The Result
Navigators - 6 to 1

Sea Dogs - Year-to-Date
46 wins - 51 losses

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

At the end of the Game
1 hit from 3 at-bats - double, 1 x RBI, 1 x walk

Brett's at-bats
First at-bat
Righthanded pitcher
Runner at first base - one down
Ball - fast ball - inside
Called strike - fast ball - at the knees
Ball - fast ball - low
Foul ball - fast ball - "a high strike and Roneberg fouled it down the leftfield line"
Ball - fast ball - "and that was at eye level and outside"
Ball - fast ball - up and away
Walk
Left stranded at the end of the innings
Second at-bat
(did not hear - 'cause the radio disconnected!!!)
Righthanded pitcher
Runner at third base - two down
"And that is hit over the first base bag and into the rightfield corner"
Double
......and 1 x RBI
Left stranded at the end of the innings
Third at-bat
Righthanded pitcher
Led off the innings
Ball - high
Called strike
Ball - outside
Ball - low
Foul ball
Popped-up into foul territory behind third base and the shortstop went across to make the catch
Out F6
Fourth at-bat
Lefthanded pitcher
Runner at first base - none down
Ball - high
Fly ball into centrefield
Out F8

Heard during the game
(1) As he was giving out the starting line-ups, the commentator said "Brett Roneberg is in rightfield and batting third ...... and Brett is struggling in the series so far, and comes into tonight's game 0-for-9 in the two games"

Email from Brett
Hi there.
Had a really good day today.
I had four good at-bats and got a double and a walk.
So things felt good after a few tough days.
Bye.

Game Reports
Navigators broadside Dogs, 6-1

Forgettable.

That and not much else describes Wednesday for the Portland Sea Dogs, who suffered a 6-1 drubbing from the Norwich Navigators before 1,473 at Dodd Stadium.

Unless you're Abe Alvarez, that is.
Alvarez, a left-handed starter, was called up to the Boston Red Sox and will make his major-league debut today when he starts the first game of a doubleheader against Baltimore.

With the rest of their starting pitching staff in tatters, the Sea Dogs have been relying heavily on their hitters to stay competitive.
But no such help was forthcoming, as Portland hitters were held to four hits by three Norwich pitchers, headed by prized prospect Matt Cain (4-1).

"We just got beat tonight," said Portland Manager Ron Johnson.
"Pitching didn't beat us, we just didn't do much (at the plate)."

Cain, whom Baseball America ranks second among all San Francisco Giants prospects, went six innings, allowing only two hits and one run.
He walked five, but paid for just one.

"You could say I was effectively wild," said Cain (4-1), who turns 20 on Oct. 1.
"I would throw two balls, then come in with two strikes.
It catches guys off guard."

Portland managed to reach him for a run in the third, after Jesus Medrano worked a one-out walk, stole second and took third on a throwing error.
Medrano then ran home on Brett Roneberg's line-hugging double to right.

That was Portland's lone high spot.

Norwich answered with a solo homer by Carlos Valderrama, who launched an Eric Glaser fastball over the left-field wall.

Glaser (2-4) made Portland's third straight start by a reliever, replacing Alvarez, who left for Boston before the game.

Glaser suffered some bad luck when shortstop Kenny Perez booted Chris Curry's grounder to lead off the fourth.
He compounded his problems by serving up a double to Justin Knoedler.
Both runners later scored on consecutive sacrifice flies, giving Norwich a 3-1 lead.

Portland was robbed of a chance to cut the lead to one.
With Sheldon Fulse on third and two outs in the fifth, Mike Lockwood sent a high drive to deep right-center that was tracked down in spectacular fashion by right fielder Bryan Clark.

The Gators then added another run in the bottom of the fifth before Glaser gave way to reliever Tim Hamulack.

"We just kind of went away after the sixth inning," Johnson said.

NOTES
The Sea Dogs made no official announcement about the call-up of Alvarez, tonight's scheduled starter.
But one didn't have trouble reading between the lines when left-handed knuckleballer Joe Rogers was named to replace Alvarez.
Rogers was summoned from Class A Sarasota for his third stint with Portland.
Johnson said that he expects that Alvarez, 21, will have no trouble with the pressure of a major-league debut in Fenway Park, no less.
Johnson said, "This kid's got the best composure of anybody I've ever had in the minor leagues."

Young righty solid again

Ten days away from the Major League Baseball trading deadline, the rumors are flying and they happen to involve the Norwich Navigators.
The San Francisco Chronicle reported Wednesday that the San Francisco Giants asked the Arizona Diamondbacks for centerfielder Steve Finley.
The answer - only if either Merkin Valdez or Matt Cain is going back to Arizona.
The Giants said thanks, but no thanks.
But with Barry Bonds asking the Giants to jump into the Randy Johnson sweepstakes, it could only be a matter of time before either of those phenoms are dealt.

Wednesday, Cain danced around a season-high five walks against the Portland Sea Dogs to earn his fourth win with Norwich as the Navigators (51-44) rolled to a 6-1 victory.

