[Westheim]

Raccoons (68-67) vs. Loggers (66-70)

That was an important 4-game set in regard to second and third place in the division. With the Indians crawling back in, even fifth place was still a possibility for the Raccoons if they continued to drop games by three at a time to these teams. But at least against the Loggers the Coons had so far dominated this season, going 8-3 against them.

The Raccoons put up four quickly in the first two innings against John Douglas, but Logan Evans was shelled in the top 3rd and the Loggers tied the game, 4-4. Dawson went yard in the bottom 3rd to make it 5-4, and soon after that, the rain started. The game was delayed for almost 20 minutes in the top 5th with two out and a runner on first for the Loggers. Steve Walker then slipped on the play and threw the ball away, putting two in scoring position. Logan Evans faced ex-Coon Davis Rigsby. He wanted to go after him, and made him ground out to Thompson. After dodging that bullet, Walker made good in the bottom 5th with a single that loaded the bags. Next was Dadswell, who unloaded to beyond right field, GRAND SLAM!! The Coons led 10-4 into the seventh, where Neubauer was tasked with lefties Winters and Garza. One was nailed, the other walked, and Alvin Sutphen unloaded off Bentley to cut the lead in half. While I was already nestling for the big heartache pills in my bag, Bentley settled in and got through the inning without any more damage. Gaston and West nixed out the Loggers down the stretch, and the Raccoons prevailed, 10-7. R. Gonzalez 2-4, BB, HR, 2B, 3 RBI; Dawson 2-4, HR, RBI; Walker 3-3, BB; Dadswell 2-4, HR, 4 RBI; Evans collected W #17 with a shoddy outing, going five frames and not the tiniest slice more, his 17 wins tied several other pitchers in the CL;

Game 2. Powell was taken VERY deep by call-up Julio Gonzales twice in the first three innings, and trailed 4-0 quickly. The Loggers’ Anibal Guerra meanwhile zeroed out the Coons. Daniel Hall’s leadoff single in the bottom 7th was only their third hit of the day. Next came Dawson, who got a good hitter’s pitch from Guerra and drilled it to left to cut the deficit to half the size. The Loggers put two on against Soto in the top 8th, but Cunningham held them away from home. Thompson walked to lead off the bottom 8th, but was picked off at first before Gonzalez homered to center, so the Raccoons still trailed. Ultimately, they didn’t do enough. They lost 4-3 with only five hits for the team. Dawson 2-4, HR, 2 RBI;

When Ken Winters made the second out in the first inning in this game, a 3-pitch K by Powell, it was only Powell 50th K of the year in then 164 innings. There are so many ways to describe his terrible performance this year, and they are all terribly sad.

Scott Wade was beaten in the first inning with a 3-run shot by David Rivera. The Raccoons loaded the bags with one out in the bottom 1st, but Hall struck out and Dawson flew out. Wade was battered for four more runs in the fourth inning. We have no pitcher.

Through eight, the Raccoons had seven hits, but no runs. They trailed 8-0 and looked heavily beat. Mark Dawson started the ninth with a double. Green doubled. Lantán doubled. Eventually Osanai hit a 3-run double, which made it 8-6 Loggers, with Osanai on, one out and Hall up. Quickly down 0-2, he singled to left, representing the tying run, and Dawson came back to the plate as the winning run. Dawson launched at the first pitch, but grounded it to short. Osanai scored, but Hall was forced and Dawson was barely safe. Green was now the winning run at the plate. He grounded out. Raccoons lost, 8-7. Of course. Thompson 3-5, 2B, RBI; R. Gonzalez 2-5, 2B; Osanai 2-4, BB, 2B, 3 RBI; Hall 2-5; Green (PH) 1-2, 2B, RBI; Lantán (PH) 1-2, 2B, RBI;

