Portland Raccoons (ABL)

[Westheim]

Still not in the mood, but since every other game I turn to hates me just as much…

Raccoons (41-49) @ Canadiens (39-50) – July 14-17, 1994

The Canadiens came out of the All Star break with the most horrible RPP (Run Prevention Program) in the CL at 412 runs allowed. The Raccoons’ former strength wasn’t exactly that, either, with a 7th rank and 384 runs allowed. That’s not a lot of difference in there. We were able to start Kisho Saito on regular rest for the opener, and made one change in the rotation in moving Raimundo Beato up to the #2 spot ahead of Jason Turner, who would pitch game #3 on one extra day of rest then.

The Coons piled on Kevin Williams in the opener of the 4-game set, and pretty well so, scoring six runs in the first five innings. This included a monstrous 2-run homer by Royce Green in the first, and a less monstrous but still huge 2-run homer by Mark Allen in the fifth. Kisho Saito didn’t pitch too well, either, but while he was shoddy, he was at least somewhat effective in getting the Coons into and out of trouble repeatedly, and despite allowing runners in six of his seven innings, was tagged only once, with a 2-run shot by Antonio Esquivel in the bottom 6th. Now enter the bullpen, with Tim Mallandain facing his first batter since being recalled from AAA, allowing a single, and going for the showers instantly. Juan Martinez came in, and while he conceded Mallandain’s run, pitched the rest of the way. 7-3 Coons. Green 2-4, BB, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; O’Morrissey 2-4, BB, 2B; Salazar 3-5, RBI; Rodriguez 2-5, RBI; Saito 7.0 IP, 9 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, W (7-5) and 1-3; Martinez 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Raimundo Beato – just promoted in the rotation – pookied himself out of game 2 in a hurry. He was horrible. Just horrible. Five hits and five walks led to five runs in just three innings, and he was removed for a pinch-hitter in the top 4th. There, the Coons were down 5-1, their only run unearned, and had two unearned runners in scoring position – yes, the Canadiens were that botchy in the field. Pitcher John Collins struck out Quinn, Hall, and Baldivía in order to quell the unearned threat. Yes, the Raccoons were that abysmal at the plate. The game was declared lost right there. The Canadiens then scored four more runs on the miscarriage that was Tim Mallandain. Jose Rodriguez hit his first home run of the year, apart from that it was a game void of highlights. 9-4 Canadiens. Green 3-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Salazar 2-4, BB; West 2.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Tim Mallandain was booted to St. Petersburg – and with that I mean kicked with a boot all the way, which made for almost 98,000 kicks – because his ineptness was exhausting. We recalled Daniel Miller mainly because I lacked other options at this point.

Neil Reece was cleared to resume playing (praise everything that’s holy!) and was assigned for a rehab stint to Florida to get his swing going. He should return to Portland after the weekend. The more interesting question was, whom he would replace on the roster. Is time running out for Bobby Quinn as part of the Raccoons?

Game 3. For the second time in the series, the Raccoons took a first inning lead on a round-tripper by Royce Green, this time a solo shot. Green was in swinging mood in the game: in the third inning, he tattooed a 1-2 splitter from Manny Ramos into the stands on the other side of the field for two more runs, 3-0. Bobby Quinn upped that with a 2-jack to 5-0 in the fourth. As the Canadiens’ staff fell apart, Jason Turner was doing very well on the mound. He was perfect through four innings before an infield single by Luis Arroyo broke up his line. Turner’s outing went from a clean 100 into a plunge right here, as catcher Edgardo Ramos soon hit a 2-out, 3-run home run off him, and Turner was blown up for three more runs in the sixth, with a 2-run home run by Arroyo knocking him from the game. Ten batters – six runs scored. While the bullpen was shaking badly the rest of the way, and the Canadiens had the tying run at the plate in three of the remaining innings, our relief corps held up. 8-6 Raccoons. Salazar 3-5; Green 2-5, 2 HR, 3 RBI; Kinnear 2-5, 3B, 2B, 2 RBI; O’Morrissey 2-3, BB, 2 2B, RBI;

Game 4. Scott Wade retired the first two Canadiens, then put four on, falling 1-0 behind, and the Canadiens soon made it 2-0. While Wade was mildly awful, the Raccoons failed to knock Ruben Prado (3-12, 5.38 ERA) for crying out loud. It took them five innings to even get a hit against the sucker. They left two on in the fifth, including Wade, who had actually singled. Ultimately, the Canadiens left their runners on left and right, and with the Coons it was just this teeth-gritting inability to beat the most incompetent pitchers to pulp. The Raccoons had their first two men on in the sixth, had the bags full with one out, and then Allen grounded into a force at home. Down 3-0 in the top 8th: Green singled, Kinnear singled, Green to third. No outs. A good team scores two or ties the game here, especially against a weak nut like Prado. The Raccoons didn’t score one until with two down, remained behind 3-1, and the kids in row one were littering me with peanuts. And they were laughing, too. But because the Canadiens were about as terrible a team this season, we still got another chance when Raúl Solís threw away Ron McDonald’s slow grounder in the top 9th. Instead of a possible inning-ending double play he got an error, and the Coons had the tying runners on with one out. Green singled to load the bases. Kinnear came up in the spot usually occupied by Neil Reece, who wasn’t here yet. Kinnear grounded into a force at home, and O-Mo rolled out. 3-1 Canadiens. Green 3-5, 2B; Allen 2-4, RBI;

In other news

July 16 – LAP INF Carlos Cook (.309, 5 HR, 50 RBI) has suffered a sprained wrist and will miss at least one month on the DL.
July 18 – The Warriors flip 26-year old INF/LF/RF Rafael Herrera (.287, 4 HR, 35 RBI) to the Capitals for 34-year old C/1B Jack Jackson (.182, 3 HR, 17 RBI). Seems like the Warriors GM was drunk or lost a bet or something.

Complaints and stuff

It didn’t translate into rousing success overall with the third 2-2 split against the Canadiens this year, but at least Royce Green got a reward for his barrage this stunted week, as his 8-16, 3 HR, 6 RBI performance netted him the CL’s Player of the Week award.

Since I don’t want to report anything negative today, this update ends here.

[Westheim]

Oh, look what’s been washed ashore! It’s a half-drowned raccoon, barfing salty water. Say hi to the lil’ critter and let’s get him goin’.

What’s on with the franchise? We just (a real time month ago) split a 4-set in Vancouver and will hit the Midwest for another week on the road. Vinson is on the DL (for a few more days only), Miguel Lopez is out for the year, and Neil Reece is on a rehab assignment at St. Petersburg. Vinson and Reece could both be with us in Milwaukee before that series is over.

Raccoons (43-51) @ Loggers (50-41) – July 19-21, 1994

Will the Loggers actually win the division (and post a winning record for the first time) this season? It’s no fluke anymore by now, because the All Star game is already history, although I’m still not sure how they’re doing it. They’re a bit like these 1983 Raccoons, who played way above their level. We’re 3-6 against them this year, but that doesn’t tell you a lot. Somehow you have to lose games to linger at the .450 mark.

Pitching prodigies met in the opener with Gabriel De La Rosa facing Martin Garcia (6-8, 3.98 ERA), the Loggers’ highly promising 23-year old starter. To everybody’s surprise, Garcia was shredded in the first inning for five runs, including a 3-run homer by Royce Green. With a 5-0 lead, De La Rosa was able to cruise (and the lead didn’t increase, since the Raccoons stopped producing instantly) for three innings, before jamming in the fourth and fifth innings, allowing a run in the latter, which also featured an ugly collision at second base, where 3B Jose Perez clobbered into our Jorge Salazar. Two men went down, only one man stood up, and that was Salazar. Perez left with an injury. De La Rosa pitched another inning, having gotten an insurance run on a Kinnear RBI groundout in the top 6th, then left because he was done for it. Mark Allen upped to 8-1 with a 2-out, 2-run homer in the seventh, and what can happen with a 7-run lead? Well, for example, the bullpen can happen. Miller was up first, was ineffective, and was charged with two runs, and then Vela came in to finish the game in the ninth with an 8-3 lead, and his second batter, Gates Golunski, hit him for a 2-run homer. Enter Lagarde. Two singles later, with two outs, he faced Miguel Vela. Oh look, another home run. That one tied the game. I cried through the 10th and 11th innings, and by the 12th, the bottom was falling out of either pen. With the bags full and one out, we had to hit for Juan Martinez in the top 12th. Marvin Ingall singled to left to score the go-ahead run, and the Raccoons would add six more as the Loggers were out of arms. The exclamation mark was set by Green with a grand slam. Now Ken Burnett came out for the bottom 12th to get three outs, our last arm not in the rotation. The Loggers put runners on the corners, before Burnett finally ended the game with a K to 1B Drake Evans. 15-8 Raccoons. Hall 1-3, 4 BB, RBI; Green 2-7, 2 HR, 7 RBI; Allen 4-6, HR, 2B, 4 RBI; Ingall (PH) 1-1, RBI; De La Rosa 6.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 3 K and 1-3; Martinez 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, W (5-1);

So, a nice outing by De La Rosa (101 pitches through six and low stamina, so that was it) wasted by abysmal relieving. All seven men were used here.

The Coons again took a lead in the first in the middle game, 1-0, and again stopped right there for Kisho Saito. Now, Saito pitched a great game, but he doesn’t pitch many shutouts these days, and he didn’t here. The Loggers led off with two hits in the sixth, and scored the tying run on a sac fly. Saito would not get a decision, issuing a 1-out walk to 3B Bob Rush in the bottom 7th, which was his exit ticket on 108 pitches. Martinez cleared the air, but again, Saito’s march to 200 was delayed further. We left Daniel Hall on third base in the ninth, and this game also went to extra innings. Rodriguez, who had not started the game, drove in the go-ahead runs in the top 10th with two out, and that gave Lagarde another chance to save something. This time he set the Loggers down in order. 3-1 Raccoons. Baldivía 3-5; Quinn 2-5, 2B; Rodriguez 1-1, 2B, 2 RBI; Hall (PH) 1-1; Saito 6.1 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K;

We made two roster moves before game 3, bringing back David Vinson and Neil Reece from their injuries. Ron McDonald was sent back to AAA, and then I had a choice between Alejandro Lopez and Bobby Quinn to designate for assignment. Lightning struck Lopez. He has a 65 OPS+ year, batting .220-ish. While Quinn isn’t lighting it up on the scoreboard, I still find him less agonizing. He’s been here a few years, you know what he can and what he can’t. Lopez had a great two thirds of a season (18 HR) last year, but this year … bah! Between Reece and Green we have enough options in center. Anybody claims Lopez and something happens to Reece or Green again? We still have Glenn Johnston to play backup for the last two months of the season. He can’t be much worse than Lopez.

Game 3. A sweep in the books? Not bloody quite. 6-5 Tim Butler massacred the Raccoons early on, while this time the Loggers scored that early run off Raimundo Beato. The Raccoons didn’t get going until they were pushed to the scoreboard by other people’s mistakes, scoring a run and halving a 2-0 deficit after a Butler wild pitch in the top 7th. The Raccoons accounted for four hits in total in the entire game and never got the tying run on base. 2-1 Loggers. Salazar 3-4, RBI;

Now the funny thing! Neil Reece was in the lineup, went 0-2 with a walk and played well in the field until he made a catch in the seventh inning, then took his glove off and held his hand. The team trainer warped out.

Hand contusion. Out for a few days again.

AIN’T THAT FUNNY???

Raccoons (45-52) @ Thunder (57-39) – July 22-24, 1994

The Thunder had the best offense in the league. In fact, they were so good with the bat, that even though their pitching was so-so and their bullpen an embarrassment, they led the Condors by four in the CL South.

The Thunder’s Bob MacGruder came in with a 3.57 ERA and a record of 14-2. THAT was how good their offense was. MacGruder’s seventh pitch went to Vern Kinnear’s head, and our leftfielder went down and had to be slowly walked off the field by the trainer and his assistance once he picked himself up five minutes later. The Coons, albeit shocked, responded with the bat in the second inning, putting three runs on the offending pitcher. Unfortunately, the dumb donkey Jason Turner was pitching for the Raccoons and blew the 3-0 lead instantly in a 2-hit, 3-walk, 3-run inning in the bottom 2nd. Turner wasn’t representing the slightest impediment in the Thunder’s desire to score runs, and that rat face MacGruder actually drove in the go-ahead run in the bottom 4th. The Thunder never looked back and first crushed Turner for a total of six runs in 4+ innings, then also turned Daniel Miller inside out for four runs in the sixth. After the Coons brilliantly faked a rally in the seventh with four runs, including a 3-run homer by Green, Albert Matthews was sent out to pitch the last two innings. He didn’t retire anybody, because this was what happened: walk, wild pitch, walk, wild pitch, walk; against Burnett all runners scored. 13-8 Thunder. Quinn 2-3, BB, 2B, RBI; Salazar 3-4, RBI;

Everybody’s worst fears were confirmed late that evening: Kinnear had a concussion and would be out for at least three weeks. With Kinnear out and Lopez on waivers, we lacked an outfielder, especially with Reece’s hand bothering him yet again. We called up 2B Pat Parker for a day to fill out the roster, and to wait on whether Lopez would clear waivers. Kinnear and a concussion. That’s … that’s pretty bad.

About as bad? This team. They’re sucking the air out of … even out of hell! I don’t know how they do it, but they suck the air out of hell!

The Thunder found their next victim in Scott Wade in the middle game. Wade showed alarming inability to remove batters in a lineup with five left-handers and surrendered three runs early. Solo shots by Green and Quinn did not equalize that, but a throwing error by catcher Tashiro Ikeda helped them to tie the score in the top 4th, 3-3. Both pitchers shook badly in the middle innings, but neither team managed to topple their opponent. We were facing reliever Tony Simpson already in the seventh inning where Royce Green loaded the bags with a 1-out single. Still tied game, we need a proper AB from O’Morrissey. Down 0-2, he at least made contact to center for Salazar to tag and score on the sac fly. Quinn singled to fill the bags again, bringing up Hall with two outs. He went to a full count, but instead of potentially taking a walk again, launched at a 3-2 pitch, shoving it through on the left side, scoring two runs. Up 6-3, Wade faced two more batters in the bottom 7th, which ended up Alejandro Olvera hitting a single to shallow center, and O-Mo misplaying a sac bunt from SS Jose Sanchez. Grant West came in, but failed to contain the storm. The two runners scored, and the Thunder left two more on, but it was only half bad: they tied the game off Martinez in the eighth, and because the bullpen was aching already again, Martinez remained in for the ninth, and never retired a batter. Thunder walked off, 7-6. Salazar 2-4, BB; Green 2-5, HR, RBI; Quinn 3-4, BB, HR, 2B, RBI; Hall 2-5, 2 RBI;

The Canadiens claimed Alejandro Lopez on the final day of him being on waivers, so there went on problem, and popped up another. How to proceed with that outfield now? First we had too many outfielders, now we don’t have enough! Like five minutes ago, I mentioned that Glenn Johnston – somehow – would be next in line to attempt a comeback in the Bigs. Well, oops, nope! He just strained his back.

(slams head onto the table repeatedly)

Neil Reece was fine to play in game 3. Heaven only knew what he would break, squish, or tear in that game. At 10-5 and a 2.99 ERA, Manuel Garza looked like an insurmountable mountain for the Coons in game 3. Yet like in his last road start, Gabriel De La Rosa came to bat before he took the mound, as the Raccoons tagged Garza for four runs in the opening inning, including Neil Reece’s first RBI since April. And just like Garza didn’t yet know what had hit him (but minus a Baldivía home run in the second he settled in and pitched into the seventh), the Thunder offense ran into De La Rosa throwing buzzing chainsaws at them. They were 4-hit through six innings, before two shy singles and a walk threatened Rosie’s line in the seventh. Bobby Quinn threw out a potential run at the plate, but De La Rosa didn’t get out of the inning, leaving two on with two out. Burnett collected the final out, and was then left in to pitch the eighth. He got two outs, and then what little we had (a 5-0 lead) fell apart again. Three straight batters reached base, scoring one run, and prompting Lagarde to appear to face ex-Coon Jeff Martin. Martin was a useless dork, everybody in Portland knew that. Time to tell the Oklahomans. Lagarde punched him out. Bottom 9th, Lagarde still in with a 4-run lead. Haruki Nakayama made a quick out, but then Lagarde walked Ikeda, and Olvera and Sanchez singled. Suddenly the tying run appeared at the plate in veteran Dave Browne, and Lagarde had blown it once before this week. He struck out Browne, bringing up Vonne Calzado. The rightfielder lined a hissing rocket out to right, but Green was there. Game over. 5-1 Raccoons. Reece 2-4, RBI; De La Rosa 6.2 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 8 K, W (3-1);

In other news

July 19 – DEN LF Dale Wales (.349, 6 HR, 45 RBI) has compiled a 20-game hitting streak.
July 20 – NAS RF/CF Orlando Mendoza (.298, 2 HR, 28 RBI) is out for the season with a badly fractured ankle.
July 22 – The Wolves lose 6-5 in a close contest with the Cyclones, with SAL 2B/SS Paul Connolly (.296, 1 HR, 29 RBI) landing two hits in five tries. The specialty about this? Connolly’s latter hit in the game, a ninth inning 2-out single off Miguel Angel Áviles, is his 2,500th career hit. Not turning 34 until after this season, Connolly will have a great chance to make it to 3,000 hits before the curtain will come down.
July 22 – NAS CL Juan Miranda (4-3, 2.72 ERA, 22 SV) notches his 400th save by securing a 7-6 win of the Blue Sox over the Scorpions.
July 22 – The Rebels end Wales’ hitting streak at 22 games, holding him to 0-4, and also beat the Gold Sox, 4-1.
July 25 – Indianapolis’ OF/1B Rich Tracy, just recently acquired from San Francisco, announces his retirement due to post-concussion syndrome at age 29. A supplemental round pick by the Falcons in 1984, Tracy always battled injuries in his career, which eventually amounted to 1,233 games in the Bigs, batting .244/.294/.362 with 23 HR and 145 RBI between the Falcons, Indians, and Bayhawks.
July 25 – VAN OF Luis Arroyo (.298, 8 HR, 48 RBI) will miss over a month with a fractured finger.

Complaints and stuff

What a week. So much things that just don’t work. Most things don’t work. We’ll be quicker if I only mention the things that did work: Daniel Hall drew lotsa walks. Fin.

No seriously. Royce Green won the CL POTW (not: Prisoner of the War) award for the second straight week. While he only batted 9-29, he slapped four homers and drove in 11 runs.

Scott Wade signed the 2-yr, $500k contract extension I offered a while ago. Note that this is really relievers’ money, and that’s where he may wind up before soon: in the pen.

Daniel Hall – whose propensity to walk often in a game has been highlighted recently – casually also set a new record this week: most walks in an extra-inning game with four. Now, that’s also the franchise record for a regulation game, but it had – conincidentally – never been done in an overtime affair. Now it’s Dan’s.

(sigh) Daniel Hall …

I’ve never been so thoroughly love-struck with any fictional player in any fictional sports sim. He has by far overwhelmed my favourite fictional character from my [association] football managing days (ca. 2007), (of course you can hardly overwhelm Cristiano Ronaldo, whom I also signed a few years into that game) when I managed Werder Bremen and dug out a 20-year old striker from the depths of the Brazilian jungle, who went on to score some 300+ goals over his career for me.

Aldo, I still do remember you.

[Orcin]

I don't know anything about this Aldo character, but I am happy to have the half-drowned raccoon back!

[pjh5165]

Glad to see you're back. The dynasty report forum was far too positive and optimistic while you were gone.

[Westheim]

Neil Reece will be ready for the Bayhawks series. Let’s see whether his hand agrees!

Raccoons (46-54) vs. Bayhawks (52-45) – July 26-28, 1994

About average in most categories apart form a weak (10th in CL) rotation, the Bayhawks might be playing a bit above their ceiling this year. Definitely not what you can say about the low-flying Raccoons. Their bellies are scraping the grass in flight …

Kisho Saito was in game 1, as well as Jesus Lopez (9-7, 3.21 ERA). With the Coons’ propensity for scoring little for Master Kisho, and the Bayhawks bringing about their best man up, Ben O’Morrissey, who had done preciously little the last few weeks, started a rally in the bottom 2nd with a 1-out triple. Higgins scored him with a single, and then Jose Rodriguez homered to right center, before Ingall and Hall produced another run. 4-0 early. Kisho Saito had to dodge a bullet in the third when an error by O-Mo put two men in scoring position, but Saito punched out RF Steve Adams in the #2 hole (wondered what he did there) to end the threat. The Coons added a run in the fourth, then left the bases loaded the next two innings, but scored a run in the latter: Royce Green nailed his 20th homer on the year and the eighth since the Break. Green wasn’t done: he came up once more in the bottom 8th, and mashed a 3-piece there, followed by O-Mo hitting a 2-run homer as the Bayhawks pen exploded. Saito was cruising and nailing the Bayhawks to the ground with ferocity. He entered the ninth on a 3-hit shutout, retired two with only three pitches, then nailed Pedro Villa – and then was taken deep by 3B Lorenzo Delgado. The park instantly deflated. Saito finished the game, but the shutout was broken up. 11-2 Raccoons. Hall 2-5, RBI; Green 2-5, 2 HR, 4 RBI; O’Morrissey 3-5, HR, 3B, 2 RBI; Higgins 2-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Rodriguez 2-5, HR, 2 RBI; Saito 9.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 6 K, W (8-5) and 0-1, BB, RBI;

Home runs #20 and #21 have catapulted Royce Green from the edge of the top 10 to leading the home run race in all of the ABL, as he overtakes Richmond’s (formerly Indy’s) Raúl Vázquez with his double dong in this game. OCT Will Jackson sits at 19 in the CL.

