[Westheim]

Originally Posted by Questdog

It's fun to be furry!

Except when it is like 90°F for four days and counting like here where I live.

---

Raccoons (72-38) @ Canadiens (41-70) – August 5-8, 1996

The Canadiens had just trashed the Loggers, so we knew we had to be cautious, a dozen W’s in a row here or there. However, whatever they had done to the Loggers, they still remained a team with a terribly terrible pitching staff, which was surrendering more than five runs a game, and 576 runs in total in 111 games. With a merely average offense, this was bound to go wrong for them of course. They were without their shortstop Michael McFarland, who was out with a torn hamstring.

Projected matchups:
Jose Rivera (11-0, 2.23 ERA) vs. Lucio Munoz (5-9, 3.92 ERA)
Kisho Saito (12-6, 3.96 ERA) vs. Jose Marquez (1-0, 1.29 ERA)
Jason Turner (8-7, 3.36 ERA) vs. John Collins (6-5, 4.19 ERA)
Scott Wade (10-6, 3.61 ERA) vs. Glenn Ryan (7-11, 5.32 ERA)

Marquez was the only left-hander in the pack. At age 27, he had all of four appearances in the big leagues in the last four years and had been called up after the Canadiens had flipped starter Fernando Chavez to the Thunder.

Game 1
POR: 2B Brewer – LF Kinnear – CF Reece – RF Green – 1B O’Morrissey – C Vinson – 3B Crowe – SS Salazar – P J. Rivera
VAN: CF Ledesma – 2B S. Mendez – LF Arroyo – 1B Mosley – 3B Galindo – SS Shaw – RF Moore – C J. Lopez – P Munoz

First inning, the Coons left the bags full, and the Canadiens left runners on the corners. But Rivera found his masters in the Canadiens, and they chopped him up for four runs in the second inning. Rivera was gone after three innings of 5-run ball. Munoz got hurt in the fourth, and Jackie Lagarde came in, walking the first two batters he faced, bringing up Rivera’s spot, where Scott Strong was put to bat. He struck out, and we didn’t score. In fact, we left two on in the third, and in the fourth, and the win streak was going down, it seemed. We were down 5-2 after five, after Neil Reece had taken his old buddy Lagarde deep, and Lagarde surrendered a leadoff triple to Vinson and walked Crowe, which got him out of the game. Orlando Blanco walked Salazar, and Daniel Miller was hit for with Marvin Ingall, who knocked a 3-1 pitch from Blanco into the gap in left center for a 2-run double. And here, it stopped working. While Brewer tied the game with a sac fly, Kinnear and Reece failed to get Ingall home, 5-5. De La Rosa came in for the bottom 6th. With one out, the Canadiens had runners on the corners with Luis Arroyo batting. He drilled a grounder to the right side, which – OH, O-MO!! O-Mo made a SPECTACULAR play on Arroyo, gobbling up the grounder, hurled it to Salazar, and Brewer had the presence of mind to hustle to first and receive the return throw – DOUBLE PLAY!! De La Rosa took care of the Canadiens for two more frames, before another ex-Coon presented us with another chance. Albert Matthews put the first two Coons in the ninth on base. Royce Green came up, and singled to left. Bases loaded, no outs in a tied game in the ninth. O-Mo popped out. Vinson grounded into a force at home. That brought up Crowe, and we had only Kondo and Martin on the bench, so it was Crowe to bat, and he singled on a liner to right that Roland Moore JUST failed to collect. It scored only one run, but Salazar worked a walk off Matthews’ replacement Holden Gorman for another one, and then Kondo came out and singled to right as well. Brewer flew out to the warning track and Arroyo. Up by three, Ban came in and surrendered Mendez (K), Arroyo (fouled out to Crowe), and Mosley (flew out to Kinnear) at rabid speed. 8-5 Furballs! Reece 2-5, HR, RBI; Green 3-4, RBI; Ingall (PH) 1-1, 2B, 2 RBI; Kondo (PH) 1-1, RBI; Miller 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K; De La Rosa 3.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K, W (2-1);

So Jose Rivera was human after all? Who’da thunk that? Well, he is still undefeated, but that ERA was kicked up a notch or two.

