Portland Raccoons (ABL)

[Westheim]

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

Vicente Ruíz started the series against Vernon Robertson, who had been slapped around in his call-up stint so far with a 6.00 ERA. Ruíz was awful, Sanchez made a throwing error in a catastrophic first inning, and at 3-0 down, the game appeared over. Daniel Hall led off the top 2nd by belting a 3-0 pitch far, far away, but even with a 2-shot by Dawson in the fifth, they could not make up the bad pitching. The Canadiens hit the Raccoons staff as they pleased, which included crushing the incompetent half of the pen in the eighth. 10-5 Canadiens, while the Raccoons had five hits in total, 60% of them homers. Hall 1-2, 2 BB, HR, RBI; Dawson 2-4, 2 HR, 4 RBI;

How the Canadiens only scored one run with their 13 baserunners off Charles Young in the second game was their secret. The bad news: that one run was enough to lead 1-0 after eight, and 7-8-9 were coming up for the Coons with closer Gerard Marquis coming in. He mowed them down. 1-0 Canadiens.

This loss (other than stinging) got the Raccoons their seventh losing season in eight years.

Carlos Gonzalez wrote another entry to his book “Why I don’t belong onto the mound” with a 4-run second inning, blowing a 2-0 lead. All runs scored with two out, starting with a single by pitcher Steve Murray. Daniel Hall then hit another solo jack in his quest for the home run title (and a side quest for 100 RBI). Gonzalez did not allow a baserunner past the third inning, and whiffed eight, but the damage had long been done. The Coons dropped all their chances, and again faced Marquis in the ninth, down a run. They still were not able to hurt him. 4-3 Canadiens. Dadswell 2-2, 3 BB;

Kisho Saito pitched for win #20 and to avoid the embarrassment of another 4-game sweep. Meanwhile, Daniel Hall was also going for tying Ben Simon’s Raccoons home run record in a season and 100 RBI’s.

Hall completed his laundry list in the first with a homer to left, #28, tying Simon, and earning his 100th run driven in on the season. After a 2-piece by Dadswell, this made for a 3-0 lead. It was still 3-0 after five, with Saito in line for the W tossing 1-hit ball (albeit with some manly catches by Lucero and Hall). A grand slam by Steve Walker in the sixth seemed to seal the deal, 7-0, which was also the score after seven, when Saito was pinch-hit for. The closest the Canadiens came to scoring was in the ninth with one out, a runner on second, and Melvin Greene driving a ball to left center, where Hall made another VERY manly catch. (Lucero won the manly catches game about 4-3 there, though). The 20th win for Saito stood, 7-0 Coons. Thompson 3-5, 2B; Dadswell 2-5, HR, 2 RBI; Workman 2-4, BB; Walker 2-4, HR, 3B, 4 RBI; Saito 7.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K, W (20); Saito clinched at least a tie with Juan “Mauler” Correa for most wins this season, Correa has 19 and another start.

The win ensured fourth place to the Coons. They were three back of the Titans with three to play, so third place was not really close to grab.

The two remaining divisions are close. The Knights and Condors are tied in the CL South. The former have to go to Charlotte, the latter will play in Las Vegas. The FL West sees the Gold Sox clinging on to a 1-game lead over the Warriors, who have home field against the Pacifics to end the year. The Gold Sox have to go to Dallas.

Raccoons (76-83) @ Crusaders (64-95)

Game 1 saw the Coons lead 3-0 early on, but Evans blew the lead with a horrible second inning. Evans left in the 3-3 tie after six, ending the season with a 6-6 record. He certainly played more like 4-12 at times… Jason White nicked a runner that came around to score in the seventh, but Steve Walker’s clutchy 2-run, 2-out double in the top 8th got the Coons ahead. That lead survived a scary eighth with Cunningham putting two on. I can hardly blame Rich, he’s been pushed a ton this year for almost 90 innings. Grant West didn’t need an insurance run in his 38th save of the year. 6-4 Coons. Workman 2-5; Walker 2-4, 2 2B, 2 RBI; Lucero 2-2, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Sanchez (PH) 1-1; Castillo (PH) 1-1, 2B; Lucero hit his first (and only?) homer for the Coons, but later left with a knee bruise;

The teams alternated scoring single runs early, with the Coons up 2-1 after the fourth. Ruíz was far from good, but wobbled through to the sixth, where White had to bail him out. Big Wally pitched the seventh, while the offense couldn’t help the staff a lot. That was until the top 8th.

With one out, Daniel Hall homered to left, 3-1 Coons, which marked his 29th dinger of the season – A NEW RACCOONS RECORD!!

Grant West struggled in a 4-out save and the Crusaders left the bags full in a 5-2 Coons win. Castillo (PH) 1-1, 2B, RBI; Hall 2-3, 2 BB, HR, RBI; Dawson 2-4; Lucero 2-3, 2B, 2 RBI;

Unless Tom McDonald hits the first 4-homer game in ABL history, Daniel Hall is home run champion!

Charles Young was tasked to bring this season to a halfway decent end. Oh, brother. He was all over the place in the first innings and the Coons trailed 3-0 in the fifth, when Lucero tripled in a run and was still on third with two out and Young up. Our pitcher homered to right to tie the game! But Young would give a homer to Dan Younger in the sixth again. By the way, Younger was actually older than Young. Top 7th. Walker was on base with two down and third catcher Andy Reed (who started this game) up. Well, let the boy swing away. HOME RUN!! Big Wally got a HUGE K with the tying run on third in the bottom 7th and also went through the eighth. Grant West was unavailable – and Big Wally got the sign to go in the bottom 9th. 1-2-3 the Crusaders went down, GO WALLY!!! 5-4 Coons!! Walker 2-3, BB; Reed 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Gaston 2.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K, SV (4); that’s why he’s BIG WALLY!!

Tom McDonald did not hit a home run against the Falcons, and Daniel Hall was Home Run King in addition to being King of Coon City. And King of my Heart. (wet eyes)

In other news

September 28 – To start the last series of the year, the Gold Sox beat the Stars 6-3. The Warriors lose against L.A., bringing the M# in the FL West to 1. The Condors win their game in Las Vegas, while Atlanta loses 6-3 in Charlotte to give Tijuana a 1-game lead.
September 29 – Atlanta and Tijuana both lose their games to get the race to game 162. The Warriors lose 6-5 against L.A., which makes the Gold Sox, although they lose in 13 innings in Dallas, division winners for the first time!
September 30 – The Condors win 3-2 in Las Vegas, clinching the CL South for the first time. The Knights would have lost anyway.
October 1 – LAP OF Yoshinobu Ishizaki (.336, 3 HR, 93 RBI) and SFB SS Claudio Rojas (.362, 4 HR, 46 RBI) win the batting titles of their leagues.
October 1 – CHA SP Juan “Mauler” Correa (20-8, 2.20 ERA, 202 K) wins the CL Triple Crown!

Complaints and stuff

Their late rally was certainly indicative of what could have been. But a 3-month slump can not be covered up, no way. Mostly they fell to playing 38-52 against the CL North, as opposed to 13-5 in interleague play and 28-26 against the CL South. They set new or matched all time highs for single season losses against three of the other five CL North teams.

[Questdog]

My beloved Cincinnati Reds went 79-83 in 1971 after losing the World Series in 1970. They came back to own the decade.....There is hope!

(All you need to do is trade your second baseman, your first baseman, and a backup outfielder for a hall of fame second baseman, a gold glove center fielder, an ace pitcher, a starting third baseman, and an outfield prospect.)

[Westheim]

The 1971 Reds would not post another losing season for the decade. The Raccoons already have two (or three, depending on where your decade starts) more to their record.

There were some glaring issues with the roster, which I will address once the World Series has been played.

I will go out on a limb and predict that some Sox will play some C's in the World Series, which will take at least four games.

No, really, Canadiens beat Blue Sox in five. That's my guess.

[Westheim]

1984 LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES

The Canadiens enter the playoffs as hands-on favorites this year with their superb pitching backed up by a very good offense almost all the way through the lineup. Their opponents in the CLCS, the Condors, have a good package and a few star players, but it doesn’t seem to be enough.

In the FLCS, the Gold Sox would have been the team to beat, hadn’t they collapsed spectacularly in mid-September with 12 losses in a row at one point. The Blue Sox can’t possibly carry less momentum, but the Gold Sox have the better individual players, but have lost SP Wilson Martinez and 1B Francisco Lopez to injuries.

Gold Sox @ Blue Sox … 6-4 (10) … (Gold Sox lead 1-0) … Korean star closer Seung-ook Yi held down the Blue Sox from the ninth on; NAS Brian Henry 3-5, 2 2B, 2 RBI; NAS Tony Barr 3-6, 2 2B, RBI;
Condors @ Canadiens … 4-5 (12) … (Canadiens lead 1-0) … VAN Melvin Greene went 3-6 and walked off his team in the 12th;

Gold Sox @ Blue Sox … 5-1 … (Gold Sox lead 2-0)
Condors @ Canadiens … 13-2 … (series tied 1-1) … Tijuana raped the Canadiens pen for 10 runs in the last two innings

Blue Sox @ Gold Sox … 3-0 … (Gold Sox lead 2-1)
Canadiens @ Condors … 2-3 … (Condors lead 2-1)

Blue Sox @ Gold Sox … 6-2 … (series tied 2-2)
Canadiens @ Condors … 0-1 … (Condors lead 3-1) … TIJ Mike Moore 9.0 IP, 7 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

Blue Sox @ Gold Sox … 5-3 … (Blue Sox lead 3-2) … NAS John White 3-4, BB, 2B, 3 RBI;
Canadiens @ Condors … 4-0 … (Condors lead 3-2) … VAN Christian Park 7.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K;

Gold Sox @ Blue Sox … 4-3 … (series tied 3-3) … Denver’s Yi held on to a crumbling lead after a 4-spot in the third
Condors @ Canadiens … 0-3 … (series tied 3-3) … VAN Bill Smith 8.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K; VAN Ramon Gonzalez 3-3, 3 RBI; your match winners in this game should be pretty clear

Gold Sox @ Blue Sox … 5-9 … (Blue Sox win 4-3) … Nashville crushed DEN SP Fernando Vigil early and put the game away by the fourth, the Gold Sox scored four in the ninth in an ultimately hopeless rally.
Condors @ Canadiens … 1-8 … (Canadiens win 4-3) … VAN Steve Murray 8.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K; VAN Ramon Gonzalez 3-4, HR, 2 RBI;

Well, for a moment I had doubts about the Canadiens, but safe for that pen blowout in game 2 their pitching *was* dominant and they did allow only two runs in the last four games combined. The FLCS could have easily cone either way.

