Portland Raccoons (ABL)

[Westheim]

Raccoons (42-63) @ Knights (48-56) – August 4-6, 1997

Another team we had to avert an 0-9 year against. The plan was clear: hammer them, hammer them, hammer them, as the Knights were surrendering almost five runs a game, second-worst in the Continental League. They weren’t scoring a ton, either, ranking 9th in runs scored. The Raccoons were several positions ahead of them in either category and still had a more horrendous record. Might be that -9 pyth. difference of ours. (Knights: +6!) The Knights were ravaged by injuries, still missing Jim Harrington and Hollis Hatch, as well as a few other guys.

Projected matchups:
Miguel Lopez (8-6, 3.70 ERA) vs. Tynan Howard (7-8, 3.65 ERA)
Hector Lara (3-4, 3.74 ERA) vs. Israel Gomes (5-5, 4.36 ERA)
Jose Ramos (4-4, 4.02 ERA) vs. Sammy Davis (1-3, 4.19 ERA)

Davis was the left-hander to start against us, and we would also dodge Carlos Asquabal, which is never a bad thing.

Game 1
POR: 2B Brewer – SS Ingall – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Green – LF Buell – 3B Crowe – C Vinson – P M. Lopez
ATL: RF Árias – C J. Johnson – 3B Nicks – SS Tanaka – CF Utting – 1B M. Guzmán – 2B Palacios – LF J. Wilson – P Howard

The Furballs slammed a beam of wood into Howard’s face in the first inning. Brewer and Ingall got on, and after Reece whiffed, Weeds, Green, and Buell all had run-scoring extra base hits, and we plated four in total. Unfortunately, Lopez wasn’t very sharp either. Buell started an inning-ending double play from left field in the first to keep his ledger clean, while a Crowe error then did soil his ledger with an unearned run in the second. In the third, Brewer AND Crowe made errors, and Lopez barely escaped with a K to Guzmán. A Lopez error in the fourth led to two more unearned runs. Four frames, four errors, four runs were running out of being enough offensively. The Coons loaded them up to start the fifth with a Lopez double, an intentional walk to Brewer and an Ingall single. Reece’s 2-run double socked Howard out of the contest, Green would ramp his run total to eight with a 2-run double, and the Furballs scored five in total in the inning. 9-3 should be enough to get through this, right? Amazingly, despite making all those errors, the Raccoons also had defensive highlights. After Buell had induced a double play on a fly ball out in the first, Ingall caught a hissing liner from Guzmán in the fifth, and doubled a well-advanced Jai Utting off first. Lopez was notched from the game in the seventh with two on and two out. Miller struck out Guzmán to keep Lopez’ line earned-run-free. Both teams would get a run in the eighth, and the Knights left pairs of runners on in the last few innings, but didn’t come back. 10-4 Raccoons. Brewer 2-3, 2 BB; Ingall 4-5; Green 2-5, 3B, 2B, 4 RBI; Lopez 6.2 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 1 K, W (9-6) and 1-3, 2B;

Four errors in one game? Are we playing in 1880 or what?? Also, the Knights left 14 men on base, so this was not such a lop-sided game as the score indicates…

Also, for the first time in a while, we tied for fifth place after this game. Yay, progress!

Game 2
POR: 2B Brewer – SS Ingall – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Green – LF Buell – C Aycock – 3B Crowe – P Lara
ATL: RF J. Wilson – C J. Johnson – CF Árias – SS Tanaka – 3B Utting – 1B M. Guzmán – 2B Nicks – LF Burton – P Gomes

Israel Gomes was shattered by the Raccoons in the second inning. After a 1-1 score through the first, the Coons sent 12 men to bat and plated six runs in the second. The Knights’ bullpen was not really prepared to pitch seven plus innings, and crumbled again in the fifth, allowing three runs, two of which came in on bases-loaded, 2-out walks issued by Yosuke Memoto. Lara ended up saddled with four runs in seven innings, allowing a 2-out, 2-run home run to Edgar Morris in the seventh, and put the leadoff man Johnny Johnson on base in the eighth. Donis allowed Johnson to score, but we were really, really far ahead by then. 11-4 Raccoons! Brewer 2-6, 2B, RBI; Ingall 3-5; Reece 2-5, BB, 2B, RBI; Wedemeyer 2-4, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Green 2-6, 2B, RBI; Aycock 2-4, BB, RBI; Crowe 2-4, 2 BB, RBI; Lara 7.0 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, W (4-4) and 0-2, 3 BB, 2 RBI;

All positional starters had at least one hit (Buell had one but also swung for a golden sombrero), and while Lara didn’t get a hit, he drew three walks (!) in the game, twice (!!) with the bags full! I normally wouldn’t list a guy to surrender four earned runs in a start, but that plate work he did was certainly unique. He walked twice in the 6-run second, f.e., and without those walks we might have gotten three runs less, and then it could become a different game.

Now in a three-way tie for fourth place with the Indians and Canadiens!

Game 3
POR: 1B Ingall – C Aycock – CF Reece – RF Green – 3B Crowe – LF Newton – SS Guerin – 2B Caddock – P Ramos
ATL: RF J. Wilson – C J. Johnson – CF Árias – SS Tanaka – 3B Utting – 2B Corona – 1B Nicks – LF Cooper – P S. Davis

Steve Caddock got a start to rest Brewer and Wedemeyer in this game, and subbed adequately in the power department for Weeds, breaking the scoreless tie with a leadoff homer in the third inning. After two high voltage games, we got a high noon pitchers’ duel, with neither hurler allowing all too much. The Coons managed to load the bags in the sixth, Newton brought in a run with a groundout, but we didn’t get more, 2-0, and we left the bags full when Jesus Árias somehow beamed out to the warning track in center to nab Guerin’s deep fly with two out in the eighth. Ramos pitched seven shutout innings but was removed for Zuniga with left-handers up in the bottom 8th. Bubba Cannon loaded the bags with three walks in the top 9th, then rallied to punch out Green to keep the 2-0 score in place. That made the bullpen spit out De La Rosa for the bottom 9th, facing the 2-3-4 hitters. The ship sunk. Johnson singled, Árias doubled, and Ingall fumbled Tanaka’s grounder. That put the situation at 2-1, runners on the corners, and nobody out. Utting tied it with a double, putting the winning run at third. Corona popped out, and Nicks flew out to Reece, but it was too deep to get the game to extra innings, the throw home arrived well after Tanaka. 3-2 Knights. Aycock 2-5; Ramos 7.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K;

This was Caddock’s first career big league homer. And I must ship out De La Rosa, that smelling sucker.

For now, however, we will have Tamburrino close games, Miller will take over as setup, and De La Rosa can restock the bags of baseballs and the Gaytirade in the dugout, and maybe – MAYBE – we will let him throw batting practice.

Back to a tie for fifth, with the Indians now.

Raccoons (44-64) @ Loggers (62-45) – August 7-10, 1997

The Loggers’ offense was churning out more than five runs a game, so our somewhat beleaguered pitching staff would have its work cut out for them. However, their own rotation also kept them out of the first place in the division, since their 4.35 ERA ranked only ninth in the league.

Projected matchups:
Kisho Saito (8-8, 3.05 ERA) vs. Rafael Garcia (12-5, 4.26 ERA)
Scott Wade (4-6, 4.84 ERA) vs. Tim Butler (1-2, 5.21 ERA)
Miguel Lopez (9-6, 3.53 ERA) vs. Davis Sims (7-10, 4.26 ERA)
Hector Lara (4-4, 3.87 ERA) vs. Jorge Casas (7-7, 5.58 ERA)

That’s four right-handers! So it was a good thing to rest Brewer while we had time for it (whether it cost us the last Knights game would be fuel for a different dissection…). Neil Reece is the only guy that should really get a day off in this series.

Game 1
POR: 2B Brewer – SS Ingall – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Green – LF Kinnear – 3B Crowe – C Aycock – P Saito
MIL: CF Fletcher – SS B. Hernandez – RF C. Ramirez – LF Hiwalani – 3B Nakayama – C L. Ramirez – 2B Sullivan – 1B J. Lopez – P R. Garcia

Saito faced the minimum through three innings, but the Raccoons made it an art to leave runners on base – seven in the first four frames. Accordingly, Saito was shelled for three runs in the bottom 4th, and that was that game. The Coons had nothing going the next two innings. Aycock singled to start the seventh, and Saito’s bunt went deep past Lopez and to Sullivan, who went to second base – and didn’t get anybody. So the tying run came to the plate with no outs, and Brewer’s bloop to left loaded the bags. Ingall doubled in a pair, and then Reece and Weeds grounded out so stupidly that nobody scored, and Green struck out to end the frame with the go-ahead runs on base. Saito completed eight innings and was lifted for Buell to hit, leading off the ninth against John Bennett. The last time we faced the Loggers, we had made Bennett blow two saves, but this was a Saito game, so no luck here. 3-2 Loggers. Brewer 2-5; Aycock 2-4; Saito 8.0 IP, 10 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, L (8-9);

(chokes plush raccoon)

Game 2
POR: 2B Brewer – SS Ingall – RF Green – 1B Wedemeyer – LF Kinnear – CF Newton – C Aycock – 3B Caddock – P Wade
MIL: CF Fletcher – SS B. Hernandez – RF C. Ramirez – 1B D. Evans – 3B Nakayama – LF O’Day – C R. Rivera – 2B J. Lopez – P Butler

Under great difficulties, the Raccoons scratched out two runs in the first four innings. Unfortunately, Wade had a fly ball day, and it wasn’t going to work out. He struggled against left-handers especially and put on Drake Evans and Naruki Nakayama in the fourth. Preston O’Day was not a left-hander, but he still homered to turn the game around, 3-2 Loggers. Top 5th, Butler was struggling no less, put Brewer on, and Ingall doubled him home to re-tie the score. With two down in the frame, Kinnear unleashed a bomb that counted for two, and we were up by two again. Would Wade hold on now? Not bloody quite. The Loggers got a run in the fifth, and only Ingall pulled him through the sixth, and that was enough in a 5-4 game. Thankfully, Kinnear made it two on the day with another 2-run homer in the seventh, in which we scored three runs total off ex-Coon Juan Martinez, and then another run off Elliott Meeks when Newton got on, stole second, and scored on Aycock’s single. Up by five, Padilla and Santana were ravaged in the bottom 7th (because, of course), as the Loggers plated three and had the tying runs in scoring position with one out. Miller came in and got the final two outs, preserving a 9-7 lead. De La Rosa came on in the eighth, put a man on, and Zuniga allowed the run to score, 9-8. Guys. Seriously. I’m gonna rape you with bats! Newest closer Tamburrino had no cushion in the ninth, after the Raccoons had left pairs of runners on base in the last two frames. Rivera doubled. Lopez doubled. With one out, Fletcher singled. 10-9 Loggers. Brewer 2-4, BB, RBI; Ingall 2-5, 2B, RBI; Wedemeyer 2-5, RBI; Kinnear 3-5, 2 HR, 2B, 4 RBI; Newton 2-4, BB, 2B;

Except for Miller, all pitchers involved were summarily sho- … whipped. Why can’t these abysmal morons not hold on to ANY ****ING LEAD???

Game 3
POR: 2B Brewer – SS Ingall – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Green – LF Kinnear – 3B Crowe – C Vinson – P M. Lopez
MIL: CF Fletcher – SS B. Hernandez – RF C. Ramirez – LF Hiwalani – 3B Nakayama – C L. Ramirez – 2B Sullivan – 1B J. Lopez – P Sims

Why bother. They will lose 16-15 anyway. Or 16-3.

Sims was horrible, and through three innings walked six and threw two wild ones to plate three runs for the Raccoons. No room for ecstasy though, as Lopez got a fork put into him in the bottom 4th. First, Hiwalani hit a home run, 3-1, and then the Loggers castrated Lopez with five 2-out runs. Lopez was hit for with Buell in the fifth, representing the tying run, but with two outs, Buell popped out. The game was lost either way, so we could put in Padilla just as well. Two innings and three runs later, Padilla was on his way back to Florida. 9-3 Loggers. Ingall 1-2, 3 BB; Reece 2-5; Green 2-5, 2 2B, RBI; Crowe 2-3, BB; Newton (PH) 1-1, 2B; Donis 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 0 K;

Manuel Diaz was called up from AAA for a few days until Andres Otero was warmed up enough to be recalled.

Do we really have to PLAY the last one or can they just keep the W and we leave town silently?

Game 4
POR: 2B Brewer – SS Ingall – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – LF Kinnear – RF Buell – C Aycock – 3B Crowe – P Lara
MIL: CF Fletcher – SS B. Hernandez – RF C. Ramirez – LF Hiwalani – 1B D. Evans – 3B Nakayama – C L. Ramirez – 2B Sullivan – P Casas

Rain interrupted the game for an hour early, in the top 3rd, with two Coons on. Juan Guerrero replaced Casas once play resumed, walked in a run, and Nakayama plated two more with a wild throwing error. Lara had only thrown 20 pitches in the first two innings and came back out to pitch, but was closely watched. 30 more pitches got him through five, but he then notified the pitching coach that his arm was about to go to sleep for the day, so the bullpen would have to carry a 3-0 lead over 12 outs. Ha!! Good joke!! De La Rosa was brought out to pitch two innings, and did not allow baserunners – to anybody’s surprise. The Loggers pen gave out first, manifesting in a 4-run eighth for the Raccoons, and two more in the ninth. And in a twist of irony (because why not?) Tamburrino struck out the side in the bottom 9th. 9-0 Raccoons. Brewer 4-5, BB, RBI; Kinnear 2-3, 2 BB, 3B, 2B, RBI; Guerin 2-2, BB, RBI; Lara 5.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K, W (5-4) and 1-2; De La Rosa 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

In other news

August 9 – Tijuana’s Woody Roberts (11-7, 2.43 ERA) 3-hits the Thunder in a 2-0 Condors win.
August 9 – SAL RF/LF Jeff MacGruder (.303, 18 HR, 56 RBI) is slated to miss six weeks with a groin strain.

Complaints and stuff

Ha-rumpf!

Yeah. After two arousing thumpings, they go on to lose three 1-run games as dumb as possible, and … ugh.

Ugh.

[Westheim]

After shedding salary six weeks earlier, we had just crawled back into the green zone when it came to our budget. That sliver of budget room would be enough to f.e. pay a minimum salary player for the rest of the year. Checking the waiver wire on Monday morning, I found two players on there that did not appear to be part of a waiver deal. One of them was a player we had faced just this last week. The other was southpaw Tim Mallandain. I claimed one of them. Hint: it was not Mallandain.

Raccoons (45-67) @ Indians (45-67) – August 11-13, 1997

Last place playoffs, so we were bound for losses of 2-1, 3-2, and 14-5… The Indians weren’t scoring at all, ranking dead last in offense in the Continental League. Their pitching was average, with a pretty sound bullpen, which ranked 3rd in ERA. (By the way, the collection of failures the Raccoons sat behind the right field fence day in and day out was right now 8th in the league, the starters however ranked 5th)

Projected matchups:
Jose Ramos (4-4, 3.66 ERA) vs. Robbie Campbell (8-10, 4.02 ERA)
Kisho Saito (8-9, 3.06 ERA) vs. Ruben Prado (3-4, 4.43 ERA)
Scott Wade (4-6, 4.90 ERA) vs. Dan George (7-11, 3.67 ERA)

Game 1
POR: 2B Brewer – SS Ingall – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Green – LF Buell – 3B Crowe – C Vinson – P Ramos
IND: SS C. Gonzalez – 2B M. Carter – 1B M. Brown – RF A. Roldán – CF Paredes – LF Sakaguchi – C T. Thompson – 3B Whaley – P Campbell

Jose Ramos’ stuff didn’t bite today, and he struck out only one batter while pitching into the sixth, from which he couldn’t get out of. With one out and runners on the corners, Daniel Miller was brought in to protect a 6-2 lead, but one run scored off him with a 2-out RBI single by Terence Thompson. How had the Coons scored six runs so far? Brute power. Green had homered in the second inning, and Neil Reece had provided a pair of 2-run home runs, in a 3-run third and then again in the fifth. Reece however struck out with the bags full in the sixth inning, missing history with three homers in one game. He came up again in the eighth, facing Cesar Salcido, but “only” hit an RBI single. Thanks to a bases-clearing double by Buell later in the inning, Salcido got soiled with four earned runs, making my heart of darkness laugh really madly. Although Donis and Santana tried to blow the game really hard in the final innings, this was a rout. 12-4 Raccoons! Ingall 5-6, 2B, RBI; Reece 3-5, BB, 2 HR, 5 RBI; Green 2-4, 2 BB, HR, 2 RBI; Buell 2-6, 2 2B, 3 RBI; Vinson 2-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Miller 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

For the first time since god-knows-when we are not last or tied for last. But of course, Saito pitches the next one, so we will score minus three runs.

When was David Vinson’s last multi-hit game? How about JUNE THIRTEEN!? Two months of going 6-69 … what the hell has become of him!?

