[Westheim]

Raccoons (47-41) vs. Canadiens (52-35) – July 15-18, 1993

Northwestern Knockouts, Part Deux. Somehow I had a feeling who’d be knocked out.

Bobby Quinn would miss this series with his thumb issue and we would play a man short.

Kisho Saito’s inability to remove batters in 2-strike counts didn’t get any better with the season on the line. CF Ronald Moore crushed a home run off him in the second inning before things became really nasty in the sixth, where the Canadiens had several extra base hits, hit in 2-strike counts. Saito was saddled with four runs in his six innings, further raising his ERA, while the Raccoons were wholly and completely overwhelmed by the pitching death star that was Arnold McCray, who did yield very little in the first eight frames: four hits, one run, and there the Raccoons got help from Michael McFarland misplaying a fly ball in right field. Lopez and Reece led off the bottom 9th, 5-1 down, with singles that knocked McCray off the mound. Julián Gonzales came in and walked Higgins. Bases loaded, no outs, tying run coming up in Vern Kinnear. Gonzales partially emptied the bases with a wild pitch, then loaded them again, walking Higgins. Glenn Adams struck out, but Vinson lined into shallow left for an RBI single. 5-3, bases loaded, one out. Moreno pinch-hit for Juan Martinez and popped out. Salazar grounded out to Gonzales. 5-3 Canadiens. A. Lopez 3-4;

Higgins’ speed and his 23rd stolen bag of the year, coupled with an error by McFarland, gave the Raccoons an unearned 1-0 lead in the first inning of game 2, where Turner matched up with Vernon Robertson. The lead – as unearned as it was – didn’t last long, as the Canadiens came back to tie it in the second inning, and Turner threw a wild pitch for the go-ahead run. Bottom 4th, Adams on second base, one out, Hall came up. He had yet to drive in a run in July, and lined into deep left – and Kevin Gilmore caught the hissing bitch. Adams was left on third base in the inning, and the Raccoons only tied the game in the fifth with a leadoff homer by backup catcher Rodriguez. Turner pitched into the seventh, when he was removed in the tied game with two out, a runner on third base, and left-hander “Itchy” Ishizaki pinch-hitting for Robertson. Burnett struck out “Itchy”, and would turn up as the most tragic figure on a roster full of them. He was left in to collect the final out in the Raccoons’ seventh, but instead walked against Munemori Suzuki. O’Morrissey singled to right, and Higgins walked to load the bases, before Lopez popped out to waste another chance. Burnett faced Raúl Solís to start the eighth, and failed to keep him off the bases, as Solís laid down a bunt and beat out the play at first. Lagarde replaced Burnett, walked McFarland, then walked David Brewer with one out, and finally drilled and injured Ronald Moore, pushing in the go-ahead run for the Canadiens. Daniel Miller and Neil Reece, who threw out Brewer at the plate on the next play, held the damage to two runs total. The Canadiens then suffered their own bullpen explosion in the bottom 8th, as Suzuki put on two for Daniel Hall, who popped up a 3-1 pitch for the first out. Salazar walked, and Rodriguez hit an RBI single to right. Kinnear pinch-hit for Miller, prompting the Canadiens to bring their own Alejandro Lopez, a left-handed reliever, who still surrendered a 2-0, 1-out, 2-run single. Higgins scored Rodriguez, giving Grant West a 2-run lead in the top 9th. West walked the leadoff man and threw not one, but TWO wild pitches in the inning, before Neil Reece made a fantastic grab for the final out with the tying run on second base. 6-5 Raccoons. O’Morrissey 2-5; Reece 2-4; Rodriguez 2-3, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Kinnear (PH) 1-1, 2 RBI; Turner 6.2 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 3 K;

Lagarde was shot and buried on the center field side of the mound. He’s not getting anything done at this point, which is true for about three quarters of the roster.

Manny Ramos was the weakest link in the Canadiens’ rotation, while Scott Wade’s ERA was still highest for the Furballs, although Saito was catching up incredibly fast. The Canadiens struck first with an Edgardo Ramos home run, but Matt Higgins matched that, both in the second inning. The Coons even took a 2-1 lead and were up 3-1 with the bases loaded and one out in the bottom 3rd. The strugglers Kinnear and Allen came up and reliably ended the inning, although Kinnear at least managed a sac fly. Allen struck out. Manny Ramos was knocked out in the fourth after a 2-run single by Higgins, and the Coons were up 6-2, with Higgins a triple away from a cycle. The Canadiens however were by no means defeated. Solís cut the deficit back to two with a 2-run shot off Wade in the fifth and Alejandro Lopez had to throw out Brewer at home to end the inning. But while Wade was not stellar, the Canadiens’ bullpen, which was not top level to begin with, came completely apart in the bottom 6th, where the Raccoons extended their lead to 11-4. Wade went into the eighth in a not quite great outing, but he survived the Canadiens in one piece. 11-4 Raccoons. Salazar 2-5, BB, RBI; O’Morrissey 3-6, 2 RBI; Higgins 3-5, HR, 2B, 3 RBI; Hall (PH) 1-1, 2B;

