[Westheim]

Monday mornings are for waking up, looking out of the window, going for the bathroom, barfing some, and then going back to sleep for another hour or two.

Once I hit the office on Monday (the team had already made for Boston to play that night) I found a note left by David Brewer. He was not happy with how he was used. He longed to bat in the middle of the lineup and wanted to be traded. Judas!!

JUDAS!!!

I will give O’Morrissey as much credit as he actually had the balls to not come up with some silly lie.

But it’s okay. It’s okay! Go! You can all go! I set you free! THERE’S the door! (points) But… Neil, you will stay with me, right? We’re meant to stay together. We were made for each other, Neil. Neil. We belong together. Right? Neil?

Neil?

Raccoons (19-37) @ Titans (35-22) – June 9-12, 1997

The Titans had the best program when it came to avoiding runs in the Continental League, conceding only 195 runs so far. Lemme see. We will play four. Yeah, they have a great chance to stay under 200 here… Their offense ranked fourth, and their rotation was also top of the league. We had already split a 4-game set this season.

Projected matchups:
Scott Wade (2-3, 5.43 ERA) vs. Bill Smith (5-2, 2.49 ERA)
Miguel Lopez (3-3, 3.14 ERA) vs. Glenn Ryan (5-4, 2.74 ERA)
Esteban Flores (0-2, 5.09 ERA) vs. Jason O’Halloran (6-3, 2.89 ERA)
Hector Lara (0-0, 2.57 ERA) vs. Dave Beck (1-2, 3.19 ERA)

Game 1
POR: 2B Brewer – 3B O’Morrissey – LF Buell – 1B Wedemeyer – CF Reece – SS Ingall – RF Crockett – C Vinson – P Wade
BOS: SS D. Silva – LF J. Martinez – C L. Lopez – 2B Henry – RF Thomas – CF Walls – 1B J. Silva – 3B Kan – P B. Smith

The game appeared over after the first inning. The first four Titans reached, capped with Horace Henry’s home run that sunk Wade and the Raccoons, 4-0, right away. People casually stood up during the second inning to get food. When they came back in the top 3rd, the game was tied with two on and one out for Kenny Crockett after a string of singles had torn up Bill Smith. Crockett singled to load the bags for Vinson, who hit a sac fly, and that brought up Wade in a 5-4 game. Wade’s double had started the inning, and it ended with an RBI single on which the Titans nabbed Crockett at third base. The Titans got a run back off Wade in the third, 6-5, and when Wade put a pair on in the fourth, Ramos replaced him, and threw a kindergarten pitch to Henry for the game-tying single. Both starters gone, 6-6 after four, Weeds led off the fifth with a double, was scored by Ingall, and with one out we had the bags full. Kinnear hit for Ramos, and into a double play. Brewer extended his hitting streak to 18 games with a double in the sixth, came up lame and had to leave the game, and when the Raccoons were up 8-6 in the bottom 6th, Santana uselessly walked a pair, and Guerin mishandled the easy grounder Daniel Miller had gotten from Horace Henry. That cost a run, and another run scored on O’Morrissey dropping Julio Silva’s popup. Miller then walked a run in, and Luis Alonso grand slammed the game into history, because WHY THE **** NOT??? The Titans bullpen came apart for four runs in the ninth, but unfortunately we were down by five. 13-12 Titans. Buell 2-5, RBI; Wedemeyer 2-5, 2B; Reece 3-5, RBI; Ingall 3-4, BB, 3 RBI; Crockett 4-5, RBI; Lacombe (PH) 1-1;

Out-hit them 20-12, made two DUMB errors, and hit into three double plays. You lot disgust me.

David Brewer had bummed up his knee, which was slightly inflamed the next morning. Doctors wrote him off for the next few days, but he might be back (to hopefully extend his 18-game hitting streak) by the weekend. However, now we only had three players left on the bench, and that would be dumb, so Pancho Padilla was returned to St. Pete and because a middle infielder was down, Steve Caddock was called up rather than Mike Crowe.

