[Westheim]

Raccoons (3-2) vs. Condors (3-4) – April 8-10, 1996

The Condors came in with the lowest batting average in the Continental League (.219), and average pitching. I use to state that it is early, and will do so again here, just to cover me in case we get rolled up in this 3-set.

Projected matchups:
Jason Turner (1-0, 7.20 ERA) vs. Sergio Gonzalez (0-1, 3.38 ERA)
Miguel Lopez (0-0, 3.86 ERA) vs. Juan Lara (1-0, 1.23 ERA)
Scott Wade (1-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. Daniel Perez (0-1, 11.12 ERA)

The projection held three right-handers going for the Condors, but we were so far slated Vernon Robertson for the first game of the Indians series coming after that. Since I planned on continuing to rest David Brewer at least once a week, I planned to do that against Robertson.

Game 1
TIJ: 1B Morales – RF E. Garza – 2B Boyle – LF O’Day – 3B J. Garcia – CF Leyva – C Jackson – SS Liang – P S. Gonzalez
POR: 2B Brewer – SS Salazar – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Green – 3B O’Morrissey – C Vinson – LF Newton – P Turner

The team scored two runs in the bottom 1st for Jason Turner, who allowed one hit in the first three innings, before he suddenly imploded in the fourth, allowing four hits and two walks for three runs to score. The final run came in on a 4-pitch, 2-out walk to the pitcher Gonzalez. And Turner continued to throw it all away, with three straight singles leading off the top 5th. De La Rosa replaced him, gave up a single to Jesus Garcia, before a Salazar error plated another run. The Raccoons were going down in force against the worst-hitting team in the Continental League. Just see, how it early it is. The Condors put three more on the board in the fifth, and we only got one back in the bottom 5th. We were still down 6-3 in the bottom 8th when Vinson got on, and then Newton hit a 1-out triple off Sergio Gonzalez. Ingall grounded out in the pitcher’s spot, but Brewer singled up the middle to get on base as the tying run. Ex-Coon Roberto Carrillo flew out Salazar to left. In the ninth, we faced Eddie Jackson, not your prototypical closer, against Reece, Wedemeyer, and Green. Only Wedemeyer got on, with a walk, and O-Mo grounded out after that. 6-5 Condors. Wedemeyer 2-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Green 2-4, BB, RBI; O’Morrissey 2-5, RBI; Kinnear (PH) 1-1, 2B; Ban 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

Game 2
TIJ: LF G. Flores – 1B Morales – CF Theobald – 2B Boyle – 3B J. Garcia – C Manuel – RF O’Day – SS Liang – P Lara
POR: 2B Brewer – LF Kinnear – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Green – 3B O’Morrissey – SS Higgins – C Vinson – P M. Lopez

Miguel Lopez was still pitching a perfect game in the fifth inning, up 2-0 after Higgins drove in a pair in the bottom 4th, when he issued a 2-out full count walk to Andres Manuel. Preston O’Day popped out after that, so through five the Condors were hitless, but Gilberto Flores broke up that bid with a 2-out single in the top 6th. Morales then walked, bringing up Paul Theobald, who fired a shot to very deep center, where Neil Reece made on of those plays that are the foundation of my red hot love for him. Lopez was still nursing a shutout, and I was still hoping for another run or two for insurance. Lopez drew a leadoff walk in the bottom 7th, and with two out, Reece walked, and Wedemeyer singled to load them up. By now, Jose Maldonado had relieved Juan Lara, and surrendered an RBI single to Green, and then had O-Mo empty the bases with a 3-run double. Up by six, the W looked all but secured. Lopez then surrendered two singles in the top 9th, and had only one out. In that situation, Jesus Garcia grounded out to left, and Edgardo Garza came out to pinch-hit, a left-hander. Lopez got him 1-2, and then Garza singled up the middle and scored both runners. Bummer. 6-2 Raccoons. Kinnear 2-5, 2B; Wedemeyer 3-4, 2B; O’Morrissey 3-4, 2B, 3 RBI; Lopez 9.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, W (1-0);

Maybe, just maybe, I should have collected Lopez with two men on. But I really dig shutouts for my boys. I blame this one on me more than anything else, be ashamed and disgusted on myself, and we will move on.

