[Westheim]

Unfortunately it skipped right past me that the Warriors clinched the FL West on Sunday after romping .710 for the whole season so far. They came from behind to beat the Scorpions, 5-3, and lock up their sixth playoff appearance, and their third straight October ticket. They were champions once, in 1978.

Raccoons (59-78) vs. Crusaders (51-85) – September 4-6, 2001

We have a complicated story going with the Crusaders this year, sweeping them at the start of the season and going 2-7 against them since. That’s too unfortunate and I really hope for a reversal of fortunes. They were still wholly unable to score runs, running a league-worst 3.3 R/G mark. Even the Raccoons might be able to climb over that ankle-high obstacle.

Projected matchups:
Nick Brown (1-2, 5.40 ERA) vs. Mike Nelson (3-4, 5.66 ERA)
Carl Bean (9-12, 4.21 ERA) vs. Ramiro Gonzalez (7-19, 4.20 ERA)
Ralph Ford (10-12, 3.94 ERA) vs. Anibal Sandoval (11-14, 3.83 ERA)

Game 1
NYC: C Olson – LF Burne – CF Gonzales – 3B Rush – SS Walker – 1B T. Mullins – RF V. Gonzalez – 2B Rice – P Nelson
POR: SS Guerin – 2B Palacios – CF Reece – 1B Martin – LF Cavazos – 3B Sharp – RF Kent – C Fifield – P Brown

After Reece brought home Guerin with an RBI double in the first inning, the second saw Jesus Palacios hit one outta here for the first time in almost two months after hitting 19 dingers up to July 8. This one counted for three, making the score 4-0 Coons. Meanwhile, what Nick Brown did to the Crusaders was nothing short of a massacre. Through the first three innings, while he surrendered two hits, he struck out EIGHT batters. He reached double digits by striking out Steven Walker to end the fourth inning! The fans were highly alert, being treated to some very special tossing down there on the field. However, his control went away a bit in the fifth and he didn’t whiff anybody until he gave Derek Burne, who made his major league debut, his third K in three attempts to end the sixth. Brown, still up 4-0 with the Coons as dazzled by his performance as the Crusaders were, reappeared in the seventh with 11 K, and on 83 pitches. The franchise record was shaking. 1-2 on Jorge Gonzales, and then something loud and fast left the yard. Oh-oh. Brown went to 2-strike counts on Bob Rush, Walker, and Ted Mullins, and couldn’t strike out any of them. Mullins singled, bringing up Vincente Gonzalez, and Brown rung HIM up, tying the franchise record, but he was now over 100 pitches. The eighth started with a Gary Rice single, getting the bullpen stirring. Brown faced Ed Rigg, went to 2-2, and then Rigg flailed. The park burst into cheers as Nick Brown set a new Portland Raccoons strikeout record! The pitching coach then went out to see where he was, and Brown assured him he had something left. Mike Olson hit the first pitch to Concie, 6-4-3, out of the inning. Nick’s turn did not come up in the bottom 8th because Sharp singled and was tagged out at second, and Fifield hit into a double play. We’d give him a chance to face Burne, give that poor sod a golden sombrero and then - … do we really want Nordahl fudging in this game? Burne popped out, but when Gonzales hit another home run, it was shower time for Brown, who left with a whole ballpark on its feet and celebrating his left arm. Nordahl DID appear, and saved this very special game. 4-2 Raccoons! Guerin 2-3, BB; Reece 2-4, 2B, RBI; Cavazos 2-4; Brown 8.1 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 13 K, W (2-2) and 1-2;

This game not only marks Nick casually setting the new franchise strikeout mark, he also got his first hit and he won his first *start*.

We might have our hands on a very special young man here!

Game 2
NYC: LF M. Ortíz – 2B Rigg – RF A. Johnson – CF Latham – SS Rice – 3B Walker – 1B M. Berry – C Olson – P R. Gonzalez
POR: SS Guerin – 2B Palacios – CF Reece – LF Roberson – 3B Sharp – RF Cavazos – C Thomas – 1B Heart – P Bean

