Portland Raccoons (ABL)

[Westheim]

Raccoons (30-24) @ Indians (24-33)

What had happened to the World Series champions? That was anybody’s guess. The Indians had numbers in runs scored, runs against, and ERA’s very similar to the Raccoons, but ranked 7.5 games lower. Their ace, Miguel Sanchez, had a losing record despite a 2.99 ERA. A lot of mystery surrounded this team, but everybody was waiting for them to break out of their slump and storm to the top of the CL North. Please not this week, please not this week!

Powell got his win #8 with a solid 7-inning, 1-run performance with a tight 3-1 lead behind him. The Indians occasionally threatened against him, but the pen had much more problems in the last two innings. Cunningham stalled and was bailed out by Gaston in the eighth, and after the Raccoons rapped up a 5-spot themselves in the top 9th, Tony Lopez again showed his incompetence with a 3-walk, 2-run bottom 9th. Cooper got the final out in the 8-3 win.

Game 2 was one of those games. Logan Evans was the first Raccoon to land a hit and score a run, and his pitching was marginal, 6.0 IP, 8 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 3 K. The Raccoons did not come back this time, despite some chances to score bigger. Hall batted in both runs in the 3-2 loss.

The rubber game saw Carlos Moran against Miguel Sanchez, who did everything to tie up his record, and succeeded, shutting the Raccoons down hard. Moran was less brilliant and surrendered all the runs in the 3-1 loss.

Raccoons (31-26) vs. Blue Sox (28-31)

The Raccoons were shut out into the ninth and lost 6-1. They landed just three hits, while Jerry Ackerman was yanked in the fifth and charged with all the runs.

The team then scored a pair to start game 2 and then blasted Blue Sox starter Augusto Rodriguez for six more in the second inning, removing him from the game. A Cameron Green homer in the third made it 10-0 Raccoons. The pitcher receiving all the support was again Jorge Romero, who surrendered one run in 6.2 innings. The Blue Sox only rallied against Jason White (and those runs were unearned), but the Raccoons dumped them 14-3. Gonzalez 2-3, 2 BB; Green 2-5, HR, 4 RBI; Borjón 2-5, HR, 3 RBI; Dawson 3-4, BB, HR, 3 RBI; Workman 3-5, HR, 2 RBI; Romero 1-3, RBI and 6.2 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K;

This sent Chris Powell back out. He had a few problems in the first innings with the speedy Blue Sox runners, but quickly gained control of the game. The game was scoreless through three, but the Raccoons scored six runs through the seventh, while Powell was in the driver’s seat. His pitch count was rather high early on, but he became automatic in the middle innings. No blue sock reached base after the fourth, and Powell mowed through them on his way to a 108-pitch 2-hit shutout, his second shutout of the season, and his ninth win. He fanned four and walked nobody. Green and Workman were 3-4 each, with 2 and 1 RBI, respectively.

Raccoons (33-27) @ Stars (31-31)

The Stars had finished bottom of the FL West last season, but were the offensive powerhouse of the league this year. Too bad for them their pitching didn’t keep up and they were 9th in runs against. They also led the league in home runs (38; yet the Raccoons led the CL with 45) and they also walked a lot and held the K’s down, so this could become nasty, especially with Evans and Moran, who were out of control at this point.

Evans was sent out first and before he blinked twice he was already charged with four runs. Evans covered six, but the Raccoons never found back into the game. Fletcher Kelley was shelled for four runs in the seventh, and only after that, with the game far removed, the Raccoons scored some against the back end of the Stars pen. 8-5 Stars. Borjón got his 40th RBI in the ninth. Hall and Workman were both 3-5, the latter with a pair of RBI’s.

Two home runs, six runs, two errors, all in four innings – Carlos Moran gave his worst in game 2, quickly letting that one get out of hand, too. The Raccoons were in no way up to this challenge. They scored three in the seventh against a tiring starter Jake Wallace, but overall were at least one league below the Stars. Lopez was bashed for three in the bottom 7th, and the Raccoons cranked it up again with the game far away. Nixon hit a grand slam to make it 10-8 Stars in the top 8th. But it ended there, closer Hidekazu Oyama killed the fur balls quickly in the ninth. Nixon had six RBI’s.

The Raccoons were embarrassingly harmless in the 6-1 loss that completed the sweep in game 3. Ackerman never K’ed anybody, and the pen was not any better. At the plate, the Raccoons only had six hits. Harmlessness as in the dictionary.

This was the 8th sweep to the Raccoons in interleague play – they have never swept an interleague series themselves.

Raccoons (33-30) vs. Crusaders (26-39)

Jorge Romero started the 4-game set against the offensively challenged Crusaders (but what does that mean with the all around challenged Raccoons). He shoveled his own grave with five walks and took a 4-2 loss. It was an awful game. Ralph Nixon was hit by a pitch and injured: a bruise on the shin would put him to day-to-day status for about a week. Gonzalez and Walker made up the middle infield now.

Powell was also sub par in game 2 with 8 H, 4 BB against him. He took the 4-1 loss, while the Raccoons were so god damn awful, it was far past funny. They loaded the bags in the bottom 9th with one out, and Sanchez grounded into a double play.

The offense remained badly lacking in game 3, but a solid effort from Logan Evans (7 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 K) was enough to stop the Crusaders and a 5-game losing streak right here. Evans even had to bat in the winning run in the bottom 4th in the 3-2 win. With that, Evans had 25% of all Raccoons hits in the game…

Carlos Moran sucked big in game 4 and was yanked in the second inning with 4 H, 5 BB and 6 ER… the game was blown immediately. Another awful performance and a 7-1 loss later, the Raccoons were again decisively beaten by a last place team.

Before long, the Raccoons would make the last place team.

Again.

In other news:
June 8 – A shoulder fracture ends the season of Nashville starter Jeffrey “Wonder Boy” Tolbert (4-1, 3.14 ERA).
June 10 – Big trade: the Condors acquire all-time home run leader Michinaga Yamada, 32, this year at .298 with 11 HR and 44 RBI, and send SP Alex Miranda (6-4, 2.86 ERA) and prospect Francisco Hernandez, an aspiring outfielder, to the Salem Wolves.
June 10 – The Loggers trade C/1B Mike Gamble to the Stars for reliever Luis Carcia and minor league SP Tad Stout. Gamble was a regular with the 1980 champions Sacramento.
June 11 – The Loggers continue wheeling and dealing and send reliever Steven Parkinson to Atlanta in exchange for prospects, including highly touted 2B Germán Roldán, 17.
June 13 – The Indians trade SP Steve Murray (3-9, 4.80 ERA) to the Canadiens for prospect SP Robert Vazquez.
June 15 – Kent Doyle of the Falcons 2-hits the Warriors in a 4-0 win. Doyle is 5-3 with a 2.69 ERA.
June 17 – LAP SP Freddy Perez (3-5, 4.19 ERA) is out until at least September with shoulder inflammation.
June 21 – Outfielder Dan Younger, 31, with his .270 average is returned to New York in trade with the Buffaloes for SP Tom Moulds (5-6, 3.54 ERA). Two minor leaguers were also swapped in the trade.

Ramón Borjón was signed to a new 2-yr, $520k total contract before the Crusaders series. While his average is around .210 and clearly not what I had hoped for, he still brought danger from centerfield, and opponents were readily walking Nixon to get to Borjón, who had a knack to go deep with nine homers at that point. Despits his low AVG he led the team in RBI’s (41 when the contract was signed). Borjón had signed as a free agent for $300k this season, so the Raccoons even made a small bargain.

The starting pitching had been the one point where I had thought I might be safe before the season. Wow, have I been wrong…

[Westheim]

1982 AMATEUR DRAFT

My first choice was between six players: SP Judd Montgomery, MR Ray Reilly, INF Alberto Reyes, LF/RF Alejandro Lopez, LF/RF Bobby Quinn, and OF/1B John White. Picking one was not easy and was done by sorting out first.

As attractive as I found Ray Reilly’s makeup, he fit the right-handed high-stuff 8th inning guy I had already a lot of, even in the minors. Had he been a lefty, he had been far up on the chart, but I needed something else. Judd Montgomery was not going to be it – he was not the over-the-top hurler I would pick as #2 in the first round. He certainly had potential for a #2 or #3 starter. But I left him at the side and looked at the power hitters in the draft. This also excluded Reyes, a jack of all trades, and White. Lopez was projected 20/20/15 (bit less by OSA), with mediocre defense. Quinn was a 20/14/19 project, but ranked a bust by OSA, and his defense was bad. Thus I settled on Alejandro Lopez as round 1 pick, then go from there.

The Knights had the first pick. They picked outfielder Michael “Lunatic” Root, who had been about 7th on my OF list, similar in makeup to Quinn, but with a less sure-handed bat (at least according to my scouts).

None of my top 6 remained, when the Raccoons came back to pick for the first time in the supplemental round.

The Raccoons picked:
Round 1 (#2) – LF/RF Alejandro Lopez, 18, from Villa Gonzalez, Dom. Rep. – huge bat and mediocre defense, he could make pitchers suffer badly one day
Supp. Round (#25) – INF Carlos Miranda, 20, from Santo Domingo, Dom. Rep. – plays all infield positions, has high contact and a good eye, and also hits for some power
Supp. Round (#39) – OF Matt Olson, 21, from Avis, PA – not too great in the field, but has a solid contact bat and a good batting eye, but no power.
Round 2 (#43) – MR Jason Bentley, 20, from Chicago, IL – very good stuff, less control, but has a good projection to be a 7th/8th inning righty.
Round 3 (#67) – C Odwin Garza, 22, from Sint Nicolas, Aruba – knows how to catch and his bat his good for a catcher as well.
Round 4 (#91) – 1B Mariano Duarte, 21, from Sanford, NC – hardly knows how to move and catch a ball at the same time, has a good bat according to my scouts, but OSA disagrees
Round 5 (#115) – RF Paul Blake, 22, from Santa Ana, CA – average throughout, his bat could give him a chance at a career, but OSA thinks he’s a bust
Round 6 (#139) – CL Arturo Romero, 18, from Plano, TX – nasty slider, fast fastball, but OSA disagrees again
Round 7 (#163) – CL Ken Franco, 19, from Seattle, WA – similar in makeup to Romero, but a tad below according to my scouts
Round 8 (#187) – 1B Bryce Parker, 17, from Newark, NJ – no big league future
Round 9 (#211) – MR Ancel Rosen, 21, from Bornheim, Germany – no big league future (he was the last player left on my not so short shortlist)
Round 10 (#235) – MR Jaime Echeveste, 21, from Valencia, Colombia – lefty reliever, one of the last there was, plus in college at Oregon, but no big league future

Bentley, Olson, and Blake reported to the AA team as experienced college players. The rest went to the A level team.

[Westheim]

The team was playing .333 ball in June, and here came a tough road trip to Boston, Oklahoma City, Atlanta, and Indianapolis, strong teams or teams that we have done historically bad against regardless of their general performance. F.e. the Titans had a losing record so far, but the Raccoons had never achieved a winning season against them despite a long row of disappointing seasons for the Boston teams.

With the Raccoons’ slow offense and the rotation completely off their game …

Raccoons (34-33) @ Titans (32-38)

Boy, did the fans get to see some awful pitching in the first game of the 3-set! Raccoons and Titans evenly split 32 hits between them and the Raccoons were able to nip the Titans, 9-7, in the contest. They took seven walks to the Titans’ one. Every Raccoons starter (including pitcher Jerry Ackerman) got at least one hit, Borjón and Workman got three. Workman was the only Raccoon with more than one RBI: 2; an unrested Grant West made an emergency save when the ninth got away from Jason White.

Steve Walker was hit by a pitch in the top 1st of game 2 and left the game. The pitch had hit his hand and broken his thumb – he was out for six weeks. That forced the also ailing Ralph Nixon to play with his bad shin. Hall and Green had a day off, and their replacements (Guerrero and Sánz) were not getting anything done. The whole team didn’t get anything done. Romero surrendered nine hits in seven innings and took the 2-1 loss. Edgardo Gonzalez had two of the team’s five hits.

The injury to Walker made a bad team even worse. The problem was finding a replacement at AAA. Jayson Bowling was one option for a middle infielder, or Angel Costa, who had been demoted before the season after waiving his 10/5 rights. In any case, it made the bench much poorer. Costa had a bad knee and Hector Mendez, another AAA infielder, was also injured, so we could not call up anybody for game 3 and Nixon played with his bad shin at second. It had to be. A loss would drop the Raccoons to .500 for the first time in 1982.

On the mound we had Christopher Powell (9-2, 3.27), the best we had, and he faced 23-yr old Roberto Sanchez (7-2, 2.42 ERA). Sanchez had control problems, other than that he was a rising star. Powell in turn made a fielding error in the first that put a runner in scoring position with one out, but found his way out of the mess. The Titans went ahead 1-0 in the second, but Sanchez was far beyond control issues. He was wild! He walked two in the fifth (seven total up to there) who were brought in by Borjón. 2-1 Raccoons. Sanchez was gone in the sixth and Powell coupled with some great defense made the Raccoons look like winners. Green’s RBI double in the top 7th made it 3-1. Powell was pinch-hit for in the bottom of the inning. It was still 3-1 into the bottom 9th. Grant West was unavailable and the Titans wrecked Wally Gaston. 4-3 Titans. The Raccoons’ winning record is history.

Raccoons (35-35) @ Thunder (41-31)

Jayson Bowling was called up again to replace the injured Steve Walker, who was out until the end of July.

There was no hope. The Thunder had the best offense of the league, and while they had a weak bullpen (worst in the CL), they had no reason to worry that the Raccoons would ever face any member of the pen.

The Raccoons were shut out to start the series, 2-0, with the loss to Logan Evans, whose pitching was good, but nobody’s pitching will ever be good enough if your team doesn’t score for you at all. Enrique Sanchez was 3-4. The rest of the team was 3-28. The next day was even worse: three hits in a 4-0 loss.

