[Westheim]

2071 CONTINENTAL LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES
Portland Raccoons (92-70) vs. Las Vegas Aces (93-71)

The Raccoons had a day to lick their wounds and then had to hope that Tony Gaytan would have the stuff for the third game of the set, which was already a must-win if we wanted to have a hack at more than packing up while Vinny Morales did his thing.

Game 3 – Tony Gaytan (11-12, 3.76 ERA) vs. Tim Henderson (13-12, 3.87 ERA)

Gaytan had faced Vegas three times, going 1-1 with a 2.29 ERA. He had won his September start, which had also been his worst against them, but the only one in which the Coons’ offense could be bothered to show up. Henderson had gone 1-1 for an 0.59 ERA, losing a 1-0 squeezer on an unearned run in April (that one opposing Gaytan), and taking a comfy W in September.

The Raccoons sent Colter to play right against Wilson, who just was not in shape after three months battling various injuries.

The ceremonial first pitch was thrown out by Chance Fox, part of the last Raccoons team to make the playoffs and already retired for a bunch of years after his body came apart in his early 30s.

LVA: 2B J. Williams – RF A. Jones – C Haynes – CF Phelps – SS Hatakeyama – 3B Rodewald – LF D. Perez – 1B McGrew – P T. Henderson
POR: LF Humphries – 2B Yocum – SS Katzman – CF T. Wharton – C Rivas – 1B Olivares – RF Colter – 3B Hernandez – P Gaytan

Jones singled and stole a base in the first, but got stranded, and the Raccoons got Humph on base with a leadoff walk, but Katz doubled him off.

All our hope was on Gaytan bringing his stuff, but he didn’t put anybody away in a 2-strike count until after the Aces took a 1-0 lead in the third inning on Hatakeyama and Perez doubles. McGrew then fanned, but the third out came on Henderson grounding out on an 0-2 pitch. Rivas and Colter went to the corners in the bottom 2nd with a pair of singles, but Hernandez fanned to end the inning, and instead Jones singled again in the third inning, stole second base again, and then got drive in by Haynes with another single on a 2-strike pitch.

Doom.

The fourth was uneventful, and in the fifth Jones hit another single, but before he could attempt to steal with two gone, Haynes hit a pop to short that Katz dropped for an error. Gaytan’s first pitch to Phelps was wild and advanced the runners, and a mound conference was called to sort out the stupid stuff going on. Phelps ran a full count, then drove in both runners with a single and authority. Hatakeyama got rung up, but the Coons were trailing by a slam in the middle of the fifth.

Bottom 6th, and Humph got another leadoff walk out of Tim Henderson, then made it to third base on Yocum’s single to right-center. Katz, 0-for-8 with a stupid error so far, hit a long fly to center, but it got caught by Phelps, holding him to a sac fly, 4-1. Yocum couldn’t get a jump and only reached second base when Wharton got brushed by a pitch from Henderson. This brought the tying run to bat, and Rivas socked an RBI double on the first pitch, and now the Aces’ pen began to stir in earnest. But it took just three more pitches to sort out the inning, as Olivares’ comebacker and Colter’s pop both gave the Coons nothing but more headaches and stranded runners, and I opened a bottle of Capt’n Coma, and another smaller bottle of Capt’n Coma for Honeypaws.

Gaytan struck out Henderson to begin the seventh, then was lifted for Rios, who retired the 1-2 batters. Woodley batted for the southpaw after Hernandez led off the bottom 7th with a single to center… and crashed into a 6-4-3 double play. Humph flew out to right, and then Cam Jackson got bombed for a Phelps homer, and another run on Rodewald and Perez knocks in the eighth inning. Takeuchi further bashed a pinch-hit homer off Dan Graham in the ninth inning as everything crumbled to pieces. Olivares began the ninth by singling off Aces southpaw John Santamaria, but Guerrero pinch-hit and popped out, and Hernandez hit into yet another ******* double play.

