Portland Raccoons (ABL)

[Questdog]

It is sad watching a dead man wonder around aimlessly......do you know what Testu was when he was growing up in Japan?.....he was a youth in Asia.....it would be merciful if someone re-introduced him to the concept......

[Westheim]

Vern Kinnear had torn a hamstring in the last game in Boston, and was put on the 15-day DL. He should be back late in the month. Meanwhile we called up outfielder Chih-tui Jin from AAA, the 165th overall pick (by us) in the 1988 draft. He was a switch hitter with neat batting stats, although he didn’t hit for much power. He was as far as I could be bothered to remember the first Taiwanese-born player to take the field for the Furballs.

Daniel Hall notified me on the way outta Boston that he was keen on an extension. Hum. Well, Dan. Let’s see if you can out-hit your weight. Which gets more and more difficult with that ass of yours getting bigger every day.

Raccoons (13-11) @ Canadiens (16-8) – May 3-5, 1993

The Canadiens had surpassed the Titans in having the top offense in the Continental League while we had been in business in Boston, so things weren’t going to get any easier any time soon. We would also face the meat of their rotation.

Vernon Robertson seemed to have been around forever (and had debuted with the Canadiens in 1984) and had a neat start to his season with a 2.45 ERA and 2-1 record. He surrendered Neil Reece’s first home run of the season in the first inning, counting for two after Hall had walked. Kisho Saito started for us and again was whacked early – four runs in the first. Oh just why… Saito surrendered another run in the third – singles were falling in everywhere. Zero hard contact, just tons of rollers and bloopers nobody got to (and an error by Osanai). Down 5-2, Salazar, Hall, and Reece loaded the bags with no outs in the top 6th. Higgins hit an RBI single, and Moreno and Vinson managed productive RBI groundouts that tied the game. Osanai was put on intentionally for whatever reason, bringing up Saito. O-Mo pinch-hit for him but grounded out. The groin was still not right, but a semi-healthy O-Mo on first was better than Osanai in a tied game. Bottom 8th. Lagarde issued a leadoff walk to Carlos Quintela, who instantly set out to steal. Vinson’s throw was into center field, and once Quintela scored, the Raccoons were doomed. 6-5 Canadiens. Reece 3-4, HR, 2 RBI; Martinez 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Jin made his debut as a pinch-hitter for Proctor in the eighth, but grounded out. Ben O’Morrissey’s 16-game hitting streak ended with an 0-2 day. And the headaches were becoming more and more intense.

Game 2. Jason Turner was perfect the first time through the Canadiens, while the Coons left them on the corners twice in the first three frames. Top 4th, Rodriguez and Osanai led off with a walk and a single. Turner was supposed to bunt them over, looked very bad, then swung at a 2-2 pitch and grounded into a double play. A loud scream came from the Raccoons dugout, before Bobby Quinn sent a bloop into shallow right that we probably didn’t deserve at this point, but it was an RBI single. Walks to Salazar and Hall loaded the bases before Reece grounded out. Turner gave up two hits in the fourth, but the Canadiens didn’t score. The Coons removed pitcher Dave Beck from the game in the fifth with only one run on eight hits conceded. The Coons scored two runs from 12 hits through six innings while Turner had so far been quite good. He allowed two singles to start the bottom 6th, before the bottom fell out after a Moreno error. The Canadiens went on to score three unearned runs in the inning. Top 7th. Bases loaded with one out, Quinn grounded to short, 6-4-3.

******* ******* ****!!!!

3-2 Canadiens. Quinn 2-5, RBI; Hall 2-4, BB; Rodriguez 2-3, BB, 2B, RBI; Vinson (PH) 1-1, 2B; Osanai 4-4; Turner 6.0 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, L (2-3);

Raccoons had 15 hits. Canadiens six. POR player LOB: 27; POR team LOB: 17. I’m gonna ******* kill you all…

Things were to get better now. Mark Allen returned from the DL, which enabled us to send Matt Duncan into the desert without water and without a trail of bread crumbs to lead him back home. But if we lose another game on some dumb ****’s error, I will certainly go completely berserk.

Salazar got a day off (Higgins played short), as both O-Mo and “Icon” returned to the starting lineup. Chih-tui Jin made his debut in the starting nine, too. Probably for the first time, the Raccoons fielded four switch hitters (Higgins, Allen, Vinson, Jin). Scott Wade allowed the two first batters to get on in the first, second (four even), and third innings. The Canadiens raped him for six runs. Yet, he didn’t lose the game. Down 6-0, the Coons scored a run in the fourth, then had the bases loaded in the sixth with one out and Osanai at the plate, a recipe for a double play if there was one. Osanai hurled one deep to right center, and when the defense couldn’t dig it out, it became a bases-clearing double. Daniel Miller – of all people – batted in Osanai with a single and an error by the defense. That still made only a 6-5 game – behind the Canadiens. Top 8th, Vinson got on to lead off, and with two outs was on third and Salazar on first after entering as pinch-hitter. Higgins was at the plate and fell 0-2 behind against Dave Moore, then singled to left and the game was tied. Could we – no, O-Mo grounded out. The Canadiens left the winning run on third base in the bottom 9th, sending the game to overtime, and again left the winning run on third in the 10th, where the Raccoons lost Albert Matthews to injury and had to throw in Grant West. Both teams left two men on in the 11th. Two on, no outs, West bunted into a double play in the top 12th, then lost the game in the bottom of the inning. 7-6 Canadiens. Reece 2-4, 2 BB; Vinson 2-5, BB, 2B, RBI; Jin 2-5, BB; Miller 2.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K; Martinez 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

In other news

May 4 – SFW 1B Claude Martin (.394, 3 HR, 10 RBI) goes 6-7 in a 13-inning win of the Warriors over the Pacifics. Martin is the 22nd player to have a 6-hit game in the ABL, and the first since Alejandro Olvera in 1990 to do so. The Warriors previously celebrated a 6-hit game through Chris “Missing” Lynch’s bat in 1979, then also beating the Pacifics.
May 4 – IND OF R.J. Stinton (.288, 2 HR, 4 RBI) seems to be out for the year with a broken knee.

Complaints and stuff

I may not be around for some time.

[Questdog]

If May's too early for me to get peeved and trade all my players, then May is too early for you to shoot all yours in the head.....

[Westheim]

After having been raped by every other game I tried for the last few days, I have come full circle.

Life is neat.

Raccoons (13-14) @ Wolves (16-12) – May 7-9, 1993

We were crawling back down south, past Portland, and into Salem, where a hungry pack o’ Wolves was already waiting, knives and forks ready. The Wolves had by far the best pitching in the Federal League, having allowed just 90 runs in 28 games. Their offense was slow. A string of 16-inning 2-1 games was more than likely.

In Miguel Lopez and Luis Guzman, pitchers faced each other with identical 4-1 records and 2.40ish ERA’s. Nobody could have guessed that the game was scoreless through four with a grand total of one hit surrendered (by Lopez). Guzman was perfect through 13 batters before Daniel Hall shoved a single up the middle in the fifth. Vinson added a single, and Osanai would have made an out if 3B Cameron King hadn’t thrown the ball away. Hall scored an unearned run, and Lopez added another run himself with an RBI groundout before a K to Salazar ended the inning. Lopez didn’t run into trouble until the seventh, but like so often a stolen base (by Salvador Vargas) off Vinson got the opponent moving. Paul Connolly’s RBI double put the tying run in scoring position with nobody out. A walk later, 1B Juan Valentín grounded into a double play. Connolly on third, .172 batter Shoji Murakami at the plate. Lopez’ 0-1 pitch was hit to left, but Hall caught it. Lagarde and West each made quick work of the batters in the last two innings, and while Glenn Johnston couldn’t lift a bat, he at least ended the eighth with a wonderful catch. 2-1 Raccoons. Lopez 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, W (5-1);

We had two (2) hits. 50% of our six base runners were results of errors by the Wolves, and the walk was an intentional one to Johnston in the #8 hole leading up to Lopez’ RBI groundout. We will thus give young Lopez a gentle pat on the butt, chalk this up in our much-neglected W column, and then pretend it has never happened.

We met Robert Vázquez again in game 2. He had only made three starts so far as #5 guy for them, but was 2-0 with a 1.69 ERA. He faced Beato. The Raccoons went on to explode in the middle of Vázquez’ face in the third inning, where they more than made up a 1-0 deficit. Daniel Hall’s first homer of the season counted for three and capped a 6-run inning that had started with a 1-out double by Beato(!) and had gotten out of hand badly, quickly. Vázquez went into the fifth, where he was charged with two more runs as the Coons made it 9-1 on him and reliever Juan Guerrero. Beato went into the seventh, where he loaded the bags with two down. Martinez was the go-to guy in this situation, but King’s 3-run double made me re-evaluate his position. 9-4 Raccoons. O’Morrissey 2-3, BB, 2B, RBI; Reece 2-5, 2 RBI; Hall 2-5, HR, 2B, 3 RBI;

Game 3 had Master Kisho against Ramón Sotelo (1-4, 5.50 ERA), so chances were good for a sweep, which would be our third over the Wolves after 1984 and 1988 (which were our two most recent losing seasons). O-Mo took care of business with a solo shot in the first inning to give Kisho a 1-0 lead. Unfortunately, the Raccoons’ offense dried up quick. While Neil Reece wasn’t batting for too much at this point, he started a double play from deep center in the bottom 2nd, catching Connolly’s fly ball, and then nailed Vargas as he tried to advance from first. Saito was pinch-hit for in the top 7th after six shaky shutout innings. Lagarde put two men on in the bottom 8th. Lefty Benny Carver was sent to pinch-hit with the runners on the corners and two down. Grant West entered early. After walking Carver, he allowed two hits, and one batter reached on an error. Four runs scored. The Raccoons had two leadoff walks off closer Joshua Bernard in the ninth, and never scored. 4-1 Wolves. Five hits. Salazar 2-4, 3B; Saito 6.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 1 K; Martinez 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

Crawling back home. I had tears in my eyes. Again no win for Kisho. What else does he have to do?

Injury news on Albert Matthews came late, but eventually came: hamstring strain, out until the All Star break or so. Not that he’d go there. We called up 22-year old righty Tony Vela from St. Petersburg. Vela was a former international discovery from Venezuela. Nasty curve, which he could control better.

Raccoons (15-15) vs. Cyclones (16-14) – May 11-13, 1993

Ranking average in about all important categories had the Cylcones range in the middling middle of the FL East. Their bullpen probably was a bit weaker than average. But who on the Coons wasn’t weak?

Game 1. The Raccoons left runner on third base in the third and fourth innings, while Jason Turner was – wildly – no-hitting the opposition. He did that into the fifth, where SS Chris Boyle doubled over Reece. The second, the Cyclones had a runner in scoring position, they scored him with a single by 3B Marcos Velasco. This Velasco, as replacement-level as hitters come, later homered off Turner in the seventh. Turner was pinch-hit for with Mark Allen in the bottom 7th with Johnston on second base and one out. He brought Johnston in, although it really took a Cyclones error to get the job done. Bottom 8th, down 2-1. Reece hit a leadoff double and advanced to third when Hall grounded out. Higgins fell 1-2 behind against highly serviceable Ricardo Torres and his 141 career wins, then singled up the middle to tie the game. Higgins stole second and scored on Vinson’s single to right. A lead! Now Grant West had to conserve it, and sat down the side in order on his way to recover from the spill in Salem. 3-2 Coons. Reece 3-4, 2B; Turner 7.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 3 K;

Scott Wade came into the middle game with a 1.88 WHIP and 6.27 ERA. It was now time to get his stuff together. He turned in three decent innings before he was blown up again to lead off the fourth. Jose Nava doubled, Dan Morris homered, almost eating up the Coons’ early 3-0 lead. Our source of offense had been Neil Reece, driving in all three runs with a homer and a double. The 3-2 lead wasn’t meant to last, either, as Wade was torn up for good in the sixth with three more doubles. That also lost the game, since the Raccoons failed to get men on at all in the last few innings. Vela made his debut in the lost cause, and allowed a run when he threw a wild pitch. 6-3 Cyclones. O’Morrissey 2-4, 2B; Reece 2-4, HR, 2B, 3 RBI; Miller 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

The agony continued, apparently, not only for Scotty, who had completely lost his path. Was it time to call up a starter and move Wade to the pen to recover? Or was it time to shoot him and dump him into the Willamette?

Game 3 saw the Coons take another early 3-0 lead off Vicente Perez in the second inning, with five hits in total in the inning. By shutting out the Cyclones over the first four frames, Miguel Lopez pushed his ERA below 2 on this season, while we were hoping for some more offense, which never came, since Perez scattered only three hits over the next five innings. Meanwhile, Lopez clicked Cyclones off at a rapid pace, only allowing a few singles. Bottom 8th: Vinson walked with two outs, and Osanai singled up the middle between converging middle infielders. That brought up Lopez with a chance to open up the game, but Lopez was still tossing a shutout and wasn’t looking remotely endangered to lose in the ninth. So, Lopez was sent to bat, and flew out to right. West was made ready, but Lopez remained in the game. West never came in, as Lopez removed the last three batters on just five pitches. 3-0 Coons! Salazar 2-4, RBI; Hall 2-4, 2B; Osanai, 2-4, RBI; Lopez 9.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K, W (6-1);

Raccoons (17-16) vs. Indians (16-19) – May 14-16, 1993

This would be a strange series in that we were scheduled to face three southpaw starters in Arthur Young (3-1, 3.18 ERA), Neil Stewart (3-3, 3.59 ERA), and Jesus Lopez (0-4, 3.79 ERA), something that didn’t take place all too often (and I think hasn’t for years). It would be on our right-handed batters to crack into that strong left-handed pitching. Meanwhile, the Indians were 10th in the CL in runs scored. Just like in the old days.

Salazar was rested in game 1 with Higgins manning short, and Vinson also had a day off here. While Daniel Hall started the game batting fifth and playing left, he lasted all of two AB’s before making a catch and hurting a rib cage muscle. Offense was slow again, the Indians leading 2-1 after three, a score that remained the same for a painfully long time. The Coons had their best chance in the seventh with the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position, when Higgins popped out to second to waste the inning. “Pooky” Beato gave his all for eight innings, whiffing eight batters, and still trailed until Neil Reece ripped one to lead off the bottom 8th, 2-2. “Icon” Allen walked after him, but Jin got him erased on a grounder. Quinn struck out. Two down, go-ahead run on first, and the backup catcher up. Should we go to Vinson? Gaaah, no. Rodriguez went out and drilled a double, which was just deep enough for Jin to round the bags and come home! Grant West got two quick outs in the ninth, then gave up two singles. Cecilio Riano came out to pinch-hit for the Indians, and grounded to Allen, who got a bad jump at the ball, got to it late, made a weak throw to Moreno at first – OUT!! 3-2 Raccoons! PHEW!!! Allen 1-2, 2 BB; Rodriguez 1-4, 2B, RBI; Osanai 2-3, RBI; Beato 8.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 8 K, W (3-0);

Daniel Hall will be out for a month with a strained rib cage muscle. What a farewell year he’s having.

With Vern Kinnear’s return still a week away, our outfield was losing all of it’s teeth. Jin was batting .100ish, too. Gah. 25-year old Cuban LF/RF Cristián Ortíz was called up. He had negligible defense, but was slugging .554 in AAA.

