[Westheim]

We had 26 players eligible for the playoff roster, since Steve Walker had still been on the DL on August 31. The thing I feared most was to run out of arms in the 11th inning of a tied game 7. So, I was not to reduce the number of pitchers. Instead, outfielder Jason Short was struck off the roster. He has hardly played at all after July, for his poor performance, and Ramón Borjón was equally suited to play backup outfield. Plus, we’ll have to live with Borjón for another year, while Short is a free agent and will vaporize after the playoffs, never to be seen again (in Portland at least, safe for appearing on the visitors’ team).

I would contest the series against Oklahoma City with a 4-man rotation, starting with Christopher Powell, and continuing with Logan Evans, Kinji Kan, and Charles Young.

Jerry Ackerman moves to the pen, joining lefties Burton Taylor and deadline acquisition David Jones. Also there: righties Wally Gaston, Richard Cunningham, Fletcher Kelley, and Jason White. And of course our closer, Grant West.

The lineup is largely set: RF A. White – CF Smith – LF Hall – 3B Dawson – 1B Workman – C Sanchez – SS Walker – 2B Thompson – P

Spencer Dicks might play, if we find ourselves ahead in the series for superior defensive qualities. Either catcher could bat ahead of Workman against lefty pitchers. Walker could bat second if Smith proves ineffective (he slumped in the last week). Bowling and Green (which added together gives Bowling Green, KY, apparently…) successfully played themselves out of the lineup in the last week of the regular season. Edgardo Gonzalez has hardly played since August and is another backup. Borjón – as mentioned – backs up the outfield, where of course both Dawson and Walker could be moved if necessary.

Now a look at Oklahoma.

As mentioned earlier during the last regular season series against them (which we lost, as well as the season series, 4-5), the Thunder have it all. This is an awesome team with little flaws. If any, their defense is a weak point, but you have to get the ball down on them first.

But there was a BIG plus for the Raccoons: they were all healthy, and the Thunder were not. They miss three position players in this series, including infielder Dave Browne (.275 batter with gap power), corner infielder Chris Scott (.289 with no power, but never strikes out), and outfielder Guy King (.279, 18 HR, 80 RBI), who fractured his finger four days ago and will miss the entired playoffs!

Also out, but on the roster and available perhaps as early as game 2: their closer Seung-ook Yi, who saved 39 games this season and strikes out more than 10 per nine innings.

So, their offense should miss a couple of pieces, and we need to capitalize on that to compensate for what I fear will be low scoring of our own. Anchored by Ralph Hoyles (16-10, 2.72 ERA), their rotation was renowned for their high kill rates throughout, and they had an even better bullpen, where no hurler had an ERA over 3.15!

It is understood that we can only win this, when every player adds 10% to his regular season performance. Logan Evans and Charles Young need to find their strike zone, and when Chris Powell gives up two homers again in each game, we’re as good as toast.