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Westheim · 01-05-2014, 02:27 PM

Raccoons (10-6) @ Falcons (8-8) – April 22-24, 1994

The Falcons so far had scored the most runs in the Continental League, but only two more than the Raccoons. In turn, they also ranked 10th in runs allowed, so we may get to see some scoring.

Scoring could be seen early in game 1, and plenty of it – and none by the Raccoons. Jason Turner, who came in with a 0.81 ERA, failed to get out of the first inning, allowing five hits, three walks, and seven runs. To complete the humiliation, he allowed a grand slam to Carlos Castro, the opposing pitcher. Rarely has a Raccoons starter ever been so thoroughly destroyed. The game was of course lost at this point, it was about playing down the innings with a 7-0 deficit. 9-2 Falcons. Miller 3.1 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K and 1-1, 2B; Salcido 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

Neil Reece’s hitting streak was also a casualty of this nightmare.

The Raccoons actually took a lead in the middle game. Mark Allen hit a solo home run in the second inning to achieve this, and, yes, our pitcher of the day, Miguel Lopez, had survived the first inning. He gave up three runs in the bottom 2nd, though. In total, the Falcons got ten hits off Lopez, but no more runs through six. The Raccoons were 3-hit at that point, just like the day before. Falcons starter Elijah Grant was still looking for his first decision of the year and took the 3-1 lead into the seventh, but didn’t get it out of there. Higgins singled his way on leading off, and Grant threw two wild pitches to advance him. It didn’t matter, because Alejandro Lopez would hit a game-tying home run regardless. Now, one thing you had to admire was Grant’s longevity. He was still on the mound as the game went into extra innings, although the Falcons had made a mistake here. Rodriguez, Salazar, and Baldivía all landed hits to start the inning, knocking him out and settling him with the loss. Although the Raccoons left the bags full, Baldivía’s double had scored Rodriguez, and Grant West saved the game with Lagarde already expended in regulation. 4-3 Coons. Kinnear 2-4, BB, 2B; Higgins 2-5; Rodriguez 1-1; Lagarde 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K;

Two bad starts in a row by the guys I wanted to clone last week. Oh just what the hell is going on now …? And now we are actually heading to the strugglers in the rotation.

Raimundo Beato started game 3, and was given a 2-0 lead in the top 1st. He never really got a chance to blow it, since he signaled for the trainer after facing two batters, putting one on, and then left. Scott Wade was warmed up and sent in (with an off day following the most convenient solution). Wade looked off from the start, somehow escaped the first inning with two pop ups, but looked shaky for some time. And just when I thought we’d be fine – with some security added by a Kinnear home run and a massive Falcons cockup in the sixth that led to an unearned run – Wade seemed to come apart, throwing down the middle until Djordje Nedic hit a leadoff triple in the bottom 6th. Wade still pulled through, somehow, to the seventh, earning at least a perseverance medal. The Coons upped their offense in the eighth with a pair of homers. Both teams loaded the bases in the ninth (with Miller looking not too good two days after doing long relief), but neither scored (Miller’s mess being cleaned up by Salazar with a double play). 6-1 Raccoons. Kinnear 2-4, BB, HR, RBI; Reece 3-4; Higgins (PH) 1-1; Allen 3-5, HR, 3 RBI; Vinson 2-3, BB, HR, RBI; Wade 6.2 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, W (1-2);

Raimundo Beato was diagnosed with a dead arm, but was supposed to be ready for his next start. I was not quite so sure. Maybe he will be skipped in the rotation. We’ll see.

Raccoons (12-7) @ Thunder (11-8) – April 26-28, 1994

Another team that was scoring plenty, but was also scored upon plenty, especially early in games, with a 4.82 ERA (10th in CL) on the rotation. We were lucky to miss Bob MacGruder (3-0, 2.35 ERA), but our history against washed up pitchers is not that stellar.

