Portland Raccoons (ABL)

[dynaboyj]

Urgh. I don't know much about finances but this all sounds pretty twisted and bad.

Kondo and Weeds staying for another year makes me happy, though.

[Westheim]

1997 PORTLAND RACCOONS – Opening Day Roster (first set shows 1996 numbers, second set overall; players with an * are off season acquisitions):

SP Kisho Saito, 36, B:L, T:L (19-8, 3.59 ERA | 214-153, 3.18 ERA) – workhorse and strikeout machine doing his job at the top of the rotation, entering his 13th full season with the Raccoons. Won #200 last year, and he will have to win 35 more games over the next two years to have won 200 with the Raccoons as well. Could be tight: his stuff is slowly getting away from him.
SP Miguel Lopez, 28, B:S, T:L (4-2, 4.01 ERA | 47-24, 3.18 ERA) – has been disabled for most of the season for the second time in three years (he made only 54 starts in that stretch); when he’s able to pitch he is most often very good.
SP Scott Wade, 34, B:R, T:R (14-7, 3.88 ERA | 149-94, 3.41 ERA) – has won 10 games or more for 11 consecutive years. Control pitcher who can totally dominate a lineup despite merely decent stuff. Not bad a career for somebody with only two pitches.
SP Antonio Donis, 24, B:L, T:L (12-6, 3.43 ERA | 13-9, 3.90 ERA) – he struck out 187 in 170.2 innings last year, which mentions his two most notable traits already: killer stuff and no stamina whatsoever.
SP Jose Rivera, 24, B:L, T:R (14-1, 2.35 ERA | 14-6, 2.92 ERA) – after replacing an injured Miguel Lopez last year, Rivera pitched well beyond belief; this season will be about proving that he can be like this for more than one summer; his general makeup however is unspectacular.

MR Jose Ramos *, 31, B:R, T:R (13-6, 3.98 ERA | 49-39, 4.49 ERA) – has mostly been used as a starter in his career, but also appeared as a reliever in four of his eight big league seasons (including a few September callups); should Donis fail to get his act as a starter together, he could be swapped against Ramos…; acquired in the Matt Higgins trade with the Rebels.
MR Alonso Santana, 29, B:L, T:L (5-3, 2.91 ERA | 8-12, 4.75 ERA) – was acquired in trade from the Indians during the last summer and fared very well; has been used by the Indians as a spot starter 16 times in his career, and it never did him any good; he projects to be our main left-handed reliever this season.
MR Daniel Miller, 28, B:S, T:R (4-7, 2.88 ERA, 12 SV | 21-16, 3.45 ERA, 20 SV) – as we are mowing down hurlers in the lookout for a closer, Miller was tested in early ’96 and didn’t cut it. He remains a decent 7th/8th inning guy, though.
MR Cesar Salcido, 25, B:L, T:L (0-0, 5.51 ERA | 0-0, 5.93 ERA) – has yet to prove that he belongs on a roster; he is out of options.
SU Andres Otero, 35, B:R, T:R (5-4, 1.62 ERA, 5 SV | 28-23, 3.08 ERA, 37 SV) – has a nasty slider, although his strikeout rates have been a bit down in recent years. Filled all kinds of roles for us last season, but seems best put into a setup role.
SU Gabriel De La Rosa, 26, B:R, T:R (4-1, 1.81 ERA, 5 SV | 15-6, 2.02 ERA, 23 SV) – great stuff, enduring, maybe he deserves another shot at closing?
CL Tzu-jao Ban, 29, B:R, T:R (2-3, 2.98 ERA, 33 SV | 10-12, 3.10 ERA, 35 SV) – once put in the closer’s role, he did very well for a few months, only to start struggling at season’s end, and into the playoffs; makes people mad with his knuckle curve, but at times it just won’t knuckle (or curve)...

C David Vinson, 31, B:S, T:R (.263, 13 HR, 67 RBI | .249, 82 HR, 422 RBI) – after a horrible 1995 campaign, Vinson came back up for his second-best season with a .811 OPS last year, and even then had a prolonged slump built in. This is a contract year for him: time to get offense and defense in sync, finally.
C Nori Kondo, 31, B:R, T:R (.224, 1 HR, 21 RBI | .252, 11 HR, 122 RBI) – career backup catcher, didn’t do much to improve his role.

1B Liam Wedemeyer, 27, B:L, T:L (.263, 33 HR, 94 RBI | .281, 105 HR, 345 RBI) – did everything we expected from him last season, including winning the home run title, and striking out almost 30% of his at-bats.
1B/2B David Brewer, 29, B:L, T:R (.322, 3 HR, 73 RBI | .344, 56 HR, 595 RBI) – the perfect leadoff man had a .344/.419/.481 season and that *regressed* his career stats, as he *merely* garnered 5.7 WAR; continue drooling, Daveyboy will bat leadoff again.
SS/3B/2B/1B Jorge Salazar, 36, B:L, T:R (.261, 1 HR, 51 RBI | .284, 22 HR, 608 RBI) – was supposed to exit as type A free agent, but came back in through the back door called mandatory salary arbitration; he wrecked our budget already, let’s just hope he doesn’t wreck the record along with that.
1B/3B Ben O’Morrissey, 31, B:R, T:R (.295, 14 HR, 85 RBI | .282, 85 HR, 507 RBI) – first year of the big 6-year contract he signed last summer; I expect enough integrity from him to not pull a Cam Green on us; well, his defense at times reminds me of Green, as does his home run power; starter at third base.
1B/2B/3B/SS Marvin Ingall, 27, B:R, T:R (.305, 4 HR, 33 RBI | .300, 10 HR, 71 RBI) – utility infielder longing to be much more than that; unfortatunely Salazar did not go away as expected...
SS Conceicao Guerin, 23, B:R, T:R (.259, 0 HR, 5 RBI | .259, 0 HR, 5 RBI) – had only 54 AB last year, and could have been the starting shortstop or at least platoon with Ingall if he hadn’t gotten stuck with Salazar for another year.

LF Vern Kinnear, 28, B:L, T:R (.250, 14 HR, 78 RBI | .265, 61 HR, 334 RBI) – played 150 games for the first time and managed to win his second Gold Glove with excellent defensive work; he is one of our many guys in a contract year, and one of the most important figures among those.
CF/LF Neil Reece, 30, B:R, T:R (.275, 15 HR, 69 RBI | .319, 95 HR, 464 RBI) – fantastic defense in center, fantastic at the plate – you can’t help yourself but love him. Injuries big and small keep on catching up with him, though. He missed 50 games last year, and batted below .306 for the first time since becoming a full time player in 1991.
LF/RF Stephen Buell, 21, B:R, T:R (.299, 1 HR, 11 RBI | .299, 1 HR, 11 RBI) – made his debut last season subbing for Vern Kinnear when he was hurt, but to get him into the lineup every day he has to start in right field, at least until we get Royce Green back from the DL; this could hurt us huge on defense…
LF/RF/CF Luke Newton, 25, B:S, T:R (.237, 1 HR, 13 RBI | .240, 2 HR, 33 RBI) – consider him mainly a defensive backup and to give the three starters rest when they need it.
LF/CF/RF Joe Lacombe, 28, B:L, T:L (.250, 0 HR, 2 RBI | .257, 1 HR, 10 RBI) – can play all three outfield positions, but if not for injuries and financial reasons, he never would have cut this roster. His major league experience is limited to 105 AB so far.

On disabled list:
LF/CF/RF Royce Green, 27, B:R, T:R (.326, 26 HR, 99 RBI | .288, 116 HR, 413 RBI) – shredded pitching in a bid to become Hitter of the Year, until he blew his labrum out in August; his ETA is early-to-mid June, plus 20 days of rehab, and he will also be a free agent; career slash line of .288/.361/.523 tells you all you need to know about him. We miss you, Royce, come back soon!

Otherwise unavailable: Nobody.

Other roster movement: None.

Opening day lineups:
Vs. RHP: 2B Brewer – 3B O’Morrissey – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – LF Kinnear – RF Buell – SS Salazar – C Vinson – P Saito
Vs. LHP: 2B Brewer – 3B O’Morrissey – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Buell – LF Kinnear – SS Ingall – C Vinson – P Saito

We lost 3.2 WAR this offseason, with the loss of Jason Turner (4.3 WAR) the biggest factor in there. The Higgins/Ramos deal netted us 1.7 WAR, though. The net loss ranks us 15th of 24 teams in the ABL.

Top 5: Rebels (+11.3), Pacifics (+7.1), Warriors (+6.7), Aces (+2.8), Miners (+1.4)
Bottom 5: Wolves (-4.8), Knights (-5.9), Indians (-6.4), Blue Sox (-7.9), Canadiens (-9.6)

PREDICTION TIME:

My predictions have been off for years now. I anticipated a 91-71 year last season, closely taking the division. We actually won a rousing 108 games before falling to the Rebels in six, because most of the little gears in the box worked to perfection.

This won’t be the case this year. We lost Jason Turner to free agency, and whether Rivera can repeat last season, remains doubtful. Royce Green will be missed all across the lineup, and especially on defense with the youngster Buell expected to play right most days. What can Salazar do, another year older?

If everything goes well, no key players get hurt, and Green comes back and hits well, we should win 90 to 92 games again which might be enough for the division. If key players like Brewer, Reece, O-Mo, a pitcher in the rotation, or whatever, goes down, we are in trouble.

PLAYER DEVELOPMENT:

Our system has finally died after ranking tops in the early 90s, and still in the top 10 the last few years, but now we are ranked fourth … from the bottom. There isn’t much coming up from down there.

Last season, we had eight players on the list, of which three lost eligibility due to sufficient major league exposure (including #6 Antonio Donis, #45 Stephen Buell, and #157 Jose Rivera), and one player loses eligibility due to age (#60 Mike Crowe), and one player that dropped off for no particular reason (#129 Jose Cervantes). We only have five ranked prospects, one of which was picked off the street just this March…

61st (-18) – ML SS Conceicao Guerin, 23 – international discovery by Vicente Guerra
66th (new) – A CL Manuel Martinez, 18 – 1996 first round pick by the Raccoons
75th (-1) – AAA 1B/2B Samy Michel, 20 – international discovery by Vicente Guerra
81st (0) – AAA LF/RF George Wood, 21 – 1994 first round pick by the Raccoons
118th (new) – A INF/RF Miguel Ramirez, 18 – international discovery by the Crusaders, signed as minor league free agent

Straw of hope: we will have three of the first 43 picks in this year’s amateur draft…

20-year old pitcher Carlos Castro, signed out of the Dominican by the Scorpions this December, is the #1 prospect in the country.

Next: first pitch!

[Westheim]

Raccoons (0-0) vs. Canadiens (0-0) – April 8-9, 1997

We will open with two games against the Canadiens, who according to BNN had the worst winter of all ABL teams. We were picked to test that one in close combat.

Projected matchups:
Kisho Saito (0-0) vs. John Collins (0-0)
Miguel Lopez (0-0) vs. Lucio Munoz (0-0)

That’s twice a left-hander from us against a right-hander from those there.

Game 1
VAN: RF Arroyo – SS S. Mendez – LF Hartley – 1B Mosley – 3B Galindo – CF Ledesma – 2B B. Butler – C J. Lopez – P Collins
POR: 2B Brewer – 3B O’Morrissey – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – LF Kinnear – RF Buell – SS Salazar – C Vinson – P Saito

Five singles in the top 1st put three runs on Kisho Saito in a hurry. After a long, depressing winter full of grief and even fuller of tears, this was a nice way to get the season started. To add wet clothes to a black eye, rain chased the starters in the third inning. What an Opening Day!! While Weeds tied the game with a huge 3-run homer in the bottom 3rd, he also made a critical error in the top 4th that put two runners in scoring position with one out. Daniel Miller pitched out of there. When the Raccoons found themselves in the same situation in the bottom 4th after an error by Bill Mosley, they at least managed a tie-breaking sac fly by Brewer. De La Rosa replaced Miller on the mound for us once the latter was pinch-hit for in that bottom 4th and struck out the side in the fifth and added a perfect sixth. He came to bat with the bags full and no outs against Paul Kirkland in the bottom 6th, and I was longing for another inning from him. Kirkland’s second pitch hit Gabby and that was that, a run came home and De La Rosa rubbed his butt cheek. Depressingly, the Raccoons’ upper third of the lineup failed to get another run home, and we led 5-3. But fear not, we got more chances to score. In the bottom 7th, with Weeds on second base and one out, Buell was walked intentionally and then forced out by Salazar with a grounder. But Salazar was safe and that brought up Vinson, who hammered the ball out of the park for our second 3-run homer of the day! The Canadiens’ bullpen gave out some more in the eighth, but Cesar Salcido’s first outing of the year in the ninth was not pretty, as he walked two and surrendered a hard double to Salvador Mendez along with a run. Still: 11-4 Raccoons! Brewer 1-2, 2 BB, RBI; Reece 3-5, 2B; Wedemeyer 2-4, BB, HR, 4 RBI; Buell 1-2, 2 BB; Salazar 2-5, RBI; Vinson 2-3, 2 BB, HR, 3 RBI; Miller 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, W (1-0); De La Rosa 3.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K;

Gabbyyyyy!! The only pitcher besting his strikeouts in the CL early on was Woody Roberts of the Condors :-P

Game 2
VAN: RF Arroyo – SS S. Mendez – LF Hartley – 1B Mosley – 3B Galindo – CF Ledesma – 2B B. Butler – C J. Lopez – P Munoz
POR: 2B Brewer – 3B O’Morrissey – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – LF Kinnear – RF Buell – SS Salazar – C Vinson – P M. Lopez

Two leadoff singles and a walk to Reece got Munoz into deep water quickly in the bottom 1st, but Weeds grounded into a run-scoring double play and that would be all we got early on. Lopez, however, was a mess. He would issue six walks in a headache-inducing outing that ended in the sixth inning. We were down 2-1 and had not looked good against Munoz since the first inning. Miller took over with one out and a runner on first in the top 6th, and the inning ended on a lineout to Reece in center, who started a double play to first. We would tie the game on a sac fly by O’Morrissey in the seventh. Reliever Paul Kirkland hit Kinnear to lead off the bottom 8th in the tied game, and it came to cost him about as much as the wild pitch he uncorked with Buell at the plate. Buell grounded to second, which now was NOT a double play and Kinnear went to third, from where Salazar singled him in to get us ahead. Vinson doubled in Salazar, and while Tzu-jao Ban made it interesting in the ninth, putting the tying runs on, the Canadiens failed to score. 4-2 Coons! Brewer 2-4, BB; Salazar 2-4, RBI;

Now for the bad news. We already took our first casualty in this game. Andres Otero pitched in the seventh inning and got out of there, but once removed from the game he was uncomfortable. All kinds of tests were run the next day but nothing was found even when the Knights were in town on Friday.

Raccoons (2-0) vs. Knights (2-1) – April 11-13, 1997

Projected matchups:
Scott Wade (0-0) vs. Francisco Perez (0-0)
Antonio Donis (0-0) vs. Carlos Asquabal (1-0, 3.38 ERA)
Jose Rivera (0-0) vs. Jim Harrington (0-1, 16.20 ERA)

Asquabal would be our first left-handed opponent this season.

Game 1
ATL: LF F. Gonzalez – C Johnson – RF Hatch – CF Árias – SS Tanaka – 1B M. Gúzman – 2B Corona – 3B Utting – P F. Perez
POR: 2B Brewer – 3B O’Morrissey – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – LF Kinnear – RF Buell – C Vinson – SS Ingall – P Wade

Another day, another pitcher shredded. This time, Scott Wade was crushed with a massive 3-run homer by Jesus Árias right in the first inning. Wade managed to get stuffed with seven runs (six earned) total before getting knocked out with a 2-out, 2-run homer by Manuel Gúzman in the fifth inning. The Coons had scored two runs early against Francisco Perez, but then did zero until the seventh, where O-Mo and Reece got us back to 7-4 with a pair of 1-out RBI singles. They were still on base for Wedemeyer and Kinnear against the right-hander Perez and is unimpressive stuff. Both struck out. From the category of “you gotta see it to believe it”, pinch-hitter Victor Martinez doubled off De La Rosa in the eighth – but didn’t. He did not step on first base as Weeds immediately gestured to the first base ump, who, after a begging look from Martinez, kneeing on second base, to him slowly brought up his fist. The Knights didn’t score in the inning, but neither did the Coons, and closer Enrico Gonzalez sat down Brewer and O-Mo with ease to start the bottom 9th. Down by three, Reece walked. Kondo then hit for Wedemeyer (!!) against the left-hander Gonzalez – and walked. Now we still had Kinnear to work wonders here from the left side, but he flew out to center. 7-4 Knights. O’Morrissey 2-4, BB, RBI; Reece 2-4, BB, RBI; Buell 2-4, 2B; Ingall 3-3, 2B, RBI; De La Rosa 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

Our starting pitching is not very good so far. I will say no more because I could fall into abusive language here.

With Kinnear looking for his swing, he did not start the game against Asquabal.

Game 2
ATL: 3B Nicks – C Johnson – 1B V. Martinez – RF Hatch – LF F. Gonzalez – 2B M. Gúzman – SS Tanaka – CF Utting – P Asquabal
POR: 2B Brewer – 3B O’Morrissey – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – LF Buell – SS Ingall – C Vinson – RF Newton – P Donis

In a pitchers’ duel, Antonio Donis only got into trouble whenever the defense made an error behind him, which happened more often than one would hope for. Reece in the first, O-Mo in the sixth, and Ingall in the seventh all made errors. The first two amounted to nothing, the last knocked Donis from the game with two out and two runners in scoring position and our lead merely being 1-0; Reece had driven in the sole run with a double in the bottom 3rd. With the righty Tom Nicks coming to bat, Donis was replaced by De La Rosa. In a full count, Nicks grounded hastily to left, and O-Mo didn’t get to intercept it. Both runs scored. In the ninth, Sosa Tanaka homered off Alonso Santana, and we were down 3-1 and quickly had two out in the bottom 9th against Gonzalez, with Ingall on second base. Newton singled up the middle and Ingall was waved around third and beat Utting’s throw to the plate. Newton moved to second, representing the tying run. Kondo hit for Santana, but grounded out. 3-2 Knights. Brewer 2-4; Ingall 2-4, 2B; Newton 2-4, RBI; Donis 6.2 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, L (0-1);

Holy cow…

We also got news regarding Andres Otero. The pain he was in stemmed from a tear in his triceps. We should consider him out for about four months and move on without him.