Game 2
POR: 2B Brewer – SS Ingall – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Green – LF Kinnear – C Aycock – 3B Caddock – P Saito
IND: 1B G. Flores – 2B M. Carter – C Cicalina – RF Sakaguchi – LF L. Maldonado – CF Alarcon – 3B C. Gonzalez – SS Cerdeira – P Prado

Saito faced an all-righty lineup here, but the Coons rolled up Ruben Prado early on with four singles for three runs in the first inning, twice beating the arm of Francisco Alarcon to be safe at home. The Coons added two in the third, but just like in his last start, Saito crumbled badly in the fourth, allowed a homer to Cicalina, and the Indians came back to 5-2, and they had two on in the fifth when Neil Reece made a strong catch to end that inning. Saito mightily wobbled through seven, but the Indians didn’t get more off him, while in turn the Raccoons stomped Prado and the relief corps for four runs in the seventh inning to lead 9-2. The Coons didn’t make an out in the eighth until after a 3-run homer by Weeds, another run scoring on an error by Gonzalez, and them loading the bags, when Guerin bounced out to second, but that still brought home the fifth run of the frame. With Jim Durden in, Brewer and Ingall hit RBI singles, and Reece brought home another run on a groundout before Weeds struck out: eight runs scored in the inning. If the last game was a rout, this was a dismantling: 17-3 Critters!! Brewer 3-6, RBI; Ingall 3-6, RBI; Reece 2-4, 2 BB, 2B, RBI; Wedemeyer 2-6, HR, 3 RBI; Green 3-5, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Kinnear 2-3, 2 BB, 2 RBI; Aycock 2-6, 4 RBI; Saito 7.0 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, W (9-9) and 1-4, RBI;

Game 3
POR: 2B Brewer – 1B Ingall – CF Reece – RF Green – LF Buell – 3B Crowe – C Aycock – SS Guerin – P Wade
IND: SS C. Gonzalez – C Cicalina – 1B M. Brown – RF A. Roldán – LF Sakaguchi – CF L. Maldonado – 2B Cerdeira – 3B Alarcon – P George

At some point, things had to reverse. They reversed in Wade’s game, they reversed soon, and they reversed hard, as the Indians romped over him for five runs in the first inning. Well, amazing. We lose. Then came the top 2nd: Green singled; Buell singled; Crowe grounded out, advancing the runners; George then balked a run in, and walked Aycock; Guerin singled, scoring Buell; Wade walked; Brewer grounded to Cerdeira, who only got Wade at second, and a run scored; Ingall came up, took a strike, then ripped a homer out of right center; if you counted, that’s six runs. But Wade had NOTHING and was yanked in the third inning, down 7-6 and another man on. What was wrong with him!? Zuniga was brought in, as we ached for several innings. He held Wade’s run on, and neither pitcher saw daylight in the fourth, as George was hit for in the third. With a more rested pen, the Raccoons still had a good chance of reversing that 7-6 deficit. Zuniga pitched three innings, but allowed two runs in the fifth, which the Coons got back in the sixth, but we still trailed by a run. The Indians left the bags full in the bottom 6th while putting four men on – but Aycock gunned down Roldán trying to nab second base – and the Raccoons also left them full in the top 7th. Top 8th, two down, nobody on, Brewer got on. And then Ingall, and then Reece. Bags full against Jim Durden, Royce Green worked a walk, and we were tied! And then Buell grounded out and we left them full again. We went to extra innings, and into the bottom 10th, where Miller walked Gonzalez, but Thompson, now batting second, hit into a double play. That brought up Brown, who was not going to hit a home run here and was put on intentionally to pitch to Roldán. And Roldán hit that home run. 11-9 Indians. Ingall 2-5, BB, HR, 3 RBI; Green 2-4, BB, RBI; Crowe 2-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Guerin 2-5, 2 RBI; De La Rosa 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

Waiver claim

On Thursday, the Raccoons had an off day, plus they were awarded utility man Jai Utting off waivers by the Atlanta Knights. With the 40-man roster full, SP Jose Rivera was transferred to the 60-day DL to make room for Jai Utting. Rivera is not expected back until very late in the season (if at all this season), so we will deal with the issue when it arises in six weeks or later.

The 29-year old Utting, from Melbourne, Victoria, is the Steve Walker type player* that the Raccoons have not had for many years, able to play capably in the infield and the outfield on almost all positions. His best positions are the corner infield and left field positions, but he also plays a very competent middle infield and a serviceable centerfield. He has never played much in right, but his range is good and his arm is strong, so maybe that could also work for him?

Utting was the Loggers’ 9th round pick in the 1986 draft (back then the draft went only ten rounds!), but didn’t surface in the Bigs until 1992 with the Knights. His career slash line is .273/.329/.383 with 9 HR and 130 RBI in 1,141 AB. He was a regular only this and last season. The bad news are that he has very little power and no speed: he has not a single stolen base in his major league career. Utting will be arbitration eligible for the first time this fall.

With Utting on board we can divest ourself of Steve Caddock, who had not batted enough despite great defense all around the infield.

*For the newcomers: Steve Walker was a utility player for the Raccoons from 1982 to 1988, forming a dazzling if unlikely sterling middle infield combo with Winston Thompson starting in 1983, when he was not subbing elsewhere. Walker (.249/.328/.335 with 32 HR, 254 RBI and only 9 SB) is still 11th in at-bats among all Raccoons. Thompson, who was a true scrap heap pickup prior to the ’83 season, when we first made the playoffs (and what a surprise that was), is still 16th. And yes, these two just belong together. Both exited after the train wreck that was 1988. Neither played in the Bigs again.

Yes, we now have four Aussies on the roster! Utting joins Wedemeyer, Kinnear, and Tamburrino.

Do all Australians have names that are somewhat strange, but in a nice way?

Raccoons (47-68) @ Pacifics (48-67) – August 15-17, 1997

The Pacifics were 11th in runs scored in the FL, with a good rotation, but a shabby bullpen.

Projected matchups:
Miguel Lopez (9-7, 3.80 ERA) vs. Jonathan Dumont (5-5, 4.79 ERA)
Hector Lara (5-4, 3.63 ERA) vs. Manuel Paredes (3-11, 5.71 ERA)
Jose Ramos (5-4, 3.75 ERA) vs. Bastyao Caixinha (11-10, 3.19 ERA)

No reunion with Jason Turner (6-14, 4.82 ERA) in this series, unfortunately. Caixinha was also the only left-hander we got in the set, and we had another off day right away on Monday. However, at the moment, all our starters (except Wade, somehow…) performed mostly reasonably adept so I was not inclined to skip anybody. Except maybe Wade next Wednesday.

Game 1
POR: 2B Brewer – SS Ingall – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Green – LF Kinnear – 3B Crowe – C Aycock – P M. Lopez
LAP: SS Austin – 1B Donaldson – RF A. Rodriguez – C Branch – LF Quintela – CF J. Thompson – 2B E. Edwards – 3B Cook – P Dumont

The Raccoons stormed out of the gates with a 3-run homer by Weeds in the first, and loaded the bags in the second inning when Aycock singled, and Carlos Cook threw away Lopez’ bunt, followed by a walk to Brewer. Unfortunately Marvin Ingall decided to hit right to Mark Austin in his at-bat, and the Raccoons only got the run that scored on the double play (which went second and first). In return, Lance Branch hit a double in a 2-strike count to open the bottom 2nd, followed by a Carlos Quintela single in a 2-strike count, and then Jim Thompson homered. The Pacifics batted around the lineup, scoring four runs to tie the game. Great. Crowe scored Kinnear with a sac fly in the fifth for a 5-4 lead, but Lopez was drummed with home runs from Douglas Donaldson and another one by Thompson and was finally sent home. While we were well on the way to lose another game we had led by umpteen runs early on, we still had time to insert Donis to ramp the score to 8-5 Pacifics after six. Top 8th, Crowe and Aycock hit singles to start the inning, bringing the tying run to the plate in PH Luke Newton against ex-VAN/BOS Holden Gorman. The Pacifics used three relievers here to match our three batters, including Brewer and Ingall, and got them all. Jai Utting made his Raccoons debut as defensive replacement for Brewer (not that his defense was better, I just didn’t want Brewer to break a random number of legs in a lost game), and handled his one chance for an out. We still got another shot against Pete Sanders in the ninth, who walked Weeds with one out, and then Ed Edwards dropped Royce Green’s pop fly. Two on, one out, Kinnear countered Sanders, who remained in the game. Kinnear walked. We had no left-handed pats on the bench to bat for Crowe, who singled, or Aycock, who struck out. Guerin batted for Santana with two down, the bags booked, and two runs down. And struck out. 8-6 Pacifics. Ingall 2-5; Wedemeyer 2-4, BB, HR, 3 RBI; Kinnear 3-4, BB, 2B; Crowe 2-3, BB, 2 RBI; Aycock 2-5;

Two points: maybe I suck at managing? First. And second: now what did I just say about our starting pitching??

This Ed Edwards guy. I was after him a few years ago, but I can’t remember when and why. Maybe it was right when he was drafted, in 1994? Gotta check. He’s a decent second baseman now, a solid .725 OPS or so bat, yet without power (1 HR in 1,015 ML AB).

Game 2
POR: 2B Brewer – SS Ingall – LF Kinnear – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Buell – CF Newton – 3B Crowe – C Aycock – P Lara
LAP: 1B Battle – SS Austin – RF A. Rodriguez – C Branch – CF J. Thompson – 2B Donaldson – LF Lacombe – 3B Sutton – P Paredes

Hector Lara retired none of the first four batters he faced, and only escaped the first inning alive thanks to Joe Lacombe hitting into an inning-ending double play, keeping the score at 2-0. Lara actually hit two doubles himself, but that was nowhere near to being close to being almost sufficient to make up his abysmal mound performance, for which he got yanked in the fifth, down 5-3 with Jim Thompson, who had just hit the second of back-to-back doubles to lead off the inning, on second base. The game was declared lost, as Diaz came in, got five outs before he put two men on in the sixth, and Zuniga surrendered them to lefty Lance Branch. The Raccoons never raised another bat in anger, and lost their third straight. 7-3 Pacifics. Ingall 2-3, BB, RBI; Newton 2-4;

Game 3
POR: 2B Ingall – LF Kinnear – CF Reece – RF Green – 3B Crowe – 1B Utting – C Aycock – SS Guerin – P Ramos
LAP: 1B Battle – SS Austin – RF A. Rodriguez – C Branch – CF J. Thompson – LF Quintela – 2B Donaldson – 3B Sutton – P Caixinha

More suckerball from our pitching corps in this game, as Ramos allowed a 2-run homer to Thompson (that bastard) in the second inning, and with two out and nobody on in the third melted away to put four Pacifics on that plated another two runs. For the third straight day, our starter was showering by the time the sixth inning began, this time with a Caixinha double, a wild pitch, an RBI single by Austin, and another bomb by Anibal Rodriguez in the bottom 5th. 7-0. What the hell. There was not a lot to report about the Raccoons, who managed to rack up two hits through six innings, and then crowded Caixinha some more, but … well, the Raccoons left three men on in the seventh, two in the eighth, and two more in the ninth, and Caixinha spun a 7-hit shutout, fanning ten. 7-0 Pacifics. Kinnear 2-4; Utting 2-4, 2B; Wedemeyer (PH) 1-1; Newton (PH) 1-1; Santana 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K; Donis 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

In other news

August 12 – SFB CL William Henderson (1-4, 2.56 ERA, 27 SV) is out for the season with tendinitis in his elbow.
August 17 – Milwaukee’s latest young hotshot, 22-yr old 2B/SS Bartolo Hernandez (.331, 0 HR, 16 RBI), has crafted a 20-game hitting streak despite not being a regular on the team.

Complaints and stuff

BNN reported that David Brewer asked to be traded (which is true), and that he was unhappy with the fans and the team management, and the pressure of playing in Portland. David, tell me. What pressures are there, playing in Portland. We ask you two things: have an OBP of .425, and don’t break your spine; is that so much asked!? (actually, it’s three things; the third thing is to shut the f*** up)

On Tuesday, after thumping the Indians twice, we were 20 games under .500; our run differential was actually +19!! Is this a case of horrible management in close games? Have I finally lost it? Have I finally gone nuts?

Would the Furballs be better off without me?

[Westheim]

Raccoons (47-71) vs. Miners (60-58) – August 19-21, 1997

We were facing a team that was so thoroughly average that is was incredibly hard to work out any strengths to fear or weaknesses to attack. They ranked around the league average or a bit above it in any important category. If they really weren’t doing much of any one thing, it was their power department, which ranked 10th in the FL. But then again, they’re going to be compared against the Raccoons, so …

Projected matchups:
Kisho Saito (9-9, 3.04 ERA) vs. Marc Padgett (11-7, 3.46 ERA)
Scott Wade (4-6, 5.29 ERA) vs. Manuel Movonda (11-8, 4.91 ERA)
Miguel Lopez (9-8, 4.11 ERA) vs. Ben Carlson (7-8, 4.39 ERA)

We might not face a left-hander until Sunday against Boston (O’Halloran considered the most likely right now), as we would play nine straight games. So, maybe Neil Reece would get a day off somewhere, and Ingall as well.

Game 1
PIT: CF Rojas – RF Arnold – LF C. Torres – 1B Munoz – 3B B. Hall – C J. Esquivel – 2B J. Valentin – SS Williamson – P Padgett
POR: 2B Brewer – SS Ingall – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Green – LF Kinnear – 3B Crowe – C Aycock – P Saito

The Raccoons struck out five times the first time through the lineup, and Saito had their only hit. Saito probably also knew that we would have to hit a home run to get to 10-9. The game was scoreless, Saito hit a ball to the warning track, but Carlos Torres caught it in the fifth, and Saito’s stuff didn’t exactly bite today, and he was ramping up his pitch count quickly. In the bottom 6th, Brewer led off with a walk, went to second as Ingall grounded out, and scored after singles by Reece and Wedemeyer. Those two were left on when Green popped out and Kinnear rolled one to Williamson, but the Raccoons now were up 1-0. Saito lost his touch for good in the seventh, getting the first two batters, but then Padgett singled and he walked Alfonso Rojas. De La Rosa came out to pitch to Bob Arnold, but the Miners countered with lefty Matt Smith. Smith ripped hard at a 1-1 pitch, but didn’t quite square up on it and hobbled out to Ingall. Miller was about to blow the tender lead when Jose Esquivel bounced into a saving 4-6-3 zipper in the eighth, and Tamburrino faced four men in the ninth, punching out three of them. And no, the fourth one did not hit a homer: PH Hector Mata walked. 1-0 Raccoons! Saito 6.2 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 3 K, W (10-9) and 1-2;

Saitooooo!!

You know, I like a well-pitched game. Both teams managed to pool together for 18 base runners, and both teams reached third base in only a single inning (Saito loaded them up in the fourth, recently his inning of issues). By the way, Matt Smith is the ex-Bostonian I shortly thought about signing last winter. He’s batting .250 with a .686 OPS, so … we have better guys.

We added Andres Otero to the roster, demoting Manuel Diaz. Otero had not surrendered an earned run in eight games in AAA, while Diaz was only in the definition of qualifying for mop up duties, if it involved some barf and an actual mop.

Otero only appeared in two games for the Coons this season before tearing his triceps.

Game 2
PIT: 1B J. Valentin – SS B. Hall – CF Rojas – RF M. Smith – 2B Salazar – LF Horton – 3B T. Torres – C Williamson – P Movonda
POR: 2B Brewer – LF Kinnear – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Green – 3B Crowe – C Aycock – SS Guerin – P Wade

Wade gave the outfielders a pretty good workout in this game, taxing Neil Reece especially. However, our outfield sported spectacular defense, so they were grabbing everything that came at them, and the Miners didn’t get one out against Wade. The Raccoons were non-existent at the plate again, if you ignored Crowe’s at-bat in the fourth, when he took “Bam Bam” Movonda to Nevada with a bomb that made it 1-0. As Wade wobbled down the outs, somewhere through five it occurred to the attendance, that the Miners’ H column was still empty. Wade went through six with the bid in one piece, and had two down in the seventh when Matt Smith singled to right, right in the middle between Brewer and Wedemeyer. Then Salazar singled. And then Horton singled and we were tied. Bugger. Wade was hit for with two down in the seventh, but Buell grounded out harmlessly to end the frame with two Furballs on base. We had runners on the corners with no outs in the bottom 8th with Movonda still in the game. After Reece grounded out, Weeds gave Movonda the good news with his 14th tater of the year. It was the decider: the Miners got their first two men on with singles off Tamburrino in the ninth, and scored one run, but couldn’t overcome the deficit. 4-2 Raccoons. Brewer 2-4; Wedemeyer 1-4, HR, 3 RBI; Crowe 4-4, HR, RBI; Guerin 2-4; Wade 7.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K;

Neil Reece was a horse, but after making eight putouts, mostly of the highlight category, he got the day off for the third game.

Game 3
PIT: CF Rojas – RF Arnold – LF C. Torres – 1B Munoz – 3B B. Hall – C J. Esquivel – 2B J. Valentin – SS Williamson – P Carlson
POR: 2B Brewer – LF Kinnear – RF Buell – 1B Wedemeyer – 3B Crowe – CF Newton – SS Utting – C Vinson – P M. Lopez

Carlson shoveled his own grave early in the game, throwing a run-scoring wild pitch in the first inning, throwing right into Weeds’ wheelhouse in the third, resulting in a 2-run homer, and walking in a run in the fourth. He was knocked out in a 4-run fifth for the Coons, which included a 2-out, 3-run double by Brewer off Greg Grams, with Carlson already out of the game. At that point, Lopez was working on a 1-hitter, and was still pitching a 2-hit shutout in the eighth when all of a sudden he surrendered consecutive extra base hits, with a David Horton double, an Alfonso Rojas double, and a Bob Arnold homer. Out with Lopez, in with Miller, who ended the eighth quick enough, and Donis pitched a scoreless ninth for our first sweep since April! 8-3 Raccoons!! Brewer 4-4, BB, 3 RBI; Ingall (PH) 1-1; Wedemeyer 2-5, HR, 2 RBI; Utting 2-4, 2B; Lopez 7.1 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, W (10-8);

Raccoons (50-71) vs. Titans (74-48) – August 22-24, 1997

Fourth in offense, but very much first in pitching in the Continental League were the Titans, with only 436 runs allowed in 122 games, for about 3.6 runs per game that they conceded to the opposition. Their stingy rotation had a 2.91 ERA between them, much of that due to youngster Jesus Bautista having a Pitcher of the Year season if there had ever been one. Unfortunately, we would not miss Bautista in this series …

Projected matchups:
Hector Lara (5-5, 4.00 ERA) vs. Bill Smith (9-7, 3.02 ERA)
Jose Ramos (5-5, 4.28 ERA) vs. Jesus Bautista (13-7, 2.21 ERA)
Kisho Saito (10-9, 2.93 ERA) vs. Henry Selph (14-4, 3.22 ERA)

Three more right-handers, but at some point it might be wise to rest Brewer and Weeds. Well, Weeds won’t come out until he doesn’t go deep in a game.

Game 1
BOS: SS D. Silva – 3B Henry – C L. Lopez – 1B Douglas – RF Thomas – LF L. Gonzalez – CF Alonso – 2B Salinas – P B. Smith
POR: 2B Brewer – SS Ingall – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Green – LF Kinnear – 3B Crowe – C Vinson – P Lara

The Raccoons had four singles, but scored only one run, in the bottom 1st, setting their tone for the day, getting on a lot, and staying on even more. It wasn’t until the fifth inning that they added a run, having put ten hits on Bill Smith at that point, but they left a runner on third base for the third time in that fifth inning, when Kinnear grounded out to first, stranding Reece. Lara had pitched a 2-hit shutout through five, but he was also pitching in 2- and 3-ball counts all the time. He was done after seven shutout innings, having tossed 109 pitches. Reece drove in Brewer in the seventh, 3-0, and Kinnear left two more in scoring position. The pen took over that 3-0 lead, with three pitchers (Otero, Zuniga, De La Rosa) wobbling through the eighth, during which the Titans brought the tying run to the plate, and then Tamburrino surrendered two fly balls to center that were just short of the wall, but Neil Reece warped to get them both. 3-0 Raccoons. Brewer 2-5, 3B, 2B; Reece 4-4, 2B, RBI; Green 2-3, 2 RBI; Crowe 2-4; Lara 7.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 6 K, W (6-5) and 1-3, 2B;

To be fair, David Vinson had a day in the sun as he threw out both Titans that dared to try and steal second base. Let’s not mention his 0-4, K day at the plate for once.

