett putting the leadoff man Monnier on, De La Rosa giving Fernando Gonzales something hittable with two down and Monnier on third base, and Brewer missing Gonzales’ grounder. 2-1 Crusaders. Wade 10.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K and 1-4, RBI;

WHAT A SHAME!!

Scheduled extra beltings.

Game 2. Saito pitched, so no offense was to be expected, while Ken Johnson had allowed NINETEEN runners through 7.1 innings in his short season. Would it surprise anybody that he was going to pitch himself into a no-hit bid? Saito was easily hittable and surrendered line drives, and the Crusaders scored the go-ahead run in the fourth. Through five, the Raccoons were hitless, and they only managed to brake into the H column with two out in the sixth, when Brewer singled past a not well placed 2B Haywood Lammond. Ingall singled through Lammond, and then O-Mo grounded to Benjamin “Obnoxious” Butler at third, but Butler bobbled it. All bags occupied, two down, Royce Green to the plate. In a 2-0 count, he grounded to Lammond, out. Johnson drilled Higgins in the foot in the seventh, and with two down, we had two on and Saito was hit for by Vern Kinnear, who didn’t start this game. Kinnear lined out to left. The bullpen immediately threw two runs on the board. We were left with three hits. 3-0 Crusaders. Saito 6.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, L (10-8);

Higgins had a foot contusion and would not be able to play for a week.

So what?

The next day, the Raccoons sent ten man to bat in the first inning, scoring five runs on Miranda. A 2-run homer by Kinnear in the second inning sent Miranda showering, down 7-0. Now Turner just had to pitch semi-competently, a job requirement he kinda fulfilled. He carried a shutout into the ninth, only to have it broken up with two out there on a double by Butler (BUTLER!!) and Steve Cobb. 11-1 Raccoons. Brewer 2-5, BB, HR, RBI; Salazar 2-6, 2B, RBI; Kinnear 3-6, HR, 2 RBI; Vinson 2-5, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Ingall 2-4, BB, 2 2B, RBI; Quinn 3-5, 2B, RBI; Newton 3-5, 2 2B, RBI; Turner 9.0 IP, 8 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, W (16-5) and 1-4;

In other news

August 18 – DAL 1B/2B Pedro Villa (.281, 9 HR, 46 RBI) joins the club of players with 2,000 career hits with a first-inning single off the Pacifics’ Les Browning. The Stars still lose, 7-2. Villa, signed out of the Dominican by the Crusaders in 1979, is a very serviceable infielder and has played for the Crusaders, Bayhawks, and Stars in his 14-year career.

Complaints and stuff

I didn’t want to post this series alone, but I feel like I may not want to deal with this bunch of cheapskates right now.

I can’t even describe what this series has done with me. My throat is sore. You may guess the rest from there.

[Questdog]

I just noticed you had a clown for a backup catcher.

Did I see him in that Taco Bell commercial?

[Westheim]

To my knowledge, the entire lineup consists of clowns.

[edtheguy]

Originally Posted by Westheim

To my knowledge, the entire lineup consists of clowns.

Good strategy. Distract the fans from the score.

[Orcin]

Originally Posted by Westheim

My throat is sore. You may guess the rest from there.

I have an active imagination, but I have yet to come up with a good scenario starting from this point.

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by Orcin

I have an active imagination, but I have yet to come up with a good scenario starting from this point.

Now, I tried to list all the obscenities I barked in detail, but the board's decency filter won't let me. Although by game 2 it was also a lot of wincing and whining.

---

Raccoons (74-50) @ Indians (61-63) – August 22-24, 1995

The Indians had been close to the bottom of the division about a month ago, but had now recovered to almost .500. Their offense was still deplorable, and their pitching was average, so there were more 1-0 games in the books in this series. We would face three left-handers, including the best pitcher in the league this season, Neil Stewart.

Projected matchups:
Miguel Lopez (12-4, 3.36 ERA) vs. Neil Stewart (19-3, 2.59 ERA)
Robert Vázquez (10-6, 3.69 ERA) vs. Vernon Robertson (7-11, 3.45 ERA)
Scott Wade (9-8, 3.15 ERA) vs. Dan George (5-15, 5.04 ERA)

We did not play on Monday, while the Loggers stomped the Crusaders in New York, 8-0. This, coupled with Stewart having a good shot at #20, put us in a position to lose the lead in the series opener. I was quite sure we would lose the lead, safe for Crusaders heroics downing the Loggers.

Brewer singled and Ingall was hit to start the game, but O’Morrissey lined into a double play and that inning was over quickly. The Indians took a 3-0 lead on Lopez by the fourth, as Luis Maldonado scored after a leadoff triple in the second, and Angelo Duarte hit a 2-piece off Lopez in the fourth. Bobby Quinn put up a solo shot in the top 5th. The next inning we got Green and Kinnear into scoring position with one out. Baldivía and Quinn both grounded out to the left and nobody scored. Lopez held the Indians in place through eight, and the Indians replaced Stewart with closer Jim Durden for the ninth. Baldivía led off the ninth with a triple to right, and the tying run came up, and got on base with an RBI single by Quinn. Then Vinson struck out, and Salazar struck out, and Brewer grounded to first for – oh, no, Claudio Ayala failed to pick it up, and everybody was safe. Newton hit for an 0-3 Ingall to have a left-hander at the plate, but he struck out. 3-2 Indians. Green 3-4; Quinn 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Lopez 8.0 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 7 K, L (12-5);

To make this even worse, and they have to get worse all the time, every day, Vern Kinnear made wall contact on a play in the seventh and hurt his elbow. He was diagnosed with an elbow sprain and was moved to the disabled list, where he would spend the next three weeks. We added CF Kevin Savary to the roster. Savary is 22, unremarkable apart from switch-hitting, and we got him as a free agent after he was released by the Wolves a year after they signed him as undrafted free agent in Canada. He would probably only be on the roster for the rest of this series, because we expected Neil Reece back in time for the weekend.

The Loggers lost, 6-2, in New York. At least that.

The middle game saw both teams amount to a single through three innings, before the Coons socked it to Vernon Robertson in the fourth, with five line drive hits, and four runs scored. Maldonado had another leadoff triple in the fifth, but Vázquez stalled him at third base and the shutout remained in one piece. The bid however didn’t survive the sixth, which was led off by the pitcher Robertson with a double. Vázquez failed to keep him in check, and the Indians came back to 4-1. Robertson loaded the bases in the top 8th with nobody out, giving the Raccoons a chance to put this one away. They ended up scoring pairs of runs each on walks, on singles, and on groundouts for a 6-run eighth, and a lead that better wouldn’t get away, and wouldn’t. 10-1 Raccoons. Baldivía 2-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Salazar 2-4, BB; Jin 3-4, 2 RBI; Newton (PH) 1-1, RBI; Vázquez 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, W (11-6); Lagarde 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Savary had a PH appearance in this game and popped out in the ninth. He got the start in center for the third game, giving (a not hitting) Green a day off. Neil Reece would indeed be available for our series in Tijuana, so Savary knew that he would go back to Florida after this game, no matter what.

Wade vied for #10, but did not only have to fight our own lineup of horrible failure, but also the nine Indians put up. Unfortunately, Wade was giving up good contact in this start, while the Indians were absolutely flustered by Dan George. The Raccoons didn’t get on the board until the seventh, when Chih-tui Jin hit a 1-out RBI double to score O-Mo from first, starting to cut into a 3-0 deficit piled up by Wade. McDonald brought Jin home with two down, but the rally fell short as Green flew out in place of Wade. The tying run in form of Bobby Quinn was left on base in the eighth. Durden came out to close. Jin doubled to center with one out, and next Vinson batted for De La Rosa in the #7 hole where Savary had started. Vinson doubled into the gap in left center, and then McDonald did the same, as the Raccoons chopped up Durden with these three consecutive doubles. Brewer would drive in McDonald and we led 5-3 into the bottom 9th. Mike Dye – who had not pitched in a meaningful spot in almost two weeks – quickly ended the game. 5-3 Furballs. Quinn 2-3, BB, 2B; Jin 2-4, 2 2B, RBI; Vinson (PH) 1-1, 2B, RBI; McDonald 3-4, 2B, 2 RBI;

For good news, the Loggers had lost their last game (and the series) in New York, so we were now leading the division by two games.

Raccoons (76-51) @ Condors (57-71) – August 25-27, 1995

The Condors were much the other way round when compared to the Indians. Their pitching was abysmal, ranking at or close to the bottom in the Continental League in all aspects, but their offense was average, with their 561 runs scored ranking 5th. They still had the most horrible bullpen in the league. After facing only left-handers in Indy, we were due to see only right-handers here in Mexico.

