[Westheim]

With “Icon” Allen out, we put him on the 15-day DL to nurse that thumbie, and put Matt Duncan, who had been put on waivers on Opening Day, back onto the roster. Welcome back. Don’t look like a moldy lemon.

Raccoons (7-2) @ Crusaders (1-8) – April 16-18, 1993

In nine games, the Crusaders had scored a whopping 22 runs, which summed up their struggles pretty good. They had a terrible time mounting any offense and for that resided in a deep, dark cellar really early in the season. They managed to field one batter batting more than .240 in the opener.

John Woodard (0-2, 2.87 ERA) was tagged for two runs in the first by the Coons, with a Neil Reece RBI double the main output, but Alfonso Rojas would tie the game the same inning with a 2-run homer off “Pooky”. 2-out doubles by Higgins and Vinson plated a run in the third, 3-2 Coons, but Beato did NOT look good on the mound. But the Crusaders were undoubtedly good at digging their own grave. 2B Benjamin Butler made a capital error to throw away a bunt by Beato in the fourth, which put Osanai and Beato in scoring position with no outs, from where Salazar drove them in. That didn’t keep Beato from being awful, though. He was knocked out in the bottom 4th after surrendering two runs on three hits, and with nobody out. Matthews allowed the tying run to score. And the Crusaders took a lead in the fifth after a pickoff throw by Vinson went past Osanai, advancing the runner into scoring position, from where he promptly scored, and the Crusaders added two runs in the sixth on a 2-out, 2-run blooper by Butler that fell in where a good first baseman could have gotten it. It was one of those games that made you wish you were a heavy drinker and could just booze the memories away. Top 9th, down 8-5, Salazar led off with a single. O’Morrissey tripled into deep right, bringing up the tying run in Vern Kinnear. He grounded out, scoring O-Mo. Reece singled, but was forced on Higgins’ grounder, and Vinson grounded out. 8-7 Crusaders. Salazar 4-5, 2B, 2 RBI; O’Morrissey 2-5, 3B, RBI; Reece 2-5, 2B, RBI;

Yeah, let’s give up eight runs to a team scoring 2.44 a game! Gimme that booze! I SAID GIMME THAT BOOZE!!!

Kisho Saito surrendered his first run of the year in the first inning of game 2, reducing his chances at a win to zero with 1 R/G of support. Saito balked in a run in the second inning, while the Raccoons had loaded the bags in both of the first two innings and never scored. That became the motto of the day. Missed chances. Saito scored a run with a sac fly in the fourth, before the team left the bases loaded again. Saito battled through six innings, surrendering three runs, while a solo home run by O-Mo in the sixth kept the deficit at one run, but they had to score two on the doormat of the division, and were looking so awful. Quinn singled to start the top 7th. Reece had not ripped one so far this season, now would be a great time. He singled to center. Then Kinnear and Higgins made outs, and it looked like the runners would be left on. Vinson pinch-hit for Rodriguez, and lobbed a bloop to right, which Alfonso Rojas caught for the final – no, he dropped it! The tying run scored, and two were in scoring position with two down and Osanai coming up. Tetsuuuuu…… grounded out. Saito had another inning to give, but didn’t get in position for a win. Lagarde was defeated with three 2-out singles in the eighth. 4-3 Crusaders. O’Morrissey 3-4, BB, RBI; Reece 2-5; Higgins 3-5;

14 left on base in this one.

Daniel Hall returned to the lineup in game 3, batting .000 on the season. The Raccoons put their first three men on, and only scored on a wild pitch by Gary Nixon. Oh, come on. Rain chased the starters early in a 1-1 game, while the Coons built pressure in the fourth. Bases loaded, no outs in the top 4th when we pinch-hit for Turner with Quinn, whose sac fly was all we got. Again. Between themselves, Daniel Miller and Dane Sanders collected all outs in the fifth inning with strikeouts, allowing no runners. That had to come back, and Proctor put two men on in the bottom 7th. Martinez couldn’t keep the tying run from coming home. The Raccoons barely scratched out a run then in the ninth with 1-out doubles by Salazar and O’Morrissey that just barely fell behind the outfielders. Now West had to get things done, and sat the Crusaders down in order, striking out the last two. 3-2 Raccoons. Salazar 3-5, 2B; O’Morrissey 3-4, BB, 2 2B, RBI; Miller 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

Raccoons (8-4) @ Indians (8-5) – April 20-22, 1993

The two best defenses met in this series, with the Indians having allowed 43 runs so far, with the Raccoons close by with 44. They had outscored us a bit as well.

