Portland Raccoons (ABL)

[Westheim]

Raccoons (73-82) vs. Crusaders (81-74) – September 28-October 1, 1998

There was little to no reason to hope that the Raccoons would stop to fail against the Crusaders, who so far had drummed them to a 10-4 record this season. Although, we cut the Loggers back to a more reasonable (and devourable) 7-11 with the last series of the year, maybe we could manage that against the Crusaders as well? Also, there’s honor in play to beat out the Elks for fourth place, and so far we were tied.

Projected matchups:
Manuel Movonda (11-11, 2.82 ERA) vs. Anibal Sandoval (15-10, 2.87 ERA)
Randy Farley (12-6, 3.10 ERA) vs. Cipriano Miranda (8-10, 5.19 ERA)
Miguel Lopez (9-13, 4.01 ERA) vs. Hector Lara (14-9, 3.43 ERA)
Jose Rivera (14-8, 2.43 ERA) vs. Francisco Garza (19-12, 3.27 ERA)

Unusually, we were looking at a 4-game set with all right-handed opposing starters. For better or worse, or what it was worth… grab fourth place, boys.

Game 1
NYC: 3B Rigg – SS Nielsen – LF A. Johnson – 1B Berry – RF Latham – C Clemente – CF P. Jenkins – 2B Wilson – P Sandoval
POR: 2B Ingall – RF Brady – CF Reece – 1B Michel – LF Parker – 3B Caddock – SS Guerin – C Castillo – P Movonda

Single, wild pitch, single, and the Raccoons trailed in this one. If Movonda was actually trying to get to a winning record, he was not showing it. Neither was the rest of the team. Sandoval retired them in order the first time through the lineup before nicking Marvin Ingall to lead off the bottom 4th. The Coons loaded the bags with a Brady single and a Jeffrey Nielsen error, but didn’t score. That Brady single was the lone brown-shirted hit for a long, long time. While Movonda was pitching his arm off, going eight innings of 2-run ball (conceding a Brian Latham homer in the fourth), while whiffing nine, the Raccoons did precious little. Then, in the bottom 8th, Concie led off the inning with a triple off the wall in left center, bringing the tying run up. Excitement! Castillo grounded out to Larry Wilson, but the run scored. Yet, they were still a full run behind… Movonda was now hit for with Mike Crowe, who squeezed a single into center. Ingall hit a Texas Leaguer to right, and the go-ahead runs were on, as Sandoval’s strong outing was a-crumbling. Enter Brady, the Crusaders left Sandoval in, and Brady remembered them why that was a mistake with a shot to deep center. Pat Jenkins after it, is he gonna - … is it gonna - … OUTTA HERE!! Scott Wade saved this stunning turnaround although Latham reached on an infield single with one out. Alejandro Ramirez was eventually struck out to end the game. 4-2 Raccoons. Brady 2-4, HR, 3 RBI; Crowe (PH) 1-1; Movonda 8.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 9 K, W (12-11);

Boy, that one came unexpected! Sandoval says the same thing, I think.

Movonda reached 183 K’s with this performance. It looks like he will pitch the season finale against Indy, so he has one more shot at beating Kisho Saito’s single season strikeout mark for the franchise, which is 13 years old now and has a “193” stamp on it. Movonda’s 183 right now rank third all time for the franchise, behind Antonio Donis’ 187 from two years ago.

Yes, there was a time when Donis was not all crap.

Game 2
NYC: 3B Rigg – SS Nielsen – LF A. Johnson – 1B Berry – C Clemente – CF Olvera – RF A. Ramirez – 2B Wilson – P Miranda
POR: 2B Ingall – RF Brady – CF Reece – C Turner – LF Parker – 1B Wedemeyer – SS Guerin – 3B Kowalchuk – P Farley

Farley was shoddy in the second game, a wild pitch here, a hit batter there, and this is how the Crusaders got runs, as they were up 3-2 on just two hits after four innings. They then loaded the bags with three singles in the sixth, no outs. Ramirez grounded back to Farley, who leapt off the mound and started a 1-2-3 double play. After reloading the bags by putting Wilson on, Guerin reeled in Miranda’s first pitch grounder to get the team out of the jam. Flip to the bottom 6th, Turner lobbed a single to right and Ramirez made an error throwing behind Turner, who ended up on second, and then casually scored on Chris Parker’s double to left. But not scoring Parker led to the top 7th, where Farley put on the leadoff man Ed Rigg, and Donis and Miller failed to relieve him. The Crusaders took a 4-3 lead. Ingall then reached on a 2-base throwing error by Jorge Vega in the bottom 7th. Tying run in scoring position, no outs, the team failed again and left Ingall on third base. The Crusaders loaded them up against Iván Costa in the eighth, failed to score either against the hurriedly thrown in Tamburrino, and then Parker hit a leadoff double in the bottom 8th. He was on third with one out, as the Crusaders brought a right-hander to face Guerin. Fine, Caddock came out to hit, and he did a sufficient job with a sac fly. With the bullpen depleted a bit, Bob Joly was brought in as reliever in the ninth, which he ended scoreless. Ingall drew a 1-out walk in the bottom 9th. I was very tempted to have Brady bunt him over and have Neil Reece try to hit John Hatt hard, but at the moment Brady was hitting things hard as well and he was a left-hander. Turned out it didn’t matter, since Brady grounded out and Ingall was on second base either way. Neil Reece stepped in. “REECE!! REECE!! REECE!!” When Hatt fell 1-0 behind, someone also yelled “HAAAATT CAN’T-DO-IT!!!” Reece clanked into Hatt’s second pitch, shooting a grounder to left. Rigg didn’t get it, Ingall turned third, Johnson rocketed the ball back in, Ingall sliding, Clemente with the taaaaag - …….. SAFE!!!!! WALKOFF SINGLE NEIL REECE!!! 5-4 Reececoons!! Reece 2-5, 2B, RBI; Turner 2-5, 2B; Parker 3-4, 2 2B, RBI;

Game 3
NYC: SS J. Vega – LF J. Cruz – 1B T. Mullins – 3B J. Ramirez – 2B Nielsen – RF Wilson – C Riley – CF Pimentel – P H. Lara
POR: 2B Ingall – RF Brady – CF Reece – C Turner – LF Parker – 3B Crowe – SS Guerin – 1B Michel – P M. Lopez

The Coons scored two runs in the first three innings, but also left four men in scoring position… While Lopez was rock solid early on, Brady’s 1-out triple in the fifth prompted the Crusaders to walk Reece intentionally, putting an 11-game hitting streak for him, at 0-1 on the day, in danger. Well, yeah, but that business only works if your battery doesn’t let the next ball come away. Brady scored on the wild pitch, and then Werner Turner hit a triple! Parker sacrificed him in, and the Coons were up 5-0. Yeah, about Reece. The Coons were up 6-0 in the bottom 8th, with Lopez, who had led off with a double, on third, and Ingall on first, and no outs. Ramirez misfielded Brady’s grounder for a 2-base error, putting Lopez in the dugout and two runners in scoring position. This time, the Crusaders didn’t use the open base for Reece, who was still 0-1 with three walks. Enrique Hernandez got him to 2-2, before Reece connected and hit a bloop into shallow right for an RBI single! THAT’S HOW CHAMPIONS DO IT!! Hernandez would try to pick off Reece and throw it away, plating another run, and eventually scored Reece with a wild pitch. A comedy of failure put the Coons up 10-0, as Lopez came back out to reach for a season-ending shutout for his ledger. Ed Rigg’s pinch-hit, first-pitch leadoff jack kinda put a dent into that… 10-1 Raccoons. Brady 2-4, BB, 3B, RBI; Reece 1-2, 3 BB, RBI; Turner 3-5, 3B, RBI; Guerin 2-4, 2B; Lopez 9.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, W (10-13) and 1-3, 2B;

Werner Turner, while not massively agile, tied a career-high four triples on the season. In 656 career games, he has 13 triples compared to 25 homers.

Miguel Lopez has not pitched a shutout since 1995 (4 for his career), but pitched his 10th overall complete game in 160 starts, and the only one this season. He also used his last chance to maintain a record of winning double-digit games in every season where he doesn’t hit the disabled list. Remember he lost most of the 1994 and 1996 seasons to injuries.

Game 4
NYC: 3B Rigg – SS Nielsen – LF A. Johnson – 1B Berry – RF Latham – C Clemente – CF A. Ramirez – 2B Wilson – P F. Garza
POR: 2B Ingall – RF Brady – CF Reece – C Turner – LF Parker – 3B Crowe – 1B Wedemeyer – SS Guerin – P Rivera

Jose Rivera came into this game with the CL-best ERA (2.43; five points ahead of Jorge Chapa), but the Crusaders soon assaulted his bid for the ERA title. Avery Johnson’s 2-run home run in the third inning put him over Chapa’s 2.48 at that point. Now it was about rallying, not surrendering any more, and also hoping the team would come back. The Coons got a run back in the third inning, but Reece and Turner both struck out with two men on to end that inning. Reece came through in the fifth with a single that allowed Brady to go first-to-third with one out. Turner’s sac fly tied the game, but that was all we got. The Coons again left two in scoring position in the sixth, and Rivera was done after seven innings and 105 pitches, without further damage against him. The bullpen bobbled the next two innings together, while Werner Turner had a career day behind the plate, throwing out three base stealers, including dedicated pinch-runner Ira Heseltine in the eighth. John Hatt drilled Guerin to lead off the bottom 9th then. Miller was conveniently batting behind him and was used to bunt, and he put Guerin on second. Ingall came up. An Ingall single, maybe? Ingall lined a hard shot into right, Heseltine hustled – BUT IT WENT PAST HIM!! WALKOFF INGALL!! 3-2 Coons!!! Ingall 2-5, 2B, RBI; Brady 2-4, RBI; Reece 2-4, 2B; Crowe 2-4; Guerin 2-2, BB; Rivera 7.0 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 K;

The Canadiens split their 4-game set with the Indians, so we are now up by two in the battle for fourth place. As we face the weak Indians on the final weekend of the year, we may have the advantage here.

Also, we have not lost in a FULL week, but up next is Saito…

Raccoons (77-82) vs. Indians (64-95) – October 2-4, 1998

We have owned the Indians this year, 11-4, but we also haven’t lost in a week, so we’re due.

Projected matchups:
Kisho Saito (6-14, 3.12 ERA) vs. Steve Holcomb (1-3, 2.52 ERA)
Bob Joly (3-1, 2.40 ERA) vs. Chang-se Park (2-5, 4.04 ERA)
Manuel Movonda (12-11, 2.80 ERA) vs. Nick Jacobson (8-12, 4.70 ERA)

Left-hander in the finale, but two more right-handed arms (northpaws?) before that.

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

Saito faced an all-right-handed lineup. The Indians put their first three men in the second inning all on base with singles. While Saito came out with only one run allowed, this didn’t bode well. The Raccoons had already left Ingall on third in the first inning, and did the same with Crowe in the second, when Saito popped out. But Saito soon got support with a 3-run home run by Chris Parker that just made it over the wall in right. But the singles kept falling for the Indians, and they led off the fifth with two more singles through the infield. A A Martin Carter double tied the game, and the Indians took a 4-3 lead in the inning. Saito was hit for after six, with Guerin on first and one out. Guerin was caught stealing, and Saito remained on the hook, but he would be spared 15-losses humiliation eventually, when Clyde Brady hit his 10th home run of the year, tying the game in the bottom 7th. We again entered the bottom 9th tied, and Caddock led off, hitting for Tamburrino. He singled up the middle. ‘nother walkoff, anyone? 160 games into the year, Ingall laid down his first sac bunt to put Caddock on second base. Brady walked. “REECE!! REECE!! REECE!!” Not this time. He got Brady forced at second base, but Ingall was on third for Turner, but he didn’t get it done and grounded out. Extra innings. Top 10th, Costa came in, and walked two. Miller replaced him, and walked Sam Fisher to fill the bags with no outs. Oh noes. Miller then struck out Jose Martinez. Struck out Jamal Chevalier. And Carlos Paredes grounded back to Miller for a piece of cake. PHEW!! The Indians offered Cesar Salcido then, bordering on forfeiting the contest. Parker led off with an infield single. As he stole second base, Urbano Cicalina threw wildly past his infielders, and Parker was on third with no outs. Crowe was walked intentionally, and Castillo hit for Wedemeyer. His fly to left center was sufficiently deep to plate Parker. IT’S ANOTHER WALKOFF!!! 5-4 Furballs!! Parker 2-4, BB, HR, 3 RBI; Caddock (PH) 1-1; Fairchild 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K;

Vancouver’s Jose Dominguez pitched an 8-hit shutout over the Loggers, 4-0, but we are now assured of at least a share of fourth place.

Game 2
IND: SS J. Martinez – C Cicalina – 1B M. Brown – LF D. Lopez – CF J. Thompson – 3B Whaley – RF Alarcon – 2B Chevalier – P Park
POR: 2B Ingall – RF Brady – CF Reece – LF Parker – 3B Crowe – C Castillo – 1B Michel – SS Caddock – P Joly

Indy scored a run in the top 1st, but they could have done more, hadn’t David Lopez’ grounder hit Matt Brown into the foot as he was hustling from first base. Runners interference cost them, and the Coons instantly brought out the spiked bats. Ingall reached on an error and Parker and Crowe drove in three in total in the bottom 1st. Neither team did much more through five, before the Indians had their first two men on in the sixth inning, but a good play by Chris Parker then retired David Lopez and Joly managed to get through the sixth. The Coons also left two on in the bottom 6th. An Ingall error put Alarcon on base to lead off the top 7th (ironically, Ingall had reached on an Alarcon error in the first), and the runner was on second base with two down. When Jose Martinez singled to left, the Indians sent Alarcon, but Chris Parker lasered him out at home plate. Joly retired Cicalina in the eighth before Donis was broken out to fight Matt Brown. He actually retired him! Top 9th, still up 3-1 from the first, Tamburrino was left in to perhaps finish it after getting the last out in the eighth, but put Jim Thompson on base. Now Wade came in with the tying run at the plate, but he didn’t falter and retired the next three batters. 3-1 Furballs! Ingall 2-4; Joly 7.1 IP, 8 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, W (4-1);

Clinched fourth place! Can we finish with a 10-game winning streak!? Either way, Neil Reece’s hitting streak ended at 14.

Game 3
IND: 3B Whaley – C Cicalina – 1B M. Brown – LF D. Lopez – RF A. Roldán – CF J. Thompson – SS M. Carter – 2B Chevalier – P Jacobson
POR: 2B Ingall – SS Guerin – CF Reece – C Turner – RF Brady – 3B McLaughlin – LF Utting – 1B Kowalchuk – P Movonda

Cicalina got the Indians up 1-0 with a solo jack in the first, but Guerin(!) homered the Coons back into a tie and they got another run in the first for an early 2-1 lead. While the Colombian Beauty scattered a few hits early on, he also was quite electric. Through five, he had struck out eight batters, and was then only two shy of Kisho Saito’s franchise single season mark. Things began to go wrong in the sixth. A Kowalchuk error put leadoff man Jim Thompson on base, and Thompson stole second and was on third after Carter’s groundout. But then Jamal Chevalier popped out, yet when Movonda had Jacobson at 2-2, the pitcher made contact and flew out to Utting. No K for the Beauty. Top 7th, entering with 95 pitches, Movonda struck out Matt Whaley, one short of the franchise mark now. Cicalina was down 1-2, but then singled. That brought up Brown, but Donis had pitched almost every day this week and I wasn’t trusting him. Lopez was in theory available, but I was hanging in with Movonda. Brown flew to deep right, but Brady got there leisurely. David Lopez would be Movonda’s last batter – and Lopez homered. Vanity killed the Beauty, and the Raccoons were not picking him up. They were still trailing 3-2 in the bottom 9th, with Turner starting the inning against Jorge Escobar. He grounded out, Brady flew out, and the last swing of the year had Chris Parker ground out to short. 3-2 Indians. Guerin 2-4, HR, 2B, RBI;

Only four hits in this game. There was the offense again … absent.

In other news

September 28 – NAS SP Dennis Fried (18-9, 2.48 ERA) 3-hits the Rebels in a 5-0 Blue Sox win, which also drops the Sox’ magic number to two.
September 29 – Glenn Douglas plates Daniel Silva with two out in the top 9th to break a 5-5 tie in Milwaukee. Bill Corkum saves the 6-5 win, and the Titans clinch the CL North on Loggers’ soil. For the Titans it is the second postseason appearance, and the second consecutive.
September 30 – A 15-5 blowout of the Rebels clinches the FL East for the Blue Sox. The Blue Sox will make their seventh playoff appearance, which ties them with the Raccoons for most by a franchise, and their first in nine years. They made the playoffs six out of seven years from 1983 to 1989, and won two rings in that span.
October 3 – MIL RF/LF Cristo Ramirez (.353, 6 HR, 68 RBI) knocks his 2,000th career base hit – at age 28! Ramirez goes 2-5 in a 4-3 loss to the Canadiens, the big hit being a seventh inning RBI single off pitcher Joe Hollow. The still-young Venzuelan, the sixth overall pick in the 1988 amateur draft, has spent all his career with the Loggers. At his pace, it’s no question whether he will get to 3,000 hits, but just when it will happen. Among his accolades are 6 All Star nominations, 2 Gold Gloves, and the 1993 CL Hitter of the Year award.
October 4 – The Thunder and Condors enter the final day of the regular season tied. The Thunder lose 6-4 at the Bay, while the Condors are CRUSHED in Las Vegas, 17-2. Tie-breaker comin’ up.
October 5 – Through seven, the Thunder lead the tie-breaker at home, 5-3. The Condors then rally with key hits, and big hits, tie the score 6-6 in the eighth, and crush the Thunder relief corps in the ninth and come away with a 10-6 win. Dale Wales, David Vinson, and David Brewer all have multi-hit games with multiple huge AB’s for the Condors. They will make their seventh postseason appearance, also tying the Raccoons and Blue Sox for most in ABL history.