We need a left-handed outfield bat. And it’s the end of July. Vern Kinnear is out until mid-August at least. The only semi-serious option at Glenn Johnston, who blew out his back in time before a call-up.

Royce Green made it home runs in three consecutive AB’s by 3-nailing Ricardo Sanchez in the bottom 1st of the middle game. Raimundo Beato was up for the Coons and set out to give that lead away instantly, allowing two runs in the second, but his evil plan was foiled, when the Coons added three more in the bottom 2nd! Beato continued to not be sharp and ran himself stuck in the sixth, allowing a third run and loading the bags. With one out, Vela came in and got a double play to facilitate an escape. By that point, the Coons were already up 9-3. That was still the score heading into the ninth. Daniel Miller was sent out for three outs with a 6-run lead. He left with one out and the bases loaded, and he left straight to St. Petersburg. Martinez entered, walked in a run, and gave up an RBI single. With left-hander Bill Dean up, Grant West was next. Dean slammed, and tied the game. Un-believeable. West put two more on, and then Matthews gave the Bayhawks a lead. Raccoons went down without even trying in the bottom 9th. 10-9 Bayhawks. Salazar 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Quinn 2-5, 3B, 2 RBI; Green 2-5, HR, 4 RBI; O’Morrissey 2-4, 3B; Baldivía (PH) 1-1, 2B; Vinson 2-4, BB, RBI; Parker 1-2, 2 BB; Vela 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

I’m numb.

Miller was yanked to AAA with his 7.20 ERA. We called up SP Gerardo Ramirez, 23, our 1991 first round pick. He has five pitches and little control over them. He’s not one of those top level prospects. We will hold out with calling up Antonio Donís for either September or next year. THAT is the top level prospect. Ramirez would start in the next series and De La Rosa would move back to the bullpen.

And I’m still numb.

Game 3. Royce Green continued to pummel pitching with a 2-run homer off Min-tae Kim (11-7, 4.61 ERA) in the first inning. But this game also involved Jason Turner, so again no lead was safe. Turner was wild, walking everybody who didn’t move at the plate. Double plays bailed him out repeatedly, allowing only one run in the fourth. The Coons were lucky that the bottom 5th started with Vinson reaching on a 2-base throwing error, and somehow they screwed up too little to not score him. As if a 3-1 lead would suffice. Next inning, Turner surrendered three straight singles to start the frame, and it about blew out the game – apart from Grant West coming in again with trouble brewing and this time didn’t allow anything across the plate, holding on to a 3-2 lead. The Bayhawks threatened with the tying or even winning run on base in the seventh and eighth innings, but didn’t get them in. Lagarde, who had not taken part in the previous day’s massacre, came in to close it in the ninth and did the only thing my nerves could tolerate: sit them down in order. 3-2 Coons. Green 2-4, HR, 2 RBI;

The deadline was approaching fast, but there were no trades that screamed to be made. The core of this team won two titles. There was no reason to trade key pieces to those two titles away in a – year-long – slump. Like O-Mo, f.e. …

Raccoons (48-55) vs. Falcons (49-54) – July 29-31, 1994

Falcons games usually saw lots of runs scored, with the team ranking 2nd in offense and 11th in defense in the CL. This didn’t bode well for the Raccoons’ fragile pitching, either.

Scott Wade tried to stink up against Carlos Castro (10-4, 2.94 ERA) in the opener. He had no chance. Walking the edge of humiliation often in the early innings, he watched on as the Falcons somehow left eight men on base in the first four innings, without scoring. They still took a lead in the fifth, 1-0, the RBI going to ex-Coon 1B Billy Mitchell. The Raccoons had left the bases loaded in the bottom 2nd, and then put their first two men on in the sixth, 2-0 behind. Reece, Higgins, and O-Mo flailed and the runners were left on. Wade put 13 men on in seven innings, allowing three runs. Castro in turn 4-hit the Raccoons over eight innings before yielding to Artie Saunders for the ninth. Against Saunders’ 5.17 ERA, the Coons brought the tying run to the plate after a Salazar double and a Vinson walk. Quinn stepped in, batting for Allen. His silent single loaded the bases, and Rodriguez came out to bat for Matthews, sending a sure double play ball to SS Ron Williamson – who bobbled it. One run scored, bases loaded with one out for Daniel Hall. His howling line drive to left was caught by hustling LF Jose Madrid, who had to leap to get it – and lost it upon hitting the ground: RBI single. One more to tie the game! Baldivía, the king of double plays, came up. He grounded hard to short, where Williamson ate dirt. Rodriguez turned third as Madrid got to the ball, but the throw was late – WALKOFF!!! 4-3 Coons!! Baldivía 1-4, BB, 2 RBI; Green 3-4, 2B; Salazar (PH) 1-1, 2B; Quinn (PH) 1-1; Matthews 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K, W (1-0);

I will just lean back now and rest in assurance that I did everything right managing this game.

Game 2 marked the big league debut for 23-year old Gerardo Ramirez. He failed to retire either of the first four batters he faced, plunked one of them, and surrendered two runs before he ever registered an out. Now, he stopped sucking that hard after that first inning, and got the Falcons more or less under control. The Raccoons scrambled to help the rookie, and while it wasn’t the most aesthetic sight to see, they scrambled successfully, tying the score in the fourth, and then knocked out Falcons starter Ernest Fleming in the sixth with a pair of runs to lead 4-2. Ramirez was done after seven, the last six of which had been awesometastic, and the pen took over, with Martinez pitching a scoreless eighth. Then came Lagarde and Ramirez’ little world started to tumble. Lagarde walked Billy Mitchell on four straight balls, before Quinn made a play on Melvin Kirk’s flyer to right. Duane Smith, the Falcons’ catcher singled his way on, before Lagarde went into a full count on 3B Mark Hall. But Hall had whiffed in every AB against Ramirez, and he whiffed again here. Williamson then made the final out. Phew! 4-2 Coons. Baldivía 3-5, 2B, RBI; Reece 2-4, BB; Vinson 1-2, 3 BB, RBI; Ramirez 7.0 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 9 K, W (1-0) and 2-3, 3B, 2B;

Yes, the kid whiffed nine, and had more total bases than anybody else on the team. Maybe he will get a second start.

Kisho Saito attempted to complete the sweep in game 3 on Deadline Day. No, Kisho, you won’t be traded if you lose. I promise. Yes, I promise. Ye-es. Take the ball now, I have to – uh … make a call.

Saito was not too sharp early on. Mitchell homered off him in the top 2nd, but a Pat Parker single tied the game back in the bottom half of the inning. The Coons moved out to 2-1 in the third, but were tied back in the fourth. Bottom 5th: Salazar was hit to start the frame, and then Baldivía doubled to center. Two in scoring position, no outs. Royce Green wasn’t pitched to with great ferocity and walked. Neil Reece lifted a ball to shallow center into the first out. Higgins grounded into a force out at home. Vinson fell to two strikes in no time – then dunked a 2-2 pitch into shallow center, scoring Baldivía and Green. Up 4-2, Saito went into the seventh, where suddenly everything turned up tails. Mark Hall reached on an infield single, Sixto Rodriguez walked, and then Saito hit Christian Dunphy. No outs. Saito registered only one out, but was charged with three runs, before yielding to Grant West, who got out of the inning. The Coons remained 5-4 down into the ninth. Baldivía made the first out, bringing up Green against Saunders, our game 1 victim. Green had already homered in the third, and now tattooed Saunders, tying the game and removing Saito from the L column. We went to extra innings and eventually brought in Ken Burnett, who surrendered nothing but hard contact, and the Falcons scored on him in the 12th. In the bottom of the inning, Neil Reece led off with a double, and Higgins singled. No outs, winning runs on. Before the Raccoons could blow up here, Ron Williamson missed Ed Davis’ 2-0 offering for a passed ball and Reece scored. Vinson walked on the next pitch. Two on, no outs. Bobby Quinn made it one on, two outs with a 6-4-3 grounder. Rodriguez now came out to hit for Parker and grounded a shy roller up the middle – and through. Higgins scored, and we walked off again! 7-6 Coons. Green 2-3, BB, 2 HR, 2 RBI; Reece 2-6, 3B, 2B; Higgins 3-6; Quinn 2-5, BB; Rodriguez (PH) 1-1, RBI; Vela 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

Funny thing: Albert Matthews picked up the W’s in both walkoffs in this series.
Not so funny thing: that was our first sweep since April!!

Raccoons (51-55) @ Aces (48-55) – August 1-3, 1994

The Aces were much the opposite of the Falcons, while having the same success (none). They had zero offense going, their 414 runs scored ranking 11th in the CL. The pitching, well at least the rotation was decent.

Up front the Aces threw Carlos Guillén (10-4, 2.71 ERA) at us, whose stats dwarved 4-8 Pooky’s by much. Both teams scored an unearned run in the first inning, before RF Taisuke Mashiba mashed one off Beato’s hand for a 2-piece in the bottom 3rd. The Coons would tie *that* back with unearned runs, but the second-worst offensive team in the league was still too heavy for Beato, who allowed five runs in as many innings, and that was too much for the team’s offense. They never recovered from Beato’s outing. 6-4 Aces. Hall 1-1; Quinn 2-4; Salazar 3-4, 2 2B, RBI; Vinson 2-4, RBI;

Royce Green had one hit in the game, another home run. That’s 26 now on the season. He has distanced RIC Raúl Vázquez and OCT Will Jackson by five each now, and the next-closest players are sitting at *15* home runs!

Daniel Hall had only one AB in the game, because he got hurt on a play in the first inning. Coming down from a leaping grab, he landed wrong and sprained his ankle. Had been waiting for his annual injury. Had been worried he wouldn’t break something all year! See you in September, Dan. :-(

Of course, the injury aggravates our roster situation. We only have three outfielders left (Green, Reece, Quinn), and need another man up. In AAA, we had five outfielders, two of which had been recently promoted there. The others were Winston Witter, Edgar Morris, and Glenn Johnston. Witter is a constantly hurting, 23-year old Dutch non-slugger. Morris is a constantly hurting, 23-year old American free-swinger (and our ’88 first round pick). And everybody knows Johnston. And we called him up, because he was slugging .805 in AAA and could play all three positions well, and because there was nobody else available. Johnston’s left-handed bat would be used in the middle game already.

Salazar and Higgins turned in a double shift in the double play factory in the middle game, trying to keep the Aces off the board with an erratic Jason Turner pitching. They were quite good at bat, while the Coons themselves didn’t get a hit until a Vinson blooper fell into shallow center in the fifth. In the top 6th and a still scoreless game, Salazar and Baldivía then singled themselves to the corners with no outs. Royce Green came, saw, grounded out to second, but allowed Salazar to score. As if a single run would help the 1994 Jason Turner. It didn’t, and he surrendered two runs quickly. The Raccoons had no idea which way to rub those Aces pitchers and were 5-hit in the game. 2-1 Aces.

Wade faced Jou Hara (8-8, 4.33 ERA) in game 3. Hara was struggling, to put it mildly. (But ask Wade…) However, both pitchers were really decent in the game, although Hara surrendered two runs pretty early. Wade didn’t allow a lot of runners (although he put on Hara twice), and held the zero on the board through five. To start the top 6th, Green popped out foul, and Reece, not finding his hammer at this point, managed a lucky single. O-Mo came up, everybody expecting a K. But holy cow, O-Mo drilled a titanic home run to left that knocked the score up to 4-0. Wade surrendered a leadoff triple to Claudio Garcia (who got hurt plunging into the base) in the bottom 7th, which the Aces did turn into a run, but that left a respectable line for Wade. And Reece got that run back leading off the eighth, jacking his first homer since April 18. The pen allowed only one runner, and held on. 5-1 Raccoons. Reece 2-4, HR, RBI; O’Morrissey 2-4, HR, 3 RBI; Wade 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 5 K, W (5-7);

In other news

July 26 – In one of the bigger deadline deals, the Thunder send OF Alejandro Olvera (.257, 4 HR, 22 RBI) to Dallas for SP/MR Hachim Kiara (2-1, 3.91 ERA). The Stars also add RF/LF Darren Allison (.289, 7 HR, 52 RBI) from Nashville in turn for MR Cesar Sanchez (1-0, 3.23 ERA).
July 29 – DEN SP Kiyohira Sasaki (10-9, 3.93 ERA) overcomes a 3-run fourth inning against the Blue Sox when his team picks him up again in the middle innings. Sasaki goes eight innings to earn the W in the Gold Sox’ 7-3 win. It is the 200th major league win credited to the 35-year old Japanese pitcher. Discovered by the Condors in Japan in 1977, he made his debut in 1980 for the Stars. Between 1982 and 1990, he won at least 14 games each year, and 16 or more games every year except 1987. He also won the 1983 World Series with the Stars. Sasaki is the fifth pitcher to reach 200 ABL wins after Juan Correa (272), Leland Lewis (226), Billy Robinson (219), and Craig Hansen (214).
July 30 – The Warriors will be without INF Esteban Areizaga (.299, 11 HR, 71 RBI) for a few weeks. The 28-year old has a strained rib cage muscle.
July 31 – LAP SP Bastyao Caixinha (12-10, 3.26 ERA) 3-hits the Cyclones in a 10-0 washout.
August 1 – The Pacifics are 3-hit in turn by Richmond’s Harry Griggs (17-4, 3.13 ERA) in a 4-0 Rebels win.

Complaints and stuff

Royce Green ran away with the CL POTY award for the THIRD straight week! This time he batted 11-26 (.423) with 4 HR and 10 RBI. He is terrifying! He was accordingly also elected CL Batter of the Month with a frightful .380, 15 HR, 32 RBI line.

FIFTEEN HOMERS!! In a MONTH!! What will he do next?? EAT … - … EAT THE WORLD??

I’m thrilled.

Remember Sam Dadswell? He was our should-be-star catcher before David Vinson. He became a free agent after 1989 and went to Denver, where by now he has fallen out of favor far enough that he has actually hit rock bottom in AAA ball at age 33. He never OPS’ed less than .706 in Portland. He never reached that mark in a full season for the Gold Sox. What a sad sight. I spotted him on the trading block. Yeah, I would dig to get rid of that contract as well.

I was looking for a trade at the deadline to add a left-handed bat, but couldn’t find any player with value that was not impossible to pay for. Sakutaro Ine was on the block, but he’s paid $950k this year, and we can’t possible fit him on the payroll, which is already $475k over budget.

In turn, the Canadiens offered MR Dennis Columpton to me for Mark Allen. Columpton wouldn’t add anything to the roster, while Allen’s remaining contract (which is up at season’s end) wouldn’t have allowed us to make another move to ADD salary, so I dropped the proposal. Allen is still scheduled to be a type B free agent, but if he were a *horse* he’d be scheduled to be mercy-killed…

So long.

[Orcin]

Originally Posted by Westheim

Allen is still scheduled to be a type B free agent, but if he were a *horse* he’d be scheduled to be mercy-killed…

It's this kind of analysis that keeps us coming back for more. Well, that and the fact that we all love a train wreck.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (52-57) @ Titans (50-58) – August 4-7, 1994

The Raccoons came out swinging in the opener of the 4-game set. O’Morrissey homered to lead off the top 2nd, and Royce Green mashed yet another one, a 2-shot in the third for an early 3-0 lead for Gerardo Ramirez in his second start in the Bigs. Green then also was responsible for another run when he misplayed a flyer off RF Jose Martinez’ bat for a leadoff double in the fourth, and the Titans brought Martinez in. Martinez again doubled and scored in the sixth, bringing the score to 3-2. The Coons had stopped swinging, apparently. The Titans meanwhile left two in scoring position in the sixth, and again in the eighth, but they had already tied the game against Ken Burnett in that inning. The Raccoons didn’t do anything past the third inning and lost the game in overtime when Jack Burbidge walked off the Titans with a 2-out RBI double off Tony Vela in the bottom 10th. 4-3 Titans. Green 3-5, HR, 2 2B, 2 RBI; O’Morrissey 2-5, HR, RBI; Quinn 2-5;

This Jose Martinez basically killed the Coons single-handedly, being involved in three of their four runs. He has a 19-game hitting streak going now. Can Kisho Saito stop him?

Nope. Saito did well enough, punched out Martinez in their first encounter, but Martinez singled the second time up in the third inning, then was thrown out stealing by David Vinson (the humiliation!). Saito had before already bailed out of a runners-on-the-corners-no-outs situation in the second inning with a grounder to his feet and two K’s. The Coons led 1-0 in the fourth, when they put their 3-4-5 guys on with no outs. They scored three runs with an RBI single by Higgins, a bases-loaded walk by Quinn, and an RBI groundout by Saito. 4-0, looking good. As it turned out, that two on, no out situation in the second was the best chance the Titans would get for a long time in this game. They didn’t get to Saito at all in the middle innings, a shy single here or there set aside. Into the ninth, Saito was still up by four, then surrendered a leadoff double to Gary Lang. Uh-oh. Would we lose a shutout in the ninth again? Nope! Saito sat down the next three to seal the deal! 4-0 Coons! Reece 3-5, 3B, 2B; Higgins 2-3, RBI; Vinson 2-4, 2B; Saito 9.0 IP, 8 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 6 K, W (9-5);

So, Martinez went to a 20-game hitting streak, but was probably still pissed that his team did nothing around him. Meanwhile, Kisho Saito pitched his 16th career shutout (17 including playoffs) here with this 8-hitter. It’s his first this year, and extends his streak of seasons with at least one shutout to seven.

After that masterful outing by Master Kisho came a pookiful start by Raimundo Beato in turn 3. He walked the first two men he faced and although the team turned a double play to bail out of that mess, Beato never found his mojo in the game. Salazar and Higgins executed a double steal in the top 3rd against an unsuspected Boston battery and where then singled in by Royce Green, and the Coons scored four runs in the inning, including Neil Reece doubling and eventually scoring on a wild pitch. So, we were up by four again. Beato wasn’t great, but the defense helped him, except for a dropped ball by Neil Reece, and he was able to go seven innings. The Coons added some more offense down the road for a convincing win. 7-2 Coons. Higgins 2-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Green 3-5, 2 RBI; Vinson 2-4, 3B, 2 RBI; Beato 7.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 3 K, W (5-9);

Struggling veterans met in Jason Turner and 7-16 Francisco Vidrio in the final game of the set. Both pitchers would be pummeled with hits and gave up walks – but only Turner gave up runs, five of those in five innings. The Coons left four men in scoring position in the same five innings. Vidrio shut the Coons out over eight innings before running out of steam, and they didn’t score until their last out, when Higgins doubled down the line to score Ingall. 5-1 Titans. Rodriguez 2-4; De La Rosa 2.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

That was a strange game. Every batter in the starting lineup got at least one hit, and we lost dismally. Huh. I will take a few 3-hit games by players again in Vancouver!

Raccoons (54-59) @ Canadiens (50-62) – August 8-10, 1994

Long a nail biter for the division title, these matchups against the Canadiens have become meaningless all of a sudden this year. The Raccoons aren’t very good, and the Canadiens are battling the Crusaders for last place. Go figure! They score a lot, and concede a lot of runs (3rd, 11th in CL respectively), but they have won four in a row, and their 2B David Brewer was the CL’s Player of the Week just the previous week.

The Canadiens lost their starter Kevin Williams to injury early in the opener after registering only four outs. The Raccoons put two runs on long man Holden Gorman in the fourth, but Scott Wade gave those runs right back with ex-Coon Alejandro Lopez getting a key hit in that inning. Starting to punish us already. In the top 5th, the bottom fell out of the Canadiens, though. They made two throwing errors in the inning, helping the Coons to score four runs. After his hiccups in the fourth, Scott Wade settled in again and turned in three more scoreless innings en route to a decent outing. He was in line for a nice W, but as soon as he left, the bottom began to fall out of the Coons! Martinez took over and put the first man on in the bottom 8th. A double play got him ahead, and then he put two more on. Lagarde, who had not appeared in the Titans series at all, took over, walked Salvador Mendez to load the bags, and then was lucky for a lineout right to Pat Parker at second. Lagarde went to full counts twice in the bottom 9th, but eventually struck out the last two batters in the game. 7-2 Coons. Baldivía 2-5; Reece 2-5, RBI; O’Morrissey 2-5, 2B; Vinson 4-5, 2B, RBI; Quinn 3-5, 2 2B, 4 RBI; Wade 7.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, W (6-7); Lagarde 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K, SV (18);

The last few days we had some decent wins and our run differential for the year is now down to -4 (480-484), the same as our record. Can we turn this around into the comfort zone?