7-2 Aces … Aces lead series 3-0

Yocum 2-4; Rivas 2-4, 2B, RBI;

Game 4 – Vinny Morales (9-4, 4.17 ERA) vs. Melvin Guerra (6-8, 4.63 ERA, 1 SV)

The surely final game of the series featured two pitchers that were banished from the rotation for part of the year, Guerra even more so than Vinny Morales, who had pitched in relief only five times. Guerra had made more than half of his 46 appearances from the pen and had only tossed 130.1 innings in total, but he had not allowed a run in his two appearances (one start) against the Raccoons, pitching 8.1 shutout innings for a 1-0 record. Vinny had faced the Aces in April and May, both starts, getting no decisions for 13.1 innings of 3-run ball (2 earned) for a 1.35 ERA.

The ceremonial first pitch was thrown out by Gus Hopkins, who ran Portland’s most successful shelter for rescue owlets. He did so wearing a homemade owl costume.

LVA: 2B J. Williams – RF A. Jones – C Haynes – CF Phelps – SS Hatakeyama – 3B Rodewald – LF D. Perez – 1B McGrew – P M. Guerra
POR: LF Humphries – 2B Yocum – SS Katzman – CF T. Wharton – C Rivas – 1B Olivares – RF Colter – 3B Hernandez – P Morales

Williams started Game 4 with a single to center, but was doubled off by Jones, and the Aces went quickly in the second inning. The Coons had gotten Katz on base through four balls in the first, but Wharton had popped out. Olivares’ 1-out single got the team in the H column in the bottom 2nd, but Colter made a meek out. Hernandez added a single with two outs, bringing up Vinny, whee… AND HE SINGLED! Olivares scored, and the Coons took a 1-0 lead! Humph fell to 1-2 before mashing another RBI single to left. Hernandez scored, and Vinny got confused on the base paths and was tagged out in a rundown to end the inning.

The Aces made incessant quick and weak contact in the next few innings, which was fine by me, while the Coons made no contact in the bottom 3rd, wasting walks drawn by Katz and Rivas. Colter and Hernandez went to the corners on singles to begin the bottom 4th, though. Morales swung and grounded out to Williams; Colter held back, and Hernandez moved to second, so in the end it worked just like a boring bunt. Humph got walked intentionally again, bringing up Yocum with the bases loaded and one gone. He smashed the first pitch at Hatakeyama for the easiest double play on the ******* planet.

Vinny gave up a single to Danny Perez in the fifth inning, then picked him off to end the inning. Wharton singled to knock out Guerra after 4.1 innings, but replacement Ignazio Flores walked Rivas before the Aces for once couldn’t turn two on Olivares’ grounder to short. Guerrero batted for Colter, grounded out, then resumed rightfield duties – absolutely not his usual spot.

Jimmy Williams’ usual spot was second base, which in the sixth he reached by a 2-out double, but Jones’ groundout to Yocum kept the Aces off the board. Danny Perez shagged a Hernandez liner with a headlong dive in the same inning, and the Coons were retired 1-2-3 in the bottom 6th.

Top 7th, Haynes singled firmly to center, and Vinny threw a wild pitch. The pen sprung into real honest action at once, even though Phelps then punched a K. Hatakeyama singled to center. Haynes went home, but Wharton hammered him out for the second out of the inning! Hatakeyama scooted up to second base, but Rodewald whiffed as Vinny Morales – of all people – completed seven shutout innings.

McMahan appeared for the eighth inning and gave up a 2-strike leadoff single to the left-handed Perez, but then went on to collect three groundouts from McGrew, Takeuchi, and Williams. Olivares opened the eighth by singling, and Guerrero hit a foul ball to right that Takeuchi dropped for an error, but then still flew out on his second chance. Hernandez singled, as did Jaden Wilson, and the bases were loaded. John Santamaria gave up RBI singles to Humph and Yocum, but Katz (0-for-10 in the series) lined out to Perez in left. Wharton flew out to Phelps. The 4-0 lead then went to Valentin, who this time kept the Aces off the bases and struck out a pair in a 1-2-3 inning.

4-0 Raccoons … Aces lead series 3-1

Humphries 2-3, 2 BB, 2 RBI; Olivares 2-4; Hernandez 3-4; Wilson (PH) 1-1; Morales 7.0 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K, W (1-0) and 1-3, RBI;

The Miners won the FLCS that day, beating the Warriors in five games. More on that later.

Game 5 – Nick Walla (14-9, 2.94 ERA) vs. Alex Duarte (17-9, 3.59 ERA)

Back to the Game 1 matchup that hadn’t gone good at all for the Raccoons. But who knows, maybe, if we double our runs total for a couple more games, we might actually get somewhere.

