WOOD-BLOCK
Championship Run Cut Short As Nats Send Cannons Home For Season With Saturday Sweep

West Hartford, CT (AP)—Forty years ago this past weekend, an alfalfa field on Max Yasgur’s small dairy farm in rural Bethel, New York played host to thirty-two acts and over 300,000 audience members who counteracted the elements—wild weather, food shortages, poor sanitation—with good vibes, celebrating “3 Days of Peace and Music” in what is now widely regarded as one of the most pivotal moments in popular music history: Woodstock. Legendary rockers like Santana, The Grateful Dead, Credence Clearwater Revival, The Who, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, and The Jimi Hendrix Experience descended upon this pastoral patch of land as the 60s slipped inexorably toward the 70s on a song. At Old Cannon Yards in West Hartford this past weekend, the Connecticut Cannons hoped to make more beautiful baseball music, looking to unleash the lumber for a second straight Saturday in search of that elusive first-ever CNMSBL A Division Championship. Yet, the magical melody never materialized—a “flower” power outage aptly applied to the offensive output—as the top-seeded Hartford Nationals dispatched eighth-seeded Connecticut in straight sets, a 3-2 heartbreaker and a 13-1 backbreaker that signaled the end of another season for the Boys in Blue. Manager Matt Celio’s spoke with members of the media at Cannons World Headquarters on Sunday afternoon, and although the initial shock of an abrupt ending was apparent, his upbeat utterings reflected the team’s forward thinking as a whole: “Though the season is over, in no way can 2009 be categorized as a failure. It’s disappointing to be done after the Divisional Series because we had enough pieces of the puzzle to win, but that doesn’t change the fact that this is by far the most talent we’ve ever assembled and the team is in great shape moving forward. We made amazing strides as a team and I am confident we will continue to do so in 2010 and beyond. The core of Cannons Baseball remains intact, with sixteen ’09 roster invitees under contact through the 2011 season, so we’ll reload and get ready to go from the beginning of April through the end of August, that’s a promise. Turn the hot stove dial up to high: next year’s champion will not be crowned for more than twelve months but that title will be won by the Cannons starting today. Another year of seasoning will make us instant favorites in the CNMSBL A Division tomorrow and for the foreseeable future. We are the team to beat in ’10 and you can print that in any and all publications. We’re putting the baseball world on notice.”

The Cannons returned to the familiar, comfy confines of Old Cannon Yards, Mike McGann’s favorite stadium in the CNMSBL, for the first time since 2006 to take on the Nationals in a game that matched Hartford’s David “Wild At Heart” Lynch against Connecticut’s ageless lefty Mike “Old Man of the ‘C’” Patenaude, making his tenth postseason appearance in A Division play. For the fifteenth time this season, Connecticut was able to push a first inning run across as Leo “Señor Cinco” Dionicio continued his torrid playoff pace with a two-out single and subsequent stolen base. Potent playoff performer Tom Luby followed with a run-scoring base hit down the leftfield line to put early pressure on the heavily favored Nats. However, a team doesn’t rack up sixteen regular season victories by accident, and the hard-hitting top of the Hartford line-up tied the ballgame in the home half of the frame as Anthony “Night Breed” Cacavale drove in lead-off batter David DeJesus, who had singled, to even the score at 1. Both starters settled in, though the Cannons constantly kept pressure on Lynch by putting runners in scoring position in every inning. Unfortunately, the Penn Gillette of the pitching mound was able to use smoke and mirrors, strike outs, and the occasional strong play to magically escape each instance unscathed. Instead it was the Nats who scored next when Jose Rosado and Basilio Ortiz belted back-to-back doubles with two down in the third to give the home team a one-run advantage. Patenaude kept the Nationals knockers in check, setting the team down in order in the fourth and fifth, and the Cannons were able to knot the score in the sixth as Chris “T-Rex” Barsa singled with one down, moved to third on Josh Svoboda’s double over the bag at third, and scored with some heads up base running when defensive replacement and former Cannon recruit Jimmy Gonzalez ranged to his left and bobbled a Kevin Quinn ground ball for an equalizing error. Connecticut managed to load the bases as McGann reached on a fielder’s choice and Jason Maule worked a walk, but Drew McDowell’s ground out to third ended the threat with the score tied at 2 and a wild bottom of the sixth would ensue. Guy “Sweetest Music This Side of Heaven” Lombardo singled to right and Rosado racked up his second big base hit to put to go-ahead run in scoring position with nobody down. Patenaude (6 IP, 3 R, 2 ER, 8 H, 1 K, 1 BB, 1 INT. BB) got a huge out as clean-up hitter Ortiz popped to McGann at short, but a passed ball bounding to the first base side of home during Cacavale’s at-bat moved both base runners up ninety feet. Patenaude put the Nats’ fifth batter on intentionally to load the bases and induced a one hop grounder to Luby at third, but the ball was misplayed for a run in the form of Lombardo. McGann tracked the ball to the outfield grass as Rosado rounded third and Cacavale followed around the bag at second as he looked to the lead runner for direction. The Cannons’ shortstop threw behind Cacavale to Dionicio at second and the tag was applied for out number two. Amid the mayhem, Rosado decided to test “El Professor de Punta Cana” but Dionicio fired a perfect strike to Quinn at the plate to cut down Rosado, keeping the lead at 1 going into the final frame. “El Dominican Dreamboat” singled and stole second to start the seventh but was stranded as the next three batters went in order and a golden opportunity to steal a game against a higher seed slipped by the wayside for the Cannons. “MP pitched a solid if not spectacular game against one of the best hitting line-ups this league has to offer and our defense was dynamite except for the single miscue, albeit a big one,” Weber voiced before vacating the visitors’ locker room (McGann and Adam “Bomb” Pallone were especially impressive filling gaps in the field). “Lynch dug himself a hole by getting behind batters but made every important pitch he had to, striking out eleven while leaving ten runners on base, so you’ve got to tip your cap to him. We had opportunities, didn’t come up with the big hits at the right moments, and it came back to haunt us. Jason [Maule] has been such a catalyst for us that we get spoiled and grow accustomed to his exploits: Hitting and scoring at will are second nature for him. You forget that this game is not as simple as he sometimes makes it look. It’s a lot of pressure, but often as Jason goes, we go. We’ll take our chances with that each and every weekend, but it just didn’t go our way today.”

