[Westheim]

2046 WORLD SERIES
Portland Raccoons (96-66) vs. Denver Gold Sox (110-52)

The Raccoons brought the damn trophy home – even though it was only to look at for them and even though the Sox would likely celebrate on this very field within a couple of days.

Save for a Sadaharu Okuda gem in the third game of the series, there was nothing that could still be done for the Critters, since offense was not something they enjoyed dabbling in anymore.

The ceremonial first pitch was thrown out by Ken Holzwurm, Portland performance artist, who mostly burned money for effect and the like.

Game 3 – Sadaharu Okuda (9-12, 4.20 ERA) vs. Israel Mendoza (18-11, 3.49 ERA)

They kept bringing up right-handers, we kept sticking to our lineup.

Not like it was working or anything.

DEN: 2B I. Villa – RF E. Miller – CF S. Castillo – SS R. Thompson – LF T. Turner – C D. Philips – 1B J. Robinson – 3B Hornig – P I. Mendoza
POR: RF Mercado – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – C Morales – 2B Gurney – LF Baskins – SS Waters – P Okuda

If the “gem” included a solo homer by Eric Miller in the first before Okuda would hit two homers himself to win the game on his own terms, so be it. Maybe that much would not even be necessary, with a leadoff single by Derek Baskins in the bottom 3rd! Alas, Waters doubled him up, 4-6-3, and then Okuda rather pointlessly singled to center. Mercado popped out.

Miller, Thompson, and Turner all hit singles off Okuda in the fourth, but Miller was caught stealing before the others reached base, and nothing adverse happened there. Armando Herrera hit a leadoff single in the bottom of the fourth, before being expertly stranded with three weak-bum outs. I grabbed Slappy’s arm for comfort and strength, Honeypaws not being enough anymore to help suffer all the burdens.

Okuda hit another single in the bottom 5th while holding the Sox to their one run. This one also came with two outs, but Baskins was still on base and dashed for third successfully, representing the tying run. Mendoza ended up walking Mercado in a full count to load the bases for Herrera, hitting .485 with 6 RBI in the playoffs. If anyone – Herrera! He ran another full count, grounded up the middle, and Villa made a great play to quell the uprising…

While Okuda kept the bases largely clean in the middle innings, the Raccoons kept littering. Mendoza hit Maldo to begin the bottom 6th, then allowed a single to left to Toohey. Morales flew out to Miller. Gurney popped out to short. Baskins flew into the right-center gap – and the ******* BASEBALL ACTUALLY DINKED IN. Maldo scored, tying the game, while Toohey was too slow and had to stop at third on the RBI double. The Sox wanted no piece of the .100 menace Matt Waters, preferring to force the Raccoons to remove Okuda. But the Raccoons didn’t. Okuda was 2-for-2 off Mendoza in the silly game, surely he could find another one. The Raccoons faithful in the stands gnawed on their hats as Mendoza ran a full count on the Critters’ hurler. Finally, Okuda jabbed a 3-2 into play. Up the middle, through between Thompson and Villa, and two runs scored …!!!

The inning fizzled out after that with a walk to Mercado, Mendoza’s exit, and Herrera’s foul pop to strand three. Okuda got around a Thompson single to begin the top 7th, but ran his pitch count to nearly a 100 in lengthy battles against the next three batters. He got a groundout from Jeremy Hornig to begin the eighth, then faced the left-handed PH John Fink, who also grounded out. Villa went down on strikes to complete eight, but that would surely have been all from Okuda for today. Indeed, the 3-1 lead went to Nelson Moreno in the ninth inning. The Sox alternated bats throughout most of their lineup and it started with a righty hitter, Miller, and Rella had been unconvincing in garbage time in Game 2. 1-out singles by Castillo and Thompson led to a change of pitcher, now Lynn. Turner grounded to Gurney, but the Coons could only get the out at second base, leaving the tying runs on the corners. Lynn walked Phillips to fill the bases, then faced righty PH Pacio Torreo in Robinson’s place. Torreo hadn’t seen action in all of October so far. Mound conference. Pat on the bum. You better have this, Lynn!

