The Result
Thunder - 2 to 0

Sea Dogs - Year-to-Date
26 wins - 30 losses

Brett's Position and the Batting Order
Playing rightfield
Batting #3

At the end of the Game
0 hit from 4 at-bats - 1 x strike out

Brett's at-bats
First at-bat
Righthanded pitcher
Bases empty - two down
Ball - fast ball - low
Ball
Foul ball
Ball - high and away
A high fly ball into deep left-centrefield and "it's hit pretty well" but the fielder tracked it down in the gap
Out F7
Second at-bat
Righthanded pitcher
Bases empty - two down
Ball - change-up - low
Ball - fast ball - up and in
Driven into deep rightfield but out on a leaping catch on the track by the Thunder fielder - "Roneberg 'hit that on the screws' and it would be the hardest hit ball of the game so far"
Out F9

Third at-bat
Righthanded pitcher
Led off the innings
Drove the first pitch high into centrefield - "Another well hit ball by Brett but the fielder drifted back to make the catch"
Out F8
Fourth at-bat
Righthanded pitcher
Runner at third base - two down - and Brett was the "tying-run-at-the-plate" in a 2-nil ballgame !!
Called strike - on the outside corner
Foul ball - fast ball - "and that is crushed to deep right and if it's fair, it's gone!!!" - "that was a blast!!!" - "boy, he yanked that!!!"
Ball - low
Ball - down and away
Check swing - "and Brett has been rung-up by an appeal to the third base umpire and it did look like he went around"
Strike out

Heard during the game
(1) As he was giving out the starting line-ups, the commentator said that "Brett Roneberg is in rightfield and he has a great arm"

(2) As Brett was coming in for his first at-bat, the commentator said "Brett has homered in the last three games and has had a fine season and at the moment his is in third position for home runs (12) and sixth postion for runs-driven-in (38) in the Eastern League Top 10"

Email from Brett
"Shit shit shit"
Damn it all to hell!!!
10 feet foul!!!
"Shit shit shit shit"

Game Reports
Stevens is sharp but Dogs' foe is a little better

Portland's pitching was good but Trenton's was better Monday night.
The Thunder limited the Sea Dogs to four singles and came away with a 2-0 victory in the opener of a three-game series.

Buddy Carlyle of Trenton allowed three hits with nine strikeouts in eight innings.
Josh Stevens of Portland gave up one run and struck out seven over seven innings.
Neither pitcher walked a man.

"It's baseball," said Stevens, whose last win came May 21.
"The other guy just pitched better."

"(Stevens) did a real nice job. The other guy was fantastic," said Portland Manager Ron Johnson.

Carlyle set down 12 of the first 13 Sea Dogs.

Kenny Perez picked up the first Portland hit with a one-out single over short in the third, but Edgar Martinez hit into an inning-ending double play.

Stevens sailed through three innings, giving up only a first-inning single, but Jake Weber led off the fourth with a double to left-center, went to third on Dioner Navarro's fly to deep center, then scored on Aaron Rifkin's sacrifice fly to left.

The Sea Dogs had their only real chance when Jeff Bailey and Mike O'Keefe put together one-out singles in the fifth.
But Eric Johnson was called out on strikes, and Thunder center fielder Kevin Reese made a sliding catch of Perez's fly.

Meanwhile, the Thunder threatened in almost every inning, but Stevens stranded the leadoff man at second in the fifth with a strikeout, a tapper back to the mound and a grounder to third.

Ryan Larson relieved Stevens to start the eighth and gave up a leadoff double to Reese.
One out later, Navarro doubled off first baseman Mike O'Keefe's glove to make it 2-0.

NOTES
Right-hander Jerome Gamble, who was placed on the disabled list after Sunday's game against New Hampshire, traveled to Boston to have a precautionary evaluation of a sore forearm.
Left-hander Colin Young was activated.
Taking Gamble's start in Wednesday's 11:05 a.m. start against the Thunder will be Jarrett Gardner, up from Class A Augusta for a one-time start.

PORTLAND SHUT DOWN IN TRENTON
Sea Dogs Manage Only 4 Hits in 2-0 Loss to Thunder

Buddy Carlyle retired 23 of the 26 batters he faced and combined with David Shepard on a four-hitter, lifting the Trenton Thunder to a 2-0 win over the Portland Sea Dogs Monday night.

Josh Stevens allowed only a run in seven innings on five hits, but fell to 2-4 with the tough luck loss.
The right-hander retired 21 of the 27 batters he faced.

The two sides continue the three-game series Tuesday night in Trenton.
Charlie Zink (1-5) starts against left-hander Sean Henn (2-2).

