back and forth: wednesday, august 1

Wednesday, August 1, 2007

back and forth: wednesday, august 1

LAST NIGHT

More fog in Chatham kept John Schiffner's chase on hold.
Y-D won its sixth consecutive with a 3-0 decision over Brewster. In his second start for Y-D, Jerry Sullivan tossed seven shutout innings. Brewster's playoff chances take a hit with the loss, though the Whitecapes aren't out of it.
Orleans and Harwich ended in a tie when the fog rolled in at Eldredge Field. Brett Jacobson turned in a dominant performance for the Mariners, striking out 15 and walking just one in six innings. If you're doing the math, he recorded all but three outs by strikeout. I'll try to look this up later, but I don't remember that many strikeouts in a game this season.
Falmouth beat Cotuit for the second night in a row and moved six points ahead of third-place Hyannis, which lost to Bourne. Falmouth's David Adams went 3-for-5 and and had two steals to back Christian Friedrich, who allowed just one earned run in five innings. In Bourne's victory, four relievers combined for seven shutout innings.

TONIGHT

No games scheduled as the all-stars travel to Fenway Park to be recognized at a Red Sox game. Should be an awesome night for those guys.

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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.

Wednesday, August 1, 2007