I also tried to throw in a waiver claim for OF Scott Strong, who had been signed to a 2-yr, $1.14M deal by the Wolves just this winter. He was batting .215, but that was more than Jin and Johnston had, possibly even combined. However, our budget room was insufficient for this. We’re talking about less than $100k missing (before adding Ortíz to the 40-man roster). Strong is a complete package with great track history and we had good results early on with Mark Allen, who comes off a career-worst year as well, and ALSO with the Wolves. Must be something in the air in Salem.

Ortíz was in the lineup the next day against the Indians in game 2, batting seventh ahead of Osanai.

Luis Maldonado led off game 2 with a bunt base hit and although Kisho Saito struck out two, Maldonado came in to score in the inning. Now everybody got to watch some fish slowly suffocating on dry land, two feet away from the ocean: the Raccoons offense. No-hit into the fourth, they left Reece in scoring position on third base (after he reached on an error). Maldonado and his annoying speed (and ability to twitch his uniform into Saito’s pitch) brought about the 2-0 run in the top 6th, moving the game out of reach. Bottom 6th: Higgins led off with a single, with Reece grounding up the middle on a hit-and-run. Ex-Coon Antonio Gonzalez tried to get Reece at first, but he was safe. And then they played themselves out of the inning with foul outs and pop ups, as hitting, pitching, fielding, and some mental sanity went down the drain in the latter innings, including Osanai harming Saito with a grounder getting right past him, Vinson allowing a passed ball, and Vinson NOT getting pitcher Neil Stewart as he stole third base. Stewart tossed a 5-hitter. 4-0 Indians. Higgins 2-4; Reece 2-4, 2B;

A shoddy first by the Indians (including a HBP and an error) gave the Coons and Jason Turner an early 2-0 lead in the rubber game. Turner couldn’t hold on, though, and the Indians tied the game with solo jacks by Maldonado (annoying) and MATT BROWN (INFURIATING) by the fourth. The fifth saw Turner issue a walk, a double, and another walk with one out. Victor Cornett’s single through between Salazar and O-Mo broke the tie and only Quinn terminating Vincente Rodriguez at home avoided an even worse outcome than a 3-2 deficit after five. Turner was toast after six innings of pitching in 3-ball counts and was on the hook. Reece hit a leadoff double in the bottom 6th. Well, that should work out well. Quinn’s 1-out single moved him to third, where Vinson and Higgins left him to die. They also left two on in the eighth. 3-2 Indians. Salazar 2-4; Quinn 2-4;

In other news

May 6 – With a first-inning single in a 7-3 win over the Warriors, LAP RF/LF Anibal Rodriguez (.294, 2 HR, 5 RBI) has a 20-game hitting streak going.
May 8 – As the Bayhawks beat the Pacifics, 5-2, they also beat Anibal Rodriguez, who goes 0-4, ending his 21-game hitting streak.
May 10 – IND C Mamoru Sato (.233, 2 HR, 18 RBI) will miss up to three months with a strained hamstring.
May 13 – LVA 1B/2B Lowell Allen (.395, 0 HR, 8 RBI) joins the 2,000 hits-club with a leadoff double in the fourth inning off Bob MacGruder of the Thunder. The Aces lose 7-2, but the 36-year old Allen has entered the history books as the 14th man to cross the threshold of 2,000 hits. Three more first basemen could complete the achievement this year.

Complaints and stuff

Miguel Lopez needed only 91 pitches for his first career complete game and shutout (at age 24)! Given that his career only encompasses 19 games (all starts), he’s been quite impressive so far: 11-5, 2.71 ERA, 122.2 IP, 96 K; only that 1.30 WHIP is a bit high, but it comes mainly from his stint with us two years ago, where he made ten starts and walked 28 in 59 innings. He has walked 15 men in the 63.2 innings since (last and this year).

And that’s it with the good news.

More and more I get the impression that our title last year had two and only two components: offensive seasons way beyond their actual capabilities by Dan The Man and Neil Reece, with shutdown pitching in the postseason. That’s about what we had then.

We have zero of this now. Now we are a .500 team.

Still seven hours of weekend left. If I just knew what to play and get-raped-by now.

[Westheim]

As we’re hovering right in the middle of our 2-week homestand, our offense has slid down to t-9th in the CL with 155 runs scored. We can’t get the bats going. Of course it doesn’t help if the bats are injured, either.

Raccoons (18-18) vs. Loggers (18-19) – May 17-20, 1993

Being just half a game ahead of the Loggers was already bad enough. Finding that they ranked ahead of us in most offensive categories was probably disillusioning, too. Playing a 4-set with the CL South-leading Condors looming behind them was scaring.

Scott Wade and Scott Murphy in game 1 combined for an ERA over 14, so maybe this was a day for offense. Rain curtailed their outings early, though, but Wade lived up to expectations. While he did strike out five in three innings, he surrendered three runs on seven hits and a wild pitch. He just was not getting better, not even a lick. The Raccoons didn’t get a hit until the fourth inning, then loaded the bases with no outs, THEN LEFT THEM LOADED with Quinn popping out and Vinson hitting into a double play. I blacked out there for an inning or two, for I was convulsing so intensely. When I came back to clarity, it was a 3-1 game, Allen scoring O-Mo on a sac fly in the sixth. Bottom 7th: a 2-out infield single by Chih-tui Jin got things going. I had wanted Jackie Lagarde to pitch the last three innings in the lost cause, but now pinch-hit with Glenn Johnston, who broke an 0-10 PH spell to start the season with a single to left. Salazar came up, grounded to Chun-mei Liang at short, which would have been the end, if Liang hadn’t thrown wildly past 1B Drake Evans. Jin was awarded home, and the go-ahead run was in scoring position for O-Mo, who walked. Reece also worked a full count, then flew to deep left, but into an out. I passed out once more, which was unfortunate, since I missed the comeback in the eighth, where the Raccoons scored two runs on Allen and Quinn doubles and a Johnston sac fly. 4-3 Coons. O’Morrissey 1-2, 2 BB, 2B; Allen 2-3, 2B, RBI; Johnston (PH) 1-1, RBI; Miller 3.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

It’s probably not fair, but Scott Wade’s potentially last start for the Raccoons is scheduled for the Condors series. He’s got nothing at this point, shooting steadily for a 2.00 WHIP and 7.00 ERA.

Matt Higgins hadn’t made too many starts at second base since Mark Allen’s return from the DL, but the May Allen was not the April Allen and so Higgins started in game 2, which was a good thing. Following a 2-out triple by Jorge Salazar in the bottom 3rd, Higgins broke the scoreless tie with a 2-run homer to left center, his first cherry of the year. Miguel Lopez pitched extraordinarily well, fanning nine over seven innings. He allowed only an unearned run for which Salazar was to blame for a throwing error on his part. Since the Coons were still lame at the plate that meant an all-but-secure 3-1 lead with Lopez exiting. While they didn’t do anything terrifying after that, at least the pen held up, Proctor, Martinez, and West ending the game without another Logger getting close to home. 3-1 Coons. Salazar 2-3, BB, 3B; Higgins 1-3, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Lopez 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 9 K, W (7-1);

Miguel Lopez improved to 7-1 with a 1.57 ERA, both marks ranking first in the ABL. Not bad for a #4 slot, first-full-year guy. He shares the wins lead with CIN Mark Burt, while the next-closest pitcher in ERA is Sioux Falls’ Aaron Anderson with a 2.28 ERA mark at age 22.

Game 3, could the third time be the charm as well? Salazar sat out against 21-year old lefty Martin Garcia (4-1, 3.40 ERA), while Raimundo Beato went out for the Furballs. Somehow, “Pooky” had not sucked up a loss so far this season. Beato was strong early on, striking out four in the first three innings (inspired by our youngster, maybe?). O’Morrissey batted leadoff and socked a home run to start the game offensively for the Coons, and when he came up again in the third, tripled to deep right. Ooooh, cycle anyone? The hard parts were done. His chances took a blow in the fifth, when he struck out to end that inning with Osanai on second base. Despite “Pooky” dealin’ storm, he only led 2-0 after five. The top 6th seemed to topple him, as CF Jerry Fletcher led off with a single rolled into right (after bunting foul twice), and 2B Armando Fernandez hitting a double to left. “Pooky” recollected himself and punched out Cristo Ramirez, popped up Drake Evans, and struck out Bob Grant. Wow! The end still came in the eighth, when the Loggers doubled their hit output on the day with three H’s off Beato without him registering an out. Burnett walked Ramirez instead of retiring him, and the Loggers washed over Burnett and Lagarde for four runs. Oh, the agony. Down 4-2, because we are that good, the Coons went down 1-2-3 in the eighth. Mark Allen led off the ninth with a bloop single. With two out, the bases were loaded, but reliever Tony Vela would have been next. Only Rodriguez and Jin were left on the bench, neither batting a lot. Jin was inserted against righty Raúl Ramirez and fouled out. 4-2 Loggers. O’Morrissey 2-4, HR, 3B, RBI; Moreno 1-1; Beato 7.0 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 8 K, L (3-1);

Sinking to 10th in runs scored now. Also sinking in the estimation of our owner, whether we’re actually worth the investment. At least we were able to get Vern Kinnear back from the DL. Ortíz was banned to AAA again, having gone 0-9 here with a .000/.000/.000 slash.

One more against the Loggers. Saito pitched, so we would probably not score at all. Saito was loaded with four runs before a Raccoon ever reached base, allowing three singles to right, a bases-loaded walk, and a run-scoring wild pitch in the second inning alone. O-Mo scored two with a 2-out double in the bottom 3rd, but that still meant a 4-2 deficit. Saito doubled in the fifth and was on third base with one out, when O’Morrissey AND Kinnear both popped out to second base. That was already the last bit of offensive action from this team. Saito went seven innings, left on the hook, was not picked up, and has a losing record again. 4-2 Loggers. Miller 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

This is not the Kisho Saito we know well and love a lot.

This is also an offense nobody can love a bit. Over four games, they had a total of 26 hits and 11 runs against a pitching staff that couldn’t steal a tricycle without balking.

Raccoons (20-20) vs. Condors (26-15) – May 21-23, 1993

The Condors’ had the second-most productive offense in the Continental League. The pitching wasn’t far off. This could easily become a massacre.

The key moment of game 1 could easily have been in the bottom 2nd already. Bases loaded, one out for Osanai in a scoreless game. He hit into an out in left field, bringing in Reece with the go-ahead run. In reality, he killed the inning, since it brought up Jason Turner, who made a quick out. Turner fell behind 2-1 by the fourth, and that was all the damage he allowed while going seven innings. While he for sure was not all bad, he still wasn’t any good, giving Neil Reece his workout in center. The Raccoons were a lesson in harmlessness. John Douglas, whom we had faced umpteen times as a longtime Logger, was not his wildly wild self, instead punching out Coons in strings. He effortlessly held the 2-1 lead through the middle innings, until one pitch eluded him, and that was a 1-out triple to O-Mo in the eighth. Now Kinnear and Reece HAD to do something, and Kinnear took Turner off the hook with a double to left. Reece stepped in and took a checking glance to deep left to see where Kinnear had shoved it into, then did the same. A pair of doubles turned the game around as late as you could stand it. Allen blooped into shallow right, scoring Reece, and went to second on the throw home. Vinson walked with two down, bringing up Osanai with a chance to put the game out of reach. He flew out. West still saved it, 4-2 Coons. Reece 4-4, 2B, RBI; Allen 2-3, BB, RBI; Turner 7.0 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3 K;

When the Raccoons took the field for game 2 and the first inning, Matt Higgins manned first base. Tetsu Osanai’s consecutive starts streak ended, due to OPS’ing .582 and fielding like a quadriplegic, after 1,253 games. Fans were understandably shocked, but I couldn’t stand anymore whatever it was he was doing. Higgins was batting second, ahead of O-Mo, while Kinnear was dropped to seventh for the day (game 3 was against a lefty), and then we’d see on the way outta town.

Yeah, game 2. This was Wade’s last chance before moving to the bullpen. Facing Woody Roberts (5-0, 2.66 ERA) was probably not going to help him. The Coons grounded into double plays in both of the first two innings, but still got two runs off Roberts, including a bases-loaded plunk to Bobby Quinn. Kinnear was one of the double play offenders, but in the third gunned down Paul Theobald at home, keeping the Condors off the board. Theobald led off in the Condors lineup and the second time up had gotten the first hit off Wade, who was by no means stellar, but held the Condors off the scoreboard until the seventh with a 4-0 lead. With one out, Mark Allen made a terrible throwing error that put Bruce Boyle in scoring position. Wade ended up walking Andrés Manuel, which ended his day there. With the tying run in the on-deck circle, you don’t jeopardize what you got, and he was at 98 pitches anyway. Proctor came in, faced two men, and three runs scored. Useless piece of ****. Jackie Lagarde came in to face pinch-hitter Tadanobu Sakaguchi, and got him to ground out, but hurt his ankle falling off the mound. Theobald popped up Martinez’ first pitch to end the inning. 4-3.

(interlude for dose of heart medication)

Great men shine when things look the most dire. With Higgins on second, one out, and the world about to crumble down once more this week, Neil Reece ripped a 460 foot home run in the bottom 7th, giving us a 6-3 lead. Both bullpens lost more feathers in the eighth, but the Raccoons did come out on top in the game, 8-4 Furballs. Salazar 3-5, RBI; Higgins 3-5; Reece 2-4, HR, 4 RBI; Vinson 1-2, 2 BB, 2B; Wade 6.1 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 1 K, W (2-3);

Jackie Lagarde was placed on crutches by the trainer, but had only a mild ankle sprain and should be good to throw off a soap box by Thursday in San Fran or so, and walked again almost normal the next day.

O-Mo was rested in game 3, with Higgins on third. Moreno played first, and Jin made a start in place of a still struggling Kinnear while facing demotion for being terrible.

Reece scored Higgins on a groundout in the first, and then Paul Theobald looked very bad on successive balls in play to him in right. Both Moreno and Jin ended up at second base, giving Jin his first big league RBI. The score was 2-0 for a long time – kudos to Miguel Lopez. The Coons then had runners in scoring position with one out in the bottom 7th. Higgins flew out to left, but Moreno tagged and went home, 3-0. Salazar got on, and then Reece came through with a 2-run double! The game was put away from the Condors’ reach with Lopez not having been in danger since the second inning after issuing three walks in the first two frames combined. He was almost untouchable from there on and didn’t let the Condors threaten a lot in the remaining seven frames, finishing with a 4-hit shutout! 6-0 Coons! Reece 2-4, 2B, 3 RBI; Quinn 3-4, 3B; Moreno 3-4, 2 2B; Lopez 9.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 6 K, W (8-1);

Lopez’ second career shutout comes less than a month after his first. Fantastic!

On the other hand, we lost David Vinson in this game. He came up with discomfort in the shoulder after a throw and was diagnosed with shoulder tendinitis. He will have to hit the DL, but 15 days should do.

In other news

Seems like it was National Boring Week.

Complaints and stuff

Wait. So, we couldn’t scrape together a tiny piece of offense against the Loggers, then sweep the Condors? Wut? Well, I won’t complain about the latter, that much is clear. I’m just puzzled.

No, Tetsu Osanai was not benched to help Wade win a game or look less bad. Wade is one of my darlings, but he will to be moved somewhere where he can do less damage if he plays this way. How to get rid of Osanai? I have no idea.

Vinson’s injury doesn’t necessarily improve the team, since Rodriguez is nowhere near as good as last year, and the AAA guys aren’t really doing much even there. Oh, well. At least we overcame the omnipresent marble column by stowing it in the dugout.

[Westheim]

Third catcher Bob Armstrong was called up from AAA to replace the injured David Vinson, while Jose Rodriguez would make most of the starts over the next two weeks.

