[Westheim]

Robby Davis was called up from AAA to play centerfield for the next three weeks. It was a bad move, but I only had terrible moves for other options. Playing Sánz in CF would have been one. It didn’t help to cry over spilled milk, but the rotten luck I had with injured centerfielders was far from funny.

And with this we went into San Francisco. The Bayhawks had blanked us pretty good in 1977, when they beat us 9-0 for the season. This was the first matchup in ’78 and the spell was broken right in the first game, but again for a price. Everything seemed to have a price. In the 5-2 win, where Robby Davis hit his first majors homer in the ninth to score two, the Raccoons lost Jesse Jeffries. Another emergency outfielder down. Now Sullivan was back in LF, and Freddy Lopez got to start 3B again.

But of course, it couldn’t stop there. Game 2, and Greg Swift left early with a hamstring strain and would miss some weeks on the DL. I was running out of players. Raccoons won 5-4 with some early punch, then almost blew it in the bottom 9th, after Bill Baker allowed a few runners and the Bayhawks scored three in that inning. Hatfield got his 16th save with a punchout. He actually had the worst ERA on the team (4.24 now, allowing an earned run here), but he still got his job done – his 16 saves led the majors by a good margin! Next was Roberto Vega of the Stars with 13.

Swift out – that forced me to play Hector Mendez as a starter. Just recalled from AAA after he had been batting .132 in 1977. This could not go well for much longer. We played the last game at the bay with only 22 men available, and what happened then? We lost Pedro Sánz in the first inning to a knee injury and he would be out for about a month. No! No…!!! NOOOOOOO!!!!

The Raccoons won 4-3 in the tenth after just barely tying it in the ninth, then winning on a stray Robby Davis homer. But what did it matter? Now that all four main outfielders (Dolder and Anderson more or less sharing centerfield) were out with injuries, it couldn’t take long for complete collapse to happen. Sweeping the Bayhawks was nice, but I didn’t know whom to play down the road.

During the off day we also finally received the injury diagnosis on Jeffries. Sprained UCL, out for a few weeks. Next guy to the DL. Wait, who was on there? It was a little crowded by now. Tim Anderson, Johan Dolder, Jose Flores, and Pedro Sánz (outfielders), Jesse Jeffries and Greg Swift (infielders), and Brett Justice (reliever, since ’77 on there). That’s almost a full set of position players. And four of them would start for the team.

Next up were the Falcons, who led the CL South. They were 29-18, but had slowed down a little in the last two weeks. Opening with a 4-3 loss in which Jenkins walked in the winning run for the Falcons in the 11th after Tony Lopez had shuffled the bases full,

That night, the Raccoons signed free agent outfielder Rob Pickett to a minimum contract. He had made 63 games for the Canadiens and 38 for the Rebels in 1977 and had batted .273, but his main capability was versatility in the outfield. He was slotted into CF, with Robby Davis moved to left. Sullivan went to 2B, moving Mendez back to the bench. The lineup was a mess as well: 3B F. Lopez – LF Davis – 2B Sullivan – SS Simon – 1B Johnston – C Maloney – CF Pickett – RF Hernandez. We were still only playing with 23 players on the majors roster – with eight minor league position players injured, there was nobody to move up! I had to keep looking for other cheap free agents.

With all the injuries and what else the Raccoons were unable to mount offense against the Falcons and lost game 2 closely by a 2-1 score. We didn’t score until the ninth inning and then it was too late. What little offense the Raccoons in the next game, was still enough. Ed Sullivan scored two runners but got only one RBI for the first run got in on a double play, while Jorge Romero delivered a 5-hit shutout of the Falcons in the 2-0 win. It was an ugly game with rain on and off the whole afternoon, but no delay was ever called and Powell, soaked wet, fought his way through to get the shutout. He needed only 95 pitches to go the distance, walking one and striking out six.

Knights left to complete the month of May. Powell was the victim of poor offense *and* defense in the first, where he went seven plus and was saddled with five runs, two of those unearned, in the 5-1 loss. Berrios was responsible for the disaster the next day as he was chased in the fourth inning in a 7-0 rout of helpless Raccoons. Ned Ray was in to finish the series and was hardly throwing any strikes. He lasted 3.2 innings with four runs (two unearned through an error he made himself), walking four and plunking one before my nerves ran out and I sent him to the uranium mines. Raccoons lost 5-3, and had I tared and feathered Ray earlier, this could have been much closer. Now it was a depressing sweep to end a depressing month. We had gone 13-15 in May and half the team was in the hospital. This had become a futile grind.

Yet, we were still only three games behind the Crusaders, which was even more fascinating than the incredible streak of injuries befalling the Raccoons outfielders. We’d play the Crusaders eight times from now until July 2.

Only the Titans left on the road trip. They had the most runs allowed in the Continental League, and their starters sported a whopping 5.47 ERA. If the Raccoons wouldn’t score big here, they wouldn’t do anywhere. What horrible things did they do to Boston’s starter Jerry Morris (who was 0-4 with an ERA over 4)? They ran into a 3-hit shutout and went down 4-0. To add insult to injury, all but one run were unearned. This was driving me crazy! Not the two errors and two wild pitches by Romero, who was supposed to lead the rotation in W’s, but the fact that this team couldn’t get hits for their lives this year.

At least they got to Elvin Woods (1-6, 5.90) on the second day, although they did not get a hit through three frames and got behind 3-0 early. Wyatt Johnston’s 3-run shot in the sixth righted the ship and they scored a couple more against the Titans pen in a 6-3 win. Titans still out-hit us 8-7. We then faced their ace Sean Critch in the rubber game – and Critch did not get out of either the first nor the second inning without major damage, as the Raccoons chained a few fluke hits together, aided by an error and a 3-run shot by Simon to the moon and back. Critch went 1.1 innings with seven hits and seven runs (four earned) against him. Berrios was also weak and barely made it five innings and he allowed all runs in the 7-3 win. Ben Jenkins pitched in the eighth and was injured (notice a common theme there) – no diagnosis given yet.

Next: short home stint with four against the Crusaders (who are leading the CL in runs scored, batting average, and starters ERA, so we could bleed a bit there), then interleague play against the Scorpions, followed by a series in Richmond. That short road trip would also lead into Milwaukee. Right in there is the first year player draft.

We still have seven players on the DL. Flores and Dolder should come back somewhere in the next seven to ten days. Flores could join us as early as the Crusaders series, and boy do we need him. Jenkins could go on the DL as well, we’ll have to see. He’s not the best link in the bullpen, but he’s really gotten his stuff together this year.

In other news:
May 22 – Alex Miranda pitches back-to-back shutouts, this time blanking the Loggers for three hits in a 2-0 win of the Condors. Glad I missed him. Not so glad I traded him.
May 29 – Beau Horn, star shortstop of the Scorpions, is out for the year with torn ankle ligaments. He had been .330 with 8 HR and 32 RBI.
June 3 – Joe Nelson of the Stars falls a triple short of the cycle in a 5-5 appearance for 10 total bases in a 7-2 win over the Gold Sox.
June 3 – Hector Atilano of the Crusaders was also 5-5 in a 12-0 win over the Indians, but the big story was …:
June 3 – Ethan Gittens of the Los Angeles Pacifics went down 9-5 with his team to the warriors, but along the way Gittens hit for a natural cycle, capped by a 3-run shot in the bottom 9th! It was the third cycle in ABL history, the second natural cycle, and the first cycle for the Pacifics and also the first that did not have the Miners on the receiving end.

And still, for a team that's filled a hospital and doesn't score runs, we're faring very well. I'm puzzled.