He had it, on strikes.

Raccoons 3, Gold Sox 1 – Gold Sox lead series 2-1

Baskins 4-4, 2B, RBI; Okuda 8.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 8 K, W (2-0) and 3-3, 2 RBI;

Game 4 – Aaron Hickey (1-1, 2.50 ERA, 2 SV) vs. Edward Flinn (16-10, 3.84 ERA)

Oh right, did we mention that we ran out of pitchers a while ago? Hickey hadn’t started a game all year long, and had been run out in long relief mostly to the tune of 82 innings.

No, Okuda was not available to reinforce the offense.

The ceremonial first pitch was thrown out by Mrs. Cindy Walburn, president of the Portland Flower Day committee for 32 years and still going strong.

DEN: SS R. Thompson – 1B E. Miller – CF S. Castillo – 2B I. Villa – LF T. Turner – RF Greenway – C D. Phillips – 3B Hornig – P Flinn
POR: RF Mercado – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – LF Baskins – 2B Gurney – C Morales – SS Waters – P Hickey

Hickey hit Ronnie Thompson with his very first pitch, but then got three groundballs to bail out of there. Flinn walked Mercado to begin the bottom 1st, and the Critter stole second off a doozy duo between Flinn and Phillips (who had more power in the stick than the arm). Two groundouts didn’t help, but Bryce Toohey continued his slow defrosting process with an RBI single, marking the first time that the Raccoons scored first in a game in the series.

Hickey then nailed Turner to begin the second inning, which was not in the official game plan and at best would make the Sox angrier… Thompson and Miller reached without welts in the third, but Hickey struck out three others to get through the inning.

Bottom 3rd, the Raccoons put three Critters on base… with nobody out. Mercado walked, Herrera and Maldo singled. Toohey launched a big fly to left – but too high and not deep enough. The park held it, Tim Turner held it, but it was good enough for a sac fly. Baskins and Gurney made unproductive outs to end the inning.

Hickey gave his all – which amounted to five innings of 1-hit ball with three walks, five strikeouts, and no runs against him – wildly better than what I would have dared to dream for. The rest would have to be patched with the pen, starting with Aaron Curl, since the Sox bunched their left-handed bats in the middle of the order against righty pitching. Curl struck out Villa, but gave up a triple to Turner, then dropped Toohey’s feed at first base on Greenway’s grounder, the run scoring, and the tying run now being on base. Portland went for Porter, who gave up a single to Phillips before ringing up Hornig and getting Flinn with a weak comebacker…

When the Coons went 1-2-3 with their 6-7-8 in the bottom 6th, Porter returned for the top 7th. He removed the Gold Sox’ first two hitters, then arrived at a conundrum. Burn Mike Lynn in the seventh inning? It could just about work out… Double switch – Lynn went in the #6 hole, while Martell would lead off in the bottom 7th, taking over second base. He did so still barely with a 2-1 lead after Lynn put Castillo on base with a single, and Villa by means of balls. Turner struck out. The Coons did absolutely nothing in the bottom 7th, while Greenway grounded out to Toohey to open the eighth. The Raccoons now went to Josh Rella, clearly indicating their preference to live or die by Nelson Moreno in the ninth again – this time the best bet to pull him out of anything would be Bob Ibold. Phillips popped out to center, Hornig whiffed, and the eighth was done with.

Baskins singled in the bottom 8th, which was otherwise a waste of time. Nelson Moreno then appeared against PH Jason Robinson, a lefty. He was out to short, but Thompson annoyingly doubled to center, representing the tying run. PH John Fink whiffed, but that brought up Castillo again, .379 in the playoffs, after .277 in the regular season. It didn’t matter that he was also left-handed. We had no lefty relief left over. It was Moreno or die. Moreno fell behind 2-0 before Castillo hit a fly to center. Herrera on the spot – takes it!

Raccoons 2, Gold Sox 1 – series tied 2-2

Mercado 0-1, 3 BB; Hickey 5.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 5 K, W (1-0) and 1-2;

Well, there’s one guy that needs a prominent place in the 2046 yearbook…! – Yes, Slappy, he looks good next to the janitor, but he has done a lot more work this year than the janitor!

