[Westheim]

Raccoons (17-13) vs. Warriors (18-14)

The Warriors led a tight FL West with six teams sitting right on top of each other. They led the division despite a -4 run differential: huge offense, poor pitching. Their bullpen ranked last and was especially weak. Still, their 157 runs scored bested the Raccoons by more than 10%.

Game 1 had Kisho Saito and Bill Smith. The game was scoreless when Saito was at the plate in the bottom 3rd, with one out and Vinson at first base. Smith had him 0-2, but Saito hit a double to right, and the Coons were in business. Salazar and Reece had RBI singles, and Kinnear hit a grounder to the right side that 2B Pat Graham got to, but couldn’t make into an out. Daniel Hall had all his platters full to feast on and drilled a 1-1 pitch to deep left. He narrowly missed a grand slam, but it still was a 3-run double. This got us to the pen early and we had the bases loaded in the bottom 5th with one out. Paul Towns had just hit Daniel Hall to load the bags, and now through a wild pitch in an attempt to get them empty again, and Salazar scored, the first of two the Coons put on in the fifth. Meanwhile, Master Kisho was pitching a very clean and almost unexciting game. The Warriors twice put men on the corners, in the first and eighth, but never scored against him. He entered the ninth and struck out Roland Moore, but Iwamoto, just in for defense, lost the ball and Moore reached first base. A single by Eneas Spinelli got Saito out of the game then. And as Martinez came in, everything fell apart. He allowed two singles, then threw a wild pitch. Two in, two in scoring position, nobody out! Nelson came in, and with one out allowed an RBI single. Send for West! He got the second out, and Pat Graham was to fly out, but Kinnear dropped the ball. The tying run came to the plate in SS Esteban Areizaga. He singled through Salazar and both runners on scored. Moore came back up and sent a racing grounder to first – Quinn got it, Quinn made it to the bag, game over.

Oh, bloody hell.

7-6 Raccoons. Salazar 2-4, 2B, RBI; Reece 2-3, BB, RBI; Hall 1-3, 2B, 3 RBI; Saito 8.0 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, W (2-3) and 2-4, 2B;

Kinnear sat in game 2. Young boy’s gotta learn about keeping his concentration up until umpires have brought up the first 27 times. Hall was in left, and Quinn in right. This game saw another pitcher defeating the other single-handedly. The Warriors had two in scoring position with two out in the second against Jason Turner. We walked the #8 batter Jose Gomes to get to the pitcher, Manuel Paredes. Turner allowed a 3-run double in a 2-2 count. Hall belted a homer in the bottom 2nd, cutting the lead to 3-1, but that remained the Coons only hit until the fifth. Osanai and Vinson were on with two out, and Turner was removed for Johnston to pinch hit. Johnston hit a high hopper to second base, which Rafael Herrera mishandled and the bases were loaded. Reece walked to force in a run, and Salazar lined the ball hard, but into ex-Coon Cameron Green’s glove at third base. Matthews barely starved a runner on third in the top 6th, and then O’Morrissey hit a leadoff triple in the bottom 6th. That should tie the game. Hall lopped to shallow left, but Gustavo Quintanilla (another ex-Coon) made a fine play to pick the ball two feet above the grass. Higgins then came through with a single to right and the game was tied. It didn’t remain tied for long. Lagarde was terrible and allowed two runs with no control over his stuff and was saddled with the loss when the Coons could not scratch together anything else. 5-3 Warriors. Osanai 2-3, BB;

They can’t get a streak going. They just can’t.

Vazquez fell behind early, 2-0, in the top 2nd in the rubber game. Neil Reece would tie the score again with a big 2-run homer in the third, but Vazquez immediately gave two back. Like Saito and Turner earlier in the series, he spent his time in 3-ball counts and while Saito had controlled himself right there, Vazquez was wild. He could consider himself lucky that he was a decent hitter, nailing a pitch from Anibal Guerra for a 2-out, 2-run double in the bottom 4th. Game tied again. And then he walked the first two men in the top 5th, and that was enough, as I personally battered him into the showers. One run scored against Carrillo, and later the Warriors stuffed Matthews for three runs, and made it a rout in the eighth against Martinez. 10-5 Warriors. O’Morrissey 3-4, BB, 2B, RBI;

So, basically good hitting beats up on crap pitching. We demoted Albert Matthews, his 5.56 ERA and his abysmal control (5/8 K/BB) to AAA. Ismael Juarez was designated for assignment. Daniel Miller and Matt Brown were called up. Juarez was quickly claimed by these same Warriors here, and this was fine by me, otherwise he would have been released sooner rather than later.

