The Result
Fisher Cats - 4 to 3

Sea Dogs - Year-to-Date
35 wins - 41 losses

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

At the end of the Game
0 hit from 2 at-bats - 2 x walks, 1 x GIDP

Brett's at-bats
First at-bat
Lefthanded pitcher
(did not listen)
Runner at first base - one down
Ground ball towards first base
Out 4-to-6-to-3 double play
Second at-bat
Lefthanded pitcher
(did not listen)
Bases empty - two down
Walk
Went to third base on a hit
Left stranded at the end of the innings
Third at-bat
Leftthanded pitcher
Led off the innings
Broken bat, and driven towards the Fisher Cats first-baseman who fielded the ball, "dodged the barrel of the bat whizzing passed him", and took the ball to the base to make the out
PO3
Fourth at-bat
Righthanded pitcher
Runner at second base - one down - and the runner was the tying run in a '4-3' ballgame
Called strike - change-up - "that was a generous call as it looked like it was three or four inches outside"
Ball - change-up - down and away
Foul ball - "chopper down the third base line"
Ball - "a foot outside"
Ball - down and away
Ball - high
Walk
Went to second base on a ground out
Left stranded at the end of the innings

Heard during the game
N/A

Email from Brett
N/A

Game Reports

Big hits? Dogs are trying to fetch 'em

Of the first five Portland Sea Dogs up to bat Sunday afternoon, three got hits, including Mike O'Keefe with a two-run homer.

It appeared time to touch up New Hampshire starter Gustavo Chacin again.

Instead, Chacin (7-2) settled in and the Fisher Cats completed a three-game sweep of the Sea Dogs with a 4-3 win before 4,111 at Gill Stadium.

The Sea Dogs arrived in Manchester with hopes of getting to .500 while making up ground on second-place New Hampshire in the Eastern League Northern Division.
Instead, last-place Portland (35-41) dropped seven games behind the Fisher Cats (41-33).

"We didn't do a whole lot this series," Portland Manager Ron Johnson said after his team scored eight runs in three games.

Portland looked ready to do something early on Sunday.
Jeff Bailey led off the second inning with a triple and O'Keefe then drilled a Chacin offering into the wind and well past the right-field fence, his 11th homer of the season.

Chacin had struggled previously against Portland.
Entering Sunday's game, he was 6-0 against the rest of the league and 0-2 against the Sea Dogs.

But Chacin contained Portland.
He allowed five hits in six innings, including a double by Bailey that would have scored Brett Roneberg from first had the ball not bounced over the fence for a ground-rule double.

Chacin retired nine of the last 10 batters he faced.

Portland starter Josh Stevens (3-6) continued his frustrating ways.
In his last seven starts, he is 1-5 with a 6.25 ERA.
His control has been good, although he walked three batters Sunday for the first time in 33 starts, but he is giving up big hits at the wrong time.

"He gets in trouble with his finishing pitches," Johnson said.
"Getting ahead of hitters is not his problem. The biggest thing is putting guys away.
"But that was not our problem (Sunday). Josh kept us in the game. It's tough to win with three runs."

Portland's third run came on Sean McGowan's home run to left in the seventh inning.

The Sea Dogs got a bad break in the third when Roneberg walked with two outs and appeared ready to score on Bailey's drive to deep left.
But the ball bounced over the fence for a ground-rule double, forcing Roneberg to stop at third.
O'Keefe then lined out to the shortstop.

In the eighth, Portland put runners on first and second with one out.
But Bailey and O'Keefe both made outs on hard grounders.

"We're just hitting it right at people," said Kenny Perez, who went 2 for 3 and extended his hitting streak to eight games.
"Things just didn't fall through."

In the ninth, Perez singled with two outs, but pinch-hitter Mike Campo grounded out to second.

"It was a combination of two things," Johnson said. "We didn't deliver when we needed to, and they did."

New Hampshire scored one in the first when Anton French doubled, stole third and scored on a sacrifice fly, then scored again in the second on a two-run homer by Victor Valencia.

In the fourth, Maikel Jova led off with a single.
On a hit-and-run groundout, Jova reached second. He then scored on Dominic Rich's single to center.

NOTES
Reliever Joe Nelson and outfielder George Lombard were promoted to Triple-A Pawtucket.
Nelson (3-2, 1.78 ERA, 13 saves) was Portland's closer, and Lombard (.381) had been dominating since being activated 16 games ago.
The Sea Dogs are expected to announce several moves today.
Outfielder Sheldon Fulse will likely be summoned from rehab in Florida, as outfielder Eric Johnson has already been sent to Sarasota.
Third baseman John Hattig (back spasms) could come off the disabled list today.

SEA DOGS SWEPT IN NEW HAMPSHIRE
Portland Caps Long Road Trip with 4-3 Loss

Gustavo Chacin tossed six strong innings and Dominic Rich drove in the eventual winning run with a RBI single as the New Hampshire Fisher Cats completed a three-game sweep of the Portland Sea Dogs with a 4-3 win Sunday afternoon.

Mike O'Keefe hit a two-run home run and Jeff Bailey tripled, doubled and scored a run for the Sea Dogs.

Prior to the game, former big leaguers Joe Nelson and George Lombard were promoted to Triple-A Pawtucket.

Chacin, who had lost his first two starts to Portland by allowing 15 runs in eight innings, yielded only five hits and two runs in six innings to improve to 7-2.

John Ogiltree recorded the final five outs for his first save.

Josh Stevens (3-6) lost for the fifth time in his last six decisions, allowing four runs on seven hits in six innings.