Holy mammoth…

Otero was DL’ed and as a stopgap solution (which usually ain’t a solution) Day Grandridge was called up.

Game 3
ATL: 2B Nicks – C Johnson – RF Hatch – CF Árias – SS Tanaka – 1B M. Gúzman – LF Cooper – 3B Utting – P Harrington
POR: 2B Brewer – 3B O’Morrissey – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – LF Kinnear – C Vinson – SS Salazar – RF Lacombe – P J. Rivera

We got a run off Harrington in the first, which Sosa Tanaka, not exactly made from the power hitter blueprint, got back with a solo shot off Rivera in the fourth. Rivera wasn’t any good on the mound, walking five while being removed after five, down 2-1. The Knights blew the game open against Miller in the sixth, batting through the order (and Miller’s replacement Salcido provided no relief whatsoever). Harrington would have pitched a complete game probably if not for a sudden rain shower in the ninth inning knocking him out. That was with Kinnear on second base and one out in a 5-1 game. Ingall walked in place of Vinson, and Newton got on batting for Lacombe, but Guerin grounded out with the bags full. 5-1 Knights. Grandridge 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

In other news

April 11 – SFW CL Ricardo Medina (0-0, 0.00 ERA, 1 SV) will miss one month with inflammation in his elbow.

Complaints and stuff

The longest outing by a starter this week? Donis’. I don’t have to mention that opening week sucked outright, do I? Good.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (2-3) vs. Aces (4-3) – April 14-16, 1997

The Aces had scored and allowed the most runs in the CL so far, but of course they also had played the most games. Their run differential was -1 (ours was +1).

Projected matchups:
Kisho Saito (0-0, 10.13 ERA) vs. Carlos Guillén (1-0, 3.38 ERA)
Miguel Lopez (0-0, 3.38 ERA) vs. Alejandro Venegas (0-1, 5.14 ERA)
Scott Wade (0-1, 11.57 ERA) vs. Jou Hara (2-0, 4.50 ERA)

Game 1
LVA: 2B M. Gomez – 3B Petipas – CF J. Vargas – 1B Zamora – LF Li – RF Orosco – C Guerrero – SS R. Gutierrez – P Guillén
POR: 2B Brewer – 1B Ingall – CF Reece – 3B O’Morrissey – RF Buell – LF Kinnear – C Vinson – SS Salazar – P Saito

The game was about too old bones (Guillén and Saito combined for 71 years of age) not giving up any earned runs between them. And here the drama kicks in. In the bottom 3rd of a scoreless game, Bob Petipas lost a fly ball in the sky and had it glance off his glove for an error that helped the Raccoons to score the first run of the game. Saito was flawless safe for the stray single. The Aces had two of those in the top 6th, and then Vinson threw Guillén’s grounder away. The Aces managed to score twice, and I was raging. Saito went eight without any damage attributable to him, and still was on the losing edge as he towelled his arm in the dugout after the eighth. Vern Kinnear, who looked so utterly lost at the plate this April, was up with two out and two in scoring position in the bottom 8th. Yeah, Kinnear was batting .111, but they left their right-hander Cory Maupin in the game. He countered him! He swung at Maupin’s first pitch! He hit it! To the right! And through!! Reece and O-Mo hurried home on the single to right, and Saito was in line for a W. We added with a walk to Vinson and then a single by Salazar that Xiao-wei Li misfielded for an extra base, allowing Kinnear to score. The Aces sent Richard Cunningham, while we countered with Wedemeyer batting for Saito. The hideous moustache on the mound showed the hideous moustache at the plate who was boss, but we were still up 4-2 and Tzu-jao Ban came in. Vinson failed to make a play on another grounder that allowed Robinson Gutierrez to reach with two out in the inning, but Taisuke Mashiba lobbed out to Reece to end the game. 4-2 Raccoons. Brewer 2-4, 2B; Kinnear 1-4, 2 RBI; Saito 8.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, W (1-0);

A couple o’ firsts in this game: first starter to last seven or longer; first starter to win a game this year; NOT the first time a starter didn’t allow any earned runs and was STILL screwed over, though!

Nah, Kisho won, all is fine. – What, David? What is it? – No, I just filled Nori’s name into tomorrow’s lineup card by accident. – No, I promise.

Game 2
LVA: SS R. Gutierrez – 3B Petipas – 1B J. Vargas – LF Orosco – C Manuel – RF E. Garza – CF Douglas – 2B Zamora – P Venegas
POR: 2B Brewer – 3B O’Morrissey – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Buell – LF Kinnear – C Kondo – SS Guerin – P M. Lopez

Life is full of disappointments. This game was one of them, for David Vinson, and for Coon City as a whole. For starters, Miguel Lopez was completely crap. What was it with light-hitting shortstops? Robinson Gutierrez led off with a homer. Once the Aces had laughingly batted through their lineup in the first inning, Lopez was down 6-0 and fans were booing. Grandridge replaced him in that first inning, and well, this game was just over, but not before David Brewer jammed a thumb against second base after hitting a leadoff double in the bottom 1st. He had to come out, and the Coons rallied for three runs, but when Lacombe hit for Grandridge with two out and the sacks full, he plopped out to right. Little happened for the next six innings. The Coons failed to get on base, and the Aces did not exactly fail to get on, but left four runners in scoring position against Jose Ramos and Gabby De La Rosa in different innings. Bottom 8th, Buell and Kinnear led off with hits against Angel Diaz and were on the corners. Kondo came up representing the tying run. Him and Guerin behind him were batting a combined zero on the year, and Kondo didn’t liven up the numbers, but at least managed a sac fly. Guerin blooped a single into left, and Luke Newton reached on an error by Jesus Zamora. Down by two, three on, one out for Ingall, who was flown out by the Aces’ third pitcher of the inning, Paul Maxwell. O-Mo drew an RBI walk, and here my managing gave me a kick into the nuts. Next was not Reece, but De La Rosa, who had come into the game in a double switch earlier. Down by one, bags full, two out, I had to rely on Salazar to get things done. And he popped out. Mashiba left two on this time in the ninth against Santana, and Weeds drew a leadoff walk off ex-Coon Qi-zhen Geng in the bottom 9th. He was thrown out trying to steal, and we went down. 6-5 Aces. Brewer 1-1, 2B; Buell 3-5, 2B, RBI; Kinnear 2-5, 2B, RBI; Ramos 4.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 K and 1-1;

We are oh-fer in stealing bases this year.

As far as casualties went, Miguel Lopez was badly spanked that night, but David Brewer’s thumb had taken no serious damage and he was back at it the next day.

Game 3
LVA: SS R. Gutierrez – 3B Petipas – CF J. Vargas – RF Mashiba – C Manuel – LF Douglas – 1B Preston – 2B Zamora – P Griffin
POR: 2B Brewer – 3B O’Morrissey – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – LF Kinnear – RF Buell – C Vinson – SS Salazar – P Wade

The Aces pushed back Jou Hara for Rob Griffin (0-0, 10.39 ERA). Neither starter had made it out of the fifth inning in their first appearance of the year. The Raccoons were booked with another caught stealing (Brewer) in the first, but still scored a run when Weeds doubled in Reece on an 0-2 pitch with two out. Buell made an error in the top 2nd and that helped the Aces to get that run right back. The bottom 4th threw us another curve as Reece got on leading off. Weeds struck out but Kinnear singled to right and Reece went to third, where he tumbled into the base and banged up his wrist. And HE had to leave the game. Newton replaced him and scored when Vinson singled with two out, but holy cow, we were getting banged up! We added a run on Andres Manuel’s throwing error in the bottom 5th: O-Mo had tripled to extend a 10-game hitting streak, and Newton walked with two down. As he stole second base, Manuel’s throw was high and into the outfield, and O-Mo came home. The good news also had Wade going deep into the game, which is never wrong with a ravaged bullpen, and the Coons had a chance to extend their lead in the bottom 7th with the bags full and one out. But, once again, not Neil Reece was in the #3 hole, but Luke Newton, yet this time the results were better. Newton grounded up the middle where the ball just very slightly brushed the lunging Zamora’s glove, but got through and scored a pair. Up by four, Wade entered the ninth then, with Ban standing by. A shy single by Vargas and a loud RBI double by Mashiba prompted a switch in pitching personnel rather hurriedly. And for what? Manuel doubled, and Antenor Maldonado, reigning rookie of the year, homered. That ruined Wade’s effort, and we were not done yet as Ban would throw another exit pitch to Zamora, and the Raccoons failed to overcome Qi-zhen Geng this time, either. 6-5 Aces. Brewer 2-4, BB; Newton 1-2, BB, 2 RBI; Wade 8.0 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 1 K;

Eight games in, I have eaten three caps already. WHAT’S GOING ON???

To add injury to all the insults, Neil Reece came up with a badly bruised wrist that would leave him in DTD limbo for a week. Yes, progress! (grumpy face)

By the way, the Crusaders are 7-2, so there is a high chance that this is all just a dream.

Raccoons (3-5) vs. Titans (5-4) – April 17-20, 1997

The Titans had given up only 23 runs in their first nine games. All the Raccoons had going for them was the high chance of inevitable correction upwards for that value.

I hadn’t anticipated Howard pitching in the series, too (I am a fail, don’t you know), and we wouldn’t face a lefty until the last game. Brewer had not rested against the Aces, so he would most likely sit the second game of the series, thus playing seven straight. Well. Six-and-a-ninth straight.

Projected matchups:
Antonio Donis (0-1, 0.00 ERA) vs. Tynan Howard (0-0)
Jose Rivera (0-1, 3.60 ERA) vs. Bill Smith (0-0, 4.50 ERA)
Kisho Saito (1-0, 2.53 ERA) vs. Jesus Bautista (1-0, 0.53 ERA)
Miguel Lopez (0-1, 12.00 ERA) vs. Jason O’Halloran (1-1, 1.32 ERA)

Game 1
BOS: SS D. Silva – 1B Elliott – CF Reid – C L. Lopez – 3B Henry – RF L. Alonso – LF Thomas – 2B Chavez – P Howard
POR: 2B Brewer – SS Salazar – 3B O’Morrissey – 1B Wedemeyer – LF Kinnear – CF Newton – RF Buell – C Vinson – P Donis

Vinson allowed a passed ball on himself in the third inning that gave the Titans the lead in the game, 1-0. Since the Titans couldn’t score on their own after loading the bags with no outs in the fourth, as Manuel Chavez grounded into a force at home, and Donis struck out Howard, Donis was still so kind to help them out with a run-scoring wild pitch before Daniel Silva flew out. So that’s 2-0 Titans through no achievement of their own. Meanwhile, the Raccoons’ lineup was toothless, not getting a hit until the fourth, and in the bottom 5th with two in scoring position, two out, Brewer flew out on a 3-0 pitch. Donis failed to get through even five innings, and the bullpen was not much better. Luke Newton finally spoiled the Irish boy’s party with a 2-run single in the sixth, and Weeds shattered him with a 2-run homer in the eighth, but we still trailed by two runs. Buell walked to start the bottom 9th against Bill Corkum, then Vinson hit into a double play. 6-4 Titans. Salazar 3-4, 2B; Wedemeyer 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Ingall (PH) 1-1;

Weeds hit our first homer since Opening Day. It’s bad and getting worse. We managed to hit last place with this third straight loss.

Game 2
BOS: 1B Mullins – LF J. Martinez – C L. Lopez– 2B Henry – RF Thomas – SS M. Chavez – CF Walls – 3B Elliott – P B. Smith
POR: 2B Ingall – CF Newton – 3B O’Morrissey – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Buell – LF Kinnear – C Kondo – SS Guerin – P J. Rivera

The bottom 2nd was a mess. Buell on first with no outs, Bill Smith’s pickoff attempt went past Jeremiah Mullins and Buell moved up 90 feet. Kinnear drew a walk and when Kondo singled to right, Buell scored easily, but Kinnear chose a bad time to try for third base. He ignored all signs of the third base coach (including him waving arms, firing a signal pistol, and striking a 6ft diameter gong) and was out by a while, as that inning fizzled out. In a low-scoring game, a leadoff triple by Conceicao Guerin in the bottom 5th led to another run for us, and Rivera gave one back in the seventh. Santana was tasked with protection of our 2-1 lead in the eighth, put Mullins on to get started, and pinch-runner Alonso Lopez made for home from second base when Horace Henry singled with two out. Kinnear was quick to the ball and fired a shot home that was powerful enough to not only remove Lopez from the basepaths, it would have had the force to remove him from the gene pool altogether… De La Rosa was tasked with saving it in the ninth after no offensive additions in the bottom 8th. With one out, Chavez walked. With two out, Dave Reid reached on a bad throw by Ingall. Octavio Salinas came out to hit in the #9 hole, a right-hander so far unknown to us. At 1-2, De La Rosa hit him to load the bags for backup catcher Julio Silva. And he plunked Silva, too.

He did WHAT!?

Brewer’s off day ended in the ninth since we were running low on infielders, and in the bottom 10th we had two men on with two out and Day Grandridge not going to bat here. Neil Reece came out, hurting our not. Bill Corkum’s first pitch bored in on Reece, who fell down and rolled on his back, but eventually managed to drag himself to first as a meaningless run. Vern Kinnear represented Schrodinger’s batter in the on-deck circle as Buell stepped in to bat against Corkum in a 2-2 game with the bags full and two out. That was the guy who wanted his job and didn’t bat two-fiddy either. Buell grounded out on the first pitch he saw. The 11th and Holden Gorman pitching got us the next bases-loaded bonanza, then with one out after Kinnear walked, Kondo bunted him over, Brewer was walked intentionally, and Salazar singled to right. Ingall came up and finally ended a long and sorry night with a single to left. 3-2 Raccoons. Ingall 3-6, 2 RBI; Kinnear 2-3, 2 BB, 2B; Salazar 2-2; Rivera 7.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 7 K;

Game 3
BOS: SS D. Silva – RF J. Martinez – CF Reid – 3B Henry – 1B Elliott – C J. Silva – LF Alonso – 2B Salinas – P Bautista
POR: 2B Brewer – SS Ingall – 3B O’Morrissey – 1B Wedemeyer – LF Kinnear – CF Newton – RF Lacombe – C Vinson – P Saito

Saito would pitch seven innings of 2-run ball, which easily passed as decent day for him. The rest of our select nine however … they were outright annihilated by Jesus Bautista. Nothing remained of them. He scattered six soft hits through eight innings, including five singles, and a pair of double plays helped to ensure the Raccoons didn’t score. The Titans still replaced him with Gorman for the bottom 9th. Well, we went down just as quickly against him. 2-0 Titans. O’Morrissey 2-4; Saito 7.0 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, L (1-1);

Game 4
BOS: SS D. Silva – RF J. Martinez – CF Reid – C L. Lopez – 2B Henry – LF Walls – 1B J. Silva – 3B S. Walker – P O’Halloran
POR: 2B Brewer – 3B O’Morrissey – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Buell – LF Kinnear – C Vinson – SS Guerin – P M. Lopez

Last time out, Miguel Lopez had been exploded for six runs in the first inning. This time out, the Raccoons set fire to the opposing pitcher in the first, aided by two errors by the Titans and a wild pitch and hit batter along with four hits of their own, scoring five runs in the frame. Dave Reid hit a solo homer off Lopez in the fourth, but the Titans found the echo to be resounding, as in the bottom of the frame Neil Reece hit his own solo shot, and Stephen Buell added a 2-job, both off reliever Eduardo Aragón, and with two out in the sixth we reeled off four straight hits to extend the lead to 10-1. Although the Raccoons did all they could to get the Titans back into the game in the seventh with a leadoff walk by Lopez, and an error by O-Mo, and a wild pitch, and … they didn’t cut it. There! They even failed at failing!! 10-2 Raccoons. Brewer 2-4, BB, 2 2B; Reece 2-5, HR, RBI; Wedemeyer 3-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Buell 4-4, BB, HR, 2B, 4 RBI; Lopez 7.1 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, W (1-1);

In other news

April 16 – CYCLE!! The Pacifics pound the Miners, 11-5, with their catcher Lance Branch (.394, 1 HR, 8 RBI) going 4-4 with a homer, a double, a triple, a walk, and a single (in that order) and 5 RBI. It is the 20th cycle in ABL history and the second for the Pacifics (Ethan Gittens, 1978).
April 16 – LVA SP Rafael Espinoza (0-1, 7.50 ERA) has been diagnosed with a partially torn labrum. The 36-year old is going to miss most of the season.
April 17 – In Richmond, RF/LF Raúl Vázquez (.410, 1 HR, 2 RBI) has signed a 4-yr, $5.2M extension.
April 17 – VAN 1B Bill Mosley (.167, 0 HR, 0 RBI) has suffered a broken elbow. The usually reliable .280 hitter will miss at least four months.
April 18 – LAP SP Angel Romero (1-1, 1.17 ERA) 2-hits the Stars in a 5-0 Pacifics win.
April 19 – 38-year old PIT SP Craig Hansen (3-0, 1.23 ERA) rides his offense in a 12-3 creaming of the Capitals, as he only goes six innings, but gets the W regardless. It is a special one: Hansen becomes the second 250-game winner in ABL history, joining Hall of Famer Juan “Mauler” Correa. Hansen, the first overall pick in the 1981 amateur draft, never threw a pitch in the minor leagues, joining the big league club straight away. He has also never been on the disabled list. 3,901 innings pitched later, he his 250-175 with a 3.28 ERA and 2,327 strikeouts. While he pitched for the Rebels 1989-1993, the rest of his career was spent with the Miners. Hansen would have to win 22 more games to catch Correa.