Complaints and stuff

Rain chased Jorge Chapa in his final start of the season, and he was limited to only 5.2 innings of 1-run ball. This awards the CL ERA title to Jose Rivera by .01 ER! Phew!

I was glancing over some other pitching marks from Coons history, and found this one interesting: Who is the pitcher with the highest K/9 mark in franchise history? The answer is not all that obvious. Well, obviously it’s a reliever, because we never had a 200 K power guy. However the answer is still a little surprising. First of all, it is not Grant West, our ancient closer, and Grant West ain’t even in the top 3. The top 5 go like this:

Richard Cunningham – 8.7
Wally Gaston – 8.4
Juan Martinez – 7.4
Grant West – 6.8
Miguel Lopez – 6.4

Saito, Carlos Gonzalez, “Pooky” Beato, and Jason Turner all come up bunched together behind that. And 10th is … hold onto something … Carlos Morán.

Carlos WHO?? He was a swingman and then a mop-up guy for the Raccoons from 1980 to 1986 and never pitched for any other team. 293 G (43 GS), 23-34, 8 SV, 3.60 ERA, 320 BB, 395 K in 615.1 IP.

Movonda obviously doesn’t feature on the career list since he does not have 500 IP for the Coons.

[Westheim]

1998 POSTSEASON

The 97-65 Scorpions enter the postseason as favorites despite missing SP Steve Rogers and INF Felipe Rivera with injuries. The team had the outright best pitching staff in the Federal League, ranking top 2 in all categories but walks and BABIP. Even without Rogers (16-5, 2.32 ERA), they have a formidable rotation and an almost fireproof bullpen. The offense is playing small ball with only 92 home runs, but high OBP and the second-most runs scored in the FL.

In many ways, the 89-73 Blue Sox were trying to be the same team, but couldn’t. Although they had strong starting pitching around Dennis Fried (19-9, 2.44 ERA) and Javier Cruz (24-5, 2.60 ERA), their bullpen is rather bleak before the eighth and ninth inning. Also, the offense has not been their strong suit. They were dead-last in the league in home runs (61), and can’t match the Scorpions in terms of OBP and getting runs home either. They only had the fifth-most runs in the Federal League. While they don’t have significant injuries, they look like a much weaker team.

The Titans, who finished 95-67, also played mostly small ball with only 83 home runs during the year, and also rode their pitching quite heavily, although they also have nice offensive qualities. They led the Continental League in runs scored, but scored almost 100 runs less than the Scorpions, who were second in the FL. This has happened with the same weapons the Scorpions employed: get on base, steal bases, don’t strike out. One problem for the Titans might be the injuries to C Luis Lopez and OF Tom Walls. Apart from C Julio Silva, they can not put up any starter with an average over .280, although walks will mitigate that at least partly for them.

How the 92-71 Condors made the playoffs, apart from beating the Thunder in a tie-breaker, is a mystery. They were 6th in runs scored, 6th in runs allowed, and didn’t particularly excel in any one field. Pointing out strengths is as difficult as pointing out weaknesses, but they struggled to a 10-16 record in September, so they can not considered to be any hot, either. They could just as likely be the dark horse stomping over the opposition as they could be eliminated swiftly in the CLCS.

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Blue Sox @ Scorpions … 0-1 … (Scorpions lead 1-0) … SAC David Castillo 8.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 7 K, W;
Condors @ Titans … 2-4 … (Titans lead 1-0) … BOS Jason O’Halloran 8.0 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, W; BOS Esteban Baldivía hits game-winning 3-run homer;

Blue Sox @ Scorpions … 5-4 … (series tied 1-1) … NAS Logan Lee 3-5, 2B, 3 RBI;
Condors @ Titans … 3-5 … (Titans lead 2-0) … BOS Dave Reid 2-4, HR, 2B, 3 RBI;

Scorpions @ Blue Sox … 4-3 … (Scorpions lead 2-1) … Sacramento scores four in the first inning and rides that to the end
Titans @ Condors … 5-4 … (Titans lead 3-0)

Scorpions @ Blue Sox … 0-6 … (series tied 2-2) … NAS Dennis Fried 8.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K, W;
Titans @ Condors … 4-0 … (Titans win 4-0) … BOS Glenn Ryan 8.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 5 BB, 6 K, W;

Scorpions @ Blue Sox … 2-5 … (Blue Sox lead 3-2) … NAS Javier Cruz 8.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, W; NAS Karl Davidson 4-4, HR, 2 RBI;

Blue Sox @ Scorpions … 7-0 … (Blue Sox win 4-2) … NAS Roy Collier 7.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K, W; NAS Karl Davidson 3-4, 3 2B, RBI;

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1998 WORLD SERIES

With the #1 seed Scorpions gone, the Titans will have home field advantage in the World Series. They do have to expect a different opponent than the swiftly swept Condors now, though. Both teams excelled pitching wise in the Championship Series round, with none of the ten games seeing more than nine runs scored. The Blue Sox, despite their worse record and homefield disadvantage, might have a slightly better team assembled, and they still don’t have any significant injuries.

Blue Sox @ Titans … 3-1 … (Blue Sox lead 1-0) … NAS Dennis Fried 8.0 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 8 K, W; NAS Jessie McGuire hits game-winning 3-run homer in the eighth

Blue Sox @ Titans … 0-1 … (series tied 1-1) … BOS Jason O’Halloran 7.0 IP, 7 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 7 K;

Titans @ Blue Sox … 7-6 (10) … (Titans lead 2-1) … NAS Lorenzo Flores scores Julio Silva with a wild pitch in the 10th to lose the game

Titans @ Blue Sox … 4-1 … (Titans lead 3-1) … BOS Jesus Bautista 8.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, W; all runs score in the sixth inning

Titans @ Blue Sox … 6-5 … (Titans win 4-1) … BOS Luis Alonso 3-5, 2 RBI; BOS Esteban Baldivía 3-4, BB, 2B, RBI; NAS Freddie Jones 4-4, BB;

After the Blue Sox lost the third game on a wild pitch, they also lost the series on a wild pitch. In the top 7th of game 5, with the score tied 5-5, Carlos Gonzales was pitching to Julio Silva with Luis Alonso on second base and one out. Gonzales’ 0-2 pitch was wild, advancing Alonso to third base, and from there he scored when Silva hit a sac fly on the next pitch. Manuel Chavez then struck out. In the bottom 9th, Jose Valentín put the winning runs for the Blue Sox in scoring position with one out. After that, Jessie McGuire and Mauro Valdés popped out to short and the catcher, respectively. Julio Silva made the grab that won the World Series, then held up the ball in his bare hand, while pointing, mouth wide open, at his own bench, which rapidly emptied. Silva then ran out to Bennett to show the ball to him as well, before the dark blue team converged in a pile of huddles.

Although the Continental League managed to win only eight of the 22 championships so far, the CL North has only one team without a title, the Loggers. The Crusaders (1979), Indians (1981), Canadiens (1982, 1984), and Raccoons (1992-93) all have won titles before.

The Thunder are the only CL South team to win. The FL West has seen five of its teams triumphant too (everybody except the Pacifics), while in the FL East the Buffaloes and Miners have never won the championship.

1998 WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS
BOSTON TITANS
(1st title)

[Westheim]

The 1998 offseason immediately commenced once the champagne spots had been removed from the visitors’ clubhouse in Nashville.

Bad news first, our head of medical staff for 18 years, Michael Dempsey, chose to go fishing at age 65. Thanks, Dr. Mike, for the countless times you screwed Daniel Hall back together. We will miss you. (Actually, all of our major league managerial staff is 60 or older, so Chad Klein and Hollis Case, who have both been here over ten years as manager and hitting coach, respectively, will soon go fishing as well)

Our budget was set at $15.59M, only slightly higher than last year, and sixth-to-last in the league. That’s a bummer, because it really puts a dent into my ambitions to go after a slugger with a name.

It will even be extremely difficult to keep the few talented people we actually already have. F.e. Werner Turner. He’s a free agent, and he had a good season. I already tried to talk contract with him when the playoffs started. We sadly can not match his 5-yr, $5M demand. There’s no way we can keep him if those are his demands, and he wasn’t going to lower them a teeny weeny bit. So, we are catcherless once more, and neither Castillo, nor McDonald, are an option as primary backstop.

Our arbitration personnel this time encompassed 11 players, including four free agents, which shall be mentioned first:

SP Manuel Movonda, 34, 219 IP, 12-12, 2.84 ERA) – type A free agent
C Werner Turner, 30, .288/.322/.438, 9 HR – type A free agent
CL Scott Wade, 36, 65.2 IP, 1-9, 3.02 ERA, 33 SV – type B free agent
MR Brad Tamburrino, 28, 57.2 IP, 5-2, 2.50 ERA, 1 SV, - no compensation

Also, these players are heading for salary arbitration (service time) - current salary / estimate:

SP Jose Rivera, 25, 188.1 IP, 14-8, 2.44 ERA (3.003) - $120k / $310k
MR Antonio Donis, 26, 42 IP, 2-6, 4.29 ERA (2.167) - $120k / $189k
C Ricardo Castillo, 31, .237/.304/.373, 2 HR (4.096) - $120k / $180k
1B Liam Wedemeyer, 29, .195/.258/.322, 12 HR, 5 SB (5.118) - $500k / $577k
INF/LF/CF Jai Utting, 31, .188/.257/.252, 2 HR (3.169) - $200k / $220k
OF Luke Newton, 27, .198/.275/.282, 3 HR, 6 SB (3.116) - $120k / $180k
RF/CF Jorge Villegas, 27, .215/.328/.350, 5 HR (4.095) - $171k / $180k

Isn’t it wonderful how many .200 and below batters the 1998 Raccoons produced? I am amazed. Amazedly in shock. I am also amazed that there are *43* players on the payroll right now. Where do they all come from!?

We have no money to keep Movonda or Turner. I need a slugger, and not more pitching. The 1998 Raccoons had the best pitching in the world and couldn’t stay above .500. We need OFFENSE. Sadly, Turner, with the second-highest average and a .760 OPS, still goes out.

Wade and Tamburrino should be resigned (in fact, Tamburrino as an offer from us right now). Both can probably be kept for cheap, besides, I don’t want anybody to touch Scotty after a 17-year professional career all in our system. And then it is imperative to keep Jose Rivera amused. And the other six? Can’t they just go to hell?

[Westheim]

Tasks for the last week of October:
• Extend Brad Tamburrino (offer is made)
• Extend Scott Wade
• Avoid arbitration with Jose Rivera (1-year deal)
• Release scrubs with major league deals

The last point is important. With 43 players sucking money from our budget, there has to be dead meat somewhere. This was about identifying said dead beat, then see if they have *any* trade value whatsoever, and if not, release them outright. It should be easy to free up more than half a million bucks by binning five scrubs, and this may include players on the arbitration list.

Let’s be honest. Between Ricardo Castillo, Ron McDonald, Jai Utting, Liam Wedemeyer, Luke Newton, and Jorge Villegas we had six players that combined for 1,163 AB last year, while batting a combined .197! That’s WAY too many at-bats for slackers, and that doesn’t even include the other fails we had up like Jason Kent and Mario Guerrero. It also doesn’t include Brent McLaughlin and Steve Caddock, who while batting .211 and .232 respectively, occasionally had a nice moment. I can’t remember any nice moments of those six above. Someone hit a game winning grand slam in late August or so, but I can’t remember …. Or so I thought, I can’t find any box score for that anyway though.

The mind. I’m old. And I’m talking a lot.

The following players have been earmarked for termination (1998 work):
• SP Bryce Hildred (1-3, 3.98 ERA in 4 G @ AA; 6-12, 5.93 ERA in 22 G @ AAA)
• SP Anthony Mosher (3-14, 6.18 ERA in 24 G @ AAA)
• MR Day Grandridge (6-1, 7 SV, 4.38 ERA @ AAA; 0-0, 3.52 ERA in 5 G @ ML)
• MR Fred Carlton (1-0, 2.35 ERA in 16 G @ AAA; 0-0, 14.40 ERA in 9 G @ ML)
• MR Travis Dean (1-0, 2 SV, 3.09 ERA in 18 G @ AAA)
• MR Manuel Diaz (0-0, 0.00 ERA in 1 G @ AA; 1-1, 6.86 ERA in 14 G @ AAA)
• MR Pancho Padilla (1-4, 15 SV, 4.35 ERA in 39 G @ AAA; 0-0, 11.37 ERA in 8 G @ ML)
• C Ron McDonald (.297/.340/.455, 4 HR, 25 RBI in 145 AB @ AAA; .157/.196/.176, 0 HR, 5 RBI in 51 AB @ ML)
• OF Jason Kent (.296/.358/.481, 7 HR, 30 RBI in 206 AB @ AAA; .154/.237/.173, 0 HR, 3 RBI in 52 AB @ ML)
• OF Kenny Crockett (.370/.471/.741, 3 HR, 7 RBI in 27 AB @ AA; .185/.205/.333, 1 HR, 8 RBI in 81 AB @ AAA; .167/.167/.167, 0 HR, 0 RBI in 1 G @ ML)
• OF Roberto Miranda (.205/.318/.288, 2 HR, 13 RBI in 219 AB @ AAA)

This does not include other players on the arbitration list that were highly toxic this season but have shown flashes of ability in the past – even if elsewhere.

Mosher and Diaz from the above list are still on the DL, the only players in the organization lingering there at this point. I tend to give both of them a pass and one more chance.

Hildred was a scrap heap pickup last winter before we got Movonda. He was at one point penciled in as the fifth starter in Portland. He sucked. He goes. Crockett and Miranda both provided minor sparks for the big league club in 1997. Miranda’s career numbers anywhere show that he won’t cut it in the majors. Crockett is 30, and maybe 1997 was his moment in the sun. Both go. Jason Kent is 24, and he will get a final pass.

Day Grandridge has annoyed me for a long time now. He might be tradable, though. He goes, but not for free. Padilla is in the same spot. We might grab something for him. Right-handed relief will soon be added to the Bigs in form of Dan Nordahl, too, so we don’t need these suckers anymore. Dean is another right-hander with no ceiling. He may not even be tradable, but it won’t hurt to try. Carlton is the only left-hander in the list, and he sucks. Left-handed relief is a big pain in the behind for us for a few years now, but Carlton ain’t the answer.

So: Hildred, McDonald, Crockett, Miranda, Grandridge, Padilla, and Dean are going to get booted. Carlton is useless, but for one reason will not be terminated right now: he’s gonna be our injury backup, and he has another option left for 1999. If I can count correctly, that’s $846k saved for 1999. That’s a new quality player right there.

So, next, Movonda. We have not talked to him yet about an extension. He is 35, came off an uber season in 1998, and is gonna demand another metric butt ton of money. Without him, our rotation projects to contain Saito, Lopez, Farley, and Rivera in whatever order, plus Joly or Fairchild in the #5 hole. If we manage to extend Movonda, it would give us the option to trade either him or Miguel Lopez for that slugger we so direly need. On the other hand, we could just take the draft picks and move on, then sign the slugger off the free agent market (not that that would come any cheaper)

Potential positions for said slugger are right field and first base, or catcher. Maybe we should think about what we already have before we add stuff we can’t find a use for.

So the Coons are pretty much set up the middle with Guerin and Ingall in the infield and Reece in center. Ingall could play either corner on the infield, but why move him there when he fits second base so perfectly? Crowe has been a capable third baseman, but not overwhelming. In the outfield, I think Clyde Brady should be a starter next season. He played right field for most of last season, but can also play left. However, in left we have Stephen Buell (who went to the DL FOUR FRICKIN’ TIMES LAST YEAR), and Chris Parker also wants to, but won’t get to, start there. And Buell can do damage if he’s not HURT ALL THE TIME. So, Brady should start in right. That leaves first and catcher open.

Which is a shame, since the #1 slugger on the market is going to be RF Corey Patel, now still with the Buffaloes. At 27, he has 127 dingers, and he should like it in Portland. Patel is also left-hander, and left-handed power is something that eluded us all of 1998. (Not that Brady was bad, he hit ten homers in half a season, but I’d like more). Of course we could add Patel and platoon Brady with Buell, although that’s not the perfect constellation. Luke Newton could be the backup for that outfield.

