[Westheim]

2048 WORLD SERIES
Portland Raccoons (93-69) @ Dallas Stars (100-62)

The Stars had home field advantage – the Raccoons had in fact been the bottom seed for the playoffs – so the first two games would be staged in Dallas this time, after Portland had seen the opener of the previous World Series between these two clubs. The Stars would lead off with right-hander Dave Hils, who had outdueled Jeremy Baker for a 1-0 win in the regular season, but would oppose Wheats on regular rest this time. Wheats had lost the rubber game of the series to Arthur Pickett, 4-3.

Game 1 – Jason Wheatley (13-7, 3.44 ERA) vs. Dave Hils (18-10, 3.30 ERA)

Derek Baskins was back in the lineup for the Coons, who struggled to fill that leftfield spot with goodness. Bryce Toohey was pencilled in for the starts against lefty hurlers, and I almost put him in here already, but then again he’d been rotten for the entire season and I didn’t see it changing now all of a sudden.

But couldn’t you say the same about Derek Baskins?

POR: SS Adame – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – RF Preble – 2B Waters – 1B Gurney – C R. Gonzalez – LF Baskins – P Wheatley
DAL: LF O. Gonzalez – 1B van Eijk – CF del Toro – RF Cecil – SS Villacorta – 2B Sedillo – 3B Haney – C Rollin – P Hils

Neither offense got going early, in any way, shape or form. Herrera hit a single in the top 1st, and that was about it for the Raccoons in the first run through the lineup. Wheats gave up a single to Leo Villacorta in the second, but he was doubled up by Mario Sedillo, and in the third inning Omar Gonzalez reached with a 2-out walk, but got caught stealing by Ruben Gonzalez. Adame also had a CS on his ledger by then, having singled and ended the top 3rd when Villacorta had put the slab on him at second base.

A bad roller by Jesus Maldonado could perhaps give the Raccoons a start into the game? Mark Haney threw the grounder wildly past Govaart van Eijk at first base, and Maldo reached scoring position in the top 4th, the first Critter to do so in the game. He advanced on a Preble grounder, then went home when Waters grounded to Sedillo, who at first was about to throw the ball home, then reconsidered, then made a hasty throw to first that skipped past van Eijk for the second 2-base error of the inning. Pat Gurney pounced with an RBI single to left, and the Raccoons were up 2-0, both runs being very, very unearned.

The lead didn’t last, at all. Van Eijk opened the bottom 4th with a single, and del Toro unpacked a huge home run to right to level the score at two. Tylor Cecil reached on a Maldonado error after that, Sedillo singled, and Dan Rollin continued the Wheatley deconstruction with a 2-out, 2-run double to left-center. Those two runs were unearned, but they counted all the same as the Stars flipped the score to 4-2 at once.

Wheats tried to get back with a leadoff single in the fifth, and runners were on the corners when Herrera also singled. Maldo hit a long fly to center that stretched out of Juan del Toro’s reach for an RBI double, 4-3. Thing was – neither Preble nor Waters had hit much at all in the CLCS and both were under .200 now with the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position. Preble flew out poorly to shallow center and Waters grounded out to short, stranding the precious runners, while the Stars completed the chewing-up of Wheatley with a walk drawn by van Eijk, and two RBI knocks by del Toro and Villacorta in the bottom 5th, extending their lead to 6-3.

The Coons looked very much defeated. Adame hit a double in the seventh, but was stranded by Herrera and Maldonado, and apart from that they allowed Hils to go eight innings. Righty Dale Mrazek took the baseball in the ninth inning. Martell grounded out, Wilson struck out, and Adame grounded out to make a quick end of it.

Stars 6, Raccoons 3 – (Stars lead 1-0)

Adame 2-5, 2B; Herrera 2-4;

That wasn’t pretty at all. I can’t imagine the agony of having to play them 18 times a year…

Game 2 – Bubba Wolinsky (7-2, 3.23 ERA) vs. Tony Martinez (2-2, 3.81 ERA, 1 SV)

Neither of the Game 2 starters had featured very big in the regular season meeting. Bubba hadn’t pitched at all, and back then Tony Martinez had still been the Stars’ long man. He had only made it into the rotation in September after an injury had taken out Arthur Pickett, the Englishman with the strong Yorkie accent, but even stronger changeup.

But here was finally a left-hander and a reason to jigger the lineup.

POR: SS Adame – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 2B Waters – RF Preble – LF Watt – 1B Toohey – C Wilson – P Wolinsky
DAL: LF O. Gonzalez – 2B Sedillo – CF del Toro – RF Cecil – SS Villacorta – 3B Haney – 1B van Eijk – C Rollin – P T. Martinez

The game started like the first one, with neither side doing much of consequence the first time through – almost. The Stars got a Villacorta single in the bottom 2nd, but also a double play grounder from Haney to Adame, but in the third inning they got a single from Dan Rollin, who was bunted to second by Martinez, then a 2-out RBI double by Omar Gonzalez to put the first run on the board. Sedillo grounded out to short to end three, with the Raccoons down 1-0.

The middle innings failed to see an uptick in offense. The Raccoons were retired in order in the fourth, fifth, and sixth innings by Martinez, and at some point I became vaguely aware by the home fans’ snickering that Tony Martinez was working on an actual ******* no-hitter against us. Wolinsky almost matched his step though, getting nine outs in a row before Sedillo clipped a 2-out single in the bottom 6th. Del Toro then popped out to Matt Waters. It was still 1-0.

The only actual base runner for Portland so far had been Toohey, who had gotten nailed by Martinez, who began the seventh on 60 pitches, but gave up a 2-out single to Waters on a 1-2 pitch. Preble followed with a single to center, Matt Watt singled to left, Waters circled around to score, and out of the blue yonder we were tied! When Toohey walked, the bags filled up for Jeff Wilson, but he struck out, stranding three perfectly good runners on base.

Suddenly Bubba looked like he was in the driver’s seat. He continued to saw off the Stars, and exited a quick bottom 7th on just 72 pitches, while Martinez was now up to 90. It was a hard decision, but Bubba was not hit for to begin the top 8th, flew out to center, then got a lead anyway when Adame banged a jack to left-center, his second of the postseason. Moreover, Bubba batted again for himself in the ninth inning after a quick bottom 8th, and by then the score spreader had been applied to the game with a single by Waters, who stole second, an RBI double by Preble, and an RBI triple by Watt…! Wolinsky faced Adam Middleton with Watt and Toohey on the corners, then slapped a single to center to extend the lead to 5-1…! Adame grounded out after that, but there was no reason to bother the bullpen for the bottom 9th yet. Bubba went back to the mound on 86 pitches, giving up a leadoff single to Sedillo into center, and a single to right to del Toro.

Okay, when is the right point to panic and toss relievers at them? But Cecil hadn’t hit a lick against Wolinsky all game; no pitching change was made yet, and Wolinsky hit into a soft fielder’s choice, with runners now on the corners, but another lefty stick up in Villacorta. That one was still Wolinsky’s – but Moreno was up for Haney after that. The move was made after Villacorta popped out. Moreno threw just two pitches to Haney then, the second being caught by Watt in left, and the series headed to Portland in an even state.

Raccoons 5, Stars 1 – (series tied 1-1)

Waters 2-4; Preble 2-4, 2B, RBI; Watt 2-4, 3B, 2 RBI; Wolinsky 8.2 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, W (2-1) and 1-3, RBI;

Bubbaaaa!!