Complaints and stuff

The team put up some pretty good drama this week, I am just not yet decided on whether it was just Waiting for Godot (to arrive with some hits and less errors), or a full blown Oedipussian calibre Greek tragedy.

In fact, we have made THIRTEEN errors so far, more than one per game, and the most of all teams in the CL.

Also, playing seven innings in Sunday’s game didn’t do Neil Reece’s wrist any good, and it is now hurting more than before. Great job.

Thank god the shipment of 50,000 plush toy raccoons, crafted with love by sweaty, tiny children's hands in Taiwan, finally arrived. We'll sell those on weekend afternoon games this year. They are great! If you grab one really tight, and rock slowly back and forth as you weep, they are very comforting.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (5-7) @ Crusaders (10-2) – April 22-24, 1997

The Crusaders have not been relevant for 15 years, and I can’t believe I am not dreaming. The numbers suggested that luck was a factor with a rather small run differential of +17. (Heck, even the Raccoons had a +6 differential!) I tried to find the game changer on their roster, but failed to find one.

Projected matchups:
Scott Wade (0-1, 5.68 ERA) vs. David Ramirez (0-1, 10.50 ERA)
Antonio Donis (0-2, 2.45 ERA) vs. Anibal Sandoval (3-0, 4.18 ERA)
Jose Rivera (0-1, 2.25 ERA) vs. Francisco Garza (2-1, 3.72 ERA)

Our three starters have yet to win a game. This does not bode well. [I also messed up, setting my lineup for the lefty Ramirez, and on the lineup screen before the game just looked at Ingall in the second spot, and all is well, but didn’t realize that they had moved up Sandoval and we in fact had the lineup against right-handers up now. So, that’s where Lacombe came from… That’s one thing that greatly annoys me about OOTP, the opposing starter getting changed without notification…]

Game 1
POR: 2B Brewer – SS Ingall – 3B O’Morrissey – 1B Wedemeyer – LF Kinnear – CF Newton – RF Lacombe – C Vinson – P Wade
NYC: 3B Rigg – 2B Wilson – RF A. Johnson – LF P. Jenkins – C Melendez – CF Latham – 1B Berry – SS Vega – P Sandoval

Scott Wade struck out the side in the first inning, which was a bad sign. Wade just doesn’t cut it when he strikes people out. That sounds strange, but it is how water is running with him… True to the myth the Crusaders bullied him for two runs in the second inning and we started to trail in a mostly uneventful game. In the top 7th, down 3-1, two on and no outs, we hit with Reece for Wade, and Reece lined a single to center. Brewer grounded into a force at home, but Ingall came through with a 2-run single to right that took Wade off the hook. Could we get him a lead? Yes! O-Mo singled to lead the bases again, and then Wedemeyer grounded to short, but beat the throw to first to break up the double play, and Brewer scored. Kinnear singled in Ingall before Newton grounded out. A timely offensive explosion had us up 5-3, with the nice consequence that we could now watch Miller and Santana **** it up. The Crusaders scored three runs against them in the bottom 7th. Gone the lead. Grandridge was rocked for two more runs in the eighth, and we lost this one properly. 8-5 Crusaders. Wedemeyer 2-5, RBI; Reece (PH) 1-1;

Nothing works. Nothing.

Game 2
POR: 2B Brewer – SS Ingall – 3B O’Morrissey – 1B Wedemeyer – LF Kinnear – RF Buell – CF Newton – C Kondo – P Donis
NYC: SS Rigg – 2B Wilson – RF A. Johnson – C Melendez – 1B T. Mullins – CF Diéguez – LF C. Clark – 3B Vega – P F. Garza

Garza walked three batters in the first inning, which the Raccoons got two runs out of. Then came Donis, sucked the hell out of a 2-0 lead, and was ravaged for four runs in the first. Donis would be beaten up for seven runs in 3.1 innings of a horrible display of failure. Astonishingly, Garza didn’t make it through five innings either, but the Raccoons left the bases loaded in the fifth after the usual groundball-for-force-at-home games they loved so dearly. Marvin Ingall’s home run came one inning too late, and we had flushed another game down the toilet. Although Miller and Salcido were wonky out of the pen, nobody surrendered any runs. But Donis. 7-4 Crusaders. Ingall 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Buell 3-5, RBI; Ramos 2.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Lemme see. What do we have going for us?

Oh yeah. Nothing.

Game 3
POR: 2B Brewer – SS Ingall – 3B O’Morrissey – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Buell – C Vinson – LF Kinnear – CF Newton – P J. Rivera
NYC: 3B Rigg – 2B Wilson – RF A. Johnson – LF P. Jenkins – C Melendez – CF Latham – 1B Berry – SS Vega – P Miranda

Cipriano Miranda (3-0, 4.09 ERA) pitched this game as David Ramirez continued to be unavailable. Aside from whoever was pitching for the opposition, the Oregonians’ nightmare continued. Rivera plunked two in the second inning, added a balk for good measure and managed to surrender the first run of the game that way. Somehow Rivera didn’t fork up completely before the Raccoons came into possession of two runs in the fourth. Vinson found the bags full with one out and the Crusaders were unable to turn a textbook 6-4-3 on him once he grounded to short, and the tying run scored. Kinnear hit a single into the shallow outfield to take the lead, and O-Mo’ 2-out RBI double in the fifth would make it 3-1. Better hurry up, Jose, or you might actually win one! A walk and a balk didn’t cut it for him in the sixth, and the Crusaders left another one on second base in the seventh. Avery Johnson’s 2-out double with the bases empty in the bottom 8th finally got Rivera out of the game with Santana entering the game to face lefty Pat Jenkins, and failed to throw a proper exit pitch. Instead, Jenkins grounded out to Brewer. Tzu-jao Ban accidentally saved the game. 3-1 Raccoons. O’Morrissey 2-4, 2B, RBI; Rivera 7.2 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, W (1-1) and 1-2, BB;

Raccoons (6-9) @ Falcons (5-11) – April 25-27, 1997

The Falcons were the worst team in the Continental League at this junction, but a sweep over another quite bad team can do wonders for your reputation. Our 65 runs scored didn’t measure too favorably against their league-least 63 runs scored, either. At least we had semi-competent pitching. Their’s ranked 11th. Meanwhile, we were still without Neil Reece…

Projected matchups:
Kisho Saito (1-1, 2.55 ERA) vs. Luis Guzmán (0-0, 8.22 ERA)
Miguel Lopez (1-1, 6.08 ERA) vs. Larry Davis (0-0, 6.75 ERA)
Scott Wade (0-1, 5.30 ERA) vs. Carlos Castro (1-3, 5.47 ERA)

Castro was the only left-hander, but we had another off day coming after this series, so no need to look for spots to rest someone yet. But we will play strings of 13 and 16 games in a row after that.

Game 1
POR: 2B Brewer – SS Salazar – 3B Ingall – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Buell – C Vinson – LF Kinnear – CF Newton – P Saito
CHA: RF R. Garza – 2B Barrón – SS H. Green – CF Dunphy – 3B Combes – C Escobedo – LF P. Flores – 1B D. Thompson – P Guzmán

All questions about why these teams were at the bottom of the barrel in terms of offense were answered in this game. There was just no hitting. No hitting whatsoever. No team sat a foot on third base through eight innings, as Saito and Guzmán were both pitching 3-hit shutouts! Brewer walked to start the top 9th. Salazar sacrificed him over to second base, and then Ingall struck out and Wedemeyer flew out. And it had been that way the whole lousy night. Saito went back out on only 76 pitches. Juan Barrón hit a bloop single, and Hubert Green walked. No outs. The next two guys made outs, putting Barrón on third base (the first runner on third base, with two out in the bottom 9th!!), but was left there when Antonio Escobedo lobbed out to Kinnear. Nine innings, zero runs. Guzmán pitched the tenth (scoreless of course), but Saito did not go back out. The ninth had been close enough, no need to saddle him with an ENTIRELY UNDESERVED LOSS. That loss was eventually settled on Day Grandridge, who deserved it, in the 12th, for putting the leadoff man on, and Ingall made an error, and Santana hit a guy to load the bases, and then surrendered a walkoff single with two outs to Ramón Garza. 1-0 Falcons. Saito 9.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 6 K; De La Rosa 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 0 K;

We were shut out for the second time this season. Last year at this point, we went another three months before being shut out for the first time all season! Can we sink much lower?

At least Neil Reece’s wrist was much better now and between him, the trainer, and me we agreed to have him start game 2. Need some offense after all. Saito had been overheard calling his sword sharpener over from Japan after this game…

Game 2
POR: 2B Brewer – 3B O’Morrissey – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Buell – LF Kinnear – C Vinson – SS Salazar – P M. Lopez
CHA: RF R. Garza – 2B Barrón – SS H. Green – CF Dunphy – 3B Combes – C Escobedo – LF P. Flores – 1B D. Thompson – P L. Davis

Lopez gave up a run in the first, and the Raccoons gave up hope quickly after that. We also had to give up hope for the foreseeable future when David Brewer was bowled over by ratface Christian Dunphy in an attempt to break up a double play in the fourth inning. Brewer left the game, hopping off supported by the trainer, and that was that. Miguel Lopez was most mad of all Coons, drilling a leadoff jack off Davis in the fifth inning. That tied the game, and at some point in time it had to become untied again. That was in the seventh, when Lopez melted down and the Falcons scored a run on a 1-out single by PH Adam Kent. Ramos relieved Lopez with two in scoring position and two out and Neil Reece managed to intercept Garza’s huge fly to center. Ramos saw three batters in the bottom 8th, retired none, and since Day Grandridge resembled a kid with matches tasked with putting out a fire when it came to situations with men on base, the Falcons easily scored another run. In the 4-1 game, the Falcons sent out Artie Saunders, which was a sorry excuse for trying to blow a game. He drilled Buell and issued 1-out walks to Newton and Salazar, putting the tying runs on base. Ingall hit for Grandridge, gently lifted out to center, and that brought up Guerin in Brewer’s spot. Everybody’s first reaction was “Ballgame!”, but Guerin lined over Barrón for a 2-out single, and now we needed just one more with O-Mo batting. A full count against Saunders, aaaand – ballgame. 4-3 Falcons. O’Morrissey 2-4, BB;

That’s five lost series in a row. I don’t even know what to say. Nothing works with these guys. They can’t get anything done. And it is impossible to make upgrades, either…

Meanwhile X-rays of Brewer’s ankle came back negative but he was still unavailable with a bad bruise, and would miss a week or so. That was the perfect nightmare for you couldn’t DL him, and you couldn’t play him either…

By the way, by now the Raccoons were the worst team in the CL in terms of record.

Game 3
POR: 2B Ingall – 3B O’Morrissey – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – LF Buell – RF Newton – SS Guerin – C Kondo – P Wade
CHA: C Escobedo – 2B Barrón – 3B Combes – LF A. Lopez – RF R. Garza – SS Kent – CF Young – 1B D. Thompson – P Castro

As if I needed any more reason to throw myself from the Wells Fargo Center, Scott Wade left the final game of the series in the fourth inning with some kind of trouble in his right arm. Of course he was trailing by the slimmest of margins, 1-0. De La Rosa got us through five, then was hit for with Kinnear in the top 6th with Kondo on first base and no outs. Kinnear doubled up the right foul line to put the go-ahead runs in scoring position for the next three guys to come up, of whom Ingall lobbed out to shallow center, and O’Morrissey and Reece struck out. A few more depressing and embarassing innings later, Wedemeyer drew a 1-out walk from Alex Byrd in the ninth. Oh, yeah, the score was still 1-0. Salazar hit for Buell (completely messing up our defense should we come back), but lined out. With two out, Newton hit one out to deep right, which Pedro Flores failed to catch up with. It fell in, Weeds dashed home, and we were tied. We got no more when Guerin flew out, and O’Morrissey ended up in left field in the bottom 9th, but didn’t get any chances to handle before Duane Smith hit a walkoff pinch-hit home run off Daniel Miller. 3-1 Falcons. Kinnear (PH) 1-1, 2B;

Scott Wade’s elbow was closely examinated on Monday, our off day, but all tests were negative. He was told to rest it, and was listed as DTD for a week. Yet, this blows out his next start – presumably – on Saturday in Vancouver. We will have to groom Jose Ramos into making that start and not use him past the middle game in San Fran in the upcoming series, or turn to AAA to get a spot start from there, but then would have to make room on the roster.

Wade was hurt on Sunday. DL’ing him costs him another start – again presumably – on May 8 against the Indians, and he would be able to return in time for the next turn of the rotation due to two off days (this and one on May 12) shifting the rotation forward.

This was a toughie, but ultimately we already had enough issues on our hands than to park relievers to make spot starts. In a timely manner, though, Gerardo Ramirez at AAA had gone down to injury, and of the three remaining SP’s on the 40-man roster, Ivan Costa had terrible stamina comparable to Donis, and those would have to start back-to-back, and Kelly Fairchild and Esteban Flores had been raped with bats in their first four starts (think ERAs north of six).

Raccoons (6-12) @ Bayhawks (8-10) – April 29-May 1, 1997

Again a duel of 10th vs. 12th place in runs scored, only this time the Raccoons were the latter assembly of wannabe ballplayers. The Bayhawks’ rotation had been shredded to a 5.14 ERA so far, while their bullpen sported a 1.85 ERA mark.

Projected matchups:
Antonio Donis (0-3, 5.65 ERA) vs. Ricardo Sanchez (1-2, 5.96 ERA)
Jose Rivera (1-1, 1.83 ERA) vs. Jorge Chapa (0-2, 5.79 ERA)
Kisho Saito (1-1, 1.69 ERA) vs. Charles Bywaters (0-2, 9.16 ERA)

GET THOSE BATS UP, FINALLY!!

Game 1
POR: 2B Ingall – 3B O’Morrissey – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Buell – LF Kinnear – C Vinson – SS Salazar – P Donis
SFB: 2B Berrios – 3B P. Hernandez – LF P. Perez – CF Cote – RF A. Rodriguez – SS Powys – 1B Chandler – C J. Ortíz – P R. Sanchez

Sanchez chainsawed the Raccoons in this game, not allowing a single until the fifth inning (Salazar), then with two outs and no hopes, and also not until he had struck out seven already. While Donis didn’t quite match his ferocious pace, he kept up in results through six innings, after which he was burned out for this time out. The Coons didn’t manage to score for Donis, who did not get a win, but Sanchez didn’t either, being chased after a 2-out double by Kinnear in the top 7th. Jose Matos almost managed to wild-pitch Kinnear home, but the Raccoons quickly made another out before that could happen. Cesar Salcido only faced one batter in the bottom 7th, lefty Bill Dean, put him on, then yielded for De La Rosa, who walked Pedro Hernandez with one out. Berrios, who had forced out Dean with his grounder, and Hernandez executed a double steal against a defenseless David Vinson, and this ship was going down with a 2-out RBI single by Russ Cote. Daniel Miller opened the eighth with a walk to Mike Powys, which soon escalated into two runs, which were entirely unnecessary for deciding the outcome of this particular game. 3-0 Bayhawks. Donis 6.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 6 K;

This horrible collection of fools had two hits and 11 strikeouts.

Game 2
POR: 2B Ingall – 3B O’Morrissey – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – LF Buell – SS Guerin – RF Lacombe – C Kondo – P J. Rivera
SFB: SS Powys – 2B Chandler – 1B Dean – LF P. Perez – RF Marquez – 3B P. Hernandez – CF A. Rodriguez – C Amaya – P Chapa

Rivera held the Bayhawks hitless until Pedro Perez buried a ball in the seats in the bottom 4th. Of course the Raccoons had not scored so far, but Jorge Chapa, who was as much of a pushover as his stats suggested, aggressively supported them in the top 5th with two walks and a wild pitch, and we actually tied the game back. That was before Rivera surrendered a pair of runs in the bottom 5th which were technically unearned, but actually only were because of his own throwing error. Come the top 6th, O’Morrissey and Reece led off with back-to-back doubles to get back to within one and having the tying run at second base with no outs. Chapa struck out Wedemeyer, and struck out Buell, only to have Miguel Amaya lose that ball and Buell actually reached base on an uncaught third strike, moving Reece to third with still one out. No, he was not scored. To add injury to all those insults once again, Neil Reece was hurt on a defensive play in the bottom of the sixth inning and left the game. If nothing else that so much heralded Bayhawks bullpen suffered a total meltdown in the seventh inning, with Jose Matos, who had almost blown the game the day before, blowing it properly, allowing 2-out, 2-run doubles to both Luke Newton and Stephen Buell. We scored two more runs through now achievement of our own in the eighth, induced by a run-scoring wild pitch by Bob Robinson and helped greatly by Mike Powys dropping a pop fly by Wedemeyer with two down. 8-3 Raccoons. O’Morrissey 3-4, BB, 2B; Newton 1-2, 2B, 2 RBI; Buell 2-5, 2 2B, 2 RBI; Rivera 7.0 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, W (2-1); Santana 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K;

That fool Jose Rivera became our first multi-game winner on April 30. Whoever had placed a bet on no Raccoon winning two through the end of April was probably pretty mad now…

Meanwhile Neil Reece was diagnosed with a tender shoulder and would best rest for two weeks. That meant a trip to the DL and some slack from AAA getting called up. It hit 29-year old LF/RF Kenny Crockett, our 1991 6th round amateur draft pick. His OPS of .652 did warrant nothing but banishment, but these were hard times, and there was *really* nobody better on that roster.

