[Westheim]

Raccoons (68-70) @ Crusaders (61-75) – September 5-7, 1994

Just one more series in a long string of continuous games, and then we will have four off days for the rest of the season – only 3-game sets from here on out!

We faced rookie Cipriano Miranda (2-1, 1.53 ERA) in the opener. That ERA was – according to Vince Guerra – not true of his abilities. He gave him ratings barely enough to survive on the fringe of the major leagues. But here was a 24-year old that had so far puzzled the league. Could the Coons figure him out and support Scott Wade?

The first time through the lineup, Miranda gave up only a single to Royce Green, while Scott Wade was reeling already. Miranda singled to lead off the bottom 3rd in a scoreless game, and with one out was the leading of two runners on second base. Slugger Alfonso Rojas took Scott Wade’s 1-1 pitch to deep center, where Neil Reece made the catch and brought it back in. Miranda tagged, and was thrown out at third base to end the frame. Rookie mistake. Don’t run on Reece, he’ll get ya. Wade was set behind on a home run by LF Pat Jenkins in the fourth, but the Coons countered with two driven in by Salazar in the top 5th, but the Crusaders made that up with three singles in the bottom 5th, tied at two. That top 5th, the first man to get on was Vinson – hit by a pitch. Now, Vinson also led off the top 7th – and was hit AGAIN! Wade was looking on grimly, as the rookie gave our catcher a battering. Like in the fifth, Mark Allen also got on, and this time Wade singled along with him. Bases loaded, no outs, top of the lineup coming up. Salazar grounded into a double play, home and first, and Baldivía put a zero on the board. Oh, noes. Wade exhausted himself into the eighth and wouldn’t be rewarded for it. As soon as the starter is out, the Raccoons start to hit. A leadoff single by Kinnear chased Miranda from the game, and with no outs and runners on the corners, Bobby Quinn hit for Ken Burnett. He flew out to right, but Kinnear tagged and scored. We scored two for a 4-2 lead in that inning, handing the ball to Lagarde, whose first action was to surrender a leadoff homer to C Ruben Melendez in the bottom 9th. He got the next two, then put a runner on – which Vinson picked off to end the game! Whoah!! 4-3 Raccoons. Salazar 2-5, 2B, 3 RBI; Allen 2-4; Wade 7.1 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 6 K and 1-2;

Game 2. Gerardo Ramirez continued to be awful, issuing three walks and a beaner in the first inning to fall 1-0 behind. The Coons didn’t get a hit off Luis Andrade (7-10, 4.67 ERA) until the fifth inning, by which time Ramirez was 2-0 behind. That hit was a Higgins double, and they brought him in to score, and in the sixth, Andrade was betrayed by his defense for an unearned run that tied the game. Then it was O-Mo to put the Coons ahead with a solo homer in the seventh. All Ramirez did was to issue his sixth walk of the day to Ed Rigg, leading off the bottom 7th. He was removed for West to face lefties, West didn’t convince, but Higgins eventually bailed out the pitchers by starting a nifty inning-ending double play. Neither team scored until we brought in Lagarde with that 3-2 lead. Good news: Melendez had made the final out in the eighth and would not come up this inning. Better news: he needed only to face three batters to save the deal. 3-2 Coons! O’Morrissey 1-3, HR, 2 RBI; West 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

We had four hits, the Crusaders had two. Yes, Ramirez gave up a single hit – but still walked six, and that’s way too many. He struck out four in six innings of work.

Game 3. Completing the sweep would put us over the .500 mark for the first time since …? When??

We were giving the ball to Kisho Saito, so things could look more leak potentially. Don’t expect any offense, though. Reece got a day off, for he was struggling since having his hitting streak ended in that messful Titans series, Hall made a start, and Green played center.

Things went wrong for Kisho from the beginning. He grazed the second batter, SS Pete Thompson, with a pitch, and surrendered two line drives after that – down 2-0. It never stopped. Saito pitched only five innings, surrendered five runs, and with the Raccoons not even getting a hit until the fourth against lefty David Ramirez, he looked the more awful. Then they scored one run in the fifth, and got rolling in the sixth. Two out, Salazar on second base, Daniel Hall mashed an RBI triple that got the gap to 5-4, and the Crusaders walked Jose Rodriguez to get to Saito, but here came Neil Reece. And Reece struck out. Matthews and Miller then efficiently threw the game away, allowing two and one runs, respectively, so the Coons trotted into the ninth 8-4 behind. Kinnear pinch-hit and got on and was scored by Jin, who hit for Higgins. Jin was forced out by Baldivía, but when Bobby Quinn singled, we got Royce Green to the plate as the tying run with two down. Another slugger with a chance to put things right. Haywood Lammond converted his sorry grounder into the final out. 8-5 Crusaders. Jin (PH) 1-1, RBI; Quinn 2-5; Green 2-5, 2B; Hall 2-4, 3B, 2B, 2 RBI; Kinnear (PH) 1-1, 2B;

Ken McLannan made his debut in this game, and didn’t even get out of the sixth. Well, there is a reason he never made the Bigs with ANY of the eight organizations he was with so far.

