daily fog: extra, extra

Friday, July 4, 2008

daily fog: extra, extra

Hyannis beat Harwich 5-4 in 13 innings last night and Chatham beat Falmouth 6-5 in 10 innings.

Those were the fourth and fifth extra innings games this week, which is a really high number. I think it speaks to how tightly-packed everything is. No team has separated itself, not even a little bit. The result is games that are long on drama and short on separation.

The Hyannis-Harwich game last night looked similar to the 15-inning Bourne-Falmouth game from Sunday in that both starters were tremendous, but were long gone by the time the game ended. This time, Hyannis pitcher Andrew Carraway (Virginia) kept dominating, striking out eight in six shutout innings. He now leads the league in ERA at .45. Harwich's J.J. Hoover (Calhoun CC), making his second start, allowed one earned run in five innings.

After that it was up to the bullpens, and Hyannis finally got to Michael Morrison (Cal State Fullerton) in the bottom of the 13th. Morrison had gone two scoreless innings, but Hyannis scratched two across after Harwich had taken the lead in the top of the inning. An RBI single by Chris Dominguez (Louisville) was the game-winner.

In Chatham, the A's won an extra-innings game after losing one on Tuesday. This time, Kyle Bellows (San Jose State) doubled in the 10th, moved to third on an error and scored the winning run on another error. That made a winner out of reliever Carmine Giardina (Central Florida), who went three scoreless innings.

Elsewhere

Justin Marks (Louisville) made his first start for Chatham and allowed five runs in four innings.

Orleans posted a 4-2 victory over Wareham behind solid pitching from Rob Rasmussen (UCLA) and an offense that continues to slowly wake up. The Cardinals have scored 19 runs in their last four games, after scoring just 25 in the first two weeks of the season. Alex Hassan (Duke) had two hits to lead the Cardinals. Rich Poythress (Georgia) started at third for Orleans, his first appearance since arriving from the College World Series. He went 1-for-3. For Wareham, Blake Dean (LSU) was in the lineup for the second time.

Tony Sanchez (Boston College) hit his second grand slam of the season to power Y-D past Bourne 10-6. Eddie Burns (Georgia Tech), who was the all-star starter last year, made his third start of the summer and got his first win.

Brewster handed Cotuit its fifth loss in six games, rolling to a 12-3 victory. Connor Powers (Mississippi State) hit a grand slam to lead the way.

What to Watch For Tonight

Or today, if you're in Bourne. The Braves will play their Fourth of July game at 2 p.m. They'll send Nick McCully (Coastal Carolina) to the mound against Wareham, who goes with Max Perlman (Harvard).

Jerry Sullivan (Oral Roberts) will make his second start for Y-D as the Red Sox host Hyannis.

Tim Clubb (Missouri State) will try to improve to 4-0 as Brewster takes on Harwich. Sean Black (Seton Hall) goes for the Mariners.

North Carolina's Adam Warren will get his first start for Chatham. The A's will visit Orleans, who will send Eric Erickson (Miami) to the hill.

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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.

Friday, July 4, 2008