[Westheim]

Raccoons (5-14) @ Thunder (9-10) – April 27-29, 1999

The Thunder were about average in many categories, with their offense lagging a bit behind and their pitching being a bit better than average. Both teams entered with 67 runs scored, but the Thunder had allowed only 71 runs to the Raccoons’ 95.

Off days will be sparse for the next six weeks, as we are starting a string of 13 games, which will be followed by strings of 13 and 20 straight games. Tough times ahead for this franchise in any respect.

Projected matchups:
Kisho Saito (0-4, 7.65 ERA) vs. Aaron Anderson (1-3, 2.05 ERA)
Jose Rivera (1-2, 4.88 ERA) vs. Lou Corbett (1-3, 5.87 ERA)
Miguel Lopez (1-2, 4.30 ERA) vs. Fabien Armand (4-0, 2.42 ERA)

Game 1
POR: SS Guerin – RF Buell – CF Reece – 3B Gonzalez – C Branch – 2B Ingall – LF Parker – 1B Michel – P Saito
OCT: LF Bonneau – 1B J. Valentín – RF Barnes – SS Grant – 3B Higashi – C Briggs – 2B Bradley – CF Camacho – P Anderson

Fifth start of the year for Saito, fifth time he got annihilated. After three scoreless innings, during which the Thunder left on six runners, and the Coons twice left a runner on third base, Iván Camacho put the Thunder on winners’ road with a solo home run in the fourth. Saito would give up three home runs for five total runs (four earned) and not get out of the sixth inning. The Raccoons managed an RBI groundout by Reece in the sixth (getting a double digit RBI player in the process – whoah, boys, slow down, I’m getting diz-zay!), and that was it. Apart from leaving the bags full in the sixth and eighth they didn’t manage to cock up anything else. 5-1 Thunder. Guerin 2-4; Buell 2-3, BB; Gonzalez 3-4;

Game 2
POR: SS Guerin – LF Buell – CF Reece – 1B Gonzalez – C Branch – 2B Ingall – RF Newton – 3B Crowe – P Rivera
OCT: LF Bonneau – 2B Browne – SS Grant – RF Barnes – C Briggs – 1B J. Valentín – 3B Bradley – CF Camacho – P Corbett

Bottom 2nd, leadoff single by Artie Barnes, first runner for the Thunder. Barnes advanced on a wild pitch, stole third base, and with two down scored on an infield single that Rivera failed to make a play on himself. 1-0 Thunder, in other words: ballgame. Well, not that quick, young grasshopper. Neil Reece tied the score with a 2-out RBI single in the top 3rd. Once Gonzalez pitifully struck out to ensure not to take a lead, Concie Guerin, one of the few guys battling on this team, made a marvelous play in the bottom 4th. After Rivera had walked Barnes and Briggs to lead off the frame, Guerin intercepted a liner off Valentín’s bat that appeared to be surely heading for an RBI single, and forced out Barnes who had already been almost at third base, and the Thunder didn’t score in the inning. Lance Branch’s first home run as a Coon even put the team up 2-1 in the sixth! Rivera didn’t get out of the sixth inning, though. A Bob Grant triple with one out built up pressure, Rivera walked Barnes, and Briggs just barely chopped out to Newton, and Grant didn’t tag and go. With the left-handed Valentín up, we played a “You win” card to the Thunder and replaced Rivera with Donis, who surprisingly did not give up a first pitch home run, but had Valentín ground out to Gonzalez to end the inning still up 2-1. Bottom 7th, Camacho singled off Martinez with one out. When he set off to steal second base, Branch’s throw was into the outfield and Camacho went to third. Martinez managed to strike out Lou Corbett, and with Proctor not being reliable, remained in to face left-handed Yohan Bonneau, and got him to pop out to Guerin. With the bags full and no outs in the top 8th, the Coons overwhelmed Corbett – not. Gonzalez hit a sac fly, Branch into a double play, and I was dying to see how they would finally lose this one. Bringing in Tamburrino was a good move in the right direction, as he loaded the bags in the bottom 8th, but then I made the mistake of replacing him with Scott Wade, who got the third out with a fly to Newton off John Bradley’s bat. Top 9th, bases loaded with one out, Guerin hit into a double play, and Wade was to face four left-handers to start the bottom 9th, so we were still good to lose this one by a fair margin. But Wade set Camacho, Juan Jose Villa, and Bonneau down in order for a stunning, rousing, apocalyptic …: 3-1 Raccoons. Guerin 2-5; Buell 2-4; Branch 2-4, HR, RBI; Castillo 1-1; Wade 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K, SV (3), IR 3-0;

