Portland Raccoons (ABL)

[Westheim]

Raccoons (44-71) @ Gold Sox (53-60)

We faced Laurentij Mlotkovsky (rather hard to type at 1am), who had been included in the trade for Christopher Powell four years ago. He was consistently posting losing records with ERA’s over 4, so that was one of the few trades I did not want to shoot myself for.

Mlotkovksy no-hit the Raccoons into the sixth in a scoreless games, before Logan Evans himself ripped a double down the left field line to lead off the top 6th. The Raccoons failed to score him. Top 7th, still 0-0. Dawson doubles to lead off, Ben Simon is walked intentionally and Sherwood Henderson singles through the gap on the left. Bags full and nobody out. Johnston popped out, and Edgardo Gonzalez rolled a slow grounder to short, that SS Paul Connolly for reasons unknown failed to pick up from the ground, and Dawson scored on the error. We coughed another run in when Sánz pinch hit for Evans and flew out to deep right. Gaston pitched two innings in relief and Grant West saved the 2-0 win, although two Gold Sox got on base in that ninth inning, before he ended it with back-to-back K’s. This was Evans’ 10th win of the season, as both teams evenly split six hits between them.

The long string of games took it’s toll on the team. Ken Clark had been rested in game 1 (with a PH appearance), and in game 2 we rested Daniel Hall and Ben Simon. Both teams had two hits in the first inning (thus already bringing up 67% of game 1’s offense), and the Raccoons led 1-0 after Dawson had doubled in Clark. The Gold Sox tied it in the third, when Pedro Sánz left the game with some kind of injury after hitting the wall on a play. (Technically, he was still benched but had played RF with Henderson in LF to rest Hall). An RBI double by Johnston in the sixth and a 3-run home run by Troy Scott in the seventh made it a 5-1 game and Jorge Romero went for the showers after a scoreless bottom 7th. Bocci planted a ball in the seats for another 3-run shot in the eighth, 8-1. Now, wait for the bullpen implosion – of course it came, almost. Coleman was unable to complete the eighth and Tony Lopez got a double play that held the damage to one run, but then struggled in the ninth. Cunningham came to issue a walk that filled the bases with one out, but then struck out the last two Gold Sox to seal the 8-2 win. Bocci had been 3-5 with 1 HR, 3 RBI; Scott 2-3, 1 HR, 3 RBI; Dawson 2-4, BB, 1 RBI;

Thus ended a stretch of eight games in which the Raccoons each time had scored two runs or less, while still somehow going “only” 3-5 during that time on account of strong pitching. We had 11 (of 15) games in August with two runs or less scored. In the other games they had scored six, seven, eight, and ten runs for a flat 3.0 R/G average for the month. Alarmingly slow.

Game 3 saw the first suit back together. Minus the injured/benched/whatever Pedro Sánz, now with Troy Scott in right instead of Henderson. The Raccoons scored two in the first to get mop-up-turned-starter Carlos Moran an early lead. He got into trouble in the bottom 2nd with the two first Gold Sox getting on. We wiggled through by intentionally walking SS Dane Cubitt (a .193 hitter!) with runners on second and third, allowing Moran to K the pitcher, Mike Clarke, and end the inning without damage taken. The Gold Sox tied the game in the fourth on errors by Simon and Bocci, then went ahead 3-2 in the sixth on a run-scoring uncaught third strike with two out. Such things only ever happen to my teams, I swear.

From there it was merely an escalating natural disaster with a cascading effect. Jason White punched his ticket back to AAA with facing two batters in the bottom 7th and surrendering home runs to both. Another throwing error (by Dawson) plated two in the eighth and the Raccoons lost 7-2.

What a game. (facepalm) All three runs to poor Moran, who wound up with the loss, were unearned, plus one to Grant West.

We also got news that Pedro Sánz suffered a concussion when he nailed the wall in game 2. His season was over and he went to the 60-day DL. Pity! With White going to AAA, we recalled Rich Hughes, the lefty reliever who had spent all year recovering from an elbow injury. Sánz was replaced by Dale Armstrong.

Raccoons (46-72) vs. Blue Sox (44-74)

Enter: the two worst teams anywhere to be found. Let’s figure out, which one is the worst overall.

Round 1 definitely went to the Raccoons – which was bad, since we were looking for the worst team here. They were not able to mount the slightest slice of offense against a team with intense troubles with their pitchers, giving Simmons his 17th loss this season. Down 2-0, they somehow filled the bags in the bottom 8th, but Dawson grounded into a double play to end the inning. A wild pitch scored a run for the Raccoons in the bottom 9th, but Cook and Gonzalez were unable to bring the tying run in from third base. 2-1 loss, and it was horrible. Only noteworthy “achievement” for the Raccoons was the fact that Rich Hughes came into the game in the top 8th and retired lefty LF Brian Henry, the only batter he faced.

The Blue Sox scored once against Powell in the first, but Ben Simon hit a 2-run double to turn it around immediately. There you go, Christopher. 2-1 lead, you ain’t gonna get no more!

That was actually not true. In the bottom 3rd, Daniel Hall singled to right, followed by a Mark Dawson single to left. Ben Simon walked and the bags were full with one out. Wyatt Johnston flew out to deep center but Hall tagged up and scored. Edward Peterson came up, getting his odd start to rest a tired Bocci. He drilled the ball out of leftfield to make it a 6-1 game. Still 6-1 after six innings, Powell was lifted to be pinch hit for in the bottom 6th with no countable results. Coleman gave away a run in the ninth, and Lopez had put runners on the corners before Gaston came in to record three outs in the eighth, but the Raccoons won 6-2. Simon was 2-2 with 2 BB and 2 RBI.

Logan Evans pitched 1-run ball over seven innings and when he was pinch hit for in the bottom 7th was in line for the loss. There, Sherwood Henderson walked to load the bases with one out – a chance the Raccoons had already blown earlier in the game. Ken Clark this time at least got a sac hit and the game was tied. Cunningham walked three in the top 8th without damage, before Hall hit a ball about 10 feet far to lead off the bottom 8th. He still hustled into first successfully. Mark Dawson unloaded to the leftfield stands for a 3-1 lead. West pitched around a leadoff double to save the 3-1 win in the top 9th.

Back-to-back series wins! We’re on a roll, baby! These four wins against Gold Sox and Blue Sox also were the only wins in interleague play for the Raccoons this year: 4-14. The Blue Sox were now the only team we had a winning record against: 5-4.

Some shuffling was done prior to the next series. Cameron Green was ready to return from a broken hand and rejoined the team. This created a tight spot around 2B, since I was lacking Nixon to put there. Sending down Edgardo Gonzalez would not have helped because of that, and so Dale Armstrong had to go down to AAA again, since Dawson could also play on either outfield wing. He would temporarily move to RF, and Green play 3B.

Raccoons (48-73) @ Crusaders (55-66)

Jorge Romero was whacked around in game 1 and didn’t get through the fifth inning. Six earned runs were charged to him in the 8-2 loss. Edgardo Gonzalez had three hits, that was it for good news.

The Raccoons got three early in game 2, but a Hector Atilano home run tied it up in one big swoosh in the bottom 6th after Carlos Moran had 2-hit the Crusaders through five. Ben Simon answered with a rocket out of leftfield in the top 8th to make it 4-3. By then Rich Hughes was in, having relieved Moran against lefties, which there were plenty of in the Crusaders lineup. Cunningham and West held the Crusaders at bay from there. In the top 9th the Raccoons missed another 3-on-1-out chance, but it was still enough for a 4-3 win. Hughes got the win. His 1981 record so far was interesting: 3 G, 8 PI, 1 R, 0 ER, 1-0, 0.00 ERA.

By all chance, the Raccoons should have lost game 3. First, Gary Simmons started the game. Second, the offense was slow as ketchup again. They scored a run in the top 2nd when Gonzalez scored Dawson, and then nothing. Simmons wobbled all over the place with his 1-0 lead, filled the bags with nobody out in the third and still got out thanks to Mark Dawson and Edgardo Gonzalez making unbelievable catches of line drives for the first two outs. In the sixth he walked Dan Younger, who was replaced by speedster Leonard Barnett, also with nobody out. He then balked Barnett over to second. Barnett was sacrificed over by Miguel Fuentes. Simmons struck out Freddie Riley – his only K that day – to bring the pitcher to the plate, and Tom Moulds, who went the distance, grounded out. Simmons walked Cecil Ward with one out and was replaced by Wally Gaston, who got a grounder to end the inning. Hall and Dawson fabricated another run in the top 9th and West entered with a 2-0 lead. He walked the first two batters, then got a 5-star play by Edgardo Gonzalez for a double play. He then got Riley to pop out to end the 2-0 game – a truly intense game! Gary Simmons: 7.1 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 1 K.

In other news:
August 16 – Jack Pennington 3-hits the Bayhawks in a 4-0 Buffaloes win. He is 5-0 with a 0.96 ERA since joining the Buffaloes. (facepalm)
August 16 – The Capitals beat the Knights 6-5, with most honors going to 2B Sergio Martiel, who goes 5-5 with 4 RBI and only lacks a home run for the cycle. Meanwhile Falcons CF Gilbert Dougan also racks up 5 hits in an 8-3 win over the Blue Sox. Dougan falls a triple short of the cycle, but also bats in four runs.
August 17 – Gold Sox 1B Francisco Lopez becomes the first player this year to score six hits in a game, going 6-6 in a 9-6 win over the Falcons. His line read 6-6, 2 2B, HR, 3 RBI.
August 21 – A big chunk breaks out of the Cyclones’ offense as Jeremiah Carrell (.360, 0 HR, 63 RBI) breaks his thumb in a game against the Buffaloes. To add insult to injury, the Cyclones lose 2-1 and fall to 1.5 games behind the Buffaloes.
August 24 – Thunder RF Jonah Frank goes 5-5 in a 10-3 win over the Aces. He gets a home run, a triple, and three singles – only a double away from the cycle. The 2-run shot was only his second homer this season.

The last 14 days, the team has played 13 games with an 8-5 record, yet 33-35 in runs. With just a tad more offense we could …!! Gmnraaahh!!

I pitched contract offers to Christopher Powell (finally: 6 years, $3.54M, last year team option, thank god he has a down season!) and to Daniel Hall, who will be arbitration eligible for the first time this year: 4 years, $1.4M ($350k/y). His estimate is $260k at this time. Ben Simon and Stephano Bocci keep refusing reasonable offers. Wyatt Johnston, who will turn 40 next February, will receive a contract offer for 1 year at $250k. This is a desperate measure. Hoyt Cook has batted himself into foul ground, and Matt Workman, our prospect for 1B at AAA, is constantly injured and is not playing much this year. When he is playing, he’s batting .376 with raw power at AAA, so he is ready for the majors. Cook needs to go, but I can not replace two first basemen. So Workman and Johnston are slated to share 1B next year. Workman is also on the list of call-ups come September in a week.

[Westheim]

Correction on the contract offered to Powell: the $3.54M are the value guaranteed over five years. The option year comes at an additional $800k.

In case anyone cares what could be in 1987, so far in the future.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (50-74) @ Indians (72-52)

I don’t like playing the Indians. Somehow, it never ends too well.

Christopher Powell held a slim 2-1 lead for seven innings, only for Wally Gaston to blow it in the eighth. Raccoons lost 3-2. Ken Clark was in serious trouble at the plate and was benched for Troy Scott.

Logan Evans was awful to begin game 2. He surrendered five hits and left with nobody out and two on in the second inning with a sore forearm. Tony Lopez allowed the two runners to score. When the Raccoons swung the bats to make it 3-2 in the top 3rd, Lopez blew the lead immediately, then got back on track with a 2-run single in the top 4th for a new 5-3 lead, only to blow up completely in the bottom 5th. He loaded the bases and Paul Cooper entered the game with two down – he surrendered a bases-clearing double to Ken Adams. The bullpen continued to deliver in that manner and I went through all of them except for Grant West in the 10-6 loss.

Game 3 was a 5-3 loss. Raccoons had led 1-0 after the first. A throwing error by Simon got Jorge Romero behind, but the club got ahead 3-2 once more, before the bullpen disintegrated once more. Hall had one hit, Dawson had two – Fín.

Hall, Johnston, and Powell all signed their contracts during this series.

Raccoons (50-77) @ Condors (60-68)

The Raccoons took a narrow 4-3 win to open the series. Green was 2-3 with a solo home run, Simon was 2-3 with an RBI and two walks. Ben Simon also made a stellar double play to end an inning with the bags full with Condors. Grant West got the save, but allowed one run to score.

Game 2 saw both teams no-hitting each other once through the lineup. Dawson singled in the top 4th, before Simmons surrendered four straight singles in the bottom 4th and the Condors scored three in the inning. Condors pitcher Mike Moore tried to finish the game with a 1-hitter, but failed. He gave up solo home runs to Cameron Green in the eighth and Mark Dawson in the ninth and was removed from the game for closer Lance Parsons. Raccoons lost 5-2 and Simmons lost his 18th.

Zeros were also exchanged in the rubber game – and for a long time, seven innings, then the Raccoons loaded the bases in the top 8th. Johnston flew out to left and Bocci on third did not run – this was the second out. Cameron Green came up and drilled the ball to the gap in right center, emptying the bases, before Angel Costa (who slid into the lineup for a struggling Edgardo Gonzalez) and Christopher Powell hit RBI singles. For both these were only their second RBI’s of the year. Up 5-0, the Raccoons looked comfortable. Powell was dialed in now and completed a 3-hit shutout in 118 pitches (after an admittedly long ninth), striking out eight. He walked two and earned his 10th win of the season. His ERA was down to 3.01 now.

Raccoons (52-78) @ Thunder (73-56)

Everybody hoped that Logan Evans’ arm was better, since he had the privilege (or bad luck) to go against the Thunder first, matching up with Ken O’Hoey, who was a box of many wonders with his inconsistency. Much like Evans’ own inability to deliver constantly good results, this still gave him a winning record for the season. A 2-run shot by Mark Dawson (his 11th homer of the season, 5th with the Raccoons) got Evans on top in the first, but the Thunder tied it in the fifth, where Evans went to a full count on the first three batters he faced and didn’t retire any. Costa brought in Ben Simon with a sacrifice in the top 6th for a new 3-2 lead. Evans’ control was not there and he was spent after six frames and 109 pitches. Gaston and West walked four between them (one intentional by Gaston, Alfonso Aranda) to tie up the game again. West almost lost it in the ninth, before the Raccoons scored a run in the top 10th. With a narrow 4-3 lead, who was supposed to close now? Hughes and Coleman were the only rested pitchers in the pen. With righties Aranda and Enrique Sanchez up before lefty Dave Johnston, I went with Coleman. He blew it, surrendering an RBI single to reliever Raffaele Antuofermo with two down. Cunningham ended the inning, and we continued. As I had always known: Coleman was a useless bucket full of – the Raccoons soldiered on with Rich Hughes. He even led off batting in the 13th, and singled up the middle, followed by Angel Costa reaching on an error. Gonzalez bunted them over. Two K’s ended the inning and Hughes lost it in the bottom 13th, 5-4.