Game 3
POR: 3B O’Morrissey – SS Salazar – RF Buell – 1B Wedemeyer – LF Kinnear – 2B Ingall – CF Newton – C Vinson – P Saito
SFB: 2B Berrios – 3B P. Hernandez – CF Cote – RF A. Rodriguez – SS Powys – 1B Chandler – LF Cobb – C J. Ortíz – P Bywaters

Pitching for the Raccoons was a nightmare at this stage, and Kisho Saito knew a thing or two about it from the past as well. While the Raccoons had four hits but did nothing with them in the first three innings, the first thing Saito gave up was immediately on the board as a solo homer by Jose Ortíz. Saito found himself at the plate with two out and two on in the top 4th for the second time on the day. He had made an out the first time, but this time shoved a grounder through Pedro Hernandez at third base. Ingall scored, and Vinson was waved around third and scored as well on Saito’s double. Saito was left on, but now led 2-1, and it looked a lot like that was all he’d get. As fate had it, Saito was again to bat with two out and Newton on third base in the sixth, which came a bit after Ingall had flied out on a 3-0 pitch to start the inning. Bywaters went to 2-out-of-3 against Saito and we didn’t score again. Saito was done after seven, by which time we were outhitting the Bayhawks 10-4. At some point this was going to come back and hurt. De La Rosa pitched a quick eighth, and for the ninth Tzu-jao Ban came out. He walked PH Pedro Perez, hitting for Rodriguez, to start the frame. Perez was replaced with runner Paco Javier. Powys fouled out. Pat Chandler lined out to O’Morrissey at third. That brought up Steve Cobb with two out. Ban through an uncurving curve, Cobb tattooed it, and everybody went home. 3-2 Bayhawks. O’Morrissey 2-4, BB, 2B; Ingall 2-4; Newton 2-3, BB; Saito 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K and 1-3, 2B, 2 RBI;

GODDAMNIT, GODFORSAKEN SUCKERS, I HATE YOU ALL!!!

ARGH!!!

Raccoons (7-14) @ Canadiens (12-9) – May 2-4, 1997

They’re gonna sweep us anyway, so why should we hold ourselves up with statistics?

Projected matchups:
Miguel Lopez (1-2, 4.95 ERA) vs. Jose Marquez (3-0, 1.91 ERA)
Jose Ramos (1-0, 2.13 ERA) vs. John Collins (2-1, 5.12 ERA)
Antonio Donis (0-3, 3.98 ERA) vs. Jose Dominguez (1-0, 5.32 ERA)

Game 1
POR: CF Newton – 2B Ingall – 3B O’Morrissey – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Buell – LF Kinnear – SS Guerin – C Kondo – P M. Lopez
VAN: 2B B. Butler – 1B S. Mendez – LF Hartley – 3B Galindo – RF Porter – SS Shaw – CF D. Edwards – C Castillo – P Marquez

The Coons scored two in the first inning, mainly around a double by Marvin Ingall. The Canadiens left five men on base against a shoddy Miguel Lopez in the first two innings and didn’t score before the Raccoons came back with two out in the top 3rd, first with O-Mo hitting a bloop RBI single, and then with a home run by Wedemeyer. That made it 5-0, and Marquez hit the very next batter, Stephen Buell, who first strolled to first base, and then after some chirping charged the mound. The benches cleared, and Marquez and Buell were both ejected. That led to Kenny Crockett making his big league debut as replacement. The Canadiens continued to hit against Lopez, but not enough: they had ten hits against him, but he pitched six shutout innings before leaving. Efficiency is described another way, but zero runs are zero runs after all. Up 7-0 with nine out to harvest, Grandridge was trusted with the ball, and while he was horrendous, he somehow pitched two shutouts innings and the Canadiens stranded another four runners. We left the bags full each of the last two innings, too. 8-0 Raccoons. Ingall 2-4, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Lopez 6.0 IP, 10 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K, W (2-2) and 2-3, 2B, RBI;

Stephen Buell was suspended for TEN GAMES. Yeah, WHY NOT?? Why not for a friggin’ A HUNDRED GAMES??? (throws a tantrum, and a few bats)

Game 2
POR: CF Newton – 3B O’Morrissey – LF Kinnear – 1B Wedemeyer – 2B Ingall – SS Salazar – C Vinson – RF Lacombe – P J. Ramos
VAN: RF D. Edwards – 1B S. Mendez – CF Arroyo – 3B Galindo – 2B B. Butler – LF Moore – SS P. Williams – C Castillo – P Collins

Roles reversed in this game. The Raccoons left pairs of runners on in three of the first four innings, and didn’t score at all. Jose Ramos’ shot at starting went in the wrong direction early, too, and he was whacked around quite a bit, eventually leaving in the seventh with four runs in, two on, and one out. Salcido waved home another run, but by that time the Raccoons were long defeated. They didn’t get on the board until the eighth, and then only with one run driven in by Salazar, and left another two on, and that was before Daniel Miller, who was generally ineffective these days, was pounced on for two more runs in the bottom 8th. A 2-run homer by Newton in the ninth was interesting for the stats geeks at best. 7-3 Canadiens.

On the bright side, we got back David Brewer after that ankle issue.

Game 3
POR: 2B Brewer – CF Newton – 3B O’Morrissey – 1B Wedemeyer – SS Ingall – LF Kinnear – C Vinson – RF Lacombe – P Donis
VAN: SS Shaw – 1B S. Mendez – LF Hartley – 3B Galindo – RF Porter – 2B P. Williams – CF Moore – C J. Lopez – P Dominguez

Donis was pummeled from the start, and there was no excuse for him sucking. The Canadiens got a run in the first, then had a runner on first with one out and Dominguez batting in the second. Dominguez bunted right to Donis, who threw away the grounder, then handed a ticket to paradise to Travis Shaw: 4-0 Elks. Donis surrendered two more in the third in an attempt to get exiled to Armenia. The Raccoons had left them loaded in the second, and O-Mo standing on third in the third. O-Mo lined into a double play in the fifth, in which they left two in scoring position eventually. It was hopeless. 7-2 Canadiens. O’Morrissey 2-4, BB, 3B; Wedemeyer 2-5, 2 RBI; Vinson 2-3, BB; Lacombe 2-4;

Agony.

In other news

April 22 – TIJ C Freddy Jackson (.327, 0 HR, 1 RBI) will be sidelined for most of the remaining season with a broken elbow.
April 22 – The Rebels’ RF/LF Raúl Vázquez (.346, 1 HR, 2 RBI) is out for up to a month with a knee sprain.
April 23 – DAL SP Manny Ramos (2-1, 3.41 ERA) sets a new major league record for strikeouts by whiffing 16 hopeless Wolves in a 5-1 win for Dallas.
April 23 – TOP C Carlos Ramos (.385, 1 HR, 15 RBI) extends a hitting streak to 20 games with a single in four AB’s in the Buffaloes’ 7-4 loss to the Blue Sox.
April 25 – ATL RF Hollis Hatch (.340, 0 HR, 5 RBI) is out for the season with a torn labrum.
April 29 – The Buffaloes’ Carlos Ramos is still going strong. Batting .364 with 1 HR and 17 RBI, he extends his hitting streak to 25 games with a 2-5 day in an 8-7 win over the Stars.
May 4 – NO-HITTER!!! CIN Manuel Garza (2-2, 2.79 ERA) eliminates the Miners almost all by himself, issuing only two walks while allowing no hits and no runs in a 2-0 win for the Cyclones! The 36-year old Garza, a veteran of 16 seasons and five teams, spins the 20th no-hitter in ABL history and the first for the Cyclones franchise. It is the first no-no since Vicente Navarro’s for Boston last July, and the first no-hitter in May since Bob “Butcher” Haines’ for L.A. in 1984.

Complaints and stuff

Stephen Buell was named Rookie of the Month of April with a 294, 1 HR, 8 RBI line. Good boy!

Now on to the bad news. This team sucks. IT SUCKS. The defense is bad, making almost a full error per game. The pitching, while not great, would be sufficient to carry a team with some form of actual offense, ranking consistently in the upper half of the CL teams in most aspects (we will probably never get very far in HR allowed due to our park).

But the offense. As a team, we’re batting .252/.333/.352, which is 9th/8th/9th in the CL. We score the second-least runs. However, our run differential is -2. We are four games below our pythagorean record of 12-12.

So the most significant thing that is going on: MASSIVELY MASSIVE ROTTEN LUCK. It HAS to be spelled in capitals. It has to.

I will be writhing in agony over there now. (points to the nook behind the bat rack)

[Questdog]

Whenever I felt bad as a kid, my Momma would say "Cheer up! There's always somebody that has it worse than you."

Thanks for being that guy that has it worse than me! You cheer me up!....

Seriously, though, the 'Coons can't be this bad, can they? Things have to turn around sooner or later.....

Luke Newton leading the team in SLG?????

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by Questdog

Whenever I felt bad as a kid, my Momma would say "Cheer up! There's always somebody that has it worse than you."

Thanks for being that guy that has it worse than me! You cheer me up!....

Glad I could help.

Originally Posted by Questdog

Luke Newton leading the team in SLG?????

... which sums up nicely what has been going wrong so far.

It is also indeed so, he is slugging four points more than Neil Reece, who's on the DL at this junction.

And with Buell suspended, we get to play Joe Lacombe every day, a player that we found rummaging at the very bottom of a trash bin, and who never should have been dragged back to our burrows in the first place.

Yay, lucky us!!

[Westheim]

Raccoons (8-16) vs. Indians (11-14) – May 5-8, 1997

Somehow, the second-best offense in the league, coupled with an average rotation and a lights out bullpen (0.66 ERA!) wasn’t cutting it for the Indians, and they were three below .500, which puzzled anyone. Portlandians were sure they would turn it around sooner rather than later.

Projected matchups:
Jose Rivera (2-1, 1.69 ERA) vs. Rubén Prado (2-1, 3.41 ERA)
Kisho Saito (1-1, 1.60 ERA) vs. Les Browning (0-0, 45.00 ERA)
Miguel Lopez (2-2, 3.81 ERA) vs. Robbie Campbell (3-1, 3.72 ERA)
Scott Wade (0-1, 4.84 ERA) vs. Chang-se Park (1-3, 4.38 ERA)

Game 1
IND: CF Maguey – LF Sakaguchi – 1B Brown – RF A. Roldán – SS J. Martinez – 3B Alarcon – C Cardenas – 2B Duarte – P Prado
POR: 2B Brewer – CF Newton – 3B Ingall – 1B Wedemeyer – LF Kinnear – C Vinson – SS Salazar – RF Lacombe – P J. Rivera

Tomas Maguey reached on an error by Lacombe and Rivera’s pride was then pierced by a colossal home run by Sakaguchi, which Newton just watched, hands in his sides, as it vanished behind the batter’s eye. And that was that. Kinnear in left made a few parade level catches in the early innings that at least held the difference at two runs, including a huge catch on a Jose Martinez fly ball into the corner that would have plated two if not caught, to register the final out in the third. The Raccoons had a runner on base every inning and never moved him around. In the bottom 6th then, Prado allowed a bloop hit to Ingall and walked Wedemeyer with no outs. Kinnear grounded into a force at second, but Vinson walked to load the bags with one out. However, a sac fly by Salazar was all there was to this inning. Both sides scored one run in the seventh, and the Raccoons left the go-ahead runs on base again. That was it. No Raccoon set another foot on base. 3-2 Indians. Newton 2-5, 2B; Ingall 2-4, 2B, RBI; Vinson 1-2, 2 BB, 2B; Rivera 7.0 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, L (2-2);

And it continues. It will always continue, I guess.

Game 2
IND: LF G. Flores – 2B Carter – C Cicalina – RF Sakaguchi – CF Maguey – SS J. Martinez – 1B Alarcon – 3B Whaley – P Browning
POR: CF Newton – 2B Ingall – 3B O’Morrissey – 1B Wedemeyer – LF Kinnear – C Kondo – RF Lacombe – SS Salazar – P Saito

Of the first four Coons to bat, three got on against Les Browning, who had surrendered five runs in one inning pitched this year. Kinnear drew a bases-loaded walk, 1-0. Kondo drove in a pair with a double, 3-0. Now it was up to Saito, and the Indians’ lineup was free of any left-handed batters. And Saito struggled, not getting his stuff to really bite, and was relying on Kinnear and Newton to make a few great plays behind him. It was all well through seven (while the Coons did zero to sink Browning early, or at all), but the first two men reached in the eighth, and Saito surrendered a run on Urbano Cicalina’s groundout. De La Rosa came in to face Sakaguchi with a runner on second base and two down, and got him to ground out, so the score was still 3-1. The Coons had another chance in the bottom 8th, failed again, and De La Rosa remained in the game for the ninth with Ban – let’s not talk about him. De La Rosa faced Maguey, Martinez, and Francisco Alarcon. He struck out the first one, Martinez grounded out, but Alarcon doubled into the gap in left center. Matt Whaley was hit for by Matt Brown, who was put on intentionally, which prompted Angelo Duarte to hit for pitcher Jim Durden. Duarte grounded out gingerly. 3-1 Raccoons. Newton 3-4; Kinnear 0-1, 3 BB, RBI; Kondo 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Saito 7.2 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 1 K, W (2-1); De La Rosa 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K, SV (1);

Kishoooo!! Not a great display of offense, but Kishoooo!!

Game 3
IND: LF G. Flores – 2B Carter – C Cicalina – 1B Brown – RF Sakaguchi – CF Maguey – SS J. Martinez – 3B Whaley – P Campbell
POR: 2B Brewer – 1B Ingall – 3B O’Morrissey – CF Newton – LF Kinnear – C Vinson – SS Salazar – RF Crockett – P M. Lopez

Kenny Crockett had his first major league hit, a leadoff single in the third inning, and scored the first run of the game on an Ingall sac fly. That was before the dark skies opened and doused the park, also chasing the starters in the fourth inning. O’Morrissey grounded out to leave the bags full in the fifth, and we had the bags full again in the sixth, then with one out, after a Newton double, intentional walk to Kinnear, who was forced out by Vinson, and then a walk drawn by Salazar. Crockett, 2-2, came up, grounded out, but allowed Newton to score. I needed another inning from Jose Ramos, but he grounded out, and while he did pitch another inning, he came out with some sort of discomfort. Aided by a Kinnear error (his third already on the year), Cesar Salcido loaded the bags, which was not a great plan with a 2-0 lead. Tzu-jao Ban came out to face Sakaguchi as the last right-hander available except Grandridge, and Kinnear made up for his mistake by ending the inning with a nice grab on Sakaguchi’s fly ball to deep left. The highly valued Indians bullpen collapsed in the bottom 8th, with an untimely error by Jose Martinez contributing. Kevin Rhodes and Charles Woodbury surrendered five runs between them, and now Ban had a 7-0 lead to protect in the ninth. He just HAD to blow the shutout and conceded two runs, with Matt Whaley’s RBI triple figuring big in the crumble. 7-2 Raccoons. Ingall 0-1, 2 BB, 1 RBI; Newton 2-5, 2B, RBI; Crockett 3-4, 2 RBI; Lopez 3.2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K; Miller 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K, W (2-1); Ramos 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

Jose Ramos was found out to have suffered a mild oblique tweak and was officially listed as DTD for the final game of the series, but after pitching two frames here would not likely have entered that game anyway.

We can now clinch our first series since that 2-set against the Canadiens that opened our season.

Game 4
IND: CF Maguey – LF Sakaguchi – 1B Brown – RF A. Roldán – C Cicalina – SS J. Martinez – 3B Carter – 2B Duarte – P Park
POR: 2B Brewer – CF Newton – 3B O’Morrissey – 1B Wedemeyer – SS Ingall – LF Kinnear – C Vinson – RF Crockett – P Wade

Wade was winless in ’97, and was sunk right in the first inning with four runs on him, and one more that was unearned after a Brewer error. So much for winning a series. Wade was completely dissolved in acid in the second, and left down 7-0 with two on and two out. Grandridge came in, ****ed up the game for good by allowing both runners to score – which included walking Chang-se Park to push home the ninth run – and it was best at that point to just resign oneself to crying silently. Grandridge walked four in the third inning in an attempt to create an even bigger blowout – which he succeeded in. Ironically, the Raccoons would take advantage of Park being almost as bad as Wade and once Salazar hit a pinch-hit 3-run triple in the sixth were back within slam range. Of course, Salazar was not scored to slow down an unlikely comeback before it could become actually likely. We left two more on in the seventh. In the bottom 8th, Guerin hit a pinch-hit single, and Brewer walked, entering Jim Durden, who walked Newton to load the bags with no outs. Tying run at the plate, a passed ball on Cicalina brought Guerin home. O-Mo walked, bringing up Wedemeyer against lefty Jason Leonard. He flew out to left for a sac fly, and Ingall grounded out. Kinnear, batting all of .196, came up with the tying runs in scoring position. He grounded out. Comeback: successfully aborted. In turn, De La Rosa was impaled for three runs in the top 9th, and that was that. Vinson, Crockett, and Guerin all reached in the bottom 9th, and there were no outs. But we were down by five, and Javier Navarro came in. His stats: 12.2 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 14 K. An error by Martinez on Brewer’s grounder brought Newton up as the tying run. Navarro uncorked a wild pitch, 15-12, then walked Newton. O-Mo was next. He lined a 3-1 pitch to Whaley, and to make things worse, Weeds had been already removed. Kondo batted for De La Rosa, and struck out, and Ingall found himself down 1-2 when he grounded to Martinez – WHO MUFFED IT AGAIN!! 15-13, two down, bases loaded. Kinnear up. KINNEAR!! He grounded back to Navarro, WHO MISSED IT, UP THE MIDDLE, PAST MARTINEZ!! Brewer in to score, Newton in to score!! WE ARE TIED!!!! Next was Vinson. Get them! GET THEM!!! Vinson hit at a 1-1 pitch that went to left, and fell in. Ingall raced around third, Sakaguchi brought the ball back in – WAY PAST CARDENAS, THE COONS WIN IT!!!!!

ABSOLUTE UNBELIEVABLE!!!!!

16-15 Critters. Wedemeyer 2-4, HR, 3 RBI; Vinson 1-2, 4 BB, RBI; Crockett 2-5, RBI; Salazar (PH) 1-1, 3B, 3 RBI; Guerin (PH) 2-2; Miller 3.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K; Salcido 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

Needless to say, some kind of frenzy broke out at the ballpark after Marvin Ingall scored the 31st run of the game. A total of 15 plastic seats were looted as memorabilia from this memorable knight. None were retrieved again.

Yet, there is always something negative to adress. The disfigured afterbirth that was Day Grandridge was banished to AAA after the game. I don’t want that sucking abomination around here anymore. He walked five batters in this game, while registering all of two outs. Enough is enough. Out with you!