Anyway, THIRTEEN!!

We added Alonso Santana onto the 25-man roster after our waiver claim was executed. This happened at the expense of Pancho Padilla. Santana is 28, and a southpaw reliever. He is not the best pitcher, and he has been frequently bounced around between the Bigs and AAA by the Indians since 1990! In 31 appearances, he is 6-11 with a 5.11 ERA, but that includes 16 starts. We do not intend to use him as a starter, but as a second-rate left-hander out of the bullpen. He still makes the minimum because of not even two years of service time despite flying in and out of Indy for seven years.

Game 2
POR: 2B Higgins – 1B O’Morrissey – CF Reece – RF Green – LF Kinnear – C Vinson – SS Salazar – 3B Ingall – P Saito
VAN: SS Shaw – 2B S. Mendez – LF Hartley – 1B Mosley – 3B Galindo – RF Moore – CF D. Edwards – C J. Lopez – P Marquez

Marquez, in his fifth major league appearance and his fourth start, was raped with bats by the Raccoons. By the second inning, veteran Kiyohira Sasaki appeared to soak up innings. Royce Green had put two on the board in the first inning with a home run, and after Marquez retired the first two in the second, an infield single by Ingall opened a can of worms. Saito singled, Higgins singled, which scored Ingall, and then O-Mo sent one out. 6-0 for the brown-clad team. Saito also had one of those innings that dragged on after reaching two outs, in the third, but struck out Bill Mosley before the Canadiens could score more than one run. The 1996 Sasaki was not the 1983 Sasaki, however, and gave up three runs in the fourth, but the 1996 Saito was not the 1986 Saito either. The Canadiens whacked him good in the fifth inning, scoring three runs, and they would have scored five or more if Kinnear had not made an AMAZING play on Drew Edwards’ fly ball into the gap with two down. Saito put leadoff man Jorge Lopez on base in the sixth and was removed. In a 10-4 game, Santana would make his first appearance as a Raccoon in the bottom 8th, and pitched a clean inning. Otero gave up a run in the ninth, but the Canadiens could not close the gap. 10-5 Raccoons!! Higgins 3-6, 3B, 2 RBI; O’Morrissey 3-4, HR, 3 RBI; Reece 2-4, BB; Kinnear 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Ingall 2-4, BB; Martinez 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

FOURTEEN!!! Playing twenty straight and losing the first one of those games, we have won 14 in a row, and have to play five more before we will have an off day in the middle of the third interleague week of the year.

Saito got the W, despite surrendering four runs in five frames. I don’t know what I liked better: him playing ace a few years ago with zero run support, or him getting shelled but being carried by enormous run support. Tough choice. I hate him getting blown up. Makes my heart sad.

Also making my heart sad was David Vinson, swinging for a golden sombrero in this game and making many defensive errors recently. Nori Kondo may or may not get a few more starts soon.

Game 3
POR: 2B Brewer – LF Kinnear – CF Reece – RF Green – 3B O’Morrissey – 1B Ingall – SS Salazar – C Vinson – P Turner
VAN: SS Shaw – 2B S. Mendez – LF Arroyo – 1B Mosley – RF D. Edwards – CF Hartley – 3B Locke – C Durán – P J. Collins

After Rivera and Saito had been rocked the last two days, the string continued with Turner in the third game. He gave up two in the first, and another one in the second, surrendering lots and lots of big contact. The Canadiens made it 4-0 in the fourth, leaving a pair on, as Turner didn’t have nothing (and I didn’t have a pen left to throw in), while John Collins was keeping the Raccoons guessing. We couldn’t even reach third base. The win streak was going down! Brewer singled to lead off the eighth, and then Kinnear squared up on Collins’ offering and homered to left, cutting our deficit in half. 4-2 Canadiens now, but Collins sat down the next three batters, and the score remained like this into the ninth. Ingall singled off Holden Gorman to start the frame, but Salazar grounded into a double play and that was it. Vinson flew out gingerly. 4-2 Canadiens. Brewer 2-4; Ingall 2-4;

Hurts.

