[Westheim]

We called up Brandon Roland as an extra bat until we could make a better choice later in the week, due to all the minor injuries to our AAA outfielders.

Raccoons (38-28) vs. Loggers (28-37)

The Loggers had dropped the last five games, but they had a very potent offense. Their problem was pitching. We started Mark Dawson in right and Cam Green at third. Either that or play Borjón, and both were under .200 and struck out a lot.

The first game was entirely hitless until Daniel Hall homered to left in the fourth, 1-0 Raccoons. That was a lone spot of offense in a pitchers duel that didn’t even have much fire. Jerry Ackerman managed one strikeout, Gary Simmons two, but they had their opponents under control, although Ackerman struggled early with four walks in the first three innings. He was dialed in by the middle innings and clicked off batter after batter, and suddenly we were in the ninth and the Raccoons were still 1-0 ahead. Out of the blue I felt a strange trust in Ackerman and let him in there – he completed a 2-hit shutout of the Loggers, taking 109 pitches! The Raccoons had only three hits themselves, only 62 batters came to the plate in the whole game.

That made for back-to-back 1-0 wins. Now it is time for some oomph, boys.

A 1-0 win was made impossible by the Loggers in the fourth, when they scored first off Chris Powell. A Green error plated another run, and the Raccoons tied it in the sixth, where Powell was also pinch hit for and ended up with a no decision. Bottom 8th, still 2-2. With two on, the Loggers elected to give Daniel Hall a walk to face Dawson with one out. Dawson popped it up and was out, which brought up Bowling. Then reliever Mike Kelly threw a wild pitch and Steve Walker scored the winning run. Bowling grounded out harmlessly. West did his job, 3-2 Raccoons. Sometimes you have to take what you can get, and Walker took it here. Workman 2-3, BB, 2B;

Green was out at third, Dawson moved there and we tried Borjón in right, after Green hadn’t been able to do anything the last few days. Also, Steve Walker didn’t seem comfortable batting first. We sent Bowling there, one of the quickest guys on the team, but with a poor .256 OBP. That probably was not the best solution, but I didn’t have a speedy guy with high OBP other than Alex White. Who was injured. Or Daniel Hall. But I cherished him as #3 hitter. Huff. Those coices.

The Raccoons put up three early, while Logan Evans pitched a solid game, allowing one run over seven innings. Up 5-1 in the eighth, Matt Workman came to the plate and faced Matthew Green, who came in to make his major league debut. Workman had a mean day and homered to right. Wally Gaston was also taken deep in the ninth (by whom else than Marvin Mills, who always seemed to hit home runs against us, kinda like Boston’s Brian Adams), but the Raccoons won and swept the series, 6-2. Workman 3-5, HR, 3 RBI;

Nine series wins! Chained up next to each other! Yay!!

Raccoons (41-28) vs. Crusaders (27-42)

The poor offense came to light again in the first game. Despite numerous chances, the Raccoons plated only one run, while the Crusaders first chewed up Shayne Nealon (once more), then the bullpen. The Raccoons were shelled 10-1, and I had really seen enough.

The same night, the Raccoons placed Shayne Nealon, their second-biggest off season acquisition, with his 5.51 ERA on irrevocable waivers and designated him for assignment.

Because we were already on it, Yoelbi Maurinha was also put on waivers and designated for assignment. He was not getting anything done and had also blown up the game in relief. SP Charles Young and MR Carlos Moran were called up from St. Petersburg, our AAA affiliate.

Somebody got the message. The Raccoons led 8-0 after four frames in game 2. They won the game, 9-0, and although it rained on and off through the contest, and he didn’t have the greatest stamina, Kinji Kan completed the distance and tossed a 7-hit shutout. Dawson 2-4, 2B, RBI; Sanchez 4-4, HR, 2B, 3 RBI; Borjón 2-4, 2B, RBI; Kan 9.0 IP, 7 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 3 K and 2-4, 2 2B, RBI; Kan tied the CL lead with the win, his 9th, and moved into the lead in ERA.

Game 3 saw Jason Short ejected early for arguing strikes, but also was a duel between Bernard Lepore and Jerry Ackerman. The latter pitched seven shutout innings with a 1-0 lead (again!), but this time was a bit less steady and took more pitches to get through the Crusaders as well. He was pinch hit for in the bottom 7th with Borjón on base. Bowling came out and homered to right – his maiden major league home run, and off a 81-game winner!! The Crusaders got one off Kelley in the eighth, but the Raccoons held on for a 3-1 win. Dawson 2-3; Sanchez 2-4, 2B; Bowling (PH) 1-1, HR, 2 RBI; Ackerman 7.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K; Grant West got his 20th save this year, five behind the CL lead.

