NATIONAL TREASURE: CANNONS SHOW "HART" IN SWEEP OF NATS
Hartford Handcuffed By Poland, Patenaude; Playoffs Start Saturday

West Hartford, CT (AP)—Sequels sell. Six of the ten highest grossing movies of all time—Shrek 2; Star Wars: Episode I—The Phantom Menace; Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest; Star Wars: Episode III—Revenge of the Sith; The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King; and Spider-Man 2—are blockbuster follow-ups to films that struck a chord with audiences, sparking their imaginations in some special way. Action, adventure, special effects and, overwhelmingly, character studies in the classic themes of good versus evil and following through with something to its fruition against immeasurable odds are the norm. Hollywood couldn’t hold a candle to West Hartford on Sunday where the 2006 regular-season closed with a rematch of last season’s A and B Division Titleholders in front of a sold out Cannon Yards crowd. This time, in Basebrawl II: Champions Collide Harder, Shrek foiled the Fairy Godmother, the Fellowship smote Sauron and Spidey defeated Doc Ock all in one as the Cannons showed signs of why they were CNMSBL dark horse favorites four months ago, neutralizing the Nationals (7-13) by scores of 5-4 and 6-2 for their first series sweep and third win in four games going into Saturday’s double elimination playoffs. This was a sequel of small proportions compared to the highly-anticipated August release that West Hartford plans to put into post-production over the next two weekends as they bank on the box office bonanza that comes with back-to-back Championships. Get your red on, Cannon Nation!

On a sunny seventy-nine degree day at the Yards, the Cannons found themselves in the reversed role of visitors—the Nationals were unable to secure UOH Stadium for the season’s swan song—but responded right away on Red Day (both teams and the umpiring crew were clothed in crimson) behind the big bats at the top on the line-up. Jason Maule, returning to the Cannons after a two-week playoff run in the Hartford Twilight League, reached on a two-base error by right fielder Miguel Santiago to lead things off and soon scored on a Tom Luby single to make it 1-0 West Hartford. Ed Poland made his fourth start of the season and had his best stuff working early, holding the hard-hitting Nationals scoreless through the first three frames and “Houdini-ing” his way out of a bases loaded jam in the third with two plays at the plate and a fielder’s choice to end the inning. Conversely, the Cannons bolstered their lead in the third as Maule walked, Poland was hit by a pitch and both runners moved up a base on a balk by pitcher, former All-American and Major League farmhand Basilio Ortiz. Catcher Steve Markie laced a two-out two-run double to left off of Ortiz giving Poland a 3-0 pad. The right-hander relinquished a run in the home half of the fourth on a single and stolen base by M. Santiago and a base hit by his brother Antonio but was able to escape further damage by striking out the side in the frame for his team-leading twenty-first strike out. The Cannons added two more runs in the sixth on singles by Mike Weber—the 1000th hit in Cannons franchise history—and Mike McGann, scoring Markie and Chris Barsa after a well-placed sacrifice bunt by Kevin McGann moved them into scoring position and West Hartford held a 5-1 lead going into the home half of the sixth. The Nats touched Poland (7 IP, 4 R, 3 ER, 8 H, 3 K, 3 BB, 1 HBP) for two runs on a walk, a single and an error but were unable to add to their total as M. McGann made a solid play at third on a low line drive and Poland produced a pop to left on his 100th pitch of the game for the third out of the inning. After the Cannons failed to score in the top of the seventh, Poland (1-3) surrendered a home run to Brown Cacavale and a single to Ortiz but stranded him at third with a no-doubt fly ball to left that Andy Borst camped under and confidently corralled for the third out and a 5-4 Cannons victory. The soft-spoken Poland, who took a tie into the seventh inning against Hartford on Father’s Day (June 18) before losing, said after the game, “It feels good to go out there and get a win for us. The defense was solid, the offense is starting to really come through in the clutch and the pitching seems to be regaining some of that early season dominance that makes us so tough. We’re a better team than we were back in June and I think we can definitely make some noise over the next few weekends. I certainly wouldn’t want to face us in an elimination game.”