Game 2
BOS: SS D. Silva – CF Alonso – C L. Lopez – 1B Douglas – RF Thomas – 2B Henry – LF Hopper – 2B Durango – P Bautista
POR: SS Ingall – LF Kinnear – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Green – 2B Utting – 3B Crowe – C Aycock – P Ramos

Jose Ramos worked hard to be out of the rotation by September, walking in the Titans’ first two runs with two out in the first inning. A Glenn Douglas homer put the Titans 3-1 ahead by the third, and the Raccoons were just starving for offense against Bautista after foolishly leaving the bags full in the bottom 1st, where only Jai Utting got a run in. We got a shot in the fifth with Kinnear’s 2-out, 2-run homer tying the contest with Ramos already hit for and out of the game. And now Bautista seemed like he was losing it. Green led off the sixth with a single, and Utting rammed a catapult shot into the stands behind left field: suddenly, a 5-3 lead. Otero allowed one run to score in the seventh, and Miller walked two in the eighth, as Zuniga came in to face the weak lefty Anthony Hopper in the eighth, but Tom Walls, a righty, came out to bat. Zuniga got him to fly somewhere Reece could beam himself to and the 5-4 lead survived another inning. Royce Green’s leadoff jack in the bottom 8th bolstered it, but we had to use De La Rosa in the ninth since Tamburrino had been out three of the last four days. As usual, he put a man on, but never allowed the runner past first base. 6-4 Raccoons! Ingall 2-4; Reece 2-3, BB, 2B; Green 3-4, HR, RBI; Utting 2-4, HR, 3 RBI;

Five in a row! Holy cow!!

Game 3
BOS: CF Alonso – LF Walls – SS D. Silva – 1B Douglas – RF Thomas – 3B Henry – C J. Silva – 2B Durango – P Selph
POR: 2B Brewer – SS Ingall – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – LF Kinnear – RF Buell – 3B Utting – C Aycock – P Saito

The winning streak had started with Saito, and it looked like it would end with Saito very early on. His control was not good in the early innings, and after Reece doubled home Ingall in the first for a 1-0 lead, it didn’t help that Jai Utting made not one, but TWO errors in the second inning, which also contained a 3-run homer by Horace Henry. The game went all to hell for good in the fifth, in which the Titans put eight runs on the board, all on Saito, three of them earned after a Kinnear error, and there was also a wild pitch by Donis involved, in an inning that just didn’t want to end, to put an exclamation mark on ending their 6-game skid and an interrobang on how the Raccoons could have ever won five in a row in the first place. Brewer hit a home run the next inning, and the Coons did get a few more runs later in the game, but I didn’t witness them with my own eyes. I sat under the desk, stuffing myself with chocolates. 12-6 Titans. Brewer 2-4, BB, HR, RBI; Ingall 3-5, 2B; Vinson (PH) 1-1; Wedemeyer 2-5; Kinnear 2-5, RBI; Newton (PH) 1-1, 2 RBI; Crowe (PH) 1-1, RBI; Donis 2.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

Pffffff.

In other news

August 18 – With three singles in a 1-0 win over the Warriors, SFB INF Pat Chandler (.289, 6 HR, 57 RBI) now has a 20-game hitting streak going.
August 22 – Chandler falls to Condors pitching just as the Bayhawks fall to them, 5-3, and Chandler’s streak ends at 22.
August 23 – MIL 2B/SS Bartolo Hernandez (.344, 0 HR, 19 RBI) has his hitting streak soar to 25 games. He got an eighth inning single in a 5-1 win over New York.
August 23 – With a strained hamstring, BOS OF/1B Dave Reid could miss the rest of the regular season. Reid is batting .260 with 7 HR and 55 RBI.

Complaints and stuff

My heart skipped a few beats when I saw that Dan Nordahl’s name was red on the A roster this week. But, don’t you worry. He merely caught a virus. Here’s to hope it’s not HIV, or Ebola…

Last week I mentioned that Steve Walker was still 11th among all Raccoons in AB, and Winston Thompson was 16th (with 2,379 AB); who are the Top 15?

1st Daniel Hall (1978-1994) – 7,184
2nd Mark Dawson (1981-1991) – 5,486
3rd Tetsu Osanai (1985-1993) – 4,897
4th Ben O’Morrissey (1988-1997) – 4,194
5th Jorge Salazar (1990-1997) – 3,864
6th Matt Higgins (1988-1996) – 3,721
7th Neil Reece (1989-1997) – 3,570
8th David Vinson (1988-1997) – 3,488
9th Ben Simon (1977-1981) – 2,982
10th Pedro Sánz (1977-1982) – 2,770
11th Steve Walker (1982-1988) – 2,646
12th Wyatt Johnston (1977-1982) – 2,596
13th Vern Kinnear (1991-1997) – 2,511
14th Sam Dadswell (1984-1989) – 2,442
15th Matt Workman (1981-1985) – 2,411

So, of the six Critters among the top 15 still on the roster at the end of last year, I have already culled half. Vinson’s next. (Of course Kinnear was not among the top 15 back then, but let’s not be too nitpicky right now)

Fun fact: There are exactly two Raccoons that ever only appeared in one single game for the team. Both are starting pitchers: Toru Fujita (1989), and Dean Hood (1990); the great thing about it? On July 25, 1990, they were traded for each other as the Raccoons sent Fujita and another minor league pitcher to the Buffaloes for Hood and OF Bob Arnold.

The mind, it boggles.

[Westheim]

One more week, and then it will be September. Playing for fourth place at best, it would be fun if we had any advanced prospects to test out. We don’t have any.

Raccoons (52-72) @ Crusaders (60-64) – August 25-27, 1997

Having the worst rotation and the best bullpen in the Continental League gave the Crusaders a so-so almost-.500 record and a clear goal for improvement in the offseason. They were lacking a few players who were lingering on the DL, most prominently outfielder Pat Jenkins, whose season was over.

Projected matchups:
Scott Wade (4-6, 5.09 ERA) vs. John Woodard (3-4, 3.75 ERA)
Miguel Lopez (10-8, 4.09 ERA) vs. Francisco Garza (8-13, 5.07 ERA)
Hector Lara (6-5, 3.69 ERA) vs. Anibal Sandoval (11-9, 4.64 ERA)

More right-handers up here. We may not get a left-hander until Saturday, Oklahoma’s Jon Robinson. But we have an off-day midweek, so Brewer should be fine. And maybe I want to shift Ingall to second to play Guerin some more anyway, regardless of the opposition. It was not like a) we were playing meaningful ball for the last four months, and b) Brewer was a sure incumbent on our 25-man roster next April anyway.

Game 1
POR: 2B Brewer – SS Ingall – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Green – LF Kinnear – 3B Crowe – C Vinson – P Wade
NYC: 1B Rigg – CF C. Clark – RF A. Johnson – LF A. Ramirez – 3B L. Wilson – SS J. Vega – C Durán – 2B Marino – P Woodard

Another game you wanted to forget rather quickly. Wade was everywhere but in the strike zone. I would not criticize him for leaving the bags loaded with a strikeout in the top 2nd, but I would and will slap him with a wet towel for being absolutely unable to surrender any left-handers in the game. He wobbled through the 2-3-4 lefty battery twice in the game, but in a scoreless contest in the bottom 5th, Clark got on, and Johnson, and Ramirez, and bibble-di-bubble-di-boo the Crusaders had put up a 5-spot, with the last two runs coming home against De La Rosa, including a 2-out wild pitch. Vinson had had the Furballs’ only hit through five. In the end, he’d have almost half of our seven knocks. Not that it helped the team any. 6-2 Crusaders. Vinson 3-4, HR, RBI;

Game 2
POR: 2B Ingall – LF Kinnear – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Green – 3B Crowe – C Vinson – SS Guerin – P M. Lopez
NYC: CF Diéguez – 2B Rigg – RF A. Johnson – C Melendez – 1B T. Mullins – 3B J. Ramirez – LF L. Wilson – SS J. Vega – P F. Garza

The Raccoons looked pathetic once again, striking out ten times against Francisco Garza in seven innings. Lopez was surrendering plenty of hard contact, including many line drives to the deep outfield, some of which were thankfully caught. The Crusaders pulled ahead with a run in the second, but Wedemeyer hit his 16th mantelpiece trophy of the season, which counted for two, in the fourth. That 2-1 score held through six. Lopez walked Jorge Vega to start the bottom 7th and was removed for Otero. Vega was thrown out trying to steal (Vinson’s second CS on the day), and Otero survived the inning. Zuniga retired Avery Johnson to start the bottom 8th, before Miller emerged. He loaded the bags with two singles and a walk, but then with two down had Vega ground to Guerin – who lost the ball. His second error on the day. Clement Clark’s pinch-hit 2-run single put the Raccoons to sleep. Never mind that Dane Sanders in the ninth walked every Coon, color- or entirely blind or not, and Guerin actually managed to drive a run in. Marvin Ingall flew right to Diéguez for the final out with the bases loaded. 4-3 Crusaders. Reece 2-4; Buell (PH) 1-1; Lopez 6.0 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K;

Stephen Buell is now a very strong one for NINETEEN as a pinch-hitter. And I never really liked Guerin.

Game 3
POR: 2B Brewer – LF Kinnear – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Green – 3B Utting – SS Ingall – C Aycock – P Lara
NYC: 1B Rigg – SS J. Vega – RF A. Johnson – C Melendez – 3B L. Wilson – CF Lyons – LF Diéguez – 2B J. Ramirez – P Sandoval

Sandoval would shut down the Raccoons hard for the first six innings. While Lara surrendered three runs in six innings, Sandoval kept his ledger clean and while the Raccoons got a run in the seventh, it was an RBI groundout by Aycock that killed the inning just as well. Otero gave the run right back in the bottom 7th. The only RISP hit the Inepticoons would get came in the eighth off Reece’s bat, and that was not enough to overcome a strong starter. 4-2 Crusaders. Brewer 2-4; Reece 2-4, 2B, RBI; Vinson (PH) 1-1;

Goddamnit, are they annoying. I can’t decide on whether to tar the hitting coach and feather the pitching coach, or the other way round…

We have now lost the season series against the Crusaders, 5-10 with three to spare. That’s the first instance we came out bottom to them since 1988. You know how fun that season was.

Raccoons (52-75) vs. Thunder (60-66) – August 29-31, 1997

Average run-scorers, the Thunder had a top 3 rotation and a struggling bullpen which left them at the receiving side of things. But don’t you worry, little Thunder fans. By the time the sun sets on Sunday, your team will be three games closer to .500!

Projected matchups:
Kisho Saito (10-10, 3.10 ERA) vs. Aaron Anderson (13-5, 3.10 ERA)
Scott Wade (4-7, 5.25 ERA) vs. Jon Robinson (10-9, 3.02 ERA)
Miguel Lopez (10-8, 3.99 ERA) vs. Lou Corbett (11-10, 3.75 ERA)

Now that we have seen about one southpaw in two weeks, Robinson might even be the first of FOUR consecutive left-handers the way the Bayhawks currently have their rotation running when looking at the mid-week series after this one. However, Monday will be September 1, so you never know who will be on their roster then. Right now, we have skipped Ramos, because the bullpen has been overworked recently with the rotation ravaged every day, and the off day fell into the perfect spot to skip him and have him available for an inning or two for at least the first two games, and I was actually looking at Wade here, who wasn’t getting any left-handers out right now, and the right-handers weren’t much better.

Game 1
OCT: SS J. Sanchez – 1B H. Ramirez – 3B S. Reece – 2B Grant – RF Barnes – LF Browne – CF Camacho – C Ikeda – P Anderson
POR: 2B Brewer – LF Kinnear – CF N. Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Buell – 3B Crowe – SS Ingall – C Aycock – P Saito

Saito and Anderson pitched a duel, and it was a real classy one. Neither team managed to get a runner on third base through six innings, with both pitchers hurling a 4-hit shutout at that point. Sometime, somebody had to score, and it was Saito falling to a 2-out homer by Artie Barnes in the seventh. That made it 1-0 Thunder, and Ivan Camacho, not necessarily a famed power hitter, added another solo homer in the eighth. If a 2-0 deficit with six outs left in a Saito game was not bleak enough for you, then putting in Santana once the team went down silently in the bottom 8th, did the trick for sure. The useless dirtbag put the first three batters on, costing another two runs. The Misericoons lost handily as Aaron Anderson allowed five singles in a shutout. 4-0 Thunder. Brewer 2-4; Ingall 3-3; Saito 8.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, L (10-11);

Useless collection of ******ed numb nuts. Can’t this season just END?

Oh, yeah, we have lost five in a row already. Woosh, that was quick.

Game 2
OCT: SS J. Sanchez – 1B Browne – 2B Grant – RF Barnes – CF L. Hernandez – LF Camacho – 3B H. Ramirez – C Guidry – P Robinson
POR: 2B Brewer – SS Ingall – CF N. Reece – LF Kinnear – RF Green – 1B Utting – 3B Crowe – C Aycock – P Wade

The first three innings were scoreless with Wade being pushed around as was – sadly – customary by now. The Thunder got a run off him in the top 4th, which Green equalized with an RBI single scoring Reece in the bottom of the inning. Robinson hit Mike Crowe in the shoulder the same inning, forcing our guy to leave the game, and we loaded the bags with that, but with two out, Aycock drifted out to shallow center to end the inning and leave three Critters on. Guerin became the replacement for the injured Crowe and promptly made his third error of the week in the top 7th, but it miraculously didn’t sink the Raccoons in this game. But maybe Bob Grant’s leadoff triple in the eighth would? At the very least, it knocked out Wade, and Zuniga couldn’t keep the run from scoring. Down 2-1, Brewer led off the eighth with a single, and Ingall was to bunt him over. Nobody could dig that bunt out and everybody was safe. At this junction, Neil Reece found it appropriate to hit a medium-paced grounder to the shortstop, ram-dam-dam, and Kinnear flew out. 3-1 Thunder. Crowe 1-1; Wade 7.0 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, L (4-8);

Mike Crowe got away with a painful welt that would severely hamper him for up to a week, and he was listed as DTD, but was basically do-not-touch, since he could neither swing, nor throw properly. Then again, how much worse than the average Furball can he be at the plate?

Good news, at least our run differential is now negative again (589-591), so I don’t have to bite myself daily.

Game 3
OCT: SS J. Sanchez – 1B H. Ramirez – 3B S. Reece – 2B Grant – RF Barnes – LF Browne – CF Camacho – C Ikeda – P Corbett
POR: 2B Brewer – SS Ingall – CF N. Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Green – LF Buell – 3B Utting – C Vinson – P M. Lopez

The Thunder moved ahead quickly, a solo homer by Dave Browne doing the job in the second. 1-0 Thunder, basically insurmountable, especially since the Raccoons, who didn’t get a hit until the fifth, a leadoff double by Buell, while leaving a runner stranded on third base in the fourth inning, and the same fate befell Buell, who reached third base with nobody out after a wild pitch by Lou Corbett. The Raccoons couldn’t hit for their meekly, weakly lives, and probably wouldn’t have scored at all if not for an error by Sonny Reece in the bottom 7th that scored Royce Green from second base, and tied the game. Lopez was left in when he came to bat with two down in the inning and made the final out, leaving the tying run in scoring position, then put leadoff man Tashiro Ikeda on base in the top 8th. In turn, he fielded Corbett’s bunt for an out at second base. All for nought. Jose Sanchez doubled, Ramirez scored a run with a groundout, and Sonny Reece drew the Raccoons a nose for good with an RBI single. Brewer then was thrown out in the bottom 8th on a leadoff double that just was not a triple, so when Neil Reece tattered Corbett’s offering later in the inning, it DIDN’T tie the game. What a shame. Jimmy Morey in the ninth put the tying run on by walking Buell to start the inning. Buell was then thrown out stealing before Utting could single. Kinner walked in Vinson’s place, and Newton hit for reliever Donis. A wild pitch moved the winning runs into scoring position with one out. Newton walked, Brewer struck out. Ingall was the money batter, the count ran full, and the Coons went home pockets empty once Ingall whiffed. 3-2 Thunder. Lopez 7.2 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 6 K, L (10-9); Donis 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

That’s seven straight they lost in a variety of shameful ways. It earned us a nice reward: sole possession of last place in the division, and at 52-78 we were a dripping nose’s length ahead of the Cyclones as far as next year’s #1 draft pick was concerned.

September call-ups

There were no promising prospects at AAA that really desperately had to get looked at this month, which was terrible enough. Kenny Crockett had gotten hurt since being demoted and was out for the season, and that would have been the only guy I would have happily recalled to get some more time. As things were, we added MR Pancho Padilla to absorb / do more damage, C Ron McDonald to actually start a bunch of games, INF Steve Caddock for defense where necessary, INF Brent McLaughlin to make a few starts, and OF Roberto Miranda for third-string outfield duties.

McLaughlin was the only new Raccoon in the group, and to get him onto the 40-man roster, MR Manuel Diaz was waived and DFA’ed. McLaughlin was our second round pick from 1993, and had hit for the cycle at the A level in ’94. He played all positions on the infield very well, but didn’t have too much behind his bat. He did have good eyes, however, and wasn’t swinging at everything. With spots open on our infield for next year…

McDonald is also playing for a roster spot in ’98, because the more I see from Vinson and Aycock, the less I want either one to stick around.

Raccoons (52-78) vs. Bayhawks (68-62) – September 1-3, 1997

Some 18-inning games might be incoming with the Bayhawks possessing the third-worst overall offense in the Continental League, while combining it with good pitching. Meanwhile, we know how well the Raccoons are at scoring runs.

