Portland Raccoons (ABL)

[Westheim]

Things were heading for the draft. The Raccoons had a 4-set in Boston, then a home series against Sioux Falls, and then had to travel to Topeka thanks to some crazy scheduling.

With how well everything had gone on the last home stand, things were guaranteed to deteriorate and the team to gravitate towards fifth place by next week.

Raccoons (29-27) @ Titans (28-29)

Kisho Saito and Kinji Kan crossed swords once again in the opener. While Kan carried an ERA of almost six, the Raccoons were unable to hurt him properly. Higgins and Hall doubled for a run in the first, Dawson homered in the second, but once Saito surrendered a run it was a 2-1 grab-and-claw through seven. Saito surrendered lefty Hjalmar Flygt to start the eighth, then gave way to Bentley for a long string of right-handers coming up. The defense of Jeff Martin in center was everything that held on to the lead with two soaring flyers just barely caught by Martin. Higgins and Hall provided more offense with 2-out RBI hits in the ninth and then Grant West came out to save it, punching out Zahid Mashwanis for the final out. 4-1 Coons. Higgins 2-5, 2B, RBI; Hall 3-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Dawson 2-4, HR, 2B, RBI; Quinn (PH) 1-1; Saito 7.1 IP, 8 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, W (6-1); West 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K, SV (12);

After the final out was collected, most fans and all players remained in the park and on the field for a few more minutes, respectively. Players crowded Grant West and congratulated him – he had just collected his 300th career save, as it was flashing up on the scoreboard. On a sidenote, he also logged his 500th inning with this outing.

Zahid Mashwanis took it out on Scott Wade the next day, with a 2-run homer in the bottom 1st that made it 3-0 already. Things were looking dark for his streak of W’s to continue very early on. Hall doubled in a run in the third, but Glenn Johnston was also sent home, but was thrown out. In the fourth, Osanai homered before Wade himself hit a 2-out RBI double to tie the score. The big boys continued to do some hitting, scoring two more in the fifth for a 5-3 lead and it could have been more, had a long fly ball by Dawson just been a teeny weeny bit longer. Instead, Salvador Vargas caught it. Flygt hit a 2-out RBI single in the bottom 5th – things were all but safe here with the Coons now leading 5-4. Wade went seven, still 5-4 ahead, handing it to Goodman with Flygt and Mashwanis threatening. But Goodman walked Flygt, and the Titans brought Alejandro Espinoza to run and Eduardo German to hit. Lagarde entered – and walked German. One flyout later, the Titans had the tying run on third base. Doug Belding hit a 2-run double, ending Wade’s winning streak. 7-5 Titans. Hall 2-5, 2B, RBI; Osanai 2-4, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Dawson 2-4;

Don’t we have great setup men?

Logan Evans entered game 3 being watched very closely. The Bash Brothers in the heart of the lineup gave him two runs in the first to work with – ample run support years ago; they even added three more of a wobbling Ryan Childs in the second. But the 1989 Logan Evans was ailing and not the 1985 Logan Evans that won 19 games and had a 2.28 ERA. The following players made awesome plays to keep the damage down: O’Morrissey in the first on a grounder to the side of the mound, Hall in the second on a soaring liner, Higgins in the third on a grounder up the middle. Either play not made would have cost one or two runs. As it was, the Coons were up 5-1 after three, and 7-1 after the top 5th, where Dawson unloaded for a 2-shot. To Evans’ credit: he wasn’t helpless, f.e. striking out hit machine Mashwanis in the bottom 5th with the bags full. But who had them loaded? Evans. Two walks and a single up the middle to Flygt were the end for Evans in the sixth. Berry pitched three innings for his first career save, as the Coons held on to a 7-3 win. Hall 3-3, 2 BB, 2 2B, RBI; Dawson 2-5, HR, 3 RBI; Berry 3.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K, SV (1);

Bill Stevens hit a single in four AB’s in the game, but it was really inadequate fielding and with his average down to almost .200 after a hot start, he was designated for assignment the next day. Quintanilla was called up.

It was Reyes against ex-Coon Eric McCullough in game 4. Reyes registered his first four outs all with K’s, then started to shake. The Titans rushed the bases – and through six innings left two on three times, and three on once, not scoring a single run. Their WRISP average was minus oh-fifty. The Coons led 4-0 through six, with David Vinson hitting a 2-run homer (and homering in back-to-back games). The Coons added two in the seventh. Reyes went back out, but put two on with two out. Martinez came in, facing powering 3B Kelly Carpenter, who popped a 3-0 pitch to Osanai to end the inning. The Titans didn’t score until the ninth – ironically against Grant West. 6-1 Furballs. Johnston 2-4, BB; Hall 3-5, 2B, RBI; Dawson 3-5, 2 2B, RBI; Reader 2-5, 2B;

Raccoons (32-28) vs. Warriors (22-37)

Here came the worst team in the Federal League. However, not all was bad around that team. They had a slow offense, third-worst in the FL with 233 runs scored, but the pitching was average. Basically, they were very unlucky, and now, when it comes to luck, the Raccoons are attracting calamity like a huge magnet attracting a million needles. Of course, those needles would all hit the magnet with the pointy end first.

The Warriors had a number of old friends and foes on their roster, including old Knights nemesis Engjell Vulaj, the serviceable ex-Logger Stephen Hall, and catcher Enrique Sanchez, who caught for the Coons for three seasons in the early 80’s, including our playoff run in 1983.

Jason Turner started the opener for the Furballs and got into a boat load of trouble right away, bases loaded with one out and Engjell Vulaj up. But the latter’s days were clearly over. He hobbled into a double play, very Dawson-esque. The Coons were not in the mood to play around, knocking around Warriors starter Walid Dubois for four runs in the first inning and Daniel Hall homered for two more in the second. Turner would go on to pitch six shutout innings, but caused a lot of traffic on the way and could (or should) not go further after 109 pitches thrown. The Coons didn’t score again until the bottom 8th, but then pounced on reliever Mark West for four more runs. Coon City won, 10-0! Johnston 2-5, RBI; Higgins 2-4, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Osanai 2-4, 2B, RBI; Dawson 2-4, RBI; Gonzalez 2-3, BB; O’Morrissey (PH) 1-1; Turner 6.0 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 5 K, W (4-2); Bentley 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K;

The Canadiens that day fell 4-2 to the Blue Sox, while the Crusaders were victims of the Wolves and a 18-4 raping that put the Raccoons back in first place.

The middle game, we looked at David Castillo, who once was a minor league Coon, but was traded in the winter of 1981-82. We got Steve Walker out of that trade, which was huge for us for a long time, but Castillo has still become a starter with an 80-57 record for a mostly underwhelming team. Sam Dadswell took him deep in the second inning, 2-0 Coons. Kisho Saito had a little spill in the top 3rd, nailing Sanchez and loading the bases before wiggling out undamaged. Over the next four innings he allowed a walk and nothing else and went eight innings of shutout ball in total. Grant West made no fuzz about claiming #301 and sat the Warriors down in ten pitches to save the 3-0 win for Saito. Johnston 2-3, BB; Dadswell 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Saito 8.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 6 K, W (7-1);

The Warriors actually took a lead (and scored a run!) in the series in the third game on a first inning homer by featherweight shortstop Esteban Areizaga, coming off Scott Wade. Matt Higgins countered in the bottom 1st with a 2-run homer almost exactly into the same spot behind the right field wall. Despite the Raccoons building a 4-1 lead through three innings, the game remained close. Wade was a bit wild and while he struck out more than normal, he also walked a couple, creating a squeeze in the fourth, where the Warriors loaded them up with one out, but didn’t score, as Wade upped his game with a K and harmless grounder to Reader at short. Dadswell broke up the game in the bottom 5th with a GRAND SLAM to right. There was still nobody out in the inning and the Warriors dissolved to dust in the face of the Coons offense now, as they got another three men on (including Wade) before Higgins made the first out, but even that was an RBI groundout. With two down, Dadswell was up again and this time drew a bases-loaded walk. Wade eventually made the final out in an inning, where the Coons sent up *15* batters and scored nine runs! The Warriors tried to get revenge on Wade, and homered twice off him in the seventh. Wade surrendered those three runs in seven innings, all three solo shots. 14-4 Raccoons!! Johnston 3-5, BB, 2B; Higgins 2-4, 2 BB, HR, 2B, 4 RBI; Osanai 4-5, 2B; Dawson 4-5, 2 2B, 3 RBI; Dadswell 1-4, BB, HR, 5 RBI; Campbell 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

Raccoons (35-28) @ Buffaloes (34-29)

The Buffaloes were putting up very respectable numbers in the FL East, ranking consistently in the upper half among FL teams in all important categories. We faced them in 1985 and swept them. And in 1987, and swept them. Overall, we are 16-8 against the Buffaloes, tying with the Pacifics (8-4) for best all-time average.

Logan Evans did not start the opener, rather Steven Berry took his spot. Things were just wrong with Evans. Berry made a good start, pitching into the seventh in a 2-2 tie. But he put two on there, on a single and a hit batter, and was gone. Goodman loaded the bags with two down and Scott Strong hit a fly ball into the gap, where Hall made a monster play to hold the tie together, ending the bottom 7th. The Buffaloes dropped another chance to score in the eighth with runners on the corners, before the game went to extra innings. Dawson’s sac fly scored Hall in the 11th and West came in and saved it, but was helped by a base running blunder by Bob Arnold, who tried to stretch a double into more than that. 3-2 Coons. Osanai 4-5, 2B, RBI; Berry 6.2 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 K;

Gustavo Quintanilla was sent back to AAA before the next game, and Daniel Dumont was called up.

19-year old Rob Griffin made his second career start in the middle game, carrying an 18.00 ERA. The poor boy was gutted, shot, run over with a Buick, and hung from a tree by the Raccoons, and it was a really ugly tree. They scored four runs in the second, loaded the bags with one out in the third, and then Dawson doubled into left to make it 6-0. Ex-Coon David Jones came in, but allowed both inherited runners to score. Griffin: 2.1 IP, 8 ER. Yikes. Carlos Reyes was out there for the Raccoons and was in cruise control, until he became stuck in the ninth. He was removed after nicking a hitter. Two on, two out, Bentley came in, and allowed both runners to score. 10-3 Raccoons. Hall 1-3, 2 BB, HR, RBI; Osanai 4-5; Gonzalez 4-4, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Quinn 1-2, BB, 2B, 3 RBI; Reyes 8.2 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, W (5-2);

With this rout, the Raccoons have chained together another 7-game winning streak!

Last game before the amateur draft, and it was Jason Turner’s … ehm … turn. The Buffaloes sent their ace, Arnold McCray (6-4, 4.01 ERA), who had a down season, though. Hall got a day off, and he had also cooled off a bit in the last few days. In turn, the other Daniel, Dumont, started in right. In his first big league AB (and really this was planned much differently) he hit a 2-run homer off McCray, and the Raccoons took a 3-0 lead. They crushed McCray in the fifth with four more runs, hitting singles through all the seams there were. While the big artillery was firing relentlessly, Jason Turner dealt the Buffaloes the terrible harvest of the God of K’s, punching out ten while going eight innings, with only a stray homer tainting his outing. 10-2 Furballs!! Johnston 2-4, BB, 2B; Higgins 2-5, BB; Dawson 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Gonzalez 4-5; Dumont 2-5, HR, 2 RBI; Dadswell 2-5, HR, 3 RBI; Quinn 2-5, RBI; Turner 8.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 10 K, W (5-2) and 1-4, RBI;

In other news

June 6 – The hitting streak of SFW 2B Pat Graham reaches 25 games, with Graham hitting three singles in a 4-3 loss to Salem.
June 8 – The Wolves douse Pat Graham, who goes 0-3 and ends his hitting streak at 26 games, and the Wolves also win the game, 10-5.
June 11 – 2B David Brewer of the Canadiens (.352, 0 HR, 26 RBI) joins Daniel Hall as players with a 6-hit game this season. Brewer knocks out four singles and two doubles in a 13-11 loss to the Blue Sox. This is the 19th 6-hit game in ABL history.
June 11 – The Blue Sox lose 2B/3B Tony Oliva (.272, 2 HR, 29 RBI) for the ret of the season with a broken elbow.
June 13 – The Aces trade SP Luis De Jesus (4-1, 6.03 ERA) to the Titans for OF Eduardo German (.275, 3 HR, 15 RBI) and prospect Miguel Mendez.

Complaints and stuff

The Raccoons were 20-9 in May. They are 9-4 in June (and 9-1 if excluding games against Canadian teams).

They don’t draw as many walks as in recent years, but they are no worse than mid-pack in any offensive category. They don’t overwhelm you with their average, but the team ranks first in the CL in slugging, second in OPS, second in runs scored (!!!), first in extra base hits, and also first in home runs! They are the natural born killers, they are the lightning bolts shooting demigods of destruction, they are the typhoons devastating seaside orphanages.

Got carried away there a bit. This has never been a great offensive team, but somehow they are in one of the most memorable offensive stretches in ABL history. In the last 11 games they have scored *76* runs! They used to take a whole month for that! They scored their last 100 runs (101 actually) in just their last *15* games! They are making opposing pitching staffs look like Picasso’s Guernica! They are -

You get the idea.

Bit #1: A-level outfielder Winston Witter was player of the week down there with a .519 average

Bit #2: Mark Dawson went 12-27 with 2 HR and 6 RBI in the week from June 4-10, but was eschewed for POTW in the Continental League, beaten by ATL Seitaro Ine (14-29, 2 HR, 6 RBI). Also shunned: Daniel Hall (13-27, 1 HR, 8 RBI) and Glenn Johnston (10-24, 0 HR, 2 RBI);

Bit #3: Mark Dawson is the leader in extra base hits among active players with 708. In fourth place: Daniel Hall (557).

Not all is Rose Garden around here, though. We have a huge $2M problem that listens to the name of Logan. He is only in the fourth year of a 6-yr, $4.275M contract. The last year is guaranteed, and he’s due between $750k and $800k every season until 1991. And his ERA is over six. I actually tried to demote him after his start against the Titans, but since he got the W, he might have thought everything was okay. But it isn’t. He’s unable to come back from radial nerve compression surgery (what EVER that is!) and he can’t be moved, since nobody will take him on and we don’t have any means to release him. There is a lot of room in the budget for this season, but it can’t absorb the remaining $2M he’s due.

Next: draft! Let’s add the seedlings of future (un)natural disasters to gang bang up on unsuspecting opponents!

[Westheim]

1989 AMATEUR DRAFT

The Raccoons were picking 11th in every round, and 9th in the 39-pick supplemental round. Our projected top cherries have been outlined earlier, but they are:

SP Garrett Danton (18/19/13)
SP Eduardo Salazar (12/14/18)
SP Joe Mann (12/19/13)
MR Gabriel De La Rosa (19/19/14)
CL Roberto Delgado (18/18/16)
MR Brody Burrell (20/16/10)
C Luis Moran (18/5/13; good catching abilities)
1B Jim Cutler (19/16/14)
INF Tom McAndrew (20/3/12)
RF/LF Roman Reyes (20/19/18)
LF/RF Connor Starr (14/13/16)

So many good boys in there, you didn’t know whom to select. Thankfully, the Sacramento Scorpions and nine other teams would pick before the Coons to thin out the flock a little. The Scorpions made SP Joe Mann the first overall pick in the 1989 class, and we sighed deeply and struck him off our shortlist. Most of the early picks didn’t come from our Top 11 there, but from like the extended Top 25, so we still had a difficult time to pick. By the time we picked in the supplemental round, only three players remained from the shorter list, and none after that. With one exception: Brody Burrell, but we suddenly shied back from him. I discovered a fragile label on him (don’t know if it was there before or not), and passed on him in the second round (also, we already had picked two pitchers). He was still there in the third round – and we passed him for an outfielder. The Capitals took him 104th overall.

1989 Raccoons Draft Class

Round 1 (#11) – SP Eduardo Salazar, 23, from Sosúa, Dom. Rep. – great repertoire of pitches, with six pitches in total in his arsenal, not all top notch, but he’s able to keep hitters guessing forever
Supp. Round (#33) – MR Gabriel De La Rosa, 18, from Havana, Cuba – kills people with a filthy splitter with a salivating whiff rate, has closer potential
Round 2 (#74) – 1B Rubén De La Rosa, 22, from Monte Cristi, Dom. Rep. – elite offensive basher, should rack up doubles in bushels, and can hold his ground defensively
Round 3 (#98) – OF/1B Rodrigo Correa, 21, from Levant, ME – good all around package of offense, defense, and running, and these guys always find a hole to play in
Round 4 (#122) – SP Brendon Bell, 17, from Waimanalo Beach, HI – four pitches, all with much development left to do, but the package is promising; stamina is very good, and if he gets at least two strong pitches, he can still go into long relief
Round 5 (#146) – MR Rafael Vázquez, 18, from Perrysburg, OH – left-hander with a good curveball, looks like made for situantional lefty duty
Round 6 (#170) – LF/RF Carl Price, 22, from Dallas, TX – agile and speedy corner outfielder, bat could turn out rather decent
Round 7 (#194) – MR Kenneth Hunter, 21, from Chesapeake, VA – right-hander with a curveball, of which there are a dime a dozen
Round 8 (#218) – C Ron McDonald, 18, from Oneonta, AL – so far not much promising stuff to discover here
Round 9 (#242) – CL Wilson Hall, 20, from Upper Saddle River, NJ – good slider, but that’s it
Round 10 (#266) – SP Denny Dixon, 18, from Vicksburg, MS – five pitches in the arsenal, but maybe he’s just throwing it randomly

Salazar and Rubén De La Rosa (who drafts two guys with the same surname back-to-back??) reported to AA ball, the rest to the A level team.

