Portland Raccoons (ABL)

[Westheim]

In early January, I trimmed our minor league teams a bit of dead weight, releasing about two hands full of players. Nothing really worth noting among them, and I think the highest pick among them was fifth rounder Joseph MacKellachie from 1992, who had had two most horribilistic seasons at the A level. At age 23, he should look for a proper job that is far remote from baseball.

The Raccoons had sat atop BNN’s WAR gains chart with a +2.3 mark since free agents had filed. Since we didn’t to any trades or signings since then, our mark didn’t change, and it took other teams until January 25 to catch us. There, the Miners inked outfielder Lucio Hernandez to also reach +2.3 WAR.

Ultimately I didn’t do any trades at all for the rest of the offseason, and limited myself to signing minor leaguers in areas we were in need, mainly depth for starting pitching.

January 9 – Ex-DAL 1B/2B Antonio Esquivel (.278, 105 HR, 728 RBI) settles on the Canadiens for 2-yr, $1.62M.
January 25 – Former Pacifics OF Lucio Hernandez (.321, 66 HR, 467 RBI) signs a lofty 6-yr, $5.54M deal with the Miners.
February 1 – The Condors secure the services of 1B Fred Rodgers (.309, 70 HR, 778 RBI) for 3-yr, $1.84M.
February 9 – Ex-DAL CL Matt Sims (60-53, 2.38 ERA, 311 SV) signs a 3-yr, $1.7M deal with the Capitals. Been waiting for some time for this.
February 10 – Former Buffalo SP Fernando Chavez (69-80, 3.80 ERA) signs a 2-yr, $1.09M deal with the Cyclones. The 29-year old Chavez lost 19 games in 1993 due to underwhelming run support in Topeka.
February 12 – The Buffaloes console themselves with the addition of former Warrior SP Manuel Paredes (64-80, 3.72 ERA). The 31-year old will earn $1.22M over two years.
March 3 – Longtime Raccoon MR Richard Cunningham (76-57, 2.87 ERA, 121 SV) gets a 2-yr, $948k contract from the Scorpions. Cunningham last pitched for the Thunder.
March 3 – Ex-SFB OF Dave Burton (.291, 55 HR, 404 RBI) signs a 2-yr, $1.09M deal with the Stars.
March 3 – Bouncing around, 27-year old left-handed SP Jon Robinson (68-62, 3.87 ERA) is taken in by the Warriors on a possible bargain deal: 1-yr, $330k.
March 7 – 31-year old SP Vernon Robertson (93-65, 3.79 ERA) remains in the CL North, signing a 3-yr, $1.3M deal with the Indians. Robertson was employed by the Canadiens the last few years.
March 16 – The Stars add SS/3B Mike McCain down the stretch. The 29-year old ex-Pacific receives a 1-yr, $346k contract. For his career, McCain has hit .269 with 40 HR and 311 RBI.

Matt Sims obviously played his cards the right way, but I was not willing to play the game. We will make do with what we have.

[Westheim]

1994 PORTLAND RACCOONS – Opening Day Roster (first set shows 1993 numbers, second set overall; players with an * are off season acquisitions):

SP Kisho Saito, 33, B:L, T:L (10-15, 4.07 ERA | 173-126, 3.09 ERA) – workhorse and strikeout machine doing his job at the top of the rotation, who suffered through extended periods of ineffectiveness last season, which was the first year of his big contract. Run support was also an issue, costing him a few decisions here and there. 200 wins have been delayed until 1995 for him, at least.
SP Jason Turner, 28, B:R, T:R (10-13, 3.16 ERA | 63-41, 3.27 ERA) – had the second consecutive season where he was perhaps never really lights out. His wonderful burst onto the scene in 1989, when he no-hit the Thunder, are far removed. He definitely has the stuff, but his control was lacking the last few years, and for the last three years, he was walked 70 batters on average per season.
SP Miguel Lopez, 25, B:S, T:L (17-8, 2.81 ERA | 22-12, 2.95 ERA) – his killer stuff saw him dominate in the first half of the season, leading the league in wins for a time, but he came very much back down to earth after the All Star game. Still, he struck out 165 batters, which led the team (in 211.2 IP).
SP Raimundo Beato, 32, B:R, T:R (11-8, 2.80 ERA | 125-109, 3.65 ERA) – like anybody else in the rotation, “Pooky” Beato could have used some more run support in his second season in the team. He was the #5 guy last season, but his overall very solid contribution has him move up a wee bit for 1994. His five pitches rarely leave him out of ideas for the removal of batters.
SP Scott Wade, 31, B:R, T:R (12-9, 4.06 ERA | 114-69, 3.34 ERA) – lost his consistency last season after being blown up in April, then alternating decent and awful starts for the rest of the season. Maybe his two pitches are becoming not enough to overcome lineups and he has to be moved to the bullpen?

MR Juan Martinez, 27, B:R, T:R (4-4, 3.04 ERA, 2 SV | 27-15, 2.65 ERA, 10 SV) – very good stuff and strong control, could possibly be a closer somewhere else, but he is a very reliable 7th/8th inning guy for us.
MR Daniel Miller, 25, B:S, T:R (5-2, 2.51 ERA, 2 SV | 10-5, 3.08 ERA, 2 SV) – played his first full season for the Raccoons, and had stretches of dominance, but also some blowups. Can be used in close situations, but there are better alternatives.
MR Tony Vela, 23, B:R, T:R (3-0, 2.45 ERA | 3-0, 2.45 ERA) – also made his debut last season, replacing the perhaps hopeless case named Albert Matthews. Is a serviceable hand if your lead (or deficit) is big enough.
MR Tim Mallandain, 23, B:R, T:L (0-0, 8.10 ERA | 0-0, 8.10 ERA) – September callup last season, and it could have gone better. If he does not click, we have another young aspiring left-hander in AAA in Cesar Salcido.
SU Jackie Lagarde, 30, B:R, T:R (6-4, 2.64 ERA, 6 SV | 24-20, 2.28 ERA, 15 SV) – astonishing stuff, with control lacking on occasions; in a tied game in the eighth inning, this is the guy to go to. Designated as closer should Grant West lose it at one point during the season.
SU Ken Burnett, 31, B:L, T:L (6-0, 2.11 ERA | 18-15, 3.37 ERA, 3 SV) – very serviceable left-hander that can do just about everything from closing out games in emergencies to long relief.
CL Grant West, 37, B:L, T:L (1-6, 3.34 ERA, 45 SV | 33-28, 2.06 ERA, 511 SV) – a LEGEND. The “Demon” saved his 500th game last season to much applause, but overall had his worst year on record. There’s a crack in the armor, and with him being in the final year of his contract, it could well be his final year overall, and Jackie Lagarde is chasing him.

C David Vinson, 28, B:S, T:R (.249, 7 HR, 39 RBI | .248, 55 HR, 259 RBI) – finds himself unable to replace his wonderful 1990 season, both at the plate and behind it. Maybe we will have to accept that he will be a career .250 hitter.
C Jose Rodriguez, 25, B:R, T:R (.264, 1 HR, 28 RBI | .291, 4 HR, 52 RBI) – will be the backup to Vinson for the third consecutive season. His stats are really better than his ratings, so he is no immediate danger to Vinson, but well, you never know...

1B Esteban Baldivía, 25, B:R, T:R (.299, 2 HR, 15 RBI | .299, 2 HR, 15 RBI) – starting Year I past Tetsu Osanai, we have former international free agent Baldivía planned in at first base. The young Dominican needs to up his power to stay there.
3B/2B/1B Mark Allen, 32, B:S, T:R (.227, 11 HR, 54 RBI | .286, 190 HR, 808 RBI) – despite all hopes, he did not find back to his former dominance. He basically had a pair of 2-week offensive outbursts, lots of anemic slumps, and missed about two months to injuries. Has the biggest contract on the team, for no special reason.
SS/3B/2B/1B Jorge Salazar, 33, B:L, T:R (.286, 2 HR, 35 RBI | .284, 20 HR, 449 RBI) – although he could not make it three years of batting over .300 in a row, he was a solid producer in his fourth season as a Raccoon, and his defense at shortstop has yet to disappoint us. A rock that can not be moved.
1B/3B Ben O’Morrissey, 28, B:R, T:R (.308, 20 HR, 85 RBI | .283, 47 HR, 281 RBI) – very good defense at third base (despite 20 errors last year), coupled with another career year at the plate, he has become a cornerstone of the lineup and should find himself batting in a prominent position.
1B/3B/2B/SS Matt Higgins, 29, B:S, T:R (.291, 4 HR, 50 RBI | .257, 28 HR, 265 RBI) – set a new franchise record for stolen bases with 42 last year, and has been creating havoc on the bases for opponents regularly. He still has not guaranteed a spot on the infield and has to fight Allen and Baldivía for his playing time. Went down with a torn labrum in October and healed just in time for Opening Day. His future performance can not be estimated at this point.

LF/RF Daniel Hall, 38, B:R, T:R (.241, 6 HR, 34 RBI | .264, 223 HR, 960 RBI) – franchise poster boy that was on the way out after 1993, he came right back in through salary arbitration. His 1993 campaign was nothing to brag about, but for what it counts, he drove in the winning runs in game 7 of the World Series.
CF/LF Neil Reece, 27, B:R, T:R (.323, 18 HR, 94 RBI | .331, 56 HR, 279 RBI) – fantastic defense in center, fantastic at the plate – you can’t help yourself but love him. Unfortunate enough to be injured in another postseason, he will try to bring his health to the top level, too, in 1994. The only guy in the outfield that is set in stone.
LF/RF/CF Alejandro Lopez, 29, B:L, T:L (.272, 18 HR, 56 RBI | .257, 86 HR, 471 RBI) – after walking on as a minor league addition two months into the season, Lopez stunned everybody by hitting for almost 20 homers, coupled with good defense and nice conduct. A former first round pick by the Raccoons that was traded off before reaching the majors, it was a wonderful homecoming.
LF Vern Kinnear, 25, B:L, T:R (.234, 5 HR, 43 RBI | .277, 21 HR, 125 RBI) – his sophomore season was nothing but a disappointment after his rousing rookie campaign which he crowned with the ROTY award in 1992. Has to prove himself against Royce Green and others again.
LF/CF/RF Royce Green *, 24, B:R, T:R (.284, 19 HR, 66 RBI | .270, 36 HR, 134 RBI) – acquired from the Aces for Glenn Adams, Christian Proctor, and Qi-zhen Geng; was planned in to replace Daniel Hall, but Hall sneaked back in through salary arbitration and we are not overweight in the outfield. He will have to fight Vern Kinnear for a regular starter’s spot.
LF/RF/1B Bobby Quinn, 29, B:R, T:R (.289, 3 HR, 36 RBI | .280, 31 HR, 264 RBI) – mainly played as backup in 1993 and it doesn’t look like he will be able to break out of that role. He is also in acute danger of getting cut once we realize we can’t scrape by on five infielders.

On disabled list: Nobody. Matt Higgins healed up the day before the season started. I would have preferred him going on rehab first, but the minor league seasons won’t start for another week.

Otherwise unavailable: Nobody.

Other roster movement: INF Sixto Moreno was placed on waivers to make room for Higgins.
1B/2B/3B/SS Sixto Moreno, 28, B:R, T:R (.295, 3 HR, 10 RBI | .239, 18 HR, 121 RBI) – didn’t come alive until late in the season, but contributed a few huge hits in the World Series.

Opening day lineups:
Vs. RHP: SS Salazar – RF A. Lopez – 3B O’Morrissey – CF Reece – 2B Allen – 1B Baldivía – LF Kinnear – C Vinson – P Saito
Vs. LHP: 3B O’Morrissey – SS Salazar – RF A. Lopez – CF Reece – 1B Baldivía – 2B Allen – LF Green – C Vinson – P Saito

We gained 2.3 WAR this offseason, with basically two things happening: the departure of Bob Arnold shed some negative WAR, and the Royce Green trade gained us some.

Top 5: Gold Sox (+3.3), Miners (+3.0), Wolves (+2.6), Raccoons (+2.3), Canadiens (+1.7)
Bottom 5: Thunder (-5.9), Buffaloes (-6.3), Rebels (-6.8), Bayhawks (-7.5), Aces (-13.0)

PREDICTION TIME:

Last year I said the Raccoons would go 97-65, far ahead of the CL North not to sweat in late September, and expecting to play the Bayhawks in the third straight CLCS with that matchup. I was quite a bit off, as we went 91-71, sweated long and heavily, and then faced the Condors, but everything came up neat and we are twice-defending champions now.

I also said Vinson and Osanai couldn’t get any worse, which was at least 50% not true. I was expecting a Kinnear slump and Hall not repeating his 1992 terror on opposing pitching. That was 100% spot on.

The team has remained the same this season. The starting pitching had it’s spots in 1993, and Saito and Wade especially have to get their act together. The Canadiens have not been idle and project to be the most serious threat to us once again. The other four teams have not improved significantly enough (and some not at all) to make a serious challenge.

I predict that Neil Reece will be a serious contender for Hitter of the Year, mash 25 homers, and lead a 5.0 R/G offense, also including serious production from slumpers Kinnear and Allen, as well as Baldivía, and standouts O-Mo and Salazar, which will give us two 20-game winners in the rotation en route to a 100-62 season. We will make short work of the Condors and find ourselves in a four-time consecutive World Series matchup with the Capitals in October.

And now I will take my pills.

PLAYER DEVELOPMENT:

Last year, our farm system ranked 4th in the nation, with seven players in the Top 100, and seven more in the Top 200. Of the seven top prospects, five saw playing time in the majors last season: INF Marvin Ingall, MR/CL Gabriel De La Rosa, LF Chih-tui Jin, MR Tony Vela, and 1B Esteban Baldivía. Except for De La Rosa, none of these remain eligible either due to excessive action in the majors (Jin, Vela, Baldivía) or old age (Ingall).

We retain our fourth place in the rankings, but have only ten players on the Top 200 table. Most credit goes to Vicente Guerra, digging up boys out of rabbit holes all over the Caribbean.

9th (-1) – AAA SP Antonio Donis, 21 – 1990 third round pick by the Raccoons
22nd (+91) – AAA 3B Mike Crowe, 23 – 1992 supplemental round pick by the Raccoons
44th (-8) – AAA CL Gabriel De La Rosa, 23 – 1989 supplemental round pick by the Raccoons
75th (+71) – A LF Stephen Buell, 18 – international discovery by Vicente Guerra
82nd (new) – A RF/LF Edgardo Lorenzo, 17 – international discovery by Vicente Guerra
98th (+102) – AAA 2B Pat Parker, 23 – 1991 second round pick by the Raccoons
115th (0) – A SS Conceicao Guerin, 20 – international discovery by Vicente Guerra
159th (-52) – AA SP Alonso Lopez, 19 – international discovery by Vicente Guerra
179th (-124) – AAA SP Jose Rivera, 21 – international discovery by the Condors, acquired in 1989 for Stephen Hall
190th (new) – A 1B Alain Perez, 17 – international discovery by Vicente Guerra

19-year old SP Tony “Ratface” Hamlyn, a recent international discovery from Canada by the Bayhawks, is ranked #1 in the nation. No, he’s not *that* ugly.

Next: first pitch!

[Westheim]

Finally baseball!!

Raccoons (0-0) @ Crusaders (0-0) – April 5-7, 1994

As Kisho Saito faced John Woodard on Opening Day, it was the day of truth. How would our but barely changed roster cope with the Crusaders, who were a hot bet to finish at the bottom of the CL North again?

First game, first inning, Baldivía left the bases loaded as Woodard punched him out. Kisho Saito’s first pitch was into CF Alfonso Rojas’ side. It took Saito until the fifth batter, Benjamin Butler, to get a strike past somebody, and the Crusaders took an early 1-0 lead. Woodard made it 2-0 in the second with a 2-out, 2-strike RBI double off Saito. The Furballs’ assumed ace struggled and just so hung on to a 2-0 deficit through six, twice starving runners on third base. The Raccoons in turn did little to justify their ambitions to return to the World Series. Alejandro Lopez hit a solo home run in the top 7th, but that left the team one run short. The Crusaders almost broke up the game in the bottom 8th, but Burnett got the final out with a K to pinch-hitter Martin Limón. Closer Ivan Lopez walked Vinson to start the top 9th, and he was replaced with Higgins, and Hall hit for Burnett, but whiffed. Salazar blooped his way on with a single, but Ivan Lopez then struck out Alejandro Lopez. O-Mo came up, found himself down two strikes quickly, before he made contact on the 2-2 pitch and doubled into right for both runners to come home. PHEW!!! Grant West pitched a 1-2-3 bottom 9th, holding on to a flimsy 3-2 Raccoons win. O’Morrissey 3-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Baldivía 2-4;

Narrowly avoided Opening Day embarrassment. 161 games to go.

Neil Reece had a double to extend a 12-game hitting streak from the end of last season.

Royce Green made his first start for his new team in the middle game, replacing Kinnear in left field against southpaw David Ramirez. He came through his first time up with a 2-run single in the second inning. There was no scoring for some time after that. While Jason Turner was not 100% spot on with a few pitches far from the zone, he held the Crusaders at bay. The Coons didn’t reappear on the board until the sixth, where Neil Reece jacked a solo home run to dead center. That the Coons left pairs on in the sixth and seventh innings, even coupled with quick bottoms to those innings for Turner, put Turner on a short leash with a 3-0 lead, and when Butler homered off him in the bottom 8th, his days were counted. Miller and West held the game in one piece for the final five outs. 3-1 Raccoons. Reece 4-4, HR, RBI; Green 2-3, BB, 2 RBI; Hall (PH) 1-1; Turner 7.1 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, W (1-0);

We also suffered our first injury of the year in this game, as Mark Allen left the game early due to a stiff neck. Higgins replaced him and miraculously whiffed in this first two appearances at the plate. Remember that Higgins went just over 100 AB without a K to start a season a few years ago. It can’t be the shoulder, can it? Messed up his swing? Well, the sample size is not really enormous, so we will cautiously watch. Allen was held out of game 3 as a precaution, giving Higgins his first start of the year.

The Bayhawks claimed Sixto Moreno off waivers in the meantime, and he is no longer part of the Raccoons organization.

Neil Reece extended his hitting streak to 15 games with an impressive shot for a 3-run home run in game 3, which in the top 3rd also broke up the scoreless tie. The Crusaders got a run off Miguel Lopez with an RBI double by Pete Thompson in the bottom of the inning, but Vern Kinnear restored the 3-run gap with a solo shot in the top 4th. The floodgates slowly opened, but the torrent washed away New York’s starter Hector Lara by the fifth, when Higgins drove in two runs, and the Coons had two on and no outs in the sixth when reliever Jose Hernandez threw away Miguel Lopez’ bunt en route to three unearned runs. The Crusaders got two more RBI doubles off Lopez in the later innings, but the game was never in doubt past the sixth. 9-3 Raccoons. Salazar 3-5, 2B, RBI; Reece 2-5, HR, 3 RBI; Baldivía 3-4; M. Lopez 7.2 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 9 K, W (1-0);

A sweep! With the Canadiens washing away the Titans, we tied for the division lead at 3-0. I have a hunch where this could be heading.

Raccoons (3-0) vs. Aces (2-1) – April 8-10, 1994

The Aces had received (among others) MR Qi-zhen Geng in the trade for Royce Green. Vicente Guerra ranked him as one of their top 5 players in his short report leading up to this series. For a short time after the trade, I felt like I had robbed them of Green. Not anymore. The Aces will be fine.

