[Westheim]

Raccoons (85-45) @ Knights (61-68)

What had become of the Knights, was anybody’s guess. There was not one answer to this. The whole team had not worked out, kinda like the 1988 Coons (those that were forcefully broken up at the deadline).

The series started with a duel of stud pitchers, as Jason Turner faced off with Carlos Asquabal, the K-ing of the Continental League for quite some time now. At age 31, he had 1,750 K’s to his name starting the opener. Both pitchers entered with 13-7 records. The Raccoons were up 1-0 in the third inning when they had Turner and Higgins on the corners with one out. With Quinn batting, we wanted Higgins to steal second base, and Turner was also strolling far from the bag. Quinn swung at the next pitch from Asquabal, slamming the ball onto the ground. Frantic scrambling between and around the bags ensued and the Knights tried to get Turner, who made for home, but made it safely – everybody was safe! Osanai and O’Morrissey then wasted two on, one out, and Vinson cost an unearned run with a passed ball in the bottom 3rd. The little things, the little things. After those early runs for a 2-1 lead, the pitchers exchanged eggs for three frames, before Turner baffled Asquabal with a double (his second H on the day) in the top 7th. With two out, Higgins doubled Turner home, and then scored himself when Bobby Quinn’s liner glanced off Eddy Bailey’s glove at short, which was scored a hit. Now they ate Asquabal up, as Osanai and O-Mo came up with RBI hits as well, and they scored four hits with two out here. The Knights got one run off Turner in the seventh, but that was it. The bullpen took over after that and shut them out. 6-2 Coons! All our starters logged at least one hit, 12 in total. O’Morrissey 2-4, 2 2B, RBI; Arnold 2-4, RBI; Turner 7.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 3 K, W (14-7) and 2-2, 2B;

Jorge Salazar has a 13-game hitting streak going.

In game 2, the Knights scored the first run in the bottom 3rd, following an errant throw on a stolen base attempt by Vinson, who was now costing more runs that he produced. The Coons tied it in the fifth (and Vinson left two on making the final out). Robert Vazquez put two in scoring position with two out in the bottom 6th. Right-hander Hubert Citti was put on intentionally and the Knights pinch hit for Jesse Carver, the pitcher, with Eugene Long, a lefty. He knocked Vazquez out with a bases-clearing double. Burnett allowed Long to score and the Raccoons were down low, blinking up to the Knights from a 5-1 deficit. Vinson was pinch hit for actually with two on and two out in the seventh, but Quinn (who had a day off) grounded out to short. Flores as Vinson’s replacement wasn’t any less awful as the first Knight up in the bottom 7th, Manuel Guzman, was punched out by Carrillo, only for Flores to drop the ball and Guzman safely making it to first. Carrillo filled the bags, but escaped. The Knights this time staved off the Coons in the last innings. 5-1 Knights. Salazar 1-2, 3 BB; Osanai 2-5; Gonzalez (PH) 1-1; Martin 0-1, 3 BB; Carrillo 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

So far we had been able to negate the Knights’ biggest threat, Michael Root, who was 1-8 in the series. Now he was to face lefty-susceptible Scott Wade in the rubber game. How dangerous was Root? He had as many home runs this year as the top 2 Coons combined: 26;

We faced Pat Cherry in the third game, who had managed to pitch to a 1.55 ERA and still post a 1-2 record in four starts. Both pitchers dueled in a scoreless affair and while Wade held Root oh-for, he eventually fell to another left-hander, catcher Jack Jackson, who hit a solo home run in the bottom 6th. Wade was pinch hit for in the seventh with two on and one out. Reyes singled for him, loading the bags, but Reece’s RBI groundout was all they managed and Wade was no-decisioned. The Knights left the bases full in the eighth against Burnett and Lagarde, and Lagarde would have gotten the game to extra innings if not for a fielding mishap by Neil Reece that put the leadoff man in the ninth, Eugene Long, on second instead of first on his single, and the Knights moved him over with outs twice, and walked off. 2-1 Knights. Quinn 2-4; Reyes (PH) 2-2; Wade 6.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K;

The walkoff killed Salazar’s hitting streak at 14 games.

The Canadiens dropped two of three in Charlotte, and the gap remains at 14 1/2 games. Magic number: 16!

Raccoons (86-47) @ Titans (66-68)

This was a 4-game series, and while the Titans had been eliminated a few days ago, they still tried to turn their first ever winning record.