[Westheim]

Beware, long update coming, had countless hours to waste today.

Raccoons (38-28) vs. Loggers (20-45)

The Loggers ranked last in so many categories, offensively as defensively, it was impossible to list them all. While their pitching staff was terrible, they didn’t surrender a lot of home runs. This was a 3-game set to start a 6-game home stand (Crusaders coming in, too), before we’d hit the road making our way to July. And, yeah, the Raccoons carried an 8-game winning streak, while the Loggers had lost seven of nine (beating the Scorpions twice at home).

In the opener, both pitchers were perfect through three innings. An error by António Gonzalez in the top 4th was a signal that things were to go wrong now. Kisho Saito then nicked a batter and finally surrendered an RBI double. Now the Coons had to hit against Judd Montgomery – and couldn’t! Montgomery was perfect through 17 batters, then grazed Saito ever so slightly with a pitch. Hit batter, gone the perfecto, but the no-hitter was alive. Osanai was retired on a great play to end the seventh. Dawson led off the bottom 8th, and looped a ball over 2B Pepe Martinez, and it fell in. Gone the no-no. Dumont got on and Saito would have come up with two out, but we needed offense and he was on 111 pitches already. Quinn singled to right, and the slow-footed Dawson jogged around third against the powerful arm of RF Cristo Ramírez. Montgomery cut off the throw to get Dumont at third, and the game was tied. We pieced the ninth together with three relievers, then flipped back to the top of the order for the bottom 9th, but nobody got on. Osanai walked to start the bottom 10th and we rarely use pinch-runners, but here we did. O’Morrissey came in, made a move to second, and was thrown out. Dumont and Reader got on with one out in the bottom 11th. Johnston flew to deep left, but into an out. Higgins lined to center, but Dumont had to hold at third. Bases loaded, two out, Hall up, he went to a full count, then lined into right for a walkoff RBI single. 2-1 Coons! West earned the W, collecting the final out in the 11th. Quinn (PH) 1-1, RBI; Reader 1-1; Saito 8.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K; Martinez 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

PHEW!! Montgomery almost threw us a curve here. More like a nasty splitter even. Thank goodness Saito was dealing, too. Nine wins in a row now!

Scott Wade auditioned for #13 in the middle game, but fell behind 1-0 in the top 1st. The Coons countered with two in the bottom 1st, and led 3-1 in the bottom 4th. Two on, one out, Wade came to bat. He twice missed the bunt to 0-2, then bunted to the left of the mound, and the Loggers threw the ball away, scoring a run instantly, and it became a 3-run inning eventually, and could have been more if Hall had not been retired on a really great snag by Jim Stein, who played second base. Wade struck out six in his outing, more than usual, but had problems with the left-handers again and surrendered two homers. He then struck out Santiago Rodriguez, which would have ended the sixth with a runner on base, but Vinson dropped and lost the ball and Rodriguez reached on the uncaught third strike. The Loggers now sent left-hander Adam Woodward to pinch-hit, and Wade was lifted, before more damage was done. Goodman retired him. The Coons led 8-4 so far, and Quinn homered in the bottom 6th to make it 9-4, and the Raccoons eventually won 11-4. Higgins 3-3, BB, 3B, RBI; Johnston 3-5, 3 RBI; Osanai 2-4, HR, 3 RBI; Quinn 2-4, BB, HR, 2B, RBI; Vinson 4-5, 2B, RBI; Dawson (PH) 1-1, RBI;

So, Wade is now 13-0, but his last few starts have not been as magnificient, and he’s been living off his offense a lot lately. He actually has the *worst* ERA in the rotation now. I’m also catching myself giving him a break like here in the sixth trying to preserve the streak. The good or achievements of the One should not take precedent over those of the Many.

Game 3, and the Coons had the bags full and nobody out in the bottom 2nd. Scott Murphy then struck out Dadswell, Quinn, and Berry to end the inning. Gonzalez made another costly error in the fourth, again causing a run to score, and Berry threw a wild pitch to score another one. Down 2-0, the Coons looked pretty much lost to a dominating Murphy. Down 3-0 in the seventh, Osanai drew a leadoff walk, and things got moving. Two more Coons got on and Osanai scored, bringing up Dadswell, who sent a huge looping double to the base of the center field wall. Gonzalez tried to score from first, the Loggers sought to get the out at home – SAFE!! And the game was tied. Johnston brought in Dadswell for a 4-3 lead. Berry had been pinch hit for, and the pen took over, and had one of those collapses. A pinch-hit 3-run homer by Emilion Román off Goodman (who had entered to face a lefty in the spot) turned the game around instantly again. Bottom 9th, Dadswell walked to start things off. Martin walked as well, and O’Morrissey singled up the middle. The winning runs were on, and nobody out – but they didn’t cash in. Only one run scored, and the winning streak ended, 6-5 Loggers. Dawson 2-3, BB, 2B; Martin 0-0, 2 BB; Berry 7.0 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K; Martinez 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

And there were casualties. Bobby Quinn had left the game halfway through and was DTD with back spasms. Nate Goodman in turn complained about elbow soreness after the game, and it was bad enough that he had to hit the DL, but the minimum time should do. Still, our two least awful left-handed relievers (apart from Grant West) were now on the disabled list, and we put Travis Brown back on the 40-man roster and added him to the big league club in time for the next series against the New Yorkians.

Raccoons (40-29) vs. Crusaders (35-34)

The Raccoons never scored an earned run the entire first game of this series – but made the most of three errors the Crusaders made between the third and fourth innings, and scored four times there. Carlos Reyes was strong, scattering a few hits in shutout ball, and the bullpen held on without troubles. 4-0 Raccoons. Johnston 2-5, 2 RBI; Osanai 2-3, BB, RBI; Gonzalez 2-4, 2B; Dumont 2-3, BB; Reyes 7.0 IP, 7 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K, W (6-2); Bentley 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

Middle game, and this time the Raccoons made the errors and fell 3-0 behind early on. Turner was not bad, but not great, and was pinch hit for in the fifth, but Dumont grounded into a double play to end that inning with the Coons still down 3-1. Logan Evans came in to pitch in relief, his first outing since going out of the rotation, 13 days ago. He pitched three innings, walked four, and balked in a run in the sixth. The Coons would also score on a balk in the ninth, but by then it was too late for a comeback and they struck out twice to end the game after that. 4-2 Crusaders. Johnston 2-4, 2B, RBI; Dadswell (PH) 1-1, 3B; Martin 2-4, 2 2B;

Young exiled Cuban Hector Lara went for the Crusaders in the rubber game, and he was quite a break-in, with a 2.03 ERA through his first five starts. Lara fought with Saito tooth to nail, and the Furballs took a lead twice, but the Crusaders tied it back up right away both times. Bottom 6th, Dumont and Vinson got on. Saito failed to bunt, then took a 1-2 pitch into short right to load the bases with nobody out. Johnston singled up the middle (which left him a homer shy of the cycle at that point) for a run. Higgins grounded to force Vinson at home, before Daniel Hall GRAND SLAMMED to left and the party was on in the park! The inning continued with two more runs for seven in total and a 9-2 lead. Johnston led off the seventh and needed a deep one for the cycle, but his flyer to left missed the fence by at least 30 feet for a double. Saito pitched seven, he had gas to go, but he was already over 100 innings for the year and we didn’t want to burn him out more than necessary. The Raccoons won handily, 10-2. Johnston 4-5, 3B, 2 2B, RBI; Hall 2-5, HR, 5 RBI; Dumont 2-3, 2 BB, RBI; Vinson 2-4; Saito 7.0 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, W (8-1), and 1-4;

This was our 100th win against the Crusaders all time, the last of the CL North team we reached that mark against.

Raccoons (42-30) @ Knights (40-32)

The Knights were in a 3-way tie for the CL South with the Condors and Bayhawks. We were looking at Asquabal, Sasaki, and Ryan to pitch, so our offense would be put to the test in the series, and the defense would be anyway. The Raccoons had scored 363 runs so far – the Knights were the only CL team to top them, with 365.

Carlos Asquabal was also the only CL pitcher with triple-digit K’s so far (105), and fanned five in the game, but trailed when he left after six. The Raccoons took a 3-0 lead in the early innings, but the many left-handers got to Scott Wade eventually. They manufactured a run in the fifth and of course Michael Root, who led the league in dingers, hit one off Wade, too, in the sixth. Wade went seven still 3-2 ahead, and Jackie Lagarde faced three lefties, Sakutaro Ine, Root, and Luis Barrera, in the eighth. That was a tough bunch, and I didn’t even trust Travis Brown to get *one* of them, let alone three. I also didn’t want to pitch Grant West for six outs here. So, Lagarde pitched to Ine, who grounded the first pitch to Gonzalez, who threw it away. BAM!! With Ine at second, Root was not pitched to. Barrera lined to Osanai for the first out. Lagarde punched out Shoichi Fujino, then walked Joreao Paulos. Bases loaded, the catcher Jack Jackson up. Lagarde struck him out. Bottom 9th, still up 3-2. Grant West walked Bob Goyer, then walked Eddy Bailey! Panic mode! The next play forced Goyer at third, but now Ine was back up, but West matched that part of the lineup. Ine grounded to the mound, and West threw to second for the out. Antonio Gonzalez collided with runner Mario Rodriguez and had to leave the game. Still an out to collect and Root up. Second base was open and Root was put on to go after Barrera. West went to 0-2 on Barrera, who made contact on the third pitch, a zipper to Higgins, picked, thrown, OUT!! WHOAH!! 3-2 Raccoons!! Hall 2-4, BB; Osanai 2-3, BB, 2B, RBI; Wade 7.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 2 K, W (14-0);

Gonzalez might hit .320-something, but his defense enrages me! He’s made four errors in the last week! Well, to add injury to insult, his collision at second base hurt him, and he will be out for a month with an intercostal strain. For the moment, Carlos Miranda was called up.

Game 2 was lots of zeros to start between Berry and Kiyohira Sasaki. Reader hit an RBI double in the top 5th to break up the offensive drought, but then made an error in the bottom 5th that got the Knights started. With two down and three on, and the game 1-1 tied, Berry faced Root – and walked him. Dawson tied the game with a solo shot in the top 7th, but it got away again in the bottom 7th. Berry went eight, still, then had to watch the top 9th from the outside. Johnston doubled to put the tying run 180 feet away with nobody out. Reader intended to bunt him to third, but the Knights couldn’t come up with it and everybody was safe. Dadswell grounded out. Dumont popped out in Berry’s spot. Higgins flew out to Root. Raccoons lost, 3-2. Johnston 2-4, 2B; Reader 3-4, 2B, RBI;

So far, the two best teams in the CL in scoring runs hadn’t scored many runs in the series. Maybe in the rubber match?

Up 2-0, Reyes ran into trouble in the bottom 3rd with a leadoff single by pitcher Glenn Ryan, then another single by ageless hit machine Eddy Bailey. Reyes then had two in scoring position with one out and that left-handed battery up. Ine scored Ryan with a sac fly. Root was put on intentionally, and Barrera was nicked, before the Coons got the final out with a grounder to Higgins. Bottom 5th, a 3-1 lead for the Raccoons, but the Knights ate Reyes up now. Fujino tied the game with two out. Jackson was put on to get to Ryan, who was 2-2 on the day, so what were the chances? He hit a 2-run double over Johnston in center, and Reyes was toasted. The Coons had the bases loaded in the seventh, but only scored once and stayed 5-4 behind. Martinez was beated in the eighth and the Raccoons lost 7-4. Dumont 3-3, BB, 2B; Dadswell 2-4, 2 2B, RBI; Martin (PH) 1-1, 2B;

Wow, what a devastating offense, especially if you are armed only with right-handers and a dull peach in Travis Brown. The Furballs clawed as deep into their flesh as possible, but it wasn’t enough to win the series.

Raccoons (43-32) @ Thunder (36-39)

The opener saw the Thunder lead off with a bunt base hit by Mr. Obnoxious, Jeff Wagner, but it was the Raccoons to commit crimes in the second, beating up starter Domingo León. Six hits, six runs, scored in pairs with homers by O’Morrissey and Hall and a double by Johnston. Once Sam Dadswell hit a 3-run home run in the fifth, the rout was on. Jason Turner was strong, keeping the damage to a minimum in eight frames of work. The Raccoons pounced on the Thunder, and won 13-1. Johnston 2-6, 2B, 4 RBI; Higgins 2-6, 3B; Osanai 2-5, RBI; O’Morrissey 2-4, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Dadswell 4-4, BB, HR, 3 RBI; Reader 3-5, 2B; Turner 8.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, W (6-3);

The Coons now united the best record in the Continental League with the best offense and the best defense, all in one hand.

We scored two in the top 1st in the middle game, but two line drives into the wrong spots tied the game again in the bottom 2nd with Saito pitching. Osanai homered in the third, 3-2. The Thunder tried to keep their bullpen right back where they were, in the pen, but starter Vicente Torres was erratic, walking seven in the game, and was dissected in the sixth, where the Raccoons scored seven. They followed that up with a seventh inning where they had both a 3-run triple by Tetsu Osanai and a 3-run homer by Daniel Dumont. The Raccoons destroyed the Thunder to the tune of 16 runs, and this was masking pretty well that the pitching staff was lit up in the game. Saito went six and allowed four runs, and the bullpen delivered one of it’s trademark spills in a 6-run bottom 9th on Campbell and Bentley. The Raccoons still won, 16-10. Johnston 3-6, 2B, 2 RBI; Hall 2-4, BB, RBI; Osanai 3-5, HR, 3B, 2B, 6 RBI; Dawson 0-1, 4 BB, RBI; Dumont 3-5, HR, 3B, 5 RBI; Reader 2-5, RBI;

Tetsu Osanai missed the cycle by a single. Daniel Dumont missed the cycle by a double. We now have 401 runs in 77 games. The 1981 Raccoons scored 519 runs the entire season!

Game 3. Both teams didn’t get a hit until the third. The Raccoons got moving in the fourth, loading the bags with nobody out. Dawson’s sac fly got a run onto the board, and they kept hitting, and aided by two Oklahoma City errors, put up another 6-spot. And the Thunder just could not catch a break. Scott Wade walked the leadoff man in the bottom 5th. C Kyle Douglas sent a liner up the middle and Higgins CAUGHT it – and punched out the runner coming from first. The Thunder were boiling with frustration, and visibly so. When Wade struck out Adam Warren to end the seventh inning, Warren barked at the home plate umpire and was tossed. Wade went into the ninth, got the first out, before Tom Nicks had a hit. The next batter, Dave Browne, popped to second, and Higgins dropped the ball, and Wade balked in Nicks before throwing another pitch, getting him out before he could complete a shutout. Grant West surrendered two hits for two more runs to score, but the Raccoons won, 6-3. Higgins 2-5, RBI; Hall 2-5; Dadswell 3-3, BB; Wade 8.1 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 6 K, W (15-0) and 1-3, 2 RBI;

Wade is 15-0!! Unbelievable!!

Raccoons (46-32) @ Titans (39-40)

A 4-game set was to end that road trip. Right now, everybody but the Loggers was either 7.0 or 7.5 games behind the Coons.