The Canadiens had a runner thrown out at home for the third time in the series in the second inning of the final game. Too bad that by then they were already up 3-0 on Miguel Lopez due to a Javier Salcido home run and then two unearned runs following a Mark Allen error. Daniel Hall retrieved two runs with his first RBI hit since June 30 in the bottom of the inning, a 2-run home run against Ruben Prado. Salcido homered again in the top 3rd, but the Raccoons swung the game around in the bottom 3rd with a 2-out, bases-clearing double by David Vinson, who subsequently scored on a Kinnear single. Prado was knocked out. The next three innings remarkably remained scoreless, culminating in Allen getting thrown out at home to end the bottom 6th to keep the score at 6-4. Like Wade the day before, Lopez ended up going 7.1 innings before yielding for the bullpen to match a batter, in this case righty Salcido, who had tattooed Lopez twice already. It took three relievers (Martinez, Proctor, Miller) to get out of the inning, but the Canadiens were held away. Hall had batted in an extra run in the seventh, and everybody was cautious about seeing a shaky Grant West in a Canadiens game at this point. Kinnear and Allen hit doubles leading off the bottom 8th, keeping West in the pen. Miller finished the game, as the Raccoons added three in the bottom 8th, 10-4 Raccoons!! O’Morrissey 2-5, 2B, RBI; Reece 2-4, BB; Hall 2-3, BB, HR, 2B, 3 RBI; Kinnear 2-4, 2B, RBI; Allen 3-4, 2B, RBI; Lopez 7.1 IP, 8 H, 4 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, W (12-4); Miller 1.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, SV (1) and 1-1;

The Canadiens’ bullpen and defense cost them here, and overall we have tied the four-and-four Knockouts against them, deferring a decision on the division until later in the season. The defense was especially bad: McFarland alone made four errors in the series.

Raccoons (50-42) @ Indians (42-51) – July 19-21, 1993

A notch below the Raccoons in both offense and defense, the Indians were mightily struggling. Heck, any time a team trails the Loggers by any amount of games they can be considered to be really struggling.

They had Alonso Santana start game 1, a young lefty who had lost his first two games this year, but only with a 4.32 ERA. His control was his main problem, not enough nasty on his breaking stuff his second problem. The Raccoons seared him in the first inning: six runs, while O’Morrissey made two outs. Mark Allen hit his first home run in three months in the fifth inning, making it 7-0. He seemed to enjoy the experience, since he made it back-to-back PA’s with dingers by hitting another one in the seventh, 8-0. “Pooky” was not stellar, but got the outs that counted big, twice from 1B Vincente Rodriguez with two on and two out in the first four innings. He was much more efficient after that, but when he walked the leadoff man in the ninth, he was removed after reaching 110 pitches. Burnett pitched the final inning, while Quinn threw out a runner at home to end the game. 9-0 Raccoons! Salazar 2-4, BB, 2B; Reece 2-5, HR, RBI; Allen 3-5, 2 HR, 4 RBI; Adams 2-5, 2B, 3 RBI; Beato 8.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 4 K, W (7-5) and 1-4;

That makes for 30 runs in the last three games. Whoa, guys, slow it down, I’m getting dizzy!

Unfortunately, Bobby Quinn got hurt again in his first game back from a thumb contusion, when he made the final out at home in the bottom 9th. He had a mild calf strain and would be DTD for a few days. Geez, he’s getting more bitchy about such tiny scratches than Daniel Hall has ever been!

So, Quinn was on the shelf again as game 2 approached. Higgins got a start at short in place of Salazar as we faced consecutive left-handers here, in this case a 7-5 Arthur Young with a 3.98 ERA. Young had been nasty to the Coons a few times the last few years. Kisho Saito tried to stave off his 10th loss of the year. He failed. He allowed two runs through six innings, before being pinch-hit for, on a 2-out, 2-run double by Tomas Gonzales in the fourth inning. That was about it. The Indians’ Young in turn, dominated the Raccoons spectacularly. They were hitless as Saito left the game, but a combo of a few walks, a hit batter (Hall), and two Indians errors gave Young a well advanced pitch count through seven. The Raccoons’ pen stumbled through the seventh, before sending Young back out for the top 8th. They had six outs to land a hit. Higgins tried to bunt his way on, but was thrown out by Young. O-Mo made the next out, before Alejandro Lopez hurled a fly ball to the gap in right – the Indians didn’t get that one, Lopez ended up with a 2-out triple, and Young was removed from the game. But Reece left Lopez at third base, just like the Raccoons left Hall on third base in the ninth. 2-0 Indians.

Guys, when I said I was dizzy … ah, never mind… (resigns himself to weeping in a corner of the clubhouse)

Larry Davis (4-10, 4.78 ERA) and his 1.58 WHIP looked rather beatable in game 3. Jason Turner (2-9) could have used some love, too. But the Raccoons could only scrape out runners until they had a pair of them, and then stopped loving Turner. When the starters were both out of the game in the seventh, the Indians led 4-3. The Raccoons left Higgins on third base in the eighth, not the first time they left the tying run(s) on in the game. Martinez was cracked up in the bottom 8th to make for a perfect mess. 6-3 Indians. A. Lopez 2-5, 2B; Higgins 2-4;

In other news

July 16 – The Rebels beat the Capitals 3-1, getting back to 6 1/2 games out in the FL East, and also kill Jeffery Brown’s 24-game hitting streak.

Complaints and stuff

Just everything about this team makes you want to cry really hard. I will only give one line of stats this time, Jason Turner’s last 16 starts:

0-9, 100.0 IP, 3.51 ERA, 1.25 WHIP

HE IS FRICKING OH FOR NINE.

(shakes his head in disbelief)