Projected matchups:
Kisho Saito (10-8, 3.38 ERA) vs. Juan Lara (9-6, 3.93 ERA)
Jason Turner (16-5, 2.82 ERA) vs. Jose Fernandez (1-0, 1.13 ERA)
Miguel Lopez (12-5, 3.36 ERA) vs. Woody Roberts (9-12, 4.27 ERA)

The opener. Kisho Saito was horrible. He gave up good contact, solid contact, lots of contact, loud contact, strong contact, plenty of contact. Through five innings, we were tied at three, but the Condors had left the bags full twice in the game. Saito started the sixth inning, but only put on the go-ahead run in Kevin Lewis with a double off the wall. After accepting Lara’s bunt, he left. 5.1 innings, ten hits, a walk, three runs, possibly four. What the hell was going on? Between Saito, De La Rosa, and West, the bases got loaded in the inning, and the Condors left them full for the third time. Then we loaded the bags with 2-out singles by Green and O-Mo and a walk to Vinson, which knocked out Lara, in the seventh. Ex-Furball Roberto Carrillo was brought in to face Baldy, and Baldy grounded out to short. We left two more on in the eighth, while Miller pitched two scoreless for us (by far the best pitching we got on the day). Then Royce Green led off the top 9th taking Vincente Galván deep to left. Deep enough to break the tie, that was. We got another run and handed matters over to Dye in the bottom 9th. A walk, and another walk, and a 3-run homer by Andres Manuel ended this game. 6-5 Condors. Brewer 2-5, BB, RBI; Salazar 2-5; Green 2-5, HR, RBI; Baldivía 2-4, BB; Jin 3-5, RBI; Miller 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

The constant urge to cry is getting ever more urgent.

The only consolation was that the Loggers also blew a lead in the ninth against Oklahoma, and we remained two ahead.

Game 2. We faced 32-year old Jose Fernandez, who had made 18 starts for us between 1989 and 1992, but had a career ERA north of five and was only there to fill out the rotation for the Condors. Neither him nor Jason Turner found the strike zone in the game. The Coons had the bags full in the third and scored three runs, then had them full again, with no outs, in the fourth. In this situation, Fernandez faced only four more batters, each of them bringing in a run: Reece singled, Green singled, O-Mo walked, and Ingall grounded out. The two runs left on by him were allowed to score by Jose Valentín. With a run given up by Turner in a crowded bottom 3rd, we were up 9-1. Turner barely got through six innings on 101 pitches before being relieved. The offense allowed the Condors to finish the game with just three relievers despite putting up 21 hits in a rout: 10-1 Furballs. Brewer 2-4, 2 BB; Salazar 3-5, BB, RBI; Reece 3-6, RBI; Green 2-6, 2B, 2 RBI; Ingall 2-6, 3 RBI; Quinn 3-6, 2B, RBI; Turner 6.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 2 K, W (17-5) and 3-4, RBI; West 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K and 1-1, 2B;

Grant West had to become 38 years old to have his first extra base hit as a batter! XD Not that Grant West has ever been asked about his batting. He has gotten all of 31 AB’s in 894 career games, batting .194 with six hits and four RBI’s. And he had never had a double until now. In fact, this was his first base hit in seven years.

After having Turner wild not only at heart in the middle game, Lopez came right out again in the same dress in the rubber match. In the bottom 2nd, he loaded the bases with no outs, including two walks, but then rallied to punch out the next two batters, and got Woody Roberts to ground out. The first run of the game was the Critters’, Brewer scoring on a Jin sac fly after he had tripled with one out. Lopez would improve after that first time through the lineup and pitched seven shutout innings, although at least at one point the defense picked him up. In the bottom 5th Lopez surrendered a hissing line drive to Jesus Garcia with two down and Gilberto Flores on third base. What seemed bound to be a line drive RBI double to deep left became entangled in the glove of Ben O’Morrissey as he launched himself into the shot. We got some assistance from the Condors catcher, Andres Manuel, in the top 8th, who threw away the ball on a Green/O-Mo double steal, and both ended up scoring in the inning, 3-0. We left the bags full in the top 9th, then put Dye into the game. This time the Condors went down in silence. 3-0 Coons. Brewer 3-5, 3B; Green 2-5; Salazar 2-4, 2 2B, RBI; Baldivía 2-3, BB; Lopez 7.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 6 K, W (13-5);

Raccoons (78-52) @ Thunder (70-59) – August 28-30, 1995

The Thunder continued to be carried by their pitching staff, especially the rotation, which was among the top 3 in the league, but we face the two weakest links in that chain in this series (yet the same could currently be said about Vázquez and Saito). The offense was average, and outscored by 104 runs by the Coons’.

Projected matchups:
Robert Vázquez (11-6, 3.58 ERA) vs. Makoto Kogawa (13-8, 3.26 ERA)
Scott Wade (9-8, 3.20 ERA) vs. Lou Corbett (10-6, 4.52 ERA)
Kisho Saito (10-8, 3.43 ERA) vs. Manuel Garza (6-12, 4.47 ERA)

We have lost the openers of the last four straight series. Would be nice to have Vázquez step up to Kogawa. Meanwhile, Matt Higgins was available again after his foot contusion. Neil Reece had a day off in the opener, and Brewer would have game 2 off against the left-hander after playing all games in this string of games.

Jose Sanchez’ leadoff jack against Vázquez was not within the definition of stepping up to Kogawa. Salazar tied the game back with an RBI triple in the top 2nd, but with no outs was left on base by Higgins, Newton, and Vázquez. While Vázquez didn’t scare anybody except anyone who had a bet on the Furballs (and I didn’t, I swear), Kogawa was slapped for three runs in the top 4th when Brewer and Jin came through with 2-out base hits. Kogawa was knocked out quickly in the next inning, in which the Raccoons just didn’t stop sending batters to the plate. A string of singles and doubles plated seven runs and we were up 11-1! This was a hard lead to blow (but the Coons have done it before), and Vázquez had no interest in trying. While he had left his good stuff at home, he nevertheless managed to click the Thunder off batter by batter in the middle innings, breezing through the frames. He did not get in trouble again until in the ninth with a saturated liner into right by Vonne Calzado, but Vázquez hung on to the game and got Sonny Reece for the final out. The Coons had added three runs in the seventh. 14-1 Critters!! Brewer 4-5, BB, 4 RBI; O’Morrissey 3-5, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Vinson 2-5; Salazar 2-5, 3B, 2 RBI; Newton 2-6, 2 2B, 2 RBI; Vázquez 9.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, W (12-6) and 2-5, RBI;

Is the offense back in action? We will answer this question after the Saito start in game 3.

But before game 3 comes usually game 2. Scott Wade had another bid at winning ten or more games for ten consecutive years. Including the pitcher Lou Corbett, the Thunder brought up seven left-handed batters for the game, and Wade turned out to be struggling mightily. In a second inning that just didn’t want to end, Wade was beaten up for four runs. And while the Raccoons offered no left-handed batters against Corbett, they couldn’t buy a hit with a runner in scoring position. Not that they had many. They only got on the board in the eighth, and then only on Dave Browne throwing away a grounder by Bobby Quinn with two on and two out. The throw went into the dugout, and we got the tying run to the plate in Baldivía, who flew out. No RISP hits – until the end. Jimmy Morey saved this one without breaking a sweat. We were 5-hit. 4-1 Thunder. Higgins 2-4; O’Morrissey 2-3, BB, 2 2B; West 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

The Coons grounded into double plays in the first two innings of the rubber game, while Saito wobbled through his innings like a deer mortally wounded on the hunt wobbles through the forest, trying to miss the trees. Brewer set the Coons ahead with a solo home run in the third inning. Spectacular catches by the defense all over the field (Baldy was not playing) held Saito together. Everybody was waiting for that stray homer to sink him, especially with the stellar fielding not being mirrored into stellar batting. Vinson hit a 2-out double in the top 7th, still in a 1-0 game. Saito came to bat. What to do? Take him out? Aaaargh. Saito was sent to bat and struck out. Saito (on 73 pitches through six) then got six quick outs, including three K’s, to complete eight. We were due left-handers only in the bottom 9th, but we still had a chance to score some, but … good joke. Bottom 9th, up 1-0, Saito on 92 pitches, and lefties Dave Browne, Vonne Calzado, and Sonny Reece due to bat. Saito was sent to the mound, and Dye and Burnett were throwing in the pen. Saito threw only three pitches in the inning. The first was taken to right by Browne for a single, and Browne yielded for pinch-runner Dan Preston. Then Saito’s 0-1 pitch to Calzado went INTO Calzado. Burnett came in to face Reece, who grounded to second, but there was only a play to first. The winning runs went into scoring position. Burnett remained in to face lefty 1B Hector Ramirez. The game ended with a long double over the head of Royce Green. 2-1 Thunder. Brewer 2-3, BB, HR, RBI; O’Morrissey 2-4;

Offense is not back up.

In other news

August 21 – LVA LF/RF Michael Sanders (.319, 3 HR, 39 RBI) has suffered a fractured hand and is out for the season.
August 22 – WAS SP John Miller (1-1, 4.73 ERA) tosses a 3-hit shutout in this second major league start, in a 5-0 win over the Cyclones.
August 28 – A torn meniscus ends the 1995 campaign for SFB SP Ricardo Sanchez (12-9, 2.64 ERA).
August 29 – CIN LF/RF Dan Morris (.363, 34 HR, 95 RBI) brings a hitting streak all the way up to 20 games with a 1-5 performance in a 6-0 win of the Cyclones over the Gold Sox.

Complaints and stuff

How are you supposed not to cry here. Just … just how. And why. Why is also a decent question.

Runs scored by this team in last six Saito starts combined: 11
Record of Saito in his last six starts: 0-5

I did some research. It seems there is a certain enchained cacodemon in the sixth circle of hell whose name is Oshik. Whenever you spell his name backwards, something bad happens to a person standing closest to the sun. No more chanting “Kisho! Kisho!” then. [tumble in the background] And yes, he just fell down the stairs.

