[Westheim]

2061 CONTINENTAL LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES
Portland Raccoons (94-68) vs. San Francisco Bayhawks (100-62)

The Raccoons came back to Portland with the Baybirds in tow and the flipped concept of “homefield advantage” after splitting the first two games at the Bay of Remorse.

Game 3 – Nick Robinson (16-8, 2.93 ERA) vs. Jeff Crowley (15-7, 3.57 ERA)

Very important game coming up here, as I was never brave enough to trust Chance Fox, who was up in Game 4, and so Robinson was kindly invited to give us a series lead here. He had gone 1-0 with a 2.57 ERA in two starts against the Baybirds this year. The forkballer Crowley had not faced the Raccoons in any of the three series played during the regular season.

The ceremonial first pitch was thrown out by former Raccoons closer Josh Rella, who led the CL in saves once, and who had snatched a comebacker from Celio Umbreiro and had turned it into a game-ending, ring-clinching double play in Game 4 of the 2044 World Series against the Cyclones.

With no left-handed Bill Grau turning up yet, the Raccoons saw no reason to make changes to the lineup at this point.

SFB: LF Escalera – 1B P. Fowler – SS X. Reyes – 2B A. Montoya – 3B D. Sandoval – RF Grewe – CF D. Silva – C Redfern – P Crowley
POR: LF Morris – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – RF Brassfield – 1B Starr – C Perez – 3B N. Fowler – 2B Bean – P Robinson

Lonzo in the first and Montoya in the second both hit a single and stole second, and neither runner was brought around to score. Starr and Perez got on to begin the bottom 2nd, but the 7-8-9 batters made three weak outs and no runs were scored.

More concerning was that Nick Robinson needed 46 pitches to get through the lineup *once*, although he at least didn’t have runs fly on the board, although Escalera and Reyes went to the corners with singles in the third inning before Montoya struck out on three pitches to leave them there.

Trent Brassfield upped his batting average in the series to .636 with a 2-out RBI single, bringing in Ben Morris with the game’s first run in the bottom 3rd. He also stole second base, but was left on when Starr grounded out to Reyes. Unfortunately the Bayhawks rapidly tied the game in the fourth inning, getting a leadoff single from Sandoval, a double to right from Bobby Grewe, and then a run-scoring groundout off the bat of Silva. Their battery struck out, leaving Grewe at second base, but the score was even at one.

Top 5th, and Escalera and Reyes bashed a pair of doubles to left to put San Fran up 2-1. Worse, Reyes stole third base and then scored on Montoya’s grounder to short, 3-1. The Raccoons replied when Bernie Ortega batted for Robinson to start the bottom 5th, doubled off the wall, and then advanced on Morris’ groundout and scored on a sac fly by Lonzo, but that only reduced the gap to 3-2.

Brass to the rescue – the red-hot rightfielder drilled a triple into the right-center gap to begin the bottom 6th. Crowley tenderly walked Starr, then gave up an RBI single to Perez, which tied the game, before Fowler blundered into a double play and Bean flew out to leave the go-ahead run on third base.

Don’t mind if we do then, replied the Bayhawks, and got rolling against Rocco in the seventh. He nicked PH Ikuo Ogawa, which wasn’t great, then gave up a single to Reyes, and a booming 3-run homer to Armando Montoya, the persistent monster. For good measure, left-hander Dan Sandoval hit *another* homer on his next pitch, and it was time to open the Capt’n Coma.

Bottom 7th, down 7-3, and after Nick Fox made an out, Crowley bid farewell to the game by loading the bases with the Coons’ 1-2-3 batters, bringing up the .667, 1 HR, 5 RBI menace Trent Brassfield as the tying run. The Baybirds went to Zach Johnson, who fell behind 2-0 before getting … an infield pop to second baseman Montoya. Oh noes…! And here was Starr, and … he popped out to Sandoval… (shrinks into the cushions)

In turn, Abrams loaded the bases in the top 8th and Ruben Mendez couldn’t find a way out, of course allowing two runs to score. By the ninth we were beaten well enough to bring in DeRose, who continued to decompose in plain sight by allowing three more hits, a walk, and three runs, including a 2-run homer by Jose Cantu.

