[Westheim]

Raccoons (83-53) @ Canadiens (77-58)

Let’s decide the division right here! (Actual: boys, please don’t make it a 1.5 game lead…!)

Mark Dawson’s solo shot (#19 to move into sole possession of 2nd place on the team) put the Coons on a good road early on in the series opener. By the fourth innings, they led 4-0 against Tia Fa. Dawson also made a strong play to get Carlos Reyes out of the bottom 4th on a slow grounder by Art Garrett with two on and two out. Dawson zinged it to first base just in time. Top 5th, Osanai homered, 5-0 Raccoons. The Win Machine stuttered in the bottom 8th, entering still up 5-0. Suto put the first two men on and was replaced with Lagarde, whose first pitch was extremely wild, and one run scored against him. Goodman entered and surrendered two runs. The tying runs were in scoring position when Martinez entered, and first walked the bases full, before giving a game-tying 2-run single to Kevin Lewis, and the Canadiens went on to take a 6-5 lead, which Rick Evans held on to in the ninth. 6-5 Canadiens. Johnston 2-5, 2B; Higgins 2-5, 2B, RBI; Dawson 2-4, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Dadswell 2-4, 2B; Reyes 7.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K;

And here we go again. Unbelievable.

Game 2’s bottom 1st was led off by Raúl Solís with a home run off Kisho Saito. Again: here we go. Top 4th, bases loaded, no outs after singles by Gonzalez, Hall, and Osanai. Dawson bounced to third – but Melvin Greene couldn’t come up with it, and it bounced through him. Gonzalez scored and tied the game. Dadswell struck out and Reece lifted one out to short right – and Daniel Hall went for home! For a split second the Canadiens were perplexed and that was enough for Hall to score. Stephen Hall doubled to left and the Coons led 3-1 after the top 4th. Colin Irwin led off the bottom 5th with a bunt base hit. Pitcher Ruben Prado laid down a sac bunt, Dadswell rushed the play, and blew it. Tying runs in scoring position after a throw into the seats, Saito struck out Solís, before Dawson made a wide throw on the next play. A run scored and the Canadiens had them on the corners with one out after two errors. C Carlos Gonsales was up and lined hard to Antonio Gonzalez, and Prado was far off third base. Gonzalez threw to Dawson and Prado was out, the inning over. Bottom 6th, Raccoons up 4-2: Greene reached with two down on a misplay by Stephen Hall. Greene tried to steal, Dadswell threw way past second base. Second massive throwing error on the day. The bright spot was Neil Reece, who had doubled in a run in the sixth, and then homered in the eighth. Saito was pinch hit for after that, to no effect, and this time the pen entered the bottom 8th with only three runs to waste, but Lagarde and West allowed only a single between them, and the Raccoons won, 5-2. Osanai 2-3, BB; Reece 2-3, HR, 2B, 3 RBI; S. Hall 1-1, 3 BB, 2B, RBI; Saito 7.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, W (16-3);

Understandably, Dadswell was benched for the time being. And he can take his contract extension and stick it up his [FEEEEP!]

Osanai hit 30 with a solo shot in the top 2nd of the third game. Wade was not quite in shape however. The Canadiens put three men on to start the bottom 3rd. Seitaro Ogawa then hit an infield single with Wade bungling any play himself. Wade surrendered the next two, and then call-up Roland Moore hit another infield single, this time on Reader, who started at third instead of Dawson. Osanai tied up the game with another homer in the fourth. This also tied the Raccoons record for homers in a season. Apart from Osanai, most Raccoons were befuddled by a strong Robbie Campbell, until David Vinson clubbed a HUGE home run in the seventh. Five hits, three dingers so far. Wade issued a walk to Gonsales in the bottom 7th and was removed with left-handers coming to the plate, and Cordero ended the inning. The Canadiens came back again in the bottom 8th against the bullpen. Infield single by Brewer, hit batter and a walk by Matthews. Bases loaded, two down, Grant West was rushed in, and the Canadiens countered with Melvin Greene to pinch hit for lefty Jose Renteria. Greene got the count to 3-1, the park was rocking, and then Greene grounded out to Higgins, who had replaced Gonzalez at short. The bottom 9th started off with Gonsales grounding to Higgins – and now HIGGINS made an error, throwing past Osanai. Kevin Gilmore hit the Canadiens’ fourth infield single on the day to get the tying run to third. Nobody out, hope was abandoned. Ogawa’s grounder scored Gonsales and tied the game. David Brewer doubled to right, Ogawa went home, the throw from Johnston coming in, Vinson tagging – OUT!! Now, Art Garrett and his 17 homers were walked intentionally to get to Moore, and he flew out – extra innings, where Bentley and Martinez were unable to collect outs. The Canadiens hit their FIFTH infield single in the game to walk off. 4-3 Canadiens. Osanai 2-4, 2 HR, 2 RBI;

The…- effff…….

Josh Cook made his Raccoons debut in the fourth game after two appearances with the Miners in 1986, but he had never batted (he would collect his first big league hit in the fourth, an inconsequential 2-out double). In the top 1st, Gonzalez was on third with nobody out, and Hall, Osanai, and Dawson were unable to cash in. Jason Turner had to bat in his own lead with a 2-out RBI single in the top 2nd, then in the third punched out Solís for his 100th K of the year, before falling to a 3-run home run by Kevin Lewis in the fifth. Turner didn’t go further, being pinch hit for, but Reece grounded out to short to waste a chance in the sixth, which Higgins replicated well in the seventh. The Raccoons entered the ninth down by one. Johnston singled to get started. Hall lined over Brewer on a hit-and-run call and Johnston went to third. Nobody out. Osanai grounded out, Hall went to second, but Johnston was looked back to third. Dawson came up and flew to deep left, Solís coming in – HE MISPLAYS IT!! Dawson’s flyer fell in behind Solís and both runs scored, the game turned around. Vinson and Dumont added another run. Up 5-3, West was absolutely unavailable. Goodman was tasked to get the save, and while he gave up a leadoff walk to Ogawa, he converted. 5-3 Coons. In hits? 17-5 Raccoons. Johnston 3-5; Hall 3-5, 2B; Dawson 2-5, 2B, 3 RBI; Vinson (PH) 1-1; Dumont (PH) 1-2, 2B, RBI; Cook 2-3, 2B; Dadswell (PH) 1-1; Burnett 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

In other news

September 4 – ATL Michael Root smothers the single-season home run record with a 3-homer performance against the Falcons. The Knights win 8-5. Root is batting .330 with 38 HR and 99 RBI for the season.

Complaints and stuff

That was one … exhausting series. They could have swept them easily. “They” and “them” applies to either team here. Our bullpen cost us again.

Next: home week against the Indians and Loggers, then one series away in Tijuana. By the way, the Canadiens will be our final opponent of the regular season. We’re 6-9 against them this year.