excerpt_size not working

My film reviews start with a rating, e.g. “Rating: B+”. On my page, I want to display the rating, but when I enable the excerpt:

[catlist tags="hammer" orderby=date order=asc numberposts=50 offset=50 excerpt=yes excerpt_size=2]

It displays “Rating: D+ Dir: …” That seems like three words. ?? If I set it to a size of “1”, it just displays “Rating” as I’d expect.

[Note, on my sample page, you need to scroll down to the third block to see the excerpt enabled version]

Also, is there way to suppress the new line before the excert and also the …?

Thanks in advance!

The page I need help with: [log in to see the link]