Iván Costa was called up to replace Grandridge. He had been 1-1 with a 4.19 ERA in six starts at AAA, but he would be used as the guy to pick up the trash from the bullpen here. He made three appearances (one start) with abysmal stats for us last season. Adding his numbers with the Crusaders from 1995, he is 1-1 with a 6.75 ERA in six games (four starts) in the majors.

Raccoons (11-17) @ Capitals (18-11) – May 9-11, 1997

Just like the Raccoons, the Capitals were not the offensive powerhouse anymore they had put together earlier in the decade. Their offense was 10th in runs scored in the FL, but they were also allowing the second-fewest runs.

From the team we battled three consecutive years in the World Series, only very few names remained: SP Ramón Ortíz, INF Nuno Andresen, OF/1B Jeffery Brown, and that was about it. They were still playing .600 ball.

Projected matchups:
Antonio Donis (0-4, 4.44 ERA) vs. Rafael Serrano (2-0, 3.33 ERA)
Jose Rivera (2-2, 1.87 ERA) vs. Takeru Sato (2-1, 4.88 ERA)
Kisho Saito (2-1, 1.52 ERA) vs. Frank Pierre (0-0, 3.46 ERA)

The latter two were left-handers we had not seen so far. Sato looked like being capable of much more than his ERA suggested, but was having a walk issue so far.

Game 1
POR: 2B Brewer – CF Newton – 3B O’Morrissey – 1B Wedemeyer – SS Ingall – LF Kinnear – C Vinson – RF Crockett – P Donis
WAS: LF Fukushima – RF McFarland – 1B Matsumoto – 3B Ayala – 2B Ito – CF Golunski – SS Andresen – C A. Moreno – P Serrano

Boys, if you could score half the runs of last night, Donis might just barely manage to win a game! The weather in any case was horrible and it drizzled early on in the game. Vern Kinnear hit his first home run of the year (bad enough!), a 2-shot in the second, to get the Coons ahead. Donis instantly blew the lead with a homer to ex-Logger Gates Golunski and then allowing three straight 2-out singles, including one to pitcher Serrano. Because fighting ineptness is not enough of a task for me, I also had to cope with stupidity, when Vinson was tossed by the home field umpire for arguing strike three in the fourth inning. Kondo came on. That was not all for a day, so Donis blew up the game just before a rain delay in the fifth inning, and once play resumed, Luke Newton was hurt on a play. Iván Costa came in and conceded Golunski on second base, because he was just as inept and useless as anybody else. Of course, a 5-2 was hard to make up if your entire lineup was constructed of suckers and suckers’ replacements, and so we didn’t come back. Honorary mention to Kinnear, who hit another dinger. Dishonorary mention to Ban, who loaded the bags in the bottom 8th even in a losing game and no pressure applied and only bailed out thanks to Brewer starting a double play. 6-4 Capitals. Kinnear 2-2, BB, 2 HR, 4 RBI; Crockett 2-4;

Luke Newton had another surprise for us, he had sprained his ankle and would be out for six weeks. That’s another outfielder that – and this is tough to say in case of *Newton* - can’t be replaced. That’s Green on the DL, Reece on the DL, and now Newton on the DL, and Kinnear failing to bat out of his .200 pants, AND Buell still suspended for the rest of the series!

With Reece’s 15 days on the DL not over until the middle of next week, we had to call up another player, and added Mike Crowe. That’s a third baseman. There were no outfielders batting even their (admittedly, in some parts obesity-indicating) weight at AAA. If you count them, we now have Kinnear, Lacombe, and Crockett, and – nobody. O-Mo is our emergency outfielder now, and maybe if you throw Ingall at the wall in center field, he will stick there, too.

What else? Oh right, another game on Saturday. The Who Will Get Hurt Bingo continues, I need either an infielder, or a player with a number ending in 5 to win.

Game 2
POR: 2B Brewer – SS Ingall – 1B O’Morrissey – LF Kinnear – 3B Crowe – RF Crockett – C Kondo – CF Lacombe – P J. Rivera
WAS: 3B Ayala – 1B McFarland – SS Matsumoto – RF Calzado – CF J. Brown – LF J. Munoz – C G. Rivera – 2B Andresen – P Sato

Crowe’s first AB of the season at the major league level was a 2-out RBI single in the first inning, giving Rivera an early 1-0 lead. The fourth inning saw the Raccoons put their first two men on, then leave the bases loaded, before Rivera, who was erratic and pitched behind in the count the entire day, surrendered a 2-run homer to Juan Munoz. Rivera was exploded completely in the sixth inning by the Capitals, conceding three runs and leaving two on. Santana, the useless dirtbag, came in and waved those runners home, and the Raccoons were soundly blown out after that 5-run sixth. 9-4 Capitals. Brewer 3-5, BB; Crowe 1-3, 2 BB, RBI; Crockett 2-5, 2B, RBI; Guerin (PH) 1-2, RBI;

Game 3
POR: 2B Ingall – RF Crockett – 1B O’Morrissey – LF Kinnear – 3B Crowe – SS Salazar – C Vinson – CF Lacombe – P Saito
WAS: SS Andresen – 2B Ito – 1B Matsumoto – 3B Ayala – CF Golunski – RF J. Rivera – LF Calzado – C A. Moreno – P Pierre

Yoshihito Ito’s 2-run homer in the bottom 1st set the game straight. There really was not much more to tell and write about. Ito and Matsumoto, the Japanese duo, wore out the Japanese pitcher they opposed almost single-handedly. All the trouble Saito encountered in the game came from them. Saito went eight innings, conceding three runs, while Frank Pierre pitched into the ninth on a 4-hitter before a 1-out double by O’Morrissey evicted him in favor of Jesus Longoria. Kinnear doubled to drive in O-Mo and bring Crowe to the plate as the tying run. He grounded out, and in place of Salazar, Brewer struck out. 3-1 Capitals. Crowe 2-4, 2B; Saito 8.0 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, L (2-2);

Saito’s ERA of 1.82 is second in all of baseball, trailing only that of San Francisco’s Tony “Ratface” Hamlyn (a former #1 prospect), whose mark is a too-good-to-be-playing-for-a-different-team 1.22!

Next: another week at home, so we will get extra mocking from the Agitator, and I will be heckled and thrown at with popcorn, popsicles, and PERHAPS … just PERHAPS … by Popeye.

Raccoons (11-20) vs. Stars (14-17) – May 13-15, 1997

The Stars offense was 6th in the Federal League with 155 runs scored (Critters: 129), while they had conceded the third-fewest runs. That did not translate into a winning record for them, mainly because their rotation had a terribly hard time, struggling to a 4.80 ERA as opposed to their bullpen, which led the FL in ERA with a 2.48 mark.

Projected matchups:
Miguel Lopez (2-2, 3.34 ERA) vs. Manny Ramos (2-4, 4.70 ERA)
Scott Wade (0-1, 7.50 ERA) vs. Lewis Donaldson (1-1, 5.60 ERA)
Antonio Donis (0-5, 5.28 ERA) vs. Judd Montgomery (4-1, 3.16 ERA)

Those were all right-handers we could expect to face. That was at least slightly consoling since all of our available outfielders batted left-handed. Add Brewer, Weeds, and maybe Salazar to that… Nah, we still won’t score.

We expect Neil Reece back for the final game of the series. That will send Mike Crowe back to AAA, since we don’t need another corner infielder on the roster. He will get another start in place of O-Mo after playing two games with Wedemeyer out of the lineup.

Game 1
DAL: 2B Cardona – RF D. Rodriguez – C James – 1B Woods – CF MacDonald – 3B Robertson – LF D. Franklin – SS Waller – P M. Ramos
POR: 2B Brewer – SS Ingall – 3B O’Morrissey – 1B Wedemeyer – LF Kinnear – RF Crockett – C Vinson – CF Lacombe – P M. Lopez

Vern Kinnear had a big hand in our 2-run second with an RBI triple. Both teams added a run in the third inning, with Kinnear plating the Coons’. Lopez struggled through the innings and blew the 3-1 lead in the sixth, as RBI singles by Eugene MacDonald and Markus Robertson tied the game. Lopez left after the seventh and in the eighth we were treated to another bullpen cockup. De La Rosa retired Rob James and Mac Woods before walking left-handed pinch-hitter Darren Allison. The Stars sent their next left-hander, Jean-Claude Monnier, whom Salcido was sent against and whom he walked on four pitches. Next was Daniel Miller against Dan Franklin, and walked him. George Waller then singled in the winning run for the Stars. 4-3 Stars. Kinnear 2-3, BB, 3B, 2 RBI;

Bloody collection of dumb nuts …

Stephen Buell had sat his 10-game suspension now. Meanwhile, Jose Ramos was unavailable with a bout of migraine…

Game 2
DAL: 3B Robertson – CF D. Rodriguez – 1B Woods – RF Allison – C James – LF Monnier – 2B Waller – SS C. Boyle – P Donaldson
POR: 2B Brewer – RF Buell – LF Kinnear – 1B Wedemeyer – 3B Crowe – SS Salazar – C Vinson – CF Lacombe – P Wade

The Stars weren’t even close to hurting Scott Wade the first three innings and he struck out four. Then, in the top 4th, something suddenly was switched, he walked Allison and James, and instantly Monnier hit a double over Lacombe and we were down 2-0. As bitter facts would have it, Wade would only surrender one more hit in the game, a solo homer to Chris Boyle, while pitching seven, but sometimes three hits and three runs, and while the Raccoons had double those hits through seven, they only cobbled one run together, and continued their godforsaken sucking ways. Iván Costa came into the game in the eighth inning, issued walks for free and was loaded with four runs. And that was the story of this game. 7-3 Stars. Brewer 2-5, 2B; Wedemeyer 2-4, 2 RBI; Salazar 2-4, 2B;

Next, Iván Costa was told to break his 15.00 ERA in half, and then take one half and shove it down his throat, and shove the other half up his colon, and not dare to come anywhere close to a Raccoons facility until both halves would have met again in his filthy, rotten stomach.

Nobody was called up for the moment, as Mike Crowe stayed for another day or two. We added Neil Reece off the DL. With Ramos ill and ailing, we only had six men in the bullpen for game 3.

Game 3
DAL: 2B Cardona – RF D. Rodriguez – C James – 1B Woods – CF MacDonald – 3B Robertson – LF D. Franklin – SS Waller – P J. Montgomery
POR: 2B Brewer – 3B O’Morrissey – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – LF Kinnear – RF Crockett – C Vinson – SS Guerin – P Donis

The game was tied 1-1 through four, with the Stars’ run driven in by Montgomery, who would face Donis three times in the game and reached base three times with two singles and a walk. Donis had another awful outing, failing to retire anybody in the fifth inning, where the Stars went on to score four runs, and that was after Neil Reece threw out Robertson at home plate. Another game was out of the window. Miller inherited two runners from Donis, walked the bags full and only got out of that hole due to a strong play by Guerin. The Stars would just casually add to that 5-1 lead whenever they saw fit. A throwing error by Vinson was a contributing factor in Miller surrendering two unearned runs in the seventh inning, and Santana, useless against left-handers AND right-handers was ravaged for three runs in the ninth. Judd Montgomery tossed a complete game on six hits allowed. 10-2 Stars. O’Morrissey 2-4; Wedemeyer 2-3, BB; Ban 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 K;

Raccoons (11-23) vs. Crusaders (20-14) – May 16-18, 1997
What exactly the Crusaders were looking for at the top of the division was anybody’s guess. Their run differential of -3 however suggested that their appearance there was fraudulent and that they had no place in the upper half of the division. Their offense was weak (10th in CL), but you know who their opponents are, so them coming out 23-14 here was the most likely outcome.

Projected matchups:
Jose Rivera (2-3, 3.46 ERA) vs. David Ramirez (0-4, 6.28 ERA)
Kisho Saito (2-2, 1.82 ERA) vs. Dan Barnes (2-2, 5.54 ERA)
Miguel Lopez (2-2, 3.44 ERA) vs. Anibal Sandoval (6-2, 4.37 ERA)

Game 1
NYC: 3B Rigg – 2B Wilson – LF P. Jenkins – C Melendez – CF Latham – RF C. Clark – 1B Delgado – SS J. Vega – P D. Ramirez
POR: 2B Brewer – 1B O’Morrissey – CF Reece – RF Buell – 3B Crowe – LF Kinnear – C Vinson – SS Guerin – P J. Rivera

This game was over quickly, with the Crusaders stuffing Rivera for three runs in the second inning. Their own offensive ineptitudes prevented them from cashing in more runs in the fourth inning when O’Morrissey threw away a bunt by Ramirez and the Crusaders got two on with one out. Stephen Buell hit a solo home run in the bottom 2nd, 3-1, and the Raccoons loaded the bags in the bottom 4th. With two out, Guerin lined into deep right – caught by Clement Clark. Brought out the Crusaders for the fifth, Ruben Melendez hit a 2-run homer off Rivera, so instead of tying it, we fell four behind, and as things were with this assortment of losers, they’d lose. De La Rosa gave up a run in the sixth. Larry Wilson hit a 3-run homer off Ramos in the seventh. 9-2 Crusaders. Crowe 2-2, 2 BB, 2B; Kinnear 3-4; Crockett (PH) 1-1; Santana 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Mike Crowe returned to AAA after this game, and we brought up right-handed reliever Manuel Díaz, 24, our 1994 sixth round pick. Chances were not too bad that he would be next guy tarred and feathered.

Game 2
NYC: SS Rigg – 2B Wilson – RF A. Johnson – C Melendez – CF Diéguez – LF Latham – 1B J. Vega – 3B Delgado – P Barnes
POR: 2B Brewer – 3B O’Morrissey – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Buell – LF Kinnear – SS Ingall – C Kondo – P Saito

Ed Rigg’s leadoff double led to a run in the top 1st, but Neil Reece countered with his first hit off the disabled list, which turned out to be a 2-run home run. The Crusaders cobbled the tying run together in the third, and all came crashing down for Saito in the fifth, with two walks to start the inning and then every ball fell in, including a bases-clearing triple by Ruben Melendez. Saito was ravaged and torn, loaded with six runs, and the runner he left on was graciously allowed to score by Ramos. Melendez killed Raccoons pitching single-handedly. After going 3-3 with 5 RBI off Saito, he hit a 2-run bomb off Ramos in the sixth. That Wedemeyer and Buell had driven in three runs with back-to-back doubles in the bottom 5th was entirely irrelevant for the course of this game. Another game ****ed up. Another pitcher ****ed up. 9-5 Crusaders. O’Morrissey 2-4, BB, 2B; Reece 2-5, HR, 2 RBI; Wedemeyer 2-5, 2B, RBI; Kinnear 2-5, 2B; Salazar 1-1; Díaz 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

We have to lose another one to get this obviously way overestimated New York team out of our rundown back lot.

Game 3
NYC: SS Rigg – 2B Wilson – RF A. Johnson – LF P. Jenkins – C Melendez – 1B T. Mullins – CF Diéguez – 3B J. Vega – P Sandoval
POR: 2B Brewer – 3B O’Morrissey – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Buell – LF Kinnear – C Vinson – SS Salazar – P M. Lopez

The Crusaders got a run off Lopez with three batters reaching with two out in the third inning, and two more in the sixth, including an Avery Johnson home run. Brewer had left a pair in scoring position in the bottom 5th, and when Kinnear found a pair in scoring position with one out in the bottom 6th he only managed to ground out and we only scored one run. Somehow, the Crusaders did not extend their lead against Lopez, who went eight, or Miller in the ninth, and Dane Sanders came out to close a 3-1 lead. Wedemeyer flew out, but Buell walked. Ingall batted for Kinnear, and got Buell forced out. That left .207 Vinson to lose it for good, but he walked, and Crockett batted for Salazar. And he flew out. 3-1 Crusaders. Lopez 8.0 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, L (2-3);

In other news

May 5 – The Buffaloes’ Carlos Ramos (.373, 1 HR, 19 RBI) manages to extend his hitting streak to 30 games. He has one single in a 7-3 win over the Miners.
May 5 – SFW OF Ramón Castenada (.326, 0 HR, 6 RBI) will miss four months with a concussion.
May 7 – SAC SP Steve Rogers (1-2, 6.75 ERA), a strong keystone to the Scorpions’ rotation the last few years, is out for the season. The 24-year old has suffered a torn flexor tendon.
May 8 – Carlos Ramos has his hitting streak end at 31 games with an 0-3 day, while the rest of his team defeats the Miners, 3-0.
May 11 – DAL 1B/LF/3B Cesar Gonzalez (.316, 7 HR, 18 RBI) is out for a month with a quad strain.
May 16 – History is made in the Capitals’ 7-6 win over the Cyclones: WAS OF/1B Jeffery Brown (.320, 3 HR, 25 RBI) logs two hits, including a fifth inning single off the Cyclones’ Vicente Perez. That hit was the 3,000th base hit of Jeffery Brown’s 16-year career. Brown, the 10th overall pick in the 1979 draft, has spent his whole career with the Capitals, amassing 233 HR and 1,283 RBI and a slash line of .330/.398/.473.
May 16 – RIC INF Jack Burbidge (.229, 1 HR, 14 RBI) has suffered a strained oblique and will miss about three weeks.
May 17 – DEN LF/RF Chih-tui Jin (.330, 5 HR, 20 RBI) should miss three to four months with a broken hand.
May 17 – The Gold Sox trade RF Salvador Vargas (.328, 0 HR, 15 RBI) to the Falcons for C Antonio Escobedo (.211, 1 HR, 14 RBI).
May 17 – NAS SP Javier Cruz (4-1, 2.75 ERA) spins a 2-hitter in a 3-0 win of the Blue Sox over the Buffaloes.

Complaints and stuff

After O’Morrissey was out of the lineup for one game during that Stars series, he immediately left me a note that basically stated that he was the alpha dog around here and was to play every day. Well. Yo, listen, bitch. You play when I state so, and whenever I don’t state so, you don’t play. Now quit your whining and get your average over .260, else I will explore my opportunities to trade you to Georgia. No, not Atlanta. The Georgia that is closer to Turkey and Azerbaijan. So, stop being such a princess, get your fricking cleats on, and shut the heck up!

