[Westheim]

We called up AAA SP Jose Fernandez. The AAA season was ending this day, and the team had not made the playoffs. Fernandez, 26, had gone 15-13 with a 4.08 ERA in 30 starts this year and would get two starts to stretch out our other starters a bit. There were 15 games left and Saito was due up (and would start game 1, Fernandez scheduled for game 2). Giving Saito and Wade only two starts down the road would be quite a task. Better secure the division first.

Fernandez had been an international discovery from Mexico, signed in December of 1984.

Raccoons (88-59) @ Condors (83-63)

Saito was pierced early by the three fellow Japanese the Condors batted 1st, 3rd, and 4th in the lineup: C Shimpei Iwamoto, RF Yoshinobu Ishizaki, and CF Tadanobu Sakaguchi, who put two runs on him. Saito was off the whole game, pitching six innings, walking five, and falling 3-0 behind. The Raccoons didn’t get a hit until the fifth against “Butcher” Haines, and were easily shut out by dominant pitching. Haines struck out eight in eight frames of 2-hit ball, and we had three hits in total. 3-0 Condors, and they had only four hits. Martin (PH) 0-0, BB; that’s as much performance was worth mentioning here.

Where had our offense gone!? Just in time for the stretch drive towards the postseason, great!

Jose Fernandez made his debut against Woody Roberts (14-9, 2.28 ERA), whose ERA mark led the Continental League this season. Outta the blue, the Coons threw ink stains at Roberts’ ERA. To start the middle game, Johnston doubled, Gonzalez walked, and Dawson hit a roundtripper to give the team a 3-0 lead. While Dawson’s bat had grown teeth the last few days and by the fifth he was only the triple shy of another cycle, Fernandez could not hold on to the lead. Ill control, no bite on the pitches, a sharp triple by Felix Velez in the sixth tied the game, 4-4, and left Velez on third with no outs. Bentley struck out two, before a throwing error by Gonzalez scored Velez to give the Condors a lead. But the Coons bounced back, whipping reliever Makoto Kogawa in the top 7th. Dawson scored Johnston from second with a single, before they loaded the bags with one out. Higgins hit a single into right for the go-ahead run. Reece and Costello came up with two more singles. With two down, Johnston hit his second double of the inning, and Quinn pinch hit for Gonzalez for a double. Finally, Jim Carter got Dawson to ground out. Eight runs across in the inning! With two out in the top 9th, Johnston came to the plate once more. He doubled into the left field corner, his fourth double of the game. The Raccoons took this one, 12-5 over the Condors! Johnston 4-5, BB, 4 2B, RBI; Quinn (PH) 1-1, 2B, 2 RBI; Dawson 4-5, HR, 2B, 5 RBI; Reece 2-5, RBI; Costello 2-4, BB, 2 RBI; Matthews 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Glenn Johnston’s four doubles in a single game sets a new Raccoons record and ties the Continental League record, shared with Seitaro Ine and Alfonso Marte. The ABL record? Six doubles, achieved in 1982 by the now retired Max Reynolds.

Costello’s 2-run single in the top 7th of this game broke the franchise record for runs in a season (715 in 1988). We now have 720 this year, and counting.

Scott Wade chased #21, still, but Hector Atilano’s leadoff homer in the bottom 2nd began to nail his coffin. Wade was nowhere near where he needed to be and soon tied a death by a thousand tiny cuts. His opposite, Jose Macias, homered off him in the fifth, to make things even worse. Wade never got out of the fifth, and the Raccoons never got into a position to score against Macias. The offense the day before had merely been an anomaly, and here came the part of regressing towards the mean, which recently meant: very little. The Condors led 3-0 into the ninth. Osanai led off with a homer off Jon Butler, and Quinn doubled to the base of the wall in right center. Suddenly the tying run came to the plate in David Vinson, but he grounded out, as did Reader. Martin pinch hit for O’Morrissey and doubled. Tying run at second, two down. Dadswell pinch hit in the pitcher’s spot and singled to shallow right. Martin held. Higgins lined out to short. 3-2 Condors. Osanai 2-4, HR, 2B, RBI; Martin (PH) 1-1, 2B, RBI; Dadswell (PH) 1-1; Burnett 1.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

Bah! No offense! No offense! Mark Dawson has a 13-game hitting streak, but the rest doesn’t offer anything!