Raccoons (23-20) @ Bayhawks (24-19) – May 24-26, 1993

The Bayhawks had a good bullpen and hadn’t given up too many runs overall so far (170, 3rd in CL). Their offense in turn had outpaced the Raccoons’ so far (190 to 184 runs), but not by much.

Neil Reece got a day off in the opener of the series, only his third game not started this season. The Coons faced Pepe Martinez, whose 5.61 ERA and almost 6 BB/9 were probably favorable indicators for opposing hitting, but the Raccoons were not hitters, they were bashers at best, and bashers tend to miss their target. The game was scoreless for long enough that the ejection to San Fran’s Mike Powys in the fourth for arguing strike three was about the highlight. Raimundo Beato tossed seven shutout innings with so-so control and there was still no score, but in the top 8th Martinez finally came apart, walked Higgins and O-Mo, and Mark Allen singled Higgins home. Vern Kinnear’s 2-out, 2-run double let us breath relief, as the bullpen would hold up, and an extra run in the ninth (on bases loaded, no outs, but who am I to complain?) made this a 4-0 win for the Raccoons. Allen 2-5, 2 RBI; Quinn 2-5; Kinnear 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Jin (PH) 1-1; Beato 7.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 8 K, W (4-1);

The Bayhawks quickly moved out 1-0 in the middle game, Pedro Villa hitting a home run off Kisho Saito in the bottom 1st. The Coons bounced back in the third with a 2-run single from Allen. Johnston was thrown out at home to end the top 4th, and Saito allowed a run in the bottom half of the inning that tied the game again. Saito just wasn’t himself here, and then was blown up with two more home runs for a 5-2 deficit in the fifth. The Raccoons never got another runner into scoring position and lost accordingly, 5-2. Rodriguez 2-3; Vela 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K;

And the injury report, our constant friend and companion: Bobby Quinn was hurt on a defensive play in the game. He will miss three to four weeks with a sprained ankle. The organization is running out of outfielders… No less than six of them are on the DL for a variety of calamities. We could not call up an outfielder here, so went with an infielder. 1B Esteban Baldivía, despite not hitting a lot after being hurt early in April, was called up to audition for up to two weeks. Whether I was enjoying him batting .182 or not, Glenn Johnston was now the everyday starter in right, because he at least brought defense out there, which Chih-tui Jin, our lone spare outfielder now, didn’t.

The Bayhawks started the party early in the rubber game, scoring two unearned runs on an O’Morrissey error and a subsequent Pedro Perez double in the first, and then on a 2-run homer by Ennio Sabre in the third inning. 4-0 and the Raccoons hadn’t even touched second base. The Raccoons scoring two, mainly through a Kinnear double, were a short lived renaissance in the fourth inning, since Jason Turner was whacked for two more runs in the bottom 5th. Turner was gone before long. The Raccoons trailed 6-3 into the seventh with an error by Powys allowing leadoff man Johnston to reach base. A single under 2B Pedro Villa’s glove, hit by Armstrong, put two on, and the Coons got a run in on a 1-out RBI groundout by Salazar. O-Mo and Kinnear got on, and now Reece had the chance to turn the game around with the bases loaded. He walked, but Allen grounded out, and the Raccoons remained 6-5 behind. Burnett and Martinez surrendered another run in the bottom 7th, but the Inepticoons wouldn’t have scored anyway. 7-5 Bayhawks. O’Morrissey 2-4, BB, 2B; Kinnear 2-4, BB, 2B, RBI;

Baldivía went 0-3 in his debut, with a double play. Yay, the next Coon superstar HAS BEEN BORN.

The outfield situation was now bad enough that I hit the free agent market, where I found two old friends(?) of us: Bob Arnold and Alejandro Lopez. The former was a Coon in 1990 and 1991, with mixed results. The latter was our first round pick from 1982, who had been traded off as a prospect and was now unemployed. Both had batted .240ish last season. Lopez was willing to take home an offer for a minor league contract. Maybe he would appear for the Raccoons after all?

Whatever the future would bring, Lopez signed on the day after this series and was assigned to AAA to get his bat into shape. We need it. Our offense is ranked 10th in the CL.

Raccoons (24-22) @ Falcons (23-24) – May 28-30, 1993

Strong offense, weak pitching, especially in the rotation. The Falcons weren’t going to go anywhere nice in the long run. Just like the Raccoons.

Neil Reece got Scott Wade a 1-0 lead in the first inning of the opener with an RBI double scoring Salazar. It was all about defense from there with Wade and Carlos Castro both coming in with ERA’s of six or more. Wade held on until the sixth, then was knocked out on three straight hits, tying the game with one out. Burnett came in, but couldn’t keep the second run from scoring, as 2B Juan Barrón scored on Djordje Nedic’ sac fly. Wade didn’t become stuck with the L though, when Kinnear got on in the top 7th and successive fly balls from Rodriguez and Johnston eluded LF Jose Madrid’s reach for back-to-back RBI doubles that turned the game again. The eighth became even more terrible for the Falcons – between a few singles, a pair of intentional walks, and a wild pitch, two more balls got past Madrid and RF Nedic and all that combined for five Coons runs. 8-3 Raccoons. O’Morrissey 2-4, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Kinnear 3-5, 2B, RBI; Johnston 2-3, BB, 2B, 2 RBI;

The first meaningful event in game 2 was an injury to Glenn Johnston on a defensive play in the second inning. How can it be …!? Jin came in to play right, which was begging for trouble. The game was hanging in limbo through four (no balls coming Jin’s way) and was scoreless until the top 5th, which began with our Miguel Lopez batting first and last – in between the Coons scored five runs on a 3-shot by O-Mo and two more after that after loading the bags with one out. Lopez seemed to be cruising, but was battered some in the seventh with a home run by Christian Dunphy and another run, which he kindly helped produce by hitting a batter to advance the lead runner. Still 5-2, though. Until the eighth, where Juan Martinez was bashed for two runs and Lagarde had to hold things together. The top 9th was led off with a Reece walk and an Allen double. Prime chance to add to a crumbling lead. Kinnear was put on intentionally, and then Moreno and Rodriguez rolled run-scoring singles through the infielders. With one out, Lagarde was sent bunting, and the defense forked that one up majestically, too, for a 2-base throwing error and an RBI for Lagarde, who also pitched the ninth. 9-4 Coons. Higgins 2-6; O’Morrissey 3-6, HR, 3 RBI; Moreno 2-5, RBI; Rodriguez 2-4, 3 RBI; Lopez 7.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, W (9-1) and 1-3; Lagarde 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, SV (2) and 0-1, RBI;

Lopez was now in sole position of the W lead in the ABL with nine.

Glenn Johnston was undiagnosed so far. Since we couldn’t go with three outfielders, we had to send Baldivía back to AAA batting 0-6 so far. Ortíz was recalled to start in right in game 3.

Game 3 meant it was “Pooky” time. Vern Kinnear hit his first dinger of the year in the first inning, 1-0. Beato almost would have given it right back, but was bailed out in time by Allen and Salazar with a double play ending the bottom 1st. Beato labored heavily until the Falcons knocked him over in the fifth with three runs. The Coons still only had one hit – Kinnear’s long one. Leadoff singles by Reece and Allen in the seventh tripled our offensive output instantly, even though we had nothing on the board amounting to tie the game. Osanai had started the game at first, was 0-2, and up next. He handled RISP situations like a pro – at flying out. The Coons got one run on an Armstrong single, but remained 3-2 behind. West pitched the eighth after having remained outside looking in all week, and with two out in the ninth, Jin pinch-hit for him for a single. Armstrong grounded to 3B Ron Williamson, who threw wildly to first, and all hands were safe. Ortíz came up, still hitless in his career. The bench held nothing promising, so the youngster had to hit. He struck out. 3-2 Falcons. Jin (PH) 1-1;

In other news

May 25 – IND SP Neil Stewart (6-3, 2.84 ERA) 3-hits the Falcons as the Indians win 1-0.
May 28 – VAN INF Salvador Mendez (.356, 0 HR, 33 RBI) extends a hitting streak to 20 games with a sixth inning single against the Condors.
May 29 – Mendez goes 0-3 against the Condors in the next game, ending his streak at 20 games instantly.

Complaints and stuff

The outfield situation is dire. Hall out, Quinn out, Johnston hurt and undiagnosed, and the replacements were shockingly bad. Everything contributes all too well to the overall misery.

Meh.

[Westheim]

Glenn Johnston was diagnosed with shoulder soreness on the way outta Charlotte to Atlanta. Everything was going south, literally. Johnston would be out for three weeks approximately, putting another outfielder on the DL. After batting 3-8 in just two games in AAA, Alejandro Lopez was called up as replacement. He would play for the Raccoons after all, almost 11 years after being drafted second overall by the Coons, and 9 1/2 years after being traded to the Blue Sox in an ill-fated deal that gave us failed centerfielder #88 Raúl Herrera and five “prospects”, of which only one ever appeared for the Coons (OF Ralph Crosby, batting a glorious .138 in 58 AB in 1985).

Lopez was a career .256 batter with 68 home runs between the Blue Sox (1985-1991) and Condors (1991-1992), and of course he also owned two World Series rings from being part of that mid-80s Blue Sox dynasty.

Not hitting or not pitching was one thing. The team being chewed up by mounting injuries was another. We were just grinding by here, stripped of most outfield assets and with the rotation being in so-so mode.

Not that other teams didn’t have it bad, like the Canadiens losing their closer for the year (see below), but so many things were not working at this point that we were sitting right in the middle of the Land of No Joy.

Raccoons (26-23) @ Knights (21-28) – May 31-June 2, 1993

While the Knights’ rotation contained assets like Jesse Carver and Carlos Asquabal, those as well as the rest of the staff had been ravaged so far. They ranked 11th in runs conceded in the Continental League. The offense was not able to match that pace and they had lost four in a row. Asquabal, who was scheduled for game 1, had his worst season of his 13-year career, all with Atlanta: 3-7, 5.92 ERA. He had never, ever, posted an ERA worse than 4.05 in a full season (1983).

Lopez made his Raccoons debut in the opener, as Kisho Saito took on Asquabal. It was a one-sided game. Asquabal, whatever had bothered him so far this year, was not bothered by the raccoony flies that came up and were mowed down with little effort. He was perfect into the fourth, a bid that only ended on a Neil Reece infield single. With two out, Allen doubled, but Kinnear left the then game-tying runs on. Saito was roughed up for seven hits, five for extra bases, including two homers, allowing four runs in six innings. The Raccoons failed to get on the board on their own power, not registering another hit until Higgins doubled leading off the eighth in a 4-0 misery. Lopez was put on intentionally, before Asquabal threw a wild pitch and Jack Jackson mishandled Jose Rodriguez’ grounder for an error, scoring Higgins. O’Morrissey’s 1-out RBI double put the tying runs in scoring position again for a struggling Salazar and Reece. The lefty Salazar, 0-3, was pinch-hit for with Bob Armstrong, who singled past SS Tom Nicks to score another run. And then Reece and Allen left the tying run on third base. Lopez was the tying run in the ninth after a 2-out double, but was left on as well. 4-3 Knights. Armstrong (PH) 1-1, RBI;

Kisho Saito was a wreck at this point. He wasn’t striking out anybody, and he surrendered too much hard contact. That he wasn’t getting even a tiny bit of support in his struggles, amplified his issues into a dismal 2-5 record. Remember that he started the year by winning a pair of 1-0 games. Since then, the Raccoons have lost EVERY SINGLE ONE of his starts – TEN games in total, scoring a total of TWENTY-TWO runs.

**** like that is driving me crazy.

Jason Turner put the first four Knights he faced on base in game 2, falling 2-0 behind in no time. While he certainly didn’t pitch a great game, Turner didn’t allowed another run through his seven innings, but held the Knights in reach for the Raccoons to come back. If they only ever had attempted to come back. The so far beleaguered 2-5 Jesse Carver effortlessly clicked them off, scattering six hits over eight frames of shutout ball. Mike Dye – not the greatest closer of the world – saved the game with a 1-2-3 ninth. 2-0 Knights. Salazar 2-4;

The Raccoons took a wild pitch assisted 1-0 lead in the second inning of game 3, which Scott Wade couldn’t hold on to, and the Knights tied the contest in the bottom 3rd, 1-1. Osanai, who got a start on first base, hit a 2-out RBI single in the fourth for a new lead that lasted just as long. In a 2-2 tie, we had two on and two out in the top 6th with Wade to bat, and Wade was taken out for Mark Allen to pinch-hit. Atlanta’s Jim Harrington moved up the runners with a wild 1-1 pitch, before “Icon” Allen came through with a double off the wall in left center, 4-2 Coons. The lead almost came apart in the seventh, when Christian Proctor dropped the throw from Osanai that would have been the final out of the inning, instead putting two on. Neil Reece barely made a catch on the next fly ball to center. Rain interrupted the game for an hour after that. The bullpen didn’t allow another base runner and held on to a 4-2 win. O’Morrissey 2-4; A. Lopez 2-4, 2B; Rodriguez 2-4, 2B, RBI; Osanai 2-4, RBI; Allen (PH) 1-2, 2B, 2 RBI; Proctor 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K;

We also signed Bob Arnold on the following off day. The ex-Coon/new-Coon got a 1-yr, $125k contract. He replaced Ortíz on the roster.

Raccoons (27-25) @ Titans (21-33) – June 4-6, 1993

What had happened to the Titans? Nobody really had an answer for that. Their pitching was abysmally bad, but that hadn’t kept them away from playing .500 against us so far this season. We were managing 3.5 R/G against their barely-below-5.00-ERA staff.

Bob Arnold played left in place of a struggling Kinnear in the opener of the series, while Miguel Lopez tried to make it ten. He fell behind in the third on a solo home run by weak-hitting SS Ricardo Vargas. The Raccoons were entirely overwhelmed by Chris O’Keefe and his 5.50 ERA. Down 3-0 in the top 8th, Lopez was pinch-hit for with Kinnear, who singled up the middle into center. O’Keefe walked Salazar and Higgins to give O’Morrissey a prime chance to get Lopez off the hook. O-Mo’s grounder barely made it through Vargas, but two runs scored. Now Neil Reece to tie it up, but he flew out to short right. Alejandro Lopez ended the inning with a grounder to first. A leadoff walk to Arnold to start the ninth was followed by Javier Navarro striking out the side. 3-2 Titans. Salazar 2-3;

Tetsu Osanai was the first K in that top 9th and I had enough. He was waived and designated for assignment after the game, just to send a signal to him that he was not wanted anymore around here. Baldivía was brought back.

It was doubtful though that he understood words like “waiver” and “designated for assignment”. The only words I was sure he understood in English were “burgers” and “six”. Oh, and “million”.