So, Kisho won’t get to 200 this season. While he was good, the offense sabotaged him out of it, and now he is so bad that even offense can’t rescue him, and also shows no interest in it. He was lucky not to wind up with the loss in the Condors game. There was a point early in the year when he held over 30% of the rotation’s wins. Now, only Scott Wade is behind him in wins, and by only one.

Crap like this tears my heart out.

As the resident numbers nerd over here I can also report that we have now moved past the Falcons into 12th place with our all time record (1,539-1,510), so we now belong to the better half of teams. And we are merely 80 wins behind the Capitals for first place, so how many years can it take to make those up? Somewhere between five and fifty sounds like a good guess.

Yet at the pace these suckers are moving along, we will probably drop back to .500 overall in short time.

[Westheim]

We called up a few players as the calendar hit September. SP Antonio Donis (13-7, 3.08 ERA) would finally make his major league debut. We would go to a 6-man rotation for at least two cycles, and then see whether anybody would be dropped into the pen. Probably not Turner. MR Tim Mallandain (0-4, 3.82 ERA, 20 SV) was re-added just for the extra left-handed option, although I would let Grandma pitch before him in an important spot. MR Day Grandridge (2-0, 1.82 ERA) was also added again.

Apart from that, we added only two position players, C Jose Rodriguez (.216, 4 HR, 22 RBI), who did not get any better by getting a tan down there in Florida most of the year, and INF Matt Duncan (.291, 12 HR, 58 RBI), to have extra options when pinch-hitting. Duncan was not even on the 40-man roster, and we waived AA SP Esteban Flores to get him on. Scouting on Flores, 22, has become more and more unfavorable recently. Duncan is of course a semi-regular up here.

Donis was slotted behind Lopez in the rotation, and Vázquez dropped behind Wade to #6, so we would not throw three consecutive left-handers up there, and so Donis would not pitch on seven days’ rest in his debut.

Entering the hot zone! And with seven left against the Loggers, we face them right away. We are two ahead, the Titans are only one more game behind. And we will play them right after the Loggers.

Raccoons (79-54) vs. Loggers (77-56) – September 1-3, 1995

The key to beating the Loggers was to get their starters out of the game. They had the second-best rotation around the CL, but their bullpen had recently plunged to 11th. We have outscored them by 27 runs this season, but that doesn’t mean a lot if your team scored either ten or one each and every day.

Projected matchups:
Jason Turner (17-5, 2.78 ERA) vs. Martin Garcia (15-6, 2.36 ERA)
Miguel Lopez (13-5, 3.23 ERA) vs. Davis Sims (13-5, 3.16 ERA)
Antonio Donis (0-0, no ERA) vs. Jorge Casas (13-8, 3.62 ERA)

The anticipated pitching duel in the opener did not really materialize. While it was true that Martin Garcia was dominating the Raccoons almost unchallenged by the lineup, Jason Turner did not have his stuff, and was taken deep by Drake Evans in the second, and then surrendered pairs of runs in the fifth and sixth innings, each time with a flurry of singles, plus a double in the sixth. At that point, Garcia was tossing a 3-hitter, with a solo shot by Baldivía the only blemish on his line. Loading the bases on him in the bottom 7th did not yield any runs when Vinson and PH Ingall both struck out. We double-played ourselves out of the last two innings, respectively. 6-1 Loggers. Brewer 2-4; Baldivía 2-4, HR, RBI; Grandridge 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

What a stinker of a game.

Game 2 was Lopez’ start. We got it going early, with kind support from 1B Shoji Murakami, who dropped a grounder from Brewer after picking it up, which was enough of a spark for us to score two unearned runs after Salazar and Reece singles. Salazar would score on a groundout. Murakami would drive in a run with two out in the top 2nd, though. The Loggers tied the game in the fourth in depressing fashion. Bob Grant singled up the middle to lead off the inning, and advanced to second on a passed ball. Vinson failed to make a play on Jose Perez’ infield grounder, moving Grant to third with no outs. From there, Lopez balked him home. Perez would score as well and we trailed 3-2. Davis Sims came apart in the fifth inning then. Salazar led off with a single and Reece walked. O-Mo hit a shot into the gap in right to tie the game, and Green walked to load them up for Vinson with nobody out. Vinson struck out in his second RISP situation on the day, but Baldy singled to left to score a pair, which was also the goodnight call for Sims. Lopez cruised into the ninth with the 5-3 lead, where he got one out before an error by Brewer (his second in the series) put Cristo Ramirez on base. Grant doubled to left and Ramirez scored, and Lopez was out with the tying run in scoring position. De La Rosa and Burnett were rolled in in succession and managed to starve Lopez at third. But we got support from the heart of our lineup. Against Roberto Martinez, Reece and O-Mo got on with two outs, bringing up Green, who connected big time for a 3-run homer to left center. Lagarde came in to pitch the ninth. Of his first nine pitches, eight were balls, and Martinez replaced him. He loaded the bags with one out, prompting Mike Dye to emerge as the fifth reliever of the night. He yielded a sac fly, but held on. 8-5 Raccoons. Salazar 2-5; Reece 2-3, 2 BB, RBI; O’Morrissey 3-4, BB, 2 2B, RBI; Lopez 7.1 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 9 K, W (14-5) and 1-4, 2B;

Five relievers to get five outs. Waaay to go.

Rubber game. You know, it wouldn’t be so bad to win this one. The Titans had split two with the Indians while we were dealing here, so no ground lost or gained for us at this point. Was it a good idea to have a rookie pitch this game, his DEBUT? Ah, he won’t have it any easier with the Titans either. Go Donis!

Of Donis’ first 15 pitches, 11 were balls, and the Loggers loaded the bags with no outs. Bob Grant singled in the first run, and with one out Bob Rush made sure Donis would never forget his debut, neither would anybody else. He grand slammed the Loggers 5-0 ahead. That Donis struck out five batters after that did little to lessen the grief. Jorge Casas however proved hittable, as the Coons got back to 5-4 by the fourth inning. O-Mo was on third base in the fifth inning, but Higgins popped out to leave him on, and Jin was left on third base in the sixth by Brewer, who lined out to right. While our bullpen put up zeroes, the tying run was also left on (this time on first) in the seventh. Higgins led off the bottom 8th with a single, then stole second immediately. Jin came up, and Jin came through, slapping a triple off the wall and FINALLY the game was tied. Jin scored on a Newton sac fly, and Dye entered to pitch the ninth with a surprising 6-5 lead. He struck out Alex Gonzalez, then survived a bunt attempt by Jerry Fletcher, who was out at first on a bang-bang play, and then got backup Logan Lee to fly out softly to right. 6-5 Furballs!! Reece 2-4; O’Morrissey 2-4, 2B; Green 2-4, 2 2B, RBI; Higgins 2-3, RBI; Jin 2-4, 3B, 2B, 2 RBI; Miller 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K;

We will chalk that one up to the bullpen, slap Donis repeatedly with a picture of a strike zone (also Lagarde, who walked three in 1.2 innings), and hope for a better second start for him. Also, with 26 games to play, we have matched our wins total from last season.

Raccoons (81-55) vs. Titans (79-59) – September 4-6, 1995

We were three games up on both of our chasers, so unless the Titans would sweep us, we would stay ahead of the race through this series. The Titans had four more runs scored than the Raccoons, in two more games, which made for two of the three most productive offensive forces in the league. Their pitching remained average.

Projected matchups:
Scott Wade (9-9, 3.29 ERA) vs. Jesus Bautista (1-1, 5.13 ERA)
Kisho Saito (10-9, 3.38 ERA) vs. Francisco Vidrio (8-9, 4.60 ERA)
Robert Vázquez (12-6, 3.44 ERA) vs. Jason O’Halloran (11-9, 3.89 ERA)

Royce Green came down with the flu on Sunday night, and while he would be able to play, he had slimy glibber dangling from the nose when standing in the batter’s box and he generally looked like a corpse. So Bobby Quinn would probably play the entire series in right field, and Vinson possibly bat fifth the whole time.

Brewer made another error right in the first inning of the opener, which turned out to turn into an unearned run against Wade. Matt Higgins, playing first, mashed a 2-run homer in the bottom 2nd to get us ahead, and both teams scored single runs in the fifth, with the Titan’s (tying) run batted in by Bautista, the pitcher, with two down in the inning. Wade shook his head in disbelief for good reason – I did too. Bautista shuffled the bags full with no outs in the bottom 6th then. Time to score, boys. Higgins got Reece forced out at home, and Quinn grounded into a double play. The agony. Wade went through the seventh and was then pinch-hit for with Jin, who was on first after a leadoff single, in the bottom of that inning. Ingall singled for him, and both runners would come in to score in the inning to make it 5-2. That score remained true through eight. West had pitched the top 8th and remained in with a lefty and a switch-hitter up, but he put one on and was removed for a right-hander instead of trying to get him out. So Martinez (with Dye somewhat tired) came in to face Cipriano León. Martinez got a poor grounder from him, and also from Dave Dixon, the last batter in the game. 5-2 Critters. Reece 2-4, RBI; O’Morrissey 2-3, BB, 3B; Jin 2-3, BB; Ingall (PH) 1-1; Wade 7.0 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, W (10-9); West 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K;

And that is 10 or more wins for Scott Wade for 10 consecutive seasons! Hooray!! Not shabby for a 2-pitch guy, and great first-round draft pick. I really do have to congratulate myself on this one!

Back to the job at hand now, before everybody slips on my slimy self-promotion.

