[Westheim]

While the Raccoons started the homestand that would make or break their season, Bobby Quinn started a rehab assignment at AAA. Also, crucial 4-game sets against the cross-border pests tend to go horribly wrong.

Raccoons (54-54) vs. Canadiens (61-45)

The offensive abysmalies continued in the opener. First inning, two on, nobody out, not score. Second inning, two on, nobody out, double play, no score. Third inning, bases loaded, nobody out, one run. They finally connected in the bottom 5th of the 1-1 game. With one out, O’Morrissey singled his way on, and Hall doubled to put two in scoring position. Osanai came through with a 2-run double, and Vinson and Martin loaded the bags for Dawson, who flew out pathetically, and the Coons left the three runners on when Gonzalez floated out to CF Colin Irwin. They left runners on the corners with one out in the eighth, and they were begging for trouble. Grant West was not available after pitching the last two days and we went to Cordero with left-hander David Brewer leading off the top 9th. Cordero sat down the Canadiens in order and closed the game for his first save of the year, 3-1 Raccoons. O’Morrissey 2-3; Osanai 2-4, 2B, 3 RBI; Martin 2-3, BB; Lopez 8.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, W (9-9);

By the way, we officially re-aligned our setup men now, with Lagarde and Burnett struggling badly. Matthews and Cordero were the new setup men.

Vinson, Johnston, and Arnold loaded the bags with three singles to start the bottom 2nd of the second game, and Gonzalez singled through SS Art Garrett to score a run, and Dennis Fried hit one deep enough for a sac fly. Just when the Coons looked like they would have Robbie Campbell for breakfast, they blew it up and were held to a 2-0 lead. At least Fried pitched a very good game. He went eight frames like Lopez the day before and overall held the 2-run lead, as the Furballs were up 4-2 when he left, and “Demon” West made a quick end to it. 4-2 Coons! Salazar 3-5, RBI; Hall 2-4, HR, 2B, RBI; Gonzalez 2-4, RBI; Fried 8.0 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 7 K, W (4-3) and 1-2, RBI;

In game 3, between Kisho Saito and Vernon Robertson there was not much room for offense. Hall singled his way on in the fourth, but when Osanai hobbled into an out, Hall was caught up in a collision on second base and left the game holding his arm. The Canadiens broke up the scoring drought with three extra base hits and two runs off Kisho Saito in the sixth. Bob Arnold had his first RBI as a Raccoon in the bottom 6th, but the team trailed and Saito left after seven innings. In Salazar and Martin, the Raccoons put the tying runs on base with nobody out in the bottom 8th. Osanai popped out, Arnold struck out, and Reece grounded out, just as it had always been. Bottom 9th, Gonzalez led off with a single against Jamel Teissier. Vinson pinch hit for Violante and doubled to the ball. Tying runs in scoring position, nobody out. Dawson pinch hit for Lagarde in the #9 hole. A home run would certainly be nice. His last few AB’s had been everything but that. Teissier’s 1-0 pitch was right into Dawson’s crosshairs though, and the resounding knock made Teissier walk straight off the mound! WALK OFF HOME RUN!!! 4-3 Coons!!! Hall 1-2; Martin 1-1, BB; Arnold 3-4, RBI; Gonzalez 2-4; Vinson (PH) 1-1, 2B; Dawson (PH) 1-1, HR, 3 RBI; Saito 7.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 K;

Now for the bad news: Daniel Hall was out with an elbow sprain and would miss at least two weeks in this highly critical part of the season. That’s certainly gonna dampen euphoria on the Willamette. How to plug that hole in the lineup? Bobby Quinn had gone 5-8 with a dinger and three driven in in his short rehab stint, and he had no complains about ongoing bodily grief. Quinn was recalled, he would take over right field, and Arnold would slot to left. Martin would supplant either one at times against right-handers.

