[Westheim]

Can we please stop sucking? No, we still don’t have any money to trade for runs.

It’s not like we have much offense stowed away at AAA. Marvin Ingall and Pat Parker are doing well, but I can’t get them into the lineup without benching one of the players that actually achieve a little bit. Chih-tui Jin is OPS’ing .944, but he clashes with Kinnear in left, so would have to be played in right, where he’s less than effective.

Raccoons (20-18) vs. Titans (18-20) – May 16-19, 1994

In a division where everyone was just around .500 at this point, the Titans were 176-177 in runs scored/against, both just a tad more than average. For comparison, the Raccoons were 164-146, but raising mainly the latter number at this point. We were looking at struggling pitchers in the latter half of the series, but what does that even mean with our hitting drought? We have lost five of six on the homestand. We have seven left before we will be chased out of town.

Something was obviously wrong with Kisho Saito. Guys were hitting him, and hitting him hard, on the first or second pitch of about all at-bats. He was not going anywhere. An error by Kinnear then plated the first run for the Titans in the top 2nd, but Saito continued to get whacked and allowed three – unearned – runs in the inning. Next inning, he walked three guys, then came apart for four – earned – runs and was yanked. Not that that changed anything about how the Titans romped over the home team. Fans left early. 13-1 Titans. O’Morrissey 2-4; Vinson 2-3, BB;

Twice in this game, Alejandro Lopez threw out SS Daniel Silva at home plate. Didn’t help either. Our only run was unearned once again. Thus we RIGHTFULLY SO dropped out of the tie for first place with the Loggers and down to third place as the Indians tied the Loggers with a 6-2 win in New York.

Cesar Salcido was molested for four more runs, and that was enough I was wanting to see of him. He was demoted to AAA for Gabriel De La Rosa. Chih-tui Jin came up along with him. Bobby Quinn had come up with a sore shoulder, which would sit him down for up to two weeks, so he would head to the DL. Jin would start in right instantly, because who should? We needed a spark.

Game 2. Jason Turner was roughed up early for a 3-0 Titans lead through two frames. Which didn’t help us a bit, since the bullpen was aching already. With the help of an error allowing Higgins to reach leading off the bottom 4th, and a single by Baldivía we actually got the tying run up with no outs this deep in the game! The thrill! The hype! Raccoons fans were biting into their caps as Vern Kinnear came up and rolled a single to right, which was enough for Higgins to score, but Baldivía, that honk of honks, was thrown out going to third base. Jin doubled in Kinnear, but the Titans managed to end the inning 3-2 ahead when Turner struck out for the third out. Back to the Titans, they put their first four runners on. One run in, bases loaded, two outs, Julio Madrid emptied the bags with a double. Turner’s last batter was pitcher Chris O’Keefe, who led off the sixth. O’Keefe doubled, and scored against Martinez when Turner was shot and dumped over the top row of the bleachers. Vinson added a 2-run home run for the bottom line on the scoreboard, which hardly mattered. Another blowout loss. 10-4 Titans. Baldivía 3-4, 2 2B; Jin 2-4, 2B, RBI;

I need a new pitching staff, too. Suddenly we are 169-169 in runs scored/against. And that with a clearly recognizable trend.

Could Miguel Lopez stop the romping Titans in game 3? He started with a perfect first inning with two K’s. The next inning, the Titans had two runners in scoring position with no outs, scored those runners when Salazar lost a ball for an error, and the Titans ended up scoring three unearned runs. Stoppers were of a different quality for sure. Home runs by David Vinson and George Waller made it 4-1 before long, and in the fourth Chad Fisher homered, 5-1. Solo homer #4 of the day came off Mark Allen’s bat in the bottom 4th. Would the Raccoons really get to Santiago Perez (1-4, 6.44 ERA) here? Two on, two out in the bottom 5th. Kinnear came up, and Perez fell 3-1 behind against him. Not wanting to load the bases in front of Allen, who had tagged him already, Perez threw a fat pitch to Kinnear, who punished him with his eighth homer of the year, and it tied the game. Unfortunately, winning entails outscoring the opposition. The game remained tied into the ninth. Lagarde came out for us, as Silva hit a leadoff double, but Lagarde held him at third base. Chance to walk off. O-Mo singled to lead off the bottom of the inning, and never went any further. Into the 11th, West pitched a scoreless top half, before Kinnear doubled in the bottom 11th, nobody out. Allen struck out, O’Morrissey rolled out, Vinson struck out, Kinnear was left on third base. The Raccoons did then walk off in the 12th – on an error. Alejandro Lopez was on first base with one out, a pickoff throw by the catcher went into right field, moving Lopez up to second. Salazar’s groundout advanced him to third. Matt Duncan, pinch-hitting for Grant West, singled just past Waller at second base to end the game. 6-5 Coons. Salazar 2-6; Duncan (PH) 1-1, RBI; Kinnear 2-5, HR, 2B, 3 RBI; Lagarde 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K; West 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K, W (2-1);

There was rain in the forecast for game 4. With the Raccoons having won a game actually there was a high chance that it would be raining mantises or at least frogs.

No, it rained runs. For the Titans. Raimundo Beato, who was unable to throw strikes, was raked for four runs in the first inning. How much can you expect from a game that starts this way? The score became 5-0 in the third, before the Raccoons ever even landed a hit (Hall did that in the bottom 3rd, but was left on, of course). Beato was kept from surrendering more than that when his spot in the order came up in the bottom 5th with the bases full and no outs. Allen hit for him, and straight into a double play. Only one run scored. In the bottom 6th, the Raccoons swiped three bases (two by Higgins, one by Kinnear in his slipstream) – AND STILL DIDN’T SCORE. Higgins was thrown out at home on Vinson’s out to medium depth right field. The top 9th saw Miller put runners on the corners, then drill back-to-back hitters, and West giving up his runs, and overall, it was misery. 8-2 Titans. O’Morrissey 2-4, RBI; Hall 2-4; De La Rosa 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

One more series left on the home stand, but I can't. I just can't.

I just ... I just can't.

In other news

May 17 – The Loggers defeat the Canadiens, 6-1, and also defeat Salvador Mendez’ 22-game hitting streak, holding him 0-3.

Complaints and stuff

Do not expect to hear from me soon.