Quote:
Originally Posted by blazertaz13
I am glad to see that you are back playing again and this is still a great read. I appreciate reading a dynasty were the playing experience is similar to mine. I am still trying to figure out how to win every single year. :-)
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Thanks. I'm starting to think that all these perennial winners prepare their dynasty threads with some aid of Photoshop. Winning in this game has been proven by me to be impossible.
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The Portland Raccoons have added the following players to their major league roster, effective September 2 (since we have an off day to start the month). Our AAA team is seriously playoff bound and I don’t want to weaken them too much, especially with the Raccoons going nowhere nice anyway.
MR Mike Shaw (3-0, 1 SV, 2.97 ERA in 20 G in AAA; 0-1, 9.00 ERA in 17 G in ML)
1B/3B Joe Jackson (.277, 6 HR, 49 RBI in 109 G in AAA; .189, 1 HR, 3 RBI in 14 G in ML)
LF/RF Daniel Dumont (.331, 5 HR, 30 RBI in 38 G in AAA; .253, 1 HR, 20 RBI in 66 G in ML)
Our crown jewels like Matt Higgins, Ben O’Morrissey, Neil Reece, Jason Turner and so on will not be called up until the St. Petersburg Alley Cats are eliminated from the playoffs. All four of those could be on the majors roster next year, and there are more like them with the AAA team, which has been stomping over the competition so far.
In other news, we pitched an offer to SP Scott Wade to buy out his arbitration years (he’s slated to complete his third year of big league experience in mid-September) and three years of free agency. Negotiations went smooth, we should have big news before late.
Raccoons (64-69) vs. Canadiens (75-57)
This was just a 3-game home stand against the cross-border pests, before the Raccoons would leave again for the hostile world outside Raccoons Ballpark.
September scoring started with a Mark Dawson shot in the bottom 2nd in the opener, making it 1-0 in support of Scott Wade. The Canadiens didn’t make hard contact against Wade until the sixth, but then it instantly was a game-tying 2-run homer by Hector Atilano. Wade fell behind 3-2 in his seventh and final inning, and Vazquez surrendered another home run in the eighth, but the Canadiens removed tiring starter Tia Fa too late. At the start of the bottom 8th, Thompson doubled, Johnston singled, and Hall drove both in with a double into the right corner. Osanai was walked intentionally and Dawson singled to center. Tied game, bases loaded, nobody out. Steve Walker was up and somehow he had a hand for the important hits despite batting .200 in his return to Portland, as he hit a 2-run double to left. The Coons batted through the order and scored five, handing it over to Grant West, who put two on, but also punched out two and saved the 7-4 Raccoons win. Thompson 2-5, 2B; Hall 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Dawson 2-2, 2 BB, HR, RBI; Walker 2-4, 2 2B, 2 RBI; Sanchez (PH) 1-1;
Jerry Ackerman fell behind early with an unearned run in the top 1st, but he made the throwing error himself, so the run may not be earned, but he earned some extra torture after the game. Ackerman was not sharp either way, while Vernon Robertson was perfect through three innings before a Johnston single in the fourth. Ackerman couldn’t even get Robertson out, who knocked two singles off him. Robertson reached with two out in the top 6th, which had Ackerman removed for MacDonald, and from here, an error by Juan Ramirez and ill control by MacDonald almost made something ugly of the inning. Joe Jackson, who got a start at third, saved the day with a nice play. A 2-run home run by Osanai in the bottom 6th got the Raccoons on top, 3-2. The Coons got two more in the seventh when Hall walked on a full count with the bags full and a subsequent balk by reliever Thomas Green. The pen almost came crashing down again for us, with the Canadiens putting three on in the eighth, but a foul pop off Carlos Gonsales’ bat ended the inning just in time. We tried to give West a day off after a long ninth the day before, but Bentley put two on and the tying run came to the plate. West had to come in, punched out September callup Jose Renteria for the final out, and sent the fans home happy. 5-2 Raccoons. Johnston 2-4; Vinson 2-4;
Out-hit 11-7 here and with three errors committed (Ackerman, Ramirez, Vinson), and four walks given up, we still somehow staved off the Canadiens. Phew. But we also had to use seven pitchers in the game, so it *was* a struggle. And luck, overall the Canadiens stranded *16* runners on base!
On another note, this was the 900th overall win for the Portland Raccoons.
Venegas was off a mile in the final game. Control was bad, and the Canadiens made contact as they pleased. Still holding a zero up into the fourth, he was undone when pitcher Robbie Campbell hit a 2-out single off him that loaded the bags. The Canadiens scored two. Venegas pitched five innings with those two runs but plenty of runners left on again, then was pinch hit for with Ishizaki to no effect. Those two runs were everything the Canadiens got up against the Coons through nine, but it appeared to be enough with Campbell 3-hitting them through eight before handing over to Rick Evans. Hall’s 2-out single brought the tying run to the plate, and Osanai singled as well. Mark Dawson now needed only one big rip to – he fouled out. 2-0 Canadiens. Osanai 3-4, 2B; Bentley 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K;
In other news
September 2 – 36-yr old SFW 1B Bruce Cannon lands his 2,000th career base hit in a 6-0 win of the Warriors over the Gold Sox. He played for five teams since 1977, most notably the Indians from 1978 to 1983, with whom he won his only World Series ring in 1981. He is the third player to reach the mark after Claudio Rojas and Alfonso Aranda.
September 2 – The season of Las Vegas’ Claudio Garcia (.309, 8 HR, 52 RBI) may well be over after suffering an elbow sprain.
September 5 – 25-yr old Luis Ramos retires because of a labrum torn and damaged beyond proper repair. The 4th overall pick in the 1984 draft, he spent all of his career with the Rebels, batting .319 with 773 hits and an insane career OBP of .435. He will now return to his homeland, Mexico.
Complaints and stuff
Just a short update. I basically haven’t slept properly since Sunday and … I don’t know. What was I gonna say?
Mark Dawson was Player of the Week for the week ending with this Vancouver series, going 9-14 with 3 HR and 5 RBI. Tetsu’s franchise home run record is all but safe. No, Questdog, I won’t bench him intentionally beyond what is necessary to take a look at Joe Jackson :-P
Also, Winston Witter, one of our A level outfielders, batted .464 this week with 4 RBI and was Player of the Week there. Unfortunately, he’s hitting mere .222 this year. But he’s only 17, who knows…
Next, road trip to Indy, Boston, and Vancouver for a total of 10 games. Whenever I can catch up on sleep.