Neil Reece got a day off in the middle game. Instantly, scoring turned into even more of a pain. The Raccoons left pairs of runners on every other inning, while the Canadiens were just as bad. Their first big chance didn’t come into the sixth, when they put them on the corners with no outs against Gerardo Ramirez, who went on to punch out the next two batters (left-handers David Brewer and Alejandro Lopez, no less!) and got out of the inning with a grounder to Salazar. In a game that was still scoreless in the eighth, the Coons had two on with one out, and Mark Allen up. Baldivía was sent to bat for him and singled to load the bags. Johnston was next, and had to bat unless we wanted to ruin Reece’s day off. At least he countered reliever Julian Gonzales. If Johnston made the second out, Reece could still bat for Ramirez. Johnston flew out, nobody was able to advance, Reece batted for Ramirez, struck out, West came out to pitch, put a man on, and put another man on, and another man, and another man. 1-0 Canadiens. Vinson 3-3, BB; O’Morrissey 2-4; Baldivía (PH) 1-1; Ramirez 7.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 6 K;

What a STINKER of a game! 12 men left on base! AAHH!!

‘nother game in Canada. Can’t wait to get outta here. Elks everywhere! Kisho better make it double digits for the year.

Fortunately, the Coons came out with their bats facing the right way. Had they been screamed at after the last game? I’m not tellin’. They singled Manny Ramos to death in the first inning with five hits and an error accounting for five runs (four unearned), and Saito batted (and fouled out) before he ever threw a ball. Saito was good on the mound, although not as good as five days earlier. The Canadiens got one run against him in the third, and were close to more in the fifth, but Higgins made a hero play at second base to end that inning in time. The Coons made up the lost run in the sixth – mainly because the Canadiens made two errors in the inning once again. Bottom 6th: Brewer led off with a double off the wall against Saito and advanced on Salvador Mendez’s groundout. With Ronald Moore at the plate, Brewer made for home on Saito’s 1-1 pitch. A perfect strike, Vinson hurled himself at Brewer and narrowly tagged him out. Moore grounded out on the next pitch. The roller to Higgins here would have scored Brewer if not for the failed bid at stealing home. Fast forward to the eighth, where Saito was pinch-hit for to lead off, with Johnston singling. Meanwhile, the Canadiens pen was pitching six innings or more for the second time in three days – and came apart again. Aided by another error by SS Michael McFarland, the Coons ballooned the score to 11-1 in the inning. The Canadiens got a run off Burnett and Vela in the ninth, but the game was in the bag. 11-2 Raccoons! Salazar 3-6; Green 2-5, RBI; Vinson 2-4, 2B; Higgins 2-5, 3 RBI; Johnston (PH) 1-2; Saito 7.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, W (10-5);

In other news

August 4 – TIJ INF Bruce Boyle (.304, 7 HR, 53 RBI) will miss six weeks with a fractured finger.
August 7 – SFB INF Roberto Rodriguez (.292, 1 HR, 38 RBI) hits the record books in a 9-7 win over the Thunder. With the game going into extra innings, Rodriguez came to the plate eight times, walked once, and clicked five singles and a double in addition to that. This is the 23rd 6-hit performance in ABL history, and the third time a Bayhawk has done it (Mike White, 1979; Hector Román, 1983). The last 6-hit guy was Sioux Falls’ Claude Martin in 1993.
August 7 – The Thunder lose their young closer Jimmy Morey, 25, for the season due to a partially torn labrum. Morey was 2-4 with 31 saves and a 1.93 ERA for the year.
August 10 – Three days later, Roberto Rodriguez is out of the game with a strained back muscle. You win some, you lose some.

Complaints and stuff

Kisho Saito pitched a shutout, but upon analyzing his profile, you see that at age 34 he is slowly entering a decline. It’s not necessarily the ratings. He’s been scouted 14/12/15 for a long time by about every scout we had during the last decade. He’s now 14/10/15. It’s not dramatic. But his WHIP was up last year (1.21) already, and is there again. Compare that to six straight seasons of 1.10 WHIP or less before that during his age 27-32 seasons. This is due to hits, not walks, but our defense can’t be worse minus Tetsu Osanai, so it may be him. Regardless, he’s still dealing. He’s at 183 career wins, so about a good season’s worth of wins away from two-oh-oh.

Vern Kinnear suffered a setback in his recovery from a concussion. This is NOT good and is scaring the HECK out of me! (blinks uncontrollably)

Gerardo Ramirez took 14.2 innings to walk a batter – despite a control rating of 5 (on a 20 scale)! We might want to check his scouting profile. Right, Vince? Vince? What’s this!? Another 17-year old run away from Santo Domingo?? Our A level team is full of those! Check out Ramirez! Quick!

Jose Martinez’ hitting streak was killed in the third game of the Titans – but how it ended, bugs me. The Titans didn’t start him, and when they were down 7-2 in the bottom 9th with two out and one on, THEN they sent Martinez to hit – and he popped out. I would NEVER manage a streaking player like that, and nobody EVER should!

Also service announcement: I have shelled out roughly $1,750 for a new gaming laptop and since I intend to abandon this old device here that I LITERALLY bought in the grocery store (you have a free laugh here), I will have to migrate OOTP12 and the Coons there. Problem is: I can’t locate my product key. :-( I guess that the game won’t run without one. -.-

Regardless, once I get into migrating all my stuff over to the new laptop, there will be no updates for a while until everything is humming nicely.

[Westheim]

Swell news! I seem to have successfully moved the Furballs over to the new Laptop! At least the saved game loaded without explosions on the new machine. I looked into Kisho Saito's eyes and he assured me that everything would be fine. How nice of him! I found my product key by chance in as a JPG file in a folder that was literally titled "junk".

Now everything I have to get moving remains MS Office, since this Thing here wants 2013, and I don't have a key for THAT, and 2010 seems to be taken off the net.

Plus dealing with the IRS on behalf of my parents, dealing with the power Company on behalf of grandma, and get this highly annoying autocorrect out of my browser. You may Keep all incorrectly capitalized words in this post, it just keeps capitalizing them.

So Long, and hopefully tomorrow will bring a new update.

Edit: long company power post thing ... seems to have worked.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (56-60) @ Wolves (53-61) – August 12-14, 1994

As we entered the Oregon Brawl in the regular season for the tenth time in ABL history, the Wolves and the Raccoons were in similar situations. Slightly below .500, not really excelling in any given area, and about far enough behind to book a flight to Curacao for early October (the Wolves trailing by 9.5 games).

Plus, we fielded Raimundo Beato for the opener, who in recent months had excelled only in filling out the “I want to be traded” papers. Despite Beato loading them up in the bottom 1st with a walk and two infield singles – one right to his feet – the Wolves didn’t score. Nobody scored until the fourth, when Royce Green had a freak single to get on, stole second base, and advanced on the following two outs to reach home. That was enough for a lead for Beato, who gave his outfielders (which included Johnston in place of Quinn in this game for an extra LH bat) all kinds of work. It will work for as long as those do their job. To start off the bottom 7th, Johnston DIDN’T do his job, dropped 1B Tadashi Kan’s low flyer, putting the leadoff man on. Eventually, with one out and Kan on second base, the Wolves elected to have their starting pitcher Ramón Sotelo bunt, but now Beato had his moment, as he converted the bunt to put out Kan at third base. Two out, pitcher on first base, leadoff man Manny Munoz jr. fouled out. Now that the Wolves had botched up, you were waiting for the Coons to match them, and you didn’t wait for nothing. Ben O’Morrissey homered with two down in the ninth to make it a 2-0 game before Lagarde came out to save it. O-Mo was in the center of attention again in the bottom half of the inning, getting the first grounder and making a slightly off throw to first for the out. The next grounder ALSO went to O-Mo, another sub-par throw, and Baldivía still got it, and then dropped it. My heart skipped a few beats there, but Lagarde was able to surrender the last two Wolves. 2-0 Coons! Salazar 2-4; O’Morrissey 1-3, HR, 2 RBI; Beato 7.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 K, W (6-9);

The Coons had five hits, the Wolves only those three off Pooky. No wonder Oregon doesn’t show on the postseason map!

The same day, Vern Kinnear suffered ANOTHER setback with his concussion, putting him back another few days, and by now I was REALLY freaking out about him. The ETA for him was pushed back to Wednesday or so, which would have him miss our happy reunion with the Capitals at home. Oh dear fuzzy gods, let him heal up …! (sobs)

It was a hard task, but both offenses looked even worse in game 2 than they had in game 1. The Coons didn’t get anything going, and the Wolves at least exploited Jason Turner’s inabilities to punch anybody out. They loaded the bags in the bottom 3rd and brought up left-handed cleanup man Benny Carver with two down. Turner – a righty – failed to fool him with his non-stuff, and ended up walking him, pushing home a run – and that was the offense here for a long time. Turner then came back out for the seventh and allowed the first three Wolves all on base. This ship was sinking rapidly. Three runs were on Turner, and one on De La Rosa in the eighth. 4-0 Wolves.

Now all together! One step for-ward, one step back … one step for-ward, one step back – clap your hands! One step for-ward, one step back … one step for-ward – we all look really stupid doing this.

Game 3. What would this team do to Luis Guzman (13-11, 2.81 ERA)? Together with the Wolves they took the definition of non-aggression pacts to new levels. The first guy to touch third base in the entire game was Neil Reece on his way circling ‘round the infield in the top 6th after crushing a solo home run. Scott Wade and Guzman had either been that good, or the offenses that pathetic, maybe a combo of both. Now, the Coons were up 1-0, and Wade was really good in this game. The Wolves manager in turn appeared to be seriously drunk. Wade walked 2B Juan Valentin to lead off the bottom 8th, and he moved to third on their first two outs. Now Guzman came up – and they let the pitcher bat yet again! Wade punched him out. The Coons did zero in the top 9th, and so it’s that old dilemma again. You’ve scored one run the entire game and your guy is tossing a shutout. Do you bring in your closer? Normally yes. But the Wolves hadn’t gotten a single good hit off Wade the entire game, and Wade stayed in. Wade faced Munoz, who lobbed his first pitch over Ingall at second, and Quinn botched the pickup, putting Munoz at second base. And now I was the idiot. Lagarde came in having to potentially face Carver for the last out, representing the winning run. But since Lagarde walked Forest Hartley, Carver came up with one out and two on. Would you go to Ken Burnett to face the lefty cleanup guy? Well, no, since RHB Salvador Vargas will sit behind him, and he’s batting .310, and Munoz ain’t tardy on the bags. It was a game that couldn’t be saved, but Lagarde did nothing to help the situation escalate, walking Carver, loading the bags. Vargas sacrificed home Munoz, and when Valentin grounded out, we went to extra innings. The Wolves walked off in the 10th on a Kan single off Tony Vela, a 2-base error by Higgins, and a Miguel Castillo grounder to short, that Salazar was too slow to bring home. 2-1 Wolves. Reece 2-4, HR, RBI; Wade 8.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 K and 1-3;

Agony.

Raccoons (57-62) vs. Capitals (67-52) – August 15-17, 1994

Neither team was close to the lead in its division, but obviously the Capitals were still faring way better than we did. By far. They had dropped four in a row coming in, but were still 15 over .500, and they had the best pitching staff in the Federal League by ERA (but had surrendered only the third-least runs, hinting at weak fielding).

The Capitals took a 1-0 lead off Gerardo Ramirez in the top 1st of the opener, but in reality the run was on Vinson alone, who went 0/2 in preventing steals, and his second botched attempt at quelling the thirst for speed in the Capitals went into the outfield to score Diego Rodriguez from third base. Not that Ramirez was any good. The battery combined for five hits, five walks, an error, and two wild pitches in just 2.1 innings, before at least Ramirez was yanked. The Capitals were up 5-1, and the game was out of the window. The winning pitcher was ex-Coon Carlos Reyes, while the Raccoons only winced pathetically twice more in the game. We got some good work from the pen, though. 5-2 Capitals. Vinson 3-3, BB; De La Rosa 3.2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 K; Martinez 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Kisho Saito faced Archie Dye (11-8, 3.24 ERA) in the middle game and to be honest, Kisho was our only shot at a win here. Royce Green overcame a little slump with a solo shot to left in the bottom 1st, making it 1-0 Coons. Green also helped Saito hugely in the field, making sparkling catches in the second, third, and fourth innings, holding the Capitals off the board. Mark Allen for once made himself useful with a solo homer in the fourth, but the Capitals got that run right back off Saito in the top 5th. Saito went seven innings of 1-run ball, before we pinch-hit for him in the bottom of that inning – Higgins fouled out on the first pitch. Vela came into the game in the top 8th, got two outs, and then West entered to face left-handed monster Jeffery Brown. The duel went to a full count, before West struck out Brown. We put our first two men on in the bottom 8th, before Green, Reece, and pinch hitter Vinson (for West) made poor outs in quick succession. Lagarde would have no cushion in the ninth. He faced Dale Cleveland, Danny Nichols, and Gabriel Rivera – you better were on top of your game here. Lagarde wasn’t. He sucked, and didn’t retire anybody. Four men were put on, one scored, three were on, and when Martinez came in, all scored. Down 5-2 into the bottom 9th. O-Mo got on, advanced on a wild pitch, and scored on a 1-out single by Rodriguez. With two out, Bobby Quinn had two men on, and doubled to deep left to score them both – the game was tied, and Lagarde wouldn’t get the L he deserved. Green singled between the fielders, and Quinn was in full go mode, blasting around third, making for home – and scored! 6-5 Raccoons. Salazar 2-5; Quinn 3-5, 2 2B, 2 RBI; Green 2-5, HR, 2 RBI; Saito 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K;

Wow, this team. Betrayed Kisho once again. You guys know he has not one, but TWO swords at home?

Game 3, another rubber game. We played Pooky and Neil Reece got a day off, so chances were slim. To everybody’s surprise, Pooky struck out the first four men he faced in the game. Don’t you worry. He came apart soon enough. After wiggling out of a bases loaded jam in the third, he walked two in the top 4th, and surrendered a 2-run double to Manny Espinosa. Beato also drove in the Coons’ first run in the fifth, and had a decent outing, seven K’s in seven frames, which ended up being a no-decision as he was pinch-hit for in a 2-2 tie. Vela pitched the eighth, Burnett pitched the ninth – but Burnett continued to struggle and surrendered a run. Closer Jeff Hodge entered to protect the Capitals’ 3-2 lead and sat down the side in order. 3-2 Capitals. Higgins 3-4, 2B, RBI; Beato 7.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 7 K;

Well. I will refuse to remember that week ever again.

In other news

August 12 – The league loses the pitcher with the most skewered win ratio to ERA relationship for this season, as OCT Bob MacGruder (15-5, 4.16 ERA) is diagnosed with radial nerve compression.
August 14 – MIL MR Raymond Leger (2-2, 2.83 ERA) is slated to miss the rest of this and all of next season. The 25-year old has torn his UCL and requires Tommy John surgery.
August 15 – Season over once more: ex-Coon BOS MR Chris Nelson (2-1, 2.49 ERA, 2 SV) is out for the year with a sore elbow.

Complaints and stuff

Great relief! Vern Kinnear was declared healthy again by team doctors and was sent to AAA on a rehab assignment, just for a few days to get back to work. PHEW!!

Rumor has it that Kisho Saito sent for a sword sharpener to come over hurriedly from Japan to get something in his possession fixed, and that he invited Jackie Lagarde over for drinks for Thursday, our off day. Go ahead, Kisho, I won’t mind. -.-

Update on Tetsu Osanai: the Pacifics are still paying him princely (thanks for that, guys) and have given him the royal amount of 17 AB this season.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (58-64) @ Indians (67-54) – August 19-21, 1994

9.5 games behind, it is clear that if we want to have a shot at the playoffs, we better sweep the Indians over the weekend. Yeah. Now stop kidding. This is baseball. This is serious. Plus, we won’t even run out Saito in this series, so … well.

The Coons stormed pitcher Dan George in the first inning of the opener. George walked three men, and a throwing error by catcher Mamoru Sato helped the Coons to plate three runs with only one hit, a 2-out, 2-run single by Bobby Quinn, to their credit. Now, our own battery was not that much better, as Turner and Vinson constantly walked the edge of elimination. George didn’t make it through five innings after walking seven, yet the Coons failed to add on decisively, leading 4-1 after the top 5th. Turner wobbled on into the bottom 7th, still up 4-1, but became stuck for good with two outs, having issued five walks and five hits. Two Indians were on base with Grant West coming in to pitch to Matt Brown. Yeah, that one. Brown homered to right center. Of course. Tim Hess came in for the Indians in the eighth, and nailed down the Coons over the next two frames, fanning four. De La Rosa was sent to pitch the bottom 9th, gave up two doubles, and sent me crying. 5-4 Indians. Baldivía 3-5; Salazar (PH) 1-1;

Game 2. Larry Davis (8-10, 5.50 ERA) was screaming to tag him with runs really hard. Did the Coons listen? They scored two runs in the first inning, but those were unearned again, Brown throwing away Baldivía’s grounder on the very first play of the game. The Coons lost Glenn Johnston on a play in the bottom 2nd, some finger issue here, and Scott Wade was already reeling so hard, even our dumb and blind offense had to see we needed more runs. Or maybe they didn’t care. Through five innings they only had Jorge Salazar’s RBI double in the first in the H column – against a 5.50 ERA pitcher. Neil Reece’s 1-out triple in the sixth led to a run when Quinn sacrificed him in, giving Wade a 3-1 lead, which Wade nursed into the seventh, where things came apart, and the Indians scored two runs on Wade, Burnett, and Martinez to tie the game again. To continue their display of utter uselessness, the Coons put at least one runner on every inning from here – and never scored. Lagarde entered in the bottom 11th – never registered an out. 4-3 Indians. Salazar 3-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Higgins (PH) 1-2; Matthews 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K;

My … (facepalms)

We brought back Vern Kinnear from his short rehab stint in St. Petersburg in time for game 3. He had knocked two souvenirs in three games down there. Pat Parker, batting .120, went the other way. Glenn Johnston only had a bruise on his finger, which was not that serious after all, and was available for game 3 – which would be his last, whether he played or not. With Daniel Hall in the wing to return for the midweek series coming up, Johnston’s presence would be no longer required.

We looked at junkthrower Arthur Young (8-8, 4.05 ERA) in game 3, and with Ramirez pitching, we were as good as doomed. Higgins was leading off against the lefty, walked, stole second (“only” #23 on the year for him after stealing 42 last year), moved over on the first, and scored on the next out. No hits, but a run in the inning. Young had given the Coons fits countless times in the past, but not this time. They tagged him for three runs in the third inning, making it 4-0. Meanwhile, Ramirez was awfully wild, putting on Indians in quick succession. Yet, the Indians failed to score early on, leaving eight men on in the first three frames. Ramirez blundered through the 100 pitch mark in the fifth: one out, runners on the corners, up 4-0, do you relief him? He got one more chance with lefty 2B Angelo Duarte and walked him on four pitches, his seventh BB in the game. Grant West entered to face two more lefties with the bags full and the tying run on the plate. West had surrendered a game-tying homer in game 1 already. Here, he struck out Dane Thompson. Will everything be well? STOP KIDDING!! RF Luis Gonzalez hit a 2-out, 3-run double off West, and we just barely came out on top, 4-3. Fortunately, the Indians had their own bullpen woes, as Andrew Schaefer struggled with the Coons, walking a pair, but they only scored one in the top 6th before leaving the bags full. We got some good relief from De La Rosa and Vela while Royce Green hit a 2-piece in the eighth to extend the lead to 7-3. Vela re-entered for the bottom 9th, and then put two men on. One out. Not again. Please not. Lagarde was brought in. Lagarde walked the bags full with four off ones to Luis Gonzalez, but then struck out Victor Cornett to end the game. 7-3 Raccoons. Higgins 3-3, 2 BB, 2B; Green 3-5, HR, 4 RBI; Reece 2-4, BB, RBI; Baldivía 2-5; De La Rosa 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 1 K;

Of course, at 10.5 games out, it’s definitely game over for the year.

Daniel Hall rejoined the team off the DL on our off day, replacing Glenn Johnston, who didn’t even bat close to .200 in his short time here. He will be disposed of by the end of the year.

Raccoons (59-66) @ Loggers (64-59) – August 23-25, 1994

The realization that we will finish behind the Loggers this year is about to settle in. This is really upsetting. I am tempted to blame injuries, but the team wasn’t too great at any point in the year, to be honest.