Still can’t believe we didn’t lose this.

Game 3
POR: SS Guerin – 2B Ingall – CF Reece – 1B Gonzalez – LF Buell – C Castillo – RF Brady – 3B Crowe – P M. Lopez
OCT: 1B J. Valentín – 2B Browne – RF Barnes – SS Grant – 3B Higashi – C Briggs – LF J.J. Villa – CF Camacho – P Armand

Miguel Lopez faced only three batters, putting two on, before signaling for the trainer that something was amiss. He left the game, Fairchild came in and conceded one run, but would then draw a leadoff walk in the top 3rd, advanced on a balk, and eventually scored on an Ingall single. And the Thunder continued to make mistakes. When the Raccoons had a pair in scoring position with one out in the fourth, Mike Crowe’s grounder to short was thrown widely to first, pulling Valentín off the bag and Crowe was safe. Fairchild then singled threw Bob Grant, and a walk to Guerin loaded the bags already up 3-1. Another Ingall single was what the doctor ordered, but we took the full count walk that Armand offered just a swell. Reece also battled to draw a walk, and while Gonzalez and Buell made outs, Fairchild was now up 5-1. The Thunder made another error in the fifth, aiding the Coons to score two more runs, and all was well – until Proctor got involved with the game in the sixth. He sucked abysmally, facing six batters and put five on. It just wasn’t going to stop, and with the tying run at the plate, Miller was thrown into the fray, and retired the next two, Grant and Higashi. But we were not done with crazy just yet. Flip to the top 7th, the Raccoons would bang three doubles off the wall (Crowe, Reece, Gonzalez) en route to re-grabbing the four runs Proctor had just fudged up. Now up 11-5, Miller delivered a 1-2-3 inning, which was a strange sight to the audience at this point. But things were calming down. Only one more run scored when Takahashi Higashi slapped a solo homer off Brad Tamburrino’s shadow in the bottom ninth. 11-6 Coons. Guerin 2-4, RBI; Reece 2-5, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Brady 2-3, 2 BB; Fairchild 3.2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 2 K, W (1-0) and 1-1, BB, RBI; Miller 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K; Donis 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

You know what’s sad? When a pitcher pitches two thirds of an inning, gives up a run, and still shaves a run off his ERA. Talking about Tamburrino of course.

Meanwhile, Christian Proctor was designated for assignment after this disaster here. While Tamburrino was bad enough, Proctor was more than that, he was inane. He was not the Proctor from 1993, obviously, who wasn’t that great either, but at least serviceable. Watching Proctor pitch was like witnessing a drive-by suicide. Imagine some guy driving up to you as you’re on the sidewalk in your suburban neighborhood of choice. He rolls down the window as if to ask you directions or something, but then pulls out a gun and blows his own brains out. Sounds like a terrible movie, and Proctor was pitching even worse than that.

Lopez’ injury was not diagnosed as we left Oklahoma and flew home, but as we arrived there to play the Crusaders on Friday, we had a new reliever up in Fred Carlton (9.00 ERA @ AAA), which was obviously just a bridging measure until we could line up someone else.

Also, for what it’s worth, Stephen Buell has a 12-game hitting streak on.

