MEET THE METS, BEAT THE METS
Connecticut Walks Off In Opener Against Windsor, Wins First Home Game of ‘09

Newington, CT (AP)—On Sunday, the Connecticut Cannons—amazingly at home for the first time this year—met the Windsor Mets in the second half of a rain-aided home-and-home match-up. After suffering a sweep at the hands of the A Division’s newest entry, one that led to a rash of roster changes, the Cannons played a better brand of baseball, winning 6-5 in walk-off fashion before dropping the nightcap by a final score of 4-3. Manager Matt Celio seemed pleased with his team’s play as the calendar approaches July and CNMSBL officially starts its annual Independence Day break and the subsequent stretch run: “I’ve repeatedly reiterated throughout the season that the Cannons have the makings of a championship contender and I certainly stand by that assessment after our play to this point of the season including today’s performance. We haven’t hit our full stride yet but our schedule is very favorable as postseason seeding starts to take shape [Connecticut plays four home double headers against Winsted (sixth seed at press time), Bristol (third, though the Cannons took two from the Scrappers in Bristol back on May 3), Eastern Connecticut (ninth), and Newington (tenth)]. If we play the way we are capable of, it’s no stretch of the imagination for us to skyrocket in the standings, seeing a solid season become a special or even spectacular season, one ending with our first A Division title.”

Game One matched the Mets’ Joey Correa against the Cannons’ Tom Clark in his first start of the 2009 campaign (the reigning Patenaude Pitching Award winner has battled shoulder soreness all season, logging only 8+ innings of action on the mound after tossing fifty-three in eight starts last year). Clark, who called for the ball from Manager Matt Celio upon arriving at the field, allowed back-to-back singles to start the first frame but used his patented pick-off move, some nifty defense, and poor base running by Windsor to escape the jam unscathed. Lead-off hitter Phallus Rodriguez was caught in a run down after straying too far from the bag at second as Leo Dionicio flipped to Tom Luby who applied the tag for the first out of the inning (Alberto Terrini moved into scoring position on the play). Sammy “Wabo” Cabo followed with a slicing drive to right centerfield that was tracked down by a sliding Jason Maule who then threw behind Terrini for the unconventional 8-4 double play to end the inning. How many highlight packages feature a player making a stellar defensive play and then immediately providing some offensive pop? Maule, who missed the double header in Windsor earlier this month, did just that as he doubled over the head of Gary Coleman in deep center to start the home half of the inning, stole third, and scored on Bill Balcerzak’s two-out single to give the Cannons an early edge. Windsor was able to grab the lead in inning three as the bottom third of the line-up did some damage: Johan Santana singled and Mets Manager Ruben Serrano reached on an errant throw allowing Santana to score the tying run. A Rodriguez base hit brought Serrano home and the Mets held a 2-1 advantage. Windsor tacked on a run in the fifth as Santana scored on another Rodriguez hit to move ahead by a pair but in the bottom of the inning Connecticut chipped away with Kevin Quinn and Jim “Jelly” Yanosy belting back-to-back base knocks and Mike McGann following with a productive out, a ground ball to short that brought home the Cannons catcher, making it a 3-2 ball game. In the sixth, Clark (6 IP, 5 R, 4 ER, 9 H, 3 K, 3 BB, 2 HBP) recorded two quick outs but then ran into trouble, hitting a batter and surrendering three straight singles as the Mets stretched the score to 5-2. However, confidence never wavered in the home dugout and Connecticut cut into the lead as Dionicio singled and Balcerzak smacked a two-run bomb to straight away center, his second in his last six at-bats versus Mets pitching. Quinn (1 IP, 1 H) entered in relief of the gritty Clark and got the top of the Windsor line-up to pop up weakly, giving Connecticut a chance to come back that the team would make the most of. As the Boys in Blue trotted off the diamond trailing by only one, “Señor Cinco” stated for all to hear, “The Cannons are going to walk off with a victory,” and his words proved prophetic. Clark, mired in a 0-17 slump (the worst of the Co-Cannons Offensive Player of the Year’s career), singled to start the home half of the seventh but found himself stuck on second with two outs. McGann, famous for his heroics in the 2005 Championship run when he memorably told reporters after a game-winning hit that his plate approach consisted of the comedic, “Please ball hit bat,” came through in the clutch with a single over the head of the Mets shortstop to knot the score at five. Maule stepped into the box with smile on his face, having hit doubles to the wall on two earlier occasions. McGann swiped second and, with first base open, Dionicio began to taunt the Mets from the on-deck circle: “You can’t walk Maule, because look who’s up next!” With his infielders openly questioning the decision, Serrano elected to throw to the Cannons lead off batter and Maule made Windsor pay, stroking a single into right field, scoring McGann for the 6-5 victory. “It’s great to be a part of a walk-off win, especially after playing our worst weekend of baseball against this very team last time out,” said Celio to members of the media after the contests. “Tommy’s performance was gutsy and he gave us every opportunity to win the game while Kevin provided a nice change of pace and really kept the Mets’ batters off balance. Jason, Billy, Leo, and Drew (McDowell) are carrying the offense and we’ve improved defensively, playing one of our most consistent games of the season in the opener (a pair of errors and one unearned run were the only miscues). The roster has been more manageable recently and as a result we were able to put a better product on the field today. If we can get some consistent top-to-bottom production from guys who have put up big numbers in the past, and you toss Jimmy and Mikey [Patenaude] into the mix on the mound, we start to walk with the swagger of a contender in July and August, resembling the team we wanted to be coming out of spring training.”