1984 WORLD SERIES

Blue Sox @ Canadiens … 4-3 … (Blue Sox lead 1-0) … NAS Jack Pennington 8.0 IP, 10 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 0 K;

Blue Sox @ Canadiens … 3-4 (16) … (series tied 1-1) … Tied at 1-1 through 14, both teams scored two in the 15th, and then Ramon Gonzalez, who was 4-8 on the day, led off the bottom 16th with a relieving home run to walk off his team.

Canadiens @ Blue Sox … 2-6 … (Blue Sox lead 2-1) … NAS Horace Henry 2-3, BB, HR, 3B, 2 RBI; NAS Hideyoshi Yamamoto 2-3, BB, 2B, 2 RBI;

Canadiens @ Blue Sox … 5-3 … (series tied 2-2) … VAN Ramon Gonzalez 3-5, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Gonzalez keeps pacing his whole team!

Canadiens @ Blue Sox … 3-5 … (Blue Sox lead 3-2) … the Canadiens pen gives way for four in the eighth; NAS Jack Pennington 8.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K; VAN Tetsu Osanai 3-4, 2 HR, 3 RBI;

Blue Sox @ Canadiens … 4-5 … (series tied 3-3) … the Canadiens led 4-0 after six, but the Blue Sox tied it against the bullpen again. Star SS Eddy Bailey scored the winning run on a grounder in the bottom 8th;

Blue Sox @ Canadiens …
The Canadiens made a huge step in the second inning, loading the bags with nobody out and then scored four runs against Steve Thompson. The Blue Sox in turn didn’t get a hit until the fourth, a 1-out double by Cesar Colón, who came in to score. Ramon Gonzalez, the man of the postseason, continued to build fame with a 2-out, 2-run triple in the bottom 5th, 6-1. The Canadiens then left the bags full in the sixth, but they could count on a 5-run lead and their starter Bill Smith, who clicked off Blue Sox one after another. With two down in the top 8th, Melvin Greene made an error, and Smith walked the next batter, and the next batter sent a liner into deep left, where Raul Herrera made a HUGE catch to end the inning. Chris Smith then had a pinch-hit leadoff triple and it signaled the end. Seitaro Ogawa had a massive homer in the inning, which ended with a 10-1 lead for the Canadiens. Victor Underwood made his only postseason appearance in the top 9th and surrendered three runs, but with two down and a runner on third 1B Ed Parrell then grounded to Melvin Greene, who lobbed over to Osanai – Game over!
Blue Sox @ Canadiens … 4-10 … (Vancouver win 4-3)

1984 WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS

VANCOUVER CANADIENS
(2nd title)

The Canadiens are the first team to win the title twice. Their first win came in 1982. For the first time the postseason went the full 21 games.

[Westheim]

My season score was 9/100. Well, yeah, at times I felt like 8.5/100, so that’s close enough.

The Raccoons management has it’s work cut out. With the dreadfull baseballless winter ahead, there are certainly numerous things to improve about the team. In short, the team definitely needs the following:

- Top notch centerfielder with good fielding
- Reliable left-handed reliever
- Upgrade at third base, either offensively or defensively, preferably both in one
- A reliable #3/#4 starter
- Backup catcher
- Top notch hitting coach

Some points may sound familiar to veterans of the franchise. Extended version:

- I am not content with Cisco Banda as CF starter. Lucero played good enough to warrant an offer for an extension, but he is not an everyday player on a contending team. The Raccoons want to contend, preferably for top spots.
- Taylor, Jones, Ackerman all were awful last season. Neubauer was the least awful of the bunch, but he won’t be enough for his short breath (low stamina).
- The Cameron Green situation has become untenable. Good thing is, the Coons should pick #10 or so in the 1985 draft, so will have a protected pick in the top half, so if we want to throw money, 3B would be a prime spot to do so.
- The rotation looks like a jigsaw puzzle at the moment. We will have Powell, Saito, Evans, and Ruíz. The question is whether we may want to trade one of them to gain elsewhere. Carlos Gonzalez could do well starting in AAA again. Charles Young is trouble in the rotation, as has been proven. Todd Raines won’t be the answer. Prospect Scott Wade is *at least* one full year away from the majors.
- Enrique Sanchez had a bad season at and behind the plate. His contract is up, farewell. Sam Dadswell is our new starter, but the backup position *could* go to Andy Reed.
- I’m looking for a drill sergeant looking – from the neck up – like Mr. Met.

Now, before we speed through October, two GREAT news! The Portland market size grew to “average” again, which is what it was at the start of the league, but it dropped to “below average” sometime around 1980.

Owner Carlos Valdes also gave the budget a hug, and we will be able to throw away $11.4M this off season, which ranks 13th out of the 24 teams! Not bad for an average market and a penny-pincher from backwoods Mexico!

Expiring contracts:

We had five players eligible for arbitration and two free agents. The first group included slacker German Serna, who did not receive an offer. Also included was Rodrigo Lucero, who had never stuck anywhere and was still arbitration eligible at age 33. The estimate was $99k, but I submitted $110k, because he had batted .254 in the short time here and who knows…

Jason White was a super-2 qualifier (three days short of full three years of service time anyway). His estimate was also $99k, which I submitted, but extension talks were planned for a later date.

Now the difficult cases: Enrique Sanchez first; he would be great to keep as backup catcher, but he was just too expensive for that with a $332k estimate. He was inferior to Dadswell in almost every way, and I was not fond of putting that much money on the bench. He would not receive an offer, although I did contemplate keeping him and shopping him during the winter.

The last one was Carlos Moran, who was all over the place in his career. He had been ace at the end of last season and had finished with a 1.99 ERA. Last year his ERA had been almost six. He was finally out of options now. Was he a viable mop-up guy and emergency starter? That was a tough one. His $104k estimate at least ensured that he was not too expensive. We submitted $110k.

The free agents were Davis Rigsby and Cisco Banda. Both would get offers, since both were (somehow…) compensation eligible. Rigsby had not convinced me to keep him in a crowded middle infield, and Banda was an uncertainty factor after his concussion, which still was not fully healed. Banda had batted .275 – what had the injury done to him?

October 3 – Condors veteran reliever Josh Bridges (1.52 ERA, 9 SV in ’84) is out until next summer with a torn flexor tendon.
October 9 – NAS SS Mike Grimes (.315, 0 HR, 54 RBI) suffered an oblique strain in game 5 of the FLCS and is out for the season.
October 22 – The Salem Wolves, last year 72-90 and last in the FL West, and the only FL West team to never reach the postseason, are bought by Pat Mosher, a financially controlling owner.
October 29 – The Wolves send former Raccoon Ben Simon, 34, (.245, 133 HR, 644 RBI in his career) to Cincy for reliever Ken Bailey. Prospects are exchanged as well.
November 1 – No Gold Golves for the Coons.
November 2 – TOP CF A.J. Achber (.232, 9 HR, 64 RBI) and LVA 3B Mark “Icon” Allen (.256, 16 HR, 82 RBI) are Rookies of the Year.
November 4 – DAL SP Kiyohira Sasaki (22-10, 2.59 ERA) and CHA SP Juan “Mauler” Correa (20-8, 2.20 ERA) are Pitchers of the Year.
November 5 – As MVP’s are named, SAC INF Hector Atilano (.331, 18 HR, 94 RBI) and ATL OF Michael Root (.306, 25 HR, 78 RBI) are winners.
November 10 – SP Alfredo Garza (64-57, 4.56 ERA) is traded by the Blue Sox to Las Vegas for unproven 1B Hector Roman.
November 15 – The Loggers deal outfielder Tsuyoshi Ichikawa, 30, a career .284 hitter with 86 homers, to Topeka for a prospect. This is already the Loggers’ third deal for youngsters this offseason.

How anybody could select Root over Daniel Hall is beyond me.

The first issue checked off on the to-do-list was the hitting coach thingie. We inked Frank O’Donnell, 59, to a 5-yr contract. He was excellent in teaching hitting and handling rookies and no worse than decent in the other teaching and handling categories. He was originally a manager with the Falcons and Blue Sox, managing those to a combined 349-299 record. He had spent the last four years as the Rebels’ hitting coach and had been shown the door along with the rest of the staff after back-to-back fifth place finishes.

Former Rebels manager Carlos Oliva would have been legendary in teaching hitting, but he was only interested in managing.

Jason White was removed from the arbitration list in early November with a 2-yr, $220k deal signed. Extension talks with Rodrigo Lucero were fruitless, because he demanded more than I was willing to submit to the arbitrators, but we signed a 2-yr, $300k deal with Winston Thompson instead. He would have been on a minimum contract this year (after being signed with 27 AB as free agent for 2-yr, $250k), then arbitration eligible for a whopping $240k estimate next year. We met in the middle, pretty much.

Hearings went well. Both Moran and Lucero were denied their outrageous demands and awarded our offers of $110k each. Rigsby and Banda refused arbitration and became free agents, as did Sanchez and Serna.

[Westheim]

November 17 – The New York Crusaders claim SP Hisanobu Higuchi off waivers from the Raccoons.
November 23 – FA outfielder Xiao-wei Li, 25, a .273 batter, signs with the Miners for 3-yr, $2.31M.
November 24 – The Gold Sox keep building by adding star infielder Claudio Rojas, 29, who has 1,655 career hits, making him the career leader in the category. He batted .362 last season for the Bayhawks and will make $2.8M over four years.
November 28 – Outfielder Brian Adams settles with Washington after two years with their division rivals from Pittsburgh. Adams, 34, gets a 2-yr, $1.45M contract for his 79 career dingers and .293 average.
December 1 – Sixteen players are taken in the Rule 5 draft. The Raccoons lose outfielder Jose Perez and pitcher Juan Torres to the Scorpions. The Raccoons pick lefty reliever Jim Carter from the Stars organization.
December 2 – Infielder Pete Ross (ex-Sacramento) joins the Stars for $2.28M over four years. Ross is a .291 hitter with *five* home runs in 4,140 big league at bats, but has other nice qualities.
December 3 – The Pacifics land SP Hunter Frazier, 35, (106-84, 3.18 ERA) for 2-yr, $1.36M. After a bad 1983 season, Frazier has rebounded nicely in ’84 for the Thunder.
December 13 – The Canadiens add FA INF Manuel Flores, 27, and his 1,119 career hits. Essentially powerless, he will make $3.8M over six years. He batted .329 the last two years for the Cyclones, but never more than .300 in a full season before that.
December 14 – After two years in Pittsburgh and Milwaukee, OF Jose Aguilar returns to Tijuana with a 6-yr, $3.6M offer being the driving force for the 30-yr old, who has 1,119 career hits with 63 homers and a consistent .276 bat.
December 15 – At age 38, Ralph Nixon gets another contract from Atlanta, 2-yr, $512k. The veteran infielder has not had a qualifying season since ’81, and his lifetime .308 average was bought in New York in the 70s.
December 18 – The Raccoons trade SP Todd Raines (0-3, 5.85 ERA in a short ’84 season) to San Francisco for OF Ricardo Gonzalez (.252 with 30 homers).
December 18 – The Condors add former Cincinnati closer Scott Clements, 29, and his 273 career saves for $550k for next season.
December 21 – The Gold Sox shell out $1.6M over three years for 35-yr old outfielder Jimmy Hunter, who has 1,308 career hits, but has declined in production for at least two years now.
December 30 – $530k land CL Willis Sims (131 SV, 2.16 ERA) for the Buffaloes.
December 30 – Relief ace Domingo Alonso becomes a member of the Aces for 1-yr, $390k. Alonso has 221 SV and a 2.23 ERA and is only 27.

