The Result
Navigators - 7 to 2

Sea Dogs - Year-to-Date
62 wins - 70 losses

Brett's Position and the Batting Order
Designated hitter
Batting #4

At the end of the Game
2 hits from 3 at-bats - 2 x singles, 1 x walk, 1 x stolen base

Brett's at-bats
First at-bat
Righthanded pitcher
Bases empty - two down
"And Brett jumps on the first pitch he sees and rips it back up the middle ...... and that comes off the pitcher's foot and rockets in the air for about fifty feet and lands between third base and home plate ...... Brett didn't show any signs of jet lag on that swing as he got around on it and hit a screamer ...... and he has returned to the Sea Dogs in style" - NOTE - the pitcher stayed in the game, but after throwing 3 x balls to the next batter, he was replaced - refer to the Game Reports below
Single
Went to second base on another walk
Left stranded at the end of the innings
Second at-bat
Lefthanded pitcher
Bases empty - two down
Ball - low
Ball - breaking ball - outside
Ball - "a little bit outside"
Called strike
Ball - "a little bit low"
Walk
Left stranded at the end of the innings
Third at-bat
Lefthanded pitcher
Bases empty - one down
Ball - low
Called strike
Ball
Foul ball - deep down the leftfield line
Foul ball - off to the left
Ball - breaking ball - outside
Lined back up the middle and comes off the the diving second-baseman's glove
Single
Stolen base to second base
Left stranded at the end of the innings
Fourth at-bat
Righthanded pitcher
Led off the innings
Ball - fast ball - high and outside
Called strike
"And that hit is rolled slowly towards the Navigator's second-baseman"
Out 4-to-3

Pre-Game Notes
(1) RONEBERG WINS SILVER MEDAL AT 2004 SUMMER OLYMPIC GAMES
Australia Falls To Cuba in Gold Medal Game
Sea Dogs All-Star Outfielder Brett Roneberg has won a silver medal for Australia at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece.
Roneberg scored the game's only run in Australia's 1-0 upset of Japan in the semifinals.
He then went 2-for-4 with a walk and run scored in the 6-2 loss to Cuba in the gold medal game.
Roneberg finished 13-for-36 (.361) with three home runs, a double, seven RBI and seven runs scored in nine Olympic games.
The medal is the first for Australia in baseball.
Roneberg will rejoin the Sea Dogs for the start of a seven-game road trip on Friday.

(2) Sea Dogs Manager Ron Johnson received a phone call Wednesday afternoon from Brett Roneberg.
Fresh from winning a silver medal in the Olympics on Wednesday, Roneberg asked his manager when the Sea Dogs team bus was leaving for Norwich, Conn., on Friday.
Roneberg's Australia team team lost to Cuba 6-2 in the final.
Roneberg went 2 for 4, finishing his Olympic run 13 for 36 (.361) with three home runs and seven RBI.
Roneberg will be back in Portland late tonight after the game.
"I hope he doesn't want a day off," joked Johnson.

(3) The Sea Dogs got a surprise after the game, as Australian Brett Roneberg arrived from the Olympic Games in Athens, a silver medal draped around his neck.

Heard during the game
(1) During the Pre-game Show, the commentator mentioned "it says a lot about Roneberg that he is in the line-up tonight ...... he has just returned from Athens which was a twelve hour flight, and asked if he could play tonight ...... the Sea Dogs have no chance of participating in the play-offs, and he could have joined up with the team later in this road trip"

He also mentioned Brett's statistics as detailed above in the "Pre-Game Notes"

Email from Brett
Well, the Olympics - it's over now so back to the season.
I managed two hits and stole a base today so I am back to a good start.

Game Reports
Right strategy, wrong result

Chris Curry hasn't exactly raked left-handed pitching this season.
Entering Friday night's game against the Portland Sea Dogs, the Norwich Navigators' catcher, a right-handed batter, was hitting a lackluster .148 (8 for 54) with no home runs and two RBI against southpaws.

But Curry's stats improved considerably when he crushed a grand slam off lefty Juan Perez in the sixth inning as Norwich cruised to a 7-2 victory before 5,587 fans at Dodd Stadium.

Derin McMains, Doug Clark and Michael Vericker strung together consecutive ground-ball singles off Eric Glaser (6-6) to open the bottom of the sixth, which began with the game tied, 2-2.
McMains scored on Grevenak's hit and Portland Manager Ron Johnson yanked Glaser in favor of Perez.
Clark and Grevenak pulled off a double steal, but Perez retired Brad Vericker on a fly ball to center.
Johnson then ordered Perez to issue an intentional walk to Julian Benavidez.
The move backfired, as Curry lined an 0-and-1 pitch over the fence in left-center for his eight homer of the season.

