OUTGUNNED IN THE OUTER REACHES
Cannons Lose Opening Day Battle to Rifles, Though Far From Losing War

Torrington, CT (AP)—The term arms race, in its original usage, describes a competition between two or more parties for military supremacy. Each party competes to produce larger numbers of weapons and greater armies to facilitate and ultimately achieve the desired final outcome: complete and unconditional victory. More generically, the term is used to describe any competition where there is a relative goal of staying ahead of the other competitors: two or more populations evolving in order to continuously one-up members of another population. In a baseball sense it simply describes the stockpiling of quality pitchers for a regular- and post-season run. The Connecticut Cannons spent the off-season following an undistinguished and disappointing 2007 campaign (6-16) almost exclusively upgrading a roster fatally flawed because of a lack of pitching depth and a porous defense. The team invested millions revamping a rotation that in recent years has relied too heavily on the now fifty-three year old left wing of wily veteran Mike Patenaude. The “Old Man of the ‘C’” isn’t getting any younger though, like a fine wine, he has actually improved with age and the additions of Tom Clark, Bill Gills and Jack Vanasse (along with the return of a healthy Kevin Quinn) had the team’s fervent fan base clamoring for a CNMSBL Championship as the season approached. Bringing in Bill Balcerzak and Adam Pallone was an additional boon for the boys in blue and red as they joined a solid core of twelve battle-tested ballers for another season of spring and summer Sundays in the sun. These moves figured to keep the Cannons ahead of the competition as the 2008 A Division campaign got underway this weekend. Unfortunately the Winsted Rifles had similar plans in mind when they added hard-throwing rookie Artie Lange to a roster that had proven it could play with anybody in the league during its inaugural ’07 season in the A (10-11). Both teams battled on this fall-like day at Fussenich Park but in the end the home team was able to pull the trigger and walk away with two wins against an improved Cannons team that still seems to be in the process of defining itself. “We had huge turnover this winter,” said Manager Matt Celio as he spoke with reporters in his post-game press conference. “It’s going to take our team some time to get used to playing with one another and that’s to be expected. It’s rare to be involved in two games where home field advantage was so important: those guys got to bat last and they were able to push the winning runs across against us, plain and simple. Management put some guys in difficult positions, both literally and figuratively. We’ve got a better idea of our strengths today and I won’t even address weaknesses because at present I don’t really see any. The bats will come around, guys will make plays like their capable of and if our pitchers keep their ERA below 2.00 we’ll be tough to beat not only next weekend but right on through to the post-season. The ball didn’t bounce our way today, there may have even been a little home cooking going on with the umpires, but we are without question a much scarier team in 2008. 0-2 is not where we wanted or expected to be but there is much more to this team than our spot in the standing right now. When we start firing full-force, watch out.”

Game One saw the new-look Cannons trot out an equally new-look line-up with four new faces prominently featured. After much discussion during spring training management decided to maximize Jason Maule’s pop by putting him in the three-hole with Leo Dionicio and Balcerzak getting things going at the top. “El Heartthrob de Hispaniola” made the move pay immediate dividends by crushing a one-strike double to the left-center gap off Rifles starter Danny DiVita (Dionicio would steal third and score on an overthrow into leftfield). Clark was able to work a walk and came home on a two-out error by third baseman and Jeff Weber look-alike Jim Cooke for a 2-0 Cannons lead. The thirty-eight year old right-hander then made his mound debut for Connecticut, loading the bases on walks before battling out of the jam with a strikeout against Winsted Manager Paul “Have You Ever Seen a Grown Man Naked?” Graves. Following a Mark Lynch base on balls, the Cannons worked courtesy runner Kevin Quinn into scoring position in the second inning but DiVita was able avoid further damage via the strikeout (four through the first two frames and an impressive eleven on the game). Clark was aided by solid defense and a Rifles base running blunder in the home half as Maule snared a one-out fly to deep center, gunned a relay to Leo Dionicio at second who then fired a perfect strike to Lynch, nailing Kramer Asmantino at the plate for an inning-ending 8-4-2 double play. Again the Cannons put a runner at second, this time in the form of Clark, but the Rifles were able to strand the pitcher keeping the game close. “After a spectacular defensive play you hope to come back immediately with the bats, string a few hits together and really step on the opposition’s throat and we didn't do that,” Celio stated. “We were a little flat offensively and it came back to haunt us as the game wore on.” Clark labored through a forty pitch third inning and Winsted was able to plate a pair on two singles, two walks and two errors. Then both pitchers bore down over the next several innings with a Clark double and Lynch single representing Connecticut’s only two base runners over the last four frames. After a one hundred thirty-seven pitch performance Clark (6 IP, 2 R, 1 ER, 4 H, 3 K, 7 BB, 1 HBP) was removed in favor of Quinn in the bottom of the seventh. Bill Balcerzak corralled a ground ball to start the inning but slipped before making a throw and the Rifles used small ball to take advantage. Graves bunted Cooke over and the “A*s Man” followed with a RBI single to send Quinn (.1 IP, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 H) and the Cannons to a difficult 3-2 defeat. “We showed some signs of what we can be in Game One,” Assistant Manager Mike Weber said briefly between games, “but we just didn’t have enough to get over the top. We didn’t get the big play or the big hit when we needed it most. We’ve put together a contender here and we’ve got guys who can come up big in the clutch situations. It didn’t happen today so you simply tip your cap to the Rifles and move on to the next game.”