Projected matchups:
Hector Lara (6-6, 3.74 ERA) vs. Tony Hamlyn (10-10, 2.92 ERA)
Jose Ramos (5-5, 4.34 ERA) vs. TBD
Kisho Saito (10-11, 3.06 ERA) vs. Jorge Chapa (13-7, 3.94 ERA)

Game 1
SFB: 1B Franklin – 2B Chandler – LF Marquez – LF P. Perez – SS Powys – RF Cote – 3B J. Gomez – C J. Ortíz – P Hamlyn
POR: 2B Brewer – LF Buell – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Green – 3B Utting – C McDonald – SS McLaughlin – P Lara

Reece drove in a run in the first, but Lara soon fell 2-1 behind. In the bottom 3rd, Hamlyn plunked and injured Buell, making it two knocked out batsmen in three days. Great job, guys. As revenge, the Raccoons tied the game, but made sure to leave the go-ahead runs on base, so as to not provoke any more hostilities from the Bayhawks. Lara fell once more leading off the sixth with a double to Alfredo Marquez and an RBI single to Pedro Perez. Royce Green re-tied the game with a leadoff jack in the bottom of the frame, and Lara got a no-decision after Ingall hit for him with McLaughlin on first and two down in the inning, but struck out. Hamlyn was pulled after the sixth for Antonio Rodriguez (who recently had entered history, but see below) to hit for him. Padilla came in facing just that one batter with four left-handers on the top of the Bayhawks’ lineup, and of course surrendered a single. That signaled the collapse, as McLaughlin made an error with two on and no out, and Perez sunk the ship with a bases-clearing double off Zuniga. They scored four in total in the seventh, and that was enough to - … was it, really? Brewer homered to lead off the bottom 7th. Newton got on, and then Weeds homered. 7-6 Bayhawks all of a sudden. The bases were loaded with two out for Ingall, and he grounded to second, but PAST Leon Berrios! The game was tied. Brewer came up, another single, two runs scored! In this 6-spot, the last three runs were unearned, but the Coons still took a 2-run lead. Donis then got Steve Cobb to start the eighth, but Miller walked two right-handers, with Marquez and Perez coming up. And I still went with Tamburrino to pitch five outs for the win here. With only Santana left among left-handers, you could as well bring out the top guy in your pen. To make a long story short, Tamburrino blew it, four runs scored, and the Coons lost their eighth straight. 11-9 Bayhawks. Brewer 3-5, HR, 3 RBI; Buell 1-1, 2B; Reece 3-5, RBI; Green 3-5, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; McLaughlin 2-5;

Can’t you just leave me alone, so I can die and find my peace? Good grief…

Game 2
SFB: RF Javier – 2B Chandler – LF P. Perez – 3B P. Hernandez – 1B Franklin – CF A. Rodriguez – SS J. Gomez – C J. Ortíz – P Alvarado
POR: 2B Brewer – LF Kinnear – RF Green – 1B Wedemeyer – 3B Crowe – CF Newton – SS Ingall – C Vinson – P Ramos

The Bayhawks broke out 22-year old call-up Dani Alvarado for his big league debut. David Brewer took him to where the sun wasn’t shining for his first major league batter, and now up 1-0, the Raccoons loaded the bags before leaving them full and stopped bothering to hit for something again. Pedro Perez’ 2-piece in the third, with two out, flipped the score, and the Raccoons were doing what they did best: trailing. The debutee Alvarado held the Raccoons to two hits into the seventh before Kinnear drew a walk, and then Green unleashed a massive game-tying bomb. Somehow, the miserable collection of Zuniga, Miller, and De La Rosa failed to lose the game in regulation, and we had the top of the lineup leading off the bottom 9th, and Brewer walked, but Kinnear was such a bad bunter. More a man for the brute job, Kinnear was sent to bat like a man against righty Ryosei Kato. And six pitches later he took a very manly walk to first base. Green came up, didn’t wait for long before drilling a Kato offering to deep left field. Deep, deeper, GONE!! **** YOU, LOSING STREAK, THE ****ING COONS ARE BACK!!! 6-3 Raccoons. Green 2-4, 2 HR, 5 RBI; Crowe 2-4;

We made six runs out of five hits, so sometimes less is more? This ends the most recent 8-game spill. Can we please actually win a series? Puh-lease?

For the moment however, we had to lose something, as Stephen Buell’s wrist had not survived contact with Tony Hamlyn’s stuff and had been broken. He was out for the year, and just perhaps a Saito pitch would err in his ways right into Pedro Perez’ ugly nose in return…

Game 3
SFB: 2B Berrios – RF A. Rodriguez – CF Cote – 3B P. Hernandez – SS Powys – 1B Chandler – LF Javier – C J. Ortíz – P Chapa
POR: 2B Brewer – SS Ingall – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Green – CF Newton – 3B Utting – C McDonald – P Saito

Saito gave up a run in the second inning on two doubles to start the trailers’ party. Jorge Chapa was untouchable, surrendering the first ten Raccoons, and once Ingall singled, he simply picked him off first base. Saito inadvertently (no really!) hit Ortíz in the fifth, and while offensively the Bayhawks weren’t doing anything with that, they took it as an insult. Once Saito came up to bat, Chapa pitched him in very tight, and actually brushed him with a 1-2 pitch as he led off the bottom 6th. Saito was okay and remained in the game. Saito pitched eight innings, and kept trailing one-nothing. Johnny Smith was pitching his second inning of relief in the bottom 8th, after taking over from Chapa after six shutout innings. Kinnear hit for McDonald, and popped out. Guerin hit for Saito, and flew out. Brewer made the third out. Yep, typical Saito game. 1-0 Bayhawks. Saito 8.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, L (10-12);

Four hits. I hate this team. They suck. They just suck. Saito has 10 sword strokes free against the sucker bunch.

Raccoons (53-80) @ Loggers (80-53) – September 5-7, 1997

The Loggers are 27 games ahead of us, for which there will certainly be reasons, so why go into the much-depressing details and not just get the sweep behind us so I can go cry some for having lost 12 of the last 13?

Projected matchups:
Scott Wade (4-8, 5.07 ERA) vs. Jorge Casas (10-8, 4.68 ERA)
Miguel Lopez (10-9, 3.97 ERA) vs. Martin Garcia (9-8, 3.76 ERA)
Hector Lara (6-6, 3.78 ERA) vs. Rafael Garcia (17-6, 3.76 ERA)

Right-left-right, not that it would matter. They won’t beat 1979, but they are well on pace for the second-worst season in franchise history.

Game 1
POR: 2B Brewer – LF Kinnear – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Green – 3B Crowe – C Aycock – SS Caddock – P Wade
MIL: CF Fletcher – SS B. Hernandez – RF C. Ramirez – LF Hiwalani – 1B D. Evans – 3B Nakayama – C L. Ramirez – 2B Sullivan – P Casas

Line drive home runs were the theme early in this game. The Coons hit two of those rockets, a 2-piece by Weeds in the first, and a solo job by Kinnear in the third, both out of right. Wade retired the first nine batters, striking out the side in the bottom 3rd, before the Loggers hit two singles in the fourth, but couldn’t score. The Coons couldn’t buy ordinary hits, but when Casas walked a pair in the seventh and Brewer came through with a 3-run home run (the third one over the head of Cristo Ramirez), that made it 6-0, as Wade was pitching one of the games of old. Good control, soft contact on the ground, with very few exceptions. Through eight innings, only one pitch got away really badly, and that resulted in a homer by Terry Sullivan in the eighth, but Wade held on to finish the game on his own. What a nice throwback to better times! 9-1 Raccoons. Kinnear 2-4, BB, HR, 2B, RBI; Crowe 1-3, 2 BB; Ingall 1-1, 2B, RBI; Wade 9.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 6 K, W (5-8);

Wade pitched his 19th complete regular season game (20th if including playoffs) here. That pesky Sullivan!

Game 2
POR: 2B Ingall – 3B Utting – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Green – LF Newton – C McDonald – SS McLaughlin – P M. Lopez
MIL: CF Fletcher – SS B. Hernandez – RF C. Ramirez – LF Hiwalani – 3B Nakayama – 2B J. Lopez – C R. Rivera – 1B Sugano – P M. Garcia

Garcia came out sharp and threw strikes, while Lopez came out less sharp and threw balls, but quickly settled in. Both pitchers went into shutout mode early on, and there was really nothing happening in the game until the sixth, as both teams combined for only four hits. The Coons’ only hit had come off McDonald’s bat in the third, and when he was back up in the sixth, he got rung up for strike three, then felt the urge to discuss matters with the umpire, leading to his slightly dramatic ejection. Lopez pitched into the eighth in a scoreless game, but had to leave because of discomfort in his shoulder. De La Rosa replaced him, warmed up on the field, then turned towards Bartolo Hernandez, and surrendered a 1-out triple. And that’s how we lost two 1-0 games in the space of tying the shoes three times, which became official once Martin Garcia struck out pinch-hitter Vern Kinnear to nail down a 1-hitter with 9 K’s. 1-0 Loggers. Lopez 7.1 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 3 K;

For bloody crying out loud…

Miguel Lopez has a sore shoulder that will force him to miss a start, so we will have to call up some scrub from AAA sooner rather than later.

Game 3
POR: 2B Brewer – LF Kinnear – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Green – 3B Crowe – SS Utting – C Aycock – P Lara
MIL: CF Fletcher – SS B. Hernandez – RF C. Ramirez – LF Hiwalani – 1B D. Evans – 3B Nakayama – C L. Ramirez – 2B Sullivan – P R. Garcia

An unsuspecting Jerry Fletcher ended up on third base when Crowe and Aycock made errors in the first inning. Lara failed to extract himself from the vines of defeat that weren’t even his own business, as the Loggers scored a pair of unearned runs in the inning. The Raccoons got one run back in the second, but kept lacking that one hit – like all season long – they needed. In the top 5th, Brewer left the go-ahead runs in scoring position. Lara surrendered another run in the sixth, but in the top 7th we had again two runners in scoring position with two down, but Lara was up. Ingall came out to hit, and popped out to second. The tying runs were in scoring position ONCE MORE in the eighth, again with two down, and Green batting. Garcia made him K number nine. There was just no hope for these two-legged failures. The bullpen cocked up two runs in the eighth, bringing out Jeff Hodge to start the top 9th, and he walked Crowe and Utting. No outs, John Bennett could see the tying run in the on-deck circle. Luke Newton came out to bat for Sidney Aycock and dished a 3-run homer, that still had us a run short, and no other Raccoon reached base. 5-4 Loggers. Green 2-4, 2B, RBI; Newton (PH) 1-1, HR, 3 RBI; Lara 6.0 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 1 K, L (6-7);

There is no hope.

In other news

August 26 – SFB OF Antonio Rodriguez (.304, 6 HR, 46 RBI) goes 5-5 and HITS FOR THE CYLCE as the Bayhawks topple the Falcons, 10-6. Rodriguez, 31, drives in four runs with a double, a triple, a single, a home run, and another single in this game. After the cycles of LAP Lance Branch, DEN Pat Parker, and ATL Edgar Morris, this is the fourth cycle this season, and the first ever for the Bayhawks franchise. They had been cycled against three times before (OCT Jonah Frank, 1979; LVA Mark Allen, 1984; MIL Emilio Román, 1989). It is the second consecutive cycle hit against the Falcons.
August 26 – SAL SP John Douglas (11-12, 3.78 ERA) pitches a 4-hit complete game in the Wolves’ 8-2 win over the stars. Douglas takes his 200th career win measuring against 211 losses for the 37-year old right-hander with a 3.88 career ERA. Douglas, the first overall pick by the Loggers in the 1978 amateur draft, has been a workhorse in his career, pitching 3,511 innings in 536 games (515 starts) for the Loggers, Condors, Falcons, and Wolves. He also has 2,256 career strikeouts to his credit.
August 26 – The Loggers win the battle against the Indians, 2-0, but MIL 2B/SS Bartolo Hernandez loses his own war, having his hitting streak end at 26 games.
August 27 – LAP MR Javier Ortíz (3-3, 5.09 ERA, 4 SV) suffers gruesome head injuries being assaulted in the early morning. His injuries include a fractured eye socket, which alone should keep him out of the game for a year.
September 1 – SFW CF John Hensley (.277, 22 HR, 103 RBI) is done for the regular season with a groin strain.
September 4 – BOS SP Bill Smith (10-8, 3.15 ERA) is out for the season after having suffered a serious concussion when he slid head-first into TIJ Bruce Boyle’s knee in the fourth inning on Monday. Smith, 39, will be under contract with the Titans next year, since his vesting option has already triggered.
September 5 – CHA SP Terry “Loudmouth” Wilson (13-12, 4.22 ERA) sparkles with a 2-hit shutout against the Aces in a 6-0 Falcons win.
September 6 – TOP RF Corey Patel (.281, 25 HR, 99 RBI) has a potential MVP season come to a screeching halt, going down to a concussion. He is out for the season.
September 7 – SAC RF/1B Sam Green (.354, 16 HR, 99 RBI) signs the largest contract in ABL history, a 7-yr extension for $9.1M, beating the previous record holder, POR David Brewer, by 100 grand. Green, 26, is .317 with 82 HR and 473 RBI in his career.

Complaints and stuff

9-33 in 1-run games. This is impossible. There has never been something like that. We are FOURTEEN GAMES UNDER OUR PYTHAGOREAN RECORD.

FOURTEEN!!

Can’t this month just swoosh past somehow? I really want to go upstate. I got myself a hut in a remote valley of the Cascades a few years ago. No TV, no phone, no neighbors. The Three Sisters are only a few hours of hiking away. Standing high up on the South Sister and glaring expressionless into the depth is great to clear one’s mind. You can scream in agony at the forest the whole day and nobody’s calling the police. There might be some mildly distraught bears, beavers, and raccoons, but a 9-33 in 1-run games has be pretty dazed, too.

What the heck am I doing wrong? Besides leaving bed in the morning.

[kingtut313]

i am really rooting for you to finish above the indians, cyclones, wolves or any other pathetic team in the league. im sure you are too, right? pride still means something in places like portland.. or maybe ideas like places to hide the bodies has taken over.

[Westheim]

As you mention pride and the team is rapidly racing towards losing a hundred, I now remember a segment from MLB Network where they talked about the 20 Greatest Games (in their eyes at least) and one of the guests was Mitch Williams, who talked about how the 1993 Phillies were picked to come home behind the expansion Marlins before the season, and the memorable quote: "Nothing for nothing, pride at some point in this game has to come into play"

Apparently, the Raccoons have not been humiliated enough so far. Pride has not come into play. That means it's gonna get even worse. That means I have to stock up on chocolates and heart medicine......

And tissues.

This may be a wild winter at the Willamette.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (54-82) @ Canadiens (58-77) – September 8-11, 1997

715 runs allowed (99 more than the Coons) were the main reason why the Canadiens were that far below the .500 mark. The Coons were worst in baseball because their manager was a dork and was unable to win in close games (9-33…).

Projected matchups:
Jose Ramos (5-5, 4.24 ERA) vs. Lucio Munoz (7-9, 4.94 ERA)
Kisho Saito (10-12, 2.98 ERA) vs. Joe Hollow (0-0)
Scott Wade (5-8, 4.84 ERA) vs. Jose Dominguez (8-7, 3.88 ERA)
Kelly Fairchild (0-0) vs. John Collins (10-13, 4.67 ERA)

Split it and let’s get outta here. Kelly Fairchild was called up to make Miguel Lopez’ start, with Lopez having shoulder woes to battle. Fairchild was 7-14 with a 5.12 ERA in AAA this season, so cut out your enthusiasm right away. Fairchild was the Cyclones’ 12th round pick (310th of 325) in the 1992 amateur draft. We got him for third string catcher Bob Armstrong last October.

Game 1
POR: 2B Brewer – LF Kinnear – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Green – SS Ingall – 3B Crowe – C Aycock – P Ramos
VAN: RF D. Edwards – SS S. Mendez – LF Arroyo – 1B Mosley – CF Ledesma – 3B Galindo – 2B B. Butler – C J. Lopez – P Munoz

The Raccoons got a run in the first, before leaving for men on across the first two innings. Ramos was surrendering plenty of hard contact, which had to be dug out by the outfielders, and Royce Green hurt himself on a nifty grab in the third inning and had to be removed from the game. Roberto Miranda replaced him and led off the fourth with a single, his first major league hit. Bags full with one out in the inning, Ramos lined into a double play to Bob Butler. Butler drew the Coons another nose in the bottom of the inning with a 2-run homer, flipping the score. Munoz however had a WHIP close to 1.8 for a reason. Brewer and Kinnear led off the fifth with singles, and Reece walked, but again we didn’t fully cash in. Wedemeyer singled a run in, but Miranda whiffed, and Ingall’s sac fly (on which Ledesma pulled something and had to leave the game as well), was all we got. The Canadiens had three singles off Ramos to start the bottom 5th. De La Rosa came in. After a game-tying groundout and a K to Forest Hartley in the #5 hole, it looked like we could get out tied. Until Gabby threw a wild pitch. 4-3 Elks after five, the Coons left a pair in scoring position in the sixth. After Miranda singled to start the seventh, Munoz was removed from the game. Paul Kirkland faced Marvin Ingall, and a homer flipped the score once more. After that, the Coons loaded the bases, and left them loaded. We finally got something done in the ninth, with a 3-run homer by Sidney Aycock. Oh, and we left the bases loaded. 8-4 Raccoons. Brewer 4-5, BB, 2B; Kinnear 2-5, BB; Miranda 2-5; Ingall 2-4, HR, 3 RBI; Aycock 3-4, BB, HR, 3 RBI;

We merely left 16 men on base in this game. Oh, and Royce Green is not diagnosed yet, but it’s never wrong to expect the worst.