We faced left-handers the last two games in the series. Brewer, not batting much this week and with three errors on his hands already, sat for the middle game, so Higgins, ahead of Ingall, got to bat leadoff. Saito tried to stay above .500 in the middle game. [I managed to get him and Vázquez mixed up…]

Neither pitcher in the middle game had a day even close to being decent. Both surrendered plenty of contact, and if anything, the Raccoons had the advantage of better defense and that the Titans didn’t hit the balls into the jet stream that was going out to left. Ingall put the Raccoons up 1-0 in the first with a solo home run, and we would add single runs in the second and fourth innings. Meanwhile, Saito had loaded the bags in the top 1st before escaping unharmed, and was constantly surrendering line drives. Some fell in, some found a glove, regardless you were waiting for disaster to strike. He failed to miss bats, instead constantly missed the zone and struck out only a pair in seven innings of work, but the Titans failed to score on him. And then, once Saito was out and Burnett came in, a 1-out triple by Luis Lopez in the top 8th spelled trouble again. Jack Burbidge homered off Burnett and a 3-0 lead shrunk to 3-2. Everybody in attendance had a vague idea where this game was going. Miller ended the eighth. An insurance run would be nice. Nesto Martinez drilled Vinson to lead off the bottom 8th. Salazar ran for Vinson, and went to third when Quinn singled to left on a hit-and-run. No outs. Brewer hit for Miller and grounded out, Newton grounded out, and Duncan grounded out, and NONE OF THEM brought Salazar home. Dye appeared for the ninth, up 3-2. I have a feeling. Dye walked Julio Madrid, who was run for with Alejandro Espinoza, and Espinoza had no trouble to score on a line drive double by Daniel Silva. Tied ballgame. Dye did not retire anybody in the inning and was laden with four runs once Tim Mallandain surrendered a 3-run homer. 7-3 Titans. Ingall 2-5, HR, 2B, RBI; Reece 3-5; Quinn 2-5, 2B; Saito 7.0 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K;

And with this deflating loss I resigned myself to eating chocolate all night and through game 3. I don’t care how you lose. I just want chocolate.

Chocolate.

Vázquez pitched, but not for long. While Neil Reece got the Raccoons ahead with a solo homer in the bottom 1st, Vázquez allowed home runs to Luis Lopez and Daniel Silva, and was beaten to pulp for three more runs in the fourth. Down 5-2, the first three Raccoons all got on base in the bottom 4th, where Royce Green was inserted as pinch-hitter for Vázquez. He struck out while the Raccoons scored only on a passed ball and a Brewer sac fly. In fact, Brewer and Ingall made the final outs in the inning on consecutive hard line drive outs to Espinoza in right. We left the tying run on base in the next two innings. De La Rosa walked three and surrendered a run in the top 7th, after which Reece singled and O-Mo walked to lead off the bottom 7th, and the tying runs were on again. Vinson struck out. Quinn struck out. Jin singled to right, and Reece came home, and when Baldivía fell to two strikes, he knocked a ball into left and O-Mo scored, and FINALLY the game was tied. Salazar batted for De La Rosa with the go-ahead runs on, but fouled out on the first pitch. Bottom 8th, Brewer led off with a single to center. Then Brewer was thrown out stealing once again. This was the more bitter when Neil Reece hit his second homer of the night with two out in the inning. So, what would have been an 8-6 lead, was only 7-6, as Martinez was tasked with closing this one. Three long at-bats, three groundouts. 7-6 Coons. Reece 4-4, 2 HR, 3 RBI; O’Morrissey 2-4, BB, 2B; Jin 1-2, 2 BB, RBI; Baldivía 2-4, RBI;

In other news

September 1 – TIJ CF/LF Xiao-wei Li (.293, 2 HR, 35 RBI) could miss most of September with a fractured rib.
September 2 – The Knights lose 6-5 to the Bayhawks, but it still is a big day for ATL INF Tom Nicks (.298, 7 HR, 63 RBI). Nicks goes 2-5 in the game, collecting his 2,000th big league hit along the way. The milestone hit is a leadoff single off Min-tae Kim in the fifth inning.
September 3 – Cincy’s Dan Morris has his hitting streak end at 23 games with an oh-for in a 9-7 Cyclones loss to the Rebels.
September 5 – Season over: DEN LF Dale Wales (.326, 9 HR, 52 RBI) suffers a torn meniscus and will not come back this season.
September 5 – LVA 1B/3B/CF Javier Vargas (.336, 16 HR, 86 RBI) hits two singles in a 5-1 loss to the Condors to bring his hitting streak to 20 games.

Complaints and stuff

The Raccoons down by five and me sending in Grandridge to absorb the last two innings (in the best case, which it turned out to become) in the opener against the Loggers, it occurred to me: we will not win this. We will not win this division. They are not getting it done at the plate. They are just not getting it done. And we can not win this.

Then the suckers win some, and then the middle game against the Titans happens. I mean, I should have known beforehand that they would lose it. Somehow. It just gets better and better – in terms of cruelty, humiliation, bitter defeat. The sour stench of futility. Why even pitch Saito. Why even bother. Why even watch these games at all?

While the record this six games may have been satisfying, the way in which the results were reached on the field for the most part were not.

If nothing else I have been convinced that I want no piece of Mike Dye past this season. To be honest, he could walk right now. Since going 8/8 with no runs allowed in his first eight outings for us, he has gone 4/7 in eight appearances with a 14.29 ERA.

Don’t even get me started on the first start of Antonio Donis, which we anticipated for years, only to have anticipation dissipate in a puff of smoke.

All hopes. All dreams. Ah. Misery.

[edtheguy]

slap Donis repeatedly with a picture of a strike zone

Coach of the year material there! I may have to have a meeting with my staff to implement this practice.....

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by edtheguy

Coach of the year material there!

You just read on. You will understand.

---

Raccoons (83-56) @ Canadiens (62-77) – September 8-10, 1995

Whenever we cross the 49th, I have a bad feeling. Usually, my feeling will be justified shortly. The Canadiens can be average all they want, they will find some exploit to humiliate us.

Vern Kinnear will not be available for this matchup, which is unfortunate enough, and he may also still miss some games in the following all-important 4-game set in Milwaukee.

Projected matchups:
Jason Turner (17-6, 2.83 ERA) vs. John Collins (8-12, 5.62 ERA)
Miguel Lopez (14-5, 3.19 ERA) vs. Arnold McCray (8-15, 3.82 ERA)
Antonio Donis (0-0, 11.25 ERA) vs. Orlando Blanco (3-5, 3.46 ERA)

The Canadiens’ franchise record for strikeouts in one game was 12. John Collins tied it in the sixth inning of this game. The Raccoons were in swinging mood, and didn’t hit an awful lot, yet when they hit something, they hit it forcefully, and so while Collins was on the verge of setting a new franchise (and possibly league) record, he actually trailed in the game, 4-1, mainly due to home runs hit by Vinson in the second and Jin in the fourth. Unfortunately for Collins, he did not get another strikeout in the game. Turner made the final out in the sixth on a groundout, and Brewer and Salazar also put the ball in play in the top 7th. A walk to Reece ended his day, still tied for the franchise record. This game was made even more remarkable by Jason Turner also throwing in an odd performance. He went seven innings, exhausting himself with ill control, but also struck out nine batters and only allowed a single hit, an RBI single to Michael McFarland in the fourth. While the bullpen wobbled some, it held on. 5-1 Raccoons. Reece 2-4, BB, 2 RBI; Vinson 2-4, HR, RBI; Jin 1-2, 2 BB, HR, 2 RBI; Turnet 7.0 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 9 K, W (18-6);

Who held the record of 12 K’s in a game for the Canadiens before this game, now being joined by John Collins? It is a group of four pitchers: Bill Smith (1984), Raimundo Beato (1988), Manny Ramos, and Arnold McCray (both 1992). Of course we know “Pooky” Beato, and Bill Smith was the pitcher who famously picked the Stars when we made him the exact same contract offer almost ten years ago.

I am still not over that, and probably will never be.

Middle game. O-Mo had the day off. Offense was low on either side and the Canadiens were the first to score, when they chained up four singles off Miguel Lopez in the bottom 4th. The Raccoons responded with loading the bags in the top 5th, and with one out Vinson whiffed and Ingall grounded out. In the top 6th we had Jin on first with one out. Lopez bunted, and the catcher Julio Castillo threw the bunt away. The go-ahead runs moved into scoring position with David Brewer coming to bat. Brewer had three singles on the day, but grounded out this time. It was still enough to score the tying run in Jin, but Lopez was left on when Salazar popped out to short. We left the bags full in the seventh, and not only I was getting more aggressive. Brewer on first and one out in the top 8th, we called a hit-and-run, and Salazar took that same pitch to deep right for a double, and Brewer scored easily the go-ahead run. Salazar was brought in to score by Reece and Green, and we were up by two. Mike Dye failed to blow the save, and we won. 3-1 Coons. Brewer 4-5, RBI; Salazar 2-5, 2B, RBI; Green 2-4, BB, RBI; Ingall 2-5; Higgins 2-4, BB; Lopez 8.0 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, W (15-5);

*15* hits in this game, and Salazar’s go-ahead RBI double was the only one that was not a single! Accordingly, we left 15 men on base. Woof.

I wanted David Brewer and Neil Reece fresh and ready in the upcoming Milwaukee series, so both spent game 3 chewing sunflower seeds on the bench. Newton was hard enough to get into a game.