Jerry Ackerman had his 5th RBI of the season in the top 2nd of game 2, scoring Bowling from third with a sac fly, followed by a 2-run shot by Edgardo Gonzalez. 3-0 Raccoons in the top 2nd – would they hold on? In fact, they added and chased starter Hunter Frazier early on. Now they faced the pen, and tortured them. I felt some anger being released by my batters. The Raccoons rocked the Thunder, 11-3, in this game, although it was closer in hits: 18-15. Ackerman went six frames of 1-run ball, Lopez coughed up two in the ninth. Gonzalez 3-6, HR, 2 RBI; Borjón 3-6, HR (10th), 2 RBI; Bowling 4-6, RBI; Sánz 3-5, RBI; Ackerman 2-3, 3 RBI(!!!!);

Pedro Sánz became the all-time hits leader for the Raccoons with 748, passing Ben Simon’s 746. Simon still leads in home runs with 88, 32 ahead of Johnston and 34 ahead of Hall, who is the closest starter, as well as in RBI’s with 410, 102 ahead of Johnston, and 197 ahead of Hall, again the closest current starter.

Raccoons (36-37) @ Knights (33-42)

We skipped Jorge Romero’s turn in the rotation and sent out Christopher Powell to start the series. It was the last series in June and the first the Raccoons started with a losing record this season. The Knights were struggling, but we had never had any luck against them before, so I had no doubts about the collapse to continue.

Powell pitched well and was lifted in the top 7th for a pinch hitter to no effect. He left with a no-decision in a 1-1 tie. The Knights walked off against Wally Gaston (his fourth loss this year) with two outs in the bottom 9th, 2-1 Knights. I had hoped for *some* punch from the last game to carry over to this, but certainly was fearing that *none* did…

The Raccoons took a 2-0 lead in the top 2nd of game 2 with two unearned runs after an Armando Delgado error to lead off the inning. Evans gave away a run immediately, but had a 2-run double in the top 4th himself. Borjón had singled, Green walked, but Dawson hit into a double play. Sanchez was walked, and then came Evans with a long double into the extreme left corner. That didn’t make his pitching any better, though. He left after 5.1 innings with a 4-3 lead. The pen was shaky, but it held up, with a late insurance home run by Nixon for a 6-4 win, with the Raccoons’ runs pieced together from seven hits, four walks, and two errors.

Moran blew an early 1-0 lead (Workman double, Nixon RBI single in the top 1st) in the bottom 5th with a 3-walk, 2-hit inning. Up till there he had been strong with 1-hit ball and 4 K, but of course he found a way to lose the game. He was further shelled in the sixth and White and Lopez continued in that way. Knights won, 9-2.

In other news:
June 22 – Falcons outfielder Michael Watson hits a single in the eighth inning of his team’s 5-0 loss to the Aces, bringing a hitting streak to 20 games.
June 26 – Falcons 1B star Irwin Webster has a fractured rib and is out for a month. He’s batting .312 with no home runs – his worst season in quite some time.
June 27 – Cyclones star 2B Jeremiah Carrell (.361, 0 HR, 30 RBI) is injured in an on base collision with former Raccoon Ed Sullivan. He is out with a back injury for at least two weeks.
June 27 – The Falcons lose 5-2 to the Titans, but Michael Watson hits a double in the fifth to extend his streak to 25 games.
June 30 – Buffaloes reliever Jason Lyons (0.86 ERA in 26 games) suffered a torn ulnar collateral ligament and is out for up to a year.

The Raccoons banished several players to the minor leagues on July 1. Gone was catcher Mark Mitchell (hitting .000 in the big leagues) and Spencer Dicks was recalled. Outfielder Eduardo Guerrero was taken off the roster for outfielder Ben Cox. Tony Lopez and Jason White were struck off the roster as well. Bill Craig and Yoelbi Maurinha joined the Raccoons. Craig was a righty reliever last with the big league team in 1980, and Maurinha was a left-handed starter that replaced Moran in the rotation.

Lopez and Guerrero are out of options. Losing either would not hurt me, both are failures and will always remain such. Signing Lopez out of Mexico was one of the biggest blunders I have made, and that blunder has lasted for five years now.

The Raccoons will lose against the following teams before the All Star break: Indians, Canadiens, Loggers. Gonna hurt.

Many zeros below. Maurinha was the only starter with not-too-shameful results at the AAA team. Craig had a 2.50-something ERA there. Cox was hitting almost .300 with power. Dicks failed there as well, but you can’t fail harder than hitting .000 and not getting runners out (which Mitchell was also guilty of).

Collapse. Nobody here to hand me a Kleenex or something? No?

[Westheim]

Raccoons (37-39) @ Indians (32-46)

The Indians‘ Miguel Sanchez, who was a great pitcher, entered the game with a losing (7-8) record, and an ERA a full run better than our Jerry Ackerman (8-5), who was an awful pitcher at times. Baseball’s a strange game, ain’t it?

Ackerman was every bit as awful as possible and took a 5-2 loss, in which Sanchez ended five innings of his seven with K’s. Raccoons were awful as a whole at the plate, with 7 H, 3 BB, 10 K on the whole team. Borjón was 2-3 with a walk, the rest was penciled in for a whipping the next morning. Hoyt Cook (our Hoyt Cook of old, now taking the field for Indianapolis) went 3-3 with a home run. Of course he did.

Jorge Romero got 2-0 behind after a Borjón error in the bottom 2nd of game 2. The Raccoons popped out twice with the bags full and one out in the top 3rd, then had the same situation in the top 6th. Sánz popped out for the second out and Romero was lifted for pinch hitter Cam Green. A run scored on a passed ball and Green walked, whereupon Gonzalez singled in the tying run, but Workman made another embarrassing out and Romero got a no-decision. Raccoons lost 4-2. Gonzalez 3-4, BB, RBI; Hoyt Cook scored the winning run for the Indians off Paul Cooper in the sixth. Of course he did.

Game 3 was the big league debut for Yoelbi Maurinha. I would have liked to offer him anything but a loss in his cards, but with the way the Raccoons were batting it was meaningless how somebody pitched anyway. Nixon and Gonzalez were cold, Hall was cold, Green, Dawson, Workman, Sánz, Johnston were not getting anything done, Borjón’s average had been poor before. It was almost pointless to take to the field.

The only perceived weakness was opposing pitcher Jim Ferguson, who entered with an ERA a sliver over five. Ferguson was trying to stick at the major league level for years now, but always dropped back off rosters. Borjón knocked a 2-run triple in the first and Dawson hit a solo homer in the second for an early 3-0 Raccoons lead. Despite a 2-run homer by Green in the sixth, Raccoons pitching was not up to the task and the game went tied 5-5 into the ninth after Wally Gaston had blown a lead with two walks and a freak hit against him. This was not Wally’s season, that was for sure… We sent “Demon” West in the bottom 9th and he sent the game to extra innings. Ralph Nixon was thrown out at the plate in the top 12th and the Raccoons never scored and Kelley took the loss in the bottom 12, 6-5 Indians, on a bases loaded single. Nixon 4-6; Workman 3-6; shockingly: Daniel Hall 0-6; Ramon Borjón left with an undiagnosed injury.

Everybody was excited for game 4. As far as Indians fans were concerned.

Christopher Powell was on top of his game for eight frames of 4-hit shutout ball, but then surrendered a leadoff homer to RF Francis Bell in the bottom 9th, followed by a single to Hoyt Cook. With none of our pair of closers available, I had to resort to Cunningham to hold on to the 3-1 lead with nobody out and a runner on first. Cunningham walked a batter, but completed the game to avoid a 4-game sweep. The Raccoons only had four hits in the game, all singles, and hadn’t scored anything without six walks to aid them. This was Powell’s 10th of the season.

Raccoons (38-42) vs. Canadiens (47-34)

To be honest, the Raccoons were in no constitution to stand a chance here.

Logan Evans faced Victor Underwood (5-6, 2.76 ERA) in game 1. Both pitchers walked in a run in the first inning. Evans was almost unhittable because he was so wild in this game. He walked five, but struck out eight through six innings, then he was done with almost 100 pitches thrown, but he held a 4-2 lead. Spencer Dicks, who caught on Sanchez’ off day, hit a solo homer in the eighth, 5-2. West was still done from his long outing against the Indians and Gaston saved the 5-2 win with 2 K and 1 BB. Workman 2-4, RBI; Nixon 3-4, RBI;

Borjón’s injury turned out to be torn ankle ligaments, and he was out until mid-August. Oh, great… with him down I had the wonderful choice of three sub-.200 hitters in the outfield in Ben Cox, Pedro Sánz, and Eduardo Guerrero. Why can’t I just die?

Game 2 was 2-2 after the first inning. Ackerman was pitching as wild as Evans, but without getting people out. The defense helped him big in this game. Still, Luis Romero homered to right for a 3-2 Canadiens lead in the sixth. Ackerman was removed in the seventh, in the bottom of which Cameron Green reached on an error, before Enrique Sanchez became the second catcher in two days to homer for the Raccoons to make it 4-3, but the Canadiens tied the game in the top 8th. The scoring runner had been nicked by Cunningham, who left without retiring a batter. Cam Green walked to lead off the bottom 9th, representing the winning run, and got to third, but didn’t score. After Sanchez had bunted him over, Guerrero and Sánz made pathetic groundouts. Entering extra innings, I broke out Carlos Moran, who held the Canadiens from scoring, while the Raccoons stranded Daniel Hall at second in the 10th, and Mark Dawson at first in the 11th. Guerrero singled to lead off the 12th. Moran bunted him over, and Bowling pinch hit for Gonzalez, but grounded out. Guerrero went to third. Matt Workman shoveled a ball into no man’s land with two down and scored Guerrero, walking off the Raccoons with a 5-4 win!

Romero started game 3. Like Evans and Ackerman before him, he got behind in the top 1st, but halved the damage with a 1-0 deficit. Workman bombed a 2-piece in the bottom 1st to turn the game early. The Raccoons upped to 4-1 against Juan Soto in that bottom 1st. Hall went deep in the bottom 2nd, 5-1. Romero pitched a good game and went eight frames in the 7-1 Raccoons win. Gonzalez 3-5, RBI; Nixon 3-4;

Game 4 was the only one where the Canadiens didn’t score in the first. But they trashed Yoelbi Maurinha in the second and chased him in the third, leading 6-0 by then. From there, there was no return for the Raccoons, who were held short by Robbie Campbell on the mound for Vancouver and who didn’t begin to hit successfully until the late innings. Home runs by Workman (solo, his third in the series), and Green (three runs) only made the result a little less unpleasant. Raccoons lost 8-4.

Still, how did they win three of four against the far-and-ahead division leaders!? Would this whatever-it-was carry over to the last series before the All Star game?

Raccoons (41-43) @ Loggers (37-49)

The Loggers struggled at the plate with only 299 runs scored (last in the CL) and had the 11th rotation in the CL, so there were reasons for them falling from contention in early May to last two months later. With the Raccoons bringing out their 1-2-3 starters, things certainly were interesting.

But game 1 took place without Gonzalez and Hall, who needed a break. Bowling and Cox were in the lineup, which didn’t look as meaty as other days… the lineup faced Fiorello Garafaio (1-3, 6.41 ERA). The sky was the limit? Wow, did that kid whip the Raccoons. He K’ed six and won the game over Christopher Powell, who went eight frames in the 2-0 loss to Milwaukee. What a shameful display of non-offense. I was thoroughly disgusted.

The following night none of the Raccoons found any sleep, neither did I. Some whipping was done.

The next day they ran away 6-0 in the first four innings. Evans worked on a shuout but left in the ninth with a painful forearm soreness. Cunningham got the last two outs in the 7-0 Raccoons win. Hall 2-3, 2 BB, RBI; Dawson 2-5, HR (#11), 2 RBI; Dicks 2-4, BB, RBI; Evans 8.1 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 4 K;

The rubber game: the Raccoons got up 1-0 in the first, but Ackerman surrendered two homers and six runs in the bottom 4th and was tossed. The Raccoons got three back in the top 5th to trail 6-4. Guerrero singled to lead off the top 6th. Fletcher Kelley bunted him over, and Edgardo Gonzalez followed with a RBI double. Workman grounded out to bring up Daniel Hall with one on, two down, and 6-5 behind. Hall ripped big time and the Raccoons led 7-6. Bottom 6th: with two down, Cipriano Crespo runs to steal second, and Sanchez throws the ball past Gonzalez. Crespo goes to third, but Kelley strikes out the batter to end the threat. The Raccoons raised it to 9-6 … and then collapsed spectacularly, as the Loggers scored four against Cunningham, Gaston, and West in the eighth. It was the ultimate disaster. 10-9 Loggers.

I went to the clubhouse for some good crying.

In other news:
July 3 – Knights slugger Engjell Vulaj (.332, 5 HR, 39 RBI) is out for five weeks with a broken thumb.
July 3 – Charlotte’s Michael Watson keeps pouncing, going 3-3 with a walk in the Falcons’ 2-1 win over Oklahoma City to bring his hitting streak to 30 games.
July 4 – Big day for Wolves RF Carlos León, who hits for the cycle in a 9-5 win of his team over the Sacramento Scorpions in a 5-5 performance: RBI triple in the 1st, solo home run off Claudio Guerra in the third, single in the fifth, RBI single in the 6th, and 2-run double in the 8th. It is the first cycle in ABL in over three years, since the Thunder’s Jonah Frank did it on May 12, 1979 against the Bayhawks. It is the sixth cycle overall and the fifth in the Federal League, where Corey Byrd was the last batter to hit for the cycle almost four years ago on July 30, 1978.
July 4 – Michael Watson is less lucky, he goes 0-4 against the Thunder and his streak ends at 30 games.
July 8 – Bad news keep piling up in Cincinnati: outfielder Juan Diaz (.286, 2 HR, 37 RBI) suffered a partially torn labrum and is out for the year. The Cyclones are the worst team in baseball with so many starters out of action.

The All Star roster for the CL is occupied by Canadiens this year. They send five players, including three starters. Christopher Powell was ignored by the selectors. Daniel Hall was the only Raccoons All Star. Our former perennial All Star Ben Simon (now with the Wolves) made the FL roster.

Not that anyone deserves to go to the game among this team.

After the break we’ll be in Vancouver, and then play at home against the Titans, Falcons, Bayhawks, and Aces.

We are playing losing ball for the third month in a row.

[Westheim]

Should the Raccoons trade Ralph Nixon?

What sounds like a really dumb question, has some substance. Now 35, Nixon is way past his prime. The Raccoons acquired him as a career .320-something hitter from the Crusaders. He has never even come close to that mark in Portland, and while his production is incredibly important to have, it is not what we had hoped for.