Tetsu Osanai took care of getting the team a good start. When Johnston tripled to start the game, Higgins and Hall both struck out, but Osanai singled for the runner to score, and drove in another run in the third. That was already all the offense! Osanai was never retired, Berry went eight innings, and West closed it. 2-0 Raccoons. Osanai 2-2, 2 BB, 2 RBI; Berry 8.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K, W (2-4);

Kinji Kan was up in game #2, and kept puzzling the Raccoons as he had done so often before. The Titans scored a run in the second, and the Coons twice left the tying run on third in the next few innings, before finally breaking through in the sixth. Hall walked, Osanai singled, Dawson doubled, and the game was tied, and nobody out. The Raccoons batted round the horn, plating five in the inning, also knocking out Kan. Everything then went to hell in the eighth. Reyes allowed another run, 5-2, and was removed. Brown came in to face lefties, two of two reached base. Lagarde entered to help out, but was tripled off by Alejandro Espinoza. Lagarde looked grim, shoveled himself a trench to fight out of, and struck out the next two guys to escape with a 5-4 lead. The Coons had two on in the ninth, but managed to blow the chance with poor baserunning on a hit and run that got Osanai nailed at second, while Dawson struck out. The Titans had all-right-handers up for the ninth, and West had pitched the last two days – Lagarde remained in the game, and retired the side! 5-4 Raccoons! Johnston 1-2, 3 BB, 2B; Osanai 2-4, BB; Miranda 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Reyes 7.1 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, W (7-3) and 1-3, 2B, RBI; Lagarde 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K, SV (2);

Here we made a move with the left-handers in the Titans lineup killing us again. Logan Evans got the start for game 3, while Kisho Saito remained slotted in for game 4. Turner would pitch again once back home.

Although the Titans lost slugger Hjalmar Flygt in the first inning of game 3 when he slid into second base awkwardly, they still scored a run off Evans, who was erratic and not really a big help in any endeavor. The Coons had to help him with offense, and put up a 4-spot in the top 2nd. In the third, they put three men on, then struck out thrice. In turn, the Titans tied the game in the fourth. Evans remained a wreck. Osanai homered in the top 5th, and when Evans put two on in the bottom 5th, he was yanked. Martinez got the final out in the inning, a harmless bouncer to Higgins. The Titans tied the game, still, in the eighth off Campbell, then had the winning run on third in the ninth inning, but were retired by Higgins on a great play. Extra innings, and Johnston had the day off, but came in to pinch hit in the 11th, sending a 1-out double into deep left, and Dumont scored him. West entered for the bottom 11th – but was defeated. Manny Mora hit a 2-run walkoff home run for the Titans, with two down. 7-6 Titans. Dumont 2-6, 2 RBI; Osanai 2-4, BB, HR, RBI; Johnston (PH) 1-1, 2B; Martinez 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K; Lagarde 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K;

Jeff Martin, who had not seen much use recently, played center in the fourth game, and was drilled his first two times at the plate. The Coons broke up a scoring drought in the fourth with a sac fly by David Vinson. The Coons weren’t able to muster more offense, and it cost Kisho Saito in the bottom 7th, where a million little things went wrong. An infield hit was followed by Vinson throwing wildly into center on a stealing attempt. Doug Belding singled to left to tie the game, and a pinch runner stole second, before the Coons could get out. But the nice thing about these 1989 Raccoons was their ability to come back, and again, and again. Bobby Quinn homered for two runs in the top 8th. Saito left there, being pinch hit for, and the pen had to take over. And the pen was a mess. Campbell put the only two batters he faced on with singles. Martinez came in, and Mashwanis hit an infield single. Martinez recollected himself with the bags full and nobody out. He punched out Kelly Carpenter. Shotaro Ono lined to right, but Osanai got the glove on it and got to first before Mashwanis did for the third out. Phew! West entered again in the ninth, and the first batter reached on an error by Miranda. Here we go ag- no, West sat down the next three. 3-1 Coons! Quinn 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Vinson 2-3, 2B, RBI; Saito 7.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, W (10-1); Martinez 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

In other news

June 16 – NAS Carlos Lopez (8-3, 3.16 ERA) 3-hits the Miners in a 5-0 shutout.
June 17 – SFB LF Diego Rodriguez (.324, 0 HR, 25 RBI) hits a single in a 4-1 loss to Atlanta, extending his hitting streak to 20 games.
June 19 – The Knights deal OF Seitaro Ogawa (.235, 11 HR, 39 RBI) to Vancouver for MR Gary Simmons (1-2, 3.91 ERA, 1 SV) and prospect CL Brian Morris. Simmons (the ex-Coon) was with the Knights until last year and signed with the Canadiens as a free agent before the season. Ogawa was with the Canadiens before, from 1983 to 1985.
June 20 – NO-HITTER!! SFB Rafael Espinoza (6-5, 3.52 ERA) dominates the Falcons the entire day, and allows only three walks and no hits in a 3-0 win of his Bayhawks! It is the 10th no-hitter in ABL history, the first for the Bayhawks, the first against the Falcons, the second this year, and the fifth no-hitter ever in June (50%).
June 23 – Diego Rodriguez goes 0-4 against the Crusaders and his hitting streak ends at 24 games.
June 26 – The Falcons send SP Julio Rodriguez (4-6, 4.33 ERA) and MR Armando Dávila (3.94 ERA in 31 G) to the Capitals in exchange for 1B Jose Madrid (.354, 4 HR, 37 RBI in platoon use), backup catcher Alejandro Moreno (11-39 with 3 RBI) and two minor leaguers.
June 26 – The Scorpions are 2-hit by PIT Jose Galvez (4-7, 3.93 ERA) in a blowout win for Pittsburgh, 10-0.
June 27 – LVA INF Lowell Allen (.342, 1 HR, 24 RBI) suffered a torn labrum and is out for the season.

Complaints and stuff

Tetsu Osanai was the CL Hitter of the Month of June 1989, putting up an impressive .385, 5 HR, 25 RBI mark. He also was Player of the Week for the week flipping June into July with a 13-27, 2 HR, 10 RBI week.

1B Billy Mitchell was the FL Rookie of the Month with the Capitals, being traded over to there this winter from Portland.

We haven’t used either Quinn or Martin a lot in the outfield recently. I’m also trying to give O’Morrissey regular playing time at third. The second base experiment is dead – you can do that if you’re in fifth place. But somehow (I don’t know how) this team has clicked. In fact, we’ll be buyers at the deadline in four weeks. We need help in the bullpen, since our semi-reliable left-handers were all on the disabled list. And Brown … well, nobody wanted him, and they all had reasons. Brown will be sent to AAA again to start the home week before the All Star game, with Nate Goodman returning from the DL, but he has had his moments, too.

Our rotation has been electric, to say the least. And how about Wade? Still unbeaten!!

The Raccoons have been 11 games over .500 in June, repeating a feat achieved in May. By the way, we’re pulling this run off with the seventh-smallest budget in the sport.

[Questdog]

What happened to this being a rebuilding year?.....

Talk about a 1-2 punch.....25-1 !!!!!....amazing.....

[Westheim]

Maybe we are rebuilt already? Matt Higgins and Glenn Johnston playing regularly and batting 1-2 with great offense AND defense are working like a charm. The middle of the order Hall-Osanai-Dawson is streaky at the edges, and Osanai just keeps hammering. In fact, the outfield is rather crowded now, with Bobby Quinn getting squeezed out.

The rotation, after a rough first two weeks, are dealing fire. And that 1-2 punch makes opponents give up before series even begin.

Only concern is the bullpen. We *need* another lefty, which has been made obvious repeatedly now after getting beaten by teams with strong left-handed lineups like the Knights, who don't shy back from batting all-lefties 3-4-5-6 in their lineup, and my staff can't get through it. Winning one of those three was a success already. We will be looking for right-handers at our own AAA team. We may call up Albert Matthews, who is officially underwhelmed by AAA hitting.

And Steven Berry? He's been a rule 5 pick, for furball's sake!

Saito, Wade, Turner, Berry, Reyes, West, Lagarde, Martinez, Osanai, Hall, Dawson, Johnston, Higgins, Dadswell, Vinson, Dumont ... isn't life beautiful?

[Westheim]

Raccoons (49-33) vs. Indians (40-42)

We swept the Indians over four game earlier this season. They had one of the best pitching staffs in the league, but where hardly scoring any runs, much like the Indians teams in the early 80s. This was also a 4-game set.

These lowly-scoring Indians started the series with a 3-run inning against Scott Wade. Our 15-game winner was just not sharp in the game, and with a 3-0 deficit was in for trouble. O’Morrissey homered in the second, but overall the Raccoons didn’t really know how to handle the Indians’ Jesse Carver, who was 6-8 despite a 3.18 ERA going into the game (Wade: 15-0, 3.23 ERA). A light drizzle set in during the third inning and persisted throughout most of the rest of the game. Wade was knocked out in the sixth on the way to his first loss of the season, when the first four Indians all reached base in that inning. The bases were loaded, and Jason Bentley allowed all runners to score, and one more, doing little to ease the pain. The Coons rallied in the bottom 6th, with a 3-run homer by Jeff Martin, his first dinger for the Raccoons, before the rain intensified and forced a 44-minute delay. The rally continued afterwards. Dumont singled, Johnston doubled to score Dadswell, who had walked just before the delay. Suddenly, the tying run came to the plate with one out, but they only scored one more and trailed 8-6. Lagarde entered in the top 7th, and all hope had to be abandoned instantly. He faced four batters – all four reached base. The Raccoons ship sank with astonishing speed, as the bullpen was destroyed, and it was SO bad, that Bobby Quinn pitched in the ninth inning – the first time ever that a Raccoon position player took the mound, but we only had Turner and Berry, the starters for the next two games, and a worked up Grant West left. Indians won, 17-7. Johnston 2-5, 2B, RBI; O’Morrissey 2-4, BB, HR, RBI; Martin 3-5, HR, 3 RBI; Dadswell 2-4, BB, HR, RBI; Dumont (PH) 2-2, 2B;

Yeah, that team that didn’t score any runs scored quite a few here. Crisis alarm! This necessitated roster moves, of which the following were made:

-Ben O’Morrissey was optioned to AAA for another arm, as we called up MR Yasushi Suto (this was really only because of the bullpen situation, not because O’Morrissey had done anything wrong)
-Jason Bentley (5.28 ERA) was demoted to AAA, and Carlos Gonzalez was added to the 40-man roster to pitch out of the bullpen
-Dirk Campbell (5.96 ERA) was waived and designated for assignment and AAA CL Albert Matthews was called up to make his debut.

Who is Albert Matthews? We had picked him in 1987 in the supplemental round of the amateur draft, 39th overall. He had since raced through our system, mostly as a closer, appearing in 141 games, saving 97 and averaging a 1.81 ERA. His splitter was so filthy, it needed to be outlawed, really. At age 20, there was much to love here. This year, he had an 0.61 ERA in AAA and was clearly underwhelmed there.

And now back to baseball, and game 2 of the series. The Indians took the club to Jason Turner, scoring two runs early. But they lost SP Robert Vazquez to injury in the second inning, leaving things to their (formidable) bullpen. Tim Hess came in for long relief and dominated the Coons. But an error by makeshift SS Bill Taggart got them started in the bottom 5th. A walk to Dadswell, a scratch hit by Miranda, and the Coons were in business. Turner came up with one out and the sacks full and singled to center. A 2-out single by Bobby Quinn scored two and tied the game. Hall got on, and Osanai then doubled to deep right to clear the bases. Taggart’s leadoff triple and scoring on a sac fly made the game closer again, 6-4 Coons in the top 6th. Turner didn’t go further, but rather Carlos Gonzalez came into the game in the seventh and we hoped for him to collect six outs. He did so, pitching decently, and West saved the game without much trouble. 7-4 Raccoons. Hall 2-4; Osanai 1-4, 2B, 3 RBI; Dumont (PH) 1-1, RBI; C. Gonzalez 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

Steven Berry and Terry Reynolds were both roughed up early in game 3, which was 3-3 after two innings. A Francisco Estrada homer put Berry behind 4-3 in the second, but Osanai tied it with a solo shot in the bottom 6th. Here, the Raccoons unleased some 2-out terror, breaking up Reynolds and scoring four more runs with the back to the wall. Albert Matthews made his debut in an 8-5 game in the top 8th, pitching a perfect inning to much applause for a debutee, and Grant West closed that one as well. 8-5 Raccoons. Osanai 4-4, HR, 2B, 3 RBI; Higgins 2-4, RBI; Martin (PH) 1-2, RBI;

Game 4, and Reyes was swimming as much as the Coons starters the last three days. The Indians took a 2-0 lead in the fourth, while the Coons had had the bases full with no outs and hadn’t scored in the second – they AGAIN had the bases loaded in the fourth with no outs (and the same three guys on: Osanai, Dawson, Dadswell), and this time cashed in. Reader hit an RBI single, Miranda grounded out for an RBI, Reyes struck out, and Johnston drove in a pair with a double to left. Hall homered the next inning, and Reyes settled in and got better as the game progressed. He ended up going eight. The Coons led 5-2 through eight, but Grant West was unavailable after pitching six of the last eight days. Juan Martinez did well in his absence and collected the save. 5-2 Coons! Osanai 2-3, BB, 2B; Dadswell 1-2, 2 BB; Reyes 8.0 IP, 10 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, W (8-3);

The Indians claimed Dirk Campbell that day, too, so the circle closes here, since we got him originally off waivers from the Miners. That was in May of 1987, and he had two good seasons, but this year he’s horrendous. He’s two weeks away from turning 35, and with young relievers pushing up, maybe it’s for the better, even for the Indians (doubtful?). They got some bad news on the same day, too, but see below.

Raccoons (52-34) vs. Canadiens (45-39)

This was the last series before the All Star break. We led the Canadiens by six, had been swept in the last series, and now they had won six in a row, and this had all the recipes for disaster.

In the opener, Kisho Saito punched out Seitaro Ogawa and Art Garrett in the first to get to 100 K’s before the All Star break. But Saito fell 2-1 behind early on. Osanai left the bags full in the fifth, and Martin pinch hit for Saito with two down and two on in the sixth and also made an out. Matthews allowed a run in the seventh, and the Raccoons just didn’t manage to put up any offense and lost the game, 3-2 Canadiens. Johnston 3-4, BB; Lagarde 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K;

Bobby Quinn threw out two runners at the plate from right field to end two innings, and it still wasn’t enough.

3B Raúl Solís reached on an error by Jeff Martin to start the middle game, and scored on a balk by Scott Wade – and the Canadiens were in business in the first. The Canadiens added two in the second, with balls getting through Osanai and Higgins, and Wade throwing a wild pitch. It was the most impossible collection of everything possibly going wrong … going wrong. Wade went seven, but the Raccoons were shut out by Robbie Campbell, who went eight innings, and lost 4-0, after landing only four hits. Quinn (PH) 1-1;

Again, the Vile Frenchmen from the Land of the Much-Smelling Elks took the lead in the last game, this time after stealing off Vinson in the third, and then scoring on a scratch hit. The Coons countered with their 2-out terror in the bottom 3rd. Higgins singled, Quinn singled, Hall walked, Osanai cleared them up with a double JUST over CF Colin Irwin, who was a stud as a defender, and if he couldn’t get it, nobody could. The Canadiens chipped off a run in the sixth, which was also the last inning for a wild Jason Turner, who walked five in this outing. The bullpen went nuts in the seventh and blew a 4-2 lead, with both runs on Matthews. Worst news were that Osanai was already out of the game, pulled for defense with Dumont at first. The Coons had them on the corners in a tied game in the bottom 7th, with one out. Martin pinch hit in Osanai’s old spot and singled up the middle to score Higgins from third. “Double play” Dawson came up, and grounded into a double play. Grant West entered in the ninth, up 5-4. No margin for error. The leadoff man, Solís, got on, but West grabbed the ball a bit tighter and surrendered the next three batters. 5-4 Coons. Higgins 4-4; Quinn 2-3; Osanai 1-3, 2B, 3 RBI; Martin (PH) 1-1, RBI;

Logan Evans got the win after blowing the lead in the seventh. Sometimes, this baseball thing is a strange game.

All Star Game

The Raccoons sent four players in SP Kisho Saito, SP Scott Wade, C Sam Dadswell, and 1B Tetsu Osanai. The Condors had five, the Knights four. In the FL, the Capitals and Blue Sox dominated with five nominations each.

The Continental League won, 10-8, while the Raccoons featured only on the fringe. None of the two pitchers appeared, and the others didn’t start. Osanai drew a walk and scored in his only appearance, and Dadswell made an out.

Yasushi Suto was optioned back to AAA and O’Morrissey recalled before the season resumed after the break.

In other news

July 6 – Indians ace SP Robert Vázquez (6-4, 3.20 ERA) is out for at least a full year with a torn rotator cuff, suffered in a game against the Raccoons. Vázquez, 26, is already 65-44 with a 2.64 ERA for his career.
July 7 – Another pitcher goes down: three months ago, PIT Wilson Cordova (10-4, 3.45 ERA) pitched a no-hitter, now he’s out for the season with a torn flexor tendon.
July 7 – 21-year old LAP Jason Leonard (6-4, 4.29 ERA) tosses a 3-hit shutout as the Pacifics beat the Wolves, 8-0.
July 8 – ATL 3B Luis Barrera (.256, 4 HR, 29 RBI) will be out for a month with a herniated disc.
July 8 – Veteran TIJ INF Hector Atilano (.279, 6 HR, 34 RBI) will miss a few weeks with an oblique strain.

