Portland Raccoons (ABL)

[Westheim]

Raccoons (54-46) vs. Aces (46-56)

The Raccoons were flustered by Jarrod Schroeder in the series opener, not getting a hit until the bottom 4th, then a Sanchez double. The Coons trailed 1-0 since early on, a run scored against Francisco Trujillo, who was called up just for this game. Sanchez’ double at least got it started, as Osanai and Dawson moved him ‘round to score with flyouts, and León doubled in Dadswell, who had walked in between, 2-1 Coons after four. The Coons got a very good start from Trujillo, who doubled and scored in the fifth and pitched seven innings of 3-hit ball after the early trouble. His command however was not good, walking five. The Raccoons managed only seven hits themselves, but it was enough to hold the Aces at bay and win 3-1. Sanchez 2-4, 2B; Trujillo 7.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 5 BB, 5 K, W (1-1) and 1-2, 2B;

Trujillo was sent back to AAA after his strong outing and Juan Martinez was recalled. Zach Baker will take over the #5 spot in the rotation the next time through, although we may give him an inning of relief in the next game, if things work out that way.

Of course we’d prefer Logan Evans to go the distance. An enormous homer by Mark Dawson got the Coons ahead in the bottom 2nd of game 2, but it got away from Evans again in the top 3rd. The Coons took three in the bottom 4th, including a 2-run homer by Dani Perez. This lead wasn’t meant to last either, as the Aces bashed Evans, whose control went away in the sixth. He went to three consecutive full counts, with two batters getting on, and then surrendered a homer to Tadashi Kan that tied the game. Evans put 1B Mauro Granados on base with a double and was removed. Baker came in and got out of the inning, then had a chance to bring in the go-ahead run in the bottom 6th, but failed. Gustavo Flores homered to start the bottom 8th for another Raccoons lead. Grant West was not brought in for the ninth after pitching in four of the last six games, and with three of the next four batters being lefties, David Jones came out. The Aces instantly sent out righty Craig Knapp as pinch hitter. Jones didn’t care and surrendered the Aces in order, 5-4 Raccoons. Dawson 3-4, HR, 2B, RBI; Weber 2-4, 2B; Flores 2-2, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Perez 3-4, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Dadswell (PH) 1-1; Baker 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

Stats of the day: Sergio Martinez kept his 17-game hitting streak alive, but didn’t get day #18 completed until the ninth inning. And Juan Martinez has now appeared for the Coons in three games – and racked up THREE wins!!

There were good news about Kisho Saito only hours before he took the mound for game 3 (see below). His team mates wanted to show their appreciation for him, too. Two infield singles helped them score a run in the bottom 1st, bringing up Hall with two on and two out, and Hall launched a bomb to left center for a home run, 4-0. Dawson and Perez added runs in the next two innings, 6-0, and in the bottom 4th, Tetsu Osanai FINALLY broke his home run drought, hammering a 2-shot after going a stunning 40 days without going deep for the Coons! Saito cruised until the sixth, where the Aces put their first three men on. Saito struck out Kan, and Granados flew out to Sanchez in center, but the runner on third scored on an errant throw by Sanchez, but that was the only run that got in, and it was unearned. In the seventh, Saito fell to a 2-run homer by Connor Barrett, though, and left without finishing the inning. But the game and series sweep were secured, the Raccoons won 10-4 while leaving the bags loaded twice. Sanchez 3-5, 2B; Dawson 2-5, 2B, RBI; Osanai 2-5, HR, 3 RBI; Dadswell 4-4, BB, HR, 2 RBI; León 2-5; Perez 2-4, RBI;

The Raccoons have swept consecutive series now, and have won seven in a row, distancing the Indians by four and everybody else by ten or more. Sweeping the last week put the Raccoons atop the Power Rankings. Next up is a dreadful 14-day road trip – without an off day. Oklahoma, New York, Vancouver, Sacramento.

Raccoons (57-46) @ Thunder (56-47)

Game 1 in this set saw both pitchers, Scott Wade and Wilson Cordova, pitch at their best early on. Wade carried a no-hit bid into the fifth before giving up a 1-out single, but the runner was erased on a double play, and Wade still had faced the minimum through five. The Coons scored the first run in the top 6th, three singles from Dawson, Osanai, and Dadswell. The moment, he had a lead, Wade fell apart, and the Thunder also had a walk and two hits and one run quickly in the bottom 6th. Wade struck out Dave Browne with two in scoring position, bringing up Guy King, who singled for another run. Wade was left with little, leaving in the bottom 7th after Osanai’s error brought him into another tight spot. Tim Moss collected the final out. Armando Sanchez tied the game with a homer in the top 8th. Dawson got on after that, advanced on a passed ball, and scored on a Dadswell single. Moss was in line for the win now and held on through the eighth, and West surrendered a leadoff single, but saved the game. 3-2 Raccoons. Dawson 3-4, 2B; Osanai 2-4; Dadswell 2-4, 2 RBI; Wade 6.2 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 6 K; Moss 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K, W (4-0);

If the Raccoons’ winning streak survived, the 19-game hitting streak of Sergio Martinez did not. He went 0-4 and would have been up in the on-deck circle in the top 9th, but Dani Perez made the final out before Martinez came to bat again.

Sergio Martinez reached on an error and scored on another error in the top 1st of the middle game. The Thunder tied the game in the bottom 2nd before a 51-minute rain delay halted play. Both starters came back out for the third (yet neither would record an out in the fourth) and the Thunder scored the go-ahead run, but Dani Perez had a huge 2-run triple in the top 4th to turn the table back the right direction. In this rainy situation, the Raccoons got stellar relief from their bullpen, with Juan Martinez going three innings to get in line for another W, and Tim Moss pitching two frames, including striking out the side in the eighth. The Thunder threatened big against Grant West and a 5-2 lead in the bottom 9th. West walked two, didn’t get to an infield single, and one run scored, before he struck out the last two batters. 5-3 Raccoons. S. Martinez 2-5; J. Martinez 3.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K, W (4-0); Moss 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

Four games for Juan Martinez, and four wins. That’s … that’s weird!

Zach Baker was tasked with making it ten in a row in his first start for the Raccoons. Like Wade in the first game he faced almost exclusively lefties, and got behind 1-0 in the third. The Coons didn’t have a hit until Mark Dawson hit a leadoff double in the fourth and Osanai singled him in to tie the game. The first two Thunder went into scoring position in the bottom 4th and Baker was lucky to get two popouts over the infield to escape with only one run in. Baker was done after four with bad control and Jones allowed another run in the fifth. The Raccoons had nothing going for them and down 3-1 after seven looked beaten. Gary Hill went eight innings for the Thunder, allowing only four hits. With Lance Parsons coming in to close, Dadswell hit a 1-out single in the ninth, bringing the tying run to the plate in Daniel Hall, who singled to right. Sanchez pinch hit for Weber and singled. Bases loaded. Flores pinch hit in the #8 spot for Cunningham, grounded to third, and 3B Marc Shaw dropped the ball repeatedly. Tying run at third, go-ahead run at second, one out. Quintanilla up, but his poor grounder forced Hall at home, and Sergio Martinez popped out foul. 3-2 Thunder, streak over. Gah. Dadswell 2-3, BB;

Raccoons (59-47) @ Crusaders (45-63)

Four in New York, with four in Vancouver looming. The Crusaders’ rotation was only half bad despite their awful record.

Game 1 saw the Raccoons get ahead early with a Sanchez homer (#10) in the first, and they added a run in the third, when Sanchez tagged up to race home on an Osanai flyout. Replays however showed that Sanchez was in fact tagged out at home. The run stood, 2-0 Coons. Logan Evans pitched a great game in absence of more offense, 1-hit the Crusaders through five, and surrendered a run in the sixth on two hits despite a stellar play by Dawson on Francisco Vidrio’s bunt, forcing the runner at second. Dawson didn’t get to the next grounder however, which was an RBI double for the Crusaders. That was as close as they came. Logan Evans upped it a little and went the distance with a 4-hitter, while the Coons had only six hits themselves in a 2-1 win. S. Martinez 2-4; Evans 9.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 6 K, W (9-4);

Game 2 started with Osanai and Dadswell striking out with two on base in the top 1st, before Saito had a rough bottom 1st with two runs in, which included nailing Pedro Villa. Things didn’t get better. Dadswell had a ball elude him behind the plate in the third, which helped the Crusaders to go 4-0, and they made it 5-0 in the fourth, while the Coons were dominated by Gary Nixon, who came into the contest with an impressive 1-8 record. The Coons had Martinez and Thompson at the corners with nobody out, and managed to get out of the inning still shut out – Dawson flew out to short right, Thompson was picked off first, and Osanai flew out to deep left. Oh, well, that’s an L on Saito, a big L. It came even worse, as Daniel Hall got a knock on his knee on a bang-bang play at first in the top 7th. Hall was called safe, but left hurting. Sanchez ran for him, but did get round the infield. Saito went six, then pen pitched two scoreless frames, but the Raccoons were shut out, 5-0, on five hits. Thompson 2-3, BB;

This was the first major league game that Juan Martinez appeared in that he did not win. Daniel Hall suffered a knee contusion and will be out for a few days.

The Coons were shut out for the first time since July 11, then 6-0 by the Loggers, a span of 27 days. They have been shut out six times this season (and shut out opponents only five times).

Scott Wade and the home plate umpire were not to become friends in the third game. Wade was frustrated early on, walking four men through four innings, but the defense bailed him out time and again and kept the game scoreless that far. The Coons had Martinez and Thompson on to start the game, but ran themselves out on a double steal gone south. The Crusaders got to Wade with two runs in the fifth, while the Coons were chaining up zeros – through seven in this game, they were scoreless for 22 consecutive frames. Chong got on in a double switch in the bottom 7th and led off the top 8th with a walk, going to third on Martinez’ single. Thompson walked. Bases loaded, nobody out, still down by two. They scored one on a wild pitch, before making two poor outs. Dawson hit a flyer to left that looked like an out, but eluded LF Ben Browning and the tying run scored. At 2-2, the game went to extra innings after gutsy outings by Cunningham in the eighth and Campbell in the ninth. Top 10th, Sanchez got on as the first man up, then stole second with Osanai at the plate. Osanai was in the middle of a 1-18 drought, but was walked intentionally. Dawson grounded into a double play and Weber struck out. By the bottom 12th, the Raccoons had emptied their bullpen. Grant West came to bat in the top 13th and hit a 1-out single, but Flores grounded into a double play, and West had to continue holding on to the tie. Osanai hit a 1-out triple in the top 15th, bringing up Dawson. I’d take any long fly ball. Dawson was walked, which was a great move, bringing up an 0-3 Kelly Weber with West looming behind him. Weber doesn’t drive in the runner, nobody does. Weber popped out, and West came to bat again, sending a flyer along the right field line, but it was caught by Dan Younger. Top 16th. Chong at third, Martinez at first with one out. Thompson was 0-5 with 2 BB and 5 K on the day and Dani Perez came up to bat for him, the last guy off the bench. Perez came up clutch and doubled to right, FINALLY A RUN HERE!!! (fumes) Sanchez hit a sac fly, 4-2. Now, West had to pitch another inning here. He hit Kyle Wider to start the bottom 16th, but Browning grounded to Osanai for a double play. Grant West struck out Norberto Farias to end the game, his 14th batter of the night, as the game ended 16 minutes past midnight. 4-2 Raccoons. S. Martinez 3-7; Perez (PH) 1-1, 2B, RBI; Dadswell (PH) 1-1; Flores 4-7, 2B; Jones 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K; West 4.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 6 K, W (5-2) and 1-2;

Perez did not pinch hit for West in the 15th because there was nobody left in the pen. I want to mention the bullpen here once more for pitching ten scoreless innings in this game. When Wade exited after six, Wally Gaston was the first to enter, and I placed him in the #9 spot, which was due to bat, but when Moss then entered for a lefty in the same inning, I made the double switch into the #7 spot, and that hurt us twice, forcing the removal of Cunningham in the top 9th, and then having West bat with two on and two out in the 48th inning.

Winning the series would mean having Jerry Ackerman (1-1, 5.60 ERA) outlast Steve Weeks (3-3, 5.82 ERA) in game 4. Carlos León homered off Weeks in the first, but the Coons left the bags full when Dani Perez struck out. Dadswell was K’ed with the bases loaded for the final out in the fifth. Between that the Coons had had nothing going, and Ackerman had put on six, but had also stranded six, at least one in every inning. Ackerman’s luck ran out in the fifth, and the Crusaders plated three. Top 6th. Sanchez homered to start things, and Perez doubled, getting Weeks out of the game, but Perez was left on against former Coon Miguel Bojorquez. Tim Moss put two on in the bottom 6th, and both runners scored after he was removed for Dirk Campbell. The Coons still trailed 5-2 in the ninth. Martinez grounded out. León struck out. Dawson hit a home run off Martin Padilla. 5-3. Osanai grounded PAST Ray Lee at first. Suddenly the tying run came to the plate with Osanai at second. Dadswell doubled over Browning in center and Sanchez came up to bat, but Pedro Villa caught his line drive and it was over. 5-4 Crusaders. León 2-4, BB, HR, RBI; Dawson 2-4, BB, HR, RBI; Sanchez 2-5, RBI;

Raccoons (61-49) @ Canadiens (47-64)

The Canadiens were a half game out of the bottom of the division, and that after dominating for the last five years. The reasons for this were still not fully understood, but if anything it was a wonderful mystery for everybody else in the CL North. The Coons had to play four in Canada while also being up four over the Indians.

Zach Baker loaded the bags in the first and the Canadiens scored one run to take an early lead. The Raccoons couldn’t get to Tia Fa on the mound for Vancouver until the sixth. León singled his way on, and Osanai hit a double off the centerfield wall to score him, cutting a 2-0 deficit in half. But Osanai was left on and Brian Adams restored the old distance of two runs with a solo jack in the bottom 6th. The Raccoons never got another chance, and lost 4-1. León 2-4; Osanai 2-4, 2B, RBI;

Jason Bentley’s shoulder was back to usable at this point and he was detached to AAA ball for two or three innings of rehab. I didn’t know how to order my staff at this point anyway.

Game 2 saw Dawson and Martinez rested in the middle of this grueling road trip. It also saw Vancouver pitcher Raimundo Beato leave the game with an injury in the first inning. Daniel Hall was back in left and threw out a runner at the plate in the bottom 1st, which didn’t help at all since Logan Evans threw a wild pitch, Dadswell allowed another pitch to get away, and the Canadiens scored two unearned runs. The Coons did not have a base hit from the second through the seventh in this game, while Evans held the Canadiens to their two runs. Chong led off the top 8th with an infield single. Dawson pinch hit for Evans and hit a double that put the tying runs in scoring position with one out. Jack Pennington was on the mound, and four lefties were next to come up. Thompson grounded out, but at least scored Chong. León just grounded out, chance wasted, as always. Still down 2-1 in the top 9th, lefty Chris Nelson came in to close it. Tetsu Osanai singled his way on, but was left there. 2-1 Canadiens. Osanai 2-4; Chong 1-2, RBI; Dawson (PH) 1-1, 2B;

Three losses in a row, all because of insufficient clutch hitting. Or hitting at all. Small things: Wally Gaston pitched a scoreless eighth, dropping his ERA below four again.