So far, though, the Raccoons had not hit a home run, not stolen a base, and it had taken until their 35th batting inning of the season for somebody to get as much as a second RBI……

Jason Holzmeister and Nick Luebbert had yet to appear in a game at all.

The ceremonial first pitch honors fell to former city mayor, the right honorable Arriba Friendly. They/them had made the city such a better place by making Portland the first city in America where swearing in public was banned under the threat of a $50k fine.

Thankfully our ******* office above the playing field didn’t count as ******* public. And we’ll get to the death penalty for littering later.

LVA: 2B J. Williams – RF A. Jones – C Haynes – CF Phelps – SS Hatakeyama – 3B Rodewald – LF D. Perez – 1B McGrew – P M. Guerra
POR: LF Humphries – 2B Yocum – SS Katzman – CF T. Wharton – C Rivas – 1B Olivares – RF Colter – 3B Hernandez – P Walla

Williams singled on the first pitch of the game and never left that base, being scared into submission by a total of four pickoff attempts by the brown battery while the 2-3-4 batters made outs. Duarte got outs from the Coons’ 1-2, but then gave up a homer to hitless Katz for the game’s first run! Kaaaaatz! Wharton whiffed and Walla walked Hatakeyama, who soon enough did steal second base, but didn’t get around to score on account on more weak outs from the Aces’ 6-7-8 batters. Jones hit a 2-out single and stole second in the top 3rd, but Haynes grounded out to Hernandez to keep him on base. Yocum also did the 2-out single and stolen base routine that inning, and was also left on by Katz.

Walla got a few K the second time through the order, but more importantly came up to bat after a 1-out double by Rivas and not one but *two* intentional walks to Olivares and Hernandez in the bottom 4th (Colter had grounded out to first). Batting with three on and two outs, he fell to 1-2 before snapping a ball up the middle and it went through between the infielders! Rivas scored! Olivares scored! 3-0 lead! Humph singled home Hernandez with another run before the inning ended on Yocum whiffing, but now the Coons had a 4-0 lead…!

…and then it started to go all wrong again. Perez doubled off the wall to begin the fifth inning, McGrew shyly singled, and Walla then walked PH Roy Ben to load the bags with nobody out. Williams’ grounder to second became a fielder’s choice, Ben out at second, as a run scored. Jones hit a sac fly to right, and Haynes thankfully popped out to short to end the inning.

While the Aces were bold enough to then send ex-Coon Cam Bridges for long relief, Walla worked himself up with long counts in the sixth inning. He didn’t allow another run, or even runner, but the Aces got him over 100 pitches and when Colter and Hernandez got on base to begin the bottom 6th, Wilson batted for him. Him and Humph both flew out to Perez for no gains, but Yocum shanked a 2-out, 2-run double up the rightfield line to create some breathing room again! Phelps caught Katz’ looper to shallow center on the run, ending the inning, but a 4-run lead was re-established.

Wharton homered to make it 7-2 in the seventh, but the Coons had hoped for many outs from Gabriel Rios, but got only three in the seventh (for the cost of a walk), and then he walked Williams and gave up a single to Jones to begin the eighth. The Rule 5er Rismiller allowed an RBI single to Haynes and then walked the bags full with Phelps. Suddenly, the tying run was at the plate, and the Aces had yet to make an out in the eighth. Holzmeister replaced him and continued to **** up, allowing a 2-run single to Hatakeyama, but Colter’s throw to the plate also allowed the tying runs into scoring position. Rodewald popped out, Perez walked, and McGrew… hit into a 6-4-3 double play as the Raccoons Houdini’ed their way outta there….! The score was now 7-5.

Danny Ryba walked a pair in the bottom 8th, but didn’t allow a tack-on run, and so the 2-run lead went to Valentin for the ninth, and Takeuchi was leading off as pinch-hitter. He struck out in a full count. Williams – annoying as ****! – legged out another infield single, but Jones grounded to short. Katz, to Yocum, to Woodley at first base! BALLGAME!!

7-5 Raccoons … Aces lead series 3-2

Yocum 2-4, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; T. Wharton 2-4, HR, RBI; Rivas 2-4, 2B; Hernandez 1-2, 2 RBI; Walla 6.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, W (1-1) and 1-2, 2 RBI;

Back to Vegas, baby!