Once more, the Raccoons had a runner (Palacios) thrown out at the plate in the first inning. In turn the hapless Bean was beaten up for three runs in the third inning after a 1-out walk to Berry. This was how things always started for him… Things didn’t stop and a 1-out, 2-run double by Ramiro Gonzalez ejected Bean from the contest, which saw him saddled with six runs. Nominally the Raccoons stayed close with a 2-out, 3-run shot by Chris Roberson in the bottom of the third, but overall they were not in the picture at all. Sergio Vega made his debut in relief, collecting four outs while making an error, and Miguel Lopez in the sixth handed the home run title to Avery Johnson, serving up the Crusader’s 27th home run of the year. Another run came off Wade in the seventh, giving the Crusaders an 8-3 lead, but the Raccoons would come back to bring the tying run to the plate with two down in the eighth. Cavazos had hit a 2-run homer, and after Kent singled, Gonzalez was removed for the right-hander Alex Byrd. We countered with Al Martin hitting for McLaughlin in the #9 hole, and Martin plated Kent with a double. However, Concie grounded out here, and we’d have to wait for another chance in the ninth against Leonardo Sosa. We got it, delivered by Sosa himself when he bungled a grounder by Miguel Ramirez with one out. Roberson was the tying run at the plate, singled to left, and then Sharp hit a single to right in a full count, plating Ramirez. The winning runs were on base for Cavazos, who lined a 2-0 pitch to right, but right to Avery John- (squeals) IT DROPS! He dropped it! And Roberson scores! Oh my - …!!! Gasp!! Chris Parker hit for an 0-4 Mark Thomas to counter Sosa now, and yes, Parker can’t get a pinch hit without donating a kidney first, but a sac fly will be enough. Turned out, the Crusaders weren’t pitching to him at all, and decided to try their luck with Jason Kent. The count ran full between him and Sosa and then Kent put on into play, a grounder to the short side of second base, and Gary Rice would – MISS IT!!! HE MISSED IT!!! IT’S INTO CENTERFIELD AND THE RACCOONS WIN IT!!! Palacios 3-5; Reece 2-4; Roberson 4-5, HR, 3 RBI; Sharp 2-5, RBI; Cavazos 2-5, HR, 3 RBI; Kent 2-2, RBI; Martin (PH) 1-1, 2B, RBI; Perez 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K; Vega 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Slight madness broke out at the park, and in the corporate offices where in the absence of Slappy I gave Maud a firm hug, which she didn’t appreciate.

We used a whopping 21 players in the contest, but it was totally worth it! And I know none of the three runs in the ninth were earned (or even deserved) BUT WE WON IT!!!

Game 3
NYC: LF M. Ortíz – C Olson – CF Gonzales – 3B Rush – SS Walker – 1B T. Mullins – RF Burne – 2B F. Adams – P Sandoval
POR: SS Guerin – 2B Palacios – CF Reece – LF Roberson – 1B Martin – RF Cavazos – 3B M. Ramirez – C Thomas – P Ford

Palacios homered in the first, but made a huge throwing error in the second inning to bring the score to 1-1 early, and in the third it was Guerin to make a catastrophic error and the Crusaders scored their gift runner again to take a 2-1 lead. Not enough that Ralph Ford pitched pretty underwhelmingly and appeared in need of a St Bernard’s with lots of pitches taken for deep outs, but the defense was actively sabotaging him. Bottom 3rd, Neil Reece had a foul pop caught by Bob Rush to starve two runners in scoring position, and in the next inning, Albert Martin’s triple(!) didn’t lead to a run, either. Ford pitched eight innings on four hits (a feat largely attributable to the outfielders rather than himself OR THE INFIELDERS), but was still trailing 2-1 when he was hit for to lead off the bottom 8th. And then Parker hit for him, grounded to short, and the ball struck Steven Walker in the chest. Parker was safe. Reversal of fortunes? Concie singled, Palacios singled. Three men on, no outs, and here we bring Reece, Roberson, and Martin. We got this! Warm up Nordahl! Reece flew out to shallow left. Well, we got Roberson. Roberson flew out to a little less shallow left, enabling Parker to score to tie the game. Well. Martin grounded out. Sit down Nordahl. We brought Bruno for the ninth, teasing the Crusaders into using the home run leader off the bench to hit for Walker (a strange thing in itself) and he grounded out. Never mind. Mark Berry hit for Mullins, homered, Bruno issued a walk, and when Diaz came in, the gates really opened when Alan Breach drove a howling liner up the right field line on an 0-2 pitch. Cavazos played the double off the wall, while Derek Burne rounded third and went home. Cavazos fired in, Palacios with the relay – OUT at home! And Thomas fires to third, where Alan Breach is heading – OUT at third!!!! And here comes Sosa again, 3-2 in the bottom 9th. This time however, there was no reversal of fortunes. Bruno had lost it indeed. 3-2 Crusaders. Guerin 2-4; Palacios 2-4, HR, RBI; Ford 8.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 K and 1-2;

Win one on dumb errors, lose one on dumb errors. In the end, everything comes up .500, I guess.