Game 3
TIJ: CF Theobald – RF E. Garza – 2B Boyle – LF O’Day – 3B J. Garcia – C Manuel – 1B Morales – SS Liang – P D. Perez
POR: 2B Brewer – SS Salazar – 3B O’Morrissey – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Green – LF Kinnear – CF Newton – C Vinson – P Wade

The Raccoons left pairs of runners on base in three of the first four innings against Daniel Perez, who walked everything that had a pulse, and never scored. Perez was at the plate with two out and one on in the fifth against Wade, and singled to left, which opened the gates on Wade’s day, as the Condors broke out to score three runs in the inning. Wade served up two more runs in the next inning, and we still had to tag Perez for more than a few walks. It took the guys until the bottom 6th to get on the board, then with Vern Kinnear’s first home run of the year, of the 2-run variety. The team just again woke up very late. Wedemeyer led off the bottom 8th, down 5-2, with a single, then stole second base. Green doubled him in. But Green was left on third base in the inning, and we were still down by two into the bottom 9th, and double played us out of the game with a grounder by Salazar to Liang. 5-3 Condors. Brewer 3-5; Green 2-4, 2B, RBI;

Many missed opportunities in these games, I tell you. We could have won all three games easily. Especially the last one stinks, because Perez was horrendously bad and we just kept leaving runners on (11 in total), plus a pair of double plays turned against us. Clutch hitting has certainly not been our case of beer so far.

Raccoons (4-4) vs. Indians (6-3) – April 11-14, 1996

So far, the Indians were again that low-score machine they had been in the 80s, and then again for the last few seasons. Their rotation ranked second in the CL, and their batting average was 11th, but we had just had a team with a low batting average in here and they mobbed the floor with us.

Projected matchups:
Antonio Donis (0-0) vs. Vernon Robertson (0-1, 3.29 ERA)
Kisho Saito (0-1, 2.77 ERA) vs. Robbie Campbell (0-0, 3.77 ERA)
Jason Turner (1-1, 8.00 ERA) vs. Chang-se Park (1-1, 3.86 ERA)
Miguel Lopez (1-0, 2.81 ERA) vs. Dan George (1-1, 1.17 ERA)

The Indians throw two grizzled veterans at us, then follow up with two youngsters. Dan George no-hit the Crusaders in his first start of the season. Also, Donis makes his season debut only now. Hope for the best, but brace for the worst.

Game 1
IND: CF Maguey – 2B Duarte – 3B Brown – 1B Ayala – LF Maldonado – RF Sakaguchi – C Sato – SS J. Martinez – P Robertson
POR: SS Ingall – 3B O’Morrissey – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Green – SS Higgins – LF Espinoza – C Kondo – P Donis

I really loaded up on right-handers in this game against Robertson, leaving only Wedemeyer in, and we did not actually have four right- or switch-hitters among our infielders anyway. Neil Reece got the Coons up in time with a first inning 2-run home run. Unfortunately, Donis was horrible. He made it through three innings somehow, then was blown up in the fourth with four runs on three hits and three walks, two of the latter with the bases full and to the bottom third of the lineup. The Raccoons came back in the bottom 4th, tying the game, but by the time Royce Green reached on an uncaught third strike and scored on an Espinoza double in the sixth, Donis was long headed for the showers. Now with a 5-4 lead, Tzu-jao Ban gave us two strong innings, and Burnett and De La Rosa got us through eight. In the bottom half of that inning, Green doubled with two down. Higgins was hitless on the day and against righty Fernando Pena I went to Brewer. Pena walked Brewer, and Espinoza grounded out, leaving it to Miller. He walked a batter, but got through the inning! 5-4 Critters. O’Morrissey 2-4; Green 2-4, HR, 2B, RBI; Ban 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

