[Westheim]

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

Home, sweet Home ……. Maud, remind me that when Nick is in the next time I need to ask him for a dome. – So that I can rhyme with home. – Oh Maud, you have no sense for romance.

Slappy, Maud just took the plate with my muffins and walked out. Is she mad about something?

Game 3 – Victor Merino (15-9, 3.60 ERA) vs. Noe Candeloro (7-3, 4.09 ERA)

Neither of these two pitchers had featured in the regular season series, but Candeloro was the second southpaw in a row. The Game 2 lineup had sure started out slow (if not dead from the hips up), but had broken through eventually and no changes were made. The Stars also stuck to their Game 2 lineup against another Coons southpaw.

The ceremonial first pitch was thrown out by David Brewer, Hall of Famer (though not with the brown cap), who played a few years for the Raccoons at the end of the 1989-96 dynasty, and now came back to pay homage to the Raccoons at the tail end of the 2044-48 dynasty.

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

Unfortunately, Merino was no good. He gave up two hits, a walk, and a run in the first – del Toro singling home Gonzalez – and two more this, another walk, and another run in the second, this time with Sedillo singling home van Eijk. He needed almost 50 pitches to make it even that far, and then was sort of lucky that the Stars stranded a pair each time.

Tylor Cecil hit a leadoff single in the third inning, but never got to move off first base. The Raccoons, however, were again nowhere to be found – Candeloro was perfect the first time through the order, whiffing a pair, while the rest made the weakest contact imaginable. Adame flew out to del Toro in right-center to begin the fourth, and Herrera grounded out, but then Maldo ripped a double to left – finally in the H column at least! Maldo also made it an entry into the R column, aggressively cutting around third base and racing home just in time on a soft Waters single to shorten the score to 2-1. From there, Candeloro lost both Mike Preble and Matt Watt on balls, filling the bases with two outs for Bryce Toohey, who was hitless in the postseason, but right now I’d also take him drawing from that .429 OBP he had – and he did! As Candeloro remained entirely out of whack, Toohey drew another four balls, and that pushed home Waters with the tying run! …and then Wilson struck out again……..

The game remained tied at 2-2 in the fifth, and Merino continued to pitch in the sixth, but was yanked after a 1-out single by Haney and a walk to van Eijk. Bob Ibold walked the bags full against Dan Rollin, but buggered out with a K and a fly to Herrera.

Matt Waters had played a silent CLCS, but he kept cranking it up in the World Series now, singling with one out in the sixth. A Preble groundout moved him to second, while Watt walked behind him. Toohey was back up, and how long would the Stars keep Candeloro on the mound? Long enough to end the inning with a K to Toohey at least…

Toohey was out of the game in a double switch after Ibold removed Sedillo to begin the top 7th, Gurney and Kuo taking over. Del Toro reached on an uncaught third strike to put the go-ahead run on base, but Kuo got weak outs from Cecil and Villacorta to keep him on first base after all.

Top 8th, the go-ahead run was back on base. Third base. With nobody out. Watt dropped a fly by PH Jamie King off Preston Porter for two bases, and a wild pitch did the rest. Van Eijk popped out, but Rollin’s grounder up the middle was good enough to bring in the run and give Dallas the lead again. Adam Middleton removed the 3-4-5 in order in the bottom 8th, which was not great. Porter got one out and Bonnie two in the top 9th, before Mrazek was out for the bottom 9th. Watt led off with a single to left, bringing the winning run to the plate in PH Chris Robinson, who whacked another single to center. Al Martell batted for Wilson, but hit a comebacker for a force out at second base, yet at least stayed out of a double play and the winning runs were still aboard for Gurney, who poked the first pitch up the middle and Villacorta lunged and he missed it and it was a single and we were TIED!! Coons!! Too bad that Adame killed the momentum by popping out…! Two outs, Herrera with a chance to end it, but he flew out to Cecil, and the game went to extras, even at three.