The Loggers scored right away in the first inning off Saito in the last game, 1-0. Dawson grounded into a double play with the bases loaded and one out soon enough, and the Furballs trailed until the sixth, when Osanai homered to right to tie the game. Dawson now followed up with a double, and Hall went deep to left center, 3-1 Coons, and still nobody out. Although Green followed up with a single, they didn’t score any more runs in the inning and the score stood into the ninth. West entered and saw Osanai blow the first grounder in the inning for an error. Fortunately, John Howard then sent a grounder to Thompson for two and West only faced three in the inning. 3-1 Coons. Thompson 2-4; Osanai 2-3, BB, HR, RBI; Hall 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Green 2-3; Saito 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 8 K, W (9-15) and 1-2;

Raccoons (70-69) vs. Canadiens (90-49)

This was a very critical series – if the Raccoons weren’t cautions, the Canadiens would take the division here in Portland! Of course, with the kind of gap we had, they would take it sooner or later anyway, but I would have had preferred them doing it someplace else. They needed to take two out of three to seal the division against the Coons, assuming the Titans wouldn’t sweep the Crusaders.

We also saw Matt Workman again, who was now back in the majors for the Canadiens. Somehow, the light red uniform didn’t suit him well.

Game 1 saw a duel between Bill Smith and Vicente Ruíz. Both 4-hit the opposition through six innings in a scoreless game. A Thompson error (the third by the Coons already) put Smith on base in the seventh and chased Ruíz. Gaston ended the inning, but then surrendered a triple to Seitaro Ogawa in the eighth. That was the end. The Canadiens scored two. The Raccoons then loaded them up in the bottom 8th with one out. Osanai and Hall both struck out to waste it. Dawson hit a 452ft-homer to lead off the bottom 9th. The tying run got to second base, before the weak offense collapsed again. 2-1 Canadiens. Walker 2-4, 2B;

Game 2 after six innings? Scoreless. Logan Evans had allowed one hit, Robbie Campbell three. No runner had ever set foot on third base. This hadn’t changed by the bottom 8th. Armando Sanchez on second, one out, and Logan Evans was removed for Cam Green, but the Canadiens walked him. Thompson and Walker then both flew out harmlessly. Cunningham pitched a quick ninth, end the Canadiens brought their closer Gerard Marquis in order to force extra innings. Ricardo Gonzalez led off with a double. They didn’t pitch to Osanai, which brought up Hall, whose record on the day was a frightening 0-3 with 2 K. Where are your doubles, Danny? Hall singled to left, at least, on a full count, which loaded them up and still nobody out. Sam Dadswell worked a 3-0 count, one ball away from the win. Marquis pitched to Dadswell, who didn’t even flinch, on the outside corner, but Carlos Saucedo was crossed up and the ball got away. Gonzalez scored from third on a walk off passed ball. 1-0 Raccoons. Evans 8.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 4 K; Cunningham 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, W (7-6);

This was Carlos Saucedo’s first game in the big leagues. Ouch.

Since the Crusaders won 3-2 against the Titans at the same time, the Raccoons remained the only team mathematically not eliminated in the CL North, but of course we had to play one more against the Canadiens.

Problem was, the starter was Christopher Powell. His opponent was Raimundo Beato, which gave the Canadiens good odds to walk out division winners, but Powell 1-hit them through three, while Osanai and Dadswell both launched 2-run homers in the bottom 3rd. Powell had one of his best days in recent memory, allowing one run to the speedy Herrera over six innings, before he was removed for a pinch hitter in the bottom 6th. The Raccoons led 5-1 at that point and had another chance to score in the eighth, adding one run on a Dawson sac fly. The Canadiens got that run back after a leadoff walk by Neubauer to Ramon Gonzalez, but the Coons prevailed 6-2. Green 1-2, BB; Lucero (PH) 1-1, 2B;

The Canadiens *will* have to clinch the division someplace else! This also continued a pattern in the season series against Vancouver that’s been going on since 1978. Since then, the Coons have lost the series, drew it, won it, then lost, drew, won, and again lost and finally drew this season, 9-9. Even more remarkably, the series wins in 1980 and 1983 were offset by equal losses in 1981 and 1984. Overall, we are 78-84 against the Canadiens.