Game 2
POR: RF Buell – 3B O’Morrissey – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – 2B Ingall – LF Kinnear – SS Guerin – C Vinson – P M. Lopez
BOS: CF Alonso – RF J. Martinez – SS D. Silva – C L. Lopez – 3B Henry – 1B Kan – LF Thomas – 2B Salinas – P Ryan

After walking, stealing second, and taking third on a bad throw, Buell was on third base with nobody out in the first inning. He wasn’t scored. And so, another horrible day in Cooncasia began. By the bottom 2nd, **** was going down, with errors by Buell and Wedemeyer, and Lopez walking the pitcher, and Daniel Silva with the bags full, putting three wholly unearned (but well deserved) runs on the board. Ryan walked Vinson and Lopez to start the third, and Silva couldn’t do anything with Buell’s grounder, which became a bases-loading single. No outs. One sac fly later, a lineout, and a strikeout later, I was chewing up my pillow while watching from a continent away.* We had the bags full again in the top 6th, again with no outs, and 4-1 down, and again were limited to Ryan issuing his seventh walk of the day to Guerin, and one run. Top 8th, Kinnear led off with a single before Guerin reached on an error. Tying runs on, Vinson struck out, Crockett flew out, and Buell rolled out. Guerin made another error for another run in the bottom 8th, and Lopez, who had pitched six frames, took the loss. 5-3 Titans. Wedemeyer 2-5, RBI; Kinnear 1-2, 3 BB;

Royce Green was sent on a rehab assignment to St. Petersburg today, and we expect him to stay there the full 20 days.

*I may or may not have vandalized a Northwest Airlines plane after that last road trip, and they may or may not refuse to carry me now. That doesn’t matter. I wish them all the best. Forever.

Game 3
POR: 2B Ingall – 3B O’Morrissey – LF Buell – 1B Wedemeyer – CF Reece – SS Guerin – RF Lacombe – C Kondo – P Flores
BOS: SS D. Silva – LF J. Martinez – C L. Lopez – 2B Henry – RF Thomas – CF Walls – 1B J. Mullins – 3B Kan – P O’Halloran

Things continued awfully, with Esteban Flores surrendering three runs in the first inning on shoddy pitching. While Flores surrendered six runs in five innings, the Titans’ O’Halloran pitched a 1-hit gem for a while, but kept them dominated with a Neil Reece double about the only hard contact he surrendered all day. He struck out seven through eight innings on a 3-hitter, then struck out Buell, Weeds, and Reece in the ninth for a 3-game, 10-K shutout. 7-0 Titans. O’Morrissey 2-4, 2B;

Brad Tamburrino surrendered his first run as a Raccoon in this game.

Game 4
POR: RF Buell – 3B O’Morrissey – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – 2B Ingall – LF Kinnear – SS Guerin – C Vinson – P Lara
BOS: SS D. Silva – LF J. Martinez – C L. Lopez – 2B Henry – RF Thomas – CF Walls – 1B J. Mullins – 3B Kan – P Beck

An error by Tom Walls put Buell on to start the game and he was doubled home by O’Morrissey, who was then left on base. We got another unearned run in the second, but Lara soon gave it away, walking three straight batters in the bottom 3rd. Lara sucked, gave up five runs in five innings, and lined up neatly with the rest of the rotation dwellers, appointments temporary. Jose Ramos was hoped to pitch the game to conclusion, but surrendered four walks and two runs in the sixth. Somehow we got two runs in the eighth, but left the bases loaded to stay 7-5 behind. Top 9th against Bill Corkum, bases loaded, one out. Vinson popped out. Caddock struck out. 7-5 Titans. O’Morrissey 3-4, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Wedemeyer 2-5, 2B, RBI; Guerin 4-4, BB, 2B;

We issued 26 walks (against 21 strikeouts) in this series. Way to go.