Complaints and stuff

Those Canadiens, huh?

This was a rather modest home stand, and not a good show case for the team. We’ll hit the road now for Indy, New York, and San Francisco.

[Westheim]

Because I’m a total dork, I managed to mess up my rotation and didn’t go back to the top to start the back half of the season. I checked a million things – but my starting pitcher.

Dork. No wonder your team always comes in last.

Dork.

Back to something sensible:

Trade

The day the series in Indy started, the Raccoons made a move to shore up their bullpen. AAA LF/RF Gustavo Quintanilla was sent to New York for MR Antonio Cordero, a 29-year old left-hander.

Quintanilla, a career .222 hitter, has been superseded on the outfield depth chart by about anybody. The Raccoons pen needs another left-hander, and Burnett won’t be available until after a 30-day rehab assignment that hasn’t even started yet. Cordero will be a free agent after the season. The Argentine Cordero was originally signed by the Knights in 1977. Most of his major league experience came with the Loggers. Overall he is appeared in 324 major league games, has seven saves and a 3.38 ERA.

Raccoons (53-36) @ Indians (42-47)

Steven Berry was struggling, unable to remove batters in 2-strike counts in the opener of this 4-game set. The Indians scored two in the first inning, and Jesse Carver switched into cruise control on the mound. The Raccoons were completely unable to hit him. In fact, Carver was perfect until a walk to Sam Dadswell in the sixth. Dadswell was promptly removed on a lineout to second by Justin Reader. Glenn Johnston was the one to break up the no-hitter, in the seventh. Now things went downhill for Carver. Hall singled with one out, and Dawson sent a soaring double down the left foul line to tie the game. Dumont singled, and Dawson then scored on a wild pitch. What a downfall. Not that the Raccoons were to bemoan it much. Goodman, Lagarde, and West held on to that tiny lead, while each allowing exactly one baserunner. The Raccoons won 3-2, but had only four hits, all in the top 7th.

Game 2. Carlos Reyes was crowded by the Indians and surrendered two runs early on, but the Indians left them on in scores. The Raccoons – again unable to mount much offense. They had two on in the fourth, but made poor outs to leave them on, and two on in the sixth with nobody out, but Hall struck out and the Indians made great plays to limit the damage to one run. Reyes allowed nine hits in six innings and trailed 2-1. Top 8th. Johnston singled, Higgins walked, Hall reached on an error. Nobody out. They barely managed to tie the game on a fielder’s choice by Quinn. The game went into overtime, where it was Quinn again to bring a run in, this time with a 2-out infield single. The Indians got off to a good start in the bottom 10th when Francisco Lopez singled just past Justin Reader. West put another runner on before hacking them down with two K’s and another grounder to Reader, who this time made the play. 3-2 Raccoons again. Logan Evans got another win in relief. Johnston 2-5; Quinn 1-5, 2 RBI; Vinson 2-5, 2 2B; Reader 2-4;

Some scratch-and-claw wins here. Thankfully, Raccoons are good at scratching and clawing. The offense has died down considerably since June, which means that Grant West can actually collect some saves now. The whole month of June he only got 5 SV. And a W.

Tetsu Osanai brought his club early in the third game, hitting his 18th homer of the year in the top 1st for two runs, and the Coons led 3-0 after two. The Raccoons took care to hold the lead at three runs here, while Kisho Saito pitched eight innings of 2-run ball. Higgins tripled in Johnston in the ninth to make it 6-2, eliminating the option to use Grant West three days in a row. Instead, Antonio Cordero made his Raccoons debut. Him and Matthews completed the ninth without damage. 6-2 Raccoons. Higgins 2-5, 3B, RBI; Osanai 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Reader 2-4, 2B; Saito 8.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, W (11-2) and 1-1, RBI;

Antonio Gonzalez was ready to come off the DL, but was assigned to AAA for a short rehab assignment to get warm.

Game 4 was Wade’s and we had been waiting some time already for win #16. Osanai took care of a first-inning lead again with a 2-out RBI single. Quinn flew to the right foul line, but RF Raúl Vazquez caught the ball just above the grass, before tumbling over and making violent contact with the ground. He had to leave the game. Bottom 4th, up 2-0, one out, successive errors by Hall and Dawson put two on. Vinson allowed a ball to pass to create the perfect nightmare. 3B Jorge Gonzalez blooped one into short center to score an unearned run before Wade regained control. Hall made a sprawling catch in the sixth to rob Francisco Lopez of a potential extra base hit. There was some more scatch-and-claw going on here. Gonzalez and Alex White led off the bottom 7th with hits and both were scored to down Wade. 3-2 Indians. Higgins 2-5, RBI;

That fourth inning is a perfect instance for this being a program programmed to make people miserable. That’s it’s only intent. Wade has now lost his last three games after going 15/16 with a no-decision to start the season. Way to go.

Raccoons (56-37) @ Crusaders (44-49)

We had to make up some ground against the Crusaders, who had taken six of nine from us, and where hovering reasonably close, still, to .500 for the first time since 1986, when they finished 81-81, their only non-losing season in the last nine years. For a big market team, that’s a lot of losing. Ask the Titans, who have *never* been better than 81-81 (1977).

The Coons scored two in the top 1st of the opener, despite Dawson trying to ground into an inning-ending double play, but 3B Douglas Donaldson, recently acquired from Atlanta, bobbled the grounder. Dadswell filled in for Dawson nicely. Meanwhile, Jason Turner was pitching a gem, sitting down the Crusaders in order for the first five innings, before falling to a walk to Steve Gravitt in the sixth. Ben Browning led off the seventh with a lobber into short left that Daniel Hall JUST was able to catch, but Raúl Castillo broke up the no-hitter the same inning. Gustavo Quintanilla appeared as a pinch hitter to start the ninth, with Turner still in and up 2-0 since the first. Pedro Villa hit a 1-out single in the bottom 9th to turn the 1-hitter into a slightly less sour 2-hitter, but Turner held on for the shutout. 2-0 Raccoons, as New York’s Gary Nixon also went the distance, allowing six hits. Higgins 2-4, 2B; Turner 9.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K, W (8-3);

This was the second career shutout for Jason Turner, and counting a 1-hitter in AAA in April, his third shutout of the year.

In fact, Jason Turner has pitched a no-hitter before, last May in AAA! The game never notified me in any way. (rage flickering in the eyes)

Game 2 saw Carlos Guillén pitching for New York, who of course had in fact no-hit the Raccoons four years ago. He was 6-6 with a 3.70 ERA this year. Glenn Johnston’s first inning single broke up the no-hitter early this time, and Bobby Quinn’s 3-run homer in the same inning gave the Coons and Steven Berry an early lead. RF Edward Snyder hit a solo home run in the fourth, and things went to hell in the fifth, when Berry threw away a bunt by Guillén to put two in scoring position with nobody down. Pedro Villa’s infield hit added to the calamity and the Crusaders took a 4-3 lead in the inning. Quinn left five on after his 3-run homer in two appearances, each time making the final out. His 1-out double in the eighth went to waste for the Raccoons’ inability to get another hit, even with three pinch hitters used. Berry and the Furballs lost, 4-3, but Berry had brought it on himself. Osanai 2-3, BB; Quinn 2-4, HR, 2B, 3 RBI;

Gustavo Quintanilla heretically threw out Daniel Hall at the plate to end the top 1st in the rubber game. How dare he!? For the second game in a row, all effort went to hell with a 2-base throwing error on the opposing pitcher’s bunt, this time in the third, scoring the first run of the game for the Crusaders. Osanai was the offender (can’t call him defender, really). The Furballs tied it in the fourth, but left scores on from there, while Carlos Reyes pitched quite the gem for us, holding the Crusaders to three hits through seven innings. Finally, Mark Dawson broke through with a home run in the eighth (a sign of a beginning hot streak after batting close to zero for two weeks). The Raccoons had Martin on with nobody out, but he was caught stealing by weak-armed Stan Potvin, who was 3-3 in the series. The Coons had two in scoring position with one down in the eighth and Reyes was removed for Quinn, but they walked him intentionally, and collected the final two outs without the Raccoons scoring any. Osanai homered in the ninth, but West didn’t need the extra run in a perfect bottom 9th. 3-1 Coons. Osanai 3-5, HR, RBI; Dawson 3-4, BB, HR, RBI; Dadswell 2-5, RBI; Reyes 7.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, W (9-3);

Raccoons (58-38) @ Bayhawks (50-46)

California baseball seemed much re-animated this season, with the Bayhawks over .500, the Pacifics fighting the Wolves in a desperately bad FL West, and the Scorpions … well, staying above .350 was a success after last year.

The Bayhawks had swept our first series this year, and now we were playing on their Starturf. Their team was well-rounded, but the rotation needed some work to get to the playoffs, ranking 7th in the CL.

Daniel Hall peppered a really big home run in the top 1st of the opener to give Kisho Saito a 1-0 lead. Saito had to battle extremely hard to keep the lead alive, with the Bayhawks leaving runners in scoring position in the second, some single runners after that, and again on the corners in the sixth. Still 1-0. The Bayhawks had a runner on second in the bottom 7th, and Diego Rodriguez went far into right field, and Dumont just was able to catch up and catch it to end the inning. Saito was up to lead off the top 8th, but was dialed in enough to bat for himself, and the Coons didn’t score in the inning, but Saito turned in a perfect eighth before coming out. Like the day before in New York, Osanai homered (#20) in the ninth, and West was perfect. 2-0 Raccoons. Saito 8.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 7 K, W (12-2);

Always tell yourself with Saito, that the mantra is to preserve him. He was gassed in late September last year, and it is not unlikely for the Raccoons to play October baseball (they ARE in first place), and you have to accommodate for him to pitch another 30 innings there.

Scott Wade was up for the middle game. After going 15/16 he’s lost his last three. Unfortunately, the offense was not clicking. Osanai struck out in the third with two in scoring position to end the inning. Wade was up himself in the fourth with first and second and two out. He doubled into center to get something on the board. Hall then was kind enough to hit a 2-run homer in the fifth, his 13th of the year, and tying for most by him in a season all the way back to 1985! Of course, he hit 29 dingers in ’84. The Bayhawks were puzzled for a long time by Wade, but took it to him in the bottom 7th. A run scored with two down, and then Kai Edwards, who had only entered as injury replacement for CF Dave Burton, hit an RBI triple to put the tying run 90 feet away from home. Jackie Lagarde came in and retired Roberto Rodriguez just in time to preserve the 3-2 lead. Unfortunately, West was not available for the ninth with a 3-2 lead. The first batter up was a right-hander, 1B Mark Williams, so we went with a right-hander, and picked Matthews. He got Williams, but then allowed two singles. Juan Martinez came in to face Diego Rodriguez. He flew out. Kai Edwards now. Hit moderately high into short center, Johnston coming in – CAUGHT IT!! 3-2 Raccoons! Higgins 3-5; Hall 1-4, HR, 2 RBI; Dadswell 2-4; Wade 6.2 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, W (16-3); Lagarde 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

By the way, the W record for the Coons? 19, by Logan Evans, in 1985. With 16, Evans already is t-5th all time for the Coons.

The final game on the road trip would not be so low-scoring, as the Coons put up four runs in the first, including a solo shot by Higgins and a 2-out, 2-run double by Reader. The Bayhawks also loaded the bags in the bottom 1st, but Mike Powys popped out to short to end the inning. Jason Turner needed every run of that 4-0 lead. The Bayhawks cut it in half in the third, and had runners on the corners in the fifth with one out. César Cruz sent a vicious racer in the general direction of Matt Higgins, who managed to pull out a double play. It was still Turner’s last inning with an elevated pitch count due to some bad control. The bullpen struggled in the seventh, and between Matthews, Cordero, and Martinez, one run scored. A 2-out, 2-run homer by Sam Dadswell in the eighth brought some much needed breathing room, but Logan Evans surrendered one of those runs right away, and Daniel Hall was thrown out at home in the ninth for the second time in four days. Lagarde closed the game successfully, with a big play by Tetsu Osanai to help him on a fast grounder bound to Tripleland with one out and a runner on first. 6-4 Raccoons! Higgins 2-5, HR, RBI; Hall 4-5, 2 2B; Osanai 3-5, 2B, RBI; Dadswell 2-3, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Dawson (PH) 1-1;

In other news

July 13 – The Knights and Crusaders swap infielders. Douglas Donaldson (.242, 7 HR, 33 RBI) goes over to New York, and Juan Nunez (.254, 10 HR, 38 RBI) goes to Atlanta.
July 13 – The Capitals’ playoff ambitions are hurt as INF/RF Yoshihito Ito (.312, 4 HR, 48 RBI) will miss over a month with shoulder inflammation.
July 13 – DEN Pedro Gonzales (11-3, 3.56 ERA) 3-hits the Wolves in a 5-0 shutout.
July 16 – IND RF Raúl Vazquez (.253, 10 HR, 42 RBI) goes down to an oblique strain and will miss three weeks. Like his namesake and teammate Robert Vazquez, he was hurt in a game against the Furballs.
July 21 – Las Vegas newspapers report that LVA SP Miguel Sanchez (10-8, 3.30 ERA) will retire at season’s end. Sanchez, 38, has 146 career wins and one ring with the 1981 Indians.
July 21 – The Wolves add depth to their staff with the acquisition of SP Anibal Guerra (2-6, 4.73 ERA), with prospect Zach Belgrove sent to the Loggers.
July 22 – Fearsome slugger RIC OF Manuel Doval (.354, 19 HR, 78 RBI) sprained his knee and will miss about three weeks.

Complaints and stuff

Ex-Coon Yong-chan Chong was also traded, on July 15. He spent most of the last two seasons (so: most since being let go by us) with the Anaheim AAA affiliate of the Thunder. He’s now with the Rebels.

We will have an off day now, and added Antonio Gonzalez back to the roster after a week in AAA to rehab, where he batted .393. O’Morrissey will be sent down. He needs more AB’s.

The sweep over the Bayhawks was not only important for the standings, but also for statistical purposes. Overall, the Raccoons went to 973-1,070 and thus to back within of 100 games below .500, a mark they plunged below in September of 1979 (that 107 losses year…).

Next: homestand against Condors, Falcons. That will be followed by a 2-week road trip to Atlanta, Milwaukee, Indianapolis, and Los Angeles. Brrr.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (61-38) vs. Condors (57-42)

Despite a bullpen that has been ravaged time and again, the Condors have allowed the least runs in the CL (366) at the moment, owing to a beef rotation. Actually, those 366 runs are tied for first – with the Coons.

Antonio Gonzalez was back in for the opener of the series, starting at short. César Baez led off the game with a grounder to short – and Gonzalez lost it for an error. He’s back! Yoshinobu Ishizaki (yeah, that guy) drove him in and the Coons trailed 1-0. Bob Haines dealt for the Condors, and while he had a no-hitter to his resume, he was mostly used as a reliever throughout his career. Steven Berry struck out the side in the top 4th. The Raccoons had three 2-out singles in the bottom 4th, then left all three runners on. Berry pitched a magnificient game, allowing three hits over eight innings, striking out ten. But the Raccoons made four errors in the field, and didn’t hit anything. Into the bottom 9th, they were still 1-0 behind. Hall singled to start the inning. Osanai grounded into a double play. Agony. Dawson singled with two out. Quinn was replaced by Martin to counter right-hander Jon Butler. He took a 2-0 pitch almost to the wall for a double, and Dawson ran the race of his life from first to home and tied the game. Logan Evans came in as the game went to extra innings – two men got on, advanced on the fifth error of the night made by the Raccoons, and scored on groundouts. Then, even Jon Butler laughingly hit a double off Evans. Bottom 10th: infield single by Dadswell, then Miranda comes up in the #9 spot – double play. Johnston AFTER THAT homers off Butler, but Higgins makes the final out. 3-2 Condors. Johnston 2-5, HR, RBI; Dawson 2-4; Martin 1-1, 2B, RBI; Berry 8.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 10 K;

What a STINKING loss! It was stinking like the sewers in a random Eastern European city! Awful! Ugly! FIVE ERRORS!! Dawson, Berry, Higgins, Gonzalez, Dadswell – all with errors! And all the double plays! I’M ENRAGED!!