Kisho Saito in the opener faced hotshot Martin Garcia (9-10, 3.88 ERA), who was only a tender 22. Things went south quickly, as Saito put the first two men on. With two out, RF Serafim Laborinhos lined into deep left for a double. One run scored, and Royce Green hurled the ball back home – in time for the back runner SS Raúl Rodriguez to be tagged out at the plate – and Laborinhos came up lame after pulling something in his leg. So, lots of casualties early on. It also started to rain pretty early, forcing a 47-minute delay in the third inning. Saito yielded to circumstances in the fifth inning, still trailing 1-0, and the team wasn’t getting anything done. Saito remained on the hook through six, through seven, through eight, all the while the Raccoons trailing 1-0. The 6-7-8 guys were up in the top 9th against closer James Jenkins, a righty. These were Salazar, O-Mo, and Rodriguez, who spelled Vinson today. Salazar – DRILLED a ball into deep left field, off the wall, away from the fielders, for a leadoff triple! Saito won’t be buried with a loss! Or will he? O-Mo walked. Rodriguez grounded to short, and while the Loggers didn’t get a double play, Salazar had to hold. Two in scoring position with one out. De La Rosa would have been next, but Kinnear batted for him (Quinn had started against the lefty Garcia). Kinnear took Jenkins’ first pitch and sent a howling liner over 1B Bob Rush into right, where it fell in for a 2-run double. YES!!!!! The Coons then left two men in scoring position in the inning, leaving Jackie Lagarde with no cushion. This time, the opposition had no chance. Two punchouts and a grounder back to Lagarde for three quick outs. 2-1 Coons. Kinnear (PH) 1-1, 2B, 2 RBI; Martinez 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

Juan Martinez came close to an immaculate inning in the bottom 6th, punching out three Loggers on 10 pitches. Only Jerry Fletcher saw a ball from him.

The middle game was hitless into the third, before Salazar hit a 2-out single in the top half. No score, though, but that changed in the fourth, when Royce Green homered off 6-11 Jorge Casas for a 2-0 lead. Now, Raimundo Beato had no-hit the Loggers so far. To lead off the bottom 4th, Drake Evans lined a shot to center, which Neil Reece launched at and caught – only that it was called trapped and a single. Not only Beato was upset. He was so upset, he continued with plunking Jerry Fletcher, and then threw a wild pitch past not only Bob Grant, but also David Vinson. The Loggers scored one run in the inning, but the Milwaukee fans realized the circus was in town and the clowns were running mad on the field. One man on in the bottom 5th, O-Mo made a bad throw to put them on the corners. Next, LF Gates Golunski sent a perfect grounder to Beato’s feet, zinged to Salazar, who – didn’t get the ball out of his glove the first time, and neither the second time, and botched the double play. And STILL the Loggers failed to score, when Evans whiffed for the final out. The Loggers staff walked the bases full in the top 6th, where Beato came up with two down. I needed to conserve the pen … Pooky grounded out. Beato got one out in the bottom 7th, then felt uncomfortable and left the game, still up 2-1. Top 8th, we put Green and Higgins in scoring position with no outs – didn’t score. O-Mo and Vinson grounded out poorly, and Allen whiffed. Top 9th, Baldivía got on with one out. He was run for – with Grandpa Hall! Kinnear walked, pushing him to second base, and when Reece singled to shallow right, Hall chucked around third and went for home – and scored. Lagarde was not available at this point, and we tried to close a 3-1 game with De La Rosa. Bob Grant singled to start the bottom 9th, and then De La Rosa threw away Jim Stein’s bunt. Just … because. With one out, the Loggers had the tying runs in scoring position, but De La Rosa came back to strike out Miguel Vela and Jamal Chevalier. 3-1 Coons. Kinnear 1-2, 2 BB, 2B; Reece 2-5, RBI; Green 2-5, HR, 2 RBI; Beato 6.1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, W (7-9);

Green’s homer is his 30th on the season. There have been only 16 30-homer seasons in ABL history, and it is only August. Green is five away from Tetsu Osanai’s team record, and 12 away from Raúl Vázquez record mark of 42, set last year.

Can we sweep the Loggers? Well, we fielded Jason Turner. And he was awful. He was gassed out after five innings, and these had been horrible. The Loggers had left plenty of runners on, but led 3-2. Milwaukee’s Tim Eichler had been weak as well, but the Coons were even worse at getting their men home. In a mess of a game, the Raccoons trailed 4-2 after eight. Mark Allen led off the ninth after entering in a double switch at third base, and singled to right, and Salazar followed that up with a double. Well, tying runs in scoring position, big boys coming to the plate in the inning. Baldivía flew to deep right into an out for a sac fly that scored Allen. Kinnear just needed to hit James Jenkins’ offering hard enough for Salazar to jog home. In a full count, he singled to right, tying up the game before the inning ended with outs by Reece and Green. Now, I said this was a mess of a game. Grant West had pitched the eighth with a depleted pen offering little other relief. He came back out for the ninth, got two quick outs, then put them on, one by one. A single, and another one, and an infield single, and suddenly the bases were loaded, and West threw balls to Gates Golunski. Then Golunski popped up – and out. Extra innings. We had to continue with our tired right-handers. Extra innings also allowed Jorge Salazar to chase history. Batting leadoff here, Salazar had had a base knock in every AB of his so far, for five in regulation. He led off the top 11th. Single to center – wow! The Coons loaded the bags with one out in the inning, bringing up Green. I would dig a knock here. Green delivered, a 2-run double to left, and Higgins brought in another run in the inning. Lagarde entered up 7-4, and put the first two men on, a single by Jim Stein, and a walk to Augusto Garza. Oh please, no …! Vela grounded out, but Chevalier drew a walk to load the bags. Tying runs on. I tossed the pitching coach over the dugout railing to give Lagarde a good screaming. Leon Ramirez was the pinch-hitter here, fell to 1-2, then flew to right for a sac fly. Lagarde then punched out Golunski. Sweep completed. 7-5 Coons. Salazar 6-6, 2B, RBI; Kinnear 2-5, BB, RBI; Green 3-6, 2 2B, 2 RBI; Allen 1-2; Burnett 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K;

Salazar’s 6-hit performance of course ties the major league record!

Raccoons (62-66) vs. Condors (69-58) – August 26-28, 1994

Another first division team, but we already ticked off the Loggers, maybe we can - … hey, I can dream some! Well, they have strong pitching (3rd in runs allowed) and we have won only one of six against them so far this year. A sweep in our favor may not be in the cards here.

Also, the injured Raimundo Beato is not diagnosed yet and we have no off day after this weekend series, which makes it imperative to keep De La Rosa out of trouble for a spot start.

Scott Wade faced a tough nut to crack in form of Jose Macias (12-13, 2.91 ERA) in the opener. So did the offense. While Wade fell behind in the third inning on a 2-run homer by Preston O’Day (both runs unearned after a Baldivía error), the Coons did little at first, as Macias set down the first seven Furballs that dared to face him. Then Vinson walked, but Wade struck out trying to bunt. Then Salazar got one, Macias threw a wild pitch, Baldivía singled in the first run, and then Green crushed a 3-piece for a 4-2 lead. Okay, I liked that comeback! We had Macias out of the game after four, adding a run in the bottom 4th. Wade settled in after a rough start to his outing and didn’t allow a hit between the fourth and seventh innings. We were “only” up by three after eight frames, but Wade seemed to have gas left, so he was sent back out. He got one out, then met O’Day again, and was taken deep again. Then came Kuang Liu – and homered as well. Oh noes … Burnett came in to face lefty PH Claude Martin and put him on with a single. Lagarde was sent in now with everything in full collapse. He put PH Kyae-sung Park on, before Sixto Moreno grounded out, but moved up the runners. 3B Cipriano Ortega for the win – STRUCK HIM OUT!!! 5-4 Coons. Green 1-3, BB, HR, 3 RBI; Quinn 2-4; Vinson 1-2, BB, RBI; Wade 8.1 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, W (7-7);

Will I learn a thing or two about closer usage now? Maybe not. Our bullpen was aching and Wade looked like he had it in the bag. Well. Still a decent outing for him. This also meant that we had won five in a row now.

We faced John Douglas (1-2, 5.20 ERA) in game 2, who had just come back from bone spurs in his elbow and as always sported a K/BB ratio below 1 (20/22). Neither him nor Gerardo Ramirez was particularly good, or even decent, and there was plenty of scoring early on, with the game being tied 4-4 through four. Still, both pitchers lived through six, in the bottom of which inning Royce Green drove in Kinnear for the go-ahead run, 5-4. Ramirez came back out for the seventh, but walked Brad Brown who batted in place of Douglas. Matthews and West wiggled out of the inning, with the Condors leaving the tying run on second base both here and in the next inning against Martinez. Can we get some insurance here? Yes, Baldivía jacked a leadoff homer in the bottom of the inning, so we were up 6-4 into the ninth – but who’s gonna pitch? We had four relievers in the pen, three gassed ones (Burnett, Vela, Lagarde) plus a fresh one (De La Rosa). But with Pooky undiagnosed, we needed to conserve Rosie. So, Martinez, that’s all yours! The top 9th started with a Claude Martin grounder to Ingall at second, and Baldivía dropped his throw to first. Facepalm. Martinez loaded the bags with one out and O’Day coming up, a lefty masher. He mashed to deep center, but Reece made the play and only Martin tagged and scored. Kuang Liu for the win. He grounded to first, and this time Baldivía didn’t blow it up. 6-5 Furballs! Baldivía 3-5, HR, RBI; Kinnear, 2-4, BB, 2 2B, RBI; Reece 2-5, RBI; Martinez 2.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, SV (3);

After six wins in a row, somewhere bad news had to hit. They came early on Sunday. Raimundo Beato had inflammation in his shoulder and was out for the year. That was bad, very bad. Not because Beato had aced this season, although he had gotten better recently, but because we were more and more patching this rotation together with increasing despair. De La Rosa would move to the rotation to make the start on Monday, but first it was time to bring out Master Kisho. Neil Reece got a day off, with Green manning center.

Saito struck out four in a row early on in the game, holding the Condors dry. He got support in the bottom 3rd, when Salazar hit a 1-out single, advanced on a passed ball on Andres Manuel to the dismay of Robbie Dadswell (12-9, 3.57 ERA), and Baldivía quickly singled Salazar in. They left two on there, before Saito suddenly was whacked around in the top 4th after getting two out. The Condors tied the game right back on a Fred Rodgers double to right, but Bobby Quinn threw out Kuang Liu at the plate to keep the game at least tied. Saito suddenly couldn’t get people out, which was deeply worrying, and the Condors took a 2-1 lead in the fifth, and the defense bailed him out hard both here and in the sixth, where the Condors left two in scoring position. Unfortunately, the same defense did nothing on offense. Kevin Lewis homered off Saito in the seventh, 3-1, and this ship was a-sinking. Vinson led off the bottom 7th with a double, but thought he had a triple. He didn’t. Behind him, Hall walked in place of Saito, and Salazar got on as well, and Baldy singled to load them up for Kinnear, but he grounded out, scoring only Hall, and Green made the last out. The Condors left the bags full in the top 8th, and maybe that gave the Coons another chance. They went down in silence in the eighth and still trailed 3-2 into the bottom 9th. Save the streak, boys! Nope, three up, three down. 3-2 Condors. Salazar 2-4, BB; Baldivía 3-4, RBI; West 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K;

This time, Kisho took the loss…

In other news

August 19 – SFW SP Aaron Anderson (12-13, 4.01 ERA) 3-hits the Wolves, as the Warriors win 8-0.
August 20 – MIL RF/LF Cristo Ramirez (.347, 4 HR, 50 RBI) will have to sit out for one to two weeks with a strained back muscle.
August 22 – Big day for SP Parker Montgomery: the 37-year old Capital held down the Rebels over seven innings in a 7-3 win, nothing his 200th career W. Montgomery, who only pitched for the Scorpions and Capitals in his career, is 200-182 with a 3.85 ERA for his career and is under contract for two more years, the latter being a vesting option.
August 23 – The Wolves’ Ramón Sotelo (6-11, 3.38 ERA) shines as the Wolves eat the Stars, 10-0, turning in a 3-hit shutout.
August 24 – SFB OF Jim Thompson (.286, 16 HR, 82 RBI) enters the record books in a game against the Falcons. As the Bayhawks prevail, 8-6, Thompson bashes three home runs and drives in all but one run for his team. Following VAN Luis Arroyo’s 3-homer game this May, this marks the first season in which the feat has been achieved twice.
August 25 – And the 200-win club is getting more crowded: ATL Carlos Asquabal (12-9, 3.79 ERA) pitches into the eighth against the Thunder and hangs on to earn the W in a 7-4 Knights win, his 200th in his career. A Cuban exile signed by the Knights in 1978, Asquabal has never pitched for anybody else after making his debut in 1981. He is 200-135 with a 3.53 ERA and has racked up 2,371 strikeouts so far.
August 25 – DEN LF Dale Wales (.334, 8 HR, 61 RBI) may be out for the year with a broken hand.

Complaints and stuff

Jorge Salazar is the third Raccoon to get a 6-hit game in. The others are Daniel Hall (1989) and obscure Freddy Lopez (1977), who also did it against the Loggers, back then in a 17-0 trashing.

Is a callup for our top pitching prospect in the books? Antonio Donis is 12-8 with a 3.93 ERA in AAA this year, having struck out 213 batters in 151 innings. The ERA comes with a .348 BABIP, so he may have been hurt by the defense. He still has control issues. Donis, 22, was our third-round pick in 1990 by the way. His stuff rating is *19*! His third pitch, a changeup, is rather weak, though. This is his first year in AAA and I didn’t want to bring him up until next year. Ah, decisions.

For the moment, to plug the hole in our staff, we added Daniel Miller again, who had killed AAA batting in the meantime.

Six wins in a row were nice to have. And still, with just one key hit in the last game, or with Vinson not being so much of a dork and trying to turn a double into a triple when it clearly wasn’t one … ah, spilled milk…

Note that the Capitals in the FL went 9-0 in this update, ready to catch the Rebels. They can still make it five division titles in a row.

We will remain at home for another week, hosting Oklahoma and Boston. The opener of the latter series, a 4-game set, will mark September 1. Will that month see a callup to Donis? I don’t know. Do you? :-/

[Westheim]

Raccoons (64-67) vs. Thunder (77-54) – August 29-31, 1994

It seems like we are playing all the winning teams in our league at this point. And this is so. The Thunder had the best record in the Continental League, surviving a so-so pitching staff with a healthy dose of brute offense that had already scored them 649 runs, which meant they scored a hair over five runs a game. I won’t bother you with the Raccoons’ output.

After Neil Reece got rest in the last game against the Condors, we gave rest to Mr. Monsterbash, Royce Green, in the opener here. De La Rosa pitched in the rotation slot of the injured Raimundo Beato, facing Hachim Kiara (5-2, 3.15 ERA). But for all the Thunder’s offense, the Coons scored first in the bottom 2nd, when one of Mark Allen’s rare hits went over the fence – as usual. He collected Daniel Hall, who had walked – should those two play more often? In any case, the Coons upped to 4-0 with three doubles by Salazar, Kinnear, and Reece in the bottom 5th. De La Rosa had allowed only one hit so far, but had struggled with control and was at 82 pitches through five frames, meaning I could expect yet more strain on the bullpen here. De La Rosa was accordingly done after six due to too many balls, and we threw Burnett into the game. The Thunder fielded six lefties and I hoped he would give me two innings. Burnett did as ordered, but up 5-0 we entered the top 9th facing nothing but left-handers. West was unavailable, so I went to Vela, who allowed a leadoff single to veteran Dave Browne. Next was Vonne Calzado, who sent a vicious grounder up the middle. Right here, Salazar made a play that potentionally saved the game, cutting off that seemingly sure single, stepping on second just in front of the incoming Browne, and zinging it to Ingall, who had replaced Baldy on first base. Double play. Vela finished the game: 5-0 Raccoons. Salazar 2-5; Kinnear 2-4, 2B, RBI; O’Morrissey 2-4; Vinson 2-4, RBI; De La Rosa 6.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 3 K, W (5-2) and 1-2, 2B;

We 4-hit the most potent offense in the league. That’s enough to pop open some of that prickly stuff that night. Also: Neil Reece has a 12-game hitting streak going.

Game 2 was about managing your team. I failed. In the bottom 1st, Higgins was sent stealing, but was thrown out, before Royce Green hit a homer on the next pitch. So, 1-0 lead instead of 2-0. And we had Turner pitching, which meant you just waited for that inning where the opposition would turn your guy inside out. Well, before that ever happened, the Coons skinned Oklahoma’s Lou Corbett, adding three runs in the third inning, before Higgins homered for another pair of runs in the bottom 4th. That ended Corbett’s night, and the bullpen was the really awful half of the Thunder staff. Reliever Terry Harris allowed a double to Baldivía, bringing up Royce Green, who already was on 6 TB on the day. Make it ten! Another 2-piece shot the score to 8-0, and Reece, Quinn, and O-Mo added three more hits for another run scored by Reece, 9-0. And it wouldn’t stop. Higgins logged his fourth hit of the day, a 1-out single in the fifth, after which Baldy hit an RBI triple. If that guy triples on you, you’ve got a true problem. And THEN the Thunder turned Turner inside out and quickly slapped him for three runs. Late in the game, Baldy would even get a shot on the cycle, having registered all hits but a homer in his first three plate appearances. He singled the fourth time up, and came up with two out in the bottom 8th, but grounded out. No history books today. But we still had to pitch some here. Up 11-3 after seven, we brought in Daniel Miller to pitch himself back into our hearts and get rid of that ugly 7.20 ERA. Miller finished the job, but it wasn’t pretty, getting ahead of only one of the seven batters he faced and was helped greatly by a double play behind him. Still, he finished the game. 12-3 Raccoons! Higgins 5-5, BB, HR, 3 RBI; Baldivía 4-6, 3B, 2B, RBI; Green 3-5, 2 HR, 2B, 5 RBI; Quinn 2-4, BB, RBI; O’Morrissey 2-3, BB, 2 RBI; Miller 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K;

That’s some offense! Higgins was on base six times for 8 TB, Baldy had 7 TB, Green 10 TB. Can’t you always play this way? :-P

Game 3. If we can complete the sweep, we’re suddenly at .500 again. Scott Wade had to get the job done, facing Makoto Kogawa. Those two had identical ERA’s of 3.54, and also with .500 records (7-7 for Wade, 11-11 for Kogawa). Both were righties. Both allowed two hits and a run through four innings. Similarities ended in the fifth, in the bottom of which Salazar got on with no outs, but was forced out on a Vinson grounder. Still, Vinson was safe at first, bringing up Allen, who landed a hit. And you know that Allen’s hits usually travel half a mile: the Coons took a 3-1 lead. While Wade was stellar through six, he did run the game almost aground in the seventh, walking a pair and then dropping the grounder that had THIRD OUT written all over it to allow one runner to score. The Coons got that run back on reliever Tony Simpson in the bottom of that inning, making it a 4-2 game, while Wade was pinch-hit for and was done for the day. But we got great relief from Matthews, West, and Lagarde, where only our ancient southpaw allowed one runner en route to close out the game. 4-2 Coons! Salazar 2-2, BB, 2B; Allen 2-3, HR, 2B, 3 RBI; Wade 7.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, W (8-7);

Well, THAT sweep came certainly out of nowhere! We were “only” 16-12 in August, not overwhelming per se, but certainly when compared to our season before that, but we have won nine of our last ten!

September Callups

Entering September – and I am not in earnest believing we can still take the division – we have a rotation comprised of true ace Kisho Saito, a former sparkling diamond constantly being roughed up (Jason Turner), a 2-pitch guy continuing to astonish (Scott Wade), a decent starter at AAA (Gerardo Ramirez), and a guy who had started AND relieved at two different levels this year (Gabby De La Rosa). It’s patchy.

The only sensible addition remained top pitching prospect Antonio Donis at AAA, a left-hander, and maybe Jose Rivera, a right-hander, who had been up and shelled already this season. We needed a proper starter, and I really didn’t want to add Donis. So, I had to call up Rivera. Was it the better choice at this point? No. Was it the better choice in the long run? Maybe.

I also longed a left-handed reliever and two bats, preferably from the left side, since we were a bit thin there. Callups went (besides to SP Jose Rivera) to MR Tim Mallandain, C Bob Armstrong, and LF/RF Chih-tui Jin, with another potential candidate in 2B Pat Parker not called up yet. We actually had another 2B at AAA, switch-hitter Wilson Garcia, but he didn’t even impress where he was.

The myriad of callups facilitated a few more moves throughout the organization, but that was mostly to fill up the depleted ranks. Our system is a bid barren after five consecutive winning seasons.