Plus, he’s been injured for significantly long times every season in Portland. He has the biggest contract on the team, running through to next season. Do I want to pay $950,000 to a 36-yr old .280 hitter with sub par defensive mobility that could happily spend half the season on the DL?

The Raccoons desperately need to fill up their rotation. Romero will be a free agent this season. Ackerman is on the bad side of things. Maurinha doesn’t seem to be made for the big leagues. That leaves Powell, who will be 35 next year, and wild thing Logan Evans. There are *no* options at the AAA level, or below.

Nixon could be replaced by Steve Walker at second base, or Jayson Bowling. Both are worthwhile #5 infielders that can play all positions.

[Westheim]

It’s been a month since the draft. How is our #1 pick, Alejandro Lopez, doing at the A level? He batted .092 for 18 games, then broke his shoulder.

Whyyyy …!?? Howwww …!!!?? (lies on the floor weeping)

Raccoons (42-45) @ Canadiens (51-37)

We went back to start the series with the #1 in our rotation, Christopher Powell. He made a single mistake in seven innings, giving up a home run to RF Michael Martin, that tied the game 1-1 in the fourth. But the Raccoons rallied from there and scored four in the sixth and two more in the seventh for a 7-1 win. Moran pitched two scoreless in the end. Dawson 2-5, 2B, 3B, RBI; Sanchez 4-5, 2 2B, 2 RBI; this was win #11 for Powell this season, making him an active chaser of the all-time Raccoons best of 14 wins in one season. Evans and Ackerman had nine and eight so far, respectively, and also had mathematical chances to get there.

Evans and Kisho Saito traded zeros for four frames in game 2, before the Canadiens moved 3-0 ahead. Saito whiffed eight in the outing, while Evans left in the seventh in line for the loss. Nixon and Green mounted long balls to tie it in the top 8th, 3-3. The Raccoons still lost, 4-3, in the tenth on a 2-out walk-off home run by Eddy Bailey, hit off Richard Cunningham, after they had left the bags full in the top 10th. Gonzalez 3-5;

Vancouver’s Kinji Kan showed why he was a 12-game winner already in game 3, holding the Raccoons short safe for a solo jack by Ben Cox. Ackerman had lacked any stuff and took the 2-1 loss.

Game 4. Romero got a 2-0 lead early, but the Canadiens scored one in the third. In the fourth, they were on the corners with nobody out. Romero responded with back-to-back full count punchouts, and Sanchez nailed Miguel Guzman, who tried to steal on the second one, to end the inning – a big break for sure. But it still didn’t help, the Canadiens tied it in the fifth. For the second time in the series the game went to extra innings, and again the Raccoons succumbed there to a home run, this time in the 12th, leading off, and hit by Guzman off Bill Craig, 3-2 Canadiens.

Raccoons (43-48) vs. Titans (42-52)

The Raccoons were no-hit into the seventh inning of the first game, before they broke the bid up, but still lost, 5-2. Yoelbi Maurinha’s pitching was a nightmare to watch, he took the loss. The Raccoons amassed two hits, with Enrique Sanchez’ 2-run double undoubtedly the biggest sparkler.

Game 2, Powell against inaccurate fireballer Kevin Williams, 11-game winner against 12-game loser. The Titans were always a step ahead here. Powell gave a home run to Carlos Hernandez and trailed 4-2 in the sixth. Workman and Dawson reached base to lead off the bottom 6th. Sanchez rolled a grounder to short, but the throw to first ended in the seats. Workman scored and runners were on second and third with nobody out! Guerrero was walked to fill the bags. Bowling fanned as PH for Powell, Gonzalez grounded out and Green flew out, only Gonzalez scored a runner and the game was only tied. Powell got a no-decision. Kelley was shelled in the seventh for a 7-4 Titans lead that held into the bottom 9th, where suddenly the skies opened and the game was delayed for almost an hour. When play resumed, the Raccoons put two on with one out and Daniel Hall ripped a pitch from Robinson Borquez into the stands to tie the game, 7-7. Cunningham entered in extra innings and pitched two scoreless, then singled to lead off the bottom 11th in his second AB of the season. Gonzalez bunted him to second, Green K’ed, Hall singled, but Cunningham couldn’t score. But Ralph Nixon singled to center to score him and the Raccoons walked off, 8-7. Hall 4-6, HR, 4 RBI;

The rubber game pitted current wild Raccoon Logan Evans against former wild Raccoon Bruce Wright. Both lefties. Both were struggling in 1982. A first inning Daniel Hall homer put the Raccoons ahead, 1-0, but it could have been 2-0: Cameron Green had singled before Hall, but had been caught dozing at first and was picked. But it got worse from here. Dimian Barrios mowed down Edgardo Gonzalez in an ugly second base collision. Gonzalez got the out, but also a bad oblique strain from getting drilled into the ground – he would miss several weeks. The next inning, the Titans put up a 4-spot. Evans was chased soon, and the Raccoons looked pretty much beaten. Down 5-1, they somehow loaded the bags in the bottom 8th. Sanchez came up – GRAND SLAM, the game was tied. But they couldn’t get ahead. Grant West pitched in the ninth, his first outing since the All Star break (that’s how little use the miserable Raccoons had for their closer). It didn’t matter. West was lifted for a pinch hitter (Dicks) in the bottom 10th, without effect, and the Raccoons lost in the 11th, when Craig coughed up a run and they loaded the bags with NOBODY out, and DID NOT SCORE. The patheticness was undescribable…

Edgardo Gonzalez’ injury brought back Angel Costa, and the thrill I felt … wow… Cameron Green was forced to bat first now, with Workman second. That was so far from an ideal setup, … that … I don’t know.

Raccoons (44-50) vs. Falcons (61-33)

They didn’t have no chance anyway. The Raccoons ran into Juan Correa in game 1. He mowed down eight and the Raccoons lost 4-2. There was not really more to tell about this game. It was a no-brainer from the beginning. Green 3-4, 2B, 3B, RBI;

Jorge Mora pitched a 5-hitter the next day in a 3-0 Falcons win. One run was given up by Grant West, who was not getting any work and appeared rusty, in the ninth.

This second loss also marked the loss of second place in the division, down to fourth, since both the Titans and Indians won their games. 2.0 games left to the cellar.

The team then slapped three runs on Joe Ellis in the first inning of game 3, but it was already another crippling game. Cameron Green left injured in the same inning, putting three of five qualified infielders out of action. Dawson added a run with a long ball in the third, and the Raccoons held the gap there for the rest of the distance. Yoelbi Maurinha got his first major league win: 7.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K. Workman 3-5, RBI;

The Raccoons are 8-13 in July, and have lost four straight series. Plus the occasional starter from the lineup. Cameron Green had pulled a abdominal muscle plunging into second base and was day-to-day for the next series. Costa started at 3B and Cox started CF over Guerrero, because the former was a speedier runner and I desperately was searching for someone to bat leadoff. That Cox probably wouldn’t reach base … ah, well, you have to keep up with things such as .154 / .214 / .308 lines from time to time.

Raccoons (45-52) vs. Bayhawks (50-50)

Powell started the series against Walt McCorkindale, who was 10-5 but with an ERA a full point higher. The two neutralized each other pretty well. The Bayhawks scored in the fifth, the Raccoons tied it with a solo jack by Matt Workman in the sixth. Powell went 7.1 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K when he left in the 1-1 tie. Paul Cooper lost the game in the ninth with a leadoff walk that went around to score. 2-1 Bayhawks. Workman 3-4, HR, RBI; the rest of the bunch totaled two hits.

The Cox experiment was ended quickly and Guerrero batted leadoff in game 2. The Raccoons pieced together a 3-0 lead by the bottom 3rd, that was busted in the most miserable fashion in the top 5th: two walks by Logan Evans, a couple of hits, and two errors by Jayson Bowling plated four. While I spent the time between the fifth and sixth innings slamming my head against the concrete wall in the dugout, Evans held the lead to one run in the top 6th, then was lifted for Pedro Sánz to pinch hit with runners on the corners in the bottom 6th. Sánz drove in Bowling to tie the game, and the inning developed into a nightmare for the Bayhawks now: they committed three errors and the Raccoons rapped a number of hits to score six runs and lead 9-4! Carlos Moran was taken deep by Vincent Sauvage in the eighth, but the Raccoons held on to win 9-5. Bowling went 3-4 with a double, which was the only thing that saved him from being tarred and feathered. Evans moved to 10-8 with a 3.66 ERA.

Cam Green was back to bat leadoff in the rubber game, but he was hardly a difference maker, as the Raccoons were shut out by Eduardo Jimenez on five hits, while Jerry Ackerman was trashed in the second inning. Raccoons lost 6-0.

Five consecutive series losses.

Raccoons (46-54) vs. Aces (49-53)

There was little hope for improvement against the Aces. They were a losing team as well, and in fact just like the Raccoons had never turned a winning season (they had gone 81-81 in 1978). They had already clinched the season series against the Raccoons at 5-1. They were 3rd in runs scored, but they were last in defense. Whether the Raccoons would make them pay? Or even cry? Or even win two, please?

Game 1. The Raccoons had runners in scoring position in the first, second, third, fourth, seventh, and eighth. They scored a total of one run and Jorge Romero, who pitched a good game, got the loss, 3-1. Romero is 4-10 with a 3.16 ERA.

Mark Dawson homered off Vicente Cruz in the second inning to make it 1-0 Raccoons. This was his 14th long ball, tying for the CL lead. Chris Lynch then bashed a 2-run shot off Maurinha in the top 3rd – and also tied, since this was also #14. Maurinha then hit a homer himself to lead off the bottom 5th, but the Aces led 3-2 at this point. On the mound, Maurinha just didn’t get the job done, for which he took the 3-2 loss. The Raccoons did not convert leadoff doubles in either the seventh or eighth inning and took another unnecessary loss. Dawson was 3-3, BB, HR, RBI;

Nixon brought in a run in the first for an early 1-0 lead. Powell pitched well, but couldn’t hold the slim lead. He left in the seventh in a 1-1 tie and a jam. Cunningham struck out two to end the threat and Powell had to settle for a no-decision. Cunningham ended up going 1.2 inning – with four K’s! He was rewarded with a W, when Mark Dawson hit an inning-ending 2-run single, where the Aces nailed Nixon at third. This broke out Grant West in his first save opportunity in *33* days! He completed the save 1-2-3, it was #18, and the win went as mentioned to Cunningham. The Raccoons won 3-1 on four hits.

Six consecutive series losses.

In other news:
July 13 – The Continental League beats the Federal League 3-1 in the All Star Game. Daniel Hall is the starter in RF for the CL, but goes 0-3, before being relieved by the Falcons’ Joe Powell.
July 14 – The FL East-leading Miners add rightly MR Stephen Rice (3-3, 2.68 ERA, almost 3 K/BB) to their fold from the Capitals, trading backup infielder John Howard and a minor league pitcher.
July 14 – The Canadiens need more pitching, yet this seems strange: they add SP George Harris (2-2, 6.11 ERA) for two minor leaguers, but these include highly touted outfield prospect Mario Ibarra, who is now in the Cyclones system.
July 15 – Pacifics and Wolves meet for a tightly contested series for the lead in the FL West after the break. To start it, Alex Miranda beats the Pacifics 1-0, tossing a 1-hitter. Yes, this is a former Raccoon.
July 20 – The Indians acquire 1B Arturo Garcia (.252, 6 HR, 36 RBI) from the Buffaloes for SP Ray Lynch (6-4, 3.09 ERA) and a minor leaguer.
July 22 – The Aces lose 33-yr old ace reliever Geronimo Tortima (3-1, 2.25 ERA, 1 SV) to bone spur in his elbow. He is out for the season.
July 25 – The Scorpions have their injury issues as well. A thumb injury sidelines 1B Pete Ross for two weeks, removing his .343 bat from the lineup.
July 25 – Also down: Rebels 1B Ramon Diaz, a .337 slugger. He suffered a strained hip muscle and is out for six weeks.
July 25 – SAL SP Jason Gurston (11-2, 2.37 ERA) tosses a 2-hitter in a 5-0 win over the Miners.
July 27 – The Bayhawks send shortstop Manuel Flores (.269, 0 HR, 33 RBI) to Cincinnati for outfielder Tom Simmons (.271, 6 HR, 42 RBI). A pair of prospects is also exchanged.
July 29 – The Indians add more pitching with righty reliever Ramiro Quintero (2-0, 2.83 ERA). Outfield prospect Pedro Ortiz is sent to the Cyclones.
August 1 – The Canadiens will have to continue their playoff run without slugging shortstop Eddy Bailey (.361, 7 HR, 35 RBI), who is out until mid-September with a torn meniscus.

Other complaints and stuff:

Matt Workman was Rookie of the Month of July, hitting .299 with 4 HR and 13 RBI. It is his second ROTM trophy.

Steve Walker first, and then Edgardo Gonzalez and Ramón Borjón should all return at some point during the next two weeks and in this case would rejoin the team on the road. Oklahoma City, New York, Vancouver, and Sacramento will be up. The last interleague series of the year will be against the Cyclones at home, August 17-19.

It was the trading season. The Rebels offered me two minor leaguers for AAA outfielder Fernando Gonzalez, including outfielder Dick Daughtery. He was a former Raccoon prospect, once traded in the Padilla/Baker deal in January 1978. I made a counteroffer, going for their AAA SP Hisanobu Higuchi, who was not exactly a future major league star, but could serve as #5 starter, perhaps. I was desperate for starting pitching. The deal was completed the morning before play resumed after the All Star game: Higuchi and Daughtery for Gonzalez; both acquisitions joined the struggling AAA team.

The Capitals offered a backup outfielder for Mark Dawson *and* A level infielder William Bray. Not in my lifetime. Dawson was popular anyway, most proposals were for him.

On July 30, I reached an agreement with the Vancouver Canadiens to deal our former first round pick SP Carlos Gonzalez for their young starter Kisho Saito, a strong lefty. The agreement was ready to be signed – but I didn’t. Gonzalez’ performance at the AA level could best be described as highly erratic. He is 8-6 with a 4.21 ERA at the moment. He has a number of games where he was trashed for six or more runs early on. In his last game he hurled 4-hit ball over eight frames, no walks, and struck out fourteen. Admittedly, the opponents were the Tampa Pugs, the Scorpions’ miserable .367 affiliate. Still, 14 K’s are a huge performance for a 19-yr old (he turned 20 on August 1, the last day covered in this post) in AA ball. Saito is a rookie with a 12-8 record and with a 2.68 ERA in the majors. He has a walk issue. They won’t accept another deal, except for Richard Cunningham, Grant West, and Logan Evans. I can’t make myself trade Gonzalez…

This agony will never end.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (47-56) @ Thunder (60-43)

The Raccoons sucked their way to a pathetic 6-1 loss, in which Oklahoma’s Ralph Hoyles pitched a complete game. Dawson hit home run #15, that was it.