Game 2 had me still foaming from the mouth, and the Raccoons facing Woody Roberts, who had an 1.96 ERA, leading the CL. His record? 8-6! Well, he *was* due for getting to 9-6. The Coons had two men in scoring position in the bottom 1st, but Dawson made the final out. Carlos Reyes fell 1-0 behind in the second, but Osanai brought in Hall to tie it in the third. The Condors lost SS Cipriano Ortega to injury on a play in the fifth. Tommy Duke entered as replacement, a 22-year old rookie. He homered off Reyes the first time he was up, 2-1 Condors. The Raccoons offense was anemic, not hitting anything. The Condors overcame our bullpen in the ninth and won 4-1. The Raccoons had three hits. Reyes 7.0 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, L (9-4);

The Coons took off like a rocket in the bottom 1st of the final game of the series, scoring two runs on four hits. The Condors came right back, with their first four men reaching against Kisho Saito in the top 2nd, and they tied the game. Saito was only in for six innings, lacking his characteristic stuff this time out. Gonzalez made a great grab to end the fifth with the bags full and Saito left in the 2-2 tie after the top 6th, but the Raccoons rallied in the bottom 6th with three straight hits, and Bobby Quinn doubled in the go-ahead run. Higgins pinch hit for Saito and drew a bases loaded walk, and then Reader, who batted leadoff today, cleared the bases with a double. Ten men came to the plate, six runs scored. Logan Evans managed to pitch two FULL innings without blowing the 8-2 lead, and Martinez held on to it in the ninth. 8-2 Furballs. Reader 2-5, 2B, 3 RBI; Johnston 2-5; Hall 2-4, BB, RBI; Dawson 2-4; Gonzalez 2-4, 2B; Quinn 2-4, 2B, RBI; Evans 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K;

Raccoons (62-40) vs. Falcons (41-59)

The opener started with an infield hit right to the feet of Tetsu Osanai, and the Falcons shredded Scott Wade right in that first inning with three runs. Bottom 1st, all in reverse: Osanai hit a 3-run homer, before Wade left the bags loaded for the final out. Veteran Joe Ellis, 38, pitched for the Falcons and hardly threw any strikes. He was battered for another 3-spot in the bottom 3rd before leaving with six runs and seven outs to his credit. Despite being up 8-4, Scott Wade could not qualify for the win in this game: heavy rain interrupted in the fifth inning and #17 would have to wait. In fact, he left two men on, and Martinez allowed one runner to score once play resumed. Shoddy defense by Matt Higgins (error, then a single under the glove) created a tight spot for Cordero in the seventh, but he pitched out of it. The Raccoons led 9-5 in the top 9th. West came in to get some work (he hadn’t pitched in the Condors series, which was preceded by an off day), but … walk, scratch single, infield single. Nobody out, the tying run at the plate. Dawson started a nice doubley play on Antonio Esquivel’s grounder to third, and then made a good play on the next grounder by Jose Rivera to end the game. Whew. Four Gold Gloves, three in the last five years, ‘nuff said. 9-6 Raccoons. Hall 3-5, BB, HR, RBI; Osanai 3-5, 4 RBI; Dawson 2-5, 2B; Gonzalez 2-3, 2 BB, HR, 2 RBI; Martin 4-5, 2B; Dadswell 2-3, BB, RBI;

Overall, Johnston and Higgins, who had done such tremendous jobs earlier in the season, were struggling at this point. Johnston offensively, and Higgins all around. Dumont, after hitting .360+ through 50 AB or so, was now close to hitting .100 …

A Gonzalez error plated two unearned runs for the Falcons in the top 1st of game 2. Jason Turner was battered in a 3-run fourth, 5-0 Falcons, and came up with two down and the bases loaded against Lorenzo Ángel in the bottom 4th. He was lifted for Glenn Johnston to pinch hit, but Johnston struck out and the game was put into the L column already. The Falcons 4-hit the Raccoons and shut them out, 7-0.

Tetsu Osanai homered in the bottom 1st of the rubber game, 2-0 Coons, and got to 100 RBI’s while still in July with that bomb, and then bombed again in the third inning, 3-0 Coons. Both bombs came off Manuel Movonda. Berry lost it a bit in the middle innings. Nick Allen homered off him in the fifth, and a few sizzling liners cost another run in the sixth inning, his last. Dawson homered in the bottom 6th, 4-2. Allen led off the top 7th with what he thought was a triple, but Quinn threw him out at third base. The Falcons came back to 4-3, and Dadswell was thrown out at the plate for the final out in the bottom 8th. West entered for the top 9th, and I had such a feeling… Jose Rivera led off with a hobbler to first, where the largely immobile Osanai never would have made an out of it – but Dumont had pinch hit in the bottom 8th and replaced Osanai at first base in the ninth, and he made it. Allen hit a 2-out single into short center, but West got the final out. 4-3 Coons. Osanai 3-4, 2 HR, 3 RBI; Dadswell 2-4, 2B; Dumont (PH) 1-1;

In other news

July 26 – The Capitals acquire CL Andres Otero (1-4, 2.15 ERA, 20 SV) from the Scorpions for backup outfielder Ruben Flores. I thought closers were worth more.
July 28 – The Condors make a move to shore up their ailing bullpen, adding MR Artie Saunders (3.23 ERA in 27 G) from the Wolves for OF Sean Bergeron, who was batting .235 in a backup role.
July 29 – CIN OF Robert Harris (.360, 8 HR, 53 RBI) will miss about two months (most of the regular season) with a badly sprained ankle.
July 30 – WAS LF Jeffery Brown (.341, 19 HR, 71 RBI) suffered a strained hip muscle and will miss three weeks.
July 30 – The Gold Sox part with slugging OF Tom McDonald (.297, 6 HR, 33 RBI), who was acquired just this winter, and a minor leaguer to get their hands on the Cyclones’ MR Dave Myers (3.38 ERA) and highly regarded prospect SP Tim Mallandain, who is in A ball.
July 30 – VAN Tia Fa (9-6, 3.13 ERA) 2-hits the Bayhawks as the Canadiens win 4-0.

Complaints and stuff

One of our top picks in this year’s draft, SP Gabriel De La Rosa, went 3-3 with a 1.75 ERA in A ball and was on the way to make the transition to AA already – then injured his hamstring. He may be out for the season. 9th-or-so round pick Wilson Hall also got hurt already.

By the way, Tetsu’s 23 home runs are a good mark with two months left – but he’s nowhere near the home run title. Michael Root is running away with it. The Knight has hit 30 bombs already, and is well on the way to smother the all time single season home run record of 35 by Gabriel Cruz (twice).

*Should* the Raccoons make the playoffs, which I doubt at the rate the Canadiens are winning at right now, they would face either the Condors or the Knights in the CLCS. The Knights’ offense is uncontainable, and the Condor’s pitching has dominated us (not to say suffocated us). Anyway. The Canadiens are coming closer and we are battling deficient fielding and deficient batting. Not good. Really not good. We have seven more against the Vile Frenchmen from the Northern Lands of the Hideously Smelling Elks.

We won’t make another move at the deadline. We don’t have a spot that is manned really weakly, and I can’t find anybody to make a splash.

[Questdog]

Tet-SUUUUU!!!!! may not be winning the home run title, but surely he's on some sort of record RBI pace, no?......nearly 1 a game!......

[Westheim]

We had that table up some time ago, after the '86 season, I think.

All time records in Batting Triple Crown categories so far:
Batting avg.: Jeremiah Carrell (CIN, 1979) with .3944
Home Runs: Gabriel Cruz (DAL, 1984) and Gabriel Cruz (DAL, 1986) with 35 each
Runs batted in: Gabriel Cruz (DAL, 1988) with 140

Only considering the Continental League, you get the following numbers:
Batting avg.: Claudio Rojas (SFB, 1984) with .3623
Home Runs: Tetsu Osanai (POR, 1986), Mark "Icon" Allen (LVA, 1987), and Mark Dawson (POR, 1988) with 31 each
Runs batted in: Ralph Nixon (NYC, 1978) and Tom McDonald (ATL, 1985) with 136 each

And now we're only considering the Raccoons:
Batting avg.: Tetsu Osanai (1988) with .3499
Home Runs: Tetsu Osanai (1986) and Mark Dawson (1988) with 31 each
Runs batted in: Tetsu Osanai (1986) with 121

--

So, the Raccoons record looks like toast, and if his pace doesn't let up, he's gonna get to the CL and ABL records by late September. Same is even more true for the home run marks.

Tet-SUUUUU's profile below. Look at those marks. Wow. How did the Canadiens ever give him up for Matt Workman and two cans of trash? And he still has started every single game at first base since coming here.

Also, his bad speed rakes surprisingly many triples. Must be that the outfielders are ducking under his hissing line drives rather than risk life and limb and try to catch it.

[Orcin]

I am sure the triples are due to baseballs that shatter into dust after he hits them. They would be inside-the-park home runs except that he runs out of gas at third and decides to stop there for a spell.

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by Orcin

I am sure the triples are due to baseballs that shatter into dust after he hits them. They would be inside-the-park home runs except that he runs out of gas at third and decides to stop there for a spell.

That is another rather logical explanation for the phenomenon.

But why is the same not true for Mark Dawson, a very similar batter (if you are willing to discount 120 points in batting average)? He barely hits any triples, usually exactly one a year.

Oh, as we are on the topic of Mark Dawson - some important news involving him coming up in the next proper update.

[Westheim]

The Raccoons took for the road after that close win over Charlotte. July 31 marked not only the trade deadline, but also the Raccoons hitting the road for two weeks. And with the Knights and Pacifics on the program, this could well break up their good season. On top of that, the first three series were the latter ten games of a string of 17 consecutive game days, so Hall, Dawson, and Johnston would all get one or two days off down the road here. So, all everyday players but Tetsu Osanai. He doesn’t need rest. He’s a robot.

Raccoons (64-41) @ Knights (64-40)

With the gruesome left-handed arsenal the Knights had to offer at the plate, we were considering giving Logan Evans the start in game 3 over Wade, who would be pushed back to start the opener in Milwaukee. We’ll see.

Before game 3 came game 1 (and possibly one in between) and game 1 was Carlos Reyes’ start, and he faced the Knights’ ace Carlos Asquabal (left-hander, all left-handers…) right away. Asquabal led the Continental League with 147 K’s. The Raccoons loaded the bags in the top 2nd, but didn’t score. In the bottom 2nd, fear-inducing Michael Root took the first pitch he saw in the series into the stands in right field. Homer #31. David Vinson broke through with a 2-run homer off Asquabal in the fourth to give Reyes a lead, but it lasted only three batters in the bottom 4th, where Osanai made a great play on the right field line to retire Root and his fast grounder. The fourth inning was the end for Reyes, who left with an oblique strain. After some great relief from Matthews and Cordero, we were still tied 2-2 after seven. Hall led off with a single off Asquabal. Hit-and-run was called, as Osanai singled through on the right side. Nobody out, runners on the corners, Dawson and Quinn up, righties with muscle. Dawson flew deep to left, but Seitaro Ine caught it – Hall still tagged and scored the go-ahead run and Asquabal’s day was over. That was it for the Coons, and the Knights tied it right back. Emilio Rosa doubled off Cordero and Lagarde couldn’t hold the fort, and lost it in the ninth. Eddy Bailey drove in Juan Nunez. 4-3 Knights. Gonzalez 2-5; Hall 2-4, BB; Quinn 2-4, 2B; Matthews 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

Carlos Reyes’ strain was not serious, but he may not be able to make his scheduled start in Milwaukee. We’ll have to watch that.

Kisho Saito in game 2 (which still came before game 3) got all the support he could dream of. The Raccoons battered poor old Bernard Lepore, who collected five outs, but was charged with nine runs, all earned. We reached double-digit runs in the fourth with a 2-piece by Dawson, and never looked back, riding Saito. There was one more thing going on – a cycle chase. Dawson had doubled against Lepore, then the home run, and then hit his annual triple in the fifth inning – still plenty of time to collect a single! Hall made an out to start the top 7th. Osanai, 4-4 already, hit a double over Michael Root in right, and this brought up Dawson. Ricardo Zamora pitched to him and Dawson grounded over to the left side – BETWEEN BARRIOS AND ROSA!! CYCLE COMPLETE!! Now a hunt for a 6-hitter for Osanai was on, too! The Coons got enough men up in the seventh and eighth so that Osanai could come to bat third in the top 9th. Sixto Calderón was pitching for the Knights, a right-hander. One out, Hall on first base, Osanai didn’t get anything sensible to hit – and was walked. The Raccoons won handily, 13-3, as Goodman was roughed up in the ninth. Gonzalez 2-6, 2B, RBI; Higgins 2-5, BB; Osanai 5-5, BB, 3 2B, RBI; Dawson 4-6, HR, 3B, 2B, 5 RBI, [CYCLE]; Quinn 3-6, 2B, 4 RBI; Saito 8.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, W (14-2) and 2-5;

Mark Dawson is the first Raccoon ever to hit for the cycle, and with his slow speed and very few triples was one of the most unlikely candidates for it. He has exactly 20 triples in his 13-year career.

The Knights had rested a few of their left-handers against lefty Saito. Would they do so again if we squeezed Evans in instead of Wade? Let’s DO this!

Ine and Root were again the only big lefties put up by the Knights (but Shoichi Fujino was a switch-hitter and was in regardless), but the Knights also scratched “Mauler” Correa (5-8, 5.18, old age had caught up with him) from his start and sent Calderón, who had pitched the day before and surrendered Dawson’s cycle-clinching single, in to start the rubber match. Either way, Calderón had a 1.02 ERA as a reliever going, went three innings only, but allowed no runs. Evans in turn was beyond awful and lit up. He went five innings, walked six, and allowed four runs, all in a particularly terrible first inning. The Coons could not find a way to break a bullpen running on fumes already AND pitching nine innings, and lost, 4-2. Matthews 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Despite cycle galore, the Raccoons’ lead over Vancouver shrunk to one game, as the Canadiens swept the Thunder.

Raccoons (65-43) @ Loggers (36-71)

We had to rally in this 4-game set. The Loggers weren’t doing – anything. They ranked last in almost all important categories, a dismal assembly of patheticness.

Wade was up in the opener, and again had a bad first inning, with the Loggers taking a 1-0 lead that was tied again in the top 2nd. The Raccoons were unable to get that one hit to take a lead. Wade fell to two infield singles and a RBI groundout in the bottom 7th, before Osanai’s 2-out RBI single in the top 8th tied it again. Emilio Roman homered off Wade in the eighth – and this time there was no comeback. 3-2 Loggers. Osanai 2-4, RBI; Dawson 2-4, 2B; Martin 2-4;

Game 2 was a pretty pathetic display for the batters on both teams. Neither team had a hit through three, and the game was scoreless through six. The Loggers scored in the seventh after a double, then a balk by Jason Turner, and then a sac fly. Top 9th, Dawson doubled to keep a 12-game hitting streak alive with one out in the inning. Quinn pinch hit for Dadswell with lefty Alfonso Navarro in to close it. Quinn singled to right, but Dawson had to hold. Higgins then blooped one right into no man’s land and the game was tied. Dumont walked to load the bags, but they left them loaded. Lagarde this time forced extra innings, and the Coons took the lead in the top 10th with Osanai doubling in Hall, before they again left the bags full. That came back to hurt them, as Grant West was beaten in the bottom of the inning and the Loggers walked off on a 2-run double by Emilio Roman. 3-2 Loggers, yet again. Hall 2-3, 2 BB; Osanai 2-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Quinn (PH) 2-2; Turner 7.1 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 6 K;

Game 3, more ineptitudes. The Raccoons left runners on third in four of the first six innings and had nothing going at all. Steven Berry dealt fire, striking out ten Loggers, but fell behind 1-0 in the fourth on two hits, and a Jesus Jimenez 2-run homer in the sixth sealed the deal already, and that was before Matthews was clubbed for three in the seventh. 6-2 Loggers. Dadswell 3-4, RBI; Dumont 3-4;

How is this happening? That team has the most horrible team in the league and they are about to sweep the Raccoons over four!? What a way to fudge up your playoff ambitions.

Game 4. Reyes was able to pitch due to the extra day given to him by Logan Evans’ dismal start. Dawson and his 13-game hitting streak rested in this game, and Johnston was benched for being horrible after starting almost all the games this season. The Raccoons were toothless against Ray Burnett, whose 5.25 ERA was about average compared to the starters they had seen this series. The Loggers took a 2-0 lead in the third. Here we go. Then the Furballs hit four singles to start the top 4th. Down 2-1, bases loaded, nobody out. Reader grounded into a double play, home and first, and that in front of the pitcher, and Reyes grounded out. The Loggers scored six against Reyes, with surprisingly high WRISP numbers. Top 7th. Walks to Gonzalez, Dumont, and Higgins. Then Dadswell struck out to end the inning. Top 9th, Hall, Osanai, Higgins loaded the bags, no outs. Down 6-1, the tying run was in the on-deck circle. They lost 6-2. Osanai 3-4, BB, 2B; Higgins 2-4, BB; Martin 2-5; Matthews 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

That was fun. That was really fun. Where can I resign my fan club membership?

The Canadiens lost three of four in New York, but that was still enough to claim a virtual tie for first (and the Canadiens had two games more to play and the better win percentage). Well done, everybody. Mama’s proud a’ you.

