It was a hard fought series. A Geoghegan tilt that saw the Lumberjacks surrender home field advantage early and face two straight elimination contests. But in the end, Portland was able to edge out a determined Surfers squad from Long Beach to take the series in 5 games and will advance to the Doubleday Series where the reigning Pacific Division champion MadPopes await.
Game 1
Portland promptly surrendered their home field advantage in front of an overflowing crowd at the Trail by dropping game 1 8-4. Manager Mons Raider rolled the dice and started up and coming rookie arm Mauro Esperanda in the opener. Esperanda was shaky and nervous, allowing 4 runs on 6 hits in 5 innings. The big blow was the a 2-run Tatlock homer in the 2nd that capped off a 3-run frame. Despite trailing 4-1 going to the 5th, the Lumberjacks did show fight by tying the game briefly in the 5th off McNeill and Gaajlimitz RBI hits. But Bill Beals, one of the heroes from the 2049 Brewster season, squandered the opportunity by coughing up 4 runs in the 6th, failing to complete the frame. Those runs completed the scoring for the night and the Surfers took a 1-0 series lead.
Game 2
When you lose game 1 at home in a short series, Game 2 becomes almost a do-or-die situation. And Portland came out blazing. Geoffrey Dodson's 2-run hit in the first put Portland up 2-0. A McNeill RBi followed by a Hideaki Ohayashi RBI hit in the 2nd promptly put the Lumberjacks up 4-0 after 2 innings. Long Beach got one back in the 3rd but Portland scored a pair more in the 4th and was up 6-1 and in a prime spot to even the series. The Surfers got one back in the 5th and another back in the 8th but the game went to the 9th with Portland holding a 6-3 lead. A prime spot to turn it over to your 36-save closer Frank Wilson. Right? Wrong! Nope. Raider wanted to test his change in theory up. See, Raider decided not to insert 300-game winner Alaric Wullenweber in the rotation for the Geoghegan Series. Some asked why he would do that. Raider never gave a direct answer, only stating his younger guys were hotter. And he felt Wullenweber could be more beneficial elsewhere. Well elsewhere appeared to have been as the team's stopper in the post-season. Perhaps Raider felt Wullenweber would get more chances to pitch in this roll as opposed to the rotation. And with 4 other viable arms, one could possibly make it make sense. But Alaric is a legend. You don't mess with 41-year old legends in this spot. But Raider did. And it failed. The last time Wullenweber had appeared in a game in relief was back in 2046 when he was a 26 year old phenom with the Tropics. No one recalls how that went because it was too damn long ago. Surely it went better than this one. Pedro Vargas led the inning off with a solo homerun. 6-4. A one-out double by Morris brought the tying run to the plate. Todd Tatlock didn't wait long. His 2-run homer 2 pitches later tied the game up at 6-6. Long Beach actually got the go ahead run aboard in the 9th before Wullenweber closed the door. Portland went down without a fight in the 9th. Long Beach got the leadoff man aboard in the 10th, with Wullenweber still pitching, but left him stranded. Fortunately for the home team, a Uecker single was followed by a run scoring double from pinch hitter Thomas Jefferson to win the game 7-6 for Portland.
"You dream of these moments as a kid" said Jefferson after the game on his pinch hit game winning hit. "You're just never sure if you'll be given the opportunity."
Wullenweber declined comment after the game.
Game 3
Game 3 shifted south to Long Beach and was pretty much all Surfers. Long Beach fail behind 1-0 in the 3rd after a Rich Dares homerun. But the Surfers scored a pair in the 4th and 5th Bernie Stuart and never trailed after that. Portland did cut it to 4-3 after McNeill and Greg Squires RBI but that was it. Wullenweber did pitch the final 2 innings to keep the Surfers at-bay but Portland never regained traction and now faced elimination after losing Game 3 4-3.
Game 4
Portland turned to rookie John O'Leary in game 4 to keep hope alive. And he delivered. I could recap this game with O'Leary's stat line and that would be enough: 9 IP, 8 Hits, 0 Runs, 2 BBs, 8 Ks. Complete Game. Shutout. Win.
Of course he took the mound in the bottom of the first a little calmer thanks to 4 runs in the top half by his offense. Greg Squires drove in 2 of those 1st inning runs and ended with 4 RBI for the contest. Portland won the game 8-0 with ease, setting up a return visit to Portland for a deciding game 5.
Game 5
Portland turned back to the rookie Mauro Esperanda in the deciding game. He quickly surrendered 2 in the 1st and uneasy set over the crowd in Portland. But Hideaki Ohayashi got them back on their feet with a 2-run blast in the bottom of the 1st to knot the game at 2-2. The game stayed there until the 4th when Sammy McNeill drove in a run to give Portland the lead. Portland tacked on runs in the 5th and 6th innings and led 5-2. Prior to that, fans were shook when Esperanda was forced to leave the game in the 5th inning with arm issues. Reports later came out that the rookie was suffering from arm fatigue and will likely miss the Doubleday Series. This forced Raider to go to the pen earlier than he'd have liked. Eng-gee Kin was able to keep Long Beach at bay in the 5th and 6th inning which allowed Raider to make the move his earlier decision was destined for. He went to the legend. He called upon Alaric Wullenweber. It didn't take long for fans to grumble as the second batter Wullenweber faced deposited a homerun in the centerfield seats to make it 5-3. Wullenweber allowed another single but escaped the rest of the inning. In the 8th, a Mei Hoong single went unnoticed as Long Beach failed to capitalize and the game went to the 8th still 5-3. Frank Wilson warmed up in the pen. Most fans thought after game 2 that Raider would go to his closer in the 9th. But no, Wullenweber took to the mound again. Lulani led off the inning. He homered last time off Alaric. He walked. Reyes followed with a single and suddenly the Surfers had runners at the corners with no outs. Frank Wilson stared through the chain link fence separating the bullpen from the playing field, waiting for the call. Tatlock came up next. He homered in game 2 off Alaric. This time, he hit a ground ball sharply to Dares at 2B. An easy double play ball. Instead, Dares fired to the plate and cut down Lulani trying to score. 1 out, but the Surfers still had 2 aboard. Next came Austin Nolan. On a 2-0 pitched, he hit a soft liner to right field that was caught. 2 outs. Wilson still waited in the pen. Next up was Gustavo Espinoza. He battled. Fouled off a 1-2 pitch. Got the count to 2-2 before blooping a single into shallow rightfield. The ball wasn't hit sharply but it wasn't deep enough for anyone to score despite there being two outs. Suddenly the bases were loaded. Score was 5-3. Portland had their all-time saves leader warmed in the bullpen. Surely Raider would make the call. Surely he wouldn't risk Wullenweber's last game of this season ending with him blowing a lead on the mound. Raider never left the dugout. He looked at Alaric and pointed. "It's yours! Finish it!" Wullenweber never acknowledged hearing Raider. He took the fresh baseball from Uecker. Dropped the rosin. Toed the rubber. His next pitch was clocked at 88 miles per hour. About all Wullenweber has these days. Fred Courtney swung and lifted the ball to deep left field. Not threatening deep. Not even warning track deep. Wullenweber gave a subtle fist pump. He waited behind the mound. When ball met leather he raised both arms over his head and let out a sigh of relief followed by a yell.
Portland won 5-3. They advance to the Doubleday.
Series Notes: Hideaki Ohayashi was the series MVP after hitting .400 with a homerun and 5 RBI. He was 2-4 with a run and RBI in the finale.
Alaric Wullenweber recorded the save in the finale.
