Reading Bulldogs

By Jeff Pierce Daily Times Chronicle 

Watertown (1)-  Manning 3-1, McEvoy 3-2, Busby 1-0, Callahan 2-0, Casey 2-0, Tramatozzi 2-1, Brennan 2-1, Panza 1-0, Thebodo 2-0,  Totals 18-5 

Reading (0) – Castoldi 2-0, Conti 2-2, Talis 1-0, Fischer 2-0, Gagnon 1-0, Buitkus 2-2, Halsey 2-1, Zajac 2-0, Morrison 2-0,  Totals 16-5

Watertown  000  00X  X   0

Reading      000  1XX  X  1  

WP- Pedrotti   LP-   LeBrun  

Wrap: The Bulldogs put themselves in position to improve their playoff seeding with a 1-0 win in a rain shortened victory over the third place Reds at Morton Field on Sunday. With the win Reading is in the #4 playoff position which would put give them home field in the first round, however both Wakefield and Medford have games in-hand versus the Bulldogs. The five inning shutout was the first win by mid-season acquisition Brian Pedrotti and was the  third complete game shutout in the last 10 days by a Bulldog pitcher.  As has been their history over the prior three years, the Bulldogs finish the season strong and are now on their longest unbeaten streak of the year at four games. On this day somehow the game was able to be decided within an official number of innings being completed despite the impending stormy weather hovering over the Birch Meadow complex.   In the bottom of the fourth Steve Buitkus lead off with his second hit of the game. John Halsey then hit a run scoring double to the left center gap scoring Buitkus whom motored all the way around from first base. The Bulldogs still needed to record three more outs to make the games official and Pedrotti did so in quick fashion striking out the first two batters and then retiring the last batter on an infield popup  to Andy Gagnon, with the winds strongly swirling and the dark clouds unloading a deluge of rain. After the third out by the Reds the game became official and the umpires called the teams off the field. After a 30 minute wait and conditions not improving the games was called off by the umpires.    Sidebar: Bulldog third baseman and leadoff hitter Bill Cataldo had his ironman streak come to an end on Sunday, as he was given the day off by Manager Matt Morrison after the Bulldogs clinched a playoff spot on Saturday. Cataldo had played every inning for 97 consecutive games dating back to June 17, 2010.  During that period Cataldo has lead the Bulldogs in almost every offensive category including batting average, on-base percentage, hits, doubles, runs and steals.