[Westheim]

I am not really in the mood today. Every hairy catastrophe on legs is likely to get shot for misbehaving. We have a 7-game week up. Can they lose 16 in a row?

Raccoons (11-26) @ Loggers (24-12) – May 19-22, 1997

The Loggers were not overwhelming the league in either pitching or hitting, but were above average in both, and they possessed the highest team batting average at .280. The bullpen was also strong, with a 1.62 ERA, 2nd in the CL.

Projected matchups:
Scott Wade (0-2, 6.68 ERA) vs. Martin Garcia (3-1, 3.25 ERA)
Antonio Donis (0-6, 5.08 ERA) vs. Davis Sims (3-1, 3.28 ERA)
Jose Rivera (2-4, 4.09 ERA) vs. Rafael Garcia (5-2, 4.33 ERA)
Kisho Saito (2-3, 2.85 ERA) vs. Andrew Schaefer (3-2, 3.38 ERA)

Look at those numbers and tell me you don’t know how this is going to go on.

Game 1
POR: 2B Ingall – 3B O’Morrissey – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Buell – LF Kinnear – SS Guerin – C Vinson – P Wade
MIL: CF Fletcher – SS Nakayama – RF C. Ramirez – 1B D. Evans – 2B J. Perez – LF Carver – C R. Rivera – 3B Rush – P M. Garcia

The Raccoons did not get a hit until the fifth inning, a Guerin single, and Guerin never went past first base. At that point, Wade was already 2-0 behind. After a good start, he had issued three walks and a single to Cristo Ramirez in the third inning. Aided by an error by Ramirez, the Raccoons scored a run in the sixth, when Wedemeyer was able to single home O’Morrissey from second base. Reece, also on base, would be left on third, not tying the game. With four hits between them, the Raccoons considered their day’s worth of work complete. Wade went seven decent innings, Santana pitched a scoreless eighth, John Bennett came in for the Loggers, retired Kinnear, retired Brewer, who hit for Guerin, on a strikeout, and then faced Salazar, who hit for Vinson. And lo and behold, Salazar hit a game-tying home run! That hadn’t been there before! But don’t you worry: Daniel Miller came in, walked Bob Rush with one out, Kondo was booked with a passed ball, and Leon Ramirez singled him home. 3-2 Loggers. Salazar (PH) 1-1, HR, RBI; Wade 7.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 4 K;

Game 2
POR: 2B Brewer – 3B O’Morrissey – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – LF Kinnear – SS Salazar – C Vinson – RF Crockett – P Donis
MIL: CF Fletcher – 3B Nakayama – RF C. Ramirez – LF Hiwalani – 1B Rush – 2B J. Perez – C L. Ramirez – SS J. Lopez – P Sims

The Coons took a 1-0 lead on a Wedemeyer sac fly in the first, then started to leave everybody that dared to reach on base. Cristo Ramirez, the only left-hander in the Loggers lineup, tied the game with a 2-out double in the bottom 3rd, cashing in Fletcher, and gone was the lead. Donis, the sucker, walked the first three batters in the fourth inning, allowed a double to Jose Lopez, scoring a pair, then walked the pitcher, then walked himself, all the way to St. Pete. At 3-1, bases loaded, and no outs, there was no point in using up De La Rosa, so Díaz was sent in to pitch. Maybe he could get out with only one or two runs in. The Loggers put up FIVE. Díaz was only saved by the fact that he pitched three more innings without further scoring, but regardless the Raccoons were too inept to make up a 7-run gap, given seven or seventy innings. 8-3 Loggers. Brewer 2-4, BB; Salazar 2-4, 2B;

On roster issues: Royce Green, who was expected to start rehab at the start of June, suffered a setback that would push that date back into the middle of June.

Also, Donis was demoted to AAA. At 0-7 and a 6.14 ERA, you can’t blame the offense, and the Grandma Rule kicks in: if my Grandma could do a better job than you with her two hip replacements, you’re OUT. We called up right-hander Esteban Flores, who was 3-4 with a 4.37 ERA at AAA, so you know what you will be able to expect. Since we now have three right-handers up, there is no point in pitching our lefties back-to-back. Flores will make his first start slotted behind Saito, so start the next series, but Wade will eventually move behind Saito and Lopez will move to the #3 slot. We will not have an off day soon enough to make this transition smoothless, so maybe Jose Ramos will make a spot start somewhere.