I made the first change to the posted lineups already (apart from sitting Allen for his neck, he was still not back in the lineup for game 1), and took out Alejandro Lopez, who had hit a home run and had made nothing but embarrassing outs and a misplay so far. Hall started in right against the Aces in the opener (which was our home opener after all)

The Furballs took the battle to starter Rafael Espinoza quickly, with the first four men all hitting safely in the bottom 1st. 3-0 Coons. Poor Espinoza was torn up in a hurry, as the Coons built another big inning in the bottom 3rd, aided by an error by SS Manuel Gomez in a situation with no outs and runners on the corners on Baldivía’s hot double play grounder. Nobody out, already two runs in, and two on, Vern Kinnear relieved Espinoza from his pains with a gigantomatic 3-run blast into the top row of the seats in right field. It was 8-0. Like Lopez the day before in New York, Beato dominated the opposing lineup. Until O’Morrissey put the leadoff man Carlos Quintela on in the eighth inning, Beato had allowed just two base runners. The unearned run scored, but a few deep counts had Beato way over 100 pitches after eight innings anyway. Tim Mallandain had not appeared in New York, but appeared here in the ninth, facing switch hitter C Mario Guerrero and lefty Edward Carter, and put both of them on. Martinez walked the bases full, and allowed both runners to score, but the lead was big enough. 8-3 Raccoons. Salazar 2-5, 2B; Higgins 2-4, 3B; O’Morrissey 2-4, 2 2B, 3 RBI; Reece 3-4, RBI; Beato 8.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 10 K, W (1-0);

Ex-Ace Royce Green batted third in the middle game against the Aces’ ace Carlos Guillén (0-1, 11.81 ERA). Scott Wade was the last Raccoon to make an appearance this season, but was whacked around early on. He found himself down 3-0 quickly, but two things happened in the fourth inning. Esteban Baldivía hit a game-tying 3-run homer with two outs off Guillén, and it began to rain. The light drizzle intensified, but then suddenly stopped again in the fifth, just as Wade had set down the Aces. Wade thus remained in the game. Green robbed the Aces’ Roman Reyes of a home run to lead off the top 6th in the tied contest. Wade put Carlos Quintela on in the top 7th, and the rain began again. When the Aces sent lefty Michael Sanders to hit for the pitcher, Mallandain came in, and looked helpless as Quintela stole his way around to third base (Vinson didn’t look swell, either). Sanders lined up the middle, where Allen made a wonderful grab for the second out. Daniel Miller then allowed the runner to score and untie the game. Problem was, the Coons had only four hits so far against Guillén, who left the game in the seventh. In the bottom 8th, Jose Sotelo threw eight straight balls to Salazar and Green with one out. Reece up, hitting a lofty .524 so far. He also worked a walk, leaving it to Baldivía to come through again, but Baldivía whiffed, and Allen did so, too, and it was the game. Glenn Adams upped the score a bit in the ninth with a 2-shot off Tony Vela. 6-3 Aces. Burnett 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

Like in his first start of the season, Kisho Saito drilled the first batter he faced in his second start in game 3. His opponent Jou Hara had surrendered six run in 3.2 innings in his season debut. Neil Reece led off the second inning with a home run off Hara. Hara then loaded them up with two walks and a Baldivía single, with no outs, as Jose Rodriguez came to bat in his first start of the year. Hara punched him out, but couldn’t get Saito, who hit a sac fly, enabling Salazar to drive in another run for a 3-0 lead. Backup 3B Nathan Hines, who had replaced an injured Quintela, jacked a 2-shot off Saito right away in the top 3rd, though, so nothing was safe here. This was especially true with Saito surrendering some more hard contact. Javier Vargas doubled leading off the top 6th, representing the tying run, but suddenly Saito struck out the next three. It didn’t help him a bit. Glenn Adams’ leadoff double in the seventh was brought home by the Aces, and the game was tied. Saito was again left with a no-decision. The Raccoons offense remained invisible until the ninth. Still in a tied game, Reece popped out, before Alejandro Lopez doubled. Lopez moved to third as Baldivía grounded out, bringing up Kinnear against right-handed closer Vicente Rúbio. Kinnear lined into loud out in left field and we had extra innings. As we thoroughly ruined our bullpen for days to come, nobody could be bothered to land a blow. In the 14th inning, Adams launched a solo home run off Tony Vela with two down. The Raccoons went down in silence. 4-3 Aces. Martinez 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K; Burnett 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

That’s back-to-back games where we registered only five hits each. In 23 total innings. NOT. GOOD.

Raccoons (4-2) vs. Knights (3-3) – April 11-13, 1994

For the third day in a row, we faced a 10+ ERA pitcher in game 1, with Pat Cherry having been roughed up badly in his first start (4.2 IP, 6 ER, L). The Aces got going first, kindly helped by a Ben O’Morrissey error for a 1-0 lead in the top 2nd. Jason Turner wasn’t behind for long. Reece walked to start the bottom 2nd, stole second (the Coons’ first bag of the year) and scored on Kinnear’s double. In the fourth, Neil Reece extended his hitting streak to 19 games when his grounder took a bad hop on 2B Manuel Guzman and actually hit Guzman in the shoulder, which was generously scored a hit. This time he was scored by Baldivía and the Raccoons took a 2-1 lead. In the bottom 6th, we had our leadoff men on. Green grounded out, advancing them, and Vinson was put on intentionally with Turner coming up. Had we NOT played a 14-inning game the other night, Alejandro Lopez comes out to hit for Turner, but we still have to cover three innings with a depleted bullpen here, and Turner is sent batting. Hope for a sac fly, move from there. He popped out, but then Cherry walked Salazar to force in a run. That was a fatal error for Cherry, who then surrendered a bases-clearing double to Higgins, breaking up the tight game. Royce Green upped the score with his first long ball for the Raccoons, a 2-shot in the bottom 7th, and they added three more runs in the eighth, including two unearned runs after an error by Michael Root. 11-1 Raccoons! Higgins 2-5, 2B, 3 RBI; Reece 2-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Kinnear 2-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Baldivía 3-4, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Turner 7.1 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, W (2-0);

CF Jesus Gonzalez opened game 2 with a bang, a massive shot off Miguel Lopez for an early 1-0 Knights score, but the Coons turned it around in the bottom 1st, Reece and Allen driving in runs, and they made it a 5-1 game through three innings. Fans were enjoying their day at the park, with Miguel Lopez shutting down the Knights, and the Raccoons continuing to rake. At one point, Kinnear, O-Mo, and Reece hit back-to-back-to-back doubles, all just shy of the walls, to the crowd’s excitement. The Knights had to get Lopez out of the game to get the offense going, but then Root hit an enormous home run off Juan Martinez in the eighth. Unfortunately, the shot was of the 3-run variety. Too little, too late: 9-4 Furballs! Salazar 2-5, RBI; Kinnear 2-5, 2B; O’Morrissey 2-5, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Reece 3-4, BB, 2 2B, 2 RBI; M. Lopez 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 8 K, W (2-0);

Neil Reece extended his hitting streak to 20 games in this contest. Jorge Salazar is close behind him with an active 14-game hitting streak, too!

I made an experiment for the next game (and it will continue beyond that, I am sure) and put Baldivía to second in the batting order. He was hitting tons of singles and few home runs, maybe that was more his slot. Unfortunately he was close to zero speed, so we can not steal bases with him out of that spot, but Higgins is not getting on base a lot at this point either.

The Knights scored first again in the final game of the series, two runs off “Pooky” in the first inning. Both runners had walked to get on base. Meanwhile we faced a strong starter in Glenn Ryan (0-0, 1.69 ERA). The Raccoons took some time to get into a groove against him, then loaded the bases with two down in the fourth, and Daniel Hall to bat. Hall took Ryan’s first pitch into shallow left for an RBI single, but Rodriguez made the final out. The bottom 5th saw us have another chance after a Salazar single and a Baldivía double. One out, O-Mo up. The third baseman walked on a full count, leaving it to Reece (who had already extended his streak in the fourth), to turn the game around, but Reece was collected by Ryan on his excellent changeup and Kinner lined out hard to waste the chance. Beato was done after six, but Ryan wasn’t and continued to keep the Coons in check despite two crowded innings – until Neil Reece led off the bottom 8th with a game-tying home run. Ryan was removed for Mike Dye to face Mark Allen, who was 1-15 on the year. Dye’s first pitch was right down Broadway and Allen certainly didn’t miss it, crushing it OVER the stands in right field – go-ahead home run! Unfortunately, it didn’t hold up. A messy outing by Grant West, a throwing error by Mark Allen, and another narrowly missed play by Allen, and then a bases-loaded walk by West created a 3-run onslaught in the top 9th, that put us 5-3 down. Bottom 9th. Vinson pinch-hit for a single, but was forced out on Salazar’s grounder. Higgins grounded out to move Salazar up. O-Mo came up and lined into center for a 2-out single. Salazar turned the corner and went for home, the throw home was errant, Salazar scored, and O-Mo as the tying run went to second base. Neil Reece could make it alright after all, but he grounded out. 5-4 Knights. O’Morrissey 2-3, 2 BB, RBI; Reece 2-5, HR, RBI; Vinson (PH) 1-1;

After punching out ten and walking one in his first start of the year, “Pooky” made it an even 5/5 in this game. What a mess, and Grant West was horrible in this outing. Jackie Lagarde is already polishing brand new shoes which he will only wear once he is designated the closer.

In other news

April 4 – WAS OF Dale Cleveland (1-3) will miss a month after suffering a separated shoulder on Opening Day, in a 2-1 win of the Capitals over the Miners.
April 8 – BOS LF/RF/1B Hjalmar Flygt (.250, 0 HR, 1 RBI) had carried over a 21-game hitting streak from the 1993 season. While he managed to retain it while the Titans were swept by the Canadiens, and built it to 24 games, he ran out of luck against the Thunder today, behing held hitless as the Titans lost 3-1.

Complaints and stuff

Neil Reece was Player of the Week to start the season, hitting 11-21 with 2 HR and 5 RBI. His season start was certainly nothing but inspiring. So far, most of his team mates have not been *really* inspired, though. Look at how you can add up any two other outfielders’ production below, and except for one combo they won’t stink up to Reece. He has already batted for 1.2 WAR at this point (and defended for 0.1 WAR, but it’s early)! Now, chances are that Reece won’t hit .475 for the year, but I am allowed to bask in the light of this radiating sun for a second, right?

Neil Reece – you gotta love that boy!!! Why does he look like he’s pissed?

Thank god the 1988 Coons were so horrible. I have no idea where we’d be if not for The Culling.

We enter the season with less than $150k of budget room. We can not add any significant players who were leftover free agents unless they sign a minor league (and thus a minimum) contract.

[Orcin]

Originally Posted by Westheim

Finally baseball!!

Yay! Yes, the post/pre-season does seem to drag on sometimes.

Originally Posted by Westheim

Neil Reece – you gotta love that boy!!! Why does he look like he’s pissed?

That's his "game face".

[Westheim]

Long two-week road trip ahead of us, with a long swing around the country, from Indy to Milwaukee, into Charlotte, and back home via Oklahoma, 13 games in total.

Raccoons (6-3) @ Indians (3-5) – April 14-17, 1994

This was a first vs. last matchup, but it doesn’t necessarily count for a lot if in theory the situation could reverse by the time we leave town. The Indians’ woes so far had been mainly of a lack of offense, with the Raccoons pouring out twice as many runs through one and a half weeks. I don’t expect our 5.89 R/G mark to hold up all times, though. But it never hurts to try.

With a long stretch of games to start the year, we were to give Reece, Salazar, Baldivía, and O’Morrissey, who had all started all games so far, days off during this series. Baldivía and Salazar made the start in the opener of the 4-set, with Quinn and Higgins subbing.

This changed lineup presented itself shockingly toothless against the Indians’ Jesus Lopez. The story of the game is quickly told. Lopez tossed a 4-hit shutout, while Scott Wade was respectable, but not good enough, surrendering three runs in seven innings. Tim Mallandain caused two more runs in the eighth inning with a 2-run homer to Matt Brown. 5-0 Indians.

For Mallandain (27.00 ERA) that was the last sucker outing. He found himself on the plane to St. Petersburg the next morning. 22-year old Cesar Salcido was called up to take his spot without having gotten into an AAA game this season yet. I expect him to walk eight guys while registering three outs, so I will look into free agent leftovers now. (But mind our non-existent budget space)

O-Mo had the day off for game 2, with Allen manning third base. Early on it looked like Neil Stewart would repeat Jesus Lopez’ performance from the day before, punching out four Coons in the first two innings, but Kisho Saito quickly out-aced him, because Stewart twice ran into a screeching chainsaw hidden quite well in the #7 hole in the Coons’ lineup: Royce Green. Our only offseason addition jacked two home runs off Stewart, the latter for three runs, for a 4-0 lead that Saito held well until the battery blew the shutout in the bottom 7th. Saito hit Luis Maldonado with a pitch. Vinson didn’t even make a throw, when Maldonado stole second, and he eventually came home to score a run. And it was only the beginning. A Mark Allen error put a man on in the bottom 8th, and a pitch to Angelo Duarte got away from Saito, and Duarte tripled, then scored on a sac fly. Suddenly it was a 4-3 game, since apart from Royce Green, we didn’t have anything going. Saito was removed when he put the tying run on, and Neil Reece threw the tying run out at third base, as Lagarde surrendered a single to catcher Mamoru Sato. Fortunately the Indians cocked up some, too, as their bullpen came apart in the top of the ninth. Both Salazar and Baldivía hit 2-run doubles in the inning, and Saito could breathe easier, finally getting his first W of the year. 8-3 Coons. Salazar 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Reece 2-4, BB; Higgins 2-4; Green 2-3, BB, 2 HR, 4 RBI; Saito 7.2 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 8 K, W (1-0);

Neil Reece finally got a day off in the third game. Lopez played center, and Green batted cleanup.

Indy’s Arthur Young had plagued us badly in recent times. For game 3, he came into the game with 24 times the ERA of Jason Turner (2-0, 0.61) with an 0-2, 14.85 ERA season so far. He could only get better, and perhaps would do so against the Raccoons. And of course, he did get better right here. While the Raccoons scored first, it took them until the third inning, and involved the Indians barely NOT turning a double play when Baldivía grounded to second with runners on the corners and one out. Turner pitched well, but ran into Tomas Maguey and a solo home run in the bottom 4th that tied the game. The Raccoons – whatever the reason was – were unable as a team to hit Young and his so-so arsenal, and did not get to him again. Young was removed with one out in the eighth and the first batter reliever Jim Durden faced was Salazar – and Salazar tripled. Baldivía hit a sac fly to give Turner a new lead. But Turner was unable to complete the eighth inning himself, like in his previous two starts. With two out, he issued his first two walks of the game, leaving it to Lagarde to deal with Maguey now, and got him to ground out to Salazar. We tried to get another run home in the ninth. Alejandro Lopez singled his way on with one out in the ninth, but he was thrown out trying to steal. Higgins then singled, and was sent to steal in a run-and-hit – and succeeded. Kinnear then drove him in with a single. Daniel Hall struck out with two on, leaving Grant West entrusted with a 3-1 lead. The first two men he faced hit doubles and that was it for him. Martinez had to stall the tying run on second base, popped up Claudio Ayala, struck out Joe Estes, and then struck out Mario Haider as well. PHEW!! 3-2 Raccoons. Salazar 2-4, 3B; Rodriguez 2-4, 2 2B; Turner 7.2 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, W (3-0) and 1-3; Martinez 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, SV (1);

If Grant West would have been born a horse, he would have been shot that evening.

Meanwhile Jason Turner is certainly off to fast start for sure. Despite needing to be rescued in the eighth inning of every game so far, he is 3-0 with a 0.81 ERA and 15/6 K/BB. Heck, I’d take five guys with those stats in a heartbeat

After seeing left-handed starters for three straight games (something that can only happen against the Indians, it seems), we faced right-hander Larry Davis (0-1, 7.11 ERA) in game 4, trying to nail down a series victory. Neil Reece had not been hurt by the off day, driving in the first run of the game with a 2-out RBI single in the top 1st. We added a run in the second inning, but then left the bags full in the third. The Coons took a few big swings against Davis, but didn’t tag him again until Royce Green hit a towering home run in the sixth to make it 3-0. While the Indians failed to get to Miguel Lopez, the Raccoons added another two runs on a Vern Kinnear homer in the eighth and while Lopez laid down a bad bunt that forced out Vinson at second base for the second out in the inning, Salazar extended his hitting streak and scored Lopez with a double that drummed off the wall in left center. Would Lopez finish the shutout bid? He had given up a single hit early on in the game, but nothing since. 2B Angel Gonzalez doubled with one out in the bottom 8th, and Lopez walked pinch-hitter Carlos Paredes with two down. Maldonado then made the final out to Green in right and the bid remained alive. Lopez got two quick outs from Haider and Maguey in the ninth, before Ayala managed an infield single in a full count. Mamoru Sato would be Lopez’ last batter, for better or worse. Kinnear made a play on Sato’s fly ball – a shutout! 6-0 Raccoons. Baldivía 2-5; Green 1-2, 2 BB, HR, RBI; Kinnear 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Vinson 2-4, 2B, RBI; M. Lopez 9.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 6 K, W (3-0);

This was the third career shutout pitched by Miguel Lopez, and his fourth complete game. It’s also the closest he has come to a no-hitter, his other shutouts having been 4-hitters. A rotation of Miguel Lopezes (3-0, 1.52 ERA, 23/2 K/BB) would not be bad either.

The hitting streaks of Neil Reece and Jorge Salazar have lingered through some 1-hit days, but are still alive at 24 and 18 games, respectively.

Raccoons (9-4) @ Loggers (6-6) – April 18-20, 1994

This was a matchup between the two CL teams with the least runs conceded so far. The Raccoons had allowed 39 runs, the Loggers 42. Yes, the Loggers actually did well at something. In turn, their offense was not exactly pumping, scoring 4.25 R/G, just below average.

The Loggers’ Rafael Garcia had gone 16.1 innings without allowing an earned run so far. Time to soil that streak. Garcia didn’t make it further than to 16.2 innings, with Salazar flying out to start the game. After that, an error put Baldivía on, O-Mo singled, and Reece unleashed some thunder with a towering 3-run home run, two runs of which were earned. Unfortuantely, Raimundo Beato fudged up that early lead in time. In a 3-1 game in the fourth, with one out and the tying runs in scoring position, he failed to get Garcia out in a 2-2 count. Garcia singled to left and tied the game. When Beato loaded the bases with nobody out in the fifth, he was yanked. Miller replaced him and scored the go-ahead run with a wild pitch, putting the Raccoons down 4-3. At that point, a good offense would kick into high gear, but the Raccoons didn’t have any gear in at all, having had one hit since the first inning. Instead, the bullpen collapsed spectacularly. Cesar Salcido made his debut in a lost game and managed a scoreless inning. 6-3 Loggers. Vinson 1-2, 2 BB; Quinn (PH) 1-1;

We had nothing going after the first inning. What a stinker of a game. It also marked the end for Salazar’s hitting streak, as he went 0-5. Neil Reece extended his streak to 25 games with the home run, but the news were overshadowed by Dave Browne’s 2,000th hit the same day.