"Benavidez is hitting .533 against lefties, so that's why the move was made," Johnson said.
"But you know what? You still have to execute. We had the right situation with the right guy (Perez vs Curry)
The guy hits a grand slam. What do you do?"

What Glaser did was pitch well enough to win.
After allowing two runs in the first inning, he blanked Norwich on one hit over the next three innings.
Of the 73 pitches he threw in five-plus innings, 52 were strikes.

"I thought Glaser threw the ball real well," Johnson said.
"There were some well-placed ground balls (in the sixth).
(Kenny) Perez at second base has had a hamstring problem. He's not moving very well.
Some of those groundballs in that inning, I thought one might be a double play but it turned out not to be.
Kenny is trying to play hurt.
You know what? That's one of those things that happen. You just turn the page on that."

Norwich Manager Shane Turner went to his bullpen much earlier than expected.
After Portland scored a first-inning run on Perez's groundout, Brett Roneberg, in his first game back from the Olympics, lined a shot off Josh Habel's left foot.
Habel limped off the field.

Turner then used a trio of relievers - Mitch Walk, Joe Bateman and Alberto Montes - who combined to allow one run on seven hits over the last 8-2/3 innings.

Bateman (1-2) earned the victory by tossing 2-1/3 innings of one-hit, scoreless relief.

Before Glaser settled down, Norwich clipped him for a pair of first-inning runs on Carlos Valderrama's single, Clark's triple and Cervenak's groundout.

Portland tied it in the fourth in bizarre fashion.
After Clint Chauncey reached on a one-out double, Joe Kilberg, Raul Nieves and Mike Lopez-Cao each beat out infield hits.
But Walk squelched the rally by inducing Mike Lockwood to ground into a double play.

In keeping with the tone of the Sea Dogs' season, Portland suffered one minor casualty when Hanley Ramirez injured a shoulder muscle while striking out in the first inning.
Johnson removed Ramirez after 3-1/2 innings as "a precaution."

"We're beat up," Johnson said.
"We're trying to battle and play hard, and see if we can finish this thing out with dignity. And we're going to do that."

NOTES
Two more Sea Dogs were added to the list of walking wounded after Thursday's loss to Manchester.
Pitcher Ryan Cameron has a pinched nerve in his neck, and outfielder Justin Headley has a pulled hamstring.
Outfielder Gary Schneidmiller was called up from Class A Sarasota and will join Portland today.
He will be the franchise-record 55th player to suit up for the Sea Dogs this season.

SEA DOGS FALL AT NORWICH ON FRIDAY
5-Run 6th Dooms Portland

Michael Cervenak hit a go-ahead single in the sixth inning and Chris Curry ended the frame with a grand slam as the Norwich Navigators sent the Portland Sea Dogs to a fourth consecutive loss with a 7-2 win Friday night.

Brett Roneberg hit a pair of singles and walked in his return to the lineup after taking home a silver medal for Australia at the Summer Olympics.

Prior to the game, Stefan Bailie became the 23rd player to be placed on the Sea Dogs disabled list when he was sidelined by a sore knee.

Gary Schneidmiller was called up from Single-A Sarasota to take his spot.

Eastern League Game Summary - Portland at Norwich

Chris Curry knocked in four runs and Doug Clark scored two more as the Norwich Navigators defeated the Portland Sea Dogs, 7-2, in Eastern League play Friday night.

Norwich upped its record to 67-65 while Portland fell to 62-70.

Curry broke the game open in the bottom of the sixth with a grand slam, his eighth home run of the season.

Clark went 2-for-4 with a triple and an RBI while Michael Cervanek plated two and scored one for the Navigators.

Joe Bateman earned the win and improved his record to 1-2.
Bateman gave up one hit, a walk and struck out one in 2-1/3rd innings.

Portland's Eric Glaser was shelled five innings of work and fell to 6-6.
Glaser surrendered five runs on six hits and struck out five.

Kenny Perez knocked in a run while Brett Roneberg collected two hits and a walk for the Sea Dogs.

CURRY FEELING GRAND
Sixth-inning slam leads Navigators past Sea Dogs to 7-2 win

Chris Curry’s grand slam busted the game open for the Navigators as part of a tie-breaking five-run sixth inning in a 7-2 win over the Sea Dogs in front of 5587 at Dodd Stadium.