Intermission

September 1. Call-up day. Jason White had bone chips in his elbow and was out for the year, so he didn’t even have to receive a cold “Never!” from me. I brought up two relievers from AAA: Ivan Díaz (5-0, 2 SV, 2.80 ERA, in 18 games (7 starts)) and Fletcher Kelley (6-0 with 12 SV and 2.58 ERA in 40 games). We also called Ben Cox back up, who had batted sub .100 in the majors early in the season, but was .323 in AAA. Also called up was 1B Matt Workman (.378 with 33 homers in an injury-shortened season). About seven other minor league players were also moved up a level.

Who were those three debutees? Ivan Díaz had been acquired last season in exchange for Brett Justice from the Capitals. Justice by now had been sent to Modesto, the Capitals’ AAA team. Díaz was 22 and had some control problems, but had posted nice numbers throughout his minor league career.

Fletcher Kelley was also 22 and like Díaz a right-handed hurler. Kelley had been our round 3 draft pick in 1979 and had quickly shot through the minor league levels, skipping the A level entirely.

Matt Workman, 26, was also a round 3 pick, back in 1977. He had taken a bit longer thanks to a few injuries here and there but had racked up numerous weekly and monthly awards on the way. He had posted a 21-game hitting streak in July and August. And 33 homers in AAA in an injury-shortened season certainly meant something. I would play him often at 1B, benching Johnston a bit. Hoyt Cook was no longer in the plans for this season, or the next.

Raccoons (52-78) @ Thunder (73-56)

Workman was inserted right into the lineup for Johnston in game 2, batting 7th behind Green and ahead of Costa. Workman was a lefty as well, so I kept the balance in the lineup. In his first at bat, he grounded into an inning-ending double play. From there, he hit a single, and then received an intentional walk. In the eighth he came up again. By then, Jorge Romero was on the hook with a 2-1 deficit. Workman took Thunder reliever Perry Hunt deep to tie the game. Home run in his debut!

Unfortunately, Fletcher Kelley made his debut in the bottom 8th and a run scored. Ken Clark singled through the middle to lead off in the top 9th. Bocci bunted him over and he scored on Daniel Hall double to the gap in right. A Cameron Green double off the wall in left center brought in the go-ahead run. Wally Gaston, who had entered in the bottom 8th, stayed in for a tired Grant West, and retired the Thunder to keep the 4-3 win together. He did not get a save, since he was the winning pitcher. Clark went 3-5, Hall 4-5 with an RBI, in addition to Workman’s fine debut: 2-3, BB, HR, 1 RBI.

The Raccoons were no match in the rubber game and lost 7-0. Kelley had another bad outing. All Thunder runs were scored with three home runs off Moran, Cooper, and Kelley, whose ERA after two days in the majors was now 54.00 …

In other news:
August 30 – On the day Christopher Powell pitched his 3-hitter, of course something happened to trump it. Miguel Sanchez of the Indians pitched a shutout against the Aces, 1-0. His was a 2-hitter, and he struck out one more batter (nine) than Powell. The lone Indians run didn’t come until the eighth and was created by RF Greg Douglas, a solo home run.
August 31 – LF Ronaldo Cabrera bashes five hits, including two home runs and a double, in an 8-5 loss to the Warriors.
September 1 – Bayhawks starter Jose Gonzalez is out for the season with a strained hamstring. He posted a 12-9, 3.23 ERA season.
September 2 – Mark Copeland tosses a 1-hitter against the Buffaloes in a 4-0 Stars win.
September 3 – Locked in a tight pennant race, both the Pacifics and Scorpions lose key players. Sacramento LF Larry Marshall (.317, 12 HR, 61 RBI) is out for at least one week with a strain. Pacifics reliever Rafael Flores (4-3, 4.29 ERA) fractured his hand punching his locker after a bad outing. He is out for the month.

The Thunder have also claimed Orlando Gomez, whom I waived to make room on the 40-man roster for the September call-ups. Gomez had lost 19 games between AA and AAA this year with an ERA over five. Take him. Do not return to sender.

Next: Loggers, Titans at home, then Canadiens, Loggers, Bayhawks on the road.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (53-80) vs. Loggers (59-74)

Don’t even think I was still considering catching the Loggers or any other team for fifth place. For this to happen the team would have to stop playing crapball, and that was not going to happen.

Christopher Powell surrendered single runs in each of the first three innings, twice by way of a home run. A big rip by Cameron Green in the bottom 6th tied the game up at 3-3. Powell created a mess on the bases in the top 7th, but Gaston struck out Jose Martinez (who had homered earlier) to end the threat. Angel Costa was injured hustling after a throw by Cameron Green and had to be removed for Edgardo Gonzalez. When Matt Workman walked to lead off the bottom 8th, I made the rare move and brought a pinch runner in Ben Cox. Aided by two(!) throwing errors by the Loggers, the Raccoons coughed Cox and Sherwood Henderson, who pinch hit for an 0-4 Ken Clark, around to score. West struck out two in a perfect ninth to nail down the 5-3 win.

Angel Costa had a sprained wrist and was out for two weeks or so. Gonzalez permanently returned to play short, and Ben Simon came back over to second.

Logan Evans continued his trend to go awful. The first four Loggers reached base against him, and a cheap error by Matt Workman helped to plate five (two earned) in the first inning, putting that game well out of the Raccoons’ tiny reach. Evans went on to whiff the side in the top 3rd, on the way to six K’s in five innings of work. The game was lost, why not play the call-ups? Díaz and Kelley both turned scoreless frames, before the Raccoons finally put up a run in the bottom 7th, when Mark Dawson doubled over CF Marvin Mills’ head to score Ben Cox. Hall moved to third on the play, and Simon walked, which brought up Matt Workman with the bags full and one out. Workman drew a walk, 5-2. Green grounded to the mound and Dawson was thrown out at home. Johnston pinch hit for Gonzalez and grounded to short and the inning was ov- NO! Joe Helms’ throw pulled Mike Gamble off the bag and everybody was safe! 5-3, but now it was over, when Troy Scott pinch hit for Kelley and grounded out to Helms, who this time made a good throw to force Johnston at second. I used four pitchers in the top 8th only to have Grant West balk in a run. Raccoons lost 6-3.

The Raccoons took a 2-0 lead early in game 3, but Romero could not hold on. Daniel Hall socked a homer in the bottom 6th to make it 3-2 and get Romero back in line for the win. The top 7th was massively scary with a runner on third and nobody out. Cunningham and Hughes pitched around it somehow and Wally Gaston came in the eighth. West was unavailable after the save in game 1 and the botched rescue effort in game 2 and so Gaston steamed through the last two innings, collecting three punchouts to save the 3-2 win.

Raccoons (55-81) vs. Titans (66-72)

Game 1 was again all about clean bases. With the Raccoons’ continuing inability to keep the Titans’ Francisco Dominguez off the bases, this was troublesome. Dominguez scored the lone Titans run after a triple in this game. Hall and Simon homered for a 2-1 Raccoons win to Paul Cooper. Rain had chased Carlos Moran after five frames. Matt Workman was 3-3.

Game 2 pitted 18-game loser Gary Simmons against 22 year old youngster Roberto Sanchez, who managed 7 BB/9. Needless to say, that the Raccoons couldn’t hurt him and his 5.79 ERA a lot. Bocci tripled and scored in the first, but the Titans tied the game, until the Raccoons scored two in the bottom 5th. Johnston scored one on a pinch hit sac fly, with Simmons already out of the game now. The pen cost Simmons a possible win in the game, with the Titans tying the game in the ninth. Neither Gaston nor West were available and the rest of the pen put up a mess. The Raccoons lost 6-5 with Cunningham on the mound after leading 5-2 after eight frames. Juan Valentin homered off Cunningham to start the top 10th.

Powell was no-hitting the Titans until John Flower dropped a ball between Simon and Dawson in short right which neither could pick up. Simon was giving the error and now, with two out, the inning derailed massively and four runs scored off Powell. Down 4-1, the Raccoons didn’t just lay there like dead. Hall had homered in the first, Dawson homered in the fourth, and Bocci and Hall scored two more runs in the fifth and the Raccoons were now 5-4 down. But the bullpen did a good job to ensure that the game would go to Boston. Awful pitching helped the Titans to win 8-4 and take the series.

Ralph Nixon returned from the DL after the Titans series. This enabled us to sit down the lightly hitting Gonzalez and move Simon to short once more. Nixon slotted back in the cleanup spot populated by Mark Dawson in his absence.

Raccoons (56-83) @ Canadiens (74-65)

Matt Workman had a big 2-run double in the top 1st, where the Raccoons took an early 3-0 lead. Logan Evans was not great, but good enough to get the 5-1 win. Nixon went 0-5 in his first game back.

Jorge Romero faced phenom Robbie Campbell in game 2. With two out, Ralph Nixon had an RBI infield single and scored on a Dawson triple in the top 1st. Campbell struck out seven, but the Raccoons chewed him up and he left in the sixth after yielding five runs. That already was it, the Raccoons won 5-0. Romero pitched seven scoreless and I really hadn’t speculated on such a result, since the Canadiens weren’t exactly slow to score runs. Normally.

Matt Workman was batting .344 and we would try to play him #2 in the lineup now, behind Ken Clark. These were the only two lefties in the lineup, so I was not too fond of the change, but who knows, maybe …? Workman was not a runner, so it made not much sense to have him play leadoff. He would stall Ken Clark if the latter were behind him.

The Raccoons tried for a sweep, but although they out-hit the Canadiens 9-6 in the last game of the series, they were beaten 2-1. No clutch hits, once again. Several runners were stranded on third, including in the top 9th, when Workman flew out to right to end the game.

In other news:
September 5 – Canadiens SS Eddy Bailey (.325, 5 HR, 32 RBI) is out for a few weeks with a bruised wrist.
September 8 – David Burke pitches a 3-hitter in a 7-0 win of his Pacifics against the Wolves.
September 8 – The Thunder will miss 3B Alfonso Aranda (.317, 11 HR, 70 RBI) for the rest of the regular season after the infielder suffered a broken hand.
September 11 – The Pacifics sink the Warriors, 10-2, and take advantage of the Scorpions’ 6-5 loss to Dallas to claim the FL West lead. The Los Angeles team has never finished higher than 3rd before.

Loggers and Bayhawks remain on the road, after that it will be the final week at home, against the Falcons and Indians. The Loggers series is over four games, and we are 3.5 out of 5th place.

[Westheim]

Six series (20 games) to go in this (yet again) horrible season. No improvement again. Sigh.

Raccoons (58-84) @ Loggers (62-81)

Game 1 paired Gary Simmons and Bill Warren, who had 30 losses between them. That number jumped to 31, and of course Simmons lost it on one run in the third, and a 3-run bomb by C Mike Gamble in the fourth. The Raccoons were terrible at the plate and lost 4-1 despite big chances in the second and third inning.

Cameron Green was hit by a pitch on the ankle and was DTD for a day or two with a nasty bruise. Edgardo Gonzalez subbed for him at third base.

Christopher Powell was up for game 2, now with the league’s good Gary Simmons in for the Loggers. The Raccoons gave Powell a 3-0 lead in the top 4th, but Edgardo Gonzalez made a terrible throwing error in the bottom 5th that plated two runs. Powell pitched seven and left with a 5-3 lead, which still stood entering the bottom 9th. Grant West struck out two and loaded the bases, before Alex Garcia drilled a liner to left – right into Daniel Hall’s glove. Game over, 5-3 Raccoons. Hall and Nixon both were 3-5, while Ben Simon was 1-3 with a walk and 3 RBI.

Game 3 was also a 5-3 win on questionable relief pitching. Hall was 3-5 again with an RBI, and Matt Workman socked a homer off Jamel Teissier, who worked in the top 9th in a non-save situation. For game 4, Workman got a day of rest (for Johnston) and Dawson moved to third for Green. Troy Scott played in right. Also, Ben Cox got a last chance with a start in CF, his relief and pinch hitting appearances had not impressed me at all so far since he had been called up.

The result was zero offense and the Raccoons went down 5-1. Cox had three hits, but his defense was less amazing.

Raccoons (60-86) @ Bayhawks (82-64)

For a long time, game 1 was tied up at 2-2. One run got across against Ívan Díaz in the bottom 8th and the Raccoons looked like they were going to lose, but then jumped on closer Ed King in the ninth and scored four runs en route to a 6-3 win. Troy Scott 3-4, RBI; Wyatt Johnston 3-5, 2 RBI. It was September 18, and the first time this month, the Raccoons scored more than five runs in a game. Still, they were 9-7 in September.

Ben Cox led off game 2 with a home run to right, just by the foul pole. But although Gary Simmons struck out the side in the bottom 1st, three hits got through in between and the game was tied again. The Raccoons scored in the fifth, and Gaston entered in the seventh and I tried to get him to cover the remaining 2.1 innings, but the Bayhawks led off the bottom 9th with a double by pinch hitter Harlan Quick and a triple by Manuel Flores. With the winning run on third and the game tied, Gaston then retired the next three batters and the game went to extra innings, where the Raccoons never scored. Ívan Díaz walked the first two batters in the bottom 14th and although he was yanked for Cunningham, who got a double play, the Bayhawks walked off on a single to right by Michael Bolton.

Game 3. Powell trailed 2-1 entering the sixth. While the Raccoons were completely ineffective at the plate, Powell surrendered five straight hits to start the sixth, including two long balls. It was just awful and continued like that until the end. Bayhawks won 9-4.

Two wins to avoid 100 losses. Although that really was not our aim for this season. To match our result from last year, 69-93, we’d have to win eight of the last 13 games. Impossible.

Raccoons (61-88) vs. Falcons (70-79)

The Falcons were average throughout this season, although their record didn’t really show it.

Logan Evans was all but average in game 1. He was at his worst. Going 5.1 innings, he walked eight, tying a Raccoons record. Still, somehow the Falcons scored only two runs off him. The Raccoons managed a grand total of one hit (Dawson) and one walk (Hall) and lost 4-0.

The Raccoons lost game 2 by a score of 4-2, when Bocci flew out to right with the bags loaded to end the game.

Ralph Nixon then took care and got the team an early 2-0 lead with a long ball in the bottom 1st of the last game. But it was not enough. Starting with Carlos Moran the Raccoons pitching staff surrendered 17 hits in the game and lost it, 9-4.

Raccoons (61-91) vs. Indians (92-60)

A 2-run double by Dawson and a 2-run homer by Simon got the Raccoons up 4-0 in the first to start the 3-game series against the fresh back-to-back division winners. Coupled with a very fine pitching performance by Christopher Powell (7.2 IP, 1 ER, 4 H) this was enough for a 6-1 win that ended a 5-game losing streak.

