[Westheim]

2017 CONTINENTAL LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES
Portland Raccoons (95-67) vs. San Francisco Bayhawks (102-60)

Game 3 – Tadasu Abe (22-10, 3.12 ERA) vs. Joao Joo (15-11, 3.35 ERA)

The Bayhawks sent their left-hander, Joo, into Game 3, which sent the Raccoons scurrying to topple their lineup. R.J. DeWeese was the odd one out with a whiff rate of almost 35% against left-handed pitching. But wanting both Nunley and McKnight in the lineup while also squeezing another right-handed bat in required us to play Shane Walter on first base to accommodate Jason Bergquist, who had gotten an at-bat after entering Game 1 in a double switch and had hit into a double play. There’s double jeopardy in the air for sure!

POR: CF Carmona – RF Petracek – LF Mendoza – 3B Nunley – C Denny – 1B Walter – SS McKnight – 2B Bergquist – P Abe
SFB: LF E. Jackson – SS Claros – CF D. Garcia – RF Almanza – C D. Alexander – 1B McIntyre – 3B J. Rodriguez – 2B Ingraham – P Joo

Joo had struck out 243 against 68 walks in the regular season, but struggled with control in the first inning and quickly found himself in a bases-loaded jam. To be fair to him, the mess started when Javy Rodriguez airmailed his throw on Cookie’s grounder to start the bottom 1st. McIntyre couldn’t come up with it and Cookie ended up at second base. Petracek then walked and Mendoza singled to left in a 3-1 count. With Jackson to the ball quick, Cookie was held on third base, giving the Coons three on with nobody out, and from there they would fail their way out in miserable fashion. Matt Nunley lined right into Joo’s glove, Mike Denny flew out to shallow center and we didn’t trust the legs of Cookie against the arm of Garcia, and Rodriguez, who had started the whole mess with the error, made an admittedly fantastic catch on Shane Walter’s 3-1 liner to left. Nobody scored, everybody was sad, especially when Almanza hit an inside-the-park home run to start the second inning. Abe went on to walk D-Alex before McIntyre doubled. Rodriguez plated the catcher with a groundout before Ingraham popped out and Joo whiffed.

Down 2-0, the Raccoons immediately started to occupy bases again. McKnight walked in a full count to start the bottom 2nd, after which Bergquist singled through the left side. Abe failed to bunt twice, then was told to swing, which was a wild success once he took Joo’s 0-2 pitch to deep left for an RBI double. Cookie tied the game with a fly to left that Jackson caught up with, but he couldn’t catch up with Bergquist, who made a run for the plate and was well safe. Abe remained on second base with one out, but scored when Petracek split Garcia and Almanza with a liner that found its way to the track in right center. Petracek ended up with a go-ahead RBI triple, and ended up being scored by Nunley with a double, the third extra-base hit of the inning.

The swift answer put Abe into a 4-2 lead after the second inning, but pitching was at a premium in this game. Abe wouldn’t hold the lead for even one inning, allowing singles to start the third inning to Jackson and Claros, who ended up in scoring position with one out. Almanza’s grounder was played well by Nunley; one run scored, but there were now two outs for D-Alex, who romped an 0-1 pitch to right for a score-flipping 2-run homer.

Abe ended up yanked in the fourth inning. Ingraham hit a single with one out and stole second base, after which Joo struck out. But Jackson’s floater to right dinked in, scored Ingraham, and put the Coons into a 6-4 hole. Nielson replaced Abe to look after Raul Claros, but allowed another single on his only pitch. Chun replaced him in a double switch, Walter shifting to second and Young appearing at first base and batting ninth, the slot that was due to lead off the bottom 4th. Jackson had gone to third base on Claros’ single and scored on Chun’s balk, deepening the chasm to three runs, 7-4, before Garcia flew out.

