“BEAR” NECESSITY
Cannons Close Out Cubs in Needed Nightcap Win; 4-10 Entering 4th of July Break

Newington, CT (AP)—Baloo, Disney’s happy-go-lucky “sloth bear” from 1967’s The Jungle Book, marches to the beat of his own drum as the saying goes and shows “man cub” Mowgli the fun of leading a carefree existence. In the song “The Bare Necessities,” Baloo wisely encourages Mowgli to forget about his worries and his strife and implores him to relax; when he does so the things needed to have a fun and fruitful life will simply come his way. The Connecticut Cannons, 3-9 entering Sunday amidst a season-long four-game losing streak, have clearly been pressing to this point of the campaign. New players abound and finding the perfect fit has proven painstakingly difficult while unexpected “commitment concerns” have made the prospect of putting the most lethal line-up on the field an on-going problem (Drew McDowell stated the obvious in a tongue-in-cheek pre-game interview: “One day when everybody on the roster gets here we will be a team to be reckoned with.”). The crimson-clad club from Newington would do well to channel its inner Baloo, forgetting about the first twelve games or the next eight games or even the playoffs and simply playing ball: leave the worries behind, relax and let the winning all of Cannon Nation has been desperately waiting for begin. As June in the CNMSBL A Division comes to a close, Connecticut was able to scratch and claw its way to a much-needed morale-boosting win against the Eastern Connecticut Cubs at Mill Pond Park in Newington, moving into seventh-place at 4-10 on the 2008 season (the Glastonbury Marlins swept the Newington Capitals, once again dropping Dave Sacco’s club into the standings cellar). With Independence Day later this week it is the sincere hope of those involved in Connecticut Cannons Baseball that the early fireworks displayed at times on this hot and humid day were a sign of great things to come over the remaining course of the season.

Tom Clark took his customary spot atop the mound though the defense behind him was a bit out of the ordinary, especially in the infield where Kevin Quinn was enlisted as the backstop and Mike Weber was set up at second while Mike “Bono” McGann and McDowell manned the left side at shortstop and third respectively (McGann was notably stellar at short). Clark was impressive in the early going, setting down the side in order on just twelve pitches and the Cannons offense rewarded him for his efforts with a first-inning advantage. McDowell, hitting in the two hole, singled between first and second and came all the way around to score on Jason Maule’s double to deep centerfield off Cubs starter Leif “The Viking” Ericson to put Connecticut on top 1-0. Eastern Connecticut was able to snatch the lead back in the second on a pair of doubles by Bobby Meakem and Paul Verboven and a sacrifice fly by Van Wilder to move out in front 2-1. Then the Baby Bears tacked on three more in the third as Clark walked Rouge Moulin and Ericson and allowed singles to Dane Cook, Meakem (RBI) and Verboven (RBI) increasing the Cubs advantage to 5-1. The Cannons responded with a pair in the home half of the third as Andy Borst singled and Leo Dionicio drove him in with a base hit up the middle (the “Hard-Hittin’ Hispañiolan” moved into scoring position as the throw to the plate carried Cubs catcher Verboven up the first base line). In an ill-advised attempt to “get [his] legs loose,” Dionicio stumbled but still tried to steal third getting gunned by several steps with the heart of the line-up approaching. McDowell—expectedly—followed with a composite bat double dunked just inside the third base line and scored as Maule stroked his second two-bagger in as many at-bats to cut the Cubs lead to 5-3. Clark, holding the Cubbies down at the dish, helped himself in the sixth, driving in McDowell with a double—the team’s fourth extra base hit of the outing—to pull the Cannons within one. Clark (7 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 5 BB, 4 K) then set Eastern down in order in the seventh but Connecticut was unable to put any runners on as the bottom of the order went quietly giving the Cubs a hard-fought though hardly deserved 5-4 victory. “Difficult to digest,” intoned an irritated Manager Matt “Check Swing” Celio between games. “Failing to produce and put bats on balls in big spots, like when I went down swinging in the seventh, is unacceptable (Celio was used as a DH for right fielder and solid citizen Jack Vanasse). Poor plate approach today and I’ve got to be better than that though I’m not alone in this regard (the Cannons had nine whiffs in the game and Connecticut’s eighty-eight strike outs—accounting for thirty percent of the team’s outs—are more than double that of its opponents). Little mistakes seem to come back to haunt us in big ways. Walks and errors turn into runs while base running blunders keep us off the scoreboard. We truly have talent, all that we need to win the A Division title in 2008 in fact, but we have to play a better brand of baseball, minimize mistakes and maximize opportunities, before our potential can play itself out. If we do this, the Cannons will without question be a tough out for the remainder of the season and, more importantly, come tournament time. This was a missed opportunity by us in the opener but if we play a bit better I’m confident we’ll come out of here with a win in the nightcap.”