Interlude: waiver claim

We claimed SP Alejandro Venegas off waivers by the Pittsburgh Miners. Venegas was the 6th round pick by the Cyclones in 1978, but only appeared once for them in the big leagues, a long relief appearance in 1985. He was claimed by the Miners this April, when the Cyclones waived him, and appeared in 17 games (7 starts), going 2-4 with a 4.30 ERA. Given our struggles to field a competent rotation, he has a shot at replacing the ill-fated Jerry Ackerman. Or Zach Baker. Or somebody else, whoever may be hit by my wrath may go down. He remains DFA until we have completed this run through the rotation, which will happen in Sacramento.

Now back to:

Raccoons (61-49) @ Canadiens (47-64)

Kisho Saito started out strong in game 3, and got some run support eventually, with Martinez driving in Flores in the top 3rd, 1-0. In the fourth, Sanchez, Osanai, and Dawson singled – three up, none down. Hall’s grounder scored a run, but Perez grounded into a double play. Saito allowed a run in the fifth, making it 2-1, on a 2-out infield RBI-single by Melvin Greene. Saito notched K #100 on Brian Adams in the seventh, but then allowed a double to pitcher Greg O’Brien with two out, bringing up Greene again. Saito was done, and Cunningham struck out Greene, then proceeded to pitch a quick eighth. With two out in the ninth, Hall doubled to center. Dadswell pinch hit for Perez for an RBI double. Flores also got on, but Thompson struck out batting for Cunningham, and so West was given a 3-1 lead. Angel Potter – K; Ramón Carrillo – K; Brian Adams – FO to RF; 3-1 Raccoons. Dadswell (PH) 1-1, 2B, RBI; Flores 3-4, 2B; Saito 6.2 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, W (10-7);

A 3-run blast by Tetsu Osanai lifted the Raccoons up in the top 1st of game 4. León made it 4-0 with a solo jack in the third, but the Canadiens got that run back after an error by Osanai in the bottom 3rd that allowed Ramón Gonzalez on base. Carrillo doubled him in. The Raccoons loaded the bags in the fifth, but Dawson found a way to hit into an inning-ending double play. Bottom 5th, Winston Thompson collided with 2B Kevin Lewis at second base trying to turn a double play. It ended 2-1 Lewis, who was out, but the runner at first was safe, and Thompson left with a sprained ankle. The Coons again left two in scoring position in the sixth, and the Canadiens trailed only 4-2 into the seventh. Here, Scott Wade loaded the bags with one out. He struck out Carrillo, bringing up lefty Pedro Mora. Jones replaced Wade, and the Canadiens brought righty Jorge Diaz to pinch hit. Dawson made a terrific play at third base to get an out from Diaz and Wade’s lead survived. Two more left on for the Coons in the eighth (two singles, then three outs). Three pitchers bobbled together the bottom 8th for the Coons, and Juan Martinez made the final out, but also strained his calf and hobbled off. Two more were stranded in the top 9th. Grant West came in and the first three Canadiens reached base. He struck out Jorge Diaz, then went 1-2 on Fred Rodgers, before Rodgers singled to left. Hall was to it quickly and Steve Wall, the slow-footed catcher, had to hold at third. 4-3, bases loaded, one out, Art Garrett up. He shot a grounder to Martinez at short, out at second, out at first. Barely survived this one. 4-3 Raccoons. León 3-4, BB, HR, RBI; Dawson 2-5; Dadswell 2-4; Thompson 1-1, BB; Wade 6.2 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, W (8-9);

Collectively, the Furballs left 29 on base in this game. NO clutch hitting! We are writhing in agony here!

Writhing in agony were also the terms for Juan Martinez and Thompson here. Martinez’ calf strain would take at least a week to heal. Since he could not go to AAA, he had to go to the DL. Thompson’s sprained ankle was not particularly bad, but estimates by the medical staff ranged from one to two weeks. That was enough to also win him a spot on the DL.

Their places on the roster were consumed by the recently claimed Venegas and RF Marcos Costello. The latter had been acquired from the Wolves in a trade for MR Jason White in the winter of 85/86. He was a competent batter, but his fielding was so-so, despite good speed, which unfortunately didn’t translate into good range. He was on the 40-man roster anyway, and the only infielder on the 40-man roster was Joe Jackson, who had not gotten his batting together so far, hitting only .260 at AAA and not with the power we had expected when drafting him.

Raccoons (63-51) @ Scorpions (55-61)

Game 1 was a must-click start for Jerry Ackerman, who after a great season debut had fallen off so far, he was barely visible now. The Raccoons started off by loading the bases with one out and scored only one run. The Scorpions socked four runs off Ackerman in the bottom 1st, which led me to strike out … his name on our depth chart. Down 5-1 in the top 4th, Ackerman was pinch hit for with Costello, who struck out to end the inning and left two on. After Costello, Venegas made his Coons debut in long relief now. His first batter was Juan Torres, the opposing pitcher, who grounded out, and he struck out the next two men to come up. Venegas went four innings, allowing two runs, including a homer to 1B Francisco Lopez, who was a prime slugger in the Federal League. The rest of the pen coughed up three more runs in the eighth. The Raccoons were downed, 10-3. León 3-4, BB, 2 2B; Sanchez 3-4; Quintanilla (PH) 1-1;

At 1-3 and a 6.11 ERA, Jerry Ackerman was waived and designated for assignment after the game. Jason Bentley joined the team after a successful rehab stint with 3.1 scoreless innings in AAA ball. Venegas moved into the rotation.

Game 2 was Baker’s start. Both Osanai and Francisco Lopez hit homers in their halves of the second inning, 1-1. Doubles by Hall and León scored a run in the top 3rd, and Baker and Mark Dawson managed to strand a runner at third in the bottom 3rd with two grounders well handled by Dawson. Baker went into the sixth, where he jammed. Jones got the final out, although it was more to credit to Armando Sanchez, who JUST caught a huge flyball to deeeeep center. It didn’t help, though. The Scorpions tied it in the bottom 8th, as Moss put the run on base, and he advanced for three more bags against Cunningham. The game went to extra innings, where the Scorpions left the bags full against Campbell in the 11th, and Osanai led off the 12th with a double and came in to score on a Dani Perez single. Grant West came out, not fully rested, to face the heart of the lineup. Lopez got on base with a 1-out blooper to short left. 2B Rodrigo Morales doubled to left, and now the winning run was on second. SS John Harris hit a bouncer up the right foul line. Osanai came in to get the out, and Lopez shied back to third. 3B Ilusuarte Fazenda stepped in. Despite an opening at first he was not walked, since behind him lurked Esteban Hernandez, a famous coonskinner when with the Indians. Vicious grounder up right, Osanai threw his massive body at the ball – MADE THE PLAY, OUT AT FIRST!! 3-2 Coons, but it was far from pretty. The Scorpions out-hit them 16-9. León 2-4, 2 2B, RBI; Osanai 3-5, HR, 2B, RBI;

Scoring was a tough task for this team, but Mark Dawson got it going early with a finely clutch 2-out RBI single in the top 1st of the rubber match. That was something to cheer for already. Hall sacrificed in a run in the fourth, 2-0 . Logan Evans was not too great on the mound, making good use of two double plays in the first two innings. That luck ran out quickly and the Scorpions tied the affair by the fifth. Osanai drove in a run in the seventh to give the Coons another lead, and the Coons were donated a run with an error and a wild pitch in the eighth. León held on to that lead with a great catch in the bottom 8th that saved two runs, and the Coons added two in the top 9th with back-to-back-to-back 2-out doubles by Osanai, Dawson, and Dadswell. David Jones pitched a 2-inning save, 6-2 Coons! S. Martinez 2-5; Osanai 3-4, BB, 2 2B, RBI; Dawson 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Dadswell 2-5, 3B, 2B, RBI; Perez 2-5, 3B; Jones 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K, SV (4);

In other news

July 31 – The Canadiens will be without Hector Atilano (.325, 3 HR, 25 RBI) for a while. The infielder, 36, has a sore back.
August 1 – Blow to the Indians: Alvin Sutphen (.248, 6 HR, 25 RBI) is out for the season with a torn ACL.
August 3 – PIT Leland Lewis (8-11, 2.58 ERA) 3-hits the Gold Sox in a 6-0 Miners win. If a 2.58 ERA doesn’t get you a winning record, you’re in trouble.
August 4 – Bone chips in the elbow end the season of Pittsburgh’s SP David Burke (3-3, 3.40 ERA), who made only eight starts this year due to injuries.
August 7 – SAL Vicente Torres (8-4, 3.43 ERA) 3-hits the Gold Sox in a 2-0 shutout. The Wolves hang in there in the FL West race. The Wolves have never been to the playoffs.
August 8 – The Condors receive a blow, as SP John Douglas (11-9, 3.15 ERA) will be out for the season with shoulder inflammation. Douglas, 27, is 90-105 for his career, but this includes six seasons with the perennially poor Loggers. His 4.11 career ERA is much closer to average, and since joining the Condors last year, he’s 24-22 with a 3.34 ERA.
August 8 – Bruce Cannon’s hitting streak ends at 28 games as the Pacifics get clobbered by the Stars, 15-0.
August 9 – The Gold Sox lose outfielder Shoichi Fujino (.285, 8 HR, 46 RBI) to a torn meniscus. The Japanese will not come back until late September at best.
August 12 – Salem’s Vicente Torres spins a 5-hit shutout against the Pacifics (7-0 Wolves), making for back-to-back SHO’s.
August 12 – BOS 1B Isto Grönholm misses the cycle by the triple in a 4-5, HR, 4 RBI outing, as the Titans beat the Crusaders, 5-4. He doesn’t miss hitting for 20 consecutive games, however. He’s batting .287 with 7 HR and 64 RBI this year, much down from his former power, which has people gossiping that his long ball danger only came from “subs”. Subs not in the sense of fast food, but rather “substances”.
August 14 – Gold Sox pitching overwhelms Grönholm, ending his streak at 20 games.
August 16 – Ken Winters, outfielder for the Loggers, goes down to a torn labrum. He will miss the rest of the season, batting .240 with 1 HR and 28 RBI.

Complaints and stuff

The Raccoons have secured the services of SP Kisho Saito, 27, for another five years, which comes with a $2.45M price tag (actually less than I feared it would cost, I calculated upwards of $600k/y for him). The last year is a team option.

Both Logan Evans and Kisho Saito are locked up for four or more years now. Scott Wade and Zach Baker, our new #5, were on the minimum for another two and one year(s), respectively. Carlos Gonzalez will be arbitration eligible this fall. His estimate currently is $242k/y. That’s cheap for what he can do. IF he is healthy.

Gonzalez is a tricky case. Once he wins another 15 games in a season, his price will shoot up. But he has been ravaged by injuries at the tender age of 25 (he turned 25 on the day of the middle game against Las Vegas, the same day Saito signed his contract offer) and you don’t want to sign him to 5-yr, $2M or more if he will pitch only 38 games for that pile of cash. Tough one here, I could use some help. Or inspiration.

Offense was not plentiful the last two weeks, but at least barely sufficient. Next: Cincy at home, then three games in Indy. The Titans and Knights come to Portland after that.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (65-52) vs. Cyclones (71-46)

The Cyclones were the best team in baseball after suffering through a long period of mediocrity since their last playoff appearance in 1979. They had not finished higher than 3rd and had not won more than 86 wins since 1981. They had finished last, 72-90, last year. This year they were batting .266 with a 3.01 ERA. They were a tough team to beat.

But the Coons got off to a good start in the opener, with Sam Dadswell hitting an unearned grand slam off Evan Dawson in the bottom 1st. But it stopped right there, as an error by Armando Sanchez in center and a passed ball on Dadswell helped the Cyclones to score three runs off Saito in the top 2nd. Two were unearned. The score remained 4-3 through five. In the top 6th, another passed ball on Dadswell put two in scoring position. With two out, Benedict Allard was walked intentionally to get to the pitcher, on whom Saito went to a full count, before Evan Dawson launched one to left, which Daniel Hall was able to get to to end the inning. The Coons left the bases loaded in the bottom 7th, again with Dadswell at the plate, and subsequently the Cyclones tied the game against Cunningham in the top 8th, before the Coons reeled off 2-out base hits and scored five runs on the bullpen, before Dadswell again made the final out, and the Raccoons won 9-4. León 3-5; S. Martinez 2-5, RBI; Sanchez 2-5, RBI; Osanai 2-4, BB, RBI; Dawson 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Dadswell 2-5, HR, 4 RBI; Saito 6.0 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K; every Coons starting position player had at least one hit, including Perez and Hall in the last two spots;

Game 2 saw the Coons take the lead on a first inning homer again, this time by Armando Sanchez, a solo home run. But it also got away again from Sanchez, who made errors in back-to-back games and the tying run scored in the third. While Sanchez was at it, he righted the picture again with another home run in the fourth, and Osanai followed that with another solo jack, 3-1 Coons. Scott Wade struggled a bit with control, but managed to complete seven innings with only that unearned run against him. Marcos Costello made his first start in right for the Coons and got his first hit in the bottom 7th, driving in Dani Perez with a 2-out RBI single. Grant West allowed a run to score on three hits in the top 9th, but held on to the win. The Raccoons were out-hit 9-5, but won 4-2, thanks to some boom. Sanchez 2-3, 2 HR, 2 RBI; Costello 1-2, BB, RBI; Wade 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 4 K, W (9-9)

Game 3 was the first start for Alejandro Venegas in a Coons uniform. Santiago Gonzalez took him deep for two runs in the first, but Tetsu Osanai equaled that by hurting Jim Harrington equally in the bottom 1st. Mark Dawson lined out hard with the bases loaded for the final out in the bottom 3rd. Venegas’ control was not good, he didn’t get into good counts and walked a few Cyclones too much for my taste. Santiago Gonzalez found the bags full in the top 5th, but grounded out to Perez to end the threat there. Venegas left after six, having walked four, in a no-decision. Daniel Hall was left at second by Costello in the bottom 6th. Wally Gaston surrendered a run in the seventh, and the Coons left the bags full in the bottom of the inning, when Dadswell rolled out to the mound, and Hall was left at third in the eighth. It was one of those days where it just was not meant to be. The Coons out-hit the Cyclones this time, 10-6, but lost, 3-2. S. Martinez 2-5, 2B; Sanchez 2-5, 2B; Osanai 3-5, HR, 2 RBI; Hall 2-3, 2B;

Raccoons (67-53) @ Indians (64-57)

This is, where it counts. With a 3.5 game lead, we had to breathing space to take a series loss here. Things had to pan out, right here.