Raccoons (18-15) @ Titans (19-16)

For a change, the Coons took a 1-0 lead in the first of the opener, Kinnear sacrificing in Reece. Their RISP performance in the game was dreadful, and Scott Wade was left to fend for himself, which worked so-so until RF Matt Smith’s solo shot in the sixth finally tied up the game. Wade was pinch hit for in the eighth, but with the dismal plate performance put up by the Portlandians, had no hopes of getting back to a W. Top 9th. Kinnear and Hall got on. Nobody out, the Titans couldn’t turn a double play on Bobby Quinn’s grounder. They put on Vinson intentionally for whatever reason, maybe his fearsome .185 average, to go after Matt Brown, who had doubled already in the game, and now singled up the middle. Kinnear scored to break up the tie. O-Mo with a pinch hit single and Higgins with a sac fly scored two more. Grant West put two men on in the bottom 9th, but worked around the jam to save a 4-1 win. Kinnear 2-3, RBI; Brown 2-4, 2B, RBI; O’Morrissey (PH) 1-1, RBI; Wade 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 0 K;

This was Wade’s 200th career start (202 games total). He’s 93-57 with a 3.30 ERA, so who says you need three pitches to start successfully?

Game 2. Home runs by Vern Kinnear and Boston’s Jack Burbidge made it 2-1 Furballs after the first. Salvador Vargas tied the game with a leadoff homer in the bottom 2nd. That’s how things are going, and Beato was surrendering a lot of solid contact. Bottom 5th: Beato had two out, a runner at third, and a 3-2 lead to defend, with Alejandro Espinoza at the plate. In a 1-2 count, a high pitch got away from Iwamoto, and Shotaro Ono scored to tie the game. Beato drilled Espinoza with the next pitch, surrendered a single, walked a batter, and then fell to a 3-run double by Vargas. It was the end for the entire battery. Burnett and Vinson came into the game. The Coons loaded the bags in the top 6th, before Johnston pinch hit into the final out and nobody scored. In the eighth, O’Morrissey was thrown out at the plate, and Quinn left two on. It was horrible. 7-3 Titans. O’Morrissey 3-3, BB, 2 2B; Vinson 1-1, BB;

It was over for Shimpei Iwamoto. Three passed balls in 80 innings, all costing runs, a .871 EFF, and batting .111 – you can do that elsewhere. He was waived and designated for assignment. 23-year old Jose Rodriguez was called up from AAA. He had been penciled in as backup at one point during the winter, but then we inked Iwamoto. Big mistake. I have made a few recently. Rodriguez had been signed by the Canadiens in Venezuela in 1986, but had been released and picked up by the Raccoons a year later. He would make his debut right away in game 3.

A 2-run single by Hall gave Kisho Saito an early lead in the rubber game. He surrendered a home run in the first, but led 3-1 in the bottom 4th. George Waller singled through Higgins. Hjalmar Flygt singled through Osanai. Danny Nichols bombed the Raccoons into submission. They led the Titans 9-4 in hits at that point, and trailed 4-3. Reece was ejected after fanning to leave two on, upon which he channeled his energy at the umpire instead of at the balls thrown at him. Vargas also homered off Saito, who surrendered six runs in six innings. The Titans had three home runs, the Raccoons had three double plays. The Raccoons out-hit them 14-9, and lost 6-4. Reece 2-3; Hall 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Higgins 2-4, HR, RBI; Salazar 2-4; Rodriguez 2-4; Carrillo 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Six home runs surrendered by starting pitching in the series, against a team that hit TEN HOME RUNS THE ENTIRE SEASON. How much more can you get screwed over???

On roster news, the Pacifics claimed Shimpei Iwamoto (we sent a bag of baseballs down along with that sucker), and we signed INF/LF Marihito Ohayashi, who was introduced in the complaints section last time. Ohayashi was added to the roster in place of Matt Brown.

Raccoons (19-17) @ Crusaders (14-23)

The Crusaders ranked close to the bottom in both hitting and pitching. Awful was probably a good word to characterize them. Awful was a fantastic word to describe the Inepticoons.

Game 1. Ohayashi made his Raccoons debut at second base. Jason Turner held the Crusaders hitless for the first two innings, then surrendered the first hit to pitcher John Woodard, and four more hits followed without any outs registered in the bottom 3rd. The Crusaders scored five runs. Turner also surrendered six runs and was gone after five innings. The game was basically over after that fourth. The Raccoons were nothing even vaguely resembling a threat in the game. 6-1 Crusaders. Kinnear 2-4, BB, 2B; Osanai 3-4, 2B;

The lineup was juggled almost daily in a vain attempt to generate anything.

