[Westheim]

Raccoons (57-34) vs. Titans (42-52) – July 16-18, 1996

The Titans came into this series ranking bottom half in most of the important categories, and 8th in runs scored and 7th in runs allowed. They had OF Claudio Garcia on the DL, but he was not regularly starting games for them anyway. Both teams came in having taken their last three games from the opposition. We are 7-2 against them this season.

Projected matchups:
Kisho Saito (10-6, 4.30 ERA) vs. Jason O’Halloran (7-9, 5.07 ERA)
Jason Turner (6-5, 3.44 ERA) vs. Doug Morrow (8-9, 2.81 ERA)
Scott Wade (7-6, 4.13 ERA) vs. Jesus Bautista (5-9, 3.85 ERA)

Game 1
BOS: SS Silva – LF Quinn – CF J. Martinez – C L. Lopez – 1B Burbidge – 3B J. Ramirez – RF Espinosa – 2B Elliott – P O’Halloran
POR: 2B Brewer – 3B O’Morrissey – RF Green – 1B Wedemeyer – C Vinson – LF Kinnear – SS Ingall – CF Newton – P Saito

Saito Demolition Weeks continued. The Raccoons took a 2-0 lead in the bottom 2nd, including a solo home run by Marvin Ingall, before the Titans started to hit in the top 3rd. Bobby Quinn drove in the first run with a 2-out single, and Saito became more unglued in the fourth. With two on and one out, he plunked Manny Espinosa (his second HBP this game), then walked Elliott to tie the game. He got out thanks to pop outs by O’Halloran and Silva, but was wildly adrift in the game. Still, the Titans failed to knock him over because of the small things they didn’t get done, like O’Halloran just failing to get down a bunt in the sixth. That cost the Titans’ Espinosa a base when O’Halloran finally struck out on a foul bunt, and the Titans didn’t score. Bottom 6th, O-Mo and Green drew walks to start the frame, but Wedemeyer struck out and Vinson double-played us back to the bench. Saito finished his day with a strong seventh, punching out Burbidge in the end, but would not get into position for a win with an Ingall double play killing off our bottom 7th. The game remained tied, and tense. A Wedemeyer error and Miller following that with a walk created a tight spot in the eighth, but Burnett got out of that. Green left Brewer on third base in the bottom 8th, but the Coons pen held up. Bottom 9th, Wedemeyer led off with a walk. He stole second base right away. Vinson flew out, and Kinnear was walked intentionally by Javier Navarro, and when Ingall and Newton flew out to right, we went into overtime. Mallandain, the sucker, was scored on in the top 10th, and the Raccoons failed to come back. 3-2 Titans. Saito 7.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 6 K;

Six hits for the Raccoons, not including any RISP hits.

Game 2
BOS: SS Silva – 1B Quinn – LF J. Martinez – C L. Lopez – 3B Burbidge – RF Thomas – CF Espinosa – 2B Elliott – P Morrow
POR: 2B Brewer – LF Kinnear – CF Green – 1B Wedemeyer – 3B O’Morrissey – RF Strong – C Vinson – SS Higgins – P Turner

Jason Turner surrendered single runs in both of the first two innings in the middle game, before settling in and clicking off the Titans from there. Unfortunately, Doug Morrow was stellar from pitch one. We didn’t get a runner in scoring position until the seventh, when O-Mo first hit an infield single with two down already, which Morrow didn’t get to after slipping on the grass which was soaked by a steady drizzle, and then Strong singled through on the right side. O-Mo went to third. Strikeout machine Vinson was up next, but was pinch-hit for with Ingall instead. Ingall singled into shallow right. A 24-minute delay was called then, but Morrow re-entered the game facing Higgins, who popped out. Otero replaced Turner in the eighth, and never retired a batter, also owing to a Higgins error, but Luis Lopez’ 3-run homer put the game away. Or did it? Morrow did not come back for the eighth, and the bottom fell out of the Titans pen in time. On their third guy of the inning, the Titans were only up 5-3 anymore, and the bags were full with two out, as Ingall faced Pedro Cruz. But Ingall grounded out. Bottom 9th: Higgins led off with a single, but was forced on Kondo’s grounder, who was forced on Brewer’s grounder. Kinnear grounded to Silva for the – first Titans error of the game. That brought up Royce Green representing the winning run. Punish them!! He grounded to Silva for the … final out of the game. 5-3 Titans. Brewer 2-5, 2B; Martin (PH) 1-1; O’Morrissey 2-4, RBI; Higgins 2-4; Turner 7.0 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, L (6-6);

Yeah, the offense is dead. We don’t score enough runs to outpace spotty, but mostly merely average pitching anymore. We’re going down hard.