The final game in Canada had its share of heroes. One was Newton, who drove in a run and threw out at home the only serious attempt of the Canadiens to score in the first five innings. The other was Donis. Through five, he pitched the most dominant you could possibly pitch. Forest Hartley hit a solo shot off him in the sixth, and we seemed to have him in there for two long, as Castillo 2-shot him in the seventh, soling an otherwise great line. Royce Green in turn, who had whiffed a lot recently, came through when the latter home run off Donis cut our lead to 5-3 through seven. Two on, two out, two balls, two strikes, Green singled to right to score two, and that removed the game from the Canadiens’ reach for good. 7-3 Raccoons. Higgins 2-4, BB; Ingall 2-4, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Green 2-5, 3 RBI; Salazar (PH) 1-1; Donis 6.0 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, W (1-0) and 1-3, RBI [first major league win!]; Lagarde 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Neil Reece was Player of the Week in the CL for the week ending with the Canadiens series, going 14-26 with 2 HR and 6 RBI.

With the sweep of the Canadiens on the weekend we moved to 172-170 all time against them. HOW SWEET THE TASTE!!

The sweet any sweep is, the sweeter was the fact that our chasers stumbled. The Titans won two of three against the Crusaders and slid to five back. Meanwhile, the Loggers split four at home against the Indians and fell to 5 1/2 back. And we will go to Woodstown next.

Raccoons (86-56) @ Loggers (81-62) – September 11-14, 1995

Beforehand, bad news for Vern Kinnear: his elbow sprain did not become better, and he would not be available for this series. That smelled. You would have wanted another powerful left-handed bat against the strong right-handed part of the Loggers’ rotation. That rotation ranked 2nd in the league, and the offense had the 2nd-highest batting average, scoring the fourth-most runs.

Projected matchups:
Scott Wade (10-9, 3.21 ERA) vs. Martin Garcia (16-7, 2.53 ERA)
Robert Vàzquez (12-6, 3.62 ERA) vs. Davis Sims (14-6, 3.39 ERA)
Kisho Saito (10-9, 3.26 ERA) vs. Jorge Casas (13-10, 3.73 ERA)
Jason Turner (18-6, 2.78 ERA) vs. Rafael Garcia (11-14, 4.63 ERA)

Split this series, and we are in good shape in this division. Win the series, three out of four, and you possibly have only the Titans to worry about with 16 to play.

Wade and Martin Garcia battled fiercely in the opener of the 4-game set. The Coons got up 1-0 early with an RBI triple by O-Mo in the top 1st, and either pitcher prevented scoring chances through four. In the top 5th, Wade led off with a walk and was eventually just barely scored. He would then give up the first hard hit of the day for the Loggers, a 1-out double by Jose Perez, in the bottom 5th and could not keep Perez from scoring. Miguel Vela drove him in. Still up 2-1, Vinson led off with a triple in the seventh. That brought up Wade, and while this was a big spot and we needed the run, Wade was dealing well, and would not come out. He was sent batting, and walked again. While Brewer made an out, Chih-tui Jin got Vinson in, but Reece ended the inning with a double play. And of course, Wade came apart in the bottom 7th. Leadoff doubles by Bob Grant and Drake Evans sent him packing, the tying run on second base. Martinez allowed Evans to score after throwing a wild pitch and then not striking out the side, and all was for nought. In the bottom 8th, the go-ahead run for the Loggers was on third base, and with two out, Vinson allowed a passed ball. Lost game. 4-3 Loggers. Jin 2-4, RBI;

Vinson was benched. At best forever.

If you happened to tune into the second game in the few markets it was on TV, and you were a coonskin cap wearer, you were likely to switch over to the All In the Family rerun pretty soon. The first eight batters Robert Vázquez faced all reached base. Seven safely, and one on an error. The Loggers jumped to a 6-0 lead in the first, and Vázquez was loaded with three more runs on batters he put on and that Day Grandridge allowed to score on a 2-out, 3-run triple by Gates Golunski. Davis Sims tossed a 4-hit shutout when he left with an injury in the seventh inning, and only an error got the Raccoons started in the top 8th. Then we put on our first five men in the inning, The Loggers bullpen was rapidly disintegrating. Matt Higgins had led off the inning batting for Grandridge, and actually appeared at the plate yet again. Four runs in, three men on, he grounded out, and the rally was over. 9-4 Loggers. Brewer 2-5, 3B, RBI; O’Morrissey 2-4; Grandridge 4.1 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 K;

At least now we know who’ll be dropped into the bullpen.

Not that game 3 and Kisho Saito on the mound turned out any less horrible. Before everybody had sat down, the Raccoons were behind 4-0, because the Loggers were hitting balls all over the place and Saito failed to punch out anybody. Plus, the Raccoons again showed zero offense. Through six, Casas tossed a friggin’ one-hitter, and when the Coons got a pair into scoring position in the top 7th, Quinn, batting for Rodriguez, struck out to end the inning. Reece and Green left runners in scoring position in the eighth. Top 9th, down 5-0. O-Mo singled, and Raul Perez then walked Salazar and Baldy. Closer John Bennett came in with no outs and the tying run in the on-deck circle. Lagarde was hit for with Ingall, who flew out to left, and into foul ground, too. McDonald flew out to center. Brewer whiffed. 5-1 Loggers.

Yeah.

Jason Turner was probably the sharpest tool we still had lying around, and he went in the last game. Jose Perez hit a leadoff home run for the Loggers off the sharpest ball of gum in Portland. Higgins’ 2-out single put him into a position to steal second and score on Bobby Quinn’s double to left to tie the game in the top 2nd, but Turner seamlessly fit into the mold cast by the rabid starters we had thrown up the last few days. He was hit all over the place. The only differences were slightly better defense turning a pair of double plays early, and some residual stuff for a K here or there. That still left the offense as miserable as the last two days. Still tied in the sixth, Reece walked to start the inning. He tried to gain a base the dirty way, but was thrown out. Two pitches later, Royce Green homered to dead center. In return, Turner gave up not one, not two, but three runs in the bottom 6th, and when the seventh started, Perez singled his way on, and Turner threw away Miguel Vela’s grounder, and the Loggers put up another 3-spot in the inning. 7-2 Loggers. Brewer 3-4;

The Titans swept the Indians in a 4-game set.

In other news

September 10 – SFW CF John Hensley (.280, 18 HR, 75 RBI) enters the history books with a 6-hit performance in a 12-6 thumping of the Pacifics at the hands of the Warriors. Hensley drives in four with four singles, a double, and a 3-run homer. This is the 26th 6-hit performance in ABL history, and the third time a Warrior has done it (Chris Lynch, 1979; Claude Martin, 1993). All three of the Warriors’ 6-hitters have done it against the Pacifics!
September 11 – The Aces fall to the Falcons, 6-5, but Las Vegas’ Javier Vargas has an RBI single to extend his hitting streak to 25 games.
September 12 – Reversed luck: the Aces jump on the Falcons, 11-5, but Vargas is left with no hits and has his streak end at 25 games.
September 13 – Milwaukee suffers terrible blows with injuries to SP Davis Sims (15-6, 3.27 ERA) and OF/1B Jerry Fletcher (.303, 2 HR, 48 RBI). Sims has a fracture in his elbow, and Fletcher a fractured foot. Neither will be back this season.
September 14 – DAL INF Rodrigo Morales (.295, 10 HR, 67 RBI) is out for the year with a knee sprain.
September 14 – Recurring back spasms also end the season of CHA 2B/SS Adam Kent (.259, 13 HR, 50 RBI).

Complaints and stuff

Nah, there was certainly no manipulation going on here. No baseballs were doctored in the course of this last series, where the opposition out-hit us 45-23.

Left to play: Bayhawks and Falcons from the CL South, Titans, Indians, Crusaders from our division. Not that it matters. They would lose a 3-game set against the Multnomah Junior High School for the Physically Handicapped softball team. (eyes turn to red glowing slits) Vinson wouldn't be able to throw out 12-year old in a wheelchair stealing third base ...!

Like I said. I knew during that first Loggers game in Portland that we would not make it. Blowing a 5-game lead in six days sounds like a challenge, but they’re gonna make it. This here, the perfect collapse.

All those tears could have been spent so much better.

[Westheim]

I know what is coming the last 2 1/2 weeks of the year, and so should you if you have been following for a while. The only thing that will still be able to shock me is not the *whether*, but the *how*.

Vern Kinnear came back onto the roster for this series, overcoming the elbow sprain that has kept him out for a few weeks.

Raccoons (86-60) @ Bayhawks (79-67) – September 15-17, 1995

The Bayhawks continued to be mostly pitching, middling offense. We faced a few replacements to their rotation, though, in callup Miguel Diaz and career depth chart dweller Dave Beck.