Joo had recovered from his earlier sub-standard performance and held the Coons at bay through five. Chun was still dealing in the sixth inning, but allowed singles to Rodriguez and Ingraham before walking Willie Ramos in the top of the sixth, and all with nobody out. Instant elimination from this game loomed, but Jackson popped out over the infield before Claros grounded to Walter for an inning-ending double play.

Joo was replaced by left-hander Mike Stank, who hadn’t featured in the two games in San Fran, for the bottom 6th. Johnson pinch-hit for Chun and singled, but Young, the idiot, grounded out on a 3-1 pitch. Cookie dropped a blooper into shallow left center to put runners on the corners and pull up Petracek as the tying run. He struck out before Mendoza’s drive to right ended up in Almanza’s glove to end the inning, and in the next inning Stank allowed a leadoff single to Nunley, who met a grisly fate when Denny grounded to Ingraham for a double play.

Stank was pinch-hit for in the top of the eighth, which was John Korb’s second and last inning of duty. When McKnight opened the bottom 8th with a single to right, Korb’s #8 slot was a good one to throw DeWeese into, but all the Raccoons got from him was another double play to second. After that, Young singled and Cookie reached on an error, but Petracek rolled out to first baseman Mike Robinson.

Ramirez held the Baybirds away in the top of the ninth, with Ray Kelley erupting from the bullpen in the bottom of the inning. The Coons were still three runs short and Mendoza’s sorry fly to left to start the inning didn’t help them one bit. Nunley doubled, and ended up scoring after Waggoner – hitting for Denny – grounded out and Kelley threw a wild pitch, but that didn’t get the Raccoons closer to a comeback, and Shane Walter’s groundout ended the game.

Bayhawks 7, Raccoons 5 – Raccoons lead series 2-1 – Mendoza 2-5; Nunley 3-5, 2 2B, RBI; Bergquist 1-2; Johnson (PH) 1-1; Chun 2.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K; Korb 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K;

Okay, this one was way ugly. Who’s next? Ah, right, Old Man Brown.

I fear the worst.

Game 4 – Nick Brown (8-4, 4.53 ERA) vs. Clark Johnson (6-3, 3.97 ERA)

I freely admit, I have a mild case of the Panics.

SFB: LF E. Jackson – 1B McIntyre – CF D. Garcia – RF Almanza – C D. Alexander – 2B Ingraham – 3B Claros – SS R. Miller – P C. Johnson
POR: CF Carmona – 2B Walter – 1B Mendoza – LF DeWeese – 3B Nunley – SS McKnight – C Denny – RF Waggoner – P Brown

Cookie reached on Ingraham’s error to start the bottom of the first (after Brownie got three groundouts in the top 1st) and made a dash to occupy second base right away. D-Alex didn’t get him (I know my former catchers very well…), but Walter and Mendoza made poor outs behind him and Cookie was still on second base with two outs. That’s where DeWeese and Nunley came into the pitcher. Rummaging through the clubhouse before the game, between all the energy drinks and food supplements we had stored for human consumption, they had also found two cans of Whoop-Ass! Both crushed home runs off Clark Johnson, DeWeese to right, Nunley to left, and the Raccoons held a blisteringly fast 3-0 lead. Mike Denny was found to have licked the residues off the top edge of the cans after the other two had been done with it: he crushed a 420-footer to right center when he led off the second inning, 4-0.

But the Birds began to crowd Brownie fairly early. Claros snuck a grounder past Mendoza in the third inning that rolled up a fair bit of real estate before Waggoner got to hit and left Claros with a leadoff double. Ryan Miller (lots of ex-Coons!) and Clark Johnson both grounded out, but Brownie’s inability to whiff ANYBODY cost him a run. The fourth started with Dave Garcia singling and being caught stealing, but Almanza and D-Alex just whipped more singles and were on the corners with one out. While Ingraham popped out, Nick Brown didn’t survive the inning. Claros, Miller, and even Johnson all hit 2-out singles, and they were all hard-hit. The game was even at four, two on, and no end in sight for Nick Brown, who was removed from the game and replaced by Alex Ramirez, which left many a soul in the park with the odd tear or two running down on the cheek. Me included.