Raccoons (70-71) vs. Canadiens (65-74) – September 9-11, 1994

We’re 8-7 against them this year. Try to win two of three, that would be fine.

Bob Armstrong started behind the plate partnering with De La Rosa in the opener, and immediately stabbed his pitcher with a passed ball and not even making a throw as Raúl Solís stole third base in the first inning. Somehow the Canadiens failed to score him, but Armstrong was not necessarily getting himself into conversation for a backup catcher here. While De La Rosa fell 2-0 behind in the third on his own, it was an Armstrong throwing error in the fifth that instead of ending the inning with a good throw to first, enabled the Elks to score two unearned runs. Daniel Hall had had a stellar day playing left the day before, but today was chasing after double after double out in right. Age had caught up with him for good. As a whole, the Raccoons were abysmal at the plate against Kevin Williams (7-8, 4.03 ERA). Bottom 6th: a triple put Neil Reece at third base, from where Matt Higgins drove him in. Higgins stole second, and advanced on Hall’s single. Runners on the corners, one out, tying run coming up – and it was Armstrong. Nope. No, he has been enough of a dork today. Bobby Quinn came out to bat for him and – HOLY COW, another triple!! O-Mo hit for Martinez, who had relieved De La Rosa earlier, and took Gabby off the hook with an RBI double. Unfortunately, O-Mo was left on third base, and the game remained tied. Top 7th, we brought Mallandain for lefties Luis Arroyo and Alejandro Lopez (yeah that one) and he sat them both down. Then we brought McLannan for that final out, and he walked two. Vela couldn’t end the frame, the Canadiens went right on top again, 5-4. That was the score in the bottom 8th, with two out and nobody on, as Salazar got on base. Green had had the day off and hit for a single here in place of Ken Burnett. Kinnear then doubled into center, tying the game. Neil Reece wanted to drive in the go-ahead run, but Norio Hayashi fed him trash and he walked. That left Higgins to deliver. In a full count he hit a floater out to right, which Lopez failed to get to. It fell in, and two runs scored on a single. Ingall walked to reload the bags, and Vinson came up, who now played in Hall’s former spot – and he drove in two more with a double to deep right. Now, Daniel Miller came in to pitch the ninth, and ended the game on six pitches. Don’t get upbeat, however. He surrendered a 2-0 single, and then a hissing liner up the first base line. Higgins was there, as Baldivía had been switched out earlier, and Higgins made a launching grab AND tagged the runner from first. Baldy plays there – Miller puts the second man on and Lagarde has to come out. This way, the game was over. 9-5 Furballs. Green (PH) 1-1; Reece 2-4, BB, 3B; Higgins 3-5, 3 RBI; Hall 1-2, BB; Vinson 1-2, 2B, 2 RBI; O’Morrissey (PH) 1-2, 2B, RBI;

Some 25-year old Mexican named Jose Marquez made his first big league start in the middle game after appearing in relief once in 1993. We didn’t have much on him, scouting report wise. So, go out and crush him!! The Furballs put up four runs in the first inning, including a 2-run homer by Bobby Quinn. The Coons added a fifth run in the third, getting Marquez out early. Now, we had Jason Turner pitching. And he managed to blow up – again. The Canadiens didn’t get a-swingin’ until the fifth, but then scored two runs, and with one out in the sixth, the tying runs were in scoring position and only one out on the board. Martinez bailed out while allowing only one of the runners to score, so we remained up, but only by one run, 5-4. Against Hayashi, we loaded the bases in the bottom 6th with no outs. Salazar walked to force in a run, before Green jabbed at a 3-1 pitch and fouled out. Reece and Quinn hit RBI singles, before Peter Hughes replaced the luckless Hayashi, but the first thing he did was to hit Marvin Ingall on the arm, forcing another run home. Still, Vinson and Kinnear (who came to the plate for the second time in the inning) brought two more runs in before the inning fizzled out. Up 11-4, what can happen? Well, there will always be something going wrong with this team. Matthews came in for the seventh and walked the bags full. Vela came in, but surrendered a walk to score a run. With two out, he faced C Jose Lopez and the 2-2 was in the dirt. Lopez swung through it, and it bounced off Vinson’s chest protector – but straight up, and not very high, and even Vinson could not mess that one up and made the out. Mallandain gave up a run pitching the ninth (which STILL lowered his ERA), but we held on: 11-6 Furballs. Baldivía 2-6, 2B; Green 2-5, 2B, RBI; Reece 3-5, 2 RBI; Quinn 3-4, BB, HR, 3 RBI; Vinson 3-4, BB, RBI; Allen (PH) 1-1;

So, that gets us over .500 again. You know something else? We have cut our deficit on the Indians in half since the start of the week. The Indians are reeling hard at this point.

