[Westheim]

They went about 50/50 in that regard.

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By the way, I will start with the following lineup into the season:

RHP: C Bocci – 2B Nixon – LF Hall – RF Sánz – 1B Cook – SS Simon – 3B Green – CF Clark

The lefty lineup switches Cook and Sánz, since the latter bats left-handed.

As the season started, 109 players were put on waivers by their teams. The Raccoons claimed two of them, pitcher Yoelbi Maurinha (Titans) and outfielder Troy Scott (Bayhawks). Both claims were executed on April 8.

Raccoons (0-0) vs. Titans (0-0)

We faced Bruce Wright, a former Raccoon, who had made it to starter on opening day with the Titans. The trades I do…

Powell began the season by striking out Francisco Dominguez, and added another K in the inning. The Titans led 2-0 after the second, where a balk was called on Powell that eventually helped score the two runs. The Raccoons tied it in the fourth. Powell was lifted for Johnston to pinch hit in the sixth with the bags full and two out, but Johnston popped out. Coleman and West held the Titans at bay and Green batted in the go ahead run in the bottom 8th, before he was scored himself by Clark. Up 4-2, Gaston came for a 1-2-3 performance to save the game. This was Grant West’s first major league win, and the Raccoons have a winning record! Whoooo!!!

Jack Pennington was good in his Raccoons debut in game 2, but got a no-decision. He dominated all of the Titans lineup with the exception of speedster Dominguez, who had always been an annoyance. Dominguez went 3-3 with a walk off Pennington, including an inside-the-park home run. The game was tied 3-3 in the seventh when Pennington jammed and was relieved by West, who got out of it, after the tying run had scored. Sánz rectified the picture with an RBI single in the bottom of the inning. Gaston came in with a 4-3 lead. Marc Leach had a freak single to start the inning and Gaston walked two in between outs, then got Brian Adams to ground out. Two games, two wins for West, two saves for Gaston. Pennington had fanned six, and all three led the respective categories so far.

The Raccoons put up a 5-spot against Kevin Williams in the bottom 1st of game 3. We led 6-1 in the top 7th, when Logan Evans walked successive batters and was replaced by Coleman. A run scored, and I walked Dominguez intentionally to load the bags. Coleman struck out the next batter, Quinn Revels, to end the inning. The eighth was awful, as Ben Jenkins was rapped for three runs on a bunt base hit, a scratch hit over the first base bag that nobody got to, and finally a pinch hit home run. Massively unlucky, and the game was 6-5. Moran ended the eighth, but now I had the problem that Gaston had had a very long outing the day before and had been out two days in a row. Moran had to start the ninth and see how to end it. He struck out Dimian Barrios and Quinn Revels, but walked Dominguez, who represented the tying run and was faster than Darrell Waltrip’s Mountain Dew Buick. Moran allowed a single, but then struck out Brandon Patterson to complete the Titans sweep.

This was reminiscent of 1978, when the Raccoons had started with a string of wins, and also the Titans had been up first back then. The Raccoons now tied with the Indians for the CL North lead, 3-0, but we didn’t have the best record overall: the Pacifics had swept the Wolves in a 4-game series to start the season.

Raccoons (3-0) vs. Aces (3-1)

It didn’t look good for the Raccoons here. Simmons started the game and was mostly awful with nine hits and a walk over six frames. The defense bailed him out a couple of times, and he was removed with the team down 4-2. They cut a run in the bottom 6th, but in the next inning, Nixon and Simon both chugged 2-run bombs that turned the game around and the Raccoons won 8-4.

Roman Ocasio was the last of the rotation to get warm. In the top 4th with the game scoreless, Ocasio walked two with two outs. Jordan Archer worked him to three and one, then hit at a low ball and grounded out. Ralph Nixon scored catcher Peterson on a sac fly in the fifth to break up the scoreless tie. Ocasio worked into the seventh, before he was lifted. Cooper just barely got out of a jam in the eighth, before the Raccoons added another sac fly run in the bottom of that inning. Gaston game in and hit the first batter, who then advanced to second on a wild pitch. Edward Peterson was clearly not yet used to Gaston’s pitches, who could end up anywhere. Gaston retired the next three batters to save the 2-0 Raccoons win!

