Raccoons (5-7) @ Crusaders (7-5)
The Crusaders ahead of the Raccoons? We’re in trouble.
The series opener marked the first start by Logan Evans this season. His control initially was off by a good margin and he couldn’t remove batters on 2-strike counts, costing him two runs in the bottom 2nd, but he got better in the middle innings. A leadoff double by Pedro Villa in the sixth promised to spell trouble, but Evans got a grounder to Dawson and then punched out his last two batters to exit with a quality start at least, yet still down 3-1: Bobby Quinn had led off the top 4th with a massive homer to left. That was all their offensive output. The tying runs were on base in the ninth, but Dadswell grounded into an inning-ending double play. 3-1 Crusaders. Bentley 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;
Middle game, Carlos Reyes vs. Carlos Guillen. Here, the bottom 2nd again saw the Crusaders get ahead. Lorenzo Gomez set out to steal second with one out, and while Dadswell’s throw was good, Justin Reader dropped it. Gomez was safe and scored on the next play, a single by Dwight Reynolds to right. In all, the Crusaders stole five bases off Dadswell in the first four innings, and Reyes came completely unglued in the bottom 4th, where the Crusaders drew three consecutive walks and scored four in total. Guillen was ace enough to dominate the weakling Raccoons for eight shutout frames, and the Crusaders won 5-0. The Coons had six hits. Reader 2-4;
Ben O’Morrissey started at third base in the game, but left in the seventh inning with back tightness and is DTD.
Game 3. Carlos Gonzalez was awful to the max. Four walks in the first two innings (and then an intentional one to Pedro Villa), and no sign of any ability to speak of. Then, out of the blue, he struck out the side in the third, and in the next inning, he was off again. Gonzalez was yanked in the fifth, already way over 100 pitches, after scoring the Crusaders’ third run with a wild pitch. It continued in that manner. Goodman balked in an inherited runner in the seventh, and the Raccoons were wholly awful at the plate. If anything, the highlight of the game was Daniel Hall throwing out a runner at the plate from left field to end the bottom 7th. Top 9th: Hall doubled, and Osanai and Dawson drew walks. Down 4-0, the tying run came to the plate. Jeff Martin’s RBI grounder was all they got. 4-1 Crusaders, the Raccoons were 4-hit, for 15 hits in the series in total. Hall 2-4, 2 2B;
What a nightmare.
Raccoons (5-10) @ Falcons (8-8)
The Falcons were average throughout so far, and with Coonskinners Jonah Frank, Scott Spivey, Keith Lake, and Alfonso Aranda all on the team, the so far thoroughly-sub-average Raccoons were in for a challenge.
Two walks and an infield hit by Daniel Hall loaded the bags in the top 1st of the opener before most of the fans had sat down. The Raccoons put up a 4-spot mostly thanks to Sam Dadswell’s 2-out bases-clearing triple. Dadswell would come up twice more in the game with two down and three on – both times he struck out. Antonio Gonzalez was quick at hand with an error in the bottom 1st that scored an unearned run. Steven Berry had all reason to be nervous in his third start. He made an error himself in the third with a 5-2 lead that prolonged the inning to put three on with two out. Berry struck out catcher Salvador Valle to escape the jam. Strong days by Johnston, Hall, Osanai and others ate up starter Lorenzo Angel quickly, and by the sixth, we looked at Jerry Ackerman on the mound. Osanai slashed him in half with a 3-run homer in the top 7th, by when the Raccoons led 11-3. Berry didn’t need that much run support, going seven innings. In a blowout game, Daniel Hall came up with two out and nobody on in the top 8th. Was it significant? Yes! Hall was 5-5 in the game, only one hit away from a 6-hit day, something the Coons had not had in 11 years! Gary Simmons (not the ex-Coon, but the ex-Logger) left one over the plate, and Hall hit it out into deep right, Keith Lake after hit, jumping – COULDN’T GET IT!! It dropped in, bounced off the wall, and Hall had a double and a 6-HITTER!! The Raccoons completed the blowout, 12-4, over the Falcons.
Hall 6-6, 3 2B, RBI, Osanai 4-6, HR, 5 RBI; Dawson 2-5, BB; Berry 7.0 IP, 9 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 8 K, W (1-2);
I may have squeaked like a happy piglet on Hall’s sterling outing!
