[Westheim]

Neil Reece will be ready for the Bayhawks series. Let’s see whether his hand agrees!

Raccoons (46-54) vs. Bayhawks (52-45) – July 26-28, 1994

About average in most categories apart form a weak (10th in CL) rotation, the Bayhawks might be playing a bit above their ceiling this year. Definitely not what you can say about the low-flying Raccoons. Their bellies are scraping the grass in flight …

Kisho Saito was in game 1, as well as Jesus Lopez (9-7, 3.21 ERA). With the Coons’ propensity for scoring little for Master Kisho, and the Bayhawks bringing about their best man up, Ben O’Morrissey, who had done preciously little the last few weeks, started a rally in the bottom 2nd with a 1-out triple. Higgins scored him with a single, and then Jose Rodriguez homered to right center, before Ingall and Hall produced another run. 4-0 early. Kisho Saito had to dodge a bullet in the third when an error by O-Mo put two men in scoring position, but Saito punched out RF Steve Adams in the #2 hole (wondered what he did there) to end the threat. The Coons added a run in the fourth, then left the bases loaded the next two innings, but scored a run in the latter: Royce Green nailed his 20th homer on the year and the eighth since the Break. Green wasn’t done: he came up once more in the bottom 8th, and mashed a 3-piece there, followed by O-Mo hitting a 2-run homer as the Bayhawks pen exploded. Saito was cruising and nailing the Bayhawks to the ground with ferocity. He entered the ninth on a 3-hit shutout, retired two with only three pitches, then nailed Pedro Villa – and then was taken deep by 3B Lorenzo Delgado. The park instantly deflated. Saito finished the game, but the shutout was broken up. 11-2 Raccoons. Hall 2-5, RBI; Green 2-5, 2 HR, 4 RBI; O’Morrissey 3-5, HR, 3B, 2 RBI; Higgins 2-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Rodriguez 2-5, HR, 2 RBI; Saito 9.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 6 K, W (8-5) and 0-1, BB, RBI;

Home runs #20 and #21 have catapulted Royce Green from the edge of the top 10 to leading the home run race in all of the ABL, as he overtakes Richmond’s (formerly Indy’s) Raúl Vázquez with his double dong in this game. OCT Will Jackson sits at 19 in the CL.

We need a left-handed outfield bat. And it’s the end of July. Vern Kinnear is out until mid-August at least. The only semi-serious option at Glenn Johnston, who blew out his back in time before a call-up.

Royce Green made it home runs in three consecutive AB’s by 3-nailing Ricardo Sanchez in the bottom 1st of the middle game. Raimundo Beato was up for the Coons and set out to give that lead away instantly, allowing two runs in the second, but his evil plan was foiled, when the Coons added three more in the bottom 2nd! Beato continued to not be sharp and ran himself stuck in the sixth, allowing a third run and loading the bags. With one out, Vela came in and got a double play to facilitate an escape. By that point, the Coons were already up 9-3. That was still the score heading into the ninth. Daniel Miller was sent out for three outs with a 6-run lead. He left with one out and the bases loaded, and he left straight to St. Petersburg. Martinez entered, walked in a run, and gave up an RBI single. With left-hander Bill Dean up, Grant West was next. Dean slammed, and tied the game. Un-believeable. West put two more on, and then Matthews gave the Bayhawks a lead. Raccoons went down without even trying in the bottom 9th. 10-9 Bayhawks. Salazar 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Quinn 2-5, 3B, 2 RBI; Green 2-5, HR, 4 RBI; O’Morrissey 2-4, 3B; Baldivía (PH) 1-1, 2B; Vinson 2-4, BB, RBI; Parker 1-2, 2 BB; Vela 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

I’m numb.

Miller was yanked to AAA with his 7.20 ERA. We called up SP Gerardo Ramirez, 23, our 1991 first round pick. He has five pitches and little control over them. He’s not one of those top level prospects. We will hold out with calling up Antonio Donís for either September or next year. THAT is the top level prospect. Ramirez would start in the next series and De La Rosa would move back to the bullpen.

And I’m still numb.