It’s been ten years since Alex Miranda pitched for the Raccoons, but I still can’t stand his sight. He was up in game 1 against Zach Baker. I toyed with the idea of jump starting to the top of our rotation, but I wanted everybody’s best outing here. And Miranda could always turn a game into a walk fest for the opposing team. But Miranda was not on the mound to dish out presents – he nailed the Coons down, and he did so hard. While Zach Baker fell to a 3-run homer by Bill Taggart in the second, the only inning where he got into more than mild trouble at all, the Coons flailed at everything Miranda threw. Top 9th, and the Indians still led 3-0. Miranda had 2-hit them so far. Hall pinch hit in the #9 spot, but flew out to center. Then León singled. Weber pinch hit for Martinez, a double. Tying run to the plate with the recently bombastic Sanchez and Osanai next to bat. Miranda remained in, fanned Sanchez, and walked Osanai on a full count. Mark Dawson drew a bases-loaded walk, gone was the shutout, but now the Indians brought their closer, Jim Durden, who sported a decent 0.36 ERA. Quintanilla pinch hit for Dadswell, and grounded out. 3-1 Indians. Great start. León 2-4; Weber (PH) 1-1, 2B; Moss 2.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K;

Logan Evans faced Pepe Acevedo, who was 11-9 with a 4.30 ERA and was clearly the worst guy in the Indians rotation this year. The Indians scored first, 1-0 after one frame, but the Coons loaded the bags with nobody out in the top 2nd, Osanai single, Sanchez walk, Hall single. Gustavo Flores was up and his roller could have been (and maybe should have been) a double play, but managed to get through on the right side between Angelo Duarte and Gilberto Alaniz. Two runs scored. Chong then hit into the long anticipated double play and Evans struck out to leave Hall on, too. Evans didn’t get any more support and had to hold on to that 2-1 lead, but it all came apart in the sixth with two leadoff walks. Both runners scored on a 2-run single by Horace Simpson. Flores and Chong got into scoring position with hits in the top 7th and one out. Quintanilla struck out in place of Evans and León grounded out. That was their last chance. The Indians packed three on Gaston, Jones, and Cunningham in the seventh and won comfortably, 6-2. Perez 1-1; Osanai 2-3, BB;

Mark Dawson was hurt in the eighth inning and is listed as DTD with a calf strain. Dawson’s injury necessitated a roster change, since it left me with only four healthy infielders. Marcos Costello (1-11) was sent down to AAA, and we WOULD have called up prospect 1B/3B Joe Jackson if he hadn’t gone down with an elbow contusion. The call went to 1B/2B Darren Campbell instead. That still left Martinez and Chong as the only players to effectively play on the left side of the infield and made Chong and his sub-par arm the 3B starter.

Kisho Saito did all he could to stem the tide in the last game, but his defense didn’t make it easy on him. For example, he faced five batters in the bottom 3rd in a scoreless game. Two reached base on errors by Chong and Weber, and he struck out the other three. Sam Dadswell hit a leadoff double in the fifth – went to third and was thrown out. Perez singled behind him and Weber reached on an error, which would have been enough time to score already. Chong grounded into a double play, the third for the Coons in the game and also made the final out with two on in the seventh, where there was FINALLY some scoring on a sac fly by Dani Perez. Saito pitched seven scoreless and then had to hope for the pen to hold up. Dale Hunter hit an impressively long home run off Cunningham in the bottom 8th. Saito vanished from the dugout. The game went to extra innings. Walter Warren collected his first career hit against Dirk Campbell in the 10th, then advanced to second on a wild pitch by Campbell. Daniel Hall made an impressive catch that saved the Coons for the moment. With Jim Durden pitching his second inning in the 12th, Dadswell hit a 1-out double, and Weber a 2-out single to put them at the corners. Chong was next and did the best he could do and took one for the team, which loaded the bags. Two down, bases loaded, top 12th, Daniel Hall to the plate. He struck out. Finally in the 14th, 2-out doubles by Perez and Weber plated a run for the Coons. Grant West had already pitched three hard innings, but had struck out two men in the 13th. There was definitely some gas left in the tank. With only the erratic Wally Gaston left, he had to pitch one more. He struck out Forest Hartley on a full count. He struck out Raul Vazquez on three pitches. Power monster Gilberto Alaniz was a righty and was waved over to first base to go after Angelo Duarte. Perez made a strong play on his grounder and Duarte was retired at first. 2-1 Raccoons. Sanchez 2-6, 2B; Dadswell 2-6, 2 2B; Perez 2-5, 2B, RBI; Weber 3-6, 2B, RBI; Saito 7.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 7 K; West 4.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K, W (6-2);

What a terrible series. No offense. Just no offense. If we can’t even score enough runs to give Evans and Saito (and Wade) the wins they deserve, then we have no business to be in the postseason. We would meet the Indians one more time, a 4-game set in the last week of the season, at home in Portland, where we’d go to roll up now and cry into our bushy tails.

In other news

August 18 – Charlotte’s phenom SP Manuel Movonda (7-10, 3.11 ERA) suffers a hamstring injury in the weight room and will be out for a few weeks.
August 18 – Ex-Coon 1B Matt Workman, .246 with 4 HR and 37 RBI in 321 AB for the Wolves this year, receives a suspension for two games for verbally abusing an umpire.
August 20 – SAC OF Tommy Norton (.325, 6 HR, 51 RBI) has a 20-game hitting streak alive after going 2-4, in an 11-3 rout of the Scorpions by the Condors.
August 21 – The Thunder lose SP Domingo León (10-10, 3.03 ERA) for up to a month to a forearm strain.

Complaints and stuff

That’s enough for today. After that Indians series I have a REALLY BAD headache.

A bit surprisingly for everybody, our Carlos León was named CL Player of the Week for the week of the Canadiens and Scorpions series. He went .429 (12-28) with 2 HR and 3 RBI after being moved into the leadoff spot a week ago. But León has already tailed off this week. In contrast to Tetsu Osanai, who was POTW in THIS week, going 11-21 with 2 HR and 5 RBI.

SP Robbie Campbell was on waivers by the Canadiens during this week, possibly to facilitate a trade, and our claim was rejected and Campbell pulled off waivers by the team. So there was some sort of trade going on but there were lots of players on waivers at that time and I can’t tell for whom. In any case they need outfield help and Ronaldo Cabrera and Francis Bell have been on the trading block for a while.

Next: home week, Titans and Knights (shiver), then road week, Falcons and Crusaders. The middle game in Charlotte will mark roster expansion day.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (68-55) vs. Titans (56-69)

Scott Wade faced ex-Coon Eric McCullough in the opener of the 3-game set. While McCullough had never been even remotely useful in a brown uniform, he silenced the Raccoons well now, while Wade was blown up early with homers by Grönholm and Flygt that made it 4-0 after three innings. The Coons crawled back into the game in the fifth, aided by Darren Campbell hit by a pitch. With two in scoring position and one out, León lined out hard to Grönholm at first, but Sergio Martinez lined equally hard into open space on the left, scoring two runs. Osanai socked a massive home run in the bottom 6th. What looked like a rally initially, stopped right there with only one more Coon reaching base for the rest of the game. The Titans won, 6-3. S. Martinez 2-4, 2 2B, 2 RBI;

Next day, next game, next ex-Coon on the mound for the Titans, this time Kinji Kan, whose 4.68 ERA told much about how his struggles in his last year in Portland had not ended after leaving. The Titans continued to sock ‘em. Flygt went extremely deep off Alejandro Venegas in the third, plating two after they had already scored an unearned run after a Kelly Weber error. The Raccoons, after scoring a run in the fourth, they … it can not be properly described only with words. I may have to prepare some expressionist dance. With two on and nobody out in the bottom 8th, Sanchez, Osanai, and Dadswell all made terribly ineffective outs and the 3-1 deficit stood. Gah! One more chance: Dani Perez reached base on an error by “Wacky” Booth in the bottom 9th with nobody out. Kelly Weber doubled and the tying runs were in scoring position. Campbell pinch-hit for Chong and singled through to right, both runs scoring, and still nobody out. Dawson pinch-hit for Wally Gaston in the pitcher’s spot. Double play. Extra innings. The Raccoons lost the game in the 13th. After not putting a runner on base through the 12th, David Jones was taken deep by Ryan Dickerson in the top 13th, and the Raccoons (more specifically: Sam Dadswell) left Armando Sanchez on third base in the bottom 13th. 4-3 Titans. S. Martinez 2-6; Dadswell 2-6, RBI; Weber 2-5, 2B; Campbell (PH) 1-2, 2 RBI;

Game 3 saw Osanai drive in the first run in the bottom 1st, but Kelly Weber left the bases loaded with a K in the same inning. Zach Baker was on the mound and was struggling with baserunners early on (the bases looked like an Los Angeles freeway at rush hour each of the first three innings) but then settled in with a 3-0 lead after two and went into the seventh, before hitting a block in lefty Hjalmar Flygt, who was gotten by Moss. The Coons dropped a chance to score in the eighth, where Daniel Hall tried to get things going once more with a pinch-hit 2-out double, and Weber singled his way on, but Chong was retired on a phenomenal grab by Mashwanis in center. At least this gave Grant West something to save, and he retired the Titans in order to salvage at least one game in the series, 3-0 Raccoons. S. Martinez 2-4, 2B, RBI; Dadswell 2-3, BB, 2B, RBI; Hall (PH) 1-1, 2B; Baker 6.2 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 5 K, W (6-5);

The Indians annihilated the Canadiens in their series, which narrowed the gap in the division to half a game, and the Coons were to play the Knights now. They had won but one of the six contests so far this season against the Yellowshirts. Uh-oh.

Raccoons (69-57) vs. Knights (72-54)

If there were any good news, then that we would not face Carlos Asquabal in this series, the head of their rotation. That’s it for good news. They will start Bernard Lepore in the series, but he has been mean to the Furballs for more than a decade now.

Logan Evans facing the strikeout machine Kiyohira Sasaki in game 1 certainly had the possibility to go either way. Tom McDonald hit a 3-run homer in the first inning, and this was no good sign for sure. Martinez drew a walk to lead things off for the Coons. Sanchez singled, Hall singled, Osanai sacrificed Martinez in. Dawson homered to right, and the Coons led 4-3 in what started out not necessarily within the traditional definition of a pitching duel. Dawson drove in another run in the third, and Sasaki was gone after four. Logan Evans balked in a run in the fifth, which Sanchez was able to get back with a home run to start the bottom 5th. Evans went six and saw his 6-4 lead go up in smoke in the seventh. Bentley put two on and Jones surrendered a 2-out 2-run single to Michael Root. The Knights were on the verge of turning it, but the Furballs held the 6-6 tie into the bottom 9th. Armando Sanchez singled his way on with one out. With Hall at the plate, Sanchez took off against the weaker-armed catcher Joreao Paulos, who threw wildly into the outfield and Sanchez went to third base. Daniel Hall now just had to get the ball into the outfield, but was walked intentionally. Osanai lined out, but Dawson singled to right to walk the Coons off. 7-6 Furballs. Sanchez 4-5, HR, RBI; Hall 3-4, BB; Dawson 3-5, HR, 5 RBI;

Both Winston Thompson and Juan Martinez were able to leave the DL. Thompson joined the major league team, Martinez went to AAA (but with the expansion date only three days away).

Game 2 was Saito against old man Lepore, whose ERA was more than twice Saito’s. Saito got behind in the first inning on a wild pitch, but Quintanilla’s RBI triple in the bottom 2nd tied it up again, and Quintanilla was scored on a groundout by Dani Perez. Sanchez and Hall were in scoring position for Osanai and Dawson with one out in the fifth, but those two popped out and struck out, respectively, and the Knights promptly turned the game on a McDonald home run in the top 6th, 3-2. Saito went seven on the losing side, while Lepore kept the Raccoons guessing until Hall unleashed a rocket at the start of the bottom 8th that tied the game. Proficient at missing chances, the Raccoons dropped another few runners on base in the same inning and required two innings in relief by Grant West to go into extra innings. Dadswell grounded into a double play that killed the 10th inning. Gaston pitched a good 11th, then jammed in the 12th. With two out, Root got an intentional walk to load the bags and Cunningham came in to face McDonald, and grounded him to short. Cunningham went on to give a leadoff walk to Luis Barrera in the top 14th, and the third baseman came around to score, and the Raccoons lost, 4-3, after going down silently in another inning of their own. S. Martinez 3-6, 2B; Hall 3-6, HR, 2B, RBI; Dawson 2-6;

This was the aggravating loss that cost the division lead.

Facing Xavier Mayes in the final game of the series, the Raccoons looked lost from the beginning. They started out by leaving the bases loaded in the bottom 1st. They had a total of one hit through the next four frames. Meanwhile Scott Wade struggled as well to contain Root and McDonald, but at least the ballpark held them. Into the bottom 6th the game was scoreless. There, the Raccoons got their first chance since the first inning, when McDonald in center dropped Sanchez’ flyer to put him on second base with nobody out. Hall grounded out, advancing Sanchez, and Osanai flew out deep enough for Sanchez to tag up and go home. Wade pitched two more scoreless, then was due to lead off the eighth, having thrown 90 pitches. He seemed to be in control. Go ahead and bat, son. He reached base on an error. Martinez and Hall got on, and Osanai had a chance to put the game away, but fans had to be satisfied with his second sac fly of the day, scoring Wade. Dawson drove in another run to give Wade a 3-0 lead for the top 9th (West was not readily available), which was still a tough task: Root (LHB), Marcinek Wodaj (L), and McDonald (R) were to bat. Root zinged a lobber right into Wade’s glove. Wodaj’s ball soared into deep left, where Hall made a catch for the yearbook. McDonald for a 4-hit shutout, Wade almost struck him out, but McDonald hung in there, before he grounded out to Dawson. 3-0 Coons, and a SHUTOUT FOR SCOTT WADE!! Hall 2-4; Osanai 1-2, 2 RBI; Dawson 2-4; Wade 9.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K, W (10-10);

This is the second career shutout for Scott Wade, to the day two years after his first shutout, then against the Crusaders, a 6-hitter. Of course, he also has a 1-hitter in a losing effort to the Canadiens last year to his credit.

Wade’s gritty performance puts the Raccoons back atop the division.