Game Two pitted Blazej “White Power” Dlugolenski against Quinn, who had tossed just seven pitches in the seventh inning of Game One (catcher Rob DePalma showed interested teammates some swelling in his glove hand, the result of Quinnie’s prodigious pitching pop from pre-game warm-ups). The Cannons’ right-hander went to work, allowing only a single to Cabo before striking out Howard “Dr. Fever” Husman to end the visitor’s half of the opening frame. Maule once again mashed a two-bagger to jump start Connecticut’s offense, stole third, and scored on Tom Luby’s sacrifice fly to center to put the Cannons on top by one, but the Guns stranded runners on first and second, something that would come back to haunt them in later innings. Correa touched Quinn for a single to start the second and a failed pick-off attempt that almost took off McDowell’s face at first allowed the runner to advance all the way to third, eventually scoring the tying tally on a Morgan Freeman base hit. After leaving runners on second and third in inning three, Connecticut scored twice in the fourth behind a Balcerzak single (the shortstop would later score as Dlugolenski uncorked a wild pitch), a McDowell walk, pinch hitter Josh Svoboda’s fly ball that dropped in for an error in left, and Mike Weber’s RBI groundout on a web gem by the diving Husman at third (Svoboda moved up but was stranded ninety feet from the plate to end the inning). Weber asked McGann, “How the hell did that guy make a play on that ball?” to which the double lead-off replied, “He dove.” Windsor responded with a pair of runs in the fifth off of Quinn as Correa and Roberto “From Dusk Till Dawn” Rodriguez singled, Freeman hit a sacrifice fly to center, and Coleman grounded out to short for a run batted in. Husman can in as a reliever, allowing Balcerzak’s base hit in the sixth with two outs, but the Cannons offense couldn’t come up with another big hit. With the score tied at three in the top of the seventh, Cabo reached on a hard luck error on a ball up the middle, moved base to base on a pair of singles by Husman and Correa, and scored on a sacrifice fly to Svoboda in deep right field for the go-ahead run and eventual game winner against Quinn (7 IP, 4 R, 3 ER, 8 H, 3 K, 2 BB). The pitcher reached on a one-out base hit but was picked off of first on a questionable call by umpire and Chris “T-Rex” Barsa hater Tom Garro and Weber went down on strikes to end the ball game. “Winning is so much better than losing,” stated “Yogi” Weber on his weekly radio wrap-up show Worldwide Web. “After grabbing Game One, we had a golden opportunity to take two today but we came up just short…if only with the Cannon Yards grass could have been that short. We’re pleased with the progress we have made as a team. We’re a different team with Maule and McDowell in the line-up and our pitching depth got a much-needed shot in the right arm with the performances we got from Clark and Quinn: a rotation featuring these two along with MP and Yano makes us a tough out for the remaining regular season Sundays but especially in the three-game series that mark this season’s playoffs. There’s a lot of baseball left to be played and if we take care of business at home, we should be sitting pretty when the postseason party gets under way come August.”

Though it took almost a month (one filled with torrential downpours and two rain outs), the Connecticut Cannons were able to meet and beat the Windsor Mets on Sunday at New Cannon Yards, exacting a modicum of revenge against this annoying opponent. A win before an off-weekend is always enjoyable, yet regular season success or failure matters little when the ultimate prize, the Clarke-Clinton Trophy, waits on the sultry Saturdays and Sundays just over the summer horizon. July is almost here and with the warmer weather comes a Connecticut ball club heating up and hoping to prove itself on the league’s grandest stage. Playing to the team’s potential equals increased expectations around Newington and across the state. Ladies and gentlemen, your 2009 Connecticut Cannons: the team to beat in the Connecticut North Men’s Senior Baseball League’s A Division.