Projected matchups:
Miguel Lopez (15-5, 3.11 ERA) vs. Miguel Diaz (1-1, 3.06 ERA)
Antonio Donis (1-0, 7.20 ERA) vs. Jorge Chapa (9-9, 4.42 ERA)
Scott Wade (10-9, 3.26 ERA) vs. Dave Beck (0-1, 3.68 ERA)

Once David Brewer drove in the first run of the game in the top 3rd, Miguel Lopez was battered with doubles in the bottom 3rd and we fell 2-1 behind. With one out in the fourth however, Kinnear had a pair on base and drove a double to the deep left corner of the park that scored both runners, and the score swung around instantly again. Lopez pitched – for the most part – a controlled game, but with little cushion. Vinson hit a leadoff double in the seventh, and Lopez then hit a single up the middle. An unravelling Diaz scored Vinson with a wild pitch, and would not retire any of the last three Coons he faced either, issuing two walks, a wild pitch, and an RBI single to Reece, and we got a few more RBI singles from Green and O-Mo en route to scoring five runs in the inning. With an 8-2 lead Lopez should be safe. And he would have been, had he retired anybody in the bottom 7th. He didn’t. Four Bayhawks into the inning, we were up 8-3 and the bases were loaded, and Lopez was yanked. De La Rosa got one out in three batters, scoring two, and then West came in to face Pedro Perez and plunked him with the bags full. Martinez entered and walked Bill Dean, and YES THE BAGS WERE STILL LOADED. Mike Powys then threw the party with line drive double play to Salazar. From 3-2 to 8-7 in one inning. Don’t see that every day. What you get to see every day recently is the Raccoons’ closer blowing the save, and in this case it was Mike Dye giving up a leadoff walk in the bottom 9th, he never worked out of that setback and eventually gave up a 2-out RBI single to pinch-hitter Doug Hill, sending us to extra innings. Baldivía walked to start the top 10th and was replaced by Higgins to run. Vinson doubled to right center, and Higgins was sent home, and thrown out. Jin singled to put Vinson on third, but Vinson only scored on a clumsy play by 1B Pat Chandler, generously scored an infield single for Brewer. Lagarde hit the leadoff batter in the bottom 10th and the Bayhawks brought him around to third base, but Chandler made the final out, a gentle flyer to Reece in center. 9-8 Raccoons. Brewer 3-4, 2 BB, 2 2B, 2 RBI; Reece 2-6, RBI; Green 2-5, RBI; Vinson 3-4, BB, 2 2B;

The Loggers romped over the Condors in Mexico, 14-3, while the Titans’ Julio Navarro blew the save against the Thunder, and Boston lost, 3-2. So, MIL 1.5 GB, BOS 2.5 GB.

The Dye problem may have solved itself, as he was uncomfortable after the game and was to be checked out thoroughly. He was not available.

Game 2 was miserable from the start. While Chapa was no-hitting the Raccoons, Donis was not hitting the strike zone, but the Bayhawks got a few runs off him. Through four innings, they were up 2-0 and he was running out of breath, and he failed to get out of the fifth, leaving two men on with two out. De La Rosa came in, faced four batters, and put them all on. The Raccoons were down 6-0 before they ever got a hit in the game. The first hit was a leadoff triple by Reece in the sixth. He was not scored, as O-Mo grounded out, Green whiffed, and Baldivía grounded out. The next reliever to get raped was Grandridge. Collecting two outs, he was booked for five runs as all hopes and dreams were washed down into the bay. 11-1 Bayhawks. Reece 2-4, 3B, RBI; Mallandain 2.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Reece’s pair of hits was all we got. Bloody suckers.

The Titans won in extra innings in Oklahoma, 5-3, while the Loggers shut out the Condors, 3-0. MIL 0.5 GB, BOS 1.5 GB.

Mike Dye was diagnosed with rotator cuff inflammation, so he is gone for the year, and of course he also will not receive another contract here. We have no closer. So what? We also have no offense and no pitching.

Rubber game on Sunday, Scott Wade went out. He looked very good out of the gate and held the Bayhawks on small provisions. Meanwhile, the offense grounded into double plays in the first three innings before they got a run in. Dave Beck was erring all about the general vicinity of the strike zone, walking plenty of batters, and was out by the fifth, when the Coons upped the score to 4-0. Reece homered in the seventh, 5-0, but the Bayhawks bullpen coughed up three more runs in the inning. Wade was still milling about silently, having given up only a pair of hits through six innings. He gave up a hit each of the next two innings, but nobody reached third base. We were up by ten entering the bottom 9th, so Wade was sent back out on 101 pitches to face the 2-3-4 guys, but Roberto Guevara came out to pinch-hit to start the inning. He got on with a single. PH Alfredo Marquez grounded out to first, moving up Guevara. Jim Thompson bounced out to Brewer, moving up Guevara again. Mike Powys was the batter to get out for Wade, but he walked him. Doug Hill came up, last guy no matter what. Hill popped up a 1-0 pitch into shallow left center, and Kinnear made the play. 10-0 Raccoons. Brewer 4-6, 3B, 2B, 2 RBI; Higgins 2-5, BB, RBI; Reece 2-5, BB, HR, RBI; O’Morrissey 2-3, 2 BB, 2 2B, 2 RBI; McDonald 2-4, BB, 2 2B, 2 RBI; Wade 9.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 4 K, W (11-9) and 1-4, RBI;

So that fantastic performance was Wade’s third shutout of the season, setting a personal record, and the eighth of his career. He almost also would have made it to 100 K this season, too, stopping at 99, and that may not sound like a big deal for a starter, but Wade has never been that guy. His personal best is 125 in a season, and he has not had a 100 K season in four years.

The shutout also means that Kisho Saito now has the least wins on the original rotation.

Milwaukee and Boston both lost, so we are now 1.5 and 2.5 ahead of them.

Raccoons (88-61) vs. Falcons (72-77) – September 18-20, 1995

The Falcons’ fall this season had been their poor offense, which had scored only 552 runs so far, dead last in the Continental League. For comparison, we were at 711. The pitching staff was decent, but could not be carried by that little offensive force.

Projected matchups:
Kisho Saito (10-10, 3.34 ERA) vs. Terry Wilson (6-13, 4.99 ERA)
Jason Turner (18-7, 2.88 ERA) vs. John Douglas (9-13, 4.03 ERA)
Miguel Lopez (15-5, 3.24 ERA) vs. Robbie Campbell (16-12, 3.05 ERA)

Wilson in the opener was our third straight left-handed opposing starter. Saito surrendered hissing line drive contact to the first three men he faced, and fell behind 1-0 before he got an out. Things were going to go that way. Saito was slaughtered again, for six runs on 12 hits in five innings. He could not get anybody out and was gonna hit a losing record with this effort. Wilson had surrendered merely one run on two hits through five. Down 6-1, Kinnear, Baldivía, and Vinson got on with no outs in the bottom 7th. Higgins batted for Daniel Miller and struck out. Ingall merely managed a sac fly, and Salazar grounded out. Grandridge walked the bases full in the top 8th. Robert Vázquez came out in relief and surrendered a line drive double for two runs to Juan Barrón. The Raccoons managed a total of four hits in support of their luckless pitching. 8-2 Falcons. Salazar 1-2, 2 BB; Miller 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K;

Doug Morrow pitched eight shutout innings for the Titans against the Knights, earning the 4-0 win, while the Loggers were idle. Thus, MIL 1 GB, BOS 1.5 GB.

Royce Green wasn’t hitting anything and was out of the lineup for game 2. It is not that it matters whether Green plays or Bobby Quinn. The ship is going down regardless.

If Turner wanted to become a 20-game winner, he better got it started in the middle game, his presumably third-to-last start of the year. However, he coughed up a run in the top 1st, and now was forced to wait on the offense. Before any offense came his way, sloppy fielding by the Falcons did. To start the bottom 3rd, both Vinson and Turner reached on errors, going into scoring position. Brewer struck out, Salazar grounded out, and Reece flew out, and only one run scored. GODDAMNIT!!!! The Raccoons had not landed a hit against John Douglas so far, and continued to be hitless until Brewer got a grounder through Barrón in the sixth. Reece ended up singling Brewer home and we were up 2-1 as Turner had the Falcons under control quite well. Turner however came to bat with two on and two out in the bottom 7th. Left half of the brain says to have him pitch on, right half calls for a left-handed pinch-hitter. Chih-tui Jin came out. Douglas’ count on him ran full and with the runners in motion, Jin grounded to right, and the ball JUST fit between Hubert Green and Barrón, and only the fact that he was already going allowed Quinn to score from second. We left the bags loaded, before handing the 3-1 lead to the pen. Martinez came out. With one out, Duane Smith singled his way on base and Douglas was sent to bat. His bunt was taken for Martinez to get Smith at second, but Smith was safe, and the next thing Martinez did was to balk over the runners. Reece made plays on two fly balls to keep the damage to a sac fly. The Falcons left Douglas, who always had been a horse, in to get his pitch count over 140 in the eighth, but it cost them. With two out, RBI singles by Baldivía and Vinson slammed an opening door shut. We tried Ken Burnett in the top 9th, with lefty Djordje Nedic leading off. Nedic got on with a bloop that eluded Kinnear, and someone had that foot in the door. Burnett ended up with runners on the corners with one out and Bernard Combes hitting a ball deep to center – and Reece made an artistic play on it. Nedic scored, and Hubert Green came to bat as the tying run with two out. Do you go to a right-hander now? I didn’t, and Green singled through Brewer. Runners on the corners, a weak righty in Pedro Flores up next. Miller came in to face him, and his only pitch was grounded to Brewer, who this time made the play. 5-3 Raccoons. Brewer 2-4, 2B; Reece 2-3, BB, RBI; Vinson 2-4, RBI; Jin (PH) 1-1, RBI; Turner 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, W (19-7);

The Loggers fell 3-2 to the Aces, and the Titans were crushed 9-2 by the Knights. MIL 2 GB, BOS 2.5 GB.