It may be an understatement to say that I wished this season was over.

Why can’t it just be over …

[Questdog]

You know I'm always rootin' for the Furballs, but the great thing about this dynasty is you make losing fun to read about, too....

The Who Will Get Hurt Bingo continues, I need either an infielder, or a player with a number ending in 5 to win.

That one made me spit up my soda pop.....

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by Questdog

You know I'm always rootin' for the Furballs, but the great thing about this dynasty is you make losing fun to read about, too....

I am running out of synonyms for these suckers / dumb nuts / miscarriages, though.

Sometimes, even "Inepticoons" doesn't cut it ...

Originally Posted by Questdog

That one made me spit up my soda pop.....

Here I have some Kleenex if you want to wipe that u- ... oops, sorry, no, I cried through all of them.

[Sal, The Barber]

But you scored 16 runs. IN ONE GAME! That's like living two weeks in one day.

[Questdog]

Originally Posted by Sal, The Barber

But you scored 16 runs. IN ONE GAME! That's like living two weeks in one day.

I'd rather live 1 day in 2 weeks.....

[Westheim]

I am not really in the mood today. Every hairy catastrophe on legs is likely to get shot for misbehaving. We have a 7-game week up. Can they lose 16 in a row?

Raccoons (11-26) @ Loggers (24-12) – May 19-22, 1997

The Loggers were not overwhelming the league in either pitching or hitting, but were above average in both, and they possessed the highest team batting average at .280. The bullpen was also strong, with a 1.62 ERA, 2nd in the CL.

Projected matchups:
Scott Wade (0-2, 6.68 ERA) vs. Martin Garcia (3-1, 3.25 ERA)
Antonio Donis (0-6, 5.08 ERA) vs. Davis Sims (3-1, 3.28 ERA)
Jose Rivera (2-4, 4.09 ERA) vs. Rafael Garcia (5-2, 4.33 ERA)
Kisho Saito (2-3, 2.85 ERA) vs. Andrew Schaefer (3-2, 3.38 ERA)

Look at those numbers and tell me you don’t know how this is going to go on.

Game 1
POR: 2B Ingall – 3B O’Morrissey – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Buell – LF Kinnear – SS Guerin – C Vinson – P Wade
MIL: CF Fletcher – SS Nakayama – RF C. Ramirez – 1B D. Evans – 2B J. Perez – LF Carver – C R. Rivera – 3B Rush – P M. Garcia

The Raccoons did not get a hit until the fifth inning, a Guerin single, and Guerin never went past first base. At that point, Wade was already 2-0 behind. After a good start, he had issued three walks and a single to Cristo Ramirez in the third inning. Aided by an error by Ramirez, the Raccoons scored a run in the sixth, when Wedemeyer was able to single home O’Morrissey from second base. Reece, also on base, would be left on third, not tying the game. With four hits between them, the Raccoons considered their day’s worth of work complete. Wade went seven decent innings, Santana pitched a scoreless eighth, John Bennett came in for the Loggers, retired Kinnear, retired Brewer, who hit for Guerin, on a strikeout, and then faced Salazar, who hit for Vinson. And lo and behold, Salazar hit a game-tying home run! That hadn’t been there before! But don’t you worry: Daniel Miller came in, walked Bob Rush with one out, Kondo was booked with a passed ball, and Leon Ramirez singled him home. 3-2 Loggers. Salazar (PH) 1-1, HR, RBI; Wade 7.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 4 K;

Game 2
POR: 2B Brewer – 3B O’Morrissey – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – LF Kinnear – SS Salazar – C Vinson – RF Crockett – P Donis
MIL: CF Fletcher – 3B Nakayama – RF C. Ramirez – LF Hiwalani – 1B Rush – 2B J. Perez – C L. Ramirez – SS J. Lopez – P Sims

The Coons took a 1-0 lead on a Wedemeyer sac fly in the first, then started to leave everybody that dared to reach on base. Cristo Ramirez, the only left-hander in the Loggers lineup, tied the game with a 2-out double in the bottom 3rd, cashing in Fletcher, and gone was the lead. Donis, the sucker, walked the first three batters in the fourth inning, allowed a double to Jose Lopez, scoring a pair, then walked the pitcher, then walked himself, all the way to St. Pete. At 3-1, bases loaded, and no outs, there was no point in using up De La Rosa, so Díaz was sent in to pitch. Maybe he could get out with only one or two runs in. The Loggers put up FIVE. Díaz was only saved by the fact that he pitched three more innings without further scoring, but regardless the Raccoons were too inept to make up a 7-run gap, given seven or seventy innings. 8-3 Loggers. Brewer 2-4, BB; Salazar 2-4, 2B;

On roster issues: Royce Green, who was expected to start rehab at the start of June, suffered a setback that would push that date back into the middle of June.

Also, Donis was demoted to AAA. At 0-7 and a 6.14 ERA, you can’t blame the offense, and the Grandma Rule kicks in: if my Grandma could do a better job than you with her two hip replacements, you’re OUT. We called up right-hander Esteban Flores, who was 3-4 with a 4.37 ERA at AAA, so you know what you will be able to expect. Since we now have three right-handers up, there is no point in pitching our lefties back-to-back. Flores will make his first start slotted behind Saito, so start the next series, but Wade will eventually move behind Saito and Lopez will move to the #3 slot. We will not have an off day soon enough to make this transition smoothless, so maybe Jose Ramos will make a spot start somewhere.

Flores, 24, was an international discovery from Mexico in 1990, then by Jerry Anderson, back in the era when we would switch head scouts every year.

Game 3
POR: 2B Brewer – 3B O’Morrissey – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – SS Ingall – LF Kinnear – RF Buell – C Vinson – P J. Rivera
MIL: CF Fletcher – SS Nakayama – RF C. Ramirez – LF Hiwalani – 1B D. Evans – 2B J. Perez – C L. Ramirez – 3B Rush – P R. Garcia

The Loggers spotted three runs on Rivera in the first inning, quickly moving the game out of reach for the 2-run-Coons. Those had one hit through five innings and scored an unearned run (Hiwalani dropped a fly by Reece) in the sixth. Rivera surrendered a total of four runs through six innings, and down 4-1, things were bleak. Buell started the seventh by walking and then Vinson doubled. The tying run came to the plate as Crockett pinch-hit for Rivera, but he only managed a sac fly. Yet, Brewer hit a loooong RBI triple, and represented the tying run on third base with one out. Any long ball from O’Morrissey would do, so he grounded out to Garcia. Reece came up. Since coming off the DL, Reece had had ONE hit, a 2-run homer in support of Saito four days ago. He again made Hiwalani look foolish with a high fly that dunked into deep left just behind the defender, tying the game with an RBI double. Wedemeyer singled Reece home, and we were up 5-4. De La Rosa came in, put a man on, and with two out Santana came out to surrender Cristo Ramirez, walked him, and Hiwalani singled home the run, and we were no longer up. The Raccoons would get a new lead, though, on double Loggers stupidity. Brewer walked to start the top 9th against Elliott Meeks. Reece grounded to SS Terry Sullivan with one out, and Sullivan missed the pickup. Wedemeyer grounded to Sullivan, who couldn’t turn the double play and with two down we had runners on the corners. Meeks tried to end it with a pickoff, but threw the ball past Drake Evans. Brewer scored. The Loggers were so stunned that Tzu-jao Ban managed to strike out the side, all third strikes called, against Fletcher, Lopez, and Ramirez. 6-5 Raccoons. Wedemeyer 2-5, 2 RBI; Vinson 1-2, 2 BB, 2B;

What do you mean, “the Raccoons won a ballgame”?

Intermission: Trade

Remember Matt Smith, whom I almost traded Vinson for this winter? He’s batting .114 this season for the Miners. How did I find out? I shopped Salazar around. The Miners offered Smith and a few others. Also, Salazar is no longer executing his 10/5 rights, wanting to play for a winner.

SLOWLY BUT SURELY, SOME GUYS HERE SHOW THEIR CHARACTER. (glares at O’Morrissey)

The Miners were willing to talk, Salazar was willing to not interfere, and after a few days, we struck the following deal:

The Raccoons trade 36-yr old INF Jorge Salazar (.300, 1 HR, 9 RBI) and 20-yr old AA INF Lorenzo Sepúlveda to the Miners for 27-yr old MR Brad Tamburrino (1-2, 2.60 ERA) and 37-yr old MR Cesar Zuniga (0-0, 1.93 ERA), a right- and a left-hander, respectively.

Tamburrino is still arbitration eligible and makes $210k this season, while Zuniga is in the last year of a flat 2-yr, $460k deal. This shores up our bullpen by enabling us to banish Salcido (just look at his WHIP) and Díaz, and also gives us *some* financial breathing space until the draft will eat up the $200k by which we are in the green now.

With Tamburrino coming in, we now have three Australians on the roster in addition to Kinnear and Wedemeyer.

So, the following roster moves were made:
OUT: Salazar
TO AAA: Díaz
DFA: Salcido
IN: Tamburrino, Zuniga
FROM AAA: Caddock

Steve Caddock was here before, he plays all infield positions and is a stop gap solution until we can make more moves.

Raccoons (11-26) @ Loggers (24-12) – May 19-22, 1997

Game 4
POR: 2B Brewer – 3B O’Morrissey – LF Kinnear – 1B Wedemeyer – SS Ingall – RF Buell – CF Lacombe – C Kondo – P Saito
MIL: CF Fletcher – 3B Nakayama – RF C. Ramirez – LF Hiwalani – 1B Rush – 2B J. Perez – C L. Ramirez – SS J. Lopez – P Schaefer

The Raccoons had their chances in the middle innings of a scoreless game. In the fourth and sixth, they whiffed with two men on to end the frame. In the fifth, Saito was unlucky enough to find himself at the plate with the bags full and two out and whiffed, too. No runs through six for his team, Saito’s first blemish was a 2-out RBI triple by Hiwalani in the bottom 6th. 1-0 Loggers, game lost. Brewer hit a 2-out infield single in the seventh, knocking out a tiring Andrew Schaefer. Juan Guerrero came on, walked O-Mo and Kinnear, and then escaped when Wedemeyer grounded out. Saito was refused ANY support, ANY ****ING SUPPORT! He put Ramirez on with one out in the eighth and was removed. Tamburrino made his Coons debut and made himself unloved instantly with an RBI double to Hiwalani. Down 2-0, Reece and and Brewer were retired by John Bennett in the ninth before O’Morrissey got on. Kinnear worked a long AB for a walk, bringing up Wedemeyer again. He hit a single to left center, scoring O-Mo and putting us one run back. Ingall was next, and he lobbed a single into right. Kinnear was waved around third and Ramirez thundered the ball to home plate, but Kinnear was safe! Since the throw went home, the runners moved up and thus both scored when Buell singled to right! Bennett was removed, but Reece, who had popped out to start the inning, came back around to draw a bases-loaded walk. So, we had a 5-2 lead and Ban came in – and blew it. With two out, Benny Carver hit a pinch-hit home run, and after Fletcher reached, Haruki Nakayama’s home run tied it. Extra innings. There, Nakayama made a career day complete (4-6, 3 RBI) with a walkoff home run off Jose Ramos in the 12th. 6-5 Loggers. O’Morrissey 2-5, 2 BB, 2 2B; Ingall 3-6, RBI; Buell 2-4, 2 RBI; Saito 7.1 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K;

I’M GONNA ****ING KILL HIM!!!!

That’s what I screamed when I went through every closet and every locker in the visitors’ clubhouse, with bloodshot eyes, and armed with a rusty fruit knife, in search of Tzu-jao Ban, whom his team mates had wisely hidden above a ceiling panel.

So, Ban got away to live another day. He was on the trade list regardless, and the closer job was now De La Rosa’s. How many seasons in a row is that that we switch closers like underwear?

Raccoons (12-29) vs. Thunder (19-23) – May 23-25, 1997

Here was a franchise with middling numbers, 5th in runs scored, 9th in runs allowed. While that compared well to the Raccoons’ 10th positions in either category, it hadn’t helped the Thunder to post a .500 (or better) record so far.

Projected matchups:
Esteban Flores (0-0) vs. Aron Anderson (3-1, 3.68 ERA)
Miguel Lopez (2-3, 3.43 ERA) vs. Jon Robinson (2-4, 3.56 ERA)
Scott Wade (0-2, 5.92 ERA) vs. Lou Corbett (3-5, 3.34 ERA)

The latter two will be left-handers with another series to come before an off day, so David Brewer was likely to see another off day in this series.

Game 1
OCT: 1B H. Ramirez – LF Browne – 3B S. Reece – 2B Grant – RF Barnes – CF Camacho – C Guidry – SS J. Sanchez – P Anderson
POR: 2B Brewer – 3B O’Morrissey – CF N. Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Buell – LF Kinnear – SS Ingall – C Vinson – P Flores

Flores’ debut was horrible. He was behind in the count all the time, walked people casually, and also served up a 2-run home run to Jose Sanchez – not exactly your average power hitter – in the fourth inning, then falling behind 3-0. That far, the Raccoons were hitless, but changed that in the bottom 4th. Buell singled and Kinnear doubled him in. Vinson scored Kinnear, but we remained 3-2 behind, and Vinson crashed the game in the sixth, throwing away a bunt by Ivan Camacho. Three runs scored in the inning, two unearned. It was one of those games which you had to watch to extincti- … completion, but wondered why you weren’t doing anything nice. Vinson would pull another boner in the eighth, getting tagged out at third when Steve Caddock’s floater to right was caught and brought back in by Artie Barnes. Vinson was already close to home and didn’t even bother to return. That also ended the inning. 7-4 Thunder. Kinnear 2-3, BB, 2 2B, RBI;

What are you gonna do? I use to eat a lot when the Raccoons lose. I have gained 20 pounds since March.

We flipped Wade and Lopez in the rotation, so Wade would pitch on regular rest here and Lopez on two days’ extra rest in game 3.

Game 2
OCT: 1B H. Ramirez – LF Browne – 3B S. Reece – 2B Grant – RF Barnes – C Guidry – CF L. Hernandez – SS J. Sanchez – P Robinson
POR: 2B Brewer – 3B Ingall – CF N. Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Buell – LF Kinnear – SS Guerin – C Kondo – P Wade

Neither starter would have a good game. Wade surrendered two runs in the first inning after surrendering hits to Ramirez and Browne, then striking out two, and THEN falling to a 2-run single, while the Raccoons chained together singles against Jon Robinson to score four in the bottom 1st. For Wade’s standards, he had awful control and took almost 90 pitches to get through five innings with a 5-2 lead. Conceicao Guerin drove in Buell in the fifth inning, 6-2, and Wade left after retiring PH Tommy Norton in the top 7th, with three left handers, starting with Hector Ramirez, coming up. Santana threw four balls to Ramirez, but Dave Browne grounded to Ingall for a double play. We had the bags full in the bottom 7th, with one out and O-Mo batting for Santana, but he popped out, and Brewer singled home only one run before Ingall rolled out to second. We got Ramos out for the eighth, and when he breezed through that, he also got the ninth, and another short losing streak was broken! 7-2 Raccoons. Brewer 2-5, BB, 2B; Reece 3-5; Wedemeyer 3-5, 2 RBI; Buell 2-5, 2B, RBI; Guerin 3-5, 2B, RBI; Wade 6.1 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 4 K, W (1-2); Ramos 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K;

Note: the Indians claimed Cesar Salcido off waivers. Well, good for them.

Game 3
OCT: CF Camacho – LF Norton – 3B S. Reece – 2B Grant – 1B Browne – SS H. Ramirez – RF L. Hernandez – C Guidry – P Corbett
POR: 2B Ingall – 3B O’Morrissey – CF N. Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – LF Buell – C Vinson – SS Guerin – RF Crockett – P M. Lopez

Scoreless through three innings, the game fell the Thunder’s way when they put their first two men on base in the fourth, stole two bases off Vinson, and scored two runs. Bob Grant hit a solo job in the sixth off a helpless Lopez, and the Raccoons were still looking for help at how to hold the bats correctly. Maybe in the bottom 6th: Ingall led off with a single up the middle, and O-Mo walked on four straight balls from Lou Corbett. Reece popped out, Weeds rolled out, and Buell grounded back to Corbett and the inning would have been over if and only if Corbett had made the play. Buell got away with an RBI single of the infield variety, and next Corbett walked home O’Morrissey. The tying run went to second, where it didn’t remain once Vinson clobbered Corbett’s 2-1 pitch for a roundtripper (our first in a few weeks…). The Thunder knocked out Lopez in the seventh by putting runners on the corners, but Tamburrino came in and got Bob Grant to ground out to third to end the frame. Vinson made it the first multi-homer game for a Raccoon since what-do-I-know with another 2-shot in the eighth. Thus, the 1997 version of Gabby De La Rosa had the maximum 3-run cushion in attempting his first save. No Thunder reached base. 6-3 Raccoons. Reece 2-4; Buell 2-4, RBI; Vinson 2-4, 2 HR, 4 RBI; Guerin 2-4; Brewer (PH) 1-1;

In other news

May 23 – NYC SP Anibal Sandoval (8-2, 3.50 ERA) hurls a 3-hitter in the Crusaders’ 2-0 win over the Falcons.
May 23 – TIJ INF Bruce Boyle (.356, 2 HR, 31 RBI) has hurt his shoulder and will miss about three to four weeks with shoulder soreness.
May 24 – The season could be over for TOP SP Ricardo Contreras (4-5, 3.52 ERA), who has been diagnosed with ulnar nerve irritation.
May 25 – The Condors lose another important player, as always-injury-prone LF Dale Wales (.304, 3 HR, 29 RBI) suffers a bruised wrist and will be out for up to a month.

Complaints and stuff

We switched our focus to "Rebuilding".

I just want to inform you that the next home weekend series against the Canadiens on June 6-8 has been cancelled. We will instead play the school team from the Willamette Institute for the Limbless and the Blind, for charity.

Should be some close games.

[Questdog]

Why so glum?....we are in the middle of a winning streak!.....or maybe at the tail end of one, who knows?....