Maldo started a 5-4-3 double play on Rollin to bail out Mike Lynn with two aboard in the top 10th, then led off the bottom of the inning, still against Mrazek, who had somehow only thrown 15 pitches in that ninth inning. Maldo grounded out, but Waters singled into center, as did Preble, sending the winning run to second base for Watt, who floated out easily to Cecil. Ruben Gonzalez had entered the game in the #7 slot after Wilson’s removal, and while he was hitting .087 in the playoffs, he could not be batted for since we were now out of catchers. He flew out to del Toro, and the winning run was stranded in scoring position for the second time.

The 11th was uneventful, but Lynn was used up and the Raccoons were now out of lefty pitching and had to resort to a right-hander, Nelson Moreno, who was promptly torn to shreds. He nicked del Toro to begin the 12th, and was swiftly slapped around for a double by Cecil, a sac fly, and ultimately a 2-out single by van Eijk, falling two runs behind. The bottom 11th began with Brad Blankenship for the Stars, facing the 2-3-4 hitters. They all grounded out.

Stars 5, Raccoons 3 (12) – (Stars lead series 2-1)

Waters 3-6, RBI; Robinson (PH) 1-1; Lynn 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K;

Worse yet, Nelson Moreno complained about a bum shoulder after the game. This was not a great time to have a bum shoulder! He was marked as day-to-day.

Game 4 – Jeremy Baker (11-7, 3.69 ERA) vs. Orlando Leos (11-9, 4.43 ERA)

It sort of was go time for the Raccoons now, given that we could ill afford to send Wheats back to the mound down 3-1 in Game 5. I didn’t blame Wheats necessarily – those were some monstrous left-handed hitters.

But it would help if we used our own chances from time to time, y’know…

First pitch duties were delegated to singer slash starlet slash Gobble personality Ke’Andra Gorlupski, who threw the ball about 35 feet. It didn’t even roll all the way to Ruben Gonzalez. She still spontaneously broke into what our legal department has told me I have to call “song”, but what made me admire deaf people and the peace and tranquility they got to enjoy at the same time.

And yes, that’s Robinson in the lineup. Poppa needs offense.

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

The Stars clubbed four singles off Baker in the first inning, and were held to one run mostly because Omar Gonzalez was caught stealing after opening with a single to center. Adame also opened the home 1st with a single, was not caught stealing, and reached third base on a Herrera double to center instead. Maldo tied the game with a sac fly, but Waters and Robinson were put out by Cecil and van Eijk, respectively.

Baker didn’t make it out of the third inning, getting whacked around for a 3-spot that was still ongoing when the hammer came down. Gonzalez and Sedillo hit singles, Cecil drove both of them in, Villacorta walked, Haney whacked an RBI single and the runners advanced on a late throw to home plate by Preble… it was a complete mess. Jake Jackson came in, waved the remaining runners across, and the Raccoons trailed 6-1.

Jackson threw 50 pitches for just 2.2 innings of relief, allowing a 2-run homer to del Toro in the fourth to bury the Critters for good. Not that they had made any rally motions in between – Leos was on a 3-hitter through five innings. Bonnie cocked up another run in the sixth, and when Maldonado actually hit a single in the bottom of the inning, he was immediately doubled up by Waters’ grounder to second to kill that inning, too.

The bottom 7th began with Robinson and Gurney singles before Preble drew a walk, which would certainly doom the very attempt. Ruben Gonzalez promptly spanked into a 6-4-3 double play, technically scoring a completely useless run. Toohey singled home Gurney as pinch-hitter, but even then we were still six runs short.

Emotionally we were so defeated that the bottom 8th began with Watt and Martell pinch-hitting or the old veterans in the 2-3 holes. Martell hit an infield single, after which Matt Waters homered to left, 9-5. (looks skywards) Really? Like that? … The inning fizzled out after that even though Robinson got on base as well. Leos kept pitching through eight despite getting whacked for a 5-spot by then, and even returned for the ninth or a 123-pitch complete-game 10-hitter, sitting down Gonzalez, Wilson, and Adame in order.

Stars 9, Raccoons 5 – (Stars lead series 3-1)

Maldonado 1-2, RBI; Martell (PH) 1-1; Robinson 2-4; Toohey (PH) 1-1, RBI; Hitchcock 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

Well.