We were through the rotation the first time – who would have thought that Ocasio would be the only starter with a 0.00 ERA after that first five games? He also was along with Evans the only won to actually get the win. With West having won two and Bojorquez one game in relief, ALL the five Raccoons wins had been credited to left handed pitchers!

The Raccoons batted around in the bottom 1st of game 3 to saddle Randy Zimmerman with five early runs. Normally this was more than enough for Christopher Powell to work with. It was as well this time, but Powell’s control was not quite where it had been last year, as he walked three in 6.1 innings of 2-run ball. The Raccoons led 6-2 to enter the top 9th. Moran was in from the eighth, but jammed hard and Gaston came out of the pen with the score 6-3, one out and the bags full. He walked in a run, then hit a batter for another run. Only then did he find his mojo and induced a popout and struck out Jeffery Walton to end the game, 6-5 Raccoons.

When I said, I trusted Gaston, I meant that most of the time, he produces the desired results. How he gets there, is his beer. (wipes of sweat)

Daniel Hall went 0-1 in the game, but walked four times. Ralph Nixon bashed a solo homer in the fourth. At 6-0, we still trail the Pacifics, who are 7-0 after sweeping the Blue Sox.

Raccoons (6-0) vs. Falcons (5-1)

Both teams were glowing hot this early in the season, but Jack Pennington chilled the Falcons pretty good. The former Cyclone pitched a 6-hitter, K’ed seven and whenever threatened, ended innings with runners on third with a punchout. More offense would have been possible. In the bottom 8th, the Raccoons had the bags full with nobody out, but scored only two on a Ben Simon sac fly and a wild pitch. We won 5-0.

It ended right there. Logan Evans faced an all-righty lineup in game 2 and this was a recipe for disaster. He barely got through five innings and got the 6-0 loss. The offense was shut down by Joe Jones as well. Ben Jenkins had another awful relief appearance.

The Pacifics also lost, 2-1 against the Miners, which eliminated the last two zeros in the L columns. They had gone 8-0 before losing their first game.

Simmons was equally bad in game 3 and lifted in the fifth. The Raccoons never got to hurt Jorge Mora, with the exception of Daniel Hall, who tattooed a ball to the right field stands. Wally Gaston pitched the ninth in a losing effort and in the rain and was beaten for three runs in the 6-1 loss.

So after a good start the Raccoons have been shown their limits pretty clear by the Falcons. The back end of the rotation is just not good enough, that much is clear. Production was 4.0 R/G, which if held would already be a major improvement. But the last two games don’t get me in a pretty good mood. Mora is a #4 starter as well…

Raccoons (7-2) @ Crusaders (2-7)

The Crusaders got off to a horrible start mostly because of their ineffective rotation (6.83 ERA), and also little offense. The pen was great, so we had to hurt their starters. Lepore, Edmonstone, and Lee were up, all with losses, and all with ERA’s over 5.

It took me a while to consider whether to skip Ocasio or not. We had had an off day and Powell was well rested after four days off. But it was the start of the season, and I didn’t want to tax them too much, plus Ocasio had been decent in his first game. He should have his chance!

Ocasio and Bernard Lepore exchanged zeros through seven innings. That had been about the only thing I hadn’t seen coming. Lepore then walked the bases full to start off the top 8th, putting up pinch hitter Cox, Clark, and Nixon for Daniel Hall. Lepore was removed for Nicolas Le Corre, but Hall sacrificed to left to score Ben Cox and break up the 0-0 game. Cook and Simon flew out harmlessly. Gaston came into the game to close it at 1-0, but a walk and two doubles into the gap lost it as the Crusaders walked off with a 2-1 win.

