CUBBIES COLLAR CANNONS
Sticks Silenced as West Hartford Drops Double Dip

Manchester, CT (AP)--The Cannons were far from captivated with the "City of Village Charm" on Sunday as for the first time in the Matt Celio/Mike Weber managerial era (2004) West Hartford dropped both ends of a double header, losing to the Cubs 2-1 in Game One and 2-1 in a nine-inning emotional roller coaster of a Game Two. Traditionally slow starters, the Cannons have now dropped three one-run decisions in their first four games and have been left staggering, statistically speaking. "Surprising," Celio said in his post-game press conference when asked about the team's early season struggles. "We've got so many great pieces in this line-up that I expect us to score almost at will each inning. It's just hard to comprehend plating only eleven runs in four games--two of them extra inning affairs--with the guys we're sending up there. Fortunately our pitching has been tremendous, giving up only eleven runs. Those guys [Mike Calabrese and Mike Patenaude] have really stepped up their games and kept us close. The bats are going to be there before too long (the team expects to have Brian Pinney and Ed Poland back when they return home for a June 4 match-up with Glastonbury). We seem to be pressing a bit as a team but we'll be where we need to before long. You can count on it."

In Game One, the Cannons trotted Calabrese out to the mound for the rare 8:00 a.m. first pitch and the righty was impressive for his second straight start in 2006 (following an stellar 7-1 season in 2005, culminating in his first Patenaude Pitching Award). Cal held the Cubs scoreless through the first two innings, allowing only a single and a walk but the Cannons could only muster the same through the first three frames on a base hit by Kevin McGann and a base-on-balls by Tom Luby. In the bottom of the third, Cal was touched for a run when Jacques Moulin Rouge reached on a fielder's choice, stole second and scored on a Leif Ericson single. Calabrese's counterpart, Manchester's Eddie Murphy, was nearly unhittable through the first five innings but he began to show some signs of fatigue in the top of the sixth when Troy Barber doubled and Steve Markie singled to get things started (he ended up on second when centerfielder Eddie Harris took a shot at the tagging Barber as he headed to third). Jason Maule followed with a deep shot to center that dropped for a double but some confusion on the basepaths--Barber got hung up between third and home rather than tagging--caused Markie to hold and he advanced only to third instead of possibly scoring. After a ground out to second by K. McGann, Markie left on contact attempting to score on Leo Dionicio's sharply hit ball to short though a good throw by Viktor Kakalow got him at the plate. West Hartford had run itself out of its best and last scoring threat in the early game. Calabrese (6+ IP, 2 R, 2 ER, 7 H, 3 K, 2 BB...1 intentional, 1 HBP) got into trouble in the home half of the seventh with a lead-off walk followed by a single. Cal (1-1) intentionally walked Stavros Mikos to load the bases and set up a force play at the plate but he plunked pinch hitter Jeff Logeman to push in the winning run as the Cubs handed the Cannons their first road loss in A Division play.

Patenaude took the mound in Game Two and continued to turn back the hands of time with another stellar pitching performance. The legendary lefty showed yet again why he is a sure-fire first ballot Cannons Hall of Famer, tossing a nine-inning gem while baffling the Cubs batters throughout. The game was scoreless through three but West Hartford drew first blood in the top of the fourth on a Calabrese single (one of three hits on the day for Cal) and a Mark Lynch RBI ground out. Manchester tied things in the fifth on a single by Brooks Dunne and a two-out double by Royce Bentley. Patenaude was able to escape a jam in the seventh when Ericson reached on a lead-off error and attempted to score on a deep two-bagger by Adolf Verboven. A perfect relay from Maule to Luby to Lynch cut down the "Norse Horse" and the team elected to intentionally walk Cubby captain Kakalow to set up a force. Dunne followed with a single to left that Mike McGann got back in quickly and the Cannons again found themselves in the same precarious spot as in the previous game: bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh, the winning run standing a mere ninety feet away. The next batter, J.P. Morgan, lined to Luby at short and Patenaude (9 IP, 2 R, 2 ER, 6 H, 1 K, 3 BB...all intentional) was able to induce a weak ground ball to second from Bentley ending the threat. In the bottom of the eighth, Richard Marks led off with a base hit and with one out Harris smashed a line drive to left that M. McGann tracked and corralled as he crashed to the ground, recording the scintillating second out of the inning. When asked after the game about the catch and what was going through his mind as he chased the possible game-ending knock, the left fielder said simply, "Please ball hit glove," conjuring memories of his "please ball hit bat" quote when describing his plate approach seconds after hitting a sacrifice fly to drive home the game winning run against Stafford in a 2005 opening-round playoff game. Luby saw the play a bit differently, "Shades of Timmy Lupus," said the veteran shortstop invoking the ghost of the notoriously poor-fielding Bad News Bears outfielder. The Cannons went in order in the top of the ninth and the Cubs put on the lead-off hitter yet again in the home half of the frame, this time on an Ericson double followed by a throwing error that moved the "Striking Viking" to third against Patenaude (0-2). West Hartford again opted to load the bases in an effort to get a force at the plate but Dunne hit a sacrifice fly to center to end the ball game. After sixteen innings of play the Cannons had two bitter pills to swallow in the form of a pair of one-run losses.

Although the team is now 1-3 in 2006, there is no sense of panic among the players and the Cannons clubhouse remains upbeat. Leo Dionicio boasted, "Our bats are not there yet but in a few weeks we are going to start killing this league. These guys are going to be saying, 'Who are these f***ing Cannons?'" Assistant Manager Weber was equally confident though a little less colorful, "Our bats have not warmed up yet but they are going to. I still think we're the best team in the league and when the weather heats up the ball is going to start flying out of the park for us. Good things are going to happen for this team soon." Confidence and a premier pitching staff: two trademarks of Cannons Baseball. The old adage says that pitching and defense wins championships and the team from West Hartford has been solid in both facets of the game for the most part. When the other shoe drops and the team starts to hit we will see just how good the 2006 Cannons ball club can be. The time for talk is at an end, big boppers, as the team returns home to the comfy confines of Cannon Yards...it's time for action Cannon Nation.

Cannons News and Notes: After four games just four Cannons are batting over .300 (Barber, Calabrese, Markie, Pinney); the team struck out fourteen times in sixteen innings and had only eight hits; the two runs in a double header are the fewest ever scored by a Cannons team on a single Sunday; West Hartford's .211 team batting average is .112 points lower than the overall team lifetime total (.323 lifetime); the Cannons team ERA is 2.48 this season; outfielder Barber was seen icing his arm for approximately forty-five minutes after the game and although he called his performance "all natural" some have questioned the authenticity of this statement since he only threw warm-up pop flys and saw no action in the rightfield (Dionicio is already under suspicion for performance-enhancing drug use after his unsolicited Victor Conte/BALCO statements on May 7); Calabrese has petitioned the team to officially change the name of Cannon Nation to Cutter Nation in honor of his widely-used pitch; Lynch said after the games that he is "happy to be out here with the likes of Calabrese, Patenaude and Weber. Growing up watching these guys play, I'm just besides myself. There's nothing quite like it;" Lynch also was found to have a self-confessed "man-crush" on Maule (completely understandable...don't we all?).