Then VAN 1B Bill Mosley will be a free agent. However he’s 34 and already a defensive liability. Salem was two free agents lined up that are interesting for us in OF Will Jackson, who is 33 already, and who is at the moment still nursing an ankle injury, but who’s pushing 20 homers every year. Don’t expect a high average, though. He’s a left-hander, while their C Miguel Castillo is a right-hander. He’s not a power guy, hitting at most two home runs a year, but he’s consistently batting .320-ish. He’s also very good on defense and calling the game, and at 30 won’t drop like a rock for another few years.

I’m still looking at Patel, though. We could probably plug first base with a few first basemen we have stocked in AAA. Well, first there is Samy Michel, but we have more:
• Samy Michel (.321/.415/.513, 8 HR, 32 RBI in 234 AB @ AAA; .230/.302/.385, 4 HR, 14 RBI in 135 AB @ ML)
• Harry Jackson (.333/.379/.481, 6 HR, 27 RBI in 210 AB @ AAA)
• Albert Martin (.341/.471/.598, 5 HR, 17 RBI in 82 AB @ AA; .325/.398/.610, 32 HR, 90 RBI in 449 AB @ AAA)

You know, why not Martin? He’s only 21. Defensively he’s not adept, but if that bat could live up to its reputation in Portland, that could be big for us. We could start 1999 with Michel and replace him with Martin if things aren’t kicking for Michel. One knack is that Martin is not rule 5 draft eligible just yet, so we could conveniently park him another year, but let’s be honest, the Coons will not compete next year, so why not try stuff?

One more word on our top picks from 1997, who have been projected to be the next big things. Dan Nordahl has performed competently between AA and AAA in 1998, with a 2.84 ERA and 1.37 WHIP in 52.2 IP. He walked 4.5 BB/9, and that’s the main issue here. Opposing players have a terrible time getting contact against him. He will NOT be on the Opening Day roster in 1999, it would be too early for him.

News are less rosy for catcher Julio Mata. He struggled badly all year, bouncing between AA and AAA. While he slugged 22 dingers between the leagues, he also whiffed 128 times in 463 AB, against only 32 walks. He is hacking at EVERYTHING in the same zip code. Lots of work to be done there. Neither is rule 5 draft eligible this year, and both will start ’99 in St. Pete.

That’s a lot of information, just reflecting players (mostly losers), and not getting anything done.

---

Btw, the grand slam I was talking about was Caddock’s, but it was not a game-winner. It came on September 11 in the ninth in Boston. I remember the game though, because it was Bob Joly’s second start and he tossed that 3-hit shutout. Final score was 7-0.

[Orcin]

Originally Posted by Westheim

The last point is important. With 43 players sucking money from our budget, there has to be dead meat somewhere. This was about identifying said dead beat, then see if they have *any* trade value whatsoever, and if not, release them outright. It should be easy to free up more than half a million bucks by binning five scrubs, and this may include players on the arbitration list.

(snip)

That’s a lot of information, just reflecting players (mostly losers), and not getting anything done.

Au contraire... this was an extremely important piece of work and could be the key to recovery for this proud franchise. You need cheaper roster filler. You recognize it and you have set about doing it. This is a little like cleaning out your closet. If you haven't used it in five years, what makes you think you will ever use it? Same with some of these players. Sometimes, I come back in a week or two and make a second pass at that closet.

Patel looks like the guy you need. I hope you can get him.

[Westheim]

Closet cleaning has begun, as far as the one on the Willamette is concerned. We better don't get into my closet here at home.

Patel is gonna be - ... well, how about the actual update?

---

Players that retired after the 1998 season:
• ATL SP Carlos Asquabal (245-175, 3.50 ERA, certain HOF)
• BOS OF Scott Strong (.279/.369/.390, 64 HR, 569 RBI, ex-Coon)
• CIN SP Robbie Campbell (246-187, 3.39 ERA, another HOF, spent most of his career with VAN and IND)
• SFW SP Ricardo Torres (213-211, 3.95 ERA, always played on horrible teams and should have retired years ago, he was letting up badly)

October 23 – The Raccoons trade AAA MR Pancho Padilla (5-1, 5.37 ERA) to the Miners for AAA MR Christian Proctor (4-3, 3.62 ERA).
October 23 – The Loggers acquire INF Jorge Cruz (.261, 44 HR, 214 RBI), age 27, from the Wolves in exchange for 32-yr old LF/RF Benny Carver (.269, 146 HR, 591 RBI).
October 23 – The Titans are already dismantling their team by trading 33-yr old 2B Germán Roldán (.262, 34 HR, 507 RBI) to the Pacifics for 33-yr old MR Jared Chaney (47-42, 164 SV, 2.86 ERA) and a minor leaguer.

Anybody who remembers Proctor and loudly exclaimed “That’s an ex-Coon!!” can give themselves a cookie. Proctor was a member of the 1993 championship team, performing well enough, and was shipped to Las Vegas after that season in the Royce Green trade. Proctor appeared only five times for the Aces before vanishing in the minor leagues, and he has not resurfaced since. He is 31, he is left-handed, and he is on a minor league deal, so this was a trade you couldn’t pass on. Since he only spent two full seasons in the majors (he also was with the Miners for all of ’92), he is still under team control! We can park him at AAA, or add him to the roster right away, but he has no options left of course. That was a deal that I just could NOT pass on, not for the scrub Padilla!

So, while Proctor is going in circles, we are trying to go forward as a team.

Shopping Day Grandridge had a couple of teams interested, including the Crusaders. The Crusaders had an interesting catcher in Antonio Clemente, who could be a nice fit for us. However, they weren’t willing to trade Clemente for Grandridge and Travis Dean. (Smart GM in New York). Their shortlist to complete the deal included De La Rosa, Rivera, Lopez, Brady, Mata, and Farley, so pretty much everybody I wasn’t gonna trade. Well, I toyed with the thought of trading Miguel Lopez, but for a slugger, not for a .700 OPS defensive catcher.

Speaking of catchers, there was one more team interested into Grandridge, the Pacifics. They had a yummy catcher in 29-year old Lance Branch (yummy, yet expensive, he will make $2.7M through 2001). Branch has batted for more than a .840 OPS each of the last four years, and he’s doing it left-handed with strong defense added to that. He’s also drawing a lot of walks, and will usually hit more than ten home runs. Turn him as you please, all his sides are nice. And you wouldn’t believe what it took us to grab him. It didn’t even take Lopez.

October 25 – The Pacifics shock their fan base by trading 29-year old C Lance Branch (.308, 72 HR, 417 RBI) to the Raccoons for three right-handed relievers in 26-yr old Day Grandridge (1-2, 3.94 ERA in 36 G), 24-yr old Travis Dean, and 25-yr old Iván Costa (4-3, 3.88 ERA in 42 G).

BOO-YAH!!! Branch will make us forget that we couldn’t keep Turner on board, and he isn’t even quite as expensive as Turner would have been (still expensive though). Gonna be tight to add somebody like Corey Patel now… Tight bordering on impossible.

Costa wasn’t high on my list of things to get rid of, but if the Pacifics ask for him in THIS deal? We’re gonna do it! Btw, they also asked for De La Rosa, Lopez, and Farley.

Bryce Hildred, Kenny Crockett, and Roberto Miranda all were released the next day. We will also not make an offer in arbitration to Jorge Villegas. Newton is planned for as the fifth man in the outfield, regardless of whether we can sign Corey Patel or not (most likely not). That leaves first base open. Neither Utting, nor Wedemeyer, nor Castillo offer thrilling prospects for that spot. Also, Wedemeyer is gonna cost half a million AT LEAST to procure for next year, his final year under team control. Technically, we don’t have that kind of money. Castillo can be the backup catcher (he bats right-handed, so he can spell Branch against left-handers), which also has him back up first base. IF we extend either Wedemeyer or Utting, we can not carry Samy Michel on the major league roster, at least not without great inconvenience.

Yeah, let’s talk backup infielders. I think Steve Caddock has a spot locked down. At this point, nobody on the infield (Crowe, Guerin, Ingall, Michel(??)) bats left-handed, but Caddock does. (Michel is a switch-hitter). He also plays all the positions well. Well, I would like Michel to START, but he would have to do that HERE, since in St. Pete we already have two 1B-only players in Harry Jackson (who could be disposed of, theoretically), and Albert Martin. So, if Michel is here, there’s no room for Wedemeyer for sure. We could keep Jai Utting as a super utility, but do we want that …!?

OH MY GOD, DECISIONS!!

Sub-par news include Jose Rivera looking for big money. Well, he did win the ERA title this year, but I was not willing to hand a 4-yr, $2.6M deal to a 25-year old with an injury history, and who couldn’t do better than 82 BB and 78 K last year (WHILE winning the ERA title!!). There IS concern with him. His estimate is rather low at $310k, and we will offer $330k in arbitration to be (hopefully) safe.

Donis and Castillo go to arbitration with $190k offers, slightly above their estimates. Newton got an offer for a 1-year deal in which I tried to press him under his estimate, but he had none of it, so I offered him the estimate of $180k. Hasn’t signed yet. Wade has also gotten an offer. A team going nowhere can just as well have Scotty close games at an 80% success rate…

After much deliberations, offers for Utting and Wedemeyer were removed. Both will be let go. I tried to talk to Weeds about a contract for 1999 for less than his 1998 payout, but he had none of that. That leaves a backup infield spot for Brent McLaughlin, f.e., or maybe we can find someone.

Squeezing Corey Patel, .280/.355/.503 with 127 HR and 493 RBI (plus 50 SB), into our budget will be borderline impossible, since right now it looks like we're gonna have some $550k of budget room…

[dynaboyj]

Wedemeyer Although it sounds like he wasn't performing well, anyway. I hope he finds luck, but not too much, somewhere else. I like the Branch acquisition!

[Orcin]

Originally Posted by Westheim

Squeezing Corey Patel, .280/.355/.503 with 127 HR and 493 RBI (plus 50 SB), into our budget will be borderline impossible, since right now it looks like we're gonna have some $550k of budget room…

The good news in that sentence is the $550K of budget room. If Patel won't take it, then at least you can fill a few holes elsewhere.

P.S. I like Branch also.

[Westheim]

Looking for ways to free up some money before mid-November, when free agents will hit the open market and everybody’s gonna throw buckets full of cash at them. Let’s look at it this way. When you try to make the playoffs, you gotta have somewhere between 90-95 wins, and the number often thrown around is 50 WAR. We have less than $10M available to get to 50 WAR, and those $10M include the whole 40-man roster, so it’s more like less than $9M available.

This means you gotta press about 5.5 WAR out of every million bucks you spend on players. How effective is this roster? Well, we will start at the top and then casually go down the salary list as far as players not under team control are concerned. At the very top, the Raccoons had Neil Reece and Kisho Saito in 1998, who earned $1.05M and $1M in 1998, respectively. Did they bring in their hay?

Kind of. Reece had a dismal first half of the season with the bat, but rallied in the end to end up with 4.8 WAR for the year. That’s okay (because you will end up with minimum contract players doing more than .5 WAR, too). How about Saito? He had a dismal year, it seems, losing 14 games and winning just six. Well, turns out a replacement level player in his position would have ended up with a 1-19 season. That poor sod. Saito gobbled up 5.1 WAR, and had nothing to show for.

So check those.

Behind that we had a host of people who made roughly half a million dollars. Did they deliver 2.5 to 3 WAR?
SP Miguel Lopez - $550k - +2.5 WAR
INF Marvin Ingall - $500k - +3.2 WAR (while missing over 60 games)
1B Liam Wedemeyer - $500k - -1.4 WAR (also injured and hardly used in September)
SP Manuel Movonda - $425k - +6.5 WAR
C Werner Turner - $380k - +3.1 WAR

The bottom two can’t be extended due to insufficient funds. Movonda wants 4-yr, $6.4M, which is way out of the window and impossible. Turner was on the 5-yr, $5M train. Turner had the best year of his career, more or less, but 3 WAR for $1M would be way overpaying him, and Lance Branch is a much better option effectivity-wise, despite him making twice the money, because his career average is about 5 WAR.

Lopez and Ingall are locked up for a few more years, of course. That leaves Wedemeyer. He was horrible. He cost us games. He didn’t cost us the playoffs (too much stuff went wrong overall), but he certainly hurt us just by being on the roster. No way we’re blowing another $500k on him when this means risking another .200 season. He still hit 12 home runs, but that’s really pale compared to what he did before. It is a risk we can not take.

That leaves us with the .200 Fail Brigade, which can be summed up easily by saying that none of them procured even remotely enough WAR to merit his payout. The only guys from the (position player) supporting cast that did not actually harm our efforts WAR-wise were Conceicao Guerin (4 WAR), Stephen Buell (1.1 WAR in 73 games) and Mike Crowe (1.5 WAR), while even Clyde Brady managed to run up -0.4 WAR (which surprised me now that I saw it), with his batting costing 1.7 WAR, while he regained 1.3 WAR defensively.

Farley (3.9 WAR) and Rivera (2.4 WAR) pitched extremely well on minimum contracts. How about our relief corps on big contracts? This excludes Donis, who still cost us 1.2 WAR over the year by being awful.
Gabriel De La Rosa - $350k - +0.9 WAR
Scott Wade - $280k - +1.1 WAR
Brad Tamburrino - $240k - +0.7 WAR
Daniel Miller - $230k - +0.3 WAR

Maybe WAR is not the best way of rating relievers, but we are bleeding money here. These $1.1M came far short of the 5.5 to 6 WAR required, at 3.0 WAR. Still, can you take out any one of these, replace them with some AAA hunk and then live in constant fear of even more games blowing out in the seventh or eighth? Nah. I have recently toyed with the thought of trading Gabby De La Rosa for something cheaper, but it’s a risk.

Looking at it, our pitching staff ain’t that bad going into 1999. Sure, Movonda will be gone, but we still have Saito, Lopez, Farley, and Rivera; then Joly and Fairchild quibbling over the fifth starter spot and long relief; and then a pen with Wade, Tamburrino, Miller, De La Rosa, Donis (unless someone offers me a mint 1977 Juan Correa baseball card), and possibly Proctor. That should do to get over .500!

We need offense. Will replacing Wedemeyer with Michel be enough? Can’t hurt to TRY and get Corey Patel.

October 29 – The Raccoons announce an extension signed with MR Brad Tamburrino, who will stay a Furball for 3-yr, $1M.
October 30 – 37-year old LVA SP Rafael Espinoza (138-133, 3.89 ERA) announces his retirement after a radial nerve decompression surgery on his elbow has failed. Espinoza, a fifth round pick by the Knights in 1982, appeared in 399 games (370 starts) for the Bayhawks and Aces in a 14-year career.
October 30 – The Raccoons also extend with Luke Newton, avoiding arbitration with a 1-yr, $180k deal.
November 1 – Coon City breathes a sigh of relief, as the Raccoons and CL Scott Wade agree on a 2-yr, $600k contract extension.
November 2 – Gold Gloves are awarded. The Raccoons take home two mitts for C Werner Turner (1st Glove), and CF Neil Reece (2nd; 1997). Ex-Coons Nori Kondo, Joe Jackson, and Vern Kinnear also win Gloves.
November 3 – Rookies of the Year are WAS LF/CF Victorino Sanchez (.363, 4 HR, 26 RBI) and SFB C Gabriel Ortíz (.298, 7 HR, 63 RBI).
November 5 – Pitchers of the Year awards are handed to NAS SP Javier Cruz (24-5, 2.60 ERA) and MIL SP Martin Garcia (20-9, 2.62 ERA).
November 6 – Hitters of the Year are named: SAC RF/LF/1B Sam Green (.353, 23 HR, 115 RBI) and MIL RF/LF Cristo Ramirez (.350, 6 HR, 68 RBI) are the winners.

Farley!!!??? How can you pick that catcher from Santa Banana over Farley (12-6, 3.10 ERA for a crap team)!!!??? I AM INCENSED!!

I will now write a very angry letter to the ABL offices. (angrily waves with rolled up magazines) WHERE ARE MY SCISSORS???

[Westheim]

Tuesday, November 10 brought some changes to our offseason schedule. The news of the day were that the Buffaloes and Corey Patel had agreed on a 5-yr, $7.7M contract extension for the young slugger, so that story was over with as far as the Raccoons were concerned.

Salary arbitration went in our favor in all cases with $330k awarded to Jose Rivera as well as $190k apiece for Antonio Donis and Ricardo Castillo. Wedemeyer, Utting, and Villegas were not retained, while Werner Turner and Manuel Movonda refused arbitration.

We also find our pitching staff really pretty much settled for next year, so that leaves the scant funds we have to upgrade the offense – which needs the attention. As a reminder, the Raccoons managed to score a paltry 593 runs last season, or about 3.7 runs per game. Just like a few weeks ago, first base is the most readily upgradeable position. If we upgrade here, Samy Michel might be sent back to St. Petersburg, where we would have to purge Harry Jackson to make room at first base for Michel and Albert Martin. Not that I mind Jackson.

