[Westheim]

Raccoons (92-67) vs. Titans (93-66) – September 29-October 1, 1996

Enough has been talked about the Titans. And the Raccoons. We are 9-6 against them this season, but we are also 6-11 in our last 17 games. Which has led us into where we are now, being forced to win three times against the Titans while they’re here, either in three or four games.

Projected matchups:
Kisho Saito (10-11, 3.63 ERA) vs. Chris O’Keefe (17-9, 3.97 ERA)
Jason Turner (19-7, 2.74 ERA) vs. Jason O’Halloran (12-9, 4.01 ERA)
Robert Vázquez (13-7, 3.70 ERA) vs. Francisco Vidrio (11-10, 4.11 ERA)

Saito has not won any start since July 17, entailing an 0-8 record in 12 games. The team lost ALL OF THOSE GAMES, minus the last one in Indy. If you need darker numbers to lead up a series, be free to be creative, but you will fight an uphill battle. The Portland Agitator in any case welcomed the Titans in the Friday morning issue by congratulating them to their first ever playoffs.

Game 1 started with Daniel Silva (the newest pest in the division) hitting an infield single to Salazar at short, stealing second not remotely challenged by either Saito or Vinson, and scoring on a Jimmy Erickson single under Brewer’s glove. No outs, down 1-0. And it continued that way, the Titans plating four runs in the first inning. And it was over right there. The Raccoons didn’t get a hit until the fourth, a Salazar single leading off, but O’Morrissey managed to run us out of the inning with a 3-0 count lineout. Salazar also produced our second hit of the day, a 1-out double in the sixth, that put him and Brewer in scoring position. Last chance, need a big hit. Reece popped out to short, O’Morrissey flew out to center. That was it. Chris O’Keefe continued the humiliation inflicted on the brown-capped dorks for the last few weeks with a 2-hitter, cursing only for Salazar being in the lineup. 5-0 Titans. Salazar 2-4, 2B;

I knew it from the start. Whether we can at least give Jason Turner that 20th victory? The list of 20-game winners on the Raccoons is easy to memorize. Scott Wade won 21 games in 1989. That’s it.

A throwing error by Luis Lopez put Reece on second base with two out in the bottom 1st of Turner’s game. Unforeseeable, the Raccoons plated three runs, all unearned, with four straight hits reeled off by O’Morrissey, Green, Salazar, and Quinn. Even more unforeseeable, the Raccoons sent 12 men to the plate in the second inning, scoring EIGHT runs, all earned, on the luckless O’Halloran and reliever Jared Poole. Up 11-0, looks comfy, right? The park was cheering (relax guys, they have to win three games…), and Turner went back out after coming to bat twice in the inning. We were up 14-0 after three, while Turner showed signs of melting, walking three consecutive batters in the top 4th. In the shabbiest #20 you will ever see somewhere, Turner was booked with three runs eventually, on six walks and four hits (two homers), while not even getting through the sixth inning. Not that he could have endangered this win in any way. 16-3 Raccoons. Brewer 2-4, 3 BB, 3B, 4 RBI; Ingall 2-5; O’Morrissey 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Green 4-4, 2 BB, 2 2B, 2 RBI; Salazar 4-5, BB, 2 RBI; Quinn 3-6, 3 RBI; McDonald 2-6, 2B, 3 RBI; Lagarde 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K;

So, Wade now has to share the title of 20-game winners for the Raccoons with somebody. And of course Kisho Saito was also a 20-game winner as a Raccoon, but won more than half of those games with the Canadiens in the year he was traded over here.

That leaves two must-win games, with our offense probably clocking in somewhere between 2 and 23 hits, the marks from the first two games. If we could tie them up and force a game #163, we possibly had Miguel Lopez in the wings to start that one, and would have to pitch Donis, the struggling rookie.

