Portland Raccoons (ABL) - Page 51

Westheim · 08-31-2014, 09:51 PM

1998 AMATEUR DRAFT

We came into the draft with an insane allotment of six of the first 69 picks, including the fourth overall pick thanks to sucking so badly last season and losing about everybody on the roster in the winter.

The draft pool has been detailed above. There are very few infielders worth noting, and there isn’t that one hot starting pitcher everybody wants to have. There are lots of decent guys, though, a few rocket arms for the bullpen, and enough outfielders that have a nice future projection. While the pool has a lot of decent catchers, too, there is not the one catcher in there, but I still think we have drafted that one catcher already with Julio Mata last year, although he is currently struggling badly in AAA. We might still draft two catchers later on, since with the trade of Mario Guerrero two days ago, we have only nine catchers in our system.

The following players are very high on the wish list:

SP Frank McGeraghty (18/7/15)
SP Rod Taylor (14/7/9)
SP Daniel Dickerson (11/17/13) – highest bonus demand in the draft at $2.1M

RP Scott Boone (20/18/18)
RP Sergio Vega (20/15/14)
RP Tom Brooks (14/17/15)
RP Luis Valdes (16/15/10)

C Craig Bowen (9/13/16)

1B/3B/LF Jon Merritt (16/5/18)
1B/3B Bob Phillips (12/9/10)

LF/CF Chris Roberson (20/18/9)
LF/RF Lou Jenkins (16/20/10)
LF/RF/1B Will Bailey (14/14/13)
LF/RF/CF Herb Rose (14/8/13)
LF/RF Jesus Valle (14/12/10)
LF/RF/1B Emery Parkinson (12/14/12)

Right off the bat, I am torn between Chris Roberson and Scott Boone as the first pick. You can never have too many outfielders, first. Second, you can never have too many relievers, either. Third, we drafted right-handed relievers with our first pick the last two years, Manuel Martinez in 1996, and Dan Nordahl last season. Both are in AA, with Martinez fighting ill control, and Nordahl getting grey hair for the non-existent defense behind him. Scott Boone is a left-hander, 17 years old, and even more raw than the high school kids Martinez and Nordahl. Roberson is 21, and I have a feeling that he will go very, very high in the draft. Take him fourth, because he won’t be around by the time you pick again. He may not even be around at #4.

Neither of those two, by the way, rank in the top 10 by BNN. Bowen leads that list, and he is also a high school draftee. Dickerson is 2nd, and then the guys not on the short shortlist by me and Vince Guerra creep in. Jenkins and Bailey are 7th and 9th on the list, respectively, while the other six top 10ers are not on our short shortlist.

This is getting very talky here.

So, Chris Roberson figures to be our first choice. What if he is gone by #4? Boone? Or Lou Jenkins? Heck, each of those six outfielders listed above figures to be a star – right now. Sigh. Bring in the clowns!

1998 PORTLAND RACCOONS DRAFT CLASS
Round 1 (#4) – LF/CF Chris Roberson, 21, from Lyndhurst, NJ – high contact, high power, not a strikeout guy, and he also has speed and is able in the field; what more can you want from a hitter?
Supp. Round (#28) – MR Scott Boone, 17, from Edmonton, Canada – southpaw that doesn’t blow hitters away with the fastball, but his slider is just too filthy to be legal
Supp. Round (#50) – SP Frank McGeraghty, 20, from Washington, DC – strong stuff with four quality pitches, but this lefty has to work on movement to get into the Bigs; right now he is throwing pretty straight…
Supp. Round (#61) – LF/RF Jesus Valle, 19, from La Romana, Dom. Rep. – powerful bat, good contact abilities, but struggling with the strikeouts due to bad judgement of stuff on the corners; good speed and defensive abilities, too
Supp. Round (#66) – OF Herb Rose, 22, from Dover, OH – quality bat for high average, with less power than our two higher picks, but with more speed and good defense as well
Supp. Round (#69) – MR Sergio Vega, 18, from San Carlos, Venezuela – right-handed changeup artiste also working on a slider, and the fastball zooms past you at 95mph as well
Round 2 (#86) – C Pat McClellan, 21, from Rye Brook, NY – good eyes and contact abilities, and he also calls a good game; is a switch hitter as added quality
Round 3 (#97) – 1B John Morris, 18, from Vallejo, CA – his bat seems more likely to produce doubles rather than home runs, but he doesn’t strike out an awful lot; downsides are no speed at all and so-so defense
Round 4 (#121) – OF Bryan Forrest, 20, from Cambridge City, IN – his speed makes him a doubles hitter since he will go for two at the slightest provocation, but his problem so far is a sub-par contact ability; strong defense though
Round 5 (#145) – INF Reed Shaw, 21, from Elma Center, NY – swings at too much junk, and good speed and strong defense on several positions on the infield alone won’t get you to the Show…
Round 6 (#169) – SP Warren Gilles, 17, from Tallulah, LA – claims to throw six pitches, but we’re not sure whether he just doesn’t know what and how to throw at all
Round 7 (#193) – MR Jose Francisco, 17, from Saltillo, Mexico – right-hander with a promising curve
Round 8 (#217) – SP Ron Robinson, 17, from Warren, PA – right-hander with slider and changeup and impressive whiff numbers in his high school league
Round 9 (#241) – CL Víctor Valentín, 20, from San Cristobal, Dom. Rep. – right-hander, slider to knot up hitters, but weak fastball and poor control
Round 10 (#265) – INF Toin Agano, 22, from Kawasaki, Japan – good defender, bat … nyaahh… good defender.
Round 11 (#289) – 3B Woody Ayers, 21, from Queens, NY – good defensive third baseman
Round 12 (#313) – C Bill Lewis, 17, from Union City, NJ – I thought we could use another catcher

The Canadiens had the first overall pick in the draft and selected SP Daniel Dickerson with it. He was high on my list, and certainly a worthy #1 pick, and it took the decision whether to blow north of two million bucks on his signing bonus. The Wolves took SP Max Shepherd, followed by the Cyclones grabbing Will Bailey, giving us Chris Roberson.

Nobody signed any relievers in the first round, and so Scott Boone fell to us at #28. With McGeraghty still in, he would have been a valid option as well. Outfielders Rose, Valle, and Parkinson also remained at this point. Only Parkinson was taken between our first two supplemental round picks, and by now McGeraghty still being available was slightly suspicious, but we took him anyway, with Jesus Valle penciled in for the next pick.

After Valle and Rose were added, we took about the best guy that was left for a while, which included swallowing a $700k bonus to third round pick John Morris (more than our top pick Roberson!), before resorting to Reed Shaw and Warren Gilles, who had not been on the extended shortlist, to fill up on needs in the middle rounds. Francisco was the last pitcher on the shortlist, which actually at that point contained two more outfielders, but we had already taken four, and only Roberson was going to start in AA.

Looks like we drafted heavily from the Northeast this time. Also, this was a strange draft in that usually the pool was out of position players, especially outfielders at some point during the penultimate round. Not this time! We actually drafted position players in the last few rounds. There were however no position players left over at the end, only pitchers.

Roberson was the only player assigned to the AA level. Everybody else was assigned to A. For a moment, that put the roster of the Aumsville team at 48 players, but we culled that down a bit.

We released a total of seven players (and a few more may follow), including our two top picks from 1995, outfielders Manuel Villa and Cory Stanford. Villa had been concussed in 1996 and had never regained his swing after that. Stanford had sucked for three full years at the A level.

Westheim · 09-01-2014, 03:15 PM

Raccoons (33-29) @ Cyclones (29-31) – June 15-17, 1998

The Cyclones ranked a bit below average in just about every category imaginable, but were really not extraordinarily awful in any one thing. Their batting average ranked 11th, but they made up for that with power. We have swept the Cyclones the last two times we met them.

Projected matchups:
Randy Farley (7-2, 2.85 ERA) vs. Russ Ewing (3-4, 3.86 ERA)
Jose Rivera (4-2, 2.55 ERA) vs. Raúl Chavez (2-4, 6.38 ERA)
Kisho Saito (3-7, 2.57 ERA) vs. Marc Padgett (7-4, 4.52 ERA)

Chavez is the only left-hander we get in this series.

Game 1
POR: SS Guerin – 1B Brady – CF Reece – LF Buell – 3B Crowe – 2B Caddock – RF Villegas – C McDonald – P Farley
CIN: CF Porter – 3B R. Gonzalez – RF D. Morris – LF Harris – 1B Nava – C Cardenas – 2B Durán – SS Duenas – P Ewing

The series opener derailed early, and with force. Farley got whacked in the first with four hard hits for two runs, and a Crowe error along with more bad pitching (and catching) for two unearned runs in the second inning. “Papa” Ewing did not allow a hit until the fourth, when Reece doubled and eventually scored, but the Coons sat in a 4-1 hole, and that was never a desirable situation with this team. To make this worse, they were at best hitting a shy single somewhere, and racked up ten strikeouts in the game. Ewing easily ran away with this one. 4-1 Cyclones. Crowe 2-3, RBI;

Oh dear baseball gods, can we please get some offense at some point!?

Game 2
POR: 3B Crowe – RF Brady – CF Reece – LF Buell – C Turner – 1B Utting – SS Guerin – 2B McLaughlin – P Rivera
CIN: 2B Durán – 3B R. Gonzalez – RF D. Morris – LF Harris – 1B Nava – CF Starr – C H. Wilson – SS Duenas – P Chavez

Another day, another pitcher beaten up early, as Rivera gave up three runs in the first inning, and another day of no offense at all. Not that they didn’t have runners. They left runners on third base in three of the first four innings, and never scored. This included Stephen Buell getting thrown out stealing by weak-armed Herman Wilson before the Raccoons loaded the bags in the same inning. Rivera didn’t surrender any more through his six innings of work, but it was too late. He had already lost the game. Chavez, the alleged pushover, shut out the Raccoons through eight innings, and only left the game due to blowing through 120 pitches in the eighth. Kelly Fairchild was ravaged for three runs and collected no outs in the bottom 8th. Reliever Peter Hughes in the top 9th walked the first three Raccoons that came up. And all the suckers managed was PH Steve Caddock grounding into a force out, scoring a run. 6-1 Cyclones. Buell 2-5; Turner 2-4, 2 2B; McLaughlin 1-2, 2 BB, 2B;

Game 3
POR: 3B Crowe – 2B Caddock – CF Reece – LF Buell – C Turner – SS Guerin – RF Newton – 1B Utting – P Saito
CIN: CF Porter – 3B R. Gonzalez – RF D. Morris – SS Valdes – LF Starr – 1B Maldrum – C Cardenas – 2B Durán – P Padgett

Saito was struggling with control recently, like plunking a trio of batters in one game, and this continued in the last game in Cincy. Saito walked three early on, but the Cyclones couldn’t convert since they also failed to hit him when it counted, and instead whiffed seven times in the first four innings, after which the Coons were up 2-0. The latter run had been driven in by Saito himself with a 2-out RBI single in the top 4th. Then came the bottom 5th, and things went south in a hurry. Padgett led off with a single to left, and then Troy Porter doubled, and Ramiro Gonzalez singled. 2-1, runners on the corners, no outs, Saito struck Morris for the third time in the game, before Manuel Valdes tied the game with a sac fly. Saito went seven, and had to settle for nothing. Since the Raccoons weren’t doing anything anyway, how long the game would go depended entirely on the relievers. Tamburrino and Miller turned in scoreless innings to send the game to overtime. Donis pitched two scoreless, and Fairchild survived the 12th mainly due to Guerin’s Platinum Glove at short, and yes, we were still batting in the top halves of innings, and no, we were not hitting ****. Fairchild pitched a perfect 13th, including handing Dan Morris his 5th K of the day, before Werner Turner led off the 14th with a double. Go get ‘em, boys!! Turner was at third with one out, which prompted Villegas and McLaughlin to strike out. It was too horrible to watch. You wished yourself away. Like, to prison, or to Cambodia, or worse. Prison in Cambodia. In the 18th, Mark Alexander was pitching in his fourth inning for the Cyclones. He came in with a 5.56 ERA. By now he had shed almost a run off that. Caddock livened up an 0-7 day with a 1-out single to left. Reece struck out, but Buell doubled to center. Caddock was waved around third, and Porter threw him out at the plate. Scott Wade pitched FIVE innings in relief, 14th through 18th, and Alexander came back out for the 19th. We still had De La Rosa to go after Wade. De La Rosa allowed a 1-out single to ALEXANDER in the bottom 19th, then walked Cardenas. Durán grounded back to De La Rosa, who ended the game with a throw into the seats. 3-2 Cyclones. Saito 7.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 8 K; Donis 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K; Fairchild 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K; Wade 5.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K;

I’m gonna ****ing kill them. I’m just gonna ****ing kill them. They are ATROCIOUS, ABSOLUTELY ATROCIOUS.

AAAAARGH!!!

Maybe things will get better on the weekend, when Liam Wedemeyer will be activated from the DL and will replace Jason Kent on the roster. It can’t possibly get any WORSE. The sucker bunch has scored three runs or less in TEN OF THEIR LAST ELEVEN games! No wonder I’m running out of hair to pull out!!

Raccoons (25-38) @ Canadiens (25-38) – June 18-21, 1998

Since humiliating the Raccoons a few weeks ago, the Canadiens’ pitching had recovered to allow less than six runs per game overall, so now they couldn’t even considered pushovers anymore. And they were outscoring us by some 50 runs, but then, who wasn’t …

Projected matchups:
Manuel Movonda (5-5, 2.43 ERA) vs. Manuel Hernandez (2-5, 6.38 ERA)
Miguel Lopez (5-7, 4.31 ERA) vs. Jose Dominguez (5-5, 4.72 ERA)
Randy Farley (7-3, 2.83 ERA) vs. Jose Marquez (6-6, 4.52 ERA)
Jose Rivera (4-3, 2.71 ERA) vs. John Collins (2-10, 5.57 ERA)

The bullpen situation was difficult, but not hopeless (yet) for Movonda in the opener. Wade had been professionally gassed in the marathon in Cincinnati, and would not be available for a couple of days, and we might also want to leave Fairchild and Donis alone for the first two games. Neither had thrown more than 23 pitches in “game 3”, but they had also both been active in the game before that. Readily available were Tamburrino, De La Rosa (who had ended the misery in style), and Carlton. We would prefer to get seven to eight from Movonda anyway, and please don’t play extra innings again, thanks.

Game 1
POR: 3B Crowe – SS Guerin – CF Reece – LF Buell – C Turner – RF Newton – 1B Utting – 2B McLaughlin – P Movonda
VAN: C J. Lopez – 3B Sutton – 1B Mosley – RF Givens – LF Moore – CF J. Moreno – 2B Corona – SS Duarte – P M. Hernandez

Movonda dazzled the Canadiens – thank god – and got some support early with a go-ahead solo home run from Jai Utting in the second inning, and then two runs in the fourth. With Newton on first, McLaughlin doubled into the gap, and Newton was waved around. The Canadiens tried to make the play at home, didn’t, and McLaughlin moved up to third base, from where Movonda groundballed him home. Hernandez was still pitching in the eighth, but loaded the bags with no outs. Movonda was to bat next, and since he probably had gas for another inning (maybe even two), we let him bat. He lined up the middle and into center field, RBI single. While Hernandez popped up Crowe, he then walked Guerin, 5-0, and was removed. Reliever Claudio Duarte was supposed to pick up the pieces, but the inning collapsed away from the Canadiens and the Coons put on a rout. Reece singled home a run, Buell doubled for two, Turner hit a sac fly, and Utting brought home a run. It actually got worse for the Canadiens in the ninth. Caddock had a PH single, and Guerin and Reece got on, bringing up Stephen Buell, who cranked a Chet Frazier pitch to deep, deeper gone! GRAAAAAAAND SLAAAAAAAMMMM!!! We will cover the mantle of silence over what happened to Fred Carlton in the bottom 9th. 14-5 Raccoons. Caddock (PH) 1-1; Guerin 3-5, BB, RBI; Reece 2-4, 2 BB, RBI; Buell 3-6, HR, 2B, 6 RBI; Newton 2-3, 3 BB, 2B; Utting 2-5, BB, HR, 2 RBI; McLaughlin 2-3, BB, 2B, RBI; Movonda 8.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 7 K, W (6-5) and 1-4, 2 RBI;

Bad news is, we have used up our run allotment for this series. Actually exceeded it already…

Never mind that Liam Wedemeyer was rejoining the roster right now, replacing Kent.

Game 2
POR: 3B Crowe – RF Newton – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – LF Buell – SS Guerin – C Turner – 2B Caddock – P M. Lopez
VAN: 2B B. Butler – SS Shaw – 1B Mosley – CF Hartley – LF Moore – C Guerrero – RF J. Moreno – 3B Sutton – P Dominguez

The Canadiens’ woes continued early. Dominguez loaded the bags in the first inning. While he struck out Buell to get to two outs, his luck ended there and consecutive base hits by Guerin, Turner, and Caddock plated four runs. While Miguel Lopez was retired on a diving catch by Roland Moore, that also retired Moore, who left with an injury. Mario Guerrero, just traded to Vancouver, was the starting catcher in this game, and his leadoff single in the second inning fired his average all the way up to a dizzying .100! While the Raccoons shot to that early lead, they needed it. Lopez was totally not sharp, and would give up 2-run homers to Bill Mosley in the bottom of the third and fifth innings. Thankfully, Werner Turner had come up with RBI hits in the top halves of both frames, and we led 6-4 through five. It was a strange game for Lopez, who struck out seven, but allowed ten hits, the last of which, a 2-out single by reliever(!) Paul Brown, was removed. Now, the pen was thin, but had to collect ten outs. Daniel Miller retired Bob Butler to get the sixth into the books. Miller remained in for the seventh – he had been out frequently the last few days, but in a way he was the most versatile horse in the stables behind the fence, after De La Rosa and Wade, who could both reliably start games – and although the Canadiens put two in scoring position with two outs, I was never worried, for the next batter was Mario Guerrero, and he wasn’t gonna get a hit. And Miller got him to ground out to Caddock. Donis appeared in the eighth, started with an error on Juan Moreno’s grounder, and it escalated. De La Rosa failed to clean up Donis’ steaming pile of ****, and Mosley became easily man of the match with another 2-run base hit, a 2-out double to win the game. 7-6 Canadiens. Newton 2-5; Buell 2-4; Turner 3-4, 2 2B, 3 RBI; Caddock 2-3, BB, RBI; Miller 1.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Honestly, why do I even bother with these left-handed reliever ****tards? Why don’t I shoot ALL left-handed pitchers I have, except for Kisho??

Game 3
POR: 3B Crowe – SS Guerin – CF Reece – LF Buell – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Newton – 2B Utting – C McDonald – P Farley
VAN: C J. Lopez – 3B Sutton – 1B Mosley – RF Givens – CF Hartley – 2B Shaw – LF J. Moreno – SS Duarte – P Marquez

Both teams scored an unearned run in the first inning, with Guerin to blame for the Elks’. Randy Farley had one of those games, where every leadoff man seemed to reach base, and sometimes the two first batters in an inning. Still, the Canadiens had troubles to score them. We took a 2-1 lead on a 2-out RBI single by Wedemeyer in the third, that bounced funnily away from Bill Mosley. The Furballs couldn’t find their way into a big inning, but they added on single runs in the fourth (driven in by Farley himself) and sixth (Crowe with two down). A Raymond Sutton home run brought the Canadiens back within two in the seventh, but by then they had also lost CF Forest Hartley to injury. Jackie Lagarde pitched in the eighth – hi, Jackie – walked Utting and McDonald, and Farley was told to bat with one out. Farley made contact again and singled up the middle, which was enough to score Utting. Lagarde walked the bags full, but struck out Guerin and Reece grounded out to short. Hartley’s replacement Joe Wilson took Farley deep in the bottom 8th, and that got him out of the game. Wade was not available yet, and so we brought De La Rosa to collect four outs for the save. In the ninth, with one out, a Bob Butler single and Jorge Lopez double put the tying runs in scoring position. Sutton dinked a single into shallow right, plating the runs, and it was not going to stop. Mosley singled, and Givens flew to deep right, which Villegas caught, but Sutton tagged from third and scored. 6-5 Canadiens. Utting 2-3, BB, 2B; Farley 7.2 IP, 9 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 5 K and 3-4, 2 RBI;

Fact: one guy can’t win a baseball game.

****ing annoying crap team.

Game 4
POR: 3B Crowe – LF Buell – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – C Turner – RF Brady – SS Guerin – 2B Caddock – P Rivera
VAN: 2B B. Butler – C J. Lopez – 1B Mosley – RF Givens – LF Moore – 3B Corona – CF J. Moreno – SS Duarte – P J. Collins

Roland Moore was playing with tightness in his back, while Hartley was still out for them. Meanwhile Bill Mosley continued to kill Coons pitching, hitting his third homer of the series in the bottom 1st, tying the game back after a Reece sac fly had given Rivera a lead. Little more was going on for a few innings until Neil Reece opened the sixth with a bang, and a leadoff jack made it 2-1 Furballs. John Collins then hit Wedemeyer, who took exception and charged the mound. A mild brawl ensued and Wedemeyer and Collins were tossed. Once order was restored by the umpires, Clyde Brady hit a 2-run homer off Paul Brown. The Raccoons threatened in two of the last three innings, but didn’t score and left five on base. Rivera was still pitching, and entered the ninth with 101 pitches on the odometer, and Mosley leading off. On the other hand, eliminating the bullpen altogether probably was the smartest idea I had all week. Mosley singled, but Givens struck out, however that brought up left-handers. Yet, the quality of our left-handed relief has been beaten to death. Rivera would get at least one mo(o)re, and struck out the ailing outfielder, bringing up Ramon Corona, who was batting a scary .087 (2-23). Corona lined to center, but Reece hardly had to move. 4-1 Raccoons! Reece 1-3, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Brady 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Rivera 9.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 4 K, W (5-3) and 1-4;

In a young career of 53 games (51 starts), Jose Rivera turned in his third complete game, and the first since 1996. Back then he had had two shutouts. He is now 21-13 with a 3.09 ERA for his career. Quite a nice #5, if you ask me.

Wedemeyer was suspended for five games for attacking Collins, so he was hurt for six weeks, then he comes back and makes it two and a half games before getting his furry behinds banned for another week. Great job!

In other news

June 16 – Old age is beginning to show on 37-yr old LVA 2B Pete Connolly (.303, 1 HR, 15 RBI), and while the Aces were stomped by the Warriors, 9-1, Connolly shone bright with two hits in the losing effort. The latter hit, a leadoff double off Pat Cherry, who went the distance in the game, in the ninth inning marks Connolly’s 3,000th career base hit. The sixth overall pick in the 1978 draft by the Gold Sox, who debuted for them in 1979 and since played for the Knights, Indians, Wolves, and Cyclones as well, is the second player after Jeffery Brown to reach the 3,000 mark.
June 17 – The Wolves beat the Thunder, 5-0, behind Alonso Lopez (5-5, 4.28 ERA) tossing a 3-hit shutout.
June 21 – IND INF Jose Martinez (.255, 3 HR, 22 RBI) has suffered a sprained ankle and should be out for three weeks.
June 21 – DEN OF Raúl Castillo (.295, 1 HR, 7 RBI) is out for the year with a broken elbow.

Complaints and stuff

GRAVE NEWS. Really, really GRAVE NEWS. Our blue chip SP prospect, Ralph Ford, is out for the season with rotator cuff inflammation. Well, that will put a dent into your mood … so, that brings his likelihood of being on the opening day roster in 1999 from 2% all the way down to NADA.

Kisho Saito was not as usual in the dugout during the first game in Vancouver. He wasn’t even in Canada. We were talking contract in Portland, since I was still banned from entering Canadian soil due to one or the other incident in recent years in Canadian airports, clubhouses, and public parks. No, the claims that I exposed myself are entirely wrong. The truth is that: while strolling through Deer Lake Park after an especially bitter loss two years ago, I encountered two of those ugly Canadian kids with their ugly Canadiens caps who were laughing at joking about those miserable Raccoons. I raged and ripped off their caps, and threw them to the ground, stomping on them. The caps, not the kids.

Anyway!

Kisho Saito desired to stay here, and as mentioned earlier, I was eager to keep him. Saito showed a bluff by demanding a five year deal during our talks. Well, Kisho. You still want to pitch at age 43? Ah… no. We agreed on an offer for two years, but I couldn’t quite get him to bite for $2M, and had to up my offer to $2.2M in total. If he signs this deal, we will keep him in the brown uniform (the only real uniform! Screw the Canadiens and their pinkish red uniforms!!) through to his age 40 season. It’s a risk, but I am taking it. After that contract is up, Saito will probably retire anyway to play with his kids. His son Hisanobu has quite a strong left arm due, his fastball is amazing. He smacked me in the forehead with a bagel during a team barbecue on an off day last August. Three years old and already hating me, fantastic!

So, Saito, 229-173 for his career at that junction, would have some 80 more starts between now and the end of the 2000 season. With this team, reaching 250 wins should be … a nasty challenge.

pgjocki · 09-01-2014, 11:20 PM

Saito must be a tremendously loyal guy to stick around for yet another round if frustrations!

I think you should go with only one lefty- try and find a righty with lots of movement and two breaking ball pitches to change things up.

Westheim · 09-04-2014, 01:46 AM

Service announcement: as you may have noticed, I am unable to provide regular updates at this point. Reason is simple, work is eating me alive. Yesterday I barely managed to crawl through the door, then dropped somewhere soft and just listened intently to Vin Scully (don't get to do that often anyway) until Jansen blew the save, and then I dropped into bed (soft, too!)...

Maybe at the weekend...

(crawls back off to work)

Westheim · 09-05-2014, 06:10 PM

Raccoons (35-34) @ Loggers (40-29) – June 22-24, 1998

The Loggers were batting .280 as a team (best in the CL), but played neither big nor small ball very well and somehow ranked only 7th in runs scored. Their pitching however was conceding less than four runs a game, which meant that they would probably pitch two to three shutouts against the Raccoons. Both teams lacked their arguably best batter, as Marvin Ingall and Jerry Fletcher were gracing their teams’ disabled lists. While Fletcher had just gone down, we expected Ingall back by the weekend.

Projected matchups:
Kisho Saito (3-7, 2.57 ERA) vs. Jorge Casas (7-3, 4.28 ERA)
Manuel Movonda (6-5, 2.24 ERA) vs. Tim Butler (6-3, 4.91 ERA)
Miguel Lopez (5-7, 4.45 ERA) vs. Rafael Garcia (4-8, 3.49 ERA)

Game 1
POR: 3B Crowe – 1B Brady – CF Reece – LF Buell – SS Guerin – RF Newton – C Turner – 2B Caddock – P Saito
MIL: SS M. Jones – 3B Nakayama – CF C. Ramirez – LF Hiwalani – C L. Ramirez – RF Hatch – 2B B. Hernandez – 1B D. Evans – P Casas

The Raccoons had so much dumb luck that they led off with two infield singles in this game. They continued to add weak singles, and enough of them to bat through the lineup and poke Casas for four runs in the first. The weather was less of dumb luck, especially for Saito, since it started to rain lightly in the fourth inning. Then, Saito was up 4-1 after five innings, having allowed only three hits, including a leadoff double to the always annoying Bakile Hiwalani in the bottom 2nd, which had led to the Loggers’ lone run. Saito popped out to end the sixth (with nobody on base; without dumb luck for us Casas had now retired 14 straight Raccoons), and the rain became heavier and forced a short, 21-minute delay. That was not enough to chase Master Kisho, who had seen many things in his career, and he continued to pitch. However, he had not often seen his line not to include a strikeout in the sixth inning. He finally whiffed Nakayama to end the bottom 6th. But luck started to run out for Saito soon. While Cristo Ramirez got himself thrown out on a leadoff non-triple in the seventh, and Hiwalani missed a homer by ten feet at most, Ramirez then took him deep to cut the lead to 4-2. Tamburrino came in to replace Saito and face Hollis Hatch, walked him, allowed a single to Bartolo Hernandez, and then Drake Evans shot a liner up the first base line, which Clyde Brady made an artistic play on to end the inning. So, Saito’s win was still alive, although few people on the team were good at achieving anything. Donis stumbled through the eighth, and Neil Reece upped the score to 5-2 with two out in the ninth with his 10th homer of the year. Donis faced Ramirez to lead off the ninth, allowed a single, and then Wade came in. He retired - … well, Newton retired Hiwalani, and then the dams broke. Ramirez reached. Hatch reached. Hernandez tripled them in, which tied the game. And then Evans singled to end it quickly. 6-5 Loggers. Brady 2-5, 2B; Reece 2-5, HR, RBI; Saito 6.2 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 1 K;

Of course. How can you not hate this collection of suckers… AND I HATE THEM WITH A PASSION.

Saito, too, by the way.

Neil Reece was a little sore – not having gotten a day off in a while – and was left out of game 2. Old age beginning to show? Nah, he’s 31. He’s good. He can’t get old. He’s one of the VERY FEW reasons I’m not killing myself here. Or them.

Game 2
POR: 3B Crowe – RF Brady – C Turner – LF Buell – 1B Utting – SS Guerin – CF Newton – 2B Caddock – P Movonda
MIL: SS B. Hernandez – 3B M. Jones – RF C. Ramirez – LF Hiwalani – C L. Ramirez – 2B J. Perez – 1B Nakayama – CF Espinosa – P Butler

While the Colombian Beauty was pitching beautifully, the brown-clad lineup was physically present, but indifferent to the task at hand. They were entirely harmless through five innings, before a single by Brady led off the sixth. Turner grounded out, moving Brady to second, and Buell was put on intentionally. Utting then singled, and then Guerin couldn’t avoid getting hit to force in the first run of the game. Luke Newton didn’t mean to, but accidentally hit a ball OVER Manny Espinosa and then forgot to stop at first or second base, hitting an entirely unintentional 3-run triple. At least you could trust in Caddock in not scoring that pesky runner at third base. He popped out to short and Movonda grounded out to keep the score at 4-0. And then Movonda came out for the bottom 6th, walked the two first batters, and a third later in the inning, which was a new way to lose a game. The Loggers axed into him for three runs in the inning, including a 2-out RBI single by Butler, and they immediately came back to 4-3. Butler remained in the game, but was coming apart. One out, the Coons had re-loaded the bags (with some help in form of a Hiwalani error), and Utting worked a walk. Guerin struck out, and then Newton came up again. He failed at failing again, hitting a 3-2 double over Hiwalani and again three runs scored. Up 8-3, Movonda left the game, and Fairchild and Miller got the game to the ninth. There, Carlton appeared to faced left-handers, surrendered a loud out to Newton in deep center, then put Hernandez and Jones on with line drive singles. He gone. De La Rosa was brought in, and faced three batters, walking all three of them. Oh, you won’t. Tamburrino came out, with still one out and the tying runs on base already, and got a sac fly from Jose Perez. Nakayama singled, but Espinosa flew to Buell (in as deep left as was tolerable) for the final out. 8-6 Raccoons. Brady 3-5; Utting 2-4, BB, RBI; Guerin 2-3, 2B, RBI; Newton 2-4, 3B, 2B, 6 RBI;

Here comes that highly inflammable bullpen I have come to cherish so much the last few years. So, we disposed of Fred Carlton (14.40 ERA), forever if I have a voice. Turns out I do have one. Since Grant West was not considering coming out of retirement, I had to make do with another slacksack from AAA. Signing free agents was out of the question, since we had a quite expensive draft behind us. So, a slacksack it was. We called up right-hander Iván Costa (because why bother with left-handers if they walk everybody), who had been here for a few sniffs before. He was 9-4 with a 2.81 ERA in 14 starts in AAA, but had only managed 80 innings in these starts for his very low stamina. Maybe he was a capable bullpen addition NOW, at age 25? Costa was 2-1 with a 5.81 ERA in 10 games (5 starts) from 1995 to 1997 between New York and Portland in the Bigs, so his experience consisted of only a few sprinkles, and there was TONS of room for improvement.

Game 3
POR: 3B Crowe – RF Brady – CF Reece – LF Buell – 1B Utting – C Turner – 2B Caddock – SS McLaughlin – P M. Lopez
MIL: 2B J. Perez – 3B Nakayama – CF C. Ramirez – LF Hiwalani – C L. Ramirez – RF Hatch – 1B D. Evans – SS M. Jones – P R. Garcia

The Raccoons scored a run in the second inning with the help of a Hollis Hatch throwing error, and another run that actually didn’t come from charity in the third inning in support of Lopez. It was all for naught of course. Lopez was blown up massively in the fourth inning, failing at the basic skills of pitching. Bags full, one out, he surrendered a 2-run double to the opposing pitcher, and once Jose Perez lifted one outta here, it was 6-2 Loggers, Fairchild was coming in, and we were already six games down in the division. The Loggers got two more off Fairchild, who pitched through the sixth. Miller was socked for two more with a Drake Evans home run, and it was one of those games… 10-2 Loggers. Turner 2-4;

Bah.

Raccoons (36-36) vs. Bayhawks (43-29) – June 26-28, 1998

Another proper team we can’t stink up against. The Bayhawks were pretty good across the board, their 323 runs scored good for fourth place in the CL. They were even better on the mound, conceding 279 runs (3rd). The Raccoons, after getting spanked for 24 runs in Milwaukee, had dropped out of the top 3 in the latter category, and were nailed firmly in last place in offensively regardless.

Projected matchups:
Randy Farley (7-3, 2.79 ERA) vs. Ricardo Sanchez (6-6, 4.31 ERA)
Jose Rivera (5-3, 2.52 ERA) vs. Miguel Diaz (1-2, 3.21 ERA)
Kisho Saito (3-7, 2.58 ERA) vs. Tony Hamlyn (5-5, 2.98 ERA)

Game 1
SFB: 3B P. Hernandez – 1B C. Guzmán – 2B Chandler – RF P. Perez – CF Marquez – C G. Ortíz – LF Cavazos – SS Powys – P R. Sanchez
POR: 3B Crowe – SS Guerin – CF Reece – LF Buell – C Turner – 2B Caddock – 1B McLaughlin – RF Villegas – P Farley

Crowe and Guerin on the corners with no outs in the bottom 1st, Reece, Buell, and Turner moved them up zero feet. The game started this way, and also with Farley whiffing the side in the first inning, but he lost dominance fairly soon. Werner Turner put something on the board in the fourth, a 2-run home run that also cashed in on Reece’s leadoff single, and while Farley pitched five shutout innings, a leadoff triple by Pedro Hernandez in the sixth put the writing on the wall. He got through the sixth with only the one run scoring, but he looked done. He was hit for in the bottom 6th when the Bayhawks put Villegas on intentionally with McLaughlin on second and two down. Reliever Johnny Smith struck out Clyde Brady, and in a 2-1 game, neither starter saw the seventh. De La Rosa, who had issued three free passes in his last outing, walked Mike Powys with one out in the seventh, but the runner was stalled on third base. De La Rosa also put the leadoff man, PH Jorge Gomez, on base in the eighth with a single. Donis added a runner, and Tamburrino came in with two on, two out, and walked two, ramping the score to two-two. Duh. The Bayhawks left the go-ahead run on third base in the eighth and ninth innings, which gave the Raccoons a nominal chance to walk off here. Utting’s pinch-hit 1-out single put the Coons on the right road, and he was on third with two down as Reece faced William Henderson. Reece fell to two strikes in a hurry, but managed to make contact at 2-2, and grounded to the left side. Pedro Hernandez kept it from leaving the infield, but didn’t make a throw. Utting and Reece were both about safe once Hernandez came up with the ball. 3-2 Raccoons. Reece 2-5, RBI; Utting (PH) 1-1; Farley 6.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K and 1-2;

Two things happened as the calendar hit Saturday. Liam Wedemeyer’s suspension was up, and Marvin Ingall was assigned to St. Pete for a few days of rehab to get his swing in sync again. We will recall him early next week.

Game 2
SFB: LF D. Woods – 1B C. Guzmán – 2B Chandler – RF P. Perez – CF Marquez – C G. Ortíz – 3B P. Hernandez – SS Powys – P Diaz
POR: 3B Crowe – SS Guerin – CF Reece – LF Buell – 1B Wedemeyer – C Turner – RF Newton – 2B Caddock – P Rivera

Diaz retired the first six Raccoons before he was slapped with bats in the third, in which the Coons scored three runs. The Bayhawks had five left-handers in their lineup, who crowded Jose Rivera pretty good, but they were leaving their runners on base all the time. Pedro Perez, who was never retired by Rivera in this game, finally got him with a long ball in the sixth, but that came with the bases empty and we were still up 3-1. Rivera managed another inning, while getting two more runs in support, one unearned after a Powys error. Donis was to pitch to up to four consecutive left-handers in the eighth, but we know him, four men ain’t enough to collect three outs, and De La Rosa came in with two in scoring position and two out to retire Gabriel Ortíz and move on. The Coons left two men in scoring position in the bottom 8th, which had the potential to be a fantastic blowup intro, and De La Rosa allowed a leadoff single to Hernandez in the ninth. However, after I gave him the Look, he broke into a sweat – and struck out the next three batters. 5-1 Furballs. Reece 2-4, RBI; Turner 2-4; Newton 1-2, BB, 2B, RBI; Utting (PH) 1-2, 2B; Rivera 7.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 1 K, W (6-3); De La Rosa 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K, SV (2);

Game 3
SFB: LF M. Rodriguez – C G. Ortíz – 3B P. Hernandez – 2B Chandler – SS Powys – CF D. Woods – RF Cavazos – 1B C. Guzmán – P Hamlyn
POR: 3B Crowe – SS Guerin – CF Reece – LF Buell – 1B Wedemeyer – C Turner – RF Newton – 2B McLaughlin – P Saito

After Marcos Rodriguez’ leadoff single to the game, Kisho didn’t allow another base runner until with two down in the fourth, and then only a shy single. The Coons had taken the lead, 1-0, on a Crowe sac fly in the third. Top 5th, 1-out singles by Cavazos and Guzmán threatened to undo Saito. But the Bayhawks had Hamlyn bunt, which moved the runners into scoring position, but Rodriguez then hit an easy grounder to Guerin and the inning was over. McLaughlin on first with one out in the bottom 5th, Saito swung away at 1-2 and took a Hamlyn pitch into shallow right. McLaughlin went to third, and scored on another Crowe sac fly. Control then started to elude Saito. He walked a pair in the sixth, but the Bayhawks remained off the board, then walked and plunked two men onto base in the seventh, and this time didn’t escape. 2-1, two out, runners on the corners, Hernandez to the plate, Saito was replaced with Tamburrino, The count ran full, the runners got in motion, Tamburrino threw the fastball – and Hernandez was rung up looking. The highlight in the bottom 7th was Villegas, who with two down and nobody on hit for Tamburrino, and grounded a 3-0 pitch to third. Top 8th, Daniel Miller in, he walked the leadoff man, Chandler, Dan Woods hit an infield single, and Perez walked. Guzmán struck out, bringing up PH Alfredo Marquez. Marquez rocketed a 1-1 pitch to the left side – and hadn’t Crowe stood right in that liner’s way, the Bayhawks would have tied it. The lineout preserved Saito’s W another inning. A tack-on run would be swell, boys! Crowe doubled to lead off the bottom 8th. He was left on. Of course. Wade came out for the ninth, facing Rodriguez, Ortíz, and Hernandez, walked Rodriguez, and served a note of forfeit to Ortíz. Raccoons lost. 3-2 Bayhawks. Crowe 1-2, 2B, 2 RBI; Buell 2-4, 2B; Saito 6.2 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 5 K and 1-2;

****ing dirtbags.

In other news

June 24 – The Scorpions’ 23-yr old SP Whit Reeves (4-4, 3.79 ERA) will miss three weeks with a strained triceps.
June 26 – PIT 3B Manny Munoz jr. (.307, 2 HR, 24 RBI) lands two hits in a 5-3 Miners win over the Gold Sox, extending a hitting streak to 20 games.
June 27 – NYC C Antonio Clemente (.306, 2 HR, 28 RBI) joins the ranks of those with 20-game hitting streaks with a single in the Crusaders’ 5-4 win over the Aces.
June 27 – DEN OF Chih-tui Jin (.290, 8 HR, 41 RBI) could be out for the season with a torn meniscus.
June 28 – Both Antonio Clemente and Manny Munoz jr. have their hitting streaks end.

Complaints and stuff

Stat of the week: we are 0-8 in games on Monday or Wednesday this month. Yay. I somehow noticed that as special (in German, those are the only days starting with an M; I don't know, does't sound special; I'm weird, ignore me)

Stat of the week #2: we are 4-12 in Kisho’s starts this year. I tend to believe it is not him but rather the 2.8 R/G the fuzzy suckers are scoring in his starts. He is 3-7 himself. Of the remaining six games, where he did not get a decision, the Raccoons
1) Lost two in extra inning marathons (Saito left in ties both times)
2) Lost one in regulation (Saito left in a tie)
3) Won one in regulation (Saito left in a tie)
4) Lost two in regulation (Saito was in line for the W)

A total of 64 runs were scored against the Raccoons in these games (4.0 R/G), of which only 41 were accumulated against Saito, and only 31 of those were earned.

Betrayal. Conspiracy. Hang the traitors!!

Yet, Kisho Saito STILL signed the 2-yr, $2.2M extension on Thursday, our off day. Which surprised me, given the ninth on Monday. Well. He’s a man of honor! If your team plays against you, you have to play even better to survive them! And he would have 300 wins already if he hadn’t wasted all his life on this lousy outfit of horrors.

Neil Reece meanwhile has been very grumpy recently. I can’t tell whether he’s grumpy at me, or the rest of the team, or himself. We’ll watch that.

Marvin Ingall might be back on Tuesday. Then, everything will be roses again.

Or maybe not.

Westheim · 09-06-2014, 10:45 PM

Raccoons (38-37) vs. Falcons (39-35) – June 29-July 1, 1998

The Falcons were 3rd in offense in the Continental League, and had very decent pitching, however they had been swept by the Coons earlier in the season.

Projected matchups:
Manuel Movonda (7-5, 2.36 ERA) vs. Angel Romero (7-5, 2.38 ERA)
Miguel Lopez (5-8, 4.90 ERA) vs. Terry Wilson (9-4, 3.25 ERA)
Randy Farley (7-3, 2.71 ERA) vs. Sergio Gonzalez (7-8, 4.06 ERA)

They were leading off with two left-handers in this series. The duel between Movonda and Romero had two lights-out guys that weren’t getting a lot of support this year. The opener would thus most likely end 13-11 for whatever team…

Game 1
CHA: SS R. Garza – 2B J. Barrón – 1B H. Green – 3B M. Hall – LF Encarnación – RF A. Lopez – CF Cleveland – C D. Smith – P Romero
POR: 3B Crowe – SS Guerin – CF Reece – LF Buell – 1B Wedemeyer – C Turner – RF Newton – 2B McLaughlin – P Movonda

The Colombian Beauty went out there, doing his thing, while the main support he had was Neil Reece, who tripled in a run and scored on a Buell sac fly in the first, and homered in the third, 3-0. Reece had the hard parts of the cycle checked, but struck out to end the fifth and that was it for his bid. Movonda’s game came apart in the top 8th. Still up 3-0, as neither team had done anything offensively since the third, Arturo Lopez reached on a McLaughlin error, and Dale Cleveland tripled him in. No outs, runner on third, tying run at the plate. With Movonda on 115 pitches, Donis came out to pitch to the lefty Duane Smith, fell to 3-1, but then got him to pop out to shallow center. Righty Jose Lugo (3-16 at the plate) hit for Angel Romero, and Tamburrino came out to replace Donis. Lugo also worked a 3-1 count, then grounded out to Tamburrino. C’mon, now get Garza! Ramón Garza took a big rip at the first pitch, flew deep to left, but Buell had it. Wade’s recent track record was not thrilling, and Tamburrino remained in the game for the ninth. He got Barrón, got Green, then walked Hall. Encarnación homered, and we were back at square one. Bottom 9th, Newton walked against Holden Gorman. Buell had been caught stealing by strong-armed Duane Smith earlier, but we called the hit-and-run regardless with McLaughlin batting. Newton ran, McLaughlin swung, McLaughlin missed, Newton still ran, Smith threw, Smith missed, Newton went to third. Nobody out, McLaughlin still batting, and although he was now down 0-2, the Falcons put him on intentionally. That brought up Jai Utting, who had entered in a double switch after Tamburrino had thrown the game. Utting popped out, but Crowe then flew to left. Encarnación made the play, but he couldn’t bring the ball back before Newton tagged and scored. 4-3 Raccoons. Crowe 2-4, RBI; Guerin 2-4; Reece 2-4, HR, 3B, 2 RBI; Movonda 7.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 9 K;

Movonda struck out Javier Encarnación to end the seventh inning. It was his 100th K of the season, and it is still June. The Raccoons have never had a 200 K guy on their staff. The franchise record for K’s in a season belongs to …….. well, take a guess and see below.

Not that his K’s helped Movonda any while pitching on the Portland Losers. And have I mentioned that I’m gonna kill them all?

Brent McLaughlin was sent back to AAA after this game, and Marvin Ingall was recalled. Finally the time is ripe for everybody’s most favorite type of hit: the feared INGALL SINGLE!!

Game 2
CHA: RF Lugo – 2B J. Barrón – SS H. Green – 3B M. Hall – LF Cleveland – CF R. Garza – 1B Villa – C J. Rivera – P Wilson
POR: 2B Ingall – 3B Crowe – CF Reece – LF Buell – 1B Wedemeyer – SS Guerin – RF Brady – C McDonald – P M. Lopez

Two errors by Hubert Green in the second inning plated a run for the Raccoons, but they left the bags full when Lopez and Ingall struck out. However, one run was not enough for Lopez, who was struggling badly in June. He gave up two runs in the top 3rd, which the Coons put back on the board in the bottom 3rd. In the fourth, Jesus Rivera was second with two out and Jose Lugo singled to left. Buell got to it quickly, Rivera went home, Buell fired a beam, and Rivera was thrown out. While Lopez was crumbling, Wilson was collapsing at a quicker pace, adding a wild pitch and a run-scoring balk to the so-so Coons offense that did not collect a hit in a RISP situation, but still went to a 5-2 lead. That lead went back to 5-3 after five, and Lopez was yanked with the tying runs on the corners and one out in the sixth. Lugo doubled off Gabby De La Rosa, 5-4, who then bounced back to strike out Barrón and Green in full counts. Miller managed to make it through the eighth despite walking a pair, and that left Wade in charge of a 5-4 game in the ninth, facing Hall, Cleveland, and Rivera. Garza with two down sent a huge fly to deep left – but Buell made the play. 5-4 Coons. Crowe 2-5, 2B; Brady 3-4;

Game 3
CHA: CF Lugo – 2B J. Barrón – 1B H. Green – 3B M. Hall – LF Encarnación – RF A. Lopez – SS R. Garza – C D. Smith – P S. Gonzalez
POR: 2B Ingall – SS Guerin – CF Reece – LF Buell – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Brady – C Turner – 3B Caddock – P Farley

Top 2nd, after two walks and plunked batter, Farley had the bags full with one out. Duane Smith lined up the middle, and Guerin made a HUGE LEAPING GRAB, then tagged the base to force Arturo Lopez and to end the inning. Bottom 2nd, three Raccoons on, no outs, Caddock struck out, Farley struck out, and Ingall grounded out. Farley was pitching a no-hitter into the sixth, before Hubert Green hit a line drive single to right. Farley pitched seven, shooting his pitch count well over 100, and since the Raccoons were just plainly failing at the plate, couldn’t get in line for a W until he was removed for a pinch-hitter. That was in the bottom 7th, with Turner on second and one out. Villegas came out, fell behind 1-2, brace for the K here, but then he made contact had sent a line drive double to deep right that plated Turner for the first run of the game. The W still wouldn’t be Farley’s, since Wade allowed a leadoff double to Mark Hall in the ninth and then failed to get outs quick enough. The Falcons tied the game, and the Raccoons had no means of un-tying it. Except for, well, losing. Iván Costa’s second inning of work (the 12th), was also his last. The Falcons raped him for three runs. 4-1 Falcons. Turner 2-5, 2B; Villegas (PH) 1-1, 2B, RBI; Farley 7.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 3 K;

It won’t ever stop, will it? The sucking? The incompetence? The utter failing at basic skills? No, it won’t ever stop. Suck it up, Barbie, and move on.

Raccoons (40-38) @ Crusaders (39-38) – July 2-5, 1998

And again, the two worst offensive teams in the league were squaring up. The Crusaders were outscoring us by nine counters, while playing a game less, and while their pitching was young and not quite as sharp as ours, they were beating us 5-2 on the season.