Raccoons (67-67) vs. Titans (62-71) – September 1-4, 1994

Game 1 saw Gerardo Ramirez starting, and he was even more horrible. The Titans scored one run early, but then missed a few chances against the easily hittable Ramirez, who also walked three. The Coons took a lead with 2-run homers by Royce Green in the bottom 1st and Baldivía in the bottom 3rd. Up 4-1, all bedlam broke loose in the top 6th. Ramirez was still in, condeded a run, and with two out had two men on as the Titans replaced their starter Ryan Childs with pinch-hitter Matt Smith, who was destined to the final batter for Ramirez, no matter what. Against Ramirez, Vela, and West, Matt Smith was the first of seven consecutive Titans to reach base in the inning, with West surrendering one of his now patented come-in-for-a-3-piece home runs, as the Titans trampled over the Raccoons in an 8-run inning. In the bottom 6th, Baldy hit an RBI double to get back to four down and to a triple shy of a cycle, but the Coons’ time was counted here. But our first baseman wasn’t fast, didn’t get a double, and when the Coons brought the tying run at least to the on deck circle in the eighth, Higgins ended the inning with a double play, and the Coons didn’t come back. 9-5 Titans. Baldivía 4-5, HR, 2B, 3 RBI; Miller 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

What a … game. Neil Reece on a 14-game hitting streak walked his first two times up, then came up empty twice, and got his final chance with two out in the ninth. He singled to left to extend the budding streak just in time. I don’t even want to comment on this game any more. NEXT!

Game 2. Kisho Time! Yet, the Titans immediately jumped on him with three 2-out base hits in the first for two runs, and it immediately became clear this wouldn’t be his game. In the top 3rd, Saito struck out Gary Lang for the final out – but Vinson lost the ball, Lang made for first base, and that put two men on now. Saito became unraveled in no time now, balked before throwing a pitch to George Waller, putting the runners in scoring position, and things were looking bleak. But Waller launched at bad pitches and struck out – the score remained 2-0 Titans. Top 4th. Jack Burbidge led off with a single under the glove of Marvin Ingall at second, and it set the tone for another inning like that. Burbidge moved up on an out, and then was moved to third by Saito with a wild pitch. The very next pitch went between Vinson’s legs, another run in. The game seemed out of the window, with Doug Morrow 2-hitting the Coons deep into the game. They were still trailing 3-0 in the eighth, with Saito long gone. O-Mo led that inning off with a triple to left. Vinson whiffed, further infuriating me, but Jin, hitting for Ingall, singled to right to get us on the board. Higgins hit for MR Mallandain and HE hit a triple to left, so we had the tying run in scoring position with one out and the top of the lineup coming up. Morrow came apart, but no reliever was ready and he had to pitch to Salazar, threw three wide ones, and then came right down broadway. He got tattooed by Salazar for a thundering double off the wall in deep left, tying up the game. Salazar unfortunately was left on by Baldivía and Kinnear. It didn’t remain tied for long. Juan Martinez surrendered a run in the top 9th, and wound up with the loss. 4-3 Titans. Salazar 2-4, 2B, RBI; Jin (PH) 1-1, RBI; Higgins (PH) 1-1, 3B, RBI; De La Rosa 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Reece went 0-4 this time around. Bah.

During six messy innings, Saito would post a 6.0 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 7 K line that doesn’t look TOO bad for itself, but once you added the secondaries … TWO balks, TWO wild pitches AND a hit batsman. He did not deserve a W for that outing, really. And Vinson deserved a good belting, too.

I don’t know what it is with these Titans that we can’t win against them. We are now a frickin’ 3-10 against them on the year. THREE TEN!!

Moah. Two more games in the series, and here came that Rivera guy to start the next one. He was the most abhorrent you could possibly be, didn’t get out of the second inning, and was booked for seven runs. The game was over right there. Instead of one of those five innings, four runs in starts, we had THAT and burned up our pen again. The Raccoons scratched together the whopping total of three hits. 9-1 Titans. De La Rosa 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K; Vela 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K;

I just don’t get it. I just … I can’t grasp why these Titans are killing us.

Whatever it was, Jose Rivera had already outlasted his welcome and was shipped back to Florida instantly. We brought up career minor leaguer Ken McLannan, 29, a former eighth round pick by the Warriors in 1983, who had seen about every minor league park around the country. We would go to the pen, and De La Rosa would start behind Saito the next time that spot would come up. McLannan was 10-3 with a 3.94 ERA in 39 games (8 starts) in AAA for us this year after we found him in a trash can in early April.

Game 4. Please make it not too bad on me. Please not.

The Titans made it 4-4 in scoring right out of the box on the Coons in the series, by putting one run on Jason Turner in an instant. He walked the leadoff man. Then stuff begins to happen. As always. The Titans’ Francisco Vidrio was a horrid 9-18 with a 5.07 ERA coming in. The Coons didn’t get a hit against him in the bottom 1st, but a plunk to Baldy and two walks loaded the bags – but the Coons whiffed themselves out of the inning. Turner fell down 2-0 in the second. Bottom of the inning: Turner had Quinn on first with one out. Hit and run was called, Turner made contact and grounded past Burbidge into shallow center. Runners on the corners now, Higgins fouled out, and Baldivía lined hard – out to Danny Silva at short. Turner turned out to be no impediment to the Titans’ romp through Portland. They homered twice off him en route to a 4-2 lead through six. That second run scored bang-bang to end the bottom 6th. With Rodriguez on first and two out, Daniel Hall hit for Turner and doubled to right. Rodriguez was waved around third, and Hall went around second into third, and the Titans took the sure out on Hall, but not until after Rodriguez hurled himself across the plate. West pitched two innings and Reece then led off the bottom 8th with a double. Salazar doubled with one out, putting the tying run in scoring position for Rodriguez, who lined into left, where it fell in for a single, and Salazar was long home by the time LF Hjalmar Flygt got the ball back in. So the game became tied and then it didn’t. Burnett went out for the ninth, surrendered doubles to the first two man up, the Raccoons fell behind, and we were about to be swept, when Royce Green hit a 1-out infield single in the bottom 9th. Reece followed that up with a bloop and Green moved to second. O-Mo was next, but was whiffing a lot lately, and I wanted a lefty bat against Javier Navarro, who was a right-hander. So Jin came out to bat for O-Mo, who was less than thrilled, but Jin singled into left, and it was just enough for Green to make for home and tie it up. When Salazar singled to left as the next man up, Reece also scampered around third, but was thrown out. Didn’t matter. Rodriguez swung a lethal bat today and was up next – his single to right scored Jin, and we grabbed at least ONE game here. 6-5 Raccoons. Green 2-4, BB, 2B; Reece 3-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Salazar 2-5, 2B, RBI; Rodriguez 4-5, 2 RBI; Hall (PH) 1-1, 2B, RBI; West 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K;

In other news

August 29 – LVA Rafael Espinoza (12-10, 4.15 ERA) 3-hits the Loggers. Aces win, 6-0.
August 30 – The Canadiens’ star second baseman, David Brewer (.332, 8 HR, 66 RBI), will miss two to three weeks due a small fracture in his foot.

Complaints and stuff

From highest highs to lowest lows. Nothing I am not accustomed to with this bunch. Seven games out now. Like I said, it is but over.

The Scorpions put our old friend MR Richard Cunningham on the waiver wire this week. He has a 5.40 ERA this season – but a .403 BABIP may partially explain it. Well, his K/BB also trailed off a ton. He’s MERELY striking out three guys for every walk he issues. What a loser. Sadly, with no budget space, I could not claim him to shore up that pen down the stretch. It would have come only $66k, but we’re $279k over budget.

We need to look at our rotation intensely this off season. Not that I am doubting Kisho Saito. But I am doubting about everybody messing around him. Also Vinson. He’s becoming a strain on my nerves.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (68-70) @ Crusaders (61-75) – September 5-7, 1994

Just one more series in a long string of continuous games, and then we will have four off days for the rest of the season – only 3-game sets from here on out!

We faced rookie Cipriano Miranda (2-1, 1.53 ERA) in the opener. That ERA was – according to Vince Guerra – not true of his abilities. He gave him ratings barely enough to survive on the fringe of the major leagues. But here was a 24-year old that had so far puzzled the league. Could the Coons figure him out and support Scott Wade?

The first time through the lineup, Miranda gave up only a single to Royce Green, while Scott Wade was reeling already. Miranda singled to lead off the bottom 3rd in a scoreless game, and with one out was the leading of two runners on second base. Slugger Alfonso Rojas took Scott Wade’s 1-1 pitch to deep center, where Neil Reece made the catch and brought it back in. Miranda tagged, and was thrown out at third base to end the frame. Rookie mistake. Don’t run on Reece, he’ll get ya. Wade was set behind on a home run by LF Pat Jenkins in the fourth, but the Coons countered with two driven in by Salazar in the top 5th, but the Crusaders made that up with three singles in the bottom 5th, tied at two. That top 5th, the first man to get on was Vinson – hit by a pitch. Now, Vinson also led off the top 7th – and was hit AGAIN! Wade was looking on grimly, as the rookie gave our catcher a battering. Like in the fifth, Mark Allen also got on, and this time Wade singled along with him. Bases loaded, no outs, top of the lineup coming up. Salazar grounded into a double play, home and first, and Baldivía put a zero on the board. Oh, noes. Wade exhausted himself into the eighth and wouldn’t be rewarded for it. As soon as the starter is out, the Raccoons start to hit. A leadoff single by Kinnear chased Miranda from the game, and with no outs and runners on the corners, Bobby Quinn hit for Ken Burnett. He flew out to right, but Kinnear tagged and scored. We scored two for a 4-2 lead in that inning, handing the ball to Lagarde, whose first action was to surrender a leadoff homer to C Ruben Melendez in the bottom 9th. He got the next two, then put a runner on – which Vinson picked off to end the game! Whoah!! 4-3 Raccoons. Salazar 2-5, 2B, 3 RBI; Allen 2-4; Wade 7.1 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 6 K and 1-2;

Game 2. Gerardo Ramirez continued to be awful, issuing three walks and a beaner in the first inning to fall 1-0 behind. The Coons didn’t get a hit off Luis Andrade (7-10, 4.67 ERA) until the fifth inning, by which time Ramirez was 2-0 behind. That hit was a Higgins double, and they brought him in to score, and in the sixth, Andrade was betrayed by his defense for an unearned run that tied the game. Then it was O-Mo to put the Coons ahead with a solo homer in the seventh. All Ramirez did was to issue his sixth walk of the day to Ed Rigg, leading off the bottom 7th. He was removed for West to face lefties, West didn’t convince, but Higgins eventually bailed out the pitchers by starting a nifty inning-ending double play. Neither team scored until we brought in Lagarde with that 3-2 lead. Good news: Melendez had made the final out in the eighth and would not come up this inning. Better news: he needed only to face three batters to save the deal. 3-2 Coons! O’Morrissey 1-3, HR, 2 RBI; West 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

We had four hits, the Crusaders had two. Yes, Ramirez gave up a single hit – but still walked six, and that’s way too many. He struck out four in six innings of work.

Game 3. Completing the sweep would put us over the .500 mark for the first time since …? When??

We were giving the ball to Kisho Saito, so things could look more leak potentially. Don’t expect any offense, though. Reece got a day off, for he was struggling since having his hitting streak ended in that messful Titans series, Hall made a start, and Green played center.

Things went wrong for Kisho from the beginning. He grazed the second batter, SS Pete Thompson, with a pitch, and surrendered two line drives after that – down 2-0. It never stopped. Saito pitched only five innings, surrendered five runs, and with the Raccoons not even getting a hit until the fourth against lefty David Ramirez, he looked the more awful. Then they scored one run in the fifth, and got rolling in the sixth. Two out, Salazar on second base, Daniel Hall mashed an RBI triple that got the gap to 5-4, and the Crusaders walked Jose Rodriguez to get to Saito, but here came Neil Reece. And Reece struck out. Matthews and Miller then efficiently threw the game away, allowing two and one runs, respectively, so the Coons trotted into the ninth 8-4 behind. Kinnear pinch-hit and got on and was scored by Jin, who hit for Higgins. Jin was forced out by Baldivía, but when Bobby Quinn singled, we got Royce Green to the plate as the tying run with two down. Another slugger with a chance to put things right. Haywood Lammond converted his sorry grounder into the final out. 8-5 Crusaders. Jin (PH) 1-1, RBI; Quinn 2-5; Green 2-5, 2B; Hall 2-4, 3B, 2B, 2 RBI; Kinnear (PH) 1-1, 2B;

Ken McLannan made his debut in this game, and didn’t even get out of the sixth. Well, there is a reason he never made the Bigs with ANY of the eight organizations he was with so far.

Raccoons (70-71) vs. Canadiens (65-74) – September 9-11, 1994

We’re 8-7 against them this year. Try to win two of three, that would be fine.

Bob Armstrong started behind the plate partnering with De La Rosa in the opener, and immediately stabbed his pitcher with a passed ball and not even making a throw as Raúl Solís stole third base in the first inning. Somehow the Canadiens failed to score him, but Armstrong was not necessarily getting himself into conversation for a backup catcher here. While De La Rosa fell 2-0 behind in the third on his own, it was an Armstrong throwing error in the fifth that instead of ending the inning with a good throw to first, enabled the Elks to score two unearned runs. Daniel Hall had had a stellar day playing left the day before, but today was chasing after double after double out in right. Age had caught up with him for good. As a whole, the Raccoons were abysmal at the plate against Kevin Williams (7-8, 4.03 ERA). Bottom 6th: a triple put Neil Reece at third base, from where Matt Higgins drove him in. Higgins stole second, and advanced on Hall’s single. Runners on the corners, one out, tying run coming up – and it was Armstrong. Nope. No, he has been enough of a dork today. Bobby Quinn came out to bat for him and – HOLY COW, another triple!! O-Mo hit for Martinez, who had relieved De La Rosa earlier, and took Gabby off the hook with an RBI double. Unfortunately, O-Mo was left on third base, and the game remained tied. Top 7th, we brought Mallandain for lefties Luis Arroyo and Alejandro Lopez (yeah that one) and he sat them both down. Then we brought McLannan for that final out, and he walked two. Vela couldn’t end the frame, the Canadiens went right on top again, 5-4. That was the score in the bottom 8th, with two out and nobody on, as Salazar got on base. Green had had the day off and hit for a single here in place of Ken Burnett. Kinnear then doubled into center, tying the game. Neil Reece wanted to drive in the go-ahead run, but Norio Hayashi fed him trash and he walked. That left Higgins to deliver. In a full count he hit a floater out to right, which Lopez failed to get to. It fell in, and two runs scored on a single. Ingall walked to reload the bags, and Vinson came up, who now played in Hall’s former spot – and he drove in two more with a double to deep right. Now, Daniel Miller came in to pitch the ninth, and ended the game on six pitches. Don’t get upbeat, however. He surrendered a 2-0 single, and then a hissing liner up the first base line. Higgins was there, as Baldivía had been switched out earlier, and Higgins made a launching grab AND tagged the runner from first. Baldy plays there – Miller puts the second man on and Lagarde has to come out. This way, the game was over. 9-5 Furballs. Green (PH) 1-1; Reece 2-4, BB, 3B; Higgins 3-5, 3 RBI; Hall 1-2, BB; Vinson 1-2, 2B, 2 RBI; O’Morrissey (PH) 1-2, 2B, RBI;

Some 25-year old Mexican named Jose Marquez made his first big league start in the middle game after appearing in relief once in 1993. We didn’t have much on him, scouting report wise. So, go out and crush him!! The Furballs put up four runs in the first inning, including a 2-run homer by Bobby Quinn. The Coons added a fifth run in the third, getting Marquez out early. Now, we had Jason Turner pitching. And he managed to blow up – again. The Canadiens didn’t get a-swingin’ until the fifth, but then scored two runs, and with one out in the sixth, the tying runs were in scoring position and only one out on the board. Martinez bailed out while allowing only one of the runners to score, so we remained up, but only by one run, 5-4. Against Hayashi, we loaded the bases in the bottom 6th with no outs. Salazar walked to force in a run, before Green jabbed at a 3-1 pitch and fouled out. Reece and Quinn hit RBI singles, before Peter Hughes replaced the luckless Hayashi, but the first thing he did was to hit Marvin Ingall on the arm, forcing another run home. Still, Vinson and Kinnear (who came to the plate for the second time in the inning) brought two more runs in before the inning fizzled out. Up 11-4, what can happen? Well, there will always be something going wrong with this team. Matthews came in for the seventh and walked the bags full. Vela came in, but surrendered a walk to score a run. With two out, he faced C Jose Lopez and the 2-2 was in the dirt. Lopez swung through it, and it bounced off Vinson’s chest protector – but straight up, and not very high, and even Vinson could not mess that one up and made the out. Mallandain gave up a run pitching the ninth (which STILL lowered his ERA), but we held on: 11-6 Furballs. Baldivía 2-6, 2B; Green 2-5, 2B, RBI; Reece 3-5, 2 RBI; Quinn 3-4, BB, HR, 3 RBI; Vinson 3-4, BB, RBI; Allen (PH) 1-1;

So, that gets us over .500 again. You know something else? We have cut our deficit on the Indians in half since the start of the week. The Indians are reeling hard at this point.

Game 3. The Coons hung five (three earned) on 10-14 Manny Ramos in the second inning to give Scott Wade a nice little cushion early. Wade came apart instantly in the top 3rd with two walks and three singles that all went up the middle between Higgins and Salazar. The Canadiens scored three and the game was close again right away. Wade gave up another run in the fourth, and after the Coons left the bags full in the bottom of that inning, Wade continued to come apart in the fifth, and the Canadiens tied the game. Not that we are done with collapsing here. Miller replaced Wade in the fifth, got out of there, then surrendered a 2-shot to Solís in the sixth that got the Canadiens ahead. Wow. Just wow. From 5-0 to 5-7 in four innings. Bottom 6th: the first four Raccoons reached base, scoring a run and loading the bags, and bringing up Higgins with no outs. Higgins hit a sac fly, and that’s all we got here. As well as everything came together for the Canadiens at the plate, nothing worked for the Coons, although they had already scored seven. Matthews came out in the eighth, walked two again, and surrendered a run. Running out of arms here. Bottom 8th. Green and Reece led off, both reached base, both on errors, by SS Michael McFarland and Solís, respectively. Dennis Columpton then put on Higgins with a walk. Again bases loaded, no outs. O-Mo hit a lobber to shallow right, which fell to Alejandro Lopez’ feet and scored Green, but again the Coons scored only one more and left two on. Lagarde’s task in the top 9th was nothing to be envious for. He faced three left-handers, with Arroyo up first. But Lagarde grounded out the slugger, and Lopez and Hidehira Nakamura hit lazy flyers to Reece and Jin in the outfield. Game over, finally! 9-8 Coons. Salazar 3-4, BB, 3B, RBI; O’Morrissey 2-4, BB, 2 RBI;

Scott Wade was basically just unlucky here. He gave up seven hits. One was a double, the other six were singles that sneaked through somewhere.

In other news

September 7 – Former Raccoon CIN Robert Vázquez (12-9, 3.67 ERA) spins a 3-hit shutout, 6-0, against the Buffaloes.
September 7 – OCT SS/3B Jose Sanchez (.261, 10 HR, 57 RBI) suffered torn ankle ligaments, which may even cost him the postseason.
September 9 – Salem’s Juan Valentin (.242, 3 HR, 37 RBI) knocks his 2,000th base hit in a 5-0 loss to the Pacifics. The 36-year old infielder hits a 2-out single in the top 9th against Fernando Chavez, but can’t prevent his team from losing anymore. The Spaniard was once taken in the first round of the 1979 draft by the Titans, and has played for them, the Condors, and now the Wolves in his career.
September 11 – SFB INF Roberto Rodriguez (.297, 2 HR, 43 RBI) is out for the year with a torn meniscus.

Complaints and stuff

Hah. The Indians took a little nose dive here this week. Suddenly we are only three and a half out of first, and three weeks left to play. Well, we have one series left against them, which will be in Indy during the final week of the year. Can we hold it close until then?

Well, our remaining program is about average. We have one series against all CL North teams except Vancouver remaining, plus series against San Francisco and Atlanta. Three above .500, three below. Could be tougher. The Indians play the Canadiens in place of the Titans, plus the Thunder and Falcons from the CL South. Doesn’t give much.

Why did they lose five of seven this week? Hard to say. They lost three of four to the Loggers, and two against the Titans. They scored only three runs per game. They gave up 4.43 runs per game. In fact, since we left Indy in late August, from the final game of that series, they have gone 7-13. We? 15-5. Apparently, you are not out at ten games, at least automatically.

There is a different question that bugs me. Will we offer an extension to Grant West? He will probably ask for multiple years, which is not what I envision, since he clearly degrading. But he is still useful in an earlier bullpen role. But he will also be 38 next year. Uh. Brainlock.