Raccoons (61-79) @ Loggers (89-51) – September 7-9, 2001

Here comes that #1 offense again. 711 runs (or almost 5.1 per game) is something the Raccoons pitching staff will have trouble to stink up against. Despite the discrepancy, we have held our ground against the Loggers this year, going 7-8 so far. In this series, we could match our win total from last year with three weeks to spare, or we could be loaded with a definite losing record for this year. Which was more likely? Humm…

Projected matchups:
Randy Farley (7-10, 4.48 ERA) vs. Marc Padgett (14-4, 3.46 ERA)
Cipriano Miranda (7-13, 3.79 ERA) vs. Vernon Robertson (19-9, 3.60 ERA)
Nick Brown (2-2, 4.55 ERA) vs. Millard Wilson (5-8, 4.30 ERA)

This is a giant power battle going on. Five players with 20 homers on the year are in this series. We have Palacios (21) and Martin (23), they have Mark Hall (23), Jorge Cruz (22), and Bakile Hiwalani (20).

Game 1
POR: 2B Palacios – RF Kent – CF Reece – 1B Martin – LF Cavazos – 3B Sharp – SS McLaughlin – C Fifield – P Farley
MIL: 2B B. Hernandez – CF Fletcher – RF C. Ramirez – LF Hiwalani – 3B M. Hall – 1B R. Morales – C M. Vela – SS J. Cruz – P Padgett

The score through three was 1-1, and in the top 4th the Coons loaded them up with one out, but now had McLaughlin batting. He grounded hard to short, and just barely beat out the throw from Hernandez to first to plate a run. Fifield grounded out. In the bottom of the inning, Farley had two out and nobody on before surrendering three straight singles to get the score tied again at two. More offense was coming through for the Critters, with two on and one out in the top 5th. Reece made an out to shallow center, but Martin ripped a double up the left field line, plating both Palacios and Kent to make it a 4-2 game, and Cavazos made it 5-2 with a single before Sharp struck out. Farley however couldn’t hang on to ANY lead, it seemed. A leadoff single by Padgett set the Loggers in motion right away. Hernandez singled, stole second to close in on Concie in the swipes race, and the runs started to come in, one on Fletcher’s groundout, and one on a wild pitch. Farley was swamped and yanked when the Loggers tied the score in the same inning. Bruno got the final out, starving two more runners on base. For the Issuecoons, McLaughlin hit a let’s-go single in the top 6th. Fifield grounded out, and then Parker hit for Bruno and also rammed an RBI double past Hiwalani. Palacios was walked intentionally, with Padgett still in the game. Kent struck out, and they left Padgett in to face Neil Reece with two down, but that turned out to be a mistake. Reece fired from the big cannon, a no-doubt home run to dead center, ramping the score to 9-5! That seemed comfy, but so had the 5-2 lead. The bullpen would however do a good job from here. Vega had a scoreless inning, as did Martinez. Wade issued a leadoff walk in the eighth, but the runner got erased on a double play, and then Joly appeared in the ninth. The score was still 9-5, with the Coons not utilizing their own chances. Joly also issued a walk with one out to Tom Johnson, then struck out Hernandez – and Fifield zinged to first, where Hernandez had been off the bag and now ended the game when Sharp tagged him out. 9-5 Coons! Reece 2-5, HR, 3 RBI; Cavazos 2-5, RBI; Sharp 2-5; Parker (PH) 1-1, 2B, RBI;

Whatever happened to Randy? He was so great the last three years.

In his last 21 PH appearances, Chris Parker is batting .333; too bad he started the year 0-29 when coming off the bench.

Concie came into the game late, walked, and stole his 33rd bag, keeping the distance to Hernandez at two.

