CANNONS CRASH CNMSBL PLAYOFF PARTY
Take Two of Three in Opening Weekend “A” Action; Get Glastonbury Next

Manchester/Marlborough, CT (AP)—In April many pre-season publications, professional prognosticators and parlor room pundits picked the West Hartford Cannons to win the 2006 CNMSBL A Division Championship. What wasn’t to like about this battle-tested ball club, a team that last season went 19-6 on the way to its first B Division title? The Cannons had all the pieces necessary to compete at this level and complete the regular- and, more importantly, post-season puzzles: a solid core of returning players with playoff experience; hitters, like Tom Luby, Chris Barsa and Leo Dionicio, who have become household names to diamond devotees; a heady defense led by catcher Steve Markie and the dynamic Gold Glove duo of Kevin and Mike McGann; a handful of hurlers—most notably Mike Patenaude, Ed Poland and Mike Calabrese—unmatched on any roster; and a hugely successful front office led by Manager Matt Celio and Assistant Manager Mike Weber who compiled an impressive 29-17 record (.630 overall winning percentage, .714 post-season) in their two previous seasons at the helm. Throw in several highly-touted free agent recruits, namely now-perennial MVC pick Jason Maule, to round out the roster as well as a frenzied fan base and the Cannons went from being not only the sexy pick but the smart pick in the eyes of many insiders. However, a disastrous regular-season marred by Mother Nature (three rainouts), a stilted schedule (West Hartford was off for a month mid-year) and the bite of the injury bug all contributed to inconsistency and a twelve-game skid that shook the very foundations of this storied franchise. Sexy and smart had suddenly become a sinking ship that only James Cameron and Leonardo DiCaprio could love. In August few had the seventh-seeded Cannons winning the title or even winning a single game in the playoffs, but that few included thirteen crimson-clad ball players who, despite decidedly ominous odds, still felt like favorites. This high-caliber collection shocked the second-seeded Manchester Cubs with a seventh-inning comeback (winning 5-4) and throttled the third-seeded Marlborough Athletics (a 13-4 victory) on Saturday then valiantly fought the fourth-seeded Bristol Phoenix for seven innings before faltering (a 5-4 heart-breaker) on Sunday, advancing to the loser’s bracket on the final weekend of A Division action. Surprise! The playoffs are a party and, like on-field Owen Wilson’s and Vince Vaughn’s, these Cannons crashed, creating bracket chaos while sending shockwaves throughout the state of Connecticut and the entire baseball world.

West Hartford (4-14) traveled to Manchester (14-4) as heavy underdogs against an opponent that was 4-0 versus them in the '06 regular-season but the Cannons had battled against the Cubs all year long, losing twice by scores of 2-1 on the road—once in extra innings—then dropping a double dip at Cannon Yards, 9-6 and 4-2 without some of the team’s top-flight talent. Manager Emeritus Andy Borst said earlier in the week, “It’s tough for a team to beat another five times in a row,” and his words proved to be prophetic on the field of play. Cannons’ staff stalwart Patenaude took the mound for the twelfth time in the post-season and demonstrated again that he is the Ponce de Leon of pitchers with yet another age-defying performance. Manchester managed two early runs against the left-hander but West Hartford responded with a pair of runs in the third off of Mike Kakalow as Poland scored on a Dionicio single and Markie moved Luby home on a “small ball” ground out to the right side to tie things at two. The Cannons applied additional pressure courtesy of Maule’s legs as he singled, stole second and scored on a passed ball following a Luby hit giving West Hartford a 3-2 lead in the fifth. Patenaude (7 IP, 4 R, 2 ER, 10 H, 1 K, 1 BB) saw solid defense behind him throughout much of the contest—highlights included a double play ending with a pick by first baseman M. McGann in the third, a diving stop by third baseman Calabrese that kept runners at first and second in the fourth and a caught stealing by catcher Markie in the fifth—but the lead disappeared in the sixth on three singles sandwiched around a Calabrese error at third. After a fantastic back-handed play by Luby ended the inning with West Hartford down just one, fireworks followed in the Cannons clubhouse as the generally jovial Calabrese questioned Patenaude for publicly calling him to task for the misplay. Heated words were exchanged before Luby, “the Heart of the Cannons” whom Cal later referred to as “the Godfather,” stepped in and settled both players down. With a single at-bat left Celio implored the offense to deliver a decisive blow and plate a pair of runs and the team responded to this request. Maule singled—his third straight hit—and stole second. Poland followed with a walk and Maule stole third against reliever Eddie Harris, allowing the Cannons’ two-hitter to move into scoring position without a throw on the next pitch. With the infield playing in to protect the slim advantage Luby slapped a single up the middle to score both runners and the Cannons reclaimed the lead in dramatic fashion. Patenaude (1-0) worked a 1-2-3 seventh behind a pair of Calabrese plays holding on for a 5-4 win and a date with the Marlborough A’s (who knocked off Newington) at West Field.