Projected matchups:
Jose Rivera (6-3, 2.43 ERA) vs. Anibal Sandoval (8-5, 3.26 ERA)
Kisho Saito (3-7, 2.51 ERA) vs. Hector Lara (5-7, 4.31 ERA)
Manuel Movonda (7-5, 2.22 ERA) vs. Ramiro Gonzalez (7-7, 3.24 ERA)
Miguel Lopez (6-8, 4.91 ERA) vs. Cipriano Miranda (5-6, 4.62 ERA)

Game 1
POR: 2B Ingall – 3B Crowe – CF Reece – LF Buell – 1B Wedemeyer – SS Guerin – C Turner – RF Villegas – P Rivera
NYC: 2B Rigg – C Clemente – LF A. Johnson – 1B Berry – RF Latham – 3B J. Ramirez – SS J. Vega – CF Olvera – P Sandoval

The sucking continued. The Crusaders took a 1-0 lead in the first, while the Raccoons didn’t get a hit until the fourth, and while Mark Berry made two errors in the fifth inning, the Raccoons couldn’t buy a hit and had to settle for one unearned run. Top 6th, Ingall walked, Crowe and Reece singled. Bases loaded, no outs. Buell singled to right to plate the go-ahead run, and then Wedemeyer grounded a 3-0 pitch for a force at home. I fainted and blacked out right there, and thus missed Guerin striking out and Turner grounding out to end the inning. Rivera went seven, left with a 4-2 lead, De La Rosa plunked Ed Rigg leading off the eighth, got Clemente, and then Donis came out to face Avery Johnson. One exit pitch later, the game was tied, and Donis came out to be barked (and spat) at. So, this game eventually went to extra innings, and again we were looking for some unlucky reliever to be saddled with a loss due to the wholly inept offensive offerings presented by the brown-clad team. It was in the 11th, it was Miller, and it were an infield single, a grounder through Wedemeyer, and a bloop nobody went after, that mercy-killed the Raccoons for Thursday. 5-4 Crusaders. Crowe 2-4, BB; Buell 2-5, 2 RBI; Rivera 7.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 1 K; Fairchild 2.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

The offense. Since coming off the DL, Ingall has one hit and has shed 17 points off his average. Reece ain’t hitting. Wedemeyer ain’t hitting. Buell ain’t hitting. NOBODY AIN’T DOING NO HITTING!!

In fact, Wedemeyer would be benched for not even maintaining a .200 pace now. We can play Caddock or Utting just as well, that would even give us some defense.

Kisho Saito was seen doing some strange rite with candles, swords, and a giant gong late that night and the clubhouse was full with giant red letters on the walls and lockers the next day. It looked like blood, it smelled like blood, but nobody dared to ask.

Game 2
POR: 2B Ingall – RF Brady – CF Reece – LF Buell – 3B Crowe – C Turner – 1B Caddock – SS Guerin – P Saito
NYC: LF Lyons – C Escobedo – RF A. Johnson – 1B T. Mullins – CF Latham – 3B J. Ramirez – 2B Rigg – SS J. Vega – P H. Lara

Whatever Saito did, he must have struck the gong the wrong way. While Neil Reece’s 12th home run of the year gave him a 1-0 lead in the first, he was beaten for two runs in the second, and then three in the fifth, including a huge Brian Latham homer with two out. He also plunked a pair, and was pinch-hit for with Utting in the top 6th. The Coons got back to 5-4, but that was still a score in which they were trailing. The Coons had two men on in the seventh, failed, had nobody on in the eighth, which also constituted failing, and then Brady drew a 1-out walk off John Hatt in the ninth. Reece singled to left, which brought up - … Newton. Buell had left earlier with an injury, and the bench was already thinned out, so Newton had to deliver, and walked. Crowe up. C’mon, at least get it tied. One strike, two strikes, three strikes. Turner up. 2-2 count, finally contact, and into left! Brady scored, and Reece was waved around and arrived a long time before Matt Lyons’ throw. Caddock struck out. Now, with Wade just roughed up two days earlier, and De La Rosa already having pitched the eighth, we went to Tamburrino to get this one closed. He retired Jorge Vega, then a Crowe error put on Lorenzo Delgado, who was in the #9 hole. Then Mark Berry, batting for Lyons, singled. And Escobedo doubled. And Johnson singled. 7-6 Crusaders. Brady 2-4, BB; Reece 2-5, HR, RBI; Crowe 4-5; Turner 3-5, 2 RBI; Utting (PH) 1-1, RBI; Miller 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

(violently slams head against the wall) (violently slams head against the wall) (violently slams head against the wall) (violently slams head against the wall) (violently slams head against the wall) (violently slams head against the wall) (violently slams head against the wall) (violently slams head against the wall) (violently slams head against the wall) (violently slams head against the wall) (violently slams head against the wall) (violently slams head against the wall) (violently slams head against the wall) (violently slams head against the wall) (violently slams head against the wall) (violently slams head against the wall) (violently slams head against the wall) (violently slams head against the wall) (violently slams head against the wall) (violently slams head against the wall)

Something just occurred to me. I should use relievers’ heads instead.

Oh, yeah. Stephen Buell left the game with back pain, and was diagnosed with simple back soreness. This will require a 15-day stay on the DL as things stand now. Chris Parker rejoined the team.

Game 3
POR: 2B Ingall – SS Guerin – 3B Crowe – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – C Turner – LF Newton – RF Brady – P Movonda
NYC: 2B Rigg – C Clemente – LF A. Johnson – 1B Berry – RF Latham – 3B J. Ramirez – SS J. Vega – CF P. Jenkins – P R. Gonzalez

The game was all about pitching, and what little said pitching would give up. In the case of Movonda all that was given up were two homers to Berry and Jenkins. Gonzalez went into ace mode against the Raccoons and scattered five singles over seven innings. Their bullpen collected six outs with ease. And there was really nothing more to tell about this game. 2-0 Crusaders. Brady 2-3; Movonda 8.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, L (7-6);

Game 4
POR: 2B Ingall – RF Brady – CF Reece – 3B Crowe – C Turner – LF Parker – SS Guerin – 1B Wedemeyer – P M. Lopez
NYC: LF Lyons – C Escobedo – RF A. Johnson – 1B T. Mullins – CF Latham – 3B J. Ramirez – 2B Rigg – SS J. Vega – P C. Jones

The Crusaders sent Chet Jones (0-0, 3.86 ERA) in place of Cipriano Miranda for the season finale. No matter who was pitching, Miranda, or Jones, or Donald Duck, or Queen Elizabeth I, the Raccoons wouldn’t score anyway. Yet, the Raccoons were the first to put a man on third base, which was achieved with a Parker leadoff single and Guerin double in the top 5th. Wedemeyer was intentionally walked and was collateral damage in the run-scoring double play Lopez hit into, and Ingall grounded out. Yay. Top 6th, Brady got on base and stole second, which prompted an intentional walk to Reece, and by now Jones was unwinding and allowed another two runs by loading the bags for Turner to single home the pair. Lopez, who had pitched a 3-hit shutout through five, then instantly imploded with a no-outs, 3-run homer to Theodore Mullins, and once again it was all for nought, and working with Lopez was an annoyance in itself. Like Wedemeyer. He was removed for Caddock after the sixth, along with Lopez. We got scoreless frames from Costa and Donis en route into the ninth, still knotted up at three. Caddock led off with a single to left. Ingall walked, and after Brady popped out, Reece singled up the middle. Bases loaded, one out, a crumbling Enrique Hernandez was left in to pitch. Up came Mike Crowe. 0-4 on the day, four strikeouts. He wouldn’t. He did. Turner flew out to center. They managed to get into a third extra inning game in this miserable week, playing long enough for even the skies to break a few tears. After a one-hour delay, Kelly Fairchild did all he could, but losing was inevitable and he was going to absorb it, as it came in the 11th on a 1-out walkoff triple by PH Alejandro Olvera. 4-3 Crusaders. Ingall 2-5, BB; Guerin 3-5, 2B, 2 RBI;

That’s five in a row, ladies and gentleman, and we are just getting started!

Raccoons (40-42) @ Titans (49-34) – July 6-9, 1998

The Titans had vaulted over the crumbling Loggers last week and were on quite the tear, having won 13 of their last 15. They were doing it on monstrous offense, having churned out 427 runs in 83 games. Their pitching staff was merely mediocre.

Projected matchups:
Randy Farley (7-3, 2.53 ERA) vs. Henry Selph (7-3, 2.85 ERA)
Jose Rivera (6-3, 2.44 ERA) vs. Jesus Bautista (5-7, 5.09 ERA)
Kisho Saito (3-7, 2.71 ERA) vs. Jason O’Halloran (9-5, 3.29 ERA)
Manuel Movonda (7-6, 2.22 ERA) vs. Bill Smith (7-6, 3.46 ERA)

Game 1
POR: 2B Ingall – RF Brady – 3B Crowe – C Turner – SS Guerin – LF Parker – CF Newton – 1B Wedemeyer – P Farley
BOS: SS D. Silva – 2B Henry – RF Thomas – C L. Lopez – LF Reid – 1B G. Douglas – CF Elizondo – 3B G. Roldán – P Selph

Rather shy singles by Turner and Guerin that both somehow made it past German Roldán at third base to start the top 2nd got the Inepticoons moving, and they scored three runs in the inning on a 1-out single by Wedemeyer and a 2-out double by Ingall. Randyboy, who hadn’t won a game since May, when he was the POTY in the Continental League, gave two runs back after two leadoff walks in the bottom 3rd, and the score was 4-2 after a Wedemeyer home run in the fourth. That still didn’t change Farley’s inability to win, and the Titans put an exclamation mark on that by blowing him up in the fifth inning, which Farley failed to get out of. Two outs, two in scoring position and already down 5-4, Roldán was intentionally walked to get to Selph, who singled off Farley, and that meant a walk of shame to the showers. While the suckers got a run back in the top 6th off a sub-par Selph, they kept trailing. And if they were good at one thing, it was trailing. 6-5 Titans. Ingall 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Guerin 2-4, 2B; Newton 2-3, 2B; Wedemeyer 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Costa 2.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K;

Six in a row. We’re still counting!

Game 2
POR: 2B Ingall – RF Brady – CF Reece – 3B Crowe – C Turner – SS Guerin – LF Newton – 1B Wedemeyer – P Rivera
BOS: SS D. Silva – 2B Henry – RF Thomas – C L. Lopez – LF Reid – CF Alonso – 1B J. Silva – 3B Elliott – P Bautista

The repulsive Daniel Silva laid down a bunt base hit, tagged and went to second on Henry’s flyout to left, and scored on a Thomas single in the bottom 1st, in which the Titans plated two, or in other words, enough. Two out and the sacks full in the third, Crowe flew deep to center, to the warning track, and into Luis Alonso’s glove. Crowe was up again with the tying runs on and two down in the fifth, and lined out hard to Pat Elliott. Apart from these two innings, the Raccoons never posed a danger to Jesus Bautista’s shutout bid. He still didn’t get it because the Titans’ manager preferred to use closer Bill Corkum in the ninth, but the result was all the same. 2-0 Titans. Brady 2-3, BB; Reece 2-4; Fairchild 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

Next, Saito. You know they won’t stop at seven, right? Plus, it’s a Wednesday game. The sucker bunch has lost 10 of their last 11 Wednesday games.

Game 3
POR: 2B Ingall – SS Guerin – 3B Crowe – CF Reece – C Turner – 1B Utting – LF Newton – RF Brady – P Saito
BOS: SS D. Silva – C J. Silva – RF Reid – 3B Henry – CF Alonso – LF Thomas – 1B Elliott – 2B G. Roldán – P O’Halloran

O’Halloran allowed the first three Raccoons to reach on base hits in the game, and the Critters would plate two runs in the inning. Then they quit. Saito was on his own, and was giving the outfielders a workout. He got through four unharmed, but a leadoff double by Luis Alonso in the fifth was too much to overcome with his best stuff not at hand. Alonso came home to score and the lead was down to one run. Maybe in the seventh? Newton and Brady led off with singles, bringing up Saito with the runners on the corners and nobody out. He had to bat here, struck out, but we still had Ingall to get something going. He grounded hard to the left side, and Henry couldn’t get it: RBI single! The eighth, Turner walked, Utting singled, and then Newton grounded softly along the third base line, and Henry couldn’t dig out this one either, at least not in time to get any out with the infield single. Bags full, one out, Brady did not face a left-handed pitcher, but righty Jose Valentín, and lined into a double play. Bottom 8th, Saito still pitching, Roldán hit a leadoff double to encroach on Saito’s 3-1 lead. Elizondo was batting in the #9 hole and grounded in front of the plate. Turner leapt out and bolted a throw to third, where Roldán was out by ten feet! And then Daniel Silva hit an infield single, and you just knew that the goddamn ship was going down right now. Saito was removed with the right-handers coming up, and Tamburrino came in. For some reason, Julio Silva bunted and put the runners in scoring position, but now there were two outs. Dave Reid was 0-3 on the day … and struck out! Bottom 9th, up 3-1, enter Scott Wade. Horace Henry lined out to Guerin. Luis Alonso rolled out to Crowe. Luis Lopez hit for the pitcher in the #6 hole, and popped out to Guerin. 3-1 Raccoons. Ingall 2-4, BB, RBI; Guerin 2-5; Newton 2-4; Brady 2-4; Saito 7.1 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, W (4-7);

This was Saito’s 230th career win, and the first after four starts the Inepticoons lost by a run, with Saito getting a no-decision each time, along with a 3.20 ERA – but that was largely bogged down due to the last start (5 IP, 5 R, 4 ER). Odd fact: Saito has in fact not LOST a game since May 27 in Atlanta. However, allowing two earned runs or less in six straight starts after that netted him only a 2-0 record… And then ironically it was this game, where he was not very good, were he finally got a W.

Game 4
POR: 2B Ingall – RF Brady – CF Reece – 3B Crowe – 1B Wedemeyer – LF Parker – C McDonald – SS Caddock – P Movonda
BOS: SS D. Silva – 2B Henry – RF Thomas – C L. Lopez – 1B G. Douglas – CF Alonso – LF Walls – 3B Elliott – P B. Smith

Bill Smith left with an injury in the first inning, after he had already surrendered a run on a Crowe groundout. As usual, the sucker bunch was overwhelmed as soon as they loaded the bases, which occurred with one out in the third (Wedemeyer struck out and Parker flew out) and two out in the fourth (Reece struck out). With a Crowe leadoff jack and another run in the fifth they appeared in a groove, until they loaded the bags with one out – and didn’t get another hit. Ingall hit a sac fly, though. Movonda was up 5-1 then, and held that score through seven, after which he was pinch-hit for on an elevated pitch count. The Coons faced the very bottom of the Titans’ pen by the eighth, where Ramiro Román was issuing walk after walk. After a bases-loaded freebie to Crowe to put the score at 6-1, Wedemeyer also found himself up 3-0, then again felt the need to do something dumb and grounded into a force at home. The Coons still came away winners, but for how much longer would Wedemeyer come away playing in a brown uni? 6-1 Raccoons. Ingall 2-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Brady 2-3, 2 BB, RBI; Movonda 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, W (8-6); Miller 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K;

Woooott!! Two wins in a row!! We’re the kings of the world!!!

Raccoons (42-44) vs. Indians (35-51) – July 10-12, 1998

The Indians were struggling all over, but especially with their pitching. They were second-to-last in runs allowed in the Continental League, ahead of just the even more horrendous Canadiens, with a rotation that was scratching at the 5 ERA mark as the Indians came in for the last hoorah before the All Star break. We were 8-1 against the Indians this year, so they were probably due a rout or two over some hapless hurler.

Projected matchups:
Miguel Lopez (6-8, 4.88 ERA) vs. Johnny Collins (2-5, 4.13 ERA)
Randy Farley (7-4, 2.91 ERA) vs. Dan George (5-8, 3.87 ERA)
Jose Rivera (6-4, 2.47 ERA) vs. Manuel Alba (3-10, 5.96 ERA)

Game 1
IND: LF G. Flores – CF Spinelli – C Cicalina – 2B M. Carter – 3B Whaley – RF J. Thompson – 1B T. Thompson – SS A. Vargas – P J. Collins
POR: 2B Ingall – LF Newton – CF Reece – 3B Crowe – C Turner – 1B Wedemeyer – SS Guerin – RF Villegas – P M. Lopez

Lopez was terrible again and got rocked for four hard hits and two runs in the first, and while Jorge Villegas re-tied the score with a home run in the bottom 2nd, Lopez continued to fail and fell behind again in the third inning. The Raccoons continued to fail and didn’t touch third base again for the next six innings. Bottom 9th. Sandy Ingram came out to pitch for the Indians, and faced Guerin, who drew a leadoff walk. Well. Everybody in the park KNEW that Guerin would be running. This included the Indians. Guerin ran on the 1-0 pitch to Villegas, and Cicalina’s throw was high. Guerin was safe, and the tying run was in scoring position. Villegas popped out, Brady grounded out, and after a walk by Ingall, Newton fouled out. 3-2 Indians. Turner 2-4; Parker (PH) 1-1;

What a team. These fails. They are … ugh.

Game 2
IND: 3B Whaley – 2B M. Carter – 1B M. Brown – RF A. Roldán – C Cicalina – CF J. Thompson – LF Paredes – SS Chevalier – P George
POR: 2B Ingall – SS Guerin –3B Crowe – CF Reece – 1B Utting – LF Parker – RF Newton – C McDonald – P Farley

Farley was looking for his first win since May, and got support in one run in the first inning, which was horribly unearned. Ingall had walked, stolen second and advanced to third on an error, and finally scored on a groundout. That was it for the Coons, while Farley walked a fine line. The Indians had their first two men on base in the fourth, and in scoring position with two down. Carlos Paredes got ahead 3-0 against Farley, then lined out to Ingall. Then in the bottom 4th, Reece, Utting, and Parker all had hits to lead off the inning, and although nobody could be bothered to have a RISP hit, we still got two runs home. Now Farley just had to hold on, but he was shaking badly. The Indians finally got on the board with an RBI double by Urbano Cicalina in the sixth. Some more offense would be welcome, and on command the Raccoons loaded the bases with two out in the bottom 6th. Ingall left them loaded. Everything was going **** from here. Neil Reece crashed into Jamal Chevalier at second base in the seventh inning and left with a rib injury. In the top 8th, Farley was to face the right-handers to lead off the inning, but Whaley singled, and Carter doubled him home, and that got him out. Donis entered to face Brown, who was hit for by Gilberto Flores. Both Flores and Roldán flew out, keeping Carter on base with the tying run. De La Rosa then entered to face Cicalina, who shot a fly to deep right, but Brady, Reece’s replacement, made a fantastic play. Coons still up by one, Newton blooped his way on base in the bottom 8th. Wedemeyer hit for McDonald and singled, and that enabled Turner to come out to hit for De La Rosa and hit a pinch-hit sac fly. The 4-2 game was Wade’s to lose now, but he didn’t. The Indians went down in order. 4-2 Coons. Reece 2-4; Utting 2-4, 2B, RBI; Newton 2-4; Wedemeyer (PH) 1-1; Farley 7.0 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, W (8-4) and 2-3;

For bad news, Neil Reece had strained a rib cage muscle and would most likely miss the remainder of July at least. He was put on the DL, and Jason Kent was called up as replacement.

Game 3
IND: 3B Whaley – 2B M. Carter – 1B M. Brown – RF A. Roldán – C Cicalina – CF J. Thompson – LF Spinelli – SS Chevalier – P Alba
POR: SS Guerin – RF Brady – 3B Crowe – C Turner – 1B Wedemeyer – CF Newton – 2B Caddock – LF Parker – P Rivera

Rivera lost the game in a hurry, being slapped for three runs in the first inning, and it didn’t get any better. Enéas Spinelli’s 3-run homer in the top 3rd ended Rivera’s day in a 6-1 hole, and how on earth was this team supposed to dig out of that? While the Raccoons out-hit the Indians 10-8 in the game, they were just too ****ing inept to get any ****ing runs home. At best we got some very good long relief from Kelly Fairchild. That was it. 7-1 Indians. Brady 2-4; Wedemeyer 2-4, RBI; Caddock 2-4, 2B; Parker 2-4, 2B; Fairchild 4.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 1 K; Costa 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

In other news

June 29 – MIL CL Ricardo Medina (2-1, 0.86 ERA, 25 SV) notches his 300th career save in holding on to 4-3 win over the Thunder.
July 2 – In 1984, Lawson Steward was drafted in the first round by the Rebels and made his big league debut the same year. Since then, Steward gobbled up 500 saves for the Rebels, notching the milestone in a 6-5 win over the Blue Sox. Steward, 34, is 57-53 in his career, with a 2.20 ERA in 892 games. He is the fourth reliever to get home 500 games, after Andres Ramirez (634), Grant West (522), and Jim Durden (519).
July 6 – TOP 1B/2B Georg Spinu (.305, 1 HR, 23 RBI) will miss three to four weeks with a separated shoulder.
July 11 – RIC RF/LF Raúl Vázquez (.337, 16 HR, 52 RBI) is out for the rest of July with hamstring tendinitis.
July 12 – DAL SP Chang-bum O (10-3, 2.85 ERA) spins a 1-hitter in beating the Gold Sox, 6-0. The lone base hit allowed by O is a leadoff single by Ramón Diaz in the fourth inning.

Complaints and stuff

Top 5 strikeout seasons by Raccoons starters:
1. Kisho Saito – 193 (1985)
2. Antonio Donis – 187 (1996)
3. Kisho Saito – 171 (1986)
4. Jason Turner – 170 (1991)
5. Miguel Lopez – 169 (1995)
Saito has four more in the top 10, and Lopez one more. No Logan Evans on the list, and we never really had that big strikeout artiste. Movonda is on pace for 200, but we will have to see whether he can keep the pace going.

Manuel Movonda in the meantime entered July leading the CL in ERA with 2.22 after Jorge Chapa of the Bayhawks pitched seven innings of 1-run ball in a 5-3 loss to the Titans on the 30th after Movonda had not allowed an earned run in his start on Monday. Chapa had his feathers ruffled in the following start, and so Movonda continues to lead the CL in ERA at the current junction.

There was a point about two weeks before this update, where I considered making a trade, shipping out a starter to get a potent bat for right field or first base. But… to be honest… this ailment here can’t be healed with just one bat. A shotgun and about 20 rounds of ammo, however, would. The sweep in New York can be assumed to be the death knell for the faintest of playoff ambitions. We aren’t gonna make it, and we aren’t gonna make it for several years.

Westheim · 09-07-2014, 04:37 PM

Just this short update. Since I don’t know when I will be able to play this week with ruining my soul in the mind mill again this week … ah well.

All Star Game

Manuel Movonda was the only Raccoon in invited to the All Star bonanza. In the CL, the Loggers and Titans led all teams with four representatives each. In the FL, the Scorpions, Stars, and Pacifics each had five players in the mix.

Well, the Raccoons had only one player in the game, and then he didn’t play. Movonda was not used in the Continental League’s 11-inning, 4-3 win. Ivan Camacho doubles home Urbano Cicalina against Ben Carlson to walk off the CL.

---

On Wednesday, the Raccoons designated Ron McDonald for assignment. Batting .190, so-so work in the field. Next! C/1B Ricardo Castillo, a scrap heap signing earlier this year, was called up to replace him as backup. Castillo, 31, had already shown in six seasons with the Miners that he was a backup catcher at best.

Raccoons (43-46) vs. Titans (53-37) – July 16-19, 1998

455 runs now for the Titans, still over 5 R/G. We just had split a 4-game set, and I thought that splitting another one was as much as we could ask for as we were opening a 10-game homestand.

Projected matchups:
Kisho Saito (4-7, 2.62 ERA) vs. Jason O’Halloran (9-6, 3.31 ERA)
Manuel Movonda (8-6, 2.17 ERA) vs. Jesus Bautista (6-8, 5.00 ERA)
Randy Farley (8-4, 2.89 ERA) vs. Bill Smith (7-7, 3.52 ERA)
Miguel Lopez (6-9, 4.85 ERA) vs. Henry Selph (9-3, 3.07 ERA)

Game 1
BOS: SS D. Silva – LF Walls – RF Reid – 3B Henry – CF Alonso – C J. Silva – 1B L. Lopez – 2B Elliott – P O’Halloran
POR: 2B Ingall – SS Guerin – C Turner – 3B Crowe – RF Brady – 1B Utting – CF Newton – LF Parker – P Saito

The Raccoons came outta the break like they went into it. They sucked. Hard. As Saito and O’Halloran lined up zeroes on the board, the Coons had one good chance in the fifth with a 1-out triple from Newton, but Villegas (Parker was already gone) grounded out to the pitcher, and Saito flew out. Crowe struck out to leave Guerin on third base in the sixth, and Saito knew he could at best get a “nice try” out of this one. Saito went nine, and technically had a shutout on four hits in the books – if the team could scratch out a run in the bottom 9th. Good joke. Bill Corkum sat down Guerin and Turner, Crowe singled, but Brady grounded out. Saito’s eyes were glowing, but he was done, no tenth inning for him. Miller lost it in a hurry in the tenth, and the Raccoons managed two hits on the day. 1-0 Titans. Saito 9.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K;

Musical illustration for this one: Talk Talk with their much beloved 80s evergreen “Such A Shame”, which was a roaring #66 in the Billboard Hot 100 back in the day.

Chris Parker had hurt himself early in the game, he would miss a month with torn ankle ligaments. So, we were digging deeper into our system, disabled Parker, and called up Kenny Crockett. It would only be for one day, though, since Stephen Buell was due off the DL for game 3.

And for the next game, we will tune up one of my favorite bands of all time.

THE STRANGLERS.

Game 2
BOS: SS D. Silva – 2B Henry – RF Thomas – C L. Lopez – LF Reid – CF Alonso – 1B J. Silva – 3B Elliott – P Bautista
POR: 2B Ingall – RF Brady – 3B Crowe – C Turner – 1B Wedemeyer – CF Newton – SS Caddock – LF Crockett – P Movonda

The Colombian Beauty didn’t have his A game, and it showed. The Titans drew an outrageous three walks and used a pair of those to down him with two runs in the second inning. No, it was not Movonda’s game, and his six innings of 2-run ball looked a lot like a much-inflated cow elephant giving birth to twins. Not pleasant to watch. The best the Raccoons managed in supporting him was Werner Turner hitting into a run-scoring double play in the bottom 6th. Donis shoveled the bags full in the seventh, but Tamburrino got a ground ball to Caddock to end the inning, then struck out three in the top 8th. Jason Kent brought home the tying run in the bottom of the inning with a groundout, and with two out we had Wedemeyer still on second base and Caddock batting. Caddock singled to right, Wedemeyer was waved home, since when do we even get a batter to second base, and was thrown out. More extra innings were on the way here, and Wade pitched two of those, scoreless, and the Coons didn’t do anything. Fairchild pitched two more, and Turner drew a leadoff walk off Andres Otero in the 13th. Wedemeyer bunted(!) him over to second, and Jason Kent, batting .138, was intentionally(!!!) walked. That brought up Caddock, who drew a walk the hard way, bringing up Crockett, who popped out, and now Guerin came out to hit for Fairchild with two out and the bags full. 1-0, 1-1, 2-1 … Otero’s fourth pitch was low – and bounced off Luis Lopez, and away. Turner scored, the show of horrors was over. 3-2 Raccoons. Brady 3-6; Crowe 2-6; Turner 2-4, 2 BB; Tamburrino 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K and 1-1; Wade 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K; Fairchild 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K, W (2-1);

That’s what it takes to win. We need a friggin’ EX-COON, in the UMPTEENTH inning, walking the bags FULL, and even THEN …… THEN ….. the CATCHER … to –

(sobs)

Game 3
BOS: SS D. Silva – 2B Henry – RF Thomas – C L. Lopez – 1B G. Douglas – LF Reid – CF Alonso – 3B Elliott – P B. Smith
POR: SS Guerin – RF Brady – 3B Crowe – LF Buell – 1B Wedemeyer – CF Newton – 2B Caddock – C Castillo – P Farley

A Guerin error cost a run in the first inning, but Clyde Brady put the game back into a tie with a homer in the bottom half. WHOAH, OFFENSE!! From there, things went downhill. Mike Crowe was ejected for barking at the umpire, Utting replacing him, and Utting made an error in the fourth that put Pat Elliott on base with two down. Elliott stole second off Castillo, who made his debut, and then Smith singled into left and Elliott scored. Farley lost his touch right here, walked two, but somehow got out of the frame when Thomas popped out to Buell. Trailing 2-1, Brady stepped in in the bottom 5th, bases empty, and homered again. Farley fell behind again instantly, as this was really not his day. Then came the seventh, Smith still pitching and largely dazzling the Raccoons, but all of a sudden Castillo, in his first game with us, homered and tied the game AGAIN. De La Rosa came out for the eighth, walked the bags full, Donis came in to face Thomas, and bibbedi-bubbedi-booh, a grand slam decided this game. 7-3 Titans. Brady 2-4, 2 HR, 2 RBI; Castillo 2-4, HR, RBI;

Raccoons pitching issued ten walks in this game: four by Farley, one by Miller in the seventh, three by De La Rosa, and then one each by Donis and Costa. No other pitchers were used.

Donis, the useless piece of ****.

Game 4
BOS: SS D. Silva – C J. Silva – RF Reid – 1B G. Douglas – 3B Henry – CF Alonso – LF Thomas – 2B G. Roldán – P Selph
POR: SS Guerin – RF Brady – 3B Crowe – LF Buell – 2B Ingall – C Turner – CF Newton – 1B Utting – P M. Lopez

The cabinet of nightmares had a no-good Miguel Lopez to offer, who was dumb and lucky enough to strand five Titans in the first two innings, with Guerin holding the shutout intact with two great plays. Bottom 3rd, Newton on base after a Daniel Silva throwing error (that alone was nice enough), Lopez came up to bat with one out. He swung away and took a pitch to deep center, and Alonso was not gonna get that one! It fell in, bounced to the wall, and a bit away from Alonso, while Lopez had turned first base, and was turning second base, and was safe with a triple! 1-0 Coons, runner on third with one out, so Guerin and Brady struck out. Lopez was no good on the mound and gave the run right back in the top 4th, and the Titans left the bags full eventually. Lopez then loaded the bags in the fifth with three straight singles and was yanked. Tamburrino came in for damage control, and got a hard grounder to third from Horace Henry. Crowe made the play and started a double play, third and first, while the go-ahead run scored. The Coons took until the seventh to develop a faint chance at re-tying it. Miller had pitched two scoreless, so the game was still 2-1 Titans, and then Buell walked to start the seventh. Next, he notched his tenth SB of the year, and was in scoring position with no outs and in front of Ingall. An Ingall single would help here. Ingall grounded out to Henry, leaving Buell at second, and then Turner also grounded to Henry, except that this time Henry threw it into the seats. Buell was awarded home, and we were tied. Kent hit for De La Rosa to start the bottom 8th, and singled to right. AGGRO MODE. Kent was set in motion with Guerin batting and Guerin lined into shallow left. Josh Thomas tried to make a play, and instead gave Guerin an RBI double. And although Guerin ended up at third after a wild pitch by Jose Valentín, with no outs, the Coons didn’t score him. Wade came into a 3-2 game, and after a Julio Silva single to start the frame, Guerin made another saving double play grab that nursed Wade through the inning. 3-2 Coons. Kent 1-1; Miller 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K;

Raccoons had four hits. The Titans had 11. Watching them play was like chewing on some really old cookie who had been left on a platter for a few weeks. It was all soft and hard at the same time, and tasted like garlic.

In other news

July 15 – The Warriors acquire INF/OF Ramón Garza (.287, 1 HR, 19 RBI) and a minor leaguer from the Falcons, end send over OF Matt Adams (.356, 10 HR, 36 RBI) and a minor leaguer.
July 16 – VAN SP Jose Marquez (8-9, 4.16 ERA) 2-hits the Crusaders in an 8-0 romp.
July 17 – DEN SP Wilson Hernandez (6-10, 4.75 ERA) spins a 2-hitter of his own as the Gold Sox stomp the Scorpions, 11-0.
July 18 – DAL OF Diego Rodriguez (.370, 6 HR, 54 RBI) has been hitting quite like a machine for a while, and he reaches a 20-game hitting streak with a 3-hit day against the Wolves. We will not mention that there was not much reason to celebrate with the Wolves romping over the Stars, 15-4.

Complaints and stuff

Gosh, I hate Daniel Silva. Always on base, and stealing at will, and constantly harassing with his presence. Daniel Silva…. He’s not even deserving to be named Daniel. That beautiful name should be reserved for … (gets watery eyes) … very sp-special … people who … (cries)

Marvin Ingall, who was rocketacious the first two months of the year, is batting scantily .200 off the DL. Way to go.

And I was just going to mention that Werner Turner was 15/35 in throwing out base stealers until the Titans stole four off him in the second game.

For a truly good report (as far as good goes on here), Clyde Brady had been fairly warm (maybe even hot!) in the last few weeks. While he was only batting for half a WAR in 200 AB in his rookie season, he is 29-67 since June 21. There were a few games in there where he didn’t play, but those were still in June. He has appeared in every game since June 30 now, starting all but three. And he’s only 22, too.

What did Neil Reece do at 22? That was in 1988. At that point we just traded for him mid-season, and he didn’t make his big league debut until the following year. He OPS’ed .780ish between AA, AAA, and two minor league systems that year. And Daniel Hall? He was only drafted at 22, and OPS’ed .829 for Ham Lake that season.

I also checked on Glenn Johnston, whom I remember as such a hot iron at a young age. His debut came in ’88, which was his age 22 season, but he didn’t break out until the next year.

By the way, for sad news, Glenn Johnston never was signed anywhere after electing minor league free agency in 1994. He has since retired, last playing professional ball at age 28.

Glenny……

Me is sad.

Westheim · 09-10-2014, 04:58 PM

Raccoons (45-48) vs. Loggers (51-42) – July 21-23, 1998

The Loggers were trying to stay in touch with the division-leading Titans, and that would require stomping over the Raccoons now. Well, score three runs a game and you’re in for a sweep. Since they were scoring about 4.5 R/G (almost a full run more than the lowly Raccoons), they shouldn’t have much trouble.

Projected matchups:
Jose Rivera (6-5, 2.91 ERA) vs. Rafael Garcia (7-10, 3.40 ERA)
Kisho Saito (4-7, 2.44 ERA) vs. Davis Sims (9-5, 3.34 ERA)
Manuel Movonda (8-6, 2.21 ERA) vs. Jorge Casas (8-5, 5.25 ERA)

Game 1
MIL: SS B. Hernandez – 3B Nakayama – RF C. Ramirez – CF Hiwalani – LF O’Day – C L. Ramirez – 1B D. Evans – 2B M. Jones – P R. Garcia
POR: SS Guerin – RF Brady – 3B Crowe – LF Buell – 2B Ingall – 1B Wedemeyer – C Turner – CF Kent – P Rivera

Jose Rivera faced only two batters before an awkward landing twisted his ankle and had him removed. Kelly Fairchild entered, with Bartolo Hernandez already on second base, and a Wedemeyer error plated the runner and handed Rivera the loss. Fairchild was ineffective, faced only 13 batters and put six of them on base. The Loggers somehow didn’t score against him, and added only one run against Iván Costa, who pitched four innings until his arm was about to come off. The Raccoons managed two hits through six. Buell singled to lead off the seventh, was thrown out trying to take second base, and then Wedemeyer homered. Because of course. In the ninth, Medina allowed a single to Crowe and then Nakayama made an error to put Buell on, bringing the tying run to the plate in a 4-1 game. Ingall lined out hard to Jones for the second out, and then Tamburrino was hit for by Jai Utting, who did what he did best, striking out. 4-1 Loggers. Costa 4.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 2 K; Tamburrino 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Sigh.

Jose Rivera was not seriously injured. His sore ankle would be healed up in time for his next start.

Game 2
MIL: SS B. Hernandez – 3B Nakayama – CF C. Ramirez – LF Hiwalani – C L. Ramirez – 2B Sullivan – RF O’Day – 1B M. Jones – P Sims
POR: 2B Ingall – RF Brady – 3B Crowe – LF Buell – 1B Wedemeyer – C Turner – SS Caddock – CF Newton – P Saito

Saito was slaughtered right away. Hernandez singled, Nakayama doubled, Hiwalani was plunked, and while Saito struck out Ramirez, when Sullivan reached on catcher’s interference with the bags full, the dams opened. O’Day rammed a double off the centerfield wall that emptied the bags, and the Loggers scored five in the inning. Saito pitched on, facing a 5-0 deficit, and cut it by a pair himself in the bottom 2nd with a 2-run double to center. Wedemeyer homered to put the score at 5-3 in the third, while Saito didn’t allow anything through the fourth, then was whacked again in the fifth for two more runs that just somehow fell in. Bottom 5th, down 7-3, Brady got on, Buell got him forced out, but then Wedemeyer singled to right. Turner came up and shot a double into the gap in left center that plated Buell and Weeds, 7-5, and then Caddock singled to left and Hiwalani botched the pickup, allowing Turner to score. Sims exited with an intentional walk to Newton, and then Ray Hoskins faced pinch-hitter Utting, who grounded out and left Saito on the hook. De La Rosa gave up a run in the seventh that Werner Turner homered back onto the board, but that still left Saito behind. You just KNEW he would lose this one, deserved or not. When Tamburrino was hit for two runs in the eighth, it was just sugar coating, same for Wade in the ninth. 11-7 Loggers. Wedemeyer 2-5, HR, RBI; Turner 3-5, HR, 2B, 3 RBI; Caddock 2-4, RBI;

The suckers amassed 15 strikeouts in this game. Of course, because at one point they were actually close to digging out Saito. But Saito must be humiliated under ALL circumstances. I hate them.

So does Saito.

Game 3
MIL: SS B. Hernandez – 3B Nakayama – RF C. Ramirez – CF Hiwalani – LF O’Day – C L. Ramirez – 1B D. Evans – 2B M. Jones – P Casas
POR: 2B Ingall – RF Brady – LF Buell – 1B Wedemeyer – C Turner – SS Guerin – SS Caddock – CF Newton – P Movonda

Movonda was beaten not as quickly, but even more definitely by the Loggers. Haruki Nakayama’s 3-run homer in the third inning set the Loggers on irreversible sweep course, and they tagged on more against Movonda, who went seven, but had the score ramped up to 6-1 when Drake Evans doubled home another run off him. In the eighth, Leon Ramirez’ 2-run homer off Antonio Donis was unearned after an Ingall error, but c’mon. Who was still counting runs anyway? 8-2 Loggers. Kent (PH) 1-1; Wedemeyer 2-3, BB; Turner 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI;

Raccoons (45-51) vs. Aces (42-55) – July 24-26, 1998

What is this? A team with a more horrible record than the Atrocicoons? That will be remedied in three days’ time, boys. Don’t worry, even if you’re giving up the fourth-most runs. This team’s offense has more than one black eye …

Projected matchups:
Randy Farley (8-4, 2.82 ERA) vs. Rafael Barbosa (10-4, 3.09 ERA)
Miguel Lopez (6-9, 4.83 ERA) vs. Dan Moriarty (5-8, 4.33 ERA)
Jose Rivera (6-6, 2.90 ERA) vs. Alejandro Venegas (6-10, 3.88 ERA)

Game 1
LVA: CF J. Douglas – SS Petipas – 3B J. Vargas – RF Mashiba – 2B MacKillop – 1B Granados – C Manuel – LF R. Green – P Barbosa
POR: 2B Ingall – RF Brady – LF Buell – 1B Wedemeyer – C Turner – SS Guerin – 3B Caddock – CF Kent – P Farley

Marvin Ingall opened the scoring with a leadoff jack in the first, giving Farley a 1-0 lead that proved fragile but wasn’t shattering – for some time. Farley was pressured at times by the Aces (while the Raccoons kept the bases tidy and clean), but made it through six unscathed, however with an elevated pitch count, throwing too many balls by far. He started the seventh facing Royce Green, struck him out (in a full count), then allowed a double to Barbosa. Great job. Now some goofus from the pen had to come in, and with lefty Joe Douglas up, it was Donis. The Aces countered with right-hander Jimmy Erickson to pinch-hit, and Erickson singled a 1-2 pitch up the middle. Barbosa scored, game tied, all hope gone. Daniel Miller failed to contain the fire, the Aces took the lead, and the Raccoons – well, they technically were still in the park, but they were hard to see if not manning the field in the top halves of innings. The Aces entered the bottom 9th up 2-1, out-hitting the Raccoons 11-3, and sent their newest shiny plaything, Charlie Deacon, to close. Buell hit a leadoff double and somehow was bounced around to score and tie the game, sending it to extras. The Aces were fielding an ex-Coon in the bottom 10th, Qi-zhen Geng, which technically constituted forfeit. Caddock singled. Kent bunted him to second base. Newton grounded out, putting the winning run at third with two down for Ingall. An Ingall single, maybe? Nah, he struck out. Erickson took Fairchild, who was in his third inning, deep in the 11th, 3-2 Aces, but Geng remained in the game for the bottom 11th. He loaded the bags with one out, bringing up Guerin, who was 0-4 and hit for with the equally struggling Mike Crowe. He grounded to short for a force play at home, and Caddock then grounded out to end it. 3-2 Aces. Buell 3-4, BB, 2B; Farley 6.1 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K;

Dumb****s. We have descended into the games being mere torture. Zero fun.

The Aces traded Steven MacKillop to the Miners after this game, acquiring reliever Roberto Delgado (7-7, 4.88 ERA).

Game 2
LVA: 1B Granados – SS Petipas – 3B J. Vargas – CF R. Green – 2B J. Zamora – C Manuel – RF J. Douglas – LF Erickson – P Moriarty
POR: 2B Ingall – SS Guerin – LF Buell – C Turner – RF Brady – 3B Crowe – CF Newton – 1B Utting – P M. Lopez

Lopez survived a 3-walk second inning, while the Raccoons made sure that poor, inept Dan Moriarty survived a sufficient amount of innings without losing his dignity, too, leaving a pair on in the first and third innings, and the bases full in the fourth, and nobody scored. Lopez rebounded nicely from his early spill to pitch seven shutout innings, whiffing six, but got no support either and the game was scoreless through seven. De La Rosa came in for the eighth, was almost done in by a leadoff walk to Mauro Granados, but Taisuke Mashiba was eventually retired for the third out with a nice play by Ingall, leaving Granados at third. Costa pitched a scoreless ninth. Deacon came out for the bottom 9th. One out, Newton singled. Utting looked like a fool as he struck out, and then Villegas hit for Costa and drew a walk. Two down, Ingall up, he was 3-4 on the day, his only out, a K, coming with three on and two out in the fourth. Here, it was two on, two out, and he grounded hard to second, where Jesus Zamora had the ball bounce off the edge of his glove and into the outfield. Newton was frantically waved around third base and scored before Douglas could hurl in the ball. INGALL SINGLE!! 1-0 Raccoons. Ingall 4-5, RBI; Lopez 7.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 6 K;

Ingall exceeded the combined hit total of all of his teammates. The Aces lost Royce Green to injury during this game. Hopefully it’s nothing too serious. Well, we won’t be mad if he can’t play on Sunday.

Game 3
LVA: CF J. Douglas – SS Petipas – 3B J. Vargas – RF Mashiba – 2B J. Zamora – 1B Granados – C Paredes – LF A. Hopper – P Venegas
POR: 2B Ingall – SS Guerin – LF Buell – 1B Wedemeyer – C Castillo – RF Brady – CF Newton – 3B Utting – P Rivera

The Coons took a lead in the second inning, as with two on and two out, Rivera singled up the middle and Newton was waved around third base. He became entangled with Luis Paredes at the plate, Newton was safe, but Newton was also hurt and left the game. Kent took over in center, and was soon fooled on fly balls. However, Venegas gave up considerably more. The Coons added two runs in the third, and after Mashiba mashed a homer off Rivera in the fourth, tacked that run right back on, 4-1. Venegas allowed 13 hits and five runs through six innings, while Rivera went into the eighth but was removed after a 1-out walk to Bob Petipas. Tamburrino cleaned up the next two batters. In the bottom 8th, Guerin hit another surprise homer to up the score by two, but it wasn’t necessary. Costa managed to pitch a scoreless ninth. 7-1 Coons. Guerin 3-5, HR, 3 RBI; Buell 3-5, 2B, RBI; Castillo 2-4, BB, RBI; Newton 1-1; Utting 2-4; Rivera 7.1 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 6 K, W (7-6) and 2-2, 2B, RBI;

In other news

July 21 – LAP SP Fernando Chavez (5-8, 4.81 ERA) is out for the year with a hip muscle strain.
July 23 – The Warriors beat the Stars, 7-5, and kill Diego Rodriguez’ hitting streak of 23 games on the way.
July 24 – SFB CL William Henderson (5-3, 2.45 ERA, 24 SV) finishes a 4-2 Bayhawks win over the Loggers, notching his 300th career save on the way.
July 25 – MIL SP Tim Butler (7-5, 5.23 ERA) 3-hits the Bayhawks in a 7-0 shutout.

Complaints and stuff

The Atrocicoons are very atrocious.

Dan Nordahl was promoted to AAA this week. Once his BABIP normalized, his stats in AA became very strong. He’s just 19, but he’s ready to make the jump, I think. As far as last year’s top picks are concerned, Julio Mata keeps struggling in AAA and may be due to be demoted again.

Westheim · 09-13-2014, 07:56 PM

Entering the final week in July, we were to stay put. Nobody on this team was achieving too much, except the starting rotation, but I was not keen on the idea of trading pitching now. Movonda certainly had some value to a contending team, however we had not received any proposals for him. The only players inquested into had been Lopez and Donis, so exactly those parts that weren’t helping even a team heading straight for last place.

We can’t take on any salary regardless, since our draft extravaganza had been quite expensive. It wasn’t even possible to get back to zero for the year, as we were hideously overbudget at this point. Even trading our two biggest contracts, those of Reece and Saito, would not get us back to zero now. So why even bother?

Not that I would trade Reece or Saito under any circumstance.

Raccoons (47-52) @ Knights (42-56) – July 27-29, 1998

While the Knights’ pitching was in shambles, and they ranked in the bottom 3 in most categories, and their 414 runs ranked 8th in the CL as well. So there were reasons while they were gracing the bottom of the CL South, but while doing so they were still outscouring the Raccoons by 61 runs this year, and we have yet to beat them in ’98.

Projected matchups:
Kisho Saito (4-8, 2.81 ERA) vs. Carlos Asquabal (0-2, 7.50 ERA)
Manuel Movonda (8-7, 2.48 ERA) vs. Craig Hansen (10-8, 4.31 ERA)
Randy Farley (8-4, 2.76 ERA) vs. Tynan Howard (5-11, 3.99 ERA)

We learned on Monday that Luke Newton had a mild ankle sprain that would leave him DTD for a few more days.

Asquabal, the 38-year old 239-game winner from Trinidad, Cuba, had just come back from a torn labrum. The results have been hideous so far for him, with a 6.91 ERA in five rehab starts in AAA on top of the drubbing he received in his first two starts back in the Bigs. But, you know. He will now pitch against the RACCOONS. And against SAITO.

Game 1
POR: 2B Ingall – SS Guerin – LF Buell – 1B Wedemeyer – C Turner – 3B Crowe – RF Brady – CF Villegas – P Saito
ATL: 1B J. Jackson – C J. Johnson – 3B Morales – RF Taylor – 2B Givens – SS Tanaka – LF Padilla – CF G. Hall – P Asquabal

76 years of pitching, half of which were rocked out of the gate when the Raccoons batted through the order against Asquabal in a 4-run first inning. Saito was cruising early on, pitching a 3-hit, 1-run game through five innings. In the top 5th, the Raccoons foolishly left the bases loaded, and an inning later, Joe Jackson led off with a triple against Saito. Next, Johnny Johnson grounded to Wedemeyer, wo bungled the ball, Jackson scored, and the dam had just collapsed, and the reservoir emptied into the valley were Saito was standing all alone and got doused when the Knights pushed three grounders through the left side of the infield to tie the game on three unearned runs before Saito struck out pinch-hitter Chris Chapman with the bases loaded to escape. Saito pitched the seventh. In the eighth, Crowe and Brady led off with singles to right off reliever Colby Kirk. Crowe went aggro to third on Brady’s single, the throw by Will Taylor went there, was late, and Brady moved up. Runners in scoring position, no outs, Villegas had his third hit of the day, an 0-2 line drive single to get the Coons into the lead again. Saito was hit for by Utting, who grounded out. Ingall was intentionally walked to load the bags, and Guerin grounded the first pitch he saw from Kirk hard to third, where Jose Morales forced out Villegas, but his throw to first was late, and a run scored. Buell then struck out. Tamburrino came in to pitch, instantly blew Saito’s lead with a single to Givens, a double to Tanaka, and so on and so on. 7-6 Knights. Turner 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Brady 2-4, RBI; Villegas 3-4, 2 RBI; Saito 7.0 IP, 8 H, 4 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K;

Game 2
POR: 2B Ingall – RF Brady – LF Buell – 1B Wedemeyer – C Turner – SS Guerin – 3B Crowe – CF Villegas – P Movonda
ATL: 2B M. Gomez – 3B Morales – LF Kinnear – CF Árias – C J. Johnson – RF G. Hall – 1B Givens – SS Tanaka – P Hansen

More old bones thrown into the grinder in this matchup, which totaled merely 74 years of age. Movonda kept losing his edge at this point in the season, plunking Kinnear and Árias in succession in the first inning, but the Knights didn’t score. The Raccoons as a whole lost Marvin Ingall on a diving grab in the second inning, as he left with a finger injury. The Coons were donated runs in the top 3rd, when Movonda led off and reached when Givens dropped his pop up. Caddock in the leadoff spot doubled, and Brady walked. Hansen threw a wild 1-0 pitch to Buell to plate Movonda, then walked Buell. All recipes for a blowout were there, and then the Raccoons furuncled themselves outta there with three pop outs that were not dropped. The Knights were amused by so much incompetence and lightly flung two runs on four consecutive singles off Movonda onto the board in the bottom 3rd. The Coons tied the game in the fourth on a sac fly, and the in the fifth loaded the bags with a leadoff double by Buell, an intentional walk to Wedemeyer that befuddled anyone in attendance, and then a Turner single. Here they had the bases loaded with no outs, and RISP hits continued to elude them. The best they managed was Guerin’s RBI groundout, and that was all the losers got. Movonda was not on top of his game, lumbered into the seventh, where he got Morales out, then yielded to Donis with Kinnear and Árias up, in a 4-3 game. Since getting two outs without killing somebody or the lead was too much asked from Donis, De La Rosa had to relieve him the same inning, but got out of it. The Coons left runners in scoring position in the top 9th, leaving Wade with no cushion, and he promptly walked the leadoff man, PH Teófilo Padilla. The runner was on third base with two out and Kinnear at the plate. Walking Kinnear was not getting Wade into better territory, so he had to deal with him. One strike Kinnear ripped through, another strike Kinnear ripped through, and then Kinnear finally ripped into one, and sent a huge fly to deep right. Clyde Brady ran after it for no apparent reason. Ballgame. 5-4 Knights. Caddock 2-4; Wedemeyer 2-4, BB; De La Rosa 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Yep, Ingall broke his finger. No more Ingall singles ‘til September. So, roster moves: Ingall to the DL, which coincided with Neil Reece coming off the DL. Kent was demoted, and we brought up an infielder in Brent McLaughlin, a rather obvious choice.