Raccoons (7-15) vs. Crusaders (10-11) – April 30-May 2, 1999

The Crusaders were last in runs allowed in the Continental League, owing to a so-so rotation (which we would not see the terrible end of, however), and a self-destructing bullpen (5.84 ERA). However, with our lame offense and Joly and Saito scheduled to pitch…

Projected matchups:
Randy Farley (2-1, 2.17 ERA) vs. Ramiro Gonzalez (3-1, 3.21 ERA)
Bob Joly (0-3, 9.82 ERA) vs. Francisco Garza (2-2, 4.04 ERA)
Kisho Saito (0-5, 7.36 ERA) vs. Anibal Sandoval (1-2, 2.91 ERA)

Game 1
NYC: RF Latham – SS Nielsen – LF A. Johnson – 1B Berry – 3B Rush – 2B J. Ramirez – C Clemente – CF Olvera – P R. Gonzalez
POR: SS Guerin – 2B Ingall – CF Reece – C Branch – LF Buell – 1B Castillo – 3B Crowe – RF Brady – P Farley

But before the Crusaders could shovel into the weak, soft, squishy parts of the Raccoons’ rotation, they had to face Randy Chainsaw first. Farley mowed them down mercilessly in the opener, striking out five the first time through the lineup, and eight through five innings. Concie gave him support with a 2-run home run in the bottom 5th, and when Farely issued a leadoff walk to Brian Latham in the sixth, the bell tolled, and it was over. The Crusaders got four men on and tied the game, and Farley was at 93 pitches after this inning. Latham homered off him in the seventh and another game went down the drain. Carlton came in, loaded the bases, and had to be rescued by Miller, who struck out Jose Ramirez to end the inning. Miller in turn didn’t retire anybody in the eighth before Theodore Mullins delivered a pinch-hit 3-run homer. Down 7-2, the Raccoons actually managed to get the tying run to the plate in the bottom 9th, with one out, once closer Jose Hernandez walked Lance Branch to force home Cesar Gonzalez and make it a 7-3 game. And then Buell struck out. And then Castillo struck out. 7-3 Crusaders. Guerin 2-5, HR, 2 RBI; Reece 2-3, 2 BB; Gonzalez (PH) 1-1, 2B;

With this game, Fred Carlton was demoted back to St. Pete. We had a new guy signed. Actually an old guy.

Interlude: free agent signing

The Raccoons announce the addition of 35-year old right-hander Jackie Lagarde on a 1-yr, $200k deal. Lagarde, who pitched for the Raccoons from 1989 to 1995, spent the last three years with the Canadiens. For his career, he is 39-42 with 83 saves and a 2.94 ERA in 616 games, all in relief. He was 4-3 with a 4.33 ERA and no saves in 43.2 innings in 1998.

Raccoons (7-15) vs. Crusaders (10-11) – April 30-May 2, 1999

Game 2
NYC: RF Latham – SS Nielsen – LF A. Johnson – 1B Berry – 3B Rush – 2B J. Ramirez – C Clemente – CF Olvera – P F. Garza
POR: SS Guerin – RF Brady – CF Reece – 3B Gonzalez – C Branch – LF Buell – 2B Ingall – 1B Michel – P Joly

After it had already drizzled on and off during the series opener, the skies were truly dark for this one. Especially if you were named Garza. What started with Clyde Brady missing on a drag bunt attempt and led to him stroking a soft 1-out single to right, ever so slowly escalated into a 5-run first inning once Buell came up with a 2-out, 2-run double to deep center. Ingall and Michel also drove runners in. Gilberto Salazar was whacked for three runs in the third, and Joly better not lost this one. However, there were the dark skies. They opened in the third as well, with Joly holding an 8-0 lead. It was kinda good news, bad news from here. While Joly got it socked to him pretty good the next few innings, the rain eventually stopped, and through the top 6th he still held a 10-3 lead. But these would not be the Raccoons if they wouldn’t blow up. Joly lost his ways completely in the seventh, Gonzalez made a critical error, and when Mark Berry hit a 2-out, 2-run double off Joly to end his day, it pulled the score to 10-5, with the tying run putting on gloves in the dugout. Juan Martinez got Bob Rush to ground out to save us right there. The fans at the park – some of which hadn’t yet heard of the fact that Jackie Lagarde was back – went completely nuts when then once immensely popular right-hander appeared in the eighth. He retired Ramirez, Clemente, and Olvera in order. That the Raccoons romped in this one was certainly also a reason to be excited, even for just a day. 12-6 Furballs. Reece 1-2, 3 BB; Branch 1-2, 2 BB; Buell 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Ingall 4-4, BB, HR, 2B, 5 RBI; Crowe (PH) 1-1, BB;