Plus, you couldn’t call Manuel Garza (1-1, 3.42 ERA) a washup, either. The last four years, he had always won double-digit games and never had an ERA over four. The Raccoons took a 2-0 lead in the first, but Kisho Saito was greeted to Oklahoma with a leadoff homer off SS Jose Sanchez’ bat. Neil Reece was hurt on a defensive play early in the game, putting another dampener on the affair. While Saito was not overpowering many in the Thunder lineup, he pitched an efficient game with some help by the defense, and competently managed a 4-1 lead through seven innings. There, I somehow started to mismanage the pen. Salcido got an out, before Martinez came in and put two on in the eighth. Runners on the corners with two out, I skipped Burnett with lefty Jose Marquez to bat and went straight to West, who at least punched him out with no runs scored. West ended the game in time. 4-1 Coons. Salazar 2-5, 2B; Kinnear 2-3, 2 BB, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Saito 7.0 IP, 8 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, W (2-0); West 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, SV (5);

Manning a very competent centerfield in this game, and costing us a few runs: Jeff Martin. You may remember him, he was that leftover in the outfield with high potential that never materialized when he wore a brown cap. He’s batting a bit over .300 this year.

The medial report on Neil Reece came quick and was devastating, to say the least. That night in the hotel, me, manager Chad Klein, trainer Michael Dempsey, and Neil Reece sat together. Reece’s right hand was sporting a shiny white cast – for it was broken. He will miss up to three months.

Matt Duncan was added to the roster to repla- … no, you can’t … he can’t … I just want to ……..

Game 2 had a Raccoons lineup in which only five men batted better than .210. And Turner trying to recover from his Charlotte Encounter. He improved a lot, really, from his last start, for this time he was only raped for four runs in the first inning, but for eight runs total. The team as a whole was ****ed pretty badly. I went to the hotel in the seventh inning to cry myself to sleep, when Vela and Salcido were beheaded and quartered in that inning. 12-3 Thunder, four home runs to one (O-Mo). Green 2-3, RBI;

Just get outta here without any more casualties. Gotta get outta here without any more casualties. Screw a win. I just want outta here.

Miguel Lopez didn’t make the best impression in this rubber game. A Kinnear sac fly gave him a 1-0 lead to start with, but he loaded the bases and only got out of the first unharmed on a play by O-Mo. Bottom 2nd: Tashiro Ikeda homered with one out, tying the game. Pitcher Lou Corbett then reached on an error by not fielding centerfielder Alejandro Lopez, and moved up stealing second base, and then to third base on a passed ball. Then O-Mo retired Jose Sanchez on a great play, holding the runner, and Lopez still surrendered a 2-out RBI single to Dave Browne, and proceeded by nailing RF Vonne Calzado before Lopez finally caught a flyer for the third out. Lopez would nail Browne the next time through the lineup, too. I couldn’t stand this any longer, and not just because the dugout railings at the Thunder’s ballpark that I had dug my teeth into was tasting like horse dung. Matt Higgins brought the Raccoons back with a 2-run home run in the third, that turned the game around again. Slow pop ups starved Haruki Nakayama on third base in the fifth inning, where he had ended up with one out. A sac fly by Daniel Hall added a run in the sixth, 4-2. Salazar doubled to lead off the top 7th, but made the first out at third base, costing the Raccoons a run in the inning. They would score an additional run on a Sanchez error, though, and to be honest, the only reason the Raccoons came out on top in this game by a wide margin was the fact that the Thunder forked up much more than them, with an immensely costly error by Tadashi Kan, runs walked in by reliever Tony Simpson, and so on mounting up to an explosive eight-run inning for the Raccoons. All but two of the eight runs were unearned. A pair of slow rollers then eluded Higgins and Salazar on either side of the infield to start the bottom 8th. Two men on, nobody out. For the first time in the game, a Coon would achieve something on his own right here: Lopez ended the inning with punchouts. 13-2 Raccoons. Salazar 3-6, 2B, RBI; Higgins 2-6, HR, 3 RBI; Baldivía 2-4, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Duncan (PH) 1-1; Kinnear 2-5, 3 RBI; A. Lopez 4-4, BB, 2 2B; Rodriguez 2-4, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; M. Lopez 8.0 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 8 K, W (4-0);

Gloomy. Like these dreams we have at times, standing atop the edge of a gloomy, faintly green glowing abyss, from deep deep down of which something is howling at you. Just let yourself fall, so it can be over.

