[Westheim]

Raccoons (58-64) @ Indians (67-54) – August 19-21, 1994

9.5 games behind, it is clear that if we want to have a shot at the playoffs, we better sweep the Indians over the weekend. Yeah. Now stop kidding. This is baseball. This is serious. Plus, we won’t even run out Saito in this series, so … well.

The Coons stormed pitcher Dan George in the first inning of the opener. George walked three men, and a throwing error by catcher Mamoru Sato helped the Coons to plate three runs with only one hit, a 2-out, 2-run single by Bobby Quinn, to their credit. Now, our own battery was not that much better, as Turner and Vinson constantly walked the edge of elimination. George didn’t make it through five innings after walking seven, yet the Coons failed to add on decisively, leading 4-1 after the top 5th. Turner wobbled on into the bottom 7th, still up 4-1, but became stuck for good with two outs, having issued five walks and five hits. Two Indians were on base with Grant West coming in to pitch to Matt Brown. Yeah, that one. Brown homered to right center. Of course. Tim Hess came in for the Indians in the eighth, and nailed down the Coons over the next two frames, fanning four. De La Rosa was sent to pitch the bottom 9th, gave up two doubles, and sent me crying. 5-4 Indians. Baldivía 3-5; Salazar (PH) 1-1;

Game 2. Larry Davis (8-10, 5.50 ERA) was screaming to tag him with runs really hard. Did the Coons listen? They scored two runs in the first inning, but those were unearned again, Brown throwing away Baldivía’s grounder on the very first play of the game. The Coons lost Glenn Johnston on a play in the bottom 2nd, some finger issue here, and Scott Wade was already reeling so hard, even our dumb and blind offense had to see we needed more runs. Or maybe they didn’t care. Through five innings they only had Jorge Salazar’s RBI double in the first in the H column – against a 5.50 ERA pitcher. Neil Reece’s 1-out triple in the sixth led to a run when Quinn sacrificed him in, giving Wade a 3-1 lead, which Wade nursed into the seventh, where things came apart, and the Indians scored two runs on Wade, Burnett, and Martinez to tie the game again. To continue their display of utter uselessness, the Coons put at least one runner on every inning from here – and never scored. Lagarde entered in the bottom 11th – never registered an out. 4-3 Indians. Salazar 3-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Higgins (PH) 1-2; Matthews 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K;

My … (facepalms)

We brought back Vern Kinnear from his short rehab stint in St. Petersburg in time for game 3. He had knocked two souvenirs in three games down there. Pat Parker, batting .120, went the other way. Glenn Johnston only had a bruise on his finger, which was not that serious after all, and was available for game 3 – which would be his last, whether he played or not. With Daniel Hall in the wing to return for the midweek series coming up, Johnston’s presence would be no longer required.

We looked at junkthrower Arthur Young (8-8, 4.05 ERA) in game 3, and with Ramirez pitching, we were as good as doomed. Higgins was leading off against the lefty, walked, stole second (“only” #23 on the year for him after stealing 42 last year), moved over on the first, and scored on the next out. No hits, but a run in the inning. Young had given the Coons fits countless times in the past, but not this time. They tagged him for three runs in the third inning, making it 4-0. Meanwhile, Ramirez was awfully wild, putting on Indians in quick succession. Yet, the Indians failed to score early on, leaving eight men on in the first three frames. Ramirez blundered through the 100 pitch mark in the fifth: one out, runners on the corners, up 4-0, do you relief him? He got one more chance with lefty 2B Angelo Duarte and walked him on four pitches, his seventh BB in the game. Grant West entered to face two more lefties with the bags full and the tying run on the plate. West had surrendered a game-tying homer in game 1 already. Here, he struck out Dane Thompson. Will everything be well? STOP KIDDING!! RF Luis Gonzalez hit a 2-out, 3-run double off West, and we just barely came out on top, 4-3. Fortunately, the Indians had their own bullpen woes, as Andrew Schaefer struggled with the Coons, walking a pair, but they only scored one in the top 6th before leaving the bags full. We got some good relief from De La Rosa and Vela while Royce Green hit a 2-piece in the eighth to extend the lead to 7-3. Vela re-entered for the bottom 9th, and then put two men on. One out. Not again. Please not. Lagarde was brought in. Lagarde walked the bags full with four off ones to Luis Gonzalez, but then struck out Victor Cornett to end the game. 7-3 Raccoons. Higgins 3-3, 2 BB, 2B; Green 3-5, HR, 4 RBI; Reece 2-4, BB, RBI; Baldivía 2-5; De La Rosa 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 1 K;