Game 2. It was “Pooky” time while the Coons faced 7.01 ERA champ Santiago Perez. While Beato fell 1-0 behind in the first, the Raccoons struck out to end an inning with runners on the corners not once, not twice, but three times in the first four frames (Allen in the first and third, Salazar in the fourth), while not scoring a lick. A 1-out single by Reece in the fifth sent him and O-Mo into scoring position for Allen, still 1-0 down. Allen didn’t miss Perez’ stuff this time around (and I would have brutally murdered him with a nail clipper if he had) and singled to left for both runs to score and to turn the game around. 2-1 Coons, but not for long. The Titans knocked four straight hits off Beato to start the bottom 5th and took a 4-2 lead. The Coons loaded the bags in the sixth against reliever Michael Brown. Allen flew out to deep right to leave them unscored. Tony Vela was then torn up in the sixth, and the Titans moved the game out of reach. 7-4 Titans, while the Raccoons out-hit them 13-12. Salazar 2-4, BB; Higgins 3-5, 3B, 2B, RBI; Reece 2-3, 2 BB; Rodriguez 2-4; Jin 2-5; Lagarde 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

Let’s get swept! With Kisho Saito in game 3 and the team losing ten straight starts for him with 2.2 R/G, this was a perfect fit! And the Titans wasted no time, making a Bob Arnold error in the first inning count when George Waller hit an unearned 2-out, 3-run homer off Saito in the first. The Titans loaded them up in the third, but Saito escaped with a K to Vargas. On the other side of the line score, the Coons loaded them up in the fifth, and Allen left them on. The Coons only scored through a wild pitch by Francisco Vidrio in the sixth, leaving two more on. Saito was effective, but not electric, yet held the Titans to their three runs. Top 7th: Higgins doubled, Reece singled, nobody out, tying runs on. COME THE **** ON NOW!!! Allen was next and grounded into a run-scoring fielder’s choice, leaving it to Bob Arnold to make something happen with one out. He couldn’t. Kinnear with two out. The 0-1 pitch to Kinnear – CRUSHED. Into the upper deck, Kinnear turned the game around, 4-3 now. The Titans left the tying run on second base in both the seventh and eighth innings, while the Coons failed to add on to their lead, so that West came out without a cushion for the bottom 9th. Seven pitches later, it was over. 4-3 Coons. Higgins 2-4, BB, 2B; Reece 2-5; Kinnear 3-4, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Baldivía (PH) 1-1; Saito 7.0 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 5 K, W (3-5) and 1-2, BB;

In other news

May 31 – SFW CL Andres Ramirez (0-2, 2.78 ERA, 16 SV) holds the Cyclones at bay to save a 5-2 win for the Warriors. Ramirez notches his 500th save, the first ABL player to reach that benchmark.
May 31 – The Canadiens announce that CL Ricardo Medina (1-1, 0.39 ERA, 15 SV) is out for the season with a torn UCL, but may be ready for Opening Day 1994.
May 31 – NAS LF/RF Tommy Norton (.271, 3 HR, 24 RBI) has suffered a rotator cuff strain and could be out until the All Star game.
June 2 – Another pitcher gets ready for Tommy John surgery, as SAL SP Rafael Serrano (3-6, 2.69 ERA) goes down to a torn UCL. The 25-year old remains optimistic and proclaims to be back for the start of next season.
June 2 – IND OF Tomas Maguey (.283, 2 HR, 29 RBI) will be out for two to three months after getting a finger broken badly in an on base collision. You should have seen it. It had about twice as many joints after the collision.

Complaints and stuff

While Kisho Saito was drifting heedlessly through the ethers of the .500 world, Miguel Lopez was honored by the league by being named the Continental League Pitcher of the Month of May 1993, having gone 6-0 with a 0.97 ERA in this span. He notched 32 K’s in 46.1 innings.

The Bob Arnold signing was a major blunder on my part, since it forfeited our first round pick to the Indians for the upcoming draft, meaning our first pick to fall all the way to 83rd – making even looking at the draft pool beforehand redundant. I wasn’t even aware that compensations are still valid in June. Well, who am I to complain about these players not performing well? I am obviously the most ******ed stupid ****tard around here.

******* idiot moron. You deserve every bit of your misery.

[Westheim]

Service announcement:

I've been working mildly insane overtime all week, and that probably won't change until the holidays, so updates may only appear here on the weekends. I thought I would get a few games in this week, but it didn't happen.

On a positive note, I successfully applied for 14 consecutive days at home from December 24 to January 7. There should be plenty of updates then.

And I still have a project on my mind (spoke about it elsewhere, starting in 1901 with an original team and go from there again) that I want to tackle, and those two weeks would be the right time.

Depending on whether I will come home at a decent time today, there will be an update today. (Nominal start of weekend: 1pm; I'm calculating with 3pm; could become five or six, though)

So hopefully we will find out soon, whether Tetsu Osanai gets claimed on waivers. If that would actually be the case, it would not be a testament of a smart AI.

Thanks for hanging in there with me, dear readers. Yes, both of you.

[Orcin]

Originally Posted by Westheim

So hopefully we will find out soon, whether Tetsu Osanai gets claimed on waivers. If that would actually be the case, it would not be a testament of a smart AI.

At one time, I never would have believed this could happen. Then I suffered through a 9-game losing streak by the Texans and realized that, in sports, anything can happen if it's bad.

Originally Posted by Westheim

Thanks for hanging in there with me, dear readers. Yes, both of you.

You're welcome!
Sincerely,
#2

[Questdog]

Originally Posted by Orcin

You're welcome!
Sincerely,
#2

Thanks for giving me #1!

[Westheim]

David Vinson came off the DL as the Raccoons came off their horrendous road trip to return home to a city that couldn’t believe what had become of their World Series heroes. Bob Armstrong was sent back to AAA.

Daniel Hall would come off the DL early in the following week, somewhat improving our outfield situation. More splendid news may be contained in this update.

Raccoons (28-27) vs. Crusaders (24-31) – June 7-10, 1993

This was to be the bigger part of a 7-game home stand that would seamlessly glide over into interleague play against the Scorpions. Their 220 runs scored had the Crusaders rock bottom in the CL. Which team was only 11 runs ahead of them? The Inepticoons.

Jason Turner, somehow 2-6, had to get things going in the opener. He faced a 5-5 John Woodard, the stronghold in the Crusaders rotation with an ERA just over 3.10. The game could best described as offensive drab. No score through six, not even close to anybody scoring. In the seventh, the Crusaders had two on with two out and Woodard up, left him in, and he singled between Allen and Baldivía to bring in a runner. Bottom 9th, Vinson singled to lead off, and was replaced with Moreno to run. With one out, Alejandro Lopez singled to right and Moreno went to third. Higgins came up in the #9 hole and closer Ivan Lopez scored Moreno with a wild pitch without Higgins ruining everything beforehand. But we don’t want to be unfair to Higgins: he ended the game with a walkoff RBI double to deep left, sending the Raccoons off more-than-lucky winners. 2-1 Coons. Vinson 3-4, 2B; Higgins 1-2, 2B, RBI; Turner 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 8 K; Miller 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, W (3-2);

With the Thunder trouncing the Falcons, 10-4, we slid down to 11th in runs scored in the league. Oh, the humanity.

Would things get better with Hall coming back for game 2, bouncing Chih-tui Jin to St. Petersburg? Oh, please…

On bad news, Tetsu Osanai cleared waivers. No team as much as thought about taking him.

Game 2. The Raccoons didn’t get a hit off callup Jorge Ramón until the fifth inning, when with one out and Daniel Hall on second base, as Kinnear singled to right. Ramón walked Baldivía to load them up, but Scott Wade came to bat in the scoreless game. Wade was batting .181 lifetime, and 1-22 this year. He blooped to shallow right, but neither RF Alfonso Rojas, nor 1B Martin Limón got to it, and Hall scored on the single. O-Mo made it 2-0 with a sac fly. The Crusaders got a run back from Wade in the top 6th, which the Coons countered in the bottom 6th and then had the bags full with Baldivía batting and one out. The youngster popped out to second and this time Wade struck out. Some knot finally became untied then in the seventh, as the Raccoons scored five runs, most of them through a 2-out grand slam by Vern Kinnear. The bottom fell out of the Crusaders’ bullpen now, and they couldn’t get through the eighth inning, either. With two runs in, the bags full, and two outs, Kinnear came up again. He wouldn’t do it again, right? Kinnear took Hatt’s second pitch to deep right, just where he had taken Ramón the last time up. The park didn’t hold this one either – TWO GRAND SLAMS for Kinnear!! 14-1 Raccoons!! Reece 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Vinson 2-4, BB; Kinnear 4-5, 2 HR, 9 RBI; Wade 8.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, W (4-3) and 1-3, RBI;

VERN KINNEAR!! Well, this lifted us *some* in the runs scored table, all the way from 11th to 6th. Squeal.

The only hit Miguel Lopez surrendered early on in game 3 was a home run to Ruben Melendez that got the Crusaders 1-0 ahead in the third inning. The Raccoons came back with Neil Reece and the power of the long ball just as well in the bottom 3rd, when Reece dinged for two runs and a 2-1 lead, that O’Morrissey extended to 3-1 in the fourth. Solo home runs by Dan Joyner for NYC and Alejandro Lopez for POR ran the score to 4-2 in the sixth, but the Furballs missed the chance to break up the game in the seventh when Hall and Alejandro Lopez both whiffed with two men on. Miguel Lopez still became the first man to double-digit wins this season, holding on through eight innings, and West pitched a 1-2-3 save. 5-2 Coons. O’Morrissey 2-4, RBI; Reece 3-4, HR, 2 RBI; A. Lopez 1-2, HR, RBI; Higgins 1-2, 2 BB; Rodriguez 2-4, 2B; M. Lopez 8.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, W (10-2) and 1-2, HR, RBI;

Now, Alejandro Lopez, this late-bloomer as a Raccoon, hit his first home run for the team in the sixth inning. Why was he even in the game with Kinnear, Reece, and Hall all assembled? Because Vern Kinnear, the day after his pair of slams, was hurt on a defensive play early in the game and had to be replaced. He tumbled over on a catch and fell on his hand, but came out lucky. While his thumb and wrist were very sore after the spill, he merely had suffered a bruised thumb and would be DTD for a few days. We would still sit him out as a precaution at least for game 4. And I still came home with my face white that night, for when Kinnear fell onto his hand and had his ouch thumb, I fainted momentarily on the top step of the dugout and fell onto the chalky right foul line.

So, Hall played left in the last game, batted in his old #3 slot, and Allen sat out a game for Higgins to play second base, too. “Pooky” was charged with securing the sweep. Holding the game scoreless through four, he came up with bad luck in the fifth, which started with two soft singles by the Crusaders, who just managed to push the 1-0 run across. Beato pitched into the eighth, still being on the hook, and was removed once he put a man on. The Raccoons struggled to land hits at all, being held to two H’s by Gary Nixon in the first seven innings. Baldivía got on to lead off the bottom 8th and Salazar just barely shoved a single into left with two out to score him and take Beato off the hook. O-Mo doubled, giving Hall two runners in scoring position, but his shot into the gap in left center was caught by Tyler Burch, ending the inning in a 1-1 tie. As the game went into overtime, we still broke out Kinnear for a lefty bat against closer Ivan Lopez. He led off the bottom 10th with a single to left, but was eventually starved on third base when O-Mo struck out. Burch returned the favor, whiffing with two out and two in scoring position against Daniel Miller in the 11th. O’Morrissey was again in the center of the creaking wheels of offense, when he hit a 1-out double in the 13th. Hall grounded out, bringing up Reece with O-Mo still on second base. Reece singled a liner into left, and O-Mo was determined to end it here, blowing through third with huge strides – and he was safe by a good distance for the second walkoff win in the series: 2-1 Coons! Salazar 2-6, 2B, RBI; O’Morrissey 2-6, 2 2B; Baldivía 2-3; Kinnear (PH) 1-1; Beato 7.1 IP, 8 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 6 K; Lagarde 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K; Miller 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K;

Christian Proctor secured the sweep in his first win for the Raccoons, facing only right-handers in the top 13th. Whew.

On a stathead note: with this sweep we went to 146-149 all time against the Crusaders, removing them from the bottom of the table against CL North opponents. Our new worst CL North opponent are the Canadiens (142-149). In turn we closed the gap to the Canadiens this season to three games, since they were swept by the Indians.

Raccoons (32-27) vs. Scorpions (33-27) – June 11-13, 1993

Last season, a streak of five straight series taken against the Scorpions came to an end when we lost two of three. Before that we lost four series straight to them. Let’s end this streaky stuff right now. The Scorpions were an offensive powerhouse, ranking 2nd in the FL in runs scored, but their rotation had a 4.40 ERA between them.

Kisho Saito faced only right-handed batters in game 1, and ageless Billy Robinson (4-2, 4.83 ERA) on the mound. Well, actually Robinson was 38 and was getting rustier. The Coons hit three straight 1-out singles off him in the bottom 2nd, before Robinson walked Vinson on four straight balls to force in the first run of the game. Robinson went to 0-2 on Saito, before Saito lined into right to score another run. Salazar and O-Mo flew out then to end the inning. While the Scorpions tied the game in the top of the fourth on a 2-run homer by German Roldán, Saito faced Robinson again with two in scoring position and no outs in the bottom 4th, and again singled into right to score Bob Arnold. O’Morrissey drove in a run, and Neil Reece then had the plates full with one out and emptied them with a 3-run double to deep center, ending Robinson’s day. Kisho Saito was not one to give back a 7-2 lead – everybody thought. The Scorpions knocked him out after five innings by scoring three runs in the fifth. As the bullpens took over, a difference in qualify was clearly identifiable. Between Tony Vela and Jackie Lagarde, the Coons allowed only one base runner in the final four innings, while the Scorpions pen was torn up further. The Raccoons had 20 hits in the game and won 11-5. O’Morrissey 2-6, 2B, RBI; Allen 2-5, BB; Higgins 2-5; A. Lopez 4-5, HR, 2 RBI; Arnold 3-4, BB; Hall (PH) 1-1; Vela 3.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K and 1-1, RBI;

It was a day for relievers at the plate, too, since Vela was one of three relievers to land a base hit. Sixto Pacheco and Javier Macias had hits for the Scorpions, the latter accounting for the only hit off our bullpen.

Offense was much slower in game 2 between Jason Turner and David Castillo (4-6, 4.89 ERA). The Scorpion was dominant, striking out nine Furballs over 7.2 innings, before a walk to Daniel Hall on his 130th pitch ended his day. Turner had been gone after six, but the game was still tied 2-2, with Allen and Hall on base for Matt Higgins, but he flew out and neither starter got a decision. The Raccoons walked off in the ninth, which was started by Alejandro Lopez with an infield hit. With two out he was at third base, from where Ben O’Morrissey drove him in with a single that got just past SS Cal Smith. 3-2 Coons. Salazar 2-5; A. Lopez 1-2, 2 BB; Turner 6.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 5 K and 1-2, RBI;

Vern Kinnear was fine enough to play again as a starter in game 3, where Scott Wade took on Domingo León, whose 7-2 record with a 3.50 ERA also showed well how proficient Sacramento’s offense was. Two batters in, Scott Wade was already 1-0 behind, while the Raccoons showed their skills in grounding into double plays, hitting into two of those in the first few innings. Alejandro Lopez tied the game with a solo home run in the fifth inning then. Bottom 6th: Salazar led off with a single, and O’Morrissey grounded to 2B Roldán, but Roldán was caught on the wrong foot and instead of a double play Roldán only managed a very awkward pair of twists to either base and didn’t get anybody. Roldán looked increasingly bad when Kinnear singled past him to load the bases and then Reece grounded to him and he couldn’t make any play again. Salazar scored, 2-1 Coons. After Higgins hit a sac fly, Baldivía hit into that double play everybody had been waiting for. The Coons loaded the bags again in the seventh, but Kinnear grounded out (no slam? Something wrong with him?). Up 3-1, the Raccoons had a man on with two out in the bottom 8th and Grant West was getting ready, but then Lopez mashed another homer, and Vinson followed with his first home run of the year. 6-1, and Wade was left in, but the first three batters in the top 9th reached base, and West now had to come in with trouble brewing badly. He got Roldán, who somehow turned out the scapegoat every which way, to ground into a run-scoring double play, but then was taken deep by 3B Rory Gorden, which brought the Scorpions within two runs of a major upset, but West finally ended the game against pinch-hitter Pat Graham. 6-4 Raccoons. Salazar 3-4; O’Morrissey 2-3, BB; Kinnear 2-4; Reece 2-4, RBI; A. Lopez 3-4, 2 HR, 3 RBI; Wade 8.0 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, W (5-3);

For those not counting, we now have an 8-game winning streak. We are also eight games away from breaking even with our franchise record, which currently stands at 1,323-1,331. Our deficit to the Canadiens remains at three games, since they swept the Blue Sox, but the Loggers and Indians have now peeled off some, ranging both at 31-32, 7.5 games out of the lead.