Game 2. The Coons struck early again with a 2-out, 2-run double by Matt Higgins in the first inning. The Loggers weren’t bothered. They tagged Scott Wade for three runs in the bottom 1st, yet the 3-2 deficit was tied up by the Coons in the top 2nd, but Reece left the bases loaded when he flew out. It was a mess of a game. The Raccoons took a lead in the third, when 3B Raúl Rodriguez threw away Daniel Hall’s grounder, allowing Matt Higgins to score an unearned run, and added a run in the fourth on a balk. Neither starter made it through the fifth inning. The Loggers pinch-hit for Albert Zarate in the fourth, and Wade put the tying runs on in the fifth and was removed for Burnett to face lefty Jim Stein. Burnett surrendered the game-tying double and was removed as well. Martinez got out of the inning, stalling Stein at third base. 5-5 through five, the Raccoons came back with back-to-back doubles by Salazar and Baldivía, followed by bloop singles from Reece and Higgins in the sixth. Green struck out with the latter two on, keeping the score at 7-5. The Coons’ pen rapidly emptied in the seventh. Vela got an out, Salcido got one lefty, but not the second, and Lagarde had to come out to face a struggling Gates Golunski, who batted .184 on the year. Lagarde got his 1-2 pitch right back to his feet for a kindergarten easy out to first, then struck out the side in the eighth. With only Miller in reserve, Grant West better would not blow this one. Duane Smith flew to deep center, but into Reece’s glove, before West got pop ups from the next two batters. 7-5 Raccoons. Salazar 2-4, BB, 2B; Baldivía 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; O’Morrissey 2-5, 2B; Higgins 3-5, 2 2B, 3 RBI; Martinez 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, W (1-0); Lagarde 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

Not a game for my fragile nerves. I screamed some obscenities along the way. Needless to say I am way more happy with the top 3 of the rotation at this point. Let’s hope for Kisho Saito taking care of a more silent game on getaway day. Should be in his best interest, he still has to win 26 for #200.

One thing standing against Saito making a long and calm outing in game 3 was the nasty weather. Dark clouds hovered over the park from the get go, and rain started to come down with the Coons up 2-0 in the second inning, quickly forcing a 40-minute delay. The pitchers kept going, but Saito gave away the lead in the third inning. He would probably not go past the fifth, so scoring for him was urgent. In the top 5th, Baldivía singled with one out, and O-Mo walked, ending the day of SP Miguel Garcia. John Bennett came in and balked the runners over for Neil Reece to drive them home. Reece fell to 2-2 after being 2-0 ahead, but then singled up the middle to score Baldivía and give Saito a lead. Higgins and Kinnear then left the runners on, and we left two more on in the sixth. Saito got one out in the sixth, but put Drake Evans on and was removed. O-Mo made a sparkling play to end the inning with a double play on a grounder by Golunski off Daniel Miller. It could have ended well, but the bullpen broke down again. Miller allowed the Loggers to tie the game and load the bases in the seventh, and Burnett allowed all runners to score. Golunski crowned the nightmare with a 3-shot off Vela. All runs had been scored with two out. When the Raccoons loaded them up in the top 8th with one out, they failed to score on a fly out by Baldivía and a groundout by O’Morrissey. 10-4 Loggers. Baldivía 2-5, 2B; Reece 3-4, BB, RBI; Kinnear 2-5, 2B, RBI; Vinson 2-4, 2B, RBI; Allen (PH) 1-1;

In other news

April 16 – RIC RF/LF Raúl Vázquez (.460, 3 HR, 14 RBI) extends a hitting streak that began last season for the Indians to 20 games with two hits in the Rebels’ 4-3 win over the Cyclones.
April 16 – VAN SP Manny Ramos (3-0, 1.66 ERA) 2-hits the Crusaders in a 10-0 blowout. It’s back-to-back shutouts for the Canadiens over the Crusaders, as Arnold McCray had tossed a 5-hitter the day before.
April 16 – RIC INF/LF Enrico Lopez (.324, 0 HR, 5 RBI) will miss a month with a broken thumb.
April 18 – OCT 2B/1B Dave Browne (.269, 0 HR, 3 RBI) joins the 2,000 hits club in a 12-6 drubbing of the Thunder to the Knights. The 32-year old Browne hits the milestone base hit in time, a first inning double off Glenn Ryan, who gets tagged for nine runs in 1.2 innings, with Browne getting two hits and scoring two runs against him.

Complaints and stuff

So much for our bullpen. The left-handers are giving us massive trouble so far. So far our offense ranks first in the CL with 84 runs scored (5.25 R/G), but the bullpen has been costing us a few games.

Dave Browne is in a hurry to get to 3,000 hits, by the way. The day after he logged #2,000 (and #2,001), he 5-hit blitzed the Knights in a 7-3 Thunder win. At one point, looooong ago, he was a piece of trade talks, but I can’t remember for whom that should have been.

Strange fact: Kisho Saito has won 20 games in a season – once. But never for one team. Huh!? He won 20 games in 1984, when he was traded from the Canadiens to the Raccoons in July. He went 14-4 for the smelly Elks, then 6-4 for the fluffy Furballs, for a 20-8 season. He has two 19-win seasons (one on each side of the 49th parallel).

At the pace the offense (and pen…) is going for Saito, he will have to pitch until his age 41 season to reach 200 wins -.-

[Westheim]

Raccoons (10-6) @ Falcons (8-8) – April 22-24, 1994

The Falcons so far had scored the most runs in the Continental League, but only two more than the Raccoons. In turn, they also ranked 10th in runs allowed, so we may get to see some scoring.

Scoring could be seen early in game 1, and plenty of it – and none by the Raccoons. Jason Turner, who came in with a 0.81 ERA, failed to get out of the first inning, allowing five hits, three walks, and seven runs. To complete the humiliation, he allowed a grand slam to Carlos Castro, the opposing pitcher. Rarely has a Raccoons starter ever been so thoroughly destroyed. The game was of course lost at this point, it was about playing down the innings with a 7-0 deficit. 9-2 Falcons. Miller 3.1 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K and 1-1, 2B; Salcido 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

Neil Reece’s hitting streak was also a casualty of this nightmare.

The Raccoons actually took a lead in the middle game. Mark Allen hit a solo home run in the second inning to achieve this, and, yes, our pitcher of the day, Miguel Lopez, had survived the first inning. He gave up three runs in the bottom 2nd, though. In total, the Falcons got ten hits off Lopez, but no more runs through six. The Raccoons were 3-hit at that point, just like the day before. Falcons starter Elijah Grant was still looking for his first decision of the year and took the 3-1 lead into the seventh, but didn’t get it out of there. Higgins singled his way on leading off, and Grant threw two wild pitches to advance him. It didn’t matter, because Alejandro Lopez would hit a game-tying home run regardless. Now, one thing you had to admire was Grant’s longevity. He was still on the mound as the game went into extra innings, although the Falcons had made a mistake here. Rodriguez, Salazar, and Baldivía all landed hits to start the inning, knocking him out and settling him with the loss. Although the Raccoons left the bags full, Baldivía’s double had scored Rodriguez, and Grant West saved the game with Lagarde already expended in regulation. 4-3 Coons. Kinnear 2-4, BB, 2B; Higgins 2-5; Rodriguez 1-1; Lagarde 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K;

Two bad starts in a row by the guys I wanted to clone last week. Oh just what the hell is going on now …? And now we are actually heading to the strugglers in the rotation.

Raimundo Beato started game 3, and was given a 2-0 lead in the top 1st. He never really got a chance to blow it, since he signaled for the trainer after facing two batters, putting one on, and then left. Scott Wade was warmed up and sent in (with an off day following the most convenient solution). Wade looked off from the start, somehow escaped the first inning with two pop ups, but looked shaky for some time. And just when I thought we’d be fine – with some security added by a Kinnear home run and a massive Falcons cockup in the sixth that led to an unearned run – Wade seemed to come apart, throwing down the middle until Djordje Nedic hit a leadoff triple in the bottom 6th. Wade still pulled through, somehow, to the seventh, earning at least a perseverance medal. The Coons upped their offense in the eighth with a pair of homers. Both teams loaded the bases in the ninth (with Miller looking not too good two days after doing long relief), but neither scored (Miller’s mess being cleaned up by Salazar with a double play). 6-1 Raccoons. Kinnear 2-4, BB, HR, RBI; Reece 3-4; Higgins (PH) 1-1; Allen 3-5, HR, 3 RBI; Vinson 2-3, BB, HR, RBI; Wade 6.2 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, W (1-2);

Raimundo Beato was diagnosed with a dead arm, but was supposed to be ready for his next start. I was not quite so sure. Maybe he will be skipped in the rotation. We’ll see.

Raccoons (12-7) @ Thunder (11-8) – April 26-28, 1994

Another team that was scoring plenty, but was also scored upon plenty, especially early in games, with a 4.82 ERA (10th in CL) on the rotation. We were lucky to miss Bob MacGruder (3-0, 2.35 ERA), but our history against washed up pitchers is not that stellar.

Plus, you couldn’t call Manuel Garza (1-1, 3.42 ERA) a washup, either. The last four years, he had always won double-digit games and never had an ERA over four. The Raccoons took a 2-0 lead in the first, but Kisho Saito was greeted to Oklahoma with a leadoff homer off SS Jose Sanchez’ bat. Neil Reece was hurt on a defensive play early in the game, putting another dampener on the affair. While Saito was not overpowering many in the Thunder lineup, he pitched an efficient game with some help by the defense, and competently managed a 4-1 lead through seven innings. There, I somehow started to mismanage the pen. Salcido got an out, before Martinez came in and put two on in the eighth. Runners on the corners with two out, I skipped Burnett with lefty Jose Marquez to bat and went straight to West, who at least punched him out with no runs scored. West ended the game in time. 4-1 Coons. Salazar 2-5, 2B; Kinnear 2-3, 2 BB, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Saito 7.0 IP, 8 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, W (2-0); West 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, SV (5);

Manning a very competent centerfield in this game, and costing us a few runs: Jeff Martin. You may remember him, he was that leftover in the outfield with high potential that never materialized when he wore a brown cap. He’s batting a bit over .300 this year.

The medial report on Neil Reece came quick and was devastating, to say the least. That night in the hotel, me, manager Chad Klein, trainer Michael Dempsey, and Neil Reece sat together. Reece’s right hand was sporting a shiny white cast – for it was broken. He will miss up to three months.

Matt Duncan was added to the roster to repla- … no, you can’t … he can’t … I just want to ……..

Game 2 had a Raccoons lineup in which only five men batted better than .210. And Turner trying to recover from his Charlotte Encounter. He improved a lot, really, from his last start, for this time he was only raped for four runs in the first inning, but for eight runs total. The team as a whole was ****ed pretty badly. I went to the hotel in the seventh inning to cry myself to sleep, when Vela and Salcido were beheaded and quartered in that inning. 12-3 Thunder, four home runs to one (O-Mo). Green 2-3, RBI;

Just get outta here without any more casualties. Gotta get outta here without any more casualties. Screw a win. I just want outta here.

Miguel Lopez didn’t make the best impression in this rubber game. A Kinnear sac fly gave him a 1-0 lead to start with, but he loaded the bases and only got out of the first unharmed on a play by O-Mo. Bottom 2nd: Tashiro Ikeda homered with one out, tying the game. Pitcher Lou Corbett then reached on an error by not fielding centerfielder Alejandro Lopez, and moved up stealing second base, and then to third base on a passed ball. Then O-Mo retired Jose Sanchez on a great play, holding the runner, and Lopez still surrendered a 2-out RBI single to Dave Browne, and proceeded by nailing RF Vonne Calzado before Lopez finally caught a flyer for the third out. Lopez would nail Browne the next time through the lineup, too. I couldn’t stand this any longer, and not just because the dugout railings at the Thunder’s ballpark that I had dug my teeth into was tasting like horse dung. Matt Higgins brought the Raccoons back with a 2-run home run in the third, that turned the game around again. Slow pop ups starved Haruki Nakayama on third base in the fifth inning, where he had ended up with one out. A sac fly by Daniel Hall added a run in the sixth, 4-2. Salazar doubled to lead off the top 7th, but made the first out at third base, costing the Raccoons a run in the inning. They would score an additional run on a Sanchez error, though, and to be honest, the only reason the Raccoons came out on top in this game by a wide margin was the fact that the Thunder forked up much more than them, with an immensely costly error by Tadashi Kan, runs walked in by reliever Tony Simpson, and so on mounting up to an explosive eight-run inning for the Raccoons. All but two of the eight runs were unearned. A pair of slow rollers then eluded Higgins and Salazar on either side of the infield to start the bottom 8th. Two men on, nobody out. For the first time in the game, a Coon would achieve something on his own right here: Lopez ended the inning with punchouts. 13-2 Raccoons. Salazar 3-6, 2B, RBI; Higgins 2-6, HR, 3 RBI; Baldivía 2-4, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Duncan (PH) 1-1; Kinnear 2-5, 3 RBI; A. Lopez 4-4, BB, 2 2B; Rodriguez 2-4, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; M. Lopez 8.0 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 8 K, W (4-0);

Gloomy. Like these dreams we have at times, standing atop the edge of a gloomy, faintly green glowing abyss, from deep deep down of which something is howling at you. Just let yourself fall, so it can be over.

So it can be over.

In other news

April 21 – RIC RF/LF Raúl Vázquez (.391, 3 HR, 14 RBI) has his 23-game hitting streak come to an end, as he goes 0-5 while the Capitals win a close 2-1 game.
April 23 – IND MR Jim Durden (1-2, 3.24 ERA, 1 SV) notches his 400th career save in a 9-0 win of the Indians over the Aces. Durden actually pitched the final three innings in the effort. The 18th pick by the Scorpions in the 1979 draft, Durden has played only for the Scorpions (1981-86) and Indians (1987-94) in his career, a rare feat for ABL closers.
April 25 – RIC SP Harry Griggs (5-0, 1.99 ERA) 1-hits the Gold Sox in a sterling performance. The Rebels win 3-0. The offending hit is a leadoff single by Antonio Gonzalez in the top 4th.
April 26 – MIL SP Albert Zarate (0-2, 7.94 ERA) could be out for the season with a torn labrum. The pitcher claims to be back in September.
April 27 – RIC INF Antonio Diaz (.247, 3 HR, 10 RBI) could miss the rest of the season as well with a torn back muscle. The young Diaz is a key piece of the Rebels infield.

Complaints and stuff

Neil Reece was batting .392 with 5 HR and 15 RBI three weeks into the season. It could have been a magic year. Now he’s hurt, down, and out. And the Raccoons as a whole will soon follow. Apart from Salazar, Baldivía, and Kinnear we have little to no production. Finding a cleanup batter was a job terrible enough. I settled on Kinnear for the short term, so left field will not be alternated. Lopez will also start in center now, unless Royce Green gets his crap together. Hall and Quinn are just sad to see. They make me cry.

This … all … this … everything makes me cry.

We’re dead.

[Westheim]

We came home licking wounds. The Crusaders were up first, but after that loomed the Canadiens for four, and we hadn’t even half a lineup of consistent and productive batters at this point.

Like I said, we’re dead.

Raccoons (14-8) vs. Crusaders (8-13) – April 29-May 1, 1994

They were not scoring any runs, those Canadiens, but had also only allowed the third-least runs in the league. They had like two impressive batters, Pat Jenkins (6 HR) and Benjamin Butler (4 HR), both batting over .300. It didn’t help their starters, who were getting no run support and thus almost all had losing records.

The only winning pitcher the Crusaders had, Luis Andrade (1-0, 4.74 ERA), was fielded by them for game 1. We sent Beato, who declared that he was fine. The only thing that Beato managed to achieve in this game was that he came apart after Andrade. The Coons scored three runs in the first inning, including a 2-run triple by Kinnear, but Beato gave it away by the fourth inning. Beato was still yanked first after he walked in the go-ahead run in the fifth. Another run scored against Miller. Trailing 5-3, the Raccoons laid down to die. They didn’t rise again until the bottom 9th, where closer Ivan Lopez allowed them to threaten a little. Royce Green walked with one out, but was forced out on Quinn’s grounder. Salazar reached on an error, putting the tying runs on base. A masher would be welcome now, but Higgins was up next, and he grounded out. 5-3 Crusaders. Vinson 2-3, BB; Burnett 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Scott Wade started game 2 with a walk to Grady Young. Oh, here we go. From here, he surrendered the next ten batters straight, until Pat Jenkins broke up a shyly blossoming bid in the fourth with a single to right. By that point, the Raccoons were up 4-0 after again scoring three in the opening inning, this time off John Woodard. Whether an actual bid would have had a chance, turned out to be highly questionable, though, as it started to rain fairly early, and the game interrupted for almost half an hour in the bottom of the fourth. Wade still fared quite well, but gave up two runs in the sixth inning. He led off the bottom 6th at the plate, and I intended to use him for another inning, if he got the first men up in the seventh. Wade, who once had hit a grand slam, had the bases empty here, but still homered to make it a 6-2 game. Baldivía drove in another run, Wade completed seven, and the Raccoons won, 7-2. Salazar, 3-5, 2B, RBI; Higgins 2-4; Baldivía 2-4, 2 2B, RBI; Kinnear 2-4; Quinn 2-4; Wade 7.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, W (2-2) and 1-2, HR, RBI;

Why is Vern Kinnear not a good cleanup hitter? Game 3 showed why. The Raccoons put their first three batters on against David Ramirez (1-3, 6.21 ERA), when Kinnear popped up a 3-0 pitch for the first out. Green and Allen also left the runners on. Here we go. Benjamin Butler homered off Saito in the second, and in the third Allen misplayed a pop up for an error that led to an unearned 2-run homer by Jenkins. It was not Saito’s game, and not that of any other Raccoon. For six hits and six K’s in six frames, the Crusaders scored quite a few runs: five. While the Furballs left all kinds of runners on base, they still got Saito off the hook, tying the game in the seventh on an RBI single by O-Mo and Kinnear’s RBI groundout. The loss we took was on Jackie Lagarde in the end, who surrendered not one, but two solo home runs to the obnoxious Butler and Martin Limón. 7-5 Crusaders. Salazar 2-2; Baldivía 1-2, 2 BB, 2B; O’Morrissey 2-5, RBI; Higgins (PH) 2-2;

What a showing against the last place team. We will certainly win the Universe Series this year. And now the Canadiens come to town. Yay. Great. The Canadiens had lost two of three in Boston, but still.

To make things still even worse, Jorge Salazar came up with a sore calf in this game and will be DTD for a few days.

Raccoons (15-10) vs. Canadiens (13-11) – May 2-5, 1994

So far, the Canadiens had performed above average in most important categories, but not exceptional in any of them. Third in runs scored, fifth in runs against. It was the Raccoons who were limping into this series. Salazar was rested in games 1 and 2 at least. Duncan would play short. Would have to play short. Would have to be played at short.

Tied series, I’m relieved. I fear the worst, though.