In a 1-1 game in the top 2nd of the opener, Miguel Lopez came to the plate with nobody out and Arnold and Vinson on base. His bad bunt got Arnold forced at third base and it eventually cost the Raccoons a run, and they left the bases loaded after a Reece single, and the Titans took a 3-1 lead in the bottom 2nd. Lopez was not stellar at all, and did survive the fifth, settled with nine hits, two walks, and five runs. The Raccoons trailed 5-1 and at best made a pathetic attempt impression of a rally in the late innings. When they actually did get the tying run to the plate in the top 9th with two down, O’Morrissey flew out harmlessly. 6-3 Titans. Reece 4-5, 2B; Osanai 2-5, RBI; Arnold 2-4; Vinson 1-2, BB, HR, RBI; Matthews 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

(dramatic outburst) A kingdom for some offense! [a horse gallops past in the background]

Game 2 was Saito’s next start and Kisho was plunked by Bernard Lepore leading off the third inning. In a scoreless game, the Coons loaded the bags with Reece and Salazar and nobody out. They balked again at the opportunity and Quinn’s sac fly was the only run-scoring event in the inning. The punishment came instantly and poor Kisho was the one suffering again. With one out in the bottom 3rd, Osanai made an error, and with two out, Salazar couldn’t hold on to a grounder that hit off his glove. CF Gary Lang then hit a thoroughly unearned 3-run homer off Saito. The ineptitude continued at the plate as well, with Salazar being stranded after a 1-out triple in the fifth. Saito, who had to make a lot of pitches because of the team of douchebags around him in the field, surrendered one earned run over six innings, taking over 100 pitches, and was pinch hit for in the top 7th. The offense was determined to have Kisho die on the hook. Top 9th, down 4-2, Higgins grounded to first to lead off the inning. Jack Burbidge fumbled the grounder and Higgins was safe. Whether his team mates wanted it or not, the tying run came to the plate. Salazar hit a 1-out single, and Quinn had every chance to tie the game, but instead dawsoned the Raccoons out of the game with a 4-6-3 grounder. 4-2 Titans. Salazar 2-3, 2 BB, 3B; Johnston (PH) 1-1; Arnold 1-2, 2 BB, RBI; Saito 6.0 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, L (16-5);

Game 3. Turner faced Carlos Gonzalez. Yeah, that guy. The first three Coons in the game all reached base. After that, Osanai made an out, but a run scored, yet they tore down Gonzalez steadily in the inning, sending ten men to the plate and scored five runs. Jason Turner hit an RBI single before he ever took the mound, and a 5-0 lead should go a long way for win #15 for Jolly Jason. Well, for starters, it began to rain in the third inning. Gonzalez ended up breaking up an infant no-hit bid and came around to score in the bottom 3rd. Turner crumbled a bit in the middle innings, but held on (and the lead was big enough), despite being soaked wet by on-and-off rain. He went seven innings of 2-run ball and was comfortably ahead after a 2-run double by Antonio Gonzalez in the top 7th. The bullpen struggled badly in the bottom 8th, where Lagarde didn’t end the Titans’ threat until the tying run came to the plate in a 7-3 game, but Lagarde was able to add a quick 1-2-3 ninth and salvage at least one from the series. 7-3 Coons. Reece 2-5; O’Morrissey 2-5, RBI; Johnston 2-3, 2 BB; Turner 7.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, W (15-7) and 1-3, RBI;

This ended the month of August, and rosters expanded for game 4. With our AAA team in serious playoff contention, we didn’t dip in there just yet, with one exception. Daniel Hall was added back to our roster.

Hall had hit .308 with 3 HR and 9 RBI after a slow start to his rehab, and it may just be AAA, but he slugged .641 over 39 AB off pitchers about half his age after missing over three months with a concussion.

All roar “Dan The Man!!” now. I demand it!

Game 4. Hall started in left, replacing a collection of outfielders struggling to a varying degree. The Raccoons managed to kill any chance to score effectively, collecting a CS, a GIDP and several pop ups early on in addition to Quinn leaving two men on twice in the first four innings alone. Vazquez then fell to a 2-run homer by Serafim Laborinhos, who had just been called up, and who hit his maiden big league bang here. The Raccoons scored a run on a wild pitch in the fifth, before Osanai left two on. In place of Vazquez, you had to become really aggressive. He had a real chance to win 20 this year, and the team kept forking him over. Vazquez then surrendered another 2-run homer to pinch hitter Danny Nichols in the seventh and was out of the game. The team didn’t actually put some offense together until they were four behind, and with the way they were playing, it was long hopeless by then. 5-3 Titans. Salazar 2-5; Osanai 2-3, RBI;

The Canadiens sucked much less in their series down the coast in New York, winning two of three. Our lead is down to 13 games and the magic number has not moved much and is 14 now.

In other news

August 31 – MIL Judd Montgomery (13-12, 4.07 ERA) 3-hits the Indians, as the Loggers win 5-0.

Complaints and stuff

I won’t go into much detail about how infuriated I am in respect to the hitting on display this week. They could have won as much as five games with a single clutch hit here or there. Instead, they dropped five, and that’s not gonna get it done. The Canadiens are not dead yet, and the Condors will be a no-contest if the Canadiens suffocate before we do.

Bad news: AAA SP Eduardo Salazar, our top pick in the 1989 draft, is out for the season to have bone chips removed from his elbow. Meh.

That walkoff loss puts our streak of consecutive losing seasons against the Knights at five. While we have not lost more than six in any of those five years, it still stinks. We have our worst record against any CL opponent against the … right, Knights: 53-82 (.393), which includes an 0-9 season that didn’t even come pre-1983, but in 1985.

Dan The Man was 1-3 with a walk in his first game back.