Rubber game time. O-Mo also got a day off with Green still not playing. Lopez went out against veteran Robbie Campbell, whose claim to fame were merely 212 wins. Lopez collected one out from SS Ramón Garza, then felt something in his leg and was taken out of the game. Exit Lopez, enter Vázquez, who appeared to stumble into an easy win when the Coons scored a pair on four singles in the bottom 1st, followed by Brewer hitting a 2-piece in the second. But Vázquez was of ill control and stumbled through the third, loading the bases including two walks and also ran the count full on Barrón, who then grounded out. Robbie Campbell would hit a home run off Vázquez in the fifth, so much for being awful. The Falcons then got a run off Lagarde in the sixth, getting back to 4-2. A Hubert Green homer off De La Rosa in the seventh took care of halving that again, while the offense was obviously already on the way to the airport. We had two on with one out in the bottom 8th. Green batted for Higgins in this spot, but flew out. Baldivía walked, forcing us to hit for Grant West instead of trying him out for a 4-out save. O-Mo grounded out in his place. Between Martinez, Grandridge, Burnett, and a Daniel Miller that had gone two frames the day before, we defaulted to Martinez to protect a 1-run lead against two righties and a lefty. Martinez needed seven pitches to finish the game. 4-3 Raccoons. Brewer 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Kinnear 2-4, RBI; Quinn 3-4; Vázquez 4.2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 1 K, W (13-7) and 1-2;

The Titans got a strong outing from Francisco Vidrio and shut out the Knights again while the Loggers lost to Las Vegas again when Jorge Casas was blown up in a 4-run sixth, 6-2.

In other news

September 16 – LVA SP Ben Carlson (7-8, 4.11 ERA) has his season end early due to shoulder inflammation.
September 19 – The Miners come from behind in Los Angeles to win 9-7. Despite the Rebels winning 8-5 in Sacramento, the Miners seal the deal on the FL East with 11 to play. The Miners make the playoffs for the first time since 1985, and for the third time overall, ending a 5-year spell the Capitals had put on the division.

Complaints and stuff

Won both series, but still was beaten up pretty ugly at points. We had a slight recovery here in terms of games ahead, but this is the calm before the storm for sure. This ship is going down.

[Questdog]

Man, I wish I had your optimism!

Life would always be such a rosy adventure!

But seriously, how can the troops keep up the faith if the man at the top is all doom and gloom? You owe it to them to at least put on a happy face and tell the press you have full confidence that they will win the division in the end!.....

By the way, what are the Teacher's Pet's personality ratings? I'm wondering if he is a suitable candidate for a coaching job with the team....

[Westheim]

Opti-what? Expect the worst, then it can not get any worse. If your team blows 6-run leads routinely, then you have to act cautiously.

Originally Posted by Questdog

By the way, what are the Teacher's Pet's personality ratings? I'm wondering if he is a suitable candidate for a coaching job with the team....

Daniel Hall has very high leadership, loyalty and greed, and a high work ethic. I wonder whether low desire to win and low intelligence might be detrimental.

But for being dumb as and shaped as a brick and cashing in his paychecks instantly, he at least showed up early at the park each day and is still 4th in career home runs! (though not for long anymore, Raúl Vázquez and Jeffery Brown will tumble him out of the Top 5 very soon)

He is not even retired yet, still looking for a job, oldest free agent on the market at 40. Greed may be a factor.

[Questdog]

Well, then Danny Boy maybe isn't the best candidate for the Manager's job, but being dumb as a brick and not caring about winning, he could at least be hired to hit some fungos to the outfielders.....

(unless he thinks he's too good for that role....)

[Westheim]

I dropped before that I had been sucked into World of Tanks last year. Well, they run a monthly mission where basically you have to grind a metric crap ton of XP to get a Super Pershing tank that normally sells for like $50. Greedy as I am, I gotta have it. This entails mindless grinding for extended periods of time, and with this weekend following on the tails of Victory Day in Europe, there was a 5x XP event on. You probably know where I am going, the Critters have come up short for this very reason.

I am very sorry and will try to make up for it by not blowing the division and give you guys the best seats in the house for the playoffs.

And now roll in the Blowupcoons.

Doesn’t roll off as easily as Inepticoons.

Raccoons (90-62) vs. Indians (71-81) – September 22-24, 1995

The Loggers won as we had Thursday off (final off day of the year), and so we are 2.5 games up on both the Titans and Loggers. The Indians aren’t scoring, the Raccoons are blowing every game. Get this on.

Projected matchups:
Antonio Donis (1-1, 7.36 ERA) vs. Neil Stewart (23-4, 2.96 ERA)
Scott Wade (11-9, 3.11 ERA) vs. Vernon Robertson (7-16, 4.00 ERA)
Kisho Saito (10-11, 3.52 ERA) vs. Dan George (7-17, 4.53 ERA)

We were facing three left-handers here. Having Donis pitch against Stewart probably amounted to cruelty, but I can’t help. At least we will somehow suck Dan George into a win, too, I know that for sure.

CF Luis Maldonado threw out David Brewer at home to end the bottom 1st of the opener, except that he didn’t. Catcher Urbano Cicalina never touched Brewer, but he was still called out. We got a run in the second after a triple by Luke Newton, who started over Kinnear in left, and got up 1-0. Donis meanwhile, absolutely massacred the Indians. Through five innings, the Indians had no hits, and had struck out nine times. Donis got Cicalina to start the top 7th, but monitoring his pitch count, who was going into orbit already, cast doubt on whether he could keep a no-hitter in one piece through nine. However, Matt Brown soon rendered such thoughts irrelevant as he singled up the middle after Cicalina’s out. Next thing you know, Claudio Ayala singles to left, and Donis was taken out. De La Rosa came in, and before he ever threw a pitch, he balked the runners over. A bloop single by Luis Gonzalez scored the runners, and Donis ended up on the hook. While the Raccoons left the tying run on third base with two pop outs in the bottom 7th (Quinn, Brewer…), the bullpen managed to issue four walks in the top 8th, and Lagarde and a throwing error by Vinson cocked up another two runs in the ninth. 5-1 Indians. Brewer 3-4; Salazar 2-4; Newton 2-4, 3B, 2B; Donis 6.1 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 10 K, L (1-2);

We had ten hits. They had FOUR. Like I said, it is going to hell. The Loggers lost to New York at home, but the Titans beat the Canadiens, 5-3, and we are now at POR 90-63; BOS 1.5 GB; MIL 2.5 GB;

Only good news, David Brewer has a 12-game hitting streak.

Reece had a day off in game 2. Wade gave up a 1-0 lead in the top 3rd with a pair of homers, the latter hit by Matt Brown, and the former by Vernon Robertson. For once, hits were then chained together in the bottom 5th by the Raccoons, with doubles by Brewer and Green, an O-Mo single, and a Baldy double scoring three for a 4-2 lead. Wade was trusted with that, and didn’t get through the sixth. Two walks in succession to Carlos Paredes and Maldonado, which was TOTALLY out of the ordinary, and then a Jose Martinez RBI double sent him out. Martinez came in to face Mamoru Sato, the catcher, gave up a 2-run single, then had Jose Renteria reach on a Baldivía error. He then advanced the runners with a wild pitch, and ended the AB to PH Dane Thompson with a walk. Enter the manager, exit Martinez, enter De La Rosa, exit foaming manager, enter Ayala, exit Ayala with a pop up, enter still foaming manager, exit De La Rosa, enter Burnett, exit yet still foaming manager, enter lefty Luis Gonzalez, exit Sato by way of home plate with a walk, enter Brown, exit a 2-0 pitch to deepest center and into Idaho. In other words, ballgame. 10-6 Indians. Brewer 2-4, 2B; Salazar 2-5; Green 2-5, 2B, RBI; O’Morrissey 2-4, BB, RBI; Baldivía 2-4, 2 2B, RBI; Mallandain 3.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 1 K and 1-2;

Top of the sixth. Indians scored eight runs, on three hits. It is not supposed to happen. The Raccoons are not supposed to be in the playoffs. Loggers lost, Titans clawed on to a 4-3 against the Canadiens. POR 90-64; BOS 0.5 GB; MIL 2.5 GB;

And why exactly did I trade Matt Brown away?

We also got news on Miguel Lopez, who had a mild hamstring strain and was listed as DTD, but would miss at least one start, so we had to save Vázquez to jump in. Lopez was listed as “one week” by the medical staff, so maybe he was done for the year, since I was not going to start a wounded starting pitcher in a pennant battle.