The Indians’ Raúl Vázquez struck first with a home run off Scott Wade in the bottom 1st of the opener, but the Coons came back with two runs off Neil Stewart in the second inning. Daniel Hall finally landed a hit in the third inning, a 1-out single up the middle, jumping all the way to 1-22 for the season. Wade was not sharp early on in the season and couldn’t hold the 2-1 lead, then couldn’t hold a 4-2 lead and left in the sixth in a tied game. The Coons grounded into three inning-ending double plays in regulation, helping the game to spill over into extra innings for the first time this year. With Hall on first in the top 10th and one out, Kinnear would have made it four DP’s if not for a throwing error by SS Pedro Fierros. Pinch hitters Johnston and Vinson helped Fierros out of there with poor outs. Fierros still featured big when the Coons actually did score in the 11th, not being able to locate a bloop by Higgins that fell in and scored two. Those runs were on Jim Durden, renowned closer, and he didn’t manage to get another out in the inning, and the Coons scored four. Daniel Miller held on in the bottom 11th, 8-4 Raccoons. O’Morrissey 2-5, BB, RBI; Salazar 3-6, 2B, RBI; Higgins 2-6, 2 RBI; Hall 5-6, RBI; Kinnear 2-5, 2 RBI; Quinn (PH) 1-2; Proctor 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K; Burnett 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K; Miller 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K, W (1-0);

That’s actually true. Going oh-for-twenty-one to start the season (and having back issues again), helped Dan The Man to hit five straight singles then. Strange game this is, baseball.

One more fascinating stat: after this game, O-Mo leads the CL in OPS with a 1.199 mark.

Miguel Lopez faced Jesus Lopez (0-1, 3.75 ERA) in the middle game. The Raccoons put up a lot of hits, yet mostly singles, and the game was scoreless after three. Surprisingly, Jorge Salazar homered in the fourth inning to give Miguel Lopez a 1-0 lead, but they chained up their singles nicely in the fifth for two more runs and another run in the sixth – Salazar driving in a run in each of these innings. The Coons failed to build on that 4-0 lead, while Miguel Lopez had tossed a great game so far, 4-hitting the Indians through seven innings. He walked Tomas Maguey in the eighth, but the inning could have ended had Vinson been able to convert Dennis Meehan’s poor grounder in front of the plate into an out. Lagarde replaced Lopez to get the final out in the inning, and while he was on it, finished the shutout of the Indians. 4-0 Furballs. Salazar 3-5, 3 RBI; Reece 2-5, RBI; Lopez 7.2 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 8 K, W (3-0); Lagarde 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, SV (1);

All the starting position players collected at least one hit. For O-Mo however a 1-5 day was not enough to keep his first place on the OPS table, as he dropped to 1.130 and 3rd place. In turn, Lopez leads now (tied with others) in wins, strikeouts (tied with Woody Roberts), and is third in ERA in the CL. Not too shabby if you ask me.

We skipped the so far terrible Raimundo Beato to go right to Kisho Saito. Maguey drove in a run in the first, while the Raccoons didn’t do a lot against Larry Davis early. Saito went to full counts on three batters in the third inning, walking two, but Maguey fouled out to end the inning. The Raccoons put two on in the fifth with no outs, but starting with Osanai everything went wrong – as usual – and we remained 1-0 behind. In the bottom 5th, Reece misplayed a fly ball from Larry Davis, which fell in for a 1-out triple. R.J. Stinton came up and lined to Johnston in deep right – and Davis failed to tag and score! Angelo Duarte grounded out and the Indians didn’t score! Saito pitched seven innings, giving up four hits and that measly run. Did he get support? Bloody hell, he didn’t. The Indians shut out the Coons on five hits and won, 1-0. Kinnear (PH) 1-1; Saito 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, L (2-1);

Raccoons (10-5) vs. Knights (6-9) – April 23-25, 1993

The Knights had only scored 57 runs so far, which wasn’t necessarily plenty and had put them close to the bottom of their division.