Game 3. The Coons hung five (three earned) on 10-14 Manny Ramos in the second inning to give Scott Wade a nice little cushion early. Wade came apart instantly in the top 3rd with two walks and three singles that all went up the middle between Higgins and Salazar. The Canadiens scored three and the game was close again right away. Wade gave up another run in the fourth, and after the Coons left the bags full in the bottom of that inning, Wade continued to come apart in the fifth, and the Canadiens tied the game. Not that we are done with collapsing here. Miller replaced Wade in the fifth, got out of there, then surrendered a 2-shot to Solís in the sixth that got the Canadiens ahead. Wow. Just wow. From 5-0 to 5-7 in four innings. Bottom 6th: the first four Raccoons reached base, scoring a run and loading the bags, and bringing up Higgins with no outs. Higgins hit a sac fly, and that’s all we got here. As well as everything came together for the Canadiens at the plate, nothing worked for the Coons, although they had already scored seven. Matthews came out in the eighth, walked two again, and surrendered a run. Running out of arms here. Bottom 8th. Green and Reece led off, both reached base, both on errors, by SS Michael McFarland and Solís, respectively. Dennis Columpton then put on Higgins with a walk. Again bases loaded, no outs. O-Mo hit a lobber to shallow right, which fell to Alejandro Lopez’ feet and scored Green, but again the Coons scored only one more and left two on. Lagarde’s task in the top 9th was nothing to be envious for. He faced three left-handers, with Arroyo up first. But Lagarde grounded out the slugger, and Lopez and Hidehira Nakamura hit lazy flyers to Reece and Jin in the outfield. Game over, finally! 9-8 Coons. Salazar 3-4, BB, 3B, RBI; O’Morrissey 2-4, BB, 2 RBI;

Scott Wade was basically just unlucky here. He gave up seven hits. One was a double, the other six were singles that sneaked through somewhere.

In other news

September 7 – Former Raccoon CIN Robert Vázquez (12-9, 3.67 ERA) spins a 3-hit shutout, 6-0, against the Buffaloes.
September 7 – OCT SS/3B Jose Sanchez (.261, 10 HR, 57 RBI) suffered torn ankle ligaments, which may even cost him the postseason.
September 9 – Salem’s Juan Valentin (.242, 3 HR, 37 RBI) knocks his 2,000th base hit in a 5-0 loss to the Pacifics. The 36-year old infielder hits a 2-out single in the top 9th against Fernando Chavez, but can’t prevent his team from losing anymore. The Spaniard was once taken in the first round of the 1979 draft by the Titans, and has played for them, the Condors, and now the Wolves in his career.
September 11 – SFB INF Roberto Rodriguez (.297, 2 HR, 43 RBI) is out for the year with a torn meniscus.

Complaints and stuff

Hah. The Indians took a little nose dive here this week. Suddenly we are only three and a half out of first, and three weeks left to play. Well, we have one series left against them, which will be in Indy during the final week of the year. Can we hold it close until then?

Well, our remaining program is about average. We have one series against all CL North teams except Vancouver remaining, plus series against San Francisco and Atlanta. Three above .500, three below. Could be tougher. The Indians play the Canadiens in place of the Titans, plus the Thunder and Falcons from the CL South. Doesn’t give much.

Why did they lose five of seven this week? Hard to say. They lost three of four to the Loggers, and two against the Titans. They scored only three runs per game. They gave up 4.43 runs per game. In fact, since we left Indy in late August, from the final game of that series, they have gone 7-13. We? 15-5. Apparently, you are not out at ten games, at least automatically.

There is a different question that bugs me. Will we offer an extension to Grant West? He will probably ask for multiple years, which is not what I envision, since he clearly degrading. But he is still useful in an earlier bullpen role. But he will also be 38 next year. Uh. Brainlock.

Miguel Lopez suffered a setback in his recovery from shoulder inflammation. While this is of course not good news, it doesn’t affect our 1994 season anyway. He was not scheduled to return this year. Yet we still have to hope that things don’t get too worse to return from this injury. (shivers)

Also on the to-do-list: extend Matt Higgins. I know he doesn’t hit for much. But I really dig his defense (and he gains more WAR from there: 0.8 from defense, 0.6 from offense), while I also see that 1.4 WAR is not an awful lot. He had 2.9 WAR last year, which was his career high. His 162-game average is 2.0 WAR.

Higgins was planned in as utility man each of the last two years. Mark Allen never panned out. Mark Allen will be gone this fall. So, neither Marvin Ingall, nor Pat Parker have recommended themselves so far.

You know whose contract will be up? The guy I have my eye on as top defense on the right side of the infield, and carries some decent numbers: .346/.418/.488, 153 OPS+, 1.18 K/BB, 96 SB (59%), 45 HR, 459 RBI, 7.0 WAR/season; I want to sign HIM off the free agent market this fall.

Of course that would mean WAR in the Northwest, because that guy is Vancouver’s David Brewer.