Raccoons (19-41) vs. Warriors (32-27) – June 13-15, 1997

Ah, look. The suckers are back home. The next team to trample them were the Warriors, who were built all around offense, with a struggling pitching staff. They ranked 3rd in runs scored, but 8th in runs allowed in the FL.

Projected matchups:
Kisho Saito (2-5, 2.83 ERA) vs. Ricardo Torres (5-2, 3.65 ERA)
Scott Wade (2-3, 5.98 ERA) vs. Neil Stewart (7-3, 4.62 ERA)
Miguel Lopez (3-4, 3.00 ERA) vs. Bob MacGruder (1-5, 9.00 ERA)

Game 1
SFW: 1B Heffer – C Clemente – RF Flygt – CF Hensley – LF Taylor – 2B Watts – SS Garrett – 3B F. Rivera – P Torres
POR: RF Buell – 3B O’Morrissey – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – 2B Ingall – LF Kinnear – SS Caddock – C Vinson – P Saito

Four no-hit frames by Saito went into the trash with a leadoff triple by Thomas Watts in the fifth. He was brought in to score, and the Warriors were up 1-0 against clueless Raccoons. Bottom 5th: Caddock singled off Torres, and Vinson lined into left, and Phil Taylor just barely couldn’t get it. Saito bunted the go-ahead runs into scoring position. Buell grounded out to third, and O’Morrissey flew out, and nobody scored. Next try, sixth inning. Reece singled on a 3-0 pitch and Wedemeyer doubled. Go-ahead runs in scoring position, no outs. Ingall grounded hard to third, and Felipe Rivera didn’t get it, and Ingall had a 2-run double. Kinnear walked intentionally, Caddock walked unintentionally, and the bags were full with no outs. But this was a Saito game, so Vinson grounded into a force at home, Saito struck out, and Buell popped out foul. Bottom 8th, both pitchers still in the game as the Coons led still 2-1, and Saito came to bat with one out and runners on the corners. Can I trust my bullpen? Heck, no. Saito was sent to bat to pitch the ninth himself, but first he took a 2-2 pitch into shallow center for an RBI single that knocked out Torres. Raúl Vargas walked O’Morrissey with two out, bringing up Reece. C’mon, Neil, put this to rest. And a groundout sent us to the ninth. Three groundball outs to Caddock later, Saito had a complete game victory. 3-1 Raccoons. Wedemeyer 3-4, 2B; Ingall 1-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Kinnear 1-2, 2 BB; Vinson 2-4; Saito 9.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K and 1-3, RBI;

Huzzah Saito!! He pitched the 46th complete game of his career, and the second this year. A complete game effort is pretty much what it takes for him to win a game this season…

We got David Brewer back for the middle game with the knee much, much better. Despite the lefty Stewart pitching, he was put back into the leadoff spot.

Game 2
SFW: 1B Heffer – C Clemente – LF Flygt – CF Hensley – 2B Watts – 3B F. Rivera – RF S. Williams – SS Areizaga – P Stewart
POR: 2B Brewer – LF Buell – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – 3B O’Morrissey – SS Guerin – C Vinson – RF Lacombe – P Wade