Game 2
POR: 2B Brewer – 3B Ingall – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Newton – LF Kinnear – SS Guerin – C McDonald – P Saito
VAN: C J. Lopez – 2B S. Mendez – LF Hartley – SS Carpenter – 3B Galindo – 1B B. Butler – CF Hudson – RF Porter – P Hollow

We started out by leaving Reece and Weeds in scoring position in the first. The Raccoons refused to score for Saito, who was wild for the first three innings, before being talked to intensely in the dugout between innings. Whatever the pitching coach told him, it worked, because starting in the fourth, the Canadiens couldn’t touch him. That didn’t change the scoring issue, though. Then, the sixth: Reece got on with a single, and Weeds got one to his liking at showed the rookie where it was dark with a towering 2-run home run to right that broke the scoreless tie. Hollow came apart for good in the seventh as the Coons pummeled him out of the game with a 2-run double by Newton, and suddenly we put up a 6-spot as reliever Manuel Hernandez wasn’t exactly relieving. Up 8-0, Saito reverted to the first inning and was knocked out by Jorge Lopez with a 2-run triple in the seventh. In a weird start, he somehow struck out seven in six innings. But for a nice change, the bullpen held up (assisted by two double plays), and this included Miller holding Lopez on third base. 9-2 Raccoons. Reece 4-5; Wedemeyer 3-4, BB, HR, 2B, 4 RBI; Newton 3-5, 2B, 2 RBI; McDonald 2-4, 2B; Saito 6.1 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, W (11-12) and 3-4;

Game 3
POR: 2B Brewer – LF Kinnear – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – 3B Crowe – SS Ingall – C Vinson – RF Miranda – P Wade
VAN: RF D. Edwards – SS S. Mendez – CF Arroyo – 1B Mosley – 3B Galindo – 2B B. Butler – LF Hudson – C J. Lopez – P Dominguez

Every game started the same with this team, as they loaded the bags in the first, and left them loaded. While Brewer drove in a pair in the top 2nd, Wade was soon steamrolled by the Canadiens, who had the luck of consecutive lazy bloop singles into shallow right center in manufacturing a 4-run second, including a 2-run homer by Bill Mosley, and Mosley tattooed Wade for two more in the third. Weeds struck out to leave the bags full in the fourth, and Wade was knocked out in the bottom of the inning. The game was going downhill really, really fast. For the second time in the series, Bob Butler converted a line drive into a double play, then on Miranda to end the fifth. The Raccoons weren’t going anyway in the game, and pretty much every reliever that was put into the game, was touched for a run. Tamburrino was put into the eighth because we were out of arms. Tamburrino was completely imploded by the Canadiens, getting one out, while seven Canadiens reached on hits or walks, and one on an error by Miranda. Santana came in, and walked all runs left over by Tamburrino in. All of them. The Canadiens plated eight, all on Tamburrino, in a massive rout. 17-4 Canadiens. Brewer 2-4, 2 BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Kinnear 2-6; Reece 1-2, 3 BB, RBI; Miranda 2-5; McLaughlin (PH) 1-1;

Tamburrino surrendered 12 earned runs all season. Now, six in .1 innings. Unrelated, Alonso Santana is the most useless piece of **** on the planet.

Team LOB: 18. **** this ****.

What else? Royce Green will miss another two to three weeks with a sprained ankle. He was put on the DL, and we would have called up another scrub to complement Roberto Miranda, because scrubs is all we got, but there was no other outfielder on the 40-man roster, and that roster was full. Releasing Santana outright was tempting, but we can probably haul in a nice pot plant and two ham sandwiches in a trade for him. Instead, Utting would be enlisted to play right field at times, but Newton would start most games now.

We still called up a scrub. With scrub Kelly Fairchild making his big league debut in game 4, we had NO bullpen left. It had all been smoked up. So, although I had banished him for life, I was forced to return the scrub Day Grandridge to the roster. I hated it, and when he arrived, I spat at him.

Twice.

Game 4
POR: 2B Brewer – LF Kinnear – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – 3B Crowe – RF Newton – SS Ingall – C McDonald – P Fairchild
VAN: RF D. Edwards – SS S. Mendez – CF Arroyo – 1B Mosley – 3B Galindo – 2B B. Butler – LF J. Moreno – C Castillo – P Collins

Fairchild dazzled the Canadiens the first time through the lineup, allowing one hit, and struck out SIX. Three of the next four Canadiens reached, and they took a 1-0 lead. We re-tied the game in the top 4th when Ingall singled home Crowe from second base, but as Crowe plunged into home plate and catcher Julio Castillo, he hurt his chest and left the game. Weeds crushed his 20th homer of the year leading off the sixth off Collins, and the Coons were 2-1 ahead. But Bob Butler, who had owned the Coons the whole week, crushed one, too, and his counted for three off Fairchild in the bottom of the inning, and Fairchild got Moreno to pop out, and that was it for his debut. Grandridge was inserted into the 4-2 Elks game, to go as long as possible, regardless of result. The first thing he did was to plunk Castillo. He surrendered one run, which was unearned after a Caddock error. The Elks’ Collins struck out ten, and they sent Jackie Lagarde in the ninth to protect a 5-2 lead. With one out, Brewer had runners on the corners, but grounded out, scoring Ingall. Kinnear doubled, putting the tying runs in scoring position. Reece, who should know what Lagarde had to offer, struck out. 5-3 Canadiens. Kinnear 2-5, 2 2B; Newton 2-4; Ingall 3-4, RBI;

Mike Crowe, future third base starter(?), strained a rib cage muscle, and he joins the list of Raccoons we won’t see again this year. To the DL with him. Meanwhile, the revolving door kept revolving as we sent Kelly Fairchild back to AAA, and added infielder Gabriel Rodriguez.

Raccoons (56-84) vs. Indians (58-82) – September 12-14, 1997

Another team playing out the string that would undoubtedly find ways to rape our starters despite scoring just a tad over four runs per game (last in the CL).

Projected matchups:
Hector Lara (6-7, 3.66 ERA) vs. Rafael Serrano (14-8, 4.33 ERA)
Jose Ramos (5-5, 4.43 ERA) vs. Manuel Alba (4-2, 2.66 ERA)
Kisho Saito (11-12, 2.98 ERA) vs. Dan George (9-13, 3.96 ERA)

In the middle of a 17-game stretch, Neil Reece and David Brewer would get days off in this series. Brewer would be skipped in the first game, and Reece in the middle contest. Wedemeyer could sit in game 3. Everybody else was rotating a lot anyway. Just got to watch Kinnear, as with Buell and Green both out on the DL, he is now not platooning with anybody.

Game 1
IND: LF Sakaguchi – C Cicalina – 1B M. Brown – RF A. Roldán – CF Paredes – 2B M. Carter – 3B D. Lopez – SS Chevalier – P Serrano
POR: 2B Ingall – LF Kinnear – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Newton – 3B Utting – SS Guerin – C McDonald – P Lara

What do you need most of all when all your outfielders have gone down to injury? Luke Newton getting drilled and charging the mound to sock Serrano with the bat, perhaps? That happened in the third inning, the Raccoons up 3-0. Both were ejected. As a nice change from the way things were going usually, we loaded the bags in the inning, and left them full. Ha, fooled you, didn’t I? As far as Hector Lara was concerned, he had two busy innings to start the game, but then settled in for a while. The impossible Matt Brown walked and Roldán doubled to start the sixth. Lara did NOT come apart, but popped up Paredes, struck out Carter, and Lopez grounded out to short, and nobody scored. After such miracles everybody in attendance was sure that Lara would go the distance, when in fact he went only four more batters, three of which reached in the seventh, bringing the score to 3-1 Hairy Disasters, two on, one out, and Matt Brown at the plate. Zuniga came in, and the Indians shockingly removed their slugger for right-hander Gilberto Flores! Flores flew out to Reece in center, and Zuniga struck out another pinch-hitter, 33-yr old journeyman Jimmy Erickson. Weeds put the run just given up back on the board with his second swoosh of the day, but the Indians came right back with a leadoff double by Carlos Paredes off Zuniga, and Miller couldn’t keep him on base. Tamburrino had been anal-probed just two days ago and was not available, so we sent De La Rosa to protect the 4-2 lead in the ninth. He put on Cicalina with two out, but got through. 4-2 Raccoons. Wedemeyer 2-4, 2 HR, 3 RBI; Utting 2-4; Lara 6.1 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 4 K, W (7-7);

Newton was suspended for nine games. Great job. GREAT JOB! YOU MORON!! HOW CAN YOU …!!???

RAAAAAHHH!!!

While I was foaming, we NEEDED another outfielder now. We can’t scrape past with just Reece, Kinnear, Miranda, and Utting, especially since Miranda is the only prudent option in right field.

In a twisted move, Steve Caddock was designated for assignment, and we called up Jason Kent from AA(!!) to fill up the ranks. Kent was our eighth round pick from 1995, and was putting up good numbers in AA, and … I don’t know, we’ve actually run out of scrubs …

In more positive news, Weeds’ double-smack rushed him past Atlanta’s Jesus Arias to lead the CL home run race with 22 sonic booms. The CL is behind the FL, where DAL Mac Woods’ this week tied TOP Corey Patel with 25 dingers. Patel is on the DL, but Woods has more competitors to worry about, with CIN Dan Morris closest with 24.

Sssht. I basically forfeited the middle game in order to rest the two big guys for next week. Don’t tell.

Game 2
IND: SS J. Martinez – C Cicalina – 1B M. Brown – RF A. Roldán – CF Paredes – 3B Whaley – LF L. Maldonado – 2B Chevalier – P Alba
POR: 2B Brewer – 1B Ingall – CF Utting – LF Kinnear – 3B G. Rodriguez – SS Guerin – C Vinson – RF Miranda – P Ramos

A Gabriel Rodriguez error in the second led to two unearned runs for the Indians, but to be fair, Ramos was awful before that just as well. The Coons re-tied the Indians in the third, with Marvin Ingall coming up with a key RBI single, which also enabled Utting to get the second run home with a sac fly. A 3-2 lead put together by Utting with an RBI single in the fifth went up in smoke the next inning with a 2-run single by Jamal Chevalier. With two out and two on, our big boys came out to pinch-hit in this game. Reece struck out for Ramos in the bottom 6th, while Weeds singled to right in the bottom 7th, Ingall turned around third, and was thrown out. Bottom 8th, still down 4-3. The bags were full with two down as Roberto Herrera pitched to Ingall. Once Herrera erred the count to 3-1, I gleamed angrily at Ingall. Don’t you dare to swing! Ingall didn’t swing, the pitch was low, and the tying run was forced in. Then Utting jabbed at the first pitch and flew out to Sakaguchi… Grandridge put Francisco Alarcon on second base in the ninth and with two out, Brown loomed, so Zuniga came out. Gilberto Flores was sent to pinch-hit again. Flores grounded out, and the Coons failed to reach base, and we went to extra innings, with the Coons actually out of pinch-hitters after some manic switching by a ******ed manager. After Otero pitched a scoreless 10th around a 1-out triple by Carlos Paredes, our first three men in the bottom 10th showed how far we were in shutting down shop: Kent, Aycock, McLaughlin; Aycock actually singled, bringing up Brewer with two down. Ah, a major league caliber player! The count ran full and then Brewer wanted to go home, jocked on an offering by Javier Navarro and hit a double over Flores in center. Aycock was not a good runner and chugged around second, third, and came home a second ahead of the ball. Walkoff!! 5-4 Raccoons! Brewer 3-5, BB, 2B, RBI; Ingall 2-4, BB, 2 RBI; Wedemeyer (PH) 1-1; Vinson 2-4; Aycock (PH) 2-2; Grandridge 1.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Game 3
IND: 3B Whaley – 2B M. Carter – RF Sakaguchi – CF L. Maldonado – 1B Erickson – LF D. Lopez – C T. Thompson – SS J. Martinez – P George
POR: 2B Brewer – 3B Ingall – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Utting – LF Kinnear – SS Guerin – C Vinson – P Saito

While Saito was pitching a 1-hit shutout through four (allowing a double to Dan George, of all people) it took until the fourth for the Coons to get any hit, when Ingall hit a leadoff single. But it was a Saito game, so… Weeds reached on an infield single, but both runners were left in scoring position when Kinnear struck out. Bottom 5th, Rodriguez led off with a single from the #7 spot (more on that below), and Vinson walked. Saito had bunted into a force at second place his first time up, so was told to swing this time, and swung into the air three times. Then came Brewer and grounded to Whaley, who made his second error of the series with a throw past Erickson. Rodriguez scored and we had two more in scoring position after the ball ended up in the stands. The runners were left on by Ingall and Reece. Rodriguez brought in Weeds with a double in the sixth, 2-0, and Saito was clicking off batters, carrying a 2-hitter through seven. All was smooth, until it wasn’t. A pinch-hit homer by Alarcon halved the lead, and when Whaley singled after that, Saito was brought in and Miller came out to face Martin Carter. In a predictable move, the Indians countered with left-hander Matt Brown. Miller got him to ground out to Ingall, though. That was Miller’s only batter on the day, since his spot came up with three aboard and one out in the eighth. We got one run on Miranda’s groundout, and that was it: Brewer struck out. That put Tamburrino into a 3-1 game, so surrendering eight again was out of the question. He walked Tadanobu Sakaguchi to start the inning. Oh, here we go. Two groundouts later, Sakaguchi was on third, and .143 batter (3-21) David Lopez was up. Tamburrino got him to 1-2, before Lopez hit one. Long, deep, fair. Tied game. Paredes homered, and then Tamburrino was removed and took a bat or two into the nuts from me. Bottom 9th. Reece walked with one out. Wedemeyer singled to left. Aycock hit for Pancho Padilla and grounded to Brown, whose throw to second went into left. All hands safe, winning run at second base, Kinnear up against the right-hander Navarro. Kinnear grounded to Whaley, who zinged home to nab Reece. Bases loaded, TWO OUTS. Rodriguez was up, the bench looked rather dire, and why bother. I turned around and walked into my office to find a piece of good rope and a wonky chair, before Rodriguez ever completed his strikeout. 4-3 Indians. Wedemeyer 2-4, BB; Rodriguez 2-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Saito 7.2 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 K;

Get that ugly, ******ed, infectious, disgusting, vomit-inducing Australian warthog outta my sight.

NOW.

In other news

September 8 – ATL SP Carlos Asquabal (9-7, 3.46 ERA) is out for up to a year with a torn labrum. The grizzled veteran is due $1.1M per season through 1999.
September 11 – DAL INF Rodrigo Morales (.308, 10 HR, 64 RBI) has a hitting streak go to 20 games with a single in a 5-1 win over the Scorpions.
September 12 – It’s season over for TIJ LF Dale Wales (.325, 7 HR, 71 RBI), who has suffered torn ankle ligaments.
September 14 – SAC RF/1B Sam Green (.353, 17 HR, 101 RBI) is out for the regular season with an elbow sprain.

Complaints and stuff

Got enough gangbanged already? Nope! In AA, infielder Carlos Gomes, our supplemental round pick from last season, was more or less hurt all year. He has now been forced to retire with a torn labrum.

Three weeks until I can head to the woods and drop myself off South Sister.

[pgjocki]

As much as I like a winning team in Portland I can't help but love this year's team! I was literally laughing while reading this and woke up my old lady who was sleeping next to me. I tried to explain why I was crying, and after mumbling baseball she rolled her eyes and went back to bed.

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by pgjocki

As much as I like a winning team in Portland I can't help but love this year's team! I was literally laughing while reading this and woke up my old lady who was sleeping next to me. I tried to explain why I was crying, and after mumbling baseball she rolled her eyes and went back to bed.

It seems like you two don't share common interests when it comes to reading stuff and sports.

---

By the way, I was blinded by rage yesterday and forgot to mention why Guerin was not batting in the fifth in that final game. Well, he had gotten hurt on a play in the second inning. A mild abdominal strain has him listed as DTD for another day or two.

---

The Raccoons also announced that Scott Wade has been scratched from his start on Monday against the Loggers. Gabby De La Rosa would make a spot start. When asked about it by the Agitator, I replied that Scott Wade was our new closer. When further asked what had happened to Brad Tamburrino, I replied that the useless milk carton, scrub of scrubs, had been "taken care of".

The reporter left mystified, and I was expecting a nice headline in the evening edition. But it's okay, the Agitator has called me insane for two decades now. Nobody's buying into that. Right?

Right?

[Questdog]

I like the idea of Wade as the Closer!....hopefully it will allow him to be effective again.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (58-85) vs. Loggers (86-56) – September 15-18, 1997

The best offense in the league appears to have a stellar chance of humiliating us some more… Fantastically, we’d play four.

Projected matchups:
Gabriel De La Rosa (3-7, 3.15 ERA) vs. Jorge Casas (10-9, 4.74 ERA)
Miguel Lopez (10-9, 3.81 ERA) vs. Tim Butler (2-4, 5.37 ERA)
Hector Lara (7-7, 3.45 ERA) vs. Martin Garcia (11-8, 3.50 ERA)
Jose Ramos (5-5, 4.35 ERA) vs. Rafael Garcia (18-6, 3.61 ERA)

It seems like we play the Garciaces every week now. Oh wait, we actually do.

Game 1
MIL: CF Fletcher – SS B. Hernandez – RF C. Ramirez – 1B D. Evans – 3B Nakayama – LF Carver – C M. Vela – 2B Sullivan – P Casas
POR: 2B Brewer – LF Kinnear – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – 3B Utting – C McDonald – RF Kent – SS McLaughlin – P De La Rosa

The Brewers took the lead in the third, starting with Jorge Casas singling, the first hit in the ballgame, and with two out and runners on the corners, Brewer threw away a grounder to allow an unearned run to come home. A nifty play by Jason Kent on a howling Drake Evans line drive held the damage to one run. Kent would have his first big league hit in the bottom 5th, and it was also our first hit in the game: a game-tying home run! The game was still tied at one in the seventh, in which we paraded in four pitchers and barely managed to starve the Loggers with the bases loaded, but no damage done, when Bartolo Hernandez popped out on a Miller offering. The Coons also loaded the bags in the bottom 7th, as Ingall came out to PH for Daniel Miller. Reliever Juan Guerrero had trouble throwing strikes anyway and Ingall got to ram a 2-0 pitch into deep right for a 2-run double. So, this game became Scott Wade’s first shot at closing, getting a 3-1 lead to protect and facing Benny Carver, Miguel Vela, and Marcos Villarroel to retire. When Vela singled, Leon Ramirez hit for Villarroel, and grounded to Utting, to Brewer, to Wedemeyer. 3-1 Raccoons. Ingall (PH) 1-1, 2B, 2 RBI; De La Rosa 6.1 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 3 K;

35 years old, 379 games, all but five of those starts, and Wade got his maiden save.

Game 2
MIL: CF Fletcher – SS B. Hernandez – RF C. Ramirez – LF Hiwalani – 3B Nakayama – C L. Ramirez – 2B Villarroel – 1B Sugano – P Butler
POR: 2B Brewer – LF Kinnear – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – SS Ingall – 3B Utting – C Aycock – RF Miranda – P M. Lopez

Lopez had missed his last start, and how far he would go this time, was mostly up to the – inclement – weather. Lopez was still pitching a no-hitter when the rain became heavy in the fourth, forcing a delay of almost half an hour. At that point, the Coons led 2-1 after Weeds’ 23rd home run of the year, and Bartolo Hernandez scoring in the top 4th after getting plunked, advancing on a wild pitch, a bunt, and scoring on a sac fly. Leon Ramirez then broke up the bid with a leadoff double – which Neil Reece for once looked very bad on – in the fifth, but the Loggers didn’t score. Lopez could go seven, but no more, and since we basically emptied our pen the day before in a frantic seventh, Tamburrino had to go out for the eighth. Drake Evans hit a pinch-hit double that he tried to stretch to a triple, but Kinnear had none of that and booyahed him out at third. To start the bottom 8th then, Bartolo Hernandez and reliever Raymond Léger made consecutive errors to put Brewer and Kinnear in scoring position with no out. The Raccoons didn’t score. But Wade did save it, despite Cristo Ramirez coming up with an infield single that hopped funnily as Ingall tried to make the play. 2-1 Raccoons. Wedemeyer 1-4, HR, 2 RBI; Lopez 7.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, W (11-9);

I am eagerly awaiting the Loggers breaking out for a 15-run bashing here. The Titans are back to half a game behind them, and some reaction from them is due. Hector Lara is shivering already.

