[Westheim]

2010 CONTINENTAL LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES
Portland Raccoons (96-66) vs. Oklahoma City Thunder (95-67)

Game 6 – Jong-hoo Umberger (18-8, 3.28 ERA) vs. William Raven (8-2, 3.80 ERA)

After game 5 and the series going back to Portland, the first word was that the Thunder were going to send Antonio Donis in the sixth game. The Raccoons had completely failed to hit the Thunder’s two left-handers, Donis getting ruffled a bit, but not quite decisively enough to be of concern for them. But in the end, they still had to pitch William Raven anyway in one of the games. If ahead 3-2, sending Donis would make sense in game 6, but they were down and had to win two anyway, so why send Donis – who was old and always had had very little in terms of stamina! – into an unfavorable matchup? But if the Thunder won game 6, which was a rather open affair, they were the odds-on favorites in game 7.

The Raccoons didn’t know what to do at all. Nobody was hitting. In fact, except for .333/.444/.333 Craig Bowen nobody was even reaching a .700 OPS, with Howell (.697) and Alston (.650) completing a sorrowing top 3 for the team.

With Raven on the mound, the obvious strategy still was to throw all left-handers we had at him, though. Come on boys! We need those bats!!

OCT: LF Britton – 1B T. Cardenas – RF Takizawa – C Ledesma – 2B M. Garza – CF Covington – 3B Arreola – SS Vieitas – P Raven
POR: 2B Nomura – 3B Canning – RF Alston – LF Pruitt – 1B Quebell – C Bowen – CF White – SS Howell – P Umberger

After a clean and laborious first inning from Umberger, the Raccoons started with a single by Yoshi, a wild pitch moving him to second, and another single by Canning. The three left-handed batters in the middle of the order that were supposed to light up the scoreboard made three poor outs, with only Pruitt’s being remotely productive, as he scored Yoshi on a groundout for a 1-0 lead. The park was not exactly amused, but buzzing in a friendly way.

That run, however, wasn’t going to stand on its own. Umberger allowed a leadoff double to Ledesma in the top 2nd. Garza grounded out, moving him to third before Covington went down hacking wildly. Umberger walked Ignacio Arreola before Vieitas also struck out, but boy did we need insurance – and the outlook on Javier Cruz tomorrow did not count as insurance!

No team got the ball out of the infield for a while then. While Yoshi hit a 1-out single in the bottom 3rd, it expired before it reached the outfield grass, and Walt Canning hit into a double play anyway. Then Alston and Pruitt started the fourth with a pair of singles, bringing “D.P.” Quebell to the plate. He grounded an 0-1 offering to the right side, Cardenas made the play and got the force on Pruitt, but the return throw was late and we retained runners on the corners for Craig Bowen, whose .734 OPS was still pacing these Critters by a sound margin. And HE rolled into the double play.

The Thunder remained suspiciously silent, although the top 5th started with a drive to right by Covington that Alston caught in a tumble. Curiously, Arreola’s poor grounder eluded Canning over the third base bag for a single, but he was stranded. Pat White’s leadoff single in the bottom of the inning only led to him reaching scoring position on Umberger’s bunt, with Yoshi walking, and Arreola not defeated by a Canning bouncer. This was not something that worked both ways, obviously.

In the sixth, Cardenas was on after a single. Takizawa drove a pitch to deep center, but not past the reach of White, and also not out of the park. Speaking of out of the park: the Coons had yet to homer (or triple) in the series.

While this led up to an inning in which Alston, Pruitt, and Quebell were batting, it was not a leadup to then say “A-ha! But here came Alston and did something really great!” – because he didn’t. None of them did. All went down, none made it out of the infield. You were waiting so hard for the Thunder to get even, you could be forgiven for missing the best chance yet for the Raccoons. White reached base again in the seventh, with Howell following after him, and Rob hit a 1-out line drive to left, all the way into the corner. Bad thing was, the line wasn’t entirely out of Arreola’s reach, so White got a late start and couldn’t score on the drive.

Up 1-0, runners on second and third, and one out, this was the spot to bat for Umberger, the worst-hitting pitcher of all times. And we did NOT tap Ayers, but Travis Owens. Which was probably a mistake. His grounder to Vieitas was fast, but right to Vieitas and White scampered back to third base. Yoshi was up, poked at 1-0, a floater over Cardenas, who lunged, but didn’t get it! But Howell was asleep and didn’t go home! Only White scored, 2-0, Howell remaining at third base! Canning came up, hit a line to center, and Covington didn’t get it, and NOW Howell was so kind to score. 3-0, two on, and Alston walked in a full count to load them up. Come on, Matty, end it right here! End it right here, Matty! No, Raven got him to pop out.

By the way. Did you notice that there was no official word on the availability of Angel Casas? The Raccoons had clouded themselves in mystery before the game, and for now, Ron Thrasher was sent out to protect a 3-0 lead with six outs that had to be collected. He got Vieitas on a grounder, then walked PH Robert Rucker. Britton singled to right, Alston tried to get the slowish Rucker at third, couldn’t, and the Thunder had two in scoring position with one out, and with two outs once Cardenas whiffed. That put Thrasher against slugger Haruyoshi Takizawa. Technically there was an open base, but Takizawa was a left-hander and Ledesma was an ex-Coon who had an automatic +25% luck against Portland. Takizawa took a strike before putting the 0-1 in play, a harmless grounder to Howell, who didn’t dare making another mistake in this game. Inning over, three outs left.

The Coons did nothing in the bottom 8th, and as we flipped to the ninth, who left the bullpen? Angel Casas left the bullpen! Angel Casas, newly minted single season saves record holder! Pruitt was replaced for defense with Trevino sliding into center, and Angel Casas was facing Ledesma, Garza, and Covington, with the first two batting .182 in the series, and Covington .300. Angel nibbled a bit and missed a bit with Ledesma, but struck him out on five pitches. Garza popped a 1-1 offering to shallow right, Yoshi out, Alston in, Yoshi catching it while falling down and Alston still coming and coming and never arriving, but the out was made. Martin Covington, career .232/.280/.421 batter was all that stood between the Coons and the World Series, and the first pitch missed. The second was well placed on the inside, Covington still swung and poked it. Bouncer past Angel, but Nomura was going to play it. Yoshi to first, out, ballgame!!

3-0 Raccoons!! (POR wins 4-2); Nomura 2-2, 2 BB, RBI; Canning 2-4, RBI; White 2-4; Umberger 7.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K, W (1-0);