[pgjocki]

Hmm, the 90 win prediction may be a little off...but now is the time to grasp for small victories, try and lead the league is stolen bases next month!

[pjh5165]

Rebuilding....are we going to see a firesale in Portland at the deadline?

[kingtut313]

have you tried any fan promotions to turn around the season?

"this sunday is bat and glove day. bring your bat and glove down to the ballpark and we'll put you in the lineup."

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by Questdog

Why so glum?....we are in the middle of a winning streak!.....or maybe at the tail end of one, who knows?....

You are a constant psychological and emotional support for me, you know?

Originally Posted by pgjocki

Hmm, the 90 win prediction may be a little off...but now is the time to grasp for small victories, try and lead the league is stolen bases next month!

I don't think our skill set is built for that.

Or for anything else.

Except grabbing money.

Originally Posted by pjh5165

Rebuilding....are we going to see a firesale in Portland at the deadline?

I think it's safe to say that if the situation doesn't improve towards .500 in July, we will pull an 88 on this one.

Originally Posted by kingtut313

have you tried any fan promotions to turn around the season?

"this sunday is bat and glove day. bring your bat and glove down to the ballpark and we'll put you in the lineup."

Best idea, right here.

Listen, we can't pay you royalties, but we'd need someone to clean the food rests off the seats. These children.

Hey, that's an honor!

[Westheim]

Raccoons (14-30) @ Condors (25-19) – May 26-28, 1997

Coming in raging hot on a 2-game winning streak (never mind a rampant 3-13 since May 9), we were to face the Condors, who had a terrible rotation (11th with 4.57 ERA), but just made up by scoring more and more and more runs: 5.2 per game to be exact. That led the Continental League and that made them a contending team. Much in contrast to whomever they faced in this series. Ah right. The Critters.

Projected matchups:
Jose Rivera (2-4, 4.32 ERA) vs. Jose Maldonado (0-0, 2.76 ERA)
Kisho Saito (2-3, 2.80 ERA) vs. Juan Lara (5-3, 6.25 ERA)
Scott Wade (1-2, 5.48 ERA) vs. Sergio Gonzalez (3-6, 5.88 ERA)

Three right-handers up, as well as an off day after getting swept here, so left-handed bats could expect to be in the lineup. Minus Lacombe of course.

Game 1
POR: 2B Brewer – 3B O’Morrissey – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Buell – LF Kinnear – SS Ingall – C Vinson – P J. Rivera
TIJ: 2B Marino – C F. Ramirez – 1B C. Guzmán – 3B J. Garcia – RF Hooper – LF Spinelli – CF E. Carter – SS Liang – P Maldonado

The game got going good for the Coons with leadoff singles by Brewer and O-Mo (although only Brewer was brought home), and then a surprising 2-out single by Rivera in the second inning that brought up Brewer again, and he hit his first homer of the year, 3-0. Next time I looked up, Rivera walked off the field with the manager and trainer with some issue or other and Tzu-jao Ban would come out of the bullpen for long relief. It was as good as his closing work! Guzmán homered in the third, and a double by Erwin Hooper to lead off the bottom 4th led to another run. The Coons hurriedly added two runs in the fifth with two out RBI knocks by Wedemeyer and Buell (the latter a triple), but Ban soon had the tying run at the plate again in the bottom 5th and got the hook. Santana got out of that jam, and we were still up 5-2 after the top 7th. I brought Ramos in a double switch that removed Weeds intending to have Ramos pitch this game to completion – somehow. Short version: didn’t work. Jesus Garcia’s 3-run shot tied it in the seventh, but it wasn’t quite over. Big deal, a tied game is never over. Brewer had kind of some day, matching Garcia with a huge 3-run homer of his own in the top 8th, and two errors by Garcia after that allowed O-Mo and Reece to reach, only to be doubled home by Buell, 10-5. Ramos was still to pitch here. And it was Brewer Day at the park: he came up with two out in the ninth and singled home Ingall from third base for the final score: 11-5 Raccoons! Brewer 4-6, 2 HR, 6 RBI; O’Morrissey 3-5, BB, 2B; Wedemeyer 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Buell 4-5, 3B, 2B, 3 RBI; Ingall 3-5, 2B;

Additional notes: Stephen Buell missed the cycle by the home run, while Brewer drove in 50% more runners than he had ALL SEASON so far. He started the season horribly batting around .100 in RISP situations and he only jumped over .200 in this game. Admittedly, he’s not the run cashier, batting leadoff, but sometimes batting .300 is not enough, it has to come situational, too. In no season in his career, has his R/RBI ratio been this lopsided: 2.3 including this game, 5.0 (!!) before this game.

But we have a 3-game winning streak, woo-hoo! It will now certainly end with Kisho Saito pitching. And not because of Saito, most likely.

Note (also listed below): the Condors traded Jesus Garcia away after this game. They received former Canadien Raúl Solís, whom I had been so glad when the Buffaloes had signed him to the Federal League after the ’95 season.

Game 2
POR: 2B Brewer – 3B O’Morrissey – CF Reece – RF Buell – LF Kinnear – SS Guerin – 1B Ingall – C Kondo – P Saito
TIJ: 2B Solís – RF Spinelli – 1B C. Guzmán – SS Gorden – CF Hooper – 3B Liang – LF Espinoza – C P. Carter – P J. Lara

Back-to-back 2-out doubles by Buell and Kinnear spotted Saito an early 2-0 lead in the first inning. That would be it. He put two on in the bottom 1st, but wiggled out of there, but the Condors got a run on 2-out hits by Eneas Spinelli and Carlos Guzmán in the third inning. That 2-1 lead held up until the sixth. With a runner on first base and two out, Chun-mei Liang reached on catcher’s interference, and Alejandro Espinoza (the ex-Coon) singled to load them up. Unfazed, Saito was sunk with Paul Carter’s 2-run single. Guzmán also knocked out Saito for good in the bottom 7th with a 1-out double. The Coons starved the runner, but couldn’t get on base for their lives. 3-2 Condors. Buell 2-4, 2 2B, RBI;

If I say they couldn’t score for their lives, I mean it. I stood outside with a shotgun, but it’s hard to hit the leftfielder with a blunderbuss…

For bad news exceeding terrible offensive performances, Jose Rivera was evaluated for good on Tuesday night. The diagnosis was striking: shoulder inflammation, he will basically miss the rest of the season.

This is bad, since we have nobody left to pick up the slack here. We called Pancho Padilla from AAA, a right-hander that was injured when I purged the available relief crumbs earlier this month and thus escaped capital punishment so far. He would switch into a relief role and Jose Ramos was penciled in to make spot starts until a certain free agent starter could make up his mind about the doubtlessly miniscule offer I made him on Wednesday.

Game 3
POR: 2B Brewer – 3B Ingall – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Buell – LF Kinnear – C Vinson – SS Guerin – P Wade
TIJ: CF Espinoza – C F. Ramirez – 1B C. Guzmán – SS Gorden – LF Hooper – 3B Liang – RF B. Martinez – 2B Marino – P S. Gonzalez

We scored in the first again: Brewer singled, Ingall singled, Reece singled, bases loaded, before Weeds flew out, and everybody held. Buell’s hopper bounced funnily away from Guzmán costing him a play for an RBI single. That brought up Kinnear, who shook his bat in anticipation, much resembling a dog spotting a hydrant, waving his tail. Kinnear didn’t disappoint, launching the ball deep to right, and Bartolo Martinez didn’t bother to run after it. GRAAAAAAND SLAAAAAAAMMM!!! This was now Wade’s to lose, and the Condors chewed him up for a run in the first, a run in the second, and a run in the third, and NO run in the fourth. The Coons had merely scored one with the bags full and one out in the top 3rd, and we so led 6-3 after four. Wade, completely at his defense’s mercy in this game, wobbled through six with the 6-3 standing. Ingall singled his way on to start the top 7th, and we called a hit-and-run with Reece struggling badly at the plate. He grounded to short, but Rory Gorden’s throw to first was way wide and went into the seats. Runners in scoring position with no outs, only Ingall was scored with a Buell groundout. Weeds had whiffed, and Kinnear grounded out harmlessly. 7-3. With lefty Clyde Brady pinch-hitting for the Condors to lead off the bottom 7th, Zuniga replaced Wade and pitched a perfect seventh. Could you trust Pancho Padilla, who was fresh in contrast to the rest of the pen, with a 4-run lead? No. He loaded the bags with two out in the bottom 8th, and Santana came in to face lefty Francisco Marino. 0-1, contact to deeeep center. Neil Reece made the CATCH OF HIS LIFE on this one. With lots of lefties up, Santana stayed in for the ninth and sat down the side in order to actually earn a save. 7-3 Raccoons. Brewer 2-5; Ingall 2-5; Buell 2-4, BB, 2 RBI; Kinnear 1-3, BB, HR, 4 RBI; Santana 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K, SV (1);

Raccoons (16-31) @ Aces (23-25) – May 30-June 1, 1997

The Aces were struggling with their pitching staff, which ranked consistently in the lower half in the Continental League. Their 230 runs allowed were the third-worst mark in the league, and their offense was average only.

Projected matchups:
Miguel Lopez (3-3, 3.51 ERA) vs. Carlos Guillén (4-4, 5.10 ERA)
Esteban Flores (0-1, 4.77 ERA) vs. Rob Griffin (2-2, 7.02 ERA)
Jose Ramos (2-2, 5.17 ERA) vs. Alejandro Venegas (5-2, 3.52 ERA)

Game 1
POR: 2B Brewer – 3B O’Morrissey – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – LF Buell – C Vinson – SS Guerin – RF Lacombe – P M. Lopez
LVA: SS R. Gutierrez – 3B Petipas – 1B J. Vargas – RF Mashiba – 2B J. Zamora – C Manuel – LF E. Garza – CF Li – P Guillén

In his 57th at-bat of the season, Joe Lacombe drove in his first run, a 1-out RBI single scoring Conceicao Guerin in the top 5th, and that was the first run of the game. Brewer would cash Lacombe, 2-0, the same inning, and an error allowed O’Morrissey to reach. Reece would hit an RBI single, 3-0. Top 6th, Buell was on third base with one out. The Aces walked Guerin intentionally(!!) to get to Lacombe, who promptly struck out, but they made their calculation without Miguel Lopez who dropped a bloop into shallow left to score Buell. Miguel Lopez had been devastating the first time through the lineup, whiffing five Aces, but he didn’t strike out anybody the second time through, and the shutout was blown up by Edgardo Garza with a 2-out, 2-run single in the bottom 7th. Lopez got PH Manny Espinosa to lead off the bottom 8th, then yielded for Brad Tamburrino, who got two outs quickly. De La Rosa came out to close the game when Steve Caddock was left on second base in the top 9th. Vargas walked, Mashiba was drilled, and Zamora singled. Bags full, no outs. Great stuff. In my despair I went for Miller with Santana also getting ready. Miller simply walked the first run in, and the Aces tied the game on Garza’s groundout. Li flew out to Lacombe for the second out, and then Santana came in to face pinch-hitter Joe Douglas, walked him to load the bags, and then walked Robinson Gutierrez. 5-4 Aces. O’Morrissey 2-5, 2B; Lacombe 2-4, RBI; Lopez 7.1 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 8 K;

Gotta kill people. 25, to be exact.

Well, 24. David Brewer has a 10-game hitting streak going as of now.

Game 2
POR: 2B Brewer – 3B O’Morrissey – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Buell – LF Kinnear – C Vinson – SS Caddock – P E. Flores
LVA: SS R. Gutierrez – 2B J. Zamora – CF J. Vargas – RF Mashiba – LF E. Garza – C Manuel – 1B A. Maldonado – 3B Petipas – P Griffin

The Coons scratched out a run in the second against pushover Griffin, but Flores was hit for two runs in the bottom of the inning. The Aces’ battery fell apart as a whole in the fourth then with Griffin allowing a leadoff triple to Stephen Buell, scoring him with a wild pitch, walking him Kinnear, and moved Kinnear up with a wild pitch, and Andres Manuel couldn’t calm him down. Two on and one out, Flores came up, batted, and hit a go-ahead RBI double to deep left. Brewer hit an RBI single, extending his streak, and the bags were full in a 4-2 game with one out for Neil Reece, who had long been looking for a meaningful hit, and now came up with a 2-run single that sent Griffin for the showers. In total, we would send up 11 men and scored six runs for a 7-2 lead, but would Flores get to reap the harvest? The Aces pummeled him for two runs in the fourth, 7-4, but he got through the fifth unharmed, and even managed to get through seven after that, with the Aces only reaching again with two out in the seventh, and then not scoring. Neil Reece in the top 5th had left the bags full, striking out against ageless Armando Dávila, and not enough runs in the bank would come back to bite. Once Cesar Zuniga was touched for two runs in the bottom 8th and required rescue by Tamburrino, the fire was burning again – for the Aces. Top 9th, up 7-6, ex-Coon Qi-zhen Geng issuing pitches. Wedemeyer made an out, bouncing out to Maldonado, before Buell reached on an error. Kinnear was drilled in the forearm by Geng and had to leave the game with a nice welt forming immediately. Guerin ran for him, while Crockett hit for Vinson. Buell scored on the single that Crockett lobbed into shallow left, and that was all we got in the inning, as Caddock and Ingall made outs. And now Gabby came back out. Oh Jesus Christ. He put Gutierrez on, he put Zamora on, Vargas tied the game with a double. Exit De La Shmosa. Santana retired the side before Vargas could score, and extra innings we played! Top 11th, Buell singled with one out, then stole second, and even went to third when Mario Guerrero’s throw went into center. He was not scored… Cory Maupin and Pancho Padilla pitched long relief as both teams were out of players (we had no position players left, and only Ban and a tired Miller in the pen). The Aces left the winning run on third in the 12th again, and then Reece led off the top 13th with a triple. Nori Kondo (now batting cleanup…) flew out to right, but Reece tagged and scored anyway. Ban did not come in to blow a save, instead Padilla remained in. Guerrero hit a 1-out triple in the bottom 13th and was scored by Gutierrez, and we had to play on. Padilla singled off Maupin to start the top 14th, and the Aces didn’t bring Richard Cunningham until we had runners on the corners with one out for Brewer, who rammed an RBI single to right. O-Mo singled to load them up but Reece and Kondo BOTH flew out gingerly. 10-9, and now we needed another arm with Padilla gassed. Tzu-jao Ban came in, walked Garza with one out, and we could all go home once Antenor Maldonado emptied a bat full into the right field bleachers. 11-10 Aces. O’Morrissey 2-6, 2 BB; Buell 3-7, 3B, RBI; Crockett (PH) 1-2, RBI; Santana 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K; Padilla 3.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 K and 1-1;

Somebody or other had hidden a chill pill in my sandwich before the game, and I didn’t give a crap about all of this. Look at all those guys running around the field, hehehe!

Vern Kinnear’s bruised forearm was not quite that bad and he was ready to play the next day.

So, what else at the end of May? You say we don’t have enough bad news so far? Well, here’s one: Luke Newton’s ankle doesn’t get better, he could miss all of June.

Shoot me, $12.

Game 3
POR: 3B O’Morrissey – RF Buell – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – C Vinson – 2B Ingall – LF Kinnear – SS Guerin – P Ramos
LVA: CF Douglas – 2B J. Zamora – 1B J. Vargas – RF Mashiba – LF E. Garza – C Manuel – 3B Petipas – SS R. Gutierrez – P Venegas

“I don’t give an F” strategy yielded us a few runs in the top 3rd. In a scoreless games, O-Mo was on first with two out but never got a good jump with Neil Reece batting and Reece eventually walked, moving him up anyway. With Wedemeyer batting, both set off to steal and Andres Manuel tried to get Reece at second base – and didn’t. Wedemeyer then singled into left, Reece was waved around third and scored, 2-0. Vinson singled him home, and Venegas barely escaped the inning down only 3-0 when Guerin made the final out to Mashiba with the bags full. Ramos almost was eaten up in the bottom 3rd already before Guerin pulled him out by starting a double play with runners on the corners and one out, and in the fourth the Aces loaded the bases with nobody out with a single and two walks. Bob Petipas singled a run in before Gutierrez flew out to Reece in shallow center and nobody dared to go. Venegas then lined to – OH, O-MO!!! O’Morrissey made a stellar play on that liner and tagged Edgardo Garza for the double play, still 3-1 Coons. Ramos walked the leadoff man in the fifth, but got out of that, but then walked Garza with no outs and Petipas with one out in the bottom 6th, and with six walks on his ledger was done. Tamburrino, used almost every day by now, was brought in to face Gutierrez, who flew out to right, and then Zuniga came out to face PH Manny Espinosa. He struck him out, but then put Joe Douglas on to lead off the seventh. Daniel Miller came in, proved useless again and the Aces scored a run. 3-2. Miller still pitched the eighth (scoreless), but who was to close this game (or at least try?). Before that question begged to be replied to, we still had to play the top 9th. O-Mo got on, stole second base, and Neil Reece tattooed a Charlie Deacon pitch for a 2-run homer. FINALLY! OFFENSE!! Yes, the bottom 9th. Miller had been hit for, so that was not an option and limited us to Padilla (gassed), Santana (gassed), De La Rosa (useless), and Ban (super useless), or using a starter. Nah. Ban came out while I was preparing my “I went to Vegas and came home with nothing but this T-Shirt” T-Shirt to wear on the plane home. Joe Douglas led off with a line drive for a single. Zamora bounced to Ingall, who only got the lead runner after a slow turn to Guerin. Ban then fell 2-0 behind Vargas and Vinson cooked up his own strategy. Expecting no less than another ball inside he got exactly that, a 3-0 pitch that he turned nicely into and thundered it to first where Caddock tagged out the returning Douglas. Vargas eventually grounded to Guerin – WHO BOBBLED IT. Mashiba popped into shallow left. Who has it, who has it??? Kinnear barked off the young Guerin and grabbed it. We did NOT BLOW A GAME!!! 5-2 Raccoons. O’Morrissey 2-5; Reece 1-3, 2 BB, HR, 2 RBI; Wedemeyer 2-4, BB, 2 RBI; Ingall 2-3, BB, 2B;

In other news

May 27 – Infielders are swapped between Tijuana and Topeka, with Raúl Solís (.226, 1 HR, 18 RBI) heading to Mexico in exchange for Jesus Garcia (.254, 5 HR, 31 RBI).
May 27 – VAN OF Luis Arroyo (.336, 1 HR, 19 RBI) will miss up to one month with a strained hamstring.
May 28 – BOS OF/1B Dave Reid (.275, 3 HR, 29 RBI) goes down to a strained oblique and will miss one month’s worth of games.
May 28 – PIT INF Roberto Rodriguez (.277, 2 HR, 21 RBI) is going to miss a month after suffering a strained rib cage muscle.
May 28 – SFW SP Pat Cherry (3-4, 5.49 ERA) is trying to rally from a horrible start to his season, and makes a nice start with a 3-hit shutout against the Blue Sox in a 6-0 Warriors win.
May 31 – Salem’s Alonso Lopez (2-2, 2.40 ERA) 3-hits the Cyclones in an 8-0 shutout. The Wolves had taken Lopez from the Raccoons in this winter’s rule 5 draft.