Hurting Eric Edmonstone was also easier said than done. The Crusaders scored one against Powell early, but the Raccoons turned it around to a 2-1 lead through four. Daniel Hall had made a few strong plays early, but then made an error that cost the tying run in the fifth. The Raccoons finally connected in the seventh for two runs that chased Edmonstone. Up 4-2, Gaston came out. He got the save but allowed a run again, 4-3. While he whiffed two, the opponents had hardly any problem to hurt him right now, and that was a major concern. His ERA was 9.53 and he led the league in saves with 5. Whatever was wrong with him, he was not available for the rubber game after having thrown 53 pitches in four days.

Pennington and Mark Lee were both quite solid (so much for hurting the Crusaders’ rotation). The game was tied at 2-2 after seven. Pennington was lifted for a pinch hitter to start the top 8th and the Raccoons scored the go ahead run in the inning to get him in line for the win. Bojorquez got in trouble in the bottom 8th and Jenkins had to bail him out. With Gaston unavailable and righties up in the ninth, Jenkins had to stay in and bat, hitting a single to right, then was brought all around the diamond to score. He mowed down the Crusaders in order in the bottom 9th, which lasted almost half an hour due to a short rain delay with two down and a strike to Miguel Fuentes.

Raccoons (9-3) @ Indians (8-5)

I dreaded the Indians. The most unpleasant team to play against with low scoring on either side, they had done something for their offense during the winter. This didn’t really make them less unpleasant…

Game 1 was not your typical 2-1, 3-2 Indians game. Logan Evans was rocked for four runs in the first, before the Raccoons kicked it up a bit to make it 5-4 after the top 3rd. Evans even singled in a run in the second, and then had an RBI double in the fifth to make it 6-4. On the mound, he remained shaky, but managed to complete six innings without further damage, posting an awkward 5 H, 4 R, 6 BB, 7 K line. The Raccoons led 7-4 when Jenkins and Bojorquez combined for a 4-run eighth and the Raccoons lost 8-7. On top of all Hoyt Cook was ejected for arguing balls and strikes. Let me tell you, there was some major shouting and foaming in the clubhouse that evening.

We were looking at Miguel Sanchez (2-0, 1.00 ERA) in game 2. With erratic Gary Simmons up, this was a game that could not be won. Simmons wasn’t even pitching half that bad, but Sanchez mowed down ten Raccoons and squeezed his team to 2-1 win. They also took the lead in the CL North from us.

A 2-run triple by Cameron Green in the top 2nd had me hoping for game 3, but Ocasio blew it right away in the bottom 2nd. Pedro Sánz left the game in that inning with back spasms and was listed as day-to-day. The Indians won 6-3 to complete the sweep after Ocasio walked five.

In other news:
April 7 – What a way to start a season: the Indians’ Miguel Sanchez 2-hits the Crusaders in a 5-0 win.
April 11 – Hunter Frazier tosses a 3-hitter as the Condors blank the Indians 5-0.
April 11 – Loggers reliever Paco Alvarado has bone chips in his elbow and is out for four months.
April 13 – In times for the series against the Raccoons, the Falcons lose lefty ace William Williams for three months to a torn triceps.
April 18 – The Rebels’ Juan Medine is out for three weeks with a sprained ankle. Batting .200 this season, Medine is a career .369 hitter and a powerful weapon in every lineup.
April 19 – The Warriors lose catcher Ed Hopper to a fractured thumb. While he was only batting .222 he was considered a team leader and kept pushing himself and others forward all the time. He would be missed for sure, being out of commission for five to six weeks.
April 20 – Sad news: Las Vegas Aces owner Clayton Undertown passed away in the early morning hours after a short illness in a Las Vegas area hospital. His son Robert took over as owner of the team.
April 21 – The Cyclones’ outfielder Juan Diaz goes down to a torn thumb ligament and will miss several weeks.

We will go home for series against the Knights and Thunder. Then May will start on the road in Boston, Vancouver, and Salem.