Antonio Donis’ wild ride is best summed up as five frames, four runs, three hits, six walks, and six punchouts. This is an issue. He has amazing stuff, but his control is a mess, and that also aggravates the fact that his stamina is quite low for a starter. He won’t go much past 90-100 pitches anyway, but the way he is going in his (short) big league career, with both 22 hits and 22 walks in 28 innings, he is making it hard on himself. And on me, too! If he walks six every start, the pen has to take over in the sixth at best. We will have to watch this one closely.

Game 2
IND: CF Maguey – C Cicalina – 3B Brown – 1B Ayala – LF Maldonado – RF Sakaguchi – 2B Duarte – SS J. Martinez – P Campbell
POR: 2B Brewer – SS Salazar – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Green – LF Kinnear – 3B O’Morrissey – C Vinson – P Saito

Master Kisho was winless in ’96, and Royce Green set out to change that with a 3-run homer in the first inning against the veteran Robbie Campbell. One run got away from Saito in the top 3rd, when catcher Urbano Cicalina lobbed a 2-out RBI single into shallow left, but the bottom 3rd was led off by Wedemeyer with a home run to restore the 3-run lead. Saito did not allow a lot through five, then had the singles fall into all impossible places again in the sixth. The bags were full with the tying runs with one out. Saito struck out Angelo Duarte in that spot, but Jose Martinez singled into left, scoring one run, before Campbell flew out. And it was just like it was not meant to be: to lead off the top 7th, Salazar threw away Tomas Maguey’s grounder and the tying run came to the plate with no outs. With one out, Matt Brown (yeah, that one) singled home Maguey, and Saito was replaced with Otero, and he got two groundouts to escape the inning, up 4-3. Top 8th, Sakaguchi singled off Otero, and then Duarte reached safely against Burnett on a drag bunt that Wedemeyer couldn’t pull out beneath his own tail, but was scored a single. De La Rosa came in, the third pitcher of the inning, and the Indians brought switch-hitter Carlos Paredes for the shortstop Martinez. Paredes flew out to Reece, moving up Sakaguchi to third base, but when Dane Thompson hit for Campbell, he grounded to Salazar and into a double play that saved Saito’s W for another frame. Daniel Miller had also pitched in the last loss to the Condors and was not available, so Juan Martinez was thrown in to close the game. He got two quick outs, then nailed Matt Brown. Ship be sinki- no, he got Ayala. 4-3 Furballs! Wedemeyer 2-4, HR, 2B, RBI; Green 3-4, HR, 3 RBI; Saito 6.1 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, W (1-0);

I saw this game go up in a puff of smoke about three times. Saito’s line is not all that great, but he had to pitch around two errors (Brewer also made one), and I found it a good start. Not great, but good.

Game 3
IND: CF Maguey – C Cicalina – 3B Brown – 1B Ayala – 2B Duarte – RF Maldonado – LF L. Gonzalez – SS J. Martinez – P Park
POR: 2B Brewer – SS Salazar – 3B O’Morrissey – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Green – LF Kinnear – CF Newton – C Vinson – P Turner

Jason Turner came out with control that was just crap. He had three walks, with a wild pitch in between, in the first inning alone, and the Indians failed to score somehow. Vern Kinnear hit a 3-run homer in the bottom 2nd that got us ahead. Turner gave a run back in the third, still with ill control. We got that run back with a Newton sac fly in the bottom 4th, while in the same inning, the Indians lost 22-yr old Chang-se Park to injury, but the health scales swung right back in the next inning when Jorge Salazar was hurt on a throw. Turner somehow managed to go six innings without being tarred and feathered, then was replaced with Reece to bat in the bottom 6th with two out and the bags full. Reece, hitting .217 so far, hit a howling 2-run double to deep center before Brewer whiffed. We were now up 6-1. Otero, Salcido, and Martinez held the Indians at bay the rest of the way. 6-1 Coons. Green 1-2, 2 BB; Newton 2-3, RBI; Reece (PH) 1-1, 2B, 2 RBI; Otero 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

News on Jorge Salazar came quickly, and they were good news. The back pain that had forced him out of this game were only some mild back spasms and he was listed DTD for a few days only. I still hate to field an ailing shortstop, so Higgins and Ingall would play the next few days instead of Salazar.