Raccoons (72-70) vs. Crusaders (59-83)

We clearly had no pitcher: Scott Wade was brutally beaten up by the last-place Crusaders, for eight runs in 3+ innings. He couldn’t get anybody out, at any point. The Crusaders also beat up Gilberto Soto, whose attempt at long relief was quickly thwarted. The Coons trailed 11-4 after seven, then scored two in the eighth. After a scoreless top 9th by White, they put their first three men on in the bottom 9th, bringing the tying run to the on-deck circle (which in that case was White, so there was a pinch hitter looming somewhere). Andy Reed singled for the first run in. Dadswell pinch hit for White, but grounded for an out at second, with one run in. 11-8, Cameron Green to the plate. Grounder, double play, over. 11-8 Crusaders. Walker 3-5, HR, RBI; Osanai 2-5; Reed (PH) 1-1, RBI; Green 2-5, 2B; Lucero 2-3, BB, 2 HR, 4 RBI;

There was some vomiting in the clubhouse after that loss. Victor Castillo was terribly ill and out for a few days, but he hadn’t really played in some time anyway.

The first hit that Kisho Saito surrendered in game 2 was a home run to Dave Polk in the fifth, cutting a 2-0 lead in half. Saito had not walked anybody either, but whether he had been able to stretch for a no-hitter was questionable anyway, since the second inning had already seen a 20-minute rain delay. The weather was … bad. Osanai restored the 2-run lead with a solo homer in the sixth, his 25th of the year, and Lucero added a run with a 2-out single in the same inning, 4-1. Saito was then beaten in the seventh, with a home run and two singles. Cunningham came in, and while the runner from third scored, he maintained Saito’s lead. With the bags full in the bottom 7th, Dawson walked a run in, but Hall and Green made embarrassing outs to end the inning. Bases loaded in the eighth – Thompson and Osanai popped out. Inning over again. Grant West didn’t care. He needed six pitches to convert the 5-3 win into a save for himself. Osanai 2-5, HR, RBI; R. Gonzalez (PH) 1-1, BB;

Ex-Coon Enrique Sanchez put his new team on top with a 2-piece in the first inning of game 3. Starter Mario Garcia was still no-hitting the Coons, when he left in the fourth with an injury. The Crusaders brought in Hisanobu Higuchi, one of the many awful pitchers that had been once clad in Coons brown. He struck out Osanai, he struck out Hall. He continued to no-hit the Coons as well. It took them until the seventh for Ricardo Gonzalez to finally get in a hit, an infield single on a bang-bang play. But the Coons failed to get him in and remained shut out. 2-0 Crusaders, Higuchi got the win.

I was raging mad after that loss. Not that they LOST, but that they lost to HIGUCHI, of all suckers out there. Including the 30 on the Raccoons’ current roster. It was his first big league win, after going with a 7.88 ERA in 1982 with the Raccoons. Damnit!!

The Crusaders again took a lead in the first of the final game, 1-0. Evans was not really in tune with the strike zone, but held them there at first. In the bottom 3rd, the Coons had the bags full, two out, and Daniel Hall up. He worked a full count, then walked instead of getting another one to his K pile, and tied the game. Of course they didn’t get any other runs in in that inning. And not in the next. And not in the last five. 3-1 Crusaders, the Raccoons were 5-hit.

Raccoons (73-73) @ Bayhawks (56-90)

Through seven innings in the opener, Christopher Powell surrendered three hits, including a solo home run, which made for a great outing. If only the rest of the team would have matched his pace. The game was tied, 1-1, through seven, then Powell coughed one up with a leadoff double in the eighth. The runner scored, and Powell was on the hook. Against ace closer Ed King, Dadswell and Flores led off with singles in the ninth. Miranda, Hall, and Reed made three very quick and unproductive outs. 2-1 Bayhawks. R. Gonzalez 2-4; Dadswell 3-3, BB, RBI; Flores (PH) 1-1; that was already 87.5% of their total offense…