In an elimination game as the home team, the Cannons turned to righty Kevin Quinn against Gonzalez of the Nationals and it was Hartford that drew first blood as lead-off batter DeJesus, a thorn in the side of Cannons pitchers throughout the day, reached on an error and stole second against Quinn and battery-mate Rob DePalma. A passed ball and an errant throw down the third base line allowed DeJesus to score and the Nats had a run without the benefit of a hit (Ortiz followed with a single so this may have been a moot point). In the bottom of the first, the Cannons once again put runners in scoring position as Maule walked and swiped second and Dionicio took free pass (a double steal would move the runners to second and third). Gonzalez, the Teller to Lynch’s Penn, got Luby to line out to Brian Austin Green at third and struck out Tom Clark to add to the Connecticut’s growing frustration. Hartford responded with three more runs in the top of the second against Quinn (1.1 IP, 4 R, 2 ER, 4 H, 1 K, 0 BB) as Will “Semi-Pro” Farrell, John “Issue Number One” McLaughlin, and DeJesus had singles sandwiched around a ball that was misplayed between Dionicio and Pallone off the bat of Gonzalez (the two came close to colliding as both went hard for a quickly falling ball; DePalma, feeling some ill effects from the heat, struggled to connect with Quinn and the Nationals repeatedly took advantage by moving up on several passed balls; Barsa joked afterwards, “For a big guy, Rob had a bad arm.”). Patenaude, sensing the tenor of the game, offered to reenter as a stopgap measure under the moniker “Mark” Patenaude, twin brother of “Mike,” and was able to set down Lombardo and Rosado without allowing any further damage, though it turns out the 4-0 edge was all Gonzalez would need. Connecticut loaded the bases in the second but was unable to break through and Hartford scored six runs—two in the third and four in the fourth, though only two of them were earned—against Patenaude (2.2 IP, 6 R, 2 ER, 6 H, 2 BB) as the fourth inning was extended because of another costly error at third and the bulge ballooned to 10 for the top-seed (Patenaude’s typical, “Oh well,” was all the lefthander could muster after throwing exactly 150 pitches on the day, though the “Sour Patch Kid” did give Luby “The Look” after his drop of the Cacavale line drive). Clark (2 IP, 3 R, 1 ER, 2 H, 1 BB) was also affected by porous play behind him as DeJesus, Lombardo, and Rosado all came around to score, the thirteenth and final run coming in the form of Rosado on a passed ball (“Somebody needs to dot ‘Rosy’ when we see them next season,” said Celio). The Cannons continued to squander opportunities to make a game of things as a bases loaded one-out rally in the fifth was averted on a line-drive double play off the bat of Luby—“The definition of our day,” mentioned Maule—while Pallone and Quinn singled but were left on base in the sixth. Luby (1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 BB) pitched a perfect seventh and Celio brought the boys in for a last time in 2009, imploring his team to “win the inning.” Maule obliged, belting a bomb onto the junior varsity field and Connecticut loaded the bases yet again—ten more runners were left on base in game two—but Gonzalez was able to get Pallone looking to end the contest and the season for the Cannons. Weber wrapped up his postgame press conference thusly: “The four pitchers gave everything they had in conditions that were far from ideal (the mercury measured near 90° for much of this hot, humid day), and I wish we could have rewarded their efforts with a ‘W’ or two. Our offense, which has been so successful over the past two weekends, was far less effective against Hartford’s pitching staff and it’s all but impossible to beat these guys when you score just three runs over two games. Defensively, we didn’t get the job done when it mattered most, so we’ll spend the rest of the postseason at home trying to get better and making sure we don’t come up short next year. In my thinking, we lost these games in the regular season: Entering as an eight-seed, we were in the unenviable position of playing the one in the early going and that makes the road to the finals all the more difficult. We’ll get better and bring our ‘A’ game in 2010.” Celio stated: “Our guys gave it their all out there today and over the course of the entire campaign. I’m very proud of this ball club and what we accomplished this season. We’re heading in the right direction and that’s something for us to build upon in 2010. I fully expect the Cannons to take that next step and challenge for the CNMSBL Championship next year.”