So it can be over.

In other news

April 21 – RIC RF/LF Raúl Vázquez (.391, 3 HR, 14 RBI) has his 23-game hitting streak come to an end, as he goes 0-5 while the Capitals win a close 2-1 game.
April 23 – IND MR Jim Durden (1-2, 3.24 ERA, 1 SV) notches his 400th career save in a 9-0 win of the Indians over the Aces. Durden actually pitched the final three innings in the effort. The 18th pick by the Scorpions in the 1979 draft, Durden has played only for the Scorpions (1981-86) and Indians (1987-94) in his career, a rare feat for ABL closers.
April 25 – RIC SP Harry Griggs (5-0, 1.99 ERA) 1-hits the Gold Sox in a sterling performance. The Rebels win 3-0. The offending hit is a leadoff single by Antonio Gonzalez in the top 4th.
April 26 – MIL SP Albert Zarate (0-2, 7.94 ERA) could be out for the season with a torn labrum. The pitcher claims to be back in September.
April 27 – RIC INF Antonio Diaz (.247, 3 HR, 10 RBI) could miss the rest of the season as well with a torn back muscle. The young Diaz is a key piece of the Rebels infield.

Complaints and stuff

Neil Reece was batting .392 with 5 HR and 15 RBI three weeks into the season. It could have been a magic year. Now he’s hurt, down, and out. And the Raccoons as a whole will soon follow. Apart from Salazar, Baldivía, and Kinnear we have little to no production. Finding a cleanup batter was a job terrible enough. I settled on Kinnear for the short term, so left field will not be alternated. Lopez will also start in center now, unless Royce Green gets his crap together. Hall and Quinn are just sad to see. They make me cry.

This … all … this … everything makes me cry.

We’re dead.

