We had a 7-game home week against the Condors and the Crusaders in front of us. Nothing to chew down easily, those Condors. Yet, we had swept them the first time we met this season. Well, we’ll see.
Raccoons (41-33) vs. Condors (46-29) – June 28-30, 1993
First we saw Kisho Saito’s ship getting sunk quickly in the opener. Bruce Boyle hit a 3-run homer off him in the fourth inning, breaking a 1-1 tie, and Saito surrendered 10 hits and five runs total in a short five-frame outing. The Raccoons excelled in grounding into double plays (2) more than anything else and were almost out-hit by Boyle, who had four hits on the day compared to the Raccoons’ six. Juan Martinez was slapped late in the game, too, and we went down without much whimper. 7-2 Condors. Salazar 1-2, 2 BB; A. Lopez 2-3, BB, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Reece 2-3, BB; Vela 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;
O-Mo’s eighth homer of the season got the Coons and Jason Turner an early lead in the bottom 1st of the middle game, 1-0, but the Condors came back quick enough and tied it in the top 3rd. Turner lacked bite in 2-strike counts, instead walked people in inconvenient moments. Mark Allen left the bags full in the bottom 3rd with the final out registered by RF Paul Theobald on a mile-high, not-so-far fly ball. Turner was then his own offense in the bottom 4th, scoring Higgins with a 2-out RBI double for a 2-1 lead, which LF Henry Givens instantly crashed with a leadoff home run in the top 5th. The Condors started to swing earlier for Turner’s offerings, which weren’t necessarily great, and in the eighth it was Boyle again who drove in the go-ahead run with a 2-out RBI single. Turner pitched a complete game loss, 3-2 Condors. O’Morrissey 2-4, HR, RBI; Reece 3-4;
That’s the eighth loss of the year for Turner against two wins. He will probably not make it three in a row with 16-win seasons.
Game 3, no hope, and Scott Wade to try and keep the damage done limited. Wade was blown off the mound early with three runs in the first inning (including a 2-shot from Boyle). Jose Macias for the Condors didn’t fare any better, though, surrendering a 2-run home run to Reece in the first inning, and while Boyle drove in ANOTHER run in the third inning, the Coons tied the game through three, 4-4. Wade worked himself up pretty well through six innings, but was left with the no-decision, since the Coons didn’t get that go-ahead run in. Jackie Lagarde was taken deep by Jesus Jimenez in the eighth inning, absorbing the loss. The Raccoons failed to mount anything substantial past the third inning. 6-4 Condors. Reece 3-4, HR, 2B, 2 RBI;
Raccoons (41-36) vs. Crusaders (33-45) – July 1-4, 1993
Third-worst offense against worst offense. Now, that we don’t get too confident in our abilities, we have merely scored two runs more than the Crusaders.
Miguel Lopez was most electric in his start in game 1. Through five innings he mowed down Crusaders with eight K’s, and allowed one hit. Opposing pitcher Gary Nixon singled off him in the sixth, but was left on. Through six, Lopez led by all of 1-0, courtesy of an RBI double by Vinson in the fourth. The first two Crusaders got on in the seventh. With one out, Lopez struck out pinch-hitter Benjamin Butler, then survived a hard knock by Haywood Lammond, which Kinnear just barely got to and caught. Glenn Adams outrageously doubled our offensive output in the bottom 7th with a solo home run. Lopez was gassed after eight frames, not reaching double-digit strikeouts after his fiery start, but Grant West rode in and overcame an error by O’Morrissey in the ninth to end the 5-game losing streak. 2-0 Raccoons. O’Morrissey 2-3; Adams 1-1, 2 BB, HR, RBI; M. Lopez 8.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 9 K, W (11-3);
All hail Lopez! (falls to his knees and mumbles) Lopezlopezlopezlopezlopezlopezlopez……….
Neil Reece’s home run in the bottom 2nd gave “Pooky” an early 1-0 lead in the second game. Up 2-0 in the fifth, Beato was almost chopped up, when all the little things went wrong. A single, a hit batter, an error by Alejandro Lopez, and a 2-out walk to Butler brought in a run, but Beato got out with a 2-1 lead. Despite tumbling a few times along the way, Beato quietly matched Miguel Lopez’ outing the day before with striking out nine while he went seven innings only. He was pinch-hit for for offense that never came. What did he get for it? Nothing. Burnett walked two in the top 8th and Lagarde, who came in specifically to retire Diego Rodriguez, blew it by allowing an RBI double to Rodriguez. Alejandro Lopez tripled to lead off the bottom 8th and was barely brought in when Kinnear broke up the potential inning-ending double play on Higgins’ grounder. West had a shaky ninth, walking two before the suffering ended. 3-2 Raccoons. Higgins 2-4, RBI; Beato 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 9 K;
Going back ten games from here, we’re scoring a hair over two runs a game. (shakes head in disbelief)
Two more against the Crusaders, before we will head north to Vancouver into the mauling, slimy jaws of divisional annihilation, part one.
