[Westheim]

2044 CONTINENTAL LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES
Portland Raccoons (96-66) vs. San Francisco Bayhawks (91-71)

Game 1 – Sadaharu Okuda (15-8, 3.37 ERA) vs. Eric Weitz (15-8, 3.66 ERA)

The pesky Weitz, former damn Elk, was nothing the Raccoons were thrilled to see in the series opener, but in fact both Game 1 starters had not done well against the opposition in the regular season, posting ERA’s around six in a pair of starts each. Only Weitz had won a game. And did I mention Sifuentes? He had batted .429/.474/.886 against Portland this season across 35 at-bats. Shutting that guy down would already go a long way.

Unfortunately some things were hard to shut down; this included Nick Valdes, who arrived for the opening two games, anointed himself to toss the honorary first pitch, even though we warned him that this was bad luck, and so I was left to dry the tears of previously imported deliverer of the first pitch, 2026 and 2028 Raccoons World Series champions member Ricky Ohl, while Valdes lobbed a baseball underhand for 35 feet in front of a national audience. The ball almost rolled to Jose Zarate.

Almost.

SFB: SS J. Gonzalez – 2B K. Saito – LF Hennessy – 3B Sifuentes – RF Platero – C J. Hill – 1B M. Castillo – CF McGuigan – P Weitz
POR: CF Baskins – 1B Ayala – 3B Maldonado – RF Toohey – LF Fernandez – SS Waters – C Zarate – 2B Carreno – P Okuda

Sifuentes was retired his first time up, grounding out to Okuda with Kenichi Saito on second base. The Japanese infielder had reached on a throwing error by Matt Waters. The Raccoons also got their #2 on base in the first inning, although Sal Ayala reached under his own power with a single to right. Maldonado grounded out, but Bryce Toohey beat Bobby Hennessy near the leftfield line for an RBI double, and the Raccoons made it to the board first…! Manny struck out to end the first inning.

Both teams had a pair of runners in the second; the Bayhawks stranded John Hill and Jamie McGuigan when Weitz popped out, while the Raccoons reached the corners with one out on a Zarate double to right and a Carreno single to left. Carreno had been starved for hits in the last few weeks, putting him down in the #8 hole for the series. The paws were nimble, though, and when Okuda assaulted Weitz for a first-pitch single up the middle, Carreno wasted no time to go to third base to take the spot of Zarate, who scored, 2-0. Could we get more? Yes – Derek Baskins hit a single to left, 3-0! He was then forced out on a grounder to second by Ayala, and Maldo popped out to end the inning.

By the third inning it got worse, and not only because Jorge Gonzalez hit a leadoff single, stole second, and was driven in by Saito, but also because by now Nick Valdes had made his way to the office, where I was in a generally tense state, refusing food and rocking back and forth while squeezing my thighs into my chest and only peeking at the TV from the tiny spot between my knees. Honeypaws was somewhere squished into the huddle.

The Bayhawks got a leadoff runner in Hill in the fourth inning; he reached on a Maldonado error, but the run never got off first in the 3-1 game. Weitz, in the ropes not long ago, had been steady in the third and got two outs in the fourth, but then allowed singles to Baskins and Ayala. Baskins bid for third, drew a bad throw from Jose Platero, and both runners reached scoring position for Maldonado, who hit a single through the left side to extend the lead to 4-1. That was already 10 hits for the Raccoons in the game. Toohey added another run with a single up the middle, but Manny grounded out, keeping it 5-1 through four.

At about that point Nick Valdes opined that the Bayhawks should go home, they clearly had nothing on his Raccoons. I eyed the ceiling, beggingly, trying to explain to the baseball gods that he was a moron, didn’t know what he was talking about, and that this should not merit striking the Critters with lightning. For the time being, the Raccoons reached a 6-1 lead with Waters being doubled home by Carreno in the fifth. But Maldonado committed another throwing error to put Platero on base in the sixth, and this time Okuda didn’t recover. He walked McGuigan with two outs, gave up a 2-run double to PH Victor Acosta, and then walked Gonzalez. That was the end of him; with Saito up as the tying run, the Raccoons went to Nelson Moreno, because this had to stop *right* *now*. Moreno instead fell 3-1 behind, then got a slow grounder to the third base side of the mound out of Saito. Maybe too slow! Maldonado on the run, zinger to first, out! 6-3 in the middle of the sixth. Moreno did the seventh, getting around a leadoff infield single by Hennessy.

For the eighth and the bottom of the order, the Raccoons went to Preston Porter. McGuigan hit a 1-out single, but PH Cosmo Trevino (!) and Gonzalez both flew out to Manny Fernandez to keep him stranded. The Coons got Baskins on with a leadoff single in the bottom 8th, but Mike Mihalik got a double play grounder from Ayala. Maldo lined out to Saito, and that concluded all the hitting the Raccoons wished to do in this game. Josh Rella would get the ball for the ninth. Poignantly, Ricky Jimenez replaced Maldonado for defense at this point, with two errors on Maldo’s ledger already. There didn’t appear to be much chance for errors behind Rella, though. He struck out Saito. He struck out Hennessy. Sifuentes came up with an 0-for-4 in the game. He fell to 2-2, but then grounded to the left side. Jimenez was on it, throw to first – ballgame!