Eastern League Game Summary - Portland at Trenton

Buddy Carlyle was spectacular - and almost unhittable - on the mound as the Trenton Thunder blanked the Portland Sea Dogs 2-0 in an Eastern League Northern Division game Monday night.

Winners of two straight, Trenton's record is 27-26 while Portland fell to a division-worst 26-30.

Carlyle gave up just three hits and issued zero walks in eight scoreless innings and struck out nine to remain an unbeaten 4-0.
His ERA stands at 0.88.

Trenton scored a run in the fourth on a sacrifice fly by Aaron Rifkin and added a run in the eighth when Dioner Navarro roped an RBI double to right field.

Losing pitcher Josh Stevens (2-4) was touched for one run and five hits in seven innings.

Up next, Portland and Trenton are scheduled to continue their three-game series Tuesday night.

THUNDER SHUTOUT PORTLAND 2-0 BEHIND CARLYLE
Carlyle strikes out nine in eight innings of work

Buddy Carlyle pitched eight shutout innings and received enough run support to help lift Trenton to a 2-0 victory over Portland Monday night in Eastern League play.

Aaron Rifkin had a sacrifice fly and Dioner Navarro hit an RBI double in the win.

Carlyle (4-0) rebounded from his only rough start of the season last week to notch his fourth victory of the season.
Carlyle struck out nine and walked none while yielding just three hits in eight masterful innings of work.

The game seemed reminiscent of his last home start against Harrisburg in which he threw seven shutout innings and struck out 10.

Trenton (27-26) jumped on the board with a run in the fourth inning off Portland starter Josh Stevens (2-4).
Jake Weber led off the inning with a double and moved to third on a long fly out by Navarro.
Then Rifken picked up his 38th RBI on the season on a sacrifice fly that scored Weber from third base.

Trenton added an insurance run in the eighth with an RBI double that scored Kevin Reese to give Trenton a 2-0 win.

Stevens took the loss for Portland (26-30) even though he tossed seven innings and only gave up five hits and one run.
Stevens also struck out seven and didn't walk a batter.

The series continues on Tuesday at 7:05 p.m. as Sean Henn (2-2, 3.81) starts for the Thunder against Portland's Charlie Zink (1-5, 4.62).

Carlyle strong again for Thunder

It is a simple game, really -- especially when it comes to pitching.
Throw strikes, especially early in the count, the saying goes, and you rarely, if ever, will go wrong.

In the world of sports, even well beyond the scope of baseball, perhaps no other axiom holds itself to be so true, so obvious, so mind-blowingly effective.
A classic Exhibit A took place at Waterfront Park last night.

Showing the form that made him lights-out in his first three appearances for the Thunder, and nothing like the one he displayed in getting bounced around a bit six days ago at Harrisburg, Buddy Carlyle simply embarrassed Eastern League rival Portland in a 2-0 victory for the home team.

So dominant, so precise was he in this one that it wasn’t a case of whether or not he’d succeed in setting down the Sea Dogs inning after inning, but rather how he’d succeed.
Would it be by enticing batters to fly out, ground out or just have them looking overmatched while trying to hit his fastball, curve or change-up.

Only - only - nine Dogs went down on strikes, but it seemed like a dozen or more as the former second-round draft pick and one-time major-leaguer toyed with the opposing team’s lineup.

From fans to scouts and everyone in between, murmurs of "he has no business being at this level" had total credence.

"I’m not out to prove anything," said a calm and collected Carlyle after allowing just three hits and no walks in eight innings.
"I feel very comfortable with trying to improve what I have to here. I want to be able to throw three pitches for strikes, consistently."

Last night, he did - early in the count, too.

Carlyle, a 6-foot-3, 205-pounder, proved so perplexing to Portland that it didn’t even seem to matter that Dogs starter Josh Stevens was matching him pitch to pitch.

Then, once the Thunder cracked through the scoring column in the fourth after Jake Weber doubled and came home after back-to-back deep flyouts by Dioner Navarro and Aaron Rifkin, the game, for all intents and purposes, was over.

Actually, with the way Carlyle was cruising, there was no doubt.

"He’s been very good for us," said Thunder manager Stump Merrill.
"That last time out, hey, you’re not going to have your best stuff. But he knows what he’s doing out there, and when you throw first-pitch strikes like he did tonight, you’re going to do well.
He didn’t make many mistakes tonight.
He had that one batter he went 3-0 on, but then came back and got him anyway."

For the record, Carlyle’s last outing was exactly the type that should send a pitcher with big-league aspirations running to jobs counselor in hopes of finding a new career.
Harrisburg managed four runs against him in 4-2/3 innings.