For the third game in a row the Raccoons then started the scoring early in game 2, this time with a 2-run double off the wall by Dawson that added to a 3-run bottom 1st. They made it 5-0 in the third, and even more amazing they did it off Miguel Sanchez, one of the league’s prime pitchers. Meanwhile Logan Evans (he of eight walks in his last game) no-hit the Indians into the fifth, where Greg Douglas doubled up the middle with two down. That was already all the scoring. Evans pitched into the eighth with two hits and a walk against him – what a considerable improvement over his Falcons game. This was Evans’ 13th win of the season. He had one more start to match Jorge Romero’s 1978 high water mark of 14 wins for the Raccoons. (Christopher Powell stood at 12 and would have two more starts with the season finale, so he had a shot as well)

After two good games, Jorge Romero came out to be whacked. He threw three wild pitches in the first inning, where the Indians plated three. His performance was frighteningly bad and after three innings he left with an undiagnosed injury. Another problem with the labrum? Time to fear the worst, maybe even panic. The Raccoons lost the game 5-2, while out-hitting the Indians 8-5. Bocci once flew out with the bags full to end an inning, but there were countless no-offense instances again in this game. No clutch-hitting, to be more exact. Wyatt Johnston hit a home run. In addition to the three wild pitches by Romero (and one by Tony Lopez) the Raccoons made three errors, the last of which (by Green) plated two in the top 9th.

In other news:
September 15 – Scorpions LF Larry Marshall is obviously back to full health by now. In the 9-5 win over the Wolves Marshall went 5-5 and bashed two home runs for 5 RBI.
September 17 – The Pittsburgh Miners beat the Nashville Blue Sox 8-0, paced by a 5-hit performance by Davis Rigsby. This result assures the Miners that they will not finish last in the FL East for the first time since 1977.
September 18 – Victor Soto, 29, long time pitcher for the Salem Wolves, announces his retirement after another setback from a partially torn labrum. Soto was 56-61 with an 3.84 ERA in 148 games, all starts and all for the Wolves.
September 19 – CF Carson O’Brien shoots a home run to center to lead off the bottom 9th for the Condors against the visiting Milwaukee team, walking off his team with a 2-1 win. The win assures the Condors to finish out of last place for the first time ever.
September 21 – The Condors beat the Canadiens 2-1, while the Indians shut out the Bayhaws, 1-0. This logs in the Indians as the first team in the playoffs, winning the CL North in back-to-back years.

Only seven games left, four in New York, and three against Boston, then another cruel and cold season is in the books. Looking forward to those Federal League division races more than to my own team’s last games.

As it seems, the Raccoons will be the only of those 3-in-a-row last place teams to repeat. Four years bottom. It hurts. You have no idea how it hurts. Anybody willing to make some chicken soup for my soul?

[Westheim]

Raccoons (63-92) @ Crusaders (75-80)

The Crusaders certainly have fallen a fair amount from winning the CL North three years straight from 1977 to 1979. They could also lose the season series against the Raccoons for the first time, and how cripplingly shameful would that be? The Crusaders smothered the Raccoons 54-18 from 1977 to 1980, but this year the Raccoons are up 8-6. A split 4-game series is all we need!

While New York’s Tom Moulds pitched a complete game win in game 1 of the series, Carlos Moran was pummeled from the beginning with a 4-spot in the bottom 1st. He was yanked in the fourth, but the Raccoons never competed and lost 7-2. Nixon hit his 14th homer of the season.

Gary Simmons also did his best to throw away game #20. After a scoreless first he had two Crusaders down and one on in the bottom 2nd, when he hit pitcher Kyle Owens on a 1-2 pitch. From there, three runs scored in a quick escalation of events. The bullpen continued in that fashion in the middle innings and the Raccoons lost 9-3. Now the season series was already tied at eight and the Raccoons did not really make a serious push to win it. Ben Simon was 3-4 in the game, that was it for good outings. Ívan Díaz had made bad outings in both Crusaders games and was removed from the roster. In 12 games he had only covered 5.2 innings with an ERA over 12.

The Raccoons then had 10 hits in game 3 – scoring one fricking run. I then made a mistake and overused Christopher Powell into the eighth inning, where the Crusaders got to him and blew open a 1-1 tie. Raccoons lost 4-1. Daniel Hall was the only starter not to land a hit, but he walked three times.

Ralph Nixon was injured in game 3, being a hit by a pitch, and was out of the lineup (because I have no other issues to deal with). Simon moved over to second and Gonzalez played short, the latter possibly a sign of things to come next year with Ben Simon refusing to sign for a reasonable amount of money. (I then made another mistake and accidentally placed Gonzalez #4 in the lineup, which obviously doesn’t fit him, but what the heck)

Game 4 was all about Logan Evans. The Raccoons gave him a run early (more or less by accident), and a 3-run tattoo to left by Mark Dawson made the lead more comfortable. Evans no-hit the Crusaders through seven innings, before Freddie Riley singled through between short and third. Gone. Then it quickly went away completely. Wally Gaston had to enter to salvage the eighth inning with only one run across (but two on). Gaston finished the game and kept the 5-1 win intact. This split the season series with the Crusaders. We could’ve had so much more.

Still, this was Logan Evans’ 14th win, tying a Raccoons single season record held by Jorge Romero, who would have been up next, but his season was over with elbow soreness, so we skipped right to Moran. Ralph Nixon had a very sore foot and most likely would not be able to play (at least effectively) in the final series, but was good to pinch hit.

Last place, by the way, in the division was confirmed with our game 3 loss. Four years bottom in a row.

Raccoons (64-95) vs. Titans (76-83)

Moran was already pinch hit for in the fourth inning, down 2-1. He had been awful and his defense had made some incredible plays on the way. Nixon flew out to end that bottom 4th. We tied it in the sixth and won the game in the tenth, when with two down Edgardo Gonzalez singled to right to score Matt Workman from third, 3-2 Raccoons. Grant West picked up the W with a 2-inning relief outing in the tied ballgame. Gonzalez was 3-5 with 2 RBI, and Bocci was 2-3 with the double that brought Workman to third in the bottom 10th.

Gary Simmons surrendered five runs in three innings to make sure he got 21 losses together. The Raccoons laid down and played dead and lost 7-0. Shameful bunch.

Francisco Dominguez hit a leadoff homer against Christopher Powell in the season finale. Dominguez started every game of the series with at least a double and scored in every first inning. I HATE HIM!! I also passionately hate Bruce Wright, who started the finale for the Titans, and who no-hit the Raccoons through six, before Wyatt Johnston hit a single. By then, Powell was down 3-0, and Dominguez had featured in all the runs. Powell did manage to retire him to lead off the eighth, then was relieved. Sometimes, you have to take the smallest amounts of achievement and cherish them feverishly. I know a lot about that concept. Robinson Borquez eventually struck out Daniel Hall to end the game, 3-0 Titans, and the season. Finally, the pain is over. For the winter.

September 30 – A sore hamstring ends the season of Gold Sox starter Wilson Martinez (16-9, 3.12 ERA) a few days early.
October 1 – The Buffaloes beat the Cyclones, 2-0, to eliminate them from contention. With one series to play, three divisions are still contested. The Buffaloes lead the Rebels by 2 and both teams will match up against each other in Topeka. The Bayhawks lead the Thunder by 2 and will also host them to end the regular season. The Pacifics hold a 1-game lead over the defending champions, the Scorpions. The latter host the Warriors, while the Pacifics will travel to Salem to end the regular season. This is the only division that can still get tied.
October 2 – The Buffaloes clinch the FL East on consecutive 2-0 shutouts, now over the Rebels. The other divisions remain open as the Thunder beat the Bayhawks 6-3, and both Pacifics and Scorpions log W’s.
October 3 – The Thunder are behind after six, but rally and win in the 12th inning to tie the CL South and set up a deciding game #162 in Sacramento. The Scorpions are squished, 10-0, by the Warriors, which enables the Pacifics to clinch the FL West for the first time, winning 5-1 over the Wolves.
October 4 – Thunder and Bayhawks battle into the 13th inning, where it is Yohann Bodin, who hits a solo homer in his 11th major league at bat, to decide the game in favor of the Thunder.
October 5 – The Federal League has a triple crown winner again! David Burke paced his Pacifics with a 25-7 season, with a 2.61 ERA and 183 K’s. Jeremiah Carrell (CIN, .351) and Irwin Webster (CHA, .347) win the batting titles.

Logan Evans finished 4th in ERA in the Continental League, 5th overall. He led the majors in HR/9 (0.13). Christopher Powell was 4th overall in BB/9 (2.19), and Gary Simmons was 5th overall in K/9 (6.30), but of course he also won the Rusty Fork for losing 21 games – most in baseball. Among relievers Wally Gaston was 3rd in both OAVG and H/9.

What honors did my batters rack up? Ken Clark led the CL with 32 SB. And Mark Dawson was t-1st in extra base hits (66), 3rd in doubles (50), and 8th in total bases (266). He played 93 of 160 games with the Buffaloes, but his averages were nearly identical between teams. Daniel Hall and Ralph Nixon might have gotten on some boards, had they stayed healthy.

Of course, next season, everything will get better. As always.

Next: playoffs. Even with Raccoons participation! Jack Pennington made the playoffs with the Buffaloes, going 7-3 with a 2.68 ERA with them. Of course I will not root for that greedy - ...

[Westheim]

1981 PLAYOFFS

Buffaloes @ Pacifics … 6-5 … (Buffaloes lead 1-0) … triple crown winner Burke is roughed up early, Pacifics score three in the bottom 9th, but fall short; TOP Alex Betsch 5-5, 2B, RBI
Thunder @ Indians … 3-2 (11) … (Thunder lead 1-0)

Buffaloes @ Pacifics … 0-2 … (series tied 1-1) … LAP Freddy Perez 8.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 4 K
Thunder @ Indians … 1-3 … (series tied 1-1) … IND Miguel Sanchez 8.0 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K

Pacifics @ Buffaloes … 9-3 … (Pacifics lead 2-1) … L.A. jumps on Jack Pennington, who gets the loss; LAP Raul Flores 3-5, 2B, 3 RBI, 3 R
Indians @ Thunder … 6-5 … (Thunder lead 2-1) … OCT Felipe Hernandez 2-4, HR, 4 RBI; IND Luis Camacho 3-5, 2 2B, 2 RBI, R

Pacifics @ Buffaloes … 3-4 … (series tied 2-2) … Buffaloes trail 3-0 after six, then crush the L.A. pen
Indians @ Thunder … 1-2 (10) … (series tied 2-2)

Pacifics @ Buffaloes … 4-9 … (Buffaloes lead 3-2) … TOP Kyle Douglas 3-4, 4 RBI
Indians @ Thunder … 6-1 … (Indians lead 3-2) … IND Billy Robinson 7.2 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K

Buffaloes @ Pacifics … 6-4 … (Buffaloes win 4-2) … Jack Pennington gets the W this time
Thunder @ Indians … 4-5 (10) … (Indians win 4-2) … IND Francis Bell and Esteban Hernandez are both 3-5 with 2 XBH

Both pennant winners advance to the World Series for the first time in franchise history! Both lost the league championship matchups last year.

1981 WORLD SERIES

Buffaloes @ Indians … 3-6 … (Indians lead 1-0) … Indians starter Steve Murray walks 11(!!) batters and leaves in a tied game. Josh Bridges gets the W for the Indians.

Buffaloes @ Indians … 2-9 … (Indians lead 2-0) … IND Gabe Taylor 3-4, HR, 2 RBI, R; IND Ken Adams 2-4, HR, 3 RBI, R

Indians @ Buffaloes … 5-6 … (Indians lead 2-1) … Pennington gets the W, although he surrenders four runs in the top 2nd

Indians @ Buffaloes … 1-4 … (series tied 2-2) … TOP Kyle Douglas 2-2, 2B, HR, RBI, 2 R, 2 BB

Indians @ Buffaloes … 0-2 … (Buffaloes lead 3-2) … TOP Cole Gentry 7.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 2 K

Buffaloes @ Indians … 3-7 … (series tied 3-3) … Pennington is crushed in a 5-run bottom 6th that extends the series to a game 7.

Buffaloes @ Indians …
Miguel Sanchez went against Jonathan Knapp. The Buffaloes threatened early on, but TOP 3B Arturo Garcia twice made pathetic outs with the bags full and two down. TOP CF Jose Rivera badly misplayed a line drive in the bottom 4th, which escalated into three unearned runs for the Indians in the inning. The Indians also left the bags full twice through seven. Miguel Sanchez stayed in to pitch the eighth with his team still up 3-0. He eventually loaded the bags, but got Ruben Gonzalez to ground out and end the threat – his manager showed incredible faith in his ace here! David Carr entered in the ninth and eventually struck out Kyle Douglas to clinch the title.
Buffaloes @ Indians … 0-3 … (Indians win 4-3) … Buffaloes out-hit the Indians 10-5, all runs were scored on Jose Rivera’s error.

[Orcin]

Best team in the league won it all. That's fitting. Good luck in the off-season!

[Westheim]

Thanks! I have already started to chop away at the dead branches of the Raccoons tree...

The Indians were a low-score team with great pitching in the first seasons, and now they have added the necessary offensive punch and have a very strong team that could dominate the CL North for a few more years.

[Westheim]

Welcome to the next round of “Will we turn this ship around?” …

The offseason began with the decision whether or not to execute Jorge Romero’s option. Doing so would pay him $392k next year. He had a bad 1981 season, half injured, half mediocre. But he has been better in the past, and although his labrum history is scaring, I will keep him.

Apart from that we had three other free agents / arbitration cases. Stephano Bocci and Ben Simon (who had played in all 810 Raccoons games) refused my offers and were to become free agents. I offered arbitration to them. Both were type B free agents (Simon had been ranked type A early in the season).

Tony Lopez was a super-2 arbitration case, although I can hardly believe it. His estimate was $99k and I was willing to submit that. So, we’re already done here.

Shopping list:
• Find a starter to replace 3-21 Gary Simmons
• Find a new catcher hitting .250 or more
• Find a new backup catcher (since Ed Peterson will be sent packing)
• Find improvement for CF and 3B/SS
• Find a quality lefty reliever (at bargain of course)
I’m so confident I won’t even be able to strike off two of those…

By the way, the Raccoons won two Gold Gloves this year. Ben Simon won his third, and Cameron Green won his first. Green made 13 errors this year! Are there no good third basemen in the league?

My goal is to completely revamp the roster, as far as possible and necessary. I have a very short list of people I will not trade under any circumstances: Daniel Hall, Matt Workman, Chris Powell, Logan Evans, Jorge Romero, Ralph Nixon, Wally Gaston, Richard Cunningham, and Grant West. That’s about it (excluding the odd minor leaguer).