The team went up 2-0 early on. Ackerman was again bad on the mound and left after five innings, but in line for a 2-1 win. Sánz pinch-hit for him in the top 6th with the bags full and one out, but grounded into a double play. Kelley gave the lead away with a leadoff homer in the bottom 6th and the Raccoons stood there with empty hands again. They lost with a walk off walk by Cunningham, but Bill Craig had been the one putting runners on. 3-2 Thunder.

Game 3. A 7-run third inning got the Raccoons a good part of the way towards a W for Jorge Romero. Enrique Sanchez crowned the rout of Thunder starter Morton Jennings with a 1-out grand slam. Romero needed every bit of support, he had a wild outing and walked five (no K’s) in a 6-frame, 2-run outing. By then, the Raccoons had put a full dozen on the board, with the last five against the terrible Thunder pen, the worst in the CL. The Raccoons won that game, soundly, 13-3. Green 3-6, 2 RBI; Hall 2-4, BB; Workman 5-5; Dawson 2-5, HR (#16), 3 RBI; Nixon 2-5, 2 RBI; Sanchez 2-5, HR, 5 RBI – that’s the top 6 of the lineup, all chaining together big for once.

Eduardo Guerrero sprained a finger catching a vicious liner and will miss two weeks. As if I didn’t have enough problems. Like this: seven straight series … lost.

Another lost series now and the Raccoons are back home, in last place. Enter the Crusaders.

Raccoons (48-58) @ Crusaders (47-61)

We started the series with Mark Mitchell as third catcher on the roster. I didn’t want to add anybody to the 40-man roster just for one or two days until Steve Walker would be able to be activate after recovery from his thumb fracture. Mitchell pinch hit to start the top 8th (replacing Paul Cooper) and singled, his first hit with the Raccoons after going 0-10 earlier. The game was tied at 2-2 back there, and now the Raccoons loaded up the bases, before Mark Dawson emptied them with a 3-run double. They scored two more in the top 9th and I left Cunningham, who had pitched the eighth, in to collect the save, but he stalled in the ninth. “Demon” West entered with the bags full and two down to get a grounder from Alexander Avery to Nixon to end the game. 7-2 Raccoons! Cooper 1.1 IP, 2 H, W; Workman 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Dawson 2-4; Nixon 2-4;

Steve Walker rejoined the team for game 2, playing shortstop and batting sixth, but went 0-4. After Maurinha the day before, Christopher Powell also left his start in a 2-2 tie, although he went seven innings. The Crusaders had already committed three errors, but the Raccoons were puzzled by their starter Mark Lee, who fanned seven and allowed only three hits. Gaston could not get anybody out in the eighth and took the 3-2 loss, when Cunningham walked a runner in. The Raccoons loaded the bags in the top 9th, but Green was struck out by Rick Evans. Another shameful loss…

The next day, Logan Evans had a terrible fourth inning, ruining a good outing with a 4-spot. All the misery of this team showed in the top 8th: trailing 4-1, Green singled and Hall doubled to start the inning. Green then scored on a passed ball and Workman drew a walk. Runners on the corners, nobody out, and then Dawson struck out and Nixon lined into a double play, and they lost 4-2.

No Raccoons starter got a W in this series. Ackerman went eight frames in the last game, but the score was 1-1, when he was pinch hit for in the top 9th. Bad news: Ralph Nixon left with an injury in the second inning. Mark Dawson left with wrist tendinitis in the eighth. The game went to extra innings, where for *seven* grueling frames, neither team got anything done. The Crusaders loaded the bags against Gaston once, but he curveballed his way through there. In the 17th, the Raccoons loaded the bags themselves, and Angel Costa came to bat with one out. Costa was 0-7 that day, .130 overall. I was ready to release him. Costa singled under the glove of Alexander Avery to score the 2-1 run. Bottom 17th: we sent out a not well-rested Richard Cunningham. With the injuries and pinch hitting, the Raccoons bench was empty, backup catcher Dicks was playing CF, shortstop Walker was playing RF. It was great luck that no ball left the infield in the inning, as Cunningham mowed them down 1-2-3, with a K, a pop up and a grounder to Costa. 2-1 Raccoons, in 17 innings.

But what did it do to the roster!? Dawson, who led the CL in home runs and the Raccoons with RBI’s, was out for a week. He did not go to the DL. Nixon was undiagnosed as of now. The bullpen was sweating heavily and there were seven more games until the next off day. Daniel Hall also would have been due an off day, but with two injured players on the roster, there was no room to rest him. Sánz would start in right, and I pieced second together with Bowling and Costa. Spencer Dicks, Wyatt Johnston, and either Bowling or Costa – that was the whole bench going into the Canadiens series.

But I needed another outfielder, one way or the other. Walker could sub for Hall for one game, but who’d play short? Can’t I ever get a break here?

By the way: eight consecutive series without winning one.

Raccoons (50-60) @ Canadiens (66-45)

Game 1 was Jorge Romero’s start. I desperately needed seven innings from him to get load off the pen. Since the Raccoons would not score anyway with Bowling, Sánz, and Cox in the lineup. Walker, Hall, and Sanchez were slumping on top of that. Victor Underwood was the pitcher for Vancouver, with a 2.92 ERA. And Underwood hit a bases-clearing double against Romero in the second inning. Romero was shelled for six runs total and left in the sixth. The Raccoons had two hits and lost 6-0.

Ralph Nixon’s season was over with a torn meniscus. WHY!!?? WHY CAN’T …!!????

Since they didn’t score with Hall in the lineup, it didn’t matter if I pulled him. Cox moved to left, Walker to center, and Bowling to short, and Enrique Sanchez batted fifth – that desperate was the situation (with four players batting .202 or worse in today’s lineup, and that did not include .300 hitting pitcher Yoelbi Maurinha). The opponent was Kisho Saito, who could have been a Raccoon, but wasn’t, and who pitched a 2-hitter, both singles to Pedro Sánz. Maurinha was left with a well pitched 7-frame, 5-hit, 2-0 loss.

This was not working. Nixon on the 60-day DL opened a roster spot, and there was still a week left before anybody could come off the DL. We called up LF/RF Fernando Perez from AAA, where he hit .309, after starting the season at AA. He was our 1978 round 7 draft pick. Perez was a corner outfielder, but I needed him in centerfield. Cox was awful, batting .151 …

Interesting stat of the day: the Raccoons were 12 games below .500, but 425-425 in runs scored/against. There had been a lot of well pitched 2-0 or 2-1 losses recently.

Christopher Powell got the hopeless mission to go up against Kinji Kan, but a pair of scratch hits plated two Raccoons in the first inning, credited to Sánz and Dicks (of all people), although the runs were unearned after a fielding error. A 2-run home run by Matt Workman made it 4-0 in the seventh, and two more were added in the eighth. Powell pitched eight innings of shutout ball, but could not get through the ninth. A wild pitch by Wally Gaston scored a run in the 6-1 win. Powell got his 12th win, and it was his first W after four consecutive no-decisions. All Raccoons starters had at least one hit, 13 total. Perez went 1-4 in his debut.

Turned out, Powell’s win was the only ray of light in this series. Logan Evans put together one of those famous well pitched 8-frame, 3-hit, 2-0 losses. One run was unearned after an error by Workman, who had 67% of the Raccoons’ hits: 2;

The Raccoons had surrendered more than three runs in only three games in August, yet were 5-7 after scoring more than two runs in only four games. And thus: nine series without taking one – in a row.

Raccoons (51-63) @ Scorpions (62-54)

In no way were the Raccoons in shape for interleague play against the overall a bit stronger Federal League, especially when it came to raw offense. They had 570 runs scored, 2nd in the FL. The Raccoons had 431, 9th in the CL. The Raccoons also were only a half game out of last place, which was shared by the Crusaders and Loggers.

Jerry Ackerman (8-9, 4.14 ERA) against Claudio Guerra (4-4, 6.33 ERA). Was this a chance? No. Former Raccoon Stephano Bocci scored a run in the first, but Workman homered to tie it in the fourth. That was it for the Raccoons. Guerra fanned seven, three times alone Hall, who was totally off the plate. The Raccoons lost 4-1, with Ackerman collapsing in the fifth.

Next: a 4-2 loss. Romero left with the game tied and Cunningham was blasted in the eighth. No clutch hitting, no hitting, no fielding, no nothing.

Game 3. Maurinha surrendered three and was removed for a pinch hitter with the Raccoons down 3-1, nobody out in the top 7th, and runners on the corners. Angel Costa popped out to left, and Steve Walker struck out. That left Cameron Green and he drilled it to dead center for a 3-run home run. 4-3 Raccoons, but Fletcher Kelley blew it immediately. The Raccoons lost 6-4.

The Raccoons are where they belong after TEN series losses. Back … to back … to back … to back … to back … to back … to back … to back … to back … to back …

In other news

August 4 – Johnny Brown (8-9, 3.59 ERA) nails the Wolves with a 3-hitter, as the Buffaloes win 5-0.
August 7 – Jesse Carver, who started the season at the AA level, pitches a 1-hitter for the Indians against the Titans in a 4-0 win.
August 9 – The season of Cyclones slugger Jeremiah Carrell is likely over with a strained hamstring. He hit .359 with no home runs this season.
August 10 – Indians ace Miguel Sanchez (9-11, 2.58 ERA) is out for a full year with a torn flexor tendon. Sanchez, age 31, is 74-47 lifetime.
August 16 – OCT SP Ralph Hoyles (13-7, 2.75 ERA) is out for the season with a partially torn labrum.

Complaints and stuff

I am … seriously hurting. Why won’t anything work here!? They were 10 games over .500 at one point. Now they are 15 below, and sub .450 and falling ever faster. Why!? WHY!?

Ramón Borjón will come off the DL today. Edgardo Gonzalez will follow in the next few days, and Eduardo Guerrero in a week or so after suffering a setback in his recovery from a finger injury. Mark Dawson will be able to play in a few days as well. That should at least give me a lineup without half the guys hitting sub-.200 …

We signed two players to contract extensions that would have been arbitration eligible this winter. INF Edgardo Gonzalez, who had a $99k estimate, signed a 3-yr, $294k contract, so we held him at his estimate for two more years. In addition to that, we extended with C Enrique Sanchez. The terms were two years, $550k total. This was about 15% below his estimate, so we made bargain here.

At the moment, we have a $6.1M payroll for the players. Of this, $761k will become available through free agents Johnston, Romero, and Costa. Only $229k are currently in store for changes in contracts this winter, so we have roughly half a million bucks to add a free agent this off season. Neither of the three players has contributed much this year. Romero’s ERA is quite good, but he still has managed to lose double-digit games. I don’t know. We could resign him for a year, but certainly not for the $392k he made this year. I’d shell out $150k, at most. Then again, I have trouble finding starters anyway.

We have Powell and Evans and not much beyond that. The pen is mostly set, but we really(!) need a lefty reliever in exchange for either Craig or Cooper.

Next (as if it would matter): Cyclones, Indians, Titans, Knights, Falcons, before rosters will expand. We don’t have anybody to call up anyway.

Oh, yeah. News about Carlos Gonzalez, anyone? His season is over, shoulder inflammation. 8-7. 4.05 ERA. He was our 1980 round 1 pick.

And the '81 round 1 pick? Orlando Lantán? He has been re-rated by our scouting department. Let's just say his potential projection has been cut in half.

I’ll go punch the wall now.

[Westheim]

The Raccoons released head scout Jeffrey Anderson on August 16, once a new report by Anderson to management indicated that the team’s 1981 first round pick, Orlando Lantán was a huge bust. Adding to it certainly was that 1980 round 1 pick Carlos Gonzalez also does not live up to expectations, as well as many other early round picks of the last three seasons.

We brought in 44-yr old Dominican Angel Vega later that month as interim replacement, with looking out to sign a battle hardened veteran scout in the off season.

The good news: Ramón Borjón and Edgardo Gonzalez were activated from the DL before the Cincinnati series. Now we had some remote chance for some mediocre offense again. Fernando Perez and Angel Costa were removed from the roster, both had been hitting below .180 and had generally not been helpful.

Raccoons (51-66) vs. Cyclones (52-65)

This looked like evenly matched teams, but wasn’t. The Raccoons had come from playing .600 ball to .430-something. The Cyclones were rallying from .350 in May.

But the Raccoons had some frustration in them and took it out on the Cyclones in game 1 with six runs in the fourth and fifth innings. Powell pitched seven innings of shutout ball, but I pulled him there. His pitch count was already advanced and I didn’t want to push him too much. Bill Craig came in and quickly blew the shutout. The Raccoons won 6-1, and Powell had win #13 this season, one shy of tying the Raccoons record.

More good news before game 2: Mark Dawson was cleared by the team trainer to play again. This benched Pedro Sánz, whose de-velopment has saddened me the most. He can’t even bat .200 anymore (as does Johnston, but that was a gamble in the first place). Now the remaining big bats (Workman, Hall, Dawson, Borjón) were united again in 2-3-4-5 in the lineup. Nixon was out for the season of course.

Now, if Logan Evans could just get his pitching together. His control had never been there at any point during the season. He was actively chasing the 108 walks he surrendered in 1980, when he lost 14 games with a 4.40 ERA and 1.59 WHIP. Yet here, an infield single did him in to start game 2. The Cyclones led 1-0 after the top 1st, but Cam Green led off with a solo bomb for the Raccoons to tie the game. Green tripled in his next AB with two down in the third, followed by Workman drilling a ball inches past the inside of the left field foul pole. 3-1 Raccoons. Mark Dawson showed that he was back with a 3-run homer (#17) in the eighth.