In other news

August 25 – ATL Xavier Mayes (11-6, 2.08 ERA) 3-hits the Condors in a tense 2-0 win for the Knights.
August 26 – Five AB’s, no hits for Tommy Norton, as his Scorpions fall 11-5 to the Gold Sox, ending his 24-game hitting streak.
August 28 – Nashville’s Chris Lacy (16-10, 2.38 ERA) throws a 1-hitter against the Scorpions. The Blue Sox rout their opponents, 8-0.
August 29 – Jake Wallace (13-8, 3.20 ERA) spins a 3-hit shutout, as the Wolves beat the Buffaloes 1-0.
August 30 – WAS SS Nuno Andresen (.267, 5 HR, 51 RBI) breaks his finger diving into a base and will miss the rest of the regular season.

Complaints and stuff

Apart from Scott Wade’s shutout this was rather depressing week, not only because the Indians went 5-1. The overall package lacks offense. But Daniel Hall was been racking up hits this week, maybe he’s getting back, although after three terrible years you can almost write him off…

[Westheim]

Raccoons (71-58) @ Falcons (63-66)

The Raccoons scored a first inning small ball run in the series opener, which Alejandro Venegas somehow managed to hold on to despite creating jams every other inning. The Coons also left numbers on. In the sixth, Osanai, Dawson, and Hall reached base with nobody out. Weber lined out, Perez struck out, and Venegas flew out. In the bottom 6th, catcher Kyae-sung Park tied the game with a home run off Venegas. So much for strategy, genius and all the other crap I’m talking about doing. Osanai, the king of sac flies, who used to be the king of moon shots, made a productive out to score Sanchez from third in the top 7th. The Falcons brought the tying run to third in two of the last three innings, but the Raccoons dodged both bullets. West got the save. 2-1 Coons, and 12-5 in hits. S. Martinez 2-5; Sanchez 2-4, BB, 2B; Dadswell 2-5, 2B, RBI; Osanai 2-4, RBI; Hall 2-4; León (PH) 1-1;

This was the first win for Alejandro Venegas in a brown uniform after two no-decisions and a relief outing. He’s 1-0 with a 2.66 ERA, so he is a good bet in the #4 spot at the moment, despite an unhealthy 1.1 K/BB ratio. He walked more (5) Falcons this game than he surrendered hits (4).

For the middle game we hit September, and added MR Juan Martinez, C Odwin Garza, and 1B/2B Darren Campbell to the roster.

The Falcons scored first in the middle game, an inside the park homer by Gilbert Dougan in the bottom 4th. This was the second and last hit that Zach Baker surrendered through seven innings (plus four walks), and the Raccoons were completely unable to mound the slightest of offense against Bastyao Caixinha. David Jones and Juan Martinez combined to surrender four runs in the bottom 8th and the Raccoons lost 5-1 after a worthless ninth inning run. They out-hit the Falcons 8-5 … Osanai 2-4; Dawson 2-4, 2B; Baker 7.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 2 K, L (6-6) and 1-2;

After this half-dead showing, the Coons scored almost as many runs in the top 1st of the rubber game as in all of the lase week combined, getting five runs against Terry Worley with big doubles by Hall (2 runs), Thompson (1) and Odwin Garza (2) providing the countables. Worley made it through three innings, then trailing 6-0, while Logan Evans faced the minimum that far. Evans pitched a strong game apart from some control issues which cost the only run he surrendered over seven innings. The bullpen crumbled again with a run off Campbell and two off Gaston, but the Raccoons won 8-4. S. Martinez 2-4, BB, 2B; Sanchez 2-5, 2 2B, RBI; Hall 3-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Thompson 2-4, BB, 2 2B, 2 RBI; Garza 1-4, 2B, 3 RBI; Evans 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, W (11-6);

We had an off day heading to New York, which the Indians used to tie the division with a win over the Titans, 10-8 in 13 innings.

Raccoons (73-59) @ Crusaders (60-73)

We were projected to face all lefties in the 3-game set in New York. This included Carlos Guillen, who was slated to start game 1 and had no-hit the Coons in 1985.

Tetsu Osanai was not the guy to hit infield singles all the time, but he hit a 2-out RBI infield single to get the Coons ahead in the first inning of the series opener against Guillen, scoring Martinez from third. Guillen only went into the fourth, leaving with some form of pain, and the Coons added two runs in the fifth. Kisho Saito worked very quickly for the Raccoons, needing 48 pitches through four, 82 through seven, and he didn’t look like stopping, but Stephen Walton and Tom Draper had 1-out hits in the bottom 8th to plate a run for the Crusaders. Saito had gas left, but we turned to Grant West for the ninth and he ended the game on three quick groundballs. S. Martinez 3-5, 3B, RBI; Saito 8.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, W (11-7) and 2-3;

Scott Wade was up in the middle game. Peter Charles homered for New York in the bottom 3rd and Wade surrendered another run in the fifth, while the Coons were 2-hit by Francisco Vidrio after five innings. They didn’t get their third hit until the top 8th, a León single with one out. Dadswell came to pinch hit for a strong, but unlucky Wade. He unleashed a homer to right to tie the game. But there was no reason for excitement. Diego Rodriguez hit a 2-run home run off Bentley in the bottom 8th. Hall was up first in the ninth, and reached on an error. Osanai popped out, and Dawson was hit by the pitch, bringing the go-ahead run to the plate in Winston Thompson, who grounded into the game-losing double play. 4-2 Crusaders. Dadswell (PH) 1-1, HR, 2 RBI; Wade 7.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 6 K;

Scoreless after three, the rubber game didn’t see the Coons get a hit (or on base) until the fourth, and Sergio Martinez came around to score the first run of the game on an Osanai sac fly (see the recurring theme here). Neither Todd McKenzie, nor Alejandro Venegas were hittable in this game. Through seven, both had given up three hits, and the Coons led 1-0 still, but both went out in the top 8th. McKenzie was removed for Herve Ben, of whom Kelly Weber hit a 1-out double in the #8 spot. Venegas was removed for a pinch hitter: Leòn singled up the middle. Martinez popped out and Sanchez grounded to the mound, but Ben couldn’t get to it quickly enough and the speedy Sanchez (who led the CL in steals), was safe, and Weber came in to score. Daniel Hall then fouled out. Cunningham and West each surrendered single hits in the eighth and ninth, but held on. 2-0 Coons! Sanchez 2-4, RBI; León (PH) 1-1; Venegas 7.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, W (4-4);

In other news

September 4 – The Titans lose their closer “Wacky” Booth (3-4, 4.10 ERA, 28 SV) to a torn labrum. The journeyman closer will be a free agent.

Complaints and stuff

We remain horrible against the Falcons, posting a 39-60 all-time record against them. We have won the season series but once – in 1983. This year, the contest went 4-5 against us.

Still, we went 4-2 this week (the Indians topped that with a 5-2 week), and the team scored 18 runs (3.0 R/G). This is a number indicating how good our staff is, but that strong pitching alone won’t help you in a division race. There was that rout in the third game in Charlotte. Over the other five games, they averaged 2.0 R/G…

Carlos Gonzalez’ salary arbitration estimate is going down. It’s now $221k compared to $242k somewhere in July.

We currently have about $1.5M in budget room in 1988. This is however with León, Chong, and Cunningham leaving as free agents. I don’t care about Chong too much. The other two I care about a bit more. We still need some offensive help. I’m envisioning a 21-year old rightfielder batting .360 with 40 dingers a season, bursting speed, and a really charitable character when it comes to earning money.

There are no such players.

Next: home series against Loggers (4), Canadiens (3), and Crusaders (4).

[Charlie Hough]

I've been away from this thread for some time. Is there a way you could post your season-by-season record so I can see what year you're in and what has happened since I was last on the thread?

[Westheim]

Sure, I'm of course interested in keeping all my readers well informed here. All four of them

We're in 1987 (11th season overall) and the Raccoons have been distanced by a mile by the Canadiens the last two years. This year the Canadiens have imploded spectacularly and the Coons still can't move the division to the Northwest.

I wanted to update our draft history some time this week, but haven't found the necessary hours so far.

What else do you need to know? Chris Powell has retired (pitching a shutout in his final game), Vicente Ruíz was traded off (two years too late). I was able to trade Matt Workman for Tetsu Osanai, who won the batting triple crown last year, at Questdog's insistance.

And Daniel Hall has not had a decent season since your last post.

[Charlie Hough]

Thanks for posting the year-by-year summary. Maybe there will be a return to near glory this year

Amazing that Wally Gaston is still around! How about a view of his career stats and accomplishments?

He should have his uniform number retired once his days with the Raccoons are over. He's a living legend of longevity! But it's too bad that his ERA has gone up and he's only a mop-up reliever these days.

[Westheim]

Big Wally has trouble with his elbow this year, he went to the DL for the first time ever because of that. He had a bad start to the season (as did Cunningham), and his command has not been there all year. He's not really the mop-up, the Coons have mop-up by committee since Carlos Moran is gone, but the game only lets you set four middle relievers.

But you can easily say it's his worst season.

There are certainly candidates to have their numbers retired at one point. Problem is, the game keeps reassigning them almost randomly when guys come off the DL or so, at least I feel that way.

Logan Evans also has been with the organization from the very beginning, but started out in the minors.

Gaston has no awards, Evans was an All Star in 1985, and was Pitcher of the Month twice.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (75-60) vs. Loggers (62-74)

The Raccoons crowded the bags early on in the first of four games, scoring one run and leaving the bags full in the first inning (Dawson forced in a run with a bases-loaded walk), and the same in the second (Hall with an RBI single). They stopped hitting right there and left Zach Baker to fend for himself. He did a fairly well job at that, striking out eight before being relieved in the seventh with a runner on base, which Bentley allowed to score. Sanchez got on in the bottom 7th, but was thrown out trying to steal, which cost a run, but they reeled off 2-out RBI hits, and Sergio Martinez added his first home run as a Raccoon in the eighth, as they suddenly broke it open to win 6-1. S. Martinez 3-5, HR, 2B, RBI; Hall 4-4, BB, RBI; León 2-3, BB, RBI; Baker 6.1 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 8 K, W (7-6);

I think we can say that Daniel Hall has suddenly exploded into a sizzling, melting hot fireball at the plate. Those are some impressive numbers: just 13 days ago, on August 26, he was batting a pathetic .210 – since then he has gone 21-43, almost .500! He’s at .241 now.

The Indians had an off day on this Monday, so we restored a half game lead, still with a game in hand.

Game 2 saw the Raccoons ravage call-up starter Rafael Garcia early on, as the first four Brownshirts all hit safely and they scored three runs, but once more left the bags full. Logan Evans was not at his best that day, though. Through three innings, the Loggers logged six hits and scored two runs, and Daniel Hall threw out the tying run at the plate to end the top 3rd. Evans managed to add three scoreless after that (although it wasn’t pretty) and left after six with a 4-2 lead. The bullpen blew it instantly, as Gaston allowed a run, then left with two out and nobody on. David Jones put on Edgardo Garza and then left for Cunningham, who gave up two singles, the latter of which had been supposed to be in Osanai’s glove. The 4-4 tie remained into the ninth. With two out and nobody on base in the top 9th, we walked Garza intentionally, fearing his huge bat with Dirk Campbell pitching. Campbell put away Jesus Jimenez then with a K. Daniel Hall singled to start the bottom 9th, but was nailed out when Tetsu Osanai lined to first with Hall already halfway up to second. Extra innings, and the Raccoons stopped producing altogether again. Juan Martinez lost it in the 12th inning with two runs, 6-4 Loggers. S. Martinez 3-6, 2B, RBI; Hall 3-5, BB, RBI; Thompson 2-5, BB, 2B;

That also cost the division lead.

Game 3 was an incredible drag. The Raccoons couldn’t get anything done against Terry Reynolds and his ERA way over four. Kisho Saito threw his arm off and couldn’t get a lead. In the seventh, he hit Stephen Hall with a pitch. The Loggers replaced him with Tony Flores to pinch-run, bunted him over, and Sergio Martinez’ error on the next grouder plated the first run of the game. Saito continued to mow down the Loggers, but remained behind. He pitched a complete nine innings and then went to the dugout hoping for a miracle or two. He got it in form of Tetsu Osanai’s 18th homer of the season. That was all they managed and Saito was left with a no-decision after pitching spectacularly. With two down in the bottom 10th, the Coons filled the bags one by one for Osanai again who looked at a low 3-1 pitch from Kendrick Davis to truly WALK off the Coons, 2-1. Osanai 3-4, BB, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Weber 2-4; Saito 9.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 5 K;

Once-a-Coon Cisco Banda hit a first inning home run off Scott Wade in the last game of the series to start the Raccoons sitting at the bottom of a mile-deep 1-0 chasm. Daniel Hall ripped a game-tying home run in the bottom 3rd, then making it 2-2. Perez and Thompson, who started a game at third base to rest Mark Dawson, stitched together 2-out base hits in the bottom 6th to get the Coons a lead, 3-2. Wade went seven innings, handing it over to the pen, and specifically David Jones with lefties Banda and Garza coming up first in the top 8th. Him and Cunningham did their job, but Grant West blew the save in the ninth. He hit Charlie Justin with one out, Justin was replaced by Tony Flores, and the Loggers added two hits to score him easily. The Coons were too dumb to make something out of Winston Thompson’s leadoff single (safe for a double play) in the bottom 9th and went to extra innings for the third day in a row, and then left two on both in the 10th and 11th. Bottom 12th, the Loggers brought wild reliever Bubba Hicks. Armando Sanchez got one right where he needed it for a long flyer and a leadoff triple. Hall was walked intentionally, Osanai grounded out and Hall went to second. Chong was up for the first time in the series after a long string of double switches. He was put on to load them up. Carlos León lined out to first. Arf. Winston Thompson had to make or break it – a single to left, the Coons walked off again, 4-3. Sanchez 3-6, 3B; Osanai 2-6; Thompson 3-5, BB, 2 RBI; Gaston 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K;

Raccoons starting pitching this series: 28.1 IP, 5 ER for a 1.59 ERA. The starters went 1-0, as only Baker got enough run support.

We’re still half a game behind the Indians.

Raccoons (78-61) vs. Canadiens (56-83)

The Canadiens will finish with a losing record and lower than second place for the first time since 1980. They have lost 19 of their last 26 games, dating back to the 4-game set in Vancouver against the Raccoons.