Game 3
MIL: CF Fletcher – SS B. Hernandez – RF C. Ramirez – 1B D. Evans – 3B Nakayama – C L. Ramirez – LF O’Day – 2B Sullivan – P M. Garcia
POR: 2B Brewer – 3B Ingall – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – LF Utting – SS Guerin – C Vinson – RF Kent – P Lara

Martin Garcia was flamethrowering the Raccoons to ashes in another game, where offense came at a premium. Garcia, through five, allowed two hits, a walk, and fanned TEN. Lara couldn’t match the latter number, but pitched a shutout through six. In the bottom of the sixth, Garcia quickly retired Brewer and Ingall, then faced Neil Reece. First pitch was low, but Reece was right on it. Big bomb, deep to left, GONE!! Suddenly 1-0 behind, Garcia became a bit more hittable. In the bottom 7th, we had two on with two out, but Lara was up. Nah, I want another run. Kinnear came out to bat for him, and became K #11. That left it to the pen to defend a tiny lead for the third straight day. Otero managed a perfect eighth, and then Brewer reached leading off the eighth, and again on an error, this time by Villarroel, putting Brewer at second base, as the throw went into the stands. Brewer was never moved from second… Up 1-0, Wade was not going to pitch three days in a row. I had no trust into most of the guys, and with Hernandez leading off, Otero would pitch to him, and then Zuniga would come out for the left-handers behind him. Otero got Hernandez to ground out to short. Then Zuniga got Ramirez to ground out to short. Then the Loggers countered with right-handed batter Ricardo Rivera. No, Zuniga it is. Rivera was a pushover. Rivera singled. Zuniga stayed in to face Villarroel – and struck him out. 1-0 Raccoons! Reece 2-3, HR, RBI; Guerin 1-2, BB; Aycock (PH) 1-1; Lara 7.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 K, W (8-7); Otero 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

I’m sensing a trap, some kind of ambush. They are due for a 20-run game now… The teams have totaled eight runs in the first three contests. I will make a keen guess that they will have eight runs scored after four in game four.

Game 4
MIL: CF Fletcher – SS B. Hernandez – RF C. Ramirez – LF Hiwalani – 1B D. Evans – 3B Nakayama – C L. Ramirez – 2B Sullivan – P R. Garcia
POR: 2B Brewer – LF Kinnear – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – 3B Ingall – C Aycock – RF Miranda – SS McLaughlin – P Ramos

The Loggers did play their part in the scheme well. They were done with Ramos after just three innings, rolling over him with a semi truck six times, including three run-scoring extra-base hits that the outfielders had no chance of getting. I failed my guess, still, because the Raccoons failed. Despite loading the bags with no outs in the bottom 4th, they merely managed a meager sac fly by Ingall and the score after four was 6-1 Loggers. Hiwalani homered for two off a useless shell wearing a uniform with “Tamburrino” spelled out on the back, and now was the latest point at which it could occur to you that the Raccoons had no business playing the Loggers. Rafael Garcia went the distance for his 19th win of the season. 8-1 Loggers. Reece 2-4; Ingall 2-2, RBI; Kent (PH) 1-1; Santana 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K;

Yeah, that gets our feet back onto solid ground. Winning three in a row made me dizzy.

Raccoons (61-86) @ Condors (77-69) – September 19-21, 1997

The Condors still tried to get into the playoffs, and the offense was their strength, as they ranked fourth in runs scored in the league. Their rotation was ranked as average, 7th in the CL, with a 4.09 ERA, but the bullpen was second-best in the league.

Projected matchups:
Kisho Saito (11-12, 2.91 ERA) vs. Woody Roberts (14-9, 2.38 ERA)
Gabriel De La Rosa (3-7, 2.82 ERA) vs. Harry Griggs (13-11, 4.70 ERA)
Miguel Lopez (11-9, 3.66 ERA) vs. Juan Lara (15-10, 4.44 ERA)

Three right-handers, with somewhat shaky ERA’s, and all were clearly outwinning Saito, f.e. Poor Kisho. Now let’s look at him get incinerated.

Game 1
POR: 2B Brewer – LF Kinnear – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – SS Ingall – C Aycock – RF Miranda – 3B G. Rodriguez – P Saito
TIJ: RF Spinelli – 1B R. Garcia – LF Horn – 3B O’Morrissey – SS Gorden – CF Hooper – 2B Liang – C Lozano – P Roberts

Saito faced an all-righty lineup, and while he struck out two in the first inning, needed some assistance from the defense. He got that, as Reece threw out Chun-Mei Liang at second base after Liang’s 2-out single in the second. Roberts sat down eight of the first nine Raccoons, before – with two out in the top 3rd – Brewer and Kinnear hit back-to-back doubles into the corner in deep right. Reece came up, and hit a ball to deepest center for an RBI triple! Weeds hurled a liner just over Liang for an RBI single, and we were up 3-0. In the fourth then, it was Our Lady of a Thousand Complaints, Ben O’Morrissey, to cut into that lead with a solo home run, his eighth on the year, all for Tijuana. Now let’s talk about the Condors catcher, Pedro Lozano, who had an eventful day. His first two PA’s, he reached base twice. How did he reach? On catcher’s interference and by getting hit by Saito. Then in the sixth, he allowed not one, but TWO passed balls, giving the Coons their fourth run. Let’s also talk about Vern Kinnear. He hit a 1-out triple in the seventh and was then scored by Reece. However, with the triple, he was only a home run short of the cycle! Could they get him back to the plate? For the moment, Rory Gorden homered off Saito in the bottom 7th, which led us to hit for Saito in the eighth, but Utting hit into a double play that ended the inning. Miller came out for the eighth, and walked two. That brought O’Morrissey up as the tying run in a 5-2 game. We sent for Wade. O’Morrissey homered off Wade. Lozano drove in the winning run with two out, while Kinnear walked in the ninth. 6-5 Condors.

**** O’Morrissey. **** the suckers twice that. Brewer 2-5, 2B; Kinnear 3-4, BB, 3B, 2B, RBI; Reece 2-5, 3B, 2 RBI; Ingall 2-4, 2B; Saito 7.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 2 K;

Game 2
POR: 2B Brewer – LF Kinnear – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – SS Ingall – 3B Utting – RF Kent – C McDonald – P De La Rosa
TIJ: SS Solís – 1B C. Guzmán – 2B Boyle – LF Horn – 3B O’Morrissey – RF Hooper – CF Gorden – C F. Ramirez – P Griggs

With Reece and Weeds on base and two down in the third, an Ingall single and Utting double brought home two runs in support of De La Rosa, who was turning up as a makeshift starter seemingly every season. Gabby pitched a no-hitter through three, but was battered in the fourth. The Condors scored only one run however. That was still more than the Raccoons got with Kinnear and Reece in scoring position in the fifth, and one out. Ingall was walked intentionally, and Harry Griggs struck out Utting. Jason Kent made a poor out, and the bases remained loaded. While Kinnear jacked two runs onto the board in the sixth, De La Rosa became stuck in the same inning with a Solís double and a Guzmán walk. One out, the lefty Boyle up, Zuniga was brought out. Boyle flew to deep left, where Kinnear made an artistic grab. Solís moved to third, and Otero replaced Zuniga to face Martin Horn. One artistic grab by Kent on the other side of the field later, we advanced to the seventh. There, the baseball gods continued to have a good laugh, as O’Morrissey homered off Otero, his third one in the series. They would certainly find a way to lose this game, right? Oh, sure as hell. Tamburrino plunked Solís in the eighth, which brought Donis into the game, which led to a cascade of calamities, as Donis loaded the bags with two left-handers (go figure), and then fell to a game-tying 2-run single by Horn. O’Morrissey brought in the winning run with a sac fly. 6-4 Condors. Kinnear 2-4, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Reece 3-4, BB; Wedemeyer 2-5; Kent 2-4;

Why even get aggravated? Why even complain? Why even cry?

Why even bother?

Wanna hear something funny for a change? Luke “Dumbtwat” Newton’s suspension is up. Guess what. He has caught a cold now. It’s awful. He managed to slime up the whole clubhouse, sneezing.

Game 3
POR: 2B Brewer – LF Kinnear – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Utting – SS Guerin – C Vinson – 3B McLaughlin – P M. Lopez
TIJ: 2B Boyle – RF Spinelli – LF Horn – 3B O’Morrissey – SS Gorden – CF Hooper – 1B Liang – C Lozano – P J. Lara

The series finale was a pitchers’ duel. Through seven, both Lopez and Lara pitched a shutout, with the Raccoons having more hits (5 to 3), but the Condors were the only team to put a runner at third, actually a pair in scoring position in the fifth, but Lopez had escaped the threat by striking out Bruce Boyle. In the top 8th, with one out, Kinnear hit a double into the corner, but almost didn’t make it to second as he came up lame and reached second base hopping on one leg. He left the game with a hamstring strain. Reece singled, moving pinch-runner Jason Kent to third, which was the end of the line for Lara. Lefty Rafael Negrón came in to face Weeds, got him to fly out to shallow left, and also retired Utting. Vinson hit a 1-out single in the ninth, and Miranda ran for him, with Aycock batting for McLaughlin. The hit-and-run plot failed, and Lopez came to the plate with Miranda on second, but no further, and two down. Lopez lobbed out to center, then pitched a perfect ninth. That would have been a shutout, if not for these ******s around him. Rory Gorden’s leadoff single in the bottom 10th removed Lopez from the game. Miller got a double play, then issued a walk (because why not), but Zuniga got the game to the next inning. Ben O’******** would walk off his team there with a 2-out RBI single. 1-0 Condors. Utting 2-5; Vinson 2-4; Lopez 9.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K;

Vern Kinnear has a mild hamstring strain. He may be able to play in the last week of the season and was not put on the DL so far.

In other news

September 15 – An oblique strain puts RIC RF/LF Raúl Vázquez (.373, 16 HR, 38 RBI) on the shelf just as the season is becoming interesting. Vázquez should miss at least two weeks.
September 15 – In a confusing move, the Aces trade 26-yr old 1B Antenor Maldonado (.240, 9 HR, 50 RBI), the 1996 CL ROTY, to the Bayhawks for 38-yr old SP Francisco Vidrio, who has spent all year in AAA, and a non-prospect.
September 16 – In a crazy game in in Dallas, the Stars fall 12-11 to the Warriors, but sport Mac Woods having a 5-hit game, missing the cycle by the triple, and Rodrigo Morales extending his hitting streak to 25 games.
September 16 – ATL SP Francisco Perez (6-8, 5.82 ERA) is out for the season with shoulder soreness.
September 19 – The Bayhawks lose SP Charles Bywaters (5-11, 4.73 ERA) for the rest of the year due to shoulder inflammation.
September 21 – The Rebels romp over the Stars, 10-2, and also hang Rodrigo Morales out to dry. The right-handed batter has his hitting streak end at 28 games.

Complaints and stuff

What will our rotation look like next year. Well, we know Saito is gonna be there. But we always though Wade would be in there, but the chances are slim by now. Miguel Lopez looks like a fixture for the rotation, too. Apart from that? Not a lot to be excited about. We need a #2 guy!

About catchers. We have too many guys I don’t even want. Vinson just has to go now. Aycock’s numbers have crashed since his arrival. McDonald isn’t cutting it. Don’t even get me started on Nori Kondo, who’s rotting in St. Pete.

Similar question concerns the corner outfield positions. Kinnear, Buell, and Green are standing on each other’s feet. Buell is young and cheap. The other two will be free agents. We should make up our mind soon on this. Whom do we keep? Kinnear or Green? Kinnear or Green? I have a tendency, but I can’t conclusively argue why I have it and whether it is the right move.

My tendency is to keep Vern Kinnear and let Royce Green go.

[Westheim]

With two weeks of games left, at 61-89 we have already clinched our sixth-worst season ever in the ABL’s 21th year of play. Abysmal 1979 (55-107) is safe, but we could still make this the second-worst campaign for the Raccoons ever if we go 4-8 or worse from here.

We still have Mike Crowe, Royce Green, Vern Kinnear, Jose Rivera, and Stephen Buell on the disabled list. There’s no hope for Crowe, his season is over. Green, Kinnear, and Rivera could all be good by the weekend or the start of next week for a final hurrah. Stephen Buell’s return date is now estimated at two weeks by the medical staff, which could or could not get him into another game or two this year.

Raccoons (61-89) vs. Aces (75-74) – September 23-25, 1997

5.5 games out, the Aces had not given up quite yet, and would push the hell out of the Raccoons in this series. Luckily, we’re immune to any kind of reaction under pressure. This includes looking at fat called third strikes. Their own big weakness was a 10th place rotation, which rendered many efforts of their 3rd place offense moot.

Projected matchups:
Hector Lara (8-7, 3.25 ERA) vs. Alejandro Venegas (13-10, 3.47 ERA)
Jose Ramos (5-6, 4.71 ERA) vs. Jou Hara (13-10, 3.74 ERA)
Kisho Saito (11-12, 2.90 ERA) vs. Rafael Espinoza (3-5, 5.92 ERA)

We have lost our last four, they have lost their last five. One streak’s gonna end.

Game 1
LVA: CF Douglas – LF E. Garza – 1B J. Vargas – RF Mashiba – 2B J. Zamora – C Manuel – 3B Petipas – SS E. Lopez – P Venegas
POR: 2B Ingall – LF Utting – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Newton – SS Guerin – C McDonald – 3B McLaughlin – P Lara

Early on, the Raccoons twice had a pair of runners on base, but couldn’t cash in, with Weeds hitting into an inning-ending double play in the first, and Guerin striking out to end the fourth. Lara kept the pace that ex-Coon Venegas had put up, until the fifth, when huge doubles by Bob Petipas and Joe Douglas did him in, as the Aces took a 1-0 lead. Lara pitched into the eighth, getting exactly zero support. For the Raccoons to step up, he had to leave the game first, as Santana and Miller pitched in the eighth, before Vinson got on base with a pinch-hit single in place of Miller, and then Ingall jacked one out of left field, and suddenly Venegas found himself trailing. Wade pitched a 1-2-3 ninth. 2-1 Raccoons! Ingall 1-4, HR, 2 RBI; Reece 2-4; Vinson (PH) 1-1; Lara 7.1 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K;

Game 2
LVA: CF Douglas – 3B Petipas – 1B J. Vargas – RF Mashiba – 2B J. Zamora – C Manuel – LF R. Reyes – SS E. Lopez – P Hara
POR: 2B Brewer – RF Newton – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – LF Utting – SS Guerin – C Vinson – 3B G. Rodriguez – P Ramos

The first inning saw Javier Vargas’ 14th homer of the year, a 2-run job off Jose Ramos, which set the Aces ahead in this contest. Not that Ramos was horrible. That dinger was about all he allowed the Aces to do in this game, and he would pitch seven solid innings. Unfortunately the Raccoons failed to navigate their way around home plate although by the time they failed through the lineup for the second time we had gotten a helper monkey and a few assistance dogs ready to support them – to no avail. The Raccoons managed to get four hits off Jou Hara in 7.2 innings, whiffing eight times, and Qi-zhen Geng and Cory Maupin finished the game. 2-0 Aces. Reece 1-2, BB; Utting 2-3, 2B; Ramos 7.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, L (5-7);

After this game, we added pitchers Iván Costa and Esteban Flores to the roster. Flores would take over Wade’s old spot in the rotation for the remainder of the season, with De La Rosa back to the bullpen. Costa might get a start, but probably not, and audition for a bullpen job. We have many slacks at AAA that are vying to start, and we will have to make room for our best SP prospect, Ralph Ford, in AAA next season.

In another wacky move that was not really classy, we waived and DFA’ed Kenny Crockett, who was on the DL. The reasoning was the following: we had a promising prospect in AAA in 1B/2B Samy Michel, who was not quite major league ready, but was already rule 5 eligible this season and had to get on the 40-man roster regardless. With Brewer being traded not really a secret for the coming off season, Brewer would be scaled back and we would open up second base for either Ingall to play there and get Guerin into more games, or for Michel to appear in a few games to get a headstart here. He would however not be on the big league roster next April.

Game 3
LVA: LF E. Lopez – 3B Petipas – 1B J. Vargas – RF Mashiba – C Manuel – 2B S. Moreno – CF Mendoza – SS Heart – P Espinoza
POR: 2B Brewer – SS Ingall – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – LF Newton – C McDonald – RF Miranda – 3B McLaughlin – P Saito

After Saito had been the poor sod to be sold off cheap by his team in his last few starts, he blew this one himself. In a spectacular display of eroding abilities, he hit consecutive batters in the first inning, surrendered two line drives (one of which was even played by Reece), and then Miranda contributed with a fantastically pathetic error to plate three runs (two unearned) in the first inning. Saito was not himself somehow, allowed two runs in the third, and was removed when Espinoza singled off him in the sixth. Otero came in to surrender the sixth run on Saito. At that point, the Raccoons had not reached third base the entire game, and wouldn’t until Ron McDonald homered off Espinoza in the seventh. The displays of dismality became more horrendous any day now. 6-1 Aces. Brewer 2-4; Grandridge 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K;

15 hits total for the entire 3-game set. Yaaay.

Raccoons (62-91) vs. Crusaders (79-73) – September 26-28, 1997

There was nothing left to win for. This was true for either team as the Crusaders were by now all but eliminated from contention.