O’Morrissey batted second against righty Jim Harrington and blew out a 2-run homer in the bottom 1st for an instant lead for Jason Turner, which was extended to 5-0 in the fourth. Turner pitched a very strange game, allowing one run in six innings, but he walked five and struck out – none! That wasn’t Jason Turner at all out there, maybe it was an impostor? Whatever it was, it was taken out for Duncan to pinch-hit in the bottom 6th, and was carried to the trainer’s room to be properly inspected and probed. The bullpen allowed only one walk (Proctor to Michael Root, who walked thrice in the game), and held on to a 5-1 win. Salazar 2-4, 2B; O’Morrissey 3-4, HR, 3 RBI; Reece 2-4; Hall 2-4; Quinn (PH) 1-1; Matthews 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Hall and Higgins were rested in game 2 for Quinn and Duncan, as Scott Wade pitched. The Knights took a 1-0 lead in the first after Vinson allowed CF Jesus Gonzalez to steal his way from first to third. We were 2-1 behind in the bottom 4th, which started with a Quinn single. Vinson doubled, resembling the go-ahead run on second base. Osanai made himself more ridiculous with a straight-up pop out. Luckily, Salazar would come through with a 2-out, 2-run double, followed by a 2-run single by O-Mo. Jesus Gonzalez got on again – and stole another base off Vinson, and scored. 5-3 Coons in the fifth, but that would change in the sixth. The Knights dished doubles past Kinnear and Quinn and in no time had put four men up and on. Wade was chased in a 5-4 game, bases loaded, no outs, and Burnett wiggled out of the storm with only the tying run scoring. Miller was less than great when he came in in the eighth, surrendering a 2-run homer to pinch-hitter Tony Diaz. 8-5 Knights. Salazar 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; O’Morrissey 2-4, 2 RBI; Burnett 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

We left Quinn in for game 3, but took Kinnear out. That outfield was not what it was supposed to be so far.

The Knights sent Glenn Ryan (0-2, 7.90 ERA) into game 3, but before he ever pitched, the Knights tore up Miguel Lopez with a leadoff home run by Diaz and then two more runs. It didn’t get better. Osanai made a really costly, really dumb fielding error in the third that cost two unearned runs, and when Ryan became wilder than wild in the bottom 3rd, nobody could be bothered to have a big hit with the bases loaded. And who made the final out? Osanai. Hall had drawn a bases-loaded walk, and Vinson had rolled one through the defenders, but that didn’t help when trying to erase a 5-run deficit. Reece and Hall then went to the corners with no outs in a 5-3 game in the fifth. Higgins came up. Hadn’t Hall taken out SS Tom Nicks, his grounder would have been a double play. Reece scored, Higgins was safe. Osanai would ground into that double play to end the inning. He was removed in a double switch along with Lopez right there and would hopefully never be seen again. Lagarde and Proctor were touched for runs by the Knights, while the Raccoons excelled only at being goddamn awful. In the bottom 9th, 1-out singles by Hall and Higgins brought the tying run to the plate once more, and Vinson drew a 4-pitch walk. Kinnear pinch-hit here, and struck out. Rodriguez pinch-hit for Duncan and grounded out. 8-5 Knights. O’Morrissey 3-5; Quinn 2-5, RBI; Hall 2-3, 2 BB, RBI; Higgins 2-4, 2 RBI; Vinson 2-3, 2 BB, RBI;

13 hits for both teams, but the Raccoons dished out eight walks and left 14 men on. That’s a recurring theme. Bad control, and even worse clutch hitting than ever.

In other news

April 18 – VAN SP Vicente Torres (2-0, 6.75 ERA) is out for the season with shoulder inflammation.
April 19 – Season over as well for RIC 3B Antonio Gutierrez (.302, 2 HR, 11 RBI). The 25-year old has torn his posterior cruciate ligament.
April 22 – DAL LF/RF Sakutaro Ine (.459, 2 HR, 8 RBI) is out for at least four months with a concussion.
April 23 – SFW INF Esteban Areizaga (.214, 1 HR, 7 RBI) will miss until June due to a fractured tibia.

Complaints and stuff

Ben O’Morrissey has a 13-game hitting streak running. The rest of the team can probably be dragged out behind the clubhouse and be shot without losing much. Osanai… Osanai…

How many runs of support has Kisho Saito gotten in his first four starts this season? Five. FIVE FRICKIN’ RUNS.

Mark Allen has suffered a setback in his recovery from a sprained thumb (really) and won’t come back until early-to-mid May. Yaay.