Have I mentioned that I hate this job, lately?

Game 3
POR: RF Brady – 3B Crowe – CF Reece – LF Buell – SS Guerin – C Castillo – 1B Wedemeyer – 2B Caddock – P Farley
ATL: C J. Johnson – 3B Morales – LF Kinnear – RF Taylor – CF Árias – 1B J. Jackson – 2B Chapman – SS Tanaka – P Howard

A massacre took place in Atlanta this Wednesday, with Tynan Howard slaughtering Raccoon after Raccoon. The Knights rushed out to an early 2-0 lead over Farley, while Howard struck out nine Coons in the first five innings. In the top 6th, Crowe was on base with two out, when Reece grounded hard to third. Morales had it, to first, Jackson dropped it, and the Coons had two men on. Buell then lined a double into the corner and Reece made it around to tie the game. Howard reached ten strikeouts with a K to Castillo in the seventh, but then ran out of steam and was replaced in the top 8th with one out after a 4-pitch walk to Neil Reece. Nothing came of that threat. After Farley had gone seven, Miller pitched the eighth. Donis, with Kinnear leading off, came out for the ninth, walked Kinnear, walked Taylor, and was 3-0 on Árias, when the centerfielder stabbed at a pitch and grounded into a force at second. Runners on the corners, one out, Costa replaced the bag full of **** to save the unsaveable. He struck out Padilla, but Chapman singled up the middle. 3-2 Knights. Buell 2-4, 2 RBI; Farley 7.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 6 K and 2-3;

That’s three walkoff losses in one series, and while we’ve been around some time I can’t remember this has EVER happened before. We are having one of those bullpen episodes, obviously. This is in addition to the offensive episode that has been going on for 16 months now.

Headaches.

Raccoons (47-55) @ Condors (63-39) – July 31-August 2, 1998

From the Knights we move on to a good team. We are 3-3 against Tijuana this year, which is no indication for either team’s strength. Their 450 runs scored ranked third in the CL, while the pitching staff was the best in the Continental League, allowing only 377 runs. Yes, they are outscoring the Coons by almost a hundred runs (85 actually) and have a good chance to actually reach one-double-oh in this series.

Projected matchups:
Miguel Lopez (6-9, 4.54 ERA) vs. Woody Roberts (10-4, 2.52 ERA)
Jose Rivera (7-6, 2.79 ERA) vs. Juan Lara (8-6, 4.51 ERA)
Kisho Saito (4-8, 2.74 ERA) vs. Harry Griggs (13-3, 2.48 ERA)

Game 1
POR: RF Brady – 3B Crowe – CF Reece – LF Buell – C Turner – SS Caddock – 1B Castillo – 2B McLaughlin – P M. Lopez
TIJ: SS Gorden – C F. Jackson – RF Wales – LF Horn – 3B O’Morrissey – 1B Galindo – 2B Boyle – CF L. Maldonado – P Roberts

The Condors took advantage of a misplay in center by Neil Reece that gave Dale Wales a triple with two down in the first. Martin Horn singled up the middle, and the Condors were up 1-0. Lopez then gave a run away for free in the fifth, which was led off by Roberts, and Lopez’ first pitch hit Roberts in the side. The Condors came up with two hits, 2-0. That was well enough. The Raccoons sucked abysmally and managed a grand total of two hits against the Condors’ staff. One of those was a 1-out triple by McLaughlin in the top 8th, and he scored on a groundout. That was all. 2-1 Condors. Lopez 7.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, L (6-10);

On the bright side, we were first hand witnesses to Andres Ramirez getting everybody home early for the 643rd time in his career. Even more significant was Woody Roberts’ 250th career win.

Game 2
POR: RF Brady – 3B Crowe – CF Reece – LF Buell – C Turner – 1B Wedemeyer – SS Guerin – 2B Caddock – P Rivera
TIJ: SS Boyle – 2B Brewer – RF Wales – LF Horn – 3B O’Morrissey – 1B Galindo – C Vinson – CF Sanders – P J. Lara

Caddock’s 2-run homer in the second inning had the Coons take the lead, and four hits in the third plated two more runs for the Coons as Juan Lara was roughed up early on. Rivera was strong in this game and only allowed an unearned run in the fifth, while the roof came in on the Condors bullpen just as much as it had on Lara. By the seventh, the Raccoons were up 8-1, drawing additional blood in fury after Clyde Brady had been hit in the foot by Lara, had semi-comically struck himself in the helmet with the bat in one not-so-fluid motion, and had been carted off the field. Well, somewhere, humiliation for this team had to come from. Rivera was taken deep by Vinson, who was not even batting .200, in the seventh, and Brewer and Wales hit hard liners off him in the eighth, which removed him from the game. The Raccoons had the bags full with one out in the top 8th, didn’t score, then had already plated a pair against ex-Coon Roberto Carrillo in the ninth and had the bags full and still nobody out, until Mike Crowe grounded hard to Ben O’Morrissey, who started a triple play. Iván Costa had driven in the runs in the top 9th with a single, having collected two outs in the eighth and was penciled in for the ninth as well. With one out, Costa strike out Michael Sanders, but Turner was called out for interference. Up 10-3, collapse seemed imminent, and the next two batters reached as well, driving in Sanders. With two out, Costa walked Wales, and had to face Horn, with Wade getting ready. Collapse could be felt all over the park now. But, in a sudden twist of events, Horn struck out against the crumbling Costa, and that was the game. 10-4 Raccoons. Reece 3-5, 2 2B; Buell 2-2, 3 BB; Guerin 3-5, RBI; Caddock 4-5, HR, 2 2B, 3 RBI; Rivera 7.0 IP, 9 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, W (8-6) and 1-4;

No word yet on Brady on the various injuries he did to himself.

Game 3
POR: 3B Crowe – 2B Caddock – CF Reece – LF Buell – C Turner – 1B Wedemeyer – SS Guerin – RF Newton – P Saito
TIJ: 2B Brewer – C F. Jackson – RF Wales – LF Horn – 3B O’Morrissey – SS Gorden – 1B Boyle – CF L. Maldonado – P Griggs

Saito allowed three hits through five innings, including two doubles for two runs. The Coons had two hits and seven whiffs against Harry Griggs who was going hard for win #14. Saito singled up the middle to lead off the sixth, and then Crowe hit a howling liner to deep center that went over Michael Sanders (who had replaced an injured Maldonado) and while Saito scored easily(!), Crowe came into third with a triple and carried the tying run. As Griggs was trying to calm the storm, Caddock singled into left, tying the game, and then Reece hit a thundering blast to deep center that bounced on top of the batter’s eye structure. Well, that had escalated quickly! Buell walked and Wedemeyer got on. With two out, Newton took Griggs’ first pitch into shallow center. Sanders tried in vain to catch the bloop, failed, bobbled it shortly, and Buell scored easily. Saito then flew out to the warning track on an 0-2 pitch to end the frame. Griggs was more or less stellar outside this sixth inning, striking out 11 Raccoons, but also allowed a solo home run to Werner Turner in the eighth inning, but Michael Sanders put that homer back onto the board for the home team off Saito leading off the bottom 8th. Saito then retired Serafim Laborinhos and David Brewer before retiring from this game. Daniel Miller replaced him with the intent to collect four outs in the 6-3 game. Trying new things and such. He entered in a double switch that put Castillo at first base. Castillo also opened the ninth with a walk, and the Coons loaded the bags with no outs. The Condors threw in Andres Ramirez(!) but this one was blowing up. Reece singled into shallow left center to plate Castillo, 7-3, and then Stephen Buell, who had done nothing but failing all week, emptied the bags with a double to the wall in right center, 10-3. Buell was left unscored, but Miller – who still came to bat and walked! – finished this one. 10-3 Raccoons. Crowe 2-5, 3B, RBI; Reece 3-5, HR, 3 RBI; Saito 7.2 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, W (5-8) and 2-3; Miller 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K, SV (1) and 0-0, BB;

Kishooo!! Little Daniel!! Neeeeeeil!!!

In other news
July 27 – LVA OF Royce Green (.247, 12 HR, 47 RBI) will miss three weeks with a strained back muscle.
July 27 – The same day, the Aces acquire OF Forest Hartley (.348, 4 HR, 34 RBI) and a minor leaguer for grizzled veteran MR Richard Cunningham (1-1, 4.32 ERA, 1 SV), who is 38 by now and had been rarely used by the Aces.
July 28 – CHA SP Angel Romero (9-8, 2.43 ERA) 3-hits the Indians in dominating fashion in a 2-0 win.
July 28 – The Bayhawks’ young phenom SP Jorge Chapa (8-5, 2.58 ERA) is due to miss a few weeks with a calf strain.
July 28 – LAP 1B Marty Battle (.316, 9 HR, 50 RBI) has a 20-game hitting streak patched together.
July 29 – Atop the CL North, the Titans and Loggers strike a deal that sends MR Andres Otero (3-1, 2.31 ERA) to Milwaukee, while Boston welcomes INF Haruki Nakayama (.272, 4 HR, 40 RBI) and a minor leaguer.
July 29 – The Cyclones shut down the Pacifics, 5-1, with Battle going 0-4 to have his streak end at 20 games.
July 31 – Tijuana’s Woody Roberts (11-4, 2.38 ERA) deals in a 2-1 win over the Raccoons for his 250th W. Roberts was the eighth overall pick in the 1980 amateur draft and has spent his whole career with the Condors, debuting in 1982, for a 250-163 record and a 3.11 ERA, while also logging 2,973 strikeouts – the all-time ABL record mark. He is second to Craig Hansen and third overall (behind HOF Juan Correa) in career wins.
August 1 – MIL RF/LF Cristo Ramirez (.334, 4 HR, 45 RBI) collects six base hits as the Loggers squeeze past the Falcons, 11-10, including two doubles and accounting for 4 RBI. Ramirez is the first player to collect six hits in a game since LVA Andres Manuel did it in September 1996 – also against the Falcons. It is the sixth time overall the Falcons had an opposing batter collect six knocks, out of 31 instances in ABL history, and the first time it has not happened in their own ballpark. The other four 6-hitters against them were authored by RIC Riley Simon (1978), DEN Francisco Lopez (1981), POR Daniel Hall (1989), and OCT Alejandro Olvera (1990). No Falcon has ever had six hits in a game. Ramirez is the first Logger to achieve the feat in 20 years. Both Ethan Michael and Francois Dédé hat 6-hit games in 1978 for Milwaukee.
August 2 – The future looks grim for 27-year old SAC SP Joe Mann (3-4, 3.94 ERA). He has suffered a ruptured UCL and might miss all of this and all of next season.

Complaints and stuff

Back-to-back 10-run games against the Condors? Who are you clones and where have you chained up my clowns??

Saito now has 231 career wins, 19 to go to 250. At this pace, even the 2-year extension won’t be enough… He won’t make it to 3,000 K regardless. He’s at 2,640 now and his pace has slowed down to where he won’t top 150 for a year anymore, and he’s on a pace for 141 this year. Assuming a further annual 10% decrease as he heads for forty, he would top out at 2,925.

The Canadiens now have Jackie Lagarde AND Richard Cunningham in their pen. Grant West – according to latest reports – is still fishing in Montana, but I wouldn’t be shocked if he wound up in the Canadiens pen as well soon.

Stats of the week: Top 5 Pitchers in strikeouts for the Raccoons
Kisho Saito - 2,162
Scott Wade - 1,204
Logan Evans - 1,022
Jason Turner - 997
Christopher Powell - 774

Note: stats and standings below include the first game against the Bayhawks, because I wanted to have Brady’s undisclosed injury cleared before heading to bed, and started that series – against my principles… - and forgot to take pictures, and yes I am that much of an idiot. The arithmetically adept reader will spot that the Waterbirds hung an L on the Colombian Beauty in the series opener. More on that later, and not at 11.

Westheim · 09-14-2014, 03:58 PM

Raccoons (49-56) @ Bayhawks (61-44) – August 3-5, 1998

While the Bayhawks were not quite as atrocious at the plate as the Raccoons, their 10th-ranked offense certainly held them back in their quest for the CL South title. Their pitching was front page caliber, and their rotation was 2nd only to the Coons’.

Projected matchups:
Manuel Movonda (8-7, 2.55 ERA) vs. Kenny Frye (5-6, 4.14 ERA)
Randy Farley (8-4, 2.75 ERA) vs. Rafael Lopez (4-6, 5.65 ERA)
Miguel Lopez (6-10, 4.43 ERA) vs. Tony Hamlyn (8-8, 2.80 ERA)

Hamlyn will be the first left-hander we’ll face in over a week. This week will be the centerpiece of a 13-day stretch of games, so Neil Reece could have the middle game off, unless Buell gets rested first. Those two are basically the only players out there every day now.

Game 1
POR: 3B Crowe – SS Guerin – CF Reece – LF Buell – 1B Wedemeyer – C Turner – 2B Caddock – RF Villegas – P Movonda
SFB: LF D. Woods – C G. Ortíz – RF P. Perez – 2B Chandler – CF Marquez – 1B Cavazos – 3B J. Gomez – SS Powys – P Frye

Neither starter was any good. Both allowed six hits through three innings, and while Movonda at least got a few strikeouts to hold the damage to one run, Frye was also wild and the Coons were up 3-1, although that lead went down to 3-2 in the fourth with a Jorge Gomez home run. Frye continued to suck, but the Raccoons sucked more and failed to topple him. In turn, Movonda was battered in the fifth. It started innocently (rather) with a pitch into Pedro Perez’ triceps, but the Bayhawks rapped off doubles to plate three runs in the inning. The Atrocicoons left the bases loaded (with one out) in the sixth, and that sealed Movonda’s fate, who pitched to one more batter in the sixth, resulting in Bayhawks hit #11, then was removed. Donis was kind enough to wave the runner home. The Raccoons once more left two runners in scoring position en route to a bitter loss. 6-3 Bayhawks. Guerin 2-5; Reece 2-3, 2 BB; Caddock 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Fairchild 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

Clyde Brady was revealed to have suffered a foot contusion and would require two weeks of rest. This is best done on the DL. And so Jason Kent returns once more.

Game 2
POR: SS Guerin – 2B Caddock – CF Reece – 3B Crowe – 1B Wedemeyer – C Turner – LF Newton – RF Villegas – P Farley
SFB: LF D. Woods – C G. Ortíz – 1B Carroll – RF P. Perez – 2B Chandler – CF Marquez – 3B P. Hernandez – SS Powys – P R. Lopez

Randyboy made the cardinal error of allowing a 2-out, 2-run double to the opposing pitcher, even while knowing that his team sucked hard. That happened in the second, and the Raccoons didn’t even reach base until the fourth, when Guerin hit an infield single. Caddock instantly hit into a double play, before Reece and Crowe singled. That brought up Wedemeyer with two out, an instant burial for any inning. Well, except this one. Wedemeyer reconquered the elitist .200 mark for his batting average with a towering 3-run homer to right center. Yet, this didn’t ease Rafael Lopez’ suffering. Turner singled. Newton walked. And Villegas unleashed the next 3-run bomb. When Farley made it seven straight batters reaching base with a liner up the middle for a single, Lopez was yanked, and Guerin lined out to Pat Chandler. The Bayhawks had a choking grip on Farley in the fifth, but a heroic play by Villegas bailed him out with only one run across for a 6-3 score. He then pitched a perfect sixth before being hit for in the top 7th. From here, the Raccoons got scoreless relief from Miller, De La Rosa, and Costa, while they also hung a 3-spot on Johnny Smith in the eighth. 9-3 Raccoons. Turner 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Villegas 2-3, HR, 3 RBI;

Game 3
POR: 3B Crowe – SS Guerin – CF Reece – LF Buell – C Castillo – RF Newton – 2B McLaughlin – 1B Utting – P M. Lopez
SFB: CF Marquez – C G. Ortíz – 1B Carroll – 2B Chandler – 3B P. Hernandez – SS Powys – RF D. Woods – LF M. Rodriguez – P Hamlyn

The first three Furballs all hit singles, plating two runs in the first inning against Hamlyn. However, Lopez was borderline awful from the start, too, and the Bayhawks got one run right back off him. And the Raccoons were the Raccoons, having runners in scoring position in the third inning with nobody out – and didn’t score with pop outs by Reece and Buell, and Castillo struck out. The highlight of the game came in the bottom 3rd, as Guerin made a tremendous leaping grab on Alfredo Marquez’ line drive to rob him of a hit. Even the home fans had to acknowledge him jumping up about four feet from a stand. It barely held a win bid together for Lopez, who was on the verge of losing it in the sixth. Still in a 2-1 game, he loaded the bags with one out and was hooked. Tamburrino came in with the volcano bubbling chunks of magma already, struck out Mike Powys, and Dan Woods unleashed a soft pop to Reece to end the inning. Miller and De La Rosa pitched scoreless innings, and while the Raccoons continued to step in at the plate in the top halves of innings, they merely did so to satisfy the rule book, but didn’t long to achieve anything. Scott Wade entered the 2-1 game in the ninth, allowed a 2-out double to Marcos Rodriguez, and then served a huge fly to Ramiro Cavazos into deep center. Neil Reece tore out an arm and a leg to get there – and luckily did. 2-1 Raccoons. Crowe 2-4; Reece 2-4, RBI; Tamburrino 0.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, IR 3-0;

For bad news, Stephen Buell suffered a hamstring strain in the course of the game while turning first base and will unfortunately miss most of the remaining season. Six weeks is the number flung around by the medical staff. Yay, WAY TO GO.

While Buell was heading for the DL for the third time this season, we called up 24-year old Mark Kowalchuk from AAA. Our second round pick from 1992 was not having a good year in AAA, but then again, that AAA team was getting mauled pretty badly by the competition… He was merely OPS’ing .623, but the season had long passed the point of bothering. He will be the 281st player to don the brown shirt. Kowalchuk, batting right-handed and playing all corner positions, has trouble making contact with balls. Pretty bad point to get started…

Raccoons (51-57) vs. Canadiens (43-63) – August 6-9, 1998

The Canadiens’ pitching was not quite as horrible as early in the year anymore, but they still ran a 5.5 R/G allowed mark and were soundly in last place in that respect. However, like everybody, they were outscoring the Raccoons (435-400) and were ninth in offense in the CL.

Projected matchups:
Jose Rivera (8-6, 2.77 ERA) vs. Manuel Chavez (7-8, 6.15 ERA)
Kisho Saito (5-8, 2.78 ERA) vs. Jose Dominguez (9-6, 4.55 ERA)
Manuel Movonda (8-8, 2.82 ERA) vs. John Collins (4-15, 5.26 ERA)
Randy Farley (9-4, 2.82 ERA) vs. Manuel Hernandez (3-12, 6.09 ERA)

Don’t get humiliated. Don’t get humiliated. Don’t get…

Here we had left, right, right, left for the opposing pitchers, so I was inclined to rest Neil Reece in game 2. Not that Saito would be thrilled. Someone hide his sword. Please.

Game 1
VAN: RF Givens – LF P. Durán – CF Ledesma – 1B Mosley – C J. Lopez – 3B Sutton – 2B Corona – SS Duarte – P Chavez
POR: 3B Crowe – SS Guerin – CF Reece – C Turner – 1B Wedemeyer – LF Newton – 2B McLaughlin – RF Villegas – P Rivera

Jorge Ledesma took Rivera deep in the first inning to get the Canadiens ahead. The pushover Chavez meanwhile retired the first 12 Raccoons he faced, until Turner hit a leadoff single in the fifth in the 1-0 game. Nothing came of that, of course, with Newton hitting into a double play in time. Bill Mosley reached 20 homers on the season with a 2-piece off Rivera in the sixth, and a McLaughlin error contributed to another run in the eighth. The Raccoons didn’t do **** against the pushover. That pushover pitched a 4-hit shutout. 4-0 Canadiens.

Game 2
VAN: 2B B. Butler – C J. Lopez – 1B Mosley – RF Givens – CF Ledesma – LF Moore – 3B Sutton – SS Duarte – P Dominguez
POR: CF Newton – 2B Caddock – C Turner – 3B Crowe – 1B Wedemeyer – SS Guerin – LF Utting – RF Kent – P Saito

In short, Saito was doomed. That the Canadiens started the second inning with four straight singles wasn’t helping a whole lot, and Saito was torn to pieces right in the same inning. As he came unwound, he walked in two runs, and the Canadiens scored five of their men. The Raccoons had lost already, but everybody could enjoy another two and a half hours of a team on strike. Saito went five, and then on the way to the showers broke a chair, smashed the bat rack, and tossed over the Gaytirade barrel in the dugout, before Godzilla-ing his way through the clubhouse. He didn’t come back because there was no reason for him to, although Werner Turner had put three runs on the board in the third inning with a double. However, that was the only inning the Raccoons reached base as long as Saito was out. He knew he had lost, I knew he had lost, the scant attendance knew he had lost. The Raccoons had a whopping two base runners past the third inning. 6-3 Canadiens. Caddock 2-4; Turner 2-4, 2B, 3 RBI;

Game 3
VAN: RF Givens – LF P. Durán – CF Ledesma – 1B Mosley – 2B B. Butler – C J. Lopez – 3B Sutton – SS Duarte – P J. Collins
POR: 3B Crowe – 2B Caddock – CF Reece – C Turner – 1B Utting – SS Guerin – RF Newton – LF Kowalchuk – P Movonda

Movonda pitched seven innings, allowing five hits and one run, which was of course enough to trail in the game. The annoying Mosley drove in the run again, but vastly more annoying were the Suckoons, who had one chance in the sixth, having two men in scoring position with one out, but neither Turner nor Utting could come up with a productive AB. The ninth, down 1-0, Reece lined out hard to right, Turner struck out, and Castillo hit for Utting, smacking a double to the base of the wall in center. Guerin hit an infield single, bringing up Newton. He flew out to Givens. 1-0 Canadiens. Crowe 2-3, BB; Caddock 2-4; Guerin 3-4, 2B; Movonda 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 3 K, L (8-9);

Give Saito the sword back and say I need to talk to him.

Also, Jason Kent was banished as Chris Parker came off the DL.

Game 4
VAN: RF Givens – 3B Sutton – 1B Mosley – 2B B. Butler – LF J. Wilson – CF Moore – C Guerrero – SS Duarte – P M. Hernandez
POR: 3B Crowe – SS Guerin – CF Reece – C Turner – LF Parker – 2B McLaughlin – 1B Kowalchuk – RF Villegas – P Farley

The Canadiens, who had already drawn us a nose, stripped us of our pants and had painted or tails pink in this series, completed the total defacing of the franchise by having the first run of this game batted in by a banished catcher who couldn’t bat even .100 for the Raccoons earlier in the year. Guerrero’s 1-out RBI single in the second got the Canadiens going as they plated two in the frame. Farley was blown up for good in the third, issuing among other crap two bases-loaded walks in a 3-run frame. 5-0 Canadiens if anyone was counting. Henry Givens hit another leadoff jack off Farley in the fourth (the third had started that way) and what little of Farley hadn’t been smeared on the fences was mobbed up by the groundscrew. The game was out of hand, apparently. Starting with the sixth, Iván Costa was thrown into the lion’s den that was a then 6-2 game. He would go four innings of 1-run ball, while the Raccoons had home runs from Turner in the seventh for two runs, and Villegas in the eighth, a solo shot, to crawl back into the game, and entered the ninth 7-5 down and with their top of the lineup to go against Jesus Morales. Crowe grounded out, but Guerin hit a double to left, and Reece hit a bloop into shallow center to score him. 7-6, tying run on first with one out. Turner walked, pushing Reece to second. Castillo struck out in the #5 hole, hitting for Costa, and McLaughlin – popped out to second. 7-6 Canadiens. Crowe 2-5, 3B, RBI; Guerin 3-4, BB, 2B; Reece 3-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Villegas 2-4, HR, RBI; Costa 4.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K;

On the way home, I bought up every single piece of chocolate at two gas stations, then locked myself in the bathroom with $850 worth of candy, and cried the whole night.

Was worth it.

In other news

August 3 – BOS C/1B Luis Lopez (.252, 2 HR, 38 RBI) has torn his ACL and is looking at about a 9-month rehab.
August 3 – Hamstring tendinitis will put LVA 1B/3B Javier Vargas (.308, 13 HR, 52 RBI) on the shelf for three weeks.
August 5 – MIL SP Rafael Garcia (9-12, 3.34 ERA) is out for a month with inflammation in his elbow.

Complaints and stuff

If there was a SLIGHT chance for the team to finish fourth heading into August, it is all gone now. They will finish last. And deservedly so. They are crap. They are ****. They deserve to be sold to Cambodia. NO! They deserve to be DONATED to Cambodia!!

Raccoons against CL North: 22-36. We’re drumming the Indians, while every other opponent is having us for breakfast.

Raccoons offense ranks through August 9 (June 14)
AVG – .247 – 12th (10th)
OBP – .314 – 12th (11th)
SLG – .354 – 12th (8th)
OPS – .668 – 12th (11th)
R – 409 – 12th (12th)
H – 971 – t-9th (10th)
XBH – 257 – 12th (t-8th)
HR – 71 – t-2nd (1st)
BB – 364 – 11th (11th)
K – 701 – 8th (4th)
SB – 45 – 9th (t-9th)

Beware the Suckoons.

harrumph · 09-15-2014, 10:05 AM

I've been making my through this thread for the past couple weeks, just got caught up, and am looking forward to more! Great reading, and it's fun to see the mind of a German baseball fan at work (I'm an American living in Berlin, myself).

Thanks for writing this, and go Coons!

Na, vielleicht nächstes Jahr . . .

Westheim · 09-15-2014, 02:28 PM

Thanks for reading!

Somebody's still reading through all this? Gotta talk to publishers to have it printed and sold!

The German baseball mind boggles occasionally on the concepts of the game. It took me about 15 seasons of managing (including my PureSim time and aborted OOTP games, so about into the mid-80s with the Coons) to get roster management and lineup composition about right. And even now I will sometimes - ... well, anybody remember the Salazar arbitration hearings?

About my favorite bit of baseball sim history for me is that in my first season in PureSim with the 2008 Mets I traded David Wright, who was batting .180ish like three weeks into the season, for *Casey Blake* ... I think I got a bit better since in terms of actions as well as presentation of said actions, but you'll be the judges

Btw, from that game I still have a warm feeling for the real Gregor Blanco, whom I also traded for at some point, and aced for these wrightless Mets. (Also had Cano at some point...)

And I have by now learned that most of the time the trades you *don't* do that you will regret the most, like NOT trading Vicente Ruíz for The Colombian Beauty about 12 years ago.........

Regular service will resume at some point this week but I am not feeling well today and just can't bother (yet still wrote like 300 words, you just can't shut me up)...

Westheim · 09-21-2014, 06:04 PM

So, after feeling sickly the first half of the week, working late on Thursday, having family invade unexpectedly on Friday, and not giving a crap on Saturday, here are your most beloved suckers again. Will they continue to offer nothing beyond smiling at you fiendishly while they steal your food, and beautifully fluffy striped tails?

Let's find out.

Raccoons (51-61) vs. Titans (68-45) – August 10-12, 1998

Oh look, a proper team. We’re dead.

Projected matchups:
Miguel Lopez (7-10, 4.31 ERA) vs. Jason O’Halloran (12-6, 3.14 ERA)
Jose Rivera (8-7, 2.83 ERA) vs. Glenn Ryan (9-5, 3.54 ERA)
Kisho Saito (5-9, 2.97 ERA) vs. Jesus Bautista (7-11, 4.67 ERA)

Game 1
BOS: CF Alonso – 1B Baldivía – SS D. Silva – RF Thomas – 2B Henry – 3B Nakayama – LF Sosa – C J. Silva – P O’Halloran
POR: 3B Crowe – SS Guerin – CF Reece – C Turner – LF Parker – RF Newton – 1B Wedemeyer – 2B McLaughlin – P M. Lopez

The first two Titans (including ex-Coon Esteban Baldivía) hit balls to the warning track, enabling Reece and Parker to stretch those legs a bit, but then Lopez settled into a dominating groove. He would go on and sit down the first 16 Titans that dared to step up to take their AB, before a meekly roller by Julio Silva eluded none other than Lopez for an infield single in the sixth. By then, the Coons were up 3-0, courtesy to a Reece single and Reece then being balked in from third base in the first inning, and Lopez himself hitting a 1-out RBI single in the fourth. The Titans got two on in the eighth, but Lopez remained in the game and struck out pinch-hitter Tom Walls to end the inning. The Titans made two errors in the bottom 8th, helping the Coons to three more runs despite Lopez hitting into a double play with the bags full and no outs. Up 6-0, Lopez returned for the ninth, longing for the shutout. Luis Alonso led off with a double, but Baldy popped out. That brought up Daniel Silva, the certified coonskinner of New England. Sure enough he hit a towering homer, his second of the year. Daniel Miller relieved Lopez and got the final two outs without further incidents. 6-2 Raccoons. Parker 2-4; Lopez 8.1 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 9 K, W (8-10) and 2-4, 2B, RBI;

This Silva guy. Can’t they trade him to Mongolia?

Game 2
BOS: CF Alonso – 1B Baldivía – SS D. Silva – RF Thomas – LF Walls – 3B Nakayama – 2B G. Roldán – C J. Silva – P Ryan
POR: SS Guerin – 2B Caddock – CF Reece – 3B Crowe – 1B Wedemeyer – C Castillo – RF Newton – LF Kowalchuk – P Rivera

The Coons got a run in the first inning, but apart from that much of the game was about the runners left in scoring position by either team. The Raccoons twice failed to score with runners on the corners and one out, and the Titans had the go-ahead runs in scoring position in the sixth with one out and couldn’t do it. Bottom 7th, two out, two on, Tony Simpson walked Neil Reece and the bags got full for Crowe. The count ran full in that AB, and Simpson, a left-hander, walked Crowe as well, finally pushing home another run to make it 2-0. Wedemeyer came up next, a glorious 0-3 on the day and was hit for by Utting, who grounded out nevertheless. Walking Baldy with two out in the eighth got Rivera out of the game. Donis pitching to Silva, are we crazy? Donis fell to 3-0 on Silva, because that’s what he did for a living, before Silva swung and lined out to Reece in center. Guerin left runners on the corners again in the bottom 8th, and Wade thus came out to protect a 2-0 lead. After he struck out Josh Thomas to get started, Walls drew a walk, and then it was leg stretching time again for the outfielders. Reece successfully ran down a Mike Olson fly, and German Roldán sent a potential game tier into deep, deep left. Kowalchuk made it to the wall, leapt, and picked it right off the top off the wall. 2-0 Furballs. Guerin 3-5; Caddock 2-4; Turner (PH) 1-1; Rivera 7.2 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 3 K, W (9-7) and 1-2;

Game 3
BOS: CF Alonso – 1B Baldivía – SS D. Silva – 2B Henry – 3B Nakayama – LF Walls – RF Sosa – C J. Silva – P Bautista
POR: 3B Crowe – 2B Caddock – CF Reece – C Turner – LF Parker – SS Guerin – RF Newton – 1B Kowalchuk – P Saito

Saito had the first hit in the game, a 2-out double in the bottom 3rd, which did lead to anything, but was indicative of the quality of offense on display. The Coons however got through in the next inning when they scored a pair of runs with the help of doubles by Reece and Parker. It wouldn’t work out for Saito, though. The Titans got their inning with doubles in the sixth, tying the contest again at two, and Saito, who went seven, didn’t get a decision. Wade failed in the top 9th, the Titans scored the go-ahead run and left the bags full, and Bill Corkum did the rest. 3-2 Titans. Crowe 2-4, 3B, 2B; Saito 7.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 5 K;

Well, we had nice pitching from the rotation this series, but the offense was still lacking. All in all, they continue to play 3.5 R/G ball, which is no fun at all.

Raccoons (53-62) @ Scorpions (67-46) – August 14-16, 1998

Another proper team. The Scorpions have won their last seven games, and their offense is second to none with 598 runs scored in 113 games, which is a lot, I’ve been told. They paired that with a top 2 pitching staff and here is your odds-on favorite to make it to the World Series.

Projected matchups:
Manuel Movonda (8-9, 2.76 ERA) vs. Steve Rogers (16-4, 2.26 ERA)
Randy Farley (9-5, 3.11 ERA) vs. Randy Travis (10-8, 4.27 ERA)
Miguel Lopez (8-10, 4.18 ERA) vs. David Castillo (11-9, 4.55 ERA)

Rogers and Travis are left-handers, but it’s not like we are relying on left-handed batters anyway this season. To be honest, every game where Wedemeyer doesn’t play is a game we can actually win.

Game 1
POR: 3B Crowe – SS Guerin – CF Reece – C Turner – LF Parker – 2B McLaughlin – RF Newton – 1B Utting – P Movonda
SAC: CF A. Jenkins – C De La Parra – RF S. Green – 1B I. Gutierrez – LF Humphrey – 3B O’Molony – 2B F. Rivera – SS R. Martinez – P Rogers

Only Reece and Turner had ever faced the star quality Rogers, and combined to go 4-17 against him. To anybody’s surprise, the Coons clawed Rogers for two runs in the first inning. That wasn’t the only blow to the Scorpions in this game. The other, and much more significant, was that Rogers left the game with an apparent injury in the fourth inning after throwing ball four to McLaughlin that was nowhere near the plate. Movonda was very solid at first, but came apart in the middle innings. The Scorpions got a run in the fifth, and left two on in both the fifth and sixth innings. Movonda was hit for in the top 7th. Top 8th, still up 2-1, Reece led off with a single and reached third on Turner’s follow-up single. Right-handed reliever Leon Walker remained in to faced lefty Chris Parker, who connected for a 3-run homer. While up 5-1, we were still awaiting the bullpen implosion, but that never came. In contrast, the Scorpions sent Alonso Santana, the ex-Inepticoon, into the game late, and he gave up another run. 6-1 Raccoons. Crowe 2-5; Guerin 2-5, 2B; Parker 2-5, HR, 5 RBI;

It should be mentioned because I don’t know whether it has happened the last 12 months: Antonio Donis pitched a perfect eighth, striking out a pair, against three left-handers. (The K’s came in full counts, but we will look at positives here)

On the other hand, Mark Kowalchuk’s career in the Bigs has run itself to an 0-13 record at the plate. Two walks, no K’s, but … 0-13.

Game 2
POR: 3B Crowe – SS Guerin – CF Reece – C Turner – LF Parker – 2B Utting – RF Villegas – 1B Kowalchuk – P Farley
SAC: CF A. Jenkins – C De La Parra – RF S. Green – 1B I. Gutierrez – LF Humphrey – 3B O’Molony – 2B S. Mendez – SS R. Martinez – P Travis

Randy Travis struck out five in the first three innings. The Raccoons didn’t appear to be in the same ballpark, but Farley held the board clean, too, and suddenly Travis was run over in the fourth inning. Two runs in, runners on the corners, two outs, Kowalchuk came up, having run his career history to 0-14 already. He grounded up the middle and it eluded Mendez and Martinez for an RBI single! Unfortunately, Travis wasn’t the only pitcher to experience hiccups in the fourth. The Scorpions got a run off Farley, and the youngster’s control went away in the fifth, and he was chopped up in the sixth, with the Scorpions taking a 4-3 lead. Reece would take Farley off the hook with a 2-out RBI single in the top 7th, but they left two men on in the inning again. Tamburrino eventually was hung on the hook by the Scorpions in a 3-hit, 1-run bottom 8th. Ex-Indian Tim Hess came out in the ninth and made short work of the Portlanders. 5-4 Scorpions. Guerin 2-5; Reece 2-5, 2B, RBI; Parker 2-4, RBI;

Game 3
POR: 3B Crowe – 2B Caddock – CF Reece – C Turner – LF Parker – SS Guerin – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Villegas – P M. Lopez
SAC: 2B F. Rivera – 3B S. Mendez – CF A. Jenkins – RF Humphrey – C De La Parra – LF Orosco – 1B Potts – SS R. Martinez – P D. Castillo

No offense was one thing, but the critical moment in the rubber game came in the bottom 5th of a scoreless affair. One out, two on, Lopez fielded David Castillo’s bunt to third – and the throw was wide. The bases were loaded for Felipe Rivera, who hit a 2-run double in a 2-2 count, and the Scorpions got three runs in total in the inning. Flip to the top 6th, the Coons loaded the bases with two out for Guerin. Castillo and Guerin battled for a while until Guerin drew an RBI walk. That brought up Wedemeyer and you could just as well head to the concession stands. He grounded out to second. Lopez then couldn’t get anybody out in the bottom 6th, and neither could Iván Costa. Four runs to the home team later, this game was all but over. 8-1 Scorpions.

Yeah, four hits regularly won’t be enough against a team scoring 5.4 R/G…

Raccoons (54-64) vs. Rebels (56-62) – August 18-20, 1998

The Rebels were somehow still a proper team, but they ranked below average in runs scored, runs against, and most other important categories in the Federal League. How awful were they? Well, they were merely outscoring the Raccoons by ALMOST triple digits. Them suckers!

Projected matchups:
Jose Rivera (9-7, 2.67 ERA) vs. Doug Morrow (10-11, 4.90 ERA)
Kisho Saito (5-9, 2.96 ERA) vs. Chris O’Keefe (11-9, 4.00 ERA)
Manuel Movonda (9-9, 2.71 ERA) vs. Scott Murphy (4-4, 5.32 ERA)

Clyde Brady came off the DL and we sent Mark Kowalchuk back to St. Petersburg on Monday. This should somewhat improve our lineup…

Game 1
RIC: SS Kent – C Aguilar – LF J. Martinez – RF R. Vázquez – 1B Rice – CF Castaneda – 3B McAndrew – 2B M. Guzmán – P Morrow
POR: 3B Crowe – RF Brady – CF Reece – C Turner – LF Parker – SS Guerin – 2B Caddock – 1B Wedemeyer – P Rivera

To start this game, the Coons continued to merely exist, but in no way excel, at the plate in this game. Through four, they merely had anything going, with Rivera falling 1-0 behind. In the fifth then, they at least had their sorry grounders elude the infielders for a bunch of singles and took a 2-1 lead. Werner Turner then hit a hissing leadoff triple in the bottom 6th, and scored on Parker’s single. Maybe it was just Morrow falling apart? After surrendering hits to Caddock, Weeds, and Rivera, ramping the score to 6-1, he was yanked in the same inning. The Coons began to run away with this. There was one more point to be made, in the eighth. Two on, two out, Neil Reece came up. He was 0-4 on the day, one K and three loud fly ball outs, three times ending the inning, and leaving six men on base. He launched a cannon shot this time. 9-1 Raccoons. Crowe 3-4, BB, RBI; Turner 2-5, 3B; Wedemeyer 2-4, RBI; Rivera 8.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, W (10-7) and 1-3, 2 RBI;

Notes: Werner Turner extended a 10-game hitting streak in style with a triple. Also, our #5 starter is the first to ten wins this season. Oh well.

Game 2
RIC: LF J. Martinez – SS McAndrew – CF Theobald – RF R. Vázquez – 2B A. Diaz – C Aguilar – 1B M. Guzmán – 3B Burbidge – P O’Keefe
POR: 3B Crowe – RF Brady – CF Reece – C Turner – LF Parker – SS Guerin – 2B Caddock – 1B Wedemeyer – P Saito

Saito was not right at all in this game. He did not get ahead of ANY batter the first time through the lineup, and while he didn’t walk anybody, the Rebels got four hits and a run off him. No, it was not his day. Through five, he allowed homers to Jack Burbidge and Raúl Vázquez. The Coons almost matched the pace, but suffered a blow when Conceicao Guerin as the tying run was thrown out at the plate to end the fourth. Saito hit a double in the bottom 6th, still down 3-2, and was left on third base. Of course nobody would come through. It was a Saito start, and Kisho must not win. He must lose. Accordingly, De La Rosa was tagged for two runs in the seventh, and in the eighth Costa, Donis, and Guerin (with an error) combined for another three runs for the Rebels. 8-2 Rebels. Caddock 2-4; Wedemeyer 2-4;

(stares skywards and shakes angry fists) DAMN YOU, BASEBALL GODS!!!

Game 3
RIC: CF J. Gonzalez – C Aguilar – LF J. Martinez – RF R. Vázquez – 1B Rice – SS Kent – 3B M. Guzmán – 2B McAndrew – P Murphy
POR: 3B Crowe – RF Brady – CF Reece – LF Parker – 1B Wedemeyer – SS Guerin – 2B Caddock – C Castillo – P Movonda

The team continued to be **** throughout. Movonda pitched five scoreless before the Rebels chained up hits to plate two runs in the sixth. Of course, the Suckoons hadn’t done anything to that point. Top 7th, McAndrew singled and then Movonda took Murphy’s bunt to second base, and McAndrew was safe. On the next play, Castillo threw away Gonzalez’ grounder and all dams broke, washing away Movonda and handing him his tenth loss of the year. Bottom 8th, down 5-0, Tim Mallandain (the sucker) pitched to four Raccoons, which was enough to bring the tying run to the plate with no outs. He walked three, and made an error on Jai Utting’s grounder. Bases loaded, no outs for Reece, Vicente Rubio came out of the pen and struck him out. Parker walked, bringing the score to 5-2, against Jorge Reyes, who struck out Wedemeyer. Villegas pinch-hit for a 2-run single, but the bases were full for Castillo eventually, and he eventually also grounded out to short, and the Suckoons continued to trail. Nobody got on in the ninth. 5-4 Rebels. Villegas (PH) 1-1, 2 RBI;

I hate them. I just hate them. That probably sums it up best. We also need a new backup catcher. Castillo is annoying me greatly since today.

Raccoons (55-66) vs. Crusaders (64-57) – August 21-23, 1998

While the Crusaders’ offense was terrible (10th in CL) and they couldn’t rely on their 10th-ranked bullpen either, leading to the fifth-most runs conceded, they were still running above .500 somehow. Part of the story was their ownage of Furballs this year. They have killed us to a 9-2 tune this season.

Projected matchups:
Randy Farley (9-5, 3.24 ERA) vs. Francisco Garza (14-9, 3.10 ERA)
Miguel Lopez (8-11, 4.15 ERA) vs. Ramiro Gonzalez (9-11, 4.32 ERA)
Jose Rivera (10-7, 2.58 ERA) vs. Anibal Sandoval (12-8, 3.25 ERA)

Game 1
NYC: SS Rigg – C Clemente – LF A. Johnson – 1B Berry – RF Latham – 3B J. Ramirez – 2B Wilson – CF Olvera – P F. Garza
POR: 3B Crowe – RF Brady – CF Reece – C Turner – LF Parker – SS Guerin – 2B Caddock – 1B Utting – P Farley

There was much whiffing in the contest, as the Raccoons racked up seven K’s against Garza, and mostly in the most inopportune moments. Randyboy had to bat in his lead himself in the bottom 3rd and then had to watch Jai Utting going first to third and being tagged out. The score was 1-0 for a while until the Raccoons scratched out another run in the sixth. Farley had been flawless through six, but stumbled in the seventh, as the Crusaders loaded the bags with two outs, and then didn’t hit for Garza, who was due to bat. To be fair, Garza connected for a liner to left, but Mike Crowe intercepted it and the score remained 2-0 for the time being. Farley was hit for in the bottom of the inning, The Coons loaded the bags with three singles off Garza, bringing up Reece with no outs, which recently had not been a recipe for instant success. Garza remained in the game, struck out Reece, and Neil broke his bat on the dugout railing as mad as he was. All we got was a Turner sac fly, 3-0, and now the pen had to cobble six outs together. Tamburrino completed half the order, after which Guerin was grazed by Garza to start the bottom 8th. Guerin stole second (bag #20) and scored on Caddock’s single. With that, Wade did not enter the ninth, but we went to Donis with two left-handers to lead off in Berry and Latham. This was asking for trouble, and of course Donis walked Berry. He struck out Latham, as we went to Wade regardless of the amount of trouble to be expected. He did collect the last two outs without much fuss though. 4-0 Coons. Crowe 2-4; Brady 2-4; Turner 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Wedemeyer (PH) 1-1; Farley 7.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 6 K, W (10-5) and 1-2, RBI;

Game 2
NYC: SS Rigg – C Escobedo – LF A. Johnson – 1B T. Mullins – RF Latham – 3B J. Ramirez – CF Diéguez – 2B Wilson – P R. Gonzalez
POR: 3B Crowe – SS Guerin – CF Reece – C Turner – LF Parker – 1B Utting – RF Newton – 2B McLaughlin – P M. Lopez

A new day, a new humiliation for the Raccoons. While Armando Diéguez wore Miguel Lopez out pretty good with a solo jack in the second inning, and a 2-out RBI double in the third, Ramiro Gonzalez also drew him a nose with a leadoff home run in the fourth. The first time the Suckoons got past first base was in the sixth inning. With two out, Reece was on first after an infield single and made a dash on Turner’s fly to deep center. Diéguez couldn’t spoil the party on this one, which fell in for a double and Reece scored, 3-1. Not that it helped Lopez at all. He put two on with one out in the seventh, De La Rosa came in, Gabby’s first pitch to Escobedo was wild, and the Escobedo AB eventually terminated with a TRIPLE to the snail-paced catcher, closing the book on Lopez in the worst possible way. 5-1 Crusaders. Guerin 2-4;

Six hits in the latest shameful display of futility. Unless someone pitches a shutout, we have no chance of winning.

Game 3
NYC: SS Rigg – C Clemente – LF A. Johnson – 1B Berry – RF Latham – 3B J. Ramirez – 2B Wilson – CF Olvera – P Sandoval
POR: 3B Crowe – RF Brady – CF Reece – C Turner – LF Parker – SS Guerin – 1B Wedemeyer – 2B Caddock – P Rivera

Reece and Parker brought in runs for the Coons in the first inning, but this time starting pitching was the main issue. Rivera was totally out of control, walking five batters across the first two innings! That led to a 2-2 tie, and Rivera didn’t get past the fifth inning. He did not allow more runs, though, and even was in line for the win after the bottom 5th, when Crowe doubled home Caddock with two down. De La Rosa collected seven outs from eight batters on just 22 pitches, then handing the 3-2 lead over to Donis, as Johnson, Berry, and Latham loomed. Johnson singled, and Donis made a throwing error on the next play, and back to the mines with the useless sucker. Tamburrino walked Escobedo, who hit for Latham, and this one was bound to blow up, until Tamburrino struck out Ramirez and then got Wilson to ground out. Wade had to labor around a 2-out double by Ed Rigg in the ninth, but got this baby home eventually. 3-2 Coons. Crowe 2-4, 2 2B, RBI; De La Rosa 2.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

Seven hits in total in the entire game, and the Coons actually had one more than the Crusaders. What a rousing success.

In other news

August 13 – SFW LF/RF/1B Hjalmar Flygt (.360, 7 HR, 58 RBI) reaches the 2,500 career hits milestone in a 3-1 loss to the Pacifics. Flygt, 35, from Columbus, OH, was the second pick overall by the Titans in the 1984 amateur draft. An 8-time Batter of the Month and 11-time All Star, he has long been established as a prime player in the ABL. He is the ninth player to reach the milestone, which comes on a first inning single off L.A.’s Antonio Ocampo.
August 15 – CIN OF Robert Harris (.321, 9 HR, 63 RBI) is out for the season with an oblique strain.
August 17 – The Scorpions announce that SP Steve Rogers (16-5, 2.32 ERA) has his POTY season aborted with an oblique strain. With luck, he could be back for the playoffs.
August 19 – The Titans are bound to miss 2B/3B Horace Henry (.266, 12 HR, 61 RBI) for a month with a sore shoulder.
August 21 – LAP SP Jason Turner (13-8, 3.07 ERA) 2-hits the Gold Sox in an 8-0 shutout.