Game 3. Royce Green continued to pummel pitching with a 2-run homer off Min-tae Kim (11-7, 4.61 ERA) in the first inning. But this game also involved Jason Turner, so again no lead was safe. Turner was wild, walking everybody who didn’t move at the plate. Double plays bailed him out repeatedly, allowing only one run in the fourth. The Coons were lucky that the bottom 5th started with Vinson reaching on a 2-base throwing error, and somehow they screwed up too little to not score him. As if a 3-1 lead would suffice. Next inning, Turner surrendered three straight singles to start the frame, and it about blew out the game – apart from Grant West coming in again with trouble brewing and this time didn’t allow anything across the plate, holding on to a 3-2 lead. The Bayhawks threatened with the tying or even winning run on base in the seventh and eighth innings, but didn’t get them in. Lagarde, who had not taken part in the previous day’s massacre, came in to close it in the ninth and did the only thing my nerves could tolerate: sit them down in order. 3-2 Coons. Green 2-4, HR, 2 RBI;

The deadline was approaching fast, but there were no trades that screamed to be made. The core of this team won two titles. There was no reason to trade key pieces to those two titles away in a – year-long – slump. Like O-Mo, f.e. …

Raccoons (48-55) vs. Falcons (49-54) – July 29-31, 1994

Falcons games usually saw lots of runs scored, with the team ranking 2nd in offense and 11th in defense in the CL. This didn’t bode well for the Raccoons’ fragile pitching, either.

Scott Wade tried to stink up against Carlos Castro (10-4, 2.94 ERA) in the opener. He had no chance. Walking the edge of humiliation often in the early innings, he watched on as the Falcons somehow left eight men on base in the first four innings, without scoring. They still took a lead in the fifth, 1-0, the RBI going to ex-Coon 1B Billy Mitchell. The Raccoons had left the bases loaded in the bottom 2nd, and then put their first two men on in the sixth, 2-0 behind. Reece, Higgins, and O-Mo flailed and the runners were left on. Wade put 13 men on in seven innings, allowing three runs. Castro in turn 4-hit the Raccoons over eight innings before yielding to Artie Saunders for the ninth. Against Saunders’ 5.17 ERA, the Coons brought the tying run to the plate after a Salazar double and a Vinson walk. Quinn stepped in, batting for Allen. His silent single loaded the bases, and Rodriguez came out to bat for Matthews, sending a sure double play ball to SS Ron Williamson – who bobbled it. One run scored, bases loaded with one out for Daniel Hall. His howling line drive to left was caught by hustling LF Jose Madrid, who had to leap to get it – and lost it upon hitting the ground: RBI single. One more to tie the game! Baldivía, the king of double plays, came up. He grounded hard to short, where Williamson ate dirt. Rodriguez turned third as Madrid got to the ball, but the throw was late – WALKOFF!!! 4-3 Coons!! Baldivía 1-4, BB, 2 RBI; Green 3-4, 2B; Salazar (PH) 1-1, 2B; Quinn (PH) 1-1; Matthews 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K, W (1-0);

I will just lean back now and rest in assurance that I did everything right managing this game.

Game 2 marked the big league debut for 23-year old Gerardo Ramirez. He failed to retire either of the first four batters he faced, plunked one of them, and surrendered two runs before he ever registered an out. Now, he stopped sucking that hard after that first inning, and got the Falcons more or less under control. The Raccoons scrambled to help the rookie, and while it wasn’t the most aesthetic sight to see, they scrambled successfully, tying the score in the fourth, and then knocked out Falcons starter Ernest Fleming in the sixth with a pair of runs to lead 4-2. Ramirez was done after seven, the last six of which had been awesometastic, and the pen took over, with Martinez pitching a scoreless eighth. Then came Lagarde and Ramirez’ little world started to tumble. Lagarde walked Billy Mitchell on four straight balls, before Quinn made a play on Melvin Kirk’s flyer to right. Duane Smith, the Falcons’ catcher singled his way on, before Lagarde went into a full count on 3B Mark Hall. But Hall had whiffed in every AB against Ramirez, and he whiffed again here. Williamson then made the final out. Phew! 4-2 Coons. Baldivía 3-5, 2B, RBI; Reece 2-4, BB; Vinson 1-2, 3 BB, RBI; Ramirez 7.0 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 9 K, W (1-0) and 2-3, 3B, 2B;

Yes, the kid whiffed nine, and had more total bases than anybody else on the team. Maybe he will get a second start.

Kisho Saito attempted to complete the sweep in game 3 on Deadline Day. No, Kisho, you won’t be traded if you lose. I promise. Yes, I promise. Ye-es. Take the ball now, I have to – uh … make a call.