This was also the second day in short time that Neil Reece was not in the starting nine. He is in an early slump now, and the backup outfielders did not get much time in the field and at the plate so far this season, so I used that opportunity there.

Game 4
IND: CF Maguey – C Cicalina – 3B Brown – 1B Ayala – LF Maldonado – RF Sakaguchi – 2B Duarte – SS J. Martinez – P Mills
POR: 2B Brewer – 3B O’Morrissey – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Green – LF Kinnear – SS Higgins – C Kondo – P M. Lopez

We did not face Dan George, but rather 34-yr old Kerry Mills (0-2, 9.28 ERA), whom the Indians had just claimed off waivers by the Warriors. Mills only made his 35th career big league appearance in this game, after debuting in 1988.

Scoring started like in every other game in the series, with a Coons homer, this time a solo shot by O-Mo in the first inning. But while the Coons scored single runs in each of the first three innings, Miguel Lopez soon ran into the early big inning that was a common theme for our starters recently, and we were tied at three after five frames. Mills left the game with an injury in the sixth inning, and Fernando Pena pitched. With one out, we had men on the corners and Lopez up. We had him bat, and Pena hit him, loading the bags. I may not forget that so quickly. Pena struck out Brewer, walked O-Mo for the go-ahead run, then struck out Reece to end the inning. Lopez went seven and struck out eight, leaving with a 4-3 lead. Royce Green upped to 5-3 with a solo shot in the bottom 7th. Top 8th: De La Rosa appeared and immediately walked Tomas Maguey, who was then forced out on a grounder by Urbano Cicalina. Salcido came in to face the lefty Matt Brown, and walked him on four pitches. Ban then replaced the useless Salcido, drilled Ayala, and we collectively fell to a Luis Maldonado grand slam. Not that this game was over. Down by two, the first three Coons all reached base in the bottom 8th, with Reece bringing in a run with a single. But Wedemeyer was flown to left by southpaw Tony Simpson, and Royce Green hit into a double play. The Indians were glad to throw Jim Durden at us in the ninth inning, and he nailed us into the ground. 7-6 Indians. O’Morrissey 3-4, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Green 2-5, HR, 2 RBI; Kinnear 3-4, BB, 2B; Higgins 2-5; Lopez 7.0 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 8 K;

Tzu-jao Ban had pitched very well so far, but here he hit two batters (one in the eighth, one in the ninth), and served up a game-losing grand slam.

Raccoons (7-5) vs. Titans (5-8) – April 15-17, 1996

The Titans rotation so far had been bombed mercilessly to a 6.94 ERA tune, which also had the team rank last in runs allowed, 83 runs compared to the Raccoons’ CL-best 42 runs. Their above-average offense had failed to keep up. Former Raccoon Bobby Quinn was batting .239 with one homer and six RBI for them. However, we would not face their 36-year old and seemingly wrecked Francisco Vidrio (0-3, 20.26 ERA).

