[Westheim]

Raccoons (0-0) @ Loggers (0-0) – April 2-3, 1996

Let’s get this rolling.

Projected matchups:
Kisho Saito (0-0) vs. Martin Garcia (0-0)
Jason Turner (0-0) vs. Davis Sims (0-0)

Game 1
POR: 2B Brewer – 3B O’Morrissey – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Green – SS Salazar – LF Kinnear – C Vinson – P Saito
MIL: CF Fletcher – 2B J. Perez – RF C. Ramirez – SS Grant – 3B Rush – LF Golunski – C M. Vela – 1B Chevalier – P M. Garcia

Against the left-hander Garcia, I still had all my top lefties in the lineup. It was Opening Day. They belonged there. Garcia had been waiting for them all winter, it seemed. Through three innings, he struck out six, and we could not have been much worse. Saito also trailed 1-0 through three innings, but we actually managed to get on the board in the fourth, when Green singled home O-Mo with two down. Yet Saito found trouble in the bottom 4th. With Vela on first and two out, he hit Garcia with a pitch, then surrendered an RBI single to Jerry Fletcher, and in the fifth Ramirez hit a leadoff homer, Grant doubled, and Grant scored on an error by Vinson. Down 4-1 and with Garcia dealing as he was, we were about done. Saito went six, Ban pitched a clean seventh in his Coons debut, and we were still down by two with two out in the eighth. There, we sent Ingall to bat for Kinnear, and he walked. That chased Garcia, and Raymond Léger walked Vinson. Espinoza batted for Ban, walked, and that brought up Brewer, and he singled to right, but it was not enough for the slow Vinson to score, so we were still down 4-3, and O-Mo flew out. Juan Martinez held the Loggers where they were in the eighth, and John Bennett faced the perceived kill zone for enemy pitching, in Reece, Wedemeyer, and Green in the ninth. The first two made quick outs. Green singled, Salazar walked, Ingall struck out. 4-3 Loggers. O’Morrissey 2-5, 2B; Green 2-5, RBI; Vinson 2-2, 2 BB, 2B;

Much to improve from here.

Game 2
POR: 2B Brewer – SS Salazar – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Green – LF Kinnear – 3B O’Morrissey – C Vinson – P Turner
MIL: CF Fletcher – LF McGuire – RF C. Ramirez – SS Grant – 1B Evans – 3B J. Perez – C L. Ramirez – 2B Chevalier – P Sims

Both teams scored single runs in the first and the second innings for an early 2-2 score, as neither pitcher seemed to really have it. Sims also seemed to have it even less than Turner. With two on and two out in the third, he walked O-Mo, and then walked Vinson to push the go-ahead run home. While Turner grounded out, two nifty grabs by Kinnear in the bottom 3rd prevented him from blowing three leads in as many innings. Instead, he blew it in the fourth, with a 2-out RBI double to Fletcher. Both sides left three men stranded in the fifth, but the Raccoons broke out by the sixth, in which they knocked out Sims and stormed 8-3 ahead on a 3-run homer by Vinson. Turner set out to blow the lead instantly, putting the first three Loggers he faced in the sixth all on base. Burnett came in to face Cristo Ramirez, walked him to force in a run, then yielded for De La Rosa, who somehow – SOMEHOW – managed to get three ground ball outs without anyone scoring. Martinez entered the game with an 8-4 lead in the eighth, and again the bases were loaded with no outs soon. Newcoon Andres Otero was thrown into that fire, and the Loggers scored a pair before grounding themselves out of the inning. Without any more run support, Daniel Miller came into a game as the designated closer for the first times, facing Jamal Chevalier, Gates Golunski, and Jerry Fletcher. The first two grounded into our infield vacuum cleaners, but Fletcher just would not make an out and walked. Miller also walked McGuire, but Cristo Ramirez grounded out to Higgins, who was on first for defense. 8-6 Raccoons. Brewer 2-5, BB, 2B, RBI; Salazar 3-6; Reece 3-5, BB, 2B; Green 2-3, 2 BB, 2B, RBI; Vinson 1-2, 3 BB, HR, 4 RBI; De La Rosa 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

Raccoons (1-1) vs. Thunder (1-2) – April 5-7, 1996

I could have gone another few months (years…) without seeing the Thunder again, but schedule cruelty pits us against them right away in the first week of the season. Ah, the pain. I was planning to skip Donis right away at the start of the season.