Brewer and Green both came in with active 12-game hitting streaks, but Green went 0-4 to have his end. Brewer is at 13.

Game 4
POR: 2B Brewer – LF Kinnear – CF Reece – 1B O’Morrissey – RF Strong – SS Salazar – 3B Crowe – C Kondo – P Wade
VAN: CF Ledesma – SS Shaw – LF Arroyo – 1B Mosley – 3B Galindo – 2B Locke – RF Hartley – C J. Lopez – P Ryan

Wade struck people out frequently in this start, and strangely whenever this happens, he gets battered. The Raccoons scored one run in the first, then left runners on and on and on. Wade got through four with some hiccups, but a 2-out, 3-run homer by Luis Arroyo put the Raccoons far behind. Ryan walked six Coons through seven innings, and they didn’t do anything with it. O-Mo singled to lead off the eighth, and Strong followed up with a single to center, on which O-Mo aggressively went to third base and was safe. Runners on the corners, no outs, down 3-1. Salazar singled over Colin Locke to score O-Mo, and now it was 3-2, runners on first and second, and still no outs. No excuses, turn this around, boys! Crowe and Kondo groundballed Ryan to safety. Top 9th, Gorman pitching. Martin popped out, and Brewer grounded to short, but Travis Shaw threw it away and Brewer was at second as the tying run. Kinnear grounded out, moving Brewer to third. Reece walked, not helping a great deal here, but O-Mo came up, who had driven in our first run. He lined an 0-1 pitch to third, Galindo jumped, DIDN’T GET IT!! O-Mo’s liner fell into shallow left, and Brewer scored the tying run. And Galindo would once more become the focus. After Strong walked, Salazar fell behind 0-2, then grounded up the left foul line. And Galindo didn’t get that one either. Until Arroyo brought the ball back in, two runs had scored. Gorman was brought in, and Momsilo Plavsic came in. He walked Ingall (batting for Crowe), and Kondo for the next run. Martin would have had the dubious honor to make an out twice in one inning, but Shaw made ANOTHER error on his grounder, and the Canadiens just could not get out of the inning! One run scored, and then Brewer singled in a run, and Kinnear did, and Reece singled in two. We scored nine in the ninth in total. 11-3 Furballs! Brewer 2-3, 3 BB, RBI; Kinnear 2-5, BB, RBI; Reece 2-5, BB, 2 RBI; O’Morrissey 3-6, 2 RBI; Salazar 2-5, 3 RBI;

Now, I hate the Canadiens with every fibre of my heart, but in this ninth inning, even I felt a little sorry. Not for them as a team, but mainly Holden Gorman, who was betrayed by his defense and paid with a blown save. Mainly Gorman, that’s it.

Raccoons (75-39) @ Scorpions (74-42) – August 9-11, 1996

Assuming we win the division, and survive the CLCS, this could well be the team we’d face in the World Series. The Scorpions led the Federal League in runs scored, in runs against, starters ERA, and are overall an intensely hard nut to crack. You need to be 100% spot on to get to them. Heck, we had scored 610 runs so far this year, and they outpaced us by 29 additional runs! You are in for a tough job if you want to contain that storm.

Projected matchups:
Antonio Donis (11-4, 3.34 ERA) vs. Joe Mann (12-2, 3.31 ERA)
Jose Rivera (11-0, 2.53 ERA) vs. Whit Reeves (9-5, 3.14 ERA)
Kisho Saito (13-6, 4.07 ERA) vs. Steve Rogers (10-8, 3.51 ERA)

Average age of that chunk of their rotation? Fricking 23. They have an AWESOME team, and it is young, and it comes cheap. They had two important players on the DL in infielder Germán Roldán and outfielder Joey Humphrey, and that was all the perks we’d get here.