Projected matchups:
Scott Wade (1-1, 3.46 ERA) vs. Jesus Bautista (0-0, 3.78 ERA)
Antonio Donis (0-0, 7.20 ERA) vs. Albert Zarate (0-2, 5.91 ERA)
Kisho Saito (1-1, 2.79 ERA) vs. Doug Morrow (1-1, 3.80 ERA)

Game 1
BOS: SS Silva – 1B Quinn – CF J. Martinez – C L. Lopez – 3B Burbidge – RF Thomas – LF R. Reyes – 2B Elliott – P Bautista
POR: 2B Brewer – 3B O’Morrissey – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Green – LF Kinnear – C Vinson – SS Ingall – P Wade

The innings breezed past in the series opener. Both Wade and Bautista were in control of the opposing lineup, despite a hard ball here and there. There was no score through four, through five, through six … Desperate times called for desperate measures, and the Titans were desperate enough for that first. Daniel Silva, the most recent coonskinner to emerge in our division, hit a 1-out double off Wade in the top 8th. Then Silva tried to steal third base, and Vinson got him. Bobby Quinn singled, and that brought up Jose Martinez, batting .434, and he was a left-hander. But I was confident in Wade, and he got a grounder to short from Martinez to get out of the eighth. Wade then led off the bottom 8th with a bloop single to center. Brewer forced him out with a grounder. After O-Mo flew out to deep center, Reece flew there, too, but not into an out. Martinez could not get his flyer, which fell in for an RBI double and finally something appeared on the board. Wedemeyer left Reece on, and so do you keep Wade in the game? We were to face two switch-hitters and a lefty in the top 9th, and Ken Burnett had not been very sharp so far, and instead of Miller we could use Wade just as well. It had worked so far. Luis Lopez grounded out easily to second, Jack Burbidge grounded out easily to short, and Wade erased Josh Thomas with a heater. 1-0 Raccoons!!! Reece 2-4, 2B, RBI; Wade 9.0 IP, 7 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K, W (2-1) and 1-3;

Scott Wade!! This was his 9th career shutout and his 14th complete game. He had three SHO (4 CG) last year. God, I love this kid!! (Well, that kid will be 34 this month, but you know what I mean)

This was also the first time this year we did not score at least two runs (and we scored exactly two runs only once, and won that game against the Thunder), so we are not shut out yet. Not even with Saito pitching.

Ah it is such a pleasure to win these tooth-to-nail games. Scottyyy!!

Game 2
BOS: SS Silva – 2B Carter – CF J. Martinez – C L. Lopez – RF Thomas – LF Haider – 1B Elliott – 3B J. Ramirez – P Zarate
POR: 2B Brewer – 1B Higgins – CF Reece – 3B O’Morrissey – RF Green – LF Kinnear – C Vinson – SS Ingall – P Donis

Donis walked the first batter he faced, Daniel Silva, before getting out of the inning. The Raccoons scored a pair of runs on a few walks and singles in the bottom 1st, but were too greedy and had Royce Green thrown out at home by Josh Thomas to end the inning. XBH’s by Green and Kinnear made it 3-0 in the third, while Donis after the leadoff walk to Silva did not issue another double-B until the sixth, and with only three hits and no runs allowed. Donis failed to retire anybody in the seventh, though. Three up, three on, and a 5-0 lead (Ingall had homered in the bottom 6th for a pair of runs) became 5-1 and the tying run in the on-deck circle with no outs. Martinez and Burnett managed to wiggle out of there with only one more run in for the Titans. De La Rosa bridged the game to Miller, still up 5-2, and Miller got a groundout from Jose Ramirez before punching out two left-handers in Burbidge and Silva to end the game. 5-2 Bandits! Brewer 2-4; Kinnear 3-4, 2 2B, 2 RBI; Vinson 2-4, RBI; Ingall 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Donis 6.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, W (1-0);

Donis’ start is on the very bottom end for being mentioned in the postgame dispatch, but he was very good through six and then is just came apart for him. One run was unearned due to an Ingall error. His stuff is legit, and the control was okay in this game.

