[Westheim]

I'm not feeling like importing the league to OOTP14 at all. I don't want to break consistencies ... if you know what I mean. We're in a nice groove here. It should best stay that way.

My attempts at OOTP14-started dynasties have all ... been more ... semi-successful ... if you know what I mean. Err...

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Raccoons (11-8) vs. Knights (10-8)

The Knights were on a roll after sitting in last place of the CL South a week ago. Their offense had come to live, and their rotation had a 2.90 ERA. They were on a 7-game winning streak, and the Raccoons had their work cut out as they were going to face Asquabal, Harrington, and Ryan. Uh, that’s going to get tense.

And that stomping rhino of a team was faced merely by Steven Berry. It didn’t go too well here in game 1. Carlos Asquabal not only pitched well, and had his first hit of the season, too, a 2-out, 2-run double in the second inning. To be fair, Berry also started the scoring for his own team, a bloop RBI single in the fifth, and held the Knights at two runs so far. The Coons loaded the bags in the bottom 5th, but Quinn struck out to end the inning. Berry allowed only two hits through six, but then put a runner on second in the seventh. With bad control quickly shooting up his pitch count, he was removed, but Cordero allowed the run to score nevertheless. The Coons were unable to mount anything worth mentioning, and although the Knights were held to four hits opposed to the Raccoons’ six, they prevailed. 3-1 Knights. Reece 2-4; Martinez 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Weird stats: Reece’s two hits both were infield singles. Matt Higgins reached twice on errors. Neither ever scored.

Kisho Saito started with two walks to the first three men up in game 2, but escaped the inning with the help of a double play. The Raccoons managed to score twice on Jim Harrington in the fourth, both times RBI groundouts and no actual clutch hits. A 2-out triple by slow-footed catcher Joreao Paulos halved that lead pretty soon in the fifth. Saito was then hit by a Harrington pitch in the bottom 5th, but stayed in the game. He was starved along with Matt Higgins in scoring position when Quinn flew out to left to end the inning. Again no clutch hit. Another triple, this time by Luis Barrera, cost Saito the lead in the sixth, when Michael Root scored Barrera with a groundout. Top 9th: Saito still in there in the 2-2 game, Root led off with a single and advanced when Paul Connolly grounded out. Saito was still in there and struck out Manuel Guzman. Eddy Bailey came up. Protected by Shoichi Fujino, Saito pitched to the right-hander, who took Saito’s first pitch out to center, but Reece caught it. Bottom 9th, c’mon boys, walk off for Kisho! Nope, wasn’t in the books. The Raccoons went down 1-2-3 and into extra innings. Top 10th, Matthews walked Fujino, and Paulos singled to right, and Johnston’s throw to third base was slightly (read: wildly) errant. And that was only the first error in the inning. Let’s make this short, the Knights won in ten, 5-3. Higgins 2-5, 2B; Quinn 2-5, 2B; Salazar 2-4, HR, 2B, RBI; Saito 9.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 5 K;

Daniel Hall came off the DL for game 3, and Jeff Martin packed up and went back to Florida.

Jason Turner and Glenn Ryan continued the good pitching, so-so offense series. Ryan carried a no-hitter into the fifth until Daniel Hall legged out an infield single. “Double Play” Dawson came up and – well. Bottom 7th, Johnston and Osanai on base, two down, Dan The Man came up again. 2-2, Hall grounded to left, and it went JUST between Connolly and Barrera for a single. Johnston went around third at such speed, the sonic boom nauseated the Knights so the throw was late and Johnston was safe with the first run of the game. Dawson had two in scoring position and flew out lazily. One out in the eighth, Dawson threw away Guzman’s grounder, putting the tying run into scoring position, and Root and Barrera came up. With no trust whatsoever in our left-handed relievers, there was a huge conference on the mound. Turner would have to get Root, no matter what. Root was not really into this season yet, batting merely .237, but as things tended to go for the Coons… Turner got to 0-2, but Root grounded to Higgins instead of K’ing, and Guzman went to third. Barrera was up and lined out to center, and Johnston got it! Phew!! The Coons then got their first two men into scoring position in the eighth, before leaving them there. Now, the score was 1-0, and West was ready, but Turner looked so dialed in, and was to face right-handers. Maybe he …? He got two quick outs, but when Anthony Hopper singled his way on, it was go time, and West entered to face Jack Jackson, but Jim Wood came out to pinch-hit, batting more than twice that of Jackson. West struck him out nevertheless. 1-0 Raccoons. Hall 2-3, RBI; Turner 8.2 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 5 K, W (2-2);

Mark Dawson in ’91: 7 H, 4 GIDP; Each of his hits (assuming his salary to be paid from April 1 to September 30) has clocked in at $16,861. For comparison, Matt Higgins: $451;

Now at 12-10, there are three teams breathing down our neck in the division, all within 1.5 games, including those Canadicans.