October 29 – Vancouver acquires SP Kinji Kan from Las Vegas for two prospects. Kan was 12-14 with a 4.76 ERA in ’81, his career numbers are hardly better.
November 5 – More trade between Canadiens and Aces, as Vancouver gets CF Michael Martin, a .257 hitter with the Miners until mid-season and only three months on the Aces roster, in exchange for struggling SP Hubert Gaines and a prospect.
November 5 – Infielder Dan Payne, a career .283 hitter, is traded from the Warriors to the Loggers in exchange for two minor leaguers.
November 7 – More Aces dealt: Las Vegas sends outfielder Greg Palmer, a career .289 hitter, to Sacramento in exchange for prospect SS Antonio Ramirez, highly touted by some, considered a bust by many.
November 7 – David Burke and Miguel Sanchez are the Cy Young winners. Both receive it for the first time. Burke won the FL triple crown, Sanchez led the CL in wins and IP, and won game 7 of the World Series.
November 8 – SAC OF Larry Marshall (.336, 16 HR, 84 RBI) and CHA 1B Irwin Webster (.347, 10 HR, 80 RBI) are crowned MVP’s. Both win it for the first time.

November 15 saw the arbitration hearings. Tony Lopez got a $99k contract (he demanded $165k). Simon and Bocci refused arbitration and filed for free agency. Five minor leaguers also file for free agency, including Alberto Colon and R.J. Sanderson, a backup infielder and backup catcher, respectively, of years past and already almost forgotten.

That left me with some more stuff to unload. Like Hoyt Cook, or Edward Peterson, or Ben Cox, or Troy Scott.

I shopped Cook around after the free agents filed and Milwaukee offered me C/1B Mike Gamble. It would have been an instant pick if not for Gamble’s hefty $474k salary for ’82. That was too much. Well, there were other possibilities…

November 18 – The Raccoons send 1B Hoyt Cook to Dallas in exchange for pitching prospect Todd Raines.
November 19 – The Raccoons and Warriors complete a 4-player deal. Portland sends outfielder Ken Clark, who led the Continental League in steals in ’81 and is a career .239 hitter, and AA level SP David Castillo to Sioux Falls, receiving C Spencer Dicks and utility player Steve Walker in the deal. Dicks is a defensive wizard with a .200 to .220 bat, while Walker can play many positions and is a contact hitter.
November 28 – The Scorpions catch one of the biggest fish in the free agent pond, inking infielder Hector Atilano, formerly with the Crusaders, to a 5-year, $4.25M contract. The 30-yr old Atilano is .322 with 66 HR and 382 RBI lifetime.
December 1 – SP Jack Pennington signs for six years for $4.02M with the Pittsburgh Miners. Pennington has a lifetime record of 91-47 with a 3.20 ERA, and also spent half a season with the Raccoons.
December 1 – Rule 5 draft: six players are picked in the draft, four alone by the Sioux Falls Warriors, themselves seriously depleted through free agencies, but the Raccoons are unaffected.
December 3 – Slugger Juan Medine signs for 2 years and $1.74M with the Crusaders.
December 8 – Career .285 hitting outfielder Xavier Landry is traded from Pittsburgh to Boston for reliever Jesus Perez (18-17, 4.09 ERA, 15 SV).
December 9 – The Cyclones shell out just over $5M over seven years for 30-yr old infielder Julio Martinez, a .324 hitter, who had been with the Gold Sox since ’78.
December 10 – The Portland Raccoons sign outfielder Eduardo Guerrero, 30, to a 1-yr, $95,000 contract. Guerrero is a career .275 hitter with the Atlanta Knights, who spent 1981 as a free agent.
December 11 – Starter Xavier Mayes is traded from Charlotte to Atlanta for prospects. Mayes is in the majors since mid-1980, posting a 17-9 record with a 3.06 ERA.
December 12 – Free agent catcher Stephano Bocci signs with the Sacramento Scorpions, which gives the Raccoons a supplemental pick in the 1982 draft.
December 12 – Salem sends veteran outfielder Matt Mason to Richmond for reliever Vern Hesketh, whilst a pair of prospects is also exchanged.
December 22 – International free agent SP Mario Garcia, 32, signs with the Portland Raccoons for $550k over two years.
December 25 – The Cyclones and 1B Andre Long, 36, agree on a 2-yr, $1.22M contract for the contact hitter.
December 27 – Slugger Dan Younger signs for six years and $4.29M with the Buffaloes. Younger played with the Warriors for most of his career.
December 28 – The Aces trade former Raccoon Roman Ocasio to Dallas for a minor leaguer.
December 29 – Longtime Loggers starter Greg O’Brien (58-67, 3.81 ERA), 31, signs a 3-yr, $1.59M contract with the Rebels.
December 31 – The Cyclones unload aging veteran Christian Hampton, 38, who still knows how to hit .280+, to the Miners for 25-yr old starting pitcher Tom Harden (15-14, 4.24 ERA).
January 27 – Juan “Mauler” Correa finds a new home in Charlotte for $3.62M over four years. Lifetime he is 121-39 with a 2.20 ERA.
January 28 – Ben Simon moves upstate to the Salem Wolves for a 4-yr, $2.35M deal. He could have gotten that one here as well… Raccoons receive a supplemental round pick. Fan interest has crashed.
February 4 – 86-78 with a 3.87 ERA lifetime, Jose Salgado was still able to squeeze out a 3-yr, $1.21M contract from the pitching desperate Warriors.
February 10 – Star 1B Juan Fuentes, 36, signs with the Crusaders, receiving $2.79M over three years. Fuentes is a lifetime .303 hitter and hit .315 with the Condors last year.
February 14 – Another Condor has landed safely: 32-yr old SP Hunter Frazier has signed with the Thunder, earning $3.28M over four years. Frazier has a career 65-49 record.

Cook had batted .300 in 1980, pushing Wyatt Johnston aside after years of bench warming. Then he imploded this year – completely. He batted .193. With Matt Workman up and Wyatt Johnston still batting .250 at age 40, first base is covered. He can’t play nowhere else, so he is out. Raines is a good young guy with a solid assortment of pitches, who sould make the majors by 1984.

The second deal with the Warriors was initiated by them. They originally offered Dicks and a minor league catcher with no future for Clark. I didn’t want their scrub growing in my yard, so I made a move for Walker, who plays six positions (all but C and LF, and CF only badly) and is hitting .270+ in his short career (he’s 22!). They were willing to part with him, but not for Clark alone. They included Castillo in a list of only three players (along with Carlos Gonzalez as another young pitcher) for reasons unbeknownst to me. He was stuck at the AA level and actually had gotten worse since 1979. I threw him out in a heartbeat. I will miss Clark’s speed and the CF situation has worsened with this trade, since Ben Cox is not a good option, but it plucks the catcher’s spot fairly well and offers Walker as a #2 hitter in place of .210 hitter Edgardo Gonzalez. Worst case, both play backup, but they both came with minimum contracts through 1983 (Walker through ’84).

For those believing in that kind of stuff: the Cook trade was a +1.0 WAR gain, the Clark trade a +1.3 WAR gain. If you look at the WAR gains the Raccoons made the last few winters, and where it got them in the standings, you will quickly realize why I don’t give a rat’s bottom about it anymore.

After those two trades the winter quickly became frustrating for the Raccoons. No trades for competent outfielders came to fruition. The Garcia signing was born out of desperation since I had lost hope in Gary Simmons, but couldn’t get anybody worthwhile in a trade for him either. Simmons had one last option year, which would be put to use in all likeliness.

I talked to about ten teams about at least a dozen good CF/RF players, but they always ask for Logan Evans or Daniel Hall, which doesn’t help me a bit. Nobody wants any of my other players, nobody wants Troy Scott or Gary Simmons or Stanton Coleman or even Pedro Sánz. It’s mid-February, the roster has not been improved at all. This spiral of agony will never end.

And by the way, the schedule rotation remains broken and I really don’t feel like going through that file again. Why can’t it just stop and instead start working!?

This game hates me and I hate this game.

[Westheim]

Schedule has been fudged around with successfully. As far as my limited editing abilities and willingness go. I mutated four FL teams from the ’79 schedule, that will make the ’82 schedule. That will have to do. (In the end it doesn’t matter, since the Raccoons lose against everybody, not discriminating certain teams)

It’s mid-February, still, and time to throw a look at financials. I have been given $8,689,000 to play with. Currently my staff consumes $761,500 of that, and player contracts currently amount to $5,148,000.

This leaves us with $2,779,500 for scouting, development, and free agent money. Of course we will go over-budget again once the draft comes, while still making a million or two in profit at the end of the year. Small market, small budget, big issues. I did away with the last international scouting area (past the free first one), and re-upped the national scouting slightly to $880,000, which is about 10% below league average.

Player development remains at $1,075,000 (slightly over league average), so I still have the princely sum of $824,500 to dish out before the season starts. There are a few interesting free agents still on the market.

One of them is 31-yr old Ramon Borjon, who can play all three outfield positions. The name has come up before. He hit 27 home runs in ’79 (one less than Ben Simon, who was the home run king that year), and 25 the year before that. He has only hit 27 the last two years combined, being traded twice in mid-season. His batting average is unpredictable, swaying back and forth between .215 and .308 – he is a career .274 hitter. His 102 total home runs are #2 on the leaderboard all time, six behind Michinaga Yamada. His fielding is very solid. He is a type B free agent and demands $460,000 for one season.

Another player in the same category is 32-yr old Joe Nelson, who spent all of his career so far with the Stars. His fielding is better, his average over his career is higher, although his best years were 1977-1978. He also has 92 career homers. Type B, $360k/yr.

Thomas James, 30, has bounced around from Boston to Las Vegas to Nashville to Salem in the last three years. He has no power and hits .280 but has never made a starting job anywhere. No compensation, $300k/yr.

I must say that Borjon is tempting to pursue. Good pitchers are mostly grazed already. Interestingly, Kevin Hatfield is on the market. He pitched in 30 games (22 starts) for the Crusaders last year, going 7-9 with a 3.94 average.

Francisco Dominguez, that nasty Titans speedster, is also still available, but doesn’t fit my system, since he only plays LF, and I want Hall there. Really. One last name: Beau Horn, 35, who made the World Series with the Scorpions twice and won in 1980, is also available. His defense is terrible and his hitting has plummeted to .250 last season. Plus, I’m set in the infield. Looking at his stats, he should consider retiring while he is not remembered as the guy who played too long.

[Westheim]

February 24 – The Portland Raccoons announce that they have signed two free agents: the first is lefty reliever Jimmy Armstrong, 28, who signed a minor league contract. Nobody was too impressed with those news, but then club officials continued by presenting outfielder Ramon Borjon (.274, 102 HR, 434 RBI lifetime) to a 1-yr, $300k contract. Borjon is slated to the centerfield job, but plays the other outfield positions as well.
February 25 – The Raccoons ink lefty starter/reliever Eric McCullough to a 1-yr, $120k deal.
March 4 – The Titans sign closer Stanley Holman, 35, with 105 career saves, to a 1-yr, $294k contract. Holman was with the Wolves in ’81.
March 25 – Six-player trade between the Raccoons and Oklahoma City: the Raccoons acquire 28-yr old catcher Enrique Sanchez in exchange for SP Mario Gomez, MR Stanton Coleman, LF Sherwood Henderson, CF Troy Scott, and C Edward Peterson.
April 2 – Falcons closer Joe Roberts will miss the 1982 season after he broke his elbow trying to save a woman in an attempted robbery. Roberts, 25, saved 40 games with a 2.85 ERA in 1981. Falcons fans are shocked.

McCullough has an interesting history: after spending 1977-80 in the Raccoons minor league system, the Oklahoma City Thunder picked him in the 1980 rule 5 draft and he put up an unimpressive, but decent 1981 season, before they actually released him at the end of the season! Now he is back in Portland and on the majors roster. For a 25-yr old that moved from the A and AA levels straight into the majors, he performed well there (3.45 ERA in 20 games, including 1 start). He will take the place of Rich Hughes on the roster.

To accommodate Borjon and McCullough on the 40-man roster, Rich Hughes and Frank O’Rearden were struck. Both lefty relievers cleard waivers and are assigned to AAA (O’Rearden was already there). Borjon gives us +2.1 WAR, McCullough +0.3 WAR, for a total of +3.6 WAR this off season.

Then came March and I worked over three weeks on the Sanchez trade. I offered various combos of players, but somehow the Thunder were very keen on Mario Gomez, our international free agent signing. Having experienced little success with them Mexicans anyway (Tony Lopez, anyone?), I eventually included him in the package. I even offered Pedro Sánz, but they didn’t bite. I never liked Coleman, who is unreliable and can blow games easily, and the other three are just unloaded. Sanchez has hit .270+ the last two seasons, after a .240 rookie campaign in ’79. He has power and is a defensive rock. Fan interest increased from 53 to 55. The trade is rated at roughly +3.0 WAR for the Raccoons and we also unloaded a few hundred grand in salary and four spots on the 40-man roster.

Now it was time to organize the roster. I had eight infielders on the roster. 1B Workman, 2B Nixon, SS Walker, and 3B Green/Dawson were set. Dawson would play either 3B or RF depending on whether Green or Sánz performed better or worse. Wyatt Johnston was #6, and it was between Edgardo Gonzalez and Angel Costa for the seventh spot. Gonzalez was a more versatile fielder and got the job. Their hitting was around .210 either way. Since Dawson can play outfield as well I will start with only four true outfielders. Now I had to call up two pitchers from AAA. Fletcher Kelley and Jerry Ackerman won jobs. Full roster below.

1982 PORTLAND RACCOONS – Opening Day Roster (first set shows 1981 numbers, second set overall; players with an * are off season acquisitions):

SP Christopher Powell (12-14, 3.28 ERA | 60-68, 3.44 ERA) – could not repeat his career performance in 1980, when he put up a 0.96 WHIP, but was still very strong. Would win 18-20 games with a good offense behind him.
SP Logan Evans (14-10, 2.65 ERA | 27-33, 3.36 ERA) – high K numbers and occasional wildness characterize him. Had his best season and he is only 26.
SP Jorge Romero (5-10, 4.29 ERA | 47-56, 3.11 ERA) – injured into the summer, he was at times very ineffective and easily had his worst season. He is 35 and in a contract year.
SP Carlos Morán (6-8, 3.69 ERA, 1 SV | 8-14, 3.84 ERA) – started as mop-up, but proved to be a capable starter, once Roman Ocasio was chased away. His numbers are decent and close to league average throughout.
SP Jerry Ackerman (no records) – came over from the Canadiens in the Nicolas Castillo trade (my fault), but has been solid at AAA last year. He has competition from McCullough, another lefty borderline starter.