For game 3, with Scott “Groundball” Wade pitching, I optimized infield defense. Not that Liam Wedemeyer was mounting up much outside of strikeouts.

Game 3
BOS: SS Silva – 1B Quinn – LF J. Martinez – C L. Lopez – 3B Burbidge – RF Thomas – CF Espinosa – 2B Elliott – P Bautista
POR: 2B Brewer – LF Kinnear – 3B O’Morrissey – CF Green – RF Strong – 1B Higgins – C Vinson – SS Guerin – P Wade

“Groundball” fell 1-0 behind in the first with a Bobby Quinn homer. Okay, Wade’s actual nickname was “Gobbler”. Not that that helped any, either. The Coons tied the game on a groundout in the bottom 2nd. In the bottom 4th, Higgins got on with one out. He stole second base off Bautista, only his ninth of the year. Vinson struck out, but Guerin singled to center, but not in a way that allowed Higgins to score. Scott Wade came to bat, with an ugly .089 mark in his ledger for the year. Down 0-2, he singled through on the right side, untying the game, 2-1. Brewer and Kinnear added two more singles, and Wade was up 4-1 after his clutch hit. Singles had their way with the opposing pitcher for once, as Bautista gave up *16* hits in 6.1 innings, all but one being singles. The Raccoons added a run in the sixth, and came down on the Titans in the seventh, where Wade batted in his second run of the day. But with the bags full in that seventh, O-Mo grounded into an inning-ending double play. Scott Wade’s day ended almost as it had started: Bobby Quinn took him deep in the ninth. Burnett collected the last two outs. 7-2 Raccoons. Brewer 3-5, 2 RBI; Kinnear 2-4, BB, RBI; O’Morrissey 2-5, RBI; Green 2-5; Strong 2-5, 3B; Higgins 2-5, RBI; Wade 8.1 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, W (8-6) and 2-4, 2 RBI;

Okay, we got three consecutive 2-out RISP RBI singles in this game, and one more in the sixth. I will shut up now.

Why exactly did I let Bobby Quinn go? He was 6-14 with two dingers, a triple, and 3 RBI in the series. The Titans have him on the trading block regardless.

David Brewer ramped up a hitting streak to 12 games here.

Raccoons (58-36) vs. Falcons (51-43) – July 19-21, 1996

The Falcons had scored 367 runs and had allowed 342 runs so far this year. Either mark led the Continental League on the dead ball era end of the scale. Scoring could become a pain for us in this series.

Projected matchups:
Antonio Donis (9-3, 2.79 ERA) vs. Alejandro Venegas (8-7, 4.11 ERA)
Jose Rivera (8-0, 2.49 ERA) vs. Kent Cahill (3-1, 4.23 ERA)
Kisho Saito (10-6, 4.20 ERA) vs. Carlos Castro (10-6, 2.89 ERA)

We had another off day after this series, but a grueling 3-week stretch with 20 straight games, the last two weeks on the road, is coming up next. So, no regulars were rested for rest’s sake in this series against left-handers (cough, Brewer, cough).

Game 1
CHA: LF P. Flores – SS M. Hall – 1B H. Green – CF Dunphy – 3B J. Jackson – C Lozano – 2B Kent – RF Velez – P Venegas
POR: 2B Brewer – 3B O’Morrissey – RF R. Green – LF Kinnear – C Vinson – 1B Ingall – CF Newton – SS Guerin – P Donis