Complaints and stuff

We really gotta get a slugger this winter. We were certainly trying to home grow them, but the guys we have won’t OPS .850 anytime soon, and the minors are looking bleak. Maybe somebody will come up, but we GOTTA GET A SLUGGER. I will otherwise snap completely.

Westheim · 09-24-2014, 04:32 PM

Raccoons (57-67) vs. Loggers (71-53) – August 24-26, 1998

Second best rotation, second best offense in the league. What more do you need to know about the Loggers, who were running after the Titans in the division. The Titans, which we trailed by almost 20 games already. We were also playing a mighty .250 against Milwaukee this year.

Projected matchups:
Kisho Saito (5-10, 3.01 ERA) vs. Martin Garcia (16-7, 2.45 ERA)
Manuel Movonda (9-10, 2.71 ERA) vs. Simon Walton (1-2, 6.45 ERA)
Randy Farley (10-5, 3.09 ERA) vs. Hector Martinez (0-1, 1.13 ERA)

Game 1
MIL: CF Fletcher – SS B. Hernandez – RF C. Ramirez – LF Hiwalani – C L. Ramirez – 3B J. Perez – 1B D. Evans – 2B J. Lopez – P M. Garcia
POR: 3B Crowe – RF Brady – CF Reece – C Turner – LF Parker – SS Guerin – 1B Utting – 2B McLaughlin – P Saito

Kisho had no chance. He knew it, I knew it, everybody knew it. Martin Garcia was on pace for a triple crown, and Saito lacked even the basics of his usual stuff. The Loggers got him for a run in the third, which was two innings earlier than the Raccoons ever managed to get on base. Also in the fifth, the Loggers left the bags full, after leaving two men on in the third. Saito was more or less terrible, struck out none, and allowed a home run to light-hitting Bartolo Hernandez in the seventh. Garcia went eight, struck out eight, and allowed only two hits and made an error that put Guerin on second base – the furthest any Raccoon ventured in the game. 2-0 Loggers.

Turner’s hitting streak ends at 15 games. Neil Reece managed to nab a 2-out single in the ninth off Ricardo Medina to extend a 10-game hitting streak for another day. That was our third and last hit of the day.

You didn’t honestly have money on the Raccoons in this one, did you?

Game 2
MIL: CF Fletcher – SS B. Hernandez – RF C. Ramirez – LF Hiwalani – C L. Ramirez – 3B J. Perez – 1B D. Evans – 2B Sullivan – P Walton
POR: 3B Crowe – RF Brady – CF Reece – C Turner – SS Guerin – LF Utting – 1B Wedemeyer – 2B McLaughlin – P Movonda

Werner Turner’s leadoff jack in the second inning opened the scoring, but any celebrations were certainly premature – by about five minutes. In the top 3rd, the Loggers took the Colombian Beauty apart forcefully, plating four runs, and that was it for the game, since the Raccoons were proven to be unable to hurt a 6+ ERA starter. Movonda couldn’t get out of the fifth inning as he got socked some more, and ended up with 4.1 innings and six earned runs against him. Simon Walton in turn pitched a complete game on four hits, killing Neil Reece’s streak in the process. The highlight from the Coons’ point of view was Kelly Fairchild pitching scoreless long relief. 6-1 Loggers. Turner 2-4, HR, RBI; Fairchild 4.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K;

My assistant says I am pale recently. He scheduled a doctor’s appointment for Thursday, our off day.

Game 3
MIL: CF Fletcher – SS B. Hernandez – RF C. Ramirez – LF Hiwalani – C L. Ramirez – 1B D. Evans – 2B Sullivan – 3B Buchanan – P H. Martinez
POR: RF Brady – SS Guerin – CF Reece – C Turner – LF Parker – 3B Utting – 1B Wedemeyer – 2B Caddock – P Farley

Conceicao Guerin’s speed was utilized to generate offense in this game, manufacturing runs both in the first and third innings, once driven in by Reece and Turner each, as he stole second base both times. Farley singled in another run himself, while he held the Loggers remarkably short early on. Hector Martinez was taken apart in the fifth inning, when Guerin led off with a single, and Reece and Turner followed with another single, and a 2-run double, respectively. Martinez was laden with six runs in four plus, like Movonda the day before. Farley however was flawless. By the eighth, he lost a bit of control, and a light drizzle set in. The drizzle subsided eventually as the Raccoons loaded the bags in the bottom 8th (and left them loaded), and Farley came back for the ninth, where he struck out the obnoxious Hiwalani, and then got easy grounders from Ramirez and Evans. 7-0 Furballs. Guerin 4-5, 2B, RBI; Reece 3-4, BB, RBI; Turner 3-5, 2B, 3 RBI; Farley 9.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 4 K, W (11-5) and 1-4, RBI;

After shutting out the Canadiens on six hits on May 20, Randyboy has now delivered his second career shutout and bested his performance by axing a third of the hits. He is in that ROTY conversation, I tell you. Go Randy! 24 years old, and the sky is the limit for him.

On Thursday, the doctor found out my I am fine, apart from sleeping too little. A bit fat, though. We blamed the chocolate, and eventually the Raccoons. He advised me to bat Brady fifth, and to re-visit the Three Sisters right after the season ended.

Raccoons (58-69) @ Falcons (59-67) – August 28-30, 1998

The Falcons were similar to the Loggers in ranking 3rd in offense, but their pitching didn’t match the pace, ranking 7th in runs conceded. That still didn’t pan out for them for a winning record, but a -8 pythagorean difference was to blame, too. (Coons: -3). We are 5-1 against them this season and have already claimed the season series.

Projected matchups:
Miguel Lopez (8-12, 4.28 ERA) vs. Angel Romero (11-9, 2.63 ERA)
Jose Rivera (11-7, 2.61 ERA) vs. Terry Wilson (12-8, 3.84 ERA)
Kisho Saito (5-11, 2.99 ERA) vs. Carlos Castro (13-10, 3.24 ERA)

All southpaws here, which makes Hector Martinez the only right-hander we faced all week. Let’s hope he won’t be the only one we beat…

Game 1
POR: 3B Crowe – SS Guerin – CF Reece – C Turner – RF Brady – LF Utting – 1B Castillo – 2B McLaughlin – P M. Lopez
CHA: RF A. Lopez – 2B J. Barrón – SS H. Green – 3B M. Hall – CF M. Adams – 1B G. Adams – LF Morton – C J. Rivera – P Romero

A fielding error by Arturo Lopez in the first inning greatly helped the Coons to score two runs early. While two runs weren’t near enough for Miguel Lopez most of the year, he was in control of the game apart from a tight fifth inning, where a key double play started by Guerin’s nifty grab bailed him out of runners on the corners with one out. The score of 2-0 stood, but the weather gradually worsened. It started to rain right after the fifth inning and the game was soon sent into a delay that lasted an hour plus and removed Lopez from the game. Daniel Miller struck out Hubert Green after the delay, taking over a 1-1 count from Lopez, to end the sixth. Tamburrino came out for the seventh and Matt Adams hit a 1-out single. Glenn Adams (the ex-Coon) then grounded to the left side, and Crowe capitally missed that ball, giving the runners two bases. Joe Morton tied the game with a double, 2-2, all runs unearned. The guy who started the error parade in the first, Arturo Lopez, then homered off Donis in the eighth. The Coons entered the ninth trailing 3-2 and facing Holden Gorman, who issued a leadoff walk to Werner Turner. Newton ran for him. While Brady failed to bunt him over, he walked, too, still putting the tying run on second base, and with less outs. And then Utting, Castillo, and McLaughlin popped out in succession. Excuse me. In suckcession. 3-2 Falcons. McLaughlin 3-4, 2 2B; Lopez 5.2 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K;

Bloody…

Game 2
POR: SS Guerin – 2B McLaughlin – CF Reece – 3B Crowe – RF Brady – LF Utting – C Castillo – 1B Caddock – P Rivera
CHA: 3B Combes – 1B Morton – 2B H. Green – CF M. Adams – LF Encarnación – RF Dunphy – SS J. Barrón – C D. Smith – P Wilson

More of less offense. The Suckoons tumbled around to happen into a run in the first inning, and then left Rivera to fight for himself, not reaching second base again until the fifth inning. Rivera lined up zeroes on the board, but got into a close spot in the sixth inning. A Morton singled was followed with a walk to Green with one out, bringing up the left-handers Adams and Encarnación. Rivera reached back and struck both of them out, but this 1-0 score was severely awobble. The Coons would actually rise from the dead once more, sparked by the softest of singles off Neil Reece’s bat in the eighth, just squeezing through between Morton and Green. Crowe and Brady followed with soft liners for singles, the latter driving in Reece, 2-0. Another single by Utting plated another run, and Brady was brought in with a sac fly by Castillo to make the score 4-0. That left it to Rivera to collect another six outs. Scott Wade was standing by to come in at the slightest provocation, not having pitched the whole week. There never was any provocation, as Rivera sat down another six batters. 4-0 Furballs. Reece 2-4; Crowe 2-4, 2B; Brady 2-3, BB, 2 RBI; Rivera 9.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K, W (12-7) and 1-3;

This is the third career shutout for Rivera, and the first since 1996 (but he missed most of last season to injury). It is also his fourth complete game. At 12 wins for a miserable team, he may be undervalued as #5 starter?

Game 3
POR: 3B Crowe – SS Guerin – CF Reece – C Turner – RF Brady – 2B McLaughlin – LF Newton – 1B Wedemeyer – P Saito
CHA: CF Dunphy – 2B J. Barrón – SS H. Green – 3B M. Hall – LF M. Adams – 1B G. Adams – RF Morton – C J. Rivera – P Castro

Castro was dominant, striking out the Raccoons in droves. They still managed to score a run in the second inning on a Newton sac fly, but would even leave gifts unopened, like in the fifth, when Wedemeyer drew a leadoff walk, stole second and made it to third on Jesus Rivera’s errant throw – and was left there. Saito struck out, Crowe struck out, and Guerin popped out. Saito was still untouched at that point, holding on to the flimsy 1-0 lead. Bottom 5th, Brady dropped Glenn Adams’ fly to right to put the former Furball on base. Saito picked him right off, then sent Brady a death glance out there. Don’t you mess with me, kiddo. Bottom 8th. Still 1-0, still Saito in. Joe Morton led off with a single. Rivera laid down a bunt that ran quite deep to third and Crowe made a daredevil play to second – GOT HIM! (If Crowe hadn’t gotten him, *I*’d have gotten HIM…) Dunphy singled with two down, bringing up Juan Barrón. As Barrón lined well over Crowe’s head and extended glove, the ship was sinking. Newton couldn’t cut it off in time, Rivera scored, and Dunphy turned third base. Newton hurled the ball back in, and Dunphy was out at the plate, ending the inning, but gone was the W, as usual. Wade pitched the ninth and the game extended past nine. There, Newton got on to lead off the tenth and stole second. That prompted the Falcons to put Wedemeyer (.198 anyone?) on intentionally. A wild pitch by Bartolo Gomez brought in the first run for the Coons, and Crowe drove in Wedemeyer. Reece and Turner singled, loading the bags with two out, and prompting us to hit for Wade, who had been put into the #5 slot in the expectation of a 18-inning slog to go two or more. Up 3-1 was nice, 5-1 or so would be much nicer. Parker hit for him and fouled out… De La Rosa got the ball, facing Glenn Adams, Morton, and Rivera in the bottom 10th. He walked the first two, prompting his expulsion from the contest by a raging manager, and Daniel Miller came in, as Arturo Lopez, who had homered for the winning run in game 1, replaced Rivera. Both Lopez and Javier Encarnación grounded out as pinch-hitters, but moved up the runners, meaning Christian Dunphy came to bat in a 3-2 game with the tying run on third base. Miller got ahead 0-2, before Dunphy drilled a grounder up the middle – but have no fear, Guerin’s here! Concie made the play, and the Raccoons stumbled away with this one. 3-2 Aneurysmicoons. Turner 2-5; Brady 2-4; Saito 8.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K;

Kisho Saito picking off Glenn Adams is the first time a Raccoons pitcher has managed to pick somebody off all season. It’s okay, boys, it ain’t even September yet.

In other news

August 25 – 40-year old BOS SP Bill Smith (13-7, 3.24 ERA) spins a 6-hit shutout against the Canadiens in a 12-0 rout.
August 26 – SAL INF Roberto Quintero (.330, 8 HR, 56 RBI) has a single in a 3-0 Wolves loss to the Gold Sox, reaching a 20-game hitting streak.
August 27 – DAL INF Rodrigo Morales (.351, 8 HR, 74 RBI) has suffered a knee sprain and will not be able to play again this season. He was third in the FL in batting average behind teammate Diego Rodriguez and Sioux Falls’ Hjalmar Flygt.
August 29 – SFW SP Arnold McCray (9-11, 3.57 ERA) survives a 4-3 shuffle over the Capitals to notch his 200th career victory. McCray, the 14th overall pick in the ’79 draft by the Buffaloes, and the 1986 FL Pitcher of the Year, pitched for Topeka, Vancouver, Oklahoma, Washington, and Sioux Falls in his career, starting 517 games and has a 200-187 record and a 3.39 career ERA. He also has 2,696 strikeouts.
August 29 – VAN 1B Bill Mosley (.329, 26 HR, 86 RBI) breaks a finger sliding into a base and is likely to miss the rest of the season.

Complaints and stuff

Marvin Ingall was given a rehab assignment starting on Sunday after coming off the DL. I’m of course bending the rulebook. I don’t want to send anybody down two days before the roster expansion, and the Coons won’t make the playoffs with Ingall either. So, Ingall will play two games in St. Pete, and then rejoin the team on Tuesday, September 1, together with a few call-ups.

Will the Raccoons call up their young hot iron at AAA, Dan Nordahl, on September 1? Nope. Nordahl made the jump to AAA just over a month ago, and has walked eight in 12.2 innings. That’s a small sample size still, but this boy will not be spoiled prematurely. He will not come up until the second half of next season at the very earliest. I am eyeing for him to be a September call-up next year, possibly. Don’t forget that he’s only 19 and won’t turn 20 until March.

Where are the Raccoons going to be next season? I’m asking because of Movonda. He was stellar this year. If we could extend him, we’d have a valuable asset in the rotation, but it wouldn’t make sense to splurge a million on him if we will play like this next year as well. Which is not an option to be honest, because sooner or later the clubhouse is going to turn into the Oregon Chainsaw Massacre…

A 40-year old Bill Smith tossed a shutout this week. I’ve been hating him for close to 15 years now…

Bad news from the minors: our 1998 top draft pick OF Chris Roberson bruised his elbow this week, and could be out for the season. He was OPS’ing .909 in AA before getting hurt and I had him on the list for a promotion to AAA once rosters would expand for the Raccoons on the coming Tuesday, when we would add a few bats regardless of performance. Most promising: Roberson hit 18 homers in just 244 AB in AA. I am not 100% sure yet, but he might start 1999 in St. Pete anyway.

Westheim · 09-26-2014, 03:02 PM

Raccoons (60-70) @ Aces (53-77) – August 31-September 2, 1998

There was no hope for the Aces to have a decent finish to their season, despite them being not particularly bad in any one area.

Projected matchups:
Manuel Movonda (9-11, 2.94 ERA) vs. Carlos Guillén (2-2, 5.00 ERA)
Randy Farley (11-5, 2.93 ERA) vs. Ruben Prado (0-0)
Miguel Lopez (8-12, 4.12 ERA) vs. Jou Hara (9-12, 4.54 ERA)

The first two Aces starters combined for 73 years of age, but they had missed most of the season to injuries. There was certainly experience there on the mound, but how would they fare against the anemic Raccoons offense?

Game 1
POR: 3B Crowe – SS Guerin – CF Reece – C Turner – RF Brady – 2B McLaughlin – LF Newton – 1B Castillo – P Movonda
LVA: C Manuel – LF Erickson – RF Mashiba – 3B J. Vargas – 2B J. Zamora – 1B Granados – CF R. Green – SS Moreno – P Guillén

Humiliation had many different faces, as the Raccoons got to learn once more in the series opener. While the Coons took a 2-1 lead in the early innings when Ricardo Castillo’s homer counted for two, and Javier Vargas’ only for one run, eventually something had to happen to Movonda, who struck out eight, but ran into ex-Suckoon Sixto Moreno and his 2-run homer in the fifth inning, which flipped the score to 3-2 Aces. Luke Newton tied the contest with a home run of his own, but Movonda walked Mauro Granados in the bottom 7th and was running out of juice. In this world of wonders, Antonio Donis collected two outs without hanging Movonda onto a permanent hook. Clyde Brady drew a 2-out walk with the bases loaded in the top 8th, pushing in the go-ahead run, but De La Rosa blew the game in the bottom 8th, allowing three hits, including two doubles, and two runs in the blink of an eye. The Coons would have the go-ahead runs on base in the ninth, but – as usual – failed. 5-4 Aces. Newton 2-4, HR, RBI; Castillo 2-4, HR, 2 RBI;

Chris Parker came into the game as pinch-hitter, and stayed in left, but not for long, twisting his ankle on a difficult catch. He will be out for a week.

And with that, it’s September 1. Marvin Ingall comes back from his “rehab”, while we also added pitchers Day Grandridge (reluctantly) and Bob Joly, catcher Ron McDonald, infielders Mark Kowalchuk and Samy Michel, and outfielder Jason Kent. This fills the 40-man roster.

Bob Joly is going to make his debut in the rotation on the weekend. He’s a 22-year old right-hander with a changeup and curve, who went 11-7 with a 3.35 ERA in AAA this year. He was the second piece we got from the Warriors in the Gabriel Rodriguez trade. The other was of course Werner Turner.

Game 2
POR: 2B Ingall – RF Brady – CF Reece – C Turner – 3B Crowe – SS Guerin – 1B Wedemeyer – LF Kent – P Farley
LVA: 1B F. Encarnación – C Manuel – RF Mashiba – CF J. Vargas – 3B Moore – 2B Granados – LF R. Green – SS Lammond – P Prado

Neither pitcher made a good impression, as both surrendered four runs in three innings, and the Coons added a fair share of runners left on. The Raccoons also surrendered their centerfielder, as Neil Reece left the game after a tumbling catch, where his head hit the ground. Up 5-4 in the bottom 5th, the bottom fell out of Farley’s barrel for good, as he walked Mashiba and Vargas to start the inning, and then allowed a single to call-up Steve Moore. Tamburrino was thrown into the lion’s den, and two minutes later came back with the heads of Granados (sac fly) and Green (double play). Royce would ground into another double play his next time up, then saving Iván Costa from being eaten by beasts. The Raccoons took the lead with a 2-out RBI bloop single with the bags full, hit by Guerin against Qi-zhen Geng. Daniel Miller held the fort in the eighth, but Wade put the first two men on base in the ninth and succumbed to a 2-out RBI single by that friggin’ Steve Moore eventually. Wade took the loss in the 10th with another two singles allowed. In between, Samy Michel dropped an easy pop up to ensure further humiliation for the Suckoons. 7-6 Aces. Ingall 2-4, BB, 2B; Reece 1-2, 2 RBI; Turner 4-5, BB, RBI; Guerin 3-3, BB, RBI; Tamburrino 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K;

Wade keeps losing games, and blowing leads. That is not exactly to my liking.

But then, who doesn’t fail spectacularly on this team of born losers?

To make things even worse (there’s always a way for things to get so much worse here), Neil Reece was diagnosed with concussion-like syndromes and would be checked further over the next few days, and of course wouldn’t play, listed as DTD.

Game 3
POR: 2B Ingall – SS Guerin – LF Brady – C Turner – 3B Crowe – CF Newton – 1B Michel – RF Villegas – P M. Lopez
LVA: RF Ghiberti – 1B Erickson – 3B J. Vargas – CF R. Green – LF Hartley – C Manuel – 2B Waller – SS Heart – P Hara

The Raccoons scratching out a run in the top of the first inning turned out entirely meaningless once Miguel Lopez took the mound and surrendered four hits to the first four batters, including three doubles. Jou Hara struck them out in droves early in the game (and eight in total), but also issued a few walks, which ended up costing him in the fourth, when Concie hit a game-tying 2-run double. The Raccoons would even take a lead briefly in the sixth, but Iván Costa was instantly drubbed with a Jimmy Erickson leadoff double in the seventh inning, and Erickson was brought in to score. We went to extras again once De La Rosa narrowly avoided walking the Aces around the horns, where Ingall got on, and Guerin came through with a triple to break the 4-4 tie. So, Guerin was on third base with no outs – and wasn’t scored. Turner and Newton popped out, sandwiching Mike Crowe, who whiffed enough to receive a golden sombrero in this game. Scott Wade for a welcome change chose not to nuke the game intentionally and got the Aces in the bottom 10th, 1-2-3. 5-4 Raccoons. Ingall 3-6; Guerin 3-4, 2 BB, 3B, 2B, 2 RBI; Turner 3-5, 2 RBI; Newton 2-5, BB, 2B; Michel 2-5;

Raccoons (61-72) vs. Canadiens (61-71) – September 4-6, 1998

In our inevitable rock-like fall into oblivion and the bottom of the division, the Canadiens and their super-inept pitching staff had just passed us in the standings as we had made a mockery of the game of baseball and nature in general in Las Vegas.

Projected matchups:
Bob Joly (0-0) vs. Jose Marquez (11-13, 4.34 ERA)
Jose Rivera (12-7, 2.46 ERA) vs. John Collins (7-16, 5.04 ERA)
Kisho Saito (5-11, 2.91 ERA) vs. Joe Hollow (1-0, 2.25 ERA)

Game 1
VAN: 3B Sutton – 2B Corona – RF H. Givens – CF Ledesma – 1B Valenzuela – C J. Lopez – LF Moore – SS Duarte – P Marquez
POR: 3B Crowe – SS Guerin – RF Brady – C Turner – LF Utting – 2B McLaughlin – CF Newton – 1B Kowalchuk – P Joly

In the eighth, the Raccoons loaded the bags with an Ingall single and two walks, nobody out, and didn’t score. Fortunately for Bob Joly in his debut, this was not how the whole day went by. The Coons socked Marquez early for three in the first and another run in the second, and Joly was in cruise mode from the start. Apart from a solo job by Jorge Lopez, the Canadiens failed to mount anything against the Joly, and once he left after eight innings, the Raccoons were up 6-1. Kelly Fairchild pitched around a 1-out triple by Henry Givens in the ninth to deliver a scoreless frame. 6-1 Raccoons. Guerin 4-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Brady 2-5, RBI; McLaughlin 2-4, 2 RBI; Kowalchuk 1-2, BB; Ingall (PH) 1-1; Joly 8.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 6 K, W (1-0);

So, after dropping behind the Canadiens on Wednesday, we pulled right past them by half a game. This was also our 200th win against the Elks all time, although they are closing in on dumping us for the 200th time at rapid speed.

Game 2
VAN: 2B B. Butler – 3B Sutton – RF H. Givens – CF Ledesma – 1B Valenzuela – C J. Lopez – LF Moreno – SS Duarte – P J. Collins
POR: 2B Ingall – LF Brady – 1B Michel – C Turner – 3B Crowe – CF Newton – SS Caddock – RF Villegas – P Rivera

Offense was over already in the next game. In addition to that, Rivera was not sharp and was knocked out in the fifth inning, having allowed eight hits and three walks. He was 3-1 behind when replaced by Tamburrino, who got Juan Moreno to ground to Crowe – who dropped the ball. Bases loaded, Tamburrino walked Angelo Duarte before getting the pitcher. At 4-1, the game seemed pretty much over. The Coons had left two on in the fourth, and Crowe left Turner and Brady in scoring position by striking out to end the fifth. Two more were left on in the sixth, and another runner in the seventh. The Canadiens stayed put, too. Then, bottom 8th. Newton doubled to start the inning, and then Caddock and Villegas both hit singles. That brought the Coons within two, with the tying runs on and nobody out. Kowalchuk had entered in a double switch and was up to bat, but gingerly flew out to left. Ingall also flew out, and Brady was retired on a soft liner to Duarte. These Suckoons. The Raccoons even loaded the bags in the ninth inning. And left them loaded, when Villegas grounded out. 4-2 Canadiens. Turner 2-5, 2 2B, RBI; Newton 3-5, 2B; Caddock 2-4; Villegas 2-5, RBI; Utting (PH) 1-1; Grandridge 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K;

Out-hit the Elks 14-8, yet left 16 men on base. Stupid collection of brain-damaged roadkill on this roster, I can tell you.

Neil Reece was cleared to play again on Sunday. But … next it’s Saito, so you know who’ll be fourth once everybody goes to sleep on Sunday.

Game 3
VAN: 3B B. Butler – LF Hudson – RF H. Givens – CF Ledesma – 1B Valenzuela – C J. Lopez – SS Pyatt – 2B Darke – P Hollow
POR: 2B Ingall – SS Guerin – CF Reece – C Turner – 3B Crowe – RF Brady – LF Utting – 1B Michel – P Saito

Saito lost the game in due time, two runs in the second inning on three singles. The Raccoons didn’t even get on base until Ingall hit a bloop leading off the fourth. Ledesma tried to catch it, but missed it completely, giving Ingall a double. Not that the Suckoons ever moved him somewhere else. Bottom 5th, down 2-0, Crowe walked against Hollow to start the inning. Hollow, whose career ERA in limited action was over six, then threw a wild pitch, and the Coons again never moved Crowe somewhere else. While Saito was quietly milling about in the top halves of innings, the Raccoons continued to be an embarrassment to the Willamette Institute for the Limbless and the Blind’s school team. Bottom 7th, Crowe hit a 1-out double, and McLaughlin hit for the useless Utting. He singled to left and we ACTUALLY had a man on third base NO LATER than with eight outs to spare. Michel then hit into a double play. A grounder through McLaughlin and two more singles skinned Saito for good in the eighth, not that it changed anything. Bottom 9th, 3-0 down, Enrico Gonzalez pitching. Turner got on to start it. With one out, Brady singled, moving Turner to third. McLaughlin made the second out, before Caddock hit for Kent and singled, plating Turner. Newton hit for Scott Wade, and also singled, plating Brady. Ingall came up with Caddock on second as the tying run, and Newton on first as the winning run. An Ingall single to take Saito off the hook here, and Ingall – walked, giving responsibility to Guerin, who was 0-4 on the day, but the bench was full of automatic K’s like Wedemeyer. So Guerin batted for the fifth time in the game. And grounded out to Randy Darke. 3-2 Canadiens. Ingall 2-4, BB, 2B; Brady 2-4, 2B; Caddock (PH) 1-1, RBI; Newton (PH) 1-1, RBI; Saito 7.1 IP, 12 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 10 K, L (5-12);

****ing **** team.

In other news

August 31 – Salem’s Roberto Quintero (.329, 8 HR, 60 RBI) extends his hitting streak to 25 games with a late single in a 5-4 win over the Capitals.
September 3 – WAS C Alejandro Moreno (.274, 3 HR, 54 RBI) is out for the year with a broken elbow, and could well miss time beyond Opening Day in 1999.
August 5 – Roberto Quintero is getting up there. Batting .332, with 8 HR and 62 RBI, the 25-year old Wolf collects an RBI single in a 7-4 loss to the Scorpions, extending his hitting streak to 30 games.

Complaints and stuff

Saito by now wishes he never signed that new contract. Saito, last five games: 35.1 IP, 38 H, 11 R, 11 ER, 6 BB, 24 K, for a 2.80 ERA and 1.25 WHIP. Doesn’t sound bad, right? Yeah, but nine runs of support and a 0-3 record do. Last 14 games: 101.2 IP, 100 H, 41 R, 37 ER, 20 BB, 65 K, for a 3.27 ERA and 1.18 WHIP … with a 2-6 record. He is STILL FROZEN IN PLACE with 231 wins! GODDAMN SUCKER BUNCH!!!!

Can anybody actually feel my pain with my favorite pitcher on the team being tortured like that??

(breathes into a paper bag for a minute)

I won’t lie to you, it is no fun at this point. They suck too badly. Being poo is one thing. Being THIS poo is … poo.

The only category our batters are not in the bottom half for the CL, are stolen bases(!!!), and that is not exactly a *batting* skill. If you remember, a few years back we were top 5 or so in everything BUT stolen bases. They are 6th in pilfered plates, 7th in homers, 8th in K’s, 9th in hits, and in the bottom 2 in every other category.

And Saito has been here for so long, I WANT HIM TO GET THAT 250TH WIN!! However, it seems like even with two more years, he will never get there. He will end up losing 200 though. Only 22 left to go THERE.

And … as we slowly head for the good news section … most ironically, Conceicao Guerin, who left Saito impaled on the stick the Elks were holding to roast him over the fire, was named CL Batter of the Week, batting .500 (11-22) with 4 RBI.

Yeah, c’mon, more of those sick jokes!

That was quite a debut for young Joly. We are still looking for an idea of composing our rotation next year. Should I make an offer to Movonda? He will probably look for a retirement deal. It seems like Rivera can hold his own on the major league level and Randyboy had a magnificent rookie season. Kisho is signed, too, as is Miguel Lopez. So there is really only one opening for next year. Will it be the Colombian Beauty’s?

Does it really matter? Let’s face it. 3.6 R/G ain’t gonna cut it. At the speed this team is going at, we will quabble with the atrociously bad Indians for last place sooner rather than later. Still four weeks left, y’know? We need offense first.

The Aces’ Javier Vargas, who primarily mans the corner infield spots, has no contract past this season. He will be 29 next year, and has batted for an .840 OPS each of the last four seasons. Needless to say whom between Crowe and Wedemeyer he’d replace. I am having my eye on him. We will have plenty of flush to add at least one high caliber free agent (most likely one, two won’t fit the budget, which might not get much bigger, rather smaller). Of course this calculation assumes Movonda does not re-sign.

So it’s offense or Movonda.

I know what Kisho’d be pickin’.

Westheim · 09-27-2014, 06:35 PM

Raccoons (62-74) @ Indians (53-84) – September 8-10, 1998

The Indians were gracing the bottom of the CL North with a -98 run differential and an inherent inability to keep the opposing team’s line on the box score empty. Their rotation was struggling badly, and they had given up 653 runs overall, approaching five runs per game. Well, they will play the Raccoons now, and should not exceed 660 runs conceded in this series. Still, we are owning them 9-3 this season.

Projected matchups:
Manuel Movonda (9-11, 2.99 ERA) vs. Chang-se Park (1-3, 4.09 ERA)
Randy Farley (11-5, 3.02 ERA) vs. Dan George (8-14, 3.98 ERA)
Miguel Lopez (8-12, 4.13 ERA) vs. Manuel Alba (7-14, 4.65 ERA)

Game 1
POR: 2B Ingall – LF Brady – CF Reece – C Turner – 3B Crowe – SS Guerin – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Villegas – P Movonda
IND: SS J. Martinez – C Cicalina – 3B M. Brown – 1B D. Lopez – RF A. Roldán – CF J. Thompson – LF Paredes – 2B Chevalier – P Park

Through six innings, the Colombian Beauty had a no-hitter going. Once the curtain came down on the seventh, Tamburrino was pitching. Movonda hadn’t been efficient with the pitches all game long, throwing a lot of balls from the start. The Indians still failed to get a bat on him, but it was never a bid, as he was over 80 pitches through six innings already. In the bottom 7th, David Lopez defeated him with a single to left, and Movonda walked a pair to fill the bags. Tamburrino dug him out by getting Jamal Chevalier to pop out. The good news for Movonda was that while Reece and Turner couldn’t get a hit with runners on third base in the game, Mike Crowe could, and delivered two 2-out RBI singles early. Park also plated a run with a wild pitch, and while Neil Reece was bad with men on base, he hit a leadoff jack in the fifth to make it 4-0. Tamburrino also pitched the eighth, and Miller had a perfect ninth as the Indians were held to Lopez’ single and five walks. 4-0 Furballs. Crowe 2-4, 2 RBI; Movonda 6.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 4 K, W (10-11); Tamburrino 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K;

Movonda at age 34 is impressive. How would Movonda at age 35 be?

Game 2
POR: 2B Ingall – SS Guerin – CF Reece – 3B Crowe – RF Brady – C Castillo – LF Newton – 1B McLaughlin – P Farley
IND: LF G. Flores – C Cicalina – 3B M. Brown – RF A. Roldán – CF J. Thompson – SS J. Martinez – 1B Whaley – 2B Chevalier – P George

Offense came straight outta Ingallland in the middle game, with Ingall doubling home McLaughlin, who had been hit by the pitch from Dan George to lead off the top 3rd, and then homering for a pair in the fifth. Through five, the Indians looked just as lost against Farley as they had against Movonda the day before, amounting to two meek hits. George loaded the bags with no outs in the top 6th, bringing up McLaughlin. And he actually hit him again! That forced home a painful run credited to McLaughlin, but he told the first base coach right away that he’d prefer to get on base with a hit once in a while (not that I wouldn’t either). When Ingall drew a 1-out walk to make it 5-0, that was the end for George, but we still had a chance to put the rout on, but Steve Galloway efficiently held the Coons to a Guerin sac fly, 6-0. Galloway would pitch for a while, and the Raccoons didn’t look good against him, but Farley’s cushion was sizeable already, and Farley was still dealing. While he labored through a 25-pitch seventh (facing only four batters), he didn’t look like he was losing it anytime soon. Into the ninth, he struck out Cicalina, then faced the toughest opponent in Matt Brown, but got him to ground out, as he got Roldán. 6-0 Raccoons. Ingall 2-4, BB, HR, 2B, 4 RBI; Reece 3-5, 3B; Castillo 3-5; Farley 9.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K, W (12-5);

Randy Farley continues to build his resume for becoming ROTY in the Continental League. This was his third shutout of the year (and of his career of course).

Game 3
POR: 2B Ingall – SS Caddock – CF Reece – C Turner – RF Brady – 3B Crowe – LF Parker – 1B Wedemeyer – P M. Lopez
IND: LF G. Flores – 2B M. Carter – C Cicalina – 1B D. Lopez – CF J. Thompson – RF Spinelli – SS J. Martinez – 3B Whaley – P Alba

As the Raccoons’ run allotment for a single series had been used up in the first two games of the series, offense died down. Miguel Lopez was pretty wild and issued a few walks early on, but the game remained scoreless with the Indians twice leaving two men on, including both times a runner on third base. A 2-out RBI double by Ingall then put something on the scoreboard in the fifth, but David Lopez, who had already been the spoiler in Movonda’s game on Tuesday, took Miguel Lopez deep in the bottom 5th, putting the Indians 2-1 ahead. Top 6th, a Turner double, Brady walk, and Crowe singled loaded the bags for Chris Parker with one out. Parker flew out to medium depth right, and Turner didn’t even try to test Eneas Spinelli’s arm. Wedemeyer struck out. Yep, that’s my team. Miguel Lopez was hit for in the seventh, but the Raccoons couldn’t mount anything. Bottom 8th, Fairchild put two men on when the Indians brought Matt Brown to hit for Spinelli. Donis was broken out to face the left-handed slugger, and in the blink of an eye three runs were on the board. The Indians got another run off Day Grandridge before this one finally was over. 6-1 Indians. Ingall 2-4, BB, 2B, RBI;

Stephen Buell came off the DL for the third time this year in what amounted to a lost and rotten season. He was assigned to AAA for rehab to get that hamstring warmed up over the weekend.

Raccoons (64-75) @ Titans (84-57) – September 11-13, 1998

Do I really have to go into detail about how good the Titans are, especially in comparison to the fails on this team? I am stunned that they are only 8-7 against the Brownshirts this season!

Projected matchups:
Bob Joly (1-0, 1.13 ERA) vs. Jason O’Halloran (14-10, 3.55 ERA)
Jose Rivera (12-8, 2.56 ERA) vs. Jesus Bautista (12-12, 3.96 ERA)
Kisho Saito (5-12, 2.94 ERA) vs. Henry Selph (12-6, 3.59 ERA)

Game 1
POR: 2B Ingall – SS Guerin – CF Reece – 3B Crowe – RF Brady – 1B Michel – LF Newton – C McDonald – P Joly
BOS: SS D. Silva – 3B Nakayama – RF Thomas – LF Reid – CF Alonso – C J. Silva – 1B Baldivía – 2B Elliott – P O’Halloran

Marvin Ingall took O’Halloran deep to start the game, and while Samy Michel left two men on base in the first inning, he connected in the same situation in the third, and drove in the second run of the game. Concie delivered another defensive piece of amazement then in the fourth. Haruki Nakayama had walked to start the inning, but got forced out on second base by Josh Thomas. Dave Reid lined hard to the left side, but right to Guerin, while Thomas had been in motion and could scramble all he wanted, but Guerin doubled him up off first. Most of the time however, Bob Joly didn’t need much help. The Titans didn’t have much to counter him, and their high water mark was having two men on with two out in the sixth. By then, Clyde Brady had tripled in another run to make it 3-0. In the ninth, the Coons had the bags full with two outs when Bill Corkum, the Titan’s closer, was brought in to quell the threat against Samy Michel. Steve Caddock was brought out for a proper left-handed bat, and after a low ball turned into Corkum’s second pitch. High to right, high, deep, deeper, GRAAAAAAAND SLAAAAAAAAMMM!!!! With a 7-0 lead, Joly returned for the ninth inning, which started with Nakayama. He rolled out, as did Thomas, and pinch-hitter Vicente Elizondo didn’t even make contact. 7-0 Raccoons!! Guerin 2-4, BB; Crowe 3-5; Brady 2-4, BB, 3B, RBI; Caddock (PH) 1-1, HR, 4 RBI; Joly 9.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 6 K, W (2-0) and 1-3, BB, 2B;

Holy Joly!! Two career starts and already a shutout! This can’t possibly go on, right!?

Game 2
POR: 2B Ingall – 1B Caddock – CF Reece – C Turner – RF Brady – 3B Crowe – SS Guerin – LF Parker – P Rivera
BOS: SS D. Silva – 3B Nakayama – RF Thomas – 1B G. Douglas – CF Alonso – C J. Silva – LF Elizondo – 2B Elliott – P Bautista

After doubles by Ingall and Turner got the Raccoons up 1-0 in the first, Rivera walked three of the first four batters he faced, loading the bags in the bottom 1st. Somehow, he got Luis Alonso to ground back to his feet to get the out at home, and got out of the frame unscathed. Both teams got a run in the second, and in the fourth, both teams got RBI triples, then failed to plate the runner that had just tripled. For the Coons, that was Chris Parker, and for the Titans the always annoying Daniel Silva. Rivera made it through six despite not generally hitting the strike zone, with the 3-2 lead still alive. De La Rosa and Tamburrino both put up scoreless innings, but the Raccoons failed to tack on to their lead, and thus Wade had no cushion in the ninth. While the Titans’ Elizondo, Reid, and German Roldán would hit the ball hard each time, they all hit it more or less right to some outfielder in brown. 3-2 Coons. Ingall 2-4, BB, 2B; Crowe 3-4, 2 2B; Parker 2-4, 3B, 2 RBI;

Next, Saito. So you know what’s coming. And this team could never sweep the Titans anyway. And our current run differential is now -1. This is begging for a drubbing.

Game 3
POR: 2B Ingall – RF Brady – CF Reece – C Turner – 3B Crowe – LF Parker – SS Guerin – 1B Wedemeyer – P Saito
BOS: C J. Silva – 3B Nakayama – SS D. Silva – 1B G. Douglas – RF Reid – CF Sosa – LF Thomas – 2B G. Roldán – P Selph

The Raccoons didn’t score first this time, and the Titans scored early, and they scored often. Glenn Douglas doubled in a run in the first inning, and a Werner Turner throwing error led to two unearned runs in the second inning, and Saito was assured his loss right there. After a dominant Henry Selph struck out the side in the fourth inning, then facing one over the minimum, Crowe fell 0-2 behind to start the fifth, then singled. Parker came up and hit an RBI triple for back-to-back days. Finally on the board, now get Parker home! Guerin grounded out to his counterpart Daniel Silva, but that got Parker home and shortened the gap to 3-2. Unfortunately, the Titans put the two runs right back onto the board with a 2-out, 2-run double by German Roldán, and Saito’s day was done. Could he be saved? In the seventh, the Raccoons had Guerin on first base with two out and Wedemeyer up, which made for an unpromising outlook. Wedemeyer flew to right, where Dave Reid caught and then dropped the egg for a 2-base error. Caddock then hit for Kelly Fairchild and sent a howling double into the gap in right center, plating both runners, 5-4 Titans. An Ingall single would have scored Caddock, but Ingall grounded out to second harmlessly. Of course, the next panic was not far away, as Iván Costa came in for the bottom 7th, and in no time the bases were loaded with no outs via two walks and a Crowe error. The house was on fire and was about to crash onto Saito who was trapped inside. The Titans broke out the bats with spikes and screws in them and battered Tamburrino and De La Rosa for five runs. 11-4 Titans. Crowe 1-2, 2 BB; Caddock (PH) 1-1, 2B, 2 RBI;

Of course it was a Saito start. I am by now accounting for them as automatic losses well in advance. Like, next Saturday, Saito will take a 3-2 loss at the hands of the Knights to drop to 5-14, followed by a loss to the Loggers on the following Saturday, 2-0, to get his record to 5-15.

I hate this ****ing **** team for doing that to him.

In other news

September 8 – SAC OF Joey Humphrey (.316, 5 HR, 63 RBI) keeps struggling with injuries. A strained rib cage may cost him the remainder of the regular season. The Scorpions still lead the FL West by 11 games.
September 10 – SAC SP David Castillo (16-9, 4.10 ERA) tosses a 3-hitter as the Scorpions bowl over the Gold Sox, 10-0.
September 12 – After not playing for two days, Salem’s Roberto Quintero (.335, 8 HR, 65 RBI) ups his hitting streak to 33 games with a late single in a 4-1 loss to the Stars.
September 13 – The Crusaders trade C Antonio Escobedo (.234, 5 HR, 26 RBI) to the Blue Sox, receiving 2B/SS Jeffrey Nielsen (.283, 4 HR, 60 RBI) in return.

Complaints and stuff

Randy Farley could well be David Brewer’s lasting legacy. While the two outfielders we also got in the deal (Parker and Brady) continue to be so-so, and neither can be assured of being a starter next year (however Brady more so than Parker), Farley has been nothing of amazing in his rookie year. Gosh, I hope he wins it, and not some inbred, brainless, 7’, 300lbs first baseman from Santa Banana…

Quick! Name all former Raccoon ROTY’s! The list is short: Vern Kinnear. That’s the list.

However, FOUR Continental League Rookies of the Year, eventually ended up in Portland: 1982 VAN Kisho Saito, 1984 LVA Mark Allen, 1985 IND Robert Vázquez, and 1987 OCT Scott Strong. No Federal League ROTY’s made it ever into Portland, though.

As we are on an awards rundown, only one Coon was ever the CL Pitcher of the Year, Kinji Kan in 1983. Two Coons combined for three Hitter of the Year awards: Tetsu Osanai (1986, 1988) and David Brewer (1995). And now we’re back at how I have come to love the Brewer-Farley trade.

For completion’s sake, the Gold Glove haul of 21 seasons:
4 – Mark Dawson (3B 1986-88, 1990)
3 – Vern Kinnear (LF 1994, 1996-97)
3 – Jorge Salazar (SS 1990-92)
3 – Ben Simon (2B 1978, SS 1979-80)
2 – Wyatt Johnston (1B 1977-78)
1 – Cameron Green (3B 1981)
1 – Daniel Hall (LF 1987)
1 – Ben O’Morrissey (3B 1991)
1 – Christopher Powell (P 1978)
1 – Neil Reece (CF 1997)
So, 20 gloves, all over the place, except for catcher and right field. By the way, Dave Browne, that beast, won the second base GG a whopping TEN times in his career. Every year from 1983 to 1994, except for 1990 (Eddy Bailey) and 1987 – when Jorge Salazar won his FIRST glove, and the only one he didn’t win at short.

Westheim · 10-01-2014, 04:33 PM

Raccoons (66-76) @ Canadiens (66-76) – September 14-17, 1998

The Canadiens have already taken the season series against us, humiliating us to a heartache-inducing 10-4 record so far this year. What could possibly be more frightening and annoying than playing four more in Elkland?

Projected matchups:
Manuel Movonda (10-11, 2.88 ERA) vs. Jose Marquez (11-15, 4.65 ERA)
Randy Farley (12-5, 2.87 ERA) vs. John Collins (8-17, 5.02 ERA)
Miguel Lopez (8-13, 4.09 ERA) vs. Joe Hollow (3-0, 0.86 ERA)
Bob Joly (2-0, 0.53 ERA) vs. Jose Dominguez (13-7, 4.52 ERA)

John Collins vs. the Raccoons this year? It ain’t pretty. For us. Four starts, 2-2, 1.53 ERA. That’s your Raccoons offense for you.

Game 1
POR: 2B Ingall – SS Guerin – CF Reece – C Turner – 3B Crowe – 1B Michel – RF Newton – LF Kowalchuk – P Movonda
VAN: 2B B. Butler – 3B Sutton – RF H. Givens – CF Ledesma – 1B Valenzuela – C J. Lopez – LF Moreno – SS Duarte – P Marquez

Two walks and a wild pitch by an unhealthily wild Jose Marquez in the first inning did nothing to aid the Coons in scoring. By contrast, Bob Butler hit a leadoff jack off Movonda, and the Elks seemed to be in business. It would not be Movonda’s game. While Michel tied the game with a home run in the second inning, Movonda eventually gave up a 2-out RBI single to the opposing pitcher in the fifth, and left after six with over 110 pitches on the clock and down 2-1. Marvin Ingall kindly took him off the hook with a leadoff homer in the eighth inning, though. With plenty of left-handed batters up in the bottom 8th, we went to the useless piece of ****, who blew the game out of the water in no time, facing five batters and allowing a hit and three walks. Daniel Miller struck out Jose Valenzuela, but was then also defeated and all of Donis’ runs scored. 6-2 Canadiens. Parker (PH) 1-1; Michel 2-4, HR, RBI;

Game 2
POR: 2B Ingall – RF Brady – CF Reece – C Turner – LF Parker – SS Caddock – 3B Utting – 1B Wedemeyer – P Farley
VAN: 2B B. Butler – LF J. Durán – RF H. Givens – 1B Valenzuela – C J. Lopez – 3B Sutton – CF Moreno – SS Duarte – P J. Collins

The perfect humiliation for the Suckoons was facing John Collins again, and remaining hitless through five innings against a pitcher that allowed 233 hits in 191.2 innings this season. Collins also gave the Canadiens the lead, because why not, with an RBI groundout, down 1-2 to Farley, in the second inning. Farley was terrible, with awful control, and walked batters left and right. Collins’ no-hit bid wasn’t broken up until the sixth when Clyde Brady homered off him to tie the game. Bottom 7th, Angelo Duarte led off with a single to left. Farley accepted Collins’ bunt and took it to first, then left for Tamburrino, who got Butler, and then drilled Jorge Durán. Then he walked Givens. Suddenly the bags were abuzz, and the Canadiens threatened to storm away again, but Tamburrino struck out Valenzuela and the 1-1 tie remained tied firmly. Partly responsible were the Suckoons, who whiffed eight times against Collins, and didn’t remove him until the eighth. With two out, Turner singled, and Parker hit a double to right. Everybody but Turner would have scored, but we had a pair in scoring position with two down. Lefty Jesus Morales replaced Collins, which prompted us to hit for Caddock with McLaughlin, who lined to the left, where Angelo Duarte made a leaping grab. Inning over. The Canadiens in the bottom 8th ended up with Jorge Lopez on third base with NO outs, and Kelly Fairchild somehow wiggled out of that. Then in the ninth, offense came from the unlikeliest of sources: Paul Kirkland was taken deep with one out – by Wedemeyer. Scott Wade retired the side in the bottom ninth. 2-1 Coons. Parker 2-3, BB, 2B; Wedemeyer 2-4, HR, RBI;

We recalled Stephen Buell from rehab in St. Pete to spend the last two and a half weeks of the season with his brothers in fail. If health permits of course. Maybe he will break a hair in his first game back and goes straight back to the DL. We are experienced with frail leftfielders (Dan the Man), but Buell’s season was just an endless sea of pain…

Game 3
POR: 2B Ingall – SS Guerin – CF Reece – C Turner – LF Buell – 3B Crowe – RF Brady – 1B Michel – P M. Lopez
VAN: 3B B. Butler – LF Hudson – CF Ledesma – 1B Valenzuela – C J. Lopez – RF Moreno – SS Pyatt – 2B Weston – P Hollow

After allowing two runs in the first inning, Joe Hollow really got some pressure in the third. After Reece reached on an error by Bob Butler, Turner singled, and Buell was plunked. Mike Crowe worked a walk to force home Reece, 3-0, and there were still no outs in the inning. Brady singled, scoring Turner, 4-0, and then – fín. Michel struck out, Lopez popped out, and Ingall lined out to Hudson. While the Raccoons assumed four were enough and went to sleep, Miguel Lopez still had a job to do. He did not allow a hit through three innings, and while the Canadiens got a few knocks off him after that, they never to past second base. In the top 8th, we again had the bags full then, and again with no outs, again including an error. Ingall’s sac fly ended Hollow’s day, Jackie Lagarde came in and ended the Coons’ unambitious offensive ambitions. Lopez instantly ran into a Randy Darke infield single, followed by a homer by Bob Butler that cut the lead back to 5-2. Lopez didn’t finish the inning, which fell to Kelly Fairchild. Scott Wade came out in the ninth and again allowed no runners, ending the game with three grounders to Ingall. 5-2 Coons. Turner 3-5, RBI; Brady 2-4, BB, RBI; Michel 2-3, BB; Lopez 7.2 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, W (9-13);

This win ensures we won’t tie the all time worst mark of 5-13 against the Elks this season. It also opens the window to collect our 1,800th overall regular season win still here in Vancouver. That’d be somethin’!