Flores, 24, was an international discovery from Mexico in 1990, then by Jerry Anderson, back in the era when we would switch head scouts every year.

Game 3
POR: 2B Brewer – 3B O’Morrissey – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – SS Ingall – LF Kinnear – RF Buell – C Vinson – P J. Rivera
MIL: CF Fletcher – SS Nakayama – RF C. Ramirez – LF Hiwalani – 1B D. Evans – 2B J. Perez – C L. Ramirez – 3B Rush – P R. Garcia

The Loggers spotted three runs on Rivera in the first inning, quickly moving the game out of reach for the 2-run-Coons. Those had one hit through five innings and scored an unearned run (Hiwalani dropped a fly by Reece) in the sixth. Rivera surrendered a total of four runs through six innings, and down 4-1, things were bleak. Buell started the seventh by walking and then Vinson doubled. The tying run came to the plate as Crockett pinch-hit for Rivera, but he only managed a sac fly. Yet, Brewer hit a loooong RBI triple, and represented the tying run on third base with one out. Any long ball from O’Morrissey would do, so he grounded out to Garcia. Reece came up. Since coming off the DL, Reece had had ONE hit, a 2-run homer in support of Saito four days ago. He again made Hiwalani look foolish with a high fly that dunked into deep left just behind the defender, tying the game with an RBI double. Wedemeyer singled Reece home, and we were up 5-4. De La Rosa came in, put a man on, and with two out Santana came out to surrender Cristo Ramirez, walked him, and Hiwalani singled home the run, and we were no longer up. The Raccoons would get a new lead, though, on double Loggers stupidity. Brewer walked to start the top 9th against Elliott Meeks. Reece grounded to SS Terry Sullivan with one out, and Sullivan missed the pickup. Wedemeyer grounded to Sullivan, who couldn’t turn the double play and with two down we had runners on the corners. Meeks tried to end it with a pickoff, but threw the ball past Drake Evans. Brewer scored. The Loggers were so stunned that Tzu-jao Ban managed to strike out the side, all third strikes called, against Fletcher, Lopez, and Ramirez. 6-5 Raccoons. Wedemeyer 2-5, 2 RBI; Vinson 1-2, 2 BB, 2B;

What do you mean, “the Raccoons won a ballgame”?

Intermission: Trade

Remember Matt Smith, whom I almost traded Vinson for this winter? He’s batting .114 this season for the Miners. How did I find out? I shopped Salazar around. The Miners offered Smith and a few others. Also, Salazar is no longer executing his 10/5 rights, wanting to play for a winner.

SLOWLY BUT SURELY, SOME GUYS HERE SHOW THEIR CHARACTER. (glares at O’Morrissey)

The Miners were willing to talk, Salazar was willing to not interfere, and after a few days, we struck the following deal:

The Raccoons trade 36-yr old INF Jorge Salazar (.300, 1 HR, 9 RBI) and 20-yr old AA INF Lorenzo Sepúlveda to the Miners for 27-yr old MR Brad Tamburrino (1-2, 2.60 ERA) and 37-yr old MR Cesar Zuniga (0-0, 1.93 ERA), a right- and a left-hander, respectively.

Tamburrino is still arbitration eligible and makes $210k this season, while Zuniga is in the last year of a flat 2-yr, $460k deal. This shores up our bullpen by enabling us to banish Salcido (just look at his WHIP) and Díaz, and also gives us *some* financial breathing space until the draft will eat up the $200k by which we are in the green now.

With Tamburrino coming in, we now have three Australians on the roster in addition to Kinnear and Wedemeyer.

So, the following roster moves were made:
OUT: Salazar
TO AAA: Díaz
DFA: Salcido
IN: Tamburrino, Zuniga
FROM AAA: Caddock

Steve Caddock was here before, he plays all infield positions and is a stop gap solution until we can make more moves.