Of course, at 10.5 games out, it’s definitely game over for the year.

Daniel Hall rejoined the team off the DL on our off day, replacing Glenn Johnston, who didn’t even bat close to .200 in his short time here. He will be disposed of by the end of the year.

Raccoons (59-66) @ Loggers (64-59) – August 23-25, 1994

The realization that we will finish behind the Loggers this year is about to settle in. This is really upsetting. I am tempted to blame injuries, but the team wasn’t too great at any point in the year, to be honest.

Kisho Saito in the opener faced hotshot Martin Garcia (9-10, 3.88 ERA), who was only a tender 22. Things went south quickly, as Saito put the first two men on. With two out, RF Serafim Laborinhos lined into deep left for a double. One run scored, and Royce Green hurled the ball back home – in time for the back runner SS Raúl Rodriguez to be tagged out at the plate – and Laborinhos came up lame after pulling something in his leg. So, lots of casualties early on. It also started to rain pretty early, forcing a 47-minute delay in the third inning. Saito yielded to circumstances in the fifth inning, still trailing 1-0, and the team wasn’t getting anything done. Saito remained on the hook through six, through seven, through eight, all the while the Raccoons trailing 1-0. The 6-7-8 guys were up in the top 9th against closer James Jenkins, a righty. These were Salazar, O-Mo, and Rodriguez, who spelled Vinson today. Salazar – DRILLED a ball into deep left field, off the wall, away from the fielders, for a leadoff triple! Saito won’t be buried with a loss! Or will he? O-Mo walked. Rodriguez grounded to short, and while the Loggers didn’t get a double play, Salazar had to hold. Two in scoring position with one out. De La Rosa would have been next, but Kinnear batted for him (Quinn had started against the lefty Garcia). Kinnear took Jenkins’ first pitch and sent a howling liner over 1B Bob Rush into right, where it fell in for a 2-run double. YES!!!!! The Coons then left two men in scoring position in the inning, leaving Jackie Lagarde with no cushion. This time, the opposition had no chance. Two punchouts and a grounder back to Lagarde for three quick outs. 2-1 Coons. Kinnear (PH) 1-1, 2B, 2 RBI; Martinez 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

Juan Martinez came close to an immaculate inning in the bottom 6th, punching out three Loggers on 10 pitches. Only Jerry Fletcher saw a ball from him.