He is the second Raccoon ever to have six hits in a game. Freddy Lopez (who remembers him at all?) had a 6-hit day in 1977 in a blowout against the Loggers. It is the 18th overall 6-hit game in ABL history, the first since 1987, when ATL Fred Rodgers and NYC Stephen Walton did it within a week of each other in June. The Falcons have been touched with three 6-hit games, tying the Loggers for most overall. (The Raccoons have never allowed anybody to have six hits in a game; if I walk someone intentionally, it’s that 5-5 guy with two dingers and seven RBI on the board)
On a more despairing note (out with the enthusiasm!), Steven Berry is the first Coons starter to get a W this season that is not named Scott Wade.
Saito and his .447 BABIP were tested in the middle game. His 8.79 ERA made for an interesting game, coupled with Mike Rivers’ 8.76 mark. While the Raccoons left two on in the first when Dawson grounded out, Saito was whacked early for three runs, and four in total over six innings (all the while continuing to pile up K’s). The Coons were shortchanged by Rivers through six, before finally mustering two runs on line drive doubles by Reader and Johnston in the seventh. Hall homered to lead off the eighth, and Osanai got on (off Ackerman, a friendship developing there), but was left on. Reader led off the ninth with a single to left, representing the tying run. He went out to steal with O’Morrissey at the plate, and Kyae-sung Park threw the ball way past second base, allowing Reader to go to third, and with O’Morrissey still at the plate, closer Ricardo Medina threw a 2-1 pitch wildly and Reader scored to tie the game. The game remained tied, but Dirk Campbell put the leadoff man on in the bottom 9th. West came in. Aranda hit a 2-out single to right, but the runner Juan Barranco stopped at third. Jose Rivera flew out to Hall and we had extra innings. The Coons left a runner on third in the 11th, and again in the 12th, before three things happened in the bottom 12: Ken Burnett came in, pitched to Jonah Frank, who hit a walk off home run, and then Burnett was in pain. 5-4 Falcons. Johnston 2-6, 2 2B, RBI; Osanai 2-5, BB; Dadswell 2-5, 2B; Reader 2-5, 2B, RBI; Lagarde 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K;
The Raccoons dropped to last place with this loss. Burnett was diagnosed with a partial tear of his labrum and would be out for three months at least. He went to the 60-day DL and Gustavo Quintanilla was called up.
Scott Wade and Joe Ellis also had similar ERA’s for the rubber game, a bit below 3 and much more consumer-friendly. The game accordingly was scoreless until the fourth, when O’Morrissey in his first start since his back issues, playing at third for the anemic Dawson, did something home run mogul Dawson used to do: hit one out. In this case it was a 2-out, 2-run piece that gave Wade a lead. But Wade couldn’t hold on to it: to start the bottom 4th, the Falcons walked, lined into right, lined into right again, and walked, and a double play started by Justin Reader and a K to Ellis held the damage to two runs. The sixth saw an Osanai 2-run double, and the bottom 6th started like the bottom 4th, with a walk to Jose Rivera. Then Paul Raymond had a hit, and then Wade was gone. Goodman retired two lefties, but Martinez surrendered two liners – but Quintanilla caught the latter, having just come on in a double switch with Martinez. Up 4-3, the Raccoons were reeling now with an abused pen. Some offense was needed, and they scored two on 2-out hits by Dadswell and Hall in the seventh, and loaded the bags with two out in the eighth, but Glenn Johnston flew out. The Falcons got a run off Bentley in the eighth, for a 6-4 score. West allowed a runner to get to third in the bottom 9th, and faced Aranda with two down. Behind the righty Aranda was the weaker switch hitter Rivera, but West was strong early on in the season and went after Aranda, who grounded an 0-2 pitch to O’Morrissey, who converted for the final out. 6-4 Coons. Dadswell 2-4, RBI; Hall 3-4, BB, 2 2B, RBI; O’Morrissey 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Quintanilla 0-0, 2 BB;
Despite a bad start here, Scott Wade is now 4-0 with a 3.42 ERA. The latter mark is not very good, but he leads the CL in wins, and only TOP Arnold McCray ties his mark in the FL.