I made a quirky roster move before this series, returning Mike Crowe to AAA and calling up another catcher in Ron McDonald. I wanted to use Kondo to start more games as Vinson was struggling now, but use Vinson as pinch-hitter at times. This may well backfire at some point.

Game 1
POR: 2B Brewer – LF Kinnear – 3B O’Morrissey – CF R. Green – RF Strong – 1B Higgins – SS Salazar – C Vinson – P Donis
SAC: LF Horn – 3B O’Molony – RF A. Jenkins – 1B S. Green – SS Garrett – CF Stinton – 2B Reed – C Aycock – P Mann

Someone appeared to have given Joe Mann’s number to Royce Green. Green CRUSHED a 3-run homer in the first inning, and a solo shot in the third. It could have been a nice game from there, if only Donis had not blown it up in the bottom 3rd, getting battered for four runs to tie the game. Both pitchers were knocked out in the fourth, with Brewer doubling home Vinson, 5-4, but Donis put the first two men on, a mess that could not be sorted out in time by De La Rosa, and the tying run scored again. 5-5 through four, here come the bullpens. Right-hander Leon Walker appeared for the Scorpions and lived up to name, if not fame, walking the bags full with no outs for Higgins. Matt Higgins was the only guy to bring in a run, and it was only one run. At this point, up 6-5 in the mid-5th I had to decide between emptying the bullpen in this game, risking the next two games as well, or sticking with a guy. It was option B, and Santana that was put in. He pitched two clean ones, and to lead off the seventh, O-Mo homered. We loaded the bags with two out, but that meant Santana batting. Stick to the plan, Santana had to pitch another inning. He lined into center, where R.J. Stinton made a stellar play for the final out. Of course, it was a bad decision. Two out in the bottom 7th, the Scorpions had the tying runs in scoring position, and righty Art Garrett to bat. Behind him was Stinton, a left-hander. Garrett got four wide ones, and Santana went after Stinton, who saw only one pitch, and Kinnear saw the result only quickly as it zipped past him for a 3-run double. Another run scored against Otero, and this game was properly blown. 9-7 Scorpions. Brewer 2-5, 2B, RBI; Green 3-3, 2 BB, 2 HR, 4 RBI; Higgins 2-5, RBI;

I suck.

Game 2
POR: 2B Brewer – LF Kinnear – CF Reece – RF R. Green – 1B Higgins – 3B Ingall – SS Salazar – C Kondo – P J. Rivera
SAC: CF Stinton – 2B Stein – LF A. Jenkins – 3B O’Molony – SS Reed – C Aycock – RF Horn – 1B Ball – P Reeves

This game was much the opposite. The Raccoons squeezed out a run on a Higgins single in the first, and Reece lifted one outta here in the third, but that was all the scoring for a while. Rivera failed to strike out anybody, but the defense did a spectacular job at preserving the shutout. When Mark Ball singled up the middle with one out in the seventh, the Scorpions sent Fernando Vasquez, a left-handed batter, to hit for Reeves, and that also got Rivera out. Burnett appeared, and surrendered both Vasquez and Stinton. Burnett faced three more in the bottom 8th, including lefties Stein and O’Molony, and everybody reached. The game was about to go bust, with one run in, and two runners on base. PH Art Garrett sent a De La Rosa pitch to short, where Salazar only got the out at second. Aycock also grounded to short, to second, to first – double play! Still up 2-1. We failed to score in the top 9th, so that left Ban with no margin for error (and little backup available) for the bottom 9th, while facing Martin Horn, Mark Ball, and Bob Potts. Horn struck out. Then, Jorge Leyva, a left-hander, hit for Ball, but grounded out to short. Potts blooped his way on base, and Stinton grounded to the right side of the infield, where Higgins picked it up and delivered to the hustling Ban – OUT! 2-1 Coons. Brewer 2-4, BB; Kinnear 2-5, 2B; Kondo 2-3, BB; Rivera 6.1 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K, W (12-0);

Luke Newton started a short rehab assignment in AAA, mainly because I have not made up my mind as to whether I want to get rid of Strong or Martin. Or both.