The middle game was hitless into the third, before Salazar hit a 2-out single in the top half. No score, though, but that changed in the fourth, when Royce Green homered off 6-11 Jorge Casas for a 2-0 lead. Now, Raimundo Beato had no-hit the Loggers so far. To lead off the bottom 4th, Drake Evans lined a shot to center, which Neil Reece launched at and caught – only that it was called trapped and a single. Not only Beato was upset. He was so upset, he continued with plunking Jerry Fletcher, and then threw a wild pitch past not only Bob Grant, but also David Vinson. The Loggers scored one run in the inning, but the Milwaukee fans realized the circus was in town and the clowns were running mad on the field. One man on in the bottom 5th, O-Mo made a bad throw to put them on the corners. Next, LF Gates Golunski sent a perfect grounder to Beato’s feet, zinged to Salazar, who – didn’t get the ball out of his glove the first time, and neither the second time, and botched the double play. And STILL the Loggers failed to score, when Evans whiffed for the final out. The Loggers staff walked the bases full in the top 6th, where Beato came up with two down. I needed to conserve the pen … Pooky grounded out. Beato got one out in the bottom 7th, then felt uncomfortable and left the game, still up 2-1. Top 8th, we put Green and Higgins in scoring position with no outs – didn’t score. O-Mo and Vinson grounded out poorly, and Allen whiffed. Top 9th, Baldivía got on with one out. He was run for – with Grandpa Hall! Kinnear walked, pushing him to second base, and when Reece singled to shallow right, Hall chucked around third and went for home – and scored. Lagarde was not available at this point, and we tried to close a 3-1 game with De La Rosa. Bob Grant singled to start the bottom 9th, and then De La Rosa threw away Jim Stein’s bunt. Just … because. With one out, the Loggers had the tying runs in scoring position, but De La Rosa came back to strike out Miguel Vela and Jamal Chevalier. 3-1 Coons. Kinnear 1-2, 2 BB, 2B; Reece 2-5, RBI; Green 2-5, HR, 2 RBI; Beato 6.1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, W (7-9);

Green’s homer is his 30th on the season. There have been only 16 30-homer seasons in ABL history, and it is only August. Green is five away from Tetsu Osanai’s team record, and 12 away from Raúl Vázquez record mark of 42, set last year.

Can we sweep the Loggers? Well, we fielded Jason Turner. And he was awful. He was gassed out after five innings, and these had been horrible. The Loggers had left plenty of runners on, but led 3-2. Milwaukee’s Tim Eichler had been weak as well, but the Coons were even worse at getting their men home. In a mess of a game, the Raccoons trailed 4-2 after eight. Mark Allen led off the ninth after entering in a double switch at third base, and singled to right, and Salazar followed that up with a double. Well, tying runs in scoring position, big boys coming to the plate in the inning. Baldivía flew to deep right into an out for a sac fly that scored Allen. Kinnear just needed to hit James Jenkins’ offering hard enough for Salazar to jog home. In a full count, he singled to right, tying up the game before the inning ended with outs by Reece and Green. Now, I said this was a mess of a game. Grant West had pitched the eighth with a depleted pen offering little other relief. He came back out for the ninth, got two quick outs, then put them on, one by one. A single, and another one, and an infield single, and suddenly the bases were loaded, and West threw balls to Gates Golunski. Then Golunski popped up – and out. Extra innings. We had to continue with our tired right-handers. Extra innings also allowed Jorge Salazar to chase history. Batting leadoff here, Salazar had had a base knock in every AB of his so far, for five in regulation. He led off the top 11th. Single to center – wow! The Coons loaded the bags with one out in the inning, bringing up Green. I would dig a knock here. Green delivered, a 2-run double to left, and Higgins brought in another run in the inning. Lagarde entered up 7-4, and put the first two men on, a single by Jim Stein, and a walk to Augusto Garza. Oh please, no …! Vela grounded out, but Chevalier drew a walk to load the bags. Tying runs on. I tossed the pitching coach over the dugout railing to give Lagarde a good screaming. Leon Ramirez was the pinch-hitter here, fell to 1-2, then flew to right for a sac fly. Lagarde then punched out Golunski. Sweep completed. 7-5 Coons. Salazar 6-6, 2B, RBI; Kinnear 2-5, BB, RBI; Green 3-6, 2 2B, 2 RBI; Allen 1-2; Burnett 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K;

Salazar’s 6-hit performance of course ties the major league record!

Raccoons (62-66) vs. Condors (69-58) – August 26-28, 1994

Another first division team, but we already ticked off the Loggers, maybe we can - … hey, I can dream some! Well, they have strong pitching (3rd in runs allowed) and we have won only one of six against them so far this year. A sweep in our favor may not be in the cards here.

Also, the injured Raimundo Beato is not diagnosed yet and we have no off day after this weekend series, which makes it imperative to keep De La Rosa out of trouble for a spot start.