Raccoons (65-47) @ Indians (52-60)

Going into free fall is not nice. It hurts and stings and tears your intestines out. We were 10-2 against the Indians this year. Time for them to close up.

We had just one thing that Kisho Saito had to do for us in the opener: make the bleeding stop, make it stop, pleeease. The Indians scored four runs off Saito in the first inning. Of course. Solo homers by Dumont and Hall cut the deficit to 4-2, before Martin and PH Johnston reached with one out in the seventh. Gonzalez singled over 2B Angelo Duarte and Martin scored. Tying run at second base, Dumont came through with a 2-run triple to deepest center, but they left him there. Lagarde and Goodman were beaten for two runs in the bottom 7th, killing the 5-4 lead the Coons had justed clawed into. Shaking heads here. Johnston walked against Jim Durden to start the ninth, and went to third on Gonzalez’ single. Corners, no outs, with one run down. Vinson pinch hit, but grounded so poorly that Johnston had to hold. Hall struck out, and Osanai lined out. 6-5 Indians. Gonzalez 3-5, RBI; Dumont 2-4, HR, 3B, 3 RBI; Martin 2-3; Johnston (PH) 1-1, BB;

Mark Dawson went 0-4 ending his hitting streak. Carlos Miranda was demoted to AAA and Ben O’Morrissey recalled.

Hall sat in game 2, and the lineup was heavily shuffled with Dumont in leadoff for the day. As things used to be around here recently, they fell behind in the third, 1-0, with three singles off Scott Wade. Bases loaded, one out in the top 5th, Dawson nooked the ball into the ground right in front of home plate, and a 3-year old would have been able to complete the double play, home and first. Suddenly, there was some spark put up by the offense in the sixth. Osanai homered, his first big shot on the road trip, and Johnston hit a 2-piece to give Wade a 3-1 lead. The first two Indians reached in the seventh and Wade was removed for a left-hander with last year’s ROTY R.J. Stinton stepping in. Cordero battled him for 11 pitches, then walked him. One run scored ended on a grounder, before Cordero got out of trouble. Lagarde and West held on to it from there, closing out a 4-2 win, and breaking a 6-game losing streak that had cost the team the whole season in a rash. Dumont 2-4, BB; Osanai 3-4, BB, HR, 2B, RBI; Quinn 2-5; Martin (PH) 1-1, RBI; Wade 6.1 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, W (17-4) and 1-3;

Glenn Johnston had 2-run homers in back-to-back games, and actually had the Raccoons score FIRST in the rubber game, which hadn’t happened in what felt like weeks. Matt Higgins (about whom there has not been much talk recently) hit a leadoff triple in the fifth and was not scored by anybody. Jason Turner made the final out in that inning and with less than two outs his long flyer to right would have been able to score Higgins, but at least Turner was going strong so far, pitching four perfect innings. Francisco Lopez broke up the bid with a leadoff single in the bottom 5th, but the shutout remained intact, but only that far. Two hits to start the bottom 6th eventually scored two runs for the Indians, hacking a 3-0 lead down to 3-2. Turner was knocked out with two infield singles in the seventh, leaving with runners on the corners and two out. Lefty Yoritoki Ohwada came out to pinch hit in the #9 spot, and Nate Goodman came in for the Coons. Ohwada lined into short left and the game was tied. Higgins came up with a 2-out, 2-run single in the eighth that made the difference. West collected the save. 5-3 Raccoons. Dumont 2-5; Higgins 2-4, 3B, 2 RBI; Quinn (PH) 1-1;

In other news

July 31 – MIL Scott Murphy (6-11, 4.11 ERA) 2-hits the Aces, which was just necessary to emerge victorious from the 1-0 Loggers contest.
August 2 – NAS Luis Guzman (11-8, 2.64 ERA) 1-hits the Pacifics in a 2-0 win. The no-hitter isn’t broken up until the eighth inning.
August 3 – NAS 1B Gabriel Cruz (.288, 15 HR, 69 RBI) has a phenomenal game, HITTING FOR THE CYCLE in a 9-8 win over the Miners. The 13th cycle in ABL history comes just two days after the Raccoons’ Mark Dawson hit for the cycle. It is the second time a Blue Sox player has hit for the cycle, both times against the Miners (Ryan Childress, 1977).
August 3 – TIJ SP Bob “Butcher” Haines (8-2, 2.63 ERA) will miss three weeks with forearm tendinitis.
August 4 – 22-year old SAL Jon Robinson (12-8, 2.55 ERA) tosses a 3-hitter in a 7-0 shutout over the Scorpions.
August 8 – IND INF Mitsuzuka Ohara (.302, 3 HR, 36 RBI) is out for a month with an oblique strain.
August 8 – With a bad ankle sprain, the season is basically over for SAC 2B Rodrigo Morales (.291, 9 HR, 74 RBI).
August 9 – TIJ LF/RF Thomas Martin (.292, 7 HR, 42 RBI) collects two hits as the Condors blow up the Falcons, 10-0. The 34-year old Martin thus reaches the 2,000 hits plateau, most of which he collected with the Bayhawks from 1977 to 1982. He also played for the Buffaloes in his career, in which he also collected five Gold Gloves.
August 9 – SFB C Didier Bourges (.319, 13 HR, 64 RBI) goes down with a strained groin muscle and will miss time into September.

Complaints and stuff

I was smiling when Mark Dawson hit for the cycle. Clearly a mistake that I can not make in that situation – the game saw it and brought out the punishment instantly.

Osanai kept raking hits, but no RBI’s. We have two issues on this road trip: getting on base, and clutch hitting. It’s like the Coons of old, those caught in a bear trap, unable to move back or forth. And when things go that way and you only score two or three runs, then your closer blows the one save that can save you from an embarrassing 4-game sweep at the hands of a team that’s 28.5 games outta you. You can’t even imagine how much it’s stinging – your teams are all winning championships. Now we’re tied with the Canadiens, and that can’t end well. It never has. There will be one of those 4-game sets in early September, 3 1/2 weeks from now.

The road trip is not over, but the game has worked me up good today. There may not be an update tomorrow. My poor black heart has some healing to do… (walks off for the drawer with the chocolate stash in it)

[Westheim]

We had an off day on the way to L.A., on which the Canadiens lost, 4-3, in Milwaukee, getting the Coons back to sole possession of first place, but only half a game ahead.

We were up for the last week of interleague play now, with the Pacifics and Miners, neither of which we had seen for four years.

Raccoons (67-48) @ Pacifics (60-55)

After slumping in late July and early August, the Pacifics had a 4-game winning streak as we came in. They fared about equally well on the mound and at the plate, consistently ranking in the upper half in the FL, except for the fact that they had only 40 homers on the season as a team, but were striking out rapidly. They were built around small ball strategies. There weren’t many ex-Coons on their roster, only C Gustavo Flores.

Game 1 was started by Berry and Felix Tapia (10-7, 4.74 ERA) who honestly had never caught my eye before. Both pitchers fared well early on in a game that was tied 1-1 through five. Daniel Hall’s 16th bomb of the year broke the tie in the top 6th, and the Coons added two more with a 2-out 2-run double by Higgins the same inning, but the Pacifics got two runs right back from Berry, and tied it in the seventh, knocking out Berry in the course of the inning. The game went to extra innings. Mark Dawson didn’t enter until the bottom 10th in a double switch, but then bashed a 2-run homer in his first AB in the top 11th. Grant West came in, and had one of the most horrible innings ever, with a walk, a single, and then two more walks! O’Morrissey couldn’t turn the double play that would have ended the game and the Pacifics tied and extended the game. Dadswell drove in two in the top 12th, so next try. Albert Matthews was the last rested reliever we had (Goodman was also in the pen, but was not rested despite an off day). Johnston and Dumont made very good plays on sizzling liners in the bottom 12th and Matthews got through it. 8-6 Raccoons. Hall 2-4, 2 BB, HR, 2B, RBI; Osanai 3-6; Dadswell 3-6, 2B, 2 RBI; Dawson 1-1, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Lagarde 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Game 2 was Reyes against Jason Leonard (6-5, 3.96 ERA), another guy that had never crossed the Raccoons’ way, at least that I knew. The Raccoons scored twice in the first: Hall lined out to left center, but Gonzalez tagged and made his way home from third. Osanai was hit in the butt, and Dawson came up with two on and one out, when a wild pitch by Leonard advanced the runners and took away the double play – and Dawson hit a PERFECT double play grounder, but the chance was gone and Higgins scored on the play. The Pacifics got one run back right away and the Coons held that 2-1 lead for a while as both pitchers didn’t allow ten cents’ worth of offense into the middle innings. Reyes was in danger with two in scoring position in the bottom 5th, but he struck out C Jose Martiel to end the inning. Hall, Osanai, and Dawson loaded the bags with three 1-out singles in the top 6th. Quinn flew out to center, but Hall tagged and scored, and then Leonard walked Vinson and Martin to force in another run. Reyes came up, and with a less used pen after last night’s game I would have pinch hit for more offense, but Reyes batted and flew out. Coons ahead by three, Reyes struck out the first two in the bottom 6th, before Martin misplayed a fly ball in center, which started a landslide of hits for the Pacifics. A good catch by Hall ended the inning with two runs in, but Reyes out. Bottom 7th, Martinez struck out the first two, then nicked a batter, then was drowned in more hits. The Pacifics scored four runs in the inning, and won 7-5. Higgins 2-4, BB;

Game 3 was scoreless through three. Top 4th: Osanai had two on with one out, but his fly ball to deep right was just caught by RF Anibal Rodriguez. Dawson walked to load the bags and Dadswell came up. Another deep fly to right, deeper, deeper, GONE!! GRAND SLAM DADSWELL!! Saito cruised through four, then was suddenly blown up in the fifth. He couldn’t get anybody, and the Pacifics tied the game. The tying run scored on a wild pitch, very uncharacteristic for Saito. Logan Evans was slapped for three runs in the seventh. The Coons had another chance in the top 8th, scoring a run, then loading the bags with the help of an error and two down. Vinson pinch-hit for Evans. He singled to center and a run scored. Gonzalez then grounded up the left field line and through 3B Carlos Cook and two runs scored, the Coons took the lead again. Johnston came up, hit it hard, and outta the park for a 3-run homer. A 7-run inning, this team keeps surprising everybody. Lagarde pitched two shaky, but clean innings. 11-7 Raccoons. Gonzalez 3-5, 2 RBI; Johnston 2-5, HR, 3 RBI; Dadswell 2-5, HR, 4 RBI; Quinn (PH) 1-1, RBI; O’Morrissey (PH) 1-1; Vinson (PH) 1-1, RBI; Lagarde 2.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

Despite surrendering three runs, Logan Evans got the W. Strange world.

We had some moves to make after this series, since MR Ken Burnett’s rehab time in AAA was over. He had done fairly well and I was to add him to the big league roster again.

Logan Evans still refused demotion, despite easily sucking the air out of a concert hall. It tore my heart, but we designated him for assignment. He was totally out of sync, his WHIP was a devastating 1.70 and he behaved unreasonably on top of that. The all-time leader in W’s for the Raccoons (124 wins) was put up for grabs, and Ken Burnett was added to the 25-man roster.

Raccoons (69-49) vs. Miners (56-62)

The Miners had a few ex-Coons in Cameron Green, Miguel Bojorquez, Juan Ramirez, and Armando Sanchez. Their bullpen was a mess, apart from that they were about average overall. Bojorquez still was anything but a pitcher, Green still a low-average power hitter with a glove on his head and a cap on his hand, and Sanchez was not up to his former days anymore.

The Coons led 3-0 through four in the opener, but the Miners got two back from Scott Wade in the fifth. Pitcher Greg Lynn led off the seventh and Jeff Martin misplayed his flyer for a costly double. Lynn moved to third on Jeff Henningar’s grounder. César Colón grounded to the mound for Wade to make the play to first and Lynn had to hold. CF Jesus Rodriguez for the win? Wade popped him up to Osanai to hold on to the flimsy 3-2 lead. Gonzalez reached with one out in the bottom 8th on an uncaught third strike and that extra out got the Coons two runs driven in by Dawson eventually. 5-2 Raccoons. Johnston 2-4, 2B; Dawson 3-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Wade 7.0 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, W (18-4); Wade has two to go to two-oh.

Juan Martinez walked a batter in the top 8th here. Take a look at his marks this season: 48 G, 40.1 IP, 2.90 ERA, 1.07 WHIP, 2 BB, 32 K; yes, that’s a 16/1 K/BB ratio.

Logan Evans cleared waivers. What to do now?

Jason Turner pitched in game 2 against David Burke, the all-time leader in shutouts, who at age 35 was coming back from a torn ulnar collateral ligament. After Mark Dawson grounded into an inning-ending double play in the bottom 3rd with the bags full, Cam Green tied the game at two in the top 4th, and the Miners kept clobbering young Jason, taking a 3-2 lead. The Coons brought out the 2-out terror in the bottom 5th. Hall singled, innocently enough. Then Osanai singled just past 2B César Colón, and Dawson walked. Dumont looped the ball into short center, where Jesus Rodriguez tried to catch it instead of playing it safe for a single and one RBI. It became a double and two RBI. The game got away from Turner again right away and the first two Miners reached base in the top 6th. Burnett came in, got a double play, and then Burke flew out to Dumont when the Miners sent him to bat. The bullpen was blown up in the eighth. Matthews put two on, Goodman was unable to clean up. Two runs scored, 5-4 Miners, but that lead was killed with a leadoff homer by Dawson in the bottom 8th. Back and forth, back and forth. The Raccoons loaded the bags with one out and Gonzalez singled into right for another lead and Burke was not removed until then. 7-5 Furballs in a game that was more rollercoaster than anything. Gonzalez 2-5, RBI; Hall 1-2, 2 BB; Dumont 3-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Reader 2-4; Burnett 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

Don’t think I left that guy just coming out of rehab in for more than he should – he only threw 12 pitches for those five outs.

An error by Gonzalez cost Steven Berry an unearned run to fall behind in the top 3rd of the final game of the set. Jesus Rodriguez’ 2-run homer opened the game further in the fifth, and while Berry collected his 100th strikeout of the season (in 112 innings!) by fanning pitcher Jose Galvez in the sixth, he was hopelessly behind there. Galvez, a 12-game loser, totally confused the Raccoons, who through five had one hit, a double by Johnston. Vinson and Gonzalez had hits in the sixth and were in scoring position with one out. Johnston came up and sent one into the seam on the right side. Colón got to the ball, but Johnston had an RBI infield single. Hall was next and dinked the ball into short center, another run in. Next: Osanai. Galvez pitched to him and the knock could be heard all the way to Vancouver. Osanai put three more on the board and the Raccoons took the lead. And instantly, momentum swung back – Matthews put two on with one out. 1B Bill Mosley walked against Lagarde, and Cam Green also worked a full count, but struck out. Juan Ramirez to the plate, he grounded out to Gonzalez. That was the last bullet the Coons had to dodge, as they added a few runs in the bottom 8th and won 8-3. Johnston 3-4, 2B, RBI; Hall 1-2, 2 BB, RBI; Osanai 2-4, HR, 2B, 4 RBI; O’Morrissey (PH) 1-1; Dumont 2-4, RBI;

We’re now 10-5 against both of these teams over the last 13 years.

The Canadiens lost their series in Salem, two games to one, and then took two of three against Cincy, giving us back a 2.5 game lead. Every lead bigger than 1.5 games is a good lead. 1.5 games can mean, with an off day unconveniently placed, that tomorrow you lose and once you get to play again, you’re tied already. That doesn’t happen if you’re up by at least two full games.

In other news

August 11 – Young Chris O’Keefe (8-8, 3.14 ERA) gives the Bayhawks hope for the future, as he 2-hits the Buffaloes in a 3-0 shutout.
August 14 – The Condors are dealt a blow with Preston O’Day (.302, 13 HR, 82 RBI) hits the DL with recurring back spasms, which will put him out for most of the remaining regular season.

Complaints and stuff

The Indians waived MR Dirk Campbell, whom they had claimed from us this season, after we had claimed him two years ago, and he was claimed by the Rebels. He gets no permanent love…

SP Carlos Gonzalez is out for a year after elbow reconstruction surgery. Not that anybody has counted on him anymore. He’s a wreck and will be released once he can be. Logan Evans is another wreck, but was too costly to just release. While he leads the franchise with 124 wins, who is second on the list with 104 wins? Answer: “Old Chris” Powell. Saito and Wade are next on the list, but still way below 100 at 70 and 59, respectively. Of course, Saito also won 49 with the Canadiens, so he actually *is* over 100, but not with the Coons.

Whatever. Logan Evans vetoed any trades. Nobody claimed him off waivers, and I can’t fit his remaining salary ($1.8M or so) into the budget anywhere. So we’re stuck with a pitcher that can’t get anybody out, that nobody wants, and that drains us of energy and even more money. And that for another two years. That’s what you get for six year contracts.