Raccoons (7-11) @ Bayhawks (9-9)
Although the Coons took the lead in the top 1st on an unearned run, a misplay by Jeff Martin in center escalated the bottom 1st into two runs against Logan Evans. O’Morrissey hit a leadoff homer in the fourth that then gave the Coons a 3-2 lead, but Carlos Castro’s leadoff triple in the bottom 4th made the game fall back into a tie all too quickly. Evans had nothing, surrendering 10 hits in 5.1 innings and left with two on base. Berry came in with an ailing pen, and the lead runner scored on a sac fly. Quinn and Reader had extra base hits in the sixth to get Evans off the hook, before they left the bags full. Berry in turn pitched into the eighth before leaving with an injury. A runner left on by Berry scored against Goodman, getting the Bayhawks up. Closer William Henderson struck out Gonzalez, struck out Higgins, struck out Dadswell in the ninth. 5-4 Bayhawks. O’Morrissey 2-4, HR, RBI; Quinn 2-4, 3B, 2B; Reader 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI;
The Furballs roughed up Bayhawks starter Vicente Ortiz for five runs through the second inning in the middle game. The Coons and Carlos Reyes led 6-1 after seven, and Reyes tried to pitch into the eighth, which didn’t end well. Two runs in, two out, runner on first, Lagarde came in, but surrendered two soaring liners for hits. Collapse mode was on. Higgins barely got to a hobbler to make the final out with the lead down to 6-5 and two in scoring position. Grant West entered in the ninth and surrendered nothing but line drives. Bayhawks walked off, 7-6. Johnston 3-5, 2B, RBI; Hall 2-5; Osanai 2-5, 3B, 2B, 2 RBI; O’Morrissey 2-5, RBI; Quinn 2-4, 2 RBI;
12 hits allowed in the first game, 17 in the middle game. They have surrendered 184 hits in total, the BABIP is .337.
Berry was out for a month with a sore elbow. He went to the DL, but nobody was called up before game 3, basically because I messed up.
The Coons put up another 3-spot in the first inning in the last game at the Bay. The Hawks residing there immediately came back with a 5-spot in the bottom 1st against Carlos Gonzalez. That boy… he went on to K three over the next two frames, then walked the bags full in the fourth. 99 pitches, 3.2 innings. That was his ticket outta Portland. Before that, Jackie Lagarde came in to surrender two singles and all runners scored. The Raccoons managed exactly three hits past the first inning and were smothered, 9-4. Osanai 2-4, RBI; Higgins (PH) 1-1, 2B, RBI;
Roster moves
There are approximately two-thousand things that don’t work out here. The following issues were addressed while the team went back north: pitching, fielding, and hitting;
- SP Carlos Gonzalez (0-3, 9.35 ERA) was designated for assignment (out of options as he was)
- 1B/3B Ben O’Morrissey was demoted to AAA to play more second base; having him learn it in the majors was a terrible idea in the first place
- SP Jason Turner (2-1, 0.60 ERA in 4 GS at AAA) was called up to stay here
- MR Yasushi Suto (0-1, 5.06 ERA in 6 G at AAA) was called up to fill a hole
- INF Carlos Miranda (.354, 3 HR, 9 RBI in 14 G at AAA) was called up as infield backup
Turner goes into the #5 spot for now, more due to him fitting in there in order of days pitched rather than performance. The team is a mess anyway, it doesn’t matter who’s on the mound.
Raccoons (7-14) @ Canadiens (10-11)
Can we please catch a break? We were 1-1 when the Canadiens left town in early April. By now, we’re nowhere near that. This 7-14 team feels like a 4-17 team. Without Scott Wade, it would BE a 4-17 team.
Before Wade came Saito in the opener. He faced Robbie Campbell, who no-hit the Coons into the fourth. Then, Johnston singled, and Martin doubled. It was only a Daniel Hall sac fly, but the Coons got on the board first (not that it helped them, usually). Top 7th: still up 1-0, the Coons hit the balls hard, but Hall flew out to start the inning. Osanai lined into short right. Dawson came up and finally smothered one, his first homer of the season! Still in the same inning, Justin Reader was on second, having stolen it, with two out. Matt Higgins was inspired by Dawson’s veteran leadership and also hit his first dinger of the year, 5-0. The balls were flying now, and Art Garrett took Saito deep for two runs in the bottom 7th. Top 8th: Hall got on, and stole second. Osanai was put on intentionally by Vancouver, and Dawson hit ANOTHER ONE out! The Coons scored two more on their way to a clear win. Bentley allowed a run after a leadoff double by Rafael Solís in the ninth, but the Coons won convincingly, 10-3. Johnston 2-5, 2 RBI; Dawson 2-5, 2 HR, 5 RBI; Higgins 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Saito 8.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, W (1-1) and 1-4;
Mark Dawson hit .170 with five ribs through the first 21 games. Now he has two dingers in one game – usually that signals a 2-week hot streak of batting .400/.450/.900 with seven homers and 20 RBI coming in. His season needs it, and the team needs it even more.