Raccoons (35-27) @ Rebels (38-24) – June 14-16, 1993

The Rebels had the best record in the league and were somehow leading the mighty Capitals by two games at this point. They nursed a 5-game winning streak, and their team was built very similarly to the Raccoons, who ranked 5th in runs scored and 1st in runs allowed in the Federal League, while the Rebels in their league ranked 6th and 2nd, respectively.

While Esteban Baldivía flew with us to Richmond, he had to board another plane to Florida. Tetsu Osanai had cleared waivers, refused assignment to St. Petersburg, and could not be released due to insufficient funds, and as such had to be placed on the 25-man roster again. Yikes.

Dominators faced each other in game 1, as Miguel Lopez (10-2, 1.73 ERA) had to cope with Russ Ewing (8-2, 3.34 ERA). The Raccoons failed to capitalize on two walks and wild pitch in the first, and Lopez fell behind in the bottom 2nd, 1-0. Ewing’s control remained off, though, and after a few timely hits in the top 4th, which tied the game, Ewing threw another wild pitch that scored Matt Higgins for a lead for the Coons. When Lopez issued his first walk of the game to 3B Tim Benson in the fifth, that led to the game-tying run again. Sigh. Benson took another leadoff walk in the bottom 7th, and Lopez couldn’t hold him on this time, either. The Rebels took a 3-2 lead, Lopez came out, Lagarde cleaned up, and in the eighth O-Mo with a double and Reece with a 1-out RBI single took Lopez off the hook. Reece stole second base, his first bag of the year, and then scored when Higgins singled to right. Another turnaround – the excitement! Would it be the last one? Lagarde allowed a leadoff double to Robert Carney in the bottom 8th, but Carney was stopped on third base when Lagarde punched out SS Nathan Turner. West also put his first man on in the ninth, but got out of the inning unscathed. 4-3 Raccoons!! Higgins 2-4, RBI; Lagarde 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, W (1-3);

Neil Reece needed a day off at one point and got it in game 2 of the series. Alejandro Lopez played center.

Steven Snyder (7-2, 2.45 ERA) dominated the Raccoons in the middle game, while Raimundo Beato was more so-so and allowed four straight men to reach base with two out in the bottom 4th, which gave the Rebels a 2-0 lead. While this was all the damage the Rebels did against Beato in six innings, it was enough. In the seventh, Vela and Proctor were collectively raped for four runs and the game was over, as was the winning streak of nine games. 6-1 Rebels. Higgins 2-4;

Interlude: roster stuff

Bobby Quinn reported back from a sprained ankle at this point. To give ourselves a few more days to sort out our outfield situation, we assigned him for “rehab” at AAA. This got a string of events going.

We got a trade proposal the next day from the Pacifics, principally trading Bobby Quinn (they seemed to be very hot on him since he had just come off the DL) for 1B Glenn Adams. Adams, 25, was scouted well by Vicente Guerra, but didn’t live up to it. Ultimately, the trade had it’s upside, but we had enough first basemen that didn’t live up to their scouting report already. Most of them made a million a year.

But what if we offered Tetsu Osanai instead of Bobby Quinn? Would they bite? Would OSANAI bite? It turned out, Tetsu was really pissed after being designated for assignment, and wanting to get outta Portland, he WAIVED his 10/5 rights! And the Pacifics? They were willing to take him, in exchange for Adams and third-string prospects!!!

I could not sign off on that deal far enough, and still in Richmond I signed a fax that completed the deal. Tetsu Osanai and AA INF Santiago Sanchez were sent to L.A., while we received 1B Glenn Adams and AA SP Steve Herring.

Tetsu Osanai’s contract was off the books! OH THE BRUTAL, UNTARNISHABLE JOY!!!

We sent away a 219 career HR burden (which sounds strange enough in our league) for a box full of “???” labels in Adams, but our books were clear! (Fan interest took a nasty hit, but what do those hot dog munchers know after all …?)

HUZZAH!!!!

Raccoons (35-27) @ Rebels (38-24) – June 14-16, 1993 (cont.)

We could get crushed 13-1 in the final game, I wouldn’t cry. Adams had yet to get here from Los Angeles, so we played a man short as Saito took on Harry Griggs (6-7, 2.88 ERA), who had tossed a 6-hitter his last time out. Daniel Hall made his debut at first base, not fitting into an outfield mounting Kinnear, Reece, and Lopez at this point. The Coons took a 2-0 lead by the third inning on home runs by Lopez and Vinson, of which Saito gave one run back in the bottom 5th when he couldn’t beat Alarico Violante, the backup catcher. There was some light rain coming down at various times throughout the game, but it never became interrupting, while Saito pitched a gem this time, allowing only four hits and one run over eight innings. He was pinch-hit for with two out in the ninth, but Higgins flew out. With Grant West a bit tired, we called upon Jackie Lagarde to save a 3-1 lead. Lagarde was taken deep by Carney with one out, but with nobody on, survived the onslaught. 3-2 Coons. A. Lopez 2-3, HR, 2 RBI; Saito 8.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 7 K, W (5-5) and 1-3;

Violante was a Coon a few years ago, albeit shortly, and never came up big for us. Sigh.

Raccoons (37-28) @ Loggers (34-32) – June 18-20, 1993

1B Glenn Adams was on the roster the first time. Scouted 12/10/9 with a bit higher potential, and batting .250/.330/.417 so far in only 84 AB this year, it was not yet clear whether he would get us much further in our quest for repeat titles. You know, I’m actually pulling for the Loggers to finally post a winning record, but with us still being 2 1/2 games behind the Canadiens, I couldn’t allow them any wins in this series.

As if I had a say in this.

The Raccoons had another one of their we-refuse-to-hit games. Higgins flew out to end the first with the bags full, and their next real chance came in the sixth with a leadoff triple by Lopez, who was then left on base by Higgins, Adams, and Turner – Vinson had been walked intentionally. Bottom 6th: Turner was shredded with four hits and a bases-loaded walk without registering any outs, as the Loggers laughingly conquered this game. They scored five runs in the game, three of them being unearned after Salazar lost grip of a double play ball. Things looked dim, down 5-0. Top 7th, suddenly sparks: Vern Kinnear hit a 2-shot and Higgins doubled in Reece as the Raccoons scored three in the inning. Vinson got on leading off the top 8th, and Hall pinch-hit for Juan Martinez facing Jerry Ackerman (rings a bell?). A home run would be nice for Hall to break out of a slump, but he hit into a double play, slumping even deeper. That, right there, was the game. 5-3 Loggers. O’Morrissey 2-4, BB; Reece 4-5; A. Lopez 2-5, 3B;

Raccoons: 13 hits, 3 runs. Loggers: 9 hits, 5 runs. Great stuff again.

Salazar and Kinnear being able to use a day off coincided neatly with us facing a left-hander in Martin Garcia (6-2, 3.86 ERA) in game 2. Lopez was the only left-hander in the lineup against him. With or without any of them, the offensive ineptitudes continued. Wade allowed a run in the second inning, and the Coons spent all afternoon chasing after that insurmountable 1-0 deficit, leaving runners in scoring position in the fifth and sixth. Hall started the seventh with a walk and Sixto Moreno looped a single to center. Jose Rodriguez couldn’t bunt with the pitcher behind him and singled up the middle as well. Bases loaded, no outs, but Wade was now up. He had been good so far. What terrible things could happen if he batted? He struck out, O-Mo had an RBI groundout, and Adams flew out to left. Oh my. Wade put two on in the bottom 8th and was replaced with Lagarde. With two out, the bases were loaded. Lagarde got Jim Stein to bounce to Mark Allen, who threw leisurely to Glenn Adams, who dropped the ball. Not enough that the go-ahead run scored on the play, but Gates Golunski followed it up with a bases-clearing double. 6-1 Loggers. Hall 2-3, BB; Wade 7.0 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, L (5-4);

Bloody hell.

Adams was benched right away until he learned that we value defense very highly around here. Higgins appeared at first again in the final game. How embarrassing would a sweep by the Loggers be?

The Loggers took a 1-0 lead against Miguel Lopez in the third inning after the Raccoons had blown up two chances to score already. In the top 6th, a 1-out triple by Vern Kinnear represented the fourth time the Raccoons had a man in scoring position in the game, and when Neil Reece grounded to short, Kinnear inexplicably failed to go home. Higgins came up with two out and grounded up the middle, just through the infielders to still tie the game. The inning was not over. Higgins stole second base, and Hall walked, bringing up Vinson, who FINALLY had a clutch hit – UNHEARD OF FOR THE RACCOONS. He doubled over Jerry Fletcher to score both runners. With the bases loaded in the top 8th, and one out, Miguel Lopez was sent batting instead of using a pinch hitter. Double play. Lopez then put the tying runs in scoring position with one out. Juan Martinez faced Golunski, who tripled to left center to tie the game. I probably deserve these things. Top 10th, one out. Hall walked, Vinson singled, Allen walked. Alejandro Lopez hit for Martinez, but struck out. Salazar then drew a tie-breaking walk off Raúl Ramirez, and Ramirez also walked O-Mo. Grant West was brought in for the bottom 10th and sat down the Loggers in order. Sweep avoided, 5-3 Raccoons. O’Morrissey 2-5, BB, 2B, RBI; Vinson 2-4, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Allen 2-3, 2 BB; M. Lopez 7.2 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 8 K;

In other news

June 7 – 33-year old WAS CL Domingo Rivera (3-1, 1.59 ERA, 18 SV) saves his 400th game by finishing off the Miners in a 6-4 win.
June 8 – ATL SP Jim Harrington (6-4, 5.09 ERA) will be out for a year with a torn flexor tendon in his elbow.
June 16 – LAP RF/LF Anibal Rodriguez (.332, 11 HR, 36 RBI) knocks two hits in a 10-4 drubbing of the Knights, completing a 20-game hitting streak.
June 20 – Rodriguez is held dry by the Gold Sox and has his hitting streak come to an end at 22 games.

Complaints and stuff

Tetsu Osanai is gone! HUZZAH!!! Please light a candle for those sorry Pacifics, who just crashed their franchise for years to come.

Despite being hurt and playing only three full games, Vern Kinnear somehow wound up CL Player of the Week ending with the Scorpions series. He batted 8-17 with 3 HR and *11* RBI during this span. Well, two slams will have you go a long way towards POTW for sure. Kinneeeeear! (squeals)

As we are on the topic of outfielders, Glenn Johnston will come off the DL in the next few days, and Bobby Quinn can’t be rehabbing forever. At best, we can carry six outfielders. Dan The Man is untouchable despite a deep slump, and Kinnear, Reece, and surprise impact player of the year Alejandro Lopez are forming a terrible bash in the heart of the lineup. That leaves Bob Arnold – the man who cost us the draft pick – expendable, but that frees only one spot. Johnston will have to pay for back-to-back terrible seasons, despite a strong World Series showing last year.

Both Johnston and Arnold have options available, but Arnold also has 10/5 rights. Quinn has no options – that’s how we got him in the first place. By the way, that wash-on first baseman Adams also is out of options.

Overall, the offense remains very spotty and continues to hurt our efforts. We were within 2 1/2 games of the Canadiens, but the Loggers threw us back a country mile here. I feel much less sympathy for them at this point.

[Westheim]

1993 AMATEUR DRAFT

After my blunder with signing Bob Arnold and forfeiting our first round pick two weeks before the draft, I spared myself the hassle of digging through the draft pool. We had not received compensation picks this year and didn’t pick until last in the second round, which fell to pick #83. It was not worth the time. Scout Vicente Guerra had more time on his hands and had his own list of people worth picking – from the third or fourth row.

The Crusaders had the first overall pick and selected 20-yr old Venezuelan SP Francisco Garza, whom we had rated 14/14/15 on potential and who according to Guerra lacked in respect to his fastball. Well, the Crusaders know full well how to run a franchise into the ground, they will have picked wisely.

The Raccoons picked:

Round 2 (#83) – INF Brent McLaughlin, 21, from Los Angeles, CA – speedy, agile infielder with good contact abilities, but not so much power
Round 3 (#107) – LF Marvin Gregory, 17, from Tulsa, OK – while he is very quick on his feet, his defense is sorely lacking to terrible, and his bat doesn’t have much pop for his ambition to play a power position
Round 4 (#131) – C Brad Gray, 21, from Hopkins, MN – main upside should be his offense rather than catching, although caution should be held, since OSA has him as a major bust
Round 5 (#155) – 1B Santiago Rodriguez, 21, from Mayaguez, Puerto Rico – prototypical first baseman, but the whack in his bat could turn out to be short of the major league requirements
Round 6 (#179) – SP Ray Conner, 17, from West St. Paul, MN – left-hander with enough time to develop the four pitches he claims to throw
Round 7 (#203) – MR Jarred Mason, 19, from Vallejo, CA – left-hander with a changeup and control issues
Round 8 (#227) – LF Danny Nash, 17, from Fresno, CA – has been batting .439 for his high school, but what can that be worth? Little defense, little power potentional here.
Round 9 (#251) – MR Ambrose Albright, 18, from Acushnet, MA – right-hander with a decent curveball … and control issues
Round 10 (#275) – 1B Roberto Galindo, 21, from Santo Domingo, Dom. Rep. – doesn’t have lots of success in most things he’s doing on the field
Round 11 (#299) – MR Edgar Matthews, 22, from Vista, CA – unremarkable with a run-of-the-mill slider
Round 12 (#323) – MR Pedro Perez, 18, from Barahona, Dom. Rep. – left-hander with a curve he can’t place where it belongs

All picks were assigned to the A level and I think my frustration with this botched draft is clear to see.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (38-30) vs. Indians (33-36) – June 21-23, 1993

Things were not going to get much easier at this point. The Indians had a losing record, but were a respectable team after all. After them we would face the Aces and another division leader in the Condors, and before the All Star break we would also meet up with the Canadiens. The Indians matched up with us all too well for three more close games upon us: we tied for 8th in runs scored in the CL, and they were 2nd to us in runs allowed.