MU Tony Lopez (0-1, 2.64 ERA | 8-17, 4.04 ERA, 3 SV) – found his way back as mop-up. At times he is magnificent, at times I want to kill him. He can cover a lot of ground and can also be used as regular righty middle reliever.
MR Eric McCullough * (2-1, 3.45 ERA, 1 SV | 2-1, 3.45 ERA, 1 SV) – Free agent signing, was a rookie with the Thunder, after they took him from our organization in the rule 5 draft. Somehow, he impressed more in major league than in A ball. Lefty starter/reliever and competition for Ackerman.
MR Paul Cooper (1-3, 2.86 ERA, 1 SV | 5-5, 2.57 ERA, 2 SV) – he is a very solid reliever, with only his pathetic stamina posing a problem.
MR Richard Cunningham (1-3, 1.95 ERA | 1-3, 1.95 ERA) – debutee in 1981, he has high BB and K numbers, so he always is a mixed bag. Despite his great ERA in 32.1 IP, he is not considered for higher honors than middle relief.
MR Fletcher Kelley (1-0, 4.97 ERA | 1-0, 4.97 ERA) – was a September call-up and to be sent down again, but the Coleman trade opened a position that he won over erratic Jason White. He only has 12.2 IP under his belt, so the sky is the limit.
SU Wally Gaston (5-4, 3.10 ERA, 18 SV | 22-23, 2.78 ERA, 79 SV) – struggled early in 1981 and lost the closer job to rookie West, but had a strong second half of the season. As a righty and with the lefty West, they could almost be a deadly pair of closers, depending on the ninth inning opposition, and Gaston still occasionally closes out games against tough righty bats.
CL Grant West (4-0, 2.17 ERA, 15 SV | 4-0, 1.86 ERA, 15 SV) – was not perfect after replacing Gaston as closer, but met expectations. He could be our closer for years to come.

C Enrique Sanchez * (.270, 14 HR, 68 RBI | .264, 24 HR, 163 RBI) – acquired from the Thunder, where he spent his first three majors seasons. He is to replace Stephano Bocci, and is very good in defense and at the plate.
C Spencer Dicks * (.204, 1 HR, 27 RBI | .196, 1 HR, 37 RBI) – acquired in the Ken Clark trade from the Warriors, where he was backup for three years. Stellar defense, but his plate work is improvable.

1B Matt Workman (.262, 2 HR, 8 RBI | .262, 2 HR, 8 RBI) – September call-up, he is replacing Hoyt Cook, who was banished. His power has not come through at the major league level, but it is there.
1B Wyatt Johnston (.250, 7 HR, 36 RBI | .257, 55 HR, 301 RBI) – that man is 40, but is still performing very well. He will be backup, though, for the young Workman.
2B/SS Ralph Nixon (.299, 14 HR, 57 RBI | .321, 77 HR, 418 RBI) – was injured again and missed over 30 games, but was overall one of the best players on the team (he also has the highest salary). His average has to pick up the level where he was when he played with the Crusaders.
1B/3B/RF/LF Mark Dawson (.268, 14 HR, 94 RBI | .252, 91 HR, 432 RBI) – came over in mid-season in the Jack Pennington trade from the Buffaloes. Was very solid wherever he played. Will most likely play 3B or RF.
3B Cameron Green (.225, 9 HR, 51 RBI | .225, 11 HR, 61 RBI) – simply put, I expect much more from him. He did not have a good season at all.
1B/3B/SS/2B/RF/CF Steve Walker * (.276, 3 HR, 43 RBI | .273, 5 HR, 74 RBI) – was the other Warriors player coming over for Ken Clark. He will play short, but is very versatile and could become a key piece to the lineup as well.
1B/SS/3B Edgardo Gonzalez (.212, 0 HR, 29 RBI | .236, 1 HR, 96 RBI) – also part of the Pennington/Dawson trade with the Buffaloes in mid-season. His plate performance is pretty bad, but he can be a valuable defensive alternative.

LF/RF Daniel Hall (.278, 10 HR, 52 RBI | .265, 48 HR, 185 RBI) – played only 110 games due to injury, has never completed a season without going to the DL. He is set in left field. Due to walks he had a .397 OBP last year.
LF/CF/RF Ramón Borjón * (.247, 13 HR, 64 RBI | .274, 102 HR, 434 RBI) – free agent signing, last with the Warriors. He is 2nd in all time home runs and could replace Ben Simon’s long ball production from centerfield, where the Raccoons have never had a productive hitter.
LF/CF/RF Eduardo Guerrero * (did not play | .277, 15 HR, 153 RBI) – spent 1981 as a free agent and will be backup.
RF/LF Pedro Sánz (.242, 4 HR, 33 RBI | .283, 47 HR, 289 RBI) – had a down year and was bitten by the injury bug and suddenly is threatened by Mark Dawson. He competes against Cameron Green for who gets to play. His arm is his main weapon in the field.

No Raccoons start the season on the DL, luckily. $612,500 of the budget went unused so far. I poured another $50,000 into player development and added a bit to scouting again. The rest will die happily come the draft. Our final payroll is $5,326,000 (20th in the league).

My expectation for this season? Hard to say. I believed that the Raccoons would improve now so often, I don’t dare to do it again. Although the additions of Borjón, Walker, and Sanchez should add up to increased production, much depends on how the rotation holds up with Romero, Moran, and the lefty in #5. I will not make a record statement.

Our +6.5 WAR gain tops the majors. Knights (+5.2), Miners (+5.1), Bayhawks (+5.0), and Indians (+3.7) follow. Worst five: Buffaloes (-3.7), Scorpions (-3.8), Canadiens (-4.8), Condors (-8.4), and Aces (-8.5);

Lineup for opening day: SS Walker – LF Hall – 3B Dawson – 2B Nixon – CF Borjón – 1B Workman – RF Sánz – C Sanchez – P Powell

Cameron Green will also be playing a lot throughout April to compare against Sánz. Dawson will end up wherever the loser stands.

First pitch coming up against the Loggers.

[Westheim]

Carlos Gonzalez is the #4 prospect in the league, just like last year. Despite picking early for years in the draft, the Raccoons only have two more prospects in the Top 200, #149 SP Todd Raines (acquired via trade this winter!) and #200 SP Harvey Hardin. Orlando Lantán, our first round pick last year, is not ranked. He only played 13 games in A ball before breaking his knee.

99 players were waived on the start of the season. There were numerous former Raccoons among them, including Hoyt Cook, Roman Ocasio, and a few more. There was one guy in particular that I took a keen interest in: Pedro Hermundo had been waived by the Cyclones. I claimed him, but eventually he was also claimed by the Indianapolis Indians, who acquired him (which seems strange to me).

And with that, we jump right into the mess!

Raccoons (0-0) @ Loggers (0-0)

This was just a 2-game series to start the season. Christopher Powell faced the Loggers’ Gary Simmons (ours was at AAA). The Loggers’ 3-4-5 lefty trio got to Powell in the first inning and the Loggers took a 1-0 lead. Ralph Nixon turned it around with a 2-run homer in the fourth and an RBI single in the sixth. Up 3-1, Powell left in the bottom 8th after a strong 5-hit outing to start the season. Enrique Sanchez hit a 2-run double in the top 9th that put the game in the bag, while McCullough pitched a perfect bottom 9th. Raccoons won 5-1, although they had only six hits.

Logan Evans on the contrary faced an all-righty lineup in the second game. Evans had control issues after the winter and the Loggers went ahead on a wild pitch in the bottom 2nd. The Raccoons again turned the game in the top 4th. Borjón scored two with his first hit for the Raccoons and was himself scored by Pedro Sánz. Borjón batted in two more with a 2-out single in the top 5th, the Raccoons led 6-2. But there was still Logan Evans, who had trouble to throw strikes. He loaded the bags with nobody out in the bottom 5th, then got out with only one run across. He was removed after 5.2 innings with 7 H, 4 BB, 0 K – not his best game. Cooper and Gaston performed well, but Grant West allowed a run in his first save of the year. Still, the Raccoons won 6-4 and led the CL North.

The Raccoons now returned home for a 2-week home stint, were we would face both the Thunder and Indians, division champions from last year.

Raccoons (2-0) vs. Thunder (3-0)

A 2-run bomb by Ramón Borjón was part of a 3-run first in game 1. Jorge Romero mostly cruised through seven shutout innings and only in the top 9th did the Raccoons hurlers get into trouble after Cunningham had walked two. A run scored, but West saved a 4-1 victory. Daniel Hall is the only Raccoons hitter without a hit, going 0-8 at the plate, but he has four walks and scored a run, so we did not accidentally lock him up in the clubhouse or so. He will come around. Hopefully.

At 3-0, this made the Raccoons the only unbeaten team in the league. Have we been there before? If so, it has never ended well.

Game 2 saw Carlos Moran against Mario Garcia – that’s the international free agent we signed and traded to the Thunder for Enrique Sanchez. Garcia kept the Raccoons silent the first time through the lineup, while Pedro Marroquin (Sanchez’ replacement at catcher for Oklahoma) homered off Moran in the top 4th to make it 1-0 Thunder. Daniel Hall broke the hitless spell with a solo homer of his own in the bottom of the inning. Steve Walker’s sac fly in the bottom 5th got the Raccoons ahead and they won 3-1 with strong pitching. Hall was 2-3 with the home run and 2 RBI.

While Walker scored the winning run in that second game, he was not hitting a lot and was dropped from #1 to #8 in the lineup. Daniel Hall was moved to leadoff and Workman to #2.

Jerry Ackerman made his debut in the last game of the series. He faced eight right-handed batters while the rest of the Raccoons faced ace Ralph Hoyles. Ackerman got a good bashing with a 4-run second inning, including a 2-run homer – by Hoyles! Ackerman completed six innings, but Hoyles shut down the Raccoons offense effortlessly. All the Raccoons managed were to wreck his 2-hitter in the bottom 9th, when Hall doubled to left and Dawson scored him with a single with two out. Thunder won, 4-1.

Raccoons (4-1) vs. Condors (5-2)

Rain chased the starters in the fourth inning, when the Raccoons trailed 1-0. Daniel Hall’s sharp double up the left foul line in the bottom 5th got Christopher Powell off the hook, scoring two runs for a 2-1 lead. Both teams ended up with 11 hits each in the game, but the Raccoons made much more of them, winning 7-2 after a 4-run bottom 7th, where we also whacked the well known Roman Ocasio around a bit, who appeared in relief for the Condors. Tony Lopez got the win for pitching the fifth after Powell’s departure due to the rain.

Logan Evans walked the first batter in game 2, but then got his act together. Borjón launched a moonshot in the bottom 2nd for a 1-0 lead and Evans helped himself with a solo shot to right in the bottom 5th, 2-0. It was Evans’ first home run of his career. He also no-hit the Condors through five, but the bid was broken up in the sixth. Evans left after seven with one hit, but four walks against him. Grant West surrendered a leadoff homer in the top 9th to 1B Wayne Baxter, but then retired the Condors in order for a 2-1 win. Only seven hits were landed in the whole game, with the Raccoons up 5-2, and all runs were solo home runs.

A Steve Walker error and a misplay by Daniel Hall plated three unearned runs in the first inning for the Condors. Jorge Romero entered the game as the only eligible pitcher with a 0.00 ERA, and it survived the carnage, but that ended in the sixth, when the first three Condors all hit safely against Romero and chased him. Richard Cunningham struck out four while covering the sixth and seventh innings, but the Raccoons offense was paralyzed and again only landed five hits. They lost 4-0 to the Condors.

Raccoons (6-2) vs. Indians (4-5)

The season had undoubtedly started well for the team, but this was the first true test: a 4-game set against the Indians. Their pitching was not there yet, but they led the division in offense with 40 runs scored. The Raccoons were 10th, with 28, but led in pitching, with only 18 runs against. Both Pedro Hermundo and Hoyt Cook were part of the 1982 Indians, both claimed off waivers just a week earlier.

Carlos Moran and Billy Robinson exchanged zeros in game 1 and both left with a no-decision in a scoreless game that went to extra innings. Eric McCullough [I have a terrible time typing that name…] entered in the 10th and retired the Indians in order, before the Raccoons came to bat. With two down, McCullough drew a walk, followed by a scratch single by Steve Walker. Daniel Hall lined an arrow to right that fell in and McCullough scored from second as the Raccoons walked off, 1-0, in that bottom 10th.

The next day we faced Miguel Sanchez, 1981 MVP and winner of game 7 of the World Series, and he shut down the Raccoons offense completely. Ackerman surrendered two runs in seven innings, plus Kelley gave up a leadoff homer to Bruce Cannon in the top 8th. Sanchez left after the eighth and Joseph Meyer took the mound. Pedro Sánz singled to lead off the bottom 9th, followed by a long RBI triple by Matt Workman. Spencer Dicks drew a walk, but Meyer got the next two Raccoons out. With two down, Daniel Hall had runners on the corners, and took a big swipe at the first pitch, but missed. Then Meyer drilled him in the thigh. Hall had to be removed from the game, but the bags were full for Ramón Borjón. He took two balls, before ripping away at the third pitch, dashing it *just* over the right field wall, for a WALK OFF GRAND SLAM!! WHOOO!!! Raccoons won 5-3, and nobody, neither Indians nor Raccoons fans, players, and staff alike, could believe it. Borjón was now t-2nd in homers and t-1st in RBI in the CL, while hitting sub-.180.

Hall had suffered a bad bruise on the thigh and would miss a few games. The trainer described him as day-to-day for about four days. Eduardo Guerrero got his chance to start a few games now, starting with game 3 of the Indians series. He only had one at-bat so far, and had scored a run, replacing Hall as pinch-runner in that bottom 9th the day before. Game 3 started with a leadoff home run by Esteban Hernandez off Chris Powell, who struggled a bit in this game. The Indians had seven hits against him through five innings, but scored only that one run. Nixon had gotten the Raccoons ahead with a 2-run double in the bottom 3rd, and the Raccoons scored three runs on two hits and three walks in the bottom 5th. Guerrero had a 2-run single. Powell left after seven after giving up eight hits and his first walk of the season (to Marvin Roy), but only that one run. Paul Cooper surrendered two hits to lead off the top 8th, and Cunningham limited the damage, only one run scored on a groundout. Grant West struck out the side in the top 9th and saved the 5-2 win! Workman was 3-4 with a double.