Game 4
POR: SS Guerin – RF Brady – CF Reece – LF Parker – 3B Crowe – 2B Caddock – C Castillo – 1B Wedemeyer – P Joly
VAN: 3B Sutton – 2B Corona – RF H. Givens – CF Ledesma – 1B Valenzuela – C J. Lopez – LF Moreno – SS Duarte – P Dominguez

Joly surrendered a run in the first inning, then came to bat in the second with the bags full and no outs. He grounded to left, where somehow Angelo Duarte managed to miss the ball and Joly tied the game with an RBI single. Guerin’s double play grounder plated a run, but also killed the inning. But the Elks had Joly’s number and turned the score back in their favor in the third, 3-2, yet the game was tied with another Wedemeyer home run in the fourth inning, 3-3. Joly left after six, not getting a decision when Brady struck out with Guerin on second base, ending the top 7th. The game was still tied in the bottom 8th, when I made the cardinal mistake of letting Donis pitch in a remotely close game. He walked Givens, which led to his exit, while Miller saved the situation with K’s to PH Bob Butler and Jose Valenzuela. Newton ran for Castillo when the latter singled to lead off the top 9th, but was thrown out stealing. The game went to extra innings, but the Coons continued to fail, even when donated two walks in the top 10th by Enrico Gonzalez. Crowe, who ended up a dreadful 0-5 again on the day, and Caddock leaving the runners on. Costa then lost it on Henry Given’s walkoff double in the bottom of the inning. 4-3 Canadiens. Reece 2-4, BB, 2B; Castillo 2-4; Wedemeyer 2-4, HR, RBI;

Raccoons (68-78) vs. Knights (65-81) – September 18-20, 1998

The Knights have yet to lose a game against the Raccoons this season, despite a struggling pitching staff, and the third-most runs surrendered in the Continental League.

Projected matchups:
Jose Rivera (13-8, 2.58 ERA) vs. Tynan Howard (7-14, 3.84 ERA)
Kisho Saito (5-13, 3.01 ERA) vs. Daniel Perez (13-11, 3.66 ERA)
Manuel Movonda (10-11, 2.89 ERA) vs. Carlos Asquabal (5-3, 4.33 ERA)

Game 1
ATL: CF Árias – 3B Morales – 2B Palácios – LF Kinnear – 1B J. Jackson – C J. Johnson – RF M. Smith – SS Tanaka – P Howard
POR: 2B Ingall – RF Brady – 3B Crowe – C Turner – LF Buell – SS Guerin – 1B Wedemeyer – CF Newton – P Rivera

The Knights left the bags full in a wild first inning, which also saw Jose Rivera hit Vern Kinnear in the ribs. Fans weren’t sure whether to cheer, or boo, or cry, or just continue feasting those fat curly fries. Both teams displayed incredible offensive ineptitude in the game, amassing three hits apiece through seven innings, which was even more horrible for the Knights, who faced a pitcher who was just barely hitting the vicinity of the strike zone. Rivera finally faced annihilation in the eighth with a leadoff walk to Morales. Manuel Gomez ran for him, and Rivera’s pickoff went past Wedemeyer, moving Gomez to second. While Palacios made an out, I opted for the left-hander to face Kinnear, so it was Donis time. The Knights didn’t bite and sent Tadanobu Sakaguchi, who grounded out, but moved Gomez to third. Tamburrino then came in to strike out Joe Jackson and end the frame. The game remained scoreless as Tamburrino pitched the ninth. Nesto Martinez came in to pitch the bottom 9th for the Knights, and he had already ten losses on him on the year. Make it eleven, boys. Nope, wasn’t gonna happen. Bottom 11th. Ingall led off against Yosuke Memoto and grounded in front of the plate. Neither Memoto nor catcher Edgardo Ramos managed to make a good play and Ingall beat it out for an INGALL SINGLE. Brady came up and in our desperation we called a bunt. Brady laid one down, Joe Jackson – now at third – came in and zinged it to first, where Palácios stretched after it, but in vain. Two men on through no achievement of our own! Caddock hit for Crowe to counter Memoto, but grounded out, yet the winning run was on third for Turner with one out. Turner was walked, though, bringing up De La Rosa in the #5 slot, and Neil Reece hit for him. Reece had a rough month, not hitting a lot, whiffing steadily, but his eye was still decent. Memoto tried not to pitch in the zone too much – and didn’t hit it at all. Reece drew four straight balls, and the fans were glad it was over. 1-0 Raccoons. Ingall 2-5, 2B; Reece (PH) 0-0, BB, RBI; Rivera 7.1 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 5 BB, 2 K; Tamburrino 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K; De La Rosa 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K, W (4-4);

Sometimes, a bases loaded walk ain’t that shabby. Sometimes, it gives you a milestone win. Like the franchise’s 1,800th here. And we’re now 1-6 against Atlanta on the year. Woot!! Progress!!

While this was a cringeworthy outing from Jose Rivera in general, walking five, and plunking two, he didn’t allow a run and now ties SFB Jorge Chapa for the CL ERA title!

Game 2
ATL: CF Rogers – 3B Morales – LF W. Taylor – 1B J. Jackson – RF Sakaguchi – 2B Chapman – C E. Ramos – SS M. Gomez – P D. Perez
POR: 2B Ingall – RF Brady – CF Reece – C Turner – LF Buell – 1B Wedemeyer – SS Guerin – 3B Caddock – P Saito

Saito was not very good. The Knights got a few hard fly balls off him – yet all managed to find some outfielder to catch them, while the soft and meek balls all fell in somewhere. He walked the edge of the volcano early on, as the Knights left men aboard in the first two frames, and Joe Jackson grounded out to Guerin with two men in scoring position in the third. Guerin had also hit a sac fly in the bottom 2nd to give the Brownshirts a 1-0 lead. Manuel Gomez finally got to Saito in the fourth with a 2-run double. And that was his 14th loss of the year. A Will Taylor home run made it 3-1 in the fifth, and Saito was finally chased with three straight singles to start the sixth. The Suckoons stood and watched. Some picked their nose. That was all the action. Daniel Perez pitched a complete game in a blowout once the brown bullpen was soiled in the seventh. 9-2 Knights. Buell 2-3; Wedemeyer 2-4, 2 2B, RBI; Grandridge 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K;

I cried some. Saito very calmly called someone in Japan that night. Nobody understood a lick of course.

Game 3
ATL: CF Árias – C J. Johnson – 2B Palácios – LF Kinnear – 1B J. Jackson – 3B M. Gomez – RF Rogers – SS Tanaka – P Asquabal
POR: 2B Ingall – SS Guerin – CF Reece – C Turner – LF Buell – 3B Crowe – RF Brady – 1B Utting – P Movonda

Doubles by Guerin and Turner gave Movonda a 1-0 lead in the first inning. That’s it, Colombian Beauty, now roll with it, they said. Movonda 1-hit the Knights through five, but a leadoff double by Peter Rogers in the sixth spelled out the signs of impending doom. The park promptly collapsed over Movonda, not spectacularly, but sure enough, with a 2-out RBI single by Jesus Árias that dropped just a few feet in front of Buell. Bottom 8th, Guerin led off with a single off Memoto. A run-and-hit was called on the first pitch of Reece’s AB. Reece sliced over Memoto’s offering, but Guerin was barely safe because Johnson had to double clutch and didn’t get a quick throw off. Reece was then walked intentionally and forced out on Turner’s grounder. Runners on the corners, one out, perfect double play scenario, so it was the more stunning that Buell lined PAST Sosa Tanaka and the Coons took the lead. The Raccoons failed to tack on, but lost Buell on Chris Parker’s PH grounder to second when he became entangled with Tanaka and limped off. Scott Wade appeared and surrendered the first two Knights in the ninth, before Kinnear doubled to right. Jackson came up and grounded sharply to second – but Ingall made the play to first. 2-1 Raccoons. Guerin 2-3, BB, 2B; Buell 2-4, RBI; Movonda 8.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 6 K, W (11-11);

Guess what. Stephen Buell has torn ankle ligaments and will make a FOURTH trip to the DL, and this time for good.

Speechless and stunned, that’s what I am.

In other news

September 14 – The Scorpions beat the Wolves, 3-1, but SAL Roberto Quintero (.334, 8 HR, 65 RBI) keeps comin’ through, extending his hitting streak to 35 games. He now has tied hitting streaks by Manuel Doval (1988-89) and Clement Clark (1992) for fourth place overall, but is still 12 games behind Claudio Rojas’ mark of 47 games from 1983.
September 15 – SAL Roberto Quintero takes sole position of fourth place in hitting streaks with two singles in a 7-4 loss to the Scorpions.
September 15 – CHA OF Matt Adams (.324, 15 HR, 66 RBI) is out for the year with a fractured finger.
September 16 – Rookie SAC SP Julio Morín (2-2, 2.85 ERA) tosses a 2-hit shutout against the Wolves, 3-0 for the Scorpions. Among the fatalities is Roberto Quintero’s hitting streak, which ends at 36 games.
September 19 – Season over for LAP 1B Marty Battle (.309, 15 HR, 79 RBI) after suffering a fractured rib.

Complaints and stuff

7 games, 17 runs. Do the math yourself. If I were allowed to only strangle ONE sucker on the roster every day, I wouldn’t get done until season’s end.

Trebro · 10-01-2014, 05:31 PM

Not to worry you further, because I am aware you'd like to keep what hair you have left after running this team, but it looks like Saito might be losing his touch? His ERA and WHIP have really taken a dive, have they not?

Westheim · 10-01-2014, 06:07 PM

His second half was worse than his first half, true. But he's better than the last two years, overall. So, the K's are going down, that is true, but he's not bound to blow up completely anytime soon. I am not worried.

Yet.

Westheim · 10-03-2014, 04:24 PM

A few things to remember before we get going. The suckers will not score a lick, they will not score a lick, and they will make sure not to score a lick to make Saito lose specifically. No need to get aggravated. No need to get aggravated. We all know what’s gonna happen.

Raccoons (70-79) vs. Thunder (85-64) – September 21-23, 1998

The Thunder were in the midst of a 3-team race for the CL South. The Raccoons were in a race to be first to book flights for a nice October vacation in the Caribbean. This series matched up the two teams with the least runs conceded in the Continental League. We are actually first in that. Not that it has helped us any.

Projected matchups:
Randy Farley (12-5, 2.82 ERA) vs. Aaron Anderson (16-9, 2.59 ERA)
Miguel Lopez (9-13, 4.01 ERA) vs. Vaughn Higgins (0-1, 8.31 ERA)
Bob Joly (2-0, 1.57 ERA) vs. Lou Corbett (15-8, 2.98 ERA)

Game 1
OCT: 2B Browne – CF J.J. Villa – 3B S. Reece – SS Grant – 1B Higashi – C Briggs – RF C. Clark – LF Bonneau – P Anderson
POR: 2B Ingall – LF Brady – CF N. Reece – 3B Crowe – 1B Wedemeyer – SS Guerin – RF Villegas – C McDonald – P Farley

Randy Farley’s ROTY ambitions dissipated in the fourth inning. After both starters had allowed two runs in the first inning, Farley, who was wholly unable to strike out anybody, failed to remove any batters with two strikes, and ended up putting the first four Thunder in the fourth inning on base, including two walks. Then he faced Aaron Anderson, who became the spoiler of his season, doubling through Wedemeyer on a 1-2 pitch. That ramped the score to 6-2, with two men in scoring position, nobody out, and Farley hit the showers. Fairchild held at least Anderson on base, but at 7-2 it was over already. Only accountants took a passing interest in the drubbing that commenced. Jason Briggs’ 2-run home run of Fairchild in the fifth was booked with great precision, and the Raccoons’ personnel swiftly revaluated to zero. 10-3 Thunder. Reece 2-4, 2B, RBI; Costa 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

I am aggravated.

Game 2
OCT: C Briggs – LF J.J. Villa – 3B S. Reece – SS Grant – 1B Higashi – RF Bonneau – 2B Cowan – CF Glass – P Higgins
POR: 2B Ingall – 3B Crowe – CF N. Reece – C Turner – LF Newton – SS Guerin – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Kent – P M. Lopez

The Thunder took another early lead in the middle game, one run in the second inning, and then in the third, the Thunder had runners in scoring position with one out. Bob Grant grounded out hard to Mike Crowe, who managed to keep the runners pinned. Then Takahashi Higashi came up and singled between Ingall and Wedemeyer, 3-0, and that game was over. For a very long time against the recently called up and ravaged Vaughn Higgins, a Neil Reece solo home run was all the Raccoons mustered. Bottom 7th, 3-1 Thunder, Wedemeyer reached with two out on an infield single. Caddock hit for the useless Kent and hit one into the gap, scoring Wedemeyer with a double. Michel then hit for Miguel Lopez and whiffed. Daniel Miller pitched the eighth, loading the bags, but the Thunder didn’t hit for Higgins when he came up with two out, and he struck out. Bottom 8th, Higgins promptly walked Ingall and Crowe to start the frame. This was BEGGING FOR HIM TO GET SOILED!! And Reece singled, loading the bags in a 3-2 game with no outs! And then Turner flew out, and Newton flew out, and all the Suckoons did was tie the game on Turner’s sac fly. So, the game went to extra innings, where the Coons offense continued to fail hard. The pitching held up, though, and so we went to the 13th eventually. Crowe drew a 1-out walk off Hipólito Sendím, and then Reece ripped a double to left, but it wasn’t quite enough to send Crowe home. Werner Turner came up to be put onto the empty base, moving Newton into the box. He presented a gentle floater to Juan Jose Villa for the second out, and then Guerin grounded out. Villa’s home run off Scott Wade put the game away in the 14th, while the Raccoons left the winning runs on base in the bottom half. 4-3 Thunder. Reece 3-6, HR, 2B, RBI; Caddock (PH) 1-1, RBI; De La Rosa 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K;

Game 3
OCT: 2B Browne – LF Bonneau – 3B S. Reece – SS Grant – C Briggs – RF D. Ramos – 1B J. Valentín – CF J.J. Villa – P Corbett
POR: 2B Ingall – SS Guerin – CF N. Reece – C Turner – 3B Crowe – RF Brady – 1B Michel – LF Utting – P Joly

The Thunder flagellated Bob Joly to the tune of ten hits and four runs in six innings. The Raccoons weren’t anywhere near hitting Lou Corbett like that. Dave Browne homered off “Bag of Poo” Donis in the eighth, not that it mattered much. The Raccoons had one lonely run through seven innings, then got Guerin on to start the eighth. Lou Corbett fell 3-1 to Neil Reece, then left one up, and Reece gave it some more elevation for a bombastic 2-piece. That cut the gap to 5-3, but two runs in two innings? Gotta be kidding. Corbett sat down the next three Coons before yielding to Jimmy Morey in the ninth. Michel flew out. Then Caddock hit for Utting and doubled. Parker hit for Iván Costa, flew out, and now Ingall came up, struggling like all hell in recent weeks. He connected to deep center and ripped a triple off the wall. That put the tying run 90 feet away, yet Sonny Reece caught Guerin’s foul pop in time to save the sweep. 5-4 Thunder. Ingall 2-4, BB, 3B, RBI; Guerin 2-5; Brady 2-4, 2B; Caddock (PH) 1-1, 2B; Costa 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

This loss achieved three things. I have finally lost trust in Consuela being a capable shortstop. We were assured a losing season. Mathematically, I mean. Emotionally this has been a losing season at least since the break. And third, I cried myself to sleep and all day on our off-Thursday.

Raccoons (70-82) @ Loggers (86-67) – September 25-27, 1998

Only one number: the Loggers had outscored the Raccoons by 169 runs so far this year. Their pitching was adequate, and that meant it was enough to sweep the Raccoons for the week.

Projected matchups:
Jose Rivera (13-8, 2.47 ERA) vs. Simon Walton (5-4, 3.82 ERA)
Kisho Saito (5-14, 3.15 ERA) vs. Tim Butler (8-6, 5.55 ERA)
Kelly Fairchild (3-3, 3.86 ERA) vs. Rafael Garcia (10-15, 3.67 ERA)

I was willing to give Fairchild a start, since - … well, do we have anything to lose? Our dignity’s all gone by now…

Game 1
POR: 2B Ingall – SS Guerin – CF Reece – C Turner – RF Brady – 3B Crowe – 1B Caddock – LF Newton – P Rivera
MIL: SS B. Hernandez – 2B Sullivan – RF C. Ramirez – LF Hiwalani – CF Fletcher – 1B D. Evans – C M. Vela – 3B J. Lopez – P Walton

Straight singles by Vela, Lopez, Walton, and Hernandez with two out in the second gave the Loggers a 1-0 lead. Rivera’s inability to get at least the pitcher out somehow soon became something to regret. That 1-0 lead stood some time. Then, Reece doubled to lead off the sixth inning. Turner grounded out, moving Reece to third base. Walton got a strike onto Brady, but Brady then got two runs on Walton with a huge home run to right. Rivera was crowded by the Loggers in the sixth, but they didn’t score, yet then put two men on with one out in the seventh and the much-hated Hiwalani up next. Daniel Miller was tasked with ending the inning, struck out Hiwalani, and got Fletcher to ground out to Ingall. Tamburrino got the eighth over with and Wade was brought in with the 2-1 lead still alive in the bottom 9th. He struck out Leon Ramirez, but then Hernandez and Sullivan both singled, bringing up the big boys. Cristo Ramirez grounded hard to first, where Caddock made the play to second base, but the Coons didn’t get the double play. Hiwalani came up with runners on the corners and two down, and this was a case for moving the winning (or rather: losing) run into scoring position so that Wade could pitch to the not-quite-as-threatening Jerry Fletcher. It worked: Fletcher grounded a 1-0 pitch to short, and Guerin made the play. 2-1 Raccoons. Reece 2-4, 2B; Brady 1-4, HR, 2 RBI;

We stole this one. The Loggers out-hit us 10-4, both teams drew five walks, and the only threat the Raccoons ever amounted to was Reece on third, and Clyde Brady cashed in on that one. That kid is making a run for starting rightfielder next year, I can tell you.

Game 2
POR: 2B Ingall – LF Brady – CF Reece – C Turner – SS Caddock – 3B Crowe – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Villegas – P Saito
MIL: SS B. Hernandez – C L. Ramirez – RF C. Ramirez – LF Hiwalani – CF Fletcher – 2B Sullivan – 3B Sugano – 1B Costello – P Butler

Butler surrendered all left-handers he faced in the first inning, but the right-handers hit him for two quick runs, the first time the Coons struck first all week. And they were trying really hard after being properly screamed at before the game. Screamed, yelled, and called animal names, they swung with great motivation and produced the strangest of lines for Butler, who went five inning, striking out seven, but allowing 12 hits for five runs. At that point, after five, Saito was pitching a 3-hitter, although he was giving up the occasional hard contact. The score was still 5-0 when the Coons loaded the bags in the eighth with one out against Andrew Schaefer. Time to put this one to bed! Schaefer was not removed for Wedemeyer, the left-hander, but – wait, my bad. Wedemeyer sucked, and struck out. Villegas came up, still a left-hander, yet while a passed ball gave the Coons a run, they couldn’t get one themselves unless Butler was in the game, it seemed. Saito was scored against in the bottom 8th, and removed after a Leon Ramirez triple and Cristo Ramirez RBI single that basically went right by Wedemeyer. The pair was removed as De La Rosa and Kowalchuk entered in their opposite slots (the #9 slot was to lead off the ninth). Hiwalani homered off De La Rosa to close the book on Saito and get this game onto the slide towards humiliation. De La Rosa failed, put two men on with two out, and Miller came out to face Pedro Costello, who was the tying run all of a sudden. Costello hit a double in a full count, plating both runs, before Miller struck out Drake Evans to end the Daily Nightmare. Kowalchuk struck out to start the ninth, as we faced Ricardo Medina, before Marvin Ingall provided some relief with a huge homer to left. Scott Wade emerged up 7-5, and I really, really, really didn’t want Hiwalani to bat, but that meant sitting them down 1-2-3. Hernandez grounded out (nice play by Caddock), and Leon Ramirez popped out. Almost through here! C’mon, get that Cristo guy before he can hang orange clothes around Saito’s win! Ramirez doubled, predictably, and Hiwalani again would not get a chance, as Wade again was sent after Fletcher. Aaaand …… struck him out. 7-5 Raccoons. Ingall 4-5, BB, HR, 2B, RBI; Reece 3-6, 2B, RBI; Turner 2-5, 2 RBI; Villegas 3-5, 2B, RBI; Saito 7.1 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, W (6-14);

What do you mean, he won?

For Kisho, #232 came nine starts past #231. At that pace, he will have to pitch to age 44 to get 250 wins done. But he won. They almost blew it, but he won, and we will take this one and cherish it dearly. He will have one more start this season, so he could get back to a crisp .333 win ratio this year... or end up at the horrible horrors of losing 15 games. It would be the fourth time, offensively inept Raccoons squads would subject him to this kind of humiliation and ridicule. (Well, in ’86, when he lost a career-high 17, he really struggled. But apart from that…)

The Loggers faced elimination from the playoffs in the Sunday game then, with the Titans beating on the Canadiens and the magic number at 2.

Game 3
POR: 3B Crowe – LF Brady – CF Reece – C Turner – 1B Michel – 2B Caddock – SS Guerin – RF Villegas – P Fairchild
MIL: SS B. Hernandez – C L. Ramirez – RF C. Ramirez – LF Hiwalani – CF Fletcher – 1B D. Evans – 2B M. Wilson – 3B Buchanan – P R. Garcia

The game was 1-1 early, before Cristo Ramirez got a 2-out RBI single off Fairchild in the bottom 5th to give the Loggers a lead and still hope against hope to make the playoffs. Flip to the top 6th, Turner doubled against Garcia, and Samy Michel upped the pressure with a triple off the wall in straightaway center. Tied game, go-ahead run on third with no outs, you could just wait for Rafael Garcia striking out the next three guys, and indeed, Caddock went down with strike three, and Guerin grounded out to the third base side of home. Villegas was not pitched to. Chris Parker hit for Fairchild, and grounded out to second. Dismal suckers. Iván Costa put a man on in the seventh, and with Cristo Ramirez coming up with two out, Donis was thrown into the action, and only left said action victorious because Guerin made a nice launching grab on Ramirez’ grounder. The game was still tied, 2-2, but one team was about to cave in, and it wasn’t the brown-clad one. Samy Michel singled with one out in the eighth, then stole second base (his first SB in the Bigs) with Caddock at bat. While Caddock made an out eventually, grounding out to Hernandez at short, Guerin came up and through with a 2-out RBI double past Buchanan. Marvin Ingall hit for Donis in the #8 slot and also doubled, to right! Guerin was in, Ingall at second, and Parker was to bat, and he doubled to center! The Loggers couldn’t even get their bullpen up this quickly, and the eighth ended with Crowe striking out still against Garcia. The closer situation was a bit problematic now here, with the score of 5-2 holding up through the top 9th. Wade had pitched two days in a row, both times crowded. De La Rosa had pitched a quick eighth, while the options remaining on the bench had either pitched in both of the previous two games as well, or were named Grandridge. Alas, Gabby stayed in, facing the bottom third of the lineup, while Daniel Miller was warming up as backup. The Canadiens were leading the Titans 9-2 at this point, so elimination was probably not coming today for the Loggers anyway. Gabby meanwhile took offense to Miller throwing behind him. He turned the anger towards Myron Wilson, Phil Buchanan, and Benny Carver, striking out the side en route to a 2-frame save. 5-2 Raccoons. Michel 2-4, 3B, RBI; Guerin 2-4, 2B, RBI; Ingall (PH) 1-1, 2B, RBI; Parker 1-2, 2B, RBI; Costa 1.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K; De La Rosa 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K, SV (3);

In other news

September 22 – As the Warriors face elimination, they lose 1B/2B Dave Heffer (.316, 4 HR, 63 RBI) with a mild hamstring strain.
September 23 – The Aces announce a 7-yr, $8.4M deal signed with 1B/3B Javier Vargas (.304, 15 HR, 64 RBI), who had been bound to be a free agent this fall. [This was the player I wanted to sign this fall]
September 24 – Warriors CL Lawrence Bentley (2-8, 4.85 ERA, 32 SV) also goes down with a torn labrum. He is not expected to heal until Opening Day in 1999.
September 25 – The Scorpions bowl over the Pacifics in a 7-run sixth inning, win 8-0, and are the first team to punch their October ticket. It will be the Scorpions’ sixth playoff appearance (1977, 1979-80, 1995-96), and they have two titles so far.

Complaints and stuff

Neil Reece had a hot week, and was rewarded by being named the CL Player of the Week. He went .444 (12-27) with 2 HR and 5 RBI.

One more week, then I can hit the mountains again. Solitude and silence. What more does a man need…

Must not forget that anti-bear spray this time.

08-31-2014, 09:51 PM	#1001
Westheim Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Germany Posts: 11,905	1998 AMATEUR DRAFT We came into the draft with an insane allotment of six of the first 69 picks, including the fourth overall pick thanks to sucking so badly last season and losing about everybody on the roster in the winter. The draft pool has been detailed above. There are very few infielders worth noting, and there isn’t that one hot starting pitcher everybody wants to have. There are lots of decent guys, though, a few rocket arms for the bullpen, and enough outfielders that have a nice future projection. While the pool has a lot of decent catchers, too, there is not the one catcher in there, but I still think we have drafted that one catcher already with Julio Mata last year, although he is currently struggling badly in AAA. We might still draft two catchers later on, since with the trade of Mario Guerrero two days ago, we have only nine catchers in our system. The following players are very high on the wish list: SP Frank McGeraghty (18/7/15) SP Rod Taylor (14/7/9) SP Daniel Dickerson (11/17/13) – highest bonus demand in the draft at $2.1M RP Scott Boone (20/18/18) RP Sergio Vega (20/15/14) RP Tom Brooks (14/17/15) RP Luis Valdes (16/15/10) C Craig Bowen (9/13/16) 1B/3B/LF Jon Merritt (16/5/18) 1B/3B Bob Phillips (12/9/10) LF/CF Chris Roberson (20/18/9) LF/RF Lou Jenkins (16/20/10) LF/RF/1B Will Bailey (14/14/13) LF/RF/CF Herb Rose (14/8/13) LF/RF Jesus Valle (14/12/10) LF/RF/1B Emery Parkinson (12/14/12) Right off the bat, I am torn between Chris Roberson and Scott Boone as the first pick. You can never have too many outfielders, first. Second, you can never have too many relievers, either. Third, we drafted right-handed relievers with our first pick the last two years, Manuel Martinez in 1996, and Dan Nordahl last season. Both are in AA, with Martinez fighting ill control, and Nordahl getting grey hair for the non-existent defense behind him. Scott Boone is a left-hander, 17 years old, and even more raw than the high school kids Martinez and Nordahl. Roberson is 21, and I have a feeling that he will go very, very high in the draft. Take him fourth, because he won’t be around by the time you pick again. He may not even be around at #4. Neither of those two, by the way, rank in the top 10 by BNN. Bowen leads that list, and he is also a high school draftee. Dickerson is 2nd, and then the guys not on the short shortlist by me and Vince Guerra creep in. Jenkins and Bailey are 7th and 9th on the list, respectively, while the other six top 10ers are not on our short shortlist. This is getting very talky here. So, Chris Roberson figures to be our first choice. What if he is gone by #4? Boone? Or Lou Jenkins? Heck, each of those six outfielders listed above figures to be a star – right now. Sigh. Bring in the clowns! 1998 PORTLAND RACCOONS DRAFT CLASS Round 1 (#4) – LF/CF Chris Roberson, 21, from Lyndhurst, NJ – high contact, high power, not a strikeout guy, and he also has speed and is able in the field; what more can you want from a hitter? Supp. Round (#28) – MR Scott Boone, 17, from Edmonton, Canada – southpaw that doesn’t blow hitters away with the fastball, but his slider is just too filthy to be legal Supp. Round (#50) – SP Frank McGeraghty, 20, from Washington, DC – strong stuff with four quality pitches, but this lefty has to work on movement to get into the Bigs; right now he is throwing pretty straight… Supp. Round (#61) – LF/RF Jesus Valle, 19, from La Romana, Dom. Rep. – powerful bat, good contact abilities, but struggling with the strikeouts due to bad judgement of stuff on the corners; good speed and defensive abilities, too Supp. Round (#66) – OF Herb Rose, 22, from Dover, OH – quality bat for high average, with less power than our two higher picks, but with more speed and good defense as well Supp. Round (#69) – MR Sergio Vega, 18, from San Carlos, Venezuela – right-handed changeup artiste also working on a slider, and the fastball zooms past you at 95mph as well Round 2 (#86) – C Pat McClellan, 21, from Rye Brook, NY – good eyes and contact abilities, and he also calls a good game; is a switch hitter as added quality Round 3 (#97) – 1B John Morris, 18, from Vallejo, CA – his bat seems more likely to produce doubles rather than home runs, but he doesn’t strike out an awful lot; downsides are no speed at all and so-so defense Round 4 (#121) – OF Bryan Forrest, 20, from Cambridge City, IN – his speed makes him a doubles hitter since he will go for two at the slightest provocation, but his problem so far is a sub-par contact ability; strong defense though Round 5 (#145) – INF Reed Shaw, 21, from Elma Center, NY – swings at too much junk, and good speed and strong defense on several positions on the infield alone won’t get you to the Show… Round 6 (#169) – SP Warren Gilles, 17, from Tallulah, LA – claims to throw six pitches, but we’re not sure whether he just doesn’t know what and how to throw at all Round 7 (#193) – MR Jose Francisco, 17, from Saltillo, Mexico – right-hander with a promising curve Round 8 (#217) – SP Ron Robinson, 17, from Warren, PA – right-hander with slider and changeup and impressive whiff numbers in his high school league Round 9 (#241) – CL Víctor Valentín, 20, from San Cristobal, Dom. Rep. – right-hander, slider to knot up hitters, but weak fastball and poor control Round 10 (#265) – INF Toin Agano, 22, from Kawasaki, Japan – good defender, bat … nyaahh… good defender. Round 11 (#289) – 3B Woody Ayers, 21, from Queens, NY – good defensive third baseman Round 12 (#313) – C Bill Lewis, 17, from Union City, NJ – I thought we could use another catcher The Canadiens had the first overall pick in the draft and selected SP Daniel Dickerson with it. He was high on my list, and certainly a worthy #1 pick, and it took the decision whether to blow north of two million bucks on his signing bonus. The Wolves took SP Max Shepherd, followed by the Cyclones grabbing Will Bailey, giving us Chris Roberson. Nobody signed any relievers in the first round, and so Scott Boone fell to us at #28. With McGeraghty still in, he would have been a valid option as well. Outfielders Rose, Valle, and Parkinson also remained at this point. Only Parkinson was taken between our first two supplemental round picks, and by now McGeraghty still being available was slightly suspicious, but we took him anyway, with Jesus Valle penciled in for the next pick. After Valle and Rose were added, we took about the best guy that was left for a while, which included swallowing a $700k bonus to third round pick John Morris (more than our top pick Roberson!), before resorting to Reed Shaw and Warren Gilles, who had not been on the extended shortlist, to fill up on needs in the middle rounds. Francisco was the last pitcher on the shortlist, which actually at that point contained two more outfielders, but we had already taken four, and only Roberson was going to start in AA. Looks like we drafted heavily from the Northeast this time. Also, this was a strange draft in that usually the pool was out of position players, especially outfielders at some point during the penultimate round. Not this time! We actually drafted position players in the last few rounds. There were however no position players left over at the end, only pitchers. Roberson was the only player assigned to the AA level. Everybody else was assigned to A. For a moment, that put the roster of the Aumsville team at 48 players, but we culled that down a bit. We released a total of seven players (and a few more may follow), including our two top picks from 1995, outfielders Manuel Villa and Cory Stanford. Villa had been concussed in 1996 and had never regained his swing after that. Stanford had sucked for three full years at the A level. __________________ Portland Raccoons, 83 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA \| RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here.

09-01-2014, 03:15 PM	#1002
Westheim Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Germany Posts: 11,905	Raccoons (33-29) @ Cyclones (29-31) – June 15-17, 1998 The Cyclones ranked a bit below average in just about every category imaginable, but were really not extraordinarily awful in any one thing. Their batting average ranked 11th, but they made up for that with power. We have swept the Cyclones the last two times we met them. Projected matchups: Randy Farley (7-2, 2.85 ERA) vs. Russ Ewing (3-4, 3.86 ERA) Jose Rivera (4-2, 2.55 ERA) vs. Raúl Chavez (2-4, 6.38 ERA) Kisho Saito (3-7, 2.57 ERA) vs. Marc Padgett (7-4, 4.52 ERA) Chavez is the only left-hander we get in this series. Game 1 POR: SS Guerin – 1B Brady – CF Reece – LF Buell – 3B Crowe – 2B Caddock – RF Villegas – C McDonald – P Farley CIN: CF Porter – 3B R. Gonzalez – RF D. Morris – LF Harris – 1B Nava – C Cardenas – 2B Durán – SS Duenas – P Ewing The series opener derailed early, and with force. Farley got whacked in the first with four hard hits for two runs, and a Crowe error along with more bad pitching (and catching) for two unearned runs in the second inning. “Papa” Ewing did not allow a hit until the fourth, when Reece doubled and eventually scored, but the Coons sat in a 4-1 hole, and that was never a desirable situation with this team. To make this worse, they were at best hitting a shy single somewhere, and racked up ten strikeouts in the game. Ewing easily ran away with this one. 4-1 Cyclones. Crowe 2-3, RBI; Oh dear baseball gods, can we please get some offense at some point!? Game 2 POR: 3B Crowe – RF Brady – CF Reece – LF Buell – C Turner – 1B Utting – SS Guerin – 2B McLaughlin – P Rivera CIN: 2B Durán – 3B R. Gonzalez – RF D. Morris – LF Harris – 1B Nava – CF Starr – C H. Wilson – SS Duenas – P Chavez Another day, another pitcher beaten up early, as Rivera gave up three runs in the first inning, and another day of no offense at all. Not that they didn’t have runners. They left runners on third base in three of the first four innings, and never scored. This included Stephen Buell getting thrown out stealing by weak-armed Herman Wilson before the Raccoons loaded the bags in the same inning. Rivera didn’t surrender any more through his six innings of work, but it was too late. He had already lost the game. Chavez, the alleged pushover, shut out the Raccoons through eight innings, and only left the game due to blowing through 120 pitches in the eighth. Kelly Fairchild was ravaged for three runs and collected no outs in the bottom 8th. Reliever Peter Hughes in the top 9th walked the first three Raccoons that came up. And all the suckers managed was PH Steve Caddock grounding into a force out, scoring a run. 6-1 Cyclones. Buell 2-5; Turner 2-4, 2 2B; McLaughlin 1-2, 2 BB, 2B; Game 3 POR: 3B Crowe – 2B Caddock – CF Reece – LF Buell – C Turner – SS Guerin – RF Newton – 1B Utting – P Saito CIN: CF Porter – 3B R. Gonzalez – RF D. Morris – SS Valdes – LF Starr – 1B Maldrum – C Cardenas – 2B Durán – P Padgett Saito was struggling with control recently, like plunking a trio of batters in one game, and this continued in the last game in Cincy. Saito walked three early on, but the Cyclones couldn’t convert since they also failed to hit him when it counted, and instead whiffed seven times in the first four innings, after which the Coons were up 2-0. The latter run had been driven in by Saito himself with a 2-out RBI single in the top 4th. Then came the bottom 5th, and things went south in a hurry. Padgett led off with a single to left, and then Troy Porter doubled, and Ramiro Gonzalez singled. 2-1, runners on the corners, no outs, Saito struck Morris for the third time in the game, before Manuel Valdes tied the game with a sac fly. Saito went seven, and had to settle for nothing. Since the Raccoons weren’t doing anything anyway, how long the game would go depended entirely on the relievers. Tamburrino and Miller turned in scoreless innings to send the game to overtime. Donis pitched two scoreless, and Fairchild survived the 12th mainly due to Guerin’s Platinum Glove at short, and yes, we were still batting in the top halves of innings, and no, we were not hitting **. Fairchild pitched a perfect 13th, including handing Dan Morris his 5th K of the day, before Werner Turner led off the 14th with a double. Go get ‘em, boys!! Turner was at third with one out, which prompted Villegas and McLaughlin to strike out. It was too horrible to watch. You wished yourself away. Like, to prison, or to Cambodia, or worse. Prison in Cambodia. In the 18th, Mark Alexander was pitching in his fourth inning for the Cyclones. He came in with a 5.56 ERA. By now he had shed almost a run off that. Caddock livened up an 0-7 day with a 1-out single to left. Reece struck out, but Buell doubled to center. Caddock was waved around third, and Porter threw him out at the plate. Scott Wade pitched FIVE innings in relief, 14th through 18th, and Alexander came back out for the 19th. We still had De La Rosa to go after Wade. De La Rosa allowed a 1-out single to ALEXANDER in the bottom 19th, then walked Cardenas. Durán grounded back to De La Rosa, who ended the game with a throw into the seats. 3-2 Cyclones. Saito 7.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 8 K; Donis 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K; Fairchild 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K; Wade 5.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K; I’m gonna ing kill them. I’m just gonna ing kill them. They are ATROCIOUS, ABSOLUTELY ATROCIOUS. AAAAARGH!!! Maybe things will get better on the weekend, when Liam Wedemeyer will be activated from the DL and will replace Jason Kent on the roster. It can’t possibly get any WORSE. The sucker bunch has scored three runs or less in TEN OF THEIR LAST ELEVEN games! No wonder I’m running out of hair to pull out!! Raccoons (25-38) @ Canadiens (25-38) – June 18-21, 1998 Since humiliating the Raccoons a few weeks ago, the Canadiens’ pitching had recovered to allow less than six runs per game overall, so now they couldn’t even considered pushovers anymore. And they were outscoring us by some 50 runs, but then, who wasn’t … Projected matchups: Manuel Movonda (5-5, 2.43 ERA) vs. Manuel Hernandez (2-5, 6.38 ERA) Miguel Lopez (5-7, 4.31 ERA) vs. Jose Dominguez (5-5, 4.72 ERA) Randy Farley (7-3, 2.83 ERA) vs. Jose Marquez (6-6, 4.52 ERA) Jose Rivera (4-3, 2.71 ERA) vs. John Collins (2-10, 5.57 ERA) The bullpen situation was difficult, but not hopeless (yet) for Movonda in the opener. Wade had been professionally gassed in the marathon in Cincinnati, and would not be available for a couple of days, and we might also want to leave Fairchild and Donis alone for the first two games. Neither had thrown more than 23 pitches in “game 3”, but they had also both been active in the game before that. Readily available were Tamburrino, De La Rosa (who had ended the misery in style), and Carlton. We would prefer to get seven to eight from Movonda anyway, and please don’t play extra innings again, thanks. Game 1 POR: 3B Crowe – SS Guerin – CF Reece – LF Buell – C Turner – RF Newton – 1B Utting – 2B McLaughlin – P Movonda VAN: C J. Lopez – 3B Sutton – 1B Mosley – RF Givens – LF Moore – CF J. Moreno – 2B Corona – SS Duarte – P M. Hernandez Movonda dazzled the Canadiens – thank god – and got some support early with a go-ahead solo home run from Jai Utting in the second inning, and then two runs in the fourth. With Newton on first, McLaughlin doubled into the gap, and Newton was waved around. The Canadiens tried to make the play at home, didn’t, and McLaughlin moved up to third base, from where Movonda groundballed him home. Hernandez was still pitching in the eighth, but loaded the bags with no outs. Movonda was to bat next, and since he probably had gas for another inning (maybe even two), we let him bat. He lined up the middle and into center field, RBI single. While Hernandez popped up Crowe, he then walked Guerin, 5-0, and was removed. Reliever Claudio Duarte was supposed to pick up the pieces, but the inning collapsed away from the Canadiens and the Coons put on a rout. Reece singled home a run, Buell doubled for two, Turner hit a sac fly, and Utting brought home a run. It actually got worse for the Canadiens in the ninth. Caddock had a PH single, and Guerin and Reece got on, bringing up Stephen Buell, who cranked a Chet Frazier pitch to deep, deeper gone! GRAAAAAAAND SLAAAAAAAMMMM!!! We will cover the mantle of silence over what happened to Fred Carlton in the bottom 9th. 14-5 Raccoons. Caddock (PH) 1-1; Guerin 3-5, BB, RBI; Reece 2-4, 2 BB, RBI; Buell 3-6, HR, 2B, 6 RBI; Newton 2-3, 3 BB, 2B; Utting 2-5, BB, HR, 2 RBI; McLaughlin 2-3, BB, 2B, RBI; Movonda 8.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 7 K, W (6-5) and 1-4, 2 RBI; Bad news is, we have used up our run allotment for this series. Actually exceeded it already… Never mind that Liam Wedemeyer was rejoining the roster right now, replacing Kent. Game 2 POR: 3B Crowe – RF Newton – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – LF Buell – SS Guerin – C Turner – 2B Caddock – P M. Lopez VAN: 2B B. Butler – SS Shaw – 1B Mosley – CF Hartley – LF Moore – C Guerrero – RF J. Moreno – 3B Sutton – P Dominguez The Canadiens’ woes continued early. Dominguez loaded the bags in the first inning. While he struck out Buell to get to two outs, his luck ended there and consecutive base hits by Guerin, Turner, and Caddock plated four runs. While Miguel Lopez was retired on a diving catch by Roland Moore, that also retired Moore, who left with an injury. Mario Guerrero, just traded to Vancouver, was the starting catcher in this game, and his leadoff single in the second inning fired his average all the way up to a dizzying .100! While the Raccoons shot to that early lead, they needed it. Lopez was totally not sharp, and would give up 2-run homers to Bill Mosley in the bottom of the third and fifth innings. Thankfully, Werner Turner had come up with RBI hits in the top halves of both frames, and we led 6-4 through five. It was a strange game for Lopez, who struck out seven, but allowed ten hits, the last of which, a 2-out single by reliever(!) Paul Brown, was removed. Now, the pen was thin, but had to collect ten outs. Daniel Miller retired Bob Butler to get the sixth into the books. Miller remained in for the seventh – he had been out frequently the last few days, but in a way he was the most versatile horse in the stables behind the fence, after De La Rosa and Wade, who could both reliably start games – and although the Canadiens put two in scoring position with two outs, I was never worried, for the next batter was Mario Guerrero, and he wasn’t gonna get a hit. And Miller got him to ground out to Caddock. Donis appeared in the eighth, started with an error on Juan Moreno’s grounder, and it escalated. De La Rosa failed to clean up Donis’ steaming pile of , and Mosley became easily man of the match with another 2-run base hit, a 2-out double to win the game. 7-6 Canadiens. Newton 2-5; Buell 2-4; Turner 3-4, 2 2B, 3 RBI; Caddock 2-3, BB, RBI; Miller 1.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K; Honestly, why do I even bother with these left-handed reliever tards? Why don’t I shoot ALL left-handed pitchers I have, except for Kisho?? Game 3 POR: 3B Crowe – SS Guerin – CF Reece – LF Buell – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Newton – 2B Utting – C McDonald – P Farley VAN: C J. Lopez – 3B Sutton – 1B Mosley – RF Givens – CF Hartley – 2B Shaw – LF J. Moreno – SS Duarte – P Marquez Both teams scored an unearned run in the first inning, with Guerin to blame for the Elks’. Randy Farley had one of those games, where every leadoff man seemed to reach base, and sometimes the two first batters in an inning. Still, the Canadiens had troubles to score them. We took a 2-1 lead on a 2-out RBI single by Wedemeyer in the third, that bounced funnily away from Bill Mosley. The Furballs couldn’t find their way into a big inning, but they added on single runs in the fourth (driven in by Farley himself) and sixth (Crowe with two down). A Raymond Sutton home run brought the Canadiens back within two in the seventh, but by then they had also lost CF Forest Hartley to injury. Jackie Lagarde pitched in the eighth – hi, Jackie – walked Utting and McDonald, and Farley was told to bat with one out. Farley made contact again and singled up the middle, which was enough to score Utting. Lagarde walked the bags full, but struck out Guerin and Reece grounded out to short. Hartley’s replacement Joe Wilson took Farley deep in the bottom 8th, and that got him out of the game. Wade was not available yet, and so we brought De La Rosa to collect four outs for the save. In the ninth, with one out, a Bob Butler single and Jorge Lopez double put the tying runs in scoring position. Sutton dinked a single into shallow right, plating the runs, and it was not going to stop. Mosley singled, and Givens flew to deep right, which Villegas caught, but Sutton tagged from third and scored. 6-5 Canadiens. Utting 2-3, BB, 2B; Farley 7.2 IP, 9 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 5 K and 3-4, 2 RBI; Fact: one guy can’t win a baseball game. ing annoying crap team. Game 4 POR: 3B Crowe – LF Buell – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – C Turner – RF Brady – SS Guerin – 2B Caddock – P Rivera VAN: 2B B. Butler – C J. Lopez – 1B Mosley – RF Givens – LF Moore – 3B Corona – CF J. Moreno – SS Duarte – P J. Collins Roland Moore was playing with tightness in his back, while Hartley was still out for them. Meanwhile Bill Mosley continued to kill Coons pitching, hitting his third homer of the series in the bottom 1st, tying the game back after a Reece sac fly had given Rivera a lead. Little more was going on for a few innings until Neil Reece opened the sixth with a bang, and a leadoff jack made it 2-1 Furballs. John Collins then hit Wedemeyer, who took exception and charged the mound. A mild brawl ensued and Wedemeyer and Collins were tossed. Once order was restored by the umpires, Clyde Brady hit a 2-run homer off Paul Brown. The Raccoons threatened in two of the last three innings, but didn’t score and left five on base. Rivera was still pitching, and entered the ninth with 101 pitches on the odometer, and Mosley leading off. On the other hand, eliminating the bullpen altogether probably was the smartest idea I had all week. Mosley singled, but Givens struck out, however that brought up left-handers. Yet, the quality of our left-handed relief has been beaten to death. Rivera would get at least one mo(o)re, and struck out the ailing outfielder, bringing up Ramon Corona, who was batting a scary .087 (2-23). Corona lined to center, but Reece hardly had to move. 4-1 Raccoons! Reece 1-3, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Brady 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Rivera 9.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 4 K, W (5-3) and 1-4; In a young career of 53 games (51 starts), Jose Rivera turned in his third complete game, and the first since 1996. Back then he had had two shutouts. He is now 21-13 with a 3.09 ERA for his career. Quite a nice #5, if you ask me. Wedemeyer was suspended for five games for attacking Collins, so he was hurt for six weeks, then he comes back and makes it two and a half games before getting his furry behinds banned for another week. Great job! In other news June 16 – Old age is beginning to show on 37-yr old LVA 2B Pete Connolly (.303, 1 HR, 15 RBI), and while the Aces were stomped by the Warriors, 9-1, Connolly shone bright with two hits in the losing effort. The latter hit, a leadoff double off Pat Cherry, who went the distance in the game, in the ninth inning marks Connolly’s 3,000th career base hit. The sixth overall pick in the 1978 draft by the Gold Sox, who debuted for them in 1979 and since played for the Knights, Indians, Wolves, and Cyclones as well, is the second player after Jeffery Brown to reach the 3,000 mark. June 17 – The Wolves beat the Thunder, 5-0, behind Alonso Lopez (5-5, 4.28 ERA) tossing a 3-hit shutout. June 21 – IND INF Jose Martinez (.255, 3 HR, 22 RBI) has suffered a sprained ankle and should be out for three weeks. June 21 – DEN OF Raúl Castillo (.295, 1 HR, 7 RBI) is out for the year with a broken elbow. Complaints and stuff** GRAVE NEWS. Really, really GRAVE NEWS. Our blue chip SP prospect, Ralph Ford, is out for the season with rotator cuff inflammation. Well, that will put a dent into your mood … so, that brings his likelihood of being on the opening day roster in 1999 from 2% all the way down to NADA. Kisho Saito was not as usual in the dugout during the first game in Vancouver. He wasn’t even in Canada. We were talking contract in Portland, since I was still banned from entering Canadian soil due to one or the other incident in recent years in Canadian airports, clubhouses, and public parks. No, the claims that I exposed myself are entirely wrong. The truth is that: while strolling through Deer Lake Park after an especially bitter loss two years ago, I encountered two of those ugly Canadian kids with their ugly Canadiens caps who were laughing at joking about those miserable Raccoons. I raged and ripped off their caps, and threw them to the ground, stomping on them. The caps, not the kids. Anyway! Kisho Saito desired to stay here, and as mentioned earlier, I was eager to keep him. Saito showed a bluff by demanding a five year deal during our talks. Well, Kisho. You still want to pitch at age 43? Ah… no. We agreed on an offer for two years, but I couldn’t quite get him to bite for $2M, and had to up my offer to $2.2M in total. If he signs this deal, we will keep him in the brown uniform (the only real uniform! Screw the Canadiens and their pinkish red uniforms!!) through to his age 40 season. It’s a risk, but I am taking it. After that contract is up, Saito will probably retire anyway to play with his kids. His son Hisanobu has quite a strong left arm due, his fastball is amazing. He smacked me in the forehead with a bagel during a team barbecue on an off day last August. Three years old and already hating me, fantastic! So, Saito, 229-173 for his career at that junction, would have some 80 more starts between now and the end of the 2000 season. With this team, reaching 250 wins should be … a nasty challenge. Attached Images __________________ Portland Raccoons, 83 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA \| RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here.