Excerpts from “Woodstock” by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young:

Well, then can I roam beside you?
I have come to lose the smog,
And I feel myself a cog in somethin’ turning.
And maybe it’s the time of year,
Yes, and maybe it’s the time of man.
And I don’t know who I am,
But life is for learning.

We are stardust, we are golden,
We are billion year old carbon.
And we got to get ourselves back to the garden.

After Woodstock, Max Yasgur, who owned the site of the event, spoke of how the concert was a victory of peace and love, saying, “If we join [the concertgoers], we can turn adversities into a hope for a brighter future.” The 2009 CNMSBL season is over and done for the Connecticut Cannons, though this team hopes to turn its misfortune into a future filled with good wood, gold gloves, and the grandest of all achievements, an A Division title. Life is indeed for learning and each Cannon a cog in somethin’ turning. As the end of summer and the Autumnal Equinox approaches, the 2010 season may seem a distant dream, with Opening Day approximately eight months away. But those in the know fully understand that this is the time when postseason games are won and lost. Re-signing pivotal players or finding that key free agent acquisition will go a long way toward setting the tone for this team’s future so that the sweet sounds of success are all you’ll hear in a Cannons’ ear. Expectations will once again be at an all-time high as the Cannons prepare to play out next season’s CNMSBL A Division schedule and a championship is the only music that can truly soothe the savage beast known collectively as Cannon Nation.