I took a long look at Manuel Flores, who can play all infield positions – then passed. His numbers in Cincinnati had been stellar. But in San Francisco he had not been a good player. I remembered another top star from Cincinnati that became a hyper-hyped Coon … and then did not make an offer.

The Loggers are trading away player after player, all for prospects. They make a serious bid to lose 100+ games next season, but who knows, by 1987 they could come back HUGE.

The Scorpions offered me CF Jeff Young for SP Vicente Ruíz during the winter meetings, but Young is a .240 hitter at best and I don’t see where the Coons could gain from this trade.

My preferred candidate to fill the CF hole would have been Nashville’s John White, a 23-yr old youngster with a solid bat, great defense, and raw speed. They would not give him up for anything. It became apparent in December that I would not get a great centerfielder, not even for Cameron Green, who was on the trading block. Todd Raines garnered a fair bit of attention and I was able to match him to the Bayhawks’ Ricardo Gonzalez. Whether that boy has the makeup of a strong everyday player? Huh, tough one. But I know that Raines was not getting us anywhere and so at least I got some outfielder here for a pitcher, who was not better than #7 on the depth chart. But Gonzalez at least was enough of a player to get my owner to shut up about how we were weak in CF…

[Westheim]

January 3 – The Raccoons and Knights deal minor leaguers. The Knights receive 1B Jorge Ramirez, with SP Harry Evans joining the Raccoons organization.
January 9 – Former Raccoon C Enrique Sanchez signs for 2-yr, $1.06M with the Aces.
January 19 – The years move on and so does CL Seung-ook Yi and his 121 SV and 2.42 ERA. $470k make him a Miner for ’85. It will be Yi’s fourth team in four years.
January 22 – The Raccoons trade INF Jayson Bowling to Pittsburgh for three minor leaguers, with catching prospect Michael Coates most noteworthy among them.
January 23 – The Gold Sox have a new closer, Domingo Rivera. Most of his 78 saves have come in the last two years, and while the 24-yr old has a 2.34 career ERA, his worst in the last three years was a 1.70 mark in ’83. Rivera will make $1.22M over two years.
January 30 – Another journeyman closer finds a new home, as Lowell “Wacky” Booth joins the Blue Sox. The 29-yr old has 163 SV with a 2.65 ERA, but his ERA last year with the Indians was 1.03. Booth will get $570k for a year.

The January 3 trade addressed a shortage of starting pitchers in our minors after some had filed for free agency and Higuchi had gone lost. Ramirez was at best #4 on the 1B depth chart and while his bat was big, he could hardly move on the field. Evans was a last-round pick by the Canadiens in 1979. He was a very poor copy of Christopher Powell with very good control, but little stuff. The prime 1B prospect in our organization is last year’s supplemental round pick Billy Mitchell, who hit .274 after joining the AAA team in September. He can’t field very well, either.

Some time in early January I abandoned the idea of moving Cam Green. The reason wasn’t that I suddenly found Green’s result particularly impressing, but rather the fact that I was not able to coax anybody worthwhile out of any team for him.

Green-Castillo-Thompson-Workman in the infield. That’s four .250 to .270 hitters, two with power. Is that enough? Walker is of course a fifth man with a good case in this, too. That leaves Edgardo Gonzalez and/or Jayson Bowling as additional backups (at least until Bowling was traded, which made Gonzie’s situation a lot less restless). That is also no improvement over 1984.

Still remaining: the glaring chasm in centerfield. I was not satisfied by just adding Ricardo Gonzalez. It was mid-January and we still had $2M to spend!

My dry eyes fell on outfielder Armando Sanchez, a free agent outfielder who had been with Salem for eight years. His 1984 line was an unimpressive .242/.323/.361 with 12 big ‘uns. He had chugged double-digit homers for seven straight years, though, and was a career .290 hitter. He was 29, so too early for being too old. He was a type B free agent. He could play all three outfield positions. Interrrresting.

January 31 – 1983 CL Pitcher of the Year Kinji Kan, 33, (96-82, 3.83 ERA) joins the Bayhawks, earning $2.6M over four years.
January 31 – The Raccoons ink free agent OF Armando Sanchez, who has 100 career homers and 1,336 hits. He had an off year in ’84, but will make $2.375M over four years. Sanchez was with Salem for eight years and has never been with a team outside of Oregon.
February 1 – SP Mike Clarke, 32, 69-67 with a 4.30 ERA, last season in the playoffs with the Gold Sox, joins the Bayhawks for 3-yr, $1.34M.
February 9 – CL Jamel Teissier, 28, takes his 186 SV to San Francisco for 2-yr, $920k.
February 17 – The Condors ink OF Cisco Banda, giving the Raccoons a supplemental round pick and the Condor’s fourth round pick in the 1985 draft (with the first three rounds already gone to the Loggers, Cyclones, and Titans)
February 27 – Journeyman catcher Angel Potter, 30, a 1983 World Series champion, joins the Miners for 2-yr, $626k. Potter is a .237 batter with little power, but one of the best defensive catchers in the game.

I intend to start Sanchez as the #3 hitter, ahead of Hall, Dawson, and Workman. That should produce some runs. If he – no, no, he will. HE. WILL.

The rest of the off- and pre-season just breezed past. Most prized free agents were gone. A starting pitcher did not materialize, and also no addition for the infield to replace Edgardo Gonzalez.

[Westheim]

1985 PORTLAND RACCOONS – Opening Day Roster (first set shows 1984 numbers, second set overall; players with an * are off season acquisitions):

SP Kisho Saito, 24, B:L, T:L (20-8, 3.15 ERA | 55-26, 2.97 ERA) – tied for the CL lead in wins, split between the Canadiens and Raccoons; is a workhorse at a very young age, pitching 240+ innings for three straight years, and we may want to be a little easier on him this season; racks up high K numbers.
SP Christopher Powell, 36, B:L, T:R (8-8, 3.35 ERA | 97-94, 3.26 ERA) – long ball prone, but rock solid most of the time, although there are signs of fading by now. He has not posted a winning record for back-to-back seasons, and also was injured last September, missing the last four or five starts.
SP Logan Evans, 29, B:L, T:L (6-6, 3.66 ERA | 67-57, 3.30 ERA) – missed a few months due to injury and had his worst season since 1980, with ill control continuing to plague him.
SP Vicente Ruíz, 30, B:R, T:R (14-7, 3.38 ERA | 87-88, 3.88 ERA) – was signed as free agent last May, when the rotation was being torn to pieces. He was mostly a pleasant surprise, despite some lapses and completely ineffective starts.
SP Charles Young, 27, B:R, T:R (6-10, 4.24 ERA | 14-16, 3.52 ERA) – knuckleballer with a ton of potential, but at times his control is completely awful.

MU Carlos Moran, 29, B:S, T:R (3-3, 1.99 ERA, 1 SV | 19-30, 3.66 ERA, 3 SV) – keeps coming back again and again with good outings in the second half of last season, but at times he can’t get anybody out.
MR Jim Carter *, 24, B:L, T:L (rookie) – rule 5 draft pick from the Rebels, he has killer stuff at his disposal, but of course has never pitched in the majors.
MR Justin Neubauer, 26, B:L, T:L (2-2, 2.89 ERA | 2-2, 2.91 ERA) – returned to the team when the other lefty relievers were unreliable and awful; has very low stamina but is good to get out that one or two key hitters.
MR Jason White, 26, B:R, T:R (3-6, 3.57 ERA, 1 SV | 9-11, 3.47 ERA, 3 SV) – could not repeat his strong 1983 performance, but keeps getting good to strong results, but also is not both lapse- and home run-proof.
SU Richard Cunningham, 25, B:R, T:R (5-4, 2.92 ERA, 3 SV | 13-11, 2.52 ERA, 11 SV) – fireballer with even splits, who struggled in the first half in ’84, possibly due to overuse; very reliable most of the time.
SU Wally Gaston, 28, B:R, T:R (9-5, 3.54 ERA, 4 SV | 36-36, 2.95 ERA, 88 SV) – great stuff, bad control, he had a bad second half in ’84, but everybody likes Big Wally. He also is the last remaining Raccoon from the 1977 season opener.
CL Grant West, 28, B:L, T:L (2-2, 1.63 ERA, 39 SV | 14-2, 1.69 ERA, 132 SV) – nickname “Demon”, says it all. Ultra-reliable, he is the first Coon to reach 100 SV.

C Sam Dadswell, 24, B:L, T:R (.278, 17 HR, 70 RBI | .280, 23 HR, 115 RBI) – acquired at the deadline from the Thunder, his sophomore season could be a sign of things to come; good batter, good catcher, leader-type, he could become a key piece to the Coons for many years.
C Andy Reed, 25, B:R, T:R (.400, 1 HR, 2 RBI | .400, 1 HR, 2 RBI) – September call-up with only 10 AB last year, he has enough trust to take over as backup catcher.