"I try to keep my ears out of it," Cain said about the trade rumors.
"My mom listens for it, but if she does hear anything she tries to keep it away from me. She doesn't want to get anything stirred up.
"That's always been the thing that usually doesn't bother me because a lot of it's talk.
A lot of times, I'm not knocking anybody, sometimes it's what people write.
It's not right either, but that always happens."

What has been happening lately is Cain's high walk totals.
It's the third time this year the 19-year-old has walked four or more, but he's been able to get away with it, well, because he's Matt Cain.

"When he throws strikes, he's hard to hit," manager Shane Turner said.
"We prefer he didn't walk five guys.
He would have been able to pitch deeper into that game if he made them swing the bat because the odds are with his stuff at least three or four of those guys are making outs."

It didn't look like Cain was going to make it through six innings after a rocky first.
After retiring leadoff hitter Jesus Madrono, Cain walked Mike Lockwood and Brett Roneberg on full counts, then threw ball one to Jeff Bailey, which prompted pitching coach Bob Stanley to sprint out of the dugout to tell his pitcher he wasn't finishing his pitches.
Cain then came back to strike out Bailey and retire John Hattig on a groundout.

From there, it was fairly smooth ride for Cain.
Cain walked batters in the third, fourth and sixth, but Portland couldn't take advantage.

The Sea Dogs threatened to score a run in the fifth with one out after Sheldon Fulse singled then stole second and third base without a throw.
But once again Cain buckled down, striking out Medrano and retiring Lockwood on a flyout to right.

"It was definitely a battle," Cain said.
"I made it a little rough. I got myself into more of a bad situation that I wanted to be in, but I kept the hits down, which helped out a lot."

While Cain hung tough for the win, the same can not be said about Portland's pitching lately.
The Sea Dogs have no quality starts (at least six innings and fewer than four earned runs allowed) in their last 11 games and only one in their last 15.

If you want to go further back, they only have two in their last 33 games.

Eric Glaser was the latest to fall short of the six-inning mark as he allowed four runs, two earned, on six hits in 4-2/3 innings.

After Brett Roneberg's RBI double gave Portland a 1-0 lead in the third, the Navigators came right back in the bottom of the inning and tied it on Carlos Valderrama's solo home run, his fifth of the year.

It stayed that way until the fourth when Angel Chavez and Bryan Carter made it 3-1 Norwich on sacrifice flies.
The inning started when Chris Curry reached on an error by shortstop Kenny Perez.

Norwich extended its lead to 4-1 in the fifth on Mike Cervenak's RBI double.

The Navigators finished their scoring in the sixth on a fielder's choice and a Derin McMains sacrifice fly.

SEA DOGS SHUT DOWN BY CAIN, 'GATORS
19-Year-Old Allows 2 Hits in 6 Innings as Norwich Wins 6-1

19-year-old Matt Cain, the Giants first-round pick in 2002, allowed only two hits and a run in six inning for his 11th win of the season as the Norwich Navigators topped the Portland Sea Dogs, 6-1 Wednesday night.

Cain improved to a combined 11-2 between Class-A San Jose and Double-A Norwich.

Brett Roneberg drove in Portland's only run with a two-out double in the third inning.

Eric Glaser (2-4) allowed four runs, two earned, in 4.2 innings to suffer the loss.
Glaser had allowed only one run in his previous 14 innings.

Tim Hamulack recorded the final nine outs in succession after allowing two runs in the sixth inning.

Roneberg doubled and walked while John Hattig singled and walked twice for the Dogs, who sent only two runners past second base and only four runners into scoring position.

Eastern League Game Summary - Portland at Norwich

Matthew Cain allowed one run over six innings and struck out six to lead the Norwich Navigators over the Portland Sea Dogs, 6-1.

Cain improved to 4-1 as he surrendered just two hits and walked five.

Carlos Valderrama started the scoring for Norwich when he homered in the third frame.

Angel Chavez and Bryan Carter each knocked in a run in the following inning with a pair of sacrifice flies.

Valderrama plated another run when he grounded into a fielder's choice in the sixth stanza.
Derin McMains plated the Navigators final run when he chased home Bryan Carter with a sac fly in the inning.

Portland's Eric Glaser was saddled with the loss.
In 4-2/3rd innings he yielded four runs - two earned - on six hits and two walks.
Glaser struck out two Navigators.

Brett Roneberg drove in the lone run for Portland with a double.

RAISING CAIN
Another win for young right-hander as Navigators roll over Sea Dogs 6-1

Matt Cain improved to 4-1 by shutting down the Sea Dogs on one run, two hits, and six strikeouts over six innings in a 6-1 win over the Navigators.

Carlos Valderrama hit a third-inning solo homerun to put the Navigators on the board and tie the game at one.

Norwich took the lead with two sacrifice flies by Bryan Carter and Angel Chavez in the fourth.

Mike Cervenak continued his torrid stretch of hitting, knocking an RBI double to the left-field wall in the fifth.
The Navigators added two more on a runs-scoring fielder’s choice by Valderrama and a sacrifice fly by Derin McMains.

Luke Anderson and Mitch Walk combined on three innings of scoreless relief, with Walk giving up just one hit in two innings.