Sept. 4 Portland ME ... On rounding out the EL playoffs
PORTLAND, Maine -- So much for backing into the playoffs. The Portland Sea Dogs took the front door in.
Last year, the Sea Dogs took until the final day of the regular season, before clinching an Eastern League playoff spot, then rolling to their first ever EL championship. This year, the Dogs went one day longer before securing a chance to defend that crown, but were nonetheless successful, pushing past the New Hampshire Fisher Cats, 7-4, in a one-game play in game, before 4,042 at Hadlock Field.
Portland will hit the road for an overnight bus trip to Trenton, where they'll commence their best of five Northern Division playoff series wit the Thunder.
This will be the third straight year those teams have met in the first round, with Portland having taken the past two.
"This is the loosest I felt all year," said Portland third baseman Andrew Pinckney, who clobbered two home runs to help the cause. "But (it was like) if we win, we win. If we don't, we go home. We got it done. I'm happy about that."
Portland had squandered several chances to get it done, down the stretch, and didn't take them. They finished the regular season with five games at New Britain and had they won just one of them, they'd have clinched the spot.
They didn't.
But that's in the rear-view mirror.
"We were just getting our butts kicked," said Pinckney. "But we came back here, and it was a win or lose situation. We were just going to throw it out there and see what happens."
That laissez-faire mindset seemed to be the tonic Portland needed.
Jeff Corsaletti, who went 2-for-20 in that New Britain series, broke out with a huge 4-for-5 night, including a solo shot.
And lefty starter Tommy Hottovy, who may be the best 4-10 hurler in the Eastern League (a safe bet), pitched his one of his strongest games when strength was absolutely critical.
"I've kind of been wanting a situation like this," said the personable 26 year old, who sat out most of July with arm problems. "I missed that month, and I've been begging for that time back. When you get put in a situation to help yourself, and help the team get back where we want to be, I just told myself that this is what I've been wanting for a long time. I was probably the most relaxed before a start as I've been in a long time."
With the victory came the "stench of success", namely the beer and champagne shower in the concrete bunker that passes for a player's lounge, in the bowels of the Portland Expo (which adjoins Hadlock). That room saw three such celebrations last year.
Even Justin Masterson, the tea-totalling son of missionaries with the diabolic sinkerball, was coaxed into joining in.
"You don't have to drink it," yelled one exhuberant Sea Dog. "You just have to get wet."
And get wet, he did. They all did.
Dan Hickling
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