[Westheim]

The Raccoons are closing in on 1,900 franchise wins (although it is unlikely we will get it done this week, needing five wins), while Neil Reece is hunting 1,500 hits (needing seven), and in the longer run, Cesar Gonzalez has to hit nine dingers to make it 100.

Also, in a twist of events, world news and the complaints and stuff section will front this update. You will understand come Sunday.

Complaints and stuff

Today in your favorite soap opera “Bad News from the Coons Farm”: SP Nick Brown has suffered a ruptured ulnar collateral ligament. No 11th round to the majors, at least not this year, and with the time frame for recovery of “one year and up”, it may not be next year either.

Why are we even trying …?

Our old friend Jason Turner was on waivers early in the week, as he was pitching to a 1-3, 5.77 ERA tune this season. The Pacifics were using him in a swing man role, something I don’t think he’s made for, and he was swamped completely by a .405 BABIP. Although I would love to make an upgrade over Rivera in the rotation and to get our old friend Jason back home, I’m afraid we can’t swallow the $1.06M he’s due or rather the share of that for the remaining 4 1/2 months of the year. Our budget room was projected to be $548k at this point, and we haven’t drafted yet. Anyway, he was not claimed by anybody and assigned to the Pacific’s AAA team, the Loganville Bombardiers.

Neil Reece wants to talk contract, which makes me squeal like a happy piglet. However, I fear he might want many millions…

He’s gonna be 34 next year, but I think we might be safe on a 4-year deal. I wouldn’t want to go higher, though. Moneywise, I fear we might have to part with up to $6M to get this deal done. Given the escalating salaries all over the league, $5M would be cheap. No idea where I would fit $1.5M into the budget next year. It is *actually* only $400k more than he makes now, but you know Uncle Scrooge in Mexico, right?

Also, one correction: I mentioned before that Neil Reece, Daniel Miller, and Scott Wade were our last World Series heroes from the Good Days in Coon City™. This is not quite true, or rather only true for the *1992* championship. Miguel Lopez is the fourth player to hold a share in the *1993* championship. He made his debut in ’91, actually, but only pitched two games in ’92 and was not on the playoff roster. (Then again, Neil Reece played in a grand total of one playoff game(s) in the two successful title runs, missing the 1992 playoffs entirely and going down in the first game of the 1993 playoffs – both times due to injury – but he was physically present at least.)

In other news

May 15 – BOS MR John Bennett (1-0, 1.80 ERA, 4 SV) strained an oblique while legging out a single in an extra-inning effort against the Raccoons, and will miss about six weeks.
May 17 – WAS SP Steve Rogers (2-4, 5.30 ERA) keeps getting hurt every season. The 27-year old southpaw has ruptured a finger tendon and could miss as much as four months.
May 19 – Condors SS/2B Juan Barrón (.337, 1 HR, 20 RBI) is setting examples in consistency, having contributed hits in 20 straight games.
May 21 – The Miners expect SP Manuel Pineda (3-3, 4.32 ERA) to be out for the year with a torn labrum.
May 21 – Juan Barrón is held dry in a 5-1 win over the Canadiens, ending his streak at 21 games.

Raccoons (14-22) @ Crusaders (19-18) – May 16-18, 2000

A first rate rotation (something nobody had seen coming before the season) the Crusaders prevailed despite anemic offense. In a way, they were playing the low-score ball of the Indians teams of the 1980s. First in runs allowed, last in runs scored, with a +12 differential.

Projected matchups:
Miguel Lopez (2-4, 5.00 ERA) vs. Ramiro Gonzalez (4-3, 1.82 ERA)
Bob Joly (0-0) vs. Cipriano Miranda (3-1, 3.31)
Ralph Ford (2-2, 3.71 ERA) vs. Anibal Sandoval (5-2, 3.08 ERA)

Yeah, good luck beating that array. Also, the Indians lost on Monday, so we came into the series in fifth place in the standings.