We knew Venegas, a former Furball, and that he had been hardly unbeatable even years and years ago, but the fact that Donis was rocked hard in the first inning, and surrendered much forceful contact in this outing, did not help our chances. Donis surrendered two in the first and three in total over six innings, but at that was helped by some stellar defense, f.e. Conceicao Guerin making a sprawling catch on a line drive in the fifth, and converting that for an inning-ending double play. Venegas gave up only two runs through seven, and when Miller was hit for a run in the top 8th, we trailed 4-2 in the bottom 8th. O-Mo led off with a double, and Green walked, which brought ex-Coon Richard Cunningham into the game. He got three groundball outs, conceding one run. An Ingall error cost us the run again in the ninth, and we trailed 5-3 in the bottom 9th, but the first two Coons got on against Alex Byrd. In that spot, Kondo hit for Miller, and grounded out, but moved up the runners. Brewer grounded out, not moving up the runners, which brought up O’Morrissey, who lined out to Hubert Green. 5-3 Falcons. O’Morrissey 3-5, 2B, RBI; Wedemeyer (PH) 1-1; Guerin 2-4;

And while we left tying runs in scoring position for an evening, the Loggers’ Martin Garcia spun a 4-hit shutout against the Aces to drop us to two games back. Ugh. Note we are also not hitting home runs on this homestand, apparently, only the opposition does so. One problem is that Royce Green is ice cold by now, batting .083 on the homestand. That puts you on the bench for a game at times.

Game 2
CHA: SS Kent – C Escobedo – 1B H. Green – 2B Barrón – RF R. Garza – LF Young – CF A. Lopez – SS M. Hall – P Cahill
POR: 2B Brewer – LF Kinnear – 3B O’Morrissey – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Strong – SS Ingall – C Vinson – CF Martin – P J. Rivera

For the fourth game in a row, the Raccoons fell behind in the top 1st, 1-0. We left plenty of runners on the first few innings. In the bottom 4th, still down 1-0, Rivera came up with runners on first and second and one out, and his terrible bunt got David Vinson tagged out at third. Brewer then walked to fill the bases, bringing up Kinnear, who gladly took one to the hip to force in the tying run. And then, finally, O-Mo came through with a line drive single up into centerfield that scored two runs, 3-1. Jose Rivera pitched seven strong frames, not getting into danger for the most part, end when the Falcons got a man into scoring position in the seventh, it was because of an error by Ingall. They still didn’t score, but neither did the Raccoons. Ban was put into the ninth of the 3-1 game. He started by punching out Juan Barrón, then walked Ramón Garza, but came back with a K to Grady Young. He also walked Arturo Lopez, before Mark Hall grounded out to short. 3-1 Raccoons. O’Morrissey 3-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Martin 3-4; Rivera 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, W (9-0);

David Brewer’s hitting streak ended at 13 games with an 0-4 day with a walk.

Game 3
CHA: SS R. Garza – C Escobedo – 1B H. Green – CF Dunphy – 2B Barrón – 3B J. Jackson – LF P. Flores – RF Young – P Castro
POR: 2B Brewer – 3B O’Morrissey – RF Green – 1B Wedemeyer – LF Kinnear – C Kondo – CF Newton – SS Guerin – P Saito

David Brewer, not being subbed for against the left-hander, was hit by the left-hander in his first AB, and the ball went right onto his middle finger. Brewer left the game as we were uncertain as to the extent of the incurred injury and played the rest of the game in health limbo and with Higgins manning the keystone. An erratic Castro loaded the bags with walks to O-Mo and Green, then struck out Wedemeyer, but Kinnear grilled him with a bases-clearing double. Kondo singled home Kinnear, and we were up 4-0 after the first. Saito was in no constitution to defend a 4-0 lead for any length of time, however, throwing more balls than strikes. The Falcons got one run in the top 2nd, and another, unearned, run in the top 3rd, with a Kondo throwing error contributing there. In the fourth, it all exploded on him, with hits, walks, more hits, a wild pitch, and finally the death knell, a 2-run double by Antonio Escobedo that gave the Falcons the lead. The Raccoons did zero apart from a leadoff double by Kinnear in the fifth against Cunningham pitching long relief as neither starter went very deep. Saito probably didn’t deserve it, but was taken off the hook in the bottom 8th in the most embarrassing of circumstances. Mike Dye pitched, walking Kinnear to lead off the frame. Kondo got the bags emptied with a double play grounder to Garza at short. Then Newton doubled to left, and Guerin grounded up the middle where Garza’s glove managed to tip the ball as he lunged at it, but it still went into the outfield. Newton scored easily from second. The Falcons tagged a run on Juan Martinez in the top 10th, and Kinnear then hit a leadoff double in the bottom of the inning. After Kinnear had doubled to right, Kondo doubled to left, and we were tied, and the winning run on second with no outs, and the distance to home was halved by Alex Byrd with a wild pitch. Newton was put on intentionally, before Guerin popped out. Ingall hit for Burnett, but grounded into a force at second and Kondo had to hold. Higgins to the plate, 0-4 on the day, a bloop into shallow center, and Christian Dunphy charged at it in vain, but to no avail. 8-7 Raccoons. Kinnear 4-4, BB, 3 2B, 3 RBI; Kondo 2-4, BB, 2B, 2 RBI;