Complaints and stuff

Having the first overall draft pick next year will be fun.

The Pacifics placed catcher Sidney Aycock on the trading block this week. He is quite good defensively, while batting more than Vinson in the long run. He would also be a free agent at the end of the year. Nori Kondo batting way below .200 makes him easily expendable. However, we could not work out a deal, since they didn’t want Joe Lacombe, whom I offered first, and while they were keen on Tzu-jao Ban and I wasn’t necessarily in love with him, I wanted more for Ban. However, they wouldn’t add 2B Ed Edwards to the deal, and while they had a very interesting prospect at the A level, that boy had only been drafted last year and was ineligible for a trade.

But on good news: Stephen Buell was named the Player of the Week this time through those different days, batting .500 (14-28) with no homers, but 8 RBI. The kid is still not 22, by the way. His defense is a disgrace, but he sure can bat: .942 PCT, -5.9 ZR, and .858 EFF when playing right (30 games), but .308/.365/.455 at the dish.

And whoever thought it was impossible to work the word “blunderbuss” into a baseball dynasty report, you, Sir, have been proven WRONG.

Boo-yah!!

And out!

[Westheim]

Raccoons (17-33) vs. Falcons (22-28) – June 2-4, 1997

The Falcons were posting worst marks for the CL in runs scored (182 in 50 games) and bullpen ERA. Believe it or not, we were actually up to 7th in runs scored now. However, their rotation was solid, and to get to that buttery bullpen, we’d have to batter our way through there.

Projected matchups:
Kisho Saito (2-4, 2.94 ERA) vs. Carlos Castro (5-5, 3.62 ERA)
Scott Wade (2-2, 5.36 ERA) vs. Terry Wilson (3-6, 3.82 ERA)
Miguel Lopez (3-3, 3.38 ERA) vs. Fernando Chavez (5-4, 3.14 ERA)

The first two were left-handers. Kisho Saito had to deliver a good game, since our bullpen had been abused the last few days and could not withstand much more strain. If Saito was knocked out early, the bullpen would give out completely, most likely. There was the option to send Steve Caddock to AAA and bring up an additional arm for the short term (maybe even Donis to be used out of the pen?), but I didn’t make the exchange for the first game of the set. We also would have an off day after this series, but would then play 13 straight games.

Game 1
CHA: SS R. Garza – RF S. Vargas – 1B H. Green – CF Dunphy – 2B J. Barrón – 3B Combes – LF P. Flores – C P. Barrón – P Castro
POR: 2B Brewer – 3B O’Morrissey – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – LF Buell – SS Ingall – C Vinson – RF Crockett – P Saito

Saito didn’t have his stuff, it was as simple as that. He didn’t strike out anyone. The Falcons scored a run in the first inning, but the Raccoons got that back quickly, and then it was 1-1 with no offense and little good contact until the sixth when Salvador Vargas homered to center, 2-1 Falcons. We had the tying run thrown out at the plate by Christian Dunphy in the bottom 6th, and it looked a lot like Saito was going to be saddled with yet another hard luck loss. Bottom 7th, Buell and Ingall got on with no outs, before Vinson struck out. Guerin hit for Crockett against the lefty Castro and singled, loading the bags, but now Saito came up… Do you bring out Kinnear to hit for him? That … no… no… but … ugh… unable to make up my mind, Saito went to bat anyway, popped out, and Brewer whiffed. Saito conceded another run on two 2-out base hits and Hubert Green stealing a base in between that Vinson didn’t even make a throw on. O-Mo led off by getting on base in the bottom 8th, and Reece doubled, putting the tying runs in scoring position. Wedemeyer struck out, Buell walked, and Lacombe, who had entered when Guerin stayed in the game, hit into a double play. Saito left in the ninth, and would not get a win again. He would get a loss though. Alex Byrd pitched, and walked Vinson, then couldn’t field Guerin’s grounder and the tying runs were on base with no outs. Kinnear hit in the #9 slot, double play. That Byrd balked home Vinson was the cherry on the horse dung cake. 3-2 Falcons. Reece 2-4, 2B; Buell 3-3, BB; Ingall 2-3, 2B; Guerin (PH) 1-2;

Lacombe. Disfigured, pathetic, useless sucker. Instead of sending down Caddock, why not just release this loser?

Game 2
CHA: RF S. Vargas – 2B J. Barrón – 3B Combes – 1B H. Green – LF A. Lopez – SS R. Garza – CF Young – C D. Smith – P Wilson
POR: 2B Brewer – 3B O’Morrissey – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Buell – SS Ingall – C Vinson – LF Kinnear – P Wade

Wade also was not on top of his game, which became apparent early with lots of line drives being hit off him. The Falcons scored a run in the second inning, and into the bottom 3rd we were still looking for our first hit, which was then delivered by Wade with a leadoff double. Brewer and O-Mo came up with singles, the latter tying the game, and Reece grounded to short, but Ramon Garza bobbled the ball and all hands were safe as we took a 2-1 lead. Still nobody out, Wedemeyer all but killed the inning with a double play. Wade led off the bottom 5th with another double that only became one once Salvador Vargas tumbled into the right center field wall and the ball came out of his glove. Wade was scored with two groundouts, but Buell was left on third base the next inning. And as things always go, Wade walked Lopez in the seventh and Garza homered to tie the game. We left two on once it was our turn in the seventh. In the eighth, Wade came apart, and the Falcons loaded them up. Santana relieved Wade, surrendered two runs to Lopez, and that was it for this game. 5-3 Falcons. Caddock (PH) 1-1; Crockett (PH) 1-1;

It took us 16 innings to post a strikeout in this series, when Scott Wade punched out Grady Young to end the seventh. How many Coons struck out in the first 16 innings of this series? A DOZEN.

Game 3
CHA: SS R. Garza – RF S. Vargas – 1B H. Green – CF Dunphy – 2B J. Barrón – 3B Combes – LF P. Flores – C P. Barrón – P Chavez
POR: 2B Brewer – 3B O’Morrissey – RF Buell – 1B Wedemeyer – SS Ingall – LF Kinnear – C Vinson – RF Lacombe – P M. Lopez

Lopez held the Falcons hitless into the fifth before Pedro Barrón hit a 2-out single. After scoring a run in the first, the Raccoons had again excelled in futility, including a situation in the fourth, where there were Brewer and O’Morrissey on base with one out. Brewer stole third base, and then Buell lined into a double play to Hubert Green… The Befuddled Brigade failed to score, and Hubert Green singled home Garza in the eighth to tie the game, and knocked out Lopez in the process. The Raccoons just couldn’t. I don’t know whether they actually tried, but they couldn’t. The game went to extra innings, Tzu-jao Ban came in, put two in in the 11th, Santana couldn’t end the inning against a left-hander (as usual), and the Falcons scored, and Wedemeyer ended the game with a double play. 2-1 Falcons. Brewer 2-4, BB; O’Morrissey 2-5; Miller 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

Six hits, none below the fourth slot in the order. These Patheticoons managed all of 22 hits in the series. If you are swept by the most offensively inept team in the league, maybe the ranking isn’t right.

David Brewer had single hits in the first two games and two in this one, and he has a 14-game hitting streak.

Free agent signing

The Raccoons signed 29-year old Cuban right-hander Hector Lara to a 1-yr, $200k contract. Lara is 77-116 with 4.37 ERA for his career, which he spent mostly with the Crusaders, so that record has to be taken with a grain of salt. We added Lara to shore up a reeling rotation. He will make his Raccoons debut this weekend, with Manny Ramos going back to the bullpen. However, right now I don’t know whom to banish. So for the moment, this is the point where Steve Caddock ends up being demoted.

Raccoons (17-36) vs. Canadiens (24-27) – June 6-8, 1997

The Canadiens weren’t particularly bad or particularly good at anything. They were scoring about an average number of runs, and conceded a smiliar amount with a -12 run differential for them. No particular features, huh? Well, the Coons have one. They suck. Let the humiliation continue.

Projected matchups:
Esteban Flores (0-1, 4.97 ERA) vs. John Collins (4-5, 5.21 ERA)
Hector Lara (0-0) vs. Jose Marquez (4-3, 4.02 ERA)
Kisho Saito (2-5, 2.97 ERA) vs. Jose Dominguez (3-2, 4.22 ERA)

Game 1
VAN: CF J. Moreno – 2B S. Mendez – RF D. Edwards – 1B Galindo – LF Moore – C J. Lopez – SS Shaw – 3B P. Williams – P Collins
POR: 2B Brewer – 3B O’Morrissey – RF Buell – 1B Wedemeyer – CF Reece – LF Kinnear – SS Ingall – C Kondo – P E. Flores

Juan Moreno tripled and scored on a passed ball to start this series. Another triple by Travis Shaw plated a pair in the second inning, and Flores would surrender four runs total in five innings of work. He left on the hook, 4-3, when Wedemeyer grounded out to leave the bases loaded in the bottom 5th. The Numbnuts left two on in the sixth, and three on in the seventh. They had their first two men on in the bottom 8th, and then Vinson, Brewer, and O’Morrissey struck out in succession. With one out in the ninth, and still one run down, Wedemeyer chopped a lobber into shallow left for a single, and Reece would have popped out to right, but Drew Edwards dropped the ball. So the winning run was on base for the FIFTH STRAIGHT INNING. Kinnear grounded out to second, forcing Reece, for runners on the corners with two out. Ingall flew out to center. 4-3 Canadiens. Brewer 2-5; Buell 3-5, 2B, RBI; Wedemeyer 2-5, RBI;

If you’d split my skull with a shovel right now, it would probably constitute a mercy killing…

Game 2
VAN: CF J. Moreno – 2B S. Mendez – RF D. Edwards – 1B Galindo – LF Moore – C J. Lopez – SS Shaw – 3B Hopper – P Marquez
POR: 2B Brewer – 3B Ingall – RF Buell – 1B Wedemeyer – CF Reece – C Vinson – LF Kinnear – SS Guerin – P Lara

Hector Lara’s first inning as a Raccoon was scoreless only because Neil Reece threw out Juan Moreno at the plate to end it. Lara got better after that, scattering singles, while the defense also turned double plays behind him, and the Canadiens didn’t get on the board. The Raccoons did, with a run in the third inning driven in by Stephen Buell, and then in the sixth Neil Reece hit a solo homer, and no, nothing happened in the meantime. Everything was going well for Lara, until it didn’t, Shaw hit a leadoff single in the seventh, Lara hit Moreno with two down, and Mendez tied the game with a double. Still tied 2-2, we faced Jackie Lagarde in the bottom 9th with Kinnear leading off, and no Raccoon reached base. Brewer singled to lead off the bottom 10th, then was caught stealing. Tzu-jao Ban faced eight batters in relief and walked four of them, but the Canadiens failed to score. We left the winning run on third base in the 11th when Kondo (last bat off the bench, too) grounded out. Another miserable night in Coon City ended in the 12th inning when we had Brewer on third base, two down, and Neil Reece managed to zing a line drive single into center. 3-2 Coons. Brewer 2-5, BB; Ingall 2-6, 2B; Buell 3-5, BB, 2B, RBI; Reece 2-6, HR, 2 RBI; Vinson 2-4, BB, 2B; Lara 7.0 IP, 10 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3 K;

Game 3
VAN: LF Rivas – SS Shaw – 1B S. Mendez – 3B Galindo – CF Porter – RF Moore – C Castillo – 2B Pyatt – P Dominguez
POR: 2B Brewer – 3B O’Morrissey – RF Buell – 1B Wedemeyer – CF Reece – LF Kinnear – SS Ingall – C Kondo – P Saito

Saito was – as usual – on his own in this game. Dominguez did everything wrong in the bottom 3rd, issuing a 2-out bases-loaded walk to Kinnear for the first run of the game, when Kinnear at .210 had clearly proven he couldn’t even hit anything in the heart of the plate. Saito was shutting out the Canadiens through five, and suddenly with one out in the sixth walked Shaw, Mendez, and Galindo in succession. Troy Porter grounded to O’Morrissey, who made a throwing error to tie the game. Saito got out with a pop out by Roland Moore and whiffing Julio Castillo, but he had lost any chance to win the ballgame. Because, you know, he’s on the brown team. The Raccoons instantly left the bags full in the bottom 6th. Saito actually allowed an earned run in the top 7th, and the Raccoons had runners on the corners with two out in the bottom 7th when Marvin Ingall made a fatal error in their grand scheme: he singled up the middle and re-tied the score. Kondo quickly hit a ball to the shortstop to not actually take a lead for Saito. And after 108 pitches, Saito was done. Again no win. Again no glory. Tamburrino pitched a scoreless eighth, and by accepted theory the Raccoons should burst out with a 6-run eighth now (yet then still lose). Crockett made an out hitting for Tamburrino, before Brewer and O’Morrissey had hits and were in scoring position with one out. Buell’s turn came up. GET THOSE SUCKERS IN!!! Buell sent a soft floater out to shallow right, but Moore couldn’t get to it. O’Morrissey was waved around third and might have been out with a good throw, but Moore’s throw was 20 feet off Castillo at the plate. Wedemeyer walked, Reece grounded out, and then Kinnear homered to dead center. Because, like, he couldn’t have done that ANY OF THE OTHER THREE TIMES HE HAD BEEN UP BEFORE THAT. Jose Ramos was tasked with protection of a 7-2 lead in the ninth and surrendered the Canadiens in order. 7-2 Raccoons. O’Morrissey 3-5; Buell 2-5, 2 RBI; Kinnear 2-4, BB, HR, 2B, 4 RBI; Ingall 2-4, BB, RBI; Saito 7.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 8 K;

Brewer’s hitting streak is at 17 games.

In other news

June 3 – SFW SP Ricardo Torres (5-1, 3.30 ERA) takes the victory in a 7-5 game over the Cyclones, and has all reason to celebrate: it was Torres’ 200th career victory. The 38-year old Torres (200-188, 3.86 ERA, 2,144 K) spent most of his career with the Miners, which brought him up in 1980, and also a few years for the team he just beat, Cincinnati. In his long career he was nominated to the 1994 All Star team, but he never won a championship.
June 3 – RIC RF/LF Raúl Vázquez (.389, 6 HR, 9 RBI) has been bothered by his shoulder for some time, and will now miss two weeks with shoulder inflammation.
June 4 – Another day, another Warrior reaches 200 wins: SP Neil Stewart (7-3, 4.30 ERA) pitches a complete game 8-3 win over the Cyclones, winning his 200th career game. Stewart, 33, and with the Loggers, Wolves, and Indians before in his career, is 200-161 with a 3.35 ERA in his career. The 1995 Pitcher of the Year doesn’t look like he’s done either and is now eyeing for 250 wins.
June 4 – More milestones coming: 36-yr old RF/1B Edgardo Garza (.288, 1 HR, 14 RBI) and his Aces go down, 3-0, to the Titans, but Garza hits a single off Bill Corkum in the ninth inning for his 2,500th career hit. Garza is a 16-year veteran that also played with the Loggers, Buffaloes, and Condors in his career, in which he was nominated for 8 All Star games.
June 4 – Not done yet: 36-yr old DAL OF Diego Rodriguez (.288, 3 HR, 21 RBI) plays a grueling 20-inning game against the Blue Sox with the Stars, and his team prevails, 3-2. Rodriguez knocks three hits in 8 AB’s, with a ninth inning single off Lorenzo Flores accounting for his own 2,500th career hit! Rodriguez, the second overall pick by the Miners in the 1980 draft, has some illustrious career numbers, including 413 stolen bases, which makes him the career leader by 50 sacks. He also is a 3-time All Star and won Gold Gloves in 1988 and 1995.
June 4 – And one more: WAS INF/RF Yoshihito Ito (.283, 1 HR, 26 RBI) hits safely for the 2,000th time in his career, in a 14-inning, 3-2 loss to the Pacifics. Ito’s milestone hit is a fourth inning double off Angel Romero. Ito spent all of his 14-year career with the Capitals, winning two rings with them. He was an All Star in ’92.

Complaints and stuff

Ben O’Morrissey is too good for himself to be part of a “rebuilding project” and wants to be traded. You know what, you little twat? I goddamn will trade you, because our millions are too good to be spent on such a crybaby like you are!!

You have not hit a home run the entire year and you’re pretending to be Mr. Big Pants here!!?? GET OUTTA MY OFFICE!!!

…

(checks the top drawer for whether the Aspirin stash is still there)

You know what? Dumping Ben O’Moronsey in some godforsaken desert would enable us to bring up Mike Crowe. That’d be a win-win situation.

What a douche.

…

All those career achievements are the more depressing if your own desolate, destitute, decrepit team is giving the ’88 Scorpions a run for their money. Those lost 112 games, and it is the worst mark in ABL history.

They are driving me nuts. So much incompetence should … nah, capital punishment ain’t enough. They oughta watch “Roseanne” for the rest of their lives, the same episode in an endless feed, until the end of time, with their eyes glued wide open.

I can carry so much hatred in me. Amazing.