Projected matchups:
Miguel Lopez (0-0) vs. Lou Corbett (0-0)
Scott Wade (0-0) vs. Millard Wilson (0-0)
Kisho Saito (0-1, 6.00 ERA) vs. Aaron Anderson (0-1, 1.29 ERA)

Game 1
OCT: SS J. Sanchez – RF Barnes – 3B S. Reece – 2B H. Ramirez – CF L. Hernandez – LF Browne – 1B Ikeda – C Guidry – P Corbett
POR: 2B Brewer – 3B O’Morrissey – CF N. Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Green – SS Ingall – LF Kinnear – C Vinson – P M. Lopez

The Raccoons went ahead 2-0 quickly with a solo home run by O-Mo in the first, and a Vinson sac fly in the second inning. Lopez had dominated the Thunder the first time through the lineup, but got it socked the second come around, surrendering two runs to tie the game in the top 3rd, and it was Neil Reece and a most awesome play on the run against Dave Browne’s flyer to deep center that kept the game at least tied. Nothing happened for three innings, before the top 7th was led off by Rob Guidry with a mighty blast to left, and we trailed again. Felt about like the CLCS. We left the tying run in Brewer on third base in the bottom 7th, but Royce Green took Lopez off the hook with a leadoff jack in the bottom 8th, tying the game at three. Green also held the tie in place in the top 9th, making a bear of a play to end the inning on a roaring fly ball off the bat of Bruce Hardy, saving Dan Miller’s butt with a runner on second. The Thunder also brought their closer in the ninth, Jimmy Morey, so everybody went to get another beer, because this one would go on. Tzu-jao Ban pitched a clean 10th, but ran himself into trouble in the 11th. Two out, runners on the corners, De La Rosa came in and got a slow grounder to first from Guidry – which Wedemeyer missed. The lead run scored, and the game would end with Guidry throwing out Espinoza at second base. 4-3 Thunder.

That’s right. Nobody in this rut of a game was worth being mentioned in the post-game dispatch.

Also, Wedemeyer not only has not defended his position well, he is also in a 1-15 hell to start this season. Oh, yeah, the trades I do.

Game 2
OCT: SS J. Sanchez – CF L. Hernandez – 3B S. Reece – 1B H. Ramirez – RF Barnes – 2B Browne – C Ikeda – LF Preston – P M. Wilson
POR: 2B Brewer – SS Salazar – CF N. Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Green – LF Kinnear – 3B O’Morrissey – C Vinson – P Wade

The Thunder lineup had contained six left-handers the day before against our lefty Lopez, and they mounted six again against righty Scott Wade, who reacted highly allergic to all the batters in the wrong box and had frequent traffic on the bases against him. But the Thunder failed to score in the first three innings, and in the bottom 3rd we had Liam Wedemeyer make the first loud sound of his Raccoons career (other than “strrrrrike threeeee!!”) with an RBI double that scored the first run of the game in person of Jorge Salazar. The Raccoons then had a pair in scoring position, but Green, Kinnear, and O’Morrissey failed to score any of them. The bottom 5th had Wedemeyer homer to right, and we then had a pair in scoring position with two out. The Thunder elected to walk Vinson intentionally, and were punished for that when Scott Wade singled to left to score a pair, and we took a 4-0 lead. On the mound, he went seven innings, relying extensively on the defense, and struck only the final batter he faced, pinch-hitter Travis Shaw. Brewer drove in a pair in the bottom 7th, and up 6-0 everything looked great. But then Otero and Burnett put on Sanchez and Hernandez to start the eighth. However, a timely double play started by Marvin Ingall (now at second for Brewer) got us out of their before any damage could escalate into a loss. All worries were thrown overboard in the bottom 8th, when we easily doubled the score on a collapsing Thunder bullpen. The first seven Raccoons reached base in the inning and we scored six runs in total, three of those on bases-loaded walks, before Royce Green hit an inning-ending grounder for a double play. 12-0 Raccoons!! Brewer 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Kondo (PH) 0-0, BB, RBI; Wedemeyer 2-3, 3 BB, HR, 2B, 3 RBI; Green 2-6, 2 2B; Kinnear 1-2, 3 BB; O’Morrissey 2-4, BB, RBI; Wade 7.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 1 K, W (1-0) and 1-2, 2 RBI;

THAT … was SWEET!!