TEN series wins in a row (and the seventh after dropping game one)!

The Miners claimed Shayne Nealon off waivers. That was not, what I had wanted when I signed him to that expensive contract, but he had absolutely nothing going wearing the brown uniform and the coonskin cap. After the draft, most teams were over or close to their budget, and couldn’t take on the remaining $300k+ of his salary (for 1983 alone), and the Miners at first were not really interested in a trade. Well, they still took him.

I said before the home stand that a 6-0 would make me happy. Well, the 5-1 still made me happy, but the one loss still was sour. A Nealon on career average form would have been able to contribute a ton to the Raccoons. It was not meant to be.

We made another roster move, sending infielder Brandon Roland back to AAA in exchange for outfielder Gary Carter, who made his major league debut this way. He could play left and right, but we’d go slowly with him. He was our 1979 round 4 pick.

Raccoons (43-29) @ Knights (34-38)

The Knights were tied for last in the CL South, but they still scared the heck out of me, since they had a potent offense. Their pitching was troubled, but the Raccoons didn’t really score a lot in June.

They put up two in the first inning and let Powell cruise with it though. Chris Powell was hunting a shutout into the ninth, but when the first two Knights got on base and the 3-4-5 guys were coming up, I pulled him for Grant West, who retired them quickly for a 3-0 Raccoons win. Walker 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Powell 8.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 5 K; Powell (5-6, 4.05 ERA) is now 2-0 with a 0.69 ERA and 0.96 WHIP in his last four starts, and 3-1 with a 2.89 ERA in his last nine starts. I don’t want to scream too early, but it looks like he is dialed in much better now.

That potent Knights offense I mentioned came to life in game 2, chucking five hits off our Logan Evans before they ever were put out somewhere. Five runs scored in the inning. Evans pitched four more frames, and Moran went from there without further damage, while offensively, they had the most terrible day ever. The left the bases loaded twice, and two on thrice, en route to 5-2 loss, and one of those runs was unearned then. Three hit batsmen by the Knights also was no sign of stellar pitching, but it was enough to overcome the Raccoons’ unclutchiness.

The rubber game was scoreless through three. Workman reached base on a throwing error by catcher Steve Wall, and Daniel Hall made him pay with a home run to left, 2-0 Raccoons. The next time Hall was up in the fifth – BAM! Another 2-run home run, 4-0. This inspired Enrique Sanchez, apparently: he hit a dinger for two as well, in the sixth, 6-0. A passed ball by Sanchez broke up the shutout in the ninth, but the Raccoons took this one with force, 8-1. Kan went seven frames. Thompson 2-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Hall 2-5, 2 HR, 4 RBI; Sanchez 2-4, BB, 2 RBI;

Kinji Kan continued to lead the majors in W’s (10) and ERA (1.94), the first tied with the Indians Billy Robinson.

ELEVEN series in a row taken now! (punches the table) Go for it, boys!!

Raccoons (45-30) @ Thunder (45-30)

This was the true test, who was for real, and who wasn’t. The Thunder led the league in scoring (the Raccoons were merely 7th) and had a comparable pitching staff.

It was bad timing, but Charles Young made his debut for the Raccoons against the Thunder in game 1. We also started with Sanchez getting rest. The fur balls had a terribly hard time hitting the ball properly against the Thunder’s starter, Hunter Frazier, who was nowhere close to strong this year. In the fourth they loaded the bags on an error and two infield hits, but only scored once before Dicks lined into a double play. Young held his ground in his debut and surrendered only a homer to Jonah Frank, leaving after six in a 1-1 tie. The Thunder walked off, 2-1, in the ninth. Taylor started the inning, but gave a singled to Guy King, before limping off the field. Wally Gaston gave a triple to Jonah Frank for a quick death here. Workman 2-4; the team had only six hits, all singles, hard to score then…

Burton Taylor had a strained hamstring and was out until mid-to-late August! And thus Yoelbi Maurinha returned quicker than anybody had anticipated… The experiment with Bowling in leadoff was also over. We tried Sanchez as leadoff batter now. He was nowhere near quick, but his OBP was .371 at the moment. Gotta feed those sluggers.

