Hold My Log - 51.22 - Portland Knocks Off Nashville. Advances to Cartright!

[7teen]

The series needed all 7 games.....and then some! The Lumberjacks and Bluebirds exchanged blows, going toe-to-toe in a thrilling Doubleday Series that eventually saw the Lumberjacks survive to advance to it's second Cartright Series in franchise history after knocking off the defending champs this week.

The two squads exchanged wins through-out the series but it was games 6 and 7 that will highlight this great series. Granted, we'd be poor journalists if we didn't mention some of the early game highlights. Such as Hadji Ufanisi, the platoon outfielder for Portland, going 3 for 5 with a homerun in game 1 and then tying an FL record with 4 walks in a post-season game in game 3, both Lumberjacks victories. Or Ernest McBride also homering in that game 1 win and then adding 3, yes 3, more homeruns in a 12-5 win for Portland in Game 5 that set up the final 2 games. Of course there is also Angel Zalapa and his 11 hits in the series, including at least one in each game. All of this though set up a thrilling finish.

Up 3 games to 2, the series went to Nashville for the conclusion. Zalapa's 3 run homer in the 3rd inning jolted the visiting Lumberjacks into the lead early and quieted the Bluebirds faithful. Nashville got one back in the bottom half only for Portland to regain the 3 run edge in the 6th. Nashville cut it to 1 in the bottom half and the teams exchanged runs in the 7th to make it a 5-4 contest heading to the 9th. The 1-run lead had Portland 3 outs away from advancing to the Cartright in 6. How about a quick side note......

In 2049, Portland and Nasvhille met in the Doubleday Series. Nashville led 3 games to 2 in the series and Portland was trailing 4-3 in the 9th and faced sure elimination. Portland mustered 2 runs in the 9th to take a.... 5-4 lead. Only to blow the lead in the 9th. Portland eventually won the game in the 14th inning to set up a game 7. Flashforward back to the now....

The 1-run lead for Portland did not last long as Tony Frost homered off of Lorenzo de' Medici to tie the game at 5-5 and send the home crowd into a frenzy. de' Medici retired the rest of the side in order but the damage was done and we were heading to extra innings. Portland went down without a whimper in the 10th and King sent de' Medici back out for his 4th inning of work. He retired a batter in the 7th and had pitched all the 8th and 9th. King has seemingly changed his pitching strategy in the post-season in terms of bullpen usage and it doesn't seem to be working. de' Medici allowed a single that was erased on a double play. But Dennis French didn't wait long to blast the first pitch he saw over the fence for a game winning and season extending homerun that set up a game 7.

Game 7
In 2049, the game 7 was a snoozer. Portland jumped out early and never looked back, winning the game 7-0 behind a Chris Thompson pitching gem. Game 7 in 2051 appeared to be on the same path. Jeffrey Smith hit a 2-run homer in the 4th inning that was followed by a 3-run homer by Ernest McBride in the 5th and Portland led 5-0. The score stayed that way until the bottom of the 6th when Nashville showed why they're the defending champs. Yi's grand slam off of Xuan Ngo in the 6th (3 runs charged to the starter Steve Warren) made it a 5-4 game and when Zhai homered off de' Medici's dead arm in the 7th inning, we were suddenly tied at 5-5. Neither team would score over the next 4 innings and this Doubleday Series would need extras to decide it.

Things did get interesting to though in the 8th as both teams got 2 on but couldn't score. Things looked promising for Nasvhille in the bottom of the 11th when Montano doubled with 1 out and Zhao drew an intentional walk. But Randolph Marable got a strikeout and flyout to end that threat and take us to the 12th.

McBride led the top of the 12th off with a double that prompted Nashville to intentionally walk Jeffrey Smith. Ma then flew out and So Huynh popped out in the infield. Joe Benevidez, yes the same Benevidez that was on our Single-A roster for most of the year, was now filling in for the gimpy Viramontas and laced a single between 3rd and short. The single was enough to score McBride from 2nd and give Portland a 6-5 lead. Jeffrey Smith who went to 3rd on the throw to the plate, scored 2 pitches later on a wild pitch. Portland led 7-5. Benevidez, now at 2b, would score on Manny Garcia's single between 1st and 2nd and Portland now led 8-5.

Fans earlier in the day watched as a Las Vegas team was 3 outs away from advancing to their own Cartright Series. Fans also watched as the Vegas bullpen coughed up 5 runs in the bottom of the 9th inning to lose a devastating game 7. Would the same happen in Nashville?

Marable was still in for Portland and he got McNeill to fly out to right before Frost drew a 1-out walk. Bishr, the likely Frick League Silk winner was up and Marable got him to weakly fly out to 2B. Portland, up by 3, was 1-out away from advancing. But not so fast....Behind in the count 1-2, August Helfter, ye of just 3 career BBA homeruns and 0 post-season homeruns, took Marable deep to make it an 8-7 ball game and the home crowd had life yet again. And it brought Theo Bourges to the plate. Bourges had 19 career post-season homeruns entering this season with Nashville. All 19 came during his time with Louisville. A 20th would extend the Bluebirds chances.

Theo also had 72 career post-season strikeouts in his career. This at-bat gave him 73 as Marable K'd the future hall of famer to end the game and the series. Portland was advancing to their 2nd Cartright Series.

[Dington]

You call this smut “journalism”? This is the worst TN I’ve read all season.

[7teen]

You call this smut “journalism”? This is the worst TN I’ve read all season.

Not as good as the 2049 piece, but cmon. Haha

[Dington]

Only acceptable journalism would be a result of Nashville winning.