Game Two saw Patenaude pitch on Opening Day for the seventh time in his storied Cannons career. Connecticut once again jumped out to an early lead courtesy of some shaky defense by Winsted. Balcerzak ripped his first Cannons hit up the middle, moved to second on a passed ball, advanced to third on a fly to center and scored on an error by Cooke but Connecticut again stranded runners rather than adding to its lead and the score was just 1-0 after two. The Cannons squandered a golden opportunity in the third when they loaded the bases on three straight singles by Balcerzak, Maule and Clark but Lange was able to wiggle out of the inning by popping Drew McDowell out to third and inducing an inning-ending 5-2-3 double play off the bat of Quinn. The Rifles then rode the wave of enthusiasm as William DeVanney deposited a 1-1 Patenaude offering in the left field bleachers, tying the score at 1. Connecticut briefly took a lead in the fifth on a double by Balcerzak and a run-scoring single by Clark—each players had four hits in his Cannons weekend debut—but Winsted responded immediately with two runs of its own on a lead-off double by Asmantino and RBI base knocks by Sammy “The Bull” Boucino and certified Cannon killer Billy Dee Williams (the lefty is nine for thirteen—.692 batting average—with three RBI and three runs scored in four games against the Big Guns). Connecticut clawed its way back into the game in the top of the seventh when the “Gringo from Santo Domingo” singled, stole second and scored as Balcerzak scorched a Lange fastball off the base of the wall in left field. With first base open the Rifles elected to walk Maule in order to face Clark and McDowell and the four and five batters were unable to produce leaving the game tied at 3 entering the home half of the frame. Patenaude went one-two-three against DeVanney, DiVita and Williams and it appeared as if the Cannons might escape with a win when they put runners on second and third with nobody out (Quinn singled to right to start things, stole second and moved safely to third on a fielder’s choice off the bat of Lynch). McDowell, the courtesy runner for the catcher, was given second on defensive indifference and John Mancini strode to the plate with the weight of Cannon Nation on his shoulders. A high chopper to the mound was fielded and fired home by Lange beating Quinn by a split-second as the 6’ 4” DeVanney blocked the plate beautifully. Winsted allowed Mancini to move into scoring position without a throw to second but rookie Jack Vanasse, with the infield in on the grass, and Dionicio both grounded to short to end the threat. Cooke led off the eighth with a single, Patenaude (7.1 IP, 4 R, 2 ER, 11 H, 2 K, 1 BB) surrendered his only walk of the day to Lange and Asmantino singled to left to load the bases. The Cannons moved their fielders in but a sharply hit ball to third was bobbled by Mike McGann and the winning run crossed the plate without a throw. After a pair of hard-fought games Connecticut had nothing more to show for their trouble than nearly was and almost there. “I suppose you could say that as a team we’re encouraged and discouraged at the same time,” Celio added. “For the first time out we played pretty solid baseball and Tom and Mike pitched lights out giving us a great chance to take two. The old saying is close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. At the end of the day we’re still staring up at the rest of the league from the cellar of the standings. We’ve got our work cut out for us but we’ll take things a game at a time. I’ll take my chances with these guys on any given Sunday. Our best baseball of the season is still ahead of us.”

Round one went to the Rifles on Sunday. But an arms race will not be won or lost in cloud-covered April but rather under the sultry, sunny skies of August. The Connecticut Cannons remain positive—as always—having hung with an improved Winsted ball club in what can only be described as a hostile environment. “We played a couple of close games that just didn’t go our way today, made a few mistakes as a team and the Rifles made them hurt. We’ll be there when it really counts in ’08, I promise you that.” There is quite a long way to go before CNMSBL season supremacy can be decided in 2008. The Cannons have used free agency to a greater advantage than any team in the league this off-season and the assembled talent that has been stockpiled gives this team an fighting chance against any and all rivals. It’s two down for the Cannons currently but there is still plenty of time to one-up the competition before all is said and done. This race is not run on one weekend but rather twelve and we are just under way. On your mark, get set, GO Cannon Nation!