And how was Evans? His pitches were too much to cope for anybody: the Cyclones batters, the strike zone, and even poor Enrique Sanchez. But he went 8.1 innings, with 5 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 9 K! (Nine K’s are *a lot* in the ABL!) The bullpen had some issues to end the game and Grant West had to come in to get the final out (with a K) in the 6-3 victory. Green 3-4, HR, RBI; Workman 3-4, HR, 2 RBI;

This marked the first series win for the Raccoons in almost one and a half months!! How about a sweep?

The Raccoons were gently helped to a 4-spot in the bottom 2nd with a walked in run and a run scoring wild pitch by Jesse Thompson. Now they just had to cope with Jerry Ackerman’s own pitching. Ackerman’s issues came from his inability to strike people out. He went to 2-strike counts on eight consecutive batters from the third through the fifth innings and whiffed only one. He only yielded one hit, either, but he had about 1.25 BB on every K and that was a major issue. The Raccoons lived on their early 4-0 lead. Ackerman surrendered a run in the sixth, his last, inning, Cooper allowed one as well and West had a bad top 9th, but still had something to live off. He allowed one run but saved a 5-3 win.

Horrifying stat of the day: this is the Raccoons FIRST 3-game series sweep of the season!!

Horrifying stat of the day #2: this is the Raccoons FIRST 3-game series sweep in interleague play EVER!!!

They still didn’t leave last place, since the Crusaders swept their opponents as well.

Raccoons (54-66) @ Indians (61-60)

Now it was about keeping momentum, right? Unfortunately the Indians had won eight in a row, and they scored a run against Romero in the first right away. Matt Workman’s 3-run blast made it 3-1 Raccoons in the third, and with a now solid Romero on the mound, the Raccoons looked quite comfortable, and moved the game out of reach in the eighth with four runs, including a 2-run homer by Steve Walker. We won 7-1. Romero 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 0 K; Hall 2-4, BB, 2B; Dawson 2-4, BB, RBI; Walker 3-4, HR, 2 RBI; Gonzalez 2-4; Sánz (PH) 1-1, RBI;

This moved the Raccoons out of last place, since the Crusaders lost 5-1 at home to Vancouver. It also posed the question, whether Jorge Romero deserved another one year of contract. Yet certainly he didn’t deserve just shy of 400 grand again. At the same time the ABL considered him a type A free agent at the moment.

Game 2 brought unknown territory as far as the Indians pitcher was concerned. Franklin Palmer was 1-0 with a 1.13 ERA in two starts with the Indians, since being acquired from the Falcons. That was one of the less telling stats, it turned out, since the Raccoons scored twice in the top 1st, and added for a 4-0 lead after three. Palmer’s at first glance great record was rectified, while Yoelbi Maurinha pitched a great game. Before the game he had gotten barely 4 K/9, but grabbed his second win with a 7.2 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 7 K line. Dawson hit a 2-run shot off Josh Bridges in the seventh for long ball #18. The Raccoons shut out the Indians in a 7-0 win. Green 2-3, 2 BB, RBI; Hall 2-4, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Dawson 2-5, HR, 3 RBI;

Before Indians starter Jose Salgado recorded an out, the Raccoons led 3-0. Green singled, Workman walked, Hall hit a ball all the way to Ohio. But Salgado settled in from there, while Powell fell to his old enemy, the home run, in the fourth, when he gave up a 2-piece to Arturo Garcia, and the Indians tied it in the fifth and went ahead in the sixth. The Raccoons did not find back into the game and were held to five hits and struck out eight times in the end and lost 4-3, ending a 5-game winning streak. Romero pitched all the way for his fourth loss of the season.

Raccoons (56-67) vs. Titans (59-66)

Logan Evans’ control problems continued to start the series against Boston. He walked five, but the damage remained limited with a single run against him in six innings of wildness. The offense trashed Titans starter Ruben Lopez, who entered 12-9 with a 2.92 ERA that shot up almost a quarter point with seven runs on him. The Raccoons won 8-1 with some formidable offense and great relief for Evans. And if we’re honest, even Evans was only half-mediocre with one run against, and half-decent. Workman 3-5, RBI; Borjón 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Sanchez 3-4, HR, 2B, 2 RBI;

That offense was silenced in game 2 by Roberto Sanchez. The Raccoons ship was sunk by a messy top 7th, with a passed ball, an error, and misplays that plated two unearned runs against a helpless Wally Gaston. Ackerman got the loss. Dawson 3-4;

Jorge Romero surrendered a leadoff homer to Israel Rivera to start the rubber game and didn’t get much better, being lifted after five. The Raccoons didn’t get on base at all and went down 3-1, the only run a rocket by Borjón.

There were some flares, but the offense remains dead, with or without Dawson and Borjón and the others. This is so rather pointless…

Raccoons (57-69) vs. Knights (56-70)

Here were two teams desperately trying to stay out of last place. Game 1 seemed to fall the Raccoons’ way with solo home runs by Hall and Walker early on and a 3-0 lead after seven. The eighth saw the Raccoons pen chopped to pieces and four runs in for the Knights. I was already reaching for my emergency suicide kit under the bench, when the guys came to bat in the bottom 8th. They plated four as well, including three RBI doubles in a row and one of them by Wally Gaston. West then had a shoddy ninth, but the damage amounted to only one run after back-to-back doubles and the Raccoons came away with a 7-5 win. Maurinha 6.2 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K; Hall 3-5, HR, RBI; Walker 2-4, HR, 2B, RBI; Bowling (PH) 2-2, 2B, 3B, RBI;

Still, we demoted Bill Craig to AAA after the game. He had surrendered a homer to the Knights’ biggest hitter, Engjell Vulaj, that had started the rally, and his ERA had risen to 5.02 with this game. He was replaced by Justin Neubauer, a lefty reliever that had started the season in AA ball, but had performed very well in both AA and AAA. In the latter class he had gone 2-0 with 2 SV and a 1.38 ERA. Maybe it was his flashing red hair and beard that scared lefty hitters?

Neubauer had been part of the 1977 draft, but went entirely unpicked, before being signed as undrafted free agent in the fall of the same year by the Pittsburgh Miners organization. He did not find hold there and was released in early ’78, and then bounced through the systems of the Capitals, Aces, and Loggers, before he was taken on by the Gold Sox in early 1979, and then was included in the Gold Sox’ trade for Ned Ray with the Raccoons in December of 1979.

Game 2. Powell was pitching with a 1-0 lead in the top 4th, when the Knights put the first two batters on the corners. The Raccoons were saved by a galactic play by Edgardo Gonzalez, when Tom McDonald lined to short. Gonzalez caught the fall in a mighty stretch, hit the ground, then zinged to first to nail the runner from there. Powell got Hector Gaete to ground out to end the inning. Powell left in line for the win at 2-1 after seven, with the lead only restored after he was pinch-hit for by Borjón (Guerrero, just off the DL, got a start in center). Wally Gaston just barely pitched around a leadoff double by Vulaj (who had already scored the Knights run earlier) in the eighth, then also pitched the ninth with West not available after his long save the day before. Gaston got the save in the 2-1 win. Workman 2-4, RBI; Powell 7.0 IP, 8 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, win #14, tying the Raccoons record;

Logan Evans also got a slim 1-0 lead early on through a Borjón homer. He also got his 100th K of the season to end the top 5th, fanning pitcher Carlos Asquabal on a full count with two on. The Knights turned the game around in the sixth, when Workman flubbed a grounder that could have put two away. He at least partially made good with a leadoff walk in the bottom 6th. Hall doubled and both scored on groundouts by Dawson and Borjón. Dawson got that one right, but he grounded also into two costly double plays in this game that killed at least two more runs. But now: 3-2 Raccoons. It stayed that way through eight. Grant West gave a walk to Steve Wall, but struck out two to save the game. Sweep over Atlanta!!

In other news

August 19 – Hotshot reliever Kent Battle, 22, of the Rebels with a 2-1 record and 2.15 ERA this season is out with a ruptured ulnar collateral ligament, for this *and* the next season!
August 24 – Salem’s Carlos León becomes the first ABL player to hit for the cycle twice in his career, going 5-5 with two doubles against the Stars in an 8-4 win, with six runs batted in by himself. León also has hit his two cycles in the same year, and only just over seven weeks apart. He hit for the cycle on July 4 against the Scorpions. The 26-yr old Puerto Rican is the only player to have hit for the cycle in three years. It is the 7th cycle in ABL history.
August 29 – TIJ SP Jim Harrington (10-4, 3.08 ERA) blanks the Canadiens in a 4-0 win, allowing only two hits.

Complaints and stuff

Since our DL has mostly emptied, the Raccoons have gone 9-3, with never more than five runs against them, 2.42 on average, and 4.75 runs scored! They were at 3.84 R/G and 3.65 R/A for the whole season. That’s right, they are nine game below .500, yet had more runs scored than given away. Their Pythagorean record was 67-62.

If I need to complain about something, it’s the moves I didn’t make. I had possibilities to unload Nixon and Carlos Gonzalez (can you *unload* a 20-yr old?), but balked, and now both are injured and contribute zero.

If the Raccoons can keep the pace, they have another shot at a .500 record. If nobody gets hurt again, of course. Jorge Romero and Yoelbi Maurinha have gotten a lot better in the last few weeks, if you look at their ERA’s. Ackerman is so-so, and Evans continues to be erratic.

Next: Falcons, Crusaders on the road (with the last game in Charlotte on September 1), then 11-game home stand against the Loggers, Canadiens, and Crusaders.

[Orcin]

Wow, 9 out of 12! I can just feel the momentum swinging your way. You're only 3.5 games out of second place. (Don't you just hate giddy fans?)

[Westheim]

The Portland fans have waited far too long to celebrate anything. Some of them have already threatend to drive to Salem to watch a real team play.

3 1/2 out of second place? Even I am going:

[Westheim]

Raccoons (60-69) @ Falcons (83-46)

This series was certainly nothing I was looking forward to. The Falcons were radiating hot, and were 6.5 games better than anybody else in baseball. And what could I bring to the table? My 3-4-5 guys from the rotation.

Jerry Ackerman was up against Kent Doyle in game 1. Doyle had given away 16 runs in his last three starts. At first the Raccoons didn’t seem like they could stick it to him with four quick innings. Gonzalez then hit an RBI triple for a 1-0 lead in the fifth. Ackerman struck out for the first one down in the inning. Next was Cameron Green and they intentionally walked him. Why did they do that!? Workman also drew a walk and Hall popped out, but somehow the intentional walk to Green gave the Raccoons an extra at bat in the inning. Dawson walked to force in a run, before Ramón Borjón slapped a grand slam to right. 6-0 Raccoons! Ackerman gave away two in the bottom 5th, then the top 6th: Gonzalez singled and was bunted over by Ackerman. And they intentionally walked Cam Green again!? Workman drew another walk, and the Raccoons scored two in the inning. The game ended with a 9-3 win for the Raccoons, who drew nine hits and nine walks. Green 1-2, 3 BB; Workman 2-3, 2 BB; Walker 2-4;

The Falcons took their anger to Jorge Romero the next day and slapped him for eight runs (seven earned) in less than five innings. The Raccoons took an early lead with a 2-run shot by Workman in the first, but overall Falcons starter Jorge Mora (0.99 WHIP) was too much for them. Falcons won, 8-3.

That brought up Juan “Mauler” Correa. And at 23-4 and a 1.70 ERA you are glad every time you miss him, but the came up in game 3. At 31, he was as deadly as ever. With Yoelbi Maurinha going for the Raccoons, you better you better you didn’t bet on them.

Maurinha struck out the side in the first, but between K’s, a Matt Workman error plated an unearned run. That was it already, the Raccoons never had a chance against Correa and lost 3-0.

While that series in the end didn’t fall the Raccoons’ way (a win in game 3 would have had them win the season series against Charlotte the first time ever!), they didn’t play too bad in it. If they could carry that form into September… all those if’s and when’s …

We called up four players for September to expand our roster to 29: MR Jason White, 2B/3B Angel Costa, OF Ben Cox were well known to followers by now. New was SP Hisanobu Higuchi, whom we acquired in the Fernando Gonzalez/Daughtery trade with the Rebels in July. He gave me another left arm and I would try and give him two starts or so, most likely in place of Ackerman.

Raccoons (61-71) @ Crusaders (60-73)

This was again for last place. Or rather not *for* last place. The Raccoons had four of those bronze pumpkins on their mantelpiece already. All very close to each other. This was a 3-game set, but within one week’s time after that we’d start to play four more in Portland. The season series stood 7-4 against the Raccoons.

Game 1 and Powell was looking to break the poor 14 wins that still stood as the most a Raccoons pitcher has ever had in a season. It was certainly a good opportunity, facing Bernard Lepore, who walked almost five over nine. But it was not meant to be. The Raccoons out-hit the Crusaders 10-6, but never scored. Powell took a stinging 1-0 loss. Of all people it was Lepore to single in the fifth and come around to score. That one … that one was hurting a ton. Sanchez 3-4;

There was no scoring through five in game 2, until Hall socked a 2-run homer. Evans left with the lead also got his 14th win, which was put in danger by the pen in all of the last three innings. West had to pitch around a throwing error by Mark Dawson (rare enough) to save the 5-2 win.

Ackerman started the rubber game and surrendered a grand slam in the bottom 2nd. The Raccoons spent the rest of the game trying to rally from there. Down 4-3, Wally Gaston pitched the bottom 8th, loaded the bags with nobody out, then removed three guys without anybody scoring, because I was already thinking, what the heck. The 6-7-8 guys were up in the ninth, and what could happen anyway? Nothing, they lost 4-3. Dawson hit HR #19 to stay atop the CL HR race (one ahead of Ace Chris Lynch).

Well, that was a poor series. That 9-3 run before this week must have been a fluke. Oh wonder, when did they ever run .750 over two weeks? I must have held the box scores upside down.

Raccoons (62-73) vs. Loggers (63-73)

The Raccoons were fifth, the Loggers fourth in the CL North, with the Crusaders now half a game behind. This was a 4-game set, which would help anybody if split in half.

Romero was perfect through three in game 1. Then came the fourth, and he surrendered three. That nailed the loss, as the Raccoons failed to get anything up in the game and lost 3-1.