November 15 – The Rebels acquire 32-yr old 2B/SS Jim Stein (.315, 52 HR, 691 RBI) from the Warriors in exchange for 29-yr old OF Paul Theobald (.331, 23 HR, 464 RBI).
November 18 – The Miners trade 1B/2B Hector Ramirez (.287, 15 HR, 262 RBI) to the Bayhawks for INF Pat Chandler (.269, 17 HR, 170 RBI).
November 18 – The Knights claim C Ron McDonald off waivers by the Raccoons.
November 19 – The Canadiens bring in 26-yr old 1B Iván Gutierrez (.264, 62 HR, 352 RBI) from the Scorpions in exchange for 32-yr old MR Chet Frazier (5-1, 1 SV, 3.58 ERA).
November 21 – The Indians re-acquire OF Tomas Maguey (.275, 42 HR, 635 RBI) from the Capitals, along with a minor leaguer, for MR Steve Galloway (15-13, 6 SV, 4.52 ERA).
November 26 – The Loggers add ex-DAL INF Rodrigo Morales (.306, 94 HR, 810 RBI). The 32-year old comes with a 4-yr, $6.16M prize point.
November 27 – The Falcons land ex-SAL C Miguel Castillo (.304, 6 HR, 283 RBI) for 6-yr, $6.29M.
November 27 – The Gold Sox aren’t idle, either, signing ex-CHA SP Carlos Castro (98-76, 3.54 ERA), who will play at a 4-yr, $6.16M rate.
December 1 – The Buffaloes sign ex-DAL SP Manny Ramos (103-104, 4.38 ERA) to a 3-yr, $2.7M contract.
December 1 – Rule 5 draft: 19 players are taken over three rounds. The Raccoons are not affected.
December 2 – In Salem, Wolves owner Pat Mosher passes away after suffering from illness for some time. His first-born, Pat Mosher jr. follows him as Wolves owner, and is said to be understanding and generous.

We were highly selective in protecting youngsters before the rule 5 draft. There were about two dozen unprotected players eligible, and we added only SP Esteban Flores, 1B/2B George Morris, INF Tom Goodchild, and OF Jesus Taramillo to the 40-man roster. This left off f.e. George Wood, an outfielder that has been mentioned a few times the last two years, but who has struggled badly in AAA. Harry Jackson was also exposed to the rule 5 draft, and I admit in some way I hoped he would get drafted to resolve the first base choke we have in our minors. There’s more news on that, since in AA ball, 1B Don Irvin hit 23 home runs and had a .846 OPS last season, but can’t be moved up. Irvin was our 1997 second round pick.

Winter meetings are about to start. I don’t really have anything in my eye on the free agent market. We can either add a true first baseman, or a right fielder, and flip Clyde Brady to first base in a platoon with Samy Michel or something like that.

To be honest, Patel was plan A, and I didn’t have a plan B. Bill Mosley remains available, but he is looking for 5-yr, $8.5M, which is impossible to do for us. The absolute, extreme, and very most money we could POSSIBLY muster is a nice flat $1M, which will include slight cuts to scouting and development to get paid for. Any addition has to sign for that million. Preferably less.

Winter meetings are about to start.

In other news, we have arranged for an extension to the stands in left and right field to be made this spring, which will extend capacity of Raccoons Ballpark from 20,100 to 22,500. Ballpark sizes in the league are mostly between 18,000 and 27,000. The Blue Sox, Scorpions, and Bayhawks are other teams that are currently working on extending their arenas.

[Westheim]

December 6 – The Wolves come to terms with ex-POR Manuel Movonda (161-157, 3.71 ERA). The 34-year old signs a 2-yr, $2.8M contract. The Raccoons receive the Wolves’ second round pick and a supplemental round pick in the 1999 amateur draft.
December 6 – The Cyclones strike three deals as winter meetings start. They acquire World Series hero C Julio Silva (.301, 6 HR, 95 RBI) from the Titans, sending over MR Nobuyoshi Matsui (17-20, 36 SV, 3.11 ERA). 26-yr old LF/RF David Horton (.239, 22 HR, 104 RBI) comes over from the Miners for MR Peter Hughes (7-8, 1 SV, 3.98 ERA), and they send another reliever away in MR Mark Alexander (8-4, 1 SV, 4.86 ERA), whom they trade to the Canadiens for two prospects.
December 6 – The Titans trade 28-yr old OF Tom Walls (.277, 7 HR, 104 RBI) to the Bayhawks for 27-yr old SP Kenny Frye (17-22, 4.32 ERA) and a prospect.
December 6 – The Condors sign ex-VAN 1B Bill Mosley (.286, 172 HR, 783 RBI). The 34-yr old Mosley signs a 3-yr, $4.3M contract.
December 6 – The Buffaloes acquire SP Nick Jacobson (11-18, 4.44 ERA) and a minor leaguer from the Indians for 2B Alberto Burgos (.262, 1 HR, 13 RBI).
December 7 – The Aces trade 39-year old SP Alejandro Venegas (88-89, 3.85 ERA) and a minor leaguer to the Gold Sox for 27-yr old 1B Gabriel Silva (.304, 18 HR, 255 RBI).
December 7 – The Stars add INF Salvador Mendez (.340, 11 HR, 438 RBI), sending MR Jean-Loup David (5-5, 1 SV, 3.97 ERA) to the Scorpions.
December 8 – The Raccoons and Stars close a deal that sends 25-yr old 1B/3B/LF Cesar Gonzalez (.289, 67 HR, 249 RBI) to Portland in exchange for 27-yr old MR Gabriel De La Rosa (23-17, 41 SV, 2.29 ERA).
December 12 – Ex-POR C Werner Turner (.276, 25 HR, 266 RBI) returns to the Federal League, signing a 4-yr, $4.1M contract with the Capitals. The Raccoons receive the Capitals’ first round pick and a supplemental round pick in the 1999 amateur draft.
December 16 – Former Falcon 2B/SS Juan Barrón (.318, 11 HR, 404 RBI), age 26, joins the Condors on a 5-yr, $4.9M contract.
December 17 – The Cyclones continue to load up on star power, adding ex-SFB CL William Henderson (51-48, 316 SV, 2.42 ERA) for 1-yr, $1.16M, as well as ex-PIT OF Alfonso Rojas (.288, 54 HR, 460 RBI) for 3-yr, $1.86M.
December 22 – The Thunder agree to a 2-yr, $3M extension with their superstar 1B/2B Dave Browne. The 37-year old is a career .281 batter with 2,747 hits, as well as 185 HR and 1,186 RBI.
December 24 – The Capitals sign ex-NAS CL Lorenzo Flores (28-39, 161 SV, 2.51 ERA) to a 3-yr, $3.63M contract.
December 26 – Ex-CIN LF/RF Robert Harris (.294, 139 HR, 883 RBI) ends up in Dallas. The 33-yr old signs a 4-yr, $5.6M deal.

Surely we have to talk about the De La Rosa trade.

Well, the market for first basemen or corner outfielders was dire. Corey Patel extended with the Buffaloes in early November, and the price tag on Bill Mosley was prohibitive (plus, he most recently played in the Land of Elks, and I don’t like him). So, punch had to come through a trade. While the need we had was readily identified, I was not able to spot a surplus of anything on the roster, well, except for right-handed relief pitching. As elaborated earlier, we have more than $1M bound in four right-handers in the pen. Wade was a 10/5 guy, and him and Miller were here forever, and I couldn’t possibly trade them. That left De La Rosa and Tamburrino. I shopped both of them at the winter meetings, and Tamburrino didn’t yield anything, with the exception of the Blue Sox, who had a keen interest in him, but really only had other relievers to offer.

So De La Rosa was going out. Apart from the Stars, there was also interest from the Wolves (offering outfielder Jeff MacGruder) and a few others. The Stars offered two corner infielders, in Gonzalez and 1B Mac Woods. Both are defensively adept (but not award contenders), with Gonzalez more versatile. Woods was a year younger. Both were arbitration eligible, but Woods had already signed a 4-yr deal to buy out his arbitration years. He was more expensive than Gonzalez even next year, while Gonzalez had batted for a .922 OPS in 1998, comparing favorably to Woods’ .864 mark. Gonzalez is a switch-hitter, Woods right-handed. The decision was not that hard.

I like De La Rosa a lot, despite some control issues in the last two years, but in the end we had to bleed some pitching to have a chance at contending and to be able to add more offense.

This opened a spot in the bullpen for a right-hander, while most likely squeezing Brent McLaughlin off the roster. The nice thing is that Gonzalez can play either infield corner competently (and has mostly played third base for the Stars), and while I want him at first base as the starter, he could also spell Mike Crowe at third if Crowe should slump at any point. Things are getting tight for Crowe regardless. Steve Caddock is also a threat to him, batting left-handed. Crowe is a right-hander of course. Crowe STILL is the third base starter for next year, but he shouldn’t start batting .146 …

On right-handed relievers, of course Dan Nordahl is in the wings for next year, but that doesn’t help us this year. We have another youngster shooting through the ranks in the minors in 20-yr old Manuel Martinez, our first round pick a year earlier. After a daft first two years as a professional he had a very good season in AA ball last year, and is also at AAA to start 1999. Both could help us in 2000. We still need to find a 1-year filler for the pen now.

The next thought was to get rid of our surplus first baseman in AAA, Harry Jackson, maybe packaged with somebody else on the 40-man roster, for a competent sixth/seventh inning right-hander. Unfortunately, no team had the slightest interest into Jackson, so that plan fell through quickly.

What else have I been up to? I tried to buy out Cesar Gonzalez’ arbitration years at team friendly terms, but he was not really interested after just arriving here.

The Loggers approached me, trying to deal for not-ROTY Randy Farley. Yeah sure, do I look that dumb? They have repeatedly offered me journeyman outfielder John Shea, and now again. The Loggers DO have interesting players, but if they want Farley, I want HOTY Cristo Ramirez. This would be the biggest shakeup at the Willamette since the Scott’s Mills earthquake six years ago.

Yet back THEN the Coons responded by picking through the (admittedly minor) rubble and defended their world championship.

The mind wanders, I have to excuse myself.

I have an offer out to a former Coon to return to our bullpen to fill the open spot. Actually I contacted TWO former Raccoons to fill the open spot, but one, Andres Otero, insisted on a 2-year deal, and we are talking about a 1-year window. The other is still holding out as we have hit 1999 with force.

One more year until 2000, and then all computers will crash and taxes can’t be collected anymore, planes can’t fly anymore, those new things, mobile phones, stop working, and … and in general the world will tumble into chaos, nuclear holocaust, and finally oblivion. Does that mean we have to go from “neutral” (which we are since the off season started) into “win now” mode?

---

Btw, my favorite October recluse, the Three Sisters, are featured on Wikipedia's homepage today. Great, now people will find out about the place and go there and disturb the silence and solitude I enjoy when other teams are playing for championships...

[Orcin]

Originally Posted by Westheim

Btw, my favorite October recluse, the Three Sisters, are featured on Wikipedia's homepage today. Great, now people will find out about the place and go there and disturb the silence and solitude I enjoy when other teams are playing for championships...

Wow, I didn't know Wikipedia had a homepage... thanks for the tip!

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by Orcin

Wow, I didn't know Wikipedia had a homepage... thanks for the tip!

You have me confused.

Plus, I rather expected the fan base to burst into cheers on the Gonzalez trade.

[Westheim]

January was busy, and then it wasn’t. It was more mellow. Or so.

With great sorrow the Portland Raccoons informed the press on January 9 that owner Carlos Valdés had been found dead at the swimming pool at his home in Mexico, having passed away from a heart attack. His oldest son Carlos jr. inherited the most significant portions of his estate, including that puny baseball team his father had tampered with for the last 20 or so years.

Good news: Little Carlos doesn’t give much of a damn about the Raccoons, instead focusing on … certain business … in Mexico. Nobody exactly knows what said business is all about, but *I* heard it was about some kind of waste management and removal.

Well. We can pretty much do whatever we please without drawing anger. Bad news: Little Carlos always had arguments with his farther about the buckets full of money he was wasting with the Raccoons. We will probably not get a bigger budget anytime soon…

This is the third time the Raccoons’ ownership changes hands and the first time they weren’t sold for cheaper than cheap.

January 1 – Ex-IND LF/RF Jim Thompson (.256, 70 HR, 440 RBI) signs a contract with the Miners. The 33-year old will earn $3.22M over 4 years.
January 2 – Journeyman closer Javier Navarro (38-46, 237 SV, 2.53 ERA) signs a deal with the Scorpions and will make $1.22M in his age 30 season.
January 5 – The Titans add ex-CHA SP Sergio Gonzalez (59-79, 4.32 ERA) for 3-yr, $2.27M.
January 20 – Ex-BOS SP Henry Selph (70-46, 3.83 ERA) joins the Bayhawks for 4-yr, $5.3M.
January 30 – The Bayhawks also add 30-yr old INF Jose Martinez (.250, 17 HR, 232 RBI), who last played for the Indians, for 1-yr, $540k.
February 1 – The Raccoons announce the addition of 32-yr old MR Juan Martinez (44-23, 26 SV, 2.94 ERA) for 1-yr, $230k. Martinez, who pitched for the Raccoons from 1987 to 1996 already, and spent 1997 on the Loggers’ staff, did not pitch in 1998.
February 10 – The Loggers add 28-yr old CL John Hatt, who had 44 saves for the Crusaders last year. For career numbers of 27-22, 61 SV, and a 3.55 ERA he is going to make $1.3M this year.
February 13 – Former CIN 1B Jose Nava (.340, 37 HR, 340 RBI) at age 26 signs a 7-yr, $7.37M deal with the Miners.
February 13 – 31-yr old ex-SFB SS/3B Mike Powys (.253, 105 HR, 682 RBI) signs with the Titans for 1-yr, $386k.

Martinez, the fat chick, is back! He looks huge. With our Mexican owner dead, it was nice to get at least the other Mexican mainstay back. (To be fair, Donis is Mexican, too, and also obese, but I don’t even know that guy…) Yeah, Martinez.

…

Excuse me, getting sentimental here…

…

What else? Last time I didn’t go much into the draft picks we received for the losses of Werner Turner (to Capitals) and Manuel Movonda (to Wolves). The Capitals handed us their first round pick, which comes at #16 in the 1999 draft, while we got the fifth pick in the second round from the Wolves. However, that’s not a Wolves pick, the Wolves will pick 10th in each round. How come? The Wolves received that pick as compensation when the Falcons (who had the fifth picks in each round) signed SP Terry Murphy. When the Wolves then added Movonda, that pick was their highest that was not protected and we got it. By the way, we will pick 11th in every round, so we have #11, #16, and currently #31, #39 (supplemental round), as well as #45 and #51. That would be insanely sweet (although you can expect the supplemental round to get inflated further down the road, lots of free agents still unsigned), and I would readily give up that (now) #45 pick for a big free agent – if only we could pay one.

Odd note: David Brewer signed a 6-yr, $9M contract with the Raccoons prior to the 1995 season. He was the ABL’s top earner for four years, but has been dethroned this year by Hjalmar Flygt, who will make $1.7M this season, topping Brewer’s $1.6M. We still wait, however, for a contract topping $10M in the ABL.

Sad note: ex-Coon Matt Higgins retired this winter at age 34. He was not signed all of 1998, and wasn’t too eager to hold out any longer. Higgins was a 9-year Coon and spent ’97 with the Rebels. He was never much of a batter (.662 career OPS anyone?), but a defensive beast and speed threat (79% SB success rate) and mostly manned second base for us for a number of years in the early 90s. Higgins was a piece of the firesale Raccoons when that awful 1988 team was broken up. In another way this symbolizes that that dynasty is long gone. As are the firesale kids. The only guy still with us that came in back then is Neil Reece. A few others (Ben O’Morrissey, Jackie Lagarde, Qi-zhen Geng) are still kicking elsewhere.

Btw, here’s the 1988 firesale overview again, quoted from an earlier post (1994-95 offseason) I just spent 20 minutes digging out by filtering this thread for posts containing “Cunningham” and “Reece”. There were plenty.

Originally Posted by Westheim

I don’t want to trade Ben O’Morrissey. He’s one of those Firesale Kids! If you have forgotten that season, or if you are new to this dynasty and haven’t caught up with the past (which I could understand, walls of text everywhere), in 1988 the Raccoons had a team that was supposed to get us back to the postseason for the first time in five years after missing out by a game in ’87. We were below .500 early on, and never got over the hump. The team was disassembled in July and then a bit more in the offseason. Back then I brought in tons of youngsters, some of which didn’t pan out (mostly on the pitching side), but the others fill almost half our current lineup. In order these trades were made:

With Capitals: SP Roberto Gonzalez (for INF Jose Sanchez), who didn’t work out and is already retired
With Stars: INF Matt Higgins (for MR Richard Cunningham)
With Buffaloes: CF/LF Neil Reece (for MR David Jones and minor leaguers), also getting OF Jose Pacheco for budget reasons, and then:
With Stars: SP Toru Fujita (for OF Jose Pacheco), who was later traded on to the Buffaloes and is now with the Stars again as a reliever!
With Cyclones: MR Ken Burnett and 1B/3B Ben O’Morrissey (for MR Ed King and 2B Dani Perez)
With Condors: MR Jackie Lagarde and SP/MR Qi-zhen Geng (for OF Yoshinobu Ishizaki), with Geng of course being one of three pieces sent over to Las Vegas in the Royce Green deal!
With Miners: INF Elmer Hawley and 1B Orlando Alvarado (for INF Juan Ramirez); Alvarado never clicked, and Hawley was a fringe infielder
With Pacifics: OF Jeff Martin (for SP Alejandro Venegas and MR Emerson MacDonald), and while Martin never came together here, he just won a ring with Oklahoma…

There were more trades that didn’t follow the veteran for prospects pattern, and we let Armando Sanchez, a sterling outfielder walk for the draft pick compensation. The Miners picked him up, and whom did we get with that supplemental round pick in 1989, 33rd pick overall?

