[Westheim]

Raccoons (38-30) vs. Indians (33-36) – June 21-23, 1993

Things were not going to get much easier at this point. The Indians had a losing record, but were a respectable team after all. After them we would face the Aces and another division leader in the Condors, and before the All Star break we would also meet up with the Canadiens. The Indians matched up with us all too well for three more close games upon us: we tied for 8th in runs scored in the CL, and they were 2nd to us in runs allowed.

Facing lefty Jesus Lopez, we had Kinnear and Arnold mount the flanks on either side of Neil Reece for the opener. The Indians took a 2-0 lead off Raimundo Beato in the first inning, and that was with Bob Arnold gunning down Angelo Duarte at the plate. Jesus Lopez was perfect the first time through the Raccoons’ lineup, by which time the Indians had racked up nine hits and a 3-0 lead. Salazar broke up the bid with a full count single to left in the fourth, but nothing came of it. The Raccoons were clearly overmatched in this game, until Daniel Hall entered the game and scratched out a single to left PH’ing for Beato. Salazar also singled and O-Mo cut the deficit in half with a double to left center. Reece rammed an RBI single to right to make it 4-3 Indians through six. Back in business? Nope. Proctor surrendered a pair of runs in the seventh, and while Daniel Hall homered in the bottom of that inning, we were still two behind. Reece cut that in half in the bottom 8th with a solo homer, and Hall found two on with two out and lobbed a single over Duarte that scored Alejandro Lopez, who had walked as pinch-hitter – tied game. Bottom 11th: Hall led off – and had his fourth hit in four appearances since popping up in the #9 spot, a double. Walkoff time in Portland? It looked like it. César Zuniga’s first pitch to Salazar was wild and Hall advanced to third base. After that, they walked Salazar intentionally. O’Morrissey came up and grounded up the right side of second base – just past of Duarte. Hall came home, 7-6 Raccoons in this thriller! Salazar 2-4, 2 BB; O’Morrissey 2-6, 2B, 3 RBI; Reece 3-4, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Hall (PH) 4-4, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Miller 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Grant West picked up the win with a scoreless 11th in this game. Neither team’s offense had been THAT bad in this game. But after two extra inning affairs back-to-back, I would not have anything against a great start by Kisho Saito in game 2. On another note, Glenn Johnston was sent for a rehab assignment at AAA before the middle game.

Saito and Kazuyuki Ando were on equal terms in the middle game and the game was scoreless through four. A throwing error by O’Morrissey cost Saito an unearned run in the fifth inning, but Saito managed to strand runners on the corners. From there, the gates opened. Saito allowed two runs in the sixth and was knocked out in a 4-run seventh. Against Lagarde and Proctor, a Vinson throwing error caused two more unearned runs in the eighth. The Raccoons were getting slaughtered, while Ando was terrific until leaving with an injury late in the game. Out-hit 13-2, they lost 9-0. Salazar 2-4;

No, no. We were not going to go anywhere this year. The offense remained terrible, again and again, and often for prolonged periods of time. Like in this game, which undoubtedly was to start another pathetic two weeks or so.

Game 3 brought rain and a shortened start of three innings for Jason Turner, who left in a 1-1 tie. With five left-handers in the Indians lineup, Burnett was brought in to go as long as possible. Bottom 4th: Lopez and Higgins got on and executed a double steal. Then, Adams walked to load the bases, no outs. Vinson struck out. Burnett HAD to bat, we didn’t have enough pitchers to finish the game otherwise! He struck out. Salazar then drew a walk against Julián Gonzales to finally bring in a run. O-Mo flew out. Oh, come on … An error by Duarte gave us another chance in the fifth with two in scoring position and one out for Higgins and Adams. Nobody scored. Vinson was on third base for O-Mo in the sixth, and finally somebody had a clutch hit, a single to center. Meanwhile, Burnett had a FANTASTIC outing – he could hardly have been any better, pitching four frames, allowing only one walk. He was really worthy of the win in this game – and Lagarde and West held on to it. This time, the Indians failed to put up any offense, being limited to three hits. 3-1 Raccoons. O’Morrissey 2-4, BB, RBI; Burnett 4.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K, W (4-0);

The series concluded with a total of 11 errors between the two teams, six for the Indians, five for the Raccoons. Quite an impressive number for teams that bragged about run prevention.

On our off day, we assigned Bob Arnold to AAA, which he did not block by executing his 10/5 rights, and recalled Bobby Quinn.

Raccoons (40-31) @ Aces (37-36) – June 25-27, 1993

The Aces had the top rotation in the league, and we would face two sub-3 ERA guys, including Manuel “Bam Bam” Movonda (9-2, 2.33 ERA) in game 1. Yes, that Movonda. He ranked 2nd behind Miguel Lopez in ERA in the Continental League. The Aces also had a very strong offense, but somehow played .500 ball.