Scott Wade faced a tough nut to crack in form of Jose Macias (12-13, 2.91 ERA) in the opener. So did the offense. While Wade fell behind in the third inning on a 2-run homer by Preston O’Day (both runs unearned after a Baldivía error), the Coons did little at first, as Macias set down the first seven Furballs that dared to face him. Then Vinson walked, but Wade struck out trying to bunt. Then Salazar got one, Macias threw a wild pitch, Baldivía singled in the first run, and then Green crushed a 3-piece for a 4-2 lead. Okay, I liked that comeback! We had Macias out of the game after four, adding a run in the bottom 4th. Wade settled in after a rough start to his outing and didn’t allow a hit between the fourth and seventh innings. We were “only” up by three after eight frames, but Wade seemed to have gas left, so he was sent back out. He got one out, then met O’Day again, and was taken deep again. Then came Kuang Liu – and homered as well. Oh noes … Burnett came in to face lefty PH Claude Martin and put him on with a single. Lagarde was sent in now with everything in full collapse. He put PH Kyae-sung Park on, before Sixto Moreno grounded out, but moved up the runners. 3B Cipriano Ortega for the win – STRUCK HIM OUT!!! 5-4 Coons. Green 1-3, BB, HR, 3 RBI; Quinn 2-4; Vinson 1-2, BB, RBI; Wade 8.1 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, W (7-7);

Will I learn a thing or two about closer usage now? Maybe not. Our bullpen was aching and Wade looked like he had it in the bag. Well. Still a decent outing for him. This also meant that we had won five in a row now.

We faced John Douglas (1-2, 5.20 ERA) in game 2, who had just come back from bone spurs in his elbow and as always sported a K/BB ratio below 1 (20/22). Neither him nor Gerardo Ramirez was particularly good, or even decent, and there was plenty of scoring early on, with the game being tied 4-4 through four. Still, both pitchers lived through six, in the bottom of which inning Royce Green drove in Kinnear for the go-ahead run, 5-4. Ramirez came back out for the seventh, but walked Brad Brown who batted in place of Douglas. Matthews and West wiggled out of the inning, with the Condors leaving the tying run on second base both here and in the next inning against Martinez. Can we get some insurance here? Yes, Baldivía jacked a leadoff homer in the bottom of the inning, so we were up 6-4 into the ninth – but who’s gonna pitch? We had four relievers in the pen, three gassed ones (Burnett, Vela, Lagarde) plus a fresh one (De La Rosa). But with Pooky undiagnosed, we needed to conserve Rosie. So, Martinez, that’s all yours! The top 9th started with a Claude Martin grounder to Ingall at second, and Baldivía dropped his throw to first. Facepalm. Martinez loaded the bags with one out and O’Day coming up, a lefty masher. He mashed to deep center, but Reece made the play and only Martin tagged and scored. Kuang Liu for the win. He grounded to first, and this time Baldivía didn’t blow it up. 6-5 Furballs! Baldivía 3-5, HR, RBI; Kinnear, 2-4, BB, 2 2B, RBI; Reece 2-5, RBI; Martinez 2.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, SV (3);

After six wins in a row, somewhere bad news had to hit. They came early on Sunday. Raimundo Beato had inflammation in his shoulder and was out for the year. That was bad, very bad. Not because Beato had aced this season, although he had gotten better recently, but because we were more and more patching this rotation together with increasing despair. De La Rosa would move to the rotation to make the start on Monday, but first it was time to bring out Master Kisho. Neil Reece got a day off, with Green manning center.