Logan Evans surrendered three runs in the top 1st of the final game. The Raccoons chipped away at that lead with single runs in the first and fourth innings. In the fourth the Indians also lost their starter Jose Perez to an injury and David Carr (normally more the closer type) came in, but Nixon still tied up the game with a sac fly to deep left that scored Steve Walker, who had been plunked by Carr to start the inning. Logan Evans got behind again in the top 6th and was removed. The Raccoons still trailed 4-3 into the bottom 9th, when we saw Joseph Meyer again. Steve Walker singled to lead off, but this time the Raccoons did not come back against Meyer and lost 4-3. Walker went 4-4 at the plate, shooting his average over .300

Raccoons (9-3) vs. Titans (3-10)

The Titans had the worst offense in the league and their pitching was not warmed up yet, either. John Fowler was their game 1 starter and he still controlled the Raccoons. While Jorge Romero gave up a 3-spot in the fifth inning, Fowler 2-hit the Raccoons through six, but they came back in the bottom 7th: they scored *nine* runs in that inning! After Borjón started with a groundout, Nixon singled. Green walked and Dawson singled to load the bases. Wyatt Johnston pinch hit for an RBI single, followed by Sanchez, who drew an RBI walk. With the pitcher’s spot up, Daniel Hall came out for a 2-run pinch hit single. Steve Walker flew out, before Matt Workman cleaned up with a 3-run bomb to right. Borjón walked and Nixon homered for two more, Green walked, before Dawson grounded out. 13 Raccoons marched to the plate. The Titans were crushed and the Raccoons won by that 9-3 score.

SS Joaquin Sanchez took Carlos Moran deep in the first inning the next day. The Raccoons took their time to get warm once again. With two out and the bases clear things suddenly got away from Titans starter Roberto Sanchez. Walk, error, walk, walk, and the game was tied. Borjón flew out to end the inning, narrowly missing the fence in right. Moran pitched into the ninth before giving way to Grant West. The Raccoons trailed 3-2 heading to the bottom 9th and loaded the bags with one out, but couldn’t score and lost. Steve Walker flew out to end the game – he had hit a home run in the eighth.

The rubber game saw all runs scored in the fourth inning. Ackerman got behind 1-0, but Mark Dawson’s 2-run double got the Raccoons ahead and they held on to it. Grant West pitched around a leadoff infield single to Matthew Beck in the top 9th to save the game. Cameron Green was 2-3 and scored one of the runs.

In other news:
April 9 – Blue Sox CF Raul Herrera goes 5-7 in a true nail biter, a 11-9 win of his team in Los Angeles. Herrera hits a grand slam and only missed out on a cycle because he lacked a double.
April 9 – Buffaloes closer Javier Caballero is out for four months with a torn labrum.
April 16 – In one big sweep, the Cyclones lose their middle infielders: SS Claudio Rojas is out of commission for three months with a broken hand. A consistent .320+ hitter, he will be missed by the last place Cincinnati team. A hip injury will put out 2B Julio Martinez for at least three months as well. The Cyclones signed him as a free agent this winter, and he started to hit .344 in the first week of the season.
April 16 – Falcons ace Joe Ellis and Thunder outfielder Troy Scott (former Raccoon of course) take swings at each other after Ellis drilled Scott with a pitch. Both are tossed and suspended for eight games.
April 22 – Warriors 3B Luis Barrera is out two weeks with knee tendinitis. Barrera hit .326 with 16 HR and 97 RBI last year, and has put up a .311, 2 HR, 10 RBI so far this year.

I certainly did not expect a start like that. However, the situation is highly treacherous. The team is 5th in runs scored, and is not last all throughout the offensive categories (sans homers and walks) like the last years. But some of those batting averages are … battering. Ramón Borjón is in the top 5 in the CL in home runs and RBIs and is batting *.151*! Since Guerrero utterly failed at replacing Daniel Hall, he doesn’t threaten for centerfield either. Dawson, Sánz, Hall, Nixon are all way down from last year. Like last season, the team has shot out of the gates solely on pitching. Logan Evans’ 3.57 ERA mark is worst on the staff. I think the WHIP numbers tell it all. The pitchers have thoroughly dominated opposing batters: 34 runs allowed speaks volumes. In total, the Raccoons have scored 3.67 R/G and allowed only 2.27 R/G. That amount of defensive effectiveness can and will not hold up for a season (maybe not even a month).

So, the batting is still bad, although less bad than last year. But I didn’t shove all that money down Borjón’s throat for him to bat .151, that much may be clear.

Well, anyway. The team will hit the road for Las Vegas and Charlotte next week. It looks like we could miss both Joe Ellis and “Mauler” Correa in the latter series, both of whom have slaughtered CL batting so far. We will then face the Loggers and Canadiens at home before the first week of interleague play.

[Orcin]

The Raccoons are 11-4! Woohoo!

[Westheim]

Raccoons (11-4) @ Aces (4-11)

That series could not have started much better: Christopher Powell threw a 121-pitch, 4-hit shutout in game 1, with no walks and seven strikeouts. Chris Lynch struck out four times, including to make the 27th out in the bottom 9th. At the plate, the Raccoons took some big rips with home runs by Workman (3-run), Borjón (solo), and Nixon (solo) pacing the team to a 6-0 win. It was Powell’s sixth career shutout. His last had not been removed that far, on August 30, 1981 against the Condors. Moreover, his 12 K/BB led the league by miles. 2nd was LAP David Burke with 3.75 K/BB. Powell was 2nd in BB/9 with 0.33 – trailing “Mauler” Correa, who sported a flat zero. Powell’s 0.99 ERA was 3rd in the majors at this point.

Logan Evans was clearly less brilliant in game 2. He left in the sixth with a 3-2 lead, two down, runners on the corners. Paul Cooper struck out Brad Brown to end the threat. Wally Gaston was hit by the Aces in the eighth, and an error by Matt Workman allowed them to turn the game around, so the Raccoons trailed 4-3 into the ninth. Workman doubled with two down, but Teo Colón made a sprawling catch of a Ralph Nixon line drive to end the game, 4-3 Aces.

Jorge Romero fell behind 3-0 through the third inning, with two runs earned and one scoring after a Nixon error, to start the rubber game. The Raccoons came back in the fifth. They tied it up with an RWI (run walked in :-P) by Steve Walker, before Daniel Hall lobbed a pitch over CF Chris Lynch’s head to score two. Walker was thrown out at the plate, but the game was tied up. Lynch got the Raccoons back with an RBI single in the bottom 5th and the Aces led 4-3 again. The Aces rolled up the game for good in the sixth, whacking Romero, Cunningham, and Cooper. Steve Walker and Daniel Hall made errors that helped escalate the situation. Seven runs scored in the inning and the Raccoons were destroyed, 13-3. Only seven runs were earned after a total of three Raccoons errors.

There it was, the pitching meltdown. It was beginning. Next were the Falcons with the second-best record in the ABL, trailing the 14-4 Miners, mostly on terrific pitching.

Raccoons (12-6) @ Falcons (14-5)

The Raccoons found no recipe against William Williams and the Falcons pen and were shut out to start the series, despite out-hitting Charlotte 8-6. Moran allowed two runs in the fourth, that was it. 2-0 Falcons. Nixon was 2-3 with a walk. Individual LOB’s added up to a whopping 21 for the Raccoons.

Game 2 was about pitching as well. The Falcons scored one early against Ackerman, but a 2-run double by Ralph Nixon turned it around. Zeros were exchanged until the Raccoons coughed up an insurance run in the top 9th. Grant West saved the 3-1 win. Borjón went 2-4 with a triple and a run and made it over .200 for the first time since the first days of the season.

This brought up Powell, who allowed a run in the first of the rubber game, but Mark Dawsons first homer of the season made it 2-1 Raccoons in the top 2nd. The Falcons started Pete Hall in the game, so the Raccoons indeed avoided both Joe Ellis and Juan Correa, but Hall was not a shabby pitcher, either, with a 2-0 record and 3.26 ERA so far. But the Raccoons got to him in the fourth with three more runs for a 5-1 lead. Hall was removed for Franklin Palmer in the fifth. Palmer had been waived by the Falcons at the start of the season, but was now back on the team – he was the second player (besides Pedro Hermundo) whom I had taken a keen interest in, but eventually decided against taking on the aging righty reliever. The Raccoons scored one run against him, while Chris Powell gave up a 2-run shot to John Powell in the bottom 5th. Through five, Powell threw 98 pitches in a much more intense game than his shutout five days before. Powell went 6.1 innings eventually. Steve Walker’s 2-run homer in the eighth completed an 8-3 win for the Raccoons. Powell was now 4-0 with a 1.60 ERA. Walker: 3-5, 2B, HR, 4 RBI; Nixon 3-5; Green 0-1, 3 BB;

We had now been tied with the Canadiens for a few days to lead the CL North. We had an off day going home from Charlotte, and the Canadiens didn’t play either. Next were the Loggers, who also surprised everybody with playing above .500 early on.

Raccoons (14-7) vs. Loggers (12-9)

Logan Evans’ start in game 1 was summed up quickly: 6.0 IP, 7 BB, 6 K. He was too wild. He left with a 2-1 lead, both runs batted in by Borjón. Cunningham, Gaston, and West hacked the Loggers batters to pieces and the score stood, 2-1 Raccoons. Borjón was 2-3 with the pair of RBI’s, Workman 2-4 and defensively with a great catch in the first inning that saved a run.

1B Matt Workman received Rookie of the Month honors from the Continental league after this game. He went .293, 2 HR, 11 RBI. By how much Christopher Powell was nipped to Pitcher of the Month remains everybody’s guess. He was 4-0 with a 1.60 ERA and lost to Juan Correa, who put up a 6-0 month with a 2.09 ERA. Correa made one more start, Powell got one no-decision.

Since the Canadiens also fell to the Titans’ John Fowler in a complete game outing, 5-1, the Raccoons ended April in sole possession of first place in the CL North.

Jorge Romero surrendered three runs early in game 2, while the Raccoons could not hurt the Loggers. Romero was chased in the sixth with two out after he walked pitcher John Douglas to force in a run. McCullough came to face lefty Edgardo Garza, who grand slammed the Raccoons into submission in a 9-3 romp. Seven runs (five earned) were against Romero. Daniel Hall stole second in the bottom 7th of game 2. That was his first steal of the season, and worse: the Raccoons’ first steal of 1982, on May 1. Not that we didn’t try…

Carlos Moran and Gary Simmons exchanged zeros through six innings in the rubber game, before a passed ball by Enrique Sanchez got the Loggers 1-0 ahead in the seventh. Workman, Hall, and Nixon loaded the bags with nobody out in the bottom 7th. Borjón flew out, but Cameron Green walked on a full count to tie the game. Dawson fouled out right at 1B Alex Garcia, which brought up Sanchez, but I removed him for Wyatt Johnston, and the old man hit a big banana into the left field stands for a fricking GRAND SLAM!! The pen had a dangerous lapse in the top 9th, when the first two runners got on against McCullough. Cunningham gave a double to Garza, that landed just fair of the left foul line and the Loggers scored two runs, before the threat was contained. Raccoons won 5-3, after Cunningham struck out two. McCullough’s ERA is rapidly growing in size. In turn, Carlos Moran’s ERA was down to 1.49, which led the Continental League. Not bad for a guy who started last season as mop up reliever.

That win made us 48-47 all time against the Loggers again, yay, two teams we have a winning record against (the other being the Blue Sox at 5-4). Next, the true test against the second place Canadiens, who have been improving their game for a few years now.

Raccoons (16-8) vs. Canadiens (14-10)

The Raccoons never got even close to beating the Canadiens in the first game of the 3-game series. Six hits scattered over six different innings – they didn’t even get in Ralph Nixon when he tripled with one out in the eighth. Jerry Ackerman surrendered three runs, Tony Lopez another one in the ninth and the Raccoons lost 4-1. Nixon had two hits, Workman had one for an 11-game hitting streak.

Ralph Nixon left game 2 early with a knee bruise, after he had already delivered a RBI single. Daniel Hall hit a 2-run shot in the bottom 1st as well for an early 3-0 lead for the Raccoons. Borjón homered in the third, but Powell was hit for three runs on a double and a triple in the top 6th and the game was close again with the Raccoons up 4-3. But they responded in the bottom 6th. Sanchez hit a RBI triple and Walker singled him in, 6-3. A 2-run homer by Cameron Green put the game away and the Raccoons won 8-3. Powell: 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 BB, 4 K, 3 ER; Walker 3-5, RBI; Hall 1-2, 2 BB, 2 RBI; Workman went 0-4, ending his hitting streak already. Powell was now 5-0, but his ERA was slowly rising, now at 1.99, but hey, I will happily accept every ERA under 3.

Nixon’s bruised knee would bother him for a few days, he was listed as day-to-day. This shifted Walker to second and Gonzalez played short. After this series came an off day anyway, so maybe he would only miss two games.

The rubber game was tight. Logan Evans was better, but the game was tied at 2-2 early on. Dawson homered in the bottom 6th for a 3-2 Raccoons lead. Evans pitched seven innings with three hits, two walks, five K’s. Wally Gaston and Grant West killed the Canadiens from there. 3-2 Raccoons.

Raccoons (18-9) @ Buffaloes (17-11)

The Buffaloes rotation had it’s issues, ranking 10th in the FL, but they had a bullpen with an ERA of 1.67, so you had to hit them quickly.

But first we had to worry about Jorge Romero. He walked three in the first inning, throwing 12 straight balls. After I stormed out to the mound and tried to choke him, he got his act together, and pitched much better. The Raccoons touched up Buffaloes starter Chad Ray for four runs in the first five frames. But Romero was roughed up as well in the sixth and left in a 4-4 tied game. Mark Dawson sent a 3-run homer to center in the seventh to get the Raccoons up again. The pen held the Buffaloes down and the Raccoons won 8-4. Walker 3-5, BB; Hall 3-4, BB, RBI; Dawson 2-5, 4 RBI; Gonzalez 3-4, BB, RBI; the Raccoons had 17 hits in total.

And that was without Ralph Nixon, who returned in game 2. But before he could swing the bat, Carlos Moran was torn up by the Buffaloes for five runs, including a grand slam by Jose Rivera. The Raccoons left the bases loaded twice in the game and lost every chance to come back. Raccoons lost 6-2.

Nixon remained the headliner in the rubber game. He doubled to right, but the bat shattered and put awkward pressure on his thumb. He was out with a strain, and would miss up to two weeks this time. Teams scored pairs of runs in the game. Raccoons led 2-0 after three, but the Buffaloes tied it in the fourth, but we scored two in the sixth to lead 4-2. Then, trouble: Grant West walked two on full counts to lead off the bottom 9th. Gaston came in and coaxed a groundball out of 1B Arturo Garcia for a double play. Beau Horn was up with a runner on third. The veteran popped out to Steve Walker and Gaston had saved the day. Workman 3-5, RBI; Ackerman 6.0 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3 K;

April 24 – Vancouver 2B Eddy Bailey strained his calf and is out for a few weeks. He hit .324 last year and started with a .283 bat this season. He will also miss against the Raccoons in early May.
April 28 – Crusaders outfielder Juan Medine is out for four months with a fractured hand.
April 29 – Indians 2B Luis Camacho retires at age 29 with a hopelessly torn labrum. He appeared in 752 games for Oklahoma City, Salem, and Indianapolis, compiling a .273 average with 35 HR and 314 RBI. He also stole 31 bases in 43 tries.
April 30 – Jonathan Knapp, key piece of the Buffaloes rotation, will miss three months with elbow inflammation. He is 3-0 with a 2.08 ERA in 1982.
May 1 – LAP SP Jorge Vallejo (2-1, 4.34 ERA) tosses a 2-hitter in an 8-0 shutout of the Scorpions.
May 6 – Buffaloes 1B Harry Beauman is out for the month with a sore shoulder. He has hit .333 so far this season. This comes again just in time for the Raccoons series.
May 9 – Laurentij Mlotkovsky (2-2, 2.60 ERA) tosses a 1-hitter in a 4-0 win of his Gold Sox against the Bayhawks. Mlotkovsky was once traded by the Raccoons for Christopher Powell. (I regret nothing)

Offense is 3.8 R/G now, with 3.03 R/G allowed by our pitchers. This ranks us 7th at the plate and 1st on the mound among CL teams. With Nixon’s bat out for now, we will see how Gonzalez can replace him. His last few games were certainly not bad, but I know him as a .210 hitter, sadly.

