[Westheim]

Raccoons (47-56) @ Thunder (60-43)

The Raccoons sucked their way to a pathetic 6-1 loss, in which Oklahoma’s Ralph Hoyles pitched a complete game. Dawson hit home run #15, that was it.

The team went up 2-0 early on. Ackerman was again bad on the mound and left after five innings, but in line for a 2-1 win. Sánz pinch-hit for him in the top 6th with the bags full and one out, but grounded into a double play. Kelley gave the lead away with a leadoff homer in the bottom 6th and the Raccoons stood there with empty hands again. They lost with a walk off walk by Cunningham, but Bill Craig had been the one putting runners on. 3-2 Thunder.

Game 3. A 7-run third inning got the Raccoons a good part of the way towards a W for Jorge Romero. Enrique Sanchez crowned the rout of Thunder starter Morton Jennings with a 1-out grand slam. Romero needed every bit of support, he had a wild outing and walked five (no K’s) in a 6-frame, 2-run outing. By then, the Raccoons had put a full dozen on the board, with the last five against the terrible Thunder pen, the worst in the CL. The Raccoons won that game, soundly, 13-3. Green 3-6, 2 RBI; Hall 2-4, BB; Workman 5-5; Dawson 2-5, HR (#16), 3 RBI; Nixon 2-5, 2 RBI; Sanchez 2-5, HR, 5 RBI – that’s the top 6 of the lineup, all chaining together big for once.

Eduardo Guerrero sprained a finger catching a vicious liner and will miss two weeks. As if I didn’t have enough problems. Like this: seven straight series … lost.

Another lost series now and the Raccoons are back home, in last place. Enter the Crusaders.

Raccoons (48-58) @ Crusaders (47-61)

We started the series with Mark Mitchell as third catcher on the roster. I didn’t want to add anybody to the 40-man roster just for one or two days until Steve Walker would be able to be activate after recovery from his thumb fracture. Mitchell pinch hit to start the top 8th (replacing Paul Cooper) and singled, his first hit with the Raccoons after going 0-10 earlier. The game was tied at 2-2 back there, and now the Raccoons loaded up the bases, before Mark Dawson emptied them with a 3-run double. They scored two more in the top 9th and I left Cunningham, who had pitched the eighth, in to collect the save, but he stalled in the ninth. “Demon” West entered with the bags full and two down to get a grounder from Alexander Avery to Nixon to end the game. 7-2 Raccoons! Cooper 1.1 IP, 2 H, W; Workman 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Dawson 2-4; Nixon 2-4;

Steve Walker rejoined the team for game 2, playing shortstop and batting sixth, but went 0-4. After Maurinha the day before, Christopher Powell also left his start in a 2-2 tie, although he went seven innings. The Crusaders had already committed three errors, but the Raccoons were puzzled by their starter Mark Lee, who fanned seven and allowed only three hits. Gaston could not get anybody out in the eighth and took the 3-2 loss, when Cunningham walked a runner in. The Raccoons loaded the bags in the top 9th, but Green was struck out by Rick Evans. Another shameful loss…

The next day, Logan Evans had a terrible fourth inning, ruining a good outing with a 4-spot. All the misery of this team showed in the top 8th: trailing 4-1, Green singled and Hall doubled to start the inning. Green then scored on a passed ball and Workman drew a walk. Runners on the corners, nobody out, and then Dawson struck out and Nixon lined into a double play, and they lost 4-2.

No Raccoons starter got a W in this series. Ackerman went eight frames in the last game, but the score was 1-1, when he was pinch hit for in the top 9th. Bad news: Ralph Nixon left with an injury in the second inning. Mark Dawson left with wrist tendinitis in the eighth. The game went to extra innings, where for *seven* grueling frames, neither team got anything done. The Crusaders loaded the bags against Gaston once, but he curveballed his way through there. In the 17th, the Raccoons loaded the bags themselves, and Angel Costa came to bat with one out. Costa was 0-7 that day, .130 overall. I was ready to release him. Costa singled under the glove of Alexander Avery to score the 2-1 run. Bottom 17th: we sent out a not well-rested Richard Cunningham. With the injuries and pinch hitting, the Raccoons bench was empty, backup catcher Dicks was playing CF, shortstop Walker was playing RF. It was great luck that no ball left the infield in the inning, as Cunningham mowed them down 1-2-3, with a K, a pop up and a grounder to Costa. 2-1 Raccoons, in 17 innings.