09-01-2014, 11:20 PM	#1003
pgjocki All Star Starter Join Date: Jun 2013 Location: Maryland - just outside DC Posts: 1,483	Saito must be a tremendously loyal guy to stick around for yet another round if frustrations! I think you should go with only one lefty- try and find a righty with lots of movement and two breaking ball pitches to change things up. __________________ - - - World Series championships: 1926, 1931, 1934, 1942, 1944, 1946, 1964, 1967, 1982, 2006, 2011

09-04-2014, 01:46 AM	#1004
Westheim Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Germany Posts: 11,905	Service announcement: as you may have noticed, I am unable to provide regular updates at this point. Reason is simple, work is eating me alive. Yesterday I barely managed to crawl through the door, then dropped somewhere soft and just listened intently to Vin Scully (don't get to do that often anyway) until Jansen blew the save, and then I dropped into bed (soft, too!)... Maybe at the weekend... (crawls back off to work) __________________ Portland Raccoons, 83 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA \| RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here.

09-05-2014, 06:10 PM	#1005
Westheim Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Germany Posts: 11,905	Raccoons (35-34) @ Loggers (40-29) – June 22-24, 1998 The Loggers were batting .280 as a team (best in the CL), but played neither big nor small ball very well and somehow ranked only 7th in runs scored. Their pitching however was conceding less than four runs a game, which meant that they would probably pitch two to three shutouts against the Raccoons. Both teams lacked their arguably best batter, as Marvin Ingall and Jerry Fletcher were gracing their teams’ disabled lists. While Fletcher had just gone down, we expected Ingall back by the weekend. Projected matchups: Kisho Saito (3-7, 2.57 ERA) vs. Jorge Casas (7-3, 4.28 ERA) Manuel Movonda (6-5, 2.24 ERA) vs. Tim Butler (6-3, 4.91 ERA) Miguel Lopez (5-7, 4.45 ERA) vs. Rafael Garcia (4-8, 3.49 ERA) Game 1 POR: 3B Crowe – 1B Brady – CF Reece – LF Buell – SS Guerin – RF Newton – C Turner – 2B Caddock – P Saito MIL: SS M. Jones – 3B Nakayama – CF C. Ramirez – LF Hiwalani – C L. Ramirez – RF Hatch – 2B B. Hernandez – 1B D. Evans – P Casas The Raccoons had so much dumb luck that they led off with two infield singles in this game. They continued to add weak singles, and enough of them to bat through the lineup and poke Casas for four runs in the first. The weather was less of dumb luck, especially for Saito, since it started to rain lightly in the fourth inning. Then, Saito was up 4-1 after five innings, having allowed only three hits, including a leadoff double to the always annoying Bakile Hiwalani in the bottom 2nd, which had led to the Loggers’ lone run. Saito popped out to end the sixth (with nobody on base; without dumb luck for us Casas had now retired 14 straight Raccoons), and the rain became heavier and forced a short, 21-minute delay. That was not enough to chase Master Kisho, who had seen many things in his career, and he continued to pitch. However, he had not often seen his line not to include a strikeout in the sixth inning. He finally whiffed Nakayama to end the bottom 6th. But luck started to run out for Saito soon. While Cristo Ramirez got himself thrown out on a leadoff non-triple in the seventh, and Hiwalani missed a homer by ten feet at most, Ramirez then took him deep to cut the lead to 4-2. Tamburrino came in to replace Saito and face Hollis Hatch, walked him, allowed a single to Bartolo Hernandez, and then Drake Evans shot a liner up the first base line, which Clyde Brady made an artistic play on to end the inning. So, Saito’s win was still alive, although few people on the team were good at achieving anything. Donis stumbled through the eighth, and Neil Reece upped the score to 5-2 with two out in the ninth with his 10th homer of the year. Donis faced Ramirez to lead off the ninth, allowed a single, and then Wade came in. He retired - … well, Newton retired Hiwalani, and then the dams broke. Ramirez reached. Hatch reached. Hernandez tripled them in, which tied the game. And then Evans singled to end it quickly. 6-5 Loggers. Brady 2-5, 2B; Reece 2-5, HR, RBI; Saito 6.2 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 1 K; Of course. How can you not hate this collection of suckers… AND I HATE THEM WITH A PASSION. Saito, too, by the way. Neil Reece was a little sore – not having gotten a day off in a while – and was left out of game 2. Old age beginning to show? Nah, he’s 31. He’s good. He can’t get old. He’s one of the VERY FEW reasons I’m not killing myself here. Or them. Game 2 POR: 3B Crowe – RF Brady – C Turner – LF Buell – 1B Utting – SS Guerin – CF Newton – 2B Caddock – P Movonda MIL: SS B. Hernandez – 3B M. Jones – RF C. Ramirez – LF Hiwalani – C L. Ramirez – 2B J. Perez – 1B Nakayama – CF Espinosa – P Butler While the Colombian Beauty was pitching beautifully, the brown-clad lineup was physically present, but indifferent to the task at hand. They were entirely harmless through five innings, before a single by Brady led off the sixth. Turner grounded out, moving Brady to second, and Buell was put on intentionally. Utting then singled, and then Guerin couldn’t avoid getting hit to force in the first run of the game. Luke Newton didn’t mean to, but accidentally hit a ball OVER Manny Espinosa and then forgot to stop at first or second base, hitting an entirely unintentional 3-run triple. At least you could trust in Caddock in not scoring that pesky runner at third base. He popped out to short and Movonda grounded out to keep the score at 4-0. And then Movonda came out for the bottom 6th, walked the two first batters, and a third later in the inning, which was a new way to lose a game. The Loggers axed into him for three runs in the inning, including a 2-out RBI single by Butler, and they immediately came back to 4-3. Butler remained in the game, but was coming apart. One out, the Coons had re-loaded the bags (with some help in form of a Hiwalani error), and Utting worked a walk. Guerin struck out, and then Newton came up again. He failed at failing again, hitting a 3-2 double over Hiwalani and again three runs scored. Up 8-3, Movonda left the game, and Fairchild and Miller got the game to the ninth. There, Carlton appeared to faced left-handers, surrendered a loud out to Newton in deep center, then put Hernandez and Jones on with line drive singles. He gone. De La Rosa was brought in, and faced three batters, walking all three of them. Oh, you won’t. Tamburrino came out, with still one out and the tying runs on base already, and got a sac fly from Jose Perez. Nakayama singled, but Espinosa flew to Buell (in as deep left as was tolerable) for the final out. 8-6 Raccoons. Brady 3-5; Utting 2-4, BB, RBI; Guerin 2-3, 2B, RBI; Newton 2-4, 3B, 2B, 6 RBI; Here comes that highly inflammable bullpen I have come to cherish so much the last few years. So, we disposed of Fred Carlton (14.40 ERA), forever if I have a voice. Turns out I do have one. Since Grant West was not considering coming out of retirement, I had to make do with another slacksack from AAA. Signing free agents was out of the question, since we had a quite expensive draft behind us. So, a slacksack it was. We called up right-hander Iván Costa (because why bother with left-handers if they walk everybody), who had been here for a few sniffs before. He was 9-4 with a 2.81 ERA in 14 starts in AAA, but had only managed 80 innings in these starts for his very low stamina. Maybe he was a capable bullpen addition NOW, at age 25? Costa was 2-1 with a 5.81 ERA in 10 games (5 starts) from 1995 to 1997 between New York and Portland in the Bigs, so his experience consisted of only a few sprinkles, and there was TONS of room for improvement. Game 3 POR: 3B Crowe – RF Brady – CF Reece – LF Buell – 1B Utting – C Turner – 2B Caddock – SS McLaughlin – P M. Lopez MIL: 2B J. Perez – 3B Nakayama – CF C. Ramirez – LF Hiwalani – C L. Ramirez – RF Hatch – 1B D. Evans – SS M. Jones – P R. Garcia The Raccoons scored a run in the second inning with the help of a Hollis Hatch throwing error, and another run that actually didn’t come from charity in the third inning in support of Lopez. It was all for naught of course. Lopez was blown up massively in the fourth inning, failing at the basic skills of pitching. Bags full, one out, he surrendered a 2-run double to the opposing pitcher, and once Jose Perez lifted one outta here, it was 6-2 Loggers, Fairchild was coming in, and we were already six games down in the division. The Loggers got two more off Fairchild, who pitched through the sixth. Miller was socked for two more with a Drake Evans home run, and it was one of those games… 10-2 Loggers. Turner 2-4; Bah. Raccoons (36-36) vs. Bayhawks (43-29) – June 26-28, 1998 Another proper team we can’t stink up against. The Bayhawks were pretty good across the board, their 323 runs scored good for fourth place in the CL. They were even better on the mound, conceding 279 runs (3rd). The Raccoons, after getting spanked for 24 runs in Milwaukee, had dropped out of the top 3 in the latter category, and were nailed firmly in last place in offensively regardless. Projected matchups: Randy Farley (7-3, 2.79 ERA) vs. Ricardo Sanchez (6-6, 4.31 ERA) Jose Rivera (5-3, 2.52 ERA) vs. Miguel Diaz (1-2, 3.21 ERA) Kisho Saito (3-7, 2.58 ERA) vs. Tony Hamlyn (5-5, 2.98 ERA) Game 1 SFB: 3B P. Hernandez – 1B C. Guzmán – 2B Chandler – RF P. Perez – CF Marquez – C G. Ortíz – LF Cavazos – SS Powys – P R. Sanchez POR: 3B Crowe – SS Guerin – CF Reece – LF Buell – C Turner – 2B Caddock – 1B McLaughlin – RF Villegas – P Farley Crowe and Guerin on the corners with no outs in the bottom 1st, Reece, Buell, and Turner moved them up zero feet. The game started this way, and also with Farley whiffing the side in the first inning, but he lost dominance fairly soon. Werner Turner put something on the board in the fourth, a 2-run home run that also cashed in on Reece’s leadoff single, and while Farley pitched five shutout innings, a leadoff triple by Pedro Hernandez in the sixth put the writing on the wall. He got through the sixth with only the one run scoring, but he looked done. He was hit for in the bottom 6th when the Bayhawks put Villegas on intentionally with McLaughlin on second and two down. Reliever Johnny Smith struck out Clyde Brady, and in a 2-1 game, neither starter saw the seventh. De La Rosa, who had issued three free passes in his last outing, walked Mike Powys with one out in the seventh, but the runner was stalled on third base. De La Rosa also put the leadoff man, PH Jorge Gomez, on base in the eighth with a single. Donis added a runner, and Tamburrino came in with two on, two out, and walked two, ramping the score to two-two. Duh. The Bayhawks left the go-ahead run on third base in the eighth and ninth innings, which gave the Raccoons a nominal chance to walk off here. Utting’s pinch-hit 1-out single put the Coons on the right road, and he was on third with two down as Reece faced William Henderson. Reece fell to two strikes in a hurry, but managed to make contact at 2-2, and grounded to the left side. Pedro Hernandez kept it from leaving the infield, but didn’t make a throw. Utting and Reece were both about safe once Hernandez came up with the ball. 3-2 Raccoons. Reece 2-5, RBI; Utting (PH) 1-1; Farley 6.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K and 1-2; Two things happened as the calendar hit Saturday. Liam Wedemeyer’s suspension was up, and Marvin Ingall was assigned to St. Pete for a few days of rehab to get his swing in sync again. We will recall him early next week. Game 2 SFB: LF D. Woods – 1B C. Guzmán – 2B Chandler – RF P. Perez – CF Marquez – C G. Ortíz – 3B P. Hernandez – SS Powys – P Diaz POR: 3B Crowe – SS Guerin – CF Reece – LF Buell – 1B Wedemeyer – C Turner – RF Newton – 2B Caddock – P Rivera Diaz retired the first six Raccoons before he was slapped with bats in the third, in which the Coons scored three runs. The Bayhawks had five left-handers in their lineup, who crowded Jose Rivera pretty good, but they were leaving their runners on base all the time. Pedro Perez, who was never retired by Rivera in this game, finally got him with a long ball in the sixth, but that came with the bases empty and we were still up 3-1. Rivera managed another inning, while getting two more runs in support, one unearned after a Powys error. Donis was to pitch to up to four consecutive left-handers in the eighth, but we know him, four men ain’t enough to collect three outs, and De La Rosa came in with two in scoring position and two out to retire Gabriel Ortíz and move on. The Coons left two men in scoring position in the bottom 8th, which had the potential to be a fantastic blowup intro, and De La Rosa allowed a leadoff single to Hernandez in the ninth. However, after I gave him the Look, he broke into a sweat – and struck out the next three batters. 5-1 Furballs. Reece 2-4, RBI; Turner 2-4; Newton 1-2, BB, 2B, RBI; Utting (PH) 1-2, 2B; Rivera 7.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 1 K, W (6-3); De La Rosa 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K, SV (2); Game 3 SFB: LF M. Rodriguez – C G. Ortíz – 3B P. Hernandez – 2B Chandler – SS Powys – CF D. Woods – RF Cavazos – 1B C. Guzmán – P Hamlyn POR: 3B Crowe – SS Guerin – CF Reece – LF Buell – 1B Wedemeyer – C Turner – RF Newton – 2B McLaughlin – P Saito After Marcos Rodriguez’ leadoff single to the game, Kisho didn’t allow another base runner until with two down in the fourth, and then only a shy single. The Coons had taken the lead, 1-0, on a Crowe sac fly in the third. Top 5th, 1-out singles by Cavazos and Guzmán threatened to undo Saito. But the Bayhawks had Hamlyn bunt, which moved the runners into scoring position, but Rodriguez then hit an easy grounder to Guerin and the inning was over. McLaughlin on first with one out in the bottom 5th, Saito swung away at 1-2 and took a Hamlyn pitch into shallow right. McLaughlin went to third, and scored on another Crowe sac fly. Control then started to elude Saito. He walked a pair in the sixth, but the Bayhawks remained off the board, then walked and plunked two men onto base in the seventh, and this time didn’t escape. 2-1, two out, runners on the corners, Hernandez to the plate, Saito was replaced with Tamburrino, The count ran full, the runners got in motion, Tamburrino threw the fastball – and Hernandez was rung up looking. The highlight in the bottom 7th was Villegas, who with two down and nobody on hit for Tamburrino, and grounded a 3-0 pitch to third. Top 8th, Daniel Miller in, he walked the leadoff man, Chandler, Dan Woods hit an infield single, and Perez walked. Guzmán struck out, bringing up PH Alfredo Marquez. Marquez rocketed a 1-1 pitch to the left side – and hadn’t Crowe stood right in that liner’s way, the Bayhawks would have tied it. The lineout preserved Saito’s W another inning. A tack-on run would be swell, boys! Crowe doubled to lead off the bottom 8th. He was left on. Of course. Wade came out for the ninth, facing Rodriguez, Ortíz, and Hernandez, walked Rodriguez, and served a note of forfeit to Ortíz. Raccoons lost. 3-2 Bayhawks. Crowe 1-2, 2B, 2 RBI; Buell 2-4, 2B; Saito 6.2 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 5 K and 1-2; **ing dirtbags. In other news June 24 – The Scorpions’ 23-yr old SP Whit Reeves (4-4, 3.79 ERA) will miss three weeks with a strained triceps. June 26 – PIT 3B Manny Munoz jr. (.307, 2 HR, 24 RBI) lands two hits in a 5-3 Miners win over the Gold Sox, extending a hitting streak to 20 games. June 27 – NYC C Antonio Clemente (.306, 2 HR, 28 RBI) joins the ranks of those with 20-game hitting streaks with a single in the Crusaders’ 5-4 win over the Aces. June 27 – DEN OF Chih-tui Jin (.290, 8 HR, 41 RBI) could be out for the season with a torn meniscus. June 28 – Both Antonio Clemente and Manny Munoz jr. have their hitting streaks end. Complaints and stuff** Stat of the week: we are 0-8 in games on Monday or Wednesday this month. Yay. I somehow noticed that as special (in German, those are the only days starting with an M; I don't know, does't sound special; I'm weird, ignore me) Stat of the week #2: we are 4-12 in Kisho’s starts this year. I tend to believe it is not him but rather the 2.8 R/G the fuzzy suckers are scoring in his starts. He is 3-7 himself. Of the remaining six games, where he did not get a decision, the Raccoons 1) Lost two in extra inning marathons (Saito left in ties both times) 2) Lost one in regulation (Saito left in a tie) 3) Won one in regulation (Saito left in a tie) 4) Lost two in regulation (Saito was in line for the W) A total of 64 runs were scored against the Raccoons in these games (4.0 R/G), of which only 41 were accumulated against Saito, and only 31 of those were earned. Betrayal. Conspiracy. Hang the traitors!! Yet, Kisho Saito STILL signed the 2-yr, $2.2M extension on Thursday, our off day. Which surprised me, given the ninth on Monday. Well. He’s a man of honor! If your team plays against you, you have to play even better to survive them! And he would have 300 wins already if he hadn’t wasted all his life on this lousy outfit of horrors. Neil Reece meanwhile has been very grumpy recently. I can’t tell whether he’s grumpy at me, or the rest of the team, or himself. We’ll watch that. Marvin Ingall might be back on Tuesday. Then, everything will be roses again. Or maybe not. Attached Images __________________ Portland Raccoons, 83 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA \| RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here. Last edited by Westheim; 09-05-2014 at 06:12 PM.

09-07-2014, 04:37 PM	#1007
Westheim Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Germany Posts: 11,905	Just this short update. Since I don’t know when I will be able to play this week with ruining my soul in the mind mill again this week … ah well. All Star Game Manuel Movonda was the only Raccoon in invited to the All Star bonanza. In the CL, the Loggers and Titans led all teams with four representatives each. In the FL, the Scorpions, Stars, and Pacifics each had five players in the mix. Well, the Raccoons had only one player in the game, and then he didn’t play. Movonda was not used in the Continental League’s 11-inning, 4-3 win. Ivan Camacho doubles home Urbano Cicalina against Ben Carlson to walk off the CL. --- On Wednesday, the Raccoons designated Ron McDonald for assignment. Batting .190, so-so work in the field. Next! C/1B Ricardo Castillo, a scrap heap signing earlier this year, was called up to replace him as backup. Castillo, 31, had already shown in six seasons with the Miners that he was a backup catcher at best. Raccoons (43-46) vs. Titans (53-37) – July 16-19, 1998 455 runs now for the Titans, still over 5 R/G. We just had split a 4-game set, and I thought that splitting another one was as much as we could ask for as we were opening a 10-game homestand. Projected matchups: Kisho Saito (4-7, 2.62 ERA) vs. Jason O’Halloran (9-6, 3.31 ERA) Manuel Movonda (8-6, 2.17 ERA) vs. Jesus Bautista (6-8, 5.00 ERA) Randy Farley (8-4, 2.89 ERA) vs. Bill Smith (7-7, 3.52 ERA) Miguel Lopez (6-9, 4.85 ERA) vs. Henry Selph (9-3, 3.07 ERA) Game 1 BOS: SS D. Silva – LF Walls – RF Reid – 3B Henry – CF Alonso – C J. Silva – 1B L. Lopez – 2B Elliott – P O’Halloran POR: 2B Ingall – SS Guerin – C Turner – 3B Crowe – RF Brady – 1B Utting – CF Newton – LF Parker – P Saito The Raccoons came outta the break like they went into it. They sucked. Hard. As Saito and O’Halloran lined up zeroes on the board, the Coons had one good chance in the fifth with a 1-out triple from Newton, but Villegas (Parker was already gone) grounded out to the pitcher, and Saito flew out. Crowe struck out to leave Guerin on third base in the sixth, and Saito knew he could at best get a “nice try” out of this one. Saito went nine, and technically had a shutout on four hits in the books – if the team could scratch out a run in the bottom 9th. Good joke. Bill Corkum sat down Guerin and Turner, Crowe singled, but Brady grounded out. Saito’s eyes were glowing, but he was done, no tenth inning for him. Miller lost it in a hurry in the tenth, and the Raccoons managed two hits on the day. 1-0 Titans. Saito 9.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K; Musical illustration for this one: Talk Talk with their much beloved 80s evergreen “Such A Shame”, which was a roaring #66 in the Billboard Hot 100 back in the day. Chris Parker had hurt himself early in the game, he would miss a month with torn ankle ligaments. So, we were digging deeper into our system, disabled Parker, and called up Kenny Crockett. It would only be for one day, though, since Stephen Buell was due off the DL for game 3. And for the next game, we will tune up one of my favorite bands of all time. THE STRANGLERS. Game 2 BOS: SS D. Silva – 2B Henry – RF Thomas – C L. Lopez – LF Reid – CF Alonso – 1B J. Silva – 3B Elliott – P Bautista POR: 2B Ingall – RF Brady – 3B Crowe – C Turner – 1B Wedemeyer – CF Newton – SS Caddock – LF Crockett – P Movonda The Colombian Beauty didn’t have his A game, and it showed. The Titans drew an outrageous three walks and used a pair of those to down him with two runs in the second inning. No, it was not Movonda’s game, and his six innings of 2-run ball looked a lot like a much-inflated cow elephant giving birth to twins. Not pleasant to watch. The best the Raccoons managed in supporting him was Werner Turner hitting into a run-scoring double play in the bottom 6th. Donis shoveled the bags full in the seventh, but Tamburrino got a ground ball to Caddock to end the inning, then struck out three in the top 8th. Jason Kent brought home the tying run in the bottom of the inning with a groundout, and with two out we had Wedemeyer still on second base and Caddock batting. Caddock singled to right, Wedemeyer was waved home, since when do we even get a batter to second base, and was thrown out. More extra innings were on the way here, and Wade pitched two of those, scoreless, and the Coons didn’t do anything. Fairchild pitched two more, and Turner drew a leadoff walk off Andres Otero in the 13th. Wedemeyer bunted(!) him over to second, and Jason Kent, batting .138, was intentionally(!!!) walked. That brought up Caddock, who drew a walk the hard way, bringing up Crockett, who popped out, and now Guerin came out to hit for Fairchild with two out and the bags full. 1-0, 1-1, 2-1 … Otero’s fourth pitch was low – and bounced off Luis Lopez, and away. Turner scored, the show of horrors was over. 3-2 Raccoons. Brady 3-6; Crowe 2-6; Turner 2-4, 2 BB; Tamburrino 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K and 1-1; Wade 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K; Fairchild 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K, W (2-1); That’s what it takes to win. We need a friggin’ EX-COON, in the UMPTEENTH inning, walking the bags FULL, and even THEN …… THEN ….. the CATCHER … to – (sobs) Game 3 BOS: SS D. Silva – 2B Henry – RF Thomas – C L. Lopez – 1B G. Douglas – LF Reid – CF Alonso – 3B Elliott – P B. Smith POR: SS Guerin – RF Brady – 3B Crowe – LF Buell – 1B Wedemeyer – CF Newton – 2B Caddock – C Castillo – P Farley A Guerin error cost a run in the first inning, but Clyde Brady put the game back into a tie with a homer in the bottom half. WHOAH, OFFENSE!! From there, things went downhill. Mike Crowe was ejected for barking at the umpire, Utting replacing him, and Utting made an error in the fourth that put Pat Elliott on base with two down. Elliott stole second off Castillo, who made his debut, and then Smith singled into left and Elliott scored. Farley lost his touch right here, walked two, but somehow got out of the frame when Thomas popped out to Buell. Trailing 2-1, Brady stepped in in the bottom 5th, bases empty, and homered again. Farley fell behind again instantly, as this was really not his day. Then came the seventh, Smith still pitching and largely dazzling the Raccoons, but all of a sudden Castillo, in his first game with us, homered and tied the game AGAIN. De La Rosa came out for the eighth, walked the bags full, Donis came in to face Thomas, and bibbedi-bubbedi-booh, a grand slam decided this game. 7-3 Titans. Brady 2-4, 2 HR, 2 RBI; Castillo 2-4, HR, RBI; Raccoons pitching issued ten walks in this game: four by Farley, one by Miller in the seventh, three by De La Rosa, and then one each by Donis and Costa. No other pitchers were used. Donis, the useless piece of **. Game 4 BOS: SS D. Silva – C J. Silva – RF Reid – 1B G. Douglas – 3B Henry – CF Alonso – LF Thomas – 2B G. Roldán – P Selph POR: SS Guerin – RF Brady – 3B Crowe – LF Buell – 2B Ingall – C Turner – CF Newton – 1B Utting – P M. Lopez The cabinet of nightmares had a no-good Miguel Lopez to offer, who was dumb and lucky enough to strand five Titans in the first two innings, with Guerin holding the shutout intact with two great plays. Bottom 3rd, Newton on base after a Daniel Silva throwing error (that alone was nice enough), Lopez came up to bat with one out. He swung away and took a pitch to deep center, and Alonso was not gonna get that one! It fell in, bounced to the wall, and a bit away from Alonso, while Lopez had turned first base, and was turning second base, and was safe with a triple! 1-0 Coons, runner on third with one out, so Guerin and Brady struck out. Lopez was no good on the mound and gave the run right back in the top 4th, and the Titans left the bags full eventually. Lopez then loaded the bags in the fifth with three straight singles and was yanked. Tamburrino came in for damage control, and got a hard grounder to third from Horace Henry. Crowe made the play and started a double play, third and first, while the go-ahead run scored. The Coons took until the seventh to develop a faint chance at re-tying it. Miller had pitched two scoreless, so the game was still 2-1 Titans, and then Buell walked to start the seventh. Next, he notched his tenth SB of the year, and was in scoring position with no outs and in front of Ingall. An Ingall single would help here. Ingall grounded out to Henry, leaving Buell at second, and then Turner also grounded to Henry, except that this time Henry threw it into the seats. Buell was awarded home, and we were tied. Kent hit for De La Rosa to start the bottom 8th, and singled to right. AGGRO MODE. Kent was set in motion with Guerin batting and Guerin lined into shallow left. Josh Thomas tried to make a play, and instead gave Guerin an RBI double. And although Guerin ended up at third after a wild pitch by Jose Valentín, with no outs, the Coons didn’t score him. Wade came into a 3-2 game, and after a Julio Silva single to start the frame, Guerin made another saving double play grab that nursed Wade through the inning. 3-2 Coons. Kent 1-1; Miller 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K; Raccoons had four hits. The Titans had 11. Watching them play was like chewing on some really old cookie who had been left on a platter for a few weeks. It was all soft and hard at the same time, and tasted like garlic. In other news July 15 – The Warriors acquire INF/OF Ramón Garza (.287, 1 HR, 19 RBI) and a minor leaguer from the Falcons, end send over OF Matt Adams (.356, 10 HR, 36 RBI) and a minor leaguer. July 16 – VAN SP Jose Marquez (8-9, 4.16 ERA) 2-hits the Crusaders in an 8-0 romp. July 17 – DEN SP Wilson Hernandez (6-10, 4.75 ERA) spins a 2-hitter of his own as the Gold Sox stomp the Scorpions, 11-0. July 18 – DAL OF Diego Rodriguez (.370, 6 HR, 54 RBI) has been hitting quite like a machine for a while, and he reaches a 20-game hitting streak with a 3-hit day against the Wolves. We will not mention that there was not much reason to celebrate with the Wolves romping over the Stars, 15-4. Complaints and stuff** Gosh, I hate Daniel Silva. Always on base, and stealing at will, and constantly harassing with his presence. Daniel Silva…. He’s not even deserving to be named Daniel. That beautiful name should be reserved for … (gets watery eyes) … very sp-special … people who … (cries) Marvin Ingall, who was rocketacious the first two months of the year, is batting scantily .200 off the DL. Way to go. And I was just going to mention that Werner Turner was 15/35 in throwing out base stealers until the Titans stole four off him in the second game. For a truly good report (as far as good goes on here), Clyde Brady had been fairly warm (maybe even hot!) in the last few weeks. While he was only batting for half a WAR in 200 AB in his rookie season, he is 29-67 since June 21. There were a few games in there where he didn’t play, but those were still in June. He has appeared in every game since June 30 now, starting all but three. And he’s only 22, too. What did Neil Reece do at 22? That was in 1988. At that point we just traded for him mid-season, and he didn’t make his big league debut until the following year. He OPS’ed .780ish between AA, AAA, and two minor league systems that year. And Daniel Hall? He was only drafted at 22, and OPS’ed .829 for Ham Lake that season. I also checked on Glenn Johnston, whom I remember as such a hot iron at a young age. His debut came in ’88, which was his age 22 season, but he didn’t break out until the next year. By the way, for sad news, Glenn Johnston never was signed anywhere after electing minor league free agency in 1994. He has since retired, last playing professional ball at age 28. Glenny…… Me is sad. Attached Images __________________ Portland Raccoons, 83 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA \| RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here.

09-10-2014, 04:58 PM	#1008
Westheim Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Germany Posts: 11,905	Raccoons (45-48) vs. Loggers (51-42) – July 21-23, 1998 The Loggers were trying to stay in touch with the division-leading Titans, and that would require stomping over the Raccoons now. Well, score three runs a game and you’re in for a sweep. Since they were scoring about 4.5 R/G (almost a full run more than the lowly Raccoons), they shouldn’t have much trouble. Projected matchups: Jose Rivera (6-5, 2.91 ERA) vs. Rafael Garcia (7-10, 3.40 ERA) Kisho Saito (4-7, 2.44 ERA) vs. Davis Sims (9-5, 3.34 ERA) Manuel Movonda (8-6, 2.21 ERA) vs. Jorge Casas (8-5, 5.25 ERA) Game 1 MIL: SS B. Hernandez – 3B Nakayama – RF C. Ramirez – CF Hiwalani – LF O’Day – C L. Ramirez – 1B D. Evans – 2B M. Jones – P R. Garcia POR: SS Guerin – RF Brady – 3B Crowe – LF Buell – 2B Ingall – 1B Wedemeyer – C Turner – CF Kent – P Rivera Jose Rivera faced only two batters before an awkward landing twisted his ankle and had him removed. Kelly Fairchild entered, with Bartolo Hernandez already on second base, and a Wedemeyer error plated the runner and handed Rivera the loss. Fairchild was ineffective, faced only 13 batters and put six of them on base. The Loggers somehow didn’t score against him, and added only one run against Iván Costa, who pitched four innings until his arm was about to come off. The Raccoons managed two hits through six. Buell singled to lead off the seventh, was thrown out trying to take second base, and then Wedemeyer homered. Because of course. In the ninth, Medina allowed a single to Crowe and then Nakayama made an error to put Buell on, bringing the tying run to the plate in a 4-1 game. Ingall lined out hard to Jones for the second out, and then Tamburrino was hit for by Jai Utting, who did what he did best, striking out. 4-1 Loggers. Costa 4.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 2 K; Tamburrino 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K; Sigh. Jose Rivera was not seriously injured. His sore ankle would be healed up in time for his next start. Game 2 MIL: SS B. Hernandez – 3B Nakayama – CF C. Ramirez – LF Hiwalani – C L. Ramirez – 2B Sullivan – RF O’Day – 1B M. Jones – P Sims POR: 2B Ingall – RF Brady – 3B Crowe – LF Buell – 1B Wedemeyer – C Turner – SS Caddock – CF Newton – P Saito Saito was slaughtered right away. Hernandez singled, Nakayama doubled, Hiwalani was plunked, and while Saito struck out Ramirez, when Sullivan reached on catcher’s interference with the bags full, the dams opened. O’Day rammed a double off the centerfield wall that emptied the bags, and the Loggers scored five in the inning. Saito pitched on, facing a 5-0 deficit, and cut it by a pair himself in the bottom 2nd with a 2-run double to center. Wedemeyer homered to put the score at 5-3 in the third, while Saito didn’t allow anything through the fourth, then was whacked again in the fifth for two more runs that just somehow fell in. Bottom 5th, down 7-3, Brady got on, Buell got him forced out, but then Wedemeyer singled to right. Turner came up and shot a double into the gap in left center that plated Buell and Weeds, 7-5, and then Caddock singled to left and Hiwalani botched the pickup, allowing Turner to score. Sims exited with an intentional walk to Newton, and then Ray Hoskins faced pinch-hitter Utting, who grounded out and left Saito on the hook. De La Rosa gave up a run in the seventh that Werner Turner homered back onto the board, but that still left Saito behind. You just KNEW he would lose this one, deserved or not. When Tamburrino was hit for two runs in the eighth, it was just sugar coating, same for Wade in the ninth. 11-7 Loggers. Wedemeyer 2-5, HR, RBI; Turner 3-5, HR, 2B, 3 RBI; Caddock 2-4, RBI; The suckers amassed 15 strikeouts in this game. Of course, because at one point they were actually close to digging out Saito. But Saito must be humiliated under ALL circumstances. I hate them. So does Saito. Game 3 MIL: SS B. Hernandez – 3B Nakayama – RF C. Ramirez – CF Hiwalani – LF O’Day – C L. Ramirez – 1B D. Evans – 2B M. Jones – P Casas POR: 2B Ingall – RF Brady – LF Buell – 1B Wedemeyer – C Turner – SS Guerin – SS Caddock – CF Newton – P Movonda Movonda was beaten not as quickly, but even more definitely by the Loggers. Haruki Nakayama’s 3-run homer in the third inning set the Loggers on irreversible sweep course, and they tagged on more against Movonda, who went seven, but had the score ramped up to 6-1 when Drake Evans doubled home another run off him. In the eighth, Leon Ramirez’ 2-run homer off Antonio Donis was unearned after an Ingall error, but c’mon. Who was still counting runs anyway? 8-2 Loggers. Kent (PH) 1-1; Wedemeyer 2-3, BB; Turner 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Raccoons (45-51) vs. Aces (42-55) – July 24-26, 1998 What is this? A team with a more horrible record than the Atrocicoons? That will be remedied in three days’ time, boys. Don’t worry, even if you’re giving up the fourth-most runs. This team’s offense has more than one black eye … Projected matchups: Randy Farley (8-4, 2.82 ERA) vs. Rafael Barbosa (10-4, 3.09 ERA) Miguel Lopez (6-9, 4.83 ERA) vs. Dan Moriarty (5-8, 4.33 ERA) Jose Rivera (6-6, 2.90 ERA) vs. Alejandro Venegas (6-10, 3.88 ERA) Game 1 LVA: CF J. Douglas – SS Petipas – 3B J. Vargas – RF Mashiba – 2B MacKillop – 1B Granados – C Manuel – LF R. Green – P Barbosa POR: 2B Ingall – RF Brady – LF Buell – 1B Wedemeyer – C Turner – SS Guerin – 3B Caddock – CF Kent – P Farley Marvin Ingall opened the scoring with a leadoff jack in the first, giving Farley a 1-0 lead that proved fragile but wasn’t shattering – for some time. Farley was pressured at times by the Aces (while the Raccoons kept the bases tidy and clean), but made it through six unscathed, however with an elevated pitch count, throwing too many balls by far. He started the seventh facing Royce Green, struck him out (in a full count), then allowed a double to Barbosa. Great job. Now some goofus from the pen had to come in, and with lefty Joe Douglas up, it was Donis. The Aces countered with right-hander Jimmy Erickson to pinch-hit, and Erickson singled a 1-2 pitch up the middle. Barbosa scored, game tied, all hope gone. Daniel Miller failed to contain the fire, the Aces took the lead, and the Raccoons – well, they technically were still in the park, but they were hard to see if not manning the field in the top halves of innings. The Aces entered the bottom 9th up 2-1, out-hitting the Raccoons 11-3, and sent their newest shiny plaything, Charlie Deacon, to close. Buell hit a leadoff double and somehow was bounced around to score and tie the game, sending it to extras. The Aces were fielding an ex-Coon in the bottom 10th, Qi-zhen Geng, which technically constituted forfeit. Caddock singled. Kent bunted him to second base. Newton grounded out, putting the winning run at third with two down for Ingall. An Ingall single, maybe? Nah, he struck out. Erickson took Fairchild, who was in his third inning, deep in the 11th, 3-2 Aces, but Geng remained in the game for the bottom 11th. He loaded the bags with one out, bringing up Guerin, who was 0-4 and hit for with the equally struggling Mike Crowe. He grounded to short for a force play at home, and Caddock then grounded out to end it. 3-2 Aces. Buell 3-4, BB, 2B; Farley 6.1 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K; Dumb**s. We have descended into the games being mere torture. Zero fun. The Aces traded Steven MacKillop to the Miners after this game, acquiring reliever Roberto Delgado (7-7, 4.88 ERA). Game 2 LVA: 1B Granados – SS Petipas – 3B J. Vargas – CF R. Green – 2B J. Zamora – C Manuel – RF J. Douglas – LF Erickson – P Moriarty POR: 2B Ingall – SS Guerin – LF Buell – C Turner – RF Brady – 3B Crowe – CF Newton – 1B Utting – P M. Lopez Lopez survived a 3-walk second inning, while the Raccoons made sure that poor, inept Dan Moriarty survived a sufficient amount of innings without losing his dignity, too, leaving a pair on in the first and third innings, and the bases full in the fourth, and nobody scored. Lopez rebounded nicely from his early spill to pitch seven shutout innings, whiffing six, but got no support either and the game was scoreless through seven. De La Rosa came in for the eighth, was almost done in by a leadoff walk to Mauro Granados, but Taisuke Mashiba was eventually retired for the third out with a nice play by Ingall, leaving Granados at third. Costa pitched a scoreless ninth. Deacon came out for the bottom 9th. One out, Newton singled. Utting looked like a fool as he struck out, and then Villegas hit for Costa and drew a walk. Two down, Ingall up, he was 3-4 on the day, his only out, a K, coming with three on and two out in the fourth. Here, it was two on, two out, and he grounded hard to second, where Jesus Zamora had the ball bounce off the edge of his glove and into the outfield. Newton was frantically waved around third base and scored before Douglas could hurl in the ball. INGALL SINGLE!! 1-0 Raccoons. Ingall 4-5, RBI; Lopez 7.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 6 K; Ingall exceeded the combined hit total of all of his teammates. The Aces lost Royce Green to injury during this game. Hopefully it’s nothing too serious. Well, we won’t be mad if he can’t play on Sunday. Game 3 LVA: CF J. Douglas – SS Petipas – 3B J. Vargas – RF Mashiba – 2B J. Zamora – 1B Granados – C Paredes – LF A. Hopper – P Venegas POR: 2B Ingall – SS Guerin – LF Buell – 1B Wedemeyer – C Castillo – RF Brady – CF Newton – 3B Utting – P Rivera The Coons took a lead in the second inning, as with two on and two out, Rivera singled up the middle and Newton was waved around third base. He became entangled with Luis Paredes at the plate, Newton was safe, but Newton was also hurt and left the game. Kent took over in center, and was soon fooled on fly balls. However, Venegas gave up considerably more. The Coons added two runs in the third, and after Mashiba mashed a homer off Rivera in the fourth, tacked that run right back on, 4-1. Venegas allowed 13 hits and five runs through six innings, while Rivera went into the eighth but was removed after a 1-out walk to Bob Petipas. Tamburrino cleaned up the next two batters. In the bottom 8th, Guerin hit another surprise homer to up the score by two, but it wasn’t necessary. Costa managed to pitch a scoreless ninth. 7-1 Coons. Guerin 3-5, HR, 3 RBI; Buell 3-5, 2B, RBI; Castillo 2-4, BB, RBI; Newton 1-1; Utting 2-4; Rivera 7.1 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 6 K, W (7-6) and 2-2, 2B, RBI; In other news July 21 – LAP SP Fernando Chavez (5-8, 4.81 ERA) is out for the year with a hip muscle strain. July 23 – The Warriors beat the Stars, 7-5, and kill Diego Rodriguez’ hitting streak of 23 games on the way. July 24 – SFB CL William Henderson (5-3, 2.45 ERA, 24 SV) finishes a 4-2 Bayhawks win over the Loggers, notching his 300th career save on the way. July 25 – MIL SP Tim Butler (7-5, 5.23 ERA) 3-hits the Bayhawks in a 7-0 shutout. Complaints and stuff** The Atrocicoons are very atrocious. Dan Nordahl was promoted to AAA this week. Once his BABIP normalized, his stats in AA became very strong. He’s just 19, but he’s ready to make the jump, I think. As far as last year’s top picks are concerned, Julio Mata keeps struggling in AAA and may be due to be demoted again. Attached Images __________________ Portland Raccoons, 83 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA \| RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here.