Game 4. A sweep would cut our deficit to four games. Quinn batted third against the right-hander Kazuyoshi Kato. 3B Raúl Solís led off the game with a triple off Wade and things developed not so nice from there. Wade trailed 3-0 after two innings, before the Coons loaded the bags with one out in the bottom 3rd. Quinn forced in a run with a walk, Osanai hit a sac fly, and Vinson’s 2-run double turned the game around. Much better already! Once the Coons led 4-3, two things happened: all their offensive abilities died, but Scott Wade suddenly pitched perfect ball, not allowing a base runner through the eighth inning! Dawson hit a solo shot for an insurance run in the bottom 8th. Wade came up to bat with two down and nobody on there – stay with him? No, West would pitch the ninth. Leo Smith struck out for Wade. West retired the side in order, 5-3 Raccoons!! Arnold 2-4; Johnston 2-4; Wade 8.0 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, W (10-8) and 1-2, BB, 2B;

FOUR GAME SWEEP!!! Take that, you smelly elks from Polarstan!!

By no means did we destroy the Canadiens, though. We merely outlasted them, feasting on pitching and just squeaking by. The Indians dropped three of four to the Titans, making our position in the CL North even better. Unfortunately this also means that the Titans come in rather hot.

Raccoons (58-54) vs. Titans (51-62)

We were quite familiar with the Titans’ starter in game 1: Carlos Gonzalez, the constantly injured and erratic ex-Raccoon, who was 1-1 with a 4.32 ERA through his first four starts with Boston, walking nine batters per 9 IP. Unfortunately, the Raccoons failed to draw any reasonable number of walks from Gonzalez, who scattered seven hits but only one walk through seven frames of a 1-1 game. The Titans’ only run was unearned after an O’Morrissey error. Correa pitched quickly and effectively, but had to wait for offense to get in line for a W. Jorge Salazar led off the bottom 8th with a double, advanced on Arnold’s groundout, and finally was scored by Bobby Quinn with a single to left. Grant West retired two quickly in the ninth, but then fell to extra base hits from Salvador Vargas and Chad Fisher, which tied the game. Extra innings became excruciating with the flailing Raccoons, who left runners on base in the 10th and 11th innings. They loaded the bags with a 2-out single by Arnold and walks to Quinn and Osanai in the 12th. David Vinson got to 1-1 against Javier Ortiz – and a balk was called! Bob Arnold jugged home, and the Raccoons extended their winning streak on a walkoff balk! 3-2 Raccoons. Salazar 2-6, 2B; Arnold 2-6; Quinn 2-5, BB, 2B, RBI; Vinson 2-5; Gonzalez 2-5; Correa 8.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K; Lagarde 2.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

Fact number 1: That was probably the only way for the Raccoons to win the game; fact number 2: the first MLB game I ever watched was a Mets game that R.A. Dickey started against the Braves, and the Mets eventually lost to a walkoff balk there. And no, I haven’t been doing that baseball thing for any considerable length of time.

Offensive anemia continued for both teams in game 2, but while Antonio Lopez 1-hit the Titans through six, Chad Fisher rolled him up with a 2-run homer in the seventh. And only THEN did the Raccoons seem to remember what the game was all about: scoring some runs! Dawson homered in the bottom of the inning to cut the deficit in half, and Gonzalez was on first with two out. Salazar walked, and then Johnston hit an RBI single to tie the game. Arnold singled, loading the bags, and then Osanai hit a huge 2-run double to right, which turned out to be the winning margin in the contest. Cordero and Matthews combined for a scoreless eighth, and with West worked up from yesterday, we sent in Martinez for the ninth, and he converted with the help of a double play. 4-2 Raccoons! Johnston 3-4, 2B, RBI; Lopez 7.0 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 1 K, W (10-9);

The Raccoons have won their first seven games in August now, and eight in a row in total. Run totals for the stretch: 39-26, so only 13 above the break-even point. This is a very fragile streak, and the Coons have had to come from behind in on top of that in five of those eight games. It is also some impressive pitching. Meanwhile, the Canadiens continued to crumble and had fallen into a tie with the Indians now, with the Coons two games behind.

We got our roster straight by sending Alarico Violante to AAA for Elmer Hawley, who was used to the cross-country trip by now.