Game 2, and it was bitterly cold, 40 degrees, as Scott Wade went out against Raimundo Beato, who had been stabbed to a 7.03 ERA so far. Wade led off the top 3rd with a double himself, and eventually the Coons scored two unearned runs: Wade on a passed ball, and then Bobby Quinn on an error. Wade 2-hit the Canadiens through five, but then was slapped in the sixth with two homers and he just barely held on to a 4-3 lead. Bottom 8th, still 4-3. Goodman had already put two men on with one out, and was 3-0 on lefty David Brewer. The youngster reached at the fourth pitch and grounded for a force play at second. Campbell then came in and struck out Melvin Greene, who led the league with a .467 average (but narrowly didn’t qualify). Talk about a hot month there. Bullet dodged, the game moved to the ninth, and West was back to rock solid and punched out two for a quick bottom 9th. 4-3 Raccoons. Osanai 2-4; Higgins 2-4;
Mark Dawson hit a solo homer in the top 4th to tie the third game at one. Logan Evans pitched well, but didn’t get any more support, and was defeated in the bottom 7th when Dadswell couldn’t keep Greene from stealing third, and although Evans struck out Orlando Salazar for the second out, youngster David Brewer pinch hit for an RBI single up the middle to get the Canadiens ahead. They remained there, winning 3-1. Dawson 2-4, HR, RBI; Dadswell 3-4; Evans 7.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, L (0-3);
Carlos Gonzalez cleared waivers (quelle surprise) and was assigned to AAA to work on his … stuff?
Raccoons (9-15) vs. Indians (14-11)
We went home just for a 4-game set against the Indians as May came around the corner already, before interleague play would be upon us on the banks of the Potomac out east.
The opener was Reyes’ start. He got some 2-out support by Osanai and Dawson in the bottom 3rd, making it a 3-1 game through three. Osanai had another 2-out RBI single in the fifth. Reyes had trouble removing guys with two strikes, surrendered a 2-strike homer to Raúl Vazquez and left with two out in the seventh for Nate Goodman to punch out Francisco Lopez, who represented the tying run. Hall homered in the bottom 7th to restore the 3-run lead, and the Coons won 5-2, despite being out-hit 10-6. Johnston 1-2, 2 BB; Hall 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Osanai 2-4, 2 RBI; Reyes 6.2 IP, 9 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, W (1-2);
Carlos Reyes won his first game as a Raccoon, and West saved the game around a full count walk. That was his first walk of the season. He had not walked a batter all of April (but had pitched only 8.1 innings due to the team sucking the air out of the closer’s job).
The second game was the season debut for Jason Turner. First, attention shifted more to Pepe Acevedo, who nailed the Coons to the ground the first time through the order, until Osanai broke up the no-hit bid in the fourth, where the Raccoons scored two. They were still held to two hits by Acevedo until the sixth, where Dawson hit a solo homer and Quinn a 2-run homer. But by then, the focus was long on Turner, who pitched the true gem in this game. He had walked the first batter up, Jorge Salazar, in the first, and allowed a single to Mitsuzuka Ohara in the second – and then pitched perfect ball until walking Ohara in the eighth! He went to three full counts in the eighth, but still had enough gas to finish the game, tossing what became a 2-hit shutout, and the Raccoons won 5-0! Osanai 1-2, 2 BB, 2B; Vinson 2-4; Turner 9.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 7 K, W (1-0);
Of course this was not Turner’s big league debut, he made eight starts last year, but it was still an impressive and unexpected sparkler uncovered here. Turner tossed his first complete game in the Bigs, and thus also his first shutout. Going 3-3 with a 5.23 ERA last year, he also shaved .9 runs off that career ERA.
Game 3, and another gem was worked on, this time by Robert Vazquez for the Indians, whose 4.80 ERA told a few things about how he coped with the lowered mound. He held them hitless early on, and while he walked three, and once brushed Hall, the Coons hit into three double plays in the first four innings in an effort of efficient self-destruction. Not that Kisho Saito was not strong, he held the Indians off the R column on the scoreboard, but Vazquez had a no-hitter through five. He struck out Miranda to start the sixth, bringing up Saito. And what did he do? He singled up the middle. Vazquez gave him “the look”, before he proceeded to get out of the inning. Saito went eight innings of shutout ball, fanning nine, before he sat down for a high pitch count, and got a no-decision. Vazquez went nine, pitching a 2-hitter, but his team didn’t score either, and the game went into overtime. There, it ended quickly. Osanai singled off Jim Durden to start the bottom 10th, and then Dawson sent the fans home happy with a massive 2-run homer to center. 2-0 Coons!! Dawson 1-3, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Saito 8.0 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 9 K and 1-2; Suto 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, W (1-0);
Saito would have been able to pitch the ninth, I guess. But he was out of gas at the end of last season and I want to take it a bit easier on him this season. And it still worked out without him. With this game down, Vazquez and Saito led the CL with 40 and 36 K’s, respectively.