We proudly ran Jason Turner in the opener, who had been tagged for 11 runs in his last two opening innings. He improved his streak of sucking to only fall 1-0 behind in the top 1st. Turner then held that score for a while. Despite two errors by the Canadiens early on, the Raccoons had no good chance to score until the bottom 5th, when Quinn hit a leadoff double. Next came Duncan in the #8 slot, filling in at short. He hurled a pitch by Manny Ramos to deep right field, where it bounced just fair and then off the wall in foul ground, off the right field wall, happily always around Roland Moore, who tried to get it back in in vain. Duncan was getting to third base when Moore finally brought the ball back in, but blew through and made a dash home – and was safe! An astonishing 2-run inside-the-park home run!! The Raccoons then resorted to failing again, leaving the bags full in the sixth. With two out, Salazar pinch-hit for Turner, but struck out. Higgins was left in scoring position in the seventh, and of course everything had to go to hell. Burnett put the first two men on in the top 8th, Lagarde loaded them up, and then a Duncan error plated the tying run. Lagarde then struck out two, and got a fly out, but the damage had been done. West pitched a scoreless top 9th, before Higgins led off the bottom of the inning. He doubled to right. Prime chance to walk off, Baldivía advanced Higgins to third with nobody out. O-Mo grounded out badly, holding Higgins. Kinnear was waved onto the open base, bringing up Vinson. Our catcher of choice went into a full count, then hurled Ricardo Medina’s offering into left, where it fell in and died a hero. 3-2 Coons. Higgins 3-4, BB, 2B; Vinson 1-3, 2 BB, RBI; Quinn 2-4, 2B; Duncan 2-3, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Turner 6.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 1 K;

Matt Higgins, our baseline blazer, was thrown out twice by Edgardo Ramos, a not-too-strongly-armed catcher, in this game. He made a third attempt on his own in the seventh, and then succeeded.

Game 2 was against lefty Kevin Williams (4-1, 2.55 ERA), so Salazar sat to play all switch hitters and rest his calf, while lefty Miguel Lopez (4-0, 1.91 ERA) matched up well with his counterpart. Luis Arroyo soiled Lopez’ stats early on with a 2-run homer in the first inning. Vinson, one day removed from being the hero, grounded into an inning-ending double play in the bottom 1st with the bases loaded. The misery would go on from there. The Coons left two on in the second, before Lopez walked four batters (one intentional) in a 3-run third inning. Lopez was done after putting on ten men in four innings. The game was about lost, with no offense going. It was a game in which every single thing went as wrong as possible. The bottom 7th saw the Coons put on their first two batters, down 6-1. Then O’Morrissey grounded into a double play. Kinnear hit an infield single that 2B David Brewer could not convert to first in time, before the Coons loaded the bags. Two out, Hall up against reliever Jose Amador. Hall walked, but Allen took a wild hack too much behind him. 14 men were left on base by the Coons in the game. 6-3 Canadiens. Higgins 2-5, RBI; Rodriguez (PH) 2-2, 2B; A. Lopez (PH) 1-1, 2B; Salcido 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K;

Matt Higgins has a 12-game hitting streak going.

Salazar started game 3. Beato also started game 3. With neither you knew whether they would remain in there for long. At least his ERA was only roughly half of Ruben Prado’s 6.49 mark. The Raccoons started the game my letting as many chances get away as they could, while Beato did two things that Scott Wade had once done. He carried a no-hitter past the third against the Canadiens (although Brewer broke it up in time), and with two out in the bottom 4th hit a huge fly ball that became a GRAAAAAND SLAAAAM!!! Maybe all could have been fine, hadn’t Beato then surrendered three straight doubles in the fifth, halving his lead instantly. Beato pitched into the eighth after recollecting, but Salvador Mendez’ 2-out single knocked him out there. With Burnett tired and Salcido not enjoying my trust, West had to pitch a 4-out save with lefty David Brewer at the plate. Brewer flew out to Lopez and part one of the task was done well. After an insurance run was collected on a groundout by O-Mo, West sat down two, before Roland Moore homered off him. Michael McFarland then flew out. We had just so held on. 5-3 Raccoons. Beato 7.2 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, W (2-2) and 1-3, HR, 4 RBI;

With this game, Neil Reece ceased to appear on the leaderboards based on averages due to insufficient AB’s. He had been in the top 3 in the CL in AVG and OPS.

Scott Wade was quickly run over in game 4, five of the first six Canadiens reaching, and fell 2-0 behind. The Coons didn’t get a hit against starter Dave Beck, who had to be peeled off the front of the Greyhound bus that had run over him twice already this year for an ERA of almost nine, until the fourth, and that shy single by Baldivía remained alone until the seventh, when Kinnear homered with nobody on. Then they put two on, and left them on. Those were also the last runners the team managed to get in another game you would not have wanted to witness. 3-1 Canadiens. Wade 7.2 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, L (2-3);

Well, it also depends on how you lose games.

In other news

April 29 – Other teams have it hard, too: the Bayhawks lose LF/RF Pedro Perez (.240, 2 HR, 16 RBI) for the season. The 27-year old, who has batted .309 with 23 HR and 107 RBI on average for the last two years, has broken his elbow.
April 30 – TIJ SP John Douglas (1-1, 4.55 ERA) is diagnosed to have bone spurs in his elbow and will be out for four months.

Complaints and stuff

Miguel Lopez (4-0, 1.91 ERA) was named the Continental League’s Pitcher of the Month for April 1994. It could have been a close race with Jason Turner, had the month ended halfway through. By now Jason Turner was headed nowhere but the trash dump.

Scott Wade and Grant West have notified me that they want a contract extension, independently of each other on consecutive days this week. Well, Scotty. Grant. Erm. You know, erm … maybe later.

Nothing is working right. The starters are constantly blowing games, or the bullpen blows games, or the offense blows games. We’re seriously bound for a chainsaw massacre with this team. The only thing we currently have which I can reliably book on is several million bucks in .200 hitters.

The Rebels are quite impressive out of the gate. They have been to the postseason only once before, in 1978, and were then eliminated by the Warriors. They have not finished within ten games of the division champions the last *eleven* seasons. You kind of wish them to have a playoff season once in a generation, and it’s 15 years. Not that this is a bad franchise, though: they have finished in the bottom two positions only four times (1983-1986), and overall are a .508 franchise.

[Westheim]

One quick hop down the West Coast, and then we will have a two week stint at home, facing some interesting teams, including the Titans. We have alternated wins and losses for ten straight games now. Time to start a streak by sweeping the Scorpions.

Raccoons (17-12) @ Scorpions (10-18) – May 6-8, 1994

The Scorpions were neither scoring, nor avoiding being scored on very well. They ranked in the bottom four in all major categories in the Federal League.

The Raccoons ran into a buzzing chainsaw in the opener of the series. David Castillo mowed them down mercilessly, striking out eleven, while allowing only five hits over eight innings. There was little room to get anything done there. To add insult to injury, Castillo drove in the Scorpions’ sole two runs with two outs in the seventh off a luckless Kisho Saito. The Scorpions sent former much-loved Furball Richard Cunningham to close it. Kinnear and Allen had singles to start the ninth, and then Green walked to load the bases. Here, the bad luck suddenly swung around violently. Both Vinson and Lopez managed to squeeze slow grounders just past the middle infielders to tie the game. Still bases loaded, still nobody out. Salazar and Baldivía brought home two more runs with a bases-loaded single and walk, respectively. Then came Grant West, put the first two men on, and the Scorpions advanced them into scoring position with one out. It was a matter of trust. And at this point, Jackie Lagarde entered the game. He got the final two outs. 4-2 Coons. Baldivía 2-4, BB, 2 2B, RBI; Kinnear 2-5; Vinson 2-4, RBI; A. Lopez 2-4, RBI; Saito 7.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 2 K;

We faced low-run-support-sufferer Steve Rogers (1-4, 3.52 ERA) in game 2. Royce Green spelled Lopez for a day in center, which soon came to badly bite Jason Turner. But first, the Raccoons scored three runs in the top 2nd, after having nobody on with two out. Hall walked, Green walked, Turner singled, Salazar walked, and Higgins singled. Flip to the bottom of the inning, and Rogers lifted a flyer to shallow center with two out and two in scoring position. Green came on, caught it, dropped it, and two runs scored. After the Scorpions left the tying run on third base in the next two innings, they equalized the score in the fifth, and took a 4-3 lead in the sixth against an ineffective Turner, who allowed 11 base hits. The Raccoons had zero offense going after the second inning. Zero. They were held to four hits in the game, half of which had come off Turner’s bat. 4-3 Scorpions. Vela 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

Going nowhere is depressing. Really depressing. Below the five spot, our lineup is deader than dead.

The Raccoons batted through the order in the first inning of the rubber game, scoring three runs, or more precisely: they watched with amusement as Domingo León (0-4, 5.25 ERA) struggled to hit the strike zone. He walked four in the inning. But they had blown a 3-0 lead the day before and I was confident they could do that again. Miguel Lopez didn’t look too bad initially, but became horribly stuck in the sixth. Of course he had not gotten additional support, and when the Scorpions scored two and had two more on, he was removed. Miller replaced him and was about out of the inning, when an O’Morrissey error loaded the bases. Art Garrett then flew out to center. Inning over. It didn’t help. The bullpen massively cocked up in the eighth. Martinez put two on while getting only one out. Burnett came in to face lefty Sam Green and walked him. Lagarde was thrown into the mess. German Roldán grounded a 1-2 pitch back to Lagarde, who went to home for a force out. Garrett then grounded to Salazar, who forced out Roldán. Inning over. Lagarde then sat down the side in order in the ninth, saving the win. The Raccoons had four base runners past the first inning. 3-2 Coons. Baldivía 2-4; Miller 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K; Lagarde 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, SV (2);

The offense is deplorable. And depressing. You don’t know whether to throw a tantrum or the towel every other game. If not for Jackie Lagarde, we probably get swept in this series, which from the offense’s point consisted of 24 innings of outright sucking, producing runs in exactly three innings. Neil Reece ain’t everything, but without him we have nothing. Kinnear and Salazar have gone cold, and those are two of the five that have batted in the first five in the lineup for most of the week, the others being Higgins, Baldivía (the master of double plays), and Vinson. Behind them, even O-Mo can’t buy a hit for his life. If your pitchers have half the hits in a game, it is telling quite the story about the – frankly – goddamn awful offense you have together.

Can it actually get worse?

I seem to be begging for it.

Raccoons (19-13) vs. Cyclones (15-17) – May 10-12, 1994

Talk about an average team. The most remarkable about the Cyclones was their bullpen, which so far had held on to a 2.05 ERA, 2nd in the Federal League. We were scheduled to face three right-handers, of which none was too impressive, and all had losing records.

Still, Mark Burt had won 17 games a year ago, so he had something, sometimes. That was more than what Raimundo Beato had, in any case. Beato got the Cyclones into a lead in the second inning, scoring the first of two runs with a wild pitch. To say something about or offense, too: Beato had the first hit for the Raccoons in the bottom 3rd, a 1-out RBI double. Now, before you think Matt Duncan got on base with an achievement of his own – nope, Burt nooked him. He would also puff Baldivía, then to load the bags. That was when O’Morrissey grounded into a inning-ending double play. The Coons managed to tie the game in the fifth, after Lopez had reached on an infield single. Higgins clubbed him in with a Texas Leaguer with two down. And what did Beato do in that 2-2 game? Just to drive me crazy, he put the first three men up in the top 6th all on base. Burnett came in and held the damage to one run on a sac fly – and he might have held a tie if Kinnear hadn’t fallen on his face after catching Joey Jones’ shy flyer to shallow left. The Coons reared their head once more. Salazar pinch-hit for a single leading off the bottom 8th, then Higgins singled. Go-ahead runs aboard. Baldivía grounded to force out Higgins, before O-Mo – batting all of a buck sixty-nine by now – lifted a harmless fly to shallow center. Too shallow for Salazar. Kinnear came up. The relieving bloop into short center scored Salazar to tie the game again, before Burt whiffed Vinson to sniff out our offensive uprising. That was the last time a Raccoon was on base, and the Cyclones won it against Miller in the tenth. 4-3 Cyclones. Higgins 2-4, BB, RBI; Vela 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 3 K;

Former Coon 2B Dani Perez started in this game, had a hit, but left early with an injury. He is batting far below .200. I liked him, but shipping him out was a good move. Despite a bruise on his neck, Perez would be played for the remainder of the series.

We skipped Wade and went to Saito in game 2, which turned out to be less of a pitchers’ duel and more of a showcase of terribly uncompetitive offensive formations. The Cyclones didn’t get into scoring position until the fifth, and the Raccoons didn’t threaten too much either until the bottom of that inning. Lopez walked his way on base, and Saito hit a 1-out single in a 3-1 count. A wild pitch advanced them with Salazar at the plate, who was then put on to try to coax Higgins to ground into a double play. He fouled out instead, and Baldivía found his way into an out at first. Next inning, Saito, who had allowed two hits through five innings, was singled to death. Six batters, five singles, all on the first or second pitch. Martinez failed to relieve anything. Six runs scored. It was over. 6-1 Cyclones. Baldivía 2-4, 3B, 2B, RBI; Wade 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K;

That one run was unearned, too. I was wrong. It will only get even more worse… worse… worserer. At this point the Furballs were 1.5 games ahead of fourth place, and 2.5 games ahead of fifth place. By the end of the week …

Game 3. Both pitchers faced the minimum through three, with Hall’s single all that could be counted. Turner was perfect through four innings, punching out five. Then Moromao Hino led off the fifth with a triple. Hino scored, but Mark Allen homered in the bottom 5th (was that some life at the plate my a millionaire?). In the bottom 6th, an infield single, an error, and a wild pitch were still not enough gaffes by the Cyclones to score a run for the home team. Top 7th. Two out, runner on first for the Cyclones. Dani Perez to bat. You see it coming, right? So did I. Perez still doubled. 2-1 Cyclones. But we still have nine outs, right? Yes, we had. And made them all, leaving the tying run on base every inning. 2-1 Cyclones. Salazar 2-4; Allen 2-4, HR, 2B, RBI; Turner 9.0 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 9 K, L (3-4);

Offensive output in April (24 games): 126 runs
Offensive output in May (11 games): 32 runs

Raccoons (19-16) vs. Loggers (17-16) – May 13-15, 1994

The Loggers need to only win this series (and hope for the Titans not to put up a sweep) to actually lead the division past April 10. Their team certainly wasn’t great, as they fielded three sub-.200 batters in the opener (excluding pitcher Davis Sims), but this was the time to act for them.

Game 1. Miguel Lopez didn’t allow a hit until Bob Rush hit a leadoff single in the third. Next, Sims bunted, and Vinson threw it away. The Loggers would send up their whole lineup again until Sims grounded into a double play. Six runs scored. And another game was over. The Loggers felt sorry and gave two runs right back after a capital error by Rush, although only one was unearned. Lopez soldiered into the sixth, for nothing. The Raccoons never mattered again in the game. 6-2 Loggers. Salazar 2-4, 2B, RBI;

The Loggers rank first in the CL North. Must be some sort of extreme apocalypse. Vinson and Kinnear were not hitting anything anymore. Our offense was down to Salazar, Higgins, and Baldivía. That’s it. You know it’s bad when your backup catcher is penciled in for the #5 hole behind a sub-.200 batter in Royce Green.

Whatever Green had done so far, he tripled in the tying run in the bottom 3rd of the middle game. Raimundo Beato was going strong, he just needed some support. Well, there lays the dead procyonid in the rye. Bases loaded, two out in the fifth, our masher de luxe, Jose Rodriguez came up – and struck out. Bottom 6th. Leadoff single by Lopez, then O-Mo walked. Hall was put on intentionally to bring up Beato. He grounded into a force at home, but Salazar singled in the go-ahead run. The Loggers’ Tim Butler scored Hall with a wild pitch, which was a good thing, since the Coons couldn’t come up with any more offense. Beato went on to retire the first batter in the eighth, then left for Ken Burnett with four left-handers up. A 3-1 lead with five outs to collect, Burnett got the first two, before West took over in the ninth. West got the first out, then put the tying runs on. Enough, bring Lagarde! Jackie Lagarde collected the final two outs with high, high fly balls, that were far from far hit. 3-1 Coons. Hall 1-2, 2 BB; Beato 7.1 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, W (3-2);

For the hell of it, Daniel Hall batted cleanup in game 3. Why not? Maybe he can walk again and score on successive errors.

Scott Wade lost game 3 in a hurry, allowing three runs in the opening inning. In turn, the Coons put their first two batters on. Jorge Casas (3-0, 4.10 ERA) advanced them on a wild pitch, before Baldivía lined out on a 3-0 pitch. Hall now had a chance to do damage, but flew out, as did Lopez. The Raccoons got an even better chance in the fourth. Singles by Lopez and O’Morrissey were followed by Vinson being hit. No outs, bases loaded. Bobby Quinn managed to line out to third. Scott Wade then singled a run in, putting UTTER SHAME ON EVERYBODY. Especially since Salazar and Higgins popped out. Bottom 6th: first two men on. Wade was pinch-hit for with Kinnear against the righty Casas, but Kinnear grounded out. Still: tying runs in scoring position. Salazar popped out again, Higgins walked. Baldivía ………….. grounded out to Rush. All that was left of me was some faint weeping from behind the bat rack. Bottom 7th. AGAIN. Hall singled, Lopez singled. O-Mo grounded out. THE FRIGGIN’ TYING RUNS ARE IN SCORING POSITION. Vinson lined out, Quinn walked, Kinnear whiffed. NO GODDAMN RUNS SCORED. 3-1 Loggers. Hall 2-5; A. Lopez 2-5; O’Morrissey 2-5; Quinn 2-3, BB;

Team LOB: 16; Individual LOB: 37.

THIRTY-SEVEN.

If I were just a tad more paranoid, I’d suspect the game was out to get me.

In other news

May 6 – IND Neil Stewart (3-4, 2.98 ERA) turns in a masterpiece as he 2-hits the Capitals in a 6-0 Indians win.
May 6 – VAN 1B Salvador Mendez (.403, 0 HR, 10 RBI) lands a hit in a 3-2 loss to the Crusaders, completing a 20-game hitting streak.
May 11 – Back-to-back shutouts! IND Neil Stewart (4-4, 2.56 ERA) 2-hits the Wolves, as the Indians squeeze out a 2-0 win.
May 12 – NAS LF/RF Tommy Norton (.365, 2 HR, 8 RBI) will miss five weeks with an oblique strain.
May 13 – The Loggers lose SP Rafael Garcia (4-2, 1.48 ERA) for the year due to shoulder inflammation.
May 15 – LAP INF Carlos Cook (.317, 5 HR, 30 RBI) will head to the DL with an oblique strain, but two weeks should do.

Complaints and stuff

Our season ended when they put Neil Reece’s hand into that cast. He’s eating his steak with a spoon, and we’re using the rest of that cutlery set for bats. You ever hit a ball with a fork? Right.

No four straight World Series against the Capitals in a row. And I am entirely disregarding whatever the Rebels may do down the road.

[Westheim]

Can we please stop sucking? No, we still don’t have any money to trade for runs.

It’s not like we have much offense stowed away at AAA. Marvin Ingall and Pat Parker are doing well, but I can’t get them into the lineup without benching one of the players that actually achieve a little bit. Chih-tui Jin is OPS’ing .944, but he clashes with Kinnear in left, so would have to be played in right, where he’s less than effective.

Raccoons (20-18) vs. Titans (18-20) – May 16-19, 1994

In a division where everyone was just around .500 at this point, the Titans were 176-177 in runs scored/against, both just a tad more than average. For comparison, the Raccoons were 164-146, but raising mainly the latter number at this point. We were looking at struggling pitchers in the latter half of the series, but what does that even mean with our hitting drought? We have lost five of six on the homestand. We have seven left before we will be chased out of town.

Something was obviously wrong with Kisho Saito. Guys were hitting him, and hitting him hard, on the first or second pitch of about all at-bats. He was not going anywhere. An error by Kinnear then plated the first run for the Titans in the top 2nd, but Saito continued to get whacked and allowed three – unearned – runs in the inning. Next inning, he walked three guys, then came apart for four – earned – runs and was yanked. Not that that changed anything about how the Titans romped over the home team. Fans left early. 13-1 Titans. O’Morrissey 2-4; Vinson 2-3, BB;

Twice in this game, Alejandro Lopez threw out SS Daniel Silva at home plate. Didn’t help either. Our only run was unearned once again. Thus we RIGHTFULLY SO dropped out of the tie for first place with the Loggers and down to third place as the Indians tied the Loggers with a 6-2 win in New York.

