The top 3 teams in the CL North have by now played more or less .500 ball for about a month or so. Nobody was really going anywhere. After distancing the Canadiens for another game on the weekend, we’d have the Indians in town starting Tuesday.
Jorge Salazar was cleared to come off the DL on our off day while waiting for the Indians to come to town. He rejoined the 25-man roster and Matt Duncan went to AAA ball.
Raccoons (80-44) vs. Indians (65-59)
In what was early on a comedy of errors (two by Indy, one by Coon City), the Raccoons took an early 4-0 lead after three innings in game 1. Two runs were unearned, two home runs. Reece had led off with one and O’Morrissey had gone deep in the third. Kisho Saito was breezing in rapid speed through 23 outs, before he suddenly became locked up. The Indians had five straight hits, including an inside-the-park home run, putting three runs on Saito out of the blue, making a 5-0 game awfully close. What looked like a 90-pitch shutout five minutes earlier, became an early exit. Matthews ended the inning, and West collected three outs in the ninth, but in the end, the W tasted kinda sour. 5-3 Coons. O’Morrissey 3-4, HR, 2 RBI; Saito 7.2 IP, 9 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, W (16-4);
That was really a strange game from Saito. He had a 4-hitter through seven, put two away, then ran up the five hits including the inside-the-park home run. He only struck out one. But the first 23 outs, the Indians had hardly made any hard contact against him. 12 flyball outs had been collected, but almost half of them had been pop ups on the infield. Huh. Well, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with him.
Game 2 was Jolly Jason’s start. It was a nightmare. Starting with a Gonzalez error, Turner walked the next two batters and the bases were loaded with nobody out in the whole game. 3-1 on Victor Cornett, Cornett offered and grounded into a double play, but the Indians still scored two unearned runs in the inning. The Raccoons came back with three runs in the bottom 1st, but left the bags full when Turner struck out in a full count against Jesus Lopez. Top 2nd, Turner allowed a leadoff single, threw a wild pitch, walked the next guy, and then misfielded Lopez’ bunt for a 2-base throwing error and the Indians added three unearned runs. Something definitely was amiss here. The Coons loaded the bags with nobody out in the bottom 3rd. Gustavo Flores hit a 2-run double here, which tied up the game. Now, do you let your struggling pitcher hit? We did, as we wanted another look at him in the fourth. Turner grounded out and Reece and Reyes made outs, stranding the runners. Turner walked the leadoff man in the fourth, then surrendered an RBI double. That was enough, he was gone. The runner scored against Carrillo and the Raccoons trailed 7-5. They loaded the bags in the bottom 4th, again with no outs. Arnold’s RBI groundout and Flores’ 2-out RBI single tied the game again. The Coons took an 8-7 lead in the fifth, but Ken Burnett couldn’t hold onto it. Cordero loaded the bags in the eighth and had somebody else pick up his trash. The tie held up, and in the bottom 8th, Flores singled in the go-ahead run after twice tying the game with hits. Grant West did his job again in another 1-2-3 ninth. 9-8 Raccoons in an incredibly messy game with teams totaling three errors and 15 walks. Reyes 2-5; O’Morrissey 2-4, BB, 2 2B, RBI; Osanai 2-5, RBI; Quinn 4-4, BB, 2 2B, 2 RBI; Flores 3-4, BB, 2B, 4 RBI;
Jason Turner threw 69 pitches, 33 for strikes. Of his 20 batters, 12 reached (two on errors). He surrendered seven runs (five unearned). It was not only his worst start of the year, it was the worst start of the century (and the Coons had had some…).
For better news, Daniel Hall joined our AAA team for a rehab assignment!
So, with two starters having startling outings, what could #3 do? Both defensive formations had obviously been screamed at in the morning and the game was much more tidy, and there was no scoring until David Vinson’s 2-out RBI double in the bottom 4th. Vinson scored on a Salazar single and the Coons were up 2-0 behind Robert Vazquez, who was dealing well against the Indians. Osanai doubled in another run of support in the eighth. With West having been out two games in a row and Vazquez not obviously in need of relief, he remained in there. Plus the first two guys up in the ninth were left-handers. Three soft grounders later, the game was in the books. 3-0 Coons! Reece 2-4; Osanai 2-4, 2B, RBI; Vazquez 9.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 8 K, W (17-5) and 1-3;
This is the sixth career shutout for Vazquez, and his second this year and for the Coons.