Miguel Lopez suffered a setback in his recovery from shoulder inflammation. While this is of course not good news, it doesn’t affect our 1994 season anyway. He was not scheduled to return this year. Yet we still have to hope that things don’t get too worse to return from this injury. (shivers)

Also on the to-do-list: extend Matt Higgins. I know he doesn’t hit for much. But I really dig his defense (and he gains more WAR from there: 0.8 from defense, 0.6 from offense), while I also see that 1.4 WAR is not an awful lot. He had 2.9 WAR last year, which was his career high. His 162-game average is 2.0 WAR.

Higgins was planned in as utility man each of the last two years. Mark Allen never panned out. Mark Allen will be gone this fall. So, neither Marvin Ingall, nor Pat Parker have recommended themselves so far.

You know whose contract will be up? The guy I have my eye on as top defense on the right side of the infield, and carries some decent numbers: .346/.418/.488, 153 OPS+, 1.18 K/BB, 96 SB (59%), 45 HR, 459 RBI, 7.0 WAR/season; I want to sign HIM off the free agent market this fall.

Of course that would mean WAR in the Northwest, because that guy is Vancouver’s David Brewer.

[Westheim]

Short update. Don’t ask. You’ll see.

Raccoons (73-71) @ Titans (68-75) – September 13-15, 1994

The Titans have totally, completely, universally owned, raped, and chewed us up for the season. For whatever wacky reasons, the Raccoons were unable to mount anything remotely resembling a competitive team against them. That 11-4 advantage they held over us spoke volumes. Needless to say, if they humiliate us again, we will crash out of the division race as fast as we crashed into it the last two weeks.

Game 1. Gerardo Ramirez started. Gerardo Ramirez was awful. He didn’t hit the strike zone, and when he did, it came right down broadway. Alejandro Espinoza almost hit an inside-the-park home run off him leading off in the bottom 1st, but had a little stumble coming around third and retreated to settle for a triple. The Titans scored him anyway. A crushing 3-run homer by Mark Allen set the Coons ahead in the second inning, but there was one problem: Ramirez. He was just so … frickin’ bad …! Bottom 5th, up 3-2. He walks one, gives up a single, walks another one, only one out. Jack Burbidge singled into right, knocking Ramirez from the game, but Ken Burnett, as he came in, did nothing to help our cause, surrendering an RBI groundout to Daniel Silva (who alone had left FIVE on base, ending the first and third innings with outs), and then a 3-piece to curiously batting eighth 1B Julio Madrid. Doug Morrow (14-9, 3.07 ERA) started the top 6th surrendering a first-pitch single to Vern Kinnear, then walked Vinson and O-Mo, and we brought the tying run right back up, and with no outs. Of course, the Raccoons messed up. Allen lined into an out, Quinn – hitting for Burnett – grounded out, scoring Kinnear, and while Salazar singled in a run, they failed to strike back decisively. The Coons left two on in the seventh then, didn’t even get on in the eighth, and put – in an 8-6 game – the tying runs on base with one out in the ninth, but couldn’t break up closer Javier Navarro. 8-6 Titans. Salazar 3-5, RBI; Reece 2-5; Kinnear 2-4, BB; O’Morrissey 3-4, RBI; Mallandain 1.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

We also managed to hit into three double plays in addition to leaving 12 men on base. And just like that, the Titans kindly allow us to kill ourselves OVER and OVER and OVER.

We faced Chris O’Keefe (11-12, 3.12 ERA) in the middle game, throwing Kisho Saito, who had struggled in his last few starts, at the Titans. And it just didn’t stop. He surrendered not one, but two home runs in the bottom 2nd, falling 3-1 behind early on. Saito surrendered good contact, and hard contact. It was like an impostor pitching. The Coons slept for a while, until Allen led off the top 5th with a double. Saito made an out, before Salazar hit a ground-rule double, scoring Allen, and standing at second base as the tying run. Higgins popped out, Green grounded out. Allen was on second base in the seventh as the tying run with one out. Like things happen, Salazar lined out to short – and Allen was caught so far astray of the bag, he didn’t even have to try to get back. Double play, out of the inning. Saito was still surrendering hard contact through seven, but the outfield made all the necessary plays. Royce Green then ripped a 1-out triple in the top 8th, stood at third base and waved to Neil Reece at the plate. “Woo-hoo, drive me in!” Reece grounded a 3-1 pitch to third base and Green had to hold. Two outs. Kinnear countered the right-hander O’Keefe, but took two rips through off-speed pitches to fall behind in a hurry. In a 1-2 count, O’Keefe focused on Kinnear, and his leg appeared to twitch. The second base umpire immediately called him out. O’Keefe’s foot had come off the rubber and he balked it back on – Green was awarded home, the game was tied. Saito started the bottom 8th, gave up two hits, and a run, and all the scrambling was for nought. The Coons entered the top 9th down by one and faced Navarro again. Vinson got one. O-Mo grounded to right, where Silva couldn’t make the play and all hands were safe. Allen popped out. No, no, no! Not again!! Baldivía hit in place of reliever Tony Vela and grounded up the middle for a single that loaded the bags. We need one more base from Salazar. We got that, but we didn’t get a hunch of a lick more, as Salazar hit a sac fly and Higgins grounded out. Can we please get this – a quit the optimism! Grant West came in, faced three men, and surrendered three singles and the Titans walked off. 5-4 Titans. Salazar 2-3, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Allen 2-4, 2B; Baldivía (PH) 1-1;

Nothing can ease that headache. Nothing. But … (pulls 9mm Browning out of top drawer)

Game 3. Get it over with, boys. Salazar and Reece worked together for one run in the first inning, which De La Rosa held on to for a while. De La Rosa also came up in the fourth with no outs and the bags full. There was no way we were hitting for him. Gabby, listen. Don’t ground to Silva at short, you understand me? He didn’t. He grounded to Jack Burbidge at second, and Burbidge started the double play. We scored one run in the inning. That 2-0 lead blew up in De La Rosa’s face in no time, with a walk to George Waller in the bottom 4th, an error by Green, and three singles, the last two of which scored single runs, and were hit by – yes – Burbidge and Silva. Top 6th, 2-2 game: Kinnear drew a leadoff walk. Higgins doubled, and the Titans felt the urge to put O-Mo on intentionally. Jose Rodriguez was up with the bases loaded and no outs. He struck out. Now, Philippe Villard had already walked six in the game (two intentional), and the bags were full. Let’s send Daniel Hall to bat for De La Rosa. Hall was impatient and grounded a 1-0 pitch to short, but the Titans got only one runner and that was Hall. Kinnear scored the go-ahead run. This time we got a second run at least, with a Salazar RBI single. Still, those were another two chances of blowing up a game – not used. Lagarde eventually entered in the bottom 9th to protect a 5-3 lead. Bloop single, full count walk, full count walk. With no outs, of course. Jose Martinez lobbed to shallow right to Green for a sac fly. Luis Lopez grounded to Ingall at second – uh, perfect double play ball, we’re gonna be fine! Zing it to Salazar and – AAARHGJH!!! Salazar dropped the ball …!!! Lagarde went on to throw a wild pitch to tie the game, continued that way to walk Hjalmar Flygt, and somehow got rid of Matt Smith to face that pesky Daniel Silva again with two outs. Lagarde threw only one more pitch, low and in, that Silva grounded past Salazar to walk off the Titans yet again. 6-5 Titans. Salazar 2-5, 2B, RBI; Reece 2-5, RBI; Kinnear 0-1, 4 BB; O’Morrissey 2-2, BB, 2B; Burnett 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

In other news

September 13 – MIL RF/LF Cristo Ramirez (.350, 4 HR, 58 RBI) will have to sit out for a week with a forearm strain.
September 13 – Salem’s Luis Guzman (15-13, 2.88 ERA) turns in a 2-hit shutout as the Wolves chew up the Scorpions, 6-0.

Complaints and stuff

Way too much pain.

[Westheim]

I boarded the plane from Boston to San Francisco grumpy. That’s actually a very kind expression. I think I barked at the stewardess. Oh well. They should try to walk in my shoes! That job description includes taking care of those imbeciles in brown uniforms, who from time to time would try to wear THEIR shoes on the wrong feet…

You should get the Kleenexes out, by the way, for this update will jerk up some tears (mostly angry ones) for sure.

Raccoons (73-74) @ Bayhawks (79-67) – September 16-18, 1994

This was a series that featured a team that was still in playoff contention. The other team were the Raccoons. Do I sound bitter?

The opener featured 12-9 Ricardo Sanchez opposing the Raccoons and our Jason Turner. The two hurlers traded goose eggs through five, before Royce Green hit a 2-run homer to get something going in the top 6th. Turner, who had aced his way through six, allowing but two hits and a single walk, came undone in the bottom 7th with two huge extra base hits plating a run for the Bayhawks (cutting into a lead that was 3-0 after an O’Morrissey homer in the top half of the inning), and then he put the leadoff man on in the bottom 8th and was removed for Burnett to take care of lefty PH Bill Dean. Burnett surrendered a vicious line drive double and the tying runs were in scoring position with no outs. We then put on Pedro Villa intentionally to give Burnett another lefty, Alfonso Marquez, who hit a sac fly out to Kinnear. Roberto Guevara grounded to Salazar, but we only got one out. This brought up slugger Jim Thompson (.278, 16 HR, 90 RBI), also a left-handed batter. Now, Burnett got him out – but before that he balked in the tying run. Tony Vela would succumb to too many doubles per inning in the bottom 10th. 4-3 Bayhawks. Reece 2-4, 2B; O’Morrissey 2-3, BB, HR, RBI; Turner 7.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3 K;

Royce Green hit his 35th home run of the season, matching the franchise record so far held by Tetsu Osanai.

Game 2. Bobby Quinn had a first inning as good as one can have, hitting a 2-out, 2-run double in the top 1st, then made two awesome catches in support of a Scott Wade, who was getting vehemently shelled from the first pitch going forward. Wade would go six with another 2-run double by Quinn taking care of a 4-2 lead for him. The bullpen immediately began to shovel a grave in the bottom 7th, but Higgins bailed out Mallandain, Matthews, and West with starting an awesome double play there. The bottom 8th then started with a throwing error by O-Mo, putting a runner on second instantly, while we had to pitch Martinez to the left-handers, since we had already run out of southpaws here. Well, we didn’t pitch anybody to Thompson, who with one out was put on intentionally with first base open. Again the inning would end with a good play by Higgins, who in this game spelled Salazar at short, by the way. Mark Allen played at second base, and after looking horrible in his first four PA’s, slapped a 2-run homer in the top 9th for some extra padding to the lead, 6-2. Daniel Miller came into the game in the bottom 9th and actually managed to pitch a 1-2-3 inning. 6-2 Coons. Higgins 2-3, 2 BB, 2B; Green 3-5, 2B; Quinn 3-4, BB, 2 2B, 4 RBI; Vinson 1-2, 3 BB;

That’s how pitchers’ lines lie. When Wade came out of this game, he listed 6.0 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 4 K to his credit. Of those eight hits, most were hit pretty damn hard, and Quinn made two outstanding plays, and Jin another one in left. He was shelled big time here and despite the decent line, it was an awful start for Wade.

Third-string catcher Bob Armstrong came down with bronchitis the next day and would be out for a few days.

We forfeited game 3 anyway by starting Gerardo Ramirez. But what should I do? Somebody’s gotta start. Ramirez was every bit as terrible as advertised by now, pitching five frames, and after a scoreless first allowed a run every inning after that, just getting whacked around. The Raccoons were far overpowered by Gary Nixon (9-7, 4.04 ERA), who was more man than our nine combined. After the fifth we brought in Ken McLannan, hoping for some decent long relief. McLannan got into trouble in his two innings of work, but never allowed a run, and then was pinch-hit for in the eighth. The previous inning, a Vern Kinnear home run had shook Nixon’s cage and cut the deficit to two runs, and when Vinson doubled his way on with one out in the eighth, you don’t want that tying run to be your pitcher. Royce Green came out to bat on his off day. Despite Green flying out, the Coons loaded the bases, and then Kinnear – struck out. And that was with the Bayhawks doing everything to throw the game away! To lead off the ninth, Lawrence Bentley surrendered a homer to Neil Reece, and then Bobby Quinn – the tying run – reached on an error. Higgins flew out, Hall walked in place of Ingall. When Vinson struck out, this brought up Matthews in the #9 hole and I went with Mark Allen to pinch-hit. Allen hit below .100 as a pinch-hitter on the year in some 30+ attempts. It couldn’t work. It didn’t work. Grounded out to third. 4-3 Bayhawks. Baldivía 2-4, BB; Kinnear 3-5, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; McLannan 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 K;

Raccoons (74-76) vs. Knights (71-78) – September 19-21, 1994

Final series against an opponent outside our division. While the Knights have been mathematically eliminated on during the weekend, the Raccoons are at least emotionally eliminated (though that magic number of the Indians on them is at 8 and shrinking rapidly)…

Plus, I was experimenting with lineups at this point, having given up on the year. Chih-tui Jin was to get a few starts in left field, which ultimately had to come off Vern Kinnear’s playing time, since I tried to run out Royce Green rather often – he was chasing after the all time record after all, although admittedly time was against him at this point, seven big ones out of the record with only two weeks to play.

Kisho Saito and Carlos Asquabal went up against each other in the opener, undoubtedly the main bout of this series. Both were left-handers with ERA’s around 3.40 and WHIP’s around 1.20 and records a bit over .500, as both had had a down year. Heck! They were born less than three weeks apart in the summer of 1960 (Saito being the junior)!!

And even then, the duel never fully took off. Both guys had a jammed first inning for an early 1-1 score, and then let the defense to the dirty work. Light drizzle began in the second, stopped in the third, started again in the fourth, and finally forced a delay as Saito ended the top 5th. Baldivía drove in a run in the bottom 5th for a 2-1 lead that would actually earn Saito a somewhat aborted win in case the pen would hold up. Tony Vela had to pitch two innings against a heavily right-handed lineup with most righties spent after the last few days, and then actually had to bat in the bottom 6th, hitting an RBI single that marked the first of four runs scored for the Coons in the inning. Vinson and Higgins added an extra run in the bottom 7th, 7-1, so I felt comfortable enough to hand the ball to Daniel Miller in the eighth. The Knights never sat a foot atop a base again. 7-1 Raccoons. Higgins 3-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Jin 2-5; Baldivía 2-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Saito 5.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, W (11-7); Vela 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K and 1-1, RBI; Miller 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

This was Kisho Saito’s 184th major league win and his first win since August 10, when he pitched seven frames of 1-run ball in Vancouver. In the meantime, he had put up these numbers: 6 GS, 0-2, 37.1 IP, 17 ER, 4.09 ERA, 8 BB, 26 K; he was not stellar, but he was not all bad. It was one of those stretches where nothing goes your way. He still surrendered three runs or more in each of his last four starts, and the Coons had lost all four of those – and three of them by a single run. Ah, poor Kisho. Dice always falling the other way.

The Knights had rested Michael Root (as the Coons had rested Royce Green) in the opener, but he was back in the middle game. He was their Green with 20 home runs, enough to rank in the top 10 in the CL. Our Green in turn erased Tetsu Osanai from the record books in Portland with a solo moon shot in the first inning that made it 1-0 Coons. That was all Gabby De La Rosa got in pitching five shutout innings, the first and last of which were very busy. The Coons left the bags full in the bottom 6th, O-Mo striking out hitting for Grant West, and remained 1-0 ahead. They were begging for it, and they got it. Ken McLannan pitched to Manuel Guzman and surrendered a single leading off the seventh, before Burnett entered the game. The Knights sent righty Rory Gorden to pinch-hit and he took Burnett deep. 2-1 for the other team in a blink. In the bottom 7th, the Raccoons AGAIN left the bases loaded. They were fine with losing it, but hadn’t seen Jorge Salazar coming, who hit a game-tying 2-out RBI single in the eighth. Jackie Lagarde pitched the ninth, put the first three men on, including two walks, before he accidentally struck out callup Connor Cooper and Ingall and Salazar turned a double play behind him. The Coons loaded the bags with one out in the bottom 9th, bringing up Ingall, who grounded to third, which forced out Reece at home. Vinson hit for Rodriguez against the right-hander, and grounded out. Extra innings. Royce Green had been to the plate five times and always had ended up in 2-strike counts in this game, and apart from that homer had made four poor outs, including two K’s. He led off the bottom 11th against Chih-tui Zhao, and drew a 4-pitch walk, then stole second base. Reece walked, before Kinnear flew out to right, holding the runners. Higgins grounded into a double play. With two outs in the bottom 12th, Allen hit for Daniel Miller and reached on a 2-base throwing error. The Knights were short on arms here and did not replace Zhao against lefty Salazar. And why should they? Salazar grounded out anyway. The Knights tore up Matthews in the top 13th, although Tony Vela – our last reliever – held the damage to one run. We had our leadoff man, Bobby Quinn, on in the bottom 13th with a walk. Green DP’ed the Knights to within one out of a win. Then Paco Valles, the new pitcher, walked Reece. And walked Kinnear. And Higgins grounded out. 3-2 Knights. Reece 4-5, 2 BB; Ingall 2-5, BB, 2B; Miller 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

20 men left on base. That’s HORRIBLY SHOCKINGLY TERRIBLY BAD even for playing 13 innings.

Meanwhile, the Loggers tied the Indians for the division lead. The division lead at this point comes at a .523 discount.

CAN’T ANYBODY HERE PLAY THIS GAME???

‘nother game. We needed a good game from Jason Turner with a decimated bullpen and at least an off day coming up. Salazar batted leadoff, hit a double off Pat Cherry (9-11, 3.59 ERA) to right, went for third, and was thrown out. I had enough about right there. The Coons were up 2-0 early with a Green homer and another run sacrificed in by Rodriguez. The Knights came back to tie that in the fifth, the latter run scoring on an error by O
Morrissey. Jason Turner for the most part was the best he was all season, going eight innings with seven punchouts and very few hiccups. It was merely enough to get in line for a W, thanks to a solo shot by Neil Reece in the sixth that made it 3-2. Lagarde had pitched two frames the day before and was bad enough on rest at this point, and with multiple left-handed batters from the second man on scheduled for the ninth inning, I went to Grant West, who had pitched a quick sixth the previous day and was well rested. He walked two guys, the tying run going to third base with two outs, but managed to survive Root and Gorden. Rory Gorden hit a huge fly ball with two out to dead deep center, but Neil Reece was up to the task. I would give the SV to Reece. 3-2 Coons. Salazar 2-4, 2B; Reece 3-4, HR, 2B, RBI; Turner 8.0 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, W (11-11) and 1-3;

Turner’s ERA of 4.45 still tells a thing or two about his season (and don’t look at his 85 walks), but he re-tied Kisho Saito for the team lead in wins here. I will chalk this one up to perseverance and biting through adversity. We could use more of these guys.

With minor league season over, we called up Pat Parker for an extra left-handed bat off the bench. The fact that he is a 2B-only greatly limits his usability for me.

Raccoons (76-77) vs. Loggers (80-72) – September 23-25, 1994

We were 8-7 in duels against the Loggers this year, so while their roster parallels the Titans’ partly in that there really is no collection of top notch players on there, we have not crapped out against them quite as hard. Somehow you are rooting for the bunch of nobodies to pull off their first division title. But you never root for a team in your division that’s not your own. So, go Coons!

Scott Wade was working to notch #10 on the year in the series opener. He had never gone a full year with less than 11 wins, and had only this and one more start to reach double digits. It was September. The weather in Portland was routinely awful, and it was again in this game, drizzling on and off in the early innings, and the moment we were through the top 5th, it opened up for good. Scott Wade was done after five, leading narrowly, 3-2, mostly on an O’Morrissey homer in the bottom 4th that broke a 1-1 tie. A win was not in the cards for Wade, though. Burnett walked the leadoff fman in the top 6th, RF Cristo Ramirez, and the Loggers brought him in. Martinez walked two in the seventh, and when Mallandain came in to face left-handers, the Loggers sent Gates Golunski to hit and he drilled a 3-run homer off Mallandain. The pain would just never end. The Raccoons managed all of five hits and to stab poor Scotty in the back. 6-3 Loggers. Higgins 2-4; O’Morrissey 2-3, HR, 2B, 3 RBI; Matthews 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Game 2 was Gerardo Ramirez’ start and by now, his ERA was going nowhere but up. The Loggers with ease put five runs on him in five innings, and the Raccoons weren’t even competing through six, being 4-hit by Tim Butler, who was 12-7 coming in. Butler then all of a sudden became unglued in the bottom 7th. 5-1 ahead, and with two out, the Coons started a rally of putting on runners, in which even reliever Daniel Miller early on participated, since I wanted him to pitch another inning. Behind Miller, in succession Higgins, Green, Reece, Parker (inserted in a double switch), and Vinson got on and scored runners, plating five at that point for a 6-5 lead, when O-Mo grounded out in a full count to end the frame. We now went to Martinez for the eighth, in which the Loggers left the tying run in Jim Stein at third base. When the Raccoons went down in silence in the bottom 8th, Lagarde had to save the game without a cushion. For once, he sat down the side in order. 6-5 Furballs. O’Morrissey 2-4, 2B; Ingall 4-4, 2B;

Sunday saw game 3. It was to be a special day. The park was cramped. It was not that Kisho Saito pitched, which was always a good customer magnet. It was the final home game of Daniel Hall’s career. He would not get a new contract, or be offered arbitration, and he had not asked for a contract, either. It was going to end.