Projected matchups:
Esteban Flores (0-6, 5.48 ERA) vs. Anibal Sandoval (14-9, 4.16 ERA)
Miguel Lopez (11-9, 3.49 ERA) vs. Francisco Garza (11-14, 4.72 ERA)
Hector Lara (8-7, 3.14 ERA) vs. John Woodard (6-6, 3.33 ERA)

Game 1
NYC: 3B Rigg – CF C. Clark – LF A. Johnson – 1B Berry – RF Latham – C Melendez – 2B L. Wilson – SS J. Vega – P Sandoval
POR: SS Ingall – LF Newton – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – 3B Utting – 2B Michel – RF Kent – C Vinson – P Flores

Ruben Melendez got the Crusaders up 2-0 in the second with a huge homer to dead center. The Raccoons were struggling to find their mojo early on, but in the bottom 4th had singles by Weeds, Utting, and Michel (for whom it was the first major league hit) to start the inning. The go-ahead runs were on base with nobody out. Jason Kent, who had just thrown out Mark Berry at home plate to end the top 4th, flew deep to left, but Avery Johnson got to the ball, and it became a sac fly. Vinson grounded into a double play, and we kept trailing, 2-1. Poor Esteban Flores (although, if you were a pitcher on this team, you were poor by definition, creating a redundancy here…) did not get a lick of support although he pitched into the eighth, and left on the hook after allowing a 2-out single to Clement Clark. Zuniga just barely almost managed to allow Clark to score, before Reece made a play on Berry before this could become more ugly than it was already. Bottom 9th, and I had more hot dogs on my ledger than the Coons had hits on theirs. Neil Reece drew a walk, leading off against John Hatt. Wedemeyer struck out. Utting to short, to second, to first. 2-1 Crusaders. Flores 7.2 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 1 K, L (0-7);

To make this one clear: Hot Dogs Consumed 8, Hits by Raccoons 4 …

Royce Green came off the DL in time for the middle game, and Jose Rivera’s DL time would be up after the middle game. Still holding out for Kinnear.

Game 2
NYC: CF Diéguez – 2B Rigg – RF A. Johnson – C Melendez – 3B J. Ramirez – 1B Delgado – LF L. Wilson – SS J. Vega – P F. Garza
POR: 2B Brewer – CF Newton – RF Green – 1B Wedemeyer – SS Ingall – 3B Utting – LF Kent – C McDonald – P M. Lopez

The Crusaders would take the lead in the fourth after three quiet opening innings with a pair of home runs by Ed Rigg and Lorenzo Delgado. At that point, Francisco Garza was perfect, and remained so until a leadoff walk to Wedemeyer in the fifth inning. Weeds was left on third base in the inning, and we trailed 3-0. David Brewer wasn’t doing a lot anymore down the long and pot-holed road, but he would break up the no-hit bid in the sixth with a 2-out homer. Brewer would in the end account for 50% of our base hits, Royce Green making up the other half with a seventh inning double after which he was left at third base. The Inepticoons lost another one: 3-1 Crusaders.

We had had reason to worry about getting no-noed in this game. The only pitcher to ever no-hit the Raccoons was a Crusader, too, and a borderline starter, too: Eric Edmonstone, 13 years ago.

Jose Rivera’s time on the DL was up. He had been on the 60-day DL, so we now had the problem that he had to be put back onto the 40-man roster, which was still choked full. We made room by waiving left-hander Fred Carlton, an AAA reliever that had been tortured to an ERA just short of six this season. He was 24 but didn’t appear to have any future.

Game 3
NYC: SS Rigg – 3B L. Wilson – LF A. Johnson – 1B Berry – RF Latham – C Melendez – CF Lyons – 2B Marino – P Woodard
POR: 2B Brewer – LF Newton – CF Reece – RF Green – 3B Ingall – 1B Michel – C Vinson – SS Guerin – P Lara

Lara – still playing for a possible contract – was not very sharp in the contest, fell behind in the first, although Reece would tie the game back in the bottom 1st, singling home Newton, but held the damage to two runs over six innings. The Raccoons again were mostly starved for pretty swings, but got Green and Ingall onto the corners with nobody out in the bottom 6th, as the two represented the go-ahead runs. Samy Michel tied the game with a liner into shallow right for his first career RBI. In some way, luck ran out here, with Vinson hitting into a double play. Guerin was put on intentionally, and Utting hit for Lara, lined out to Rigg – except that Eddy couldn’t hold on to the ball, and the go-ahead run scored on the error. We got another run with a 2-out single by Brewer, and Donis came out for the seventh with the 4-2 lead looming large over him. He registered one out, before putting lefties Johnson and Berry on base. De La Rosa replaced him, his first pitch was wild, and the Crusaders would get one run right back on a groundout. He would still surrender the tying run with a moonshot to Larry Wilson in the eighth. The agony. The undescribable agony. Ivan Lopez appeared to pitch for the Crusaders in the ninth. He sat down Reece and Green quickly, before he allowed a liner to Ingall that went past about everybody and ended up being a 2-out triple. Michel stepped in at the plate, and he was not going to be replaced. Kid’s gotta learn to succeed in these situations. His line drive whizzed less than a foot past Lopez’ head, into center, and fell in, Ingall scored, the Coons walked off. 5-4 Raccoons. Brewer 2-5, RBI; Newton 2-4, BB, 2B; Ingall 2-5, 3B; Michel 2-5, 2 RBI; Lara 6.0 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 2 K;

Quite a few seats were empty.

In other news

September 22 – In just his third major league start, 22-yr old DAL SP Elwood Spurrell (1-1, 2.78 ERA) spins a 5-hitter as the Stars rout the Capitals, 10-0.
September 23 – The Titans just acquired SP Henry Selph (16-8, 3.67 ERA) this season from the Rebels, and now he’s made history, tossing a NO-HITTER!!! Selph allowed only two walks and no hits in a 1-0 win over the Knights, becoming the 21st pitcher in the ABL to toss a no-hitter. He is the third Titans pitcher to achieve the feat (Luis De Jesus, 1990; Vicente Navarro, 1996), as the Titans join the Indians as the only team to have three no-hitters tossed by their players. It is the second no-hit job this season after CIN Manuel Garza’s. Selph, 30, the Rebels’ 1988 first round pick, is 55-39 with a 3.85 ERA in his career.

Complaints and stuff

Since September 16, we have played 13 games. We scored more than TWO runs … in THREE of those games.

WAY TO GO.

I scanned our prospective free agents. Only David Vinson is rated a type A free agent right now. Even Royce Green is rated type B. May the limited number of AB’s he got this season factor in there? All our free agents are going to be at least type B free agents, except for Cesar Zuniga, who won’t be compensation eligible.

[Questdog]

You have GOT to catch those Canadiens!

If you do not, you had better lower season ticket prices next year.......

[pjh5165]

Originally Posted by Questdog

You have GOT to catch those Canadiens!

If you do not, you had better lower season ticket prices next year.......

I think finishing behind the Canadiens would greatly increase the chances of an on-field killing by a certain GM, and should therefore be seen as a reason to raise the ticket prices...

[Westheim]

The last time we finished behind the Canadiens was in 1990, when they won the division, nine games ahead of the Raccoons, who finished second. In the 13 seasons prior to that, the much resented Northern Smelly Elks beat the Raccoons ten times in the final division standings, every year except 1983, 1987, and 1989 – which includes the two times we won the division before 1990, and that 1987 season where we fell one game short of the Indians, while the Canadiens mysteriously finished 66-96 after winning on average 100 games the previous three years.

They have not been ahead of us for six seasons, and I still hate them with every fibre of my body.

Now for something different, something I found out in the office today when I was supposed to do some actual work so my bosses could bill their clients, but I cared for about our beloved Critters.

So, I was skipping through the Furry Annals, as I privately call this collection of memories. I would like to take you back to December of 1992. Two months earlier, Grant West sat down the last Capital to clinch the Raccoons’ first championship. There, we made a trade that was supposed to push us even further ahead.

Originally Posted by Westheim

I came across […] Vancouver’s David Brewer, but the Canadiens were in no mood to even discuss my fiendish proposals for their 25-year old .370ish batter and excellent defender still under team control, despite me throwing in three players from the active roster and asking them to pick a fourth to get talks started.

Of course we didn’t acquire Brewer that season, but signed him two harsh Oregon winters later as a free agent for TONS OF MONEY.

Instead, in 1992, we acquired someone from the Salem Wolves.

Originally Posted by Westheim

December 9 – The Raccoons and Wolves strike a deal that sees the Raccoons acquiring 2B/3B/1B Mark “Icon” Allen (.290, 179 HR, 754 RBI) and [a] minor leaguer […], while the Wolves add to their pitching with SP Robert Vázquez (102-61, 2.89 ERA) and MR Roberto Carrillo (38-28, 3.29 ERA, 39 SV).

Yeah, and that one worked out great, didn’t it. Allen struggled to bat .200 in two years in Portland and was not signed by any team this season. However, who was that minor leaguer?

Added more as an afterthough, he was the main prize, and he is now more and more emerging as a key player on this team. He struck my eye just a week earlier heading into the rule 5 draft.

Originally Posted by Westheim

I also was not intending to take anybody in the rule 5 draft.

There was one infielder in the draft who was interesting, the Wolves’ Marvin Ingall, but ultimately he was batting .257 in AAA, how much can he bat in the majors?

That trade? It was always the right move. I just had to sink $1.6M into Mark Allen to get an incredibly serviceable infielder on board. Depending on how other things fall into place, Marvin Ingall could be the leadoff man next season for the Raccoons. Him or Luke Newton.

However, in order for Luke Newton to bat leadoff every day, with Neil Reece set in stone and Stephen Buell playing an incredibly cost-effective wingman, we must re-sign neither Royce Green, nor Vern Kinnear.

(cue dramatic music)

[Questdog]

I like ol' Vern.....Green is awesome, but he has not been here long enough to fall in love with....

[Westheim]

For uplifting and depressing numbers, both at the same time, BNN presented the active pitchers leading the ABL in shutouts. Behind SFW Neil Stewart (27) and LAP Bastyao Caixinha (21), Kisho Saito was ranking in third place with 18 SHO’s in his career. He will soon be removed from the list.

Raccoons (63-93) vs. Titans (92-64) – September 29-October 1, 1997

While we were hoping (against hope) to soil the Titans’ first playoff appearance for the second time in three years, the Canadiens and Indians would hold fourth place playoffs in Vancouver. Our last stop of the season would also be in Vancouver, so the Canadiens had their fortunes pretty much in hand going into the final week of the season.

Projected matchups:
Jose Ramos (5-7, 4.59 ERA) vs. Glenn Ryan (11-10, 3.09 ERA)
Kisho Saito (11-13, 2.99 ERA) vs. Albert Villa (1-1, 4.59 ERA)
Esteban Flores (0-7, 5.04 ERA) vs. Jesus Bautista (17-9, 2.16 ERA)

Game 1
BOS: SS D. Silva – LF Walls – C L. Lopez – 1B G. Douglas – RF Thomas – 2B Henry – CF Alonso – 3B Elliott – P Ryan
POR: 2B Brewer – LF Newton – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – 3B Ingall – RF Miranda – SS Guerin – C McDonald – P Ramos

Once Miranda left the bags full by striking out in the first inning, we were on the road to losing. A Tom Walls double over Newton in left scored Daniel Silva in the third, 1-0 Titans, and that remained the score for a little while. Jose Ramos held the Titans to four hits over seven innings, which didn’t help him all that much, since the Raccoons were doing absolutely nothing at the plate. Two down and runners on the corners in the fifth, Marvin Ingall lined hard to the left side – but right into Pat Elliott’s glove. It was still 1-0 Titans in the bottom 8th, which Weeds led off with a bloop single. On a hit-and-run, desperate measures here, Ingall lined into right for a single, and we had them on the corners with no outs. Green hit for Miranda, and tied the game with a double. Guerin was put on intentionally, McDonald was removed for Jason Kent, and the youngster who had skipped AAA because we had had a hole on the roster a few weeks earlier, slapped a single into left that scored a pair. Brewer would get another run in with a groundout. Wade came out and saved the day. 4-1 Raccoons. Brewer 2-5, RBI; Ingall 2-4; Green (PH) 1-1, 2B, RBI; Kent (PH) 1-1, 2 RBI; Michel (PH) 1-1; Ramos 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K;

Game 2
BOS: CF Alonso – LF Walls – SS D. Silva – C L. Lopez – 1B G. Douglas – RF Thomas – 3B Henry – 2B Chavez – P Bautista
POR: 2B Brewer – LF Kinnear – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – SS Ingall – RF Newton – C Vinson – 3B G. Rodriguez – P Saito

Bad news for Kisho: the Titans moved Bautista up to this game, so the Raccoons were likely to score minus two runs.

Saito’s little world came crashing down by the third inning with a 2-run homer by Luis Alonso and a few more hissing line drives that scored two more runs. Kinnear drove in a run in the bottom of the inning, but that was all the effort the offense put up early. Maybe we could come back without actual effort? Bottom 6th, still three runs down, Ingall reached leading off the inning, when Manuel Chavez dropped his grounder on the transfer from the glove. Newton then hit the ball behind first and raced it out for an actual infield single. Vinson singled, and the bags were full. Bautista walked Rodriguez, 4-2, and the bags were still full. Saito was sent to bat, hit into a run-scoring double play, but Bautista’s day ended with a walk to Brewer. Go-ahead runs on the corners with two down for Kinnear, Ramon Morales came in to relief Bautista, and walked Kinnear to load the bags for Reece. In a long at-bat, Morales and Reece battled to a full count, and then Reece looked at a ball a hair below his knees. The umpire didn’t move, and after a second of uncertainty, Reece ambled to first and Vinson trotted home with the tying run. Weeds’ 2-run single gave the Raccoons an unlikely 6-4 lead. Saito pitched another inning before leaving this contest. While the Raccoons left pairs of men on in the seventh and eighth, Zuniga and Otero pitched the eighth before Wade came out in the ninth. The first two Titans – Henry and Chavez – popped out, and RF Luis Gonzalez bounced out to Guerin, who was by now playing at short. 6-4 Titans. Kinnear 2-4, 2B, RBI; Newton 3-5; Vinson 2-3, BB;

The Canadiens had dropped their first two to the Indians (and fired their GM in between) to start the week, which now had us up in fifth place. The Loggers lost two to the Crusaders, meaning the Titans were still only half a game out as September was over. Nobody had clinched yet (perhaps a novelty in the ABL), but the Capitals and Warriors were as little as one day away from moving into the postseason.

At the end of the day, we were bound to have the fourth pick in next year’s draft at 65-93, ahead of the 64-93 Canadiens, Cyclones, and Wolves.

Game 3
BOS: SS D. Silva – CF Alonso – C L. Lopez – 1B G. Douglas – RF Thomas – 2B Henry – LF L. Gonzalez – 3B Durango – P Villa
POR: 2B Brewer – CF Newton – LF Kinnear – RF Green – SS Ingall – 1B Michel – C McDonald – 3B G. Rodriguez – P Flores

Flores fell behind 2-0 in the second inning on a moonshot by Glenn Douglas and another run that was unearned after a Samy Michel error. The Coons however struck back soon, and Royce Green’s 2-run homer in the bottom 3rd got them 4-2 ahead. Flores, 0-7 this season, pitched six innings, then handed the ball to Donis, who was 0-9, and allowed three batters on base in the seventh. 4-3, two on, one out, Tamburrino came in to strike out Alonso, which brought up dangerous switch-hitter Luis Lopez. In an 0-2 count, Tamburrino threw a wild pitch that moved up the runners, before Lopez grounded out to Michel on the next pitch. We still managed to blow out Flores’ first career win, and the blame was squarely on Daniel Miller, who walked three consecutive batters in the eighth, and the Titans plated a pair. We trailed 5-4 into the bottom 9th, but Bill Corkum allowed a single to Gabriel Rodriguez to start the inning. Reece struck out in the #9 spot, Brewer walked, and Newton grounded out, putting the winning runs in scoring position for Vern Kinnear. He popped out to left. 5-4 Titans. Brewer 4-4, BB, 3 2B; Kinnear 2-5, RBI; Rodriguez 2-4, RBI; Flores 6.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K;

In addition to Miller’s three walks, Padilla also walked three in the ninth, but De La Rosa got a double play and the Titans didn’t score. That’s six walks and two strikeouts (by Tamburrino and Zuniga) as the relief corps faced 17 batters. Oh, and two wild pitches, also by the relief corps.

Oh my.

No races were decided on this day, and we had Thursday off. That day, the Canadiens beat the Indians, 5-4, and the Loggers lost 1-0 to the Crusaders, mainly their pitcher Francisco Garza, who tossed a 10-inning 4-hit shutout! That left the Loggers even with the Titans, and the Raccoons even with the Canadiens going into the final weekend of the series, and both pairings were facing each other!

Raccoons (65-94) @ Canadiens (65-94) – October 3-5, 1997

Projected matchups:
Miguel Lopez (11-10, 3.50 ERA) vs. Jose Marquez (8-12, 4.16 ERA)
Hector Lara (8-7, 3.13 ERA) vs. Lucio Munoz (8-11, 4.71 ERA)
Jose Rivera (2-4, 4.15 ERA) vs. Manuel Chavez (7-4, 4.67 ERA)

Mike Crowe will not be able to play this year, neither will Stephen Buell, so no happy end for the two youngsters. We will play Brewer sparingly this final series, since the last thing I need is a 6-month injury to our trade chip.

Five teams are still in the race for the first draft pick next year (which would make a sweet consolation prize for getting swept here), going into the final weekend, as apart from the 65-94 Raccoons and Canadiens, there were also the 66-93 Wolves and Cyclones, and the 65-94 Buffaloes.

Game 1
POR: 2B Ingall – SS Guerin – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Green – LF Kent – C Vinson – 3B McLaughlin – P M. Lopez
VAN: CF Arroyo – 2B S. Mendez – LF Hartley – 1B Mosley – SS Carpenter – 3B Galindo – C J. Lopez – RF Hudson – P Marquez

Lopez started off shoddy, and surrendered two runs in the first inning. One of those was brought back by Vinson with a 2-out RBI single, but the Raccoons didn’t get any more. Lopez himself led off the fifth with a single, and an Ingall single had the go-ahead runs on base with no outs. Weeds got on with two out, but Forest Hartley caught Royce Green’s fly to deep left, and we kept trailing. Lopez left in the seventh, still on a 2-1 hook, and De La Rosa got the final out there. Royce Green launched a titanic 2-run homer in the eighth that put Gabby in line for the win. He also pitched the eighth before yielding for a pinch-hitter, leading off the ninth. Nothing came of Kinnear batting there, and Wade came out to protect the 3-2 lead in the bottom of the inning. He struck out Drew Edwards, and got Lance Hudson and Juan Moreno to ground out. 3-2 Coons! Wedemeyer 2-3; Green 1-3, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Kent 2-4; Utting (PH) 1-1; Lopez 6.2 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 3 K and 1-3; De La Rosa 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, W (4-7);

The Wolves, Cyclones, and Buffaloes all won their respective games, leaving the Canadiens in sole possession of the worst record at this point. In Milwaukee, Jason O’Halloran outlasted Davis Sims as the Titans won 8-3 to take sole possession of first place.

