[Westheim]

On paper, the Loggers and Crusaders are so far off, it isn't even funny. I don't see any other CL North team making a big stride forward.

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If I’m not entirely erring here, then we will claim the newest Raccoon in time for game 2. With that knowledge, there will be no roster move prior to the Indians series. O-Mo will have to get through one game at second base again. Brown at third, Duncan at short, plus Osanai, that’s a really terrible infield, defensively.

Raccoons (5-3) vs. Indians (6-3)

We sent four left-handed batters against lefty Jesus Lopez in the opener, and #1 Reece (.364), #2 Johnston (.278), and #5 O’Morrissey (.321) were the only guys batting more than .200 in the lineup. Wade walked Bob Arnold with one out in the first, loaded the bags, and conceded one run in the first. That looked insurmountable. Can we quit? Bob Arnold didn’t quit, homering in the third. HEY, ARNOLD!! WHERE WAS THAT OFFENSE OF YOURS LAST YEAR??? While the Raccoons were down 2-0, they had also left runners on the corner twice through three innings. The top 4th included a Wade error, pitcher Lopez beating out Osanai with a bunt and reaching first safely, and an infield single by Arnold, among other stuff for three runs (two unearned). Arnold would add another RBI single in the sixth, sending Wade to the showers in a 6-0 game, which had seen Osanai roll out a grounder to second with three on and two out in the bottom 5th. After that, the Raccoons just gave in and never reached scoring position again. The Indians cruised, winning 6-0, Jesus Lopez went the distance with a 6-hitter. Hall 2-4; Burnett 1.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K; Carrillo 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Yuck.

Roster stuff:

Good news! FINALLY SOME!! Jorge Salazar was diagnosed with merely a mild quad strain, and will only be DTD for four more days. Oh, that’s good news! We still can’t play him regularly doing that stretch, but pinch hitting and maybe a bit of fielding by Sunday?

Good news – well, remains to be seen. We successfully claimed INF/LF Ismael Juarez from the Gold Sox. Juarez is 28, a right-hander, and while his career AVG reads a semi-solid .251, that stems from only 167 AB’s – over six years! He has no home runs, one stolen base, no triples – but he can wear a glove, and that gives him a job in Portland. He had hit .304 with the Gold Sox early on this season.

Vern Kinnear had to go to make everything work out here, as we added Juarez to the roster, as we still have two lame infielders taking up spots for a few more days (Higgins could possibly return for game 4).

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Game 2. Beato fell behind 2-0 in the third, while the Indians’ Arthur Young exerted such bad control that he was pulled in the fifth for smashing through his pitch count – without allowing a run! He didn’t qualify for the W. Beato settled in after that rocky third, and waited for offense on the part of his team. And waited. And waited. Vinson drilled a home run in the sixth, but then they still trailed 2-1. Bottom 7th. Reece singled his way on with one out. Johnston hit it hard to left, but into an out, bringing up Hall. He went into the gap in right center, over CF Tomas Maguey (who was part of the Capitals last October) and RF Joe Estes. Hall blew through second base and reached third safely, a game-tying RBI triple! Osanai just needed a single to – no, he popped out. “Pooky” went eight, didn’t get in line for a W, but Lagarde held the Indians away in the ninth, and Iwamoto, entering with Lagarde in a double switch, led off the bottom 9th. He made the first of three quick outs against closer Jim Durden. Lagarde put two in scoring position in the top 10th and with two out was removed for Nelson to face lefty R.J. Stinton, who drilled the ball to deep right, but Johnston caught it. Matthews put on the first three batters in the top 11th. It was the end – the Indians plated four with Burnett coming in, and the Raccoons were wholly unable. 6-2 Indians. Reece 2-5; Vinson 1-2, 2 BB, HR, RBI; Beato 8.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 1 K;

Kisho Saito met with Larry Davis in game 3, and neither had surrendered an earned run yet. That streak ended in the first, at least for Davis, with a Daniel Hall home run, 1-0 Furballs. However, Master Kisho kept his white vest for like three seconds longer, as Paul Connolly homered off him leading off the top 2nd. The Coons would take a 2-1 lead in the third, but a 2-out RBI double by Stinton tied the game again in the sixth. Saito went seven, crossing 100 pitches with his final batter. Osanai grounded out in the bottom 7th, O-Mo grounded out, Vinson shot a home run out of the park. Saito was in line for the win now, but Martinez put the first two men on in the eighth. He got two outs, but Nelson had to come out to retire Angelo Duarte. The Coons got two men on in the bottom 8th, but Duarte cut off a grounder by Hall and converted into the final out. West had no margin for error in his third save opportunity of the year. And West put the first two men on with singles, and they were bunted into scoring position by Mamoru Sato. Stinton came up. He grounded out, but scored the tying run, and a pinch-hit single by Jake Martin dealt a knelling blow. 4-3 behind, Durden came in. Osanai sent a harmless roller to first, that Estes still lost. Brown was put on as pinch runner for Osanai and raced around the bags to score on O’Morrissey’s triple that followed. The game was tied again. O-Mo at third, nobody out. Intentional walks and a sorry grounder by Juarez loaded the bags with one out, and Martin came off the bench for West. He hit it to deep left, it was caught, but O-Mo tagged and scored. 5-4 Raccoons. O’Morrissey 2-4, 3B, RBI; Vinson 1-2, 2 BB, HR, RBI; Salazar (PH) 1-1, BB; Saito 7.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 2 K;