Game 3
POR: 2B Brewer – 3B O’Morrissey – CF Reece – RF R. Green – LF Strong – 1B Ingall – SS Salazar – C McDonald – P Saito
SAC: LF Horn – 3B O’Molony – RF A. Jenkins – 1B S. Green – SS Garrett – CF Stinton – 2B Stein – C Aycock – P Rogers

Saito didn’t fool anybody in this game, and the Scorpions quickly put three runs on him. In the top 4th, after leaving four men on already, we had the bags full with no outs, and McDonald at the plate. He popped out, Saito struck out, and Brewer rolled out. No runs scored, and that could have been the game right there. Top 5th, still down 3-0, Rogers put the first two Coons on. Green whiffed, but Strong shot one out of his cannon, a massive game-tying home run to deep right. While Saito’s pitching got much better deeper into the game, the Raccoons’ clutch hitting didn’t necessarily follow the pace and they left another three men on the next two innings. A single by McDonald, an intentional walk to Brewer, and a non-intentional walk to Reece loaded the bags with two out in the eighth. And Green came through, a single to left, 4-3! Strong also singled home a run before Ingall popped out to end the inning. Aaron Jenkins sent Saito to bed then with a 1-out home run in the bottom 8th. And then Burnett came in and surrendered the game-tying home run to Sam Green. Back to square one. We left the go-ahead run on third base in the ninth, as this game was coming to a certain conclusion. But no, the Scorpions didn’t walk off yet, and also left a runner on third against Miller in the bottom 9th. After leaving two on in the 10th, we found ourselves with the bags full in the top 11th, and one out with Reece batting. Jose Lopez was pitching and had just walked O-Mo, and now walked Reece, too. It was a good timing to take a lead, since Tzu-jao Ban was realistically the last man available from the bullpen. I wouldn’t mind a big rip from Royce Green, though. He ripped, but grounded up the middle, and just past the reach of Art Garrett, as two runs scored on the single. Ban had an 8-5 lead and better no intentions to blow it. Ball, Aycock, Reed up in the bottom 11th. Mark Ball reaching on a bunt base hit brought the sweats out again, but Ban surrendered the next three without Ball ever moving off first. 8-5 Furballs! Brewer 2-4, 3 BB; O’Morrissey 2-6, BB; Green 4-7, 3 RBI; Strong 2-6, BB, HR, 4 RBI; Ingall 3-6, BB; Vinson (PH) 2-2, 2B; Miller 2.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K, W (2-3);

Phew. Should this become a World Series matchup, it could become close. The Scorpions lost Jim Stein to injury in this game, but no diagnosis was given.

By the way, David Brewer has a 17-game hitting streak going.

In other news

August 7 – While the Thunder lose, 3-2, in Atlanta, their 3B Sonny Reece (.317, 9 HR, 59 RBI) keeps going, knocking two singles to extend his hitting streak to 25 games.
August 7 – Career in limbo for LVA 2B Francisco Marino (.248, 1 HR, 8 RBI), who has torn his labrum and will be out until next season, if not forever. Losing him is the last thing the first place Aces needed now.
August 10 – Sonny Reece’s hitting streak ends at 26, held dry over 3 AB in a 6-2 loss against the Buffaloes.
August 11 – The Warriors shut out the Crusaders, 4-0, but they can’t quite shut out OF Clement Clark (.271, 5 HR, 29 RBI), who has a single to extend a hitting streak to 20 games.

Complaints and stuff

Edit: fixed an error in a lineup that resulted from too many catchers on the 40-man roster and me being a turd

Since the start of July, we are 27-10, and we have won 17 of our last 19. But…

Never in the history of humanity … has anything been so badly mismanaged than what I did with the first game in Sacramento. Never before, and probably never again. Jacques Necker’s finance policies in Louis XVI’s France? Marshal Ney’s charge at Waterloo? The Bay of Pigs invasion? All perfectly executed when compared to what *I* did in that game to my staff!

I am thus deeply ashamed of myself and vow to never come close to baseball ever again!