With this blasting win we left the cellar, handing the red lantern to the Indians. The CL North played amongst themselves on this day, with the other two games featuring shutouts turned in by MIL Martin Garcia (4-0 against Indians), and BOS Jesus Bautista (1-0 against Canadiens), so the Raccoons accounted for more than half of all the CL North’s teams runs on May 1.

With this team, you gotta note that.

And now for the shocking news. Remember Miguel Lopez leaving his last start in the first inning. Well, wish him a happy Christmas right now, you won’t see him again. He has a partially torn UCL, is heading for Tommy John surgery, and might be back in 2000. Or not.

This will require some shuffling. For the moment, Kelly Fairchild will make Lopez’ next start on Tuesday against the Canadiens. Beyond that, Esteban Flores’ name might be in the conversation. I said that I wouldn’t call him up for a spot start when Saito had his tweak last week. Well, we need someone to make 28 starts now, so Flores (2-1, 2.88 ERA @ AAA) is in the conversation. We also have Ralph Ford (3-1, 2.97 ERA @ AAA) here, but we might also need to replace Bob Joly somehow, so it’s not unlikely that Ford, who missed the latter half of the 1998 season, might also be called up sooner rather than later. Flores had to make another start at St. Pete however, so we had to call up somebody else. A left-hander would be perfect. The choices in St. Pere were not thrilling, and so we went to Ham Lake and collected 24-year old Pedro Perez, our 1993 12th round pick.

Welcome to the Show, Sunshine. You have ONE chance to impress.

Game 3
NYC: LF Lyons – SS Nielsen – RF A. Johnson – 3B Rush – 1B T. Mullins – 2B J. Ramirez – C Clemente – CF Diéguez – P Sandoval
POR: SS Guerin – RF Brady – CF Reece – 3B Gonzalez – C Branch – LF Buell – 2B Ingall – 1B Michel – P Saito

Saito had no chance, and everybody – including himself – knew it. Top 1st, one on, two on, Rush doubled them in but was thrown out at third base, Mullins homered, 3-0. Mullins homered once more in his next AB, 4-0, in the third, while the Raccoons did nothing, and grown men in the stands were weeping at the sorry appearance of Kisho Saito. In a bizarre twist, Saito would keep the line moving, though, in the bottom 4th, when he came up with a 2-out RBI single, and enabled Guerin to bring home another run with a double, making it a 4-2 game. Saito went six, and Buell led off the bottom 6th with a triple and scored on Ingall’s sac fly. Michel doubled and Saito was hit for. C’mon boys, at least not have him lose six straight to start the year! Parker hit for Saito, grounded to Nielsen, but Nielsen’s throw was bad and Parker was safe at first. The tying runs on the corners, the lineup flipped back to Guerin. On a 1-0 pitch, Guerin whiffed, with both runners astray from their bags. Antonio Clemente shot up and fired a strike to Mullins at first, but Parker crawled back in under a slow tag. Two pitches later, Guerin made contact and fired a rocket into deep center, which Diéguez had to run after as it dinked onto the warning track. Parker scored easily and we had a lead!

Ohmygodohmygodohmygod, Saito was in line for a W! Quick! Who can fudge this up the least painful!?

We turned to Donis to dispose of the left-handers Nielsen and Johnson who were up to start the top 7th, Nielsen singled, and I went to get something to bite on. A Knoxville Dinger would do. Johnson flew out to Reece, and we went to Lagarde to face Rush and the right-handers after that, but the Crusaders brought Brian Latham, the lefty, to hit for Bob Rush. Latham grounded out to short, Ingall couldn’t pivot for a double play, but Lagarde still got out of the inning. While no insurance run was available, the plan was to continue with Lagarde and then go directly to Wade at the first sign of trouble. Lagarde walking Olvera with two down in the eighth constituted certified trouble, and Wade came out to face Matt Lyons. Lyons fouled out on the first pitch, and we needed only three more outs. Or an insurance run. Caddock, who had entered the game with Wade on a double switch, led off with a walk off Dane Sanders in the bottom 8th, but Guerin got him forced out and this wasn’t meant to happen.