Raccoons (11-26) @ Loggers (24-12) – May 19-22, 1997

Game 4
POR: 2B Brewer – 3B O’Morrissey – LF Kinnear – 1B Wedemeyer – SS Ingall – RF Buell – CF Lacombe – C Kondo – P Saito
MIL: CF Fletcher – 3B Nakayama – RF C. Ramirez – LF Hiwalani – 1B Rush – 2B J. Perez – C L. Ramirez – SS J. Lopez – P Schaefer

The Raccoons had their chances in the middle innings of a scoreless game. In the fourth and sixth, they whiffed with two men on to end the frame. In the fifth, Saito was unlucky enough to find himself at the plate with the bags full and two out and whiffed, too. No runs through six for his team, Saito’s first blemish was a 2-out RBI triple by Hiwalani in the bottom 6th. 1-0 Loggers, game lost. Brewer hit a 2-out infield single in the seventh, knocking out a tiring Andrew Schaefer. Juan Guerrero came on, walked O-Mo and Kinnear, and then escaped when Wedemeyer grounded out. Saito was refused ANY support, ANY ****ING SUPPORT! He put Ramirez on with one out in the eighth and was removed. Tamburrino made his Coons debut and made himself unloved instantly with an RBI double to Hiwalani. Down 2-0, Reece and and Brewer were retired by John Bennett in the ninth before O’Morrissey got on. Kinnear worked a long AB for a walk, bringing up Wedemeyer again. He hit a single to left center, scoring O-Mo and putting us one run back. Ingall was next, and he lobbed a single into right. Kinnear was waved around third and Ramirez thundered the ball to home plate, but Kinnear was safe! Since the throw went home, the runners moved up and thus both scored when Buell singled to right! Bennett was removed, but Reece, who had popped out to start the inning, came back around to draw a bases-loaded walk. So, we had a 5-2 lead and Ban came in – and blew it. With two out, Benny Carver hit a pinch-hit home run, and after Fletcher reached, Haruki Nakayama’s home run tied it. Extra innings. There, Nakayama made a career day complete (4-6, 3 RBI) with a walkoff home run off Jose Ramos in the 12th. 6-5 Loggers. O’Morrissey 2-5, 2 BB, 2 2B; Ingall 3-6, RBI; Buell 2-4, 2 RBI; Saito 7.1 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K;

I’M GONNA ****ING KILL HIM!!!!

That’s what I screamed when I went through every closet and every locker in the visitors’ clubhouse, with bloodshot eyes, and armed with a rusty fruit knife, in search of Tzu-jao Ban, whom his team mates had wisely hidden above a ceiling panel.

So, Ban got away to live another day. He was on the trade list regardless, and the closer job was now De La Rosa’s. How many seasons in a row is that that we switch closers like underwear?

Raccoons (12-29) vs. Thunder (19-23) – May 23-25, 1997

Here was a franchise with middling numbers, 5th in runs scored, 9th in runs allowed. While that compared well to the Raccoons’ 10th positions in either category, it hadn’t helped the Thunder to post a .500 (or better) record so far.

Projected matchups:
Esteban Flores (0-0) vs. Aron Anderson (3-1, 3.68 ERA)
Miguel Lopez (2-3, 3.43 ERA) vs. Jon Robinson (2-4, 3.56 ERA)
Scott Wade (0-2, 5.92 ERA) vs. Lou Corbett (3-5, 3.34 ERA)

The latter two will be left-handers with another series to come before an off day, so David Brewer was likely to see another off day in this series.

Game 1
OCT: 1B H. Ramirez – LF Browne – 3B S. Reece – 2B Grant – RF Barnes – CF Camacho – C Guidry – SS J. Sanchez – P Anderson
POR: 2B Brewer – 3B O’Morrissey – CF N. Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Buell – LF Kinnear – SS Ingall – C Vinson – P Flores

Flores’ debut was horrible. He was behind in the count all the time, walked people casually, and also served up a 2-run home run to Jose Sanchez – not exactly your average power hitter – in the fourth inning, then falling behind 3-0. That far, the Raccoons were hitless, but changed that in the bottom 4th. Buell singled and Kinnear doubled him in. Vinson scored Kinnear, but we remained 3-2 behind, and Vinson crashed the game in the sixth, throwing away a bunt by Ivan Camacho. Three runs scored in the inning, two unearned. It was one of those games which you had to watch to extincti- … completion, but wondered why you weren’t doing anything nice. Vinson would pull another boner in the eighth, getting tagged out at third when Steve Caddock’s floater to right was caught and brought back in by Artie Barnes. Vinson was already close to home and didn’t even bother to return. That also ended the inning. 7-4 Thunder. Kinnear 2-3, BB, 2 2B, RBI;

What are you gonna do? I use to eat a lot when the Raccoons lose. I have gained 20 pounds since March.