One more for a stainless 7-0 homestand now: Dennis Fried was up against Luis De Jesus, who came off the adrenalin rush of a no-hitter. Jorge Salazar set him straight with a leadoff single and the team scored him for an early 1-0 lead, that became 2-0 in the second, with Fried contributing a single. David Vinson had not homered in three weeks coming off his white-hot streak, but ended that not-too-cold streak with a 2-shot in the third, and Mark Dawson’s 3-run homer in the fourth capped a 5-run fourth that chased De Jesus. Fried pitched strong on the mound, but his shutout was eventually broken up with a Juan Valentin home run leading off the ninth inning. Carrillo relieved him to collect the final three outs. 9-1 Furballs!! Salazar 2-4, BB; Johnston 2-3, 2 2B, RBI; Quinn 1-2; Dawson 2-4, HR, 3 RBI; Fried 8.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, W (5-3);

Nine in a row!! On the downside, Glenn Johnston left the game after the fourth inning with a right hamstring, but should be okay in a few days.

Also, Matt Higgins returned from the DL on our off day following this series, and Elmer Hawley was returned to AAA without appearing in the only game he was on the roster. Also, Jason Turner was able to start a rehab assignment in St. Petersburg.

Raccoons (61-54) @ Scorpions (40-73)

We now visited the worst team in the ABL, which was putting our winning streak in grave danger to be humiliatingly destroyed. They had the worst offense in the Federal League, and the pitching staff was no beauty either.

Johnston did not start in the opener, but Quinn was back in the lineup, and Matt Higgins played second base after Antonio Gonzalez had started there for the last two weeks. Kisho Saito took the mound, looking to get off the short list of Coons starters with losing records. The Furballs helped him a great deal by crowding Israel Gomes in the third inning, forcing three walks in addition to three hits, scoring three runs. They loaded the bases with nobody out in the fifth, and Vinson flew out to right, but Arnold tagged and scored. Gomes walked Jeff Martin to reload the bags instantly, and a Texas leaguer by Mark Dawson scored another run, and Higgins scored two with a double to left, 7-0, and they made it 9-0 through six. Saito was cruising until the Scorpions suddenly whacked five hits off him in the bottom 7th, plating three, and Saito did not get out of the inning, and Lagarde allowed a fourth run on Saito and another run to score. This had collapse and shameful defeat written all over it. Up 9-5 in the bottom 9th, Carrillo got one out and put three on, the lead down to 9-6. West came in, getting a sac fly from Tommy Norton. Two down now, all’s gonna be well. And then Rodrigo Morales hit, and Jorge Gonzalez hit, and the Scorpions were back to within a run, with pinch runner Stan Bass on first base. West against Mauro Arellano, a grounder to left, Dawson JUST getting to it, and making the out at second base. Wow. 9-8 Raccoons. Quinn 2-5; Osanai 2-4, HR, 3 RBI; Vinson 1-2, 2 BB, RBI; Higgins 3-5, 2 2B, 2 RBI;

Did I throw out laurels for the pitching staff just two days ago? GIVE ‘EM BACK, RIGHT NOW!! And yes, Tetsu Osanai needed until August 10 to log ten long balls this season. Felt like May 10 in some other years.

Game 2 saw the Raccoons put their frist two men on in the top 3rd, after a Bob Arnold single and a walk to Leo Smith. Wade bunted badly and got Arnold forced at third base in what seemed like an inning killer. But the Raccoons then chained together RBI hits by Salazar, Higgins, and Quinn to score four runs, negating Wade’s awful bunt. Wade supported himself well with an RBI knock in the fourth for a 5-0 lead. While he pitched decently, his control was off in this game, though, and through three innings, he was already at 67 pitches. His next (and last) three innings were much in contrast to that, covering them in 32 pitches of perfect ball. The Raccoons offense continued to add single runs in the sixth and seventh, and then two more in the eighth. This time, the bullpen did not implode, and the Scorpions never got a hit past the third inning. 9-0 Raccoons! Salazar 2-6, 2B, 2 RBI; Higgins 2-5, RBI; Quinn 3-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Arnold 3-4, BB; Wade 6.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 3 K, W (11-8) and 1-3, RBI; Martinez 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 4 K;

Bob Arnold had the day off for game 3, giving Neil Reece a start in center. Reece had not appeared in the starting lineup in about two weeks, because a) we had not played a left-hander for a long stretch now and b) he was slumping badly.