Sam Dadswell’s contract is up this fall. He wants an extension. He is nailing 22% of stealers this year. His ZR and EFF are way below average. He’s going to be expensive due to his popping bat. Why retain him? Because Vinson, our other hope behind the dish, has the same numbers with the mask on, and less pop without. Great stuff here.

Offense was much improved this week. There are a couple of factors for this. First, Daniel Hall in the #3 slot saw the ball much better than the last month or so. He batted only 5-18, but walked nine times and took a bean for a .278/.517/.500 line with one homer and three driven in, which I’ll take any week of the year. Despite that, Osanai didn’t score a lot of runners until the final Miners game. Dadswell homered in three of the four games he appeared in and drove in nine, and Dawson homered twice and drove in six. The small ball players did well, too. That added up to 44 runs in these six games. Before that, it took them their last eleven games to score 44 runs and they lost a bushel of those (4-7). The staff gave away 30 at the same time, which is too much of course.

Next: home series against the Titans, then only three on the road in New York. We’ll finish the month at home against Oklahoma and San Francisco.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (72-49) vs. Titans (62-60)

Carlos Reyes’ first inning entailed three walks, but the Titans left the bases loaded with a hard lineout by Chad Fisher to Antonio Gonzalez. Reyes was ineffective all the way and was removed after 2-run homer by Zahid Mashwanis tied the game, 3-3, in the fifth. Martinez and Burnett held the Titans in check until a leadoff jack by Sam Dadswell (#18 already!) in the bottom 7th – his third RBI hit on the day. Despite a leadoff walk given by Grant West to pinch hitter Ruben Prado in the ninth, he held on to the 4-3 win for the Raccoons. Johnston 2-4; Osanai 2-4, 2B, RBI; Dadswell 3-3, HR, 3 RBI; Martinez 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K; Burnett 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, W (1-2);

Tetsu Osanai drove in the Raccoons’ 600th run of the season with an RBI double off Kinji Kan in the third inning. After 122 games, the Raccoons have already surpassed their offensive output from every season 1978-1981 and are only 113 runs away from their high water mark of 715 from last year. Osanai also extended a budding hitting streak to 11 games.

Kisho Saito was lit up by the Titans in the middle game, as they opened the game with four straight singles, and scored four runs in the first inning. Saito collected himself after that and added four innings of 1-hit ball, but the damage was already done. The Raccoons couldn’t hurt Jorge Valdes on the mound for the Titans, and with Dumont on first base, Saito was pinch hit for to no effect in the bottom 5th. Then, 2-out terror: Johnston singled, full count walk by Hall, and Osanai singled just past 2B Manny Mora for two runs to score, also on a full count. Dadswell’s single re-loaded the bases, but O’Morrissey flew out to center. The Raccoons didn’t progress past first base after that. 4-3 Titans. Johnston 2-4, BB; Osanai 2-4, 2 RBI; Dadswell 2-4;

Logan Evans was still designated for assignment, but not going anywhere. Ben O’Morrissey was optioned to AAA to add Evans to the roster again. With the pen going long distances the last few days, an extra pitcher would come in handy. It was August 20. The next ten days, one of the left-handed relievers had to go somewhere else, since I didn’t want to go to the playoffs (IF…) with 13 pitchers.

More than anything else (except offense) the Raccoons needed seven or more innings from Scott Wade in the rubber game (Evans here or not). Daniel Hall took care of offense early with a 2-run home run in the first inning, before the Coons left the bags full against Eric McCullough. Osanai hit a sac fly in the second, 3-0. Wade then struggled starting in the third inning. 1-out walk to Shotaro Ono, a single by Mora, and then a 2-out walk to Mashwanis on a full count. Salvador Vargas stepped in with the tying runs on, Wade threw three straight balls, before Vargas inexplicably launched at the fourth. He grounded out to Dawson. PHEW!! The whole ballpark all exhaled at once. Osanai made a nice leaping grab on a line drive to retire LF Hjalmar Flygt to start the sixth – really great effort for this mountain of a man! The sixth inning was also Wade’s last, as he had worked himself up with ill control. Next, the bullpen collapsed in the seventh. Cordero surrendered two doubles, before Lagarde walked two. One out, bases loaded, 3-1, the lefty mashers coming up. Burnett and Evans were available – but I left Lagarde in to face Flygt. A single to right tied the game. Burnett then came in, and Mashwanis doubled off him and the Titans took a 5-3 lead. The Coons scored once in the bottom 7th, but Vinson left the bases loaded with a pinch-hit pop out. Evans came in to pitch the final two innings and surrendered three more runs. 8-5 Titans. Devastating display of incompetence. Gonzalez 2-4, BB; Hall 2-3, 2 BB, HR, 2 RBI; Osanai 3-4, 2 RBI; Dawson 2-5; Johnston 2-5, RBI;

Raccoons (73-51) @ Crusaders (61-63)

For no apparent reason the Raccoons headed the Power Rankings entering the series in New York. So far the Crusaders have taken seven of 12 from us this year and we can’t seem to decisively hurt them. With our lead over the Canadiens down to 1.5 games, we better should hurt them now.

The opener: the first three Coons all got on – but only one run scored in the top 1st. A throwing error by Dadswell cost the 1-0 lead in the second inning, and the Coons struggled to get on the board again. Osanai, who extended his hitting streak to 14 games early, was left on in the third, and Gonzalez left two in scoring position in the fourth. Hall had enough of silly games in the fifth, whamming his 18th homer of the season. Jason Turner was torn up in the sixth inning, where the Crusaders took a 4-3 lead. Again no long and/or good outing by a Raccoons starter. Martinez and Burnett surrendered a run in the bottom 7th. Top 8th: Johnston hit a game-tying 2-out, 2-run single, before Hall and Osanai also got on. Bases loaded for Mark Dawson – he flew out. The Crusaders loaded the bags with two out in the bottom 8th as well. West came in and surrendered Douglas Donaldson to keep the game tied. Two down in the bottom 9th, Edward Snyder stole second base off Dadswell. West looked concerned on the mound, then continued to work on Ben Browning, who was down 0-2 in the count. Browning took the next pitch into short center and Snyder scored, walking off the Crusaders, 6-5. The Raccoons out-hit them 14-9. Gonzalez 3-5, 2B, RBI; Johnston 2-5, 2 RBI; Hall 2-3, 2 BB, HR, 2 RBI; Reader 2-5;

The Fumbling Furballs took a 1-0 lead in the top 1st of the middle game, before Osanai and Dawson hit back-to-back homers in the third to make it 4-0. Despite a here-we-go bottom 3rd, in which Steven Berry first hit 3B John Beach in the back with a pitch and then surrendered a 2-run homer to Pedro Villa, Berry threw the stop on the Crusaders effectively enough to go eight innings. Still up 4-2, West surrendered doubles to Diego Rodriguez and pinch hitter Raúl Castillo in the bottom 9th. Please, not … not …! He struck out Seitaro Ine to end the game. 4-3 Raccoons. Hall 2-4, 2B; Gonzalez 3-4; Berry 8.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 6 K, W (7-6);

Game 3 … was … one to give up on the team.

The Forsaken played in the rubber game – against the Crusaders. After leaving two on in the first inning, the Forsaken never recovered from a 2-run blow against Carlos Reyes in the bottom 1st. Bad defense, bad offense, pitiful pitching. A 2-run homer by David Vinson in the fifth was all but a miniscule glitch in an otherwise terrifyingly well-staged play of overall incompetence, in which only Vinson had not read the script. Reyes was knocked out in the fifth, and Evans came in, delivering nothing but fat things to hit. Up 6-2, the Villa singled with pitcher Carlos Guillén on second. Guillén made for home, but the ball was there well ahead of him, and he tried to bowl over Vinson – and was out and hurt. The play drifted away into the bizarre genre in the third act. In an effort to protect the bullpen, the Forsaken let Logan Evans bat in the seventh with two down and Vinson on second, and he homered to center. Top 8th, the Forsaken trailing 8-4. Johnston reached on an error, Hall struck out. Osanai was walked intentionally (ending his hitting streak unless he could come back up). Dawson grounded to get Osanai forced out. Runners on the corners, two down, Higgins lifted a ball to short left, which Rodriguez misplayed for a 2-run double. Vinson walked. Suddenly, the Forsaken were in the thick of it, right at the climax of the third act! But the queen looked at the chalice prepared with deadly poison and dropped it to the ground. Ivan Lopez got Bobby Quinn to ground out to short. The beast was slain, everybody but the banished demons came out for a final song. 8-6 Crusaders.

In other news

August 23 – BOS INF Salvador Vargas (.323, 7 HR, 65 RBI) puts up a 6-hit performance in a 5-3 win in 11 innings over the Canandiens. It is the third 6-hit day of the season after POR Daniel Hall in April and VAN David Brewer in June achieved the feat.

Complaints and stuff

Sam Dadswell was named CL Player of the Week after the Titans series, having gone 9-19 with 4 HR and 10 RBI.

Pitching and catching was terrible this week. Just terrible. Things are going downhill again.

I have arranged for a waiver trade for Logan Evans. Since he has already cleared waivers this season, I don't see an issue from our side, but the other team's player has to clear waivers.

[Westheim]

On our off day, the Canadiens outlasted the Titans just barely, 3-2, cutting our already diminished lead to half a game. We will see them early in September, but at the speed we’re going at, that won’t be a problem anymore. We actually have seven games left against them.

Raccoons (74-53) vs. Thunder (57-69)

Maybe the Thunder and their desolate starting rotation were just what the Raccoons needed now. Hit them, and hard, as long as you can.

Unfortunately, Oklahoma’s Kevin Williams had something against the plan. He held the Raccoons to two hits over seven innings, but that entailed a run. Kisho Saito scattered five hits over eight frames of shutout ball. He was pinch hit for in the bottom 8th with Vinson, who singled to move Bobby Quinn, who had doubled, from second to third. Quinn scored on a sac fly by Gonzalez. West pitched a 10-pitch save. 2-0 Raccoons. Vinson (PH) 1-1; Saito 8.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K, W (15-3);

Atlanta’s Kiyohira Sasaki also put in a superb effort, blanking the Canadiens on a 4-hitter, 6-0, enlarging our lead again to 1.5 games.

In bad news, the waiver trade arranged for Logan Evans did not go through, since the other player was claimed. Who was the other player? CHA 1B/2B Antonio Esquivel, a .270+ hitter and type B free agent to be. Had this gone through, it would have been gold. So, back to the drawing board.

Scott Wade chased #19 again in the middle game, which would tie Evans’ franchise record for single season wins (yes, it’s still August). He got early support with a double bash by Matt Higgins and Mark Dawson in the first inning, two homers for a 3-0 lead. Up 4-0, the Raccoons saw the Thunder implode in the bottom 4th. Vinson and Martin led off with hits to go to the corners. Wade then grounded past SS Tom Nicks for the first run to score. Nicks made one of two terrible errors later in the inning, in which the Coons plated six, half of which came on a home run by Tetsu Osanai, which put him one short of his own franchise record for RBI’s in a season. The game was basically over right there. Wade pitched very well before running out of gas in the ninth. Goodman got the last two outs. 10-0 Furballs! Higgins 1-5, HR, 4 RBI; Osanai 2-4, HR, 2B, 3 RBI; Dawson 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Martin 2-4; Wade 8.1 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 3 K, W (19-4) and 1-2, BB, RBI;

Thus, Scott Wade moved into a tie with Logan Evans for most W’s for the Raccoons in a single season. Again, it’s only August 26. For a very long time, 14 wins was the high water mark for this team. In other news, the same day our AAA SP Jose Fernandez 1-hit the Chula Vista New Order. Also, the Canadiens lost again to the Knights.

The Raccoons loaded the bases in the bottom 1st of the first game, with nobody out, before Osanai popped out, Dawson popped out foul, and Gonzalez popped out. Gnah. The Coons went ahead in the bottom 2nd on a 2-run homer by Glenn Johnston, who doubled in the fourth, leaving him a triple short of the cycle. Jason Turner meanwhile tried to complete a series shutout of the Thunder. And to say the least, Turner outright dominated them, and despite some control issues and a few walks here and there developed a no-hit bid. The defense made some nice double plays and caught soaring line drives in the fifth (Osanai) and seventh (Gonzalez). Top 8th: Marc Shaw grounded out to Higgins, Turner struck out Grady Young, and Frederick Webb bounced out to Higgins. Still a big zero in the Thunder’s H column. Top 9th, the fans were giddy. Fernando Gonzales grounded out to Dawson. Two to go. Adam Warren pinch hit for SP Domingo León and lined way over Gonzalez at short, Hall dashing in, dashing in, HE CAUGHT IT!! Jeff Wagner stepped in, representing the 27th out, but he was an experienced coonskinner. And we go to R.A. Koontz on the broadcast.

Silence has befallen the ballpark all the way since the eighth inning. There is the big goose egg the Thunder team has for hits. And 26 men are out, and here comes their leadoff man, Jeff Wagner. He is batting two-seventy-five with one home run and thirty-six driven in. He is oh-for-three today, and Jason Turner has struck him out twice.

The first pitch by Turner, and it catches the outside corner for a strike.

Some Raccoons are pacing in the dugout, some are drilling their fingers into the railing. Justin Reader can barely watch it, waiting for this to resolve.

Wagner lays off and it is low. One and one to Wagner now. Turner shakes off Dadswell, shakes him off again. The next pitch – low again. Wagner lays off.

Two and one the count. Some fans are clapping, some are biting their lips. Turner winds up – fouled away.

The park comes alive again. More people are clapping. Two and two to Jeff Wagner. Turner shakes off Dadswell twice. Look for something off speed here, Wagner has looked very bad at those in this game. Turner settles in.

Windup, and –

HE SWINGS THROUGH IT!! HE STRUCK HIM OUT!! Young Jason Turner has just completed a NO-HITTER!! I DON’T BELIEVE IT!!

Party at the park!! Johnston 3-4, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Hall 2-3, BB; Turner 9.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 5 K, W (10-4) [NO-HITTER]; (grabs random reader and screams into his face) ISN’T LIFE BEAUTIFUL (sometimes)??

This was the 11th no-hitter in ABL history, the third this season, and of course the second for the Raccoons after Juan Berrios’ in 1977.

The euphoria!

Raccoons (77-53) vs. Bayhawks (70-60)

The first two innings of the opener, the Raccoons left five on without scoring, and they were remarkably un-clutch after that, too. Higgins singled in the first run of the game in the fifth. Steven Berry was pitching shutout ball, then came to the plate with the bags full and two down in the sixth. With the Bayhawks entering a reliever in Lawrence Bentley, a right-hander, we sent out Jeff Martin, a lefty, to pinch hit for Berry, but he popped out. Matthews struck out the side in the seventh. Dadswell’s sac fly added a second run in the eighth before West came in and quickly converted on five pitches. 2-0 Coons! Johnston 2-4; Osanai 2-4; Dumont 1-2, 2 BB, 2B; Berry 6.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K, W (8-6);

That’s some pitching here! We have now shut out the opposition for four games in a row, and going back to the last game in New York (brrr…), have pitched 37 consecutive scoreless innings!

Interlude: trade

After the previous deal fell through, we now completed the departure of SP Logan Evans (6-9, 5.77 ERA). He was traded to Dallas for versatile utility man Stephen Hall (.218, 2 HR, 39 RBI), who is in a slump season, but will give us another infielder, who can also play corner outfield. The idea was to go to the playoffs with Ben O’Morrissey, but he’s continuing his slump at AAA and will not be on the roster before their expansion. Hall was added to the 25-man roster.

Hall was the Milwaukee Loggers’ sixth round pick back in 1980, where he made his big league debut in 1984 and stayed there through the end of 1987. Since then, he’s been traded thrice and waived and claimed once, playing for the Crusaders, Warriors, Stars, and now the Furballs. He is a career .247 batter with only 18 dingers. He’s 31 and still arbitration eligible, although things are much in the air as far as our roster next year is concerned.

Evans, 33, went 124-98 with a 3.22 ERA since 1978 with the Raccoons, appearing in 328 games (312 starts). He’s been one of our finest for many years, but looking at him, I think he’s toast.