Game 1. Armando Sanchez hit a solo home run in the bottom 3rd for a lead, which got away with an unearned run in the fifth, which was to blame on Winston Thompson’s error, before Alejandro Venegas fell apart completely allowing a 3-run homer to rookie Stan Bass in the sixth. The Raccoons brought the tying run to the plate in the sixth, seventh, and eighth innings, and never did noteworthy damage. They lost 5-2. Osanai 2-4, RBI; Bentley 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

Zach Baker’s start in game 2 was nerve-wrecking. The good part: he didn’t allow a hit until the fourth inning. The bad part: he had walked six by then, and the Canadiens tied the game in the inning, 1-1. Baker was removed for a pinch hitter as the Coons took a 2-1 lead in the bottom 4th. Juan Martinez took the mound in the fifth and pitched two very fine innings. Moss took over in the seventh, but put the tying run on third with two down. Bentley induced a grounder from Art Garrett to hold on to the lead, but blew it in the eighth, when the Canadiens led off with two singles on either side of Dani Perez at second base. Cunningham held on to the tie. West pitched the ninth and Quintanilla drew a walk to start the Raccoons half of the inning. Perez bunted him over, although closer Chris Nelson looked to second first, but Quintanilla was left at second base. The Canadiens got a run off West in the top 10th, and Hall led off the bottom 10th with a single to short right. He was scored on a Kelly Weber sac fly and now the Coons sent their last reliever, Wally Gaston, for the 11th. Gaston was not rested, but everybody else had already been used in a vain attempt at making enough out of two runs in regulation. Gaston pitched one inning, then had to do another, and almost fell off the mound after K’ing Brian Adams to close the top 12th. They had to win NOW or MAJOR trouble would be brewing for the rest of the homestand if we had to use a starter here. Hall was up first again and only reached on an error. On is on. Dadswell sent a slow grounder to second, where it took a strange hop on Hector Atilano. What should have been an inning-ending double play became an infield single, and Gaston sat in the #6 spot and was removed for Gustavo Flores to pinch hit. He hurled the first pitch he saw over Atilano into short right field. Hall blasted through third base, made home and BEAT THE TAG!!! 4-3 Raccoons! S. Martinez 3-6; Hall 2-6; Flores (PH) 1-1, RBI; J. Martinez 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K; Gaston 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K, W (3-1);

“WALLY GASTON SUPERSTAR!!!” flashed on the scoreboard in centerfield, and the park’s sound system played the Bee Gees’ “You Win Again”.

Both starters in the rubber game went seven innings. While Robbie Campbell nailed the Coons that flat to the ground you could barely see them, Logan Evans surrendered two runs in a messy fourth inning. The Canadiens added an unearned run in the top 9th on a bad throw by Flores. The bottom 9th started with a pinch hit single by Dadswell. Thompson and Dawson made outs. Odwin Garza drew a pinch hit walk. Dani Perez pinch hit for Sergio Martinez for a single. 3-0 down, bases loaded, two out, Armando Sanchez being thrown at by Thomas Green. Pitch one low, pitch two outside. Pitch three came down right the fast lane, Sanchez made contact, a colossal shot to deep right and it was GONE!!! GONE!!! GONE!!! THE COONS WALK OFF ON AN ARMANDO SANCHEZ GRAND SLAM!!!! 4-3 Raccoons. Perez (PH) 1-1; Sanchez 1-4, HR, 4 RBI; Dadswell (PH) 1-1; Garza (PH) 0-0, BB; Evans 7.0 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 7 K;

You win again…! Party at Armando’s house to-nite.

The Loggers blasted the Indians 12-3 out of Milwaukee, so Sanchez’ big rip got the Coons atop the CL North again.

Raccoons (80-62) vs. Crusaders (62-80)

In the first of four games, Kisho Saito put two Crusaders on in each of the first three innings. None of them scored, somehow. Neither had the Coons that far, but in the bottom 3rd they slowly encroached the bases through all means possible (including taking one for the team, like Sergio Martinez did). Daniel Hall found the bags loaded with one out and drilled a pitch from Carlos Guillen to dead center. IT WAS GONE!!! The Raccoons grand-slammed in back-to-back games!! They sent 11 men to the plate in the bottom 3rd and scored six runs (Dani Perez added a 2-run double) despite only four hits. From Martinez to Dadswell, seven straight Coons reached base. Tetsu Osanai added RBI #100 for the season with an RBI single in the fourth, where the Coons made it 8-0. A blast by Carlos León made it 11-0 after six and Saito, Hall, and Osanai all were removed after that inning to safe them for the next time. The 11-0 score remained, an impressive showcase of both offense and pitching. Sanchez 3-4, BB, 2B; Hall 2-4, HR, 4 RBI; Osanai 3-4, RBI; León 2-4, BB, HR, 4 RBI; Saito 6.0 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 6 K, W (12-7); J. Martinez 3.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K, SV (1);

“You win again” blared out of the speakers ‘round the park. Today, the party was right here. The Indians didn’t play that day and the Furballs now had a full one game lead.

Scott Wade started game 2 really strong, but then had two homers socked to him, by Dan Payne in the fifth and Diego Rodriguez in the sixth. Meanwhile, the Raccoons didn’t know which way to hold their bats. Down 3-0, Sanchez came up with a scratch single in the bottom 6th and Hall homered to center, 3-2 now only. Mark Dawson still didn’t like the score, and homered to tie the game the same inning. With two down, Dani Perez got on with a freak single through 2B Pedro Villa. Flores lined into left, which brought up Wade, and he was replaced for Kelly Weber to bat. DOUBLE TO CENTER!! The slow Flores held at third and was left on, when Sergio Martinez popped out. Wade was now in line for the win. Bentley retired the side in the seventh, Moss and Cunningham retired the side in the eighth, and West retired two in the ninth, before Raul Castillo’s infield single brought the tying run on base. Castillo was hurt on the bang-bang play and John Beach came out to run for him. West faced PH Dwight Reynolds. Reynolds grounded to short, Martinez to Thompson at first – OUT! 4-3 Raccoons!!! Hall 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Perez 2-4; Flores 2-3, BB, 2B; Weber (PH) 1-1, 2B, RBI;

You know what the park was like after that. The Indians lost 4-1 against the Titans on homers by Carlos Gonsales and Eduardo German.

Game 3 didn’t get a score until the top 4th, when Pedro Villa socked a solo shot against Venegas. The Raccoons had not found their bats so far, but maybe were awaken by the sonic boom that dinger created? They were! Mark Dawson led off the bottom 4th with a shot of his own and the game was tied again. Chong (in for a tired Sergio Martinez) and Campbell (in for Perez not batting much and lefty Todd McKenzie pitching) got on with one out, bringing up Venegas, who worked a 2-2 count, missing bunts twice, then ripped with the runners set in motion. His liner fell into short left center and Chong scored easily, and Campbell was also brought in for a 3-1 lead later in the inning. Dawson added another home run in the fifth, 4-1. Venegas went eight innings with ease and was in for the ninth with a 5-1 lead, but put two on, prompting a slightly tight entrance for Grant West. He got a grounder from the first batter, but Chong at short was too slow to turn a double play. The lead runner was safe at third and scored on a sac fly, but West held on to the 5-2 win! Sanchez 3-5, RBI; Dawson 2-4, BB, 2 HR, 2 RBI; Da. Campbell 2-4, RBI; Venegas 8.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, W (5-5); West 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K, SV (36);

“You win again!” GO COONS!!!!!

The chances for a sweep were not particularly bad now, especially with the Crusaders starting Doug Morrow in game 4, an 18-yr old raw rookie with terrible control and a 15.00 ERA after two starts, and had all his runs surrendered been earned, his ERA would have been 27.00 into this game. The Raccoons put two on him in the bottom 2nd, one unearned after a terrible error by 3B Sam Richmond, who dropped a pop up by Zach Baker with two already down and nobody close to scoring. Martinez and León then did the damage (Armando Sanchez was rested in this game and was not in the #2 spot). Zach Baker would have been in line for the win – but the weather got him. With one out in the top 5th, two on and Morrow at the plate, the rain that had started earlier became too heavy and the game was halted for 40 minutes – too much for Baker to continue. Morrow bunted into a force out at second base, and Moss finished the inning without damage. A 2-0 lead became a 3-1 lead in the sixth. Trouble came in the eighth, when Wally Gaston walked two batters on full counts and borderline pitches. Juan Martinez faced only one batter and surrendered an RBI single to Dan Younger. Cunningham couldn’t put that fire out anymore, he walked the bases full, then gave up a sac fly that tied the game. Cunningham was sent to bat in the eighth, so he could pitch the ninth in a tied game, which he did well. With Osanai, Dadswell, and Dawson up in the ninth, things could still happen. But they didn’t, all three making outs. Cunningham put runners on the corners with nobody out in the 10th, then recollected himself, struck out two and got a slow grounder to escape the jam. Apart from Grant West, who had pitched two days in a row, only Dirk Campbell was left in the pen, and he came out for the 11th. The Crusaders got three hits against him and scored the go-ahead run. The Coons went down this time, 4-3 Crusaders. S. Martinez 3-6, RBI; Osanai 2-5, BB; Thompson 2-4, BB;

No music played as this homestand ended.

In other news

September 8 – Atlanta loses SS Eddy Bailey (.280, 7 HR, 46 RBI) for a week to shoulder soreness in the middle of the CL South playoff battle.
September 11 – The Gold Sox will be without outfielder Yoshinobu Ishizaki (.288, 5 HR, 58 RBI) for about a week due to a hamstring strain.
September 12 – Season over for Tijuana’s MR Sixto Pacheco (3-0, 2.00 ERA in 34 G). The 27-year old has come down with an inflamed shoulder.
September 14 – Late trade: the Canadiens send C Angel Potter (.210, 9 HR, 31 RBI) to New York for outfielder Stephen Walton (.272, 6 HR, 38 RBI) and a prospect. This trade comes on the morning of the series opener between the Raccoons and Crusaders and will allow Angel Potter to potentially face the same team for seven days straight.
September 15 – DAL CL Raffaele Antuofermo (2-3, 1.69 ERA, 43 SV) collects his 300th save in a 2-1 win over the Pacifics.
September 18 – Sad news: Milwaukee Loggers owner Koryusai Matsuo passed away in the early morning hours after a short illness. His son Doug Matsuo, an understanding economizer, takes over the team.

Complaints and stuff

8-3 on the homestand, that is good news! Apparently, most games end 4-3 around here now.

What a difference a hot Daniel Hall makes. Although tailing off a bit in the last few days, he’s been hitting 33-87 since late August, still almost .400, and it has raised his season to the level of the last two. I still miss the 1984 Daniel Hall, but we got a glimpse of him the last three weeks.

We took the season series against the Crusaders, 13-5, besting the old 11-7 record.

David Jones has signed a 3-yr, $480k contract extension. The contract is even, and the last $160k year is a team option with buyout. I consider that bargain.

Next: last road trip, going to the Bay, Mexico, and Massachusetts.

GO COONS!!

[Westheim]

This won’t be an easy 9-game road trip. The Condors are playoff-bound, and we have had trouble with the Titans for years.

Raccoons (83-63) @ Bayhawks (65-81)

Within our long stretch of games here, the resting of starters continued in game 1, with Sam Dadswell and Daniel Hall getting the day off.

We faced young phenom Wilson Moreno in game 1. The 22-yr old’s 3-6 record didn’t tell you a lot, but his 2.34 ERA certainly did. He was this year’s second overall draft pick and had raced through the minors, skipping AAA completely. He sat down the Coons in order in the top 1st, while Logan Evans went to 3-ball counts on each of the first three Bayhawks. All three reached base, and only a double play started by Mark Dawson held the damage to one run in the first inning. Evans was uncomfortable in the second inning, and was looked at by the trainer. He complained about neck pain and was taken out of the game. While Bentley and Juan Martinez tried to keep the Bayhawks at bay, Wilson Moreno DID keep the Raccoons at bay. They were hitless through three, through five, through seven… With one down in the top 8th, Quintanilla batted for Odwin Garza, who had allowed two passed balls, and there was a wild pitch on Bentley, too. Quintanilla stroked the ball into short center to finally break up the no-hit bid. Moreno was removed after eight then, and Russ McCallum entered. León singled up the middle and Osanai walked on four pitches to put the tying runs on base. Weber walked with one out, bases loaded. Thompson struck out, and Quintanilla fouled out, the Raccoons lost 2-0, and were 2-hit.

And now we KNOW they won’t make the playoffs. But good news: the Indians hosted the Falcons, rallied from 6-0 down, but fell short, 6-5 Charlotte. Our lead survives this nightmare. Logan Evans will be taken proper care of the next few days and should not miss a start (he still took the loss).

Daniel Hall’s 2-out triple in the top 1st of the middle game was not picked up by Osanai, but the Coons got an unearned run in the top 2nd when León drove in Dawson, who had reached on a throwing error by Jose Diaz at second base. That was all Kisho Saito got. Dawson made a great catch for the final out in the bottom 6th with Jimmy Hunter at third base, holding on to the 1-0 lead. Maybe a leadoff double by León in the top 7th could be made into a run? Perez and Saito brought him in with two flyouts to center. Yay, success. Saito was chased by a leadoff double by Kai Edwards in the bottom 8th, but Cunningham entered for two full count strikeouts and a lazy flyball to center to get out, and West saved the game on six pitches in the ninth. 2-0 Raccoons on five hits, the majority of which came from León: 3-4, 2 2B, RBI; Saito 7.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 4 K, W (13-7);

The Indians this time rallied successfully, turning a 3-1 deficit after seven around to beat the Falcons, 4-3. Lead remains one game.

Game 3, and Chong played in place of Sergio Martinez, and Campbell was on second. Scott Wade was up, trying for win #12 of the season. The Coons again didn’t know how to bat, in an alarming way. Chong reached on an error in the third and was moved over to third, but left there, with the team hitless again through 11 outs, before Osanai finally entered the H column, and the R column, too. He homered to center, 1-0 Coons. Scott Wade had been awesome so far, but things threatened to go wrong in the bottom 5th. C Jack Jackson led off with an infield single, but was forced by Wade on a bad bunt by Carlos Castro. 3B Alfonso Torres reached on another infield single, and a wild pitch by Wade moved the runners into scoring position. Wade then completed SS Hector Martinez’ at-bat with a K, bringing up the pitcher. Vincente Ortiz drilled a liner over Darren Campbell into rightfield, and OH, AWESOME CATCH!!! Carlos León ended the inning with a highlight reel play. Sanchez and Hall walked to start the top 6th, only for Osanai to hit into a double play and Dawson to ground out. Jose Diaz’ 1-out double in the bottom 6th set up for the game to be tied. He stole third (Dadswell didn’t look good) and scored on a single by Kai Edwards, who also scored, 2-1 Bayhawks. Dirk Campbell allowed two runs to score in the eighth, but it was over already. Raccoons lost 4-1, on only three hits.

For the series, they managed three runs and ten hits. The Falcons beat the Indians 4-3, which held the lead where it was, but in this condition, the Raccoons won’t win crap during their next stop, south of the border.