Cannons News and Notes: Barsa [1], Luby [1], and Patenaude [13] are the only three current Connecticut Cannons who were alive during the three days of Woodstock…Iron Butterfly was scheduled to perform at the festival as the thirty-third act but could not reach Bethel because of traffic…“The New State Thruway’s Closed, Man!” (in honor of the Woodstock theme, Weber said the Cannons, “played like a bunch of hippies on acid” on Saturday; Hartford was 4-0 against Connecticut in ’09 after splitting the season series in ’08; the A Division’s final four is set: newcomers Suffield [4] will take on Hartford [1], while another newbie, upset winner Windsor [6] will play Glastonbury [2]…Bristol, Winsted, and the 2008 champion Marlborough were eliminated from contention over the weekend along with Connecticut; the Cannons batted .366 as a team in postseason play, up from .300 in the regular season (opponents batted .268 and .273 respectively); among qualifiers, Dionicio led the team offensively during the postseason in at-bats [15], triples [2], and runs batted in [8]…Maule led the team in bases on balls [4], runs [6], slugging percentage [1.231], and on-base + slugging percentage [1.937]…Balcerzak led the team in batting average [.714] and on-base percentage [.778]…Dionicio and Maule shared the lead in hits [8], home runs [1], and fewest strike outs [0] while Balcerzak, Maule, and Svoboda shared the lead in doubles [2]; Maule is the team’s all-time A Division leader in ten of thirteen offensive categories (Dionicio has more at bats and triples while Maule and Luby share the team lead with 10 RBI)…the star centerfielder has not struck out in fifty-six postseason plate appearances with the Cannons and his batting average actually improved from .606 from to .609 in his fourth postseason; Luby and Maule each hold six of the team’s overall 2001-2009 postseason records, five individually and each has scored 21 runs (Dionicio and Steve Markie share the triples lead…“Father of Cannons Baseball” Andy Borst still holds the record for postseason walks with 15); Patenaude and Quinn each had a win and a loss in postseason play…Patenaude led the club in playoff appearances [3], inning pitched [15.2], walks + hits per inning allowed [1.32], and earned run average [1.78]…Quinn led the club in hits allowed [10], runs allowed [5], earned runs allowed [3], and batting average against [.277]…Patenaude and Quinn each struck out seven opponents and walked four; for the first time since October 2005 (when the Cannons agreed to move to the A Division), Luby hosted teammates at a post-game party…Barsa, Celio, DePalma, McGann, and Weber joined Lubes and family at his lovely home in Avon (“Juicy Lucys”—hamburgers with cheese on the inside—were a huge hit with teammates…McGann does not use ketchup on his burgers); the team (Barsa, Celio, DePalma, Luby, former Cannon great Kevin McGann, Mike McGann, and Weber among other assorted family members and friends of the team) used twenty-two tickets in Luxury Box 4 at Dodd Stadium in Norwich for a contest between the Akron Aeros and Connecticut Defenders on Thursday, August 13 (won in walk-off fashion by the Defenders in the tenth)…the Giants Minor League affiliate celebrated Library Night and Thirsty Thursday with assorted $3 Samuel Adams brews (“T-Rex” chose to drink $5 Bud Light Limes instead while kicking in $40…he somehow worked a $30 refund by eating and drinking more)…as Celio passed out beers, DePalma spilled a Sam all over McGann, to which the lifelong Cubs fan responded topically, “I feel like Shane Victorino at Wrigley.”…Cutter the Eagle, the Defenders mascot, spent time in the box with the Cannons…twice during the game, a fan was covered in tape and asked to roll around in a pile of money…Luby questioned, “How much would Drew Clarke make in this event?” (Clarke’s Revenge: McGann says he, “loves the feel of the team’s new uniforms…in April.”)…after a high pop up, Weber informed teammates that these are the types of balls an outfielder can dive for risk-free, though he never remembered John Mancini doing so…Barsa replied, “I can’t picture Manzer [sic] diving for anything, except maybe a buffet table.”…Weber offered Barsa his unconditional release to the B Division at several points during the evening…Liz “Devo” Devokaitis was the first-ever contestant on Can You Dig It?, the Cannons version of Sox Appeal (Liz has had a blind date with “McCan’t,” took Barsa’s number even though he was texting another lady, and said, “Rob looks good in jeans. I hate to see him leave, but I love to watch him go!”)…Barsa informed “Devo” that his closest personal friends call him “Barse”…no Cannon has ever done so…McGann’s forty-two year old “back-up plan” girlfriend is “into yoga…she taught me a few things,” PETA pronounced; McDowell’s batting cage is available to the team this offseason; a move back to West Hartford is in the works as Celio signed former Bristol Scrapper and diamond in the rough Rick Sanford (Sanford, like Kenny “Club Foot” Mayne, hopes to wear #29 next season…bidding begins at $1000); Cannons management is looking at Saturday, October 3 for the annual Jocktoberfest at The Webers in Berlin…dinner, drinks, Cannons Jeopardy! and the Cannons Awards are all on the agenda, so clear your calendars for the fun-filled festivities!

8/15 Studs: Dionicio (3 for 6, 2 BB, 1 R, 5 SB), Patenaude (8.2 IP over two games, 4 ER)

8/15 Duds: the Connecticut Cannons offense (though the team connected for eighteen hits and eight walks, nearly the same as the twenty and five accumulated by Hartford, few were of the timely fashion needed to knock off a top-seeded opponent as the Nats outscored the Cannons 16-3 while Connecticut struck out on seventeen of forty-two outs [41%]); the Connecticut Cannons defense (nine unearned runs—one in the first and eight in the second—over the two games)