Top 9th. Wade facing Nielsen, Johnson, and Lorenzo Delgado. No cushion. FOR KISHO!!! Nielsen doubled to left, Johnson doubled to right. For Kisho up your arse. 6-5 Crusaders. Guerin 2-5, 2 2B, 3 RBI; Branch 2-5, 2B; Buell 2-5;

In other news

April 28 – The Warriors acquire 29-yr old INF Bob Petipas (.241, 1 HR, 11 RBI) from the Aces and send 33-yr old INF Esteban Areizaga (.308, 1 HR, 4 RBI) to Las Vegas.
April 28 – DEN SS Zak Davidson (.421, 0 HR, 3 RBI), who hadn’t appeared in a game in two weeks due to a rib injury, goes 0-6 in his first contest off the DL, a 5-4 Gold Sox win over the Rebels, to end his hitting streak at 22 games.
April 29 – When OCT 1B/2B Juan Valentín (.260, 0 HR, 2 RBI) slapped a leadoff single off the Raccoons’ Miguel Lopez in the first inning of the Thunder’s 11-6 loss to the Brownshirts, the 40-year old Spaniard collected his 2,500th career base hit. The 11th overall pick in the 1979 draft by the Titans, Valentín debuted the same year and has since played on the Condors, Titans again, Wolves, Miners, and now the Thunder. Primed for small ball teams with a good eye drawing 1,516 walks in his career, he has made himself serviceable for 21 years and counting. The left-hander still wants to win a ring, which was never in the book for him until now.
April 30 – TIJ INF Bruce Boyle (.329, 0 HR, 2 RBI) intends to stay in Tijuana for longer. The 29-year old signs a 4-yr, $5.36M extension.

Complaints and stuff

Pedro Perez is the third Raccoon named Perez in our history. He follows 2B Dani Perez and OF Fernando Perez, both of which had rather short careers with the Coons, but Dani Perez found his luck elsewhere. Which surname is most often represented in the Raccoons’ player almanac?

Gonzalez (6 players):
Edgardo Gonzalez (1981-85), small-bat infielder
Carlos Gonzalez (1984-89), blue chip starting pitcher who went haywire
Ricardo Gonzalez (1985-87), outfielder with one stellar and one horrible season
Antonio Gonzalez (1989-91), versatile infielder, still active with Denver’s AAA team
Roberto Gonzalez (1991), pitcher whose two starts for us were all his major league career amounted to
Cesar Gonzalez (1999), obviously

And: Lopez (6 players):
Jorge Lopez (1977-78), backup outfielder
Freddy Lopez (1977-79), outfielder who had a 6-hit game with us
Tony Lopez (1978-82), relief pitcher who was a constant source of annoyance
Antonio “Woody” Lopez (1990), starter who just travelled through here
Miguel Lopez (1991-99), often-injured starter…
Alejandro Lopez (1993-94), former first round pick outfielder who came back ten years later

The following surnames were printed on the uniforms of three different Coons each: Castillo, Flores, Green, Martinez, Miranda, Ramirez, Sanchez;

The Lagarde signing was certainly not the perfect solution to shore up the bleeding bullpen. There was no perfect solution. To be honest, this season is on the trash heap already, regardless of who is pitching. This team can’t do ****, Lagarde won’t change that.

I considered him a placeholder until Dan Nordahl is ready, but be warned that Nordahl is struggling with control, so “ready” may not come into effect so soon.

Oh and by the way, do you really think we’re through with terrible news already? You gotta learn that the these are the Bad News Coons, and that in never ends. Dan Nordahl left his last game in pain and has strained an oblique. See you in June, Danny.