Saito was not too sharp early on. Mitchell homered off him in the top 2nd, but a Pat Parker single tied the game back in the bottom half of the inning. The Coons moved out to 2-1 in the third, but were tied back in the fourth. Bottom 5th: Salazar was hit to start the frame, and then Baldivía doubled to center. Two in scoring position, no outs. Royce Green wasn’t pitched to with great ferocity and walked. Neil Reece lifted a ball to shallow center into the first out. Higgins grounded into a force out at home. Vinson fell to two strikes in no time – then dunked a 2-2 pitch into shallow center, scoring Baldivía and Green. Up 4-2, Saito went into the seventh, where suddenly everything turned up tails. Mark Hall reached on an infield single, Sixto Rodriguez walked, and then Saito hit Christian Dunphy. No outs. Saito registered only one out, but was charged with three runs, before yielding to Grant West, who got out of the inning. The Coons remained 5-4 down into the ninth. Baldivía made the first out, bringing up Green against Saunders, our game 1 victim. Green had already homered in the third, and now tattooed Saunders, tying the game and removing Saito from the L column. We went to extra innings and eventually brought in Ken Burnett, who surrendered nothing but hard contact, and the Falcons scored on him in the 12th. In the bottom of the inning, Neil Reece led off with a double, and Higgins singled. No outs, winning runs on. Before the Raccoons could blow up here, Ron Williamson missed Ed Davis’ 2-0 offering for a passed ball and Reece scored. Vinson walked on the next pitch. Two on, no outs. Bobby Quinn made it one on, two outs with a 6-4-3 grounder. Rodriguez now came out to hit for Parker and grounded a shy roller up the middle – and through. Higgins scored, and we walked off again! 7-6 Coons. Green 2-3, BB, 2 HR, 2 RBI; Reece 2-6, 3B, 2B; Higgins 3-6; Quinn 2-5, BB; Rodriguez (PH) 1-1, RBI; Vela 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

Funny thing: Albert Matthews picked up the W’s in both walkoffs in this series.
Not so funny thing: that was our first sweep since April!!

Raccoons (51-55) @ Aces (48-55) – August 1-3, 1994

The Aces were much the opposite of the Falcons, while having the same success (none). They had zero offense going, their 414 runs scored ranking 11th in the CL. The pitching, well at least the rotation was decent.

Up front the Aces threw Carlos Guillén (10-4, 2.71 ERA) at us, whose stats dwarved 4-8 Pooky’s by much. Both teams scored an unearned run in the first inning, before RF Taisuke Mashiba mashed one off Beato’s hand for a 2-piece in the bottom 3rd. The Coons would tie *that* back with unearned runs, but the second-worst offensive team in the league was still too heavy for Beato, who allowed five runs in as many innings, and that was too much for the team’s offense. They never recovered from Beato’s outing. 6-4 Aces. Hall 1-1; Quinn 2-4; Salazar 3-4, 2 2B, RBI; Vinson 2-4, RBI;

Royce Green had one hit in the game, another home run. That’s 26 now on the season. He has distanced RIC Raúl Vázquez and OCT Will Jackson by five each now, and the next-closest players are sitting at *15* home runs!

Daniel Hall had only one AB in the game, because he got hurt on a play in the first inning. Coming down from a leaping grab, he landed wrong and sprained his ankle. Had been waiting for his annual injury. Had been worried he wouldn’t break something all year! See you in September, Dan. :-(

Of course, the injury aggravates our roster situation. We only have three outfielders left (Green, Reece, Quinn), and need another man up. In AAA, we had five outfielders, two of which had been recently promoted there. The others were Winston Witter, Edgar Morris, and Glenn Johnston. Witter is a constantly hurting, 23-year old Dutch non-slugger. Morris is a constantly hurting, 23-year old American free-swinger (and our ’88 first round pick). And everybody knows Johnston. And we called him up, because he was slugging .805 in AAA and could play all three positions well, and because there was nobody else available. Johnston’s left-handed bat would be used in the middle game already.