The Canadiens won two of three against the Titans, growing our lead to 14 1/2 games, and the magic number is now 22.
Raccoons (83-44) vs. Aces (60-67)
The series opened with Scott Wade facing Jou Hara, who at 10-14 and a 3.58 ERA was probably also wondering whether he could be traded somewhere where his team would score runs for him. Hara came up in the top 2nd with two down and the bases loaded, and while Wade went to 2-2 on him, Hara then singled into right. Coupled with Manuel Gomez’ subsequent 2-run single, that put Wade 3-0 down early on. The Coons made up two in the third, and Wade found Johnston on first base with one out in the fourth. His bunt was perfectly played by Hara and Johnston was forced out at second base. Reece singled up the middle and Wade went to second. Had Johnston been on second, he might have tied the game. In any case, Salazar came to bat and drilled a shot into the depths of center field for a 2-run triple, turning the game around. Jou Hara was destroyed by an RBI single by Quinn and a homer by Tetsu Osanai that made it a 7-3 game. The next inning, Wade again found Johnston on first with two out, and another Japanese pitcher on the mound in Hidekazu Oyama. This time, Wade ripped and doubled in Johnston. Up 9-3, the Coons looked to be comfortable in the eighth, but things tend to unfold sometimes. Matthews put two on, Burnett got an out, but loaded the bags. Lagarde came in and a grounder to short by Lowell Allen seemed to end the inning, but Higgins dropped Salazar’s throw. Lagarde then drilled Didier Bourges, and Scott Spivey singled – three runs in, 9-6, bases loaded. Tom Stephens, a lefty came out to pinch hit, and we brought in Grant West. Three pitches later, West was out of the inning, and went on to punch out two more in the ninth in another perfect outing. 9-6 Raccoons. Reece 3-4; Salazar 4-4, BB, 3B, 4 RBI; Osanai 3-4, HR, 3 RBI; Johnston 3-3, BB, 2B; Wade 7.0 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, W (14-7) and 1-3, 2B, RBI; West 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K, SV (40);
In his last seven outings, Grant West has collected 25 outs, while allowing only one hit and one walk. That’s almost mean. Oh, wait, he’s the “Demon”. Then it’s okay.
Bourges drilled a leadoff jack off Miguel Lopez in the middle game. The Coons had their first two men (Reece and O-Mo) in scoring position with nobody out in the bottom 1st, but managed only a Bobby Quinn sac fly to tie the game. Top 3rd, Bourges led off the inning – with another home run. 2-1 Aces, but where did that catcher’s power suddenly come from!? Wherever it came from, the Coons tied it again in the bottom of the inning before Vinson left two on. Top 5th, Bourges was the first man up once more. He hit the first pitch right back to Lopez this time and was retired. The Aces weren’t exactly crying – they chained together three straight singles to score a run, and Bobby Quinn left the game that inning with an injury. Johnston replaced him and in his first AB tied the game with an RBI single. Coming and going in this game. Lopez didn’t get a decision leaving after six, and Osanai put the Raccoons on the road to going instead of coming with an error in the seventh that led to two unearned runs eventually. But we weren’t gone yet, and instead came back in the eighth with a 2-run double by Reyes with two down, re-tying the game. Lagarde pitched two innings as we went into overtime. Osanai walked against Oyama to start the bottom 10th and we brought in Antonio Gonzalez to run for him. Vinson grounded out, but Gonzalez safely made it to second base. Salazar was next and lined through 3B Michael McFarland for a double, sending the Raccoons off walk off winners! 6-5 Coons. Reece 3-5; O’Morrissey 2-5; Osanai 2-4, BB, RBI; Salazar 2-5, 2B, RBI; Reyes 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Lagarde 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, W (8-2);
Best news on Bobby Quinn, who only suffered a mild hamstring strain and wanted to play in game 3, but we sat him still. He was due an off day anyway and we had a tough road trip coming up, too.