1B Matt Workman, 29, B:L, T:L (.250, 13 HR, 77 RBI | .275, 47 HR, 248 RBI) – has started every game for two straight seasons, although his last season was a bit slower than those before; his defense remains troubled sometimes.
1B/2B/SS/3B Winston Thompson, 31, B:L, T:R (.264, 2 HR, 26 RBI | .262, 5 HR, 63 RBI) – has turned out to be the Coons’ biggest steal in years and has firmly entrenched himself at 2B, also spent quite some time as leadoff batter by now with a career .366 OBP.
SS/2B Victor Castillo, 22, B:R, T:R (.248, 2 HR, 14 RBI | .257, 2 HR, 17 RBI) – stellar defense shortstop with solid plate performance, he came up in mid-1984, after being acquired from the Blue Sox two years ago; serious challenger to start at short permanently.
3B Cameron Green, 28, B:R, T:R (.243, 9 HR, 73 RBI | .239, 36 HR, 218 RBI) – his struggles continue, despite this he is a fan favorite, although he’s piling up errors and K’s. But people also like three-legged puppies.
1B/3B/SS/2B/RF/CF Steve Walker, 25, B:R, T:R (.256, 7 HR, 55 RBI | .263, 20 HR, 195 RBI) – strong all-rounder with plenty of abilities, he will play either short or third most of the time.
1B/SS/3B Edgardo Gonzalez, 31, B:S, T:R (.198, 1 HR, 12 RBI | .230, 3 HR, 142 RBI) – keeps bouncing back to play backup this season.

LF/RF Daniel Hall, 29, B:R, T:R (.287, 29 HR, 102 RBI | .273, 111 HR, 434 RBI) – starter in leftfield, he has range, speed, a contact bat, and power – and in 1984 put up personal bests almost all over the board, including a few Raccoons records like single season homers; is a phenomenal contributor as long as he is healthy, which has always been his problem.
1B/3B/RF/LF Mark Dawson, 31, B:R, T:R (.212, 22 HR, 85 RBI | .247, 165 HR, 726 RBI) – the ABL’s all-time home run leader going into the season, he struggled to bat for average last season with his worst AVG ever; his tendency to goes deep still scored a ton of runs, but he needs to pick it up a bit.
RF/LF/CF Armando Sanchez *, 30, B:L, T:L (.242, 12 HR, 59 RBI | .290, 100 HR, 582 RBI) – signed as free agent, was with the Wolves since 1977. 1984 was his worst season in memory, he is usually capable of batting .275+, and the package includes good fielding and speed. Is the Raccoons’ 8,048th bid to land a star CF.
RF/CF/LF Ricardo Gonzalez *, 25, B:L, T:L (.263, 14 HR, 82 RBI | .252, 30 HR, 215 RBI) – traded for with the Bayhawks this winter, he will play backup or start right whenever Dawson plays elsewhere.
LF/CF/RF Rodrigo Lucero, 34, B:R, T:R (.254, 1 HR, 9 RBI | .233, 12 HR, 112 RBI) – signed as free agent late in 1984, he has good speed and fielding, but never was a plate performer.

No Raccoon regular has ever batted over .300 – STILL.

Opening day lineup:
Vs. RHP: 2B Thompson – C Dadswell – CF Sanchez – LF Hall – RF Dawson – 1B Workman – 3B Green – SS Walker – P
Vs. LHP: SS Castillo – 2B Thompson – CF Sanchez – LF Hall – RF Dawson – 1B Workman – C Dadswell – 3B Walker – P

The Raccoons have added only +1.5 WAR this offseason, tying for 5th overall.

Top 5: Miners (+6.7), Condors (+5.7), Buffaloes (+3.0), Canadiens (+2.2), Raccoons and Aces (+1.5 each)
Bottom 5: Falcons (-5.6), Rebels (-6.0), Loggers (-6.2), Indians (-11.4), Thunder (-12.2)

PREDICTION TIME:

Obviously, last season was a nightmare. The 1983 pennant-winning team had been improved in many’s eyes, but failed miserably and dipped below .500 again. This year, there has not been that much improvement compared to September 30, but there’s one name on the roster that was only with the team for two months: Sam Dadswell; he could easily be the glue necessary to produce a winning team again.

Will Daniel Hall repeat his great season? Will Mark Dawson rebound to a great season? Corner infield performance will also be crucial, at the plate and in the field. And of course, the pitching. The rotation was the number 1 reason the 1984 team fell way short of any realistic goals. Ruíz patched up the most glaring hole last year, and Saito should give up a solid anchor, which Kinji Kan was not in his post-POTY season. Young is a weak link in the #5 spot, but Carlos Gonzalez is waiting at AAA for any weakness to blink up to join the big league team.

That makes a few very important and very good players that were only here for a few months last year. Looking at the Canadiens, they have not been lazy. Prediction: the Coons will finish 2nd, with 85 to 90 wins, but safely behind the Canadiens, if their pitching holds up to perform as strong as it has for a few years now. Their hurlers break down? We sniff a chance.

We will start the season facing the Loggers.

[Questdog]

Rack 'em up, Coons!

need a first baseman that can slug....but other than that I think we look solid for '85....

[Westheim]

For some strange reason, or development program has been rated down to rank 24th of 24 teams, and the Coons don’t have a prospect inside the Top 90. We have ML C Andy Reed (91st), A INF Dani Perez (94th), A C Miguel Carrasco (95th), A SP Jose Fernandez (118th), A INF Jorge Munoz (126th), AAA 1B Billy Mitchell (128th), and AAA OF Ralph Crosby (134th) in the Top 200. Scott Wade has inexplicably been written off completely.

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

If the top 1st in the season opener was any indication of things to come this year, I’d better shoot myself dead right away. The Coons loaded the bags with nobody out – and didn’t score, at all. Kisho Saito was ineffective and was taken deep twice early on. The Raccoons had nothing going against the team that was widely perceived as being locked in to finish last. Down 4-2, Jim Carter made his debut in the bottom 8th with two down and one left on by Wally Gaston. The Loggers scored three runs against him. That made a Raccoons rally in the top 9th pointless, and they lost 7-5. Dadswell 3-5, HR, 2 2B, RBI;

Game 2 was already the last in the season opening series. Christopher Powell had a hard time fooling people and fell 2-0 behind in the third. The Coons bounced back in the fifth with a bases loaded walk to Thompson tying the game. But Sanchez and Hall made poor outs with the bags loaded and Powell was socked for three runs in the bottom 5th including a 2-piece to Eddie Harris. The bullpen continued to perform at that pace and the hitting could not keep up. 8-6 Loggers. Thompson 2-3, 2 BB, 2B, RBI; Dadswell 3-4;

The Raccoons claimed MR Roberto Carrillo off waivers by the Las Vegas Aces. He is an all around solid guy, and now we only need to find him a spot on the roster.

Hall and Workman are hitless so far, and with the exception of Dadswell and Thompson no batter has more than a .200 average after those two games. Things are starting of rather awful.

Raccoons (0-2) vs. Thunder (1-2)

Logan Evans was most horrible in the series (and team home) opener. He walked in runs in the first and second innings, and was gone in the fifth, charged with seven runs. All runs in the 7-3 loss were on Evans. The Raccoons had nothing once one looked past Dadswell, who was 2-5, HR, 2 RBI in the game.

In a bizarre twist of events in the second game, the Raccoons took a 1-0 lead in the second, by scoring FIRST! How did that happen!? Steve Walker performed the miracle, while Vicente Ruíz lined up zeros on the scoreboard and drove in another run himself in the fourth. But not all was happy sunshine. The Coons left the bases loaded with nobody out in the sixth, which almost came back to haunt them later in the eighth, where the Thunder had a chance to score big, but only plated one against Ruíz and the pen. Some late oomph with another 2-piece from Dadswell helped the hapless Coons to their first W of the year. 6-1 Raccoons. Workman 3-3, BB; Walker 2-4, RBI;

Charles Young did not get through the first inning in his first start of the season. All nine runs in the innings were against him. The park was basically empty by stretch time with the Raccoons scoring a roken run in the 12-1 bashing.

Daniel Hall is 0-19 so far. Jason White was demoted to AAA to make room for Carrillo.

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

Daniel Hall led off the bottom 2nd with a single to break his .000 spell. SS Cipriano Ortega homered off Kisho Saito to lead off the fourth, but Dawson put one outside the field for two runs in the bottom 4th, 2-1 Coons. Saito kept the Condors at bay and his team mates added a run in the seventh, where he was pinch hit for with Ricardo Gonzalez. Cunningham pitched a 6-out save after a 2-run double by Workman in the bottom 8th made the lead too big for West to get a save. 5-1 Coons. Dadswell 3-4, RBI; Dawson 2-4, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Hall 2-3, BB, 2B;

By definition, Christopher Powell pitched a quality start (6.2 IP, 3 ER) in game 2. But by observation, he was quite bad, actually, with huge problems to keep the ball in the infield. He left trailing 3-1. Roberto Carrillo came on in the eighth and surrendered a home run to the first batter he faced as a Raccoon. The team trailed 4-1 in the bottom 9th, when they loaded the bases with one out. Dadswell struck out and Green made a harmless out. 4-1 Condors. Workman 3-4, 2 2B;

It was no fun to watch Logan Evans either. Scattering five each in hits and walks over six innings, he somehow escaped with a 1-0 lead, but put on the pitcher Pedro Romero to lead off the seventh, but Cunningham wiggled out of it. Bottom 7th: Green and Hall led off with hits and were in scoring position – and not driven in. It took until the eighth game for Grant West to get a save opportunity, with the 1-0 lasting into the top 9th. He converted, yet uneasily with a great grab by Mark Dawson ending the game with the tying run on second. Armando Sanchez’ first homer for the Coons remained the difference, 1-0. Hall 2-2, BB, 2B;

In other news

April 1 – CHA SP Juan “Mauler” Correa nails ATL 2B Jeremiah Carrell in the head with a 3-1 fastball. Carrell, injury-prone for years, is out with a concussion. Carrell was Correa’s first batter of the season.
April 2 – TOP SP Arnold McCray 1-hits the Rebels in a 11-0 thumping.
April 3 – Pittsburgh’s David Burke shuts out the Capitals on 3 hits in a 10-0 win.
April 3 – SP Gary Nixon of the Crusaders 1-hits the Indians in a 1-0 duel.
April 7 – The Indians squeeze past the Condors, 1-0, with Alex Miranda (2-0, 0.00 ERA) tossing a 1-hitter.
April 7 – Salem’s Carlos Reyes (1-1, 2.40 ERA) 2-hits the Buffaloes as the Wolves win 11-0.
April 10 – Dallas slugger Felix Montalvo may be out for the season after suffering a concussion. He was .250 with one RBI this season, but normally was a .300 batter with raw power.
April 11 – VAN SP Bill Smith (1-1, 4.38 ERA) is out for two months with a herniated disc.