Bayhawks 12, Raccoons 3 – Bayhawks lead series 2-1

Lavorano 2-4, RBI; Fuller (PH) 1-1; Brassfield 2-4, BB, 3B, RBI; Perez 2-4, RBI; Ortega (PH) 1-1, 2B;

(suckles on his Capt’n Coma bottle, gloomily)

Game 4 – Chance Fox (11-9, 3.04 ERA) vs. Bill Grau (12-5, 2.74 ERA)

The Raccoons needed a good long outing from Foxie Brown more than ever, as the bullpen obviously was not up to snuff against the Bayhawks lineup, with or without Grant Anker. Fox had two no-decisions with a 4.63 ERA in two starts that the Coons eventually lost this year, while Grau was 1-1 in three starts against Portland this season, having posted a 2.38 ERA against them. Well, this boded well…!

The Raccoons went quite all-out as far as right-handed batters were concerned against the southpaw here, with even Caswell getting sat down for Felix Ayala. The only lefty bat in the lineup was Ben Morris, since the idea of playing the backup catcher Fuller in leftfield just for the assumed platoon advantage seemed a bit too desperate even for me and my most cherished advisor… (Cristiano Carmona’s ears perk up) …Honeypaws! (squeezes stuffed toy raccoon against his cheek)

The ceremonial first pitch was thrown out by Monsieur Facheux, Portland’s most famous pantomime, who was relentlessly pelted with all sorts of debris during the ceremony.

SFB: LF Escalera – 1B P. Fowler – SS X. Reyes – 2B A. Montoya – 3B D. Sandoval – RF Grewe – CF D. Silva – C Redfern – P Grau
POR: LF Morris – SS Lavorano – RF Brassfield – C Perez – 1B Tomlin – 3B N. Fox – CF Ayala – 2B Ortega – P C. Fox

And just because, and to make me look sillier than guy in white facepaint, Morris dropped an Escalera pop in foul ground during the first at-bat of the game, giving him an error right away. Escalera eventually hit a fly to Morris, and he at least caught that one – then hit a leadoff jack in the bottom 1st! Lonzo got plunked and doubled off by Brassfield. Bottom 2nd, Tomlin walked and Nick Fox singled, but then was forced out by Ayala’s grounder to short. Ortega came through, though, singling through the left side to get Forbes Tomlin home from third base, 2-0. Grau then managed to issue a walk to the .061 hitter Chance Fox, loading the bases for Morris, who got a run in with a groundout. Lonzo walked, and Brass’ deep fly was tracked down by Escalera to end the inning.

Chance Fox allowed a single in each of the first two innings, but it got stupider in the third, when Grau nicked him for a leadoff single, then came around to score on Reyes’ 2-out single to center, 3-1. Montoya made the third out, but a walk to Bobby Grewe and a 418-footer to left mashed by David Silva tied the game by the fourth inning… Not enough with that, but Keith Redfern drew another walk right afterwards and was driven in by Escalera with a 2-out knock to give San Francisco the lead…

Fox was yanked in the fifth with Reyes and Sandoval on the corners after another pair of singles, and one out. Ryan Sullivan came in and retired ******* nobody, allowing RBI singles to Grewe and Silva before Redfern reached on an error by Lonzo that also cost another run. Ricky Herrera came in next, struck out Grau, and then gave up a triple to Escalera, singles to Pat Fowler and Reyes, and by that point the Bayhawks had run away with a 10-3 lead, even when Montoya flew out to Ayala to end the top 5th, with ten unanswered runs in just three innings. That wasn’t even all of it, as Sandoval hit another solo homer off Ricky Herrera in the sixth inning, increasing the battering to 11-3.