01-05-2014, 02:27 PM	#746
Westheim Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Germany Posts: 13,826	Raccoons (10-6) @ Falcons (8-8) – April 22-24, 1994 The Falcons so far had scored the most runs in the Continental League, but only two more than the Raccoons. In turn, they also ranked 10th in runs allowed, so we may get to see some scoring. Scoring could be seen early in game 1, and plenty of it – and none by the Raccoons. Jason Turner, who came in with a 0.81 ERA, failed to get out of the first inning, allowing five hits, three walks, and seven runs. To complete the humiliation, he allowed a grand slam to Carlos Castro, the opposing pitcher. Rarely has a Raccoons starter ever been so thoroughly destroyed. The game was of course lost at this point, it was about playing down the innings with a 7-0 deficit. 9-2 Falcons. Miller 3.1 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K and 1-1, 2B; Salcido 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K; Neil Reece’s hitting streak was also a casualty of this nightmare. The Raccoons actually took a lead in the middle game. Mark Allen hit a solo home run in the second inning to achieve this, and, yes, our pitcher of the day, Miguel Lopez, had survived the first inning. He gave up three runs in the bottom 2nd, though. In total, the Falcons got ten hits off Lopez, but no more runs through six. The Raccoons were 3-hit at that point, just like the day before. Falcons starter Elijah Grant was still looking for his first decision of the year and took the 3-1 lead into the seventh, but didn’t get it out of there. Higgins singled his way on leading off, and Grant threw two wild pitches to advance him. It didn’t matter, because Alejandro Lopez would hit a game-tying home run regardless. Now, one thing you had to admire was Grant’s longevity. He was still on the mound as the game went into extra innings, although the Falcons had made a mistake here. Rodriguez, Salazar, and Baldivía all landed hits to start the inning, knocking him out and settling him with the loss. Although the Raccoons left the bags full, Baldivía’s double had scored Rodriguez, and Grant West saved the game with Lagarde already expended in regulation. 4-3 Coons. Kinnear 2-4, BB, 2B; Higgins 2-5; Rodriguez 1-1; Lagarde 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K; Two bad starts in a row by the guys I wanted to clone last week. Oh just what the hell is going on now …? And now we are actually heading to the strugglers in the rotation. Raimundo Beato started game 3, and was given a 2-0 lead in the top 1st. He never really got a chance to blow it, since he signaled for the trainer after facing two batters, putting one on, and then left. Scott Wade was warmed up and sent in (with an off day following the most convenient solution). Wade looked off from the start, somehow escaped the first inning with two pop ups, but looked shaky for some time. And just when I thought we’d be fine – with some security added by a Kinnear home run and a massive Falcons cockup in the sixth that led to an unearned run – Wade seemed to come apart, throwing down the middle until Djordje Nedic hit a leadoff triple in the bottom 6th. Wade still pulled through, somehow, to the seventh, earning at least a perseverance medal. The Coons upped their offense in the eighth with a pair of homers. Both teams loaded the bases in the ninth (with Miller looking not too good two days after doing long relief), but neither scored (Miller’s mess being cleaned up by Salazar with a double play). 6-1 Raccoons. Kinnear 2-4, BB, HR, RBI; Reece 3-4; Higgins (PH) 1-1; Allen 3-5, HR, 3 RBI; Vinson 2-3, BB, HR, RBI; Wade 6.2 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, W (1-2); Raimundo Beato was diagnosed with a dead arm, but was supposed to be ready for his next start. I was not quite so sure. Maybe he will be skipped in the rotation. We’ll see. Raccoons (12-7) @ Thunder (11-8) – April 26-28, 1994 Another team that was scoring plenty, but was also scored upon plenty, especially early in games, with a 4.82 ERA (10th in CL) on the rotation. We were lucky to miss Bob MacGruder (3-0, 2.35 ERA), but our history against washed up pitchers is not that stellar. Plus, you couldn’t call Manuel Garza (1-1, 3.42 ERA) a washup, either. The last four years, he had always won double-digit games and never had an ERA over four. The Raccoons took a 2-0 lead in the first, but Kisho Saito was greeted to Oklahoma with a leadoff homer off SS Jose Sanchez’ bat. Neil Reece was hurt on a defensive play early in the game, putting another dampener on the affair. While Saito was not overpowering many in the Thunder lineup, he pitched an efficient game with some help by the defense, and competently managed a 4-1 lead through seven innings. There, I somehow started to mismanage the pen. Salcido got an out, before Martinez came in and put two on in the eighth. Runners on the corners with two out, I skipped Burnett with lefty Jose Marquez to bat and went straight to West, who at least punched him out with no runs scored. West ended the game in time. 4-1 Coons. Salazar 2-5, 2B; Kinnear 2-3, 2 BB, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Saito 7.0 IP, 8 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, W (2-0); West 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, SV (5); Manning a very competent centerfield in this game, and costing us a few runs: Jeff Martin. You may remember him, he was that leftover in the outfield with high potential