Facing lefty Jesus Lopez, we had Kinnear and Arnold mount the flanks on either side of Neil Reece for the opener. The Indians took a 2-0 lead off Raimundo Beato in the first inning, and that was with Bob Arnold gunning down Angelo Duarte at the plate. Jesus Lopez was perfect the first time through the Raccoons’ lineup, by which time the Indians had racked up nine hits and a 3-0 lead. Salazar broke up the bid with a full count single to left in the fourth, but nothing came of it. The Raccoons were clearly overmatched in this game, until Daniel Hall entered the game and scratched out a single to left PH’ing for Beato. Salazar also singled and O-Mo cut the deficit in half with a double to left center. Reece rammed an RBI single to right to make it 4-3 Indians through six. Back in business? Nope. Proctor surrendered a pair of runs in the seventh, and while Daniel Hall homered in the bottom of that inning, we were still two behind. Reece cut that in half in the bottom 8th with a solo homer, and Hall found two on with two out and lobbed a single over Duarte that scored Alejandro Lopez, who had walked as pinch-hitter – tied game. Bottom 11th: Hall led off – and had his fourth hit in four appearances since popping up in the #9 spot, a double. Walkoff time in Portland? It looked like it. César Zuniga’s first pitch to Salazar was wild and Hall advanced to third base. After that, they walked Salazar intentionally. O’Morrissey came up and grounded up the right side of second base – just past of Duarte. Hall came home, 7-6 Raccoons in this thriller! Salazar 2-4, 2 BB; O’Morrissey 2-6, 2B, 3 RBI; Reece 3-4, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Hall (PH) 4-4, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Miller 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Grant West picked up the win with a scoreless 11th in this game. Neither team’s offense had been THAT bad in this game. But after two extra inning affairs back-to-back, I would not have anything against a great start by Kisho Saito in game 2. On another note, Glenn Johnston was sent for a rehab assignment at AAA before the middle game.

Saito and Kazuyuki Ando were on equal terms in the middle game and the game was scoreless through four. A throwing error by O’Morrissey cost Saito an unearned run in the fifth inning, but Saito managed to strand runners on the corners. From there, the gates opened. Saito allowed two runs in the sixth and was knocked out in a 4-run seventh. Against Lagarde and Proctor, a Vinson throwing error caused two more unearned runs in the eighth. The Raccoons were getting slaughtered, while Ando was terrific until leaving with an injury late in the game. Out-hit 13-2, they lost 9-0. Salazar 2-4;

No, no. We were not going to go anywhere this year. The offense remained terrible, again and again, and often for prolonged periods of time. Like in this game, which undoubtedly was to start another pathetic two weeks or so.

Game 3 brought rain and a shortened start of three innings for Jason Turner, who left in a 1-1 tie. With five left-handers in the Indians lineup, Burnett was brought in to go as long as possible. Bottom 4th: Lopez and Higgins got on and executed a double steal. Then, Adams walked to load the bases, no outs. Vinson struck out. Burnett HAD to bat, we didn’t have enough pitchers to finish the game otherwise! He struck out. Salazar then drew a walk against Julián Gonzales to finally bring in a run. O-Mo flew out. Oh, come on … An error by Duarte gave us another chance in the fifth with two in scoring position and one out for Higgins and Adams. Nobody scored. Vinson was on third base for O-Mo in the sixth, and finally somebody had a clutch hit, a single to center. Meanwhile, Burnett had a FANTASTIC outing – he could hardly have been any better, pitching four frames, allowing only one walk. He was really worthy of the win in this game – and Lagarde and West held on to it. This time, the Indians failed to put up any offense, being limited to three hits. 3-1 Raccoons. O’Morrissey 2-4, BB, RBI; Burnett 4.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K, W (4-0);

The series concluded with a total of 11 errors between the two teams, six for the Indians, five for the Raccoons. Quite an impressive number for teams that bragged about run prevention.

On our off day, we assigned Bob Arnold to AAA, which he did not block by executing his 10/5 rights, and recalled Bobby Quinn.

Raccoons (40-31) @ Aces (37-36) – June 25-27, 1993

The Aces had the top rotation in the league, and we would face two sub-3 ERA guys, including Manuel “Bam Bam” Movonda (9-2, 2.33 ERA) in game 1. Yes, that Movonda. He ranked 2nd behind Miguel Lopez in ERA in the Continental League. The Aces also had a very strong offense, but somehow played .500 ball.

Always finding a way to sneak players into a lineup, we started Bobby Quinn at first base in the opener, where Movonda faced Wade in – by the numbers – a mismatch, although Wade had been much better recently than his 4.54 ERA reported. Through three, Movonda no-hit the Raccoons, but Wade allowed only three hits and stalled Mario Guerrero on third base, where he turned up with one out in the bottom 3rd. The Raccoons got their first hits in the fourth, but Higgins left two men in scoring position. Eventually, a run was scored, and it was Reece singling in Salazar in the top 6th to break the scoreless game. Wade held on until the seventh, when he put runners on the corners, but the bullpen wiggled out to save the 1-0 lead for the time being. The Coons couldn’t buy an insurance run for their lives, and while Martinez pitched a scoreless eighth, West surrendered loud contact three times in the bottom 9th – but Reece made two catches, and Kinnear another one. Phew. 1-0 Raccoons! O’Morrissey 2-4; Reece 2-4, RBI; Wade 6.1 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K, W (6-4); Martinez 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K;

Well, if nothing else, at least we can say that Scott Wade wouldn’t have won a 1-0 game six weeks ago. He’s up to pace again, I guess. The offense was not, held to five hits in this game again.

Vern Kinnear was struggling quite badly at this point and would get a few days of rest here. Game 2 was contested by Miguel Lopez and Carlos Guillén, who was somehow 3-7 with a 2.80 ERA. The Inepticoons came out to play once again, not getting a hit until the fourth inning once more. Lopez matched Guillén more or less until the fifth, when the Aces pushed in a run, but left the bases loaded. Lopez came apart from here, with four runs charged against him in seven innings – two of those unearned after his own throwing error. But no matter whether it was a 2-0 or 4-0 game, the Raccoons were too pathetic to pose any threat – until Guillén tired and was replaced by Jose Sotelo, who conceded a run in the eighth. Reece led off the ninth with a triple, and with one out, Hall singled him in, and Vinson followed up with another single. The tying runs were on with one out. Kinnear struck out. Higgins struck out. 4-2 Aces. Vinson 2-4, 2B;

The Raccoons made their first out in game 3 on third base, when Salazar was thrown out stretching a double. Still, there was something strange going on. The Raccoons scored runs, TWO of them by the third inning! This included a solo shot by O’Morrissey. It didn’t help them, though, since Beato couldn’t hold on to a 1-0, and then a 2-1 lead. The Aces made it a 4-2 game through six with two home runs mixed into their offense against a hapless Beato. The offense turned out to be equally hapless the rest of the game. Lagarde surrendered two runs in the eighth. 6-2 Aces. Reece 2-3, BB;

In other news

June 22 – RIC CL Lawson Steward (2-2, 1.26 ERA, 20 SV) notches his 300th save by holding on to a 7-5 win of the Rebels over the Miners.
June 23 – TOP RF/1B/LF Edgardo Garza (.290, 4 HR, 31 RBI) reaches the 2,000 hits club in a 4-2 win of the Buffaloes over the Blue Sox. Dennis Fried surrenders the milestone hit, a leadoff home run in the bottom 8th, which blows the Blue Sox’ then 2-1 lead.
June 23 – IND SP Kazuyuki Ando (6-2, 3.01 ERA) has torn his UCL and will be out for at least a full year.
June 23 – SFB OF Dave Burton (.291, 5 HR, 43 RBI) has suffered a separated shoulder and will be out for three to four weeks.
June 25 – In a surprising move, the Canadiens ship OF Carlos Quintela, 26, and batting .313 with 5 HR and 50 RBI this year, to the Indians for MR Julián Gonzales (1-0, 2.93 ERA, 1 SV) and AA OF Drew Edwards.
June 27 – Sioux Falls’ SP Aaron Anderson (6-3, 3.07 ERA) will miss a month with a strained bicep tendon.

Complaints and stuff

Little was working the way it should, and although I was not entirely happy with his ways, we offered David Vinson a 4-year extension for $1.65M this week. Last year is a team option. He has yet to accept. His defense is up this year, less errors, less passed balls, better CS% (almost 33%), and he’s OPS’ing .780 – how much more can you want from a catcher?

We scored eight friggin’ runs in the last five games. EIGHT. It’s been the same crap all year. Two steps ahead, one step back, one step ahead, two steps back. It’s very, very frustrating. We also gave up 20 runs in these last five games, but that would still be a league average 4.0 R/A.

Not making the playoffs this year is becoming more and more of a threat. With the way they are playing right now, it’s becoming a possibility, and with us facing the Canadiens for eight games in the next four weeks, it could soon become a reality.

It would not be the first time.

[pjh5165]

Hey Westheim,

I'm a long-time reader of this dynasty report but have never commented on it before because I'm a lazy piece of s***. Just wanted to let you know you've got at least 3 fans

Go Coons!

[Westheim]

We had a 7-game home week against the Condors and the Crusaders in front of us. Nothing to chew down easily, those Condors. Yet, we had swept them the first time we met this season. Well, we’ll see.

Raccoons (41-33) vs. Condors (46-29) – June 28-30, 1993

First we saw Kisho Saito’s ship getting sunk quickly in the opener. Bruce Boyle hit a 3-run homer off him in the fourth inning, breaking a 1-1 tie, and Saito surrendered 10 hits and five runs total in a short five-frame outing. The Raccoons excelled in grounding into double plays (2) more than anything else and were almost out-hit by Boyle, who had four hits on the day compared to the Raccoons’ six. Juan Martinez was slapped late in the game, too, and we went down without much whimper. 7-2 Condors. Salazar 1-2, 2 BB; A. Lopez 2-3, BB, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Reece 2-3, BB; Vela 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

O-Mo’s eighth homer of the season got the Coons and Jason Turner an early lead in the bottom 1st of the middle game, 1-0, but the Condors came back quick enough and tied it in the top 3rd. Turner lacked bite in 2-strike counts, instead walked people in inconvenient moments. Mark Allen left the bags full in the bottom 3rd with the final out registered by RF Paul Theobald on a mile-high, not-so-far fly ball. Turner was then his own offense in the bottom 4th, scoring Higgins with a 2-out RBI double for a 2-1 lead, which LF Henry Givens instantly crashed with a leadoff home run in the top 5th. The Condors started to swing earlier for Turner’s offerings, which weren’t necessarily great, and in the eighth it was Boyle again who drove in the go-ahead run with a 2-out RBI single. Turner pitched a complete game loss, 3-2 Condors. O’Morrissey 2-4, HR, RBI; Reece 3-4;

That’s the eighth loss of the year for Turner against two wins. He will probably not make it three in a row with 16-win seasons.

Game 3, no hope, and Scott Wade to try and keep the damage done limited. Wade was blown off the mound early with three runs in the first inning (including a 2-shot from Boyle). Jose Macias for the Condors didn’t fare any better, though, surrendering a 2-run home run to Reece in the first inning, and while Boyle drove in ANOTHER run in the third inning, the Coons tied the game through three, 4-4. Wade worked himself up pretty well through six innings, but was left with the no-decision, since the Coons didn’t get that go-ahead run in. Jackie Lagarde was taken deep by Jesus Jimenez in the eighth inning, absorbing the loss. The Raccoons failed to mount anything substantial past the third inning. 6-4 Condors. Reece 3-4, HR, 2B, 2 RBI;

Raccoons (41-36) vs. Crusaders (33-45) – July 1-4, 1993

Third-worst offense against worst offense. Now, that we don’t get too confident in our abilities, we have merely scored two runs more than the Crusaders.

Miguel Lopez was most electric in his start in game 1. Through five innings he mowed down Crusaders with eight K’s, and allowed one hit. Opposing pitcher Gary Nixon singled off him in the sixth, but was left on. Through six, Lopez led by all of 1-0, courtesy of an RBI double by Vinson in the fourth. The first two Crusaders got on in the seventh. With one out, Lopez struck out pinch-hitter Benjamin Butler, then survived a hard knock by Haywood Lammond, which Kinnear just barely got to and caught. Glenn Adams outrageously doubled our offensive output in the bottom 7th with a solo home run. Lopez was gassed after eight frames, not reaching double-digit strikeouts after his fiery start, but Grant West rode in and overcame an error by O’Morrissey in the ninth to end the 5-game losing streak. 2-0 Raccoons. O’Morrissey 2-3; Adams 1-1, 2 BB, HR, RBI; M. Lopez 8.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 9 K, W (11-3);

All hail Lopez! (falls to his knees and mumbles) Lopezlopezlopezlopezlopezlopezlopez……….

Neil Reece’s home run in the bottom 2nd gave “Pooky” an early 1-0 lead in the second game. Up 2-0 in the fifth, Beato was almost chopped up, when all the little things went wrong. A single, a hit batter, an error by Alejandro Lopez, and a 2-out walk to Butler brought in a run, but Beato got out with a 2-1 lead. Despite tumbling a few times along the way, Beato quietly matched Miguel Lopez’ outing the day before with striking out nine while he went seven innings only. He was pinch-hit for for offense that never came. What did he get for it? Nothing. Burnett walked two in the top 8th and Lagarde, who came in specifically to retire Diego Rodriguez, blew it by allowing an RBI double to Rodriguez. Alejandro Lopez tripled to lead off the bottom 8th and was barely brought in when Kinnear broke up the potential inning-ending double play on Higgins’ grounder. West had a shaky ninth, walking two before the suffering ended. 3-2 Raccoons. Higgins 2-4, RBI; Beato 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 9 K;

Going back ten games from here, we’re scoring a hair over two runs a game. (shakes head in disbelief)

Two more against the Crusaders, before we will head north to Vancouver into the mauling, slimy jaws of divisional annihilation, part one.

Saito started game 3 against the Crusaders. There was nothing masterful about Master Kisho at this point. The sparkle was off. After 16 scoreless innings in his first two starts, and two decent starts (read: tough ND and tougher loss), he had allowed four or more runs in all but three of his last dozen starts. Benjamin Butler drilled a home run off him in the second inning, but was then the center of negative attention in the bottom 3rd. Saito had led off that inning with a double and was on third with one out and O-Mo batting. O-Mo grounded up to Butler at first, but the Crusader was too sluggish and everybody was safe, and O-Mo credited with an RBI infield single. Through the top 7th, Saito had allowed three hits – all to Butler! Meanwhile, the Raccoons had had ten runners – and had starved nine. O-Mo singled his way on with one out in the bottom 7th, bringing up Alejandro Lopez. And then, finally, FINALLY – a home run to right center, the Raccoons were up 3-1. The Coons had three straight singles off hapless reliever John Hatt in the bottom 8th, and nobody out. Saito was pinch-hit for here with Kinnear, who struck out against the right-hander Hatt. Salazar lined out loud, bringing up O-Mo to put things right for the umpteenth time in the game. Hatt’s 2-1 pitch was contacted soundly by O-Mo and became a high fly ball to deep left. Pat Jenkins galloped after it, but it was high, deep, GONE – GRAAAAND SLAAAAMM!!! 7-1 Raccoons! O’Morrissey 5-5, HR, 2 2B, 5 RBI; Higgins 2-3, BB; Hall 2-4; Vinson 2-3, BB; Saito 8.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, W (6-7) and 1-2, 2B;

That was the first time the offense churned out more than four runs in almost two weeks.