MR (CL?) Gabriel De La Rosa

Money remains unavailable. We currently have about $200k available. I could probably free up another $400k with slight cuts to scouting and development (we are a total of about $550k over the league averages in these departments). But $600k won’t buy a prime slugger, and there aren’t that many of those around anymore. Also, most are defensive liabilities. The position on the roster up for debate is Chris Parker’s. Newton was more horrible, but he’s a great defensive backup for all three positions. Parker would have to go. His replacement would have to bat left-handed, be able to play right field competently, and when I have Vince Guerra compile a list of available free agents that fit the mold I am looking for (let’s say 12 contact, 10 power, 10 defense, and ages 28-33), the number of results is: 2

These two are 33-year olds ex-SAL Will Jackson (demanding a million) and ex-VAN Roland Moore, who demands less than a million, but he’s an ex-Canadien. Ugh.

Players under contract that were highly interesting included CIN Dan Morris, who was on a 1-year contract with team-friendly conditions, but the Cyclones were not going to trade his. Why, they must have reasons!

[Westheim]

On February 15, we ranked 22nd in the league in payroll. I really wouldn’t mind having an additional million to blow, and even having an additional million available for players, wouldn’t place us higher than 21nd. The league median for payroll is $13.3M. We are at $10.1M. (mind that minimum contracts thing) When the Bayhawks signed Will Jackson in late February, we would have been 22nd even WITH that million more. We are that far off the rest of the league.

There was just no help coming from the free agent market. We could not add anything. We could just add some depth, and with that I mean one player as a fringe backup.

The Warriors approached me in the first days of April, trying to get rid of vastly overpaid outfielder Djordje Nedic. I had no need for “Georgie” (and no money), but they were after Don Irvin, one of our plenty of minor league first baseman. I tried to get a serviceable outfielder in 24-year old Tony Velasquez from them for Irvin, but they weren’t buying into that, and so we made no trade at the dawn of the new season and stayed put.

February 20 – The Bayhawks announce the addition of 33-yr old ex-SAL OF Will Jackson (.265, 200 HR, 838 RBI) for 4-yr, $4.56M.
March 25 – 31-year old ex-LVA OF Joe Douglas (.258, 56 HR, 533 RBI) ends up on the Blue Sox for 3-yr, $1.55M.

[Westheim]

1999 PORTLAND RACCOONS – Opening Day Roster (first set shows 1998 numbers, second set overall; players with an * are off season acquisitions):

SP Kisho Saito, 38, B:L, T:L (6-14, 3.20 ERA | 232-180, 3.17 ERA) – our unbreakable workhorse (entering his 19th season, and 16th with the Coons) suffered through another long season of getting zero run support. Saito’s stuff is slowly dying down, and although he has signed for two more years, he will have a hard time reaching 250 career wins with this team behind him.
SP Jose Rivera, 26, B:L, T:R (14-8, 2.44 ERA | 30-18, 2.91 ERA) – won the ERA title in his first full season without getting hurt, and that despite walking more batters (82) than he struck out (78). Strange stats for a strange pitcher, but it seems to work out for him.
SP Miguel Lopez, 30, B:S, T:L (10-13, 3.84 ERA | 68-47, 3.36 ERA) – in the first year of a 5-year deal, Lopez had about the worst season of his career, struggling badly in the first few months, and never finding that zing to strike batters out in scores. 105 K’s were a low for him in injury-free seasons.
SP Randy Farley, 25, B:R, T:R (12-6, 3.10 ERA | 12-6, 3.10 ERA) – acquired in the David Brewer trade, Farley matched and exceeded expectations in his rookie campaign, although he didn’t win ROTY honors for whatever reason. If he can get rid of the occasional wildness that plagued him (75 BB), he will be a fine keystone of this rotation for years to come.
SP Bob Joly, 23, B:R, T:R (4-1, 2.17 ERA | 4-1, 2.17 ERA) – acquired as throw-in in the Werner Turner trade prior to the 1998 season, Joly made his debut last season and stunned the batters as much as his own management, pitching 37.1 innings with a 1.02 WHIP and only nine earned runs against him. Now he has to triple the innings and keep the other numbers the same...

MU Kelly Fairchild, 26, B:R, T:R (3-3, 3.66 ERA | 3-4, 3.88 ERA) – for a midseason replacement of whom nobody expected anything, Fairchild did fairly well, although we should probably not get cocky and have him pitch beyond the seventh inning...
MR Daniel Miller, 30, B:S, T:R (3-2, 1.88 ERA, 2 SV | 30-24, 3.20 ERA, 22 SV) – walks continue to be a grave issue for him, but despite a 1.42 WHIP last season, the barrel full of TNT never really exploded under him. More dependable than most in the pen.
MR Juan Martinez *, 32, B:R, T:R (did not play | 44-23, 2.94 ERA, 26 SV) – returns home to his team for ten years after being with the Loggers in 1997 and no team at all in 1998. We will have to see what the rust has left of his arm. Will probably not be assigned high-leverage duties.
MR Christian Proctor *, 31, B:R, T:L (did not play | 4-3, 3.62 ERA) – another pitcher returning to the Coons, he last pitched in the Bigs in 1995, but was active since then. Stuff is still there, and I have more confidence in him than in the sucker Donis.
MR Antonio Donis, 26, B:L, T:L (2-6, 4.29 ERA | 15-24, 4.10 ERA) – he was outright awful for the second straight year, and if we had any money to spend, we would have improved the roster in this slot. 31 walks in 42 innings says it all.
SU Brad Tamburrino, 29, B:R, T:R (5-2, 2.50 ERA, 1 SV | 19-12, 3.32 ERA, 17 SV) – was solid in an eighth inning role last season, and is the last remaining Australian on the team. Good arm, good head, hopefully a good bridge to Scotty in the ninth.
CL Scott Wade, 36, B:R, T:R (1-9, 3.02 ERA, 33 SV | 155-113, 3.51 ERA, 39 SV) – had his issues with closing, especially early in the season, but settled in better after the All Star break. If we had any money, we would upgrade the closer spot, but the point is moot. In a pinch, Wade would return to the rotation and Tamburrino take over closing. Enters his 15th season in Portland.

C Lance Branch *, 30, B:L, T:R (.298, 16 HR, 87 RBI | .308, 72 HR, 417 RBI) – acquired in trade from the Pacifics for three relievers nobody cared too much about in Portland anymore. Branch has a strong bat, strong defense, and is going to be a cornerstone to a lineup that didn’t have many of those last season.
C/1B Ricardo Castillo, 32, B:R, T:R (.237, 2 HR, 8 RBI | .232, 20 HR, 104 RBI) – came up late last season and stayed for a lack of better options, a state that is still valid.

1B/3B/LF Cesar Gonzalez *, 26, B:S, T:R (.297, 24 HR, 97 RBI | .289, 67 HR, 249 RBI) – acquired from the Stars for Gabriel De La Rosa; Gonzalez is an adequate fielder on the corners, has a powering bat that will teach pitchers fear, and has to fail abysmally to lose the first base job. He should also make some starts at third against right-handers to get Michel into games.
1B/2B/3B/SS Marvin Ingall, 30, B:R, T:R (.304, 10 HR, 36 RBI | .298, 27 HR, 175 RBI) – was due to break out big and started the season phenomenally, until injuries knocked him over and limited him to 90 games and 372 AB. A .370 OBP will him bat leadoff and start at second as often as feasible.
SS Conceicao Guerin, 25, B:R, T:R (.278, 4 HR, 56 RBI | .273, 4 HR, 82 RBI) – starting shortstop with very good defense, who was one of the most pleasant surprises in the lineup last year, batting .278 while appearing in 147 games. As long as he doesn’t drop out of the .200s, he will start as many games as feasible this year.
3B Mike Crowe, 28, B:R, T:R (.260, 6 HR, 44 RBI | .253, 10 HR, 73 RBI) – his full time takeover from Ben O’Morrissey at third base was nothing to write odes about, but he held his ground, and that’s more than most of the lineup did last year. He also appeared in all but six games and showed good defense.
1B/2B Samy Michel, 22, B:S, T:R (.230, 4 HR, 14 RBI | .238, 4 HR, 16 RBI) – while the scouting report shows clear upsides, he wasn’t able to show them so far in his career, but then he only got 147 AB so far. He may make one or two starts a week at first, moving Gonzalez elsewhere, but the question remains whether he wouldn’t be better accounted for in AAA to possibly start at second there.
1B/2B/3B/SS/LF Steve Caddock, 29, B:L, T:R (.232, 4 HR, 40 RBI | .212, 5 HR, 46 RBI) – retains a job for being defensively versatile, batting left-handed, and not raising his voice without being asked for his opinion, which never happens.

LF/RF Stephen Buell, 23, B:R, T:R (.283, 3 HR, 27 RBI | .286, 7 HR, 91 RBI) – between four trips to the disable list, this youngster was scarcely able to play last year, appearing only in 73 games. He has yet to flash his power potential in the Bigs, but then again he has never been able to play a full season yet.
CF/LF Neil Reece, 32, B:R, T:R (.278, 17 HR, 67 RBI | .309, 123 HR, 595 RBI) – fantastic defense in center, fantastic at the plate – you can’t help yourself but love him. One of the few outfielders on the staff not crippled by injuries last year (although he missed 17 games), Reece led the power department last season after a gruesome April and May. Starting center, batting third, won’t change that quickly.
LF/RF Clyde Brady, 22, B:L, T:L (.253, 10 HR, 33 RBI | .252, 10 HR, 33 RBI) – made his debut as an injury replacement and never went away with solid, but not overwhelming play. He is starting in right, but his spot is shaking the most out of all three outfield starters. His main luck is that Cesar Gonzalez doesn’t have enough arm strength for right field...
LF/RF/CF Luke Newton, 27, B:S, T:R (.198, 3 HR, 25 RBI | .233, 7 HR, 85 RBI) – great defender, who managed to collect 333 AB while batting sub-.200 and still wasn’t purged from the roster, because there were so many more suckers sucking more than him. His defense keeps him alive ‘round here.
LF/RF Chris Parker, 23, B:L, T:R (.241, 2 HR, 29 RBI | .241, 2 HR, 29 RBI) – came up as injury replacement without being 100% ready, and it showed, although he did a better job than some people with a proper contract. However, his bat has to pick up juice (2 HR in 191 AB) if he wants to get a starting role.

On disabled list: Nobody.

Otherwise unavailable: Nobody.

Other roster movement: None.

Opening day lineups:
Vs. RHP: 2B Ingall – RF Brady – CF Reece – 1B Gonzalez – C Branch – LF Buell – SS Guerin – 3B Crowe – P Saito
Vs. LHP: 2B Ingall – SS Guerin – CF Reece – 1B Gonzalez – C Branch – LF Buell – RF Brady – 3B Crowe – P Saito

After crashing completely apart last winter, the Raccoons still lost Manuel Movonda and Werner Turner to free agency, but at least WAR-wise replaced them more than adequately with Cesar Gonzalez and Lance Branch. We came out in third place in total WAR gains.

Top 5: Buffaloes (+4.9), Gold Sox (+4.1), Raccoons (+3.7), Loggers (+3.0), Titans (+2.7)
Bottom 5: Aces (-3.4), Cyclones (-3.5), Bayhawks (-5.4), Stars (-9.9), Pacifics (-10.6)

PREDICTION TIME:

Last year sucked. This was the fault of the offense, who failed to score even 3.7 runs per game. The pitching led the Continental League, but we had to shake things up. Gone are Movonda and De La Rosa, but now we have more offense and if injuries don’t cut our best people again, we should still be better off than last year, where we ended up 79-83 after a late surge, winning nine of our last ten games.

Predicting the success of this team is still hard. Key offensive pieces have been added. It will be on them to keep being key pieces. The rotation that was so stellar last year could be under a bit more pressure with Saito yet another year older, Movonda gone, and Lopez getting worse every year. However, Farley and Rivera have grown in experience and could be even better than last year.

This will be a trying season for the Raccoons, but I predict offensive contributions from all key players at their career level, and a solid pitching staff to go with that. The Coons will score soundly more than four runs a game, and will finish 85-77, but well off first place.

PLAYER DEVELOPMENT:

Last year, we had 17 players in the top 200, and our farm was ranked 8th overall in the majors. Of the 17 players then ranked, #57 Chris Parker, #67 Randy Farley, and #114 Samy Michel are no longer eligible. #185 Tom Goodchild and #200 Ray Conner also dropped out of the top 200.

Although we have two less players in the top 200 this year (15 in total), we managed to get some of them much higher in the prospect list, and our system is now ranked fourth in the ABL.

12th (+28) – AA SP Nick Brown, 21 – 1995 11th round pick by the Raccoons
18th (+83) – AAA C Julio Mata, 23 – 1997 first round pick by the Raccoons
42nd (+12) – AAA SP Ralph Ford, 21 – 1995 first round pick by the Condors, acquired in trade for Ben O’Morrissey
46th (+4) – AAA MR Manuel Martinez, 20 – 1996 first round pick by the Raccoons
57th (new) – AA OF Chris Roberson, 22 – 1998 first round pick by the Raccoons
79th (+94) – AA INF/RF Miguel Ramirez, 20 – international discovery by the Crusaders, signed as minor league free agent
81st (-54) – AAA CL Dan Nordahl, 20 – 1997 first round pick by the Raccoons
87th (+97) – AAA 1B Albert Martin, 22 – 1996 fourth round pick by the Raccoons
94th (+1) – AAA LF/RF George Wood, 23 – 1994 first round pick by the Raccoons
97th (+21) – AAA SP Anthony Mosher, 24 – 1993 first round pick by the Bayhawks, acquired in trade for Tim Mallandain
131st (-10) – AA OF/1B Edgardo Torrez, 22 – international discovery by Vicente Guerra
137th (-12) – AAA OF Jesus Taramillo, 23 – international discovery by Vicente Guerra
164th (new) – A SP Aurelio Hernandez, 19 – international discovery by Vicente Guerra
169th (-13) – AAA INF/RF Eisuke Sato, 24 – international discovery by the Thunder, signed as minor league free agent
175th (new) – A CL Sergio Vega, 18 – 1998 supplemental round pick by the Raccoons

Lots of young talent here. The roster could be revamped even more radically in the next few years.

19-year old SP Luis Hernandez, recently discovered by the Falcons in Mexico, is ranked as the #1 prospect. The kid has yet to toss a single pitch as a professional.

Next: first pitch!

[Westheim]

Raccoons (0-0) @ Crusaders (0-0) – April 6-8, 1999

Time to play some ball!

Projected matchups:
Kisho Saito (0-0) vs. Francisco Garza (0-0)
Jose Rivera (0-0) vs. Anibal Sandoval (0-0)
Miguel Lopez (0-0) vs. Hector Lara (0-0)

All right-handers to start with from New York. Oh well.

Game 1
POR: 2B Ingall – RF Brady – CF Reece – 1B Gonzalez – C Branch – LF Buell – SS Guerin – 3B Crowe – P Saito
NYC: LF Lyons – 2B Nielsen – RF A. Johnson – 3B Rush – 1B T. Mullins – SS J. Ramirez – C Clemente – CF Diéguez – P F. Garza

1999 started for Kisho Saito like 1998 had been all year long. Rotten luck with three soft singles adding to a double and a walk in the third inning cost him his 1-0 lead (Ingall had homered in the top half of the frame), and while he gave up two home runs after that and 10 hits in total, most of the blame was to put on the offense, which didn’t do anything worth mentioning, apart from Lance Branch, who reached base in every plate appearance in his Raccoons debut. Down 4-1, with one out in the top 8th, the Coons had the bags full. Stephen Buell popped out to second base, upon which Samy Michel hit for Guerin. He flew out, and the Coons lost. 4-1 Crusaders. Ingall 2-5, HR, RBI; Branch 3-3, BB, 2 2B; Miller 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

No offense, three double plays hit into, a throwing error by Branch (which nothing came about), and Saito pitched like a rotten egg. Fantastic. Can I revise my 85-77 prediction right now?

Game 2
POR: 2B Ingall – RF Brady – CF Reece – 1B Gonzalez – C Branch – LF Buell – SS Guerin – 3B Crowe – P Rivera
NYC: RF Latham – SS Nielsen – LF A. Johnson – 1B M. Berry – 3B Rush – C Clemente – 2B J. Ramirez – CF Olvera – P Sandoval

The Crusaders loaded their lineup with five left-handers against last year’s ERA king, Jose Rivera. It worked. While two errors gave the Raccoons a 2-0 lead in the first, the Crusaders tied it in the third, and blew up Rivera in the fifth, when they put their first five men on base. While Saito had been charged with four runs in six innings the day before, Rivera ended up with six runs allowed in four plus, all earned, too. Fairchild allowed two more runs in the seventh on a Jose Ramirez home run. 8-3 Crusaders. Reece 2-3, BB, 2 2B, RBI; Guerin 2-4, 3B; Crowe 2-4, 2B, RBI; Donis 1.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K;

Uh yeah.

