[Westheim]

Raccoons (8-7) vs. Knights (5-10) – April 21-23, 1995

The Knights rotation had been stomped to a 5.30 ERA (last in CL) so far this season, and that was where there problems were located. But facing Jim Harrington, Pat Cherry, and Jesse Carver, you couldn’t expect to have an easy walk at the beach. Only Carver had been blown up so far (9.00 ERA), and while he was not the guy anymore that won 21 games with the 1988 Indians, he was still a formidable opponent.

Many things went wrong in the series opener. Jim Harrington drove in the first run off Kisho Saito with a 2-out RBI single in the second inning, a 1-0 deficit that was equalized by a sac fly O-Mo hit in the third inning. O-Mo in turn was taken out in an on base collision with Johnny Johnson, the Knights’ 20-year old catcher, who tried to go first-to-third on ANOTHER 2-out single by Harrington. O-Mo took one to the knee and was out of the game. Saito was not very good in this start and needed help, getting it in the fifth from a) Bobby Quinn, who made a bear catch on a ball that had RBI double written all over it, and b) Esteban Baldivía hitting a 2-run homer in the bottom 5th. Saito labored through seven innings of 2-run ball, helped hugely by the defense at some points. The Raccoons conceded a run in the top 8th, bringing the score to 4-3, while leaving the bags full on either side of that half-inning. That left De La Rosa cushion-less. He needed no cushion! Gabby set the Knights aside in order, saving the win for Saito. 4-3 Coons. Baldivía 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; O’Morrissey 1-1, RBI; Ingall 2-3; Salazar 3-4;

Neil Reece went 0-5 with 6 LOB. It’s not even bad luck. He’s making actual poor outs. This is troubling!

Ben O’Morrissey would be out for a week with a knee contusion. A week is the most stupid time frame for somebody to be hurt. I don’t even want to start on how he is hitting .345 – for the second time in less than two weeks our most productive batter goes down. In the end, he was not disabled. We’d have to play through this, somehow.

The lineup was getting thinner for Jason Turner in game 2, with six of the nine batters in the lineup hitting .216 or (markedly) less. Neil Reece set an early exclamation mark with a 2-run homer in the first inning. Soon enough things went downwards again. Turner gave up a run in the third, and only narrowly held on to the 2-1 lead in the top 4th. In the bottom 4th, Bobby Quinn led off with a double, that was a close call at second base. Close enough that Quinn collided with SS Sosa Tanaka, sliding head first into Tanaka’s knee. This time, the knee held up, and Quinn was taken out. Jin replaced him and scored on two groundouts, but our bench was about deserted with another injury. Turner got some more support with a Higgins home run in the seventh and a small ball run in the eighth. Miller was put in for the ninth inning – and had no issues with the Knights. 5-1 Coons! Baldivía 2-4, 2 2B; Quinn 2-2, 2B; Higgins 2-3, HR, RBI; Turner 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, W (2-1);

Injuries. Bobby Quinn was listed as DTD with a mild concussion, but we already had O-Mo unusable with the knee, and I was not about to play a guy seeing stars. This would limit us to a 3-man bench, and that was not going to happen. Now we had to do it: O-Mo went to the DL. His injury time was estimated longer than Quinn’s by our medical staff. So be it. We called up 27-yr old INF/RF Ben Nash from AAA, who batted .381 early on in the season. He was our fourth round pick from 1986 (so he was around for some time), and would make his major league debut.

David Vinson would bat third in the final game of the series. That’s how far it has come!