The Canadiens took two of three against the Aces, coming to within 5.5 games with a magic number of 8. Next, we had an off day, while the Canadiens started their series against the Condors on Monday, while the Aces didn’t head our way until Tuesday. Raimundo Beato shut out the Condors in the opener in Tijuana, and our lead was down to 5.0 games.

Raccoons (89-61) vs. Aces (70-79)

The Aces came to town and things just kept going wrong. Jason Turner fell behind 2-0 in the top 1st of the opener on a Ira Houston home run. Turner would strike out ten, but surrendered two homers and three runs in six innings. The Raccoons once again had nothing offensively. Things only got more horrible in the seventh, where the Aces hit three homers off the bullpen and added six runs. Fans left the park dejectedly, as the team had just entered collapse mode. The Aces added three in the eighth, and another home run, as they completed a 13-1 smothering. Most shameful was pitcher Antonio Lopez hitting a ninth inning home run off Grant West. Johnston 3-4, 2B, RBI;

Game 2 saw the Aces’ “Icon” Allen ejected in the first inning for arguing a strike three call. Berry still fell behind 1-0 in the third, but oldie Miguel Sanchez came apart in the fourth. Higgins singled, stole second, Martin walked, Reece singled, Dadswell walked. One run in, game tied, bases loaded, still nobody out. They only managed one more run. Thanks to a leadoff walk in the top 6th and Dadswell letting steal the runner third base without even trying to make a throw, the Aces tied the game in the sixth. Top 8th. Goodman surrendered a leadoff triple to snail-paced 1B Mauro Granados. The runner scored of course, and when Osanai homered in the bottom 8th, he barely re-tied the game. Extra innings, where Bentley put the first two men on with walks in the top 11th. Lagarde came in and added two more walks. Higgins walked in the bottom 11th and Martin’s double put two in scoring position. Nobody out. Neil Reece sunk a single into short right to score Higgins. Winning run on first, still nobody out. Vinson’s pinch hit 1-out single tied the game. Closer Kent Battle plunked Gonzalez with two out to load the bags, Dawson up. Popped out. Pain continued. Ended in the 13th. Winning run was on. But: 6-5 Aces. Osanai 2-6, HR, RBI; Reece 4-6, RBI; Vinson (PH) 1-2, RBI;

The Aces then had their starter Xavier Mayes battered for seven runs in the first two innings in the last game. Dawson’s 2-run homer in the bottom 1st extended his hitting streak to 16 games. The Aces steadily nibbled off that lead to the point where the Raccoons led 7-3 after the top 6th, but Dawson added two with a 2-out double in the bottom 6th. In this red-hot state, Dawson could win games all on his own. The Aces suffered a bullpen meltdown with another huge inning in the bottom 7th with four runs across and the Raccoons won this one in a blowout, 13-4. Johnston 4-5, 2 RBI; Dawson 2-5, HR, 2B, 4 RBI; Quinn 2-5, 2 RBI; Vinson 2-3, 2 BB; Miranda 2-3, 2 BB; Dadswell (PH) 1-1, RBI;

The Canadiens split the latter two of their series against the Condors.

In other news

September 15 – At only 22 years of age, the Loggers CF Emilio Román already enters the record books, by HITTING FOR THE CYCLE against the Bayhawks. Román goes 4-5 with 5 RBI in a 9-4 win over San Francisco. Román is batting .244 with 7 HR and 47 RBI in his sophomore season.
September 18 – VAN Raimundo Beato (13-13, 4.58 ERA) gives his all to get his team to the postseason, 2-hitting the Condors in a 4-0 win.
September 20 – Atlanta’s Michael Root hits a 2-run home run off BOS Luis De jesus in the top 5th of a 9-6 loss to the Titans, becoming the first players to hit 40 home runs in a single season.
September 20 – DEN Lazaro Alba (12-12, 4.29 ERA) silences the playoff-bound Blue Sox, 3-hitting them to a 3-0 victory.

Complaints and stuff

That’s 33-34 in runs scored/against and 2-4 in games this week. Great. Great, that – that’s exactly how really great teams win championships. And reach greatness.

Everything’s goin’ to hell.

Frustration.