What Is going on with Pedro Sánz is beyond me. He doesn’t get anything done at the plate. I thought, the duel with Dawson and Green would be between Green and him, but Green is clearly the best of the three. Dawson and Sánz platoon in right at the moment.

A couple additional stats not shown below: Cameron Green is t-2nd in OBP (.433), Walker is 6th (.424); Nixon, Borjón, and Hall are all in the top 8 in slugging; Borjón also features prominently in triples, extra base hits, and RBI. Among pitchers, Powell is 5th in ERA, Moran is 8th. Powell and Ackerman are in the top 3 in BB/9 (trailing the “Mauler”), and Powell is the WHIP leader at 0.93! Richard Cunningham’s 12.18 K/9 were fourth among relievers. (All only including CL teams)

The schedule is a bit choppy from here, with the Warriors at home, then a trip to Boston and New York, a home series against Atlanta, and then a trip down the coast to San Francisco.

The table below still lists Nixon, but he will go to the 15-day DL. Yet, it is 11pm here and I’m tired, so that will be dealt with tomorrow, if my real job (which is only occasionally fun, too) permits.

[Westheim]

With Ralph Nixon to the 15-day DL we called up Jayson Bowling as replacement on the majors roster. Steve Walker moved to second base and Edgardo Gonzalez, who was on a pretty good streak, played short and batted second. Workman moved to #3 in the lineup, followed by Hall and Borjón who split #4 and #5 between them depending on the opposing pitcher. Green was #6 currently, then Dawson or Sánz in right, and the catcher’s spot.

Raccoons (20-10) vs. Warriors (15-17)

The Warriors had taken on Kevin Hatfield, former Raccoons reliever turned starter, but we would probably miss him in the series. The Warriors rotation was pretty consistent at posting ERA’s between 4.20 and 4.50. Also with the Warriors was by now Ed Sullivan, now 37 and with greatly diminished defensive capabilities (which had never been amazing, anyway). His bat was also silent so far at .126 …

Unexpectedly, Christopher Powell was trashed by the Warriors from the start, surrendering three leadoff doubles and a 2-run homer in the first inning. That pretty much threw the game out of the window, right? Not quite. The Raccoons scored one in the bottom 1st, then loaded the bases in the bottom 2nd. Gonzalez walked to make it 4-2 Warriors, and Workman singled to right to tie the game again. Borjón doubled as well in the inning and it was 5-4 Raccoons. But Powell continued to have tremendous problems with the six lefties in the Warriors lineup and was taken out in the fourth, with the Warriors up 7-5. But even though Powell’s good numbers were trashed now, he would not take the loss. Workman homered in the bottom 4th and Sanchez in the fifth to tie the game again at 7-7. The scoring stopped there, the pen did a good job of holding up. The Raccoons got Pedro Sánz to third in the bottom 9th but Andres Ramirez (whom I shunned in the 1977 draft to pick Daniel Hall) retired PH Mark Dawson and Edgardo Gonzalez to send the game to extra innings. Hall and Ramirez matched up in the bottom 10th, where Hall singled with two out, but there was nobody on and Cameron Green flew out to end the inning. The 11th was uneventful. Grant West pitched a third inning of relief in the 12th and then led off the bottom of the inning at the plate (since my pen was depleted with the exception of Paul Cooper, who was a 1-inning guy), but popped out. Gonzalez grounded out, which didn’t look good, until Matt Workman drilled a ball over the centerfield wall to walk off the Raccoons, 8-7!! West 3.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K; Walker 3-5; Workman 4-7, 2 HR, 4 RBI; Hall 4-6, RBI;

One word on Andres Ramirez: he has become an absolute killer in the 8th/9th inning, also doing long extra inning stints, and covering insane mileage. Since making the majors, he has pitched 351.2 innings in just over four seasons (he made it there quickly in late ’77) with a 2.53 ERA. How many home runs has he surrendered? Five. And that’s five total, in 350+ innings, and four of them came in 1977-1978. It’s hard to compare pitchers and position players, but so far he may have had the better career. But Hall is scratching at the .300 mark this season, and if his power picks up a bit…

My pen was banged up now, although Tony Lopez could come in to pitch if Logan Evans didn’t make it through seven in game 2. Lopez had not been available in the first game. However, no closer type was ready. Gaston and West were unavailable after long outings, and Cunningham told me he was about 75% ready. That almost shoved a closing situation in Cooper’s direction, which was not thrilling. But first you have to get into a closing situation.

Unfortunately, Logan Evans was nowhere near throwing strikes. The Raccoons found themselves down 3-1 after two innings and Evans was pretty wild and regularly went to 3-ball counts. Three more Warriors runs scored in the fifth, which Evans did not survive, but it was Lopez who walked two and then threw a wild pitch to score the last run. The Raccoons lost 6-2, both RBI’s credited to Enrique Sanchez, but in fact those were sac flies with the bags full, both times.

That made 13 runs scored against my 1-2 punch in which neither of them covered even five innings. Now sending out Jorge Romero, which could not end well: 5.0 IP, 10 H, 3 BB, 4 K, 5 R … suddenly starting pitching had completely melted away and thus the team was doomed. They lost 6-2.

Everything was falling to pieces.

Raccoons (21-12) @ Titans (15-20)

We hardly had time to lick our wounds before going to the east coast. The Titans (and Crusaders after that) were bottom of the division, but after that last series I was confident that the collapse had already begun.

For a start, the Raccoons scored first on back-to-back doubles by Hall and Borjón in the top 2nd. In the third, Titans catcher Marc Leach had a leadoff double, but was thrown out on his way to third. He might have scored on the subsequent error by Matt Workman which allowed pitcher Bruce Wright to reach base. Wright got to third, but was stranded there. The Titans still tied it in the fourth against a struggling Carlos Moran. The Raccoons helped him big with a 6-run top 5th: after loading the bags through Walker, Gonzalez, and Workman, the next three (Hall, Borjón, and Green) all had RBI singles, followed by a base clearing double from Mark Dawson’s bat. And all of a sudden Carlos Moran was unhittable! After that sudden infusion of run support, he mowed through the Titans and was never threatened again, finishing with a complete game 7-hitter, 1 BB, 5 K, in a 7-1 Raccoons win.

Daniel Hall’s solo jack in the top 2nd was out-weighed by Juan Valentín’s 3-run blast in the bottom 3rd, as Ackerman and the rest of the Raccoons fell 3-1 to the Titans in game 2.

Mark Dawson was so frustrated, he over-ate himself after the game and spent the night vomiting in his hotel bathroom. He was out for two days and Sánz played.

The good news about game 3: Christopher Powell had an excellent day at the plate, cracking two hits and scoring a run. What? Oh, you’re right, I’m supposed to report his pitching. He went 7.2 innings and was pulled after giving a solo home run to Brian Adams. I probably should have pulled him after seven, because it created a tight 4-3 lead at the end, with both Gaston and West wasting a walk in their innings. Cameron Green made an error to start the ninth, which further raised tension, but West finished with his 10th save (his first opportunity in some time). The Raccoons scored more than seven hits (11) for the first time in four days. Green, Sanchez, Powell all were 2-3 at the plate, Borjón hit his 6th homer (t-2nd in CL).

In other news:
May 12 – LAP starter David Burke tosses a 2-hitter in a 10-0 rout of the Indianapolis Indians.
May 15 – Falcons 1B Irwin Webster (.331, 0 HR, 16 RBI) is out for a few weeks with back soreness.
May 15 – Thunder and Bayhawks matched up in Oklahoma City – for 19 innings. The Thunder ran out of pitching and the Bayhawks ripped 10 runs in the top 19th for a (late) 18-8 blowout. The Bayhawks had led 5-0 after the first, but had lost the lead in the fifth. The teams then traded single runs in the 9th, 11th, and 16th innings. The pitcher charged with ten runs in the 19th? Former Raccoon Stanton Coleman.
May 16 – SAC LF Larry Marshall (.315, 3 HR, 22 RBI) crashes hard into the wall stealing a hit from DEN RF Shoichi Fujino in the fifth inning of a scoreless game. His shoulder came apart, the game didn’t, as the Scorpions won 2-0. Marshall will still be out for a month.

For pitching, this was a horrible week. Raccoons starters racked up a 6.25 ERA! (gasps)

We are still t-5th in runs scored, but now 2nd in runs against. Powell’s second outing was much better, and maybe that was just a really bad week, where they all (sans Moran) hiccupped together. Or maybe everything will collapse from here.

The draft pool was also revealed today, which I will go to now. At New York, against Atlanta, at San Francisco, against Tijuana and Las Vegas next.

[Westheim]

About the 1982 draft pool:

The Raccoons strong run in 1981 assures them the #2 pick in every round, with the Knights at #1. Canadiens (13-14) and Condors (15-16) have back-to-back back-to-back picks in the first round, the Condors have a total of three picks in the first round.

The Raccoons have a pair of picks in the supplemental rounds for Stephano Bocci and Ben Simon. They have the #1 and #15 picks of the 17 in the sandwich round, so all added up the Raccoons pick #2, #25, #39, #43, #67 and every 24th pick from there.

From Adachi to Zuniga, what has the 1982 draft pool to offer?

First, it was very poor on starting pitching, again. BNN only ranked one pitcher among their top 10, 17-yr old Judd Montgomery, and I agreed that he was the only potential top notch starter in there. However, my preferred pitcher was reliever Ray Reilly, who had murder potential attested.

In the field, there was a whole group of first basemen and outfielders with giganticious bats, who could hardly catch a ball, let alone field one. There were two jack of all trades in there, with great fielding, batting, and running, according to my scouts: 21-yr old Alberto Reyes, who played every infield position, and 21-yr old John White, who played the outfield and first base. 18-yr old LF/RF Alejandro Lopez was given a potential 20/20/15 bat, but his fielding was more on the pathetic side.

My first pick highly likely was among those five. Reilly would sign for slot, Reyes for under $300k. The others demanded upwards of $800k.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (23-13) @ Crusaders (16-21)

Just a few years ago, the Crusaders had been the offensive powerhouse of the division. Now they had 130 runs after 37 games, just over 3.5 R/G. Their pitchers were above average, though. The question was, how the wobbling Raccoons pitchers (in the rotation at least) would keep their stuff together.

Neither the rotation, nor the pen kept anything together in game 1. Logan Evans barely made it through five innings, giving up three runs on nine hits and three walks. The bottom 6th brought the explosion, as Paul Cooper allowed four runners without retiring one and Fletcher Kelley gave up a grand slam. Hits: 18-3 Crusaders. They wrecked the Raccoons 10-1.

Well, that went well. And it didn’t get better. Jorge Romero went seven frames and took a 2-1 loss in game 2, with the Raccoons offense lying dead and the Crusaders getting just that one clutch hit when they needed it.

Game 3. Moran walked three in the first inning and the Crusaders took a 1-0 lead, which they extended to 2-0 in the second. Wyatt Johnston got the start at first and hit a 2-run double to tie it in the fourth, whereupon the Raccoons made two errors (Green and Sanchez) in the bottom 4th that almost got runs again. The Raccoons wiggled through to lead 4-3 in the seventh, where Johnston dropped a ball for the third error of the game. That runner almost scored, but was nailed by Borjón from the outfield. Walker made a sprawling catch to end the inning with a runner on second, then made breathing a bit easier for me with a 3-run rocket in the top 8th, 7-3. Cooper made good for his nightmare outing in game 1 (well, he tried hard, but you hardly ever make good a 0.0 IP, 4 ER outing) with a flawless eighth and Gaston pitched a 1-hit ninth to end it, 7-3. Walker 4-5, HR, 4 RBI;

That series was … finally over. Quick, home, QUICK!!

Raccoons (24-15) vs. Knights (16-24)

This was the last series without Ralph Nixon, although Gonzalez was not doing bad: he had a 12-game hitting streak going, which he extended to 13 in the bottom 5th of game 1. The Raccoons batted for nine hits in the first five innings against Luis Nunez – yet only scored once. Jerry Ackerman pitched a good game and held the Knights down, mostly. Mark Dawson threw out a runner at the plate to end the top 4th, that was a close call for sure. The Raccoons then scored three runs in the bottom 6th with long balls from Dawson (solo) and Walker (2-run), 4-0. Tony Lopez blew the shutout in the ninth, West got the final out. Ackerman 7.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 K; Dawson 2-3, BB, HR, RBI;

Powell was up for game 2, and while he was not quite bulletproof, he held the Knights off the scoreboard. The Raccoons cracked ten hits through six with a 2-0 lead established, then broke the game open with a 4-spot in the seventh. I originally had planned to take Powell out with the small 2-0 lead, but then left him in. He breezed through the eighth, but then Cameron Green made an error to lead off the ninth and Engjell Vulaj, the main threat in the Knights lineup, doubled to right. Powell was yanked for Cunningham, who prevented the two runners on second and third from scoring. The Raccoons won 6-0. Bowling 3-3, BB, 2 RBI; Powell 8.0+ IP, 6 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K; Powell is now 7-0 and is ERA is down to 2.85 again, and also had his 500th major league strikeout in the game.

The main issue seemed to be with the 2-3 guys in the rotation at the moment. The #2 guy was next. The Raccoons had not swept a series since the 2-game Loggers season opener. The Raccoons were 4-4 in Evans’ starts, with only 22 runs (2.75 R/G). Not the brightest outlooks here.

They did not complete the sweep, althought it was not Evans’ fault, who went seven with two runs (one unearned after a Green error) against him. But the Raccoons missed all their chances and only scored in the eighth, too late, and lost 3-1.

Raccoons (26-16) @ Bayhawks (21-24)

We changed something about our rotation as well, and dropped Jorge Romero to the #5 spot. He was not getting it done currently, and probably the best part of his career was past him. Also, Ralph Nixon came off the DL, but the problem was whom to bench. Gonzalez had a 15-game hitting streak going, Walker was leading the team in average, Green was leading in OBP, and Workman was solid all around. The solution was to play with five infielders. No, Cameron Green was benched, but maybe I could work out a system where Green, Walker, and Gonzalez shared the three spots on the left side. Walker was put to 3B to start the Bayhawks series.