Game 2. The Crusaders hadn’t played the day before and now the Raccoons tied for last. Time to get a W here. The task was Maurinha’s, while we dropped Borjón to #7 in the lineup since he was slumping a bit too much to bat fifth. Maurinha’s opponent was 28-yr old Francisco Gonzalez, who made his second majors appearance and first start there. You guys don’t win that, you won’t get your bedtime candy! (swings bat)

The Raccoons scored two in the second in game 2, but it should have been three, yet Walker was caught stealing for the first out. Sanchez hit that 2-run double. Maurinha worked with a slim 2-1 lead, but the Loggers tied off him in the seventh. The Raccoons hadn’t gone anywhere up to there, but Hall hit a 2-run shot in the bottom 7th to get the Raccoons ahead again. For the second outing of Grant West in a row, Dawson committed a critical error, but West got around it again and saved the 4-2 win. Borjón 3-4, 2B;

The last two games would see Powell and Evans make both a run for that so far elusive #15.

The Raccoons put up three in the bottom 1st for Powell, who surrendered quite a few hits early on. Dawson socked homer #20 in the fourth to make it 4-1. Then the rain came, on and off. This helped the Raccoons in the bottom 5th, when Cipriano Crespo slipped and missed a Mark Dawson grounder that would have been an inning-ending double play if executed properly. Instead, two more runs scored in the inning. Powell went seven, fanning five with eight hits against him, and the Raccoons put the game away with a 6-run bottom 7th, including a 3-run blast by Hall. Hisanobu Higuchi became the first Japanese player to pitch for the Raccoons with two scoreless frames, and Christopher Powell became the first Raccoons pitcher to win 15 contests in a single season! The Raccoons chopped up the Loggers 13-1 in this one. Workman 4-4, BB; Hall 2-3, 2 BB, HR, 2B, 3 RBI; Dawson, 2-3, BB, HR, 2B, 3 RBI; Walker 1-5, 2B, 3 RBI; Powell 7.0 IP, 8 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 K and 1-3, 2B;

The team scored first in game 4, in a controversial way. Workman flew out to left with one out and the bags full. Borjón tagged and drilled over catcher Hokichi Endo, who was injured and didn’t even get the out. Evans 1-hit the Loggers through six, but everything came crashing down in the seventh with four runs on four hits against Evans and Cunningham. 4-2 Loggers. Series split, which doesn’t help us a bit.

Raccoons (64-75) vs. Canadiens (84-55)

With the Canadiens and their strong starters next, all hope could safely be abandoned. We had another 10 games in a row after this one to compete in and I planned to give rest to all the starters in this series. Workman and Sanchez were rested in game 1.

The Raccoons scored first in that game, but an error by Gonzalez plated two in the third, and the Canadiens added two more in the fourth. Down 4-1, the Raccoons looked like toast, because they had absolutely nothing going. Dicks and Green reached base in the bottom 9th and with the Raccoons down to their last out they were then suddenly doubled in by Daniel Hall. Mark Dawson dinked one into shallow left and Hall raced home and suddenly the game was tied. It would have been truly great to win that game coming from behind like that – but it was not meant to be. Kelley and Cunningham were rocked in the tenth and the Raccoons lost, 7-4. Gonzalez 3-5, 3B;

New day, new game, with Sánz and Bowling in to rest Dawson and Walker. Again, the Raccoons scored first, in the first, on back-to-back RBI doubles by Borjón and Gonzalez. Testu Osanai took Jorge Romero deep in the fourth to half the lead, but Green and Hall bashed long balls to make it 5-1 Raccoons through seven. The game almost got out of hand in the top 9th with Wally Gaston on the mound. A leadoff walk and two hits scored a runner, before Grant West came in to end it. 5-2 Raccoons.

Rubber game. Sánz and Bowling remained in, this time for Green and Gonzalez with Dawson playing 3B. Hall told me he was not tired at all, and Borjón had been rested earlier in this string of games and didn’t need bench time either. Maurinha pitched against Victor Underwood. It didn’t really matter if we won this game – the next series was the one we had to take.

Maurinha pitched six fine innings. A 4-spot in the bottom 4th got him off an early 1-0 hook, but he walked the first two batters in the top 7th and was removed. Fletcher Kelley, loser in the first game, struck out Carlos Martinez on a full count to regain control and the Canadiens left the inning without plating one. Matt Workman responded with a 2-run homer to make it 6-1. But the Canadiens were far from dead. Ramon Gonzalez took Justin Neubauer deep for three in the eighth. Cunningham and West regained control and West got the save in a 6-4 win. The Raccoons had only three hits, five walks, and an error by Eddy Bailey to work with, but most of it happened in the fourth, where they scored four.

Wow! That was a surprise to take the series from the almost-champs of the CL North! I wonder if we could have swept if I just - … no, it was necessary to rest them now to have everybody available for the next 4-game set:

Raccoons (66-76) vs. Crusaders (84-55)

To start the 4-game series, Christopher Powell logged win #16 this season. He went seven innings and was in mild danger a few times, but allowed only one run. The Raccoons had led 2-0 after the first already, and added a few more in the later innings for a 5-1 win. Green 2-3, BB; Sánz (PH) 1-1, 2B, RBI;

Ben Browning’s leadoff triple got Logan Evans behind in game 2, but the Raccoons scored twice in the bottom 1st, and when Browning came up again with the bags full and two out in the top 2nd, Evans struck him out. But that was it for him already. Heavy rain forced a 98-minute delay in the third and chased the starters. Moran came in for long relief and went four innings. The Crusaders tied the game up in the third after Evans had been washed away, but from there the Raccoons ravished Crusaders pitching and scored eight runs through to the sixth for a 10-2 lead, including a homer by Workman, and a 3-run triple by Jayson Bowling. Moran left and the rest of the pen pieced the game together, but took a major beating in the eighth with four runs against a hapless Kelley and a hit batsmen by Gaston that loaded the bags with nobody out. But the Raccoons were glowing so hot, the radiated with a thick white aura, and slapped another six runs into the Crusaders’ face for a 16-6 rout. Green 1-3, 2 BB; Workman 3-4, BB, 2B, 3B, HR, 3 RBI (missed the cycle by a single!); Dawson 3-6, HR (#21), 4 RBI; Borjón 0-2, 4 BB (tying a Raccoons record), 2 RBI; Walker 4-6, RBI; Sanchez 2-5, 2 RBI; Bowling (PH) 1-2, 3B, 3 RBI; Moran 1-2, 2B and 3.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K;

Hisanobu Higuchi got the start over Ackerman in game 3. He faced fellow lefty Eric Edmonstone. Higuchi’s first inning in his first start: 2 H, 2 BB, 0 K, 2 WP, 4 R. I was close to killing him right there, and did so in the third, when he wrecked the game for good. There came Ackerman out of the pen, but the two runners on scored as well and the Raccoons trailed 8-2. Dawson went on to sock HR #22, and while the Raccoons constantly chipped away at the Crusaders’ lead, they didn’t make it. They lost, 9-8. Uh, it was stinging. Green 3-5; Workman 2-5, 2B; Sanchez 3-4, 2B, HR, 2 RBI;

Both teams lost their leftfielders early in game 4. Jorge Romero nailed Pete Charles with the pitch, while Daniel Hall was injured while sliding into second base. He left with an undiagnosed injury. Shock!! I blacked out there for a second or two and Pedro Sánz held me, while Jayson Bowling waved fresh air at me with a towel, but I didn’t come back to my senses until the sixth inning. Hall down, oh no, can’t be, not again!! The Raccoons led 3-0 after five, I was told, with Romero 1-hitting the Crusaders and contributing an RBI double himself, while Green and Dawson had gone yard. Romero scored another runner with a grounder in the bottom 6th. He was en route to a 2-hitter, but could not get through the ninth. With West already in a runner scored from full bags and one out, but West saved the 4-1 win.

In other news

August 30 – Knights RF Engjell Vulaj (.349, 6 HR, 48 RBI) is on a particularly hot streak, with hits in 20 straight games after two hits in a 4-3 win over the Indians.
September 4 – The Aces dry up Vulaj’s source of hits; he goes 0-3 and his streak ends at 23. To add to the pain, the Knights lose 7-4. Vulaj’s streak is the second-longest of the season after CHA Michael Watson’s 30-game streak. Only three players reached 20 this season, all in the CL South.
September 5 – The Wolves are in a tight pennant race, but they will have to continue without closer Vern Hesketh. The 28-yr old has a torn flexor tendon and could also miss the start of the 1983 season.
September 5 – A back injury ends the season of CF Gabriel Cruz. The Stars slugger has gone .344 with 22 HR and 113 RBI in 1982, his first full season in the majors.
September 8 – More pain: Topeka RF Ross Bradbury is out for the season with a broken kneecap after a .309, 5 HR, 55 RBI year.
September 14 – End of the season with a broken hand for Scorpions outfielder Larry Marshall (.323, 22 HR, 96 RBI), who was tied with the also injured Gabriel Cruz for the home run lead in the FL. He won’t be able for the playoff either, should Sacramento get there.
September 14 – Loggers RF Edgardo Garza hits a 2-run single in the eighth to a) sink the Canadiens 10-8, and b) bring his hitting streak to 20 games.

Complaints and stuff

Matt Workman went .316 with six homers and 19 RBI in August to claim for the third time Rookie of the Month honors. In fact, he was that good, he won Hitter of the Month for the Continental League!

In more honorable news, Daniel Hall was the CL’s Player of the Week for September 6-12 (that’s the Loggers and Canadiens series) going 9-26 (.346) with 3 HR, 8 RBI. If he’s out for the season, it will take a huge chunk out of my lineup.

BNN also reported on September 13 that Jerry Ackerman ranked third in WHIP among rookie starting pitchers in the ABL. Bad news: there were only three qualifying starters. =) But his 1.44 WHIP is not too bad. He trails VAN Kisho Saito (whom who I could have traded for but didn’t) and OCT Mario Garcia (whom who I signed but traded away). I have a knack for this!

By the way, who are five teams in the ABL that have never turned a winning record? Gold Sox, Titans, Loggers, Raccoons, Aces are the correct answers. The Aces and Gold Sox have already hit 81 losses this year.

And who are the teams that have always turned a winning record? Cyclones, Scorpions, and Indians. And that list could get a lot shorter this year. The Rebels have 81-81 as worst season and have thus never had a losing season.

Paul Cooper signed a 2-yr, $200k total contract. He would have been arbitration eligible with a $99k estimate.

I also looked at my roster – which is not so bad! They are drifting between eight and ten below their Pythagorean record, so this should actually be a winning team. The good news: all core players on this team are either under contract, or arbitration-eligible, or under club control for two more seasons, with two exceptions. One is Ralph Nixon, who will be 37 next year, with the biggest bucks in his DL pocket. The other is Wally Gaston, who was signed at bargain before the ’81 season through ‘83. Gaston, 26, has always had and will always have control issues, but he mows down batters at a 9 K/9 rate over his career, and gets a load of slow ground balls. His ERA+ both this year and over his career is 135. He is (most of the time of course, he’s still a Raccoon) a rock where you need one.

We need to do something to keep him.

Please note I don’t make this statement about Nixon.

[Charlie Hough]

Amazing. You might finally finish out of the cellar. You deserve credit for perseverance through all the losing, especially when you suffered through the same in your last game. Are you managing all of your games?

[Westheim]

Well, I found out it helps a lot once you've lost all your real life dignity so you won't be offended by an evil laptop and an even more evil game ravishing you with spiked bats day in, day out.

I am also a control freak and manage every inning of my games. Doesn't matter if they are up 9-1 or down 9-1 after three innings, I'm still maintaining control of them till the end. I couldn't do it otherwise. Must. Use. Power!

Control freak.

[Westheim]

Next up, the final interdivision week of the season. We’ll start Guerrero in left for Hall.

Raccoons (69-77) @ Bayhawks (74-72)

Maurinha was socked for three in the first inning of game 1. From there, he almost cruised and completed eight innings, but took the loss. The Raccoons were almost completely silenced by Jose “Rock” Gonzalez and didn’t scramble back into the game until the ninth, where Steve Walker doubled in a runner and represented the tying run at second, but Seung-ook Yi struck out Mark Dawson to end the game, 3-2 Bayhawks. I don’t blame Dawson. He has 486 AB’s and 23 K’s this season. His HR/K ratio is 1.00 for god’s sake.

We needed to rest Borjón in game 2, as he was slightly tired and didn’t feel well that morning. Cox played center, severely limiting our possible production, while everybody was hoping for a pitcher’s duel. Claudio Sanchez (11-11, 2.74 ERA) against our Christopher Powell (16-5, 2.42 ERA). From early on, Powell was not really his best. The Bayhawks got two runners in scoring position with nobody out, before he got control of the situation in the second inning. Bottom 3rd, two down, runner on first: a roller on the infield was taken in by Workman and then zinged over Powell’s head at first for a two-base error. Powell K’ed Antonio Torres (his first K that day) to end that threat. Still a scoreless game, but the Bayhawks were already hacking at Powell. Sanchez then scored Dawson with an RBI triple in the top 4th to get the Raccoons ahead, but Powell was taken deep by Sergio Figueroa in the bottom 6th to tie the game again. Powell completed seven innings, then was pinch hit for to lead off the top 8th. Bowling batted for Powell and zipped one to short center. Cameron Green drilled a pitch from Sanchez into the stands, 3-1 Raccoons. The bottom 8th was intense in it’s own right, as Walker now committed a two-base throwing error that got Cunningham into a tight spot, but he ended the inning with a K, while the Bayhawks had runners on the corners. Tom Simmons homered off Grant West in the bottom 9th and Vincent Sauvage doubled. Two down, runner on second, Figueroa up again, a .320 righty. I talked to West, he wanted to take him on. He walked him. That brought up Chris Scott, a lefty. West went to a full count, before Scott dashed one to dead center, but short of the fence. Ben Cox, 0-4 at the plate, made a game-winning catch. 3-2 Raccoons. In one of the more intense games you can experience! Walker 2-4;

That win was #17 for Powell, further pushing the Raccoons record up. With only 14 games left, he normally won’t have a shot at 20, unless we skip two guys. It also was the 70th win for the team in 1982 – also a Raccoons record. That’s both great and sad.

We finally got the injury diagnosis for Daniel Hall: he had a strained hip flexor (whatever that was) and was day-to-day for another week or so. We left him out of the lineup for the moment.

