November 1, 2002 Thomson, Four Relievers Shut Down Stamford STAMFORD, CT - John Thomson and four relievers combined to hold the Stamford Zoots offense to a two-hit shutout in Game Four of this Division Series. Thomson, who was limited to five innings this series, held Stamford to two hits and two walks. Norm Charlton, Steve Karsay, Corey Bailey and David Weathers then combined to throw four no-hit, shutout innings. Salem scored all the runs they'd need today when catcher Craig Wilson smoked a two- run homer off Stamford starter Lou Pote in the second inning. Wilson delivered another blast in his next at-bat in the fourth to give Salem a 3-0 lead. In the sixth, Robin Ventura hit a solo home run, and Sammy Sosa added yet another longball in the seventh to make it a 5-0 game. The decision to give the ball to Pote was a difficult one for Stamford manager Paul Marazita, who had hoped that his ace, Mark Buehrle, would be ready to pitch on three days rest. But Buehrle complained of a tired arm before today's game and warned his skipper that he wouldn't be pitching at full strength if he were used today. As a result, Marazita went to Pote, who allowed three runs on five hits through just 4 1/3 innings. "There's not much I can say about this one," said Salem manager Mike Glander. "Our pitching was simply outstanding. We couldn't ask for anything more than what we got today. John did everything we hoped he would against this team, and it wasn't a difficult decision at all to have him start a game in this series even with his limitation of five innings. We just hoped we'd score early, and thanks to Craig, we did. The rest of it was handled beautfully by our bullpen, which has been out- standing throughout this series."