Saito struck out four in a row early on in the game, holding the Condors dry. He got support in the bottom 3rd, when Salazar hit a 1-out single, advanced on a passed ball on Andres Manuel to the dismay of Robbie Dadswell (12-9, 3.57 ERA), and Baldivía quickly singled Salazar in. They left two on there, before Saito suddenly was whacked around in the top 4th after getting two out. The Condors tied the game right back on a Fred Rodgers double to right, but Bobby Quinn threw out Kuang Liu at the plate to keep the game at least tied. Saito suddenly couldn’t get people out, which was deeply worrying, and the Condors took a 2-1 lead in the fifth, and the defense bailed him out hard both here and in the sixth, where the Condors left two in scoring position. Unfortunately, the same defense did nothing on offense. Kevin Lewis homered off Saito in the seventh, 3-1, and this ship was a-sinking. Vinson led off the bottom 7th with a double, but thought he had a triple. He didn’t. Behind him, Hall walked in place of Saito, and Salazar got on as well, and Baldy singled to load them up for Kinnear, but he grounded out, scoring only Hall, and Green made the last out. The Condors left the bags full in the top 8th, and maybe that gave the Coons another chance. They went down in silence in the eighth and still trailed 3-2 into the bottom 9th. Save the streak, boys! Nope, three up, three down. 3-2 Condors. Salazar 2-4, BB; Baldivía 3-4, RBI; West 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K;

This time, Kisho took the loss…

In other news

August 19 – SFW SP Aaron Anderson (12-13, 4.01 ERA) 3-hits the Wolves, as the Warriors win 8-0.
August 20 – MIL RF/LF Cristo Ramirez (.347, 4 HR, 50 RBI) will have to sit out for one to two weeks with a strained back muscle.
August 22 – Big day for SP Parker Montgomery: the 37-year old Capital held down the Rebels over seven innings in a 7-3 win, nothing his 200th career W. Montgomery, who only pitched for the Scorpions and Capitals in his career, is 200-182 with a 3.85 ERA for his career and is under contract for two more years, the latter being a vesting option.
August 23 – The Wolves’ Ramón Sotelo (6-11, 3.38 ERA) shines as the Wolves eat the Stars, 10-0, turning in a 3-hit shutout.
August 24 – SFB OF Jim Thompson (.286, 16 HR, 82 RBI) enters the record books in a game against the Falcons. As the Bayhawks prevail, 8-6, Thompson bashes three home runs and drives in all but one run for his team. Following VAN Luis Arroyo’s 3-homer game this May, this marks the first season in which the feat has been achieved twice.
August 25 – And the 200-win club is getting more crowded: ATL Carlos Asquabal (12-9, 3.79 ERA) pitches into the eighth against the Thunder and hangs on to earn the W in a 7-4 Knights win, his 200th in his career. A Cuban exile signed by the Knights in 1978, Asquabal has never pitched for anybody else after making his debut in 1981. He is 200-135 with a 3.53 ERA and has racked up 2,371 strikeouts so far.
August 25 – DEN LF Dale Wales (.334, 8 HR, 61 RBI) may be out for the year with a broken hand.

Complaints and stuff

Jorge Salazar is the third Raccoon to get a 6-hit game in. The others are Daniel Hall (1989) and obscure Freddy Lopez (1977), who also did it against the Loggers, back then in a 17-0 trashing.

Is a callup for our top pitching prospect in the books? Antonio Donis is 12-8 with a 3.93 ERA in AAA this year, having struck out 213 batters in 151 innings. The ERA comes with a .348 BABIP, so he may have been hurt by the defense. He still has control issues. Donis, 22, was our third-round pick in 1990 by the way. His stuff rating is *19*! His third pitch, a changeup, is rather weak, though. This is his first year in AAA and I didn’t want to bring him up until next year. Ah, decisions.

For the moment, to plug the hole in our staff, we added Daniel Miller again, who had killed AAA batting in the meantime.

Six wins in a row were nice to have. And still, with just one key hit in the last game, or with Vinson not being so much of a dork and trying to turn a double into a triple when it clearly wasn’t one … ah, spilled milk…

Note that the Capitals in the FL went 9-0 in this update, ready to catch the Rebels. They can still make it five division titles in a row.

We will remain at home for another week, hosting Oklahoma and Boston. The opener of the latter series, a 4-game set, will mark September 1. Will that month see a callup to Donis? I don’t know. Do you? :-/