Ramirez struck out Jackson to at least keep the score level, but after that we were left with whatever we had in Bruce Morrison, since both long guys had already pitched multiple innings in the previous game and could not cover the five remaining innings in any reasonable way.

Actually, Morrison had to wait for his turn. Ramirez would have batted fourth in the bottom of the fourth inning, but his turn never came up for reasons of failure, and he pitched a 1-2-3 fifth inning instead, and after that the sixth would see two left-handed bats, so Nielson got the call there. That was a dumb idea to begin with, and the Coons were lucky that the Bayhawks didn’t get more than D-Alex’ leadoff single to right. Ingraham was caught in incredibly deep centerfield by Cookie, and Claros rocked a liner right into Shane Walter’s glove. After that, Bruce Morrison scampered from the pen. His second pitch to Miller was wild and moved Alexander into scoring position, from where he swiftly scored on Miller’s single to center on the very next pitch, giving the Bayhawks a 5-4 lead.

Bruce Morrison is one intensely stupid pig, I can tell you that.

After narrowly avoiding disaster in the top 7th, with Cookie’s legs again doing most of the heavy lifting, Morrison’s turn came up with Waggoner on first and nobody out in the bottom of the seventh. I didn’t fancy my luck with the bench, especially given Zach Ingraham’s seemingly magic glove out there, and Morrison was retained to bunt – at least that he did well enough. But pitching was not his thing. When Cookie grounded out and Walter fouled out to leave the tying run on third base, Morrison allowed a leadoff double to Alexander in the eighth and quickly was out of a job. Mathis inherited runners on the corners, two outs, and right-handed pinch-hitter Pat Eaton. Considering especially that he replaced the hollow doorknob Morrison, Mathis could not possibly have done a worse job if he had tried; his first pitch was wild and plated Alexander, and when Eaton grounded to him three pitches later, he threw a way the ball, which went into the Coons’ dugout where a scampering Jonny Toner dropped his second dinner and was inconsolable. Oh, and another run scored, mind that.

The Raccoons went down completely and wholly, and never managed to challenge the Bayhawks’ relief crew in the last two innings.

Bayhawks 7, Raccoons 4 – series tied 2-2 – DeWeese 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Young (PH) 1-1; Ramirez 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

Among a lot of things that are absolutely not working as intended with our pitching, we also have unforeseen holes in the lineup. Shane Walter is 1-for-18 in the series, and the “Tiger” can’t get his claws out, either, batting .176/.176/.176 … even Cookie’s on-base percentage is horrendous: .263 …

Unless we can find another bat like Matt Nunley’s (.533/.588/.867), things will get difficult in San Francisco.

Game 5 – Jonathan Toner (18-9, 1.94 ERA) vs. Milt Beauchamp (13-11, 3.81 ERA)

Can we please avoid losing all our home games? At least we got Jonny up.

SFB: LF E. Jackson – SS Claros – CF D. Garcia – RF Almanza – C D. Alexander – 1B McIntyre – 2B Ingraham – 3B J. Rodriguez – P Beauchamp
POR: CF Carmona – 2B Walter – 1B Mendoza – LF DeWeese – 3B Nunley – SS McKnight – C Denny – RF Waggoner – P Toner

The mounting pressure wasn’t good for our battery, which in the first inning allowed Eddie Jackson into third base completely without any contribution by the leftfielder. Jonny Toner made a throwing error, and a passed ball moved him to third base with Almanza batting. Thanks to strikeout prowess, Toner managed to starve him there, obliterating Almanza for the fourth time in four encounters in the series.