Raccoons (84-65) @ Condors (81-68)

The Condors’ pitching staff was decimated by injuries, but they finally had Miguel Sanchez back. Good news were that Sanchez had pitched the day before (eight shutout innings) and would not hurt the Coons this time around. Sean Bergeron (19 dingers) was their only source of power, but their lineup was good at chaining up singles at rapid pace. Less rapid was Dimian Barrios, ex-Coon, who hit a mere .230 this season, so letting him go had been gold.

Venegas (5-5, 3.58 ERA) was sent out first against Gary Simmons (16-8, 3.48 ERA). A 2-out walk to Hall in the top 1st cost Simmons the first run of the game, when Osanai doubled him in, breaking what felt like an oh-for-sixty streak of Osanai leaving Hall on base with two down. The Coons left two on, and the same happened in the top 3rd, Osanai getting an RBI and two left on. A walk to Simmons cost Venegas a run in the third on a triple by Cipriano Ortega. The Condors turned the game with two runs in the fourth. The Raccoons were unable to counter. In the top 7th, Flores pinch hit for Venegas for a single, and Martinez doubled. One out, go-ahead runs in scoring position. Quintanilla pinch hit for León, but grounded out and Flores held. Hall flew to deep left – Bergeron caught it. Bottom 7th, Gaston loaded the bases, Moss came in to face Juan Valentin, who grand slammed the Raccoons into submission, taking the opener 8-2. S. Martinez 2-5, 2B; Dawson 2-4; Flores (PH) 2-2, 2B;

A 7-3 win of the Indians against Las Vegas ties the division.

Compared to their last few games, the Coons stormed out of the gate in the middle game against Israel Gomes (5-9, 5.50 ERA). Daniel Hall hit a 2-run homer and they led 3-0, leaving two in scoring position when Gomes struck out both León and Thompson to end the inning. Zach Baker needed 30 pitches for the bottom 1st, giving up two walks before striking out the side. He walked the first three batters in the second. He dodged that bullet, too – Gomes lined out to Thompson, and Thompson then started a saving double play on the next grounder, beating both runners by inches. Osanai’s solo shot made it 20 for him this year and 4-0 in the game. Baker retired eight straight Condors after that dismaltastic first two innings, keeping a no-hitter intact until Paul Dundee doubled with two down in the fifth. Valentin drove him in and Baker was removed despite leading 4-1. But things happened from there. Sergio Martinez made an error that put two into scoring position on Juan Martinez’ first batter. A walk loaded the bases, and Bergeron banged in two, followed by a John Fleury home run. Six 2-out runs. Six. Jones loaded the bags with nobody out in the seventh – the Condors scored four runs. 10-4 Condors. Sanchez 2-3, BB, 2B;

Division remains tied, as the Aces beat the Indians 4-2. But the writing is not only on the wall, it is glowing bright red. It’s over.

In this perfect nightmare, Logan Evans stepped in for game 3. He said he felt as fine as one could feel past 30. And boy, did he deliver, shutting out the Condors over eight innings. The Coons got ahead 1-0 in the first with a 2-out RBI single by Gustavo Flores who was in with a right-hander on the mound for Tijuana. They gradually added to lead 6-0 after the top 9th, then headed to the bottom 9th with Evans still pitching. He could close the deal, loading the bases with one out. Bentley came in and surrendered a 2-run single to John Fleury (a better first baseman would have had it). Grant West came in to salvage the win, 6-2 Raccoons. S. Martinez 2-5, 2B; Hall 1-2, 3 BB; Flores 2-5, RBI; Evans 8.1 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, W (12-7);

The Indians won 6-3 against the Aces, keeping the division tied up, and both teams had off on the following day, while the Coons travelled cross country, while the Indians went to the Northwest to Vancouver. Four days till the finale grande.

Raccoons (85-67) @ Titans (69-84)

We NEED to take that series. And we REALLY need a sweep, to be honest.

The first game pitted Kisho Saito against Eric McCullough, a sub-decent ex-Coon, who had fun dumping the Coons now. Three scoreless innings into the game, Tetsu Osanai clobbered the Coons to a 1-0 lead in the top 4th. Apart from that shot, the Coons were a lousy bunch again, but things improved a wee bit in the top 7th. With two out, Armando Sanchez worked a bases loaded walk, 2-0. Juan Cardenas replaced McCullough, but walked Dawson. Darren Campbell singled up the middle to score two, 5-0, before Saito grounded out. Saito had been worth his weight in gold so far, but the Titans singled him to death in the bottom 7th, scoring two runs and removing Saito from the game. Moss and Martinez pitched a quick eighth and Martinez remained in for the ninth initially, put started with a double given away, and now West came in. The run scored, but the Coons won, 5-3. S. Martinez 3-5; León 2-4, 3B; Da. Campbell 2-3, BB, 2 RBI; Saito 6.1 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, W (14-7);

The Indians also won 5-3 in Vancouver, but only in the 10th inning. The division remained knotted together.

Isto Grönholm hit a home run off Scott Wade in the bottom 2nd of game 2. Wade struggled, loaded the bases, and then somehow got grounders and a force out at home to escape with only a 1-0 deficit. In the top 4th, the Furballs countered. León singled, Hall walked, Osanai doubled to tie the game, and Hall scored on a groundout to make it 2-1. Hall came up with the bags full and one out in the fifth, and sometimes a walk is enough to get a run. Osanai grounded for Hall being forced at second, but the Titans didn’t turn the double play and another run scored, 4-1, and they led 5-1 after the top 6th. Hjalmar Flygt, who had the batting title bagged already, singled to start the bottom 6th, but Dadswell picked him off with Grönholm at the plate. This saved a run on Chad Fisher’s double later in the inning, which still knocked out Wade. Tim Moss struck out C Augusto Arrendondo to end the inning. The Titans crawled back in, scoring another run off Campbell and Jones in the seventh, 5-3. Jones walked Isto Grönholm to start the eighth, and he was replaced by a pinch runner. Zahid Mashwanis grounded out and PR Colin Irwin moved to second base. The next move – if going badly – had the potential to be much discussed for the next decades. Jones remained in, Chad Fisher (representing the tying run) was walked intentionally to get to the lefties behind him. On an 0-1 pitch, Arrendondo tried to bunt, but missed, 0-2. Jones struck him out, but now the Titans sent Carlos Gonsales to pinch hit. A questionable catcher, he was a formidable right-handed batter. The next move was obvious: GET CUNNINGHAM, AND QUICK!! Full count, Gonsales hit one into the gap in left center, Sanchez after it – HE CAUGHT IT!! Cunningham exhaled visibly, trotting to the dugout. Hall and Dawson drove in three more in the top 9th and Cunningham turned his outing into a 4-out save. 8-3 Raccoons! S. Martinez 2-5, RBI; León 3-4, BB, 2B; Hall 1-2, 3 BB, 2 RBI; Osanai 1-3, 2 BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Dawson 2-5, 2 2B, 2 RBI; Cunningham 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K, SV (5);

The Indians-Canadiens game was again tied in the ninth, but this time the Canadiens walked off before it went to extra innings, and won 6-5. We sent “Thank you” cards to Melvin Greene, whose 2-out single got Stan Bass moving, and call-up Juan Robles, whose throwing error allowed Bass to score.

Final road game of the (regular?) season. Bob MacGruder (8-10, 4.38 ERA) was our so far unspectacular opponent. The game was over rather quickly. The Titans socked Alejandro Venegas for four runs in the first inning, added a Salvador Vargas home run in the third and Venegas was yanked after hitting his second batter of the day. By the fifth inning, the Titans had also broken the bullpen and led 9-1. CF Ryan Dickerson’s homer off Wally Gaston, who threw 64 pitches in relief, made it 10-1 in the sixth. The Raccoons were crushed, 11-2. Thompson 3-3, BB, 2 2B, RBI;

The Indians prevailed in Vancouver, and won 2-1, tying up the division again.

Now for additional damage: both Daniel Hall and Juan Martinez left the last game with injuries. The book on Martinez is closed for this year: torn meniscus in his knee, he’s gonna be watching with the leg in a knee brace in the clubhouse when the Coons go home now. Hall was hurt making a daring catch on a soaring fly ball and slammed the ground hard. The amount of damage to his body is not known so far.

We called up MR Pedro Vazquez and OF Marcos Costello to replace them.

In other news

September 20 – Bad news for the Stars, who lose SP Bill Smith (13-9, 3.73 ERA) to a torn rotator cuff. Smith is expected to miss all of next season at this point. Smith is the pitcher who infamously snuffed the Coons for an equal offer by Dallas.
September 20 – LAP Eduardo Quezada (7-12, 4.64 ERA) 2-hits the Cyclones in a 6-0 L.A. win.
September 21 – BOS OF Eduardo German (.254, 9 HR, 58 RBI) has a torn labrum and will be out until next summer.
September 25 – The season of OCT SP Kevin Williams (16-10, 3.47 ERA) ends a bit early with a torn triceps.
September 27 – Milwaukee’s Edgardo Garza goes 5-7 against the Crusaders, but New York still wins the game, 11-10. It is the 1,000th overall loss for the Loggers, the first team in the ABL to go *there*.

Complaints and stuff

I wore my Raccoons 1983 CL champions shirt during the first five games of this road trip to channel some positive energy down the stretch. One thing is clear, it has to be burned. Gotta get some matches.

This has unfortunately gone unnoticed before: on September 1, Tetsu Osanai logged his 1,000th big league base hit, a single.

With one week at home remaining, four against Indy and three against the Loggers, and the division tied, and Hall out, and the pen not holding up, and Dawson not hitting, and Dadswell not hitting, and Osanai not hitting anything but double plays - we’re toast. The Indians are gonna sweep us like the Canadiens swept us last year, then much earlier in the season.

This will be a bitter week, and nobody will win again.

But Indy.

[Questdog]

You, sir, are the most sunny optimist I have ever come across. How you can keep such a cheery disposition in the face of all that adversity is beyond me......

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by Questdog

You, sir, are the most sunny optimist I have ever come across. How you can keep such a cheery disposition in the face of all that adversity is beyond me......

Yeah, I radiate rays of light and happiness all around me, all the time.

I have a semi-decent bottle of wine left here, a gift of a client of mine for christmas, but I can't decide on whether to tackle it when the Coons WIN the division, or when they LOSE the division...

[Westheim]

Raccoons (87-68) vs. Indians (87-68)

Neither team had much offense to brag with. Both teams feasted almost exclusively on pitching. The Indians were more extreme in that regard than the Raccoons. The Indians’ rotation was doing very well, including ex-Coons Pepe Acevedo (scheduled for game 2) and Alex Miranda (game 4). They lacked a potent bat in Alvin Sutphen, but so did the Coons with Daniel Hall having gone down. The season series was tied, 7-7, and it was obvious that whoever took the season series had a stellar chance to take the division as well. While the Coons had the Loggers as their final opponent of the season, the Indians had a meeting in New York at the weekend.

And it had to start with Zach Baker, who had walked five and had not survived the fifth inning in his last start, where the Coons had crashed a 4-0 lead to lose 10-4. Baker walked his first man of the game, 3B Jorge Salazar. Raúl Vazquez homered the same inning for a quick 2-0 deficit. The damage was not permanent. Sergio Martinez hit a leadoff double in the bottom 1st and was brought in, and Dadswell homered in the bottom 2nd to tie the game. No offense for the next two frames. Winston Thompson started the bottom 5th with a single to left. Baker went to bunt, but Hunter Frazier stumbled off the mound and couldn’t come up with it, and Baker was safe at first. Prime chance here – Martinez blew it, double play, and Armando Sanchez lined out softly to short. The Raccoons left them on in droves, while the Indians used a leadoff triple by Vazquez to go ahead again in the top 7th. They had two hits that far, both by Vazquez, and both costly. Sanchez and León had hits to go into scoring position in the bottom 8th, and nobody out. Osanai up, flyer to center, caught, Sanchez holds. Dadswell up, flyer to short left, caught, Sanchez absolutely has to hold. Kelly Weber up. Liner into center, Forest Hartley hustling, launching, MISSING! Both runs scored and Weber was at second, where Dawson left him. Grant West faced the heart of the Indians lineup in the ninth. Vazquez got on, but was left at second, when West struck out pinch hitter Juan Robles. 4-3 Raccoons! Sanchez 2-4, RBI; León 2-4, 2B; Dadswell 2-4, HR, RBI;

“You win again” was celebrated at the park. One down, three to go.

Game 2, Logan Evans and Pepe Acevedo, once included in the package to acquire Jack Pennington, who was 14-9 despite a 4.41 ERA and playing on a poor offensive team. Evans was unhittable, but also had a hard time finding the strike zone – a typical outing. Two walks in the third brought up Vazquez, who hit triples in back-to-back games. Gilberto Alaniz homered, 4-0 Indians. The Raccoons never got anything going against their opponent, as Acevedo spun eight shutout innings. Evans went six. Gaston loaded the bags without retiring anybody in the eighth and the Indians scored one run. Bentley was drilled for four more in the ninth. Indians won, 9-0. The Raccoons had five hits. Osanai 2-3; Dawson 2-4, 2B;

Daniel Hall had an oblique strain, his season is over in any case.

Next was not only the key game now, but also the two strongest pitchers in each rotation. Kisho Saito (14-7, 2.48 ERA) against Robert Vazquez (14-10, 2.28 ERA) – these two led the CL in ERA since Juan Correa and his 2.15 mark had fallen off the leaderboard (Correa was on the DL and had only pitched 155 innings this season). It became the expected pitchers’ duel, with only single hits scattered here and there. The Indians scored first, in the top 5th, after a leadoff single by Horace Simpson. Vazquez bunted him over and he scored on a single to short, where Armando Sanchez’ throw back in went wild. Raúl Vazquez hit a double in the sixth and was brought in to score, too. The Raccoons didn’t score anything, leaving two on in the sixth. With another chance transpiring in the eighth, Dawson grounded into a double play right out of the playbook. The Indians held on, the Raccoons were shut out, 2-0. Osanai 2-4; Weber 2-4, 2B; Perez 2-3, 2B; Saito 7.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, L (14-8);

Now Scott Wade had to outlast Alex Miranda. And maybe the Coons should end an 18-inning scoreless streak as quickly as possible. The streak ran to 19 1/3 innings before Dadswell scored on a groundout by Mark Dawson in the bottom 2nd, getting the Coons ahead, 1-0. Wade was a-struggling, especially with lefties, and the Indians fielded six of those. They got to him in the fourth, with a 2-run shot by Yoritoki Ohwada. The Raccoons were breathing heavy, but they were not dead yet. With two down in the bottom 6th, they raised their tails once more. León walked. Osanai singled. Dadswell came on and ripped one off Miranda, a 3-run homer to right center. 4-2 now. Suddenly Wade was ahead, and faced only righties in the seventh, sitting them down in order. Jones got through the eight, but Grant West put on the first two batters in the ninth. On Bill Taggart’s grounder then, Sergio Martinez’ only play was to first. One out, tying runs in scoring position. He struck out Tom Welch. Miranda had gone the distance for the Indians, but was now replaced with the dangerous Gilberto Alaniz to pinch hit and with first base open he was directed there. West’s battle was Jorge Salazar, who had opened the whole series with a walk issued by Zach Baker. 2-0 count, contact, long fly to center, Kelly Weber racing back, flying, racing, flying, launching, CAUGHT. 4-2 Raccoons. Dadswell 2-3, HR, 2B, 3 RBI, and also 3/3 CS! Wade 7.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 3 K, W (13-11);

“You win again” played, but nobody was overly confident for the next few days.

