VISIT THE OFFICIAL NORTH SHORE NAVIGATORS BLOG
HTTP://NSNAVS.BLOGSPOT.COM

Tuesday, August 29, 2006

Nailing it down!

The North Shore Spirit defeated the Quebec City Capitales 10-1 tonight in Quebec City, clinching the best overall record and #1 playoff seed with 6 games remaining. It's the first time the Spirit have ever had the #1 overall record in the regular season. The title means that should the Spirit reach the championship series, they'd have the right to clinch at home by hosting games 3-4-5. The win also lowers the Spirit's magic number to two in the race for the 2nd half crown, meaning one more win over Quebec would add another piece of hardware to what's been an incredibly impressive season.

To add to the pile of accomplishments, the win was North Shore's 10th in a row, bringing them within 1 of the CanAm League record (11 by New Jersey last season). Quebec's loss means their lead over Nashua for the last playoff spot is a tenuous half game margin.

The Spirit pounded Quebec early and often. An RBI groundout by Chris Rowan opened the scoring in the bottom of the 2nd. Antoin Gray continued to impress, picking up an RBI single to make it 2-0. Fischer, Trezza and Brooks got RBIs to make it 5-0 North Shore in the 3rd inning.

In the 4th, the Spirit really broke it open with a few more runs. An Andrew Wishy homer and an Alex Trezza RBI single made it 7-0. Rowan followed up with an RBI single, making it 8-0. An e5 by Willie James let Antoin Gray reach, scoring Alex Trezza to make it 9-0. Ricardo Cordova's first Spirit HR in the 6th made it 10-0.

Joey Siak left after six shutout innings, going out with a bang by striking out the side in the 6th. Quebec finally scored one of their own in the 7th as they roughed up reliever Tim Dugan, who had been inactive for quite some time. Simon Legare ripped an RBI single, but that's all they'd get as Dugan worked his way out of the jam.

Kevin Rival pitched a shaky buy effective 9th to close the door.

The victory means one more win over Quebec in the next two games clinches the 2nd half title for the Spirit. The Spirit have never won the 2nd half league title.

One of the storylines tonight was the many hit batsmen. Six North Shore batters were hit by Quebec pitching; Alex Trezza was hit twice. Kevin Rival plunked a Quebec batter in the 9th inning, although evidently nobody thought it intentional as there was no reaction from Quebec or the umpires. This will be a storyline to follow throughout the next two games.

An amusing moment happened in the 8th inning as a man ran on to the field wearing only his swimming trunks. Benoit, let us know if you need us to bail you out.

12 comments:

Joe Grav said...

LMAO i just choked on a pretzel

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

RE SIGN ME I PROMISE I WON'T THROW ANYTHING AT THE UMP

CMON PLEASE

Anonymous said...

DID I MENTION THAT I MISS BIC?

Joe Grav said...

Everyone gets a can under their comments, so they can delete them if they wish

I get a trash can under every comment, because I'm an administrator. Woo!

So I guess you could call this the cleanest blog in america - if not the world

Joe Grav said...

speaking of Brockton, they acquired my old favorite John Schmitz. They're becoming Spirit south, especially if they get Bic (i shudder at the thought)

Joe Grav said...

for humor

their lineup B-L-O-W-Z right now. hahahaha. it's quite funny, to be honest. i think the Spirit could take 2 out of 3 from them right now

SoSayethI2006 said...

Joe, You're slayin' me.

Anonymous said...

why would brockton get Bic? He seems to be doing very well in the Cubs organization

DaveCo said...

THIS IS GREAT! with us getting the best overall record for the first time,winnng 10 STRAIGHT,being close to winning both halves for the first time,and fielding (what I believe to be) the best team we've had in a while.......I'M LIKEING OUR PLAYOFF CHANCES!!!! ^_^

Let's hope we can beat the "Queers" and 'Nadoes easily....

Anonymous said...

Nopardo challenged us to a game but I'm too afraid, I don't think Carlos Pena and Doug Mirabelli could hit Joey Siak

Anonymous said...

There's a last-minute trip to Quebec for tomorrow,who's in?