Complaints and stuff

Well.

Well. That had not gone well so far.

It may be too early to go into the depths of what had not worked out so far. Let’s just say it’s basically pitching and hitting.

Sam Dadswell was the CL Player of the Week during opening week, batting 9-19 (.474) with 3 HR and 5 RBI. I could have been happier with the overall state of the team being what it was.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (3-5) vs. Indians (4-5)

Vicente Ruíz got five outs with no problems, before the Indians tagged him for four runs in the top 2nd. The Raccoons had no answer to that and were unable to hurt starter Jesse Carver until the eighth with two home runs by Ricardo Gonzalez and Daniel Hall. Wasted. Carrillo gave up three more in the top 9th. 7-2 Indians, with the Raccoons being 5-hit. Hall 2-4, HR, 2B, RBI; R. Gonzalez (PH) 1-1, HR, RBI;

Good news: Charles Young survived the first inning in his second start. Bad news: he still lost the game being a sucker. Plus, the Raccoons again had nothing going at the plate. Steve Walker drove in a run in the third, at that was it. 3-1 Indians. Thompson 3-4, 2 2B; Workman 2-4;

Constructing a lineup was almost impossible here. Of the 13 position players on the roster, six were batting below .200, and four more below .230 – the only guys above a meager .230 were Dadswell, Workman, and 1-3 Lucero. So basically the Raccoons had two hitting hitters.

Game 3 saw Kisho Saito and Joe Brown hold the opposition down in equal amounts with five scoreless innings, then a 1-1 tie after six and seven, where Saito was pinch hit for to no effect with Armando Sanchez. The eighth was scoreless with Wally Gaston flashing awesome stuff once more. Top 9th, Neubauer came in and gave up two doubles. Cameron Green came to the plate in the bottom 9th representing the final out, down 2-1, but launched a solo shot to left to tie the game and sent it to extra innings. They left Ricardo Gonzalez on second with one out in the 10th, before Jose Encarnacion homered off Carrillo to win the game for the Indians in the 11th. 3-2 Indians. Green 2-4, HR, 2B, RBI;

To everybody’s enjoyment, there was another game in the series. Christopher Powell continued to be ineffective, as was the offense. The 7-0 Indians win was never in doubt. Castillo 2-4;

That makes them a last place .250 team, scoring 2.75 R/G, allowing 5.0 R/A.

Raccoons (3-9) vs. Titans (4-9)

I can already feel the agony creeping in. Creeping? Bogus. I’m crushed by it.

Game 1 showed that there was a reason that both teams had already lost nine games apiece. While Logan Evans improved considerably over a pair of 5-walk games, the offense did not and only managed a 1-1 tie through eight. Evans pitched into the ninth before putting Barry Miller on with one out. (Miller is of minor fame with Raccoons fans, since he was the second out in the ninth inning of the game in which the team clinched the division two seasons ago). Cunningham got out of the inning, and the Coons left the winning run on third in the bottom 9th to go to extra innings. They lost 3-1 in the 11th, with Jim Carter blowing the game. They only had five hits.

Carter had been that rule 5 pick we made. And we cut losses here right away. ERA of 13.50 and WHIP of 3.00? No thanks. He was placed on waivers.

Game 2 saw us facing Eric McCullough, who made his first big league start. He was a reliever for us a few years ago. Of course, he dominated the Coons. While Vicente Ruíz struck out six, he also didn’t get through six, and left 3-0 behind with two on, but Big Wally took care of that. Workman, Thompson and R. Gonzalez then hit three consecutive 1-out singles in the bottom 7th. Edgardo Gonzalez drove in two, but that was not enough to tie the game, which remained in the hands of the Titans. An uncaught third strike evolved into a 2-run inning for the Titans in the eighth – pain, oh, sweet pain. 5-3 Titans. Green 2-5, RBI; Workman 2-3, BB; R. Gonzalez 2-4;

Game 3 was Charles Young’s last in a Coons uniform. He went 2.0 IP, 5 H, 6 R, 5 ER, 4 BB, 0 K. Meanwhile, Kevin Williams (0-3, 7.71 ERA) struck out the first five Coons that came up to bat. They collected a grand total of three hits and nine K’s in the game. 9-1 Titans. Hall 2-4, 2B, RBI;

They are a total of 0-9 against the CL North. Oh, nine. That’s a big O and a big 9.

Charles Young, 0-3 with an ERA of 16 or so, was waived and designated for assignment. Carlos Gonzalez (1-0, 6.55 ERA @ AAA) was brought up. Also, Jim Carter was released after clearing waivers. David Jones joined the pen from AAA. With the exception of the back end of the pen, pitching has been a nightmare so far.

In addition to the plain dead offense, of course, with 2.6 R/G now.

Raccoons (3-12) @ Aces (6-9)

The Aces scored one off Saito in the second, but his pitching was overall very good in this game. Top 5th, with two on and two out, Saito came to bat. He singled up the middle to load the bases. Cameron Green went yard for a slam. Finally some offense. The Coons added a few more, while Saito lost his touch by the sixth and balked twice in the game, including once for a run. David Jones came in in the ninth with a 6-run lead and set out to destroy it. Cunningham ended the game. 9-4 Raccoons. Green 3-5, HR, 2B, 4 RBI; Workman 2-5, HR, 2B, RBI; Dawson 2-3, BB, 2 2B; Sanchez (PH) 1-1, 2B, RBI;

The Aces claimed Charles Young between games. I hope you get happy with that loser.

The Furballs then hit nobody-out long balls in each of the first three innings of game 2, Green in the first (solo), Walker in the second (solo), and Hall in the third (2 runs), giving Old Chris some support. Powell drove in two himself in a 4-run fifth for an 8-1 lead. Powell was wobbly, but not dead. After a leadoff single in the sixth, he and Workman combined for a 2-base throwing error with one out, before Powell walked the bags full – but then worked out of it without damage. The late innings were uneventful, 8-1 Coons! Ten hits were as evenly distributed between the nine starters as possible. Dadswell 2-5; Powell 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, WIN (1-3) and 1-3, 2B, 2 RBI;

The Coons scored early again in the last game of the series, with three runs in the first, then a 2-bomb by Dawson in the third. They left the bases loaded in the fourth, but scored two more in the fifth with a bases loaded walk to Hall and an RBI single by Workman. The pen almost blew it up in the bottom 9th, but Wally Gaston wiggled out of a mess with one run across. 8-2 Coons! Hall 2-3, 2 BB, 2B, RBI; Workman 2-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Dawson 3-5, HR, 2 RBI; Evans 7.1 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, WIN (2-1);

25 runs scored in three games!? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?? Well, let’s assume the best, that this outrageous slump is over and we can start to play ball now.

Raccoons (6-12) @ Falcons (7-12)

Both teams were no-hit through three innings in the series opener, and the game remained scoreless for longer after that. The Coons left the bags loaded in the top 6th, while Ruíz surrendered a 2-run home run to Gilbert Dougan in the bottom 6th. Raccoons batters struck out 12 times and the team was shut out, 3-0 Falcons. Workman 2-4;

Game 2 was Carlos Gonzalez’ first big league start this season. His control was terrible, and an error by Green in the third inning led to the first of three unearned runs in the inning. The other two were scored by a bases loaded walk and a wild pitch by Gonzalez. The Falcons scored six runs against him, five of which were unearned. The top 8th got the Coons one of those bases loaded-nobody out chances. For once, they connected and Workman, Dawson, and Thompson scored four runs. Of course, four runs were less than six runs. The team lost, 6-4. Dadswell 2-5; Thompson 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI;

The Raccoons missed a few good chances to score early on, but turned around a 1-0 deficit with two runs in the sixth with a Thompson RBI single and a sac fly by Sanchez. But Saito was beaten in the bottom 6th and the Falcons took the lead right back with two runs of their own. Walker was left on second in the eighth inning, and a 2-out walk by Daniel Hall was too late in the ninth. Yet another sweep. 3-2 Falcons. Hall 2-4, BB; Walker 3-3, 2B, BB; Thompson 2-4, RBI;

In other news

April 14 – It’s an unusual time for a big trade, but nevertheless the Scorpions and Thunder have done it. Sacramento sends SP Morton Jennings and his 89-90 career record to Oklahoma City. In turn they receive slugger Alfonso Aranda and pitching prospect Haden Helton.
April 15 – Cipriano Ortega, contact hitting shortstop of the Condors, is hurt in an on base collision and will be out for two weeks with a sore shoulder.
April 22 – IND SP Alex Miranda (4-1, 1.02 ERA) tosses his third shutout of the month, a 2-hitter in a 4-0 win over the Knights.

Complaints and stuff

Oh well.

The pitching is not good (we have purged three pitchers already for a reason), but is not the main reason for this catastrophe. It's the batting. Many of our (nominally) best hitters are struggling to stay over .200 (or even get there), and Hall is also far from warmed up. Workman, Dadswell, and Green are pacing the little offense we have. With the exception of home runs (3rd) and XBH (6th) the team does not rank in the first division in the CL in any offensive category, with a measly .230/.308/.352 line ranking 10th/10th/8th.

There is little we can do here at the moment. 1B Billy Mitchell is slugging .667 at AAA, however him and Workman are mutually exclusive to use, and Workman puts up good numbers himself. Outfielder Matt Olson could be an option, batting .400 in 45 AB, but with 90% singles and no power. With Young and Carter gone, we have two open spots on the 40-man roster.

Oh well. This is a massive disaster. How could this happen…

Next: home week against Loggers and Canadiens, then interleague play, Buffaloes and Warriors. But does it matter against whom they lose?

One more thing: we signed an 18-yr old Mexican outfielder during these miserable weeks. He has 4-star potential.

[Questdog]

Workman sucks.....even hitting .300 his OPS is under .800...unacceptable for a first baseman.....I wanna see the stats of that Billy Mitchell fella in AAA.....maybe I'll take to the 'net to start a get rid of Workman campaign......

[Westheim]

It's 1985, you might find yourself alone on the 'net.

But one point: you should be aware of the fact that this is a power-poor league. Daniel Hall led the CL last year with 29 dingers. So SLG and OPS are depressed by some amount when compared to MLB, for instance. There are only 56 players with a career .800 OPS, with quite a few of them retired. So .800 OPS might not be a bench mark for a good player - it's one for star players. All current (and former) Coons in that small circle:

19th - Daniel Hall .8539
(21st - Alex White .8516)
(56th - Ralph Nixon .8008)

That's it. Not even home run leader Mark Dawson is in.