Raccoons 6, Bayhawks 3

Baskins 3-5, RBI; Ayala 2-5; Toohey 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Carreno 2-3, BB, 2B, RBI;

Finally, I unclenched, producing a very wrinkly-looking Honeypaws in my lap while Nick Valdes explained to Maud how his first pitch had set up the Raccoons’ entire pitching plan to perfection. He should do it again tomorrow!

And I shall prevent that with my blunderbuss.

Game 2 – Jake Jackson (14-7, 3.79 ERA) vs. Rafael Pedraza (18-8, 3.72 ERA)

We saw no reason to change our lineup for Game 2, the first pitch of which was thrown out by … well, a pair of first pitches, by Ricky Ohl and by Manobu Sugano, another Raccoons reliever of old, who had somehow been on the team twice, precisely sparing out the 2017-2020 period in which we went to the CLCS three times and died by Nick Lester in extra innings of a second tie-breaker the fourth time.

SFB: 2B Quiroz – 3B Sifuentes – 1B N. Duncan – CF McGuigan – RF Platero – SS K. Saito – C J. Wilson – LF M. Castillo – P Pedraza
POR: CF Baskins – 1B Ayala – 3B Maldonado – RF Toohey – LF Fernandez – SS Waters – C Zarate – 2B Carreno – P Jackson

The quirky Quiroz opened the game with a full-count walk, but Jackson got two strikeouts and an easy fly to center from the next three batters, and the runner never left first base. While Jackson began to retire the Bayhawks in order, the Raccoons found it hard to get on base. They were retired 1-2-3 in the first, and Manny walked in the second inning, but also never got off first base. Carreno drew a leadoff walk in the third inning, but was caught stealing by Jeff Wilson, and nobody else bothered to get on either.

The Bayhawks got their first hit with one out in the fourth, Nick Duncan lining one over Matt Waters or a single. McGuigan was down 0-2 before floating a bloop single into center. Platero grounded a 2-2 pitch to Maldonado, who started a 5-4-3 double play to end the inning and keep the game scoreless. Nick Valdes puffed Maud in the side and bragged how he had taught Maldo that move. Maybe that also explained the two errors in the first game…

The game got its first run in the bottom 4th when Bryce Toohey hit a 2-out solo homer to right. Manny also hit a fly to deep right, but this one was catchable for Platero and ended the inning. Jackson walked Castillo in the fifth, but got around that by retiring Pedraza, then faced Pedraza again with two outs in the bottom 5th, and with Jose Zarate on third base. If we didn’t already have the lead, there’d be a certain impetus to pinch-hitting, but we were already up 1-0 and Jackson was going really well. He flew out to Castillo to strand Zarate, then sat down the Baybirds 1-2-3 in the sixth.

Bottom 6th, Baskins and Ayala went to the corners with a pair of leadoff singles. The Birds hung with Pedraza yet, who gave up a liner to short to Maldo that Saito jumped for, appeared to tip with the edge of his glove, but couldn’t contain – RBI single for Maldonado, 2-0 lead…! Toohey though spanked a ball at Sifuentes for a 5-3 double play, and Manny grounded out to Quiroz to end the inning quickly after three straight singles to begin it.

Promptly, Jamie McGuigan homered off Jackson to begin the seventh. Platero walked, and the Raccoons got the pen scurrying. Saito and Wilson both struck out, so we felt a bit better about Jackson also facing Mel Castillo, who was 0-for-5 in the series. He stopped being 0-for-5 with a 2-0 pitch into the right-center gap, though. It was a double, and the Bayhawks waved Platero around for home plate – but Bryce Toohey made a PERFECT throw, a real rocket, and hammered out the tying run at the plate!! The 2-1 lead remained intact at the seventh inning stretch!

Jackson was hit for with Matt Waters on second base and two outs in the bottom 7th. Gene Pellicano hit a grounder up the middle that Saito fumbled for an error, putting two on the corners for Baskins, who ended Pedraza with a HUGE 3-run homer to right-center!! 5-1 Critters!

For the eighth we went to Nate Norris, but the pen had both Chuck Jones and Nelson Moreno going while the inning was just beginning. Norris struck out Cosmo Trevino and got Quiroz on a grounder, but Sifuentes broke out of an 0-for-8 spell to begin the series when he legged out an infield grounder for a single. That was the cue or Jones, to face Nick Duncan, whom he rung up in a full count. The Coons then loaded the bases on a single and two walks against Joe West in the bottom 8th, but Zarate struck out and Carreno lined out to Sifuentes to strand all the runners.

Jones remained in for McGuigan, a switch-hitter that was clearly weaker from the right side, to begin the ninth, but gave up a single anyway. In came Moreno, popping out Platero, but walking Saito. The bullpen door flung open again, this time for Josh Rella. Jeff Wilson crushed a 3-run homer on his first pitch …! Oh dear – the entire lead, reduced to one meek run …! The park got *really* tense at this point, and Nick Valdes almost choked on a donut. I reached for the bottle of Capt’n Coma, but Rella struck out Castillo for the second out. Here came Jorge Gonzalez to pinch-hit – and to strike out!

Raccoons 5, Bayhawks 4

Baskins 2-4, HR, 3 RBI; Maldonado 2-4, RBI; Jackson 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 6 K, W (1-0);

A 2-0 series lead for the Raccoons as they’d travel to the Bay!

Nothing good has ever happened at the Bay.