[Westheim]

As always, games six and seven will be single posts, no matter what, even if there is no game seven.

The Raccoons had to try and stop the bleeding in hostile territory. Their historical record was not in their favor. Only once had they made up a 3-2 deficit in the playoffs, coming back from a 10-0 crushing by the Capitals in Game 5 of the 1993 World Series by winning Game 6 in 12 innings and then Game 7 with some early thump.

I do not think I can survive extra innings anymore.

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

The Raccoons would not face Joao Joo yet in the Baybirds’s first match ball game. They saved that special treat for a Game 7, if there’d be one. The recent trend suggested the Bayhawks winning 7-2 in Game 6.

But then again the road team had won every game in the series, so what could even go wrong now? Come on boys! We have them RIGHT WHERE WE WANT THEM!!

Game 6 – Hector Santos (13-6, 2.50 ERA) vs. Alex Maldonado (14-5, 2.95 ERA)

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

Whoever hoped for strong pitching to make a return after a calm first inning would soon be bitterly disappointed. The second inning saw home runs being exchanged by DeWeese and Almanza, both being obviously leadoff jacks.

The third had Cookie single and steal second base, where he was soon left. Maldonado then opened the bottom of the inning with a triple to right center that threw the Raccoons into disarray immediately, but I suspected the involvement of cosmic forces in what happened afterwards. Eddie Jackson singled to center, scoring his pitcher and giving the Birds a 2-1 lead. That was expected. Nothing good ever happened with Almost-Coons involved. Yet then the Birds got lucky twice on bloopers. Claros to right fell in front of the onrushing Waggoner for a single, and Garcia then hit another blooper to the other side, and also came up with a single, this one scoring the Birds’ third run. Santos walked Alexander to load the bases before McIntyre popped out behind home plate and Ingraham lined out to Walter. The Birds remained ahead 3-1, with final annihilation of the Raccoons postponed for the time being.

Maldonado walked a pair in the fourth, but the Raccoons wouldn’t get the hit they need, with Waggoner grounding out to Ingraham, and Walter flying out to center. The top of the fifth was led off by Santos, who rocked a base hit to left, and Cookie soon singled through on the right side to have the tying runs set up camp on first and second with nobody out. Nunley was eager to add to his new postseason resume, but was smacked hard by Maldonado with the very first pitch. Nunley went down, but after the Druid slapped a wet towel in his face a couple of times decided that the numerous broken bones in his arm couldn’t potentially hurt as badly when running as anything the Raccoons’ resident butcher could do to him here on the ground. The bases were loaded for Hugo Mendoza, batting all of .130/.130/.130 in the series in 23 attempts, with no RBI. He HAD to get somebody in, RIGHT NOW.

When Hector Santos did cross home plate, it was on a sac fly hit by DeWeese, whose drive to deep right had been caught at the fence by Almanza. Mendoza had struck out feebly. That brought up McKnight, hitting even less at .105, with two on and two out. He grounded weakly to short, where Claros butchered the play and reloaded the bases on the error. Mike Denny came up (.912 OPS in the CLCS) and was the final straw before I would go back down to the Bay to consign my body to the waves and the muck.

He struck out.

Security kept me from going.

Everything was awful.

3-2 became 5-2 in the bottom of the same ****ing inning when Santos couldn’t keep Garcia off base and then allowed another rocket to fly away off Almanza’s launchpad. For all intents and purposes, their season ended when that ball broke the plane over the leftfield fence.

Walter and Cookie had singles in the sixth, but after William Raven replaced Maldonado, Ingraham sucked up Nunley’s grounder up the middle and the Raccoons again stranded a pair. In the seventh, McKnight singled and Denny doubled, all with two outs. Waggoner came up, at least batting .368 and there was some hope there, with the Birds again completely trusting Raven, a fallen starter, with better options available, f.e. their lone left-handed reliever. Waggoner singled just marginally over the glove of Raul Claros into shallow left, and then Petracek hit for Walter and singled to center. The Birds’ pen remained silent. Adam Young batted for Ron Thrasher and oh **** that’s why. When has Adam Young ever had a great hit in a Raccoons uniform? He grounded out to Mike Robinson, stranding three in a 5-3 game.

Stank only appeared in the eighth after Nunley had lined a Jeff Boynton pitch to center for a 1-out single. The tying run was at the plate in Mendoza, which was certainly not comforting given his .120/.120/.120 slash. Our pinch-hitting options were down to Bergquist and Margolis, however, and it just didn’t make a whole lot of sense. Maybe divine intervention could help us now. Maybe the Bayhawks also have that one particular baseball god who just can’t stand them. Maybe Fuddles, the baseball god of clumsy walks, could help the Coons a bit! Mendoza struck out, DeWeese grounded out.

Top of the ninth. Ray Kelley pitching. Ronnie McKnight led off sent a soft line to left on a 1-2 pitch that dropped in front of Javier Gusmán, who had replaced Jackson in a double switch. Denny struck out, bringing up Waggoner. He also lined to left, but completely past Gusmán. McKnight made a dash for home while Waggoner awkwardly slid into second base and bent his ankle. While McKnight was safe, Waggoner remained curled over the bag and had to evaluated by the Druid, who deemed it was necessary to remove him. Bergquist pinch-ran for him as the tying run as the intensity of the game was reaching the red zone. He moved to third when Petracek grounded out to Ingraham, and with that there were two outs and Danny Margolis was the last bat off the bench, and 0-for-1 in the series.

Come on, Danny, it’s your turn here! Ball one low, didn’t bite. Come on, Danny, you can be a legend! You’ll still be a career backup and quad-A player, but you can be a legend for a night and day! The second pitch was on the corner, and Margolis put it weakly into play. He grounded out to Claros at short.

Bayhawks 5, Raccoons 4 – Bayhawks win series 4-2 – Carmona 3-5; McKnight 2-5; Waggoner 3-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Petracek (PH) 1-2; Ramirez 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

And then there was the void.