The starter for the game was Miguel Lopez, facing the so far horrendously molested Jesse Carver. It was another strange game. Scoreless through two innings, Lopez struck out the side in the top 3rd. Well, except that between strikeouts the Knights hit three singles and scored a run. In the bottom 4th, Vinson got on to lead off, and then Reece and Kinnear both hit into flyball outs. That brought up Higgins, and – holy cow! – another homer! But before anybody could get excited with a 2-1 lead, Lopez allowed two runs in the top 5th on another bushel of singles. And things continued like that, as the Knights knocked him out with three leadoff singles in the top 6th. 5+ innings, 11 hits, four runs against Lopez, who was quickly picked up by the team with a Kinnear home run and Higgins and Salazar piecing together a run in the bottom 6th. So, four runs each through six. While our pen got six outs from there, Carver was still in the game for the Knights, which led to him surrendering a leadoff triple to Matt Higgins in the bottom 8th. Salazar hit a sac fly to bring in Higgins, and we were ahead 5-4 for De La Rosa. Again, he sat down the Knights without fuss. 5-4 Coons! Baldivía 2-4, 2B; Vinson 2-4; Higgins 3-4, HR, 3B, 2 RBI; Salazar 2-2, BB, RBI;

Matt Higgins – while trailing some in stolen bases on this team – now suddenly LEADS the team in home runs with three. Well, he ties for the lead with Vern Kinnear, but got there first. And his AVG is almost thrice that of Kinnear at this point.

Raccoons (11-7) vs. Thunder (8-11) – April 24-26, 1995

Three weeks into the season, the Thunder – the defending champions! – were average in about every category you could think about. 6th in runs scored, 7th in runs allowed, and so on. We would see two roughed up starters in this series, which unfortunately also included the good “Pooky” Beato (1-3, 7.23 ERA), who was scheduled for game 2.

But first came game 1. Vázquez faced Jon Robinson (1-1, 5.11 ERA). This was to become a special day for Chih-tui Jin, who started in right field, and hit his first big league home run, a 2-shot on the bottom 2nd that got the Raccoons ahead. Next, Sonny Reece, the kid that hit two game 7 walkoff home runs last October, took Vázquez deep, setting in motion a 3-run inning in the top 3rd, in which Vázquez looked really old. He would surrender another run en route to pitch six innings. Down 4-2, the Coons had their two leadoff batters on in the eighth, but Reece, Brewer (as pinch hitter on a day off) and Jin all made outs. Then came the bottom 9th against closer Jimmy Morey. Ingall got on, and then Salazar, batting for Nash, singled his way on. Up came Luke Newton, and out of bats he had to go to the plate, and singled to shallow left. Bases loaded, no outs, top of the lineup coming. Higgins coaxed a walk out of Morey, bringing up Baldy, who was known for hitting into the most untimely double plays imaginable. Not this time! Baldy lobbed a single over Sonny Reece at second base to tie the game. STILL no outs! Vinson up and he grounded a perfect double play ball to Reece, only that Reece had to go home to put Newton away, which he did, but that was the only out they got. And now we had Reece, who was struggling so badly, come to the plate. He lined into shallow center, and Jeff Martin --- JUST could NOT get it – the Coons walked off!! 5-4 Coons!! Higgins 2-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Baldivía 2-5, 2B, RBI; Reece 2-5, RBI; Jin 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Salazar (PH) 1-1; Newton (PH) 2-2;

Grant West pitched the eighth in this game, starting with a punchout to Jeff Martin, the former Raccoon. That was his first K of the year! Eight appearances, 5.1 innings, five walks, but no K’s. West has clearly lost his killer stuff completely by now.

Walkoff single notwithstanding, .217 batting Neil Reece can’t get going. I thought about having him a day off in the middle game against Pooky, then still put him in. And you look at Vern Kinnear, the nicest Australian we Portlanders know, and ask yourself, how can someone who hits .136 slug friggin’ SIX-NINETEEN?? Something is way off here with this offense! Thankfully, our bullpen is lights out at this point, and the starters are very good, so we give up very few runs and what little offense we have is sufficient.