Now some good news. David Brewer’s finger was dislocated, but not broken. He was put back together at the hospital and was back at the ballpark the next day, which we had off, sporting a splint on the hand. He will be DTD for the next series, and we will use him sparingly.

Raccoons (60-37) vs. Bayhawks (42-58) – July 23-25, 1996

The Bayhawks weren’t scoring a lot either (9th in CL), but their pitching was in a boat load of trouble. They had the second-worst rotation in the league, and conceded the second-most runs.

Projected matchups:
Jason Turner (6-6, 3.38 ERA) vs. Ricardo Sanchez (11-5, 2.79 ERA)
Scott Wade (8-6, 4.00 ERA) vs. Jorge Chapa (5-7, 4.70 ERA)
Antonio Donis (9-4, 3.82 ERA) vs. Charles Bywaters (6-9, 4.62 ERA)

So Sanchez was a tough not to crack, but Brewer would sit. Chapa was a left-hander, and Brewer would sit, too. We will see how things are for game 3 and the right-handed Bywaters.

Game 1
SFB: 2B J. Gomez – 3B P. Hernandez – 1B Dean – RF P. Perez – LF J. Thompson – CF Marquez – SS Powys – C J. Ortíz – P R. Sanchez
POR: RF Strong – LF Kinnear – 3B O’Morrissey – 1B Wedemeyer – CF Green – C Vinson – 2B Ingall – SS Guerin – P Turner

Jason Turner did all he could to throw the game away in the first inning, giving up three hits and three walks, including two of the bases-loaded variety, to fall 3-0 behind. Vinson would drive in a pair in the fourth, but for the most part the Raccoons were obliterated by Sanchez. In the top 7th, Turner put a man on and was removed with the four left-handers of the middle of the Bayhawks lineup coming up. Mallandain came in, and surrendered not one, but TWO 2-run home runs on the way to the end of a big league career. 10-2 Bayhawks.

Tim Mallandain is a useless piece of ****. I want no part of that sucker anywhere near my clubhouse anymore, and never again. He will be traded for a bag of baseballs at the first opportunity. Pancho Padilla was recalled from AAA in his place.

At the pace our pitching was going at, we would be in the bottom half of the CL in runs allowed by August. This battering dropped us to 5th.

Game 2
SFB: 2B J. Gomez – 3B P. Hernandez – 1B Dean – RF P. Perez – LF J. Thompson – CF Marquez – SS Powys – C J. Ortíz – P Chapa
POR: 2B Higgins – 3B O’Morrissey – LF Kinnear – RF Green – 1B Wedemeyer – C Vinson – CF Newton – SS Ingall – P Wade

The Bayhawks took the lead in the second inning with kind assistance of a passed ball on Vinson. They added a run the next inning, while the Raccoons looked like pre-schoolers clanging a bat against the tee trying their clumsy little hands at tee ball. Since even the angels in heaven couldn’t help but to cry, both starters were knocked out in a lenthy rain delay in the fifth inning. As Jose Matos appeared in relief in the bottom 5th, Newton and Ingall got on. With no outs, Brewer hit for Wade, but only managed a sac fly. An O-Mo single and a walk to Kinnear loaded the bags with two out, prompting Royce Green to pop up the first pitch for Mike Powys to catch. Bases loaded, two outs again in the bottom 6th, and Higgins came through to deep center. The double scored two runs, but Ingall was thrown out at the plate by Pedro Perez. We got two innings from De La Rosa, and an insurance run in the bottom 7th, but ended up with Tzu-jao Ban in the ninth anyway, facing two left-handers at the start of the inning. Jim Thompson hit a huge fly ball to deep center to start the frame, but Jeff Martin made the play on that, and Ban also got the next two. 4-2 Furballs. Higgins 1-3, 2 BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Wedemeyer 2-4; Newton 1-2, BB; Ingall 2-4; Wade 5.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 4 K; De La Rosa 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K;