Game 2
POR: 2B Brewer – CF Newton – LF Kinnear – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Green – SS Ingall – 3B Utting – C McDonald – P Lara
VAN: RF D. Edwards – SS S. Mendez – CF Arroyo – 1B Mosley – 3B Galindo – C J. Lopez – LF Hudson – 2B Weston – P Munoz

Hector Lara, still hoping to get a contract offer, was roughed up in the early going, blowing a 1-0 lead from the top 1st with a 2-run bottom 1st, and gave up 27-year old Albert Weston’s first career home run in the second. After two uneventful frames, Ingall got on in the fifth, advanced to second on a wild pitch, and was then doubled in by Jai Utting. McDonald singled, and Lara came up. Still no outs in the inning, Lara singled to left to tie the game. Newton singled to score McDonald for the go-ahead run, as Munoz was reeling. The Coons sent 11 men to the plate in the inning, scoring five runs for Lara. Old Hector made it into the seventh before Donis relieved him to face the lefty Edwards. Nothing happened in that inning. Top 8th, the Coons got on early and often. One run was already in after a Newton double, and then Weeds came up with the bags full and two down in a 7-3 game. Facing right-hander Juan Bello (a former #1 prospect), he nailed the Canadiens into last place for good. GRAAAAAAAAND SLAAAAAAAMMMM!!! 12-3 Raccoons!! Newton 3-5, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Wedemeyer 2-4, HR, 6 RBI; Ingall 3-4, BB; Costa 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K;

Ha-hah, Elks.

The Titans clinched the division with another win over the Loggers, their first ever playoff appearance, and the last team to make it to meaningful October baseball. While the Canadiens had the first pick next June secure now, the Coons are all tied with the Cyclones, Wolves, and Buffaloes.

Game 3
POR: 2B Ingall – LF Kinnear – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Green – SS Guerin – C Vinson – 3B McLaughlin – P Rivera
VAN: RF D. Edwards – SS S. Mendez – CF Arroyo – 1B Mosley – 3B Galindo – C J. Lopez – LF Moreno – 2B B. Butler – P Hollow

Joe Hollow (1-4, 8.36 ERA) pitched in place of Manuel Chavez, both were lefties. The Coons took a lead on Marvin Ingall’s leadoff home run in the first, but the joy didn’t last long. The first four Canadiens all reached on Rivera, including a 3-run bomb by Bill Mosley, plating four runs for the Canadiens in the first. Rivera wouldn’t last five, bringing in another run on his own throwing error, as the Raccoons left piles of runners on base and trailed 5-2 after five innings. In the top 6th then, Ingall came up with one out and two on, but hopped a ball to Jesus Galindo for a sure out – given a good throw. But Galindo dropped it, threw late, threw wide, and the Coons got to extra bases, scoring McLaughlin from second base and putting the tying runs in scoring position for Vern Kinnear, who popped out. Then came Reece and hurled a single into shallow left, scoring one run. Weeds shoved a single past Bob Butler to tie the game. Green gave us the lead with a single, and Hollow was still in there, walking Guerin to load the bags for Vinson. And then he walked Vinson and was finally removed to be shot. Claudio Duarte replaced him, and Brewer came out to bat for McLaughlin, drew a walk, and Jai Utting, who had hit for Tamburrino early in the inning, came up to bat a second time. Utting singled home one more run before Ingall made the final out. A 7-run sixth, just about humiliating enough to not be able to stop cackling. Day Grandridge faced only two batters in the bottom 7th, put both on with singles, but Zuniga cleaned up and held the score at 9-5. The Canadiens stopped giving an F after that, it seemed, as the bullpen collapsed for another five runs late. The Coons cracked them open, and smeared their own park with their Elkish blood in a fantastic double-romp to end the season. 14-6 Raccoons! Ingall 2-6, BB, HR, 4 RBI; Reece 2-6, RBI; Wedemeyer 2-6, RBI; Green 3-4, 2 BB, RBI; Guerin 4-5, BB, 2B; Aycock (PH) 1-1; McLaughlin 2-3, RBI; Kent (PH) 1-2, RBI; Utting (PH) 1-2, BB, 2 RBI;

In other news

October 2 – The Capitals blow through Jorge Rosa and the Miners to a 13-6 win, which clinches the FL East for them. The Capitals make their sixth playoff appearance and their first since they won the division five straight years from 1990 to 1994, winning the title in 1990 and 1991.
October 2 – Season over for DEN 2B Pat Parker (.321, 13 HR, 76 RBI). The former Raccoon has suffered a sprained ankle.
October 2 – The Indians deal LF/RF/1B Jimmy Erickson (.214, 0 HR, 2 RBI) to the Pacifics for LF/RF Jim Thompson (.276, 15 HR, 63 RBI). Both are in their early 30s.
October 5 – The Warriors barely avoid humiliation. After seeing a 5-game lead evaporate to one game over the Scorpions in the last week of the season, they win #162 in Sacramento to close the FL West. It marks their third playoff appearance after 1978 and 1994. In the CL South, the Condors and Bayhawks have to play a tie breaker.
October 6 – SFB Pat Chandler singles home Leon Berrios to tie the CL South tie breaker in the top 9th against TIJ CL Jared Chaney. In the bottom of the inning, Ryosei Kato allows singles to Francisco Ramirez and Pedro Lozano, and has the eliminating run on third base with two out. Utility man Erwin Hooper singles through on the left side to send the Condors to their sixth postseason appearance, all since 1984, but the first since they were eliminated in the CLCS by the Raccoons in 1993.

Complaints and stuff

This is the first time we went 13-5 against the Canadiens. If nothing else, we will remember this season for THAT!! Also, Weeds won the home run title in the CL with 24 booms, but that number was pale in comparison to DAL Mac Woods’ 30. Since Weeds hit only five before the All Star Break, it’s easy to realize where he struggled: in the cold spring weather in Portland.

This season, Kisho Saito pitched 229.2 innings, the most since 1985, but struck out a career-low 133 batters. At 37, he is clearly slowly losing it. Interestingly, his 1.11 WHIP is his best since 1992, same for the ERA+. He still didn’t turn a winning record thanks to losing a few 1-0 and 2-1 games and having a few leads blown by the dumbpen. Unless he wins 24 next season (unlikely) he won’t get to 250 career wins.

---

This Monday morning, I sat down with Vern Kinnear before batting practice to talk money with some coffee and these delicious cookies with chocolate chips in them. We were both thrilled by the cookies.

Vern Kinnear was ready to stay in Portland. I offered 5-yr, $3.625M as a starting point. In Kinnear’s mind however, he was entitled to 6-yr, $7.8M. We crumbled a few more cookies, then politely parted ways.

Forever.

This will be a rebuilding effort for at least two years. I know I said that in the aftermath of the 1988 collapse, and we were in the World Series the next year, but then we were able to take on a ton of young guys that were already tearing up AAA (Higgins, O’Morrissey, Lagarde …; with Reece a bit further behind then). This is not the case this year. The one huge blue chip we got, SP Ralph Ford, will make the move to AAA just next season. Our top draft picks of the last two years (1995-96) have crashed, one is already out of baseball, and one (Cory Stanford) looks like he will get the boot this winter. I have more confidence in our 1997 class, but they need more time and won’t help us before 1999 at the very earliest, but more likely 2000 (Mata, Nordahl, maybe Funck too).

And since we are rebuilding, there’s no point in giving out additional millions contracts past those that we already have, especially in Kinnear’s case, with a 22-year old hotshot begging to be played. I love Vern Kinnear with all my heart, but it doesn’t make any sense. The Australian Corps will be broken up as soon as it has completely formed. (Don’t expect Utting and Tamburrino to stick around for long…) There’s also no point in showering Royce Green with millions, although he is one of a group of players that will have talks with me early next week for future stuff. The others are Hector Lara and Jose Ramos. If Royce Green was willing to sign a contract in the 5-yr, $4.5M region ……. But he won’t, because he’s worth more (if healthy). Lara and Ramos will be offered 2-yr deals for cheap.

The early 90s dynasty players are breaking up for good.

Sad summers at the Willamette.

[Westheim]

1997 PLAYOFFS

The 99-63 Capitals had the best record in baseball, and their current team was very much built around pitching, as their staff consistently ranked top 3 in the Federal League. In SP Ramon Ortiz (16-10, 2.87 ERA), SP Takeru Sato (15-9, 3.60 ERA), veteran SP Vernon Robertson (12-13, 4.15 ERA), and 23-yr old bulky Canadian SP Frank Pierre (11-8, 3.49 ERA) they had a stud rotation that had to be conquered by force because it would collapse all by itself. They also had all-time saves leader Andres Ramirez (7-3, 1.30 ERA, 14 SV) as their closer again after deposing Jesus Longoria mid-season. Their offense however was much weaker. While they had slugging monster Jeffery Brown (.331, 13 HR, 92 RBI) and had gotten a career year from Vonne Calzado (.351, 10 HR, 80 RBI), their infield had been weak at the plate, and they had lost Nuno Andresen and Michael McFarland to injury before the playoffs.

The 90-72 Warriors were not excelling in any one area. They had mostly survived the FL West on good team chemistry and a weak opposition and had almost blown a 5-game lead in the final week of the regular season. On their pitching staff, only closer Ricardo Medina (5-4, 1.70 ERA, 30 SV) stood out. Their rotation was often beleaguered, although they had consensus ace Neil Stewart (15-10, 4.37 ERA). Ex-Bostonian Hjalmar Flygt (.361, 11 HR, 82 RBI) had made a good case for Hitter of the Year with a .978 OPS, but only three other players had even collected 450 AB due to injuries and various experiments, and neither of those fear struck much fear with opposing pitching.

Capitals in five.

The 95-67 Titans also excelled mainly in pitching. SP Jesus Bautista (18-10, 2.12 ERA) was very much up there for Pitcher of the Year, and the rest of the rotation had credibility, too. CL Bill Corkum (6-6, 2.73 ERA, 40 SV) had come out of nowhere, but was doing a good job. Offensively, despite three 15+ HR guys in Luis Lopez (.287, 15 HR, 86 RBI), Horace Henry (.293, 17 HR, 95 RBI), and Glenn Douglas (.286, 17 HR, 110 RBI) this was not a team built around the 3-run homer, but around small ball, as the Titans led the league in stolen bases. Quirky Daniel Silva (.253, 4 HR, 61 RBI) was the main threat here.

The 87-76 Condors had needed 163 games to make it, and had the worst record of all playoff contenders, but stranger things had happened. They were a pretty solid team throughout without any glaring weaknesses, except that they had lost a key player in Dale Wales (.325, 7 HR, 71 RBI) for the season. The offense now keyed around Rory Gorden (.266, 18 HR, 90 RBI), Ben O’Morrissey (.268, 11 HR, 70 RBI), and Carlos Guzmán (.319, 5 HR, 59 RBI). SP Woody Roberts (16-9, 2.61 ERA) was legitimate ace, and there weren’t any major weaknesses with the rest of the pitching staff, either, except maybe that the Condors lacked that genuine shutdown closer, and also didn’t have a left-handed starter lined up. The Titans’ key bats however were mostly right-handed except for Lopez and Silva, so maybe this was not all that bad for the Condors?

Titans in seven.

---

Warriors @ Capitals … 10-11 (10) … (Capitals lead 1-0) … WAS Alejandro Moreno 4-5, 2 2B, 4 RBI; SFW Dave Heffer 4-5, BB, 4 RBI; SFW Art Garrett 4-4, 2 BB, 2B, HR, 2 RBI;
Condors @ Titans … 7-6 … (Condors lead 1-0) … Titans rally in ninth falls one run short

Warriors @ Capitals … 2-10 … (Capitals lead 2-0) … WAS Vernon Robertson 8.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, W; WAS Tomas Maguey 2-3, 2 BB, 3B, 3 RBI; SFW Neil Stewart takes the loss
Condors @ Titans … 11-4 … (Condors lead 2-0) … TIJ Eneas Spinelli 4-5, HR, 2 RBI;

Capitals @ Warriors … 6-2 … (Capitals lead 3-0) … WAS Ramon Ortíz 9.0 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, W;
Titans @ Condors … 6-5 … (Condors lead 2-1)

Capitals @ Warriors … 3-4 … (Capitals lead 3-1) … veteran Arnold McCray outlasts hotshot Frank Pierre
Titans @ Condors … 4-3 … (series tied 2-2) … BOS Jesus Bautista 8.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, ND;

Capitals @ Warriors … 10-3 … (Capitals win 4-1) … WAS Gates Golunski 3-4, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; WAS Claudio Ayala 3-5, 2B, RBI;
Titans @ Condors … 8-5 … (Titans lead 3-2) … TIJ CL Vicente Galván is overcome for three runs in the ninth

Condors @ Titans … 2-9 … (Titans win 4-2) … BOS Horace Henry 3-4, HR, 2B, 3 RBI; the Condors are crushed in a 6-run bottom 7th

And so…

1997 WORLD SERIES

In the contest of two teams mostly drawing their strength from pitching, usually the team with the better pitching prevails. So the Capitals have the cards in their hands. Their stud rotation was scratched by the Warriors, but not defeated. The Titans will have to up the ante if they want to come through and win their first title.

The Capitals have a chance to become the first team to win three world championships in the ABL’s growing history. By the way, safe for expansion, the league WILL HAVE TO crown the first 3-time team by the year 2025 at the latest…

Titans @ Capitals … 6-7 … (Capitals lead 1-0) … BOS Bill Corkum blows a 6-5 lead in the bottom 9th

Titans @ Capitals … 3-4 (10) … (Capitals lead 2-0) … WAS Takeru Sato 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, ND; BOS Bill Corkum loses the game for the second straight day on Gabriel Rivera’s walkoff single

Capitals @ Titans … 8-3 … (Capitals lead 3-0) … WAS Vernon Robertson 7.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, W; BOS Jason O’Halloran is beaten up early

Capitals @ Titans … 0-2 … (Capitals lead 3-1) … BOS Jesus Bautista 8.0 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 4 K, W; WAS Ramon Ortíz 8.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, L;

Capitals @ Titans … 3-5 … (Capitals lead 3-2) … BOS Pepe Durango 3-4, 2 RBI;

Titans @ Capitals … 8-2 … (series tied 3-3) … BOS Glenn Douglas 3-5, 3 RBI; BOS Horace Henry 3-4, 2 RBI;

Titans @ Capitals … 2-3 … (Capitals win 4-3) … WAS Ramon Ortíz 8.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 4 K; WAS Jesus Rivera 3-4, 2B, RBI;

Up by two, two outs in the ninth, bases empty, Andres Ramirez allowed double to Glenn Douglas. Then Josh Thomas singled. And then Horace Henry singled, putting the tying run on third base. Julio Silva reached for Ramirez’ first pitch and grounded out to second, and that was the curtain call on this season.

1997 WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS
WASHINGTON CAPITALS
(3rd title)

[Westheim]

Contract talks on the Tuesday after we came home from Vancouver were quick and the results were clear. None of the three players (Lara, Ramos, Green) will be back.

Ramos wanted 4-yr, $2.2M. I had something like 2-yr, $600k in mind, and I might have gone as high as $800k for a useable swingman between rotation and bullpen.

Lara desired a 5-yr, $4M contract, coming off about the finest two thirds of a season in his career. I thought about 2-yr, $1M.

Royce Green had spent too much time the last few years around Vern Kinnear. He also wanted 6-yr, $7.8M for his first free agent contract. I had 5-yr, $4M in my mind, and you could well argue that we were closer together than $3.8M in value difference sound. However, the problem here was that Green was insisting on making soundly more than one million per year. He didn’t bother much about the length of the contract. But I wasn’t willing to pay more than a million per year to him. I was expecting to take seven-digit cut in the budget for next season and couldn’t even afford to shell out that kind of deal, even with Brewer leaving ship in the coming months. I made an offer for a slightly scaled 4-yr, $4M deal at one point, and he shoved another piece of paper back over the table that was much closer to $5M over four years. This wasn’t getting us along. I made a final offer: 4-yr, $4.2M.

And he declined it.

And that was Tuesday. I left the office early, and when I came home took a bat to the trash can, just to calm down. Nothing happened while the playoffs were in progress, and anyway, I took the mountains the day after the disastrous contract talks.

When I came back on October 27, reluctantly, I found out that Cesar Zuniga had retired from baseball, and that the budget cut I had expected amounted to $1M off our $16.4M allotment from last season. That’s pretty bad, because players know about inflation, too …

Pitching coach Pat Henderson’s contract had run out, but that was a non-issue, I hadn’t been happy with the pitching last season anyway.

I attacked the offseason by looking at our salary arbitration report. Eight players were bound to go to arbitration at this point, and seven more (would have been eight with Zuniga) were going to be free agents. The latter list includes pitchers Hector Lara, Juan Ramos, and Andres Otero, as well as catchers Sidney Aycock and David Vinson and outfielders Vern Kinnear and Royce Green. Lara, Ramos, Kinnear, and Green were not willing to sign reasonable contracts, and were due to leave town. Vinson and Aycock hadn’t even been offered a contract, as was Otero. Except for Otero, all were compensation eligible and would be offered arbitration. Why on earth David Vinson was the only type A free agent in the group, is beyond me. However, should they all find a new home, we could wind up with as many as EIGHT first and supplemental round picks next season!

The former list of players under team control holds the following players (service time in y.ddd) - estimate:
SP Miguel Lopez (11-10, 3.48 ERA) (5.073) - $525k
MR Gabriel De La Rosa (4-7, 2.70 ERA, 15 SV) (4.008) - $220k
MR Alonso Santana (2-1, 3.28 ERA, 1 SV) (2.153) - $171k
MR Brad Tamburrino (4-5, 4.44 ERA, 4 SV) (5.000) - $231k
C Nori Kondo (.157/.311/.214 with 0 HR, 7 RBI) (3.156) - $171k
1B Liam Wedemeyer (.260/.316/.418 with 24 HR, 109 RBI) (4.118) - $439k
INF/LF/CF Jai Utting (.265/.321/.373 with 4 HR, 50 RBI) (2.169) - $171k
INF Marvin Ingall (.292/.356/.377 with 7 HR, 68 RBI) (3.163) - $320k

There are quite a few guys on the list I am partial to. However, Ingall and Lopez have to be signed to long term deals because they are the part of the future that is already aboard. Whether Wedemeyer is the future is up for debate with his umpteenhundred strikeouts last year. But he will stay. As will Gabby. I will still try to get rid off Santana, Tamburrino, Utting, and Kondo.

[Questdog]

Now, why did you have to ruin a perfectly good post about whoppin' some Canadian heinie with the news about good ol' Vern hittin' the highway?......that is a bummer.....