Raccoons (12-10) vs. Crusaders (8-13)

The Crusaders were not among those, as they were battling the Titans for possession of fifth place. They had not much to offer offensively so far, and their rotation also ranked close to the tail end in the Continental League. This weekend series would wrap up our home stand.

Robert Vázquez fell 1-0 behind in the series opener on a Benjamin Butler home run. Vinson led off the bottom 2nd with a double and scored on a Jorge Salazar grounder that went right through Douglas Donaldson at third base. With one out, Vázquez sac fly was not played well at all by the defense at both Vázquez and Salazar were safe, but nothing came about in the inning beyond that. Daniel Hall hit his first home run of the year to lead off the bottom 3rd. Bases loaded, one out in the third, Bob Arnold fouled out in the #8 hole. Vázquez came up – DOUBLE INTO RIGHT!! Two runs scored, and Vázquez was half the way to a cycle here. But in contrast, his mound work suffered. The Crusaders left three in scoring position between the fourth and fifth, but in the sixth, Horace Simpson hit a huge 3-run homer to tie the game. Vázquez exited the first start for the Coons he wouldn’t win in a 4-4 tie through six. In the bottom 7th, Hall, Osanai, and O’Morrissey loaded the bags with nobody out against starter Gary Nixon. Vinson came up and Nixon still remained in there. He never threw a strike in the at-bat, and Vinson walked, forcing in the go-ahead run. Of course, somewhere, somebody managed to hit into a double play, and it was Salazar, a liner to SS Manuel Flores, who caught O-Mo snoozing far off the bag. Arnold singled in Osanai, 6-4. Matthews and West did their job from there. Lagarde got the W. 6-4 Raccoons. Hall 2-3, HR, 2B, RBI; Osanai 2-4, BB; O’Morrissey 2-4; Salazar 2-4, RBI; Arnold 2-4, RBI;

Matt Higgins was struggling all of a sudden and paused in the middle game after plunging his average big time the last week. Gonzalez played at second base.

The Crusaders took a quick 2-0 lead in the middle game when Scott Wade surrendered back-to-back home runs to Douglas Donaldson and Sean Bergeron, but hope didn’t have to be abandoned just yet, as Bobby Quinn bombed one as well in the bottom 1st, and his counted for three, collecting Salazar and Hall on the bases. The Raccoons made it 5-2 in the second, but for the struggling Wade that was not enough to feel comfortable, and he crumbled. Up 5-3 in the top 5th, with two down, Hall brought in a single by Bergeron, but threw wide of home, and they didn’t get Donaldson at the plate, and the tying run in Bergeron went to second base. Martin Limón up, a left-hander. Mound conference. Limón grounded to the mound and Wade got the out at first base. Inning over. Wade got through the sixth after all. Breating space was provided by Quinn with another dinger in the seventh, making it 7-4. Beyond that, the back end of the pen took care. Carrillo had pitched the seventh, but put the leadoff man on in the eighth, but Cordero got through the left-handers, and West pitched a 1-2-3 ninth. 7-4 Furballs. Salazar 2-5; Johnston 2-5, 2B; Hall 2-5, 2B, RBI; Osanai 2-4, RBI; Quinn 2-4, 2 HR, 5 RBI;

That was the first W for Wade this year. Now, next get that ERA below five, that would be great.

One more game, and maybe Berry could stop blowing things up and give us our first sweep of the season? With the Coons going out to Milwaukee after this series, we could use some breathing space.

Berry faced Raimundo Beato, which was never a good proposition. A Hall double and Osanai homer at least got him a first inning lead, 2-0. That lead was in danger instantly. The Crusaders had two in scoring position in the top 2nd with one out, but then Butler grounded to the feet of Berry, who got the out at first and the runners held. Simpson, who had hurt us already in this series, was put on intentionally to get to Beato, whom Berry punched out forcefully. Now, Berry didn’t have his most vicious stuff in this game, and struck out four only this time around, but ironically it was his best start of the season, since he was locating and mixing his pitches so much better. After that rocky second inning, he breezed through eight innings of shutout ball. Martinez completed the shutout and series sweep. 4-0 Raccoons! Hall 2-3, 2B; Osanai 1-3, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Berry 8.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 4 K, W (2-2);

In other news

April 24 – NAS CF Stan Williams (.339, 1 HR, 14 RBI) will miss about six weeks after suffering a fractured thumb.

Complaints and stuff

We have conceded 82 runs through 25 games – obviously a great mark, which leads the CL. Our offense has scored 108 times, which ranks 7th. Now, Hall and Quinn have come back strong from early injuries and are hitting .300+ now. With them in the lineup, and our other outfielders also producing nicely, maybe we will raise that R/G mark (4.3) a bit from here on. Mark Dawson then again … wow … just wow … he also has three errors at third base already. O-Mo is making more starts now.

Daniel Hall now has five consecutive multi-hit games (including the last game before he hit the disabled list).

Scott Wade has not found his mojo yet, that much is clear. However, one difference to the last years is a significantly higher BABIP, so it’s not just him, it’s … baseball.