back and forth: tuesday, july 24

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

back and forth: tuesday, july 24

LAST NIGHT

Two 1-0 games last night as Orleans beat Falmouth and Hyannis topped Wareham
Orleans handed Falmouth its second shutout in as many nights, winning it in the eighth on a Dennis Raben home run . . . Eric Surkamp tossed 5.1 shutout innings and five relievers kept it scoreless . . . Aaron Crow remained dominatingly steady (I just invented that term) with seven strikeouts and two hits allowed in six shutout innings, dropping his league-leading ERA to .52
Hyannis' Andrew Doyle tossed a complete-game five-hit shutout as the Mets bested Wareham 1-0
With the Falmouth loss, first-place Bourne picked up some distance after beating Cotuit 4-1
Chatham won its third straight with a 3-2 victory over Harwich
Brewster stayed on the pace for the second-place race in the East, beating first-place Y-D 6-1

TONIGHT

Wareham at Falmouth, 7 p.m.: A pair of all-stars meet again as Kyle Gibson takes on Wareham's Wade Miley for the second time in a week . . . Last time, the pair combined to strike out 15 in 14 innings, while allowing just two earned runs . . . Miley was a hard-luck loser
Some things will be sorted out in the East as second-place Chatham takes on fifth-place Harwich while third-place Orleans visits fourth-place Brewster . . . Just four points separate Chatham from Brewster; Orleans is three points back
Cotuit will try to stop its 10-game losing streak but it won't be easy: the Kettleers play first-place Bourne for the second consecutive night
The 5 p.m. Orleans at Brewster game is designated as a Scouts Day

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as the fog settles in

The left-field sunset has faded. It is chilly now. You slip a sweatshirt on. The stat sheet you hold in your hands almost feels wet, the air is so damp. But the ink doesn't run. You can read it. That kid from LSU is still leading the league in home runs. That pitcher who they say throws 95 -- he's way up on the list in strikeouts.
The game is close, 3-2 through seven innings. You're staying till the end.
You look out at the field. Some fog has slipped in. It settles like smoke, just off the grass in front of the right fielder, like a cloud. When he runs through it to catch a fly ball, it looks almost magical, maybe even spiritual, like he's playing baseball in heaven.
Maybe he is.
The baseball is pure here. The players eager. The fans, maybe some of them don't know what they're seeing, maybe they just heard it was a fun night out, good for the family and everything -- but they know. They know somehow that this thing, this Cape League, is special.
Really, there's nothing like it.
I'm going to try and keep up.

Stop waxing poetic

The Cape Cod Baseball League is the top college summer league in the nation. Plenty of other leagues have cropped up of late, and some are having success, but the Cape League is still the model -- and the pinnacle. In 2006, 198 Major Leaguers had spent time in the Cape League.
The rosters are like a who's who of the best college baseball players. All the top prospects want to spend their summers on the Cape. The only better opportunity is Team USA. There are 10 teams in the league, divided into two divisions. Over the course of two months, they play 44 games. Scouts will watch many of them. They come because of the combination of talent and wood. Unlike college baseball, the Cape uses only wooden bats, providing an accurate picture of what players might do at the next level.
What else? Players live with host families. Some have part-time jobs (Jeff Bagwell worked at Friendly's). There's no admission charge at games. The level of baseball has been compared to Single A.
That should sum it up. If you have never experienced Cape League Baseball, you have missed out.

Tuesday, July 24, 2007