Ignacio Cordova crushed a massive 450ft homer off Logan Evans in the bottom 2nd to get the Raccoons 3-0 behind, but the team chipped away and tied it in the seventh, 3-3, yet Evans gave a single to lead off the bottom 7th and was removed for Cunningham, and the run scored. The Bayhawks lost their closer Yi to injury in the top 9th, but there were already two down and Mike Hooper got Steve Walker to ground out. 4-3 Bayhawks. Workman 2-4, 2B, RBI;

Very tight series overall. Hall’s bat has been lacking, Guerrero is not producing anything but sliced air.

The last 20 games we went 10-10. We’re fifth in the CL North, 5.0 over New York, 0.5 behind Milwaukee, 1.5 behind Boston, 5.0 behind Indy. 13 games left.

Raccoons (70-79) @ Condors (75-74)

I moved Mark Dawson to left for this series to play Sánz in right. Guerrero was back to the bench.

Game 1. Jerry Ackerman 0.0 IP, 6 H, 1 BB, 5 ER. The game was pretty much out of the window there. The Raccoons lost 7-3 after that early assault on Ackerman. Moran went into the fifth, Higuchi got a chance out of the pen, but was awful. Walker 2-4, RBI; Gonzalez 2-3, BB, 2 2B;

Jorge Romero (8-14, 3.24 ERA) was up against Pedro Romero (4-7, 4.66 ERA) in game 2, with our Romero not even having the possibility to make it any worse than Ackerman the day before. Well, one of them Romeros struck out eight in the game, the other walked four. The sour look on my face should give away which one did what. The Raccoons were 1-hit by the Condors in this game and shut out, 3-0.

The last game of the set was much the same. The Raccoons didn’t get a hit until Spencer Dicks’ leadoff double in the sixth, when they trailed 1-0. Dicks didn’t score there, either, and the pen took over for Portland, since I had lifted Maurinha for Hall to pinch hit, but he only got a hard lineout. That shot … ten feet further to the right, and the game would have been tied. Woulda, coulda, shoulda… Cunningham struck out the side in the sixth, but Gaston was taken deep for three in the seventh, while the Raccoons had absolutely *nothing* going and were well on track for a 70-92 finish. The Condors’ Carlos Castro finished a 2-hitter with 7 K’s. Raccoons lost 4-0.

Back to sucking mode, it seems.

LVA Chris Lynch had tied up the home run race with Mark Dawson, slapping two home runs in both of the first two games the Aces played against the Indians. Both had 24 homers now.

Raccoons (70-82) @ Titans (74-79)

These games mattered to decided third, fourth, fifth, and sixth in the division, although we clearly needed a sweep of the Titans to have our hand in the third place decision. The Indians were already too far ahead in second place, 6.0 games over the Raccoons with only ten to play.

We sent out Christopher Powell to get things moving. He faced Ruben Lopez (13-12, 3.09 ERA). The Raccoons loaded the bags with nobody out in the top 3rd, only for the heart of the lineup, Workman-Dawson-Borjón, to make pathetic outs. The Titans promptly took a 1-0 lead in the bottom 3rd. That was enough to saddle poor Powell with the loss. The Raccoons were yet again held to two hits. Daniel Hall pinch hit for Borjón in the top 9th and drew a 1-out walk. He was lifted for Guerrero to pinch-run. Then Sanchez lined into a double play and it was over. 1-0 Titans. Raccoons have logged five hits and no runs in the last three games combined.

The Raccoons drought lasted 35 innings and ended in the top 6th of game 2. Logan Evans had dug himself a hole with two walks and a run in the bottom 1st, and the Raccoons probably would have lost 1-0 yet again, hadn’t it been for a game-tying wild pitch in that sixth inning. Walker then brought in Sanchez for a 2-1 lead. They added one in the eighth, and Evans pitched with that 3-1 lead in the bottom 8th. Xavier Landry singled with two down, with brought up feared slugger Juan Valentin. Evans did not find the strike zone, and then Valentin jabbed at a 3-0 pitch and lined it right at Workman. Out, inning over. The Raccoons won 4-1 on ten hits (nine singles and a Walker double). It was their luck. I had brought my good rifle to the ballpark with me… Workman 2-4, BB, RBI; Sanchez 4-5; Evans 2-3 and 8.0 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 3 K;

I skipped Jerry Ackerman and sent out Jorge Romero for game 3, which was easy to do due to an off day before this series. Ackerman’s no-out, 5-run performance against the Condors was still sharply remembered by me. Daniel Hall was back in the lineup, benching the embarrassing replacements Guerrero, Cox, and Sánz. We also benched a slumping Gonzalez for Jayson Bowling, while Walker played short.

All for crap. Romero pitched a great six innings and took the 1-0 loss. The lone run scored on a Cameron Green error. Just when you leave the rifle in the hotel room …

Now that they have intentionally forfeited any chance on finishing mid pack in the CL North, we’ll try to stay ahead of the Crusaders.

In other news

September 17 – Scott Spivey, starting shortstop for Oklahoma, is out for the season with a shoulder blade fracture. He went .272 with 1 HR and 51 RBI.
September 18 – The Canadiens win 5-0 in Las Vegas. Coupled with the Indians’ 2-1 loss to Charlotte, the Canadiens clinch the CL North. It’s their first post season appearance. With the Cyclones and Warriors already eliminated this also means that only the Scorpions could potentially become the first team to win a second World Series.
September 18 – Edgardo Garza’s bat is silenced by the Condors and his hitting streak ends at 22 games.
September 21 – CIN SP Stan Campbell (4-2, 2.05) tosses a 3-hitter in a 12-0 rout of the Scorpions.

Complaints and stuff

On September 18, we inked Wally Gaston to a 5-yr extension (1984 to 1988), the last year a vesting option, for a total of $965,000. I still consider this not too costly. He will still be only 32 once that contract is completed. I think he could have gotten much more money out of me with aggressive behavior during extension talks. But Wally’s not that guy. Wally’s nice. (Am I in love?)

For the second week in a row, a Raccoon was the CL’s Player of the Week (ending with the Bayhawks series). With Hall down, Cameron Green slugged his way into the spotlight. He went .435 (10-23) with 3 BB, 2 HR, and 3 RBI. The RBI’s don’t seem impressive, but remember he’s batting leadoff most of the time now due to his .370+ OBP and so he scored eight runs, which happens with Workman, Hall, and Dawson all contributing nicely behind him. Of course, this was before they came from 90% to a screeching zero.

The team page lists one player (Carlos Moran) as hot, eight as cold (including six hitters). Bright spots? Very few. Take Chris Powell for example. Since taking the 4-3 loss in Indy on August 22 he has made six starts. He’s allowed one run in every one of them for a 1.26 ERA. Yet he lost two games and went 4-2. Of course that is not his fault. There is hardly any pitcher out there that performs consistently like him, but the rest of the team is to blame here. A LOT!

After this awful three series (2-7 with 1.66 R/G and 2.89 R/A, shut out four times), the little hope I had for next year, adding one or two pieces here and there, is shattered. This team will never change. No matter which pieces you add, they always hit 25 to 50 points less and get hurt and if they are not hurt, they don’t score runners from third with one out. It hurts!

IT HURTS!

Last week of the season has four against Indianapolis and three against Milwaukee, then vacation for the fur balls, since September’s over.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (71-84) vs. Indians (77-78)

Game 1 had some early offense with the Raccoons leading 3-2 after two innings, then 4-2 after four. Yoelbi Maurinha had some issues on the mound and the leadoff hitters in the first four frames all reached base. Orlando Torres cut the lead in half with a long ball in the top 5th, but Mark Dawson led off the bottom of the inning with his 25th jack. Jayson Bowling left the game with knee problems in the fifth as well, bringing in Costa. The eighth brought more pen problems, and a Steve Walker error that almost blew the lead, when he mishandled a Hoyt Cook groundball. Yeah, *that* Hoyt Cook. Gaston ended the frame with a pop out, after a run had scored against Neubauer and White. West got save #31 in the 6-4 Raccoons win. Pedro Hermundo (yeah, *that* Pedro Hermundo) got on base in that top 9th, but West struck out Greg Douglas with a beautiful curveball to end the game. Green 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Dawson 2-3, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Bowling 2-3; Walker 2-4, 2B, RBI;

Chris Lynch also homered for the Aces against Tijuana in a 5-1 win to keep the home run race tied at 25. The Raccoons passed the Loggers for fourth as the latter were routed 11-1 by the Titans.

After six games in a row, where he allowed exactly one run each time, Powell did not get that streak any further. Francis Bell went yard in the first, and another run scored in the fifth. The Raccoons led 3-2 there, with Daniel Hall’s 2-run shot providing most of the offense. He had also brought in the third run. Workman and Powell made an amazing play to end the sixth with runners on the corners, when Workman got to a roller far behind first, and threw it while turning 180 degrees to a hustling Powell – right into the glove. It still was not Powell’s best game. He left in the seventh after giving a double to opposing pitcher Franklin Palmer, who went on to score, and Powell got a no-decision. Hoyt Cook homered off Fletcher Kelley to give the Indians a 4-3 win.

The home run race remained tied, but the Loggers won 4-2. The Raccoons loss made fourth place the most they could get in the division.

Logan Evans barely got through six frames in his last game of the season. He struck out six, but also surrendered eight hits and two walks – scoreless. He twice ended innings with the bags full by getting C Rod Fields to make a pathetic out. Evans then left, tired, with a 2-0 lead. Hall had tripled and been scored by Borjón in the fourth, and Workman had homered in the sixth. The lead remained so into the ninth. West gave a double to Fields, and Colin Irwin drilled a shot to deep left with two down, that Hall caught just short of the fence. Save #32, 2-0 Raccoons, W #16 for Evans. Offensively, five hits had been just enough.

The Loggers lost 6-2 against Boston and the Raccoons were fourth again. Dawson vs. Lynch, still 25-25.

The last game in the series quickly got out of hand for the Indians. They lost their starter Jose Salgado to injury in the third and the pen was trashed by the Raccoons in an 8-0 romp. Ackerman redeemed himself after that awful last outing by pitching seven innings on seven hits. Workman 2-4, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Hall 3-4, BB, 2B, 2 RBI;

The Raccoons took the season series against the Indians, 10-8, the first time they did that in five years.

This set up a scenario, where the Raccoons sat fourth, 1.0 over their last opponents, the Loggers, and 3.0 over New York. So they could still end up tied for last.

Raccoons (74-85) vs. Loggers (73-86)

Romero, Maurinha, and Powell in the last series of the season. The Raccoons need one win to tie for fourth, two wins to finish fourth untied, and if they get swept and the Crusaders sweep the Indians, we’ll tie for last.

And the Raccoons did not get off to a good start. They could not get anything together in game 1 and were shut out 5-0 on just five hits. Neither Romero nor the pen pitched particularly well. Since the Crusaders won their first game against Indianapolis, everything was set for the Raccoons to end up last.

Maurinha and the Raccoons were sunk thoroughly in the top 4th in game 2, where the Loggers plated six to lead 7-0. The Raccoons lost, 9-6, after a late and futile rally of reliever Mike Dye, which Enrique Sanchez ended with a 3-run homer on the last out.

The Indians won 9-7, so the Raccoons had fifth place for themselves. But it was only because another team was even worse than them. The home run race was still 25-25 between Dawson and Lynch and the way Dawson was playing now he would not get sole possession of first place anyway.

Powell went out one more time before the curtain fell. Before the curtain however, balls fell into the stands. Dan Payne hit a solo homer off Powell right in the top 1st. The Raccoons didn’t hit anything through four, then chained three hits together to start the bottom 5th. Bowling’s RBI double tied the game. Powell scored Borjón on a grounder, Green brought in Bowling with a double, and then Gary Simmons on the mound went wild and nailed Workman. The Loggers’ Gary Helton committed an error on a play that would have ended the inning, but instead Mark Dawson reached base and Green scored. Sanchez singled in Hall, and Simmons nailed Walker. Two hit batsmen in one inning! Powell now had a 5-1 lead. He went 6.2 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 K to collect his 18th win of the season. Fans cheered to him as I removed him mid-inning for Jason White. That was a happy crowd, an accomplishment Raccoons fans could be proud of. The pen now also new it’s task: protect that 4-run lead to tie the Loggers for fourth, get that goal in, no matter how ridiculously pathetic it is. White, Gaston, and West mowed away the Loggers, the “Demon” struck out Gary Helton for the final out. The Raccoons won 5-1.

In other news

September 29 – With veteran Joe Ellis, who tossed a 5-hitter, on the mound, the Falcons crush Morton Jennings and Oklahoma City in a 9-0 rout, claiming the CL South for the second time after 1978. The Miners beat the last place Capitals 7-0, while the Rebels fall 4-0 to Cincinnati, which decides the FL East in favor of the Pittsburgh Miners. It is their first post season appearance after finishing in the cellar every year from 1978 to 1980. Leland Lewis pitched a 3-hitter for the Miners and got his 19th win of the season. This leaves the FL West, where the Scorpions and Pacifics are tied with four games left and will play against each other to end the season!
September 30 – Los Angeles beats Denver 3-1, while the Scorpions lose 7-4 to the Wolves. This sets up a scenario, where the Scorpions need to win three against the Pacifics to make the playoffs. Whether they’ll do it in three or four games is up to them.
October 1 – The Pacifics bashed their way through against the Scorpions to a 10-5 win, they now need only one more win to clinch the FL West.
October 2 – The Scorpions win 7-2 over the Pacifics, setting up a deciding game 162 (and possibly 163).
October 3 – The Scorpions lead 3-2 going into the ninth, but the Pacifics crush their star closer Octavio Morin and score six runs, before almost blowing it themselves. They win 8-5 and take the FL West for the second straight year.

Complaints and stuff

75-87 is our best record yet (terrible enough), and we tied the Loggers for fourth, which is another best (terrible enough). The really important number however is -12. That is our differential to our Pythagorean record. So in fact, this was a 87-75 team. They were 15-30 in 1-run games, which is already much of the underlying story. Rotten luck, coupled with a very poor June and massive injuries piling up in July. Those two months the team went 18-35, blowing everything to pieces they had achieved in April and May. In April they’d been 15-7. All other months they were .500, give or take a game. They also slipped again in those last weeks. Up until before the Condors series I actually thought they could make a run at .500 in the end. But the offense suddenly died and it killed our rally.

We take this 75-87 season, knowing we were better than that. Now we have to convert in 1983. More analysis after the playoffs.