The Raccoons had Cookie reach with a walk in the bottom 1st, but he was wound up on Mendoza’s double play to Ingraham. DeWeese opened the second with a single, but was stranded on third base before long, while the Bayhawks pounced on Toner in the top of the third and scored the first run of the game on consecutive doubles by Jackson and Claros. Almanza batted with two outs and for the first time put a ball into play against Toner, but grounded out to leave Claros on third base.

Jonny hit a leadoff single in the bottom 3rd. This normally jubilant occurrence was soon squashed by infinite sadness when Cookie got him forced on a grounder to Ingraham (…), then was caught stealing, stumbling halfway past first and second base. Maybe something could come out of R.J. DeWeese’s 1-out RBI triple into the rightfield corner in the bottom of the fourth! Nunley grounded to Ingraham, and even that guy’s satanic devilry claws – if you looked closely you actually noticed he had hooves for hands and feet – couldn’t keep DeWeese from scoring and tying the game.

That was all they managed, however. The top of the fifth started with Jonny whiffing Beauchamp, which gave him 18 K in 12 innings in the series. Then Jackson singled to center. Claros singled to right – both were batting over .400 in the series, and thankfully the 3-4 bats for the Bayhawks were fast asleep with three RBI between them. That’s what he said before Dave Garcia cranked a 3-run shot to leftfield that completely unhorsed Toner, who walked Almanza, who advanced on a passed ball, then struck D-Alex square with a 2-0 pitch. The dam had broken, and Portland was being washed into the sea at this very moment. Will McIntyre lined the first pitch he got to right, past Waggoner, and scored the runners with a double that gave the Bayhawks a secure 6-1 lead.

The Coons had three singles in the bottom 5th; Waggoner, Carmona, Mendoza came up with the hits, but it took a wild pitch in between by Beauchamp to allow them to plate two runs rather than one and then they were still behind 6-3, and fast on the way to get washed out of their own ballpark after arriving here with a 2-0 series lead.

Worse yet, Jonny Toner was gone from the game, having been hit for by Brandon Johnson, and we were into the shallow end of the bullpen yet again. And just as Seung-mo Chun started pitching to Beauchamp in the top of the sixth, the dark clouds overhead couldn’t bear it anymore and burst open, releasing an hour-long shower that soaked a sulking city. When that was over and the Raccoons were back to bat in the bottom 6th, they faced William Raven, a former starter, whose repertoire by now was as appealing as the space beneath the beds in a rundown motel off the beaten path in a deserted county of a flyover state of your choice.

But Raven made things work – or rather, the defense made it work for him. Rodriguez turned a double play on McKnight in the sixth inning, and Young hit into a double play to the abominable Ingraham in the seventh. That latter one left Mike Denny on third base with two outs, but Carmona’s liner to left was caught by Jackson, another demonspawn that wouldn’t get out of the way. The bottom 8th saw Mendoza reach on Claros’ error and DeWeese singled with one out. The Birds were completely untouched by this; Raven remained in the game. Nunley’s drive to right fell short of the promised land and instead into Almanza’s glove, and before McKnight could try to hit into another double play with two outs on the board, Raven picked DeWeese off first base to end the inning in some special style.

The Bayhawks got a run they didn’t need in the ninth inning, when Ron Thrasher cocked up with a 4-pitch walk to Sarabia and subsequent single by the infuriating Jackson. Mathis couldn’t dig him out, allowing the run on Garcia’s single, which gave the centerfielder four on the day. Not that that was the fatal run. Against right-hander Chae-ku Lee in the bottom of the inning it took the Raccoons two outs before they got Waggoner on base with a double. Petracek batted for Mathis, but flew out to center.

Bayhawks 7, Raccoons 3 – Bayhawks lead series 3-2 – DeWeese 3-4, 3B; Denny 2-3, BB; Waggoner 2-4, 2B; Chun 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

Maud! – Maud! – Maud, I think … I think my pulse is completely gone. – Can you send for the Druid? – Well, can he take a minute off from reading his star charts?