Cesar Salcido was molested for four more runs, and that was enough I was wanting to see of him. He was demoted to AAA for Gabriel De La Rosa. Chih-tui Jin came up along with him. Bobby Quinn had come up with a sore shoulder, which would sit him down for up to two weeks, so he would head to the DL. Jin would start in right instantly, because who should? We needed a spark.

Game 2. Jason Turner was roughed up early for a 3-0 Titans lead through two frames. Which didn’t help us a bit, since the bullpen was aching already. With the help of an error allowing Higgins to reach leading off the bottom 4th, and a single by Baldivía we actually got the tying run up with no outs this deep in the game! The thrill! The hype! Raccoons fans were biting into their caps as Vern Kinnear came up and rolled a single to right, which was enough for Higgins to score, but Baldivía, that honk of honks, was thrown out going to third base. Jin doubled in Kinnear, but the Titans managed to end the inning 3-2 ahead when Turner struck out for the third out. Back to the Titans, they put their first four runners on. One run in, bases loaded, two outs, Julio Madrid emptied the bags with a double. Turner’s last batter was pitcher Chris O’Keefe, who led off the sixth. O’Keefe doubled, and scored against Martinez when Turner was shot and dumped over the top row of the bleachers. Vinson added a 2-run home run for the bottom line on the scoreboard, which hardly mattered. Another blowout loss. 10-4 Titans. Baldivía 3-4, 2 2B; Jin 2-4, 2B, RBI;

I need a new pitching staff, too. Suddenly we are 169-169 in runs scored/against. And that with a clearly recognizable trend.

Could Miguel Lopez stop the romping Titans in game 3? He started with a perfect first inning with two K’s. The next inning, the Titans had two runners in scoring position with no outs, scored those runners when Salazar lost a ball for an error, and the Titans ended up scoring three unearned runs. Stoppers were of a different quality for sure. Home runs by David Vinson and George Waller made it 4-1 before long, and in the fourth Chad Fisher homered, 5-1. Solo homer #4 of the day came off Mark Allen’s bat in the bottom 4th. Would the Raccoons really get to Santiago Perez (1-4, 6.44 ERA) here? Two on, two out in the bottom 5th. Kinnear came up, and Perez fell 3-1 behind against him. Not wanting to load the bases in front of Allen, who had tagged him already, Perez threw a fat pitch to Kinnear, who punished him with his eighth homer of the year, and it tied the game. Unfortunately, winning entails outscoring the opposition. The game remained tied into the ninth. Lagarde came out for us, as Silva hit a leadoff double, but Lagarde held him at third base. Chance to walk off. O-Mo singled to lead off the bottom of the inning, and never went any further. Into the 11th, West pitched a scoreless top half, before Kinnear doubled in the bottom 11th, nobody out. Allen struck out, O’Morrissey rolled out, Vinson struck out, Kinnear was left on third base. The Raccoons did then walk off in the 12th – on an error. Alejandro Lopez was on first base with one out, a pickoff throw by the catcher went into right field, moving Lopez up to second. Salazar’s groundout advanced him to third. Matt Duncan, pinch-hitting for Grant West, singled just past Waller at second base to end the game. 6-5 Coons. Salazar 2-6; Duncan (PH) 1-1, RBI; Kinnear 2-5, HR, 2B, 3 RBI; Lagarde 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K; West 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K, W (2-1);

There was rain in the forecast for game 4. With the Raccoons having won a game actually there was a high chance that it would be raining mantises or at least frogs.

No, it rained runs. For the Titans. Raimundo Beato, who was unable to throw strikes, was raked for four runs in the first inning. How much can you expect from a game that starts this way? The score became 5-0 in the third, before the Raccoons ever even landed a hit (Hall did that in the bottom 3rd, but was left on, of course). Beato was kept from surrendering more than that when his spot in the order came up in the bottom 5th with the bases full and no outs. Allen hit for him, and straight into a double play. Only one run scored. In the bottom 6th, the Raccoons swiped three bases (two by Higgins, one by Kinnear in his slipstream) – AND STILL DIDN’T SCORE. Higgins was thrown out at home on Vinson’s out to medium depth right field. The top 9th saw Miller put runners on the corners, then drill back-to-back hitters, and West giving up his runs, and overall, it was misery. 8-2 Titans. O’Morrissey 2-4, RBI; Hall 2-4; De La Rosa 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

One more series left on the home stand, but I can't. I just can't.

I just ... I just can't.

In other news

May 17 – The Loggers defeat the Canadiens, 6-1, and also defeat Salvador Mendez’ 22-game hitting streak, holding him 0-3.

Complaints and stuff

Do not expect to hear from me soon.

[Westheim]

Side note: I am planning for expansion for 1996 or 1997. Probably the latter, that would give us neatly round 20 seasons with the original setup. So far no schedule exists for what I want to do, and nobody has sprung to help in the mods board so far, either.

In a first step, I will expand the Continental League to 14 teams in two divisions of seven. (After a few years, the Federal League should follow suit). One team will be added to both leagues, and one FL team will switch to the CL. I don't have everything worked out perfectly so far as far as expansion teams and the switching team go, mainly because there is no perfect solution. When I set this league up, I whipped it up without much thinking about where teams would actually belong. The teams are neatly distributed across North America, but not where there are actually people living.

From Wikipedia - List of metropolitan areas of the United States - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bold areas indicate areas with ABL teams. (Note that the Portland/Salem area actually holds two teams)

1st New York
2nd Los Angeles
3rd Chicago
4th Washington/Baltimore
5th San Francisco/Oakland/San Jose
6th Boston
7th Philadelphia
8th Dallas
9th Miami
10th Houston
11th Atlanta
12th Detroit
13th Seattle
14th Phoenix
15th Minneapolis/St. Paul
16th Cleveland
17th San Diego
18th Denver
19th Portland/Salem
20th St. Louis
21st Orlando
22nd Tampa
23rd Pittsburgh
24th Sacramento
25th Charlotte
---
29th Indianapolis
30th Las Vegas
31st Cincinnati
33rd Milwaukee
35th Nashville
46th Oklahoma City
50th Richmond
168th Topeka
174th Sioux Falls (that's not a typo)

Milwaukee is the smallest metropolitan area to host MLB baseball, at least as far as statisticians are concerned.

Obviously there's no way to give all big markets a team without beginning to shuffle everything, which I don't intend to do. The areas above only add up to 22 because two teams are outside the US in Vancouver and Tijuana. I only know a few of the top 25 that will not get a team under any circumstances. Seattle, because the Northwest is crowded already. San Diego, because the Condors are just a few miles away. Apart from that, I am clueless.

Yeah. Just as a heads up, what's going on in my troubled mind.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (21-21) vs. Condors (20-20) – May 20-22, 1994

As the season was going down the drain, one more team came into town to presumably stampede right over the Raccoons. The Condors probably would also pick and nib at their intestines after finishing them off, so quite a lot of pain was coming our way as we were going to Sub-500 Land at full speed.

The Condors weren’t scoring a lot, ranking just below the 8th place Raccoons in runs scored, but had a premium staff that outclassed the recently-roughed up furry hurlers.

The first play of the series saw Cesar Báez shoving a 2-2 pitch from Scott Wade into the grass just in front of the plate. Vinson failed to make a play on him entirely and Báez reached on an infield single, and the Condors then added a trickler through the infielders before Wade somehow escaped unscathed. That was about as far as unschathedness went for him. The Condors took him to town for 11 hits and five runs in the first four frames, and we trailed 5-1. With two out in the bottom 4th, Kinnear on second base, Condors starter Charles Bywaters suddenly failed to retire the Coons. Duncan and Vinson walked, and then Royce Green uncorked a game-tying GRAND SLAM!! Scott Wade reached and went home on a single by Chih-tui Jin two batters later, removing Bywaters from the game. All in all, six runs scored as 11 Raccoons came to the plate. 7-5 ahead, can you trust Wade? Not bloody quite, but in this event, he completed the fifth inning in six pitches, and retired two more in the top 6th before putting on Tadanobu Sakaguchi, which was the end for him. Miller got out of there. The Raccoons tacked on two runs on productive outs in the last innings, while the Condors didn’t get another hit until with two outs in the top 9th, but where sniffed out by Vela. 9-5 Raccoons. Jin 2-4, RBI; Vinson 2-3, BB, HR, 2B, RBI; Green 2-4, HR, 4 RBI; Miller 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

The biggest question before game 2 was whether Kisho Saito would get out of the third inning this time. Yes, he did, but trailed 3-0, following a pair of 2-out XBH in the first, and two walks and a 2-run double – also with two outs – in the third. He was off, and he was it by a mile. Saito went six, was booked for four runs, and didn’t impress a bit. The Raccoons in turn were very impressed by Woody Roberts, who was also struggling to a 4+ ERA this season, but kept the Furballs in check. The Condors pummeled Jackie Lagarde in the ninth and won handily, 7-1 Condors. Higgins 2-4;

I tend to mention David Vinson’s defensive hiccups as accurate as possible, so it shall not go unmentioned that he held the Condors 0/2 in steals in this game. In turn, the Raccoons lined into two double plays, so we gave about as much as we took again. Fitting for a 22-22 team that only scored in this game because of an uncaught third strike enabling Matt Higgins to score from third base in the bottom 9th.

We actually scored first in the rubber game, a single run in the third inning, but Jason Turner gave the 1-0 lead right back in the top 4th. The Coons bounced back still, somewhat, with Daniel Hall getting his first extra base hit in the bottom 4th, a 2-out double. Rodriguez was walked intentionally, Turner scratched out a single, and then pitcher Robbie Dadswell scored Hall with a wild pitch, before Salazar could make the third out. Turner went back out in the fifth, this time gave up two runs, and the Condors ended up scoring runs in five consecutive innings, while the Raccoons almost managed to ground into double plays in as many consecutive innings. The game went out of hand. 7-3 Condors. Salazar 2-5; Baldivía 2-4, 2B, RBI; Kinnear 3-4, RBI;

Raccoons (22-23) @ Bayhawks (22-23) – May 24-26, 1994

The Bayhawks’ offense was above average (5th in CL), but they had bled 216 runs already, third-worst in the CL. The Raccoons (201 runs allowed) however were on the fast track to overtake them by Thursday. We would have Vinson batting cleanup, which could go nothing but wrong, but Kinnear wasn’t doing any damage. The Bayhawks had claimed Sixto Moreno in April, but he was only batting .200 in a utility role for them. Sounds like his 1993 season, but the Bayhawks might not make it to October.

Down 1-0 in the top 3rd, Vinson whiffed with runners on the corners and one out. Expecting us to raise our LOB for the day to five, I went for some ice cream and thus missed the 3-piece that Ben O’Morrissey hit off Jose Ramos. After that, CF Rich Tracy twice ended innings with great catches, stranding a total of four runners. When things unraveled in the bottom 6th for Miguel Lopez, nobody stepped in to protect the 3-2 lead. Lopez was blown up, leaving down 4-3. Martinez punched out Steve Adams to end the inning, stranding two more runners of Lopez’ responsibility. The Raccoons left five more on in the last three innings. 5-3 Bayhawks. Salazar 2-5; Jin 2-4, 2B;

Individual LOB: 28; Team LOB: 13; how on earth is this misery going on and on and on …

The Raccoons scored first in the middle game on a 1-out Baldivía double past “Itchy” in deep right. Yoshinobu Ishizaki was 37 by now and could barely run without screaming – right field was not the place for him to be. There were two men in scoring position for Kinnear and Vinson. Both went down flailing. It had to come back to us, and did so in time, when Raimundo Beato was shoved around for two runs in the bottom 5th, and the Bayhawks led 2-1. Kinnear and Vinson hit doubles to Itchyland in the top 6th to tie the game, but the Furballs left the bags full. Beato fouled out to end the inning. Bottom 6th: Beato put two on with one out, Phil Rice and Jim Thompson. Both pulled off a double steal against a harmless Vinson. Mike Powys grounded to third, holding them, two outs, and then Adams popped out to second. Game still tied, now can we PLEASE score? Yes: Baldivía homered to right center, 3-2. Beato again put two on with one out in the bottom 7th, and this time had to be dumped. Burnett got a double play from “Itchy”, then loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom 8th. Jackie Lagarde not only couldn’t save it (chances for which were slim anyway), but his first pitch was wild, tying the game. It was the more bitter, since the Bayhawks ended the frame with a pop up and line drive double play. The game dragged into overtime (great with a dying pen), where the Raccoons took the lead in the 11th, when Duncan singled to left with Alejandro Lopez on second base, and Adams’ throw back in was so terrible, Lopez could score. With Burnett and Lagarde both used, West came out to save the game, and just so managed to stall the tying run on third base. 4-3 Coons. Salazar 2-5, BB; Baldivía 3-5, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; O’Morrissey 2-4, BB; A. Lopez 2-4, BB, 2B; Duncan 1-2, RBI; Beato 6.1 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 3 K;

Would pinch-hitting for Beato in the sixth have yielded positive results? Not for the bullpen, which is extremely strained after pitching more than three innings each and every day.

The rubber game saw Wilson Moreno (3-3, 5.43 ERA) shredded to pieces in the first inning, when the Coons scored five runs on five hits and a balk. And despite leading 6-0 through two innings, Scott Wade would not get the win. He surrendered two runs in the third, then left with discomfort in his arm. More bullpen strain! Tony Vela came in for the fifth inning, but was projectile vomited out of the park by the Bayhawks, who loaded the bases in no time, and nibbled off another two runs. 6-4, and we’re bound to lose it. Juan Martinez collected a total of nine outs while conceding two of Vela’s runs, but gave us some length through the middle game, while the bottom fell out of the Bayhawks’ pen in the eighth, where the Raccoons tacked on three runs. All the scoring runners had reached base on walks. We added another 3-spot in the ninth, this time including two bases-loaded walks to Salazar and Grant West (!), as this time the Coons romped – at least on paper. 12-4 Coons! Baldivía 1-2, 3 BB, RBI; Vinson 3-6, 2B, RBI; O’Morrissey 2-5, RBI; Jin 3-5, RBI; A. Lopez 2-5, 2B; Martinez 3.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K; West 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K and 0-0, BB, RBI;

Scott Wade was diagnosed with forearm tendinitis, which is bad for forcing him onto the DL, but good because he should be back in three weeks at most. As a replacement, I selected 21-year old Jose Rivera (5-2, 3.76 ERA in AAA), originally an international discovery of the Condors, whom we had acquired in a trade in 1989. He would make his first big league start at home and not in Atlanta, where we were heading next.

Raccoons (24-24) @ Knights (22-24) – May 27-29, 1994

The Knights had serious issues, most of them concerning their pitchers. Their bullpen was by far the worst in the league for example, with a 5.45 ERA, and they ranked 10th in runs allowed.

Kisho Saito also was on a good way to make it into the bullpen. Michael Root took him deep in the first inning (his 11th of the year) and we trailed yet again. The Knights’ Jesse Carver (3-3, 3.71 ERA) was not the Jesse Carver of hold, either. In the third, Salazar and Baldivía led off with hits, and Kinnear hit a big 2-run double to get us into the lead. A similar recipe worked also in the fifth, although Baldivía’s hit was an RBI triple and Kinnear hit a sac fly. That made for a 5-1 lead, with Saito’s worst offense after the Root homer being a throwing error in the sixth inning. Saito went seven innings on 100 pitches, and the bullpen never allowed a runner past first base, for a stroke-free win for Saito. 6-1 Coons. Salazar 3-5; Baldivía 4-5, 3B, RBI; Kinnear 2-4, 2B, 3 RBI; Saito 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 7 K, W (3-3); Burnett 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Yay! When did we have our last 3-game winning streak? April 15-17. Now, can we please get Jason Turner straightened out as well?

Atlanta’s Pat Cherry (1-5, 5.98 ERA) needed just as much straightener, apparently. The first three Coons reached base in the game, before the next three made poor outs and nobody scored. Both starters were a mess, in fact, but the hitters in the clutch were outright excruciating to watch. Through five innings, the score was 2-2, with both teams leaving them on in droves. Cherry would hit a 2-out RBI single off Turner in the sixth then, breaking that tie – which perhaps was a fitting deciding event in the game. The Coons continued to trail 3-2, leaving runners on the corners in the eighth, and faced closer Mike Dye in the ninth. Higgins got on leading off and stole second base, but Kinnear struck out on the same pitch. Vinson was clipped. O’Morrissey lined out to shallow center (one of those plays by CF Rory Gorden that you will make you smile for days if it had been turned for your team), and Green walked, leaving Alejandro Lopez to do or die. He did, a double off the wall in deep right, and two runs scored!! Then Lagarde came in to close it, nicked the first two batters, and surrendered the tying run again. He lost the game in the 10th on two doubles. 5-4 Knights. Salazar 3-5, BB; Higgins 3-6, RBI; A. Lopez 3-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Hall (PH) 1-1;

(slams head against the bullpen telephone repeatedly)

Plus, our individual LOB was 37 in this game, and 15 as a team. Ga-reat.

Jim Harrington was 35 and coming off a torn flexor tendon. He was 2-0 with a 2.40 ERA in his first two starts back in the majors. A throwing error by Salazar in the bottom 1st led to an unearned run, getting Harrington right back into the driver’s seat. The Coons didn’t get a proper chance to score until the fourth. Baldivía hit a scratch single, Kinnear’s uniform was grazed, and Vinson walked in a full count with one out. O-Mo flew out to shallow left. Alejandro Lopez flew out to slightly less shallow left. The agony was … agonizing. Miguel Lopez then loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom 4th. The Knights upped to 2-0 before SS Fred Adams grounded into an inning-ending double play. Miguel Lopez went seven, struck out eight, to no avail. To absolutely no avail. The bullpen was squished in the eighth inning, while the Raccoons were held to four hits. 7-1 Knights. Kinnear 2-3, HR, RBI; M. Lopez 7.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 8 K, L (5-4);

In other news

May 22 – VAN OF Luis Arroyo (.313, 6 HR, 23 RBI) becomes the eighth player in ABL history to hit three home runs in a single game. Arroyo uses the power to drive in five runs in a 4-4 game for him, as the Canadiens win 8-4 over the Aces. Arroyo is the first Canadien to achieve the feat. His achievement comes three years and three weeks after the last time a batter hit three homers in a single game. Back then, the Indians’ Victor Cornett did it to the Canadiens.
May 23 – SFW Ricardo Torres (6-3, 2.99 ERA) tosses a 1-hitter against the Rebels, as the Warriors win the duel of division leaders, 4-0. Pinch-hitter Robert Carney breaks up the bid for a no-hitter in the sixth with a single.
May 23 – Tijuana’s Jose Macias (4-6, 3.96 ERA) shines, too, in a 1-0 complete game shutout against the Crusaders, allowing merely three hits.
May 27 – A sprained ankle will put TIJ OF Preston O’Day (.342, 6 HR, 29 RBI) on the shelf until about the All Star Game.
May 29 – Jose Macias ups to 5-6 with a 3.53 ERA after 6-hitting the Titans in a 9-0 blowout. He has now shut out the opposition in back-to-back games.

Complaints and stuff

Nothing is working. Really, really, really, really nothing. Except for Esteban Baldivía winning Player of the Week. He went 12-25 with 1 HR and 5 RBI. Unfortunately, there are eight fools in the lineup that couldn’t hit the moon if it were thrown past them and thus production is more so-so.