Dawson was one of them and he doubled in two (but not Sanchez) in the top 1st of game 2. The Raccoons never trailed from there, as Ackerman delivered another fine start and went seven innings of 1-run ball. Up 5-1, Wally Gaston came in the bottom 8th, and somehow the Thunder were not made for him. He got an out, but walked one, plunked one, then made a throwing error to load the bags. Cunningham got out of the jam with a double play. Kelley managed to make the 5-1 lead a safe opportunity for Grant West in the ninth. 5-2 Raccoons. Dawson 2-4, BB, 2 RBI; Walker 2-5; Ackerman 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 0 K and 2-3;

The Thunder sent six lefties against Christopher Powell in the rubber game, but he shut them down neatly in a pitchers’ duel with Ray Shaw that lasted seven frames of scoreless game. Shaw was lifted for a pinch hitter in the seventh, to no avail, and Powell started the eighth, but allowed a single and nailed a batter. Jason White came in with Gaston and Cunningham tired. He proceeded until he had enough on for a slam, then surrendered it. Raccoons lost, 4-0. They had only three hits all day.

The Raccoons had gone six weeks without losing a series, but every run ends somewhere, and it ended with the Thunder – fittingly, since the Thunder had been the first team beaten by us at the start of the streek. It ended with them.

But more important matchups were ahead.

In other news

June 16 – SFW 3B Luis Barrera (.259, 7 HR, 59 RBI) is out with a sprained finger, suffered in an on base collision in a game against the Dallas Stars.
June 18 – The 32-35 Falcons concede defeat: they trade SP Virgil Arnold (3-3, 3.02 ERA) to the Titans for Cuban reliever Ricardo Medina, who is tearing up the minor leagues.
June 19 – In only his fifth start for the Loggers, Buddy Hamilton tosses a 2-hitter against the Scorpions, 5-0.
June 20 – Vancouver’s Melvin Greene brings his hitting streak to 25 games.
June 22 – Sacramento’s Larry Marshall (.317, 3 HR, 24 RBI) is hurt yet again, landing awkwardly after making a play, he sprained his ankle. He won’t be back until after the All Star game.
June 26 – As if the Pacifics didn’t have it hard enough yet, their slugger 1B Juan Rivera is nailed in the foot by the Blue Sox’ Steve Thompson. The foot is broken, and Rivera is out with his .290, 5 HR, 34 RBI line.
June 26 – The Thunder bring the Canadiens to a screeching halt in an 8-0 mopup, including holding Melvin Greene hitless. He goes 0-5 and his streak ends at 29 games.
June 28 – Gold Sox 1B Francisco Lopez (.326, 17 HR, 62 RBI), who leads the home run races in the Federal League, is out for a week or so with back pains.
June 29 – DAL 1B Gabriel Cruz (.332, 16 HR, 67 RBI) goes down to a strained hamstring. He’ll miss four weeks. He’s second in homers in the Federal League. Talk about coincidences.

Complaints and stuff

Shayne Nealon was waived in the vain hope that some fool would take on his 4-yr, $2.575M contract. I wanted to keep Maurinha, but not on the major league roster. I succeeded a good way here, but had to take on Maurinha again, when Burton Taylor got hurt. He had done a very good job as situational lefty, and would be missed.

This marked the end of our run of consecutive series taken, but 11 is a very strong number. 11 is also an important number, since that many games remain until the All Star break. And those are incredibly important games: four in Boston, four against Indianapolis, and three against Vancouver, with four more in Indy right after the break. 15 games that will make or break our season. 46-32 is an improbably great run for the Raccoons so far. I said 90 wins was well in the reach of this team. They are playing 96-win ball so far. But those next 15 are really important.

But there is trouble. Daniel Hall is slumping a bit, dropping 30 points in average the last few weeks. Dawson has not homered in weeks. I have a strong top 6 there at the top of the lineup with Workman, Hall, Dawson as the key pieces and Sanchez, Walker around them and either Bowling or Thompson at 2B in #6. Neither Borjón nor Short are contributing an awful lot, and with the injury to White I have to piece third base together. Neither Green nor Gonzalez produce, and if we aim for a trade in July it should be an upgrade in the infield.

You see the Pacifics in last place, the Bayhawks in last place, the Scorpions 12 behind. California baseball’s seen better days.