daily fog: closing time

Saturday, July 5, 2008

daily fog: closing time

In every game last night, a pitcher picked up a save.

That's a pretty rare occurrence, especially considering the closing trends in the league this summer. Six of the 10 teams don't seem to have a true closer. Combined, those six teams have 17 saves.

But when you consider another part of the trend, maybe it's not so rare to see five saves on one night. Or at least three. That's because, in the midst of a season without many saves, three closers are making up for it.

Hyannis' Russell Brewer, Orleans' Kyle Kamppi and Chatham's Brad Boxberger have put up some ridiculous save numbers in the early going. Together, they've combined for almost half of the total number of saves in the league this season. Each of them has saved at least two-thirds of their team's wins. They've also allowed only two runs between them.

Brewer, a redshirt freshman from Vanderbilt, leads the pack with eight saves, and he still hasn't allowed a run -- earned or unearned. He has struck out nine in nine innings, and has surrendered only five hits.

Kamppi and Boxberger are just behind Brewer with six saves each. Kamppi, a junior from Georgia Southern, pitched well out of the bullpen last summer for Orleans and moved into the closer's slot this year. He has allowed one run this summer, with 13 strikeouts in 12 innings. Boxberger, a sophomore at USC and another returning player, was a starter last summer for Orleans. Now in Chatham and in the closer's role, he's been unhittable. In 8.1 innings, he has allowed three hits and struck out 15. He has allowed one run.

In all, it's pretty remarkable what this trio is doing. And the marks they're leaving may stick around for awhile. The Cape League record for saves is 16, which was set by Bourne's Ryan Speier in 2001. Brewer is currently on pace for 22 saves, Kamppi is on pace for 16 and Boxberger is on pace for 15. Those paces will likely slow down, but even still, we may have some closers chasing history come August.

Elsewhere

Missouri State's Tim Clubb didn't allow an earned run in six innings as he picked up his league-best fourth win of the season in leading Brewster past Harwich 4-2. The victory gives Brewster the most points in the league. The Whitecaps don't have the most wins, but by virtue of three ties, their 9-6-3 record is the best in the league. Clubb dropped his ERA to .35. He has won every game he's started and has allowed only one earned run on 13 hits in 26 innings. Last night, a three-run fifth inning made a winner out of him. A two-run triple by Mike Freeman (Clemson) was the big blow.

Hyannis got a strong performance from Graham Stoneburner (Clemson) to beat Y-D 5-2. Stoneburner allowed one unearned run and struck out five in six innings of work, out-dueling Y-D's Jerry Sullivan (Oral Roberts), who allowed five runs in just three innings. Trent Ashcraft (East Carolina) had three hits to pace the Mets. He is now hitting .400. Matt Nuzzo (Brown) also had three hits.

Cotuit broke out of a skid with a 3-1 victory over Falmouth. The Kettleers had lost five of six and two in a row. With a shuffled lineup, Cotuit didn't get a lot of offense, but got enough thanks to a two-RBI day from Evan Crawford (Indiana). Seth Blair (Arizona State) went seven innings for the Kettleers, allowing one run on four hits. For Falmouth, A.J. Pollock (Notre Dame) went 2-for-5 to remain atop the batting leaders list.

Wareham got its first win since June 28 with a 4-3 victory over Bourne. Brett Eibner (Arkansas) went 2-for-5 with four RBI and Chris Hicks (Georgia Tech) picked up a tough save. Max Perlman (Harvard) got the win for Wareham with seven strong innings.

Eric Erickson (Miami) went six strong innings and Brad Stillings (Kent State) and Kyle Kamppi (Georgia Southern) combined for three shutout innings of relief to lead Orleans past Chatham 5-2. Erickson struck out six and allowed two runs. Tim Wheeler (Sacramento State), Nate Freiman (Duke) and Rich Poythress (Georgia) each had three hits to lead the Cardinals.

What to Watch For Tonight

Orleans and Chatham will meet for the second night in a row, with Isaac Morales (Cal State L.A.) scheduled to go for Orleans and Joe Serafin (Vermont) going for Chatham.

Caleb Coltham (Vanderbilt), who was dominant last time out, will try to keep Brewster rolling against Y-D, who counters with Baylor's Craig Fritsch, their best starter.

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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 5, 2008