Luke Newton was injured running the bases in this game. He will be heading to the DL with a groin strain and should miss two to three weeks. Stephen Buell was called up.

Game 3
SFB: 2B J. Gomez – C J. Ortíz – LF P. Perez – 1B Delgado – 3B P. Hernandez – SS Powys – CF J. Thompson – RF Cavazos – P Bywaters
POR: 2B Brewer – LF Kinnear – 3B O’Morrissey – 1B Wedemeyer – CF Green – SS Higgins – RF Strong – C Vinson – P Donis

Donis came out throwing laser beams, and for a nice and welcome change, the Coons actually scored first, and also ended a home run drought, when Wedemeyer hit his 22nd of the year in the bottom 2nd. Donis hit a 2-out RBI single in the same inning, but most spectacular was his mound work. At one point in the game, he punched out for Bayhawks in a row, and had nine K’s through six innings. Delgado and Hernandez made hard outs in the top 7th before Donis made it ten by punching out Powys, but he also crossed 90 pitches in that at-bat. What would he have in the eighth? We were up 5-0 after the bottom 7th, so Donis at least had some breathing space, but any signs of fatigue, and he goes for the shower. He sat down the birds from the bay in order, including #11 to Ramiro Cavazos. When his turn to bat came in the bottom 8th, up 6-0, with runners on first and second an no outs, Donis bunted them over. We scored three in the inning and led 8-0, and now the whole ballpark tried to chant Donis towards finishing his 2-hitter, while going out on 106 pitches. But Jorge Gomez worked a walk in a nerve-wrecking 13-pitch at-bat, and that was it for Donis, he came out. Padilla collected the last three outs. 8-0 Furballs. Brewer 3-5, 2B, RBI; O’Morrissey 2-5, RBI; Higgins 2-3, BB; Strong 3-4, 2 RBI; Donis 8.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 11 K, W (10-4) and 1-3, RBI;

Raccoons (62-38) vs. Aces (60-42) – July 26-28, 1996

The Aces, who had never been to the playoffs after 19 years, were leading the CL South at this point, and they did this with a very well rounded team that didn’t blow away the competition in any one category, but was very good throughout. For example, they were only 5th in runs scored, and 4th in runs allowed, but somewhere they had some glue that they used to keep it all sticking together. They had won their last three, but were 2-4 against us this season.

Projected matchups:
Jose Rivera (9-0, 2.38 ERA) vs. Jou Hara (9-9, 2.92 ERA)
Kisho Saito (10-6, 4.18 ERA) vs. Carlos Guillén (10-5, 2.93 ERA)
Jason Turner (6-7, 3.50 ERA) vs. Rafael Espinoza (12-5, 3.33 ERA)

Just look at the rotation that we are going up against. They were totally dialed in, and they also had no injuries weighing them down. Guillén, who no-hit us 11 years ago, is a left-hander. We will get Salazar back in time for the middle game, so Guerin got another start at short before heading back to St. Pete.

Game 1
LVA: SS R. Gutierrez – LF Douglas – CF J. Vargas – RF Mashiba – 1B A. Maldonado – C Manuel – 2B Marino – 3B Petipas – P Hara
POR: 2B Brewer – LF Kinnear – 3B O’Morrissey – 1B Wedemeyer – CF Green – C Vinson – RF Strong – SS Guerin – P J. Rivera

