[Westheim]

Game 1 against the Cyclones saw Alex Miranda on the mound for the Raccoons. He was a terrible #1 starter. He had a K/BB ratio of about .7 – that is right, he was getting 30% less K’s than BB’s. Here he walked five in the first four innings. Fortunately the Cyclones were groundballing a lot and the Raccoons turned a few double plays. While Miranda was not a bad pitcher overall, he ran up his pitch count like a rocket, often putting additional strain on my awful bullpen. Here, the Raccoons led 2-1 in the top 7th. The Cyclones had put runners on second and third with two outs. Up was Claudio Rojas, a .300 batter. Walking him would have brought up 2B Jeremiah Carrell, who led the majors in batting average at .395 – not good. Both were righties, as was Miranda. Miranda ensured me he had everything under control. Then he hurled a pitch three feet away from poor Maloney and a run scored from third to tie the game. The rest of the game was only explained to me afterwards, since right there my head exploded and I fainted. Kevin Hatfield came in as reliever in the eighth and scrambled his way through four frames with mostly good pitching. He was the only rested reliever available after the recent bashings, but his team did not score for him through the 11th inning. Ned Ray came in for the exhausted Hatfield in the 12th. Ray somehow made it through two, but the Cyclones scored in the top 14th and won 3-2. No offense from the Raccoons. My pitchers offered 10 BB’s and 3 K’s. Cyclones staff: 3 BB’s and 13 K’s.

The next day, Ken Miller no-hit the Cyclones for six innings, before Steve Mann broke the bid up with a leadoff homer in the top 7th. Miller went 7.1 innings of 2-hit, 1-run ball, before he was relieved by Coleman. Him and Ben Green actively tried to lose a 6-1 game, but weak grounders in between a few big Cyclone hits could only score three in the top 9th, denying Coleman and Green in their evil plot, Raccoons won 6-4, and Green even got one of those saves he so much despised. The last game was a disaster from the start. Berrios pitched ineffective and was relieved after six. Huber returned from the DL and got the managable assignment to pitch the seventh and eighth innings to ease him back in. He went .2 innings with three hits, two walks, and three runs. Gaston had to bail him out, before the Raccoons scored three in the bottom 7th to shorten the Cyclones’ lead to one run. Runners were on second and third, one out, and Gaston to bat. And I would have removed him for Hoyt Cook or a different pinch hitter. But I didn’t have that many pitchers left. A suicide squeeze was called. Gaston bunted the ball to third, Swift dashed in and clobbered into the catcher at home and – SAFE! Game tied, one out, runners on the corners. Another run scored on a Flores grounder, before Sullivan bolted a 2-run homer to cap off a 7-run inning. Raccoons led 8-6 after eight, where a tired Hatfield got the save after Green was once more unable to.

A very intense series there. We took two of three, but for a price, and that price was Pedro Sánz, who suffered an oblique strain and would be out for at least a week. I did not disable him.

The Dallas Stars had us for three. The Stars were good offensively and had the best bullpen in the Federal League, but their starters had some issues, so if we wanted to score against them, we had to so early. The offense did as told in the first game and we led 4-0 going into the bottom 9th. Coleman and Green failed miserably and Gaston was sent in at 4-1, bases loaded and two outs, inducing a flyout to Flores. Alex Miranda then went the distance in a loss in game 2. The Raccoons were the ones trailing 4-0 to enter the ninth and scored three in a rally, but then Ben Simon was doubled up with one out. Game 3 was the first start for Huber back in the rotation. He left after two innings, having surrendered three runs, with an oblique strain. There, the Raccoons led 4-3, but lost after 12 innings, 5-4. I had run out of good arms and bats very early in this game.

Also, the ABL’s first amateur draft! My two top choices Andres Ramirez and Daniel Hall were ranked #4 and #5 on the list of “most experts”, but I actually saw no star players in the three guys ahead of them. #1 rated was Bill Warren, a 20 yr old starter, who had evil movement, but was a walk machine with little control over his pitches. I was already fed up with those I had on my team. But I still was not sure which guy to pick between Ramirez and Hall. Since the Raccoons only had the #2 pick after the Milwaukee Loggers, I could still see whether the Loggers would choose one of them and then take the other myself. And be unhappy with him for the rest of my life.

Bill Warren became the first player in ABL history to be drafted, as the Loggers took him on with their #1 pick. This still left me between Ramirez and Hall. Oh come on, I can’t decide that! (sobs)

The Portland Raccoons eventually, after a great many tears, drafted the following players:

Round 1: Daniel Hall, 21, outfielder, projected to be one of the top hitters for years to come, with contact, power, and eye all there, plus above average defense; his bonus demand of $737,400 was the biggest in the draft [advanced signing is off, by the way]
Round 2: Jose Garcia, 19, pitcher, top stuff and control projection by my scouting department, although OSA is lower. I chose him over 2B Marc Shaw, who was later taken by the Canadiens.
Round 3: Matt Workman, 22, first baseman, above average throughout the board with few weaknesses
Round 4: Miguel Bojórquez, 22, pitcher (reliever) from Venezuela, top stuff projection
Round 5: Jorge Rodriguez, 22, pitcher, very good numbers throughout, but could be troubled by control weaknesses
Round 6: Ben Boyce, 23, catcher, decent hitter
Round 7: Jason White, 18, pitcher (reliever), good stuff
Round 8: Roman Nunez, 20, pitcher from Venezuela (he was the last guy on my shortlist to remain undrafted)
Round 9: Josh Case, 21, catcher, above average in defense
Round 10: David Callahan, 21, pitcher, good stuff, but little else

Ramirez was drafted by the Sioux Falls Warriors as the #14 pick (he remained in there for quite a bit so I was already getting all worked up he might still lie around unpicked when I came back to – but no). Five of my top players detailed in an earlier post remained in there after round 1 (which actually makes me worry about my judgement), and only Matt Workman remained in there for my third pick. OSA actually rated Workman quite bad, but my scouts were so glowing about him, I took him. Scouts can be fired.

Hall started at AA, but all others were sent to the A class team (which suddenly ballooned to 34 players). I axed three A class relievers with terrible numbers and terrible future. I didn’t mind, but they would not have that future on my team.

While the team was playing a series against the Boston Titans, I opened contract negotiations with Ed Sullivan. The versatile and well-hitting infielder had the biggest contract on the team ($440k), which was up after 1977. Sullivan, 32, wanted a 7-year contract worth over three million bucks. Well, no, thanks. I offered two years for what he already got (which was much too much in my opinion anyway), but we could not agree here. I was not going to lock up a guy til he’d be 40, eating up 20% of my budget. He was not THAT good.

The Raccoons lost the series to Boston, as the Titans scored first in each game, and every time with 3-run innings. We came back to take the middle game 6-3, but lost the other two by scores of 6-2 and 3-1, respectively.

Next up is a short road trip against the Indians and Condors, then a home stand facing the Aces and Canadiens. We will be on the road during the last week before the All Star game, traveling east for Milwaukee and New York.