[Westheim]

I boarded the plane from Boston to San Francisco grumpy. That’s actually a very kind expression. I think I barked at the stewardess. Oh well. They should try to walk in my shoes! That job description includes taking care of those imbeciles in brown uniforms, who from time to time would try to wear THEIR shoes on the wrong feet…

You should get the Kleenexes out, by the way, for this update will jerk up some tears (mostly angry ones) for sure.

Raccoons (73-74) @ Bayhawks (79-67) – September 16-18, 1994

This was a series that featured a team that was still in playoff contention. The other team were the Raccoons. Do I sound bitter?

The opener featured 12-9 Ricardo Sanchez opposing the Raccoons and our Jason Turner. The two hurlers traded goose eggs through five, before Royce Green hit a 2-run homer to get something going in the top 6th. Turner, who had aced his way through six, allowing but two hits and a single walk, came undone in the bottom 7th with two huge extra base hits plating a run for the Bayhawks (cutting into a lead that was 3-0 after an O’Morrissey homer in the top half of the inning), and then he put the leadoff man on in the bottom 8th and was removed for Burnett to take care of lefty PH Bill Dean. Burnett surrendered a vicious line drive double and the tying runs were in scoring position with no outs. We then put on Pedro Villa intentionally to give Burnett another lefty, Alfonso Marquez, who hit a sac fly out to Kinnear. Roberto Guevara grounded to Salazar, but we only got one out. This brought up slugger Jim Thompson (.278, 16 HR, 90 RBI), also a left-handed batter. Now, Burnett got him out – but before that he balked in the tying run. Tony Vela would succumb to too many doubles per inning in the bottom 10th. 4-3 Bayhawks. Reece 2-4, 2B; O’Morrissey 2-3, BB, HR, RBI; Turner 7.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3 K;

Royce Green hit his 35th home run of the season, matching the franchise record so far held by Tetsu Osanai.

Game 2. Bobby Quinn had a first inning as good as one can have, hitting a 2-out, 2-run double in the top 1st, then made two awesome catches in support of a Scott Wade, who was getting vehemently shelled from the first pitch going forward. Wade would go six with another 2-run double by Quinn taking care of a 4-2 lead for him. The bullpen immediately began to shovel a grave in the bottom 7th, but Higgins bailed out Mallandain, Matthews, and West with starting an awesome double play there. The bottom 8th then started with a throwing error by O-Mo, putting a runner on second instantly, while we had to pitch Martinez to the left-handers, since we had already run out of southpaws here. Well, we didn’t pitch anybody to Thompson, who with one out was put on intentionally with first base open. Again the inning would end with a good play by Higgins, who in this game spelled Salazar at short, by the way. Mark Allen played at second base, and after looking horrible in his first four PA’s, slapped a 2-run homer in the top 9th for some extra padding to the lead, 6-2. Daniel Miller came into the game in the bottom 9th and actually managed to pitch a 1-2-3 inning. 6-2 Coons. Higgins 2-3, 2 BB, 2B; Green 3-5, 2B; Quinn 3-4, BB, 2 2B, 4 RBI; Vinson 1-2, 3 BB;

That’s how pitchers’ lines lie. When Wade came out of this game, he listed 6.0 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 4 K to his credit. Of those eight hits, most were hit pretty damn hard, and Quinn made two outstanding plays, and Jin another one in left. He was shelled big time here and despite the decent line, it was an awful start for Wade.

Third-string catcher Bob Armstrong came down with bronchitis the next day and would be out for a few days.