Cannons News and Notes: The Cannons are 1-5 on Opening Day since joining the A Division; Connecticut scored first-inning runs in each of the two games (Maule scored in the first frame of the team’s 2006 A Division debut); Celio was fined $25,000 by the CNMSBL for his “home cooking” comment regarding the umpiring crew; the home opener is scheduled for Sunday, May 4 against the defending league champion Eastern Connecticut Cubs at New Cannon Yards in Newington (tickets can be purchased by phone a 1 800 CANNONS—226-6667—or on the web at ctcannons.blogspot.com); Weber altered the secret formula of Cannonade before the opener, opting for Connectict Crimson; Patenaude is unavailable over the next two weekends of play…the team will rely heavily on Clark, Quinn and Vanasse and hope to activate Gills by the end of the week; Andy “Dirty Dude” Borst returned to the club after a one-year hiatus; McDowell turned an unassisted double play on Graves in Game One…the Winsted Manager moped after the play: “If I had just squeezed it by I would have had an inside the park homer because I think your right fielder was smoking a doobie in the outfield.”…Graves also hit a shot that came close to catching Clark in the groin…when he found out the shortstop wasn’t wearing a cup he joked, “If that hits you just right your c**k can get all black and swollen and you can see how the other half lives. The ladies love it.”; both teams had sixty at-bats on Sunday (the Rifles outhit the Cannons sixteen to thirteen…Connecticut batters struck out eighteen times over the two games while Winsted batters only whiffed five times); Celio is the one Cannon in attendance who did not see action on Opening Day; SS Tom Luby was in the stands but described his ’08 return as “highly doubtful” after off-season back surgery: “I can’t really feel my left foot so that’s not a good start. Maybe I could block a base runner or two at the bag. A return will be difficult but it is not entirely out of the question. Team physicians have told me to keep and open mind and take a ‘wait and see’ approach.”; C Steve Markie was hospitalized with kidney stones earlier in the week forcing him to sit out Sunday’s double dip…Cannon Coincidence?: Celio carpooled with Clark (and Mancini) and picked the pitcher up at the corner of Main Street and Markie Road in Farmington; the second annual Step Up to the Plate Charity Baseball Marathon is scheduled for the Friday and Saturday of Memorial Day weekend (Opening Ceremonies will be held at 6:00 at Glastonbury’s brand new Riverfront Park on May 23); though never a maven of the “no glove, no love” motto, Dionicio’s Gloves for Love campaign is once again underway: old and unwanted baseball mitts can be donated to the “Dominican Dreamboat” to be delivered to less fortunate Cannon fans in the Caribbean; some adhere to the belief that John “Pachacuti” Sanchez has placed an Incan curse of the shortstop position following his unceremonious release after the 2004 campaign; in post-game partying, there was much drunken discussion of a Newington-Winsted merger in what Celio described as being “like the Marvel and DC superheroes uniting”…it was agreed that home games would be played a Fussenich, that Celio would retain managerial control and the team’s name would be the Winsted Cannons because of Connecticut’s stranglehold on league merchandise and marketing revenues; much to the Heineken-drinking Dionicio’s dismay, Miller High Life—the Champagne of Beers—was named the official brew of Cannon Nation; according to cnmsbl.org the Newington Capitals split their double header with the Marlborough Athletics (no other scores have been reported at press time…Weber said, “I can guarantee we’re in last place.”); a second Cannons merchandise order will be placed at Tees & More after next Sunday’s games…Dionicio’s now twenty-one year old girlfriend plans to pump up the team, both in the pennant chance and in the pants, by purchasing short shorts with the classic written Cannons logo across the derriere (“She sure knows how to wear a pair of jeans,” Web said in wonder as the team drowned its sorrow post-game); Fun Fact: Torrington is the birthplace of abolitionist John Brown…Louisiana native “Ragin’ Cajun” McDowell is not a fan (in 1859 Brown seized the federal armory at Harpers Ferry, VA in an effort to instigate a slave uprising thus destroying the institution of slavery; Herman Melville referred to Brown as “The Meteor of the War” because his actions pit pro-slavery Southerners and secessionists against Northerners who rallied around his abolitionist ideals; former slave Frederick Douglass said of Brown, who was hanged for his act of insurrection, “His zeal in the cause of freedom was infinitely superior to mine. Mine was the taper of light; his was the burning of the sun. I could live for the slave; John brown could die for him.”