One more for the sweep, and with Wade up, what could possibly happen? First of all, Daniel Hall got a day off, having played every inning since Opening Day. Quinn was in left and Quintanilla in right, both at their best positions. The Coons got an unearned run in early in the first inning. The top of the lineup continued to do damage with Quinn, Higgins, Dawson, and Osanai producing for two runs in the third, and three in the fourth. Yoritoki Ohwada did his best to keep the game in reach with a 2-run homer in the fifth, and Osanai failing to control a grounder past him in the sixth added another run for the Indians, 6-3. Wade exited after a scoreless seventh, still 6-3 ahead. Both teams put up mild threats in the eighth – but neither scored anymore. The many left-handers the Indians had were annihilated once Goodman and West got into the mix. 6-3 Coons. Quinn 2-4, 3B, 2B, 3 RBI; Osanai 2-4, 2B, RBI; Gonzalez 2-4; Quintanilla 1-2, BB;
FOUR GAME SWEEP – WHOOOOO!!!
In other news
April 18 – Richmond’s Manuel Doval (.412, 2 HR, 9 RBI) reaches the 30-game mark with his hitting streak.
April 19 – RIC SP Cesar Sanchez (0-2, 12.15 ERA) had been bugged by his shoulder since the spring, now he’s out with shoulder inflammation and will miss most of the season. He was 10-7 with a 3.70 ERA last season.
April 22 – IND OF R.J. Stinton (.213, 2 HR, 8 RBI) goes down to an intercostal strain. The young hotshot will miss about five weeks.
April 23 – Manuel Doval (.375, 3 HR, 10 RBI) is now at 35 games with his hitting streak with a 2nd inning single against the Wolves. The Rebels win 6-5.
April 24 – While Daniel Hall is infamously snuffed for Player of the Week honors in favor of VAN Rafael Solís, MIL 1B Isto Grönholm (.246, 2 HR, 7 RBI) will miss several months with a hamstring strain.
April 25 – The Pacifics found Manuel Doval’s number. They leave the streaking Rebel ice cold, ending his streak at 35 games. This ranks 3rd all time in the ABL. Claudio Rojas owns hitting streaks of 47 and 40 games.
April 30 – Denver’s SP Wilson Martinez (2-2, 4.63 ERA), who started 36 games both of the last two seasons, won’t do so this season. The 31-year old has ruptured a finger tendon and won’t be back until August.
May 3 – First, Dallas CF Xiao-wei Li (.209, 0 HR, 12 RBI) was struggling with the bat, now he’s broken a finger. Li will miss about six weeks. He batted .323 last year.
Complaints and stuff
Nate Goodman notified me that he considered himself a closer. Nate… just get off my back, and I’ll let you live. Maybe.
Scott Wade is the only 6-game winner in the sport right now. PIT Wilson Cordova (Mr. No-no) has five, nobody else has more than four. Wade had ample run support, though: the Coons scored 6.17 runs in the games he started. He has not made a start allowing one run or less this season.
Mark Dawson before the Canadiens series: .169/.200/.197, 0 HR, 5 RBI
Mark Dawson since then: .285/.310/.821 (8 H: 3x1B, 5xHR), 5 HR, 12 RBI
Rafael Solís went 12-22 with 2 HR and 6 RBI and was POTW. Daniel Hall the same week was 10-25 with 2 HR and 7 RBI and has a 6-hit game and is snuffed. I’m enraged. 6-hit games should count for something. Solís isn’t even an everyday player. (By the way: cyclist Gary Lang didn’t win POTW the week before, either, after a .333, 1 HR, 10 RBI week; neither did no-hitting Wilson Cordova)
And that BABIP kept rising and rising (and O’Morrissey didn’t play much at second base for an ailing back on the road trip, and when he played, much was on third base, with Dawson preparing for retirement). It got as high as .334 and then started dropping again right around where Dawson found his pop.
Are things connected?
Are they conspiring?
Are we being watched?
(hurries out)