that never materialized when he wore a brown cap. He’s batting a bit over .300 this year. The medial report on Neil Reece came quick and was devastating, to say the least. That night in the hotel, me, manager Chad Klein, trainer Michael Dempsey, and Neil Reece sat together. Reece’s right hand was sporting a shiny white cast – for it was broken. He will miss up to three months. Matt Duncan was added to the roster to repla- … no, you can’t … he can’t … I just want to …….. Game 2 had a Raccoons lineup in which only five men batted better than .210. And Turner trying to recover from his Charlotte Encounter. He improved a lot, really, from his last start, for this time he was only raped for four runs in the first inning, but for eight runs total. The team as a whole was **ed pretty badly. I went to the hotel in the seventh inning to cry myself to sleep, when Vela and Salcido were beheaded and quartered in that inning. 12-3 Thunder, four home runs to one (O-Mo). Green 2-3, RBI; Just get outta here without any more casualties. Gotta get outta here without any more casualties. Screw a win. I just want outta here. Miguel Lopez didn’t make the best impression in this rubber game. A Kinnear sac fly gave him a 1-0 lead to start with, but he loaded the bases and only got out of the first unharmed on a play by O-Mo. Bottom 2nd: Tashiro Ikeda homered with one out, tying the game. Pitcher Lou Corbett then reached on an error by not fielding centerfielder Alejandro Lopez, and moved up stealing second base, and then to third base on a passed ball. Then O-Mo retired Jose Sanchez on a great play, holding the runner, and Lopez still surrendered a 2-out RBI single to Dave Browne, and proceeded by nailing RF Vonne Calzado before Lopez finally caught a flyer for the third out. Lopez would nail Browne the next time through the lineup, too. I couldn’t stand this any longer, and not just because the dugout railings at the Thunder’s ballpark that I had dug my teeth into was tasting like horse dung. Matt Higgins brought the Raccoons back with a 2-run home run in the third, that turned the game around again. Slow pop ups starved Haruki Nakayama on third base in the fifth inning, where he had ended up with one out. A sac fly by Daniel Hall added a run in the sixth, 4-2. Salazar doubled to lead off the top 7th, but made the first out at third base, costing the Raccoons a run in the inning. They would score an additional run on a Sanchez error, though, and to be honest, the only reason the Raccoons came out on top in this game by a wide margin was the fact that the Thunder forked up much more than them, with an immensely costly error by Tadashi Kan, runs walked in by reliever Tony Simpson, and so on mounting up to an explosive eight-run inning for the Raccoons. All but two of the eight runs were unearned. A pair of slow rollers then eluded Higgins and Salazar on either side of the infield to start the bottom 8th. Two men on, nobody out. For the first time in the game, a Coon would achieve something on his own right here: Lopez ended the inning with punchouts. 13-2 Raccoons. Salazar 3-6, 2B, RBI; Higgins 2-6, HR, 3 RBI; Baldivía 2-4, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Duncan (PH) 1-1; Kinnear 2-5, 3 RBI; A. Lopez 4-4, BB, 2 2B; Rodriguez 2-4, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; M. Lopez 8.0 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 8 K, W (4-0); Gloomy. Like these dreams we have at times, standing atop the edge of a gloomy, faintly green glowing abyss, from deep deep down of which something is howling at you. Just let yourself fall, so it can be over. So it can be over. In other news April 21 – RIC RF/LF Raúl Vázquez (.391, 3 HR, 14 RBI) has his 23-game hitting streak come to an end, as he goes 0-5 while the Capitals win a close 2-1 game. April 23 – IND MR Jim Durden (1-2, 3.24 ERA, 1 SV) notches his 400th career save in a 9-0 win of the Indians over the Aces. Durden actually pitched the final three innings in the effort. The 18th pick by the Scorpions in the 1979 draft, Durden has played only for the Scorpions (1981-86) and Indians (1987-94) in his career, a rare feat for ABL closers. April 25 – RIC SP Harry Griggs (5-0, 1.99 ERA) 1-hits the Gold Sox in a sterling performance. The Rebels win 3-0. The offending hit is a leadoff single by Antonio Gonzalez in the top 4th. April 26 – MIL SP Albert Zarate (0-2, 7.94 ERA) could be out for the season with a torn labrum. The pitcher claims to be back in September. April 27 – RIC INF Antonio Diaz (.247, 3 HR, 10 RBI) could miss the rest of the season as well with a torn back muscle. The young Diaz is a key piece of the Rebels infield. Complaints and stuff** Neil Reece was batting .392 with 5 HR and 15 RBI three weeks into the season. It could have been a magic year. Now he’s hurt, down, and out. And the Raccoons as a whole will soon follow. Apart from Salazar, Baldivía, and Kinnear we have little to no production. Finding a cleanup batter was a job terrible enough. I settled on Kinnear for the short term, so left field will not be alternated. Lopez will also start in center now, unless Royce Green gets his crap together. Hall and Quinn are just sad to see. They make me cry. This … all … this … everything makes me cry. We’re dead. Attached Images __________________ Portland Raccoons, 92 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 * 2061 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA \| RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here.