Curry drove the ball over the left-centerfield wall for the team’s third grand slam of the year after the Sea Dogs intentionally walked the bases loaded to get to him.

Norwich took the lead earlier in the inning on an RBI single by Mike Cervenak.

Mitch Walk, Joe Bateman, and Albert Montes provided huge relief for Norwich when starting pitcher Josh Habel was forced to leave the game after being struck on the foot on a hard groundball comebacker by Brett Roneberg in the first inning.

Walk gave up one run through 4.1 innings, striking out the side in his last inning of work.

Bateman retired ten consecutive batters in his 2.1 innings, earning the win by giving up just one hit and no runs.

Montes held Portland hitless in a 1.2 innings to finish the game.

Norwich took a 2-1 lead in the first on a Doug Clark RBI triple and run-scoring groundout by Cervenak.

Navigators Get A Lift From Walk And Cruise Past Sea Dogs
Cervenak promoted to Triple-A Fresno

On the final Friday night home game of the season, which was followed by the final fireworks show of the year that helped draw a crowd of 5,587, the Norwich Navigators played anything like a team whose playoff hopes have been reduced to nearly non-existent.

Instead, Mitch Walk came through with 4-1/3 much-needed innings out of the bullpen, backup catcher Chris Curry provided some in-game fireworks with a game-breaking grand slam and the Navigators' infield crammed a season worth of highlights into nine innings as Norwich beat the Portland Sea Dogs 7-2.

“I think the hardest thing is, at the end of the season, staying focused,” said Norwich third baseman Mike Cervenak, who was honored before the game for being named to the end of the season Eastern League All-Star team and then was called up to Triple-A Fresno after the game.
“Everyone's a little weary. Everyone's a little tired.
I think there's a lot of pride in this locker room. We're not going to give anything away.”

Norwich (67-65) trails Binghamton by eight games for the second, and final, playoff spot in the Northern Division with 10 games to play.

Norwich starter Josh Habel started off looking like he would match teammate Merkin Valdez's sensational performance a day earlier.
Instead, Habel didn't get out of the first inning.
After striking out Hanley Ramirez only to watch him reach on a wild pitch and steal second, Habel quickly retired the next two batters.
But then Brett Roneberg laced a shot back up the middle that ricocheted off Habel's left foot, the one he uses to pitch off the rubber.
Habel tried to pitch to Sheldon Fulse but after three straight pitches out of the strike zone the pain became overwhelming and he left the game.

“I wouldn't be surprised if it blew his foot off the way our season's gone,” said Norwich manager Shane Turner, whose team has battled numerous injuries, both typical and freak, all year long.
“It should have deflected and hit somebody else in the head.”

Enter Walk.

After throwing ball four to Fulse, Walk caught Mike O'Keefe looking and then kept the Sea Dogs off balance through the next four innings.

He gave up the lead in the fourth on a double by Clint Chauncey and three straight infield singles.
Walk got out of the jam by inducing Mike Lockwood into a 4-6-3 double play.

Walk struck out three in the fifth, stranding a runner on second base.

Turner handed the ball over to Walk because he had made a handful of spot starts earlier this season and was the best fit for long relief.
Walk has had his problems this season, issuing 45 walks in 80-2/3 innings and entering Friday's game was weighed down by a 5.47 ERA.

“We needed somebody who could get us to the middle of the ball game,” Turner said.
“I've been more surprised by his struggles than him having success. He's had success at this level before.
His mechanics got away from him for a little bit. Little by little he's been getting them back, just not consistent with them.
I expect Mitch to get us to the fifth with a chance to win and that's what he did.”

Norwich finally got to Portland starter Eric Glaser (6-6) in the sixth.
Derin McMains led off with a single and Doug Clark followed with a bouncer by McMains and through the hole between first and second.
Cervenak took the first pitch the opposite way, shooting the ball through the same spot, to score McMains.
After a one-out double steal, Portland opted to walk Julian Benavidez to set up the force.
Instead Curry launched an 0-1 pitch over the left center field fence.

“We've talked about hitting with the bases loaded all year,” said Turner.
Norwich was hitting .192 in those situations before Curry's slam.
“We're just looking to add to the lead at that point.
Regardless of where we are in the standings and the fact that we basically don't have a shot at the playoffs, these guys have played hard all year and we're not going to stop doing that.”

Joe Bateman (1-2) pitched a perfect two innings and left after giving up a one-out hit and walk in the eighth.

Alberto Montes finished off the game - keeping those two runners off the board with back-to-back ground outs and erasing a leadoff walk in the ninth by getting a double play.