Bona fide Cub killer Mike Patenadue mounted the mound in game two and dazzled Eastern through the first four frames (the fifty-two year old lefty-hander had a perfect game going after facing the first thirteen batters). Offensively, the revamped Cannons line-up—Maule moved from lead-off to third while McGann and McDowell filled the first two spots—came out firing against Patenaude-wannabe Ericson (out of necessity, the Cubs were forced to use the game one starter for three additional game two innings though he was clearly running on fumes). McGann worked a walk, McDowell singled and Maule moved both runners over with a groundout to first. Clark was issued a free pass to load the bases and Dionicio drove in the first run of the game with a single. Quinn followed with a sacrifice fly to center and Weber singled between short and third to push the Cannons further in front by a score of 3-0, the team’s largest first-inning output this season. In the third, Connecticut added to the lead as Maule tripled—his third extra base hit of the double dip—and Clark knocked him home with a double. Quinn, catching his second consecutive game in excruciating dugout-free conditions, lined a single that scored Clark and the Cannons had what seemed to be a comfortable 5-0 advantage as Patenaude cruised. However, in the fifth the Cubs finally figured out the riddle that had been Patenaude as McCoy Hanfield hit a one-out single, Verboven walked, Wilder dropped a RBI double in and Mathias Noheimer grounded to Chris Barsa at first who conceded the run in exchange for the out (Patenaude then got Scrubs Noheimer, Mathias’ less-talented twin, to pop weakly to second for the final out of the frame). Connecticut answered immediately as McDowell singled—his fifth hit of the day, raising his average to a season-high .317—and Maule took a base on balls (McGann led off the inning with a double but was thrown out at third as he tried to stretch his hit into a triple, a move eerily reminiscent of the Dionicio debacle with the big bats to follow). “Gringo From Santo Domingo” Dionicio had a two-run base hit that got over the outstretched glove of Meakem at third and the Cannons once again led by five, 7-2. Eastern, clearly happy having won the opener, could have gone quietly but instead rallied for additional runs in the sixth against Patenaude as Cook and Ericson singled, Meakem grounded into a force out at third that McDowell then threw wide of Barsa at first to put both base runners in scoring position. Hanfield followed with a single that scored two, cutting the Cannons lead to 7-4 (“Bad decision by me,” admitted McDowell. “I should have tried the conventional 5-4-3 double play.”). Patenaude (7 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 2 K) allowed a single in the seventh but Connecticut’s wizened wonder was able to get Wilder, the younger Noheimer and Moulin to secure the victory, evening his record at 3-3 on the season. Weber said to the gathered reporters: “It was nice to see a team in a situation so familiar to us over the years. It makes MP’s efforts all the more impressive when you see how we jumped all over Ericson in the early innings of game two. One hundred-plus pitches on a hot day can take its toll.” Celio was far more pleased with the results of this contest and it was apparent in his post-game press conference: “Two solid pitching performances by our guys today and I’m happy we can go into the Independence Day layoff with a win. Our offense was more effective than it has been in recent weeks and those moves at the top paid immediate dividends, making it difficult for opposing pitchers to get through the line-up unscathed. Drew, Jason, Leo and Tom were dynamite, combining for thirteen hits (six for extra bases) while scoring nine and driving in eight. Impressive, and if we get production like that while guys like Borst, “Bono,” K-Dog, Web and others fill the stat sheet then we are really going to put some crooked numbers in the book, making playing us painful for other pitchers. If we can play within ourselves in all three areas of the game we have a chance to do something special and be the last team standing when everything is said and done in August. This is when the fun truly starts and I’m excited to be a part of it.”