By the way, OSA rates Mitchell 6/5/7 (POT 7/6/9). By contrast they put Workman at a more realistic 14/11/11. His numbers according to my scout *are* too low, especially power, 19 homers is quite a feat in this league.

I agree that Mitchell may be our future at 1B. But he's not even a professional for a full year and I hate rushing boys too quickly.

[Questdog]

My point was not that a first baseman required an .800 OPS, but that Workman failed to reach the plateau even while hitting .300, so that when his average drops to more normal environs he will have nothing else to contribute. His power is unacceptable even in these power-depressed times and he does not get on base enough to compensate.

I don't think Billy Mitchell is the man to replace Workman (at least not yet). He's awfully old for a new prospect and that walk to strikeout ratio is ugly.

I think we need to be looking for a trade and pronto!

[Westheim]

You may have realized by now that I understand next to nothing about baseball.

But will we address the 1B thing before or after we have plucked the gaping holes in our rotation, pen, and outfield?

Wah, 6-15. I'll go to bed and sob myself to sleep now.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (6-15) vs. Loggers (15-6)

How the heck is it possible that the Loggers are 15-6? That’s even more shocking than the Raccoons’ record! They massively unloaded this winter and THEN have a winning team!? How!? Meanwhile I found myself reshuffling the lineup almost daily. But with guys batting sub .200, there may not be a good lineup in the cards at all… By contrast, the Loggers had three hitters at .300 or more…

The Furballs put a 4-spot on the Loggers’ John Douglas in the first inning, which started with an out, then two walks to Green and Hall, before the bats started connecting. They had more runners on in the next innings, but left pairs on twice, while Douglas struck out seven in 5+ innings. Powell turned in a quality start, but then surrendered back-to-back home runs in the seventh. The pen took over with all three lefties getting their time on the mound to end the game. Grant West got only his second save of the year (and only 4.2 IP) in closing out the 6-3 win. Green 2-3, 2 BB; Dadswell 3-5, RBI; Dawson 2-4, 2 2B, 2 RBI; Walker 2-4, 2 RBI; Dawson also started a double play from right in the sixth with a great catch, then picking the runner from second.

Three in the second for the Coons to take the lead in game 2, albeit not without controversy, as Mark Dawson crashed hard into catcher Hokichi Endo to score the last of the three runs. Logan Evans was taken deep by Alvin Sutphen in the fourth to make it 3-1. Overall, Evans pitched well and gave up only one walk in 6.2 innings. He was removed with two on in the seventh for Gaston to face righty Jose Delgado, who was removed for Eddie Harris then, a lefty, who nevertheless fouled out. Up 4-1, West entered the top 9th and hit John Howard. Endo tripled. Uh-oh. Chris McClinton drove in Endo and that was it for West, who still had not retired anybody. With Richard Cunningham still available, we went to him, and he was able to get the three outs, with a K to former Coon Ben Cox to end the game. 4-3 Coons. Dawson 3-4, RBI; Evans 6.2 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, W (3-1) and 2-2;

Game 3: Ruíz gave up three hits to start the game and found himself down 2-0 before settling in. The Coons had Matt Workman tie the game with a 2-run triple in the fourth, and Walker brought in Workman for a 3-2 lead. Ricardo Gonzalez singled to start the fifth, stole second and got to third on a Hall single. Dadswell came up and doubled into the left field corner to score Gonzalez, but Hall was held at third – nevertheless: this was Dadswell’s 10th RBI of the season, the first Raccoon to get there this year, in game 24. How sad’s that? At least Mark Dawson sacrificed in Hall for his own 10th RBI, and Cam Green joined the club in the bottom 6th – WHAT A FLASH OF OFFENSE!! The Coons sent up ten batters in the bottom 7th en route to scoring five more runs to make it 12-2, which was a good lead, but still not unblowable. Destruction was completed in the bottom 8th. Workman and PH Eddie Gonzalez singled, Thompson walked, which brought up Armando Sanchez in the pitcher’s spot, who had driven in two in his PH appearance. He drilled the ball to left center FOR A GRAND SLAM!!! HOLY COW!!! John Howard homered off Carrillo in the ninth, but that merely scratched the score in a 16-3 blowout, with 21 hits by the Coons! R. Gonzalez 3-6, RBI; Green 1-5, BB, 2B, 4 RBI; Hall 3-5; Dadswell 2-5, 2B, RBI; Workman 3-5, 3B, 2 RBI; E. Gonzalez (PH) 1-1; Thompson 3-3, 2 BB; Sanchez (PH) 2-2, HR, 6 RBI;

SOMEHOW Armando Sanchez is now tying Cam Green for the team lead in RBI’s with 13, despite batting a lifeless .180 clip. This rout was enough for the Coons to jump to almost 4 R/G for the season (compared to not even 3.3 R/G before the series). It was also the fifth consecutive series for us resulting in a sweep, two this way, three the other.

It might be very hard to sweep the next team.

Raccoons (9-15) vs. Canadiens (17-7)

The Canadiens stuffed the offensive CL leaderboards with their batters, including a three-way tie between Bailey, Ogawa, and Osanai for the home run and WAR lead. Bailey and Herrera (yeah, that one) tied for the lead in pilfered bags. You want to pitch through there, you have your work cut out for you.

The Raúl Herrera thing (thorn in my eye might be more correct) ironed itself out quickly in game 1. He led off the game and missed a 1-0 bunt. Carlos Gonzalez then struck him out on four pitches, but Herrera disagreed and shoved the umpire, who in turn shoved back and ejected him. The Coons then got an early 2-0 lead in the bottom 1st with a home run by Dadswell, who since a few days ago was batting cleanup. But the terrifying splitter thrown by the Canadiens’ Raimundo Beato devastated Raccoons pitching afterwards. Seitaro Ogawa stole a home run from Hall in the third, then hit one off Gonzalez in the fourth. Hall made a critical play then in the sixth, nailing Tetsu Osanai at second when the latter stretched a single a base too far to end that inning. Gonzalez jammed again in the seventh and this time was gone for Gaston, who got Shimpei Iwamoto to pop out, threat over. Armando Sanchez came out with an RBI pinch hit for the second day in a row in the seventh to make it 3-1, the first run in that inning – with eight more coming in, as the Coons loaded the bags with Thompson. Edgardo Gonzalez struck out for Gaston to make it two down, but Ricardo Gonzalez singled one in. Green and Hall drew bases loaded walks. Dadswell drove in two, and Dawson homered to left. 11-1 Coons. That was the final score. R. Gonzalez 2-4, BB, RBI; Dadswell 3-4, HR, 2B, 4 RBI; Sanchez (PH) 1-1; Thompson 3-4; C. Gonzalez 6.2 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, W (1-1);

The Canadiens had one of their rookies up in game 2, 22-yr old Tia Fa, a righty Chinese-Canadian fireballer with a vast assortment of breaking stuff. He had a 5.14 ERA after two big league starts with no decisions. Fa and Kisho Saito (2-2, 3.03 ERA) engaged in a pitcher’s duel, as Fa kept the Coons guessing all game long. They mostly guessed wrong. Saito surrendered two runs in the fourth and the Coons were on the outside looking in. Saito went the distance, but surrendered one more in the ninth to the annoying Herrera, who was not even suspended after his misbehavior the day before. Dawson and Workman got on to start the bottom 9th. Dawson was sacrificed in and Walker singled representing the tying run. Rodrigo Lucero pinch hit for Saito for an RBI single and the winning run was on base now, and Sanchez came up, 0-4 in this game, but he had been clutch for a few days (and countered righty closer Gerard Marquis, with no lefties on the bench), but he popped out and Green grounded to third to end the game. 3-2 Canadiens. Workman 2-4, 2B; Walker (PH) 1-1; Lucero (PH) 1-1, RBI;

With Old Chris due to face the home run battery the next day, I had some bad dreams that night.

Eddy Bailey and Daniel Hall had a hard collision at second base in the bottom 1st of the rubber game. Hall was called out on Sam Dadswell’s RBI groundout, and Bailey was carried off on a stretcher – the Coons sure got the better end of the deal. Meanwhile Powell held up into the fifth with a 4-0 lead to him, before Ogawa launched one for two, also scoring Chris Smith who had been nicked by Powell. Old Chris finished the fifth inning and was pinch hit for in the bottom 5th with runners on the corners and two out, but Rick Gonzalez grounded out. While the Coons pen took over now, Canadiens starter Steve Murray continued to finish seven innings, walking eight in total, but the Coons never scored again in the game. But the pen showed a peak performance, completing a 4-2 win with West pitching a 1-2-3 ninth. Sanchez 2-3, 2 BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Thompson 1-2, 2 BB; Walker 2-3, BB;

Raccoons (11-16) @ Buffaloes (13-15)

The Coons may have seemed to be over the hump with slouching at the plate, the Buffaloes weren’t. They entered game 1 with six players batting less than .200, NOT including the pitcher Arnold McCray (4-1, 3.18 ERA). McCray was the main problem here in this game. The Coons put on two three times in the first five innings, and then were either K’ed away or grounded into double plays (Hall, Evans on a bunt!). Evans left in the seventh on the hook for a 1-0 loss, the only run unearned after a Workman error. Then they loaded the bags in the eighth with nobody out and four lefties up against McCray. Sanchez flew out, but Thompson drove in Cam Green from third to tie the game. Then Workman found a way to hit into a double play. Top 9th: runners on the corners, one out, Cam Green hit into the fifth double play of the night. I was screaming. In the 10th, Dadswell was up with two out and the bags full. Ray Reilly threw an 0-2 wild pitch to score Steve Walker from third. 2-1 Coons. Dadswell grounded out. Arturo Garcia almost hit one out against West in the bottom 10th, but the “Demon” saved it. 2-1 Coons, despite five double plays. Green 2-4; Walker 3-4; Richard Cunningham got the W with a scoreless ninth, which was the first win to the pen this year (last year Wally had had around five by this time) …

FIVE DP’s!! I realize that is short of the real world MLB record (though not by much), yet all five double plays were executed in different ways in this game: 6-4-3, 3-6-4, 1-5, 6-3, and again 6-4-3, but three different shortstops were used to achieve the feat.

While the Buffaloes fell to last behind the Capitals in their division, the win lifted the Coons to 12-16, “only” four under, and out of last place, where the 12-18 Indians fell. Huzzah!!

