[Westheim]

1989 WORLD SERIES
Portland Raccoons (95-67) @ Salem Wolves (88-74)

Game 3 – Jason Turner (12-5, 2.90 ERA) vs. Dragoljub Djukic (16-11, 3.40 ERA)

Turner Time in Salem. His job description was pretty simple: we need a win at all costs.

Jason Turner had been untouched so far, 3-hitting the opposition over 16 innings in the CLCS. Well, that streak ended very quickly. Parrell singled, Harper walked, Marino singled, the runners went for an extra base, Harper was thrown out at third, but Parrell scored. Marino was then thrown out stealing by Dadswell, but the Wolves led 1-0 already.

Top 2nd. Osanai and Quinn hit line drive singles. Nobody out, Johnston walked. For the love of Fur, score some runs here!! Gonzalez was up, grounded into a double play, and only Osanai scored in the inning.

The top 3rd started with Turner. He hit a low fly ball up the right field line, Sabre launched at it, but missed it and Turner ended up with a double. Higgins singled, Turner held at third. Reece was up and hit a grounder that was poor enough, but not too poor to kill the inning. Turner scored, Higgins was out, but Reece was safe at first, but he was stranded at second base eventually.

The fifth saw threats from both teams. Higgins hit a double in the top of the inning and moved to third on a wild pitch, but was eventually left there after Sean Bergeron made two great plays to retire both Reece and Dawson. Morales hit a 2-out triple in the bottom of the inning, but Djukic was up and was retired easily by Turner.

Top 6th: Osanai singled, Quinn singled. Johnston line drive went into Djukic’ glove. Gonzalez grounded into a double play. They JUST. COULD. NOT. SCORE!!

But the Wolves could. Pacheco led off the bottom 6th with an infield single, Gonzalez couldn’t make the play. Pacheco stole second on a piss poor throw from Dadswell, then scored on an Ed Parrell single. Parrell then stole second on a piss poor throw from Dadswell and then scored on a 2-out double by Ennio Sabre. The Wolves had a lead. Reece hit a sac fly in the top 7th to tie the game once more, scoring Dadswell, but Dawson lined out to Sabre to end the inning.

Turner had been pinch hit for in the sixth and Cordero pitched a quick seventh. Neither side got on in the eighth.

Jeff Martin pinch hit for Cordero to start the top 9th and singled up the middle. He was the go-ahead run. A hit-and-run was called, but Dadswell hit the ball up and was retired easily by Sabre. Martin didn’t get past second base.

Lagarde was tasked with the bottom 9th. The first man he faced was Brendon Bailey, and he singled to left. Lagarde struck out Sabre while always watching the quick Bailey. Lagarde went to 1-2 on Bergeron, before the Wolf dinked a looper into short right. Bailey went to third, still one out. Oscar Riley was up. Lagarde had gotten two strikes on everybody and Riley was not one to lay off a lot of bad stuff. Lagarde pitched to him, and Riley popped up the 1-0 pitch for an easy out, caught by Osanai. Lagarde then retired Morales. Extra innings upon us again.

The Wolves brought closer Bernard in as soon as Reece reached base to start the top 10th. Dawson dutifully grounded into a double play and Osanai grounded out.

West pitched the bottom 10th, then came to bat with one out and Johnston on first in the 11th. He had to bat, he had to. West grounded to the left side, where Morales made a sterling play to get him out at first. Johnston was on second, but Dadswell struck out.

West struck out Harper to start the bottom 11th, and after a Coztana single, struck out Sabre and got Shoji Murakami to ground out to Dawson, and also pitched a clean, but exhausting 12th.

NOW HIT THAT BALL SOMEWHERE IT COUNTS!! Dawson led off the 13th against Kendrick Davis. He was 0-5 on the day. Contact, deep to left, deeeep to left, OUT OF LEFT!!! Dawson broke up the tie with a homer in the 13th! Osanai and Quinn also got on, nobody out, and were left on. We turned to Nate Goodman to save the 4-3 lead.

Goodman had trouble throwing strikes. He got one out, then walked Parrell. Harper singled to right, and they were on the corners with one out. We made an emergency swap and brought in Ken Burnett. Full count to Coztana, he walked him. And Sabre came up. He took Burnett’s fourth pitch into center. Reece caught it, but Parrell tagged and scored the tying run. The Wolves were out of bench players and reliever Davis had to bat now with two down.