From blow to Baloo, this Connecticut Cannons team took a five-game skid and made it fade by forgetting about the past, relaxing and playing in the now. One win does not a season make, especially against a 4-8 sixth-place opponent, but it’s certainly better than starting July on a six-game slide. This team has the bare necessities—fielding, hitting, pitching, speed—and more to compete for the 2008 CNMSBL A Division crown. Regular season success or failure matters little when the ultimate prize waits on the sultry Saturdays and Sundays in August. Forget about your worries Cannon Nation. July is just about here and with the warmer weather comes a Connecticut ball club bursting at the proverbial seams to prove itself on the league’s grandest stage. Is it hot in here or is it just the Cannons? Time will tell. Tickets for the July 13 match-up against the Winsted Rifles (8-4, first-place in the CNMSBL West, third-place overall) at Sacco Stadium at Alumni Field are available at 1 800 CANNONS or on-line at ctcannons.blogspot.net (Loge Box, Outfield Grandstand and Standing Room Only seats remain).

Cannons News and Notes: Dionicio’s single in the third inning of game one was the team’s one hundredth hit of the season (Cannons batters have 116 total hits through fourteen games—8.3 per contest—while Cannons pitchers have allowed 100 hits); after starting the season 2 for 13 and 1 for 18 respectively, Maule (11 for 20; .550, 2 2B, 3B, 2 HR, 5 R, 7 RBI in six games) and McDowell (12 for 23; .522, 3 2B, 7 R, 3 RBI in eight games) have busted out of their mini-slumps in big ways, bolstering a Cannons offense averaging just 3.71 runs per game; Connecticut had twenty hits on Sunday (Barsa and John Mancini were the only players to go hitless), increasing the team average from .274 to .285; Bill Balcerzak, Clark, Dionicio, Maule, McDowell and Quinn each has ten or more hits on the season; the Cannons have twenty-six extra base hits through fourteen games; with the performances of Clark and Patenaude on Sunday, the team WHIP dropped to 1.93 (McDowell is the team leader at 1.42 in limited action); both Clark and Patenaude have pitched through 156 plate appearances in six games; Celio earned his playoff eligibility, becoming the twelfth Cannon to do so in 2008 (Patenadue will become eligible when he pitches his next game); Dionicio and McDowell are the only Cannons to play in all fourteen games this season (Celio and Weber have been in attendance each and every Sunday); McDowell’s “training complex” is expected to open in Ridgefield before the end of 2008…the team is expected to get great use out of the facility before next—and each subsequent—season; the team’s “best” A Division regular season mark (6-14) is still within striking distance and besting it has become management’s short-term goal; Balcerzak is expected to miss the remainder of the regular season for I.N.S. training in Philadelphia; Bill Gills informed team officials of his hopes to play “possibly a few” in ’08…management is exploring the “Quinn Exemption,” allowing a roster invitee to achieve eligibility with fewer than the 40% (8) required games; catcher Steve Markie apologized “for letting the team down” after missing Sunday’s games because his daughter’s were ill; Mark Lynch plans to test his ailing foot after the two-week layoff; pitching recruit John Comey suffered self-described “elbow problems” in an emergency start in the Vernon Baseball League (he was 3 for 5 with 4 RBI on the offensive end)…he plans to attend the July 13 double dip in a meet and greet scenario; former Cannon Jason Jackson, he of Lifetime Achievement Award fame, will return to Connecticut for Fourth of July festivities before returning to Florida and his job with the Miami Heat; HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY CANNON NATION!