The Titans scratched Vidrio and instead threw 20-game winner Doug Morrow at us, with his 3.49 ERA. The Raccoons stormed out of the gates again, with walks to Brewer, who stole second, and Salazar. After Reece grounded out, O-Mo singled them both in and eventually scored on an error. Vázquez was shaking, however, and required extensive assistance from the defense. This time, Kinnear made most of the strong plays. The Titans left runners on third base in the third and fifth innings, and had a killing double play in the fourth, holding them shut out for the time being. The Coons had only two hits past their rush in the bottom 1st, again casting serious doubt on their overall offensive prowess, through eight innings. We were still up 3-0. Vázquez was still unharmed, but would face three right-handers. Daniel Miller had warmed up in the bottom 8th, and would enter at the first sign of trouble, but for now Vázquez would be allowed to continue handling a 3-0 lead. A leadoff walk to Jimmy Erickson fell within the definition of trouble, and Miller entered. He got two outs, then surrendered a single to Manuel Chavez, and the tying run came to the plate. It would have been Morrow, but he was obviously replaced by switch-hitter Josh Thomas. Miller walked him. That brought up the highly annoying Daniel Silva, and Ken Burnett came in to face the left-hander. Burnett had surrendered a grand slam not even a week removed. Here, Silva was content with an RBI single. It was melting away. Luis Alonso drew a walk off Burnett, forcing in another run, 3-2. Jose Martinez came up, another lefty. Martinez fell to 2-2, the popped a ball into shallow center, into no man’s land. Reece came on, came on, WARPED IN AND GOT IT!! 3-2 Reece, err, Raccoons. O’Morrissey 2-4, 2 RBI; Vázquez 8.0 IP, 8 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, W (14-7);

We were out-hit 10-4 in this one. Good that I value defense so highly.

Curiously enough, the ABL scheduled the tie breaker game in BOSTON, so we had to board a plane to fly cross country for no reason. No, there were no fights on the plane. All Titans were sitting on the left, all Raccoons on the right, and were forbidden to make eye contact.

Raccoons (94-68) @ Titans (94-68) – October 2, 1996

We had Miguel Lopez ready to go, while the Titans now sent in Vidrio, who had been removed from game 3 to get Morrow in to pitch. By the way, Morrow had pitched on regular rest, so there was no particular mistake in that regard made by the Titans.

The Titans’ park was steaming at game time. The Titans had never made the playoffs. The Raccoons were booed every time they were even close to the baseball. This included Miguel Lopez warming up before the game. And their mood did not get much better early in the game. Ingall and Reece hit singles in the first inning, bringing up Royce Green with one out. Green ended a 2-week home run drought for the entire team(!!) with a ringing 3-shot to deep left, and business was on. The Titans loaded the bags with a Silva double and two walks in the bottom 1st, but could not score on Lopez. Little happened until the fourth, when O-Mo got on with a single. He stole second base, which was a nice thing when Vinson singled with two down and O-Mo was sent home, arriving a hair before the ball. 4-0. Reece and Green scratched out another run in the fifth, while Lopez managed to stall a Titan on third base in the bottom 5th by striking out the last two batters. Were we going somewhere? Well, we got seven shutout innings from Lopez, who could not go further due to the odd walk here and there, and had to patch up six outs with our pen, while being up by five. No wait, six. Jin scored O-Mo with a sac fly in the top 8th. Six outs to collect for postseason #6. West came in, but walked Jose Martinez before retiring Luis Lopez. De La Rosa replaced him with right-handers up. On the way out of the eighth, he surrendered a pair of RBI doubles to Enéas Spinelli and Kozue Shimizu. Kevin Rhodes pitched the ninth for the Titans and scored us a run on a wild pitch. Three outs to get with a 5-run lead. Sounds doable. Martinez got the ball, struck out Thomas and Silva, and then - … put two men on. Burnett came in for Luis Lopez. 1-2 pitch, Lopez grounded to third, O-Mo to first, Ingall got it. Ballgame! 7-2 Raccoons!!! Ingall 2-5; Green 3-4, BB, HR, 2B, 4 RBI; Vinson 2-4, BB, RBI; Lopez 7.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 7 K, W (16-5);

In other news

September 30 – PIT OF/1B Alfonso Rojas (.318, 8 HR, 56 RBI) joins the circle of players who have collected six hits in a game. Rojas has the advantage of the Miners-Cyclones game going 15 innings, with two of his six singles coming in overtime. Nevertheless, it counts, as the Miners win, 7-6. This is the 27th time a batter logs six hits in a game, and the first time a Miner did it since Rich Johnson in 1977 had the first ever 6-hit day in the ABL.
October 1 – The Thunder complete a 3-game sweep of the Bayhawks to make the playoffs on the final day of the season. And no, for once it was not Sonny Reece belting in the winning run. The Thunder will make their fifth playoff appearance and their second consecutive as the 1994 champions.

Complaints and stuff

Wow. Just wow. How they managed to wiggle through that third game in Portland remains mysterious. I was fully expecting the ninth to become Hiroshima – a giant blowup with fallout poisoning the park for years to come. None of that happened, and I still can not believe it.

Playoff tickets are in the mail.