(sigh)

Game 5 – Jason Wheatley (13-7, 3.44 ERA) vs. Dave Hils (18-10, 3.30 ERA)

You’re my best horse in the barn, Wheats, and you know that. (pats Wheats’ shoulder before the start) And if someone can shut them down, totally, it’s you! (pats the other shoulder too) And remember, if we don’t win the title I have no excuse to ask Nick Valdes for many millions to buy new stars, and then I have to trade you to some godforsaken crap hole, like Sacramento. (pinches Wheats in the fuzzy cheek)

(Wheats looks bewildered)

The final ceremonial first pitch of the year in this ballpark – that much was for sure – was thrown out by Les Pounder, president of the Portland Food Bank. I had an account there, too, and it contained two hams and a box full of marmalades in tiny glasses.

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

Del Toro and Adame both hit singles in the first inning and attempted to steal; only Adame made it, and was then singled across by Maldonado for a quick 1-0 lead for the Furballs. Wheats ended up facing the minimum the first time through, while also getting drilled back-to-back with Adame with two outs in the bottom 2nd. That filled the bases with Preble already on, but Herrera grounded out to short to strand all three of them.

Waters hit another jack to extend the Coons’ lead to 2-0 in the bottom 3rd, while Wheats now started his second run through the Stars order, where it had started to go very wrong in Game 1. Del Toro singled again with two outs in the top 4th, but Cecil was rung up in a full count to end the inning, while the Raccoons scratched out another run with hits by Gonzalez and Adame in the fourth, going up 3-0.

Things got more ugly as the innings progressed. Wheats hit Sedillo in the fifth inning, which the Stars apparently objected to. In any case, Maldo got smacked in return to begin the bottom 5th, but with a breaking ball, which was a weird combo with the leadoff man. Maldo stole second, but would ultimately be left on base. Omar Gonzalez singled then and stole second with one out in the sixth. Van Eijk grounded out to short, but now the big guns were coming up, both del Toro and Cecil hitting over .350 with three homers each and a total of 27 RBI in the postseason. There was a mound conference, Wheats assured the pitching coach he totally had this, and then got del Toro to fly out easily to Preble in leftfield.

Preble hit a homer to right to greet Hils in the bottom 6th, 4-0. Wheats ran out of juice in the seventh then. Villacorta singled, but was forced out by Sedillo, who stole second. Mark Haney singled him across, 4-1, and then Rollin’s grounder to left was cut off by Adame, but it was too late to make a throw to any base… infield single, and the end for Wheats with Jamie King appearing as tying run and lefty pinch-hitter. The Coons went to Lynn, and Lynn gave up an RBI double that hit off the fence in left, maybe four inches from the top end of the padding there… Gonzalez went down on strikes, and somehow we maintained a 4-2 lead at the stretch.

The lead was only blown in the eighth. Lynn allowed a leadoff single to van Eijk, walked del Toro, and after Cecil grounded out, conceded the runs on a Villacorta single, evening the score at four. Those were all lefty hitters, by the way. While Bob Ibold came in from the pen after that disaster, I calmly put a block of soap into a sock and got ready to visit the clubhouse after the defeat that was now inevitable.

Ibold and Porter kept the game tied through the middle of the ninth, but could we actually find a walkoff hero? In Game 3, the answer had been a resounding “nope”, repeatedly. This time Toohey hit a 1-out single in the #9 hole against Mrazek, then was run for with Derek Baskins. Adame grounded out, moving the winning run and ticket to Dallas to second base. Herrera ran a full count, then walked. Maldo came to the plate, took a ball, then ticked a changeup through the right side. A hit! Baskins on the run! Baskins around third! Baskins for home! Baskins safe!! IT’S A WALKOFF!!!!

Raccoons 5, Stars 4 – (Stars lead series 3-2)

Adame 2-4, RBI; Maldonado 2-4, 2 RBI; Preble 2-4, HR, RBI; Toohey (PH) 1-1; Wheatley 6.2 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 2 K;

Fine, Maud, here’s your rose-scented soap.

But next time I’ll whack him.