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Travis Tartamella drew a bases loaded walk to bring the Cardinals within one run

Cards Can't Figure Out How To Beat Chatham

Orleans falls to Chatham for fifth time this season, now trail A's by seven points

July 27, 2007

By: Brett Brecheisen - Orleans Cardinals Intern

Orleans, Massachusetts – The Chatham Athletics just seem to have the Cardinals’ number.  Orleans fell to Chatham for the fifth time, 5-4, in as many tries this season and now trail the A’s by seven points for the second playoff spot in the Eastern Division.

Chatham was off to a quick start against Cardinals LHP Craig Bennigson (California) thanks in part to a three-run homer by 3B Jermaine Curtis (UCLA).  It was the third home run of the season for Curtis who will appear in the All-Star Game tomorrow evening in Wareham.

“We can’t afford to walk people in this league and win.  In the inning that Curtis homered, two of the runs that scored were walks.  We just can’t do that.  Walks hurt to watch as a coach, particularly being a former pitching coach.  Sometimes it just happens and Craig Bennigson has incredible stuff so it’s unfortunate it happened tonight,” Field Manager Kelly Nicholson said.

The Athletics would add two more in the top half of the sixth and take a 5-0 lead.  That is when the Cardinals offense finally began to wake up after a hiatus in the last couple of nights.  1B Nate Freiman (Duke) doubled off the right-centerfield fence to bring in two runs as the Cardinals started to mount their comeback in the bottom half of the sixth.

Orleans had another rally brewing in the eighth as they trailed 5-2.  A couple of singles from 2B Eric Reese (Fordham) and LF Kevin Muno (San Diego) put two runners aboard for the Cards with just one out.  RF Dennis Raben (Miami, FL) was hit by a pitch to put the tying run on the bases.  Freiman followed with a walk that scored Reese and after a strikeout, C Travis Tartamella (Pepperdine) drew another walk to make it a 5-4 game.  With the tying run just 90 feet from the plate in what Coach Nicholson had called a “must-win game”, the crowd chanting “Let’s Go Cardinals”, and SS Brandon Crawford (UCLA) at the plate, the Bruin hit a line drive down the right-field line that was caught by a diving RF Andrew Crisp (S. Carolina) in foul territory to end the inning and leave the bases loaded.

“Any time you get runners on base you want to cash in but we still felt we were in prime position to take the game.  Even though we were down a run, we really thought we were going to be able to make the comeback and unfortunately it just didn’t happen tonight,” Reese said.

Down by just a run in the ninth, the Cardinals would go down 1-2-3 to end the game without any drama.

“I really had a good feeling about this game tonight.  Even when we were down I had a feeling we would come back.  I was really proud of our guys and the way we battled.  We just could not come up with a big hit,” Nicholson said.

The win improves LHP Tommy Milone (USC)'s record to 5-1 on the season and the southpaw is now 3-0 against the Cardinals this summer in four starts. It was the first loss for Bennigson this summer.

Orleans heads into the All-Star weekend seven points behind Chatham for the final playoff spot out of the Eastern Division with just seven games to play.  The Cardinals will meet Chatham once more this summer, on August 8, to complete the season.

2B Alden Carrithers (UCLA) postponed his quest to extend his on-base streak to a league-high 24 games this summer.  After feeling a little discomfort after batting practice, Carrithers informed the coaching staff and Coach Nicholson decided to give Carrithers the night off.

The Cardinals will return to action on Monday when they head to South Yarmouth to finish their season series with the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox.  Y-D leads the Eastern Division with a 26-10-1 record and is 4-1 against Orleans this season.

W – Tommy Milone (USC), 5-1

L – Craig Bennigson (California), 1-1

SV – Bryan Shaw (Long Beach State), 6