[Westheim]

2048 CONTINENTAL LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES
Portland Raccoons (93-69) @ San Francisco Bayhawks (112-50)

The series would begin in San Francisco due to the Bayhawks having squeezed out home field advantage by a narrow 19 games margin, and they were sure lusting for some revenge on the Raccoons for previous transgressions. The CLCS history between these two teams was very much painted brown, with the Raccoons winning four of five meetings, including the last two in 2037 and 2044. The Bayhawks had only beaten the Raccoons in the 2017 CLCS, which was the era of us winning the division every year, but not getting to the World Series even once.

Game 1 – Jason Wheatley (13-7, 3.44 ERA) vs. Kevin Nolte (22-7, 2.06 ERA)

Jason Wheatley lined up for the opener of the series on regular rest after having thrown only 43 pitches in a shelling against the Indians (and not the first one) on the final weekend of the regular season. He had faced the Bayhawks only one this season, pitching to a no-decision in September. Nolte had faced Portland twice, pitching a complete-game 7-hitter for a 7-1 win in May, but took an L in a less stellar start in September. It added up to a 2.57 ERA for him against the Coons overall.

POR: SS Adame – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – RF Preble – 2B Waters – 1B Gurney – C Gonzalez – LF Baskins – P Wheatley
SFB: CF Fink – SS Dau – C S. Suggs – LF Crum – 2B Quiroz – 3B Copeland – RF P. Colon – 1B A. Marquez – P Nolte

Hard stats here, his GM’s lack of confidence there, Jesus Maldonado had more honors to win and rocked Kevin Nolte’s little world with a 2-run homer in the first inning after Armando Herrera had already hit a double into the rightfield corner! Todd Dau singled up the middle and Ken Crum wrestled a full-count walk from Wheatley in the bottom 1st in response, but Sergio Quiroz popped out behind home plate to strand those. There was another single and walk to the Bayhawks in the bottom 2nd, putting Sebastian Copeland and Pedro Colon on base, but those were stranded by a groundout, pop, and groundout by the 8-9-1 hitters. This was not the second-half Wheats I kept banging the drum for in every dreary April, though….

Maldo gave another ball a ride in the third, but this time John Fink had space to work with in the outfield and made a catch. Adame jiggered from second to third on the play however, having drawn a leadoff walk ahead of an Herrera single to begin the inning. Mike Preble had some raking to do, too, however, and whacked a gapper in right-center. The runners scored from the corners, although Preble was caught in a rundown between second and third after bidding for three when settling for two would have been more prudent.

And Wheats? Up 4-0, he kept putting people on base, loading them up in the bottom 3rd. Dau and Quiroz singled, and Copeland drew a 2-out walk, bringing up Colon, who had hit .285 with 12 homers in the regular season. Wheats, 59 pitches into a gig on the struggle bus, got some good pep talk in a mound conference, then got a 1-1 flare to shallow center from Colon that Herrera hustled for and caught to strand another three runners.

A Gurney triple and Baskins groundout made it 5-0 in the fourth, which ended Nolte’s day once his spot came up in the bottom 4th. Andy Montes hit for him, but also into a double play, erasing Alex Marquez and his leadoff single. Nope, Wheats was no good – but maybe the Raccoons could make enough of a fire to win the opener regardless. Adame socked another leadoff triple in the fifth and scored on a Maldo sac fly to right-center, 6-0, while Wheatley both got his first K of the game (!) in the bottom 5th against Todd Dau, then right away got knocked over for a solo homer by Sean Suggs, which sugged. Wheats batted for himself in the top 6th and singled, but was left on, and then came back for two singles and no outs in the bottom 6th before getting unceremoniously yanked. With Copeland and Colon aboard, Mike Lynn popped out Alex Marquez, then walked PH Dan Riley. John Fink flew out to Herrera, Copeland tagged from third base and went home – and was thrown out to end the inning…!