O'Keefe homered in the second inning to give Portland a 2-1 lead, but Vic Valencia hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the frame to give New Hamsphire a 3-2 advantage.

Rich added a single to drive in a run in the fourth inning, making it a 4-2 Fisher Cats advantage.

Sean McGowan homered in the seventh inning to cut the lead to one, but the Sea Dogs would get no closer.

O'Keefe's bid for a go-ahead hit was robbed by first baseman Mike Snyder with two outs in the eighth frame, who lunged to his right to rob O'Keefe of a double with two men on base.

The Sea Dogs fell seven games out of a playoff spot behind New Hampshire with the loss.

Eastern League Game Summary - Portland at New Hampshire

Gustavo Chacin worked six solid innings and Dominic Rich plated the game-winning run with a single as the New Hampshire Fisher Cats clawed passed the Portland Sea Dogs, 4-3, in an Eastern League Northern Division game Sunday afternoon.

Riding a three-game winning streak and having prevailed in eight of its last 10, New Hampshire has improved to 41-33.
Meanwhile, Portland has dropped three straight games and fell to 35-41.

Chacin (7-2) scattered two runs, five hits and three strike outs over six innings to earn the win.

John Ogiltree recorded his first save with 1-2/3rd scoreless innings.

Trailing 2-1 after Mike O'Keefe cracked a two-run homer in the top of the second inning, New Hampshire answered in the bottom half of the inning with a two-run shot from Victor Valencia.

In the fourth, Rich hit an RBI single, which proved the difference when Portland's Sean McGowan poked a solo home run in the seventh inning.

Losing pitcher Josh Stevens (3-6) gave up four runs on seven hits and three walks in six innings.
He struck out three.

Up next, Portland will play a series versus Norwich beginning Monday evening.

Clutch play lets Cats sweep Dogs

Suddenly all is right in the Fisher Cats’ world.

Gustavo Chacin’s five-hitter over six innings, Victor Valencia’s two-run homer and John Ogiltree’s clutch two-inning save led New Hampshire to a satisfying 4-3 Eastern League win, allowing the streaking Fisher Cats to complete a three-game sweep of the Portland Sea Dogs before 4,111 fans at Gill Stadium yesterday.

Winners in eight of their last 10 games, the Fisher Cats (41-33) have surged to within two games of first-place Binghamton (44-32) in the Northern Division.
The Mets lost to Trenton yesterday, 4-2.

“It’s been a number of things,” said Fisher Cats manager Mike Basso of his team’s play of late.
“The starting pitching has kept us in games and our bullpen has done its job of closing out games.
We’re executing on offense, coming up with big two-out hits.
We’re also getting a few breaks and overall we’re playing with confidence.”

Speaking of confidence, Chacin got his act together against a team that had handed him his two losses earlier this year.
Entering yesterday’s game, Chacin (7-2) had a 16.88 ERA in eight innings, allowing 17 hits and 15 earned runs against the Sea Dogs.

It appeared that the trend would continue when he yielded a windswept, lead-off triple to Jeff Bailey and a home run to Mike O’Keefe, his 11th, that staked Portland to a 2-1 lead.

But Chacin settled down nicely, getting a boost from Valencia, who restored the Fisher Cats’ lead with a timely two-out homer with Dominic Rich (two-out double) aboard for a 3-2 lead in the home second.

In the third inning, Portland threatened with two outs when Brett Roneberg walked, but Chacin got a huge break when Bailey’s hard-hit double to left center bounced over the short bullpen fence for a ground rule double.
Instead of Roneberg scoring, which he easily would have, and tying the game, the Portland runners were held at second and third.
Chacin bore down to get O’Keefe on a lineout to shortstop Aaron Hill that preserved the 3-2 lead.

From there, Chacin retired the next nine batters through the sixth inning, getting help from batterymate Valencia, who gunned down would-be stealer Kenny Perez at second to end the fourth inning.

“It was probably his best outing all year,” said Fisher Cats pitching coach Rick Adair of Chacin, who walked one and fanned three.
“His rhythm and tempo were very good, his pitches were down and his change-up was as good as I’ve probably seen it all year.”
Adair said Chacin threw 85 pitches and could have probably pitched another inning.
“He’s a guy that pitched 80 innings of winter ball and we’re still protecting him a little bit in number of innings,” said Adair, who was also impressed with the relief job from Travis Thompson and Ogiltree.

When Thompson was summoned in the seventh inning, his first appearance in six days since being traded from Cincinnati for Matt Logan, he inherited a 4-2 lead - courtesy of Rich’s fourth inning single that plated Maikel Jova with the eventual winning run.
The rust showed early as designated hitter Sean McGowan greeted Thompson with a first pitch homer that cut the Fisher Cats’ lead to 4-3.
Thompson retired the next three hitters, but ran into trouble in the eighth when Mike Lockwood doubled and Roneberg walked with one out.
With Bailey and O’Keefe due up, Basso called in Ogiltree, whose 6-foot-6, 220-pound frame helped him greatly.
Ogiltree was able to knock down a hard bouncer off the bat of Bailey, which resulted in a force out at third.
Then it was first baseman Mike Snyder’s turn, stopping a hard shot down the line to retire O’Keefe with the lead intact.

Ogiltree finished the Sea Dogs off in the ninth, as the Fisher Cats avenged a four-game sweep to Portland back in May.

“Like yesterday’s game (Saturday’s game, 5-4 Portland loss), it was a game we played just good enough to lose,” said Portland manager Ron Johnson.
“Chacin was outstanding, his command so much better.
We got them in May, they got us this weekend.
We’ll just see what happens the next time we play.”