daily fog: all the pieces of the puzzle

Saturday, July 19, 2008

daily fog: all the pieces of the puzzle

There's no doubt that the Orleans pitching staff has been good this season. Their 3.01 team ERA is second in the league.

The starting pitching for the Cardinals, though, hasn't been dominant. They have a solid rotation, but it's their bullpen that really seems to shine. In a lot of Orleans box scores, four or five pitchers are listed, and for this team, that's actually a good thing.

But at least one dominant starter is emerging.

Matt Thomson allowed three hits and struck out five in eight shutout innings as Orleans beat Y-D 5-0 last night. It's probably the best individual performance by an Orleans starter this season. The Cardinals have won two other shutouts this season, but both were more of the combined variety. Thomson did most of last night's work himself, with Isaac Morales (Cal State LA) only coming on for the ninth.

Thomson, a sophomore righthander from San Diego, has now become the Cardinals' best starter. He has a 3-0 record and a 1.56 ERA, best in the rotation. He has struck out 24 and walked eight in 34.1 innings.

Thomson's emergence is good news for a team that doesn't need any more good news. Last night's win was the fifth in a row for the Cardinals. I think now is a good team to officially say that they're running away with it. At 19-9-1, they're seven points ahead of second-place Harwich with 15 games to play.

Elsewhere

When I went to the Chatham-Harwich game on Thursday, my dad asked me why Grant Green, with a near-.400 average and a few home runs, was hitting leadoff. I think the Chatham coaching staff may have been asking itself that, too. Green was in the third spot last night and he went 2-for-3 with a home run to lead the A's past Brewster 7-5.
One start after twirling a complete game, Wareham's Dallas Keuchel went eight shutout innings to set the stage for a Gatemen walkoff win over Hyannis. With the score 0-0 in the ninth, Cole Leonida (Georgia Tech) knocked in Connor Rowe (Texas) with the winning run. Keuchel now has a 1.60 ERA.
The loss was the fifth in a row for Hyannis, a team that's just about the streakiest in the league. Before the current streak, the Mets had won five games in a row.
Harwich won its second straight one-run game, beating Bourne 7-6. Shaver Hansen (Baylor) went 3-for-5 with three RBI to lead the Mariners. Dustin Ackley (North Carolina) was out of the lineup for the fifth straight game. I'm not sure what's going on there.
Falmouth jumped over .500 with a 10-6 victory over Cotuit. The teams combined for 11 runs in the eighth inning, but Falmouth came out of the frame with an 8-6 lead. A.J. Pollock (Notre Dame) keyed the rally with a two-run single.

What to Watch For Tonight

At some point, all-star game rosters will be revealed.
Hyannis will try to stop its skid with Alex McRee (Georgia) on the mound against Matt Bashore (Indiana) and Wareham.

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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.

Saturday, July 19, 2008