The Bayhawks had problems with their rotation and pen, but the bad news were that we would face the good part of their starters, if all went to plan. Their offense had already scored 225 times, leading the CL.

Daniel Hall hit a RBI double in the first for an early 1-0 lead, which the Raccoons never got to extend. Moran pitched seven shutout frames, but Wally Gaston was beaten in the eighth. He nicked a batter and surrendered two hits, blew the save and took the loss, 2-1 Bayhawks.

Maiden major league hit for starter Jerry Ackerman in game 2: he hit a game-tying RBI single in the top 5th of game 2, equalizing a first inning run of the Bayhawks. The Raccoons bats were silent again through the first four innings, but in the sixth Nixon and Borjón led off with hits to stand on the corners with nobody out. At least those two were scored, with another RBI to Ackerman on a fielder’s choice. The Raccoons won 4-1, as Ackerman pitched eight frames of 3-hit ball. Edgardo Gonzalez’ hitting streak ended in style: 0-5, 3 K! Ackerman’s five wins put him second on the team.

With Gonzalez’ streak over, we put in Green again at third base and started an experiment with him batting leadoff. His high walk numbers with Walker’s .320+ batting behind him might have positive effects on production. Hall and Nixon were next with averages around .280, and Borjón swung fifth. He was still around .220 …

Romero was on the mound in the rubber game. His opponent was veteran Walt McCorkindale, who held the Raccoons short until the sixth, where the first two got on, and McCorkindale added two walks for a run. Romero meanwhile went six innings of 2-hit ball, but that sounds so much better than he was. In fact, Daniel Hall, Mark Dawson, and Ralph Nixon all made defensive plays that will be seen in sport broadcasts’ highlight reels for years to come. What made the pen with that 1-0 lead? They immediately broke it. Cooper and McCullough surrendered hits to the only batters they faced and Cunningham could not contain the fire this time. The Bayhawks emerged with a 3-1 lead, and won 4-2, a Mark Dawson home run in the ninth was meaningless.

In other news:
May 18 – Dean Botts tosses a 3-hitter as the Capitals beat the Rebels 3-0. Botts’ 1982 resume is much less favorable with a 2-5 record and 5.52 ERA.
May 19 – Miners C Sam Murphy (.331, 6 HR, 27 RBI) is out for a few weeks with a torn hamstring.
May 20 – Pacifics reliever Adem Dajan, 34, is out for the season with radial nerve compression. We had posted a 3-0 record and 1.46 ERA in 16 games.
May 22 – Ulnar nerve irritation and three months out: the Wolves lose 27-yr old SP Bob “Butcher” Haines (5-2, 1.33 ERA), blowing a gaping hole into the last place club’s rotation.
May 24 – The Rebels lose CF Jimmy Hunter (.333, 1 HR, 17 RBI) to a strained oblique for about three weeks.
May 24 – Loggers SP Bill Warren (3-3, 3.43 ERA), a true workhorse, won’t pull the plough for a while: the 25-yr old suffered a stretched elbow ligament and will be out for almost a full year.
May 26 – Titans fans are shocked: Juan Valentín suffered a knee sprain and is out until the All Star game. His .321, 5 HR, 28 RBI was pacing Titans batters.
May 26 – Charlotte’s Cordell Atkins brings a hitting streak to 20 games.

The rotation is suffering badly, the bullpen’s excellence has been trashed, and the offense is completely silenced. They scored 3.0 R/G in the last three series.

Next: homestand against Condors and Aces, then road trip to the Loggers and Indians.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (27-18) vs. Condors (29-18)

The Condors playing over .600 was as unforeseen as the Raccoons playing over .600, so this was a series of wonders for everybody. Both teams did it on pitching, with the Condors’ 139 and the Raccoons’ 143 runs against ranking 1st and 2nd in the Continental League.

Yet unbeaten Christopher Powell faced Alex Miranda in game 1, but the anticipated pitching duel never materialized. Miranda was injured in the second inning and Powell was torched for five runs (three earned) in the third. In another awful outing, Powell took the 11-4 loss, his first of the season, with a line of 5.1 IP, 11 H, 8 R, 6 ER, 2 BB, 3 K. The pen continued in that way, f.e. Cunningham surrendered a 3-run home run to Wayne Baxter that scored the last two runs against Powell.

No doubt, it is over, collapse is in progress. In 1978, the Raccoons were above .500 until the 63rd game of the season. That one here won’t last that long.

Game 2 featured Logan Evans against the yet unbeaten Shayne Nealon, also 7-0. Those two traded zeros until Ralph Nixon bashed a solo jack to start the bottom 7th. The Raccoons scored two in the inning, but Evans fell apart in the eighth and Gaston battled his way out of a mess. West saved a 2-1 win.

Moran was hit hard in game 3 and surrendered five runs. The Raccoons went nowhere. It took a bottom 7th with two errors and a wild pitch by the Condors to plate four runs for the Raccoons and make the last two innings interesting – potentially at least, because the bullpen continued to give runs away and the Raccoons lost 8-4.

Eric McCullough was banished to AAA with a 6.97 ERA after this series. Jason White was recalled. Grant West was now the only lefty in the bullpen, since there were no viable options in the entire system.

Raccoons (28-20) vs. Aces (19-30)

Starting pitchers were bashed early in game 1, with both teams plating three in the first inning. Jerry Ackerman was yanked in the third with the Aces up 5-3, who ended up scoring five in the inning. Trailing, 8-3, the Raccoons mostly lay dead, with the exception of Mark Dawson, who batted in three in his next two at bats, with one long ball. The Aces pen had a crash in the seventh, allowing the Raccoons to tie the game, 8-8. Cunningham pitched three strong innings of relief as the game went to extra innings, where both teams put runners in scoring position, but never got them in. The Raccoons had Nixon on third in the 11th and two in position in the 12th and never scored. The Aces got one run against Kelley in the 14th, which Workman tied again with a solo homer in the bottom 14th. Keith Burgess homered against Jason White in the 15th and this time it was the game, 10-9 Aces.

This had the nice side effect of completely emptying the pen for the rest of the series. Romero’s start was next, but he was removed for Powell and was planned in for relief. This was not the best idea, but the only one I had. Powell got behind early, but the Raccoons batted through the lineup in the second inning (actually they got four walks in that inning) to lead 4-2. Powell went on to surrender a home run to Dave Larson, the opposing pitcher in the fifth and the Aces tied it in the sixth. Romero finished the game, but gave up the game-winning home run to Jordan Archer. Raccoons lost 6-5.

C Spencer Dicks (.111 at the plate) was demoted to AAA and replaced with C Mark Mitchell (.301 in AAA, but his defensive work was not that great).

Evans was beaten early in game 3 and the Raccoons lost 6-0, being 1-hit, a single by Daniel Hall.

That made 7.0 runs against the last six games. Our lead in the CL North was down to half a game, and would without a doubt soon vanish completely.

Raccoons (28-23) @ Loggers (27-26)

Score some runs, boys! The boys in brown, I mean. Not the ones in white.

The Raccoons were no-hit the first time through the lineup in game 1, while Moran was lacking control. The Loggers went ahead 2-0 in the third on errors by Hall and Borjón. Actually, it took the Raccoons into the seventh inning, when Daniel Hall tripled down the right field line with one out, to break up the no-hitter. By then, they trailed 6-0 on three errors. Tony Lopez handed over four runs in the eighth. The Loggers won 11-1 on 16 hits, 9 walks, and the three errors.

The Canadiens beat the Titans, 2-0, so the Raccoons were relieved of leading the CL North. They played like a ninth place team anyway. Just what is going on here? Everything has broken down completely. And I mean: completely. Not the least amount of offense, crap pitching, and I am the one left wondering why and how? Of course, because the game hates me, that much is clear.

The Loggers led 2-0 early again in game 2, but Daniel Hall and Ramón Borjón both swatted 2-run home runs in the top 4th to make it 4-2 Raccoons. Ackerman went five and was pinch hit for in the top 6th. Nixon had homered to make it 5-2 and with two on and two out we sent out Cam Green for Ackerman, but he flew out harmlessly. Cooper (1.1 IP), White (1.0), Gaston (.2), and West (1.0) pitched shutout ball from there and the Raccoons won 5-2. With 11 hits by the Raccoons, that was a good game, period.

The Raccoons tore Loggers starter John Douglas to pieces in the rubber game, raping him for seven runs. He never got out of the first inning, but an error by Dan Payne meant that six of the runs were unearned, so technically it was not his fault alone. Then Marvin Mills and Payne drew walks off Jorge Romero to start the bottom 1st. Oh my – dear lord, please, no! Edgardo Garza lined a shot to second, which Ralph Nixon caught. The runners were already far ahead, and Nixon to Gonzalez to Workman completed a triple play! The Raccoons scored four more in the third to move the game far away. Romero’s pitching was not great, but enough to go seven frames. And after a triple play the fans even got to see a 40-year old man hopping around the bases for a triple, when Wyatt Johnston came to bat in the eighth after entering the game along with catcher Mitchell and Guerrero as replacements with the game in hand. The Raccoons smothered the Loggers 13-1 in this one, the lone Loggers run a Clifton Greenan homer in the second. Green 3-5, BB, 2 RBI; Nixon 3-5, 2 RBI; Sanchez 2-3, BB, RBI;

In other news:
May 29 – The Canadiens chill Cordell Atkins’ hot streak at 22 games. The infielder is batting .368 this year for the Falcons.
June 2 – The Cyclones beat the Wolves, 10-3, as 2B Max Reynolds bashes six hits, all doubles(!!), for Cincinnati.
June 5 – The Loggers trade infielder Joe Helms, 30, .326 with 2 HR and 16 RBI, to Boston for infielder Julio Ocasio, 25, (7-33, 1 RBI) and a minor leaguer.

What else? Tony Lopez signed a 1-yr, $112k contract extension. We will face the Indians before interleague play against the Blue Sox and Stars. The Crusaders will come to Portland for a 4-game set, before we will go on a 2-week road trip to Boston, Oklahoma City, Atlanta, and Indianapolis, which will already bring us into June.

It’s also only one more week till the draft. I’m still undecided on whom to pick first (or second, should the Knights ahead of me do something outrageous).

[Westheim]

As I have a little time left before I drop dead into bed, I will take a look at my picks from the first five rounds from every draft so far with a short summary. I have picked only once in all of those rounds, had no supplemental round picks, and forfeited the round two pick one when signing FA Pedro Hermundo.

1977

Round 1 - OF Daniel Hall – Well, you know him. He has become an anchor of the team, although his bat has not become 19/18/20. Is a .267 hitter with a 20-homer season, but is injured quite a lot.
Round 2 - SP Jaime Garcia – A total bust, he has never made it out of AA ball, and after missing 1981 injured, is back to A ball.
Round 3 - 1B Matt Workman – Made the majors last September and has the starting 1B job. Showed tremendous power in the minors, which is slowly coming through on the big league stage.
Round 4 - MR Miguel Bojorquez – Was with the Raccoons 1980-81 as situational lefty with a 7.25 ERA, and sent back to AAA. He has not pitched in almost a full year due to a torn UCL. Future highly uncertain.
Round 5 - SP/MR Jorge Rodriguez – Became a reliever that raced up to AAA ball, but never made the jump to the big team. Since 1981 he is in a bad decline, his 1982 ERA is over eight.

1978

Round 1 - MR Richard Cunningham – He developed a killer arm with a slight tendency to go wild. Joined the Raccoons in late ’81 and is a murder 7th/8th inning guy. Has almost 9 K/9 in the majors so far.
Round 2 - SP/MR Gary Simmons – He made it quickly to the majors, but most likely too quickly, while also being converted to a starter. It did not work out, he lost 21 games in 1981. He is back at AAA and being converted to a reliever again.
Round 3 - 1B Johnny Snow – Back then, I said murder bat with a small glove, but it turned out he had a small bat and a very small glove. Plays AA ball. Bust.
Round 4 - MR Marvin Large – Joined the AA team after the draft, but never got beyond that.
Round 5 - C Eric Gregory – He slowly rose through the ranks to AAA ball, but his bat is lacking too much to jump to the majors but as an injury replacement.

1979

Round 1 - MR Grant West – Local boy from Portland, he has become the Raccoons closer less than two years after being drafted. Has murder stuff and movement and is hardly hittable. Definitely one of my best picks.
Round 2 - SP Pepe Acevedo – Pitched in A ball all his career so far. He is the first in the list not with the Raccoons organization anymore, as he was included in the Pennington/Hermundo trade with the Cyclones in the winter of ‘80/’81.
Round 3 - MR Fletcher Kelley – He joined the AA team right away after being drafted and has shredded the opposition on his way to the majors, which he made in ’81. Is a pitcher similar in makeup to Rich Cunningham, just a notch less great.
Round 4 - LF/RF Gary Carter – Also joined the AA team after being drafted, and made the jump to AAA in 1981, but has never gotten a starting job there for lacking with the bat. His development was stalled.
Round 5 - C Dave Stewart – The “bit of power” we saw before drafting him has never materialized, his bat is very weak and he has never progressed past A ball.

1980

Round 1 - SP Carlos Gonzalez – The hype about him as died down some. He was rushed to AA too soon after the draft, and is now back there, 3-3 with a 4.57 ERA in 1982. I consider it highly likely that we won’t ever see him in the majors.
Round 3 - SP Ray Willis – He has not gotten out of A ball yet and has been severely rated down by scouting departments since being drafted.
Round 4 - 1B/2B Darren Campbell – He is making slow progress, but is only batting .231 in AA ball now.
Round 5 - LF Jose Perez – Made the transition to AA ball in 1981, but has been rated down harshly and looks like another bust in this drafting class.

1981

Round 1 - 3B/2B Orlando Lantán – A broken kneecap in his rookie season in A ball has put his whole career in grave danger. He is only batting .244 at the A level right now.
Round 2 - C Greg Thornburg – He is gifted with the ability to control a game and make calls in the best degree, unfortunately his bat is nowhere near where it would have to be. He sniffed at AA ball shortly, but is back with our A level club.
Round 3 - OF Kelly Weber – Moved up to AA late in ’81 and is playing very well there. Should be at AAA next year in any case.
Round 4 - MR Pedro Vazquez – Also at AA, he is a righty fireballer that could close out games, but so far has a tendency to go very wild.
Round 5 - CL Emerson MacDonald – Employed as the AA team’s closer currently, he is a less wild variant of Vazquez. He should definitely make the majors in some capacity by ’84 or so.

So, we got something out of every draft, but the 1980 one. That one looks really *really* bad. The only player drafted by the Raccoons that was picked past round 5 and made it to the majors yet was reliever Jason White, who was taken in the seventh round in 1977.