Always finding a way to sneak players into a lineup, we started Bobby Quinn at first base in the opener, where Movonda faced Wade in – by the numbers – a mismatch, although Wade had been much better recently than his 4.54 ERA reported. Through three, Movonda no-hit the Raccoons, but Wade allowed only three hits and stalled Mario Guerrero on third base, where he turned up with one out in the bottom 3rd. The Raccoons got their first hits in the fourth, but Higgins left two men in scoring position. Eventually, a run was scored, and it was Reece singling in Salazar in the top 6th to break the scoreless game. Wade held on until the seventh, when he put runners on the corners, but the bullpen wiggled out to save the 1-0 lead for the time being. The Coons couldn’t buy an insurance run for their lives, and while Martinez pitched a scoreless eighth, West surrendered loud contact three times in the bottom 9th – but Reece made two catches, and Kinnear another one. Phew. 1-0 Raccoons! O’Morrissey 2-4; Reece 2-4, RBI; Wade 6.1 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K, W (6-4); Martinez 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K;

Well, if nothing else, at least we can say that Scott Wade wouldn’t have won a 1-0 game six weeks ago. He’s up to pace again, I guess. The offense was not, held to five hits in this game again.

Vern Kinnear was struggling quite badly at this point and would get a few days of rest here. Game 2 was contested by Miguel Lopez and Carlos Guillén, who was somehow 3-7 with a 2.80 ERA. The Inepticoons came out to play once again, not getting a hit until the fourth inning once more. Lopez matched Guillén more or less until the fifth, when the Aces pushed in a run, but left the bases loaded. Lopez came apart from here, with four runs charged against him in seven innings – two of those unearned after his own throwing error. But no matter whether it was a 2-0 or 4-0 game, the Raccoons were too pathetic to pose any threat – until Guillén tired and was replaced by Jose Sotelo, who conceded a run in the eighth. Reece led off the ninth with a triple, and with one out, Hall singled him in, and Vinson followed up with another single. The tying runs were on with one out. Kinnear struck out. Higgins struck out. 4-2 Aces. Vinson 2-4, 2B;

The Raccoons made their first out in game 3 on third base, when Salazar was thrown out stretching a double. Still, there was something strange going on. The Raccoons scored runs, TWO of them by the third inning! This included a solo shot by O’Morrissey. It didn’t help them, though, since Beato couldn’t hold on to a 1-0, and then a 2-1 lead. The Aces made it a 4-2 game through six with two home runs mixed into their offense against a hapless Beato. The offense turned out to be equally hapless the rest of the game. Lagarde surrendered two runs in the eighth. 6-2 Aces. Reece 2-3, BB;

In other news

June 22 – RIC CL Lawson Steward (2-2, 1.26 ERA, 20 SV) notches his 300th save by holding on to a 7-5 win of the Rebels over the Miners.
June 23 – TOP RF/1B/LF Edgardo Garza (.290, 4 HR, 31 RBI) reaches the 2,000 hits club in a 4-2 win of the Buffaloes over the Blue Sox. Dennis Fried surrenders the milestone hit, a leadoff home run in the bottom 8th, which blows the Blue Sox’ then 2-1 lead.
June 23 – IND SP Kazuyuki Ando (6-2, 3.01 ERA) has torn his UCL and will be out for at least a full year.
June 23 – SFB OF Dave Burton (.291, 5 HR, 43 RBI) has suffered a separated shoulder and will be out for three to four weeks.
June 25 – In a surprising move, the Canadiens ship OF Carlos Quintela, 26, and batting .313 with 5 HR and 50 RBI this year, to the Indians for MR Julián Gonzales (1-0, 2.93 ERA, 1 SV) and AA OF Drew Edwards.
June 27 – Sioux Falls’ SP Aaron Anderson (6-3, 3.07 ERA) will miss a month with a strained bicep tendon.

Complaints and stuff

Little was working the way it should, and although I was not entirely happy with his ways, we offered David Vinson a 4-year extension for $1.65M this week. Last year is a team option. He has yet to accept. His defense is up this year, less errors, less passed balls, better CS% (almost 33%), and he’s OPS’ing .780 – how much more can you want from a catcher?

We scored eight friggin’ runs in the last five games. EIGHT. It’s been the same crap all year. Two steps ahead, one step back, one step ahead, two steps back. It’s very, very frustrating. We also gave up 20 runs in these last five games, but that would still be a league average 4.0 R/A.

Not making the playoffs this year is becoming more and more of a threat. With the way they are playing right now, it’s becoming a possibility, and with us facing the Canadiens for eight games in the next four weeks, it could soon become a reality.

It would not be the first time.