The Raccoons had two singles in the seventh before Mike Preble hit into a double play rather than a game-decider. From there, Kevin Hitchcock pitched five of the nine outs still required without allowing a Baybird aboard, after which Jake Bonnie was put into the game in a double switch, Matt Watt entering the #9 hole and leftfield over Derek Baskins. Colon hit a 2-out single off Bonnie, but the bottom 8th ended with a K to Marquez. More trouble in the ninth: Ted Del Vecchio pinch-hit and singled (bites into his fist), while John Fink drew a walk from Bonnie. Todd Dau sent a spanker to Maldo, though, which started a 5-4-3 double play! Herrera got hold of a Suggs fly, and that ended the series opener…!

Raccoons 6, Bayhawks 1 – (Raccoons lead series 1-0)

Herrera 3-5, 2B; Maldonado 2-3, HR, 3 RBI;

Oy!

Game 2 – Bubba Wolinsky (7-2, 3.23 ERA) vs. Jesse Bulas (12-7, 3.31 ERA)

After a slight surprise W in the opener, the Raccoons kept banking on pitchers whose names started with the winningest letter in the alphabet, while the Bayhawks turned to Jesse Bulas for emotional relief.

Wolinsky had faced the Bayhawks twice this year despite not returning to the majors until late June, cashing two no-decisions with a 4.09 ERA. Bulas also had two outings and no-decisions to show for, but with a 6.00 ERA. We made no changes to the winning lineup from Game 1.

POR: SS Adame – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – RF Preble – 2B Waters – 1B Gurney – C Gonzalez – LF Baskins – P Wolinsky
SFB: CF Fink – SS Dau – C S. Suggs – LF Crum – 3B Copeland – 2B Quiroz – 1B A. Marquez – RF P. Colon – P Bulas

This game went pear-shaped really fast; while the Coons got Adame on with a leadoff walk and Maldo was brushed in the shirt for another runner, Preble hit into a double play and that was that. The Baybirds placed Dau and Crum aboard, then got a 2-out, 2-run knock from Sebastian Copeland, and a throwing error by Adame on Quiroz’ grounder plated a third run before long. A Gurney double and Gonzalez homer narrowed the gap to one run in the top 2nd, but a cavalcade of misplays exploded the score in the bottom 2nd. Colon reached on an infield single to begin the inning, with Gonzalez making a sloppy play. Bulas grounded to Gurney, who tried to get the lead runner, but pulled Waters off the bag and got nobody. Fink popped out, but Dau singled home a run to center, and Suggs drove in another run with a double to left, which sugged. He also pulled something, which sugged mostly for him, and had to be removed from the game. John Hill would take over as pinch-runner and catcher. Crum’s grounder to Maldo and a Copeland fly to left ended the inning without any more runs scoring – not like they hadn’t already scored enough in a 5-2 game.

Maldo had a hit in the third that led nowhere, but Gurney whacked another triple in the fourth and was brought in by Gonzalez to shorten the gap to 5-3, while Bubba was still pitching, but was yoinked after three straight 1-out hits by the 5-6-7 hitters in the bottom 5th. Joy-shan Kuo conceded all the runs on a 2-run double by Colon and a Bulas sac fly, and that was pretty much the ballgame, Portland now down 8-3.

Maldo hit a leadoff single in the sixth, but was doubled off by Preble, who wasn’t having a great series so far, and the Raccoons gave up, the ball to Jake Jackson, the odd one out in the rotation, and told him to have fun for the last three innings. Jackson retired the first six batters he faced, but gave up a run in the eighth on hits by Colon and Dau. Not that this ruined our day – the Coons had done nothing in the previous few innings, and only made another twitch with the striped tail in the ninth when Matt Waters hit a leadoff jack against Brad Barnes, 9-4. Enough of this, the Bayhawks decided, and went to closer Jeremy Mayhall, who was done with the Coons three batters later.

Bayhawks 9, Raccoons 4 – (series tied 1-1)

Maldonado 2-3, 2B; Gurney 2-3, 3B; Martell (PH) 1-1;

That was a rough one to watch. And to be fair, with a little less rotten luck in the opener, the Baybirds would easily be up 2-0 now…

Off to Portland now!