Game 2
POR: SS Guerin – 2B Palacios – CF Reece – LF Roberson – 1B Martin – RF Cavazos – 3B Sharp – C Thomas – P Miranda
MIL: 2B B. Hernandez – CF Fletcher – RF C. Ramirez – LF Hiwalani – 3B M. Hall – C L. Ramirez – 1B J. Cruz – SS T. Johnson – P Robertson

Concie’s 10th triple of the year got the Coons off to a good start with Reece, who turned 35 today, and Martin landing RBI hits for a quick 2-0 lead. The Loggers were undeterred, pummeling Miranda right away. They got their two runs back, loaded them up, and with two out Tom Johnson flew to deep right – but Cavazos caught it. Oh dear. In the top 2nd, Robertson drilled Mark Thomas, who had to leave the game with an injury. The Coons spoke with their bats and slapped Robertson for three runs in the next inning. Here’s that 5-2 lead again! The comeback started instantly, with Cristo Ramirez reaching and Mark Hall drilling a 2-run homer in the bottom 3rd. Miranda was struggling badly, Chris Roberson homered in the top 5th, and Miranda still couldn’t get through five. The first two Loggers reached in the bottom 5th, and Manuel Martinez replaced Miranda. Removing the starter didn’t help, as Martinez allowed both runners to score, loaded them up, and then couldn’t do anything with a 2-out grounder by Rodrigo Morales, who hit for Robertson. Infield single, 7-6 home team. The Loggers went out to 9-6 against Joly and Defrese, who made a throwing error, in the sixth, yet amazingly the Raccoons pulled back in the top 7th. Al Martin struck out, appearing to end the inning, but the home plate umpire came out waving and called catcher’s interference. That sent Martin to first base, and the Raccoons reeled off an RBI double by Cavazos, an RBI single by Sharp, a single by Defrese, and then a pinch-hit RBI single by McLaughlin! That tied the score, and while Guerin flew to deep left, Hiwalani caught that one to end the frame. And here comes Daniel Miller to pitch the bottom 7th, facing Tom Johnson, and Johnson homered right away… The Loggers would get a pair on with one out and a 3-0 count to Cristo Ramirez, but Ramirez jabbed at it and popped out to Reece in shallow center, and Miller wiggled out with only one run charged against him. Palacios led off the top 8th with a double off John Hatt, Reece grounded out, but Roberson was plunked. Albert Martin grounded wide of Tom Johnson at short, he couldn’t get it, and we were tied as Palacios came home, TEN-TEN! For no change, we left a pair on, but for a nice change, Scotty pitched a scoreless inning. Top 9th, we got Defrese on with no outs and had him bunted to second, but couldn’t get him home, but Wade held on to send the contest to extras. Offensively, the Coons failed to get a break. Wade walked Fletcher to start the bottom 10th, bringing in Diaz for the left-handed Cristo Ramirez, who singled anyway, because Diaz. Nordahl came in, but this one had gotten away already. Miguel Vela singled the Loggers off to celebrate. 11-10 Loggers. Palacios 3-6, 2B; Reece 2-5, BB, 3B, 2 RBI; Roberson 2-5, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Martin 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Defrese 3-4; McLaughlin (PH) 1-1, RBI;

Oh for crying out loud!

Game 3
POR: SS Guerin – 2B Palacios – CF Reece – 1B Martin – LF Cavazos – RF Kent – C Defrese – 3B Gabriel – P Brown
MIL: RF C. Ramirez – 2B B. Hernandez – LF Hiwalani – C L. Ramirez – CF Fletcher – 1B R. Morales – 3B J. Cruz – SS T. Johnson – P M. Wilson

The Coons came out swinging, battering Millard Wilson for three runs on five hits, four of those for extra bases, in the first three innings. Brown however would not have an easy cruise like he had on Tuesday, getting whipped early enough with a 2-out, 2-run double by Bartolo Hernandez in the bottom 3rd that brought the score to 3-2. Brown became the first pitcher in a brown shirt to make it through five innings in this series, but his lead didn’t. Jorge Cruz hit a leadoff triple in the bottom 5th, which was bad enough. Then Brown struck out Johnson and retired Wilson on a soft grounder. And then Cristo Ramirez singled to center. Hernandez reached on an error, but Nick struck out Hiwalani to keep it at 3-3. The Loggers continued to hit him with their bats. Two out, two in scoring position in the bottom 6th, we walked Johnson intentionally to get to the pitcher, but here came Mark Hall to pinch-hit. Brown faced him anyway – AND STRUCK HIM OUT! With Juan Gomez pitching, the Raccoons put Gabriel and Guerin onto the corners with one out – until Guerin was picked off first. The play was ferociously disputed by manager Lance Cox, but to no avail. Palacios’ slap single plated Gabriel, but the inning fizzled out on Reece’s groundout. Perez and Miller combined for a scoreless seventh, keeping the 4-3 lead alive. With this series rich on scoring and bullpen activity, we had to roll a die here, and we left Miller in for the eighth, waiting for a left-handed pinch-hitter to appear – or, you know, calamity to strike. Like Fletcher singling to get the inning underway, and then Martin mishandling Morales’ bunt for another single. Then something good happened in this roller coaster series, with Cruz hitting into a 4-6-3, and now it was a runner on third, two down, and Tom Johnson batting. Daniel Miller assured the pitching coach he’d get him, then threw his first pitch past Defrese. Bubba Cannon pitched the top 9th, a southpaw. He drilled Defrese right away. Sharp hit for Gabriel and got Defrese forced out. Then Roberson grounded up the middle where Hernandez made an error. Two on, one out, Concie up, but he hit into a force at second. Palacios didn’t counter Cannon, but was our best bet, and he took the first pitch to shallow right. Hernandez leapt, but couldn’t get it! Defrese scored on a terrible blooper, before Reece flew out to right. So, it’s Nordahl time, with no cushion. Oh my. One ball to Miguel Vela. Two balls. Three balls to Vela. Oh my… Vela then jabbed at the fourth pitch and lifted out to Kent. Cristo Ramirez ran a full count, then struck out swinging, and Nordahl actually got ahead on a batter when facing Hernandez. 1-2 pitch, bit low? Hernandez looked down, then at the ump, who punched him out. 5-4 Critters! Palacios 4-5, 2 RBI; Cavazos 2-4, 2B; Ramirez (PH) 1-1;