Robert Vazquez and Hector Lara entered with identical 4.12 ERA’s into game 2. O’Morrissey reached on a throwing error in the top 1st and was singled in by Hall. That was an actual 1-0 lead! With the way Vazquez was surrendering line drives in a scoreless bottom 1st however, a crooked number was soon to appear in the bottom column on the scoreboard. An Osanai error cost the tying run in the bottom 2nd. Top 3rd, singles by Kinnear, O-Mo, and Higgins brought up Hall with nobody out. While he got a run in, he also grounded into a 3-4-3 rally killer. O-Mo and Higgins were pacing the offense with a few doubles in the game, and by the fifth, the Crusaders’ pitching fell apart. The Coons made it 5-1 in the fifth, and 9-2 in the sixth. Suddenly the Raccoons even got the hits they didn’t deserve, like a 2-out, 2-run bloop by Osanai into shallow right center in the seventh, which made the score 12-2 already. That was the final score, with the Crusaders not staging a rally. In fact, the Raccoons left another full dozen on in a 12-2 romp. O’Morrissey 4-5, BB, 2B, RBI; Higgins 3-5, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Hall 4-5, BB, 2 RBI; Osanai 3-4, 4 RBI; Vazquez 7.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 4 K, W (5-2) and 2-4, 2 2B;

Osanai tried to get mercy with an RBI single with two down in the third in the game, but I was beyond mercy. Nobody’s safe by now, not even a tank with 1,067 consecutive starts. But 4-RBI games tend to give you another chance.

Another rubber game. The Coons were not good at those recently. It was May 21, and we faced our first lefty in the month, Jorge Ramon (1-3, 7.55 ERA). Meanwhile, we sent Scott Wade, who quietly had sneaked into third place in ERA in the Continental League with a 2.33 mark. Ramon with his stellar send-him-to-the-mines ERA was perfect through three, through four, through four and a third before Osanai finally cracked a double. He was not brought in to score, of course, and when Wade fell to a solo home run by Ruben Melendez, he trailed 1-0. Agony was creeping up again. Top 8th: Jose Rodriguez opened with a scratch single, bringing Wade to the plate. He whiffed twice on the bunt, then came back to walk. Two on, nobody out, and Reece singled to center to load them up for O-Mo, who grounded into a force at home. Higgins blooped to right – and it fell in just in front of Alfonso Rojas, the game was tied. Now Hall – any rip will make me happy. He grounded to 3B Martin Limon, who tapped the base, then went to first with the throw, but Hall beat it out, and Reece scored the go-ahead run. Osanai went to a full count, then singled to center. With the speedy Higgins set in motion, he scored easily. Wade sat down the Crusaders in order in the eighth, and West got up for the ninth, but wouldn’t enter it. Wade was pinch-hit for, and with two out, Salazar pinch-hit for Reece for a left-hander to bat, and drilled a 2-run homer that made it 5-1. Lagarde instead completed the game. 5-1 Coons. Salazar (PH) 1-1, HR, 2 RBI; O’Morrissey 2-5; Higgins 2-5, 2B, RBI; Osanai 2-4, 2B, RBI; Rodriguez 2-4, 2B; Wade 8.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, W (3-2) and 1-2, BB;

In other news

May 11 – TIJ OF Manuel Doval (.272, 4 HR, 19 RBI) will be out for a month with an ankle sprain.
May 15 – The Topeka Buffaloes issue a statement that their owner Dave Burton had passed away earlier in the week. His on Dave jr. has taken over the reigns. Junior is described as lenient and charitable.
May 15 – MIL RF Cristo Ramirez (.346, 1 HR, 11 RBI) will miss up to six weeks with back spasms.
May 15 – OCT SP Bob MacGruder (4-1, 1.99 ERA) tosses a 2-hit shutout, beating the Bayhawks 7-0.
May 18 – A hamstring strain puts IND OF Tomas Maguey (.342, 1 HR, 21 RBI) on the shelf for about three weeks.

Complaints and stuff

That’s enough crying for today. If you’re watching the Rays-Red Sox game right now, I feel like Matt Moore. He had that “Gotta be kiddin’ me” look. More than once.

Hall has slowed down, Salazar also a bit. We still get good production from the group encompassing Hall, Kinnear, Reece, O-Mo, Higgins, and Salazar, and even Osanai is still raising his AVG, but shows zero power. Catching is an issue and recently the pitching has been a huge problem with most starters being roughed up once during this stretch.

It’s still frustrating. The team is not working out at all. The offense has potential, and we have a +28 run differential, but they waste it on blowouts and then lose scores of close games. Things went better in that regard last year. That’s why we were first then and not now.