Great, on top of all the other crap now our closer isn’t closing. Gah! GAH!!

Game 4. We got Higgins back, sitting Duncan. Salazar had played an inning in the last game, but didn’t start here yet. Jason Turner was perfect the first time through the lineup, but Bob Arnold, Shredder of Coons, singled in the fourth to end a bid in time. The game remained scoreless into the bottom 4th, where Alonso Santana was socked by Daniel Hall with a solo shot. Osanai then singled, and O’Morrissey clubbed another homer, 3-0. Turner sat down the Indians in order with a 4-0 lead after the fifth, until he saw Arnold again. Arnold singled again. Stinton’s grounder was then mishandled by Osanai and now trouble was brewing. Victor Cornett doubled, and Arnold scored. Two in scoring position, nobody out. Connolly’s RBI groundout set up for Angelo Duarte hitting an RBI triple. OF COURSE. It ended Turner’s night, and Lagarde allowed Duarte to score and the game was tied. Osanai’s error became three unearned runs. 4-4.

(rocks slowly back and forth, weeping)

Bottom 7th. Reece on second with two out for Hall, who had had two RBI hits so far on the day – and singled just past Duarte into right. Reece scored. Hall then had to make a daring catch at the wall to end the top 8th with the lead intact, after Stinton had drilled a huge fly ball off Matthews, which with Hall already having cracked his apple once before was not funny to me. The ninth. West struck out Cornett. Connelly grounded in front of the plate, and Iwamoto bobbled the pickup, the tying run was on. West looked a bit concerned, but Duarte fouled out to Iwamoto then, and West punched out Luis Gonzalez. 5-4 Raccoons. Reece 2-4; Hall 3-4, HR, 3 RBI; Osanai 2-4; Johnston 2-4;

ABL HR leaders: Dan The Man and SFW Jesus Arias with four apiece.

Also this here: Tetsu Osanai so far: .170/.231/.215. Wins by starters: 2. One-run wins: 5. Run differential: -5.

Raccoons (7-5) vs. Titans (8-5)

The Titans so far ranked 2nd in runs scored in the CL (76 runs, to the Coons’ 40), with more average-y pitching.

Game 1. Martin made a start in right and left the bags full in the first inning. Two on, one out in the bottom 3rd, O’Morrissey blooped a single into shallow center. Hall was sent from second base, but thrown out at home. Next, Martin popped out to leave two more on base. The Titans took a 1-0 lead on a Shotaro Ono sac fly in the fourth, which was all they got in six innings against Robert Vazquez, who then left on the hook. With nobody on, that loser Martin actually managed to hit a triple with one out in the bottom 6th. They left him there, Vinson popping out and Johnston K’ing against starter Doug Morrow. In the seventh, Albert Matthews surrendered a run and and an intervertebral disc, leaving with back spasms. Bottom 8th. O-Mo was on, and then Morrow walked Martin, his seventh walk of the night, and the Raccoons STILL hadn’t scored. Vinson to the plate, and he singled into right. Bases loaded, nobody out, two runs to make up. Salazar was in the #8 slot, having pinch-hit for Duncan (and been walked intentionally) before. He hit a flyer to center, out, O-Mo tagged and scored. The inning then ended with a PH Brown groundout and a Reece popout. Lagarde gave the run back with a leadoff walk and a hit batter, followed by a single, in the ninth. Bottom 9th, Higgins singled to lead off, bringing up Hall as the tying run, and that basically was our last chance. He grounded to get Higgins forced at second, before Osanai and O-Mo struck out. 3-1 Titans. Vazquez 6.0 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 3 K, L (1-1);

Albert Matthews was DTD with back spasms for about three days.

We waived and designated for assignment Matt Duncan (1-18 at the plate, which even neat defense can’t cure) and recalled Vern Kinnear. Osanai was dropped to #7 in the order. Hall would bat cleanup.