The Furballs then made SP Cristo Negrón regret that he left bed at all the next day. Armando Sanchez socked a leadoff home run, followed by a 1-out solo homer by Matt Workman, and then a 1-out 3-run blast by Mark Dawson. Suffering for Negrón only ended once he surrendered another solo jack to Sam Dadswell in the third inning, 6-0 Coons. From there it was cruising with a strong Vicente Ruíz on the mound holding the Buffaloes at bay. 9-0 Raccoons! Thompson 2-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Dadswell 3-5, HR, 2 RBI; Dawson 4-5, HR, 2B, 4 RBI; Ruíz 7.1 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 7 K, W (3-3); these three hits were all the Raccoons gave up in a combined 3-hitter.

Carlos Gonzalez gave up a run in the first inning, but the Coons came right back in the top 2nd, with Green doubling in Hall, and Gonzalez came up with the bags full and singled to center. Thompson singled in a run, Sanchez sacrificed, Workman flew out. Dadswell singled in another run, and then Daniel Hall socked one to deep left into row 17. When the dust settled, the Coons led 8-1. So, this should be enough to get W home for Gonzalez, right?

No. He was burned for five runs in the third, and could not get out. Richard Cunningham came in rather early, but could not prevent the runner on second from scoring as well, so it was only 8-7 Raccoons then, and the Buffaloes tied the game in the fourth, still against Cunningham. Mark Dawson homered in the fifth, new lead, 9-8. Carrillo and Jones created a mess in the bottom 6th, which Wally Gaston cleaned up, then breezed through two more innings. A wild pitch got the Coons an insurance run in the ninth, before West sealed the deal. Whoah. (shivers) 10-8 Raccoons. Workman 2-5, 2B; Hall 2-3, 2 BB, HR, 2B, 3 RBI; Dawson 2-5, HR, RBI; Gaston 2.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K;

Raccoons (14-16) vs. Warriors (18-14)

The only thing that kept the Warriors out of first place was their pitching. The rotation was so-so, and the pen was last in the major leagues in ERA.

It surely didn’t help Kisho Saito that he surrendered two home runs in the first inning to get 3-0 down very quickly. The Furballs had to squeeze and squelch to get two runs back by the fourth. Dadswell and Hall then went to the corners with nobody out in the bottom 5th, but Dawson grounded for an unproductive out, as did Green. Eddie Gonzalez was walked intentionally to get to Saito, who was lifted for Ricardo Gonzalez, who struck out. Green and PH Walker let another chance with two in scoring position get away in the seventh. That many missed chances had to be followed by a bullpen collapse in the eighth, and a 2-run shot by Dadswell in the bottom 9th was not more than a nuisance to the allegedly troubled Sioux Falls pen. 7-4 Warriors. Thompson 2-4, RBI; Workman 2-5, 2B, RBI; Dadswell 3-5, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Dawson 2-5, 2B;

Two aging pitchers that had seen their share of batting already this year, that was the matchup of Chris Powell (3-3, 4.46 ERA) and Jonathan Knapp (0-4, 7.76 ERA) in game 2. Of course, Knapp found his groove against the Raccoons, while Powell was taken apart by the opposition, like recent call-up Bryan Stephenson and forkhead Alex White. Powell surrendered 10 hits and was down 3-0 after 6.1 innings, when he was done (yet all countable damage had come in the third). The Raccoons never got a leg up in the game, while Knapp went eight frames of depressing 5-hit ball. 3-0 Warriors. Walker 2-4;

Dadswell needed rest and this removed the team’s triple crown bat from the lineup for game 3. Andy Reed was batting a pale .100 and thus the chances weren’t in our favor, even though Miguel Sanchez had not set the world on fire for Sioux Falls so far with a 3.71 ERA. In any case, Sanchez singled in one of two runs in the top 2nd, to give himself a lead. Logan Evans returned the favor in the bottom 2nd with a bases-loaded 2-out RBI single of his own. Evans quickly filled the pond in the top 3rd with nobody out, then slugged through without damage, popup, K, flyout. A 2-piece by Ricardo Gonzalez got the Coons ahead in the fourth. Evans barely made it through five innings with the lead alive, allowing six hits and six walks. The pen had to take over and Cunningham once again came out rather early for being a setup man, but Carrillo and Moran had just worked together to blow open game 1. With Stephenson on second and two down he faced lefty slugger Luis Barrera. Walk him to get to catcher Ed Hopper? Nah. He struck him out on three pitches. Cunningham then even walked Hopper to lead off the seventh, but pitched around it, then K’ed Stephenson to start the eighth. Neubauer gave a scratch single to the Forkhead, and Gaston scared everybody in attendance with a walk and a wild pitch, then got through! Maximum tension, as Grant West came out in the ninth. Shawn Sherman – K. Ronaldo Cabrera – grounder to Dawson, who had moved to third base. Emilio Rosa, who had annoyed us all series long despite a .200 clip – grounder to Thompson! 3-2 Raccoons! Everybody exhaled for the first time in about 90 minutes. Hall 2-4; Green 2-3; Lucero (PH) 1-1; R. Gonzalez 2-4, HR, 2 RBI;

In other news

May 2 – VAN SS Eddy Bailey (.293, 5 HR, 20 RBI) is out until August with a busted shoulder, courtesy of the collision with Daniel Hall.
May 7 – SFW 2B Pat Graham (.366, 3 HR, 13 RBI) is out for at least a month with torn ankle ligaments.

Complaints and stuff

Through the first 15 games, the Raccoons were 3-12. Through the next 15 games they played 11-4. A lot of streaky stuff going on in Coon City. They are still below .500, where I don’t think this team belongs. But Dawson and Hall are warming up and with that they should surge a bit now.

I tried to give Rodrigo Lucero some playing time against LHP, but we did not face a single one of them since I made that lineup change over a week ago. Well, we’ll wait. Rodrigo will wait especially.

Next: road trip to Boston and New York, followed by one home series against Atlanta and a trip down to the Bay.

The offense comes and goes, as does pitching. Christopher Powell’s performance is of high concern. He’s funking visibly, with his once impressive WHIP soaring. He can’t keep guys off the bags anymore. He’s under contract until ’87 (two more seasons), but the last one is a team option. I wouldn’t have dared to think about it before we signed him to the extension years ago, but we might void that option next year.

But we want to celebrate Christopher Powell at the tender age of 36 now: by beating the Canadiens in the rubber game of that series, he won his 100th ABL game!

He is the first pitcher to reach that milestone while with the Coons, with the only other Raccoons alumni to win triple-digit games being Jack Pennington and Alex Miranda. Powell ranks 21st in career wins. Of his 100 wins, 93 came with the Furballs, and seven with the Gold Sox in the first half of 1977.

1977, huh? That’s been some time ago.

[Questdog]

Much more fun to win.....

Nice bounce back...

[Westheim]

It IS more fun, that much is sure. Now watch them bounce in the other direction again.

Raccoons (15-18) @ Titans (19-16)

Ruíz started this series, but got behind on a Zahid Mashwanis triple in the first inning. Cam Green hit a 2-piece in the fourth to turn the game. Ruíz was not very controlling on the mound, and both Hall and Ricardo Gonzalez made a few good catches in the game. Steve Walker was thrown out at the plate to end the top 5th – the throw came all the way from right center and Mashwanis’ powerful arm. The game got away from Ruíz in the sixth, with three straight hits to lead off the inning – all three runners scored against the pen. In the top 9th, Castillo made an out, but Thompson walked and Workman singled to put runners on the corners. Hall and Dadswell could not bring Thompson in and the Raccoons lost 4-3. Hall 2-4, BB; Green 2-4, HR, 2 RBI;

Carlos Gonzalez was up in game 2 and gave up a run in the first as well. The Coons faced Eric McCullough again, and were puzzled again. Gonzalez struck out seven, but also allowed nine baserunners, including five walks. He left 3-0 down after six. The few chances the Raccoons had, they missed, like runners on the corners with nobody out in the seventh. The Raccoons out-hit the Titans, but still were shut out, 3-0. Green 2-4, BB, 2B;

Saito was not really sharp in his start, either, and surrendered four runs in the first four innings. The Raccoons took two back in the fifth, but they only had four hits the entire game and lost 6-3. Dadswell 3-4, 2B, RBI;

Apparently, the hitting is over, and the Coons are back to sucking. They are 0-6 against the Titans this year.

Raccoons (15-21) @ Crusaders (15-22)

The Crusaders had the worst offense in the league, scoring only three runs per game.

A sac fly by Dadswell got the Coons ahead 1-0 early in the first game, then went on to hit a 3-run home run in the third. With the shaky Powell on the mound, more runs were good, many runs were better. But you had to give him credit for what he still achieved on the mound. He made a great play on a bunt by pitcher Gary Nixon, getting runner Norberto Farias out at third base in the bottom 3rd. He still surrendered a 2-piece in the same inning… The Crusaders also connected off him in the fifth and turned the game around, 5-4. Down by two in the ninth, the Coons were still one run down and also down to their final strike by Rick Evans, when PH Rodrigo Lucero lined a 1-2 pitch to left and scored Ricardo Gonzalez from third to tie the game. The game ended up going to extra innings with a wobbly ninth by Big Wally. Top 11th: Mark Dawson hit a leadoff triple. Andy Reed pinch hit for Gaston and singled to right, the Raccoons in the lead! Ricardo Gonzalez then made a monster of a catch at the right field wall to end the game in the bottom of the inning. 7-6 Raccoons. Nine hits – no Coon had more than one. Reed (PH) 1-1, RBI; Lucero (PH) 1-2, RBI; Carrillo 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K; Gaston 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 1 K, W (1-0);

Two infield singles in the bottom 2nd got Logan Evans 1-0 behind in the middle game. The Furballs put a runner on in every inning without scoring, until the sixth. Hall walked to start the inning and Dawson hit one JUST over the left field wall to turn the score. Logan Evans pitched eight innings, then the Coons loaded the bags with nobody out in the ninth. Reed grounded into a double play at home and first and a K later the inning was over without a run in. “Demon” West didn’t care and still saved the game 1-2-3. 2-1 Coons! Dawson 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Walker 2-4, 2B; Lucero 2-4; Evans 8.0 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, W (5-1) and 1-3;

With a 2.05 ERA Logan Evans is now 3rd in the Continental League and ties for 2nd in wins.