HIC-KAY…!!

Game 5 – Jake Jackson (15-12, 3.35 ERA) vs. Gary Perrone (22-6, 2.51 ERA)

The downside was that we were back with a qualified starting pitcher in Jake Jackson, who had been hideously rolled for the second time in the playoffs in Game 1. His ERA was 9.00 in the postseason. And no, we could not just throw Kevin Hitchcock against the wall and see whether he’d stick and dry.

An offensive change was made though. Matt Waters was hitting 1-for-26, but was still an asset at short. Tony Morales hadn’t landed a hit in ages, and maybe Ruben Gonzalez could stir it up…

DEN: SS R. Thompson – 1B E. Miller – CF S. Castillo – 2B I. Villa – LF T. Turner – RF Greenway – C D. Phillips – 3B Hornig – P Perrone
POR: RF Mercado – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – LF Baskins – 2B Gurney – C Gonzalez – SS Waters – P Jackson

The first inning was busy – Jackson started with a walk to Thompson, then couldn’t fight that runner, who stole second, off, with Sandy Castillo’s single putting runners on the corners. Maldo had only a play at first base on Ivan Villa’s grounder, and Thompson scored. In the bottom 1st, the first two Critters made outs before Maldo, Toohey, and Baskins singled away merrily. Maldo was sent on Greenway’s arm, a bold choice if you once employed Troy Greenway especially, but was ruled safe in a collision with Devin Phillips – but he also hurt his back and had to leave the game he had just tied. Al Martell replaced him, while Gurney grounded out to Miller to end the inning in a 1-1 tie.

While I was crying, Matt Waters woke up, doubled in the bottom 2nd, and scored on a Mercado single to put Portland in front. Mercado was caught stealing to end the inning. Jackson held up better than in previous games – the Sox made plenty of weak outs off him in the early-to-mid innings, like three easy grounders to Gurney (who was thankful for every easy grounder to come his way) in the fourth. Jackson then added some Okuda to his repertoire – finding Ruben Gonzalez in scoring position after a fourth-inning double, Jackson singled him home with two outs, 3-1.

Jackson shone all the way to the sixth when Thompson hit a 1-out double to right off him. While Miller popped out, that got us into the danger zone, #3 through #6. Castillo had the only other hit off him, but we had also already used Mike Lynn in both Portland games and not always to greatest effect. Curl couldn’t come on twice. Jackson had to get this one himself. Castillo went down on strikes. Ruben Gonzalez showed he was worth the time and effort then, homering off Perrone in the bottom 6th to make it 4-1.

When Waters got on base after the Gonzalez homer, the Coons took the final out with Jackson, banking on a good seventh from him. Turner singled with one out, but that was it – Jackson completed seven in a return to September form. Now the easy part – mix and shuffle the pen to keep it all together!

We’d also mix in some defense. Toohey, who ended the bottom 7th on strikes against ex-Coon Nate Norris, was gone. Gurney went to first, John Castner appeared from the far end of the bench to play second base, while Bob Ibold went into the #4 hole, then retired Jeremy Hornig, Dylan Wright, and Ronnie Thompson in order. The Coons did nothing on offense in the inning, then went to Josh Rella. The twice-used other stalwarts were on standby. Rella INSISTED on putting Miller and Castillo on the corners with a walk and a single to begin the inning. That put the tying run at the plate. Villa struck out. Against Turner, we went to Lynn, who ran a full count before getting a grounder to Castner, but the only play was at first base, as a run scored. Left-hander John Fink pinch-hit, singled to center, scored Castillo, and brought about another pitching change. Moreno again! Jason Robinson then hit for Phillips, just to be annoying.

Moreno struck him out anyway.

Raccoons 4, Gold Sox 3 – Raccoons lead series 3-2

Maldonado 1-1; Gonzalez 3-4, HR, 2B, RBI; Jackson 7.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 9 K, W (1-2) and 1-3, RBI;

How the heck…!?

We’re going back to Denver??

With a game in hand???

Oh yes, we are being outscored 18-11 in the series…