We forfeited game 3 anyway by starting Gerardo Ramirez. But what should I do? Somebody’s gotta start. Ramirez was every bit as terrible as advertised by now, pitching five frames, and after a scoreless first allowed a run every inning after that, just getting whacked around. The Raccoons were far overpowered by Gary Nixon (9-7, 4.04 ERA), who was more man than our nine combined. After the fifth we brought in Ken McLannan, hoping for some decent long relief. McLannan got into trouble in his two innings of work, but never allowed a run, and then was pinch-hit for in the eighth. The previous inning, a Vern Kinnear home run had shook Nixon’s cage and cut the deficit to two runs, and when Vinson doubled his way on with one out in the eighth, you don’t want that tying run to be your pitcher. Royce Green came out to bat on his off day. Despite Green flying out, the Coons loaded the bases, and then Kinnear – struck out. And that was with the Bayhawks doing everything to throw the game away! To lead off the ninth, Lawrence Bentley surrendered a homer to Neil Reece, and then Bobby Quinn – the tying run – reached on an error. Higgins flew out, Hall walked in place of Ingall. When Vinson struck out, this brought up Matthews in the #9 hole and I went with Mark Allen to pinch-hit. Allen hit below .100 as a pinch-hitter on the year in some 30+ attempts. It couldn’t work. It didn’t work. Grounded out to third. 4-3 Bayhawks. Baldivía 2-4, BB; Kinnear 3-5, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; McLannan 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 K;

Raccoons (74-76) vs. Knights (71-78) – September 19-21, 1994

Final series against an opponent outside our division. While the Knights have been mathematically eliminated on during the weekend, the Raccoons are at least emotionally eliminated (though that magic number of the Indians on them is at 8 and shrinking rapidly)…

Plus, I was experimenting with lineups at this point, having given up on the year. Chih-tui Jin was to get a few starts in left field, which ultimately had to come off Vern Kinnear’s playing time, since I tried to run out Royce Green rather often – he was chasing after the all time record after all, although admittedly time was against him at this point, seven big ones out of the record with only two weeks to play.

Kisho Saito and Carlos Asquabal went up against each other in the opener, undoubtedly the main bout of this series. Both were left-handers with ERA’s around 3.40 and WHIP’s around 1.20 and records a bit over .500, as both had had a down year. Heck! They were born less than three weeks apart in the summer of 1960 (Saito being the junior)!!

And even then, the duel never fully took off. Both guys had a jammed first inning for an early 1-1 score, and then let the defense to the dirty work. Light drizzle began in the second, stopped in the third, started again in the fourth, and finally forced a delay as Saito ended the top 5th. Baldivía drove in a run in the bottom 5th for a 2-1 lead that would actually earn Saito a somewhat aborted win in case the pen would hold up. Tony Vela had to pitch two innings against a heavily right-handed lineup with most righties spent after the last few days, and then actually had to bat in the bottom 6th, hitting an RBI single that marked the first of four runs scored for the Coons in the inning. Vinson and Higgins added an extra run in the bottom 7th, 7-1, so I felt comfortable enough to hand the ball to Daniel Miller in the eighth. The Knights never sat a foot atop a base again. 7-1 Raccoons. Higgins 3-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Jin 2-5; Baldivía 2-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Saito 5.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, W (11-7); Vela 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K and 1-1, RBI; Miller 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

This was Kisho Saito’s 184th major league win and his first win since August 10, when he pitched seven frames of 1-run ball in Vancouver. In the meantime, he had put up these numbers: 6 GS, 0-2, 37.1 IP, 17 ER, 4.09 ERA, 8 BB, 26 K; he was not stellar, but he was not all bad. It was one of those stretches where nothing goes your way. He still surrendered three runs or more in each of his last four starts, and the Coons had lost all four of those – and three of them by a single run. Ah, poor Kisho. Dice always falling the other way.