We have dropped out of the first division in the power rankings for the first time in … years?

I heard the Willamette Bread Factory is looking for a manager for their beer league team. They have a massively overweight 44-year old first baseman who is eating hot dogs in the field, and who is a major attraction. I could have so much fun with the guys…

[Westheim]

Slightly OT, but it's my thread, and anyway. Had a great run playing World of Tanks all day and never got to the Inepticoons, which might have been for the better. I didn't cry all day.

The current performance of the Raccoons and the news that Jason Bay was contemplating retirement have reminded me of this excellently bitter blog entry from three and a half years ago again:
Mets Go Bay-for-Arizona « Faith and Fear in Flushing

Besides the fact that I like Greg Prince's writing (and me wishing I could hate so eloquently in English), it's a perfect fit for this team: no hitting, no pitching, no luck, no nothing.

To come apart, all it took was angelic Neil Reece hurting a wing. And here we are, sub .500 and trailing the LOGGERS. It ain't even fixable. It will be a long season until much dead meat will be removed in mid-November. At least the Mets have already removed Jason Bay.

All I need is a hopeless battle cry like Hey, hey, Jason Bay; how many Mets did you strand today? for this team here. Best I can come up is Ho, ho, Ben O-Mo; why's your OPS so frickin' low? Also works with some guy named Alex Lo'. And ... What rhymes on "suffocate", besides "relocate"?

Sorry, my mind keeps wandering in these dark times of ... darkness.

[Westheim]

Esteban Baldivía enters the homestand with a 10-game hitting streak going.

Raccoons (25-26) vs. Falcons (26-25) – May 31-June 2, 1994

We had an extra day to crawl home, which is never bad if you suck this badly. The Falcons were 3rd in runs scored in the CL, and while their bullpen struggled (11th), I saw another beating coming. They had two prolific coonskinners on the roster in outfielders Jose Madrid and Djordje Nedic, and I was fearing the worst again. No, I was expecting it, actually.

Nedic actually became the key player in the game. He came to bat with two on and two out in the first – flew out to Kinnear – in the third – flew out to Lopez – and the fifth – flew out to Kinnear. Together with some scraping by the Raccoons, Higgins being scored by Baldivía after tripling, and Lopez hitting a home run, Raimundo Beato led 2-1 halfway through. It didn’t help any, because once the Falcons got somebody else to the plate with a runner at third base, they knocked him in, even though it was barely an infield single by 3B Mark Hall – his first hit of the year. The Raccoons would take another lead for Beato in the bottom 6th on a Vinson sac fly, but West, Martinez, and O’Morrissey (with a 2-out error) lost the game in the eighth. The Inepticoons left the tying run on third base in the ninth. 4-3 Falcons. Higgins 3-4, 3B; Baldivía 2-3, RBI; Beato 6.0 IP, 9 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 4 K;

Matt Duncan was waived and designated for assignment as Bobby Quinn came off the DL. I was tempted to waive Alejandro Lopez, but I needed him to play center.

Game 2. Big league debut for young Jose Rivera. After a scoreless top 1st he got support from Kinnear and Jin with a pair of RBI singles for an early 2-0 lead. Not that the Falcons had huge problems to come back. Rivera scored their first run on a wild pitch, and they tied the game in the fourth. The ineffectiveness of our starter, an ineffective relief performance by Grant West (again) and TWO ERRORS (Baldivía, Salazar) finally took care of the Falcons moving ahead in the sixth, 4-2. O’Morrissey left the tying runs on twice. The best thing about the game was Tony Vela pitching a third of a game in 21 pitches. 4-2 Falcons. Baldivía 3-5; Kinnear 1-2, BB, RBI; Vela 3.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K and 1-1;

Game 3. Kisho Saito against Ernest Fleming (3-7, 5.64 ERA). A glimmer of hope? No. Saito was shaved, skinned, put on a stick, and roasted – all in the first inning. When Fleming hit a 2-run double, the score jumped to 6-0. And that was about it. The park was empty after the fourth, when the Falcons tacked on four runs against Martinez. Although the Raccoons scored four in the eighth inning, they didn’t even make it close. 10-4 Falcons. Kinnear 3-4, 2 2B, RBI; Hall (PH) 1-1; De La Rosa 3.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K;

There ain’t enough chocolate and cookies in the world to make this team watchable. Baldivía’s hitting streak ended at 12.

Raccoons (25-29) vs. Crusaders (23-29) – June 3-5, 1994

Going hard towards rock bottom, we got a visit from the cellar dwellers of the last decade+ over the weekend. The Crusaders were not scoring (like the Coons), their rotation was struggling (like the Coons), and they were heading for implosion (like the Coons), only being close to the top because the top was so close to the bottom (like the … yeah).

Vern Kinnear homered off David Ramirez (5-4, 4.27 ERA) in the first inning for a 3-0 lead in the series opener. Of course, Jason Turner blew it. Ruben Melendez, the power-armed catcher, drove in three runs with a pair of doubles – the latter sending Turner showering – to make it 4-4 in the sixth. For the second time this week, an error by O’Morrissey cost the Raccoons a game, as the Crusaders scored two in the top 9th. The Raccoons had two hits past the first inning and were in no position to respond. With Hall on base in the bottom 9th, Salazar made the final out in a 3-0 count with a lazy grounder to second. 6-4 Crusaders. Green 2-4, 2B, RBI; Burnett 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

With this loss, we have lost six straight, have fallen into a tie for last place, and have dropped below .500 all time again at 1,404-1,405. Had to happen at some point with these suckers.

Both starters in game 2, Miguel Lopez and Hector Lara, were perfect the first time through the lineup – which might say more about the lineups than the pitchers. Lopez’ bid came up tails soon enough, as he was branded for three runs in the fourth inning. Salazar also broke up Lara’s perfect game with a leadoff single in the bottom 4th, but of course he never scored. The Coons did not get a runner into scoring position until the seventh inning, when Lara walked Kinnear and Jin to start the inning. Vinson singled to left, scoring Kinnear, which made it a 4-1 game. Green, Allen, and Alejandro Lopez made piss poor outs. Vinson flew out harmlessly with the bases loaded to end the eighth. In the bottom 9th, down 5-1, Green led off with a single. Hall came out to bat for Allen, and walked. O’Morrissey batted for the pitcher (De La Rosa) and singled to left. Bases loaded, no outs, tying run at the plate. Salazar flew out to shallow right. Higgins grounded to second to get O-Mo forced, while Green scored. Baldivía walked. 5-2, two down, three on, Kinnear to bat. Out to right. 5-2 Crusaders. O’Morrissey (PH) 1-1;

Matt Higgins’ soaring double off the wall in left in the bottom 5th drove in the first run in the last game, and put two men in scoring position with no outs. Time to add to our newly-gained 1-0 lead. Baldivía sacrificed Salazar in, 2-0, before Kinnear was put on intentionally, and Rodriguez and O’Morrissey struck out in a hurry. The Crusaders would wave Kinnear through again in the seventh with one out and a runner on second base – Rodriguez and O’Morrissey made outs again. Great, they got us. At least Raimundo Beato was pitching well, shutting the Crusaders out through seven. That took him 104 pitches, so Burnett relieved him for the eighth. Burnett promptly put three men on, scoring one run, while getting only two men out. Jackie Lagarde was broken out to retire Haywood Lammond with the tying run on second base. Lagarde fell behind 3-1 before Lammond flew out to Hall in right. The Raccoons would add a run in the bottom 8th after two walks and an error, but Kinnear whiffed with the bags full. Lagarde had one run to spare in the top 9th, punched out Fernando Gonzales, then allowed singles to Melendez and Pete Thompson. Lagarde was reassured of his abilities by the pitching coach before he struck out Alfonso Rojas. Pat Jenkins, 11 homers to his credit, then launched a 0-1 pitch to deep left, Kinnear after it, launching – caught it!! 3-1 Raccoons. Salazar 3-4, 2B; Higgins 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Beato 7.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K, W (4-3) and 1-3; Lagarde 1.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, SV (4);

In other news

May 30 – TIJ C Andres Manuel (.223, 1 HR, 11 RBI) is struggling this season, and now will not be able to do even that. He’s out for three weeks with a sprained ankle.
June 3 – The Indians deal 34-year old SP Jesus Lopez (4-4, 3.27 ERA) to the Bayhawks for OF/1B Rich Tracy (.254, 3 HR, 17 RBI) and a minor leaguer.

Complaints and stuff

Figured that this much awfulness has to have a counterweight somewhere and bought a lottery ticket today. Don’t know about the States, but here in Germany there are lotteries where you pick your own numbers, and I checked the jersey numbers of our most beloved Raccoons, past and present: Christopher Powell, Neil Reece, Daniel Hall, Grant West, Wally Gaston, and Kisho Saito.

That €12M jackpot would just barely offset this misery here.

[Westheim]

Don’t assume I was completely idle the last few days. I have looked over the draft pool, which shows a chronic shortness in starting pitchers, catchers, and shortstops. Basically, every position you have to have some ability for, isn’t there. At all.

Since we will pick 22nd, the point is almost moot, but here are the top players in the pool:

SP Patrick Clark (17/17/11)
MR Ryosei Kato (20/17/14)
CL Paco Leoniedas (20/17/14)

1B/LF David Ramos (18/6/13)
1B/LF/3B Anastasio Hernandez (13/13/20)
LF/RF Eduardo Sanchez (14/14/8)
LF/RF Bakile Hiwalani (13/15/13)
LF/RF George Wood (14/15/15)

We’ll see, what comes about. I have an eye on 2B Ed Edwards, too. He’s scouted 14/1/14, but with good speed and gap power for doubles and triples galore.

There was one week left to this miserable home stand with a potential to lose seven games.

Raccoons (26-31) vs. Indians (29-27) – June 6-9, 1994

The Indians were just over .500, but potentially fake. They weren’t scoring at all, and had a run differential of -10. The Indians were also unique in their almost completely left-handed rotation. We would potentially face all-lefties in the series. We’d have them for four, then the FL West-leading Warriors over the weekend. I would have Vinson batting cleanup for at least a few games. Oh, I can see bad things coming.

Game 1. 1B Carlos Paredes put the Indians on top in the second inning with a solo homer off Jose Rivera. An error on Royce Green made it 2-0 in the third, while Neil Stewart was perfect the first time through the Coons’ order. While Rivera pitched neatly despite four walks, and only allowed the two runs in seven innings, Stewart was sparkling. Everything that stood between Neil Stewart and Eternity in the end was Vern Kinnear and a shy hobbler up the middle in the fourth inning. Stewart pitched a 1-hitter. 2-0 Indians. Rivera 7.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 2 K, L (0-2);

Okay, it can not get MUCH worse from here on.

In game 2, Kisho Saito’s first pitch drilled 2B Claudio Ayala (who had just missed Kinnear’s single the day before), and Ayala came around to score in the inning. Down 1-0 early (once again), the Raccoons left the tying run on third base in both the bottom 1st and 2nd. Vinson got on in the fourth, and Mark Allen came up with two down. He tattooed Dan George’s offering into the stands for a 2-run homer for the go-ahead runs, 2-1 Coons. As Saito pitched a controlled game and didn’t allow the Indians to threaten too much, the Raccoons kept rummaging in the trash cans of batters’ fate and – lo and behold – found a 3-run seventh inning in there, in which doubles by Green and Kinnear were big parts to success. The Indians were as poor at the plate as described and tallied four hits in the game. 5-1 Raccoons. Salazar 2-5, 2B, RBI; Vinson 2-4; O’Morrissey 2-4, 2B; Allen 1-3, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Saito 8.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, W (4-4);

About everything Mark Allen hits, becomes a dinger. Unfortunately he ain’t hitting much.

Jason Turner and Arthur Young both entered game 3 with 5.30-ish ERA’s, but Young had a history of trashing the Coons. Ayala would hit two triples off Turner, one leading off the game, and one with two down and one man on in the fifth, that both led to runs, while the Raccoons, with the score 2-0 halfway through, were no-hit by Young. Quelle surprise. While Young gave up four walks over time, it took the Raccoons until the seventh to hit against him, a 1-out single by O’Morrissey to shallow right. With two out in the inning, Bobby Quinn came up and mashed a home run to center – we were ahead! It was Quinn’s first homer of the year, and because it was time for it, Salazar followed that up with his first shot of the season as well, a 2-run piece in the eighth. The Indians brought the tying run to the plate against Lagarde in the ninth, but this time around, Ayala grounded out. 5-2 Coons. Quinn 1-3, HR, 3 RBI; Baldivía (PH) 1-1, 2B;

Between the Raccoons and a series win stood Vernon Robertson (4-2, 2.40 ERA) in game 4. O-Mo drove in Higgins in the first for an actual 1-0 LEAD in this series, but in turn it didn’t hold up, LF Rich Tracy – imported from the Bay – doubling over an overwhelmed centerfielder Royce Green to tie the game in the third. Mamoru Sato took Miguel Lopez deep in the fourth to make it 2-1 Indians, but that didn’t hold up for long, as Bobby Quinn homered again to turn around back-to-back games, this time a 2-shot in the bottom 4th, 3-2 Furballs, and two innings later, Jose Rodriguez doubled in a pair and was scored by Miguel Lopez to make it 6-2 on the poor Robertson, who was coming apart. It was not all roses with Lopez, though. He put two men on in the seventh and then came out quickly with some sort of pain. Miller came in, and within two batters, the game was tied. Tracy doubled, Tomas Maguey homered, 6-6. Jin drove in the go-ahead run for the Coons again in the bottom 8th, hitting for Green, but the Coons left the bases loaded and Lagarde without a cushion. With two out, Maguey again hurled a deep fly ball to left – but this time into an out. 7-6 Coons. Kinnear 3-4; Quinn 3-4, HR, 2 RBI; Rodriguez 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Jin (PH) 1-1, RBI; Vela 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, W (2-1);

The bad news about Miguel Lopez came quickly: shoulder inflammation, he’s out for the year. Another puzzle piece to our grave.

Raccoons (29-32) vs. Warriors (36-25) – June 10-12, 1994

The Warriors led the FL West by 4 1/2 games over the Pacifics. They ranked 2nd in both runs scored and runs allowed in the Federal League, and the Raccoons would have to stretch themselves pretty thin to stink up to them. Maybe if we sneaked a skunk into our lineup ……..

Game 1 featured Beato and Juan Sanchez (6-2, 2.58 ERA), who wasn’t faring too bad for not having a strong third pitch. “Pooky” had five pitches, and none wanted to bite, and in the fourth inning he stopped throwing strikes completely, giving up three four-pitch walks, with a 2-0 pop out in between, as the Warriors went ahead 1-0. No Raccoon reached base until Kinnear drew a leadoff walk in the bottom 5th. They were that bad. Sanchez ended up walking the bases full with one out, and Alejandro Lopez tied the game with an infield single, before Beato and Salazar struck out. Beato finally ran himself into a wall in the sixth. With two on, Grant West replaced him, and did not retire anybody. Four runs scored. The Raccoons were 3-hit. 7-1 Warriors.

At 6-7 and a 3.87 ERA, Aaron Anderson was as easy as it would get this weekend. Jose Rivera was about awful, giving out walks like candy, while the Warriors left all those presents unopened early on. When Jesus Arias then finally put them over the hump with a 2-run homer in the fifth inning, it was merely the inevitable happening. Rivera tossed 100 pitches in six innings, walking six (against three hits and three K’s), while the Raccoons only managed a sac fly by O’Morrissey in the bottom 6th to get on the board at all. The Furballs looked severely beaten, still down 2-1 in the eighth. Baldivía doubled with two out. Anderson was still in the game and was not removed for a lefty as Kinnear came to bat. Kinnear tripled, and the game was tied. O-Mo made it the perfect 2-out terror with a bloop single, scoring Kinnear. Lagarde hurriedly and unexpectedly warmed up, before he sat down the Warriors in seven pitches! 3-2 Coons. Salazar 2-4; Baldivía 2-4, 2B; O’Morrissey 1-3, 2 RBI;

Vinson went 0/4 in getting stealers again.

It was a duel of excellent veterans in the rubber game, as Saito took on Ricardo Torres (8-3, 2.99 ERA) – although it shall not be muted that Saito’s excellency has suffered a chunk the last 12 months. Early in this game, however, Torres was iffier. The Coons left two on in the second, then had the bases loaded (starting with Saito on third) with no outs in the third, and the heart of the lineup to come. Baldivía singled in Saito, Kinnear doubled in two, before they started to make outs, but they still took a 4-0 lead in the inning. Saito was carrying a shutout through seven innings, before SS Esteban Areizaga ended it with a leadoff homer in the eighth. We were still up 4-1 into the ninth. Lagarde had been out three times the last four days and I tried to close it out with Martinez with two switch hitters and a righty up. The righty sat them down in order. 4-1 Coons! Baldivía 2-4, RBI; Vinson 1-2, 2 BB; Saito 8.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 6 K, W (5-4) and 1-2, BB;

In other news

June 6 – The Gold Sox will have to make do without LF Dale Wales (.308, 4 HR, 31 RBI) for three weeks. The 31-year old is out with a herniated disc.
June 8 – The Canadiens’ ace SP Arnold McCray (5-6, 3.21 ERA) could be out for the year with a torn triceps.
June 10 – As the Capitals down the Titans, 8-3, WAS OF Diego Rodriguez (.360, 5 HR, 29 RBI) knocks his 2,000th career base hit, a fourth inning single off Santiago Perez.

Complaints and stuff

Miguel Lopez is out for the year, which is limiting our perspectives even more. Scott Wade was still on the DL at the time of his injury, but he will be back in time to take over Lopez’ slot in the rotation. That means that Rivera will stay a little longer, until he sucks himself out of luck or I can come across something.

Apart from that injury, everything was a bit less terrible this week, and Saito had two great outings, WAY back from where he was in May and his first start in June. Some things were actually not that bad, to be honest. We're also back in the top half in Power Rankings (9th). However, with Lopez out for the year, that takes a chunk out of the middle of our rotation that can not be replaced adequately and I doubt we will contend come September. I severely doubt that.

[Orcin]

Originally Posted by Westheim

Another puzzle piece to our grave.

This line is in your personal top 10, which is really saying something!

[Westheim]

1994 AMATEUR DRAFT

Leading up to the draft, I had to discover that my “dark horse” pick 2B Ed Edwards was thought by BNN to be the #1 overall pick. Edwards had a makeup very similar to Daniel Hall, minus the position and Hall’s home run power.

We had the 22nd pick in every round, no compensation picks.

The Blue Sox had the first overall pick and selected INF Leborio Catalo, a 17-yr old Venezuelan who was projected as a high AVG/OBP batter, but lacked power. Ed Edwards went 9th overall, picked by the Pacifics. All SP’s I had listed were gone by #18. From the short shortlist only George Wood and Paco Leoniedas remained. I took Wood (despite great success with relievers as first round picks in the past). Leoniedas was gone by the time we picked again.

