Broken Spirit

LYNN, MA- The North Shore Spirit fell again tonight, dropping their 4th in a row, this one to the Can-Am Grays in front of a church-like atmosphere of about 1,100 fans at the new Fraser Field. Bryan Morse started for the Spirit, pitched 6 1/3 innings for 4 earned runs on 5 hits, striking out 2, and got a no decision, as Wayne Hedden got the loss for North Shore. Lincoln Mincks (2-1) won for the Grays. It was an ugly, sloppy game, and in the end it was deflating for North Shore.

The Spirit made it look good early. An Andy Howdeshell homer with 1 out started North Shore off with the 1-0 lead. Travis Oglesby singled with two outs. Then consecutive singles by Macchi and Fischer made it 2-0 Spirit. The Spirit's new catcher, John Nathans, flew out to end the inning and stranded runners on 1st and 3rd (the first of many left on base for the Spirit tonight).

The Grays got the 2 runs back in the 2nd. Mark Burke led the inning off with a double, but he was erased as LeBron lined into a very impressive 4-6 double play as Marcos Agramonte made a good running play to initiate the double play in which Burke was doubled off 2nd. Still, the Grays persisted; King's single was followed by a 2run blast by Eddie Gerald to knot it up at 2. Old Friend Jason Startari grounded out to Yuri to end the inning.

In the 3rd inning, it got worse. Morse got the Grays to ground into 2 outs to start the inning, but a Larry Best single got the ball rolling. Brad Heargraves walked to extend it; Best was then plated by a single by Mark Burke. LeBron grounded into an out, 6-3, to end the inning, stranding runners on 1st and 3rd, but the Grays had the lead.

In the bottom of the 4th, the Spirit were unable to make anything out of a leadoff double by Rob Fischer. Through 5 innings, the Spirit had left 5 men on base. In the 6th, however, the Spirit broke through and took the lead- very briefly. Macchi led the inning off with a single. Two straight errors- an E6 and an E4- let Fischer and Nathans reach; the latter of which plated the leadoff man Macchi. Garret Weir, Yuri Sanchez, and Marcos Agramonte, however, all made outs consecutively to finish off the inning, killing the rally before it could really roll. Weir's groundout, however, did score Fischer from 3rd, so despite the lack of a clutch hit, the Spirit did have the lead, 4-3. It didn't last long.

A 4-run barrage was unleashed by the Grays in the 7th. It was perhaps the ugliest inning of the year. Gerald walked to lead it off. Bryan Morse was then pulled in favor of Mark Comolli. A sacrifice bunt by Startari brought up Garcia, who lined a single into CF for a base hit to score Eddie Gerald and tie it at 4. Then, Strickland and Best both walked to load the bases. Then the wheels fell off for the Spirit. A wild pitch followed by a passed ball allowed two runs to score and give the Grays a 6-4 lead. On a dropped 3rd strike to LeBron, another run came home, and LeBron reached 2nd. King lined out to end the inning but it was pretty much over by that point, as the Grays led 7-4.

In the next 2 innings, the Spirit put 2 men on but both times were unable to bring home any runs. In both innings, there were two men on with nobody out; but the combinations of Oglesby-Macchi-Fischer and Sanchez-Agramonte-Howdeshell combined to blow the opportunities and strand four more men- bringing the grand total to 11. (Sad.) The Spirit wound up with just 4 runs on 10 hits and 4 Grays errors.

The Grays rubbed salt in the wound in the 9th, as a 3run homer off of new pitcher Wayne Hedden busted it open, 10-4. A 1-2-3- inning in the bottom of the 9th ended it and the Grays won, scoring 10 times on 12 hits and 1 North Shore error.

The loss dropped the Spirit to 9-7 while the Grays improved to 10-12.

Tomorrow night, the suddenly-plummeting-faster-than-the-Goodyear-Blimp Spirit look to John Kelly to be the ace and the stopper as the Spirit take on the Grays again at Fraser. Game time is 7:05.

SPIRITFANS.BLOGSPOT.COM PLAYER OF THE GAME: Nobody (1)
That's right. Nobody.

LEAGUE STANDINGS..
Quebec 17-3; tonight won @ Elmira 5-4
Brockton 13-9; tonight won @ New Haven 6-5
N Shore 9-7; tonight lost vs. Grays 10-4
Grays 10-12; tonight won vs. North Shore 10-4

Worcester 11-7; tonight lost @ Jackals 4-0
Jackals 10-12; tonight won vs. Worcester 4-0
Elmira 7-15; tonight lost vs. Quebec (surprise)5-4
New Haven 5-17; tonight lost vs. Brockton 6-5 (gee, thanks.)