The Knights had rested Michael Root (as the Coons had rested Royce Green) in the opener, but he was back in the middle game. He was their Green with 20 home runs, enough to rank in the top 10 in the CL. Our Green in turn erased Tetsu Osanai from the record books in Portland with a solo moon shot in the first inning that made it 1-0 Coons. That was all Gabby De La Rosa got in pitching five shutout innings, the first and last of which were very busy. The Coons left the bags full in the bottom 6th, O-Mo striking out hitting for Grant West, and remained 1-0 ahead. They were begging for it, and they got it. Ken McLannan pitched to Manuel Guzman and surrendered a single leading off the seventh, before Burnett entered the game. The Knights sent righty Rory Gorden to pinch-hit and he took Burnett deep. 2-1 for the other team in a blink. In the bottom 7th, the Raccoons AGAIN left the bases loaded. They were fine with losing it, but hadn’t seen Jorge Salazar coming, who hit a game-tying 2-out RBI single in the eighth. Jackie Lagarde pitched the ninth, put the first three men on, including two walks, before he accidentally struck out callup Connor Cooper and Ingall and Salazar turned a double play behind him. The Coons loaded the bags with one out in the bottom 9th, bringing up Ingall, who grounded to third, which forced out Reece at home. Vinson hit for Rodriguez against the right-hander, and grounded out. Extra innings. Royce Green had been to the plate five times and always had ended up in 2-strike counts in this game, and apart from that homer had made four poor outs, including two K’s. He led off the bottom 11th against Chih-tui Zhao, and drew a 4-pitch walk, then stole second base. Reece walked, before Kinnear flew out to right, holding the runners. Higgins grounded into a double play. With two outs in the bottom 12th, Allen hit for Daniel Miller and reached on a 2-base throwing error. The Knights were short on arms here and did not replace Zhao against lefty Salazar. And why should they? Salazar grounded out anyway. The Knights tore up Matthews in the top 13th, although Tony Vela – our last reliever – held the damage to one run. We had our leadoff man, Bobby Quinn, on in the bottom 13th with a walk. Green DP’ed the Knights to within one out of a win. Then Paco Valles, the new pitcher, walked Reece. And walked Kinnear. And Higgins grounded out. 3-2 Knights. Reece 4-5, 2 BB; Ingall 2-5, BB, 2B; Miller 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

20 men left on base. That’s HORRIBLY SHOCKINGLY TERRIBLY BAD even for playing 13 innings.

Meanwhile, the Loggers tied the Indians for the division lead. The division lead at this point comes at a .523 discount.

CAN’T ANYBODY HERE PLAY THIS GAME???

‘nother game. We needed a good game from Jason Turner with a decimated bullpen and at least an off day coming up. Salazar batted leadoff, hit a double off Pat Cherry (9-11, 3.59 ERA) to right, went for third, and was thrown out. I had enough about right there. The Coons were up 2-0 early with a Green homer and another run sacrificed in by Rodriguez. The Knights came back to tie that in the fifth, the latter run scoring on an error by O
Morrissey. Jason Turner for the most part was the best he was all season, going eight innings with seven punchouts and very few hiccups. It was merely enough to get in line for a W, thanks to a solo shot by Neil Reece in the sixth that made it 3-2. Lagarde had pitched two frames the day before and was bad enough on rest at this point, and with multiple left-handed batters from the second man on scheduled for the ninth inning, I went to Grant West, who had pitched a quick sixth the previous day and was well rested. He walked two guys, the tying run going to third base with two outs, but managed to survive Root and Gorden. Rory Gorden hit a huge fly ball with two out to dead deep center, but Neil Reece was up to the task. I would give the SV to Reece. 3-2 Coons. Salazar 2-4, 2B; Reece 3-4, HR, 2B, RBI; Turner 8.0 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, W (11-11) and 1-3;

Turner’s ERA of 4.45 still tells a thing or two about his season (and don’t look at his 85 walks), but he re-tied Kisho Saito for the team lead in wins here. I will chalk this one up to perseverance and biting through adversity. We could use more of these guys.

With minor league season over, we called up Pat Parker for an extra left-handed bat off the bench. The fact that he is a 2B-only greatly limits his usability for me.

Raccoons (76-77) vs. Loggers (80-72) – September 23-25, 1994

We were 8-7 in duels against the Loggers this year, so while their roster parallels the Titans’ partly in that there really is no collection of top notch players on there, we have not crapped out against them quite as hard. Somehow you are rooting for the bunch of nobodies to pull off their first division title. But you never root for a team in your division that’s not your own. So, go Coons!