Juan Correa struggled with control in his start in game 3 and fell 1-0 behind in the second. The Raccoons did not get a hit against 5-10 Antonio Gutierrez until the fourth, a 1-out single by Osanai. A plunk on Higgins, the single by Osanai, and a walk to Vinson loaded the bags. Glenn Johnston turned the score inside out with a 2-run double off the wall in the gap in left center, but that was not all to it. Neil Reece added an RBI single, and Ben O’Morrissey hit another 2-run double, before the inning fizzled out. An error by Bobby Quinn helped the Scorpions to two unearned runs in the bottom 4th, though, so the game was far from over, with the Coons leading 5-3 now. But Sacramento pitching was not made for these Raccoons, apparently, as they quickly filled the bags again in the fifth and scored three more runs, again two driven in by O-Mo. And the game STILL was far from safe, as Correa loaded the bags without getting an out in the fifth. After a long meeting on the mound he got through the mess with a fly ball to each outfielder and only one run scoring on a Adam Warren sac fly. Correa was also much more efficient the following inning, and was able to complete seven frames, but it was easily one of his worst starts as a Brownshirt, walking four and striking out nobody in addition to seven hits allowed. The Raccoons offense had another spark late, with a run in the eighth and three more in the ninth, including *another* 2-RBI hit by O-Mo. Lagarde and Burnett held the Scorpions short in the last innings, and the Raccoons completed back-to-back-to-back sweeps with a 12-4 smashing! Osanai 2-4 BB; Reece 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI; O’Morrissey 3-5, 2B, 6 RBI;

This was our first ever sweep over the Scorpions, but we have taken the last five series against them to turn what was a 2-10 record through the 1982 season into a much more friendly 13-14 record eight years later.

In other news

August 3 – SAC Carlos Reyes (9-10, 3.16 ERA) tosses a 1-hitter against his old team, the Wolves, as the Scorpions win in a 10-0 blowout. Sean Bergeron breaks up the no-hitter in the seventh with a double.
August 6 – OCT OF Tyler Burch (.394, 2 HR, 8 RBI in 33 AB) appeared in just his 26th major league game today, an 11-9 loss of the Thunder to the Knights. Nevertheless, Burch HIT FOR THE CYCLE, going 5-5 with a homer and four RBI’s. This is the 15th cycle in ABL history, the second for the Thunder (Jonah Frank, 1979), and the sixth cycle in the sport within two years going back to Thomas Martin’s on August 31, 1988. By the way, Jonah Frank’s cycle 11 years ago was the last instance of a player cycling at home – all other cycles since have been achieved on the road.
August 10 – TIJ CL Bob “Butcher” Haines (3-3, 1.69 ERA, 19 SV) is out for the year with shoulder inflammation after making only one appearance coming back from a rotator cuff strain.

Complaints and stuff

I’m enraged because Daniel Hall’s injury was not honored by BNN with a special news story. ENRAGED.

We have won 12 in a row now and are right in the thick of the CL North race again, which in itself is quite an achievement. Also, we have scored 30 runs in that last series, but that was against the worst team in baseball, so we will have to see what that number will be worth in the end. If nothing else, our offense jumped to 7th in runs scored in the last week. With the Rebels, Crusaders, and Loggers coming into Portland on the next homestand, we will see some better pitching in any case.

Daniel Hall will join the team about in the middle of that homestand. The interesting question is: who will be sent away? At the moment, it would have to be Reece, I think. His CF defense is enormous, but he doesn’t bring much to the plate. Steven Berry should start rehabbing at AAA in a week or so, too. By the way, Jason Turner’s first rehab start at AAA was a success, going seven innings with ease and allowing only four hits and no runs against the Gold Sox’ affiliate Chula Vista New Order.

Some weird numbers: the sweep over the Scorpions has put the Raccoons ahead of them in the all-time team record category, where the Coons are now 1,071-1,153. Our recent surge has also put us past the Crusaders and Gold Sox, and were are now in 17th position all time! If you take into account, how abysmally far behind 23rd place we were ten years ago, that has already to be counted as success. The Miners are eight games ahead of us at 1,079-1,145 and passing those would get us to the middle third of the list. Which team ranks last? Obviously, the Loggers: 955-1,269 (.429), 90.5 games behind the next-most terrible franchise, the Titans. (Yes, the CL North has four teams among the worst eight). There are two teams in a tight fight for first place at the moment, with the Indians (1,196-1,028) just trailing the Blue Sox (1,199-1,026) at the moment.

So, we merely have to make up 127.5 games on the Blue Sox to take over first place. A couple o’ those easily achieved 128-34 seasons should do.