Game 3 was Saito against 13-11 Jose Murillo. O-Mo, subbing for Quinn in the #3 hole, showed early muscle with a 2-run homer in the bottom 1st. Saito was not on top of the world from the start this time. In a nightmarish third inning, the Aces gathered a single and two walks before Bourges (who was center of everything in this series) was hit by Saito for a run to score. Saito still got out of the mess and held a 3-1 lead through six, but the Aces hit into three hard outs in that sixth inning, and Saito needed 101 pitches to get that far. Burnett came in for the seventh and instantly set out to blow the lead. He walked Edward Carter with one out, Carter then stole second and advanced to third on Vinson’s wild throw. Allen doubled to right, and the tying run was in scoring position. Matthews surrendered two straight singles to blow Saito’s W, and the Raccoons fell behind in the eighth. Carrillo had put a runner on third with two out and with left-hander Carter up, I had thought Cordero could get an out here. Well, wrong. Also, the Raccoons whiffed themselves quickly out of the last two innings and lost, 4-3. Salazar 2-3; Osanai 2-4; Reyes (PH) 1-1;
This ends a 7-game winning streak. The Canadiens took two of three against the Knights, and that keeps the distance where it is, but drops the magic number to 19.
In other news
August 20 – MIL Judd Montgomery (12-11, 4.36 ERA) 3-hits the Crusaders in an 8-0 rout.
August 20 – ATL 3B Luis Barrera (.242, 7 HR, 52 RBI) could be out for the season with an abdominal muscle tear.
August 23 – SFB OF Dave Burton (.340, 9 HR, 74 RBI) has suffered torn ankle ligaments and will be out for the remainder of the regular season, which will deal a severe blow to the Bayhawks’ ambitions in the CL South.
August 24 – IND OF/1B R.J. Stinton (.272, 4 HR, 41 RBI) will miss up to two weeks with a sprained ankle.
Complaints and stuff
Well, I had a crap day. Spent ten hours in the Mines of Mindlessness, got soaking wet on the way home, the MLB.tv player absolutely refuses to run, and my piece of **** called laptop won’t allow me to properly type V´´azquez once again. And THEN my favorite pitchers get pointlessly clobbered. And it’s just Wednesday.
Robert Vazquez tied Woody Roberts for the CL lead in wins with 17 with his game 3 win over the Indians, his previous employers. He won 18 games in ’88 for them, then with a much better 2.11 ERA. He still didn’t win POTY that year, beaten by his team mate Jesse Carver, who won 21 games with a 2.58 ERA. Well, make of it what you want.
Grant West has his best season ever at age 34. After having his ERA rise from the high 1’s through the mid-80s (and a 1.33 mark in ’85), that mark became mid 2’s and a 3.10 the last three years. It was definitely NOT old age. His ERA and ERA+ so far would be career bests, and it has not been a shabby career with 411 SV and a 1.93 ERA.
How has Daniel Hall been doing in rehab? More so-so. He’s 3-18 with two doubles and an RBI in five games.
Random weird fact #1: what do have Kisho Saito and Robert Vazquez in common apart from being left-handed studs in the Coons rotation? Both were CL ROTY’s for division rivals of us, Saito in 1982 with Vancouver, and Vazquez in 1985 with Indy.
Random weird fact #2: the Blue Sox had the FL POTY for four straight years now – but the awards were won by four different pitchers! Chris Lacy (20-11, 2.60 ERA in 1988), Salvador Fierro (20-7, 2.25 ERA in 1989), Luis Guzman (18-10, 2.39 ERA in 1990), and Carlos Lopez (22-6, 2.99 ERA in 1991);
Random weird fact #3: in 15 ABL seasons, we have gone either 4-5 or 5-4 against the Aces 11 times. Thanks to some sub-stellar showings in the early seasons (oh wonder…) we’re 63-72 overall against them, but of the last nine seasons, four have been decided 5-4 by the Aces, four the other way, and we took an outrageous six games from them in ’87.