With three games to play, ALL divisions are still open, which has never happened so far. Obviously, after much trouble, the Coons and Indians remain tied. In the South, the Knights have emerged favorites from a 3-way tie three days ago. They lead the Thunder by two and the Condors by three. The Knights are in Charlotte now, the Thunder in Vegas, and the Condors go to the Bay. In the FL West, the Wolves have rallied to tie the Stars, with the Gold Sox three back. The latter two will play each other, while the Wolves play in Sioux Falls. And in the FL East, the Blue Sox are one game ahead of the Capitals. These two will face off in Washington.

Raccoons (89-70) vs. Loggers (71-88)

Maybe the biggest issue now was starting the series with Venegas and Baker. Chances were slim at best.

Neil Stewart went for the Loggers, a nasty lefty with a 2.81 ERA for the year. The Loggers scored a run in the first, and had a runner on third with Stewart batting and two down. Stewart singled into center, and they led 2-0. León drove in a run for the Coons in the third, but on the same play, Dawson was thrown out at third base, ending the inning. But Stewart continued to nail the Raccoons and drew a leadoff walk and came around to score. León delivered again with another 2-out single in the bottom 5th, scoring Armando Sanchez and putting two in scoring position. Next would have been Gustavo Flores, who was 0-2 on the day, but Dadswell was broken out to pinch hit. He fell behind 1-2, but then sent a grounder rolling in the path of León’s, bringing in both runners for a 4-3 Furballs lead. Venegas was removed in the sixth with two down and a runner on second base. Dirk Campbell ended the inning with a K. Three days after surrendering four runs against the Indians, Jason Bentley blew the lead in the seventh with a homer to Ton Otani. The game was still tied, 4-4, into the ninth. Wally Gaston was the only righty remaining in the bullpen. He had struggled so hard the last month, it was like asking for trouble, but he was brought in. He faced one batter, surrendered a double, and David Jones was broken out, but the runner scored. Armando Sanchez got on with a walk, and stole second. Aggression was the way to go now. Dawson grounded out, but Sanchez went to third. Osanai grounded out, but didn’t allow Sanchez to score. Two down, León up, groundout. 5-4 Loggers. Dawson 2-3, 2 BB; León 2-5, 2 RBI; Dadswell (PH) 2-2, 2 RBI;

Indianapolis outlasted the Crusaders in New York, 3-1. Raccoons gonna be eliminated the next day?

Facing elimination, we had no time for Zach Baker’s wild antics, so he was dumped, and we went with Logan Evans’ wild antics, on short rest. Nothing to lose now. The Loggers sent 15-game loser Anibal Guerra. The Coons got their first two men on in the bottom 3rd and brought them in, and also got their first two men on in the bottom 4th and scored them (aided by an error). Evans had not allowed a hit through four, but the Loggers got THEIR first two men on in the top 5th and scored them … Evans went six and left with a 7-2 lead. Pedro Vazquez pitched two scoreless innings, and the Coons still lead 7-2 after eighth. That’s where Baker came in to absorb the final inning. He walked the first Logger, and a Sergio Martinez error got another on. Dirk Campbell came in, surrendered a 2-run double, and walked another batter. The tying run came to the plate and Grant West had to warm up in a hurry. Two grounders induced by West were converted for outs, but both times the lead runner advanced, and scored. Slugger Edgardo Garza, still the tying run, came to the plate, and doubled to left. Jesus Jimenez then grounded right to West’s feet for the final out. 7-6 Raccoons, just barely, and all the ninth inning runs were unearned. Osanai 2-4; Thompson 3-4, 2 2B, 3 RBI; Evans 6.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, W (13-8); Vazquez 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K;

The Indians squeezed out a 2-1 win over the Crusaders to stay one game ahead.

Kisho Saito thus had to win #15 (or at least keep the Raccoons in tune to avoid a loss) in the hopefully not final game of the season. A first inning home run by Edgardo Garza had not been part of the game strategy. The Raccoons got their first chance in the bottom 2nd with two in scoring position and nobody out – and flailed instead of scoring. Same situation in the bottom 3rd, Martinez and Sanchez in scoring position, one out. León grounded out poorly. Not again! Osanai singled to right to tie the game. Kisho Saito was not sharp enough. A Mario Haider double in the fifth created trouble and the runner scored. The Coons left two on for the third time in the game. But by this time it didn’t matter. The Indians had broken up their game in New York and led 6-0.

It was over.

With Paul Cooper (another ex-Coon) pitching for the Loggers, Armando Sanchez doubled in Dani Perez in the seventh to tie the game. Perez had pinch hit for Saito, so his season was also over. The top 9th started with an error by Marcos Costello in right. With one down, Ben Cox came up against Cunningham. It was the former Furball’s first PA this season. The game, meaningless as it was, empty as it felt after the long, exhausting division battle, went to extra innings.

While Wally Gaston came out to pitch the top 10th, the Crusaders put three on the Indians, 6-3 Indians now after seven – that game was certainly dragging. León singled to start the bottom 10th after a scoreless outing by Gaston. Osanai doubled to right, but León held at third. Nobody out for Mark Dawson – intentional walk. Dadswell got León forced at home with a grounder, but Thompson singled to left to end it. 3-2 Coons. No celebrations. Everybody hung around for another ten minutes, by which time the Indians had sealed their 6-3 win, taking the division. Sanchez 2-5, 2 2B, RBI; León 2-5; Osanai 2-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Perez (PH) 1-1; Saito 7.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 2 K;

In other news

September 28 – CHA Manuel Movonda (11-11, 3.15 ERA) 3-hits the Thunder in a 7-0 win, striking out ten. The Thunder fall into a tie with both the Knights and Condors in the CL South.
September 30 – DEN Victor Macias (9-15, 4.62 ERA) 3-hits the Pacifics, as the Gold Sox romp to a 15-0 blastout of Los Angeles.
October 1 – VAN Tia Fa (8-8, 3.84 ERA) is next up with a 3-hitter, his coming in a 5-0 win of the Canadiens over the Crusaders.
October 2 – In the FL West, the Gold Sox are eliminated, losing 6-5 to the Stars. The Wolves lose in Sioux Falls, 9-6, and are now one behind. The Capitals tie the FL East with a 5-1 win against Nashville. But the first playoff spot nailed down is that of the CL South, as the Knights hold off the Falcons, 8-6, and both opponents lose their games.
October 3 – The Blue Sox win 2-0 in the ninth against the Capitals, taking the advantage for game #162. The Stars win 4-2 in Denver and the Wolves fall 4-2 in 14 innings to the Warriors, making the Stars FL West champions.
October 4 – The Capitals squeak out a 1-0 win in the not-so-final game of the season, forcing a game #163 with the Blue Sox for the first time ever in ABL history.
October 5 – Nashville’s Chris Lacy holds the Capitals at bay well, and earns his 20th win of the season as the Blue Sox win it, 5-1, and go to the post season.
October 5 – DAL 2B Pete Ross (.341, 1 HR, 64 RBI) and BOS LF Hjalmar Flygt (.356, 15 HR, 72 RBI) are batting champions.

Complaints and stuff

I’m hurting.

[Questdog]

Wow....tough season......but a good one, nonetheless.....

[Westheim]

1987 CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES

The Indians made their third postseason appearance, and the first since 1981, coming back from a last place finish in 1986. The Knights also made their third playoffs, and back-to-back after 1986. They lost in the Big Show last season. While the Indians are built almost entirely on pitching, the Knights have a more well-rounded team.

The Blue Sox are the defending champions and are in the playoffs for the fourth time overall, all within five years. Like the Knights, the Stars appear in the playoffs for the third time, back-to-back after 1986. Both teams have a humming offense with more than 4.5 R/G, but the Blue Sox should have a clear edge with the best pitching staff in the Federal League, where the Stars rank only mid-pack.

Should I have to make an educated guess about the outcome, I’d say: Blue Sox in six, Knights in five, and then Blue Sox in six again.

Stars @ Blue Sox … 3-4 … (Blue Sox lead 1-0) … NAS RF Antonio Rodriguez hits a walk off homer against Raffaele Antuofermo
Knights @ Indians … 6-7 … (Indians lead 1-0) … IND Raúl Vazquez 4-5, HR, 2 RBI; IND Tom Welch 2-4, HR, 3 RBI; Vicente Ruíz is charged with the loss

Stars @ Blue Sox … 0-3 … (Blue Sox lead 2-0) …
Knights @ Indians … 2-0 … (series tied 1-1) … ATL Kiyohira Sasaki 8.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 8 K, W

Blue Sox @ Stars … 5-0 … (Blue Sox lead 3-0) … NAS Chris Lacy 9.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K, W; NAS Jesus Arias 2-3, BB, 2 HR, 3 RBI;
Indians @ Knights … 4-2 … (Indians lead 2-1) … Indians continue to hit home runs all of a sudden, they have five in the series already;

Blue Sox @ Stars … 7-2 … (Blue Sox win 4-0) … Safe for a 2-blast by Gabriel Cruz, the Stars have not scored any runs in the last three games
Indians @ Knights … 0-2 … (series tied 2-2) … ATL Carlos Asquabal 9.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K, W; ATL Michael Root 2-4, 2 HR, 2 RBI;

Indians @ Knights … 0-1 … (Knights lead 3-2) … IND Robert Vazquez 8.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 8 K, L; ATL Wayne Smith 8.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K, W; ATL Michael Root 1-3, 2B, RBI;

Knights @ Indians … 0-3 … (series tied 3-3) … ATL Kiyohira Sasaki 8.0 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, L; IND Jorge Salazar 0-2, 2 RBI (two sac flies);

Knights @ Indians … 0-1 (10) … (Indians win 4-3) … ATL Xavier Mayes 8.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 7 K; IND Jorge Salazar 3-3, 2 BB, RBI;

That’s a lot of not-batting in the CLCS. The two teams combined for a mere 28 runs. But the Indians controlled the offensively much better Knights with their staff. Can they also control the Blue Sox, who are well rested now and have an even better offense?

In bad news, the Indians lost SP Hunter Frazier well into the next season due to a torn UCL. He went 10-16 with a much less awful 3.43 ERA this season.

1987 WORLD SERIES

Indians @ Blue Sox … 3-6 … (Blue Sox lead 1-0) … the Sox broke Robert Vazquez early on with six runs in three innings, then survived a late rally; NAS Alejandro Lopez 2-3, BB, 2B, 3 RBI;

Indians @ Blue Sox … 5-8 … (Blue Sox lead 2-0) … a 5-run second inning couldn’t help the Indians, they fell late in the game this time; NAS Horace Henry 2-3, BB, HR, 3 RBI; NAS John White 2-2, 3 BB, 2B, 2 RBI;

Blue Sox @ Indians … 3-5 … (Blue Sox lead 2-1) … the Indians this time turn a 2-0 deficit around, and Alex Miranda takes the win;

Blue Sox @ Indians … 2-1 … (Blue Sox lead 3-1) … NAS Chris Lacy 8.0 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, W;

Blue Sox @ Indians … 3-6 … (Blue Sox lead 3-2) … IND David Harris 2-2, 2 BB, 3B, 2B, RBI;

Indians @ Blue Sox … 3-8 … (Blue Sox win 4-2) … the Indians lead 3-2 through seven, before being crashed for six runs in the bottom 8th, Tim Hess taking the loss; NAS Horace Henry 2-5, HR, 3 RBI;

1987 WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS
NASHVILLE BLUE SOX
(2nd title)

Well, my prediction was mostly right. The Blue Sox join the Canadiens as multiple champions and are the first team to repeat. The FL now holds seven of 11 titles, time for some CL team to break through next year.

[Westheim]

We had another curveball thrown at us entering the offseason, as our head scout Nathan Bruce chose to retire at age 61. This leaves me without scouting while I have to make some important decisions. Well, great. Really. There are no outstanding scouts on the market.

In better news, I will be able to throw around $12.6M this season, almost a million bucks more than last year.

Our options in late October were rather limited without scouting so that was the first area addressed. Now we take a look at the free agent stuff transpiring for the Raccoons.

OF Carlos León, INF Yong-chan Chong, MR Richard Cunningham, and MR Wally Gaston were to become free agents. Gaston would have had another year on his contract, but did not pitch enough innings for his vesting option to trigger. Gaston was not compensation eligible, the other three were type B free agents.

SP Zach Baker (super-2), SP Carlos Gonzalez, MR Dirk Campbell, C Sam Dadswell, and INF Winston Thompson were eligible for salary arbitration.

Planning moves were not easy from here. Where will the Raccoons be next year? The Raccoons definitely need more offense. Their shoddy offense (less than 4 R/G) has cost them time and again this season. But the pitching has to hold up, too, and that means that Richard Cunningham has to stay. He can not be replaced. Wally Gaston was really bad this year. What is his elbow doing now? Is he worth an extension? He, too, has been a backbone of this bullpen, and he has been for a decade.

Let’s project the roster for next season:

Starting pitching: Evans, Saito, Gonzalez, and Wade are no-brainers. The fifth spot is up for grabs. We have Venegas, Baker, and several young pitchers. Jason Turner, acquired in trade mid-season together with Baker, could be the starter in that spot before soon. Neither Venegas nor Baker had been overly thrilling last year, with the former lacking stuff, and the latter walking whole armies of batters. At least one of them will be expendable as it seems.

Relief pitching: Grant West in the ninth is a given. Now, if we lose Cunningham and Gaston, would do we have? Jones, Bentley, Moss, and Campbell all pitched well for most of the season, but all of them were not stellar in September, contributing to the defeat to the Indians. Most alarmingly, this 7th/8th inning combo lacks a high stuff killer completely. Bentley strikes out a lot of people, but he could be a disappointment trying to replace Cunningham. Juan Martinez is also there, as is Pedro Vazquez and a few younger guys at AAA. We NEED Cunningham.

Catcher: Dadswell was strong early, faded late, and Flores was terrible early and became strong late. Overall, these two are a legitimate combo, despite defensive shortcomings. No changes coming.