Raccoons (77-53) vs. Bayhawks (70-60)

Game 2 of the series. Carlos Reyes had taken quite a beating in his last starts. He looked much recovered in this game, sitting the first nine men down in order, after which a 2-run homer by Osanai in the bottom 3rd (which broke Osanai’s own single season franchise RBI record) gave him a lead, and Osanai and Dawson added three runs in the fifth. By then, the no-hitter was gone, but the zero stood. Things unraveled in the top 6th, though. Diego Rodriguez was on first with two outs. Reyes tried to pick him off, but Osanai couldn’t get a glove on it and Rodriguez moved to second. Then, Reyes nailed Roberto Rodriguez with an 0-2 pitch and the latter Rodriguez left with an injury. Dave Burton eventually flew out softly to Hall in left field. Reyes went seven innings of shutout ball, before handing it over to Lagarde and Cordero, who continued in that fashion. 5-0 Raccoons. Osanai 2-5, HR, 3 RBI; Dawson 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Quinn 3-3, BB; Reyes 7.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 7 K, W (10-6);

One run through the rotation, zero runs allowed by anybody! Accordingly, we were 5-0 the last run through the rotation. With a no-hitter. (giggles giddily)

The streak ended in the first inning of the last game, when the first two Bayhawks reached base against Kisho Saito and Diego Rodriguez was scored by Roberto Rodriguez, who was not badly hurt, with a sac fly. While Daniel Hall had a day off, Stephen Hall appeared in his first game as a Coon, starting at second base. He hit a double in his second AB in the bottom 5th, then in a 1-1 game. Saito lined between the defenders on the left side for a single and the fairly speedy Hall scored from second. Saito hit SS Mike Powys to load the bags with two out in the sixth. LF Kai Edwards hit one deep to right, but Daniel Dumont JUST caught it to keep the lead in place, but catcher Jose Ortiz homered off Saito with two out in the seventh to tie the game, still. The Bayhawks were now threatening constantly. They had runners on the corners, but hit into an inning-ending double play in the eighth. The game went to extra innings. Quinn flew to deep left in the 10th, but it was just caught. Dawson was nicked to start the bottom 11th and Martin came out to pinch run for him. Gonzalez bunted, Vinson was walked intentionally. Stephen Hall singled into left, but Martin had to hold at third. Dadswell pinch hit in the #9 spot and flew deep enough to center for Martin to tag and score – walk off win! 3-2 Raccoons! Johnston 2-5, 2B; Osanai 2-5, 2B; Vinson 2-4, BB; S. Hall 2-5, 2B; D. Hall (PH) 1-1; Dadswell (PH) 0-0, RBI; Saito 7.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 5 K; Cordero 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K, W (4-1);

That sweep puts us at 60-57 overall against the Bayhawks after starting 0-9 against them in 1977. They join the Loggers as the only CL teams we have a winning overall record against. We’re one under .500 against Indy; everything else … hmmmm.

August 31 was an off day for us, and we ordered a few players from St. Petersburg to Milwaukee: MR Jason Bentley, MR Yasushi Suto, INF Carlos Miranda, OF Neil Reece, and C Josh Cook.

Raccoons (80-53) @ Loggers (47-86)

The last time we saw the Loggers, it didn’t end too well – a 4-game sweep, and we were on the wrong side of things. This started a string of 17 straight games, seven of which were against the Loggers, and four would take place in Vancouver.

The opener was the first of several shots Scott Wade had at hitting 20 wins. The Coons stormed out of the gates with a 3-spot on Davis Sims in the first inning. Wade was dealing, K’ing four of the first five batters he faced. Up 5-0 in the bottom 5th, September call-ups Manny Rodriguez and Charlie Justin then hit back-to-back triples off Wade. The Loggers scored two runs here, and loaded the bags before Wade left them empty-handed in the sixth. Top 7th, the Raccoons had three on and nobody out. Dawson grounded into a run-scoring double play and that was all they got. Neil Reece made his major league debut in the top 9th, drawing a walk as a pinch hitter, and drew a walk before being cut down stealing. It didn’t matter – the Raccoons won, 6-2, chasing a devil or two, and giving Wade and the whole franchise a new milestone. Dumont 3-3; Hall 3-4, BB; Osanai 3-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Wade 7.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, W (20-4); Matthews 1.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

The Canadiens lost in New York, 2-1, despite David Brewer hitting a game-tying home run in the eighth inning. This puts the Raccoons 3.5 games ahead. Wade is now t-27th for most wins in a season. If he could win three more, he’d be tied for a top 10 position. Nobody has won more than 21 games in the last four seasons and only Scott Wade is in a realistic position to get there this year.

Young phenoms faced each other in game 2, as Jason Turner came off his no-hitter and the Loggers sent Judd Montgomery (9-13, 3.40 ERA). Turner no-hit the Loggers for eight batters, before it was Montgomery to double into the left field corner. Turner then fell to a 2-run homer by Jesus Jimenez in the fourth inning and was pinch hit for after completing six frames. The Raccoons had a terrible time with Montgomery on the mound, but Martin, who pinch hit for Turner, led off the seventh with a single to left. Johnston got on and Dumont tied the game with a 2-run triple to right center, and still nobody out. Hall scored Dumont with a sac fly and the Raccoons led, but the Loggers tied the game off Juan Martinez right away. Both teams left runners in scoring position in the eighth, and the game eventually went to extra innings, where Osanai walked to start the 10th. Vinson pinch hit for Dawson to avoid a double play, but hit into a double play. Out of the blue, Antonio Gonzalez homered to right. Higgins got on, and Stephen Hall pinch hit for Dadswell. Home run!! Two middle infielders – what an unlikely source for a double whammy!! West converted nicely, 6-3 Raccoons! Johnston 2-4, BB; Dumont 2-5, 3B, 2 RBI; Gonzalez 4-5, HR, 2B, RBI; S. Hall (PH) 1-1, HR, 2 RBI; Martin (PH) 1-1; Turner 6.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 4 K;

Game 3. Reece got his first start in center, resting Johnston, and landed his first career hit, an RBI double in the second inning that made it 2-0 Coons. His next time up, Reece homered to left. Berry struggled a bit with the Loggers and was roughed up in the third and fourth, after which the Coons led 4-3. They loaded the bags in the top 5th with nobody out and at least they scored two this time with sac flies from Dawson and Quinn. Berry walked the first man up in the bottom 6th and was removed from the game, but the bullpen did a stellar job of holding the Loggers to their three runs. 6-3 Raccoons! Higgins 2-4, BB; Hall 2-4, BB; Reece 2-4, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Miranda 2-4, 3B; Cordero 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K; West 1.1 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K, SV (35);

Matt Higgins tied the franchise records of three stolen bases in a single game so far held by Daniel Hall, who achieved the feat in 1979.

The Raccoons have a 9-game winning streak going! Meanwhile, the Canadiens were swept in New York, giving us a major break.

In other news

August 25 – ATL SP Glenn Ryan (14-7, 3.78 ERA) will miss up to a full year due to a torn UCL requiring Tommy John surgery.
August 26 – NYC SP Carlos Guillén (12-8, 3.52 ERA) is out for the season after suffering a concussion in a violent home plate collision with POR C David Vinson.
August 29 – The Condors lose Cipriano Ortega (.275, 1 HR, 49 RBI) for the rest of the regular season with chronic back soreness. He could possibly join the team in October.
August 30 – LVA Antonio Lopez (7-18, 4.77 ERA) has not had much fun this year. But at least he makes headlines with a 3-hit shutout against the Crusaders now. The Aces win 3-0.
September 2 – ATL RF Michael Root hits a 3-run homer off San Francisco’s Juan Jose Aviles in an 11-1 rout. It is Root’s 35th home run of the season, tying Gabriel Cruz’ single season record with a month to play.

Complaints and stuff

NO-HITTER!!! I couldn’t type for five minutes after that final out, my fingers were shaking. =)

Tetsu Osanai hit .404 in August with 5 HR and 22 RBI to clinch the CL Hitter of the Month trophy.

We are now 5.5 games ahead of the cross-border pests. If we hold our ground and tie the 4-game set in Pest City that is coming up, that would be a HUGE step towards the division. I wanted to get that series in today, but it’s late (2:30am) and I can barely muster enough awakeness to follow the Mets-Pirates game.

Outfielder Randy Powers would have been a call-up on September 1, BUT … he hurt his ankle and is out for the season. Arf.

[Westheim]

Da man!

[Westheim]

Raccoons (83-53) @ Canadiens (77-58)

Let’s decide the division right here! (Actual: boys, please don’t make it a 1.5 game lead…!)

Mark Dawson’s solo shot (#19 to move into sole possession of 2nd place on the team) put the Coons on a good road early on in the series opener. By the fourth innings, they led 4-0 against Tia Fa. Dawson also made a strong play to get Carlos Reyes out of the bottom 4th on a slow grounder by Art Garrett with two on and two out. Dawson zinged it to first base just in time. Top 5th, Osanai homered, 5-0 Raccoons. The Win Machine stuttered in the bottom 8th, entering still up 5-0. Suto put the first two men on and was replaced with Lagarde, whose first pitch was extremely wild, and one run scored against him. Goodman entered and surrendered two runs. The tying runs were in scoring position when Martinez entered, and first walked the bases full, before giving a game-tying 2-run single to Kevin Lewis, and the Canadiens went on to take a 6-5 lead, which Rick Evans held on to in the ninth. 6-5 Canadiens. Johnston 2-5, 2B; Higgins 2-5, 2B, RBI; Dawson 2-4, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Dadswell 2-4, 2B; Reyes 7.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K;

And here we go again. Unbelievable.

Game 2’s bottom 1st was led off by Raúl Solís with a home run off Kisho Saito. Again: here we go. Top 4th, bases loaded, no outs after singles by Gonzalez, Hall, and Osanai. Dawson bounced to third – but Melvin Greene couldn’t come up with it, and it bounced through him. Gonzalez scored and tied the game. Dadswell struck out and Reece lifted one out to short right – and Daniel Hall went for home! For a split second the Canadiens were perplexed and that was enough for Hall to score. Stephen Hall doubled to left and the Coons led 3-1 after the top 4th. Colin Irwin led off the bottom 5th with a bunt base hit. Pitcher Ruben Prado laid down a sac bunt, Dadswell rushed the play, and blew it. Tying runs in scoring position after a throw into the seats, Saito struck out Solís, before Dawson made a wide throw on the next play. A run scored and the Canadiens had them on the corners with one out after two errors. C Carlos Gonsales was up and lined hard to Antonio Gonzalez, and Prado was far off third base. Gonzalez threw to Dawson and Prado was out, the inning over. Bottom 6th, Raccoons up 4-2: Greene reached with two down on a misplay by Stephen Hall. Greene tried to steal, Dadswell threw way past second base. Second massive throwing error on the day. The bright spot was Neil Reece, who had doubled in a run in the sixth, and then homered in the eighth. Saito was pinch hit for after that, to no effect, and this time the pen entered the bottom 8th with only three runs to waste, but Lagarde and West allowed only a single between them, and the Raccoons won, 5-2. Osanai 2-3, BB; Reece 2-3, HR, 2B, 3 RBI; S. Hall 1-1, 3 BB, 2B, RBI; Saito 7.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, W (16-3);

Understandably, Dadswell was benched for the time being. And he can take his contract extension and stick it up his [FEEEEP!]

Osanai hit 30 with a solo shot in the top 2nd of the third game. Wade was not quite in shape however. The Canadiens put three men on to start the bottom 3rd. Seitaro Ogawa then hit an infield single with Wade bungling any play himself. Wade surrendered the next two, and then call-up Roland Moore hit another infield single, this time on Reader, who started at third instead of Dawson. Osanai tied up the game with another homer in the fourth. This also tied the Raccoons record for homers in a season. Apart from Osanai, most Raccoons were befuddled by a strong Robbie Campbell, until David Vinson clubbed a HUGE home run in the seventh. Five hits, three dingers so far. Wade issued a walk to Gonsales in the bottom 7th and was removed with left-handers coming to the plate, and Cordero ended the inning. The Canadiens came back again in the bottom 8th against the bullpen. Infield single by Brewer, hit batter and a walk by Matthews. Bases loaded, two down, Grant West was rushed in, and the Canadiens countered with Melvin Greene to pinch hit for lefty Jose Renteria. Greene got the count to 3-1, the park was rocking, and then Greene grounded out to Higgins, who had replaced Gonzalez at short. The bottom 9th started off with Gonsales grounding to Higgins – and now HIGGINS made an error, throwing past Osanai. Kevin Gilmore hit the Canadiens’ fourth infield single on the day to get the tying run to third. Nobody out, hope was abandoned. Ogawa’s grounder scored Gonsales and tied the game. David Brewer doubled to right, Ogawa went home, the throw from Johnston coming in, Vinson tagging – OUT!! Now, Art Garrett and his 17 homers were walked intentionally to get to Moore, and he flew out – extra innings, where Bentley and Martinez were unable to collect outs. The Canadiens hit their FIFTH infield single in the game to walk off. 4-3 Canadiens. Osanai 2-4, 2 HR, 2 RBI;

The…- effff…….

Josh Cook made his Raccoons debut in the fourth game after two appearances with the Miners in 1986, but he had never batted (he would collect his first big league hit in the fourth, an inconsequential 2-out double). In the top 1st, Gonzalez was on third with nobody out, and Hall, Osanai, and Dawson were unable to cash in. Jason Turner had to bat in his own lead with a 2-out RBI single in the top 2nd, then in the third punched out Solís for his 100th K of the year, before falling to a 3-run home run by Kevin Lewis in the fifth. Turner didn’t go further, being pinch hit for, but Reece grounded out to short to waste a chance in the sixth, which Higgins replicated well in the seventh. The Raccoons entered the ninth down by one. Johnston singled to get started. Hall lined over Brewer on a hit-and-run call and Johnston went to third. Nobody out. Osanai grounded out, Hall went to second, but Johnston was looked back to third. Dawson came up and flew to deep left, Solís coming in – HE MISPLAYS IT!! Dawson’s flyer fell in behind Solís and both runs scored, the game turned around. Vinson and Dumont added another run. Up 5-3, West was absolutely unavailable. Goodman was tasked to get the save, and while he gave up a leadoff walk to Ogawa, he converted. 5-3 Coons. In hits? 17-5 Raccoons. Johnston 3-5; Hall 3-5, 2B; Dawson 2-5, 2B, 3 RBI; Vinson (PH) 1-1; Dumont (PH) 1-2, 2B, RBI; Cook 2-3, 2B; Dadswell (PH) 1-1; Burnett 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

In other news

September 4 – ATL Michael Root smothers the single-season home run record with a 3-homer performance against the Falcons. The Knights win 8-5. Root is batting .330 with 38 HR and 99 RBI for the season.

Complaints and stuff

That was one … exhausting series. They could have swept them easily. “They” and “them” applies to either team here. Our bullpen cost us again.

Next: home week against the Indians and Loggers, then one series away in Tijuana. By the way, the Canadiens will be our final opponent of the regular season. We’re 6-9 against them this year.

[Charlie Hough]

I thought this was supposed to be a massive rebuilding project. Suddenly you're leading the division and no-hitters are being thrown!

[Westheim]

This was supposed to *be* a giant rebuilding project. I honestly am surprised as you are. (The pre-season prediction I gave out was "hopefully .500" or something along that line)

This is a very young team, still. Currently we have only six players on the roster that have hit or passed the big three-oh: Dawson (35), D. Hall (34), West (32), Goodman (31), S. Hall (31), Osanai (30); the majority of the rest are young guns (currently 11 guys age 25 or younger), some of which who have been brought in in the last 12 to 18 months (Higgins, Reece, Lagarde etc.). Some have been in our system for years as highly touted prospects which are now making a splash, like Glenn Johnston. Add to that an ingenious rule 5 pick (Berry) and a slightly less ingenious, but still merriful waiver claim (Quinn). Add to that huge improvements by our Titanous Three (Dawson, Hall, Osanai) over the last year(s), and you have a Wonderful Run Machine (tm) running, which sometimes even outlasts bad catching and a spotty bullpen.

With the contracts of Dawson, S. Hall, Goodman, Dadswell up this October, there's a chance we'll get even younger with our AAA talent.

Main credit goes to the rotation, which is as close to flawless as you can have one.

By the way, on Neil Reece, something the game just doesn't tell you and which freaks me out: he hit for the cycle this May while in AAA, going 5-6 with 2 HR and 10 RBI against Chula Vista. Why can't I be notified of such things?

I think Reece is the real deal, even better than Johnston, who sooner or later will move to right field permanently and leave the fantastic Reece in center. Have I shown Reece's profile yet? See below. (By the way, I think he's severely underscouted). We got him from the Buffaloes principally for David Jones last July.

Another shocking point: fan interest has risen from 79 in April to ... 80. I don't get that. People should be camping in the park so they don't miss the next appearance of our rising stars.

Rebuilding or not - if we meet the Knights and their impregnable left-handed battery in the CLCS ... things will look dire. They have owned us this year (3-6, and it should have been at least 2-7) and Wade and Reyes are susceptible to left-handed batters ...

Oh, and success and no-hitters have nothing in common. The Coons' Juan Berrios tossed the ABL's first no-hitter in 1977, and the Coons went down 67-95 and Berrios finished like 27-59 in his career. =)