Wade’s game started just like the last one: four Warriors got on, Hensley hit a home run, bamm, 4-0. Flygt added a 2-run homer in the second, and Wade’s day was going to be short. But what nobody saw coming was Stewart being knocked out before Wade. O’Morrissey, Guerin, and Vinson got on in the bottom 2nd, Lacombe singled home a pair, and Wade bunted in a force at third base. Brewer flew out, two down. Then Buell singled, 6-3, and Reece singled to reload the bags. Wedemeyer stepped in and dunked a double just fair in deep left, which emptied the bags and tied the game at six. Stewart was hooked for ex-Coon Albert Matthews. Wade, after giving up six runs in two innings, labored through six with just two base runners in the next four innings, but the Raccoons failed to tag anyone, either. After Zuniga did the seventh, Tamburrino did the eighth on 10 pitches and stayed in for the ninth, where 2-out triple by Dave Heffer almost derailed his effort, but Henry Givens, batting for Antonio Clemente, struck out, and the game remained tied. We faced their closer Ricardo Medina in the bottom 9th, and boy did we look bad… Extra innings (with Brewer at 0-5…), and we had the bags full with one out in the bottom 11th and Daniel Miller, who had collected five outs, next. Kondo came out to bat against lefty Dan Gray, aaaaand double play. De La Rosa surrendered a run in the 12th, and Brewer and Buell were set down by Gray to start the bottom 12th. Then Reece singled, and Weeds singled. A wild pitch moved up the runners with O’Morrissey at the plate. He still grounded out. 7-6 Warriors. Buell 2-6, RBI; Reece 4-5, BB, 2B; Wedemeyer 2-6, 2B, 3 RBI; Lacombe 2-4, BB, 2 RBI; Tamburrino 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K; Miller 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Everything I do is pointless with this bunch of fails. We are now 20 games out, and last in runs allowed in the CL.

Game 3
SFW: 1B Heffer – C Clemente – RF Flygt – CF Hensley – LF Taylor – 2B Watts – SS Garrett – 3B F. Rivera – P MacGruder
POR: 2B Brewer – RF Buell – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – LF Kinnear – SS Ingall – C Vinson – 3B Caddock – P M. Lopez

After the Critters left runners on third base and didn’t score the first two innings, the players noticed that I assembled the guillotine on top of the clubhouse. Brewer promptly tripled and was brought home by Buell in the third, 1-0 Coons. We got another run in the fourth inning, while Lopez was not allowing a lot to the Warriors, developing – like Saito – a bid for something greater. Through six, Lopez did not allow a hit, and sat down Clemente to start the seventh, and then Flygt tattered a ball outta there. Gone the no-hitter. Hensley came up, homered, gone the lead. The Warriors had two more hits in the inning, and Lopez was removed for a pinch-hitter to lead off the bottom 7th. That didn’t bring us any further, since the Raccoons were just all around **** and wouldn’t score runs, not in the seventh, not in the eighth, and not in the eleventh, in which they lost it. 4-2 Warriors. Brewer 3-5, 3B; Ingall 2-4, BB, 2B; Lopez 7.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3 K; Ramos 3.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

You know that feeling, when you just want to lay down on the floor and cry?

In other news

June 12 – The career of DAL SP Judd Montgomery (5-2, 2.83 ERA) is in jeopardy after he suffered a ruptured UCL, which will take more than a year to recover from. Montgomery, 33, has 153 career wins for the Loggers and Stars.
June 13 – The Condors trade 34-yr old OF Dale Cleveland (.241, 3 HR, 19 RBI) and a minor leaguer to the Falcons for 35-yr old MR Artie Saunders (1-0, 1.86 ERA, 2 SV).
June 15 – SAC 1B/3B/CF Jared O’Molony (.298, 1 HR, 29 RBI) may miss up to a month with shoulder tendinitis.

Complaints and stuff

Neil Reece is actually one of two players from the Opening Day roster still here and not pissed off at some level or other because of the current events. The other is Stephen Buell. Everybody else is looking ready to kill or cry, or both. (Including me, I’m in the “both” group) There are two more happy players on the roster, Esteban Flores and Pancho Padilla, but I think they are only glad to have escaped the mosquito-infested, malaria-stricken quarters of our Florida-based AAA squad.

How is Royce Green on rehab doing? 0-16. Good, that's progress.

Meanwhile the Agitator keeps asking when I will terminated by owner Carlos Valdes. Well, let’s put it this way: Never. I have photos. The Agitator doesn’t know it, but Valdes does. Right, Carlos? You sure look pretty in your pink school uniform. No, the negatives are stowed away safely.

Next: draft, undoubtedly the high point of our season.