So, Wedemeyer might not bat oh-sixty the whole year, which is nice. We were firing on all cylinders in this game for sure. But … no … well, I know it is early, but we are 2-2 with 26 runs scored and 14 against. You would like to … no, let’s play a few more before we complain.

Game 3
OCT: SS J. Sanchez – 1B Shaw – 3B S. Reece – 2B H. Ramirez – CF L. Hernandez – LF Browne – RF Barnes – C Guidry – P Anderson
POR: 2B Brewer – SS Salazar – CF N. Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Green – LF Kinnear – 3B Higgins – C Kondo – P Saito

No, Kondo and Saito were not paired for racial reasons in this game. I wanted to give Nori Kondo a start somewhere in the first week, though, and it is already Sunday.

Through five innings, it was a good old pitchers’ duel at the park, with no score, and only three hits scattered for either side. The top 6th came and Saito found a hard spot in the Thunder lineup. Jose Sanchez led off by squeezing a 1-2 pitch through Higgins at third base. Shaw made an out, but Sonny Reece walked. Then, Sanchez tried to steal third base – and Kondo hammered him out with a picture perfect throw, and Saito got through the inning unharmed. Then Browne singled to lead off the top 7th and was replaced by PR Dan Preston. Barnes grounded out, moving up Preston to second with one out. Saito’s count on Guidry ran full, but then he punched him out. The Thunder left Anderson in there to bat for himself, and he rolled out to Higgins. At 115 pitches, Saito was done, and hoped for that one run he needed, but we went out in order in the bottom 7th, and Saito remained winless in ’96. The Thunder left Sanchez on third base in the top 8th. In turn, Kondo led off the bottom 8th with a single. Burnett, who had finished the top 8th, bunted him over. The Thunder walked Brewer, then had Salazar single to left to load the bags. One out, any long fly ball from Neil Reece will do. Anderson’s second pitch to Reece was to his liking and he took it into shallow left for a single that scored two! Miller sat down the side in order in the ninth. Win! 2-0 Coons!! Salazar 3-4, 2B; Reece 2-4, 2 RBI; Saito 7.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 6 K;

In other news

April 1 – No joke: the Rebels top the Buffaloes on Opening Day, 4-3, with 32-yr old CL Lawson Steward taking care of the ninth for the Rebels. Steward, who was the 20th overall pick in the 1984 draft and debuted in the major leagues the same year, notches his 400th career save, all for Richmond, and doesn’t look like stopping soon.
April 3 – NO-HITTER! IND SP Dan George lost 17 games last season, but bursts into the spotlight in his season debut this year by no-hitting the Crusaders in a 3-0 Indians win! While George walked six batters, nobody ever got to him with the bat. This is the 18th no-hitter in ABL history, and the first since Angel Romero’s in 1994. It is the third no-hitter for the Indians (Salah Brunet, 1977; Larry Davis, 1992), who lead all teams with that number. The Crusaders are no-hit for the second time. Interestingly, the other time they were zeroed out was during Davis’ no-hit feat three years ago. This is also the earliest no-hitter in league history, beating out Pittsburgh’s Wilson Cordova no-hitting the Pacifics on April 10 in 1989.
April 6 – TOP SP Ricardo Contreras (1-1, 0.56 ERA) 1-hits the Wolves in a 7-0 Buffaloes triumph. Pinch-hitter Miguel Castillo broke up Contreras’ perfect game bid leading off the ninth inning. No other batter reached base. There still has never been a perfect game in the ABL.

Complaints and stuff

It’s early, but I saw a few things I could like already. The offense should be the beast I hoped it to be. Never mind Wedemeyer not outhitting his weight at this point, we are only five games in. But we had a very dense lineup with lots of guys who can hit .300 or go deep regularly, and most of them can do both. Citing stats is a bit wonky at this point since most other teams have played 20% more games, and so we rank 10th with our 50 hits. But the start of the season, while not a rousing success, has been very promising.

Note the Scorpions are the worst team in baseball by a substantial amount. Way to defend a title!

Yeah, it’s early.