Daniel Hall started game 3 in left field, where he had patrolled for more than a decade and where he still knew every nook and cranny. He also batted third, his spot for most of his career, ahead of Royce Green, as Neil Reece sat for the occasion.

The game appeared out of the window early, since Kisho Saito was no good that day. Bob Rush bolted a 3-run homer in the second inning, and Cristo Ramirez added a solo shot in the third for a 4-0 lead. The way things were, Saito batted in the Coons’ first run of the game in the bottom 5th. That was in the middle of a small rally. Salazar followed up with a sac fly that left Saito on first base with two down. Baldivía walked, which brought up Hall. This would have been the moment to burn your image into the memory of a whole nation (although driving in the winning run in last year’s Game 7 counts for something), launching a towering 3-run homer into the stands to give your team and your pitcher a lead. But Daniel Hall had not hit a home run all year, his power all gone. He didn’t hit one here, but singled to load the bases (and any runner but Saito would have scored on that liner to shallow left center), bringing up Royce Green. Davis Sims quickly had Green down two strikes, a common occurrence in recent weeks, but then Green made resounding contact with Sims’ 1-2 offering and sent a huge curve into deep center, where it hurled itself just over CF Jerry Fletcher's glove and fell in for a 3-run double – and THAT gave Saito the lead! The Loggers put Golunski on third base in the top 6th, but Saito punched out Rush, who had impaled him before, to end that inning, and that also ended Saito’s day. Vela started the seventh, walked the leadoff man, and in no time the tying run was at third again. Cristo Ramirez was up with two out and we brought in Ken Burnett for the occasion. Ingall made a strong play on Ramirez’ grounder, to hold on to the 5-4 lead. Hall drew a 1-out walk to join Baldivía on the bags in the bottom 7th, and while Green made an out, Quinn doubled the guys in, and was then scored by Vinson to significantly improve Kisho’s odds to win #12. And then the bullpen crapped out. Miller and Mallandain aggressively worked toward blowing things up and Lagarde was thrown into an 8-6 game with a runner on second base and only one out. He walked Bob Rush. He walked Drake Evans. He walked Jerry Fletcher. He walked to the showers. Albert Matthews walked in. He allowed Miguel Vela to single. He allowed Cristo Ramirez to single. He allowed Bob Grant to single. He allowed Jose Perez to single. He was singled out for execution. Grant West collected the final five outs in regulation. Down by four, Quinn singled to lead off the bottom 9th. Vinson walked, prompting the Loggers to go to their closer, James Jenkins. O-Mo singled to load them up. Grant West would have been the tying run, but we still had Neil Reece on the bench. Come on, Neil. You’d never hit a bigger home run in your life. Reece would not hit a home run, but hit a booming double off the wall in deep right center, which emptied the bags to make this a 12-11 game. Reece wanted to go for three, but hastily retreated into SS Jim Stein’s knee head first, and had to leave the game. The knee was fine. Parker ran for him with Higgins as the winning run at the plate – AND NO OUTS. But Higgins grounded to short and Parker had to hold, bringing up Salazar, who rocked away at Jenkins’ first pitch, a brutal liner WAY over 3B Bob Grant and into deep left field for a double that scored Parker and tied the game! Give us one more! Baldy came up. C’mon Baldy – make Coon City sleep well tonight! Baldivía singled to left, but not deep enough to enable Salazar to go home. And now the man that made his final appearance in front of the home crowd tonight came up: DAN THE MAN. A K would be very embarrassing here. Jenkins by now was pretty shaken and didn’t know how to pitch him and Hall did what he did most frequently this year: he walked. Bases loaded, one out. Royce Green. Any long ball will do. He grounded to Stein, and Stein zinged the ball home to nail Salazar. Oh no. Quinn came up. C’mon Bobby – good night’s sleep and so on. He grounded out. They left the bags loaded. We were out of arms, except for Ken McLannan, which could not conjure up euphoria into extra innings. He got through one inning, but not through the next. The Loggers scored twice in the 11th. Salazar then hit a line drive single off Roberto Flores to lead off the bottom of the inning. McLannan had been put in Baldy’s spot in a double switch, and now backup catcher Jose Rodriguez hit for him. Double play. Of course, a double play. What else but a double play. Hall came up – and struck out to end his own farewell game. 14-12 Loggers. Salazar 2-5, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Baldivía 2-4, 2 BB; Quinn 2-6, 2 RBI; Vinson 2-4, 2 BB, RBI; O’Morrissey 2-5, BB; Ingall 2-4; Reece (PH) 1-1, 2B, 3 RBI; West 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

MIL – 0 3 1 – 0 0 0 – 0 8 0 – 0 2 - - 14 17 0
POR – 0 0 0 – 0 5 0 – 3 0 4 – 0 0 - - 12 16 0

You will forever tell your children about this game and they will never believe you.

Never.

The Loggers scored eight runs in the eighth inning on four dumbtards that weren’t able to find their own arses in the dark with the benefit of two hands, a flashlight, a braille map, and verbal instructions in Simple English.

Why am I even surprised…

In other news

September 16 – DAL INF Rodrigo Morales (.339, 8 HR, 77 RBI) has two hits in a 7-1 Stars win over the Blue Sox, which gives the 28-year old a 20-game hitting streak.
September 18 – For Vancouver’s INF/RF Michael McFarland (.291, 1 HR, 74 RBI) the season is over. He strained a hamstring and will be nursing that for a month.
September 19 – Rodrigo Morales’ hitting streak ends after going 0-4 in a 4-3 win of the Stars over the Rebels. Morales had hit safely in 22 consecutive games.
September 23 – NO-HITTER!! 24-year old Pacific Angel Romero (11-12, 3.53 ERA) sparkles in a game against the Warriors, where he keeps the opposition making sorry out after sorry out. Romero surrenders only two walks and no hits en route to 1-0 win! This kid has it – he was the first overall pick in the 1988 amateur draft. Those Pacifics had some good eye there. Romero’s gem is the 17th no-hitter in ABL history, and the second in Pacifics history (Bob Haines, 1984). The Warriors have also been no-hit for the second time (NAS Ray Shaw, 1987), but have never had a no-no of their own.
September 25 – The Warriors beat the Pacifics, 6-1, to be the first team to clinch their postseason berth, their first in 16 years. Back then, they won the title.
September 25 – ATL SP Carlos Asquabal (15-10, 3.34 ERA) has his season end a start early with inflammation in his shoulder.
September 25 – NAS CL Jose Lopez (4-4, 1.39 ERA, 42 SV) will miss 10-11 months with a torn flexor tendon in his elbow.
September 25 – With two hits in the 11-inning game in Portland, MIL RF/LF Cristo Ramirez (.349, 5 HR, 61 RBI) has a 20-game hitting streak going.

Complaints and stuff

Neil Reece is out for the final week of the season with a seemingly not too bad concussion.

I am hurting, too.

[Questdog]

We will miss you Dan.....

[Westheim]

Semi-random notes

The Titans are 75-80 on the year, yet they are 14-4 against the Coons. They had two left-handers in their rotation, one of which (Jason O’Halloran) was hurt for a chunk of the year, and the other of which (Francisco Vidrio) has given us problems for years. Problem MAY have been that the Coons had only two regulars batting from the left side this season (Salazar, Kinnear), 50% of which were out for a chunk of the year again.

CGA (Cursory Glance Analysis) indicates this as a main reason for our utter failure against them this season. More thorough research is necessary, though.

>> go through all 18 box scores again and find out what happened while other teams clobber each other in the playoffs (sob)

Allen, Hall, Higgins, West have their contracts up this year. Allen has sucked abysmally for receiving the top salary, and Hall is 39 and done. Higgins must be re-signed. What about West? He struggled early on, but if I look at Lagarde at this point, you see nothing but the opposing team’s run piñata.

>> negotiate with Higgins and West, and look for a veteran closer in the offseason

Second base is a mess for us currently. Allen’s gonna be outta here. Higgins plays competently on defense on all positions. Baldivía has no power for his position, O-Mo struggled all year, Salazar’s getting old. Well, our whole infield is a mess. Many good players, nobody setting the world on fire.

I am looking at Vancouver’s Brewer and I am about in love with him. He bats left-handed, hits .340+ and has strong defense on the right side of the field. He would be at second.

>> GOT TO SIGN BREWER!!!

Kinnear, Reece, Green will be our starting outfield next year. Bobby Quinn’s gonna play fourth string (or fifth wheel) again, or does he possess bigger value? We need a left-hander off the bench for the outfield. Chih-tui Jin may be an option, although he is a switch hitter. But he is a *natural* left-handed batter, so hits better against right-handers. His CF play is bad though (rated 5), which makes Green Reece’s only backup: bad setup, bad bad setup.

Quinn and Jin can’t both be on the team!

>> explore trade options for Bobby Quinn

The rotation was a nightmare the whole year. Now the pen has come apart. Most of the $1.5M of budget freed up by letting Hall and Allen go will be used to splurge on Brewer to get him under a coonskin cap. No money to add an ace SP.

>> explore trade options for a #2 to Kisho Saito (must be right-handed), and if necessary cull the farm for good

[Westheim]

Final week. I would really dig to not finish under .500, so we have to win four of six here. This more than likely would make us help the Loggers towards their first ever postseason, since the Indians are our first opponent.

Raccoons (77-79) @ Indians (80-76) – September 26-28, 1994

The opener was the final start for Gabriel De La Rosa for this season with me intending to pitch Jason Turner in the season finale. But that was future at this point. In the present, De La Rosa and the Indians’ Larry Davis pitched very well, for a scoreless game through four innings. Davis was in fact perfect through four until Bobby Quinn broke up the bid with a 1-out single in the top 5th. Vinson was behind him and drilled a home run for a 2-0 Coons lead. The Furballs added two more runs (one unearned) in the inning. The Indians in turn jumped on Gabby a bit, scoring two runs in the bottom 5th. Gabby pitched six before leaving. Tony Vela and Ken Burnett both struck out the side in their assigned innings, bringing us to the bottom 9th with a 4-2 lead and the question whom to pitch. Lagarde was tied to a pipe, part of the heating installation, in the cellar of the visiting team’s clubhouse, and with right-handers up I went to Martinez instead of Grant West. Juan Martinez didn’t strike out the side, but he sat the Indians down in order, still ending with a K to SS Jose Martinez. 4-2 Furballs. Salazar 2-4; Quinn 2-3; De La Rosa 6.0 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, W (6-2) and 1-2, 2B, RBI;

The Loggers (who will face the Indians at home in the final series of the year) lost in Boston, 7-1. That brings the top half of the CL North to: MIL 82-74; IND 2.5 GB; POR 4.5 GB; not that I think we can pull this off, since there are four things that have to happen for us to win the division:

#1 – We have to sweep the whole week to get to 83-79 and put the Indians at 80-79
#2 – The Loggers must lose at least three of four games against the Titans to get to 83-76 or 82-77 after that series
#3 – The Indians must either sweep the Loggers (in case the Loggers lose only three games against the Titans), or win at least two games against the Loggers (in case the Loggers are swept by the Titans over four), so that neither team finishes better than 83-79
#4 – We have to win the resulting game #163 or in case of a 3-way tie even more games

As soon as the Loggers win one game against the Titans, a 3-way tie is the very best we could do. So, yeah.

Also on the mind map: next year’s draft. At this point we sit at the #13 pick, which of course is NOT protected in case we go after David Brewer and sign him. Of course I will not intentionally lose games here. But getting that #12 pick would at least reconcile a bit in case we finish below .500 on the year. There are a whole number of teams in the 77-80 wins range at this point, so much can happen.

Yeah, lots of talk. Play ball!

Game 2 was Jason Turner’s tentative penultimate start of the year. He was up against Neil Stewart (17-15, 3.17 ERA), who had only one no-decision the whole year, and that hadn’t come until two starts ago. The Raccoons scored two runs early, and Turner was performing decently apart from the fourth inning, where he walked the first two men and the Indians brought in a run. That 2-1 lead held up through seven relatively uneventful innings, after which Turner – way past 100 pitches with some long at-bats in the seventh – left the game. Top 9th: with one out Bob Armstrong was drilled by Jim Durden, who had just relieved Stewart. Pat Parker came out to run for Armstrong, and with Bobby Quinn hitting (in the #9 hole after coming on in a double switch with Grant West in the eighth), we called a hit-and-run, which worked perfectly. Quinn singled and we had runners on the corners. Higgins singled in Parker, and Jin’s single loaded the bases. 3-1, three on, one out, the veteran Durden crumbling. And then Baldy comes up and grounds to Durden’s feet, and Durden gets the out at home. Royce Green with two out grounded out, and that was it. West remained in the game with the bullpen *still* coughing blood from the Sunday game against the Loggers. While the Indians got another hit in the bottom 9th, he kept them far away from home plate, and ended the game in style. 3-1 Furballs. Higgins 2-5, 2 RBI; Jin 3-5, 2B; Armstrong 2-3, RBI; Quinn 1-1; Turner 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 3 K, W (12-11); West 1.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K, SV (9);

The Loggers pulverized the Titans in game 2 in Milwaukee, smearing the fences with the contents of their mangled bodies: 14-2 Loggers. That puts us into that 3-way tie scenario, and even more: should the Loggers win another game while we complete a sweep of the Indians, the division would be done even before the Indians-Loggers matchup: MIL 83-74; IND 3.5 GB; POR 4.5 GB;

Vernon Robertson (16-7, 2.82 ERA) came upon us in game 3, as Scott Wade made his final appearance of the year. The offense had to overcome one of the best pitchers in the league to give Wade win #10. If they failed, Wade’s streak of consecutive seasons of double-digit wins would end. The Coons came up running at a good pace: in the second inning, Green and O-Mo put up doubles that scored a first run, before Salazar walked, Rodriguez hit an RBI single, and Wade helped himself with a bloop single that loaded the bags. Higgins grounded up the middle to Jose Martinez. It didn’t look like a double play ball, and Martinez fumbled the ball and the Indians didn’t get anybody out. Jin got in another run with a single in a full count, before Baldy and Green made the last two outs: 4-0 Raccoons, now it was on Wade to hold up. He was awesome through five innings, during which the Coons moved to 6-0, but suddenly was broken up in the sixth. A walk and three hits suddenly axed the lead in half, and there was a runner on first with one out. Wade was given one more batter, RF Luis Maldonado, who grounded out. Wade then finished the inning, but his line was soiled already. O-Mo was a triple shy of a cycle when he came up in the top 7th, seeing Kinnear on second and two outs, but he sailed into an out to right. O-Mo didn’t get back up as the Coons went down silently in the eighth and ninth, and now it was time for somebody to close out this 6-3 game and give Wade #10. Lagarde had chewed through his ropes in the cellar and wanted the ball. Somebody gave it to him, and now all we could do was brace for another train wreck. Lagarde threw only eight pitches, which was enough to end the game. He didn’t fool anybody, but the Indians made three quick and unimpressive outs. 6-3 Raccoons and Wade GOT #10! Jin 3-5, RBI; Kinnear 2-4, 2 2B; O’Morrissey 3-4, HR, 2B, 2 RBI;

Sweep, how sweet! The Loggers dropped game 3 against the Titans, 8-6, which got the CL North to MIL 83-75; IND 3.5 GB; POR 3.5 GB;

Now, the Loggers played game 4 on our off day and everybody in Portland (and Indy) had ample time to watch whether there was even reason to bother down the road on the weekend. We saw BOS Chris O’Keefe nail down the Loggers over eight shutout innings, scattering five hits. The Titans won, 3-0. Thus, the Indians can still make the postseason on their own by beating the Loggers four times, while we have to sweep the Crusaders, and have to HOPE for that 3-way tie.

On a different note, Jorge Salazar got hurt in that final game, a hand injury that was not finally diagnosed until we arrived in New York on Friday morning. He had torn ligaments in his thumb and was out for the last few games. Higgins would play short in the final series, giving more AB’s to Marvin Ingall.

Raccoons (80-79) @ Crusaders (72-87) – September 30 – October 2, 1994

In a surprising move, we tapped Ken McLennan (NOT McLannan as I am always inclined to state) to start the opener in New York, putting a recently horrifying Gerardo Ramirez to the sideline. Ramirez could still enter the game if McLennan faltered early, though.

That the Raccoons would not be able to force that 3-way tie became apparent very early. They left the bags loaded in the first two innings, not scoring, while the Crusaders led 1-0 after the first after a Pat Jenkins home run. In the bottom 4th the team came apart as a whole. The Crusaders had two on with two out when Marvin Ingall bungled a grounder that would have ended the frame if played correctly. The Crusaders went on to score three runs on two more singles and ANOTHER error by O-Mo, moving out to 4-0. McLennan was removed for a pinch-hitter in the top 5th already: O-Mo had recovered with a 2-run single, and the Coons had loaded the bags with two out, now down 4-2. This is not where such a fringe pitcher will come to bat. Dan Barnes (10-15, 4.26 ERA) had to face Jose Rodriguez, whose liner was caught by 2B Rámon Corona. That was also where I resorted to drinking to get over the pain after sending in Miller to pitch an inning or two. Miller got a grounder from Haywood Lammond to start the bottom 5th, and threw it wildly past Baldivía. It was the start signal for a dismal 5-run inning for the Crusaders, which ended our playoff aspirations for good. 9-2 Crusaders. Baldivía 3-3, 2 BB; Green 2-3, 2 BB, 2B; Kinnear 2-5, 2B; Ingall 2-4; De La Rosa 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K; Ramirez 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K;

Wild dogs attacked hapless Daniel Miller and Tim Mallandain in the dark forest and ate them alive. Neither of them factor into our 1995 plans at this point.

Also, we grounded into inning-ending double plays in the final two innings, the latter one with the bases loaded, after leaving the bases loaded three times even before that. 17 LOB! GAH!!

But anyway. It wouldn’t have mattered. In the bottom 12th of the game in Milwaukee, the Loggers had two men on against Indy’s Tim Hess, when Gates Golunski stepped to the plate. In a full count, he singled to shallow left center, right into no man’s land. Bob Grant turned third base on the way home, and the throw back in was late. Golunski’s single ended 17 years of futility in Milwaukee – the Loggers are in the playoffs.

With two to play, the Condors (2-0 vs. Bayhawks) and Thunder (4-3 (11) @ Falcons) are tied for the CL South lead, while the Capitals (4-3 (13) vs. Miners) lead the Rebels (3-4 @ Blue Sox) by one game.

Kisho Saito came up in the middle game and we were hoping for a better game, and we were at least scoreless through four. Saito had been accountable for a fielding error and subsequent walk in the third inning, which the Crusaders didn’t do anything with. In the top 5th, Daniel Hall led off with a clean single to center. He was moved over on Ingall’s groundout, bringing up Saito, who singled to right, scoring Hall. Saito knew what he had to do to get a win, he’s been here long enough. In the top 7th, Saito had the middle of three consecutive 1-out singles that loaded the bases. Baldy was next, but with the right-hander Cipriano Miranda pitching and Baldy’s proneness for double plays I sent for the switch-hitter Jin. He struck out, and Kinnear flew out gently to left. Moah. Saito put runners on the corners in the bottom 7th, but got out with a pop up by CF Armando Diéguez. Flip it to the top 8th, there was a sign of life from our batting order, as Royce Green swatted his 38th homer of the year off Ivan Lopez (NOT the ex-Coon). Saito got over 100 pitches in the bottom 8th, but went through there quickly, and he was left in the game upon the #9 slot coming up to bat in the top 9th. The score remained 2-0 and Saito came back out in the bottom 9th trying to clinch a non-losing season and a shutout for himself. 2B Alex Gonzalez lined over Saito’s head in a 2-2 count to start the inning, bringing up Benjamin Butler. Saito struck him out and then hit Ed Rigg with his first pitch. Uh-oh. While the pen was active, Saito would pitch to one more batter, LF Ramón Díaz, who hurled Saito’s first pitch into the gap in left center, but Kinnear MADE THE PLAY!! The runners held. Bottom 9th. Two ahead, two on, two out. Fernando Gonzales came into the game as pinch-hitter, having bashed six homers in only 80 AB’s this year. Saito would pitch to him. In a full count, Gonzales ripped at Saito’s 127th pitch of the game – MISSED IT!! 2-0 Raccoons!!! Higgins 2-5; Saito 9.0 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 6 K, W (12-7) and 2-4, RBI;

KI-SHO! KI-SHO! KI-SHO!! This was his 17th regular-season shutout and the second this year.