West Hartford, who two weeks earlier ended their losing streak against Marlborough (13-7), struck early and often for runs against A’s starter Keith Echevarria getting three in the first on a lead-off double by Maule, an RBI double from Luby and a two-out two-run error that scored the Cannons’ shortstop and Dionicio, who had singled to center. Calabrese, making his second post-season appearance in as many years, allowed two runs in the home half of the first on a Steve Garvie single and a Jack Noack home run over the short left field fence but the Cannons offense was just getting warmed up as West Hartford batted around in the second, spurred by five consecutive hits from Poland (double, run), Maule (run), K. McGann (RBI, run), Luby (double, RBI, run) and Dionicio (RBI, run). More two-out offense ensued as a two-run flare to left by M. McGann gave the Cannons an 8-2 lead that all but broke the A’s spirit. Calabrese (7 IP, 4 R, 4 ER, 8 H, 1 K, 1 BB) and Change-Up Nation had more than enough of a cushion to comfortably cruise to victory, allowing single runs in the second and seventh while facing just two batters over the minimum in between. The Cannons added two in the third on a K. McGann sacrifice fly to center—which Elias Sports Bureau later confirmed was the first in his five-year career—and a Luby double, his third in three consecutive plate appearances. Maule slugged a solo shot in the fifth—his fourth hit and run scored in as many at-bats—sparking controversy as Marlborough claimed the center fielder was not eligible for post-season play (management proved the slugger played in 75% of the team’s games this season, more than enough to meet the league’s 40% participation rule for playoff eligibility). Dionicio tripled home Luby in the seventh and scored on a Markie single to end the offensive onslaught—the thirteen runs scored were the most by the Cannons in A Division play and represented more than one-fifth of the total scored by the team during the entire 2006 regular-season (62 over eighteen games), moving Calabrese (1-0) and the Cannons into Sunday’s winner’s bracket against Bristol who defeated top-seeded Glastonbury, 3-2. Borst added after the drubbing, “Too much is never enough (perhaps a poorly veiled reference to Markie’s sixth-inning stolen base with an eight run lead). These guys told us we’d struggle for a few years at this level and questioned whether we would even be in the A Division next season. I think this is a statement game for us and it goes a long way toward announcing our true abilities to the rest of the league. The Cannons are for real and we are here to stay.”