Game 3, and again the Coons had no offense. Ruíz fell to a 2-run triple by Pedro Villa in the third inning. The Coons scored one run in the sixth, but lost Mark Dawson to an ankle sprain in the same inning. Castillo, who got a start over Walker, singled to lead off the seventh, then set out to steal. Catcher Norberto Farias threw away the ball and Castillo went to third with nobody out, and it still took the Coons two outs to get him in, then with an RBI double by Matt Workman. Tied, 2-2. Ruíz put two in scoring position with one out, but Cunningham was able to hold the tie in the bottom 7th. Cam Green homered in the top 8th for the lead, 3-2. With Grant West a bit sore from last night, we made the unusual step to send David Jones in to save it, since three lefties were coming up with Dan Younger, Ben Browning, and Julio Martinez. Jones got the first two, but then the Crusaders sent Edward Evans to pinch hit for Martinez, and Evans had had a big hit in the first game. Still. Go David. Evans doubled through Workman and with Farias up, Jones was gone. Big Wally came in and ended the threat. 3-2 Coons on just five hits. Workman 2-4, 2B, RBI; Cunningham 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, W (3-0); Richard Cunningham is becoming what Wally Gaston was in ’84.

Dawson’s sprained ankle was bad enough to sideline him for the rest of the month – at least. He went to the DL. I would have loved to call up prospect Matt Olson, who batted .377 in AAA, but he labored a shoulder injury and was unavailable. Instead we selected LF/RF Ralph Crosby, .313 with pop, 24, but on his last option. He had been one of the prospects included in the Herrera/Kelley deal with the Blue Sox before last season. He would start in right against lefty pitchers for the next weeks (or at least until I’d be sick of him).

Raccoons (18-21) vs. Knights (22-18)

The Knights are in a tie for the CL South lead at this point, they were on a roll, while the Coons lacked Mark Dawson’s rejuvenated power bat. This could only go wrong, yet in so many ways.

Lefty Carlos Asquabal was up for Atlanta in game 1, so Ralph Crosby made his Coons debut right away. Carlos Gonzalez made himself even more unpopular in the GM’s office with four runs against him in the first two innings. Crosby singled in a run in the fourth, but the Raccoons once again looked vastly outmatched here. Their only chance came in the sixth with the bags full and one out, when Workman grounded right to second and it was over in a hurry. 5-1 Knights. Hall 2-4;

Both pitchers in game 2 started out sharp with a few perfect innings. Kisho Saito’s day went to hell in the fourth with two runs on three 2-out hits. Daniel Hall broke up Bernard Lepore’s perfect bid in the fourth as well, but was stranded on second. Through no contribution of their own, the Coons loaded the bases in the seventh after two walks and a pitch to Steve Walker’s back. Ricardo Gonzalez pinch hit for a K. Edgardo Gonzalez pinch hit for a K to end the inning. The Raccoons were 3-hit and lost again, 3-0. Cunningham 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

The dinosaurs met in the last game: Christopher Powell, 36, 3-4 with a 5.10 ERA vs. Kyle Owens, 38, 3-3 with a 3.78 ERA. One of them 1-hit the opposition into the eighth inning and only had to leave because his ill control inflated his pitch count, otherwise he had the weak-hitting opponents in his 38-yr old bag. Chris Powell in turn was shaky and taken deep by Tom McDonald, but only gave up two runs in 6.2 innings. Still, the rest of the team plain sucked. They couldn’t even get the ball out of the infield, even with Owens out of the way. Dadswell came to bat with two out in the ninth, he had gone 0-3 to dip below .300 (since it’s naughty to hit .300 in Portland, that’s fine by me) and closer Ryan O’Rourke was in firm control. Dadswell swung and dinked it into center for the Coons’ second hit of the day. Cam Green came up – A LONG DOUBLE TO CENTER!! One could almost feel some magic engulfing the ballpark! Lefty Winston Thompson pinch hit for Rodrigo Lucero to counter O’Rourke. A SINGLE TO CENTER!! One run in, runners on the corners for Steve Walker! A long shot to right center! Tom McDonald racing after it, LAUNCHING AND – he caught it. Game over. 2-1 Knights.

Because there ain’t no magic in Coon City.

Raccoons (18-24) @ Bayhawks (16-29)

With Thompson in a terrible slump, Steve Walker started at second by now, with Castillo getting starts at short. That was okay, Castillo was batting .140 anyway.

The series opened with Logan Evans facing Harry Petzinger, our best against their … well, not necessarily worst, but his ERA was 250% of Evans’. The Coons – as miserable as they were – managed to draw enough walks and didn’t get into the way of Alberto Villanueva’s errant throw to first and had one good hit by Workman to score six runs in the top 2nd. Ralph Crosby hit his first ever big-league home run in the third to make it 7-0. Logan Evans was dialed in: he no-hit the Bayhawks into the fifth, and had a 4-pitch sixth inning, and cruised right into the ninth, where a massive blow by Dadswell on an easy play put a runner on second with one out. But Evans pitched through that as well. Dan Payne’s fifth inning single remained everything that blew the no-hitter, as Evans ended the game with a 1-hitter! 8-0 Raccoons. Workman 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Evans 9.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K, W (6-1); Apart from Dadswell, Castillo also made an error earlier in the game…

This was the sixth career shutout for Evans, the first in which he didn’t walk anybody, and thus also the one closest to a no-hitter. He has now a shutout for three straight years, the last having come in July of 1984 against the Indians, also a 1-hitter.

The next one was interesting, as we looked at Kinji Kan, 1983 Pitcher of the Year, whom we had sorted out last year for being awful. He still was: 0-6 with a 5.31 ERA. And oh, wonder – Kan dominated the Raccoons. Our Vicente Ruíz was so-so, going six with two runs in, but Kan was dead-on, 2-hitting the Raccoons that far. Armando Sanchez squeezed in one run with a groundout in the seventh. Kan was still in to start the eighth, giving a single to Daniel Hall, who advanced on subsequent groundouts. Ricardo Gonzalez came up and zinged to deep right – game tied, at last, and Kan was gone, but they didn’t get Gonzalez in, leading to the Bayhawks walking off in the ninth against Wally Gaston, three straight singles. The Dead Beavers had left Lucero on second with one out in the top 9th. 3-2 Bayhawks. Lucero 3-5, 2 2B;

Game 3 was quiet early on. An error by pitcher Luis Nunez opened a chance for the Coons in the fourth with the bags full and one out. Winston Thompson, just back in the lineup for the untenable Castillo, was up. He grounded into a double play to the pitcher. Something died inside of me. Walker led off the fifth with a homer (which could or could not have been a grand slam, who knows…) and Hall drove in Andy Reed for another run, 2-0, and a leadoff jack by Ricardo Gonzalez made it 3-0 in the sixth. Thompson, then 0-3, came up again with the bags full and two out in the seventh – a single! Walker walked for another run. All the while, Carlos Gonzalez pitched his best came since being called up. He jammed in the seventh, but got out himself. Cam Green’s grand slam in the eighth made it 9-0. Enter the bottom 8th, Justin Neubauer to face three lefties – three on. And it was collapsing fast from here. Four runs scored against the pen, before the game was finally over. 9-4 Coons. Hall 2-4, BB, RBI; Green 2-4, BB, HR, 4 RBI; R. Gonzalez 2-5, HR, RBI; Reed 4-5, 3B; C. Gonzalez 7.0 IP, 7 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K, W (2-3) and 1-2;

In other news

May 11 – The Aces’ Claudio Garcia (.360, 0 HR, 9 RBI) will miss some time with a knee sprain.
May 12 – The Gold Sox’ game against the Wolves had to go to extra innings, but in the 11th young LF Dale Wales hit a single to extend his hitting streak to 20 games.
May 15 – Pittsburgh’s Ricardo Torres (3-1, 5.07 ERA) seems to have overcome his early season woes with a 1-hitter against the Blue Sox in a 1-0 win.
May 17 – Dale Wales’ hitting streak ends at 24 games with an 0-4 performance against the Buffaloes in an 8-6 Gold Sox loss.

Complaints and stuff

Welcome to “Wheel of Fortune”. You have $600 and our puzzle reads A _ _ N Y – will you spin the wheel or can you solve already?

They have been swept six times already, including four times by CL North teams.

You know what’s a shame? We have one of the most awesome closers in the league and he hasn’t played in a week!

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

You know how I always say, Old Chris is home run prone? He actually leads the category for all time home runs allowed with 155 dingers, 13 more than Sacramento’s Jeff Thompson. Ouch. Now, Mark Dawson is on the DL, he’s .248 with 6 HR and 20 RBI, and is the home run leader of all time with 171. So, Powell, who’s playing every fifth day, has surrendered almost as many homers as Dawson has hit in his career, and Dawson’s been playing every day for a long time (with the odd injury here and there). I don’t know how this relates to MLB and pitchers there. I can’t come up with a genuinely badly power-prone pitcher that nevertheless persevered for 10+ years to compare him to Powell.

From 1980-1982, his best years, Powell surrendered 16 or 17 homers every year, while playing 34 games every year, with between 222 and 240 IP, and between 200 and 217 H. That’s almost a 10% home run share in the hits. Again I have no idea how to compare this to MLB pitchers fitting his numbers (can’t come up with one…). Since then his homers have gone up sharply, even in our pennant winning season, despite only 15 allowed in ’84, but he missed the last month of the season due to injury and for the first time in his career failed to pitch 222 innings.

Sigh.

[Westheim]

Draft pool analysis

The Raccoons will have a decent position for the 1985 draft. They will pick 10th in the first round, then have the 9th pick in the supplemental round (with 33 picks in there in total). We have not forfeited a pick this year, but instead got the Condor’s fourth round pick for 12 total picks.

The following players could be considered main prizes:
- Corner infielder Joe Jackson, 20/13/16 bat
- Pitcher Greg Lynn, 13/17/16 with mediocre stamina, so he may rather be a murder reliever
- Reliever Jose Mendoza, 20/13/7 with a deadly slider
- First baseman Gabriel Ramirez, 19/18/17 bat, can’t field a ball for his life, though
- Outfielder Grady Young, 14/10/11 bat, but very complete all around player with speed, range, and a good eye

There are not that many good pitchers in the pool, at least to the naked eye, which has been the case for a few years now. I wonder what causes that.

Anyway, at #10, there’s a sadly good chance that all those main prizes will be gone already and the Coons will pick scrubs again.

[Charlie Hough]

Can you trade picks? I would try to land Gabriel Ramirez, even if it meant trading up. Granted, I'm not keen on having poor defensive players, but the one position where I will accept them is first base.