Final game of the year. We have secured a non-losing record (apart from enough reasons to be pretty ashamed of us) and now can still notch a winning record. There are so many teams which are between 82-79 and 80-81 before the final game of the year that we can still finish with or without a protected first round pick, independent of our own result.

Jason Turner got the ball, facing Luis Andrade (8-12, 4.71 ERA). After two scoreless innings, offense suddenly broke out in the third. After the Coons slashed Andrade for four runs in the top of the inning, including a 2-run homer by Baldivía. Not that this was confidence-building for Turner, who surrendered back-to-back homers and three runs in the bottom half of the inning and Turner put the first three men in the bottom 4th on base and was sent for the showers with ample of arms in the bullpen in a 4-4 game with two men remaining on, but Ken Burnett failed to keep them on base, and the Crusaders took a 6-4 lead. Andrade didn’t qualify for a win either, as he was knocked out in the fifth, with the Coons scoring one run, 6-5. Matthews came in to pitch, loaded the bags and was beaten to death out of sight of the cameras. De La Rosa got out of the inning. As the Raccoons’ staff struggled to collect the necessary outs to be able to go to vacation, the Crusaders did the same. Jose Hernandez loaded the bags in the top 6th with no outs, but Pat Parker was up. Well, eh, let the boy bat. And OF COURSE he got O-Mo forced out at home. Kinnear pinch-hit for De La Rosa and grounded into a double play. What the $§&%&!!?? That was their last shot at making a move here. Our bullpen came apart even further as the torture dragged on and most arms in the pen were actually used in the game. 10-5 Crusaders. Higgins 2-5, 2B, RBI; Quinn (PH) 1-1; O’Morrissey 2-4, 2B;

In other news

September 28 – The ABL’s home run race is over, as Richmond’s Raúl Vázquez (.334, 33 HR, 112 RBI) will miss the final series of the season due to a strained back muscle. POR Royce Green’s 37 dingers are unlikely to be caught now.
September 28 – MIL RF/LF Cristo Ramirez (.346, 5 HR, 63 RBI) has his 22-game hitting streak end in the 8-6 loss of the Loggers to the Titans.
September 30 – Even if they make the playoffs, the Rebels will be without SP Ross “Cool Papa” Ewing (14-13, 3.45 ERA). Ewing has a torn biceps, but will be ready for Opening Day.
September 30 – IND OF Tomas Maguey (.281, 5 HR, 62 RBI) also goes down on the final straight, suffering a torn meniscus in the final game against the Raccoons.
October 1 – The Capitals beat the Miners, 6-0, while the Rebels lose 7-5 to the Blue Sox, which has the Capitals clinch the FL East for the fifth straight year. In the Capitals game, PIT LF Carlos Torres (.322, 13 HR, 67 RBI) has one hit to extend his hitting streak to 20 games. Both the Thunder and Condors win their respective games to remain tied atop the CL South.
October 2 – The Thunder break a 2-2 tie in Charlotte in the top 9th by scoring three runs and win 5-2. Meanwhile, the Condors enter the ninth inning of their game against the Bayhawks up 1-0. Jose Valentin blows the save and allows two runs to score, while SFB Lawrence Bentley overcomes a leadoff single by Tijuana’s Kyae-sung Park in the bottom 9th to close out the game. The Thunder therefore clinch the CL South for the fourth time and the first time since 1983.

Complaints and stuff

Congrats Loggers. Milwaukee has suffered so long, they deserved one, and if that team hadn’t sucked for oh so long, we could have EASILY taken the division for the fourth straight year. This way it is back to the drawing board.

We got done what had to be done, and whipped up a contract extension with Matt Higgins. No, he was not actually whipped. Errr. Well, Higgins remains a Coon for three more years, at a $700k prize. To be frank, he could have extorted more money from me. I had 3-yr, $1M in mind as opening offer, but when Higgins suggested a 2-yr, $480k contract, I quickly had the note that read the word “million” vanish from my auxiliary office in the clubhouse in Indianapolis. So, bargain here, which gives us more possibilities for our big free agent acquisition we are planning.

Finishing 81-81 ties us with THREE other teams, and this will be the #11 through #14 picks next year. I have no idea where we are going to be set at.

I find myself kinda rooting for the Loggers in the playoffs? Everybody loves the underdog …

[Westheim]

1994 LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES

The Capitals are in their fifth consecutive postseason and have never lost in the FLCS in that stretch. The Capitals had by far the best pitching staff in the Federal League, while the offense was a bit slower than in previous years. From that offense they will also be without outfielder Dale Cleveland in this series. Star outfielder Jeffery Brown hit for .889 OPS this year, but hit only 12 home runs.

The Warriors came about out of nowhere with a tough-as-nails rotation headed by veteran Ricardo Torres (18-12, 3.23 ERA) and hotshot Aaron Anderson (16-15, 3.86 ERA). They won their division, however, with the second-worst slugging percentage and the least home runs in the league! In turn, they drew the most walks. One of their “biggest” offensive factors, 37-year old INF Manuel Flores, is out with a sprained ankle.

The Loggers won the CL North by simply outlasting the struggling competition and posted their first winning season ever. While they had a good pitching staff, their offense was rather mediocre. From their good pitching staff, SP Rafael Garcia and MR Raymond Leger are out with injuries. Led by outfielder Cristo Ramirez (.888 OPS), nobody on the team hit more than 11 homers this year.

The Thunder outlasted the Condors and Bayhawks despite a terrible bullpen (worst in the Continental League) thanks to a humming offense that scored 801 runs, which topped the CL. Their offense is powered by Will Jackson (.285, 26 HR, 113 RBI) and Vonne Calzado, the CL’s batting champion. Except for catcher Tashiro Ikeda and the pitcher, the Thunder can mount seven players batting .270 or more – and sometimes significantly more.

Prediction time: Capitals in six, Thunder in five, but I still hope for the Loggers to pull off a minor upset here.

Warriors @ Capitals … 2-0 … (Warriors lead 1-0) … SFW Aaron Anderson 8.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 5 K, W;
Loggers @ Thunder … 2-4 … (Thunder lead 1-0) … OCT Jeff Martin 3-4, 2B, RBI (yeah, THAT Jeff Martin)

Warriors @ Capitals … 2-0 … (Warriors lead 2-0) … SFW Ricardo Torres 8.0 IP, 7 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 3 K, W; WAS Ramon Ortíz 8.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, L;
Loggers @ Thunder … 3-1 … (series tied 1-1)

Capitals @ Warriors … 0-3 … (Warriors lead 3-0) … SFW Jon Robinson 7.2 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 7 K, W;
Thunder @ Loggers … 4-3 … (Thunder lead 2-1) … MIL CL James Jenkins blows 3-2 lead in the ninth

Capitals @ Warriors … 3-1 … (Warriors lead 3-1) … WAS Parker Montgomery 7.0 IP, 8 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K, W;
Thunder @ Loggers … 9-2 … (Thunder lead 3-1) … OCT Hector Ramirez 2-4, 3B, 3 RBI; Thunder score seven in the top 8th as the Loggers blow a 2-1 lead

Capitals @ Warriors … 0-3 … (Warriors win 4-1) … SFW Ricardo Torres 7.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 4 K, W;
Thunder @ Loggers … 3-4 … (Thunder lead 3-2) … Loggers blow a late lead for the third time, but recover to walk off on Miguel Vela’s RBI double off Tony Simpson

Loggers @ Thunder … 7-2 … (series tied 3-3) … MIL Cristo Ramirez 4-5, 3 3B(!!!); MIL Augusto Garza 3-5, 2B, 3 RBI; MIL Bob Grant 3-4, BB, 2B, RBI;
Cristo Ramirez set an ABL record with three triples in a single game, which nobody had ever done before!

Loggers @ Thunder … 4-5 … (Thunder win 4-3) … MIL James Jenkins blows one game too much; OCT Sonny Reece 4-5, HR, 2 RBI (walkoff home run); OCT Will Jackson 3-5, HR, 2 RBI; MIL Drake Evans 3-5, 2 2B, RBI;

First, let me express that I am STUNNED over the Capitals being shut out FOUR TIMES in the FLCS!!! I have never seen anything even remotely like that! (shakes head in disbelief)

Well, the Loggers led all seven games at one point or another, and just kept blowing up. This was not the best club to start with, and their bullpen really let them down massively in this series. Too bad.

---

1994 WORLD SERIES

The 91-71 Thunder in turn didn’t sparkle either on offense, which makes the 89-73 Warriors and their stud-studded rotation look like the heavy favorites for the World Series. The Warriors were champions in 1978, while no CL South team has EVER won the title.

No matter which team walks off winners, they will rank among the least-winningest regular season ballclubs in history, “beaten” only by the 1989 Wolves, who went 88-74 over the year only to upset the Raccoons in the World Series, while two teams have before won the title after 91-71 seasons (matching the Thunder), the 1986 Blue Sox (who chewed up a 107-win Dallas team in that year’s FLCS) and the 1993 Raccoons.

Warriors @ Thunder … 2-3 … (Thunder lead 1-0) … SFW CL Ross McCallum blows 2-1 lead in the ninth; OCT Manuel Garza 8.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 K;

Warriors @ Thunder … 8-2 … (series tied 1-1) … SFW Ricardo Torres 8.0 IP, 9 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, W; SFW Dafe Heffer 3-5, BB, RBI; SFW John Hensley 3-4, BB, HR, RBI;

Thunder @ Warriors … 8-9 … (Warriors lead 2-1) … tied 4-4 at mid-8, the Warriors blow five runs on the Thunder pen before almost blowing that lead right afterwards

Thunder @ Warriors … 4-1 … (series tied 2-2) … OCT Jeff Martin 2-4, 2 2B, 2 RBI; OCT Will Jackson 3-5, 2B, RBI;

Thunder @ Warriors … 3-1 … (Thunder lead 3-2) … BREAKING NEWS – SOMEBODY BEAT TORRES!!

Warriors @ Thunder … 5-3 … (series tied 3-3) … 23-yr old OCT SP Millard Wilson is jumped on for all five runs in less than four innings

For Game 7, the Warriors had Aaron Anderson (1-2, 2.17 ERA) available, while the Thunder had to hope for Makoto Kogawa (0-1, 5.57 ERA) to hold up.

Actually, both held up well, allowing single runs, and received no-decisions. The game went into overtime at 1-1, when with runners on the corners and one out OCT Rob Guidry grounded into a double play in the bottom 9th. In the top 11th, Travis Lange’s sac fly put the Warriors up 2-1, but in the bottom 11th Sonny Reece hit a leadoff double off Luciano Parrilla and scored on Jose Marquez’ 2-out RBI single to extend the game to a 12th inning.

In the top 12th, Oliver Rivera – who had only walked onto the roster due to injuries and had NOT ONE regular season at-bat in the majors!! – hit a 2-out, 3-run triple off reliever Terry Harris to give the Warriors a 4-2 lead.

Parrilla remained in the game for the bottom 12th, and struck out Jeff Martin to start the inning. He then walked Dave Browne, and surrendered an RBI triple to Vonne Calzado. 90 feet from tying it, the Thunder’s Will Jackson struck out, sending up Sonny Reece, who had brought the Thunder into the World Series in the first place with a walkoff home run in game 7 against the Loggers, stepped to the plate. 22 years, crackling with energy, at the plate. He went after Parrilla’s 0-1 pitch and sent a huge flyball right up the right field line. It was high, it was long, it was curving toward the foul pole. High, deep, INSIDE AND GONE!!!!

Warriors @ Thunder … 4-5 (12) … (Thunder win 4-3) … OCT Sonny Reece 3-6, HR, 2B, 2 RBI (walkoff home run!!); OCT Vonne Calzado 4-6, 3B, RBI; SFW Aaron Anderson 7.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 3 K;

Sonny Reece swatted walkoff home runs in BOTH playoff rounds’ game 7s …!

Oh my … wow! (stunned)

1994 WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS
Oklahoma City Thunder
(1st title)

And that Reece kid? Eight overall pick in 1991. He may have a hard time topping two game 7 come-from-behind walkoff home runs in one postseason in his career.

[Westheim]

A few days after the season ended, Kisho Saito hurt his knee while reportedly chasing his girlfriend around the beach. It wasn’t a big deal apart for one thing. Since when did he have a girlfriend? Everybody knew he had a SWORD, but … huh.

Once we officially hit the offseason on October 24, the really bad news started coming.

The first one came from Raimundo Beato, who voided his player option for 1995, trying to get a huge contract on the free agent market. Well, this bodes well for us … Beato is 132-118 with a 3.64 ERA for his career. He was here for three years, accumulating a 28-27 record with a 3.34 ERA. Talk about run support.

Second instance of bad news, coming from the owner: I have to take a 5% budget cut, down from about $16.2M to $15.5M. Now, that is going to spell real trouble…

So. All of a sudden we are going to lose a starting pitcher that was penciled in for the #2 or #3 slot AND get the money attached to his contract taken away. The winter could not possibly start more terrible.

Third bad news: we have the #13 pick in next year’s draft, and thus do NOT have a protected pick. Out of four teams tied for picks #11-#14, we were assigned in the worse half. Sigh.

Well, let’s start business by looking at our arbitration screen. We have 11 players on there that have to be dealt with, seven that are arbitration eligible, and four that are bound to be free agents.

The latter group can be quickly dealt with. It includes Beato, plus Mark Allen, Grant West, and Daniel Hall. We will not make an offer to Beato now, who has $$$ in his eyes, but we will offer arbitration, since he is a type B free agent. We will not make an offer to Mark Allen, who just genuinely sucked his way to $1.9M out of our coffers the last two years. He’s washed up. We will also not make an offer to Daniel Hall, who is 39 and has gone as far as his body would take him, plus one year. My heart hurts.

I do consider an offer to Grant West, who pitched to 9 SV and a 2.85 ERA last year, put posted a 1.33 WHIP. We need a left-hander in the bullpen other than Ken Burnett, so why not? The bigger problem in that bullpen is the closer position, but we will get to that at another time.

The seven arbitration eligible players are the following, listed with service time, production last year, and their estimate:
MR Albert Matthews (4.012; 3-1, 3.86 ERA; $148,500)
MR Daniel Miller (2.144; 3-4, 6.43 ERA; $148,500)
C Jose Rodriguez (2.142; .262/.309/.345, 2 HR, 19 RBI; $148,500)
LF Vern Kinnear (3.008; .269/.369/.446, 13 HR, 69 RBI; $341,000)
CF/LF Neil Reece (4.161; .329/.390/.502, 9 HR, 37 RBI (after being hurt half the year); $582,313)
OF Glenn Johnston (5.100; .143/.172/.179, 0 HR, 2 RBI; $302,500)
OF Royce Green (3.019; .280/.342/.575, 38 HR, 101 RBI; $330,000)

Here you can see three kinds of players. Players I am sick of seing on the payroll, our young stud outfield, and Jose Rodriguez.

Let’s deal with Rodriguez first, since he is easily dealt with. His defense is first class, and he is a very good backup to David Vinson. He will be offered $150k.

Our big boy outfield will be sent to arbitration for the first time with the exception of Neil Reece. Kinnear and Green will both be offered $350k. With Reece, we should try to reach a big contract at this point. He will probably be awarded north of $600k anyway, so better bite that lemon now and get a contract done. I think about six years and hopefully less than $6M here.

That leaves Matthews, Miller, and Johnston. Miller was raped all year long and will be offered arbitration at the estimate, but is planned for an assignment to St. Pete to start the year. Albert Matthews has never convinced me. He will be offered the estimate, and most likely also assigned to AAA next year. However: both are out of options, so it is possible we will lose them. But will we lose anything then?

Johnston. He’s a sad story around here. He looked like The Thing five years ago. He will not be offered arbitration. He’s totally done.

We will not do an awful lot until after free agents will file in mid-November, mainly because we do not have any budget space available. Then I need to have the bucks together to go after both David Brewer and a starting pitcher – not even to upgrade the rotation, but just to replace the loss of Beato. Uh, 1995 is starting early, and starting badly.

[Westheim]

October 3 – CIN LF/RF Dan Morris (.358, 21 HR, 81 RBI) and OCT RF/LF Vonne Calzado (.347, 9 HR, 81 RBI) win the batting titles in their respective leagues.
October 24 – Investment magnate Nick Marshall acquires the Boston Titans franchise, announcing that he will bring them to the front. The Titans are one of two teams (the other being the Aces) that have never made the playoffs.
October 24 – The Canadiens unload 34-yr old 1B/2B Antonio Esquivel (.281, 117 HR, 797 RBI) to the Aces, along with a fringe prospect, for C Alberto Durán (.245, 12 HR, 105 RBI).
November 3 – Portland’s Vern Kinnear wins the Gold Glove for left field in the Continental League. It is his first award.
November 4 – SFW CF John Hensley (.308, 14 HR, 86 RBI) and SFB SP Min-tae Kim (17-11, 4.33 ERA) win the Rookie of the Year awards.
November 6 – RIC SP Harry Griggs (22-8, 3.16 ERA) and BOS SP Doug Morrow (18-9, 3.15 ERA) are named Pitchers of the Year.
November 7 – The Hitters of the Year are announced: RIC RF/LF Raúl Vázquez (.334, 33 HR, 112 RBI) and BOS OF Jose Martinez (.343, 1 HR, 67 RBI) are the winners.
November 12 – Fans in Portland are hysterically overjoyed as they wake up to the news that the Raccoons and CF/LF Neil Reece have agreed on a 6-yr, $5.8M contract extension that will keep Reece on the club through the 2000 season!

Negotiations with Neil Reece were smooth and quick. The contract is backloaded, starting at $750k for next season, and topping out at $1.1M the last two years, and loaded with incentives on top of that. Reece came in asking for a considerably back-loaded 4-yr, $4.1M proposal, but I liked my idea way better. We will retain him through his age 33 season and hope for many many home runs.

Unfortunately, Grant West insisted on a multi-year deal which I was not willing to give out. He will thus become a free agent.

So, with that out of the way, we were looking forward to salary arbitrations and free agents filing. Arbitration hearings went against us. Of our five players involved, three received our offers, but two got their demands fulfilled and those were the two expensive young outfielders. Vern Kinnear got $360k, Green even $412k. We had offered $350k to both of them. Another $70k down the drain.

Free agents filed November 17, which was the same day that the international free agents became available to be signed. There were two semi-interesting infielders in the mix, and a Cuban starting pitcher rated at 16/18/16 potential. The drawback? That pitcher, Cris Gonzales, was 31 years old already. I think we will pass.

About five seconds after noon on November 17 I got David Brewer’s engine onto the phone. Time for some dealin’!

I will also have to revamp my pitching staff. I currently have nine pitchers penciled in for next year, which obviously will not be enough. I talked about that right-handed ace to complement Kisho Saito before. Well, with Beato departed, we will REALLY need that guy. The question was, where should the money come from? We entered the postseason with about $2.5M of budget room. Bidding on Brewer immediately took a sizeable chunk out of that number. And I am also looking at closers, since Jackie Lagarde has been … disappointing in the second half of the season, to say the least.

During the rest of November, I cleaned up our minors, releasing almost a dozen players, yet nobody you would necessarily miss, or recognize.

November 19 – Former Coon SP Antonio “Woody” Lopez (122-146, 4.33 ERA) signs a 2-yr, $930k deal with the Cyclones. He pitched to a 9-11 record with the Buffaloes last year.
November 25 – The Cyclones seem to be onto something: they add ex-ATL LF/RF Michael Root (.294, 284 HR, 1,085 RBI) to a 3-yr, $3.42M contract. Root, 33, has hit 20+ home runs for *11* straight seasons!
November 26 – SP John Douglas (174-178, 3.88 ERA) signs a 2-yr, $1.52M contract with the Falcons. Douglas’ arm has 3,000 innings logged, and the 34-yr old was limited to 15 starts last year due to injuries.
December 1 – Rule 5 draft: ten players are taken over two rounds. The Raccoons are not affected.

That’s where we are, December 1. I have an offer out with David Brewer. It is a huge offer. I would have to tediously check, but I am fairly sure that it would be the largest contract dished out in ABL history. It certainly will be whenever he signs somewhere: half the league is after him, pushing up the price.

And a final note: Tetsu Osanai realized that things were not going to get any better again. He has retired, forfeiting over $2M in salary that the Pacifics were still due to pay him. Signed by the Canadiens in 1978 out of Japan, Osanai made his debut in 1981. He was traded to the Raccoons in mid-1985, regularly posting .900+ OPS seasons, with a 1.004 OPS in 1989, before he entered a rapid decline just after that season. He was traded for a bag of baseballs to the Pacifics in the summer of 1993, where he never gained traction again and warmed the bench without an end in sight.

Final career numbers: 1,756 G, 2,069 H, 219 HR, 1,118 RBI, .319/.375/.486, .862 OPS, 144+ OPS+

Oh, one more number: the budget cut we took dropped us from 5th to 15th among all teams. So, big money team no more.