Game 3
POR: 2B Ingall – RF Brady – CF Reece – 1B Gonzalez – C Branch – LF Buell – SS Guerin – 3B Crowe – P M. Lopez
NYC: LF Lyons – 2B Nielsen – RF A. Johnson – 3B Rush – 1B T. Mullins – SS J. Ramirez – C Clemente – CF Diéguez – P H. Lara

First inning, Nielsen doubled, Rush singled, the Crusaders were up 1-0. Clyde Brady’s 2-out RBI double in the third tied the game. Meanwhile, Miguel Lopez was decent, but while he delivered the best performance of any starter so far, he had the shortest outing. In the 1-1 game in the top 5th, Lopez batted with nobody on and two out. He unexpectedly hit a double to left, but barely made it to second base. Somewhere around turning first base he pulled a hammy and he was out of the game. While this was the go-ahead run, I didn’t want to lose a bench player and sent a cold Daniel Miller as pinch-runner and to pitch afterwards. Ingall struck out anyway. Neither team did much the next two innings, while we slowly emptied our bullpen. At some point this meant sending guys who hadn’t pitched in the Bigs in years, and Juan Martinez was taken deep by Matt Lyons in the eighth to break the tied score. But we weren’t done just yet. While Scott Wade made his season debut in the eighth in a losing game, Neil Reece clubbed a game-tying leadoff jack in the top 9th off closer Dane Sanders. Branch singled, and Buell legged out an infield grounder to put two men on with one out. Guerin then fired a shot to deep center, which just fit into a 10ft gap between Brian Latham and the wall and fell in for a 2-run double. At this point, the Crusaders retired their closer, while ours came to bat in the #8 hole and grounded out against George Richardson, the new righty reliever in the game. Richardson went on to walk the next three Coons without much fuss, bringing up Reece again with the bags full and the team ahead already. Reece was too eager here and struck out. Wade carefully administered the lead and got the team’s first W of the year. 5-2 Raccoons. Brady 1-3, 2 BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Reece 2-5, HR, RBI; Wade 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, W (1-0);

That was a wild one for sure. Good news for Miguel Lopez, his hamstring was only lightly strained and he was not expected to miss his next start.

Raccoons (1-2) vs. Aces (2-1) – April 9-11, 1999

Projected matchups:
Randy Farley (0-0) vs. Carlos Guillén (0-0)
Bob Joly (0-0) vs. Rafael Barbosa (0-1, 3.38 ERA)
Kisho Saito (0-1, 6.00 ERA) vs. Jou Hara (1-0, 0.00 ERA)

Guillén would be the first left-hander for us this season, and the only one in this series.

Game 1
LVA: RF Ghiberti – SS Petipas – 1B J. Vargas – CF R. Green – LF Hartley – C Manuel – 3B Combes – 2B Lammond – P Guillén
POR: 2B Ingall – SS Guerin – CF Reece – 1B Gonzalez – LF Buell – 3B Crowe – RF Brady – C Castillo – P Farley

Clyde Brady was Randyboy’s best friend in the series opener. While Brady batted in the first run in the fourth inning of a largely uneventful game that far, he also nailed ex-Coon Royce Green at the plate to end the top sixth and get the 1-0 lead one frame closer to the record books. After a leadoff walk to Gonzalez in the bottom 6th, Guillén was replaced with Tzu-jao Ban, who – to nobody’s surprise in Coon City – insta-walked Stephen Buell. Mike Crowe peppered a no-doubt shot to center to make this a 4-0 game. Ban would retire nobody: Brady reached on an error, and then Castillo took him just as deep and into the same spot as Crowe had done, 6-0. Farley didn’t get out of the eighth after throwing too many balls all game, but the Aces never scored against him, and Juan “Obese” Martinez was not tagged either over the last five outs. The shocker of the game belonged to Castillo, who would launch another home run in the eighth. 8-0 Coons. Guerin 2-5; Brady 2-4, RBI; Castillo 3-4, 2 HR, 4 RBI; Farley 7.1 IP, 7 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 4 K, W (1-0); Martinez 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K;

The unemployment rate is skyrocketing, but Tzu-jao Ban still finds somebody dumb enough to pay him for no return whatsoever. Amazing!

Game 2
LVA: RF Ghiberti – SS Petipas – 1B J. Vargas – CF R. Green – LF Hartley – C Manuel – 3B Combes – 2B Lammond – P Barbosa
POR: 2B Ingall – RF Brady – CF Reece – 1B Gonzalez – C Branch – 3B Crowe – LF Parker – SS Guerin – P Joly

Like Rivera three days earlier, Bob Joly ended up caught in an inning that just would not end. The Aces clicked six straight singles off him in the fourth inning, and Joly was removed down 4-0, bags full, and one out. Tamburrino came in, but all runs scored on a walk and a Royce Green double. 7-0, that train had left the station. Barbosa spun a 5-hit complete game, whiffing eight, and only Chris Parker’s solo home run in the bottom 4th stood between him and a shutout. The most we got was stellar long relief. 7-1 Aces. Reece 2-3, BB; Fairchild 5.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

When your long guy has thrown more or as much innings as EVERYBODY in your rotation in one rundown, that constitutes a terrible week. Fairchild (7.1 IP) compared favorably to Farley (7.1), Saito (6.0), Lopez (4.0), Rivera (4.0), and Joly (3.1) …

We are also last in defensive efficiency at this point, so I suspect the baseball gods having a good chuckle up there.

Game 3

LVA: RF Ghiberti – SS Petipas – 3B J. Vargas – CF R. Green – LF Hartley – C Manuel – 1B Granados – 2B Lammond – P Hara
POR: SS Guerin – RF Brady – CF Reece – 1B Gonzalez – C Branch – 3B Crowe – LF Newton – 2B Caddock – P Saito

Another starter got pawned in the rubber game. After Kisho pitched three scoreless innings with a 1-0 lead, he came undone forcefully in the fourth, which saw the Aces plate three, capped by Mauro Granados’ 2-run home run, and in the fifth, Royce Green swooshed home three more with his first shot of the season. Saito, raped, was removed in a surefire 6-1 loss. We were also out of long relief, and the alleged back end of the bullpen, which had no leads to protect anyway, instead came apart in a rout, as Royce Green clobbered another 3-run homer off Tamburrino in the ninth. 10-2 Aces. Guerin 2-3, BB, 2B, RBI; Gonzalez 2-3, BB; Ingall (PH) 1-1; Michel (PH) 2-2; Donis 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

Gonna be a long season.

Raccoons (2-4) vs. Knights (4-2) – April 12-14, 1999

One week into the year, and already all opponents are out-scoring us. The Knights had 26 runs to our 20, and their rotation did not consist only of a pile of rubble.

Projected matchups:
Jose Rivera (0-1, 13.50 ERA) vs. Sammy Davis (0-1, 27.00 ERA)
Miguel Lopez (0-0, 2.25 ERA) vs. Albert Zarate (0-0)
Randy Farley (1-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. Scott Murphy (1-0, 1.13 ERA)

Two left-handers up front. Zarate has not yet appeared this season.

Game 1
ATL: RF Árias – C J. Johnson – 2B Palacios – LF Kinnear – CF A. Ramos – 1B J. Zamora – 3B Munoz – SS Valdes – P S. Davis
POR: 2B Ingall – SS Guerin – CF Reece – 1B Gonzalez – C Branch – LF Buell – 3B Crowe – RF Newton – P Rivera

Bottom 2nd, down 1-0, Gonzalez on first after a walk. Branch doubled to right, putting the go-ahead runs in scoring position. Buell sent a fly to extreme left, where somehow Vern Kinnear (4 Gold Gloves) appeared and snagged it. Gonzalez had to scramble back to third base. Then Crowe sent a fly to deep center, which Alejandro Ramos caught mid-jump, and then lost it upon hitting the ground. 2-run double for Crowe, and Newton would plate him, so the Coons were up 3-1 after two. Rivera was constantly walking the line of defeat in this game, with the Knights most of the time putting their leadoff man on, and putting two men on every other inning. They couldn’t quite push them across, though. In the top 6th, they had Palacios and Kinnear on the corners with no outs, when Ramos lined out to Ingall, who then started a saving double play on Zamora’s grounder. And just when you thought, with a 5-1 lead after Ingall had brought in a run twice, it went all wrong again. Rivera put two men on in the seventh and was removed for Proctor – who didn’t retire anybody. The Knights blew up the bullpen with five runs on Rivera and Proctor. When Ingall came up with the go-ahead runs on and two outs in the eighth, and with a chance to plate somebody for the third time in the game, Andres Otero struck him out, and struck out two more in the ninth. 6-5 Knights. Crowe 2-4, 2 2B, 2 RBI;

Game 2
ATL: RF Rogers – C J. Johnson – 2B Palacios – LF W. Taylor – 1B J. Zamora – 3B Munoz – CF Árias – SS Torres – P Zarate
POR: 2B Ingall – SS Guerin – CF Reece – 1B Gonzalez – LF Buell – 3B Crowe – RF Brady – C Castillo – P M. Lopez

It took Cesar Gonzalez seven games, but he finally got a run home in this game, plating Neil Reece with a single in the first. Reece had tripled with two out and nobody on. The lead didn’t live forever, of course. Once Johnny Johnson had picked Guerin off first base to end the third inning, he led off the top 4th with a game-tying home run. The Furballs rose from the dead in the bottom 6th. Guerin led off with a double. The Knights walked Reece intentionally, but Gonzalez singled up the middle, scoring Guerin for a new 2-1 lead. We came out of the inning up 3-1, and the Knights instantly struck back. Will Taylor hit a leadoff home run in the top 7th, and Lopez didn’t retire anybody, putting two men on, before Tamburrino came out. Kinnear was sent to hit for Árias. Tamburrino struck him out, but nope, this game was blowing up as well. Tamburrino walked the next two, Peter Rogers hit an infield single, and **** was going down. Four runs scored in the inning. 6-3 Knights. Caddock 1-1; Guerin 2-4, BB, 2B; Gonzalez 3-4, 2 RBI;

Game 3
ATL: RF Árias – C J. Johnson – 2B Palacios – LF Kinnear – CF A. Ramos – 3B Munoz – 1B J. Zamora – SS Torres – P Murphy
POR: 2B Ingall – RF Brady – CF Reece – 3B Gonzalez – C Branch – LF Buell – 1B Michel – SS Guerin – P Farley

Scott Murphy was miles off the strike zone, and walked six batters in the first four innings. Yet the Raccoons never scored. They didn’t even get a hit until the sixth, which was the first of back-to-back innings in which they left two on, including the tying run at third base. Randy Farley had given up a run in the second inning, and it was haunting him badly. The Raccoons again got the go-ahead runs on in the eighth, when Reece singled to left and Gonzalez walked – Murphy was still pitching. Next, Branch hit into a double play, and Parker hit for Buell, but left Reece on third base. 1-0 Knights. Gonzalez 1-1, 3 BB; Farley 9.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, L (1-1) and 1-3;

Oh, boy. This team. It’s full of ****.

Raccoons (2-7) @ Indians (1-7) – April 15-18, 1999

The Indians are scoring 2.0 runs a game, which is bested even by the mighty Suckoons. In addition to that, their starters have a sub-par 4.23 ERA (10th in CL) amassed so far. Four games of misery to come. Can someone take this hatchet and hack it over my head until the spasms stop, please?

Projected matchups:
Bob Joly (0-1, 18.90 ERA) vs. Steve Holcomb (0-1, 6.00 ERA)
Kisho Saito (0-2, 8.18 ERA) vs. Chang-se Park (0-1, 4.50 ERA)
Jose Rivera (0-1, 7.84 ERA) vs. Dan George (0-2, 5.14 ERA)
Miguel Lopez (0-1, 2.70 ERA) vs. Johnny Collins (0-0, 2.35 ERA)

Game 1
POR: SS Guerin – RF Brady – CF Reece – 1B Gonzalez – C Branch – LF Parker – 3B Crowe – 2B Caddock – P Joly
IND: LF Alarcon – 2B Burgos – 1B M. Brown – 3B D. Lopez – CF Maguey – C T. Thompson – RF G. Flores – SS Chevalier – P Holcomb

Hell continued, for Bob Joly in particular, and Coon City in general, as the lame-arse Indians put three runs on Joly in the first inning – or in other words: one and a half games’ worth. To anybody’s stunning surprise, the Raccoons actually came back. After scoring one run in the second inning, Reece and Gonzalez hit back-to-back long balls off Holcomb in the fifth inning, tying this contest. And about two minutes later, the Suckoons were in the crap again. Joly plunked Alarcon to get the bottom 5th going, Brown hit a single, moving Alarcon to third, and Joly scored him with a wild pitch. Not that it mattered. David Lopez’ home run emptied the bags anyway. Fairchild came in, loaded the bags, then had Holcomb plate two with a single. And just like that, another game had blown up. It was not that they didn’t have a chance to come back. They had the bags full in the eighth, and then Buell pinch-hit and struck out to end the inning with no runs in. 8-4 Indians. Reece 2-4, BB, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Gonzalez 1-2, 3 BB, HR, RBI;

Achievement unlocked: Reached last place. Also, 6-game losing streak. Oh, and the worst record in baseball.

You know. I’m glad that Joly was blown up. That means the Indians have scored their four times two runs now, and we will shut them out for the rest of the series. That’s how math works, right?

Game 2
POR: 2B Ingall – SS Guerin – CF Reece – 3B Gonzalez – C Branch – LF Buell – 1B Michel – RF Newton – P Saito
IND: LF G. Flores – 2B Burgos – C Cicalina – 3B D. Lopez – CF Maguey – RF Alarcon – 1B T. Thompson – SS Chevalier – P Park

Gilberto Flores gave Kisho Saito trouble in this game. The agile outfielder hit a double in the first, and scored, and homered off Saito in the third. Down 2-0, the Coons weren’t doing anything meaningful until they scratched out an unearned run in the fifth inning. In the sixth then, Reece led off with an infield single that Terrence Thompson couldn’t dig out in time, and then Gonzalez singled to right, putting the go-ahead runs on the corners with nobody out. For once, someone came through at least slightly, with Lance Branch hitting an RBI single to right. Buell loaded the bags with a single, but the Indians were not yet replacing Park. And why would they? Michel fouled out, and Park got a double play from Newton to keep the score tied and hand it back to his arisen offense, which struck Saito in the seventh with a home run by Jamal Chevalier(!!), and then a Flores single and Cicalina double. He didn’t get out of the inning and was loaded with four runs again. The ninth, down 4-2, and Raúl Perez started the inning by walking Michel, and then Newton blooped a floater into shallow left. The tying runs were on, no outs. Crowe hit for Martinez, grounder to second, double play, for ****’s sake. 4-2 Indians. Reece 2-4; Martinez 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K;

Game 3
POR: 2B Ingall – SS Guerin – CF Reece – 1B Gonzalez – C Branch – 3B Crowe – RF Newton – LF Buell – P Rivera
IND: LF Alarcon – C Cicalina – 1B M. Brown – 3B D. Lopez – RF A. Roldán – 2B Burgos – CF Paredes – SS Chevalier – P George

After Matt Brown hit a solo home run in the first inning, the Raccoons trailed 1-0 again. It took them until the sixth inning to grow some balls and finally take the bat to southpaw Dan George. Well, it was one run, but at least they tied the game, while Rivera for once was not getting spanked. In the seventh then, Rivera was due to bat with no outs and runners on the corners. Against my beliefs, I had him bunt to move both runs into scoring position, despite Marvin Ingall suffering from hitlessness. Ingall at least managed a sac fly before Guerin struck out to end the frame. They left another two men on in the eighth, and this couldn’t go unpunished. Something had to happen at some point. But Rivera got through eight, we were longing for an insurance run in the ninth, didn’t get it, and so it was a 2-1 game for Scott Wade’s first save opportunity of the season (in the 12th game…). No Indian reached base against him. 2-1 Coons. Guerin 2-5, 2B; Branch 3-4, RBI; Rivera 8.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, W (1-1);

Game 4
POR: SS Guerin – RF Brady – C Branch – 3B Gonzalez – 2B Ingall – CF Newton – 1B Michel – LF Buell – P M. Lopez
IND: LF G. Flores – 2B Burgos – C Cicalina – 3B D. Lopez – CF Maguey – RF Alarcon – 1B T. Thompson – SS Chevalier – P J. Collins

Collins struggled so badly, walking six, that even the Coons couldn’t help but to accidentally roflstomp him. Collins was knocked out in the fifth, and booked with six runs, while Lopez’ side of the ledger was still clear. Lopez cruised, and made a bid for the team’s first shutout of the season. He entered the ninth up 7-0, having allowed only four hits. Cicalina grounded out, but then Lopez singled and Maguey walked. Relief was getting ready, while Lopez struck out Alarcon, and was then allowed to face Terence Thompson. Thompson took Lopez’ 118th pitch to the wall in center, ending his bid with a 2-run double. Chevalier then took Lopez deep, much to the amusement of the local crowd. Wade retired pinch-hitter Matt Brown to end the game. 7-4 Raccoons. Guerin 2-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Branch 2-5, 2B, RBI; Buell 3-5, HR, 3 RBI; Lopez 8.2 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, W (1-1) and 1-3, RBI;

Of ****ing course.