Another one, Jason Turner for a sweep, as much hope as you could have with a 2-8 record. Two things derailed Turner and his early 3-0 lead produced by Reece and O-Mo in the first two innings: not getting the pitcher Luis Andrade out, and a bloop right onto the right field line by Pete Thompson, which together with two more hits produced two runs for the Crusaders in the top 3rd. Turner scratched and clawed to stay ahead, while the Coons twice hit into inning-ending double plays in the third and fourth innings. Both teams left them on the corners in the sixth, still 3-2 Raccoons. Something finally came together in the bottom 7th. A 1-out double put Daniel Hall on second base. The Crusaders walked Reece intentionally, but Higgins also walked, and Quinn then shoved a single into left to score Hall. They got another run on a wild pitch by Andrade, before Vinson and Allen left the plates full. This was just barely enough – Lagarde was tail-ended by the New York bats in the eighth, allowing two runs, and the Coons just barely emerged, 5-4 ahead – but West couldn’t save his third game in the series. A 1-out triple by Thompson and a subsequent double by Pat Jenkins buried West. Bobby Quinn was left on third base in the bottom half of the mess, and we went into overtime, where Tony Vela put the first two Crusaders on the corners, before fanning two and letting Hall get a lazy third out. Alejandro Lopez and Salazar made quick outs in the bottom 10th before O-Mo lobbed his way on with a soft single. Hall singled up the middle and O-Mo aggressively went to third and was safe. Neil Reece up for the win – and won it with a line drive single to right center. The sour taste remained. 6-5 Raccoons. Salazar 2-6, 2B; O’Morrissey 3-6, 2 RBI; Hall 2-5, BB, 2B; Reece 2-5, BB, 2 RBI; Quinn 2-5, 2B, RBI; Vinson 2-5, 2B;

In other news

June 29 – CHA SP Jose Galvez (6-7, 5.29 ERA) easily enjoys the finest moment of his season by 3-hitting the Crusaders in a 6-0 win for the Falcons.
July 3 – An eight-inning double in a 6-2 defeat to Denver extends SAC C Jose Gomes’ (.299, 1 HR, 34 RBI) hitting streak to 20 games.
July 4 – Season over for LAP SP Steven Berry (5-5, 4.37 ERA): the former Raccoon has suffered a torn labrum.

Complaints and stuff

You will have a hard time finding a less offensive team in the league. All players are very polite and all ethnicities are proportionally represented.

Yeah, that was as bad a pun as I will make. I’m very sorry for being myself.

We are almost scoring a full run less per game than last season and that is the root of most issues around here. Kinnear and Hall are not at all performing like last year. Reece does a bit less than last year, but it’s not critically bad with him. 1993 Osanai/Adams are even worse than 1992 Osanai. Allen has been disappointing.

David Vinson signed his 4-yr, $1.65M extension after the final game against New York. Primary catcher is thus locked up for the foreseeable future.

Next: Northwest Knockouts in Vancouver. Uah.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (45-36) @ Canadiens (48-32) – July 5-8, 1993

They say that great pitching beats great hitting. That was about what we had to hope for entering this series. The Canadiens topped our offense by 95 runs (427-332) coming in, easily overcoming average pitching to play .600 ball. They had swept us in our so far only series of the year.

Arnold McCray (6-3, 3.05 ERA) had performed best for the Canadiens so far this year, and faced Scott Wade in game 1. The Raccoons 3-spotted McCray in the first inning and Vinson homered in the second to make it 4-0. Wade was not stellar, but held a 4-1 lead through four. In the top 5th, the Coons loaded them up with one out, but both Adams and Kinnear struck out. It was the beginning of the end. The bottom 5th started with an error by O’Morrissey, and the Canadiens not only tied the game, knocked out Wade, took a lead, but sent up 11 men and scored seven runs (all unearned) en route to blowing out the Raccoons, 9-4. O’Morrissey 3-5; Reece 3-4, BB, 3B, 2 RBI;

Game 2 was over even quicker. Miguel Lopez was branded by a pair of first-inning, 2-run home runs off the bats of Luis Arroyo and Kelly Carpenter. The latter was unearned after an error by Salazar that put on Salvador Mendez. Lopez did not survive the fifth inning, either. The Raccoons had had the tying run at the plate briefly in the top of the inning, down 5-2 with two on Neil Reece made the final out to CF Arroyo, but in the bottom of the inning, Lopez was eaten up with all kinds of singles, mostly of the soft varieties. The Canadiens kept reeling off hits, and smothered the Raccoons once more. 8-3 Canadiens. Moreno (PH) 1-1; O’Morrissey 2-5, 2B, RBI;

Whenever I go to Canada, I have this pressing urge to drown myself in the most near body of water. I wonder whether that is the air or something …

Raimundo Beato took the mound for game 3, as all hope was abandoned. Again, an error got the Canadiens moving. Alejandro Lopez had dinged the Raccoons 1-0 ahead in the top 1st, but a Higgins mis-grab in the bottom 1st instantly had the Canadiens score a pair of 2-out runs. Their own messy defense would catch up with the Canadiens in this game, though. SS Michael McFarland made an error that helped the Raccoons plate the tying run, and take a 3-2 lead – while still leaving the bases loaded. A wild pitch by Manny Ramos helped the Raccoons to take a 5-2 lead through three innings. The Canadiens loaded the bases in the bottom 5th on a Salazar error and two walks by Beato, who went to another full count on Kevin Gilmore before the Redhat whiffed on a questionable pitch to end the inning. Beato survived the sixth, and Lagarde the seventh, while the Raccoons kept missing the scoreboard. Salazar was thrown out at home on a Neil Reece single to end the top 8th, still 5-2. Bottom 9th. The “Demon” came in with a 3-run lead, got an out, then allowed singles to Javier Salcido and Raúl Solís, before walking McFarland. CF Orlando Penn, who had replaced an injured Arroyo, grounded to Higgins for a fielder’s choice, while Salcido scored. 5-3, two out, runners on the corners. With the way things were going … Salvador Mendez (.393, 2 HR, 61 RBI) grounded to Higgins’ left, but Higgins made the play to first. 5-3 Raccoons. Higgins 4-5, RBI; Reece 2-5, 2B; Vinson 1-2, 2 BB;

Game 4, Kisho Saito set out to try and at least keep the gap at 3 1/2 games. He faced Ruben Prado (8-5, 5.01 ERA), who doubtlessly was enjoying his run support. The Raccoons took a 1-0 lead in the top 1st before Allen whiffed with the bags full for the final out, upon which Kisho Saito (6-7, 3.91 ERA) surrendered a leadoff single to Solís, who stole second, took third on a wild pitch, and came home on a balk. Saito was awful, failing to punch out any of the seven consecutive batters he went into 2-strike counts on in the second and third innings, before utility player Doug Hill drilled a 2-run home run in the bottom 4th that buried the Raccoons, who could not hope to hurt Prado, once again. Despite getting the tying run to the plate several times late in the game, they grounded out poorly each time, Hall in the eighth and Salazar in the ninth nailing the game, and probably the season. 4-1 Canadiens. A. Lopez 2-4; Reece 3-4; Higgins 2-4, RBI; Quinn (PH) 1-1, 2B; Miller 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Raccoons (46-39) @ Titans (37-50) – July 9-11, 1993

Enter the worst pitching staff in the league once more. Their offense ranked a close 2nd to the Canadiens, but it wasn’t helping them a lick. Maybe against the Weakbatticoons. Miguel Lopez would come up in the last game of the set just before the All Star Game, but since he led the league in ERA I was assuming he would be part of the fun, so Raimundo Beato was getting ready to pitch game 3 on short rest, which was nothing to drool about, either.

Neil Reece was a bit sore and was rested in game 1 of the series, as the luckless Jason Turner (2-8 for crying out loud) went against the Titans’ Santiago Perez (4-6, 7.94 ERA). Through three innings, the Raccoons had five runners, the Titans had one, the Titans led 1-0. The Raccoons failed to score against the goddamn awful Perez in six innings, and trailed 2-0. Turner, who didn’t give up a lot in this game, could hardly believe his fate. The Titans doubled their output in the seventh, knocking out Turner. Hall didn’t look good defensively here, while also doing nothing at the plate. The Raccoons out-hit the Titans 9-8, but were shut out in a 4-0 loss, leaving 14 men on as a team, 28 individually. Salazar 3-4, BB; Adams 3-4, 3B;

Scott Wade got early support from Alejandro Lopez in the middle game, as Lopez singled in O’Morrissey in the first and hit a 2-run home run in the third inning. The Titans brushed Wade with two runs of their own in the bottom 4th, but Wade held the lead through six before being pinch-hit for. He struck out four batters – or rather one batter four times: Matt Smith, the dangerous left-handed leadoff batter. Proctor came in to face left-handers in the seventh and walked back-to-back batters. Juan Martinez replaced him and three runs scored. Matt Higgins came up with a big game-tying 1-out, 2-run triple in the eighth inning. That he was able to score was not the product of the Raccoons’ effort, but rather of an error by SS George Waller on Glenn Adams’ grounder. In the end, it didn’t matter. Grant West had another ineffective outing in the ninth. Ten pitches were enough for the Titans to walk off with a 2-out, 3-run home run by 3B Jose Ramirez. 8-6 Titans. O’Morrissey 2-5, 2B; A. Lopez 2-5, HR, 3 RBI; Reece 2-5;

Proctor is a useless piece of ****. Why do I keep trading for useless pieces of ****? More on useless pieces of **** below.

Game 3. “Pooky” went on short rest, which did little to curtail is usual too-much-to-lose-too-little-to-win ways. The Coons took a 1-0 lead on an unearned run in the second inning after catcher Luis Lopez’ wild throw to second base allowed Sixto Moreno to not only steal that base, but also go to third, from where Rodriguez sacrificed him in. Beato was taken VERY deep by Hjalmar Flygt for two in the fourth, but Adams re-tied the game with a rocket in the fifth. Adams would also be the center of offense in the seventh inning, where he hit home runs in consecutive at-bats, this time a 3-shot that gave “Pooky” a solid lead he never relinquished. 7-2 Raccoons. Quinn 1-1; Rodriguez 2-3, 3 RBI; Adams 2-4, 2 HR, 4 RBI; Beato 7.2 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, W (6-5);

Glenn Adams has silently forged an 11-game hitting streak. Very silently.

Bobby Quinn suffered a thumb contusion very early in the game and will be out for a week.

Glenn Johnston’s rehab assignment ran out and he was assigned to stay at AAA.

All Star Game

The Raccoons send Miguel Lopez, Neil Reece, and Ben O’Morrissey to the contest. Several teams in either league have four players active, the Rebels and Capitals have five each.

The Federal League wins 5-2, with WAS Jeffery Brown missing the cycle by a triple and driving in three. Neil Reece goes 0-3, O-Mo goes 1-4, while Lopez pitches the eighth inning, where he surrenders two runs.

In other news

July 6 – The Stars not only smother the Scorpions 10-3, but also end the 21-game hitting streak of catcher Jose Gomes (.296, 1 HR, 34 RBI).
July 7 – WAS OF/1B Jeffery Brown (.350, 12 HR, 43 RBI) gets a fourth-inning single in a 4-3 loss to the Rebels, completing a 20-game hitting streak.
July 9 – TIJ OF Manuel Doval (.281, 11 HR, 60 RBI) suffers severe head injuries from a head-on collision with the outfield wall in the Condors’ game against the Aces. Doval made a daring grab against a fly ball from Royce Green that was bound to hit the wall at the very bottom, and had no chance to avoid hammering the base of the wall with his face.
July 11 – Tijuana’s Manuel Doval announces his retirement from the hospital bed. The 30-year old Doval, a third-round pick in the 1981 draft, batted .322 with 154 HR and 705 RBI for the Rebels and Condors in a 9-year career.
July 11 – VAN OF Luis Arroyo (.284, 7 HR, 47 RBI) has suffered a sprained ankle and will be out for six weeks.
July 12 – The Loggers’ young phenom OF Jerry Fletcher (.335, 1 HR, 28 RBI) is out for the season with a torn labrum.

Complaints and stuff

When I made the trade with the Wolves for Mark Allen, I said that he can’t possibly repeat a .221 season – he has always been an above-average to elite hitter. He dipped below .220 in the Titans series, and when I shopped him, I got close to zero offers. The least uninteresting came from the Capitals, offering an infield prospect with dubious upside and no power. Allen hit four home runs in early April before getting hurt. He hasn’t done **** on the plus side since his return.

More and more Daniel Hall’s 1992 season looks like Hood’s Tennessee Campaign – the last Hoorah of a beaten warrior. We have now entered about the phase of between the battles of Franklin and Nashville. Shot to pieces, starving, and lingering in the cold, the waving flag somewhere lost on the way. He makes for a sorry sight by now.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (47-41) vs. Canadiens (52-35) – July 15-18, 1993

Northwestern Knockouts, Part Deux. Somehow I had a feeling who’d be knocked out.

Bobby Quinn would miss this series with his thumb issue and we would play a man short.

Kisho Saito’s inability to remove batters in 2-strike counts didn’t get any better with the season on the line. CF Ronald Moore crushed a home run off him in the second inning before things became really nasty in the sixth, where the Canadiens had several extra base hits, hit in 2-strike counts. Saito was saddled with four runs in his six innings, further raising his ERA, while the Raccoons were wholly and completely overwhelmed by the pitching death star that was Arnold McCray, who did yield very little in the first eight frames: four hits, one run, and there the Raccoons got help from Michael McFarland misplaying a fly ball in right field. Lopez and Reece led off the bottom 9th, 5-1 down, with singles that knocked McCray off the mound. Julián Gonzales came in and walked Higgins. Bases loaded, no outs, tying run coming up in Vern Kinnear. Gonzales partially emptied the bases with a wild pitch, then loaded them again, walking Higgins. Glenn Adams struck out, but Vinson lined into shallow left for an RBI single. 5-3, bases loaded, one out. Moreno pinch-hit for Juan Martinez and popped out. Salazar grounded out to Gonzales. 5-3 Canadiens. A. Lopez 3-4;

Higgins’ speed and his 23rd stolen bag of the year, coupled with an error by McFarland, gave the Raccoons an unearned 1-0 lead in the first inning of game 2, where Turner matched up with Vernon Robertson. The lead – as unearned as it was – didn’t last long, as the Canadiens came back to tie it in the second inning, and Turner threw a wild pitch for the go-ahead run. Bottom 4th, Adams on second base, one out, Hall came up. He had yet to drive in a run in July, and lined into deep left – and Kevin Gilmore caught the hissing bitch. Adams was left on third base in the inning, and the Raccoons only tied the game in the fifth with a leadoff homer by backup catcher Rodriguez. Turner pitched into the seventh, when he was removed in the tied game with two out, a runner on third base, and left-hander “Itchy” Ishizaki pinch-hitting for Robertson. Burnett struck out “Itchy”, and would turn up as the most tragic figure on a roster full of them. He was left in to collect the final out in the Raccoons’ seventh, but instead walked against Munemori Suzuki. O’Morrissey singled to right, and Higgins walked to load the bases, before Lopez popped out to waste another chance. Burnett faced Raúl Solís to start the eighth, and failed to keep him off the bases, as Solís laid down a bunt and beat out the play at first. Lagarde replaced Burnett, walked McFarland, then walked David Brewer with one out, and finally drilled and injured Ronald Moore, pushing in the go-ahead run for the Canadiens. Daniel Miller and Neil Reece, who threw out Brewer at the plate on the next play, held the damage to two runs total. The Canadiens then suffered their own bullpen explosion in the bottom 8th, as Suzuki put on two for Daniel Hall, who popped up a 3-1 pitch for the first out. Salazar walked, and Rodriguez hit an RBI single to right. Kinnear pinch-hit for Miller, prompting the Canadiens to bring their own Alejandro Lopez, a left-handed reliever, who still surrendered a 2-0, 1-out, 2-run single. Higgins scored Rodriguez, giving Grant West a 2-run lead in the top 9th. West walked the leadoff man and threw not one, but TWO wild pitches in the inning, before Neil Reece made a fantastic grab for the final out with the tying run on second base. 6-5 Raccoons. O’Morrissey 2-5; Reece 2-4; Rodriguez 2-3, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Kinnear (PH) 1-1, 2 RBI; Turner 6.2 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 3 K;

Lagarde was shot and buried on the center field side of the mound. He’s not getting anything done at this point, which is true for about three quarters of the roster.