Grau hung on until 2-out walks to Lonzo and Brass in the bottom 7th indicated that he was done. Jesse Connors then got Perez to ground out to end the inning. The left-handed Connors was then charged a run in the eighth when Nick Fox and Ayala went to the corners and Ortega’s grounder to short with one out wasn’t turned for two more outs by the Bayhawks, allowing Fox to score a meaningless run. Fuller then struck out.

Bayhawks 11, Raccoons 4 – Bayhawks lead series 3-1

Lavorano 1-2, 2 BB; Abrams 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

The air was pretty much out of the series at this point…

Game 5 – Tyler Riddle (13-5, 2.87 ERA) vs. Joe Chalmers (15-3, 3.40 ERA)

Both teams reverted to their Game 1 starter for the Portland finale (for the season…), the only game in the series that didn’t end with a lopsided score. The Raccoons were by now out-punched 32-20, which was kinda on par for having lost seven of nine games this year to the Bayhawks even before October.

The ceremonial first pitch was thrown out by Ed Longtooth, Portland’s best-known freelance educator, who had made it his life’s mission to teach children about nature by hanging out in public parks in funny looking animal costumes. He wore a specially designed raccoon costume with particularly astonishing whiskers for the occasion, then disappeared in the clubhouse tunnel with the boy choir that had angelically sung the national anthem.

(raises an eyebrow)

Maud, maybe you should check in on them. Take a broomstick.

SFB: LF Escalera – 1B P. Fowler – SS X. Reyes – 2B A. Montoya – 3B D. Sandoval – RF Grewe – CF D. Silva – C Redfern – P Chalmers
POR: LF Morris – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – RF Brassfield – 1B Starr – C Perez – 3B N. Fox – 2B Bean – P Riddle

Tyler Riddle got beaten even faster than Mr. Longtooth, walking Escalera to begin the game and giving up a 2-run bomb to straightaway center to Pat Fowler to trail 2-0 after six pitches. Reyes singled, was balked to second base, and then scored on Sandoval’s homer to right, 4-0. And the Raccoons pulled the plug on Riddle right there. After FIVE batters and FOUR runs. Reasoning that Justin DeRose couldn’t possibly be worse, banking on a Coons rally to level out the score before the Bayhawks could return DeRose to sender with his underpants on his head was the last terrible bet we had.

In the end it couldn’t work out because the Raccoons couldn’t even get on base. Their only runner the first time through was Nick Fox, who got beaned by Chalmers and then double-foxed off the basepaths by Jon Nickerson or whatever. They all neded to GO …!

DeRose pitched 3.2 innings on 56 pitches, somehow bloody not allowing a run, but Chalmers was still having his no-hitter, so that was that, and then LaBat loaded the bases for no good reason in the fifth inning, putting Pat Fowler, Reyes, and Montoya on base before giving up a 2-out, 2-run single to Bobby Grewe … and with two strikes! Silva struck out to strand two, as if it still mattered… When Joel Starr walked in the bottom 5th, he was immediately involved in another ****** 6-4-3 with Perez.

Chalmers took his no-hitter to the eighth inning before Brass got him for a leadoff single to left. Starr singled, but Perez whiffed. Nick Fox doubled to left to plate Brass and get a run on the board, 6-1. Jon Bean grounded out to Pat Fowler, except that Fowler bungled the ball and kicked it into foul ground, allowing Bean on base and another run to score. Nick Fowler then batted for Ruben Mendez and like a pro found a 6-4-3 to hit into. Matt Walters then made his only appearance of the series, down by a slam in the ninth and got three outs in due time, while San Francisco sent Travis Davis for the bottom 9th against the top of the Coons’ order. Ayala popped out to short in place of Morris against the southpaw. Lonzo grounded out to short. Cas flew out to Silva.

Bayhawks 6, Raccoons 2 – Bayhawks win series 4-1

Starr 1-2, BB; N. Fox 1-2, 2B, RBI; DeRose 3.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K;