Mark Dawson and Chris Lynch remained tied for the home run lead with 25 dingers. Hall, Dawson, and Workman ranked high in a couple of categories (only CL):
- Daniel Hall .463 SLG (2nd), .831 OPS (5th), 47 2B (2nd), 18 HR (5th), 266 TB (5th), 69 XBH (1ST!!)
- Mark Dawson .444 SLG (3rd), 25 HR (1ST!!), 90 RBI (4th), 56 XBH (7th)
- Matt Workman .439 SLG (6th), 179 H (6th), 19 HR (4th), 78 RBI (8th), 273 TB (3rd)
- Cameron Green 94 BB (7th)

Among pitchers, Christopher Powell’s 18 wins were 4th in the CL, his 2.37 ERA placed him second only to inhumane Juan Correa, as did his 1.30 BB/9, 1.06 WHIP, and his 2.44 K/BB ranked 6th.

Our minor league teams have all finished above .500 this season. The Aumsville Beagles (A level) took their division by storm (94-46) and advanced to the A level championships, but were defeated by the French Lick Bay Hawks (I have not made this up).

[Westheim]

News:

October 4 – Batting titles are won by CIN OF Alex White (.354, 8 HR, 60 RBI) and ATL OF Engjell Vulaj (.331, 10 HR, 67 RBI).
October 4 – A 29-4 record, 1.64 ERA, and 201 K’s earn Juan Correa the pitching triple crown.
October 8 – The Thunder ink infielder Alfonso Aranda, 30, to a 7-yr, $4.9M contract. Aranda has 1,214 career hits, all with the Thunder.

The Falcons have the best record for the playoffs (101-61). The team with the best record has won the title four of five times so far. None of the teams in the playoffs has won the title so far, so the ABL will have their sixth different champion in six years. That must not be a bad thing. It makes lots of people happy (unless you’re in Portland).

LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES

Miners @ Pacifics … 5-3 … (Miners lead 1-0) … PIT Leland Lewis (19-8, 2.44 ERA) and LAP David Burke (19-9, 2.64 ERA) match up, but the duel never really materializes.
Canadiens @ Falcons … 7-4 (Canadiens lead 1-0) … VAN Jeff Lee 3-4, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Juan Correa is shelled for six runs in three innings!

Miners @ Pacifics … 0-2 … (series tied 1-1) … PIT Craig Hansen loses on unearned runs after eight strong innings
Canadiens @ Falcons … 5-4 (10) … (Canadiens lead 2-0) … VAN Quincy Cox PH 2B to score Eddy Bailey in the top 10th

Pacifics @ Miners … 3-4 … (Miners lead 2-1) … PIT Dean Botts 8.0 IP, 8 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 1 K; PIT Sam Murphy 2-2, BB, 2 3B, 2 RBI; L.A. rally falls just short
Falcons @ Canadiens … 1-2 … (Canadiens lead 3-0) … VAN Quincy Cox scores the winning run in the 7th

Pacifics @ Miners … 1-11 … (Miners lead 3-1) … Burke is trashed in the second game against Lewis, who goes the distance; PIT Sam Murphy 2-3, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; PIT Jerry Phelps 3-5, 2B, 3B, 2 RBI;
Falcons @ Canadiens … 3-4 … (Canadiens win 4-0) … Correa is ineffective again and the Canadiens score the winning run in the eighth.

Pacifics @ Miners … 6-9 … (Miners win 4-1) … PIT Davis Rigsby 3-3, 2 2B, RBI

Well, that’s a pair of major upsets! The Miners were dead last two years ago, and wobbled through an overall weak FL East. The Canadiens raced through the CL North, but nobody expected them to sweep the Falcons! This should be a very interesting, yet unexpected World Series matchup.

The Canadiens should have the advantage here, at least they walked over their division by 16 games. They have really strong pitching, while the Miners have some of everything, but have some holes when it comes to hitting.

1982 WORLD SERIES

Miners @ Canadiens … 2-4 … (Canadiens lead 1-0) … VAN Robbie Campbell 7.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 5 K

Miners @ Canadiens … 0-2 … (Canadiens lead 2-0) … VAN Kisho Saito 8.1 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 8 K; PIT Leland Lewis 7.0 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 5 K; only ten hits between the teams, so far the Miners have not been able to hurt the Canadiens at all

Canadiens @ Miners … 12-10 … (Canadiens lead 3-0) … the Miners led 10-3 after six and then suffered a catastrophic collapse, which should kill them for good.

Canadiens @ Miners … 2-3 … (Canadiens lead 3-1) … PIT Dean Botts 8.0 IP, 8 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 2 K; VAN Jeff Lee 2-4, HR, 2 RBI

Canadiens @ Miners … 4-5 … (Canadiens lead 3-2) … the Miners force the series back to Canada after they trailed 4-1 going into the bottom 7th. PIT Diego Rodriguez PH 2-RBI 2B; PIT Jerry Phelps 2-3, 2B, HR, RBI

Miners @ Canadiens … 1-3 … (Canadiens win 4-2) … VAN Kisho Saito 8.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 3 K

The Miners’ offense just was not enough for the Canadiens’ starters. They should get due credit for how far they made it. It would have been a huge upset if they had become World Champions with the 6th best record in the ABL.

But even the Canadiens were unlikely champions! They improved 13 games over their 1981 season, and have one of the best rotations in the league. They don’t have the one big monster hurler, but they have three or four #2 pitchers. Which was enough for the CL North, enough to beat the 101-wins Falcons, and enough to out-last the Miners.

Congratulations to the 1982 WORLD CHAMPIONS:

VANCOUVER CANADIENS

[Westheim]

The offseason starts.

First up, whom to chase away and whom to keep? Three players were bound for free agency: OF Eduardo Guerrero, 2B/3B Angel Costa, and SP Jorge Romero. The first two were easy decisions: no deal. Both had batted below .200, and Costa had done it for years. Romero went a poor 8-17, but with a good 3.27 ERA. The problem was his demands. He wanted a contract for three years. He’d be 38 then. I offered one year for less than his current $392k, but he didn’t bite. He was a type B free agent.

C Spencer Dicks and OF Ben Cox were super-2 arbitration cases. We would not make an offer to Cox, who batted .127 and like Costa had done this for some years now. Dicks got an offer, but we’d try to strike a new contract before the arbitration hearings.

The biggest problem was Ralph Nixon. He had another year on his contract, but it was a team option. Did I really want to pay $950k to a guy who has never lived up to expectations and is injured all the time? The buyout is $250k.

Wyatt Johnston, 40, retired. His last season was a bargain only for him. But he finished his career with a .254 average, 659 H, 56 HR, 309 RBI. Our hitting coach also retired at age 61.

We have made offers to the former Thunder hitting coach and the Bayhawks scouting director. Interim head scout Angel Vega was released. We made our moves quickly here. Our new head scout was Nathan Bruce, 56, with good ratings across the board. He was tasked with re-rating all the mess our old scout had left us.

Our budget has been set to $9.266M, up about half a million.

The Nixon and Romero questions were the main point of interest in those late October days. We could just not reach an agreement with Romero, who demanded 4-yr, $1.7M and that was not an offer I was going to meet. I’m sorry, Jorge, it was nice with you, but you have to go someplace else.

Nixon, another potential type B free agent. He appeared in 300 games for the Raccoons in three seasons. The rest: injuries. Would it be better to cut the losses now and pay the quarter million bucks to get rid of him. He batted way over .300 in New York. He never batted .300 in Portland. I won’t pay you $950k, Ralph. It was nice with you, but you have to go someplace else.

October 22 – The Titans deal infielder Joe Helms, 31, and a prospect for the Miners’ SP Bob Hillier and a minor league reliever. Helms is a career .259 hitter, but hit at a .299 pace in ’82. He’s with his fifth team now since the start of the 1980 season.
October 25 – The Aces deal SP Kevin MacGruder, 28, 1-9 with a 4.92 ERA in 12 starts in ’82, to the Knights for catching prospect Alberto Durán.
October 29 – The Knights acquire reliever Jose Sanchez from Milwaukee for two prospects. Sanchez was 2-1 with a 2.17 ERA in 53 games in ’82.
November 1 – The Miners acquire 25-yr old SP Tom Harden (8-15, 4.76 ERA) from Cincinnati for a pitching prospect.
November 3 – PIT Leland Lewis (19-8, 2.44 ERA) and CHA Juan Correa (29-4, 1.64 ERA) are Pitchers of the Year.
November 4 – LAP OF Yoshinobu Ishizaki (.353, 3 HR, 78 RBI) and VAN SS Eddy Bailes (.348, 8 HR, 42 RBI) are MVP’s.
November 8 – The Raccoons deal RF Pedro Sánz, 32, Raccoon since ’77, to the Buffaloes for SP/MR Charles Young, 24. Sánz is a career .277 hitter, but went .195 in ’82, going from cornerstone to burden. Young made his big league debut in ’82, appearing in 8 games (4 starts), going 1-1 with a 3.49 ERA.

The Raccoons did not get any trophies. Matt Workman was beaten by VAN SP Kisho Saito to Rookie of the Year honors.

The Sánz trade was necessary, although it was another knife rammed into my heart. He was the last position player from the original team to go away after Johnston retired. Wally Gaston is the last original Raccoon now, while Logan Evans and Paul Cooper were in the minor league system of the Raccoons when the ABL started play.

The Sánz deal also cut his salary, saving us $296k. This would be put to good news when rebuilding our rotation. I wasn’t entirely sure whether I wanted to put Young in there, and I probably had to find a replacement for Ackerman, whose performance was nothing I’d brag about publicly.

The arbitration hearings went according to plan. Spencer Dicks received $99,000 (as offered by me). Romero and Nixon declined arbitration and became free agents along with Cox, Guerrero, and Costa.

Sad story of the week: the Pittsburgh Miners broke apart with seven players, including a number of core players, becoming free agents.

Now, on to the hard offseason work. Currently, the Raccoons roster has 24 players, 14 pitchers and 10 position players. We need to find the following in somewhat descending priority:

- A stud righty starter
- A stud lefty reliever
- Versatile infielder with a good eye that can pinch hit, or a defensively strong second baseman with high AVG/OBP
- Two backup outfielders, preferably also hitting for some power

None of those needs can be filled from our AAA roster, at least not satisfyingly. Maybe I have to trade one of my ace righty relievers to get something done.

[Charlie Hough]

It's a Christmas miracle! The Raccoons finally avoid collapse and finish in fourth place.

But it seems like the team perpetually hits for poor average. The pitching seems excellent, but the offense just isn't getting it done. That's probably the difference in those one-run games. A couple of bats might turn it around quickly. Stay tuned, fans!

[Westheim]

Well, they had their usual mid-season meltdown.

I haven't mentioned it before: the Raccoons ranked 3rd in the CL in runs against, and a very respectable 6th in runs scored. The run differential was +47. For comparison: the Miners won the FL East with a +57 differential. Comparing the two leagues directly is difficult, since the Federal League is more hitting-heavy, but you get the idea from the CL numbers.

I am already in the process of loading up on hitting. But of course I also need to fill a spot in the rotation with Romero gone.

I also really have a surplus on righty relievers.

[Westheim]

There were a number of interesting free agents out there. One was former Cyclone Alex White, outfielder, 28, who had just won the Federal League batting title. Former Condors SP’s Alex Miranda and Shayne Nealon, Wolves SP Jason Gurston, Rebels SP Cristo Negrón were all on the market. Miranda was a former Raccoon.

We had undertaken a massive salary dump by letting free agents go and by trading Sánz. Our current contracts amounted to about $4.3M. We could probably sign two high quality free agents. Alex White was particularly appealing to me. We could use him in right and play Dawson at third. That would give the Raccoons a great pinch hitter in Cameron Green.

So I went after White first. He demanded seven years for $6.3M … uh, yeah, well. We made an offer for almost 30% less on November 14. It was not that easy to pick a pitcher among the many available.

November 15 – Falcons reliever Pete Hall, 27, ends his career after continued setbacks from a partially torn labrum. He made 86 appearances for the Falcons since 1980, going 10-12 with a 3.77 ERA.
November 16 – Rebels and Scorpions exchange infielders. Glenn Williams, 30, .292 hitter with 68 homers, goes to Richmond, while Mike Newton, .272 hitter, joins Sacramento.
November 16 – The Knights acquire poorly hitting outfielder Sean Bergeron from the Capitals for two minor leaguers.
November 18 – Nicolas Castillo, who hit 52 homers for the Raccoons’ AAA team in 1980, is traded by the Canadiens to Salem after only getting 71 AB’s last season. The Canadiens receive reliever Miguel Rivera and a prospect.
November 22 – The Bayhawks sign 30-yr old Bob Potter, former shortstop of the Capitals and a solid hitter throughout with a .275 bat. He will make $2.44M over four years.
November 22 – Ross Bradbury’s knee is killed. The 25-yr old outfielder announced his retirement today. He went .306, 31 HR, 317 RBI in his career with the Buffaloes.
November 23 – The Warriors come to terms with former Bayhawks outfielder Rafael Lopez, 33, who will earn just over $3M over four years. He’s a .299 hitter and has 53 career home runs.
November 25 – The Raccoons sign free agent outfielder Alex White, 28, who spent all of his career with the Cyclones. His numbers are impressive, after six seasons he has 1,125 hits (batting .348) with 60 HR and 600 RBI. White will earn up to $5.6M over seven years.
November 25 – Catcher Sam Murphy, just having lost the World Series with the Miners, signs as a free agent with the Wolves. For six years, his .289 bat with remarkable power for a catcher comes in at just over $4.8M.
November 26 – The Titans add OF/1B Leon Marés from the Pacifics, trading reliever Tim Moss. Marés is a powerless contact hitter with a .290+ bat.
November 29 – The Capitals land 25-yr old Jamel Teissier, whose 159 career saves rank 9th all time. He was with the Loggers before signing a 2-yr, $722k deal with Washington.
November 29 – The Crusaders part with outfielder Jose Gonzales, sending him to Oklahoma. They receive SP Mario Garcia (12-6, 3.33 ERA) and a minor leaguer. Garcia was originally signed by the Raccoons as international free agent, but traded to Oklahoma the same winter.
December 1 – Rule 5 draft: seven players are taken. The Raccoons lose pitcher Harvey Hardin to the Bayhawks.

The Alex White signing forfeits our round 2 pick in the 1983 draft, but once Nixon and Romero are signed, we will receive supplemental round picks, so it could be worse.

Winter meetings will begin next.