Game 1
POR: SS Guerin – 2B Ingall – CF Reece – 3B C. Gonzalez – RF Brady – C Mata – LF Richardson – 1B Michel – P Lopez
NYC: RF J. Gonzales – 2B Brantley – C Manuel – LF A. Johnson – 3B Rush – 1B T. Mullins – SS Rigg – CF A. Diéguez – P R. Gonzalez

Miguel Lopez again demonstrated that he would be best written off entirely, as the Crusaders romped over him with ease, scoring one (unearned) run in the first, and five more in the second, which were all earned. With the Raccoons hitless at that point, I went to get ice cream. When I had had my fill, we were in the sixth, the Coons had managed four weak singles, and one run on a groundout by Reece. After three innings of shutout relief, the Crusaders hit four singles off Fairchild in the bottom 6th, two of which didn’t leave the infield, and upped the score to 8-1. It was a nightmare, but like most nightmares (except the big, general nightmare that it was to manage this squad of pickles) it eventually ended, even if in total disgrace. 8-2 Crusaders.

Game 2
POR: SS Guerin – RF Brady – CF Reece – 3B C. Gonzalez – LF Richardson – 2B Ingall – C Mata – 1B Michel – P Joly
NYC: RF J. Gonzales – 2B Brantley – LF A. Johnson – 1B M. Berry – CF Latham – 3B Rush – C Olsen – SS Rigg – P Miranda

Guerin doubled home the first run of the game in the third. While I had expected Joly to get tied to a rocket and fired into the sun by the Crusaders, quite the opposite happened. The Crusaders failed to get a hit off Joly, and not only for three innings, but for four, five, six … the Raccoons upped to 3-0 in the top 6th with a big part in that being a Richardson RBI triple. The Coons added two in the top 7th, 5-0, while Joly issued a leadoff walk to the first of the three left-handers in the heart of the New York lineup, Johnson. Berry struck out, and then Latham hit one right to Guerin, 6-4-3 zip, seven innings, no hits. Bottom 8th: Bob Rush flew out to center. Mike Olsen grounded to Guerin for the second out. Ed Rigg ripped into a 2-2 pitch and lined to right, but almost exactly into Samy Michel’s glove. What was going on here!!?? With the bottom falling out of the Crusaders’ invincible bullpen and the score 8-0 in the top 9th, even some of the Crusaders fans clapped their hands as Bob Joly came back out. Andres Manuel pinch-hit to start the inning, but grounded out to Guerin. Jorge Gonzales sent a grounder to Ingall, out. That left business to Ron Brantley. Joly fell behind in the count, which reached 3-1 without Brantley swinging once. With the left-handers up next, Joly had to come inside. He did, Brantley knew, and Brantley made contact, with a grounder fired to left. But there was Cesar Gonzalez, he had a glove, picked it up, fired across, and Brantley was barely two thirds up the line. WE HAVE A NO-HITTER!!! 8-0 Raccoons! Guerin 4-5, BB, 2 2B, 2 RBI; Brady 2-5, BB; Gonzalez 3-5, 2B, RBI; Richardson 2-4, BB, 3B, RBI; Joly 9.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 3 K, W (1-0) and 1-4;

BOB! ****ING! JOLY!

It’s like your grandmother pitching a no-hitter! (giggles amazed) I hadn’t seen this one coming from a mile away, and so did anybody else. When we called Carlosito in Mexico (who of course hadn’t watched the game…) he didn’t even knew who this guy was. =)

I remember 1984, when Bob “Butcher” Haines pitched a no-hitter for the Pacifics as a swing man going back and forth between the pen – of his 41 appearances that season, 15 were in relief. He won 13 games, but also saved 13 games! And he was not even quite as marginal as Bob Joly!