Mike Patenaude was the “two” in the Cannons’ one-two pitching punch and he arguably threw his best game since the second Sunday of the season (at Manchester), allowing just two earned runs while earning his first A Division victory (a hard luck 1-6). West Hartford was once again able to strike early and often for two-out runs against an opponent, with the bottom part of the line-up providing some much-needed pop. M. McGann had a one-out single in the top of the second followed by a Weber walk. Borst—who the Nats referred to as Dirty Dude and Celio latter described as a cross between Ichiro and Johnny Knoxville’s Ringer—battled to a 3-2 count against pitcher Texas Ranger "T.R." Walker and then blooped a two-run double in front of a fast-charging Cacavale in left to give West Hartford the lead while at the same time demoralizing Hartford defensively. Patenaude was lights out through the first four frames allowing just three hits and two base runners into scoring position while throwing an economical thirty-nine pitches (he tossed just sixty-nine over the entire seven innings). The Cannons tallied two runs in the fifth on a lead-off double by Maule, his team-leading sixth of the season, a Poland single, a Luby run-scoring fielder’s choice, a Barsa hit by pitch and an RBI rip to right by M. McGann—one of four hits on the day for the third baseman—that made the score a comfortable 4-0 for the cruising fifty-year-old left-hander. Although Patenaude allowed a pair of runs in the home half of the fifth on a lead-off walk to ninth batter Paul Pierce, a double by Will Farrell and a two-out 0-2 single to Ortiz—who had three of the six hits against the Cannons ace—West Hartford was able to get the runs right back in the following frame against relief pitcher Abierto Rosado. Patenaude reached on an error—he was also 2-4 on the day—and scored on Poland’s two-out single in front of a diving Walker in center. Luby moved Poland to third with a line drive hit and Barsa ripped an RBI base knock for a 6-2 Cannons lead, the most run support Patenaude had received all season and more than enough on this Sunday for West Hartford to secure the sweep. Patenaude (7 IP, 2 R, 2 ER, 6 H, 1 K, 3 BB) allowed just a two-out seventh inning double to Farrell the rest of the way and with the playoffs starting the Cannons are streaking like Frank the Tank of Old School fame. “We’re starting to come together in all fazes of the game,” said a pleased Patenaude after the wins. “We showed what kind of team we can be when we play solid defense and put up some runs. We got solid contributions from everybody out there today and that is what has made us successful in the past. We’re playing with the consistency and confidence that has been a trademark of Cannons Baseball over the past few seasons. I’m excited about our prospects in the upcoming playoffs.”

The Cannons had their Cannes Film Festival wins in this weekend’s sequel, taking the Palme d’Or with a sweep of the Nationals. But it is now mid-August, the Academy Awards of the CNMSBL is post-season play and Oscar is the much sought after A Division Championship. In West Hartford they believe they’ve got a Godfather, Part II on their hands: that rare instance when a big-budget sequel is equally as outstanding as the classic original—the 2005 title—and deserving of all the accolades afforded it. Next up for the Cannons are the Cubs of Manchester (14-4) on Saturday, August 19 (site and time TBD). Both teams are amidst season-high winning streaks and a victory goes a long way toward telling West Hartford and the rest of the league whether or not the Cannons are ready for the bright lights of the proving ground known as the playoffs. Ticket packages for the double elimination tournament go on sale Tuesday, August 15 at 12:00 p.m. and can be purchased by phone at 1 800-CANNONS or by computer at whcannons.blogspot.com.

Cannons News and Notes: Maule finished the regular-season as the Cannons leader in nine of thirteen offensive categories (hits, doubles, home runs, fewest strike outs, runs, average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage and on-base + slugging percentage); Luby and Poland tied for the 2006 team lead in RBIs (9); six Cannons finished the regular-season with ten or more hits (Barsa, Leo Dionicio, Luby, Maule, K. McGann and Poland); Patenaude pitched 54 innings this season, almost double the next highest total (Poland with 29); Weber nearly made a spectacular play on a foul ball against the left field fence that popped out of his glove when he crashed into the yellow protective covering on the enclosure, prompting Luby’s response of “It’s a good thing there’s padding there”…reporters were unsure if Luby meant Weber’s mid-section or the wall; Poland is the team’s all-time leader in batting average (.426), on-base percentage (.512), slugging percentage (.667) and on-base + slugging percentage (1.179) among players who qualify (a minimum of 80 regular-season at bats required); Luby is the Cannons career leader in home runs (10) and RBIs (67) and is tied for the team lead in doubles with Matt Celio (22); Celio leads the team with 108 hits in his six-season Cannons career…Weber, Luby and Poland look to join Celio in the 100 hit club in 2007; with 35 at-bats this season Weber became the team’s all-time leader in that category (280); Borst is the lifetime leader in triples (5), walks (39) and runs (67); the team scored an average of 3.4 runs per game and surrendered an average of 6.1 runs per contest during the '06 regular season...West Hartford had 130 hits on the season and gave up 149; Mike Calabrese contacted Cannons World Headquarters late Monday and has scheduled a mid-week meeting with management to discuss his status for the playoffs; polls for the 2006 Cannons Awards are now open—four sets of votes have already been cast—and ballot boxes will be available until 11:59 p.m. on Friday, August 18.