The series opener was about losing things and coping with it. Jou Hara for example lost a few fly balls into the stands to Ben O’Morrissey, a 3-run homer in the third, and a solo job in the fifth. In turn, he made all the other Raccoons batters entirely redundant. Nobody but O-Mo did anything useful against Hara in his six innings. The Raccoons’ Jose Rivera lost a good outing of six innings of 1-run ball in the seventh, when the Aces put two on and I had a hunch to get Burnett, who struck out Joe Douglas to end the inning. And we lost Liam Wedemeyer who hurt himself hustling first-to-third on a Green single in the fifth inning and had to leave the game. Will we cope with that? Otero pitched a perfect eighth, conserving the 4-1 lead for Ban in the ninth. He put down the first two Aces, before Bob Petipas took him deep, 4-2. Then pinch-hitter Michael Sanders got on, but Gutierrez grounded out to end the game just in time. 4-2 Furballs. O’Morrissey 3-4, 2 HR, 3B, 4 RBI; Green 2-4; Rivera 6.2 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 5 K, W (10-0) and 1-2, RBI;

So, let’s sort all this out. Liam Wedemeyer strained a rib cage muscle. His hunt (which was not very ferocious for most of the last four weeks) for a home run record of some kind ends for the year as he may miss up to a month with that injury. He was put on the DL and Jorge Salazar was added to the roster from the DL for game 2. However, Cun- … Cam- … Chappy Guerin was still sent back to Florida, because I didn’t want that many shortstop type players on the roster. Instead, we brought up 3B Mike Crowe with the intention of having O-Mo play first in Weed’s absence, and having Crowe play regularly at third base to see whether he can swing it in the big leagues.

Game 2
LVA: SS R. Gutierrez – LF Li – CF J. Vargas – RF Quintela – 2B Zamora – C Manuel – 1B A. Maldonado – 3B Petipas – P Guillén
POR: 2B Brewer – LF Buell – 3B O’Morrissey – RF Green – 1B Ingall – SS Salazar – C Kondo – CF Martin – P Saito

The Raccoons plated single runs in the first two innings on four and three hits, respectively. Then, the 7 in their hit column remained in place. Guillén had settled in, and showed it. Kisho Saito was very good despite some more control problems, but despite working on a shutout, trouble found him later rather than sooner. In the seventh, Andres Manuel hit a leadoff single, and Petipas drew a 1-out walk. Guillén remained in, bunting over the runners. Two outs, Robinson Gutierrez coming up. Have Saito pitch to him or get a right-hander? Ah, Saito came out. We put in De La Rosa, and Gutierrez ruined Saito’s line with an infield single to the second base bag that neither Salazar nor Brewer got to in time. Mashiba then hit for Xiao-wei Li and flew out to deep center, so we were still up 2-1. Otero walked the first two Aces in the eighth, but they failed to score, ‘nother bullet dodged. Saito was looking from the dugout, eyebrows (the little he had) pulled up high. He saw O-Mo get on with a leadoff single in the bottom 8th, and move to second when Green grounded out. Ingall was put on intentionally, followed by Salazar singling up the middle. O-Mo was waved around third and was merely safe at home. That knocked out Guillén, who exited after an intentional walk to Kondo(!!). Bags full, one out, but Martin at the plate, so Strong came out to bat, and worked a walk, pushing home our fourth run against reliever Jose Sotelo. Crowe hit for Otero and singled to left, putting another run up on the board, and when Sotelo uncorked a run-scoring wild pitch, Saito began to relax and stopped choking a defenseless towel in his hands. 23 pitches by Martinez in the ninth later, the game was over, and Saito had his first W in five weeks. 7-1 Raccoons. Brewer 2-4, BB; O’Morrissey 2-4, BB, 2 RBI; Salazar 2-4, RBI; Strong (PH) 0-0, BB, RBI; Kinnear (PH) 1-1, 2B; Crowe (PH) 1-1, RBI; Saito 6.2 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 4 K, W (11-6) and 1-2;

That was a real nailbiter. Saito walked three, but this was a very good start overall. He would not have gone much deeper even without the tying runs in scoring position, since he needed 106 pitches to collect 20 outs.

Another player came off the DL for us at this point. Let’s all scream his name in a really high-pitched girly voice. It rhymes with cheeeese: Neeeeeil Reeeeeece!! Buell was returned to AAA for him.