Sunday’s game against Bristol saw a bracket-busting seven- versus four-seed match-up and was the first meeting between the two teams due to regular-season rainouts. The Phoenix seemed skeptical that the Cannons had arisen from the ashes of a last-place finish but the Cannons proved that they belonged on the CNMSBL’s biggest stage giving Bristol and starter Dave Bidwell—the Hartford Twilight League’s all-time wins leader and a member of the CNMSBL since 1993, when many members of the Cannons we still in high school and college—all that they could handle. Patenaude, fresh off his 111 pitch performance just twenty-four hours prior, headed to the hill and was effective though not overpowering, giving up two runs in the second on three hits and two walks. The Cannons exploded for three runs in the top of the third on back-to-back singles by the McGann brothers, a Poland RBI single (the superstar was sidelined with a leg injury but still batted for Patenaude) and a two-out two-run Luby knock that gave West Hartford a one-run advantage, 3-2. The Cannons’ lefty ace was touched for two runs in the home half of the third on four hits and a walk to start the inning but escaped further damage when Luby gloved a line-drive at short and gunned the lead runner at third for a dramatic double play that kept things close. Both starters battled out of repeated jams over the course of the contest as Patenaude (6.1 IP, 5 R, 3 ER, 10 H, 1 K, 8 BB) stranded runners in scoring position in each of the first six innings. Once again West Hartford came back in the final frame showing the character that has become synonymous with Cannons Baseball over the past six campaigns, especially in post-season play. Maule led off the seventh with a hit to left and never slowed from the moment he left the box until he slid safely into the soft dirt at second just ahead of the throw. Poland, clearly in pain at this point, hit a slow roller to shortstop that his bad leg prevented him from beating out: however, he successfully advanced Maule to third with one down. With the contact play on, Maule scored on Luby’s ground out to short to knot the game at four. Finally showing signs of fatigue after tossing 242 pitches over the weekend, Patenaude (1-1) walked two of the first three batters he faced—he struck out Nate Archibald in between—and Celio brought in relief pitcher Poland to preserve the tie, hoping to force extra innings. Poland (0 IP, 1 BB) produced a come backer to the mound but threw high to a leaping Luby who was covering second, loading the bases. Dane Cook patiently took five-pitches working a walk that forced in the winning run and gave Bristol a 5-4 victory moving them to the Championship game next Saturday afternoon. West Hartford Manager Celio spoke with reporters after the two days of games: “I’m really proud of our performance as a team this weekend. Everybody came up big. We played hard, we were poised out there and I think we put the rest of the league on notice. Our goals haven’t changed at all since April and we’re still going to be playing ball on the final weekend of the season while four teams are going to be watching on television. We’re not settling and we’re not satisfied with third place. The title is right there for the taking and this is not a spot that will intimidate us in any way [having won from this same position last season].”

To paraphrase Peter Wolf of the J. Geils Band, the playoffs “ain’t nothing but a party.” Now all West Hartford has to do this weekend is move when they feel that groove. With three wins on Saturday and Sunday the Cannons can bring the house to its feet and then bring it crashing down. To be the best the West Hartford Cannons (4-14, 2-1) will have to beat the best as they square off against the top-seeded Glastonbury Marlins (18-4, 1-1) on Saturday morning (10:00 a.m.) at Manchester Community College. The winner advances to a two-game series against the Bristol Phoenix that will determine this season’s 2006 CNMSBL A Division Champion. In order to capture the crown the Cannons will have to do the unprecedented: defeat the top four seeds on successive weekends. Though the task at hand is daunting, West Hartford dreams of being like Anthony Michael Hall’s Farmer Ted of Sixteen Candles fame: the freshman geek that goes to a senior party and goes home with the Prom Queen. We told you dudes the Cannons were hot. Hot, Ted the Cannons are legends! The final round games have been sold out for months but standing room only tickets will be available to the public thirty minutes before each contest. Follow the simulcast on the web at whcannons.blogspot.com.

Cannons News and Notes: Dionicio’s triple against Marlborough was the team’s first of the season; Luby had 8 RBIs in three games and leads the Cannons with 31 for his post-season career…he and Poland were the team leaders with 9 each during the regular-season…Luby passed Poland (28) for the most hits in Cannons’ playoff history with 29 and Borst (17) for the most playoff runs scored with 19; Maule had seven stolen bases on Saturday and Sunday (5 of his own and 2 while pinch running for Poland)…as was the case in the regular-season, he leads the team in 9 of 13 offensive categories…Maule has scored 19 of the team’s 84 regular- and post-season runs in 2006 (22.6%); K. and M. McGann were responsible for scoring or driving in 7 of the Cannons’ 22 runs; the team batted .386 over the first three games of the post-season after hitting just .259 in the regular-season; six of the ten Cannons who have made at least one plate appearance in the playoffs are averaging .385 or better (Barsa, Dionicio, Luby, Maule, K. McGann and Poland); the team averaged 13 hits and 7.3 runs per contest during the first weekend of post-season play, up from 7.2 hits and 3.4 runs in the regular-season; Markie and Poland will miss Saturday’s games due to their gridiron coaching commitments…Borst and Patenaude will replace them in the line-up; Calabrese, Celio and M. McGann made post-game Mexican Mudslides with the ice that Poland used to sooth his sore leg; Calabrese soiled himself on Sunday following a hard day of drinking; ballot boxes for the 2006 Cannons Awards closed at 11:59 p.m. on Friday, August 18…management appreciates all who voted and the winners will be announced at the team’s End-of-Year Extravaganza in early October.