But what did it do to the roster!? Dawson, who led the CL in home runs and the Raccoons with RBI’s, was out for a week. He did not go to the DL. Nixon was undiagnosed as of now. The bullpen was sweating heavily and there were seven more games until the next off day. Daniel Hall also would have been due an off day, but with two injured players on the roster, there was no room to rest him. Sánz would start in right, and I pieced second together with Bowling and Costa. Spencer Dicks, Wyatt Johnston, and either Bowling or Costa – that was the whole bench going into the Canadiens series.

But I needed another outfielder, one way or the other. Walker could sub for Hall for one game, but who’d play short? Can’t I ever get a break here?

By the way: eight consecutive series without winning one.

Raccoons (50-60) @ Canadiens (66-45)

Game 1 was Jorge Romero’s start. I desperately needed seven innings from him to get load off the pen. Since the Raccoons would not score anyway with Bowling, Sánz, and Cox in the lineup. Walker, Hall, and Sanchez were slumping on top of that. Victor Underwood was the pitcher for Vancouver, with a 2.92 ERA. And Underwood hit a bases-clearing double against Romero in the second inning. Romero was shelled for six runs total and left in the sixth. The Raccoons had two hits and lost 6-0.

Ralph Nixon’s season was over with a torn meniscus. WHY!!?? WHY CAN’T …!!????

Since they didn’t score with Hall in the lineup, it didn’t matter if I pulled him. Cox moved to left, Walker to center, and Bowling to short, and Enrique Sanchez batted fifth – that desperate was the situation (with four players batting .202 or worse in today’s lineup, and that did not include .300 hitting pitcher Yoelbi Maurinha). The opponent was Kisho Saito, who could have been a Raccoon, but wasn’t, and who pitched a 2-hitter, both singles to Pedro Sánz. Maurinha was left with a well pitched 7-frame, 5-hit, 2-0 loss.

This was not working. Nixon on the 60-day DL opened a roster spot, and there was still a week left before anybody could come off the DL. We called up LF/RF Fernando Perez from AAA, where he hit .309, after starting the season at AA. He was our 1978 round 7 draft pick. Perez was a corner outfielder, but I needed him in centerfield. Cox was awful, batting .151 …

Interesting stat of the day: the Raccoons were 12 games below .500, but 425-425 in runs scored/against. There had been a lot of well pitched 2-0 or 2-1 losses recently.

Christopher Powell got the hopeless mission to go up against Kinji Kan, but a pair of scratch hits plated two Raccoons in the first inning, credited to Sánz and Dicks (of all people), although the runs were unearned after a fielding error. A 2-run home run by Matt Workman made it 4-0 in the seventh, and two more were added in the eighth. Powell pitched eight innings of shutout ball, but could not get through the ninth. A wild pitch by Wally Gaston scored a run in the 6-1 win. Powell got his 12th win, and it was his first W after four consecutive no-decisions. All Raccoons starters had at least one hit, 13 total. Perez went 1-4 in his debut.

Turned out, Powell’s win was the only ray of light in this series. Logan Evans put together one of those famous well pitched 8-frame, 3-hit, 2-0 losses. One run was unearned after an error by Workman, who had 67% of the Raccoons’ hits: 2;

The Raccoons had surrendered more than three runs in only three games in August, yet were 5-7 after scoring more than two runs in only four games. And thus: nine series without taking one – in a row.

