[Westheim]

Romero went against Bernard Lepore to start the season. The Raccoons took the lead by scoring in the bottom 2nd after straight singles from Sánz, Johnston, and Cox. Romero collapsed in the fifth inning and left with five runs against him, but the team got him off the hook by tying the game 5-5 in the bottom of the same inning. Raccoons lost 8-6 in the end, when Daniel Hall struck out on a full count with the bags full. Oh, I sense bad things to come.

Bad things came in game 2 already. Yes, the Raccoons won 2-1, Christopher Powell picked up the win by going 7.2 innings – but he didn’t get a single K and his defense pulled him out. Daniel Hall made a sprawling catch to end the top 7th and slammed the ground hard – and never stood up, winding in pain. A strained hamstring put him on the DL for at least a month. Zuniga entered the lineup and Cox moved to left and leadoff in the order. Game 3 was a 4-2 loss. Juan Berrios was completely unable to throw strikes and it was fascinating that the Crusaders waited till the sixth to wreck him.

We called up LF/RF Sherwood Henderson from AAA to replace Hall, who had gone 0-6 with two walks in the not even two games he played in. Henderson was 25 and was hitting about .280 at every level. Of course he’d hit .145 for the Raccoons, I won’t be fooled here.

We got to see Ed Sullivan in the Condors series. He had started hitting over .400 and first entered the series as pinch hitter in the seventh with a single off Bill Craig, and later drove in the winning run for the Condors against Tony Lopez in the ninth. Logan Evans had gone six with a no-decision in a 2-2 tie that far. Raccoons lost 4-2 and were shut out 2-0 the next day. Romero went eight with both runs allowed, one unearned, the other a home run. Condors starter Hunter Frazier fanned ten Raccoons, closer Lance Parsons struck out the side in the bottom 9th.

Well, this was it for my well constructed lineup. Cox, Simon, and Bocci were batting below .200, Zuniga was batting zero, while Costa was .357 … Costa was moved to leadoff, Cox to #2, Bocci to #7, Zuniga was replaced by McFarland in #8. Costa immediately went 0-4. Raccoons lost 7-1 to be swept by the Condors.

1-5 to open the season, yeah, great, that was exactly how I imagined it … not. Hall injured, Simon and Bocci total busts so far. Six runs scored in the opener, and seven total in the five games since. This was totally disillusioning.

Berrios started to open the Bayhawks series, first road series of the season, and again relied heavily on his defense. 5 H, 3 BB, 1 K over five frames is not my dream result. He got a no-decision. In the top 8th the Raccoons loaded the bases. Kieran Lawson sac flied to score the winning run. Jenkins and Gaston nailed down the Bayhawks in the eighth and ninth to hold and save the 2-1 win. Pedro Sánz then hit the first home run for the Raccoons in game 8 of the season, a solo shot in the top 2nd to take the lead, 1-0, in game 2. The Raccoons still lost when the Bayhawks walked off 5-4 in the ninth on Baker and Craig. Sánz was 2-4 with 3 RBI.

Game 3 then was – hopefully – the breakout game for the Raccoons. Romero pitched six good innings and was lifted for a pinch hitter, allowing one run. Nixon was 4-6 with a homer and an RBI, Simon 4-5 with two RBI, Sánz 3-4, 1 HR, 3 RBI, Johnston 3-5, 1 HR, 5 RBI, and even Bocci found his bat for a 3-5 day. That was much too much for the Bayhawks defense, the Raccoons blew them away 12-2, winning their first series in 1980.

In total, the Raccoons had 19 hits in the game, but one had none: Angel Costa. He had dropped to .200 and it was time for a change. Simon was moved to second, and Hermundo (.375 in pinch hitting and some late replacements for Simon or Costa) came in at third. Hermundo was leadoff, what he had most of the time been at New York. The Raccoons turned north for Vancouver for four games against the Canadiens, who led the CL North with a 5-3 start, the only team over .500 there. The CL South had really owned the CL North during the first week of interdivision play, added up the CL North teams were eight games below .500!

The Raccoons led 5-1 behind a solid Powell until he was injured rushing a sling to first to collect an out. He got the out, but hurt his shoulder. O’Rearden, Craig, and Jenkins were rapped for three, two, and one run, respectively and the Raccoons lost 7-6. Powell got off lucky with a sore shoulder, but would miss his next start.

Juan Berrios’ stat line in game 2? 10 H, 3 BB, 0 K, 5 R, 5 ER in 2.1 IP. Raccoons were miserable, had six hits themselves and lost 7-2. Jose Salgado entered with an ERA of 11 but went the distance for the Canadiens. Much different the game 3 line of Logan Evans: 4 H, 2 BB, 5 K, 0 R in 7 IP. Raccoons shut out the Canadiens 2-0 with Jenkins and Gaston again working to end it without damage.

Without damage was also Pedro Hermundo. He had not gotten a hit since entering the lineup. Cox was also dead cold. Bocci had started hitting and gotten over .200, so he was switched to #2 with Cox. CF was a mess with neither McFarland nor Zuniga doing any damage.

While the Raccoons shut out the Canadiens once more, 4-0, to split the 4-game series, there were more sour sides to it. Pedro Hermundo had slapped face first from .375 to .212 starting at 3B. While Ralph Nixon had made a splash so far with a line of .415, 2 HR, 6 RBI, Hermundo was struggling now. As did every centerfielder I had. Cox was at .192 (although he started LF now that Hall was down), McFarland .111, and Zuniga .105 – oh, just which one to choose!

Jorge Romero earned the win with six scoreless, but had to work 109 pitches to get that far, struggling with command. Just one walk, but many full counts. And then there was Bill Baker, who entered in the seventh and left in the seventh. He was down with a strained shoulder and would head to the DL until June. We called up Gary Simmons.

In other news:
April 7 – There was something about Claudio Rojas, right? His hitting streak continues to 37 games, going 1-4 on opening day against the Blue Sox. Cyclones win 6-3.
April 8 – Rojas 2-4 against Blue Sox in a 4-3 loss, hit streak to 38.
April 9 – Rojas 1-4 against Blue Sox, as the Cyclones win 6-5, hit streak to 39.
April 11 – Warriors starter Jaime Cano, 24, goes down to a torn flexor tendon. Cano, 17-19 with a 4.54 ERA in the majors, will miss at least 14 months, if he ever comes back.
April 11 – The Crusaders trash the Gold Sox 17-8, with Claudio Rojas going 3-7 with two RBI’s.
April 12 – It’s over!! The Gold Sox nail down Claudio Rojas, who goes 0-5 and has his hitting streak terminate at 40 games, dating back to last August. This is by far the longest ABL hitting streak.

Two week home stint up next against the Indians (they’re their usual all pitching, no scoring selfs), Thunder, Knights, and Crusaders. By the way, the Raccoons are now 194-305 overall with the 2-0 shutout by the Condors having been loss #300.