Round 1 (#22) – LF/RF George Wood, 18, from Owatonna, MN – very good overall hitting abilities, but his speed and defense are not that swell
Round 2 (#78) – 1B Carlos Salazar, 21, from Santo Domingo, Dom. Rep. – with his towering body he can hit a ton, but his stature means that he is not very agile and not a slick fielder
Round 3 (#102) – OF Cal Lyon, 18, from Rose Hill, VA – his best trait is actually speed, but he can hit some as well; unfortunately power is not one of his stronger traits
Round 4 (#126) – MR Joe Key, 18, from Newark, NJ – right-hander with a filthy changeup, but control is more than poor so far
Round 5 (#150) – 1B Harry Jackson, 21, from Lufkin, TX – another prototypical first baseman; some oomph, no defense, and not very strong overall
Round 6 (#174) – MR Manuel Diaz, 21, from Bangor, ME – righty with a slider and high stamina
Round 7 (#198) – SP Vincente Diaz, 17, from Zaraza, Venezuela – one of the few semi-decent starters remaining at this point; right-hander trying to get his changeup and slider working
Round 8 (#222) – SP Felix Moreno, 22, from Meridian, ID – we’re past semi-decent starters here
Round 9 (#246) – C Walt Flowers, 21, from Tacoma, WA – average at best in all categories
Round 10 (#270) – LF/RF You-yi Lau, 22, from Launceston, Australia – doesn’t know which way to hold the bat
Round 11 (#294) – CL Richard Chandler, 17, from Superior, WI – right-hander with an erratic curve
Round 12 (#318) – SP Hector Rodriguez, 22, from Santo Domingo, Dom. Rep. – four pitches, all junk

All players were assigned to the A level. We released a few players, too.

[Westheim]

It’s draft week. Not that I am overly excited. Drafting truly only matters when you have a top 5 pick. :-/

Raccoons (31-33) @ Blue Sox (21-42) – June 14-16, 1994

We were visiting the worst team in baseball. The Blue Sox weren’t scoring at all (12th in FL), and their pitching staff was abysmal, with the rotation averaging a 4.79 ERA.

Oh, if Jason Turner actually *had* a 4.79 ERA. He was lingering over five, and it was bad enough with him to contemplate what to do with him at all. When the Coons took a lead in the top 1st due to a bases-loaded HBP to Vinson, Turner instantly gave up two runs in the bottom of the inning. Neither team was able to overwhelm the other’s pitcher, though, and Turner went seven innings, after which the score was 2-2. Kinnear led off the eighth, hit a double, then went to third base when O-Mo singled. No outs. While Vinson balked at the chance, Chih-tui Jin drove the runners in with one out, and the Coons got another unearned run in the inning. The Blue Sox had nothing against Martinez and Lagarde, who ended the game without allowing another base runner. 5-2 Coons. Baldivía 2-5, 2B; Kinnear 3-5, 2B; O’Morrissey 2-3, 2 BB; Vinson 2-4, RBI; Turner 7.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 2 K, W (5-6);

We faced ex-Coon Dennis Fried (4-8, 4.90 ERA) in the middle game. The Blue Sox struck first again, but the Raccoons scored two unearned runs in the second inning for a 2-1 lead, which “Pooky” Beato blew in time before a short rain delay in the fourth inning. Beato lasted six, somehow coming away with the 2-2 score despite surrendering ten hits and a walk. Kinnear helped him a big deal, ending the bottom 6th by throwing out 3B Izumo Sasaki at the plate. The Raccoons again went ahead in the eighth when O-Mo singled with two out and the bags full, before Vinson left them loaded up. Up 3-2, West quickly retired the Blue Sox in the bottom 8th, before Lagarde came in the ninth – and loaded them up. Two down, lefty slugger Steve Cobb was at the plate. In an 0-2 count, Cobb made contact, but popped out to Salazar. 3-2 Coons. Hall (PH) 1-1;

We were vastly out-hit (11-6) in this contest, so winning the game (which was on draft day) was pure luck, and we lucked ourselves back to a .500 record, 2 1/2 back of the Loggers.

Scott Wade made his first start back from the DL. O-Mo singled in a run in the first, and it looked like that was all Wade would get on the day. Kinnear and O’Morrissey left a pair in scoring position in the third, and another pair was left on base in the fifth. Wade was not giving up a lot through five, only two singles, but how far would he be able to go? Royce Green did some lifting in the sixth, hitting a 2-out, 2-run home run to make it a 3-0 game. Wade instantly set out to blow it. With two out in the bottom 6th, the Blue Sox hit three consecutive hard blows against him, making it 3-2 with the tying run on, and Wade was yanked. While the Coons led 4-2 through seven, the eighth inning saw one of those collapses you just don’t want to witness. As four relievers paraded in and out of the game, the Blue Sox scored six runs, smothering the Raccoons in no time. The tying run came to the plate with two out in the top 9th, but Hall grounded out. 8-4 Blue Sox. Higgins 3-4, BB, 2B; O’Morrissey 3-5, RBI; Burnett 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

Raccoons (33-34) @ Titans (32-34) – June 17-19, 1994

The Titans’ strength was their offense, as they ranked 4th in the CL in runs scored. They also had a bullpen with a 2.98 ERA, which would hardly give up six runs in an inning.

Jose Rivera made his final start for the Raccoons, being outright awful in game 1. He walked four, allowed four hits, and four runs, in three innings. He was removed for Alejandro Lopez to pinch-hit in the top 4th with the bases loaded and no outs. Lopez struck out, useless as he was, and the Raccoons scored only one run on a Salazar sac fly, and two more runners were left in scoring position in the fifth, and they continued that way right until the end. 7-3 Titans. Green 2-4, BB; Kinnear 2-4, BB; O’Morrissey 2-5; Baldivía (PH) 1-1, 2B; Allen 1-2, 3 BB; De La Rosa 4.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K;

The Raccoons left 14 on base (30 individually) in this game.

Jose Rivera – who had walked two for every strikeout in the Bigs – was demoted to St. Petersburg afterwards. Albert Matthews was recalled, and De La Rosa would make a start or two before we will get things straightened out.

The Titan’s Jason O’Halloran (0-0, 8.10 ERA) made a spot start in the middle game, only his third appearance in the majors this season. He was everything but a pushover, though. Through five innings, he fanned nine Raccoons. Kisho Saito pitched well, surrendering a run in the fifth, and it was the feeling “oh no, he’s toast”. Matt Higgins was thrown out for the second time in the game in the top 6th, before two Coons singled his way on in front of Royce Green. Green made himself useful with a 3-run homer to left. Saito went eight innings of 1-run ball again, then left the 3-1 lead to Lagarde – who blew it. Matt Smith hit a pinch-hit 2-run inside-the-park home run (to much ecstasy in the stands) to tie the game off Lagarde in the bottom 9th, and the Titans walked off against him in the tenth. 4-3 Titans. Higgins 2-5; Baldivía 3-5, 2B; Green 3-4, HR, 2B, 3 RBI; Saito 8.0 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3 K;

Jason Turner in game 3 was crowded by the Titans from the get-go, yet somehow they failed to score by making poor outs constantly. The Raccoons scored two in the third inning for a modest, yet fragile lead. In a way it was fitting for this flying circus of assorted anomalies that Jason Turner wackied into seventh, then was sent home with pitcher Doug Morrow with a 1-out home run. The Inepticoons did zero, and Grant West blew the game with two out in the bottom 9th, which meant extra innings again and was as good as a loss. These failures had nothing going. Tony Vela lost in the 10th, with a double, a wild pitch, and a sac fly. 3-2 Titans. Turner 6.1 IP, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 5 K and 2-3;

In other news

June 17 – SAL SP Sergio Gonzalez (4-5, 4.33 ERA) tosses a 1-hitter in a 5-0 win over the Scorpions. The no-hitter is not broken up until a leadoff single by Jose Renteria in the ninth inning.
June 17 – WAS CL Domingo Rivera (2-2, 0.84 ERA, 21 SV) will miss one week with an elbow sprain.
June 18 – WAS OF/1B Jeffery Brown (.388, 4 HR, 35 RBI) records his 2,500th career hit in a 4-2 win of the Capitals over the Cyclones. The milestone is recorded on an RBI single in the third inning against Vicente Perez.
June 18 – VAN SP John Collins (2-0, 3.80 ERA) 2-hits the Loggers in a 4-0 Canadiens win in his third start of the season.

Complaints and stuff

Two of my draft picks were coming with high bonus demands. I have shot way over budget with the draft, and my owner will skin and impale me once he comes back from Acapulco.

Salazar and Higgins are not getting on base. Kinnear and O’Morrissey and the assortment of other batters not belonging anywhere close to the middle of the lineup aren’t driving anybody in.

I thus declare the season lost. We will see to what dead tissue we can cut off in July and again in October and beyond.

Although I don’t necessarily feel like burdening me with this grief too much … it sucks too badly to even “just get over it quickly” and breeze through the season.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (33-37) vs. Loggers (37-30) – June 20-22, 1994

We would just drop by at home for this set of three games, then hit the road for warmer climates again with series in Las Vegas in Tijuana up next. The Loggers were stunningly in first place in JUNE. They had never been this strong this long ever. And you know what they say about a baseball season in June. Before you know it, it will turn third base and head for October!

Run avoidance was the key for these Loggers, since themselves they barely scored above league average – but that was more than the Raccoons could brag about.

“Pooky” Beato faced 5-3 Jorge Casas in the opener. Both had 3.30-ish ERA’s, although Beato had quite better WHIP and K/BB values. Three 2-out singles by Salazar, Hall, and Rodriguez led to a 1-0 Coons lead in the bottom 2nd, but it didn’t hold up long. CF Augusto Garza was batting merely .170, but that was enough to burn Beato with a 2-run homer in the fourth. Although the Coons tied that one again (merely scoring one run from bases loaded and one out in the fifth), Beato came up tails in the top 7th with a homer by 3B Jose Perez. It was not all lost yet, though. Royce Green would tie the score once more with a homer in the bottom 8th. A good team could still pull this one out! Let’s see. The Raccoons left two men in scoring position after grounding into their third double play of the night in the rest of the bottom 8th. Higgins carried the winning run in the bottom 9th and was caught stealing. Then that Green kiddo came up again to lead off the bottom 10th. He walked off the Coons with another homer. 5-4 Coons. Green 2-5, 2 HR, 3 RBI; Kinnear 2-3, BB; Hall 2-4, 2B; Rodriguez 3-4, RBI;

We’re not a good team, but we have the occasional oomph. Royce Green has now tied Vern Kinnear for the team lead in dingers with ten. I can’t dare to imagine how many Neil Reece would have now.

Scott Wade pitched a very fine game the next day, but got no support. In the top 6th of a scoreless game he was defeated with a bloop single, and then a clear grounder for a 2-out RBI single by Drake Evans, right in the middle between the converging Salazar and O-Mo, even after walking slugger Cristo Ramirez intentionally. That was the only blemish on Wade’s day, and he was lifted for Lopez to pinch-hit in the bottom 7th. Lopez left two on, and the Raccoons were 3-hit in another shocking display of ineptitude. 2-0 Loggers. Wade 7.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, L (3-5);

Next day’s starter Gabriel De La Rosa gave us six strong innings of 2-hit ball, before being lifted with the lefty heart of the Loggers lineup up in the seventh. Did he get support? Stop making such sick jokes! West and Vela did not surrender another hit, while the Loggers survived the Coons loading the bags in the seventh, and starved another Furball in scoring position in the ninth. Lagarde came in for the tenth, but was jacked into submission by Ramirez. 2-0 Loggers. Higgins 2-5; De La Rosa 6.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K; Vela 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

Raccoons (34-39) @ Aces (34-37) - June 24-26, 1994

The Aces were posting numbers very similar to us. More 2-0 losses to come?

The Coons scored for the first time in 21 innings in the top 2nd of the opener when Mark Allen drove in a pair with a double into the gap in left center. Aces starter Rafael Espinoza came apart fast, as Kisho Saito drove in Allen with a single, and Salazar and Baldivía came up with RBI doubles to make it 5-0 very early. Alberto Durán hit a solo shot off Saito with two out in the bottom 3rd. It didn’t seem to significant with a 5-run lead, but Saito then showed more signs of collapse in the (scoreless) fourth, also plunking veteran Claudio Garcia, and it seemed like adding a run or two wouldn’t be so wrong. Saito ended a streak of three consecutive 8-inning, 1-run outings by failing in both categories, but after all, his seven innings and two runs weren’t really bad – he caught himself after the fifth. The bottom came out of the Aces pen in the ninth, as we added a few more runs. 9-2 Coons. Salazar 2-6, 2B, RBI; O’Morrissey 2-4, BB, RBI; A. Lopez 2-4, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Quinn 2-5, 2 2B; Allen 2-3, 2 BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Saito 7.0 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, W (6-4) and 1-3, RBI;

In the middle game we faced rookie Ben Carlson (0-2, 2.77 ERA) in his third big league start. Against Jason Turner, Carlson had great chances to get that maiden win checked off. While the Raccoons scored two runs in the early innings, they also left a flock of runners on. Turner then came apart hard in the bottom 4th, where Carlson not only logged his first big league hit, but also saw his team score four runs to flip the score around. The Coons had the bags full with no outs, but out machine Allen coming up, who had stranded a bucket full already in the game. Allen couldn’t get it done again against reliever Luis Molina, flying out for Royce Green to tag and score, and that was the most they did in the inning. They never threatened again, while Matthews and West surrendered more runs. 6-3 Aces. Higgins 2-5; Vinson 2-2, 2 BB, 2 2B, RBI; A. Lopez 2-4, RBI;

Game 3 looked difficult from the onset with the Raccoons facing Carlos Guillén, who had no-hit the Coons (a totally different team, admittedly) just over nine years prior. He came in 7-2 with a 2.76 ERA, so trouble was to be expected. Because I had accepted my fate, I sat Kinnear for the game – he was playing wire to wire every day and he was one of the few warm bodies we had. He’d better stay warm.

When Matt Higgins was the first Coon on base with a leadoff double in the fourth, and scored only through an error by 3B Robinson Gutierrez, it was “Pooky”’s achievement that this was the go-ahead run. But he had pitched in bad counts from the first man on, and the Aces finally got to him in the bottom 4th with a bases-loading walk, after which, with one out, Salazar and Higgins couldn’t turn the double play that would have saved the 1-0 lead. The Aces tied the score, and a passed ball by Vinson got them ahead the next inning. Burnett failed to relieve Beato adequately in the seventh, where the Aces added two runs to lead 4-1. The Coons actually got the tying runs on base with one out in the eighth. O-Mo was up and hit an RBI single on Jose Sotelo’s first pitch. Sotelo then walked Salazar on four straight. One more run to tie it. The Coons barely got that run in with a Vinson sac fly. They didn’t score again here, didn’t threaten at all in the ninth, and then lost the game in a hurry. Vela walked the leadoff man in the bottom 9th, Vinson showed his inabilities again in a terrible attempt at preventing a steal, and Juan Zamora walked the Aces off with a double over Lopez in center. 5-4 Aces. Baldivìa 2-5; Quinn 2-4;


In other news

June 21 – SFB INF Roberto Rodriguez (.293, 1 HR, 25 RBI) has a big day in a 5-1 loss to the Falcons, going 2-3. Rodriguez notches his 2,000th career base hit, a first inning single off the Falcons’ Ernest Fleming.
June 25 – OCT RF/LF Vonne Calzado (.373, 3 HR, 40 RBI) has cobbled a 20-game hitting streak together with two hits contributed in the 12-5 thrashing the Thunder handed to the Titans.
June 26 – RIC SP Harry Griggs (12-4, 3.23 ERA) 1-hits the Pacifics in a 3-0 Rebels win. Douglas Donaldson breaks up the no-hitter with two out in the ninth inning!

Complaints and stuff

Jason Turner is getting so washed up … in a way he reminds me of Carlos Gonzalez from about five or six years ago. A flashy high-stuff pitcher losing it before even turning 30.

It is depressing.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (35-41) @ Condors (40-35) – June 27-29, 1994

The Condors were better than the Raccoons in about every category. I couldn’t find one in which they were not.

The suffering continued unabated in the series opener, as Scott Wade pitched very well – but was far and wide alone with his solid performance. He matched his opponent Charles Bywaters through seven innings in allowing four hits and a run. Both runs were scored in the third on outs, with Salazar’s sac fly accounting for the Raccoons’. The team never got a base hit in a RISP situation, leaving the go-ahead run on third base twice in the game. Martinez lost the game in a hurry in the eighth. 3-1 Condors. A. Lopez 2-3; Jin (PH) 1-1, 2B; Wade 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 1 K and 1-2;

Game 2. Robbie Dadswell (7-4, 3.16 ERA) had a decent year going. He still fell behind 1-0 in the first inning on a 2-out RBI double by Vern Kinnear, before the Coons filled them up – and Lopez left them full. To be exact, the Raccoons left runners on third base in each of the first three innings. Thus we were entrusting makeshift starter Gabriel De La Rosa with a 1-0 lead and nothing else. Given his limited arsenal and that Condors team, he didn’t do bad at all, holding the 1-0 through five. Vinson was on first with one out in the top 6th. De La Rosa had already bunted into a force play on the day, so this time he got the sign to swing. Astonishingly, he doubled past RF Paul Theobald, and any other runner on the team would have scored, but Vinson had to hold at third base. Salazar walked to load them up. In a 3-1 count, Baldivía fouled out. O’Morrissey grounded out, ending the inning, and because nothing good was supposed to happen, De La Rosa was taken apart by the Condors – finally – in the seventh. Three runs scored. The Raccoons? They allowed it to happen. 3-1 Condors. Kinnear 2-5, 2B, RBI;

Game 3. The Condor’s first hit of Kisho Saito was a 2-out grand slam. Just … just how …? Saito had retired the first two batters, then had walked two (an anomaly in itself), then plunked Bruce Boyle. SS Kuang Liu came up and punished him. Saito pitched quite well after that spill, striking out eight in an outing of five innings, but the damage had been done, and the game was over right there. The only Raccoon to ever touch third base in the entire game was O-Mo, and he was thrown out trying to get home. The Condors’ Jose Macias tossed a 6-hit shutout. 6-0 Condors.

I’ve stated so many times that it can’t possibly get worse. I have ceased to believe it. It will always only get much more worserer.

Raccoons (35-44) vs. Indians (37-41) – June 30-July 3, 1994

The Indians were nothing special, but the Raccoons were abominations. Also, we still outscored the Indians, but this dates back to before Neil Reece breaking his hand. This was – in terms of runs scored – the 3rd-worst team welcoming the 2nd-worst team for four games of 2-1 ball. Possibly all with two runs in the top line of the score.

To make things even worseritasticer, the Indians laughingly threw junkballer Arthur Young (5-6, 4.92 ERA) at us in the opener. No matter how terrible his stats, the Raccoons failed to hit him for years now. Jason Turner started the game by setting down the first 13 Indians that dared to show up, but the Indians scored on him in the fifth with a single and a double. And of course Turner had received no support at all. Turner went eight frames, allowing two hits, including Joe Estes’ RBI double, and five walks (talk about him losing it completely), and into the bottom 9th the Raccoons trailed 1-0. Baldivía blooped into shallow right and the ball at first eluded RF Carlos Paredes for a leadoff double in the bottom 9th. Lopez pinch-hit for Green to counter righty closer Jim Durden, but grounded out to short, pinning Baldivía in place. Kinnear singled to move Baldivía to third with one out. Durden got to 1-2 on O-Mo, before the Furball made contact and doubled past Paredes to tie the game. Kinnear carried the winning run, 90 feet away with one out. The Indians walked Matt Higgins, counting on David Vinson to whiff. Durden’s first was wide, but the second wasn’t and Vinson took it to deep right, where it fell past the reach of Paredes for the third time. Walkoff. 2-1 Coons. Kinnear 2-4; O’Morrissey 2-4, 2B, RBI; Vinson 1-3, BB, 2B*, RBI; Turner 8.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 5 BB, 2 K;

*Note that the walkoff hit was denoted a double in accordance with the well-known bug not putting down walkoff hits correctly in certain circumstances. It would have been a single actually.