The Crusaders have been no-hit for the fourth time, while the Raccoons are now the only team with four no-hitters to boast about (only half the ABL teams have ever had a no-hitter pitched for them!). The 23rd no-no job in league history comes almost two years after the most recent no-hitter, which was also dealt by a Raccoon, Manuel Movonda. The Crusaders and Raccoons are the only teams to have no-hit each other (Carlos Guillén gave us the good news in 1985), other than the Crusaders and the Indians. New York’s Eric Edmonstone no-hit Indy in ’84, and the Indians got them back twice, with Larry Davis in ’92 and Dan George in ’96.

Bloody amazing.

Game 3
POR: SS Guerin – RF Brady – CF Reece – 3B C. Gonzalez – LF Richardson – 2B Ingall – 1B Michel – C Fifield – P Ford
NYC: RF J. Gonzales – 2B Brantley – C Manuel – LF A. Johnson – 3B Rush – 1B T. Mullins – SS Rigg – CF A. Diéguez – P Sandoval

Both teams had their chances, and more or less dropped them all in the first few innings. The only exception was in the bottom 4th, when the Crusaders scored a run on a sac fly. Ford was suffering from ill control, issuing four walks through five frames, and he was removed when he walked Johnson to put two men on in the seventh. Miller entered to face the right-handed Rush, but the Crusaders countered with Mark Berry, who worked a walk. Miller was left in there when they didn’t remove Mullins, but walked him as well, making the score two-zip for the home team. The Coons had the tying runs on, but Reece flew out softly to Gonzales to end the eighth. The Coons failed themselves to a shutout loss on five hits. 2-0 Crusaders. Gonzalez 2-4, 2B;

With the big number on the doorstep, Neil Reece hit 1-12 in this series… he has not had an extra base hit all season. While he has hit some hard, deep balls, they weren’t hard enough…

Raccoons (15-24) vs. Knights (15-25) – May 19-21, 2000

What is this? A team with a WORSE record than us? The Knights were giving up almost five runs a game, 197 in total, which ranked 11th in the Continental League. Their offense was average. The Coons, at this junction, were 9th in runs scored, and 8th in runs allowed.

Projected matchups:
Scott Wade (2-4, 4.76 ERA) vs. Tynan Howard (2-4, 5.54 ERA)
Randy Farley (4-2, 2.86 ERA) vs. Greg Grams (2-3, 3.44 ERA)
Miguel Lopez (2-5, 5.97 ERA) vs. Johnny Collins (2-5, 5.94 ERA)

Game 1
ATL: 3B Pena – 1B J. Morales – 2B Palacios – CF G. Rios – LF Kinnear – SS Tanaka – C J. Johnson – RF Mendoza – P Howard
POR: SS Guerin – RF Brady – CF Reece – 1B Gonzalez – 2B Ingall – C Mata – LF Parker – 3B Caddock – P Wade

After retiring the entire Knights lineup once through, Wade ran into a problem in the fourth, when Palacios homered to give the Knights a 1-0 lead. The Raccoons hadn’t done a lot at the plate early, but got on base in the bottom 4th. A Parker double put two in scoring position with two outs, and the Knights walked Caddock intentionally to get to Wade, but they made their calculation without Wade. He drilled a liner to center that dinked in and scored two runs! Wade was pitching very well until he didn’t anymore in the seventh. Palacios led off with an infield single and Wade then nicked Rios. With two more left-handers following Rios, Blanco was brought in to face Vern Kinnear. The Knights countered with right-hander Will Taylor. Blanco surrendered hard hits to him and Sosa Tanaka, which got Wade onto the hook in a 3-2 game. Nordahl then collected three outs without Taylor scoring from third. The Coons came right back, although it took an error by Tanaka that allowed Guerin to score when Brady grounded hard, but playable to short. Reece singled up the middle and Brady went to third, still with one out. Gonzalez walked, but Ingall whiffed, leaving it to Mata to turn the score in our favor. The Knight sent reliever Colby Kirk to get rid of the sophomore catcher, but his first pitch was ticketed to shallow left and scored a pair! Miller got two outs in the first, before we brought Diaz for the left-handers. Palacios singled, and Rios went deep, and we were tied again. After Meeks got out of the eighth and pitched the ninth scoreless, the Coons could still walk off. Brady grounded out, but Reece singled and advanced on a wild pitch by Roberto Delgado, who went on to walk Gonzalez. Michel struck out hitting for Meeks, and while Mata singled to right, Orlando Mendoza was right on that ball. That left it to Andresen to make Coon City happy: first pitch, contact, up the middle, and into shallow center. 6-5 Furballs! Reece 3-5; Mata 3-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Andresen 1-2, RBI; Wade 6.0 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 2 K and 1-2, 2 RBI; Meeks 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K, W (2-0);

