Defs hang on and win 5-4 at Dodd tonight..

as they beat the second place RockCats and extend their first place lead to 9 games over NB. They also reduce their magic number to 6 games for winning the Northern Division.
CT jumped out to a quick 4-2 in the home half of the first. Mike McBryde lead off with a walk and then score as the next batter Brad Boyer doubled. Brett Pill ( 2for 4) hit a hard smash up the middle that was deflected off the pitcher for an infield single, Boyer going to third. Josh Phelps(0-4) stuck out in his first AB with the Defenders for the first out. EME brought in Boyer with a sac fly to make it 2-0. Brandon Crawford double to put runners on second and third. Ramon Castro then singled in Pill and Crawford to make it 4-0 CT.
CT starter Daryl Maday (6-4 3.69 ERA) gave up a run in the second and two more runs in the fourth with a runner cut down at the plate on a swallow fly ball to left that Crawford caught and threw out the runner a home trying to tag from third, NB made it 4-3. CT pushed across it's final run in the fourth as Crawford singled went to third on a pair of wild pitches and came in on Jackson Williams two out double as CT made it 5-3.
Maday gave up another run in the top of the fifth but prevent further damage by getting the final batter he faced to ground into an inning ending double play.
Joe Paterson came on and threw three innings of no hit ball before turning over the ninth inning to fellow lefty Matt Yourkin who nailed down the win for his fifth save.

Misc fan notes: Tough start for Phelps who played RF tonight and stuck out twice. Phelps spent most of his MLBB career with the Blue Jays but also with the Indians , Yankees (36 games in '07, totally forgot about him), Pirates and Cards.

With the win tonight the Defs are 14-4 against the RockCats this season.

Bunch of NB vocal NB fans in the stands tonight; playoffs should be fun.

Pics: Mr. Phelps, your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to go to Connecticut and rehab. Should you or any member of your team be caught or captured the GM will disavow any knowledge of your mission. This blog will self-destruct in five seconds. Good Luck Josh. (Cue up Lalo Schifrin's iconic theme music.)