Scott Wade was working to notch #10 on the year in the series opener. He had never gone a full year with less than 11 wins, and had only this and one more start to reach double digits. It was September. The weather in Portland was routinely awful, and it was again in this game, drizzling on and off in the early innings, and the moment we were through the top 5th, it opened up for good. Scott Wade was done after five, leading narrowly, 3-2, mostly on an O’Morrissey homer in the bottom 4th that broke a 1-1 tie. A win was not in the cards for Wade, though. Burnett walked the leadoff fman in the top 6th, RF Cristo Ramirez, and the Loggers brought him in. Martinez walked two in the seventh, and when Mallandain came in to face left-handers, the Loggers sent Gates Golunski to hit and he drilled a 3-run homer off Mallandain. The pain would just never end. The Raccoons managed all of five hits and to stab poor Scotty in the back. 6-3 Loggers. Higgins 2-4; O’Morrissey 2-3, HR, 2B, 3 RBI; Matthews 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Game 2 was Gerardo Ramirez’ start and by now, his ERA was going nowhere but up. The Loggers with ease put five runs on him in five innings, and the Raccoons weren’t even competing through six, being 4-hit by Tim Butler, who was 12-7 coming in. Butler then all of a sudden became unglued in the bottom 7th. 5-1 ahead, and with two out, the Coons started a rally of putting on runners, in which even reliever Daniel Miller early on participated, since I wanted him to pitch another inning. Behind Miller, in succession Higgins, Green, Reece, Parker (inserted in a double switch), and Vinson got on and scored runners, plating five at that point for a 6-5 lead, when O-Mo grounded out in a full count to end the frame. We now went to Martinez for the eighth, in which the Loggers left the tying run in Jim Stein at third base. When the Raccoons went down in silence in the bottom 8th, Lagarde had to save the game without a cushion. For once, he sat down the side in order. 6-5 Furballs. O’Morrissey 2-4, 2B; Ingall 4-4, 2B;

Sunday saw game 3. It was to be a special day. The park was cramped. It was not that Kisho Saito pitched, which was always a good customer magnet. It was the final home game of Daniel Hall’s career. He would not get a new contract, or be offered arbitration, and he had not asked for a contract, either. It was going to end.

Daniel Hall started game 3 in left field, where he had patrolled for more than a decade and where he still knew every nook and cranny. He also batted third, his spot for most of his career, ahead of Royce Green, as Neil Reece sat for the occasion.

The game appeared out of the window early, since Kisho Saito was no good that day. Bob Rush bolted a 3-run homer in the second inning, and Cristo Ramirez added a solo shot in the third for a 4-0 lead. The way things were, Saito batted in the Coons’ first run of the game in the bottom 5th. That was in the middle of a small rally. Salazar followed up with a sac fly that left Saito on first base with two down. Baldivía walked, which brought up Hall. This would have been the moment to burn your image into the memory of a whole nation (although driving in the winning run in last year’s Game 7 counts for something), launching a towering 3-run homer into the stands to give your team and your pitcher a lead. But Daniel Hall had not hit a home run all year, his power all gone. He didn’t hit one here, but singled to load the bases (and any runner but Saito would have scored on that liner to shallow left center), bringing up Royce Green. Davis Sims quickly had Green down two strikes, a common occurrence in recent weeks, but then Green made resounding contact with Sims’ 1-2 offering and sent a huge curve into deep center, where it hurled itself just over CF Jerry Fletcher's glove and fell in for a 3-run double – and THAT gave Saito the lead! The Loggers put Golunski on third base in the top 6th, but Saito punched out Rush, who had impaled him before, to end that inning, and that also ended Saito’s day. Vela started the seventh, walked the leadoff man, and in no time the tying run was at third again. Cristo Ramirez was up with two out and we brought in Ken Burnett for the occasion. Ingall made a strong play on Ramirez’ grounder, to hold on to the 5-4 lead. Hall drew a 1-out walk to join Baldivía on the bags in the bottom 7th, and while Green made an out, Quinn doubled the guys in, and was then scored by Vinson to significantly improve Kisho’s odds to win #12. And then the bullpen crapped out. Miller and Mallandain aggressively worked toward blowing things up and Lagarde was thrown into an 8-6 game with a runner on second base and only one out. He walked Bob Rush. He walked Drake Evans. He walked Jerry Fletcher. He walked to the showers. Albert Matthews walked in. He allowed Miguel Vela to single. He allowed Cristo Ramirez to single. He allowed Bob Grant to single. He allowed Jose Perez to single. He was singled out for execution. Grant West collected the final five outs in regulation. Down by four, Quinn singled to lead off the bottom 9th. Vinson walked, prompting the Loggers to go to their closer, James Jenkins. O-Mo singled to load them up. Grant West would have been the tying run, but we still had Neil Reece on the bench. Come on, Neil. You’d never hit a bigger home run in your life. Reece would not hit a home run, but hit a booming double off the wall in deep right center, which emptied the bags to make this a 12-11 game. Reece wanted to go for three, but hastily retreated into SS Jim Stein’s knee head first, and had to leave the game. The knee was fine. Parker ran for him with Higgins as the winning run at the plate – AND NO OUTS. But Higgins grounded to short and Parker had to hold, bringing up Salazar, who rocked away at Jenkins’ first pitch, a brutal liner WAY over 3B Bob Grant and into deep left field for a double that scored Parker and tied the game! Give us one more! Baldy came up. C’mon Baldy – make Coon City sleep well tonight! Baldivía singled to left, but not deep enough to enable Salazar to go home. And now the man that made his final appearance in front of the home crowd tonight came up: DAN THE MAN. A K would be very embarrassing here. Jenkins by now was pretty shaken and didn’t know how to pitch him and Hall did what he did most frequently this year: he walked. Bases loaded, one out. Royce Green. Any long ball will do. He grounded to Stein, and Stein zinged the ball home to nail Salazar. Oh no. Quinn came up. C’mon Bobby – good night’s sleep and so on. He grounded out. They left the bags loaded. We were out of arms, except for Ken McLannan, which could not conjure up euphoria into extra innings. He got through one inning, but not through the next. The Loggers scored twice in the 11th. Salazar then hit a line drive single off Roberto Flores to lead off the bottom of the inning. McLannan had been put in Baldy’s spot in a double switch, and now backup catcher Jose Rodriguez hit for him. Double play. Of course, a double play. What else but a double play. Hall came up – and struck out to end his own farewell game. 14-12 Loggers. Salazar 2-5, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Baldivía 2-4, 2 BB; Quinn 2-6, 2 RBI; Vinson 2-4, 2 BB, RBI; O’Morrissey 2-5, BB; Ingall 2-4; Reece (PH) 1-1, 2B, 3 RBI; West 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