Saito started game 3 against the Crusaders. There was nothing masterful about Master Kisho at this point. The sparkle was off. After 16 scoreless innings in his first two starts, and two decent starts (read: tough ND and tougher loss), he had allowed four or more runs in all but three of his last dozen starts. Benjamin Butler drilled a home run off him in the second inning, but was then the center of negative attention in the bottom 3rd. Saito had led off that inning with a double and was on third with one out and O-Mo batting. O-Mo grounded up to Butler at first, but the Crusader was too sluggish and everybody was safe, and O-Mo credited with an RBI infield single. Through the top 7th, Saito had allowed three hits – all to Butler! Meanwhile, the Raccoons had had ten runners – and had starved nine. O-Mo singled his way on with one out in the bottom 7th, bringing up Alejandro Lopez. And then, finally, FINALLY – a home run to right center, the Raccoons were up 3-1. The Coons had three straight singles off hapless reliever John Hatt in the bottom 8th, and nobody out. Saito was pinch-hit for here with Kinnear, who struck out against the right-hander Hatt. Salazar lined out loud, bringing up O-Mo to put things right for the umpteenth time in the game. Hatt’s 2-1 pitch was contacted soundly by O-Mo and became a high fly ball to deep left. Pat Jenkins galloped after it, but it was high, deep, GONE – GRAAAAND SLAAAAMM!!! 7-1 Raccoons! O’Morrissey 5-5, HR, 2 2B, 5 RBI; Higgins 2-3, BB; Hall 2-4; Vinson 2-3, BB; Saito 8.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, W (6-7) and 1-2, 2B;
That was the first time the offense churned out more than four runs in almost two weeks.
Another one, Jason Turner for a sweep, as much hope as you could have with a 2-8 record. Two things derailed Turner and his early 3-0 lead produced by Reece and O-Mo in the first two innings: not getting the pitcher Luis Andrade out, and a bloop right onto the right field line by Pete Thompson, which together with two more hits produced two runs for the Crusaders in the top 3rd. Turner scratched and clawed to stay ahead, while the Coons twice hit into inning-ending double plays in the third and fourth innings. Both teams left them on the corners in the sixth, still 3-2 Raccoons. Something finally came together in the bottom 7th. A 1-out double put Daniel Hall on second base. The Crusaders walked Reece intentionally, but Higgins also walked, and Quinn then shoved a single into left to score Hall. They got another run on a wild pitch by Andrade, before Vinson and Allen left the plates full. This was just barely enough – Lagarde was tail-ended by the New York bats in the eighth, allowing two runs, and the Coons just barely emerged, 5-4 ahead – but West couldn’t save his third game in the series. A 1-out triple by Thompson and a subsequent double by Pat Jenkins buried West. Bobby Quinn was left on third base in the bottom half of the mess, and we went into overtime, where Tony Vela put the first two Crusaders on the corners, before fanning two and letting Hall get a lazy third out. Alejandro Lopez and Salazar made quick outs in the bottom 10th before O-Mo lobbed his way on with a soft single. Hall singled up the middle and O-Mo aggressively went to third and was safe. Neil Reece up for the win – and won it with a line drive single to right center. The sour taste remained. 6-5 Raccoons. Salazar 2-6, 2B; O’Morrissey 3-6, 2 RBI; Hall 2-5, BB, 2B; Reece 2-5, BB, 2 RBI; Quinn 2-5, 2B, RBI; Vinson 2-5, 2B;
In other news
June 29 – CHA SP Jose Galvez (6-7, 5.29 ERA) easily enjoys the finest moment of his season by 3-hitting the Crusaders in a 6-0 win for the Falcons.
July 3 – An eight-inning double in a 6-2 defeat to Denver extends SAC C Jose Gomes’ (.299, 1 HR, 34 RBI) hitting streak to 20 games.
July 4 – Season over for LAP SP Steven Berry (5-5, 4.37 ERA): the former Raccoon has suffered a torn labrum.
Complaints and stuff
You will have a hard time finding a less offensive team in the league. All players are very polite and all ethnicities are proportionally represented.
Yeah, that was as bad a pun as I will make. I’m very sorry for being myself.
We are almost scoring a full run less per game than last season and that is the root of most issues around here. Kinnear and Hall are not at all performing like last year. Reece does a bit less than last year, but it’s not critically bad with him. 1993 Osanai/Adams are even worse than 1992 Osanai. Allen has been disappointing.
David Vinson signed his 4-yr, $1.65M extension after the final game against New York. Primary catcher is thus locked up for the foreseeable future.
Next: Northwest Knockouts in Vancouver. Uah.