Infield: Osanai at first is set. Dawson at third is set, but his offensive output remains too little. His defense remains utmost exceptional, outweighing the VORP part in his +2.3 WAR. With Steve Walker gone, he’s our remaining swing man between outfield and infield. Then we have Sergio Martinez, who burst onto the scene, and Winston Thompson as versatile infielders populating the middle of the diamond. Dani Perez should be a backup, but Chong will not come back. One spot is open here, with no prospects laying serious claim. AAA 1B/3B Joe Jackson could inherit Dawson, but isn’t hitting enough, either. His defense reminds you of Cameron Green, and you may remember the amount and intensity of curses I barked out about him.

Outfield: Hall in left (You Gotta Believe), Sanchez in center, and León in right could make a formidable outfield, hitting .280 with a combined 70 dingers. Could. For that we have to re-sign León. Quintanilla and Weber do good enough as backups. If León does not come back, we will have to look for outside help. Despite trading for outfield talents for years, we have nobody in the pipeline.

Oh, I don’t know what to do.

In any case, we started by firing hitting coach Charlie Shaffer, who had not been able to turn the Furballs into merciless sluggers. He pitched a rich offer to Hollis Case, who had been the hitting coach for Dallas for 11 years and they have always had enough bash.

October 26 – The Buffaloes are sold to generous Dave Burton, and lenient economizer Marlon Grant buys the Rebels franchise.
October 31 – The Raccoons announce a 5-yr, $1.92M contract extension with MR Richard Cunningham.
November 6 – For the Raccoons, 3B Mark Dawson and LF Daniel Hall are awarded Gold Gloves. It is the first for Hall and the third, including back-to-back now, for Dawson.
November 7 – LAP LF Manny Espinosa (.254, 15 HR, 83 RBI) and OCT OF Scott Strong (.309, 5 HR, 72 RBI) are Rookies of the Year.
November 8 – NAS SP Chris Lacy (20-11, 2.60 ERA) and CHA SP Bastyao Caixinha (21-7, 2.56 ERA) are Pitchers of the Year.
November 9 – WAS C Gabriel Rivera (.309, 23 HR, 99 RBI) and LVA 1B/3B Mark “Icon” Allen (.329, 31 HR, 123 RBI) are named MVP’s.
November 10 – The Raccoons acquire LF/RF Yoshinobu Ishizaki (.294, 5 HR, 65 RBI) from the Gold Sox, sending over SP Zach Baker (7-6, 3.21 ERA) in exchange.

Cunningham is nailed down until his age 33 season! That was important! Now you can actually lay out the rest of the bullpen.

In more bad news, contract extension talks with Wally Gaston failed, and he will, indeed, after 11 years leave the Portland Raccoons, becoming the last Coon from the 1977 Opening Day roster to depart. Sad face. But he wanted a multiple-year deal, and with his troubled last season I was not willing to commit to that.

Carlos León commanded a 3-yr deal for $1.6M. Looking at his stats, that’s not justified at all. He batted .270 but overall did not set the world on fire. No agreement here, he becomes a free agent after one year in Portland. I have an eye on the Loggers Edgardo Garza, who will be a free agent if they don’t re-sign him.

We signed our new head scout on November 2, Charles Hutchinson, a 63-yr old, 33-year veteran of the business. He heavily favors tools, but the Coons have always had scouts tending there. He is on a 1-yr contract only. Barely a week into the job, he found a pitching prospect in Venezuela who we signed.

We also brought LEGENDARY hitting coach Hollis Case on board for this season and possibly four more. But he’s only 54, he does not deserve retirement in the next four years anyway.

I was evaluating a few trade options even before the arbitration hearings. I thus found out that Zach Baker was really popular around the league. One pitcher had to go between him and Venegas, and the offer for Ishizaki (awful name to type, I better nickname him “Itchy” or so) was rather sweet. That .294, 5 HR, 65 RBI stat may not sound like much, but how do you like 1,748 hits and a big league career OBP of .448? That is not a typo. Ishizaki, 30, is routinely hitting .300 or more and has drawn 100 or more walks for NINE straight seasons. The only downturn is his salary. He’s due $3.3M over the next four years, making my budget scream in horror. (But that was – for this year – only $200k more than León would have wanted) Fan interest has shot through the roof, though.

But we still have room for a bullpen improvement or an upgrade in the infield, possibly for second base. Or third base. But you have to be pretty amazing in the field, too, to replace Mark Dawson.

Of the four players going to salary arbitration, all four had their demands struck down by the arbitrators and the were awarded the offers of the team. 4-0 Me, I like that score.

The international free agents pool has two interesting players I will try to pursue.

[Questdog]

You'd think this was Seattle with all the Nipponese players coming here.......but I like Itchy already.....Gonna be the leadoff man?....

[Westheim]

I thought about having him bat fourth and dropping Osanai to eighth in the lineup, but probably leadoff would be better.

I also could have traded Baker for Jeff Wagner, another outfielder, not un-similar to Itchy, but with a much lower OBP, yet much cheaper.

But hey, where else to you get a .448 career OBP for a surplus pitcher?

[Questdog]

He's the Anti-Dawson!!....

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by Questdog

He's the Anti-Dawson!!....

There are worse ways to describe a batter.

---

RACCOONS DRAFT HISTORY

Players in bold = players currently in the Coons' system (majors or minors).
Players underlined = active major leaguers or players that have played in the majors this season.
Listed are the first five rounds from every draft, plus meaningful drafts from later rounds. Meaningful approximates players that played for the Furballs in the majors, or went on to careers worth mentioning elsewhere.

1977

Round 1 - LF/RF Daniel Hall – A bit injury prone, and not hitting more than .250 for three years, he still is a valid cornerstone of the franchise. Has 139 home runs in the majors (t-10th all time) and combines above-average to plus hitting, running, fielding, and everything else you might look for. Under contract until retirement. Career Coon.
Round 2 - SP Jose Garcia – retired without reaching the majors.
Round 3 - 1B Matt Workman – Played 595 games at 1B for the Raccoons, including 404 straight starts before being traded with prospects for Tetsu Osanai. Has bounced onto the Wolves team, but his power has eluded him recently.
Round 4 - MR Miguel Bojorquez – Has an 5.51 career ERA as lefty reliever. Was waived and claimed by the Blue Sox in June 1985, and pitched with the Crusaders in 1987, where he put up personal bests for G, IP, ERA and more, shaving three full runs off his career ERA.
Round 5 - SP/MR Jorge Rodriguez – Was traded before the '83 season and has been with Boston in '83, L.A. in '85, and Oklahoma in ‘87. Career ERA is 7.02 in 67 games.
Round 7: MR Jason White – who was traded after the 1985 season for Marcos Costello, and has not pitched in the majors since ’86. 264 career games with a 4.14 ERA.
All others from this year are retired.

1978

Round 1 - MR Richard Cunningham – Nasty right-handed setup man for the Coons with a career WHIP of 1.12 so far and 450 K in 470.1 IP. Could be a closer, but there's no way he gets past Grant West if both are on the same team.
Round 2 - MR Gary Simmons – Was beaten up as a starter with the Raccoons in 1980-81, and was traded to Nashville after the 1982 season. The Blue Sox and later the Knights use him as reliever exclusively, and he has found his niche there. 371 G (64 GS) with a 3.55 ERA.
Round 3 - 1B Johnny Snow – retired without reaching the majors.
Round 4 - MR Marvin Large – Became a minors free agent, has been released several times, never pitched in the majors.
Round 5 - C Eric Gregory – retired without reaching the majors.
Round 7 - LF/RF Fernando Perez – had 26 AB with four hits for the Raccoons between 1982 and 1984, was claimed by the Pacifics late in 1985, but has not made it to the majors since.

1979

Round 1 - MR Grant West – Local boy from Portland, is the Raccoons' closer now. Has a 1.70 ERA and 254 SV. He's outright nasty to hitters, even righties.
Round 2 - SP Pepe Acevedo – Was shipped off to Cincinnati in the Jack Pennington trade before the 1981 season, where he is 36-25 with a 3.88 ERA in 81 career starts for the Cyclones and now the Indians.
Round 3 - MR Fletcher Kelley – Not the best of righty relievers, but often good, he was traded to Nashville in the Raúl Herrera trade, where he's won two rings. Has appeared in 328 games in the majors, has become a free agent now.
Round 4 - LF/RF Gary Carter – Appeared in eight games for the Coons in 1983, going 0-9 at the plate. Has bounced around different minor league teams since.
Round 5 - C Dave Stewart – Became a minor league free agent and has been with several organizations in the last two years, never above AA ball.
Round 6 - MR Gilberto Soto – 59 G for the Raccoons in ’84 and ’85, has become a free agent now.

1980

Round 1 - SP Carlos Gonzalez – Was mega-hyped after the draft as THE next pitcher, and while he has a 16-win season (1986), he has suffered season-ending injuries three years straight. Good stuff, solid 3.44 career ERA.
Round 3 - SP Ray Willis – released in 1985, bouncing around since.
Round 4 - 1B/2B Darren Campbell – Appeared in the Bigs from 1985 to 1987, going 18-86 in limited appearances.
Round 5 - LF Jose Perez – Was taken by the Scorpions in the 1984 rule 5 draft, is a career .221 batter, but had only 5 AB in 1987.

1981

Round 1 - 3B/2B Orlando Lantán – Hurt his knee shortly after being drafted and spent short stints with the Coons in 1985 and 1986, batting .200 in 105 AB. Was claimed off waivers by the Blue Sox in 1987, but never appeared in the majors for them.
Round 2 - C Greg Thornburg – A genious catcher with no hitting abilities, we gave up on him in 1986, and traded him with Bill Craig for Gustavo Quintanilla. Got a call-up by the Aces in 1987, going 1-4 at the plate..
Round 3 - OF Kelly Weber – Has found his spot as backup outfielder with the Coons since 1984, batting .249 for his career.
Round 4 - MR Pedro Vazquez – right-handed fireballer with severe control issues, he as made 23 appearances over the last two years with a 5.27 ERA.
Round 5 - CL Emerson MacDonald – Bad control, appeared in 13 games in ’86 with a 5.87 ERA.
Round 7 - C Andy Reed – Spent time as backup catcher in 1984 and 1985 for the Coons, batting .264 in 97 AB, but never got past Sam Dadswell.

1982

Round 1 - LF/RF Alejandro Lopez – Fearing a bust, we shipped him off in an 8-player deal with the Blue Sox in 1985, where he is now a starting outfielder, batting .257 for his career.
Supp. Round - INF Carlos Miranda - Versatile infielder, who was with the Coons in ’85 and ’86, batting .245 in 159 AB.
Supp. Round - OF Matt Olson – Showed lots of promise early on, but was released in 1987.
Round 2 - MR Jason Bentley – Mainstay in the Raccoons bullpen after making the team first in 1985. 130 G, 3.26 ERA.
Round 3 - C Odwin Garza - Hailing from Aruba, he has had a lot of trouble at the plate while being a strong catcher. Batted .194 for the Raccoons in 1986 and 1987.
Round 4 - 1B Mariano Duarte – Decent hitter for AAA, but has no place on the big league roster.
Round 5 - RF/LF Paul Blake - He shot all the way up to AAA ball in his rookie season, but since then nothing has worked out. Batted .220 in 91 AB for the Coons in ‘86.

1983

Round 1 - SP Scott Wade - Made the majors after an injury to Carlos Gonzalez in mid-1985 and won his first start right away. He is 30-22 now and has conquered a spot in the rotation.
Supp. Round - C Miguel Carrasco - Can neither bat, nor field convincingly, and has not gotten above the AA level.
Round 5 - LF Wilson Martinez - not a good batter, not at all, and his other nice qualities won’t get him to the Show either.

1984

Round 1 - MR Juan Santos - Throws a pure acid curveball which has raced him up to AAA quickly. Unfortunately the catchers have as much trouble with his pitchers as the hitters facing him.
Supp. Round - 1B Billy Mitchell - Has some pop in his bat, but not enough to move up to the majors. His questionable defense also is no help to him getting out of AAA.
Round 2 - OF Hector Medina - Appears to be merely average at the plate, although he could have a career as utility outfielder, with his glove being his main weapon.
Round 3 - RF Jose Correa - Mediocre batter, currently at AA.
Round 4 - MR Jorge Cavazos - He is struggling a ton, mostly with command, and can’t get his act together.
Round 5 - LF/RF Jose Vega – Poor hitting even in A ball.

1985

Round 1 - 1B/3B Joe Jackson - In AAA, his bat is not good enough for the majors, hitting .255 in AAA last year.
Supp. Round - 1B Gabriel Ramirez - Has a potent bat, but was traded to Cincy for Glenn Johnston after the ’86 season. Has not made the majors so far.
Round 2 - MR Jose Lopez - Control is non-existent, no big league future.
Round 3 - LF/RF Antonio Morín - pretty bad hitter, no big future here.
Round 4 - 1B/2B Dennis Gray - very bad hitter, some defensive abilities, no big league future.
Round 4 - SP/MR Gerald Hickman - lacking across the board, no big league future.
Round 5 - 3B/2B Bartolo Ayala - has made it to AAA, but shows few signs of having a chance in the big leagues.

1986

Round 1 - SP Miguel Martinez - Struggles to properly locate his pitches, is currently in AA ball, but went 12-11 with a 4.65 ERA this year.
Round 2 - SP/MR Eugene Scott - Hard to say what he can achieve in the big leagues, but when he goes there it will be most likely as a reliever.
Round 3 - 1B Vincente Rodriguez - Hit 19 homers in AA ball this season, but apart from raw power he has little else to offer currently.
Round 4 - RF/INF Ben Nash - Struggling with the bat, has not progressed past A ball so far.
Round 5 - MR Keith Jefferson - Has potential to become a lefty reliever, but so far his WHIP numbers even in A ball are not promising.

1987

Round 1 - 2B/3B Hector Gonzalez - Gobbled up all of nine AB’s in AA ball before tearing his labrum, missing the rest of his rookie season. Has Orlando Lantán scrawled all over his locker.
Supp. Round - MR Albert Matthews - Pitched in A and AA ball this season for a combined 3.77 ERA in 38.2 innings. Much to love, but much to work on here.
Round 2 - C Bob Armstrong - Primarily a defensive catcher, he performed still well in his rookie season, batting .264 in A ball.
Round 3 - INF/LF/CF Terry Miller - Defensive wizard, who batted .198 in A ball for his rookie year – future looks so-so.
Round 4 - SP Dennis Fried - Was clobbered for a 4-11 record and 5.85 ERA with the A team. Stuff doesn’t pan out, WHIP shot up to 1.59.
Round 5 - MR Walter Weber - Another rookie pitcher set on fire in A ball, with a 4.85 ERA. Control’s not there, stuff’s not there.