Manny Ramos was the weakest link in the Canadiens’ rotation, while Scott Wade’s ERA was still highest for the Furballs, although Saito was catching up incredibly fast. The Canadiens struck first with an Edgardo Ramos home run, but Matt Higgins matched that, both in the second inning. The Coons even took a 2-1 lead and were up 3-1 with the bases loaded and one out in the bottom 3rd. The strugglers Kinnear and Allen came up and reliably ended the inning, although Kinnear at least managed a sac fly. Allen struck out. Manny Ramos was knocked out in the fourth after a 2-run single by Higgins, and the Coons were up 6-2, with Higgins a triple away from a cycle. The Canadiens however were by no means defeated. Solís cut the deficit back to two with a 2-run shot off Wade in the fifth and Alejandro Lopez had to throw out Brewer at home to end the inning. But while Wade was not stellar, the Canadiens’ bullpen, which was not top level to begin with, came completely apart in the bottom 6th, where the Raccoons extended their lead to 11-4. Wade went into the eighth in a not quite great outing, but he survived the Canadiens in one piece. 11-4 Raccoons. Salazar 2-5, BB, RBI; O’Morrissey 3-6, 2 RBI; Higgins 3-5, HR, 2B, 3 RBI; Hall (PH) 1-1, 2B;

The Canadiens had a runner thrown out at home for the third time in the series in the second inning of the final game. Too bad that by then they were already up 3-0 on Miguel Lopez due to a Javier Salcido home run and then two unearned runs following a Mark Allen error. Daniel Hall retrieved two runs with his first RBI hit since June 30 in the bottom of the inning, a 2-run home run against Ruben Prado. Salcido homered again in the top 3rd, but the Raccoons swung the game around in the bottom 3rd with a 2-out, bases-clearing double by David Vinson, who subsequently scored on a Kinnear single. Prado was knocked out. The next three innings remarkably remained scoreless, culminating in Allen getting thrown out at home to end the bottom 6th to keep the score at 6-4. Like Wade the day before, Lopez ended up going 7.1 innings before yielding for the bullpen to match a batter, in this case righty Salcido, who had tattooed Lopez twice already. It took three relievers (Martinez, Proctor, Miller) to get out of the inning, but the Canadiens were held away. Hall had batted in an extra run in the seventh, and everybody was cautious about seeing a shaky Grant West in a Canadiens game at this point. Kinnear and Allen hit doubles leading off the bottom 8th, keeping West in the pen. Miller finished the game, as the Raccoons added three in the bottom 8th, 10-4 Raccoons!! O’Morrissey 2-5, 2B, RBI; Reece 2-4, BB; Hall 2-3, BB, HR, 2B, 3 RBI; Kinnear 2-4, 2B, RBI; Allen 3-4, 2B, RBI; Lopez 7.1 IP, 8 H, 4 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, W (12-4); Miller 1.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, SV (1) and 1-1;

The Canadiens’ bullpen and defense cost them here, and overall we have tied the four-and-four Knockouts against them, deferring a decision on the division until later in the season. The defense was especially bad: McFarland alone made four errors in the series.

Raccoons (50-42) @ Indians (42-51) – July 19-21, 1993

A notch below the Raccoons in both offense and defense, the Indians were mightily struggling. Heck, any time a team trails the Loggers by any amount of games they can be considered to be really struggling.

They had Alonso Santana start game 1, a young lefty who had lost his first two games this year, but only with a 4.32 ERA. His control was his main problem, not enough nasty on his breaking stuff his second problem. The Raccoons seared him in the first inning: six runs, while O’Morrissey made two outs. Mark Allen hit his first home run in three months in the fifth inning, making it 7-0. He seemed to enjoy the experience, since he made it back-to-back PA’s with dingers by hitting another one in the seventh, 8-0. “Pooky” was not stellar, but got the outs that counted big, twice from 1B Vincente Rodriguez with two on and two out in the first four innings. He was much more efficient after that, but when he walked the leadoff man in the ninth, he was removed after reaching 110 pitches. Burnett pitched the final inning, while Quinn threw out a runner at home to end the game. 9-0 Raccoons! Salazar 2-4, BB, 2B; Reece 2-5, HR, RBI; Allen 3-5, 2 HR, 4 RBI; Adams 2-5, 2B, 3 RBI; Beato 8.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 4 K, W (7-5) and 1-4;

That makes for 30 runs in the last three games. Whoa, guys, slow it down, I’m getting dizzy!

Unfortunately, Bobby Quinn got hurt again in his first game back from a thumb contusion, when he made the final out at home in the bottom 9th. He had a mild calf strain and would be DTD for a few days. Geez, he’s getting more bitchy about such tiny scratches than Daniel Hall has ever been!

So, Quinn was on the shelf again as game 2 approached. Higgins got a start at short in place of Salazar as we faced consecutive left-handers here, in this case a 7-5 Arthur Young with a 3.98 ERA. Young had been nasty to the Coons a few times the last few years. Kisho Saito tried to stave off his 10th loss of the year. He failed. He allowed two runs through six innings, before being pinch-hit for, on a 2-out, 2-run double by Tomas Gonzales in the fourth inning. That was about it. The Indians’ Young in turn, dominated the Raccoons spectacularly. They were hitless as Saito left the game, but a combo of a few walks, a hit batter (Hall), and two Indians errors gave Young a well advanced pitch count through seven. The Raccoons’ pen stumbled through the seventh, before sending Young back out for the top 8th. They had six outs to land a hit. Higgins tried to bunt his way on, but was thrown out by Young. O-Mo made the next out, before Alejandro Lopez hurled a fly ball to the gap in right – the Indians didn’t get that one, Lopez ended up with a 2-out triple, and Young was removed from the game. But Reece left Lopez at third base, just like the Raccoons left Hall on third base in the ninth. 2-0 Indians.

Guys, when I said I was dizzy … ah, never mind… (resigns himself to weeping in a corner of the clubhouse)

Larry Davis (4-10, 4.78 ERA) and his 1.58 WHIP looked rather beatable in game 3. Jason Turner (2-9) could have used some love, too. But the Raccoons could only scrape out runners until they had a pair of them, and then stopped loving Turner. When the starters were both out of the game in the seventh, the Indians led 4-3. The Raccoons left Higgins on third base in the eighth, not the first time they left the tying run(s) on in the game. Martinez was cracked up in the bottom 8th to make for a perfect mess. 6-3 Indians. A. Lopez 2-5, 2B; Higgins 2-4;

In other news

July 16 – The Rebels beat the Capitals 3-1, getting back to 6 1/2 games out in the FL East, and also kill Jeffery Brown’s 24-game hitting streak.

Complaints and stuff

Just everything about this team makes you want to cry really hard. I will only give one line of stats this time, Jason Turner’s last 16 starts:

0-9, 100.0 IP, 3.51 ERA, 1.25 WHIP

HE IS FRICKING OH FOR NINE.

(shakes his head in disbelief)

[pjh5165]

Originally Posted by Westheim

Lagarde was shot and buried on the center field side of the mound.

The player murders and burials make me laugh every single time

[Westheim]

I suggest you get yourself a similarly futile team. That should stop the laughing.

Raccoons (51-44) @ Thunder (47-47) – July 23-25, 1993

Game 1. Neither Scott Wade nor Makoto Kogawa had very good starts. The game was tied, 3-3, through the top 3rd. Wade loaded the bags with no outs in the bottom 3rd, but was lucky to get out with a liner to Salazar and a double play. The Raccoons had more success in the top 4th with a leadoff double by Hall, an Allen walk, and Vinson bringing them all home with his fifth dinger of the year. They added three more runs in the fifth, as Richard Cunningham, the former Raccoon, failed to contain the storm – he struck out five, though. Wade gave up two in the bottom 5th, and was done with a 9-5 lead, barely qualifying for the win. He removed pitcher Jose Chavez to start the bottom 6th, then exited. While Proctor surrendered a run, Martinez struck out all batters he faced in the game. 9-6 Raccoons. Salazar 2-4, BB; O’Morrissey 4-4, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Higgins 2-5, 3B, 2B, RBI; Vinson 1-3, BB, HR, 3 RBI; Martinez 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K;

Game 2 was about getting runners in, and the Raccoons struggled, leaving five men on in the first two frames alone. Miguel Lopez pitched in a 1-1 game until the sixth, where Vinson and Adams got on to start the frame. Lopez bunted them over, but Salazar struck out for the second out. O-Mo had to come through – and did, a 2-run single to shallow left center. It turned out that this was the deciding moment in the game. Miguel Lopez never stopped throwing fire and pitched a complete game win: 3-1 Raccoons! O’Morrissey 3-4, BB, 2B, 3 RBI; Hall 2-5; M. Lopez 9.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, W (13-4) and 1-2, BB;

Both Raimundo Beato and Oklahoma’s Jorge Gutierrez were wild in game 3, with both of them issuing more walks than strikeouts and also a wild pitch each. The Raccoons fell 3-0 behind in the first three innings, but rallied back with Neil Reece tying the game with a 2-run home run in the top 6th. The game remained tied in the eighth, in the bottom of which Lagarde faced Jeff Wagner with nobody on and two down. Wagner blooped into shallow left center, it eluded Kinnear, and Wagner turned around second base as Reece drilled the ball back in to O’Morrissey, who got the tag on and Wagner was out. The game went into extra innings, where Vinson got things going with a blast, a solo home run off Dennis Columpton. Hall got on and stole his 99th base as a pinch-hitter for Moreno, but was left on, and West came in without a cushion. He had his first 1-2-3 outing in quite a while, and the Raccoons had the sweep. 4-3 Raccoons! Reece 2-3, HR, 3 RBI; Burnett 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K; Lagarde 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K, W (3-4);

Raccoons (54-44) vs. Bayhawks (54-45) – July 26-28, 1993

This was a duel of second-place teams, with the Raccoons 2 1/2 out, and the Bayhawks 7 out in their respective divisions. The Bayhawks’ rotation struggled at times and averaged an ERA over four, while the offense also was not as elite as it was a few years ago.

Wilson Moreno (8-6, 3.07 ERA) was not necessarily struggling, while Kisho Saito undoubtedly was at this point. Saito was duly blown up in the third inning with four runs, two of those unearned after his own error. Down 4-1, the Raccoons re-tied the game in the bottom 3rd, including a 2-run shot by Reece, only for Saito to surrender another run in the fourth, and three more in the fifth on a wild pitch and a 2-run single by Moreno with two down. The Raccoons ended their 3-game winning streak in no time here, being crashed 9-6 by the Bayhawks. Salazar 2-4, BB, 2B; O’Morrissey 3-5; Reece 2-4, BB, HR, 3 RBI; Hall 3-4, 2B;

Saito is basically hopeless at this point. He doesn’t get people out at all. Of course, he just signed a huge contract.

To make things worse yet, Jackie Lagarde was removed from the game after facing just one batter. He was diagnosed with back soreness and was heading to the disabled list, although 15 days should be enough for him to heal. Albert Matthews was brought up as a replacement after being stowed away at AAA to rehab for a few weeks.

Like in game 1, the Raccoons took a 1-0 lead in the first, with Jason Turner’s L column actually dwarved by his 5-12 opponent Pepe Martinez. Things started to go wrong even quicker this time, in the bottom 2nd. Sixto Moreno was at the plate with nobody out and runners on the corners, but hit into a double play that held Matt Higgins at third. Turner then made the final out, THEN proceeded to give a leadoff walk to Martinez in the top 3rd. Martinez scored and tied the game on Roberto Rodriguez’ double. The Raccoons hit into double plays in three consecutive innings, then didn’t get anybody on in the fifth (which probably saved them from a fourth double play) while trailing merely 2-1. That was before the Bayhawks added another run in the top 6th, again after Turner dished out a leadoff walk. Reece drove in a run in the bottom 6th, and the Raccoons had runners on the corners with one out in the bottom 7th and Turner up. Mark Allen pinch hit for him. Double play. 3-2 Bayhawks. The Raccoons out-hit the Bayhawks 11-6. O’Morrissey 3-4; Reece 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Vinson 3-4, 2B; Quinn 1-1; Martinez 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

Screw this ****…

Sixto Moreno (.239, 0 HR, 3 RBI) was designated for assignment after this game. Being a utility man, you don’t have to hit .300, but it would nice if you wouldn’t be THAT useless. Marvin Ingall was called up from AAA to make his Raccoons debut.

In that debut, Scott Wade was battered early for four hits and two runs in the first inning, before any Coon could ever hit into a double play. They still left two men on three times in the first four innings without ever scoring. Somebody stuffed a towel into my mouth at that point to stop the screaming and cursing. The only thing that could possibly help was a visit from the power department. O’Morrissey hit his 12th homer of the year with one out in the bottom 5th. Hall walked, and Reece matched O’Morrissey with his 12th homer. Suddenly, the Raccoons were ahead. Higgins got on, and Vinson hit another 2-run home run. Suddenly it clicked. 5-2. Ingall in his debut managed a 2-out RBI infield single in the seventh that made it an on-the-paper comfy 6-2, but a parade of three relievers made the Bayhawks load the bags and bring up the tying run in the top 8th, before Didier Bourges grounded out. Ennio Sabre homered off Miller to start the top 9th, bringing in Grant West, who had a 3-run lead and set out to blow it, allowing four hits in the inning, before the Bayhawks had Randy Powers (another ex-Coon) ground out to Salazar with the bases loaded. 6-4 Raccoons. O’Morrissey 2-5, HR, 2B, RBI; Reece 2-3, BB, HR, 2 RBI;

In other news

July 24 – The Canadiens lose key player 1B/2B David Brewer (.344, 4 HR, 60 RBI) to a hamstring strain. Brewer will miss about three weeks in this key part of the season, with the Canadiens leading the Raccoons by 3 1/2.
July 27 – In a surprising move, the Capitals and Stars, both leading their divisions, swap outfielders, with the Capitals receiving Dale Cleveland (.308, 8 HR, 53 RBI) and the Stars getting Darren Allison (.282, 13 HR, 34 RBI).
July 28 – IND SP Neil Stewart (14-6, 2.78 ERA) 3-hits the Falcons, as the Indians win 5-0. LVA SP Manuel Movonda (10-4, 2.52 ERA) even beats that performance with a 2-hitter against the Canadiens, in which the Aces win 7-0.

Complaints and stuff

Neil Reece leads the CL in batters’ WAR at this point. He has just over 3 WAR from offense, and 2 WAR from his awesometastic fielding. I love the kid! He’s gonna turn 27 later in this season, so we could have fun with him for a long time. He’s arbitration eligible two or three more times (not sure about calculation here), but sooner or later we should lock him up. Could he be the next Daniel Hall with a retirement contract?

As we are talking about him, Daniel Hall wants a new contract. It breaks my heart, but … (sobs)

The deadline has been approaching quite quickly here, and even if I had money to throw out of the window, it would be hard to find an improvement. The player materiel to win is *here*, they just do not perform consistently well enough to get over the hump. Neil Reece is the only outfielder, f.e., to get hits at this point. The starting pitching seems to get raped daily, which is not what I had in mind in building this roster. You just want to cry.

Oh, and the offense numbers speak a lot about the hell this team makes me suffer through: they are decisively mediocre, ranking between 6th and 9th in all major categories except for home runs (1st) and strikeouts (3rd). No wonder they don’t get anything going.

And Jason Turner isn’t the only one crying himself to sleep at night.

[DatCloserKid]

Westheim, how do you get head to head stats against teams.
Ex: Loggers vs Raccoons