09-13-2014, 07:56 PM	#1009
Westheim Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Germany Posts: 11,905	Entering the final week in July, we were to stay put. Nobody on this team was achieving too much, except the starting rotation, but I was not keen on the idea of trading pitching now. Movonda certainly had some value to a contending team, however we had not received any proposals for him. The only players inquested into had been Lopez and Donis, so exactly those parts that weren’t helping even a team heading straight for last place. We can’t take on any salary regardless, since our draft extravaganza had been quite expensive. It wasn’t even possible to get back to zero for the year, as we were hideously overbudget at this point. Even trading our two biggest contracts, those of Reece and Saito, would not get us back to zero now. So why even bother? Not that I would trade Reece or Saito under any circumstance. Raccoons (47-52) @ Knights (42-56) – July 27-29, 1998 While the Knights’ pitching was in shambles, and they ranked in the bottom 3 in most categories, and their 414 runs ranked 8th in the CL as well. So there were reasons while they were gracing the bottom of the CL South, but while doing so they were still outscouring the Raccoons by 61 runs this year, and we have yet to beat them in ’98. Projected matchups: Kisho Saito (4-8, 2.81 ERA) vs. Carlos Asquabal (0-2, 7.50 ERA) Manuel Movonda (8-7, 2.48 ERA) vs. Craig Hansen (10-8, 4.31 ERA) Randy Farley (8-4, 2.76 ERA) vs. Tynan Howard (5-11, 3.99 ERA) We learned on Monday that Luke Newton had a mild ankle sprain that would leave him DTD for a few more days. Asquabal, the 38-year old 239-game winner from Trinidad, Cuba, had just come back from a torn labrum. The results have been hideous so far for him, with a 6.91 ERA in five rehab starts in AAA on top of the drubbing he received in his first two starts back in the Bigs. But, you know. He will now pitch against the RACCOONS. And against SAITO. Game 1 POR: 2B Ingall – SS Guerin – LF Buell – 1B Wedemeyer – C Turner – 3B Crowe – RF Brady – CF Villegas – P Saito ATL: 1B J. Jackson – C J. Johnson – 3B Morales – RF Taylor – 2B Givens – SS Tanaka – LF Padilla – CF G. Hall – P Asquabal 76 years of pitching, half of which were rocked out of the gate when the Raccoons batted through the order against Asquabal in a 4-run first inning. Saito was cruising early on, pitching a 3-hit, 1-run game through five innings. In the top 5th, the Raccoons foolishly left the bases loaded, and an inning later, Joe Jackson led off with a triple against Saito. Next, Johnny Johnson grounded to Wedemeyer, wo bungled the ball, Jackson scored, and the dam had just collapsed, and the reservoir emptied into the valley were Saito was standing all alone and got doused when the Knights pushed three grounders through the left side of the infield to tie the game on three unearned runs before Saito struck out pinch-hitter Chris Chapman with the bases loaded to escape. Saito pitched the seventh. In the eighth, Crowe and Brady led off with singles to right off reliever Colby Kirk. Crowe went aggro to third on Brady’s single, the throw by Will Taylor went there, was late, and Brady moved up. Runners in scoring position, no outs, Villegas had his third hit of the day, an 0-2 line drive single to get the Coons into the lead again. Saito was hit for by Utting, who grounded out. Ingall was intentionally walked to load the bags, and Guerin grounded the first pitch he saw from Kirk hard to third, where Jose Morales forced out Villegas, but his throw to first was late, and a run scored. Buell then struck out. Tamburrino came in to pitch, instantly blew Saito’s lead with a single to Givens, a double to Tanaka, and so on and so on. 7-6 Knights. Turner 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Brady 2-4, RBI; Villegas 3-4, 2 RBI; Saito 7.0 IP, 8 H, 4 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K; Game 2 POR: 2B Ingall – RF Brady – LF Buell – 1B Wedemeyer – C Turner – SS Guerin – 3B Crowe – CF Villegas – P Movonda ATL: 2B M. Gomez – 3B Morales – LF Kinnear – CF Árias – C J. Johnson – RF G. Hall – 1B Givens – SS Tanaka – P Hansen More old bones thrown into the grinder in this matchup, which totaled merely 74 years of age. Movonda kept losing his edge at this point in the season, plunking Kinnear and Árias in succession in the first inning, but the Knights didn’t score. The Raccoons as a whole lost Marvin Ingall on a diving grab in the second inning, as he left with a finger injury. The Coons were donated runs in the top 3rd, when Movonda led off and reached when Givens dropped his pop up. Caddock in the leadoff spot doubled, and Brady walked. Hansen threw a wild 1-0 pitch to Buell to plate Movonda, then walked Buell. All recipes for a blowout were there, and then the Raccoons furuncled themselves outta there with three pop outs that were not dropped. The Knights were amused by so much incompetence and lightly flung two runs on four consecutive singles off Movonda onto the board in the bottom 3rd. The Coons tied the game in the fourth on a sac fly, and the in the fifth loaded the bags with a leadoff double by Buell, an intentional walk to Wedemeyer that befuddled anyone in attendance, and then a Turner single. Here they had the bases loaded with no outs, and RISP hits continued to elude them. The best they managed was Guerin’s RBI groundout, and that was all the losers got. Movonda was not on top of his game, lumbered into the seventh, where he got Morales out, then yielded to Donis with Kinnear and Árias up, in a 4-3 game. Since getting two outs without killing somebody or the lead was too much asked from Donis, De La Rosa had to relieve him the same inning, but got out of it. The Coons left runners in scoring position in the top 9th, leaving Wade with no cushion, and he promptly walked the leadoff man, PH Teófilo Padilla. The runner was on third base with two out and Kinnear at the plate. Walking Kinnear was not getting Wade into better territory, so he had to deal with him. One strike Kinnear ripped through, another strike Kinnear ripped through, and then Kinnear finally ripped into one, and sent a huge fly to deep right. Clyde Brady ran after it for no apparent reason. Ballgame. 5-4 Knights. Caddock 2-4; Wedemeyer 2-4, BB; De La Rosa 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K; Yep, Ingall broke his finger. No more Ingall singles ‘til September. So, roster moves: Ingall to the DL, which coincided with Neil Reece coming off the DL. Kent was demoted, and we brought up an infielder in Brent McLaughlin, a rather obvious choice. Have I mentioned that I hate this job, lately? Game 3 POR: RF Brady – 3B Crowe – CF Reece – LF Buell – SS Guerin – C Castillo – 1B Wedemeyer – 2B Caddock – P Farley ATL: C J. Johnson – 3B Morales – LF Kinnear – RF Taylor – CF Árias – 1B J. Jackson – 2B Chapman – SS Tanaka – P Howard A massacre took place in Atlanta this Wednesday, with Tynan Howard slaughtering Raccoon after Raccoon. The Knights rushed out to an early 2-0 lead over Farley, while Howard struck out nine Coons in the first five innings. In the top 6th, Crowe was on base with two out, when Reece grounded hard to third. Morales had it, to first, Jackson dropped it, and the Coons had two men on. Buell then lined a double into the corner and Reece made it around to tie the game. Howard reached ten strikeouts with a K to Castillo in the seventh, but then ran out of steam and was replaced in the top 8th with one out after a 4-pitch walk to Neil Reece. Nothing came of that threat. After Farley had gone seven, Miller pitched the eighth. Donis, with Kinnear leading off, came out for the ninth, walked Kinnear, walked Taylor, and was 3-0 on Árias, when the centerfielder stabbed at a pitch and grounded into a force at second. Runners on the corners, one out, Costa replaced the bag full of ** to save the unsaveable. He struck out Padilla, but Chapman singled up the middle. 3-2 Knights. Buell 2-4, 2 RBI; Farley 7.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 6 K and 2-3; That’s three walkoff losses in one series, and while we’ve been around some time I can’t remember this has EVER happened before. We are having one of those bullpen episodes, obviously. This is in addition to the offensive episode that has been going on for 16 months now. Headaches. Raccoons (47-55) @ Condors (63-39) – July 31-August 2, 1998 From the Knights we move on to a good team. We are 3-3 against Tijuana this year, which is no indication for either team’s strength. Their 450 runs scored ranked third in the CL, while the pitching staff was the best in the Continental League, allowing only 377 runs. Yes, they are outscoring the Coons by almost a hundred runs (85 actually) and have a good chance to actually reach one-double-oh in this series. Projected matchups: Miguel Lopez (6-9, 4.54 ERA) vs. Woody Roberts (10-4, 2.52 ERA) Jose Rivera (7-6, 2.79 ERA) vs. Juan Lara (8-6, 4.51 ERA) Kisho Saito (4-8, 2.74 ERA) vs. Harry Griggs (13-3, 2.48 ERA) Game 1 POR: RF Brady – 3B Crowe – CF Reece – LF Buell – C Turner – SS Caddock – 1B Castillo – 2B McLaughlin – P M. Lopez TIJ: SS Gorden – C F. Jackson – RF Wales – LF Horn – 3B O’Morrissey – 1B Galindo – 2B Boyle – CF L. Maldonado – P Roberts The Condors took advantage of a misplay in center by Neil Reece that gave Dale Wales a triple with two down in the first. Martin Horn singled up the middle, and the Condors were up 1-0. Lopez then gave a run away for free in the fifth, which was led off by Roberts, and Lopez’ first pitch hit Roberts in the side. The Condors came up with two hits, 2-0. That was well enough. The Raccoons sucked abysmally and managed a grand total of two hits against the Condors’ staff. One of those was a 1-out triple by McLaughlin in the top 8th, and he scored on a groundout. That was all. 2-1 Condors. Lopez 7.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, L (6-10); On the bright side, we were first hand witnesses to Andres Ramirez getting everybody home early for the 643rd time in his career. Even more significant was Woody Roberts’ 250th career win. Game 2 POR: RF Brady – 3B Crowe – CF Reece – LF Buell – C Turner – 1B Wedemeyer – SS Guerin – 2B Caddock – P Rivera TIJ: SS Boyle – 2B Brewer – RF Wales – LF Horn – 3B O’Morrissey – 1B Galindo – C Vinson – CF Sanders – P J. Lara Caddock’s 2-run homer in the second inning had the Coons take the lead, and four hits in the third plated two more runs for the Coons as Juan Lara was roughed up early on. Rivera was strong in this game and only allowed an unearned run in the fifth, while the roof came in on the Condors bullpen just as much as it had on Lara. By the seventh, the Raccoons were up 8-1, drawing additional blood in fury after Clyde Brady had been hit in the foot by Lara, had semi-comically struck himself in the helmet with the bat in one not-so-fluid motion, and had been carted off the field. Well, somewhere, humiliation for this team had to come from. Rivera was taken deep by Vinson, who was not even batting .200, in the seventh, and Brewer and Wales hit hard liners off him in the eighth, which removed him from the game. The Raccoons had the bags full with one out in the top 8th, didn’t score, then had already plated a pair against ex-Coon Roberto Carrillo in the ninth and had the bags full and still nobody out, until Mike Crowe grounded hard to Ben O’Morrissey, who started a triple play. Iván Costa had driven in the runs in the top 9th with a single, having collected two outs in the eighth and was penciled in for the ninth as well. With one out, Costa strike out Michael Sanders, but Turner was called out for interference. Up 10-3, collapse seemed imminent, and the next two batters reached as well, driving in Sanders. With two out, Costa walked Wales, and had to face Horn, with Wade getting ready. Collapse could be felt all over the park now. But, in a sudden twist of events, Horn struck out against the crumbling Costa, and that was the game. 10-4 Raccoons. Reece 3-5, 2 2B; Buell 2-2, 3 BB; Guerin 3-5, RBI; Caddock 4-5, HR, 2 2B, 3 RBI; Rivera 7.0 IP, 9 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, W (8-6) and 1-4; No word yet on Brady on the various injuries he did to himself. Game 3 POR: 3B Crowe – 2B Caddock – CF Reece – LF Buell – C Turner – 1B Wedemeyer – SS Guerin – RF Newton – P Saito TIJ: 2B Brewer – C F. Jackson – RF Wales – LF Horn – 3B O’Morrissey – SS Gorden – 1B Boyle – CF L. Maldonado – P Griggs Saito allowed three hits through five innings, including two doubles for two runs. The Coons had two hits and seven whiffs against Harry Griggs who was going hard for win #14. Saito singled up the middle to lead off the sixth, and then Crowe hit a howling liner to deep center that went over Michael Sanders (who had replaced an injured Maldonado) and while Saito scored easily(!), Crowe came into third with a triple and carried the tying run. As Griggs was trying to calm the storm, Caddock singled into left, tying the game, and then Reece hit a thundering blast to deep center that bounced on top of the batter’s eye structure. Well, that had escalated quickly! Buell walked and Wedemeyer got on. With two out, Newton took Griggs’ first pitch into shallow center. Sanders tried in vain to catch the bloop, failed, bobbled it shortly, and Buell scored easily. Saito then flew out to the warning track on an 0-2 pitch to end the frame. Griggs was more or less stellar outside this sixth inning, striking out 11 Raccoons, but also allowed a solo home run to Werner Turner in the eighth inning, but Michael Sanders put that homer back onto the board for the home team off Saito leading off the bottom 8th. Saito then retired Serafim Laborinhos and David Brewer before retiring from this game. Daniel Miller replaced him with the intent to collect four outs in the 6-3 game. Trying new things and such. He entered in a double switch that put Castillo at first base. Castillo also opened the ninth with a walk, and the Coons loaded the bags with no outs. The Condors threw in Andres Ramirez(!) but this one was blowing up. Reece singled into shallow left center to plate Castillo, 7-3, and then Stephen Buell, who had done nothing but failing all week, emptied the bags with a double to the wall in right center, 10-3. Buell was left unscored, but Miller – who still came to bat and walked! – finished this one. 10-3 Raccoons. Crowe 2-5, 3B, RBI; Reece 3-5, HR, 3 RBI; Saito 7.2 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, W (5-8) and 2-3; Miller 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K, SV (1) and 0-0, BB; Kishooo!! Little Daniel!! Neeeeeeil!!! In other news July 27 – LVA OF Royce Green (.247, 12 HR, 47 RBI) will miss three weeks with a strained back muscle. July 27 – The same day, the Aces acquire OF Forest Hartley (.348, 4 HR, 34 RBI) and a minor leaguer for grizzled veteran MR Richard Cunningham (1-1, 4.32 ERA, 1 SV), who is 38 by now and had been rarely used by the Aces. July 28 – CHA SP Angel Romero (9-8, 2.43 ERA) 3-hits the Indians in dominating fashion in a 2-0 win. July 28 – The Bayhawks’ young phenom SP Jorge Chapa (8-5, 2.58 ERA) is due to miss a few weeks with a calf strain. July 28 – LAP 1B Marty Battle (.316, 9 HR, 50 RBI) has a 20-game hitting streak patched together. July 29 – Atop the CL North, the Titans and Loggers strike a deal that sends MR Andres Otero (3-1, 2.31 ERA) to Milwaukee, while Boston welcomes INF Haruki Nakayama (.272, 4 HR, 40 RBI) and a minor leaguer. July 29 – The Cyclones shut down the Pacifics, 5-1, with Battle going 0-4 to have his streak end at 20 games. July 31 – Tijuana’s Woody Roberts (11-4, 2.38 ERA) deals in a 2-1 win over the Raccoons for his 250th W. Roberts was the eighth overall pick in the 1980 amateur draft and has spent his whole career with the Condors, debuting in 1982, for a 250-163 record and a 3.11 ERA, while also logging 2,973 strikeouts – the all-time ABL record mark. He is second to Craig Hansen and third overall (behind HOF Juan Correa) in career wins. August 1 – MIL RF/LF Cristo Ramirez (.334, 4 HR, 45 RBI) collects six base hits as the Loggers squeeze past the Falcons, 11-10, including two doubles and accounting for 4 RBI. Ramirez is the first player to collect six hits in a game since LVA Andres Manuel did it in September 1996 – also against the Falcons. It is the sixth time overall the Falcons had an opposing batter collect six knocks, out of 31 instances in ABL history, and the first time it has not happened in their own ballpark. The other four 6-hitters against them were authored by RIC Riley Simon (1978), DEN Francisco Lopez (1981), POR Daniel Hall (1989), and OCT Alejandro Olvera (1990). No Falcon has ever had six hits in a game. Ramirez is the first Logger to achieve the feat in 20 years. Both Ethan Michael and Francois Dédé hat 6-hit games in 1978 for Milwaukee. August 2 – The future looks grim for 27-year old SAC SP Joe Mann (3-4, 3.94 ERA). He has suffered a ruptured UCL and might miss all of this and all of next season. Complaints and stuff** Back-to-back 10-run games against the Condors? Who are you clones and where have you chained up my clowns?? Saito now has 231 career wins, 19 to go to 250. At this pace, even the 2-year extension won’t be enough… He won’t make it to 3,000 K regardless. He’s at 2,640 now and his pace has slowed down to where he won’t top 150 for a year anymore, and he’s on a pace for 141 this year. Assuming a further annual 10% decrease as he heads for forty, he would top out at 2,925. The Canadiens now have Jackie Lagarde AND Richard Cunningham in their pen. Grant West – according to latest reports – is still fishing in Montana, but I wouldn’t be shocked if he wound up in the Canadiens pen as well soon. Stats of the week: Top 5 Pitchers in strikeouts for the Raccoons Kisho Saito - 2,162 Scott Wade - 1,204 Logan Evans - 1,022 Jason Turner - 997 Christopher Powell - 774 Note: stats and standings below include the first game against the Bayhawks, because I wanted to have Brady’s undisclosed injury cleared before heading to bed, and started that series – against my principles… - and forgot to take pictures, and yes I am that much of an idiot. The arithmetically adept reader will spot that the Waterbirds hung an L on the Colombian Beauty in the series opener. More on that later, and not at 11. Attached Images __________________ Portland Raccoons, 83 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA \| RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here. Last edited by Westheim; 09-13-2014 at 08:00 PM.

09-14-2014, 03:58 PM	#1010
Westheim Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Germany Posts: 11,905	Raccoons (49-56) @ Bayhawks (61-44) – August 3-5, 1998 While the Bayhawks were not quite as atrocious at the plate as the Raccoons, their 10th-ranked offense certainly held them back in their quest for the CL South title. Their pitching was front page caliber, and their rotation was 2nd only to the Coons’. Projected matchups: Manuel Movonda (8-7, 2.55 ERA) vs. Kenny Frye (5-6, 4.14 ERA) Randy Farley (8-4, 2.75 ERA) vs. Rafael Lopez (4-6, 5.65 ERA) Miguel Lopez (6-10, 4.43 ERA) vs. Tony Hamlyn (8-8, 2.80 ERA) Hamlyn will be the first left-hander we’ll face in over a week. This week will be the centerpiece of a 13-day stretch of games, so Neil Reece could have the middle game off, unless Buell gets rested first. Those two are basically the only players out there every day now. Game 1 POR: 3B Crowe – SS Guerin – CF Reece – LF Buell – 1B Wedemeyer – C Turner – 2B Caddock – RF Villegas – P Movonda SFB: LF D. Woods – C G. Ortíz – RF P. Perez – 2B Chandler – CF Marquez – 1B Cavazos – 3B J. Gomez – SS Powys – P Frye Neither starter was any good. Both allowed six hits through three innings, and while Movonda at least got a few strikeouts to hold the damage to one run, Frye was also wild and the Coons were up 3-1, although that lead went down to 3-2 in the fourth with a Jorge Gomez home run. Frye continued to suck, but the Raccoons sucked more and failed to topple him. In turn, Movonda was battered in the fifth. It started innocently (rather) with a pitch into Pedro Perez’ triceps, but the Bayhawks rapped off doubles to plate three runs in the inning. The Atrocicoons left the bases loaded (with one out) in the sixth, and that sealed Movonda’s fate, who pitched to one more batter in the sixth, resulting in Bayhawks hit #11, then was removed. Donis was kind enough to wave the runner home. The Raccoons once more left two runners in scoring position en route to a bitter loss. 6-3 Bayhawks. Guerin 2-5; Reece 2-3, 2 BB; Caddock 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Fairchild 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K; Clyde Brady was revealed to have suffered a foot contusion and would require two weeks of rest. This is best done on the DL. And so Jason Kent returns once more. Game 2 POR: SS Guerin – 2B Caddock – CF Reece – 3B Crowe – 1B Wedemeyer – C Turner – LF Newton – RF Villegas – P Farley SFB: LF D. Woods – C G. Ortíz – 1B Carroll – RF P. Perez – 2B Chandler – CF Marquez – 3B P. Hernandez – SS Powys – P R. Lopez Randyboy made the cardinal error of allowing a 2-out, 2-run double to the opposing pitcher, even while knowing that his team sucked hard. That happened in the second, and the Raccoons didn’t even reach base until the fourth, when Guerin hit an infield single. Caddock instantly hit into a double play, before Reece and Crowe singled. That brought up Wedemeyer with two out, an instant burial for any inning. Well, except this one. Wedemeyer reconquered the elitist .200 mark for his batting average with a towering 3-run homer to right center. Yet, this didn’t ease Rafael Lopez’ suffering. Turner singled. Newton walked. And Villegas unleashed the next 3-run bomb. When Farley made it seven straight batters reaching base with a liner up the middle for a single, Lopez was yanked, and Guerin lined out to Pat Chandler. The Bayhawks had a choking grip on Farley in the fifth, but a heroic play by Villegas bailed him out with only one run across for a 6-3 score. He then pitched a perfect sixth before being hit for in the top 7th. From here, the Raccoons got scoreless relief from Miller, De La Rosa, and Costa, while they also hung a 3-spot on Johnny Smith in the eighth. 9-3 Raccoons. Turner 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Villegas 2-3, HR, 3 RBI; Game 3 POR: 3B Crowe – SS Guerin – CF Reece – LF Buell – C Castillo – RF Newton – 2B McLaughlin – 1B Utting – P M. Lopez SFB: CF Marquez – C G. Ortíz – 1B Carroll – 2B Chandler – 3B P. Hernandez – SS Powys – RF D. Woods – LF M. Rodriguez – P Hamlyn The first three Furballs all hit singles, plating two runs in the first inning against Hamlyn. However, Lopez was borderline awful from the start, too, and the Bayhawks got one run right back off him. And the Raccoons were the Raccoons, having runners in scoring position in the third inning with nobody out – and didn’t score with pop outs by Reece and Buell, and Castillo struck out. The highlight of the game came in the bottom 3rd, as Guerin made a tremendous leaping grab on Alfredo Marquez’ line drive to rob him of a hit. Even the home fans had to acknowledge him jumping up about four feet from a stand. It barely held a win bid together for Lopez, who was on the verge of losing it in the sixth. Still in a 2-1 game, he loaded the bags with one out and was hooked. Tamburrino came in with the volcano bubbling chunks of magma already, struck out Mike Powys, and Dan Woods unleashed a soft pop to Reece to end the inning. Miller and De La Rosa pitched scoreless innings, and while the Raccoons continued to step in at the plate in the top halves of innings, they merely did so to satisfy the rule book, but didn’t long to achieve anything. Scott Wade entered the 2-1 game in the ninth, allowed a 2-out double to Marcos Rodriguez, and then served a huge fly to Ramiro Cavazos into deep center. Neil Reece tore out an arm and a leg to get there – and luckily did. 2-1 Raccoons. Crowe 2-4; Reece 2-4, RBI; Tamburrino 0.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, IR 3-0; For bad news, Stephen Buell suffered a hamstring strain in the course of the game while turning first base and will unfortunately miss most of the remaining season. Six weeks is the number flung around by the medical staff. Yay, WAY TO GO. While Buell was heading for the DL for the third time this season, we called up 24-year old Mark Kowalchuk from AAA. Our second round pick from 1992 was not having a good year in AAA, but then again, that AAA team was getting mauled pretty badly by the competition… He was merely OPS’ing .623, but the season had long passed the point of bothering. He will be the 281st player to don the brown shirt. Kowalchuk, batting right-handed and playing all corner positions, has trouble making contact with balls. Pretty bad point to get started… Raccoons (51-57) vs. Canadiens (43-63) – August 6-9, 1998 The Canadiens’ pitching was not quite as horrible as early in the year anymore, but they still ran a 5.5 R/G allowed mark and were soundly in last place in that respect. However, like everybody, they were outscoring the Raccoons (435-400) and were ninth in offense in the CL. Projected matchups: Jose Rivera (8-6, 2.77 ERA) vs. Manuel Chavez (7-8, 6.15 ERA) Kisho Saito (5-8, 2.78 ERA) vs. Jose Dominguez (9-6, 4.55 ERA) Manuel Movonda (8-8, 2.82 ERA) vs. John Collins (4-15, 5.26 ERA) Randy Farley (9-4, 2.82 ERA) vs. Manuel Hernandez (3-12, 6.09 ERA) Don’t get humiliated. Don’t get humiliated. Don’t get… Here we had left, right, right, left for the opposing pitchers, so I was inclined to rest Neil Reece in game 2. Not that Saito would be thrilled. Someone hide his sword. Please. Game 1 VAN: RF Givens – LF P. Durán – CF Ledesma – 1B Mosley – C J. Lopez – 3B Sutton – 2B Corona – SS Duarte – P Chavez POR: 3B Crowe – SS Guerin – CF Reece – C Turner – 1B Wedemeyer – LF Newton – 2B McLaughlin – RF Villegas – P Rivera Jorge Ledesma took Rivera deep in the first inning to get the Canadiens ahead. The pushover Chavez meanwhile retired the first 12 Raccoons he faced, until Turner hit a leadoff single in the fifth in the 1-0 game. Nothing came of that, of course, with Newton hitting into a double play in time. Bill Mosley reached 20 homers on the season with a 2-piece off Rivera in the sixth, and a McLaughlin error contributed to another run in the eighth. The Raccoons didn’t do ** against the pushover. That pushover pitched a 4-hit shutout. 4-0 Canadiens. Game 2 VAN: 2B B. Butler – C J. Lopez – 1B Mosley – RF Givens – CF Ledesma – LF Moore – 3B Sutton – SS Duarte – P Dominguez POR: CF Newton – 2B Caddock – C Turner – 3B Crowe – 1B Wedemeyer – SS Guerin – LF Utting – RF Kent – P Saito In short, Saito was doomed. That the Canadiens started the second inning with four straight singles wasn’t helping a whole lot, and Saito was torn to pieces right in the same inning. As he came unwound, he walked in two runs, and the Canadiens scored five of their men. The Raccoons had lost already, but everybody could enjoy another two and a half hours of a team on strike. Saito went five, and then on the way to the showers broke a chair, smashed the bat rack, and tossed over the Gaytirade barrel in the dugout, before Godzilla-ing his way through the clubhouse. He didn’t come back because there was no reason for him to, although Werner Turner had put three runs on the board in the third inning with a double. However, that was the only inning the Raccoons reached base as long as Saito was out. He knew he had lost, I knew he had lost, the scant attendance knew he had lost. The Raccoons had a whopping two base runners past the third inning. 6-3 Canadiens. Caddock 2-4; Turner 2-4, 2B, 3 RBI; Game 3 VAN: RF Givens – LF P. Durán – CF Ledesma – 1B Mosley – 2B B. Butler – C J. Lopez – 3B Sutton – SS Duarte – P J. Collins POR: 3B Crowe – 2B Caddock – CF Reece – C Turner – 1B Utting – SS Guerin – RF Newton – LF Kowalchuk – P Movonda Movonda pitched seven innings, allowing five hits and one run, which was of course enough to trail in the game. The annoying Mosley drove in the run again, but vastly more annoying were the Suckoons, who had one chance in the sixth, having two men in scoring position with one out, but neither Turner nor Utting could come up with a productive AB. The ninth, down 1-0, Reece lined out hard to right, Turner struck out, and Castillo hit for Utting, smacking a double to the base of the wall in center. Guerin hit an infield single, bringing up Newton. He flew out to Givens. 1-0 Canadiens. Crowe 2-3, BB; Caddock 2-4; Guerin 3-4, 2B; Movonda 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 3 K, L (8-9); Give Saito the sword back and say I need to talk to him. Also, Jason Kent was banished as Chris Parker came off the DL. Game 4 VAN: RF Givens – 3B Sutton – 1B Mosley – 2B B. Butler – LF J. Wilson – CF Moore – C Guerrero – SS Duarte – P M. Hernandez POR: 3B Crowe – SS Guerin – CF Reece – C Turner – LF Parker – 2B McLaughlin – 1B Kowalchuk – RF Villegas – P Farley The Canadiens, who had already drawn us a nose, stripped us of our pants and had painted or tails pink in this series, completed the total defacing of the franchise by having the first run of this game batted in by a banished catcher who couldn’t bat even .100 for the Raccoons earlier in the year. Guerrero’s 1-out RBI single in the second got the Canadiens going as they plated two in the frame. Farley was blown up for good in the third, issuing among other crap two bases-loaded walks in a 3-run frame. 5-0 Canadiens if anyone was counting. Henry Givens hit another leadoff jack off Farley in the fourth (the third had started that way) and what little of Farley hadn’t been smeared on the fences was mobbed up by the groundscrew. The game was out of hand, apparently. Starting with the sixth, Iván Costa was thrown into the lion’s den that was a then 6-2 game. He would go four innings of 1-run ball, while the Raccoons had home runs from Turner in the seventh for two runs, and Villegas in the eighth, a solo shot, to crawl back into the game, and entered the ninth 7-5 down and with their top of the lineup to go against Jesus Morales. Crowe grounded out, but Guerin hit a double to left, and Reece hit a bloop into shallow center to score him. 7-6, tying run on first with one out. Turner walked, pushing Reece to second. Castillo struck out in the #5 hole, hitting for Costa, and McLaughlin – popped out to second. 7-6 Canadiens. Crowe 2-5, 3B, RBI; Guerin 3-4, BB, 2B; Reece 3-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Villegas 2-4, HR, RBI; Costa 4.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K; On the way home, I bought up every single piece of chocolate at two gas stations, then locked myself in the bathroom with $850 worth of candy, and cried the whole night. Was worth it. In other news August 3 – BOS C/1B Luis Lopez (.252, 2 HR, 38 RBI) has torn his ACL and is looking at about a 9-month rehab. August 3 – Hamstring tendinitis will put LVA 1B/3B Javier Vargas (.308, 13 HR, 52 RBI) on the shelf for three weeks. August 5 – MIL SP Rafael Garcia (9-12, 3.34 ERA) is out for a month with inflammation in his elbow. Complaints and stuff If there was a SLIGHT chance for the team to finish fourth heading into August, it is all gone now. They will finish last. And deservedly so. They are crap. They are *. They deserve to be sold to Cambodia. NO! They deserve to be DONATED to Cambodia!! Raccoons against CL North: 22-36. We’re drumming the Indians, while every other opponent is having us for breakfast. Raccoons offense ranks through August 9 (June 14) AVG – .247 – 12th (10th) OBP – .314 – 12th (11th) SLG – .354 – 12th (8th) OPS – .668 – 12th (11th) R – 409 – 12th (12th) H – 971 – t-9th (10th) XBH – 257 – 12th (t-8th) HR – 71 – t-2nd (1st) BB – 364 – 11th (11th) K – 701 – 8th (4th) SB – 45 – 9th (t-9th) Beware the Suckoons. Attached Images __________________ Portland Raccoons, 83 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA \| RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here.

09-15-2014, 10:05 AM	#1011
harrumph Minors (Rookie Ball) Join Date: Aug 2014 Posts: 41	I've been making my through this thread for the past couple weeks, just got caught up, and am looking forward to more! Great reading, and it's fun to see the mind of a German baseball fan at work (I'm an American living in Berlin, myself). Thanks for writing this, and go Coons! Na, vielleicht nächstes Jahr . . .

09-15-2014, 02:28 PM	#1012
Westheim Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Germany Posts: 11,905	Thanks for reading! Somebody's still reading through all this? Gotta talk to publishers to have it printed and sold! The German baseball mind boggles occasionally on the concepts of the game. It took me about 15 seasons of managing (including my PureSim time and aborted OOTP games, so about into the mid-80s with the Coons) to get roster management and lineup composition about right. And even now I will sometimes - ... well, anybody remember the Salazar arbitration hearings? About my favorite bit of baseball sim history for me is that in my first season in PureSim with the 2008 Mets I traded David Wright, who was batting .180ish like three weeks into the season, for Casey Blake ... I think I got a bit better since in terms of actions as well as presentation of said actions, but you'll be the judges Btw, from that game I still have a warm feeling for the real Gregor Blanco, whom I also traded for at some point, and aced for these wrightless Mets. (Also had Cano at some point...) And I have by now learned that most of the time the trades you don't do that you will regret the most, like NOT trading Vicente Ruíz for The Colombian Beauty about 12 years ago......... Regular service will resume at some point this week but I am not feeling well today and just can't bother (yet still wrote like 300 words, you just can't shut me up)... __________________ Portland Raccoons, 83 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA \| RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here.

09-24-2014, 04:32 PM	#1014
Westheim Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Germany Posts: 11,905	Raccoons (57-67) vs. Loggers (71-53) – August 24-26, 1998 Second best rotation, second best offense in the league. What more do you need to know about the Loggers, who were running after the Titans in the division. The Titans, which we trailed by almost 20 games already. We were also playing a mighty .250 against Milwaukee this year. Projected matchups: Kisho Saito (5-10, 3.01 ERA) vs. Martin Garcia (16-7, 2.45 ERA) Manuel Movonda (9-10, 2.71 ERA) vs. Simon Walton (1-2, 6.45 ERA) Randy Farley (10-5, 3.09 ERA) vs. Hector Martinez (0-1, 1.13 ERA) Game 1 MIL: CF Fletcher – SS B. Hernandez – RF C. Ramirez – LF Hiwalani – C L. Ramirez – 3B J. Perez – 1B D. Evans – 2B J. Lopez – P M. Garcia POR: 3B Crowe – RF Brady – CF Reece – C Turner – LF Parker – SS Guerin – 1B Utting – 2B McLaughlin – P Saito Kisho had no chance. He knew it, I knew it, everybody knew it. Martin Garcia was on pace for a triple crown, and Saito lacked even the basics of his usual stuff. The Loggers got him for a run in the third, which was two innings earlier than the Raccoons ever managed to get on base. Also in the fifth, the Loggers left the bags full, after leaving two men on in the third. Saito was more or less terrible, struck out none, and allowed a home run to light-hitting Bartolo Hernandez in the seventh. Garcia went eight, struck out eight, and allowed only two hits and made an error that put Guerin on second base – the furthest any Raccoon ventured in the game. 2-0 Loggers. Turner’s hitting streak ends at 15 games. Neil Reece managed to nab a 2-out single in the ninth off Ricardo Medina to extend a 10-game hitting streak for another day. That was our third and last hit of the day. You didn’t honestly have money on the Raccoons in this one, did you? Game 2 MIL: CF Fletcher – SS B. Hernandez – RF C. Ramirez – LF Hiwalani – C L. Ramirez – 3B J. Perez – 1B D. Evans – 2B Sullivan – P Walton POR: 3B Crowe – RF Brady – CF Reece – C Turner – SS Guerin – LF Utting – 1B Wedemeyer – 2B McLaughlin – P Movonda Werner Turner’s leadoff jack in the second inning opened the scoring, but any celebrations were certainly premature – by about five minutes. In the top 3rd, the Loggers took the Colombian Beauty apart forcefully, plating four runs, and that was it for the game, since the Raccoons were proven to be unable to hurt a 6+ ERA starter. Movonda couldn’t get out of the fifth inning as he got socked some more, and ended up with 4.1 innings and six earned runs against him. Simon Walton in turn pitched a complete game on four hits, killing Neil Reece’s streak in the process. The highlight from the Coons’ point of view was Kelly Fairchild pitching scoreless long relief. 6-1 Loggers. Turner 2-4, HR, RBI; Fairchild 4.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K; My assistant says I am pale recently. He scheduled a doctor’s appointment for Thursday, our off day. Game 3 MIL: CF Fletcher – SS B. Hernandez – RF C. Ramirez – LF Hiwalani – C L. Ramirez – 1B D. Evans – 2B Sullivan – 3B Buchanan – P H. Martinez POR: RF Brady – SS Guerin – CF Reece – C Turner – LF Parker – 3B Utting – 1B Wedemeyer – 2B Caddock – P Farley Conceicao Guerin’s speed was utilized to generate offense in this game, manufacturing runs both in the first and third innings, once driven in by Reece and Turner each, as he stole second base both times. Farley singled in another run himself, while he held the Loggers remarkably short early on. Hector Martinez was taken apart in the fifth inning, when Guerin led off with a single, and Reece and Turner followed with another single, and a 2-run double, respectively. Martinez was laden with six runs in four plus, like Movonda the day before. Farley however was flawless. By the eighth, he lost a bit of control, and a light drizzle set in. The drizzle subsided eventually as the Raccoons loaded the bags in the bottom 8th (and left them loaded), and Farley came back for the ninth, where he struck out the obnoxious Hiwalani, and then got easy grounders from Ramirez and Evans. 7-0 Furballs. Guerin 4-5, 2B, RBI; Reece 3-4, BB, RBI; Turner 3-5, 2B, 3 RBI; Farley 9.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 4 K, W (11-5) and 1-4, RBI; After shutting out the Canadiens on six hits on May 20, Randyboy has now delivered his second career shutout and bested his performance by axing a third of the hits. He is in that ROTY conversation, I tell you. Go Randy! 24 years old, and the sky is the limit for him. On Thursday, the doctor found out my I am fine, apart from sleeping too little. A bit fat, though. We blamed the chocolate, and eventually the Raccoons. He advised me to bat Brady fifth, and to re-visit the Three Sisters right after the season ended. Raccoons (58-69) @ Falcons (59-67) – August 28-30, 1998 The Falcons were similar to the Loggers in ranking 3rd in offense, but their pitching didn’t match the pace, ranking 7th in runs conceded. That still didn’t pan out for them for a winning record, but a -8 pythagorean difference was to blame, too. (Coons: -3). We are 5-1 against them this season and have already claimed the season series. Projected matchups: Miguel Lopez (8-12, 4.28 ERA) vs. Angel Romero (11-9, 2.63 ERA) Jose Rivera (11-7, 2.61 ERA) vs. Terry Wilson (12-8, 3.84 ERA) Kisho Saito (5-11, 2.99 ERA) vs. Carlos Castro (13-10, 3.24 ERA) All southpaws here, which makes Hector Martinez the only right-hander we faced all week. Let’s hope he won’t be the only one we beat… Game 1 POR: 3B Crowe – SS Guerin – CF Reece – C Turner – RF Brady – LF Utting – 1B Castillo – 2B McLaughlin – P M. Lopez CHA: RF A. Lopez – 2B J. Barrón – SS H. Green – 3B M. Hall – CF M. Adams – 1B G. Adams – LF Morton – C J. Rivera – P Romero A fielding error by Arturo Lopez in the first inning greatly helped the Coons to score two runs early. While two runs weren’t near enough for Miguel Lopez most of the year, he was in control of the game apart from a tight fifth inning, where a key double play started by Guerin’s nifty grab bailed him out of runners on the corners with one out. The score of 2-0 stood, but the weather gradually worsened. It started to rain right after the fifth inning and the game was soon sent into a delay that lasted an hour plus and removed Lopez from the game. Daniel Miller struck out Hubert Green after the delay, taking over a 1-1 count from Lopez, to end the sixth. Tamburrino came out for the seventh and Matt Adams hit a 1-out single. Glenn Adams (the ex-Coon) then grounded to the left side, and Crowe capitally missed that ball, giving the runners two bases. Joe Morton tied the game with a double, 2-2, all runs unearned. The guy who started the error parade in the first, Arturo Lopez, then homered off Donis in the eighth. The Coons entered the ninth trailing 3-2 and facing Holden Gorman, who issued a leadoff walk to Werner Turner. Newton ran for him. While Brady failed to bunt him over, he walked, too, still putting the tying run on second base, and with less outs. And then Utting, Castillo, and McLaughlin popped out in succession. Excuse me. In suckcession. 3-2 Falcons. McLaughlin 3-4, 2 2B; Lopez 5.2 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K; Bloody… Game 2 POR: SS Guerin – 2B McLaughlin – CF Reece – 3B Crowe – RF Brady – LF Utting – C Castillo – 1B Caddock – P Rivera CHA: 3B Combes – 1B Morton – 2B H. Green – CF M. Adams – LF Encarnación – RF Dunphy – SS J. Barrón – C D. Smith – P Wilson More of less offense. The Suckoons tumbled around to happen into a run in the first inning, and then left Rivera to fight for himself, not reaching second base again until the fifth inning. Rivera lined up zeroes on the board, but got into a close spot in the sixth inning. A Morton singled was followed with a walk to Green with one out, bringing up the left-handers Adams and Encarnación. Rivera reached back and struck both of them out, but this 1-0 score was severely awobble. The Coons would actually rise from the dead once more, sparked by the softest of singles off Neil Reece’s bat in the eighth, just squeezing through between Morton and Green. Crowe and Brady followed with soft liners for singles, the latter driving in Reece, 2-0. Another single by Utting plated another run, and Brady was brought in with a sac fly by Castillo to make the score 4-0. That left it to Rivera to collect another six outs. Scott Wade was standing by to come in at the slightest provocation, not having pitched the whole week. There never was any provocation, as Rivera sat down another six batters. 4-0 Furballs. Reece 2-4; Crowe 2-4, 2B; Brady 2-3, BB, 2 RBI; Rivera 9.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K, W (12-7) and 1-3; This is the third career shutout for Rivera, and the first since 1996 (but he missed most of last season to injury). It is also his fourth complete game. At 12 wins for a miserable team, he may be undervalued as #5 starter? Game 3 POR: 3B Crowe – SS Guerin – CF Reece – C Turner – RF Brady – 2B McLaughlin – LF Newton – 1B Wedemeyer – P Saito CHA: CF Dunphy – 2B J. Barrón – SS H. Green – 3B M. Hall – LF M. Adams – 1B G. Adams – RF Morton – C J. Rivera – P Castro Castro was dominant, striking out the Raccoons in droves. They still managed to score a run in the second inning on a Newton sac fly, but would even leave gifts unopened, like in the fifth, when Wedemeyer drew a leadoff walk, stole second and made it to third on Jesus Rivera’s errant throw – and was left there. Saito struck out, Crowe struck out, and Guerin popped out. Saito was still untouched at that point, holding on to the flimsy 1-0 lead. Bottom 5th, Brady dropped Glenn Adams’ fly to right to put the former Furball on base. Saito picked him right off, then sent Brady a death glance out there. Don’t you mess with me, kiddo. Bottom 8th. Still 1-0, still Saito in. Joe Morton led off with a single. Rivera laid down a bunt that ran quite deep to third and Crowe made a daredevil play to second – GOT HIM! (If Crowe hadn’t gotten him, I’d have gotten HIM…) Dunphy singled with two down, bringing up Juan Barrón. As Barrón lined well over Crowe’s head and extended glove, the ship was sinking. Newton couldn’t cut it off in time, Rivera scored, and Dunphy turned third base. Newton hurled the ball back in, and Dunphy was out at the plate, ending the inning, but gone was the W, as usual. Wade pitched the ninth and the game extended past nine. There, Newton got on to lead off the tenth and stole second. That prompted the Falcons to put Wedemeyer (.198 anyone?) on intentionally. A wild pitch by Bartolo Gomez brought in the first run for the Coons, and Crowe drove in Wedemeyer. Reece and Turner singled, loading the bags with two out, and prompting us to hit for Wade, who had been put into the #5 slot in the expectation of a 18-inning slog to go two or more. Up 3-1 was nice, 5-1 or so would be much nicer. Parker hit for him and fouled out… De La Rosa got the ball, facing Glenn Adams, Morton, and Rivera in the bottom 10th. He walked the first two, prompting his expulsion from the contest by a raging manager, and Daniel Miller came in, as Arturo Lopez, who had homered for the winning run in game 1, replaced Rivera. Both Lopez and Javier Encarnación grounded out as pinch-hitters, but moved up the runners, meaning Christian Dunphy came to bat in a 3-2 game with the tying run on third base. Miller got ahead 0-2, before Dunphy drilled a grounder up the middle – but have no fear, Guerin’s here! Concie made the play, and the Raccoons stumbled away with this one. 3-2 Aneurysmicoons. Turner 2-5; Brady 2-4; Saito 8.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K; Kisho Saito picking off Glenn Adams is the first time a Raccoons pitcher has managed to pick somebody off all season. It’s okay, boys, it ain’t even September yet. In other news August 25 – 40-year old BOS SP Bill Smith (13-7, 3.24 ERA) spins a 6-hit shutout against the Canadiens in a 12-0 rout. August 26 – SAL INF Roberto Quintero (.330, 8 HR, 56 RBI) has a single in a 3-0 Wolves loss to the Gold Sox, reaching a 20-game hitting streak. August 27 – DAL INF Rodrigo Morales (.351, 8 HR, 74 RBI) has suffered a knee sprain and will not be able to play again this season. He was third in the FL in batting average behind teammate Diego Rodriguez and Sioux Falls’ Hjalmar Flygt. August 29 – SFW SP Arnold McCray (9-11, 3.57 ERA) survives a 4-3 shuffle over the Capitals to notch his 200th career victory. McCray, the 14th overall pick in the ’79 draft by the Buffaloes, and the 1986 FL Pitcher of the Year, pitched for Topeka, Vancouver, Oklahoma, Washington, and Sioux Falls in his career, starting 517 games and has a 200-187 record and a 3.39 career ERA. He also has 2,696 strikeouts. August 29 – VAN 1B Bill Mosley (.329, 26 HR, 86 RBI) breaks a finger sliding into a base and is likely to miss the rest of the season. Complaints and stuff Marvin Ingall was given a rehab assignment starting on Sunday after coming off the DL. I’m of course bending the rulebook. I don’t want to send anybody down two days before the roster expansion, and the Coons won’t make the playoffs with Ingall either. So, Ingall will play two games in St. Pete, and then rejoin the team on Tuesday, September 1, together with a few call-ups. Will the Raccoons call up their young hot iron at AAA, Dan Nordahl, on September 1? Nope. Nordahl made the jump to AAA just over a month ago, and has walked eight in 12.2 innings. That’s a small sample size still, but this boy will not be spoiled prematurely. He will not come up until the second half of next season at the very earliest. I am eyeing for him to be a September call-up next year, possibly. Don’t forget that he’s only 19 and won’t turn 20 until March. Where are the Raccoons going to be next season? I’m asking because of Movonda. He was stellar this year. If we could extend him, we’d have a valuable asset in the rotation, but it wouldn’t make sense to splurge a million on him if we will play like this next year as well. Which is not an option to be honest, because sooner or later the clubhouse is going to turn into the Oregon Chainsaw Massacre… A 40-year old Bill Smith tossed a shutout this week. I’ve been hating him for close to 15 years now… Bad news from the minors: our 1998 top draft pick OF Chris Roberson bruised his elbow this week, and could be out for the season. He was OPS’ing .909 in AA before getting hurt and I had him on the list for a promotion to AAA once rosters would expand for the Raccoons on the coming Tuesday, when we would add a few bats regardless of performance. Most promising: Roberson hit 18 homers in just 244 AB in AA. I am not 100% sure yet, but he might start 1999 in St. Pete anyway. Attached Images __________________ Portland Raccoons, 83 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA \| RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here.

09-26-2014, 03:02 PM	#1015
Westheim Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Germany Posts: 11,905	Raccoons (60-70) @ Aces (53-77) – August 31-September 2, 1998 There was no hope for the Aces to have a decent finish to their season, despite them being not particularly bad in any one area. Projected matchups: Manuel Movonda (9-11, 2.94 ERA) vs. Carlos Guillén (2-2, 5.00 ERA) Randy Farley (11-5, 2.93 ERA) vs. Ruben Prado (0-0) Miguel Lopez (8-12, 4.12 ERA) vs. Jou Hara (9-12, 4.54 ERA) The first two Aces starters combined for 73 years of age, but they had missed most of the season to injuries. There was certainly experience there on the mound, but how would they fare against the anemic Raccoons offense? Game 1 POR: 3B Crowe – SS Guerin – CF Reece – C Turner – RF Brady – 2B McLaughlin – LF Newton – 1B Castillo – P Movonda LVA: C Manuel – LF Erickson – RF Mashiba – 3B J. Vargas – 2B J. Zamora – 1B Granados – CF R. Green – SS Moreno – P Guillén Humiliation had many different faces, as the Raccoons got to learn once more in the series opener. While the Coons took a 2-1 lead in the early innings when Ricardo Castillo’s homer counted for two, and Javier Vargas’ only for one run, eventually something had to happen to Movonda, who struck out eight, but ran into ex-Suckoon Sixto Moreno and his 2-run homer in the fifth inning, which flipped the score to 3-2 Aces. Luke Newton tied the contest with a home run of his own, but Movonda walked Mauro Granados in the bottom 7th and was running out of juice. In this world of wonders, Antonio Donis collected two outs without hanging Movonda onto a permanent hook. Clyde Brady drew a 2-out walk with the bases loaded in the top 8th, pushing in the go-ahead run, but De La Rosa blew the game in the bottom 8th, allowing three hits, including two doubles, and two runs in the blink of an eye. The Coons would have the go-ahead runs on base in the ninth, but – as usual – failed. 5-4 Aces. Newton 2-4, HR, RBI; Castillo 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Chris Parker came into the game as pinch-hitter, and stayed in left, but not for long, twisting his ankle on a difficult catch. He will be out for a week. And with that, it’s September 1. Marvin Ingall comes back from his “rehab”, while we also added pitchers Day Grandridge (reluctantly) and Bob Joly, catcher Ron McDonald, infielders Mark Kowalchuk and Samy Michel, and outfielder Jason Kent. This fills the 40-man roster. Bob Joly is going to make his debut in the rotation on the weekend. He’s a 22-year old right-hander with a changeup and curve, who went 11-7 with a 3.35 ERA in AAA this year. He was the second piece we got from the Warriors in the Gabriel Rodriguez trade. The other was of course Werner Turner. Game 2 POR: 2B Ingall – RF Brady – CF Reece – C Turner – 3B Crowe – SS Guerin – 1B Wedemeyer – LF Kent – P Farley LVA: 1B F. Encarnación – C Manuel – RF Mashiba – CF J. Vargas – 3B Moore – 2B Granados – LF R. Green – SS Lammond – P Prado Neither pitcher made a good impression, as both surrendered four runs in three innings, and the Coons added a fair share of runners left on. The Raccoons also surrendered their centerfielder, as Neil Reece left the game after a tumbling catch, where his head hit the ground. Up 5-4 in the bottom 5th, the bottom fell out of Farley’s barrel for good, as he walked Mashiba and Vargas to start the inning, and then allowed a single to call-up Steve Moore. Tamburrino was thrown into the lion’s den, and two minutes later came back with the heads of Granados (sac fly) and Green (double play). Royce would ground into another double play his next time up, then saving Iván Costa from being eaten by beasts. The Raccoons took the lead with a 2-out RBI bloop single with the bags full, hit by Guerin against Qi-zhen Geng. Daniel Miller held the fort in the eighth, but Wade put the first two men on base in the ninth and succumbed to a 2-out RBI single by that friggin’ Steve Moore eventually. Wade took the loss in the 10th with another two singles allowed. In between, Samy Michel dropped an easy pop up to ensure further humiliation for the Suckoons. 7-6 Aces. Ingall 2-4, BB, 2B; Reece 1-2, 2 RBI; Turner 4-5, BB, RBI; Guerin 3-3, BB, RBI; Tamburrino 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K; Wade keeps losing games, and blowing leads. That is not exactly to my liking. But then, who doesn’t fail spectacularly on this team of born losers? To make things even worse (there’s always a way for things to get so much worse here), Neil Reece was diagnosed with concussion-like syndromes and would be checked further over the next few days, and of course wouldn’t play, listed as DTD. Game 3 POR: 2B Ingall – SS Guerin – LF Brady – C Turner – 3B Crowe – CF Newton – 1B Michel – RF Villegas – P M. Lopez LVA: RF Ghiberti – 1B Erickson – 3B J. Vargas – CF R. Green – LF Hartley – C Manuel – 2B Waller – SS Heart – P Hara The Raccoons scratching out a run in the top of the first inning turned out entirely meaningless once Miguel Lopez took the mound and surrendered four hits to the first four batters, including three doubles. Jou Hara struck them out in droves early in the game (and eight in total), but also issued a few walks, which ended up costing him in the fourth, when Concie hit a game-tying 2-run double. The Raccoons would even take a lead briefly in the sixth, but Iván Costa was instantly drubbed with a Jimmy Erickson leadoff double in the seventh inning, and Erickson was brought in to score. We went to extras again once De La Rosa narrowly avoided walking the Aces around the horns, where Ingall got on, and Guerin came through with a triple to break the 4-4 tie. So, Guerin was on third base with no outs – and wasn’t scored. Turner and Newton popped out, sandwiching Mike Crowe, who whiffed enough to receive a golden sombrero in this game. Scott Wade for a welcome change chose not to nuke the game intentionally and got the Aces in the bottom 10th, 1-2-3. 5-4 Raccoons. Ingall 3-6; Guerin 3-4, 2 BB, 3B, 2B, 2 RBI; Turner 3-5, 2 RBI; Newton 2-5, BB, 2B; Michel 2-5; Raccoons (61-72) vs. Canadiens (61-71) – September 4-6, 1998 In our inevitable rock-like fall into oblivion and the bottom of the division, the Canadiens and their super-inept pitching staff had just passed us in the standings as we had made a mockery of the game of baseball and nature in general in Las Vegas. Projected matchups: Bob Joly (0-0) vs. Jose Marquez (11-13, 4.34 ERA) Jose Rivera (12-7, 2.46 ERA) vs. John Collins (7-16, 5.04 ERA) Kisho Saito (5-11, 2.91 ERA) vs. Joe Hollow (1-0, 2.25 ERA) Game 1 VAN: 3B Sutton – 2B Corona – RF H. Givens – CF Ledesma – 1B Valenzuela – C J. Lopez – LF Moore – SS Duarte – P Marquez POR: 3B Crowe – SS Guerin – RF Brady – C Turner – LF Utting – 2B McLaughlin – CF Newton – 1B Kowalchuk – P Joly In the eighth, the Raccoons loaded the bags with an Ingall single and two walks, nobody out, and didn’t score. Fortunately for Bob Joly in his debut, this was not how the whole day went by. The Coons socked Marquez early for three in the first and another run in the second, and Joly was in cruise mode from the start. Apart from a solo job by Jorge Lopez, the Canadiens failed to mount anything against the Joly, and once he left after eight innings, the Raccoons were up 6-1. Kelly Fairchild pitched around a 1-out triple by Henry Givens in the ninth to deliver a scoreless frame. 6-1 Raccoons. Guerin 4-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Brady 2-5, RBI; McLaughlin 2-4, 2 RBI; Kowalchuk 1-2, BB; Ingall (PH) 1-1; Joly 8.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 6 K, W (1-0); So, after dropping behind the Canadiens on Wednesday, we pulled right past them by half a game. This was also our 200th win against the Elks all time, although they are closing in on dumping us for the 200th time at rapid speed. Game 2 VAN: 2B B. Butler – 3B Sutton – RF H. Givens – CF Ledesma – 1B Valenzuela – C J. Lopez – LF Moreno – SS Duarte – P J. Collins POR: 2B Ingall – LF Brady – 1B Michel – C Turner – 3B Crowe – CF Newton – SS Caddock – RF Villegas – P Rivera Offense was over already in the next game. In addition to that, Rivera was not sharp and was knocked out in the fifth inning, having allowed eight hits and three walks. He was 3-1 behind when replaced by Tamburrino, who got Juan Moreno to ground to Crowe – who dropped the ball. Bases loaded, Tamburrino walked Angelo Duarte before getting the pitcher. At 4-1, the game seemed pretty much over. The Coons had left two on in the fourth, and Crowe left Turner and Brady in scoring position by striking out to end the fifth. Two more were left on in the sixth, and another runner in the seventh. The Canadiens stayed put, too. Then, bottom 8th. Newton doubled to start the inning, and then Caddock and Villegas both hit singles. That brought the Coons within two, with the tying runs on and nobody out. Kowalchuk had entered in a double switch and was up to bat, but gingerly flew out to left. Ingall also flew out, and Brady was retired on a soft liner to Duarte. These Suckoons. The Raccoons even loaded the bags in the ninth inning. And left them loaded, when Villegas grounded out. 4-2 Canadiens. Turner 2-5, 2 2B, RBI; Newton 3-5, 2B; Caddock 2-4; Villegas 2-5, RBI; Utting (PH) 1-1; Grandridge 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K; Out-hit the Elks 14-8, yet left 16 men on base. Stupid collection of brain-damaged roadkill on this roster, I can tell you. Neil Reece was cleared to play again on Sunday. But … next it’s Saito, so you know who’ll be fourth once everybody goes to sleep on Sunday. Game 3 VAN: 3B B. Butler – LF Hudson – RF H. Givens – CF Ledesma – 1B Valenzuela – C J. Lopez – SS Pyatt – 2B Darke – P Hollow POR: 2B Ingall – SS Guerin – CF Reece – C Turner – 3B Crowe – RF Brady – LF Utting – 1B Michel – P Saito Saito lost the game in due time, two runs in the second inning on three singles. The Raccoons didn’t even get on base until Ingall hit a bloop leading off the fourth. Ledesma tried to catch it, but missed it completely, giving Ingall a double. Not that the Suckoons ever moved him somewhere else. Bottom 5th, down 2-0, Crowe walked against Hollow to start the inning. Hollow, whose career ERA in limited action was over six, then threw a wild pitch, and the Coons again never moved Crowe somewhere else. While Saito was quietly milling about in the top halves of innings, the Raccoons continued to be an embarrassment to the Willamette Institute for the Limbless and the Blind’s school team. Bottom 7th, Crowe hit a 1-out double, and McLaughlin hit for the useless Utting. He singled to left and we ACTUALLY had a man on third base NO LATER than with eight outs to spare. Michel then hit into a double play. A grounder through McLaughlin and two more singles skinned Saito for good in the eighth, not that it changed anything. Bottom 9th, 3-0 down, Enrico Gonzalez pitching. Turner got on to start it. With one out, Brady singled, moving Turner to third. McLaughlin made the second out, before Caddock hit for Kent and singled, plating Turner. Newton hit for Scott Wade, and also singled, plating Brady. Ingall came up with Caddock on second as the tying run, and Newton on first as the winning run. An Ingall single to take Saito off the hook here, and Ingall – walked, giving responsibility to Guerin, who was 0-4 on the day, but the bench was full of automatic K’s like Wedemeyer. So Guerin batted for the fifth time in the game. And grounded out to Randy Darke. 3-2 Canadiens. Ingall 2-4, BB, 2B; Brady 2-4, 2B; Caddock (PH) 1-1, RBI; Newton (PH) 1-1, RBI; Saito 7.1 IP, 12 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 10 K, L (5-12); **ing team. In other news August 31 – Salem’s Roberto Quintero (.329, 8 HR, 60 RBI) extends his hitting streak to 25 games with a late single in a 5-4 win over the Capitals. September 3 – WAS C Alejandro Moreno (.274, 3 HR, 54 RBI) is out for the year with a broken elbow, and could well miss time beyond Opening Day in 1999. August 5 – Roberto Quintero is getting up there. Batting .332, with 8 HR and 62 RBI, the 25-year old Wolf collects an RBI single in a 7-4 loss to the Scorpions, extending his hitting streak to 30 games. Complaints and stuff** Saito by now wishes he never signed that new contract. Saito, last five games: 35.1 IP, 38 H, 11 R, 11 ER, 6 BB, 24 K, for a 2.80 ERA and 1.25 WHIP. Doesn’t sound bad, right? Yeah, but nine runs of support and a 0-3 record do. Last 14 games: 101.2 IP, 100 H, 41 R, 37 ER, 20 BB, 65 K, for a 3.27 ERA and 1.18 WHIP … with a 2-6 record. He is STILL FROZEN IN PLACE with 231 wins! GODDAMN SUCKER BUNCH!!!! Can anybody actually feel my pain with my favorite pitcher on the team being tortured like that?? (breathes into a paper bag for a minute) I won’t lie to you, it is no fun at this point. They suck too badly. Being poo is one thing. Being THIS poo is … poo. The only category our batters are not in the bottom half for the CL, are stolen bases(!!!), and that is not exactly a batting skill. If you remember, a few years back we were top 5 or so in everything BUT stolen bases. They are 6th in pilfered plates, 7th in homers, 8th in K’s, 9th in hits, and in the bottom 2 in every other category. And Saito has been here for so long, I WANT HIM TO GET THAT 250TH WIN!! However, it seems like even with two more years, he will never get there. He will end up losing 200 though. Only 22 left to go THERE. And … as we slowly head for the good news section … most ironically, Conceicao Guerin, who left Saito impaled on the stick the Elks were holding to roast him over the fire, was named CL Batter of the Week, batting .500 (11-22) with 4 RBI. Yeah, c’mon, more of those sick jokes! That was quite a debut for young Joly. We are still looking for an idea of composing our rotation next year. Should I make an offer to Movonda? He will probably look for a retirement deal. It seems like Rivera can hold his own on the major league level and Randyboy had a magnificent rookie season. Kisho is signed, too, as is Miguel Lopez. So there is really only one opening for next year. Will it be the Colombian Beauty’s? Does it really matter? Let’s face it. 3.6 R/G ain’t gonna cut it. At the speed this team is going at, we will quabble with the atrociously bad Indians for last place sooner rather than later. Still four weeks left, y’know? We need offense first. The Aces’ Javier Vargas, who primarily mans the corner infield spots, has no contract past this season. He will be 29 next year, and has batted for an .840 OPS each of the last four seasons. Needless to say whom between Crowe and Wedemeyer he’d replace. I am having my eye on him. We will have plenty of flush to add at least one high caliber free agent (most likely one, two won’t fit the budget, which might not get much bigger, rather smaller). Of course this calculation assumes Movonda does not re-sign. So it’s offense or Movonda. I know what Kisho’d be pickin’. Attached Images __________________ Portland Raccoons, 83 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA \| RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here.