Salazar and Higgins turned in a double shift in the double play factory in the middle game, trying to keep the Aces off the board with an erratic Jason Turner pitching. They were quite good at bat, while the Coons themselves didn’t get a hit until a Vinson blooper fell into shallow center in the fifth. In the top 6th and a still scoreless game, Salazar and Baldivía then singled themselves to the corners with no outs. Royce Green came, saw, grounded out to second, but allowed Salazar to score. As if a single run would help the 1994 Jason Turner. It didn’t, and he surrendered two runs quickly. The Raccoons had no idea which way to rub those Aces pitchers and were 5-hit in the game. 2-1 Aces.

Wade faced Jou Hara (8-8, 4.33 ERA) in game 3. Hara was struggling, to put it mildly. (But ask Wade…) However, both pitchers were really decent in the game, although Hara surrendered two runs pretty early. Wade didn’t allow a lot of runners (although he put on Hara twice), and held the zero on the board through five. To start the top 6th, Green popped out foul, and Reece, not finding his hammer at this point, managed a lucky single. O-Mo came up, everybody expecting a K. But holy cow, O-Mo drilled a titanic home run to left that knocked the score up to 4-0. Wade surrendered a leadoff triple to Claudio Garcia (who got hurt plunging into the base) in the bottom 7th, which the Aces did turn into a run, but that left a respectable line for Wade. And Reece got that run back leading off the eighth, jacking his first homer since April 18. The pen allowed only one runner, and held on. 5-1 Raccoons. Reece 2-4, HR, RBI; O’Morrissey 2-4, HR, 3 RBI; Wade 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 5 K, W (5-7);

In other news

July 26 – In one of the bigger deadline deals, the Thunder send OF Alejandro Olvera (.257, 4 HR, 22 RBI) to Dallas for SP/MR Hachim Kiara (2-1, 3.91 ERA). The Stars also add RF/LF Darren Allison (.289, 7 HR, 52 RBI) from Nashville in turn for MR Cesar Sanchez (1-0, 3.23 ERA).
July 29 – DEN SP Kiyohira Sasaki (10-9, 3.93 ERA) overcomes a 3-run fourth inning against the Blue Sox when his team picks him up again in the middle innings. Sasaki goes eight innings to earn the W in the Gold Sox’ 7-3 win. It is the 200th major league win credited to the 35-year old Japanese pitcher. Discovered by the Condors in Japan in 1977, he made his debut in 1980 for the Stars. Between 1982 and 1990, he won at least 14 games each year, and 16 or more games every year except 1987. He also won the 1983 World Series with the Stars. Sasaki is the fifth pitcher to reach 200 ABL wins after Juan Correa (272), Leland Lewis (226), Billy Robinson (219), and Craig Hansen (214).
July 30 – The Warriors will be without INF Esteban Areizaga (.299, 11 HR, 71 RBI) for a few weeks. The 28-year old has a strained rib cage muscle.
July 31 – LAP SP Bastyao Caixinha (12-10, 3.26 ERA) 3-hits the Cyclones in a 10-0 washout.
August 1 – The Pacifics are 3-hit in turn by Richmond’s Harry Griggs (17-4, 3.13 ERA) in a 4-0 Rebels win.

Complaints and stuff

Royce Green ran away with the CL POTY award for the THIRD straight week! This time he batted 11-26 (.423) with 4 HR and 10 RBI. He is terrifying! He was accordingly also elected CL Batter of the Month with a frightful .380, 15 HR, 32 RBI line.

FIFTEEN HOMERS!! In a MONTH!! What will he do next?? EAT … - … EAT THE WORLD??

I’m thrilled.

Remember Sam Dadswell? He was our should-be-star catcher before David Vinson. He became a free agent after 1989 and went to Denver, where by now he has fallen out of favor far enough that he has actually hit rock bottom in AAA ball at age 33. He never OPS’ed less than .706 in Portland. He never reached that mark in a full season for the Gold Sox. What a sad sight. I spotted him on the trading block. Yeah, I would dig to get rid of that contract as well.

I was looking for a trade at the deadline to add a left-handed bat, but couldn’t find any player with value that was not impossible to pay for. Sakutaro Ine was on the block, but he’s paid $950k this year, and we can’t possible fit him on the payroll, which is already $475k over budget.

In turn, the Canadiens offered MR Dennis Columpton to me for Mark Allen. Columpton wouldn’t add anything to the roster, while Allen’s remaining contract (which is up at season’s end) wouldn’t have allowed us to make another move to ADD salary, so I dropped the proposal. Allen is still scheduled to be a type B free agent, but if he were a *horse* he’d be scheduled to be mercy-killed…

So long.