Game 2 saw “Pooky” Beato lose it early on. I mean control here. He plunked the leadoff batter, 3B Claudio Ayala, and walked two, which included forcing in a run. Beato didn’t get ahead in counts at all and was worked up after five innings, trailing 4-1. Attention in the game soon shifted to Carlos Paredes, who had gotten his share of blame for his role in the ninth inning the day before. Here, he hit a 2-run homer and a triple off Beato, knocking off the hard half of the cycle, but time and a slow Indians offense worked against him. He came up again in the seventh with two down against Grant West, and when the “Demon” punched him out, it was also the end for Paredes hunt for the cycle. The Coons meanwhile crawled somewhat back into the game when Jorge Salazar hit a 2-run triple in the bottom 7th. Salazar was then left on with two already out, but it was a 4-3 game right there, and the score remained the same into the bottom 9th. Durden was on the mound again as we needed a pinch-hitter for Martinez to start the inning. I forewent Mark Allen and sent Rodriguez, who singled up the middle. Bobby Quinn instantly replaced him to run. It didn’t help at all. Lopez flew out, Vinson whiffed (hah…), and a Hall double wasn’t enough for Quinn to score. Salazar struck out. 4-3 Indians. Higgins 2-4, RBI; Rodriguez (PH) 1-1; Hall (PH) 2-2, 2B; Martinez 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

Neil Stewart (10-7, 2.40 ERA) was a victim of his team’s low output for sure. He was up in game 3, and this time the Indians stormed out of the gate, pouncing on Scott Wade and Matt Higgins in the first inning. Higgins made a critical 2-out error that was soon followed by a bases-clearing double by CF Rich Tracy. It wasn’t all Higgins’ fault: Wade surrendered four earned runs in a shocking display of ineptitude in the second inning. In total, Wade went 3.2 innings with a dozen hits allowed. Stewart coasted to an easy complete game win, which became a massive rout in the eighth inning, where the Indians pinned three runs each on Miller and Burnett. 13-1 Indians. Kinnear 3-4, 2 2B; Higgins 3-4; Martinez 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K; Matthews 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

For Daniel Miller, this was the end of his Raccoons career. He failed to get people out, and gave up hard contact without an end in sight. His ERA had shot up to 5.75 now. He was sent to Florida on a one-way ticket and Jose Rivera was recalled. De La Rosa would move back to the pen *after* his start in game 4, since Rivera had pitched two days earlier and was not ready and there was no point in rushing Kisho Saito with last-place playoffs on us after the Indians series. As I was already on it, I also sent back Chih-tui Jin and brought up INF Marvin Ingall.

In game 4, De La Rosa actually got some support, with Baldivía hitting a 3-run boom in the bottom 3rd that broke up the scoreless tie. De La Rosa pitched impressively again, and got even more support when the Indians lost all feathers in the fifth inning. After the Raccoons had luck with two infield singles early on in the inning, they then saw a pair of 2-out, 2-run hits by Daniel Hall and David Vinson to cap a 5-run inning making the score a comfy 8-0. This time it was the Indians that were rolled over by a moving van – several times. 10-0 Coons. Baldivía 3-5, HR, 3 RBI; Green 3-5, RBI; Higgins (PH) 1-1, 2B, RBI; Hall 1-2, 3 BB, 2 RBI; Ingall 1-2, 2 BB, RBI; De La Rosa 7.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 8 K, W (2-1);

David Vinson was hurt in this game upon hitting his 2-run triple (presumably moving faster than perpetual slow motion drained his body of all energy). He is not diagnosed yet.

In other news

June 29 – As a whole, the Thunder beat the Crusaders 6-4, but the Crusaders beat Vonne Calzado (.363, 3 HR, 41 RBI) 4-0, ending his 23-game hitting streak.
July 2 – The Aces lose two players at once, as C Mario Guerrero (.315, 0 HR, 11 RBI) goes down to a strained hip muscle and utility player Nathan Hines (.160, 3 HR, 6 RBI) breaks his knee. Both are out for the year.

Complaints and stuff

In ALL OF JUNE, we have scored in excess of five runs exactly … wait for it … TWICE. We beat the Indians 7-6 on June 9, and the Aces 9-2 last week. That’s it. On average, we scored 85 runs in 28 games. That’s a hair over three per game, and that stinks like sulphur.

Last week, I ordered a stuffed toy raccoon from Amazon, so a) I would not have to sit on my couch alone on the weekends and b) the Raccoons would get some good luck charm or stuff like that. The latter obviously failed to come together. Maybe I have to sacrifice the little furball on a pyre first? Will run tests later this week.

[Westheim]

The injury to David Vinson will force another roster move to get another catcher onto the roster. Ingall will be demoted again after appearing in one game. Since one of our three catchers in AAA (and the organizational #3, too) in Bob Armstrong has gone down with plantar fasciitis just prior to this newest setback, this means we will have a Raccoon debutee coming up: C Ron McDonald was our 8th round pick in 1989 (218th overall!). He’s 23, has no potential, and if we are stuck with him and Rodriguez for a while, we will certainly not get ahead in the division.

I would have to dig, but I think 8th round beats the record for the deepest draft pick of ours to make the majors. The previous record should have been MR Jason White, taken in the 7th round in 1977.

Raccoons (37-46) vs. Canadiens (35-47) – July 4-7, 1994

Last place playoffs aren’t nice. And this is the Smelly Elks coming to town. And they tend to sweep up over four. We’re 2-2 so far against them though.

Talking about Rodriguez. We had the bases loaded in the bottom 2nd of the opener, with one out and the no-longer-backup Rodriguez at the plate. He fouled out, leaving Saito to ground out to David Brewer at second base and end the inning. Saito gave up two runs to Brewer’s 2-run double right in the next inning, and the Canadiens led 2-0. The Coons gingerly poked at Manny Ramos’ (8-6, 4.79 ERA) offerings until the sixth, when a Baldivía single set the table for Vern Kinnear to tie the game with his 11th homer of the season. That inning ended with Rodriguez fouling out to leave two men on base. Saito labored through seven innings on 111 pitches, but couldn’t get in line for a win. Ramos pitched into the eighth, but failed to retire anybody there as Kinnear singled and Hall walked to put the go-ahead run 180 feet away. Salazar, demoted to bat sixth, grounded out, moving up the runners, and the Canadiens put on Lopez intentionally to get to Rodriguez. Bobby Quinn hit for him – and came through with a 2-run double. Lagarde saved it, but the real gem in the ninth was a sliding catch by Vern Kinnear on a hissing liner from CF Hidehira Nakamura for the second out. 4-2 Raccoons. Baldivía 2-4; Kinnear 3-4, HR, 2 RBI; Salazar 2-4, 2B; A. Lopez 1-1, 3 BB; Quinn (PH) 1-1, 2B, 2 RBI; Saito 7.0 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 K;

Shock stat of the day: Royce Green – who hit for Saito in the seventh and whiffed – is 0-11 as pinch-hitter on the year.

Ron McDonald made his debut in this game already, flying out to shallow left batting for Tony Vela (who got the win) in the eighth and then catching the ninth. Also, David Vinson was finally diagnosed now: mild hamstring strain, out for two weeks. Phew, could have been worse. A lot worse. He was disabled, McDonald would stay for two weeks and we would have Marvin Ingall board a plane for the third straight day.

Game 2. We actually managed to find a pitcher with worse stats to match Jason Turner against: Ruben Prado (3-11, 5.07 ERA). Would it help any? Whatever would happen to Prado, before he ever took the mound, the Canadiens rocked Turner for four runs in the top 1st. ASTONISHINGLY, they tied the game in the bottom 1st! Bobby Quinn and Alejandro Lopez homered back-to-back to make it a 4-4 game in a hurry. Even more astonishingly, the scoring stopped right there, from both sides, until the sixth, when Lopez scored O-Mo with a 2-out single to break the tie. Kinnear had the bags full with two outs in the bottom 7th, but flew out. And that Turner went seven at all after that start was maybe hinting at the possibility that not all was lost with him? It was the more depressing to see Martinez and Burnett blow the 5-4 lead in the eighth inning, when a 1-out double by PH Kevin Gilmore was the beginning of the end for Turner’s W. The Canadiens scored the tying run with two down, and scored the winning run with two out in the ninth. This time, Vela took the loss. 6-5 Canadiens. Higgins 3-4, BB; A. Lopez 3-4, 2B, 2 RBI;

Shock stat of the day: Green is 0-12 now.

Game 3. Beato came apart quickly, just like Turner the day before, and we trailed 2-0 after the top 1st. Contrary to the day before, the Raccoons had no Instant Offense™ to counter with. Instead, they left two runners on in the first, two in the second, two in the third (while scoring one run, 2-1 down), and they would have left two more on in the fourth, hadn’t normally infallible David Brewer thrown away Baldivía’s poor grounder and instead scored Ron McDonald (who made his first start here) to tie the game. Well, actually, the Coons still left two on as Kinnear lined out. They did not leave two in the fifth as they didn’t even get on base, then left two on in the sixth without scoring. In the perfect nightmare, Beato loaded the bases with no outs in the top 7th, was removed, and Grant West held the damage to one run. But that one run set us behind, 3-2. West was betrayed by the defense then in the eighth, with a Salazar error setting the Canadiens in motion, and the bullpen went down in flames. 5-2 Canadiens. Salazar 3-5, 2B; McDonald 2-4, 2B;

Shock stat of the day: we left 12 men on base, in six pairs, and individually the Furballs left 26 critters standing on the baselines.

A loss in game 4 would drop us to last place so I had no doubts about the outcome of the game before Scott Wade even went out to pitch. The Canadiens sent excellent lefty Kevin Williams (6-5, 2.83 ERA), so chances were less than slim to stay afloat of last place. But to be fair, Wade had his moments in the game. He trailed 1-0 when he came to the plate in the bottom 2nd with one out and Hall and Ingall on the corners. Wade hurled a double down the left field line and the speedy Ingall scored on Hall’s heels, with made for a game-turning 2-run double. Not that the Canadiens didn’t know how to take revenge: they trailed 3-1 in the top 4th with two out and runners on the corners (after an intentional walk) with Williams at the plate. He also came through, but scored only one runner and Wade wiggled out of the inning with a 3-2 lead, and continued to wiggle that way into the seventh. When Brewer – one of the top 10 overall position players in the league, perhaps – came to bat with two out and the tying run on first, Wade was pulled for West to counter the left-handed Brewer. Brewer got on with an infield single, but West struck out lefty CF Luis Arroyo in a full count to end the frame. That all-important insurance run eluded the Raccoons vehemently, twice remaining on third base in the seventh and eighth frames. Lagarde had no cushion in the ninth, put SS Tony Balderas on with one out, but just managed to wiggle out thanks to Kinnear making another neat catch for the final out on LF Salvador Mendez’ flyer to deep left. 3-2 Coons. Baldivía 2-4, 2B; Ingall 2-3, BB, 2B; Wade 6.2 IP, 10 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, W (4-6) and 2-3, 2B, 2 RBI;

Shock stat of the day: our starting pitcher had the only RISP hit in the entire game. All hail Scott Wade, who won his 118th game this way (against 75 losses and a 3.37 career ERA).

Raccoons (39-48) vs. Crusaders (39-46) – July 8-10, 1994

Bottom of the pile playoffs continue here. Fourth place is up for grabs, boys!

We threw callback Jose Rivera into the opener to see if he’d stick. Did he? No. Just no. The Crusaders put three on him in the first inning and he was completely impaled by the fifth, with the Crusaders adding five more runs against him (all unearned after two errors by Allen and Baldivía, put still). Rivera had his ticket back to Florida taped to his locker by the time he came from the showers. One way. The Raccoons could be sent down there (or to Siberia, depends) as a whole, as they were thoroughly dominated by Luis Andrade (4-7, 4.29 ERA), who was in control almost all the way, with the exception of a bases loaded jam in the bottom 3rd, where Lopez double-played the Coons out of, and a line drive home run by Royce Green in the sixth. By the time the Raccoons started to rustle in the undergrowth of run production in the eighth inning, Andrade was already out of the game. The Coons actually came up with a 6-run inning here, including a bases-clearing 2-out double by Matt Higgins, but thanks to Rivera’s ineptitude it was useless. Or was it? Against closer Dane Sanders, Baldivía drew a leadoff walk in the bottom 9th. O-Mo singled to left to bring the tying run to the plate. Then Royce Green double played the team out of it. 10-7 Crusaders. Higgins 2-5, 2B, 3 RBI; Green 3-5, HR, RBI; A. Lopez 2-5, 3B, RBI; Quinn (PH) 1-1, RBI; Rodriguez 1-2, 2 BB;

For Rivera, we brought back Tim Mallandain, the lefty who had an ERA somewhere north of 20. With the All Star Game up, we won’t need a #5 starter until about ten days from here, so we have an extra man in the pen for this period.

Game 2 was Kisho’s start. The Coons left Daniel Hall on third base while making three outs in the bottom 1st, and the team managed to kill chances in the second and third innings with double plays. Saito was wild, spending most of his start in full counts and was blown up in a 3-run fourth. Our presumed ace was done after five innings of wildness, down 5-2. Way to go with an actual winning record here. But then Kinnear took him off the hook with a 3-run homer off Hector Lara in the bottom 5th, though, tying up the game again. Now, Green got on, and Higgins got on, too. A wild pitch by Lara advanced them into scoring position with two out and Rodriguez up. Rodriguez was put on to get to Saito, who was still in the lineup, but with the bases loaded wasn’t gonna bat. Lopez came out and popped up a 2-0 pitch for the final out. I almost fainted, then went into the clubhouse to do a bit of vandalizing. I thus missed Kinnear double playing the Coons out of runners on the corners, one out, in the bottom 6th. Now, our relief corps mowed down Crusaders batting. All we needed was a fricking run. The chance presented itself in the bottom 8th again with Hall on base. Salazar grounded out, moving Hall to second. Baldivía had to put things right and singled to left. Hall flung them old bones once more and scored from second base to put the Raccoons ahead. Top 9th, I was just done with the senseless destruction of the boys’ locker room and looked at the scoreboard from outside. Up 6-5, Lagarde came in. SS Haywood Lammond reached base leading off because O-Mo tumbled over the ball at third. Lammond moved up to third with a groundout and a wild pitch by the time there were two out. Lagarde fell 3-1 behind RF Jerry Watson, before Watson popped up the ball and Baldivía made the catch in foul ground. 6-5 Raccoons. Hall 3-5, 2B; Baldivía 4-5, 3B, 2 RBI; O’Morrissey 3-4, HR, RBI; De La Rosa 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

Speedster Hall would again cross the plate for the go-ahead run in the rubber game, then in the bottom 3rd on a 2-out RBI single by Vern Kinnear, and again from second base. That was before the Coons in the next inning left a runner on third. O-Mo had gotten there with no outs. The Coons labored themselves into a 2-0 lead that was put to the test in the top 6th after Jason Turner had breezed through five on a 1-hitter. The Crusaders put the tying runs on the corners and it was a great catch by Royce Green in center that ended the inning and held the lead together. Scoring run was like pulling teeth on this day, and while the Coons scored another one in the seventh, they had Turner reach on an error (for two bases) in the bottom 8th leading off. Turner never moved again. The Crusaders hadn’t threatened since the sixth, so Turner went for the shutout with Lagarde warming up in the pen. Turner punched out the first two men in the inning, before Pat Jenkins singled up the middle. Victor Martinez then grounded out on Turner’s next – his 99th – pitch. Ballgame! 3-0 Coons. Hall 0-1, 4 BB; O’Morrissey 2-2, 2 BB, 2B, RBI; Higgins 2-4; Turner 9.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 6 K, W (6-7) and 1-4;

This was Jason Turner’s ninth career shutout, and the first since 1992. This does include his 1989 no-hitter against the Thunder, but not the no-hitter he tossed in AAA ball the year before, of which I was not notified and I’m still mad about.

All Star Game

We have no All Stars this year. Anybody surprised? Nope, ‘kay.

The Thunder led the CL with five nominees, with the Falcons and Titans sending four players each. The Loggers had only two All Stars (SP Davis Sims and OF Cristo Ramirez), which tells a thing or two about that team, too. In the FL the Rebels and Warriors were sending six players apiece, and with the Capitals having four, there was little space for other teams.

The Federal League won, 6-3, against the Continental League this time. DAL Rodrigo Morales drove in the winning run off LVA Vicente Rubio in the fifth.

In other news

July 5 – The Capitals announce a long-term deal with SP Archie Dye (7-7, 3.99 ERA; career 123-60, 3.07 ERA), the 1991 Pitcher of the Year in the Federal League, who will remain a Capital for four more years for $3M. Bargain for the Capitals here, honestly.
July 7 – Former Raccoon DEN INF Antonio Gonzalez (.308, 6 HR, 33 RBI) is out for the year with a torn calf muscle.
July 8 – The Aces lose another player for the year in LF/RF Edward Carter (.305, 10 HR, 38 RBI). The 25-year old has broken his elbow.
July 13 – The Wolves lose SP Alfonso Velasco (8-5, 2.72 ERA) to shoulder inflammation. He’s out for the year.

Complaints and stuff

The Portland Agitator ran a story on Saturday about a elementary school teacher in Forest Grove, just a short hop to the west of Portland, who asked her class to come up with pictures to describe adjectives like “beautiful”, “precious” and the like. One boy reportedly described “atrocious” by bringing a team photo of these 1994 Raccoons to class.

Well, you know the Agitator. It tells half lies, and the other half ain’t true. Sometimes.

4-6 Scott Wade has to stretch himself pretty well if he wants to continue a neat streak he has going: he has won double-digit games every year since 1986 – eight seasons in a row. Run support has something to do with his streak being in danger, but he’s not pitching too well overall either.

I had a crazy hunch at one point this week. Why not bat Daniel Hall in leadoff? He can’t hit a single ball, but he walks enough for a .320ish OBP. That’s pretty good a number on this team! (sobs) I then put him actually there for the second game of the Crusaders series. And when it worked then (3-5), also for the third, where Dan The Man leisurely tied the franchise record for walks in a nine-inning game (4). Granted, that record is held by a few people, but still. For completeness, here are the players that have walked four times in a regulation game for the Coons:

Daniel Hall (3 times, 1981, 1984, 1994)
Winston Thompson (2 times, 1985, 1988)
Ed Sullivan (1977)
Ramón Borjón (1982)
Spencer Dicks (1983) -> had 11 walks the entire season as backup catcher!
Mark Dawson (1989)
Ben O’Morrissey (1993)

Anybody remember Sullivan? Wow, I’ve been playing this for some time. (I do, by the way, one of the few not so dim spots on the Original Raccoons) He was a serviceable corner infielder that we flipped to the Condors for C Stephano Bocci (and others) after 1979. Anybody remember Bocci? :-P

David Vinson suffered a setback in recovery from that hamstring strain, so here we go…

Service announcement #1: You may have noticed that updates are very infrequent at this point. I’m just not in the mood. I don’t feel like it. I don’t feel like much of anything currently. Call it a bout of depression. I’m prone to those. The Coons are still in my heart (now matter how they play) but occasionally I like to stare out of the window into the darkness just a bit better at this point. This can’t go on forever, though.

Service announcement #2: Thank you very much for everybody who voted for the Raccoons (and my scrawling here) among the best dynasties of 2013! I will try my best to not let up the quality of madness in here in 2014.