Game 3
LVA: SS R. Gutierrez – 2B Zamora – CF J. Vargas – RF Mashiba – 1B A. Maldonado – C Manuel – LF Douglas – 3B Petipas – P Espinoza
POR: 2B Brewer – LF Kinnear – CF Reece – 1B O’Morrissey – C Vinson – RF Strong – 3B Crowe – SS Salazar – P Turner

Both teams had plenty of scoring chances in the early innings, but wouldn’t. The Aces left the bags full in the second, and we left runners in scoring position twice in the first four frames. There were 12 hits in the game before a run was scored: in the bottom 6th, Reece led off with a single, followed by O-Mo. Vinson hit into a double play, but Strong zinged a liner over Gutierrez into shallow left and Reece scored. The Aces put runners on the corners in the top 7th, knocking out Turner. As lefty Michael Sanders came out to pinch-hit for Zamora, Burnett was brought in and got a grounder right to Brewer, who had no trouble to convert the out to first, and we remained up 1-0. We loaded the bags with one out in the bottom 7th, with Reece to the plate, and while he grounded out, 2B Francisco Marino’s only play was to first, and one run scored. That run was key for Turner, since Daniel Miller was beaten with a leadoff double by Javier Vargas in the eighth. Vargas pulled something and had to leave the game, but Li scored the run regardless on two groundouts. Ban pitched through a 2-out walk to Carlos Quintela in the ninth to save this one. 2-1 Furballs! Brewer 3-4, 2B; Salazar 2-3; Turner 6.2 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 4 K, W (7-7);

And after a really, really, really sub-par first week to the homestand, we have now won five in a row again!

Trade

On this last Sunday of the homestand, we also struck a minor trade with the Bayhawks. Really, minor. No player involved can be a big help for any ball club right now. First place, last place, doesn’t matter.

We sent over Tim Mallandain, and in exchange got a young AA SP in Anthony Mosher, who was 9-7 with a 3.46 ERA so far this year, and was assigned to our own AA team in Ham Lake. Mosher, 21, and the Bayhawks’ first round pick in ’93, has four pitches, which all work very well, but his control does not quite so far, but he should see the light in AAA before the end of the year.

In other news

July 17 – ATL 1B/2B Manuel Guzman (.307, 2 HR, 40 RBI) is out for the season with a broken kneecap.
July 20 – RIC SP Jose Ramos (9-3, 3.58 ERA) spins a 1-hit shutout against the Gold Sox, as the Rebels win 6-0. Jorge Villegas accounts for the lone hit for the Gold Sox, a seventh inning single.
July 21 – In Oklahoma, 35-yr old 1B/2B Dave Browne, who has never played for another franchise, signs a 3-yr extension. A .283 hitter with 158 homers and 1,026 RBI, Browne will cash in another $2.85M.
July 21 – As the Crusaders beat the Bayhawks, 4-0, Anibal Sandoval (13-7, 3.46 ERA) tosses a 3-hit shutout.
July 22 – The Aces swap SP Ben Carlson (6-6, 3.43 ERA) to the Miners for CF/LF Xiao-wei Li (.338, 1 HR, 22 RBI in 160 AB), who is 36, and a minor leaguer.
July 26 – The Cyclones’ young closer Leonardo Sosa (1-4, 3.82 ERA, 22 SV) is out for the better part of a year with a torn labrum that will need reconstructive surgery.
July 27 – LAP SP Angel Romero (8-8, 3.01 ERA) takes the W in a 3-0 win of the Pacifics over the Capitals, while also spinning a 2-hit shutout.
July 28 – The season ends with a broken ankle for OCT OF Lucio Hernandez (.250, 3 HR, 39 RBI).
July 28 – Not quite as bad, but still hurt: SAC OF Joey Humphrey (.347, 3 HR, 43 RBI), who will miss about a month with a strained oblique.

Complaints and stuff

Antonio Donis could be the beast of the league. If he just had more than 5 stamina. On a 20 scale. Sigh.

Meanwhile I still have no clue where Jose Rivera’s 10-0 record is stemming from. He is scouted 10/15/10 by Vicente Guerra, and OSA has him slightly better. That should not be enough to go undefeated. Again, his BABIP is .210, so we can still wait for the inevitable crash.