In his new spot in the lineup, Tetsu came to drive in the first run of game 2, with a 2-out RBI single in the bottom 2nd. Johnston scored from second on a close play after having stolen second base before that. The Coons would knock up Titans starter Javier Navarro with a leadoff double by Salazar and a string of singles in the third, where they plated five runs, the last two on a 2-out single by Scott Wade himself. Hall added a 2-run double in the fourth for an 8-0 lead. Wade had had a runner on third early on once, but then started cruising despite the Titans having five lefties and a switch-hitter in their lineup. They just couldn’t get to him on that day. In a 9-0 game after seven, Chad Fisher’s leadoff single in the top 8th was only the Titans’ fourth hit of the game, and Wade starved Fisher at first. Wade made 88 pitches through eight and came back out for the ninth with an 11-run lead behind his back. He got two quick outs from Juan Valentin and Jose Martinez, before Hjalmar Flygt worked a walk. Jack Burbidge singled and whatever came, Salvador Vargas, who came out to pinch-hit, would be Wade’s last man – he grounded him back to the mound for the final out. 11-0 Raccoons! 17 hits! Some scoring! Salazar 2-5, 3B; O’Morrissey 3-5, RBI; Hall 4-5, 2 2B, 3 RBI; Higgins 2-5, RBI; Wade 9.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K, W (1-1) and 2-3, 3 RBI;

Offense! There you are! Dan The Man and O-Mo became the first Coons to double-digit RBI’s this year. Also, this was our first double-digit runs game this season. And the first time we scored more than six.

Rubber game time with “Pooky”! The bad news were that our splurging fountain of offense, Daniel Hall, came down with a running nose over night, was sneezing all over the place, and was officially listed as DTD, but would be held out of the game unless for very special circumstances. With the following off day, he should be able to recuperate in time for the next series. That left O’Morrissey in the cleanup spot (we’re getting a bit thin here with sluggers…) and Kinnear started in left. Those two also took care of three runs in the bottom 1st, first O-Mo with an RBI double and then Kinnear with a 2-run single after Reece and Salazar had gotten on to start the game. A Reece homer and a 2-out RBI single by Kinnear made it 5-0 after two. While “Pooky” was not sharp, he had some margin for error now. And the Coons broke the game open by the fourth. With two out and bases loaded, Higgins worked a walk, and then Osanai hit a bases-clearing double, 9-0. Beato was lifted after six innings with some occasional wildness, and Carrillo came in, only to be shelled for three runs in the seventh. But the lead was still comfy and he remained in there, not allowing another base runner the rest of the way. Whether he actually deserved a save while giving up three runs is a different story. 9-3 Coons! Reece 3-5, HR, RBI; Johnston 2-5; Kinnear 4-5, 2B, 3 RBI; Higgins 2-5, RBI; Beato 6.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, W (1-0);

Raccoons (9-6) @ Aces (6-9)

The Aces had yet to find their bats with only 48 runs scored in 15 games, but there was always a chance to do it against the Portlandians. We’d face three right-handers, starting with the always controlling Jou Hara, but we would miss Manuel Movonda, for example.

Hara faced off with fellow Japanese Kisho Saito in game 1, and the Aces got the better start with a leadoff triple by Manny Espinosa in the bottom 2nd leading to the first run of the game. Hara came in 2-0 with a 1.77 ERA and made it clear early on that he was not to be easily defeated. Through 4 2/3 innings, Saito had the only Coons hit off Hara and we trailed 1-0. Saito laid down a bad bunt in the fifth, forcing Osanai out at second base for that second out, and Reece came up, having flailed twice in the game already. He didn’t flail again, and instead nailed it for a 2-run home run. Hara crumbled there, walked two, but Hall flew out to right. Saito came up with two down and two on in the sixth, was sent to bat, and made the final out. He had been strong the last few innings and I calculated that he was better off continuing. Well, no. The Aces tagged him for three runs on five hits in the bottom 6th, getting all the balls in that they needed to. Saito then added a quick seventh, but the damage was already done. The offense had obviously just flickered a bit the last two games, and not caught fire. Higgins’ single in the eighth was only their third hit on the day, and it was also their last one. 4-2 Aces.

That rotten sixth… why can’t they hold Master Kisho’s leads, but not pick him up after such rotten innings!?

