back and forth: wednesday, august 8

Wednesday, August 8, 2007

back and forth: wednesday, august 8

LAST NIGHT

The playoff chase came to an end as Wareham edged Hyannis 1-0 to end the Mets' hopes of a second-place finish. Had Hyannis won, tonight's season finale with Falmouth would have been a winner-take-all match-up. Instead, Falmouth clinches the spot.
Jeremy Bleich held Hyannis scoreless for six innings and Sam Whelan, Jeff Dietz and Chris Hicks combined to keep it that way . . . Wareham's Jason Ogata hit a solo homer for the only run of the game . . . . Hyannis out-hit the Mets 7-4 and got seven strong innings from Bryce Stowell, but it wasn't enough . . . Still a great season for the Mets, whose run was improbably to begin with, considering where they stood two weeks ago
Brewster beat Chatham 9-3 on the strength of 6.1 shutout innings by Erik Davis and mult-hit games from Brian Kemp, Yonder Alonso, David Doss, Ryan Babineau, Danny Lima, Charlie Cutler and Ryan Hanlon.
Y-D won its ninth game in 10 tries with a 7-1 victory over Cotuit . . . Matt Long hit a home run and Nick Romero went 3-for-4 . . . The Red Sox got a lot of pitchers some work as they ready for the playoffs, sending five to the mound
Orleans beat Harwich 6-2 in a fog-shortened game . . . Pat McAnaney allowed two hits and one run in five innings . . . Dennis Raben and Brandon Crawford had five RBI

TONIGHT

Last day of the regular season
With no more playoff implications, the teams heading to the postseason are gearing up but trying to keep everybody fresh, too. All four playoff teams have TBA listed as their probable starters
There are still some individual leaderboard spots up for grabs . . . In batting average, Conor Gillaspie is at .355 while Jason Castro is at .344 . . . James Darnell, Gordon Beckham and Sean Ochinko are tied in the home run race with eight apiece
Tonight's games will be the last for more than half of the 2007 Cape Leaguers . . . Here's hoping it's a good night and here's hoping they all go on to big success down the road -- and remember this step on the path

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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 8, 2007