In other news

April 10 – TOP OF Eduardo Sanchez (.538, 1 HR, 6 RBI) will miss a month with a broken foot.
April 11 – 25-year old DEN SS Zak Davidson (.500, 0 HR, 3 RBI) extends a hitting streak stretching back to 1998 to 20 games with two singles in a 4-1 loss to the Capitals.
April 14 – MIL INF Rodrigo Morales (.200, 0 HR, 4 RBI) has strained a hip muscle and should be out until the end of May.
April 16 – Back in 1983, BOS 2B/3B Horace Henry was the 14th overall pick in the amateur draft, taken by the Blue Sox. Fast forward 16 years, Henry collected his 2,500th major league hit, an RBI double in the third inning, plating the winning run in a 3-0 game against MIL Martin Garcia. Henry, who debuted with the Blue Sox in ’83 and stayed with them until signing with the Titans in 1997, has won three rings in his career, and has voiced his intention to get a hand full.
April 16 – DEN 2B Pat Parker (.314, 0 HR, 7 RBI) goes 5-5 in a 7-4 win over the Pacifics. Parker misses the cycle by the home run, and would have been the second player to cycle twice in ABL history. Salem’s Carlos León hit for two cycles in 1982.
April 18 – CHA OF Matt Adams (.308, 3 HR, 9 RBI) hurt his shoulder on a defensive play and will miss a few weeks.

Complaints and stuff

I’m often asked how it is to be living in hell. I can tell you, it’s actually pretty cold. No warmth to be found anywhere.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (4-9) @ Loggers (4-8) – April 19-21, 1999

The Loggers’ rotation was currently worst in the league, having been pummeled more badly than even the Raccoons’, and that was saying something. On the other hand, their bullpen was pretty sweet early on, and we had surrendered the same amount of runs (61), while they had outscored us by six runs (49-43). I was trying to gain some advantage by skipping Bob Joly with an off day after this series.

Projected matchups:
Randy Farley (1-1, 0.55 ERA) vs. Davis Sims (0-1, 12.86 ERA)
Kisho Saito (0-3, 7.13 ERA) vs. Simon Walton (0-2, 9.35 ERA)
Jose Rivera (1-1, 4.91 ERA) vs. Martin Garcia (2-1, 1.14 ERA)

Game 1
POR: SS Guerin – RF Brady – CF Reece – 1B Gonzalez – C Branch – 3B Crowe – LF Buell – 2B Caddock – P Farley
MIL: SS B. Hernandez – CF Fletcher – RF C. Ramirez – LF Hiwalani – 3B J. Cruz – C L. Ramirez – 1B D. Evans – 2B J. Perez – P Sims

Farley threw 38 pitches in the first inning, which usually signals impending annihilation, and this one was no different. The Loggers loaded him with two runs in the first, another run in the second, and even the opposing pitcher would get a 2-out RBI double against him in the third inning. Sims would get another 2-out hit in the fifth, that one knocking Farley from the contest. Sims was not allowing them a lot of base time early on, but two things happened after five innings. A Clyde Brady home run brought the Coons back within a run, and Sims left in the sixth with an injury. Marvin Ingall would come up with a pinch-hit slap single in the eighth that plated Cesar Gonzalez from second base and tied the game. John Hatt on the mound would proceed to walk Caddock and Parker, and Guerin brought the Raccoons in front with a single to left before Brady grounded out. Not that this 5-4 advantage lived long. Miller was brought in for the eighth since Tamburrino had been used to end the fifth with the bags packed, and allowed two singles up the middle. With one out, Donis was brought in to face left-hander Cristo Ramirez, which predictably opened the dams. Ramirez walked, and Hiwalani and Cruz made Donis look ****ty as usual. Top 9th. Reece led off with a single, and Gonzalez drew a walk against closer Ricardo Medina. Now, next was Castillo, since Lance Branch had been ejected for a disagreement over a strike three call earlier in the game. Castillo was told to bunt, failed, then came back to walk. Bags full, nobody out with a 6-5 deficit. Samy Michel hit for the dirtbag Donis, but grounded to Perez, who forced Reece at home. Ingall recovered that pitiful appearance by drawing another walk, which tied the game, but the despicable Coons failed to get the go-ahead run across when Caddock grounded out and Parker whiffed. Predictably, the Loggers would then easily walk off against Christian Proctor. 7-6 Loggers. Guerin 2-5, RBI; Brady 2-5, HR, 2 RBI; Reece 2-5, 2B, RBI; Buell 2-3; Ingall (PH) 1-1, BB, 2 RBI; Martinez 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K;

Well, if your bullpen has to pitch five innings every ****ing day, at some point you will run out! We only had Proctor, Fairchild, and Wade left by the ninth. Wade was a bit spent after being out two days in a row, and I wasn’t willing to use my actual long man in the ninth, either.

Of course, using Wade would have been the more prudent choice, since the next start was assigned to Kisho, and THERE WON’T BE ANYTHING TO SAVE THERE.

Game 2
POR: 2B ingall – LF Buell – CF Reece – 1B Gonzalez – 3B Crowe – C Castillo – RF Newton – SS Caddock – P Saito
MIL: CF Fletcher – 2B J. Perez – RF C. Ramirez – 3B J. Cruz – SS Sullivan – LF Hatch – C J. Vela – 1B D. Evans – P Walton

We’d rather need our long man in the middle game. For once, Kisho Saito was battered by Terry Sullivan for a 3-run home run in the first inning, and was out of the game in the third after making a leaping grab and throw on a Jorge Cruz grounder, where he pulled something in his leg. Cruz legged it out, too, which gave the Loggers runners on the corners with one out, but Fairchild got a fly from Sullivan to Buell, and Buell zinged home to nab Ramirez at home to end the inning and keep the score 3-1. Could the Raccoons at least get Saito off the hook? Cut out those sick jokes. Of course not. They would occasionally leave a pair of runners on, but failed to score against Walton, and once Daniel Miller was impaled for three runs in the sixth, it was all over again. And that was before the Loggers got Tamburrino for four runs in the eighth. 10-3 Loggers. Reece 3-4, BB; Castillo 2-5, HR, RBI; Brady (PH) 1-1; Fairchild 2.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K;

Saito, or the empty shell that formerly was Saito, is the second pitcher this year that pulls a hamstring. He is currently expected to miss his next start, which would be quite outrageous for a pitcher that has never been on the DL. No replacement was arranged for.

By the way, it’s not even late April, and I’m already fed up.

Game 3
POR: SS Guerin – LF Buell – CF Reece – 1B Gonzalez – C Branch – 3B Crowe – RF Brady – 2B Ingall – P Rivera
MIL: SS B. Hernandez – 1B D. Evans – RF C. Ramirez – LF Hiwalani – 3B J. Cruz – C L. Ramirez – CF Sanders – 2B Sullivan – P M. Garcia

It wasn’t like the sweep for the Loggers wasn’t already in the book. A Cristo Ramirez RBI triple got them ahead in the first, and one run should be plenty for Garcia, the reigning POTY. After two, it was 3-0, and over. Rivera was wild, walked four and hit one batter, and couldn’t go six innings either. Garcia went eight innings, allowed five hits, and only one run on a groundout. 3-1 Loggers. Martinez 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

Bloody ****, are we in the ****.

Raccoons (4-12) @ Falcons (10-6) – April 23-25, 1999

The fact that the Falcons were scoring the most runs in the Continental League, and that the Raccoons were conceding the most runs in the Continental League, was probably an indicator into how this series might develop.

Projected matchups:
Miguel Lopez (1-1, 3.38 ERA) vs. Terry Murphy (2-1, 2.52 ERA)
Randy Farley (1-1, 2.14 ERA) vs. Joe Jennings (2-0, 1.93 ERA)
Bob Joly (0-2, 15.26 ERA) vs. John Woodard (0-3, 11.48 ERA)

Game 1
POR: SS Guerin – RF Brady – CF Reece – 3B Gonzalez – C Branch – LF Buell – 1B Michel – 2B Ingall – P M. Lopez
CHA: CF Morton – 2B Brantley – 1B H. Green – SS M. Hall – LF Cleveland – RF Mashiba – 3B J. Jackson – C M. Castillo – P Murphy

Murphy failed to retire any of the first five Raccoons that came up, yet they still scored only two runs in the first. You can probably do that math yourself. In turn, Joe Morton reached on a Michel error, and Hubert Green’s triple and Mark Hall’s sac fly tied the game in a hurry. Lopez was blown out of the water by the fifth. While half of his runs were unearned, trailing 6-3 did not constitute a performance one would to enjoy for longer. The Raccoons struck out 12 times at the plate, more than enough to forfeit even the slimmest chance at a comeback. 7-4 Falcons. Branch 1-2, 2 BB, RBI; Martinez 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K;

Game 2
POR: SS Guerin – RF Brady – CF Reece – 3B Gonzalez – C Branch – 1B R. Castillo – 2B Ingall – LF Parker – P Farley
CHA: C M. Castillo – RF Mashiba – 2B H. Green – 3B M. Hall – CF Encarnación – 1B J. Jackson – LF Cleveland – SS Boyle – P Jennings

Once Gonzalez doubled home Brady to put the Raccoons up 1-0 in the first, putting Reece on third, and Branch walked, we had the bags full with one out. Castillo hit into a double play. Farley sat down the first 10 Falcons in the game, before Mashiba doubled to right with one out in the fourth. Then Green singled. Then Hall doubled. The Falcons were up 2-1 in the blink of an eye. Of course. Top 5th, the Coons had two on and two out for Reece, who drew a walk from Jennings. Gonzalez also worked a long walk, forcing home Farley with the tying run. Could anybody register an actual hit? Yes, Lance Branch shoved one past Jackson, and two runs scored on the double! Castillo came up, looped a soft ball into center, which Cleveland couldn’t get, and he couldn’t get the bounce either, for another two runs, five in the inning, and a 6-2 lead. Could we please nurse that home? Most of that was on Farley with our unreliable bullpen. The youngster hit Mashiba and allowed a single to Green to get the sixth inning started, and once Green stole second base, they were both in scoring position with no outs. And neither scored, since Farley reached back and struck out Hall, struck out Encarnación, and struck out Jackson. Now Farley had found something, as the fire boiled over into the seventh where he struck out the first two Falcons up to make it five straight, and while the Falcons put two men on in the eighth, Farley struck out two more to quell the threat. By then, the Coons had gotten some extra oomph with a 2-run Reece’s Piece in the top of the eighth and looked the lead was up to 9-2. Farley was done after eight, and Wade came out to throw some pitches. He got two Falcons, then almost was blown up… 10-3 Raccoons. Guerin 2-6, RBI; Brady 2-5; Reece 2-2, 3 BB, HR, 2 RBI; Gonzalez 1-2, 3 BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Branch 2-4, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Farley 8.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 9 K, W (2-1) and 1-3;

Game 3
POR: SS Guerin – RF Brady – CF Reece – 1B Gonzalez – C Branch – LF Buell – 2B Caddock – 3B Crowe – P Joly
CHA: CF Morton – RF Mashiba – 2B H. Green – 3B M. Hall – LF Encarnación – 1B J. Jackson – C J. Rivera – SS F. Adams – P Woodard

Joly sat down the first 11 men to start the game. Hubert Green grounded to Crowe with two out in the fourth, and Crowe’s throw to first was wide and pulled Gonzalez off the bag for an error. Joly struck out Mark Hall to end the inning, and the game remained scoreless, for while the Coons had already had a hit, they hadn’t even been close to scoring. Jesus Rivera would blow up the no-hit bid with two down in the fifth, doubling to left. Fred Adams made the third out there, and still no score in the game. A Guerin bloop triple with one out in the sixth that first fell in just in front of Encarnación and then bounced away from him and all the way to the wall, did not lead to a run either as Brady popped out and Reece whiffed. Joe Morton also hit a 1-out triple in the bottom of the inning, and OF COURSE the Falcons followed that up with two doubles, and that was enough to sink Joly. Woodard pitched a 5-hit shutout. 4-0 Falcons. Brady 2-4, 2B; Ingall (PH) 1-1;

In other news

April 19 – SFB CL Raúl Vargas (0-0, 5 SV, 4.50 ERA) could miss the rest of the season with a torn labrum.
April 20 – OCT 3B Sonny Reece (.375, 0 HR, 2 RBI) has suffered an elbow sprain and will be on the shelf for three weeks.
April 21 – RIC RF/LF Raúl Vázquez (.309, 2 HR, 18 RBI) hits one for the record books in a 10-6 Rebels win over the Capitals. His solo home run off Lorenzo Flores in the eighth inning is his 300th career dinger. Vázquez, who was an international discovery by the Indians signed in 1984, is only the fourth ABL player to reach the mark after Michael Root (338), Gabriel Cruz (318), and Mark Dawson (304).
April 25 – Another closer down: DEN CL Javier Rivera (0-0, 4 SV, 0.00 ERA) also goes down to a torn labrum and could just like Vargas miss all of the remaining season.

Complaints and stuff

Kisho Saito has been hurt for only the third time in a 21-year professional career, and all of the injuries have been mild DTD cases. We have Monday off and that should give him enough time to be ready to pitch on Tuesday. Otherwise we would have Fairchild start the game and push everybody back a day. We have Esteban Flores at AAA, but he has no options, so if we bring him up, it will not be for a spot start.

For the team as a whole, they suck abysmally. Guerin, Reece, Branch. Apart from that, we have no offense. Gonzalez is drawing walks like a madman, yet he is not driving anybody in. At least, the batters aren’t DEAD LAST in every category like last season, but that still doesn’t help, since the pitching is utterly cringeworthy.

Through 19 games, we have given up exactly 5.0 R/G. That’s horrible. Combined with a steaming 3.5 R/G offense … it’s the worst team in baseball by a sound margin.

This will be hard to fix. Ingall isn’t hitting anything. Crowe isn’t hitting anything. Buell isn’t hitting anything. Brady isn’t hitting anything. Saito pitches like a rotten egg. Rivera pitches like a rotten egg. Joly pitches like a rotten egg. Tamburrino pitches like a rotten egg. Proctor pitches like a rotten egg. Donis pitches like a rotten egg. Saito and Rivera have .350ish BABIP’s, which is terrible news if you don’t happen to strike out a lot of batters. Tamburrino’s is .500, AND he’s walking them like a maniac. I don’t include Miller here, who had a terrible week, but half his runs were waved ‘round home by some left-handed sucker or other. Ah what the heck. Miller pitches like a rotten egg.

Can’t cure that.

In other news, I have the rest of the month off from work (first time since early April) once I get a few last things sorted out in the office tomorrow afternoon. Gotta get some reports filed, and then I have tons of time until November 2. Was looking forward to a power week with the Raccoons.

Not anymore, though.

[Trebro]

Really worried about Saito.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (5-14) @ Thunder (9-10) – April 27-29, 1999

The Thunder were about average in many categories, with their offense lagging a bit behind and their pitching being a bit better than average. Both teams entered with 67 runs scored, but the Thunder had allowed only 71 runs to the Raccoons’ 95.

Off days will be sparse for the next six weeks, as we are starting a string of 13 games, which will be followed by strings of 13 and 20 straight games. Tough times ahead for this franchise in any respect.