Raccoons (51-63) @ Scorpions (62-54)

In no way were the Raccoons in shape for interleague play against the overall a bit stronger Federal League, especially when it came to raw offense. They had 570 runs scored, 2nd in the FL. The Raccoons had 431, 9th in the CL. The Raccoons also were only a half game out of last place, which was shared by the Crusaders and Loggers.

Jerry Ackerman (8-9, 4.14 ERA) against Claudio Guerra (4-4, 6.33 ERA). Was this a chance? No. Former Raccoon Stephano Bocci scored a run in the first, but Workman homered to tie it in the fourth. That was it for the Raccoons. Guerra fanned seven, three times alone Hall, who was totally off the plate. The Raccoons lost 4-1, with Ackerman collapsing in the fifth.

Next: a 4-2 loss. Romero left with the game tied and Cunningham was blasted in the eighth. No clutch hitting, no hitting, no fielding, no nothing.

Game 3. Maurinha surrendered three and was removed for a pinch hitter with the Raccoons down 3-1, nobody out in the top 7th, and runners on the corners. Angel Costa popped out to left, and Steve Walker struck out. That left Cameron Green and he drilled it to dead center for a 3-run home run. 4-3 Raccoons, but Fletcher Kelley blew it immediately. The Raccoons lost 6-4.

The Raccoons are where they belong after TEN series losses. Back … to back … to back … to back … to back … to back … to back … to back … to back … to back …

In other news

August 4 – Johnny Brown (8-9, 3.59 ERA) nails the Wolves with a 3-hitter, as the Buffaloes win 5-0.
August 7 – Jesse Carver, who started the season at the AA level, pitches a 1-hitter for the Indians against the Titans in a 4-0 win.
August 9 – The season of Cyclones slugger Jeremiah Carrell is likely over with a strained hamstring. He hit .359 with no home runs this season.
August 10 – Indians ace Miguel Sanchez (9-11, 2.58 ERA) is out for a full year with a torn flexor tendon. Sanchez, age 31, is 74-47 lifetime.
August 16 – OCT SP Ralph Hoyles (13-7, 2.75 ERA) is out for the season with a partially torn labrum.

Complaints and stuff

I am … seriously hurting. Why won’t anything work here!? They were 10 games over .500 at one point. Now they are 15 below, and sub .450 and falling ever faster. Why!? WHY!?

Ramón Borjón will come off the DL today. Edgardo Gonzalez will follow in the next few days, and Eduardo Guerrero in a week or so after suffering a setback in his recovery from a finger injury. Mark Dawson will be able to play in a few days as well. That should at least give me a lineup without half the guys hitting sub-.200 …

We signed two players to contract extensions that would have been arbitration eligible this winter. INF Edgardo Gonzalez, who had a $99k estimate, signed a 3-yr, $294k contract, so we held him at his estimate for two more years. In addition to that, we extended with C Enrique Sanchez. The terms were two years, $550k total. This was about 15% below his estimate, so we made bargain here.

At the moment, we have a $6.1M payroll for the players. Of this, $761k will become available through free agents Johnston, Romero, and Costa. Only $229k are currently in store for changes in contracts this winter, so we have roughly half a million bucks to add a free agent this off season. Neither of the three players has contributed much this year. Romero’s ERA is quite good, but he still has managed to lose double-digit games. I don’t know. We could resign him for a year, but certainly not for the $392k he made this year. I’d shell out $150k, at most. Then again, I have trouble finding starters anyway.

We have Powell and Evans and not much beyond that. The pen is mostly set, but we really(!) need a lefty reliever in exchange for either Craig or Cooper.

Next (as if it would matter): Cyclones, Indians, Titans, Knights, Falcons, before rosters will expand. We don’t have anybody to call up anyway.

Oh, yeah. News about Carlos Gonzalez, anyone? His season is over, shoulder inflammation. 8-7. 4.05 ERA. He was our 1980 round 1 pick.

And the '81 round 1 pick? Orlando Lantán? He has been re-rated by our scouting department. Let's just say his potential projection has been cut in half.

I’ll go punch the wall now.