Daniel Miller… there aren’t enough palms in the world to bury your face in…

But this was one INTENSE series. Whoah. We have successfully split the season series against the Loggers, nine each. Yes, that’s success for this team!

Mark Thomas has a bruised elbow after being hit by a pitch, and is DTD for a few days.

In other news

September 3 – The Indians will lack the services of C Jose Paraz (.264, 20 HR, 59 RBI) for a week for the 24-year old is suffering from a tight hamstring.
September 9 – NO-HITTER!! San Francisco’s Henry Selph (15-11, 2.86 ERA) sheds nothing but three walks in a 3-0 win of the Bayhawks over the Aces, becoming the first pitcher in ABL history to pitch a second no-hitter! Selph’s other no-hitter came also in September, in 1997, then rolling up the Knights in a Titans uniform. He was also the last non-Raccoon to pitch a no-hitter (Manuel Movonda, 1998; Bob Joly, 2000). While the Aces are no-hit for the first time in franchise history, the Bayhawks can celebrate their third franchise no-no, as Selph joins Rafael Espinoza (1989) and Chris O’Keefe (1991).

Complaints and stuff

The franchise strikeout record that was broken this week had so far been jointly held by Steven Berry (1989), Kisho Saito (1995), and Ralph Ford (2001), who each whiffed a dozen. Early on, I was dreaming of 15, maybe 16, but I’ll take 13. 14 would have been nice, tying for the CL record, which is jointly held by Xavier Mayes (1983), Juan Correa (1983), Bastyao Caixinha (1988), Martin Garcia (1993), Aaron Anderson (2000), and Chang-se Park (2000).

We might get Clyde Brady back as early as the next weekend (although it’s more likely that he will return at the start of the week after that).

Neil Reece reached 750 RBI this week. Not that that is a very special milestone, but I wanted to throw it out. No Raccoon has ever reached 1,000 RBI for the team, however, and only three players have more RBI’s for us than Neil has. You might guess them easily, but they are Daniel Hall (980), Mark Dawson (869), and Tetsu Osanai (865). The order for those four players is the same in home runs for the franchise, with Hall (223) leading Dawson (221), Osanai (168), and Reece (153). Career numbers however put Dawson and Osanai both over Hall, who never played anywhere else, and Dawson had a career with the Buffaloes before coming here, and Osanai was a terror on the Canadiens for a few years.

Now, Neil is aging. He might not make it to Dan The Man’s numbers overall (but will be paid princely during a failed attempt regardless), but he should take out Dan’s franchise hits mark of 1,886. He has to make up 226 hits to get there, and he has a very good shot at 2,000, being under contract for three more years. Looking at his fielding statistics, he is letting up already. Through 1999, he was A-MA-ZING. Last year, he missed most of the season, so the numbers are inconclusive, but this year he will only gain 0.5 WAR from defense, it seems, and he usually got 1.5 to 2.5 from there. Well, he DID turn 35 this week... He has not made an error yet, though, and has a dozen assists, of which he had never had more than seven.

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Service announcement: I’ll be out of town tomorrow and there won’t be an update. Not sure on Tuesday yet. So, dismal baseball might only continue on Wednesday.