He also made contact on the fourth pitch. To the left side, between Dawson and Higgins. Johnston raced in, the excruciatingly slow catcher Harper turned the corner at third base. Johnston threw in, Harper slid past Dadswell as the Coons catcher only received the throw. The Wolves walked off, 5-4, on a reliever, who had never had an at bat in NINE YEARS IN THE MAJOR LEAGUES, hitting a single, scoring the winner of the snail pace race, in the 13th inning of game 3 of the World Series.

WITH TWO OUTS.

At this point, at the latest, it was written. The Raccoons were not destined to win the World Series. Ever.

Higgins 2-6, 2B; Osanai 3-5, BB; Martin (PH) 1-1; Cordero 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K; West 3.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

1989 WORLD SERIES
Portland Raccoons (95-67) @ Salem Wolves (88-74)

Game 4 – Scott Wade (21-6, 3.44 ERA) vs. Alejandro Venegas (16-9, 3.34 ERA)

Ex-Coon alarm. He had put together an amazing season in Salem, winning 16 games with less run support than he had enjoyed in Portland. Well, he could finish us off here.

Venegas walked two in the first inning, but the Coons didn’t score. Johnston was on first base in the second with one out. Vinson was up and hit a soaring ball to deep right that used to fall in in about 19 of 20 cases. This was the 20th case as Sabre just caught it. Wade grounded out to end the inning.

A throwing error by Les Harper on a steal attempt by Higgins in the top 3rd got the Coons in business. Higgins went to third and Reece drove him home for a 1-0 lead. The Raccoons loaded the bases with one out. Gonzalez uncorked a GRAND SLAM to right.

Wade was trying to work quickly afterwards but was not too sharp. The Wolves left two on in the third, before scoring a run in the fifth. There, Bobby Quinn went down with an oblique strain, moving Dawson to the outfield and putting O’Morrissey at third base. O’Morrissey made a nice play in the sixth starting an inning-ending double play.

Wade pitched into the eighth inning, retiring Ed Parrell there, but then left with left-handers up next. Burnett faced Harper and Marino, a single and a walk came out of that. The tying run was in the on-deck circle. Martinez got out of the jam, grounding out Sabre and punching out Bergeron.

The Raccoons left two men on in the ninth, leaving it to Lagarde to hold on to a 4-run lead. He pitched a perfect inning to extend the series.

5-1 Raccoons. Higgins 2-5, 2B; Quinn 2-3; Gonzalez 1-4, HR, 4 RBI; Dadswell (PH) 1-1; Wade 7.1 IP, 8 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, W;

1989 WORLD SERIES
Portland Raccoons (95-67) @ Salem Wolves (88-74)

Game 5 – Kisho Saito vs. Jon Robinson

Something wonderful happened on the morning of the fifth game. Daniel Hall was declared good to play by our staff and his DL time was over. [Since I never got a 25th man on the playoff roster, and the game never removed Hall from it after the CLCS, he is now STILL on the playoff roster! Quite a lot of bugs here, to be honest] With Quinn just having gone down, he was to start in left, with Johnston shifting to right.

And Hall scored the first run in the game, a sac fly bringing in Higgins, who had hit a leadoff double, from third. Dawson added a run and the Coons were up 2-0 in an instant.

A throwing error by Matt Higgins scored a run for the Wolves in the bottom 2nd. Dawson added another run with an RBI groundout in the third, 3-1.

Saito didn’t look like 100% early on, but could 90% suffice? He started to deal better by the fourth inning, requiring a great catch by Johnston in the third to keep the 1 in Salem’s R column.

Hall and Osanai hit doubles in the fifth to add a run, but Gonzalez left two men on then. Robinson was shaking but nobody was willing to topple him off the mound. Johnston and Vinson hit liners to start the sixth, and when Saito was hit by Robinson, the bases were loaded, nobody was out. Higgins hit another liner, and it fell into shallow center, Johnston scored! Reece hit a lining sac fly to Bergeron for another run to score before the inning fizzled out.

Saito was dealing acidic fire (or fiery acid) all the way here, making his way through the innings like a true ace. Bottom 8th, up 6-1. Saito struck out Murakami. Rodriguez hit a long fly ball to deep left, Hall after it, launching, and he caught it!!

Daniel Hall also slammed his face into the grass for the second time in October and left the game with a bum shoulder.

(facepalm)

Saito looked on as Hall was walked off the field, then grabbed a ball tightly and continued dealing. Dawson hit into the umpteenth double play of October in the ninth, but Saito went the distance with a 2-hitter. The Wolves never had a chance against him.

6-1 Raccoons. Higgins 2-5, 2B, RBI; Reece 2-4, RBI; Osanai 2-4, BB, 2 2B, RBI; Dawson 2-4, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Vinson 2-4, 2B; Saito 9.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 8 K, W;