Cannons News and Notes: The Cannons take on the Torr-Winchester Rifles (6-6), in Newington on Sunday, July 12…the games are sold out; with the victory over the Mets, the Cannons have wins against every A Division opponent beating new clubs Windsor and Suffield this season); the team’s all-time A Division best seven–win total during the ’08 regular season is in jeopardy with eight games to play; Mariana Trench v. Mount Everest: field crews from Newington’s Parks and Recreation Department made it a priority to fix the flat mound at New Cannon Yards, raising it to what the naked eye discerns as near-illegal levels; the Cannons’ batting averaged jumped to .274 through six Sundays (the overall opponents’ average inched to .266, the highest point it’s been at any point this season); another Sunday, another pair of broken bats—a Mizuno and an unlikely candidate, a Rally Bat—as the team reached the two bat bag barrier; Balcerzak, Clark, Dionicio, Luby, Maule, McDowell, Quinn, Svoboda, and Yanosy have all played in eight or more games for the Cannons this season, achieving postseason eligibility (Barsa, DePalma, McGann, and Patenaude can join their teammates in the games against the Rifles); Balcerzak raised his average to .471 with five more hits on Sunday…the shortstop is hitting .818 against the Mets (9 for 11, 2 2B, 2 HR, 4 R, 5 RBI), all coming after he switched into his new #4 jersey for the first time earlier this month; Maule (12) joined Balcerzak (16) and Dionicio (11) as the first Cannons to the ’09 double-digit hit barrier (Quinn has 9 but is expected to miss the next three weekends for vacation); “El Heartthrob de Hispaniola” replaced Celio as third base coach during Game One…when asked if he knows the signs, Dionicio replied honestly, “No, but I can say them out loud in English because none of their players speaks the language.”; Serrano ripped a foul ball down the third base line on a Clark pitch after time had been called…Dionicio chirped from second base, “Ruben, I’m going to sit down now. You only get one hit a weekend and you just wasted it on a foul!”…the Mets Manager ground into a force a short; McDowell chased down Santana in a pickle at third all the way from first base, prompting several teammates to comment that “Louisiana Deceptively Fast” looked like Rocky Balboa chasing a chicken in the boxer’s second installment…the “Ragin’ Cajun’s” LSU Tigers won their sixth national championship against the Texas Longhorns earlier in the week; Weber, behind the plate for the first time in ’09, had some trouble hanging onto the ball…Svoboda offered to squirt some pine tar into the mitt if the Assistant Manager though it would help; DePalma popped his calf muscle trying to leg out an infield single in Game Two…he is listed as questionable for the games against Torr-Winchester; McGann, with the assistance of his centerfielder Maule, saved a turtle from the treacherous right field at New Cannon Yards, earning him the new nickname “PETA”…McGann commented saying, “Anything is better than the ‘Mayor of Manville’.”; Maule and wife Andrea will welcome the couple’s first child in early September…Maule informed members of the managerial staff that if there are rain dates in the playoffs and the Championship was pushed back to the ninth month, he would be in centerfield and at the top of the line-up; several members of the Connecticut Cannons have called for full disclosure of the e-mails sent between Celio and former player Juan Checo…management is considering making the papers public; Bill and Jill Balcerzak were featured on a recent WFSB “3 On Your Side” segment after contacting neighbors Dennis House and Kara Sundlin about a landscaping scam…Clark has been called in to close out the job; Plan B mini-burger coupons have been arriving in the mailboxes of a number of Cannons as the team prepares for its annual August debauchery leading to a deep postseason run; Friday, July 31 is the officially slated date for Italian-Fest ’09; the team has twenty-four tickets for a luxury box at Dodd Stadium in Norwich for a contest between the Akron Aeros and Connecticut Defenders on Thursday, August 13.

6/28 Studs: Balcerzak (5 for 6, 2B, HR, 2 R, 3 RBI, SB); Maule (5 for 7, 3 2B, 2 R, GW RBI, 3 SB of third); McGann (2 RBI, GW R); Clark (game-tying R; 6 IP, 4 ER, 3 K); Quinn (8 IP, 3 ER, 3 K, W)

6/28 Duds: Windsor CF Gary Coleman for his tie-dyed orange socks (first unveiled at the third annual Step Up to the Plate Charity Baseball Marathon); Serrano for trying to take the Cannons customary spot on the third base side because it was drier (Celio arrived at the field at 8:50 and had to kick the Mets Manager and his scorekeeper out of the home dugout amidst much complaint)