Two blown saves by left-handers in this game. Thank goodness we didn’t get Donis involved somehow. Also, since I mentioned that Nordahl wound up with lots of decisions, he would have gotten the win if not for Rios’ exploit of Juan Diaz.

Game 2
ATL: C J. Johnson – 1B J. Morales – 2B Palacios – CF G. Rios – LF Kinnear – SS Tanaka – 3B Tinker – RF W. Taylor – P Grams
POR: SS Guerin – RF Brady – CF Reece – 1B Gonzalez – LF Richardson – C Mata – 2B Andresen – 3B Caddock – P Farley

With bad weather on the way, the Knights socked it to Randy early, plating three runs in the first inning, in which Farley just looked like he didn’t knew where he was. Or who he was… In the bottom 1st, the issues with our lineup came to light again. The Coons reeled off three straight singles off Grams, with Reece plating Guerin, before Gonzalez came up – who either walked, or whiffed, but never got any purposeful hits. He whiffed, as did Richardson, and Mata bounced out. The Raccoons got a run in the second when Jose Morales lost Farley’s grounder for a 2-base error. In the third, Reece singled and was on first for Gonzalez – who came up with an RBI triple in protest to my earlier thoughts, which he couldn’t possibly have heard. Gonzalez scored on Richardson’s groundout, giving the Coons a 4-3 lead. The Coons could have tacked on, but Tanaka made a fabulous play on Farley’s 2-out grounder to end the inning with runners on the corners. The Knights instantly set the engine in reverse in the fourth, loading the bags with no outs. There was nothing we could do anymore for Farley but take him behind the shed and send him to the big farm in the sky. With the left-handed core of the Knights lineup coming up, Blanco entered, which worked so-so, when Richardson’s error cost the tying run, but nothing more. The scorefest then continued off Grams. Brady singled with one out in the fourth, bringing up Reece, who was on 1,499 career hits, and no extra base hits the entire season (well, in May…). Grams looked washed up, threw right down the middle, and oh boy, will we see that shot in the highlight reels. Kinnear made only a few steps in the direction of the wall – GONE!!! HOME RUN!!! The park was about to explode as Neil Reece lifted his cap on the way to the dugout. Kelly Fairchild and ex-Coon Albert Matthews pitched some strong long relief to calm things down then, but Matthews then gave up three straight singles to start the bottom 7th, bringing up Andresen. The old Capital singled up the middle, plating two and removing Matthews from the contest, and the Raccoons rattled Daniel Perez as well when he was sent into battle. 10-4, runners on the corners with two down, Reece came up and to the utter amazement of a hysteric crowd singled to right, 11-4. The Knights failed to come back although they humiliated Diaz in the eighth, who allowed a hit, a hit batter, an error, and a balk for one run, which somehow was unearned. 12-6 Raccoons!! Brady 3-5, RBI; Reece 4-5, HR, 4 RBI; Gonzalez 2-5, 3B, RBI; Richardson 2-5, RBI; Mata 3-5, 2 2B, RBI; Andresen 2-4, BB, 2 RBI; Ingall (PH) 1-2, RBI; Fairchild 3.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

Neil Reece! 1,501 hits later – STILL A WINNER!!