Game 2. We tried something new. In 14 years in the Bigs, Daniel Hall had never played in right field. He did so in game 2, with Kinnear in left. Vinson got a day of rest from striking out all the time, and Jason Turner tried to improve on his 0-2 record to give us an all-1-win rotation. Before ever donning a glove, Daniel Hall made sure he was mentioned positively in the box score, and socked a 2-shot off Sixto Calderon in the first. Osanai hit a leadoff double in the fourth and Vinson walked. Turner came up and bunted into a force at third base, and the Coons didn’t score. Turner at least dealt fire from the mound and held the Aces guessing so far. Osanai doubled the lead to 4-0 with a 2-out, 2-run double in the fifth. Up 5-0 in the bottom 7th, the Aces put their two first men on, left-handers Espinosa and Marcinek Wodaj with singles. Turner stayed in there, grounded out Zahid Mashwanis, and then punched out Lowell Allen and Scott Spivey. Turner was knocked out in the eighth with a pinch-hit home run by Tom Stephens. We still led 5-1. The Aces sent Mike Rivers to pitch the ninth, and the Coons set fire to him, breaking him up badly in a 6-run inning that started with two leadoff walks. 11-1 Raccoons! Salazar 2-6, RBI; O’Morrissey 2-3, 2 BB; Brown (PH) 1-1; Hall 2-5, BB, HR, 4 RBI; Kinnear 4-5, BB, RBI; Higgins 2-5, BB, 2B, RBI; Osanai 3-5, 3 2B, 4 RBI; Turner 7.1 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 9 K, W (1-2);

Hall had not gotten much to field in the game, and he’d get another one with Bobby Quinn still on the shelf. Kinnear’s bat was nice to have and he was backing up Hall at the moment, batting fifth. Reece got a day off for Johnston in the final game.

Johnston immediately made himself useful in the rubber game with a solo home run in the first. He didn’t make himself useful for too long, though, as he was hurt in the second inning in a home plate collision with Alberto Duran and left with back pain. He also was called out on Daniel Hall’s RBI double, which still plated Salazar as the fifth run of the inning in a speedy demolition of starter Rafael Espinoza. The Aces didn’t get a hit until the third, and also scored there on a 2-out balk by Robert Vazquez. Down 5-1, but still in it in the third, the Aces faced Martin (Johnston’s replacement) on second with one out (Hall had K’ed) and elected to walk the glazing hot Kinnear for Matt Higgins. Bad mistake, Higgins took Sam Bowman so deep the ball was never seen again, 3-run homer! The Aces nibbled at the lead, scoring twice more against Vazquez, who went seven innings, but still trailed 9-3 after those seven frames. The Coons loaded the bases to start the top 8th, and Hall squeezed a grounder between 1B Wodaj and the foul line for a 2-run single in what became another ugly, 4-run inning. The Raccoons dished out another drubbing, 13-3 this time! Salazar 2-5, BB; O’Morrissey 2-4, 2 BB, RBI; Johnston 1-2, HR, 2 RBI; Martin 2-3, BB, 2B; Hall 3-5, BB, 2B, 3 RBI; Higgins 2-5, HR, 4 RBI; Vazquez 7.0 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, W (2-1) and 1-3, BB, RBI; Martinez 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

In other news

April 20 – SAL 2B/3B Mark “Icon” Allen (.180, 0 HR, 5 RBI) is out for at least a month after hurting his back in an on base collision. Back spasms will keep him out of the game for a while.
April 26 – NAS SP Joe Ellis (3-0, 3.48 ERA) 3-hits the Stars in a 7-0 win. For Ellis, who will turn 41 in June and certainly looks older, it is the 16th career shutout, and the first since 1988. It is also his 90th career complete game, including at least one in every season all the way back to 1977.

Complaints and stuff

Wow! Offense! (shocked look)

We have 87 runs through 18 games (4.83 R/G). That’s 46 in the last five games (9.2 R/G) and 41 in the 13 games before that (3.15 R/G). I will take a keen guess, that the most recent flush of fire won’t hold up for very long, but if we could settle in close to that five mark, that’d be something. The 3.15 R/G grind eclipsed the offensive outputs of even the worst Raccoons teams in the early seasons.

On Hall: he defensively was always rated about 16/1/10 across the outfield, and never appeared in right field before, mainly because his arm doesn’t allow for any threat in direction of third base. He’s rated 15/1/9 out there currently with a 9 arm, which ain’t that bad for a guy turning 37 in June.

In case you wonder, Dan The Man’s 18 RBI don’t rank in the top 3 in the CL (he leads in home runs, though). The Top 3 read Mike Powys – 24, Steve Cobb – 20, Pedro Villa – 19; sounds familiar? Those are all Bayhawks.

Bobby Quinn will come off the DL during our next series in Charlotte. Who will go? Kinnear probably won’t be it.

The Aces have waived Sixto Calderon, whom we pounced upon in the middle game. Matt Duncan by the way cleared waivers unclaimed and is in AAA ball.