Scott Wade fell 1-0 behind early, but the Coons tied that back in the fourth. Wade first allowed a solo homer to Dan Preston, but Vinson hit a home run in the bottom half, and we got another run for a 2-2 tie, which stood through five. Wade led off the top 6th by allowing singles to Jeff Martin and Vonne Calzado, then faced Sonny Reece. Big strikeout! Great, now we have one out and – oh, crap, Dave Browne doubled to right, and a Haruki Nakayama triple knocked out Wade. Down 5-2, Jin made it home runs on back-to-back days with a solo shot in the seventh. In the bottom 8th, we had one man on with two out for Reece, but he grounded to second and was only safe because of an error. Kinnear behind him had been removed in a double switch, and now Marvin Ingall had to hit for Grant West. Pooky struck him out. Bottom 9th, Higgins led off with a single off Morey, who tried to save at least this game here. Higgins stole second base, but Salazar and Jin flew out harmlessly. Morey walked Newton, bringing up Brewer. He grounded up the middle for a single that was sufficient to score Higgins from second. Now Baldy had to come through, but before he could, Morey tried to come through Baldy with a pitch. That HBP loaded the bases and brought up Vinson. And Vinson took a called strike three. 5-4 Thunder. Vinson 2-5, HR, RBI; Higgins 2-4, RBI; West 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

Daniel Miller struck out the side in the top 9th. For him, that’s now 9.2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 10 K. Quite a turnaround from a 6+ ERA season, huh? You may wonder about Albert Matthews, whom we waived to keep Miller on the roster, and who went to the Canadiens. He’s been decent: 6.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 5 BB, 5 K, with an 0-1 record.

Reece got that day off – despite an off day after this series! – in game 3.

Kisho would pitch, facing Makoto Kogawa (1-1, 2.55 ERA). In the bottom 3rd of a scoreless game, Newton singled to lead off the inning. He tried to steal second, was thrown out, Saito struck out, and then Brewer hit a triple, that went unused when Baldivía grounded out. So we didn’t score here, but the Thunder lashed out at Saito in the top 4th, with a 2-run, 2-out double by Takeshi Ikeda, the catcher, hurting us. The Coons had Jin and Kinnear in scoring position in the bottom 4th with two down. Kogawa walked Ingall, bringing up Newton with the bases loaded. 1-1 pitch, big swing, clearly audible knock, and a park that jumped to its feet as Newton grand slammed that ball outta here!! Baldy and Higgins got into scoring position with one out in the fifth, and Vinson singled up the middle to score the first baseman. Higgins had to hold, but scored on Jin’s single that knocked out Kogawa. We came out up by five in this inning, and now it was Saito’s task to possibly go eight (63 pitches through five) and not blow a 7-2 advantage. And that’s what I love so much about Saito. You tell him to go three more innings without any excitement, and he does! Usually without excitement noticeable from the outside, but he’s that kinda guy. The Coons got an extra run in the bottom 8th (yet left three men on when Vinson and Jin whiffed for the final two outs), and Burnett and Vela got the game over with. 8-2 Coons! Baldivía 2-5; Higgins 2-5, 2B, RBI; Jin 2-3, 2 BB, RBI; Newton 3-4, HR, 4 RBI; Salazar (PH) 1-1; Saito 8.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 8 K, W (4-0);

Young Luke Newton had himself quite a day here! Bobby Quinn also got rid of the headaches that had plagued him for a few days. Kinnear’s still batting the weight of his left leg. Hummmm…

Raccoons (13-8) @ Titans (13-9) – April 28-30, 1995

Back to those killing fields. The Titans had pummeled us 14-4 over last season, and I never found out exactly why. Their offense was humming, no matter what, having scored 110 runs (2nd in CL) so far. The Coons? 100, which tied for 5th. Their bullpen was a mess, so better make those starters work!

Vern Kinnear started game 1 against the right-hander Philippe Villard (1-2, 8.70 ERA), but was dropped to seventh in the order. Left-hander up tomorrow.