We flipped Wade and Lopez in the rotation, so Wade would pitch on regular rest here and Lopez on two days’ extra rest in game 3.

Game 2
OCT: 1B H. Ramirez – LF Browne – 3B S. Reece – 2B Grant – RF Barnes – C Guidry – CF L. Hernandez – SS J. Sanchez – P Robinson
POR: 2B Brewer – 3B Ingall – CF N. Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Buell – LF Kinnear – SS Guerin – C Kondo – P Wade

Neither starter would have a good game. Wade surrendered two runs in the first inning after surrendering hits to Ramirez and Browne, then striking out two, and THEN falling to a 2-run single, while the Raccoons chained together singles against Jon Robinson to score four in the bottom 1st. For Wade’s standards, he had awful control and took almost 90 pitches to get through five innings with a 5-2 lead. Conceicao Guerin drove in Buell in the fifth inning, 6-2, and Wade left after retiring PH Tommy Norton in the top 7th, with three left handers, starting with Hector Ramirez, coming up. Santana threw four balls to Ramirez, but Dave Browne grounded to Ingall for a double play. We had the bags full in the bottom 7th, with one out and O-Mo batting for Santana, but he popped out, and Brewer singled home only one run before Ingall rolled out to second. We got Ramos out for the eighth, and when he breezed through that, he also got the ninth, and another short losing streak was broken! 7-2 Raccoons. Brewer 2-5, BB, 2B; Reece 3-5; Wedemeyer 3-5, 2 RBI; Buell 2-5, 2B, RBI; Guerin 3-5, 2B, RBI; Wade 6.1 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 4 K, W (1-2); Ramos 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K;

Note: the Indians claimed Cesar Salcido off waivers. Well, good for them.

Game 3
OCT: CF Camacho – LF Norton – 3B S. Reece – 2B Grant – 1B Browne – SS H. Ramirez – RF L. Hernandez – C Guidry – P Corbett
POR: 2B Ingall – 3B O’Morrissey – CF N. Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – LF Buell – C Vinson – SS Guerin – RF Crockett – P M. Lopez

Scoreless through three innings, the game fell the Thunder’s way when they put their first two men on base in the fourth, stole two bases off Vinson, and scored two runs. Bob Grant hit a solo job in the sixth off a helpless Lopez, and the Raccoons were still looking for help at how to hold the bats correctly. Maybe in the bottom 6th: Ingall led off with a single up the middle, and O-Mo walked on four straight balls from Lou Corbett. Reece popped out, Weeds rolled out, and Buell grounded back to Corbett and the inning would have been over if and only if Corbett had made the play. Buell got away with an RBI single of the infield variety, and next Corbett walked home O’Morrissey. The tying run went to second, where it didn’t remain once Vinson clobbered Corbett’s 2-1 pitch for a roundtripper (our first in a few weeks…). The Thunder knocked out Lopez in the seventh by putting runners on the corners, but Tamburrino came in and got Bob Grant to ground out to third to end the frame. Vinson made it the first multi-homer game for a Raccoon since what-do-I-know with another 2-shot in the eighth. Thus, the 1997 version of Gabby De La Rosa had the maximum 3-run cushion in attempting his first save. No Thunder reached base. 6-3 Raccoons. Reece 2-4; Buell 2-4, RBI; Vinson 2-4, 2 HR, 4 RBI; Guerin 2-4; Brewer (PH) 1-1;

In other news

May 23 – NYC SP Anibal Sandoval (8-2, 3.50 ERA) hurls a 3-hitter in the Crusaders’ 2-0 win over the Falcons.
May 23 – TIJ INF Bruce Boyle (.356, 2 HR, 31 RBI) has hurt his shoulder and will miss about three to four weeks with shoulder soreness.
May 24 – The season could be over for TOP SP Ricardo Contreras (4-5, 3.52 ERA), who has been diagnosed with ulnar nerve irritation.
May 25 – The Condors lose another important player, as always-injury-prone LF Dale Wales (.304, 3 HR, 29 RBI) suffers a bruised wrist and will be out for up to a month.

Complaints and stuff

We switched our focus to "Rebuilding".

I just want to inform you that the next home weekend series against the Canadiens on June 6-8 has been cancelled. We will instead play the school team from the Willamette Institute for the Limbless and the Blind, for charity.

Should be some close games.