forth: monday, july 30

Monday, July 30, 2007

forth: monday, july 30

See? There's no back because there were no games yesterday. Just a forth for the games tonight. Anyways . . .

TONIGHT

In a good pitching match-up, Pat McAnaney and Orleans visit Y-D, which sends Scott Green to the mound . . . Neither of those pitchers were all-stars, but both have all-star numbers . . . Every game down the stretch is almost a must-win if Orleans is to make the playoffs
Brewster will have Mike Colla on the mound in a visit to Wareham . . . The Whitecaps are in the same boat as Orleans, needing to win nearly every night -- and still needing help -- to get a spot
Chatham controls its own destiny and starts the stretch run with Zach Putnam going against Bourne and Mitch Harris. . . In a start last week against Bourne -- his first start of the season -- Putnam struck out seven and went five shutout innings
In the West race, Hyannis visits Harwich with Jason Franzblau on the mound . . . The Mets have won three straight
Falmouth hosts Cotuit and stands a good chance to start the final stretch on the right foot as Aaron Crow gets the ball
Also, if you live in the New England area, NESN will air a tape-delay broadcast of the all-star game tonight at 7 p.m.

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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.

Monday, July 30, 2007