Villard had his feathers ruffled in the second inning of the opener, the Coons scoring three early runs. Key in that inning was a play not made: up 1-0, with one out and Vinson and Kinnear in scoring position, Jason Turner came to bat and shoved the ball into the ground half way between home and the mound, slightly to the third base side. Our runners stayed put and Villard originally wanted to go home, but then had to turn to go to first, and then didn’t get Turner, who was safe to load the bags. A Jin homer upped the score to 5-0 in the third. Villard would not get out of the fourth, saddled with another pair of runs, a 1-out, 2-run single by Reece with the bases loaded. That was about the last thing Reece did in the game. An inning later he showed his elbow to the trainer. There was something wrong and he came out of the game. Oh, we also still had a pitcher in this game. Turner was strong until Jose Ramirez smashed a 2-run home run in the bottom 4th. After that, he caused more traffic on the bags, but the Titans failed to score off him. Even with a 7-2 lead, Turner was pinch-hit for in the top 7th with one out and runners on the corners, mainly because he was almost 100 pitches into his start. Ingall hit for him and singled, Brewer walked to fill the bags, but nothing more came of the inning. And now we lead 8-2, and put in Grant West, hoping for two innings with lots of left-handers in the lineup for the Titans. West registers zero outs, giving up three hits and another runner was on Ben Nash with an error. Nash had just replaced Brewer at second base. Lagarde came in, trying to clean up, but – uh, Luis Lopez cleaned up with a grand slam. And now we led 8-7. What the **** was going on!? Lagarde somehow tumbled through that inning, then put the leadoff batter on in the eighth. Burnett came in. Daniel Silva singled to right, and Jose Martinez hit a 2-run double that blooped into left. In just two innings, the Titans obliterated our bullpen for eight runs, a smothering, stinking, utterly demoralizing humiliation. 10-8 Titans. Brewer 2-4, BB; Reece 2-3, 2 BB, 2B; Jin 2-4, HR, 3 RBI; Salazar 4-5, 2 2B, RBI;

And it keeps happening. What is it with those Titans???

Neil Reece was listed DTD with a sore elbow, which would keep him off the field at least for this weekend series. Also, Kinnear was not playing. And I couldn’t talk to the players before game 2 because my throat was sore from all the screaming during the seventh and eighth innings the day before.

With Reece sore, Kinnear benched, Green hurt, O-Mo hurt, and Vinson getting a day off, recently hot Chih-tui Jin batted cleanup. This could not end well.

Lopez took on Francisco Vidrio (1-1, 4.35 ERA). Lopez was his own offense, hurling a ball over Jack Burbidge, who played second base, for a 2-out RBI single in the second inning. After both teams left a handful of runners on through three, letting the 1-0 lead stand, Lopez was again the center of attention in the top 4th, batting. We had Rodriguez at first with one out, and Lopez laid down a bunt. George Waller’s throw to first was in the dirt and bounced away, putting two men on for the Coons, and helped us to an unearned run. And in the fifth, we had two on with two out. Vidrio threw his 2-0 pitch to Rodriguez into the dirt and past catcher Luis Lopez. Rodriguez was then put on intentionally, and Lopez came to the plate. It would be cool if – no, he flew out. Ten men left on base through five just HAD to backfire, and it did quickly in the bottom 5th, where Lopez gave up the two runs we led with. He was picked up mainly by Matt Higgins in the sixth. After Baldy tripled with one out, Higgins singled him in, then stole second base. Once Chih-tui Jin drew a walk, they BOTH set in motion, and Luis Lopez didn’t get any of them. Higgins then scored on a sac fly to restore a 2-run lead, 4-2. Miguel Lopez was done after six, having been more or less awful, but still clinging onto that 4-2 lead. Burnett was brought in for the seventh, and started to fall behind to every batter. The Titans would not score, but only because Jin threw out a runner at the plate to end the frame. Then we brought in Miller for the eighth. Miller had excelled so far. Daniel Silva singled through Baldivía, and then Miller walked Jose Ramirez. No outs… Martinez replaced him, and got out of the jam more through dumb luck than anything else. Dave Dixon hit a rock hard liner right into Ben Nash’s glove for the first out, and then the Titans bunted their runners over, before Martinez punched out Josh Thomas to end the frame. De La Rosa then entered for the ninth, got an out, then put the tying runs on base. Burbidge came up and grounded into a double play. Oh good god. 4-2 Coons. Baldivía 3-5, 3B, 2B, RBI; Higgins 2-5, RBI; Quinn 2-4, RBI; Salazar 2-5; Rodriguez 2-3, BB; Ingall (PH) 1-1; Martinez 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

In the end, the Titans overtook us in LOB in this game, 14-12. What a messy affair.