For the third game we have an overworked bullpen to think about, and Miguel Lopez being garbage this season, this meant that Bob Joly probably would be thrown into long relief – as grotesque as it was – after pitching a no-hitter on Wednesday. His next start would have been Monday, but Monday was an off day…

The final game of the series will be presented in a slightly different format, because it teaches you a thing or two about managing a team in the game of baseball. It was a game about losses.

Game 3
ATL: C J. Rodriguez – 3B J. Morales – 2B Palacios – 1B Tinker – RF W. Taylor – LF Kinnear – CF Bell – SS Pena – P J. Collins
POR: SS Guerin – RF Brady – CF Reece – 3B Gonzalez – LF Richardson – 2B Ingall – C Mata – 1B Michel – P Lopez

First, we lost, 7-6. Delgado was pitching with a 2-run lead and the bases loaded in the bottom 9th, and no outs, facing Parker, who hit for Andresen in Richardson’s spot. Parker popped out. Ingall grounded out, leaving the Knights one run ahead and Newton on third as the tying run. Mata was batting – and struck out.

Second, we lost because of Miguel Lopez, in whom we lost all confidence. He was wild, utterly wild, allowing seven hits and five walks in 4.2 innings. But he didn’t actually take the loss.

Third, we lost because of Bob Joly’s no-hitter. The no-hitter wanted me to give Joly another start. Thus, when Lopez was chewed up and spat out again by the Knights, I didn’t go to Joly, but to Miller, who managed to escape a still boiling inning and pitched the sixth, too. And then we pieced together the game with parts of the bullpen, which at first seemed to work out, but didn’t.

Fourth, we lost because of Clyde Brady. His throwing error plated an unearned run on Orlando Blanco in the seventh, and gave the Knights a new lead just after the Coons had rallied from a 4-0 deficit.

Fifth, we lost because of Chris Parker. He popped out with the bases loaded and no outs in the bottom 9th, making clear that it was an utter waste of effort and money to even take him onto road trips.

Sixth, we lost because of Bob Joly. He was put into the game in the eighth, with all other personnel reduced to fumes, making the entire effort redundant, and foolish, and then he was blown up in the ninth, allowed two runs to score after the Raccoons had re-tied the score in the bottom 8th, 5-5, and HE took the loss.

Seventh, we lost because of Cesar Gonzalez playing left field, or rather, because of bad managing and removing Daniel Richardson in the double switch that entered Daniel Miller. If not for that switch, we would have had Richardson batting with three on and no outs in the ninth.

Eighth, we lost because of Luke Newton making a fielding error in centerfield on a single in the fifth. That gave the Knights an extra base, and an extra run in sinking Miguel Lopez.

Wait. Why is Newton playing center??

Ninth, we lost because of Johnny Collins. He gave up a first inning 2-out double to Neil Reece, who pulled some or thing or other on his way to second base and was out of the game after that, potentially costing us one or more runs in the course of the afternoon.

Where does all this lead us? Well, most points at least, maybe except for the ninth?

Tenth, we lost because I am a HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE manager, not abiding to the BASIC principles of managing a baseball team: NEVER, NEVER, NEVER may the benefit of one single player be put over the benefit of the whole team. NEVER, EVER. Bob Joly was the next starter in line, so in the case of an expended bullpen, that pitched 14.1 innings during the week, but half of those in the three days prior, and four plus innings still to be covered, you eventually have to throw in next day’s starter – ESPECIALLY IF IT IS AN OFF DAY!! Giving Joly a start helped the team to collapse in this affair, and Joly still was used up, because it couldn’t work out. It was a HORRIBLY BOTCHED PROPOSITION from the beginning. Only the most HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE managers would have even tried.

I’m a member in that fraternity. Mr. Orcin was right. The Raccoons are better than their record. While they might be marginal ability-wise, they are better than .400, but they can’t out-run their dysfunctional, disillusionist, dim-witted manager, who is HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE. And who sucks!