Projected matchups:
Kisho Saito (0-4, 7.65 ERA) vs. Aaron Anderson (1-3, 2.05 ERA)
Jose Rivera (1-2, 4.88 ERA) vs. Lou Corbett (1-3, 5.87 ERA)
Miguel Lopez (1-2, 4.30 ERA) vs. Fabien Armand (4-0, 2.42 ERA)

Game 1
POR: SS Guerin – RF Buell – CF Reece – 3B Gonzalez – C Branch – 2B Ingall – LF Parker – 1B Michel – P Saito
OCT: LF Bonneau – 1B J. Valentín – RF Barnes – SS Grant – 3B Higashi – C Briggs – 2B Bradley – CF Camacho – P Anderson

Fifth start of the year for Saito, fifth time he got annihilated. After three scoreless innings, during which the Thunder left on six runners, and the Coons twice left a runner on third base, Iván Camacho put the Thunder on winners’ road with a solo home run in the fourth. Saito would give up three home runs for five total runs (four earned) and not get out of the sixth inning. The Raccoons managed an RBI groundout by Reece in the sixth (getting a double digit RBI player in the process – whoah, boys, slow down, I’m getting diz-zay!), and that was it. Apart from leaving the bags full in the sixth and eighth they didn’t manage to cock up anything else. 5-1 Thunder. Guerin 2-4; Buell 2-3, BB; Gonzalez 3-4;

Game 2
POR: SS Guerin – LF Buell – CF Reece – 1B Gonzalez – C Branch – 2B Ingall – RF Newton – 3B Crowe – P Rivera
OCT: LF Bonneau – 2B Browne – SS Grant – RF Barnes – C Briggs – 1B J. Valentín – 3B Bradley – CF Camacho – P Corbett

Bottom 2nd, leadoff single by Artie Barnes, first runner for the Thunder. Barnes advanced on a wild pitch, stole third base, and with two down scored on an infield single that Rivera failed to make a play on himself. 1-0 Thunder, in other words: ballgame. Well, not that quick, young grasshopper. Neil Reece tied the score with a 2-out RBI single in the top 3rd. Once Gonzalez pitifully struck out to ensure not to take a lead, Concie Guerin, one of the few guys battling on this team, made a marvelous play in the bottom 4th. After Rivera had walked Barnes and Briggs to lead off the frame, Guerin intercepted a liner off Valentín’s bat that appeared to be surely heading for an RBI single, and forced out Barnes who had already been almost at third base, and the Thunder didn’t score in the inning. Lance Branch’s first home run as a Coon even put the team up 2-1 in the sixth! Rivera didn’t get out of the sixth inning, though. A Bob Grant triple with one out built up pressure, Rivera walked Barnes, and Briggs just barely chopped out to Newton, and Grant didn’t tag and go. With the left-handed Valentín up, we played a “You win” card to the Thunder and replaced Rivera with Donis, who surprisingly did not give up a first pitch home run, but had Valentín ground out to Gonzalez to end the inning still up 2-1. Bottom 7th, Camacho singled off Martinez with one out. When he set off to steal second base, Branch’s throw was into the outfield and Camacho went to third. Martinez managed to strike out Lou Corbett, and with Proctor not being reliable, remained in to face left-handed Yohan Bonneau, and got him to pop out to Guerin. With the bags full and no outs in the top 8th, the Coons overwhelmed Corbett – not. Gonzalez hit a sac fly, Branch into a double play, and I was dying to see how they would finally lose this one. Bringing in Tamburrino was a good move in the right direction, as he loaded the bags in the bottom 8th, but then I made the mistake of replacing him with Scott Wade, who got the third out with a fly to Newton off John Bradley’s bat. Top 9th, bases loaded with one out, Guerin hit into a double play, and Wade was to face four left-handers to start the bottom 9th, so we were still good to lose this one by a fair margin. But Wade set Camacho, Juan Jose Villa, and Bonneau down in order for a stunning, rousing, apocalyptic …: 3-1 Raccoons. Guerin 2-5; Buell 2-4; Branch 2-4, HR, RBI; Castillo 1-1; Wade 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K, SV (3), IR 3-0;

Still can’t believe we didn’t lose this.

Game 3
POR: SS Guerin – 2B Ingall – CF Reece – 1B Gonzalez – LF Buell – C Castillo – RF Brady – 3B Crowe – P M. Lopez
OCT: 1B J. Valentín – 2B Browne – RF Barnes – SS Grant – 3B Higashi – C Briggs – LF J.J. Villa – CF Camacho – P Armand

Miguel Lopez faced only three batters, putting two on, before signaling for the trainer that something was amiss. He left the game, Fairchild came in and conceded one run, but would then draw a leadoff walk in the top 3rd, advanced on a balk, and eventually scored on an Ingall single. And the Thunder continued to make mistakes. When the Raccoons had a pair in scoring position with one out in the fourth, Mike Crowe’s grounder to short was thrown widely to first, pulling Valentín off the bag and Crowe was safe. Fairchild then singled threw Bob Grant, and a walk to Guerin loaded the bags already up 3-1. Another Ingall single was what the doctor ordered, but we took the full count walk that Armand offered just a swell. Reece also battled to draw a walk, and while Gonzalez and Buell made outs, Fairchild was now up 5-1. The Thunder made another error in the fifth, aiding the Coons to score two more runs, and all was well – until Proctor got involved with the game in the sixth. He sucked abysmally, facing six batters and put five on. It just wasn’t going to stop, and with the tying run at the plate, Miller was thrown into the fray, and retired the next two, Grant and Higashi. But we were not done with crazy just yet. Flip to the top 7th, the Raccoons would bang three doubles off the wall (Crowe, Reece, Gonzalez) en route to re-grabbing the four runs Proctor had just fudged up. Now up 11-5, Miller delivered a 1-2-3 inning, which was a strange sight to the audience at this point. But things were calming down. Only one more run scored when Takahashi Higashi slapped a solo homer off Brad Tamburrino’s shadow in the bottom ninth. 11-6 Coons. Guerin 2-4, RBI; Reece 2-5, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Brady 2-3, 2 BB; Fairchild 3.2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 2 K, W (1-0) and 1-1, BB, RBI; Miller 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K; Donis 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

You know what’s sad? When a pitcher pitches two thirds of an inning, gives up a run, and still shaves a run off his ERA. Talking about Tamburrino of course.

Meanwhile, Christian Proctor was designated for assignment after this disaster here. While Tamburrino was bad enough, Proctor was more than that, he was inane. He was not the Proctor from 1993, obviously, who wasn’t that great either, but at least serviceable. Watching Proctor pitch was like witnessing a drive-by suicide. Imagine some guy driving up to you as you’re on the sidewalk in your suburban neighborhood of choice. He rolls down the window as if to ask you directions or something, but then pulls out a gun and blows his own brains out. Sounds like a terrible movie, and Proctor was pitching even worse than that.

Lopez’ injury was not diagnosed as we left Oklahoma and flew home, but as we arrived there to play the Crusaders on Friday, we had a new reliever up in Fred Carlton (9.00 ERA @ AAA), which was obviously just a bridging measure until we could line up someone else.

Also, for what it’s worth, Stephen Buell has a 12-game hitting streak on.

Raccoons (7-15) vs. Crusaders (10-11) – April 30-May 2, 1999

The Crusaders were last in runs allowed in the Continental League, owing to a so-so rotation (which we would not see the terrible end of, however), and a self-destructing bullpen (5.84 ERA). However, with our lame offense and Joly and Saito scheduled to pitch…

Projected matchups:
Randy Farley (2-1, 2.17 ERA) vs. Ramiro Gonzalez (3-1, 3.21 ERA)
Bob Joly (0-3, 9.82 ERA) vs. Francisco Garza (2-2, 4.04 ERA)
Kisho Saito (0-5, 7.36 ERA) vs. Anibal Sandoval (1-2, 2.91 ERA)

Game 1
NYC: RF Latham – SS Nielsen – LF A. Johnson – 1B Berry – 3B Rush – 2B J. Ramirez – C Clemente – CF Olvera – P R. Gonzalez
POR: SS Guerin – 2B Ingall – CF Reece – C Branch – LF Buell – 1B Castillo – 3B Crowe – RF Brady – P Farley

But before the Crusaders could shovel into the weak, soft, squishy parts of the Raccoons’ rotation, they had to face Randy Chainsaw first. Farley mowed them down mercilessly in the opener, striking out five the first time through the lineup, and eight through five innings. Concie gave him support with a 2-run home run in the bottom 5th, and when Farely issued a leadoff walk to Brian Latham in the sixth, the bell tolled, and it was over. The Crusaders got four men on and tied the game, and Farley was at 93 pitches after this inning. Latham homered off him in the seventh and another game went down the drain. Carlton came in, loaded the bases, and had to be rescued by Miller, who struck out Jose Ramirez to end the inning. Miller in turn didn’t retire anybody in the eighth before Theodore Mullins delivered a pinch-hit 3-run homer. Down 7-2, the Raccoons actually managed to get the tying run to the plate in the bottom 9th, with one out, once closer Jose Hernandez walked Lance Branch to force home Cesar Gonzalez and make it a 7-3 game. And then Buell struck out. And then Castillo struck out. 7-3 Crusaders. Guerin 2-5, HR, 2 RBI; Reece 2-3, 2 BB; Gonzalez (PH) 1-1, 2B;

With this game, Fred Carlton was demoted back to St. Pete. We had a new guy signed. Actually an old guy.

Interlude: free agent signing

The Raccoons announce the addition of 35-year old right-hander Jackie Lagarde on a 1-yr, $200k deal. Lagarde, who pitched for the Raccoons from 1989 to 1995, spent the last three years with the Canadiens. For his career, he is 39-42 with 83 saves and a 2.94 ERA in 616 games, all in relief. He was 4-3 with a 4.33 ERA and no saves in 43.2 innings in 1998.

Raccoons (7-15) vs. Crusaders (10-11) – April 30-May 2, 1999

Game 2
NYC: RF Latham – SS Nielsen – LF A. Johnson – 1B Berry – 3B Rush – 2B J. Ramirez – C Clemente – CF Olvera – P F. Garza
POR: SS Guerin – RF Brady – CF Reece – 3B Gonzalez – C Branch – LF Buell – 2B Ingall – 1B Michel – P Joly

After it had already drizzled on and off during the series opener, the skies were truly dark for this one. Especially if you were named Garza. What started with Clyde Brady missing on a drag bunt attempt and led to him stroking a soft 1-out single to right, ever so slowly escalated into a 5-run first inning once Buell came up with a 2-out, 2-run double to deep center. Ingall and Michel also drove runners in. Gilberto Salazar was whacked for three runs in the third, and Joly better not lost this one. However, there were the dark skies. They opened in the third as well, with Joly holding an 8-0 lead. It was kinda good news, bad news from here. While Joly got it socked to him pretty good the next few innings, the rain eventually stopped, and through the top 6th he still held a 10-3 lead. But these would not be the Raccoons if they wouldn’t blow up. Joly lost his ways completely in the seventh, Gonzalez made a critical error, and when Mark Berry hit a 2-out, 2-run double off Joly to end his day, it pulled the score to 10-5, with the tying run putting on gloves in the dugout. Juan Martinez got Bob Rush to ground out to save us right there. The fans at the park – some of which hadn’t yet heard of the fact that Jackie Lagarde was back – went completely nuts when then once immensely popular right-hander appeared in the eighth. He retired Ramirez, Clemente, and Olvera in order. That the Raccoons romped in this one was certainly also a reason to be excited, even for just a day. 12-6 Furballs. Reece 1-2, 3 BB; Branch 1-2, 2 BB; Buell 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Ingall 4-4, BB, HR, 2B, 5 RBI; Crowe (PH) 1-1, BB;

With this blasting win we left the cellar, handing the red lantern to the Indians. The CL North played amongst themselves on this day, with the other two games featuring shutouts turned in by MIL Martin Garcia (4-0 against Indians), and BOS Jesus Bautista (1-0 against Canadiens), so the Raccoons accounted for more than half of all the CL North’s teams runs on May 1.

With this team, you gotta note that.

And now for the shocking news. Remember Miguel Lopez leaving his last start in the first inning. Well, wish him a happy Christmas right now, you won’t see him again. He has a partially torn UCL, is heading for Tommy John surgery, and might be back in 2000. Or not.

This will require some shuffling. For the moment, Kelly Fairchild will make Lopez’ next start on Tuesday against the Canadiens. Beyond that, Esteban Flores’ name might be in the conversation. I said that I wouldn’t call him up for a spot start when Saito had his tweak last week. Well, we need someone to make 28 starts now, so Flores (2-1, 2.88 ERA @ AAA) is in the conversation. We also have Ralph Ford (3-1, 2.97 ERA @ AAA) here, but we might also need to replace Bob Joly somehow, so it’s not unlikely that Ford, who missed the latter half of the 1998 season, might also be called up sooner rather than later. Flores had to make another start at St. Pete however, so we had to call up somebody else. A left-hander would be perfect. The choices in St. Pere were not thrilling, and so we went to Ham Lake and collected 24-year old Pedro Perez, our 1993 12th round pick.

Welcome to the Show, Sunshine. You have ONE chance to impress.

Game 3
NYC: LF Lyons – SS Nielsen – RF A. Johnson – 3B Rush – 1B T. Mullins – 2B J. Ramirez – C Clemente – CF Diéguez – P Sandoval
POR: SS Guerin – RF Brady – CF Reece – 3B Gonzalez – C Branch – LF Buell – 2B Ingall – 1B Michel – P Saito

Saito had no chance, and everybody – including himself – knew it. Top 1st, one on, two on, Rush doubled them in but was thrown out at third base, Mullins homered, 3-0. Mullins homered once more in his next AB, 4-0, in the third, while the Raccoons did nothing, and grown men in the stands were weeping at the sorry appearance of Kisho Saito. In a bizarre twist, Saito would keep the line moving, though, in the bottom 4th, when he came up with a 2-out RBI single, and enabled Guerin to bring home another run with a double, making it a 4-2 game. Saito went six, and Buell led off the bottom 6th with a triple and scored on Ingall’s sac fly. Michel doubled and Saito was hit for. C’mon boys, at least not have him lose six straight to start the year! Parker hit for Saito, grounded to Nielsen, but Nielsen’s throw was bad and Parker was safe at first. The tying runs on the corners, the lineup flipped back to Guerin. On a 1-0 pitch, Guerin whiffed, with both runners astray from their bags. Antonio Clemente shot up and fired a strike to Mullins at first, but Parker crawled back in under a slow tag. Two pitches later, Guerin made contact and fired a rocket into deep center, which Diéguez had to run after as it dinked onto the warning track. Parker scored easily and we had a lead!

Ohmygodohmygodohmygod, Saito was in line for a W! Quick! Who can fudge this up the least painful!?

We turned to Donis to dispose of the left-handers Nielsen and Johnson who were up to start the top 7th, Nielsen singled, and I went to get something to bite on. A Knoxville Dinger would do. Johnson flew out to Reece, and we went to Lagarde to face Rush and the right-handers after that, but the Crusaders brought Brian Latham, the lefty, to hit for Bob Rush. Latham grounded out to short, Ingall couldn’t pivot for a double play, but Lagarde still got out of the inning. While no insurance run was available, the plan was to continue with Lagarde and then go directly to Wade at the first sign of trouble. Lagarde walking Olvera with two down in the eighth constituted certified trouble, and Wade came out to face Matt Lyons. Lyons fouled out on the first pitch, and we needed only three more outs. Or an insurance run. Caddock, who had entered the game with Wade on a double switch, led off with a walk off Dane Sanders in the bottom 8th, but Guerin got him forced out and this wasn’t meant to happen.

Top 9th. Wade facing Nielsen, Johnson, and Lorenzo Delgado. No cushion. FOR KISHO!!! Nielsen doubled to left, Johnson doubled to right. For Kisho up your arse. 6-5 Crusaders. Guerin 2-5, 2 2B, 3 RBI; Branch 2-5, 2B; Buell 2-5;

In other news

April 28 – The Warriors acquire 29-yr old INF Bob Petipas (.241, 1 HR, 11 RBI) from the Aces and send 33-yr old INF Esteban Areizaga (.308, 1 HR, 4 RBI) to Las Vegas.
April 28 – DEN SS Zak Davidson (.421, 0 HR, 3 RBI), who hadn’t appeared in a game in two weeks due to a rib injury, goes 0-6 in his first contest off the DL, a 5-4 Gold Sox win over the Rebels, to end his hitting streak at 22 games.
April 29 – When OCT 1B/2B Juan Valentín (.260, 0 HR, 2 RBI) slapped a leadoff single off the Raccoons’ Miguel Lopez in the first inning of the Thunder’s 11-6 loss to the Brownshirts, the 40-year old Spaniard collected his 2,500th career base hit. The 11th overall pick in the 1979 draft by the Titans, Valentín debuted the same year and has since played on the Condors, Titans again, Wolves, Miners, and now the Thunder. Primed for small ball teams with a good eye drawing 1,516 walks in his career, he has made himself serviceable for 21 years and counting. The left-hander still wants to win a ring, which was never in the book for him until now.
April 30 – TIJ INF Bruce Boyle (.329, 0 HR, 2 RBI) intends to stay in Tijuana for longer. The 29-year old signs a 4-yr, $5.36M extension.

Complaints and stuff

Pedro Perez is the third Raccoon named Perez in our history. He follows 2B Dani Perez and OF Fernando Perez, both of which had rather short careers with the Coons, but Dani Perez found his luck elsewhere. Which surname is most often represented in the Raccoons’ player almanac?

Gonzalez (6 players):
Edgardo Gonzalez (1981-85), small-bat infielder
Carlos Gonzalez (1984-89), blue chip starting pitcher who went haywire
Ricardo Gonzalez (1985-87), outfielder with one stellar and one horrible season
Antonio Gonzalez (1989-91), versatile infielder, still active with Denver’s AAA team
Roberto Gonzalez (1991), pitcher whose two starts for us were all his major league career amounted to
Cesar Gonzalez (1999), obviously

And: Lopez (6 players):
Jorge Lopez (1977-78), backup outfielder
Freddy Lopez (1977-79), outfielder who had a 6-hit game with us
Tony Lopez (1978-82), relief pitcher who was a constant source of annoyance
Antonio “Woody” Lopez (1990), starter who just travelled through here
Miguel Lopez (1991-99), often-injured starter…
Alejandro Lopez (1993-94), former first round pick outfielder who came back ten years later

The following surnames were printed on the uniforms of three different Coons each: Castillo, Flores, Green, Martinez, Miranda, Ramirez, Sanchez;

The Lagarde signing was certainly not the perfect solution to shore up the bleeding bullpen. There was no perfect solution. To be honest, this season is on the trash heap already, regardless of who is pitching. This team can’t do ****, Lagarde won’t change that.

I considered him a placeholder until Dan Nordahl is ready, but be warned that Nordahl is struggling with control, so “ready” may not come into effect so soon.

Oh and by the way, do you really think we’re through with terrible news already? You gotta learn that the these are the Bad News Coons, and that in never ends. Dan Nordahl left his last game in pain and has strained an oblique. See you in June, Danny.