Prior to that, no EL team had scratched across a single run in 18.

"I went to the well with the same pitches way too often in that last game," said Carlyle.
"Tonight, I didn’t feel I had great control of my pitches at the start, but it was there as I went along."

The Thunder added some insurance in the eighth as doubles by Kevin Reese and Navarro doubled the Dogs’ deficit, but, really, it wasn't needed.

Closer David Shepard allowed a single to pinch hitter Mike Campo, a South Jersey product, to start the top of the ninth, but set down the next three batters, no muss, no fuss.

Just as Carlyle had done the rest of the night.

Carlyle continues impressive pitching show

Perhaps the rallying cry needs to start again.

There was one for infielder Mark Phillips, who handled his demotion to Double-A with class and dignity, to the point where the cry (and his numbers) deported him to Triple-A Columbus.
Players like Mitch Jones and Aaron Rifkin were trumpeted over the weekend.

Next on the list should be Buddy Carlyle.

Carlyle was sent packing after getting off to a shaky start with the Clippers, going 0-1 with a 5.89 ERA.

Whatever had been ailing Carlyle in Ohio doesn't appear to be affecting him in New Jersey.

One has to hope the Tampa arm of the Yankees' brain-trust took time to enjoy last night's game on the YES Network and see what the 6,136 on hand at Mercer County Waterfront Park have known for quite some time now.

The 26-year-old can flat out pitch.
Ask the Portland Sea Dogs ---- 2-0 losers to the Thunder.

Carlyle (4-0) allowed just three hits with no walks and nine strikeouts over eight innings.
His ERA stands at a minuscule 0.89.
He fired 93 pitches with 65 going for strikes.

After getting an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth on Dioner Navarro's RBI double, David Shepard closed out the game for his fifth save of the season.

"There is no reason to say that," said Carlyle when asked if it was time for him to go.
"I am here for a reason. I have a lot of stuff to work on. I am feeling comfortable with the stuff I am trying to improve.
"I can't say when it is time to go. I will just try to get better with every start no matter where I am at.
Everyone is here for a reason. I am just going to try and get better every day."

Carlyle, who began the season with a short stay in Trenton (27-26), was very economical with his pitches.
In four of his eight innings, he tossed 10 or fewer pitches.

The right-hander, who has experience in the majors with the San Diego Padres during the 1999 and 2000 seasons, saw only one batter out of the first 10 reach base safely.
He retired the last 11 hitters he faced.

Carlyle was aided by solid defense in the field.
Five-foot-11 third baseman J.T. Stotts made a nice leaping snag on a chopper by Jesus Medrano in the fourth inning.
Kenny Perez, who singled in the third, was erased a the 6-4-3 double play.

"It's not as much as trying to prove anything (at the Double-A level); it's about trying to get better," Carlyle said.
"I don't go out there and try to prove anything. Every time I go out there, I am trying to get better.
I am trying to improve, not prove anything, if that makes any sense.
I have to be more consistent with my pitches.
I hope I am heading in the right direction."

The former second-round draft pick ran into trouble in the fifth when he allowed a pair of one-out singles to Jeff Bailey and Mike O'Keefe.
Carlyle snuck a fastball past a looking Eric Johnson for strike three.
Center fielder Kevin Reese ended the frame with a sliding catch on a shallow flyball.

Portland starter Josh Stevens (2-4) matched Carlyle out for out until the fourth.
A double to the wall in left-center by Jake Weber led to the first run. He advanced on a fly ball by Navarro and scored on one by Rifkin, his team-leading 38th RBI.

"It wasn't there earlier, but as the game went on, my command got better," Carlyle said.
"I got a little tired in the seventh and eighth innings, and I lost full command of my offspeed.
Luckily, I was able to locate it early and get that in the hitters' head.
"Overall, I was happy to throw a changeup for a strike, because I had been struggling with that. When I pitched out of the bullpen, I didn't get the chance to use that as much.
Now that I am starting, I need to work on my changeup."

NOTES
Reese doubled in his last at-bat in the eighth when left fielder Bailey committed the cardinal sin of stepping forward on a line drive to extend his hitting streak to five games.
The double was Reese's 27th of the season.
The hit tied him with Binghamton's Prentice Redman for the Eastern League lead.
He is closing in on Shea Hillenbrand's 2000 franchise record of 35 doubles in a season.
Weber has hit safely in 11 of his last 12 games
Rifkin went 0-for-3 with three strikeouts and a sacrifice fly, thus ending his eight-game hitting streak.

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