Phhhhhh. One more. Can’t wait to get outta Massachusetts.

The matchup for the rubber game read Robert Vázquez opposite of Doug Morrow (3-2, 3.00 ERA). Rain in the forecast. The rain indeed came in quickly, lingered a bit and ultimately forced a delay of more than an hour that knocked Vázquez from the scoreless contest in the fourth inning. It became another messy game. While we expended about our entire bullpen trying to mix and match, and through a few double switches and so on, we ended up having Reece in the game at one point, and he hit a 2-run homer that broke a scoreless tie. The bullpen struggled to keep things together, though. In the bottom 8th, Tony Vela failed to give us a second inning, and instead put two men on. Burnett provided no relief against left-handers, allowing a run to score, and with a walk loaded the bags. 2-1, two out, three on, Martinez came in, and Cipriano León drilled his first pitch to left – WHAT A PLAY BY INGALL!!!! A better play you will never see!! Ingall, playing third by now, hurled himself into a pitch that was three inches off the ground and caught it!! Inning over, yet Martinez came out and was hurt, and no matter what we did in the top 9th, De La Rosa would pitch the bottom 9th. The Coons didn’t do anything, so it was on Gabby to end this prime time showing live from the circus. He got Silva to roll out, struck out Ramirez, and then faced Dixon, who singled up the middle. Alejandro Espinoza, the leadoff man came up. Full count, contact, deep to center. Oh no, that’s deep, that’s … CAUGHT BY NEWTON!!! 2-1 Raccoons!! HOLY SMOKE!! Vázquez 4.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

Martinez had a strained back: another guy to be DTD for a few days…

In other news

April 22 – Late/early trade: the Blue Sox acquire 30-yr old 1B Mauro Granados (.194, 1 HR, 11 RBI), who is a career .260 batter, from the Buffaloes, sending over 37-yr old MR Juan Miranda (0-1, 2.00 ERA) and a prospect. Miranda has 415 career saves, while Granados already played for the Blue Sox from 1991 to 1992.
April 28 – SAC 2B German Roldán (.301, 2 HR, 12 RBI) is out for the season with a broken kneecap.
April 28 – DEN LF Dale Wales (.359, 1 HR, 11 RBI) will have to sit out about three weeks with a tear in an ankle ligament.

Complaints and stuff

Esteban Baldivía was named CL Player of the Week for the week ending with the Knights series. He hit 11-27 with 2 HR and 6 RBI. So, it was pitchers’ week? There certainly was not much offense going in most of the Raccoons’ games! (Although in all fairness, if you can’t survive on 4.58 R/G – 114 runs scored in 25 games – you’re in trouble)

Meanwhile, quirky Matt Higgins led the Continental League in OPS at one point this week! I know how it sounds, but it’s true. After game 2 in Boston, Higgins clocked in at 1.058, 32 points ahead of Atlanta’s Rory Gorden. Those numbers were no challenge to the FL leaders, where Richmond’s Raúl Vázquez came in at 1.356. Yikes. Higgins’ regency ended quickly with an 0-4 day in the final Titans game, though.

List of players that have gotten hurt in the first month of the season: MR Jackie Lagarde, MR Juan Martinez, INF Ben O’Morrissey, OF Royce Green, OF Bobby Quinn, OF Neil Reece; for THAT, we have fared splendidly for sure. I would still like to get Royce Green back and for Vern Kinnear to hit about twice his current average.

Oh, yeah. A month into the season, it is fair to say that I am very disappointed in what Neil Reece and David Brewer have offered so far.