‘nother game. Saito pitched, so the result was bound to be something like IND 2, POR 1, or maybe IND 15, POR 1 … Accordingly, Jose Martinez opened the game with a home run to dead center off Saito. The Indians tacked on a run in the second on throwing errors by Ingall and Brewer alone. We tied that back to 2-2 in the bottom 2nd, and after Bobby Quinn’s RBI double we had two runners in scoring position with no outs. Neither run scored, and we again left a pair in scoring position in the fourth. An erratic Dan George loaded the bags in the bottom 5th with one out, and before Baldivía could ground into a double play, Cicalina allowed a passed ball to score the go-ahead run. George ended up walking both Baldivía and Quinn, the latter walk forcing in a run, and then McDonald scored another with a groundout. Up 5-2, Saito went out for the sixth, and surrendered a rocket to Brown right away, 5-3. Three single scored another run, 5-4, and Saito started the seventh, but was knocked around and Lagarde gave up the go-ahead run eventually. Saito didn’t get stuck with the loss when the Raccoons offense suddenly came back in the bottom 7th. Artie Saunders put O-Mo on, O-Mo stole second, and Green doubled him in. Green then scored on an error and we were ahead again. We were up 8-6 after eight, and basically had Miller and Burnett left for the ninth, with two righties and Brown sandwiched in between. Miller started to face Cicalina. Now, if Cicalina gets on, Burnett enters to face the lefty Brown (despite surrendering a grand slam the previous day), but Miller got the catcher, so he was left in and ended up walking Brown. Then Ayala got on. Miller surrendered Maldonado, who flew to Kinnear in deep left. Switch-hitter Chris Boyle appeared as a pinch-hitter, so Miller stayed in with the tying runs on the corners. Boyle hobbled out to Ingall at short, and we got away with this one. 8-6 Raccoons. Baldivía 3-4, BB, 2 RBI; Quinn 1-2, 2 BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Kinnear (PH) 1-1, RBI;

Fortunes reversed for our opponents, with the Titans losing and the Loggers winning. POR 91-64; BOS 1.5 GB; MIL 2.5 GB;

And David Brewer’s hitting streak fell at 13 games to an 0-4, 4 K day.

Raccoons (91-64) @ Crusaders (72-83) – September 25-28, 1995

Bring in the worst rotation of the league once more. Score on them, because the Crusaders’ bullpen leads the league in ERA. We will play four in contrast to the Titans and Loggers, who will have off days on Thursday, but will play each other while we are in New York! Best case scenario for us, the Loggers take two. But you know how things have been going lately. We were going to face only right-handers.

Projected matchups:
Jason Turner (19-7, 2.82 ERA) vs. Francisco Garza (2-7, 5.96 ERA)
Robert Vázquez (13-7, 3.79 ERA) vs. Cipriano Miranda (7-13, 5.86 ERA)
Antonio Donis (1-2, 6.00 ERA) vs. Anibal Sandoval (8-1, 2.94 ERA)
Scott Wade (11-10, 3.25 ERA) vs. Hector Lara (11-15, 5.22 ERA)

Game 1 was as much about Neil Reece as anybody else. He made no less than four great plays in center to support Jason Turner bidding for #20, which made up for him not producing an awful lot at the plate, at least in a RISP situation in the bottom 1st. The rest of the team however, was not getting an excuse, except maybe for Kinnear, who also made a spectacular play on Ruben Melendez to end the bottom 5th, starving a pair in scoring position in a scoreless game. Eventually, someone had to come through, and it was a 1-out RBI double by Matt Higgins in the top 6th that brought home Green. Turner was done after 6.1 innings with 110 pitches and tough left-handers coming up. West came in, got one out and put runners on the corners, and when the Crusaders brought right-hander Victor Martinez to pinch-hit, we countered with Miller, who allowed a hard fly ball to deep right – and Green caught it a foot off the grass with a launching grab! An insurance run however refused to come around. We ended up needing somebody to protect Turner’s #20 with a 1-0 lead in the bottom 9th. Oh yeah, and coonskinner Benjamin Butler led off. De La Rosa was selected. He put on Butler AND Ed Rigg, yielding for Burnett with the barn yet ablaze. Clement Clark grounded out and Jean-Claude Monnier flew out, but that was enough to score Butler. Extra innings. Lagarde was tapped to go as deep as was necessary. Lagarde pitched four scoreless before Rigg hit a leadoff double in the 14th. Mallandain came in against Clark and Monnier. Those two made outs, advancing Rigg to third. Melendez was walked intentionally, and Victor Martinez flew out to Reece. And the band played on, with the Raccoons displaying ZERO offense. Mallandain became stuck in the 17th, which had us get the last arm in the pen, Day Grandridge. After totaling two hits between the 10th and 17th, O-Mo walked with one out in the 18th, and Jin, just in the game in the double switch that brought in Grandridge, doubled to right. O-Mo was held, and Rodriguez was replaced by our last catcher, McDonald, to bat. McDonald grounded out, no advance possible. Baldivía came up with two out, and Enrique Hernandez uncorked a wild pitch that scored O-Mo. Baldivía flew out. Grandridge had to go back out, since the only pitchers left were starters. Butler grounded out. Rigg struck out. Clark grounded out to short. 2-1 Raccoons. Reece 2-6, 2 BB, 2 2B; Higgins 2-5, 2B, RBI; Jin (PH) 1-1, 2B; Quinn (PH) 1-1; Turner 6.1 IP, 9 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K; Lagarde 4.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K; Mallandain 3.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 3 K; Grandridge 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, W (1-1);

18 innings, 10 hits. Yeah, boys, we got this! (cries a river) The Titans trumped the Loggers, 9-2, and remember, we play the Titans in the final series of the year. Right now it looks like an all-out winner-takes-all. POR 92-64; BOS 1.5 GB; MIL 3.5 GB;

Game 2 had Vázquez spelling the ailing Lopez, facing another pitcher of an ERA of almost six. The Coons scored a run in the third, Vázquez gave it back in the fourth. And the bus with more offense just wouldn’t come to us. Vázquez went seven, didn’t get support, and also no decision. Martinez came in, put a man on, failed to advance, Burnett surrendered the run, and the Raccoons went down. 2-1 Crusaders. Ingall (PH) 1-1; Vázquez 7.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K and 1-3;

Boston beat the Loggers, 5-2. Getting closer. POR 92-65; BOS 0.5 GB; MIL 3.5 GB;

Donis showed the old guys how it’s done in the third game, knocking a 2-out, 2-run triple in the top 2nd to give himself a 2-1 lead. That didn’t change the fact that Donis was horrible on the mound. He loaded the bases in the bottom 3rd, mainly through walks, then walked in two in addition to allowing an RBI single, and was yanked after only six outs collected, and one more run scored against Miller. The Raccoons failed their way through the innings until they arrived in the ninth, still down by three after some decent relief and little to no batting. Then, Reece and Kinnear got hits of Ivan Lopez. The tying run came to the plate with no outs. Green popped out behind first base, and Ingall came up. Grounder to second, four-six-three. 6-3 Crusaders. Reece 2-5; Kinnear 2-5; Miller 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K and 1-1, 2B; De La Rosa 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K;

Anibal Sandoval fractured Matt Higgins’ foot with a pitch in the third inning, so Higgins’ season is over. He also hit Brewer after that, but was out of the game before I could signal for a well-disguised bean to the purple guy on his batting helmet. And by well-disguised I mean screaming out to Grandridge or De La Rosa to take the sucker’s head off.

To make my living hell complete, the Titans out-lasted the Loggers in a back-and-forth slug fest, taking the win in the 13th inning of a 12-10 game. That changes the picture a bit. BOS 92-65; POR 0.5 GB; the Loggers are done for the year. And it also means we have to win the series against them, and in the best case it will be two-out-of-three.

Scott Wade was responsible for getting us into position for this … let’s call it least-worst-case scenario. You know what I mean. I was going to give Brewer another day off here, but I need his bat.

Wade allowed singles to the first four batters the Crusaders threw up, and we found ourselves down 2-0 in an instant. Kinnear drove in a run in the fourth. Down 2-1 in the bottom 4th, Wade had Haywood Lammond on first with two outs and faced the pitcher Lara. He walked Lara, walked Ed Rigg, and then fell to an infield RBI single by Clement Clark. Monnier dumped a single into left, and everything was about over, 5-1 down. That was still the score in the top 8th, in which Brewer had a 1-out infield single, then Salazar singled, and Lara walked O’Morrissey with two out. Green came to the plate as the tying run. Monnier picked his liner out of the air in left. In the ninth we forced in the Crusaders’ closer Jared Chaney when Bobby Quinn hit a 2-out single that also put Kinnear on second. Brewer was the batter, and Salazar was the tying run in the on-deck circle. Brewer fanned. 5-1 Crusaders. Salazar 2-4, 2B; Kinnear 3-3, BB; West 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

I hate this bag of suckers. If they were cats, you could at least throw the bag into the Willamette.

In other news

September 24 – The Cyclones lose 5-3 to the Capitals, but their LF/RF Michael Root (.311, 16 HR, 74 RBI) joins an elite club with a second inning solo home run off Takeru Sato: the 300-homer club. The club contains only two other players, RIC Gabriel Cruz (318), and the retired Mark Dawson (304).
September 25 – NYC SP Dan Barnes (11-19, 4.84 ERA) has suffered a torn back muscle and is out for the year. Focus is on getting him back up for April 1996.
September 26 – Charlotte’s Bob MacGruder (6-8, 4.21 ERA) dominates the Thunder and tosses a 2-hit shutout in a 2-0 Falcons win.
September 28 – The Scorpions beat the Gold Sox, 7-1, and clinch the FL West. Sacramento has not seen playoff games since *1980*, when the Scorpions won their only title. Between 1982 and 1991, the team failed to finish in the upper half of the division even once. It is their fourth overall playoff appearance. They will face the Miners.
September 28 – WAS SP Bill Smith (12-16, 4.27 ERA) turns in a 3-hitter as the Capitals slap the Miners, 9-0.

Complaints and stuff

David Brewer batted 13-22 with 1 HR and 4 RBI in the week ending with the dismal Indians series, netting him CL Player of the Week honors.

None of our minor league teams were even close to playoff contention and only AA Ham Lake had a winning record.

What else? Ah right. Game over. All over.