Game 3
BOS: SS Silva – LF Quinn – CF J. Martinez – C L. Lopez – RF Thomas – 2B Carter – 1B L. Martin – 3B Elliott – P Morrow
POR: 2B Brewer – SS Salazar – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Green – 3B O’Morrissey – LF Kinnear – C Kondo – P Saito

The pest Daniel Silva got on leading off the game, and Saito was unfortunate enough to balk in the inning, which eventually helped Silva to score in the inning. The Raccoons failed to get to Morrow early, but Neil Reece tied the game with a solo shot in the fourth inning. Saito went seven innings on five hits, and was lifted for a pinch-hitter in the bottom 7th of a 1-1 game, which in some ways was like game 1 in that not a lot came together against strong starters. In the bottom 7th, Morrow walked Kinnear with one out, and then Espinoza hit for Kondo, and also walked. Vinson struck out in place of Saito, but Morrow walked Brewer to load all sacks. Salazar came up, nicely countering Morrow, battled through eight pitches in the at-bat, and drew the fourth walk of the inning, pushing home Kinnear for the go-ahead run. Reece took a 3-1 pitch into shallow center to score a pair, and the Titans still didn’t remove a battered Morrow, because they hadn’t gotten anyone up for a long time. Wedemeyer grounded out, but we led 4-1, and handed that to the pen. Top 8th, Ban struck out Bobby Quinn, before Salcido came in against Martinez, got him out, but then surrendered a MONSTROUS home run to Luis Lopez. Thomas also got on against Salcido, before De La Rosa came in and sat down Martin Carter. We got the run right back in the bottom 8th with Higgins singling and Espinoza doubling him in with two out. De La Rosa remained in the game for the ninth, where Laurent Martin got on to lead off the frame, but was removed in a double play and the Titans did not come back. 5-2 Coons! Reece 4-4, HR, 3 RBI; Espinoza (PH) 1-1, BB, 2B, RBI; Saito 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, W (2-1); De La Rosa 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K, SV (1);

In other news

April 9 – The Indians’ bullpen mainstay Tim Hess (0-0, 0.00 ERA) will miss two months with a hamstring strain. Hess, in his 12th big league season, has spent all but one and a half of them with the Indians.
April 12 – DEN RF/LF Salvador Vargas (.429, 1 HR, 11 RBI) at the very last second logs a ninth inning single in a 4-2 Gold Sox loss to the Pacifics to extend his hitting streak to 20 games. The streak dates back to last season, when Vargas was still a member of the Wolves!
April 14 – Vargas’ hitting streak ends at 20 already, as he goes 0-4 in a 2-1 loss to the Pacifics after sitting in the Saturday game.
April 14 – The Wolves lose 26-yr old SP Ramón Sotelo (0-2, 7.62 ERA) to shoulder inflammation for at least four months.
April 16 – OCT SP Lou Corbett (2-0, 2.84 ERA) shines in an 11-0 blowout of the Thunder over the Bayhawks, as he tosses a 3-hit shutout in only his third start of the year.

Complaints and stuff

A good stretch, with solid pitching, a shutout, and the offense producing sufficiently to keep us right atop the division, a half game back of the Loggers. In fact, we are first in ALL pitching categories, minus walks (6th) and strikeouts (7th), and we were last in strikeouts after the first week, so this is AWESOME and still getting better. The offense is 1st or 2nd in most categories, except for AVG (5th), hits (6th), walks (4th), strikeouts (6th), and stolen bases (8th). Couple high OBP with many home runs and you get an offense that is one run short of scoring 5 R/G. And I mean, just look at our three starting outfielders. Wow! Now wait for Wedemeyer to come around and the rest of the division can go home.

Or maybe Reece breaks a leg, Kinnear breaks an arm, and Green is caught injecting orange juice, and we go down in flames.

This week, I claimed MR Steve Galloway on waivers from the Canadiens. On the last day of his waiver period, the Falcons swooped in with a superior claim and took them. If you want to remember (I don’t want to, but I do), we already claimed Galloway when he was on waivers from the Buffaloes last November, and then the Canadiens jumped over us. So that’s us being booted out of a good young right-hander twice in six months now.