Game 2. The Coons left runners on third in the first two innings (with the bags full and a K to Hall in the first), then lined into double plays to end the next two innings. Wade pitched not too well, but was pulled out by the defense for a scoreless game through four. In the fifth, the Raccoons finally chained hits together and drove in four runs, including a 2-out, 2-run triple by Hall. Wade went six innings of 1-run ball, then gave way to the pen, which instantly went out to blow it. Neubauer and Bentley were to blame, but Cunningham came out and got the last two outs in the seventh to preserve a 4-3 lead. The Raccoons had to up their offense now. Hall walked to start the top 8th, then stole second and moved over on a groundout by Dadswell. Lantán pinch hit for Castillo and singled to drive in Hall. They ended up putting up another 4-spot for a refreshed 8-3 lead. David Jones retired lefty Greg Douglas, before Soto came out for righties, and things went sour again. He put two on, before Wally Gaston was brought in. After a 2-out walk to Bob Strickland that filled the bags he struck out David Hicks and the lead remained intact. The Bayhawks got an unearned run against Gaston in the ninth, but he held on for an 8-4 win. Lucero 2-4, BB; R. Gonzalez 4-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Osanai 2-5, RBI; Hall 2-4, BB, 3B, 2 RBI; Lantán (PH) 1-1, RBI;

In the rubber game, Kisho Saito came within one strike of tying a Raccoons record for strikeouts in a game by a pitcher, but he only fanned nine when Didier Bourges grounded to short. Saito went seven, and drove in a run himself with, well, a bases-loaded hit-by-pitch in a 3-run second inning. None of those three runs came in on a hit, the other two were forced in via walks. The Coons held a 5-2 lead after seven, then added one in the top 9th, when Grant West was already warming up. Instead, Moran entered after they left the bases loaded, but jammed. Cunningham surrendered a run-scoring single and NOW the “Demon” entered with two on and two down. West notched a 1-pitch save with a flyout to Crosby in left. 6-3 Coons. Osanai 2-5, 2B; Dawson 3-5, HR, RBI; Lucero 2-4, BB, RBI; Reed 1-3, 2 BB, 2 RBI; Saito 7.0 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 9 K, W (11-15) and 1-1, RBI;

In other news

September 3 – Should the Canadiens make the playoffs, they will make them with infielder Manuel Flores watching from the outside, if things go bad. Flores tore ligaments in his thumb and is sidelined for a month, removing his .320 bat from the lineup.
September 7 – Another Canadien goes down, as Bill Smith (11-5, 2.65 ERA), who left the game in Portland in the eighth, is out for a few months with a sore shoulder.
September 9 – The Canadiens clinch the CL North rather early with a 5-3 win in Milwaukee, getting help from the Crusaders in their 11-8 win in Portland. The Canadiens will try to defend their 1984 title, and will make their third playoff appearance. They clinched the title in both of their previous attempts.
September 11 – MIL RF Edgardo Garza’s season is over early with a broken kneecap. He went .316 with 10 HR and 52 RBI.
September 13 – The Canadiens keep winning, but they also keep losing. Now they’ve lost SP Robbie Campbell (15-5, 2.09 ERA) for the season with a torn abdominal muscle.
September 13 – Charlotte’s 1B Irwin Webster (.317, 3 HR, 60 RBI) is out for the season with a hamstring strain.
September 16 – Tijuana outfielder Jose Aguilar, 30, is forced to retire suffering from post-concussion syndrome. He batted .278 with 67 HR and 450 RBI over his career, racking up 1,201 hits and 156 stolen bags.

Complaints and stuff

They probably won’t make a winning season. Again. My heart is burning.

We pitched an offer to Grant West, who is arbitration eligible for the last time this year. 4-yr, $1.5M, which is really not that expensive if compared against other closers in the league. Of course, West has an interest in staying with the Raccoons, since he’s from Portland and is immensely popular here. The closer role is promised to him in the contract and I don’t see any reason to ship in another pitcher to replace him. It would he a pain even trying to replace him. Wally Gaston seems to be fond with being setup, but I’m concerned about Cunningham and whether he will be confident to play setup forever, since he has closer stuff, too: a fastball topping out at 100mph is almost the most harmless weapon in his arsenal.

Who has the second-highest OPS on the team, behind Tetsu Osanai’s .972? You won’t ever guess that one. It’s Scott Wade with a .357 / .400 / .571 clip in 14 AB. Maybe we should make him an outfielder after all.

One more week on the road in Tijuana and Boston, then home week against the Indians and Loggers (and fall to fifth place then), then end of frustration for six months.