MIL – 0 3 1 – 0 0 0 – 0 8 0 – 0 2 - - 14 17 0
POR – 0 0 0 – 0 5 0 – 3 0 4 – 0 0 - - 12 16 0

You will forever tell your children about this game and they will never believe you.

Never.

The Loggers scored eight runs in the eighth inning on four dumbtards that weren’t able to find their own arses in the dark with the benefit of two hands, a flashlight, a braille map, and verbal instructions in Simple English.

Why am I even surprised…

In other news

September 16 – DAL INF Rodrigo Morales (.339, 8 HR, 77 RBI) has two hits in a 7-1 Stars win over the Blue Sox, which gives the 28-year old a 20-game hitting streak.
September 18 – For Vancouver’s INF/RF Michael McFarland (.291, 1 HR, 74 RBI) the season is over. He strained a hamstring and will be nursing that for a month.
September 19 – Rodrigo Morales’ hitting streak ends after going 0-4 in a 4-3 win of the Stars over the Rebels. Morales had hit safely in 22 consecutive games.
September 23 – NO-HITTER!! 24-year old Pacific Angel Romero (11-12, 3.53 ERA) sparkles in a game against the Warriors, where he keeps the opposition making sorry out after sorry out. Romero surrenders only two walks and no hits en route to 1-0 win! This kid has it – he was the first overall pick in the 1988 amateur draft. Those Pacifics had some good eye there. Romero’s gem is the 17th no-hitter in ABL history, and the second in Pacifics history (Bob Haines, 1984). The Warriors have also been no-hit for the second time (NAS Ray Shaw, 1987), but have never had a no-no of their own.
September 25 – The Warriors beat the Pacifics, 6-1, to be the first team to clinch their postseason berth, their first in 16 years. Back then, they won the title.
September 25 – ATL SP Carlos Asquabal (15-10, 3.34 ERA) has his season end a start early with inflammation in his shoulder.
September 25 – NAS CL Jose Lopez (4-4, 1.39 ERA, 42 SV) will miss 10-11 months with a torn flexor tendon in his elbow.
September 25 – With two hits in the 11-inning game in Portland, MIL RF/LF Cristo Ramirez (.349, 5 HR, 61 RBI) has a 20-game hitting streak going.

Complaints and stuff

Neil Reece is out for the final week of the season with a seemingly not too bad concussion.

I am hurting, too.