09-27-2014, 06:35 PM	#1016
Westheim Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Germany Posts: 11,905	Raccoons (62-74) @ Indians (53-84) – September 8-10, 1998 The Indians were gracing the bottom of the CL North with a -98 run differential and an inherent inability to keep the opposing team’s line on the box score empty. Their rotation was struggling badly, and they had given up 653 runs overall, approaching five runs per game. Well, they will play the Raccoons now, and should not exceed 660 runs conceded in this series. Still, we are owning them 9-3 this season. Projected matchups: Manuel Movonda (9-11, 2.99 ERA) vs. Chang-se Park (1-3, 4.09 ERA) Randy Farley (11-5, 3.02 ERA) vs. Dan George (8-14, 3.98 ERA) Miguel Lopez (8-12, 4.13 ERA) vs. Manuel Alba (7-14, 4.65 ERA) Game 1 POR: 2B Ingall – LF Brady – CF Reece – C Turner – 3B Crowe – SS Guerin – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Villegas – P Movonda IND: SS J. Martinez – C Cicalina – 3B M. Brown – 1B D. Lopez – RF A. Roldán – CF J. Thompson – LF Paredes – 2B Chevalier – P Park Through six innings, the Colombian Beauty had a no-hitter going. Once the curtain came down on the seventh, Tamburrino was pitching. Movonda hadn’t been efficient with the pitches all game long, throwing a lot of balls from the start. The Indians still failed to get a bat on him, but it was never a bid, as he was over 80 pitches through six innings already. In the bottom 7th, David Lopez defeated him with a single to left, and Movonda walked a pair to fill the bags. Tamburrino dug him out by getting Jamal Chevalier to pop out. The good news for Movonda was that while Reece and Turner couldn’t get a hit with runners on third base in the game, Mike Crowe could, and delivered two 2-out RBI singles early. Park also plated a run with a wild pitch, and while Neil Reece was bad with men on base, he hit a leadoff jack in the fifth to make it 4-0. Tamburrino also pitched the eighth, and Miller had a perfect ninth as the Indians were held to Lopez’ single and five walks. 4-0 Furballs. Crowe 2-4, 2 RBI; Movonda 6.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 4 K, W (10-11); Tamburrino 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K; Movonda at age 34 is impressive. How would Movonda at age 35 be? Game 2 POR: 2B Ingall – SS Guerin – CF Reece – 3B Crowe – RF Brady – C Castillo – LF Newton – 1B McLaughlin – P Farley IND: LF G. Flores – C Cicalina – 3B M. Brown – RF A. Roldán – CF J. Thompson – SS J. Martinez – 1B Whaley – 2B Chevalier – P George Offense came straight outta Ingallland in the middle game, with Ingall doubling home McLaughlin, who had been hit by the pitch from Dan George to lead off the top 3rd, and then homering for a pair in the fifth. Through five, the Indians looked just as lost against Farley as they had against Movonda the day before, amounting to two meek hits. George loaded the bags with no outs in the top 6th, bringing up McLaughlin. And he actually hit him again! That forced home a painful run credited to McLaughlin, but he told the first base coach right away that he’d prefer to get on base with a hit once in a while (not that I wouldn’t either). When Ingall drew a 1-out walk to make it 5-0, that was the end for George, but we still had a chance to put the rout on, but Steve Galloway efficiently held the Coons to a Guerin sac fly, 6-0. Galloway would pitch for a while, and the Raccoons didn’t look good against him, but Farley’s cushion was sizeable already, and Farley was still dealing. While he labored through a 25-pitch seventh (facing only four batters), he didn’t look like he was losing it anytime soon. Into the ninth, he struck out Cicalina, then faced the toughest opponent in Matt Brown, but got him to ground out, as he got Roldán. 6-0 Raccoons. Ingall 2-4, BB, HR, 2B, 4 RBI; Reece 3-5, 3B; Castillo 3-5; Farley 9.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K, W (12-5); Randy Farley continues to build his resume for becoming ROTY in the Continental League. This was his third shutout of the year (and of his career of course). Game 3 POR: 2B Ingall – SS Caddock – CF Reece – C Turner – RF Brady – 3B Crowe – LF Parker – 1B Wedemeyer – P M. Lopez IND: LF G. Flores – 2B M. Carter – C Cicalina – 1B D. Lopez – CF J. Thompson – RF Spinelli – SS J. Martinez – 3B Whaley – P Alba As the Raccoons’ run allotment for a single series had been used up in the first two games of the series, offense died down. Miguel Lopez was pretty wild and issued a few walks early on, but the game remained scoreless with the Indians twice leaving two men on, including both times a runner on third base. A 2-out RBI double by Ingall then put something on the scoreboard in the fifth, but David Lopez, who had already been the spoiler in Movonda’s game on Tuesday, took Miguel Lopez deep in the bottom 5th, putting the Indians 2-1 ahead. Top 6th, a Turner double, Brady walk, and Crowe singled loaded the bags for Chris Parker with one out. Parker flew out to medium depth right, and Turner didn’t even try to test Eneas Spinelli’s arm. Wedemeyer struck out. Yep, that’s my team. Miguel Lopez was hit for in the seventh, but the Raccoons couldn’t mount anything. Bottom 8th, Fairchild put two men on when the Indians brought Matt Brown to hit for Spinelli. Donis was broken out to face the left-handed slugger, and in the blink of an eye three runs were on the board. The Indians got another run off Day Grandridge before this one finally was over. 6-1 Indians. Ingall 2-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Stephen Buell came off the DL for the third time this year in what amounted to a lost and rotten season. He was assigned to AAA for rehab to get that hamstring warmed up over the weekend. Raccoons (64-75) @ Titans (84-57) – September 11-13, 1998 Do I really have to go into detail about how good the Titans are, especially in comparison to the fails on this team? I am stunned that they are only 8-7 against the Brownshirts this season! Projected matchups: Bob Joly (1-0, 1.13 ERA) vs. Jason O’Halloran (14-10, 3.55 ERA) Jose Rivera (12-8, 2.56 ERA) vs. Jesus Bautista (12-12, 3.96 ERA) Kisho Saito (5-12, 2.94 ERA) vs. Henry Selph (12-6, 3.59 ERA) Game 1 POR: 2B Ingall – SS Guerin – CF Reece – 3B Crowe – RF Brady – 1B Michel – LF Newton – C McDonald – P Joly BOS: SS D. Silva – 3B Nakayama – RF Thomas – LF Reid – CF Alonso – C J. Silva – 1B Baldivía – 2B Elliott – P O’Halloran Marvin Ingall took O’Halloran deep to start the game, and while Samy Michel left two men on base in the first inning, he connected in the same situation in the third, and drove in the second run of the game. Concie delivered another defensive piece of amazement then in the fourth. Haruki Nakayama had walked to start the inning, but got forced out on second base by Josh Thomas. Dave Reid lined hard to the left side, but right to Guerin, while Thomas had been in motion and could scramble all he wanted, but Guerin doubled him up off first. Most of the time however, Bob Joly didn’t need much help. The Titans didn’t have much to counter him, and their high water mark was having two men on with two out in the sixth. By then, Clyde Brady had tripled in another run to make it 3-0. In the ninth, the Coons had the bags full with two outs when Bill Corkum, the Titan’s closer, was brought in to quell the threat against Samy Michel. Steve Caddock was brought out for a proper left-handed bat, and after a low ball turned into Corkum’s second pitch. High to right, high, deep, deeper, GRAAAAAAAND SLAAAAAAAAMMM!!!! With a 7-0 lead, Joly returned for the ninth inning, which started with Nakayama. He rolled out, as did Thomas, and pinch-hitter Vicente Elizondo didn’t even make contact. 7-0 Raccoons!! Guerin 2-4, BB; Crowe 3-5; Brady 2-4, BB, 3B, RBI; Caddock (PH) 1-1, HR, 4 RBI; Joly 9.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 6 K, W (2-0) and 1-3, BB, 2B; Holy Joly!! Two career starts and already a shutout! This can’t possibly go on, right!? Game 2 POR: 2B Ingall – 1B Caddock – CF Reece – C Turner – RF Brady – 3B Crowe – SS Guerin – LF Parker – P Rivera BOS: SS D. Silva – 3B Nakayama – RF Thomas – 1B G. Douglas – CF Alonso – C J. Silva – LF Elizondo – 2B Elliott – P Bautista After doubles by Ingall and Turner got the Raccoons up 1-0 in the first, Rivera walked three of the first four batters he faced, loading the bags in the bottom 1st. Somehow, he got Luis Alonso to ground back to his feet to get the out at home, and got out of the frame unscathed. Both teams got a run in the second, and in the fourth, both teams got RBI triples, then failed to plate the runner that had just tripled. For the Coons, that was Chris Parker, and for the Titans the always annoying Daniel Silva. Rivera made it through six despite not generally hitting the strike zone, with the 3-2 lead still alive. De La Rosa and Tamburrino both put up scoreless innings, but the Raccoons failed to tack on to their lead, and thus Wade had no cushion in the ninth. While the Titans’ Elizondo, Reid, and German Roldán would hit the ball hard each time, they all hit it more or less right to some outfielder in brown. 3-2 Coons. Ingall 2-4, BB, 2B; Crowe 3-4, 2 2B; Parker 2-4, 3B, 2 RBI; Next, Saito. So you know what’s coming. And this team could never sweep the Titans anyway. And our current run differential is now -1. This is begging for a drubbing. Game 3 POR: 2B Ingall – RF Brady – CF Reece – C Turner – 3B Crowe – LF Parker – SS Guerin – 1B Wedemeyer – P Saito BOS: C J. Silva – 3B Nakayama – SS D. Silva – 1B G. Douglas – RF Reid – CF Sosa – LF Thomas – 2B G. Roldán – P Selph The Raccoons didn’t score first this time, and the Titans scored early, and they scored often. Glenn Douglas doubled in a run in the first inning, and a Werner Turner throwing error led to two unearned runs in the second inning, and Saito was assured his loss right there. After a dominant Henry Selph struck out the side in the fourth inning, then facing one over the minimum, Crowe fell 0-2 behind to start the fifth, then singled. Parker came up and hit an RBI triple for back-to-back days. Finally on the board, now get Parker home! Guerin grounded out to his counterpart Daniel Silva, but that got Parker home and shortened the gap to 3-2. Unfortunately, the Titans put the two runs right back onto the board with a 2-out, 2-run double by German Roldán, and Saito’s day was done. Could he be saved? In the seventh, the Raccoons had Guerin on first base with two out and Wedemeyer up, which made for an unpromising outlook. Wedemeyer flew to right, where Dave Reid caught and then dropped the egg for a 2-base error. Caddock then hit for Kelly Fairchild and sent a howling double into the gap in right center, plating both runners, 5-4 Titans. An Ingall single would have scored Caddock, but Ingall grounded out to second harmlessly. Of course, the next panic was not far away, as Iván Costa came in for the bottom 7th, and in no time the bases were loaded with no outs via two walks and a Crowe error. The house was on fire and was about to crash onto Saito who was trapped inside. The Titans broke out the bats with spikes and screws in them and battered Tamburrino and De La Rosa for five runs. 11-4 Titans. Crowe 1-2, 2 BB; Caddock (PH) 1-1, 2B, 2 RBI; Of course it was a Saito start. I am by now accounting for them as automatic losses well in advance. Like, next Saturday, Saito will take a 3-2 loss at the hands of the Knights to drop to 5-14, followed by a loss to the Loggers on the following Saturday, 2-0, to get his record to 5-15. I hate this **ing team for doing that to him. In other news September 8 – SAC OF Joey Humphrey (.316, 5 HR, 63 RBI) keeps struggling with injuries. A strained rib cage may cost him the remainder of the regular season. The Scorpions still lead the FL West by 11 games. September 10 – SAC SP David Castillo (16-9, 4.10 ERA) tosses a 3-hitter as the Scorpions bowl over the Gold Sox, 10-0. September 12 – After not playing for two days, Salem’s Roberto Quintero (.335, 8 HR, 65 RBI) ups his hitting streak to 33 games with a late single in a 4-1 loss to the Stars. September 13 – The Crusaders trade C Antonio Escobedo (.234, 5 HR, 26 RBI) to the Blue Sox, receiving 2B/SS Jeffrey Nielsen (.283, 4 HR, 60 RBI) in return. Complaints and stuff** Randy Farley could well be David Brewer’s lasting legacy. While the two outfielders we also got in the deal (Parker and Brady) continue to be so-so, and neither can be assured of being a starter next year (however Brady more so than Parker), Farley has been nothing of amazing in his rookie year. Gosh, I hope he wins it, and not some inbred, brainless, 7’, 300lbs first baseman from Santa Banana… Quick! Name all former Raccoon ROTY’s! The list is short: Vern Kinnear. That’s the list. However, FOUR Continental League Rookies of the Year, eventually ended up in Portland: 1982 VAN Kisho Saito, 1984 LVA Mark Allen, 1985 IND Robert Vázquez, and 1987 OCT Scott Strong. No Federal League ROTY’s made it ever into Portland, though. As we are on an awards rundown, only one Coon was ever the CL Pitcher of the Year, Kinji Kan in 1983. Two Coons combined for three Hitter of the Year awards: Tetsu Osanai (1986, 1988) and David Brewer (1995). And now we’re back at how I have come to love the Brewer-Farley trade. For completion’s sake, the Gold Glove haul of 21 seasons: 4 – Mark Dawson (3B 1986-88, 1990) 3 – Vern Kinnear (LF 1994, 1996-97) 3 – Jorge Salazar (SS 1990-92) 3 – Ben Simon (2B 1978, SS 1979-80) 2 – Wyatt Johnston (1B 1977-78) 1 – Cameron Green (3B 1981) 1 – Daniel Hall (LF 1987) 1 – Ben O’Morrissey (3B 1991) 1 – Christopher Powell (P 1978) 1 – Neil Reece (CF 1997) So, 20 gloves, all over the place, except for catcher and right field. By the way, Dave Browne, that beast, won the second base GG a whopping TEN times in his career. Every year from 1983 to 1994, except for 1990 (Eddy Bailey) and 1987 – when Jorge Salazar won his FIRST glove, and the only one he didn’t win at short. Attached Images __________________ Portland Raccoons, 83 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA \| RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here.

10-01-2014, 04:33 PM	#1017
Westheim Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Germany Posts: 11,905	Raccoons (66-76) @ Canadiens (66-76) – September 14-17, 1998 The Canadiens have already taken the season series against us, humiliating us to a heartache-inducing 10-4 record so far this year. What could possibly be more frightening and annoying than playing four more in Elkland? Projected matchups: Manuel Movonda (10-11, 2.88 ERA) vs. Jose Marquez (11-15, 4.65 ERA) Randy Farley (12-5, 2.87 ERA) vs. John Collins (8-17, 5.02 ERA) Miguel Lopez (8-13, 4.09 ERA) vs. Joe Hollow (3-0, 0.86 ERA) Bob Joly (2-0, 0.53 ERA) vs. Jose Dominguez (13-7, 4.52 ERA) John Collins vs. the Raccoons this year? It ain’t pretty. For us. Four starts, 2-2, 1.53 ERA. That’s your Raccoons offense for you. Game 1 POR: 2B Ingall – SS Guerin – CF Reece – C Turner – 3B Crowe – 1B Michel – RF Newton – LF Kowalchuk – P Movonda VAN: 2B B. Butler – 3B Sutton – RF H. Givens – CF Ledesma – 1B Valenzuela – C J. Lopez – LF Moreno – SS Duarte – P Marquez Two walks and a wild pitch by an unhealthily wild Jose Marquez in the first inning did nothing to aid the Coons in scoring. By contrast, Bob Butler hit a leadoff jack off Movonda, and the Elks seemed to be in business. It would not be Movonda’s game. While Michel tied the game with a home run in the second inning, Movonda eventually gave up a 2-out RBI single to the opposing pitcher in the fifth, and left after six with over 110 pitches on the clock and down 2-1. Marvin Ingall kindly took him off the hook with a leadoff homer in the eighth inning, though. With plenty of left-handed batters up in the bottom 8th, we went to the useless piece of **, who blew the game out of the water in no time, facing five batters and allowing a hit and three walks. Daniel Miller struck out Jose Valenzuela, but was then also defeated and all of Donis’ runs scored. 6-2 Canadiens. Parker (PH) 1-1; Michel 2-4, HR, RBI; Game 2 POR: 2B Ingall – RF Brady – CF Reece – C Turner – LF Parker – SS Caddock – 3B Utting – 1B Wedemeyer – P Farley VAN: 2B B. Butler – LF J. Durán – RF H. Givens – 1B Valenzuela – C J. Lopez – 3B Sutton – CF Moreno – SS Duarte – P J. Collins The perfect humiliation for the Suckoons was facing John Collins again, and remaining hitless through five innings against a pitcher that allowed 233 hits in 191.2 innings this season. Collins also gave the Canadiens the lead, because why not, with an RBI groundout, down 1-2 to Farley, in the second inning. Farley was terrible, with awful control, and walked batters left and right. Collins’ no-hit bid wasn’t broken up until the sixth when Clyde Brady homered off him to tie the game. Bottom 7th, Angelo Duarte led off with a single to left. Farley accepted Collins’ bunt and took it to first, then left for Tamburrino, who got Butler, and then drilled Jorge Durán. Then he walked Givens. Suddenly the bags were abuzz, and the Canadiens threatened to storm away again, but Tamburrino struck out Valenzuela and the 1-1 tie remained tied firmly. Partly responsible were the Suckoons, who whiffed eight times against Collins, and didn’t remove him until the eighth. With two out, Turner singled, and Parker hit a double to right. Everybody but Turner would have scored, but we had a pair in scoring position with two down. Lefty Jesus Morales replaced Collins, which prompted us to hit for Caddock with McLaughlin, who lined to the left, where Angelo Duarte made a leaping grab. Inning over. The Canadiens in the bottom 8th ended up with Jorge Lopez on third base with NO outs, and Kelly Fairchild somehow wiggled out of that. Then in the ninth, offense came from the unlikeliest of sources: Paul Kirkland was taken deep with one out – by Wedemeyer. Scott Wade retired the side in the bottom ninth. 2-1 Coons. Parker 2-3, BB, 2B; Wedemeyer 2-4, HR, RBI; We recalled Stephen Buell from rehab in St. Pete to spend the last two and a half weeks of the season with his brothers in fail. If health permits of course. Maybe he will break a hair in his first game back and goes straight back to the DL. We are experienced with frail leftfielders (Dan the Man), but Buell’s season was just an endless sea of pain… Game 3 POR: 2B Ingall – SS Guerin – CF Reece – C Turner – LF Buell – 3B Crowe – RF Brady – 1B Michel – P M. Lopez VAN: 3B B. Butler – LF Hudson – CF Ledesma – 1B Valenzuela – C J. Lopez – RF Moreno – SS Pyatt – 2B Weston – P Hollow After allowing two runs in the first inning, Joe Hollow really got some pressure in the third. After Reece reached on an error by Bob Butler, Turner singled, and Buell was plunked. Mike Crowe worked a walk to force home Reece, 3-0, and there were still no outs in the inning. Brady singled, scoring Turner, 4-0, and then – fín. Michel struck out, Lopez popped out, and Ingall lined out to Hudson. While the Raccoons assumed four were enough and went to sleep, Miguel Lopez still had a job to do. He did not allow a hit through three innings, and while the Canadiens got a few knocks off him after that, they never to past second base. In the top 8th, we again had the bags full then, and again with no outs, again including an error. Ingall’s sac fly ended Hollow’s day, Jackie Lagarde came in and ended the Coons’ unambitious offensive ambitions. Lopez instantly ran into a Randy Darke infield single, followed by a homer by Bob Butler that cut the lead back to 5-2. Lopez didn’t finish the inning, which fell to Kelly Fairchild. Scott Wade came out in the ninth and again allowed no runners, ending the game with three grounders to Ingall. 5-2 Coons. Turner 3-5, RBI; Brady 2-4, BB, RBI; Michel 2-3, BB; Lopez 7.2 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, W (9-13); This win ensures we won’t tie the all time worst mark of 5-13 against the Elks this season. It also opens the window to collect our 1,800th overall regular season win still here in Vancouver. That’d be somethin’! Game 4 POR: SS Guerin – RF Brady – CF Reece – LF Parker – 3B Crowe – 2B Caddock – C Castillo – 1B Wedemeyer – P Joly VAN: 3B Sutton – 2B Corona – RF H. Givens – CF Ledesma – 1B Valenzuela – C J. Lopez – LF Moreno – SS Duarte – P Dominguez Joly surrendered a run in the first inning, then came to bat in the second with the bags full and no outs. He grounded to left, where somehow Angelo Duarte managed to miss the ball and Joly tied the game with an RBI single. Guerin’s double play grounder plated a run, but also killed the inning. But the Elks had Joly’s number and turned the score back in their favor in the third, 3-2, yet the game was tied with another Wedemeyer home run in the fourth inning, 3-3. Joly left after six, not getting a decision when Brady struck out with Guerin on second base, ending the top 7th. The game was still tied in the bottom 8th, when I made the cardinal mistake of letting Donis pitch in a remotely close game. He walked Givens, which led to his exit, while Miller saved the situation with K’s to PH Bob Butler and Jose Valenzuela. Newton ran for Castillo when the latter singled to lead off the top 9th, but was thrown out stealing. The game went to extra innings, but the Coons continued to fail, even when donated two walks in the top 10th by Enrico Gonzalez. Crowe, who ended up a dreadful 0-5 again on the day, and Caddock leaving the runners on. Costa then lost it on Henry Given’s walkoff double in the bottom of the inning. 4-3 Canadiens. Reece 2-4, BB, 2B; Castillo 2-4; Wedemeyer 2-4, HR, RBI; Raccoons (68-78) vs. Knights (65-81) – September 18-20, 1998 The Knights have yet to lose a game against the Raccoons this season, despite a struggling pitching staff, and the third-most runs surrendered in the Continental League. Projected matchups: Jose Rivera (13-8, 2.58 ERA) vs. Tynan Howard (7-14, 3.84 ERA) Kisho Saito (5-13, 3.01 ERA) vs. Daniel Perez (13-11, 3.66 ERA) Manuel Movonda (10-11, 2.89 ERA) vs. Carlos Asquabal (5-3, 4.33 ERA) Game 1 ATL: CF Árias – 3B Morales – 2B Palácios – LF Kinnear – 1B J. Jackson – C J. Johnson – RF M. Smith – SS Tanaka – P Howard POR: 2B Ingall – RF Brady – 3B Crowe – C Turner – LF Buell – SS Guerin – 1B Wedemeyer – CF Newton – P Rivera The Knights left the bags full in a wild first inning, which also saw Jose Rivera hit Vern Kinnear in the ribs. Fans weren’t sure whether to cheer, or boo, or cry, or just continue feasting those fat curly fries. Both teams displayed incredible offensive ineptitude in the game, amassing three hits apiece through seven innings, which was even more horrible for the Knights, who faced a pitcher who was just barely hitting the vicinity of the strike zone. Rivera finally faced annihilation in the eighth with a leadoff walk to Morales. Manuel Gomez ran for him, and Rivera’s pickoff went past Wedemeyer, moving Gomez to second. While Palacios made an out, I opted for the left-hander to face Kinnear, so it was Donis time. The Knights didn’t bite and sent Tadanobu Sakaguchi, who grounded out, but moved Gomez to third. Tamburrino then came in to strike out Joe Jackson and end the frame. The game remained scoreless as Tamburrino pitched the ninth. Nesto Martinez came in to pitch the bottom 9th for the Knights, and he had already ten losses on him on the year. Make it eleven, boys. Nope, wasn’t gonna happen. Bottom 11th. Ingall led off against Yosuke Memoto and grounded in front of the plate. Neither Memoto nor catcher Edgardo Ramos managed to make a good play and Ingall beat it out for an INGALL SINGLE. Brady came up and in our desperation we called a bunt. Brady laid one down, Joe Jackson – now at third – came in and zinged it to first, where Palácios stretched after it, but in vain. Two men on through no achievement of our own! Caddock hit for Crowe to counter Memoto, but grounded out, yet the winning run was on third for Turner with one out. Turner was walked, though, bringing up De La Rosa in the #5 slot, and Neil Reece hit for him. Reece had a rough month, not hitting a lot, whiffing steadily, but his eye was still decent. Memoto tried not to pitch in the zone too much – and didn’t hit it at all. Reece drew four straight balls, and the fans were glad it was over. 1-0 Raccoons. Ingall 2-5, 2B; Reece (PH) 0-0, BB, RBI; Rivera 7.1 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 5 BB, 2 K; Tamburrino 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K; De La Rosa 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K, W (4-4); Sometimes, a bases loaded walk ain’t that shabby. Sometimes, it gives you a milestone win. Like the franchise’s 1,800th here. And we’re now 1-6 against Atlanta on the year. Woot!! Progress!! While this was a cringeworthy outing from Jose Rivera in general, walking five, and plunking two, he didn’t allow a run and now ties SFB Jorge Chapa for the CL ERA title! Game 2 ATL: CF Rogers – 3B Morales – LF W. Taylor – 1B J. Jackson – RF Sakaguchi – 2B Chapman – C E. Ramos – SS M. Gomez – P D. Perez POR: 2B Ingall – RF Brady – CF Reece – C Turner – LF Buell – 1B Wedemeyer – SS Guerin – 3B Caddock – P Saito Saito was not very good. The Knights got a few hard fly balls off him – yet all managed to find some outfielder to catch them, while the soft and meek balls all fell in somewhere. He walked the edge of the volcano early on, as the Knights left men aboard in the first two frames, and Joe Jackson grounded out to Guerin with two men in scoring position in the third. Guerin had also hit a sac fly in the bottom 2nd to give the Brownshirts a 1-0 lead. Manuel Gomez finally got to Saito in the fourth with a 2-run double. And that was his 14th loss of the year. A Will Taylor home run made it 3-1 in the fifth, and Saito was finally chased with three straight singles to start the sixth. The Suckoons stood and watched. Some picked their nose. That was all the action. Daniel Perez pitched a complete game in a blowout once the brown bullpen was soiled in the seventh. 9-2 Knights. Buell 2-3; Wedemeyer 2-4, 2 2B, RBI; Grandridge 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K; I cried some. Saito very calmly called someone in Japan that night. Nobody understood a lick of course. Game 3 ATL: CF Árias – C J. Johnson – 2B Palácios – LF Kinnear – 1B J. Jackson – 3B M. Gomez – RF Rogers – SS Tanaka – P Asquabal POR: 2B Ingall – SS Guerin – CF Reece – C Turner – LF Buell – 3B Crowe – RF Brady – 1B Utting – P Movonda Doubles by Guerin and Turner gave Movonda a 1-0 lead in the first inning. That’s it, Colombian Beauty, now roll with it, they said. Movonda 1-hit the Knights through five, but a leadoff double by Peter Rogers in the sixth spelled out the signs of impending doom. The park promptly collapsed over Movonda, not spectacularly, but sure enough, with a 2-out RBI single by Jesus Árias that dropped just a few feet in front of Buell. Bottom 8th, Guerin led off with a single off Memoto. A run-and-hit was called on the first pitch of Reece’s AB. Reece sliced over Memoto’s offering, but Guerin was barely safe because Johnson had to double clutch and didn’t get a quick throw off. Reece was then walked intentionally and forced out on Turner’s grounder. Runners on the corners, one out, perfect double play scenario, so it was the more stunning that Buell lined PAST Sosa Tanaka and the Coons took the lead. The Raccoons failed to tack on, but lost Buell on Chris Parker’s PH grounder to second when he became entangled with Tanaka and limped off. Scott Wade appeared and surrendered the first two Knights in the ninth, before Kinnear doubled to right. Jackson came up and grounded sharply to second – but Ingall made the play to first. 2-1 Raccoons. Guerin 2-3, BB, 2B; Buell 2-4, RBI; Movonda 8.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 6 K, W (11-11); Guess what. Stephen Buell has torn ankle ligaments and will make a FOURTH trip to the DL, and this time for good. Speechless and stunned, that’s what I am. In other news September 14 – The Scorpions beat the Wolves, 3-1, but SAL Roberto Quintero (.334, 8 HR, 65 RBI) keeps comin’ through, extending his hitting streak to 35 games. He now has tied hitting streaks by Manuel Doval (1988-89) and Clement Clark (1992) for fourth place overall, but is still 12 games behind Claudio Rojas’ mark of 47 games from 1983. September 15 – SAL Roberto Quintero takes sole position of fourth place in hitting streaks with two singles in a 7-4 loss to the Scorpions. September 15 – CHA OF Matt Adams (.324, 15 HR, 66 RBI) is out for the year with a fractured finger. September 16 – Rookie SAC SP Julio Morín (2-2, 2.85 ERA) tosses a 2-hit shutout against the Wolves, 3-0 for the Scorpions. Among the fatalities is Roberto Quintero’s hitting streak, which ends at 36 games. September 19 – Season over for LAP 1B Marty Battle (.309, 15 HR, 79 RBI) after suffering a fractured rib. Complaints and stuff** 7 games, 17 runs. Do the math yourself. If I were allowed to only strangle ONE sucker on the roster every day, I wouldn’t get done until season’s end. Attached Images __________________ Portland Raccoons, 83 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA \| RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here.

10-01-2014, 05:31 PM	#1018
Trebro All Star Reserve Join Date: Mar 2013 Posts: 753 Blog Entries: 1	Not to worry you further, because I am aware you'd like to keep what hair you have left after running this team, but it looks like Saito might be losing his touch? His ERA and WHIP have really taken a dive, have they not?

10-01-2014, 06:07 PM	#1019
Westheim Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Germany Posts: 11,905	His second half was worse than his first half, true. But he's better than the last two years, overall. So, the K's are going down, that is true, but he's not bound to blow up completely anytime soon. I am not worried. Yet. __________________ Portland Raccoons, 83 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA \| RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here.

10-03-2014, 04:24 PM	#1020
Westheim Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Germany Posts: 11,905	A few things to remember before we get going. The suckers will not score a lick, they will not score a lick, and they will make sure not to score a lick to make Saito lose specifically. No need to get aggravated. No need to get aggravated. We all know what’s gonna happen. Raccoons (70-79) vs. Thunder (85-64) – September 21-23, 1998 The Thunder were in the midst of a 3-team race for the CL South. The Raccoons were in a race to be first to book flights for a nice October vacation in the Caribbean. This series matched up the two teams with the least runs conceded in the Continental League. We are actually first in that. Not that it has helped us any. Projected matchups: Randy Farley (12-5, 2.82 ERA) vs. Aaron Anderson (16-9, 2.59 ERA) Miguel Lopez (9-13, 4.01 ERA) vs. Vaughn Higgins (0-1, 8.31 ERA) Bob Joly (2-0, 1.57 ERA) vs. Lou Corbett (15-8, 2.98 ERA) Game 1 OCT: 2B Browne – CF J.J. Villa – 3B S. Reece – SS Grant – 1B Higashi – C Briggs – RF C. Clark – LF Bonneau – P Anderson POR: 2B Ingall – LF Brady – CF N. Reece – 3B Crowe – 1B Wedemeyer – SS Guerin – RF Villegas – C McDonald – P Farley Randy Farley’s ROTY ambitions dissipated in the fourth inning. After both starters had allowed two runs in the first inning, Farley, who was wholly unable to strike out anybody, failed to remove any batters with two strikes, and ended up putting the first four Thunder in the fourth inning on base, including two walks. Then he faced Aaron Anderson, who became the spoiler of his season, doubling through Wedemeyer on a 1-2 pitch. That ramped the score to 6-2, with two men in scoring position, nobody out, and Farley hit the showers. Fairchild held at least Anderson on base, but at 7-2 it was over already. Only accountants took a passing interest in the drubbing that commenced. Jason Briggs’ 2-run home run of Fairchild in the fifth was booked with great precision, and the Raccoons’ personnel swiftly revaluated to zero. 10-3 Thunder. Reece 2-4, 2B, RBI; Costa 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K; I am aggravated. Game 2 OCT: C Briggs – LF J.J. Villa – 3B S. Reece – SS Grant – 1B Higashi – RF Bonneau – 2B Cowan – CF Glass – P Higgins POR: 2B Ingall – 3B Crowe – CF N. Reece – C Turner – LF Newton – SS Guerin – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Kent – P M. Lopez The Thunder took another early lead in the middle game, one run in the second inning, and then in the third, the Thunder had runners in scoring position with one out. Bob Grant grounded out hard to Mike Crowe, who managed to keep the runners pinned. Then Takahashi Higashi came up and singled between Ingall and Wedemeyer, 3-0, and that game was over. For a very long time against the recently called up and ravaged Vaughn Higgins, a Neil Reece solo home run was all the Raccoons mustered. Bottom 7th, 3-1 Thunder, Wedemeyer reached with two out on an infield single. Caddock hit for the useless Kent and hit one into the gap, scoring Wedemeyer with a double. Michel then hit for Miguel Lopez and whiffed. Daniel Miller pitched the eighth, loading the bags, but the Thunder didn’t hit for Higgins when he came up with two out, and he struck out. Bottom 8th, Higgins promptly walked Ingall and Crowe to start the frame. This was BEGGING FOR HIM TO GET SOILED!! And Reece singled, loading the bags in a 3-2 game with no outs! And then Turner flew out, and Newton flew out, and all the Suckoons did was tie the game on Turner’s sac fly. So, the game went to extra innings, where the Coons offense continued to fail hard. The pitching held up, though, and so we went to the 13th eventually. Crowe drew a 1-out walk off Hipólito Sendím, and then Reece ripped a double to left, but it wasn’t quite enough to send Crowe home. Werner Turner came up to be put onto the empty base, moving Newton into the box. He presented a gentle floater to Juan Jose Villa for the second out, and then Guerin grounded out. Villa’s home run off Scott Wade put the game away in the 14th, while the Raccoons left the winning runs on base in the bottom half. 4-3 Thunder. Reece 3-6, HR, 2B, RBI; Caddock (PH) 1-1, RBI; De La Rosa 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K; Game 3 OCT: 2B Browne – LF Bonneau – 3B S. Reece – SS Grant – C Briggs – RF D. Ramos – 1B J. Valentín – CF J.J. Villa – P Corbett POR: 2B Ingall – SS Guerin – CF N. Reece – C Turner – 3B Crowe – RF Brady – 1B Michel – LF Utting – P Joly The Thunder flagellated Bob Joly to the tune of ten hits and four runs in six innings. The Raccoons weren’t anywhere near hitting Lou Corbett like that. Dave Browne homered off “Bag of Poo” Donis in the eighth, not that it mattered much. The Raccoons had one lonely run through seven innings, then got Guerin on to start the eighth. Lou Corbett fell 3-1 to Neil Reece, then left one up, and Reece gave it some more elevation for a bombastic 2-piece. That cut the gap to 5-3, but two runs in two innings? Gotta be kidding. Corbett sat down the next three Coons before yielding to Jimmy Morey in the ninth. Michel flew out. Then Caddock hit for Utting and doubled. Parker hit for Iván Costa, flew out, and now Ingall came up, struggling like all hell in recent weeks. He connected to deep center and ripped a triple off the wall. That put the tying run 90 feet away, yet Sonny Reece caught Guerin’s foul pop in time to save the sweep. 5-4 Thunder. Ingall 2-4, BB, 3B, RBI; Guerin 2-5; Brady 2-4, 2B; Caddock (PH) 1-1, 2B; Costa 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K; This loss achieved three things. I have finally lost trust in Consuela being a capable shortstop. We were assured a losing season. Mathematically, I mean. Emotionally this has been a losing season at least since the break. And third, I cried myself to sleep and all day on our off-Thursday. Raccoons (70-82) @ Loggers (86-67) – September 25-27, 1998 Only one number: the Loggers had outscored the Raccoons by 169 runs so far this year. Their pitching was adequate, and that meant it was enough to sweep the Raccoons for the week. Projected matchups: Jose Rivera (13-8, 2.47 ERA) vs. Simon Walton (5-4, 3.82 ERA) Kisho Saito (5-14, 3.15 ERA) vs. Tim Butler (8-6, 5.55 ERA) Kelly Fairchild (3-3, 3.86 ERA) vs. Rafael Garcia (10-15, 3.67 ERA) I was willing to give Fairchild a start, since - … well, do we have anything to lose? Our dignity’s all gone by now… Game 1 POR: 2B Ingall – SS Guerin – CF Reece – C Turner – RF Brady – 3B Crowe – 1B Caddock – LF Newton – P Rivera MIL: SS B. Hernandez – 2B Sullivan – RF C. Ramirez – LF Hiwalani – CF Fletcher – 1B D. Evans – C M. Vela – 3B J. Lopez – P Walton Straight singles by Vela, Lopez, Walton, and Hernandez with two out in the second gave the Loggers a 1-0 lead. Rivera’s inability to get at least the pitcher out somehow soon became something to regret. That 1-0 lead stood some time. Then, Reece doubled to lead off the sixth inning. Turner grounded out, moving Reece to third base. Walton got a strike onto Brady, but Brady then got two runs on Walton with a huge home run to right. Rivera was crowded by the Loggers in the sixth, but they didn’t score, yet then put two men on with one out in the seventh and the much-hated Hiwalani up next. Daniel Miller was tasked with ending the inning, struck out Hiwalani, and got Fletcher to ground out to Ingall. Tamburrino got the eighth over with and Wade was brought in with the 2-1 lead still alive in the bottom 9th. He struck out Leon Ramirez, but then Hernandez and Sullivan both singled, bringing up the big boys. Cristo Ramirez grounded hard to first, where Caddock made the play to second base, but the Coons didn’t get the double play. Hiwalani came up with runners on the corners and two down, and this was a case for moving the winning (or rather: losing) run into scoring position so that Wade could pitch to the not-quite-as-threatening Jerry Fletcher. It worked: Fletcher grounded a 1-0 pitch to short, and Guerin made the play. 2-1 Raccoons. Reece 2-4, 2B; Brady 1-4, HR, 2 RBI; We stole this one. The Loggers out-hit us 10-4, both teams drew five walks, and the only threat the Raccoons ever amounted to was Reece on third, and Clyde Brady cashed in on that one. That kid is making a run for starting rightfielder next year, I can tell you. Game 2 POR: 2B Ingall – LF Brady – CF Reece – C Turner – SS Caddock – 3B Crowe – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Villegas – P Saito MIL: SS B. Hernandez – C L. Ramirez – RF C. Ramirez – LF Hiwalani – CF Fletcher – 2B Sullivan – 3B Sugano – 1B Costello – P Butler Butler surrendered all left-handers he faced in the first inning, but the right-handers hit him for two quick runs, the first time the Coons struck first all week. And they were trying really hard after being properly screamed at before the game. Screamed, yelled, and called animal names, they swung with great motivation and produced the strangest of lines for Butler, who went five inning, striking out seven, but allowing 12 hits for five runs. At that point, after five, Saito was pitching a 3-hitter, although he was giving up the occasional hard contact. The score was still 5-0 when the Coons loaded the bags in the eighth with one out against Andrew Schaefer. Time to put this one to bed! Schaefer was not removed for Wedemeyer, the left-hander, but – wait, my bad. Wedemeyer sucked, and struck out. Villegas came up, still a left-hander, yet while a passed ball gave the Coons a run, they couldn’t get one themselves unless Butler was in the game, it seemed. Saito was scored against in the bottom 8th, and removed after a Leon Ramirez triple and Cristo Ramirez RBI single that basically went right by Wedemeyer. The pair was removed as De La Rosa and Kowalchuk entered in their opposite slots (the #9 slot was to lead off the ninth). Hiwalani homered off De La Rosa to close the book on Saito and get this game onto the slide towards humiliation. De La Rosa failed, put two men on with two out, and Miller came out to face Pedro Costello, who was the tying run all of a sudden. Costello hit a double in a full count, plating both runs, before Miller struck out Drake Evans to end the Daily Nightmare. Kowalchuk struck out to start the ninth, as we faced Ricardo Medina, before Marvin Ingall provided some relief with a huge homer to left. Scott Wade emerged up 7-5, and I really, really, really didn’t want Hiwalani to bat, but that meant sitting them down 1-2-3. Hernandez grounded out (nice play by Caddock), and Leon Ramirez popped out. Almost through here! C’mon, get that Cristo guy before he can hang orange clothes around Saito’s win! Ramirez doubled, predictably, and Hiwalani again would not get a chance, as Wade again was sent after Fletcher. Aaaand …… struck him out. 7-5 Raccoons. Ingall 4-5, BB, HR, 2B, RBI; Reece 3-6, 2B, RBI; Turner 2-5, 2 RBI; Villegas 3-5, 2B, RBI; Saito 7.1 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, W (6-14); What do you mean, he won? For Kisho, #232 came nine starts past #231. At that pace, he will have to pitch to age 44 to get 250 wins done. But he won. They almost blew it, but he won, and we will take this one and cherish it dearly. He will have one more start this season, so he could get back to a crisp .333 win ratio this year... or end up at the horrible horrors of losing 15 games. It would be the fourth time, offensively inept Raccoons squads would subject him to this kind of humiliation and ridicule. (Well, in ’86, when he lost a career-high 17, he really struggled. But apart from that…) The Loggers faced elimination from the playoffs in the Sunday game then, with the Titans beating on the Canadiens and the magic number at 2. Game 3 POR: 3B Crowe – LF Brady – CF Reece – C Turner – 1B Michel – 2B Caddock – SS Guerin – RF Villegas – P Fairchild MIL: SS B. Hernandez – C L. Ramirez – RF C. Ramirez – LF Hiwalani – CF Fletcher – 1B D. Evans – 2B M. Wilson – 3B Buchanan – P R. Garcia The game was 1-1 early, before Cristo Ramirez got a 2-out RBI single off Fairchild in the bottom 5th to give the Loggers a lead and still hope against hope to make the playoffs. Flip to the top 6th, Turner doubled against Garcia, and Samy Michel upped the pressure with a triple off the wall in straightaway center. Tied game, go-ahead run on third with no outs, you could just wait for Rafael Garcia striking out the next three guys, and indeed, Caddock went down with strike three, and Guerin grounded out to the third base side of home. Villegas was not pitched to. Chris Parker hit for Fairchild, and grounded out to second. Dismal suckers. Iván Costa put a man on in the seventh, and with Cristo Ramirez coming up with two out, Donis was thrown into the action, and only left said action victorious because Guerin made a nice launching grab on Ramirez’ grounder. The game was still tied, 2-2, but one team was about to cave in, and it wasn’t the brown-clad one. Samy Michel singled with one out in the eighth, then stole second base (his first SB in the Bigs) with Caddock at bat. While Caddock made an out eventually, grounding out to Hernandez at short, Guerin came up and through with a 2-out RBI double past Buchanan. Marvin Ingall hit for Donis in the #8 slot and also doubled, to right! Guerin was in, Ingall at second, and Parker was to bat, and he doubled to center! The Loggers couldn’t even get their bullpen up this quickly, and the eighth ended with Crowe striking out still against Garcia. The closer situation was a bit problematic now here, with the score of 5-2 holding up through the top 9th. Wade had pitched two days in a row, both times crowded. De La Rosa had pitched a quick eighth, while the options remaining on the bench had either pitched in both of the previous two games as well, or were named Grandridge. Alas, Gabby stayed in, facing the bottom third of the lineup, while Daniel Miller was warming up as backup. The Canadiens were leading the Titans 9-2 at this point, so elimination was probably not coming today for the Loggers anyway. Gabby meanwhile took offense to Miller throwing behind him. He turned the anger towards Myron Wilson, Phil Buchanan, and Benny Carver, striking out the side en route to a 2-frame save. 5-2 Raccoons. Michel 2-4, 3B, RBI; Guerin 2-4, 2B, RBI; Ingall (PH) 1-1, 2B, RBI; Parker 1-2, 2B, RBI; Costa 1.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K; De La Rosa 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K, SV (3); In other news September 22 – As the Warriors face elimination, they lose 1B/2B Dave Heffer (.316, 4 HR, 63 RBI) with a mild hamstring strain. September 23 – The Aces announce a 7-yr, $8.4M deal signed with 1B/3B Javier Vargas (.304, 15 HR, 64 RBI), who had been bound to be a free agent this fall. [This was the player I wanted to sign this fall] September 24 – Warriors CL Lawrence Bentley (2-8, 4.85 ERA, 32 SV) also goes down with a torn labrum. He is not expected to heal until Opening Day in 1999. September 25 – The Scorpions bowl over the Pacifics in a 7-run sixth inning, win 8-0, and are the first team to punch their October ticket. It will be the Scorpions’ sixth playoff appearance (1977, 1979-80, 1995-96), and they have two titles so far. Complaints and stuff Neil Reece had a hot week, and was rewarded by being named the CL Player of the Week. He went .444 (12-27) with 2 HR and 5 RBI. One more week, then I can hit the mountains again. Solitude and silence. What more does a man need… Must not forget that anti-bear spray this time. Attached Images __________________ Portland Raccoons, 83 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA \| RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here.