Sweet Victory in New Hampshire
The recently relocated Fisher Cats find New Hampshire nifty as they close out the Eastern League championships with a win at home.

DAN HICKLING
Minor League News
 

09.21.04 - MANCHESTER, N.H. - So many bubbles...so little room. The cramped Gill Stadium clubhouse, the makeshift home of the New Hampshire Fisher Cats, roiled with the sour smell of success, and all the raucous laughter needed to chase it down, as the Cats celebrated their first ever Eastern League championship.

Exiled after 10 years in New Haven, and forced to play in the crazy bandbox of Gill while waiting for their new ball park that is being built on the banks of the Merrimack River, the Cats wrapped up the title with a 2-0 win over the Altoona Curve, polishing off a three-game championship series sweep.

It was all so tidy, in marked contrast to the post-game beery mash that doused everything, and anybody, caught in its path.

"It's outstanding, I'll tell you that," said Cats' catcher Paul Chiaffredo, one of a handful of Toronto farm hands who moved with the team from New Haven after falling in the finals to Akron. "We were on the losing end, last year, a couple of us, and it's a lot better this time."

A crowd of 3,394, about twice as many as witnessed that final game in New Haven, roared its approval as Cats' closer Brandon League nailed down the final seven outs.
 
League, who hurled seven scoreless innings in the three games against the Curve, was named the playoff MVP. Making matters sweeter was word that the right handed Hawaiian was being promoted immediately (along with staff ace Gustavo Chacin) by Toronto for his first taste of the bigs.

"I don't know how much more I can take," laughed League, whose playoff performance put him in a league of his own.

New Hampshire manager Mike Basso was happy to take all that League could give him. For him, the decision to use his ride his closer through the last two (plus) innings was a no-brainer.

"I went with pure stuff," said Basso, who managed League at Single-A Dunedin in 2003. "I felt that Brandon had what it takes. He's pitched in big games, and he was on the mound when we won. From a developmental point, that's a big thing."

The championship capped what for the city of Manchester was a fairytale season.

First the Queen City rejoined the EL, after a three decade absence that began when the old Manchester Yankees left town.

Then, after spending much of the season playing cat and mouse with the Binghamton Mets, New Hampshire swept a six-game home-and-home set with the Mets in mid-August, and ran off with the North Division crown, winning by 8 1/2 games.

That stretch convinced Basso that the Cats had a championship inside them.

"This team won 90 games in a minor league season," he said. "We deserved to be the champions."

Still, the Cats might not have gotten their just rewards but for the big bat of third baseman John Hattig. Hattig, the "Guam Bomb" who came over in mid-season from the Red Sox, accounted for all the Game 3 scoring with a two-run shot off Altoona starter Ian Snell.

"My heart couldn't stop pumping in the ninth inning with two outs," said Hattig, who was minding his own business in the clubhouse's only quiet corner.

Quiet that is until he was ambushed by a couple teammates bearing bottles, which they promptly over his head.

"Hitting a home run to put us ahead, just tops it off. I thought he was going to come with that slider again, and I put a good part of the bat on it. It took care of itself. It went out, and I was so freakin' excited. Not many people can say they won a championship in the minor leagues. It's awesome."